Student-led Book Clubs

I read a lovely post over at The Brain Lair, discussing book clubs she’s tried in the past, what she is working on now as well as ideas for the future. She’s a middle school librarian with great ideas. I wish she lived and worked in my district so we could partner up our students. At least I would know my book club students could graduate to her book clubs, which would keep them reading through those tough middle years.

I’ve hosted library book clubs for the last four years and started one my last year in Arkansas for a total of five years book clubbing with kids. It’s not an easy task but one that can be exceptionally rewarding. For me, it’s all about lifting students up to a higher level of reading. Everything about school becomes easier once you’ve mastered good reading.

I offer up that enjoying good literature brings you long-term happiness as a person. Really…[don’t we all agree out here in the book blogging world]…I envision the kids that participate will go on to middle and high school book clubs, library trips, college degrees coupled with a long term love of literature for almost every book club student. Not to say all the other students will be unhappy, miserable adults but I’m just saying, book clubs help. Okay, maybe it’s a lofty goal but I aim high.

I have two groups of fifth grade students, one group [5 girls] are reading The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I love this book because it isn’t the Disney idea of princess. Students have preconcieved notions just from the title but they quickly learn there is so much more to this academy. It is a rough and tumble existence with miner’s daughter’s and my student’s can relate to and enjoy this aspect.

The second group [7 boys and girls] are reading Peter and the Starcatcher’s by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This is a great prequel to J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan. We are watching small portions of Peter Pan while we eat just to catch some students up [many of them hadn’t seen anything other than the cartoon.]

Students are required to come to each meeting with their book and their required chapters read. Each week we have a new discussion leader, who tries hard to come with open-ended questions-it’s a struggle but they get better at it. They learn to work together, give each other the opportunity to talk and are empathetic to each other’s opinions. Do you have student book clubs at your school? What has been successful for you?

If you’ve read The Princess Academy, try the quiz from Hale’s website: beginners and advanced.
Shannon Hale’s amazing website
Peter and the Starcatcher’s website
Ridley Pearson’s website.
Dave Barry’s website
I found these discussion questions for Peter.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

I like this cover even though this is not the version I read.
Why two such different covers?

I worship at the feet of Ms. Kingsolver’s immense writing skills. I’ve been a fan since I happened upon The Bean Trees way back in college. Her books have an earthiness to them and thus highly appealing to me. I’ve read and enjoyed most everything she’s written. The Lacuna scared me at first because of its size…507 pages and also I’d heard many negative reports from friends both in person and in the blogging world. Many readers looked forward to The Lacuna’s publication date, reserved new copies at the library or ordered them and then abandoned the book half way through. I was crushed but knew eventually I would pick it up myself. Luckily a dear friend from my Good Spirits Book Club finished it, praised it and handed it to me to read. While I can understand why some gave up…I loved it and was once again impressed with Kingsolver’s amazing talent.

GoodReads Synopsis:

In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.

     Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.
     Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America’s hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.
     With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.

My thoughts:

I was amazed by the amount of research it must have taken for Kingsolver to create this truly multi-layered work. Harrison Shepherd drew me into his story, told mostly through journal entries and letters. His mother, both despicable and human, raises Harrison without any sense of home, always striving for a new and better boyfriend/husband/meal ticket/companion. She never finds fullfillment in her own life but somehow through her twisted, topsy-turvy life Harrison is satisfied with the simple side of his life.

He finds solace in writing, keeping a journal of sorts, and allowing life to lead him to work. I so enjoyed meeting Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky within the first half of Harrison’s Mexico story. I had an inkling of Trotsky’s relationship to Kahlo and Rivera but this book made me want to know more. I want to go back and watch the 2002 movie, Frida starring Salma Hayek and I’m interested in Trotsky’s ideas. I wonder if there is other historical fiction that includes Leon Trotsky’s early life in Russia.

The second half of the book takes place in Asheville where Violet Brown picks up Harrison’s thread as she works as his Girl Friday. Her character brings a new form of friendship to Harrison’s life as she takes care of him like a mother or a sister would, appreciating all of Harrison’s quirkiness. I loved the depth of this book and enjoyed discussing varying elements with my husband. If you haven’t given this book a try please do…it has, for me, put Kingsolver’s work on another literary level.

