Happy Independence Day!

Image via WikipediaI hope you're all having a wonderful holiday!  We went to a family BBQ early this afternoon & have been at home relaxing for a while.

Well actually, I've been lurking visiting some blogs & commenting on some, too.  Your blogs have inspired me to  post!  (Truthfully, I felt guilty because I looked at my visit page at the bottom & saw how many people stopped by to see if I wrote another post ;)  So, it was a little of both.

Since I was last here, I've been a little busy.  My daughter graduated from high school on June 10th.  She was in National Honor Society, D.E.C.A., played tennis, & wrote for the school paper.  She received a scholarship for almost half of what she will need for the first 4 years of college tuition.  (It will definitely help!)  Last week Wednesday, she went for her orientation, picked out her classes &  starts college on August 31st.  My baby will be living at home because the college is about 10 minutes away.  She has decided she wants to be a forensic pathologist, which means about 12-13 more years of school.  This, of course, includes medical school.  She better make great money when she's through because she will be paying the loans back. (I'd have to be a lunch lady until I'm 200 to try to pay that back...lol...UGH!)

Cover via AmazonAs for this lunch lady, my summer vacation started June 14.  I've been trying to get some reading in.  I finally finished reading "Gone With the Wind" & the sequel (written by a different author years later) called "Scarlett".  My uncle sent a book for Sarah to read called "Stiff:  The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach.  (related to her future career & because we like to read & watch gory, horror stuff)  The book is more documentary with added author humor.  It's a very interesting, but sometimes graphic, read.  The book I'm reading now is "Annie's Ghosts" by Steve Luxenberg.  It's a true story about a family member that no one knew about until his mother died.  His story covers his grandparents coming to Detroit from Russia in the early 1900's until his modern day search for the unmentioned family member.  I like this book because of all the references to the Detroit area.  Living here, I can pretty much picture where & what he is writing about.  I don't usually care much for historical facts but this talks about Poland, the Hitler regime & the holocaust.  Of course, my great-grandparents were already in the U.S. but I'm sure we still had family in Poland during the war. (something I really want to start looking into)
Cover via Amazon
And the noise of fireworks begins...

AHEM!  Sorry for the interruption.  I am going to get this post done if I have to strangle ignore the noise-making people.  I know it's the 4th of July but they've been at it every night for a couple of weeks already & they are ILLEGAL!  Anything that explodes or leaves the ground is illegal in Michigan.  So that leaves the only legal fireworks-SPARKLERS!  Those they can play with every day of the year.

We now return to our post, already in progress...

The next book I will read is the new Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) book called "Does the Noise In My Head Bother You?".  Sarah is getting it for me for my birthday (July 17-no gifts, just send money-please...lol).  I love reading the Rock-N-Roll stories.  I have a Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) memoir-type book & "The Heroin Diaries" written by Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue.  It really makes you wonder how they are still alive (excluding, of course, Kurt Cobain who committed suicide).  I am also waiting for the next book of Charlaine Harris' "Dead" series (also known as the "True Blood" books) to come out in paperback.  I read the first 10 so I am eagerly awaiting the next one.  And, I'm glad that the new season of "True Blood"  has started on HBO! LOVE IT!!!!

Well, I meant to get into some other things but I guess you can see that reading is definitely a passion of mine (& Sarah's, too. Hubby used to read more before he got his laptop & smart phone ;)  I will just have to post sooner & more often. (Yes, I have said that before.  I will try harder because I miss it & all of you)

God Bless You, your families, & our United States of America on this Independence Day 2011! (OK-The World!)
Waving the flag like my babushka,
Collette