Armchair BEA Day 2: What Readers Want and Let's Collaborate and Listen

 Day 2 of Armchair BEA!!  Okay, I'm going to do my best to answer the two questions below, then I hope you'll chime in to the comments and let me know your thoughts as well.

• What Do Readers Want?: What makes or breaks a book? How do we rate the books, or determine if it is good literature or a good story? What do we want from an author event? 

 I think that this first question is a very subjective one.  I think that every reader wants different things.  And that is why there are so many different books out there. With different writing styles, genres, formats, etc., there is something for everyone out there.  It's why I don't say that any other genre or type of book is bad, or not good, it's just not my type of read.  I don't know that I always care if a book is "good literature".  I just want it to be a good story that captures my attention and makes it hard for me to put down. Characters are usually the biggest part of a story for me.  If they are someone that I think I would like to hang out with, or someone that I definitely connect with on some level, it usually is an automatic check mark that I'll enjoy that book.   

However, very simple writing, or else very poorly written - meaning grammar and spelling issues - can definitely ruin a story for me.  

At an author event, I love hearing them speak and answer questions.  I also like a chance to get to have a book autographed, or more important to me, get my picture taken with them.  

• Let's Collaborate & Listen: The online book community has changed so much over the years. How do we keep up within our own book-sphere as well as within the community as a whole (i.e., libraries, bookstores, authors, publishers, etc.)? 

I try really hard to keep up with my fellow bloggers by visiting their blogs, and subscribing by email to those that I want to make sure to keep up with even when I may not have the time to actually go and visit their blog daily.  I feel like keeping up with authors more happens on Facebook these days, compared to Twitter in the past.  I follow so many people on Twitter that I rarely have the time to read through  my timeline.  It's almost like I only go to Twitter in order to post something, or specifically seek a certain author out to ask them a question.  I've gotten a little braver with contacting publishers.  I feel like my blog has a good enough standing that I can reach out and request ARCs of books that I am very eager for.  I also like traveling to conventions when I can afford it and have the time.  I love meeting my fellow book bloggers in person, and it's an opportunity to meet authors that I love as well, and also a chance to meet new authors that I may then become huge fans of.

Boost It Tuesday - Starring ME as the Featured Blogger of the Week

Have you noticed that despite ALL of your Facebook "Likes" you are only "reaching" a very small portion of those followers? Does that bother you? It bothers us, and we want to boost each other up. Link up with Every Free Chance Books.

 

What is Boost It Tuesday, you ask? Well, we want to help each other out. We are a great community of bloggers and authors, and we should be supporting each other. Share your Facebook address below, then visit the Facebook pages, like 3-5 posts, share or comment on 1 or 2 posts. That's it. You don't have to "like" the page if you don't want to, just "like" some posts. Let's help expand each other's page reach. Who knows! You may find a new blog or author to follow along the away. Please be aware that any non-Facebook links will be deleted.

 

Here are some tips for Boosting. A big thanks to Kate at If These Books Could Talk for the image!

 

We will be featuring one blogger or author on the Boost It Tuesday post. We hope that you will visit that blogger or author and give their page a bit of extra BIT attention!

   

This week's featured blogger is Lisa at Lisa Loves Literature! Visit her Facebook page and give it an extra Boost!

 

If you would like to be featured one week, please fill out the form below.

Click Here to Sign Up to Be a Featured Booster!

Remember: Like, comment, and share!  Let's all give each other a boost!

         
 

 

Review: For Sale by Owner by Marlene Bateman

Book info:
Title:  For Sale by Owner
Author:  Marlene Bateman
Genre: Romance with a touch of religion, specifically LDS
Published:  October 3rd, 2016
Source:  Won on Facebook from author
My rating:  3 stars

I received this book from the author through a giveaway on Facebook.  Overall it was a sweet story.  While it is a story with a religious aspect, Latter Day Saints to be specific, it wasn't too over the top with that if you don't enjoy that type of story.  Here's the blurb from Goodreads:  

McKenzie Forsberg is headed home. She's quit her big-city job to return to her roots in the small town of Lake Forest. Kenzi hopes to buy her childhood home from her brother, Tom, as a way of revisiting the peace and security she's been missing in her life. But soon she is shocked to discover that the house has a pending sale, and Tom won't budge from the sale—not even for his sister.

Handsome widower Jared Rawlins catches Kenzie's eye until she realizes that he's the one who is buying her house—but he can only close the deal if he sells his own house by Christmas Eve. Jared is more than a little interested in Kenzie but has second thoughts when it seems that she may be sabotaging the sale of his home.

Slippery feelings of animosity and distrust ensue, with both Jared and Kenzie denying the chemistry between them. But then an unexpected discovery about their connected past puts a new twist in the dynamic. Now, can they put their differences aside and come to terms on a relationship that could last forever?  

McKenzie, or Kenzie and Jared are both single parents.  Kenzie because of a divorce, Jared because his wife passed away.  The two have instant chemistry when they first meet. But then when Kenzie finds out that Jared is planning to buy her childhood home, the very reason that Kenzie kind of planned to move back, the tension rockets.  And Kenzie does something that jeopardizes Jared's purchase of the house, even though she really doesn't do it in a malevolent way, it just kind of happens.  

The writing is pretty simple.  But there is a little back story that while you think has to be what is going on, the author has made enough changes in the adults to keep you kind of wondering if it's really going on.  It was definitely a very sweet read, and if you're interested in that type of a read, you will enjoy it.  It doesn't have any of the physical or sex scenes in most of the romances I have been reading lately, it would be more like what I used to read about 10 or more years ago.  


 

Review: Bigger and Badder by Jackson Kane

Book info:
Title:  Bigger and Badder
Author:  Jackson Kane
Genre:  Contemporary romance
Published:  October 2016
Source:  E-book from author for review
My rating:  4 stars

I just recently found this author, but I found him first as a cover model.  I'd been following him on Facebook for awhile, and when the opportunity came up to read his book, I definitely volunteered.  And I have to say I was not disappointed in the least!  As far as I know, I've only read romances by women authors before.  There were a few things that kind of stood out as a man having written this, but not in any way that made the story bad. 

There are two main characters that we get the story from, Judy and Garrett.  The start of the story we see the "meet-cute" between the two.  It's at a masquerade ball and while the two have a really nice dance and time, Garrett soon leaves, and goes on with his life.  The two of them didn't really know who the other was at the time.  But when Judy's town is trying to save itself by building a stadium, they call Garrett in to try to finance their plan to save the town.  Garrett is sure from the very start that there is no way he can help this town.  It isn't until Judy shows up, and he sees something about her, that he decides he will give her the chance to convince him, especially when she immediately pegs him as a conceited jerk.  Garrett's life is already pretty full, with many reasons for him to be pretty conceited.  He's been a champion football player, he's a billionaire, and all of this before the age of 30.  He does have a young daughter though, and she comes first. 

The three days that Judy has to convince him seem to go pretty well, until at the end the town refuses to accept the terms he puts out in order for him to help.  And when that happens, someone else swoops in to "help" the town. But really, they don't plan to help, they plan to let the town sink, and he intends to make it so that it seems it is all Garrett's fault in the end. 

Garrett will have to decide just how much Judy means to him, and if he is able to save the town and still reach his goals before the age of 30.  Judy will have to figure out how to deal with what is in Garrett's life, and what his being back has changed in her life. 

This second chance romance was a good one.  There were definitely some very hot and sexy scenes.  I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more. 

A to Z April: P Reviews - Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen/The Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt

For the last post this week I've got an old romance novel and a YA paranormal story.  Both are books I really enjoyed, and remember well.

The first book I want to talk about is one that I did actually review on my blog. But it is a series that I don't think gets enough attention.  So I want to bring it back by linking you to my reviews of the first two books in the Past Midnight series by Mara Purnhagen HERE.  And then I'll share the blurb from Goodreads below.  I just loved the ghost story, the characters, the mystery, such a great story!
Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear.

All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive….

The second book is one that I happened upon by chance.  I had been hanging out with my aunt and cousins for the day because my parents were busy for something I can't remember now. We'd gone over to her grandmother-in-law's house.  I was bored, it was before I always remembered to bring a book with me.  So I saw a book sitting on a table and asked if I could read it.  Or maybe I picked it up and started reading, and the lady who it belonged to actually told me I could take it with me when we left. I'd always thought peacocks were cool, so that is one thing that got my attention. The other thing is that opals were my birthstone, and in this book I first learned about black opals, and probably became really obsessed with all types of opals.   Here is the blurb for it from Goodreads:
Victoria Holt demonstrates her mastery once again in her most exciting novel set in turn-of-the-century England where a young woman grows up in the shadow of the great estate - and privileged way of life - that was once her family's birthright. But a unique inheritance compels Jessica Clavering to marry the owner of a fabled opal mine and leads her to faraway Australia. There she will discover the mysteries - and evil - surrounding the greatest opal ever found. There she must confront the danger that lust for the stone has aroused even in her own husband - and there she must find love.

Actually both books I've chosen today have ghosts in them!  Or seem to maybe have ghosts.  And romance. Have you read either of these?  I am friends with the author of the first one, Mara Purnhagen, on Facebook.  And I've asked her what book is next. Nothing so far.  But I enjoy her writing so hope there will be more soon.  I've tried other books from the 2nd author, but haven't found any I loved as much as this one.

While you're here, enter my giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rant and Asking for Ideas?

Okay, I need to talk to people who will understand, I think, what has got me so irritated at the moment. Now, I know many of my readers are NOT Twilight fans, and probably hate it with a seething passion.  But I know many others of my readers are fans of the story, or if not as big a fan as I am, at least enjoyed it and don't hate it.  Those of you who are fans will understand me probably, those of you who are not, well, just think about any book or type of book you like that maybe you get tired of other people criticizing?  Like, I'm 40 years old, but I love YA.  Probably because I teach middle school kids and that got me back to reading that age level, but partly because they are just so good these days!!  There are people who look at me funny when I say that I mostly read teen books.  And I know that there are people who really make fun of Harry Potter books, because I'm a fan of those, and have to listen to that as well.  But for some reason, when people get all uppity about Twilight, it really can irk me.  And if they don't like it, and say why, I'm fine, no biggie.  But I get so tired of all the people who go on and on about the relationship being abusive.  First off, Edward doesn't want to hurt Bella, the only reason he would ever hurt her is because he is a vampire.  I mean he even leaves the country, dumps her, just so that he won't kill her.  So it's not that he wants to hurt her, or hurts her like real human abusive relationships.  And see, there's one of my pet peeves.  It is FICTION!  Who reads a Stephen King book, and thinks it is okay to do something that one of those characters does?  Or that people are going to be like that because it was in his book?  Or if we're going to censor Twilight, what about the Goosebumps series?  Or books like Go Ask Alice, or even books about drugs that may even make them seem cool?  I think it is insulting to say that teens are going to feel that is how relationships should be because they read it in a book.  I read books like Flowers in the Attic when I was in middle school, and it didn't make me want to have sex with my brother!!
Am I saying that I like every type of book/fiction/story that there is?  NO!  I personally do not care for Manga or Graphic Novels really.  But I do read them occasionally, like I tried the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 8 comics because I wasn't ready to lose my favorite show.  But didn't really enjoy it.  But as I've said many times before, I love that there are all the different genres and formats for reading.  I like that people aren't all the same, I mean how boring would it be if everyone liked exactly the same thing and there were never any different thoughts or ideas?  Sounds like a dystopian novel to me.  Maybe I should write it.
This is kind of an all over the place rant I guess.  But I get so emotional when people won't even listen to my side.  And some of these people are the kind who want people to have as much freedom as possible, and would normally be against censorship, but to me this is in a way censorship.  If you have a problem with it, don't let your kids read it, that's your choice.  And I won't say a word about it.  But if you sit down with your kids and discuss things with them, or take an active part in their life, it might be good to have them read books like that and see what they think or got out of the story.  Am I crazy?  Am I wrong to say that fiction is fiction?  And that I believe teens are smart enough to figure that out?  Do I know/think that there are teens (as well as many adults) who may not figure that out?  Yes!  I do!  But I think most people are intelligent enough to figure it out, either on their own, or because they did have the type of upbringing that helps them to think for themselves.
So, what ideas do I need?  I need a way to help myself not get so emotionally upset by stuff like this.  I know it's not personal, but I feel like these people are telling me I don't understand what I read, and that I shouldn't like it or recommend it to teens based on what their opinions/thoughts on the book are.  Again, usually once we give our opinions and agree to disagree, I'm fine.  It's only when they continue to harass me about how wrong I am, and won't stop, in fact tell me to stop and move on, even when they won't agree to disagree because they're right and I'm wrong, that it makes me emotional.  And by emotional, I mean that when I get angry, I start to tear up.  I think I got this from my mom.  And I hate that it is how I show emotion because it makes me seem weak to people.  At least that is the impression I get from them.  At least in this case it was an all online thing.  But the disappointment is that it was on someone who I've lately considered to be a friend's facebook post, and it was a friend of hers that I don't know that kept jumping all over me.  I finally went back and just deleted all my comments, but I just want to go back and keep listing all the reasons I disagree.  So, I guess I just wonder how other people deal with people, who I'll call "haters" for now.  Anyone?  Advice?  Ideas?  Suggestions?  If you think I'm just crazy, please don't comment.  I'm already a little upset at the moment.  And loyal followers, I love all of you whether we read the same kinds of books, or whether you hate Twilight, or whatever.  As the picture below might show, Twilight is literally a permanent part of me.  The tattoo on the left is mine.  The one on the right is my sister's.  And honestly, I will never be unhappy I got this.  This book series really brought my sister and me together in a way.  We'd always been friends, well once she grew up, (she is 11 years younger than me), but this really gave us a connection, a shared thing to talk about and go all fan-girl about.  And I love that my first tattoo (and only for the moment) is book related.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

