Long Story Short

Yes, I know I've been remiss in posting. What can I say? I tend to spend more time living life than writing about it. That and I write all day long--that's my job--so writing at night tends to take a back seat. It shouldn't, though.

Some good news, though. My last check from Robert came today. I've been spending some time in thought recently about what to do for myself to end the separation on a good note. What to do to celebrate my freedom from a rotten personal time. To celebrate the potential I see in myself for the future, even with all the nervous uncertainty in the newspapers today. To celebrate that I am looking forward to the future, I bought myself a fantastic summer vacation: Australia. If you've interacted with me on even a remotely regular basis, you know that I've been talking about this place for...oh, a year or more. There's lots of reasons for this choice...some of which I've shared and some I choose to keep to myself. Needless to say, I'm very excited. And I promise to do my best to not become one of those annoying travellers that updates everyone on every aspect for the sole purpose of making those around them jealous. But, for now, the answers to the basic questions:
1. August. (Yes, it's partially a birthday present to myself)
2. Yes, I can take the time (Yes, I love almost every part of my job, too.)
3. Yes, I'm going by myself.
4. No, I will not die.
5. Yes, I will meet some people there. Locals and fellow travellers alike.
6. It's cold and I will not be getting in water deeper than my ankles (just so I can say I did it), so sharks would have to be pretty desperate to eat me.
7. I'm more afraid of running out of photo cards than I am of any other disaster that might befall me. Brave? Maybe. Stupid? Probably.
8. Yes you can come, if you like. My accommodations will not be ending in "Hilton".

Hope all is well in cyberspace, and I hope also to post more frequently this spring. Hooray for daylight savings time!

Welcome 2009!

Whew....what a year! Though I will expound on this in other places, it seems like 2008's catch phrase should be "the agony and the ecstasy"...often at the same time! At any rate, I'm glad it's done. On to another year, a new plan, and the tools to accomplish it!

Somewhere along the way, I adopted the idea that the way I spent my New Year's Day was indicative of how the year was going to be. Maybe it had came about as an expansion on the idea that eating black eyed peas on NY Day brought good luck for the year, or perhaps I heard it from someone. At any rate, more than just the first opportunity to carry out resolutions, it strikes me as a somewhat auspicous day. To that end, here is how I've spent my day:

1. Crafting. Yes, it was needlepoint, which is not my primary mode of creation, but it's a project that has been languishing for a while and I sat down and just plugged through the part that was slow-going. Now all that's left isn't too fit-inducing. I do want to do more of that this year--get craft work done both for the sheer joy of it and for the reduction of stash.

2. Cooking: As opposed to eating out, which is how I took far too many meals in 2008. I want to cook more, and cook healthier. I know how, it's simply a matter of doing it. Once I finish with the peas, I'll have enough to last me quite a while!

3. Working out: well, this will happen as soon as I finish this post. I need to go. Badly. 'nuff said.

4. Knit night: I'm excited that most everyone decided to go ahead and keep to our schedule. I'll get some knit time AND time with friends, which, in the end, is far more important than the knitting. This rowdy crowd has lent tremendous support in 2008 and I look forward to hanging out with them in 2009. Don't believe knitters can be rowdy? Ask the Panera staff! ha!

Smaller, life maintenance things have been done, too...like laundry, but all in all a pretty good day!

Have a Happy New Year, everyone!

She has left NC....

...and entered The Twilight Zone. Seriously, that was my first thought when I read this. The headline said "Limbaugh thinks Clinton a Brilliant Pick" or some such nonsense...I was going to fall out of my chair to learn that the man might have aquired a bit of decency. Rest assured, he's still a malicious jackass, so all is still (mostly) right with the world.

And this will be the last time I mention his name on this blog.

The best part of winter..

Is fruit stuff. This stuff doesn't have a name. Just "fruit stuff". There's nothing to it, really. Just oranges and grapefruit, cut up into a fruit salad, marinating in its own juice. This is really popular with the family. When we were all at home, we could go through about 80 pounds of fruit in a season between four people--40 lbs. each of grapefruit and oranges. This is a 5 lb. bag of grapefruit and approximately as much of oranges. I had 4 left over out of an 8 lb. bag.





