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Sunday 28 October 2007

Top 100 Books

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 books from this list. Copy the list into your own note. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.Delete 'x' from any you have not read.

I've read 58 of them. Some more than once.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien ()
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (x)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling ()
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ()
6 The Bible ()
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ()
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (x )
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (x)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ()
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (x)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare ()
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (x)
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (x)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk (x)
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (x)
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (x) on mt top ten list
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ()
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (x)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald ()
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ()
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ()
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (x)
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh ()
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ()
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (x)
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (x)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (x)
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (x)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ()
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (x)
34 Emma - Jane Austen (x)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen ()
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (x)
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres (x)
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (x)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (x)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (x)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (x)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving (x)
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins()
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (x)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ()
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood ()
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding ()
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan (x)
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (x)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert ()
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ()
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (x)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ()
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ()
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ()
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley ()
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (x)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ()
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (x)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (x)
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt (x)
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (x)
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ()
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (x)
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ()
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (x)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ()
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (x)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (x)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (x)
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (x)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (x)
75 Ulysses - James Joyce ()
76 The Inferno - Dante ()
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ()
78 Germinal - Emile Zola ()
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ()
80 Possession - AS Byatt ()
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens()
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (x) - weird one
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker (x)
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (x)
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (x)
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ()
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (x)
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ()
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ()
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ()
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery ()
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ()
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (x)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ()
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ()
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ()
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (x)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (x)
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo ()

Friday 21 September 2007

Friendship/Tree Analogy

Friendship/Tree Analogy


  • Leaves – these are the people you encounter for a short time in life. They tend to blow away when the wind changes direction. These are the people you see every day i.e. coworkers, schoolmates, neighbors, etc. The relationship fades once there is a change in the common interest i.e. work, school, neighbourhood. 
  • Branches – these are friends that have a significant influence in your life. Maybe even for years. People you may have once spent a lot of quality time with and attended many events together. Disagreements and/or the busyness of life lead to losing touch and slowly but surely the relationship fades.
  • Roots – these are the people you call on for any reason, at any time. You know they are always there for you through thick and thin. The people you feel most comfortable laughing, crying and sharing your most intimate thoughts without fear of being judged. These are the people who have been around consistently for years. 
  •  The Friendship/Tree analogy has been around for quite some time. The analogy is so fitting, I think, because friendships are a part of of your life in the same way that trees have various parts. Each part has it’s purpose. Once that purpose has been fulfilled it fades away. Rather than grieving a lost friendship, consider cherishing the life lessons brought about by the connection. You don’t see any trees grieving over a lost leaf or limb right? Of course not. The tree simply prepares to grow (receive) something new. Likewise, it is important that we embrace each and every friendship, regardless of the category, as they each hold the experiences (both good and not so good) that at some point along our journeys we will fondly look back on one day and refer to as life lessons. 

 Stay encouraged and know that YOU ARE BLESSED! .

Monday 30 July 2007

How many movies have you seen?

"SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 244 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click publish at the bottom. Have fun."


( x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Pirates of the Carribbean 3: At World's End
( ) Boondock Saints
() Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x ) Blazing Saddles
(x ) Airplane
Total: 9

() The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
() White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
(x)50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 14

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x)Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
()Scary Movie 2
()Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 19

(x)Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
() Resident Evil 1
()Resident Evil 2
(x)The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
() The Village
(x)Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 22

(x) Finding Nemo
( x) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( x)White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x ) 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 29

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
( x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x)Along Came Polly
() Deep Impact
() KingPin
( x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far: 36

() A Cinderella Story
(x ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x ) Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
( Final Destination 2
( )Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 40

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
() Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From Hell
() Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
() I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
( x) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far:43

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
( ) Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 47

(x) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
(x) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Ocean's Thirteen
() Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremecy
() Bourne Ultimatum
( ) Lone Star
( x) Bedazzled
() Predator I
() Predator II
() The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 55

(x) Independence Day
() Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
() War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total so far:59

( ) Best Bet
(x ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( x) She's All That
( x) Calendar Girls
(x ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
( x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
() The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total so far: 69

(x) X-Men
() X-2
() X-3
(x) Spider-Man
() Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
() Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
(x ) The Hot Chicks
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
(x) Shrek 3
Total so far: 79

( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( x) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 82

() Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
() Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 85

( ) Baseketball
() Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History x
( ) Three
Total so Far 87

( ) The Jacket
() Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 91

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x)Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x ) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x ) 28 days later
() 28 weeks later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total so far: 95

() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total so far: 95

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 101

(x) The Matrix
() The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total: 104

Monday 25 June 2007

Loving Two

Loving Two

I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand,
basking in the glow of our magical relationship.
Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited.
And I wonder: how could I ever love another child as I love you?

