Another Good Book

Since the last post, I finished three more books: Hush, Hush and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick and 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. The first two were pretty quick forbidden romance novels aimed at my core group of middle school students. The student who read The Mortal Instruments series recommended this book series to me, and I couldn't return to school without having read it. For some reason, if a kid is kind enough to recommend a book to me, I'll take a swing at it. After all, I give them suggestions all the time, and I hope that they listen every now and then.

But then there was 13 Reasons Why. I bought it before we took our anniversary trip, but I didn't read it then. I have read six books since I bought it, all of which were purchased after I bought this rather slim novel. What was holding me back? It's about a girl who commits suicide and 13 reasons why she chose to do it. I'm not giving away any secrets here. If you read the back of the cover, it clearly states that she kills herself. But it's the reasons why - her encounters with those around her - that prevented me from cracking it open. I was afraid that it would be sad (it was). I was afraid that it would be maudlin (it wasn't). I was afraid that the author wouldn't have an authentic voice for a girl (he did). Turns out I should have read it a lot sooner than I did . . . but definitely not on vacation.

The story is told by two different people: Hannah, the girl who decides to commit suicide, and Clay, one of 13 people to receive a box of audio tapes from Hannah. On the tapes she narrates the different reasons that brought her to her ultimate decision, not indicting the people to whom she devotes one side of a tape to, but clearly making the case that their actions or lack thereof caused her pain. While the final act is an extremely drastic measure, the acts from all the characters leading up to it are all too common.

It's a young adult book, but it's a quick read . . . go ahead and crack it open

I teach in a middle school. Hardly a day goes by when you don't see a student who is upset with someone else. It ranges from pencil tapping that drives a person to the point of madness to insensitive comments about looks, clothing, body odor . . . anything. Bullying is a constant topic in society partially because it's everywhere. And you know what? It should be discussed. Parents need to talk to their kids about it and get them to understand that it's perfectly fine to tell someone when they think they are being bullied. And keep telling them that. If you think your child is being bullied and they tell you they've talked to a teacher or a guidance counselor about it, take that extra step and call the teacher. Trust me on this one . . . kids often don't tell us a thing. They might say that they had a bad day, and we ask what happened. "Oh, I forgot my lunch, and I had to call my mom to bring it to school, but she left for work already, so now I'll have to charge it at lunch." This, to a teacher, translates to: not much. But what the student really meant to say was, "I was so worried about riding to school on the bus with students X, Y, and Z, and I forgot my lunch, and now I'll have to charge at lunch, which means getting up in front of students X, Y, and Z at lunch, and they'll whisper behind their hands at me." See? Same stories . . . clearly. When in doubt, call you child's teacher and ask. We'd rather know so that we can look out for it.

A huge source of bullying comes online. Teachers can't control that. But you can. Your child has a Facebook? Fine. But they need to understand that you as the parent have the right to review every single thing on that. Who they have as friends. What they like. Who they are chatting with. What the comments are. What the pictures look like. Investigate. You would be shocked at what is posted on there. One of my former students, who was a darling, sweet, innocent girl, had a profile pic of her doing her best "fuck you" pose, complete with the middle finger. She popped up as a person I might know*. You're right I know her . . . and promptly told her to remove that photo. "Would your mother be okay with that?" I asked. "No . . . she'd scream and yell," she replied. "Then why do you want the first thing that new friends see to be that photo?" I asked. There was no reply. Investigate what their online profile is like, and keep doing it.

We also can't control what they text to one another. In school, our students are supposed to leave their cell phones in their lockers turned off, and we do everything we can to prevent texting. But it happens. Girls keep their phones in their bras or boots. Boys keep them in baggy pants or in hoodie pockets. Again, you're the one paying the bills . . . so check the texts and picture messages. And investigate. Talk about what the language means. About how those pictures never, ever, ever go away. And when all else fails, don't ever let them forget that you love them unconditionally.

I've been at school all week, working on getting the last bits of our online curriculum done. I have a feeling that this is going to be a labor of love and something that is never quite finished. And the whole time I've been working on it, I wonder what my new group of students will be like. Hopefully they take my suggestions.

- Jill


* For the record, I don't have any students or former students as friends on social media sites. When they graduate, I'll happily accept them.

A Few Good Books

When I was a child, my parents were afraid that I would begin to think of the book store as the library because I would spend so much time there. They put a quick limit on that amount of money that they were willing to spend on books for very good reason, and I was lucky to grow up with one of the best mid-western libraries. My father would take me there almost every Saturday to get whatever books I wanted. I can still remember where I was standing the first time I read the first page of Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game (single greatest book ever written for teenagers) and how I tore through the rest of her body of work in the following weeks. When I was old enough, my parents let me ride my bike several blocks (and across busy streets - the horror!) to the local branch where I'm pretty sure that I was on a first name basis with the librarian. Over time, my reliance on libraries has waned for a variety of reasons. We moved. The new library pretty much sucked. I moved. The new library was associated with college (but the local library was awesome for the Girls when they were little). We moved. No clue where the library was. We moved again. I don't think they had a library. We moved one more time. Library isn't bad but lacks new releases, basic knitting books, popular cook books, and I may have a small(ish) fine outstanding. Because of all those factors, I tend to buy the books I want these days. I read a pretty wide variety of genres, but I always fall back on non-fiction, chick lit (sue me . . . don't care), and young adult literature.

Young Adult literature, or YA if you are in education or a bookstore, has gotten a bad rap lately. Critics say: It's too dark; The themes are too mature; Children are victimized; It will ruin our children; Where are the parents? Truth be told, they are kind of right . . . it is dark . . . mature . . . lacking parents. But you know what? It was like that when I was 14, too. Kids at school would pass around books they knew their friends would want to read (Flowers In the Attic, anyone?) partially because they had access to them and their friends probably didn't. I can say with all certainty that had my mother known I was reading a book about siblings who decided to not only have sex with each other but have children with each other, she would have burned it in front of me. But she didn't know a thing about it . . . because I got it from a friend. Did is mess me up? Absolutely not. Could I have lived without having read it? Absolutely.

I truly love this little piece of technology

So . . . why do I still read YA at the tender age of 41? Because I teach seventh grade, and I like to know what my students are reading. For a while, I read it because my children were reading it, and I liked to know what they are reading. That ended with the Twilight saga basically because it was horrible, and I wasted four days reading the crap. Now, I take my cues from what my students are reading and what I can glean on Goodreads. I take advice from other teachers, friends, or family. And I still choose books by their cover. Sadly, my children don't take my advice that often. Guess I had a bad habit of trying to push certain books on them in which the plucky heroine overcomes all odds to lead a successful life. If you're looking for a good, quick, fun read, it's quite possible you might find any of these interesting.

The Hunger Games trilogy - I like a lot of series books, but I hate when a book leads you into a series. For example, I just finished Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, which was good . . . but it sets you up completely for another book (and the first one wasn't strong enough to do that, in my opinion). The Hunger Games, while completely leading you into the second book, stands by itself. The story telling is top-notch, and the plot moves forward at a rapid pace. I started this book on audio two years ago but got side-tracked. That being said, when I picked up the paper version in June, I was astounded to realized I was only four chapters in. Suzanne Collins never insults the reader by telling you about the story. She does what every good writer does and allows you to imagine, in great detail, what is happening to the two protagonists. I won't give away any spoilers but suffice it to say, after three books (with two readings of each), I could easily go back and reread the series again.

Beauty Queens - This was a pure and simple impulse purchase. I wanted to load up my nook with books on our recent vacation and figured that I had enough "my boyfriend is a supernatural spirit killer/developer/nurturer and I'm a misunderstood faerie/Goth chick/potential CEO" to last me a good portion of the trip, and I wanted something goofy and fun and light. Boy did I ever get it! Supposedly, the story idea was tossed out at editors' meetings (A plane full of beauty queens crash lands on a desert island), but Libba Bray made it something real. She weaves the stories of the different teen beauty queens throughout the novel, and you can't help but identifying a little with some of them. Even the bumpers from "the Corporation" make you sit up a little and think, "Is this what we are funneling into our girls?"

