1. The things I give thanks for this Thanksgiving are all my blessings which are too numerous to count.
2. My Thanksgiving traditions include doing our Christmas decorating.
3. The best part about Thanksgiving is the extra time for fellowship.
4. My favorite Thanksgiving food is sweet potatoes.

1. The last compliment I got was from my husband; he/she said I was doing great on a project I have undertaken.
2. I'm reading The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer.
3. I woke up today and thought T.G.I.F!!!!!!!

1. Snow is fun until Christmas but then I am ready for it to melt.
2. I'm looking forward to things slowing down just a wee bit so I can enjoy time with friends and family.
3. Books are the best present ever! (Just in case my family is reading!) ;)
4. One of my favorite old tv shows is M*A*S*H .
5. I'm done with maternity clothes?!? (First thing that came to mind, sorry)

Stolen...(again lol) from Literary Feline.... (thanks!!)

1. Plans and schedules keep me sane, but routine bores me (go figure!)

2. I'm happy when things are calm.

3. The last thing I drank was a bottle of water.....(excuse me, bathroom break!)

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is right now.....my health for my unborn child!

5. I like pepperoni and green peppers on my pizza.

Kookiejar started this and then it spread like Chicken Pox in a Daycare. I had to do it too!

Here's what you do:
Set your Mp3 player on shuffle and write the title of the first song that comes up as an answer to each question no matter how stupid it sounds...(savvy? Here we go.)

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?" YOU SAY?
1234 (Feist) That's how long you got until the sheet hits the fan, dawg.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Tom Sawyer (Rush) Though my mind is not for rent, don't put me down as arrogant.

1. The drive is often the best thing about traveling.
2. I love a good snuggle with my husband when I'm cold.
3. I often use pasta when I am cooking.
4. I'm reading Little Women right now; I love it.

I'm feeling like a lazy blogger today. I have things I can blog about but can't get into it. So, I'll use this meme from Dewey to inspire me (hopefully).

It is Sunday evening and still no baby. We had a nice relaxing Sunday. We went to church and then had a wonderful two hour nap. I figure get them in while we can. We also gassed up the car and put it through the car wash, ready for whatever this week brings. I have a Doctors appointment tomorrow that my doula is taking me to.

The weather is great. It didn't get any higher than 65 today! So we opened up all of the windows and aired out the house. I picked up around the house and read some more of Obama's book, "Dreams From My Father", which is really good so far.

I got mad at a family in church today. There were two little boys who were acting out so their parents gave them crackers and cookies to placate them. Which they smashed into the pew cushion instead of eating. This wouldn't have bothered me except the whole family got up and left the smashed cookies and crackers on the pew! Grrrr.....

What to do with your left over eggs: Brought to you by Momlogic

If you blew out the whites:

Friday Fill-In #49
1. I love the nostalgia surrounding Christmas.
2. Blue is/are my favorite color(s) for the Christmas tree lights.
3. The non-existent candles in the window have non-existent bulbs.
4. A Christmas Story (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!) is one of my most favorite Christmas movies.
5. My favorite Christmas lyric(s) is/are

I have taken this negative meme from Dewey's blog. I thought I would give it a shot. My answers are not as good as hers! Feel free to do this meme and credit it to Dewey!

1. When you dislike a book, do you say so in your blog? Why or why not?

I do say so. As I spend a lot of time reading and analysing it, I do think I should mention the negative aspects too. However, I mention it why I did not like that particular book. There might be cultural reasons too. Some books simply do not work for me.

2. Do you temper your feelings about books you didn’t like, so as not to completely slam them? Why or why not?

Last week we talked about the books you liked best from 2007. So this week, what with it being a new year, and all, we’re looking forward….

What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008?

Ummm.....all of them. See the picture below. Seriously? Okay....read on.

Something new being published this year?

Ha ha! Another one from Literary Feline: (this is fun!)

Take the nearest book next to you and answer the following questions:

Title and Author: Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Is the book dedicated to anyone? If so, who? It says on the inside "For Meredith, Faith, Kristen, and Sarah"

What is the first sentence? "The fire had gone out, and I didn't know what to do."

Turn to page 47. Please share the first sentence of the first full paragraph. "Wouldn't have worked."

Woohoo, it is Friday! I really did not want to get out of bed this morning. It was super cold. We should have probably put on the heat last night. I also woke up at 2am this morning to go to the bathroom, so I feel like I didn’t sleep very well. The cold weather is making my fibromyalgia act up. I am really achy this morning. How difficult is it to set up a live web cast? I was thinking of web casting my baby shower for friends and relatives that will be unable to attend.

Hollywood with a capital H:

United Hollywood has secretly obtained a transcript of one of the earlier negotiating sessions which illustrates just what the writers are facing at the bargaining table...

WGA: We'd like a whopping four pennies more on each DVD sold.
AMPTP: We're going to punch you in the face and take your dog.
WGA: We'd like to be compensated for our work that's distributed over the Internet.
AMPTP: We're going to punch you in the face and take your dog.
WGA: We don't think it's fair you're trying to have short-form content written non-guild.
AMPTP: Fine. We won't take your dog. That's off the table. After you shout from the rooftops and thank us, which proposal are you going to take off the table?

1. Plans and schedules are only a tool and it's best to keep things flexible .

2. But,I'm happy when things go according to schedule.

3. The last thing I drank was coffee.

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is my book collection .

5. I like extra cheese, mushrooms, olives, peppers and onion on my pizza.

6. Dear November, Please don't be harsh with the weather.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, tomorrow my plans include reading and making cookies with my daughter and Sunday, I want to READ!

