Six Word Memoir Meme

The Inimitable Illi has tagged me with this meme:

The rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir.
   
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
   
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
   
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
   
5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My memoir:

I always wanted to do better.


I hereby tag Crunchy, JP, Tal, Ian, and Slutpeter.

Have fun.

And Now You Will See How Ignorant I am!

And now, I give you this book meme (Stolen from Ian and Tal). This shows you the great gaps in my intellectual upbringing. I will say, however, that I would be open to reading any of them that I currently have not so perhaps someday my chronic ignorance will be cured!

Instructions: In the list of books below, bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you want to read, put (#) the ones you don't want to read, put a (+) in front of the ones on your bookshelf, and asterisk the ones you've never heard of. I italicized the ones I want to read the most. I'd read them all - or at least give them a try.

1. +The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) - I've not read this, but Ogre loved it - a lot. This fact makes me feel like I should at least give it a try.
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell) I read this about the seventh grade when all girls want a Rhett Butler ;) Love it.
5. +The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) We have at least two full sets of this collection. Sarge loves it. I feel guilty not having read any of them.
6. +The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Tolkien)
7. +The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery) Sappy but a feel good story.
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. +Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (Irving)
15. +Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) Great Book.
16. +Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling) Who doesn't love Harry?
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King) I was on a big Stephen King kick at about 15 years of age but never read this one. I highly recommend The Dead Zone.
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. +The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) Of course I love this book!
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) Amazing. Great Book
25. The Life of Pi (Yann Martel) I really want to read this one. I'm curious!
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. +The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) I have actually read part of this aloud to the boys. I should re-start it and maybe finish this time?
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. +The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. +The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) Brutal, harsh, amazing book. I absolutely loved it. Life Changing.
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. +Bible Okay, so I've read part of this but I think reading all of it would be beneficial over the long run.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) I have Tolstoy's Resurrection which I will read first.
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) .
48. +Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) I loved this book. Teacher Man I don't recommend.
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. +Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) Another book I read as a teen. It was great. So was the miniseries.
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrew Niffenegger) This book is probably at the top of my must-read list just because of Natalia.
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) I have read the Mayfair Witches Trilogy but not this. I highly recommend them.
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell) I looked at this book once and frankly the sheer size of it scared me off.
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) Another I read to the boys I think.
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) It's now in the queue.
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) This book has intrigued me for a while too.
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (EB White) I loved this as a kid. I am reminded to read it to the boys now.
81. Not Wanted on the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind
85. Emma (Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) I was on a big Jeffrey Archer kick for awhile too. This one is good.
91. In The Skin of a Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) I have read a lot of Ludlum because my step-dad is a huge fan. Most of his books, like Tom Clancy's are pretty similar but an acceptably entertaining story.
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

5 Things Meme

Five Things I Love Right Now:
1. My hubby
2. My children (despite the fact I'm not entirely sure I want to be reinstated as the mom)
3. Hot tea. It's wonderful on cold nights and I'm learning the varieties!
4. My job.
5. Snuggle bugs (especially the four and ten year old variety, but the 43 year old ain't bad either *wink*.

Five Things I Hate Right Now:
1. My hair. I wish it were magically long, not grey and beautiful ;)
2. My checkbook balance
3. My house in Michigan
4. The town I live it. Sucks is so inadequate to describe it.
5. My house

Five Places I Wish I Could Be Right Now:
1. Ulan Ude
2. A warm sunny beach
3. Getting a massage
4. Italy
5. Napping

Five Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Sing
2. Speak a second language fluently
3. Play the guitar
4. Play piano
5. Adopt daughters RIGHT NOW!

Five Famous People I'd Like to Meet:
1. Jon Stewart
2. Stephen Colbert
3. Colin Powell
4. The Dalai Lama
5. John Force

Now its your turn. (and Tal, this means you. You now have something to blog about ;)

Four Things Meme

I got it in e-mail but why do that when I can post and tag all of my readers to do the same?

"Four things" about me that you may or may not have known, in no
particular order. Please follow the return direction at the end.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Certified Nursing Assistant

2.Guest Services Representative

3. Marketing R&D Coordinator

4. Marketing Instructor

Four movies you have watched more than once: (or more than 1000X)

1. Seven

2.National Lampoon's Van Wilder---I have never laughed so hard in my life

3. The Princess Bride
4. The Quiet Man

Four of my favorite books:

1. American Gods (Neil Gaiman)

2. The World is Flat (Thomas Friedman)

3. The Ugly American (by William Lederer - an absolute must-read)

4. The Lorax

Four places I have lived:

1. Sparta, WI

2. Hanau, Germany

3. Steilacoom, WA

4. Kentwood, MI

Four TV Shows That I Watch: (or Tivo)
1.Good Eats

2. Human Weapons

3. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

4. The Colbert Report

Four places I have been
1. Heidelberg, Germany

2. Ulan-Ude, Russia

3.Paris, TX

4. Denver, Colorado

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Ahi Tuna

2. Superior Dark Chocolate

3. Grilled Steak

4. Cheesecake

Four people who email me regularly:
1. JP

2. Paul

3. Pops

4. My mom

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Buryatia

2. Italy

3. Napa Valley

4. In my bed

Things I am looking forward to this year:

1. Figuring out how this whole teaching thing works

2. Redesigning the supply chain class

3. Spring Break

4. Selling our house (hey! I'm an optimist!)

Now it's your turn. Thanks for playing!

Three Things...

As you know, I dilligently read too many blogs and I found this one here.

Three Things That Scare Me:

1. The idea that I will never again be successful.
2. Cancer. There is such a huge history of it in my family.
3. The eye thing. Things are good right now (but don't ask me how many pairs of reading glasses I own, okay? I can't leave home without them), but you just never know. I appreciate what I have and I hope it lasts a long time.

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
1. The Khan when he's in a good mood.
2. The Senator
3. Sarge

Three Things I Love:
1. Roses
2. Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinth and the other bulb flowers that tell me it is spring when they finally show up!
3. Throwing a GREAT dinner party.

Three Things I Hate:
1. The real estate market. (No one, and I do mean NO ONE, has looked at our house in seven weeks).
2. The fact that people donate millions of dollars to politicians rather than to organizations that really WILL make a difference. What would the Red Cross do with that $26Million, Hillary? A lot more good than you ever will. And imagine if Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's money had gone to the American Cancer Society instead?
3. Politicians in general.

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. Calculus
2. Narrow-mindedness
3. Quantum physics

Three Things On My Desk:
1. My cell phone
2. Cup full of pens and pencils
3. Laptop - duh!

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
1. Typing this blog.
2. Finishing a lukewarm cup of coffee.
3. Working up the first real entry in Keyboard Therapy.

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Have a really great, rewarding career.
2. Visit Italy.
3. Bring home a sister for the boys.

Three Things I Can Do:
1. Semi-cool excel stuff.
2. Knit
3. Sew - it doesn't say "Things I can do well!"

Three Things I Can’t Do:
1. Algorithms.
2. Understand bigotry.
3. Wait to find a job!

Three Things (or people) I Think You Should Listen To:
1. Jon Stewart.
2. Stephen Colbert.
3. Stadium Arcadium

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. Conservative, evangelical Christians.
2. The voices in your head that say "No, you can't!"
3. Ann Coulter.

Three Things I’d Like To Learn:
1. What it is I'm supposed to be doing with my life!
2. How to do it.
3. How to give into the moment and just have fun once in a while.

Three Favorite Foods:
1. Fresh seafood.
2. Steak.
3. Chunky Jif Peanut Butter.

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
1. Little House on the Prairie.
2. Diff'rent Strokes.
3. M*A*S*H.

Three Things I Regret:
1. Putting off college as long as I did.
2. Listening to all of the voices calling me stupid, ugly, fat, (fill in the blank) because now it's hard to shut them out.
3. Any and every time I have hurt someone's feelings.

A Meme!

The Two-by-Two meme


Two Names You Go By
1. Mama
2. Mutti

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Army Racing Polar Fleece
2. Citizen Eco Drive Watch

Two Things You Have to Have in a Relationship:
1. conversation
2. laughter

Two of Your Favorite Things to Do
1. nap
2. read

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment
1. A Job
2. Some spare cash

Two Pets You Had
1. Kelly - German Shepherd dog
2. Jasmine - cranky calico cat

Two People Who Will Fill This Out
1. Tal
2. Janiece

Two Things You Did Last Night
1. Made dinner
2. Surfed the web

Two Things You Ate Today
1. peanut butter (mmmm..... peanut butter)
2. leftover spaghetti

Two People You Last Talked To
1. The lady from Home Depot
2. The Senator

Two Favorite Places
1. Lake Baikal
2. Wherever Sarge and the kids are

Two Things You're Doing Tomorrow
1. cleaning
2. packing up some boxes

Two Longest Car Rides
1. Paris, Texas from Sparta Wisconsin
2. Ft. Lewis, Washington from Sparta, WI

Two Favorite Holidays
1. Thanksgiving
2. Fourth of July

Two Guilty Pleasures
1. Superior Chocolate
2. Mele-macs

Two Things I Last Got in the Mail
1.Magazine subscription bills
2. credit card offer

Two Things that Make Me Laugh
1. irony
2. My kids' laughter.