Happy Tuesday!

First! Make sure you all catch my feature from this morning on Shawni from A Spoonful of Love here!

I am having a really great day, today! So far, I have just been at school, and I DO have class tonight, but I am still pretty chipper :) I just spent a good amount of time catching up on blogs and getting that infamous Google Reader bold number down to zero. It's one of my favorite things to be able to read excellent posts and "star" them to check out again, later! Especially when it comes to the 2398 vegan/vegetarian blogs I am subscribed to ;)

Here are just a few of the posts I have starred since I began using Google Reader. I am a huge fan of finding new recipes and trying things out, so that's mostly what they are:

I am really excited to try out the these three most recent of my starred posts: "How to make brown sugar," "Pumpkin pizza," and "zucchini and chickpea burgers!" I am lucky that Nick is so open to trying whatever I make, even if it's a bite or two. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking a lot about Sophie Kinsella and her Shopaholic series. Well, I finally finished it, and the final book was just as great as the previous five, and the end leave plenty of room for a seventh book, so I am really excited! After I finished that book, in about three days, I started on one of the other Madeline Wickham (Sophie Kinsella's pseudonym) books I own but haven't read: Sleeping Arrangements.

The book was pretty good, but not what I was expecting from SK. However, I would still recommend it :) 

Also: I am teaching The Crucible to my AA kids, as I said last week, and they are really struggling with it. However, this is the first time I have read it at all, and I am loving it. I think it's really eerie and perfect for the fall season - and it's really interesting! We are also watching the 2004 film version alongside it, to make sure that the kids are understanding what they are reading. 

Lastly - Petsmart called today to formally offer me the spot in.... their groom shop! It was between that and Pet Care, which is their umbrella term for the part of the store that deals with fish, birds, reptiles, etc. and while I would have accepted it graciously, I was really hoping for the groom shop position. This means I get to work with puppies - every day! I am SO excited, since animals would totally be my profession if I weren't teaching. Yay!! 

Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday, I am off to mail Jaelynn from Pardon My Ffrench a thank you package for sponsoring me this month! 

<3 S

Books = omg.

At school this week, the kids are taking the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) and I am left with only a few students each bell, and my Kindle. This is what most of today looked like :

[Sidenote: I am starting The Crucible with the kids on Wednesday and I cannot wait. My favorite part about teaching literature? The background notes I give before each new book or work. I love to research and learn more about what I am teaching, and it makes me feel so smart to tell the kids + especially when they answer questions!!] 

So. Here are my books of interested lately!! I know I did a book post a while back and these don't exactly match up - but I have an explanation for that. Ever since school started I have lost most of my motivation to read. Until recently! I have been reading like crazy the past two weeks, and have almost finished the Shopaholic series, like promised, ages ago. I am on the fifth book:

and am eagerly anticipating ordering the sixth and newest book via my Kindle and Whispernet! There are two covers that I found for this book. The first one matches all of the other books that I have in this series, and others by Sophie Kinsella/Madeline Wickham, but the second one? I think it's super cute.

[Disclaimer: I do have a brain, guys. I do read interesting, though provoking, deep literature. On occasion. But sometimes a girl just needs to be obsessed with British Chick Lit. Am I right?]

This is the book that we assigned to the kids today for their long independent portfolio piece. Granted, it's an 8th grade level book, and they are 11th graders, it is still about one of my favorite subjects to learn about: the Holocaust. I know this is morbid, and you would probably agree with Holly about me, but I am just fascinated by the hope that is involved in stories about the Holocaust. The survivors, the victims, and what they leave behind. It's so through provoking and intoxicating. 

This book is, apparently, pretty graphic. I know I have learned about the Holocaust and know basics, but not enough to introduce the book sufficiently to class, so Holly did that part today. She also read a few excerpts from the book and omg. It really sounds like a fantastic (although, not very uplifting) read. My understanding is that this author has written a sequel to this book called Dawn. 

I also have been wanted to read this book by Lauren Weisberger. If you didn't know, she is the author of The Devil Wears Prada, which is another of my favorite books, I have read it a few times, and love the movie just as much. 

That's it for my book post, tonight :) I hope you guys found something interesting to read! xoxo Stephanie