JUST WATCHED:
WATCHING:
WANT TO WATCH:
JUST READ:
READING:
WANT TO READ:
PLAYING:
WATCHING:
WANT TO WATCH:
JUST READ:
READING:
WANT TO READ:
PLAYING:
As December unfolded, I promised myself that I wouldn’t make a ton of plans over the holiday break. I SWORE I would leave myself some time to just be lazy.
...YEAH RIGHT! Here is my schedule for the next few days/weeks:
TUESDAY: Working during the day and then going to visit Jessica at night. I’m going to pretend we’re roommates again! This is also the two year anniversary of when Baby Blaine asked me to marry him. NOM NOM NOM
WEDNESDAY: It’s Ryan Akers’s party! Literally. The Ladykiller himself is throwing a holiday shindig complete with karaoke. This is sure to be one of my favorite Christmas festivities.
THURSDAY: Christmas Eve Gift! On Thursday, we’re headed to Arabia for Christmas on my Dad’s side. There’s also a promise of my Grandmother’s beef stew. Can’t wait!
FRIDAY: Christmas morning events include opening presents with immediate family, going to my Grandmother’s on my Mom’s side for extended dirty (dirty, dirty) santa games and breakfast, and then trekking back to T-town. [Brief rest on Christmas afternoon/night]
SATURDAY: Day-after-Christmas blues will be shattered by a rawk show by Vulture Whale at the Bottletree. WOOP
...YEAH RIGHT! Here is my schedule for the next few days/weeks:
TUESDAY: Working during the day and then going to visit Jessica at night. I’m going to pretend we’re roommates again! This is also the two year anniversary of when Baby Blaine asked me to marry him. NOM NOM NOM
WEDNESDAY: It’s Ryan Akers’s party! Literally. The Ladykiller himself is throwing a holiday shindig complete with karaoke. This is sure to be one of my favorite Christmas festivities.
THURSDAY: Christmas Eve Gift! On Thursday, we’re headed to Arabia for Christmas on my Dad’s side. There’s also a promise of my Grandmother’s beef stew. Can’t wait!
FRIDAY: Christmas morning events include opening presents with immediate family, going to my Grandmother’s on my Mom’s side for extended dirty (dirty, dirty) santa games and breakfast, and then trekking back to T-town. [Brief rest on Christmas afternoon/night]
SATURDAY: Day-after-Christmas blues will be shattered by a rawk show by Vulture Whale at the Bottletree. WOOP
TOP FIVE THINGS I LIKE TODAY
1. Going to the gym during the month of DecemberThere is hardly anyone there. Apparently, everyone else in the world has Christmas festivities to attend besides me (not that I’m complaining… although I would like to see some Christmas lights!). No one is there to stare at me, change the television to fishing while I’m on the elliptical, or look better than me in their workout gear. An empty gym a happy Kelly makes.
(Stay tuned for “Going to the gym during the month of January” to appear on the list of things I hate next month.)
2. Teaching The Odyssey to my freshmen
They LOVE it. This unit went over millions of times better than I thought. I was afraid they’d be intimidated by the language at first glance; However, they faced it head on and liked it so much they wanted to keep reading even when the bell rang. Lessons like that remind me why I wanted to teach in the first place.
P.S. If I ever have another pet/child, I am going with Calypso for a girl and Polyphemus for a boy.3, 4, and 5. Mark Ingram
Not only is this guy awesome at football and humble, he gave the most thankful acceptance speech I’ve ever heard. HE THANKED HIS TEACHERS, PEOPLE. What a sweet baby.
TOP FIVE THINGS I DISLIKE TODAY
1. FedEx
If you’re not going to leave my package, that is ok. Just don’t put a note on my door saying you left it when you didn’t. Several phone calls later, you allegedly still have my package, and I’m allegedly angry.
2, 3, and 4. When a student says to me (after 17 weeks in school and many, many grammar lessons), “Hey… what do you mean pronoun? Is that like an adjective?” Count to ten. Walk away.
3. Wintertime
My 9th grade students just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Of course, they loved it! I love watching them start from the beginning, (“UGH Mrs. DUNCAN! This book is so LONG and BOOORRRINNNGG!”) begin to come around in the middle, (“Ok, this isn’t so bad, and Scout’s kind of funny”) and give final, intelligent statements of approval at the end.
Every time I read this book, I take something different away from it. Of course there are the mainstays (i.e. Atticus is a stud). However, it seems that the book is so full of social/economic/psychological commentary that there is always something new to focus on and learn.
After this read, I am thinking about the character of Bob Ewell. Often, I take for granted that everyone is naturally happy, has good intentions, and wants a peaceful existence. That is just not reality.
To say Bob Ewell is the villain in TKAM would be too simplistic. I love the way that Harper Lee gives the reader background on the Ewells before she shows him giving his testimony at the trial and before the reader sees most of his actions. Lee discusses his low economic status and what that means to his family: living by the town dump, too poor to buy shoes or get medicine for his many children, etc. She also makes his alcoholism known early on.
By examining his poor lifestyle and ill-founded pride, Bob Ewell’s actions change from villainous to, honestly, sad. I like to think that he knows what he is doing is wrong, but he has something to prove to himself. Why does Bob attack Jem and Scout instead of Atticus? The answer must be because he was afraid of/intimidated by Atticus. Even still, he attacks the children at night, afraid to get his “revenge” in the daylight. Does Bob Ewell deserve to be pitied? I am still thinking on it.
What about you? Who is your favorite character in To Kill a Mockingbird? Do you have a book that you love to read over and over?
Every time I read this book, I take something different away from it. Of course there are the mainstays (i.e. Atticus is a stud). However, it seems that the book is so full of social/economic/psychological commentary that there is always something new to focus on and learn.
After this read, I am thinking about the character of Bob Ewell. Often, I take for granted that everyone is naturally happy, has good intentions, and wants a peaceful existence. That is just not reality.
To say Bob Ewell is the villain in TKAM would be too simplistic. I love the way that Harper Lee gives the reader background on the Ewells before she shows him giving his testimony at the trial and before the reader sees most of his actions. Lee discusses his low economic status and what that means to his family: living by the town dump, too poor to buy shoes or get medicine for his many children, etc. She also makes his alcoholism known early on.
By examining his poor lifestyle and ill-founded pride, Bob Ewell’s actions change from villainous to, honestly, sad. I like to think that he knows what he is doing is wrong, but he has something to prove to himself. Why does Bob attack Jem and Scout instead of Atticus? The answer must be because he was afraid of/intimidated by Atticus. Even still, he attacks the children at night, afraid to get his “revenge” in the daylight. Does Bob Ewell deserve to be pitied? I am still thinking on it.
What about you? Who is your favorite character in To Kill a Mockingbird? Do you have a book that you love to read over and over?
BEFORE
AFTER
new knobs:
new drawer liner:
took off the wheels, painted, sanded edges:
Piper checking it out:
She approves!
