Have Read or Not

I nabbed this from the Literary Feline. I have to say that I'm a little embarrassed by the number of books that I haven't read that are considered classics. I need to put down my chick lit and pick up something that actually has the potential to enrich my brain a bit.

 

The below listed books are the top 106 books most often tagged as being unread by LibraryThing users (as of October 3rd).

The instructions are simple: Bold what you have read, and italicize books you have started but couldn't finish. Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once. Underline those on your TBR list (in my case this means I own them, but have yet to read them). The ones marked in red are books I am considering reading one day but do not have on hand.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States : 1492-Present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake: A Novel
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

 

Totals:

 

Books I've Read: 12

Books I've Started and Didn't Finish: 1

Books on My TBR List: 2

Books I Want to Read: 28

Books I Never Intend to Read: 63

 

Our Trip

I'm back. We had a really good time over the weekend. We got home Sunday evening and my feet still hurt from all the walking this morning.

Saturday we went to a festival in downtown Norfolk. It was sorta lame but we got to see some animals and that's always fun. From there we went back to the Nauticus and toured the USS Wisconsin again. The first time, we didn't have enough time to see the whole thing so we made up for it this go around. After that, we checked into our hotel, which was really nice, and then we went to the Botanical Gardens. I love botanical gardens and this one was really huge. In addition to plants and flowers we got to see tons of Canadian geese, a red fox, a toad, and a turtle. The turtle was the first one I've seen since we moved down this way that wasn't a pancake in the road. Next, we had dinner which was the funny part of the day.

See. I absolutely HATE buffets. I've never been to one that had good food that wasn't dried up and nasty from sitting under heat lamps. And the last time we went to Virginia Beach, we had this completely inedible seafood buffet that was overpriced. You had to pay for soda refills for pete's sake. But, M wanted crab legs. I looked through the hotel restaurant guide and couldn't decide on what sounded good so we asked the guy at the front desk for a recommendation. He immediately named this seafood buffet and I mentally groaned. But, he promised it was good so we tried it out. IT WAS GOOD! Talk about being shocked. And the funny part...M ate FIVE sets of crab legs and that's not to mention the crawfish, shrimp, scallops, and other stuff she ate too. And people try to claim I don't feed that child enough, lol. And the really funny part is that we got to pay the child price for her, heheh. Little did they know that she can pack away the seafood. She ate more than both me and C. The three of us also tried something new: softshell crab. It was...ummm...good. Alright. None of could get past what it was to eat it so we didn't eat it. Sue me.

After all that, we hit the hotel for the night in total exhaustion.

Sunday, after breakfast, we decided to go ahead and start off for the Outer Banks. There, we went down through Kitty Hawk to Kill Devil Hills where we saw the Wright Brothers National Memorial. That was fun. It was a lot of walking but knowing the history made it neat. Plus, having grown up in Ohio and in the Dayton area where the Wright Brothers are from made it all the more special. Kind of like book ends. From there we drove down to Jockey's Ridge State Park where the tallest sand dunes on the east coast are located. That was pretty cool. Then we drove home through Nags Head to Roanoke Island and Manteo.

All in all, it was a good time. The weather on Sunday was perfect, the kids were well behaved, and we didn't have to worry about the dogs destroying the house. The one downer is that I forgot my digital camera. I really could have kicked myself. But, we bought a disposable so I'll have pictures eventually but I have to get them developed. I have no idea who has good picture developing. I also have a few pictures that I took with my cell but the quality won't be that good. See what I mean?

That's the view from the top of the Wright Bros. Memorial.

Hittin' the Road

We'll be leaving tomorrow morning for our trip. I'm SO excited. And the really good thing is that it's only a three hour drive so we don't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn as we normally would for a road trip. I'll do my best to take lots of pictures to post next week sometime.

In the meantime, I've been cleaning like a fiend. I always do this before we go anywhere. I like to come home to a spotless house whenever we go away for more than a day. This time might be a little different, however, since we're going to have L and P staying here with the dogs.

Funny thing...I have the stereo on pretty loud while I'm cleaning. It makes the cleaning go faster. Know what I'm saying? So anyway, I have the music up loud and I have forgotten that the kids get out of school early today. I wander down the hall to throw something away and I hear the dogs scratching at the door. I go to look and there's the girls with the postal carrier, lol. Oops. M said they had been knocking for about ten minutes, heheh. I'm a bad mom.

I'm off. I hope everyone has a great weekend and for those of you that get Monday off, enjoy the long weekend. Hugs and stuff.

Thursday Meme

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

Do you have “issues” with too much profanity or overly explicit (ahem) “romantic” scenes in books? Or do you take them in stride? Have issues like these ever caused you to close a book? Or do you go looking for more exactly like them? (grin)

Profanity and sex scenes in books don't offend me at all. I've never read any erotica before though just your regular, run of the mill romances. The only time that sex and language offends me is when my kids are exposed to it and they don't read my books, lol.

Do I go looking for it? Nope, not really. I've heard about Sunny's books from a message board that I read regularly and have looked for them, never found them, and didn't worry too much about it.

There are enough things in the world today to get your panties in a twist about that I don't sweat the R rated content of the novels that I read.

Much to Look Forward To

I have exciting news. One won't actually be news unless you don't pay attention to my events thing on the right.

First, we're going to Virginia Beach this weekend. I am so looking forward to going. We're going to go to a festival, the botanical gardens, the zoo, and I don't know what else while we're there. What makes it even more fun is that we're going to drive home through the Outer Banks. Of the four of us, M is the only one that's been to the Outer Banks because she went last year on a school field trip. So, I'm totally excited about this trip.

Secondly, and this is my biggie, in November, I'm going to a Nora Roberts book signing in South Carolina!! She's on a book tour to promote her latest In Death book which I'll get at the signing and she'll, of course, sign if for me. I CAN'T WAIT!! And what's more is that I've sorta turned it into a getaway for a friend of mine and myself. Originally, C, the girls, and I were going to go until I found out that it's not just a book signing but an event that will take at least an hour and a half and you can't get in without a ticket. I didn't want to buy the girls a ticket since they could care less about Nora Roberts and C doesn't read her books either, heheh. So, I got to talking with a friend of mine who I turned onto the In Death books and it turns out she can go so we're driving down together and leaving the men with the kids. Woot woot!!

I can't wait!

Baseball

One last thing. The Padres got a raw-freaking-deal last night. Matt Holiday DIDN'T TOUCH THE PLATE!!!! And Trevor Hoffman would've struck out the next two at bat. FRICK! That game should've gone into the 14th inning asswads. FRICK!

The New Television Season

This is a very long post so get your popcorn and hang on for the ride.

Is it just me or are there a lot of new television shows that are actually good this year? I've been enjoying quite a few of them the past couple of weeks. Too many in fact. Returning shows that I like combined with the new ones, two DVR's might not be enough. I already know that I watch waaaay too much tv but it's a compulsion and I don't wish to get better so keep your meds to yourself.


Here's a list of new shows that I'm giving a chance:


1. Chuck. It's quirky and silly but you can't help but wonder what's going to happen to Chuck, our unlikely hero.


2. Journeyman. I was leery of the premise of the show. Time traveler? Come on. But I watched it anyway because I love the lead man, Kevin McKidd formerly on HBO's Rome which I liked also. So far, I'm not disappointed. It's a little bit sci-fi, a little bit romance, a little bit feel good drama.


3. Back to You. Had to watch this one because of Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. I like the story lines and it's funny but I have a hard time looking at Kelsey Grammer and not see Frasier Crane. It doesn't help that he talks the same, has the same mannerisms, and he has the same pompous attitude that I was used to seeing on Frasier Crane for twenty years. As for Patricia Heaton, I have to wonder if she's a bitch in real life because she plays the part so well. Both on Everybody Loves Raymond and now on Back to You she's hard to like, imo. But I'm willing to give this show more of a chance just because of my loyalty to Grammer.

4. Private Practice. This one is a given. Of course I was going to watch this one being the huge Grey's Anatomy fan that I am. I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this show as much as I do. I was also surprised that Addison isn't as much the main character as I thought she'd be since the show was spun off of her Grey's character. All that being said, I'll be shocked if this show goes the long haul. I think it'll make it through the whole '07-'08 season because of Shonda Rhimes and maybe even into next season, but is this one going to be a Friends, Frasier, or ER? Nope. I don't think so.

5. Dirty, Sexy, Money. I confess, I checked this one out because the critics said to do so. Oh. And I LOVE Donald Sutherland. Do I like it? The jury's still out on that one. The first episode didn't even have a point until the last five minutes. But I'm intrigued enough to give it another shot this week.

6. Big Shots. This is one that C wanted to watch so I figured what the heck. It's not that bad but they seem to be trying to make the guys on the show as seedy as they possibly can. Do men really sit around poolside sharing their infidelities and laughing about it? I should hope not. Am I watching this week? We'll see if my DVR has room. If not, it's out.

New shows I still want to try out and are waiting for me anxiously on my DVR:

1. Cane. Reason for wanting to watch: I've always liked Hector Elizondo and I don't mind Jimmy Smits.

2. Carpoolers. Reason for wanting to watch: It looks funny in the commercials and there aren't very many comedies on tv these days.

3. Pushing Daisies. Reason for wanting to watch: a.) It has an unusual premise, b.) Digby is in the list of characters, c.) The critics like it.

4. Life. Reason for wanting to watch: I like Adam Arkin and it just sounds interesting.

5. Moonlight. Reason for wanting to watch: I like the premise. It's vampires. And I missed the first episode but could download it for free on iTunes. What more do you need?

Returning shows that I LOVE:

1. Prison Break. I'm disappointed that Sarah Callies, Dr. Sara Tancredi, didn't return to the show this season. There's no word on if they're going to recast her character or just kill her off yet but I'm not sure what my preference would be. Other than that, this season so far is awesome. Love it. Plus, I just like looking at Wentworth Miller.

2. Two and a Half Men. I don't know how those writers keep coming up with such hilarious story lines but I laugh myself silly at each episode. Why they syndicated it after only four seasons to rerun is beyond me. It's too soon imo.

3. Bones. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this show. I was so glad to see Zach come back from Iraq. Whoo! That was a relief. It was funny watching Brennen try to find his replacement though, heheh.

4. ER. I've been a loyal fan since day one. I think the reason why this show has been able to stay on the air so long is that it reinvents itself constantly. Doctors are a dime a dozen and with each new one in and old one out, it creates a different atmosphere and thus, a new show. If you were to watch an episode from season 1 and one from this year, you wouldn't even think it's the same show. It's had it's ups and downs over the 13 years but overall, it's still a good show. I miss Carter.

5. Men in Trees. I really like the quirkiness of this show. I had my doubts it'd be any good at first because I really don't like Anne Heche, but she's good on here and I can't wait for the new episodes to air starting on the 12th.

6. Shark. One of the best lawyer shows imo. Sebastian Stark is such an ass that you have to love him. I was glad that Casey left the show though. There was just something about him that I didn't like. Maybe he was too much of a pretty boy or something. And I was thrilled that Jeri Ryan is going to continue on the show. I LOVE her.

And lastly...

7. Grey's Anatomy. You already know I'm a fanatic about this show. Primetime soap opera/medical drama series at it's best. There's too much to say about this show. I just love it to death. Fun times.


And that's it. Well, at least for the major networks. I didn't even list the shows I watch on TBS, TNT, HBO, etc. (I'll blog about them later.) Like I said, I watch waaaay too much tv and the DVR is the best invention of the modern world. That's not my opinion, that's fact. It's a good thing that I'm not a Law and Order or CSI fan. There aren't enough hours in the week for what I already like plus all of those shows.

Wanna Hear?

Something funny? I got a hit on my blog today from both USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union. I guess they wanted to see if random bloggers were saying bad things about them. Funnily enough, I have nothing bad to say about either of them. I've been banking with them since 1998 and have never had a problem. How often can you say that about a bank?

Wanna See?

I thought it would be fun to post a couple pictures of my desk area. It is, after all, where I blog from and where I spend most of my free time. Sadly enough. So, here are two angles. I think it's pretty much self explanatory but feel free to ask questions.

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

We had the weirdest bank experience today. We do our primary banking with USAA but we keep a savings account with Navy Federal Credit Union because sometimes you need to have a bank you can physically go to and transact business. I'm not even sure USAA Bank has a building and if they do, I have no idea where it would be.

So anyway, we went to the new Navy Fed in Jacksonville to deposit some things. We go in (because I have long since forgotten my ATM number) and there is a wall of what looks to be ATM machines. So we go back to the receptionist lady and I tell her that I need an actual person because I don't know my ATM number. She replies that there are real people behind the machines and to go ahead and wait in line. After C proceeds to make a scene about how weird the whole thing is, we get our turn and go up to the machines. A voice out of nowhere greets me and I pick up the handset (which has an anti-microbial agent in it and is disinfected daily, just so ya know) because I was carefully watching the patrons ahead of me to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do, and talk to The Voice. She asks me what I need, I respond, and she tells me to put my deposit with a photo I.D. in the little tube thingy and she'll be with me shortly. How? How is she supposed to be with me shortly when I'm at a machine and talking on a phone?? So, I sign my deposits, put them and my I.D. in the tubey thing, push the button, and it's sucked up into who knows where. After a relatively short wait, The Voice tells me to have a nice day, the little t.v. screen in front of me comes on and I can see some woman on it, and the tubey thing slides back down from the Unknown Banking Universe with my receipt and my I.D.

I'm telling you. It was straight out of one of my In Death books. I was impressed with the technology of it and C was just weirded out. Are all banks like this? This is the first time that I've been inside a bank in years. I do all my transactions online for the most part. Where did the bank tellers go??

Happy Friday

Friday's here!. C went back to work at noon today so my phone lines are open once again. It's amazing how much peace and quiet you can have when you vow not to answer your phone.

