Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

It's almost Friday... right? RIGHT! Link up, link back!

1. I get these little cake pans for the smash cake I want to make Sawyer in the mail last week and decided to play around with the funfetti recipe I want to make for him. It turned out good! I had a piece and took the rest to work to pawn off on colleagues and students (who didn't seem to mind).

2. My copy of Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder is apparently going to actually ship in the next week or soon. The super-small publisher didn't anticipate the popularity and ran a super small first run, so readers have been waiting for months to get their hands on this gem.

3. The students in  the IB program I teach have to do a really lengthy (I think like 20,000 words) research paper on whatever topic they choose (I did mine on xenotransplantation back in the day). It really is a cool premise, but unfortunately a lot of the kids procrastinate and don't do as good of a job as they could. Anyway, not many kids choose literature, but I have three kids that I'm advising this year and one wants to compare Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin to James Joyce's Ulysses. Very ambitious! I haven't read Ulysses, and am a little afraid of it, so I guess I'll have to. It's exciting but intimidiating. 

4. So, these are delicious:

5. Confession: the first fifteen minutes after walking in the door after work are pretty much my least-favorite of the day. Sawyer is usually complaining or in need of something, the dogs are barking their heads off, I'm carrying the day's five hundred bags I have to take with us, I usually need to pee, and I have to get the Golden a snack before her stomach revolts from being too empty. And all I really want? To sit on the couch for ten minutes with my feet up in silence. 

6. I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior for book club, and while enjoying it, I'm not really in love yet. I'm only 70 pages in, so there's time, but nothing is really hooking me in.

7. I was so proud of myself today- I downloaded the FedEx/Kinkos app, uploaded the pdf of Sawyer's birthday invitation and selected all the paper and whatnot so it would print at the nearest branch and I could just pick it up. A million times easier than putting it on a flash drive and stopping by between work and home like I had planned.

8. So I'm an avid iced-coffee drinker, but one with a pretty non-discerning palette. My method: brew a pot, let cool at room temperature for a few hours, pour into pitcher, put in fridge, use it until it's gone. I guess that's gross? Maybe I just use so much creamer I can't tell (side note: a serving size is 2 tbsp! Say what?). In my attempt to refine my taste buds, I'm searching for a good cold-brew system. Suggestions (besides going to Starbucks)?

9. The last two days we've had a modified testing schedule at work and I've spend 3.5 hours escorting teenagers to the restroom (security protocol) and watching classes while teachers have quick breaks. Today I logged 5 miles before leaving school. 

10. I downloaded Jenny Lewis' newest album and think I like it (I loved Rilo Kiley). It takes me approximately ten-twenty listens, generally, before being able to make I can usually decide. I'm in a music drought. What should I be listening to? Nothing sleepy.