This is Jay Asher's 2nd book, and I'm still a huge fan!  This is the first book of Carolyn Mackler's that I've read.  While the topic is way less serious than Asher's first book Thirteen Reasons Why, it was one that intrigued me as soon as I heard about it.  Two teens in 1996, Emma and Josh get online with Emma's first computer, using a phone line, and the old America Online CD-ROM that Josh has brought her.  The funny thing is, when they log on, they find a website called Facebook, and it seems to be their own Facebook pages, from 15 years in the future!!  So that's 2011.  And Facebook wasn't even really invented till 2003, so obviously there is no way these 16 year olds could have logged onto Facebook.  Turns out that little things they do or decide to do changes what shows up on their Facebook page.  Emma notices that her husband is first gone fishing, then missing and presumed to be cheating on her, and soon she's very unhappy with him it seems.  So she finds this person in real life and makes sure that she will never hook up with him.  This does send a big ripple through time, if we are to believe that this Facebook page is really from the future.  Now Emma has a new husband, and may or may not be pursuing her dream job of marine biology.  Josh on the other hand seems to be married to one of the most popular girls in the school, up until now, he's not really hung out with her.  The sad thing is that Josh and Emma have been best friends for years and years.  Until one night Josh thought that Emma might have more feelings for him, the same kind he had for her.  But when he went in to kiss her, she pulled back, and made it clear she didn't want that with him.  Since then Emma has had several boyfriends, none that seem to last long.  While Josh's future life, as seen on his Facebook page, doesn't ever seem to be a bad one, just changes in the number and sexes of his children, Emma's never seems to live up to what she wants.  And this causes her to keep trying to change things, even going so far to try something with Josh, something that pushes him away, to the point that they are no longer friends on Facebook.  Emma has to examine if what she's doing will ever make her future any better, or if there is actually something she needs to work on now about herself, rather than trying to get it fixed with other people.  Josh needs to determine if the popular girl is really his dream girl, or if that girl is who he'd always thought it would be.
Again I love the humor!  The way they first view Facebook, as a page where people post really boring things, like what they had for dinner.  It amuses me because it is so true, I do it myself.   And yet it pokes fun in a non-insulting, fun way.  I  love the humor, I love the story.  Even though you can kind of figure out where it is going, it still is fun to read and see how it gets there.
And because I always love to talk about getting to meet my favorite authors, here is a picture of me with Jay Asher at the Missouri Association of School Librarians a few years back when he presented a session, and was there to pick up his Gateway Award for the year before.

 

My 5 Favorite Things About Blogging

Continuing in the 3 year Blogoversary celebration, I'm using an idea I saw on Red House Books blog when they had their blogoversary last month.  Mine is a little different, I think hers was about her least favorite things about blogging.  And maybe I'll do something like that later this month.  But here are my 5 things.

1.  First, as I am still waiting to find someone to take a chance on me and hire me as a school librarian, I love that this is a way I get to share my love of books with others.  In some cases it is my fellow book bloggers and lovers.  But in other cases, it may just be family members or friends, who see a post show up on my Facebook timeline and want to check it out.
2.  In a way, it gives me one more excuse to spend extra time reading.  If I'm to keep my blog up to date and keep it going, I must keep reading books to have more to review, right?  :-)
3.  I've made a lot of new friends through blogging.  Some are more just Internet friends.  And some I got to actually meet in person at BEA this year.  I was disappointed that some I know and hoped to meet at BEA I didn't get the chance to meet up with them.  But that's okay, I got to meet others that I hadn't followed before, and now I have new awesome blogs to follow!
4.  Along with making new friends this way, I feel like I get to learn about books and authors I might not have heard of without following other people's blogs.  With all the drama about Independent authors lately, I have to say this is one way I have heard about them, whereas even with my part time job at the bookstore I might not have had a chance to hear of them.
5.  Finally, in a way, I feel like blogging has helped me meet or talk to authors online, in a way I might not have without it.  In fact, just the other day I emailed a link to my review of a book to the author, and he came and commented on my review!  So cool!  And then I feel like I get to talk to other authors on Twitter, or through their blogs, Facebook, etc.  And it even led to me meeting one of my favorite authors in New York City last November.  And then I feel like we got to be friends, as we hung out for several hours and had drinks and talked about all kinds of things!  And now I have my sister in NYC who has someone to know as well.  And I got to see her again when I was there for BEA.  You can see us all in the picture below, along with one of my new blogger friends!

Cara Lynn Shultz(author), Nancy DiGirolamo(blogger), me and my sis.

So, what do you think of my 5 reasons?  Are any of them things that are your favorites?  Or what do you enjoy?  I'd love to hear about it!  And again, stay tuned for my big giveaway which will start on Thursday, and I promise there will be some smaller ones coming up soon!

Narc by Crissa-Jean Chappell

I really enjoyed the book Total Constant Order by this author, in fact I made it a staff recommendation at the bookstore where I work too.  So I was so excited when I got to meet her at BEA this summer.  And I also got an advanced readers copy of her latest book, Narc, autographed of course!
Now, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first one, but it was still overall a pretty good book.  I know exactly which students I would recommend this to, and I could actually see it as a possible nomination for our state reader award lists, based on books in the same thread that have been on the lists before.
Narc is a story about exactly what you think, a boy who becomes a Narc in his school.  It all begins when he makes a mistake, he is driving with his sister, and runs a red light.  The cop who pulls him over finds drugs in the car.  Aaron knows they are his, but his sister must have found them in his room and taken them, so the cops find them on her.  They give him a deal to keep both himself and his sister out of jail or juvie, he can go back to school and help them discover who is actually supplying the drugs.  Aaron was always kind of a loner, one might call him a bit of a loser.  But now he comes back, and must figure a way in with the kids that might have the answer to this question.  He starts with a couple girls.  Ones he knows have the big parties, and even seem like they do drugs.  But one, the one he really likes, Morgan, also has a jerk ex-boyfriend, who kind of senses something is off about Aaron.  Aaron's home life isn't great either.  His father died taking pictures of the war.  His mom has been working a ton, and kind of become a bit of an absentee mom.  He knows his sister is up to something, she's too young for a boyfriend, but is out visiting one, someone they don't know.
Some issues I had with the book.  It was a bit confusing in how he was dealing with the situation.  The way he went about getting in with the other kids.  I didn't like the way the police were, I know, it is supposed to be from a teenager's point of view, a teenager being coerced into doing this against his will.  I just don't feel like the cops really worked in the story for what I would think they would actually do.  I did like the use of the Facebook stuff, social media is such a big deal these days with bullying and similar things.  But the way it was put forth in the book was almost barely there, kind of confusing for me.  I feel it could have been fleshed out a bit more.  Although I did really like the way he got some clues about who was doing the online sabotage, based on things he saw.  I won't say what exactly, don't want to spoil that "a-ha!" moment in the book.
One thing I personally LOVED, was all the references to the Marx Brothers. I am such a huge fan of them, in fact was back when I was younger, and even in the 80's, most people my age didn't know who the Marx Brothers were.  Just as it is for Aaron in this book. I love that it was a family thing for him, as it was for me with my grandpa.