Now that the peace is over, we're going to our former house guest's new house tonight for dinner. Anytime that I don't have to cook is good with me. And while I like L and P, they wouldn't know what peaceful is if it slapped them in the face.

As for me, I'm still reading the Dorian Gray book. Like I said, it's a slow read for me. Oscar Wilde was certainly in love with his own words. I'm also playing major catch up with my homework. I'm really behind in algebra and my business class. But I'm up to speed in both of my writing classes.

Lastly: Men. Are. Infants. I often wonder why I'm not a lesbian.

Thursday Meme

Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Buy a Friend a Book Week is October 1-7 (as well as the first weeks of January, April, and July). During this week, you’re encouraged to buy a friend a book for no good reason. Not for their birthday, not because it’s a holiday, not to cheer them up–just because it’s a book.

What book would you choose to give to a friend and why?

And, if you’re feeling generous enough–head on over to Amazon and actually send one on its way!

Hmm. This one is a head scratcher. I'd buy L Forever Odd by Dean Koontz because she's in the middle of reading Odd Thomas which she stole off of my bookshelf while she was staying with me. And if none of my other book reading friends had read them, I'd buy everyone else Odd Thomas because it's such a good series and they'd appeal to both men and women IMO.

Autumn

You Are Apple Cider

Smooth and comforting. But downright nasty when cold.

What Part of Fall Are You?

Moving On

So much for a debate. Now. I'm moving on.

C is on leave for most of this week. He goes back to work at noon on Friday. In the meantime, we are not taking calls, receiving visitors, or going visiting. We want peace, quiet, and togetherness. I'm sick of being around and talking to people every stinking day of the week. And 90% of phone calls consist of bad news, people whining, or people asking for favors, and I'm not saying that I'm not exempt from this statistic. This isn't the kind of interaction I need right now. Migraines, high blood pressure, and indigestion have become my companions once again due to idiots beyond my control. It's gotten to the point where I have finally made myself a doctor's appointment which, if you know me, is extreme. And about the doctor...

C has been a Marine for ten years now (he had his ten year anniversary on the 21st in case you were interested). In that time, I have never had a Navy doctor as my primary care manager. I've always seen civilian doctors. I guess that I should consider myself lucky that we lived in San Diego for so long because you can't do that here at this base unless you get special permission from your spouse's command. Anyway, I've been assigned a PCM as have the rest of my family. Get this: She's deployed so I can't even see her. I have to see her replacement. Wouldn't it be easier to just let me pick my own civilian doctor who wouldn't be leaving the country for a minimum of 6 months at a time??? I hate Tricare.

And I'm in a bad mood so that's it for today.

???

What? No other comments?

Higher Education = Higher Status??

I'm curious. Does a college degree give a person the right to feel or be superior to those who don't have one? Does a college degree automatically entitle you to unearned respect? Does it even mean that you know more than a person who doesn't posses a degree?

To my knowledge (no pun intended, lol), none of my friends have a degree except for one. So, if a degree means that you are better than someone without one, you deserve more respect, and you're smarter than someone without one, I guess I'll just have to get myself a "better" class of friends in a couple years, right? Maybe I should start working on my superiority complex now so that it'll be fully developed in two years.

Comments?

Being a Good Friend

I had the most rude awakening this morning. I heard loud banging, loud enough it was shaking my house. I get up thinking that C had locked himself out of the house (it's happened before) but the car was already gone. After checking all the doors and windows, I can't find anything out of the ordinary. Then I hear M and I go into her room and she tells me that it was Hannah trying to get out of her room cuz she had to go outside. Sheesh!! By this point, I'm wide awake so I don't bother going back to bed.

Now, I'm dressed in my most rattiest clothes waiting for L, my ex-house (notice the "ex") guest to pick me up so that I can go to her new house and help her dig in her yard. You may or may not remember, but I hate yard work. I hate it to the point I pay someone else to care for my own yard. I had even planned on begging off since I'm tired but when she called to confirm, I didn't have the heart.

Yep. That's me. Good friend. Willing to sacrifice some much needed sleep, muscles that aren't sore, and time that could be spent catching up on my homework. Oh. And to top it off, I'm going to have to work with glass stuck in my thumb. We had a cooking incident the other night. My Pyrex baking dish exploded. I'm done cooking with anything and everything made of glass.

Gotta go. L will be here any minute.

Thursday Meme

Thursday's meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday

Imagine that everything is going just swimmingly. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all’s right with the world. You’re practically bouncing from health and have money in your pocket. The kids are playing and laughing, the puppy is chewing in the cutest possible manner on an officially-sanctioned chew toy, and in between moments of laughter for pure joy, you pick up a book to read . . .
What is it?

I'd pick up whatever I had on hand that I hadn't read yet. Reading a good book would just add to my good mood. The only difference between a rainy day read and a sunny day read is that on a sunny day I might be in the mood to take my book out onto my deck to read in the sunshine instead of sitting in the house.

Do You Hear That?

That is the sound of peacefulness and quiet. The only sounds I can hear right now are birds chirping, the leaves rustling in a light breeze, Hannah snoring, and the sound of me tapping away at my keyboard. It's amazing.

I posted my first two summary/reviews as you can see. I started my third book last night, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde. This one is going to take me a bit longer to get through because of the historical language in it but I've been wanting to read it for ages. After that is Lisey's Story by King. That's the only book on my list that I don't currently own so I'm gonna have to hit the bookstore. Shame, lol.

In other news...I got an A on my first writing assignment for this semester. Yay! Although I don't have my grade back, I know that I got 100% on my first algebra quiz. Double yay!! And I'm getting ready to register for the spring semester. I'm pretty sure that I know what I want to take but I'm gonna think on it a day or two before I make my final decision.

R.I.P. Book Review #2

Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell

I am an avid Patricia Cornwell fan. I'm in the midst of reading the Kay Scarpetta series from beginning to end, so for this challenge I picked the next book on my list, #7, Cause of Death.

First, let me start off by saying that I enjoyed this installment of the Kay Scarpetta series. Cornwell writes Kay's character so that the reader becomes involved and cares what happens to her. Her story lines are also believable. Scary, but believable. The ending had me holding my breath.

All that being said, the nuances between Kay and her niece were tedious to read. Lucy, in my opinion, is a brat and I have a hard time feeling sorry for her. Maybe it's too early in the series for me to form an accurate opinion of Lucy, but at this point, I skim through the parts of the story that include her.

The story itself was intriguing. It's hard to comment too much about the story without giving away the plot. Needless to say, this book has earned a spot on my bookshelf with the rest of the series.

R.I.P. Book Review #1

The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

This is only the second book of Hamilton's that I have read to date. I find it amazing that she can write about zombies, vampires, and ghouls and not make it sound like a really bad B movie.

In The Laughing Corpse, Anita Blake is approached by a potential client to raise a zombie. This is pretty typical, if you can call zombie-raising typical, work for Anita but this is not a "normal" zombie. She would have to sacrifice a "hornless goat" which is a human sacrifice in layman's terms. Refusing to do so, she is relentlessly pursued and harassed (as only Anita can be) to perform this task by a man who cannot understand how someone would turn down 1.5 million dollars.

