A Family Affair

Text message exchange between Kevin and myMom yesterday:

myMom: "The Mo parental units would like to invade the Maz residence at the same time as Wiki is that OK"
Kevin: "That would be fine, although someone will have to sit out when we play Rock Band."
myMom: "I can be the crazy fan"

So it seems that I've now got to entertain the whole family! For a week! I'm trying to figure out how to swing some time off while still having time for Kev's and my big trip. Kevin has it easy, because he gets one more week of vacation than I do, but I'm sure he was planning on using that time for when his parental units came into town. I guess we'll just figure something out.

RR called me! She called the house yesterday and luckily Kevin got the message pretty early because he was home making carrots for Caritas. I was able to call her after work and we're spending the day together hanging out in DC. While on the phone we realized that the last time we saw each other was for our grandfather's 75th birthday celebration. That was in May 2001. Wow! Almost 8 years ago! Wow!

I'm a Saboteur!

Remember how I posted about Les possibly making it out of Level 4 before Dave did? Well it happened. On Tuesday. At the end of a horrible class on Tuesday (Dave and I are NOT returning to any classes taught by that woman again!) the instructor approached Kevin and said that Les was good to move on to Level 5 but that Dave was not. Did he want his card, or did he want to wait till Dave was ready? Kevin took the card but told her Les would stay in Level 4 till Dave was ready to move up too. This is what we had already decided before the class. Knowing what was going to happen, I asked Kevin last week what we would do if Les advanced out. We only have one "dog" car so it would mean all four of us hanging around for 2 hours while each dog had their turn. He decided that both dogs would just wait for each other to both advance out of the class. The instructor(a different one) last night said that Dave prolly only has one or two more weeks before she'll be ready.

Anyways, yesterday as we were loading into the car, I closed the door after the dogs had jumped into the back seat and immeadiately, Les turned to me with a look on her face like "You eeeeeee-diot! You've just shut the door on me!" I opened the door right away and tried to get her to come out of the car so I could figure out if I caught her foot or her tail but she didn't want to come out. I finally had to reach in and lift her out. As soon as I put her on the floor, she turned around and got back in the car. There was no way she was getting left behind just cause she got hurt! She reminded me of past soccer players that roll their ankle or take a bad fall but get up and keep going because there's no way they're giving anyone an excuse to pull them off the field. So we went to class. Les didn't have the best class. She was a little shaken up, favoring one of her back legs - I couldn't tell which - and not doing well. Dave on the other hand had a stupendous class! But I'm not sure if it's because she really was on par last night or if it was because Les was not her usual stellar self so Dave didn't pale in comparison. Afterwards Kevin accused me of sabotaging Les so that Dave would look good. He was only joking, but I still felt bad.

**********

Yesterday when I noticed my temps going down, I commented to Kevin that we were going to have to make sure that we cuddled and slept right next to each other so that my temperature would be nice and high in the morning. I was kidding because I know that cuddling and being hot doesn't stop the progesterone from petering out, only being pregnant does. However last night I woke up in the middle of the night super hot! Kevin was like right next to me! I scooted over on the bed and went back to sleep and like 5 minutes later, woke up again because Kevin has moved closer! Soon I was right on the edge of the bed, trying to keep the covers on me and not fall off. I eventually had to do a "cat stretch" which pushed Kevin away and re-established my bed space. I woke up to take my temp like normal and Kevin asked what it was. 98.23°! He had this huge grin on his face, proud of doing his part in keeping my temperatures high. I didn't have the heart to tell him the high temp was probably due to interupted sleep and moving around more than usual. But still a high temp is a high temp, one that can keep the hope alive for one more day. But still, for you chart stalkers out there, take no stock in the high temp this morning. I have managed to sabotage my own BBT chart.

******

btw, that "You eeeeeee-diot!" from earlier is totally to be read like Ren always tells Stimpy.