Because it's March we are placing a special emphasis on College Basketball. So here's our Regular Season Awards.

ACCPlayer of the Year- Tyler Hansbrough, UNCCoach of the Year- Frank Haith, MiamiFreshman of the Year- James Johnson, Wake Forest
Big 12Player of the Year- Michael Beasley- KSUCoach of the Year- Scott Drew, BaylorFreshman of the Year- Michael Beasley- KSU
Big EastPlayer of the Year- Luke Harangody, Notre DameCoach of the Year- Jim Calhoun, UConnFreshman of the Year- Donte Green, Syracuse

Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….

Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?

Do you ever read manuals?

How-to books?

Self-help guides?

Anything at all?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Booking Through Thursday

’m still relatively new to this meme so I’m not sure if this has been asked yet, but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

I am a preservationist. I don't write in books, I don't dog-ear books if I can help it, etc but I do keep a small notebook in case I want to make notes for myself.

I'm late with the memes this week...sorry!

1. When my blog is broken, I know it will probably drive me nuts fixing it.

2. I saw the most amazing crowd at the mall this morning!

3. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is the new movie I’m most looking forward to seeing.

4. Work: Necessary and fulfilling at times.

I love procrastinating, so I figured I should fill out this quaint little questionnaire that I've seen on a few other bookblogs. Enjoy.

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why? Paperback, usually. I really only purchase hardcovers when they are on sale, or when the author is a favorite.

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it... Hm. I’m so not creative. Let’s go with Bibliolatry. If it ain't broke and all that...

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is... The opening to Lolita:

This week’s question is suggested by Puss Reboots:

How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

The NCAA Tournament is about a month away and I absolutely cannot wait. Here's our current projections of the top 4 seeds and conference winners.

1 Seeds
Memphis- Should easily be a 1 seed with the C-USA schedule
UNC- I think they'll prevail, once Lawson is back and to full strength they should just about win out and win the ACC Tourney
UCLA- they will win the Pac 10 tourney which should secure the 1 seed
Tennessee- the SEC is down this year and no one is really posing that much of a threat to them

2 Seeds
Kansas- should be a 1 seed, but Texas or A&M could easily knock them off in the Big XII tourney
Duke- I see them losing to UNC and possibly in the ACC Tourney
Georgetown- still have to play Louisville, Marquette, and UConn but two of them are at home. I see them at least making the Big East Tourney Final
Texas- playing as good as anyone now but tough schedule coming up

3 Seeds
Butler- Could easily win out but being a mid-major and easy schedule won't get them a 2 seed

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

Today is my mom's birthday.
She is 76 years old today, and I love her.
She is not all that well [physically] as many of you may know [I've mentioned her illness before]... but this year, at her Birthday Party which was combined with an Easter Sunday celebration at my sister's, my mom, when blowing out the candles on her cake, made a wish.
She said it out loud.
It was that everyone there would be with her for her 90th Birthday!
And then my sister said, "Mom, you're not supposed to SAY the wish out loud, or else it won't work!"
And mom said, "Oh come on. It'll work. It'll work!"
Which is very similar to something I have been muttering whenever I think of my laptop-computer, lately...

[CYBER-UPDATE: I am writing this from a Library computer. My laptop is incarcerated in a Mac-Hospital for the Terminally Unbooted! It's a place run by a bunch of nuns!]

************

Using foreclosure.com as the source, foreclosure figures are listed first, pre-foreclosures are listed next, with the % of pre-foreclosures moving forward to foreclosures in parentheses. These are cumulative numbers. Special thanks to reader moqui for Aug '05 and June '06 data.

San Diego County
08/25/05: 83/3,087 (2.7%)
06/15/06: 354/4,382 (8.1%)
10/31/06: 998/4,983 (20.0%)
11/30/06: 1,304/5,245 (24.9%)
12/30/06: 1,251/4,637 (27.0%)
01/30/07: 1,475/4,760 (31.0%)
02/27/07: 1,879/5,008 (37.5%)

Trish, who's hosting the Classics Challenge, concocted this Classics Meme:

1. My favorite classic is Jane Eyre. I've re-read it many times. Jane is such a strong woman especially for the times she was living.

2. The classic I had the toughest time finishing is The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. It's one of the only books I can say I hated. The story was fine but James's style was hard to take. His run on sentences went on for pages.

3. I would recommend...........to someone who doesn't read a lot of classics or who doesn't generally like classics because tough one... if they don't mind size The Count of Monte Cristo, an adventure story with a purpose. If the size is too intimidating, I'd recommend To Kill a Mockingbird because I don't know anyone who didn't like it.

East

Louisville Cardinals
They are a little under the radar right now; they're healthy and they have great guard play. Their guard depth will prevail, plus David Padgett is one of the best big men in the country and if he gets into foul trouble, they still have Derrick Caracter.

Midwest

Georgetown Hoyas
The Hoyas have nearly everyone back from a team that lost in the Final Four last season. They have the guards to play with anyone and the best big man in the country in Roy Hibbert. Plus, they have one of the best defenses in the country. They'll make you play their game, they'll wear you down, plus they have depth.

South

Memphis Tigers
The Tigers have been to the Elite 8 the past two seasons and this is finally the year they get over the hump and into the Final Four. They're so talented and deep. I think they'll make enough free throws to help them win some games.

• Pick up the nearest book. (I’m sure you must have one nearby.)
• Turn to page 123.
• What is the first sentence on the page?
• The last sentence on the page?
• Now . . . connect them together….
  (And no, you may not transcribe the entire page of the book–that’s cheating!)

I am currently reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk