noting
Oh my. I didn't realize a month had gone by.
It's been a good month. A busy one. I went to Notre Dame for a weekend, and it was wonderful to visit Slotts and campus. It was good to spend time with Theresa. Beth came in town for a weekend, and I also got to visit with Stina and Courtney over that weekend -- it was eventful and busy and really, really fun. I had a long weekend last weekend -- 4 whole days! -- and I spent part of it here and part of it in STL. I read two books (they were great), visited a few Goodwill stores, and started on a new, big knitting project. I spent time at school getting ready for NHS selection, feeling like a paragon of efficiency, since I got the info I needed one Wednesday to let students know they were eligible, and had all necessary information back from those students (and from the teachers, about those students) by the following Wednesday. I voted, I watched scary movies on Halloween, I hung out with my cousins, I had a game night while Beth was in town, I went and made ugly quilts with her, my mom, her mom, and my godmother.
I really was coming here to list some books I'm getting rid of. I decided a while back that I would, but it took me a while to commit the time to sorting through them. But I was feeling decisive tonight, so I did it. Here's my list. It's significant -- a total of 93. Some of the books will go straight to Goodwill, and others will go to my classroom for lending purposes, and others I'm going to pass along to a friend who teaches 6th grade. (All of the books I'm getting rid of are Newbery Honor books; I'm keeping the award-winner collection, but it doesn't make sense to me to keep working toward collecting the hundreds of other honor books that I don't already have. And if that doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense to keep all of these, too. [I'm looking toward a move this summer, whether I stay here or not, and trying to envision having *all* the books I have to move, again.])
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
The Silver Pencil, The Avion My Uncle Flew, The Great Wheel, The Moved-Outers, Crazy Lady!, The Courage of Sarah Noble, The Hundred Penny Box, Rules, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Penny from Heaven, Dragonwings, Dragon's Gate, After the Rain, To Be a Slave, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, The Golden Fleece & the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, Nothing but the Truth; Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush; Enchantress from the Stars, What Hearts, A Girl Named Disaster, The House of the Scorpion, Belle Prater's Boy, Hattie Big Sky, The Apple and the Arrow: The Legend of William Tell, The Wednesday Wars, Annie and the Old One, On My Honor, The Black Cauldron, The Cow-Tail Switch, The Wanderer, Princess Academy, Lily’s Crossing, The Black Pearl, Dogsong, The Winter Room, A Long Way from Chicago, Tree of Freedom, A String in the Harp, Surviving the Applewhites, Fog Magic, The Headless Cupid, Yolanda's Genius, The Fledgling, The Road from Home, The Gammage Cup, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Wringer, The Golden Goblet, Gone-Away Lake, Blue Willow, Calico Bush, Moccasin Trail, Knee-knock Rise; Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth; Joey Pigza Loses Control, Figgs & Phantoms, Abel's Island, Indian Captive, Afternoon of the Elves, A Fine White Dust, Swift Rivers, The Moorchild, Red Sails to Capri, The Good Master, Homesick: My Own Story, One-Eyed Cat, Our Only May Amelia, Rascal, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Elijah of Buxton, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Sing Down the Moon, The Upstairs Room; Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe.; The Dark is Rising, My Brother Sam is Dead, Across Five Aprils, The Sign of the Beaver, The Witches of Worm, Banner in the Sky, Hatchet, The Planet of Junior Brown, A Solitary Blue, The Noonday Friends, Many Waters, Olive's Ocean, Hoot, The Cricket in Times Square
That's it!
It's been a good month. A busy one. I went to Notre Dame for a weekend, and it was wonderful to visit Slotts and campus. It was good to spend time with Theresa. Beth came in town for a weekend, and I also got to visit with Stina and Courtney over that weekend -- it was eventful and busy and really, really fun. I had a long weekend last weekend -- 4 whole days! -- and I spent part of it here and part of it in STL. I read two books (they were great), visited a few Goodwill stores, and started on a new, big knitting project. I spent time at school getting ready for NHS selection, feeling like a paragon of efficiency, since I got the info I needed one Wednesday to let students know they were eligible, and had all necessary information back from those students (and from the teachers, about those students) by the following Wednesday. I voted, I watched scary movies on Halloween, I hung out with my cousins, I had a game night while Beth was in town, I went and made ugly quilts with her, my mom, her mom, and my godmother.
I really was coming here to list some books I'm getting rid of. I decided a while back that I would, but it took me a while to commit the time to sorting through them. But I was feeling decisive tonight, so I did it. Here's my list. It's significant -- a total of 93. Some of the books will go straight to Goodwill, and others will go to my classroom for lending purposes, and others I'm going to pass along to a friend who teaches 6th grade. (All of the books I'm getting rid of are Newbery Honor books; I'm keeping the award-winner collection, but it doesn't make sense to me to keep working toward collecting the hundreds of other honor books that I don't already have. And if that doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense to keep all of these, too. [I'm looking toward a move this summer, whether I stay here or not, and trying to envision having *all* the books I have to move, again.])
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
The Silver Pencil, The Avion My Uncle Flew, The Great Wheel, The Moved-Outers, Crazy Lady!, The Courage of Sarah Noble, The Hundred Penny Box, Rules, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Penny from Heaven, Dragonwings, Dragon's Gate, After the Rain, To Be a Slave, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, The Golden Fleece & the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, Nothing but the Truth; Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush; Enchantress from the Stars, What Hearts, A Girl Named Disaster, The House of the Scorpion, Belle Prater's Boy, Hattie Big Sky, The Apple and the Arrow: The Legend of William Tell, The Wednesday Wars, Annie and the Old One, On My Honor, The Black Cauldron, The Cow-Tail Switch, The Wanderer, Princess Academy, Lily’s Crossing, The Black Pearl, Dogsong, The Winter Room, A Long Way from Chicago, Tree of Freedom, A String in the Harp, Surviving the Applewhites, Fog Magic, The Headless Cupid, Yolanda's Genius, The Fledgling, The Road from Home, The Gammage Cup, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Wringer, The Golden Goblet, Gone-Away Lake, Blue Willow, Calico Bush, Moccasin Trail, Knee-knock Rise; Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth; Joey Pigza Loses Control, Figgs & Phantoms, Abel's Island, Indian Captive, Afternoon of the Elves, A Fine White Dust, Swift Rivers, The Moorchild, Red Sails to Capri, The Good Master, Homesick: My Own Story, One-Eyed Cat, Our Only May Amelia, Rascal, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Elijah of Buxton, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Sing Down the Moon, The Upstairs Room; Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe.; The Dark is Rising, My Brother Sam is Dead, Across Five Aprils, The Sign of the Beaver, The Witches of Worm, Banner in the Sky, Hatchet, The Planet of Junior Brown, A Solitary Blue, The Noonday Friends, Many Waters, Olive's Ocean, Hoot, The Cricket in Times Square
That's it!