FALL INTO READING CHALLENGE 2007

I just read Katrina's new Fall Reading Challenge at her blog Callapidder Days. I have signed up for this one and maybe this is one challenge I will finish. Actually, it is only the second one I have joined. As I have said before, I am not much of a challenge reader.

I am getting my list together now. See my sidebar for what I have so far.

Click on the link above to see Katrina's site and the guidelines for this challenge. Oh, c'mon -- I know you want to join in.

What Do You Love About Your Home - Party!!

It was coincidence that I wrote about my favorite things yesterday and today I came across Karla's blog and her blog party. Check it out -- today's the party. She has a lovely blog and a nice little store also. Just click on Karla.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

For lack of something new to write about, I took a hint from another blogsite and have shown you some of my favorite things. Some things I have inherited and, as my family teases me, these will go in the "Hollingsworth Museum."

The silver tea set belonged to my grandmother. I tried to polish it, but gave up and will let it age gracefully, along with me. The picture of the boy and girl are "Peter" and "Charlotte" -- I have seen these prints in antique stores, but these belonged to my parents and always hung by the front door. The snow globe of "Rudolph" was given to me when I was a very young girl. I have moved many times since then and always carry it wrapped carefully in my handbag for the move. The rooster belonged to my grandmother and I have treasured this for years and when she died, it became mine. The little yellow lovebirds were a wedding present to my parents. The Buddhas belonged to my parents and I think my grandmother before that. They sit in front of a cloisonne lamp that has the same provenance.

Maybe I will make this a Monday theme -- my favorite things. I have to start getting rid of the clutter around my house, but these are things with which I will never part. What are your favorite things in your house?

MIDDLE NAME MEME

iI was tagged by Meg for this "Middle Name Meme":








K for Kris Kringle -- a character in one of my favorite movies: "Miracle On 34th Street."


R for Ranger -- one of the male hotties in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. See my previous blog.


I for Imagination -- it is a gift we all have and should remember to use it.


S for my favorite food -- spaghetti.

T for "Tripod" - the three-legged pet raccoon in one of my favorite author's novels (James Lee Burke).


I for Imagination --- again.


N for "Nanny" -- what my daughter and nieces and grandsons called my mother.


A for Apple -- one of my favorite fruits -- I try to eat one a day.

Well, that was fun. Thanks, Meg. Instead of tagging others, if you read this and haven't been tagged yet, consider it done!

WHAT CLASSIC MOVIE ARE YOU??

I saw this on Tristi's blog and since I love old classic movies...................

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

What Carnival Ride Are You?

***You Are a Ferris Wheel***

Deep down, you are a fun, whimsical, and easygoing person. You often enjoy life for what it is, and the littlest changes in course can be quite thrilling. In relationships, people tend to feel what you feel. It can be liberating at first...But after a while, the people closest to you end up feeling a little trapped.
Your life has perfectly normal cycles of ups and downs. However, you can't help but sometimes feel that you're missing out on the most exciting aspects of life. You only are happy when you're experiencing the highest of highs.Your low points just make you feel depressed, restless, and bored.
At your best, you feel on top of the world with a great sense of perspective. You believe that anything is possible, and that you are happily looking down on everyone else. At your worst, you feel like your life is going in circles. You often feel like you're not going anywhere. This is sometimes psychologically disorienting. And sometimes it brings on a sense of hopelessness.

What Carnival Ride Are You?http://www.blogthings.com/whatcarnivalrideareyouquiz/

People closest to me feel trapped??! I don't THINK so! I don't like carnival rides anyway.

Beware Of Crocs!!

I recently read something online that said that despite their overwhelming popularity, crocs are causing accidents on escalators in Japan. Beware!!

IS TIME OF THE ESSENCE?

" Always late: thus I make you the prisoner of my freedom." - Mason Cooley

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"- The White Rabbit - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

We had our weekly sales meeting today, for which I was late. I find it so difficult to get anywhere on time. You know the old adage about being late for one's own funeral? Well, that is me. Somewhere I read that people who are consistently late are subconsciously doing it as an act of rebellion. I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes that is the case with me. I was pretty rebellious when I was young.

I keep going back to reading the "What Color Green" post from a few days ago. That really is me, but warts and all, I like me (I really don't have warts), which is a good thing since at my age I won't be changing anything.

Stephanie Plum Overload

I think I am morphing into Stephanie Plum. I have read all of Janet Evanovich's books featuring this bounty hunter extraordinaire up to and including #11. I am now on one of the "between the numbers" books and then I will start #12. I am starting to feel like a place should be set for me at the Plum dinner table with Mom and Dad and Grandma Mazur waiting for the pineapple-upside-down cake.

I have removed my non-fiction challenge from my sidebar. I am a failure at challenges apparently. I would rather read what I want to read when I want to read it, and in life -- I would rather do what I want to do when I want to do it. Oh yeah, I am responsible and adult and all that mundane stuff. But, wouldn't it be fun to just, well, BE A BOUNTY HUNTER!!??

In someone's past post, the question once was Morelli or Ranger? If you read these books you know "whereof I speak." At that point I said Morelli. I am now leaning towards Ranger. Way towards. Stephanie Plum is nothing like me. I have always been and am still much more of a wimp. But really -- if I use my imagine I could see myself dressed in "Rangeman" black, including the utility belt with stun gun, pepper spray, and cuffs. Of course, it would be all about the outfit and the proximity to Ranger -- not the weapons. As the series continues and evolves, Ranger divulges more and more of his mysterious persona to me - I mean, to Stephanie. He is just so, so cool.

My daughter will read this and Beth, I guess you are saying in horror, "Oh, Mom, really!" as you wonder if this may be your dear mother's alter-ego. Don't worry -- it's just that life is so ORDINARY lately. Day in day out, same old, same old. I am still the same old Mom and Grammy for you and the boys, though.

I think I am reading way too many Stephanie Plum books, don't you?

School Days, School Days, Dear Old Golden Rule Days...

Well, back to school and the excitement is in the air, even if you aren't returning yourself. The yellow school bus is picking up in our community and I can almost smell school bags and pencil boxes. I guess school bags are now backpacks and pencil boxes (with the little drawer that pulls out) may be long gone, but in the days when school bags were made of leather the smell in the store was unforgettable.






My first school was an old military surplus quonset hut because we lived in a community built as post-war housing primarily for veterans. (Quonset hut: a structure made of corrugated metal still in use today) We called it the "Tin Castle." The photo is not of my school, but is the closest photo I could find that looked vaguely similar. The schoolyard was cinders -- nothing more. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Park and my best friend Ruth and I were teacher's pets. Ah, those were the days.

Two of my most vivid memories were that of Mrs. Park coming home to lunch at my house sometimes and that I felt very special as we ate our chicken noodle soup and sandwich. The other memory was of a terrible day when Mrs. Park bound and gagged a poor little girl in her chair because she was disruptive. Her mother came to get her and there were hysterics and general horror for all of us first graders. I remember they were very poor and spoke little English and the little girl had some type of behavioural or mental problem. A far cry from what would happen today. So much for education in 1950.



My grandsons started school today in Massachusetts. They both carry their lunches. Cooper (sixth grade) took a turkey and lettuce wrap with potato chips, strawberries and an energy bar. Ian (second grade) took spaghetti-o's in a thermos, chips, strawberries and an energy bar. These were their choices for lunch. This is a step up from last year when Cooper would only take bologna sandwiches and Ian would only take peanut butter sandwiches. I remember my daughter Beth always took Boursin cheese on a bagel -- her choice -- for the first few years of school. She didn't like peanut butter sandwiches or anything most kids took for lunch.



Speaking of school lunch -- I wonder if my friend Lynne remembers the day in elementary school when our friend Rita had just too much teasing from a boy and dumped her plate of spaghetti over his head. School days, school days, dear old golden rule days.

WHAT COLOR GREEN ARE YOU?

***You Are Teal Green***

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks.Your warm personality nicely counteracts with strange habits you may have.

Yep, that's me all right!

What Color Green Are You?http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorgreenareyouquiz/

MR. BEAN'S HOLIDAY

I admit it: I like slapstick comedy - Buster Keaton, Jerry Lewis, etc. If you appreciate this humor also (and even if you don't), you have GOT to see Mr. Bean's Holiday. It is rated "G", so take the kids. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face and at one point I think I was actually howling. I plan to go see it again and I seldom say that about a movie.

I knew Rowan Atkinson's character, Mr. Bean, from PBS's British broadcasts. He is too, too, funny -- a lot of physical humor, funny faces and sounds (Mr. Bean seldom speaks). And to make it even better, the movie took place in France! Mr. Bean wins a vacation to the south of France and the misadventures that get him there are priceless. The finale is the best and sit through the credits and see the cute final ending.

I mean it -- you really should see this film.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET.......

My husband and I took Beau with us and went to the local farmers' market on Saturday morning. The cool bike is one that was being raffled off and, unfortunately, I did not win it. Look at the hippy van -- it is so totally me. The gentleman comes every week with a guest chicken or rooster and if you get there early enough he has wonderful colored guinea fowl eggs for sale. He is a wealth of information for anyone who wants to raise some chickens. I wish I could. I am sure it would be a no-no in my community.

This week there were some plein air artists on site displaying their artistic techniques. What talent. The window filled with lovely things is the museum shop. The market is held on the grounds of the historical society.

We had a lovely three day weekend holiday and I hope you all did, too. Tonight we had dinner with friends who just returned from a three week trip to France (a week of which was on a river boat). I am so jealous. Abbie brought me back a photo she had taken of Edith Piaf's grave at the famous cemetery in Paris where so many well-known people are buried (Oscar Wilde, Simone Signoret, Chopin, Jim Morrison, etc.) Edith Piaf is a favorite of mine.

Bon soir, everyone!