too funny - I am rich

Today the kids were checking out what was in their piggy banks.  when I walked into the room Carlee excitedly waved a dollar bill around and sang "I am RICH, I have a dollar, I am RICH, I have a DOLLAR!!!"   I hope she is always so grateful for a dollar!

An important lesson


Here is the link to an excerpt from Chapter 1.  The basic story line is a college student, Lauren, who is contracted by an elderly women, Abigail, to transcribe a diary written by a young girl, Mercy, who was falsely accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials. 
I recently reviewed Lady InWaiting and although I did not love the book I did like it, so when the opportunity came to review another book by this author I decided to read another one!  I am so glad that I did!   For whatever reason, the author did a much better job of weaving the two story lines.  Not only is this a story of Lauren immersing herself into Mercy's life but the author also developed the three different love stories - one that ended tragically, one that never had a chance to grow, and one that was new.  If all that were not enough there is also the powerful theme to the book that is a wonderful lesson in how we can so easily misjudge others and how first impressions can be very difficult to change - even if they are completely wrong. 

A book that is read quickly and pages can not be turned fast enough is one that always ends with some degree of disappointment because you just do not want it to end.  I want a sequel!  Or perhaps I just need to get more Susan Meissner books!


Disclosure: WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of their BloggingForBooks.org book review program.

I WON

I WON this giveaway!!!  SO exciting!!!!   I haven't a clue in the world what I am going to do with all this cool stuff but it is such an amazing opportunity to learn! 

Thank you so much Azure Standard and big hugs to your little ones for picking my name!

http://azurestandard.blogspot.com/2011/03/giveaways-dont-get-any-sweeter-than.html 

Thanks to Laura at http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/ for letting me know about it! 

Say ahhh

This is an example of the silliness that typically goes on around here.  Seriously, who needs satellite tv when you have entertainment like this!



At the end of this video, it appears that Carlee has been pushed. She probably was, or she could have tripped over her two left feet. Yes, she is just as graceful as I am! Anyway, I thought I should let you know that she was fine and to prove it, here is the very next video that I took only moments later.

Wholesome Sweeteners Giveaway!

http://azurestandard.blogspot.com/2011/03/giveaways-dont-get-any-sweeter-than.html  Huge giveaway, go check it out.















Thanks to http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/ for letting me know about it!

too funny - in the same

We were driving along and Carlee was pestering Sam.  He was getting quite annoyed...

Sam  - Stop it!  You are driving me in the same!

Me - Sam, what was that you said?

Sam - I told Carlee that she is driving me in the same.

Me - What?

Sam - I said she is driving me in the same.  You know just like what you always say to us.

Me - (laughing) I think you mean 'insane'

Sam - Oh, what is insane?

Me - It means that someone is making you crazy or you are getting really frustrated or they are being really irritating.  It is when you feel like going AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH (this scream included waving my arms around like a crazy person).

At this they all laughed hysterically and proceeded to act like crazy monkeys in their carseats - it was driving me in the same, oops I mean insane! haha

Just plain bizarre

The Promises She Keeps by Erin Healy
Just plain bizarre is about the best I can offer for an overview of this book.  The character development is fairly well done but that is about the end of the good points of the book.

The storyline is generally okay, and the characters are brought together in an interesting way but the author never really drew me in and captured my attention.  It certainly was not a page turner and was a hard book to get through - which for me is unusual as I can generally devour a fiction book, even a mediocre one. However, I am kind of kicking myself that I actually finished this one. There were some bizarre things throughout the book, but nothing really unreasonable.  But then the ending went so far off the deep end that I am not even sure how the author got there. I had to reread some of it to try to figure out if I missed a page or something to explain how a reasonable storyline suddenly went - well, I really don't know where it went!
Fiction is a broad description and can include many varying levels of writing, but you generally can follow the logic and you can usually place a book into a specific fiction genre.  Not this book - it had elements of a mystery bordering on a supernatural mystery, but then it seemed it would take a turn to be a romantic love story, or even a tragic love story.  But with the strange writing at the end I have no idea what category to even put it in - like I said, just plain bizarre.  Not recommended at all!


Disclosure: Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.