Check out Barbara Kingsolver’s website
Find it at an IndieBound bookstore near you…The Lacuna

Other bits about The Lacuna:

The Blue Bookcase
Molly’s Cafe Books
decemberthirty
and Amy at Totally Uninspired

Weekend Cooking and lemon love

My mother has given me a subscription to Eating Well for the last two years. I like it but it is much more meat oriented than I need. I do enjoy the get healthy articles and the pictures are lovely but Vegetarian Times still rules at my house.

When Eating Well arrived yesterday I did my normal quick perusal and found a beautiful article about lemons; it made me dreamy for warmer weather in a state other than my own. Lemons bring forth thoughts of California, Arizona; two places I’ve been lucky enough to pick lemons fresh from the tree, that pungent, beautiful smell as you snap it from the tiny limb.
Melissa Pasanen has obviously had a similar experience as she shares in her article “When Life Gives You Lemons” (Feb. 2011/p. 52).

She writes; ” I know what to do with bushels of zucchini and a cellar full of turnips, but when life gave me loads of lemons I was almost overcome by the riches.” I know what to do with overflowing baskets of tomatoes and zucchini but when I buy one lemon from the grocery store it is a treasure-imagine if I had a tree out back-there would be fresh lemonade everday. Melissa goes on to explain how a temporary move to New Zealand brings her to an abandoned lemon tree down the road. She now has access to free lemons any time she wants and she comes home with a new appreciation for the yellow orb.

I share today the one recipe I may make today from the article:

Lemon-Cranberry Muffins
Makes: 1 dozen
Active Time: 25 mins./Total: 1 hour

1/2 cup plus 2 T. sugar divided
3/4 cup nonfat yogurt
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
3 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
2 T. lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal, med. or fine stone-ground
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen (thawed), coarsely chopped(food processor)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
2. Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, yogurt, lemon, oil, egg, 2 tsp lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium bowl.
3. Whish flour, cornmeal, b. powder, b. soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add the yogurt mixture and fold until almost blended. Gently fold in cranberries. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Combine the remaining 2 T. sugar and 1 remaining tsp. lemon zest in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the tops of the muffins.
4. Bake muffins until golden brown and they spring back lightly to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 5 more minutes before serving.

(187 calories per muffin, 7 grams of fat)

Can’t you just taste the burst of cranberries with the zesty lemon flavor!
Yum.

Eating Well website
The article link is here: When Life Gives You Lemons
This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme…anybody can play along with your own food-related post.

We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes

by Patrick Jennings

2009

121 pages

This is the cutest little book told from a gopher snake’s point-of-view. I never would have picked it up myself (big dislike for snakes) but Patrick Jennings is coming to town and I thought Groovy Girl and I should read a few of his titles. He obviously has a thing for animals as many of his other books are animal-related, like Guinea Dog.
We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes begins:

I had shed a skin the day of my capture. As always, the sloughing left me famished, so I curled up under a shady patch of creosote and eagerly awaited the first rodent to cross my path. Gopher was at the top of my list, though I was so hungry that I’d gladly have settled for even a nasty, gristly shrew.
A rodent did not cross my path first that morning, however. A lower life form did: a human. (1)

     And so it goes that the human, Gunnar, captures the gopher snake, taking him out of his natural environment and thrusting him in a cage, right next to other prisoners/animals; a tarantula, a desert tortoise, and an alligator lizard. Gunnar is a despicable boy, who loves his video games more than the animals he captures. Oh sure, for awhile he dotes on Crusher, the name he bestows on his new pet snake, but he is not a loving caretaker. He reminded me of the mean boy, Sid, in Toy Story-remember him! Gunnar is more dim-witted but he is not the character we are meant to love.  I really wanted the mom to tell him “NO more animals” but she never does. Only for the point of funny fiction I let it go!
    This book does such a marvelous job of thinking like a snake, in complex detail and Groovy Girl and I enjoyed how Crusher deciphers the human world. The other fantastic detail of this story is the communication that occurs between Gunnar’s “zoo”- thoughts are transferred to each other so what Crusher thinks is transmitted to the others in cages near him…other animals that he might eat if he weren’t trapped in the glass box. It’s funny to hear the animals sarcastically “teach” Crusher how it’s gonna be in captivity and hear how Crusher tries to work his relationship with Gunnar. Relationships form between the animals, you could call it friendship, even with a mouse dropped into Crusher’s cage meant for dinner. The thrill of eating a mouse in captivity doesn’t seem fair and the mouse and Crusher share the cage much to the great disappointment of Gunnar.
     I plan to book talk this with my 3rd-5th grade students-my guess is it will be a hit with boys first. It’s a quick read-we finished within a week, reading a few of the 13 chapters a night. I think this would make a perfect read-aloud to show students what “voice” is; to put themselves in to another being would be a great writing assignment. I’m anxious to now meet the author who writes such quirky stories for kids-he must be funny. His website is funny. He must be funny.