The part that makes this great is Texas grapefruit from the Rio Valley. So sweet, so red, needs no sugar! A little more expensive here than the Florida grapefruit, but it's worth the extra cost to me to have something that truly tastes like home.

Yum!

It's Christmas already!?

This one comes from F, and I haven't seen it before, so what the heck. Besides, according to the people who do marketing, Xmas started 3 weeks ago, and I'm officially late! ha!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Yes. Usually gift bags come out if the gift is unusually shaped. Or if I'm feeling lazy. Or if I run out of a certain kind of paper. Or if I know I won't get the bag back in the end. I tend to recycle gift bags. I'm also one of those strange people who really likes to wrap presents, so I tend to try to make either as elaborate as I can.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
REAL. Smells better, looks better, feels better. I could go on a long rant about how they are actually better for the environment than the fake ones (and I can prove it), but I'll skip that here. And for God's sake don't buy the fake tree scent stuff!

3. When do you put up the tree?
I haven't put up a tree where I live in a while. When I was in MD 2 years ago, it was two days before because that's when I got there and I was the only one putting out effort on that front (notice a trend, anyone???). If I travel back to Texas, I tend not to bother with a tree, but I'll put up other things.

4. When do you take the tree down?
See above. The rest of the decorations usually come down the weekend/week after New Years.

5. Do you like Egg Nog?
Actually, no. And I even had the opportunity to try it with real unpasteurized eggs and enough rum to kill any germs that might be in those eggs. And I still didn't like it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
hmmm...you know, I don't really remember one or another being a favorite. My parents could definitely go in for odd, though. When I was about 8 or so, I got a HUGE roll of scotch tape in my stocking. I must have had a confused look on my face, because my mom told me that Santa must know that I like to make stuff, and that I might be easier to be good if I had my own instead of taking hers all the time (I became the Thief/Keeper of All Scissors and Tape at about 4 years old). I used every inch of that tape.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Dad's hard now, because if he wants it, he gets it. And if he wants it and doesn't have it, it costs $1,500 (taking the form of a new camera lens)

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Molly is a lot of fun to buy for, though it usually takes a while. Often if I get gifts for friends, they're the easiest. In fact, usually the friends that get gifts are the ones for whom inspiration struck while I was shopping!

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
We did when I was little. I can't remember if I have one in my Xmas box from MD. I make it to church, though. :) And in TX, it's often several times.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Who in the hell eMails Christmas cards?

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I'm allowed to say it now: Anything that came from Robert's mom. *evil grin*

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
The (otherwise unranked) top 3 are: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown's Christmas, and George C. Scott's A Christmas Carol. Watching the last one is a Christmas Eve tradition--put it in after we get back from church with some wine. Mom HATED that that became a tradition..

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Sometime about the first week of December, though I try to start in November, if possible. Mom would grab deals in the summer and save them.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No. I have returned them for things that I'll actually use, though.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Hmm..my first thought was "cookies". But now that Christmas is in TX and I'm usually not, I think I'll answer "Mexican Food"

16. Lights on the tree?
"Twice as many as you think you need" is about right.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
"O come O come Emmanuel". In Latin. And "In the Bleak Midwinter". That one needs a choir though, for the cool "Snow on Snow" harmony/echo.
For a reasonable (normal) answer, I really like the Chipmunks Christmas Song, too.
I feel like I got spoiled on the Christmas songs after singing them in HS choir for four years. Somewhere I permanently learned the words to A LOT of the more obscure ones, and a fair number of them in foreign languages..so my favorites are NEVER played on the radio nor are they sung in church, usually.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I think it's been fairly well established by now. Xmas=Travel (usually to TX) for me. When I was a kid it almost never involved travel. I'm not sure which I prefer.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Hmm..Rudolph. Dasher, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen...down by two.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Stars usually look less tacky.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
When we were little, mom would let us open 2 the night before. Now we do all of them the morning of.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
The radio stations that started playing 24/7 Xmas music on November 1st. And the fact that Thankgiving isn't even allowed to be it's own holiday. And that all the stores started putting up their merch. on October 1st. I'm already sick of looking at it.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Ornaments have themes? Is "I made it when I was 6 and it's been going on the tree ever since" a theme?

