Four Fill-In Fun!!

This week’s statements:

1. I don’t remember what time my appointment is on Tuesday.  ( I better call and find out!)

2. I love a HOT bubble bath, with a good book!

3. When I lose socks in the dryer, I think it went to look for it's friends that went missing!

4. My favorite snack to eat while watching t.v. is probably pretzels. I don't eat them often, and I don't watch t.v often either. However, I think the only time I ever eat pretzels is when I am watching t.v!

Want to participate?  Answer the four fill-ins (the green text in the above points) on your blog, and sign up on the linky. Please, do not forget to follow the host  Hilary from Feeling Beachie, and this week's co-host Bernie from One Mixed Bag.

Thursday Thirteen

 I have decided to participate in  Thursday Thirteen again this week! 


13 Friends whose friendship I cherish  (no particular order of course!)

1. Nicole
2. Sarah
3. Marie
4. Sara
5. Janet
6. Tom ( RIP my dear friend!)
7. Lisa
8. Debi
9. Sarah K
10. Tanya
11. Josetta
12. Marg  (RIP my dear friend)
13. Erickah 

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!
Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Borrowed Book Challenge

ShelleyRae from Book'd Out is hosting the The Borrowed Book Challenge.  

The challenge will run from January to December 2011, and you can join at anytime!   The rules are simple, and you can see them by clicking here.

I am participating at the Library Lust level.  In order to complete this challenge, I need to borrow, read, and return 48 books between January 1st 2011, and December 31st 2011.   This seems achievable to me, since books I borrow to read to my son definitely count towards this goal!  

Now I just have to go to the library website, and check out my history so far this year.  I am probably already near the goal since I do read a lot of library books.  (I love supporting my local library, but borrowing so many books from the library means that my own books sit on Mt. TBR for too long! )

Thursday Thirteen

Earlier today I heard of a blog meme called Thursday Thirteen.  Basically, the only rule is that you list thirteen things relating to a theme.  What theme?What do you list? Anything you want. Pick a topic, make a list, and then link up. It seems pretty simple to me, like something I can handle right now.

13 Books I Have Read and Loved  (in no particular order)

1. TOMMYLAND by Tommy Lee
2. The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Neil Strauss
3. Hidden Wives by Claire Avery
4. i'm not her by Janet Gurtler
5. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
6. The Green Mile by Stephen King
7. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
8. This is Where I Leave You  by Jonathan Trooper
9. Thirteen Reasons Why  by Jay Asher
10. Envy by Sandra Brown
11. Love Story by Erich Segal
12. Oliver's Story by Erich Segal
13. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

WOW, that was easy! I could have easily thought of 13 more.  I'll save that for another Thursday though!

Friday Four Fill In

This week’s statements:

1. When I was younger, I always wanted a monkey. Haven't you always wanted a monkey? (couldn't resist - Barenaked Ladies If I Had a Million Dollars)

2. I don’t remember the last time I slept for more than 3 consecutive hours. (Probably almost 13 years, except for a few times after my surgeries)

3. During a storm when the power goes off, all I want to do is fall asleep, and sleep right through the storm! ( I HATE storms)

4. The  scent of Noxema reminds me of my grandma.

Want to participate?  Answer the four fill-ins (the green text in the above points) on your blog, and sign up on the linky. Please, do not forget to follow the host  Hilary from Feeling Beachie, and this week's co-host Cathy from Cathy Kennedy’s Blog 

An explanation of a previous post, which also explains my lack of posting lately.

So, I guess there are people that read my blog. Or at least one person!  A few weeks ago, I posted a Wordless Wednesday post.  I did not leave any explanation as to why I chose that photo. Someone did comment, and from that I assume she is curious, and maybe someone else is too. So here is my explanation.   You can see the post by clicking here. 
On July 4th, a friend of mine passed away unexpectedly. She lived 3 doors down. I had been walking my dog at about 9:30 pm. I stopped and chatted with her for a minute, and she had said there was something she wanted to talk to me about, and asked if I had time to sit and have a tea with her. I told her that since my son was awake, and at home, with my daughter, I didn't really have time. I asked if she would be up for awhile, and told her that I was going to go home and bathe my son, get him into bed and come back when I was done. She said that she was a bit hungry so she was going to go grab a snack, and that she did want to talk, so I should just come back whenever I could. I told her that I would be back between 10:30 and 11:15. I told her not to bother making me a tea, I would bring a coffee, and she laughed at that because she has been offering me tea for almost 7 years, and I have never accepted, but always brought my own coffee.
I went home, bathed my son, got him settled down for the night and made my coffee. At about 10:35, I let my daughter and my other half know that I was headed over to her place because she wanted to talk to me. I walked out my door and saw 3 police cruisers, a firetruck, and 2 ambulances. I was thinking " what the heck is going on?" I saw a bunch of neighbours watching , talking, speculating or whatever I should call it - I'm not sure. Anyway, I thought it was weird, and proceeded to walk to my friend 's place. I still had no idea where all the "commotion" was since the emergency vehicles started at my place and went past her's. As I was walking over, her daughter called out to me and in that instant I knew something was wrong. I thought it was just a reaction to a new medication her doctor had prescribed a few days prior, so did her daughter. (it happened before, with one of her meds). Her daughter asked me to stay, and one of the police officers started asking both of us a couple of questions. A few minutes later her nephew came to me and said " I did everything I could, but I don't think it was enough." At this point I am still wondering what the heck happened. He told me that he walked into the living room and she looked like she was sleeping, but her mouth was open, he tried to wake her to tell her to go up to her bed, and she was unresponsive, so he grabbed her hand/wrist to try to wake her, and didn't feel a pulse. At that point he called 911 and started CPR, and continued until EMS arrived. About 15 minutes later, I overheard someone in the house say that they tried to intubate, but there was an obstruction. A few minutes later an officer came out, and just from the look on his face I knew it wasn't good. (They removed what they could, and tried to intubate again, but by then it was too late. Cause of death - choking.) The officer asked to talk to me for a minute, and broke the news to me first, so that I was already aware, and could help them with her daughter. I stayed as strong as I could for her sake.
I felt horrible. I felt like maybe if I had stayed and talked with her, rather than arranging to come back in a bit, it may not have happened. Maybe if I had gone over earlier, I could have helped her. I know her nephew did all he could, but maybe it would have been different if I was there. I would like to think that I would have done the Heimlich, he mentioned something that happened when he was doing CPR & the first thing that popped into my head immediately was- she needed the Heimlich (though of course, I didn't say that). ( I have worked in health care, and have had to do the Heimlich on a patient in the past). Anyway, I just feel guilty because I wasn't there for her. And, I will never know what she wanted to talk to me about. I miss her terribly. To be 100% honest, sometimes she was a real pain in my @$$, but I loved her. Funny thing about that is - she used to say to me, I know sometimes I am a pain in the @$$ , but you'd miss me if I wasn't around. ( she was thinking of moving- and I was too)  She was right. I really miss her.
Her funeral was nice, considering why we were there. I was holding up pretty well, until her brother mentioned me by name in a speech he made. At that point it really hit me. I have been having a hard time with it.   
Ok, so back to the photo. The picture is of my son walking my friend M's dog Mag. Mag was M's best friend.  Quite often when I had my son at the park to play, M would walk up there with the dog, and we would sit and chat while my son and the dog played together. My son used to like walking with M and her dog, and occasionally we would just go over and get the dog, and take her for a walk, since our 110 pound dog is too hard for my not yet 3 year old son to walk!   
Unfortunately, Mag HATES my dog.  She is quite mean to him.(yup, my 110 pound dog is scared of the 15 pound dog!).  For that reason, I was unable to take her into my home and care for her.  However, I found her a great home. She is still in the neighbourhood, and my son visits her daily, and walks her at least 3 times a week.  
Well, I better post this. I am getting teary-eyed again, and it's time for Mag's walk.  

Stephanie and Lisa at  Once Upon A Chapter  are hosting the Sizzling Summer Read-A-Thon this weekend.  When I read about it this morning, and realized how simple the rules are, I couldn't resist joining in.  

The only thing expected of you is that you create a post indicating your participation, and then read as much as you can between 12:00 AM Friday August 5th until 11:59 PM Sunday August 7th!  There are no mini-challenges that you are expected to complete throughout the weekend.  The hostesses are so easygoing that they will allow you to just do a final wrap up post!  At the end of the read-a-thon, post a wrap up post letting the other participants know how your weekend went. That's it! Easy-peasy! 

For more info, and to sign up click here!