tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33529256427910416892024-02-06T20:40:51.996-08:00Daily RewardThe reward is in the struggle, not the prize. Press on.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-88647106869932859682011-06-06T13:50:00.000-07:002011-06-06T14:42:52.780-07:00It's SummerTaking a break from classic list to get ready for next school year. <br /><br /><br /><br />Thought this one might be a good "instead of" for my remediation class...instead of Fahrenhiet 451.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyCEglDDzVNdAqbMyNBAE3vuW9xmeGsGGLFJgNeqzPJl0p6IcFcrV8OjwyiTTwfV8lMXZzgJjOmVwK_jYCqW1jZn3drSl9sRIpW3j4fFR1EmS3FJeagb0305OJS1vEfe0817MvWMIP6wU/s1600/enders-game.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyCEglDDzVNdAqbMyNBAE3vuW9xmeGsGGLFJgNeqzPJl0p6IcFcrV8OjwyiTTwfV8lMXZzgJjOmVwK_jYCqW1jZn3drSl9sRIpW3j4fFR1EmS3FJeagb0305OJS1vEfe0817MvWMIP6wU/s400/enders-game.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615213538277006546" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another possibility for my remediation class. The girls will love and the length isn't too indimitating. Good discussions too!<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisf6-9oDcrLYxvntG0TVzq8W_K72OE8hYV1auhdVW5hUguUUZ5X1D0WfQh4fkuRxmkc-TGa_jRWBTvsFp22DnCrF9A4hXuFEZAOP8Y5melT4QpJjsOKv0kmQJ4P_yaP4PW88v7OW1m6uw/s1600/EllenFoster.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 254px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisf6-9oDcrLYxvntG0TVzq8W_K72OE8hYV1auhdVW5hUguUUZ5X1D0WfQh4fkuRxmkc-TGa_jRWBTvsFp22DnCrF9A4hXuFEZAOP8Y5melT4QpJjsOKv0kmQJ4P_yaP4PW88v7OW1m6uw/s400/EllenFoster.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615213942851880466" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Of course I picked out two "fun" books to read this summer so I can go see the movies. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYMnjcKMixzlDzhzoIAlzSvbIxo80Kfl9E97lNa9Q_A3Bi1q0S16fL-FXIGGzvUu8oZqZlLNbwXqlW3kectvqgtpS8VMAdk0GvSFBCMubzq9TVmgdAvhsMNENNzWYJ2Cx7wr5EdFDmxE/s1600/the-help_l.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYMnjcKMixzlDzhzoIAlzSvbIxo80Kfl9E97lNa9Q_A3Bi1q0S16fL-FXIGGzvUu8oZqZlLNbwXqlW3kectvqgtpS8VMAdk0GvSFBCMubzq9TVmgdAvhsMNENNzWYJ2Cx7wr5EdFDmxE/s400/the-help_l.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615214517425739698" /></a><br /><br /> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0zYbpw49HixjvCEZ5evQbQNcqt3H2SQXIedqLHnyx_7Lcm2Wz3mc8-J8UKJf26ddSPkhcvxne8PPNoPRYmSw8d-zp3E31x2P9VTO926W9lMaCowLZR9JaTAYXeMCGVCZnxUexjKcsWw/s1600/water.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0zYbpw49HixjvCEZ5evQbQNcqt3H2SQXIedqLHnyx_7Lcm2Wz3mc8-J8UKJf26ddSPkhcvxne8PPNoPRYmSw8d-zp3E31x2P9VTO926W9lMaCowLZR9JaTAYXeMCGVCZnxUexjKcsWw/s400/water.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615214515248019634" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Not to worry...when I am finished I will get back into business with His Dark Materials. Here is my write up on Jane Eyre:<br /><br />I got into it much better than PandP. Jane at least had a life of consequence...things happened-important things, thought-provoking and interesting things, but alas, I let too much time past and I am simply not interested any more. So Sorry! My first fail of the the marathon has happened. Must get back on wagon!Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-16238071103806625722011-01-22T10:30:00.000-08:002011-01-22T11:02:54.884-08:00In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUMJdtOopMudtc2cHOForVxU4mjlESi1E0y0ZiA5UUQnV5t8tExgnAaAOWof_Ddp_ipxh0fPQnaLG1grd-woSZ_jaifFl4UhQAaWG9vpjh3QxuBhDm941ioGb5UocWMo_I4N_5kG3JCM/s1600/movieposter.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUMJdtOopMudtc2cHOForVxU4mjlESi1E0y0ZiA5UUQnV5t8tExgnAaAOWof_Ddp_ipxh0fPQnaLG1grd-woSZ_jaifFl4UhQAaWG9vpjh3QxuBhDm941ioGb5UocWMo_I4N_5kG3JCM/s400/movieposter.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565087751576899634" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6zl_90t-4PJpnRy6_J55MBob3VWhOwq07-d_ikNiQ6GQPVVhdVN6MyihmNfkNijHlWHkYte3iqfpCCF4NTxJXouq9m-Rpz8GJ8RFEem8UUYbo5ZTrVDJtEqZmtaXqXl0juC4zjver5c/s1600/imagesCAI0MNN6.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6zl_90t-4PJpnRy6_J55MBob3VWhOwq07-d_ikNiQ6GQPVVhdVN6MyihmNfkNijHlWHkYte3iqfpCCF4NTxJXouq9m-Rpz8GJ8RFEem8UUYbo5ZTrVDJtEqZmtaXqXl0juC4zjver5c/s400/imagesCAI0MNN6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565087318781563282" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6axGFjufySVvR6s0AuAL0cd30EhvOuxn-b3cH5tzpWZaF4WEwnqXIOEkhxVTogx8gfQyGl0ZlqLB4hpNObWOqh2g6wvyjCODP9sCT_ToDTH3mBrs9CLdJxjB-hquMEfqfuVMFEZyYFbU/s1600/thehobbit.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6axGFjufySVvR6s0AuAL0cd30EhvOuxn-b3cH5tzpWZaF4WEwnqXIOEkhxVTogx8gfQyGl0ZlqLB4hpNObWOqh2g6wvyjCODP9sCT_ToDTH3mBrs9CLdJxjB-hquMEfqfuVMFEZyYFbU/s400/thehobbit.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565087316082407058" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1arA5YbOqrZJvl5QM-8h2hpAMtx6fF0zj1U9dymHN68QBgx8oudj_rPqAHffT_SI_ywH3VPV_Cfn8Lz4Y6bW1H1vpwO4Vf1KcFROoev_3aEPVTN68z8IyuptuDLFoB2tdpARvbbTEUzU/s1600/untitled.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 228px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1arA5YbOqrZJvl5QM-8h2hpAMtx6fF0zj1U9dymHN68QBgx8oudj_rPqAHffT_SI_ywH3VPV_Cfn8Lz4Y6bW1H1vpwO4Vf1KcFROoev_3aEPVTN68z8IyuptuDLFoB2tdpARvbbTEUzU/s400/untitled.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565087310158954002" /></a><br />I just finished reading The Hobbit, and I liked it much better than P and P. It as entertaining, suspenseful, and fine holiday fun. Towards the end I was a little put out that the men killed Smaug, as I thought our little friend, Bilbo, would be the one to destroy the flaming dragon. But alas, he had a greater purpose he was destined for, and it seemed that our God figure, Gandalf, had foreseen exactly who needed to be put where to bring about a peaceful time. Love, love, love, when Bilbo goes to the men and sacrifices his precious archenstone, very selflessly, in order to bring about "peace and quiet." PRECIOUS!<br /><br />I may be a teensy bit excited about The Lord of the Rings.<br /><br />I like these quotations from the novel:<br /><br />"We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!"<br /> <br />"There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."<br /><br />"His magic ring he kept a great secret, for he chiefly used it when unpleasant callers came!"<br /><br /><br />"Never laugh at a live dragon"Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-60426279455324999312011-01-02T12:49:00.000-08:002011-01-02T13:07:28.975-08:00Invite<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Ajm35TRVzh2srETj_0d6zh2j0tGGqV7xd1kwqyeg4V4wmXCoyxAccyvhJ7CmhSBcU3umAzDVyY7pVZ_hMuTgvatP5AbROH56WCsmXYAy68fQlrY3PTqBwgErm4qej2eDkbexSr0Hd-g/s1600/ppv1n06b.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Ajm35TRVzh2srETj_0d6zh2j0tGGqV7xd1kwqyeg4V4wmXCoyxAccyvhJ7CmhSBcU3umAzDVyY7pVZ_hMuTgvatP5AbROH56WCsmXYAy68fQlrY3PTqBwgErm4qej2eDkbexSr0Hd-g/s400/ppv1n06b.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557697323833828978" /></a><br /><br /><br />Crystal Faye, of the house of Giles, does cordially invite you to a grand gathering at the Columbus House on Tuesday, the fourth of January, two thousand eleven, for a theatrical screening of <em>Pride and Prejudice </em>by Jane Austen.<br /><br />Menu: Main Course: Broccolli and Cheese Quiche<br /> Salad Course: Spinach, mandarin oranges, and crumbled feta cheese with <br /> walnut crumbles and a light vinagrette.<br /> Dessert: Mini cherry cheesecakes<br /> Total Point Value (in case you are interested): 11<br /><br />Time: 6:00 P.M.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-78042904586614394872010-12-31T12:49:00.000-08:002011-01-01T08:57:10.237-08:00Sacre Bleau! We have been duped! Foiled again!According to this article,<a href="http://www.kith.org/journals/jed/2010/11/28/13453.html"></a>, found by <a href="http://kitaskorner.blogspot.com/">KA Carter</a>, the BBC list that we have been planning to do our Reading Marathon 2011 on is a sham. So, I went to the BBC website and found the original list. Thankfully, it is not much different than the phony one. So I propose that we continue reading the Hobbit, which is on this list as well, and then start with Lord of the Rings (which will follow The Hobbit nicely and well, thankfully we have all suffered, I mean read, through Pride and Prejudice. All those in favor say "Aye."