Cookie Bar Monday

I'm just relaxing here while my chocolate chip Oreo cookie bars are in the oven.  Do they sound like heaven?  They most certainly do!  It's yet another recipe I grabbed from Pinterest, and you can find it here - Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookie Bars.  So yummy.  It's a cooler day today, so the heat of the kitchen wasn't too bad.  Right now my house smells like a combination of Oreos and chocolate chips.  So divine!

I love baking.  It allows me to totally get lost in my thoughts and completely relax, which is what I wanted to do this afternoon.  The madness of school returns next week.  As much as I love teaching, I love these lazy days of books, writing (yes, I've tried), and baking.  It's been a good summer, but it's time to go back.

I've been reading, "The Nest," recently, and am more than half-way through the book.  I'll admit I'm a bit tired with it.  Reading about other people's financial woes is, well, disheartening.  This family depended so much upon this inheritance, and now it's stripped away.  Sad.  But it so often happens with families.  The in-fighting.  The stealing.  The lying.  Everyone has a story or has heard one similar, and hence why "The Nest" is probably so popular.  But I'll finish reading it anyway.  I'm one of those people who always finishes a book, even if it completely bothers me.  I just have to.  I must!

I started a short story, which is a big step for me where I've had writer's block for so long.  I wrote a page.  A page!  It felt good to get words back on the canvas.  I'm hoping to have a Writer's Club at school this year, as the kids really motivated me in the past to be working on something.  Two years ago I did the club, and had such a talented group of writers.  I was so proud of their efforts.  I'd like to bring in a guest speaker, too, to help them hear about how the writing process works from an actual author or someone related to the field.  I'm excited!

The bars are about to come out of the oven.  Yum, yum, yum.  Go try the recipe, and let me know how it comes out!

Just Words On A Page

I'm writing just to write.  I've been less than inspired to write on my novel (ah, Three By Three how you torture me) this summer.  I've been relaxing.  A lot of changes have taken place at school, and I'm apprehensive about the future.  August 24th I need to report for an event, and I can feel the nerves gathering already.  Yes, everything will be fine, but it's still the unknown.

I feel a lot of times teaching is like acting.  I have to get up on that stage, put on my game face, and go.  But what if I don't have a game face?  I sometimes wonder.  It's so damn hard on days where you're sick, or tired, or just not completely pumped up to be the most awesomeness that you usually are.  I also think kids are kids and should be treated as such.  They're not mini-Einsteins, (especially with middle school), awaiting an acceptance to Princeton or Harvard or Yale.  Let them enjoy the last of their childhood!  Why are we pushing them so much?  Push push push.  All for the kid to have a major breakdown and depression at the age of thirteen.  It's just crazy.  I'm the goofy teacher, the one who just bought a poster about renting monkeys.  Yes, they'll have to decipher it from Spanish to English, but once they do, they'll be good to rent a monkey anywhere in the world.  Hey - it's a valuable skill.  Is it not?

The photo above is from my happy place, Lake Champlain.  It was so nice to go there this year once again for two weeks.  I enjoyed everyone's company, and the two college visits.  Never mind the fact that Kidlet B is lamenting that UVM doesn't allow water bottles on campus ("But no water bottles!  No throw away water bottles?!  What gives?!"), all in all it was a fun and productive vacation.  I'm loving the heat, despite not having central air.  Visits to Maine have been awesome (Thank you, F&G!).

But I want to write more.  I just cannot seem to focus on one topic or theme without getting distracted, like a toddler in front of a candy bar.  I have an idea for a new novel, but not sure if it's too like one that's one the market now.  I keep thinking, "Marketability!" before I write.  Perhaps I should just write, and not worry about whether or not it's sell-worthy.

So, I still have the day job, as much as I would like to be writing full time, and volunteering at the library as a page.  Ah, that would be heaven!  Can you arrange for me to win the lottery soon so that can happen?  That would be nice.  Just shelving books, seeing all the clear-cut letters on the spines.  I love viewing all the unique titles; it gets my mind roaming.  I miss working in the library.  Perhaps I can go back someday soon when my boys are older and driving themselves.

Enjoy the rest of summer!  Please keep in touch!  And get ready for the onslaught of fall!