Book Quiz

Recently I bought a copy of The Bibliophile's Devotional for my sister Heather. I ended up liking it so much I bought a copy for myself too. It's a book that has a synopsis of a classic (classic being subjective, since many of the works are modern) work of literature for every day of the year. I like it because, along with the synopsis, there's a snippet of a review for the book as well as the book's first line.
I realized that even without reading many of the true classic works, I was able to recognize the first line (hopefully that's because I've been inundated with those lines in pop culture and not because I've started and not finished many, many classics.)
So here's a quiz: Match the first line of a book with the book's title. Leave your answers in the comments. No CHEATING! I'll post the answers in the comment section. See how many you can get right!

1. (This is an easy one) "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
2. "All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true."
3. "My father and mother should have stayed in New York where they met and married and where I was born."
4. "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
5. "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."
6. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
7. "We are at rest, five miles from the front."
8. "Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth...He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan."
9. " My legal name is Alexander Perchov. But all of my many friends dub me Alex, because that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal name."
10. "It was Wang Lung's marriage day."

Here are the books (out of order, of course) See if you can match them to the quote:

a. The Maltese Falcon
b. The Good Earth
c. Jane Eyre
d. All Quiet on the Western Front
e. Angela's Ashes
f. Everything is Illuminated
g. One Hundred Years of Solitude
h. Rebecca
i. Slaughterhouse-Five
j. Pride and Prejudice

***Click on the comment link to see the answers***

Christmas and the (almost) new year

Wow! Is it really almost 2010? Where did the time go? I am so excited for the new year. 2009 was a tough year and I can't wait to have a fresh start. Also, does anyone else feel like the future has arrived whenever you say the year is "Twenty Ten"? I think it sounds so cool, although when I was a kid I thought we'd be on flying skateboards by now....
This year we had an amazing Christmas and spent lots of time with our families. Levi's mom Maria was in town, which is always a treat, and Levi's foster sister Sayaka and her husband and kids were able to come from Japan to be here for Christmas. Christmas Eve is always spent at one of Levi's uncles houses and then we go over to his dad's house where we all open our presents to each other. It's taken a couple of years for me to get used to opening all our gifts on Christmas Eve, but I love it now and it also means that Levi and I get to sleep in on Christmas Day and then give each other our stockings that morning.
My big gift this year was amazing. Levi and Heather came up with the idea of getting me a Geoffrey Krueger painting. I am still in shock that I own one and I am so grateful to all of you who chipped in for my Christmas gift. Levi did a great job of keeping it a secret and I am so pleased to be an owner of a real piece of art (not to mention it's just like the one we saw at one of his shows that I fell in total love with! It's of the Boise River, which is one of my most favorite things about this city.) Heather also recently acquired a painting from him, and it is absolutely exquisite. Geoff and his wife Susan are in Heather's ward and we've all become friends over the past few years. My next goal is to save up for another of his paintings. He has done paintings of homes in various stages of dereliction and of water towers, among other buildings and for some reason these paintings really leap out at you and force you to stare. I love them.
On Christmas Day we saw Sherlock Holmes which was a very fun movie and that night Sevy came over with Maria and we watched one of the movies I got Levi for Christmas. All in all, a VERY good day.
Well, here is to the future, "Twenty Ten", and hoping that all of you out there have a safe and prosperous year. Love you all!

Sevy, Sayaka with Taiki on her lap, me, Maria and Avery

Seth, Chris, Avery and Maria getting ready to open more presents.

Julie, my father-in-law Brad and Grams.

Levi and Brad

Our painting!! I could stare at it all day

Here's the painting he did for Heather. Breathtaking huh?

Buster hit puberty.

Our little Buster is all grown up, but instead of a bar mitzvah, he's getting neutered! His appointment is tomorrow and I'm so nervous for him. I know he'll be fine, but I wonder if he'll be ok alone for a whole day because he spends every waking minute with Morty (literally, they don't leave each other's side for more than one minute at a time.) Lately, Buster has started the inevitable humping of Morty and Morty is not too happy about it. Because of this, and because we've procrastinated long enough, it is time for little Buster Boy to become a man. Mazel tov Buster!

