Purring Piggy: Last year—
Aragorn: That would be a month ago?
Purring Piggy: No, last fall.
Aragorn: Three months?
Purring Piggy: A year plus three month ago.
Aragorn: Then why didn't you say fifteen months?
The Queen: Yes, Mr. Smarty Pants.
Aragorn: I don't see any Smarties on my pants.
Engineering minds...you have to learn to live with them.
Here is my favorite item purchased with my Christmas money, my own personal penguin:
He is about two feet tall, and the perfect size for cuddling. His name is Mr. Bingley, because whatever you do to him, he will always have that slightly goofy smile that is so adorable. Already beloved by our entire family, I have to keep a close eye on him, or he is penguin-napped by sibling who want a turn to snuggle with him.
We watched Fiddler on the Roof recently, and apparently Martin the Warrior and The Queen thought it catchy, even if they didn't quite grasp what the songs meant, for today they were doing their chores singing:
"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match
Find me a fish
Catch me a cat"
from Dewey's Treehouse
How much snow is there on the ground where you live?
-- Strangely, about four inches. This is the most snow we've had in years.
How do you make a snowbear?
-- I don't?
Do you know the song "The Minstrel Boy?"
-- I do.
Do you like the song "The Minstrel Boy?"
--Rather.
What do you put in baked peanut butter cookies?
--Since I don't bake peanut butter cookies, I wouldn't know.
Do you like writing stories?
-- I do indeed! Right now, in fact, I have twelve that I am in the middle of writing, and eighteen ideas that need to be written. Do I have an overactive imagination, you ask? Why, of course!
Well, 2006 is over, and is the first year I have kept track of exactly how many books I read. I was aiming for 180, but though I was on a role in the beginning of the year, last few months I only read a couple books. Still, I read 174 overall, which averages to 14 1/2 books a month. I read the most in April (26 books), and the least in December (3 books). My good book to twaddle ratio was 4 to 1, something I was really working for.
Top Ten Rereads
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer
Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Lieutenant Hornblower by C. S. Forester
Top Ten Wonderful New Books I Discovered
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Longitude by Dava Sobel
The Eyre Affair/Lost in a Good Book/The Well of Lost Plots/Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
John Adams by David McCullough
Lord Cochrane by Christopher Lloyd
A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Mister Monday/Grim Tuesday/Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix
