What’s your “bookprint?”

Scholastic.com has a list of celebrity “bookprints.”  Check out your favorite celebrity’s famous books here:  http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/celeb-bookprints.htm

 

Your bookprint is a list of books that changed your life or helped  make you who you are.  I like to look at other’s people’s lists and go “OOOO, I love that book!” or “HMMM, I wonder what’s in THAT book that changed him or her?”  I just recently looked at Nora Robert’s bookprint. I love her, I read all the books of hers I can get my hands on.  I buy her hardbacks at used book stores and from the Friends of the Library book sale.

I think everyone should have a bookprint.  Thinking about our lives and the books that have made an impression on us is important.  If you have children, this is one way to help them become readers!  When kids see adults reading, it reinforces the fact that reading is important.  Some research says that it’s not even so important WHAT you read, as it is that you read SOMETHING.

Scholastic’s list of bookprints has 5 books each. I don’t know if I can narrow my list down to 5.  I’ve often wondered if I was stranded on a deserted island what books I would want with me. (Because as long as I had some books and something to eat, being stranded on a deserted island wouldn’t be a bad thing.)

So what’s your bookprint? What books made you? What books changed your life?

A Love Letter

I got a love letter tonight. It came in an envelope, with a stamp.

 

The envelope was even signed:

 

My letter had an illustration: 

 

And it said:

 

It came from this cutie:

And it made my week!!

Losing Even When Your Team Wins. . .

At USF, when I was a student, there was no such thing as Bulls football.  But late in 2006, , I got accepted at FSU.  The instant I got that  acceptance letter,  I felt this strange sense of  HISTORY. FSU has been around for a LONG time, and sports has been a huge part of that.  Personally, I had no lifelong feelings towards any college football team, although my dad always like Florida State.  He was the chaplain for the Pahokee High School football team for years and several of his "boys” went to FSU, and I’ve always known of Bobby Bowden. My dear, dear friends Al and Susan Smith are die hard 'Noles fans, because Mr. Al went to law school there!  I have several other friends who are FSU fans, but I also have dear friends w ho are loyal Gator fans. 

That being said, my school gets my loyalty.   I told a friend once that in my opinion, “degree trumps fan.”  I meant it and still do. As long as I have my degrees from FSU and USF, I will always want FSU and USF to win.  It works the same way with kids. My nephew goes to USF so it will be important to us.  If your kid and/or your money goes somewhere, that’s your team, right? I mean a wise man once said “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

I read a great  quote several years ago, and I’m not even sure where I read it. I have a “Words of Wisdom” board in my room and I’m always looking for good stuff to put up there.   This one just kind of hung out in my brain: “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”  John Wooden said it and I knew NOTHING about him,   until I just read about him on Wikipedia.  (I find it interesting he’s called "the Wizard of Westwood” since I teach at Westwood, but  I’m digressing.

I've never agreed with it so much as after last night's football game. I’m amazed at some of the comments and reactions that flew across my screens.  I thought last night’s game was FABULOUS. Not the kind of game I like – I like it when my team wins by a TON of points, so I’ve been a happy camper all this season.  But here’s what I noticed: sports reveals character, not just of players, but of fans.   To my dismay, several people that I’ve always thought a lot of. . . kind of disappointed  me.  Some of the comments I read were just disheartening.  

Was I excited that “MY” team won? Absolutely!!

Am I thrilled that “MY” team is the National Champions? You bet! 

Am I proud to be a Seminole? From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. 

Did I have ANYTHING to do with it? Absolutely NOT.

Would I have been sad if Auburn had won? Absolutely!

Would I be  bitter if Auburn won? You bet! 

Would I still be proud to be a Seminole? From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.

Do my opinions of the game and my feelings have ANYTHING to do with the outcome? Absolutely NOT.

So here’s my question – why did so many people who “had no dog in that fight” have so many icky things to say?

Nobody that I know lost their job today because FSU won. Nobody  that I know would have a better life today if Auburn held that crystal trophy. Yet there were those who said nasty, hateful things about wanting players to be injured  People maligned the character of young men, who played their guts out to give US a good game. 

So here’s the thing: my team won! Tomorrow, your favorite team wins and mine loses.   Whether it was luck or skill or karma or whatever,  my favorite team won a GAME.    And if one or two things happened differently,  my favorite team  would have lost a GAME.  But the sun still came up this morning, I still had a job to go to, birds still sang, the tide still moved in an out.

Even though my team won, I lost.  I’ve lost some respect for people  whose character was revealed during that game.

A Few of My Favorite (Christmas) Things. . .

I have a lot of STUFF. Too much, if I’m completely honest. I could have a year long yard sale and still have stuff I think. My friend Laquita says she will never buy me any more “things” for presents because I have too much stuff already.  Here’s my problem: I love my stuff. It all means something and I can’t seem to throw it all away. This is some of my favorite Christmas stuff.

My library:

I actually keep it out all year, even thought it has wreaths and Christmas greenery on it. My library was a  gift my from my friends Mr. Al and Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith and I worked together for 14 years before she left me and retired.  The day I got my email telling me I was selected for Project LEAD at FSU,  Mrs. Smith was the first person I told. I went running down the hallway at our school, yelling.  I  (Luckily, it was nearly 5:00 and no one else was there.) I used her phone to call my sisters, because mine was dead!   It was a Wednesday and on Thursday, she and Mr. Al took me to dinner to celebrate.  Mr. Al brought me a gift from the both of them.  He brought me my library and my first FSU item – a little make up bag.   I don’t think any of us realized it would be my only library, even after all this time!!  

My next favorite Christmas “thing” is the little wooden ornament that I call “Butt Boy.”  I just love him.  . .

Years ago, when I was a little girl, my mom painted a set of wooden ornaments for our tree.  He is one of them. I love his little candle and his little footy pajamas.  She let us paint some too, but I was so little mine is a terrible mess. I painted a horribly ugly orange teddy bear, I have it too, but I don’t hang it up.   I always loved this one the best.  These ornaments are double sided- the other side is different.

See why his name is “Butt Boy?”  When we were little, we were VERY sheltered. This was the naughtiest thing we ever saw.  We always decorated our Christmas tree the day we got home from school, the last day before Christmas break. My oldest sister always made us divide up the ornaments evenly, we each chose one and went around and around until all the ornaments were divvied up.  I always tried to grab Butt Boy first.  When my mom died, we each got some of her Christmas ornament. Butt Boy was the first one I grabbed.

I love my Butt Boy and my library. Butt Boy doesn’t necessarily match the rest of my Christmas tree.  I keep my library out all year round. It’s stuff.  I have lots of other stuff. I have my mother’s punch bowl and the 18 or so punch cups that came with it (minus the ones I probably  broke when I was little.)    I have a box of baby quilts that she started and never finished.  I have the scissors with her name on them that she only used for fabric. She used them when she first wen to work when I was a little girl – and when she made all our clothes. I  have some new stuff this year.  I have a copy of the book “Last of the Breed” that I stole from the Seminole County Library system. It’s just a paperback, but I won’t get rid of it either. 

I really don’t need this stuff.  But especially, this time of year, it all means much more.  Laquita, you’re my friend and I love you, but some stuff, we’ll just have to deal with!  

I’m thankful but not for the car dealership. . .

I’m thankful for lots of things, but I haven’t been doing the 28 Days of Thankfulness this year. I’m a little discombobulated  and that just felt like one more thing I’d have to keep up with and feel guilty if I got behind on. That’s not the intention, but that’s how I felt. I’m feeling some odd feelings lately, but the grief lady says that’s OK.

But today, I am particularly thankful for Donald and Kathy Robbins.  They take good care of me.  Today, they took care of my battery issue.  I needed a man to do a nasty job for me, not because I couldn’t do it, but because unfortunately, some places treat you differently if you’re a woman than if you’re a man.  (Just for the record, the Chevrolet Center in Winter Haven is one of those places!)  I had taken myself down there twice and called on the phone and every person I talked to told me something different.  No one wanted to be helpful and everyone just kept giving me the runaround. Unfortunately, I had to deal with them, since that’s where my battery came from. They were pretty icky  - and they made me cry.  I almost cried because I was so mad at them, and then I got even more mad because I almost cried.  Mr. Donald took my battery out of my car, took it back to them, and didn’t leave until they did what they could have done on Monday.  Then, he and Mrs., Kathy brought it back and he put it BACK in my car.  They even tried to give him a little run-around, but he just “out-stubborned” them.

It shouldn’t’ have to be this way, but I’m glad they took care of it for me. I’m thankful for them. They had other things they could have been doing, but they took care of me! I’m very grateful for them.

Puzzles–my new favorite thing

So lately I’m sort of stuck on jigsaw puzzles. It all started a few weeks ago when I bought a package of puzzles to use in Junior Church. I needed four similar puzzles that a group of kids could each work with and I found a Disney pack with 8 puzzles in it.  It was perfect for what I needed. 

Two weeks ago, I saw one of the puzzles in my bag. I thought, let me see that.  So I did it!  And then I did another one. So far, I’ve done six and I’m working on number seven. I’ve done them all except Belle and I’m still working on Snow White. All the animal faces are killing me. There are eyes everywhere looking at me!

See for years, I couldn’t do puzzles at my house. We usually did one on vacation but I couldn’t at my house, because of BubbaCat. His favorite thing to do was get right in front of whatever I was doing. When I was working on my Master’s degree, he often tried to sit on my computer keyboard, between me and the screen. I’m doing them on the coffee table, but if he were here, he’d be lying right in the middle of the puzzle. And every time he got up, there would be puzzle pieces stuck to him. He’d be shoving pieces off onto the floor, never to be seen again.

I tried to figure out why I was stuck on puzzles lately. I think there are several reasons why.  First, it keeps me occupied.  I’m just obsessive compulsive enough to keep working.  Next, I’m having a hard time sleeping. Mix that with the slightly obsessive/compulsive and it’s a good match. Last and most important, working on the puzzle keeps me from going straight to bed when I get home from work.  I want to! Oh boy, do I want to, but going to bed at say 4:45 every day is not a good thing.  

I just bought a set of Christmas puzzles. I’ll start them after Thanksgiving. 

When Words Aren’t Enough

“I’m finding myself at a loss for words” – and you know that doesn’t happen much.  It’s not that I can’t find words, it’s that the ones I need to say aren’t ENOUGH. 

 

Thank you. 

Thank you for praying for our family.

Thank you for bringing us mountains of food. (According to my friend Mrs. Turner: “They won’t need any food – they’ve got the Baptist Church all tied up. They’ll have plenty of food.”  And she was absolutely right.)

Thank you for the flowers. 

Thank you for the donations to Macedonian Missionary Service in his name.

Thank you for saying  “Call me if you need __________” . . .  and meaning  it. 

Thank you for the cards – that are still coming.

Thank you for taking care of the work for my students.

Thank you for taking care of Mrs. Betty when we can’t.

Thank you for telling me that my Daddy was special to you too.

Thank you for loving me through this time in  my life.