So, I’ve pretty much hit some kind of creative wall. Either that or life has become so boring in the last few days that I cannot figure out a way to make it interesting.
In fact, I told Boomama yesterday that if things don’t pick up I’ll either have to shut the blog down or start making stuff up.
Clearly, I’d choose option B and just make stuff up.
To give you an example of my outstanding lack of anything interesting to say, here is what we did this weekend:
1. I poured some vinegar into my bathroom sinks and let it soak to remove the hard water deposits.
Fascinating.
2. P revamped our outdoor illumination system and our home can now be seen from outer space. The FBI uses less wattage to perform interrogations.
Which I know from all those times I’ve been interrogated.
3. The time change screwed up our schedule and I slept too late to make it to church on Sunday morning.
Actually, P woke me up about five minutes before we needed to walk out the door to make it on time, but since I am not Jane Jetson, it wasn’t going to happen.
4. I went to Borders and bought a new, hot pink notebook to record all my thoughts.
It has about 100 pages, which should be plenty.
5. I cleaned out my closet and got out all my spring shoes.
So, basically, SNOOZE.
I realize there have been times in the past where I’ve created an entire post out of cleaning my closet, but it’s been done to death. Plus, it’s not nearly so interesting when I haven’t added anything new to the process. My closet looks just like it did this time last year after I cleaned it out, except for the removal of a pink Banana Republic sweater whose time had come and some brown, wedge heels that never fit right but I had kept them hoping my heel would become fatter and they’d actually stay on.
It didn’t.
Last night I went to Bible Study and told the girls that Big Mama was out of material, because we all refer to Big Mama as if she is a third party. I told them that when they pulled up Big Mama tomorrow on their computers all they would find was a recipe for Chicken Cakes.
I was totally prepared and resigned to play the Chicken Cake card.
But LO, THE SUN! My dear Bible study friend, Amy G., mentioned she is trying to come up with a great chapter book to read to her fourth grade class. She asked us about some of our favorite chapter books from the fourth grade.
The wheels began to turn and I said, “WAIT, I’ll ask the internet about their favorite fourth grade books and hold off on posting the Chicken Cake recipe!”
Your disappointment is palpable.
Fourth grade was a stellar time for me and my love of books. I mean, it wasn’t like I had a really busy social schedule, other than talking to my boyfriend Jonathan every Monday afternoon on the phone while my mama drove my sister to dance class, because I certainly didn’t want her to know I was talking to a boy on the phone. Embarrassing.
Jonathan and I had a secret romance that was comprised largely of three passed notes, a few clandestine Monday afternoon phone calls, and a silver necklace with a Hershey Kiss pendant that he gave me for Valentines Day. Shortly thereafter we broke up because he felt I was using him. I didn’t know what that meant, but he heard it from his friend Phillip who was clearly much wiser in matters of the heart.
Anyway, what I’m saying is I loved to read books and, when I found one I loved, I read it over and over again. I would sneak into my closet at night, turn on the light and stay up way too late reading books.
In fact, my book collection was so vast that I actually created my own private library using the shelves of my closet, complete with alphabetical listings and a mini-card catalogue so that my friends could check out my books.
Oddly enough, I didn’t have that many friends.
But my fourth grade social life isn’t the point. The point is what books did you read and love in the fourth grade or sometime in that time frame? Here are some we mentioned:
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (obvious choice)
Super Fudge
Blubber
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great (clearly, Judy Blume rules)
Soup by Robert Newton Peck
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Shining (totally kidding, but wanted to make sure you’re paying attention)
Ralph, the Motorcycle Mouse
Those are just a few in what I am sure is a vast sea of quality fourth grade reading material. What are some great books we are leaving out?
And for the four guys who read this blog, we need some manly input as well. Be brave.