Thursday, February 26, 2009

How many have you read?

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Share with your fellow reader friends.

Copy, edit and paste into a note of your own.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen- Yes
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien- No
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte- Yes
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – Yes
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee- Yes
6. The Bible – Yes
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte- Yes
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell- Yes
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman- No
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens- Yes

Total: 8 (Woohoo, I've read more than 6 in the first category)

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott- Yes
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy- No
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - No
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare- No
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier- No
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien- No
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk- No
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger- Yes
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger- Yes
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot- no

Total: 10

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell- No
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald- Yes
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens- No
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy- No
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams- Yes
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh- No
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky- Yes
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck- Yes
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll- Yes
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame- No

Total: 15

31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy- No
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens- No
33. Chronicles of Narnia Series - CS Lewis- Yes
34. Emma - Jane Austen- No
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen- No
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis- Yes
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini- No
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres Mais- No
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden- No
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne- Yes

Total: 18

41. Animal Farm - George Orwell- Yes
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown- Yes
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - No
44. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving- No.
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins- No.
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery- No
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy- No
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood- No
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding- Yes
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan- No

Total: 21

51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel- Yes
52. Dune - Frank Herbert- No
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons- No
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen- Yes
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth- No
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon- No
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dicken - No
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley-Yes
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time- No
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez- No

Total: 24

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck- Yes
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov- No
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt- No
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold- Yes
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas- Yes
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac- No
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy-No
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding- No
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie- No
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville- No

Total: 27

71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens- No
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker- No
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett- Yes
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson- No
75. Ulysses - James Joyce- No
76. The Inferno - Dante- No
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome- No
78. Germinal - Emile Zola- No
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray- No
80. Possession - AS Byatt- No

Total: 28

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens- Yes
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell- No
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker- No
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro- No
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert- No
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry- No
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White- Yes
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom- Yes
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- No
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton- No

Total: 31

91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad- No
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery- Yes
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks- No
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams- No
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole- No
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute- No
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas- Yes
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare- Yes
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl- No
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo- No

Total: 34

No too bad, I have read a third of these books, but I guess I have a long way to go.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Little Red Hen - Updated

I copied this from the site American Thinker, you can read more here if you would like.

Once upon a time a little red hen called all of her Obama stimulus supporting neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"

"Not I," said the cow.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Not I," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.

"Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Out of my classification," said the pig.

"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.

"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did.

At last it came time to bake the bread.

"Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the little red hen.

"That would be overtime for me," said the cow.

"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck.

"I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the pig.

"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and after they were finished she held them up for all of her neighbors to see. "Who shall help me eat this bread?" asked the little red hen.

"I will," said the cow. "I need to eat to make good milk and I don't have the time."
"I will," said the duck. "My welfare benefits don't provide bread."
"I will," said the pig. "I learned to eat in school."
"I will," said the goose. "If you don't give me any bread, that's discrimination."

But the little red hen said, "No, I made the bread I shall eat all five loaves." And she did.

"Excess profits!" cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)

"Capitalist leech!" screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)

"I demand equal rights!" yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson)

The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

Then Farmer Obama came. He said to the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy."

"But I worked hard and earned the bread," protested the little red hen.

"Exactly," said Barack the farmer. "That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government system, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who who are not productive. It is only fair."

The little red hen smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, for now I truly understand."

The little red hen never again baked bread but signed up for all the free stimulus bread joining her friends the cow, the duck, the pig and the goose. And one by one all the bread bakers stopped baking bread, following the example of their friend, the little red hen. And soon there was no more bread and everyone was hungry.

And all the Democrats smiled. Fairness and equality had been established and ruled the land.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

I'm old

Moderator: Welcome to tonight's meeting of age awareness. We are a group dedicated to helping one another through the difficult time of accepting your age. We would like to take a few minutes and let you introduce yourself and tell us about your realization that you are OLD.

Me: Hello, my name is La Tisha and I am learning to accept that I am old.

