watermelon memories
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
  of course this is what's wrong with society...
our kids are obviously reading too much.

i snagged this list from the silverfox. the book's i've read are in bold. the books i plan on reading to punkin are in italics.

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 I never read this, but I remember girls in my 5th grade class passing a dog-eared copy around.
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 Because everyone hates the Revolutionary War? Inexplicable.
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 'Clan of the Cave Bear' passed through my hands at some point.
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle No greater sin, apparently, than to make children think.
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 DuncanHalloween
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
GeorgeThe 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 A huge hit in 4th grade. Undoubtedly responsible for the subsequent warping of my fragile little mind.
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 BauerArizona
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 Huh?
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
 
  estranged bed fellows
for the past three weeks i've been entertaining a house guest. usually i limit house guests to 3 to 7 days depending on how far they traveled to see me. my current house guest isn't picking up the not so subtle hints i've dropped that it's welcome has been greatly over stayed. such is the way of insomnia i suppose.

i've suffered with insomnia since i was in my early teens. although until recently it only dropped in for a night or two. i've never been subjected to it's company for this long...not ever. maybe all the crazy hours i kept at work for all those years is finally catching up with me. maybe it's that i'm not working at the moment. what ever it is i'm tired of not being tired when i should be. sunrises are great but i prefer to see them after a few hours of sleep. not when i'm just getting ready for a few hours of sleep.


not so long ago my lack of sleep wouldn't have been such a burden. however, now i have a son to take care of and a move that is long overdue. the hours i've been keeping lately is greatly effecting both of these things. i don't have the energy to spend enough time with punkin as i'd like. thankfully my mom has been more than willing to pick up where i can't. i don't have the energy to pack much less drive 16 hours.

i called to schedule an appointment with my doctor this week only to be told that he was out for the rest of the week and the first appointment was tuesday the 5th. my mom had an appointment with him today...i guess the receptionist didn't think my lack of sleep was that big of a deal. i hope she gets a yeast infection.

i picked up an OTC sleep aide last night. i remembered why i don't take those this afternoon. while i was fast asleep by 11:30 last night, i still didn't wake up til after one today. i don't feel any different than i have the past 3 weeks. i'll take it again tonight and see if tomorrow's any better.
 
Sunday, September 19, 2004
  slacking off on the blog
i've got a little catching up to do. i know. however, at the moment i have to drag my pajama clad body out of this chair and get my self ready for the funeral i'm suppose to attend at 2. it's a little after 1 now.

one of my closest friend's (sam) younger sister (sue ellen) passed away on friday. she was 24 and a victim of lupus. it's not suppose to work like that is it?

sam has seen so much tragedy in her lifetime. i'm not sure how she makes it through the day anymore. her mom died suddenly when she was still in high school. two of her aunts and a cousin were killed by a drunk driver shortly after. her dad passed away exactly two months ago and now sue ellen. it reminds me of how lucky i really am and makes me feel a tad bit guilty as well for all the things i take for granted.

update:

the service was nice, as far as funeral services go. i skipped the luncheon as i was in dire need of a nap. i felt a twinge of guilt over my decision to proceed directly to my car instead of waiting around to say my goodbyes to sam. as it turned out it was the best plan of action. as i had guessed the group that had gathered outside the funeral home swarmed the family as they exited.

i do so understand everyone's need to be comforting and such but there are times when you just have to walk away. get in your car and drive to where ever it is you feel you need to go and let the object of your sympathy gather themselves and their thoughts. for me, there's nothing worse than having to deal with people when i can barely deal with the unsettling event i've just endured. when i need to talk and am ready to deal with life again, i'll call, email, or send you an engraved invitation. sam feels the same way. all she really wanted to do after the service was take her family home and mourn in the silence and comfort of her home. what she did was the polite and socially expected thing...paste on her best i'm not dying inside smile, attend the luncheon in her sister's honor and pretend to listen to sugar coated condolences meant to ease her suffering. i'm not sure i would have been as gracious.

she called me later, after the hustle and bustle had died down. thanked me for coming and not staying. asked me if i cared for any fried chicken as she ended up with the leftovers from the luncheon. told me how she'd called her uncle and asked to speak to sue ellen. caught the confusion in her uncle's voice and said "oh yeah...i was calling to see if she wanted any chicken." i laughed because she needed me too and there is a tad bit or warped humor in calling to see if your recently deceased sister would care for any chicken.

we scheduled dinner for wednesday. i'm sure she'll be tired of chicken by then.
 
Monday, September 13, 2004
  when prayers are answered



one of my favorite local bands has released another album. i'm thrilled. giddy even as i've been listening to their old one for almost 5 years now. not that it's not still worth lisetening to, it's just there were songs that i had heard them play live that i missed. i'm hoping they might actually have a gig scheduled when i pass through memphis. it would do my soul good to see them again live.

for those of you that have wondered about my introduction and fondness for red stripe, this man is your answer. i wanna be like zack when i grow up.
 
  highlights
i just thumbed through a book that belongs to the maternal unit. it took a moment for it to register what had caught and held my attention. it wasn't the words. it wasn't the pictures. it was the fact that 80% of it was either highlighted or underlined. i've noticed this in used text books i've bought in the past and was just as baffled then. i mean it kinda defeats the purpose of highlights in my mind. if you go to the salon and the stylist highlights every hair on your head doesn't that make it just a very tedious dye job? if you're going to highlight every word in a book shouldn't you have just bought one with colored pages?
 
Sunday, September 12, 2004
  Obesity is on the rise
...and no wonder. kids are being served funnel cakes for breakfast (yes, i did say funnel cakes.) in some schools. WTF is that about? at the schools i attended the cafeteria meals were decent for institutional food...nothing spectacular but decent. they even went so far as to represent EACH of the four food groups (there are still just four, right? well, there's that fifth one they try to throw in off and on.) at each meal. what food group does deep fried sugar fall into again? oh, yes. i see. it doesn't.

when questioned as to the nutritional appropriateness of funnel cake all the over-starched suit representing the un-named school had to say was,"yes. we serve funnel cake for breakfast. what's wrong with that? it's on the federally approved list." eh? federally approved funnel cake? who approved this list? quadruple bypass clinton??? or the same moron that signed off on pop tarts???
 
  betty crocker and the bundys
i've been awash in a sea of domesticity lately. perfect pie crusts, pink floweredy curtains, and meals worthy of the magic skillet are much nicer than dealing with the insanity that has engulfed this house. shocking for some of you i know but i was once domesticated.

my family has never been what you would call functional. however in the past few day's they've put the d-y-s in dysfunction. i'm not sure if it's the alignment of the planets or the drop in the barometric pressure but something has caused the familial tensions to rise exponentially. the paternal unit is mad at the maternal unit and vice versa. both units are mad at the youngest sibling. suffice it to say the youngest sibling is mad at the world...she's 12. i can't catch a break from the hostility. even punkin has been wearing his cranky pants more than usual.

i think tomorrow i'll brew up a pot of starbucks expresso roast, grab what's left of my fresh pear and cranberry tart and lock myself in my room with my audrey hepburn collection. a double shot of breakfast at tiffany's, roman holiday, and sabrina just might knock the irritation at all the useless and wasted anger right out of me. depending on what pants punkin decides to wear tomorrow, i might let him in too.
 
Saturday, September 11, 2004
  DAMMIT
blogger just ate my post...bastards!!! i'll retype it later when the veins in my head return to their natural size.
 
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
 

punkin Posted by Hello
 
 

punkin Posted by Hello
 
  bush vs kerry
i don't know about the rest of the world but i, quite frankly, have had it up to here (raises hand two feet above my head) with the election this year. i think it would be so much nicer if we just called the whole campaign off and let the candidates play rock-paper-scissors. best 2 out of three gets to live in the white house and my media is free of the political smoke screens.
 
  i'm raising a bed hog
punkin is roughly 24" long and weighs >30lbs. i'm 5'3 and weigh...well never you mind that. here's the thing. we sleep in the same bed (i'm sure i'll regret this at some point but that's another story entirely). the bed we sleep in is 56"X72" or something close to that. keeping in mind the size of my son, how is it that i wake up teetering on the edge every morning and my pint size punkin ends up with over 1/2 the bed?
 
Saturday, September 04, 2004
  little black blog
as you can see i've gone back to my basic black look. it was a tough call. i was diggin the microbus and all but after some discussion with mr. monte i realized the black was a touch more me. i know some of you (this means you jm) will miss the lovely shade of yellow (light goldenrod yellow to be exact)...have no fear i'll save it and pop it back up for your viewing pleasure whenever you'd like.
 
Friday, September 03, 2004
 

punkin with a touch of red eye Posted by Hello
 
 

punkin Posted by Hello
 
 

punkin Posted by Hello
 
 

punkin Posted by Hello
 
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
  mediocre isn't such a bad thing
it seems the fish has been ripped off again. poor gal. i'm suddenly quite content with my handful of readers and the mediocrity of my posts. no one's ripping me off...at least that i know of. if they are, so be it. if they're so hard up for material that they're lifting posts from me, then they can have it. what do i care? there's plenty more crap floating around in my 3.5 brain cells.
 
tales of my nomadic lifestyle and other meandering thoughts.

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Location: a stone's throw from detroit, United States
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