Friday, November 23, 2012

Long Time No Blog

Happy Black Friday, all!  (Ha ha - I am sitting at home, about to get dressed to take my doggie to the vet for some shots, nowhere near any Black Friday shopping.)  Anyway, are you a Black Friday shopper?  Tiny Dancer, who is still tiny, but now a sophomore in high school with friends who can drive, headed off to Macy's at midnight with three other girls.  She arrived back at her friend's house at 3:15 am.  (I know this because I asked her to text me when she was home safely.)  I have no idea if they found any deals or not, but I just saw on the morning news that the police had to use pepper spray on people in the mall where she was... yikes!  No thank you.

What is new with all of you?  I continued to do lots of canning at the end of the summer, did some reading, and got ready for school to start.  Since school has started, I haven't done much of anything else.  I am teaching two sections of AP Literature, two sections of an advanced senior writing class, and one section of 11th grade world literature.  The grading of all of the essays is kicking my butt.  I calculated that if I graded 28 essays each day of break (Weds, Thurs, Fri, Sat), with 29 on Sunday, I would be caught up.  NO WAY!  It is Friday morning of break and the essay grading count is at 0.  I think I will try to tackle one set of 28 today.  Maybe.  Later.  Or not.

So, I have been trying to finish things around here.  I just finished a pretty good book.  

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It is a mystery/crime novel, the first in a series, by Norwegian crime writer, Kjell Eriksson.  I thought it was decent.  I am also listening to the first in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo, who is hailed as Norway's best crime novelist.  It seems pretty good so far.


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Apparently, I am not alone in my love of European crime novels since reading the Milleneum trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, etc.)  There is even a book published about it called  The Dragon Tattoo and its Long Tail: The New Wave of European Crime Fiction in America.  

I just started reading a book by a newer author, Harry Dolan.  I LOVED his first book, Bad Things Happen, and his second (also a series crime novel) just came out in paperback, Very Bad Men.  I am so excited to read it.  He is from Ann Arbor, and his books are set in Ann Arbor, so it is fun to read about streets, places, and landmarks I am familiar with.  There was a scene in his first novel that still makes me nervous when we park in the parking structure in downtown Ann Arbor near Main Street!  

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I am almost finished with a project that I am embarrassed to say I started LAST WINTER and was supposed to be a "quick" project.  Haha.  It will be done today and I will post a picture.  So excited to wear it.

I hope you are all enjoying this lovely, wintry, blustery, day after Thanksgiving.  I think I need to go nibble some more leftover creamed spinach.  Yum.