Eight Random Things

I’ve been tagged by Kevin Sorenson in the eight random things meme, wherein I am obliged to list eight random things about myself. Here we go; let’s see what I can come up with.

1. This is the first day there has been no snow in my back yard. Tomorrow, I’m going get out there and scoop a winter’s worth of dog doo. Right now there’s a robin hopping around in the garden.
   
2. I was born in Tennesee, in a doctor’s office/hospital in an apartment up above a store.
   
3. I have four children. My longest labour was 6 1/2 hours, and that wasn’t my first child. My shortest? 45 minutes. I yelled at my husband during my first labour because he wanted to stop and have breakfast on the way to the hospital. He’d learned in the prenatal class about how long first labours take, so he wanted to fortify himself with bacon, eggs, toast and hashbrowns. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing he didn’t stop to eat.
   
4. I took a speed reading class and did very well, reading at breakneck speed with 80-90% comprehension. As soon as the class was over, I went back to reading very slowly, because 80-90% comprehension isn’t good enough.
5. I really like liver and onions. Head cheese, too. And I’m probably one of the few people who is saddened by the fact that it’s no longer considered safe to fry up calf’s brains for breakfast.
6. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of cheese cake or potato chips. I suppose that’s not really random, because it’s connected to the item before, but tough cookies. (I do like cookies.)
7. If you peeked under my bed right now, you would find a whole lot of dust bunnies and a few socks without mates. Cleaning under my bed is on my list, right after poop scooping in the backyard.
   
8. What am I reading for fun right now? The Chicago Manual of Style. The only problem is that it’s a little heavy to carry around in my purse.

Woo-hoo! I came up with eight things. All I can say is that it’s a good thing it wasn’t the 100 things meme. Nobody needs to know what’s under my fridge.

A Meme for Me

(Did you ever notice how narcissistic the word meme looks?)

I’ve been tagged by Carla (who seems to read just about the same number of novels that I do) for a book character meme. I read lots of novels as a child and on into young adulthood. Then I had to quit, because once I started a novel, I felt compelled to read it until I finished it. Straight through, that is, without breaks. You can imagine what kind of a mother I was while I was reading a novel. 

True story: One day I found myself sitting on a rocker that I’d pulled into the kitchen next to the fridge so I could reach over without looking up from my page, open the fridge door, grab a snack, and toss it at whatever child needed my attention. That’s when I realised that I needed to give up novels while my children were young. Once I got out of the habit of reading novels, I just never went back to them.

I did read a lot of novels to my children, so if my choices of book characters seem childish to you, now you know why. 

Name three characters (from books)…

1). You wish were real so you could meet them.

• The mom in Little House on the Prairie. Okay, she was real, but I would like to meet her, so I could ask her how she did what she did.
  
• Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia.  Who wouldn’t want to meet him?
  
• Eeyore.  I’d like to see if I could get him to crack a smile.
  

2). You would like to be.

• When I was a girl, I wanted to be just like Caddie Woodlawn.
  
• Tigger.  It’d be fun to enjoy life moment to moment like Tigger does, although I’m not sure I’d want to be Tigger permanently.
• I’m coming up short here. If I think of anyone else, I’ll come back.
  

3). Who scare you.

• Injun Joe from Tom Sawyer.
• When I was a little girl I was terrified of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz. The movie, not the book. I couldn’t bear to read the book if she’s in it, and I’ve never watched the movie again and never will.
• I’m going to have to come back later for this one, too.

If you want to be tagged, let me know. I’m coming in on the tail end of this meme, so I’m not sure who’s done it already and who hasn’t.

Bookmark this Meme

Kim of Hiraeth has a new business venture, selling custom, handmade bookmarks featuring her beautiful calligraphy. She’s introducing her new site with a meme—a book meme, of course.

• Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
  I like hardback best (who doesn’t?), but I read a lot of paperback. They cost less, and they’re easier to get.
• Online purchase or brick and mortar?
  Mostly online. The chance that the bookstore here in town is going to have the book I want in stock is pretty slim.
  
• Barnes & Noble or Borders?
  Neither. If I shop in a store, it’s at the used book store or Mac’s Fireweed Books.
• Bookmark or dog-ear?
  I use one of these.
  
  

• Mark or not mark?
  I mark them up and doodle in them.
• Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
  I put them on the shelves by subject or type of book (mostly), but I do make allowance for size, and when I have several books by one author I try to keep them together. In other words, I have my own weird system that I understand, but confuses everyone else.
• Keep, throw away, or sell?
  I never throw away. If I know I’ll never look at it again, I donate it or sell it at a garage sale. The rest, I keep.
• Read with dustjacket or remove it?
  Read it with the dustjacket.
  
• Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
  I don’t read short stories enough to have an opinion on this.
• Lord of the Rings or Narnia
  Once again, I’m going to avoid answering. I like them both. They’re different sorts of books, and they serve different purposes.
  
• Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
  I stop reading whenever a crisis arises that requires my attention.
  
• “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
  “Once upon a time.”
  
• Buy or Borrow?
  Buy. If I borrowed it, I’d have to give it back.
  
• New or used?
  Used, but in good condition, if I can find it.
  
• Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
  All of the above.
  
• Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
  Tidy ending. I hate cliffhangers and feel cheated if there is one.
  
• Morning reading, afternoon reading or night time reading?
  Mostly night time, but also whenever I can sneak in a few minutes throughout the day. I love reading in the car while I wait to pick someone up, or reading while I wait for an appointment.
  
• Standalone or series?
  Mostly standalone.
• Favorite series?
  I really haven’t read books in series since I was young. The Narnia books or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, maybe.
  
• Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
  I usually read classics, so at least some people have heard of them. They may not have read them, but they’ve heard of them.
  
• Favorite books read last year?
  I read Knowing God again, and that’s always a favorite.
• Favorite book of all time?
  Nothing else compares to the Bible.