Just read the books . . . before the movies come out

The Mortal Instruments series - Bought the first book in Las Vegas because of the cover. Google The City of Bones and get back to me. I'll wait . . . waiting . . . waiting. OK . . . see? How could I pass cover up. The writing hooked me within the first 50 pages, and I was praising it to everyone I could. Last October, when I was in Columbus for the Flickr meet-up, a friend of Erika's brought up Flowers in the Attic and asked if kids still read them. "No . . . incestuous relationships with borderline objectionable love scenes aren't really in favor any more," I said over my beer. Fast forward one day, on a plane, and I'm eating my words (relax . . . just read the books). I practically ran to a book store at Newark Liberty International to find the second book so I could continue reading it. At work, I told anyone I could think of about it (honestly, I should have gotten a cut of the profits from our school - or at least a free book). When I saw student reading it, I immediately sat her down for a long discussion about the series. Cassandra Clare recently released a few new snippets from her upcoming books . . . which can't get here fast enough as far as I am concerned. I've already preordered the next Clockwork book and can tell there is a big sneeze coming when it's released.

The Looking Glass Wars trilogy - Again, I have a problem with books in series. And to be fair, I didn't "read" these books but listened to them on the iPod. The premise? What if Alice's adventures in Wonderland were real? The protagonist is Alyss Hart, who after the murder of her mother by her sister, travels through a looking glass portal where she is raised by the Liddell family in England. Characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland make appearances (including the author himself) in slightly altered forms - the Mad Hatter is now Hatter M, a kick-ass guard who protects Alyss at all costs, the Caterpillar is still a Caterpillar, only there are four or five of him and he sounds vaguely like John Lennon (remember . . . listened, not read . . . I'm pretty sure that I would hug the voice-over artist thinking that he was author Frank Beddor). This is one of the rare books that I broke my "purchase the books in the same format you started with if there are more to follow" as I gleefully purchased a hard cover version of the final one so the Girls could finish the series.

You Wish or Prada and Prejudice -  I read Prada and Prejudice first because I can't pass up anything having to do with Jane Austen's masterpiece. It was the perfect blend of "what-if" and how lives are changed with simple choices. Buy a pair of Prada shoes you can't afford on a school trip to London, and you just might find yourself transported back in time to the Regency Period. I knew it was a good book when it promptly was stolen off of my book cart at school. You Wish truly had me laughing out loud as a girl finds all of her previous birthday wishes coming true over a succession of days. I shudder to think what I wished when I was 10; that walking up the stairs to my house would send me into a tailspin I'm sure. Both books are by Mandy Hubbard, and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Elsewhere - There are books that make you laugh. There are books that make you cry. And then there are books that make you do both. I alternated between giggles and tears pretty much the whole time I read Gabrielle Zevin's book about death and life and moving on. The protagonist dies before the book even begins and doesn't handle her own death very well. Seriously . . . who would? She's only 15 when she dies and feels cheated out of her life. However, she soon learns that even a life lived in reverse is one worth living. A warning: don't confuse it with the movie Elsewhere . . . not connected. 

So, there you go. Fifteen suggestions for books. One of these might be fore you. One of these might be for a young adult you know. If you have any good suggestions, let me know . . . I'm always on the look out for something new. School is just around the corner, after all!

- Jill

PS - I linked to author's pages where I could since I would hope you might read the books and not the summary of the novel instead. And who knew Frank Beddor has had such a colorful life!

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Twenty years ago, I made a choice. I said two little words after a series of questions that changed everything that I knew precisely one day prior. I said, "I do," and that was that.

Everyone assumes that having children is the choice, but for me, it wasn't. When we found out we were pregnant, having the Girls wasn't the choice. It was the getting married part that was. Because let's be honest . . . you don't have to be married to have children. But back to the story.

We didn't do things in the prescribed order, but it didn't really make a difference to us. For a while, it was the "family scandal" at reunions and other people's weddings. Now? So far down the scandal meter that you would be hard pressed to figure out why it even was one. I'm pretty sure that a significant portion of people at the wedding wouldn't have given us five years, and truly, who could blame them? Certainly not me. If I attended a wedding for two 21-year-olds with two infants today, I might be one of those people betting against the happy couple.

We still hold hands after 20+ years

But I would be wrong . . . 100% wrong. So, after 20 years, what have I learned.

1. A marriage is what you make of it. Invest very little? Get very little. Invest a whole lot of time, a whole lot of love . . . you get it back.
2. Learn to love the same kind of movies. Before, I could count the number of comic book/action flicks I loved on one hand. Now? Bring it. (I draw the line to sight-gag movies . . . no Airplane for me)
3. Laundry will be an issue. I like the towels folded one way; Dave likes the t-shirts folded another way. Fine . . . fold the towels my way, and I'll fold the t-shirts yours. Just don't expect me to keep my underwear folded. Not going to happen
4. A king-size bed is totally unnecessary. You can sleep for 20 years in a full-size bed and not kill each other. Just saying
5. If something bugs you, no one - including the person you pledged to love and honor - can read your mind. Spit it out and be done with it
6. Giving hints about birthday and Christmas presents is totally acceptable. Reread that last bit about #5
7. Fighting? Not.worth.the.effort . . . ever. Disagreements in 20 years: plenty. Fights: one. (Turns out we were both right . . . see? Not worth the fucking effort)
8. When your kids leave for college, be prepared for a long and bumpy road. Ours lasted about a year. It wasn't particularly painful, but it was just different. Kind of like dating a person when you know all of their dirty little secrets (and how they like their t-shirts folded)

So, 20 years ago, we had a lovely wedding and reception, filled with our family and friends. We went back to my mom and dad's house, we opened up our presents, and I nursed the Girls. Then Dave and I piled into our Honda Civic hatchback and headed to beautiful Indianapolis. It was all we could afford given that one month later the Girls would be on Medicaid, and we would all be receiving food stamps. But today . . . today we wake up in that same full-size beds in a house devoid of children and head off to a sunnier destination. Call it a second honeymoon or anniversary trip or just a plain old vacation. I'll call it four nights on a beach with a book and the sweetest, funniest, best man that I know: my husband.

I love you, Dave!

-J

*Seems I took a July break instead of an August one. A grad class that isn't want it was billed as plus writing an on-line course for seventh graders with little to no guidance will do that to you. Be back on August 8.

Things To Do This Weekend, But Most Likely Next Week Too

I love lists. Make them all the time. Like to cross off little accomplishments. Sometimes, I'll even make a list of the things I've done just to reassure myself that I was, in fact, productive that day. But in the summer, when the schools are closed, and I don't have anywhere special to be at 7:10 AM, I need a list to function for the day. Without it, I'll look up at the clock and realize that it's 2:56 PM, and I'm still in my PJs* But weekends are worse because both of us are home . . . and it's very likely that we could both be in our PJs at 2:56 PM.

Nothing to do with the post . . . just the junk that I must now clean up

The weekend I should:

1. Get my next round of clothes for Project 333 selected. 
2. Head to the attic and make room for my dresser . . . since I love that it matches Dave's and I refuse to let it go (plus I don't think my in-laws would forgive me).
3. Finish the skeleton of my Blackboard course. It's taking forever to get one unit done, and there are times I would like to scream. 
4. Clean the gutters. Which means: get out the ladder, climb up, scoop the shit out, let the water drain, then take a shower 
5. Sit 'n Knit on Saturday and work the Fourth of July sale. Any knitters dream: personal shopper/pusher for all things fibery and good. 
6. Possibly see a movie. Really want to see Bad Teacher if only to reassure myself that I am not. 
7. Vacuum. I hate it, but I'm pretty sure that Dave is mowing the lawn, and it's the least I can do. 
8. Possibly see if the Girls are free (but this might have to wait until next weekend . . . so don't get mad if you're reading this and don't see us this weekend, J & S).
9. Consider weeding. I say "consider" because I'm thinking that from a distance the weeds look green and lush and almost plantlike so why bother. At least I tell myself that they look green and lush.
10. Knit a few repeats on Starskey or finish the decrease section on Idiot project 2

I should do all that, but I probably won't. I might get about one half of it done. Maybe I'll surprise myself and get 90% done. But I've got next Tuesday to work on the rest.

- Jill

* Most English teachers grade essays and paragraphs and reports, so many - at least three per month - are spent grading writing. So the fact that I might be in my PJs at 2:56 PM on a Wednesday is called "Sunday, February 27" . . . and that evens things out a bit in my mental ledger.

A Simple Note of Thanks

It's been a weird few days here. We got back from visiting Dave's parents in Cambridge on Sunday night. Monday, I had to be at work for most of the day working on some curriculum writing for the digital world (that would be for a cyber-school). It's a whole new beast, and it honestly made my head hurt at one point. However, the real fun was saved for Tuesday. Seems Dave's on-again-off-again "love affair" with gout was on-again . . . only it decided that their old meeting place - the big toe - wasn't painful enough so it picked a new place - the middle of his foot.

So, a quick trip to the doctor's to confirm that this new painful spot was the same old gout meant a trip to the pharmacy and the realization that the previous meds were no longer on the market since the drug companies had done a new study to "improve" them. At least his doctor gave him some sweet painkillers to take the sting out of that news.

By this morning, he was feeling much better but still not capable of walking or going to work. We spent most of the day reading, watching dumb movies, and basically doing absolutely nothing. But the mail brought the most welcome sight in a long time. A simple note of thanks from a woman I never met before and probably never will again.

Veronica was one of my fellow passengers stranded in Austin, Texas, after Continental decided to dump our asses there when a flight attendant called out sick. I guess getting you as far as Austin in a state the size of Texas was a pretty big accomplishment. But at midnight, it seemed like a death sentence. However, I overheard Veronica talking to another woman (her name wound up being Pam, which I learned after she was heaving her bags in the trunk of my rental car) about sharing a ride to San Antonio. My normal shy side took a backseat, and I volunteered to drive them to San Antonio because a) I had no idea where I was going, b) I needed people to keep me awake, and c) there was no sense in three people driving when one would suffice. Needless to say, we picked up another Continental cast-off (Addeline) at the rental car desk, the ride went very smoothly, and no one was harmed in their attempts to make it to San Antonio. Pam and Addeline each chipped in with some cash, but Veronica said she would mail me some. So . . . I gave her my address, never intending to hear from her, wished the ladies well, and went on my merry way to the Riverwalk where a soft, comfy bed and my husband were waiting.

But today, I got that thank you note from Veronica saying that she hadn't forgotten my generosity and was sorry for not writing earlier but things had gotten crazy. She also included $40 in the card, which was a fraction of the cost of a one-way rental. However, her generosity was the one that should be applauded. She was an excellent navigator and never once stopped chatting since sleep was something that neither of us had encountered for close to 24 hours. So for that . . . thank you, Veronica! Besides, that $40 will buy me enough yarn at the Fourth of July sale to make a new sweater.

- Jill

PS - Finished Beautiful Creatures this evening. It was pretty good . . . I'll summarize it later this week. 

Admitting Defeat . . . What? It Can Happen!

Yesterday, I did something that I've never done before. Before you get all, "Whoooooo . . . true confession time!" it's really not that salacious. I simply took a sweater that I had maybe three inches left to go in a sleeve and carefully picked out the cast off end, attached it to the ball winder, and began cranking. In a nutshell, I frogged a sweater. The thing is, I'd never given in to that feeling of defeat in the past and ripped anything out. Sure, there have been stops and starts in the past, but this sweater was something that I knew wouldn't work for me, and I liked the yarn better for something else.

January: Center of Attention

I had started a version of the Hey, Teach! sweater last summer, but I don't like cotton, so I knit it in Cascade 220. And I don't really like short sleeve sweaters, so I decided to follow the directions for a three-quarter length sweater. Two strikes that coupled with a rather inappropriate-for-me waist placement made for a sweater that was destined never to make it to light. But yet I knit on . . . through a confusing pattern, through enough modifications to strangle a cow, through a summer when I could have been working on things I really liked.

February: Reciprocation

But yesterday, I needed sweater quantity yarn to make a sweater (like you couldn't see that coming). More importantly, I needed an idiot proof pattern so that I could knit and A) watch movies both captioned and not; B) read; C) be a supportive passenger in the car; and D) not have to stress out about charts over. Enter the Effortless Cardigan. Pretty, easy-peasy, looks good with dress pants or jeans. Effortless might be the understatement.

March: Stripes Alive

I also gave up on the Skacel 20 Years of Knitting patterns. After the first one, I wasn't really taken by any of the patterns. Shelby benefited from the fingerless gloves (still have to make her sister a pair), Mom got the striped "WOW! These look just like Jaywalker with a purl row" socks, I kept the ones from January and April, and the ones from May are still on the needles (note: the yarn is garish, I don't care for the pattern, and the front an back don't match). So . . . I gave up. I'll finish the May pair eventually and probably the June pair because I bought the yarn, but let's face it: the whole point for knitting them was to enter into a contest. And I'll never win that contest.

April: Cranked

So, I quit that sweater yesterday, and today I might just drop out of an on-line class that I think might be too much for my skill set. And I can live with that.

May: Lacery

- Jill

PS - Tomorrow is Erika's birthday . . . you might want to wish her a happy birthday or make a bowl of Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream from the cookbook. And if you don't have the book yet, what is wrong with you?

I Win the Award For Worst Project Keeper

At any given time, I might have five or six lists going. One for work, one for home, one for knitting, one in the car, one on the laptop, one on the bathroom mirror, one on the phone . . . and there are very rarely any duplicates. If I have something that I really must remember for the morning, I'll write it on the bathroom mirror in dry-erase marker. I usually have things that I need to buy written in the phone: printer cartridge, cat food, box of red pens, tampons, new book. So you would think that tackling a few projects at the beginning of the year would be easy-peasy.

Wrong . . . dead wrong. I signed up for Ali Edward's One Little Word class on Big Picture. I've loved her work from the years when I scrap booked. So it seemed like the perfect fit. Sadly, I haven't completed a single month. Not from lack of want, mind you, but I haven't taken the time to figure out Photoshop yet, so I'm putting it off until this summer. I also signed up for Tracey Clark's Picture Inspiration, and I was keeping up with it pretty regularly but having a student teacher and trips to Philadelphia and a billion other things got in the way. And I'm putting that off until this summer, too.

Two projects that I've kept up with are Project 365 and Project 333. You can click on over to the Flickr stream for the Project 365 updates. But Project 333 takes on its own life. Originally, the rules ask you to take a daily photo of your outfit . . . but that didn't sit well with me. Seriously, sometimes it's hard enough to get a good BAM, but every damn day in grey or black pants? Ummm, no. So I posted my original list and stuck to it for three months. But come April, when I was supposed to post a new list, I didn't partially because I was pressed for time but also because the weather here was shit.

But a project is a project . . . and here's my list for the next phase of Project 333:

1. black 3/4 sleeve shirt from LL Bean
2. black 3/4 sleeve shirt from Tee Street
3. green 3/4 sleeve shirt from LL Bean
4. white 3/4 sleeve shirt from Tee Street
5. green linen sweater from Gap
6. teal short sleeve sweater from Old Navy
7. teal short sleeve t-shirt from Old Navy
8. green short sleeve shirt from Apartment 9 (Kohl's)
9. ivory sheer sweater from Old Navy
10. green sheer sweater from Old Navy
11. green short sleeve cardi from Lane Bryant
12. black cropped 3/4 sleeve cardi from Torid
13. green 3/4 sleeve butterfly top fro Old Navy
14. grey swing cardi from Old Navy
15. black swing cardi from Macy's
16. black capris from Daisy Fuentes (Kohl's)
17. black capris from Apartment 9 (Kohl's)
18. black capris from Dockers
19. khaki capris from Old Navy
20. boyfriend jeans (can be cuffed and are quickly becoming my favorite)
21. capri jeans
22. Mossimo jeans
23. denim skirt from Lane Bryant*
24. teal dot skirt from Target*
25. white Old Navy tank
26. pink Old Navy tank
27. white Lane Bryant cami
28. TOMS in natural
29. black Clarks pumps
30. black Clarks sandals
31. brown Bjorn sandals
32. black t-shirt dress from Target
33. Chamila bracelet

For my three mix-in-and-mix-out pieces, I've chosen a Temple t-shirt, Old Navy's Love Proudly t-shirt (coming out tomorrow), and grey pants. You can probably tell by looking at the list that green is the color of the season. And until today, the two items with the asterisk weren't even out of the attic. I had a lovely teal 3/4 length shirt from LL Bean, but sadly I spilled gunk on it . . . so now it's a beautiful teal rag.

I spent most of today updating my laptop's operating system (pain-in-my-ass) and cleaning out the attic. At this point in time, I've kept one tall tower of shelves - that I've had since 1988 when I started college - to store my seasonal clothes, and I have one clear storage container of clothes that didn't work for phase one or two but might for phase three or four.

So, there you have it . . . two projects I've kept up with. Two projects I plan on catching up in the summer. And one project that I've abandoned all together. A while back I said I wasn't going to eat out for three months. Lasted about one week if you really must know.

- Jill

PS - And yes, I know I've left bags off my list. I'm down to just three: an everyday purse by Kelly Moore, a work bag by Emera*, and a knitting bag by Namaste. Seriously . . . getting down to just three was a feat that anybody who knows me would be shocked by.