Books I Need to Read

So, I own 349 and I've come to the conclusion that I haven't read a startling amount of them. 74 to be exact. I have made the decision not to buy any more books until I have read all of these books that I've never read before. (Another startling fact is that I have gained 67 more books since I moved out a year and a half ago, which seems impossible because I must have read at least 100 on my ereader since I got it.)

It is going to be quite a challenge, there is a reason that I haven't read most of these books. Most of these books, I have started and then found them to be boring. But, the challenge will be to read them and if I can't get through them then I am going to get rid of them.

This is a big step for me. I would almost consider myself a book hoarder. I am proud of my collection and don't like to get rid of books. On the other hand, if I'm never going to read them, I really shouldn't keep them. Who knows, one of these books could be a new favourite and I would never know.

So here is the list (in no particular order but how they are sitting on my shelves).

1. Double Cross - Norah McClintock
2. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares
3. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares
4. Blue Haven - CJ Box
5. The First Patient - Michael Palmer
6. The Sugar Queen - Sara Addison Addler
7. Dead Heat - Felix Francis
8. Sunday at Tiffany's - James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
9. Lady Killer - Lisa Scottoline
10. The Christmas Promise - Donna VanLiere
11. Final Theory - Mark Alpert
12. The Anniversary - Amy Gutman
13. Flirting With Pete - Barbara Delinsky
14. Avenger - Frederick Forsyth
15. Waterloo Station - Emily Grayson
16. Interview With the Vampire - Anne Rice
17. The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
18. The Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice
19. The Mummy - Anne Rice
20. The Feast of All Saints - Anne Rice
21. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - Anne Rice
22. Lasher - Anne Rice
23. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice
24. Fire, Water, Earth and Air - Deborah I. Mahy
25. The Soul Thief - Cecelia Holland
26. The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
27. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
28. A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
29. Healing Tides - Lois Richer
30. The Healer - Greg Hollingshead
31. The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
32. The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkien
33. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
34. Push - Sapphire
35. Sweet Blood - Pat Graverson
36. In the Doctor's Bed - Brenda Jackson
37. The Proposal - Brenda Jackson
38. Solid Soul - Brenda Jackson
39. 1st to Die - James Patterson
40. 2nd Chance - James Patterson
41. 3rd Degree - James Patterson
42. 4th of July - James Patterson
43. The 6th Target - James Patterson
44. The Big Bad Wolf - James Patterson
45. Swimsuit - James Patterson
46. Deception Point - Dan Brown
47. A Cold Creek Secret - RaeAnne Thayne
48. Heart of Valor - L.J. Smith
49. The Guest List - Fern Michaels
50. Fool Me Once - Fern Michaels
51. The Glass Lake - Maeve Binchy
52. Hamlet - Shakespeare
53. Adam Bead - George Eliot
54. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
55. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
56. Emma - Jane Austen
57. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
58. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
59. Be Mine - Jane McFann
60. The Name of the Game Was Murder - Joan Lowery Nixon
61. Dog Days - John Levitt
62. The Comeback Cowboy - Cathy McDavid
63. Ever After - Wendy Loggia
64. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
65. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
66. Hothouse Orchid - Stuart Woods
67. The Innocent Man - John Grisham
68. Springwater Wedding - Linda Lael Miller
69. Carnal Innocence - Nora Roberts
70. The Partner - John Grisham
71. The Black Donnellys - Thomas P. Kelley
72. Impossible to Resist - Janice Maynard
73. More Than Expected - Andrea Laurence
74. The Boy Next Door - Josie Lloyd and Emilyn Rees


It's a frightening list to say the least. Also, I have no idea how I ended up with so many Anne Rice books that I haven't read. I hope to find that she is a kindred spirit since her name is spelt with an E.

This I think will be the first blog of many as I begin this journey through literature.

I will make the titles bold as I read them.

Also, a scary thing? Books #64 and on are ones that I have gotten since I originally made this list. People just like to give me books!

Memory of September 11th

Ten years since the terrorist attack on America. I can't believe it's been that long already. There have been all kinds of documentaries and specials on over the last few days and I have tried to watch as many as possible.