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Gumbo. Actually, we don't DO much for Christmas dinner. None of the ceremony, "everyone dress up and gather together" sort of thing. We're all wrapped up in our comfy clothes (or shorts and t-shirts, depending on the weather), and we all kinda migrate in and out all day.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
I've given out a list of things--Bellydance sword, melodia pants, and the Wall-E movie, but it's hard to think of things because I've already gotten what I really wanted-a job and the ability to stay in a living situation that I like. The only other thing I really want is my name back, and I get that in February/March.

I'm feeling pretty lucky/grateful as I head into 2009....


26. Who is most likely to respond to this?
uh...no one because responses don't usually abound around here!

27. Who is least likely to respond to this?
The list is long, here.

Step One...

This is a post I've been meaning to do for a while. Now that I don't have the thesis looming over my shoulders all the time I've been able to start taking whacks at the list of things I said I was going to do when I was done. Properly speaking, Step One was to find a job. Step Two is to get out of the debt I accrued when living on next to nothing. To that end, I did this:

I've left one behind for emergencies...but other than that, that's all of them. They are going away so I am in no way tempted to use them! A little bit of debt built up when I was married, as my credit rating was better than Robert's. So, to that end, any debt we accrued was in my name, and then we aggressively paid down his (what little was left). Naturally, when we split, I got to take the debt with me. I'm grateful now that I can afford to get rid of it!

Step Three: build up some emergency cash...


On a related note, I do intend to keep this blog better updated now that the thesis is done. Keep checking for more updates!

Big ol' jet liner...don't carry me too far away

While prowling the internet tonight, I came across this article describing dream symbols that point to stress. Oddly enough, I don't remember any of those dreams from when I was thesis-writing. In fact, I don't remember any dreams from that time. Only that I went to bed tired, woke up tired, groaned, looked at the clock, swore a bit, and got back to work.

One of the changes I have noticed since moving into the Hollow is that my dreams have become much more vivid. Not only that, they have become much more frequent. Maybe it's the lack of stress or the dark room (how long have I waited for one of those!), but whatever it is, it's working. I've been having a lot of dreams about travelling lately. Not actually being in new places, but in getting there. Going to the airport, going through security, and walking around the terminal, going to my plane. Before I got a job, I would sometimes get so far as being on the plane, but I'd always be taken off for whatever reason. I was waiting for something. Now, I don't get on any planes, but Mom is with me. She never tells me anything important, or even says much at all, but she's there, and I feel at peace with her presence. It's nice.

In general life news, the job is going well, and I'm liking it. I have to admit it feels very strange to not be fighting for respect in my work. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Every time I go in to discuss my ideas with one of my bosses, I mentally prepare myself for an argument, for having to defend every aspect of what I think. It seems almost anticlimatic to only hear "Those ideas are interesting, Rebecca. That's a different perspective we hadn't thought of," and be sent off to my little space to think some more. In a lot of ways, this blows my mind a bit. I feel like there should be another shoe to drop or something. Or could it be that this is God's way of finally giving me the little mental stress break I've been needing for...oh, the past 14 months? I feel like I've been fighting someone for something for so long, that I almost don't know what to do. These past two weeks have almost felt...dull. I think I could get used to it.

Does this mean that I finally have some mental and emotional space to sort myself out in without putting undue burden on myself, my family, or the government at large? If so, thanks, God, I need it!

New at the Hollow...

Whew! What a whirlwind October it's been. More news will come out as it comes, but the first big piece is that I've moved. woohoo! Anyone who's asked me about where I live anytime in the past 18 mos has gotten a treatise on why NO ONE should live at Franklin Woods, and now I can say I don't live there myself anymore. After the Charging For Water incident (since when is water an amenity???) I made the decision to move and was out in something under 2 weeks. It didn't beat my prior record of 4 days (that record was set when I was trying to get away from Sherry), but it's not bad. Of course, I'm languishing among boxes on this end of things, but hopefully that won't be the case for much longer.

