need something to read? I got 16 out of 100

The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books. They estimate the average adult has read only six.
Here’s what you are supposed to do:
Look at the list and bold those you have read. Italicize those we intend to read.*Star the books we LOVE.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen **
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien **
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible (not sure if this counts for me reading because I've never read cover to cover)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller1
4. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell **
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis **
34. Emma - Jane Austen **
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen **
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis **
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery **
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens ( i did start this)
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett **
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

YUMM-O

I made this today. I guess I should have taken a picture but it didn't last long enough. I will double the corn cakes recipe next time.

Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes the Cheesecake Factory Copycat Recipe

1 hour | 30 min prep

SERVES 4

• 
  

Salsa Verde

• 2 tomatillos, diced
• 4 ounces mild green chilies, drained and diced
• 1 green onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper

For Tomato Salsa

• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced Spanish onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash ground black pepper

For Southwestern Sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon water
• 3/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch onion powder
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash garlic powder

For Cakes

• 1 1/2 cups frozen sweet corn
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup corn masa harina flour (corn flour)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For Garnish

• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Prepare salsa verde by combining all prepared ingredients. Chill.
2. Prepare tomato salsa by combining all prepared ingredients. Chill.
3. Prepare southwestern sauce by combining all ingredients. Chill.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F.
5. Prepare the tamale cakes by chopping 1 cup of the frozen corn in a food processor until it's coarsely pureed. Combine pureed corn with softened butter, sugar, and salt. Blend well.
6. Add masa and flour and blend well. Mix in the remaining 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels by hand.
7. Measure 1/2 cup portions of the mixture and form it into 3" wide patties with your hands. Arrange the patties on a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cakes are browned on the bottom.
8. Carefully flip all cakes with a spatula and bake for an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until other side is browned.
9. Assembly: Place all three cakes on a warmed serving platter. Dollop each with one of the three sauces. Garnish with diced avocado, cilantro and a dollop of sour cream.

Seven

7 Things I plan to do before I die

1. See more of the USA and if possible the world

2. Be a grandparent

3. Go on a mission with DJ

4. read a lot of books

5. become a good photographer

6. learn to decorate cakes

7. build my dream home


7 things I do now

1. I can cook yea!

2. love my babies and take good care of them

3. organize

4. talk... a lot

5. sew pajama pants for my kids

6. clean and do laundry

7. go on play dates, host play dates, volunteer in the classroom, and be the best Mom I can be.


7 things I can't do

1. play any sport well

2. math

3. crochet, for real I've tried a few times

4. memorize

5. cut hair

6. drive in LA, very very scary!

7. draw well

7 things that attract me to my husband (in no particular order)

1. cute butt

2. kind heart

3. he watches movies and shows that I like

4. amazing father

5. patient and calm

6. devoted

7. the best person for me


7 things that I say most often

1. "This is your warning"

2. I am tired

3. That's frinkin awesome

4. Hell yeah

5. So I was thinking...

6. I love you bunches

7. Your my favorite


7 celebrities that I admire

is this really a question


7 favorite foods

1. Ice Cream

2. whatever I can put in a tortilla

3. Mom's bean dip

4. Thanksgiving.. the whole thing (stuffing mashed potatoes, pie...)

5. I like Easter too (ham, sour cream potatoes...)

6. Baked Potato with the works

7. I perfect steak


7 people who need to do this

1. Jana

2. Tiffany

3. Katie baby

4. Tammy

5. Heather

6. Shawna

7. Sara G

7 year itch

So here it is. DJ and I are coming up on year number 7. I am wondering where normal people are at in their 7th year of marriage. What itch is being scratched. I was thinking about that a while back. What kind of itches need to be scratched?
For me I am taking a personal journey on becoming a better photographer. I want to really understand my camera and become confident in my skills. So I am doing a self teaching adventure. I have made another blog so once I start posting I'll let ya know. I have also begged my amazing Mom to support my way though Wilton cake decorating class at Michaels. I am pretty dang excited about this adventure. I have been talking about cake decorating for years now and now I think I have finally made it almost official. I just have to get mom and me and the money in Michaels by next Thursday to sign up. yea!
DJ on the other hand has taken a different approach.Here it is folks. He is going to school. No not real estate not business. What is he going to do? Pharmacy. That's right and not the one's my brother in laws hang with. An actual white coat in a real pharmacy. He is registering for classes starting next month to begin his 5 year journey to a good, stable, career. I am thrilled surprisingly. We are already poor so it won't be a fall back from comforts. In fact we'll be moving back to my parents some time early next year. (They are planning ongoing on a mission and the house we are renting is being put up for sale in January)
SO wish us and mostly DJ luck!

And really all of my friends married more than 7 years. Did you have a 7 year itch? What was it? If not 7 when was your itch?

help my friend

So my friend Tana is going to the Paul Michell school in Phoenix
there is a video contest and I want her to win so watch the video and make a comment please!!

Any CA friends might recognize Mike Helm. He is one of the teachers!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_nU1bBx4Z0

Thanks

piggy bank

So little story I want to share.
Eden was in her room and I walked by as she was dumping out toys and putting the storage boxes together to stand on.
"What are you doing?" I asked
she points to her piggy bank on top of her dresser
"you want your piggy bank?"
"yes" she says.
I told her to pick up her toys and I would get her piggy bank down.
After this was done I continued on to my journey to DJ's office to discuss some future matters with him. As we where talking we could hear Eden playing with her money.After a short while she came in proudly holding a handful of mostly pennies.
"Is that your money?"
"Yes"
"wow are you going to show it to Daddy?"
"No", she said "I am going to give it to him"
I laughed as she put he handful on his desk.

Then the truth came out.

"do you know why she did that?" DJ asked me
"no" I said
"Because she asked me to play with her and I told her I had to go work and make some money."

It is amazing to see that she wanted to help her Daddy out so he would be able to play with her. I awed and teared up by my sweet baby and her sincere jester to help him out.

This is one of the reasons I have sacrificed working to be at home with my children.

house of care

So my brother Corey has some awesome back issues. week or so he reached down to pick up a chip. He had already over worked his back that day and the little act landed him on my kitchen floor. There he stayed for 24hrs. We were able to pull him into the "LR" by getting him on a blanket and pulling.

Anyway, my kids instantly pulled out the doctor kit and teddy bear and such and went to taking care of him. It was really funny. So I thought I'd share

BTW Corey is doing better and has been home and even back to work. I also have to confess I enjoyed Corey's accident because he stayed the night and I had people at my house all weekend. yea!