Book Review

I have a dirty little secret. It's shocking. I mean really scandalous. Ready?!?! I am not a great reader. Don't mistake this sentence. Contrary to Matthew's taunts, I can read ( I have a masters in education, people) I just am not good at it. I read for speed, not comprehension. See, I was THAT kid. You know, the one in your class that had to finish first and have a 100. I needed to finish, I had to use the time other kids took retaining information to practice my tap routine under my desk.

But I love books. Truly I do. I get sucked into stories, I think about them when I wake up, and I wonder what the characters are doing while I should be teaching. And I love non fiction too! History especially. So enrolled at audible.com this past summer. And I LOVE it!!! It's perfect for me.

1. I am in the car for approximately an hour a day
2. I listen to lots of music all day for a living and I need a break when I'm alone in the car
3. I am an audible learner, I retain info I hear not info I see
4. I generally like to "wing it" while driving and enjoy zoning out

OK 4, is untrue, I'm a super safe driver. But you get my point. Audiobooks aren't just for Gramma anymore. They pretty much rock. I have gone from reading 1 pop fiction book a summer to finishing a novel per month, and sometimes two. For me that is awesome. And since my amazing (mocking) husband got me a kindle I can easily read anywhere now so at any given time I'm usually in the middle of 2-3 books.

So since June...here is what I have enjoyed and highly recommend. I will not review them, as my husband abhors when people give everything about a good book or movie away when suggesting them.

The Help: If you haven't heard of this book you are living under a rock. It is amazing, worth every bit of hype. Historical Fiction

Water for Elephants: Coming to theaters in April. An enchanting, fast moving love triangle with circus animals.
Historical Fiction, Romance

Looking for non fiction? The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks:A fascinating true story of a working class black women in the age of civil rights that diagnoses her own cervical cancer, dies, and subsequently has her tumor stolen from her in the name of medicine and science.

If you want to get addicted, I suggest the Hunger games trilogy. I finished all three in less than three weeks. AH-MA-ZING. I will give no more away.

A good old fashioned murder mystery? I cannot recommend Faithful Place enough. I found every spare second in my day to listen to this story. It is set in Ireland and the audio of the Irish narrator made it especially riveting.

I followed Faithful place with one of the authors early novels hoping for the same feeling, and was let down. In the woods, French's debut novel was good, but if you are going to read  both, read this one first. It will be a fun story and then Faithful Place will blow you away.

So those are my picks for now. On the kindle I finished Chealsea Handler's comedies and they were great bedtime reading! Hilarious short story chapters perfect way to relax into sleep.

I am currently in the middle of Cutting for Stone and loving it. I'll let you know how it turns out!

What are you reading or listening too? Maybe I'll add it to my queue!

You're Welcome

Courtesy of http://www.thebestpictureontheinternet.com/

Fun Times in the City

Sorry I've been MIA. I had an incredible weekend with great friends, then early early (1am) Sunday caught the stomach flu : (

Let's focus on the good. Friday night we had two great friends, and their two awesome kiddos over. I love these particular people very much, but I have a dirty secret. I did not invite them over to see them, well not just them. They just added a member to their family that I had to meet, and so should you!

This is Lollipop!

 

I bribed her with a blanket so that she would like me. But it looks like blanket or no, I was not her favorite.

Saturday night, we met up with some other awesome friends, who also happen to be Wesley's Godparents, so yeah we kinda like them...here's Cliff playing with his girl

We (Cliff, Stephanie and us) got to hang out with some very good out of town friends that included Jared all the way from Indianopolis and Brandon from Nashville! Brandon brought along a friend that had NEVER been to Memphis so we hit the tourist spots. Which was actually really fun since I, a lifelong Memphian, rarely do anything "Memphisy."

First we hit up the car show, cause that's Memphisy?!?! Actually it was better than I expected. Fun to sit in all the new cars and not be hassled by the pushy sales guys!

Then we stood in line for 1.5 hrs to get into The Rendevous. Let me tell you it was worth the wait. I have eaten rendezvous food, I am from Memphis, but never been to the actual restaurant. It is so much better when fresh and real, and in it's element. We had great food and great company.

We next moved our party to Beale Street. Let me tell you the last time I was on Beale, I was 34 weeks preggo and not digging the night life or being dug for that matter. So this was much more fun. We enjoyed the music grabbed a fruity adult beverage and reveled in general loitering.

We ended up at a quiet restaurant on Second enjoying mac and cheese, chocolate mousse and scotch (as individuals, separately).

We parted ways around 10:30. Or as Matt put it "An hour and a half before his parents would have expected him home in high school." So we're old. We obviously still know how to have a good time!

UPDATE***** We also started a game Saturday night trying to name fish after country singers. It was way too fun. You should try it at http://countryfishnames.tumblr.com/

Introducing: My Kid

It's been happening for a while now. I knew it would. But something has changed this week. Maybe it's the fact that she has hair long enough to do pigtails.

 

Maybe it's because she knows how to swing in a real swing.

 

Maybe it's because all she wants in the world is "underwears."

I have a big kid now.

Be my Valentine

I have a very talented friend, we'll call her LJ. She made some snowman candy cane holders for Wesley's class this past Christmas and they were a big hit! I wish I had a picture, but I forgot to take any before we handed them out, trust me AH-dorable.

So, now that I have my own machine, I decided I could make lollipop holders for Wesley's class for Valentines. I found an adorable pattern for 6 different conversation hearts. You know the ones, taste like stale air and raw sugar. I love them!

So I started working on them last night and Wesley decided she needed to help, first she needed to get her supplies organized: spray adhesive, felt,scissors, computer, M&M's the basics:

Next to position the heart in the hoop:

 

And our finished product!

Now we only have 10 more to go.....

For your information

So, I've taken the classes and I have been doing  A LOT of practicing since December! I've even successfully filled 2 "orders."

I think I am ready to officially put out a price list and start taking orders.

Here are some things for my future customers to take into account

1. I am new, not perfect.
2. I have cheaper prices (see #1)
3. I have a small machine, (on purpose so I had something to learn on) so I can only do 4in x 4in designs, perfect for kids shirts!
4. I am addicted and can see a larger machine in my future : )

If you are interested here are my general prices:

Monogram (1 Letter-Large)- $2
Monogram (3 letters- large last initial, medium first and middle)- $4
Full name-$4

Applique (1 letter/Fabric)- $3
Applique (design only)- $6 (If I own the design already, if I have to purchase the design add $1)
Applique (design and Name or Monogram)- $8

All above prices are for provided items. If I need to find and buy the item you want monogrammed, I will just roll that into the charge.

I will post all designs I currently own soon, and I post pictures of what I have done in the upper right corner of this blog. I can find almost anything in an applique so if you have something specific, just email me your ideas/needs and we can get started!

Heirlooms

My mother is also a teacher. And keeping with the theme of the week, here is a quick story of one her students this week.

In honor of black history month, mom read a book about heritage and heirlooms etc. Something about a family that passed down something for many generations. Then she gave them an assignment: go home and discover something your family has had for several generations. Find out why it is important to your family. Write about it and report back next week.

One student raised his hand and asked if the heirloom could be a body part. "Well," said mom "I have heard of families keeping locks of hair.....is that what you mean?" "No" said the student. "What kind of body part then?" asks mom. "Ears" says the student. "Your family keeps ears?!?!" "Everyone always says I have my grandfathers ears" says the student.

My friend Henry, That's Super Henry to you!

I have a tiny Kindergarten student named Henry (not really, but I can't put student's real names on the internet). I've had Henry for 2 years now, PK and K. I love him. He is scrawny and quirky. He turns his coat into a cape. And when I asked the kids at the beginning of the year what they go by, i.e. Christopher=Chris, Henry told me he always went by Super Henry.

Since I tend to pick my battles in public school, I saw no problem in addressing Henry as Super Henry. About 3 months ago, Super Henry began bringing friends to class. First he brought Rick. Rick is imaginary, but very well-behaved. After a few weeks of telling me Rick was there, Henry started to tell me he was also bringing Sara. So we had 17 regular Kindergartners and Rick and Sara, the invisible ones. I loved it, they answered questions, via sign language only Henry could repeat and interpret for me. They had their own squares and I even gave them turns on the instruments. Although they never took me up on my offer.

So today Henry came to music and informed me that Rick, Sarah AND Joe were here! Ok, I said great. We went about our lesson. They all did great, we played a song on the glockenspiels about the groundhog called "Fuzzy little fellow" in honor of the holiday today. When we finished all my darlings lined up and their classroom teacher came to get them. Henry happened to be one of the last ones out. He leaned to me on his way out and said "Mrs. Washburn, I brought three today because I thought you were ready to handle it, and you did!"

I guess I'm doing something right, if Henry can trust me with THREE imaginary friends.