Barbara O'Connor

professornana @ 05:59 pm: never on Sunday
The resident of the back bedroom had to play at the football playoff game last night in Waco and so did not return to the school until the wee hours of Sunday morning. We all decided to sleep in and then have an early b-day celebration for my better half since his bday always falls when I am at NCTE. Then, it was serious napping. Needless to say, not much else was accomplished.

I did, however, read an interesting piece in the NYT about teachers scoring $$$ for sharing lessons online. There was some question as to whether or not this was kosher. If plans were written using school district resources and materials, it seemed to be the conclusion that the plans belonged to the district and not the teacher. In some ways, we are confronting some of this at the university level. For instance, I have taught two online classes and conducted two webinars for professional organizations with the blessings/permission of my employer. The question remains, though, who owns these materials? Early contracts awarded "custody" to the professional organizations. I refused to sign them as I consider this work my own intellectual property. I do not want to sign away the rights to present these same ideas in workshops and articles.

So, what is the ethical stance here? We are entering some gray areas in the days of online instructional environments.

Tags: ethics

cynthialord @ 06:46 am: Cybils Sunday

Another hard-working Cybils panelist on the Easy Reader and Early Chapter Book committee is Melissa Young of Sweet on Books.

Melissa is a mom and former elementary school teacher who has a great book recommendation website. Melissa and her partner at Sweet On Books created a unique rating system for the books they review. Not only do they rate the book from 1 to 5, but each review also contains a rating on: Laugh Meter, Fear Factor, and Subject Matter. Which can be very helpful to parents looking to make a good match between a book and their child's individual preferences, interests and needs.

In glancing through the reviews, I see Melissa is a big fan of Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggy books (and so am I!), so I'm wondering if one of that series will be coming forward to the final judges. . . .

professornana @ 10:46 am: up with the sun
I will say again that I hate falling back. It makes Scout insane as he knows he is supposed to be fed when And it ensures we are up even earlier than we need to be on a Saturday. Ah well. More time to read, eh?

GRAY BABY by Scott Loring Sanders (Houghton Mifflin, 2009) is the story of Clifton. On his 8th birthday, Cliff is sitting in the back seat of the family car heading to the drive-in with his parents. Police stop the car, drag his father from the vehicle and beat him to death. His crime: driving a new car with a white woman passenger. Never mind that the woman is Cliff's mother. The death is ruled an accident.

Flash forward 8 years. Cliff's mother is a barely functioning alcoholic. Cliff is isolated from everything and everyone. The release of some balloons by his class at school does give him an idea of how to connect to SOMEBODY. Cliff places notes into his mother's empty wine bottles and sets them adrift in the river. One day, he receives a response from his letters. Ultimately, Cliff becomes friends with Swamper, an old man who lives outside of town. The friendship will be essential to Cliff as he deals with new obstacles in his life and the lives of those he loves.

"History" (yes, I know that this is not history to those who read this blog but it is to the resident of the back bedroom and many other teens) comes alive in this story of a young man's search for his own identity and for some justice for his murdered father. What Cliff learns is an important lesson for us all: sometimes there is no justice. But perhaps there is some redemption.

No cover to show as Amazon's cover is "locked" and Titlewave did not have one available.

Tags: historical fiction, racism

cynthialord @ 08:26 am: Thank you. Awesome. Classroom.



Yesterday I had a fun visit with the sixth and seventh graders at Crittenden Middle School in Armonk, New York. A few days before I arrived, "Miss K," a special needs teacher at the school sent me an email explaining that her students had done a fun simulation centered around RULES and asking if I could come by during the day and see it. I said I would love to do that, and the school created time in my schedule.

The students were very excited to show me what they'd been doing. There was a wheelchair set up at the end of the table. One person would pretend to be Jason and another would be Catherine.

"Today, Mrs. Lord gets to be Jason first," Miss K said, and she handed me a word grid that had empty boxes along the bottom. I had just a minute or so to fill in those boxes with any additional words I thought I might need to have a conversation with "Catherine."

I sat in the wheelchair and used only my grid to talk to one of the boys who played Catherine in our conversation. It was fun and very hard. When he asked me questions, I'd look at the few words I had and know I couldn't say what I wanted. Every answer I gave was a pale compromise for what I truly wanted to say. It was a powerful simulation for the kids and equally powerful for me.

Thank you to the staff and students at Crittenden Middle School for stretching RULES outward to make the world a little more understanding of people with disabilities.

davidlubar @ 08:19 am: Flights of fancy
I'm departing soon for my last pair of flghts for the year. Loyal readers of this blog might remember my winter charity challenge. Well, there's no snow today. Just a 45-minute connection in Atlanta for the only plane all day that can take me home. What could go wrong? Have fun speculating.

mountainmist @ 10:03 pm: THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS...
If you are in Sylva, NC on Saturday, November 14th (today as a matter of fact) :) come by the Great Smoky Mountain Book Festival. It's all day long from 9-3 at the United Methodist Church Hall. Sheila Kay Adams is going to be singing and telling stories! Ron Rash will be there and a slew of authors. Book sales are helping to build the new library in Sylva.

http://www.gsmbookfair.org/

* * *

Some places just ease your head and your heart. For me, it's the mountains. I drove into Western North Carolina today in the late afternoon sun, and fall was still flaming with color. I came through Atlanta, a different way for me - up through North Georgia through Dillard and Dillsboro.

I was trying to make good time and mostly was...I had stopped at the Homewood Library in my Alabama neighborhood to get books on CD. I couldn't decide what I wanted. I had listened to Libba Bray's GOING BOVINE for most of October on road-trips, which I loved, so I picked out a bunch more today. I started TREE OF SMOKE by Denis Johnson, but then I switched to SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and I just couldn't quit. I listened to Jane Austen all the way into the mountains...and suddenly I was here. The mountains rose up, and I felt such joy. I was home. Lee Smith said her father once told her “I need a mountain to rest my eyes against.” That's exactly what it feels like...

Now I'm under an old quilt in a house in Sylva where tonight I talked to an 87-year-old woman, Ruth, who worked as a secretary in Bryson City in the 1940s and handled all the evictions at the courthouse when the Fontana Dam was built...When it was built, so many folks had to be leave their land. The government paid them ten dollars an acre and relocated them. She said, "Old folks are still grieving to this day about losing their homes." Once a year, the dislocated people get to return by boat to decorate the graves of their loved ones buried in Fontana.

* * *

Here are some pictures of previous trips to the mountains. Tomorrow, after the Great Smoky Mountain Book Festival, I am meeting Ernestine Upchurch and Shirley Fairchild at "Granny's Chicken Palace' in Dellwood next to Maggie Valley. I am missing my family deeply these days, which is why I've stayed on the road so much this fall, but coming to the mountains is like coming home.


One of my most favorite people in the world - Ernestine Edwards Upchurch of Maggie Valley, NC. Ernestine once told me, "I bloomed where I was planted."

* * *


I started writing JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN in this cabin on Johnson Gap in Maggie Valley, and Norah was so tiny. Popcorn built this cabin for Ernestine, and she let me use it to work on JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN in the summer of 2006.

* * *


This is Norah, Mary Jane Queen, and Mary Jane's daughter, Dot Connor. Norah made them line up under the big rock where Dot used to play as a little girl with her seven siblings. Mary Jane taught Norah about flowers called "touch me nots" and "pretty by nights" that day...Mary Jane passed away in 2007, and I still think of her so often...She sang us so many songs that day, including a wonderful song called, "Single Girl Again"...here are just some of the lyrics.


Mary Jane and her sister wrote and sang the song inspired by an old Carter tune, "Single Girl, Married Girl." Here are her songs!

http://homepage.mac.com/henryqueen1/SongsILike.htm

* * *


Popcorn built Norah a fire one night in Maggie Valley. He also told her, "There's no finer pet than a groundhog." That went into JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN. Popcorn Sutton passed away in the spring of this year.

* * *


In the mountains..."a place to rest your eyes against."

* * *


This car made it into JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN too and the sign...

tamra_wight @ 09:14 pm: Rhyming . . . Shyming
I have two picture book manuscripts in my filing cabinet that are stalled.

Why are they stalled?

Because the words only come out in rhyme.

Embarrasingly bad rhyme.

Last night, I decided to play with a new PB idea that I'm wicked excited about. I haven't been this excited by an idea in forever! Once again, though, the first two lines came out rhyming. I tried changing those sentences, the tense, you name it. Nothing was working.

Finally, after like an hour, I had four non-rhyming sentences.

Until B walked in the room.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked, reading over my shoulder.

Silly me. I told him. Everything. About how this story wanted to rhyme and I was trying to steer it into non-rhyming.

Do you think he'd sympathize?

Do ya think he'd take pity on his poooooor, old, frustrated, can't-rhyme--her-way-out-of-a-box Mom?

Nope.

He says, "Hey! I got it! Try this! Number Two, needs to go poo!"

"Beeeeeeee," I warned.

"Number Eight, has a lot on his plate!"

"Okay, okay, you've had your fun. You're a better rhymer. Go away."

"Number Four needs to needs to find a door."

"Ack! The rhyming! MAKE IT STOP!" My head is in my hands at his point.

"Number Nine, has no idea how to rhyme."

Now do you see what I'm up against in this house?

Sigh.

professornana @ 07:07 pm: snarky to the max


How can you not pick up a book with a blurb from Jon Stewart on the cover? I never miss THE DAILY SHOW, the best news program on TV. So, when one of his producers writes a book for kids, I want to read it. I AM A GENIUS OF UNSPEAKABLE EVIL AND I WANT TO BE YOUR CLASS PRESIDENT probably will appeal more to older than younger readers. It is smart and funny but mostly snarky. Oliver masquerades as a bullied 8th grader. In reality, he is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Now he wants to win the election as class president to settle a long standing score against his own father. How he goes about manipulating the entire process is painfully funny, painful as there is some truth to the extent Oliver will go to in order to win the election. Short chapters with a breezy narrative means it is a quick read as well.

Here, BTW, is the new photo of yours truly taken by my hubby yesterday. Who is this old lady with too many chins? When did she take over?




Tags: books, photos, snarky

d_michiko_f @ 07:46 am: Twelve Years Ago..
I met Bob on a plane.

Here's Bob, C, and me in front of our house in Mexico City - over eleven years ago:


And for those of you who don't know the story - click here.

Through high highs and low lows, from Detroit to Mexico to Pittsfield MA to Upstate NY to China and to here in California, traveling around the world together - all this started from a flight from Dallas to Detroit. It still amazes me.

carriejones @ 08:57 am: To Write Love on Her Arms Day
Once when I was in college I wanted to die so badly that I stood on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine and tried to decide which car to jump in front of. There were lots of reasons I felt that way at the time and one of those reasons was my seizure medication had thrown my entire body totally out of whack. But honestly? The reasons don't matter any more. What mattered was the pain. What mattered is that I wanted to die because I thought that I hurt too much to live.

One of my friends, Eric Stamper, got me through it. He was an angel boy.
That and I felt too badly for the driver of the car.
And, yeah, I didn't want to get paralyzed. The plan didn't seem fool-proof enough.
And, I also thought about God and life and existence being a gift even if it is a TERRIBLY difficult gift sometimes.



But for five minutes I stood on the side of the road and hurt and thought about ending the hurt.

I have never talked about this, but lately on Live Journal and Facebook, in friends-locked posts and in private messages and in conversations on the phone, I have seen so many people feeling the way I did when I stood on Lisbon Street. I am very lucky. I have never felt that way again, but I remember the feeling.

And I also realized that it's hard to talk about it even though so many people have felt that way too. But it isn't shameful to hurt. It isn't shameful for the pain to be too much for you to handle alone and anyone who says it is? Well, they are full of crud. Sorry. It's true.

Over 21 million people on Earth have depression. A massive chunk of those cases are in the U.S. And two-thirds of those people never get help, or ask for it.

And depression is the leading cause of suicide.
And suicide is the third most common reason that teens die.
And I like teens way too much to be cool about letting such a cause of death not go on notice. That's right... SUICIDE and DEPRESSION! YOU ARE ON NOTICE!

Take out BLACK HOLE and put DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE THERE.


Thus, the post today. Today is TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS DAY. People are writing love on their arms to show that they care, they hope, they support, that they chose not to be silent.

From the website:

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery."

This is their vision: The vision is that we actually believe these things…
You were created to love and be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you're part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters.
We live in a difficult world, a broken world. My friend Byron is very smart - he says that life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you're not alone in the places you feel stuck.
We all wake to the human condition. We wake to mystery and beauty but also to tragedy and loss. Millions of people live with problems of pain. Millions of homes are filled with questions – moments and seasons and cycles that come as thieves and aim to stay. We know that pain is very real. It is our privilege to suggest that hope is real, and that help is real.
You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption. We're seeing it happen. We're seeing lives change as people get the help they need. People sitting across from a counselor for the first time. People stepping into treatment. In desperate moments, people calling a suicide hotline. We know that the first step to recovery is the hardest to take. We want to say here that it's worth it, that your life is worth fighting for, that it's possible to change.
Beyond treatment, we believe that community is essential, that people need other people, that we were never meant to do life alone.

The vision is that community and hope and help would replace secrets and silence.
The vision is people putting down guns and blades and bottles.
The vision is that we can reduce the suicide rate in America and around the world.
The vision is that we would learn what it means to love our friends, and that we would love ourselves enough to get the help we need.
The vision is better endings. The vision is the restoration of broken families and broken relationships. The vision is people finding life, finding freedom, finding love. The vision is graduation, a Super Bowl, a wedding, a child, a sunrise. The vision is people becoming incredible parents, people breaking cycles, making change.
The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.
The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know.

The vision is hope, and hope is real.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.
Crud. Every time I read that I cry.

Please go write LOVE on your arm. No, Tom, not I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH AND WE SHOULD START SEEING EACH OTHER. Write the word LOVE.

writergrl @ 08:34 am: The Friday Five!
1. I was so glad to hear from so many other Chris Cuomo Crushers after I wrote my entry all about him on Wednesday. I knew I wasn't alone, but it's nice to have peeps. Anyway, I'd kind of forgotten about the whole thing until yesterday morning, when at 5:55 am my phone beeped to tell me I had a text. I immediately panicked, thinking someone was in the hospital or jail. And, because the only people who ever text me are my babysitters, I was convinced it was one of them. (Although they are sweet girls and would not get arrested. I don't think so, anyway.) I picked up my phone, looked at the text and...it was from Chris Cuomo. He was thanking me for my nice entry. OH MY GOD! Apparently my Twitter settings were such that if someone I follow sends me a direct message, I get a text. My husband, groggy with sleep, said, "Who's texting you?" and I just giggled and said, "Chris Cuomo." He TOTALLY did not believe me. I think he still doesn't. But seriously, it made my day.

2. In other news, a week from tomorrow I'll be heading off to my first conference in AGES, NCTE in Philadelphia. I always love NCTE, because the teachers and librarians are so cool, and there's the ALAN conference, and when you come home it's time for Thanksgiving. Anyway, here's my schedule while I'm there, so if you're attending, come say hello:
11/21, Saturday

1:15 Author Strand presentation
with Michelle Kwansey
Convention Center room 103A

3pm Signing at Penguin Booth, #318

11/22 Sunday
9:30 am Chester County Book & Music Company Author Breakfast
Chester County Books, West Chester PA (I don't know much about this event, so call the bookstore to get details)

1:00 "A Novel Idea" Teen Event for Philadelphia Free Library at Children's Book World
Children's Book World
Haverford, PA
(Ditto for this one, call the bookstore to find out more)

11/23 Monday

8:50 am ALAN panel with Deb Caletti, Todd Strasser and Adrian Fogelin

Then I come home and commence eating turkey and mashed potatoes for the next week. YUM!

3. I have been hesitant to write much about Friday Night Lights and the new season here, as I have so many friends without DirecTV who are angry they have to wait to see it. But can I just say that again and again, in these first three episodes, I've been SO inspired by some of the writing on this show. They might be talking about keeping at football, and trying hard on the field, and all that, but it can apply to just about anything you want to do, and do well. I am always up for more motivation, but especially when I'm writing. Thank you, Coach Taylor. I'm listening, I promise.

4. My daughter, as I write this, is trying to negotiate with me. It's time for her to go upstairs and read books and have some quiet time, and she's pulling out every stop to avoid it. She needs more cereal. She needs more time to play down here. She's eating her grapes. Her new favorite thing to say to me: "Just ONE more minute." It's like dealing with a used car salesman, but constantly, day in and day out. On the flip side, it is helping me with my assertiveness skills. She's good at her no, but I'm getting better at mine at the same time. Parenting is ALL about looking for the bright side, isn't it?

5. Finally, it's been raining her for two full days now, and I'm starting to go a bit nuts. We've had this storm just sitting over us, dumping rain and wind, and all I want to do is sleep and eat, and repeat. A few weeks back, my husband bought some microwave popcorn from a bunch of boy scouts outside of Lowe's. (He's that kind of person: he will ALWAYS buy what someone is peddling for charity, especially if it's kids. He's also the guy who always gets roped in by those people who work in the kiosks in the middle of the mall, approaching you aggressively with hair extensions or manicure sticks or facial creams. I can't tell you how many of those things I have gotten for gift giving occasions. But I guess it's better to be married to someone so nice than not, right?) Anyway, he bought this popcorn, for a good cause, and we started eating some in the evenings. A bad habit to get into, because it's REALLY hard to break. Luckily, the popcorn was not that good, so we could kind of control ourselves. But then, my friend Dana was over, and said, "Oh, you should buy some Pop Secret Homestyle. It's the best." I am totally suggestible, especially when it comes to grocery shopping. So I bought a box, and OH MY GOD. She was not kidding. This popcorn is like NIRVANA. I wish I had never tried it, because I can see it becoming a nightly habit. Or maybe just eating it for meals, instead of cooking. Perhaps if it stops raining and the sun comes out, I'll give up my popcorn habit. Until then, no promises. Mother Nature, it's your call.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

jamarattigan @ 08:28 am: friday feast: savoring ching yeung russell's tofu quilt


           

Imagine a warm bowl of steamed custard so incredibly delicious, it inspires a young girl to become a writer. This is exactly what happens to Yeung Ying in Tofu Quilt, a beautiful collection of free verse poems based on author Ching Yeung Russell's own childhood in 1960s Hong Kong.

The thirty eight luminous poems, told in Yeung Ying's lively, engaging voice, are brimming with candid observations and telling, authentic details which reveal a young writer in the making. Russell's lovingly crafted, spare verses flow effortlessly and resonate with simple truths.

( Read more... )

Tags: book reviews, ching yeung russell, poetry friday

barbgreetings @ 03:00 am: Popeye and Elvis on a roll

http://greetings-from-nowhere.blogspot.com/2009/11/popeye-and-elvis-on-roll.html

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis named New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.

professornana @ 09:25 pm: perks of being a goddess
1. getting to have dinner with David Lubar who is in Houston doing school visits.
2. getting free dinner.
3. being called a goddess.
4. enjoying great food and tastier company.

Really, what a great job I have.

davidlubar @ 09:25 pm: Three things I'm happy about
1. I just had dinner with the Goddess of YA Literature.

2. It was Tex/Mex.

3. She drove.

carriejones @ 05:33 pm: Why it is such a good thing I am not famous
Okay. Let me just say that I am super glad that I am not famous.
Here is why:

There are no paparazzi following me around.

If there were I would ALWAYS be on sites like THE SUPERFICIAL and GOODCELEBSDOAWKWARDTHINGS.COM (I made that one up) because I am SUCH a klutz.

Bella in Twilight has nothing on me. NOTHING!

Why?

Well, all in one day I:

1. Drove the MINI over a curb.

This is not my MINI unfortunately
2. Twisted my ankle and did that half fall-down thing when going into the post office.

3. Drove the MINI over the curb AGAIN!

Also not me or my MINI. Kelley (My MINI is red).
4. Set the microwave on fire.
There were blue flames and fire and now there is a GINORMOUS scorch mark in the microwave.

5. Wore two different shoes out in public.
Not my feet. Sorry.

Can you imagine if people were filming my life? They would totally think that I was:
1. Lindsay Lohan
2. Britney
3. Drunk

Sigh. I feel so badly for famous people. It's not just all those horrifying up-skirt shots, it's also just all the goofy faces and awkward moments and wardrobe malfunctions. I know some famous people don't mind and actually get off on that stuff, but I bet a lot more don't.

GOOD LUCK FAMOUS PEOPLE! I AM ROOTING FOR YOU!

amanda_marrone @ 04:54 pm: Cahing In is out!
My bud, Susan's second book is out! Winning the lottery seems like a dream come true--but what happens your mom's a comulsive gambler--how long can the good times last?




The Shaws have won the lottery. One point six million, to be exact. But does money bring happiness? Depends. For someone other than Reggie Shaw, maybe. But when you have a compulsive gambler for a mother and mediocre grades and best friends in the middle of a break-up and no kind of future mapped out, money is just one more complication.

professornana @ 03:44 pm: oh the humanity
Hubby just snapped some new photos of me for back of forthcoming book. How did I get so old? And fat? Nothing like a photo to bring reality crashing back.

On a happier note, I did finish a few "almosts" today. Before I depart for NCTE I want to have the stack of TO DO cleared. Then I can enjoy the week with less guilt and not return to craziness with any luck.

Here is the ever photogenic Scout.

kimberleylittle @ 09:15 am: Home From Louisiana!!!
We just got home late last night and it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hubby and I had such a great time we didn't want to come back. (It's been years since we've had a trip for just the two of us and our home life has been pretty crazy chaos the past two years.)

We went dancing with Miss Olive and Mister Elward Stephens on Front Street in Morgan City - a couple in their 80s that I met last April who are absolutely awesome, practically live off the bayou and swamp right out their back door, and act about 30 years younger. Aren't they cute?



We ate barbecue at Gros Marina eight miles down Four Mile Bayou (a local joke), went to an outdoor Cajun boucharie (pig roast complete with cracklin's being cooked over an open fire in a black cauldron) and hubby was offered moonshine to drink!!! We also ate tons of shrimp, crabs, gumbo, and jambalaya.

We rowed a canoe for 3 hours in the bayous where A FISH LITERALLY JUMPED INTO OUR BOAT!!!! A mullet flopped and danced in the bottom of our boat until we could scoop him out. It was wild. And we saw tons of turtles and birds and gators. We were the only ones out there and it was so peaceful I didn't want it to end. Mullets jumped all over the place. We could see them everywhere as the afternoon deepened. They jump about three feet in the air. Amazing. The weather was perfect all week, too. Sunshine every day and 75 degrees.

We met SO MANY PEOPLE and talked about traiteurs and their personal experiences with traiteurs and my upcoming books, and I have a whole new *fan* base, ha ha!

Hope y'all are well - not sure I'm going to have a chance to read back through 10 days of journals. Not when I gotta finish my first draft by Thanksgiving . . . but I'm waving and sending love!


Tags: bayous, cajun, louisiana, research trip, the healing spell, traiteurs

lisa_schroeder @ 07:24 am: Five things on a Thursday
1) Delsym cough medicine is the best. It's expensive, but worth every penny.

2) I really don't like it when men have hairy necks. If you don't want to get your hair cut very often, fine, but please, can you at least shave your neck?

3) Check out this amazing, AMAZING post about ARCs by Kristi, aka The Story Siren. She went to publicists at publishing houses and asked them some questions about ARCs, including how much an average ARC costs. Good stuff, people!

4. Taylor Swift - OMG, she won FOUR awards on the Country Music Awards last night. I can't quite decide if I want to marry Taylor Swift or BE Taylor Swift. I know I want to write books the way Taylor writes songs. Now that I'm learning to play the guitar, I'm trying to teach myself some of her songs. Teardrops on My Guitar is one I've been playing a lot.

In my dreams, I sound like this:



5. Speaking of guitar, I'm playing on the one my husband has had for about 30 years. No joke. It's fine for now, but I'm really hoping Santa might bring me a new one for Christmas. If you know guitars and have any recommendations for him, please let me know so I can pass it along. I think I'd like to try and find one that works well with my small hands. If there is such a thing!

Happy Thursday!