The Book Meme

Tonight, one of my favorite bloggers "Singing Owl" who writes an excellent blog "The Owl's Song tagged me for an unusual meme -called the Book Meme.

Here's the instructions: including who tagged Singing Owl for this meme too:

Dr. Platypus has tagged me for a book meme. Hey, this is fun!


Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)


Find Page 123.


Find the first 5 sentences.


Post the next 3 sentences.


Tag 5 people.

I don't usually do many memes, but this one appealed to me -probably because it looked easy and interesting, I love to read and just happened to have the book I am currently reading laying here, atop my printer.

So, here's my contribution to this meme:

The name of the book is “Sula” by Toni Morrison.

Page 123 – The first paragraph contains five sentences. So, starting with the next three sentences:

She was pariah, then, and knew it. Knew that they despised her and believed that they framed their hatred as disgust for the easy way she lay with men. Which was true.

And, I am supposed to tag five others. So I'm trying to remember who are the most voracious readers among my bloggers and hoping I remember this right too, here goes. I tag the following:

Barb at Skittles Place - If she hasn't found a place to buy her books wholesale yet, she should, cause she always had bunches of books she was or is reading!

Shelby at Time With Shelby Yeah, she's even got her current book mentioned on her blog today!

Terri, the Lattegirl at Inner Dialogues - who has a bloggers book club on her sidebar!

Another Terri -of Terri, Terri, Quite Contrary - who likes to buy books in bulk at times too!

Vic Grace at Cariboo Ponderer - Who I know sometimes likes to get into reading some really deep, spiritual type readings among other things.

There you have it - my choices, my current piece of reading material as well. Oh, and I received 8 of the 9 books I just ordered this past Monday from Barnes & Noble today (the 9th book is intended for my older grandson so isn't necessarily my type of reading) plus I just picked up two books at Walmart the other day too for part of my daughter Mandy's birthday present -she'll be a big old 32 come Monday of next week! So, now I have restocked myself and Mandy too in new books to read. It's something she and I both love to do as does my older daughter, Carrie! P.S. my ten-year-old grandson is off to a good start in the reading theme as he is already showing that he is really MY grandson, his Mother's Son and his Aunt Nephew because he loves to read just like we do! Isn't that super though?

Take a trip around the world and never leave your armchair when you pick up a good book!

Normal Nighttime Visitor

Remember that old song - "It's three o-clock in the morning," is how it begins. I don't remember now any more of the lyrics, heck, I don't even remember the melody to more than that first line either, but it seems to be a favorite number of my little prince grandson's here! It's become a rare, really very RARE, night now that he doesn't pay a visit to the downstairs of the house between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. -usually hits almost like clockwork at very close to 3 a.m. when he wakes up his mother, who brings him downstairs and hands him off to me! Meaning Grammie has to stop her solitaire game or blog surfing or reading the regular blogs she visits, or e-mailing or writing the next post to her own blog!

And, tonight was no exception to the rule either. Almost on the button of 3 a.m., I heard him starting to wail and within five minutes time, his mother and he appeared and she handed him to me. Which move is then followed by a couple minutes of his groaning and growling noises - and a few that are a lot above that on the decibel level too - as he squirms around trying to jockey for a good position (for him, not necessarily for me) to snuggle up and tell me how terrible the world is treating him - apparently. Tonight - or this morning (whatever you prefer to call it), he polished off the last 3 ounces he had refused to ingest around 11 p.m. before Mommie had taken him up to his bed and then, immediately snuggled up against Gram's shoulder, eyes so heavy and conked out again! To be on the safe side that this sleep is now for real -and to avoid another trip back downstairs again - he and Mommie are now on the couch, reposing and hopefully, this will be just enough to knock him out for the duration of the night!

I know, I know - raised three kids of my own and yes, I can say "spoiled" too!

The only bad thing this morning with his visit, is that I was ready to write a post to my blog but his interruption here has made whatever topic I had in the back of my mind just up and fly away!

But, let me say this - many of those who read my blog frequently or regularly (whatever), have commented about my issues with the computer since I got it a mere three weeks ago today now! Since it is Friday a.m. I guess it is safe to say I've had it for three week -minus a few hours to the actual time of delivery and minus the several hours it spent on Monday at the Computer Hospital Emergency Room getting treatments for whatever it was that ailed it.

A few have suggested that I should have the Computer guy replace this unit and well, I haven't yet ruled that out completely. But actually, right now - unless it goes into another major hissy fit in the next few days or weeks or so - I am more inclined to think perhaps the problem began with the CD that was used to install XP on it! Since it was not accepting it on Monday morning before the techie came and picked it up to take in his "ambulance" to the shop, but once there, the XP cd they used zipped right through and installed with now issues whatsoever. My cousin had told me before all this happened that he had problems with his computer when he first got it about a year or two ago with IE 7 and had to remove it and revert back to IE 6. Now, when the techie was here about 10 days before this big breakdown this past Monday, he had done that and it had cleared up some of the issues I had ongoing with that move, I think that the IE7 software may have been an instigator too! Upon reinstalling XP, they didn't bother putting IE 7 back on here, went straight to IE 6 they said and so far, it has been running smooth as silk for me! Cross your fingers and hope that cured everything. For sure, it did iron out the kink I was having when I would open my Eudora program (which some have pointed out to me that I am probably the ONLY person still using EUdora for their e-mail program - sorry, but overall, I like it!). Previously, when I would open Eudora, the screen would briefly go black, the Eudora e-mail logo would pop up and the colors around my "start" button would go fuzzy as would the rest of the screen on my desktop. For some reason, opening Eudora would make my screen resolution drop from 32 bit down to 8 bit but it no longer does that either! Yippy skippy on that correction too ya know!

But, I'm beginning to wonder if computers and people can get a viral infection simultaneously - one picking it up from the other somehow - a bit of electronic-technological osmosis going on there maybe? THe reason I say that is that last weekend - from Friday through Sunday, early Monday, the two little ones in the house here -especially the littlest "prince" had some issues with what adults would call the "runs." Well the Prince doesn't exactly "run" - he barely crawls so far - but he sure did put a hit on the pampers pile over those days, as did his 3-year-old sister! Then, Monday, the son-in-law (their Dad) came home from work complaining that he had been plagued most of the day with a strong urge to visit the little boys' room there and by Tuesday, the 15-year-old in the house was experiencing some issues along those same lines. The son-in-law even went to the dr. on Tuesday where they did blood work and thought perhaps he might have either bronchitis or mono - or so they told my daughter. I always thought bronchitis was a lung-bronchial tube infection that also left one with a really horrific cough (and he had no cough) but what the hell do I know there. Mono - well maybe. He came home about 5 p.m. Tuesday from the dr. visit and immediately went up to bed and didn't resurface till after 1 p.m. Wednesday! Now, what I don't understand here too is if he had the runs so bad, and our bathroom is on the first floor of the house, how did he manage to stay in bed from 5 p.m. Tuesday till after 1 p.m. Wednesday? That's 20 hours without a potty break by my calculations and the "runs" aside, I don't sleep more than 4-5 hours max without my bladder waking me up to make a visit to the "ladies room." Hmmm. Ok, it's just my thought here but does the term "hypochondria" sound plausible maybe?

The funny thing here is my daughter IS at least a borderline hypochondriac and she had no similar symptoms and I have the system one would think is most conducive to picking up virtually every little thing that comes down the pike and all I had was a strong desire to sleep A LOT the past couple of days. No intestinal problems at all- thankfully!

On a really good note though - well, in my opinion that is - last Friday, I signed up for a Barnes and Noble membership that would give me three different levels of discounts on purchases I make -whether at the store or online - and I went a little wacko after getting the membership and I purchased 7 books online! On Tuesday, one book arrived; today a book and a cd I ordered last Friday arrived too and in the packaging today, was a packing slip telling me the status of the rest of my order - which I had already received an e-mail about the entire order on Monday that stated 5 books were being shipped that day, another was being shipped separately the next day and the other two were back-ordered or something to that affect. Well, according to the e-mail note - and the packing slip - the five books listed today - and then - as being shipped out together on Monday have yet to arrive but well, I did receive one book as I said on Tuesday and another book and a cd today - which according to the information were shipped out after the five that I have yet to get! Go figure! But these orders are keeping the UPS guy busy running here at any rate!