Crissa-Jean Chappell

All in all a good book for what it was supposed to be about.  I did really like the ending, both the climax when it all went down, and the "afterward" part.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 6: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Before I get started on my review, let me first say that at the 2nd session I attended at the MASL conference today I got reinspired to try to do book reviews for teacher and library magazines. Wish me luck, and don't let me just forget and not bother with it! I do know that the review will have to be much more tight and much better writing than I do here on my blog. I know I should probably take more time with my entries here, but so far I just kind of like posting as I think. Feels more authentic and personal. Also, very excited to meet both Jay Asher, author of 13 Reasons Why, and Heather Brewer, author of the Vladimir Tod series, tomorrow. And while it's always cool when Heather Brewer replies to my Tweets, or even my Facebook posts, it was cool that she seems to be looking forward to meeting one of her minions as well! Plus, Jay Asher replied to me today too! So exciting! I love technology. Although, with such cool authors as these, it makes it harder to understand the authors I tweet that don't even bother to ever reply, even when I link to my reviews. Oh well. It is what it is. It's obvious who the really COOL authors are.



And, on with the review. Blood Red Road is another ARC. I waited a bit to get to it, while it sounded good, when I first picked it up, I had some trouble getting into it. But once I did, well, let's just say it was a day or two of not wanting to do anything other than read. I even wished I didn't have to go to family birthday parties so I could stay home and read, and there was cake at the party!!! And cake is my weakness. But back to topic.



Our main character is named Saba. She lives with her twin brother, her younger sister, and her father in a place called Silverlake, that is actually a dried up lake now. This is set in a future world, when things have gone wrong, from the few bits and pieces we get, I'm assuming some kind of disease or plague or pollution of some sort. At the very beginning, her brother Lugh is kidnapped, her father killed, and she is left alone with her sister Emmi, who she doesn't much like. Saba sets off to find Lugh, and along the way they get caught and taken to Hopetown where Saba is made to fight in cages. Kind of a gladiator type thing. Made me think of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for some reason. Saba does really good, winning all her fights. She meets a boy there, Jack, and a girl named Epona, who is part of a group of girls out to win freedom for all. They are able to escape and burn down Hopetown. Saba finds out from another girl that her brother has been taken for a sacrifice. The king wants someone to sacrifice every year to extend his life. This king is obviously crazy and we find out just how much.



This was a really good book. I can see it being a very popular book for teens. My only complaints, and they are minimal, first, I understand why they use a slang type of speech, it fits the type of life the main characters have had, but it is still hard for me to read that as I'm so used to correcting grammar in papers I have to grade. The one other thing I didn't like is that they didn't use quotation marks when someone was talking, so sometimes I'd have to go back to re-read what I hadn't realized was someone talking to help my mind make sense of it. Nothing about the story was bad, just some things that my brain had a little trouble processing. But as I said, it didn't stop my brain from wanting to pick up the book and read constantly! I liked the way the relationship between Jack and Saba developed, its highs and lows were very good, and relatable I think.

A Thursday with no must-see tv

Summer has been weird with nothing to watch on Thursday nights. I mean, from September till May, I usually have so many shows on at the same time that I have to record 2 on the DVR and one on the VCR in my bedroom. Makes me want uverse, but I don't want to switch email and all that stuff. I'm so eager though, for fall tv to get going. Survivor, The Office, Supernatural, all the other shows as well. As soon as Entertainment Weekly puts out the new fall schedule, I'll post on here what "my" fall tv schedule will be.

Got quite a bit done at school today, but not near as ready as I'd like to be. So tomorrow I'll go walk, going to try to do 10 miles, maybe weigh in, lunch, and then go into my classroom for a few hours. Don't know if we're doing movies tomorrow night. I hope so, I really want to see The Time Traveler's Wife.

Got my hair done tonight. It looks really cute, my hairstylist took a picture, I'm just waiting for her to post it on Facebook, so maybe tomorrow night I'll post it in my blog.

My hip/leg hurts a lot. This morning it hurt so bad I wanted to just scream in pain. It still isn't doing great. So I think tomorrow I'll call my doctor and tell her the Celebrex isn't helping at all. I did some online research into the sacroiliac joint issue, and the prognosis is kinda scary to me. The physical therapy sounds really painful, although I saw suggestions of massage unlike what my doctor said. I see it could have something to do with driving long distances. And I think it first started bothering me after a couple long trips I made. Maybe next Memorial Day, if school gets out earlier like it's supposed to, I can maybe ride with someone else to Branson instead of driving myself.

Not sure what else to talk about right now, kind of a boring day. So I'll try to write more later.