I moved into a set of rooms in a house near the UNC campus that is owned by the university. As such, rent is just right price, and an utter steal for the location. I have learned a few things, as well. For instance: How much closet space does Becky need? This much:

That's approximately 15 feet of closet space. Or, another way: 2 clothing closets, 1 reenacting closet, and 1 bellydance closet. Plus shelves. Plus a linen closet. Plus room for fabric and yarn stash. And some scrapbooking stuff. And there's still shelf space left over!

Also, I can boast such fine amenities as a reliable internet connection, in-house laundry facilities, hardwood floors (seen in above photos), nice house-mates, a compost pile and well-organized recycling facilities, and some new neighbors:

These neighbors are much more pleasant than my old neighbors, who were often awake (and waking me up!) at 4 am, they don't shout obscenities through the parking lot, and they don't have obnoxious visitors taking up all the parking spots. These photos were taken from my back door, by the way. The animals themselves were about 12 feet away. I really do live in the woods!

Up next: more photos of the hollow itself, and more reasons to love this place. And hopefully some good news....

And another one!

1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph:

The police in the small town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, worried briefly in 1974 about a man seen prowling in the dark, night after night, the red glow of his cigarette floating along the back streets. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. No matter. These equations, although simplified by the use of the hydrostatic approximation and by neglect of some small terms that appear in the complete spherical coordinate form, still contain several terms that are of secondary significance for midlatitude synoptic-scale systems (catch all that?-rw). The cottage was warm and filled with light, and smelt of tobacco and sulphur and the food that awaited us.


Hmm...not bad. Any guesses on the books?

Meme Wednesday

Here's how it works:
1. Grab the nearest CD.
2. Put it in your CD-Player (or start your mp3-player, I-tunes, etc.).
3. Skip to Song 3 (or load the 3rd song in your 3rd playlist)
4. Post the lyrics in your journal along with these instructions. Don’t name the band, nor the album-title.

There's something everybody knows
There's one place everybody goes
I've got this notion that it isn't what it seems
That I've been living in a dream

Draw me a picture
Draw it in color
'Cause I wanna see my life through
Someone else's eyes

Beautiful shadows in my mind
They're all that's left of your design
Scattered all over like the sun in our room
Crawling all over like June bugs in June

Draw me a picture
Draw it in color
'Cause I wanna see my life through
Someone else's eyes

I'll find my way again
I never thought that I could make such a mess
I got this feeling that it's gonna be all right
And I'll begin again tonight

Draw me a picture
Draw it in color
'Cause I wanna see my life through
Someone else's eyes

Perverse pleasures....

You know, I get a real thrill out of venturing into "guy" spaces, getting exactly what I need, and not being hassled about it. Take Radio Shack. The looks on the clerks' faces when you go in and ask for a male Coax-to-USB cable is utterly priceless. Today, though, it was the auto parts store. Another version of the "guy store", where, as a woman, it's assumed that you are an idiot. Now, I've been dragged along to my share of these establishments (thanks dad!), and I know more or less how it goes: general stuff is out in front, but if you want a particular part, you need to ask the guys behind the counter standing in front of the intimidating-looking boxes. And they do know what they're talking about, so it's worth chatting them up if you're not sure.

First, a little background. On the way to liberate my furniture from Robert back in April, my CD player got jammed when I got over-eager in putting in a new CD. This has restricted me to the radio for the past several months, and my IPod when I just can't stand any more free-format stuff the undergrads play on WXYC. So, I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns and dig out the CD from the radio and see if I can get it working again. I tackle the radio with a pair of tweezers, get them into the slot where CDs go, and they get stuck.

Radio: 1, Becky: 0

The tweezers get rescued, and I attack some holes that look like they might lead to some sort of switch to release the radio. They do, but the tweezers aren't long enough.

Radio: 2, Becky: 0

A little savvy googling shows that there is in fact a tool, and it is easily available from the local auto parts store. And it's cheap. You bet it is: $3.99, and bonus points for the flirty salesman. Of course I'm going to do the work myself. And yes, I go to school here. Or did. And yes, I know that a graduate degree in Environmental Science means I must be pretty smart. I can handle a silly stubborn radio.

