• the organ of any animal
• eel
• lobster
• rabbit
• moose, deer, other game
• mackerel
• raw egg
• tongue of anything
• rum
• dog
• shark

• being woken up by the garbage truck every Monday morning at 4 a.m.
• our homeless neighbor using the bathroom in view of my window
• BART
• human feces...anytime, anywhere
• seeing Anne Coulter, etc. on TV so much
• working 12 hours a day
• working weekends
• seeing the extreme disparity between the haves and the have-nots every day
• worrying about earthquakes and landslides
• thinking about wild cats while hiking in the hills
• enviro-hypocrites
• road raging people with peace-themed bumper stickers
• single-paned glass
• feeling like I always need to look for needles at public parks

Or, at least I think I did:

• Most of the Nancy Drew series
• One or two of the Hardy Boys books
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
• Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
• Superfudge
• Blubber
• Some of the Sweet Valley High series - can't recall which
• Charlotte's Web
• The Little Princess
• Little Women
• The Secret Garden
• A Wrinkle in Time
• A bunch of Mary Higgins Clark books
• Flowers in the Attic
• I Know What You Did Last Summer
• Killing Mr. Griffin

In Ground:

• Sage - variegated and non-variegated
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Columbine
• Spearmint
• Mint
• Garlic
• Oregano - yellow and culinary
• Lavender
• Calendula - not sure if that's what's coming up yet
• Ivy
• Purple Basil (not doing well)
• Coral Bells
• Mystery plant from garden centre (a freebie)
• Hosta

In Pots:

• Basil

It bugs me when:

• "a lot" is spelled as one word
• people use "less" when they should have used "fewer"
• "however" is dangling in the middle of a sentence when it should have been preceded by a semi-colon
• "cannot" is spelled as two words
• bulleted lists use semi-colons at the end of each bulleted item (although this is not wrong, I see it as pointless since the bullets imply a semi-colon)
• people use the word "utilize" to make themselves sound smarter
• words that shouldn't be capitalized are capitalized

In no particular order:

• Lost Horizon - James Hilton
• Lady Oracle - Margaret Atwood
• Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy
• A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
• Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
• Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
• Away - Jane Urquhart

• feeling baby move
• excited relatives and friends
• thinking about names
• imagining what s/he will look like and be like
• dreaming about family
• kind looks from strangers
• being given a seat on the bus
• stretchy pants
• foot rubs
• hearing that everything is progessing just fine
• getting out of things I don't want to do
• body pillow
• husband's extra special attention

10 Things I am Grateful for Today and Everyday:

• growing up with brothers and sisters
• a husband who is patient
• having a disease
• having a disease that was cured
• long-time friends who are still there
• the experience of love
• living in the country that I do
• every texture, color, sound, smell and feeling that I have ever encountered
• my neices and nephews
• time

• the guy clipping his nails across from you
• the dude who sneezes on the back of your head and doesn't apologize
• B.O.
• the endless germs on the railing you absolutely have to hold on to
• not getting a seat when you have to travel for an hour
• getting a seat next to someone twice the size of a seat
• broken air conditioner
• SUV-sized strollers
• loud talkers
• the realization that subway travel brings out the worst in you some days

• replace this text with your list
• begin each item with an asterisk

• climbed up to her change table by herself
• can count to 3
• can count facial features while naming them
• knows all of her colors
• can sing the tune for ABCs, that Barney song, Old MacDonald, Roly-Poly
• addresses her caregivers by name
• doesn't like sitting at the kitchen table for long
• knows the difference between (and can name) diggers, bulldozers, tractors, cranes, graders, dump trucks
• likes trains, fire trucks
• likes Elmo, Ernie, Dora, Tippy & Binoo
• favorite foods are bananas, grapes, berries, chicken, salmon, edamame, green beans, cherry tomatoes, pasta, "fun cheese" (i.e., Babyel), eggs, cereal
• enjoys gluing pictures, painting, colorin...

FOODS

• bananas
• cheese
• pasta
• rice
• apples
• peas
• popsicles
• fruit snacks
• cheddar bunnies
• "Elmo" crackers
• oranges

VEHICLES

• airplanes
• tractors
• diggers
• trains
• fire trucks
• school buses
• streetcars

• Eight is Enough
• Six Million Dollar Man
• Bionic Woman
• Wonder Woman
• Nancy Drew
• The Hardy Boys
• Three's Company
• The Jeffersons
• Different Strokes
• The Facts of Life
• Sesame Street
• The Electric Company
• You Can't Do That on Television
• Quincy
• Remington Steele
• Dynasty
• General Hospital
• Happy Days
• The Littlest Hobo
• Mash
• Mork & Mindy

• The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
• Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
• Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood
• The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
• A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder - James De Mille
• 1984 - George Orwell
• Animal Farm - George Orwell
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
• A Friend of the Earth - T.C. Boyle
• Lord of the Flies - William Golding
• The Road - Cormac McCarthy

• I fold my underwear and my baby's bum wipes.
• I used to rewrite my school notes if they weren't neat enough the first time.
• If you move something in my house, I will notice it and move it back.
• I refuse to read books that use a font I don't like (e.g., Courier).
• I can spend hours cutting paper.
• I'll turn that toilet paper roll around if you put it on backwards.
• You can't get a crooked picture frame past me.
• Tetris. Those bloody falling blocks nearly ruined me.
• Stray eyebrow hairs are incredibly distracting to me.

I only have a few:

• Zach Braff
• Edward Norton
• Ed Burns
• Mark Ruffalo
• Damien Rice
• John Cusack

• 5440
• Alanis Morrisette (2x)
• Asexuals
• Bebel Gilberto
• Barenaked Ladies
• Bjork
• Blue Rodeo
• Bootsauce
• Bray
• Bryan Adams
• Bubaiskull
• Crash Vegas
• Corey Hart
• Damien Rice (2x)
• David Bowie
• Depeche Mode (2x)
• Devo
• Dub Tribe
• Eric's Trip
• False Security
• Fleetwood Mac

• replace this text with your list
• begin each item with an asterisk

• the weather
• 2-buck chuck
• access to affordable organic food
• BART
• Ethiopian food
• my old boss and his Xmas bonuses
• the Gourmet Ghetto
• being able to get "out of the city" in about 15 minutes
• cheese rolls
• burritos
• Harbin
• driving through wine country
• decent concerts in decent locations
• Trader Joe's
• our neighborhood Farmers Market
• eucalyptus trees
• friends (a given)
• Zacharay's Pizza
• painted curbs

• Sesame Street books
• winter socks
• winter hat, mitts, scarf
• size 2 long-sleeve shirts
• size 2/3 bathing suit
• size 6 shoes, boots
• size 2 insulated/lined jeans/pants
• puzzles
• sticker books
• Lego Duplo blocks
• Plan Toys Cash Register
• Stickers For The Tub - Beach Buddies or Farm Friends
• Alex Little Hands Match & Stack
• Alex Button Art
• Ikea easel

For more ideas see my Chapters wish list.

• #1 No Great Mischief - Alistair McLeod
• #4 The Mountain & the Valley - Ernest Buckler
• #5 Fall on Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald
• #8 The Lost Salt Gift of Blood - Alistair McLeod
• #20 Kit's Law - Donna Morrissey
• #22 The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx
• #45 Each Man's Son - Hugh MacLennan
• #54 Bluenose Ghosts - Helen Creighton
• #65 The Lost Highway - David Adams Richards
• #72 The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
• #83 A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder - James de Mille

• The Handmaid's Tale (***)
• V for Vendetta (*)
• Logan's Run (***)
• Planet of the Apes (***)
• The Stepford Wives (***)
• A Clockwork Orange (**)
• 1984 (***)
• Blindness (***)
• The Island (*)
• The Running Man (*)
• Blade Runner (****)
• The Matrix (****)
• Minority Report (**)
• Serenity (***)
• Soylent Green (***)
• I Am Legend (***)
• I, Robot (**)
• The Terminator (****)
• 28 Weeks Later (****)
• 28 Days Later (****)
• 12 Monkeys (**)

• rosemary
• lavender
• melissa/lemon balm
• sage
• echinacea
• st. john's wort
• chamomile
• dandelion
• lemon verbana
• bergamot
• bay laurel

• Anne Heche - when she was about 16 and starring on Another World
• Pope John Paul II - in his "pope-mobile" at a public mass
• Woody Harrelson - speaking at the Green Festival in SF
• Mikhail Baryshnikov - introducing a Latvian orchestra in SF
• David Suzuki - at a speaking engagement in SF
• Princess Diana & Prince Charles - when they visited Canada
• Joni Mitchell - walking down the street in TO
• Jim Cuddy - on my airplane
• Jack Layton - at the airport
• Eric Schlosser - speaking in Oakland about Fast Food Nation
• Roberta Bondar (Canadian astronaut) - she handed me a scholarship
• Robert Bateman - at a mall in Ottawa (he ...

My list may be different tomorrow, but today, it is this:

• The amount of time I spend online or doing work on a computer. Not quite what I had in mind when I graduated from high school. Or uni.
• Reality TV.
• Kids killing kids.
• Boys being raised without compassion for others. Girls too, but let's face it, it's mostly boys.
• When bad things happen to good people and when good things happen to bad people but it doesn't change them.
• The last two times I've gone to my hometown, I've noticed an obituary of someone I used to know.
• I've only spent a few hours with my husband since I came home from vacation. I miss him.
• A friendship that feels like it is on its...