Dowager Princess

Sophy's Birthday

2010-08-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my baby turned 5! I have no idea how she got so big so fast, but it's true. We had a party at Aunt Trish's house and the kids had tons of fun. The 101 degree heat was a bit much, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

14 glue sticks...

2010-07-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

WoW. I started the school supply shopping today. I was floored by some of the items on her list. Why are teachers so particular about brand names? When the teacher puts a brand name on the list I feel compelled to get that brand even when I know another will work just as well. For instance it says that she needs fiskers scissors. Does it really need to be fiskers? Won't Office Depot brand scissors work just as well?
And 14 glue sticks? For one kindergardener who is only there for half the day? Really? 14? Doesn't that seem excessive? And the pencils have to be sharpened. So I have to go buy a pencil sharpener just so I can open her brand new pencils and send them to school sharpened.

I can't wait until Sophy is old enough to do this for me.

Lola's 3rd Birthday

2010-07-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

This year we had a carnival theme for Lola's third birthday. We had a popcorn cake, games, face painting, yummy fair type foods, and even a ball pit. The kids loved the party and Lola was so very tired when it was all over. I think she had a great day.

Easter

2010-07-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had a very eventful Easter this year. It was a busy day. We started out in OKC, but had to drive to Iowa for a funeral the next day. We were able to attend church at home with our church family before we left though. I thought I would share a quick picture of the girls in their pretty dresses.

Ok Go

2010-07-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's Day this year Jeff took me to see my favorite Band in concert in Kansas City. It was awesome! I can't wait until I get another chance to see them live!

time flies

2010-07-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

I have been dealing with stuff. A lot of stuff. Stuff that I wanted to talk about but didn't want open to the whole world via the internet. So I clamed up. Unfortuantely that meant months with no posts. I am back now though. So I will post the highlights of the last few motnhs:
We are having a baby.
It's a boy!
Ok, so I think that's about all I was going to share.
So I will resume my regularly scheduled posts now.

Letter to the editor:

2010-01-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Entertainment Weekly,
I was happily reading my EW in the tub when I came across your article 'TV'S 50 Biggest Bombs and Blunders'. Number 37 on your list annoyed me. You said : "Besides M*A*S*H has it ever worked [to turn hit movies into shows]?" You mentioned My Big Fat Greek Life, Ferris Bueller, Uncle Buck, and Clueless; all of which stunk up TV screens across America. I agree that I cringed when I heard of my favorite movie of all time 10 Things I Hate About You becoming a series, but even this doesn't blind me from the many shows that came from movies and still managed to find their way on the small screen. Must I remind you the Buffy The Vampire Slayer was once a movie? This show was not only popular but spawned it's own spin off, Angel, a feat that you link to being a success. What about Stargate? It is not only a cult favorite but has spawned two spin offs in the form of Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. To say that M*A*S*H is the only movie to successfully make the jump to the small screen is ridiculous. I don't think that these shows are any more likely to fail then all the other new shows that are put before us each year. In all cases it is as much about the writing, directing, cast, and promotion that determine the rise or fall of a new series then it is the shows origins.
-Sincerely,
Shannon

Learning to write better.

2010-01-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

I have discovered a love for writing. I love creating a story and watching as it twists and turns in directions I didn't prepare for. I love crafting characters that develop a life of their own and proceed to argue with me about the things I try to make them do because they simply will not bow to another personality! It is an amazing adventure that happens in your mind.

Putting this experience onto paper and sharing it with your friends and family becomes a whole new adventure. You have to deal with questions (Why did he do this? What happened to her stupid bag? etc.) and you have to deal with others' opinions of your manuscript baby. The loudest of these in my case was a writing professor brother who felt I needed to know just how awful my writing itself was. (Really do brothers ever get better about picking on their sisters?) Luckily for me I had been forewarned of these reactions.

What I wasn't prepared for was an expectation to learn how to write better. It's one thing for someone to tell me my writing sucks, I was ready for that, but for them to show me how to get better?

My writing is still terrible. Every time I read through anything I've written I'm shown again all my flaws. I pick up one of my brother's tales and I'm instantly transported to another time full of adventure and mystery. I don't notice the words on the page, just the story unfolding before me. That is how I want to write. I want to tell a story without the reader being distracted by the writing.

I have been cursed with a professor brother who points out my flaws, but it's a blessing too. He is also patient with me and willing to help. Part of his New Years goals involved starting a website to help people like me. So if you want to learn how to write better you should check it out. At the end of the year we'll all see if my writing has improved. In the meantime, just hang in there with me...I'm working on it.

Unstressed Syllables
http://www.unstressedsyllables.com/

Recapturing Project Enthusiasm

2010-01-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

I love that feeling you get when you start a new project. There is the thrill of planning, organizing, and dreaming of the finished product. I always start with such good intentions of finishing in a timely manner. I dive in headfirst! I get immersed in whatever is my current obsession, living, eating, and breathing it until I lose sight of my normal daily activities.
For those that know me this is part of my wonderful/awful personality. I can be a passionate person and awesome friend, until I sink into my self made hole and stay there until sometime pulls me out of it.
I rarely finish something in a timely manner. I get half way through any given project and get distracted by the next interesting thing to catch my eye. That's right I have shiny object syndrome. (Isn't there a mythical creature known for being easily distracted and easily entertained? Elves? Fairies? Any insight? Maybe I'm a changeling and it's not really my fault!)
All that to say that my current writing project got shoved aside for my awesome apron-sewing project! Then that got pushed aside so I could get some reading in. Now I am obsessively cleaning and organizing my home. Did I mention I love organizing and look for excuses to organize things? I haven't? Well you should see my newly organized coat closet! It's orga-fabulous!
So how to get myself back to writing? Well an email from one of my readers politely pointing out that the story isn't over and has been left hanging for a month is one good way. I plan to read through my entire story to date (no major edits allowed) as if I was reading it for the first time. Then allow my mind to drift into the world of Adelaide again. Lets see if I can get back into my own make believe world. Wish me luck.
Oh and if no one hears from me for a while...well that just might mean I succeeded...that or I saw something pretty and sparkly!

Book Addict

2010-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make: I have fallen off the wagon, again.

I discovered this when I woke up this morning bleary eyed and word hung over searching for my oh so important book so I could get a quick fix before taking the kiddo to school. Sadly after grabbing my book I was forced to a realization.

Hello, my name is Shannon and I'm a book addict.

When Jeff left on Sunday I thought I would just read one book to keep my mind off him being gone. Of course the one book I read was finished too quickly. I devoured it in one sitting. Then the desire was there. I wanted a new book now. "It’s only one book." I told myself, "I'll keep it cheap." I justified as I drove to the bookstore. I left that store proudly clutching my one book. A nice fat paperback that should keep me busy for a week. Little did I know that it was not one, but two books in one! "Even better" I thought. I happily dove into my new read. The end, however, was not the end. Turns out my books were the first two books in an eight book series. I am now the owner of six of those books. The last two aren't out yet. I have finished reading four of them.
I now am just hoping to finish the last two in quickly so that I will be able to return to my regularly scheduled life.

Hopefully I will find the help I need to pull myself out of this. But do they even have Over Readers Anonymous?

2010 Goals

2010-01-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

I finally decided it was time to write about my 2010 goals. As discussed before I think Goals suit my life much better than resolutions. I plan on sticking with goals this year too. After all it worked out pretty well for me last year.
Goal #1: Complete novel #2!
It has been over a year since I wrote my first novel. I focused on reading last year. And even though I greatly enjoyed it, and learned a lot, I plan on focusing a little more on writing this year. I am about ten thousand words into book #2 right now. I hope to complete it with at least 65 thousand words before the year is over. Now honestly I would like to finish it a lot sooner than that, but actually getting it done is a big motivation for me. I hope by going public with my goal I'll be more likely to hold myself to it.
As a side goal I hope to research and learn more about writing. I hope to write much more on here and I have several guest post/articles I have been asked to write for other blogs. My brother has started one for writers which I hope to utilize to better my word crafting. I hope to do a post here about it as soon as I get a few moments to put it together.
Goal #2: Laundry!
I am notoriously bad about washing clothes, piling them on the couch, and forgetting about them! I hope to get on top of my laundry situation and stay on top of it! I worked out a great system last year, but it involved having light in my laundry room...so job number one will be to fix the broken light fixture and/or replace it. I also hope to do a load ever other day to keep things from getting out of control. We'll see how it goes.
Side goal for this one would be cleaning out old clothes from the house and re-organizing all our closets. Ah, I love an excuse to Organize something!
I have a few smaller goals for the year, but not ones I feel compelled to go public with. As anyone else I hope to lose some weight, but I don't have a specific number in mind. To that end I worked out for the first time since before thanksgiving (possibly longer) today. It was brutal! My body hurts rather badly, but I managed to stick it out for over an hour and I feel good about that. I also found a new favorite workout song. I notice that I find them ever so often. Songs from the past have been: The New Workout Plan by: Kanye West and Pizza Butt by: MC Chris. Current Fav.- Imma Be by: The Black Eyed Peas. All fun up-tempo songs. You should check them out on iTunes. Sadly after pre-ordering the new Ok Go album and downloading new workout music I have little of my iTunes card left for writing music...oh well.
Happy 2010 everyone. What are your goals?

Teaser

2010-01-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

So I had a request for a teaser of my book. I am currently editing my first book, so I am leaving a teaser of my work in progress. I hope you enjoy. It's a rough draft (as in completely untouched! No editing at all, please don't judge too harshly).

_______________________________________________

The rolling hills comforted me little. I could feel the tears fighting to break past my defenses as I ran. The way was steep pulling me down toward the valley. I felt the pull and struggled against it. The weight was unbearable. Earths gravity pulled me in one direction while the crushing weight from above shoved me downward. Only my shear will kept me moving up. Higher ground. That is what I needed. If I could only reach the top of the hill, see what lies beyond.

My teary eyes just made the route more difficult. I knew that the path was easier, less steep and smoother, but I refused to go that way. The village is all too visible from it and I needed no reminders. I doubt that anyone would be watching, or even care if they saw me leaving. No one cared about me anymore. I could feel the weight press harder on y chest with the thought. I was on my own.

I could see the gentle mound that is the top of the long hill. I was almost there. The mystery of the beyond no longer scared me as it had in my youth. The last three days had pushed me beyond the fears of childhood. I now had bigger fears.

Just as I reached the top my foot connected with the bare granite that composed most of this hill. Gravity finally won out as it pulled me down on my face. I could feel the soft dirt now covering my face turn to mud as the tears finally escaped their dams. I pulled my knees to my chest as I let the pain have me. Waves of sadness, regret, and loss rolled over me.

The bright light of day faded through twilight to the soft dark blues of dusk before I was able to regain any sense of composure. Fighting to once again contain the racking emotions I managed to put them all away into their box hidden deep within my chest, next to my now tiny quiet heart. I could feel the sobs lessen until they no longer left me trembling. Slowly I focused on relaxing my muscles until I could stretch out my legs, spread my fingers from their tight clasp, and finally sit up.

The valley before me was only faintly visible in the failing light. It was empty from the foot of Manform Hill to the base of the Ranker Mountains in the distance. The plains of the valley were covered in tall grasses and criss-crossing rivers. It was fantastic to think this large valley was uninhabited when just behind me our own tiny valley was over populated to the extreme.

Besides our small village there are two other towns within our tiny valley. With only the one river through the middle it seems odd that no one has crossed Manform hill to settle this mass of land before. After all how many other laws are broken everyday in the outerlands. Kenser alone is known for it’s thriving black markets being situated as it is on the edge of three different kingdoms. Even our just King looks the other way as long as he gets his share in Farinth. Garithville is so much smaller that they freely poach the forest just to fill their bellies. No one in Manithton think too much of breaking laws, not really, and yet, here this land sits empty and fertile.

The sinking sun casts shadows on the ground before me. Soon the darkening valley will be lost from view entirely. I have no desire to return, but the vastness of the valley before me suddenly feels me with dread of the path I have chosen. Maybe waiting to cross at first light will be the better option. I begin to search for a suitable place to camp the night. I have brought no supplies with me and my stomach is loudly protesting this fact. If I am lucky I will find some roots or edible plants while I search for shelter.

Unfortunately the failing light isn’t aiding in my search, so it is by shear luck that I find a wild strawberry patch. Nestled in between several trees just fifty yards down the hillside is a natural spring feeding the patch. In my desire to remain dry I actually stepped on the ripe fruit before realizing it was there. The soft squish beneath my feet provided the information in time to save the rest of the patch from my large feet. I sat on the roots of a tree as I gathered and ate my fill. The cold fresh water was a blessing as it served not only to quench my thirst but also to relieve me of my dirt and grime.

With my tummy full and my face and hands clean again the journey before me no longer felt as hopeless as it had moments before. The hillside was just as steep on this side. If I didn’t know any better I would say that it was the same side I had been on all morning. I even glanced up a few times to make sure that the tell tale lights of Manithton weren’t visible, the dips and folds of the land were so familiar at times.

About three fourths of the way down I finally stopped for the night. There the land curved into the hill making a sort of cove. I lay in the soft grass and stared up at the sky now covered in twinkling stars. I could feel my thoughts fighting me again. The pain swelling up within me, fighting to get out. If I gave in to so much as one memory of the last week I knew I would lose it entirely, but how to keep the thoughts at bay?

