Happy Holidays!

Blessings to you and yours this Christmas and in the New Year!

Finals WEEK

Winter break is almost here! I NEED a break.

Pass the turkey and slap the salami.

A random post calls for a random post title. (Can't wait to see what people will Google to find this post!)

I've been lovingly tagged by Peter to join in on the fun with the "seven random or weird book facts" meme. Frankly, I am glad to have a reason to ignore planning and grading for a few minutes (or at least "think" about planning and grading but not actually *follow* through with doing it).

1. Does a deck of cards count? What if these are cards that have writing on them rather than numbers? A few months ago, I confiscated a deck of "SEX!" cards from a sophomore boy in one of my classes. The cards (and I only know this by reading the outside cover of the cards) have tasks printed on each one - rub your partner's...(you fill in the blank), etc. The idea is to draw a card and complete the task with your lover. So I threw the cards into my file cabinet (right next to the "nude man" pen I confiscated the previous month) and forgot about them for awhile. Even though I asked the boy several times to please drop by after school and retrieve his "cards," the cards remained in my desk for a month or more. Eventually I threw them out. About a week ago, the boy finally dropped by and asked for the cards. He said, "My mom and dad are looking all over for them." I said, "Oh, so sorry, I threw those away! Well, you know what you have to do, right?" "Yeah," he replied, "I gotta go to that shop and buy them some new ones."

2.The first book I remember reading was a volume of Dick and Jane that was one of my older brother's textbooks. I was four. Even though Dick and Jane and Spot lived in a nice little neighborhood that was nothing like my neighborhood, I marveled at every word and picture. I wondered why the police never visited the house across their street. Seriously, though. Wait. I was being serious. Anyway, Dick and Jane offered the world a nice big slice of Americana like no other book from that time period could. Except for the "Little Black Sambo" series. And that's all I'm going to say about that because I just keep getting more and more sarcastic with every word I type. Am I really that jaded? (Don't answer that!!)

3. My brothers and I used to play "library." In the first grade, I organized all of our books alphabetically by the author's last name, and then I made individual "call" numbers that I taped on the spine of each book. I can't remember what my system was, but it made sense to me when I was in the first grade. Ironically, my daughters also like to play library whenever they visit grandma and grandpa's house. The old set of Funk and Wagnalls and 100+ Reader's Digest condensed books compilations are perfect for that game.

4. Dalene tagged me awhile back on Facebook to join in on her discussion regarding a list of "must read" books. I have to say that no author has moved me of late as much as Flannery O'Connor has. Last year I read the novel The Violent Bear it Away, and I was ruined. No matter what I have read after reading that novel, it just doesn't move me - disturb me - the way O'Connor's writing does. I used to think that Faulkner was the master American novelist. Compared to O'Connor, his writing is perfunctory.

5. Like Peter, I like to savor every word when I read. It might take me a month or two - or a year - to finish a book, especially if I am captivated with the story line or the characters or the topic. Then again, I plowed through Crime and Punishment in a manner of days.

6. There are a few books that make me cry or *move* me no matter how many times I read them. One of those books is S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Another is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.

7. No one I know reads more books than my mother does. She loves to read mysteries. I think she has read every Agatha Cristie book that was ever written.

As for the tagging...I'll have to get back to you on that one. Lily - secret blog. Anthony - secret blog. Jess - up for posting on your public blog? For sure, Dalene, consider yourself tagged. Anyone else that bloggs and reads this, well, you are tagged too.

*TAGGING UPDATE: Aerin, you are definitely tagged. Lily played. Dalene, where are you. Who else has a writing blog that wants to come forth?