August 1, 2009

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Random Sunday

Lots going on here. Mostly to-do's of a sort. I'm sort of scattered all over the place these days. The boys had a great time at Whispering Pines and were very happy to just hang out at home yesterday. It was really good for them to go to camp. Jaron had his first tick and they both got a little sunburned but no complaints from either. They both liked canoeing and both of them went in the crevice their very first year!

Jaden spent the night at Joe's last night. Ronnie was in Atlanta for two Braves games. I hope he is having fun. I am planning something I'm not quite ready to talk about on here just yet.

God is showing me how faithful he is. It has been a really long year with no end in sight, yet God has continued to provide.

I turned 40 without much to do. I actually had a hard time on my actual birthday. That has never happened to me before. I am grateful to be here another year and don't mind aging. It's true my beauty has gone (not that I was fantastic looking) but the freshness of youth moreso. It's just that half of my life is over and what did I do with it? Without a doubt the greatest thing that has ever happened to me is to become a mother. It is the one thing that I dreamed about that far exceeded my lofty expectations. I am blessed to have those three boys. They make it all worthwhile.

Ronnie and I celebrated 20 years together on the 18th. I can say with certainty that I knew that I wanted to marry him that first night on his parent's swing. The best thing about Ronnie is that his love is incredibly unconditional. We still fight and make each other crazy sometimes but he lets me be me. And when I am walking with God, it's great; and when I am not he forgives and accepts me. He never lets anything take root, and if I am not happy/or ok he prods and prods until I open up. I love him.

Pictures are of me and Jaron on my 40th. Picture of Jaden was on the 21st of June, 2009. Jensen is peeking in on the side. Ronnie won't let me post a pic of him. I didn't mean to post them on top. Still getting used to blogger.

The Big Read

The Big Read
I've seen this list of 100 books (taken from the BBC Big Read ) floating around various blogs. So here is the list - I've highlighted ones I've read for a grand total of 33, lest you think I'm some literature snob. And the italicized are the ones I'd like to read someday.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (because of the controversy)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (heard alot of great things)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett (maybe on this one - I've heard mixed reviews)
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen (I was trying to make it through all the Austens last year)
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (I loved the movie. Must read the book)
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

I absolutely love to read. You can find me on goodreads.com

Memorial Weekend

not Memorial Weekend (Jaden texting at the dam)

the boys at the dam last week

Planning the weekend. Lots to do. Ronnie went with Millie to get some stuff to get settled. I folded four loads of laundry and picked up house. Jaden and I went to go see Angels & Demons. Pretty good. But not as good as the book. Ronnie is off seeing it now. Jake is over. Jaden is playing Final Fantasy 7.

Just testing out Blogger as I finally shut down my Typepad blog. Free wins over $5/month. I'm gonna try to post some pics as well. I think it's important to document this time so I'm gonna give it a go even though most of my days are just working and driving home and collapsing with exhaustion.

Well I need to work on formatting pictures but this seems pretty simple.