<br /><br /><br />The BBC's Big Read List<br />1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien<br />2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen<br />3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman<br />4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams<br />5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling<br />6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee<br />7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne<br />8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell<br />9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis<br />10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë<br />11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller<br />12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë<br />13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks<br />14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier<br />15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger<br />16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame<br />17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens<br />18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott<br />19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres<br />20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy<br />21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell<br />22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling<br />23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling<br />24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling<br />25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien<br />26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy<br />27. Middlemarch, George Eliot<br />28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving<br />29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck<br />30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll<br />31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson<br />32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez<br />33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett<br />34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens<br />35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl<br />36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson<br />37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute<br />38. Persuasion, Jane Austen<br />39. Dune, Frank Herbert<br />40. Emma, Jane Austen<br />41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery<br />42. Watership Down, Richard Adams<br />43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald<br />44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas<br />45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh<br />46. Animal Farm, George Orwell<br />47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens<br />48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy<br />49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian<br />50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher<br />51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett<br />52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck<br />53. The Stand, Stephen King<br />54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy<br />55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth<br />56. The BFG, Roald Dahl<br />57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome<br />58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell<br />59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer<br />60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky<br />61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman<br />62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden<br />63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens<br />64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough<br />65. Mort, Terry Pratchett<br />66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton<br />67. The Magus, John Fowles<br />68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman<br />69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett<br />70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding<br />71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind<br />72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell<br />73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett<br />74. Matilda, Roald Dahl<br />75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding<br />76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt<br />77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins<br />78. Ulysses, James Joyce<br />79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens<br />80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson<br />81. The Twits, Roald Dahl<br />82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith<br />83. Holes, Louis Sachar<br />84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake<br />85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy<br />86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson<br />87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley<br />88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons<br />89. Magician, Raymond E Feist<br />90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac<br />91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo<br />92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel<br />93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett<br />94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho<br />95. Katherine, Anya Seton<br />96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer<br />97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez<br />98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson<br />99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot<br />100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie <br /><br />I found this list at the website for <a href="http://www.worldbookday.com/">World Book Day</a>, which is celebrated in the UK. They compiled this list from people's votes on their website. Isn't it our list? <br /><br />1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen <br /><br />2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien <br /><br />3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte <br /><br />4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling<br /><br />5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee <br /><br />6 The Bible <br /><br />7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte <br /><br />8= Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell <br /><br />8= His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman <br /><br />10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens <br /><br />11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott <br /><br />12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy <br /><br />13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller <br /><br />14 Complete Works of Shakespeare<br /><br />15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier <br /><br />16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien <br /><br />17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks <br /><br />18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger <br /><br />19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger<br /><br />20 Middlemarch - George Eliot <br /><br />21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell <br /><br />22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald <br /><br />23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens <br /><br />24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy<br /><br />25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams <br /><br />26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh <br /><br />27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky<br /><br />28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck<br /><br />29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll <br /><br />30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame <br /><br />31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy <br /><br />32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens <br /><br />33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis <br /><br />34 Emma - Jane Austen <br /><br />35 Persuasion - Jane Austen <br /><br />36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis <br /><br />37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini <br /><br />38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres <br /><br />39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden <br /><br />40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne <br /><br />41 Animal Farm - George Orwell <br /><br />42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown<br /><br />43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez <br /><br />44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving <br /><br />45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins <br /><br />46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery<br /><br />47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy <br /><br />48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood <br /><br />49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding <br /><br />50 Atonement - Ian McEwan <br /><br />51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel <br /><br />52 Dune - Frank Herbert <br /><br />53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons<br /><br />54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen <br /><br />55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth <br /><br />56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon<br /><br />57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens <br /><br />58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley <br /><br />59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon<br /><br />60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br /><br />61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck <br /><br />62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov <br /><br />63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt <br /><br />64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold<br /><br />65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas<br /><br />66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac <br /><br />67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy<br /><br />68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding<br /><br />69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie <br /><br />70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville<br /><br />71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens<br /><br />72 Dracula - Bram Stoker <br /><br />73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett <br /><br />74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson<br /><br />75 Ulysses - James Joyce <br /><br />76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath <br /><br />77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome <br /><br />78 Germinal - Emile Zola <br /><br />79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray <br /><br />80 Possession - AS Byatt <br /><br />81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens <br /><br />82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell <br /><br />83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker <br /><br />84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro <br /><br />85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert <br /><br />86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry <br /><br />87 Charlotte's Web - EB White <br /><br />88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn <br /><br />89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle <br /><br />90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton <br /><br />91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad <br /><br />92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery <br /><br />93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks <br /><br />94 Watership Down - Richard Adams <br /><br />95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole <br /><br />96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute <br /><br />97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas <br /><br />98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare <br /><br />99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl <br /><br />100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo <br /><br />Which one do you want to do?Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-59529147921245404782010-12-29T08:14:00.000-08:002010-12-29T08:17:31.129-08:00The Hobbit<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXm4Eft-_XitQGqWCM7kzduPCkSSqPnJ4rkEc0786EZsXW2_agELWX4xDQxFV47fyzhuAFGCpYuoUeprN-4lpqmOnvxrxK21Ld_a8LUrS0Q7vw5gIL1qbe2FycqIHmxlJYwDJFYlPzstk/s1600/bilbo_from_the_hobbit_animated_movie.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXm4Eft-_XitQGqWCM7kzduPCkSSqPnJ4rkEc0786EZsXW2_agELWX4xDQxFV47fyzhuAFGCpYuoUeprN-4lpqmOnvxrxK21Ld_a8LUrS0Q7vw5gIL1qbe2FycqIHmxlJYwDJFYlPzstk/s400/bilbo_from_the_hobbit_animated_movie.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556138786011094338" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6eCswMEfAJhWJPHk3Ey_-7xm89uf6ndXfAr2f4Ds7OKUp96XpvJXUEQa4R5WIOx3LC7DbtHUq-IBrLA3okM_5dZC-x0OFpx9rF4_IElOKP2uwcH7qI22CcLeSlZTS9sCHGQDHyoQEv0/s1600/51STmujvz%252BL__SL500_AA300_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW6eCswMEfAJhWJPHk3Ey_-7xm89uf6ndXfAr2f4Ds7OKUp96XpvJXUEQa4R5WIOx3LC7DbtHUq-IBrLA3okM_5dZC-x0OFpx9rF4_IElOKP2uwcH7qI22CcLeSlZTS9sCHGQDHyoQEv0/s400/51STmujvz%252BL__SL500_AA300_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556138784401124674" /></a>Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-61453946710556760432010-12-29T07:22:00.000-08:002010-12-29T08:13:34.628-08:00Done (spoiler alert)They got married...shocking.<br /><br />I will admit, it has some good one liners:<br /><br />Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.<br /><br />Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. <br /><br /><br />It is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.<br /><br />A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.<br /><br />Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all.<br /><br />What are men to rocks and mountains?<br /><br />And my personal favorites:<br /><br />Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.<br /><br /><br />I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.<br /><br />I also like the relationship between Mr. Bennett and Elizabeth. And I like that I have read the book now. But I am still not fond of this type of writing about nothing really of significance.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-23215494877663173722010-12-28T19:23:00.000-08:002010-12-28T20:11:37.953-08:00In other words...WHO CARES? Aaaggghhh!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeckrZ3X_HxBVqO8hsaMwLRbBNnZq07J47L01IrZ9Q43RRuKlNVf-KD86Jgspew_kafu5FE149IIvKQX7FBvxwl2J-51Y6L1Dl7cf3Z4n-TUvJQxdQnl2KaTKQeEHTe1etetIa4f_x8S4/s1600/images.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 337px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeckrZ3X_HxBVqO8hsaMwLRbBNnZq07J47L01IrZ9Q43RRuKlNVf-KD86Jgspew_kafu5FE149IIvKQX7FBvxwl2J-51Y6L1Dl7cf3Z4n-TUvJQxdQnl2KaTKQeEHTe1etetIa4f_x8S4/s400/images.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555951808401474530" /></a><br />With much disdain and little amiability I must express that the drudgery I feel whilst trudging through the coarse pages of such a lengthy, albeit vocabulary enriching parcel of perplexing pages, and droll eighteenth century drawing-room intriques, more modernly known as lack luster soap operas, can only leave me with the following conclusion...the meticulous prudery with which Jane Austen writes does capture with dripping satire the ridiculousness of the period in which she pens. However, Austen's voraciousness to be witty among what are admittingly highly proletarian surroundings filled with the most absurd propriety and frustratingly controlled etiquettes is not enough to offset the pure silliness of the subjects on which she attempts to create something from absolute nothingness. Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-7841490539924983832010-12-11T19:24:00.001-08:002010-12-11T19:33:01.677-08:00Buying BBC BooksRight now...as I type...Books A Million has our book list (well, a lot of it) for 2.97 a book. Cool, huh? If anyone needs any ideas for Christmas presents for me...well, there you go.<br /><br />BTW, I may end up being the only female in the entire world who is not enamored with Pride and Predjudice. I find it girly and roll my eyes a lot as I read. I am hoping it gets better. Jane reminds me of the sickly little girl in Little Women who was sugary sweet, and Elizabeth may be smart but she has no spine (although Barbara says she has as much spine as the culture of the day allows). I absolutely can not STAND Darcy, and as of now the only saving grace is Mr. Bennett, who is absolutely hilarious, and I picture him smoking a pipe, rolling his eyes from behind his book, and grumbling smart ass comments under his breath regarding his life full of estrogen and high-pitched squeals. <br /><br />Bless his heart.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-91536826636333728732010-11-29T20:06:00.000-08:002010-11-29T20:20:41.291-08:00I have read 21 out of 100I get a 21. That would be an F! Time to catch up!<br /><br />On your mark...Get Set...Read! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DSaZnZzMlOrJus1qnDpfDDUoXw7qDkfERVbqxHqAh-D5A7llS3PdZCOU7aj_ym0N98eeHFW5p1NX460gZx2iIMA0Sbm2kY3U39KeKg6pMu5KbebHo-KbqbQC3Q9TKlOCTJCdO9Bt0o8/s1600/pride+and+prejudice+book.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DSaZnZzMlOrJus1qnDpfDDUoXw7qDkfERVbqxHqAh-D5A7llS3PdZCOU7aj_ym0N98eeHFW5p1NX460gZx2iIMA0Sbm2kY3U39KeKg6pMu5KbebHo-KbqbQC3Q9TKlOCTJCdO9Bt0o8/s400/pride+and+prejudice+book.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545190103018259682" /></a><br /><br /><br />Jenny and Chris can run a marathon. Jennifer can deliver a baby. KA can paint the frickin Sistine Chapel and JR is the funniest man alive. Bryan, Eric, Tiffany (who can also fo real build a bike...like from nothing)can all do tantrums and other cool water sports. Emily is Mary Poppins, aka the baby whisperer. Barbara is brilliant. Andy is like the female McGyver, and she and Scotty are the smartest people I know. Ron is incredibly resilient and knows EVERYONE (even in Colorado), and Sydney: I mean come on! I like her! Who saw that coming??? enough said! Anywho, if I have forgotten you, I am positive you can do something cool too! Point is...I want to do something cool, so I am working with my talents and guess what? <br /><br /> I can READ!<br /><br />That sounded cooler in my head. <br /><br />None of you can say that you have read all of the BBC's top 100 books. I CAN do this! I have been training all my life :-).Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-45158906074506334922010-11-29T19:48:00.000-08:002010-11-29T20:05:10.944-08:00Talk the talk; walk the walkA new adventure...much better idea than cooking through Paula Dean. This challenge will not have me gaining 100 pounds and having a heart attack. A friend tagged me with this note, and I loved this list. I am not as well read as I should be (blasphemous for an English teacher) and I am tired of being ashamed of what I haven't read. Soooo, you know what is coming...I am starting with Pride and Prejudice. WHO IS WITH ME??? Again, we can make t-shirts if you want. <br /><br />Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses! <br /><br />Rules:<br />I have read the ones in Bold; therefore, I will not read those. <br /><br />The ones in italics I am familiar with, but I wouldn't say that I really grasped them when I "covered" them in school, so it is my discretion whether I shall force myself to try them again.<br /><br />I plan to have the list read by this time next year. (way unrealistic, I know, and just like the goals on our improvement plan at school, this goal will need to be adjusted annually, I am sure)<br /><br />I will blog about each book during and/or upon finishing said book.<br /><br />And away we go... <br /><br /> <br />Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen<br /><br /> <br /><br />2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (crapballs!)<br /><br /> <br /><br />3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte<br /><br /> <br /><br />4 <strong>Harry Potter series</strong> - JK Rowling<br /><br /> <br /><br />5 <strong>To Kill a Mockingbird </strong>- Harper Lee<br /><br /> <br /><br />6 <strong>The Bible</strong><br /> (continuously)<br /><br />7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte<br /><br /> <br /><br />8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell<br /><br /> <br /><br />9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman<br /><br /> <br /><br />10 <strong>Great Expectations</strong> - Charles Dickens (Thank God!)<br /><br /> <br /><br />11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott<br /><br /> <br /><br />12 <em>Tess of the D’Urbervilles </em>- Thomas Hardy<br /><br /> <br /><br />13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller<br /><br /> <br /><br />14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (wow, I am italicizing because I took a Shakespeare course and read darn near all of it, but I don't even know if this is possible, and at any rate, this would be a perfect LATER challenge)<br /><br /> <br /><br />15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier<br /><br /> <br /><br />16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien :-(<br /><br /> <br /><br />17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk<br /><br /> <br /><br />18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger<br /><br /> <br /><br />19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger<br /><br /> <br /><br />20 Middlemarch - George Eliot<br /><br /> <br /><br />21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell<br /><br /> <br /><br />22 <strong>The Great Gatsby </strong>- F Scott Fitzgerald <br /><br /> <br /><br />23 Bleak House- Charles Dickens<br /><br /> <br /><br />24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy<br /><br /> <br /><br />25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams<br /><br /> <br /><br />26 Brideshead Revisited- Evelyn Waugh<br /><br /> <br /><br />27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky<br /><br /> <br /><br />28 <strong>Grapes of Wrath </strong>- John Steinbeck<br /><br /> <br /><br />29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll<br /><br /> <br /><br />30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame<br /><br /> <br /><br />31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy<br /><br /> <br /><br />32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (Nooooooooo!)<br /><br /> <br /><br />33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis<br /><br /> <br /><br />34 Emma -Jane Austen<br /><br /> <br /><br />35 Persuasion - Jane Austen<br /><br /> <br /><br />36 <strong>The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe </strong>- CS Lewis<br /><br /> <br /><br />37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (YES!)<br /><br /> <br /><br />38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres<br /><br /> <br /><br />39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (SEXY!)<br /><br /> <br /><br />40 <strong>Winnie the Pooh </strong>- A.A. Milne<br /><br /> <br /><br />41 <strong>Animal Farm</strong> - George Orwell<br /><br /> <br /><br />42 <strong>The Da Vinci Code </strong>- Dan Brown<br /><br /> <br /><br />43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez<br /><br /> <br /><br />44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving<br /><br /> <br /><br />45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins<br /><br /> <br /><br />46 <strong>Anne of Green Gables </strong>- LM Montgomery<br /><br /> <br /><br />47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy<br /><br /> <br /><br />48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood<br /><br /> <br /><br />49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding <br /><br /> <br /><br />50 Atonement - Ian McEwan<br /><br /> <br /><br />51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel<br /><br /> <br /><br />52 Dune - Frank Herbert<br /><br /> <br /><br />53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons<br /><br /> <br /><br />54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen<br /><br /> <br /><br />55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth<br /><br /> <br /><br />56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon<br /><br /> <br /><br />57 <strong>A Tale Of Two Cities </strong>- Charles Dickens (Remember it well, sheesh I can't stand Dickens)<br /><br /> <br /><br />58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley<br /><br /> <br /><br />59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon<br /><br /> <br /><br />60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez <br /><br /> <br /><br />61 <strong>Of Mice and Men </strong>- John Steinbeck<br /><br /> <br /><br />62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov<br /><br /> <br /><br />63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt<br /><br /> <br /><br />64 <strong>The Lovely Bones </strong>- Alice Sebold<br /><br /> <br /><br />65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas<br /><br /> <br /><br />66 <em>On The Road </em>- Jack Kerouac <br /><br /> <br /><br />67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy<br /><br /> <br /><br />68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding<br /><br /> <br /><br />69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie<br /><br /> <br /><br />70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville<br /><br /> <br /><br />71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens<br /><br /> <br /><br />72 Dracula - Bram Stoker<br /><br /> <br /><br />73 <strong>The Secret Garden </strong>- Frances Hodgson Burnett<br /><br /> <br /><br />74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson<br /><br /> <br /><br />75 Ulysses - James Joyce<br /><br /> <br /><br />76 <em>The Inferno </em>- Dante<br /><br /> <br /><br />77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome<br /><br /> <br /><br />78 Germinal - Emile Zola<br /><br /> <br /><br />79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray<br /><br /> <br /><br />80 Possession - AS Byatt<br /><br /> <br /><br />81 <strong>A Christmas Carol </strong>- Charles Dickens<br /><br /> <br /><br />82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell<br /><br /> <br /><br />83 <strong>The Color Purple </strong>- Alice Walker<br /><br /> <br /><br />84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro<br /><br /> <br /><br />85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert<br /><br /> <br /><br />86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry<br /><br /> <br /><br />87 <strong>Charlotte’s Web </strong>- E.B. White<br /><br /> <br /><br />88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom<br /><br /> <br /><br />89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle<br /><br /> <br /><br />90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton<br /><br /> <br /><br />91 <strong>Heart of Darkness </strong>- Joseph Conrad<br /><br /> <br /><br />92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery<br /><br /> <br /><br />93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks<br /><br /> <br /><br />94 Watership Down - Richard Adams<br /><br /> <br /><br />95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole<br /><br /> <br /><br />96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute<br /><br /> <br /><br />97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas<br /><br /> <br /><br />98 <strong>Hamlet</strong> - William Shakespeare<br /><br /> <br /><br />99 <strong>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory </strong>- Roald Dahl<br /><br /> <br /><br />100 Les Miserables - Victor HugoCrystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-55309469659691024332010-10-14T18:38:00.000-07:002010-10-14T18:40:20.071-07:00Obsessed<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbGdbUfk8jRnznGI5GjEK0BOKR85V4LK7boCH9f_BzkiQLTtaNk7WjJn4Hdg7KIn3fShk6OV1Jbf89cX6syU4-2OTZYcVwfRPdqyMN766y9CdnJo0_zj50j8B-8Eqn3cbVl-mR2aJZ2c/s1600/Hunger-Games-Poster-HG2-the-hunger-game-trilogy-8235537-600-889.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbGdbUfk8jRnznGI5GjEK0BOKR85V4LK7boCH9f_BzkiQLTtaNk7WjJn4Hdg7KIn3fShk6OV1Jbf89cX6syU4-2OTZYcVwfRPdqyMN766y9CdnJo0_zj50j8B-8Eqn3cbVl-mR2aJZ2c/s400/Hunger-Games-Poster-HG2-the-hunger-game-trilogy-8235537-600-889.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528081574223285058" /></a><br />Please, people, do yourself a favor and get these books. Get them. Read them. Trust me. They are beyond amazing*.<br /><br /><br />*Better than TwilightCrystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-52880298763880355562010-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:002010-06-23T13:09:18.577-07:006:23 in the Morning"Good Morning, Mama, how are you today?!"<br />My 2 year old bounds, climbs, yanks himself onto my bed examining my face<br />I struggle to open one eye and suddenly we are nose to nose, <br />his bright eyes not only alert, but shining<br /><br />As if I should already be impatiently awaiting, <br />at 6:23 A.M.,<br />The Grand Adventure that will be this day<br /><br />"Too early, Ty, go back to sleep, o.k.?"<br />He deflates like a balloon, wilting back into the covers<br />and reaches to search for my hair with one hand,<br />tightly winding it around his chubby little fist<br /><br />As if my hair is his safety latch,<br />a bungee cord,<br />He uses this harness to pull my hair to his face<br /><br />He pops his thumb in his mouth, forefinger over the bridge of his nose,<br />face buried into my mane, and inhales deeply <br />The sweet smell of slobber mixed with suave.<br />He snuggles as close as possible<br /><br />As if close can never be close enough,<br />Wallerin' my mama used to call it,<br />because there is always something that is closer than close<br /><br />Then and only then, after his most important, personal ritual<br />Ty slips back to sleep,<br />Body peaceful and limp, hand sliding from my hair,<br />Thumb falling out of his mouth onto the pillow<br /><br />As if there is no greater sleeping pill<br />than finding the spot that is closer than close,<br />wallerin' on mama, drifting away.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-18551364569950815592010-06-23T12:36:00.000-07:002010-06-23T12:45:50.502-07:00An Ode to FractionsHalf it and Half it and Half it again<br />1/3, 1/4, 1/75th of the 10.<br />My fraction passion began as an innocent chile'<br />An engaging lesson taught with a cherry pie<br /><br />Deviously fractions slunk into my life<br />Under the pretense of fun and vieling true strife<br />Cups of sugar, tablespoons, Bing cherries, flaky crust<br />How fun you are fractions, first impression was to trust<br /><br />That math could be awesome, engaging, and true<br />Oh, what wicked webs, Fractions are lying to you<br />They are not just for cooking, measuring, and such<br />Later they cause headaches when divided and mutiplied much<br /><br />You see fractions grab you as a child and place you under their spell<br />You've no idea how slippery the slope is to torture, but they know it well <br />Alas, after 1st grade Math had opened this portal, a dasturdly door,<br />Blindly I was tricked to stroll through and loathe evermore.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-74611948876459347582010-06-23T12:17:00.000-07:002010-06-23T12:36:40.654-07:00My VoiceThis came from a lesson that a fellow teacher demonstrated for my summer institute on getting kids to recognize and demonstrate voice in writing. With many students they haven't enough writing experience to really decide what their voice is, but when I did this activity I really feel it put a concrete feeling to what your personal voice is in your writing.<br /><br />Recipe for My Voice<br /><br />Ingredients<br /><br />2 cups of compassion<br />4 Tablespoons of playfulness<br />1/2 cup of respect for others<br />2 Tablespoons of glee<br />3 Tablespoons of encouragement<br />a dash of confidence<br />2 cups of anxiety<br />1 cup of eithera fear, uncertainty, or guilt<br />Sarcasm and humor sprinkles on top<br /><br />Recipe<br /><br />1. To form the base of this complicated souffle, pack down the 2 cups of compassion so that it forms a strong, solid layer underneath everything else. Sprinkle 4 TBS of playfulness on top of this compassionate base.<br /><br />2. In a seperate bowl, stir 2 TBS. of glee with 3 TBS. of encouragement. At this point add the dash of confidence. (Note: Confidence is a rare ingredient. If it can not be found than imitation extract of confidence will fool you average taster, but unfortunately not the consumer with the very fine palate.) This will be the next layer.<br /><br />3. The final layer, which does create an admittedly sour cream crust, is made of 2 cups anxiety (make sure anxiety has sat out and simmered for at least 24 hours) To the anxiety, fold in the cup of fear, uncertainty, or guilt. Pour this mixture on top of the sweet filling for a contrast of flavors. Finally, however, to tone down the bite of the top layer, sprinkle with humor and sarcasm.<br /><br />Warning: When baking, timing is so important. The humor and sarcasm should, like yeast, cause the concoction to rise; however, depending on the air of the room, to humid, for example, or too cold, and the souffle may fall flat.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-25958642848207687222010-06-18T20:41:00.001-07:002010-06-20T13:21:31.283-07:00Boxes 2nd editionTo an adult a box is a box. A cardboard cube, a boring bin. An adult packs boxes to the brim with knick knacks and this and that to be moved from here to there or anywhere. <br /><br />They will not stop to play with the box, will not crawl inside the box, and grownups will not decorate the box. They don't understand. <br /><br />But children know that a box is more than just a box. We know the truth because even though we are smaller, and younger, and somewhat more wild, we are also wiser, and relaxed, and somewhat more clever. <br /><br />A new toy can only be that one toy...but the box it arrived in? The sky is the limit to what it can be. The sky is the limit as to what we can see.<br /><br />Boxes turn into robots with holes cut for little arms, legs, and faces. We can’t draw on our new toys, it is a rule, but no one will fuss if we add life, and dials and switches to our machine suit. Grownups do not remember robot-speak, but kids CAN - BE - THE – ROBOT.<br /><br />On a chilly autumn day, Mom will wrap us in our turtlenecks and scarves. We fill a box with red, orange, and yellow leaves and create a pit to pounce in. Beware! Creepy bugs may crawl up our arms and legs. Parents will only be happy that the yard is clean; they don't understand the prize in a fall blanket. <br /><br />In the winter, if snow is scarce, flattened boxes are sleds that soar down steep, grass-covered hills. We love zooming down, down, down and tumbling in a pile at the bottom of the ride. Who needs snow to fly?<br /><br />After a move to a new house, a million boxes are left empty. What a kingdom these boxes can make! Big, small, and medium sized, the boxes create a castle of turrets, drawbridges, dungeons, and moats. In a flash, we can escape to our fortress to defend our freedom from dragons, sorcerers, naps, and little brothers. <br /><br />A giant box can be a candy land cottage. Let’s use Mama's old, red tablecloth for curtains. Borden milk cartons can be flower boxes, and we can draw our picket fence with a white crayon. Because we are decorating our box, we can color family portraits, wallpaper patterns, or a fancy chandelier its walls. Interior design by Crayola. Adults think walls are only to hold up buildings. If they only knew!<br /><br />"All Aboard!" Several boxes create the boxcars of the Santa Fe Express rumbling along the Pecos Valley Railway. While exploring the Wild, Wild West, we are pioneers of the plains racing a buffalo stampede and escorting covered wagons from town to town. We barely escape an outlaw robbery by Jesse James riding past the freight cars, gun blazing. <br /><br />In which season of someone's life does a box turn back into a box? Boxes don’t have to turn back into boxes, you know? Kids, when confronted with cardboard, we must promise to remind those grownups what fun it can be to think outside the box.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-82637344708203438822010-06-17T08:23:00.001-07:002010-06-18T13:31:53.513-07:00Kid With Box on HeadDuring National Writing Project Summer Institute yesterday, my "class" took a mini field trip to USM's museum of art. They are exhibiting children's author and photographer Tana Hoban's collection. Her daughter, Miela Gallob Ford, donated the collection to USM after Mrs. Hoban passed away. It is a great exhibit, and I would highly recommend it to my elementary teacher friends. Text me and I will give you the information. I also highly recommend it to my photography friend, Chris Maul of Chris Maul Photography because I could see him creating similar projects with a writer (ahem, wonder if he knows any of those? ahem, ahem?). Here are some books that Tana Hoban is famous for:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYi9fBESsiCrloC0WVVswpxirlNYIo5z4kafDrQq_QySCVfR6fFmp2G6ZHWzcLJiJ7hLnm0lLd7UoOOMW5RE_BJ3IHwuKFsU6xPKRxkdOT5JUyEwwoAUyyqSr7FvcUISIIzAE12e1eNTc/s1600/th.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYi9fBESsiCrloC0WVVswpxirlNYIo5z4kafDrQq_QySCVfR6fFmp2G6ZHWzcLJiJ7hLnm0lLd7UoOOMW5RE_BJ3IHwuKFsU6xPKRxkdOT5JUyEwwoAUyyqSr7FvcUISIIzAE12e1eNTc/s400/th.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483778049865757410" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvLOVl2LsZQlseztpNtBHsOPA7FybcJLfVoZBhr_ZS-7Fjz62gC3bwPRXLHYV6Jr-7gJj3GSpr38hlaCY7CtlQ6Wb0C6K9991UrF1acNmogqSj85d6cl0enOhDGVDtbSQb6GeGziNcH0/s1600/hoban.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 124px; height: 101px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvLOVl2LsZQlseztpNtBHsOPA7FybcJLfVoZBhr_ZS-7Fjz62gC3bwPRXLHYV6Jr-7gJj3GSpr38hlaCY7CtlQ6Wb0C6K9991UrF1acNmogqSj85d6cl0enOhDGVDtbSQb6GeGziNcH0/s400/hoban.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483778043553425730" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic9jOQJMvj8Ht-W5hY237ukxRwHKEPlCER0kcoR9_MVlQq33jSzkYC1ZJHgSRBMYQD9yMj4ApRRprXucCwkv58NMK-_Jg44nmIhigWfGScxwQfJbZs99rGKS6ptdDWzivd3GTN_ACSr1g/s1600/Tana.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 125px; height: 101px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic9jOQJMvj8Ht-W5hY237ukxRwHKEPlCER0kcoR9_MVlQq33jSzkYC1ZJHgSRBMYQD9yMj4ApRRprXucCwkv58NMK-_Jg44nmIhigWfGScxwQfJbZs99rGKS6ptdDWzivd3GTN_ACSr1g/s400/Tana.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483778035189968162" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anywho, one of the pictures in the collection of children's photography inspired the beginning of a writing piece. The title of the picture was "Kid with Box on Head," original, right? This photo pictures a very young girl who has cut out a window in a box and placed said box on her head. She looks like a robot, causing everyone who walks past the picture to chuckle knowingly, and it reminded me of the passionate love that all children have for the simplicity of a box.<br /><br />This is a very rough, rough draft. My purpose for presenting it on this blog is for you, whoever you are, to help me make it better. Please give me ideas, ask questions, etc. I have a vision of turning this, one day, into a children's book with real photography of children making use of boxes.<br /><br /><br />To an adult a box is a box. A cardboard cube, a boring bin. An adult packs boxes to the brim with knick knacks and this and that to be moved from here to there or anywhere. They will not stop to play with the box, will not crawl inside the box, and grownups will not decorate the box. They just have no clue. <br /><br />But children know that a box is more than just a box. We know the truth because even though we are smaller, and younger, and somewhat more wild, we are wiser, and relaxed, and somewhat more clever. We recognize the potential of a box over shiny, new toys in crisp, colorful wrapping paper. A new toy can only be that toy, and the wrapping paper is torn and, therefore, of no use...but the box? The sky is the limit to what it can be. The sky is the limit as to what we can see.<br /><br />Boxes magically turn into robots as holes are cut for little arms, legs, and faces. Dials, gauges, numbers, and such supply power to a machine friend. Though forbidden to draw on new toys, it is considered quite creative to add symbols and switches to android suits. Adults do not remember robot-speak, it is a language they no longer can hear, but kids CAN - BE - THE - ROBOT.(pic of child with box on head)<br /><br />On a chilly autumn day, boxes are not just boxes, and leaves are not just leaves. Turtlenecked and scarved, we fill a box with red, orange, and yellow and create a pit to pounce in; Beware! Creepy bugs may crawl up our arms and legs, so there is some danger in diving pleasure. Parents will only be happy that the yard is clean; They also don't quite understand the prize in a fall blanket. <br /><br />In the winter, if snow is scarce, flattened boxes are sleds that soar down steep, grass-covered hills. We love zooming down, down, down to tumble in a pile at the bottom of the ride. Who needs snow to fly?<br /><br />Moving to a new house creates a treasure trove of boxes left empty and waiting. What a kingdom these boxes create! Big, small, and medium sized, the boxes create a castle of turrets, drawbridges, dungeons, and moats. In a flash, we can escape to our fortress to defend our freedom from dragons, sorcerors, naps, and little brothers. <br /><br />A giant fridge box can be a cottage in the woods made picture perfect by Mama's old, red tablecloth hung as curtains, Bordon milk cartons as flower boxes, and white crayon-sketches as a picket fence. Though forbidden in the hallway, it is considered fine art to add any type of family portrait, wallpaper pattern, or fancy chandelier on the cottage walls and ceiling. Interior design by Crayola. Adults think walls are only to hold up buildings. If they only knew!<br /><br />"All Aboard!" Several boxes create the boxcars of the Santa Fe Express rumbling along the Pecos Valley Railway. While exploring the wild, wild West, we are pioneers of the plains racing a buffalo stampeded across the plains and escorting covered wagons from town to town. We barely escape an outlaw robbery by Jesse James riding past the frieght cars, gun blazing. <br /><br />In which season of someone's life does a box turn back into a box? Perhaps when one is too old to crawl inside a castle, fort, or cottage. Or perhaps when one can no longer see past the end of one's nose. This doesn't have to happen, you know. Kids, when confronted with cardboard, we must promise to remind our aged friends what the world holds for those who can think outside the box.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-53347818758027378462010-06-15T08:10:00.000-07:002010-06-15T09:54:53.599-07:00When I Was Young in the Anywhere, Everywhere ArmyThis piece was inspired by this book...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOP7b6JDXcN6fKrEIAq1WczeXLEv_Izdd9IBhO5pGkrDQnG-PoRU1uvZs6VBFkTa3rokoQfhB6fVvFjWeKD3Y39xl6CMhwCbuuJRxQs_4ddC3iST00Z69dvgQ7HEPs_KeLfAgMqm6j8s/s1600/book.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 307px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOP7b6JDXcN6fKrEIAq1WczeXLEv_Izdd9IBhO5pGkrDQnG-PoRU1uvZs6VBFkTa3rokoQfhB6fVvFjWeKD3Y39xl6CMhwCbuuJRxQs_4ddC3iST00Z69dvgQ7HEPs_KeLfAgMqm6j8s/s400/book.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483019205538664466" /></a><br /><br />It is a great children's book, and if you have children, you should get it and have them write their own "When I was Young." Fun, fun activity. They would also love to hear your "When I was Young."<br /><br />So hear goes...<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />When I was young in the army, we never stayed anywhere more than two years, that was the maximum that the Colonel would let you stay at HIS base.<br /><br />When I was young in the army, every two years Dad made a choice from three options, exotic options like Hawaii or Florida. But Dad never chose the fun places. He chose North Carolina; Ft. Polk, LA; or Seminary, MS, always as close to our "home base" as possible.<br /><br />When I was young in the Army, one time Dad DID choose the exotic place, Bitburg, Germany. My mom and I boarded a plane. I had never been on a plane before because the other places were within driving distance, if you count several days as driving distance, which my Dad most certainly did. BUT, we couldn't drive over the ocean, so we flew to meet Dad in Europe.<br /><br />When I was young in Germany, many of the streets were made of rocks, and nuns would walk past us in the village outside the base as we headed to the ice creame shoppe for spaghetti ice, my favorite dessert. Spaghetti Ice was vanilla ice cream squeezed through a press to look like noodles. The sauce was strawberry topping, and the meatballs were crushed nuts and whip cream. For years my parents have tried to replicate this dessert with no luck thus far.<br /><br />When I was young in Germany, we lived eight flights up in an apartment that was very small. No living conditions in the army are spacious, but it was nice and cozy and together.<br /><br />When I was young in Germany, we would walk in Volksmarches, like volkswagon is the people's car, Volksmarches are the peoples' walks. We would walk for 500 million kilometers. I would last about .75 kilometers of the 500 bazillion before I shimmied up my dad's side to my perch on top of his shoulders. At the end of each Volksmarch, medals were hung around our necks. The exhausted crowd devoured Bratwurst, and Dad drank dark beer out of souvineer beerstiens.<br /><br />When I was young in Germany, there were vineyards, windmills, durndell dresses, mountains, and sight seeing, a lot of sight seeing. The images of Europe are beautiful snapshots in my mind. Everyone in my family agreed it was the best experience ever, and we should definitely go back one day.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-42371966293082921142010-06-11T13:27:00.000-07:002010-06-11T14:17:14.990-07:00Peanut!My cousins and my grandmother used to sit around her kitchen table with cheese straws, three decks of cards, and a scoresheet. The youngest, and only girl grandchild, I would peer behind each chair, making my way slowly and quietly around the table, so as not to be a nuisance and risk getting shoo'ed away. I would continue to circle like a buzzard, for the hour or so it would take, trying to make sense of this card game that caused Stewart's hands to fly rapidly in a blur from stack to stack. <br /><br />This crazy game in which the concentration on H.B.'s face would become fierce, and so, so serious. <br /><br />This curious pastime that would frustrate my Grandmother so, to the point of suddenly and piercingly squealing,<br /><br />"Slow down! You are going too fast; I'm old!" <br /><br />The big boys would grin and slow their Speedy Gonzalas hands a little. Grandma would cut a sly look out of the corner of each eye at each boy and proceed to cheat. Taking advantage of the boys' kindness, my sweet, loving, devious, mischevious Grandmother would manipulate those cards and her grandchildren terribly. Oh, yes, there was some serious cheating going on at that table, but we all loved the game, and I was fascinated.<br /><br />I began to teach myself to play. Really, it was only abbreviated games of solitaire being played off of one another. The first to win their solitaire hand would scream (if that someone was Grandma) or squeak like a timid mouse (if it was a cursed grandchild who knew they were about to cause a dark cloud to ascend),<br /><br />"PEANUT!"<br /><br />The first step beyond simple observation was to teach my hands to soar. I played solitaire until I was FAST, until my hands could be blurs as well. Next step was to resume my position behind the chairs, namely Grandma's chair, and proceed to tell her where to place her cards. She permitted this for a short time, only because I was the only granddaughter, therefore preferred, and definitely the favorite. The boys never would have permitted this as I was, to them, an annoying little bug whose only positive trait was that I was incredibly ticklish and, therefore, capable of providing them with several minutes of entertainment. However, even to Grandma, I eventually bacame too much of a pest, and she finally became aggravated enough to spit out the words I had been waiting to hear, <br /><br />"Quit telling me what to do, child, and sit down! Stewart, get her a pack of cards." <br />In that moment I realized that I had my own chair; I would forevermore be asked to play, at every visit, every holiday, and every sweltering summer afternoon.<br /><br />Every now and then I won, most often I lost, and sometimes, even I...(gasp) CHEATED...a little.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-5651084700623242782010-06-11T13:25:00.001-07:002010-06-11T13:26:33.229-07:00My Solemn VowUgh! I hate my name. Hippy on the one end and old-fashioned on the other. Crystal Faye. It sounds like an exotic dancer. When I was very young, my mother would try to appease my complaints about my name saying, "It means 'Crystal-Clear Faith,' and that is what I want you to have, so beautiful, named after your Grandmother." Awwww, how precious! We have a wide abundance of horrific names in our family, so I guess I should be delighted that I didn't get one of the others (sorry, Ronald Osborne). <br /><br />Fast forward several years, to the day I uncovered reality. Suddenly, the truth was out there. By there I mean there in the living room. On a particularly lacking summer day, I was kneeling on the shag carpet, thumbing through my parents old vinyl records, for lack of anything better to do and because I have always found it interesting to see what Mom and Dad were like "back in the day" when they were real people, not parents. Suddenly, my thumb stopped, <br /><br />"Surely NOT!" <br /><br />I panicked, realizing that I had indeed discovered the cold, hard truth. <br /><br />Right THERE, sandwiched between Pat Benatar and the Eagles, record after record after record, of a ridiculously long, long-haired, twangy-voiced, country singer that I had surely never heard of before now.<br /><br />Crystal Gayle. <br /><br />When approached with the offensive evidence, my Dad vehemently denied both his obession for this artist and that he would ever commit such a grevious sin as to inflict a preformer's name on his first-born child, like some silly teenage groupie. But...the proof is in the pudding and my mother's knowing smirk. So I did the only thing a tween could do to absolutely rebel with every fiber of my being against something that had been decided and thrust on me without my knowledge, permission, or even acceptance, I chopped all my hair off and vowed a solemn vow, my most special promise, to NEVER, EVER in my life let my mane grow past my shoulders.Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-20783816196443689042009-12-28T13:44:00.000-08:002009-12-28T14:01:07.744-08:00Honesty is easy for a big mouth!I was tagged by a good bible study friend, <a href="http://kellyusm.blogspot.com/">Kelly</a>, to write 10 honest things about myself, so here goes.<br /><br />Here are the rules:<br />1. Say thanks and give a link to the one who gave you the award.<br />2. Share 10 honest things about yourself.<br />3. Present this award to 3 other fantastically brilliant blogs of content or design, or peeps that have encouraged you.<br />4. Tell those 3 people they've been awarded and make sure they're informed of these guidelines.<br /><br />1. I worry about everything...and when I don't have something to worry about I search until I find something. My mother is the same way.<br />2. I have the biggest guilt complex of anyone I know; if I feel I have done something wrong I CAN NOT forgive myself for it, even if the person I have wronged has already forgiven me and God has too. <br />3. I really envy crafty people, and I wish I could be crafty too.<br />4. I can not imagine loving another child as much as I love Ty, and I feel like I will always be comparing the next one to Ty, and then I feel guilty for this (see number 2).<br />5. Macaroni and Cheese is my favorite food.<br />6. I truly believe that my husband was hand-picked for me by God.<br />7. In fact, I believe that God is really planning my life down to the very minute details, such as sending me dreams to let me know what to do...I know I sound crazy! But honest!<br />8. I don't worry as much when I teach or am at bible study; therefore, I must teach and go to bible study...to live.<br />9. Sometimes I get so scared that I think I might actually die...right then and there.<br />10. 1, 2, 8, and 9 seem impossible if 6 and 7 are really true...I know...so, number 10 is that I am a bundle of contradictions and little faith, but big hope, and possibly just completely insane...<br /><br />I may need drugs...Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-81237383283906809872009-12-12T20:28:00.001-08:002009-12-12T20:30:38.694-08:00FOUND IT!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzxGEBDzUSCH4bdWDieJ9Kv94rs-M6u9gqo8HzOOZJpVy9Sx1t-wVod9edujEwSJS7dpRC11L8Ez3DB2rnYUmLn2RCJpYRTQbigR6lS_sAEEs1rzPrBYg86d1llgfC7QIpQftcnqFS0w/s1600-h/IMG_5354.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414573304189045378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEzxGEBDzUSCH4bdWDieJ9Kv94rs-M6u9gqo8HzOOZJpVy9Sx1t-wVod9edujEwSJS7dpRC11L8Ez3DB2rnYUmLn2RCJpYRTQbigR6lS_sAEEs1rzPrBYg86d1llgfC7QIpQftcnqFS0w/s400/IMG_5354.JPG" /></a> This year...<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2eRJ2XGuF-FKTOvOkLGETLKfy-6bs-Xu1pE2tKhYhpLqDw_wdtiO7ssiV3uNCVBUjHUFXV2DiKWgq_ghsuaHtRbLLl9pYni9IgIVK9AMrEqOra3vk9Gians_7AO0N0kEVjLOXfS7xtpQ/s1600-h/IMG_3851.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414573297214701618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2eRJ2XGuF-FKTOvOkLGETLKfy-6bs-Xu1pE2tKhYhpLqDw_wdtiO7ssiV3uNCVBUjHUFXV2DiKWgq_ghsuaHtRbLLl9pYni9IgIVK9AMrEqOra3vk9Gians_7AO0N0kEVjLOXfS7xtpQ/s400/IMG_3851.JPG" /></a> Last year...<br /><br /><div></div></div>Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-61217363401234150152009-12-12T14:29:00.000-08:002009-12-12T20:06:57.427-08:00Training-wheel-chopsticks<p align="center"> </p><p align="center">How fun is this???</p><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyayuz4NEDTOut4fmZMHJPIQEpUcDKX6x6ucd1V6duRay0n_YJrHIXEXVTZPL9cccoo8xhwEAQCv0h9StEprw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p>Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-13547776139597556072009-12-12T14:20:00.000-08:002009-12-12T20:31:45.457-08:00Getting ready for Traja (don't ask)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZfk1r49jcuf7IM2i5IcVwIsVFSohk2dzMq1eqObSYlV1_m26Hfdsn2iUCFyEPbEclKUcznJKRViwRmTSMJfOMufflKK66GnlGwnQU6QF7X2TRSx7Ev9Id9DKg8BDAN00FnvKNAHKS1Kc/s1600-h/IMG_5434.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414479408779320242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZfk1r49jcuf7IM2i5IcVwIsVFSohk2dzMq1eqObSYlV1_m26Hfdsn2iUCFyEPbEclKUcznJKRViwRmTSMJfOMufflKK66GnlGwnQU6QF7X2TRSx7Ev9Id9DKg8BDAN00FnvKNAHKS1Kc/s400/IMG_5434.JPG" /></a> We rang the bell at Corner Market for the Salvation Army. Ty racked up, and several people said that Temple really knew how to get the money as they had positioned cute kidlets at this location for around 4 hours. 'Twas true! That bucket was F-U-L-L!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_G4OilJs1M64zjuYFy83yJ97-5G0Y3-p2AA_7xdPCPUH5GlqVYC2Fyoa9qkFebaqVrmFyc9hTbpv6ZZeaZVswkbRRBxplppTJQGpzs3zOXWsmlbGfuu-SNcGO_MGev6eh8vTao4AjWLY/s1600-h/IMG_5449.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414479401341527650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_G4OilJs1M64zjuYFy83yJ97-5G0Y3-p2AA_7xdPCPUH5GlqVYC2Fyoa9qkFebaqVrmFyc9hTbpv6ZZeaZVswkbRRBxplppTJQGpzs3zOXWsmlbGfuu-SNcGO_MGev6eh8vTao4AjWLY/s400/IMG_5449.JPG" /></a><br />Ty was better at eating with training-wheel chopsticks than he is with a real fork, and he liked it better. Hmmm...an idea for my little picky eater. Who in the hey would have thought that I would have a picky eater child!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERQQMAEv7SrdERtfqgx4Tlob3scnGYRX82Dr_0opymGc5WhpZq1U6lBxTxDlCaq9_74ooH2kFq0SiQfU7-bLIhNEDJK2dqG9FQ4i6n5uBIO_JTM6hE80obhlX8KIe0APUjc65AUxqwkc/s1600-h/IMG_5450.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414479398054302514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERQQMAEv7SrdERtfqgx4Tlob3scnGYRX82Dr_0opymGc5WhpZq1U6lBxTxDlCaq9_74ooH2kFq0SiQfU7-bLIhNEDJK2dqG9FQ4i6n5uBIO_JTM6hE80obhlX8KIe0APUjc65AUxqwkc/s400/IMG_5450.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir0puRJU4CCIJYFkwoOTJI8PX46IBmFTNHiUJPTRey9cbkibQLEGBbkO3JTg7s6IxuoZzhQkogrIM3pU9pwjiHyIBk9ivU1Rv9su0orEhc1gajfb4OT9tXDQbMnPuOCfs0EpOSwPI4JhY/s1600-h/IMG_5452.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414479386801427186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir0puRJU4CCIJYFkwoOTJI8PX46IBmFTNHiUJPTRey9cbkibQLEGBbkO3JTg7s6IxuoZzhQkogrIM3pU9pwjiHyIBk9ivU1Rv9su0orEhc1gajfb4OT9tXDQbMnPuOCfs0EpOSwPI4JhY/s400/IMG_5452.JPG" /></a><br /><br />We LOVE the LEWIS LIGHTS! So fun and amazing...what a power bill they must have!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz08jQQ19Ox-2INp2PcUBlA5xATGU933VY_7ttN2wtG9OUjU-QcS9y-bq7ahebFcoCqOQLm3GiwwmnqltxziJvWXluPeSnMHpMJqYypVUOfkROFzdvWoln_T4r156KmeTTTiF3nLHwTo0/s1600-h/IMG_5456.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414479380953610610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz08jQQ19Ox-2INp2PcUBlA5xATGU933VY_7ttN2wtG9OUjU-QcS9y-bq7ahebFcoCqOQLm3GiwwmnqltxziJvWXluPeSnMHpMJqYypVUOfkROFzdvWoln_T4r156KmeTTTiF3nLHwTo0/s400/IMG_5456.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />BTW...</div><div><br /><div>We have no earthly idea what traja means, but Ty mentions it whenever we talk about Christmas...and we THINK it MIGHT be another name for Santa or presents or Jesus or well, it could be anything!</div></div></div></div></div>Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-64433113462571596692009-12-12T13:44:00.000-08:002009-12-12T20:43:11.620-08:00Steak, it's what's for dinner...Thanksgiving dinner that is!<u><span style="color:#0066cc;">I took this same picture last year, and I think it is on this blog somewhere. Well, here we are a year later, same place, same mommy and dat boy.</span></u><br /><u><span style="color:#0066cc;"></span></u><br /><u><span style="color:#0066cc;"></span></u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrg2GcS4NNMYEuk838elHSRwT7pNvxE9W5g5BR-HZQj9Qc_v-t78If-H6buVA8pdna6xREZrB9G3G13En9o4E1dpEZNQEU8CuYOHRbI-UsdUZ31TF4A98gFrk1ked6WbM7sCvc5oawHw8/s1600-h/IMG_5354.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414475577959411458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrg2GcS4NNMYEuk838elHSRwT7pNvxE9W5g5BR-HZQj9Qc_v-t78If-H6buVA8pdna6xREZrB9G3G13En9o4E1dpEZNQEU8CuYOHRbI-UsdUZ31TF4A98gFrk1ked6WbM7sCvc5oawHw8/s400/IMG_5354.JPG" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div>If someone could please tell me how to tell blogger where I want pictures to be in relation to words, instead of them deciding where things should be, I would really appreciate it. But until then, you will see pictures first and then clever anecdote, instead of vice versa like I had intended.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVd8e9c49KTQgmwkPjNqZw7i-TLxyU-zY7tgizGKM9ghHDBJInDC7UX2KwDOlRiNmQMjsIBg20LGNlOP_1E28GAywWbLMEB4VeD1Sk525Q5NMVtfI6xKFaI0qnVj1kB7UA1-u3-QueOs/s1600-h/IMG_5408.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414472600041963026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVd8e9c49KTQgmwkPjNqZw7i-TLxyU-zY7tgizGKM9ghHDBJInDC7UX2KwDOlRiNmQMjsIBg20LGNlOP_1E28GAywWbLMEB4VeD1Sk525Q5NMVtfI6xKFaI0qnVj1kB7UA1-u3-QueOs/s400/IMG_5408.JPG" /></a> Thanksgiving morning...my boys being cutest ever.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvLW3A2QEKosBzxH5DXI4k-MNW3BTEK6ans5YSrExQLHyrJgD5O8azUBhDEuNejPxMaUvirdmOMdiDJP6vGYjONdbOQ0-pJ7FEFoWRZkZ_QwgISjL1xIxSS-kXvRgy825tWpKOPC9-EVg/s1600-h/IMG_5411.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414472588737844786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvLW3A2QEKosBzxH5DXI4k-MNW3BTEK6ans5YSrExQLHyrJgD5O8azUBhDEuNejPxMaUvirdmOMdiDJP6vGYjONdbOQ0-pJ7FEFoWRZkZ_QwgISjL1xIxSS-kXvRgy825tWpKOPC9-EVg/s400/IMG_5411.JPG" /></a> I made chocolate chip waffles and they were amazing...kind of like eating a stack of chocolate chip cookies in syrup. Wow!<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyhaisnQfO4_mB8LZouHhLO16fBZOaJn4T36cSD0kzzXZQdpKR2SVDeeuElJoUgUejFQ_3wVXpMrokZgT4SI4qt1IP-I7ossX_Oc3zvyff6kMkhVQ-z7TCmB3dn-oa-u2ycM0tF0hx7A/s1600-h/IMG_5420.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414472575530493250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyhaisnQfO4_mB8LZouHhLO16fBZOaJn4T36cSD0kzzXZQdpKR2SVDeeuElJoUgUejFQ_3wVXpMrokZgT4SI4qt1IP-I7ossX_Oc3zvyff6kMkhVQ-z7TCmB3dn-oa-u2ycM0tF0hx7A/s400/IMG_5420.JPG" /></a> Ty was a fan! He ate them while he watched the Macey's Thanksgiving Day parade.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8pKoOEg2-aJT2k1pVxFz8YsQ4wOPSTvk4CU5hsjScnKsOqLoYxpFFLCf8Ihjl1Dpd2WnYI_SlTu0LPTHntmKoqU9Eh8LQH72yq1mP-rewQx2RbGtu36VtK1Nw7KYz4e7GdMaRe3QZijg/s1600-h/IMG_5309.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414472568366261570" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8pKoOEg2-aJT2k1pVxFz8YsQ4wOPSTvk4CU5hsjScnKsOqLoYxpFFLCf8Ihjl1Dpd2WnYI_SlTu0LPTHntmKoqU9Eh8LQH72yq1mP-rewQx2RbGtu36VtK1Nw7KYz4e7GdMaRe3QZijg/s400/IMG_5309.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Yummy! (Actually, this was a totally different day, but I thought the picture was cute and shows how big Dat Boy is getting.)<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhil_FPmn7yjzLA96wSWen1HyDLZeKF16NO33Q589pE_Pjy1cAyOdydcJDRwjwc3wugzUUFsagzJ9bpVxIpqiyIahw3DIA7QlVdHY5uBtQBNZKRy_oUoEoKdLiCT916maPIvtVJmkPkjek/s1600-h/IMG_5423.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414472567072955522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhil_FPmn7yjzLA96wSWen1HyDLZeKF16NO33Q589pE_Pjy1cAyOdydcJDRwjwc3wugzUUFsagzJ9bpVxIpqiyIahw3DIA7QlVdHY5uBtQBNZKRy_oUoEoKdLiCT916maPIvtVJmkPkjek/s400/IMG_5423.JPG" /></a><br />We went to Lewis Smith Farm to get our tree. Ty liked this one, but everyone knows that at our house this would hardly suffice...ah well, he will learn.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74N79z1jeZ9FDpZsAmRmskn7wXw9W1-jHtCnz7SFVMnU4aBc3pMse6NajdMONxI8AxmkURzRtR0PzF179oSkPMsmuoTXhLcWO2f9mk2y9sKPiTzLrx31TGv9wCi8suHmu9xMMtO2SmiQ/s1600-h/IMG_5406.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414470788398234130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74N79z1jeZ9FDpZsAmRmskn7wXw9W1-jHtCnz7SFVMnU4aBc3pMse6NajdMONxI8AxmkURzRtR0PzF179oSkPMsmuoTXhLcWO2f9mk2y9sKPiTzLrx31TGv9wCi8suHmu9xMMtO2SmiQ/s400/IMG_5406.JPG" /></a><br />I am so proud of myself for these tables...Ya'll know I am not crafty, so this is pretty good for me. I can't even draw a straight line, and I have no idea what looks good together. Jenny says this character trait makes me interesting. So there!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGJ2AnG1b828O50ZMCFbi-bcjcioERad-s0MJk_C3mGEey-kCJVWPo-t_PiKPqQgJW-CTc-8v2ihx-AjXO88XEDsfuwnq7eIbxzYNcccMWRzh38sWmaAqF_Oud8IpFs2hrZENyzzPZWU/s1600-h/IMG_5400.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414470781969035106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGJ2AnG1b828O50ZMCFbi-bcjcioERad-s0MJk_C3mGEey-kCJVWPo-t_PiKPqQgJW-CTc-8v2ihx-AjXO88XEDsfuwnq7eIbxzYNcccMWRzh38sWmaAqF_Oud8IpFs2hrZENyzzPZWU/s400/IMG_5400.JPG" /></a>This AMAZING bouquet came from University Florist, and was arranged by Glenn. He is amazing! and nice! You should call him for all your floral needs.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f5-0t1ij9mCg8S0iNCqkT_zWdphQ33hR_CIpebjXKvLqiDcoNnoCTpknJF0xxnfLzgfLuRc9UipwNaiAl3wvwDdrSTikHvfQ17iw712rbkNj-g-_I-KXMsgvWXIz0ToPg8fSmsQ0e6U/s1600-h/IMG_5362.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414470778221445714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f5-0t1ij9mCg8S0iNCqkT_zWdphQ33hR_CIpebjXKvLqiDcoNnoCTpknJF0xxnfLzgfLuRc9UipwNaiAl3wvwDdrSTikHvfQ17iw712rbkNj-g-_I-KXMsgvWXIz0ToPg8fSmsQ0e6U/s400/IMG_5362.JPG" /></a><br />At the beginning of our Thanksgiving holiday, we took a little trip to spend some time with some wonderful, wonderful friends. This is Ty and Averie at the Atlanta Aquarium. They play together so well, and make me homesick. Or should it be "faraway sick" as Scott and Andie are the ones so far away!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFV-HtvrKETOXTpOXhlvan4kZrpB-61_MJ88inlk1CVmT87JHupS_DYv7QzdmFsorhUP0wQDY3Ry-tq6JanM4ea-8CO8CWMrrCf51b9HGAc23Psm662ePWtkHhX_oJSEE8YOGXsC4lYQ/s1600-h/IMG_5352.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414470773868668402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFV-HtvrKETOXTpOXhlvan4kZrpB-61_MJ88inlk1CVmT87JHupS_DYv7QzdmFsorhUP0wQDY3Ry-tq6JanM4ea-8CO8CWMrrCf51b9HGAc23Psm662ePWtkHhX_oJSEE8YOGXsC4lYQ/s400/IMG_5352.JPG" /></a><br />At the top of a big rock with Dano and Jettica.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJh6qENDouOkcNIoEV6NSXrrKYyfgWAgoIfU32_9pUgD9fVGo59qkqeJn-SHEX7BbmdplAkhYB_PlHJJn5kQu2IHlQahqahgXdg1quxrR20JQgMfPZAkvqnlSw8ShQ83LP1JNUq4lIJE/s1600-h/IMG_5351.JPG"></a><br />Cute Anecdote to follow...finally...</div><br /><div><br /><br /><div>Well, we tried to change tradition, but in my family that is an unforgivable sin. Bryan and I casually mentioned having filet mignon with a lovely hollandaise or red wine sauce, and you would have thought we suggested giving Ty up for adoption. What a fall out! Yelling, screaming, mad facebooking; it was insane. Anywho, we gave in when mom and dad were not able to be here to fork over the money for the steaks. HA! Be honest, people, if you were at a wedding and the menu for you to choose from said "Turkey cutlet with pan roasted gravy" or "Filet Mignon with a red wine reduction," which would you choose? Hmmmm? </div><div></div><br /><div>I thought so!</div><br /><div></div><div>But, alas, turkey IS cheap and DOES feed a crowd, and as long as I don't have to cook it...</div><div> </div><div>and THAT, my friends, was Thanksgiving!</div><br /><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352925642791041689.post-71529347915328150732009-12-12T13:34:00.000-08:002009-12-12T20:42:31.314-08:00Halloween is "STAREY!"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoqmX0h-rmqNIZn_hIwlZhKSardddTjzlXUFXuNGPOzxMB8FOZ0U1cZebcFNn_uO7GRNofeCf8qOtn5nPnQfi51ZmGdzzQk0CwGM0tefDgNX08bSfdyqhY2DCrHNfs4J-Hhb7S3PcUW8/s1600-h/IMG_5348.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414467293577797554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoqmX0h-rmqNIZn_hIwlZhKSardddTjzlXUFXuNGPOzxMB8FOZ0U1cZebcFNn_uO7GRNofeCf8qOtn5nPnQfi51ZmGdzzQk0CwGM0tefDgNX08bSfdyqhY2DCrHNfs4J-Hhb7S3PcUW8/s400/IMG_5348.JPG" /></a> For Halloween, we went trick-or-treating with Beka Carter. The kidlets were a lion and a lamb (allusion to a <a href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Misquoted-Bible-Verses">misquoted bible verse </a>), and they enjoyed going to all <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">FOUR</span> houses on our street. I mean, come on, people, let's bring trick-or-treating back, please! Just think about how much candy our kids will miss out on.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Vx_zGtEBrZSwf2HkO9j1fLt1xh9VO8hH6GK_eWybNltAROqOHdSQjnroGCSK42pviVzsBnFvx7UPmxc3H7PqRYAXV7oKY1Lr9F_Qyng4hwyX4bIPXywViMtIMqq8SG78dMjoEj85wb8/s1600-h/IMG_5337.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414467290414411490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Vx_zGtEBrZSwf2HkO9j1fLt1xh9VO8hH6GK_eWybNltAROqOHdSQjnroGCSK42pviVzsBnFvx7UPmxc3H7PqRYAXV7oKY1Lr9F_Qyng4hwyX4bIPXywViMtIMqq8SG78dMjoEj85wb8/s400/IMG_5337.JPG" /></a><br />Same lion, different theme. Here we have the cowardly lion, which really fits our man, Ty, as he is somewhat on the fraidy side. Halloween is very "starey" to him. On a side note, I don't have a picture, but Ty won the costume contest at Petal High School when he entered with me. We were Louigi and Remy from <em>Ratatouille</em>. The whole gym erupted into an enormous, and in unisonm "AWWW!" when he took to the floor.</div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7PvNSCxao-P54EUfNFFoPNNkE_pqD-zjN-_qUrdAaZ5JRR0RsU2kTWtDo9JC5Qo7uTkAFCsWZorkHLe-Gcd2f-2__Ad8iEv13km02UPepBRanLjYMmhQW7_n2gcve9_i9TMyxplzSto/s1600-h/IMG_5331.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414467284784850386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7PvNSCxao-P54EUfNFFoPNNkE_pqD-zjN-_qUrdAaZ5JRR0RsU2kTWtDo9JC5Qo7uTkAFCsWZorkHLe-Gcd2f-2__Ad8iEv13km02UPepBRanLjYMmhQW7_n2gcve9_i9TMyxplzSto/s400/IMG_5331.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha-4ezJ3TTZaTJoasUMOh-Ox9i2UHQBOSBhmraZzIhqWsYTlN4tbgrq2yK6R-Y7uRq1xjShN2pYSmTfovHU9YEycjrzs9762DWEMzVyMHEF4kDICwa9qhFter0cixYKyrnK_Oj4MYMNDQ/s1600-h/IMG_5318.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414467275221125186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha-4ezJ3TTZaTJoasUMOh-Ox9i2UHQBOSBhmraZzIhqWsYTlN4tbgrq2yK6R-Y7uRq1xjShN2pYSmTfovHU9YEycjrzs9762DWEMzVyMHEF4kDICwa9qhFter0cixYKyrnK_Oj4MYMNDQ/s400/IMG_5318.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-84NDclI2dgpZKG1ZumXnrFZxow9rDLdVr-kvaCjU2UJ_dh0kiuLOxuIWihDnF2SLkJwkabFYbK2FYlGbawSgyquIcojmS37bxJYrgEte1v1bddM1SDs6xCeRZy283OKqdPmzSaGudQ/s1600-h/IMG_5316.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414467267786863778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-84NDclI2dgpZKG1ZumXnrFZxow9rDLdVr-kvaCjU2UJ_dh0kiuLOxuIWihDnF2SLkJwkabFYbK2FYlGbawSgyquIcojmS37bxJYrgEte1v1bddM1SDs6xCeRZy283OKqdPmzSaGudQ/s400/IMG_5316.JPG" /></a><br />These pictures are at The Pumpkin Patch at Mitchell Farms, and Ty loves this place. It has become a tradition. He has been every year since he was in a backpack.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div></div><div>And that, my friends, was Halloween! <div></div></div></div></div></div>Crystal Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05257567424443217341noreply@blogger.com0