Month: February 2011

Reading

The answer

sashikaufman

So I brought 3 books.  8th Grade Superzero -which I was almost done with anyway.  Let the Great World Spin, which I’ve been fighting to get into ever since I finished This Side of Brightness also by Colum McCann.  And then just in case I needed more YA, I also threw in If I Stay.  Luckily the bnb had so many great magazines, I never even came close to running out of reading material.

On our way out of town, we stopped at the great local bookstore Rock City.  There I picked up a copy of The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To.  Got to support local independent bookstores after all.

Also at the bookstore I stumbled upon some postcard sized prints by a really neat artist.  Jane Mount does portraits of people’s favorite books.  She calls it Ideal Bookshelves.   You can even order a custom print of a special someone’s favorite books!  I think I’ll be dropping hints quite frequently between now and July 7th!

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Reading, Sneaky Motherhood

How many is too many?

sashikaufman

Ok, how many books is too many to bring on an overnight trip?  Driving, not flying, so weight is not really an issue.

Keep in mind, it’s my first over night trip away from my daughter since she was born.  Not sure why that affects the number of books I’m bringing, but since books are sometimes like security blankets to me, I think it does.

Also, heading to a bed and breakfast in wintery Maine so not much else to do besides scrabble and napping.   (Uh, going with a friend, not husband, just in case you think the fire’s burned out on my marriage already…)

School

Euphemistically speaking

sashikaufman

I’m teaching my 8th graders what a euphemism is, and it must be the Friday before vacation because my personal censoring device has been temporarily disabled.

Me: So a euphemism is an expression people use when they want to talk about something that makes them uncomfortable or embarrassed.  Do you know what the three most common topics that generate euphemisms are?

(silence)

Death, sex, and going to the bathroom.

(more silence)

What does it mean if you say “number two”?

(nervous giggling, mostly from the boys)

How about “making out”?  Or “getting it on”?  Ooh, or remember that old show the Newlywed Game? (ok, here I’ve gone off the deep end.  That show is before my time.  There’s no way a 13 year old is going to know what I’m talking about)  They used to call it “making whoopie”!

(Do you know what is sounds like when 20 adolescents simultaneously slink down in their seats and wish they were dead?  I do.)

Do you have a favorite euphemism?