Building a better book list
I did the book meme that was going around a little while ago. Like others, it didn’t feel like a good representation of my reading habits. So when Mary suggested we make our own lists, I was right on board!
Basically the idea is starting April 1st, a group of us are going to keep track of all the books we read for the month,then post at the end. Since it was Mary’s idea, I’ll follow her guidelines.
I have to admit I may think twice about picking up a “fluff” novel in the coming month, lol!
Stupid Things Meme
Check off the stupid things you have done since you been here on this earth and remember. DO NOT include explanations!
Level 1
(X) Smoked A Cigarette
(x) Smoked A Cigar
() Smoked Weed
(X) Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex
(x) Drank Alcohol
Level 2
(x) Are / Been In Love
(x) Been Dumped
( X) Shoplifted
(X ) Been Fired
( ) Been In A Fist Fight
Level 3
(X) Snuck Out Of A Parent’s House
(x) Had Feelings For Someone Who Didn’t Have Them Back
( ) Been Arrested
(X) Made Out With A Stranger
( ) Gone Out On A Blind Date
Level 4
(x) Had A Crush On An Older Person
(x) Skipped School
(x ) Slept With A Co-worker
(X) Seen Someone / Something Die
Level 5
() Had / Have A Crush On One Of Your Facebook Friends
( ) Been To Paris
(_) Been To Spain
(x) Been On A Plane
(x) Thrown Up From Drinking
Level 6
(x) Eaten Sushi
(_) Been Snowboarding
()Met Someone BECAUSE Of Facebook
()Been in a Mosh Pit
Level 7
(X ) Been In An Abusive Relationship
(x) Taken Pain Killers
(x) Love/Like Loved/Liked Someone Who You Cant Have
(x) Laid On Your Back And Watched Cloud Shapes Go By
(x) Made A Snow Angel
Level 8
(x) Had A Tea Party
(X) Flown A Kite
(X) Built A Sand Castle
() Gone mudding (offroading)
(x) Played Dress Up
Level 9
(x) Jumped Into A Pile Of Leaves
(X) Gone Sledding
(X) Cheated While Playing A Game
(x) Been Lonely
(X) Fallen Asleep At Work / School
Level 10
(x) Watched The Sun Set
(x) Felt An Earthquake
(_) Killed A Snake
Level 11
(x) Been Tickled
( x) Been Robbed / Vandalized
(x) Stole something
(x) Been Misunderstood
Level 12
(x) Won A Contest
() Been Suspended From School
() Had Detention
(x) Been In A Car/Motorcycle Accident
Level 13
() Had / Have Braces
() Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(X ) Danced in the moonlight
Level 14
(x) Hated The Way You Looked
(x) Witnessed A Crime
( ) Pole Danced (not what you think – a exercise group activity)
(x) Questioned Your Heart
(X) Been obsessed with post-it-notes
Level 15
(x) Squished Barefoot Through The Mud
(x) Been Lost
(_) Been To The Opposite Side Of The World
(X) Swam In The Ocean
(x) Felt Like You Were Dying
Level 16
(x) Cried Yourself To Sleep
(X) Played Cops And Robbers
(X) Recently Colored With Crayons / Colored Pencils / Markers
(X) Sang Karaoke
(x) Paid For A Meal With Only Coins
Level 17
(x) Done Something You Told Yourself You Wouldn’t
( ) Made Prank Phone Calls
( ) Laughed Until Some Kind Of Beverage Came Out Of Your Nose
( ) Kissed In The Rain
Level 18
(x) Written A Letter To Santa Claus
(x ) Been Kissed Under A Mistletoe
(X ) Watched The Sun Set/ sun rise With Someone You Care / Cared About
(x) Blown Bubbles
(X) Made A Bonfire On The Beach or Anywhere
Level 19
( X) Crashed A Party
( ) Have Traveled More Than 5 Days With A Car Full Of People
(X) Gone Rollerskating / Blading
(X) Had A Wish Come True
( ) Been Humped By A Monkey
Level 20
(X) Worn Pearls
( ) Jumped Off A Bridge
() Screamed “Penis” or “Vagina”
() Swam With Dolphins
Level 22
(x ) Got Your Tongue Stuck To A Pole/Freezer/Ice Cube
( ) Kissed A Fish
(x) Worn The Opposite Sex’s Clothes
(X) Sat On A Roof Top
(_) Kissed A Worm
Level 23
(x) Screamed At The Top Of Your Lungs
(x) Done / Attempted A One-Handed Cartwheel
(x) Talked On The Phone For More Than 6 Hours
(X ) Recently Stayed Up for a while talking to someone u care about
Level 24
(x) Picked And Ate An Apple Right Off The Tree
(X) Climbed A Tree
(X) Had / Been In A Tree House
(X) Been scared To Watch Scary Movies Alone
Level 25
( x) Believed In Ghosts
( ) Have/had More Then 30 Pairs Of Shoes
( ) Gone Streaking
(x) Visited Jail
Level 26
( ) Played Chicken
( ) Been Pushed into a pool with all your clothes on
( ) Been Told You’re Hot By A Complete Stranger
( x) Broken A Bone
(x) Been Easily Amused
Level 27
(x) Caught A Fish Then Ate It Later
(X ) Made A Porn Video/got asked to make one
( x) Caught A Butterfly
(x) Laughed So Hard You Cried
(X) Cried So Hard You Laughed
Level 28
(x) Mooned / Flashed Someone
(x) Had Someone Moon / Flash You
(x ) Cheated On A Test
(x) Forgotten Someone’s Name
(X) French Braided Someones Hair
( x) Gone Skinny Dipping
(X) Been Kicked Out Of Your House
(x) Tried to hurt yourself
Level 29
(X) Rode A Roller Coaster
() Went Scuba-Diving / Snorkeling
(x) Had A Cavity
( ) Black-Mailed Someone
(_) Been Black Mailed
Level 31
(x) Been Used
(x) Fell Going Up The Stairs
(_) Licked A Cat
( x) Bitten Someone
(x) Licked Someone
Level 32
(_) been shot at/or at gunpoint
() Had sex in the rain
(_) flattened someones tires
(x) Rode your car/truck until the gas light came on
(x) Got five dollars or less worth of gas
Total: 100/150 – eeeek!
my story
it’s amazing how certain patterns emerge in our lives …… i read an interesting poem once where the author talked about going down a road, falling into a ditch, pulling herself out & continuing on. She talks about going down the same road, falling in the same ditch, picking herself up quicker. Next time she walks around the ditch. but then, THEN she picks a different road. It’s much better reaing it her way but I’m too lazy to google tonight to see if it’s floating in cyberspace somewhere. anyways, this is about my experience going dwn the same raod again and again for the longest time.
the first trip down the road I was maybe 10 years old. innocent. just barely into the stage of boys NOT being icky. there was this boy. son of good friends of my parents. we all went to the same church. we held hands. kissed. then. he … pushed. pushed me into things i knew nothing about. i learned about a new kind of fear and shame. it stopped short of rape, but it was an incredible loss of innocence.
the next trip down the road i was about 13. hungry for affection, i was looking in the wrong places. put myself in dangerous situations. put into a position of again doing something i didn’t want to. it was a little thing, a small bump but it was a bump on that same road.
the next trip down the road was longer. 17. thought i was in love. followed him to University. let him take over much of my life. let him separate me fomr my friends, my family. believed him when he told me no one else would ever want me. when he told me i was stupid. when he tore me down. thought i deserved it when name-callign escalated to a punch on the arm. then came the night when i sat cowering in the corner of his room after the first unequivocally underserved hit.
still i seemed to fated to walk that same road. at 19, enjoying the feeling of freedom, enjoying the attentions of a young man, allowed myself to be talked back to his dorm room for “one more for the road”. things lead into yet another unwanted situation ……i said no …… he didn’t listen. that one hurt much more. “date rape: wasn’t a term much used then; I thought I was wrong for drinking, for flirting, for kissing him.
another trip down the road shortly after. another case of putting myself in a dangerous situation. this one was the worst yet, the one that’s left aftermath that may never be entirely gone. i’m not sure if i ever knew his name. i remember being scared, feelign helpless, being completely aware. i was greatful to walk away from that one with as little physical damage as i did.
just had to go down the road AGAIN …. this time a long journey ….. a on again-off-again relationship that almost completely destroyed me. ripped apart what little self-esteem was left. reduced me to feeling an insignificant piece of meat. i lived in terror the last few months of that relationship. still wonder how my life would bedifferent today if there’d been room in the woman’s shelter. still, i did get out.
abused. molested. raped.
over and over.
I know how not to go down THAT road of my own choice …… I know so much more now than I did then. I know I don’t now and never did deserve any of that. the ripples though, they still move through my life.
Older Writing
Sharing some older writing .. it’s ummmm … well, sexy! So if that bothers ya, move along! 
Awakening
Kiss me again
Let me taste your lips,
Your mouth,
Your tongue.
Hold me in your arms,
Run your hands through my hair,
up my spine,
holding me tight to you.
Whisper
in my ears,
Bury your face
in my hair,
Against my neck,
my belly.
Make love to me,
warm my body
my soul.
Bring me back to life
As only you can.
Passion
Passion fuels my soul
Keeps awake
the dreams of
romance and true love
drives my desires -
the ones that make me
Ache for a hungry look,
the ravenous touch
My body tight
with wanting
Passion rules my life
It’s in the way
I gaze at you
It’s in my movements
When I get on the dance floor
Or between the sheets
It’s in my hand
When I trace your body
Or when I allow the words
To pour upon the page
I am Passion.
(untitled)
Caught in your stare
My skin flushes warm.
Run a hand through my hair
with an edge of nervousness,
And you watch
in sheer fascination.
The colour of my eyes
Echoed in your own -
or is it the
other way around?
My blonde tresses
Somewhere between
the colour of melted butter
and thickened honey,
so striking when
strewn across your sheets;
Sunlight
casting sherry shadows in the
Strawberry highlights.
So good
you could just
Eat me up
And I wish you would.
What I want to say to you
I want to say
How could you?
How could you ignore my pain?
Walk away from my pleas for help?
Leave my questions unanswered,
untouched, unheard it seems.
Am I not
Worthy
of your attention?
Worthy of your time?
You stood in front of
Them all,
Saying
Those who seek
Come!
I came.
You didn’t meet me there.
I struggled with the words,
Reached outwith hope
baring my heart,
sharing a glimpse of the
shadows in my mind.
You didn’t even
Acknowledge me.
How could you?
You’re held up as
Guide,
someone to listen, to help,
To heal.
To minister.
You gave me hope
when you spoke to us all,
made me think
you could help.
I thought you might
illuminate the path,
the Way
help me feel
less
alone
less
lost.
Instead
I feel even more confused
more lonely,
more unwanted
more forgotten,
dispensable.
thrown-away.
What I want to say to you is Why?
Readings
Stealing from Mary, who stole from Solo Mom:
Take the list below, paste it into your own blog, and mark them as follows:
READ for those you’ve read;
WANT TO next to those you are interested in;
AGAIN & AGAIN next to those you’ve read and loved, over and over;
REPEAT for those you’ve read more than once, without necessarily loving them;
MEH for stuff you read and weren’t impressed by;
STARTED for those that just never got finished;
and leave blank those you don’t care to read.
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) yep, read it, liked Angels & Demons better
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) Repeat – not an Austen fan
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Repeat
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) Started
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) Started – willing to tackle again someday
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) Read
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) Repeat
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) Repeat
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) Read
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) Repeat
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) Want to
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) Want to
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling) Repeat
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) Read
18. The Stand (Stephen King) Again and Again
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) Again and Again
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) Meh
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) Read
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) Again and Again
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) Read
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) Want to
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) unsure
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) Again and Again
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) Again and Again
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) Started.
34. 1984 (Orwell) Again and Again
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) Again and Again
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) Want to – sitting on my bookshelves actually
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) Started. blaaaaah
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) Read
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) Want To
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) Meh
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) know nothing about it but the title alone intrigues me!
45. The Bible the whole thing? no, but lots of it. some I loved, some I hated, some is meh.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) Read
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) Started, couldn’t get into it
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) Never mind Meh - UGH!
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) Started, bleah
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) Read
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) Read
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) Read
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) Repeat
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) Repeat
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) Started
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) Repeat
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) Read
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) Started
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) Read
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) Want to
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) Read
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Want to
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) Want to
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Read
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) Started
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) Started
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) Read
76. Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) Want to
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) Read
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) Repeat
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) Read
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) Again and Again
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) Want to
85. Emma (Jane Austen) Meh
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) Read
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) Read
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields) Read
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) Again & Again
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) Want to
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) Started
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) Repeat
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) probably,as I’ve read most of hers, but since I don’t remember for sure I’ll go with meh!
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) Read
100. Ulysses (James Joyce) Started
Sharing the Cute
as if just having this blog isn’t self-indulgent enough, I’m also sharing this cute little clip of the Child’s rendition of the ABC’s. 
My favourite part is when he stops to ask why I’m not taking his picture (he doesn’t quite “get” video yet as it’s only recently I’ve acquired a camera with decent video capabilities)
Word Play
The Child has been learing about the sounds letters make and figuring out what words start with what letters. Tonight we were playing a letter recognition game where I’d give him wo words and ask him to pick the one starting with a certain letter. To entertain myself I was trying to think of similar things though sometimes more obscurely so, sometimes obvious – so for example, with the letter “P” I asked pig or bacon, Pink or red, purple or yellow?
I got a pretty good idea of just how well he’d grasped the idea of the game when he asked me one of his own – “Mummy, I have one!!!” He pased for dramatic effect, I’m sure! “Penis or bum?”
Game called on account of laughter!