8DPO and visits

Today is 8DPO and I have to say I'm not feeling too excited. I'm mentally preparing myself for AF because I'm just that sure that this cycle wasn't the one. It's always weird but I spend the first week of the 2WW optimistic and hopeful that it worked. And then when the 2nd week starts and I see my temps going down (albeit slightly) it's like someone let all the air out of the balloon. It sucks! So now I guess I wait. 12DPO is next Tuesday. We'll see how I feel then.
My sister, Wiki is coming to visit! I'm sooooo excited! I haven't seen her since my wedding! She lives in Colorado so it makes it hard, but we talk on the phone every day, sometimes even twice a day. I remember when Kevin and I first moved away, he was astounded by how much my sister and I talked and that we called each other multiple times during the day. It took him a while to get over it, although now I will retreat into another room to talk when she calls. I love listening in to people talking on the phone and in my head guessing what the other person is saying. I guess I just figured Kevin liked doing that too. Not!
Two weeks ago, Wiki lost her job. She was a corporate trainer for a national company and they had a "reduction of workforce" and my sister was one of the affected. It sucks! She was just getting her head above the water and now she might sink back under. She had a series of moves that caused her not to have a steady income for a really long time (14 months!) and that ate up her savings and put her into debt. Hopefully she'll be able to find a new job soon, one just as awesome as the one she had before (she really liked her job).
One good thing that came out of the awful mess is that she's coming into town! I had a $200 credit at Jet.Blue so I decided to fly her out here. Luckily she had a break in her soccer schedule (yes, she's a coach too!) so everything worked out. She's going to be here for 3 work days so I need to figure out what I'm going to do with work/her.
Speaking of visits, one of my cousins, RR, is coming to DC this weekend. RR is 2y5mos younger than me but growing up we were always really close. She was the good one and of course I was the troublemaker. But we got along because most times she would just do/play what I wanted. Yes, I was a brat when I was younger. Anyways, a couple of years before we moved to Florida, her family moved away (still in Texas, just 14 hours away!) so we only got to spend summers together when her family would visit our grandfather. We stayed close throughout high school but then college life started and I was distracted and then she went away to college and we never really got that bond back. We both lived in Ohio at the same time but on opposite ends so we didn't really connect then either. When we see each other we're still good, but it's sad to say that I don't think of her often, usually only when I see a status updated on faceb.ook. In fact, that's the only reason why I knew she was coming into town. Because she said something in her status and so I wrote on her wall. I'm not even that confident that we are going to be able to connect. I guess we'll just have to see.

36 Years Strong

Today is myMom and myDad's 36th wedding anniversary! Woohoo! They got married at the ripe old ages of 19 (myMom) and 18 (myDad). There's even a story (which I'm not sure is true or not) of my grandmother going with myDad to get the wedding license because they wouldn't give him one cause he was still in high school (he was behind a couple of years).
My parents are truly role models for me in life, marriage and parenting. They are both great people that have sacrificed their whole lives for me and Wiki, love spending time with us, love anything we love (pets, friends and husband).
I also look to their marriage as a guide. My parents were always a united front inside the home and out. They never fought in front of anyone, even us - that's not to say that they never lost their temper with each other out in the open, but they would agree to "talk about it later."
One thing I love about their parenting was again that united front. If one said no, then the other would stand by it. My sister and I knew how to work the system to get what we wanted, but we knew that no meant no. Even if one of our parents were being unreasonable (known to happen at times) and we actually got the other parent to agree with us and agree to talk to the other about it, it was ultimately up to the original parent to change their mind, they never overrode each other in front of us.
The other quality I hope to translate into my own family is their ability to stick to their own goals to better themselves while still sacrificing to make our family better. myMom was working her first full time job and my dad a junior in high school when they got married. Six months later, Wiki showed up (I know!). I was born four years later. However in the past 36 years, they were able to both earn their degrees, my mom even getting her masters, while sending Wiki and I to catholic schools and private university. They understood that to get what they wanted from life for all of us, we need to leave their hometown and huge families. But now, they now live in their dream(ish) house and enjoy the life of empty nesters, eagerly awaiting their turn to be doting grandparents.

Ca-Winky-Dink

So if I had never gone to the RE this cycle, I would totally be crapping myself right about now. I'd be 10 DPO with a implantation dip followed by a definite triphasic pattern on my BBT chart.
But it turns out that the "implantation dip" was an ovulation dip. And yes FF did eventually correct itself, but not till the actual day of real ovulation. So we would have missed this cycle or had a really low chance. Same as what happened back in October. What a "coincidence" that we happened to go to the doctor the day before I actually ovulated this cycle.
I've always told myself not to worry too much about plotting out the future, that with God's grace things have a way of working out on their own and I've kind of just gone with the flow. That's not to say that I don't take a proactive approach to situations & problems, but I totally realize that I can't will myself into being pregnant. I've just got to have faith that I WILL have a family of my own, wait and keep praying.
Note: This is not the same as "just relaxing" about the whole situation.

