Kaytabug posted this meme on her almost forgotten blog (thanks to plurk) and she got the idea from Nine Acres

Here is what you do:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize the books you LOVE.
3) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.

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 ( I have read parts of it, but not the whole thing!)
7 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
11 Little Women Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
13 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare William 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 Traveler’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
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
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 Bernières
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 (read the sequel too -excellent)
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
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(love the movie)
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 Zafon
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(on my must read list)
67 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary Helen Fielding (saw the movie)
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
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
80 Possession AS Byatt
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
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 Misérables Victor Hugo

I probably should have italicized more but it’s been awhile since I read them for me to say I loved them.

So I’ve read close to half. Not bad considering I read half of those in high school. (I didn’t cross them off cause I liked them)  I wonder if public schools still require those books to be read.

Thanks Kaytabug. Now I have a list with more books I can pick up. They’ll come right after stori telling. Can you believe our library has 12 copies of that book? We are a smut-lovin’ town and I like it.

~R

What do you think?

We have always tried to limit certain items from our diets, or rather our children’s diets. Artificial colorings, artificial flavors, artificial sweetners, preservatives and on and on. It just makes sense not to introduce these man-made, often byproducts into their little bodies.

Whole foods, whole grains – that’s what we strive to eat. We limit medications and use alternative solutions wherever possible. I’m well on my way to being a crunchy mama. But the road is long.

So I read a great book that deals with a certain condition and so many people made great strides by eliminating “environmental allergies”. I never did really figure out what “environmental allergies” were, but based on the name, I’m going with cleaning products, outgassing from furniture, carpeting and paints and such. To include outdoor sources like grass, pollen, pollution.

We decided to have Pete tested for allergies because it seemed the next logical step. BN has allergies as do I. Today, I gooped up his arms with Lydocaine and took him in. 66 “tests” later and he’s allergic to all the grass tests and some dog allergies. Glad he wasn’t allergic to cats. I’d hate to have to get rid of Kubi girl because I’m not sold on long-term allergy shots. Next week we go back for another 20-some “tests”.

So I asked this allergist about food testing. Did he do these? He knows my concerns about Pete from our consultation. He said he doesn’t do food testing unless the patient presents with hives or similar physical reactions. I think if I fork over $550, he should test for whatever I want. However, HE doesn’t believe behavior problems or other such conditions are caused by foods.

Well, allrighty then. Guess we are on our own for this portion of our journey.

~R

Sunday was a nice day and we hadn’t made plans, so I talked BN into gathering the troops and going Letterboxing.  We decided to finish the job that Pogo and I almost died from gave up.

If you’ve never heard of Letterboxing and you like to hike, follow clues and use a stamp pad (woohoo), then make sure and click on it to find out more.  It’s the thrill of the hunt, usually with really bad directions and compass readings.  At least that’s my story.  I don’t know how to read a compass and BN said he did but we couldn’t find the last box so we headed back to our van and called it day.  Hey, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

It wasn’t quite as hot as that last fateful trip and BN took charge of the water.  My oldest has a habit of watering the flora when we hike.  Not only is it annoying but it makes us all cranky when we run out.  We no longer have the stroller so BN ended up carrying RePete the last mile.  He’s a good daddy.

~R

Apparently this saying is true. Some fool came looking for something, used every word they knew related to that subject, and somehow ended up with me.

Search: tit milker boob pump machine nipple lact

Somehow, I don’t think they found what they were looking for. Although, I may need to rethink my content.

~R

That is a play on Boy and Girly.

I think little girls are great. If I had little girls, I would have been happy. But I didn’t. I had little boys. Oh, okay and truthfully, I like little boys better than little girls. They whine less, for one.

I know people who have boys and keep trying for girls. (And the reverse of that too. Gotta have a boy to carry on the proud family name.) I’ve never understood that. I’m so happy to have two healthy, intelligent kids, that I could care less how they go pee-pee.

So for those of you with boys that are longing for girls, I’d like to share a few Boyly Moments with you. Boys will tickle your back and brush your hair – if you bribe them.

And if your little mudslingers are into pain and torment, go buy a jar of wax. I used to go to the salon to get waxed but making time for appointments often left me with hairy legs and an invite to the pool. So I decided to start waxing myself.

You’ve never truly bonded with your sons until they’ve lovingly ripped the hair off your leg. And mine really get into it. I certainly didn’t ask for their help but the thought of ripping something, possibly causing pain really appeals to my two.

So don’t think that if you are blessed with boys, your mothering isn’t complete. Those Boyly Moments are just as wondrous and painful. See? Their laughing, my crying – just like mothers and daughters.

~R

My husband is the King of Too Much Information when it comes to our kids. I like to keep our kids informed also, but know when to stop.

So one day we are on the subject of getting physicals and BN somehow blurts out that at 40 years old, men get a rectal exam.

Pete: A rectal exam?

BN: Yes, they stick a finger up your butt.

Pete: OMG, that will hurt. No way am I getting that done.

and round and round they went.

Two days ago, Pete comes out of the bathroom, face all concerned and asks,

Pete: Mom, is a doctor really going to stick their finger all the way up my butt?

