Blogging

Finding My New Norm

Hi guys. I show up here every day, open a new post, and stare at a blank page. They say that successful people adapt to change easily. I sometimes wonder if I’m successful or not. I adapt, but I also resist a little. Sometimes I prefer the safe, comfortable feeling of normalcy.

What am I babbling about? My sidekick started school. Every morning 4 days a week we’re up at 7 am. We brush our teeth, get dressed (sometimes argue about this), and hit the door running.

I might have cried a little on that first day. I’ll leave that for you to decide. As I was trying to take some photos, hubby was trying to shew me out the door. I might have been annoyed with him… a little a lot. My friend Tiffiny gave me advice to not be by myself in those first few days and to keep myself busy. I went to the gym and took out my sadness on the treadmill. That day I also conquered the elliptical and started on this stair climber that hurt way to bad so I moved to a stationary bike. I came home in a better mood. But I was also ready the minute it was time to fly to the school to get her. (more…)

#BlogAugust – 2018

I hope you are out enjoying this beautiful day. It is the Working Man’s Holiday after all… Labor Day. A quick recap of the last month. Now I’m off to enjoy the last “thought of” summer weekend… even though summer doesn’t officially end until September 22nd. Happy Labor Day Weekend!!

Top 5 Blogposts of August 2018

  1. 2011 – I Like to Dip No Double Dipping Allowed – Guys, this is some friggin fabulous cheese dip!
  2. 2017 – Aunt Sandy’s Banana Bread – Pour Hawaii getting slammed by everything this summer!
  3. 2018 – Caramel Apple Cake – YUM! That’s it! Yum!
  4. 2018 – Kansas City: Where We Stayed, Where We Ate, What We Did – I really like KC!
  5. 2018 – Trying to Keep it Together – Some days are easier than others…

Honorable Mentions

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Summer: Currently…

Listening to…

The air conditioning running. It’s so peaceful and keeps the house cool… Well… usually. This summer the AC hasn’t totally worked right, but it got better. Thinking that before long we will turn the AC off and maybe open windows until it gets to cool out and we have to either start burning wood or turn the heater on or both. The only thing I think winter is good for is Christmas. I like snow on Christmas. Otherwise, I’m a summer girl through and through.

I’ve been posting on Facebook a lot about x number of days until Christmas. Christmas is my absolute favorite season and I absolutely LOATH January. Poor January. But truth be told… my birthday is in the summer so it’s like Christmas in July (literally since my birthday is in July). I’m cool with that sans snow.

I’ve also seen a couple “Farmer’s Almanac” predictions. Either way, we’re predicted to be extremely cold and snowy. But both Farmer’s Almanac predictions I’ve seen are different. That leaves me scratching my head just a little. (more…)

Book Review: Royal Design

Royal Design by Sariah Wilson Book Cover

Guys, I did it. I’ve gone above and beyond my Good Reads book challenge for sure. It’s either Book 13 or Book 14. Remember, yesterday’s blog post I discussed how it could be 13, but that one of the original 12 was a novella and I wasn’t sure I wanted to count that as a true book.

But… I also finished another book. WHAT?!?! My husband picks on me because he thought I just kept starting books but never finished them. See, he used to read my blog, but he doesn’t anymore. If he’d have read my blog, he’d know I was actually finishing books. Yes, I have a few started, but they are all different genre’s so when I get tired of one type, I have a fallback.

I truly didn’t intend on finishing this book yesterday, I just got to the point I didn’t put it down apparently. Because, well, I finished it. I have now read 4 books boy Sariah Wilson. Royal Date, Royal Chase, Royal Games, and now Royal Design. It doesn’t appear that she has any more in this sequence, yet anyway. (more…)

Book Review: Scrappy Little Nobody

Wow, look at me… I’m on a roll! This would be Book number 12 or if you ask Good Reads Book 13. I’m not sure I count the novella that tied up the Just One series as an actual book because it was like maybe 60ish pages or something like that. I can’t remember. Either way, for sure, I have now met the 12 book challenge for 2018 I set on Good Reads. Look at me go! It’s only just August too which means, I could easily surpass that, right?

I’m kind of giggling at myself because I’ve read a lot of memoirs. I guess I like learning about people. Celebrities are people too. I’m not sure why I guess I just do. I actually took a memoir class in college. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before. But the funny thing is, I wish we would have read this book during that class. This book had me thinking, ooooo I could have written about this or I could have written about that. I’m pretty sure my memoirs in that class sucked! I mean, yes, I got an A in that class, but the funny part of that is the professor was about to retire and I’m sure as long as you did the work you’d get an A.

The professor had written his memoir and self-published it. A lot of the class seemed put off by his memoir, but why? I’m not sure. There were parts that were weird/interesting and he always wanted the juicy details of our lives. Most of us weren’t really comfortable giving those. {raises hand} I was one of them! I have a habit of worrying about people judging me. (more…)

Book Review: Melissa Explains It All

This is a book that took me a bit to read. In fact, I think I got it about the time it hit shelves… oh… around 2013 maybe 2014. So why did it take me so long to read… Well, if you remember, there was this thing called Grad School. If, and that is a strong if, I had free time, I had a lot of books to read for comps… so reading for pleasure was only a distant memory. Then… I moved. When I moved, I tried to put it in a place I could keep track of it, but it got misplaced a lot. I finally found it this spring, I was maybe 40 pages in if that. I found it just after I finished My Life in France about Julia Child.

Earlier this year hubby got me a Kindle and I love my Kindle. It makes it easier to read at night, that’s for sure. So when I finished Julia Child’s book, I planned on just taking my kindle to the ride we were going to. That way I didn’t have to drag any books with me, I had multiple books on my kindle… but as you know, that didn’t happen. Nope. I took this book with me. Hubby laughed at me.

While we were at the ride, one morning Jared took it from me and started reading it. That was fine, I had my Kindle and was planning on reading Royal Date by Sariah Wilson. If there’s one thing I can tell you about myself, I’m usually reading more than one book at a time. They are usually different genre’s so if I get tired of say, a memoir, I have a love story to read, or whatever. It’s the 7 Ps. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor Performance.

Oh and that was April and I’m just now blogging about it… That’s because I set it down at about 80% through and misplaced it again. Oy! I misplaced my Kindle this summer to. Who knows. I found it in my daughter’s ballet bag about 2 weeks after I couldn’t find it. I even looked in there once. (more…)

Trying to Keep it Together

 

I’m sitting here having what can only be termed as anxiety or panic attacks. It’s already back to school time. No, no, I’m not going back to school. Whew, for now, that’s over… I mean I could always get my Ph.D. but I truly don’t see that happening anytime soon. I’m having these feelings because I’m going to have a pre-schooler and a 10th grader.

Gosh, just typing that makes me want to go crawl in a hole, curl up in the fetal position, and cry. Last year Tbug had a t-shirt on that said class of 2021. What. the. heck!?!? That’s exactly 20 years after I graduated. I was class of 2001 which there was a huge debate if we were the first class of the new millennium or if the class of 2000 was. But that’s another debate for another day.

Exactly 20 years. Gosh, am I that old? I’ll be having my 20th class reunion the same year she’ll be graduating. {rocking back and forth in that fetal position… breathe, just breathe}

At my 10-year class reunion, hubby and I had been married a year. We had just gotten back from our 1 year Anniversary in Hawaii in fact. I had a former classmate ask me what it felt like to do things in the right order. Her definition of the right order was graduate high school, graduate college, get married, and then potentially have a kid. Remember, I didn’t have a kid until 3 years after that reunion. I laughed. Apparently, she did it in a different order. She did the graduate high school first. (more…)

#BlogJuly 2018

I want to name this… “Feed me, Seymore,” I swear, that’s what they are saying to me.

I’ve said this way too much here lately… but I swear… where on earth has this summer gone? It’s like I went to sleep, June 1st and woke up to August 5th. But with that being said, let’s get on with this recap.

Top July Blog Posts 2018

  1. 2012 – Poulet Tchoupitoulas
  2. 2011 – I Like to Dip {No Double Dipping Allowed}
  3. 2017 – Aunt Sandy’s Banana Bread
  4. 2017 – Gus’s Mac and Cheeseburger
  5. 2016 – Stables Casino Restaurant {Miami, Oklahoma}

Honorable Mentions

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#BlogJune 2018

I do have thing to say. I am worried sometimes to write them/publish them. So some days I keep quiet. Other days I don’t. Guess we’ll never know what I keep quiet and what I don’t… lol.

But here we are at the end of another month. Man, this year is just flying by, but it usually does. I can’t believe my baby just turned 4. 4-years-old… Holy cow! Wasn’t I just wadling around in the heat complaining that I now know what it’s like to have cankles instead of ankles? By the way, I did get my ankles back :).

I heard that having ankles is good and bad. Bad because they could potentially break/sprain easier. But that’s more useless information that I heard once upon a time that you probably don’t care about so let’s look at the results from this past month instead. You’re welcome 🙂 (more…)

From a Paris Balcony {Book Review}

From a Paris Balcony Book Cover by Ella Carey

I didn’t realize it but I’m on book 11 of my 12 challenge. That’s nuts! Seriously, last I knew I was on book 6 or something. It’s crazy. I’ve read…

  1. Just One Year – Gale Forman
  2. Just One Day – Gale Forman
  3. Just One Night – Gale Forman
  4. Fearless Fourteen – Janet Evanovich
  5. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen – Janet Evanovich
  6. The Time of My Life – Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi
  7. My Life in France – Julia Child
  8. Royal Date – Sariah Wilson
  9. Royal Chase – Sariah Wilson
  10. Royal Games – Sariah Wilson
  11. From a Paris Balcony – Ella Carey

Now… Just One Night was a Novella so maybe I should do another one that makes 13 to make 12. Just a thought. Earlier this year I got a Kindle Fire. I’ve mentioned before I love love love real books, but I kind of love love love my Kindle Fire too. Can you have it both ways? (more…)