tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49836151940237201282024-03-13T20:17:37.475-07:00To Be A Swinger of BirchesJuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-12998026065524827082015-12-11T18:09:00.001-08:002015-12-11T18:09:16.456-08:00The Last DayEver since I got over being sick during my last pregnancy, my life has been a series of discomforts. I had almost constant headaches during my last pregnancy, which meant daily doses of tylenol and caffeine to stave off the migraines that would sometimes come. I thought things would improve once he was born, but in the almost six weeks since giving birth, things have actually stayed the same of gotten worse. I have terrible brain fog. I can't concentrate very well. I am irritable. My joints ache all the time. I have a hard time digesting my food properly. I have very low energy levels and walking up the stairs nearly wipes me out. If I do a lot during the day, I go to bed with horrible shin splints and back aches. I rely on sugar to help me feel good and I almost always subsist on bread to get me through the day of nursing hunger.<br />
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Today will be the last day I feel all of those things at once. My body can heal itself. That starts tomorrow. Today will be the last day. Stay posted for updates.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-29349904058683801452015-11-04T02:57:00.001-08:002015-11-04T02:57:17.116-08:00A Second Birth StoryI wanted to write down the Jonas' birth story before I forget the details.<div>
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I had been having "real" contractions for weeks, but they were never regular and would never get stronger. November is a busy month for us, especially Clark, and I was worried about going into the labor during one of the times he would be away at the National Guard or in Des Moines for his new job training. I asked my doctor about *maybe* inducing me once I was 39 weeks. I was concerned about this baby being big, as I was measuring big, and I knew I didn't want to do labor without Clark there. </div>
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But, I was still on the fence with induction. My last labor started naturally and I just wasn't sure I was ready to commit to doing it. But, Monday, Nov 2, my doctor called me and said the only day he could do it would be that day, starting in the afternoon. So I had to make a decision quickly. I had already been having contractions Sunday night and Monday morning, so I though, meh, it probably won't take much to get things going.</div>
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So I checked into the hospital at 4 PM Monday afternoon. They placed the prostaglandin to help my cervix along (I was already dilated to a 2), and left me there. Clark was still at work and would be until about 1 AM Tuesday morning, so I was there by myself. Tennyson stayed with Clark's mom. </div>
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My friend Carie, who goes to my church, lives just down the street from the hospital, so she came to spend time with me while we waited for Clark to get there. We mostly just talked, hoping for the contractions to get stronger, and we watched an episode of Chuck. I watched some gilmore girls too. Around midnight things were stronger and Carie helped put pressure on my back during contractions. Clark brought me a muffin when he got there, and he slept for a couple hours while I kept on keeping on. </div>
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My contractions from earlier that day got progressively stronger throughout the night, but they were nothing I couldn't handle, easy to breathe through, but strong enough that I didn't sleep at all. I was getting really sleepy by the next morning.</div>
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The nurse came at five AM to check to see how I was doing. They removed the prostaglandin, she spent some time monitoring my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. She checked me and said I hadn't really progressed much last night, which was fine. However, right after she checked me, my water broke on its own, so she started me on a low dose of pitocin to hopefully help things progress more quickly-- it was about 6 by this time. </div>
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The contractions were immediately more painful, especially now that my water had broken. After only about thirty minutes, I told Clark I would need pain medicine because I knew they were going to get worse and I thought the dilation process would take hours and I wanted to sleep. However, the nurse checked me again at 7:20 ish and told me I had gotten to a 3, but she couldn't order anesthesia until I was a five. It's a small hospital and they offer single dose spinal anesthesia that lasts 5-6 hours, so they wait to administer it because it takes most moms a long time to progress to a ten, and they like the moms to have the pain meds for the most painful part of the labor. If they give it too early, it wears off before delivery.</div>
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So I kept pushing through. Things were getting bad, so they gave me a numbing medicine in my IV that helped my body to relax a little bit more. That helped me for a little while, but by 8:20 it was wearing off/contractions were getting stronger and it wasn't enough for the pain level. She checked me again and I was a four. I begged for anesthesia at that point, because I literally thought I was going to die. I kept asking Clark and the nurse for help, and I was yelling through each contraction because they were HORRIBLE. Clark kept trying to be supportive and telling me to breathe, but I eventually was so overcome that I told him that breathing wasn't helping anymore and he needed to stop telling me to breathe. I kept thinking I couldn't do this and that I needed help. In an attempt to calm me down, the nurse put me in the shower and that did help a little bit-- enough to get my panic under control. But, I was also scared because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle four or five more hours like this hour. </div>
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The nurse checked me again around 9:05, and I was like, "Please tell me I am a five."</div>
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"Um, you're an eight..."</div>
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Then I panicked. "Wait, I can still get the spinal right?"</div>
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She nodded and called the anesthesiologist, who got there maybe five minutes later. I was on my hand on knees on the bed, and I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. I kept saying to everyone there, "I told you I needed this earlier. Why didn't anyone believe me." I was kind of angry they made me wait so long when I was probably ready 10 mins after they checked me the last time. </div>
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The nurse wanted to check me again before they placed the needle, so she did, and told the anesthesiologist to go away, because I was a ten. They called my doctor, who was working in the clinic, because I was saying I felt like I needed to push. They helped me to get into position, my doctor got there, and then all of a sudden everybody was like okay, don't push, but I needed to, and I was confused by how quickly everything was happening and kind of in shock/denial still that this was happening, so I just did what i felt like doing at that point. </div>
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Then, I pushed three or so times, and his head came out, but I had to push harder the next time because his shoulders were wide-- he had his arms crossed in front of himself, making him wider. Then after like two more pushes, he was out. </div>
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He came at 9:20, just one hour after I had only been progressed to a four. Clark was happy-- he cried, and he never cries-- I was mostly in shock. They put him up on my tummy. He had a knot in his cord, like a pretzel-- not tight, but they said it was cool to see. Then came they after birth. Jonas was 10 lbs 7 ounces, just like his older brother, and I didn't tear at all during the delivery, which was awesome. </div>
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As a caveat, I am not sure what natural birth is like without pitocin, and I do think that some (lucky, well prepared) women can experience some relatively low levels of pain during childbirth, but I have done the breathing and visualizing-- those help some. But, if anybody says childbirth isn't supposed to be painful or doesn't really hurt, they are lying. However, the benefits are there-- the recovery was lot easier with this delivery, and pushing was lot easier-- if more painful-- too. It's still too fresh in my mind to know thought if I will ever do it again. </div>
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Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-12292964088304162482014-08-29T05:58:00.001-07:002014-08-29T05:58:27.074-07:00Eat To Live Week 2This week was interesting. We went to a wedding over the weekend, which meant that the Eat To Live lifestyle was out for a day. I also fractured my elbow on Monday (riding a bike in the Canyon, braked too fast, wiped out...) so I haven't been feeling the greatest. But, I still kept up my daily large salad, and stayed away from meat, dairy, and sugar (for the most part, a couple bites of this and that here and there).<br />
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The stats: I was more bloated this week because I wasn't as strict with what I was eating, but I still felt better than I did before.<br />
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Weigh in: 154.8Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-63329603480908263002014-08-22T06:11:00.003-07:002014-08-22T06:11:50.010-07:00Eat To Live Week 1: Going NutritarianSo, when I started Dr. Fuhrman's Eat To Live lifestyle, I scoured the internet daily for success stories to keep me motivated. I've decided I will post weekly as my health improves to help motivate other's to change.<br />
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What is it?<br />
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Well, it's a 90% vegetarian diet, where you eat at least of pound of fresh veggies, a pound of cooked veggies, and a cup of lentils or beans daily, with four (or more) servings of fruit. You can also have one serving of grains or starchy veggies like corn or potatoes.<br />
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The point is to eat the most nutrient dense foods on the planet to ensure having good health. I like to focus on the wide variety of things I can eat, than focusing on the things I can't, which are:<br />
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<ul>
<li>salt</li>
<li>sugar (in any form)</li>
<li>oils (avocado is fine)</li>
<li>refined flours, white pasta, bread</li>
<li>anything processed</li>
<li>dairy</li>
<li>most meats</li>
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What Happened This Week<br />
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I read that the first few days were the hardest, but they weren't for me. I felt so good to finally be eating in the best way possible that I was on this "Go Me!" high for a long time (read: few days).<br />
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About four days in, I got stressed out, and felt the familiar pull toward foods that were comforting. I wanted breads-- donuts, garlic toast, homemade rolls. I was surprised, because I thought my main craving would be sugar.<br />
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I didn't ADD salt to my dishes, but I also didn't follow the low sodium requirements as stringently because flavor and because I workout daily and have no heart problems so I am not super worried about my sodium being too high.<br />
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The foods I cheated with:<br />
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<ol>
<li>I would eat an egg on the days I lifted weights.</li>
<li>I ate a cup of corn chex one day as a starch.</li>
<li>We went to dinner at a friend's house, and she served chicken enchiladas, salad, and homemade ice-cream for dessert. I just had a modest portion of everything, because I don't want to be one of those people who is rude about those things, especially when others go to such an effort to cook for me.</li>
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The Results:<br />
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Starting Weight: 160.4<br />
Week 1 End Weight: 156.6<br />
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I sleep deeper at night, I have more energy, and my sugar cravings are gone. Also, my face has cleared up a little bit.<br />
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I enjoy my vegetables, but my favorite thing that I ate this week was a ripe peach. It was candy.<br />
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I would encourage anyone to try ETL, and to read the book. It's already making a difference.<br />
See you next week.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-53535246342622017842014-04-12T08:44:00.001-07:002014-04-12T08:44:31.910-07:00Six Months and CountingToday Tennyson is half a year old. He has definitely changed our lives, and we are so excited to see him grow and learn things each day. He has his own little personality. Here are some things that make him him:<br />
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<ol>
<li>He likes to suck on his index finger.</li>
<li>He does planks by raising himself up on his hands and toes, instead of his hands and knees. </li>
<li>He loves all kinds of stuffed animals, and thinks they are the best chew toys.</li>
<li>He loves pears.</li>
<li>He likes to go swimming and finds endless entertainment with being in the water.</li>
<li>He likes to jump up and down, and sometimes will launch himself right into my face when he is on my lap.</li>
<li>He is a morning person, and is always fiercely happy when I get him out of his crib, at around 5:30 AM.</li>
<li>He is already in his toddler car seat.</li>
<li>He blows raspberries when he is frustrated or when he wants attention.</li>
<li>He loves to grab my hair.</li>
<li>He think it is hilarious to be on top of my head and laughs super hard when he is.</li>
<li>He has really big feet that are perfect for eating. </li>
<li>He gets a really big pouty face when he thinks no one is paying attention to him, and when he is crying because he is afraid. </li>
<li>He frequently gets stuck under the shelf in our living room. </li>
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Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-72715614083254353842014-04-08T08:36:00.001-07:002014-04-08T08:36:47.529-07:00First World Problems: Thin Privilege Honestly, I don't know how I had never heard of this terminology until today. I stumbled across "thin privilege" on a My Fitness Pal thread, and googled it. The first hit took me to <a href="http://this./">this.</a><br />
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As I read a handful of posts, I became more and more dismayed.<br />
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I am not a very thin person, but I can also say I am not a very large one either. I have always been uncomfortable with my weight and appearance, and recently took steps to lose weight, work out consistently, and eat healthy. I was tired all the time, and I wanted to be able to wear the clothes that I liked, and I wanted to feel beautiful and young and energetic.<br />
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While I think bullying people for being fat is wrong, and while I recognize that more and more people are obese, I wanted to point out some things that the "thin privilege" mentality promotes.<br />
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1. Entitlement. If you are obese, and find that the world is not designed to meet your specific needs, this is NOT thin privilege. Unless you are one of the two percent of people on this planet who have medical reasons for being a size 28, YOU can do something about it. I am not saying that you have to be a size zero. But, you can make a difference for yourself, instead of expecting the world to make it for you. The airplane doesn't need to provide a special seat for you. Clothing stores don't have to make sizes of clothes to fit you.<br />
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2. It's okay to be unhealthy. Your doctor telling you your weight is unhealthy and that you need to exercise more is NOT thin privilege. Generally, thin people are healthier, and experience less health problems. Obesity contributes a myriad of health problems, and it is not the job of society to solve those health problems. It is YOUR job to solve them. Unlike mental and physical handicaps, most weight problems can be solved by lifestyle choice.<br />
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3. Hating on Thin-ness. Eating disorders and hating on fat people are problems, but so is hating on thin people. The mentality that thin people have it easy because they are thin is destructive as well. Making people feel bad for losing weight and getting healthy is not okay. Some thin people work very hard to active and fit, and are very careful about what they eat. It is okay for people to LIKE being thin. And it is okay for people to work toward that goal, and if they are working toward it, they aren't shaming you with their success.<br />
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4. Unwillingness to change. If you like yourself the way you are, more power to you. But to constantly tell other people that they are fine promotes a damaging mentality that people can't change, or that they shouldn't. You can worry about your weight, and it might be wrong to nag other people about how they eat or how little they exercise. But the more that people become comfortable with severe obesity, the more health problems and weight related struggles they will face.<br />
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5. Expectation of change from others. One of the complaints of "thin privilege" is that people only find thin people attractive, or that they stereotype fat people to have specific needs. While I agree that everyone should be more accepting of people with different body types, the "take me the way I am, or get out" mentality is also extremely selfish. People are attracted to what they are attracted to, and complaining about it won't change anything.<br />
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I am all for loving yourself, but there is a happy medium. Too much weight is UNHEALTHY, as is too little. For those who struggle with weight loss, I have been where you are. But to throw up your hands and say, "I can't change. I'm fat. World, change to make me feel better about it, instead," is not the way to solve it. We can promote images of normal, healthy women and men. We can encourage exercise and healthy eating. We can campaign against bullying. But we can also do ourselves a favor, and accept that the world might not accommodate us. The end.<br />
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<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-21688044274178561512014-02-08T07:21:00.002-08:002014-02-08T07:21:40.800-08:00Materialistic VenturesIt's the hard part of being a yound-married, young-mom, with husband still in school. Money is tight. Deep down, with faith in God and a willingness to pay the tithing, you know that everything will be okay. In the long-run. In the big picture. And then you wonder how much worry you should put toward the small picture at all. Because, in the moment, the small picture matters a lot. You worry about your husband, and much work he should be balancing with his studies. You worry about your ability to bring in money, or your ability not to.<br />
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On the other hand, you are rewarded for diligently striving to be a good full-time-mom. My baby knows I am there for him. I get to play with him and feed him whenever he needs it, and be there for him when he is sick or tired or having a growth spurt. And those things are worth being strapped for cash. How can these be reconciled at all? I know there is a solution, and I am hoping that I am on the path to finding it.<br />
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However, at least with one kid at home, I have time. I have talents. Why not put them together?<br />
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It is these three basic reasons why I decided to open up an etsy shop for quilts, and baby blankets. I hope to add things like baby carriers in the near future as well. The reasons: money, staying a full-time mom, and using my talents in a fulfilling way.<br />
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The blankets on my etsy shop are comfort blankets. I will be honest, I would not have thought of making them at all if I hadn't seen my sister, Brittany, make them first. She has given me a lot of advice, and I am grateful for her wonderful example and help. The blankets are made to order from minky, plush, and satin ribbons. Babies love these blankets because they are super soft, and they never get tired of holding them, rubbing their faces in them, and even chewing on the satin binding as they get the feel of the world around them. They are not ordinary blankets, but blankets designed for a pleasurable sensory experience, security, and (obviously) cuteness. I can make them any color, any print from an ample variety of choices. Here is an example of the most recent blanket I made, currently on sale in the etsy store.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYDWBuzi4pYihj-JRJvOK9IzH16HPGAkx8lIdQtTbYVACG_NOYhGOiY4ePi4RWh92uo9zQDFB690xOkRvB9eCjIfRxSNFIIZDItBUF7sTCmifLSBoO9JzBC0XL8LLuC5-Feo3sp6VKCjDW/s1600/DSC04223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYDWBuzi4pYihj-JRJvOK9IzH16HPGAkx8lIdQtTbYVACG_NOYhGOiY4ePi4RWh92uo9zQDFB690xOkRvB9eCjIfRxSNFIIZDItBUF7sTCmifLSBoO9JzBC0XL8LLuC5-Feo3sp6VKCjDW/s1600/DSC04223.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The quilts are my secret love. I love quilting. And I love babies. So why not put them together? The crib quilts are made from high-quality cotton prints, with super soft minky on the bottom. I can even make crib sheets to match the quilt! Obviously, to make it worth my time, the designs are simple. I just recently recieved an order to make one for a sailor/sailing themed room, with anchors and navy blue and white and red. It (so far) is adorable.<br />
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I have no idea if this small business venture will work. I hope it will, for the sake of my own personal fulfillment, even more than the sake of my family's financial security.<br />
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So, if you are wondering what to bring to the next baby shower, come check out my etsy shop: LittleHeroMinky and put in an order! As a thanks to people who read my blog, and are willing to support my shop, use code BLOG10 to get ten dollars off your order. :)<br />
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Wish me luck in my new venture.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-86510453959602956962014-01-31T17:08:00.001-08:002014-01-31T17:08:14.226-08:00Casual ObservationsSo, I cut my hair.<br />
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I spent almost two full years growing it out. It was lovely-- thick, natural with a gentle wave, and almost down to my elbows. After seeing all the long hair styles on pinterest with the braids and sock buns and curl tutorials, I was sure that once my hair was long enough to fishtail and weave and twist, that I would be fulfilled.<br />
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And then he came. My son. My joy. My life (pretty much). And he brought a whole bunch of things with him:<br />
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1. Exhaustion. It's common knowledge that new moms are tired, so I am not going to add to the sob-story by sharing my tired sob-story. But, it may not be common knowledge what lack-of-sleep does to the long, beautiful hair. Tiredness causes my hair not be brushed for three days, not to be washed for four or five, and instead of a waterfall braid, it might be scraped (knots and all) into the low, half-falling -out, ponytail.<br />
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2. Spit up. I probably don't need to elaborate, but long hair and partially digested milk will not ever be a a good combination, unless, of course, you are into to whole dreadlocksmadewiththrowup look.<br />
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3. Sticky, strong hands. Bless my baby's soul. He has a beautiful smile, and can't even sit up on his own. So naturally, he needs comfort from mom, in the form of mom's hair. Just in case I drop him, he has his own safety net-- or rather, safety strands. Also, a fool-proof way to avoid a diaper change, and mom can't put him down without pain.<br />
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4. Worry. All girls know that hair sheds. Mine does too, and it sheds itself into the folds of my baby's skin, and hides there, making him irritable and uncomfortable. Granted, if he didn't pull it so much there wouldn't be that much of a problem, but oh well.<br />
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So I went to the salon, flipped my lovely, mocha milk chocolate hair over my shoulder (I washed it before I went, just to spare the stylist), and said, "Take it all off."<br />
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"All?" (Eyes my hair with envy and longing).<br />
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"Yes," I reply. "Shorter than a bob, and longer than a pixie cut, if you would."<br />
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And she did. I am twenty-three. And I officially have mom-hair.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-67496461425528428712013-10-12T15:39:00.000-07:002013-10-12T15:39:16.022-07:00A Birth StoryWell, I didn't anticipate having so much time in the hospital before being able to go home, or having a baby who is asleep all the time. And so, what better way to pass the time than by writing out the birth story of our son while it is still fresh in my mind.<br />
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Tennyson Scott Allen was born at 1:56 AM on October 12, 2013. He weighed 10 pounds, 7 ounces and was 21 and a half inches long.<br />
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I woke up at five on the morning of the eleventh of October, and quickly realized that I was leaking amniotic fluid in copious amounts. Although they advise you to go the hospital right away if this happens, I wanted to give myself a few hours, just in case contractions started on their own, because I really wanted to avoid being induced. I went for a walk with my husband, and tried to clean my house, but I was really distracted by the fact that my baby might be coming that day, and that kept on distracting me from doing much of anything, although I did get some dishes done.<br />
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By around noon, contractions seemed pretty regular but not very intense. So, we packed up our hospital bags and got to the hospital around one. They checked me in, and on the monitor it said my contractions were three minutes apart. The nurse did a check, and told me that I was 4 centimeters and 90% effaced. I was happy to hear that, but I still had tons of energy and wanted to go outside. We gave them our birth plan, and then we put on bracelets and went outside for a long walk. Our nurse was TOTALLY supportive of our birth plan, and monitored the first five hours of labor with a fetal doppler so that I could labor in the tub, or move or walk around. I was able to manage the pain very well by using my Hypnobirthing techniques: my husband doing massage as we watched a show together, listening to the rainbow relaxation script, and by changing positions every so often. I was even allowed to stay in my own clothes during the whole labor and recovery.<br />
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However, labor quickly escalated, and it becoming very intense. There was severe back pain, and when the midwife arrived, a quick check showed that I had progressed one centimeter, and that the baby was in posterior position, meaning that ever excruciating contraction was getting me nowhere. Still, I was determined to stay relaxed, and labored in the tub, in the shower, on the birthing ball, and listen to my positive birth affirmations. However, after another two hours or back labor, and no progression, I was starting to lose my determination, because I was feeling like all my positive concentration and preparation for natural birthing was for nothing. I decided that I would not make any choices during a contraction. However, I realized that I may hours and hours or posterior labor ahead (since the baby had little fluid left to turn in). After a prayer with my husband, and several on my own, I decided to get an epidural. I was impressed with my midwife, who was focussed on helping me to stay true to my birthing plan. She did not push medication on me at all, and allowed the decision to be entirely that or me and my birthing partner. At first I felt badly because I felt I had betrayed my birth plan and hypnobirthing training. However, I realized that I had done a substantial amount to birth without fear, and hypnobirthing helped me to focus my energy on what was best for my baby, and to listen to my body. I could make an informed decision because of my preparation, and I could relax about my decision, accepting this turn in my birth plan that I didn't expect.<br />
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The epidural was placed, and almost instantly, the back pain was relieved. However, it was clear after an hour, that the epidural hadn't been placed well, as only half my body was numb. After several more shots of progressively more aggressive pain killers, a different anesthesiologist took out the old one and put a new one in. The decision to get an epidural and to have the first one replaced turned out to be inspired. It just goes to show that all mothers have the intuition to do what is best when comes to their labor and birth, and can trust themselves and their instincts.<br />
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After the pain was relieved, I easily progressed from a five to a ten in less than three hours. But the baby was still posterior, and was not dropping because of his position. My midwife tried several natural methods to help turn the baby with body positioning, but he was stubborn and none of them were very successful. When I reached a ten, she left me alone for an hour to help the baby drop and for me to rest before pushing would begin. Finally, she contacted the OB who was on call and he came and manually turned the baby by reaching up into the uterus and turning him with his hand. Without an epidural, this procedure would not have been viable, and my baby would have been stuck and stressed by consistently stronger contractions. After he was turned, the baby instantly dropped, and I could begin pushing. By this point, the epidural was wearing off enough that I could push my baby with my contraction. I wanted to avoid tearing and an episiotomy, so I was careful. However, the epidural makes pushing more difficult, so my husband guided me to push through my contractions, while the midwife helped me to know when and how long to push.<br />
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My choice to get an epidural was also validated, when after an hour of pushing, the baby came out. It was such a powerful moment! As soon as it happened, I started to tear up and said, "Oh my gosh I just had a baby!" I wanted to hold him and look at him, and make sure he was okay. Clark cut the cord, and my placenta came out no problem within minutes.<br />
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I was sure my perineum was still intact. However, Tennyson was 10 and half pounds! I have a small body, and even though I was spared muscular tearing, all of the fine tissue in the vagina had been torn and shredded by the pressure of the baby's head. I was bleeding a lot, and a surgeon came and stitched up all the internal tears. I was silently grateful that I had not felt that tearing, and that he could stitch me up quickly without losing too much blood because I was already numb. The instant I saw my baby, I knew we had done the right thing. He was having trouble breathing because of fluid in his lungs, and there was meconium present. If labor had gone on much longer than it did, he might have been in trouble. We had our skin to skin moment, and after some coaxing, he began to breathe properly, coughing up mucous and fluid. Then I tried to teach him how to breast feed, which took a while. He had the instinct to suck, but would suck on his tongue instead of the nipple. But, after about half an hour, we got a good latch and he has been improving ever since.<br />
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The hospital continued to honor my birth plan, delaying bathing and letting us be present for all baby care practices. Our son was just perfect, on the large side, but worth every effort that we had put into his growth and his labor. I love my birth story, and I am grateful for all of the choices available to women when it comes to their labor and birth.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-59265504113066432432013-10-08T17:41:00.001-07:002013-10-08T17:41:06.146-07:00Nine Things To Think About When Talking To Pregnant PeopleOkay. So I am 39 and a half weeks pregnant. For those who don't know what that means, it means that I am VERY pregnant and the baby could come any day. I have a theory: God gave us pregnancy to help us cultivate the patience needed to have and raise a kid. Just a theory. However, I think it can be supported by this observation: you really have to wait. A long time. And not just to meet your bundle of joy. But to be done with sore legs and skin hurting because it is being stretched too tight, and random pains, and walking so slowly that snails outstrip you when you go out for your daily waddle. A woman who is pregnant deals with a lot. Which is fine. In fact, most days I am proud of myself. I am growing a person, for goodness' sake. But seriously, the thing that is hardest to deal with is people.<br />
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So all those who have pregnant friends, or see a pregnant person on the street, give ear. I don't know if this is true for every pregnant woman, but it is true for me.<br />
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1. Refrain from asking, "Have you had the baby yet?" Especially in person. Because, CLEARLY, I haven't. The belly is still there, and my arms are still not holding that something the size of a loaf of bread.<br />
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2. Please stop asking when I am due. Did you know that only 3-4% of women have babies on their actual "due" date? Asking me when I am due stresses me out, because I am trying not to think about it. It makes me impatient. It makes me feel like I am being put on a schedule. Women really have a due month. An exact date does nothing. False hope.<br />
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3. Talk to me about something other than my pregnancy. I am still me. I still have thoughts, hobbies, talents, and enjoy doing things with my friends. I know it is hard to ignore, but seriously, sometimes, ignore the bump and just talk to me. About life. Politics. That weird funny movie you saw last week.<br />
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4. I love it when people offer to help me out. It makes me feel like people are thinking about me, and that I can count on them. The last few weeks of pregnancy are really hard, both emotionally and physically, and sometimes, it is super difficult to function. So thank you.<br />
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5. Don't suggest or veto names. Even if the name is horrible, even if you feel like the child will be condemned to a life of shame. Because only the baby's parents' opinion really matters when it comes to choosing names. Either pretend to like the name they like, or simply nod and tell them that you are super excited for them.<br />
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6. Pregnant people are sometimes hypocrites. We want to go about life as normal, and want people to treat us just the same, because pregnancy isn't a disease. Until something DOES go wrong, and then we feel like people should just intuitively know that we can't do it, because obviously, we're pregnant.<br />
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7. Cravings are real. Not in the same way people crave chocolate, but often, there really is only one thing that sounds good. And it usually isn't saltines.<br />
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8. Emotions are real. Sure pregnancy puts you on a lovely hormonal roller-coaster, but in the moment, emotions are real. Treat them real.<br />
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9. We love our babies and will try to do the best for them. Advice is nice. Gifts are nice. Both are appreciated. But ultimately, the mom is the one who tries to do what is best for baby. Be positive. If she is breast feeding, support her. If she chooses to bottle feed, support her. If she is trying to have a natural, unmedicated birth, BE POSITIVE. Support her. If she fails, don't say "I told you so," but tell her she has a lovely son or daughter, and support her. Judgement is for judges or Jesus. If you aren't either of those, just don't do it.<br />
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<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-22882552316503741512013-09-22T07:59:00.000-07:002013-09-22T07:59:08.955-07:00What's in a Name?We get asked all the time what we are naming our son. Sometimes I wish we had kept it a secret, but oh well. Everyone knows. And I just let myself be okay with that. One of the reasons I didn't like telling people our name choices was because you can always tell when people don't like the name or think the name is a bad idea. They nod and say (usually hesitantly) "Oh, cool." Followed by an awkward pause. Or the really outspoken people will start to tell you why you shouldn't choose that name, and start suggesting others you should use instead, as if they were the ones naming your kid, and not you. Thanks, but no thanks, well-meaners.<br />
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Anyway, as many already know, unless there is some cosmic intervention, we are naming our son Tennyson Scott Allen. Tennyson, I feel, is a unique enough name that people like it, but are unsure why I chose it. Scott is my Dad's name, and I love my dad and respect him a lot, and as I get older, I see more and more how extraordinarily good and awesome he is, and I want my son to have that connection with him.<br />
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Lord Alfred Tennyson was a british poet who, in my opinion, was nothing short of brilliant. He wrote many poems that we still read today. In one of my college English classes, I was assigned to read a long poem written by him called "In Memoriam." This poem, which is several hundred verses long, took him seventeen years to write, and deals with his feelings of despair, loss, and hope following the sudden death of his best friend. In this long poem, he addresses man's relationship with God, how people fit into nature, the power of despair and the power of faith, and, of course, the power of both Godly and human love. As a college student, I read this poem and was astounded at some of the insights, but also deeply saddened by the level of grief he expresses. But the portion of the poem that would eventually lead me to name a child after this man is this:<br />
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If e'er when faith had fall'n asleep,<br />
I heard a voice, "Believe no more,"<br />
And heard an ever-breaking shore<br />
That tumbled in the Godless deep,<br />
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A warmth within the breast would melt<br />
The freezing reason's colder part,<br />
And like a man in wrath the heart<br />
Stood up and answer'd, "I have felt."<br />
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No, like a child in doubt and fear:<br />
But that blind clamour made me wise;<br />
Then was I as a child that cries,<br />
But crying, knows his father near;<br />
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And what I am beheld again<br />
What is, and no man understands;<br />
And out of darkness came the hands<br />
That reach thro' nature, moulding men.<br />
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For those who like spark notes to help with poetic understanding, the essential message of the verses is this: There are times when our faith wavers, and we feel left alone, and we are tempted to give up believing in God. But then our feelings and our memories overcome our reason, and we can honestly say, "No, I have felt his love before, and will not turn my back on it now." We are like children, who sometimes must trust blindly, just like children who cry; they cry, but they know that their Father is near and is listening and will come to help them. We can't really understand his ways, but God, through the trials that he gives us here on earth, molds us into better men.</div>
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When I read this for the first time, I was stunned. I felt the Spirit touch my heart, and tears came to my eyes. This is exactly what it feels like to go through hard or tough times, and this is the true definition, in my mind, of faith through adversity. This is the faith that I want my son to have, and this is the the child-like trust that I hope to raise him with, that he will always love and depend on his Savior and his Father in Heaven. </div>
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Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-44750607899679741882013-09-20T07:11:00.002-07:002013-09-20T07:11:46.825-07:00Making It CountSo, because I have been pregnant, they have been kinda worried about how much iron I have been getting. After being informed that I need to get my iron levels up and under control, we have spent the last few weeks eating more red meet and greens than I have ever eaten before. So, when we contemplated going out to eat, the obvious answer was Tucanos, the Brazilian grill where you can eat as much red meat as you want.<br />
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Tucanos also has a pretty great buffet and salad bar, if you aren't all up on the meat. Anyway, we went for lunch, and were eating steak, and our table was very close to the plate pick up at the side of the buffet triangle thing they have in the middle. There was a mom there, who was trying to help her daughter, who was probably around six, get some food.<br />
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Mom: Okay what do you want?<br />
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Kid: MUAAELAD!! (unintelligible loud growl)<br />
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Mom: (perfectly calm) I don't think I got that. What do you want?<br />
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Kid: (louder) SMUAAANELAD!!<br />
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Mom: (still calm) I have your plate right here. You can eat whatever you would like. So, what should I put on it?<br />
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Kid: SAAAALLAAAD! (still growling, and clearly irritated that Mom did not get it the first few times).<br />
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Mom: Oh, salad. Great. Okay, got some salad. Anything else?<br />
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Kid: (continues to order in unintelligible dinosaur growls)<br />
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Clark was in the restroom at this point, so I was sitting at the table eating mango sorbet by myself and watching this scene unfold. I was having such a hard time not laughing. Mostly because I am twenty two. And I still request things in dinosaur growls. What kind of mother will I be? One who growls back, probably. I guess I will always be six.<br />
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<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-69796601948412213822013-09-06T08:09:00.003-07:002013-09-06T08:09:47.955-07:00If Ye Love MeThis blog post is largely a response to the constant discussions I find on blogs and social media threads about being Christian, kind, and tolerant. The arguments that people have, and how much they parrot the virtues of not judging and accepting people for who they are inspired this response.<br />
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I think part of the problem with ideas about love, kindness, and tolerance these days are that the meanings of these words are changing. We equate tolerance with acceptance, and love with moral relativism. There is an old saying that says, “We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” For some reason, if I don’t embrace and support the actions of others, I am somehow showing hatred or bigotry toward them, especially if that person is doing something that society generally accepts as okay. People may change, but God does not change. His laws are always the same. Adultery and fornication is still wrong. Stealing is still wrong. Murder is still wrong. Cheating is still wrong. Breaking the sabbath is still wrong. But in todays world, we have somehow given ourselves the authority to “amend” these. Adultery is wrong, except for when you are truly unhappily married, and really love someone else. Fornication is wrong, unless you really love each other and have been together for a long time, unless you are responsible. Stealing is wrong, unless it is something you really want, unless it was the other person’s mistake in leaving it behind or losing it. Murder is wrong, unless that person is an unwanted, unborn baby. Cheating is wrong, unless it helps you get more money from your tax return. True Christianity, if you want to know, is all about love. But not about loving others, it is about loving God. Trusting God. Jesus said, “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” Yes, we like to parrot “judge not” as the mantra of our Savior, but he did not say, “if ye love me, keep only the commandments you want to keep, in the way you want to keep them.” Christianity is a HARD path. Yes, true Christians will show love and respect toward others, but they will also fight for righteousness. They will not allow the feeble chants of the world, which tell them they are being “unfair” or “judgmental” to deter them in following the Lord. Yes, terrible things have been done throughout history in the name of Christianity, but those people will be just as guilty for sins like murder, rape, and bigotry as anyone else, and they definitely weren’t following God. These people were as the Pharisees, doing atrocious things in name of religion, and will be accountable to God. We must seek to make and live our lives in the best possible way, showing our love for God by choosing to obey ALL his commandments, not just the ones that are convenient.</div>
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Everyone here has been quoting the bible, but I think that one of the best defenses and explanations on what is required from Christians is written by Yann Martel, in the Life of Pi:</div>
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“There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if ultimate reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, “Business as usual.” But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.</div>
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These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart. Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defense, not God’s, that the self righteous should rush. To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity.”</div>
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People can argue all day about what is right and wrong. But God has set forth his law, and he waits to see who will take up the cross and follow. Everyone can do so, everyday striving to do what he has asked of us: we have been commanded to love God, and then to love our neighbor. We love God first. We are never excused from loving our neighbor, but that is the second commandment. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son because he loved God before his neighbor. Jesus was willing to drive the money changers from the temple because he loved and obeyed God before his neighbor. David was able to defeat Goliath because he loved God before his neighbor. Christianity means loving God, and if we love him, we will keep his commandments. Everything else comes second. We should seek, as Mr. Martel suggests, to defend God in the very way we live our lives. Name calling and fighting does not befit a true follower of the Savior. We show charity and love to others, we show brotherly kindness, but above all, we accept and obey and promote the unchanging laws of God. Not because we are hateful to those who do not follow them, but because we must obey them if we are to truly love Him. </div>
Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-7543993618817383002013-08-23T09:32:00.003-07:002013-08-23T09:32:32.576-07:00Happiness and HariboSometimes I find myself strange when I take a step back and realize that I am happified by some pretty weird things. A few days ago I was having a typical pregnant girl breakdown (gulping sobs, wallowing, and not really knowing the reasons for the gulping and wallowing). My husband was trying (in vain) to comfort me, saying that I was lucky to be healthy, and that we have the things that we need, and that we had lots of reasons not be sad. As any girl might know, this logic has two effects: frustration (because we know deep down he is right, and that knowledge might foster slight resentment) and further despair (because we realize how selfish we are being in the wallowing).<br />
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What should bring me out of this mood? The arrival of the postman, bearing a package all the way from China. It was my cloth diapers from the Assunta store. I had been looking forward to them for weeks, and as I unpacked the box, I became happier and happier. I had no idea why they made me so happy, but they did. They were cheap, well-made, and soft. Most of them were made of minky fabric, which I LOVE. And, to make me even happier, they sent me a wet-dry bag for FREE with my order. I was smiling so wide. Over diapers. What is my world coming to?<br />
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I woke up this morning at three in the morning to hear my husband retching in the bathroom. He has caught a nasty stomach flu, and was up every hour after that. I felt so bad for him and I couldn't get back to sleep afterward, so I just kept busy making him toast and reading him Harry Potter (insert pat on the back for being the best wife ever here).<br />
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The doorbell rang around nine. I was pretty tired by this point, and so was he. I opened the door to another box. This on contained one small package of Haribo Pico Balla candies (they are from Germany). I couldn't find them anywhere here, and my sneaky husband has ordered them for me to make me feel better. How ironic they should arrive on a day where I am healthy and he is sick!<br />
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I guess happiness comes in the mail.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-10071440326994856422013-07-09T13:02:00.001-07:002013-07-09T13:02:14.130-07:00Baby Update!<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>How Far Along:</b> 26 weeks, 2 Days. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Size of Baby:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>1.5 ish lbs, about the size of a cauliflower. I think. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Maternity Clothes: </b>I won't ever wear jeans if I can help it. While I do love my maternity jeans, I like wearing dresses more. It's just easier when you have to go to the bathroom, or when you have to go out, or when it is hot. So I still wear the same three dresses more often than any other clothes.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gender:</b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> It's a boy! I have made some crib sheets, and have been filling up a dresser with little boy clothes that people keep on giving me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Movement:</b> A lot some days, not as much on others. When I am hungry, he moves a lot, as if he knows we need to eat. After we eat, he calms down. :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Sleep: </b>I miss it. With my back pain and the sciatica in my leg, or my hips widening, it is hard to get comfy, and even harder to stay in one position for long. My legs will seize up in the night sometimes and I have to get up and alk around until they calm down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>What I miss:</b> Not being able to lay flat on my back for long. Being able to do summer activities like long hikes, bike rides, and exploring the outdoors. I would do those more, but the heat and the baby keep me inside most of the time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Cravings:</b> I still crave potatoes almost every day. Whenever I am hungry or sick that is what I want to eat. I really am moving towards an aversion to sweet things, and want savory stuff a lot, like jerky or grilled meats. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Aversions: </b>I really don't like to eat vegetables as much, but I try to make myself eat them anyway. I have been having trouble digesting a lot of foods, especially breads. </span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Symptoms: </b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Back pain, and gall bladder pain as well. The doctor told me to cut back on the sugar and fat for the rest of my pregnancy to keep it healthy</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. Swimming really helps it to go away. I am thinking I will be in the pool a lot this summer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Best Moment:</b> Setting up our crib with my husband in our new apartment. It is so fun to see the baby's space come together. </span></div>
Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-85592434640711757902013-05-29T13:41:00.002-07:002013-05-29T13:41:25.940-07:00That's My StorySo, the other update is as follows:<br />
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I am waiting for information on my work authorization/green card, and have since graduated from college. Never have I been without tasks for an extended period of time-- where filling my time becomes my task. How does one spend the days when they have little responsibility? The list of things that I have been doing so far:<br />
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1. I made a quilt. In total days: seven. Granted those were full-time days where the DH didn't even get dinner made for him.<br />
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2. I planned a remodel for the crib. It is still in planning stage.<br />
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3. Currently re-watching episodes of Gilmore Girls. They help me have humor and perspective. And goodness. And they're just awesome. Done.<br />
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4. Planted a garden. Watched the garden grow.<br />
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5. Watered my tomato plant.<br />
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6. Become a frequent library goer.<br />
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7. Read about... 16 books since the beginning of April.<br />
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8. Made beef jerky at home twice.<br />
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9. Doubled the amount of pins I have pinned on pinterest.<br />
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10. Found more names for my baby than the amount of babies I could possibly have in life.<br />
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... and other constructive things.<br />
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Invite me over if you need something. Like a quilt or a book recommendation.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-61236035978701447042013-05-29T13:32:00.003-07:002013-05-29T13:32:57.263-07:00When The Moon Hits Your EyeI figure that the few people who follow my blog are entitled to three things:<br />
<br />
1. A New Post.<br />
2. A Baby Update.<br />
3. Some other sort of update.<br />
<br />
and so without further ado, I will dutifully fulfill those responsibilities.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>How Far Along:</b> 21 weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Size of Baby:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>1 pound. I think. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Maternity Clothes: </b>I have a few, and wear pretty much the same two dresses over and over until they are dirty. :) I think when the baby comes, it will be like having a whole closet of new clothes when I unpack my pre-pregnant clothes.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gender:</b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> It's a boy! We found out yesterday, and I am still a little bit shocked.I don't know anything about boys!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Movement:</b> A little. Mostly when I am lying down, or sitting still, as if the boy is telling me he still wants to be up and moving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Sleep: </b>Right now is pretty elusive. I have had terrible back pain, and the only position where it doesn't hurt is flat on my back, which you can't sleep that way when you're pregnant. I wake up all the time to change position, and am constantly tired from lack of sleep. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>What I miss:</b> Not being able to lay flat on my back for long. Being able to go running like I did before. And I miss doing interval cardio. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Cravings:</b> Not so bad anymore, but in the 1st tri they were really bad-- and they were for really bad food. Things I usually never eat or buy: dill pickle chips, doritos, hamburgers, and toaster strudels were a few really bad ones. But it has tapered off. I still want potatoes all the time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Aversions: </b>in the first tri, I really couldn't stand eating meat, and the only thing I really wanted was potatoes. I also was averted to veggies, mostly because I used to eat green smoothies for breakfast, but after throwing them up a lot, I didn't want anything green and growing for a while. A few days ago, I made a slice of toast, took thee bites, and simply could not eat it anymore. </span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Symptoms: </b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Just the back pain. Swimming really helps it to go away. I am thinking I will be in the pool a lot this summer. I also have really intense itching on the soles of my feet at night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>Best Moment:</b> Finding out we were having a boy. It makes it more real that way. :)</span></div>
Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-19523425957420734472013-03-24T19:56:00.000-07:002013-03-24T20:04:02.761-07:00Saving Money While Eating HealthyThe answer is actually simpler than you think.<br />
<br />
The basic "pyramid" for healthy eating leaves the Standard American Diet (SAD) pyramid in the dust, wallowing in chronic disease and obesity.<br />
<br />
The pyramid is as follows:<br />
<br />
1. LEAFY GREENS<br />
2. Colorful vegetables<br />
3. Fruits and Starchy Vegetables<br />
4. Legumes and Grains<br />
5. Nuts and seeds<br />
<br />
That's all there is folks.<br />
<br />
Do the things that you can do to save yourself money (some of these things come easily):<br />
<br />
1. Buy less meat. You don't need it, and after a while, you won't want it. BUT WAIT! you wonder "where do I get enough protein?"... the answer is: plants. Plants have plenty of protein, especially legumes (peas and lentils) and grains (wheat, buckwheat, quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH). And nuts have protein in spades.<br />
<br />
2. Don't buy most canned or processed food. The exceptions to this, obviously, are things like canned tomatoes and other essentials that are great for things like FOOD STORAGE. Some canned things are great assets to those on low budgets, BUT! keep in mind that buying fresh or frozen is usually cheaper and is much better for you. Processed foods like microwave burritos, frozen pizza, ice-cream, and other non-essentials (and, I may argue, non-food substances-- really, what is a cheeto anyway?) are actually budget breakers. It is cheaper to make your own burritos with homemade tortillas and dry cooked beans than it is to buy those pre-packaged (and chemical filled) types of food.<br />
<br />
3. Shop sales and freeze what you can. If spinach is on sale for 80 cents a bag, buy five or six and freeze it! it still blends nicely in smoothie, or cooked well into a pasta sauce. If oranges are 20 cents a pound, buy a bunch, and peel them and freeze them to put in smoothies. If tomatoes are on sale, chop them up and freeze them to turn into pasta sauce or other delights later (this is good to do during the summer when produce is cheap. AND it helps you store food for times of disaster, and provides you with produce in December.<br />
<br />
4. Soup and salad your way through life. When my husband and I are not eating soup, we are usually eating salad. Or stir-fry. Good "S" foods. These are FULL of plants. Almost anything can be turned into a salad. And, if it can't be a salad, then it can be a soup. Or a stir-fry. One of the reasons why people who try to eat more plants find it pricey is because they don't know what to do with the plants they buy and they rot in the fridge until someone throws them away.<br />
<br />
5. Use cheap "get-full" foods. These are: whole grain brown rice (stir-fry), whole wheat pasta (buy the generic brand, it is better for you), lentils (seriously, the greatest thing ever... stay tuned for a recipe on lentil tacos), beans, almonds, sweet potatoes, and sunflower seeds. They all pair great with veggies and almost all have protein and carbs to keep you full.<br />
<br />
6. Plan your weekly menu before you shop. If your meals consist of veggies pizza with whole wheat crust, whole wheat pasta with spinach and parmesan, stir-fry and rice, taco salad (my fave whole food salad ever!), burritos, and butternut squash soup, you will know what veggies to buy.<br />
<br />
7. If you can, plant a garden and freeze the excess produce. You can have nutritious food in January for free!<br />
<br />
Two notes: consider investing in a high power blender (400-600 dollars)-- seriously, it saves my life everyday (you can make everything with it). Not cheap from the get-go, but they last forever (seven year warranty on an appliance), and they will save you time and money in the kitchen. And, if you can, consider buying a small, cheap deep freeze (150-200 dollars). Blender first, freezer next.<br />
<br />
And, price matching. If you have a Walmart, they will price match the prices of other stores. You may consider planning your menus on what produce they have on sale.<br />
<br />
As a final aside, you will find that initially, your grocery bill may be more, and even continue to be a bit higher than it used to be. However, this is health insurance. There is nothing worth more than you and your family's health. And extra dollars for whole foods is nothing compared to the costs of cancer, high blood pressure, colitis, heart disease, and other ailments that almost entirely prevented by dietary choices.<br />
<br />
To your health!<br />
<br />
<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-62521745411801836332013-03-17T16:38:00.003-07:002013-03-17T16:38:57.384-07:00Reinventing the WheelI was going to write a nice long post about entry level habit changes you can make to move closer to whole foods, but somebody beat me to it.<br />
<br />
http://madmim.com/what-i-learned-from-6-weeks-as-a-vegan-and-other-revelations/<br />
<br />
It's fabulous, and right what I would suggest. I actually don't recommend being vegan or vegetarian forever, unless you LOVE it, and are committed, but having been both for exactly the same reason as this lady, it kind of forces you to learn how to use vegetables in new ways.<br />
<br />
Happy reading.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-66073513239126073742013-03-14T19:24:00.003-07:002013-03-14T19:24:56.717-07:00How To Cook LentilsOkay, lentils are one of things that everyone should be eating because they cost so little, and can go in almost anything. I make tacos from lentils (just putting taco seasoning and some olive oil with the lentils, instead of using ground beef), I put them in soups to give them substance, and you can throw cooked lentils onto a salad to add some much needed fiber and protein. :) Yay lentils!<br />
<br />
And, they are super easy to cook.<br />
<br />
To make lentils:<br />
<br />
Put 1 cup of dry lentils into a pot with 2 cups of water (this ratio is great for any amount of lentils).<br />
<br />
DO NOT SALT THE WATER. The lentils won't get soft that way.<br />
<br />
Bring the water and lentils to boil. Stir once or twice, and then turn the heat down to low and cover with a lid. After about fifteen minutes, the lentils should be soft and the water absorbed. Lentils can be eaten at different levels of softness. Experiment with cooking them with a little less or more water to get different levels of softness. For soups, lentils should be very soft, because people usually don't like to chew their soup. :)<br />
<br />
So, go eat some lentils!Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-10454540638938934662013-02-02T08:38:00.002-08:002013-02-02T08:38:28.163-08:00Not Always As They SeemAs an introduction: Winter is lame.<br />
<br />
Now, with that out of the way, I would like to share some thoughts that I have had recently. Life has been life as usual-- which is how I always see it. If I call home, there is nothing really "newsy" that I have to say.<br />
<br />
I teach seventh grade. It's different everyday. And just because it is different everyday, it ends up being the same. Seventh graders are strange. Really.<br />
<br />
They will ask you questions that they already know the answer to just to ask them-- I don't know what motivates that. maybe it is just to prove that they will no longer robotically accept what the teacher says as law.<br />
<br />
They will comment on everything-- and tell you stories that have no logical beginning or conclusion. We could be talking about racism and they will raise their hands and say how their older brother really likes to listen to country music, and that they hate it. And all you can say is... huh? Oh cool. Now, about racism...<br />
<br />
They are bouncy. Some are preppy-bouncy: high on life or friends. Some are sport-bouncy. Some are school-bouncy-- like nothing would thrill them more than to read and write and do math. Some are anxious-bouncy. Some are I-just-can't-ever-sit-still bouncy.<br />
<br />
And back to questions-- if you do ANYTHING, expect it to be questioned. Why are you handing out this paper? Do we have to put our name on this? Is this for points? Can I work with a partner? Do we have to write this down? Wait, what are we supposed to be doing? (Usually all of these questions have already been answered-- three times).<br />
<br />
I have a hard believing I was like that when I was twelve.<br />
<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-16835803644668709242012-12-29T15:33:00.000-08:002012-12-29T15:33:09.241-08:00Figgy PuddingI have been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes lately.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZQv64Ob7PwR3RKL6So25LW1FwxnwhcS1TkJ0GFsbMiF2KuQwmKyEBjwMSfQvuXv0svtMdeqMqe4A1zBtp9O-ZQkeWO6D8AzpcaJj2HKt6xM5Yl9A2OcGpbZRjosbfiM6AxXXyFaAoxpz/s1600/calvin+and+hobbes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZQv64Ob7PwR3RKL6So25LW1FwxnwhcS1TkJ0GFsbMiF2KuQwmKyEBjwMSfQvuXv0svtMdeqMqe4A1zBtp9O-ZQkeWO6D8AzpcaJj2HKt6xM5Yl9A2OcGpbZRjosbfiM6AxXXyFaAoxpz/s320/calvin+and+hobbes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Yeah. So he's simultaneously brilliant and ignorant. Unintelligent meets intelligent. It was about halfway through my third comic book when I realized that because Hobbes is only a stuffed animal, everything Hobbes says or does must also come out of Calvin's brain. Another sign of brilliance-- and perhaps instability.<br />
<br />
But then Calvin does want a heat seeking ballistic missile for christmas-- and at six years old he knows what that is and what it does. He knows how to order pizza, knows how to comment on modern art, and yet still doesn't know the answer to 12 + 5.<br />
<br />
And why am I commenting on this? Because I have never had the experience of feeling both smarter and stupider than a character.<br />
<br />
What are my thoughts on Calvin and Hobbes?<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4rGxERqliUZU_hThZtrk8dMUG8ePD7Gm52VcPxi6ftaWMms8SzR7VkRVF2M7mhQRa2We0ejvCZiysQITGJ6j4obUnHBiyv7NHcn6ATnWEUE7kw4o_2Fn1xhLB0stf_2FxeNvF5O-1zH2/s1600/calvin+and+hobbes+2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4rGxERqliUZU_hThZtrk8dMUG8ePD7Gm52VcPxi6ftaWMms8SzR7VkRVF2M7mhQRa2We0ejvCZiysQITGJ6j4obUnHBiyv7NHcn6ATnWEUE7kw4o_2Fn1xhLB0stf_2FxeNvF5O-1zH2/s320/calvin+and+hobbes+2.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-11580626641861699792012-12-24T06:57:00.002-08:002012-12-24T06:57:39.399-08:00Things I Don't MentionThe first thing I won't mention is how long it has been since I have written anything. Because I look ahead. Not behind.<br />
<br />
Moving on.<br />
<br />
So, I have been thinking a lot lately about writing a book. It is something, I'll admit, that I have tried and failed to do before. Perhaps several times.<br />
<br />
But then I think of the whole host of other things that I am trying to do-- lose fifteen pounds (which does take time), teach seventh grade (also time), make quilts (time again), and then my lovely aspirations of becoming a novelist seem to shrink like the Wicked Witch of the West in contact with water. Here, the water is my other aspirations, and Dorothy seems to be the kill creativity vibe that resides in the lazy part of my soul.<br />
<br />
However, I do read a lot. In fact, I have three other blogs-- one dedicated to eating well, one dedicated to the books I read, and one dedicated to my students for school. But when the logical part of my brain says: hey, you could write in the time that you are reading, my emotional and very TinMan/Scarecrow Lion part of me say: No way! that's my oil you're taking away. Without reading, where would my heart come from? Where would all my courage go?<br />
<br />
In fact, the number one thing that takes up my time ( I mean, besides gilmore girls and downton abbey) is reading-- but ironically, without books, my drive to write decreases exponentially.<br />
<br />
What's a girl to do?<br />
<br />Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-8583736449435998932012-10-05T09:15:00.001-07:002012-10-05T09:15:20.394-07:00Could I be a Gilmore?for those of you who know me very well, you will know that I love Gilmore Girls. :) I've always liked the intelligent banter between mom and daughter, as well as links to major literature. In some ways, I envy Rory-- great reader, great writer, great student... you know.<br />
<br />
Well, while wasting my time (again) on Pinterest, I came across the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge-- it includes every books she ever mentions/quotes/talks about/ or is found reading during the series.<br />
I thought I would see how more like Rory I am by copying the list here and bolding all the ones I have actually read.<br />
<br />
and the grand total... sixty! I was actually impressed with myself. And that doesn't count books like Sister Carrie, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Pit, and King Lear.<br />
<br />
I'll think I'll pat myself on the back and say YAY ME!<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol style="background-color: #b8cde2; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', Garuda, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1984 by George Orwell</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Archidamian War by Donald Kagan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Art of Fiction by Henry James</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Art of War by Sun Tzu</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Atonement by Ian McEwan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Awakening by Kate Chopin</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Babe by Dick King-Smith</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bel Canto by Ann Patchett</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Beloved by Toni Morrison</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bhagava Gita</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Brave New World by Aldous Huxley</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Brick Lane by Monica Ali</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Candide by Voltaire</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Carrie by Stephen King</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Catch-22 by Joseph Heller</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Christine by Stephen King</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete Novels by Dawn Powell</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Crucible by Arthur Miller</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cujo by Stephen King</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Daisy Miller by Henry James</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">David Copperfield by Charles Dickens</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Deenie by Judy Blume</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Divine Comedy by Dante</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Don Quijote by Cervantes</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eloise by Kay Thompson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Emily the Strange by Roger Reger</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Emma by Jane Austen</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Empire Falls by Richard Russo</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ethics by Spinoza</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eva Luna by Isabel Allende</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Extravagance by Gary Krist</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (TBR)</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fletch by Gregory McDonald</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Frankenstein by Mary Shelley</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gender Trouble by Judith Butler</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gidget by Fredrick Kohner</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Gospel According to Judy Bloom</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Graduate by Charles Webb</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Great Expectations by Charles Dickens</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Group by Mary McCarthy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Hamlet by William Shakespeare</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Henry V by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">High Fidelity by Nick Hornby</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III (Lpr)</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Howl by Allen Gingsburg</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Iliad by Homer</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In Cold Blood by Truman Capote</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë – read</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Jungle by Upton Sinclair</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini </strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Life of Pi by Yann Martel</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Little Women by Louisa May Alcott</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lord of the Flies by William Golding</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Love Story by Erich Segal</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Macbeth by William Shakespeare</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Manticore by Robertson Davies</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marathon Man by William Goldman</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Miracle Worker by William Gibson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Moby Dick by Herman Melville</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Night by Elie Wiesel</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Old School by Tobias Wolff</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On the Road by Jack Kerouac</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Alexander Solzhenitsyn</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oracle Night by Paul Auster</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Othello by Shakespeare</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of Africa by Isac Dineson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Passage to India by E.M. Forster</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Peyton Place by Grace Metalious</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Property by Valerie Martin</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Quattrocento by James Mckean</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Red Tent by Anita Diamant</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien (TBR)</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rita Hayworth by Stephen King</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Roman Fever by Edith Wharton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Room with a View by E. M. Forster</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sanctuary by William Faulkner</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Separate Peace by John Knowles</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Several Biographies of Winston Churchill</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sexus by Henry Miller</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shane by Jack Shaefer</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Shining by Stephen King</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Small Island by Andrea Levy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Songbook by Nick Hornby</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The Sonnets by William Shakespeare</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sophie’s Choice by William Styron</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Story of My Life by Helen Keller</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Stuart Little by E. B. White</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time and Again by Jack Finney</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee</strong></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Trial by Franz Kafka</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ulysses by James Joyce</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Unless by Carol Shields</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Walden by Henry David Thoreau</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë</b></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion</li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole</li>
</ol>
Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983615194023720128.post-21435044621364768082012-10-02T19:32:00.000-07:002012-10-02T19:32:11.624-07:00Hey look, nature!!Yesterday, my husband and I went on a bike ride. With my husband. Yes, I got married. Hence the absence from the blog. Yes, I know. Planning a wedding is no excuse to ignore all my faithful readers-- all five or six of you. ;)<br />
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I discovered this bike trail on Saturday. I was home alone, because Clark was working. After wasting away my life watching episodes of Little House on the Prairie, I decided to brave the elements (in this case, 72 degrees and sunny) and go for a bike ride-- boldly going where no Allen has gone before.<br />
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It was gorgeous. Soon I was out of the city, riding past fields and horses and trees and rivers.<br />
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So I returned home, and informed Clark that we must go on a bike ride together Monday evening, so joyous were my discoveries therein.<br />
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So we embarked on our journey. We packed up a picnic dinner (southwestern coleslaw, fruit salad) and left our fears behind as we pedaled furiously. Sadly, we could not eat alongside the luscious riverbank. The mosquitos were upset that we had invaded their space, so we decided to turn around and eat or picnic at a park on the way home. We had scarcely turned around but we looked down and saw a baby vole in the middle of the path.<br />
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I thought it was a mouse, and rode on past it, but Clark stopped and picked it up. :) It was so cute. We rescued it from death-by-over-zealous-biking-people but putting him safely to the side of the road, and we continued on.<br />
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The dinner was good. The ride home was chilly.<br />
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We were happy. We saw a vole.Juleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239717680910552700noreply@blogger.com0