Friday, September 30, 2005

I found this list on another blog and I"m borrowing it. It's the 100 most banned/challenged books. In other words, they are books that people are trying to keep out of schools and libraries. I've read a lot of these, and many of them as a child. I'm sure there are more that I've read and just don't recognize the titles, I'm bad like that. I'll make the ones I've read red.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer

Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Bush Funny

Someone sent me this and I thought I'd share

Donald Rumsfeld was giving Bush his daily briefing. He concluded by saying, "Yesterday, three Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" Bush exclaimed. "That's terrible!"

His staff was stunned at this unusual display of emotion. They watched nervously as Bush sat, head in hands.

Finally, Bush looked up and asked, "How many is a brazillion?"

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

A funny

Someone just sent me this quote...

When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.
-Elayne Boosler-

Florida and babies

I have to start out by saying I've been a bad blogger lately! It seems like I never post anymore. I promise I'll be on here more often!!

I think we've lost another family member to the warm states. My cousin Connie is in Florida, and I have a feeling she isn't coming back. :-) She is 18 years old, and grew up in a little bitty town in Washington ( the same one I grew up in.) She just graduated from High School. Her boyfriend moved to Florida after graduation, and she decided to go visit for a while. She left last Saturday. My mom talked to her today and she loves it there. She said it's just like where I live only hotter and smaller. LOL She is going home to visit for Thanksgiving, but she bought a round trip ticket so I think she's planning to go back to Florida after the holidays. I'm so proud of her for doing this. It's always a good thing to get out of Ilwaco!!! Too many people stay there and never get to see what the rest of the world is like.

I'm sure the family isn't very happy that she left, ( I still don't think they've forgiven me for leaving) and who knows, maybe she will change her mind and come back, but I hope she has a great time first!! I know I grew up and changed so much when I moved to California all by myself.

On to my next topic of Babies. I was reading in someone else's blog about 2nd babies and how hard it is (in part) because toddlers don't sleep through the night. I don't know if I'm just lucky or if circumstances are different, but the kids I've nannied for have all slept through the night by 6 months and pretty much stuck to that. With my last 2 families that was the case, and I'm pretty sure Mason did the same. Unless they were sick or had a really bad night of teething. I'm wondering though if it's because the kids I've nannied for have all been Cry It Out babies? They are all thumb suckers as well. I'm sure they wake up at night, but they go back to sleep on their own. Bed time is also pretty easy. Do night time routine, put child in bed, say good night, turn off the light, close the door. Quiet ensues.

Amelia is somewhere in the middle. She is not a thumb sucker but a pacifier baby. Once a week or so she wakes up and needs to be snuggled before she can go back to sleep. Other than that she wakes up and finds her paci and goes back to sleep, OR she cries till we come find her paci and she goes back to sleep. I have learned the difference in her cries, she has the "i'm tired, I don't wanna go to sleep though" cry. That one I usually leave her for a few minutes, and she conks out almost immediately. She also has the "something is wrong, get in here now cry" that one makes me come running. There are others that are in between and I admit, sometimes she cries for a few minutes before I get to her. I want her to be comfortable with herself, and being alone, and I want her to be able to soothe herself to sleep. She is finally starting to be okay in her crib, she will wake up and play in there for a few minutes, a couple times lately I have gone in to check on her and I find her standing up smiling at me around her pacifier. Honestly, I think parents need to listen to their guts and to their children. Not just listen as far as is my kid smiling or crying right this second, but see how they are doing. So far I've been blessed with a pretty happy, mostly healthy child.

We must be doing something sorta right! :-)

Monday, September 26, 2005

New furniture and sick

Well we bought the new furniture. It arrives in a month. We got the couch, the chair and the ottoman. I like it because it feels pretty tough, I think it will be hard for the cat to rip up right away. I'm so excited for it to get here!

I'm still doing good with the WW, I am down 2 more pounds this week. Being sick might have helped with that. I'm home from work today, have a fever throwing up etc. Soooo not fun. Jeff is being great though, he went and bought me chicken broth and diet 7 up and brought them home at lunch time. :-)

Amelia will be 8 months old tomorrow! I'm thinking we should go get pictures done this weekend.

Thursday, September 22, 2005



This is the furniture set I really like. Now I just have to convince Jeff... :-)

Sunday, September 18, 2005

This is so funny... I'm one of those people who corrects other people's grammar in my head while they are speaking. I never tell them though!


Grammar God!
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.


How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)
brought to you by Quizilla

Friday, September 16, 2005

Funny

I just thought this was funny. Go to google and put Failure in the search box. Then click on I'm feeling lucky. Ahh it's the little things that amuse me these days.

Monday, September 12, 2005


Either Amelia is teething finally or she is getting sick. She is soooo grouchy. She is sitting in her high chair, playing with veggie puffs, but not actually eating them, she has a pacifier in her mouth. It's keeping her calm while I make dinner though. Poor grouchy baby. :-(

One more thing...

...about baby food.

Anyone know when babies can have cheerios? Amelia eats the veggies puffs really well not sure when they can have cheerios though. We tried the jarred baby food for lunch today, and she wasn't crazy about it! It's really difficult to take her home made stuff to work with me every day, and make sure it gets defrosted but not too warm , I'm hoping that she will warm up to the jarred stuff. I'm planning on giving her my concoctions like normal at home, and letting her eat the jarred at work until she gets better at eating, then I can just mash up veggies and stuff at work for her.

It's Monday

I'm having a great day for a Monday. Amelia and I went grocery shopping, got lots of food we needed, and some we didn't I bought Jeff some junk food he should be happy about. Got him stuff I don't like so I don't have to worry about me eating it. :-)

I've finally got Amelias room all finished up, I'd like to paint her dressers but thats a pretty big project so it's done for now. It's totally baby safe, and a bunch of her toys are in there now. She will play in there for an hour at a time!! I just close off the bathroom and our bedroom doors so if she decides to go on an adventure she can't get hurt. It leaves me free to do stuff ( like cleaning out the fridge which I just finished, OH JOY!)I just check on her every few minutes and she is happy as can be. She plays much better when she can't see me. It's like if she sees me, she whines and wants to be picked up. If she can't see me she is content to play. I can peak in on her without her seeing me.

I had my weigh in this morning, I lost 4.5 lbs!!! I'm thinking it's a fluke but who knows. Last week was only 1 lb so maybe it's just averaging out. For what I'm eating I should lose 2 lbs a week. So yeah, the scale this morning totally made my day. :-)

Friday, September 09, 2005

I just talked to Jeff, he doesnt even remember talking to me last night when we got up with Amelia. I figured he wouldn't remember it. Still hurt my feelings though! lol
I know I've been really bad at writing lately. This going back to work thing has been a big adjustment for all of us. I worked from 7 am until 1130 last night. I'm so tired! Then of course by the time I got home and parked 4 blocks away ( yes FOUR blocks away) it was 12:30. It was after 1 when I went to sleep. Then Jeff got mad at 3 that I didn't want to get up and feed the baby. I was so tired and upset that I started crying, and he got mad at me for that too. I'm hoping it was just the middle of the night talking, and he didn't mean to yell at me for being tired after working 16.5 hours. When I stayed home I didnt mind as much that he didn't want to get up with her. But he acts like his job is more important or harder or something. It's not like I get to sleep in when I'm home with her, she gets up earlier than he does for work most days. I'm worried that I made the wrong choice going back to work. Jeff was all gung ho for me to do it and said he'd do such and such to help, and I'm just not seeing that. Oh well it is what it is and I'm going to live with it. Things will calm down at work soon as well so I can just do my three days. Maybe he will adjust and be able to help out more. On the other hand, he's so good with her when he's home, can't wait to play with her every evening.

On another note things are going really well with weight watchers. I'm down a total of 41 lbs since I had Amelia. I have a long way to go still but so far it's been really good.

Friday, September 02, 2005

I got tagged by Darshani!

10 years ago I was: 15 years old, and living with my mom and sister in Washington. I was getting ready to start my sophomore year at Ilwaco High School. I worked at a grocery store, and couldn't wait to start school and Driver's Ed.

5 years ago I was: 20 years old, living in Oregon. I had just finished my degree in Early Childhood Education, and was working at a preschool during the day. I had two other jobs, one was at a transitional housing facility for mentally ill people, another was at a church. I was so busy, but so happy to be living on my own.

1 year ago I was: 24 years old, living in Southern California, and I was 4 months pregnant, I had just started the second trimester, and had begun to feel good. I was so happy that the morning sickness was finally gone.

Yesterday: was my first day at work with all the kids. It was tiring, I think I went up and down the stairs about 40 times, but I had a great day. All the kids were great, Mason and Amelia got along so well. :-)

5 snacks I enjoy:chocolate, fruit, carrot sticks, pirates booty from trader joes, diet coke. (Is that a snack?? IT should be.)

5 songs I know all the words to: I actually know all the words to a lot of songs, I remember stuff like that all the time. The ones that are always in my head though are of course kid songs. Hush Little Baby, Rock a bye baby, Lullaby Song, Sweet Dreams, ( are you seeing a theme here??)

5 things I would do with 100 million dollars: Send a lot of money to the Red Cross. That aside, I'd buy us a house and some land, pay off the few debts we have let, set up college funds for Amelia and all of my nieces and nephews, and buy a new car. :-)

5 places I would run away to: it depends on why I'm running away. Oregon ( family is there) Europe ( far far away from family) I'd like to see NY, a week ago I would have said New Orleans, and maybe some tropical beach somewhere with no one else.

5 things I would never wear: okay so I can't think of anything, if there is a good enough reason I'd wear anything. Okay maybe not an "I heart George W. Bush" t-shirt..


5 favorite tv shows: Only 5???? Here is the current top 5, Dirty Jobs, Gilmore Girls, mythbusters, anything on HGTV or Discovery channel.


5 bad habits: nail biting, late night snacking, not putting things back where they belong, interrupting people, screening calls too much. Okay thats scary, I'm just copying your 5 Darshani. LOL


5 biggest joys:Jeff, Amelia, extended family, knitting, quilting.

5 favorite toys: the computer (of course) digital camera, mini food processor (awesome for making baby food!!) my car, and the DVR


5 fictional characters I would date: I don't know.


5 people I tag to do this:
Brianna
Nicky
Jenn
Terra
I have been working on redoing Amelia's room. I'll take pictures when I'm all done, her bedroom is light blue, (the color is called Little Boy Blue, the first U/S said she was a boy) anyway, I'm doing mostly white furniture. The bedding and everything is mostly pink with some blue and purple, and it's all flowers and butterflies. Anyway, I'm trying to decide which switch plate covers would go better in her room. I already ordered the pink and white ones...

Don't Trip
but then I just found these and I'm wondering if they'd be cuter. Anyone???

Don't Trip

I know it's probably silly to do all of this to her room, but I'm doing it all myself so it's not costing much, and I just want her to have a bedroom thats special.

On another topic, we have to do more babyproofing this weekend. Amelia is getting into everything, we need to move the computer out of the living room, probably going into our bedroom. I have to figure out how to move the cable modem since our phone is also digital, and comes in through the modem.