Patrick Jennings website
Kidsreads talks about it.
Click on the title and find it at an Indie store near you-We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes

Ninth War (excellent middle grade read)

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

2010

217 pages

Hurrican Katrina swept through the city of New Orleans almost 6 years ago. Wow. I remember watching it unfold on the news every day and wishing I had the means to get there and help-do anything. Even though I watched it I can’t imagine what it would be like to be there-this book gave me the feeling of being there. If I had been there I would have wanted to be with Lanesha.

Synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in tight-knit community in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward. She doesn’t have a fancy house, like her uptown family, or lots of friends, like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya’s visions show a powerful hurricane-Katrina-fast approaching, it’s up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.

My thoughts:

This is the powerful story of Lanesha, raised by Mama Ya-Ya, able to see ghosts, especially her dead mother. Her mother died in childbirth and Mama Ya-Ya, the mid-wife, raised Lanesha as her own, loving her and filling her with knowledge of signs and the world around her. The relationship between Lanesha and Mama Ya-Ya is strong and both of them have special talents that set them apart from their neighbors. Even though Lanesha has had trouble fitting in she is now in a new middle school and she’s met a new friend as well as a teacher who sees talent in her. She is busy dealing with her day-to-day life when Mama Ya-Ya senses the storm’s arrival. Lanesha shines as she takes the predictions seriously enough to get her and Mama Ya-Ya to the upstairs bathtub where they live through the hurricane. Lanesha’s strength shows through as she gets them to higher ground and takes the neighbor boy with them to the attic. The scene in the attic is amazing as Lanesha figures out what she must do and is able to leave behind everything that is familiar to her.
Ninth Ward made Katrina come alive for me as a reader. I could feel the water rise and Lanesha’s panic as well as her ability to see what they had to do to stay alive. She figures it out step-by-step like a math problem; something to be solved and move on to the next step. Students will love reading about Lanesha’s struggles with friendship even as she conquers the rising flood waters. I’m so glad to have read this story-I feel richer knowing more about how this time in New Orleans unfolded so quickly.

Perfect Quote:

“Do you know why your momma is still here?” (Mama Ya-Ya)
I swallow.
“She wasn’t sure you were going to be all right. The world can be a hard place sometimes, Lanesha. You have to have heart. You have to be strong. Not just any strong, mind you, but loving strong. Your testing should’ve come much, much later. But when it came, you shined with love and strength.”
“You’re my strength,” I say, confused my Mama Ya-Ya’s words. I’m not sure what I’m feeling. It’s not pure happiness, but something sour. Bittersweet. (144-145)

Other thoughts:
Stacy at Welcome to my Tweendom.
Tanya at books4yourkids.
the Kid’s Book Club has Lanesha’s recipes.
Jewel Parker Rhodes website

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. “

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. “

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

“[I]t is necessary to understand that Black Power is a cry of disappointment. The Black Power slogan did not spring full grown from the head of some philosophical Zeus. It was born from the wounds of despair and disappointment. It is a cry of daily hurt and persistent pain.”

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Divine Intervention and Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads-click and read her wonderful post on Ina Garten’s Vegetable Tian

Yesterday was a crazy Saturday for this family. I was up at 6:00 to get Teenage Boy to school by 6:30 so he could get on the bus for a jazz competition. I had to follow the bus because I am “never” given the paper with the details of these events. When asked, Teenage Boy said, “oh, yah it’s in my locker.” A few days before he told us the event was in Union (a town 1 1/2 hours away) but because God gave me some sense I changed my original plan, which was to drive to Union using GPS and meet the bus when it arrived into town, then follow it to the school. I changed that plan just two blocks away when I flipped a u-turn and drove back to his school and calmly waited for the bus to leave. Divine Intervention as the event was only 20 minutes away at Union H.S., in a different small town-the complete opposite direction of where I would have been had I not turned around. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone but it would be so nice to get the facts, man!