Scientific Fact!

So Kevin and I hardly ever argue. We have 99% of the same beliefs and values which is surprising considering that we have totally different backgrounds. There really hasn't been an issue that has divided us.
Anyways we do have totally inane discussions to feed our need to debate. Today our discussion was about flatulence. That's right, farting. Anyways, Kevin was trying to tell me that farting was directly related to some one's need to have a poo. I scoffed and said they weren't related and that farting was gas emissions from the bacteria living in your small and large intestines building up and then being released. Just because you have gas doesn't mean you need to take a dump. Kevin then starts stating scientific fact. No, not reasonable, well researched scientific facts to back his argument up. He actually says "Scientific fact. Scientific fact. Scientific fact!" as his argument. *sigh*
Such is the life I lead...

Ovulation v2.0

Yesterday's appointment went well. Dr. G was dissappointed that I didn't do an OPK. First he did another ultrasound and couldn't find Mr. Follicle. At one point he asked "Was it on the right or left ovary?" and Ms. J responded that it was on the right. He said that he couldn't see it and so had another look. But it wasn't there anymore! It's a good thing we had this appt! Otherwise we would have completely missed this month because I thought I had ovulated back on Friday. Next was the PCT. We gathered around the microscope and I got to see the little swimmers! I didn't think to ask if it was a good sample or not but both he and Ms. J seemed pleased.
My temp this morning shot up! Even higher than on Saturday. So now we wait. The 12DW to be exact.
On a happy note, it looks like Valeta had her baby! He's soooo cute! And I think he came on his due date which is awesome. Yay for baby!

FF is wrong!

Whew! Yesterday was a busy day. First was the RE appt.
Dr. G is definitely what you would call a character. He was much more animated than Dr. T and also more thorough. He asked us all sorts of questions about our family histories and about what course of treatment I had been on before. It felt like what an RE appt should feel like. He was excited to learn that I've been doing bbt for the past four months and even wanted to see the charts. Of course I didn't actually bring them with me. I printed out all my charts when I went to go see Dr. T the first time and even updated my file on subsequent visits but Dr. T hardly even glanced at them during the first appt and then never even asked me to see them after that. I didn't bring them with me this time so of course Dr. G wanted to see them! Then he decided to show us a video of past surgeries he's done to show us various problems. While he was pointing stuff out, he suddenly looked at Kevin and asked him if the room was getting hot. I looked at Kevin and he was loosening his collar and rolling up his sleeves. Dr. T told him he could lie down on the floor if he needed to and Kevin actually did it! The video was making him queasy! I didn't believe it at first but then I looked at his face and could see it. This is the man who can watch countless scary movies with guts, blood and gore. He can play tons of assassin type video games but he couldn't watch a video of an abnormal uterus/fallopian tubes/ovaries! I so wanted to laugh but I held it in.
Next came the exam. Which was a novelty because Dr. T never even did one. And he didn't have my records from my regular OB/GYN because they didn't fax them in time. So WTF? I was telling Dr. G that because of my temp rises, FF thought I ovulated on Friday. He said he didn't think so because I still had really good CM. Next we did an u/s and Bam! Sitting right there on the right ovary was a big a$$ follicle waiting to pop! He found a few cysts on the left ovary but he didn't seem to be too concerned about them. He told me to take a OPK test yesterday, but with everything going on, I forgot. Then this morning when I put in my new temp, FF took away my ovulation.
Afterwards we came up with a plan of attack. Since he thinks I'm going to ovulate soon, he wants to try to get this cycle in. We're going to do a PCT today and if I need a trigger then I'll get that. Also he wants me to try to lose 40 lbs and go on Metformin. He mentioned doing another round of Clomid or possibly Femara. I'm feeling really positive now about the whole RE situation. I'm so glad I switched.
I found a bigger lasagna pan at the store so Kevin and I tried to figure out how to transfer the lasagna without destroying it. We couldn't do it so we just dropped the smaller overflowing pan into the bigger pan. When I arrived at the family's house, I got out of my car, walked over to the passenger side and the door was locked. I fished in my pockets for my keys and they weren't there! I looked inside the car and there are my keys sitting in my purse. Arg! I've only ever locked my keys in the car twice and one of those times wasn't my fault! So I had to go up to the house and call Kevin to come open the doors. Luckily he took a half day like me so he was available but I was so mad at myself. After about 25 minutes he arrived and we were able to rescue the items. I was so embarrassed. Hopefully the next family will go smoother.
We also had agility last night and I think Les might advance out of the class before Dave does. Even though Dave has been doing this longer, Les has an edge on her. Because she learned everything in the school, she knows certain basics like nose touches, focus forwards, driving the line, etc. So all we have to teach her is the weaves. Dave is having to learn how to do the weaves despite not knowing how to do those other things (and sometimes getting a crash course so that she can learn those things) so it's a bit harder for her. Also there's a five year age gap between the two which I'm sure factors into it. I'm hoping Dave will catch up soon. I like agility being a whole family affair.