Meanwhile, Anita is working with the St. Louis police in an effort to solve the brutal slayings of two different families. These deaths are unlike any that she has seen before in their gruesomeness and it pushes Anita to her limit.

On another tangent, Anita is summoned by the new vamp leader of St. Louis. Finding him almost irresistibly attractive, Anita finds herself needing his help while at the same time, hating him and everything that he is.

As a guilty pleasure read, I rate this book a 9 out of 10. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I cannot wait to get my eager hands on the third installment of the Anita Blake series.

Keep on Keeping On

We're plodding along here in my neck of the woods. The "guests" are still here. I think they're leaving on the 20th. We've had our moments but overall, it's not been so bad. I threw a shoe across the room tonight but it was only a Croc so I don't think it should count.

I've also been trying to type up my review of my first R.I.P. book that I finished two days ago. I've added to my post twice and still don't have it finished. I'm almost done with the second book on my list. Yay! I stay up until 1 am or later and get up about an hour or so before everyone else to get them read, but I'm doing it. And, I enjoy the quiet reading time that I get to myself in this chaotic existence of mine.

Fall is nipping at my ankles. It's been in the mid to low 70's this week with overnight lows in the 50's. It's nice in that I can turn off my a/c but I hate it because summer is over and that's my favorite time of the year. It went by way too fast this year.

I think people are waiting on me to get off of here so that they can go to bed, so I'm off. Thanks for bearing with me.

Tightly Wound

That would describe me these days. I have a very short fuse these days. Very short. I flew off the handle last night over a spilled Pepsi and everyone hid out by going to bed at 9:30 lmao. Yeah. I can laugh about it the next day but, MAN!! I was so freaking mad about it last night. Having to take care of two extra people is so stressful. And it doesn't help that they are easy going and don't seem to get mad about anything. I spend most of the day walking around like Miss Suzy Sunshine and the nights trying not to explode from the pressure.

C and I both blew off some steam by destroying the house when they got home from work yesterday. I should have taken pictures cuz it was freaking funny. Books, DVD's, and clothes were...disturbed (heheh).

I feel like a freaking crazy person. Like I'm bipolar or something. Out of control. I just can't wait for them to move into their house and for my life to get back to normal. Whatever the hell "normal" is. I don't even remember.

Fun Day

L and I spent the day at the beach today. It was pure bliss going there without the kids (even though my kids are awesome at the beach) and with someone who only wanted to lay on the sand and read a good book. We also hit a local beach dive for some lunch. Quiet. Peaceful. Ahhh.

Oh. And speaking of books...I put down Wicked and have started one of the books on my R.I.P. list. I had considered giving it up because I'm swamped with people and with work, but I figure I can give it an hour or two a night after everyone goes to sleep and I'm done with school work for the day.

Now, I'm off to mediate an argument. It's nonstop at my house these days.

My Dogs...Pay Attention Here

This is what I have to say about my dogs, or anybody's dogs for that matter. Or any pets at all. This is my opinion and I stand by every word. And you can bite me if you disagree. Where this issue is concerned, I don't care what anyone else's opinions are. Inside my house, I have the last word.

Pets should be more than just sacks of fur. You shouldn't get a dog and then tie it up in your backyard forever never to interact with them again. We have neighbors that have a couple dogs and they keep them tied up in the woods out behind their house, regardless of the weather or the time of day. What is the point of having them at all? I don't get that.

In my house, our dogs are as much a part of our family as anybody could be. As a matter of fact, the hierarchy would go:

1. C and Me.
2. The Girls.
3. The Dogs.
4. Everybody else.

If you come into my house, you respect my dogs and their place in our home or get the hell out and don't come back. They have fur and shed, they slobber, they get wet when you put them out in a tropical storm and come in smelling like wet dogs, they fart, they poop, and they smell when they need a bath. They're mammals. Deal with it.

If you know us, you know we have dogs. If you have an issue with any of the above mentioned, don't come to my house. You aren't welcome. Seriously. You...Are...Not...Welcome.

Our dogs love us regardless of our moods, how we smell, whether or not I'm wearing makeup, whether C is in uniform or not, and whether or not the girls are misbehaving. They love us unconditionally, they don't judge, and they give comfort whenever we need it. This is more than I can say for any other living being on the earth. If this makes me a fanatic, or OCD, or insane, then so be it. I could care less.

Storm? What Storm?

Yeah. So the first tropical storm of the season for North Carolina is a big "so what". We've had tropical storm warnings for two days now and this storm is no different than the other thunderstorms we've had all summer. It's not even the big excitement for the day. Wanna know what was?

Yesterday, C and I took the car in for an oil change at the Jiffy Lube. It cost $38 and some change and took about 25 minutes or so. This morning, we all load up in our cars to go out for breakfast with L and P following us in their car cuz they didn't know the way. They saw something fly out from underneath our car and a trail of liquid going down the street. About the same time, C noticed the oil light come on in our car. The freaking Jiffy Lube people put the wrong size oil filter on our car, it flew off, and we drained 4 1/2 quarts of oil in the street. Luckily, we were only half a block from the house so C and P pushed the car back to our house while I steered. Jiffy Lube refunded us for the oil change and provided me with 5 quarts of oil and a new oil filter...The right size this time. C put the new filter on and added the new oil in about 5 minutes in our driveway. We won't be going back. Also lucky for us was that we weren't on the interstate when it happened because had we been driving at 70-75 miles an hour when the oil filter fell off could've resulted in someone else being hit with the filter and it would have blown the engine up. Incompetence. I swear.

They're Heeerre!

My out-of-town guests are finally here to stay at my house for the next two weeks or so. It's been an interesting day already and the weekend promises to be even more so.

L, my friend, is a force to be reckoned with. She's already commanded that C and her husband, P, will be taking both of our vehicles for an oil change right after they go for a morning run. After that, we're taking the kids to play putt putt golf. Then after that, she has decided that the men will be taking M and S to a birthday party while she and I go commissary shopping. After all that, I'm not sure what we're doing. It's kind of nice having someone make all the decisions, lmao.

We're also awaiting the first storm of the season to hit the Carolinas. It's no big deal. The Weather Channel said it probably won't even make tropical storm status but we need the rain desperately so we'll take what we can get. I'm hoping that this non-storm won't result in the commissary being packed with people trying to stock up on suppllies. I have a feeling that it's wishful thinking though.

So, that's Friday in a very condensed nutshell. I gotta get some Algebra done. Heaven help me.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

So, this is my question to you–are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?
Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

I am definitely not a Goldilocks type of reader. I can pick up a book and read it anytime, anywhere...if they are books that I'm reading for pleasure. If I'm reading assigned reading for a class, I need quiet because I can't concentrate and I won't remember what I read. Sometimes I'll put classical music on for background noise.

If I'm reading a novel, everything else ceases to exist, so that noises, the kids, dogs, husband, everything fades out so that I don't hear it. I think it's a nice talent. My kids and husband would disagree, heheh.

Because I Missed It

And I liked the question. This is the Booking Through Thursday question from last week.

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

Quite a few of my friends and family read as much as I do. I think that my friend, Dana, may even have me beat as to the volume of books read.

In the recent past, I had a "friend" who didn't like to read and never read for pleasure. We aren't friends anymore and not because she didn't read but because we were too different. Since then, I have wondered if I could truly be good friends with someone who didn't like to read because books and reading are so much a part of who I am.

Rough Day

My day. Started out good enough. Ya know. Typical weekday morning with getting the kids up, getting them ready for school, and driving them to school. No big deal. We get home (C's been on leave) and I let the dogs outside to do their business. C left to go to the library while I stayed home and read my grammar book. A bit later, C gets home and asks me where the dogs are and I immediately panic knowing that they can't possibly still be in the backyard after being quiet all this time (2 hours have gone by since I let them out). Sure enough, I look out back and the side gate is open and the dogs are nowhere to be seen. The moron lawn care guy didn't lock the gate after mowing last Monday while we were in Ohio. The yard looked great, by the way.

C and I set into immediate action, grab the car keys, and hit the road. We drove around our neighborhood and over to the girls' school to see if they tried following them to school. I'm channeling Lassie at this point. No luck. So we go home and I printed up some cards with our names, phone numbers, and the dogs names on them and I called the town hall and the police department to report them missing. I'm crying, worrying about having to tell the girls that their dogs are gone. C and I figured that someone had dog-napped them. While I'm printing, crying, and phoning, C hiked out to the woods by our house to see if he could find them. No luck there either.

Next, we decided to drive over to the ritzy part of our neighborhood where M's friends live and the dogs have been before to see if they might have decided to go for a visit. We see the mail carrier and ask him if he's seen any boxers running around. Turns out, he'd seen them 15 minutes prior just up the way from where we were. We speed up the road to where the houses are ginormous and have their own docks on the river, shouting BAILEY!! and HANNAH!! and COOKIES!! all the way. We see a contractor walking around and stop to ask him if he's seen our escape artists and sure enough, he'd seen them right over the hill about 5 minutes ago. We decide to park the car and hoof it for a bit but alas, no go again. We headed back to the car to circle the block a few times and finally we hear someone yelling, "I have your dogs!" I immediately speed off in the direction of the voice and low and behold!! There are Bailey and Hannah in the dog flesh looking frothy and worn out from their adventures and with less than an hour to spare before the girls get out of school. Bailey has enough doggie sense to look ashamed and guilty while Hannah's just excited to see us. We got them home and they immediately crashed on the floor completely exhausted. Needless to say, they are grounded for life. They were missing for about 5 hours altogether and we found them about a mile from our house. C and I both agree that the only thing scarier would be if the girls turned up missing. We love our dogs.

The Saddle Fell Off

It turns out that getting back into my normal routine and habits isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Being sick, getting the girls back into school after missing the first week, and getting myself and C ready for our classes has really thrown me for a loop. We ran errands from 7:50 this morning until 4:30 this afternoon and we still didn't get everything done. Bacon, the guinea pig, is still at the guinea pig sitter. We can't seem to synchronize our schedules so that he can come home. Our out of town guests arrived this evening around 7-something. Turns out that they'll be staying with us from the 6th until about the 20th. Good thing I like them. And it's just been pure craziness. I might end up not being able to do the R.I.P. challenge after all. When I joined, I hadn't planned on an out-of-state funeral which completely disrupted everything. I'm feeling...bombarded from all sides. I'm getting ready to take some nighttime cold medicine and go to bed.

Did You Miss Me?

We're finally home. We left Ohio yesterday but broke the drive up into two days because I'm not feeling well. Big surprise. I get sick every time I go to Ohio. Anyway...

I have so much to say but I'm just giving a quickie for right now. I'm pretty tired and I have TONS to do tonight. The girls start back to school tomorrow (a week late because of the funeral) and C and I start our fall semester tomorrow too. Also, we have friends coming in from out of state tomorrow evening. I don't know how I'm going to stay sane this week. It should be interesting.

I missed my blog sadly enough. I also missed reading everyone else's blogs. I had over a hundred e-mails to sort through and I don't know how many blog postings. C and I managed to get online a handful of times while in Ohio but only to check our grades and to check our bank account.

So, I promise to give the deets of our trip tomorrow or soon thereafter. Bear with me.

Bad News

We had a tragic death in our family today. We'll be doing a bit of travelling to attend the funeral in the upcoming week. Aside from the RIP post that I had saved for tomorrow but am posting today instead, updates will be made when I get back.



C, the girls, and I are in shock but okay.



Take care and I'll post when I post.

R.I.P. Reading Challenge

I have decided to take on a reading challenge. I think I will be able to fit it in since it is two months long. I can read 4 books in as many days under normal circumstances. A full course load might provide an additional challenge, but what the hay.
This challenge is provided by Stainless Steel Droppings. I found it from reading some fellow book bloggers' blogs and it sounded fun and interesting. The following outlines the rules which can be found at the afore mentioned website along with a more detailed description of the challenge and the books one might choose for the challenge:

Peril the First:
Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

Peril the Second (Otherwise known as the Obese Book Peril):
As you may know, some books are scary not just because of their subject matter but because of their size. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke is 737 pages of small type, for example, and Gordon Dahlquist’s Glass Books of the Dream Eaters is 637 pages long with type so miniscule it makes Strange’s look like large print!
For this peril simply read two weighty tomes during the challenge period.

Peril the Third:
If you think you have it in you, this third choice of perils is the Scary Sandwich Peril…choose two large books like those described in Peril the Second and read a smaller qualifying tale in between.

Peril the Fourth (Otherwise known as Just a Bit of Peril):
Some of you wonderful readers, or would-be readers, may have a tendency to shy away from this genre, thinking it is just not your cup of poisoned tea. However, it wouldn’t be a challenge if I wasn’t challenging you.
This peril is for those of you who want to take a chance. Simply choose one book that you feel meets the criteria for Readers Imbibing Peril II and, well, imbibe it!

Additional Perils:
For those of you who have never done so, or want those who want to do so again, choose one or more of the following books to read after you have completed your other peril of choice:

1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
2. A collection of tales by Edgar Allan Poe
3. The Mystery of the Sea by Bram Stoker
4. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

I'm, of course, going to choose Peril the First and for that peril I choose to read:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wild
Lisey's Story by Stephen King
Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell
The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

For the Additional Perils I choose:

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

I reserve the right to add to this list during the challenge period but will, at the very least, read the books I have listed. I'm not sure if Artemis Fowl, Stardust, and Wicked qualify for the challenge of not.



It would be really great and I would really love it if some of my readers would join me for this challenge. It’s perfect for the season and who doesn’t love a good book to make them jump at small noises in the night? If you do decide to accept the R.I.P challenge, be sure and leave me a comment so that I know.

