Book # 60: How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff. 
+ Unexpected and unusual, yet entirely compelling events.
- Some awkward and incorrect sentence constructions, but likely due to the narrator rather than the writer.
+ Setting and tone appeal to me, as does the journey...bleak as it all is.
+ Teen fans of this book may graduate to The Road.
Perhaps I'm enjoying the current market fixation on dystopias and apocalyptic tales too much.  Keep them coming, publishers!
(Warning: plot contains sexually aberrant behavior)

Movie #40: Spy Kids.  Yup.  Family went to the movies.  Pretty bearable until the final 15 minutes or so.


Movie #41: Hall Pass.  Truths and laughs.  Not as lame as I feared, but not great either.  Rent it and see.

Movie 39 was fun to watch: Red.  Malkovich, Willis, Mirin, Freeman, and Parker team up in this comic book adaptation that's far-fetched and fun.

Book 59:  One Day, by David Nichols--I wanted to read it before going to see it.  Mission accomplished with joy.  Fun, escapist book slightly in the vein of Nick Hornby.

Back to school reading

Book 57: Readicide, by Kelly Gallagher.  meh.  I agree, but prefer more applicable ideas than data.
Book 58: Formative Assessment for Standards Based Grading, by Marzanno.  Another meh.  Too much technical stuff, not enough direct "how to."

More, more, more

Book #55  Silver Girls (a great tale of a bigamist's two families...until the end.)
Book # 56 The Book Whisperer (brought me to my senses and changing my whole intentions for this year at school)

Movie #38 The Help (better than the book--didn't leave me feeling as uneasy)

Attempting Art

I really wanted some original artwork for my bedroom.  Alas, my exquisite taste does not match my limited budget.  Then I saw this artsy fartsy tutorial / narrative.   An idea was born.


When buying lumber, I had picked up a couple of free pallets.  At the time, I had no specific plans for them.  I just knew that the rough planks could be used to create something fun.  (Ana White also has many pallet plans, from Adirondack chairs to shelving units that I will get around to making, eventually.)

I began with my least favorite action: tearing the pallet apart. 

Then, I nailed the boards together to create a canvas of sorts. 

I  stained the front to match my bedroom furniture, and let it dry for a day before sanding it a bit.

Next, I taped off the edges and painted an area in the center.  (color: oatmeal, left over from painting the basement walls and "ceiling" two years ago.)  Immediately after painting, I removed the tape and brush-beat the edges so they wouldn't appear so stark.  Again, I had to let it dry.  Without all the drying time, this whole project would take about an hour.

The next morning, I pulled a bunch of paint (yes, all leftovers from wall colors) and began applying it to the barn wood-looking canvas I'd made.  No sketching, no planning, just "here goes..."

I made wheaty looking things, one color at a time, until it seemed like I'd used almost too many colors.
Then, I added some brown to the bottom. 

Oops, that looked crap-tacular.  The sander helped obscure it into a nice, negligible blur.

I touched the sander all over the piece to distress it, vacuumed the dust off, and applied a top coat of clear poly.

And here are the cost-free picture-hanging materials I never used because, although I am fairly pleased with the end product, it doesn't look right in the room it was intended for.

But it didn't cost anything!  

Time to start over.

Movies 36 & 37 and book 54

Crazy Stupid Love gets a full endorsement from me.  Maybe it was just the right flick on the right day, but I adored it.  Solid scriptwriting (since the cliches are self-aware, they're okay), great acting, and beautiful camera work.  All-around human and endearing.

Horrible Bosses aims for a male audience, but I laughed so hard that I pulled a muscle.

What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippmann kept me up late, had me dreaming about the plot all night, and then nearly made me late for work because I had to finish it this morning.