My favorite ways to spend a lazy afternoon

It’s a lazy afternoon. What to do? What to do? Some people keep themselves so busy that they will never have an afternoon empty with nothing to do. I say every now and then, everyone needs am afternoon where they can just sit back and do nothing important and do something completely frivolous. I’ve come up with my top 5 ways I love to spend a lazy afternoon. 

#5: Movie Marathons Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc etc. A lazy afternoon or day for that matter, is a great time to have a movie marathon. Just sit back and go on a wild adventure. The Star Wars saga from Episode 1 to Episode VI is a total of 791 minutes, roughly 13 hours of space adventures. Plus when you add the new episodes coming out in the next few years…an entire day spent!!! Harry Potter films run roughly 19 hours and the Lord of the Rings with the extended versions can easily take an entire day!!!

#4: TV Marathons With my TV shows being released on DVD or entire seasons on Netflix, it’s easy to sit back and watch your favorite show non-stop. My favorite shows to watch are NCIS, Gilmore Girls, The Big Bang Theory, Friends (can’t forget Friends!) and so many others.

#3: Board Games with the family Now that my daughter is old enough to play board games, my husband and I will sit down and play for a couple hours or more. My daughter really loves Monopoly right now. And yes, we have the adult version which she has picked up fairly easily. While she doesn’t understand the whole concept of the game, she enjoys moving her token around the board, buying property and collecting rents. She’ll change her token several times in the course of a game but she will sit and play and laugh as her dad is shocked when she wins!

#2: Writing Even though writing is sort of my job now, I see it as a way to past the time on lazy afternoons. I will write short stories, and catch up on future posts on my blog. I love to have weeks of posts ready to go.

And my #1 favorite way to spend a lazy afternoon….

#1: Reading Reading, of course!!! Curl up with a good book and lose hours in its pages. And it doesn’t have to be a new book. I’ve picked up old favorites and reread the fabulous stories.

With having a four year old, truly lazy afternoons don’t come often but when they do, these activities are my best way to spend the time. What are some of your favorite ways to spend a lazy afternoon? It really doesn’t matter what you do. As long as you enjoy it! So embrace those lazy afternoons! 

One of my most important lessons from school

One of the most important lessons I learned in school is that teachers aren’t always right. I know from firsthand experience when teachers would make a statement about a child that could affect his or her future.

                                                

One of the first statements ever made was when I was in kindergarten. My teacher, Mrs. Acton, told my mother that because I didn’t jump rope, I wouldn’t be a good reader. My mom knew that I could jump robe, I did at home all the time. Why I didn’t want to at school, I have no idea. My mom took this statement and laughed. At the time, the correlation was never explained to my mom but I have found research that shows that jumping rope can help with establish basic reading skills. However, my teacher made this statement on the fact that she didn’t see me jump rope at school, never acknowledging that I jumped rope at home. Although research shows that jump rope can help with reading skills. Many teachers fail to see the correlational relationships and immediately jump to the cause and effect relationship. Anyway, I certainly proved her wrong especially when I would be given awards in the 7^th grade for reading books at a college level. I’ve been reading ever since and it’s my favorite activity.

                                          

A second statement made to about me happened in the 3^rd grade. Third grade taught the dreaded cursive writing and like many people, I couldn’t make certain letters like they would supposed to look like. I did my own and I also write fast that sometimes my writing can be illegible. My teachers, Mrs. Stockings and Mrs. Mackenzie, both told my mom that because my cursive wasn’t legible, I would not do well in college. Again, my mom just laughed pointed out that many doctors' handwriting is illegible and they apparently made it through college! I did very well in college. I enjoyed all my classes. The funniest thing about this whole statement is by the time that I attended college, beginning in 1998, everything that was handed in had to typed and very little was handwritten!

A third statement was said to me constant during the 8^th grade. In the 8^th grade, I was a student aide to my team of teachers and they were amazed that I read so much. However, my Algebra teacher, Mr. O’Leary, didn’t like that I was reading romance novels and would tell me often that “those books will rot your brain.” Many of the romance novels that I read were written by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss or Julie Garwood who both are considered greats in the romance genre. Compared to what is written today, they will remain the greatest in their genre. Those romance novels led me to read other books and learning about different times and places in history. For instance, many of Julie Garwood’s historical fiction takes place in Scotland. Reading about this wonderful place led me to check out books about its history and people. Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland, is one of my favorite poets and Scotland is on my bucket list of places to travel to. There are many books out there are not worth reading but when a child is reading on his or her own, don’t put down their choice of book. Encourage their growth in reading and lead them to discover new and wonderful books.