Sometimes it is so easy to just remember 9/11 as a terrible day when America was attacked and the world was changed forever. And it was.

Every year, around the anniversary, I watch all of these shows and remember. I remember that it was so much more than that. Nearly 3000 people died that day, many of them heroes.

I watched a show yesterday about two construction workers who rescued seventy people who were trapped. These courageous men, Frank and Pablo, ended up losing their own lives in the fall of the tower.

Another man, Orio Palmer, died heroically that day. I didn't know this before, but for some reason the firefighters' radios weren't working. Orio managed to fix his so that he speak with his crew. He also single-handedly fixed an elevator and managed to ride it to the 40th floor. He then ran up the stairs to the 78th floor: the site of the impact.

The tower collapsed just seven minutes after he got there. He didn't manage to save any of the lives up there but I can only imagine the hope that he brought to those people in their final moments, just by being there.

Not to be forgotten are the passengers of Flight 93. This plane was suspected of targeting the White House. The passengers fought back so hard that the hijackers crash-landed in a field. There were no survivors.

Usually on September 11th, people want to share their memories of the day: where they were, how they felt. Today, as I watch that horrifying news footage over and over, I don't want to think of my own memories. I instead want to honour the memories of the heroes and the innocent that died that day.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

Sometimes I really feel like there just isn't enough time to get everything done that I need to do. I know I have blogged about this before, but lately I just find myself feeling overwhelmed with all of the things that I need and want to get done, and I just don't feel like I have enough time or energy to get it all done.

Going to work is one thing, that's my job and I need to do it in order to have money to live. I've even taken on a second job now at the bowling alley where my sister works and I'm glad for it. I think it will be nice to have a change of scenery and have some new faces in my life. It's when I get home that the trouble starts.

Don't get me wrong, Tyler is a big help around the apartment, he helps out whenever I ask him too, but he works long hours too. He almost always starts work at 7 in the morning and I can't blame him if he wants to take a nap when he gets home from work. I like to relax too. But it seems like, by the time we're done eating and doing the dishes there just isn't any time. It is constant work to keep this apartment tidy and I just don't really understand why.

I feel like I pick up after myself as I go, but there always seems to be more work to do. I'm wiping crumbs off the counter, or picking up dirty laundry, cleaning out the litter box or emptying the ashtrays. How do people keep their homes clean and still have time to do the things they want to do?

On top of that, I really wanted to finish my last credit and graduate by my birthday. I've been puttering away at it, I sat down for a couple of hours with it today. I just want to get it over and done with. Once I finish the work though, I'm going to have to find a way to get to Red Hill during the day to write my exam and then go to Hill Park and see if I can get my volunteer hours filled out. Is this something that needs to be done before I'm twenty-one? I don't know. I'm not sure if I will still be classified as a student when I'm twenty-one or if I will still be able to get my diploma from Hill Park. For now I guess I just need to finish my schoolwork and worry about the rest of it when that is all done.

Once all of those things are said and done, there is time left for the things that I want to do. I want to start working on my novel again. The problem is, I want to be able to have a good couple of hours to pound away at it. I don't want to try and pick up where I left off in November with only a few minutes in a day. I want to be able to put real effort into that. I especially need to be able to do that if I'm going to be able to get it finished and edited by the beginning of July so that I can order my free copy of it from CreateSpace.

The thing that sucks the most about all of this, is that I feel like I don't even have time to do all of those things. I find myself thinking "I'll do it later" "I'll just go on facebook for a minute" "I'll just watch one more video on youtube" "I'll just log on quick to check my email". I'm beginning to think that this would all be easier if I didn't have a computer to distract me from the stuff that I really need to be doing. But truthfully, sitting on my butt in front of the computer for a couple of hours, or curling up on the couch with Tyler to watch TV or sitting on the balcony smoking and reading a good book is what I would always rather be doing.

I think maybe what I need to start doing is rewarding myself with the stuff that I really want to do. I've always been the kind of person who would rather get everything done at once so that I can relax afterward, but this doesn't really work. I find myself getting worn out too quickly and just plopping down without finishing everything. Maybe I need to start telling myself "do the dishes before you go for a smoke" "do one hour of schoolwork before going back on facebook" "put the laundry away before you watch TV"

I'm not really sure, maybe I'm just moping and whining here. I just know that something needs to change if I'm going to make time do the things that I want to do as well as all of the unpleasant things that I need to do.

Thank God I don't have any kids! How the hell do people find the time to do all of these things and raise children?!

Day 31 - The End!/New Year's Eve

The apartment is clean, the dishes are done, the jello shots are in the fridge. I'm ready for 2011! This is my final post of 2010 and of BEDD! It will be short but sweet because I still need to get dressed (lol!)

I spent the day tidying the apartment, getting ready for tonight. Tyler and I are having a couple of friends over to ring in the New Year. No crazy party (not even close to how many people we had in here on Halloween), just a couple people getting together.

I'm relieved that BEDD is over. It wasn't the way I expected it to be. I'm planning on still blogging fairly regularly, but looking forward to not having to force myself to at the end of every day.

I have some ideas in mind for a couple of topical blogs, blogs that will be more thought out than the mess that has been this last month. I hope you all enjoy them.

Happy New Year and thanks to everyone for reading!

Day 30 - Goodbye 2010

Last year, around New Year's, I wrote a post called Goodbye 2009, it listed off some of the things that I did in 2009 and some goals for 2010. Looking back at it, it's shocking to realize that I actually accomplished some of these things!

"I'm going to be taking a sign language class with my friend Amy (hopefully - I have to make sure that they'll still let me register!). I plan on completely editing my novel (from nanowrimo) in the next few months. If I get it done by July 1st they will send me a free paperback copy of it."

I actually did those things! I finished my novel and ordered my free copy (it came out pretty cool looking too!). I finished levels one and two of ASL and had fun doing it. The next class is coming up soon (in the next few weeks). I don't think I really feel up to doing it, but I probably will end up going, just to get it over with.

Some of my other goals were: graduate, move out and start planning my wedding. I only did one of those things. I have made progress on the graduating part though, I am almost done and I'm hoping to finish it completely by my birthday at the end of January. Tyler and I moved out on October first into an awesome apartment. It has been great but definitely an adjustment to what we were used to before. And the wedding...Obviously there were some setbacks on that this year, but I would like to start thinking about a date again soon.

So what have I accomplished this year?

I finished Holding Hands (my 2009 Nanowrimo novel)

I started another novel (tentatively titled Under Ground) and completed more than 50,000 words during the month of November

I completed levels one and two of ASL and got good grades :)

I moved out with Tyler

I flew to Georgia all by myself

Made the decision to take my cat back to my mom's house (and then somehow ended up taking in a kitten less than a week later)

Probably read even more books than the 90 that I estimated for last year

Hosted my first party on Halloween

It doesn't seem like much, but this was a good year. This year was the hardest year of my life. I went through some of the toughest stuff that I've ever dealt with before. But I got through it. I learned a lot about myself, how much I can take and how much I am willing to take. I realize now that I am a strong person.

I'm glad that I went through everything that I did this year though. It changed me and it changed my relationship with Tyler. For the better. Tyler and I are so good now, so strong and I am so so happy. I am so glad that I made the choices that I did and I have no regrets.

What do I want to do it 2011? I dunno, I think I'm just going to live it one day at a time and see where the wind takes me.

Day 29 - Repeat?

I think I accidentally wrote yesterday down as Day 29 as well, oh well!

So Tyler and I were tidying up the apartment tonight and decided to take all of the Christmas decorations down. I was going to wait until New Year's or after to do it, but since we're probably having people over on New Year's, I figured it was time for it to come down.

We set up our new microwave (which works perfectly! The plate spins so fast and smoothly! Thanks mom and Claudio!) and our new lamp. The lamp that Lisa and Matt got us...I don't know where they got it or how much it cost but it looks like a million bucks! I said to Tyler, now we have this fancy lamp and microwave, everything else in our apartment suddenly looks very shabby!

This lamp is seriously awesome though. It is a big tall lamp with the shade and lightbulb at the top, but it also has a small reading light that comes off the side. If we point it at the window, the reading light alone is enough to light up the whole balcony! I will be able to read outside so much easier from now on! Love it!

