Monday, June 29, 2009

Finger Lickin' Fifteen!


I have always found Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series to be hilarious fast reads full of mystery, love tension, great characters, and horrible eating habits! Finger Licking' Fifteen did not disappoint; and may be one of my favorites to date!

I woke Brian up several times and embarrassed Madison (who had a friend over) belly laughing at this book; which is not an uncommon occurrence while reading the perils of Stephanie Plum.

In this edition Stephanie finds her self working for Ranger, separated from Morelli, skips getting the best of her, and trying to find a killer and a business wrecker before they get the best of her friends. Don't forget many trips for fried chicken, doughnuts, and any other heart clogging foods, all while Lula and Grandma try to come up with an award winning BBQ sauce that doesn't leave everyone running fo the bathroom.

I rate it (4.5) A Must Read!

Learned? It was refreshing to stop my other readings (Outliers, and Shell Seekers) and pick up the newest Stephanie Plum; I needed a good laugh (or two, or twenty)!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Heman or Tarzan?

Last night as we were eating dinner, Maddox hauled the step stool into the bathroom, that should have been a clue that he was up to no good... but we did not heed the warning!



He came out with the towel hook in his hand, wall screws still attached, saying "Mom I am sorry about your wall."

I assumed that he just yanked it out of wall with sheer strength (hence Heman), but when we went into the bathroom and saw the hole in wall we asked what he had done. He said he was swinging on it!

So it looks like we have a Tarzan in the house!

NOTE: His is not crying because he pulled it out of the wall, he is crying because he HATES getting his picture take!

Learned: Boys can not be trusted alone in the bathroom.

Mountains and Pools!

Since school got out we have been go, go going.

I have been upping the intensity of my running with a once a week run up Serpents Trail. I go with a few ladies and we go up it twice then enjoy a scrumptious Bolthouse Mocha protein drink when we are done. I have seen steady improvement in my ability to complete it, I can now run up it 1 1/2 times with out stopping, and run/speed hike the last half of our second trip. I am really enjoying this run it is so beautiful.

Pretendingsanity and I have scheduled to go to the lake once a week too, but this June has been quite cloudy and chilly, not much over 80 yet (I am not complaining); and once again last week it was not lake weather, so we took the kids to Ouray hot springs and enjoyed the warm pool. The kids loved it, and it was amazingly relaxing with 4 kids in tow.



Madison and I hiked Mt.Garfield last week with the ladies I run Serpents with and their families. I had never hiked to the top before, and though it was a steep hike, the weather was perfect for the ascent and the view was amazing! However, I would choose to climb that thing 100 times before coming down it again; my toes were jammed into the ends of my shoes, and made my feet about an inch shorter!



We are planning to hike to Hanging Lake soon too! That is such a pretty, though populated, one!

Learned: It is nice to have time to enjoy the place where we live!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Significant Investment

WARNING: What you are about to read deals with the perils of being an up-kept woman, if you are not prepared to read about "sensitive" woman issues, cease and abort now!


I am serious... you may not want to know the following about me... so just consider yourself warned!



Last Chance!




Today I started the first of several visits towards permanent hair removal (reduction according to the professionals because they can't guarantee permanent).

It all started last week when a friend went to get a Brazilian wax and I thought I would brave it, but I didn't (for other reasons). So I had planned to go yesterday and drag along my good friend pretendingsanity. After telling my mother about what I was about to do she suggested ("DON'T TORTURE YOUR SELF WITH THAT...") I look into laser hair removal (reduction). So I did, and found that it would be well worth the time and money (even though it is quite expensive) to go that rout as opposed to waxing. My main reason is I can still shave between treatments and don't have to have a certain amount of regrowth as you do in waxing, and I HATE shaving and how short term it is.

I was quite nervous, but that didn't last long as the lady was super personable. When it started it was a bit uncomfortable, and got more intense as we covered more sensitive areas, but it was never unbearable. Within about an hour of completion it felt completely normal.

I am scheduled to go in once a week for the next month, and then once a month for a few months after that and then I should be all done for quite a while (not permanently, but close!)

Learned: Being an up-kept woman is a lot of work and sometimes requires some pain, but if it makes me feel better about me, AND it makes my husband happy, it is SO worth it!!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Five Things I Can't Live Without


I just finished this book by Holly Shumas, about a lady who seemed a lot like me from the synopsis on the back of the book. She is almost 30 and lives in what she calls her meta-life. Her meta-life is where she constantly - no obsessively- analyzes everything; from her interactions with her boyfriend and friends to her work situation. It is an enjoyable journey through her personal self discovery, and realizing exactly what she wants out of life.

How do I rate it: (3) Enjoyable, not a total waste of time.

The Five Things I (me) Can't Live Without:

1. LOVE-given and received from GOD, family, and friends.
2. COMPANIONSHIP- I need social interaction.
3. ALONE TIME- I need time to be by my self to make sense of my world.
4. A GOOD BOOK- This is my addiction, my escape from reality!
5. RUNNING- (another addiction) If I don't get this at least every other day, I go stir crazy!

Learned: In the end she really was not much like me at all except that I am almost 30 and seem to spend a significant amount of time in my personal meta-life.

Catch-Up Via Slide Shows

I have been SO incredibly busy since school got out. After retruning home from Denver over Momeorial weekend, I had family in town for my grandma's 80th birthday. We had a surprise party for her and all her brothers (except one), all her daughters, and all her grand kids came in for the surprise. It was a great week/weekend to spend with everyone; and grandma looked great- I think the visit from her family perked her up!

This is a slide show of the bar-b-que we had at her house and the lunch up on Glade Park at Peggy and Tea's house the following day.



I have been so busy that I have not even posted pics from Maddox's birthday last month...



Here are the long awaited DC pics as well...




Learned? I put off all of this because I could never find the time to upload pics to Flickr, create slide shows, and then post here. It was time consuming, but next time I won't do 3 at one time!