Fantabulous 5

Classic Dance Week

1.  Hips Don't Lie by Shakira

2.  Hypnotize by The Notorious B.I.G.

3.  It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock 

4.  Say My Name by Destiny's Child

5.  Whoomp! (There it is) by Tag Team

1.  From Notting Hill with Love.....Actually by Ali McNamara

2.  Newly followed blog: littlehomesandbighearts

3.  My local newspaper (I've been a little lazy with the reading)

1.  Two children home from a mini-vacation equals TONS of laundry.

2.  Snow is stupid, there I said it. It's cold, I can't wear cute shoes, it's wet, I have to wear a coat, and it is slickery (it's a real word in my head).

 "Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose. I am the happy victim of books." 

By Karl Lagerfeld

Saturday night boredom

Apparently,  I am SUPER bored without my kids and I spend my days either online or blogging. Tonight is no exception!! The hubs even left after dinner to visit a friend out of town. So, let the boredom commence. 

I'll start off by showing you my dinner:

Yep, that is chocolate and peanut butter fro yo. We thought since the kids were gone we would have some fro yo for dinner. Such is my kid-free lifestyle :) My secret fro yo recipe is as follows: chocolate fro yo, PB fro yo, hot fudge, PB syrup, crushed Reeces Pieces, and mini chocolate chips. I needed my protein, haha!! The hubs is all "I prefer fruit" and I'm all "chocolate and PB is better." His fro yo recipe is boring: vanilla custard fro yo, strawberries, other random healthy berries, and whip cream.....boring!! If I'm having ice cream for dinner, then its going to be worth it!! Every time I go I say I'm going to try something new but since I love chocolate and PB, there is no since in changing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it :)

Moving on......

So, what do I do while my hubs and kids are gone:

Yep, that's right, eat Cheddar Chex Mix and enter some Coke rewards points. It's O.K. to be jealous, not everyone's life can be this exciting. 

I ate my whole bowl of Chex Mix, except for the pretzels. Because, seriously, who wants the pretzels?

Fun Fact Friday

Fact: My days off are just flying by. My friends brother has a theory that the years go by quicker as we get older because it is just a fraction of our lifetimes and I think he is correct.

Fact: My kids are off spending time with the great-grandparents in Michigan. I love that they have the opportunity to go but I miss them dearly when they are gone.

Fact to go with the one above: With the kids gone I am regretting my decision to not have cable anymore. It's not bad when they are here but with them gone I don't know what to do with myself. There is only so many times I can clean the kitchen in a day.

Fun fact:  We decorated our house for Christmas on the Saturday after Thanksgiving while listening to Christmas music. The hubs and I took all of the decorations down today while listening to Eminem.

Fun fact: Eve loves mustaches. She thinks they are hilarious. She got a necklace, earrings, and a ring for Christmas. This one has googly eyes :)

Fun Fact: Purry was on Santa's naughty list because of her milk thievery!!

Fun fact: The hubs and I have an Orbeez obsession. He wants to buy enough packages of Orbeez to fill up the bathtub so he can swim in them. Sounds crazy but you don't know what you're missing. We keep them in a bowl on the counter so we can run our fingers through them whenever we go into the kitchen. 

Fun Fact:  Eve got this Orbeez ladybug from Santa. She wanted it because it eats them and then poops them out. The box even says "poop." She was in 9 year old girl heaven.  

Fact: Xander got Beats by Dre, goal keeper gloves, SkyLanders, Lego's, and TONS of colored pencils. What more could a 12 year old want?

Funnest fact yet:  I got my glitter Tom's. All is right with the world :) Admire their sparkliness!!

*Book Review Wednesday*

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We did. Now my kids are visiting the great-grandparents out of state, so I have a few days to get all of the Christmas decorations put away.

Today's book review is on an entire series, The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy by Nora Roberts. There are 3 books in this series, The Next Always, The Last Boyfriend, and The Perfect Hope. I waited to read these books until the entire series had been released. 

If you are a fan of Nora Roberts then you will really like these books. They are very good. I usually enjoy her books series' and this is no exception. It has Nora's usual romance fluff, fate, destiny, etc. This doesn't bother me because that is why I read these books, for fun and entertainment. I can say of the 3 main male characters, I found Ryder to be the most likable and least annoying. He isn't one for kissing female a** and I like that. I like a man who will love you but then not kiss your booty all the dang time, it can be annoying.

As for the 3 female leads, they are always drop dead beautiful and this is no exception. I do like all of these women, though. Look for a ghost in here, as well.   

I highly recommend these books, especially if you are a Nora fan.

I rate these:

They are very entertaining and worth reading!

As a side note, Nora Roberts actually has a bed and breakfast called Inn Boonsboro. These books were modeled after the inn. After reading the books I went on the inn's website and it was cool to see the rooms that had been described throughout the trilogy. The decorating seems to be exactly as described in the books. 

Christmas Eve ramblings...

Well, Merry Christmas eve to all. The stockings are hung, trees decorated, and the presents purchased and wrapped. I am all ready. Today will be spent cleaning the house and then casual Christmas dinner at the hubs grandmas house. 

Cleaning today we are listening to the Christmas radio station on Pandora. The hubs likes "Bing Crosby Christmas" better but you don't get Elvis, Glee, or Mariah Carey so, I win!!

While listening this morning, Fur Elise came on, which is a beautiful song but all I can think of is this McDonalds commercial from my childhood:

This commercial is circa 1986, which shows my age but I don't care. I still sing the song in my head when I hear Fur Elise. Its funny because I can never remember where I put my sunglasses, keys, watch, etc. but I can remember the words to a song from 26 years ago. Age is a funny thing.

Yesterday I decided to make some "crack" dip. I love this crap. It's funny because I don't like sour cream or ranch dressing but I can eat the heck out of this dip. It must be the bacon, you can't go wrong when you add bacon. I make this for myself, no one in my house likes it, and I could eat the whole bowl in one sitting but I must practice self-control and not do so!! I got the recipe here. 

yummy "crack"

I am still getting over a cold/sinus infection that started on Friday. I am in the stage now where it feels like my head is completely full, my ear is also a little crackily (yes, its a word in my world). So, I am surviving on medicine from Meijer. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel somewhat "normal." 

I will sign off and leave you with this yummy goodness to look at. When I think of Christmas music he is all I can think about:

p.s. he is mine, paws off!!

Fantabulous 5

(#1-4 were free at Amazon)

1.  The First Noel by Lady Antebellum

2.  Santa Claus is Back in Town by James Durbin

3.  Angels We Have Heard on High by Sara Groves

4.  We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Shonen Knife

5.  Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) by Amy Grant

1.  Inn Boonsboro series by Nora Roberts

2.  Emma's Christmas by Irene Trivas (my fav Christmas book to read to my students)

3.  Blog: thepoppie

1.  Anyone who goes to Walmart 2 days before Christmas is not using their brain (I am in this category).

2.  Getting sick during Christmas is lame!!

"If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you" 

~Winnie the Pooh

School's out

School was cancelled today for this:

This wouldn't be surprising in, say, Georgia or something, but I live in Indiana where it snows all winter. The school system that I work for is notorious for not cancelling school, or even giving out 2 hour delays. But they decided to cancel today, they day for classroom Christmas parties, Christmas carol sing-a-longs, and my prep day. The group I work with were going to go out for lunch at an awesome Mexican restaurant, instead my lunch will consist of a chicken patty with mac and cheese. I would rather have chips, queso, and a chimichanga!!

Because I am not a psycho planner when there are storms (i.e. I don't go to the store for milk, bread, and eggs like everyone else in the county) I realized that I am out of bread, milk, and ketchup; karma is a very bad girl!! So, I guess I will be sending the hubs to the store. 

This has been a crazy week. Went shopping for the teachers Christmas present last night, which she now won't receive until January 8th, at Bath and Body Works (Eve's request). I did shop a little for myself. I got these awesome Wallflower refills for $5:

I don't usually like peppermint but these smell great. They remind me of my favorite mints: 

My grandmother always had these mints, they smell like my childhood :)

I also got this fabulous anti-bacterial hand gel at B&BW. What could possibly be better than anti-bac and GLITTER?

This week gave us a sad milestone. This was Eve's first year without a Christmas dress. Don't judge, Momma's like Christmas dresses for girls!! The outfit she got was super cute but I hate that she thinks she is too big for dresses. I do believe in expressing yourself so I accept her decision and we got this cute outfit:

The black sweater is from Justice, blue/green top is from Justice, sparkle jeggings are from Target, and the black boots are from Payless.  Bracelet was also from Justice. 

I am going to try and make the best of today's day off by going shopping with my mom. I will leave my 2 children and the cousin we babysit for with the hubs. Thank goodness for Playstation!!

*Book Review Wednesday?*

Well, I didn't get to do the book review yesterday because I was SUPER busy!! After work/school I had to go buy some light bulbs (of course I didn't have any replacements when the light burned out because they take chandelier size, ugh), then my daughter had 2 Christmas programs at school, after that was dinner at my moms, and finally we had to go to the supermarket (in another town, of course) to get cupcakes for Eve's school birthday celebration! This meant getting home at 8:45 last night. I took my contacts out, brushed my teeth, and then went to bed. I was pooped!!

Since I couldn't do the review yesterday, I decided to go ahead and do it today.

The book I am reviewing is:

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I am not quite sure what to say about this book. It is very.....different. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting Harry Potter, but I was expecting high quality writing. This book had good writing. The characters are very well thought out and you get a lot of background on them, which is good. What I didn't like was the amount of characters, there are tons. You spend the first half of the book trying to remember who is connected to who. Each chapter is only a few pages long but there seems to be a lot of info in those chapters. I think I was expecting more of a plot, which there was one, but maybe not what I had hopes for. 

SPOILERS:

Basically, someone dies and this is the trickle down effect of his/her death. I don't think there is 1 happy/pleasant/content character in this book. Everyone is either mean, abusive, depressed, manipulative, or all of the above. I think I read this book quickly hoping to find 1 happy person. I think I am depressed just from reading it. 

I am glad that I read this book and I do recommend it just so people can get an idea of Rowling's adult writing. Unfortunately, I don't think I will ever read this book again, even though I bought it for my Nook (I usually only buy books for my Nook that I will read again). I really had high hopes for this but was left feeling short and I can't really place why.

I give this book:

3 Stars= "Eh"

I have read some awful books and this is not one of them but I don't think it ranks with the Harry Potters either, hence the "Eh"!!

Let me know if you have read this book and what you think about it!

Fantabulous 5

 

(All Free from Amazon Music, every 5 days they have 5 new free holiday songs)

1.  Wonderful Christmastime by The Shins

2.  We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Shonen Knife

3.  Angels We Have Heard on High by Sara Groves

4.  Hark The Herald by Irish Tenors

5.  Jingle Bells by Brian Setzer

1.  The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

2.  Lucky Magazine

3.  Newly followed blog: casestudyblog

1.  I LOVE to read. I am constantly reading something.

2.  Christmas shopping stresses me out. We found a laptop for Eve for Christmas and it was at a store 30 minutes from me. We go to purchase it online so we can pick it up.....sold out!! I went back on the website and now the closest store is 3 hours away!! Guess the hubby is going to Michigan tomorrow to get a Christmas gift. 

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." 

George R. R. Martin