All elfed up

This may look like a broken link, but just wait. This is the Rayburn family Christmas card this year. Enjoy.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I'm going blind

I just finished my 25th letter of recommendation and have seven left to do tomorrow. All of y'all are starting to bleed together into a giant amalgam of wonderfulness. I've run out of ways to say, "I love this kid and he/she is totally awesome" without saying it just like that.

The next time you're up all night working on a project or reading a book that I assigned you, just remember I have to do it, too. I'm right there with y'all right now. And I still have quizzes to grade, the Slaughterhouse test to write, and a bunch more stuff to do before school on Monday.

I know, boo hoo. But it's hard out here for a teacher.

Gobble

The turkey is in the oven. It smells good; it's just a matter of not overcooking it.

Dinner is tonight at Adrian's at 7:00 p.m. Hit him up for address or directions if necessary.

Hope to see lots of you there!

Extra credit opportunity

You have until Friday, Nov. 14th at 7:00 p.m. CST to respond to the following right here on the blog.

Below is an excerpt from a poem by Kurt Vonnegut. Leave a message that includes what you think Vonnegut is saying about humans, whether or not you agree with it, and reasons why or why not.

Go!
----------------

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
It is done.
People did not like it here

Germy

Precious treasures,

I went to the doctor today, hoping to get an antibiotic that would get me better and let me come back to work right away. But I don't have strep throat, or any other bacterial problem. (Antibiotics only work on bacterial issues.)

Rather, there is a virus in my throat, which means two things: I'm very contagious (especially to kids, she said) and it has to run its course.

Bottom line, I don't have permission to come back to school until Thursday. I'm considering some ideas for how to keep you productively occupied and not wasting time while I'm gone. I apologize in advance for my absence and lack of exciting lessons. I promise to make it up for it in three ways: I won't get you sick, I'll prepare something cool for when I get back, and I'll work on letters of recommendation.

Feel free to text, Facebook, or email me. I hate being away and get restless.

The only bright spot in this is that Husband's on the way to the store for Ben & Jerry's.

Halloween pics

Please

Be good tomorrow. I think I have strep throat and will be headed to the doctor instead of school. So be nice and get your work done, and keep up with your reading. I hope to see you soon.

Scruples alert!

I just heard the word "scruples" on "My Name is Earl." Heeehehehe.

Don't forget your quiz tomorrow.

Incredible Pizza

What I've been saying for years

Maybe now with Hilary Duff and Wanda Sykes on my side, I won't get so many arguments when I give detentions for this.

Midterm time

Good luck tomorrow, precious treasures.

Pep Rally and Latino Day

The winner of the presidential debate is....

ANAPHORA! It was the rhetorical device that was thrown around most.

Here's how nerdy I am. While watching the debate, I kept a chart of rhetorical devices and logical fallacies. It is not comprehensive. I got distracted by chatting with Mr. Lundin about it, so I didn't catch everything.

But here's yet another glimpse into the Word Nerd who is your English teacher.

McCain
Pathos (sad news about Kennedy)
Antimetabole (2)
Allusion to Eisenhower
Epistrophe
Ad Populum (The American worker, I still believe in the United States)
Anadiplosis (We came to power, and power changed us.)
Red Herring (Bear study)
Begging the Question (He has earmarked $ for pork barrel spending.)
Ad Hominem (maybe that’s not a lot of money to Senator Obama)
Red Herring (I didn’t win Miss Congeniality in the senate)
Red Herring (Ireland pays 11 percent business tax)
Ad Populum (look at them, my friends, you’ll be appalled)
Parallelism (walking the walk, talking the talk)
Anaphora (we have to, we have to)
Polysyndeton
Tricolon and Epistrophe (how we leave, when we leave, what we leave behind)
Pathos (let us win, we don’t want our kids coming back here)
Red Herring (this business about Pakistan, let me tell you my record)
Ad populum (one of the most popular presidents, one of the men I admire most)
Anaphora (I have a record)
Pathos (I will wear your dead son’s bracelet with honor)
Red Herring (you would think that with that kind of concern Senator Obama would’ve visited…)
Ad populum/Bifurcation (We cannot allow a second holocaust)
Bifurcation (if you sit down with that person, you legitimize his comments)
Red Herring (the average S. Korean is three inches taller than the average N. Korean)
Pathos (I love veterans)

Obama
Tricolon – many times
Anaphora (he’s right that…he’s also right that…)
Repetition
Hyperbole (this gas cost that is killing them)
Polysyndeton (and, and, also, also)
Begging the Question (opposing George Bush’s wrong-headed policies)
Hyperbole (health care problems are crushing people across the nation)
Parallelism
Anaphora (we hadn’t, we hadn’t)
Epistrophe (wisely, wisely)
Red Herring (I’m very proud of my VP choice, when asked about not going to Iraq)
Red Herring (General Petraeus has done a brilliant job)
Anaphora and Epistrophe (you said that, you were wrong)
Anaphora (we need, we need)
Bifurcation (if we don’t, Americans won’t be safe)
Allusion (McCain’s bombing Iran song)
Anaphora
Epistrophe (he may be a dictator, but he’s our dictator)
Pathos (I’ve got a bracelet, too)
Ad Populum (No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain)
Anaphora (we took our eye off)
Anaphora (you don’t muddle through)
Anaphora (they have funded)
Parallelism, allusion (walk the walk, talk the talk)
Pathos (my dad was a determined Kenyan)

Volunteers needed

We need about a dozen seniors at school on Monday from 10:30 - 4-ish. Let me know if you are interested and available to be there.

Students go back to school on...

TUESDAY.

We teachers will be there on Monday; you guys go back at the regular time on Tuesday. I do not yet know if it will be block or not. Get back to you on that.

An invitation

Who?
You, if you wanna.

When?
5:00 this Saturday until whenever

Where?
At my house.

What?
Pizza, cokes, cookies, informal English class, and AIR-CONDITIONING

Why?
We've missed 6+ days of instruction! That's a HUGE deal when the AP test is around the corner.

How?
E-mail, call, or text for directions.

Other questions?

No, you don't have to come. Only if you want to and have the means to get here safely. This is not an official YES-sponsored activity. Can you bring your friends who aren't in AP? I suppose so, but only if they're YES students.

You should bring something to write with and take notes on.

RSVP.

Two important things

First of all, I screwed up your homework assignment. I meant for you to do a STAARS paper on the first paragraph of PAGE 12, not page 13. The first paragraph of page 13 is not all that interesting. But on 12, now that's good stuff. Sorry for the confusion, and please pass the word along to your classmates.

Second, please keep the North Central campus in your thoughts. Their administrative building, which includes their sanctatorium and several classrooms, was damaged to the point that it will be unusable for the rest of the semester. They are only able to have ten volunteers at a time up there, and I have signed up for a shift to help clean. I know some of you are nearby and would like to help out, so I will inquire about the possibility. But I have a feeling between their staff and students, they will be pretty set. Regardless, it's a chance for us to realize how lucky we are at Southeast -- we will be able to have classes, almost as usual, much sooner.

I'm missing all of you guys and hoping you are well.

YES update

We officially have no school this week, September 15-19.

Because so many power lines are down, and they are live, it's not safe for anyone to be on campus, so please do not go.

I was so impressed to see '09 starting to rally the troops to help clean up, and I'm personally disappointed we can't assist in getting set back up. Spend some time helping your family dig out, and we'll all see each other soon.

If you're in my AP class, it wouldn't hurt you to read more of The Devil in the White City. You knew I was gonna say that.

Campus damage

None of these pictures should cause anyone any panic. I spent some time today up at campus with Mr. D looking at the damage. Our district facilities manager and Mr. Villalobos were also there (and there was a cameo from Mr. and Mrs. Mulholland - we just are all so concerned!).

Anyway, there will not be any school on Monday, for sure. We will keep you posted about what date we will return. These photos don't look good, but keep in mind, I didn't take pictures of buildings that were normal, and most of them are.

The good news is, the school's power as already been restored. The tricky part is that several power lines have blown all over the place and need to be fixed.

There will be a chance to volunteer with clean-up, and I will post more info when I have that.

Aftermath

Hi you guys. I don't know if anyone is checking this / has power, but just in case...

I went to the campus a couple hours ago, and there is some significant damage to the school. However, it's not anything we cannot handle.

Some classrooms had a lot of roof damage, and a couple have holes in the walls because of wood that flew around. Power lines are down all over campus that were ripped by metal flying around. The canopies are surprisingly okay although some are warped. Because the teachers don't yet know how their rooms fared, I'll refrain from saying which rooms got hurt the most. But mine is fine. The tree on the left side is more or less destroyed, and a bunch of metal smashed our garden. The shed behind the chem building is absolutely devastated.

The cafeteria, office, and college corner are fine. The gym is slightly damaged at one end of the roof, and some water got blown in under the doors, but nothing too bad. Our cool new signs at the front of the campus are toast, sadly.

But long story short, we'll be okay. This is not an official statement - it's just my guess - but I think it will take some time to ready the campus for the students to return. I have no idea how much time, whether it be a day or several. I will let you know as much as I know.

I hope you are all safe, safe, safe.

Our webcam

Out of boredom, we have tied a stuffed frog to our mailbox and are broadcasting over the Web. We've got over 350 people around the world watching this. Check it out, kids.

Stay safe.

The Devil in the White City

Buy it TOMORROW, in case we don't have school on Friday.

I want you to get started over the weekend. Seriously, if you have to spend 17 hours in a car, what else are you gonna do?

Author's purpose

I'm just watching the Law & Order marathon when I see the following commercial. And I think to myself, because I'm always thinking about teaching, "That's a great way to explain Author's Purpose!"

Some of you have struggled with that particular part of the precis - figuring out WHY an author wrote what they did. This commercial identifies purpose for lots of different people. Check it out, you'll see what I mean.

See...watching TV doesn't have to be brainless!

Behold the hotness!

Once upon a time, I was your age.

And we took cheesy senior portraits back then, too.

Hurricane Gustav

I am going to be very irritated if I have to evacuate. Very.

So geeked up

I discovered a "new" piece of punctuation tonight. Apparently, it was invented in 1962, but I'm willing to bet that you, like me, had never heard of it before.

Read this Wiki entry and just bask in the glory of it.

Or be a normal person and get back to your regularly scheduled life.

I can't, though.

I'm looking through Microsoft Word's list of symbols trying to find the darn thing.

Are you ready to rumble????

The answer is..................

Last call

If any of you want to shoot me an example of what your journal entries look like, I'll be happy to provide feedback. One person already has, and he is my favorite student. For now, at least.

See you guys Monday.

A piece of advice

I was talking to one of you guys tonight (and I'm not sayin' which one), and I was told, "Miss, you have no idea how many kids are not gonna do their summer reading homework."

Let me be clear about something:

No summer homework = getting thrown out of AP on Day 2.

And that means that I'll have to go from teaching AP English to teaching AP English AND standard English. And I don't want for my entire schedule to change after a whole summer of working my behind off in order to be the best darn AP teacher I possibly can.

Got it?

Get that stuff done! No exceptions!

Sample entry for STB

For the tutorial that didn't happen last week, I was going to have us take a close look at the chapter titled "On Going Home." It's a short one, but that doesn't mean it doesn't lend itself to lots of good thinking and discussing.

The photo above is a scan from my own copy of the book, and it's pretty typical of what my pages look like when I do close reading. I say close reading like that because that means more than just reading for content; it's reading for deeper meaning and having a conversation with the text. It takes a lot more time, but it is worth it for the deeper understanding.

So on your summer assignment, I asked you to focus on one rhetorical device (or technique that Didion uses) and how it creates deeper meaning. I didn't mean for these to be super-long entries, per se, and below is an example of my own. For this chapter, the focus was the author's use of detail, so that's what I'm concentrating on.

Quote from page 166:

"There is no final solution for letters of rejection from The Nation and teacups hand-painted in 1900."

Didion has gone back to her family home as an adult - she has a husband and a daughter of her own. But she finds herself sifting through old objects that once belonged to her and not knowing what to do with them anymore. She could have written about going through her "stuff," but she names particular items like a letter of rejection - this makes me think she's been writing for a very long time and wasn't always successful at it, and hand-painted teacups from long before she was even born. What use does she have for these, she has to wonder, but at the same time, how do you throw something like that away? These details make me understand that she feels a connection to her past, but she isn't sure how to define it or what it means to her. Being at her family's home as a grown-up is a bit like being thrown into limbo. I feel this same way when I go through boxes of my mom's stuff - I don't want to throw it out, but I don't need it at all. The past is hard to let go of for everyone.

And hopefully that's not too scary. You need to do 12 of these types of entries. Email me with any questions!

Hugely important announcement that will make you love me once again

You only have to do 12 of the 20 essays in Slouching Towards Bethlehem. You can pick which 12. You still have to do the corresponding dialectical journal entry for the 12 essays you pick. (If you are in Standard English, you may do just 12 as well.)

SPREAD THE FREAKIN' WORD.

Please feel free to leave a comment about how awesome I am.

Second thoughts

So I'm starting to freak out just a little bit that y'all are all going to give up on Slouching Towards Bethlehem and hate me for picking it. I know it's tough and written a long time ago and it seems completely irrelevant to you. So why would I pick it? Well, Joan Didion pioneered the art of the personal essay, and we will be reading a lot of nonfiction this year. When we get together and look closer at her work, I think it will become clear what a sophisticated and gentle writer she is. But for now, I think you're going over all the references you don't understand and cursing my name.

So that said, we'll definitely be talking about it on Friday night. (OPTIONAL!! If you choose to play Rock Band instead, there will be no nagging. Okay, mild nagging, but in good spirits.)

I've spent some time this week re-reading two of the essays, "On Going Home" and the one from which the book gets its name, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." So I'll probably focus on those two, in case you want to take a look at them beforehand.

Enough of my rambling. See you soon.

Late July birthdays

Happy birthday to Cynthia Luna (this past Wednesday), Janeth Perez (Monday), and Kelly Tran (this coming Wednesday)!

A birthday wish and some info to spread around

Tomorrow is J.J. Salazar's birthday, so be sure to send him some love.

I mentioned it before, but wanted to say it again, Friday, August 1st is an important date. On that day, you'll have your Senior Photos taken -- these are the pictures that go in the yearbook and are used in the graduation program. Yes, I know, that's many months away and you may have a fabulously different hairstyle by May, but this is the way it works. It's been like this for every YES graduating class, and it was even like this back when I was a senior in the dark ages, so you will be okay.

If you are on a summer program or won't be able to make it for whatever reason, there will be make-up sessions at some point. These photos are only with the graduation robes; they don't include fancy set-ups for portraits. You are not obligated to buy them, either.

Also on that day, you will be doing scheduling with Ms. Edwards and the rest of us. That evening will be parent meeting, and afterward, we will have an overnight. You'll need to bring $5 for pizza, drinks for yourself, and a sleeping bag. For those of you who typically bring Rock Band or any other type of entertainment, feel free to do so. Also, that evening, I will be having a brief tutorial on the summer reading assignment, as I've been getting a lot of questions about it and have heard that a quick session would be appreciated. So if you are struggling with Slouching Towards Bethlehem, please come having read at least half a dozen of the pieces so you'll be able to keep up with what I'll be talking about.

We will be leaving on Saturday morning by 9:00 a.m. sharp!

Teach me, children

Why is it on most days, this site gets about two hits, but when I update it, BOOM - there are 25 hits almost immediately?

Is there some way you guys get notified? I gotta know!

A bunch of good stuff

So I got a minute behind on wishing people happy birthday. Yesterday was Robert Martinez's, and this coming Wednesday is Nancy Guevara's. Robert, sorry for the belatedness, and Nancy, I hope that the good folks at Marathon treat you right on your special day. I'm also pretty sure that Johana Balderas's birthday has been recently, but I am working of an 06-07 roster, so I just am not sure. Happy birthday everyday, Johana! (I only have you one pic of you, and you wouldn't want me to put up this particular one - you weren't ready for the camera.)




More student sightings this past week, and I'm getting pumped to see the rest of you soon! Today, Victor Esparza and Kevin Bravo joined the sixth-grade team. Both Kevin and Jessica Trejo were rocking the senior purple, and Crystal got a new tattoo that's purple. She proudly showed that off to me. Today, in Edwards's office, while acting like idiots as usual, I came up with a good senior motto. At least I think it's good, but I'm a million years old.

PURPLE REIGN.

What do you think? I'm thinking a big PURPLE sign in one of my windows and a big REIGN sign in the other. Aw yeah. But you don't have to listen to Queen Dork if you don't wanna.

Important Save-the-Date info

On Friday, August 1, you guys will need to be up at school for senior photos, orientation, and scheduling stuff. A small but important focus group of seniors informed me that it would be cool to have our first Overnight that night, so plan to spend the evening in the gym, playing basketball, rock band, raving...all that good jazz. Spread the word. You should also be getting a letter from Hudley about all of it, if you haven't already.

I want to say a big public thank you to Mikhail Abad for bringing me a lurvly hand-stitched wall-hanging from El Salvador. It's of grapes (wrathful ones, perhaps) and is just so very thoughtful. I can't wait to put it up on the walls once the little kids are out of summer session.

Give a holler, children, I miss you!

Student sightings!

I am positively giddy because I've gotten to see some Class of '09ers the past couple days. Mikhail, Anna, Katherine, and Laura are all working as teacher's assistants during summer school, so I got to sit through three hours of inservice meetings with them yesterday morning. I tried to behave, being a role model and all, but it was hard. Laura and I may have passed a few notes.

Anthony, Jacob, and Albert came by in the afternoon when they got off work at Marathon Oil, and today, Francisco was up at school buying his summer reading books. (Get reading, all of you! I will kick you out of class if you aren't prepared!)

I start teaching the seventh-graders tomorrow.

Miss you guys. Come visit.

The Garden of Wrath

These pictures were taken on Saturday, June 28th. As you can see, we are having some serious success with the okra, squash, and tomatoes. Although I don't have a picture, the little chile plant is starting to bud as well.

The only bad news is the back bed has been overtaken by weeds, and the herbs and beans haven't made it (last picture). Other than that, I'd say it's looking pretty impressive!

Silly birthday boy

Kevin Bravo celebrates his birthday today, and I'm sure it will be in style. I am just happy for an excuse to post this ridiculous picture.

Still got it

I just got back from a week of intensive classes at TCU, and I am STOKED to get started planning AP English for you guys. It's going to be different than your usual English class experience, but you trust me, right?

Anyway, I thought you might find it amusing that yesterday morning, I found myself a bit bored in a class (I was expecting to learn something new about how to implement Independent Reading, but no). And so I began listing all 89 of you from memory on a scratch piece of paper.

I got to 88 while sitting in class. Impressive, yes?

And then, about an hour into my drive back to Houston, it occurred to me whom I'd left out. (And no, I won't say whom, but it was someone in Beller's class this year, so that made things a little harder. It is no measure of how much I like this person.) I screamed the name at the top of my lungs, so glad to have gotten everyone.

I'm about to go up to school in a little bit to make some copies and stuff, and I'll take the camera so I can document the garden's growth. It's gonna shock you!

I'm outta here

Well, kids, I'm off to Fort Worth for the week -- I'll be at a training at TCU, learning how to torture you guys more effectively. Hope you're all doing well.

Lots of luv,
LAR

P.S. Happy early birthday to Priscila Canales and Patrick Sanchez (26th and 27th, respectively).

Some things never change

I'm taking a writing class each Wednesday evening, and we are usually assigned two essays to read each week by published authors, as well as two manuscripts written by students of the class. It's a lot of reading on top of what I'm already trying to do, but I'm honestly not complaining.

Last night, the teacher passed out the reading for this week, and it was a fairly sizeable packet. She said, "Please read this piece by Joan Didion for next week," and I thought, "SCORE! I've already read every piece in Slouching Towards Bethlehem, so I'm golden." Except it's a huge essay that's not included in there. Bummer.

That said, if you need a copy of the summer reading, you'll find it right here!

Oops

I missed saying Happy Birthday to Yessenia Coto on Tuesday, but I am thinking that she is off in some exotic country right now, so let's just chalk it up to the time difference. The only picture I have of Yessenia that's really good is her standing on the beach in seventh grade, and she would probably shoot me for putting it up here. I'll save it for the slideshow next spring...

Birthdays

Happy birthday today to Eric Deleon and Laura Zamarripa!



Or as I like to call them, Happy and Lali.

Be good to your dads today.

Leslie

Happy birthday today to Leslie Salazar! For some reason, I have no photos featuring her.

Why do you run from me, Leslie?!

I will find you....

The sweet taste of success

Guess what I ate today.

Two cherry tomatoes.

THAT WE GREW!

Yep, two of them were ready to come off the vine today, and they were tasty. I don't think I've ever eaten anything I've grown before (other than herbs), so I am impressed with our efforts.

The cilantro is looking pretty sad, but the beans, squash, and okra are going crazy. The last two are over a foot tall already.

I'll be sure to take some pictures next time I'm up there to water.

The speech I didn't get to give

Okay, so I won this award at graduation.

And it means a lot to me, truly. The staff had nine nominees to vote for, and I came away with this year's "Whatever it Takes" award. Which, if you're a teacher, is about as close as you're going to get to winning an Oscar or a Nobel prize. It's flattering, and it's nice to be recognized for the hard work I do. (That being said, everyone at YES does a ton of hard work. A TON. You know this. I mean you guys do it, too.)

But y'all know how I love to hear myself talk, and I wish I could have at least said a little thank you when Mr. D gave me this thing. It would have gone a little something like this.

I need to thank two people first and foremost. The first person is the best teacher I ever had, and that is my mom. The second is the person I love most on this planet, who puts up with my absence almost seven days a week, and that is my husband.

But I absolutely could not and would not get up early each morning and stay up late each night if it weren't for the kids I see in my classroom and on the sidewalk each day. The kids who greet me with humor, affection, and a willingness to learn whatever I've decided to teach them that day. I hear adults grumbling about "kids today," and how they're all thugs or have no manners or whatever. But I know differently.

When *I* was in high school, I never let me teachers know how much I liked them or valued what they did. I barely thought of them after I left their classroom. I am blessed to have not just one or two students, but dozens, who are kind, respectful, gracious and thoughtful to me every day of the week. I go to work and feel loved, and that is something nobody out in the corporate world gets at all.

You see, when you guys left Room 7 last week, although I was ready for a break, I was sad to see you go. There was never a single day this year when I thought to myself, "I don't want to see this class." Never. In fact, when I am stressed about all my grown-up responsibilities, I just dissolve into class and find a peacefulness. Every single one of you is a joy in my day, and I thank you for that.

Burning down the house...or at least the garage

I posted this on my personal blog today, the one that you guys don't have access to just yet (but in about 11 1/2 more months, you'll be golden). Anyway, it's a harmless little anecdote I thought I'd share. You know, to prove that I write every day; it's not just something I make y'all do. You won't necessarily know all my references, but you get the gist.


Not unlike many people I know, I am crazily phobic of cockroaches. That and my hatred for heat make me doubt why I live in Texas for at least five months of each year.

Yesterday, whilst rearranging furniture and setting up my new office, I decided it was time to change the family photo on my desk from Christmas 2001 to Christmas 2008. (We didn't do Christmas until MLK weekend this year, so I guess we will have two Christmas 2008s.) Anyway, it only makes sense as the topography of my family has changed quite a bit in the past seven years: people have died, been born, married in, or exited by way of divorce. Okay, only one of those last ones. Sorry, Kev, you're out of the frame. It's time.

So as I'm making the switch, I realize that Christmas 2001 is a litte stuck, and I have to tug. One corner is glued down to the glass for some reason, and I accidentally ripped Glenna's head off (sorry, Glenna). I don't fret too much, as I have another copy of the picture somewhere. But I go in search for the Goo-Gone, which Chris tells me is in the garage.

I head to the garage.

I open the garage door.

And then I see something shoot across the floor that reminds me of this:


But it is a cockroach. Ralph S. Cockroach. And no amount of exaggerating his size would be inappropriate, and judging by his speed, he had some sort of miniature motorized vehicle under him. Momentarily I wondered if it was a mouse because of his bulk, but the instant replay in my brain informed me that no, it was a roach.

And if you know me well enough, this next part of the story will confirm to you just how much I hate roaches. I abandoned any notion of Goo-Gone, went inside and pulled out Chris's peanut butter (because my Crazy Grandma taught me that it's the next best thing), and scraped Glenna's head off the glass with some Extra Crunchy Jif.

Birthdays this week

Happy birthday to Megan (6/3), Illiana (6/7) and Terra (6/7)!

A peek inside

Today my husband and I moved some furniture around and turned our extra bedroom into an office space for me. Kids, I'm so nerdy. I have spent all day in this room, reading mostly. Oh, and you know it was English IV stuff I was reading, no lie.

I realized that I haven't had a room of my very own since I was in high school (so that's 16 years). I was so giddy about this new space that Hub started teasing me, saying I probably would start sleeping in here, too.

You know you're old when you get happy about the absence of a television.


I hope you're all enjoying your summers so far. I've had a hard time adjusting to all this free time. I've made daily trips to school, pretty much just to water the garden, which is looking great. The beans went crazy over the weekend and are starting to vine up the lattice like we hoped. And the tomatoes are red and pretty, just not quite big enough yet. I'll take some pictures in a few days and put them up here.

Lurv,
LAR