Early Birthday Celebration

I have to be in Des Moines for school on my birthday. This turned into Andrew & I getting away for a night. This turned into Jason and Suzanne meeting us for dinner. This turned into Tracy and Steve driving over to join us all.

We had a wonderful evening at the Court Avenue Brewing Company. I had prime rib and bread pudding for dessert. It was low key and fun... Exactly what I wanted for my birthday celebration!

RIP, Ching Dow

I still can't believe it, but it's true.  Ching Dow is no more.  There are other Asian restaurants in Fairfield, but Ching Dow is (WAS... sigh) the only place to really order off-a-menu-takeout-in-little-boxes Chinese food.  How am I going to live without my broccoli chicken or my moo shu vegetables?  I NEED THEM!

I don't really know why they closed down on April 1, but I'm guessing their business was hurting from the new Hy-Vee store's Chinese food and also the Chinese buffet place that Andrew and I call "The Trough."  Both of those are OK.  But they AREN'T Ching Dow!  I can only hope something even more wonderful will come into town in its place.

Why Literature Matters

My friend Kevin gets a daily poem in April (National Poetry Month), and he sent me today's.  It really touched my heart.

Because of Libraries We Can Say These Things

She is holding the book close to her body,

carrying it home on the cracked sidewalk,

down the tangled hill.

If a dog runs at her again, she will use the book as a shield.

She looked hard among the long lines

of books to find this one.

When they start talking about money,

when the day contains such long and hot places,

she will go inside.

An orange bed is waiting.

Story without corners.

She will have two families.

They will eat at different hours.

She is carrying a book past the fire station

and the five-and-dime.

What  this town has not given her

the book will provide; a sheep,

a wilderness of new solutions.

The book has already lived through its troubles.

The book has a calm cover, a straight spine.

When  the step returns to itself

as the best place for sitting,

and the old men up and down the street

are latching  their clippers,

she will not be alone.

She will have a book to open

and open and open.

Her life starts here.

                   Naomi Shihab Nye

This is a picture of part of our new Fairfield Middle School Rabid Readers Book Club.  These kids are amazing, and we meet once a month to talk about a certain book.  The picture comes from an article that ran in the Fairfield Ledger last week.

This month it was The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.  The poem Kevin sent me really made me think of our book club and of the opportunity it gives kids to get lost in literature.  We have wanted to start a book club for many years, but this is the first year we have made it happen.  4 of us teachers and a spectacular parent volunteer make the group happen, and it's awesome.  What they discuss blows our minds every single time... how deeply they analyze and think... the connections they make.  Reading literature is so important.  Even though our club isn't huge, I'm so glad we're giving kids one more chance to connect at school and with books and with each other.  And this poem reminds me why it all matters.

A Past & Present Post

I started the following on Friday:

Wow.  I'm posting for the first time on the new blogger.  It looks weird.  Anyway, enough of that... ;)

I have three shows left of Forbidden Broadway.  The costume changes are a nightmare, but it's a very fun show to do.  I have fun every night, and the cast is very talented.  Theatre is such a cool family that grows every time you do a show.  New friends are always good!  It's fun doing shows with Way Off Broadway because you work really hard for a couple of weeks, then you perform for a couple of weeks, and then you're done.  I love the quick process of it all.

Emma & Suzanne are coming down this weekend.  This is the first time they've ever stayed with me.  They're coming to my show tonight, and then they're going to Wizard of Oz at the high school tomorrow night.  Luckily, it runs for two weekends, so I'll get to see it next Saturday, I hope.

I'm trying AGAIN to refinance my house.  I had the papers all signed today.  I need to get a few documents rounded up to take in to them on Monday, and then the waiting game begins.  I'm not optimistic after the debacle this summer, but it's worth trying.

Then, I got busy, and I never finished the post.

So, NOW, I can write about how the weekend actually went!

It was GREAT having Emma & Suzanne here.  Emma and I cleaned out all the stuff in my Barbie house, and she reorganized the whole thing as only an 8-year-old can.  I loved having them stay with me.

We had the best show on Saturday night.  It was electric.  It's such a funny show.  Every show was good, but the houses were disappointing.  I'm choosing to remember Saturday night the most because the crowd made it so fun.

 Finally in the Annie dress after 30 years of waiting!

 I Dreamed a Dream parody

 Mamma Mia parody

Rent parody

One very cool thing happened on the Sunday matinee, our closing show.  One of my mom's best friends drove down from Iowa City to see me.  It was awesome seeing her again after all these years, and in a way, it felt like a little piece of my mom was there at the show.  There's a part of my mom that lives in her friends.  That part is not easily accessible to me, so when I see them, I can feel her there.  I think it's that way with all of us.  I think there would be part of me that would live on in Tracy, Jeff, Suzanne, Andrew, and others who really know me.  It made me so happy, and hugging her, well... it was a little like hugging my mom.  Thank you, Kaye!

Great Blog Post

Food + Sound of Music? Could be my favorite blog post ever on Delicious Delicious Delicious.

Click here for bundt cakes and Captain von Trapp.

These Is My Words

“Sometimes I feel like a tree on a hill, at the place where all the wind blows and the hail hits the tree the hardest. All the people I love are down the side aways, sheltered under a great rock, and I am out of the fold, standing alone in the sun and the snow. I feel like I am not part of the rest somehow, although they welcome me and are kind. I see my family as they sit together and it is like they have a certain way between them that is beyond me. I wonder if other folks ever feel included yet alone.”
― Nancy E. Turner, These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901

The One-Week Countdown

The end of my craziest school month is in sight. I can almost taste it. Tuesday is History Day. The kids have been working hard, and I think the projects are pretty good. Hopefully, someone will get to go to State for their efforts.

The 7th grade language arts research papers are due (Have you ever thought about teaching 7th graders how to write research papers? Just ponder about that activity for awhile. Are you pondering? Are you scared yet? Aren't I a superhero?). Guess what I get to check over spring break! Actually, they've been working so hard on them, I'm excited to read them. It's fun to see them all come together.

Images of Greatness is Thursday. Today I saw the kids' costumes, and their display boards are really coming together. I think it's going to be a great night.

Then... if I can make it through Friday... SPRING BREAK!!! I will be having rehearsal, a house appraisal, and a doctor's appointment over spring break, but I will also be having a lot of sleeping and a lot of reading.

Speaking of reading, we had 39 kids at our Fairfield Middle School Rabid Readers Book Club meeting yesterday. 39! WOW, it was fun. The level of discussion always blows me away at these meetings. I so look forward to it every month. Our next book is called The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. It comes highly recommended for anyone who liked The Hunger Games. I can't wait to start reading it. My grown-up (?) book club is reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, and my Professional Development group at school is reading a book in our assessment strand called Fair Isn't Always Equal by Rick Wormeli. I have a lot of reading to do to get these done in time for discussions, but that's what spring break is for, right? :)

Hope you all have a respite in sight as well!