All I wanted to do was think about her, and all I wanted to do was to forget about her. How could such contrasting feelings exist so strongly within me at the same time? It felt like I had been a part of a battle for too long. First the ridiculous battle that was imposed upon us by our King, the great battle in which I lost my father two years ago. Then the battle to survive that my mother and I had fought since. The battle for respect from my mother stung to think about now that she was gone too. I had lost my battle with my emotions once already today, I didn’t feel like repeating that one again anytime soon. The only battle I had even begun to win so far was my bid for freedom.

I loved my home. It was always messy in the tiny home that I had shared with my parents and older brother. When the conflict with Darnorth, the kingdom to the south of Gronum first arose my brother join with the Kings army. Convinced of his own invincibility he left for war with a spring in his step. His cheerful wave as he left was the last sight of him I would ever have. I knew mother never gave up hope of his return. Often when she was baking I would see her hands slow until she was staring out the window still with dough on her hands. With a soft sigh she would always shake herself out of it, but I still noticed. After dad too left for the war I hoped with a ferverant hope that one or the other would return to us. No one ever comes back from war though. Not to our tiny cottage. As hope died mother and I had to get creative to save ourselves.

Mother had always been known for her baking. For years she had made a few coins a month baking for a few families. With no one to provide for us anymore she decided to put her skills to work. We turned our front room into a shop hanging the small sign with a painted loaf of bread over the door. We made enough to survive, but here wasn’t much left over for the finer things in life. I wasn’t allowed a coming out as I would have received if Father had never left. I watched as my friends married and settled as I worked. I held my hands in front of me looking at the angry red marks that were splashed across the backs. I had long since grown accustomed to the course feel of my palms. Hands that had one been soft and white, a sign of my station in life had become a sign of my new position. With little to recommend me anymore I was left with few options when mother grew sick. I did my best to carry on, but once she was gone I knew so was I. What did I really have left for me there?

I’m not sure when in my thoughts the tears returned, but this time they were tame, running silently down my face without the body racking sobs that had accompanied them earlier. I was now committed to my path. A path that would lead me through the unknown, into the Ranker Mountains and hopefully to the equally unknown Kingdom of Ranker. Although unsure what I would find I had hope. What more could I ask of life now than hope?

Comments

2010-01-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

When an email popped up in my inbox informing me of a comment on here four times out of five it would be a spam bot trying to sell male enhancement drugs or spread a virus or something else of the sort (thus the comment moderating). So unless I recognized the name seeing comment mail wasn't that exciting. That is until recently. After the AWESOME comment from Elizabeth Knox (which if you haven't read Dreamhunter and Dreamquake- you should, as in stop what you are doing and go get it right now..oh wait, after you read this though) I got a few more from unknown peeps. Now checking my email is a joy! What is it about strangers that make it easier to listen? Maybe that I expect that most my friends live by the "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" adage.
Now in these comments I noticed one that stood out to me:

Anonymous said...
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Now this got me thinking. Why is it getting better? Most the time I feel like it is now sadly forsaken for the ease of the one line status on facebook. I have also been known to go months without posting. So why is it better? Did they mean the writing or the content or both?
So I did a little browsing over my blog.
When I started this blog I had only been married a year, I had an infant daughter, and was still trying to figure out how to be a wife and mom. I paid no attention to how I was writing, but more to what I was writing about. It was meant as a way to keep my family updated on my quickly growing little girl. Only I had another baby. So then all the milestones that I had to write about became the same old thing. During this time I had become consumed as a mom and homemaker. I spent each moment trying to keep my family happy, healthy, fed, and CLEAN! It was an exhausting existence. I spent little to no time thinking about myself or any of my dreams, achieved or otherwise.
Then my life changed.
I know lots of people talk about how much they like the Twilight books and even more make fun of the whole vampire/human girl teen relationship thing. I get that. But Twilight changed my life, actually Stephanie Meyer did. I read the books, devouring them the way I do any good read. Only when I finished I hopped online to check out what else could be found about the series and discovered the story of how this book came to be.
Stephanie talked about how she had a dream and was afraid of forgetting it because of her crazy mom memory. I thought "Hey I have a horrible memory too. I know just what she means.". She talked about having three small kids and not sleeping and I thought "Hey, I have two small kids and rarely sleep anymore either.". Then she talked about writing the story of twilight for her, no one else, sneaking away to the computer to type when she could be spared. I thought 'Wow, she found time for herself?".
That was the beginning. I started by trying to write a book. Seven weeks later with the help and coaching of my brother and sister I completed my first novel. I started editing and looking into agents and all the things that go along with trying to get published.
In the end I decided to write a new book and set that one aside for now. I don't regret it, in fact if I am never published I won't regret it. I did something I never thought I could do, I wrote a book! And more importantly I found the time to do something so entirely just for me in the middle of my crazy mom schedule. All of a sudden it was like the scales fell from my eyes! I could do stuff for me! I started doing a lot of things again that I had given up, I have taken back up sewing, and cooking. My housekeeping even improved as I got the rest of my life back together. Now I feel completely different then I did a year ago. I lay in bed dreaming of all the things I could do in life again, much like a younger me. I kept thinking my time for dreaming and conquering the world was over when I had my babies, now I realize that I can just take them along for the ride with me.
So say what you want about Twilight, or Stephanie Meyer, but she woke me up and I will forever be grateful to her for that. With that awakening apparently came a better blog. So I guess the return for listening to me go on and on about Twilight is having something better to read on here?
Agree? Disagree? Discuss...I LOVE comments.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-31T21:12:00.000-08:00

I always think it's better to talk about the new year's resolutions from the year before then to talk about the new ones. So let's recap last years resolutions and if I made it. Tommorrow I might share my new resolutions with you, but for now I feel like looking back. This is New Year's Eve (also known as my anniversary) and I have less than an hour untilt he year is over. I made two big goals for 2009. Yes goals, not resolutions, I have already explained the difference, and will again later I'm sure, but not now.
Goal #1: Where makeup and do my hair Every time I leave the house.
Ok, so I didn't totally make this one. Running to the store when I'm sick, and even a few social outings were conducted sans makeup! And doing my hair sometimes meant I washed and brushed it before taking Sophy to school. So not a total success, but still a valent effort. I would say that I did myself up more then I didn't. I felt great about myself which helped with the weight loss. I have enjoyed this goal and plan to continue next year!
Goal #2: Read 100 books in this year.
Ok, so this goal had me sweating a few times this year. There was stress, and money spent, and things given up, but I still loved it. I had a side goal of 80% of those books being ones I'd never read before. I did not make my side goal, but I am happy to announce that I went over my 100 book goal this year! I know I have posted a partial list, but I plan on listing it in it's entirety here. I really like have a list of the books I read this year. I think I'll try to keep a record of my reading list each year. Now I know I re-read several books on the list (and no making fun of twilight Emily...at least not here) but several where for a writing project I did in Novemeber, and Well the Twilight movie came out and I'm a sucker for that series.
Books I've read in 2009:
1. The Warrior Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
2. The Wizard Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
3. The Dragon Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
4. Pride and Prejudice by: Jane Austin
5. Mansfield Park by: Jane Austin
6. The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins
7. Confessions of a Shopaholic by: Sophie Kinsella
8. Shopaholic takes Manhattan by: Sophie Kinsella
9. Shopaholic Ties the Knot by: Sophie Kinsella
10. Shopaholic and Sister by: Sophie Kinsella
11. Shopaholic and Baby by: Sophie Kinsella
12. Persuasion by: Jane Austin
13. The Princess Academy by: Shannon Hale
14. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by: E. L. Konigsburg
15. Shadow Spinner by: Susan Fletcher
16. The House of the Scorpion by: Nancy Farmer
17. Ingraine the Brave by: Cornilia Funke
18. Leven Thumps: The gateway to Foo by: Obert Skye
19. Leven Thumps: The whispered secret by: Obert Skye
20. Leven Thumps: The eyes of the want by: Obert Skye
21. Leven Thumps: The wrath of Ezra by: Obert Skye
22. God's Tomorrow by: Aaron Pogue
23. Ghost Targets- Expectations by: Aaron Pogue
24. The Mysterious Benedict Society by: Trenton Lee Stewart
25. Strange Happenings by: Avi
26. The Shakespeare Stealer by: Gary Blackwood
27. Twilight by: Stephanie Meyer *
28. New Moon by: Stephanie Meyer *
29. Eclipse by: Stephanie Meyer *
30. Breaking Dawn by: Stephanie Meyer *
31. The Lighting Thief by: Rick Riordan
32. Sea of Monsters by: Rick Riordan
33. The Titan's Curse by: Rick Riordan
34. The Battle of the Labyrinth by: Rick Riordan
35. The Last Olympian by: Rick Riordan
36. Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher by: Bruce Coville
37. The War with Grandpa by: Robert Kimmel Smith
38. The Lacemaker and the Princess by: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
39. The Dragon of Lonely Island by: Rebecca Rupp
40. The Dragon Rider by: Cornilia Funke
41. The Naming by: Alison Croggon
42. The Riddle by: Alison Croggon
43. The Crow by: Alison Croggon
44. The Singing by: Alison Croggon
45. Secrets of my Hollywood Life by: Jen Calonita
46. On Location by: Jen Calonita
47. Family Affairs by: Jen Calonita
48. Paparazzi Princess by: Jen Calonita
49. Darcy's Story by: Janet Aylmer
50. Princess Diaries by: Meg Cabot *
51. Princess in the spotlight by: Meg Cabot *
52. Princess in Love by: Meg Cabot *
53. Princess in Waiting by: Meg Cabot *
54. Princess in Pink by: Meg Cabot *
55. Princess in Training by: Meg Cabot *
56. Party Princess by: Meg Cabot *
57. Princess on the Brink by: Meg Cabot
58. Princess Mia by: Meg Cabot
59. Forever Princess by: Meg Cabot
60. Walk Two Moons by: Sharon Creech
61. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by: Trenton Lee Stewart
62. The Return of Calico Bright by: David Winkler
63. The Catalog of the Universe by: Margaret Mahy
64. Beowulf: A new Telling by: Robert Nye
65. Never Slow dance with a Zombie by: E Van Lowe
66. False Colors by: Georgette Heyer *
67. Howl's Moving Castle by: Diana Wynne Jones
68. Castle in the Air by: Diana Wynne Jones
69. Catching Fire by: Suzanne Collins
70. The Fire Within by:Chris D'Lacey
71. Icefire by:Chris D'Lacey
72. Fire Star by:Chris D'Lacey
73. The Fire Eternal by:Chris D'Lacey
74. Wolf Tower by: Tanith Lee
75. Wolf Star by: Tanith Lee
76. Wolf Queen by: Tanith Lee
77. Bewitching Season by: Marissa Doyle
78. The Book of 100 Truths by: Julie Schumacher
79. Devil's Cub by: Georgette Heyer *
80. Arabella by: Georgette Heyer *
81. Dreamhunter by: Elizabeth Knox
82. Dreamquake by: Elizabeth Knox
83. The 21 Balloons by: William Pène du Bois
84. The Grand Sophy by: Georgette Heyer *
85. Princess Mia by: Meg Cabot *
86. Forever Princess by: Meg Cabot *
87. Pillage by: Obert Skye
88. City of Bones by: Cassandra Clare
89. City of Ashes by: Cassandra Clare
90. City of Glass by: Cassandra Clare
91. Secrets of my Hollywood Life by: Jen Calonita *
92. On Location by: Jen Calonita *
93. Family Affairs by: Jen Calonita *
94. Twilight by: Stephanie Meyer *
95. New Moon by: Stephanie Meyer *
96. Eclipse by: Stephanie Meyer *
97. Breaking Dawn by: Stephanie Meyer *
98. New Moon by: Stephanie Meyer *
99. Eclipse by: Stephanie Meyer *
100. Breaking Dawn by: Stephanie Meyer *
101. Talent by: Zoey Dean
102. A Girl Like Moi by: Lisa Barham
103. Cindy Ella by: Robin Palmer
104. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by: Elizabeth Speare *
105. A Bride for Donnigan by: Janette Oke *
106. Old Magic by: Marianne Curley
107. Fairy Tale by: Cyn Balog

The books with Stars (*) are ones I'd read before. I was only a little off my 80% goal. Of this list there are several I would recommend, or even loan out, but there are more that I would tell you not to bother with! Feel free to ask about any for my honest opinion.
Of these I HIGHLY recommend (as in they are one of my favorites):
#6, #16, #22 & #23, #27- #35, #41- #44, #67, #79, #81 & #82, #104

Christmas picture

2009-12-22T22:21:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!
From our crazy house to yours!

Visit with Santa

2009-12-17T07:37:00.001-08:00

We went to see Santa yesterday. Both girls were very excited! It was our best year ever! They sat and talked with Santa, then smiled for the picture like perfect angels! I'm so proud of my growing girls!

Playing in the leaves

2009-11-21T10:44:00.001-08:00

While on the way home from Georgia we decided to stop and stay a night in Little Rock with my parents. It's a long drive and we were all looking forward to a break from the car. Mostly we just stop and sleep then go home the next day, but this time was a little different.
For weeks now Sophy has been asking me when the leaves will fall in our yard. I patiently take the time to explain that leaves won't fall in our yard each time she asks. "Why mommy?" Is always her response, and "Because we don't have any trees." is always my answer. Each time she looks so sad and will tell me again how Fall is about leaves and playing in them with her 'I'm so proud of my preschool knowledge' voice. It killed me that I couldn't give her the simple pleasure of playing in the leaves. I even thought of stealing a full bag of leaves someone had left on the curb, spreading them across my lawn in the night and telling Sophy in the morning, "Look the leaves finally fell!". Jeff was adverse to this plan, so it was never carried out.
On our trip back home however my mom came to me early in the morning before we had loaded up to go home and asked me if the girls could play in the leaves with their cousins before we left. I of course jumped at the chance to fulfill my daughters desire. "Oh and bring out your camera", she threw over her shoulder before taking them out.
I am so grateful for parents with a TON of leaves in their yard, an awesome leaf blower to make piles with, and the amazing pictures that came out of that mornings play.

Trip to Georgia

2009-11-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of November Jeff and I took a trip to Georgia. While there Jeff worked and I wrote and played. It was a nice relaxing week without the kids (who were with Nanna).
On the drive down Jeff and I ended up behind this car. We kept thinking "what is that in the car?" . It was obvious that it was lots of the same thing...but what. I told Jeff, "Drive faster, lets check it out". The result? A car full, and I mean so full I'm not sure how the driver could drive since the windows were all blocked, or Toilet paper. Most were in packages, but some were loose rolls crammed here and there among all the packages. So I ask you, why would ANYONE need so much TP?

The Lady and Sons

2009-11-21T10:28:00.001-08:00

While we were in Georgia I was about two hours away from Savannah. Knowing how close I was and not knowing when I'd get another chance I decided to take a day to drive over. My object? The Lady and Sons Restaurant. For anyone that doesn't know (and the only people this will apply to would be people who found me online and have never actually met me in person) I LOVE Paula Dean. Although I choose to avoid all her seafood recipes, I still think the food is divine. So you see why it would be worth driving two hours just for lunch.
While there I also checked out the Paula Dean store. I was a good girl and didn't spend big bucks like I wanted to, but man I wanted so much! I loved the apron that said "Country Cookin' Makes You Good Lookin'"!
All in all it was a pleasant drive and I'm glad I did it. I had the chicken salad sandwich and soup. The soup was wonderful! I wish I took a picture of the Chocolate Mousse Pie, but I ate it too fast. Oops.

Post on Posts

2009-11-21T09:03:00.000-08:00

When I pulled up my bloglines list today I had a happy surprise. In the midst of the literary agents, editors, and twilight news blogs that I read daily I actually had a few friend blog posts. I was so excited. It's like going to the mail box and sifting through the magazines and junk mail to find an actually written letter with your name on it! How exciting!
I hurried to read all the funny and quippy things that my blog friends were talking about in their lives. Of course I was even more excited that my favorite funny mom was posting today! With facebook it seems like more and more of my friend leave one line updates, that althought funny too, just isn't the same as reading a well composed post on someone's blog. I myself am horrible about remembering to post and even worse at my composition, but today I felt the need. I thought you know there are two whole people who have subscribed to my blog on bloglines (it conveniently tells you how many, but now who. I'm afraid I might be counted as one of those two which actually only leaves me with one subscribed reader...sigh) and it might be nice if i gave them something nice on their list too... So here it is. My insightful post about posts.

Fall Fest

2009-11-03T16:59:00.001-08:00

There is a fall festival that The Village puts on every year in the park across from Trish's house. We went last year and the kids loved it. This year was the same! I think they liked it more if possible because Lola and Annabelle were older and able to enjoy more. There was a petting zoo, a train, and bouncey things to play in. We spent all day playing and the kids slept SO well after wards. I'm so glad that we took the time to go again this year.

More Halloween Fun

2009-10-31T19:16:00.001-07:00

Lots and lots of Pictures! On thursday we went to Oklahoma Christian to Trick or Treat in the dorms. It was a lot of fun, it is one of our favorite things to do each year!
Today started the Halloween day hoopla! We went to a carnival at church, Jeff was a farmer (hey it's the best I could get out of him) and I was a witch. It's funny, growing up I was never allowed to be anything "scary". And I hold my kids to the same rule. Yet dressing as a witch this year I still felt like I was being naughty and would get in trouble! Sophy was quick to point out to people that I was a "good" witch.
After the church festival which had lots of fun games, we went to Northpark for indoor trick or treating. We do this every year too, but it was the first time Jeff went. It was good and went by quickly. My heels were killing my feet though by the time I was finished though.
After Northpark we went home for dinner before trick or treating in the neighborhood. That was a lot of fun! We get to see our neighbors and even ran into our friend Lisa and Alex! We spent some time hanging out with her and she helped us pass out candy at home.
All in all a very exciting year!

Halloween Pictures

2009-10-17T13:13:00.001-07:00

I took the girls to get their pictures taken in their costumes a few weeks ago and we were finally well enough to go pick them up! I was thrilled with how cute they turned out! Happy Halloween everyone!

Book Update

2009-10-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am currently on book #80 in my quest to read 100 books this year. So I'm getting close tot he end, which is good since it's October! Man where did the year go?
I'd give an update of what I've been reading lately, but I figure I'll just post the full list at the end of the year. Then I'll have lots of recommendations for everyone! I was really hoping that my brother would finish book 3 in his Ghost Targets series before the end of the year so it could be on the list with the other two, well that and i just want to read it, but I haven't seen a copy yet....hint hint.
Reading books makes me think of all the books I've read in the past, good and bad. By far I have more favorites then books I hated. And lots in between. I have many faves on my shelf here at home. I recently read a book that combines young adult and Georgette Heyer style romance! Loved it!
There is one book in my life that I can't seem to forget. It was a classic story about a well-off girl who moves in with a farm family. They tell her she has to carry her weight and keep trying her out on family chores. She is terrible at all but one, spinning silk. Its a sweet story, and honestly I don't remember much more of the story. I found the book in 5th grade at the school library near the Laura Ingalls Wilder books on the shelf. I don't know the name and haven't found it since. I wish I could re-read it, but that would mean finding out what it is first!
Oh well.
Are there any stories in your life that you want to find but don't know the name of?

Boomer Sooner!

2009-10-03T18:27:00.001-07:00

Today I had the privilege of taking my nephew Alexander's New Born Portraits! I'm sure you'll see a lot of him around the blog, him being so handsome and all, but I thought I'd give you a little sneak peek of the the cuteness.
Also while I was there I took an OU family Portrait! I have never gotten to do one of those, which is odd around here. I think it turned out really cute!

The Great cookie Debate or Save the Cookies

2009-10-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Today I started the great cookie debate on facebook. Why? Well it all started like this:
Lola was being REALLY good today. So I decided to give her a cookie as a reward. Only, Gasp!, there were no cookies in the house! SO I made a quick call to Trish asking for a bakery in Edmond that might sell cookies cheaper than going to the Mall. She told me of a cute little place off 33rd and Blvd.
Lola was all smiles as she gazed at the brightly iced cookies on the shelf and I was happy with the selection and prices. We bought some and headed out to pick up Sophy (yes she got a cookie too).
After arriving home I posted my fabulous find on facebook. I realized most people around here would know of the place, but it's odd how I am almost always the last to know about these things. The post quickly recieved a reply that Eileen's cookies on Danforth and Sante Fe where by far better cookies. "Oh really?" I thought to myself. So after nap-time we loaded up the car and headed to this Eileen's cookies to check them out. They did cost a little more, but were much bigger cookies. Sophy and Lola thought it was a holiday or something to get two special treats in one day AND one for no reason other than waking up!
I like sugar cookies that are a little softer, and these were, however they used cake icing on them instead of cookie icing. A small difference I know, but for me it was too much. The girls loved that they could choose from Halloween ones, rainbows, flowers, even Elmo cookies! The icing made a huge mess though!
I have yet to try Eileen's other flavors and I was given a tip on buying them cheaper, so that will help. I mean I will just have to force myself to try the others for research purposes.
After all the comments I decided to write it all up in a note on facebook and get the opinion of other Edmond residents. It was amazing how quickly the responses came in! Although I still disagree with most of them, it is fun to know people's preferences.
So I encourage everyone int he area to go try them out and let me know what you think. Don't live in the Edmond/OKC area you say? Find a small bakery near you and try their cookies. I visit most of your cities anyway, so I'd LOVE to know where to find the good cookies. Besides, shouldn't we all be trying to support small local business in this economy? Protect the cookies, go buy one today!

Books

2009-09-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering I am still reading faithfully. I am currently reading book #72 on my list of 100. I am doing my best to limit it to Young Adult or Middle Grade books. I figure I can count it as research for my next novel this way. Then I don't feel so bad about reading so much and leaving my writing by the wayside. I have decided on my next project. The more I think about it the more I like it even. I still have a few bumps to work out, but by the time I hit my 100 book goal (or fail miserably on new years eve) I will be all ready to sit and write happily along.
In my reading I'm on the 3rd in a series of 4 books. I went to the bookstore today to pick up the 4th one so I'd have it when I finished. I walked along the beautiful rows of books wishing I had an endless supply of gift cards to get books. Oh well, dreams and all, but wouldn't that be grand? It did get me thinking about the books I want and the ones I need to fill holes in my collections.
I borrowed several books (and by several I mean a large box full) from my mom to help me to my 100 goal earlier this year. It gets expensive buying books so borrowing them sure helps. Only several of the series I got from her were missing one or two books. After I got home from the bookstore I finally sat down and made a complete list of the books I still need/want.
It took a while, but I finally figured out an easy way to access google docs from my iPhone. This is handy since I keep most my lists in google docs. I updated my list of books I want to include the ones to fill the holes, then went so far as making a complete list of all the Georgette Heyer and Christopher Stasheff books I own ( the two authors that I am always searching for in used bookstores). They each got their own google doc for the purpose! I even looked up complete lists of works for each author and added that being sure to copy over any I was missing to my "Books I Want" document. I love feeling organized, even if it is a huge ploy to avoid the laundry!
So now I need to make a pilgrimage to a used bookstore. The one I liked here in Edmond closed! Do you know of any good Used Bookstores nearby?

Baby Alexander!

2009-09-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

Welcome Alexander Pogue!
Leading up to Trish's shower I kept teasing her to keep that baby in until after the shower was over. She would laugh and say it'd be a while until he came. I knew the due date was October, but I just had a feeling he would make his appearance in September. Of course I was thinking end of September, not the 17th!
I was happily surprised to get a call that he was coming on Thursday! Born three weeks early he's a little small, but perfect! I took the girls up to meet their new cousin right away. Sophy wanted to take him home and both have been talking about Aunt Trish's baby ever since. Boy is he a cutie!

Trish's Shower!

2009-09-18T18:21:00.001-07:00

On sunday of our crazy week was Trish's Shower. With a lot of help from friends I was able to get everything ready in time. Jeff got home on Saturday night so he was sent off on Sunday with the girls to keep them out of the way for the day.
I made a small polka dot cake with candy animals and matching cupcakes for the shower. They seemed to be a big hit.
I personally thought the watermelon carriage that Rebecca made was the hit of the food table though!
We had an animal theme and lots of presents! I was impressed with the turn out and glad everything went off so well.

Grandma Ada's Birthday

2009-09-18T18:13:00.001-07:00

As many know last week was the craziest I've had in a while. Jeff was out of town for work and I had two big parties on the weekend with a cake for each! The first party was for our friend Daniel's Grandma's 93rd birthday. I made a 4 tier Chocolate cake with White chocolate fudge filling and Milk Chocolate Fudge (yes real fudge) for frosting. I topped it off with white chocolate trim and chocolate dipped strawberries! It was yummy!
The second cake was for Trish's shower...more coming on that.

Sophy's First Day of School

2009-09-18T10:40:00.001-07:00

Sophy started big girl school this year. She is in the Public School Preschool Program this year. She goes half day everyday. It was hard on her to go to school everyday at first. It was a big change from once a week to 5 days a week.
She had to be woken up, she likes to sleep in, then there was the first day of school outfit! She really likes her teacher and her new friends. There is one other Sophy in class, but Sophy seems to love the fact that she has a friend with her name.

Christmas Carol Train Tour!

2009-09-18T10:29:00.001-07:00

When we heard that The Disney Train Tour for "A Christmas Carol" was coming to OKC, Diana and Trish and I decided to go. We loaded up and headed to the train station downtown.
It was really neat. They park the train and you get to tour through it to see how the movie was made and lots of costumes and props and things from this.
After the train you get to see a movie clip and short show about the movie. It was so neat. I have to admit that it was much more interesting that I thought it would be. The girls really liked it a lot too. I'm really looking forward tot he movie coming out now.

Wichita!

2009-09-18T10:13:00.001-07:00

The church I went to through Jr. High and half of High School had a 50th anniversary and reunion. Since we were both planning on going Trish and I decided to go a little early and show the kiddos to the zoo and children's museum there in Wichita before the reunion.
It went really well. I loved seeing the zoo again and being in Wichita after ten years was weird! Aaron and Jeff drove up for the weekend events and I was able to show Jeff our old house and my high school. It was a good weekend.

Sophy's Sleepover

2009-09-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

The other thing Sophy wanted for her birthday was a sleepover party. Since she's still young I wasn't sure about inviting over her friends yet, so I called up the aunts and invited the cousins. Heather had other plans, but Graham and Poppie brought the Sutherlin Children to town for the party and of course Annabelle made it. Sophy had two cakes and enjoyed the party!

Sophy's Birthday Party

2009-09-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been terrible about blogging lately. I think it might have something to do with how bad I've been about pictures too. There have definitely been a lot going on, but I have very little evidence of any of it. I just let others take the pictures.
So I'll attempt to catch everyone up slowly, we'll start with Sophy's birthday. If I don't post again soon write me and I'll get to it!
Sophys birthday was back in early Aug. We had lots of family come in town for it. It was a thrown together party. She said she wanted a party at the pool and to go to McDonalds so we did both. It was fun and about half way through she stood on a table and proclaimed: "This is the best party ever!".

Are you my best friend?

2009-07-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it, I'm a blog lurker.
I love pulling up bloglines and seeing all the new posts sitting there waiting for me to read them. And ok, I admit it, I rarely leave comments. It's stupid of me really because I LOVE it when others comment on my blog and it's not like I'm EVER without an opinion. But for some reason I rarely comment. Lately I've been reading them all on my phone, which does give me something of an excuse since it's so stinking annoying to leave a comment from my phone, but that has only been for the last month or so, so even though it's totally true it doesn't hold up too well. I mean I didn't do so well leaving comments BEFORE I switched to the phone reading.
As much as I get a thrill reading about everyone's lives it does have it's downsides too. I have very few close friends in real life. The list of people I could just pick up the phone and call to say "Hey, I'm bored lets go to the movies or something" is tiny. Of course even if the list was bigger the chances of actually getting to go to a movie when we all have kids that tie us to our houses is next to nothing, but that really isn't the point of this rambling post. Online however, I have SO many friends. Now they may not know they are my friend or anything, but they are.
There's one blog in particular that I love. It's not like she has sage advise or in depth discussions on the meaning of life or anything, she just talks about family and husbands and kids and stuff, but she does it in a way that is so stinking funny! I read her posts and laugh and think "man I wish I could write like that". Which stinks because she's not even trying to be an awesome writer, she just is one. I LOVE reading her blog.
So whats so bad about that right? Well I also know this woman in real life. Like know her name and see her around, but have never been to her home and I don't think she's ever been to mine. One of those kind of friends...an acquaintance. And yet due to reading her blog I've found myself walking up to her on multiple occasions and saying something quippy or interesting. I expect her to react to the awesome-ness that is me and we'll smile like best friends do with an inside joke, but that doesn't happen. Instead I get that look that you sometimes see women give other women. You know the one where they are thinking "How do you keep a crazy person calm, do you look at their eyes or look away?" I can totally tell that is what she's thinking as she laughs nervously shoving her kid behind her as she backs slowly away from me.
Why can't people realize they are simply my blog best friend? Of course if I try to explain to them that they are my best friend but don't know it they look at me like I'm even crazier, kinda like when I tell people I'm actually famous and no one has realized it yet.
Of course I keep reading blogs and holding out hope for all my blog best friends. But what do I know? I still think I'm famous and the world in general just hasn't figured it out yet. But they will, oh one day, they will.

Childhood fears never really go away completely.

2009-07-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I used to have a recurring dream everynight. A terrible scary dream that my husband never fails to tease me about. In it I climb out of bed in a nightgown. I am about four and I hate slipping my feet on the cold hard wood floor. Across from me the white curtains are billowing in the breeze at the window while flashes of lightning streak the sky behind them. The soft rumble of thunder seem louder in the quiet house as I tip toe toward the window. I mean simply to close the window and return to bed. A fear grips me as I get closer, hearing a slight rasping sound and feeling the soft wind on my cheek. I reach out to pull back the curtain and hesitate. My heart is beating in my chest. I need to close the window but I seem to be paralized with fear. Finally I call upon all the courage in my young body and thrust the curtain to the side.
Sitting on the window sill with his head cocked slightly to the side and that evil grin of his sits The Count, you know the one from Sesame Street. I know most people don't think The Count is scary. In fact many even find the guy cute! I however do not, have not, and probably never will. As far as Sesame Street goes he's the closest thing to a bad guy they've got and I've always been tuned to the good vs. bad idea of entertainment. I know you're thinking "what about the grouch?" but honestly I always thought he was harmless and kinda cute (that I'm sure would explain quite a few of my former relationships and their appeal to me should it be psychoanalyzed or something). However, back to the story, I would see The Count sitting there and he'd grin manically and say "One little girl, Ah ah ah." And I would wake screaming my head off every time. Often ending up in bed with my parents if I was brave enough to leave my bed to get to them through the dark hallways that is.
I mean seriously, he's a puppet made to resemble the Count of Dracula, and talks all spooky. Why wouldn't an impressionable child be scared of him? I started watching Sesame Street when I was like three or something and I've been scared of that dude for as long as I can remember. I know I should have stopped being scared of the dreams as I grew up, and even though it's true that they did lessen in frequency, they did not lessen in how terrifying they where. As a teen I did not run to my mommy in the night, but I did wake up in a sweat and have to calm down before going back to sleep.
Now I tell you all this to talk about last night.
Last night I was up late reading, really not a shocker since this is one of my new favorite things to do. I was glad I was reading too because a huge storm had rolled in and kept waking up Lola. I would by far rather get up to calm her when I'm already awake then be woken. I like me my sleep when I get around to it. Anyway I was laying there and had finished my fun light-hearted book that in no way resembles my actual life and took me away from adult cares for a few hours. I turned off my light and curled up under the covers. It was at this time that there was a flash of lightening and a surge of power that sent all our electric things wonky. They were all fine, but it startled me and forced me to look around a little. I am the curious type after all.
I glanced up at our window and noticed the curtains were moving. Not a lot but softly from the breeze the fan was making. Not a big deal right? Yet I felt a familur fear pull at my guts. Then a flash of lightning behind the curtains confirmed it. In that flash I saw all my old dreams cross my vision as I sat in my large bed with a sleeping husband and two kids sleeping in the other room. The eerie feeling of the loud quiet (I know that's weird to say, but you know when the quiet seems to be pressing on your ears until it's almost as loud to you as a scream? That's a loud quiet.) obvious as I stared transfixed at the softly floating curtains and the flashes of lightning behind. "Why, oh why, did I choose to put up white curtains?" I thought to myself as I shrunk farther away from them and closer to Jeff. I could feel my heart pounding and at any moment I knew that The Count would jump out and say "One freaked out woman. Ah ah ah." Or something.
Only of course he didn't. Because I am a grown woman and was sitting on my bed in my home with the alarm on and no reason for a quiet room to be freaking me out. Boy am I glad Jeff slept through that and I resisted the urge to wake him up. I so never would have heard the end of it.

Lake Huron beach

2009-07-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

While on our trip we took a day to drive out to the beach. Lake Huron's beach in Alpena to be exact. We managed to convince the boys to skip fishing for an afternoon to go with us. I think the only Walmart in a 60 mile radius being in town might have had something to dow ith it.
The girls were upset we couldn't play in the sand or water (too cold!) but we had fun walking on the beach and checking out the pier.

Had to share....

2009-07-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

Fishing trip

2009-07-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

We are back in civilization. We just spent a week in Michigan with Jeff's family on a fishing trip. If you know me even a little you know I'm not too into fishing. However, both the girls and Jeff had a great time. Jeff caught a lot of fish,not as many as he'd like. The Iverson's stayed in their camper and we had a cabin (yep I wussed out and slept under a roof with a real bathroom). I'm glad we went, but boy am I tired!

Houston Zoo Party!

2009-06-15T12:28:00.001-07:00

On saturday of our trip we went to the Zoo. My aunt's friend Diane threw a surprise party for my Aunt Wilene. We met early and checked out the Zoo and then headed to the childrens area for the party. My Aunt was suprised to see us there (YEA for not posting about being in Houston! Sorry again to all my facebook friends). Lola fell asleep right before the party. I got the cutest picture of her hugging her party hat in her sleep!
It was a lot of fun. We got to hang out with Grandma Darlene and Trish and Annabelle made the drive down with the Dallas crew.
After the party Heather, the kids and I got to have dinner with the birthday girl. What a fun time!

NASA

2009-06-15T09:09:00.001-07:00

On our second day in Houston we went to the NASA Space center. It was really neat. The kids liked playing with all the fun hands on stuff they had and I enjoyed all the information.
Sophy had a rough day and spent most of it throwing fits. Not our best day, but we survived it. Someday I'll be able to go to NASA and actually hear what they say, but until then I'll just remember the screaming....
The next thing we did was drive down to the shore and look for dinner.
We found a great little pizza place that threw the pizzas and it was YUMMY! I think I liked that part of the day the most!

Trip to Houston

2009-06-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

So as many of you now know we just got back from a trip to Houston. Customarily I like to post each night that I am gone with an update from the day so I don't forget and everyone can share in our vacation. This time I was prevented from doing that. We had traveled down for my aunts surprise party. Since she didn't know I was in town we weren't able to post on here or facebook or anything! I felt so cut off from the world! I did take lots of pictures and saved my posts though so you could see it now!
Our trip started on Monday when my sister and her three kids arrived at my house in OKC. I took them out to POPS for dinner. It wasn't much, but we didn't have too much time. The rest of the night was spent finishing the packing for the next day. On Tuesday we loaded up my kids, her kids and ourselves in her minivan and took off. Our first official stop was going to be Dallas to visit a little with my grandmother. We did mosey on down taking time out for the gainsville outlet mall and IKEA before actually meeting up with grandma.
We spent the night in Dallas and headed out after breakfast for Longveiw Tx to see my grandad. Once again we were moseying along and stopped at the Outlet mall in Tyler along the way.
We spent the night Wednesday in Longveiw and headed out the next day after breakfast for Houston. As soon as we got to Houston we headed to the Children's Muesuem. Since we have a Science Center membership here in OKC we were able to get all of us intot he children's museum for free! We like free!
The mesuem was awesome! The kids favorite part was a town built for kids. They were all given an atm card and had to work jobs in the town to get their paychecks. They deposited their paychecks in the atm machines and could get out money to pay for things in town. Sophy liked being a chef inthe restaurant the most and Lola liked being a cop.
There was much more on our trip, but you'll have to check back to see it all!

A book update:

2009-06-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I had two big resolutions this year. I'm not big on making resolutions as much as I like to have goals. There is a huge difference in my opinion between the two. For example, if I have a resolution to not eat sweets this year I will feel like I have failed it in January when I break and eat a tiny cookie (followed by a bigger cookie, who are we kidding here, I LOVE sweets!). However if I have a goal not to eat sweets I don't feel I've failed after eating a cookie, I just shake it off and try harder. A goal is a challenge, if at first you don't succeed try try again....and all that. With a resolution I feel I have to stay true or fail.
So this year I made resolutions. I wanted to read 100 books this year, hopefully they would be 75% or more new books (as in never read by me, not brand new). I also wanted to make sure my makeup and hair were done every time I left the house.
Funny how my resolutions quickly turned into goals in my head. I think I made it until March before necessity had me running out the door sans makeup. And I found 100 books a daunting endeavor. I like my book goal though because if I fail I can still try again next year. Someday I WILL read 100 books in one year. It just may not be this year.
Part of my book goal required me to write down what I read so I wouldn't forget. I'm glad I did too, because I'm pretty sure I left something off the list already even though I can't remember what it is ( I'm pretty sure I borrowed a few books from you mom, so can you remember what it was I read that's not on the list?). This is a habit I hope to continue forever. I like having a list of my year's reading. It's a nice reference.
I did a little math yesterday (shocking I know!) and found that I was far from my planned path to 100 books. I knew that was coming though. I haven't found near enough time to read this year as I had hoped. Pesky life keeps getting in the way. I have now set a much more achievable goal of 50 books this year hoping to work my way to 100 in the future, however I will not truly give up on the 100 book goal. So 50 I am resolved to hit and 100 is my goal.
With that said here is the list of books I have read thus far:
Books I've read in 2009:
1. The Warrior Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
2. The Wizard Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
3. The Dragon Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
4. Pride and Prejudice by: Jane Austin
5. Mansfield Park by: Jane Austin
6. The Hunger Games by: Suzanne Collins
7. Confessions of a Shopaholic by: Sophie Kinsella
8. Shopaholic takes Manhattan by: Sophie Kinsella
9. Shopaholic Ties the Knot by: Sophie Kinsella
10. Shopaholic and Sister by: Sophie Kinsella
11. Shopaholic and Baby by: Sophie Kinsella
12. Persuasion by: Jane Austin
13. The Princess Academy by: Shannon Hale
14. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by: E. L. Konigsburg
15. Shadow Spinner by: Susan Fletcher
16. The House of the Scorpion by: Nancy Farmer
17. (Placeholder for book I borrowed from mom (about a girl who's parents turn into pigs...)
18. Leven Thumps: The gateway to Foo by: Obert Skye
19. Leven Thumps: The whispered secret by: Obert Skye
20. Leven Thumps: The eyes of the want by: Obert Skye
21. Leven Thumps: The wrath of Ezra by: Obert Skye
22. God's Tomorrow by: Aaron Pogue
23. Ghost Targets- Expectations by: Aaron Pogue
24. The Mysterious Benedict Society by: Trenton Lee Stewart
25. Strange Happenings by: Avi
26. The Shakespeare Stealer by: Gary Blackwood

For those wanting reading suggestions I HIGHLY recommend a few on this list: #1-3, #6, #13, #16, and #22&23. #26 is a cute story, but the writing is poor. I liked many of the others, but am hard put to recommend anyone pay money to read them. If you would like you are welcome to borrow my copies.
I have several books on deck:
The lightning Thief by: Riordan (and it's fellows)
Fairest by: Levine
The Dark is Rising by: Cooper
The Tapestry By: Neff
The Catalogue of the Universe by:Mahy
The Puppeteer's Apprentice By: Love
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio By: Alexander
The Return of Calico Bright by: Winkler

There are of course many books I plan to re-read this year, but for now that's the list. Have any of you read any of these? Any suggestions of which I should read next? I'm waiting on The Lightening Thief until after I can get the sequels from my mom so I don't have to buy them. Also if you know of a great book or series that I haven't listed please speak up. I LOVE hearing about new books!

