Books, TV, Music, and Toy Stores

I think I've started several blog posts in the past week and never finished them. It's as though I don't have the gumption or the focus to finish one post. So here it is, all put in one post, with little snippets of everything.

Books
I've read two books "for fun" over the summer. Only two, because Amelia keeps me so busy that I might manage to hold my eyes open to read for twenty minutes before falling asleep at night.

I read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I thought I wanted to see the movie, but when I heard the movie ending was not the same as the book's, I figured I'd wait to see it on DVD. Anyway, of the few Picoult books I've read, this one was my favorite.


The other book I read, oddly enough, was Getting a Grip, the autobiography of Monica Seles. Darryl picked this one up at an airport when he was traveling, and he thought I'd like it. He was right! Even if you aren't a tennis fan (and I'm not), her story of her rise to fame and her emotional, physical, and mental struggles after her stabbing was very interesting, real, and inspiring. Even more impressive is the fact that she wrote it herself...and it's good! I think I'm definitely going to keep put this on my classroom bookshelf; even my students who aren't "readers" might like it.

TV
My two guilty pleasure TV shows this summer have been The Bachelorette and Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. I should be ashamed, but I can't tear myself away!

Music
I recently discovered a satellite radio station I love: XM 51, The Coffeehouse. It's lots of different artists playing mostly acoustic arrangements. I don't know if it's just me, but I'm not liking a lot of the Top 40 right now. Wow, that makes me feel old, like I'm somebody's MawMaw saying, "I don't like that racket the young people call music these days." Oh, well. It is what it is.

Toy Stores
Needing to buy a birthday present for a 2-year-old's party tomorrow, I took Amelia with me to a toy store a friend told me about. It was so cool...the store had lots of toys set up for kids to play with. They even had chairs for the adults to sit in while the kids played. I wish we had found this place at the beginning of the summer because there's nothing like indoor, air-conditioned, free fun! (Of course, I also think that when she is old enough to start begging for toys, this might not be the best place to go!)

Here's Amelia picking something off the shelf to put in her already-full grocery cart: