Happy Monday. I would put an exclamation point after that, but I just don’t have it in me. How did it get to be Monday already? Why I remember a Monday not too long ago when I sat on the couch with remote in hand, computer on my lap, cat puking somewhere, and thought, “This is the life. I have a week of vacation.” And now it’s just a distant memory.

First of all, I am happy to report I survived Black Friday. I was in bed that night by nine (and slept for over ten hours), but I survived it. The day started out with me getting up at 3:25. That’s A-to-the-M. Morning.  It was dang early. The kind of early where your alarm goes off and you have no idea where you are or where you’re supposed to be or why Keith Urban is singing in your ear, but you wish he’d shut up. I’m not a deep thinker at the best of times, so definitely not when I get up early. Here were my exact thoughts at 3:25 as the alarm went off:

Where am I?
What is that noise?
Oh, no. It’s 3:25. I’m supposed to be at work by  now.  At school.I’m late!
(A few minutes pass) Wait. Why would I be at school?
No. . .that’s not right. Um………….. Supposed to be shopping? No, supposed to be getting UP for shopping. Ugh. Whose dumb idea was this? Just. Want. To. Sleep.
(Sit up. Look at alarm.) I’m gonna barf.

And then I got up and had a great day! I had planned to show you some pictures of the craziness, but I never got a chance to whip out my camera. I was too busy elbowing people away from my flat screen TV. (Just kidding. No TVs for me. And I didn’t have to play bumper carts one single time. People were so nice this year. Is this a sign of end times?)

By the end of the day though (actually about half way through), I was dragging. By the time I got home, I felt like this:

There are a few I’m So Sure giveaways going on that I wanted to tell you about. First of all, you can stop by Carman’s blog to read an interview with moi and get in the running for a free copy of the book. So far the odds of winning are good, so jump on over there.

You can also win I’m So Sure over at Susiemag.com. I just happened to have stumbled upon this one because I like to check out the things going on at Susie magazine. (It’s a great teen girl mag if you haven’t heard about it.) You can find that contest HERE.

I didn’t get to see New Moon over my break, but here’s an alternate ending to Twilight that I liked. Though why is Ed Norton cast in the part of Pop Cullen?

Everyone needs some extra cash during the holidays. I’m thinking of making Miller the Mentally Challenged Cat get a job. Like this dog.

I love checking out the Green Bean Teen Queen’s site. As a YA librarian, the GBTQ  is so on top of things in YA books and movies. She posted this movie trailer, and I decided it looked so good, I picked up the book today.

Percy got good hair! Pierce Brosnan? Not so much. He looks like Hagrid’s understudy.

Have you seen the newest internet sensation? It’s not Adam Lambert. It’s not Lady GaGa. It’s not a dog who can pee upside down. It’s the Muppets!

I never missed an episode of the Muppets when I was a kid. Even though I haven’t watched that show in decades, everyone’s name came right back to me as I watched their video. The sad thing is I can see a kid I taught last semester and can’t remember his name.

Though this isn’t a very redeeming thing to admit, I’m not a very Christmassy person. I just don’t really get all excited about it. I don’t decorate anymore. I don’t especially like to hear Christmas music, and I just get stressed over all I have to do (which really isn’t much). I used to love Christmas music. One of my best memories of growing up is sitting beside my mother at the piano. She would play and we’d sing carols, church music, or my favorite–old Disney movie songs. She’s the pretty soprano, and I’m the manly alto. So at one time I did enjoy carols. They just get so repetitive. My favorite thing is when someone revamps one and makes it new again. This year I bought Chris Tomlin’s Christmas CD (it’s okay), Sugarland’s Gold and Green (also just okay, but some different things that perked me up), and the newest one by Straight No Chaser. My favorite selection is definitely O Holy Night.

Isn’t that good? They are amazingly talented. The whole CD, Christmas Cheers, is pretty good. I recommend it. They were made famous by YouTube, so check out their other stuff on there.

I hope you have a great week. I’m off to write and watch some Castle. That show is growing on me more by the week.

See you Wednesday!

JEN

Thank you so much for allll your feedback on the book covers for the third book in A Charmed Life series, I’m So Sure. Very helpful! I’ve passed it on to my publisher and we’ll see what happens. But we appreciate all your help.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? I’m ready to eat some serious food, I know that. But I’m not quite ready for Thursday. Because after Thursday comes Friday then after Friday, the weekend, and then. . . vacation is over. It’s gone by so fast. I can’t even believe it.

I thought I would take a quick moment and give some thanks. I’m grateful for so many things.

1. For my family and friends. I’m related to and friends with some funny, entertaining, supportive, fabulous, generous, amazing people. And they even claim me.

2. For my health. And for my God being a healer.

3. For books to read.

4. For my students who crack me up.

5. For the opportunity to write my own books and serve God with my often limited gift. And limited brain. Writing is hard and stressful and stressful and hard. But I love it.

6. For the show Castle. Finally there is something on TV I want to watch.

7. For Glee. Questionable plot lines, but the music is tops. And conveniently available on iTunes.

8. For writing friends. Those people who have helped me along the way. And put up with my whining.

9. For Miller the Mentally Challenged Puking Cat. Though I’m not sure why. (He was staring at me as I was typing, and I just felt this pressure to add him to the list.)

10. For Black Friday lessons. This year I will not make the mistake of beginning my day of shopping Hades by eating a Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuit. Because chicken…it’s NOT what’s for breakfast.

11. For aspartame-free gum. Because it completes me. (Even though the flavor only lasts for 2 minutes. But it’s a really good two minutes.)

12. For Target. Because I like you. Lots.

13. For being officially cured of my Entertainment Tonight addiction.

14. For Jon Gosselin for curing me of my Entertainment Tonight addiction.

15. For Twitter. My new obsession. Twitter, I strongly disliked you  at first, and I want to apologize for being so judgmental. But it’s just my way. Now that we’re BFFs and spend soooo much time together, I see the real you. Way too often.

16. Holiday M&Ms in various fun flavors. Enough said.

17. Cheese.

18. The color pink.

19. Finally finding some herbal tea that doesn’t make me want to barf, throw on a pair of Birkenstocks, and and sing “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

20. For you. Thank you blog and book readers for your support, comments, and the sense of community you bring here. I look forward to hearing what you have to say each week and love  just hanging out with you. Because we’re tight like that. And because nobody has better readers/bloggies than I do. So have a very happy Thanksgiving. Eat much. Laugh often. And nap well.

Would love to hear what you are thankful for this year.
Gratefully yours,
JEN

I’ve been asking your opinions so much lately, I may have to start paying you a consultation fee. It’s time for book cover feedback! I love looking at book covers, and I know a lot of you do too. Your feedback on the last two books in A Charmed Life series have helped shape our cover decisions. So once again, it’s time to get vocal and opinionated.

Hey, guys, we need some feedback on the cover for So Over My Head, book 3 in A Charmed Life series. The cool folks at Thomas Nelson are changing the cover up a bit. Probably not going to go with an animal for this one. I suggested a Sphynx cat, but they wouldn’t go for a hairless pet.

This is a YA book, target age 12-17. In this final installment of the series, a circus comes to town, and so does Luke’s ex-girlfriend. Not only does Bella have to stop her dad’s wedding, possibly win back her boyfriend, but she has to go undercover to find out who killed Betty the Bearded Lady. Bella Kirkwood is in so over her head.

Just a reminder Bella is seventeen, a crime-solving fashionista, and a former Manhattan socialite now living in rural Oklahoma.

Okay, here are three possibilities. Let me know what you think (and why)!

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

So give me total honesty here. Overall impressions? What do you like? Dislike? Age appropriate? Good visual representation of Bella? Does it hold up to other YA covers out there? Would the cover make you pick it up? Cover 1, 2, 3, or none of the above? I would LOVE any comments. Any and all feedback really helps.

Let’s hear what you think. Fire away!

JEN

WOW! You guys buh-rought it for the team name challenge. Thank you so much. It was so fun to read all your ideas. I know many a football player would be honored to sport a name like the “Tighty Whiteys” on their uniform. I can so see that mascot.

The winner of the drawing is. . .Kimber! So Kimber, email me your mailing addy (jen at jennybjones dot com). (Please put “gift card drawing” in the subject. Huge help!)

Kimber’s suggestions were great, and she will still get her name in the acknowledgments, but…still not the name I’m looking for. In fact, we’re gonna have to have a vote-off. A showdown. A pistols at dawn duel. So I need everyone to weigh in once more. We have four choices for the team name. And they are:
The Warriors
The Cougars
The Blackhawks
The Vipers

I would love it if you’d leave a comment and cast your vote. And if one of the contenders is your suggestion, rally your voters. If I pick your team name, I’ll put your name in the book as well. I’m grateful for the help, guys! Stay tuned for next week, when I ask you to write my first twenty chapters. ; )

Some of the team names you came up with were so great. I especially liked:
The Frolicking Heifers
The Flying Tacos
The Volturi (I hear they have a biting defense)
The Hot Rollers
The Tighty Whiteys
The Butt Whoopin’ Meerkats
The Concrete Mixers
The Dachshunds
The London Foghorns
The Oklahoma F-5s
The Grape Juicers
The Bacteria (With their mascot Ecoli)
The Whoopin’ Coughs
The Armored Pits
The Flaming Hearts (a softer, gentler football team)
Medium Rares (I will totally be stealing this for something else. Not sure what. I’m thinking rock band. Of old ladies.)
The Tight Ends
The Fleas (because truly, aside from the roach, there is nothing harder to destroy)
The Hawaiian Volcanoes (I vote this best combo of a state and team. Really smart, Carrie!)
The Jackalopes

A big thanks to Abby for telling me about Butterfly Man. Check him out.

“I’m the hibiscus of doom!” I might try that one on my students.

Have you seen this dashboard footage of a cop trying to write a ticket?

“Kitty, you can’t stop me from writing this speeding ticket. Ow! Don’t punch a hole in my kevlar vest! Dude, get off the polyester shirt. Do you see this badge? I know people at Animal Control…I know people.”

Omigosh, you must go see Blind Side. I loved it. Even though I don’t know JACK about sports and I happen to be highly allergic to football (and need an Epipen for baseball. . .), I love sports movies. I don’t know why. I think because it’s always about someone overcoming odds, the triumph of an individual or a team. What makes this movie even better, of course, is that it’s based on a true story. Michael Oher was homeless. So homeless he wasn’t even in foster care. The Touhy’s saw him walking in the cold one night, took him in, and basically. . .kept him.  He learned to play football, which was probably the most interesting thing to me. The boy almost couldn’t do it–even as big as he was–because he couldn’t stand to be aggressive and do anything that could possibly hurt anyone. Because he had lived this in his personal life, he couldn’t mimic it on the field. Until Mrs. Touhy stepped in. And the rest is now professional football history.

I loved this movie because it’s a story of a family living out their faith. You can’t tell to what extent these people are believers, but we assume they are. But even if they drank blood and worshiped Zeus, they couldn’t demonstrate  the love of Christ anymore than they did when they took a complete stranger into their home and let him become their son. He had a severe learning disability, he was from an abusive background, and he was nearly 18. So many reasons to walk away from this child. I love how the family didn’t just find him a place to stay, but they took him in and became his family. They changed a life so dramatically. The movie can drag a little in spots, but it’s definitely worth watching. It’s inspiring, funny, touching, and a testimony to love.  I only wish they would’ve put up a number or website for info on foster care in the end. Over 800,000 kids come into contact with the foster care system every year. If only one percent of the American population took in a child, every foster kid in our country would have a home.  I love that the Touhy family took God’s command to take care of the widows and orphans and responded. They were/are a wealthy family, but didn’t just write a check. They went the difficult route and saved a child. Anyway (soap box over), go see this movie. You’ll be glad you did. (And make sure you stay through the first half of the credits.)

Did anyone watch the American Music Awards Sunday night? Scary. Wow. Between Lady GaGa and Adam Lambert (who I like…or liked), I was a little creeped out.

Finally, I am totally excited about a new Christmas cartoon coming to TV December first. It’s been a lonnnnng time since anything decent and Christmasy has been on. Check out the trailer.

I hope you have a great week. I know I will! No school! No school! Sleeping in! No makeup!

Don’t forget to let me know which of the four team names you like best.
Jen

Praise the Lord and pass the yams, it is officially Thanksgiving vacation. A whole week off. I am beyond excited. This has been one of those weeks (well, months actually) when I have not been able to get anything done for a continuous list of little things. I was all geared up for NaNoWriMo, but every day has brought a new series of tiny “to dos” that has made writing pretty much impossible. And house cleaning. And cooking. And there was also that last Tuesday when I forgot deodorant. And Thursday. I won’t even tell you what I didn’t do Thursday. So, yes. A break. Ahhhh. Bring on sleeping in and no makeup and watching Good Morning America. In other words, finding OTHER ways to put off the things I’ve been letting go.

I didn’t see New Moon Thursday night/Friday morning. Did you? If so, you must comment and give me your review. I’m hearing it’s better than Twilight. Better done. (Is that even grammatically correct? More well done? Better did? Done to a degree of betterness? Exuding maximum betterosity?) Anyway, I hope to see it next week.

Don’t forget you have mere hours to get in the running for this week’s cool prize. We’re talking name in a future book, a 25 dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble, and a copy of I’m So Sure. You don’t want to miss it. Check it out HERE. Everyone’s responses to “name this sports team” have been so entertaining.  I have totally gotten some laughs out of them. Keep ‘em coming!

So this week we had speeches. The kids had to do a speech on what they would change about our school if they were to become the principal. With unlimited dinero. And even though I told them they had to follow the laws of time, space, gravity, and reality, I still had one ninth grader tell us that he would handle school security by hiring Batman. Anyway. I thought I’d share some quotes from the speeches.

“We’re in school seven hours with nothing to do. Well except work. Anyway we need iPods.”

“I would add automatic doors. Cuz doors have germs too, y’all.”

“We need better cafeteria food. My friend Nathan said the nachos gave him a nasty case of diarrhea.”

“The bathrooms are nasty. I asked my friend Kevin what he thought about our bathrooms and he said, ‘Holy crap. People need to learn to pee.’”

“The bathrooms are gross. And so we’re gonna have potty classes. If people fail them, they can’t pee. For a semester.”

(One student’s introduction) “Put those blackberries away and get your finger out of your nose as I tell you why I should be principal.”

“How would I fix the bathrooms? Music. I like to listen to music when I’m going to the bathroom.”

“The bathrooms are the dirtiest, smelliest, hell pits from a horror movie I’ve ever had the misfortune to see.”   (Afterward one student said, “Isn’t hell pit a bad word?”   To which the speech giver replied, “No. Hell is a place. Pit is a place. They’re both neutral, yet joined. Like an atom.” )

As I was grading I overheard a student telling another he was nervous. Here’s how that conversation went:
Student 1: I’m nervous, man.
Student 2: Don’t be. Just imagine everyone naked.
Me: Not everyone.
Student 2: Um, yeah, not Ms. Jones
Me:  Good choice

Here are a few more random student quotes from the last few weeks.

Students were asked to come up with a national holiday.
Student 1: Summer in the Midst of January Blonde Appreciation Day
Student 2: National Clean a Toilet Day.
Me: Why?
Student 1: I dunno. You told me to make something up and I made something up.
Student 2: National holiday from holidays day.
Student 3: National opposite day. You do the opposite of what you normally do.
Student 1: So you wouldn’t clean a toilet.
Student 4: I guess I’d have to go to school naked.

Question: What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?
Student 1: Pastel de tres leches cake.
Student 2: What is that?
Student 1: It’s God mixed with heaven mixed with all the nice things in the world.
Student 3: Possum

Me: What did you do this weekend?
Student: Fell on a thistle.

Me: Who is a famous person you’d like to meet?
Student: Al Green.
Me: Why?
Student: I want to understand why old people like him so much.

Me to Student Mary: What did Tim Tebow’s cheeks say during Saturday’s game?
Taylor: Boo Gators.