Teachingmommy: Nice, Long Weekend

Friday, February 15, 2008

Nice, Long Weekend

We're coming up on a 3 day weekend!! Yay!! It was my (gulp!) 33rd birthday yesterday and I really had a nice day. My students made me a cake, gave me all sorts of super-tacky gifts and it was all very sweet.

Maelin gave me a very sweet card that thanked me for cleaning up her puke, changing her pants and all the things I do. It had a gift certificate for a deluxe pedicure with it! The girl does things right...

Kevin said he'll either pay for me to go visit Aunt Vanessa in Seattle this spring or to go see My Fair Lady when it comes this spring. Hmmmmmmm...I REALLY want to go to Seattle during my spring break, but it's right before Maelin's first birthday party and I can't imagine sitting on the plane w/ Maelin and trying to keep her quiet and still. Doesn't seem like much fun.

I'll have to think about it. Any thoughts?

Maelin, Kevin and I are finally starting to feel better. Maelin just has a runny nose but she's sleeping through the night again and not coughing as much. She banged her head at daycare yesterday when she was trying to stand up. She has a really sad looking bruise on her forehead...the first of many I think.

My amazing girl friends are taking me to a very nice Italian dinner for my birthday on Saturday night. We're going to Parisi in Highlands. It's authentic Italian so I can pretend I'm back in Rome...then on Sunday, Kevin and I are going to Piatti (my old stomping grounds!) for dinner and Kat and Jeff are going to babysit. Monday we're going to hang out and just relax. Maybe get some shopping done.

I love not working...have a great weekend everyone!

1 comment:

Terri : Bradford Web Designs, LLC said...: Hope you have fun with the girls on Sat and with Kevin on Sun. I am glad to hear you are feeling better... yay to a LONG weekend! Trevor is sick, so ours will be long, LOL!

Happy Birthday, again!; February 15, 2008 at 9:25 PM

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Spanish Steps: Rome, Italy

Must Read Books & Great Authors

"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" is a novel by Betty Smith first published in 1943. It relates the coming-of-age story of its main character, Francie Nolan, and her Irish-American family struggling against poverty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, a nationwide best-seller that was distributed to servicemen overseas.
"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. This is my all-time favorite book and you MUST read this at least once in your lifetime. It has won the Pulitzer Prize, it is available in 31 different countries and it has been hearlded as "The Great Amercian Novel"
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult is a heart-wrenching novel about what it means to be a good parent, a good person and a good sister. Kate has had cancer since childhood and her younger sister Anna was concevied to be a perfect-match bone marrow donor for her. As Anna grows up, she struggles with how she and world will see the rights of her own body. This novel is the first book in years that had me crying. It was very well written and very enjoyable if you're in the mood for a tear-jerker.
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls is a memoir about a nomadic, deprived childhood told with the wonderment of a child who always wants to believe that Daddy will be a hero in the end and that Momma really does know best. You are enrapt reading about Walls and her siblings rifling through trash cans at school looking for food, doing the skedaddle in the middle of the night, or waiting for Dad to come home after another bender. It's a riveting story and a testament to Walls' desire to rise above a life that could have easily turned her into just another tragic headline. I really appreciated this story because of the very real probability that some of my students are living this very life.
One of my favorite authors (I have everything she's ever written) is Marian Keyes whose stories are set in Britian or Ireland. She is the internationally bestselling author of Watermelon (which is my favorite), Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, The Last Chance Saloon, Angels, Sushi for Beginners, Under the Duvet, and her latest, The Other Side of the Story. Her books have touched readers around the world, and they are now published in 35 countries and in many different languages.