Thursday, August 27, 2009

warning...warning...warning...

Don't ever play Memory with Miss Kat.

She cheats. No, she doesn't peek at the cards, she just rearranges them.

Constantly!

She likes her rows to be even and neat and uniform, so as we'd remove cards, she'd rearrange them to keep those rows full and neat and tidy.

Which totally defeats the purpose of the game Memory!

Which is probably why she won.

And, I can't help but wonder...

If she has to have neat and tidy rows of cards...

Why isn't her room neat and tidy?

Monday, August 24, 2009

Shopping with teenage girls

On Saturday, I took Miss Kat to a nearby city to shop for some school clothes. I also asked my Mother if she'd join us. Not for her pleasure, but for me to have some moral support. Shopping with Miss Kat is not something I enjoy. (Shopping is something I don't enjoy, but it's worse when you add a teenage girl to the equation.)

I like this, she likes that.

She wants this, I don't want to spend the money on that.

If I say the sky is blue, she says it's green.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it.

That's why I asked Mom to join us. She can be the peace keeper, and she can remind me that "this too will pass". Cause Mom has been known to just laugh at Miss Kat and I and remind me that she and I didn't necessarily shop well together when I was a teenager. While it helps me keep things in perspective, I really don't want to be reminded that I was once a snotty teenager too.

Our shopping trip could have been worse. And I think there were two reasons it wasn't worse,; Mom was with us, and Miss Kat's Colby BFF, Miss Jenna, and her Mom joined us. Miss Kat and Miss Jenna are both just about the same size, except they have different shapes. Miss Kat is pretty lean and long and Miss Jenna is curvier, she has hips and boobs--as much as a size 0 or 1 girl can have hips and boobs... But, the girls could try on clothes together, and squeal together and they would tell each other what looked good and what didn't. They didn't even get mad at each other like they each would have with us Mom's. Having four other people looking at what they bought/tried on, and getting four opinions are always better than one Mom's opinion--even if she's the one with the checkbook.

I had planned on looking some for myself, I need some new shirts, and bras and I thought maybe I could even find a couple of shirts for Kev too. I never made it to the "adult" section of any store. Straight to the Junior section and then to the cashier. (Thank god for Target and Home Depot though, I did get a few things--other than clothes--at those stores!)

We left tired and broke, but I think it was a successful day. After all, at no time that day did I want to personally strangle my daughter...or my mother.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

100 top books

Books in bold are ones I have already read... and, me being me, I'm giving my opinion on many of these.

1 To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee No, I haven't read this. Yes, I should be ashamed.
2 The Secret Garden (1911) by Frances Hodgson Burnett
3 Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen Regency romance...no thank you!
4 Twilight (2005) by Stephenie Meyer yeah, I read it, but seriously? This is considered one of the "best" books? Whatever. Twas Ok, but not worthy of being on a "best book list."
5 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) by Ronald Dahl
6 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey
7 1984 (1949) by George Orwell but now I think it should be retitled "2009"
8 Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
9 The Richest Man in Babylon (1955) George S. Clason
10 The Catcher in the Rye (1945) by J.D. Salinger no, I haven't read it. Yes, I realize that I'mprobably the only person in America who hasn't read it. I don't care. It just hasn't appealed to me. And, yes, I did get through High School and college without having to read this!
11 Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) by Anne Frank
12 Little Women (1868) by Louisa May Alcott
13 Gone With The Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell
14 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) by C.S. Lewis
15 The Giver (1993) by Lois Lowry I loved this book. But, my take on the ending was very different that that of some of my friends.
16 The Kite Runner (2003) by Khaled Hosseini Sorry, it's not my kind of book.
17 A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens
18 The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
19 The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas
20 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) by Douglas Adams
21 Ender's Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card
22 Anne of Green Gables (1905) by L.M. Montgomery
23 Crime and Punishment (1866) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
24 The Time Traveler's Wife (2003) by Audrey Niffenegger I really liked this one, after all, the Time Traveler is a librarian!
25 Les Misérables (1862) by Victor Hugo
26 The Little Prince (1943) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
27 Mein Kampf (1925) Adolf Hitler Adolf, Adolf, Adolf, dude, maybe you should have learned the art of tatooing while you were in jail. Dude, you needed help.
28 One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa (Translator)
29 The Alchemist (1988) by Paulo Coelho
30 The Princess Bride (1973) by William Goldman
31 East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck
32 The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck Confession time: I skipped all the chapters that were social commentary, and just read the story of the family. So, I kinda read the whole thing...if you leave out 1/2!
33 Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell No, I know I'm awful. What sub-standard schools did I go to that let me get by with not reading so many great "classics?"
34 Memoirs of a Geisha (1997) by Arthur Golden
35 A Million Little Pieces (2003) James Frey
36 Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
37 Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding stop making gasping noises, I haven't read this "classic" either! And, yes, I really DO have a college education.
38 Walden (1854) by Henry David Thoreau
39 A Wrinkle in Time (1962) by Madeleine L'Engle read it, didn't like it.
40 Anna Karenina (1873) by Leo Tolstoy It was ok, but I had trouble remembering everyone's names, Russian names all sound the same!
41 Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
42 Life of Pi (2001) by Yann Martel Well, I STARTED it, but bleh--didn't finish it.
43 Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut
44 A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens
45 Watership Down (1972) by Richard Adams Read it years ago--in High School. Didn't understand it, so didn't finish it. Maybe I'd "get" it now?
46 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (1865) by Lewis Carroll well...I read the poems...
47 A Thousand Splendid Suns (2006) by Khaled Hosseini
48 The Poisonwood Bible (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver
49 Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Brontë Why do people --"soul mates" have to be so stupid? COMMUNICATION people. sheesh.
50 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1997) by J.K. Rowling I happen to Love the entire series. Very inventive, very creative, very well written. You won't go to hell for reading Harry Potter.
51 Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert
52 The Odyssey (600) by Homer
53 Water for Elephants (2006) by Sara Gruen
54 Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley
55 The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy
56 The Fountainhead (1943) by Ayn Rand
57 The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890 by Oscar Wilde
58 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain Yes, I know it has the "N" word. So what?
59 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) by Betty Smith I really like this one, and I've read it several times.
60 The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (1983) Shakespeare...yawn. Sorry, I don't like Bill's stuff.
61 Angela's Ashes (1996) by Frank McCourt Lord love a duck, this has got to be the most depressing book I've ever read. I forced myself to finish it just because it was so heart-wretching.
62 The Book Thief (2005) by Markus Zusak
63 The Da Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown I found the idea intriguing...whether you believe the premise or not, it was thought provoking.
64 The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again (1937) by J.R.R. Tolkien
65 Night (1958) by Elie Wiesel
66 The Pillars of the Earth (1989) by Ken Follett
67 The Giving Tree (1964) by Shel Silverstein
68 Outlander (1991) by Diana Gabaldon All of Diana's books are wonderful! I'm so glad that someone put her first on a list of "best books." She's one of my favorite authors.
69 The Brothers Karamazov (1880) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
70 Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand
71 A Prayer for Owen Meany (1988) by John Irving
72 Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Why do people insist that I should read books written 400 years ago?
73 Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker vampires...ick. O, wait, that's not politically correct anymore, is it? Vampires, yum.
74 The Lovely Bones (202) by Alice Sebold just not my cup of tea. Doesn't even sound interesting.
75 Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen
76 The Iliad (600) by Homer
77 Moby Dick (1850) by Herman Melville cough cough, hack, hack, bleh. This has GOT to be the most boring and most worthless book ever printed. I absolutely hated this book. This book gives books a bad name.
78 War and Peace (1865) by Leo Tolstoy,
79 Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck
80 The Old Man and the Sea (1952) by Ernest Hemingway
81 Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides
82 Lonesome Dove (1920) by Larry McMurtry Really? Lonesome Dove was written in 1920? Wow. It's on my list to read, so maybe someday, I'll read this one.
83 The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath
84 The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1983) by Milan Kundera
85 Siddhartha (1922) by Hermann Hesse
86 The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
87 Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston
88 Emma (1815) by Jane Austen, Fiona J. Stafford (Editor)
89 On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac
90 The Glass Castle: A Memoir (2005) by Jeannette Walls
91 All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) by Erich Maria Remarque
92 The Master and Margarita (1966) by Mikhail Bulgakov
93 The Red Tent (1997) by Anita Diamant Hey! another one I really enjoyed! And, it's on a list!
94 Pygmalion (1914) by George Bernard Shaw
95 A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess
96 The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999) by Stephen Chbosky
97 Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1888) by Thomas Hardy
98 The Name of the Rose (1980) by Umberto Eco
99 Eat, Pray, Love (2006) by Elizabeth Gilbert
100 Romeo and Juliet (1595) by William Shakespeare now, why on earth does Bill get two books on the list? I mean, isn't this one included in "The complete works?" Somebody either couldn't come up with another book, or they got tired at lazy when they got to #100. Sheesh!

33 books. out of this list, I've read one third. Not bad, but I'm not sure I agree that all of these are worthy of being on a "100 top books" list.

just so you don't forget me...


1) Right now I want: My backache to go away. It will, in about 5 days. (The headache will go away in about 5 years, when she turns 18.)

2) I wish I knew how to: Walk gracefully and elegantly, never tripping over my own two feet.

3) When I want to indulge myself, I: Take a book into the bathroom, fill the tub with bubbles and hot water, and turn on the jacuzzi, and stay in the tub for as long as I can.

4) You’ll never see me: in a bikini.

5) A childhood memory that I love: Driving to Grandma and Grandads--standing up in the backseat watching the water splash as we crossed the creeks that run across "Old Highway 160". As the car splashed water up, Steve and I would cheer.

6) 2 things I do every single day: Check my email, and take a bath...except yesterday, it was lightening-ing, and I didn't want to get electrocuted.

7) Happiest moment of 2009, so far: Andy's graduation. My chest hurt because I was so proud. And my eyes hurt because I did so much crying.

8) Describe yourself in 3 words: ogre, klutzy, dingy

9)What's your favorite type of Frog: Any frog that doesn't live at my house, or didn't hatch at my house, or doesn't come anywhere near me.

10) You have $40 that you MUST spend on yourself – what do you do with it? Bath stuff? Something for the kitchen? Maybe buy an antique? A book? Embroidery stuff? New shoes? Don't try to pin me down on just one thing!

Monday, August 17, 2009

I'm still here!

I haven't forgotten to blog.

I've just been super busy.

Reupholstering and refinishing furniture.

Spending money at work

Spending money at home.

Getting kids ready for school (Both started today).

Getting the library ready for school kids.

Meetings

Trap shoots

Family gatherings

Canning

Dehydrating

Vacuum sealing...well, not so much, I had to return that machine, as I got a dud. It makes me sad.

But, I'll find something cute and cleaver to write about soon--or not.

Today was the first day of school for Miss Kat, and Andy's first day of college.

Couple of minor meltdowns...

But, I think we all made it!

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Henny & Penny

This is Henny.
And, this is Penny.

Or maybe the top one is Penny, and this one is Henny...

It's so hard to keep them straight when they look so much alike. Anyway, these are my two broody girls. They've been sitting in these nesting boxes for about a month now. Every night, I reach under their little hot bodies and steal those eggs they keep trying to hatch.

I'm not very popular with Henny and Penny. In fact, last night, Henny, or maybe it was Penny, stabbed me with her beak.

It didn't hurt. I didn't even need a band-aid.

After all, I'm a tough old bird...er, country girl.

These guys have absolutely nothing to do with Henny or Penny, or even me. But, they and several of their best friends landed in the field next to our house last week. Aren't they pretty? As they flew over my head and circled to land in the field, I was worried that one of them would leave a deposit on my head. But they didn't.

If Henny or Penny could fly; well, they would probably leave a deposit on me, just to get even.

Stupid birds...

The Cat on the Back

Doesn't this title sound like a Dr. Seuss Book?

See the cat, on the back.

See the gray hair on the lady with the cat on the back?


See the cat lick the ear of the lady?

Stop licking the ear of the lady, cat.

You are not a nice cat.

You look like a pain in the butt cat.

Boy does that lady ever have a lot of gray hair, cat.

Somehow, I don't think "The Cat on the Back" will be a best seller.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

my dehydrator

Remember this? It was on one of my "I want that Wednesdays" list.

I finally ordered it last night. We got a flyer from Cabela's over the weekend, and these were on sale! So, I ordered it along with 3 meat tubs and a new vacuum sealer, which was also on sale...like 1/2 price! Oh, and, with our awards points, I got a great deal. Very little money out of my pocket! That's even better!

Hunting season is right around the corner, so we'll need these to process venison.

My garden produce is producing and I want to try dehydrating some potatoes and onions and garlic and mint and maybe even a few tomatoes. (If they ever turn red, and if the chickens stay out of them!)

So, now, I'm eagerly awaiting delivery so I can start playing with my new toys!

Monday, August 03, 2009

chickens and cucumbers

I'm not sure I'm going to be allowed to keep my chickens.

They have discovered that cucumbers are rather tasty.

Unfortunately, they prefer eating them off the vine. To be more accurate, they eat half, and leave the other half for us.

Except, Kev, doesn't really appreciate their spirit of caring and sharing.

My solution, a fence. But I think I'll wait a day or two to mention it to Kev...he's not really in a listening mood at the moment.