Look! IT WORKS.

I’ve had ever so many great ideas of blog posts in the past 3 weeks. And I’ve had an interface problem for each one of them. Boo. But there’s this principle that we mention a whole lot at our house: “Ask for what you want and you might get what you want.” I asked for help, and look. It’s a BLOG. I know, right?

Life is good. Family is great. We had a lovely Christmas break. It was practically perfect. Work is good. It’s been a little snowy. Also, I’ve been writing a little bit every day on THIS:

It’s a 1935 Underwood, which just happens to be JUST LIKE the one my Grandmother-the-published-authoress used many years ago (and she died years before I was born, but I love that we have this thing in common). It’s clacky and noisy and sometimes I pound the keys hard enough to make holes in the “O” letters. There’s no #1. You use the “L”. And the apostrophe is above the 8 key. It’s so cool. I’m truly loving it. My husband gives really good Christmas gifts, you know.

MOVIES. I’ve seen two. I’ll give them their own posts, because I have thoughts.

BOOKS. I’ve ordered a few. And I’m re-reading POISONWOOD BIBLE because it’s been years. I can take as much time as I want to. I can ingest it sips at a time. It’s a beautiful piece of writing.

CLASSES. I finished the English ones I needed to get through this first year of teaching. I got a 96% on my last final. Nailed it. I remembered that I love Miss Emily Dickinson. And discovered Amy Lowell. Lady Poetesses. They’re the Goods.

INCHES of GRADING to ACCOMPLISH. There are about 12. Inches. Of grading to do. This week. All of which I totally asked for. I’m eager to read their journals and book reports (I have the students read a book [generally a novel, but I can be flexible] of their choice and write me a response paper to it. Honors kids have to do that plus another one for a classic, also of their choice [including modern classics]). They impress me, in general. Some of them try to Make Idiotic Choices (like copying paragraphs directly from SparkNotes, when hello? I introduced you to SparkNotes, you silly sophomore), but I try to talk them out of those particular choices.

TRAVEL PLANS. I’m making them. For a city place. And an international place. And I’m excited.

BOOK WRITING. I’m working on it. I’m glad to be doing so.

So I hope I can show up here now and then, and maybe even have something to say once in a while. It may take some work to get back into the groove, but I’m a girl who can do some work.