Left Coast Mama » memes

Another Day of Truth: Forgiveness

Gwen — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:00:15 +0000

Something I have to forgive myself for? I am sure there are about a million things for which I need forgiveness, if not from myself, then from other people. What sticks out for me is my inability to stay in touch with people the way I should.

I get so stuck in my own little world that in the midst of everything I forget to write, call or get off my butt and actually go see people. In some ways it is more difficult because I am thousands of kilometres away from my family and the time difference means that by the time I am ready to give someone a call after the kids are in bed it is well past midnight. It isn’t that I don’t think about people, I really do, but life gets in the way.

Of course it isn’t only family that suffer from my calling/writing neglect, it is people that I would dearly love to see more often, but I have lost touch. I had a few teachers on various school staffs that I really clicked with. I really wish that after I left the Muslim school that I made more of an effort to keep in touch with Fran and Suzanne for instance. It has been about 5 years since I have seen either of them, and since I am not teaching at the moment I may not have anything in common with them anymore, but it would be nice to know.

In all these relationships there are the other people to consider as well. Not only have I lost touch with them, or I do not call as often as I should, maybe the opposite is also true. Maybe I need to forgive myself for not being as good a communicator as I feel I should be, and just try to do better. One step at a time as they say.

With that I am going to do a few things:

1: Go out to dinner tonight with some friends from Aidan’s preschool days. We have been trying to get together with the kids and sometimes just the moms. It is a good first step.

2: Call Tomer and Carla and set up a games night soon. They have been terrific friends and they deserve a home cooked meal and some board games for all they have helped us with this last year.

3: Sent out Christmas cards this year. I am actually getting them finished and sent to me soon. I hope to send them out to family and friends by the second week of December.

4: Write a tacky, but maybe kind of cool, Christmas letter. You know the one with some random facts about what has been happening in our lives over the last year. Maybe I can jump start some old relationships.

Am I the only one that feels this out of touch in a time where we are plugged in all the time? Do your real life relationships suffer?

***

Day 01: Something you hate about yourself.
Day 02: Something you love about yourself.
Day 03: Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 04: Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 05: Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 06: Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 07: Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 08: Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 09: Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10: Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.
Day 11: Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12: Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13: A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days.
Day 14: A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15: Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.
Day 16: Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17: A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.
Day 18: Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19: What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20: Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21: Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22: Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.
Day 23: Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24: Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. )
Day 25: The reason you believe you’re still alive today.
Day 26: Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 : What’s the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28:What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29: Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30: A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

More Truth: What I Love About Me

Gwen — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 04:34:21 +0000

Since I spent the morning cleaning and baking, and we all spent the afternoon caching, I am tired and not sure what I want to write about so I shall tackle Day 02 of the30 Days of truth.

Day 02: Something you love about yourself.

It is a lot easier to find something you don’t like about yourself than to find something you love about yourself. I love that despite being shy I can put myself out there, go into situations where I know no one and get to know people.

I love that over the last two years I have gone out of my way to go and meet new people that I have been interacting with on twitter and on blogs. I love this especially because Anthony and I have made some very good friends. These are people that I know I can call to go out and talk, or if I need some help. I love that they know that they can call on me for either of these things as well. I love that our kids get along.

I have some very good friends now, all because I decided to put my shyness away and pretend to be confident. I guess sometimes pretend confidence can lead to real confidence, even if you sometimes still feel like hiding under the bed.

Another book meme

Gwen — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:53:44 +0000

1. Underline/bold all those you’ve read.
2. Italicise all those you started but haven’t finished.
3. Add three of your own.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George’s Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O’Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winter’s Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat – Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Black Bird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Jester
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen God’s Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookman’s Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magic’s Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magic’s Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magic’s Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.
302. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lion’s Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Lilith’s Brood), Octavia Butler (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago)
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymos
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magic’s Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O’Neill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L’Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moor’s Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for bed by David Baddiel
351. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg by Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
374. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner), Philip K. Dick
375. Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb
376. number9dream, David Mitchell
377. A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
378. Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris
379. Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason, Helen Fielding
380. Self, Yann Martel
381. Totto-chan, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
382. Underworld, Don DeLillo
383. The Remains Of The Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
384. The Periodic Table, Primo Levi
385. To Ride Pegasus, Anne McCaffrey
386. Riding a Pale Horse, Piers Anthony
387. The Blackstone Chronicles, John Saul
388. A New Spring, Robert Jordan
389. Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card
390. The Two Towers, JRR Tolkien
391. The Man in the Iron Mask, Dumas
392. The Bone Collector, Jeff Deaver
393. A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein
394. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
395. Elegance, Kathleen Tessaro
396. Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
397. Nemesis, Isaac Asimov
398. The Wayfarer Redemption, Sara Douglass
399. Ben-Hur, General Lew Wallace
400. Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman
401. A Doll’s House, Neil Gaiman
402. Dream Country, Neil Gaiman
403. A Game of You, Neil Gaiman
404. Fables and Reflections, Neil Gaiman
405. Brief Lives, Neil Gaiman
406. World’s End, Neil Gaiman
407. The Kindly Ones, Neil Gaiman
408. The Wake, Neil Gaiman
409. A cookery book by Nigella Lawson
410. A cookery book by Jamie Oliver
411. An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
412. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon
413. Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
414. Rosie Dunne, Cecilia Ahern
415. Boy A, Jonathan Trigell
416. My Family and other animals, Gerald Durrell
417. Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett
418. The collected short stories of Saki, Hector Hugh Munro
419. The Opposite of Fate, Amy Tan
420. The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin
421. The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus
422. Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech
423. I am the King of the Castle, Susan Hill
424. Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton
425. A Case of Need, Michael Chrichton
426. Battle Royale, Koushun Takami
427. The Hungry Tide, Amitav Ghosh
428. Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett
429. The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton
430. Hamlet, William Shakespeare
431. A Separate Peace, John Knowles
432. Roses Are Red, James Patterson
433. Animorphs, K.A.Applegate
434. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
435. Eyeshield 21, Riichiro Inagaki

436: Twilight, New Moon, Eclispse, Stephanie Meyer

437: The Deed of Paksennarion, Elizabeth Moon (trilogy)

438: The Axis Trilogy, Sara Douglass

I added three trilogies so I would look better read than I do from the books up top. I am a science fiction/fantasy, ya lit, kidlit, murder mysteries kind of gal. I also started this meme a long time ago when my bold wasn’t working so it has taken me a long time to get back to it. I am sure that other people have made this list into the thousands by now. If you would like to continue on from here, please do. I will start my books read/listened to list starting this weekend. I am reading a few books from Christmas as we speak. (Thank god for Audible though. I am not sure how much I would get read if I didn’t listen to books before I go to sleep. I find that at least that way I also get some sleep. Reading the old fashioned way keeps me up waaaaay to late.)

Seven Things: A Meme

Gwen — Thu, 31 May 2007 00:33:14 +0000

Heidi of Three Moons tagged me the other day for a take back the me meme. I have been thinking about this one for a while so here it goes.

Seven Things I Love About Me:

I am a prompt, on-time person. (Well now only most of the time since Aidan.) I like to be on-time or early for things. If you are inviting me to something, let me know the actual time you want me to come over. I will be on time.
I am a bibliophile. I love love books, and I love that I get excited about reading. I am also an excellent reader. In case you are confused, I meant reading aloud. I love to do it and I love that I am good at it.
I have a good rapport with most people. I can talk to people about almost anything but I have a special rapport with kids and adolescents.
I have a keen eye for detail. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Left Coast Floyds and check our Geocaching stuff.
I have an interesting wit. Not everyone gets my sense of humour (except my husband, and him only most of the time) but it is quirky and entirely me.
I am a musician. I am a singer. Music makes me happy. That Aidan is singing all the time now makes me even happier.
I am a good mother. I am a good wife. I think these two things make me happiest of all. It makes me even happier because I am both these things even if not a good housekeeper. I know what my short comings are and love myself anyway.

Now, I tag

Haley-o of The Cheaty Monkey,

Ali from Cheaper Than Therapy,

Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie

and

Kerry from Crunchy Carpets.

Enjoy the tag girls and take some time for yourself.

Real Moms Laugh in the Face of Adversity, and Spit Up

Gwen — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:39:41 +0000

A while ago I posted a meme started by Kristen Chase of Motherhood Uncensored and now she has a lovely Mother’s Day contest. I am reposting in a slightly different format, but the idea is still the same. I am a real Mom, warts and all.

Real Moms laugh in the face of spit up (and let their husbands take pictures.)

I guess that spit up isn’t too bad and as a real Mom I have had to clean up lots of bodily fluids. Not all of them get the same treatment; laughter isn’t my first thought with projectile vomit, but I don’t vomit myself at the sight and smell. In fact I don’t know how fast I can move until Aidan gets that look on his face and the tell-tale sound of gagging alerts me to the disaster in the making. That Aidan pukes when he is tired and we have made the mistake of feeding him too much when he is too tired means I now have lots of experience with it now. The fact that too much is really hard to gauge makes it somewhat of a crap shoot. But, now instead of being frozen to the spot while this happens, moving him over his plastic toy box full of washable toys is much preferable to cleaning the chair, crib or me and him. I do feel awfully sorry for Aidan when he throws up, and the fact that it is my fault makes it worse. Well, now we know, he needs to be in bed by 7:30 at the latest. And if he looks at all tired, a very light supper is needed.

The reason I have edited and reposted this “Real Mom Truth” is because I really want to win an iPod. In order to do that I am posting links to the contest and the prizes. Wish me luck!

Enter the Real Mom Truths contest! The winner will receive this amazing 4G iPod Nano and Chocolate gift set, plus a link to their post on True Mom Confessions on Mother’s Day

Real Moms Laugh in the Face of Adversity, and Spit Up

Gwen — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:58:13 +0000

Kristen of Motherhood Uncensored, The Mom Trap and about 15 other blogs has started a meme called Real Moms. (Here’s how it works: Put up a post “Real Moms [insert what you do here]“, followed by an explanation (feel free to use more sentences than just one run-on one like me), a picture, and a “Real Moms. Making ….”. Then tag five people. I wasn’t tagged but I love the thought of this meme so I decided to do it on my own.

Real Moms laugh in the face of spit up (and let their husbands take pictures.)

Real Moms let their sons have ice cream for the first time and don’t worry (well too much) about the sticky.

Real Moms take pictures of their failed hair cut attempts and aren’t too embarrassed. At least the screaming happened at home instead of traumatizing the poor barber.

I will tag Heidi of Me, Molly and the Moon; Haley-o of The Cheaty Monkey; The Queen of Spain; Sarah and the Goon Squad

Children’s Book Meme

Gwen — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:32:57 +0000

Ok, I found this a few places like: Bloomabilities, Big A Little a, and I am sure I saw it on a few other kidlit blogs. So, in order to participate you take the list of 100 classic children’s books, bold the ones you read, a * before the ones you liked as a child (even if you don’t now) a – for the ones you didn’t like. Then you count how many of the 100 you read. I wasn’t tagged but I couldn’t resist.

*Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
*The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
*Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
-The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
*Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
*Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch (didn’t read til I was an adult)
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
*The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
*Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
*The Mitten by Jan Brett
*Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
-Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
*The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
*Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
*Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
*Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
*Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
*Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
*Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
*Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
*Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
*The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
*A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
*Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
*How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
*The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
*Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
*Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
*The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
*The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
*The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
*Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
*Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
*Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
*The BFG by Roald Dahl
?The Giver by Lois Lowry(I don’t remember if I liked it.)
*If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
*James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
*Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
*Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
*The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
*The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
*Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
*Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien
*Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
*The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
*The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
*Corduroy by Don Freeman
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
*Matilda by Roald Dahl
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
*Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
*Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
*The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
-Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
*The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (read all 7–many times)
*Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
*One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
*The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
*The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
*Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
* The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
*Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (I read them all including rilla.)
*Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
*Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus (Loved it!)
*The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
-The Cay by Theodore Taylor
*Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
*Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown (only some)
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (this has been on my to read list for a very long time)
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
*Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
*The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
*Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish (these books annoyed me when I was a kid)
*Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
*A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
*Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
*Stuart Little by E. B. White
*Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
*The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
*Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
*Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
*Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
*The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

Apparently I have read only 80 out of the 100. Not too bad I guess. There are some in there that I had absolutely no interest in. Some I still don’t to tell the truth, some however I would love to find and read again.

Have you ever?

Gwen — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 22:26:00 +0000

I found this over at Maniacal Days site. You Bold what you have done. Underline what you plan to do. Maybe someone will actually read this.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain (but only the hikable ones)
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (well, only next to the sea)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (just once or twice LOL)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse (lots of partials)
34. Ridden a roller coaster (but not real one)
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (talk like a pirate day Sept. 19)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states (Well, no, only a few but I have been to almost all the provinces and territories.)
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe (not yet)
47. Taken a road-trip (lots of them, the one to the Yukon and NWT was the longest I think.)
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving (See bungee jumping comment)
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretend to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke (but only at home, Karaoke Revolution rocks!)
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo (I don’t have the courage)
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas (gotta see Penn and Teller)
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house (Damn I hope so)
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror (
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced (not till the stomach is much more toned))
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about (I am not sure)
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (Well it was the day after our wedding)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145.Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Anyone reading this feel free to use any portion of this. Do any of these inspire a post?