Backwoods Babble

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson My rating: 4 of 5 stars As an aspiring teacher/librarian I found this amazing, inspiring, uplifting and empowering. I know lots of adjectives. It's also incredibly relevant as Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute are setting up schools in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan. The timeline covers pre and post 9/11 life in those areas with insights that I really appreciated. It also restored my faith in New York Times Bestsellers as the last couple I have read I felt were a waste of my time. It is written by a journalist and infused with Mortenson's words. Gorgeous and well worth the time. It really leaves you with a sense of hope that really one person CAN make a difference. View all my reviews >> I only gave it 4 stars because I'm trying to be stingier in my rating system and not give out 5's unless I feel like it's something that really changes my

I know, it's not quite the end of 2009 but as it is so close, it has me thinking about this last year and last year's New Year's Resolutions. I didn't accomplish as much as I would like, so I guess it's time to re-evaluate my commitment to what I want to do. Maybe I am just not ready, or maybe it's just time to get off my duff so to speak and do it. I am thinking these things over as I look ahead to next year and what I want to accomplish. How about you? Was it a good year, did you accomplish what you wanted? Are you planning on making New Year's Resolutions?? I like them, I know some people don't. Of course, I am a list freak, so this fits right in with my love of list making. Time to plan out a bit more to make my goals more tangible. So, happy new year and I hope it is a good one for you all!

Studying for finals and the end of the semester stuff makes me crazy. All my professors every semester seem to save up the most time-consuming projects until the very end of the semester and never seem to give us the information to get started until right before either - ugh! Fiber therapy makes it all better. These are the lovely little projects that are now winging there way via the postal service to my sister. She doesn't have internet access so I don't mind posting them online. She also doesn't really know what a blog is, so I'm totally safe. The scarf is a lovely alpaca blend that I think she'll really love living in the cool, rainy Northwest. The hat is merino wool and the dish cloths are plain, lovely cotton (which I crocheted). I think next year, I'm going to try for a sweater, which considering how slow I knit, I will have to start shortly after Christmas. Happy Holidays!