Participants: Hi La Tisha.

Me: Somewhere in my mind I knew that this day would have to come, but I was not ready for it to be so soon. On Friday I joined some friends in a volleyball game. I used to love to play and played frequently while in high school. I haven't played in ten years though, but thought nothing of getting out there and trying again. I dived for every ball that came out me, sliding on my knees as needed; I attacked every ball that I had a chance to. By the end of playing my knees were hurting and I felt really tired...who knew that was only the beginning...

Moderator: Is that when you realized that you were old?

Me: It was later that night when I looked down at my knees and saw the huge knots and bruises that had formed, saw the bruises forming on my arms and felt the ache of every muscle that I didn't even know that I had. It hurts to walk, to sit, to do anything...I am old.

Participants: We know your pain, we have been there too.

Moderator: We are glad to have you join this group, maybe next time you will be prepared for the further realizations that you are OLD.

Me: Thank you for the support and the friendship, I am twenty-eight and I am sure that as I reach thirty and beyond I will have many more opportunities to learn of my oldness...

I had a great time playing, but man it is hard to realize that you can't play like you did once upon a time.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Random photo tag

You've been tagged
Here is what you do: grab your camera and take at least 5 random pictures around your house.
No cleaning up first, this is your house as is:
Here is some categories you could use:
Room that stays the cleanest
Work in progress
What someone else is doing right now
Favorite decor or display
Something that represents your current life
Favorite relaxing spot
Something hand-me-down
Etc. etc.

This is our "hot spot" and try as I might, this is how it always looks. Everyone's stuff just gets thrown her until Mom is ready to deal with it.
This is the master bathroom, yes the master bathroom is the room that has the Spiderman theme. I'm sure most of you have "grown-up" bathrooms, but I live with a big kid and I get a kick out of humoring him.
This is my work in progress room. This is the laundry room, every weekend we have the intention of finally organizing it...we we have been planning to do that for at least two years, maybe before the girls go to college it will be done.
We are trying to start our food storage, it is also very much a work in progress. With that said, we are set on oatmeal and cold cereal. This is the girls vegging in front of the TV, they are watching Reading Rainbow. I remember going to the library in elementary school to watch videos of Reading Rainbow.
I tag: whoever hasn't done it, I am having fun seeing other people as they really live.

Paying it forward...

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what it will be is a surprise. There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift. Let's see who looks at my blog!If I don't have your home address, please leave it for me.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Tooth Fairy comes tonight

MacKayla has had a loose tooth for over a month now and has been so excited for it to come out, well tonight was the night. She has lost her first tooth and is very excited for the Tooth Fairy to come and visit tonight. Here is MacKayla and her first gappy grin.
Showing off the empty space.
Showing off the tooth and the space.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Valentine Fun

We had a nice Valentine's Day together yesterday. We started the day out with a nice breakfast of biscuits, sausage, pink eggs and strawberry milk. The big girls loved that the eggs were pink, Bella thought it was weird, but she did love the sausage. The girls went to a birthday party later in the day and they had a blast. After that James was shoveling the snow and I wanted to take the kids out to do something fun. We ended up at the bowling alley and I wanted to teach them to bowl, well wouldn't you know that it would be busy on Valentine's Day. In the end we went for a drive around town, then ate ice cream at home.
The girls on Valentine's Day. Gotta love the large amounts of pink, poor James.

This is one of Bella's new faces, she scowls at you until she gets you to laugh and then she cracks up as well.
MacKayla showing Arabella some love. MacKayla is a good sister to Bella when she is interested in being so. I didn't get a picture of them together but Annika and Bella have a great relationship. Bella gets so excited to play with Annika and Annika does a great job with her.

Always so serious...

Little smiles at least.
I thought this one was sweet. I don't care what the world says, a man is never so cute as when he is cuddling his baby.
Mom and Bella giving loves.
MacKayla being a ham.
Beautiful Annika.
Silly Annika.
A little bit fuzzy but you can see that Bella is back to normal. Thankfully the rash is gone and she is getting back to herself.
I haven't posted Bella and her silly sleeping in a while so here is what we find most days now...she wraps herself in her blanky (heaven help us if that one gets lost), and she plays in her laundry basket until she decides to go to sleep so there is an assortment of clothes in her bed as well. She is one funny kid.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Science with kids

I found a great kitchen science project to do with the kids and I thought I would share it.

Pour heavy cream into a container with a lid. Have the kids shake the container until you can no longer hear the liquid sloshing around. At this point open it up and the kids can see that they have made whipped cream. Have a little taste, it's kinda bland without the sugar though. Put the lid back on and have the kids continue to shake the container. Do this until you get a thudding around in the container. At this point you will have made butter. The milk around it is buttermilk and can be used if you want, or discarded.

When I first read this I didn't think that it would really work, heck I am a city kid, butter comes in nice rectangular blocks that you buy at the store. The kids were kinda ambivalent about it at first, once we made the cream though they were excited to see the butter. The butter needed a little bit of salt added, but it tasted great on bread.

Enjoy!

When pigs fly

Economic stimulus = $787 billion. Anyone else see a problem with that?!?

James posted a great article about our feelings on this, you can see it here.

My feelings on the matter...I believe it will help us when

Monday, February 9, 2009

Can we catch a break

For the last several weeks Arabella has had one thing after another. It started three weeks ago when she cut her top four teeth all in the same week. She was miserable, wouldn't eat and had a heck of a time sleeping. We got over that and then her cough that she has had for months got worse. We took her into the doctor and she had RSV and a double ear infection. We started her on antibiotics and figured things would be fine. The next week she had her one-year check-up (of which except for the illnesses she is doing great 18lbs and I think it was 29 in.) At the check-up the doctor say that her ears were still not better and her cough was not going away. He then put her on another antibiotic and started her on the asthma medication, Singulair. She also received her 12 month shots and a finger stick to check for anemia, she was not a happy kid from all of that. Well on Thursday of last week she started running high fevers (as high as 104.6 F) and being miserable again. On Sunday she developed a spotted rash on her trunk and we thought she was getting chicken pox from the shots. After talking with the nurse we thought that it was instead roseola, except that she was still running the fever.

Well when she gets up this morning Annika comes in to tell me that Bella is all red. I thought she might have been red from crying, but alas we cannot be that lucky, she was completely red. It didn't look like roseola but I did the usual internet check for possible causes and came up with it being either roseola or measles, great...

I took her into the doctor and thankfully it was not measles, however, she is apparently allergic to amoxicillin and it was causing her body to be covered in hives. The doctor ran lots of tests and even had a second doctor come in to give an opinion. They still have no idea what is causing the fever, her ears still have the infection, she is still covered in red and she is still miserable...poor baby.

She is now taking Benadryl every six hours, Motrin every six hours, Claritin every night before bed and her other medicines of Prevacid every night and Singulair every night. As well as starting another antibiotic in a few days. For a kid who has been relatively healthy this has been a crappy month.
My spotted baby
Everywhere but her legs were covered
Poor Bella-boo.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Books Read in January

I had a friend ask me to post a list of books that I have enjoyed reading so that she can find good books for her daughter to read. I also had another friend set up her personal challenge of how many pages she can read this year. So this is my response to both. Here are the books that I have read this month, as well as the total pages that I have read thus far. The number isn't that high, but good enough for now. Let's see how long I can keep it up...

- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Interesting fable set in Auschwitz)
Boyne - 216
- Ender in Exile (Very good story in the Enderverse!)
Card - 369
- Invasive Procedures
(Good story, however the co-author seems to have had more input into the story as the books seems less Card-like)
Card/Johntson - 400
- Found
(Very fun story, it's going to be a series however, so this one leaves you hanging)
Haddix - 314
- The Thirteenth Tale
(Highly recommend, I really enjoyed this one)
Setterfield - 406
- Running Out of Time (I started this last night before bed with the intention of reading for a few minutes, two and a half hours later I had finished the book, it was very fun)
Haddix - 184

Total Page Count for January - 1889
Goal for 2009 - 25,000 pages