Tuesday, May 29, 2007

8 THINGS ABOUT ME MEME

Vivian from HipWriterMama tagged me for this meme.


Here are the rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I really liked being an elementary school teacher for more than thirty years—but I absolutely loved serving three years as our school librarian. I enjoyed working on collection development, sharing new books with the staff, and developing a more aggressive gift book program that brought in more than $4,000 in donations during my first year in the library. I did a lot of outreach with the faculty—and even took two teachers on a book buying field trip one day.

2. I detest hot, humid weather. I find it debilitating. Summer is not my favorite season. I much prefer autumn days when the air is crisp and cool. September and October are the months I like best.

3. I live in the same area where I grew up, went to grammar school and high school, and attended college. I have known many of my closest friends since high school…and several of them since first grade. Most of us became teachers and social workers. Many of us are now retired.

4. I married my high school sweetheart. We met when we were fifteen…and we’re still together after more than forty-five years!

5. I have a keen interest in the sciences so I read/have read lots of nonfiction books, such as E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation; Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA; American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer; and books by authors like the late Stephen Jay Gould, Lewis Thomas, and Carl Sagan.

6. I love making puns, playing around with words, and making people laugh.

7. Ramona Geraldine Quimby is one of my all time favorite characters from children’s literature. I had so much fun reading books about Ramona to my students. They loved that spunky girl, too, and were always eager to hear me read another chapter about her escapades at home and at school. She was one storybook character who truly came alive for my pupils…and me!

8. Some of my fondest memories of my daughter’s younger days are of her sitting on my lap on the red-cushioned rocking chair in my bedroom just before bedtime while I read her some of her favorite books: Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, Green Eggs and Ham, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.


I tag the following bloggers:

Alvina at Bloomabilities
Jone at Check It Out
Robin at A Fondness for Reading
Gail at Through the Studio Door
Laura at Wordy Girls
Susan at Chicken Spaghetti
Gregory K. at GottaBook
Erin at Miss Erin

12 comments:

Vivian Mahoney said...

Elaine,
I don't like hot,humid either. I'm totally with you on the autumn months--September is my favorite month.

Love how you married your high school sweetheart. That is so sweet and romantic.

Thanks for letting us know more about you!

Michele said...

Elaine, I double-tagged you - sorry about that... That's what comes of living in a different time-zone I guess !

Robin said...

Elaine,
This is such a nice meme because we get to know each other a little better. I loved reading your 8 things. I wilt in the heat and humidity, too, so am well-suited for living in the Northwest. I also love Ramona Quimby. She's her own little person!

Thank you for tagging me for this meme. I wrote up 8 things about me last week, and don't think I can come with 8 more, but you can read what I wrote at: http://fondnessforreading.blogspot.com/2007/05/eight-things-about-me-meme.html. Thanks again!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Michele,

I saw that Kelly had already tagged you for the "8 things" meme.
I'll work on the other meme later today. I've got to do some food shopping so we don't go hungry tonight and tomorrow morning. Michele, I don't just live in anothet time zone--I live in another "mind" zone.


Robin,

I'm sorry for tagging you for a meme you've already responded to. I guess I missed your "8 things." Last week was a hectic one and I fell behind in my blog reading. It's been difficult keeping up with everything in the kidlitosphere--especially when the weather is beautiful and it's great being outdoors.

Anonymous said...

Please don't apologize...I had some really long posts last week and it's very easy to get lost and miss a meme in the middle it all. It's also hard to find bloggers that haven't been tagged! I especially enjoyed reading your meme, though.

Anonymous said...

Elaine,
Mine is up. Thanks for the tag. I love your comments aobut being a librarian and Ramona. I want to know more about the $4000 fundraising. Did you know I lie near Ramona's stomping grounds?

Anonymous said...

I totally agree - I hate the heat and humidity. I can only tolerate heat if there's an ocean next to me. October is my very favorite month.

gail said...

Well, I just got back from escaping the heat for the weekend and see I've been tagged. Interesting stuff Elaine! I'll have to get to mine tomorrow. Thanks for thinking of me.

I must like the heat. You can't live in Phoenix and not like it. ...but it is a dry heat. :)

gail

Andromeda Jazmon said...

I love reading about all your eight things. I got tagged with this meme too and I changed it to writing about Four New x Two. I am afraid I tagged you with the new meme! You don't have to do it if you are too exhausted from this one...

Erin said...

Thanks, Elaine. I'll do the tag asap!

Anonymous said...

Elaine--copying this comment here because I'm replying to an anonymous comment on my blog and didn't know if you'd see my reply:

Hi Elaine (that is you, right?),

Kurt Cyrus is, I gather, known more for his illustration work than his poetry. I wrote about Hotel Deep, one of my all-time favorite poetry picture books, here: http://community.livejournal.com/wordygirls/2006/12/15/

I *think* Oddhopper Opera (about bugs) and Hotel Deep (ocean animals) are his only poetry books. But Hotel Deep is just amazing, to me. He has a completely fresh sense of rhythm and does really nifty things with alliteration and word choice (in word choice, he reminds me a bit of Dotlich, in fact).

I *really* wish he'd come out with more poetry.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Laura,

Maybe I do know his work. I had a copy of "Oddhopper Opera"--but haven't seen it in the past few years. I may have lent it to another teacher when I was still working.