Saturday night, after my daughter, the two little ones and I had attended the Boy Scouts Awards Dinner in Bellefonte - where my older grandson (the original "Prince") got a nice award and prize for selling the most popcorn in his troop or whatever the unit is that he is in - we went up to the Walmart for some necessities. WHile Mandy was perusing and patrolling the isles at WallySmart, I went over to the Barnes and Noble store at the mall there and came home with another book - this one by Tawni O'Dell - "Coal Town" - which I started reading Monday morning. Now, one of the books I ordered in my online purchases last Friday was from the Barnes and Noble "Annex Sale" section and is "Shoot The Moon" by Billie Letts. The purchase price on it was $5.98 so I just figured I was getting a soft-bound type paperback book - or whatever term you care to use there but imagine my surprise when it arrived Tuesday and it is a hard-bound edition of this book that sold, originally according to the cover, for $24.00 and I got it for a mere $5.98! I was really surprised and very pleased too!

And now, since I've come to the end of my topic ideas for this post and since I neglected or forgot or whatever there, to post anything on Wednesday (or Thursday), you're gonna get a whole bunch of catch-up here with the Bushisms - enough to cover my fanny with them till next Monday!

Here's the Bushisms I neglected and after that, some silence on that front for a couple of days!

Wednesday - February 28, 2007
"A small busines owner's outlook is improved when there's a new productg available that says, gosh, I'm meeting the needs of my employees and also being able to better control costs. " Washington, D.C.; March 16, 2004.

Thursday, March 1, 2007
"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." - As quoted in the New York Daily News; April 23, 2002.

Friday, March 2, 2007
"Let me tell you my thoughts about tax relief. When your economy is kind of ooching along, it's important to let people have more of their own money." - Boston, Massachusetts; October 4, 2002.

And finally - a too-fer - for Saturday and Sunday, March 3/4, 2007
"Maybe she'll be able to join us in Florida. If not, she can clean out her room." - On the recover of his daughter Jenna, from an appendectromy; December 26, 2000.

NITE ALL!

Finished, Finally!!!

Here it is - 3 a.m. and I'm just now getting around to doing my post that should have been done before midnight but I had other things, pressing things, I had to take care of, had to finish. And I did that.

I finished reading the book I started about a week or so ago and tonight, I just couldn't put it down. I had to keep going until I got to the end of the story. And, what a story it was too! Indeed!

Reading for me has always been probably the thing I love to do the most. My Grandfather is to blame for this trait in me. He introduced me to books when I was just a toddler - read those little children's "Golden Books" to me and by the time I was about four years old, I was reading them on my own. And although there are a kazillion books - some or actually many of them classics - that I haven't read, I've loved to read just about anything I could put my hands on it seemed.

When my older daughter started school, reading was not her best subject. By the time she was in second grade, both my ex-husband and I were having issues about her reading skills and the difficulty she was encountering. Because she didn't bring her reader home, when her grades kept dropping and dropping, we both told her to bring the reader home and her Dad and I would work with her to improve her reading ability. But she told us she wasn't allowed to do that and I admit, I went a bit ballistic and called the school, spoke to the elementary principal about this and was astonished at his answer.

He informed me that it was true - they didn't allow the kids to take their reading books home because - are you ready for this now - two reasons - one, they didn't have enough books to go around and two, if the kids took their readers home they found the kids tended then to "read ahead." Gee, go figure! And that was a bad thing? How times - and education - changed from when I was in grade school to the early-to-mid-seventies when the educators had then decided that reading ahead was not something to be endorsed.

Shortly after learning this, I encountered the lady who had been my second and third grade teacher one day at the post office here in town and I told her what the gem of a principal at the school had told me. I quipped to her that I don't remember any teacher of mine ever cracking my fingers or being upset in any way, shape or form over any of my classmates or me for reading ahead. She told me that she and other teachers of that era were always very happy if/when students did read ahead and made an effort to read ANYTHING! She also reminded me then that I had been the only student she had ever had in all her years of teaching who had brought the "Reader's Digest" to school and was actually able to read it too!

That school year, I fought over and over with the teachers, the administrators about my daughter's reading problems - to no avail. Oh, they did have her hearing tested to make sure there was no problem there and they also brought in a psychologist to talk to me daughter and then to me to give me the "results" of his tests he ran on my daughter. His determination was that I was the problem and I was expecting my daughter to be as interested in books and reading as I had been and also, that she would be as capable of reading at that age as I had been.

I was livid! That wasn't my thought there at all! All I wanted was for her to be ABLE to read because if she couldn't read properly, it would make all other courses she studied in school that much more difficult for her too. The school finally decided at the end of that school year that she was eligible for a special reading program that would help her to become a better reader and I was probably one of the first parents who signed their kid up for that summer program. And yes, she did learn a lot of things through it - how to "read" a thermometer, various other little things along with enabling her to go on special jaunts to East Broadtop Railroad and a trip to Pittsburgh to the Zoo - nice things for a 7-year-old to be able to partake of but yet, although the course was supposed to be "Remedial Reading" there was very little of that aspect going on there!

Towards the end of that course, I had stopped by my Aunt's house to visit a bit and was telling her of my problems at the school and my daughter's reading issues. My aunt taught school - second grade as a matter of fact - and she said she happened to have a second grade reader there and would sit with my daughter and have her read for her to see if she could put a finger on what was wrong there. A short time later, she came to me and told me my daughter had never been taught phonics and thus, could not sound a word out. She said if I wanted, I could bring my daughter up to her house two or three times a week for the rest of the summer and she would tutor her then in reading and try to get her on track. And, that is what we did. By the time my daughter entered third grade, she was reading labels on the shelves in the stores, packages, books that had been given to her, magazines I had - she was doing really great.

And then, she went back to school and at the end of the first grading period, one of her teachers told me in a parent-teacher conference that apparently the Remedial Reading course that summer had really helped my daughter and also, the fact that they had switched teachers on her too - the teacher she'd had for math in 2nd grade was now her reading teacher and the reading teacher the year before was now her math instructor and that change too had apparently made a very big difference. I never even mentioned to her that my aunt had spent six weeks tutoring the kid!

But over the winter months, because the school was not pushing the reading as my aunt had done, my daughter's skill level and also, her interest in books and reading, etc, waned and didn't return until she was in 5th grade when the teacher she had that year really pushed reading for the kids. By that time though, a lot of damage had been done and my daughter regarded herself then as a poor reader and also a poor student and it was a long time before she realized what a great tool books really are - and also, how enjoyable it is to pick up a book and read.

Today, she very much enjoys books but she still labors over them. Her son though has been fortunate enough to have teachers who really instilled good reading habits and pushed that subject as one of very high importance so now, he is rapidly becoming an avid reader. He and I have a little pact too. I told him last year that I will not buy him toys for his birthday or Christmas presents and I won't buy him clothes either because I don't know his tastes that well in colors and styles, but I will buy him books! And he was very agreeable to that idea. He provided me with a list of books and favorite authors I could choose from to select his Christmas gifts this past year and he's willing to tell his mother too which books he hasn't read and would like to receive too from me. It's a deal that definitely makes both of us very happy!

And, in case you're interested in what book it was that I couldn't put down tonight until I had completed it - "Second Glances" by Jodi Picoult! She has rapidly become one of my daughter's and my favorites as I've now read four of her books and Mandy, my younger daughter, has seven of her books now too. (Mom got her two of her books for Christmas and two more for her birthday two weeks ago. Nice gift because then I get to benefit from that too!)

So - now that you know why I am so late in posting this piece and so you don't miss out on my other routine I want to do each day here, I'll close with the Bushisms for Monday, February 19th and then for today, Tuesday, February 20th too!

"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas." - Beaverton, Oregon; September 25, 2000.

and

"I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the courageous spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful example for the young of our country." - Washington, D.C.; January 14, 2004

Nite now!

Reading Along

Normally, I am a pretty voracious reader. Normally, that is. However, the past couple of weeks/months I have kind of slid a bit on one of my favorite pasttimes but I'm going to kick it into gear again and try to get up to speed.

My older daughter got me a new book for Christmas; I got my younger daughter two new books for Christmas and last week, I ordered two copies of a book by a lady I learned about from reading an interview with her on one of my favorite blogs - Over the Hill Boomer Chick's Musings.

I'll start with the book I just purchased last week. The name of it is "Myths of the Fatherless and the author is a Kathy Holmes. Although this book does deal primarily with issues that affect women who, for whatever reason, grow up without a father present at all or perhaps only sporadically, it also has many aspects that are applicable to men who are raised under the same circumstances. Men, frequently have many of the same emotions when raised in these circumstances as do women.

Because all three of my kids grew up not really knowing their Dad very well and I never knew mine at all, I bought two copies - one for my younger daughter and myself (and which will be available for my son to read if he can pull himself away from his Volkswagon magazines long enough to peruse it) and the second copy will go to my older daughter.

This book is especially relevant for my older daughter because she actually has "two" Dads, you could say. She has the one she grew up with for roughly 8 years who is her stepfather - my ex-husband - and she has her biological father who has never seen her. She was five years old when I married her stepfather so he is the only male parent she has ever "known."

However, about three years ago, she found her biological dad. I never hid his name or details about him or our relationship from her - she always knew as much about him, basically, as I did. Having located him a couple years back, she even took the big step to call him and introduced herself to him over the phone too.

Not normally prone to striking up conversations casually, for her to make a move like that - to up and call him - was really a very big and a very scary step for her too. Fortunately, he was very nice to her on the phone and since then, they do talk from time to time on the phone. He lives about 2,000 miles from us so she still has not met him but she says he wants her to come out where he lives, hopefully, this fall, so they can met in person and get a little better acquainted. Her biggest fear about this possible meeting now is how her stepfather might react to this piece of news. She's very worried he will be upset and hurt and even feel she is abandoning him - which she isn't doing - but she does feel the need to meet her biological father and I can readily understand her wishes in that respect. It's always been one of the biggest regrets - if not the biggest - of my life that I was never able to know my dad. I knew his name, his family and such, but because he died when I was less than a month old, I never knew him, what he was like, his interests, his voice.

I've already read the copy I purchased for my household here of Ms. Holmes book and for anyone reading this blog - if you grew up not really knowing or not close to your biological father, I would very much recommend you get a copy of it and read it. It does explain a lot about the inner emotions that apply strongly to anyone who lived in those type of circumstances.

I'm now about 2/3 through the book my daughter gave me now too. It's title -"Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" and is by David Sedaris. If you've never read anything by Mr. Sedaris, give some of his writing a shot. Definitely shocker type material at times, but also really, really funny stuff to read about his life as an adult interspersed with stories from his childhood and his very dysfunctional (two parent too) family! I'd highly recommend any of his works!

My other daughter finished one of the two books I got her for Christmas now too - both by Jodi Picoult - who has become high on both my daughter's and my list of favorite writers. The book I gave her that she finished last week and plunked down on my desk with instructions to start it as soon as possible is "Second Glance." So, as soon as I complete the Sedaris book, that's what I'll be reading next. The other book - sitting here, waiting patiently in the wings by Ms. Picoult is "The Pact." I figure if both these books are as good as the other ones she has written that we have also both read, they'll both be good, interesting readings for me!

Since my younger daughter's birthday is coming up in about three more weeks, and since I found out too how easily I can order books online from Barnes and Noble and receive them very quickly too, I'm going to be ordering at least one, maybe two more of Ms Picoult's books for her, for her birthday present.

But, I have also decided I will be making yet another book purchase - from another author whose blog appears on my favorites list here - "Reading Rucker."

I'll be making a purchase of Linda Rucker's book "Dark Ridge." I'd like to recommend others consider purchasing Linda's book too not just to support her but also, in doing that, it will be giving support to the W.H.A.T. movement which is being set up to receive 40 percent of the proceeds of any sales of Ms. Rucker's book. The W.H.A.T. organization -organized by Ms. Rucker and author Michael Witherspoon, stands for Writers Helping with Aids Treatment is geared to assist anyone with AIDS and, in my opinion, a very worthwhile organization.

For more information on the W.H.A.T, please check out this website to find out what's being done, what's being planned for the future. And please, pass this information along to everyone you know too. Who knows, the life of someone you know might just depend on it!
http://www.freewebs.com/justsaywhat/

And that's my say for today! Let's all just keep on reading now!