Quiet Strength

Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy is the book our book club is reading for our March meeting. Although I am not into football, I had heard some about Tony Dungy and even watched part of the Super Bowl when the Colts played in it in 2007. The book talks a lot about his coaching, but that is natural since it has been such a large part of his life. Reading this book can give you something to think about regarding how you want to live your life. It would be interesting to people that are interested in football, but also to people who are leaders in any type of job.

For the giveaway, elyse and Amanda are the winners. I will be getting the cards to you soon-I may have to make a couple so I have enough to give away.

Sky Blue

Sky Blue by Travis Thrasher was a book that surprised me. I have read a few other books by Thrasher and this seemed to be written in a different style. As I was reading, I almost gave up...even when I was two thirds through. It is worth reading to the end.
It is the story of Colin Scott set in the present day, primarily Chicago. He is an agent in the publishing world, and his world seems to be slowly crumbling. It doesn't continue to just crumble, though, but fall apart and he doesn't deal well with the difficulties. I would recommend it and I think that because of the unpredictable nature of the book a book club might have fun discussing it.

The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life

The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life by Jennifer Worick is the latest book I finished reading. There are directions on how to do a variety of things at home or around the home or farm. It includes five categories of activities according to location-the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, the parlor, and the barn and beyond. The directions are not lengthy for any of the projects, so if you are unfamiliar with the task, it might not be explicit enough. Other projects seemed to be explained in enough detail for an average person to understand. A few examples of the projects included are making dandelion greens, embroider towels, braid a rag rug, learn to waltz, and pan for gold. This book would be good gift for anyone who is interested in homemade things or anyone that loved the Little House in the Prairie series. There are a few thing that I would think about trying- make a brine turkey, braid a rag rug and make & use rag curlers. There are also things that I do not want to try-ice fishing and grooming a horse.

6 things

Things that I would like to learn how to do

1. Stipple a quilt. For those who are not quilters, this is a kind of quilting that requires meandering. My quilting has been limited to straight lines.
2. Play the piano. I think this is something I would like to do...but I have never had any music lessons and don't know how it would go.
3. Play tennis. Maybe because this guy that liked me in college did. My friend Sarah plays, too, but she lives in California and is too far away to give me lessons.
4. Be content. That may take the rest of my life.
5. Swing dance. My dad might not be impressed with that one, but my friend knows how and loves it. It would be good exercise too.
6. Speak Spanish well. So I could have a conversation with native Spanish speakers. It would help me in my job, as all my students' parents are Spanish speaking.

What would you like to learn to do?

edit: I forgot to add to my list that I would like to learn how to swim. Yes, I live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. My students find it difficult to believe that their teacher cannot swim.

I Love to Read

Okay, that much is obvious by my blog, but it is I love to read month at school. I like I love to read month because it is all about reading. At school we started the day by the whole student body going to the gyms and spending twenty minutes reading. I could start every morning like that without a problem. In fact, when I taught fourth grade in California, our first fifteen to twenty minutes was our silent reading time.
So now I have a challenge for you. Read 10 pages a day from any book. If you do that, you would be able to finish a medium length book in the month of February. The second challenge is for those of you with children. Read to them each day for 10 minutes.
My personal challenge is to read at least one children's book in Spanish each day. It is one thing I do to improve my reading skills in Spanish each year while I am encouraging my students to improve their reading skills in English.