HOLY WATER IN A SIPEE CUP

I took my neice to preschool this a.m. She was late. It took me 10 minutes to get her into the child safety seat. She was cooperative. It was the seat that gave me problems. Mysteriously, it was no longer attached to the car. And two of the straps were twisted. As I wrestled with the seat, struggling to reattach it and straighten the belts, it seemed to take on its very own personality (not a nice one, by any means). I think I will nickname the thing "Emily Rose." Please don't get the impression that I am planning to see that movie. Have you seen the preview? I had to get up and leave, it freaked me out so much.

When I pick up a novel, I may get a movie from the Hoover library tonight. I dropped off a couple of books there the other night for my sister. It was so much better than my last library - the one my class just visited on a field trip. Hoover has the nicest small branch I've ever seen, and it was packed at 9 at night! It has wireless internet, as well as computer stations. And the selection of books, periodicals and movies was top notch. Forget checking out the mall or country club. When I'm picking a new town, one of the things I'm going to check out is the library; I want to make sure I relocate to a community of avid readers.

I just finished reading my last novel, and I'm hungry for more. It took me a little longer than usual to finish it; my neices and nephew love to climb all over me while I'm trying to read. I usually ended up putting my book away and reading one of theirs, so at least we clocked some good literary time together. My favorite book of theirs so far is Love that Dog by Sharon Creech. It's written like a child's response journal. The main character begins writing poetry. It reminds me of my own students, and my own feelings about writing.