2 for 2 in 2009!

Well FF confirmed that I did indeed ovulate on Friday! Yes! I worked w/o drugs! I'm so excited about this. So now I'm back in the 2WW. Although since my last LP was only 12 days, I guess I'm in a 12DW. My temp dipped today again this cycle. It always throws me off when that happens. But FF still says I ovulated so I'm going to go with that.
More exciting news! Jess over at Life in the White House got a positive beta! This is so awesome. I've not been reading her blog for long but in the short time I have read it, her strength has amazed me. I'm so excited for her. Her next beta is Wednesday so here's to it being an even better number!
The new RE appt is tomorrow! Yikes! I'm looking forward to it mainly though because this time Kevin will be there with me. Also I just *know* this time is going to be different, better. It just has to be. It can't be any worse than Dr. T's office!
Tonight I made a lasagna for the Family Meals Ministry at church. We kept having moms tell us "Thanks, but no thanks," it was crazy. The lasagna doesn't really fit in the disposable pan I bought for it so on my way home from work tomorrow I think I might look for a bigger pan and then figure out a way to transfer it without ruining it. Also I was going to make lava cakes for dessert but now I'm thinking I'm just going to get them some ice cream instead. Easier I think for a mom of 18 month old twins and a 6 month old.

Happy Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day! I remember back in grade school it was always St. Valentine's Day. I wonder why it changed, or when it did. Or maybe because I was going to catholic school that's what it was called and everyone else has always called it just plain ole Valentine's. Anyways, I hope you all have a great one and that you're able to spend it with the one(s) you love. While I like the idea of Valentine's Day, Kevin and I don't really do too much. A card and maybe dinner. A little over a month later was our anniversary so I always told him to put more effort into March than February. Now that our official anniversary is in September, I'm not sure what to do with March. Last year we still exchanged cards and bought each other presents. Maybe we'll do that this year too. Tonight we're going to go see Taken or The International and then out to dinner. We're thinking about going to a Japanese Steakhouse that's just beyond the mall.
TTC News: My temp is up! Yes! This means that I most likely ovulated yesterday. Yes, I know, you're suppose to wait till three days of a sustained temperature rise but I'm pretty sure of it. Taking into account the EWCM and the ovulation spotting (I found more websites/articles that talk about it and it reads exactly like what I had) I'm like 99% sure. I guess I'll find out on Monday.

Positive Signs

Last night the climbing place that Kevin (and sometimes I) go to had their Valentine's Day party. Also B's (Kevin's usual climbing partner) girlfriend, D, from Phoenix was in town for a long weekend so she came with us. B & D were very cute together.  They're both in their mid to late 40s so they talked about their respective daughters who just had a kid or is pregnant. We ended up staying later than we usually do, even closing out the place at 10:30. On the way home, I made Kevin stop by the Walgreens so that I could pick up a new BBT thermometer.

A funny thing happened when I got home. I had spotting! And not the on-your-underwears kind, just the kind on the TP. It wasn't a lot, really just a few flecks but it was bright red. Of course I went straight to google to figure out what it was and I think it might be ovulation spotting! Yay! But then this morning, my temp was in the normal range for me. On the high side, but still normal. So I'm thinking it's going to be today some time. Yay!