Then he is born,
and I watch you.
I watch the pain you feel at having to share me
as you've never shared me before.

I hear you telling me in your own way, "Please love only me."
And I hear myself telling you in mine,  "I can't," knowing, in fact, that I never can again.

You cry. I cry with you.
I almost see our new baby as an intruder
on the precious relationship we once shared.
A relationship we can never quite have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty.
I'm afraid to let you see me enjoying him--as though I am betraying you.

But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness,
finally to genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine.
The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.

But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we two.
There are new times---only now, we are three.
I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how he adores you--as I have for so long.
I see how excited you are by each of his new accomplishments.
And I begin to realize that I haven't taken something from you, I've given something to you.
I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.

I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong.
And my question is finally answered, to my amazement.
Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you--only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you'll never share my love.
There's enough of that for both of you---you each have your own supply.

I love you---both. And I thank you both for blessing my life

Thursday 22 March 2007

WHAT I OWE MY MOTHER:

WHAT I OWE MY MOTHER:



1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. 'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

2. My mother taught me RELIGION . 'You better pray that this will come out of the carpet.'

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL 'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!'

4. My mother taught me LOGIC . ' Because I said so, that's why.'

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC . 'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me.'

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT. 'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.'

7. My mother taught me IRONY. 'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about.'

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. 'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM . 'Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA 'You'll sit there until all that SOUP is gone.'

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER .. 'This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.'

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY 'If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!'

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE . 'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.'

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION. 'Stop acting like your father!'

15. My mother taught me about ENVY. 'There are millions of less fortunate kids in this world who don't have wonderful parents like u do..'

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. 'Just wait until we get home.'

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING . 'You are going to get it when you get home!'

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE. 'If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.'

19. My mother taught me ESP . 'Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?'

20. My mother taught me HUMOUR . 'When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me..'

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT . 'If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.'

22. My mother taught me GENETICS. 'You're just like your father.'

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS. 'Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a tent?'

24. My mother taught me WISDOM. 'When you get to be my age, you'll understand.'

25. And my favourite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE 'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you '


Friday 9 February 2007

Mum's Survey

A different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your your first born!


1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? 
My 1st ended at 24 weeks, It was a little girl - Mia.
James was very much planned and prayed for.
Sarah-Jane was a beautiful Bonus.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Couldn't believe it, sooooo happy

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Not at all

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 35

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? 
I'd got some of my old OPK's out and went into the loo to test, I'd never had a + OPK despite using them for over a year, as soon as I tested it was +..... I squealled and DH came in to see what was wrong, so I told him and he said right lets go get a HPT, so we got dressed and where going down the drive when the Postie arrived with the parcel of HPT's, poor postie didn't know what hit him, I grabbed them and the two of us ran and left him standing there. Straight upstairs and we did 6 tests (just in case), all of them came back BFP's..... We cried, We laughed,

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
John, My Parents

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? 
YES

9. DUE DATE? 
Mia 1st Nov 2000
James 20th June 2005

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? 
No, evening sickness

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? 
James - Oranges, orange marmalade, orange chewits, even the orange out of the jaffa cakes.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? 
I took gallstones @16wks, then SPD and spent a lot of time in hospital.... 
but the biggest thing was needed to be put under for an emergency c-section and not seeing James till he was 30 mins old.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
Mia - girl
James - boy

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
nope

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN? 
With James I lost 3 stone, with Sarah-Jane I lost another stone half

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWERS? 
NO

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? 
Didnt have one

18.DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? 
Hell yes - I have a clotting disorder and had to inject myself twice a day in the stomach. I didn't have an easy pregnancy from 16wks I spent most of it hospital, with gallstones, pancreitis, jaundice, liver functions up the left, enlarged kidneys and bleeding at 30 weeks, I had injections to help develop his lungs. I also was put on bedrest both times because of spd. With Sarah-Jane I went into PTL at 25 weeks and had injections to stop the contractions and bleeding, she ended up staying in till 39 weeks.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? 
Craigavon Hopsital, Northern Ireland

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
With Mia - 26 hrs
With James I was induced tuesday evening and he was born friday morning 3am.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
JOhn

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? 
Medical staff
John was there for Sarah-Jane.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
James was natural for 3 bloody days but then needed a c-section at the end

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Gas & Air & Pethidine

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 
6lbs 14oz

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? 
May 5th 2005 at 35 weeks

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME YOUR CHILD? 
James John - after his two grandads and his daddy.

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? he'll be 3 this May. If Mia had survived she'd have turned 8 last November.