Book Meme

Virginia Gal over at Gypsy Thoughts posted this and I thought I might as well give it a whirl.

MEMO
These are the top 100 or so books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users. Bold the books you have read, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.
*****

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Ulysses
Moby Dick
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian: a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Poisonwood Bible
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
Angels & Demons
Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
To the Lighthouse
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Dune
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes: A memoir
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
The Scarlet Letter
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
On the Road
The Catcher in the Rye
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
White Teeth
In Cold Blood: A true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
Treasure Island
1984
David Copperfield



Hmmm seems like I read a bit LOL

What the heck.

What type of Fae are you?

Okay I need some help

Well more advice really.

My brother is trying to rent out his cottage for the summer, on a week by week basis. I, of course, am drafted to help - this is my understood job after years of being big sister only THIS time he's gonna pay me to do it LOL.

Now I understand how to get it advertised here in the great white north BUT he'd really like to rent to foreigners - he thinks (and I kind of agree with him here) that they will take better care of his cottage and are less likely to steal his stuff. My problem is - I have no idea where to even start putting the info on the cabin so that european peoples can even think about renting it (and do I have to advertise in euros??? I don't understand those yet :() I need some help from the 'murricans in the crowd too.

Okay this is the cabin looking at it from the water's edge. Ignore the harley.



This is the view from the cottage looking towards the water - from here you can see the dock and size of the boat you can dock there.



Last but not least, a photo of the sunset from the waters edge. Beautiful ain't it?




Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks y'all.

What a Mom Says in 24 hours

I can relate.

Time to Review the ol' Blogroll

I guess it's time to review the Blogroll, I just did some editing on it and it has just occurred to me that there are several blogs on my roll that are, um, a bit risque and I know at least one of my new friends around here would probably like at least warning before she finds herself confronted by something she DOESN'T want to explain to her four year old. LOL.

I suppose I'll just go in alphabetical order just for clarity lol.

Beastliness - this "gent" lives in the UK and he is a very funny guy. Although I haven't seen much nudity on his blog, it is definately for adults only.

Blogois - B lives in the US in Washington state someplace. I've been reading her blog for a long time now and I feel like I know her. Heck I even won a contest there once and I have a lovely Blogois t-shirt! She is a wonderful writer - she wrote a wonderful creepy novel/short story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Domestic Psychology - oopsie seems I need to update that Blogroll AGAIN as I have her old address on it *sigh* anyhoodle - Cathy and her hubby Doug live with their tribe of wild indians (ok ok their delightful children - all five of them) They are warm and funny people who would give you shirt of their backs. They were enormously kind to me when I was at my lowest and I never thanked them properly. Love you guys.

Everyday Stranger - Helen lives somewhere in England with her hub, her twins and sometimes her 2 stepchildren. She is an awesome writer and a great read.

Gypsy Thoughts - Virginia Gal is a nice muslim girl from the US. I love reading her stuff - she sees some things differently and she travels to the most fabulous places. Such a jetsetter. lol.

I Need Stronger Medication - This is Tony and he was one of my very first friends in the blogosphere. He lives in Arkansas in the US, he is funnier than all get out, he's gay and I love him to death. He almost always makes me smile - well except for that last "rugby injury photo" - ewwwww stitches.

In The Gutter - this very nice lady is from the US but she lives in Britain with her hub while he is deployed in the military. They have five kids and well the chances for funny things happening seems to multiply with the number of kids lol. I'm new to her blog so things can only get better.

Infomaniac - this lady is another Canadian and her blog is NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR KIDS. Don't go unless you want to see many many naked people and funny funny irreverent humour. So if you go there now, you can't blame me for an penii you may encounter.

It's Always Something - Joan is another canuck who lives in Manitoba (otherwise known as the place in Canada with the coldest corner). Joanie is, umm, mature or experienced lol. She has a great sense of humour and some of the greatest Menonite recipes you'll find. Nice nice lady.

KristyK - Kristy live in New Mexico with her husband and their blended yours/mine/ours family of seven kids. I don't know how she does it but she does with amazing organization and tremendous love. I want her to adopt me! LOL

La Gringa's Blogicito - La Gringa is living life in the Honduras with her husband El Jefe. It is fascinating to read about her life there. I realize sometimes that even though I may be jealous of all that beauty , I need to thankful for just how good I have it here. Grass is greener syndrome, I'm sure LOL. Her pictures are so beautiful and her writing is wonderful.

Life after Nexcom - Mary Lou is a retired lady who live in northern Washington state. I almost feel like I'm talking to her when she writes and she also helped me through a very rough patch and I can't thank her enough. Since she's not old enough to be my mom, she's kind of like an auntie I don't see very often.

Mr Smith Goes to Delhi - I've just started reading this one about the Smith family - Mr and Mrs and their seven kids who have gone to Delhi for three years for Mr's job. I'm finding reading about their dealing with another culture very interesting.

My Boyfriend is a Twat - Now don't be fooled by the title of the blog. Twat rhymes with hat and in Britain it's another word for a twit. Zoe is the very very first blog I ever found, the first one I ever read and was the person who inspired me to give this a go. Posts there are a bit sporadic at the moment - Zoe has a very very sore back but I'm sure she will get back into the spirit soon. Heck she even wrote a book about her blog. So if you can get past the title, give her a go, you'll like her I promise. She even likes newts LOL.

Pax Romano - Pax is some kind of social worker kinda guy who live in New Jersey with his partner Whatshisname. Pax is a great writer, funny funny guy and very nice to boot.

Snicks - Snicks is another one of the people who I found very very early in this blogging thing. He writes very well (as a matter of fact he just started submitting articles for a gay pop culture bloggy thing AFTERELTON). He writes some of the funniest stories I've ever read - who can forget the fear of ducks post? LOL

Special K or Idle Thoughts of an Idle Person. Kat is one of the funniest, and I do mean THE funniest people I've ever read. She has caused me to spit my drink more than once LOL. If you are language sensitive, she may not be for you as she uses whatever word she needs at the moment but if you can stand a few "bad" words you'll love her! Kat introduced me to the concept of Luscious Mr Couch, Evil Mr Computer and Happy Underpants Time. Gad I love this woman LOL. I would SO sit down for a drink with her and probably laugh myself sick.

Taz and Pig - The Blog - Tazzy and Piggy are a gay couple in England and NOT SAFE FOR WORK (some, well, most of the time). Some people might find their language a little .....salty lol. I think they are crazy and funny and wonderful.

The More, The Messier - this very nice lady is raising 6 children - well 4 children, 1 teenage boy and one shrieking teenage girl monster lol. She is very very funny and if you enjoy funny kid stories- this is the lady for you.

The Pissed Kitty Cometh - darn it - need to fix that one on the Blogroll too. PKitty lives in LA, has 2 (?) dogs now and an unknown number of cats. She writes very funny stuff but she is, occasionally, not very safe for work. Most of the time, it's pretty g-rated though. She has raised her sarcasism to an artform. And she's pretty good with photoshop too lol.

The Rocking Pony - New to this blog as well but I like her stories and man oh man can she write. She is raising four kids and runs her own online store that sells homemade childrens clothing. I like her.

This Could Only Happen to Me good grief another one wrong on the BlogRoll. Dani lives in Colorado with her hub and kids and I enjoy reading along with her life. Things are pretty quiet right now but it probably won't stay that way for long LOL.

Tunnocks Teacakes Forever - New read for me but he's a guy who lives in the back of beyond in Scotland somewhere. A little surreal at times lol.

Wendster's Blog - what can I say that I haven't said already about Wendy. I like her, she's funny and she makes my day.


Ok that's it - it that all seem to suck up-y and ass kissy? Ah well, I wouldn't have people I didn't like on my BlogRoll now, would I?


Update - all the links on the BlogRoll are now fixed.

Bored

In the immortal lyrics of Iggy Pop -
I'm bored,
I'm the chairman of the bored.
I'm an endless dull monologue.
I bore myself to sleep at night.
I'm bored.

Nothing much going on around here this weekend - did some grocery shopping, put gas in the car (gasp the prices oh my achin wallet) and sat around watching tv - ish stuff. I'm sooooo disappointed with Britain's Got Talent - although the kid who won was good...he just didn't compare to the boy with the sweet voice. He sang like an angel and he came THIRD!!! Stupid people.

One of the blogs I read (Everyday Stranger) is written by a gifted writer and mother of twins and she had a "mommy guilt" episode (her daughters leg got stuck between the crib bars in the middle of night and she thought she was still teething). It got me to thinking about all those moments were you took your eyes of the little monsters for a couple of minutes and *bam* something awful happens and you feel so guilty. Jamie was ummm active and there seem to dozens of these incidents to no doubt torture me into old age lol. There was the time he was running around the apartment with his bottle in his mouth and he fell and put both front teeth through his lower lip. O gawd the blood, the red red blood. Trust me, there was ALOT of it. I couldn't decide on whether to take him to the ER or not so I called my mom - she laughed and said calm down and not to worry about it. I didn't and he was fine - although he does have a small scar under his lower lip. There was the time he went snooping through a drawer when he was 5 or so while I was doing dishes and he found some rank old nail polish of mine (it was black with silver glitter and that should tell you how old it was lol). He starts playing with it and got some in his eye. At that point the shrieking began. I'm on the phone to 911 and they tell me to run water over his eye so I'm on the phone with them, balancing a 5 year old on the kitchen counter, there are dishes thrown on the floor, and I'm drowning my son upside down in the sink waiting for the ambulance. Ah good times LOL. The ambulance got there just in time to stop me from drowning the kid accidently while trying to save his vision lol. We all got to go to the hospital (I had to wake up 2 yr old Katie to come along), and we were at the hospital for 10 minutes and they said nothing wrong , no nailpolish in his eye, you can go home. Hmmmm we came in an ambulance, no stroller and we live oooo quite a walk from the hospital. Grand. Oh the memories LOL You know they had the nerve at the hospital to tell me that I need to watch him better, I was sooo mad and so terribly terribly guilty. Joys of motherhood.

Another blog I was reading, this mother's baby girl had discovered the toy value of tampons or at least the applicator LOL. I have a very funny "Aunt Flow" story. It didn't actually happen to me but to a woman I worked with. She was the oldest of four girls and her youngest sister was 9 or 10 at the time. Second youngest sister was 13 and had just ummm "become a woman" (that discrete enough for you guys out there lol) and her mother had bought her sanitary pads so youngest sister asked what they were and mom says "feminine napkins". Fast forward two days, youngest sister's turn to set the table for dinner, family comes and sits down and everyone is staring at horror at the side of their plates because there with the knife and fork neatly placed there is a pad at the side of every plate LOL She says her dad was trying so hard not to laugh that he was nearly turning purple. Now THAT is a story that will live in your memories forever like it has in mine LOL.

Seriously........

Alright I need to a grip here. Depression doesn't just have teeth - that sucker has FANGS and it's sooooo hard to fight off. But I'm trying to shake it off.

I've been blog trawling and finding new and interesting things to read. I've heard all along about "Mommie bloggers" and some people love em and some people hate em. I suppose it all depends on whether you find reading about what someone else's kids do amusing. Personally I like those stories and some of these women are genuinely gifted writers (and comediennes lol). Not to say that there aren't a few that I've read where I got past three posts and got a little tired of "omg little jonny is such a perfect angel blah blah blah". I'm far more interested in the real people who admit that their kids drive them mental and they have plotted their escape many times lol. Since I only had the two kids and I come from a small family myself, I'm fascinated with really big families and how they cope with things. There are three that have had me really interested lately - The Rocking Pony
very funny lady with four kids. Next is The More the Messier - this way busy lady has SIX kids and is still sane (well mostly) - she has moody teenager problems and a wicked sense of humour. Last but certainly not least is Wendster's Blog She has four kids ranging from 18 to 4. Maybe I'm most impressed by her real bravery with her blog. She made New Year's Resolutions at, well, New Year's (duh lol) and she has kept them! One of her resolutions was to lose weight and *ahem* POST HER WEIGHT ON HER BLOG EVERY DAY!!!! There should be some kind of medal for that kind of bravery.

So that's what I've been doing lately - reading other people's blog archives lol. It has helped though to break that blogger block I had, I really am inspired now BUT I don't think I'll be posting my weight every day LOL

Hmmmm

I'm starting to wonder why I'm bothering to keep this blog going - self therapy maybe LOL.
Nothing much going on around here - got new migraine medication that makes me feel worse, getting new glasses so I can read things again. The house is still a sty, my ex is still...well, himself and I'm bored outta my friggin tree.

All growed up

Yes indeed that is my "baby" in the pictures below all gussied up for Prom. It seems like it was just yesterday that she looked like this -




Or even like this -



But I've always been amazed that my girl was so beautiful.

Her Prom was last week and even though it was expensive (oh god my wallet may NEVER recover) it was a once in a lifetime thing. And well, I got one hell of a deal on that dress !!! So even though she went "stag" with her girlfriends because the boys there aren't smart enough to want to date her OR she's too smart to date the boys from the shallow end of the gene pool (lol of course I could be the tiniest bit biased here lol), she had a good time and I'm glad she didn't miss it.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

I don't care what anyone else thinks - she is in MY world anyways.

Vacation Snaps

So I was on vacation with my friend Siouxie and Dan up in the cold cold north only it wasn't so cold. First night was kind of nippy but after that the weather got better and better and you really start to appreciate the beauty of spring, well, springing into being all around you. lol.

There being only a dodgy radio and no television, animal watching became our main amusement.
The first animals around (other than the birds) were the chipmunks.




Then there were the squirrels. There were the loud fearless and fairly obnoxious red squirrels and the much larger and quieter black squirrels. The red squirrels pretty much had the cabin staked out waiting for food but one black squirrel would sneak up and eat whatever he could get before getting attacked by the red squirrels. Then there was a coup. The black squirrel gathered all his friends and the black squirrel gang invaded. the red squirrels were not amused LOL.