I can't get my fix!

Yesterday Dave and Les kind of flipped out. During the summer months, we'll leave Dave and Les out in the yard during the day to run around and enjoy the nice day. During the winter months they stay inside. They're the ones who make the choice about staying in or going out in the morning.
Yesterday when Kevin was leaving, Les was outside and Dave inside. Les was busy interacting with Gracie (the weimaraner next door) so she ignored Kevin's calls of "I'm leaving now!" He left her outside. When I got home, Les greeted me at the gate whining and complaining. Usually Les doesn't whine. She'll bark and yip and cry out sharply but she's not a whiner. But she was doing some fine whining as I was walking to the front door. When I let her in she ran inside (unusual because normally she lets Dave run out and then chases her around the yard) and squeezed under our bed. She stayed up there till Kevin got home and then she only deigned to come down to look at him and then ran back upstairs. She sulked for the rest of the night. Yesterday was a really nice day in the mid 60s but it was also very very windy. Apparently Les does not like wind.
While in the house alone, Dave decided to poo in the office. Really weird. And when I got ready to go to bed I went to move my BBT thermometer from on the bed (next to the laptop) to the side of the bed only to find that it was in three pieces! I was so pissed! She chewed my thermometer. When I showed it to Kevin, his response was "I wondered why it took so long for her to chew that up." Arg! I think I might O any day now and I won't be able to see that rise!

Deffo Egg White

I now know what FF is talking about when they say EWCM. Seriously, I thought I knew and then today when I went to wipe it was like BAM! EWCM! The real stuff, not "this could be EWCM I guess???" that I usually have. Today is CD19, I had ovulated by this point last cycle. Of course it was totally random and could mean nothing. But even so I've already told Kevin to expect BMS tonight. Oh yeah!

Being Boring

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but that's because really nothing is going on here. Today is CD18 and no +OPKs yet. Temps have fluctuated a little but nothing to indicate ovulation. Only 7 more days till my new RE appt. They called me today to request my records from the other RE & my OB/GYN. They also asked me if I've ever had a HSG. Ick.
At work they're talking about a possible furlough in the near future. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Financially, Kevin and I would be okay as we live well within our means, but it still would be a little bit scary.
Lately I've been a little intrigued about embryo adoption. The Catholic church hasn't come out and said not to do it, but they haven't said it's okay. IVF is not an option for us because of my beliefs, however the new RE is suppose to be really IVF focused (according to the brochure) so I'm hoping that he'll be okay with trying to find out what's wrong with me without pushing us towards IVF.
So like I said, nothing too exciting, but I'll try to not wait so long to post next time.

500 Days of Wedded Bliss!

Kevin and I have our own website. I created one for our wedding. On there, I built a little widget that counted down to our wedding and then once the wedding took place, started counting up. I kept the website up because I keep saying I'm going to update it or turn it into a blog, however I've still not done it yet. Anyways this morning when I got on the internets (it's set as our homepage) I saw that our ticker said "500 days of wedded bliss!" Even Kevin was a little amazed when I showed him.

Why would you do that?

I didn't mention what happened to me yesterday morning. Saturday night Dave was more than a little lethargic. I figured it was the 3 lbs of pork in her, so I wasn't that worried. We all went to sleep like normal. Now Dave sleeps on her dog bed which is set up next to my side of the bed. Yesterday morning as I was reaching over to pick up my BBT thermometer, all I could smell was some one's eggy farts! I eyed Dave and she just kept sleeping like normal. I couldn't stand it so I gave up finding my thermometer and went back to sleep. 

Later when I got up I went to go pee. Dave has learned that this is the optimal time to be petted so she always wants to be in the bathroom with me. If I shut her out then she's at the door scratching, head-butting the door and whining. Yesterday morning she walks into the room and burps! It was horrible! The most rancid, putrid rotting meat smell I have ever smelled ever! As soon as she burped, she sniffed, gave me a look like I was the culprit and then turned around and high tailed it out of the room. I was stuck with my pajamas around my ankles, mid stream and nauseous from the smell. I got out of there as fast as I could. And what did I find in the bedroom? Dave had jumped up and curled up on my side of the bed. Yesterday morning was the only time I have shoved her off the bed.

100th Post

For my 100th post, I have decided to do things a little differently. I didn't really want to do 100 random things about me, because this whole blog is about random things about me. And as Mrs. Deladubree says, "You can tell a lot about a person by looking at the books on their shelves." Of course, she's a librarian so she might be a bit biased, but I've decided to share with you 100 of the books you can find on my shelves. They might not be the best books or my favorite books (most of them are) but there's something about each of them that makes me keep them rather than taking them to a used book store. My intention is to comment on all of them, but it might take me a couple of days, so even though you don't see a new post, there will probably be new content.

Enjoy!

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** – Douglas Adams - I think this was one of the first books I borrowed from Chandy (a friend from college). His mom sends him books all the time so his library has got to be huge! Of course in true fashion, I spilled kool-aid all over it so I was afraid to return it. Then one day after a couple of months of me holding it hostage, while he was in our apartment, he found it and took it back. Amazingly he still let me borrow tons of books afterwards. Anyways, good book, the trilogy is awesome. Don't see the movie though, you'll be sadly disappointed. That said Mos Def does an awesome job of Ford Prefect.
2. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe** – Douglas Adams - Second book in the trilogy. Very good. Adams does a great job in all his books.
3. Life, The Universe and Everything** – Douglas Adams
4. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish** – Douglas Adams
5. Mostly Harmless** – Douglas Adams
6. A Treasury of Hans Christian Anderson - My sister bought this book for me. I'm not sure why though. Although in high school I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid (the Disney movie, not the actual story), so that might be it. I've not read all the stories in this book, but I probably will once we have kids.
7. Flowers in the Attic – VC Andrews - I had to read this book during high school. Every month each subject (department) had a book of the month. It was really weird when it was math's turn. Usually the professors just picked some random 100-page teeny-bopper book that wouldn't require a lot of concentration. They were the only department that did this. Anyways for some subject I can't remember we read this book. A bit of a weird selection considering my catholic high school. But my high school BFFs, Jan and Fonz, and I started reading everything VC Andrews afterwards. Now VC Andrews didn't actually write all the VC Andrews books. Her estate decided to cash in on her "ideas" by having a ghost writer write under the trademarked name of VC Andrews. When we found out, we were all crushed. Well I was. I had three different series (five books in each series) at that point (spent my precious allowance on those books!) and I gave them all away. But I kept the first book because it was something that we shared together.
8. The Prodigal Daughter – Jeffrey Archer
9. Shall We Tell the President? – Jeffrey Archer
10. Twelve Red Herrings – Jeffrey Archer
11. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
12. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares
13. The Alibi – Sandra Brown
14. Envy – Sandra Brown
15. Fat Tuesday – Sandra Brown
16. Exclusive – Sandra Brown
17. Standoff – Sandra Brown
18. Unspeakable – Sandra Brown
19. Lost Boys – Orson Scott Card
20. I’ll be seeing you – Mary Higgins Clark
21. Pretend You don’t see her – Mary Higgins Clark
22. Where are the children – Mary Higgins Clark
23. Remember me – Mary Higgins Clark
24. While My Pretty One Sleeps – Mary Higgins Clark
25. You Belong To Me – Mary Higgins Clark
26. Harmful Intent – Robin Cook
27. Mutation – Robin Cook
28. The Timewaster Letters** – Robin Cooper
29. Return of the Timewaster Letters** – Robin Cooper
30. Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
31. The Inferno – Dante
32. The General’s Daughter – Nelson Demille
33. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards
34. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
35. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
36. The Lais of Marie de France
37. Carter Beats the Devil** – Glen David Gold
38. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
39. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
40. The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory - I'd been hearing a lot about this book and author. Also I knew that a movie was coming out soon so one trip across the Atlantic I stopped by W.H. Smith and picked it up. I thought it was good. I saw the movie about a year after I read the book with a friend who's really into this time period. I liked the actors in the movie but I think they tried to smush too much into a 2-hour movie.
41. The Boleyn Inheritance – Philippa Gregory - I bought this book because I enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl so much. After reading this one though, I decided I wasn't a Philippa Gregory fan and so I stopped here.
42. Mythology – Edith Hamilton
43. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne - I didn't really like this book but we had to read it Junior year in my Honors English class. The best part of that class was that my high school BFFs, Jan, She and Fonz were in this class with me. It was the only class all four years that all four of us were in. Sadly it was also one of the last classes that Jan and I had a together. Senior year we had no shared classes, after three years of being in at least two or three classes with each other each semester.
44. Good News Bible - Yes this book is always filed under H for Holy Spirit. Ten years of theology class and that's the one thing I hold on to. When I was in the 3rd grade we all had to buy a bible from the school (no other edition/copy/version was accepted). My parents decided that I should pay for it out of my own pocket so this might be the first book I ever bought. I've had lots of bibles since then (all lost over the years) but somehow this one has stuck around
45. New American Bible
46. The Iliad – Homer
47. Italian Phrase Book**
48. Into Thin Air** – Jon Krakauer
49. The Key to Midnight – Dean Koontz
50. Mr. Murder – Dean Koontz
51. Twilight Eyes – Dean Koontz
52. She’s Come Undone – Wally Lamb
53. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
54. Wicked – Gregory Maguire
55. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
56. Perfect – Judith McNaught
57. Paradise – Judith McNaught
58. Remember When – Judith McNaught
59. The Mwindo Epic
60. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women
61. Metamorphoses – Ovid
62. The Song of Roland
63. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
64. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling
65. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
66. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
67. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
68. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
69. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
70. Empress – Shan Sa
71. The Blackstone Chronicles: An Eye for An Eye: The Doll – John Saul
72. The Blackstone Chronicles: Twist of Fate: The Locket – John Saul
73. The Blackstone Chronicles: Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame – John Saul
74. The Blackstone Chronicles: In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief – John Saul
75. Nightshade – John Saul
76. Punish the Sinners – John Saul
77. Shadows – John Saul
78. A Midsummer-Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare
79. Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
80. Rage of Angels – Sidney Sheldon
81. The Stars Shine Down – Sidney Sheldon
82. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
83. Bergdorf Blondes – Plum Sykes
84. The Debutante Divorcee – Plum Sykes
85. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowhip of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien - I bought this book on a whim one day. I knew the movie was coming out soon and so I wanted to read it before the movie "ruined" it for me. I only got through 30 pages though before I put it down. I haven't felt the compunction to pick it back up again. I've seen all three movies though, I think they're awesome. One day I might read it, so for that reason I've not gotten rid of it.
86. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult
87. The Aeneid – Virgil
88. Candide – Voltaire
89. The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
90. Quidditch through the Ages – Kennilworthy Whisp
91. To the Lighthouse – Virginia Wolfe
92. Women in the Old Testament
93. PHP and MYSQL
94. Design and Layout
95. HTML 4
96. Norah’s Ark* – Judy Baer - I really wanted to like this book. It's about a Christian woman finding love while sticking to her beliefs and morals. But come on! Three of the (small) town's hunkiest men all fall in love with some chick who dresses like a scrub and has the frizziest hair ever? Maybe I'm just a cynic and not able to see beyond the package, but I wasn't impressed with this one. My friend B lived a better story about a Christian woman finding love while sticking to her beliefs and morals.
97. Something Blue* – Emily Giffin
98. Baby Proof* – Emily Giffin
99. The Constant Princess* – Philippa Gregory - I guess I'm a sucker for pain because in a moment of weakness I got this book at my last trip to the library. It's now the only book (of my library books) I haven't read so I need to decide if I'm going to read it or if I'm just going to return it. I mean, I've read about the later wives I might as well read about the first, right?
100. The Time-Traveler's Wife* – Audrey Niffenegger - This book saved my sanity this past Christmas. It was the book I brought over with me when I went to visit the ILs and escaping into this book helped me through this dark period. :) I want to re-read it so I keep renewing it at the library. I think I might just have to buy it. Also, I had just seen the Doctor Who episodes Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead so I was really interested in the whole concept.

*Technically these are library books, but they're sitting on my bookshelves right now so they count.
**These are actually Kevin's books, but I've read them and liked them (we have very different tastes on which books we'll read) so I put them on my list.