After the event when I spirited him away from the competition I took him to IHop(not exactly the haven for local, organic or healthy food but it was for the Boy) for breakfast and some quiet time together. I knew our next event; a big funeral at our church, was going to be diffiuclt for the boy as the funeral was for a 96-year-old man; a mentor to Teenage Boy so I listened to my German grandmother whispering to me “Feed Him.” Yes, grandmother I’m still listening. While he and I were at jazz and breakfast, my husband had Groovy Girl at skating and by 10:20 we all met up for the funeral. To make the day even more thrilling my mom was in town so we could celebrate her birthday. Mom and I spent the late afternoon at a sweet Italian place having drinks and calamari. It was delicious, fun and we had a great waiter.

But the real food I want to share is what I made the night before (Friday) for the funeral luncheon. Mom, husband and I were watching Winter’s Bone (four stars) when at 10 p.m. I infamously said, “oh, I need to make bars” quickly followed by “and I have no eggs.” My egg supplier (another teacher) is having chicken troubles but have no fear I googled bar recipes w/out eggs and viola-this recipe popped up. Love it when the internet actually gives me what I want.

I made the bars in 15 minutes (during the last part of the movie) and had tons of compliments at church. Seriously, that never happens to me-my family can laughingly tell you because usually my stuff is labeled the “healthy” or “meat-free” stuff-making it much less worthy in their church lady eyes so a compliment was HUGE!! I had three ladies ask me for the recipe and they were joking with me about how they didn’t want to put my bars out on the table so they could just eat them in the kitchen…big score for me. I’ll be humble though and just graciously share it here with you. Cookie Madness, the blog that produced these wonderful egg-free bars is now under my peaceful food blog roll, which grows everyday. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Brown Sugar & Honey Pecan Bars

Crust:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed (light)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut up

Filling:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 scant teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (light)
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cups coarsely chopped, lightly toasted pecans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 inch metal pan with non-stick foil or line with regular foil and spray with baking spray. (I doubled the recipe and used a 9 x 13-inch pan) Covering it with tinfoil made it so easy to lift bars out and easy clean up)

Prepare crust. Combine flour, brown sugar and salt in food processor and pulse 3 times to mix. Add butter and process until mixture is crumbly – it will be really dry. Pour over bottom of pan and press tightly. Bake for 20 minutes.

Prepare the filling. In a heavy saucepan melt the butter. When the butter is completely melted, stir in salt, brown sugar and honey. Simmer mixture for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in cream, vanilla and pecans.

Pour the pecan mixture over crust and spread evenly. Bake on center rack for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for at least an hour. To quick-cool, let them cool down as much as possible then shove them in the refrigerator.

Lift foil from pan and carefully cut into bars. I like to trim off the edges, cut the bars into 8 rectangles, then cut each rectangle into a square. It’s easy to do this if you have a big cutting board and a Chef’s knife.

Makes 16 squares (or 32 bars, if doubled)
____________________________________________________________________________________________

They were perfect chewy bars and great for adult events. My kids are not nut lovers unless it is ground up and called peanut butter.

This post is dedicated to Harold L. Brock-we thank you for your life lessons, your inspiration and for finding the light inside Teenage Boy. We know it will be alright, thanks to you. Peace.

****Honesty Disclaimer: Family….I am well aware that we actually fit more in our day than just these listed events but if I tell my one reader about the mid-year graduation, TB’s two soccer games and the bluegrass music event Daddy played for after the funeral-it will just seem like we are crazy!!

Martin's BIG Words by Doreen Rappaport

Oh, how we still need the optimistic and hopeful words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Obvious still today when you read the papers and listen to true current events. While we’ve achieved some of Dr. King’s goals of peace and equality, we haven’t made it to the mountain top. People are still killed because of what they believe, hate runs through many and equality has not shown up on everyone’s doorstep. Today has its own hot button issues. No longer are we protesting segregation based on skin color but we do protest the hatred that is still oh, so prevalent. I love Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier’s book, Martin’s Big Words. I read it today to all of my classes and we had great discussion about it. With two classes we were able to compare the Civil Rights struggle to more current events. The tragedy in Tuscon came quickly to mind.

