I Found This Over At the Open Salon, and I Really Wanted to Laugh. I Really, really did.

More to the point, I found it on another steve s's blog,

and it prompted a round of flasbacks.

Check him out; he's funny. And so are his cats.

You Are Old, My Employee, The Young Boss Said

With Apologies to

Lewis Carroll and Robert Southey

“You are old, My Employee,” the young Boss said,
   “And your beard has become very white;
And yet you show up every morning for work—
   Do you think, at your age, it is right?

“Your great age,” The Boss continued in fun,
   “I feared it might injure your creativity;
But now that I’m perfectly sure you have none,
   I need staff a bit nearer their nativity.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “your potential too flat
   For projects beyond the straight line;
Yet you act as a mentor to our most promising staff,
   With their respect, which by rights should be mine!”

“In my youth,” said The Employee, “I took to my work,
   And each day I increased knowledge deep”;
While in his mind ran the thought, “This is all for naught.
   It’s my last day to work for this creep.”

“We have talked for two minutes, and that is enough,”
   Said The Boss; “You have wasted our air!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
   Here’s a bag, pack your things, Now Downstairs!”

My 2012 Reading Challenges

Hi. My name is Snowball and I am a Reading Challenge Addict.

Here they are,
my reading challenges for this year, 2012.

~  ~  ~

2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge hosted by The Book Vixen. 

My Link.

 

Off The Shelf 2012.

My Link.

The Dark Tower Reading Challenge.

My Link.

Kinsey Millhone Reading Challenge.

My Link.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book Challenge 2012.

My Link.

Mental Illness Advocacy (MIA) Reading Challenge.

My Link.

~  ~  ~

Try:
A Novel Challenge
- to find your next reading challenge(s)

Days

by Philip Larkin

What are days for?

Days are where we live.   

They come, they wake us   

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:   

Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor   

In their long coats

Running over the fields.

from: The Whitsun Weddings.

There is ALWAYS Another Side

QUOTE OF THE DAY

[I]t is better to be only sometimes right than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them. 

- Abraham Lincoln, Illinois 3/9/1832.

Here Kitty, Kitty . . .

Louis Wain.

2011 Book Challenges: Final Post

Yay! 

I did it! 

I didn't complete all the challenges as I had planned, but I am happy with my over all accomplishments. In a year filled with job hunting, tutoring ELA & Reading, and dealing with a few crises, I consider that a major feat.

When life is full and responsibilities abound, having an 'excuse' to read is priceless. At times it can even be sanity saving.

You may also notice the inclusion of ebooks, beginning at #33. I received a NOOK COLOR from my dear husband for my birthday - AND I LOVE IT!

There is much debate on whether digital books spell the end of paper books. And I am here to tell you that the answer to that question is a resounding NO. What I have found is that my Nook has expanded my literary reach exponentially.

Being that I am on a tight budget, my ability to buy books is somewhat limited. I have exhausted the libraries in three counties, and if I hadn't discovered online used book venders I might have already expired for lack of nourishment. But there are many books I would like to read that just do not find their way to these venders, or they carry hefty price tags when they do. 

Robert Browning's The Ring and the Book is one example. I had searched unsuccessfully several years for an affordable copy, only to find it in the ebook format for $1.99. Is it the same as holding the original leather bound volume? No. But at least I can read it. And that, after all, is the ultimate goal of a book lover - reading.

HERE ARE MY FINAL LISTS:

From: Home Girl's Book Blog.

1. Recovering - May Sarton
2. The Cat Who Killed Lillian Jackson Braun - Robert Kaplow
3. The Red Tent - Anita Diamont
4. Finding Your Bipolar Muse - Lana R. Castle
5. The Pig Did It - Joseph Caldwell  
6. The Pig Comes To Dinner - Joseph Caldwell
7. The Short Stories of John B. Keane - John B. Keane
8. Living In The State Of Stuck: How Assistive Technology Impacts The Lives of People With Disabilities - Marcia J. Scherer 
9. A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft 
10. So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
11. A Long Rainy Season - ed. Leza Lowitz, Miyuki aoyama, & Akemi Tomioka
12. The Pest Maiden: A Story of Lobotomy - Penelpoe Scambly Schott
13. The Fur Person - May Sarton
14. From the Dark Side: The Collected Poetry of Jonathan Schwartz - Jonathan Schwartz
15. Poets on Prozac: Mental Illness, Treatment and the Creative Process - Ed. Richard M. Berlin
16. Port Mortuary - Patricia Cornwell 
17. Sunbathing in the Rain - Gwyneth Lewis
18. Selected Poems of May Sarton - Ed. S. Hilsinger & L. Brynes
19. The Subjection of Women - John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill
20. A Doll’s House - Henrik Ibsen
21. Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
22. A Room of One’s Own - Virginia Woolf
23. The Woman Warrior - Maxine Hong Kingston
24. The Beauty Myth - Naomi Wolf
25. Ain’t I a Woman? - Bell Hooks

26. A Maze Me - Naomi Hihab Nye
27. Cat Cross Their Graves - Shirley Rousseau Murphy
28. Muhammad: The Banned Images - Gary Hall
29. Cat Breaking Free - Shirley Rousseau Murphy
30. Cat Pay the Devil - Shirley Rousseau Murphy
31. Cat Deck the Halls - Shirley Rousseau Murphy
32. My Lobotomy - Charles Fleming    
33. A Study In Scarlet (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle
34. The Sign of Four (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle

35. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle
36. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle

37. The Hound of the Baskervilles (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle

38. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle

40. Dexter is Delicious - Jeff Lindsay
41. His Last Bow (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle 

42. The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes (ebook) - Arthur Conan Doyle          

43. Serenity: Achieving Inner Peace Through Haiku (ebook) - Kiyoshi Hayakowa  
44. In the Spirit of Haiku (ebook) - Kamala Moore  
45. Haiku (ebook) - Toshiyuki Ihira     

46. Isotropes: A Collection of Speculative Haibun (ebook) - T.J. McIntyre  
47. 100 Selected Poems (ebook) - e.e. cummings    

48. Cat Had a Tail (ebook) - Steven D. Bennett
49. Faith and Feminism - Helen LaKelly Hunt    
50. The Death Clock (ebook) - J. Rock  
51. Short Stories for Short on Time People (ebook) - David Santos Solano    
52. No Light Might Escape (ebook) - Joe Hakim     

53. Bullied: Volume One (ebook) - Christopher Jones     
54. Bullied: Volume Two (ebook) - Christopher Jones
55. Bullied: Volume Three (ebook) - Christopher Jones
56. Bullied: Volume Four (ebook) - Christopher Jones
57.9 Lives Stories for Cat Lovers (ebook) - Ahmed Khalifa
58. Chronicles of Bursts of Light and Shadow (ebook) - Amanda Clark-Williams
59. God in the Machine (ebook) - Thea Atkinson
60. Husband Won't Buy Wife a Kindle (ebook) - Franklin Eddy
61. Old Ladies Who Love Porn (ebook) - Franklin Eddy
62. So and Sew (ebook) - Cassandra Pepper
63. The Alzheimers Book Club (ebook) - Jill Zeller
64. Cats in the Belfry (ebook) - Doreen Tovy & Dan Brown
65. Go the F***k to Sleep (ebook) - Adam Mansbach
66. The Thin Man (ebook) - Dashell Hammett
67. The Cat, the Professor, and the Poison (ebook) - Leann Sweeney
68. The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse (ebook) - Leann Sweeney
69. The Cat, the Lady, and the Liar (ebook) - Leann Sweeney
70. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat (ebook) - Sofie Kelly        
71. How to Wash a Cat (ebook) - Rebecca M. Hale
72. Nine Lives Last Forever (ebook) - Rebecca M. Hale
73. How to Moon a Cat (ebook) - Rebecca M. Hale 
74. Mystery - Johnathan Kellerman
75. Thinking in Pictures - Temple Grandin    
76. Cat on The Money - Shirley Rousseau Murphy    
77. Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter (ebook) - Blaize Clement     
78. Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund (ebook) - Blaize Clement     
79. Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues (ebook) - Blaize Clement     
80. Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof (ebook) - Blaize Clement     
81. The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven - Joseph Caldwell   

82. Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs - (ebook) - Blaize Clement      

83. Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons - (ebook) - Blaize Clement
84. The House of Darkness - (ebook) - Ellery Queen
85. Arson Plus - (ebook) - Dashell Hammett
86. Homeowner Haiku - Jerry Ratch & Sherry Karver
87. Sleight of Paw - (ebook) - Sofie Kelly     
88. Arsene Lupine Vs. Herlock Shomes - (ebook) Maurice LeBlanc
89. If Not For the Cat - Jack Prelutsky         
90. Haiku for Sociologists - Ed. Kristin Barker & Gary Tiedeman      

91. Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King       

92. Fur-de-Lance - Rex Stout            
93. Black Orchids - Rex Stout
94. Women Poets of Japan - Kenneth Rexroth & Ikuko Atsumi, Ed.
95. Working Stiff - Annelise Ryan             
96. Scared Stiff - Annelise Ryan             
97. Hiss of Death - Rita Mae Brown    
98. New and Selected Poems - Mary Oliver      
99. Cat Playing Cupid - Shirley Rousseau Murphy
100. Red Mist - Patricia Cornwell  

Hosted by: Robin of My Two Blessings. (Yes, I surpassed my goal for this one. And I loved every minute of it!)

Hosted by: Carrie from Books And Movies. Although my goal was 6 books for this one, I didn't quite make it. 

MY LINK is here.

 From: Savvy Verse & Wit. This one was easy, as the challenge was to read just 1 book of poetry. I made it to 22.

MY LINK is here.

Hosted by: Opinions of a Wolf. My goal was 12 books, but once again, I only made it to 10.

MY LINK is here.

THIS . . . is A Sin

3.5 Million Homeless and

18.5 Million Vacant Homes

in the US

 

Since 2007, banks have foreclosed around eight million homes. It is estimated that another eight to ten million homes will be foreclosed before the financial crisis is over. This approach to resolving one part of the financial crisis means many, many families are living without adequate and secure housing. In addition, approximately 3.5 million people in the U.S. are homeless, many of them veterans. It is worth noting that, at the same time, there are 18.5 million vacant homes in the country.

 - Diane Sweet.

- Amnesty International.

 THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY