Banned Book Week 9/25-10/2

Banned Book Week is almost over!!
You still have until 10/2 to support your "f-READ-om" to read whatever you choose!

Eat, Pray, Love

Have you read it?? I haven't, but I am going to...
Did you love it?? Hate it??
I'm going to try to pick up a copy tomorrow.

Genealogy is going great - I am totally addicted. There is still TONS of people to add that I've found online - www.rootsweb.com rules haha.

Ally is doing much better, her groin area is still red and rashy, but I think its yeast from the antibiotics. I'm gonna get her some yogurt or acidophilus pills tomorrow.

Sydney lost another tooth this week, and is getting ready to lose a 3rd this week lol.

Trey rode the bus for the first time this week - he's getting so big!!!!! I hadn't went to the door yet because I thought it was still too early, and he walked in all by himself. It was so cute!!! And he has homework hehe!!

Books (and more)

I bought myself two birthday presents this weekend!! :)

Two of the books on my want list... Into the Wild and Better Off. I stayed up half the night reading Into the Wild - its SOOO interesting! I can't wait to start the other, either.

UPDATE: I started reading Better Off and it is so interesting already - and I'm only on page 23!! LOL

Dorothy and the Wizard came up to help us fix our water heater and it wasn't pretty lol. They did some whammy jammy mojo on it and got it working as a temporary fix until we can decide what to do next. LOL!! Fortunately, the Wizard is quite the handyman! :-)
And Dorothy has SHINGLES!!! YIKES! But she still managed to help me finish supper and clean my stove and part of my countertops... She's the BOMB! Wish I was more of the domestic type like she is hehe! But I'm TRYING to get there... maybe one day I will grow up into a woman afterall... idk, its a hard road to get there lemme tell ya.

Banned Books Week

Top 10 Most Challenged Books for 2006

"And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;

"Gossip Girls" series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;

"Alice" series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;

"The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things" by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"Scary Stories" series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;

"Athletic Shorts" by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"Beloved" by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;

"The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

Books

I finished a few books this week:
Jenny McCarthy - Louder then Words
James Siegel - Derailed
Jane Hamilton - A Map of the World (Honestly, I started reading this a while back and I could NOT finish it - I got 3/4 of the way through and it just really lost my interest... Then I watched the movie and it sucked so bad I lost any remaining desire to finish the book.)

Ally's Library Books

Ally has had a few trips to the school library and wanted to share the books we've read so far:
County Fair (My First Little House) - Laura Ingalls Wilder and Jody Wheeler
To Market, To Market - Anne Miranda and Janet Stevens

Catching up on movies and books

I haven't posted in months about movies we've seen - part of that is because in our attempt to cut costs, we cancelled our Movie Pass and online subscription to Blockbuster... But here are the ones I can think of:

Halloween - As you probably all know I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rob Zombie's films lol...

21 Grams: I watch this anytime I get a chance - I really love this movie... depressing, but very well done... And of course yummy Sean Penn. ^^

Now since my aunt Cindy reads this I MUST interrupt here and tell a story that actually involves Sean Penn! LOL When I was little I used to stay with her a lot - she was young and fun and carefree and let me do fun things at her house (and BONUS she lived in town so she had CABLE!!). Anyway - we used to watch movies alot and one night we sat down to watch a movie. She told me it was rated R and I assured her I would "cover my eyes" during the "bad parts", so she said ok. The movie was (the classic) Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (After looking on IMDB I see that this film came out in 1982, and we were watching it on HBO so it was probably about 1983/4 which meant I was like 9 years old - oh, and you must understand my parents were VERY VERY strict when I young, especially about what I was exposed to...) LOL Anyway, I "covered my head" all right, but I could see through the cover - and what I saw was boobies boobies everywhere hahahahhahaha!! So the next day my mom picked me up and asked what we did and ... I LIED!!!!!!! LOL For only the 2nd time in my life (and probably the last time, if I remember correctly). I told her we watched tv and went to bed early and it was boring. I literally was sick for YEARS about lying to my mom. When I was about 27 I finally told her because I honestly could feel that guilt for all those years... LOL See what a bad influence you were on me Cindy - you with your sun-tanning on lounge chairs, red Thunderbird and CABLE!!! hahahahahaaa

Another great Sean Penn movie is Mystic River - check it out, its worth it!

Vacancy: Started watching it last night - so far it sucks, Charles got tired and we turned it off and went to bed, so idk yet how it ends - but I assume they live through it all lol...

The Ex: You can't lose w/ Zach Braff!

Reincarnation: Didn't watch it when it was playing - I thought it was really dumb and creepy.

Children of Men: Couldn't get into it - I really tried... just WAY too slow of a start to keep my attention. Fell asleep - Charles said it wasn't horrible.

Bobby: Much better than I'd expected - great cast! Many of the same people as Boogie Nights which was awesome, too.

Freedom Writers: Very similar to Dangerous Minds but updated and also based on a true story.

Secret Life of Words: Different but I liked it.

Norbit: Typical Eddie Murphy but very funny!

Gray Matters: Loved it!! Highly recommended...

The Last Mimzy: Meh take it or leave it - pretty odd - even for a kids' sci-fi lol...

Zodiac: Also kinda meh - good but could have been better.

The Number 23: Hmm.... that's about all I have to say about this lol... Not bad, but not great.

Firehouse Dog: LOL Obviously for the kids - not really an interest holder...

I know we've watched more since I posted my last list but I can't remember...

This isn't a film, but something I'm excited about in my nerdiness!!! Kat Von D has her own show (LA Ink) now!! YAY!!!

Also, I started reading again. I'm gonna try to keep track of everything I read here too.

This week I finished three books:
1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon: Really quick read and although depressing, it was heartfelt and believable.

2. The Book of Ruth Jane Hamilton: I loved this book and couldn't put it down - until the end... But I normally HATE endings no matter what book it is, so I wasn't surprised I hated the ending.

3. Plain Truth Jodi Picoult: I must first admit that I love JODI PICOULT... I absolutely love her books, and they always have a GREAT last page!!!! lol

"Raspy" by Denim People

Ok, ok, ok, yes, I agree my posts lately haven't been about your "run of the mill" knitting patterns, but trust me, I'm not your "run of the mill" type of gal. One day a few weeks ago I was at the library reading knitting books (can you say super nerd??) and saw this really funky sweater. It was two shades of green - kind of lime and olive - and had what looked like "runs" in it (stitches that appeared to have "fallen out") and then also gaps that were held together with safety pins. It was very unique and really punkish and just all around cool. Well, I can't really check books out at the library (LOL long story - includes kid losing books and big fines... *sigh*) but anyway, I have been looking for something like it online and have had NO luck.

UNTIL!

I saw this... LOL Yeah, its the same skull in case you were wondering. And there are no safety pins, but the dropped stitches are there around the collar, which she called "Raspy-inspired", so I Googled "knitting raspy" and found the pattern (Raspy by Denim People) - which is so expensive I'll never buy it but the idea is pretty simplistic I think.

UPDATE: oh oh oh I found the book! (I'm not sure if I'm a "hip young thing" but the book still has some cool patterns LOL.