Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Birthday Cabel ...


It’s Cabel Strumheller’s birthday. Who the heck is Cabel, you ask? He is one of the characters in my favorite trilogy by Lisa McMann (www.lisamcmann.com).

Wake, published in 2008, begins the story of a teen named Janie Hannagan. Janie, as we soon learn, gets “sucked” into peoples’ dreams. She meets and befriends Cabel Strumheller who becomes the first person Janie shares her secret with.

My sister first suggested I read this book because she fell in love with Janie and Cabel. (She suggested Twilight to me so I figured I could trust her judgement.) I was immediately hooked. I was instantly drawn into Janie’s world, identifying with her struggles (and falling for the bad boy, because I love me a bad boy). I simply could not put Wake down. I needed to know what happened. I was fascinated by the idea of entering someone else’s dreams. And I am a sucker for a love story. While I would definitely not call this novel a romance, the relationship between Janie and Cabel made me fall in love with them both.

Fade, published in 2009, continues Janie’s story as she learns more about this “gift”. Another page turner that I just couldn’t put down.

Gone, the third and final installment, will be released in 2010. And I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy!! I want Borders to open at midnight so I can get it!!

I love Lisa McMann’s style of writing. I like the way she increments the story. You will need to read it to see what I mean. She is funny and she is serious. Her characters are so real that you feel like you already know them when you meet them.

The novels are written for the Young Adult audience, yet the story is so intriguing, adult readers will enjoy them as well. I look forward to reading more of Ms. McMann’s work in the future!

Take the time to read the books. Click here to purchase them. If you buy both, you can get free shipping! What's not to love??

After you have devoured them, come back and let me know so we can discuss! See you in a few days!


Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Some open letters ...

Dear Neighbors,

I am really sorry. I tried to talk him out of it, but sometimes it's hard to reason with him. He said, "better to do it now than when it’s really cold. Better now than when there is snow on the ground." So then I tried to talk him out of plugging them in. No can do, he said. Those aren’t Christmas animated deer; they are autumnal animated deer. The lights, well, those are definitely Christmas lights.

And while I hate to be "those people," it's in my best interests to keep him happy. Especially since he cooks me dinner and does my laundry.

So so sorry.
His wife

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Space Shuttle,

Please do not land in our yard. I know that the glow you are about to see from space will be very confusing and you will be convinced that we simply must be Houston from the amount of lights, but please please please listen to Ground Control and land where they say. I am already in trouble with the neighbors.

Thanks.
His Wife

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Soft Bristle Hair Brush,

Why, oh, why did I not meet you about a year ago? Do you know how many tears we could have saved if we had only met sooner? Oh the lamenting! I don’t blame you. It was my lack of intelligence that I didn’t think of you sooner. The blue brush had me so swindled that I just couldn’t think straight. But, better late than never, I’d say! The girls heart you and I simply love the tear-free mornings. I will never foresake you for another. I have seen the light!
You + me = forever!

(And a shout out of thanks to Jesus, for what must have been divine intervention there!)

Love love love,
Their mother

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just one little itty bitty post-it note, because I have no control over my addiction…












Asante na kwaheri!
~Laurie~

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Seriously Silly Sunday



One, two, three. Don't mess with the dress!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Ten Things I Learned at 12:01 am (this morning)



1) When going to a midnight showing of ANY Twilight movie, plan to arrive one hour early to get seats.

2) Movie theater popcorn and soda are a racquet. (I just paid how much???)

3) Your husband must really love you if he attends a midnight showing where a majority of the audience spends the movie squealing.

4) Squealing teenage girls are funny at 1am.

5) If I were 17, Jacob Black would be totally hot without his shirt on. And I might have squealed too.

6) If I were a teenage boy looking to meet a teenage girl, the midnight showing of any Twilight movie is THE PLACE to be.

7) You know you are old when you think Charlie is hot.

8) Your husband may find Victoria hot.

9) The FINAL season of LOST starts in January.

10) Only 222 days until Eclipse. Squeal!!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

!! Look What I Won !!

It was early morning, yesterday. I was up before the dawn. (That has a strange yet familiar ring to it. Weird.) Anyway, it's true. My youngest came in to bed with me about an hour earlier than the scheduled awakening and I failed to fall back asleep. So, I was a wee bit grumpy in the shower...thinking thoughts about giving up the blogging thing and just becoming a commenter thing and wah wah wah, woe is me, blah blah blah, I am going to sit at the loser table.

And then it happened!

My bbff (best bloggy friend forever), Chief, sent me an award! How timely and sweet was that? She lifts me up when others kick me down. She's funny and real and I secretly stalk her (but she thinks it's the bbff thing - bwaa haa haa).

So without further ado, here is my lovely award:



I wanted to share some pictures with you from the Awards Night held last night.


So, here I am on the red carpet with Gerard Butler. He desperately wanted to escort me after all the nice things Chief said about me, so I threw him a bone and let him. He was very sweet and a great date, well, until he spilled his drink on me.


Here I am with my award. Notice the hideous dress I had to wear while the other one was being emergency cleaned? I look terrible!

After my acceptance speech, I went back stage for the photo opp and what-not, when Brad came over and asked if I wanted to go to the Vanity Fair party with him. I agreed but when we got there, Angelina was all up in my face and stuff, and since she is pretty psycho, I thought it wise to let her have him. Besides, that beard looks totally ridiculous with those glasses. Really Brad!



Apparently I had one or five too many razberri stoli cosmos, because when I woke up this morning, I was in Vegas, and alledgedly got, um, hitched. To Rob. Huh.

So, all's well that ends well. Don't mind the wretched photo below. I was a bit hungover this morning.



Thanks again, Chief! It was a heck of a night!! And such a nice thing on an otherwise crappy day. You are a true bbff!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Stickin it ... Tuesday style










Yes you can!

One day a son asks his father:
"Daddy, will you run the marathon with me?"
The father answers yes and both run their first marathon together.

One day, the son asks his father if he wants to run the marathon
with him again and the father answers yes.
They both run the marathon together again.

Then one day the son asks his father:
"Daddy, will you run the Ironman with me?" (the Ironman is the
toughest...it requires a 4km swim, 180km biking and 42km running).
The father says yes again.



To find out more about Team Hoyt, click here.

(I apologize if everyone's already seen this and I am the last one, but heck, watch it again...post it note tuesday coming soon)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday



Thank you to all our veterans for your sacrifies to keep my country, my family and my freedom safe. God bless you and yours today and every day!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I <3 Tuesdays ...














Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Too much caffeine today ...



So, there I was being all smug the other day, once again deluding myself into thinking I have perfect children. Your child did what? Ha, mine would never do that. No sir! (Of course I don't say this out loud!!)

Then wham.

Perfect child does something completely horrible, completely below my expectations and it makes said child (how do I say this?) downright typical and average! The horror!

Now I feel guilty.

Why can't I be happy with typical and average? There are soooo many parents out there who would love to have such a typical and average child. Where did these expectations of perfection come from? Is this normal? Do other mothers feel this way or has nature around me (ie. my social interactions) created this monster in me?

Which then leads my overcaffinated brain to thinking about humility. Perhaps this is just a Godsmack behind the knees to humble me. Can the lack of humility have anything to do with my lack of compassion?

Okay, so I not really compassionless. I have compassion. But I am strict with it. I reserve my compassion for what I determine is out of one's control. A serious illness - you have my compassion. You crash your car because you were texting and now can't work, not so much.

Should I be more compassionate? Is this a lesson He is trying to repeatedly teach me, like humility? It is clear I need to be more humble. But in reserving my compassion, am I really judgemental?

OH.MY.HECK!

Which reminds me that I am 5400 words behind on NaNoWriMo and I really don't have time for these deep thoughts!! Which is why I am apparently getting Godsmacked.

So, sorry if I judged you, was short on compassion and just a wee bit condescending. I promise I will work on it.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

It's Tuesday Again









Monday, November 2, 2009

An Ode to My New Best Friend

Confetti dot fabric
How I hated thee
You gave me some heartache
All gluey and sticky
You ruined my needles
And made a mess of my hem
But I googled some bloggers
And took advice from them
With just some baby oil
(Alright, a lot of it)
The costume did not spoil
And I finished lickety split
You made a mermaid smile
And for that, it was all worthwhile!























Meanwhile, the kitty costume came together without any grief except that the child wearing it changed her mind and did not want to be a kitty. Until she saw the tail. Then it was great. Praise the kitty tail!