Well, once again I've been bad about posting anything. I will admit that most of my keeping up with people lately is via facebook, and that while I read posts on here, I don't generally write anything much anymore. However, as I'm curious to see how many I've gotten to this year, and because I like keeping a record, I will at least update my book list, and hope that I haven't missed any...

1. The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
2. Soul Music - Terry Pratchett
3. Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
4. Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
5. Stone of Tears - Terry Goodkind
6. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
7. The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen
8. All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
9. How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Thomas C. Foster
10. The Birthday Ball - Lois Lowry
11. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney
12. The White Queen - Phillippa Gregory
13. Falling Up - Shel Silverstein
14. Roderick Rules - Jeff Kinney
15. Blood of the Fold - Terry Goodkind
16. Night - Elie Wiesel
17. Dawn - Elie Wiesel
18. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
19. Day - Elie Wiesel
20. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
21. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
22. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
23. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
24. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
25. The Marvelous Land of Oz - Frank L. Baum
26. The Woggle-Bug Book - Frank L. Baum
27. The Red Queen - Phillippa Gregory
28. Intrigues - Mercedes Lackey
29. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collines
30. Five Children and It - Edith Nesbitt
31. The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan
32. Redwall - Brian Jacques
33. Mossflower - Brian Jacques
34. Whatever the most recent Fullmetal Alchemist was...
35-38. Harry Potter 1-4, Original (British) edition, which I'm counting, as a: I haven't read any HP in a while and b: I haven't read this version, which though it isn't that different, is a bit different, and I've been reading more slowly specifically because I'm looking out for those differences.
edit*39. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer - I knew I'd missed one...

So...we'll see if I can manage to get in 2 more before the year ends to reach the 40 goal. This has been a tough year at work, so there's a lot more teen/juvie stuff than I would normally focus on, but I've needed the pleasure reading...

Oh yeah...I have to admit that the snow is beautiful outside, but I hope it doesn't mess with our drive to my sister's house tomorrow...

The world lost one of the most wonderful people in it yesterday. Barb finally succumbed to ovarian cancer yesterday. I'm having a hard time accepting it. Barb and losing just don't go together in my mind, but I know she fought as hard as she could. Cancer just doesn't play fair. Much love to the many people affected by her loss.


It sucks that I have to go to work today.

When I went to feed Chaucer this morning, he was very quiet and still, and wouldn't eat anything. When he did move, he was moving funny, so I picked him up, and as soon as I did, I knew he was on his way out. I just held him and kept him warm, petting him and having my last time snuggling with him. Within in an hour or so, he was gone. He never even gave a last wheek, just curled up to me and let me pet him. Poor pigger. Last night he was still his usual self. He devoured his lettuce, and he ate plenty of hay over night. He even wheeked like crazy when Joe went into the room to get a book before bed. I hope he was comfortable at the end. I'll miss him -_-

R.I.P Chaucer the guinea pig. c.2004-February 14, 2010.

It's been a crazy year. I did not reach my annual goal of 40 books, but here is the shiny list, even so.

1. Lion Among Men - Gregory Maguire
2. The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo
3. Arrows of the Queen trilogy - Mercedes Lackey
4. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
5. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
6. Brightly Burning - Mercedes Lackey
7. Teacher Man - Frank McCourt
8. All the Weyrs of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
9. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
10. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
11. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott
12. The Sugar Queen - Sara Addison Allen
13. The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
14. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
15. The Magician - Michael Scott
16. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
17. The Other Queen - Phillippa Gregory
18. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
19. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah
20. Foundation - Mercedes Lackey
21. more Fullmetal Alchemist (18-20)
22. Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind
23. A Mercy - Toni Morrison
24. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - Daniel Wroblewski
25. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters - Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
26. The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
27. When You are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris
28. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
29. The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan
30. Soul Music - Terry Pratchett

If you wish to be generous, you can call it 34 if you count the Arrows of the Queen as 3 and Fullmetal as 3 instead of one each. *shrug* Still, considering how busy a year it's been, I'll take it.

Now if only Joe could get the new dishwasher connected, I'd be ready for 2010...

Don't think I'll reach my yearly goal this year on books, unless I do some creative counting in the next 12 days, but considering how crazy this year has been, I've still gotten a decent amount of reading done.

1. Lion Among Men - Gregory Maguire
2. The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo
3. Arrows of the Queen trilogy - Mercedes Lackey
4. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
5. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
6. Brightly Burning - Mercedes Lackey
7. Teacher Man - Frank McCourt
8. All the Weyrs of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
9. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
10. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
11. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott
12. The Sugar Queen - Sara Addison Allen
13. The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
14. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
15. The Magician - Michael Scott
16. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
17. The Other Queen - Phillippa Gregory
18. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
19. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah
20. Foundation - Mercedes Lackey
21. more Fullmetal Alchemist (18-20)
22. Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind
23. A Mercy - Toni Morrison
24. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - Daniel Wroblewski
25. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters - Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
26. The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
27. When You are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris
28. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
29. The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan

At least I'll break 30, as I have plenty of time to read in the next week. Just doubt I'll make it all the way to 40. Oh well. I suppose I could call it 40 if I counted the Lackey trilogy as 3 instead of 1 and the Fullmetal Alchemist books as 4 instead of 1...but...that feels like cheating.

I can't believe how much rain we've been getting the past couple days. I must say, it's really effecting my mood at this point. I feel like I'm getting sick, but I think at least 50% of that feeling is stemming from the fact that I haven't seen the sun in several days. I'm really not looking forward to this morning's drive in to work, and was almost looking for an excuse to call out today. Blah.

On the plus side, despite the weather and my general feeling of yuckiness, I did get a little bit more progress on Nano with the day off yesterday (go vets!). We have officially reached the halfway mark. Wheee...

25185 / 50000 words. 50% done!

If I owned a boat, I might consider using that to get to work today...

Hopefully not, as it's only the 6th of November, and this year I'm not planning on stopping when I hit 50k, as it looks like I might be able to get a good chunk more than that. I am happy with my progress again, as I've gotten back a bit of a word buffer, and I have most of the day tomorrow to make another nice dent in my word count. I'm also back to a point in the plot where things will actually happen again, and have made it past one of the parts of my outline that just said "time passes--scenes at home to fill in gap..." I'm sure when I was initially planning that out I actually had a few ideas for things that would fill in said gap. The problem comes from the fact that I was certain I would remember those ideas and didn't need to write them down. This would not, in fact, have been the case. Oh well. There is some filler there now, and if I decide I like this story enough when I finish it, I may go back and put in some scenes that actually make sense and serve some purpose there.

In any event, it's time to get some sleep.

14626 / 50000 words. 29% done!

Not sure what I've done, but my back is definitely not the happiest of campers right now. We did go in the spa this evening, and that has helped a bit, but I even skipped fencing, as it seemed silly to drive out there to just stand there to coach my kids without actually being able to demonstrate.

Had some writers' block this afternoon when I had a 3 hour chunk of time in my classroom to do nothing. (It was supposed to be parent conferences, so the kids had early release at noon...but they just got their report cards today, so I didn't have any parents come in, as they haven't had a chance to see the grades...) However, the latter part of this evening proved to be a bit more productive, and I've made a bit of progress.

12491 / 50000 words. 25% done!

Now it's time for bed.

This whole having to go to work thing makes getting a good chunk of writing done in a day. It doesn't help that I'm also hitting the part of the story that I'm not quite sure how to write. I think I might take a bit of time tomorrow to actually plan out this middle chunk before I end up writing a really crappy middle chunk.

10840 / 50000 words. 22% done!

I went to my first write in this evening, and I really enjoyed it. Made some good progress on my word count as well, and I'm now several days ahead. This is good, as between work and fencing tomorrow, I'm not likely to have much time to write.

I did also finish reading Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters this afternoon. I'll have to figure out what I want to read next that won't interfere with my nano-ing. I want to read the new Robert Jordan book (that was finished by someone after he died), but it's a big hardcover, and I don't know that I want to carry that around right now. Maybe I'll just pick a light fluff book for a re-read for now. We shall see.

Anywho, word count:

8669 / 50000 words. 17% done!