For The L♥ve of Reading discussion

Conversations about anything and anything right here!

General conversations are hard to start. This thread helps us get to know each other. We all have one thing in common. Books. What else?

Does anyone love, hate, have, or want a pet?

I recently spend too much money on a fish tank that I've been wanting since I can remember. There is sits in the living room. A proud 220 gallon tank full of fresh water tropical fish. They are fun to watch, they don't eat me out of house and hold, the water pumps sound like a fountain, and tank maintenance is about once every 5 weeks. I love my tank.

We used to have a 50gallon fish tank and my husband had piranah's in it. It was completely up to him to look after it and it is hard to keep the tank clean. I hated them. After they were gone we had just normal fish that we let our son pick but again I told my husband if we were going to have fish he was responsible for the tank cleaning. Eventually we gave the tank to his parents and now have a small tank with two gold fish in our sons room.
We also have to male cats that are brother's who are black and almost 2 years old. Our son and niece named them Lightning and Mater.

Great names, for the cats. I used to always have small bowls with goldfish. The poo a lot though. At least you didn't have to clean up the tank. I'm lucky my boys think it is fun to help with the clean up.

lol..our son just likes to look at them but wouldn't dream of cleaning the tank. But he loves his cats and he has the responsibility of making sure he fills their food and water every morning. He does good with that we just have to remind him in the morning to do it.

Cats are easy to take care of. Feed, water, and pet. Repeat. I had a cat for many years throughout childhood. Charlie was a she and she lived until I was pregnant with my second son. She was the best cat ever!

what are we talking about?

is it april already over there? heres march 31st

April 1st here right now. But I did put it up one day early. I'm on task.

yay april 1st here now!!

I am excited for this weekend...Temp suppose to be about 20 degrees celcius this weekend so excited. A great week for the easter bunny!!

thats great!

I told my boys I ran over the Easter Bunny. I don't think we are having baskets this year. A got them each a gift and we will do eggs and dinner. Besides that it is spring cleaning time.

Happy Easter to This wonderful Group!!

Did you do anything fun or interesting this Holiday?

Went to service with Parents and out to lunch otherwise the same sunday. Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

we didn't do anything out of the ordinary for easter. but my daughter hunted for her eggs and then hid them for me and then for my husband. she wanted everyone to have a turn, but the grass was too damp from the day before.

we also spent a great day with cousins and family who live on a huge spread of land. it was awesome.

has anyone seen movies worth recommending?

alice in wonderland is good

I just watched that with my boys today. Creepy is what Depp does so well.

Valentine's Day was pretty good. I laughed out loud a few times. I also watched the new Star Trek movie this year. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

I haven't seen the Alice In Wonderland. I will most likely go see the new Star Trek film with my father.

We went to church with my family in the church I grew up in - the pastor is younger than I am, and I'm still young enough that weirds me out. He was very passionate, but had the habit of yelling at the congregation. I'm glad it's not my primary church now.

The kids got baskets at home in the morning, then the Easter bunny left them a note letting them know there were eggs for them at their grandparent's house. It was a good day - great food cooked by my mom, and then after my in-laws left my parent's house (I'm married to an only child, holidays are often ALL together) my DEAR mother had a bottle of wine waiting for us to share. :)

I'm really not a holiday person. I don't think America has many worth celebrating. However, being Scrooge does not work well when you have children.

I only bought them a present (toy). My grandma knows me well and got them baskets with only a small amount of candy. The day before I was sick as a dog so they dyed eggs with grandma (so no pictures this year). My brother came out for one night so we had ham the day before. It happened to be a really broken up meal. My dad and his girlfriend forgot so they ate pizza and came later. My two aunts were at te hospital. One of them has a blood clot in her leg. Easter day, I dont do church. Being Native American, something about being apart of a concept that helped with genocide doesn't seem right. And the whole zombie Jesus thing is something I don't have the faith for. (when my boys ask if zombies are real my best reference to scare them is by using Jesus.)But we did play frisbee, fly kites, and spend hours playing Mario Cart. Then my brother, uncle, went home at about three. Time for more Mario Cart and early bed time.

Whew, I'm tired just from recounting what Easter was like. This year was just out right weirdness.

Yeah, if you're not Christian, Easter isn't worth celebrating. It IS based on the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox, so it coincides with the Spring holidays of old - I'm reading Fool now - and it's set in the 13th century or so, so there's lots of dancing at Stonehenge. :) Spring is something to celebrate up north - I'm sure your winter seemed as long as ours!

We celebrate the equinox for all the season, for hundreds of years now. Equinox is def neat when there is a place with special windows and landscapes that line up with the exact time. Just wow! I'm so happy that it is about summer. I'm sick of being cold.

Fool sounds pretty good. I'll have to take a peak at the synopsis.

in houston we have no winter. and you can't wait for summer to end. HUMID!

Elizabeth I would take that at least you don't have the pollen of Atlanta.

we have pollen, but possibly less than you guys. allergies abound here. even from one city to the next. my sister lives in san antonio and always gets headaches when she is in houston.

I got my first headache Sunday and immediately asked what the pollen count was? Thank heaven for the netti pot. :) I had heard that for people with allergies further out west is better because of how much dryer it is. I have dreams of moving to southern California one day or Phoneix Arizona.

yes. my sister used to live in el paso (way west texas) and had no allergies, but often had dry nostrils!

Hey I will take dry nostrils to the drippy faucet over in GA. :)

I don't have allergy problems. However, my mom was horrible with that problem. Then she moved to Key West and with the Salt in the air all of the time she does not have problems at all any more.

My middle child has allergies and he is already having problems.

I had never heard of Florida being a good place for allergies. I just remember my dad telling me how much better I would feel out west in San Diego.

Salt cleans out your system. naturally healthy.

❤ ☠ Elyssa ☠ ❤ wrote: "I don't have allergy problems. However, my mom was horrible with that problem. Then she moved to Key West and with the Salt in the air all of the time she does not have problems at all any more.
..."

Zyrtek works wonders for my kids' allergies. They are raging now - this year there was so much snow mold besides the regular pollens and such, it's no fun. BUT, way better than winter!

LOVED Florida - none of us had any allergy issues out there, what you said about the salt makes sense Elyssa - it's certainly not the lack of pollen. :)

Elizabeth wrote: "in houston we have no winter. and you can't wait for summer to end. HUMID!"

I got pictures from my girlfriend who lives there with snow on her deck and pool area with a caption, "How much further South do I need to move?" It was funny. :)

I LOVE heat. I don't mind humid either - as long as it's outside. Our office has been having serious heating and cooling issues, and it gets to be 85 degrees some afternoons. I have a desk job - there is NO reason for me to be sweaty at work!

Oh, yes, April 8th 2010 and I wake up to snow outside. Covered. Not just a bit but covered. It is really beautiful, however, at this point I'm ready for spring, warmth, and camping!

Karli wrote: "❤ ☠ Elyssa ☠ ❤ wrote: "I don't have allergy problems. However, my mom was horrible with that problem. Then she moved to Key West and with the Salt in the air all of the time she does not have..."

Zyrtec may work now but it can lose its affectiveness. You may want to rotate meds. I took claritin for a while to the point that it didn't do anything for me.

i loved the snow! two winters in a row it has snowed. and this time it was really coming down. the only thing is houstonians are not accustomed to this weather and everyone panics! my daughter's school closed early even though the snow lasted a couple of hours.

today we have nice cool weather and i'm sure tomorrow it will be 85 with humidty at 90%. that's houston.

don't even talk to me about hurricane season!

Why is it worse during hurricane season? They will cancel here for flurries if it started the night before that means the roads would be treacherous to drive on. Other than that we had a flood day in the fall which really didn't affect us.

during hurricane season, we can get some major flooding. and it doesn't even have to be LOTS of rain, it just has to be a downpour in a short period of time. and it rains here almost daily during hurricane season.

you get somewhat used to it, but it makes for long days. the other thing is that it doesn't always rain in the whole city. 80% chance of rain can mean only on the northwest side of town and we might get some sprinkles. or it could be 20% chance and you can get totally flooded.

The last time we had a floodwatch back in the fall they kept talking about the Yellow River and that it is near where I live. This river had flooded north of us. I hear what you are saying we have severe thunderstorms coming through and we are only getting sprinkle while the City of Atlanta gets the brunt of the storm. I live in the southeast but go to church up in NE Atlanta and was once asked if I saw the snow which only they got. We did not get anything.

My three boys are fighting over who gets to be my foot rest. Too funny!!

Elizabeth wrote: "during hurricane season, we can get some major flooding. and it doesn't even have to be LOTS of rain, it just has to be a downpour in a short period of time. and it rains here almost daily during..."

Are you from Houston originally, or are you a transplant? Is this something you've had to get accustomed to?

Karli wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "during hurricane season, we can get some major flooding. and it doesn't even have to be LOTS of rain, it just has to be a downpour in a short period of time. and it rains here a..."

houston born and raised. you get used to it, but it doesn't make it any better from year to year. my daughter is still traumitized for hurricane ike. when it thunders, she asks me, "is a hurricane coming?" alicia and ike are the two hurricanes in my lifetime. rita missed and of course we have a lot of transplants from hurricane katrina.

I lived through one or two when I was younger. We lived in Virgina Beach, Well, Virgina. LOL.

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&...

allergy capitals of the u.s. houston is ranked 41! unbelievable!

I wont be on tonight. I'm being honored at a Pow-Wow for educational academic excellence.
*I just used spell check on academic.*

Happy Reading!

Elizabeth, Memphis Tennessee is tops for allergy capital.

Elyssa, congratulations on the award.