Crossing things off the list

Today I realized that I haven't posted in awhile, and in that time, I have managed to cross one of the books off my "read before buying anymore books" list. I finished the Dairy Queen, by Allison Rushby. It's a fun little story, and I suspect that part of the reason I was drawn right into it, is because it starts with the main character feeling like her world has fallen apart, which, in a lot of ways, is how I've felt over the past 8 months or so. I have also begun reading the Elegant Gathering of the White Snows, and am enjoying it as well.

This week's major accomplishment is my corset.  One of my friends, who makes absolutely AMAZING court dresses and other garb, has been teaching a few of us how to make our own amazing stuff, starting with a corset. I HAVE decided that I'd just as soon rather buy precut boning the next time around, instead of cutting my own, and having to file the ends, and wrap them, etc. I am also having issues with my layers being a bit too thick, I suspect because of what I used for padding to smooth the outer layer so the boning doesn't show through. Class again on Sunday, so hopefully she has some ideas how to address that, and by the end of Sunday, or Monday at the latest, I will have an awesome foundation garment, that will give me at least several options.

I also have an awesome skirt rolling around in my head, that I think COULD work with a couple of different things that are ALSO rolling around in my head.

Keep in Mind:
Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is stored, as well as destroy the object on which it is poured - Ann Landers

2010 Reading list

So as I was completing the meme in my last post, when I came across the "What is the best book you read?" question, it occurred to me that I couldn't recall a single book that I had read.  Oh, I am sure that I DID read a few, but somehow amongst all the drama and bullshit stuff that went on last year, my memory has failed me when I needed to answer such a question.

I have always loved to read. There was a time, when I was in first or second grade, and we lived overseas, that I failed to get off the bus at the base officer's club for dance class after school because I was so engrossed in my book that I paid no attention to where I was until we had already passed the stop and I had no choice except to ride the rest of the way home. Fortunately, Mom had not yet gotten into the car to come pick me up from my lesson.
When I was in college, my reading was largely limited to the required texts for my History major and English minor, which was PLENTY of reading, for sure!  When I graduated, I'd had my fill of heavy reading, and for several years, the only things I read were Harlequin romances. They are easy to read, they always have a happy ending, and pretty much they are very predictable. If I got interrupted in the middle of a book, I didn't have to figure out what was going on, when I picked it back up again.
Over the last few years, I started picking up some other things, Harry Potter, some historical things, books about places I'd visited and found fascinating.  Somehow, in the last couple of years, I got really bad about buying books and not reading them.  Rarely do I go into a bookstore and come out with only one book. I try to find them on sale, and I can get lost for hours in a Half Price Books, wandering through the stacks!
My goal for this year, that I'm positive I can accomplish is to read or finish reading all of the books I've already got on my bookshelves that are unfinished, or unstarted.
Here is my list:

1. Kabul Beauty School - Rodriguez, Deborah  
   
2. Decoding the Celts - Hamilton, Claire & Eddy, Steve 
   
3. The Dairy Queen - Rushby, Allison  
   
4. **A Belizian Rainforest - Horwich, Robert H & Lyon, Jonathan  
   
5. The Elegant Gathering of White Snows - Radish, Kris  
   
6. Looking for Alaska - Jenkins, Peter  
   
7. Gift of Power - Lame Deer & Erodes 
   
8. **102 Minutes - Dwyer, Jim & Flynn, Keith 
   
9. Shaman, Healer, Sage - Villoldo, Alberto  
   
10. Ireland's Pirate Queen - Chambers, Anne  
    
11. Magical Thinking - Burroughs, Augustin  
    
12. Watching the Tree - Yen Mah, Adeline  
    
13. She's come Undon - Lamb, Wally  
    
14. it's a Chick Thing - Beanland, Ame Mahler & Terry, Emily Miles  
    
15. The Book of Celtic Verse - Matthews, John  
    
16. **Border Healing Woman - Babb & Little Dog  
    
17. Galveston Rose - Powell, Mary  
    
18. The Mermaid Chair - Kidd, Sue Monk  
    
19. The Gathering - Enright, Anne  
    
20. Celtic Myths & Legends


21. Driving with Dead People - Holloway,Monica 
    
22. Annie Freeman's Fabulous Travelling Funeral - Radish, Kris  
    
23. How the Scots Invented the Modern World - Herman, Arthur


24. The Other Boleyn Girl - Gregory, Phillippa


25. How the Irish Saved Civilization - Cahill, Thomas


26. The Way of the Pirate - Downie


27. She Captains - Druett, Joan


28. Harry Potter & Philosophy - Baggett

 So, that's a total of 28 books, 3 of which I've already started, but, frankly will need to start over again because it's been a year or more since I picked them up. I figure if I can get through a book every two weeks, I'll finish in about a year.  Several of them are smaller, and actually I can probably finish in a matter of days, we'll see.

What is on your reading list?

 

Keep In Mind: "No one is in control of your happiness but you, therefore you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change" Barbara De Angelis