There was one red squirrel who was very very ambitious. I caught a picture of him taking a whole doughnut. He took that doughnut and took it about three branches down from the top of a very high tree and stashed it. It was covered in chocolate so he must have been one very hyperactive squirrel that night LOL.



There were lots and lots and lots of chickadees, funny little things that they are. They have almost no fear of humans and are so fun to watch. One poor little one flew into the cabin window and stunned himself so he sat on the edge of the porch for a good ten minutes before flying away. He let me get sooooo close to him.




And then there were the blue jays, so beautiful but oh so noisy. They are the juvenile delinquents up there honestly lol. They are also incredibly camera shy lol, it took me nearly an hour to get this picture.



There was a fox but he was too quick for me and there were raccoons but really at 4 am I was thinking more about getting to the outhouse than getting a picture LOL

Break out the grease paint

More from the UK

Well Episode two of 2008 Britain's Got Talent is out and there may be some competition for that sweet voiced kid. Listen to this kid.



Must be some weird DNA combination of Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton.

Then there was this lady.....


I'm starting to think Britain has wayyyyy more talent than North America LOL.

Britain's Got Talent

This is from last years Britain's Got Talent.
Sit back and be prepared to be amazed.




Paul Potts, he's my hero. I was convinced at first that he was lip syncing. I love that he was there in his one and only suit terrified that he wasn't good enough and he did that. He won by the way.

New post coming up about my vacation as soon as I get my piccies sorted lol.

voice of an angel

Listen to this! This kid was on Britain's got Talent this week and holy crap you won't believe what comes out of his mouth!

Heartless Selfish Bitch

Yup that's me. I've come to this conclusion after watching some guy on tv bawling his eyes out cuz things weren't going his way (police show and he wasn't even drunk!).

The confession I need to make is that guys crying for reasons other than someone dying or being really injured creeps me out. The longer it goes on, the less respect I have for him. Somewhere in my tiny little mind there is a voice saying "men don't cry, men are supposed to hold ME when I cry". Selfish isn't it? I was trying to figure out if I was heartless and I thought no I'm a bit too tenderhearted most of the time - hell there used to tv commercials that made me cry every time! (there were a couple of drunk driving commericals that got me every time - the shattered picture with you are so beautiful playing in the background and the little girl dancing with her father, she's standing on top of his feet and daddy's little girl is playing the background). So I don't know why it gets to me so much when guys cry but it irritates me to no end.

*sigh* I guess I'm just evil.

Hot hot hot

It has been so friggin hot in here today (and it's not just me having "power surges" before any smartass suggests it). The building controls all the heat in here and omg it's still on at blast furnace levels and I have all my windows open and am considering turning on the air conditioner! It was almost 17c out there today and it felt like 30c in here! Can't wait until they can legally turn the damn heat off.
Sioux and Dan are back from the cottage for a week or so and they want me to go back up with them for a week - it'd be nice, I really like it up there but I have to decide if I really want to spend a week with no running water, using an outhouse in a cottage 10 miles from the nearest town with two people who have just quit smoking LOL

That feeling of impending DOOM

Do you ever feel like there is something hanging over you and you just don't know what it is? Like there is something you should be doing or somewhere you should be? I seem to have that feeling all the time now - like someone is waiting in the wings to pounce the minute I'm not paying attention. Geez that sounds like paranoia doesn't it? LOL

So lately I've been teaching myself how to knit. Thrilling topic I know LOL. My grandmother taught me how to knit slippers and they are quite nice but it gets dead boring - I got to the point that I was making slippers as tiny as I could just for fun. Only thing is grandma ONLY knows how to knit slippers LOL so I got myself a couple of books and watched some internet tutorials and I'm trying out different things. Lately, I've been knitting these arm thingys (lace up gauntlets is what the pattern calls them) for Katie and her friends. They are all the rage now so I hear lol. Katie and her friends all have different Sanrio characters that they like so they have been getting one striped gauntlet(arm thingy lol) and one with a Sanrio character - Katie got Hello Kitty and then there was Chococat for another of the girls and Batz Maru for another. Only one wasn't interested in a Hello Kitty character and so I made her one with her initial on it and other just plain. I'll post a pic of Katie's hello kitty shortly. Maybe I'll take the leap into sweaters sometime soon. Prepare yourself innocent victims mwahahaha ugly sweaters are in your future LOL.

Lead balloon

I guess Tony didn't find my revenge very funny. Story of my life really. Sorry.

A Little Something just for Tony

BTW this is a real product.