A different Book Meme

I think this meme went around blogland long before I started blogging. I love to see what people have read and recommend though so I'm doing it now. Feel free to share your list with me!!



I've talked about my book obsession before. Interestingly enough, I didn't REALLY learn to read until about the third grade. I went to a TINY tiny school where Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade were all in one room. There were not enough of the first learn to read books to go around. I didn't get one and we couldn't take them from the class room. Half way through my second grade year my parents pulled me out of that school and transferred me to a nearby Catholic School. No we were not Catholic and yes I was the only kid in my class who was not. It was ok though. They immediately put me in remedial reading. I was embarassed at first but within a few weeks that teacher taught me more than I'd ever learned. Soon I tackled my first book which I believe was one of the Frog and Toad books. Once I finished that book...I was unstoppable. By the next year I was reading several grade levels ahead. The year after that my reading and vocabulary was on a high school level. I devoured books and my Mother (also an avid reader) happily supplied them. I was definately a fan of Mysteries. Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Trixie Beldon, Encyclopedia Brown, Harriet the Spy...you name it! I am also one of THOSE readers. You know that reads a book, loves it and then goes out and buys EVERY BOOK THAT AUTHOR EVER WROTE. Which would be why I have so many blasted books in my house :)



Ok...here goes. Bold means you've read it, Italics means you own it and it's sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting to be read, and highlighted or in Red is one you want to read. There are obviously a lot more that I want to read, but I just highlighted a few I'd like to read soon.




Title/Author
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Hamlet William Shakespeare
1984 George Orwell
The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien
Catch-22 Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
The Bible
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
Brave New World Aldous Huxley
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
Dune Frank Herbert
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis
Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
The Stand Stephen King
Ulysses James Joyce
Paradise Lost John Milton
Watership Down Richard Adams
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
Roots Alex Haley
The Giver Lois Lowry
The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut
Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton
Animal Farm George Orwell
Macbeth William Shakespeare
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle
The World According to Garp John Irving
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
Black Hawk Down Mark Bowden
King Lear William Shakespeare
A Theory of Justice John Rawls
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Moby Dick Herman Melville
Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Italo Calvino
The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey
The Inferno Dante Alighieri
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
The Red Tent Anita Diamant
Death in Venice and Other Stories Thomas Mann
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone J.K. Rowling
Les Miserables Victor Hugo
The Trial Franz Kafka
Ada Vladimir Nabokov
Middlemarch George Elliot
Where the Sidewalk Ends Shel Silverstein
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
Jurassic Park Michael Crichton
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Berndt
David Copperfield Charles Dickens
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Robert C. O'Brien
The Princess Bride William Goldman
Neuromancer William Gibson
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Heinlein
Prufrock and Other Observations T.S. Eliot
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne
A Light in the Attic Shel Silverstein
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot
The Lord of the Flies William Golding
The Hours Michael Cunningham
Traveling Mercies Anne Lamott
A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
The Iliad Homer
The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe
Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson
The Silver Chair C.S. Lewis
A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett
Beach Music Pat Conroy
And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
The Last Battle C.S. Lewis
Babar the King Jean De Brunhoff
Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman
The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton
At Dawn We Slept Gordon W. Prange
Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs
Everything is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
The Godfather Mario Puzo
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Dr. Seuss
Charlotte's Web E.B. White
The Tao of Pooh Benjamin Hoff
Beowulf ?
The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Henry V William Shakespeare
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Empire Falls Richard Russo
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster
Cheaper by the Dozen Frank & Ernestine Gilbreth
Story of My Life Helen Keller
Captain Horatio Hornblower Cecil Scott Forester
The Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
Le Morte D'Arthur Thomas Mallory
Life of Pi Yann Martel
Hope Was Here Joan Bauer
Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis
The Shining Stephen King
Our Town Thornton Wilder
J. R. R. Tolkien The Hobbit
The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe
The Odyssey Homer
Illusions Richard Bach
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe
The Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson
One for the Money Janet Evanovich
The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Betty MacDonald
The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux
The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank
Beezus and Ramona Beverly Cleary
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne
Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh
Delta of Venus Anais Nin
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde --which I bought this weekend!
The Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud
Tropic of Capricorn Henry Miller
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller
Watt Samuel Beckett
The Power and the Glory Graham Greene
Eragon Christopher Paolini
The Chamber John Grisham
The Brethren Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There Lewis Carroll
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
The Hot Zone Michael Crichton
Walden Henry David Thoreau

Books on the Brain

The last couple of years reading has taken a back seat to my knitting. However, lately I've been itching to read. If I could only read and knit at the same time! I know some people can...but I can't. I have done a few books on tape...but I do prefer to read the book. A few weeks ago Something sparked about the classics. I can't remember now what triggered it but it started me really thinking about books and books I've read. I ran across a couple of book meme's so I thought I'd give 'em a go. So...here is the first one and later I'll post the second which is a list of books you've read, have on a shelf, or want to read. I'm not tagging anybody but if you decide to do the meme's please leave me a comment so I can check it out. I love to know what everyone else is reading!


Book meme (even though it is a BOOK meme I answered more about authors)
A book that made you cry: Several have made me cry…the one that made me absolutely bawl (through most of the book) was The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I’ve never read another one of his books. Yes I'm a wimp when it comes to sad stories!





A book that scared you: Hmmm…I can’t really think of one. I don’t really read many scary books.





A book that made you laugh: Again there are many. Anything by Mary Janice Davidson makes me laugh out loud. Seriously. Go. Buy. READ.



A book that disgusted you: I can’t really think of one.



A book you loved in elementary school: I would say James and the Giant Peach and anything by Beverly Cleary

A book you loved in middle school. Anything Nancy Drew…it was an obsession. There was one particular one that was a favorite that I checked out a zillion times and I can’t remember the name of it.





A book you loved in high school: It was a 3 series set by Christopher Pike. Final Friends. Oh I read them over and over. Most of his books, some R.L. Stine, Julian F. Thompson, Long Live the Queen by Ellen Emerson White was awesome!

A book you hated in high school: There were a couple…I really did not enjoy The Grapes of Wrath (I KNOW).





A book you loved in college: I don’t really associate any particular titles with this time. I think this was my romance period. Lots and lots of romance. Anything by Sandra Brown, Megan McKinney, Tami Hoag, Barbara Woods etc…were my favorites.





A book that challenged your identity: I don’t know that any have. I will say, that one that really touched me and made me think was A Time to Kill by John Grisham. They made the movie years later and it was very well done but I still remember not being able to put that book down and how it made my heart hurt.





A series that you love: Oh you KNOW there will be more than one lol. Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series is my top favorite obsession. Mary Janice Davidson’s Betsy series, Bitch out of Water series, and Kim Harrisons series.



Your favorite horror book: I don’t really read horror…although some stores put Laurel K Hamiltons books in the horror section. I don’t really consider them that.



Your favorite science fiction book: Again it seems sometimes these are in fantasy and sometimes in science fiction. I like Tanya Huff’s Keeper series.





Your favorite fantasy book: Harry Potter series and The Hobbit



Your favorite mystery book: Tami Hoags Lucky’s Lady and Cry Wolf which are really romance but have great mysteries to them. I also enjoy Jeffery Deaver. He can write a twisting turning mystery!





Your favorite historical novel: tough one…I don't read a ton of what I consider historical novels any more. I would say Barbara Woods is my favorite historical AUTHOR. Recently I really enjoyed The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, I'm not sure if it is classified as historical or not.





Your favorite biography: Don’t really read them.





Your favorite “coming-of-age” book: It's been a long time but I would have to say The Grounding of Group 6 by Julian F Thompson and/or Long Live the Queen and Life without Friends by Ellen Emerson White. Those were wonderful young adult books that I still remember.





Your favorite classic: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and To Kill a Mockingbird



Your favorite romance book: See Tami Hoags mystery’s above. And Kathryn Harvey (Barbara Woods) two book series Star and Butterfly. If you have not read these and you like a wild, enthralling, steamy read….RUN to your store or computer and get them NOW.



Your favorite book not on this list: Hmmm… I would highly recommend Phantom by Susan Kay. It is her own twist on phantom of the opera and it is amazing! I also really loved Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.



This was fun :) Yes I'm a geek so what!



What are YOU reading and what are your all time favorite books??

My 80's Theme Song

Ok when I saw this I had to take it. Honestly you can keep refreshing it and it will give you a different song no matter what you enter. I thought this was a fun one and kept it. Normally I would have gone with Girls Just Want To Have Fun since I LOVED that song and even dressed up as Cyndi Lauper for Halloween one year.

However Lil Red Corvette is a fun song and brings back a special memory that always makes me smile ; )

Your 80s Theme Song Is:

Little Red Corvette by Prince

What's" Your 80s Theme Song?

I SOOOO love the 80's music. I know a lot of it is BAD but I love it anyway. My cousin calls me the 80's diva. He has a band and anytime I go see them he always has to play an 80's song and give me a shout out. Which normally would embarrass the heck out of me but he has me so wrapped around his finger I let it slide lol

In fact just a couple of weeks ago I added a bunch of 80's and early 90's music to my shuffle's play list. It's awesome to exercise to!

Day Seven

Well! Official last day! I survived and am very proud of myself I have to say. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

Today I slept in (oh how wonderful it was) and other than going over to my parents I went nowhere. It was soooo nice.

Today I really was wanting something other than water. I don't miss soda or anything but I do miss the sugar free drink mix that I drink often. I was determined though to keep to water for today.

The next phase starts where you add back foods slowly to see if they are ok or if they make you feel bad. The foods added back during the next phase are not really foods that I eat. Olives and avocados (oh I do like avocados...just in guacamole!). So I was trying to decide which foods I would add back. I did feel a little achy tonight and I realized while I'm better I think I probably still have a long way to go. I'm not sure if something on the program doesn't agree with me or if the inflammation all the junk was causing in my body just isn't gone yet.

I'm still deciding where I will go tomorrow with this...

Results: I lost almost 4 inches in my waist, 2 in my hips and while the book says you can lose up to ten pounds, I did lose more than that.

More thoughts later!

Day 6 AKA Deep Fried Temptation dipped in Ranch Dressing

Day Six

And I feel great! I can tell my jeans are not as snug today and overall I just feel lighter and just not so BLAH/HUGE/YUCKY pick one!

My next batch of veggie broth did not turn out as well and I'm struggling to force it down. I'm counting the days until I can stop the morning oil routine! Honestly it's the worst part of the program for me. My skin feels so soft and my nails feel stronger. In six days! Isn't that wild? However, by around 5 o'clock I started feeling a bit bloaty and puffy. No idea why as I had not eaten anything different than any other day. My jeans seemed tight and I was uncomfortable. Interestingly enough though I weighed when I got home and I had lost weight so I don't know what that was all about.

I Admit today I had...thoughts. I know you people think I'm nuts but I've really treated this like an experiment and have kept close tabs on how I was thinking and feeling the entire time. I have not had any cravings for any particular type of food. Today was a little harder though, because Friday nights are when my sister and I normally go out. We go to dinner and have a couple of drinks. It signals the end of the week. We look forward to it all week. At first I had made up my mind this week we just would not go eat. However we were out driving around looking at buildings (for our new business) and it was getting late. I wasn't very hungry and I decided we could go eat and I could order a plain grilled chicken breast and some veggies. So we did. As I said...I haven't craved any foods...but I crave the TASTE. Not everything I'm eating is flavorless and you can certainly add herbs and spices to add flavor but lets face it...healthy often doesn't taste as good. So I guess what I'm saying is I miss FLAVOR. You know us southerners...it has to be fried, BBQ'd, or covered in some type of sauce that contains mayo or other zillion calorie things. Oh and probably dipped in Ranch Dressing! Dude I love me some Ranch Dressing. I've digressed....so yes we went to a restaurant and I ordered lemon pepper grilled chicken with two sides of steamed broccoli. No salad since there wasn't a suitable dressing and I could only eat the lettuce anyway. My sister did have a salad though...and Lordy it looked good. It didn't help that this restaurant serves their dinner salads with a HUGE FLAKY croissant with honey drizzled over it. AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE HONEY lol. Anyway...while the ranch dressing and croissant looked good I didn't REALLY want it. I just kept telling myself I'd rather feel better and if I want to really see how I feel I need to go the whole 7 days.

RESULTS/THOUGHTS: This has really shown me that so much of my eating is "habit" and "event" driven. I felt cheated at first that we couldn't go out and have our usual Friday Night. We can...I just have to modify what I eat and drink. Since you need to eat every 3 hours on the program and my caloric intake has been much less this week when it's time to eat I feel the need to eat. Not because I'm "hungry" or just want to eat...because my body is telling me "Hey! I need some fuel!" Which is very cool not to be driven by outrageous cravings!

also I've discovered a slight allergy to black berries...so they are off the list!


anyone still awake?????

Day Five

Day FIVE




Well, after feeling bad last night I felt surprisingly good this morning. The day went pretty well and uneventful. Eating my chicken and rice for lunch really works a lot better for me. In the evenings I eat some veggies and have one of the rice protein shakes. I’ve felt very thirsty all day so getting my water in was not a problem. I went to the Farmers Market this morning and ooooh yummy! I bought some peaches and black berries and green beans, black eyed peas, yellow squash, and onion (for my parents). This weekend I’m going to cook them all up for a family dinner. I love fresh black eyed peas and tomatoes from the garden! I can’t have tomatoes for this 7 days though.

About 15 minutes after I had my dinner I started getting itchy and sinus pressure. Something I put in my shake I’m allergic to. I had two new things tonight so I’m still trying to figure it out which one did it so I can eliminate it.

Results: Went to an open house and was not even tempted by the food and drinks. Since I don’t eat fish eating chicken every day would get very old if I did this long term. However so far there hasn’t been anything I’m seriously craving. Again, I certainly feel better than before I started the program!

More Scarf Pictures and Thoughts

Well I just barely had any sun left by the time I got home last night but I took a few pictures anyway.

Here is the Baby Grande Alpaca scarf. I love this yarn but it does tend to "shed" a little bit so I have a feeling it won't wear to well with black. I like it...but like I said yesterday I don't love it.

And an extreme closeup of the My So Called Scarf

On my screen at least, it shows the colors pretty well. I forgot again (imagine that) to grab the tag at home so I could tell you the colorway.

A few notes from last night on how I felt...that would still be considered day four. Did not feel too well last night. A little achy as in flu type achy. I was sitting on the floor trying to get all of the stickers out of my dogs long hair and my muscles just hurt and cramped a little. I'm not sure if it's that I'm still low on potassium or if this is just part of all that bad stuff leaving my system? During my bath I skimmed through the book again and was reminded the author does say that you could have withdrawal like symptoms, flu like symptoms and other things. So I'm continuing on, will try and get some extra rest and take more potassium and drink extra water. I'll report on day 5 later.

Day Four and knitting pictures!

Ok...as promised here is at least ONE picture. It isn't great since it is inside...but it will have to do for now. I've left the camera out beside my purse so I'll remember to take it home tonight!

Is pretty no? I so love this yarn and it looks great in the My So called Scarf Pattern I think. I'm hoping this will be the scarf for my scarf buddy exchange...but it is a slow knit for me and I have to have it out by June 8th. So I'm still working on the Baby Alpaca Grande scarf (which knits very fast!) just in case I have to send it. I hope I get some real knitting time in soon so I can wrap these up. My fishtail lace scarf is calling to me but I refuse to pick it up until I finish one of these for my cool scarf buddy. I have to say I've had so much fun doing this exchange. I figured out who was making my scarf but that's ok because she is freaking hilarious and cracks me up! She is also about to take a trip to Ireland and I'm so jealous!

Now on to the healthy portion of our program:

DAY FOUR: Last night was hard because I was really tired and had a lot to get done. I slept great again but didn't exactly SPRING out of bed this morning. I only hit the snooze once or twice (compared to my usual NINE) but I would have liked to have stayed in bed a while longer today. I don't feel quite as sharp today and I'm not sure why. My breakfast shake really filled me up and I wasn't hungry by lunch time. So I had a snack of broth and put my lunch off until about 2:00. Today I had my chicken at lunch instead of dinner. I think this works better for me. I do feel better over all though, and I think my pants are not as snug in my lower stomach area today which is very cool :) After cooking last night I hope to stay out of the kitchen tonight and get in some knitting time.

Results and some observations: A little tired today...don't feel as sharp but still an improvement than before. So far (KNOCKING ON WOOD) I haven't had a headache or sinus pain since starting. My joints don't seem as stiff and achy as before, also, my eyes aren't puffy and swollen shut in the mornings. ALL good things!

So far no excruciating cravings for chocolate but I have craved the taste of something sweet. There is nothing that tastes sweet on this program except a few fruits. So I've tried to combat this with my banana and some fresh peaches in my shakes. This afternoon I have had an odd craving for coffee though. No idea why as I'm not a die hard coffee drinker or anything. I do love me some Starbucks but I mostly only drink it during the fall and winter.

Day Three

Sorry no knitting content lately! I keep forgetting the camera at work so that I can take pictures of my WIP's. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow. Please bare with me regarding the "program" talk this week.

Woke up BEFORE the alarm today! I slept so WONDERFULLY! It was just lovely! I followed the program to the letter today except for only having one of the shakes. I don't have a way to mix one at work. I was hungry today especially in the afternoon. An apple and some almonds helped hold me until dinner. I sauteed some garlic and chicken with asparagus and brown rice. Not too bad :) I've discovered a few things so far. Asparagus isn't bad if it is LIGHTLY steamed. Fresh ginger is cool and I like using it to spice things up...but I don't really like the taste of it if it's strong. For some reason I tend to add garlic and or rosemary to everything lol.

It was a stressful day today at work. Very busy! I stayed on the program but my attempt to stay calm and relaxed didn't exactly work. I felt achy this afternoon and tired. I also took one advil because I had a toothache. I'm trying to avoid all medicines except my prescriptions this week if I can help it.

Results: I feel pretty tired right now and would like to go to bed. However my broth has to cool and I still have my 12 minutes to do on the EFX machine.

So I'm off to finish up so I can have my wonderful hot bath! Pleasant dreams everyone!

Day Two

Despite my rocky start on Monday, I slept good and this morning I woke up (on time) and started my checklist. The green tea was nice and I felt pretty alert although not energetic by any means. I did not feel sluggish and horribly tired as I normally do on Monday mornings which was wonderful!

I did not eat enough today as I still had no blender for my breakfast until this evening. Lunch was great and the broth was even good. I drank all of my water and even walked my 12 minutes that I've committed to every night this week. I'm not doing more than 12 because I think my body is going through enough this week so I don't want to push it.

I had more energy this evening and found myself up and doing things rather than sitting. Still feeling a tiny bit weak though and I'm having muscle cramps. I think all the vitamin C making me tinkle all the time has depleted my potassium so I did take a big dose of potassium tonight and had a banana with my shake for dinner. (For those familiar with the plan I switched my meal order today).

I ended the day with the recommended hot bath and it was HEAVENLY. So nice to relax and feel good about taking the time to take care of myself today. I stayed "unplugged" while at home. No tv, Internet (well its not working anyway) or news or anything. I did listen to music while exercising and during my bath.

Results: I feel good today and I feel great about doing this for myself. Some things may be hard to do and not taste good but I'm proud of myself for scheduling this for myself. I've cancelled all "extra" activities this week such as bunko and lunches so that I won't be tempted to eat and can focus on myself.

Day One

Day one of the program did not go well and it was my fault. For this reason I really am not considering it day one and will do the program for one extra day.