Back to the radio, tools in hand. A little futzing about with the placement and suddenly I'm presented with a metal box housing the radio. I start to undo some screws, and think for a minute...hmm..I should probably unplug this thing lest I set my car on fire.

Radio: 2, Becky: 1

I undo the screws, figure out how the face is attached, pop it off, and there, in all it's glory, is the stuck CD. Success! I fish out the offender.

Radio: 2, Becky: 2

Pop everything back into place, and now for the test: I plug it back in. And it works! I have my CD player back, and for a far lower cost than a new radio!

And I didn't even break a nail.

How I feel sometimes...

more animals

A serendipitous weekend

Wow! For a weekend spent not doing much of anything, I sure had a good one. Perhaps karma is finally starting to work for me. Or so it seems for these past few days! First, on Saturday, I was the very happy recipient of this bunch of loveliness from Faraday:

For once, my camera captured the yellow correctly! That is two hanks of VERY yelllow and VERY orange yarn from Hawthorne Cottage, and two hanks of Naturally Aspire super chunky. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful and generous friend! Perched on top is some local (to F) tea. It's a green tea with some roasted rice in it. The flavor is quite delicate, and the rice gives a peculiar (but yummy) aftertaste. I think the actual meaning of the brand is "Tea: 2x the caffiene", as when I tried some of this in the evening, I ended up being awake half the night!

Then, on Sunday, I went to go catch up on all the latest gossip with Anne at the Yarn Barn (in it's new closer location!). Next door to us is this store that sells all sorts of neat goods that are organic, fairly traded, and generally sustainable. There was a dress form outside the shop sporting a sari, with the label " recycled silk saris now available"....and who am I to turn down beautiful fabric? I didn't go in because I knew if I did I would be walking out with a sari, no matter the cost, and I couldn't bear to see what I knew I would have to turn down. Now, Anne knows a good deal when she sees one (and has similar tastes in fabric!)...SHE went in. Those saris? A steal at $30. Anne pointed out you can't get good saris in India for that price...I couldn't resist any more, and came away with these:

And my desk is even clean!

Finally, today, I adopted a bicycle. It was being thrown away at my apt. complex, and it looked, to me, to be in good shape. So I brought it up, dusted it off, and then took it down to the local bike shop for an analysis. I was right! It only needs a little love and a touch of work. For about $75, it will be good as new. Here's my find:

Not bad for a dumpster-dive find, eh? It's sporting air in the tires, a new seat, a little elbow grease, and some WD-40. It's got a couple scuff marks, still, but you can't tell unless you look really closely.

Up next: a completed sweater!

Another dodgy survey

Start the morning off right. There will be photos posted soon, too, I promise :

1. What is your occupation? Unemployed. Hopefully I’ll be an environmental consultant soon. I also occupy my time with free-lance sewing and alterations
2. What color are your socks right now? None at the moment
3. What are you listening to right now? My good friend Rick’s first reenacting caravan CD “Waterloo”
4. What was the last thing that you ate? hmm...some pita and hummus at the hafla
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Not well, but I could make it work.
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? hmm..Suzanne. Last night.
7. How old are you today? 27
8. What is your favorite sport to watch? College Football (specifically the Aggies! Whoop!)
9. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yup. I went strawberry blonde once. Nobody noticed…I’m going with auburn and blonde here in another day or two.
10. Favorite food? Tex-mex. Not that I can get any here in NC.
11. What was the last movie you watched? hmm…I put Hitch in a couple days ago for something to listen to.
12. Favorite day of the week? Saturday. So many possibilities.
13. How do you vent anger? Bitching to an un-interested party. Plotting revenge.
14. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie dolls and legos.
15. What is your favorite season? Summer. The days are warm, long, and lazy.
16. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries.
17. Who is the most likely to respond? Trent, perhaps?
18. Who is least likely to respond? Faraday
19. What is on the bottom of your closet? Oh lord…Shoes. Some scrapbooking stuff. An obscene amount of fabric. And a slightly less obscene amount of yarn. You can't see the floor.
20. What did you do last night? Performed in public with a bare tummy. Did pretty well, too.
21. Favorite smells? Freshly cut grass. Fresh vegetables. Apple pie. Lavender.
22. What inspires you? For artistic endeavors, history (specifically the clothing) For everything else, the quote “Either you think you can, or you think you can’t. Either way, you’re right.”
23. What are you most afraid of? Roaches.
24. Plain cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Could I have spicy and cheese together?
25. What celebrity would you most like to meet? Edward Lorenz, but he died a couple months ago. (Scientist, so he’s a celebrity to me only). Colin Firth, but only on condition that “meeting” included carnal knowledge. Same’s true for Jason Isaacs.
26. If you knew you had 30 days to live, what would you do with your time? Make sure my family and friends know how much they mean to me and how much I love them. See the pyramids and the sphinx. Take lots of pictures and write lots of things down for posterity, and hide some evidence. ;)
27. All-time favorite cartoon? Alvin and the Chipmunks.
28. Favorite spiritual place to go when your soul needs renewal? The woods. barring that, a walk with good music works. Barring THAT, zoning out to some Hearts of Space can usually refresh me long enough to work through whatever it was that drained me.
29. Favorite mode of transportation? The Duck, hands down. Then again, driving my dad’s car is a hell of a lot of fun.

Part deux:
Leave a comment and I will:
a) Tell you why I'm friends with you.
b) Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, etc.
c) Tell you something I like about you.
d) Tell you a memory I have of you.
e) Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
f) Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
g) In return, you must post this in your blog.

WITL of froggie, Vol. 2

Making progress

My playground

My daily hug

Thank God I finished it in time!

WITL of froggie, Vol 1.

Heaven in a tea leaf (ginger peach)

Trying to remember everything

Common sense not required to manage this facility

Waiting...

What to do while waiting...

Highway Robbery (at least it's under $50!)

Cheaper than the gasoline! (by a long shot)

Week in the Life

So, I'm actually doing it properly this time. Here's the rules:

Aim of the Game: For one week, you are to post photographs taken during the day.
Rules:1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, sometime after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken beneath and a title, with no other explanation.You must post these rules at your first entry, then link back to it for the other six days so that people will know wtf you're doing.Your post must say "A Week in the Life of [your name/username], Volume [whatever day you're on]."

Are you serious?

As I write this, it's 7am. Now, if that's not bad enough, I woke up approximately 15 minutes ago....ON MY OWN....no help from an alarm clock. When did I fall asleep? Sometime around 1:15 am. So let's see...5 hours of sleep, and I'm not tired, and there were no contributions from heavy drugs. Is this what no stress feels like?





I know I've been utter crap at posting. I'm going to get better at it. Promise. As proof, I'm going to re-attempt the week-in-the-life challenge. Starting...well, today works. I tried this back in April, and the most compelling I could do was this:

So, no. Done with that. This week proves to be much more interesting. There's bellydance involved. :)

I'm also officially in the job market. Know anyone who needs a freshly minted graduate student?

Books!

This cracked me up...I can't underline things, so you're going to have to stick with read and unread.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-) LET'S DO IT!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (I've started this one...about 4 times now..)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (I do not like him, Sam I Am!)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (I read this one..in French! Take that, list!)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen (I've started this one, too)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37.The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (I started this one, too. Couldn't get into it)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy (I told you, I don't like him!)
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding (Why are books like this ON this list?)
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (looking for more of him to read. He's great)
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (I want to read it...but it's seriously hefty. Need more courage)
80 Possession - AS Byatt (I saw the movie....SO want to read this)
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (also in the original French!)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


So let's see...that makes it....26 of them read. Yeah, probably more than average. I'm sure I'll get to the rest of the list eventually. Looks like a good one. :)

Strange Sights around the chamber

So, for all you doubters out there, the Harry Potter car does exist! It's not a pale blue Ford Anglia, and it doesn't fly, and it doesn't come rescue you when you're about to be eaten by giant spiders (though, around here ticks are much more likely right now)....but we do have a car that lives in the woods out at the smog chamber..and it makes me smile, so I'm sharing with you.

Its loooooking at yoooouuu.......