Baby, you make me SMILE!

Today was just LONG! I am amazed to be sitting here plugged away on my laptop still this late at night. When I woke up this morning I was sure I was going to have an early night. Well here I am still wide awake, thanks to the coffee I consumed, homework is calling but my attention is distracted by everything and anything that is NOT homework.

I just finished looking over the books I bought my young ones today. I love shopping for children's books. They are so simple and so wonderful, colorful and the illustrations are immaculate. The stories are always action packed, with nice heart warming morals at the end. SMILE!

So this particular book is accompanied by a 3 song CD of Judy Collins performing 'Over the Rainbow'  The book has very attractive pictures and beautiful colors, nice sample from the cover art.

After settling down from the rain,

and getting cozy in PJs, what more perfect story to read.

'When all the world is a hopeless jumble and the raindrops tumble all around,

Heaven opens up a magic lane...'

They just melted right into their covers. Snuggled deep into the corners of their bunk beds they really enjoyed this book, and I really enjoyed reading it.

The second book I bought was Jeff Foxworthy's 'Silly Street' Which we will read tomorrow night. The illustrations are hilarious, colorful and eye catching.

You know the saying 'Don't judge a book by it's cover' ? I wonder how many people are guilty of putting a book back on the shelf because the cover art was just so-so or not really appealing. I am very guilty! I always look for a nice looking cover, and then I analyze the title, once I make it past those two I will read the summary. I have tried to break this bad habbit, but like cigarrete smoke it clings to me, I find myself doing it over and over. So many good stories I am passing up because of my ludacris obsession with the pictures. Sigh.

You know what I am reminded of just now? The amazing 'Chicken soup for the Soul' books. Oh I used to love readng those touching stories. I bought my Mother the 'Chicken soup for a Mother's Soul' this past year for Mother's Day, she loved it! Now I am just waiting for her to finish so I can take a longer peek at the book. Hehehehe!

Well my caffeine intake is depleting and weariness is setting in,

maybe sleep is in the near future so perhaps it is time to call it a night.

Goodnight blog

Chicka-ya!

Over the course of the winter and summer I have managed to fill my closet with endless pairs of white nikes, K-swiss, DC's, slip ons and countless pairs of flip flops. So imagine my joy when I found this killer pair of heels from MAURICES... love love love the two textures, they look great with my

brown cardigans and black camis.. cuteness. I also splurged and bought new jeans.

Silver Red label pioneer Jeans.

Bliss.

In other news I have finished several books and hope to get the reviews linked on my blog within the week. I have completed- Fallen, Chosen a House of night novel, Keys to the repository, and Fragile eternity.

After ordering a new selection of books on Amazon.com I stumbled across a link to an auction site. Quibids.com is a site that auctions off items such as gift cards, cameras, TV's, games systems, movies, and the list goes on. So the way this site works is not like any other auction. You register for the site and choose a bid package such as 75 bids for $45.00 and so on. After you buy your bids your ready to find an auction. The site is set up to navigate easily and watching the auctions that interest you the most.

You win the auction by being the last person to bid on it, and every auction is either a penny, two cents, or five cents, and every bid placed increases the price of the item by the specified amount.

Now it sounds easy, however when you place your bid and your watching the clock and the seconds are down to 5,4,3,2.... BAM someone else bids and ten more seconds are added to the clock.

It is a fun experience and if you find something you really want it is worth the time and investment.

I won my first few auctions of 3 $10.00 AMC movie theater giftcards

and paid a total of $.02 each plus 1.99 shipping. wow thats like

$6.06 for $30.00 of movie theater gift cards.

( We like the MOVIES at my house!)

and I also bid on a few restaurant giftcards and a Borders card.

Also available is amazon, target, walmart, and lots of restaurant gift cards.

I wasn't brave enough to bid on the MacBook Pro or Ipad that were up for auction but I will soon.

I also seen someone win an auction for a Nintendo Wii system for $17.00. AMAZING. This site offers a new way of shopping and buying. Overall a good investment and a fun time doing it.

The latest and Greatest

Artwork from my boys on display in my room! Left to right: mine is the blue sky and rainbow, middle; Aiden's masterpiece, next is Blake's night sky and rainbow! Cuteness! We are still getting settled into our townhouse, many walls are still empty.. there is just soo many of them. The boys love to paint and I have piles and piles of their paintings and drawings, what a simple way to dress up my white walls and display their work at the same time! I just took a thin clothes line and wooden clothes pins and hung the line where I wanted, it can be adjusted to however you want.. and best of all the pictures can be changed to either match the seasons, occasion, or just for some different scenery.

Amazing!

So I have finally bought one of these darlings...




and just in time for Border's new e-book store! My first e-book I purchased was Lisa Schroeder's 'Far from you'... What can I say I was hooked on her books after finishing 'Chasing Brooklyn'
I thought there was going to be a problem with a glare on the screen and how glossy the words might appear, all the works for a headache, none if this is however a real concern, the pages are easy to read and you can scroll up and down or flip the pages, also there is a bookmark option so you can bookmark your favorite parts, or just where you stopped reading for the day.
The menu is easy to follow and this edition is the perfect size! I thought about getting the touch screen edition, but didn't think the additional option was worth the extra 100 bucks. The battery life is insane! It lasts up to two weeks and the memory holds up to 350 titles.
I am a very avid reader, and I love the actual act of buying the book, holding the book and flipping the pages, by no means will I give that up, this e-reader allows me to purchase books, cheaper of course, and carry many with me while traveling, working, or even sitting at the park with the kids.. rather than carrying a bunch of books with me.. hahaha cause if I could take three or four books around with me I would!!
Highly recomend for someone who loves reading as much as I do!

GONE, BABY GONE!

Whew! Where has this year gone? July fourth over and done with, this year has been going way too fast. Well it has all been good none the less. I am feeling very accomplished these past few weeks. I have knocked out quite a few resolutions without any major planning. For starters the past two weeks off of school has just been jam packed! I was suprised with a trip to Florida by a friend who needed help driving a car back. WOW! A free trip to Florida! I had never been a plane prior or to the East Coast.
Well the plane ride was amazing, I landed in Chicago, and North Carolina, both beautiful places, before arriving in Fort Meyers, Florida. I must say the last plane ride left me feeling sick and with a major headache! However I did finish a book, 'Betrayed' the second book in P.C. Cast's House of Night series.
After landing in Florida, there was a miserable taxi ride, and then finally arriving at my final destination. The house was amazing, I really wish I had taken more pictures but there was no time. I arrived at 11:00 pm and we were on the road driving back by 3:00 am. I did enjoy a nice swim and shower before hitting the road. Although I didn't get to see much of Florida's scenery, the Sun Rise was amazing, and the northern part of the state and into Georgia was gorgeous!
The drive was long and at times exhausting, we drove for 13 hours aproximatley straight, finally deciding to stop in Tennessee. I was so tired at this point I couldn't even seep! So We walked around the little town that was tucked in between two mountains. This I did get a few pictures, on my mytouch slide, turned out pretty good.
Driving through the Appalachain mountains was the highlight of my experience. Its just so different then what we are used to in the cities. The size of them are just amazing. I dont think I could ever become tired of seeing such amazing creations. This was also my first time seeing the Ocean! Although I only seen it from a window in the plane, it was just awesome and the best view I could of asked for.. was really able to capture the greatness of just how big the ocean is! I Really wish I could have taken more pictures of these things, but I am glad to have the memory of them.The next day we finished the drive through Tennessee, Kentucky, and into Illinois, all very GORGEOUS and unique. We stayed at a relatives house in Illinois and I seen the coolest thing ever. They had a pond in the front of their house, and they had catfish that they fed. They fed the fish regular fish food, but they would just throw it in and the fish swarmed in a large mass jumping over one another to eat. This went on for about 10 minutes, until just a few large catfish twirled around the waters edge sucking up whatever was left. Well I am quite familiar with the drive through Iowa and Minnesota, but let me tell ya I was very happy to be in familiar surroundings, and made it home just in time for Rush hour in the cities. I was just happy to be home after four days of non stop travel.
So home at last, I was covered with hugs and kisses and squishes from Blake and Aiden! Showered and was restless enough to start another book 'Chasing Brooklyn' by Lisa Schroeder. This was such a nice change of pace.


In other news, I was able to get my car back, after a long time of back and forth, waiting and a bunch of BS from the insurance company I finally just decided to fix the car. It only took a week, and I am very pleased with the work. Just extremely happy to have my own car back, rather then driving a rental and borrowing other people's vehicles. What a relief!!! So the past two weeks I have traveled far, drove even farther, finished two books, got my car fixed and did some major swimming, relaxing and chillin at the pool with the boys, and celebrated a pretty awesome Fourth of July. Geez wondering how the next two weeks will compare! :)




Until next time...