Me: (I’m gonna kill BN) Yes, a doctor, with a glove on his hand, will insert his finger in your anus as part of your exam.

Pete: Well, that will hurt too much. Not gonna get it done.

Me: That’ll be up to you. But it’s part of a regular checkup at that age and most think it is necessary. It won’t hurt too much if at all anyway.

Pete: Well, I just tried it and I couldn’t get my finger in there.

Me: You did scrub your hands when you were done, right?

(word of caution: DO NOT TOUCH THE NAIL BRUSH IN OUR GUEST BATH)

~R

….was such a weird thing to me. First, we declined invites to BBQs because RePete wasn’t feeling so well and had had a fever for the last two days. Mystery Fever! So we ate at Kelly’s Tavern. Good food by the way, but so not a Fourth of July cookout.

Then we decided to drive into town and watch the fireworks. The last two years, they’ve said it would be “here” and it was “there”. So we took a chance and went “there” this year and what do you know? It was “here”. We could still see them but no close-ups.

“There” was a city park behind the Farm Fresh. There were only three other cars parked back there and we, along with those families played at the park until the show. Everyone else who thought it would be “there” parked in the Farm Fresh parking lot.

A storm was rolling in and we kept watch on it. To get a better view, we climbed to the top of one of the playsets. I setup my camera on the tripod, set my aperture at F11, 30 seconds like the good little student of photography I am. I also made sure it was on manual focus and used my wide lens.

Between the unwieldiness of the camera atop a fully extended tripod and trying to carry it up a ladder AND having the kids squishing in all around the legs of the tripod, I forgot to focus. Doh!

Then, the race was on.

Lightening and thunder in the distance,

us atop a metal playset, and the pyromaniacs setting off the fireworks.

It lasted all of what seems like five minutes and BN said, “let’s get the H out of here.” Just as we got in our van, the raindrops started to fall. By the time we got home, it was an all out thunderstorm.

I realized later what really made this a weird 4th for me. The quiet. Our dinner was quiet. The park was quiet. There were no “oohs” or “ahhs” since we were basically alone back there in the park. The quiet disturbed me.

~R

I’m not currently having one of those days, but I want to talk about two baby products that have been on my mind lately.

First is this chair? The Bumbo Chair.

Where was this when mine were trying so hard to sit up? Or when I was trying so hard to confine them to a small area? Better yet, why don’t they make these for big people. Wouldn’t it be nice to NOT have to hold yourself up sometimes. You know. Those – when all you can do is flop on the chair, one leg over the arm – kind of days.

I just want to buy one for everyone I know with a baby just so I can prop them up in it and stare. Yeah, I know, but they look so darn cute.

And my baby sling. I didn’t have it when I had my first child. Why would I? He would be the perfect baby and never cry, walking from the day he came out. Why would I need to carry him about day in day out. Of course those wonderful-first-time-mother-glorious-days never happened and I carried him about day in day out. I hunched over a boppy pillow (which I also love, btw) every two hours to feed him the boob nectar. Why didn’t anyone tell me about slings? Why wasn’t it mentioned in my Baby Bible?

Luckily, my crunchy next door neighbor had one when we moved into our new home and when RePete was born, I had one ready for him. We luuuved us some sling. I looked on with pity when I saw another mother trying desperately to carry the baby in one arm and corral the toddler with the other. And then I would show her my precious sling. I felt like it was my duty to save all the baby-juggling mothers of the world.

Now, four and a half years later, I still have my sling. My sister was telling me about her neighbor who just had a new baby and also has a four and two year old. The baby is a slow eater which is made slower by the mom having to stop and redirect the other two. My first impulse was to say, “hey, I’ve still got my sling, I should give it…um, nevermind. Suggest that she buy herself a sling. It’ll work wonders for her.”

Why can’t I give up my sling?

~R

Pete was very apprehensive about going to day camp. He’s never been. Even though the camp is through his gymnastics gym, he was still worried.

So Monday I went in to pick him up at 3pm sharp as promised and guess what? He begged me to let him stay longer. I told him I’d be back at 4pm and at four he was ready to go home. Not because he didn’t like the extra hour, but because he was plum worn out! He had a blast. I knew he would.

Tuesday he asked if he could stay until 4pm again. I’m cool with that. Why?

Psst. Come closer. I have to whisper this.

I feel like a heel for saying this, but I am glad he wants to stay until 4pm. I know, I know. MOTY and all that, right. BUT, I didn’t have to yell one time yesterday. Obviously, I don’t have to yell any day, but I do. I didn’t have to have all of my answers, suggestions, questions nitpicked. I didn’t have to thwart whining. There was none of the constant sibling squabbling.

RePete and I had a very relaxing day together. And when Pete came home? I was better equipped to handle it. I did have to raise my voice once last night, and bit my tongue a few times, but all in all I felt more calm.

I think this week-a-month camp thing is going to work out just fine. But let’s keep this between you and me, kay?

~R

I like to head over to this blog when I need to pump up my brain. Tonight I read her post on Lightening Fast Math Tricks and had to share.

Beware: You too may sit with your mouth gaping as you watch. Here’s their site.