My new skills...

2009-06-12T15:11:00.001-07:00

Look what I learned to do!

An updated picture!

2009-05-25T20:31:00.001-07:00

Backyard makeover part 1

2009-05-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

Our backyard makeover has taken a HUGE step towards being finished! We now have a patio that is twice the size of the old one! I am very excited about my new beautiful patio! The rain even held off long enough for the patio to be poured and setup! Thank you for answered prayers. While they were out with the tiller I asked the contractor to break up the land for the playground. They did it cheap too! Jeff and I made a quick trip to Lowe's and got the stuff for our part of the project. In the end we decided to go with astroturf for the play area. I had to get creative looking for stakes to hold it down, but I finally remembered that tent stakes should work nicely. A quick trip to Academy Sports and we were all set. It took us most the day, but we got it finished. We still have a little work to do with the edgeing, but we need the patio to fully set up before we can finish. I was very impressed with how great ADC Concrete was! They even worked over the weekend to be sure that it was done in time for our memorial day picnic. We are now officially open for playdates!

Winner!

2009-05-21T22:30:00.001-07:00

Sunday was the big day for our Beautiful Baby Contest winner! Here are a few of the MANY great shots we got from our time at the rose garden.

Backyard Fun!

2009-05-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

More adventures with Craigs list and Garage Sales has lead to some fun times in the backyard. Here are some pictures of our recent purchases and some of the girls playing with their cousin Annabelle!
Pictures:
Castle (Craigs list, needs some work still, the previous owner painted it. I think I could get most the paint off it if I had a air compressor that hooked up to the water hose. Just my spray nossle on the regular hose took a lot of it off.)

Picnic Table $15 (craigs list)

Car $5 (garage Sale)

Rocking Chair $2 (Garage Sale)

Bounce House $5 (Garage Sale)

(I also got a slide for $10 at a garage sale and talked the lady into throwing some toys in for free (whoo-hoo!) but then when I got the castle it had a slide on it so I sold it to my sister in law for $10. So now they have a slide too and Annabelle will have lots of fun with it! We are still looking for a few fun things, but mostly we've got a fun backyard now!)

Easter morning

2009-05-04T19:14:00.001-07:00

I never posted pictures of the girls from Easter. I'm still sad that we never took any pictures of the whole family. We were all cute and matching in White! Well, Jeff didn't have white pants, but that's to be expected. Enjoy the photos!

Lola turns two!

2009-05-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had Lola's second birthday party today! It went really well. There were seven little girls and two boys and a selection of Adults to supervise. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed watching the kids play. My grandmother and aunt with her family drove up for the special day. We were planning on having a bounce house and ball pit in the yard, but the rain had other ideas. I think they still had a blast with the playroom and all the new toys. Lola had a great time opening presents and eating all the goodies, but she wasn't so sure about all the people being here. After all the baking and preparing I'm glad to rest and relax for what's left of my weekend.

Look what you can find for $30 on Craigs list!!!!

2009-04-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

We are in the process of re-Doing our backyard. Part of that process is finding outdoor play stuff for the girls. I have been trolling Craigs list and others for fun stuff. This beauty was listed under a garage sale listing and was in bad shape when I got it. It was VERY dirty and all the joints were loose. With a little elbow grease, two bottle of Clorox cleanup, and a box of Magic Erasers I was able to get it clean. With Jeff's help I was able to get it together and tight! Thank You Grammy for this fun toy for Lola's Birthday! We look forward to sharing the fun with all the girls friends in the near future!
(and a huge shout out to Kimberly who saved the day when I had to go pick it up!!!)

Wow, it's a party! (or) It's a WoW Party!

2009-04-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Jeff turns 30! I'm officially married to an old man! Ha! Just teasing. In celebration of reaching such a milestone we decided to throw him a party centered on his favorite past time. World of Warcraft or WoW for short. We all dressed in costume centered around our characters and mom and dad planned an elaborate menu. I spent lots of time of WoW Wiki planning out the drinks and give-aways.
Guests were greeted at the door with "welcome to our inn, would you like to make this inn your home?" If they said yes they were given a Hearth stone (an item you get int he game that takes you back home) made out of candy. Then we played a few games that my mom had thought up and we ate the yummy food. The dinner cost everyone as did their drinks. How did they get theseThey got to run errunds for the inn keepers, take pictures of magical beasts, and of course turn Lola into a sheep and back again. Most agreed that hunting for flowers was the worse quest of the evening.
Each guest got to take home a prize after they did the things then? They had to complete quests to get money to pay for their food. ir quests and we all had fun watching Jeff open presents and blow out his birthday candles!
In the end the party was a huge sucess! Thank you to everyone who helped me plan and prepare for this fun night! I'm sure we'll all remember it for a long time!

And the winner is....

2009-03-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

And the winner is... Ava Moyer! Congrats Moyer family! I'll be contacting you shortly to arrange your photo shoot!

Shannon Iverson Photography Beautiful Baby Contest

2009-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Let the Beautiful Baby Contest begin!

Online Surveys & Market Research

Mud Pies

2009-03-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

Tonight as a fun project we made mud pie. The girls had a great time smashing up the cookies and making the pudding. The worms were a great surprise to them! Sophy sucked her gummy worms up like spaghetti! I chanced making Lola's with Soy milk because I didn't want her to miss the fun of eating her project. The soy milk didn't quite set up properly, but it still worked.
When we gave it to them Lola LOVED it! She made a huge mess and smiled the whole time. I'm so glad I took the time to make a messy project for them tonight!
Sorry I didn't get any pictures of Sophy, she was quick to run away before the camera came out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T20:43:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I planned out cute outfits for the girls in green with matching bows. I so looked forward to sending them off to school in said outfits! What a joy that St. Patrick's day landed on a Tuesday this year! Oh wait, that was before I found out that this week was spring break. No school, so no good parent award for thinking ahead and planning out cute green outfits for both girls. Oh well, maybe next time.
Since we had no school today I was tested for fun St. Patrick's activities for kiddos. You can't really drink green beer with the kids! Ha! So we had green milk at lunch. They both loved it. And for dinner I made green eggs and ham. At first Sophy wasn't so sure of what to do with green eggs. Lola ate hers all up in seconds! Sophy did come around, but it took a while to convince her to have that first bite. A quick re-telling of how St. Patrick rid Ireland of the snakes (done each year) and our St. Patrick's day drew to a close. Not too exciting I know, but the girls seemed to like it.

BEautiful Baby Contest Update

2009-03-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

I need the following information with your entries please.

Your Name
Your child's name
Child's Birthday
Your Phone Number

Thank you!

Announcing....

2009-03-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

The Shannon Iverson Photography 1st Annual Beautiful Baby contest!
The winner will receive a free photo shoot and a photo package that includes: 1- 8x10, 2- 5x7, and 4- 4x5 in any pose of their choice.
To enter just email me (shannonliverson@gmail.com) or hand me a 4x6 non professional picture of your child. Children must be under 2 to qualify. I will put them all in an online poll here on my blog on Monday March 23rd! So you have until midnight on the 21st to get your pictures in! After this point you can have all your friends and family vote (one vote per computer) for the winner! The winner will be announced on Monday March 30th!
Good Luck!

Spring Cleaning Part 3

2009-03-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

Well the re-arrange is over! Yay!!!! I have to send quick thank yous out to Jessica (who lovingly set up the T.V. and helped so much!) and to Trish (who helped way more than a preggers lady ought to). We started early this morning with a trip to Home Depot. The bolts that came with Sophy's slide didn't fit so I had to go find longer ones. It was a quick trip though and I was able to find what I needed without too much hassle or expense. After that there was a quick detour by Target and home to get to work. Jessica was already there waiting for me when I arrived, and Trish was only about fifteen minutes behind her.
Jessica got to work on the T.V. shelf and set up. The original location for the T.V. didn't work once the slide was installed, so I had to purchase a small shelf for it and re-locate it to the window area. This also meant moving the Bassinet (that the girls used for stuffed animals) and relocating the stuffed animals to newly purchased toy hammocks in the corner where the T.V. used to be. A quick reshelving of kid books in Sophy's closet and out of the living room was the last touch to Sophy's new room!
Annabelle, Sophy, and Lola spent the rest of the morning playing on the slide and with the toy kitchen while Trish helped me fix up Lola's room. It was cute watching them all run in circles to climb up the ladder, cross the bed, and slide down. It made all the work on the rooms worth while to watch them play!
Lola's room was a little harder than Sophy's. Mainly because I was moving a giant piece of furniture in her room and very little out of her room. We put together the Big bed frame first so we could easily see where everything should go. This turned out to be the hard part. Where should it all go. It was quickly apparent that the preferred arrangement simply wouldn't fit. Too much furniture and not enough room. I finally settled on two big changes, I decided to take apart the crib and put up the toddler bed which was smaller, and I decided to move the guest bed into the corner. I hate putting big beds in the corner because it is difficult to get in and difficult to make the bed, but it was the only way it would work.
Once everything was in place it just took a few minutes to get everything looking nice, making beds and such. Nap time hasn't been fun because I've spent more time telling Lola to go back to bed than she has actually spent in her bed, but I guess she will learn in time.

What I did today (with help):
- Get Hardware from Home Depot
- Fix Slide
- Move Books
- Set up and move T.V.
- Put together Guest bed
- Put together Toddler bed
- Take apart Crib
- Carry Crib to garage
- Carry Doors to garage
- Carry Big old T.V. to garage
- Finish vacuuming Lola's room
- Make Guest bed
- Make Lola's Bed
- Clean out Humidifiers and put away
- Re-arrange Lola's room
- Hang 3 Toy Hammocks
- Move Bassinet to garage
- Put away stuffed Animals
- Make Table cloth for Sophy's table
-Clean toys out from under couch and gather from rest of the house

Spring Cleaning Part 2

2009-03-05T20:00:00.001-08:00

Sophy's Room is officially finished! Yay!!! I worked So hard today! I even made the girls stay up late (10:00pm) in order to get as much done as possible. Lola got so cranky that I finally just moved out every thing I could and got her room ready for bedtime. I cleaned up all the stuff I dragged out after I put her to bed. I'm now enjoying hte silence in the house while I update all of you on my progress.
The closet doors proved tricky and they didn't want to come off, but with a little thought and a lot of hammering I finally triumphed. I got Sophy's new T.V. put in her room and set up. It still needs to be wired up, but it's the only thing left to be done.
Here's a list of what I accomplished today:
- Take off Sophy's Closet doors
- Move Guest bed out of Sophy's room
- Move Sophy's bed
- Move the bookcase, and Doll House in Sophy's Room
- Move all the riding toys from lola's room to Sophy's
- Vacuum all of Sophy's Room
- Vacuum all of Lola's room
- Move the dresser and Lola's Bed in Lola's Room
- Pack up outgrown clothes in storage tubs
- Hang curtain rod in closet doorway in Sophy's room
- Hang curtain in Closet doorway
- Re-Hang broken Curtain Rod in Sophy's room
- Move Corner Unit out of Lola's room and into my room
- Finish last of Laundry (At least until Jeff comes home with his)
- Trip to Walmart for Tubs, Curtain Rod, hardware and Curtains
- Trip to the Chiropractor to fix my back from all the moving

Man am I ready for bed! I wouldn't be up so late if it wasn't for Trish tempting me to go to Target and Hobby Lobby in the middle of my day. Not that I minded too much, but the work still had to get done. Tommorrow hopefully I'll finish up with the help of a few friends so it can all be done before Jeff gets home!

Spring Cleaning Part 1

2009-03-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

I heard that March was official "Spring Cleaning Month". It also happens to be "National Frozen Food Month" too. Coincidence? Maybe, but I like to think not.
I have done several things to prepare for this month. The first of which was eating a lot of frozen food items to make room in deep freezer. I call it cleaning it out, but in reality I'm making room for all the great sales that will be coming! It also keeps me cleaning in the kitchen as I prepare all our yummy meals.
The second thing I've done to prepare was a general disregard for house work. I let the dishes and clothes pile up to unheard of proportions. I also planned out a big project, several times and often unsuccessfully. The goal was to turn my daughters two bedrooms into four usable spaces. They needed to be: Bedrooms (already functioning in this capacity), Guestroom (already working as such, but very poorly done), and Playroom. The playroom was the biggie. As it was currently I had toys divided into both rooms And a dollhouse in the hall, AND books in the living room. I finally got fed up with the toys getting ALL over the house. It was hard to pick up because things went to four different places and mixed up together each time. So the plan to put it all in one room was formed. I'm very excited to get my house back!
It took several trys to come up with a plan that could come close to succeeding in the goal! I think I finally did and got to work yesterday. Here is a list of all the items I've crossed off my list:
- Clean out Lola's Closet
- Move Sophy's clothes to Lola's Closet
- Clean Out Sophy's Closet
- Move Sophy's Kitchen into her Closet
- Clean up all the toys in Sophy's Room
- Clean up all the Toys in Lola's Room
- Move all Lola's Toys to Sophy's room
- Wash Laundry (all 10 loads!)
- Wash Dishes
- Strip down the beds and wash Sheets/blankets
- Clean up my Room

Today starts a whole new list of chores! I'll try to update once I've finished it all. I thought about taking Before pictures, but then I'd have to let the world know how bad my house was to start with! I can't wait to finish and post After pictures!

Busy Busy busy

2009-02-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today was a very full day! We started the day off going to the Zoo. I love the park that the zoo sits in here in St. Louis. It's the site of the 1904 World's Fair and it is so pretty. There is an outdoor theater and lots of fun stuff to do. I also LOVE that it's free! We started at the Zoo and saw all our favorites. Sophy liked the giraffes best (she's liked them best for a while now). They had a new baby giraffe and it was out for the first time today! How cute! We got to see the penguins, I think this Zoo has the best penguin habitat I've ever seen! It never fails to impress. Evie liked the sea lions. I just kept thinking how much she'd LOVE the sea lion/seal habitat in OKC. I love that you can see them swimming under the water at home. Here it was hard to see how truly graceful those animals can be. I thought Lola would like the Cheetah (actually a leopard but she calls anything with spots a cheetah) or the monkeys but when asked she claimed the Frogs as her favorite of the day. Who knew?
After the Zoo we walked to the Art Museum and had lunch at the small cafe inside. The girls were starting to get cranky but I had never seen the Science center here and I had also promised a big reward if the girls were good today, so we dragged them on to the science center. It was really cool. I wish I had more time to go through it all. The girls weren't nearly as impressed at it because most was for older kids. Also we had little time to devote to it. The big reward came at the science center. They have a build a bear workshop inside and my girls had never gotten to build a bear before. Sophy loved making hers. She did everything they asked of her and would have bought out the store if I didn't rein her in. Lola wasn't as into the making part, but she like picking hers out (she chose a monkey) and she liked to hug it and play with it once it was made. They both got to name their new friends. Sophy chose "Cinderella" for ehr bear and Lola chose "Donny" for her monkey. I asked her four times what name and she said "Donny" each time. I have no idea where it came from, but she calls it Donny still.
After build a bear we loaded the kiddos up and headed home to wait for LilliAnn and Grayson to get home from school. The girls rested (but didn't nap) during this time. After everyone was home from school we went out for a special dinner since LilliAnn and Grayson hadn't gotten to do as much as the reat of us this week. We ad fun and came home with a carful of tired cranky kids. The silence in this house now is wonderful and I look forward to a peacful night!

Trip to St. Louis

2009-02-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

Well we made it safely to St. Louis. I'm sure I will have more to talk about later, but I have a quick update for you anyway! We got here last night and stayed up late chatting. This morning the Sutherlan children taught my girls the meaning of waking up early. Bless her, Heather let me sleep in. We got the older ones off to school and headed to the store. Apparently Mardi Gras is really big here so there were two rows of mardi gras stuff to look at. We decided a few pictures int he asiles was approprate. After shopping we had lunch and haeded home to let the kiddos sleep until school was over and the older two came home. It was a full simple day! Tommorrow if the weather cooperates we are heading to the zoo!

Busy Week

2009-02-22T19:39:00.001-08:00

This was a very busy week! Wednesday was Annabelle's birthday! My niece is now Two! I took the girls over to their house on that morning and Trish and I spent a good chunk of the day frosting cupcakes for her two parties. The first party was that night at church. Aren't the girls cute eating their cupcakes in bible class?
The second party was on Saturday. We had a little hitch when my back went out on Thursday! I quickly scrambled to get an appointment at the Chiropractor on Friday. I got in and he was able to fix me up enough to make it to the party on Saturday without too much pain. I'm doing better today but I'm not looking forward to the drive to St. Louis tomorrow. Eight hours in a car with my hurt back sounds just awful!
After the party on Saturday we hung around with my family at Aaron's for a while. When the dallas crew left we packed it in. We decided to meet mom and dad at PFChang's for dinner. Not the best for my diet, but it was GOOD! While there the girl's discovered that there was a window just over our booth that looked into the kitchen. They had a lot of fun peeking on the chefs. Lola scared dad because she was holding on just with her arms and hanging a good two feet above the booth seat.
All in all a great week. We will be (as mentioned earlier) at my sisters for this week. Jeff has a work trip that he has to go on nearby and I'm tagging along to see Heather. Graham is in Little Rock and she is lonely so I plan on us keeping each other company all week. I hope at least one trip to the St. Louis Zoo can be arranged. Hopefully lots of pictures will be taken, oh wait, maybe I should go pack my camera.

Wow!

2009-02-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of photo sessions come up in the last few days! My calendar is filling up really fast! If anyone else wants a session in the next few weeks you better call fast! Maybe I should spend some time updating my website! It might help out with some of these emails I'm getting.
Update:
I went to work on the website. It should be a lot cleaner and much easier to get information now. Please check it out and tell me if there is anything you would like to know that isn't there.
http://shannoniversonphotography.smugmug.com

Update.

2009-02-15T18:49:00.000-08:00

We have had a very busy weekend around here. On Friday night we went on a date! (Pause for exclamations!) It was great to get out for an evening without the kiddos. My friend Shannon came over with her little girl so we could go out. We have been continually hearing about Abbigale's mommy and how she has the same name as Sophy's mommy from Sophy ever since.
On saturday I got the news that our friend Nicki was in the hospitol. Her water had broken in the night and they had started induction. I think she might be the first of my friend's whose water broke before getting to the hospital, at least that it happen while I knew them. I spent a good chunk of the day int he waiting room with lots of our friends waiting for baby Jason to arrive. Jeff stayed home with hte girls so they wouldn't be bugging everyone.
This afternoon we all went up there to see the baby. He's so cute and tiny! I even got to hold him! Once we were all home we ate and napped. At least the girls napped, I worked out and played Rock Band with my Husband.
Thank you to those that have asked, my diet is going well. I have lost 23 pounds to date and I feel great. Also For those that asked I have read 12 books so far this year. I have lots more to go before I get to 100 but I'm on the right path. I would also like to thank those of you who have read my book on Authonomy. It's always nice to hear feedback.

What website would your best friend be?

2009-02-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

I've een watching Style network a lot lately. I've been hooked by "Clean House" and "Whose wedding is it Anyway?". Both great shows. While watching the other day there was a commercial for the style network website. Their tagline was "If your best friend was a website this would be it." That got me thinking. If my best friend was a wensite what website would she be?
It's been a week and I think I've chosen.
Erin: www.epguides.com
Heather: www.recipes.com or www.webmd.com
Jessica: www.smartsource.com

What would your friends be?

Authonomy

2009-01-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a lot lately. You all know about my long list of books on my nightstand and the 100 books in a year goal, but there's also the internet. Wow I wish I could count blog reading and research toward my goal, but alas it is not to be. After much research into the e-reader I found the answer to my questions. The biggest of which is that the books simply aren't much cheaper than going to the book store. Even with it's conveniences it just isn't cost effective to shell out the upfront to get the e-reader. I'd have to buy well over a 700 books to make it a cheaper option! Now if they came out with an itunes style store where all ebooks were $3 - $5 it would be great! I'd rush out an buy an ereader tomorrow (in theory, I'd actually have to save for a month or two to afford one).Maybe I tunes themselves can get into the e-book biz. That would be great for me. Already have an itunes account....of course all my lovely giftcard money I got at Christmas has been used on new music....I hate that my birthday isn't until November. Hey valentine's is coming up...maybe I can ask for itunes card, is that romantic enough?
The other item I have been reading about and researching this week has been a site called: Authonomy. Don't ask me how to say it, It changes each time I try. I actually heard about it a few months ago on my favorite Literary Agent Blog. Really people if you have any interest in Literary publishing or it's world you should check out Nathan Bransford's blog ( http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/ ). And not just because my sister thinks he's cute.
A few months ago he mentioned Authonomy ( http://www.authonomy.com/ ). I as usual was curious and went to check it out. I sent off a link to my fellow family authors and waited to see what they think. My brother was the only one who really had too much of an opinion about it all. He was worried (as always) about first north American publishing rights and a publishers chance to screw you over in a contract. Of course this is assuming that I could ever get a publisher to give me the time of day! Since this has yet to happen I begin to weigh the downsides, and it's seeming less and less. So off I go to the site to check it out again. Now it's run by Harper Collins, though I think other companies might be checking it out a little too. It's also a great way to build a platform and honestly aren't I a sucker for a new way to waste time online? Did I ever really stand a chance of resisting? As a final kicker Harper Collins is British isn't it? Wouldn't that mean I hadn't given up north American pub rights but British rights? How does that work with the internet? Does it go by who owns the site or who reads the site?
Well I now have a profile on the site with the first three chapter of My first novel up on it. I have the novel complete, but am still a little weary of putting the whole thing on there. Maybe I'll change my mind in time.
In theory this site is a place for readers and writers alike to find the best new material out there, bypassing the old system of querys and agents to get what the people want published. I pretty sure that Harper Collins actually has a much different plan for this site (thus my hesitation for putting the whole book up) but for now we'll work on that assumption. SO anyone who likes to read should head over and check out the site. Register for a profile and look around at all the books. There's over 3,000 on there now and I'm sure something for everyone. Just be a little careful, some of it isn't appropriate for everyone (it's marked so just keep an eye out). I would love you all to read my book and see how it's doing. The idea is that people can read it and leave feedback or comments and then they rate their top five favorite books. Once your book has enough people rating it highly then you go on the editors desk were a Harper Collins editor will read and critique it for you. Yea! So please check out mybook ( http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=5760 ) and let me know what you think.
Also check out the site some and let me know what you think about the whole site. For you fellow authors out there it could be a useful site for you too!

Sickness and books, or is it book sickness?

2009-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick. It seems to never fully go away anymore. It lasts until it gets so bad I go to the doctor then I get a short term fix. I truely hate my sinuses. Why did God create sinuses in the first place, I mean really we have enough parts on us that can be broken already don't we?
On another note: The weather is much better. I am so glad that I can look out my window and the yard is no longer covered in ice. Makes it easier to, I don't know, drive.
I have been keeping up with my reading. I have just finished the first three in the Shopaholic series. Seriously funny stuff. I have an awful cough and I keep laughing so hard it throws me into a coughing fit! I am currently reading Shopaholic and sister. It's a must read for woman. Kinda like princess diaries, but way more grownup and much more believable.
My current total for this year is sitting at 10 books. At this rate I shouldn't have any problem reading 100 books this year. I still have 3 Jane Austin books sitting on my nightstand and at least two others waiting to be purchased.
One of my favorite blogs is written by a literary agent. I started reading it back when I thought I stood a chance of getting an agent myself (And yes this particular agent wasted no time in rejecting me). I did enjoy his style of mixing literary news with normal life things like the Bachelor and Lost. This week there has been ongoing discussions of the Sony Reader/Kindle verses Paper books. Now I have been looking into an e-reader for a while now. I love the concept and even looked into just downloading the reader app for my IPhone, but usually price or usability has stopped me. Once I began reading through all the comments though I got a new thought. Are the e-books cheaper to download than to buy in the store? It makes sense that they would be but I never reallyt hought too much about it. Does anyone know the answer to this? If it's only a couple bucks per book I could save tons fromt he books I buy at the bookstore. Not to mention all the hasty trips I make to books-a-million or Barnes and Nobel because I finished my book and it's part of a series. Yes I'm crazy enough that if I finish it and the next one is avaiable and I don't have it on hand I tend to rush out and get it. More than once I've been up with a sick kid and wishing the book store was open at 2am. I've even taken a sleepy baby to walmart int he middle of the night to see if they carry the book I want (no was the answer that time).
What are your thoughts on paper book verse ebooks? I don't think I'll ever fully give up paper books, but think of the shelf space you'd save...it does have it's upsides. Seriously though, I think the price will have to come down a bit before I partake.

Ice

2009-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:00

Update: Jeff has made it home safely. Except for some trouble getting him up the driveway it was slow but uneventful. So prayers work!
As I sit here I hear the distinctive banging and pounding that is usually attributed to tribal drumming. I would be half afraid of a band being in my backyard if it wasn't for the twenty degree temperature and even lower windchill. I might send my dogs out just to be on the safe side, but all four pounds of Dauby would freeze in about a minute.
I love cold days with snow and even sometimes ice. I don't like going out in the ice, but I like being holed up at home with good food and my loved ones. Today has left me with much anxiety though. Jeff left for work at his usual time and made it safe and sound. Getting home has been the hard part. The roads were getting slick by 9am and were downright dangerous by noon. I have called him about twenty times begging him to just come home already. He is such a good worker that he hates leaving early if he can help it. I get that and love him for it. The hard part for me was sitting home with two fussy girls (one of whom is constantly asking for her daddy) and seeing the various wreak and weather reports that keep popping on screen. With no good news on the telley I really wanted my hubby safe.
They finally sent out a notice at his office telling everyone to go home before it gets any worse or risk staying the night. So he is slowly making his way home. I'm scared to death for him since at least half of the trip home is on raised interstate. So please lift a pray for my honey that he makes it safe and sound.
Other than the stress of waiting all my family is fine. We still have electricity (obviously) and rarely lose power in these storms. If we do lose power we have a fireplace and wood handy. I hope everyone else is well prepared and enjoying the day snuggled up at home. Oh and that drumming outside...turns out it's the ice freezing on the roof vents.

Writing again

2009-01-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to writing again last night. It was more an issue of getting word working again, which Jeff was finally able to finish yesterday. I lost some of my old files, which stinks, but most are still there. I am now working on a middle grade novel about a boy genius inventor. So I'll get to come up with all kinds of fun little words and gadget names.
Want to help out? If you could invent a gadget or a piece of a gadget what would you call it?
My favorite piece so far is called a montom. Making up things is fun!

Been tagged....

2009-01-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here we go!

The idea is to copy & paste it into your blog, then highlight the things you have done. The items in bold are things I’ve done in my life. (You’re not supposed to copy the words in italics, I added those.)

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars (does a tent count?)

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning (while pregnant! Yuck!)

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch-hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Gotten flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter/plane

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72 . Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book (I've written one though)

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85 Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Well, I helped)

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

I tag Heather and Aaron.

You tell me:

2009-01-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad to see I haven't lost all my readers with my prolonged absence. And if you are new I'd LOVE to have you comment so I can check out your blog(if you have one) and meet you.
It's been great with my diet. All is going smoothly and I'm grieving over the loss of food less and less each day. I'm still leaning the art of eating out and staying on track of everything, but it shouldn't take too long.
I haven't been writing. It's a sad admission. Part of it is due to the lack of word currently operating on my laptop, the other is just laziness I guess. During Nanowrimo I got a great idea and even started it, but I just wasn't in a writing mood. I know that sounds like a cop out, but sometimes it's true. When I'm super stressed or focused on other things it's hard to write for me. I'm not the brilliant writer that my brother and father are. I still struggle with basic grammar often (as most readers should be able to tell). I do love a good story though. And the joy of creating not just a story but characters and lives and new concepts and realities. It's a thrill. I miss that part. I had one of my test readers finish my first story recently. She wanted to know what happens next....That's just what I wanted. I love to read a story so intriguing that you want to know more at the end, even if it's not a series. That has always been my goal. For said friend, I promise to share the story lines of the next three books should I never get around to writing them (because yes, I HAVE thought it all out that far).
Right now I've been in a funk. Life is flowing smoothly along. We have our bumps like anyone else but for the most we are where we want to be doing what we want, so why the funk? That's the question that has been dangling at the back of my mind for a week or so now. I described it to Jeff last night. Back when I was single and everything was great I'd have moments of "man I wish I was getting married" or "wow it'd be cool to be married and having a baby". Not so much because I wanted that in the moment so much as I wanted a change. Something to focus on and work towards. Last night I heard a sweet song on the radio and thought "I wish I was getting married", followed quickly by the thought "Oh wait, I AM married.". It triggered something in my mind that I must need a new goal.
I think all these ramblings can be very confusing to anyone who is not closely acquainted with me and my complicated thought process. If I've lost you by now don't worry, I'm almost done. Glad some of you (Heather) are already used to this.
With the new goal registered I decided that rather than start a new one maybe I should get busy on one I already have and am currently failing. So writing I think it will be. I have been daydreaming about story tidbits and writing whole chunks of stories in my head before falling asleep at night. It's time. So here's to the hope of getting some work done.
Now to decide what to work on. Here's where you come in. If you ever wrote a story what would it be about? And for fun throw out a quick story idea that I could use. Just to get the creative juices flowing.

Playlist help.

2009-01-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all of those that asked. I am doing very well with my workout/diet. I am learning better ways to cook. I feel like I eat all day to get my calories in. Who knew that watching biggest loser for 6 seasons would help me out so much? I picked up a good tip from the show this week. On it they said that singing while you work out helps your heart rate and breathing so you can workout longer more comfortably. Now while most people wouldn't recommend singing at the gym I'm lucky enough to workout at home. I tried it today and it worked really well. I just need to update my workout playlist on my IPod.
So what music do you like to listen to while working out? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Little minds

2009-01-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

Conversation between sophy and I.

S: When is Daddy's birthday?
M: In April
S: When is April?
M: A long time from now.
S: When is your birthday?
M: In November.
S: That's a lot of vember.

Post holidays

2009-01-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
I was thinking about posting about New Years and realized I had no pictures from new years, AND I didn't even take my camera out christmas morning. I think I was just enjoying hte moment too much to think about it. The kids were great this year. Lola loved all her toys and had fun playing with them while Sophy finally understood the whole present thing. I think it might have been one of the best years ever.
After christmas we came home for New Years. Jeff's parents came in town for it and my folks were visiting Aaron's family so it was quite a gatering for us. We actually had the get together at my house which was a first. If you would like to see pictures and hear more you can check it out here: http://pogueweeklytimes.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-years-eve-and-night.html My sister in Law wrote all about it on her blog. SHE didn't forget to take pictures.
As with every other person my #1 resolution this year is to lose weight. I'm doing very good with it. How is everyone else doing?

Oh to tell a tale, or read one.

2009-01-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hello All. We have all survived the holidays around here and are working our way back to a normal pace. I hope to scan and post some holiday pictures of the girls soon, but you know me and promises.... It sure seems like the last two months have just flown by. Of course I think that every january. Theres just so much going on this time of year.
Lately I have been reading a lot more than normal. I have been engrossed in reading new stories. It all stared wiht a call to go buy new books back in november. I responded to the call and not only did I read a few books I've been waiting for but I also re-discovered the joy of roam shelves full of new stories never seen by my eyes before.
Of course publishers have a nasty habit of buying series. Good for them because I fall right in with the "I have to read them all from the first one" type. So I've discovered several new series that I enjoyed.
Here is my list of reading from december until now:
The City of Ember by: Jeanne DuPrau
The People of Sparks by: Jeanne DuPrau
The Prophet of Yonwood by: Jeanne DuPrau
The Diamond of Darkhold by: Jeanne DuPrau
The Warrior Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
The Wizard Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
The Dragon Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
The Frog Princess by: E.D. Baker
Dragon's Breath by: E.D. Baker
Once Upon a Curse by: E.D. Baker
No Place for Magic by: E.D. Baker
The Salamander Spell by: E.D. Baker
The Dragon Princess by: E.D. Baker

Also I read a few in november that I liked. Of those I highly recommend Edymion Spring by: Mattthew Skelton it's very intresting and I loved the story behind the story. I am currently reading all the Jane Austin stories when I realized I had seen the movies and never read the books! How could that have happened? I am on Pride and Preduice right now and have a lovely book called Darcy's Story waiting int he wings, as well as the first 5 of the shopaholic series. With Hunger Games that completes my current nightstand line up. I hope those will keep me busy reading for a while, but who knows. It's sometimes hard for my mind to switch between genres. I love my fantasy worlds of dragons, but oh can Jane Austin write a tale!
I hope to read 100 books in 2009. I will endever to update of my current reading list along the way. We'll see how things go since I also want to write one more story this year too. Which one to choose first?
What good stories have you read lately? I really like YA and Fantasy and anything funny. I am always ont he look out for a new good find. Please let me know so I can check it out. I am thinking of starting a variation of a book club that is for reccomendations. In it the members would read one book a month (whatever story they chose) and then bring it with them to talk about at the meeting. We'd most likely meet at a bookstore coffee house since it'd be close to allt he new books! I figure we'd show up with our book and tell the others about it and if we liked it. We'd keep a log of what has been mentioned and what rating it got. We could add the other members ratings if they choose to read it too. Then we all pick out new books to read. It'd be a fun way to hear about new books and share your experience good or bad about the one you read. If anyone is intrested let me know. I'd love t get it going with and asortment of readers!

How Awesome!

2008-11-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES — Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

Guns N' Beatles: Axl Rose and Paul McCartney Storm MySpace.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

Ack! (click here for the posts)

2008-11-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

So I just finished catching up on my blog reading. As several of you know I recently wrot emy first novel and I'm currently working on number two. I thought several times about posting on here about NaNoWriMo and why it's cool, or giving you an update on my horrible progress. In the end I decided that most of you either don't care about NaNo or already know all about it. So why waste your time talking about it. If I posted an update it would just be embarrassing (I don't recommend starting over on day five, it's not pretty).
So why am I suddenly breaking my rule about the writing talk on my blog? Because I read this: http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2008/11/crash-flow-or-what-went-wrong-in.html
It was on a blog that I like to read. She's an editor and talks a lot about the publishing industry. This post she did on all ecomonic results of October on the publishing industry made me very sad. She's very right that all of us that love book and hope to ever have a future in the industry needs to do something.
I personally plan to take my splurge money out to the book store today and buy a book. Maybe two. I just had a birhtday and there is a whole list of books I want right now, so why not use this weekend to do my part. I encourage all of you to go buy a book. Any book. Help save the future of printing! It just might help out yours truely someday too, I know I'd apperciate it!

Halloween

2008-10-31T20:06:00.001-07:00

Wow! The last two days have been crazy! First we took Sophy to School for her class party yesterday. She had a great time with her friends and gave out her little goodie bags. Then I took Lola home to stay with a sitter (Thanks Christian!) and rushed off to FE for their Halloween Photo shoot. It lasted most the day so when I got home Sophy had already been picked up and was waiting for me with all the tales of her fun day. I chatted with Christian for a while before running off to meet Trish and Annabelle at OC for Trick or Treating in the Dorms. This is one of my favorite parts of Halloween. I remember passing out candy in the dorms when I was at Harding. I LOVED it and it's so fun to go up there with my girls and see all those college girls having fun. We took a minute when it was over to let the girls eat some of their candy and snap a picture on the bench outside.
This morning we all slept in a little because we went to bed late last night. We got dressed and ready and headed out at noon today. First we met up with Trish and Annabelle, and Nicki at TGIFridays. One of our favorites. They emailed me a coupon for free kids meal if they were in costume so I printed off three before I went. The food was great and we had a blast, except when Sophy decided to crawl under the table and throw a fit. At least it was a quiet fit and was soon over.
After Lunch Trish Took Annabelle home for a nap and offered to watch Lola too. Lola napped at Trish's house while I took Sophy to the mall to "visit" Mickey Mouse. We ran to the disney store and she talked to Mickey through the glass window for a little while until I pulled her away to get some real shopping done.
When we were through we ran by Trish's to get Lola and went to Northpark Mall for their Trick or Treating. We did it last year and it was fun. The girls got lots of compliments on their costumes. They have a really cute pet shop there that caters to dogs. Their window displays were SO cute and Lola was dressed as a puppy so I asked the owner and before long Lola was in the window. She was really tired and cranky though so we didn't get the best picture. I'll have to try again sometime when she's rested.
After the mall we ran home to eat dinner and decorate our pumpkins. We didn't have a lot of time until it got dark so I put our bowl of rasins (yes I skipped out on candy this year) out on the porch for the trick or treaters right away. When we were fed and happy again I loaded us up and we went out to do the real trick or treating. I chose to leave our neighborhood this year. We get a ton of kids on our street and lots of moms drive along and watch their kids closer thant hey do the road. With Jeff gone it made me nervous about taking them out on my own. I was afraid that they would run out in the street or get lost in the other kids when I wasn't watching.
I drove to a neighborhood nearby that was gated, but had the gate open for Halloween, and was small and quiet. They all seemed thrilled to see the girls and everyone was very friendly. When we were finished Sophy kept begging to go to more houses the whole way home. Since most our neighbors were still passing out candy when we got home I decided to humor her. I put them int he stroller and walked a few streets. I didn't even bother going to every house, but just a few of our favorites from last year. We ended up with a TON of candy this year. I even gave some of it away when our bowl ran out on the porch! I tried to take a picture but it didn't all fit in the frame!
By the time we got home and ready for bed it was an hour past bedtime and both girls were tired. I'm glad we got everything done, but man I wouldn't want to go through this week again for a long time! Happy Halloween everyone!

Long Day

2008-10-28T21:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry these pictures are blurry, but that is just a way to show the constant motion these little ones were in at the Village Fun Fair on Saturday. I already told you about it, but I actually decided to follow through with the pictures this time around.
Today the girls went to school with their cupcakes! I think they went over well. I didn't quite make enough for Sophy's whole class so she didn't get one, but she was just as happy without it. I was suprised. She just seemed happy to get to share with her fiends. I was so proud of my little girl!
Sophy spent the evening with Kris and Nicki at their house while I took Lola to work with me. The daycare at work is only avaiable for ages 0-24mos. It won't be long unil Lola outgrows it too!
Once I got everyone home we settled in for the night. Lola had a tough time going to bed tonight. She is usally really good, but tonihgt I think she missed her daddy. She was crying with big tears and I scooped her up and rocked her. I kept asking her what was wrong. All she would say was "Da da." Poor baby. At least it won't be long until he gets home. his baby will be so happy to see him!

On the News!

2008-10-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

They aired it at 4:30 AND 6! I haven't seen the 10pm news yet. If you want to see it you can go here: http://www.kfor.com/ and click on the 4:30 or 6pm news spot. It'll be in there. And yes the two spots are different.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Trish and Annabelle, and Emily and Maddy went with us. We had a lot of fun. The kids liked the petting zoo the most and we all got a pumpkin. There was a news crew there doing a story on the accident at Orr Family Farm last Friday. We went to a different pumpkin patch, but I imagine all the pumpkin patches were affected by it. It was just so sad. My prayers o out to the family of the girl and the Orr family. The story is supposed to air on the channel 4 news tonight if anyone wants to see our kiddos on TV! I don't think I did too well with the interview because Lola was trying to get away from me the whole time. Hopefully they air Trish's interview and not mine!

Super Mom

2008-10-26T14:32:00.001-07:00

I have been super mom lately. I notice that when Jeff goes out of town I slip into one of two modes. Either a) Survival mode where I do the least possible and try to make it through until he gets home or b) Overachiever Mode, where I do way more than necessary. I notice that this usually happens when Jeff leaves over a special occasion. I did this for Sophy's 2nd birthday too.
I have already super cleaned the kitchen and laundry, I have plans for the girls rooms and a large Clothes project to sort everything out and make sure the fall/winter clothes are out.
I also made all the treat bags/ treat cups for both Sophy and Lola's classes. Sophy had a lot of fun helping me with her cups. I made mini cupcakes from scratch for Lola's class. It's 100% Dairy free. Icing and all. I then made large cupcakes for Sophy's class and Two Pumpkin cakes for the teachers.
Yesterday I took the girls to the Village Fall Festival. It was a lot of fun. They had a large assortment of inflateables and it was only $2 for a wristband to play as much as they wanted. Trish and I were sure to wear the kiddos out! After we had lunch and I made it home in time for naps. Even Sophy crashed after all the fun they had.
Wow, all that and I'm posting on my blog too! Who knew I had it in me? This is a crazy busy week, so hopefully I'll be good and post lots of pictures.

Update

2008-09-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! I'm finally updating my blog! Don't worry blog land I'm not dead! I have returned without pictures to post a quick update of our lives. Jeff is doing very well. Work is keeping him busy and he's spending most his free time helping out around the house or playing with the kids lately. His WoW playing has been a little limited since the new expansion isn't out yet. That's a good thing for me but a sad thing for him. Sophy and Lola started Sunshine school this week. I will be sure to post a picture of them soon. After all our travels we are home and happy and working hard. As many of you know I wrote a book in July and have been spending much time editing it. I am also finally writing again and happy to be doing so. My sister and I have thrown around ideas of writing a kids cookbook, so if you have any great dinner recipes that you think a kid could cook and you don't mind sharing please let me know. I am working at the fair for FE for the next few weeks so I will be very scarce. I think that is it for us! Hope life is more exciting in your world!

wednesday

2008-07-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

Today is going home day! Yea! We had a nice time in New Mexico but I am very ready to go home now. We can't leave till after 5 because Jeff is busy until then. Unfortunately Check out for the hotel is much earlier than that. We got everything packed up last night and loaded up this morning. Then I had to leave the hotel at 11 and keep the girls busy all day. We went to that store to get me an Ok Go Cd. I got one, but not the one I wanted. Then we went to lunch at McDonald's (of course) to let the girls play on the playland. They could have stayed there all day, but it's outside and I got very hot! Then we went to the space science center. It was neat but I didn't have a stroller and it was kinda expensive, so we looked at the gift shop and all the exhibts outside. Then we left. We went to Kmart because they have cheap clohes and by this time the girls outfits were gross! I had already changed them into the outfits fromt he diaper bag and i didn't feel like unloading the car. Kmart had tops/shorts for $2. So it was cheap. Then we went to Dollar tree because we still needed to kill time. After that I took them back to the toy train depot and we had another train ride. Then it started torain so we went tot he free (and boring) Alamogordo history museum. After that I decided I might as well get the oil changed. So we went to walmart for that. We shopped and enjoyed the airconditioning until the car was ready. After a stop at Sonic for happy hour I drove back to the hotel to wait for JEff. I still have an hour to wait, but I'm done driving around. We are currently sitting in the parking lot (running the air conditioner). They have wifi so I'm writing this and the girls are watching Einsteins on the Dvd players in the backseat. I'm telling you if you have young kids and travel much it's the best investment EVER!
I'm so ready to be home and we still have the 12 hour drive ahead of us!

Tuesday

2008-07-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a dull day. I was planning on taking the girls to a national park and walking down the nature trails. However when I got up in the morning I decided I needed to know what was going on in the world (it happens every now and then) and I turned on Good Morning America. the very first story I saw was about a family walking down the path in a national park in New Mexico when their son was brutally attacked by a mountain lion. ON THE PATH!
Needless to say I changed our plans.
They are filming the next transformers movie here. All the hotels are packed with set designers and location scouts. The actors and stuff aren't coming till next week when they start filming so I decided to go hunting for the set. If you've ever been here before you know how impossible that really is. It's miles and miles of desert. The really could be anywhere out there.
I heard a rumor that they were building a small set in Cloudcroff, a tiny town on the mountain. So we drove up there looking for it. We didn't find it.
So that was yesterday.
Today we went to the Pistachio Tree Farm. IT was fun. Lots of trees.
We had a short nap (mostly because they rebelled against nap at all). And now they are running around our hotel room waiting for Dad to get back. I did get all our stuff packed up and ready to be loaded in the car for tomorrow. We will start the drive home and finish on Thursday.
The first picture is the pistachio tree ranch. The second is Lola being silly in our room.

Sunday

2008-07-20T08:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Jeff had a free day so we drove over to El Paso. We have reciprocal rights with their zoo too, so off we went. It was a lot of fun. Not as big as OKC's zoo, but much bigger than Alamogordo's zoo. Sophy really liked the monkeys and the sun bears. Jeff though the sun bears looked like a mix between a pug and a black bear!
On the way back we drove through Los Cruces. By going that way we got to drive across all of White Sands to on the way. Sophy did great today so I guess she had a passing bug on friday!

Saturday

2008-07-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening we went out to white sands. It was cloudy and cool, the prefect weather! Lola LOVED the sand and threw a huge fit when we had to leave. I didn't get too many pictures though. Sophy got sick shortly after we got there so we had to leave. I guess I'll just have to take them back when she's feeling better.

Friday

2008-07-18T12:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we didn't really do anything. We tried to go do something, but it just didn't work out too well.
Today we loaded up and drove down to the Toy Train Depot. It's a really cute muesuem about toy trains and they have a working train the runs around the very large park they have there. Luckily for me the girls got to ride for free so I bought one ticket and we were off! It was a lot of fun. The girls waved at the children in the park as we went by. About half way through the ride Sophy said "I can not believe it!". It was really funny. Even the train conductor laughed.

Later wednesday....

2008-07-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here's what we got to do this morning. I guess we'll go to the toy train depot tomorrow.... Poor Lola. She has an ear infection alright and a nasty rash that the doctor thinks is allergy related so she is currently sleeping off the mass drugs that she has been given.

Wednesday

2008-07-16T07:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had just put the girls down for their nap (about 10 minutes after my last post) when the housekeeping came to clean our room. She noticed out tight quarters. We had four people, two large beds, a crib, and all our stuff crammed into our room. Several other hotel workers had commented on our room and suggested that we move to a larger room, but we were too lazy to move....that is until we saw this room (see pictures)! They gave us a GREAT deal so we could afford it and move we did! It has a full kitchen and a separate area for the kids. We swiped one of the wooden highchairs from the lobby an now we can eat in here instead of the lobby! It's so much easier to corral both kiddos alone in here. They are both enjoying all the space to play and I'm enjoying having a real kitchen sink to wash sippycups in!
On a sadder note: Lola is sick. I think it's just an ear infection but our pediatrian is refusing to send a prescription without seeing her. There's not really a emergency room here because it's a military town so we need to figure out if we can get on base for help, and if not where the closest town with a hospital is. I just don't want to have to drive over those mountains is her ear is hurting! Poor baby!

Tuesday

2008-07-15T10:49:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to a pistachio tree farm and vineyad. It was neat to see allt he different kinds of pistachios they made. So Many flavors! Jeff liked the chilli ones and I liked the pumpkin pie ones. We grabbed a cheap dinner and at it in the hotel lobby. I sure wish we had brought out travel high chair with us, but since we didn't we'll be eating down at the lobby a lot while we are here.
Today we went to the Alamogordo Zoo. It is supposed to be the oldest Zoo west of the Mississippi river. It was small but nice. We walked around looking at all the animals and Sophy played on the playground for a LONG time! I wish we brought our lunch with us! It was such a beautiful place for a picnic. We might have to go back for a picnic sometime this week. The Alamogordo Zoo is on the reciprical listfo the OKC Zoo so I was able to get into the zoo for free! That's always nice.
We came back to our hotel for lunch and nap, I wonder what tonight will hold.

2008-07-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun "settling in day". We took a trip to walmart, not so exciting, but the views around here are amazing! Then we went searching for Kid's kingdom. It's a playground nearbyt hat was a lot of fun. We didn't let the girls play long because it rained last night and everything was wet.
After that Jeff was excited to drive up to Cloudcroff. It's a tiny little town on top of one of the mountains. It's about 15 minutes away and you climb crazy high crazy fast. We stopped to take a lot of pictures on the way back. In the last pictre you see here if you look from bottom to top you see: The mountain we are on, Alamogordo, desert, white sands, the mountains, and the sky! We kept thinking we saw clouds at the foot of the mountians, but that's White Sands! We were amazed by how far away we could see it across the horizon. I am now looking forward to driving out there to check it out, but Jeff doesn't seem to intrested. We'll see who wins!

Hello Alamogordo

2008-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today Jeff and I drove the lovely long drive from OKC to Alamogordo New Mexico. We had many stops and we even got to go to the Roswell UFO museum! I loved it. The sunset was beautiful. We were just driving over the creast of the mountians when there it was in all it's glory. Jeff laughed at me when I would yell "Stop! I gotta get a picture of that!" I hope to take many more on the way home! We planned to stay the night at Roswell but the kids were being SO good and the short break fromt he car seemed to give us courage so on we drove! Having a DVD player int he car for the girls sure did help keep them happy. We were able to make the whole trip in one day. Including stops it took us 13 hours! Can you believe that in all that time Lola only fussed for a total of maybe 45 minutes! The last 20 minute drive was the worst!
I hope to update often this week as we go adventuring around here, but you know how plans go when you're on "vactaion", so well just see what happens!

Happy Birthday Nicki!

2008-07-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my friend Nicki's Birthday. Being that she's a Yankee baby we usually have very patriotic parties for her. This year she opted for something different, so we are having a luau for her birthday. I got the fun of making the cake. It turned out good even though I didn't get to do all I want. I am hoping to send the cake away for the night so that nothing happens to it...again. About 5 minutes after I finished cleaning up and taking pictures Sophy wandered into the kitchen (I was on the phone....sorry about screaming in your ear Courtney) and took handfuls of icing off the side of the cake. I think I fixed it ok, but boy was I mad! Sophy is now in her bed serving off her time.

Little Lola

2008-06-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

I have a picture and a video for you this time! Lola was playing on the bed with Jeff and kept putting Sophy's Jean shorts on her head as a hat. It was super funny. We'd take them off and she'd find them and put them back on. We finally traded her for a denim hat.
The other night Sophy crawled in Jeff's lap and asked to hear music. Jeff switched to Utube and played some of his favorites. Lola crawled into he room and kept trying to dance. She would stand up and start then fall. It was cute and funny.

Cake #3

2008-06-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

I learned something very important about roses this week. I learned that I HATE making roses! I also learned that I'm no good at judging icing consistency. I did get my ten roses made and I think that my cake turned out pretty good. I got a fancy piece of paper saying I'm finished with course #1! Yeah! One down 3 to go. I start course number 2 on Sunday. I am not as excited about this one, but that's ok because at least I don't have to make a cake every week this time. I am very excited to take course number three! I do get to make a friend's birthday cake this week and I'm thinking about making a birthday cake for all the many July birthday's up at church next week, so I might end up making a cake a week anyway.

Cake #2

2008-06-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have now finished my 3rd cake decorating class. We leasrned roses and lots of little flowers. I also learned how to make a clown. I wasn't sure what to write on my cake so "eat me" it was. Hopefully all who see it will follow directions well. It is a strawberry cake with a vanilla pudding center! I kinda want to cut into it myself! I liked the flowers though. That was fun. Roses are Hard! I have to make 10 before next class and I have some work to do to get 10 good ones that's for sure!