BBC Book List

BBC Book List Meme
The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions: Look at the list and put an 'X' after those you have read.

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 (X)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (X)
6. The Bible (x) (Most of it, anyway.)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (X)
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (X)
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (X)
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (X)
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (X)
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (X)
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ( )
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare ( )
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (X)
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien ( )
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk ( )
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (X)
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ()
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot (X )
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (X)
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (X)
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens ( )
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (X)
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams ( )
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 ( )
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) (doesn't 33 cover this?)
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - ( )
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ( )3
9. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden ( )
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 Meany - John Irving ( )
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 (X)
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan ( )
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel ( )
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 (X)
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (X)
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon ( )
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (X)
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ( )
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt ( )
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ( )
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (X)
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac ( )
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 ( )
75. Ulysses - James Joyce ( )
76. The Inferno - Dante ( )
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ( )
78. Germinal - Emile Zola ( )
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (X)
80. Possession - AS Byatt ( )
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (X)
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ( )
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker ( )
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ( )
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ( )
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ( )
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White (X)
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ( )
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (X at least some of them)
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ( )
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (X)
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery ( )
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ( )
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams ( )
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 ()

Okay so I read 44 out of 100. Although clearly some of them are more than one book. I read all 7 Chronicles of Narnia books and all 3 Pullman books too. Most of them while I was in school...except for the Phillip Pullman ones which I read last year. So do not ask me about them...probably do not remember much!

Bucket List...

Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then send it to your friends (including me).

THINGS YOU HAVE DONE DURING YOUR LIFETIME:
(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
(X ) Been to Canada
(X ) Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
( ) Been to Hawaii
(X) Been on a plane
( ) Been on a helicopter
(X) Gotten lost
(X) Visited Washington, DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa
(X) Kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
(X) Been deep sea fishing
( ) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving
( ) Gone snowmobiling
( ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lived in more than one State/Province
(X) Admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(X) Wished upon a falling star
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
( ) Visited the Statue of Liberty - I have been by it but not in it
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train
( ) Traveled by motorcycle
( ) Been horse back riding
( ) Hiked through a slot canyon
(X) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
(X) Been to Disneyland or Disney World
(X) Truly believe in the power of prayer
( ) Hiked through a rain forest
( ) Gone whale-watching
(X) Been to Niagara Falls
( ) Ridden on an elephant
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Gone to the Olympics
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Witnessed a glacier calf
(X) Gone White Water Rafting
( ) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing(or tried to)
(X) Been snow-skiing/snowboarding (tried to)
(X) Been to Westminster Abbey
(X) Been to the Louvre / Prado
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game
( ) Been to a National Football League game
( ) Been to National Hockey League game

More Ordination Pictures...

Who is this adorable little boy?

The "men" wait for lunch...and wish they were on the boat fishin'

Mindy & Sheldon

Program and Bible

The Two look like Trouble!

Trouble Indeed!

Is this a photo shoot?

The Church

40 Questions...

40 Questions
Here are the rules: post this list replacing my answers with yours. Tag a few folks to do the same thing. Or don't.If I tagged YOU, it's because I want to know more about YOU!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes, Mom and other relative far back in family tree.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? In Church on Sunday morning. I almost always get teary eyed at some point.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Yuck. None of it. I do not eat sanwiches.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I hope so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Not really

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Not a big fan of cereal either...I like Chex Mix which is made from cereal though

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No I just kick them off

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

13. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Smile or not smiling...and like Dara I check out if they are wearing cute shoes.

14. RED OR PINK? Both!

15. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? The way I worry too much!

16. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? hard question, not sure

17. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? It is always intersting

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Gray pants, White sweater, Black shoes

19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Work...

20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Fuschia

21. FAVORITE SMELLS? The ocean. Cookies

22. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?Client

23. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes, I like Dara

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football. College Basketball. Baseball.

25. HAIR COLOR? Brown

26. EYE COLOR? Hazel

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes

28. FAVORITE FOOD? Outback

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? In the theater? Could not tell you. On DVD? At Christmas, Mama Mia

31. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer.

32. HUGS OR KISSES? Both

33. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I have no idea.

34. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? See above.

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Several differnt ones...Under Your Spell

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? A mouse, computer head set holder, WOW statement

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Dora and basketball on in background while cleaning up.

38. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles

39. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Rome, Italy

40. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Charleston, SC

Happy Fat Tuesday...

Shrove Tuesday and Pancake Day!

Frank IV and I are going to church tonight for Pancake Supper. Frank loves pancakes with syrup so it could get messy.

Google Game From Dara...

Google Madness!

Rules of the Google Game: Go to Google and type in quotation marks your name and then "likes to" (ex. "Steve likes to"). Type in the first ten things that come up and re-post in your own note (or if you are smart, copy and past them!). You must tag the person that sent this to you.

(1) Blakely likes to refer to as the”four Johns” (this is there 3x)
(2) Blakely likes to declare itself "The Peanut Capital of the World"
(3) Blakely likes to spout conspiracy theories.
(4) Blakely likes to point out, there are no secrets any more therefore any system that relies on secrets is inherently flawed.
(5) Blakely likes to spider-rig as many as a dozen poles.
(6) Blakely likes to stand in the middle of the street to make his photographs
(7) Blakely likes to do the same max effort work as George but also does a lot of J. M. presses
(8) Blakely likes to get out in the countryside on his snow- mobile
(9) Blakely likes to be dunked under water
(10) Blakely likes to sneak up behind you with a bullhorn when you least expect it.

Sharon's Ordination

Daddy & Blakely
Aunt Jean & Daddy

Sharon with Lu and Daddy

The Family

Moo and Frank IV

Sheldon and Frank IV

It was nice to see everyone at the Ordination. Sharon did a great job - the Bishop seemed very pleased. Sharon looked great and had lots of support from both churches and family. Afterwards we had lunch/brunch at The Flying Biscuit. Frank IV and I enjoyed out take out biscuits Sunday morning in Columbia before church.

Frank loved playing with Bailey and Bandit at Aunt Jean's house. He kept calling her "Jean" - I guess the Aunt part was too hard. Frank IV let her carry him around all over and he enjoyed his visit.

It was a long ride home Saturday night but we made it. Hopefully we will have more time to visit in August for the next round.

Store Update

We are still in business at Alphabet Soup on Forest Drive in Columbia. Frank is working hard every day (literally) at the store. Many of the new items we ordered have come in and people are enjoying them. We have a great selection of baby and children items, bags, wedding or shower gifts and items to be personalized or just used as is. We even carry some great items for groomsmen gifts.

Cranky Baby...

I was fussing about Frank IV being cranky and it turns out he has an ear infection in both ears! So maybe his crankiness is not him just being a terrible two. Daddy took him to doctor while I came to work for awhile. I explained to Daddy he must have the antibodic as soon as it is filled at pharmacy unlike last time when he waited for me to come home. Hopefully the medication will help because he was pretty pitiful this morning.

Good news is Frank IV took a long nap in car bed and slept almost 4 hours last night in car bed as well. Hopefully we are making progress.

Heading to Atlanta...

Frank IV and I are going to Aunt Jean's house tonight for Sharon's Ordination tomorrow morning in Atlanta. I have the car packed (its a mess inside but packed). Hopefully it will be a good trip. We are really proud of Sharon! Frank is looking forward to seeing Aunt Jean and Poppy Bob.

Frank's Car Bed

Frank has enjoyed playing on his car bed as you can see from the pictures. Sleeping in it at night has been a different story...we are still working on that part. Thanks to Granddaddy, Pap and Nannie for helping up put the bed together and for Grandma and Jordan for helping clean up Frank's room before we moved the bed in. And most especially for Jon letting Frank use his bed now that he has a "big" bed.

Sweet Tooth

This is one of my favorite pictures of Frank from last year. He was at his friend Freddie's birthday party. As you can see he really enjoyed the cake!

Birthday pics

These are some of the pictures from our family celebration on Saturday February 7, 2009 at our house in Columbia. We ate barbeque and had yummy cupcakes made by Aunt Mylene!

The real fish...

K-K brought Frank 3 real fish with a fish tank for his birthday. Frank currently loves fish and Grandmama and K-k took him to walmart over Christmas alot to see the fish...

Frank has loved the fish tank. He climbs on the stool so he can see his fish up close and he wants to feed them. He keeps saying "my fish!"

We (really Blakely) had some trouble with the water and thought we originally lost the fish from bag to aquarium but the fish were strong and perserved despite me forgettign to treat the second batch of water until the fish floated to the bottem. They did well until this morning.

Unfortunately this morning Mommy found one fish floating on top of the water. But we still have Fish 1 & 2 who hopefully will make it awhile longer.

As an update of 2/19/09 we still have Fish 1 & 2. Mommy has to figure out how to clean the tank though soon.

Happy Birthday Frank Weekend

We had a great visit with Nannie, Granddaddy and Jordan from Virginia. Grandmama and Pap and "K-K" also came up for the celebration Saturday. Frank had fun playing with his bubbles and fish! The fish (real and plastic) have been a favorite so far. We enjoyed dinner at Little Pigs Barbeque and capped off the fun with homemade cupcakes from Auntie Mylene. Yum! Frank really enjoyed the cupcakes!

Thanks to everyone for a fun time!

Favorite Book Update for Frank IV

Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?
Polar Bear, Polar Bear what do you hear?

Frank loves both of these and he can even read them out loud. He prefers to help Mommy read them but he is too cute reading them himself. I love that he seems to really enjoy his books. Hopefully he will have a life love of books just like Mommy!

He enjoyed his visit to the Library on Jan 31, 2009 for story time. We missed story time but he had fun looking at books, playing with puzzles and the stuff animals. We stayed almost 45 minutes and he did not want to leave! Hooray for the library!

Frank's School Party

We had a small celebration on Monday Feb. 2, 2009 with Frank's class. Frank picked out Nemo decorations at Party City. He wanted to celebrate with the "fish". We had "my cake" (cupcakes), fruit and cheese puffs (a class favorite) and juice boxes. Frank now thinks all cupcakes are his cakes! His friends sang Happy Birthday and we all enjoyed the treats. Frank left treat bags for his friends.

I will try and post pictures once I figure out how to download from Daddy's camera.

We are having a small family celebration this weekend as well.

Frank Turns Two

Frank turned two this week on February 2. I honestly cannot believe it has been two years since he joined us. Looking back over how much he has changed and how much we have changed with him in our lives is amazing. He has grown from 6 pounds to almost 30 pounds...Daddy used to hold him with one hand and now he gets up all by himself.

Frank is definitely a toddler. He has these amazing mood swings where he is crying and screaming and minutes later wants to snuggle or play. I cannot believe how independent he is at times and yet he only wants to sleep in "mommy's bed" We are struggling with sleeping at the moment but I know we will get through it.

Most amazing is knowing how much Frank loves us. Thoughts of him always make me smile and when he says "love you Mommy" I feel better. Sometimes I wish I had more time to spend with him but I just pray the time we do spend together is good time. He has learned so much from school - he talked in sentences and know the months now. He is all boy with pushing and wanting it now!

Remember Frank Mommy and Daddy love you no matter what...we just wish you would sleep in your bed!