Reading is Sexy

1) What author do you own the most books by?JK Rowling's Harry Potter books. all 7.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?I don't own multiple copies of books...at least I haven't found a multiple.....

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?Most wisconsinites end sentences with prepositions, so it doesn't bother me

5) What book have you read the most times in your life?Gone with the Wind, Baby Farm Animals

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?Charlotte's Web

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?Peter Gay's The Enlightenment.....it was rough going.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?Oh goodness, I can't pick just one. That'd be like eating just ONE m and m.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? I dunno. So many are so great. Probably To Kill A Mockingbird. I would force NavyGirl to read Gone with the Wind.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?Pope Joan

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? Walden. SNOOZE.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?All the smut I have read. Lots of romance novels while laying out in the sun

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?Dictionary of the Kahazars. As I Lay Dying. (My mother is a fish!) I loved both, but they were hard....lots of hours with the professor in office hours trying to figure out what they are saying.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?French...they make better bread. .

18) Roth or Updike?Haven't read either..

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?Nope, not them either. .

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?Chaucer.

21) Austen or Eliot?These ladies aren't familiar.....I mean, I know them, just haven't read them.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?The classics and the canon. Lots haven't been read.

23) What is your favorite novel?Gone with the Wind

26) Essay?I like Doris Kearns Goodwin...not too many essays, but the ones I have read are good.

28) Work of nonfiction?America's Women; 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroins.

29) Who is your favorite writer?JK Rowling...I love the imagery...also Phillipa Gregory (I Henry VIII!)

31) What is your desert island book?Phillipa Gregory's series.

32) And finally... what are you reading right now?The Pleasure Palace (I promise, it's not smut)


4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Rhett Butler....someone so rakishly handsome can carry me up the stairs and ravish me sometime!!!


10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? I don't think I'm that well read to determine that.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. I once dreamt that books were illegeal....woke up in a cold sweat.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen? haven't seen anything obscure.

24) Favorite Play? Steel Magnolias, To Kill a Mockingbird

25) Favorite Poem? To my Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet....I read it to Farmer at our wedding

27) Favorite Short story? Not really a short story fan.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Toni Morrison. Just don't like her.

Now....I tag two people.......

Green Girl in Wisconsin......I think that her personal library is going to be my lending library this summer....

AND.....

I'd like to hear what Navy Girl's SISTER has to say...I'm guessing she's a reader too!!!!!! Perhaps you could e-mail your answers to Navy Girl and she could let you do a "guest post".....OR, I guess you could just e-mail me the responses!!!! You pick!

observations, quick thoughts, and ruminations

*Spring is back in CowTown....it rained yesterday and today, and the worms are out on the sidewalks. ICK. I hate it when the worms come out.

*It snowed today, but it's supposed be 70 degrees on Friday. Freaking odd weather.

*Kitty has started massively pulling hair. she pulled her teacher's hair today, and removed a clump of my locks this evening. It earned her a time out and a frown from Mumma. If this continues, you can just call me Supernanny, for the amazingness of my timeout skillz.

*Farmer's birthday is Friday....which means...Perch Plate for Historygirlie!!!

*Navygirlie comes home on Thursday! Huzzah!

*How does one get into ballroom dancing as a kid? That's one skill I would love to have. Not that the polka dances that I attend really need the ability to samba or rumba, but still...how fun.

*I think I'm being snubbed by my cousin....I haven't recieved neither a save the date or an invite to the shower...when everyone else has...hmm....

*Jillian Michaels is a butt-busting sloot. Ok, maybe not a sloot, but still! her workouts are intense. However, I turn 30 in 3.5 months, (30!!??!! sniff...sniff...not adjusting well)and I want to look hawt at 30. So, Jillian is going to kick my keister every day between now and then. I'm not joking....every day. look out folks...this slightly nerdy, documentary loving history nerd is going to be looking good!!!!

*I think I'm the only person in america that doesn't love Adam Lambert from American Idol. I don't like his severly dyed hair and eyebrows...yes, I think the eyebrows are dyed too. He looks werewolf creepy. not a fan.

And....my last odd life tidbit....and I'm saving the best for last....

*one of my administrators today told me (in front of two other teachers AND two students) that he thinks he needs to go on one of those medications that help men's urinary incontinence. YES. you read that right. he came back from a bathroom break and announced that to the group, and also that he's been having hair growing out of odd spots. I've worked with this administrator on several projects, so I get him better than others, so it didn't shock me as much, but STILL!!!! Ahhh....love the surprises in life.

And on that disturbing thought for all of you.....Good night!

Huzzah times Two!

First Huzzah....To my dear girliefriend NavyGirl on her 27th birthday!!! I can't wait to celebrate with you when you come home next week!!!! Perhaps we can get together some night, You, Me, and Farmer and go out for dinner to celebrate!

Second Huzzah....To a wonderful parishoner at St. CowTown Catholic Church....

WHO PAID $410 FOR MY CHEESECAKE A MONTH FOR A YEAR DONATION AT LAST NIGHT'S AUCTION!!!!!

(The auction was a fundraiser for the local small Catholic school...it's a fun night and alot of younger parishoners come out for the night)

Seriously....$410 for 12 cheesecakes. I was so nervous that they would make something like $20 for them, but suddenly the bidding was going fast and furious, and going higher and higher. I had Farmer's pants leg in a vice grip, and getting more and more excited.

I must admit...it was a bit hard to fall asleep last night after that....

Now, I just hope that they turn out each month!!!!!! NO CRACKS ALLOWED!!!!!

(Now, if only I can come up with a way to make myself some money with my mad baking skillz. Any ideas???)

E.T....E.T....E.T....

You know, in the movie E.T., when E.T. breaks into the fridge and drinks a bunch of beer and gets a bit tipsy? And then he runs around the house yelling his name over and over again? E.T....E.T.....E.T.....

Well, that's turned into my daughter.

Two days of being with grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins and marshmellow peeps and being the total center of attention made my kitty a bit crazy yesterday afternoon. My parents house is very open and circular, and so Kitty was waddling in her twirly skirted Easter dress (she's got big diapers and she walks without bending her knees....hence...waddling) all excited, waving her arms, and repeating her name over and over again. Seriously, if she were all brown and wrinkly, she would have been a picture of E.T. My brother just followed her around, waddling, and saying his name over and over again. (I think the copious amounts of Peeps and chocolate got to him too) She was also all excited because she figured out how to say her name, so we hear it all the time. (GreenGirl....the "cubbie" you were hearing at your house was actually her attempt at her name....it took awhile, but I figured it out)

Seriously. Adorable. Grammy and Poppy were totally charmed. Add in her amazingly huge Easter Bonnet---I had to find the bonnet with the most "frills upon it"at the local dime store, so the brim was HUGE, come on, everyone, sing along..."In your Easter Bonnet...."---and her green and pink madras plaid easter dress and sandals with cupcakes on them, she was a perfect Easter Girl. Don't worry, I'll post a picture when I get time.

*******
In other happenings, my washing machine blew up this morning. It's leaking water from the bottom. I turned off the hoses leading to it, after a frantic call to Poppy (Farmer's busy this AM with vet check and just general farm chores) but the water still comes. This totally puts a crimp in my plans to get all my laundry done today on my day off. Shuzbut. I guess I'll have to attack Mt. Wrinkle instead. or scrub my kitchen floor. Or bathroom floors. Or a number of other chores.

I found my cheesecake recipe for the annual cheesecake contest. I must say...It's fricking amazing. I'm not revealing the flavor yet (I don't want anyone stealing my recipe!!!!) but everyone loved it at Grammy's house yesterday. It's a hit.

However, GreenGirl, if you'd like me to bring one to book club this week, I'd be more than happy to. Just let me know.....

Check ya later!!!!

They've got the right stuff!

So, last night a 15 year dream came true.

I waited so long. I wished for this, when I was a "tween".

Last night, I saw New Kids On the Block (NKOTB) in concert in GB.

Yes, they are back. And better than ever.

I was a fan when I was in 4th grade. I LOVED THEM. I had posters, pajamas, big pins on my stonewashed jean jacket, shoelaces, fan magazines (TIGER BEAT!!!), but no concert ticket. My mom and dad wouldn't take me to Alpine Valley to see them in all their neon glory.

But Farmer, who enjoys granting my odd wishes, gave me tickets to NKOTB for Valentine's day. However, he didn't want to go, so I got to take my good friend M with me, who was also denied that glorious concert ticket 15 yrs ago.

I was so excited. and The Kids didn't disappoint.

They had the dance moves. they had the harmonies. They had Jordan Knight singing an incredibly high falsetto, Danny's great street dance moves, Jon's quiet handsomeness, Joey belting out "Please don't go Girl" (I'm not going anywhere, Joey, just call me) and, of course, Donnie's Boston Hat and smoking hot abs.

Yes, all 5 guys got even HOTTER in the last 15 years. and now I'm an age that can appreciate the MAN-ness of them. mmmmmm. Yummy.

Don't worry, I didn't hide in their bus and let them take me on the road with them. I'm back in CowTown, feeding Kitty, and listening to my Greatest Hits CD.

But it was an amazing night, full of nostalga and love for a band that I had started to forget.

Thanks, Farmer, for giving me back a piece of my childhood. I'll be Hangin' Tough for a long time.

ed. Note: Don't worry, Jon Bon Jovi....I may love the Boys from Beantown, but the Jersey Boys will always come first in my heart. I'm still Livin' On A Prayer that you'll call me up and take me away. at least for one night. :)