Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Scarring My Daughter for Life

A long time ago (February 22, 2010, to be exact), I posted about my experience watching The Incredible Journey when I was six years old. I had to laugh (and groan and almost cry) this weekend when I showed it to my five-year-old monkey. 

To be honest, I zoned out after about the first 30 minutes. (I have an excuse--I was working on a first draft. Honest!) Then the sounds of monkey-sobs penetrated my brain. 

I looked up to see... the exact same scene that made me bawl when I was little. Sassy (the cat) plunging over the waterfall. 

(Yes, I realize I'm no longer in the running for Mom-of-the-Year. There's always next year, right?)

There's really no moral here, except don't show your cat-loving-and-very-impressionable daughter movies about cats almost-dying. (I tried to explain before the movie that it was all pretend, but obviously that didn't do any good. Seriously--the little monkey can handle Voldemort and the trolls in The Chamber of Secrets, but not The Incredible Journey. Ugh.)

On a completely unrelated side note, I also managed to read two phenomenal historical novels in the last week. If you're looking for a good read, I highly recommend Michelle Moran's The Second Empress (about Napoleon's court) and Erika Robuck's Hemingway's Girl (about Hemingway during his Key West days).  

What about you? Any scarred children or book recommendations you'd like to tell about?

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Dancing in the Rain

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass,
it's about learning to dance in the rain."
--Vivian Greene

 This is my motto for the new school year, especially as I'm teaching a brand-new AP European History class (and I have a newly minted kindergardener!). Life's a little busy, to say the least. 

But this made me smile--THE SECRET HISTORY is on Goodreads! The cover should be coming soon--life is busy, but super exciting!

How are things going in your neck of the woods? Any exciting news or great quotes to share? Or perhaps some chocolate you'd care to send my way?