First mistake was that I stayed up WAY too late the night before. Also, even though I know not to drink any alcohol what so ever if I have a sinus infection...I did on Saturday night. So I was not feeling well to begin with and did not get to "prepare" everything on Saturday so therefore was behind. I attempted to make the shake and my blender would not work right. I was a bit timid making the vegetable broth as most of the veggies going into the pot I had never purchased before or cooked with. I should have taken a picture...my fridge was PACKED with green leafy veggies! (side note: Waco doesn't have a Whole foods or organic store. However two stores in town are attempting to carry a nice selection of foods, supplements, and such. They were very helpful for this poor clueless girl and her list).

By the evening I was starving (not having my ultrashake or anything else I could eat). I was cooking a generous pot of spaghetti for Mom. So for dinner I did have a small portion of spaghetti and salad.

The vitamin C I started taking certainly started working!

Results: By the end of the day I felt terrible and stressed and very weak. All my own fault and not the programs.

An unplugged Mothers day weekend

Belated Happy Mothers Day to everyone! I'm back online at home for the moment. The nice phone man did discover my problem. It's a little hard for the phone to work when all the wires (that run under your house) have been gnawed through! Yep!

My Plan for the past weekend was to stay home, hibernate, get ready to start the Ultrasimple program and cook dinner for Mom (and the family). I also planned NOT to answer my cell phone. Well before my phone service died I did get a message from my cousin asking me to come hear his band play Saturday night because it will be the last time they play for a long time (or ever). Three of the band members are expecting babies so they decided to take some time off. Not feeling well with a sinus infection I talked myself out of going. Then my OTHER cousin calls...needless to say I did end up going and had a blast. I took a disposable camera so if they pictures come out I'll try and post a couple.

Sunday I spent the day Sunday cooking my vegetable broth and such while also doing laundry and vacuuming up the massive amounts of hair the kiddos are shedding. Then cooked a big spaghetti dinner for Mom (her request), Dad and my sister. I've thought about doing a post about Mom but she would be horrified if I did lol. I'm still considering it though... lol

Amy's Adventures in getting healthy

Hmm...yeah. Remember me? I am still around. I have NO PHONE or INTERNET at home and I've been so slammed at work there hasn't been time for much blogging or blog reading. My blog roll is getting terribly backed up I'm afraid. HOWEVER I wanted to post quickly about the MAY DAY tales from the scales and what I've been up to.

Well first over at Elizabeth's Blog I read about the May Day Weight Loss Challenge going on over at tales from the scales. (See the button in my side bar.) Honestly I forgot to weigh in this morning to post my progress. I will tonight so I can keep up with the May Day Challenge. I'm actually doing another program as well that has me focused not so much on losing weight this week. I have been following Lolly and her journey.

I have been feeling very Blah the last few weeks. I think it's a combination of many things really. Not eating or being healthy. Over doing it at the garage sale. Not having a vacation in FREAKING FOREVER. No knitting time and not getting to go to the monthly little knitting meet and a tiny bit of just hanging in limbo with the new business thing. So after reading Lolly and the 7 day detox she just completed I bought the Ultrasimple Diet book and have read through it. I have started the 7 day program to try and get all the "junk" out of my system and hopefully stop the cravings for bad things I don't need. I am not looking as this week as a weight loss program. Hopefully that will go along with it, but I am more interested feeling better. I know I have been putting crap in my body...and as a result I felt like crap. Also at the end of the program you can add back certain foods and find out if they cause you to feel bad. For example I had already determined that dairy (mostly milk) increase my sinus problems. So I'm very interested in testing to see which foods make me feel good and bad.

There is an inflammation "test" of sorts in the book to see which areas of your body are the most inflamed. I of course scored off the charts which did not surprise me. I'm really hoping this will make me feel better and have more energy, so I can keep up with all that life is throwing at me. Also, I'm going to budget in time and money for a pedicure in the next week or so. A little me time away from the office and family. Then hopefully Memorial Day weekend we'll head down to our friends Bay house for some "drankin and carrying on" and hopefully some R&R and knitting time.

Since I've had no Internet I've been keeping a written journal and I'll try to get it typed up and posted tomorrow. Not having internet at home puts a big kink in things let me tell you!

So...more soon, I promise!