Lists Make Me So happy!

The beauty of a list! I’ve been inspired by you all to restart my list writing habit. Last night I sat down and made a master To-Do list. Jeremy’s leaving Wednesday for the Grand Canyon for a week. It’s the perfect opportunity to be really productive. My nights are all my own. It’s tempting to keep Kaitlin up from her nap so she’ll go to bed by 6:00, but then I’d lose my two hour block of free time during the middle of the day. Anyway, I thought I’d share my list. Here it is.

Phone calls to make:
1. Michael—ask about his digi camera and ask for photos
2. SL Tribune—cancel daily delivery, continue weekend only
3. Dr. Hafen—schedule K’s 2 year old Well Child Checkup

Household Jobs
1. Laundry—light wash, my sheets, guest room sheets, K’s clothes, down throws, towels—and put it away PROMPTLY!!!
2. Make guest room bed.
3. Change K’s sheets
4. Organize holiday decorations and put away
5. Put canned foods into rotating shelves. Make shopping list for more.
6. Plan menu and shop for ingredients
7. Cook and freeze dinners
8. Clean up craft room
9. Gather Jenna’s kid’s toys and return
10. Ask Jenna and Raul what they want to do with extra fridge
11. Take care of HOA payment and set up autopay.
12. Put tools away in garage and sweep floor
13. Vacuum car and wash inside windows

Misc. and Fun Stuff
1. Type up recipes
2. Buy new bras (pregnancy!)
3. Take Kaitlin to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday (if weather’s good)
4. Get enlargements made of K’s portraits for Pottery Barn frames
5. Buy February and March knives
6. Drop off DI donations
7. Finish Book Cllub “Christmas” presents
8. Write letters to Nicki, Nikki, and Erin
9. Order pink hanging files from The Container Store
10. Buy maternity workout clothes
11. Get Kaitlin’s bangs cut

Kaitlin’s been getting up at 6:00 AM so this morning I got a good start on the List. And my afternoon Visiting Teaching appointment just called to cancel. She’s an 82 year old lady who’s not feeling well. I’ll have to call her later to see how she’s doing, but it did free up the rest of my day. Can’t wait to see what I can do the rest of the day!

The fruits of my weekend labors

It seems like everyone spent this weekend thinking deep thoughts. Michelle had a perspective changing experience at the doctor's office and wrote about her Dad reading to her. Jill wrote so many great things that you just need to go to her blog to read. I've come to the conclusion that Jill is my most introspective friend. She's willing to bare all in a public forum--something that I still struggle with. Jenn--well she's been MIA for a while, but we can forgive her. The other day she commented on somebody either Jill's or Michelle's post that she feels like the fake reader of our group. She may feel this way, but I for one, have to say that it make me feel glad that she just can't do EVERYTHING! I feel like less of an underachiever. (Jenn--I'm totally kidding! You're not a fake reader at all.) Back to the original point, I spent my weekend obsessed with those stupid plates from Target. Saturday morning I went to the American Fork Target. They didn't have everything for a full set of dishes, so I ditched my plans to go scrapbook store hopping, and instead went to the Southtown Target, the Fort Union Target, the West Jordan Target, back to the AF store and then down to the Orem store until I had everything I wanted. I had to settle for green instead of pink. But I've come to terms with that. Green is more my style anyway. To partly make up for it I still bought the pink cups and glasses. They really do look cute together. Now, I have to ask, when are we going to have a party so I can bring out all my cute stuff?

Stuff at Target

So, has anyone read Heidi Swapp's blog about the cute pink dishes she found at Target? She posted a picture that I wish I could link to, but I'm a dork so I can't. Anyway, I can't get these dishes out of my head. I want them. They're just so cute! But then I think, what in the world do I need new dishes for--and pink ones at that? They couldn't be my everyday dishes. And where would I store them? Nevertheless, I will probably go to Target tomorrow and see if they have any. I hope they were a Valentine's Day thing so they aren't there any more. Then I won't be tempted. But it's silly really. Do you do this--get fixated on something that's completely off the wall? The other thing that I want to search for are the new Basic Grey book plates. Have you seen these? They are a must have! Maybe after Target. . . . .

Thoughts on reading

I have to give a presentation about reading tonight at the first meeting of my ward's book club. I had no idea what to talk about so I spent my afternoon writing down some of my ideas about what I think about reading. Of course, I'm not going to deliver this in talk format. I hope I can be a little more conversational, but at least I was able to solidify a few things in my mind. Here's what I wrote, as well as the text for the handout that I think I'm going to do. Warning--this is very long!

Reading has always been an important part of my life. I remember the first time I discovered the power of books. I was probably 12 and my parents had decided that I was old enough to fast for both meals on Fast Sunday. Fast Sunday morning rolled around. I woke up and soon got hungry. I tried to come up with a way to take my mind off of my discomfort and the thought occurred to me that I could get back in bed and read a book. It was a Babysitter’s Club book. I read in bed until the book was done and then began another. By the time we had to leave for church I had read two Babysitter’s Club books in their entirety.

This wasn’t the beginning of my love of books. I remember being more excited about the book fair at school than anything else. When I was in 6th grade, a new girl at a new school, in a new city, I quickly found friends that loved reading as much as I did—friendships that to this day I still maintain. We read books titled after girls names—Heidi, Raquel, Samantha—historical fiction romances aimed at adolescent girls. Then there was my 7th grade year. My Language Arts teacher had us keep a list of all the books we read during the school year. I read 93. I still have the list in a box in my basement somewhere. But the Fast Sunday experience taught me that reading can take you places. It can help you put your cares and worries aside for a time. When I become absorbed in the pages of a book it becomes my world.

As I grew older, I also found that reading was a great way to learn. Surprisingly, this is more of a recent discovery. It’s no surprise. In a recent BYU Forum address historian, and author David McCullough discussed briefly the fact that many of the Founding Fathers had no more than an elementary education. What set them apart was that simply because they had completed their formal education, they never stopped trying to educate themselves. They accomplished this by reading. He says, “It was an Age of Enlightenment, an era when it was widely understood that if you wanted to know something, a good way to learn was to read books—a very radical idea to many in our day and age.” I agree with McCullough. I had certainly not approached reading as a way to learn. I told myself that I was reading to gain an understanding of other people and ways of life. But this was in the context of the novel, and I have since some to think that there is little in novels at least modern novels, to learn from. What I mean is that I never used reading as a way to learn about subjects in depth. As an English major at BYU I used the library for every class I took. I had to read a lot of literary criticism when I wrote papers about novels. However, I don’t think I ever read even a chapter of a book in it’s entirety unless it was specifically assigned. Instead I would use the index to find the parts of books that supported my arguments and read only those parts. I look back on that method of research now and my first thought is that I wasted a lot of good reading—even though there was no way I could possibly have had time to do in depth research for every paper I wrote.

Today I read for several reasons, namely entertainment, education and example.
Entertainment is a huge reason for me to read. I love novels. My university training helps me to read works of fiction looking for truth. Part of reading for entertainment includes participating in a book club that I’ve been a part of since I was married almost seven years ago. The girls in my book club have become my greatest friends. The discussion of books (and getting together to eat and visit) has helped us get to know each other better and more intimately than I probably would have known them otherwise.

I also read to learn. I have discovered a love for nonfiction that I never knew I had. I particularly enjoy reading histories and biographies. I’m grateful that I have the leisure to read about the topics of my choosing. Some of my favorites are Tudor England, Rennaisance Art and CS Lewis. I find that my interests are influenced by several things. Novels are a good influence. I read a novel called The Other Boleyn Girl that made me want to learn as much as I could about Tudor England. The lives of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I are fascinating to me. Some art plate in the middle of one of my books led me to see the differences between English Renaissance art and Italian Renaissance art, and led me to want to read about Italian art. I found a great book called Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling about the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that I found very enjoyable and entertaining. The release of the movie The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe caused me to want to learn more about CS Lewis, so I read a biography called The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of CS Lewis, which gave me some fascinating insights into the life and mind of CS Lewis that I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. And speaking of the cyclical nature of my reading interests, The Narnian also gave me insights into the English social and educational systems that were invaluable to my reading of the Forsyte Sage, a series of novels that takes place in England during the same time that CS Lewis was a student and public figure. I find that as I indulge in my interests the books sort of work as great cross references for each other

Finally, I read as an example for my daughter, Kaitlin. In March 1994 President Hinckley gave an address to the Washington DC Chapter of the BYU Management Society. It was entitled Four Simple Things to Help Our Families and Our Nations. He said, “The Observance of four simple things on the part of parents would in a generation or two turn our societies around in terms of their moral values. They are simply these: Let parents and children (1) teach and learn goodness together, (2) work together, (3) read good books together, a (4) pray together.” Concerning reading he said, “I feel sorry for children who do not learn the wonders to be found in good books, or how stimulating an experience it is to get into the mind of a great thinker as that person expresses himself or herself, with language cultivated and polished, concerning great and important issues.” I believe that if you let your children see you reading then they too will want to read. I can attest to this. Right now I make sure that Kaitlin sees me reading all sorts of materials—books, magazines, the newspaper and even the Internet. Besides the rituals of reading that we go through daily, reading board books in the morning, reading picture books before naptime and bedtime, she also has to have an ad to look at from the Sunday paper while she eats her breakfast. She’s not even two yet. I hope to instill good reading habits in her at an early age so that she too can partake of the enjoyment that reading has brought to my life.


Ideas for Good Reading

1. Find an author that you really like and read everything he or she has written.

2. Find a place you enjoy reading. I read everywhere, but I particularly enjoy reading in bed, in my oversized chair or while soaking in a hot bath.

3. Find a topic you’re passionately interested in and read as much as you can about it.

4. Find other people who are interested in reading. Reading is a great way to connect with others.

5. Keep a reading journal. Find a journal that makes you happy and write down a brief synopsis of the book and what you thought about it. This way you’ll have a record of what you’ve read.

6. Enjoy yourself. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t like to read books that are considered “intellectual.” Reading’s reading—which is more mentally engaging than TV, and with the right book can be just as relaxing!

7. Indulge a little. Drink some hot chocolate or eat a little treat. Make reading something that you look forward to.

8. If you have no idea what to read try:
• going to a bookstore alone and browsing
• think of a book you’ve read and enjoyed in the past. Visit Amazon.com look it up and see what other people who’ve bought that book also bought. Make sure to read the reader comments—a great way to see what people think of the books you’re thinking about reading
• read a book that inspired a movie that you really liked
• getting a recommendation from a fried whose taste you trust!

Resources for reading suggestions and discussion

www.readinggroupguides.com online discussion guides for groups or just deeper individual thought on a large variety of books. Also a great place to find titles to read (includes synopsis of every book)

www.pemberley.com message board web site that has good discussion of all kinds of books, but mostly the "classics." I find that the participants on this site have generally high moral standards, and make good suggestions. Pemberley also has a good Recommended Reading page.

www.amazon.com look up books that you’ve read in the past to get recommendations for similar kinds of books

Local library. The librarians know what’s out there and how to point you toward something you might like. Also a resource for audio books if you want to listen to a book instead of reading it!

Bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Borders. They have great displays of books that are easy and quick to browse

www.google.com Look up books you’ve read for further information, historical background, author interviews, etc.

Entertainment section of newspapers and book review sections of magazines.

The Vision of Emma Blau

The Vision of Emma Blau is about Stefan Blau, a German immigrant to America around the turn of the 20th Century. Through hard work, financial luck and the vision that he had of his granddaughter dancing outside of a magnificent house he manages to build a family, a successful restaurant and the Wasserburg apartment house--the most magnificent and luxurious building in his small New Hampshire town.

As I read this book I was initially disturbed by the fact that each of the characters seemed so broken. Stefan is obsessed with the image that he had of Emma years before her birth. It causes him to work tirelessly, but at the expense of his family, especially his children. As a result of their father's neglect, the three Blau children, Greta, Tobias and Robert are all less than whole. They long for things in their lives that are unattainable--just as their father was unattainable. Stefan's first wife, Elizabeth, suffers from her husband's ambition, and the lowly circumstances into which she moved when she married Stefan. Her suffering is nothing, however, compared to the suffering of Stefan's two other wives, who pay the price for Stefan's grief over the loss of each previous wife. Finally Emma is also broken. Though she had the full love and attention of her grandfather, she lacked the same attention from her own parents. Like her grandfather she is also possessed by the vision that she was a part of. The Wasserburg is a part of her. She can never leave it. It ultimately leads her to an unhappy, dissatisfying life.

Despite all of the issues that each of the characters posses, the thing that struck me is the family's inability to bond in the community. True, they were German immigrants who had to deal with the prejudice that both World Wars brought against any people from Germany or people of German ancestry. However, long before the wars and long after, the family fails to make significant connections with people outside of the Wasserburg. Their entire life takes place within the walls of the magnificent house. All of the people they know are people who live within the house--people who are just as broken as the Blau family members.

This realization, while it could have made my have less sympathy for the characters, actually led me to my tremendous like of the book and the characters. It made me see that they are realistic. It made me realize that we all have elements of our lives and personalities that place us on the fringe of society. While this may sound cynical, I don't mean it that way. Although the Blau family was set up as an extreme example of detachment from a community, they serve to show us that none of us fits in completely--we are all at least slightly on the fringe of our societies. How boring would it be if we did? The things that happen in our lives make us distinct--they also set us apart and give humanity variety. The Blau children who survive to old age eventually find places in the world where they feel comfortable. They also manage to obtain the things that they found unobtainable for the majority of their lives. This is one of our tasks in life--to become comfortable with our differences and accept ourselves for who we are. For me one of the main lessons of this book is that we achieve this self acceptance the things that we have longed for, and worked for, will be granted.

Up Next: The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

Live With Passion

A few of your posts have gotten me thinking the last few days. More specifically, Colette's and Michelle's "Favorites" posts and Jill's competition post. In my comment for Jill's I wondered if perhaps the lack of desire to compete and excel against other people signifies a lack of passion. I think it does, but. . .I don't think that a passion for competition is the only passion that's worthy of notice. This leads me to the favorites posts. I think that the things we would call our favorites are things that we feel passionately about. I'm prone to calling my passions "weaknesses." Why? We won't even go there. I think I would need somebody with licensing and certifications to delve into why I think passion is a weakness. Nevertheless, I was thinking (in the shower, no less-- I do my best thinking in there) this morning about the things I call my weaknesses, and found that they are the things that give me the most joy. Since none of them are immoral or sinful, except maybe chocolate, I'm going to start thinking about these things as things I'm passionate about. Of course most of them are frivolous. Hey I'm just starting here! So here his a short list.

I have a weakness for buying books. Therefore my favorite thing to buy is books. Why books? I don't have to try them on, I won't grow out of them (or shrink out, if I'm lucky), and I get to spend time in a bookstore drinking hot chocolate slowly walking through the shelves.

I have a weakness for ribbon. I buy it all the time. It's my favorite thing in my craft room. And I'm always on the prowl for more!

I have a weakness for anything chocolate. Anything with chocolate is my favorite dessert. To single out a few specifically, chocolate cake from Ottavio's heated in the microwave for 10 seconds, molten chocolate cake from Chilis, any other chocolate cake as long as it has my Dad's chocolate frosting slathered on thick!

A passion for something can be found by identifying the things that you keep returning to. These are things that I come back to over and over:

I have read all of Jane Austen's books, most of Edith Wharton's books, and all of Anne Patchett's books. These are among my favorite authors. I can even tell you which are my favorites of their books. Austen-Pride and Prejudice, Edith Wharton-Age of Innocence, Patchett-Bel Canto.

As for favorite movies I think sometimes I'm embarrassed to tell what my favorite movies are. I place a lot of importance on movie taste. Don't worry. Bad taste is not enough for me to discontinue friendships or anything. I just know whose taste I can trust and whose I can't. Therefore, I want to be known as a person who has good taste in movies, because then my cinematic snobbery would be entirely unfounded. So, after taking a deep breath, here are the movies I return to over and over again.
-Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (sigh)
-Possession
-Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables The Sequel, aka Anne of Avonlea
-Sweet Home Alabama
-Never been Kissed
-Everafter
-Return to Me

OK, now I can exhale!

I think that will be all for now. I've rampled long enough. Someday if I can figure out how to put links into my posts, I'll share the things that I feel passionate about that are truly close to my heart. The things that make me cry just to think about.

I'm really getting behind!

OK, so I'm just putting this up here so that I feel some accountability. I've finished The Vision of Emma Blau and Patty Jane's House of Curl. I want to write my review of Emma Blau but I've been busy being sick and getting ready for my parent's visit. I'll, of course hold off on Patty Jane's House of Curl until after we discuss since I would hate to have any PBC Discussion about it. You want to know my secret for reading so much? Kaitlin is in a very clingy stage right now. She wants me with her at all times. She doesn't care if I'm interacting with her, she wants me in the room. So, when she's playing I read, which is basically all day. Would I rather be doing other things? Yes. But, if I sit down at the computer or sit down at my desk she freaks. She will fortunately allow me to clean up so that's good. Otherwise I'm playing or reading. Just thought you'd like to know.

Well, who's feeling like a pig now?

So last night Jeremy and I came home from dinner to a big bag of caramel corn from Jill. Well, I was excited. I love caramel corn--especially chewy caramel corn. That's what I grew up eating. Unfortunately, I had a stuffy nose to end all stuffy noses (if only!) and, therefore, no sense of taste. I chose to wait until this morning to indulge. After breakfast Kaitlin let her Valentine's Day balloon float up to the ceiling in our family room--two stories tall!!--and was throwing a huge fit. I looked at the caramel corn, somewhat regrettably because I wasn't going to share it with anyone, and decided to see if I could placate her with it. Did it ever work! At first she refused it. She's two, and that's what she does. Then I stuffed a small piece into her mouth. Immediately her eyes brightened, and a little giggle escaped from between her lips and all the popcorn in her mouth. She couldn't get enough. She loved it so much that every time she ate it she giggled. It was so cute. Needless to say, we carried our bag of caramel corn around all morning--into the bathroom with us when we were getting ready to shower, upstairs when I went to check my email, and back downstairs to hand out with us until it was all gone. Then I went to check on the daily blog entries. I saw Jean's picture of her caramel corn, and couldn't resist taking a picture of my empty bag. Obviously she has a touch more restraint than I do. Jill, thanks so much for making my morning wonderfully yummy! Your caramel corn was delightful, and incidentally, the only thing I could taste all day. Pesky colds!

Cool Amazon find!

OK, so I've been MIA in the blogging world for about a week now. I've written several entries only to accidentally delete them when trying to add my photo. Tonight Jeremy proudly came home and told me that he needed to show me something online. He went to Amazon.com and typed in his name. Up came the book that he has been working on about eBay inventory. The book is going to be published at the end of March. We're really excited about this. This book, along with his presentations and panel discussions at eBay's annual member conference, eBay Live, really helps to give him some street cred. This is the result of lots of years of hard work on his part. He's been working on some incarnation or other of this business since we got married, almost seven years ago. May I brag a little? Thanks. His company is up to over 80 employees who all love to work there. He really has the best team of employees ever. I was a little sad when it started getting so big that I didn't know everybody. I still am. But the people I do know are so great. The cool thing about Jeremy and his partners is that they have been able to grow this company entirely on their own. There are no investors--something that's virtually unheard of in the business world today. They continue to grow and stretch their boundaries. Another cool thing is that they put up their first billboard. It's in Lehi, between the two Lehi exits. It's right by the wingers sign, but on the other side of the overpass. It's an advertisement for their employment opportunities page. It says, "Leave before they lay you off." Everybody around the office thinks it's hilarious. OK, can you tell I'm a little proud of my husband? All right, gushing over.

The World Below

It's been a few days since I finished this book. I liked it. A lot. It was my first (now Jill I hope you won't be too shocked!) Sue Miller. How I could have gone so long without reading While You Were Gone, I don't know. I think Oprah picked it at a time where I was either avoiding Oprah books, or out of money. That's the only explanation.

The Known World is about a woman named Catherine who moves to her grandmother's house after her grandmother dies and her marriage falls apart. While she is living there she finds her grandmother's (Georgia's) diaries that she wrote during the time she was at a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients and then during the early days of her marriage. The jacket of the book talks about a marriages being not what they seem, and I suppose that I ought to focus on that. I'll try to talk about it briefly without giving too mcu away. The mystery surrounding Catherine and her marriage is resolved pretty early on in the book. It's a modern day story of two people who have grown apart. One realizes, the other doesn't. Georgia's marriage is where we see the real issues of marriage dealt with in a surprising traditional way. Georgia's marriage is not what it seems because of a serious misunderstanding between her and her fiance. She has struggled with whether to get married because she carries a secret that she feels her husband to be should know before he commits to her. Before she consents to marry him, she wants to bring everything out into the open. As she does so, her husband quickly forgives her, but what she doesn't realize is that he has completely misconstrued what she was trying to say. Later in the book, when they realize what has happened, the narrator comments that she began to love him on the day that he forgave her. Eventually they work through this problem. It ultimately strengthens their marriage, and makes it a picture of the potential that a modern marriage can have.

For me, this real issue is that there is the possibility that we could all be mistaken in our love. Just as the Dr. Holbrooke wanted to see his love in a certain light, which caused him to misunderstand what she was trying to tell him, we see the people we love in a certain way. We idealize them, making them what we want, even if it is more than they really are. The rush of love that leads to marriage blinds us in a way. The blinders can only come off when the relationship changes to one of dating to one of marriage. Marriage changes things. We are exposed to our spouse's bad habits, actions that we view as inconsiderate, but that they have been doing all their lives. In Dr Holbrooke's actions when he finally knows the truth about his wife, we see, I think, one of the ultimate acts of love. In the split second after he hears what his wife really tried to tell him the day she consented to marry him, he is angry with her. He thinks he has been betrayed. But he listens to her, and soon his anger toward her inward. He realizes that the mistake was his. He knew that he had done Georgia an injustice, and not vice versa. Of course, he has to deal with his feelings about the truth, but he also realizes that Georgia has not changed. It is simply his image of her that has changed. Now that he has the truth, that image can be more complete, and so can his love for her. Georgia also teaches us an important lesson. She has also lived with a fallacy about her husband. She thinks that he is much nobler than her really is. But, though her love began on the day of the great misunderstanding, she loves him nonetheless. Her husband proves to her that she was not wrong to give him her love because ultimately, he is forgiving of her past, as she thought he had been a year before. And so their love for each other continues--strengthened by the past wrong into something that will last far into the future. The most valuable lesson that we learn from this is that although we might not really know the people we marry, if we are able to remember the things that initially made us think that they would be a good marriage partner, and not forget the ways that they have proved that they are worthy of our love, the things that we get to know shouldn't matter. Hopefully these things will lead us to an appreciation of who our partners really are, and a deeper love that allows us to accept their faults as a part of the whole that makes them who they are.

Next up: The Vision of Emma Blau by Ursula Hegi

It's A Boy!

I had my 20 week ultrasound on Friday, and yes, it's a boy! The ultrasound technician was 100% sure, and even I could tell, if you know what I mean. I'm excited, although now Jeremy and I are faced with the task of thinking up a good boy's name. I'm dreading that! Today I bought my first boy clothes. Some really cute blue stuff from Target. Who says boys' clothes aren't cute? Well, maybe older boys clothes aren't anything to get really excited about, but baby boy clothes can be just as fun! I also ordered some cute crib bedding from Land of Nod. I have high hopes for this bedding. I just love the colors in the crib skirt. I also ordered Kaitlin's big girl bedroom furniture. It won't be here as soon as I would have liked, but we have a bed in K's new room that she can begin sleeping on temporarily. I just hope I don't throw her for too many loops and ruin the great sleeper that she is. Anyway, it was a fun day of Internet shopping for me! The best part about it? Jeremy was the one to hit the checkout button! Now I need to conspire to get Jeremy and Kaitlin up to Idaho for a nice, long weekend so I can get to work painting!

I Am Such a Crybaby

Anybody who knows me knows that I love the history of Tudor England. It seems that the English love this period of their history as well because Masterpiece Theatre keeps making movies that focus on the Tudors. The movie about the life of Elizabeth 1 was excellent. Now they've moved on to Henry VIII. Last night Jeremy worked late so it was the perfect opportunity to finish watching the first installment of this movie. It, too, was excellent. Helena Bonham-Carter played a very sympathetic Anne Boleyn. She was simply stunning! I never felt too much sympathy for Anne Boleyn. After all she did work very hard to get Henry to divorce his wife, Katherine of Aragon, and disown his daughter by Katherine, Mary. This movie makes me think twice. It portrays Anne as a woman who had no choice but to give in to the king's wishes. It almost makes her actions toward the king seem vindictive--and rightfully so. He denied her petition to marry a man that she truly loved and wanted to spend her life with. I think the thing that makes Anne's story so devastating for me is that I have the benefit of knowing what comes next. I know that her's was just the beginning of a string of marriages for Henry--almost all of which would end in tragedy for the woman. When Anne died I was weeping. Tears were rolling down my face, my nose was dripping and I couldn't speak. She died with such honor and valor--she certainly didn't deserve to have the entire country turn it's back on her. But mostly I cried for the Princess Elizabeth. There was a scene where some servants bring Elizabeth to her mother, just as she is about to be let to the execution ground. It is so tender and sweet and the girl who played Elizabeth had just the right childish voice to tug at my heartstrings and cause a torrent of tears. Why do they do this to pregnant women? It's not right, I tell you! The rest of my night was ruined. I was completely depressed. This was compounded by the fact that I couldn't help but be a little annoyed with Jeremy as well. He would not stop asking me questions about what was happening. When will he learn that when I'm crying over a movie I just want to be left alone?

What Does the Voice in Your Head Sound Like?

OK, so I'm not saying that I hear voices. I;m wondering about the voice you give your thoughts. Or am I the only one who hears her thoughts? I'm finding that the more I read children's books (which I do pretty enthusiastically) the more my thoughts sound sing-songy, like a children's book. I'm thinking with way too much expression. Do I sound totally crazy? Please, tell me I'm not.