M. Night Shyamalan technique saved it

So I've recently finished book number two, Atonement by Ian McEwan. As soon as I started the book I got worried that I wouldn't be able to read all the books on my list. So flowery, so much detail about how everything looked, and about every thought that ran through each persons head regardless if it was pertinent or not. I was worried that their may be many of 'this sort' of book on the list. I'm much more of an adventure/outdoorsy/non-fiction reader by nature. But I said to myself, "Self, you said you were going to do this, their has to be a reason why they selected this book and even though it is not like the things you normally enjoy reading you need to give it a chance." So I did and it was worth it.

The book is divided into three parts as it goes through a family's history and how one nights' events and misunderstandings changed the fate of all of them. The first part was everything leading up to "the crime." I figured out "the crime" and how it was going to play out much sooner than the author would let me have the outcome in words on the page. Thus the flowery language and too much attention to detail. The book was saved by two things for me. Part two was a view of WWII and the flowery language and attention to detail was riveting and I wanted more. Finally, the ending which actually ends after the end of the story (I know that doesn't make sense, but it does if you decide to read it) clinched it. The author took a page from M. Night Shyamalan (who unfortunately hasn't made a good movie in quite awhile, though I feel he is trying hard.) There was a twist, a twist that I didn't ever see coming and would alter my views and thoughts of the book if I ever read it again. Like looking for clues, like you did when you re-watched The Sixth Sense. This twist made the book and all my frustrations more than tolerable and I would recommend it especially if you enjoy English literature.

So what is coming up? Well, I've been back to The Book Stop and purchased two additional books, but I also have All the King's Men waiting for me. This book is on the massive side, so I have been trying to decide if I should start it or if I should blow thorough one of the much shorter books I recently purchased. In the end, I'm going with All the King's Men. I figure it will take me through the winter holiday's and my friend, Bill, said it was good read in passing when he saw it laying around my house. Bill's a reader, so I trust his judgement. Next time I write I'll talk about the new books I bought for the collection and how the second hand book hunting is going, along with how much I've spent and what books I've traded in.

Happy Thanksgiving Early!

One down ninty-nine to go!

So I've finished Animal Farm and it has left me feeling melancholy and defeatist. During the whole book I found myself yelling REVOLT ANIMALS, REVOLT AGAINST THE PIGS in my head. Would that happen in real life or would we blindly serve those who are taking advantage of us? Unfortunately, I think in most cases we would sit back and take it. Like the animals who just knew it had to be ok that they were going through all this hardship because in the end they were working for the betterment of themselves, only to find themselves in the same dictatorship with a different face on it.

I understand why this book is on "the best list" because it really breaks down why communism doesn't work in a clear and concise way. Communism depends on equality between all and everyone doing their job based on their abilities. Under that structure someone is going to end up doing most of the work and provide for the others. And that is just the start of the breakdown. If those in leadership roles take advantage the whole system immediately shuts down and you now are part of a dictatorship. There are plenty of political arguments to be made but I find it unfun to rant to myself, I'd rather banter back and forth than to lay out my views on paper. Not a "happy" book but a worthwhile book for sure.

I'm on to Atonement. I have no idea what it is about, but since it has Kiera Knightly on the cover, I'm guessing maybe a pouty English girl is in my future. With all the Halloween and football stuff going on last week I had a hard time fitting in reading time hopefully this week will be smooth sailing. Crap baby is crying! Til next time!

Projects and Changes

Hello everybody!
It has been a really long time since I have written and I have decided to get back into the swing of things. I started this blog as just a means to put thoughts onto paper (so to speak) and then it morphed into my pregnancy/baby diary. Now with Oliver here at a full 17 months old and me not writing since he was a month old I've decided to change paths once again. While it is inevitable that Oliver, Jonathan, and Bluebelle will seep into the conversation, I want to focus this blog on a special project. I'm actually borrowing this idea from a friend but am morphing it into what I hope will be something special.

So the project is to read all of the books on All-Times 100 Novels list by the end of next year. While this is a noble feat in itself, my plan is to write reviews of the books, talk about how "easy" it is to curl up with a good book while dealing with daily life, and also talk about how I go about finding these books. My idea is to only purchase used books locally. No new paper, no shipping. I think it will be fun to hunt for some of these titles. Some will be easy, others not so much. My plan is then donate the amassed collection of books to a good cause. Still thinking of what that will be.

Here is the list: (Can't wait to hear what some of you think of these titles!) please check out http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1951793_1952021_1952025,00.html to see the parameters in which the books were chosen.

A - B
The Adventures of Augie March (1953), by Saul Bellow
All the King's Men (1946), by Robert Penn Warren
American Pastoral (1997), by Philip Roth
An American Tragedy (1925), by Theodore Dreiser
Animal Farm (1946), by George Orwell
Appointment in Samarra (1934), by John O'Hara
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (1970), by Judy Blume
The Assistant (1957), by Bernard Malamud
At Swim-Two-Birds (1938), by Flann O'Brien
Atonement (2002), by Ian McEwan
Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison
The Berlin Stories (1946), by Christopher Isherwood
The Big Sleep (1939), by Raymond Chandler
The Blind Assassin (2000), by Margaret Atwood
Blood Meridian (1986), by Cormac McCarthy
Brideshead Revisited (1946), by Evelyn Waugh
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), by Thornton Wilder
C - D
Call It Sleep (1935), by Henry Roth
Catch-22 (1961), by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye (1951), by J.D. Salinger
A Clockwork Orange (1963), by Anthony Burgess
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), by William Styron
The Corrections (2001), by Jonathan Franzen
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), by Thomas Pynchon
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951), by Anthony Powell
The Day of the Locust (1939), by Nathanael West
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), by Willa Cather
A Death in the Family (1958), by James Agee
The Death of the Heart (1958), by Elizabeth Bowen
Deliverance (1970), by James Dickey
Dog Soldiers (1974), by Robert Stone
F - G
Falconer (1977), by John Cheever
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), by John Fowles
The Golden Notebook (1962), by Doris Lessing
Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), by James Baldwin
Gone With the Wind (1936), by Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath (1939), by John Steinbeck
Gravity's Rainbow (1973), by Thomas Pynchon
The Great Gatsby (1925), by F. Scott Fitzgerald
H - I
A Handful of Dust (1934), by Evelyn Waugh
The Heart is A Lonely Hunter (1940), by Carson McCullers
The Heart of the Matter (1948), by Graham Greene
Herzog (1964), by Saul Bellow
Housekeeping (1981), by Marilynne Robinson
A House for Mr. Biswas (1962), by V.S. Naipaul
I, Claudius (1934), by Robert Graves
Infinite Jest (1996), by David Foster Wallace
Invisible Man (1952), by Ralph Ellison
L - N
Light in August (1932), by William Faulkner
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), by C.S. Lewis
Lolita (1955), by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies (1955), by William Golding
The Lord of the Rings (1954), by J.R.R. Tolkien
Loving (1945), by Henry Green
Lucky Jim (1954), by Kingsley Amis
The Man Who Loved Children (1940), by Christina Stead
Midnight's Children (1981), by Salman Rushdie
Money (1984), by Martin Amis
The Moviegoer (1961), by Walker Percy
Mrs. Dalloway (1925), by Virginia Woolf
Naked Lunch (1959), by William Burroughs
Native Son (1940), by Richard Wright
Neuromancer (1984), by William Gibson
Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro
1984 (1948), by George Orwell
O - R
On the Road (1957), by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), by Ken Kesey
The Painted Bird (1965), by Jerzy Kosinski
Pale Fire (1962), by Vladimir Nabokov
A Passage to India (1924), by E.M. Forster
Play It As It Lays (1970), by Joan Didion
Portnoy's Complaint (1969), by Philip Roth
Possession (1990), by A.S. Byatt
The Power and the Glory (1939), by Graham Greene
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), by Muriel Spark
Rabbit, Run (1960), by John Updike
Ragtime (1975), by E.L. Doctorow
The Recognitions (1955), by William Gaddis
Red Harvest (1929), by Dashiell Hammett
Revolutionary Road (1961), by Richard Yates
S - T
The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles
Slaughterhouse Five (1969), by Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash (1992), by Neal Stephenson
The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), by John Barth
The Sound and the Fury (1929), by William Faulkner
The Sportswriter (1986), by Richard Ford
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1964), by John le Carre
The Sun Also Rises (1926), by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), by Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart (1959), by Chinua Achebe
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), by Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse (1927), by Virginia Woolf
Tropic of Cancer (1934), by Henry Miller
U - W
Ubik (1969), by Philip K. Dick
Under the Net (1954), by Iris Murdoch
Under the Volcano (1947), by Malcolm Lowry
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
White Noise (1985), by Don DeLillo
White Teeth (2000), by Zadie Smith
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), by Jean Rhys
Graphic Novels
Berlin: City of Stones (2000), by Jason Lutes
Blankets (2003), by Craig Thompson
Bone (2004), by Jeff Smith
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2002), by Kim Deitch
The Dark Knight Returns (1986), by Frank Miller
David Boring (2000), by Daniel Clowes
Ed the Happy Clown (1989), by Chester Brown
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), by Chris Ware
Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (2003), by Gilbert Hernandez
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

Yesterday, Oliver and I headed to The Book Stop (http://www.thebookstoponline.com/)
on Atlanta Road (my favorite used book place). Please visit Ginny, she is really great and helpful. Anyway, I brought in my list of the "A" books and a few pregnancy books to trade in. Ginny helped me locate some of them. (I was having a hard time focusing with my little one going crazy for a new Curious George book we picked up.)

I'm starting with Animal Farm by George Orwell (which I remember reading in 8th grade, but was too cool for school to really care about the message), All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, and Atonement by Ian McEwan. (which unfortunately has Keira Knightly on the cover. I hate movie covers. Now that character will be Keira and not the picture I form in my head. At least I have not seen the movie yet.) So last evening I thought about what I would write in this blog and if this was really doable. I think it is! With wheels turning I climbed into bed at about 11:30 with Animal Farm in hand, I got cozy, opened to page one, and promptly fell asleep.

Oliver at 1 month

Here he was at two weeks....

Now he is a whole month old and I can't believe it!

He is just growing and growing, becoming more alert, and is doing a really good job at keeping mom and dad up at night.

Ollie says check you later.

Oliver Wayne is Here!!

He is happy and healthy and we are overjoyed to finally meet him. Here is his story...

Oliver Wayne joined our family when we thought we would still have a couple weeks to prepare for his arrival. I had been on bedrest for the second week and thought for sure that at this doctor appointment my amniotic fluid level would be back in range. So, I would be put on modified bedrest and little Oliver would hang out until I was at least 37 week along. Jonathan and I were in the ultrasound room and learned my fluid level was back at 7.5 cc, which is the level that put me in the hospital 2 weeks earlier. Then we did the non-stress test. I thought the top band was just super tight, I was very uncomfortable, and my face felt just really hot. Jonathan looks at the monitoring tape and then at me and says, "Can you feel that?" I said, "I'm hot and this band is really tight. Do you think I can loosen it?" He replies, "No it is not the band, you are having contractions." And from then on, like every 3 minutes I was having contractions. Only one was a doozey, but I knew I wasn't going on modified bed rest after that. Dr. Shin came in and said she wanted me to stay on the monitors for another 15 minutes and to not eat or drink anything. That's when I new something was up because how was I going to eat or drink something while I strapped to monitors.

Jonathan and I went into an exam room Dr. Shin came in and said, " So, I think we should have a baby today!" I instantly burst into tears and Dr. Shin said, "No, No it is a happy day, It's baby day. I scheduled your c-section for 5 o'clock. So, here is your paperwork and we'll see you at the hospital in about an hour and an half." Jonathan and I were both kind of in shock that everything was set up and we were going to have Oliver in just a few hours. We asked some questions and then headed to the hospital.

Before I knew it I was being prepped for the c-section and things were just falling into place to have our little one. I was nervous but Jonathan was there and the staff answered every question I had. I was calm until Dr. Shin arrived, that made it really real and I was told that my heartrate went up when she came into the room. Dr. Shin went to work and before I knew it we had a crying baby. The nurses took him and were cleaning him up while Jonathan gave me the play by play of what was going on. We were so happy when we found out he was in great shape and didn't need to go to the NICU and we went to our recovery room as a family!

Oliver Wayne Brinson born Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 6:53 p.m. 6lbs. 7 ozs., 17.5 inches long.

Now we are at home and Oliver is really great. So many facial expressions so little time. Love his long fingers, big, big toe, little perfect nose, full lips, and baby soft hair. What is not to love...

Bye Bye! We'll have lots more for you soon.

How things change!

So here is my lovely "Kim at 33 weeks pregnant" photo. Yep, I was in the hospital after having a sonogram at my doctors office because my doc. was worried I was undersized for how far along I am. It turned out that my amniotic fluid level was pretty low and she shipped me off to the hospital for fluids and 24 hour observation.

Things are not all bad, however. Baby B seems to be doing great even though he has very little room to move in there. They figure he is 4lbs. 13ozs right now and his heart rate is good and steady. He passed their wellness assessment with flying colors. He is in the breach position right now and does not have an opportunity to change that because of the low fluid level around him.

So, now I am at home with my amniotic fluid level still considered low but increased from Thursday. I'm on bed rest and am instructed that I have to take it easy and only get up to go to the bathroom, eat a meal, or take a 5 minute shower. Super bummer. Jonathan has been great. (even though he took the picture on me in the hospital) :-). He set the bedroom up for me with a special wedge pillow, laptop tray, and a multitude of TV trays and chairs so we can dine together and watch a movie. He also made the upstairs bathroom functional this weekend. We were at the point of putting up the trim baseboards and crown, but he decided to forgo that and just put in the toilet, vanity, and shower door. While it will probably be a chore to later install the trim, it is really great to have that amenity upstairs again.

So now for he hard part, filling my days while just being able to hang out in bed. Sounds great to some, but I'm already trying to come up with creative things I can do. Hopefully work finds enough paper pushing type things for me to do and netflix never runs out of movies. This will be a good time to get to the reading I want to and probably comb the entire Internet.

The following picture is some of the stuff I had been working on. These are the burp cloths and pair of baby booties I made for my friend Megan's baby shower. I am hoping I will still be able to finish the sets for my other pregnant friends and Baby B soon. (I just have to figure out how I can run the sewing machine petal with my hand while still keeping the fabric straight) Just Kidding. I know that will have to wait for a little while...

Well, wish me luck and sanity and feel free to contact me at anytime. I'll be here :-)

My Super Fun Baby Shower

So, my baby shower weekend started with a big a surprise. On Friday, I got home from work, was looking for socks to put on my swollen feet and Jonathan comes homes and says, "Someones here to see you." ...and honestly I was like, Who is it now, I really just want to put my socks on and sit down for a minute. But to my very happy surprise I took a look around the corner and who did I find? BRITTNEY!

She flew all the way from SLC just for my baby shower and to be the best gift I could get. I can't believe Jonathan had totally kept me in the dark about it. His only clue that something was up was the statement he made the night before, "I know something you don't know." Which I completely dismissed because he knows lots of things I don't know and I know he would never spill the beans on a secret. He is much better at it than I am. He knows he'll never get a surprise party from me. Anyway, Brittney and I hugged it out, got some BBQ, made some cupcakes, and most importantly girl talked.
The next morning came very fast. Brittney and I frosted cupcakes, got ready, and hopped in the mini van with soon to be Grandma Cheryl and Great-Grandma Lillian. Liz (the ultimate planning princess) had everything in order and was busy setting everything up. She really thought of everything and I can't believe how great everything was. I think if I use the word everything one more time you will get the picture on how great EVERYTHING was. HA.

The baby shower was at Aunt Fannies Cabin which was THE restaurant in Smyrna way back when. It is now a part of the Smyrna Welcome center and has lots of history and early century charm. I think it was the perfect location for the shower and really solidifies Smyrna as my new home.
Here are the pregnant Kim's. Kim is due about 1 month after me and is having a little girl. Making here daughter Reese a big sis. Very exciting. I'm setting up the quilt square arts and crafts area.

This is my big belly and Liz with little Charlie. I can't wait for Baby B to meet his playmates!

This is what we all have to look forward to. By the time the babies reach three years old us mommas have to become a human jungle gym. Tracy does this with expert precision.

This is me with baby Marlie. She is such a sweet little girl and received the award for being the youngest babe at the shower as she was born at the very end of December.

And here are more of Baby B's future playmates and look at them go! Already sitting up and moving about!

Here are my ever vigilant pregnancy fitness class friends, Rebecca and Amanda, working on their quilt squares for Baby B's new quilt. They are both due in May. Coming up very quickly!!

Brittney is getting her baby holding fix with little Marlie. Brittney got great smiles from her.

Linda, Tricia, and the gang chatting and working on quilt squares.

Gift time! I really can not believe the generosity and thoughtfulness of everyone. Baby B is already spoiled! I'm truly grateful for being able to have such friends.

Yeah! Kim and Jessica! Not at a race this time, but I hope to be in running shape soon. She gave Baby B the mobile for his crib and nightlight for his room. What comforting gifts!

Great-Gram Lillian holding a sleeping Charlie. How sweet!

And me doing what I do best. Spouting off about something...

...At least Tiffany thought I was funny. Amy, not so much. Ha.

As things winded down I got a picture with Grandma Cheryl. It all went by so fast, that I feel like I really didn't get to talk to anyone. I had a lot of fun, but have no idea where the time went. I just know Baby B is going to be an extremely lucky baby to have so many great women in his life.