Book Stuff

I ordered some books from Barnes and Noble to catch up on my summer reading. They should be here today and I'm very excited. I LOVE getting new books. While I was waiting, I picked up Wicked again by Gregory Maguire. It's the story of the Wicked Witch of the West just in case you live in a cave and haven't heard of the book and/or the Broadway musical based on the book. I tried reading it a couple years ago and didn't get out of the first chapter. After hearing rave reviews from actual people and not just critics, I decided to try it again and I'm actually enjoying it this time around. I have to wonder what L. Frank Baum would have thought about Maguire's work.

My book list from B&N:

Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell
The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Other books I'm reading this summer:

The Reagan Diaries
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Ahhh. It's nice to have time to read again. When I read non-school books during the semester, I feel guilty.

It's Friday

I just finished interviewing a guy to take care of our lawn. I interviewed another one yesterday. Lawn care is such a scam, but we're lazy about keeping up with it. You could lose small children and animals in our yard right now. It's a mess. C and I are often at odds about the yard which is another reason I'm hiring someone to do it. He says he doesn't always have the opportunity to do it (read that to mean that he doesn't feel like doing it on the weekends or after work) and why don't I get out there and do it. I say I do everything else inside the house, I take care of the dogs' needs, the girls' needs, and car needs, so he can do the yard (read that to say bitch, bitch, bitch, nag, nag, nag). See what I'm saying? So, this is a solution we can both live with.

In other matters, C has decided to sell his bike. I have such mixed feelings about it. We're going to use the money to beef up our investment accounts because of the whole Vermont house, inconsistent rent payments deal. But at the same time, this means we'll only have one vehicle and I HATE that. It makes me feel like a child. I always have to make elaborate plans in order to have the car and it's a pain. (Bitch, bitch, whine) To give you an idea on why he can part with it so easily...He bought it new in 2004. He rode it a handful of times while we lived in VT because of his work schedule, the weather, and the fact that he didn't have a motorcycle endorsement on his license. As a result, it only has 1600 miles on it. Whichever guy at work that he's selling it to is getting a practically brand new bike and we can sell it for more than it's average resale value. Blah.

And I'm freaking tired. Recently, I've been staying up until around 2 am and getting up with C in the morning. This means I'm getting about 3 1/2 hours of sleep a night. At least it'll make getting up with the girls in the morning when school starts on Monday easier.

Thursday Meme

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

When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

My parents have been divorced since the dark ages (read that to be that I don't remember them being married) and I lived with my mom until the age of 12. She was an avid reader when I was little. Nowadays, not so much. However, my dad reads a lot too. I'm not really sure who influenced my love of reading more, but I would probably say my parents had an equal share. My mom introduced me to Stephen King and my dad introduced me to Michael Shaara and we both love Harry Potter. The rest of the authors that I love, I found myself along the way. I'm pretty sure my brother likes to read too and I know my sister does when she can find the time. I don't think any of them read like I do though. When it comes to discussing books, my dad would come in first and my sister second. Sometimes I'll call my dad just to tell him about a book that I've just read because I know he'll be able to discuss the topic even if he hasn't read the book. And my sister and I both love J.D. Robb's In Death series. Since she's on #5 (I think) and I've read all the one's that have been published to date, I have to be careful not to give anything away to her so we don't discuss them very often.

OH! OH! My aunt Carla loves to read. I almost forgot about her. I remember going to her house as a teenager and borrowing her romances from shelves completely overflowing of books. When I see my shelves shoved full to exploding with my books, I always think about her, lol. I suppose that would be my "family oriented" memory of books. I don't really have any others.

What's really sad to me is that neither one of my girls seem to like to read for fun. They're young, so maybe it'll come eventually, but I don't see any signs of it yet. The one thing from me that I wanted my girls to inherit is my love of reading. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Drawing a Blank

I have nothing to say today. I've been completely obsessed with my renter dilemma, playing The Sims 2 (I just got Seasons and Pets as a reward for finishing the semester, heheh), and being a slug. All of that makes the pool of interesting topics very shallow. It might even be suffering a drought. At least I'll have the Thursday Meme tomorrow and I won't have to worry about figuring out what to say on my own. :/

Workplace Hangout

This is a topic I've had in the back of my mind for about six months now. Basically, since C has gotten into the swing of things at his new office.

Is a person's office, shop, cubicle, or what have you a place to hang out? Is it proper for spouses to just drop by because they were in the area?

C's Marines have been catching flack because their significant others like to walk into the shop like they own the place even though much of it is dangerous due to the nature of the work being done there. It's one thing to stop by to pick your spouse up for lunch or in an emergency type of situation but it's another to stop by to shoot the shite. Know what I'm saying? I don't even call C at work unless it's urgent. I may text him from time to time, however, but I consider that to be unobtrusive and can be ignored if necessary. Maybe I'm just making excuses for myself though.

My new friend wanted to stop by the shop because her husband is going to be working there too so she wanted to see what it was like and to meet everyone. I told her that I don't do that and she looked at me like I had grown three heads. I've always thought that this is unprofessional but since C has been a Marine for forever, I don't really have much to compare it to. Is this sort of thing acceptable in a "normal" job? I've always gotten the impression that it's more acceptable in the Marine Corps than it would be in the real world.



And if any of my military wife reader's do this and think I'm being bitchy or singling them out, I'm not and I had no idea that you do that and think it's nifty. This is just my opinion.

And the Saga Continues

JMT's rent check finally arrived via FedEx overnight priority mail, heheh. It didn't include any late fees however. Wanna know why? Because she feels that she doesn't owe a late fee because according to her bank, I never attempted to cash it. Welllllll, I have a letter and copies of the check verifying the dates that I tried to deposit it and the reason it was returned. This has resulted in me sending a not-so-nice e-mail with the evidence attached to her. I think she has a lot of nerve trying to say she doesn't owe a late fee. Whatta bitch.

Someone get me a straight jacket, some happy pills, and a padded room. Please.

Tag! I'm It!

Sherry from A Result of Destiny tagged me over the weekend. My in-laws left bright and early this morning so I now have time to take care of it. And we all know how I can't resist a survey.

Four jobs I've had or currently have in my life:
1. I worked at Sears in their photo studio. Working with other people's brats is not my idea of fun.
2. GTE. Well, you young'ins might know it as Verizon, but when I worked there it was still GTE. I hated that job too. I was a billing rep so I had to listen to people yell at me over why they couldn't pay their phone bills. Fun times.
3. My very first job while I was still in high school was a seasonal mall gig. I sold sweatshirts at a kiosk, lol. Funnily enough, I found out years later that C had been scoping me out there before I even knew he existed.
4. SAHM. It's what I do now and what I have done for 11 years. People tell me that my kids are well-behaved so I guess I do an okay job at it.

Four countries I have been to:
1. Mexico. Tijuana, Tecate, and Ensenada to be exact.
2. South Canada, aka, Vermont. Believe me, it was another country. Another planet if you want to get technical.
3. Does the Bahamas count as another country?
4. I need to travel more.

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. The beach.
2. The beach.
3. The beach.
4. The beach.

Four foods I like to eat:
1. Mexican. We discovered an awesome Mexican restaurant over the weekend. Yum!
2. Apple pie.
3. Fresh fruit of any variety.
4. Seafood, especially shrimp, scallops, and crab legs.

Four personal heroes, past or present:
I don't have heroes. I have people that I admire for their intelligence and accomplishments but I don't consider them heroes.

Four books you've just read or are currently reading.
1. Harry Potter 7
2. The Reagan Diaries
3. 12 Sharp
4. Lean Mean 13

*New Question* Riddle me this:
What are your top 4 pet peeves?
1. Slow drivers
2. Lying.
3. People who constantly ask for advice but never listen to it.
4. When someone doesn't know when to call it quits.

Due to rule changing somewhere along the line, here's where you are suppose to add your own new question.

Tag, you're it!
1. Jennifer
2. Jacki
3. Dana
4. I don't know any other regular readers who blog too, lol. Feel free to add yourself.

Fact or Fiction?

I finally got a call from JMT last night. Actually, she had her fiance call me. According to them, they had no idea that their check bounced. And, they've been in Boston all week so that's why she hasn't been returning my calls or picking up her mail. Here's the situation broken down:

• Wednesday, she got a call from the police saying her 9 year old daughter had been sexually assaulted at summer camp. This is why she's in Boston. Who would make up that kind of story?
• She said she had her calls forwarded to her in MA because she's working remotely for her company. If this is true, why is she saying that she didn't know I was trying to get a hold of her for FIVE days when I've left messages at both her home and her work?
• She said that her fiance's parents arrived at her home to check on her dog and the house Thursday night. That's why her phone was off the hook because she's been getting phone calls about her daughter. And that's how she found out that I had been trying to contact her, because they checked her messages. (Hear sarcasm and see my eyebrow raised in disbelief.)
• She says that according to her bank, it looks like I never even tried to cash her check. According to my bank, the check was rejected on her end, not mine. They're sending me a statement to that effect.
• She forwarded me an e-mail from her bank that says the check never came in to them.
• She's overnighting me a money order today that should get here by Monday.

What do I do now? I'm still inclined to boot her out. After 7 months of inconsistent rent payments, I'm seeing a pattern. How understanding am I supposed to be? I just don't know. It's hard to imagine someone would fabricate a story about their child just to have an excuse for not paying your rent. A more feasible story would be: 1.) I didn't get paid on time. 2.) My car broke down and I had to pay for repairs. You know? Stuff like that. But there are so many inconsistencies in the rest of her story that I'm having a hard time believing that they weren't aware that their check had bounced.

I'm sort of at a "wait and see" point. If we evict her and the house doesn't sell right away, C and I will be in a financial bind of significant proportions. But if she continues to live there and doesn't pay her rent, we still have to pay the mortgage and our rent anyway. I was also told by the lawyer I spoke to that Vermont judges aren't inclined to evict people when winter is right around the corner. When I get her money order, I technically don't have a legal reason to evict her and she could fight it and would probably win. Houses sell faster in the spring anyway, lol. I don't think there's a viable solution to this at all.

GEEZ!!

Much to Tell

I'm home from my exams. They weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be. My English exam was looooong but not hard. I had to write a poem, an intro for a creative nonfiction piece, and a short story in addition to regular exam-type questions. It was a LOT of writing.

For my Mythology exam, it was long also in content but the last 12 questions were definition which were easy peezy.

My business exam was crazy. My instructor is out of her flipping gourd. I got all the answers correct as far as the technical part of it went, but then she wanted examples of out the book, examples from real life that were less than 3 years old and she wanted me to map the chapters that the questions were from. It was ridiculous. AND the stupid thing was only 4 questions long, 10 points a piece, and 25% of my grade. I hope to hell I never get her for another class.

But, it's done and I'm glad to have one less thing on my plate.

As for the house deal in Vermont, JMT isn't taking my calls. She's not answering my e-mails. She's not answering her voicemail. And, she's taken to taking her phone off the hook at night. How ridiculous is that?? It's not as if I can jump through the phone and strangle her. I just want to talk for pete's sake and figure out what the freak is going on. And, of course, to ask where the hell my money is at. It looks as if I'm going to have to involve the sheriff after all which I was trying to avoid doing.

And, lastly...My mother-in-law and her husband arrived last night for a visit from Ohio. They took the girls out somewhere so I have the house to myself for a bit. It's nice. Peaceful and quiet. I was also able to have lunch with C after my exams which isn't something we've done since Vermont. Lunch on his lunch hour from work that is. Not have lunch altogether. Heheh.

Now, I'm off to take a nap. I didn't get to sleep until late and I got up with C this morning because I couldn't sleep. I'm beat.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday

One book at a time? Or more than one? If more, are they different types/genres? Or similar?
(We’re talking recreational reading, here—books for work or school don’t really count since they’re not optional.)

This is a funny topic for me. I always make fun of my hubby because at any given time, he's in the middle of 4 or 5 books and I just don't see how he does it. I have book loyalty; I only read one at a time. It's mostly because once I start a book and I really like it, I can't put it down and read it in a day or two anyway. The only exception to this that I can think of is The Reagan Diaries. I've been reading that one off and on since June but it's really easy to do so since it's a diary.

Personally, from my own observations, people that read more than one book at a time do so because they're not really into any of them so it's easy to bounce around or they have a specific purpose for doing so. JMO though.

Considerably Calmer *Update*

But no less panicked and pissed off. I feel better now that we have a plan of attack concerning JMT, our renter. What sucks is that I have to follow Vermont's laws or she would already be out on her ass. Step 1: Mail a certified letter to pay or quit. By Vermont law, I have to give her 14 business days to pay her late rent and all the fees. She's now into us for almost $1500 if you were wondering. Step 2: At the end of the 14 days, regardless of whether or not she sends us the money she owes, I'm mailing out another certified letter which will contain an eviction notice. She has yet to sign a new lease since hers was up July 31st so she's only living in my house on a month to month basis. The next step depends on whether or not she pays us the money she owes, but if she doesn't, Step 3 will be to notify the police that she's passing bad checks which, in the state of Vermont, is a felony offense because they're for over $500, punishable with up to a year in jail, and a $1000 fine. Step 4: List the house for sale and hope for the best. This whole thing has the potential to ruin us financially but what else can we do? I had the worst night's sleep last night that I've had in over 7 months. My hands and feet are swollen which means my blood pressure is high again. And I can't eat which is the only good thing about this. I've been running up my cell minutes trying to reach her and various other people. She had her cell phone disconnected and won't return my calls when I leave messages on her home phone. Big shocker there. She has one certified letter that's been sitting at her post office for 5 days now (we've been having other problems with her for the past 4 months that I didn't want to post about) and another one on the way. I've tried reaching her at work, but I only get her voicemail. I've also been in touch with the rental management company and they're sending me all the background info they gathered on her. I also called a realtor to discuss the housing market in Vermont and the possibility of listing the house. The timing couldn't be worse. Why couldn't her check have bounced on Friday when I wouldn't have found it until after my exams??? This is such a nightmare.

Well, I'm off to the post office to make yet another futile attempt to contact her. Wish me luck.

****UPDATE****

So, I mailed the notice for all the good it'll do me. The first certified letter I sent her, I mailed on 8/7 and it's still sitting in the post office in Vermont. I also talked to a lawyer to make sure that I'm doing all of this correctly and I am. Of course. However, it turns out the the Pay or Quit notice I sent today serves as an eviction notice so all she has is 14 days from receiving the letter to pay or vacate. Receive being the operative word here. Is she refuses to pick up the letters, she hasn't received notice. Legally. My lawyer suggested that I call the sheriff's office and have her served. Are you all believing this? I have to have somebody served and it's not even divorce papers, lol. If this ends up in court, I hope I can get all my post office fees, serving fees, and all other freaking money back. This legal business don't come cheap.

Bad Day

I'm trying to study, right? Well, my sister-in-law calls so I take a break to chat. While chatting, I decided to balance my check book. I log onto my bank account and there is a weird amount of money in my checking account. WHY?!?!?!?! Because my freaking, inconsiderate, idiot, moronic, untrustworthy, freaking, bitch of a tenant bounced her rent check!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm so freaking mad right now that I'm literally shaking. I'm also in the middle of typing up an eviction freaking notice. I HATE PEOPLE!!! I'm so angry that I bounced my keyboard and mouse off of my desk by banging my fists on it and my sister-in-law is probably partially deaf since I was screaming and cussing and she had the misfortune of being on the phone when I discovered this freaking B.S.!!!!!! FREAKING B.S.!!!!!! I'm also on hold with her employer, heheh. If I'm going down, I'm taking her with me. Bitch. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! I blame Vermont. If we had never been in Vermont, this would never have happened. Vermont is like a dog poo that you just can't scape off of your foot. It's a cockroach that crawls out of the dank, dark, recesses of a cesspool to feed just when you think the exterminators have finally eliminated the last one.

I need something to hit or break.

Nose to the Grindstone

I've had my butt in my desk chair and books open as far as the eye can see all day. My business exam has me stressed out most of all. There was a ton of information crammed into the shortened summer semester and I have no idea how I'm going to remember it all. But enough whining.

It was a gorgeous North Carolina day. An abundance of sunshine and temps that didn't make you want to die. I actually sat outside and read my mail today. Then I came back inside and studied some more, lmao. And since that's all I did today, I have absolutely nothing of interest to blog about. Sorry.

Oh. Did anyone watch the meteor shower last night? C and I went out a little after 10 pm eastern time and didn't see anything. The freaking roaches scared me too much to stay outside for too long though. Damn things are as big as small dogs down here. Sheesh.

TGIF Already

I can't believe it's Friday already. This week has positively flown by. The heat is still persisting here. But it's not as bad as yesterday. It's only 95 with a heat index of 116. But you know what? I'd take this heat 365 days a year over one day of winter in Vermont.

I'm in a slight panic right now which is why I'm typing really fast not that you can tell just by reading this, lol. I just found out that my final exams are next week, not the week after like I had thought. I was given false information. I have MUCH studying to do on top of regular assignments. Why instructors need to squeeze the last drops of blood out of us during exam week is beyond me. Is it too much to ask to just be able to study???

As a result of exam week, I'm not promising to be around very much next week. On top of that, my mother-in-law will be arriving on the 16th. Busy, busy week next week.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday

Do you have multiple copies of any of your books?If so, why? Absent-mindedness? You love them that much? First Editions for the shelf, but paperbacks to read?

I have two copies of Syd Field's The Screenwriter's Workbook. Why? Because of an ordering snafu. I used to have duplicate copies of Harry Potter 1,2, & 3 because I bought them first in paperback and then replaced them with hardcover copies. I no longer have them because I think I gave them to my friend's son to read.

If not, why not? Not enough space? Not enough money? Too sensible to do something so foolish?

I don't buy multiple copies of books because my shelves are already overflowing and it would be a waste of money. Is there a need to have more than one copy of a book? If there is, I'm not sure what it would be. I've always considered myself a little OCD where my books are concerned but maybe I'm small-time compared to people who need more than one copy of their beloved books.

Crazy

It's 98 with a heat index of 116.

Ummm. Yeah.

I'm Doing It

Biting the bullet.

Sticking my neck out there.

Taking the leap.

Going for the gold.

Taking a chance.

And most of all...

Sucking it up.



I decided to submit my creative nonfiction to a publisher. I have to submit a piece of my writing to either a publisher or my professor for consideration and I decided to go all the way and pick a publisher. I'm actually sending it to two different literary magazines. I'm only required to submit to one, but I figured if I'm doing it, I'm doing it all the way. I would have chosen more than two but I ran out of printer ink, lol. Do I think I'll get published? Not in a million. I'm mostly doing it for shits and giggles. The magazines that I chose said that they read each and every submission and will return an actual written response. I figure at the very least, this will be a learning experience. If I get turned down, I'll be disappointed, but not crushed. It's never been my life's ambition to be a writer. I want to put other writers' works into published books for the world to read, not my own.



It's curious though, that I'm more at ease with perfect strangers reading my writing than I am people that know me which is why I'm not posting it here. I don't consider blogging writing. Well, at least my blogging, lol.



Anyway, it could take 9 months to get a response, so be prepared to wait. I'll post the responses, when I get them, no matter what they are.

I Don't Feel Like Blogging

It's 95 with a heat index of a 111. I just got back from running an errand and it was miserable. It's so hot that my a/c is having a hard time keeping up. It's been on all day and the temp in my house is 76. Granted, that's better than 95 but I have it set on 72 and it's getting uncomfortable inside. The bad part: It's not even the hottest part of the afternoon yet and tomorrow is supposed to be worse.

Dilemma

I have one. I have two actually, ummm, maybe three. But one is major and the others are minor issues. I've been debating with myself about posting them here but I need some unbiased opinions. However, the opinions I usually get are from my real life friends so are they really unbiased? ARGH!! Add dilemma #4: Not being able to make a decision. I don't know what to doooooooo!!!!! I have to give it more consideration.

In the meantime, I'm going to finish writing my screenplay. Yeah. You read correctly. I have to write a freaking screenplay. I already have the foundation written out and the mother dies in the end. BWAHAHAHA!!! Wonder where the inspiration for that one came from. Huh? Huh? And NO. She isn't murdered. Geez. I'm not a psychopath.

Thursday Meme

I'm not doing it this week because it asks a question that my answer is "no" to and how fun is that? And I didn't have time to think about it last week. Hopefully, it'll be back next week.

My CNF

I finally got my grade back on my creative nonfiction piece. Ya know, the one that I was all worried about because of how revealing and personal it was? I got an A!! I was so excited. He had really positive comments too. I also got my peer review comments back on my short story and all my reviewers had good things to say too. They liked the twist at the end. Maybe I'll post this one on my blog sometime.

Anyway, it was a really good way to start my morning yesterday and it set the tone for the rest of my day too.