The BBC has a list of 100 books you have to read. The average person has read only 6 out of 100. I have read 68! Thank goodness for no television. It really does make a big difference in your life. Here's the master list. The ones I have read have an X after them.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (movie) X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling -- X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper LeeX
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -- (I think not!)X
10 Great Expectations - Charles DickensX
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy X
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller X
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du MaurierX
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George EliotX
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles DickensX
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy X
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor DostoyevskyX
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo TolstoyX
32 David Copperfield - Charles DickensX
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha -X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X (
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie CollinsX
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert X
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X )
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John SteinbeckX
62 Lolita - Vladimir NabokovX
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre DumasX
66 On The Road - Jack KerouacX
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen FieldingX
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville X
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram StokerX
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James JoyceX
76 The Inferno - DanteX
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray X
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice WalkerX
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo IshiguroX
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert X (Yuck)
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre DumasX
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor HugoX

Now, not all of these are the best of literature, but so many of these are old friends. Dune I read at least once a year. Little Women is another that is part of my yearly reads. Some of these I will never read again, like Les Miserables and Heart of Darkness. It's not that they weren't good, it is just that I want something a bit more uplifting.

So are you a freak when it comes to books? I bet you are...

Mark got the job!

Mark got the job at TLC Ambulance! First interview, and a job offer on the spot. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much these last few months and now to top it off, a job with better pay and better benefits than Rural Metro. Mark is happy, but cautious. He worked there years ago, when Fiona was born and it wasn't the right fit then. But, Mark has grown up and I think that working here in town will be better for him in the long run. The two greatest things about this job are that he can walk to work, and HE DOESN'T NEED TO WEAR A BULLET-PROOF VEST TO WORK! In my mind, as the mother of his children, this is the best part. I don't have to worry about the gang violence and the murders like in Syracuse. He will still have to see crappy stuff, ie child abuse, but he will be safer in the long run. Yipee!!!!!!!!!

Life always seems to get in the way

It has been an incredible 6 months! Christmas was awesome as it always is. Lots of love and family. Even my Aunt Mary and Uncle Dan were here from Illinois!
January was a bit of a bummer. Mark got into an accident with his ambulance and they fired him. The accident was not his fault. He was going to a call with lights and sirens and some idiot T-boned him. He has not found a new job yet, but has an interview this week. :)
The upside is that Mark has reorganized this house top to bottom. He keeps me constantly worried about some mess the kids have made or that there are dirty dishes in the sink. Gotta love a husband with mild OCD.
Spring came and it was so hot that I decided to start the garden a wee bit early. According to the U.S. government, we are now zone 6 for planting due to global warming. It is sheer baloney as we had frost on June 1st! I lost my squash, zucchini, green lettuce and some tomato plants. I think I should sue Al Gore, but I won't. He needs the money to pay his electric bill.
Fiona graduates from kindergarten on Thursday. I just cannot believe she is no longer a little baby anymore. Of course, she is becoming a young woman I love even more everyday. She has been writing books on a variety of topics and does a great job!
Brigid has become the funniest skinny chick I know. First off, she has developed a habit of shaking her fist at people when she angry and asking them if they want a knuckle sandwich! She never has followed through with her threats and actually most of the time does it to make someone laugh. In her housework abilities, she has moved on to washing dishes. She is amazing at them!
I am busy as ever mainly trying to keep Brigid from digging up my plants and housework. That's life I guess!

Christmas Already?

I just got finished getting Thanksgiving put together and am slapped with all the rush of Christmas. Man, oh man, I am behind. I am making almost everyone a present this year. I have been working on them since the beginning of November, but I still have mountains to move. I love sewing!
Mark is working hard. He has been working as much as humanly possible and it makes me love him more each day to see how hard he works for us. He is truly the best head of household I could have asked for.
Fiona is in the Advanced Placement Reading Group at school. She spends every waking moment sounding out what you say to her. It is a hoot. She tried spelling "Bethlehem" the other day. She is quite the thinker and work in progress. She is also one of the moodiest kids I have ever met. She will be Miss Doom and Gloom when she is older, but I will still love her for it.
Brigid is her usual cheerful happy self. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when he sent her second. She is my blessing everyday. She has been helping with my daily chores and has gotten very adept at bed making. This morning when I told her how wonderful her side looked, she threw herself in my arms and told me, "No, Mama, you did a great job!" She then proceeded to jump up and down until I hugged her and whisked her off for kitchen duty!
I have been reading up a storm. Just for kicks, I am almost done with the entire works of Jane Austen. She is truly my hero. Actually, I have her action figure in my kitchen. I have read them before, all except Mansfield Park. I can never get into that one. I dislike every character in it. No one seems to have any redeeming qualities and there is very little humor. On the other hand, I could read Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility over and over and over again. I discover something new each time. On top of the reading, I have been writing A LOT! I put on the ipod and the stuff just pours out of me. Maybe in a few years, I will be a famous writer! Who knows?

Random Kid Quotes

On Monday, we were driving to the mall with my parents when I asked Brigid who her favorite superhero is. Her answer, "God." I guess we are doing something right. :)

It has been a long long summer...

I cannot believe that it is October already! We have moved into the house almost completely. My in-laws are working hard at emptying the last few areas. It has been very grounding having a place all our own. I planted some this summer, but we moved in too late to get a good vegetable garden, so I have a tomato plant for my kitchen. Even if I only get one tomato all winter, it will be worth it.
Fiona has started school and it is just Brigid and I all day long. She loves being with Mommy, but misses Fiona terribly. She asks all day, "Is it time for sister yet?" She has gymnastics one day a week and that certainly fills her day. She is actually a total natural at everything she decides to do or touch. I wish I had her blessings.
Fiona loves school and loves Mrs. Davis, her teacher. She has bloomed in kindergarten. She is no longer painfully shy and she talks non-stop. I guess she channels Great Grandma Frankie like I channel Grandma Ethel, my Dad's Mom. She is also in a gymnastics class and loves it. She, unfortunately, is as uncoordinated as Mark and I.
Mark is still working in Syracuse, but he got a new shift and works Monday through Thursday every week. It has been a real blessing to have him home mornings and on the weekends when everything happens.
I have been busy baking and cleaning. I sew on occasion and knit when I can. I finally finished Mark's Irish Scarf with all the cables. GO me! It is time for Miss Brigid's nap and I want to find something constructive to do. More tomorrow including the best cake recipe, that needs no frosting!

I am trying to do better

But, it has been so beautiful here. The lilacs are blooming and everything is covered in caterpillars. It has truly been a wonderful Spring.
Mark started painting our new house yesterday. He scraped and primed the back and it looks really nice. I got to pull weeds at the apartment house that my sis-in-law owns next door. My herb garden is still thriving since I put it in 7 years ago. If anyone needs peppermint let me know. I could open a shop.
The girls are well and growing like weeds. Fiona has quite the green thumb and insists on knowing what every plant is called. Her favorite right now is the Poppy and Johnny jump ups. She is my little lady.
Brigid is her usual self. She is always on the move. She also wants to know everything. I hear "Why?" at least one thousand times a day.
Fiona gave the scripture in Sharing Time. She has memorized, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." She now recites it on command. I am so happy that she loves Primary. Both girls do. We have been blessed with that.
I added a quote on the bottom that I think is rather interesting. I happened on a website called womenagainstfeminism.com. These are women who believe that feminism is a lie. There are lots of articles about homemaking, modesty, and anything related to the home. It is a treat to look through and heartening to see others want a good home on one income too.
Well, the sunshine and my laundry call. Have a wondrous day!