I usually enjoy a lot of character development, but there were so many characters to develop that you kind of get lost in all the details. There are quite a few interesting relationships, but again, there are so many that as soon as you become curious, the story line shifts to a new one. This isn’t a “bad” book, it just needed to be given a specific focus and direction.

my 50 in 93… #27. Read 5 literary accomplishments that have been sitting unread in my bookshelf. Book #4, purchased about two years ago with B&N gift cards along with a bunch of other books. It was picked up many times but I this was the first time I got past page 20.

my 50 in 93… #49. Spend all of our gift cards. A collection of gifts from our wedding and my students. Looks like I have some shopping to do!

• I’d like to buy a back-to-school gift for myself with the Bloomies and Macy’s cards; even if it’s just underwear, I’ll be happy!
• The VISA gift cards are usually used up at the grocery store, along with the VONS card
• Most likely will purchase bedding or lamps with the Jonathan Adler card
• We’ve never been to Portland or Austin and would love to use the Southwest cards for a long weekend trip (we also have another Southwest e-giftcard!)
• Never got the steak knives from our registry so the Williams-Sonoma cards will cover those; if there’s any extra, we need a kitchen thermometer and more spatulas

a perfect little square of brightly colored thin soft cotton!

To make: cut a 17″ square of the polka-dot fabric and a 16″ square of the blue flower fabric, place the fabric wrong sides together, then center the smaller square on the larger one. Fold the edge of the larger piece towards the smaller piece and iron into place (between 1/8″-1/4″), then fold it over again the same amount and iron into place. I used a new foot that came with my machine to sew down the hem, I believe it’s called an overcasting stitch, and I love the extra detail it adds. However, my hand sewing in the corners leaves a lot to be desired. Next time I will take the machine stitching closer the the ends and then just use teeny-tiny stitches to finish off the corners. Just look how adorable these fabrics are!

I also bought the same flower fabric in red/grey with some plain grey to back it with… will show you those soon.

After making three baby quilts, I think it’s time for me to start a more modern grown-up quilt (I’d like to keep one of my creations, thank you very much!). This stack started with the royal blue concentric circles on a white background and grew from there. I keep pulling them out to admire, but am stuck when it comes to deciding on a design. There are so many inspirations out there – I was thinking of tackling some triangles but Sean wasn’t feeling the examples I showed him. Maybe I’ll attempt my first improvisational quilt. Any ideas? What do you guys think of these fabrics together, do they work?

Let’s start with the key. The Prius has a SmartKey system that allows the engine to start if the key is inside the car. It also stops the car from locking if it senses the key is still in the car, and lets you lock and unlock the car even when the keys are buried at the bottom of your purse. When I first picked up my car from the dealership five years ago, the salesman repeated multiple times, “Here are your two keys… do NOT lose them, and certainly don’t lose both of them!” What’d I do within the first year of owning the car – I flushed one of the keys down the toilet! I called the dealership freaking out, because I had been warned, and knew I had done something very bad. They told me that a replacement key would be $380, and if I lost the other key too, they would have to tear apart the dashboard and replace the computer system, which would cost $3500. Being the risk taker that I am (kidding, I’m just super cheap) I decided that $380 was ridiculous and I would never lose my second key. Somehow I have held onto it this long, but we do need a spare key around, and the price of the key has gone down. I did some online snooping for the dealership with the best coupon deals and decided to bite the bullet and get it done yesterday. Two hours later (seriously, it takes me two seconds to program a remote control), $166 out for the key, and $98 for the programming labor, I walked out of South Bay Toyota with this…

my 50 in 93… #35. Replace my lost spare car key

My parents taught me the art of being self-sufficient, so I have always been one to learn and then do it myself. One of my car’s headlights went out a few weeks ago and I went to Kragen to pick up a replacement bulb. The guy that helped me was wonderful and I left with two bulbs for $30 and new motivation to get it done ASAP. The manual instructions looked very straight forward until I opened the hood. The first step was unnecessary – it had me remove a part that wasn’t even in the way. Once I’d figured out where the bulb went, I couldn’t see anything without a flashlight and all the parts were crammed very close together. I have small hands and it was really tough. I cursed through the thirty minutes it took me to blindly twisting and yanking. This is why people end up paying their dealership to do “simple” tasks, because they make it not simple. I just don’t understand how the guys at the shop would do it; if my hands barely fit, then I’m sure they must have special tools (not mentioned in the manual!). I persevered, and I now have a fully functional headlight and the pride of doing it all by myself!

The main argument of this book is that math education in our country has sucked all the art, fun, and beauty from such a fascinating subject. Students should be free to explore all areas of mathematics and discover rules, patterns, and formulas with little guidance from their teacher. As a math teacher in a progressive school, I happen to agree with the message in this book. However, it fails to mention the lack of self-motivation of many children. I struggle daily with kids who don’t seem to possess a love of learning and challenges. This is hard for me to see because it was so much a part of me as a child. It’s a classic case of “which came first… the chicken or the egg” – is it the fault of the parents, society, or our education system that kids don’t  push themselves just for the sake of discovery? Until this issue is addressed, it’s hard for me to imagine teaching math more as an art form and less as a structured language, though it would be my dream to do so.

Anyone with an inkling of interest should read this book: people who liked math, people who hated math, teachers, parents, and students. It’s a quick read and the author has an amazing way of explaining how education strips all subjects, not just math, of their inherent whimsy.

my 50 in 93… #27. Read 5 literary accomplishments that have been sitting unread in my bookshelf. Book #3, now I can participate in our department meeting discussions about this book instead of nodding along like a lemming.

• We missed our wedding band’s last concert ever
• Sean gets the flu
• My car’s headlight goes out at 10pm, 30 miles from home
• Sean has a serious sinus infection (which is bad – he’s had surgery for this before)
• I’m called for jury duty
• I get an ear infection
• Sean is required to go back to work or take a medical leave of absence
• I cough non-stop for three nights getting a total of 5 hours of sleep
• Bad traffic in SoCal means we’re cutting it close getting to a wedding 350 miles away
• About 200 miles into the journey we get a flat tire, therefore missing the entire wedding
• We spend the night at a beautiful hotel in Santa Barbara but can’t enjoy it
• Realize I’m only getting worse, so we visit the urgent care center in SB
• I lost my voice for five straight days (today is the first day I can squeak out a word)
• Haven’t had the energy to clean, cook, take care of sick Sean for the entire week

Though we are far from back on track, Sean had a good day at work yesterday and I’m already being productive this morning. Wish us luck!

Just Dreamy fabric by Riley Blake