Surprisingly it's nice to have the Christmas tree and everything else down. The apartment suddenly seems bigger. It's awesome. I'm hoping that Tyler can get the Christmas stuff down to the storage locker tomorrow so we can get it out of the living room before Friday night.

Anyway, I'm outta here! G'night!

Day 28 - Ugh

I am so freaking sick of going to the dentist, you have no idea. I have seriously been there five or six times in the last few months. Every other week I have an appointment at the dentist. My next one is at the end of January, I'm supposed to be getting a crown put on one of my teeth. I am probably going to cancel it soon though because I can't really afford the almost four hundred bucks that it would cost me.

Today I had two cavities filled. The were both on the right side, one on the top and one on the bottom. They used so much freezing! I was seriously frozen for like five hours. I wasn't frozen nearly that long when I had my wisdom teeth out! On the other hand, I didn't feel a thing!

Before I went to the dentist, I finally went to Value Village to buy work pants. They didn't have much but I did manage to get a pair of black pants for work, a pair of jeans and two nice shirts.

After all that was done I went to my mom's for our Christmas get-together. I hope everyone liked what I got them, I know I like what I got! My mom gave us a microwave!!! She also gave us some casserole dishes and a circular glass dish for baking stuff in the oven (I don't know what it's called...). Lisa and Matt gave us a gorgeous pole lamp and she gave me a cool wrap sweater thingy.

The food was awesome (as always) even though I had to chew carefully and drink through a straw (the right side of my mouth and a good chunk of my face were still very frozen at this point). I love going to my mom's too so that I can see my Tiny. I miss her sometimes!

Anyway, I'm off to bed, have to work at 9!

Day 27 - Post Christmas Laziness

Does anyone else not feel like doing anything? Seriously, nothing at all? I don't know if it's because I had to work Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, but I just don't feel up to doing anything. Christmas is supposed to be a break from everything and I guess since it was only one day for me this year, it just didn't feel like that at all.

I didn't feel like being at work yesterday or today. I don't feel like doing laundry or making my bed. I didn't feel like putting the gift bags away or doing to dishes (but I at least did those two!). I don't feel like putting away all of the new stuff that we have now (I did put away at least half of it though). I don't feel like putting the board games back in the very top of the closet or cleaning out my old purse.

I'm looking around and there are a million things that I could be doing right now, but you know what I want to do? I want to sit down and watch I'll Be Home For Christmas with Jonathon Taylor Thomas, so that's what I'm going to do.

The rest of it can wait until tomorrow for once.

Day 26 - Risk

I bought Tyler the board game Risk for Christmas - awesome we love it! The only problem is, we were a little rusty on the rules and the instructions that came with the new version that we have now are very confusing and try to explain the three "new" ways to play all at the same time.

I googled more detailed rules and found a very interesting wikipedia article (linked to the title). I found the rules, most of which were familiar and some of which we didn't know existed. This wasn't the most interesting thing that I found. The most interesting part of the page was the list of all of the different versions of Risk.

The game came out in 1957 and was originally called La Conquête du Monde (The Conquest of the World) and since then there have been a whole lot of different limited edition and collectors versions. These include more than one Star Wars and Lord of the Rings versions. There is also one that is Ancient Greece where all of the territories are from Greek Mythology. There is one called "Castle Risk" where each player is guarding a castle rather than individual territories.

I think the coolest ones, and the ones that I would like to get are Risk Junior: Narnia and Risk 2210 AD. The Narnia one is based on the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The other one is a futuristic map that includes moon territories and water territories.

Tyler and I love this game and will definitely be looking into getting these other versions. If anyone has like...eight hours of spare time, feel free to come over and play!

Day 25 - Merry Christmas!

Totally short blog tonight. It's been a long day and I am exhausted. It's also 2am and I have to work at 9 tomorrow.

Today was awesome, as Christmas always is. The best thing about this year is how spread out Christmas has been for me. I've been listening to Christmas music and doing baking for the last few weeks so that felt Christmassy to me. I also spent time with my family when my dad was up last weekend and then time with Tyler's grandparents and the rest of his family yesterday and then dinner with my family tonight. We also still have a Christmas get together with my mom on Tuesday night.

Tyler put a lot of thought into the gifts that he got me this year. My stocking was full of candy and hair elastics (which I definitely needed!). He got me a gorgeous purple housecoat that I absolutely love. He also bought us a Nintendo Wii that came with Wii Sports and Super Mario. It's awesome, I know I'll love it even though I haven't really had time to play it yet. I think my favourite thing of all of the gifts that he got me though were the necklace and earrings that he bought me. He said that when he went out he was looking for diamonds. He got me amethysts instead! I love them, the amethyst studs and necklace are very me :)

I bought Tyler the board game Risk, I know he has been wanting it forever. Lisa and Matt came over and we played it. We actually didn't even finish it, we would have been here all night if we had!

Anyway, good night everyone! I hope your Christmases were as awesome as mine. :)

Day 24 - Christmas Christmas Christmas!

Ok, so it's actually officially Christmas now even though this blog is for Day 24, I got home late!

I love the Christmas season. I love remembering the story of the birth of Christ and listening to the hymns and carols all through December. It helps me to remember the real reason that we all celebrate at this time of year.

I think that most about Christmas though I love spending time with my family and the good moods of all of the people around me. Today, at work, it was so busy. By all accounts it should have been a terrible day, but it wasn't. Everyone was in such a good mood, all of the staff and all of the customers too. It was great.

After work I went to Tyler's grandmother's house. This is the sixth year that I've been there for Christmas Eve and I love it. They have always made me feel so welcome and it is always a good time being there and seeing all of them.

After that we went back to Tyler's parents to exchange gifts with them and with Brittany since we won't be seeing them on Christmas day. That was fun too, we all just sat around chatting and watching TV.

I also delivered some gingerbread today, I hope that all of the people that got some enjoy it!

Merry Christmas!

Day 23 - Fresh Prince of Bel - Air

Is it just me or is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the best show of all time? Seriously I don't care if it's twenty years old and no one even watches it anymore. It's the best ever.

The entire cast is so hilarious, especially Will Smith and the guys who play Uncle Phil, Geoffry and Carlton. The jokes are classic, the clothes are so 90s and it's awesome!

Tyler and I have the first three seasons on DVD. Last night Tyler unhooked the cable wire in the living room and put it in the bedroom so we could watch TV in there. Rather than hook the cable back up while I was icing my cookies I just threw Fresh Prince in and watched eight episodes in a row.

One of the other things that I love about this show are the serious episodes. Most episodes are absolutely hilarious and are just full of jokes one after the other. There are a couple of episodes though that are so serious and so sad that they will make you bawl, like the one where Will accidentally gives Carlton drugs. Oh man! It's amazing that the cast of this show can switch from one to the other so easily.

I could (and do!) watch this show for hours. I think it is one of the greatest shows ever and it is definitely my favourite!

Day 22 - Resting and the Novel

I am so excited for Christmas! I am also quite excited for it to be over. I feel like I have been going non-stop for the last two weeks or so and I'm looking forward to a well-deserved rest afterwards.

Between decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I feel like I haven't had much time to do the things that I actually want to do. I haven't written a word of my novel since I hit 50,000 at the end of November.

To be honest I'm looking forward to Christmas and BEDD being over so I can get back into my writing. I'm glad I took this break from it though, it makes me even more excited to get back to it. The characters and the story are still fresh in my mind, but not so deeply engraved that I can't think of anything else the way they were in November.

I feel like I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this novel so far. I feel like the concept is good, I'm happy with the way the plot is going. On the other hand, I'm worried that there wasn't enough character development at the beginning. I don't think you really get to know my two secondary characters until to far into the story. I also feel like it jumps around a lot. There are boring parts and then there are action! parts, I need to work on the stuff that's in between.

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to tackle my novel yet once January gets here. I don't know if I should go through what I have written so far and try to fix all of that or if I should just keep pushing through until the end and then go back and fix it after. I think it will probably be easier to finish it and they go back and edit it all at once. On the other hand the crap that is in what I have written so far could drive me insane before I am able to finish.