Our Buster has gone from this:

...to this:

(how awesome is it that Levi just happened to be wearing the same shirt!)

Buster and Morty are so fun together. They are such dorks and they have such distinct personalities. Morty gets jealous when we try to take pictures of Buster and Buster doesn't care what we do as long as Morty is nearby. They seriously make my day better and I'm so glad I married someone that loves having as many pets as we do.

Morty's smile:


Two bad boys:


Morty wants nothing more than to hold hands like a little old man. He'll sit like this and stare at you for hours, if you let him:


Crazy eyes (I need a new camera):


Morty attempting to snuggle. He's bigger than he thinks he is:


Our kitty boys (no chance of getting a picture of all four pets together)

Tis the Season...blah blah blah

Working retail during the holidays always seems to give me a bit of the "Bah Humbug" blues and this year is no different. It's unbelievable how rude and pushy people can be at the holidays, especially considering what the holiday is celebrating.
Another issue I'm having this year is not being able to buy all the wonderful gifts for my family that I'd like to. We are on a strict budget and it's killing me. All the medical bills from our infertility issues keep coming in and we're just trying to stay on top of them. Normally I like to handpick fun gifts and, as long as they were under $30, never thought twice about buying them. Now I have to think extra hard about what someone would want and it has to be $15 and under. This is very challenging and I'm apologizing in advance to everyone out there (my in-laws never read this blog, but hopefully they see this since it affects them too) that your presents may be a tad on the lame side.
Something that is cheap and not lame is our new Christmas tree:

It's the Charlie Brown Christmas tree (only $11 at your local Fred Meyer!) I love this tree so much. I feel like it represents how I feel about Christmas this year: low budget, low maintenance and all-around minimalist. You know who else loves our new tree?
OLIVER!

He feels this tree was a gift to him and he plans on laying near it all day, every day and occasionally pulling off the lone ornament.
The weather in Boise has been FREEZING! I forget that it can get this cold, especially since the summers can get so hot. The other day, I left for work at 9:30 am and it was -2 degrees. -2 degrees?!?!. I didn't sign up for that! Of course, I did move to Boise in June, which is the most gorgeous time of the year. I was suckered in and enticed by the smell of the trees lining the river and warm days at the pool. Never were there thoughts of dirty snow pushed to the side of the road and days so cold my car wouldn't start. Luckily I have a husband who doesn't mind shoveling the walkways and is willing to let me park my car in the garage (such a man thing to have a garage filled with things other than cars.) Levi really is the only thing that keeps me going in the winter. Oh, and wearing sweaters and boots. I love that too :)
Changing gears a little bit, here is a favorite conversation I've had with a customer. This sums up why I consider becoming an alcoholic every December:

Customer: I wanted to see if the item I ordered has come in.
Me: Yes, it came in yesterday. We will hold it for you until the 22nd of December.
Customer: So it's there today.
Me: Yes, as I said, it came in yesterday. It's on hold for 2 weeks for you.
Customer: So if I come in, it will be there.
Me: *Banging head against nearby hard object* Yes! Your item is here. It's here! We will hold it for you! It's here!
Customer: How will I know that it's really there?
Me: *Fashioning a noose out of tissue paper* Because I'm looking at it. It's here, I PROMISE!

I know it doesn't seem like much, but that exchanges like that happen at least four or five times a day and it can get so frustrating. I implore all of you out there to be extra nice to anybody working retail. We are all miserable, I assure you. Please don't assume we're doing anything to make your holiday anything but extra special. Also, is it really anyone's fault that you waited until mid-December to do the bulk of your holiday shopping? Just sayin'
Well, I don't know about you, but I feel better :) Blogging about the holidays has made me like them just a little bit more.