An Actual Blog Post

I wrote an insane number of blog posts (for me) in December and it burned me out. Being a CPA who does taxes, this time of year gets kind of hairy. Add in unusual amount of sickness in our home, myself included, and you get a recipe for lots of reading and very little blogging. So, I'm back. Kind of. I have so many books I'd like to post about, but I can't really wrap my head around writing something quite yet. Hopefully soon.

Instead, I thought I'd do kind of a random post. First, I wanted to update on my progress on C.B. James' TBR Double Dare Challenge. So far so good. I kind of padded my library books a little by adding a few extra to the hold list before the end of the year. Despite stacking the odds in my favor with a few extra from the library, I've finished all of my library books and have moved on to my own bookshelves. For some reason, that's more intimidating. I'm not sure why, but there are so many to choose from that I'm struggling to pick one.

I do have one of my March picks lined up already--Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I read it last year around this time and really loved it. I got so busy and never posted about it so I'm going to read it again so that maybe I can share my thoughts in a coherent manner. If anyone is interested, Melissa at Avid Reader and Care's Online Book Club are hosting a readalong for it. Come and join us. It should be fun. I hope everyone enjoys the book. It's pretty unique, in a good way (in my opinion), but some don't share the love. It seems like one of those love it or hate it books.

On to the questions. I'm not posting the rules since I think everyone else in the world has already posted on this. Everyone else has already been tagged as well so I'll just answer the questions and skip the rest. My blog, my rules, right? Here goes.

1. What's your favorite souvenir you've bought on a trip?
I'm not much of a souvenir buyer, but we always buy a magnet from wherever we are to put on the fridge. My kids love picking it. We try to select one that shows some of the places that we've visited. I take hundreds of pictures, though!

2. How many times have you moved? 
I lived in the same home until I went away to college. While in college, I moved five times. Since then, I've moved five times. So, never until 17, then ten times until 31! I hate moving, and I know I'll be moving again soon when we move home to the States.
 
3. What movie should win the Best Picture Oscar this year?
It's a shame, because I haven't seen any of them. With little kids and no family nearby it's tough to carve out that much time away from home. I really wanted The Artist to win, and it did. I love that it's a silent film in an age when everything seems to be moving forward so fast to something new. I'm looking forward to seeing it when it comes out on DVD. 

4. Do you have a dream job? What is it?
I can't think of a dream job besides what I do. Although sometimes it stresses me out, I love doing taxes. I know that makes me sound crazy (my husband agrees), but I totally am, and that's okay.

5. Favorite Girl Scout cookie? 
Thin Mints! I actually don't even like any other kind. I don't really like packaged cookies so it's a rare exception.

6. Guilty pleasure TV show you watch? 
Hmmm...probably the Vampire Diaries. It's very teenage angsty (that's not even a word), and I'm kind of embarrassed to even say that I watch it, but it seriously is so fast-paced that it's really kind of fun to watch. 

7. What question do you hate it when people ask you? 
If I'm going to have any more kids. Ugh! Worst question ever. It's so personal and it really drives me crazy because there's usually a judgment behind the question one way or the other. In a random thought, I loved how Tina Fey addressed it at the end of Bossypants. If you are wondering though, no, no more children for me. Three is plenty!!

8. Your favorite pet you've ever owned? 
I'm allergic to most pets, but I had a little hamster named Henrietta when I was about eight or so. I loved her!

9. What's the first book you remember reading? 
I know I read before then, but the first memory of a particular book is with Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. I had to read it for my gifted class and I was only seven. I was really gifted in math and wasn't really that far advanced in reading and I remember being so confused as to what the crap was going on in the book. It was rough. I've never picked it up again. (I just looked it up and it's a 9.6 grade level). Sadly, it blew my confidence in reading and it made me shy away from reading as much until I got into high school.

10. What's your favorite drink? 
Water! The only other thing I really drink is orange juice occasionally, but it must be not from concentrate.

11. What's one thing on your Bucket List?
Go to NYC! I've been to several countries and cool cities around the world but never NYC. We were supposed to go for our tenth anniversary, but living in Scotland at the time, we didn't have anyone to watch our kids so that put the kibosh on that. Some day! 


The rambles are over. If you've made it this far, I'm amazed. Hopefully a book review next week. I wanted to add some photos to make this rambling less boring, but blogger is being an idiot and won't let me. Sorry!

You're welcome to answer any of the questions as well. I think Melissa came up with some good ones!