Thursday Meme

The Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead
character? And why?Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so
people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer,
leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I could say Roarke to go with Eve from the In Death books but he's too perfect and not real enough. I do have a few other characters in mind though.

I liked Pi from Yann Martel's Life of Pi. I can't help but respect someone who practices Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam all at the same time.

Another favorite male character of mine is Odd Thomas. Odd was truly a hero.

As with female characters, I could go on and on with the male characters so I'll limit myself to two.

I'm Getting Peeved

Therefore, I blog. Just an FYI, I'm about 2 seconds from turning the text messaging on my cell phone off. Why? Because I keep getting pointless, forwarded text messages from various people. No, they don't cost me anything since I have unlimited texting but they are ANNOYING!!!! ANNOYING!!!! ANNOYING!!!! I like getting actual text messages that are actual messages and not just the "forward this or you're going to have bad luck for the rest of your life" type messages but if they start out with a "fwd" I DON'T EVEN READ THEM. STOP IT!! To certain texters, don't take this to mean that I don't like or love you, but STOP IT!! I really can't emphasize this enough: ANNOYING and STOP IT.

Thank you.

Hump Day

This is definitely a hump day for me. I leave a week from today!! I'm both excited and nervous. I ordered a battery/case thing from iLuv today for my iPod. I paid extra for fast shipping so that I can have it on the plane to and from. Yay!

The recording part of our DVR crapped out on us again today. This is the fourth or fifth one that we've killed in just over a year. It's only the HD DVR's too. We have a regular DVR in our bedroom that we've had since we moved here and it's still going strong. The Mister is the one losing out on the most shows. He's going to miss this entire season of Prison Break, most of this season of Dexter, and some other odds and ends because we had stuff saved on there from back in November. I lost last night's Jericho, October Road (which I watched online) and Medium which I tried to watch online but the video was horribly choppy and I gave up. It also means that I'm going to have to actually watch shows as they are on tv which means less Wii, lol. I wish they'd make the HD DVR's a little hardier because they don't last long in our house.

Wiiiiii

We got our Wii yesterday. As I said in the comments on yesterday's post, I told my kids that their dad had ordered a snake and that's why the box said fragile. They both kept their distance while I opened the box, heheh. Wii played Wii Sports that came with it and then the Mister and I bought Wii Play because it came with a remote, some soccer game that the Mister wanted and is funny to watch, and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games which is fun too. I wanted to get My Sims but neither Target nor Walmart had it. What I really like about it is that it's backwards compatible with the Gamecube so all of our Gamecube games work with it too. All in all, it's a fun time and now I have something to hold over the kids' heads to get them to do their homework and chores, lol.

Monday. Ugh.

How was everyone's weekend? Ours was pretty blah. We had a good time in Jacksonville Saturday night though. Sunday, the Mister and I spent the entire day with our noses to the grindstone. We both had about two weeks worth of homework to catch up on. Also, the oldest child caught the youngest child's illness and had a fever of 102. I hope that either a) I catch what they have now and get it over with before my trip, or b) I don't get it all so it doesn't ruin my trip. Flying with a head cold is such a pain.

We did have one funny over the weekend. We had some family drama going on which resulted in a betting pool. My sister-in-law won over all but between the Mister and I, I won. My prize? I get to order some candles from Illuminations. OOOH OOOH!! Or maybe I'll wait and buy them in person when I get to San Diego. Hmm. Now I don't know if I want to wait or not. Life is full of so many decisions, heheh.

I'm off to keep the youngest child company while she gets ready for school.

I Need Help

I need to edit a project for my final project in my editing class. It needs to be approximately 10 pages long (I'd prefer it not to be much longer than 10, lol) and have enough mistakes in it to show that I actually know what I'm doing.

If you have something that needs to be or could be edited or know of someone who has something, I'd appreciate you passing it along to me.

This is a weird request, I know. I can use a project that my professor already has but I'd prefer to use something original.

Thanks!

Humdrum Saturday

I've had a weird week. The youngest child was home sick Thursday and Friday. Both kids have the sneezes and a cough but the youngest had a fever to go with it so she couldn't go to school. Today, they're both annoying with sneezing and coughing but no fever.

I found out Wednesday that a friend of mine is pregnant. I'm really excited for her and her husband. They were having conception issues so this is really great news for them. What's weird is that the Mister and I were at Target just last week buying baby gates for the dogs and while we were there, we looked at all the neat baby gadgets that have come out since our kids were babies. While I am totally done having kids and don't have that want to have more, I love buying baby things for other people and we don't currently have any babies in our families. I have to wait until my friend is three months along, but then I can start buying baby stuff!! I can't wait.

Right now I'm waiting for the Mister to get home from work. Yep. He had to work on Saturday. We haven't had a full weekend together since the first weekend in February with him being in Maryland and then he had duty the first weekend home and now they have a huge inspection next week so he's working this weekend too. Whine, whine. But really, I'm pretty much numb to him working 6 or 7 days a week. I just feel bad for him cuz he's really behind with his school work because of work work.

Anywho, this weekend is going to consist of the following: a trip to Jacksonville to buy all the pets food, we'll maybe look at some houses, and homework. Lotsa, lotsa homework. I haven't ready ANY books this week other than text books. Can you believe that? I swear, I'm not lying.

Thursday Meme

The Thursday meme brought to you courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course,
you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these
things to one name, why should I force you to?)

This is a tough question. I have so many favorite books and series that it seems unfair to leave anybody off my list so I'm going to limit myself to one modern and one classic heroine.

Number one is Eve Dallas from J.D. Robb's In Death series. She's tough, a survivor, and she always gets her man whether it's her sexy husband or a ruthless killer.

Jane Eyre makes my list as well. She was also a survivor and she didn't let the heartless, condescending people in her life get her down. She also got her man.

If I wasn't limiting myself, I'd also name Mary Boleyn as she was depicted in The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory.

Made Me Laugh

I was at a place today buying a thing. In the checkout line, there were about six people ahead of me and the line wasn't moving all that fast. Suddenly, a 20-something girl ahead of me turns around to these two guys standing behind her and says to one of them, "I've really enjoyed standing here next to your man breasts", and then proceeds to pinch his nipple!! Everyone in line started cracking up it was so hilarious. I've never seen anything like that before in my life. My day can only go downhill from there, lol.

In other news, we're getting our Wii!! Thanks to my wonderful and saintly friend, Jennifer S., who managed to get me a Wii through her friend David, we will have a Wii in the next few days. The Mister knows but I'm not telling the kids until it gets here. Now they'll have something to occupy their time while I'm in San Diego, heheh.

Oh. And this is going to totally sound paranoid, but I think the USPS in in cahoots with Netflix. Remember way back when, when Netflix was taking heat for throttling back their high volume customers? Well, I think in order to combat the negative press and still keep their high volume customers from renting too many movies, they've struck a deal with the USPS. Why do I think this? Every time I put my Netflix movies in my mailbox to be mailed back, the postal carrier guy doesn't take them. He leaves them in the mailbox, puts our new mail on top of them, and then takes the movies the next day. Every time. It's to the point where I've stopped putting them in my mailbox and I take them to the post office and put them in the drop box there which is totally inconvenient to do. And it's not like you can say that maybe he didn't see them. They're in BRIGHT RED ENVELOPES!! Yup. I've uncovered a conspiracy.

I leave in 14 days!!

Off and On

We had very sporadic Internet service last night until it finally went out altogether. I'm assuming the cable guy was here at some point today since I have Internet once again. I waited around until 1:30 for the guy to show up (I had a lovely 10-12 window) but nobody knocked on the door so I dunno. At any rate, here I am again.

I started watching a new series this weekend...well, new to me, old to everyone else. It's The L Word on Showtime. I watched the first two discs of season one and I have to say, I really liked it. It's weird, it's not like anything I've ever watched before, and you really have to overlook all the sex scenes cuz there's quite a bit of them. I told someone in my family that I started watching it and their reaction was, "But it's about lesbians!" I guess since I'm straight that means I can't watch it. But if I have to be able to relate to television shows 100%, there wouldn't be anything out there I could watch. No more Bones, Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, Big Love (heheh), Weeds, and so on. There isn't one single show out there about a Marine wife/stay at home mom/full time student. I like Jennifer Beals and the guy that played Tim (he's on Ugly Betty now). What can I say?

We're kinda sorta, very tentatively, maybe, possibly looking at houses again. It's hard to decide if we want to buy here in N.C. or not when we're not really sure what's going to be what a year from now. It's really hard living in a rental that you don't like 100% after living in your own house though. At this point, we're just putting out some feelers and seeing what the housing market looks like here before we make any decisions. Also, we just signed a new one year lease but I think our landlord would be flexible about letting us out of it especially if we used him as our realtor. (He's a real estate broker.) Things with the Vermont house are very up in the air right now too. Even if nothing comes of it, it's fun looking at houses. I like to see what's out there and then construct my dream home in my head, lol.

Now, I'm off to do some homework. Not having my Internet last night threw off my entire week.

The Results Are In

The results of the voting were 12 for versus and 1 for vice. And now I can tell you what's what.

The Mister swears up and down that saying vice is an acceptable alternative to saying versus. Can you guess where the one vote came from, heheh? He also said that if the guys from his shop had voted, there would have been more votes for vice because they all say it. According to the Mister, people at the six sigma classes he took in Maryland used the word vice in that manner too. Before the Mister, I have never heard anyone use that term in that way and I always tease him about it. Maybe it's a Marine thing. I dunno. I think the results of the voting are very telling in my opinion though.

To everyone who voted, thanks. :)

Ahhh!

The party part of the evening is over. The girls are in the other room sorta playing quietly but not really, lol. They had a really good time and the child seemed to be happy with her loot. She got stuff from us, her sister, her friends, teachers at school, Jennifer S., and 2 out of 4 of her grandparents which is better than most years as far as the her family is concerned. The Mister and I got her an iPod shuffle for her big gift. We found it really odd that she never asked for an iPod nano or a full sized iPod. She likes how the shuffle is small and cute, lol.

Now, I have to tell you about our Dominos experience. I know!! But I swear I'm not making this stuff up. I ordered three pizzas at 6:20 pm via the Internet. We usually get very excellent service from there and I figured that'd give us plenty of time to eat, then presents, then cake. Well, 7:20 rolls around and I have a houseful of complaining, hungry kids on my hands now so I call to see where our pizzas are at. The girl tells me that they're shorthanded and ours will be the next delivery. 30 minutes later, our food finally arrives. It's not a delivery person that I recognize but he immediately apologizes for our wait. He goes on to explain that he's the district manager, most of his crew is out with the flu, and he's going to put us in for another order of what we got tonight for free the next time we call. How's that for good service??? Yes, the pizza was late but you can't predict the flu and they owned up to the less than stellar delivery time. We're going to have to wait to take him up on the free pizza cuz that's way more than the four of us can eat but it's $43 worth of free pizza. I'm stoked.

I wish you all could hear what I'm hearing, lmao. I just heard the longest, most drawn out screech that I've ever heard. Kids are so funny.

Can I Go to Bed Now?

I spent the majority of my day getting ready for the youngest child's birthday party tonight. I did a pretty snazzy job if I do say so myself. I even made goodie bags for the other kids which I think is retarded, no offense to other parents who think it's not. My bags, however, are the best bags that I have seen. They're not just filled with candy and junk but neat little girlie type stuff and they're in Littlest Pet Shop bags that they'll be able to keep and play with. The Mister is supposed to bring home the cake and he texted me to let me know that he can't get off of work early so I guess I'll have to keep the kids entertained until he can get here. This is the type of day where I hate his job but what can you do. Even though I'm tired beyond all belief and my feet are killing me, I'm really looking forward to her party. I think everyone is going to have a lot of fun. It's a sleepover so I'll rest up tomorrow afternoon after they all go home, lol.

In other news...I have no other news. This is all I've been doing today. I have less than an hour before everyone gets here so I'm going to get off of here and try to get some homework done.

This Pissed Me Off

The timing of this story that I saw on the news about 15 seconds ago is eerily uncanny. One of our news channels profiled a story about a website that lists people, first and last names, as bad tippers. The website gets its contributions from waitstaff at various restaurants and they get their information off of credit card receipts. This is perfectly legal too, btw. Considering the outright lousy service that we had at the Outback, we still left a reasonable tip just because I feel bad when I don't. What pisses me off is that maybe the reason why they're getting bad or no tips is because their service SUCKS or the food is NASTY. I'm of a mind to start tipping according to the service that I receive and not because I feel obligated to do so. Tips, like respect, should be earned. Also, I'm perfectly aware that there are people that don't tip or don't tip enough because they're just rude, but I'm also perfectly aware that waiters and waitresses receive tips when they don't deserve them.

Also, I perused the database to see what's what and you wanna know what? While they post the first and last names of the so-called offender, they don't post the names of the servers. I think it would be telling if one certain server had frequent postings because this would say to me that they either have very rotten luck or they actually suck at their job. If they are so willing to post the names of the accused they should be willing to back that with their real names as well.

And I'm not posting the link to the website or the news story because I won't be a party to them getting traffic. Do your freaking job or get one where the majority of your wages isn't based on your people skills.

One last thing: No, I didn't see my name or anyone else that I know on the database. This isn't a personal rant, lol.

Picky, Picky

The story of our trip to the Outback isn't a huge deal. I'm just starting to think that I'm too picky and I expect too much from the food service industry. Anyway, to begin with, we give our name to the girl and she said the wait would be about 25-35 minutes. We didn't consider that to be too terrible so we settled in to wait. We waited an hour for a table. By this time, my patience was pretty low and I was thinking that the food had better be worth it since we had never been there before and didn't know what it was like. Our waitress took our drink orders and I ordered a mixed martini which was on the specials menu. The girl brings me my drink in a regular martini glass with about a shots worth of drink in it. She asks me if it's ok and I'm like, "This is it? This is $7.50 worth of drink? The glass isn't even half full." She looked like she expected that sort of reaction and said she'd take it back to the bar and ask if that's how it was supposed to look. A couple minutes later she brings my glass back filled with strawberry mix. Whatever. I took a drink and there wasn't enough alcohol in there to get a flea buzzed. As for the food, my shrimp and scallops were overcooked and the Mister said that we make better steaks on our grill at home which is exactly what we did Tuesday night. We might go back and give it a second chance but I'm not in any hurry to do so.

Below is my drink. It's the after picture though because I didn't have the opportunity to take a pic before the waitress took it back to the bar. The line, however, shows where the glass was filled the first time she brought it to me. All the other times I've ordered martinis, the glass was filled to the brim but oh well.

In other news, the Mister and I are on the hunt for a Wii. A very unsuccessful hunt. We have looked everywhere and nobody has one. I've looked at every online retailer that sells them and they don't have any either. We wanted to get one for the youngest child's birthday tomorrow but it isn't going to happen. Nintendo needs to get off their collective butts and start manufacturing these a bit faster. Everyone we spoke to said that Nintendo sends them Wii's when Nintendo feels like it and in whatever amount they feel like sending. Nice. So, she's getting something else that was on her list and we'll get the Wii at the first available opportunity as a gift for the entire family. This is the first time that the Mister and I have bought a gaming console for somebody other than ourselves, lol. It's a weird experience. I guess we're growing up.

Get With It

It's been a few days, eh? Well, I've been busy. The Mister arrived home safe and sound Friday afternoon. He had a pretty uneventful time in Maryland. He passed his class though and came home with a nifty certificate and shirt to prove it.

Also on Friday, I had our lawn care guy come and clean up our yard. He trimmed the shrubbery and bagged the leaves and pine straw. Our yard was such a disaster that he was here for four hours. It cost me an arm and a leg but I now have the best looking yard on the street. We also went to the Outback Steakhouse for the first time for dinner that night. It was...interesting. I'll post more on that later.

Saturday, we took a shopping trip to Jacksonville. Every time we go shopping, the oldest child cops an attitude, pouts, and gets herself into trouble. She isn't happy unless we're shopping for her. Needless to say, we cut the trip short and came home.

Sunday we did a whole lot of nothing. We picked up some groceries, did some necessary shopping at Target, and came home. Fun times. That night, I made the most awesome chicken Parmesan (the mister's favorite) for dinner. YUM!

Monday, we did less than Sunday which, consequently, made it my favorite day of the weekend. Also scattered throughout the weekend was homework, reading, and demon slaying. I read 2 books and started a third.

The Mister's trip was timed almost perfectly because he had a four day weekend due to President's Day when he got home. So, when the kids go to school today, it's just the two of us. We're celebrating by going out for a nice lunch. ALONE! Yay!

And one last thing to the women out there. You know how we don't like to be called bad drivers just because we're women? Well stop giving people a reason to do so by driving a vehicle that you can't handle. On Thursday, I sat for a couple minutes in the parking lot of the Harris Teeter while some idiot woman was trying to back her Suburban into a parking space narrowly missing hitting two cars. She had 4 or 5 cars blocked while she painstakingly parked her behemoth of a car and made herself look like a stereotypical female driver. Get a clue.

And that, folks, catches you up on the last three days of my life. Now, I need to catch up on book reviews. I think I'm 5 or 6 books, if not more, behind. Ouch.

Temp Page Element

I added a poll to the top right column of the blog. This poll is to settle an ongoing debate between the Mister and I. To avoid biased votes, I'm not going to say which of us has chosen which answer.

Here's the thing. We have had an issue with the words "vice" and "versus". Which word is more correct in the following sentence:

I prefer Chinese food vice/versus Italian food.

I know. This is totally retarded and why worry about it but the Mister called me last night and harassed me over my choice and now I want to settle the matter. And if you think a dictionary would put the thing to rest, you're wrong. Our Webster's New World College Dictionary says one thing whereas Webster online says another. I don't really get that, but whatever.

So, VOTE!!! You can leave a comment and tell me how juvenile we are, but vote too.

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Spoke Too Soon

I just got done cleaning out my car. Boy! Was that ever a chore. Anyway, guess what I happened to notice on the windshield when I was Windexing it. POLLEN!! I jinxed myself by whining about it.

SHEESH!

It's Thursday

I was going to do the Booking Through Thursday meme but my answer to this week's question is no. How boring is that? So, I'm skipping it this week. Maybe it's one that Jennifer S. can answer "no" to which doesn't require a lot of thinking and she'll post it on her blog, heheheh. ;)

It's Valentine's Day. I get to spend it alone but this is another "holiday" that the Mister and I don't pay that much attention to anyway. Other than buying my kids their cards to exchange at school and candy to fill my candy dish, this day is like any other. I'm such a bah humbugger, I know.

I finished Jane Eyre yesterday. I absotively LOVED it. I think it's one of my reading challenges books (I'm too lazy to check and too tired to remember) so I'll post a more in depth review sometime later. I'm kinda sorta behind on my reviews. I've finished four books since my last one. Oops.

And before I get any "tsk tsk's" I got quite a bit of reading for my classes done yesterday too and have formulated an outline for my Frankenstein paper which isn't even due for another two weeks. So, :P I decided to go the feminist route with the paper. Marxism just isn't my deal.

The Mister will be home tomorrow night. He has had a completely uneventful trip so far. He's pretty tired of eating out so on Saturday, I'm making his favorite for dinner: chicken parmesan. YUM! I'm pretty excited about that meal myself. Also, if it isn't too wet out, I'm having the yard maintained today in anticipation of the Mister's arrival home. The grass doesn't need mowed but my lawn care guy is going to take care of the pine straw and the leaves and trim the bushes as well. It's amazing how unkempt a yard can get down here in the winter. I've also come to hate pine trees. They are so FREAKING messy. Pine straw is EVERYwhere ALL the time. And in the spring, they release massive amounts of pollen so much so that EVERYthing is turned yellow. I have seven of the suckers in my front yard. SEVEN!!!!

Okay, I'm tired and rambling. I only got an hour or two of sleep last night. That's not enough, let me tell ya.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

I woke up this morning to the welcome sound of rain. We need it desperately. Sunday it was so dry and windy that N.C. had 177 wildfires in the state. We had a teensy one here in New Bern but the worst of it was on the N.C./Virginia border. The news said that a lot of them were started because people were idiots (my word) and burned brush despite the red flag warning which made it illegal to do so. That level of stupidity is infuriating to me. Is burning brush so important that it couldn't wait a day or two?

Now I'm listening to the oldest child trying to make Bailey go outside for her morning constitutional, lmao. That dog absotively hates the rain. She gave up because it's hard to make a 60 pound dog do something she doesn't want to do.

On the itinerary for today is homework. Homework, homework, homework. I've neglected it thus far in favor of reading Jane Eyre. I've been having the hardest time putting it down and even had Jane Eyre dreams last night. Even now, I'm sitting here trying to justify to myself reading it for a couple hours this morning before getting started on my school work. I plan to be strong and responsible but we'll see how it goes, heheheh.

The Quiet

I'm sitting here in the quietness of my house contemplating tonight's post. The kids are in bed, the dogs are in bed, the tv is turned off and the Mister is still in Maryland. I'm enjoying my evening but all this quiet makes me contemplative.

I finished reading Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings earlier today. If that doesn't make you pensive then you have something wrong with your brain. I started Jane Eyre this evening and it has made me a little melancholy. I'm also seeing similarities between it and Frankenstein. I suppose that's probably weird.

Something that is disturbing my quiet is this pervading smell that I can't get rid of in my house. I've cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I've taken the trash and recycling outside, there are no dirty dishes in the sink, and I changed out the dogs' crate bedding. Still, I have this odor that I can't figure out where it's coming from or how to get rid of it. It's not anything like a rotting animal under the house, it's just sort of a...stagnant smell. The money that I spend on various forms of air fresheners rivals the amount of money I spend on books and lip gloss. Considering the amount I spent at B&N and the Clinique counter the past couple of weeks, that's saying something. The only thing I can figure is that the offending aroma is coming from the carpets and since I don't own this house and can't rip them out, I'm stuck. Cleaning them, before you suggest it, hasn't helped either. I read in my psych book a couple semesters back that the brain can't handle too much stimuli at one time which is why you become used to your perfume, cologne, and b.o. Maybe, eventually, I'll become used to this smell, forget about it, and only visitors will be offended and they'll be too polite to say anything. One can hope. In the meantime, Glade, Illuminations, Febreze, and all the other air freshener companies and candle makers are benefiting from my most recent obsession.

A Brief History...Sorta

It occurred to me yesterday when Liz commented that she's been trying to figure out where I'm from originally, that my references to California, Vermont, N.C., and Ohio are probably confusing to those who don't know me personally. I figure this would be a good time to give a brief history of me.

I was born in Marion, Ohio where I lived with my mom until the middle of my 7th grade year and I was 12. I moved in with my dad, step-mom, and sister who were living in Pleasant Hill, Ohio which is where I graduated high school. Once I graduated in January '95, I moved back to my mom's where I got a job. I met my husband in April of that year and we got married in May of '96. We, being very young, ran into hard times and moved in with my dad who had moved to Springfield, Ohio in Sept of '96. The Mister joined the Marines and went to boot camp in Sept of '97. The oldest child and I moved to Pensacola, FL in April of '98 where the Mister was doing some training for his job in the Marines and I got pregnant with child #2. The oldest child and the pregnant me moved back to Marion on 9/30/98 because the Mister was sent to Jacksonville, FL for more training and we couldn't move with him (I wasn't even supposed to be in Pensacola) and my pregnancies are never easy on me. Then, the Mister got his first duty station in Feb '99 and I had child #2 in Feb '99. The Mister was stationed in San Diego and as soon as the youngest was old enough to fly, the kids and I moved out to San Diego in April of '99. We all lived out there until December of '03 when the Mister got orders for recruiting duty. We moved into our house in Vermont 1/1/04 and lived in Vermont until January of '07. Then we moved to North Carolina which is our current residence.

When people ask me where I'm from, I really don't even know how to answer. Am I from Marion where I lived for the first 12 years of my life? Pleasant Hill where I lived for 5 years and graduated high school? Or Springfield where the Mister joined the Marines and Springfield is our home of record? In fact, when people ask us where we're from in Ohio, we answer Marion, Springfield, and Kenton (where the Mister was born) interchangeably, lol. We haven't lived in Ohio for eight years and have no plans to ever move back and I don't really consider it home anymore. I miss California more than I miss any place that I have ever lived. The astronomical cost of living there is the only thing keeping us from actively trying to move back.

So that's me in a nutshell. But just in case, here's a time line to clarify:

6/30/77 - I was born in Marion, Ohio
Sometime in 1989 - I moved to Pleasant Hill, Ohio
1/13/95 - I graduated high school and moved to Marion, Ohio
4/13/95 - I met the Mister
5/3/96 - The Mister and I got married.
9/96 - We moved to Springfield, Ohio
9/21/97 - The Mister went to boot camp.
4/98 - The oldest and I moved to Pensacola, FL
9/98 - The oldest, the youngest unborn, and I moved to Marion, OH
4/99 - The children and I moved out to San Diego, CA with the Mister.
1/1/04 - We moved to Vermont
1/26/07 - We moved to North Carolina

We also moved around a bit in California and Vermont, but it's not really relevant to this story. All in all, I've lived in 3 cities in Ohio, 1 in Florida, 2 in California, 2 in Vermont, and 1 in N.C.
Currently, I'm not even sure which state I'm a resident of. I own a house, earn an income, and am licensed to drive in Vermont but I live in North Carolina and the Mister is a resident of Ohio. You figure it out.

Friday Cont.

I'm back from my meeting. It wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it would be. I had to meet with the youngest's teacher and three other school educators to determine a course of action. I don't know if I've ever posted this publicly before, but the youngest has a learning disability. After many consultations with various doctors and teachers and extensive testing, we finally have a plan of action. 5 years of frustration, feeling inadequate and helpless, it was such a relief for someone to finally have a clue as to what would be best for my daughter. I thought her teacher was going to cry today, that's how happy we were. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I would like to think we are finally going to be able to move forward for the first time since she started preschool.

Now on to my un-scientific experiment. To get a very general idea of what kids know these days, I came up with eight questions that I asked seven different kids from four (I think) different school districts. They range in age from 8 years to 11 years old and from grades 2 through 6. Here are the results.

1. Do you know what continents are and if so, can you name them?
Naming 6 as N. America, S. America, Australia, Eurasia, Africa and Antarctica would have been acceptable as would naming Europe and Asia as two continents for a total of 7.

• Two of the kids said no.
• One named all seven.
• One named 6 of the 7.
• The remaining 3 named one or two and added in countries that they thought were continents.

2. Name one or more wars that the United States has fought in.

• 3 kids couldn't name any.
• 5 named World War I and II.
• One said the Gulf War and another said the Civil War.

3. Can you tell me what WWII was about?

• 5 kids answered no.
• 1 knew about the atom bombs and Japan.
• 1 said it was about rights for slaves.

4. Do you know what a subject and a predicate are? If so, what are they?

• 4 kids answered no.
• 1 said that a subject is something you do.
• Two knew what a subject was.

5. Do you know what a noun and a verb are? If so, what are they?

• One didn't know either.
• 4 knew what both a noun and a verb are and provided examples.
• Two knew what a verb is but not a noun.

6. Do you know what the year of our (the United States) Independence is?

• Maybe that question was too confusing because none of them could answer 1776 even though they all know what the 4th of July is as a holiday.

7. Do you know who the first president of the U.S. was?

• All answered George Washington.

8. Do you know what rhyming words are and provide an example.

• All could rhyme.

Like I said, this is not scientific in any way, but I still find the results disturbing. Some of these kids are in junior high and some will be there next year but they don't know the significance of the year 1776 and couldn't give any details about WWII and knowing the very basic parts of a sentence and grammar was hit or miss as well. I, as a parent, take some of the blame onto myself. I left it up to the public education system to educate my children and other than nightly help with homework and encouraging them to read, I haven't sat down with them and talked extensively about history, science, or grammar. I need to step it up. Even so, I still have to ask what the heck are they teaching kids in school these days?

Leaving on a Jet Plane *Edited to Add...

Hold on to your pants, I'm going to San Diego. Yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!! That's right, Jennifer S. I booked my flight and purposely chose a ticket that was non-refundable so get the pull-out ready. I'm so excited I'm doing a happy dance in my chair. I can't believe it! After four years, I finally get to go back to California. I'll seriously probably kiss the ground once I get there.

Ok. I've got to get ready for my meeting this morning. My thoroughly unpleasant meeting. I'll post the deets plus the results of an un-scientific interview later.

**I probably should have mentioned that not only has it been four years since I've been to Cali, but it's been six years since Jennifer and I have seen each other face to face. I think. When did you move to Wisconsin, lol? So, not only is this going to be a much needed getaway for me, but I'm going to get to hang out with my much missed friend which is way more significant.

Thursday Meme

Here's the Thursday Meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

I do, on occasion, pull myself away from my books. Even though when I'm doing other activities, in the back of my mind I'm thinking that I'd rather be reading, lol.

Anyway, I like to crochet, cross stitch, go to the beach, go hiking, shop (when I have the money), play video games, catch up on my fave television shows (though not this season), play with my dogs, hang out with the family, and travel (when I have the time and money). Oh, and I blog and surf the net. That's about it. I wish I could say that I go sky diving or skiing or something equally fun and exciting but I don't. Although, I'd love to go parasailing some day which may lead to sky diving but who knows. Parasailing is something that I've wanted to do since I was 16 and I still haven't had the chance. I'm endeavoring to say one of my past times is exercise and working out but I always lose interest in that, lmao.

A Quiet Day

I started this post at 8:30 and it's now 9:40. The Mister called and I got distracted, heheh.

Anyway, I had a relatively quiet day. It took effort, but I managed it. I finished reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for my Lit class. I really liked it which is a shame because I'm going to have to pick it to pieces for my class. I have to decide if my paper is going to be from a Marxist point of view or a feminist point of view. Why can't a story just be a story?

For those of you with kids in middle or elementary school, have you ever assessed how much general knowledge they possess for their age? I'm currently reading this book about classical education and the more I read, the more I am starting to think that our public education system is seriously flawed even more so than I have been thinking for the past seven years.

I'm also re-reading Lord of the Flies. This book is for my business class. Weird, right? This particular business class is about leadership, so if you're read the book, you can see where it fits into the theories in the class. I'm also thoroughly enjoying it.

Are you keeping count? If you include The Reagan Diaries which I consider to be a "grazing" type of book, War and Peace, Lord of the Flies, the classical education book, and Maya Angelou's book which I am starting for my book discussion group, I'm currently reading five books. And next week, I'll be starting Mark Twain's Pudd'nead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins. Fun, fun, fun. I also got a shipment of eight books (one of which is Maya's) in the mail today that I wish I could dive into but they're going to have to wait until I can get some of the others finished first. Sometimes it plain sucks being a responsible individual.

On a non-book note...I just got done watching the first season of Showtime's The Tudors on DVD. I absotively LOVED it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I hauled out my copy of Alison Weir's Henry VIII book for reference while I was watching it. Thankfully, the new season starts next month so I don't have that long to wait for new episodes. There was a lot of historical fact mixed in with the story which made it all the more authentic and enjoyable to watch.

I'm off to put in some time on my homework. No rest for the wicked.

The Energizer Bunny

That's what my day has been like. It just keeps going and going.

After running my last and final errand which was going to Target to pick up a tire pressure gauge and some other stuff (I treated myself to a lipgloss since I was having such a crappy day, heheh.), I finally came home for what I thought would be the last time today.

Sidenote: When I checked the tire pressures, I made an interesting discovery. The rear right tire has a Saab valve cap on it. I drive a Toyota and have no idea where the cap came from. I asked the Mister about it on the phone tonight and the best we can figure is that one of the guys he works with put it on as a joke. I dunno. Also. none of the tires have the correct air pressure.

Anyway, so the kids get home from school, I'm doing my school work, all is quiet. I start dinner at the usual time which tonight was fettucini alfredo from scratch with cajun chicken to go on top. I had been wanting to try my hand at homemade alfredo sauce for years but the hubby doesn't like it so I never did. I was totally looking forward to this meal. As I'm serving the girls their plates, Sidney looks out of the front door and sees Bailey standing there waiting to get in. Holy crap!! I knew Hannah was going to be all the way gone and sure enough, she was nowhere to be found. I was spitting mad. It was dinner time and dark and I figured she was gone for good cuz I just wanted to sit down and eat and wait for her to come home on her own. The oldest, however, started to cry so I put my sandals on, grabbed my cell and a flashlight and started the old drive around the neighborhood. I came across some teenagers taking a stroll and stopped and asked them if they'd seen Hannah. They hadn't so I asked them if they did, to please stop her and call me that my cell phone number is on her collar. Then, I proceeded to drive to the most exclusive neighborhood in New Bern which is where the dogs ran off to the first time. I guess they like to see how the other half lives. I had just about given up when my phone rang. It was those teenagers and they had Hannah. Funnily enough, she was still on our block. I drove over and picked her up, thanking them profusely, and came home. I got to enjoy my dinner of cold, congealed alfredo sauce, nasty looking fettucini, and cold chicken. Yum.

Oh. And about the gas pump...I told the hubby about it when he called. Remember way back when, when he got his first speeding ticket? Well, he was on his way to the same gas station and had gotten gas at the same pump and the same thing happened to him. FIX IT ALREADY!!

I'd give up and go to bed right now if it wasn't just 7 pm. I'm not leaving the house tomorrow for anything.

SHEESH! Part 2

So, I go to the grocery store. I needed some soda and parmesano reggiano for dinner. I get to the checkout and go to pay and my check card isn't in my purse. I immediately gasp, then I remember, I stuck it in my back pocket when I got gas. I pat my butt trying to feel for my card when it hits me: I'm not wearing my jeans because they're at home stinking of gas!!!! ARGH!!! I pull out another credit card that I'm not even sure how much credit it has on it to pay and thankfully, it had enough.

Here I am again, home, typing up my woes, and getting ready to go back out to finish up my errands for the day. It's only 1:30 and I feel like it should be 10 at night.

SHEESH!!

Do You Smell Gas??

WELL, I DO!!! I just got home from putting some gas in the car...and all over the ground. The stupid pump didn't shut off and I spilled a gallon or two on the ground, on my shoes, on my leg, and all over the side of my car. I was PISSED!! I went inside and complained to the clerk and then I squealed my way out of the gas station. I had to come home and change clothes and shoes even though I have more errands that I need to run. So, I've wasted time and money because of this and not to mention, I'm way angrier than the situation calls for. But GEEZ! Aren't the oil companies raping us enough at the pumps without having their equipment malfunction too? And now my entire house smells of gas. Thankfully, it's a very nice day today so I can open my windows but GEEZ! And another thing. You know how they say that you shouldn't go to bed angry or do this or that angry? Well, I have another one for you. Don't shave your legs angry either. I decided to put on some shorts since I had to change clothes anyway which required some personal grooming (hehehe) and paid the price for that too.

Sheesh all over the damn place.

And one last thing...I read in the online version of one of our news stations yesterday that the boil water notice has been lifted for our area. That was YESTERDAY!! We had no idea we were still under a boil water deal because that last main break was on Thursday. All the water main breaks were accidents too. The news story said that the engineers didn't know where the pipes were and the busted through them while doing other work. Three of them in a week's time. Nice.

SHEESH, SHEESH, SHEESH!!!

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Copyright 2001
312 pages
Reason for reading: I read this book for the 1st in a Series Challenge.
Days to finish: 1

I had low expectations going into this book. I had heard people say that they liked it, it was funny, etc., but that they didn't love it. I also figured it would make for nice, light, undemanding reading. I was correct on all accounts.

It was an extremely easy read to get through. Becky, our shopaholic, was funny and likeable although I didn't really feel all that sorry for her situation. If Kinsela said how old she was in the book, I must've skimmed over that part but I'm assuming that Becky is in her early twenties and very much in debt. Why? Because she can't control her shopping habits. Not only does she shop like there's no tomorrow, but she can't resist designer labels either. Her shopping, which increases her debts, which increases the amounts of letters she receives from her creditors only serves to increase her guilt which she assuages by buying herself a "little" something. Can you see the pattern? I honestly hope that it wasn't the author's intention to make the reader feel sorry for Becky because I didn't have an ounce of pity for her. She made her bed with her 2000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, now she has to lie in it.

Hmm. I don't really sound like I liked the book at all at this point, do I? Well, I will be honest and say that it could be tedious at times to read. Becky's problems seem so shallow and the way she handled them, extremely childish. But the holes she dug herself into and the way she contrived to get out of them were funny to read about and I laughed out loud several times. The ending, I wish I could give it away and say why, was...disappointing but not enough to kill my interest. I'm intrigued enough by the series' start that I plan on reading the rest. I love British literature, comedies, television, music, etc. and this book certainly fit that bill. I don't plan on reading the rest of the series to find existential meanings in life by any means. They would make excellent beach reads and the beach season, at least in my part of the world, isn't that far away.

The Post Speaks for Itself

Last night, the Mister and I decided to pick up pizza for dinner. Yes, I do cook but nothing interesting happens when I do so I never post about it. Anyway, we went to 37th Street Pizza which we've never been to before but had heard that it's really good. We went in to order so that we could read a menu and decided to wait in the bar while they baked our pie. We sat down and ordered a couple drinks and the guy on the end asked me if the Mister was a leather neck. I told him that yes he was and then the three of us had a short conversation. Afterwards, he told the bartender that our drinks were on him. How nice was that!! I was so touched. Then, they brought our pizza into us at the bar and the same guy told the bartender that he was paying for that too. I told him that was too kind but he insisted. The whole experience served to remind me that not all people suck and some actually have really good hearts and still appreciate what our military service members do for them. Pardon me while I step down off of my soapbox. Oh. And the pizza was excellent.

So, the Mister left for MD this morning. Packing for him was really interesting. One person = 3 bags and a backpack, lmao. He complained the whole time that he was packing like a woman. Essentially, he was packing for four different people: Marine, business man, civilian, and student. He had to take ALL of his books AND his desktop computer since we didn't trust the laptop to behave well enough for him to get his school work done. He also had to take his dress uniforms and all their accouterments, his "proper civilian attire"which consists of dockers, button-down shirts, and ties, and then stuff like jeans and sweatshirts. CRAZIness. It's supposed to snow there this week too. HEHEHEHEH!!

You wanna know how uncanny the timing of his departure is? There was a police officer at my door about 20 minutes ago. My first thought was that I was finally one of "those" parents with hellions terrorizing the neighborhood. I was wrong but the real reason he was here isn't much better. I guess our street has been having a rash of break-ins. Houses and cars. I told the cop that it was nice of him to stop by and tell me this on the day my husband left for two weeks, lol. I'm really disturbed though. We live on a really quiet street in a quiet neighborhood. Well, at least I thought we did. I hate not feeling safe. Hopefully by making everyone aware of what's going on, they'll be able to put a stop to the crimes or at least the people responsible will be too worried to try anymore. Regardless, I'm going to go walk around my house and make sure everything is put up, locked up, and there's nothing that would tempt someone to our house. I also found out that the redneck-type people that live across the street and about 2 houses down have the police interested as well. These people always have about 5 or 6 cars parked in their yard (they have a long driveway and garage but they don't like to use it for some reason), they come and go ALL day long, and they can be loud. They're probably why it takes forever for houses to sell on our street. I always just chalked them up to being the neighborhood eccentrics. Everybody has at least one. But now since the police officer told me that "they are aware of that group", it makes me wonder what they're actually up to over there.

Anyway, I have a ton of last minute homework to get done before I start dinner. We're having turkey tetrazzini. It's one of our "Daddy Isn't Home for Dinner" meals. See? Told you I cook.

Stuff. Just Stuff.

We didn't have water again last night. This would make about 4 or 5 times in a week which is highly annoying and pretty inconvenient. Last night, the water went out around 5 which is right when I'm trying to make dinner and the Mister gets home from work and wants a shower. I don't know if the county is deliberately shutting off the water while they work or if maintenance crews are accidentally busting through water mains as they're doing other work. Either way, I wish they'd finish up whatever the hell it is they're doing soon.

Our weather is pretty freaky today. It's 71 degrees and the wind is blowing like a banshee. We've had 40+ mph wind gusts which is causing limbs and pine cones to fall out of our trees and onto the roof. It's making quite a racket. The weather people can't decide if we're getting thunderstorms or not either.

The powers that be are currently trying to decide if they're going to transfer the Mister to Jacksonville or not. It's between him and two other Marines. How do I feel about it? Well, to be honest, I don't really care one way or the other. There are three bad things about moving: 1. The moving part since we'd have to eat all expenses cuz the military won't pay for a move unless it's 50+ miles away and this is only 40. 2. The new unit is deploying to an un-fun place in the near future. 3. The place is swarming with Marines. We like New Bern because it's not a military town. In Jax, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting ten of them with one swipe. After living in on base housing for five years, we like our peace and quite. On the other hand: 1. We'd be able to move in the summer when school's out. 2. We don't like this house anyway. The neighborhood hoodlums were playing in our trashcans last night. Our dirty, smell, germ-y trashcans. Don't these kids have anything better to do?? And where are their parents?? 3. I'm not overly pleased with this school district. However, I've heard that the schools in Jax aren't much better. 4. Jacksonville is bigger and therefore has more conveniences. 5. It's closer to the beach (which could be a negative during hurricane season but oh well.)

Chances are, it won't be us. They're trying to get another guy who has been on station for TEN years to go. TEN YEARS! That's highly unusual. We've only been here a year. But like I said, either way, it doesn't really matter to me. I do my best to go with the flow when it comes to military orders, including the fact that they could tell the other guy he's going today and tell us that we're going tomorrow and vice versa. That's the Marine Corps for ya. But none of the reasons listed would serve to sway my decision in favor of moving or staying put. They're minor things that don't really make that much of a difference. It's only 40 miles. Now, if they were asking us to move back to San Diego, I'd go to base and kiss whomever's boots I'd need to kiss so that we could go. But Cherry Point or New River? Practically the same damn thing.

I've Been Neglectful

I spent SIX hours yesterday working on Spanish. SIX!! Between that and being preoccupied with some family issues, I've been a bit forgetful of other things. My blog has taken a backseat and I haven't been reading or leaving comments on other blogs, I forgot to wish my brother a happy birthday yesterday, I forgot to buy trash stickers, I forgot to announce the end of voting for my book group, and I've had the worst headache for two days now. I haven't felt this way since living in Vermont. Oh, and that reminds me, I was also going to post on the 26th to announce our one year anniversary of moving to North Carolina and I forgot that too. I've also been forgetting what I want to say in mid-sentence. I need some ginkgo or whatever it is that boosts your memory.

In other, less whiny news, I finished a book and started two new ones this week. Remember way back when on a Thursday Meme post when I said that I only read one book at a time and that I didn't understand how people can read multiple books at a time? Well, I'm in the middle of four different books right now. So much for that idea. I'm still reading Reagan's book and War and Peace. I started reading Frankenstein for my Lit class and yesterday, I started reading Nora's latest for the 1st in a Series Challenge. All four are great fun. The book I finished the other day was the first Shopaholic book for which I'll post my thoughts about as soon as I remember. ;)

The Mister is going on a business trip (heheh) to Maryland for two weeks on Sunday. Did I mention that before? He's going for some really great training that would normally cost $10,000 but the Marine Corps is footing the bill. How awesome is that? While he's gone, I'm planning on cooking some meals that the girls and I like but that he doesn't so we only eat them while he's gone. It'll be nice girl time for the three of us. We'll miss him but in the grand scheme of things, two weeks is cake. We've done the 6 month thing before and nothing can top the three years in Vermont so we're taking this in stride.

Lastly, my crocheting is coming right along. I'm almost finished with my very simple project. I let my oldest pick it out and the yarn since I'm giving her what I'm making. She's very happy with the results so far. Hannah won't stay out of my yarn. I had to change my craft bag from a tote to a tote that zips closed. She also only goes after the alpaca and mohair yarn. I wonder if it's because she can smell that they came from a real animal.

Sorry there's no Thursday meme. I gotta go with the flow of my thoughts and that doesn't fit in today.

Not in the Right Frame of Mind

I was going to post my review of my latest read today, but I can't collect my thoughts. I had a terrible, awful day and I can't even blog about it. For now, I have to read about Marxism and Frankenstein. Fun stuff.

Much to Say

I had a full weekend.

Friday night, my oldest had a sleepover. Those two kept me up until 1:30 in the morning. UGH! Also on Friday, the Mister got a call at 11:30pm informing him that he had to be back at work at 7 am Saturday morning. It was just supposed to be for a few hours but he didn't end up getting home until 6:30 pm. That pretty much put our entire Saturday in the crapper. However, the reason he was at work means that lots of other families were having an even crappier weekend so I let it go. It's all about perspective.

Saturday night after the Mister arrived home, we went to the mall for a little shopping. I got the best smelling candle. It's a Yankee Candle in Buttercream and it smells like vanilla cake batter. YUM!! The only thing is that it makes me crave sweets, lol.

Sunday, we loaded up for a shopping trip to Greenville. TONS of fun. Our first stop was the Barnes and Noble where I fed my book addiction. I also decided to drop out of the Graphic Novel Challenge as a result of my trip to B&N. I had no idea how expensive those books are. I'd rather spend the money on three regular novels than one graphic novel. Ho hum. Who knew I could be frugal?

From Michaels, I bought some new yarn and a new book of patterns for crocheting. It's been so long that the pattern I tried out last night kicked my butt. I couldn't even remember the abbreviations. I suck. I can't wait to get it going again though because I got some nifty mohair yarn and some pretty alpaca yarn. I've never made anything with that type of yarn before.

From Bed Bath and Beyond, we got a new set of knives. My old one was missing several. The new ones are so sharp that I'm half afraid to use them. It came with a cleaver, lol. I also bought a pizza cutter (our old one was accidentally thrown out inside of a pizza box, heheh.) and a new set of sheets for my bed.

That's it for the fun shopping. We also went to Target for some essentials and to Lowes for some Draino. But the shopping wasn't even the most interesting part of our Sunday.

We decided to hit the Wendy's for dinner. It was a risk. Why? Because the last time we were there, we sat in the parking lot for 20+ minutes waiting for our food and then they forgot something and we had to go in and get it. Fast food? Yeah, right. But, we took a chance and tried again. Everyone deserves a second chance, heheh. BIG mistake. The girl at the drive thru window gave new meaning to the word "rude". She didn't bother reading our order back to us and when we get to the actual window, she just looks over and then walks away. After a few minutes, she finally comes over to allow us to pay. Then, she comes back with our drinks, four of them, and starts to hand them out the window one by one. The Mister asked if we could have a drink carrier and she slammed our drinks down on the counter and walked off to get one. At this point, other than "Can I take your order?" and "Your total is..." she hasn't said a word to us. Then, she comes back with our bags of food and said that they were waiting on part of our order. I check the bags to see if everything was there and we were missing a fry. The Mister tells her this, she rolls her eyes, walks off to get our fry, bags it, and tosses it out the window at us. No, "I'm sorry" or "Oops" or "Go fuck yourself" nothing. When she brings us the rest of our order, the Mister lets loose and tells her how lousy the service has been, how rude she has been, and how she has conveyed her hatred of her job and people in general while we were waiting for our order. I'm sitting there shocked because he NEVER complains to people about stuff like that. NEVER. Then I start to smile because he's really giving it to her but without raising his voice or cussing and her manager is standing there listening. I was so proud of him. Then, we get home and start taking our food out and our order, aside from the one kid's meal, is wrong. The whole, dang blasted thing. The Mister abhors, hates, and detests mayo. He ordered his sandwich sans mayo and lo and behold, the bun had the remnants of mayo on it. It was clear that they realized it was ordered without and instead of getting a new bun, attempted to wipe it clean. WIPE IT CLEAN!! At this point, I lose my cool, and call the Wendy's to complain to the manager. I didn't raise my voice or cuss either. Pat on the back for me. I did, however, make it clear we won't be back. The service at the fast food restaurants here in New Bern blows. I know I shouldn't expect much, but damn. We are paying for lousy service. I just think it's a sign we need to stop eating out so much.

And that, ladies (I don't think I have any gentlemen readers) was our weekend. Jam packed, full of books, and we'll ignore the rest.

The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Copyright 1980
535 Pages
Reason for reading: I read this book for the 1st in a Series Challenge.
Days to finish: 11 days

Synopsis:
Jason Bourne. He has no past. And he may have no future.
His memory is blank. He only knows that he was flushed out of the Mediterranean Sea, his body riddled with bullets. There are a few clues. A frame of microfilm surgically implanted beneath the flesh of his hip. Evidence that plastic surgery has altered his face. Strange things that he says in his delirium -- maybe code words. Initial: "J.B." And a number on the film negative that leads to a Swiss bank account, a fortune of four million dollars, and, at last, a name: Jason Bourne.
But now he is marked for death, caught in a maddening puzzle, racing for survival through the deep layers of his buried past into a bizarre world of murderous conspirators -- led by Carlos, the world's most dangerous assassin. And no one can help Jason Bourne but the woman who once wanted to escape him.

This book was okay. There were parts that were full of excitement, drama, and action that were totally enjoyable to read. Then you get to the parts where...I guess you would call it background information. It was scenes that explained the motivations of the different factions that were after Bourne. I found these chapters and sections to be extremely boring. It didn't help that Ludlum uses names like the Russians do. You would have one man that would be referred to in four different ways and I often found myself trying to figure out who everybody was and what part they were playing in the drama.

If I were to rate it, I'd give it a three out of five because it wasn't horrible by any means but it also hasn't earned a "favorite" spot on my book shelf. I can't believe I'm saying this and I will deny it to the bitter end if ever accused of saying this but...I think the movie was better than the book. SHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! And to conclude, I plan on reading the rest of the series just to see how it turns out. The book and the movie, thus far, were totally different.

Thursday Meme

The Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read hem or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

I seriously doubt if any of the books that I've read would belong in the "huh" category. I'm pretty much a mainstream reader and a good portion of what I read comes from the recommendations of others. I'm not including text books or reference books because those shouldn't count. As I sit here looking at the shelf that contains my favorite books, I'd be completely shocked if nobody had heard of them.

Just Some Stuff

First day of classes went well. I have almost all my homework done for the week and my Spanish materials arrived today. All is well on that front.

I finished The Bourne Identity yesterday. More on that later.

And finally, we had a water main break tonight. I discovered that we didn't have water as I was trying to make dinner. Really great timing. As a result, we ordered a pizza. I just got back from the grocery store having bought several gallons of water since we still don't have any running water and we have a boil order thing in effect once it does start flowing again. Living in the hurricane prone region that we do, we should've already had bottled water on hand but we didn't. Three hours (and counting) without water isn't so bad though. I just hope they get everything fixed by the morning or the kids won't be able to go to school since the main break is on the road that the school is on and that road is closed. Plus, school's aren't supposed to have kids in them without clean running water.

And that's been my day. Not real exciting, huh?

Back to the Grindstone

Today is my last day of winter break. Classes start tomorrow. I always have mixed feelings every semester. On the one hand, I'm really close to my BA and so the start of every semester is exciting for that reason alone. I also like learning, strangely enough. I like the direction taking classes gives me as well. Also, I'm really looking forward to 3 of my 4 classes this semester. In my Lit class, we're going to be reading and analyzing some really good novels, stories, and poetry.

On the other hand, the pressure can be overwhelming sometimes. Being a full time student, mom, and wife has it's challenges. To make things even more interesting, the Mister is going to Maryland for two weeks of training next month. But like I said, that will just make things interesting and I don't see that as an added challenge. I spent three years virtually alone in Vermont, two weeks is cake. The challenge will be all his since he's also taking three classes this semester and our laptop is less than reliable. One BIG challenge is that despite my school's bookstore's guarantee that my books would be here before the start of classes, I still don't have my books for my Spanish class. NONE of them. I've never started classes without my books before and it has me really worried. Luckily, the first week of classes is a light one so it shouldn't be that hard to catch up provided they arrive sometime before Sunday.

Aside from school starting back up, I've been trying to get The Bourne Identity finished. It's been an interesting read and I'm a little over half way through it. I'm also trying to clear my chest out. The kids and the husband have succeeded in making me ill. The Mister (and about 10 - 15 other people in his shop) was sick all last week despite his having gotten his flu shot (it was the nose spray and not actually a shot though.) which just reinforces my opinion that the flu shot is worth bupkis. Then, the oldest child came home from a sleepover with a fever on Saturday. I just knew that they were going to give it to me and sure enough, here I am. The timing couldn't be worse but what can ya do.

Call it Laziness

This has been all over the blogging community so I don't know who to originally attribute it to so I'm not gonna.




What kind of soap is in your shower right now? I have some sort of flavor from Bath and Body Works but I don't remember what it's called at the moment. I also have a little bar from the Palomar Mountain Soap Company that Jennifer got me for my birthday and I LOVE and I need to order more of because that's my last bar.


Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Nope. No watermelon but I have apples and oranges.



What would you change about your living room? I would change a lot because this is a rental. First off, I'd put in real hardwood flooring instead of the laminate that's in there now. I'd take down the painted paneling and paint the actual walls something other than off-white. I'd take out the fake electric fireplace and put in a real wood burning one. I'd replace the old, single-paned, wood framed windows and put in energy efficient double-paned, vinyl windows.

Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? There is one dirty fork in my dishwasher.


What is in your fridge? We just went to the commissary today. My fridge is packed.


White or wheat bread? Either.


What is on top of your refrigerator? My turkey plate, the ice catcher thing for the freezer, and cereal.


What color or design is on your shower curtain? It has blues and greens and it has a flower or leaf print. I don't really remember, lol.


How many plants are in your home? None. I kill indoor plants.

Is your bed made right now? Not really. It's straightened but none of the accent pillows are on it.


Comet or Soft Scrub? Neither. I use 409 for most everything.

Is your closet organized? HA!! Funny. My closet is a huge disaster because the Mister has all of his Marine gear stored in it. If my house was ever under attack, I'd be ready with a Kevlar helmet and gas mask.

Can you describe your flashlight? Yeah. We have two. One is a red Maglite and the other is a gray military issue type.

Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? I drink out of glasses when I need a glass otherwise I drink out of the can or the bottle the drink came in.


Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? Regular tea? UGH, YUCK, and ICK. I have Lipton green tea in bottles though.

If you have a garage, is it cluttered? No garage. The last time we had a garage, it was so cluttered a car couldn't dream of fitting.

Curtains or blinds? Mostly window blinds. In all the windows in my house, only three have curtains.

How many pillows do you sleep with? Two.

Do you sleep with any lights on at night? Nope.

How often do you vacuum? It greatly varies. Sometimes, I vacuum 1-2 times a day and sometimes it's once or twice a week. It just depends on how messy everyone's decided to be at any given time or what Hannah has chewed up that week.

Standard toothbrush or electric?Electric.

What color is your toothbrush?It's white.

Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? We have a mat, but I don't think it says welcome. It was here when we moved into this house.

What is in your oven right now? The oven racks.

Is there anything under your bed? Off the top of my head: We have luggage. I think my hubby's sword is under there too.

Chore you hate doing the most? The laundry. I don't mind washing and drying it but I hate folding it and putting it away. HATE IT!

What retro items are in your home? Nothing that I can think of.

Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Sort of. The front room, or living room, is basically used as office space. It also has our nasty sectional sofa in it that wouldn't fit in the living room. We're going to be replacing it with two recliners and a couple book shelves in the next month or two. YAY!!

How many mirrors are in your home? Let's see. There's one in both of the bathrooms and the one that's over my dresser. I think that's it.

What color are your walls? Off-white with tan trim. Nice and creative, right?

What does your home smell like right now? Vanilla candle that I burned earlier this evening.

Favorite candle scent? I have lots that I like. I really like apple cinnamon and I don't think that it's Christmas-y. I also like Illuminations' Pound cake, Napa Valley, and Bamboo scents.

What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? None unless you count relish.

What color is your favorite Bible? Funny question.

Ever been on your roof? Nope.

Do you own a stereo? Yes, but it's one of those home entertainment deals.

How many TVs do you have? Three. We have one in the living room, one in our bedroom, and one in the youngest child's room.

How many house phones? None. We have cell phones only. I don't see the point in paying for both.

Do you have a housekeeper? Yeah, right.

What style do you decorate in? Mismatched?

Do you like solid colors or prints in furniture? Solid colors.

Is there a smoke detector in your home? Yes. In Vermont, when you rent out a house, it's the law that you include a smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. I'm not sure if that's the case here in N.C. too, but the house came with a smoke detector.

In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip? People and animals go without saying. Other things would be photos. Since the '03 fires, I keep all of our photos in one place so that I can get them all quickly. If I had enough time, I'd grab my CPU because it has a lot of pictures on it too.

Thursday Meme

The Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see
a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a
good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and
give the book a try?

Good reviews can make me more enthusiastic to read a book if I'm already interested in reading it. Bad reviews don't really affect my reading choices at all. Mostly, I listen to what other friends, family, and bloggers are saying about books rather than reviews in newspapers and places like that. In my experience, reviews are very hit or miss with me. For instance, Terry Pratchett's Disc World series has gotten excellent reviews over the years. I, however, didn't really care too much for the first one. Water for Elephants had glowing reviews as well. I was reluctant to read it because it sounded weird but I listened to recommendations from other people, read it, and loved it. Then there have been books that had only gotten mediocre reviews that I really enjoyed. Bottom line: I decide for myself what I'm going to like, dislike, read, or ignore.

I'm So Mean

There is a certain author who has a blog. This author updates their blog fairly frequently so I subscribe to it in my Google reader. Anyway, I was reading a recent post of theirs and noticed two typos in the same paragraph. I thought this was so FUNNY! I'm am not a perfect speller by any means but neither am I a NY Times best selling author who has written many books. The typo was so blatant because it was the same word misspelled twice the same way. I know!! I'm petty, small, and mean but it's nice to know that this person makes the same human errors that every other non-famous, non-millionaire person does.

>:-> Heheheh!

Breaking News! Or Rumor?

I was calling around to some computer repair places today to see about getting my laptop fixed (turns out it'd be cheaper just to buy a new one. Ugh!). One of places I called is a certified Dell dealer and technician. He told me that Microsoft is discontinuing Vista and that if I do decide to buy a new machine to make sure it comes with XP installed on it. He said that there have been so many complaints about Vista, so many people reverting back to XP, and that Vista was flawed before the first one was ever shipped out of the warehouse. Has anyone else heard anything about this? The discontinuation not the complaints, lol. If so, it makes me really happy that the mister and I decided to wait before upgrading.

Policies

I have beef with my kids' school policy concerning absences. There is a new policy implemented just this year (the '07-'08 school year) that states that students have to be in school until 12:45 p.m. to be counted present for the day. Any student arriving after 12:45 pm will be counted absent for the whole day.

Okay. I can see the theory behind the policy. This is to encourage parents to get their kids to school and to increase the school's attendance records. I get it. However, my youngest daughter had a doctor's appointment last week for extensive testing. Due to her appointment, she didn't get to school until 11 am. I called the office because I had forgotten to get a note from the doc and wanted to see if it was okay to bring her in without the note and to bring the note in at a later date. The lady who answered the phone said that was fine but she was going to be counted absent for the whole day anyway. I didn't know how to answer. I wanted to say, "So, it's not worth my time to drop her off so that she can be educated for the four hours left in the instructional day?" School hours are from 8:10 am to 3:10 pm. Sometimes this school makes me feel like I'm inconveniencing them by bringing my kids to be taught there.

So, actually, I have two beefs: The policy itself and the way the school admin makes me feel. When I first read about the new policy at the beginning of the school year, I thought it was a little weird but now that I realize how it's going to affect us, especially since my daughter has another appointment this week and will be counted absent that day as well, it just makes me mad. Am I being unreasonable?

Water For Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Copyright 2006

331 pages

Reason for reading: This is one of my TBR Challenge books.

Days to finish: 1

I adored this book. I absolutely loved it. A lot of people said that I would but I was a little skeptical going into it. The premise seemed weird. It was about a guy that joined a circus as the veterinarian. Sounded cheesy to me. Boy! Was I ever wrong. The book was so much more. It was about love, the circus, animals, betrayal, loss, aging, and excitement.

Jacob, the main character, deals with the loss of his parents and, thus, the world as he knew it or thought it was going to be, by running. Not knowing where to go or what to do next, he jumped a train that happened to belong to a circus. Set in the 1930's this book takes place when circuses still travelled town to town by train. Despite the dirt, the smells, and the hardships, the circus was glamorous and the reader is taken along on a very bumpy ride.

The story goes back and forth between Jacob at 23, full of life, and a circus vet to Jacob at 90 or 93 (he isn't sure of the year) and in an assisted living facility. It's a very sharp contrast between seeing him as someone in control and someone at the mercy of others. The things that happen to him at the home and his trials that come from being old make you wonder if that's how we really treat our elderly. Is that what we have to look forward to in our golden years? One passage in the book describes how he gets upset at having to eat mushy food every day. He becomes vocal in his protestations. As a result, and against his wishes, he's given antidepressants. The staff and his doctor didn't listen to him; they just saw a crotchety, old, depressed shadow of a man.

Jacob's time with the circus was full of drama. He sees and immediately falls for Marlena, one of the performers who also happens to be married to August, the man in charge of the menagerie. Jacob is immediately met with confrontation when forced to bunk with another performer who hated Jacob on sight. He also has to deal with August's volatile nature. Lastly, there's Rosie. Rosie is the seemingly untrainable circus elephant that is oftentimes the object of August's vileness. Jacob sees more in her than just a "dumb" elephant.

This book truly did have everything including one of the best endings I've ever read in a book. If you know me, you know how much endings are important to me. As soon as I was finished reading it, I had the urge to turn back to page one and start all over again which isn't something that happens often with a book no matter how much I like it. Sara Gruen is a magnificent author who paid much attention to detail and the history of circuses. If you haven't read this book, you're missing out on an experience.

This Day, 13 Years Ago...

...Was my last day of high school. I officially graduated with the rest of my class in May but I was through with classes on Jan 13, 1995. Lucky 13, heheh. I'm not going to go into a whole retrospective of the last thirteen years. Who cares? Maybe I'll do that in 2 or 7 years from now. Suffice it to say, I feel old. Old, old, old.

BLAH!

Evil?

How evil are you?

Hodgepodge Friday

I finished Water for Elephants (def more on that later) the other day and have started The Bourne Identity. I'm whittling down my TBR list at a pretty fast clip. I'm sure that will change on the 23rd when my spring semester starts.

This week was National Delurking Week. Being that it's Friday, the week is over but feel free to pop out and leave a comment if you'd like.

Yesterday, I typed up this HUGE post on our recent house hunting endeavor and decided not to post it. Suffice it to say, I looked at this house yesterday that was...not for us. It didn't have a master bedroom and the kitchen linoleum looked like a package of highlighter pens had exploded all over it. It also smelled like dog even though they don't allow dogs inside. Whatever. Even if we do decide to go ahead and move, it won't be until March because the Mister has an event happening in February that won't allow him to help with the packing and moving. One of the worst feelings is not feeling at home in your home and I've felt like that for almost a year now.

Did you all hear about the "breaking news" of the missing Marine here in N.C.? It's weird when your little corner of the world is on national news. The search is taking place in an area of Jacksonville that I am very familiar with. It was my stomping grounds when I was 16.

Anyway, along with Friday being hodgepodge day it's also cleaning day and I haven't eaten yet today either, so, I'm off. Have a great weekend.

Thursday Meme

The Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

How did you come across your favorite author(s)? Recommended by a friend?
Stumbled across at a bookstore? A book given to you as a gift?
Was it love at first sight? Or did the love affair evolve over a long acquaintance?

Wow! This could be an entirely looooong post. I have so many favorite authors. Fortunately, I have a bad memory and can only remember how I came to read a few of them.

Stephen King. The first Stephen King book that I can remember seeing was It. My mom read it as soon as it came out. Her copy of the book even had a bloody thumb print at the bottom of the pages, lol. I also remember that book scaring her sh*tless and that's how I was turned on to King. The first book of his that I read, however, was Pet Cemetery. Fun book. Also, interestingly enough, I still haven't read It. I tried once in high school and didn't get past the first couple chapters.

In high school I loved reading Christopher Pike books. LOVED THEM. I used to own every book he ever wrote. Why did I first start reading them? I liked how the covers looked in the book store. Yup. I judged a book by its cover and it was the best thing ever.

Another author whose books I judged by their covers...Julie Garwood. When I was totally into romances, I liked her books because they didn't have the schmaltzy Fabio/Love Goddess, nipples showing, heaving breasts, book covers.

Patricia Cornwell. I liked her name because it's similar to mine, lmao. How retarded is that? I also liked that she had written a ton of books so if it turned out that I liked more than just her name, there was plenty of material to keep me going.

Nora Roberts. I don't remember how or why I started reading her books. Maybe it was also because of the amount of her books that I saw sitting on the shelves. Same thing with J.D. Robb. When I read my first In Death, I didn't realize it was a series or that she and Nora Roberts were one in the same. I picked up Purity randomly off the shelf because I was looking for something new to read. Lucky me.

I think we can pretty much group the rest of the authors that I read into the word of mouth category. I get lots of recommendations from friends, other bloggers, book discussion groups, movies that were adapted from books, and news headlines. I'm like a bloodhound when it comes to books. I'm always looking for something new so I always have my nose to the floor sniffing them out and my ears open. I don't think I've ever turned a book down either, even if I've never heard of the author and the cover looks unattractive (you should see one of my new school books I just got yesterday. It is UGLY!). Every story deserves a chance.

The Color of Magic

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
Copyright 1983
210 Pages
Reason for reading: I read this book for the 1st in a Series Challenge
Days to finish: 7

As mentioned above, it took me seven days to finish this book and it was only 210 pages long. That fact, in and of itself, should be an easy indicator of whether or not I enjoyed this book.
Don’t get me wrong. It was a very well written book. Pratchett invented an entire world with unique cities, landscapes, and people. He also used elements of mythology to round out his universe. My problem with the book was that I just didn’t care about the characters. Rincewind, Twoflower, Hrun, Luggage, and the others didn’t hold my interest. It was easy to put down the book and find other things to do with my time. Surprisingly enough, I plan on reading the next book or two of the series. I was recently told that the series gets better and I really wanted to like it so I’m giving it another chance.

My favorite character was the Luggage. Pratchett displays his talent by being able to give a piece of luggage personality. It was funny and the Luggage was tenacious. You had to love it.

I also found similar elements in The Color of Magic and the Harry Potter series. Whether or not Pratchett and Rowling used the same references or Rowling was a fan of the Disc World series and incorporated parts of it into her own series, I don’t know. I’d be interested to find out though and plan on doing some research to assuage my curiosity.

In conclusion, if I were to rate this book (I don’t currently have my own rating system) I’d give it 2 ½ stars out of 5. The series has potential but so far, it isn’t interesting to me.

Being Political

I hardly ever write about politics. Mostly, it's because I'm not all that interested in it and I'm very uninformed. Tonight I was watching the New Hampshire primaries with the Mister (I have no idea why) and something struck me. Why would the nation presume that American women want or need an emotional woman to run the country? I don't want a wishy, washy, emotional woman as my husband's boss. I just don't. I want a strong, thoughtful, upstanding citizen running America. If that person happens to be a woman, then so be it. A person's ability to cry isn't going to make me more inclined to vote for them regardless of their gender. I find the notion insulting. As if tears make a person more appealing to me simply because I'm a woman. It's ludicrous.

Sheesh.

Lovely Monday

I didn't post for THREE days. It was wonderful, heheh. I don't really have too much to say anyway. I've had this weird stomach thing for the past couple of days. It's not the flu or anything just this painful cramping for a few hours in the morning and then it goes away. It almost feels like intense hunger pains but I get them at 3 in the morning. And no. I'm not pregnant. But they're making me lose sleep and feel cruddy so I haven't been up to too much.

I'm currently in the middle of The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. I wanted so much to love this book but I've been reading it for six days and I'm only a little more than halfway done. It's a short book that I should've had read in a couple hours. It's not horrible but I don't care about the characters. I suppose if you want to see the silver lining, it's the first in a series about about 30 books so I won't adding to my TBR pile. ;)

Okay. I have a confession to make. It's January 7th and I still haven't taken down my Christmas decorations. At least I don't turn them on though, lol. My Christmas tree is mostly naked. I only need to take the lights and garland off. I've also taken all the window clings out of the windows. The outside decorations and lights are still out though. It's lazy and pathetic, I know. I'm usually really good about it but this year I just don't care all that much. I'm going to finish it today and tomorrow while the weather is really nice. It's a good excuse to be outside, right?

Thursday Meme

Here's our Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Last week we talked about the books you liked best from 2007. So this week, what with it being a new year, and all, we’re looking forward….

What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008? Something new being published this year? Something you got as a gift for the holidays? Anything in particular that you’re planning to read in 2008 that you’re looking forward to? A classic, or maybe a best-seller from 2007 that you’re waiting to appear in paperback?

This is a post that could go on and on. There are so many books that I'm looking forward to reading this year. One, Brother Odd by Dean Koontz, I already finished. Another, The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett, I'm currently in the middle of reading. Aside from those, I'll list my top ten at this point. This is a list that will change throughout the year because I can't possibly be aware of all the books coming out this year. Also, these are not in any order.

1. Any of the In Death books that will be published this year.
2. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlam
3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
4. Guilty Pleasures graphic novel by L.K.H.
5. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
6. The second and third Dexter books.
7. The Appeal by John Grisham
8. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
9. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
10. War and Peace by Tolstoy

War and Peace I would like to finish this year. I started it last year but it's a slow go for me. I keep putting it aside for other books but I really want to finish it. These are all books that are on my reading challenge lists. I'm looking forward to reading all of those books this year.

#1 From 2008 TBR Challenge

My Reading Challenges

Day one of the challenges and I've got my first book checked off. This has served to bolster my confidence that I'll be able to successfully complete all three challenges in which I've chosen to participate.




Brother Odd by Dean Koontz
Published 2006 by Bantam Dell
430 pages
Reason for reading: 2008 TBR Challenge and because I've always planned on reading the last book.

This is the third and final book in the Odd Thomas series. Out of all the series that I've read, this would make it in my top ten. I have absolutely loved and enjoyed each book.

Odd Thomas seems to be an unlikely hero. He is constantly reminding the reader of his inadequacies and fallacies. Odd has an odd name, he's "only" a fry cook, he's "only" 21, and as Odd said himself, "I don't know anything." I think Koontz chooses to portray Odd in this manner to demonstrate a sharp contrast; to show the reader the wondrousness that is Odd Thomas. Odd clearly shows his wisdom and selflessness many times throughout all three novels but especially in Brother Odd when Odd is faced with the challenge of protecting challenged children from an unknown evil.

My favorite part about the series is the company that Odd keeps. Elvis Presley often visits him in ghostly form. While that may seem worthy of an eye roll, Koontz makes it work without it being over the top.

My favorite passages from Brother Odd are:

"Life you can evade; death you cannot."

And in referring to a disfigured child who had been made fun of by other children:

"In this world where too many are willing to see only the light that is visible,never the Light Invisible, we have a daily darkness that is night, and we
encounter another darkness from time to time that is death, the deaths of those
we love, but the third and most constant darkness that is with us every day, at
all hours of every day, is the darkness of the mind, the pettiness and meanness
and hatred, which we have invited into ourselves, and which we pay out with
generous interest."

These are not the words of someone who knows nothing.