In his own words:

“Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”

“Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together.”

“Love is the key to the problems of the world.”

See how each of them is such a universal truth. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where, even if you didn’t love what someone else was talking about, that you just let it go. Where you might just say “I just don’t feel that way.” And if you are filled with hatred about someone you can’t go to a gun show and buy a weapon and wake up one day and decide today is the day.

The Civil Rights struggle of today is to give same-sex couples the right to be married, to share benefits, rights guaranteed in the constitution. I understand the fear in this issue but just like seperate is not equal, equal is not equal until all adult Americans can marry and love who they choose. Who will stand up for their civil rights?

I know I am a dreamer and am fully aware that hate and evil will always be with us-I just wish we could get to a higher level of dealing with hatred but after watching a Dr. King video on You Tube with students I noticed below how truly reprehensible the comments were…and they were only made yesterday, not 25 years ago.

One child at a time is what my mind tells me…
I read the book and talked about how I wanted them to wake up on Saturday, Jan. 15 and celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and to do the same on Monday-I really tried hard to get them to understand that it was not just a free day off. Kids are receptive and took my message and maybe, just maybe they will spread that love homeward.

Rappaport’s book is a triple award-winner and beyond!!

For more information:

The King Center
Doreen Rappaport’s website.
Bryan Collier’s website.

Peace,

Peaceful Piggy Meditation

by Kerry Lee MacLean

2004

This is just the kind of book I love to find and share at Peaceful Reader; one that focuses on how to make our world calm. This book is simple with out being preachy or over-the-top. It begins like this:

“Sometimes the world can be such a busy, noisy place. Sometimes it feels like you always have to hurry, hurry, hurry…”

We feel like that at our house many days and from blog hopping around so do many other families. This book gives you clear reasons why we all could use a little daily meditation and how to fit it in with ease.

“Peaceful piggies know when to take a break, find a spot and just breathe, breathe, breathe.”

This is a great book to help at home and at school, as kids can do this at their desk, during testing, anytime they need to find that power within. We do live in a stressful world-one with many worries for children-and having an activity they can count on to bring them back to a peaceful feeling has gotta be a fantastic teaching tool.

P.S. Kerry Lee does her own illustrations, which are charmingly cute, making her extraordinarily talented!
Browsing around her website I discovered three other titles: Moody Cow Meditates, The Family Meditation Book and Peaceful Piggy Yoga-all available for purchase at her website.

For more information:

Kerry Lee’s meditation website.

Find it here at an IndieBound book store-Peaceful Piggy Meditation.
and while browsing I found this site, Luck Duck Children’s Books, with an awesome list of alternative titles for kids-many of the books I love like The Peace Book by Todd Parr are on this list.

Yoga Community

The yoga studio where I have participated in several events and taken classes had their one-year anniversary tonight and I was asked to be there as a yoga student and as a blogger-and it was so much fun. I took my little Groovy Girl (as she is a little yogi) and we set up my laptop, a few yoga books and my cards. We drank tea and visited with lots of current, former, and future yoga students. I ran into a ton of people I hadn’t seen in ages and met some new and interesting people. I also met another local fellow blogger-Mariah, who writes about food at Green Swamp Soup. We had a great time chatting about mutual interests in local foods, co-ops, and our meat-eating sons. Groovy Girl and I were able to participate in an hour long yoga class, stretching and sharing a mat together as the studio was filled to the brim with happy do-ers. It took me back to when she was just a wee thing, watching me do yoga at home and would climb on to my mat with me and bend in tandem. Oh, my they grow so fast!

I feel refreshed, renewed and ready to start yoga classes again next week. I have a New Year’s resolution to go for ten weeks. I have another NY’s resolution, which was to get to sleep closer to the 10:00 pm hour so I can wake up early, stretch and be prepared for my day. Hmmm. Here it is, 11:10-oops!

**** Another confesion…that is not me doing that amazing yoga pose above. I know, you’re shocked.