                                   

Teaching is a difficult job and many teachers are never thanked like they should be. However, teachers, please be careful what you say about a student because that statement stay with him or her throughout their lives. If they aren’t like me and turn it into a positive, it can have devastating results for that child’s future. 

A few of my favorite books

“He was fond of books, for they are cool and sure friends”

Les Miserables

Books have been my escape since I was 12 years old. Books about times long past and place I’ve longed to visit. I’ve read books in all genres except horror. I took an online quiz recently which asked the all-time questions: my favorite book. It’s hard to pick just one even with the criteria of a book I’ve read multiple times. It’s just so many books! I have books that I’ve read so much that the binding is falling apart and I’ve afraid to reread because I can’t replace them because they are out of print. So, I’ve decided to write about my top 3 favorite books (these are in no particular order):

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

I first fell in love with the story of the Phantom of the Opera one summer when I was 12 years old. I was visiting my Aunt Nancy’s and she had the original London cast recording of the musical. She let me listen to it and I did. Over and over and over again. So much that she would take me to see it for my 13^th birthday. Ever since then I can’t get enough of this story. I found the book in which the musical in based on and I enjoyed the mystery and the tragic love story of the Phantom of the Opera. It is a story of a love triangle between Christine Daae, a young ballet dancer who dreams of the Angel of Music, Erik, a disfigured man who lives in the shadows of the Opera House and becomes obsessed with Christine and Raoul, Christine’s childhood playmate and love interest who returns to her life and offers her a life away from the horror of her Angel of Music. It was also inspired by real events at the Paris Opera House. This is the book that inspired me to learn French and visit the famous opera house. Even though I never mastered French, I still dream of going to Paris and seeing the opera house. I still love this story. I’ve read the book so many times. I’ve listened to the musical soundtrack so much that I have the lyrics memorized. I love the 2004 movie adaptation of the musical. It’s a great story!

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I’ve watched the movie Gone with the Wind all my life. When I was 12 years old, I decided that I wanted to read the book. I first read it in the 7^th grade and enjoyed it so much that I read it again. My reading teacher was so impressed that I was reading books beyond the recommended reading that she gave me a Reading Award for the Fall Semester. I love the history of the book. The picture of pre-Civil War Georgia to the devastation of Reconstruction. My favorite character is Rhett Butler, the dashing gentleman who walks the line between the genteel society and the taboos they so desperately avoid. He is the wild spirit to Scarlett’s fire. He represents the realization of what one had when it’s gone. Rhett realizes that he longed for the south of his childhood and not the world he came to be in. “Gone with the Wind” is a love story of two people who aren’t destined to live happily ever after. It’s also a story of death and survival. The death of a world with so much pride that they felt invincible and the survival of the ones who saw that they weren’t. It’s a story of remembering a world long past and learning to live in the world it had become. It’s a story of how hardships can make or break a person. Some people become stronger after struggles while others wither and break apart.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

I read “Les Miserables” for the first time in the 7^th grade after I had finished “Gone with the Wind.” I was drawn to the story of Jean Valjean, a man who struggled to live a life in poverty, strived to live a holy life and escape his criminal past. The story of Fantine who fell in love, became pregnant, abandoned and left to find a life for herself and her child. The story of Cosette, a child who was left in the care of a family who abused her, raised by a mysterious man and learns the missing parts to her story. There are themes of love and forgiveness, social injustices of the French society of the 19^th century and society’s inability to eliminate the rigid class system. The haves still had a lot and the have nots still struggled for their place in the world. The story of a group of students who saw these injustices and fought and died for the resolution. I was given the original Broadway cast recording by my Aunt Fran one Christmas after reading this book. I enjoyed it so much that I also have it memorized and recently enjoyed the movie adaptation. I have not seen the musical on the stage yet but it’s on my bucket list. “Les Miserables” is a story of struggles and injustices but, most importantly, it is also the story of hope, faith and love.

“The Phantom of the Opera,” “Gone with the Wind” and “Les Miserables” are just three of the books that I love and enjoy after many years of reading. Books have been my constant companion. I love books. I introduced books to my daughter at birth. When she’s a little bit older and can understand how to take care of books, we will take trips to the library and she can pick out her favorites. Then she can start her own list of books that speak to her and stay with her as she grows up. I love when I have a stack of books waiting for me to pick it up. I love going to the library and checking out the maximum number of books. When I got the opportunity to review newly published books I jumped on it. I love reading new books and reviewing them for future readers. I love books!