Any suggestions?

Day 21 - Gingerbread, Gingerbread, Gingerbread

The gingerbread that my mom and I made last year.

I can't tell you how glad I am that gingerbread is a Christmas cookie and that this is the only time of year that I have to make it! Don't get me wrong, I love gingerbread, everyone that I know loves gingerbread and it is totally worth it to make it. It is just such a time-consuming cookie to make.

First you have to make the dough, then chill it for four hours. Then you have to roll it and cut it and bake it. Then you have to wait for the cookies to completely cool. Then you have to make the icing with milk, icing sugar and food colouring. Then you have to ice all of the cookies and leave them laid out so the icing can harden. The whole process seriously takes at least ten hours.

This year I am making three batches of gingerbread for various people. Tyler and I don't have a lot of money, but we do have all of the ingredients to make gingerbread. Some people are getting gingerbread for Christmas or as part of their Christmas gift this year.

The first batch that I made I did all in one day last week. This batch was given to my mom, Tyler's dad, Catherine and Lisa. This week I am making two batches to give to my grandparents and aunts and uncles and Tyler's grandparents and aunts and uncles. Instead of doing it all in one day though I am going to spread these two batches over three days.

I made the two sets of dough tonight and I'm going to leave them in the fridge over night. Tomorrow night I am going to cut and bake all of it. On Thursday I am going to ice all if it so that it is ready to go on Christmas Eve when we go to Tyler's grandparent's house.

I love baking and I love eating cookies, it certainly can be time-consuming though!

Day 20 - The Vlogbrothers

A lot of people probably don't know that I am addicted to watching youtube videos, especially Vlogbrothers videos. The Vlogbrothers are John and Hank Green (brothers who live across the country from each other) who started posting daily vlogs back and forth to each other in 2007. The challenge was that they would eliminate all kinds of 'textual' communication between each other and only communicate through the vlogs (or on the phone). If they did accidentally communicate through text, they would be punished by having to do something awful as voted for by their fans.

The year was a huge success and they gained so many fans that they decided to keep vlogging. John is an author and Hank is a musician who has released four albums, but youtube is their fulltime job now. These brothers don't just make silly videos back and forth though. Their videos are fun and informative. They are also hugely involved in charity.

From the beginning they have used the community (the nerdfighters) to raise money for various things. One of these things is the Uncultured Project. Their friend Shawn went to Bangladesh and John and Hank and the community raised funds for him to go and to help the people there. Shawn posted his own youtube videos to show the donors how their money was being used.

The Vlogbrothers also teamed up with the Harry Potter Alliance after the disaster in Haiti. These two groups, along with many others, managed to raised almost $125,000. This was enough money to send five fully loaded planes to Haiti to help the people there.

If those things weren't incredible enough, the Vlogbrothers did something even bigger. They started the Project for Awesome. The P4A started in their first year and was practically a hacking of youtube. The Vlogbrothers and their fans each made videos about their favourite charity and posted them to youtube at the same time on the same day. Each video had the same P4A thumbnail. The nerdfighters then spent the day all over youtube commenting, watching and favouriting other P4A videos. This made these videos all get to the top of the most watched list and all over the front page of youtube.

They have done the Project for Awesome every year since and it has just gotten bigger and bigger. This year they had huge support from youtube and did a fancy live show the whole day. They ran a raffle with a lot of awesome prizes from other youtubers. Some of the prizes included guitars from youtube musicians, signed copies of John's books, a copy of an original, never-to-be published book by John, having Hank's next able named after you, Dan Brown's crocs, tshirts signed by youtubers, Shay Carl's beard and so much more. Each different prize can be one by buying a ticket. Each ticket is bought by making a donation to the charity of that youtubers' choice. The raffle is not over yet and they have already raised $130,000.

I think it is so incredible. When youtube first started a couple of years ago, it was really just a place where people went to watch music videos or movie trailers or clips of kittens doing silly things. I think it's so awesome that these people are using their fame and this website to do something so awesome.

Anyone that reads this, I highly suggest you go to youtube and search for the Vlogbrothers!