Note: I had to add a new favorite blog to my list - Shauna James soon-to-be-Ahern's GlutenFreeGirl - www.GlutenFreeGirl.com. Shauna is an author that my company is publishing this fall. That's how I found her blog. She is a terrific writer, whether she's writing about her passion for food or her passion for The Chef (the love of her life). The recipes are terrific, the photos creative, and I'm hooked! I can't wait to read more!!!

I'm reading a new book: Brad Meltzer's The Book of Fate. I've just finished reading: James Patterson's The 6th Target, Dean Koontz' The Good Guy, Karen Robards' Obsession, Jeffery Deaver's The Sleeping Doll, and Janine Latus' If I Am Missing or Dead. None of these are on my reading list (P), but since I read so much anyway, I'm not too worried. I'm visiting B&N tonight; I reserved a couple of craft-room books to look at/buy. I picked up two books the other day: Heather Graham's The Dead Room and James Grippando's Lying with Strangers. Again, not on my list, but...

FYI, here's my list:
* started The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived - Allan Lazar
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
* done The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron
Knowledge for Generations - Wiley: The Global Publishing Industry - Robert E. Wright
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
Genius: A Mosaic of 100 Exemplary Creative Minds - Harold Bloom
Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose
* done All the Numbers - Judy Larsen
* started The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
* done Death Connection - Charlie Price (I confess - it's a teen title recommended by Walter Meyers at the seminar I attended - Toni bought it and loaned it to me and I added it to my list after I started reading it...)

The idea was that we choose 12 titles we wouldn't necessarily "normally" read during the course of the year - books we'd always intended to read (like some classics or overly-hyped bestsellers - which doesn't always = good books, I know!) or started to read at some point in our lives but never finished (like Stephen King's Insomnia).

I stopped by my LSS (local scrapbook store, for those of you not in the know!) last night and bought a few sheets of paper. I also spent about 1/2 an hour talking to one of the owners (J) and her daughter and 2 grandchildren. I thought J & A were the owners, but apparently her daughter helps out a lot too, with reorganizing the store, putting together their monthly kits, etc.

What I really like about this store is that although they have scrapping stuff, they show other non-scrapbook-related projects all over the store: altered stuff, cards, frames, mini-books/albums, etc., etc. Just browsing you can get a lot of great ideas!

O.T. I called my niece a couple of days ago - we had such a nice conversation! Almost like humans! She didn't snap a response (much), she listened to me (mostly), she interacted with me and (drumroll, please!) she seemed interested in what I had to say. This hasn't happened in quite a while. In fact, this was so unusual I called her mom the next day to see if A had mentioned to her that we'd spoken. (Apparently it was more important to me than to A, since she didn't even mention I'd called... but that's okay!) She's been so difficult and moody and obnoxious in the past few years that I'd all but given up on speaking with her; I've been waiting for her to grow out of this phase.

Which brings me to another pet peeve of mine: the idea that I should accept her moodiness and rudeness and lack of proper behavior "because after all, she's 15. It's just a phase she's going through."

I WAS 15 ONCE. AND I WAS NOT.ALLOWED.TO.BE.RUDE.TO.MY.AUNT.OR.TO.ANY.ADULT.

Okay, I'm done.