EW's New Classics Books Perpetual Challenge

So I'm joing my first perpetual challenge. Meaning no deadline. I've posted this list before, but I wanted something more official to remind me to read books on the list. :) Hence, the challenge.

The list of books, and which ones I've read can be found here. I've currently read 3% of the list (how sad). My personal goal is to have read 15% by the end of this year.

Book vs Movie Challenge 2009

I think this will be fun. It will be easier to do a comparison review than just a plain content review. The rules are:

Read a minimum of 6 books that have been made into movies and then watch the movie. Write a review of the movie and be honest about whether or not you think the film-maker was successful in translating the book to film. You must both read the book and watch the movie within 2009.

Right now I'm going to read/watch the following:

1. The Time Travelers Wife, Audrey Niffeneggar

2. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

3. Prince Caspian, CS Lewis

4. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer

5. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

6. Nights in Rodanthe, Nicholas Sparks

Outlander Challenge 2009

Found this one when I was browsing sites to find books for the Chunkster Challenge. I forgot that the next book in this series is coming out in the fall!!

I've read this series three times through. I think for this challenge, I'm going to try to listen to it on audiobooks. I've been enjoying listening to audiobooks a lot lately, and I've heard that Davina Porter is a really good narrator of these books.

The deadline is just going to be prior to the release of An Echo in the Bone.

2009 Chick Lit Challenge

Yes, before you say anything, I think I am going a little challenge crazy. But its all good. Hopefully next year there will be a baby so I won't have as much time to read! Got to get it all in this year.

Challenge runs from Jan 1 - Dec 31. You have to read at least 10 chicklit books. The books can overlap with other challengs (yea) and you can change the list at any time.

I'm going to spend some time looking at other people's lists and then I'll do another post with my list. When I have a list, I'll add a widget on the sidebar with my list and status.

*** edited to add my books

1. Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah

2. The New Yorkers, Cathleen Schine

3. The Little Lady Agency and the Prince, Hester Browne

4. Certain Girls, Jennifer Weiner

5. Bridget Jones' Diary, Helen Fielding

6. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman

7. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells

8. Barefoot, Elin Hilderbrand

9. Wish Club, Kim Strickland

10. Can You Keep A Secret, Sophie Kinsella

Romance Reading Challenge 2009

Going to join the Romance Reading Challenge. I seem to like to do smaller themed challenges that fit in nicely with the huge volume challenges. That way I get some variety.

This one should be pretty easy. Read (and review!) 5 novels between Jan 1st and Dec 31st 2009. It is okay to change the choices. For right now my choices are:

1. Bridget Jones' Diary, Helen Fielding

2. The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer

3. On a Highland Shore, Kathleen Givens

4. The Awakening, Kate Chopin

5. The Princess Bride, William Goldman

I haven't read any of these before, and they all come from reccomendations from other bloggers and/or bestseller lists.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2009

I'm going to join the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I put it off too long last year, and was SCRAMBLING to finish by the end (but I did!).

Here are the rules:

* Read 3 historical fiction books in 3 months from 1st Jan 09 - 31st Mar 09.

* Historical fiction will be counted as anything set or written prior to World War II. This will include classic novels, time travel novels or anything you feel fits the genre.

My books will be:

1. Celeia Garth, Gwen Bristow
2. Into the Wilderness, Sara Donati
3. The Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory

Update on 2008 100+ Reading Challenge

So when I signed up for this challenge, I read it to mean within one year (365 days) not in one calendar year. And since this is more for a personal challenge than a prize or whatever, I'm sticking to my original plan. I'm already up to 81 books, so just 19 more. As soon as I'm done with that, I'm planning on joining the 2009 100+ reading challenge. And that one has to be done by the end of the year. :)

2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge

Definitely want to join this challenge. While I do support our libraries, I'm mostly doing this to keep my budget in line this year! More motivation to get to the library instead of buying books. :)

I'm going to do the third level, which is to read 50 books from the local library in 2009.

Guidelines:

1. Join anytime, just don't start reading your books prior to 2009.

2. The last day to read your books is Dec 31, 2009.

3. They can be audios, downloads, children's, YA.

I will list the books here. I don't currently have anything out from the library, but hopefully I will soon!

1. The Little Lady Agency and the Prince - DONE

2. Into the Wilderness - DONE

3. Practical Magic - DONE

4. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - DONE

5. On a Highland Shore - DONE

6. The New Yorkers - DONE

7. Bridget Jones' Diary - DONE

8. The Summons - DONE

9. The Princess Bride - DONE

10. The Moon Below - DONE

11. The Villa - DONE

12. The Thirteenth Tale - DONE

13. Fat Chance - DONE

14. Atonement - DONE

15. Bet Your Bottom Dollar - DONE

16. Good Grief - DONE
17. Sanctuary - DONE
18. The Fiery Cross - DONE
19. A Breath of Snow and Ashes - DONE
20. Certain Girls - DONE
21. Firefly Lane - DONE
22. Can you Keep a Secret - DONE
23. Barefoot - DONE
24. Pride and Prejudice

Chunkster Challege '09

Time for me to sign up for some new challenges!

I've decided to do the "Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big?" option. Which means I need to read 3-5 "chunksters" over the next 10 months.



The rules are as follows:

• A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature (fiction or nonfiction)
• No audiobooks
• Start anytime (signups end March 1st) after signing up. You must complete your reads before or on Nov 15th.
• Short Stores and Essay Collections will not be counted
• Books may crossover with other challenges

Edited to add my books:

1. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski, 576 pages

2. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolover, 576 pages

3. History, Elsa Mornate, 600 pages

4. The Moon Below, Barbara Bickmore, 624 pages

5. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins, 720 pages

Fall Into Reading Challenge Wrap Up

I did NOT read all the books on my list. Granted, I had a huge list. I read 10 of the 40 books I listed. I read 9 additional books during that timeframe. So basically, I read half the number of books I expected to read, but only 1/4 of the books that I picked. I really enjoyed picking books that I was going to read for the challenge. Part of the reason some of them didn't get read, is that they weren't readily avaialable. I didn't make it to the library as frequently as I thought I would. I also picked some of the books that were more of a "challenge" for me, and I found that I couldn't read them as quickly as I normally do. Or I couldn't get the motivation up to start them (or continue). I've discovered that I need a good mix of "edifying" reads and "pleasure" reads.

I think my favorite books that I read this fall were the Queen of Babble books by Meg Cabot. I've read a few of her other books, and I just really enjoy her style. I ended up listening to these on audiobook, and I also really like the person who read the books. I've been through a lot the past few months, and I found that I needed fun, upbeat, light books that could distract me. Not to say that these books were "fluff", because they weren't. One of the reasons that I love to read is because I can "escape" into the story.

I would definitely be interested in more challenges sponosored by http://callapidderdays.com. :)

I read the following books from my list:

1. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
2. Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley
3. Calico Palace, Gwen Bristow
4. The Husband, Dean Koontz
5. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lilian Jackson Braun
6. Queen of Babble, Meg Cabot
7. Little Lady, Big Apple, Hester Browne
8. Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
9. Salvation in Death, JD Robb
10. The Pagan Stone, Nora Roberts

I also read the following books that weren't on my original list.

1. Wicked
2. Queen of Babble in the Big City, Meg Cabot
3. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, Meg Cabot
4. Midnight, Dean Koontz
5. Tribute, Nora Roberts
6. A is for Alibi, Sue Grafton
7. Candy Cane Murder, Joanne Fluke
8. The Danger of Candy Canes, Laura Levine
9. Candy Canes of Christmas Past, Leslie Meier

whew

no work for 9 days. and for once, we aren't traveling for the holidays. we really have a rather open schedule. i think we need it to recover. from everything. work, school, the miscarriage, the wisdom teeth, the weight loss that isn't happening. everything.

i do have a lot of "nothing" planned though. i'm going to admit failure on the reading challenges, and start some new ones. i'm going to play with my blog settings. i'm going to find a bunch of new books to read. i'm going to spend the next 9 days doing nothing that i don't want to do, and everything that i do. (don't worry, i want to do some good things like exercise, etc) i'm not going to feel guilty about anything. my spirit will heal. i will feel good about myself and my life and everything in it. it is refreshing. all around.

Real Simple Holiday Card Quiz

In the most recent episode there was a holiday-card quiz. I need some motivation to get my Christmas cards out on time, so I thought I would take this quiz over the next month and see how I do. I'm pretty sure I will fail miserably, because I haven't sent out cards regularly for the past few years. At any rate, I think it will be fun. If you want to do this with me, go ahead an post a comment. If we get more than 10 people to join, maybe I'll have a fun prize for the winner. We'll keep a running total and then on Dec 31st, I'll declare a winner!

"When the season's greetings start rolling in, tally up the points for each card you recieve and check your holiday karma"

Gain Points when you recieve cards from:

• Dentist, insurance agent, hairdresser, dry cleaner, mailman +0.5
• Your own mother +0.5
• Another Relative +1
• Friend via e-mail +0.5
• Your boss +1
• Friend you see at least once a week +1
• Above, with reference to an inside joke +3
• Long-distance friend, devoid of any personal message +2
• Above, with personal message of at least three lines +5
• Anyone who includes a handwritten personal note of more than five sentences +5
• Long-lost who hasn't been heard from in 20 years +10

Lose Points when:

• Card and envelope are same piece of paper -1
• Signature is imprinted rather than handwritten inside card -2
• Photo is of a helpless pet in a holiday costume -3
• Your name is spelled incorrectly -4
• Card plays annoying music that you can't turn off -4
• Card is the same one you recieved last year -6
• Return-address label was provided by charity to which sender may not have actually contributed -7
• Family newsletter contains words such as gallbladder, spleen, and gout -8
• Family newsletter is from ex who is (not so) subtly gloating over his recent wedding and cushy new job -10
• Long lost friend who hasn't been heard from in 20 years asking for money or a place to live -20

Bonus Points:

• Gilded envelope +0.5
• Handwritten return address +1
• Card in which all family members appear to have signed their own names +2
• Newsletter or family photo in card +2
• Card with moving parts +3
• Extremely clever handmade card +4
• Oversize card requiring extra postage +5
• Card sent from foreign country +6
• Newsletter with humor at progeny's expense +8
• Card with check, cash, or gift certificate +20

Even if it is just me particpating I will post my scores periodically :)

Monday Morning Chaos

My brain is all over the place this morning. I have about 30 things that all need to be done in the next 48 hours, and some of them are very time consuming. Some of them are completely frivilous, but are still things I want to do. Right now I'm too scattered to get a good hold on things, so I thought I would grab the closest and easiest one and start on that, and then once I feel good about getting one of them knocked out, I'll start on the rest. Make sense? Probably not.

Hopefully later on today I will post a Christmas Card Challenge that I got from a Real Simple magazine. Since 3 people read my blog, their probably won't be much participation, but I thought it would be fun to do anyway. I SUCK at sending Christmas Cards, so this challenge is my motivation. (see how I manipulate myself?!) :)

Later.

Getting back into the swing of things

Sorry, this will probably be another lame-o post. So very much has happened (don't worry, Chris and I are still happily married) that it is hard to get it all out. I'm sure I will eventually write more about it, but for now, I'm just trying to get back to "normal".

Chris and I are at our Coffee Shop in town. We thought it would be a quiet place where we could chat and just connect. Apparently every teenager in town had the same thought, because it is freaking loud and annoying in here. I don't think we will be staying very long. Right now, Chris is chatting up the waitor (we went to college with him).

So I found a new time waster today. It is called Forgotten Lands - First Colony. It is one of those cheapy computer games. Kind of reminds me of Age of Empires without the armies (at least so far). I like the planning/strategy/building part of Age of Empires, but I always get decimated in the army aspect of it. Speaking of computer games, I've barely got to play any of the Sims 2 games like I wanted. My stupid computer just wasn't fast enough. And now they are getting ready to release Sims 3. Guess it is just going to pass me by completely. Does that mean I'm grown up now? Probably not.

Chris has to go into the studio and work this weekend, so I'm trying to decide what project to work on. I can either do the office, the garage, or the master closet. I would really like to paint the guest bedroom, but there is too much prep for that, so I don't think I would actually have time to start it. I think that will be a project for the week that I'm off for Christmas. That and baking cookies. My goal is to make 12 different kinds of cookies this year. Pretty impressive considering I normally only make 2 or 3. I'll try to get some pictures of the whole process and put them up here.

Speaking of pictures, I do need to get some of the updated pictures on my flickr page as well. I literally feel like the world has been on pause since the middle of august. It all kind of passed in a fog. I think that is why I've been so sensitive lately, is that I'm starting to feel like myself, and so I'm starting to feel all the stuff that was just numb before.

Chris is back with the coffee, so my time on the computer is up.

Update: Fall Into Reading Challenge

Life has been nuts. Still dealing with everything, but I'll try and post more on that later. I want to get back into blogging, and the best way to do that is to just start. So, a nice easy post. :)

I am enjoying the Fall Into Reading Challenge, because I get to look forward to reading specific books. I've also found it a challenge, because I keep getting distracted by other books that I come across. So while I've read 9 of the 40 books on my list, I also read 3 others that weren't on my list. :)

So far I have read the following from my list:

• Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell - great read as usual. Probably one of my favorite books. I've re-read this multiple times, and probably will continue to reread it over the years.
• Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley - again, great read. I have to read this after Gone with the Wind. I'm definitely one of those people that like to see some redemption in the end. I have to admit there are times when I want to race ahead to the parts where Rhett makes an appearance. But I also like to see the character of Scarlett evolve and grow up.
• Calico Palace, Gwen Bristow - one of my favorite pieces of historical fiction. Gwen Bristow is a fantastic author. I've learned so much American History from her books (and actually retain it).
• The Husband, Dean Koontz - my very first Dean Koontz book. I was pleasantly surprised. I expected more of a "horror" book, but it was actually just suspenseful. Which I like a lot better. I have been told that this book is a little different than his other books though.
• The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lilian Jackson Braun - this was recommended because of my love of cats. I did find this a little bit of a tedious read. Enjoyable, but not captivating. I've been told they get better, so I may try again with a later book in the series.
• Queen of Babble, Meg Cabot - fun, light and chatty. I listened to this on a weekend road trip. Definitely made the time fly by. Even better, there are two more books in this series. I love it when I get invested in the characters, and I know there is more in the story in the follow-up books.
• Little Lady, Big Apple, Hester Browne - another book that is fun and light. Twists and turns and romantic drama. The author has a great "voice".
• Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich - another favorite author. I love Stephanie, Joe and Ranger. And Lula, Grandma and Mooner. She writes the best characters. My husband and I listen to this series on audio books, and we ALWAYS laugh like crazy. I've heard that some people were critical of this book, but I really enjoyed it.
• Salvation in Death, JD Robb - latest in the Eve Dallas books. This one felt a little different but I liked it. It was a tricky topic (involving Catholicism). I'm not Catholic, but I felt like she was very respectful in how she explored the topic. I was a little reserved at first, but I think she did a great job. And she setup some background for the next book. :)

I have also read the following (not from the list):

• Queen of Babble in the Big City, Meg Cabot - great follow up. Really good book, and fun to listen to. My only issue is that I felt like they changed the boyfriend character too much. He didn't seem at all of a commitment-phobe in the previous book, and that is the main "problem" that this book focuses on. But it was still a great book.
• Midnight, Dean Koontz - a little more of what I expected a Dean Koontz book to be. Still not gory, which I'm happy about. But I definitely couldn't read this one before bed without having disturbing dreams. And he makes a great analysis of human-engineering (whatever the term is for messing with dna to evolve the human race into something "better"). I did enjoy this book. My boss recommended this one to me.
• Tribute, Nora Roberts - great book. I love Nora Roberts. This did remind me a lot of another book I read by a different author (Looking for Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky). Same concept.

Pregnancy Reflections

For some reason my pregnancy has been closer to the front of my mind the past few days. I'm usually able to think about it without immediately crying (or even crying at all) lately.

I made it to church this past Sunday for the first time since things got rough. I had tried to go the week before, and I made it in the door, and then started crying hard enough that I didn't want to stay. Something about being around a big group of people who know you and love you, just made me too emotional to get it under control. Ah well. This Sunday was going okay, I only got teary-eyed a few times, but I held it back and got it under control. Made it until the 2nd to last worship song, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a very pregnant woman sit down in my peripheral vision. Lasted about 10 seconds, and then I started bawling. Got it together by the end of worship. It was good to be back in church, and I felt like it was a "hurdle" that I had to get past. God and I have had plenty of conversations throughout this whole thing, but not in a "corporate worship" setting.

I've been thinking back on all my thoughts while I was pregnant. It wasn't nearly as easy as I had thought it would be (the actual being pregnant part). I started having symptoms well before I knew I was pregnant. I was nauseous off and on for the first 2 weeks, and then pretty much every day after that. Not ever enough to throw up, but enough to feel like crap. I was exhausted come evening every night. I had the most amazing sense of smell ever. I could smell EVERYTHING. It wasn't like it was bad smells, I could just detect smells way before everyone else. Plus the crying jags out of nowhere. Of course, there were all the other things (cramping, spotting, bleeding) that I am attributing to the pregnancy not going well, so I won't count those as symptoms. Of course, I would have all those back tenfold if I could still be pregnant, and will actually be excited to feel them again when I get pregnant again. I'm still not sure how to do this next time and not be flipping out the whole time expecting it to happen again. I'm kind of waiting on some revelation as time goes by. My OB says it will be natural to be worried it will happen again, but I don't want to be paralyzed by fear, which is where I am right now. Hoping that subsides as time goes by.

I have still been having "episodes" at night. I've always had problems sleep talking and/or walking (to a much lesser extent). However, almost every night I have had some kind of sleep talking/crying etc that wakes Chris up. A few nights he said that I was crying/whimpering in my sleep and he couldn't get me to calm down or wake up. Another night he woke up to me pacing in front of the bed for 10 minutes, and couldn't get me to lay down. I talked to the doctor, and he gave me some sleeping pills (the ones that start with AMB****) but they actually made it worse. Chris said I was up 4-5 times instead of just once. I don't remember any of these at all. If I take tyl.enol pm I seem to sleep through the night, but I feel very foggy in the morning and have a rough time getting going. They have been getting less lately, so I'm hoping they will go back down to normal on their own within a few more weeks.

I got a thin wooden box from the Hobby Lobby and painted it a cooper color. We are going to use it as a memory box for the pregnancy. I know it didn't last very long, but I know that I will never forget the dates in my whole life, and I think it will help to have them written down and recognized. I'm hoping that is another step that will help me feel a little more settled. Something tangible to hold on to and/or put away.

Reading back over this post, it may seem like I'm not doing as well as I am. I'm at least able to spend enough time to get my feelings down in writing. Before I couldn't even get that far. I was definitely allowing myself to feel, but I was mostly keeping it to myself and Chris. I told Chris the other night that I don't feel like I have anything left to give anyone but he and I. And I'm okay with that for right now.

***I didn't make it through this post without crying. But they are less painful tears, and more cleansing.

Reading Challenge: Fall Into Reading 2008

So, I've decided to do another challenge. With everything that has gone on, and is going on, I find myself oddly busy and free at the same time. I have a lot more to do at the house, and yet I have a lot more time to spend as I please. I don't have a lot of time to commit to outside stuff, because we never know what the school load will be for Chris. So I'm going to "try" and get the rest of the books out of the way for the 100+ Reading Challenge. So the Fall Into Reading 2008 is a perfect compliment to that challenge. It officially starts on Sept 22 and ends Dec 20th. My goal is the followng 40 books:

1. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
2. Calico Palace, Gwen Bristow
3. Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley
4. Into the Wilderness, Sara Donati
5. A Whistling Woman, A.S. Byatt
6. The Husband, Dean Koontz
7. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lilian Braun
8. Queen of Babble, Meg Cabot
9. The Shack, William Young
10. Little Lady, Big Apple - Hester Browne
11. The Little Lady Agency and the Prince, Hester Browne
12. Certain Girls, Jennifer Weiner
13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates
15. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
16. Bridget Jone's Diary, Helen Fielding
17. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolover
18. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
19. Atonement, Ian McEwan
20. Holes, Louis Sacahr
21. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
22. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman
23. The Last Days, Joel Rosenberg
24. The Ezekiel Option, Joel Rosenberg
25. The Copper Scroll, Joel Rosenberg
26. Dead heat, Joel Rosenberg
27. Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
28. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
29. Storm Front, Jim Butcher
30. Salvation in Death, JD Robb
31. Suite 606, JD Robb
32. The Pagan Stone, Nora Roberts
33. Eragon, Christopher Paolini
34. Eldest, Christopher Paolini
35. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini
36. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells
37. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
38. The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien
39. The Two Towers, JRR Tolkien
40. The Return of the King, JRR Tolkien

* Authors in purple are authors I've never read
* Books in orange are books I've read before

Hollow

A lot has happened since I last posted. We drove back from GA on a Sunday (Aug 10). I had suspected that something funky was going on with my cycle because my period hadn't really started. I had already taken a pregnancy test before we left for vacation, and it was negative. However, I took another test when we got home. To my great surprise, it was positive. I was unbelievably happy and surprised. Since I hadn't been expecting this, I hadn't thought of a way of telling Chris. He was getting ready for bed, and was watching TV in bed. I just walked in and turned the TV off and handed him the test. All he said was WOW for about 5 minutes. There were tears and laughing and smiles.

So I was happy pregnant for about 2 days. And then I started having some spotting and cramping. On Thursday (Aug 14) I went to the ER and then did an ultrasound and some blood work. We were there almost the whole day. They were able to see the gestational sac, and it looked like my HCG level was good. I just took it easy the next day, and then on Saturday went back to get a second blood test. I was still spotting a little bit, but not a lot. But on Sunday morning I started bleeding much heavier and passing clots. We went back to the hospital and went to Labor and Delivery Triage. They did another ultrasound, and blood tests. My levels were still going up, and they could still see the gestational sac. They said it was too early to see a heartbeat, but wanted me to come in later that week for a viability ultrasound on a more sophisticated ultrasound machine. On Wednesday I had a follow up appointment for the ER visit with my OB. They did ANOTHER ultrasound, but didn't see anything new. But the doctor told me that he suspected that when they got the blood work back, it would show that my levels weren't going up like they should, and that I was probably in the middle of a miscarriage. I had been bleeding some everyday since Saturday night. Needless to say I was devastated. My doctor told me not to give up yet, but he wanted me to be prepared. But he called me that night to say that my levels were still going up appropriately. I went to the viability ultrasound that Friday. They could still see the gestational sac, and measured a fetal pole about 2 mm. They also were able to see a sub-chorionic hemorrhage right next to the gestation sac. They suspected that this is what was causing the bleeding. The baby wasn't big enough to measure a heartbeat yet, so they scheduled me for ANOTHER viability ultrasound the next Friday. At this point, my emotions are just all over the map. I had started the grief process only to have some give me hope. I didn't want to get too excited, and then have that pulled away at the last minute. I had all the normal pregnancy symptoms (nausea, soreness, tiredness). Which made me hopeful.

On Friday August 29th I had another viability ultrasound. I had actually had my original "screening"appointment at my OB the day before, and they had taken another blood sample. At the ultrasound they checked the results of the blood work, and my hcg levels were still going up, but not nearly enough. When they did the ultrasound, they could see that the gestational sac had collapsed. My doctor came in and told that I had had an incomplete miscarriage. I could either go home and let it finish on its own, or they could give me some medicine to finish the process. I went ahead and got the medicine. I had been dealing with this for so long, the idea of it going on any longer would make me crazy. I needed some closure so that I could start to deal with everything. Friday was invariably the longest day of my life. So much pain emotionally and physically.

Since then I have had some okay days and some bad days. I'm trying to just let myself feel everything without judging myself. I haven't really gotten angry. It is mostly just extreme sadness and frustration. I have been having some nightmares, so I'm thinking about talking to the doctor about sleeping pills. I haven't really been able to think very clearly about the future. I know that we are going to wait at least a few months so that everything can heal appropriately (emotions and body).

Most of the time I'm just feeling kind of hollow.

New Pictures on Flickr

I've updated some new picutres (FINALLY) to my flickr site. I have the pictures from our North Carolina vacation and the picutres (as they happen) for the Georgia vacation. We are spending some time down at the "Property" (as everyone refers to it) in a small town in GA. Chris' family owns it jointly, and it is a cabin-esque building on a pecan orchard. It is very peaceful and laid back down here, but it is also flipping hot. Hopefully we will have a nice relaxing, peaceful long weekend.

Super Duper Excited about the Olympics starting TOMORROW. I forgot to set the DVR before we left, so I hope to catch quite a bit of the events this weekend.

Stephenie Meyer Mini-Challenge COMPLETED!

I have completed the Stephenie Meyer Mini-Challenge. This is officially the first "challenge" that I have completed. Not that it is really that impressive, because once I read Twilight, I would have read every single one of her books, regardless of the challenge. They were that good. I started the challenge on June 24, 2008 and finished on August 5, 2008.

I finished the Host shortly after we got back from vacation. It was different from the Twilight Series, and it did take me a little while to get into it, but once I did, I really really enjoyed it. I finished Breaking Dawn about 15 hours after I bought it (and I was sleeping for about 8 of those hours). I won't spoil any of it for you, but I was pleasantly surprised with the twists and turns and plot developments. For once, I feel satisfied with how the story ends.

Stephenie Meyer is a very talented writer. Her "voice" sounds just like the thoughts in my head (nuances and such). It is very easy to get completely absorbed and caught up in the story. Yes, the Twilight series is about "vampires" and "werewolves". But that doesn't detract from the amazing storytelling. It just adds to it.