Tuesday, January 29, 2008



Well, I finished my first project last night in class. I just love this class and hope I can afford to keep up my studies. I want to find some way of combining my love of ceramics with this as well, and I can't forget photography. My dream is still to have a full studio so I can fully explore each of these mediums I enjoy. Fi has about taken over our small studio in the house; something I don't mind sharing. Last night I came home to a room covered in green sparkles... gotta love that kid!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

I've been tagged!

This is fun, done it before. Here are the rules;

Book Meme

Rules:
Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
Open the book to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people.

Here is the nearest bk to me... sitting in the school room listening to the frog tank bubble and flow;



"She was starving to death. Later, I found out she'd been sharing her bread ration with a new arrival, a sick Hungarian girl. As the girl recovered, Leni withered.

Now I am to tag five people, but I fear I don't know five people with blogs to tag. So I offer this for your enjoyment and if you wish, please play along and tag others to share their stories, their books, their passions.

Friday, January 25, 2008

She's got the part!




I think Mac is walking about three feet off the ground tonight. She was just cast in her first large scale production. She is going to be Carlotta Barracuda in a spoof of the Phantom of the Opera called, Phantom of the Op'ry. These will be a busy couple months before opening night, but I'm sure she will love every minute of it.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Teddy Roosevelt and a bear?




We went to another great show at the Cobb Energy Center today. It was Mark Russell's Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major. The girls had a blast with this musical play that is a little School House Rock and a lot slapstick. Here is the Kennedy Center's blurb below with PDF link for more fun if you are interested. I highly recommend it if the show comes through your area.

((Ever wonder what it's like for kids who've lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? In this special project with the White House Historical Association, the Kennedy Center stages an exciting new musical inspired by President Theodore Roosevelt and his family! In 1905, young Kermit, Ethel, and Archie Roosevelt stumble upon a real-life treasure map hidden in their library's copy of Treasure Island. Following clue after clue, the threesome untangles a decades-old mystery that leads them all over the White House, from the Red Room to the President's Office. But will their father's loyal valet or the new English governess foil their quest? This clever and comical production features songs by Washington satirist Mark Russell, whose PBS specials have led TV Guide to call him "the funniest man on television."))

http://www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/horizonspdfs/Teddy%20Cuesheet.pdf

WW

Friday, January 18, 2008

Fine Art Friday



Friends of ours have been studying the famous German artist Kathe’ Kollwitz. Here is a bio of her and her works.
http://www.mystudios.com/women/klmno/kollwitz.html

I found this piece, called Woman and Death, to be so haunting yet very powerful for me. A struggle between life and death, new and old, to fight or to give up... you decide.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

An 888 update




Well, three weeks in to my 888 challenge and I have finished four of my 56 books. Fi and I are now on book three of the May Bird series by Jodi Lynn Anderson and we love them! They are smart, spooky, and great fun. Just today, the girls and I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; one of the most beautiful young adult fiction books I have ever read. I also had the great pleasure of listening to the audio version as well. Allan Corduner does an amazing job, as always, as narrator. I also finished God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, great read and Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer. Mac loved it - I thought it was OK. So if I can keep it up, I should be finished with at least a couple more by the end of the month. I should have lots of time to read while Mac is in rehearsals for her new play, Phantom of the Op'ry.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Happy Birthday?



OK. she is 12 now... how many more years till this? I think not too many. Ugh!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

WW


Mama's got a brand new bag!



One of my gifts this year was a jewelry class! I had so much fun with the girls last fall, that I wanted to continue. I have a whole new bag filled with great tools, silver, and much hope that I can continue with this for many years to come. Now if I can only swing getting my kiln hooked-up with a new 220 line; I can go into business.

Just a few books...



Friday, January 4, 2008

Fine Art Friday




This sculpture is by an artist I love, Aggie Zed. Here is here website.

http://www.aggiezed.com/

Thursday, January 3, 2008

888

I have already started the challenge, to read 8 books in 8 categories by 12/31/08. Here is my list.

General Fiction
1. Darkmans by Nicola Barker
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
3. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
4. The Known World by Edward P. Jones
5. Falling Man by Don Delillo
6. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
7. Spook Country by William Gibson
8. God of Animals by Aryn Kyle

Thrillers
1. What Dead Men Know by Laura Lippman
2. Spook Country by William Gibson
3. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
4. Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
5. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
6. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
7. Shelter by Susan Palwick
8. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Juvenile Fiction
1.May Bird Among the Stars by Jodi Lynn Anderson (finished)
2.May Bird Warroir Princess by Jodi Lynn Anderson (finished)
3.The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech & David Diaz (finished)
4.The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
5.The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
6.The Penderwicks by Jane Birdsall
7.The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
8.The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going

Young Adult Fiction
1.I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
2.The Absolutely True Diary of a Partime Indian by Sherman Alexie
3.The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
4.Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (finished)
5.Schooled by Gordan Korman
6.Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak
7.Fighting Ruben Wolf by Markus Zusak
8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (finished)

Non Fiction
1.God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens (finished)
2.Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
3.Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (finished)
4.Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5.The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
6.The Nine by Jeffery Toobin
7.The World Without Us by Allen Weisman
8.The Book of General Ignorance by Mitchinson & Lloyd
9.Riddled with Life by Marlene Zuk
10.Skin: A History by Nina Jablonski

Historical (fiction and non)

1.The Nature of Monster by Clare Clark
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber
2.The Savage Garden by Mark Mills
3.1776 by David McCullough
4.I Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis
5.Green Darkness by Anya Seton
6.The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
7.The African & Middle Easter World 600-1500 by Randall Pouwels
8.Our Island Story byH.E. Marshall
9.The Vicious Vikings & The Measly Middle Ages T. Deary & M. Brown


Books I need to re-read

1.Catch 22 Joseph Heller
2.Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by P.K. Dick
3.Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
4.The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
5.Beowulf translation by Burton Raffel (finished)
6.Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
7.Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
8.I Claudius by Robert Graves
9. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (finished)
10. Naked by David Sedaris

Biographies

1.Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gelbert
2.Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
3.Into the Wild by John Krakauer
4.I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max
5.Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson
6.Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7.Gonzo -The Life with Hunter S. Thompson by Jann Wenner, Corey Seymour & Johnny Depp
8.Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama