Today's the last day before Spring Break. DS2 is out for a week, but DS1 will be out for THREE WEEKS. We're going to have to find stuff to do and hope I don't have to work too many more evenings. Next week is blown all to heck with work, so whatever we do, we have to be back here in time for me to get over there.
So do I sew..... or go watch a movie? I can pick out and cut out the corner pieces for my 2nd border while watching a movie. I can even make and iron the binding there on the floor. OK, to work!
Karate for DS2 this afternoon. Friday is a makeup day and he only went on Wednesday because that's the day we started. We can actually go as many times as we want for the monthly fee (and for the 2 weeks free-with-purchase-of-comfy-PJs), so we're hoping to squeeze the most out of it that we can. My work schedule is going to be messing that up, too.
P.S. Right after I finished writing earlier, DH called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with him, because he forgot to take along his lunch. So by the time we ate and I took him back to work, it was about time to go get DS2, then DS1, then have a snack, then take DS2 to karate, which he didn't want to leave, so we stayed and watched the next class. We got home at about 5:45 and then watched the Muppet Show and ate ham and apples and carrots. Then potato chips, then cookies.... Well, we got the fruit and veg in on the bottom layer, so anything after that is gravy, so to speak.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
kai-yeeee
Had my first trial karate class last night. I'm not as sore as I was afraid I would be, but I feel drained and sluggish today. It was pretty cool and I think I can get the hang of at least some of it. One of the first things we did after warm up was a longish, though simple sequence. I kept getting halfway through and then flailing my legs around a bit, trying to get the rest. The parts where we were escaping someone who grabbed us I could get into better (back punch, belly punch, side of hand to the neck).
DS2 had a trial class yesterday and LOVED it. I still haven't talked DS1 into it, though he was fascinated both times he has been there to watch. He warms up to things more slowly, so if DS2 and I stick to it, I think he'll do it. He'd be in the slightly older class, though still with beginners (white and gold). I have to say that DS2 is absolutely precious in his uniform - I need to take a picture. I made him take it off before supper because it's white and then before I knew it, he was putting it back on and he wore it until bedtime. I washed it (and mine) today because it still smelled of new fabric and was stiff.
He's out in the backyard playing with his bestest buddy, wearing his brand new white belt. I guess I can wash it again if it gets all muddy.
I am going to finish this flippin quilt top today if it's the last thing I do! OK, maybe not that drastic. But here I go! Ah rats, it's 2 and we have to get DS1 from school at 3. We spent all morning over at a friend's house as she had a coffee meetup for the babysitting coop, and then had lunch and it's pretty much the whole day now!
DS2 had a trial class yesterday and LOVED it. I still haven't talked DS1 into it, though he was fascinated both times he has been there to watch. He warms up to things more slowly, so if DS2 and I stick to it, I think he'll do it. He'd be in the slightly older class, though still with beginners (white and gold). I have to say that DS2 is absolutely precious in his uniform - I need to take a picture. I made him take it off before supper because it's white and then before I knew it, he was putting it back on and he wore it until bedtime. I washed it (and mine) today because it still smelled of new fabric and was stiff.
He's out in the backyard playing with his bestest buddy, wearing his brand new white belt. I guess I can wash it again if it gets all muddy.
I am going to finish this flippin quilt top today if it's the last thing I do! OK, maybe not that drastic. But here I go! Ah rats, it's 2 and we have to get DS1 from school at 3. We spent all morning over at a friend's house as she had a coffee meetup for the babysitting coop, and then had lunch and it's pretty much the whole day now!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
general update
Quilt top: done. Putting another border on it, then it's ready for me to figure out what to use for backing. It'll probably be the floral stripe that I'm not using for the borders.
Book group last night: fun. I think that's the most we have ever talked about a book and not gotten very far off topic. Julia Scheeres was really nice and straightforward. She didn't stay long because her baby had a fever and I never did get around to asking any quesitons, though I threw out a few comments. I was tired and my head hurt, besides not being good at thinking on my feet.
Kids: healthy-ish. Runny noses and coughing, but it's drying up. Fingers crossed. We're trying to work out an incentive program so Calvin will stay on task at school. Yesterday was the first day and he didn't finish all his work. Maybe the day-to-day incentive will need to be more than that he gets to do a free-choice job - which is what his incentive was before. I'm thinking star chart?
Work: still there. I worked 7 hours yesterday when it was only supposed to be 4. I'm making up some time from when I had a fever last week. I got there early and the supervisor who was supposedto be there was late, so i worked a bit. Then the person who was supposed to come in when I left has class on Monday, so wasn't going to be in until 1 couple of hours after that. So I arranged my kids and stayed.
More on kids: they are discovering - and I am rediscovering - the joys of the Muppet Show. The library has the whole 1st season on DVD. Where are the shows like this these days? Back in myyyyyyy day!
PS: Sewing machines: I fixed my Singer commercial grade machine by brute force. I took a bunch of it apart before figuring out which parts I needed to wrestle with to get the timing back. So now the timing's back. I haven't tried to zigzag much of anything, but the straight stitch works! I still have to get the timing back on my tiny Janome in case I want to take it somewhere again. No glue next time, though!
Book group last night: fun. I think that's the most we have ever talked about a book and not gotten very far off topic. Julia Scheeres was really nice and straightforward. She didn't stay long because her baby had a fever and I never did get around to asking any quesitons, though I threw out a few comments. I was tired and my head hurt, besides not being good at thinking on my feet.
Kids: healthy-ish. Runny noses and coughing, but it's drying up. Fingers crossed. We're trying to work out an incentive program so Calvin will stay on task at school. Yesterday was the first day and he didn't finish all his work. Maybe the day-to-day incentive will need to be more than that he gets to do a free-choice job - which is what his incentive was before. I'm thinking star chart?
Work: still there. I worked 7 hours yesterday when it was only supposed to be 4. I'm making up some time from when I had a fever last week. I got there early and the supervisor who was supposedto be there was late, so i worked a bit. Then the person who was supposed to come in when I left has class on Monday, so wasn't going to be in until 1 couple of hours after that. So I arranged my kids and stayed.
More on kids: they are discovering - and I am rediscovering - the joys of the Muppet Show. The library has the whole 1st season on DVD. Where are the shows like this these days? Back in myyyyyyy day!
PS: Sewing machines: I fixed my Singer commercial grade machine by brute force. I took a bunch of it apart before figuring out which parts I needed to wrestle with to get the timing back. So now the timing's back. I haven't tried to zigzag much of anything, but the straight stitch works! I still have to get the timing back on my tiny Janome in case I want to take it somewhere again. No glue next time, though!
Friday, March 23, 2007
jobs
I've started searching online sites for vaguely suitable jobs and emailing my resume to them. No idea if this will make any difference, but I feel like I am doing something.
Turns out Hancock's has filed for Chapter 11 and though it sold the inventory of 100 stores to liquidators, it is still prostrating itself in front of banks, begging for funds.
Turns out Hancock's has filed for Chapter 11 and though it sold the inventory of 100 stores to liquidators, it is still prostrating itself in front of banks, begging for funds.
SWOON!
Update to "Jesus Land"
Turns out that the person who recommended we read the book went to college with Julia Scheeres and that Ms. Scheeres will be answering questions from us via the phone. She couldn't be there in person, though she only lives a few hours from here, because she has small kids. Since our book group grew out of one started within a moms' group/playgroup, we do understand that.
What can I say? What can I ask? Will I gush and make a fool of myself? Must organize thoughts!
Or else go watch Chocolat (the one with Johnny Depp, not the French one about colonialism and racism) because it's due at the library soon and it keeps coming up in conversations later.
Turns out that the person who recommended we read the book went to college with Julia Scheeres and that Ms. Scheeres will be answering questions from us via the phone. She couldn't be there in person, though she only lives a few hours from here, because she has small kids. Since our book group grew out of one started within a moms' group/playgroup, we do understand that.
What can I say? What can I ask? Will I gush and make a fool of myself? Must organize thoughts!
Or else go watch Chocolat (the one with Johnny Depp, not the French one about colonialism and racism) because it's due at the library soon and it keeps coming up in conversations later.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Another good book: Jesus Land
It's a memoir by a woman who grew up in an ultra-Christian family that was sooo dysfunctional in so many ways. The mom was only interested in missionaries and actually seems to have hated her kids. The dad would beat the cr** out of them, especially the two adopted boys who were black. Then there was the racism toward the only two black boys in town. And the older black brother was raping the girl on a regular basis. And the mom would feed them horrible, cheap, half-rotten leftover food, all while she drove an Audi and the dad, a doctor, drove a Porsche.
Mostly, the story is about the sister and the younger of the black boys when they were 16 and the family moved further out into the country. The two were the same age and best friends. Eventually, after the dad beat the brother with a 2x4 and broke his arm, they found an excuse to send the brother away to an ultra-religious reform school in the Dominican Republic. The sister is left twisting in the wind, she's sleeping with a guy every night which is E-vil and her dad finally starts beating her up for the slightest infraction, so she runs away and moves in with one of her older (not adopted) brothers. She eventually gets arrested for something minor and instead of having herself declared an emancipated minor, she agrees to go to the reform school where her brother is.
Turns out, at the reform school they humiliate the kids and beat them up, etc etc to bring them closer to Jesus. Very, very scary stuff. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I grew up in Ohio near the Indiana border at about this time and had non-white adopted siblings, but my parents were loving and doing their best and weren't driven by an angry God to beat us up or anything. We were also in a small town, but one with many ethnicities. Race relations were not always pretty (like the timea couple of years after I was out of high school when a redneck decided a good Halloween costume to wear to school would be his KKK robes so he got sent home, then there was a Klan march on the town and skinheads having fistfights. Oh and a kid I used to babysit being arrested for throwing rocks at the KKK. Good boy!), and my biracial sister had trouble fitting in sometimes ("Black people don't have freckles and red hair! And you talk like you're white!")
Fairly disturbing book all around, mostly because no one saw the child abuse either in the family or at the reform school, and no one did anything about it. That, and the parents treated the black brothers like outsiders and like they were inherently evil. Now, why would you adopt someone you had no intention of really helping? Oh, but they were helping by not sparing the rod, that's right.
Mostly, the story is about the sister and the younger of the black boys when they were 16 and the family moved further out into the country. The two were the same age and best friends. Eventually, after the dad beat the brother with a 2x4 and broke his arm, they found an excuse to send the brother away to an ultra-religious reform school in the Dominican Republic. The sister is left twisting in the wind, she's sleeping with a guy every night which is E-vil and her dad finally starts beating her up for the slightest infraction, so she runs away and moves in with one of her older (not adopted) brothers. She eventually gets arrested for something minor and instead of having herself declared an emancipated minor, she agrees to go to the reform school where her brother is.
Turns out, at the reform school they humiliate the kids and beat them up, etc etc to bring them closer to Jesus. Very, very scary stuff. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I grew up in Ohio near the Indiana border at about this time and had non-white adopted siblings, but my parents were loving and doing their best and weren't driven by an angry God to beat us up or anything. We were also in a small town, but one with many ethnicities. Race relations were not always pretty (like the timea couple of years after I was out of high school when a redneck decided a good Halloween costume to wear to school would be his KKK robes so he got sent home, then there was a Klan march on the town and skinheads having fistfights. Oh and a kid I used to babysit being arrested for throwing rocks at the KKK. Good boy!), and my biracial sister had trouble fitting in sometimes ("Black people don't have freckles and red hair! And you talk like you're white!")
Fairly disturbing book all around, mostly because no one saw the child abuse either in the family or at the reform school, and no one did anything about it. That, and the parents treated the black brothers like outsiders and like they were inherently evil. Now, why would you adopt someone you had no intention of really helping? Oh, but they were helping by not sparing the rod, that's right.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Oh, about the St Patty's craft day
It was fun, if a bit manic. There were only 4 or 5 kids working at a time, but that meant sharing the glue, sharing, the fabric paints, dumping the sequins on the floor, trying to get my help and attention, me using my sewing machine up until the point where it stopped working due to all the glue stuck in it, and DS2 trying to sit on my lap, because he didn't have school and I had to bring him along.
They came up with some fun stuff. A couple of them made flags, one made a napkin (with sequins glued on it. ouch.), others just did some fun decorating, etc etc. Kids are just so creative and fun. I just gave them stuff and they went and did it however they felt like it. I love blank canvas sorts of crafts. Maybe I'll take the rest of the fabric to DS2's school, since they're doing their St P's day stuff on Monday. They had teacher conferences Friday instead.
Unfortunately, not all were dry enough to take home at the end of the day, so some didn't have their thing for the actual St P's day today.
It took me about 15 minutes with a scrubber sponge to get the glue and fabric paint off the table. A good time was had by all!
Teacher conferences: DS2 is progressing, but he's much more interested in hanging out with his friends and he's not moving forward with stuff. The teacher is wondering if he has a slight hearing problem, because he doesn't hear or see the difference between p and b and between m and n.
DS1's teacher conference coming up this week, but we already have the assessment forms. He's progressing academically, but he'd go a lot faster if he weren't gaxing into the middle distance all day. He got "needs work" on most of the social and self-motivation things, but meets expectations or exceeds on the actual academic stuff.
They came up with some fun stuff. A couple of them made flags, one made a napkin (with sequins glued on it. ouch.), others just did some fun decorating, etc etc. Kids are just so creative and fun. I just gave them stuff and they went and did it however they felt like it. I love blank canvas sorts of crafts. Maybe I'll take the rest of the fabric to DS2's school, since they're doing their St P's day stuff on Monday. They had teacher conferences Friday instead.
Unfortunately, not all were dry enough to take home at the end of the day, so some didn't have their thing for the actual St P's day today.
It took me about 15 minutes with a scrubber sponge to get the glue and fabric paint off the table. A good time was had by all!
Teacher conferences: DS2 is progressing, but he's much more interested in hanging out with his friends and he's not moving forward with stuff. The teacher is wondering if he has a slight hearing problem, because he doesn't hear or see the difference between p and b and between m and n.
DS1's teacher conference coming up this week, but we already have the assessment forms. He's progressing academically, but he'd go a lot faster if he weren't gaxing into the middle distance all day. He got "needs work" on most of the social and self-motivation things, but meets expectations or exceeds on the actual academic stuff.
Quitting my job...
...in the next few weeks. I might just decide to work a few hours at the cutting table or something so I can keep my discount and keep my hand in, but we'll have to see what sort of other work I find. I am looking forward to finding something where I can work during the day and then have normal evenings and weekends and holidays.
I've been thinking about it for a while, and then I called today to find out if the schedule was up for *tomorrow* and discovered that in the chaos, they didn't do the schedule until late yesterday.
Chaos, you ask?
Why yes: chaos. They are shutting 100 of the 400-ish Hancock Fabrics stores across the country so the company can pay its bills and with any luck won't go under completely. As of tomorrow, 7 of the 15 stores in our district are under the authority of liquidators. We've been redistricted. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean a new district manger for us, she has lost 7 stores and gained 3 or 4 others from another district, which has been split. Apparently, they had a conference call and sent an email at that time which had 2 lists of district managers - those that still have jobs and those that don't.
I wanted to leave anyway, but now's a good time, because there will be three supervisors from the store near us who will be looking for work soon.
A manager looking for work, too, and my current manager keeps getting on the wrong side of the district mgr (not that the DM has a right side, but she's usually in worse trouble than most), and is now afraid that she will be replaced.
So that's the turmoil for the day!
I've been thinking about it for a while, and then I called today to find out if the schedule was up for *tomorrow* and discovered that in the chaos, they didn't do the schedule until late yesterday.
Chaos, you ask?
Why yes: chaos. They are shutting 100 of the 400-ish Hancock Fabrics stores across the country so the company can pay its bills and with any luck won't go under completely. As of tomorrow, 7 of the 15 stores in our district are under the authority of liquidators. We've been redistricted. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean a new district manger for us, she has lost 7 stores and gained 3 or 4 others from another district, which has been split. Apparently, they had a conference call and sent an email at that time which had 2 lists of district managers - those that still have jobs and those that don't.
I wanted to leave anyway, but now's a good time, because there will be three supervisors from the store near us who will be looking for work soon.
A manager looking for work, too, and my current manager keeps getting on the wrong side of the district mgr (not that the DM has a right side, but she's usually in worse trouble than most), and is now afraid that she will be replaced.
So that's the turmoil for the day!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
And more importantly
Why yes, they were playing in the sprinklers with beach balls when it was 65 and cloudy. Why do you ask?Nothing at all to do with the fact that they have both been sick constantly before and after that day, I am sure.
And Calvin was sleeping half in the hall in his sleeping bag. No idea why,
The computer shot was just yesterday. They almost got along for a bit, even though Tristan was whiny and tired - still sick, but didn't have a fever at that point.
Home network fixed: film at eleven
QUILT PICS!!!!!!
The first two give you a better idea of the fabric involved (click on pics to see them bigger) and the last the overall pattern. Four rows still needed in the photo, but really just have 2 left now (then borders, then backing, then binding....)
Begum and Begorrah!!!!
And maybe someday, they'll get to DS1's school for the kids in his class to decorate....
Yes, DH got the Internet connection to this computer fixed a couple of days ago, but didn't even mention it to me until I asked yesterday. Thanks.
Poor Puppy
DS2 took a shower with me and stayed in for a few minutes after I got out, even though he looked to be asleep on his feet while I was still in. I hadn't heard a peep from him, other than a couple of coughs, in about half an hour. He has dried off and gone back to bed. Up at 10, back to bed at 11:30. He was only up twice in the early hours of this morning.
It makes me feel guilty for feeling a bit miffed that his illness has been changing all the family's plans all week.
It makes me feel guilty for feeling a bit miffed that his illness has been changing all the family's plans all week.
yep
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
sewing for the day
I've just spent a couple of hours hemming (sloppily with zigzags) squares, triangles and some long strips of shamrocked fabric. I have some green ribbon and am going to get some fabric paint, fabric glue, and sequins or something this evening.
Imagine first graders with St Patty accessories. Could be great, could be a flop.
Could not happen, with fever boy still dubious for going to preschool tomorrow. In that case, it will be on Friday.
But all that good sewing mojo and I still haven't touched my quilt for a few days.
Imagine first graders with St Patty accessories. Could be great, could be a flop.
Could not happen, with fever boy still dubious for going to preschool tomorrow. In that case, it will be on Friday.
But all that good sewing mojo and I still haven't touched my quilt for a few days.
Oh, and a quilt book
Not how to make a quilt, but one with a quiltmaker and her quilts as central to the story.
"The Fortune Quilt" by Lani Diane Rich is the story of a young woman, Carly, who thinks her life is fine, though not all that satisfying and then she meets a quiltmaker who makes quilts for people before she ever meets them and then does a 'reading' from the quilt. Right after that, Carly's whole life falls apart and she goes back to see the quiltmaker, whom she accuses of having cursed her. Then she moves into a cabin behind the quiltmaker's house and into the small artsy town and she starts making a new life for herself. "Accept the book with the amber spine. Give back the frog. Take the cab." (Dilute. Dilute. OK.)
It could use more depth in the men of the story and I wanted more of her sisters, especially the youngest one, but it was a very satisfying read. I shed a lot of tears, sadness/anger/outrage/sympathy/happiness/joy.
Very nice story and the author is a sweetheart, so double reason to buy it.
Oh, and I read S.E. Phillips' "Natural Born Charmer" a couple of weeks ago and recommend it, though not as highly. I liked a lot of it and felt it pulled together nicely. It felt like a lot of SEP's other books, especially "Heaven, Texas," though the hero wasn't a waste of space and nasty and abusive, and was only deeply flawed and deeply troubled, but at least he wasn't a jerk all the time.
What else have I read lately? I read an early Georgette Heyer - a contemporary (1930's instead of 1810's) mystery called "No Wind of Blame". Her Regency romances are better, but it was pretty good.
And what is that book for book group? Oh wait, I haven't started it yet. Either book for either book group: Jesusland and The Expected One.
Sentence fragments. If the "Magic Treehouse" woman can teach kids to read and write using mostly fragments, then I can in a blog. Definitely. And like it.
"The Fortune Quilt" by Lani Diane Rich is the story of a young woman, Carly, who thinks her life is fine, though not all that satisfying and then she meets a quiltmaker who makes quilts for people before she ever meets them and then does a 'reading' from the quilt. Right after that, Carly's whole life falls apart and she goes back to see the quiltmaker, whom she accuses of having cursed her. Then she moves into a cabin behind the quiltmaker's house and into the small artsy town and she starts making a new life for herself. "Accept the book with the amber spine. Give back the frog. Take the cab." (Dilute. Dilute. OK.)
It could use more depth in the men of the story and I wanted more of her sisters, especially the youngest one, but it was a very satisfying read. I shed a lot of tears, sadness/anger/outrage/sympathy/happiness/joy.
Very nice story and the author is a sweetheart, so double reason to buy it.
Oh, and I read S.E. Phillips' "Natural Born Charmer" a couple of weeks ago and recommend it, though not as highly. I liked a lot of it and felt it pulled together nicely. It felt like a lot of SEP's other books, especially "Heaven, Texas," though the hero wasn't a waste of space and nasty and abusive, and was only deeply flawed and deeply troubled, but at least he wasn't a jerk all the time.
What else have I read lately? I read an early Georgette Heyer - a contemporary (1930's instead of 1810's) mystery called "No Wind of Blame". Her Regency romances are better, but it was pretty good.
And what is that book for book group? Oh wait, I haven't started it yet. Either book for either book group: Jesusland and The Expected One.
Sentence fragments. If the "Magic Treehouse" woman can teach kids to read and write using mostly fragments, then I can in a blog. Definitely. And like it.
Let's say secondary infection is our family name
Huh. DS2 has a fever and is coughing harder. Bronchitis? Or a new flu? He's been healthy for not quite 2 weeks. I'm supposed to go read and do a fabric St. Patrick's Day craft with DS1's class tomorrow and all that will be put on hold if he's not better. And what would I do with all that green and shamrock fabric if I didn't go? I'll get some fabric glue and some sequins and drop the whole shebang off. Well, we could do it Friday morning during their green party, but I have a feeling that will be wild enough.
Instead of messing on the computer, I should be cutting fabric into triangles and hemming them for head scarves. And making long, thin headband/karate kid things. And generally brainstorming what 20 1st graders can do with fabric and ribbons and such when left to their own devices.
Instead of messing on the computer, I should be cutting fabric into triangles and hemming them for head scarves. And making long, thin headband/karate kid things. And generally brainstorming what 20 1st graders can do with fabric and ribbons and such when left to their own devices.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Secondary infection is my middle name
Or else I am just darn slow at shaking this stupid cough/sore throat/ congested head cold that my kids seem to be over. They were both in school today, so I ended up taking a nap for most of that time.
This evening, they are going to a sleepover at their friends' house. Private time with DH! Woohoo! Yeah, I can sit and watch him program. Yippee. Who, me? Negative?
Anyway, I want to finish the quilt top tonight, since I didn't work on it today as I had planned. Or else curl up and read a book. One of those.
This evening, they are going to a sleepover at their friends' house. Private time with DH! Woohoo! Yeah, I can sit and watch him program. Yippee. Who, me? Negative?
Anyway, I want to finish the quilt top tonight, since I didn't work on it today as I had planned. Or else curl up and read a book. One of those.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Another day
I have made good progress on piecing my blue and white quilt. Dh has not made good progress piecing our network, so I don't have Internet access from the PC. Someday, I will post a series of pics from start to finish...
I have done no writing at all lately. I got bogged down with about 60 pages.
Kids watching too much TV right now. A friend is over and he's watching it with them, of course. Bad mommy.
I want a shower before I go to work this evening. Might happen, might not.
I have done no writing at all lately. I got bogged down with about 60 pages.
Kids watching too much TV right now. A friend is over and he's watching it with them, of course. Bad mommy.
I want a shower before I go to work this evening. Might happen, might not.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Books
Got this from http://egretsnest.blogspot.com/
Look at the list of books below:
- Bold the ones you’ve read
- Italicize the ones you want to read
- If you are reading this (and haven't participated yet), tag, you’re it! (But only if you want to be it!)
- 1984 (George Orwell)
Read in HS. "Important", but not all that entertaining. - A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
- A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) - oh yeah! I loved this one. A lot of Irving's usual stuff - orphans, illegitimacy, etc, but really well done, though it drags a bit at times
- A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
Read in HS, I think, but don't remember a whole lot. OTT melodrama at times, it being Dickens. - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) - total melodrama, had me crying at times when I read it when a teenager. It was already being mocked by Bugs Bunny right when it came out.
- A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
- Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
Very good, excellent, really startling awful poverty. - Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
- Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
I always have the intention to.... - Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
- Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
I think I started it once and couldn't get into it and didn't see why everyone was so crazy about it and gave up after 50 or so pages - Blindness (Jose Saramago)
- Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) - totalitarian, lots of sex
- Bridget Jones’ Diary (Helen Fielding)
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah! - Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) - meh. Maybe it's more for men?
- Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
- Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
- Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
I read about half of the Brothers Karamozov once and was sort of into it, then had to put it down for a while and never got back to it. That's my experience with Russian authors. - Dune (Frank Herbert)
I agree with Liza Lee: I kept wanting them to get better (though I never saw the movie) - East of Eden (John Steinbeck) - seems like I read it, anyway
- Emma (Jane Austen)
Jane Austen is the best ever. This isn't my favorite Austen by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still great. - Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
- Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
- Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
- Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Read it once and thought Scarlett was an idiot. - Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
HP is da bomb! My fav is stil OOTP. - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
- I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) - Did I read this one or She's Come Undone? Whichever was pretty good, but not enough to make me leap for the one I haven't read.
- In The Skin Of A Lion (Michael Ondaatje)
- Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
Nope, but saw the movie. Wasn't impressed. - Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - LOVED it when I was an adolescent. I'm gonna get slammed here, but I find all Bronte stuff adolescent...
- Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
- Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) - I dragged through an English translation of this once.
- Life of Pi (Yann Martel) - Really, really cool. Wow.
- Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Loved it as a kid. - Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
Huh? I didn't get it. OK, so I GOT it on the level of the message, but didn't see the point of writing a whole book about it. - Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel García Márquez) - I always wish I liked Garcia Marquez better. The magic realism thing sometimes leaves me feeling unfulfilled, I guess.
- Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) - yeas! Great! I still haven't seen the movie, but keep meaning to.
- Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
- Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck) - Sweet, which is probably not Steinbeck's aim.
- One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
See above re: Cholera - Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
I really liked it in a lot of ways, but thought it was just too much trying to be shoved in one book. And I just wanted to say: Stay away from the English guy. I don't care WHO he looks like, he's a nightmare. - Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) - Now THIS is my favorite Austen. Ooooh Mr. Darcy!
- Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
- She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) - see above re: the other Lamb book
- Shogun (James Clavell)
I think I saw part of the 70's miniseries? - The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
- The Bible
Used to know more about it than I do now - The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
- The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
Hated it in HS, Re-read it a couple of years ago and I can see some merit, but I think you have to be a guy. I liked Franny and Zooey better. - The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
- The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
LOVED it and maybe the first 1 or 2 of the sequels. Not sure at exactly what moment it changed from cave history to cave erotica. Nuthin wrong with erotica, I'm just sayin. - The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
Saw part of the miniseries with Depardieu. Meh. - The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
- The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
- The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
- The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
- The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
- The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) - read it a long long time ago. Don't remember all that much...
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) - not sure how I got out of this one in HS.
- The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
- The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
Loved it. Horribly depressing, but lots of food for thought. - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Oh yes! - The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Always loved it, but never got into the Lord of the Rings. - The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
My mom read it to us as kids and I've read it several times. My kids didn't get it first try, but they might have been too young. - The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
Not sure what his point is, but interesting. - The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Drags and drags. Movies were good, though ;) - The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) - Creepy, sad, hopeful. I just checked out Lucky, too
- The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
- The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
I checked it out once, but didn't get around to reading it. - The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
- The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
- The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) - started it once, but didn't get far. I keep meaning to try again.
- The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
- The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
- The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
- The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) - really good, sometimes predictable
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
- The Stand (Stephen King) - never read or seen anything by him (except Stand By Me). I don't like scary stuff.
- The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
- The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
- The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
- The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
- The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
Liked it and didn't. Will probably read again. - The World According to Garp (John Irving)
Too violent, too whacked out. I like a lot of his other books better - To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
- Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
- Ulysses (James Joyce)
- War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
- Watership Down (Richard Adams)
Read it a looooong time ago. - White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
- Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
- Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
See above re: Jane Eyre
Friday, March 2, 2007
Francis Ford Copralalia
Can my 4 1/2 year old go 10 minutes without saying "butt"?
Apparently not.
So much for polite words.
Apparently not.
So much for polite words.
forgot to say
DS2 woke up with a sore throat (sorry, a sore froat), so I didn't end up taking him to school. So I had my two and a friend's 1st grader. They have *mostly* gotten along. I had to establish some ground rules early in the morning about using polite language and letting everyone play - ie not excluding the 3rd wheel.
Friend's mom due any minute now....
Friend's mom due any minute now....
fashion?
OK, I don't usually read about fashion, but accidentally clicked on the wrong link and my eye alit on this:
["A woman doesn't have just one handbag anymore, she has a wardrobe of handbags according to her various needs," said Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director at Neiman Marcus.]
Now wait. Haven't women always - at least in my lifetime - had different handbags for different needs and clothing and so on? I only have a few, but they are different colors and sizes. I tend to carry one for months and then switch to another, but I am so fashion-backwards as to belong to the stone age.
What an odd thing to say.
["A woman doesn't have just one handbag anymore, she has a wardrobe of handbags according to her various needs," said Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director at Neiman Marcus.]
Now wait. Haven't women always - at least in my lifetime - had different handbags for different needs and clothing and so on? I only have a few, but they are different colors and sizes. I tend to carry one for months and then switch to another, but I am so fashion-backwards as to belong to the stone age.
What an odd thing to say.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
No such luck!
Both boys have clear eyes, but DS1 has a nasty sore throat. DS2 would have gone to his friend's house, but the friend has a nasty sore throat.
If I do get a bit of luck, DS2 will go to school tomorrow. Though I'll have DS1 at home because it's a teacher meeting or something day. Oh, and a friend of his (son of a friend of mine) all morning. This should be interesting, especially because both boys want to be the boss and butt heads more than one would think possible.
OK, I haven't worked at all on my quilt in a while. I really need to get something done on it...
If I do get a bit of luck, DS2 will go to school tomorrow. Though I'll have DS1 at home because it's a teacher meeting or something day. Oh, and a friend of his (son of a friend of mine) all morning. This should be interesting, especially because both boys want to be the boss and butt heads more than one would think possible.
OK, I haven't worked at all on my quilt in a while. I really need to get something done on it...
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