these bodies aint no wonderland

Maybe thats my cheap side speaking, but C and I thought Bodyworlds at http://theleonardo.org/bodyworlds/index.php was too spendy and didnt hold up its end of the deal. I mean, how many dudes can you look at with their skin off before youre like "okay, I think Im done"? Anyways, dont let me persuade you not to go if its been your life's ambition to see muscles, organs, and capillaries configured in ways we cant comprehend. I guess it was kind of cool - my favorite exhibit had fetuses throughout the entire gestational period. Whoa. All the way from like 3 weeks to in the late 30s, and its really wild to think about little creatures growing inside you... in a non parasitic way...

A word of warning: There are genitalia galore. Junk present at every turn. One poor man had his peep fileted right down the middle like on a banana split. Hello!

Revised Books That Everyone Should Read

I am famous for my lengthy lists of stories I think the whole world should be familiar with. Here are the newest additions:

Still at the top is:
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
It will change your life... Harvard University agrees. They put it on their "10 Most Influential Books" list, right next to Common Sense and, believe it or not, The Book of Mormon

Followed closely by:
Guests of the Sheik - Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
The only pleasant read about a woman's life in Iraq.
Reads like nonfiction - a story any woman should hear about how we're all the same, seeking the same things.

My other feminist choice is The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
I reread this one over the summer, and it had been over 3 years since reading it the first time. It meant something totally new to me.

Picture Bride - and the name escapes me, Im embarassed to admit
(No comment, just check it out for yourself!)

The Jane Austin Greatest Hits:
Pride and Prejudice
Northanger Abbey
and Persuasion

Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
Everybody's thinking it, only he's brave enough to say it.

My next goal is to read Uncle Tom's Cabin since S told me we are related to Harriet Beecher Stowe. The fun will have to wait until December though. If I had all the free time in the world and the most comfy oversized, overstuffed armchair and a bay window to put it in, I would read every book. Well, not every book - I figure I can cut out the Stephanie Meyer ones for now. HA!

Hey ma, look what I did!

These are peppermint pattie brownies from PBS' show Everyday Baking.

And yes, before you ask in stupefied wonder, they did come from my kitchen.

And I was indeed the one who made them.

Ahem...

I was also the one who ate most of them...

Dont judge me.