I thought I would share with you what I am making to take to my parent’s house for Christmas Eve.  My dad has found it’s easier to have someone else do the cooking, so the local Mexican food restaurant that he frequents is making the fajitas.  The rest of us were asked to bring sides and desserts.  My step-mom requested a coconut pie, but since some members of my family (brother, cousins) don’t like coconut, I’m making a dessert for them too.  Did I mention I love to bake?  That’s one reason they ask me to bring dessert.  Even my sister-in-law requested a dessert for Christmas Day (I’ll post that later).   In case you are looking for something for the holidays, or anytime, here are the recipes.

 Caramel-Peanut Butter Bars

Old Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups half-and-half
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flaked coconut, toasted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked
• 1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed DIRECTIONS

This will be my first time to make both recipes; we’ll see how it goes.

Friday was like Christmas around here.  I received 2 packages at school, the set of Anne of Green Gables that I won from Donna at Bookworms Dinner Children and the Christmas package from Hatchette.  Then, when I got home, I had more: books to review from the Picnic Basket and my Secret Santa present.   I was SO excited!  Here is what I got…

…two books, which I haven’t read and can’t wait to dig into, a cute notebook, a puzzle book, and a cute Peanuts Christmas card.  Woohoo!  Who was the Secret Santa?  It was, Annie Frisbie, writer and producer.  I was not familiar with her blog, but will be adding it to my list. 

Thank you Annie!!!

     If you haven’t seen Fran Cannon Slayton’s blog, you need to get over there and check it out.  She is the author of the book, When the Whistle Blows, that is due out in June, 2009.  Currently, she has been interviewing Kidlit Bloggers about how they decide which books to review, and today, it’s my turn!  Here is the interview that I did with Fran.  Look for an interview here at Write for a Reader, with Fran next month, and a review of her book in March.

I am in the middle of sitting with students who have finished their mid-year writing assessment, but their classes are not finished, so I can not release them.  Oh the joys of small group standardized testing!  I had hoped to post an author interview today, but it will have to wait.  I wanted to let you in on some up and coming posts here at Write for a Reader.  You won’t want to miss some of these!

Tomorrow, 12/10 – guest post by William Petrick, author of The Five Lost Days.  I am excited about Mr. Petrick joining us.  Thank you to Dorothy at Pump Up Your Book Promotion for sending him my way during his book tour.  Wednesday Wanderings will be full of “what’s happening in the blogosphere.”

Thursday – book review of Still There, Claire by Yvonne Prinz

Friday – book review of Five Minutes to C.A.L.M.

Saturday – book review of Not Fair, Clare by Yvonne Prinz

Don’t forget about my audiobook giveaways that I posted yesterday. 

Okay, I just have to post about this!  A few weeks ago we were sent an email from our district office about a scholarship opportunity for a Masters in Library Science.  Well, already having a Masters in Educational Leadership, I didn’t give it much thought until my librarian and the girl I office with both asked if I was going to apply.  It took some hard work, pulling in favors, etc. to get all the letters of recommendation, application, and transcripts sent in on time, but I got it done.  The next step was an essay.  That’s what I did this evening.  I was very nervous because they did not tell us what the essay would be, just to bring pen and paper and we would have an hour and a half to write.

Wow!  I poured my heart out on 6 pages (front side only).  Now, all I have to do is wait.  What did they ask me?  Can’t remember word for word, but it was something like…

Write about how the library program promotes student achievement.  How will you work w/teachers?  What activities will you provide for students?  How will you deal with minorities, diversity?  How will you include your administrator?  What interpersonal/leadership skills will you need?

I wrote about the library being the heart of the school and talked about the activities/programs I would include in the library.  I finished off with “Teach them to love reading and you’ll help them succeed. ”

Say a little prayer that I get called back for the oral interview.  If I get this scholarship, then the whole program will be paid for except for any books.  That would be a blessing!

I am getting ready to leave for Austin to attend a birthday party for the sweetest lady who just turned 100 years old! 

Reviews to be posted this week:  Creepers, The Day Leo Said “I Hate You!”, and You Think it’s Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? with author interview.  I am currently reading The House on Tradd Street and The Book of a Hundred Truths.  Reviews to be posted upon completion.

Come back tomorrow to see what book I will be giving away for the Book Giveaway Carnival.  Go to Bookroomreviews Weblog to find out more or to join us in the Carnival.

Well, it’s almost Halloween, so what better to do with today than declare it Vampire Day!  That’s what My Friend Amy  decided we should do, so I’m joining in the fun.  I decided to look in my school library to see what books I could find for kids that are about vampires or have vampires as characters.  Here are some of my finds…

The Mystery of Vampires and Werewolves: Looks at legends about vampires and werewolves in different cultures, their reputed appearance and behavior, similarities between the two creatures, and possible scientific explanations of the old stories.

Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire: Scooby-Doo and his friends from Mystery, Inc. go to Australia on vacation and try to determine if real vampires are haunting the Vampire Rock music festival.

The Vampire’s Vacation:  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose investigate a mysterious man in black who Josh believes is a vampire.

Vampire Breath:  When Freddy Martinez and his friend Cara go exploring in the basement, they find a bottle of Vampire Breath in a secret room. They decide to open it which allows a very thirsty vampire to escape.

These are just some that I thought would catch the kid’ eyes.  Want to share books, stories, what you know, thoughts, questions about vampires?  Click on the button up top or here to go to Vampire Day and check out what’s there.  Add a link to your post as well. 

I have a question for you?  Are you a vampire lover? Post your answer in the comments.

Things are starting to happen here at Write for a Reader, and things may be changing a little too. 

I recently listed my blog with Blogburst, and I’ve already been contacted by a publisher.  Woohoo!  Was I excited?  You bet!  Chronicle Books has published You Think It’s Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt.  Not only are they sending me a copy of the book to review, but I will also be interviewing the author on my blog.  MY BLOG – AN AUTHOR; I never dreamed it would happen this quickly.  I have to submit the questions tomorrow, so if you have any questions you’d like me to ask, please send them my way.

I did not get a review posted this week because I was finishing Breaking Dawn.  I’m through the Twilight Saga and on to other books in my TBR stack.  I will be reading and reviewing Creepers next.  I am hoping to get some children’s books in this week too.

I’ve told you before, that I think Aerin, from In Search of Giants, is an angel.  We emailed back and forth during the read-a-thon about making me a favicon to use.  Well, come to find out, I couldn’t get one because of the limitations of my host, Edublogs.  I started with them because my blog was originally intended to chronicle the happenings in my classroom, but I am not in a classroom and my blog has taken on a new direction.  One that I love, I might add.  After many discussions with Aerin, I found that Edublogs has limitations.  I don’t want to be limited with not being able to use buttons, HTML codes, etc.  So, Aerin and I are working together to get my blog somewhere else.  It will either be Wordpress or Blogger and as soon as it happens, I will post and link here as well as comment on other blogs, send emails, etc to get the word out.

I am excited about what is happening here and what is to come.  I hope you will enjoy it!

No, it is not supposed to say “wonderings,” I did that on purpose.  I have been wandering through my favorite blogs this morning, reading the latest posts, learning about books and people, and entering challenges.  This is the part of blogging that I love the most, because it’s through other blogs that I learn so much and find such great reads, ideas, and thoughts.  So, I thought that I would share with you what I’ve found today.  I am going to try to make this a weekly thing on my blog, so if there are any button makers out there reading this, I would love a button for Wednesday Wanderings, if you’d like to make one.  I’m so bad with all of the technical stuff!

I stopped by Hey Lady, Whatcha’ Readin’? and found a great review and giveaway.  It is, The Likeness by Tana French.  To steal a quote from Trish, she says, “THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I’VE READ THIS YEAR. Truly, seriously, I’m not even kidding, I can’t stop thinking about this book.”  I encourage you to stop by, read the review and enter the contest.  All you have to do is leave a comment about how many pets you have – different, huh?  It has nothing to do with the book either.  If you post about the giveaway on your blog, you will get 3 extra entries.  What are you waiting for?

Do you like history, historical fiction?  What about Nefertiti?  Well, take a look at what Dar has at Peeking Between the Pages has to giveaway this week.  Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen, stopped by for a guest post.  She gave Dar 2 copies of The Heretic Queen and 1 copy of Nefertiti to give to 3 different people.  Just leave a comment for 1 entry, comment about something specific from the guest post for another, and blog about it for one more.  The drawing is on Oct. 31.

Finally, I visited My Friend Amy, where today, she poses a great discussion question: What kind of blogger are you?  I had to get in on that one…check it out!

So, what do you think about Wednesday Wanderings being a weekly thing here at Write for a Reader?  Where have you wandered today, or this week even?  What did you find that piqued your interests?  Please let me know by commenting.

Tuesday Thingers: Brought to us by The Boston Bibliophile

Today’s question: Series. Do you collect any series? Do you read series books? Fantasy? Mystery? Science fiction? Religious? Other genre? Do you use the series feature in LT to help you find new books or figure out what you might be missing from a series?

I do like to read series actually.  When I find characters that I like, I love to continue reading about them.  I am reading a series right now as a matter of fact; The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer.  I also just picked up a new book in a YA series; May Bird.  However, I have not yet used LT’s series feature to help me, but it looks like I might start.  I will have to check it out.  Again, I am new to LT, so there are alot of things that I haven’t checked out yet.