WHAT ARE YOU READING THAT"S GOOD?
BOOKS MEME

I sat down tonight wondering what I will blog about. Since I left school about 2 and a half hours ago I have driven through rain, sleet, hail and snow. They're predicting 12 inches for us this evening through tonight and up to 8 inches tomorrow. We haven't had that much snow since 1973 when we left town ahead of the snowstorm of the century. And I'm bored WRITING about snow...I won't bore you.

So, I was pleased as punch to discover that heather had tagged me for a meme.
This one I really like because I always love to hear what people are reading!

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
   
2. Open the book to page 123.
   
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
   

The nearest book to me (It arrived today and I brought it home on the off chance that tomorrow is a snow day and I could spend the day curled up with the book by the fireplace! Please!! Please!!! Please!!)

Drawing on the right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.

Page 123:

"Emphasis on negative spaces unifies your drawing and strengthens composition and--perhaps most important, improves your perceptual abilities.

"I realize that it is counter-intuitive--that is, it goes against common sense--to think that focusing on the spaces around objects will improve your drawing of the objects. But this is simply another of the paradoxes of drawing and may help to explain why it is so difficult to teach oneself to draw. So many of the strategies of drawing--using negative space, for example--would never occur to anyone "in their left mind."


Okay that is boring to anyone not interested in education, psychology and left-right brain theory. (I'm trying to get out of my "left mind" -- maybe I can learn to use my "right mind.") And my readers are saying, "Just get a mind!!! Or get a life!!"

Fine. I'll agree. That book has limited appeal. (Although some of my home-schooling Mom friends and other educator/psychology people might find it interesting)

Next closest book:

Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God by Brennan Manning.

"Drop your various identities as author, evangelist, and spiritual leader, admired by your friends and respected by your reading audience. Simply present yourself to God, clinging to nothing but your humanness."

"And so the hours of prayer became a death to all past achievements and any identity not grounded in truth."

This one is a great book. I highly recommend it...(Is it just me, or did that passage speak to anyone like me who can become a site meter addict?)

And I now tag a few people I know love to read: What book is nearby???

Jen at MomtoJonahandJude
Valerie
Mrs. Darling
Joanne
Lisa B

And anybody else who'd like to play! Tell us what you're reading!! Or at least what book is lying nearby!

Hope all of you have a wonderful day -- and plenty of time to read!

PJ

Good News

I went to my absolutely wonderful massage therapist this afternoon. I feel so much better. I was concerned that the pain in my right leg might be sciatica, but the pain was being caused by the piriformis (a butt muscle) that was causing some restriction of the sciatic nerve, but it was not the disc compressing the nerve. So...with some stretching exercises, I should be good as new!! My muscles are reacting to the almost two years of inactivity. My hamstrings are tight and shortened, even my quads don't stretch the way they did just two years ago...but then, I was still playing soccer and exercising strenuously at times and more or less at other times. So it's stretching exercises for me on a daily basis.

The second piece of good news is that the meeting (professional development) that I went to yesterday was very inspiring. Assuming this current project continues well with the less structured environment, I want to rearrange things for a reading area. I want to have one day a week in which we read -- just read for 40 minutes. (If you saw my classes now, you'd know what a stretch that is). I'll be working on motivation for reading. I want some bean bag chairs (Where are the garage sales when I need them!), a big area rug (that I have) and some big pillows (I have a few; I'll have to make or find others). The idea is to create an environment conducive to reading. I'll have to work on the motivation...

I have two areas to stretch -- my muscles and my classroom!