Book Review

So I was trying to think of some catchy play-on-words title for this post, but then realized that I am just setting myself up for failure in the future and making my standards way to high when I review any other book. Soooooo....simple is better.

Anyways, Merry Christmas and a Happy soon-to-be New Year to you all! I hope you all got some fabulous gifts and are enjoying my favorite time of year!

Yesterday I finished reading a book by A.G. Howard. One of my fabulous presents!

Splintered was a book that I have had on my must read list for almost a year now. I love the cover art and so I went ahead and asked for the actual book instead of the kindle version.

Despite the convenience of the kindle and all the awesome indie writers I have been able to read because of the easy downloadable books, I still love a real book in my hands.

Plus, they make my wall-to-wall bookshelves in my T.V. room look amazing.

Anyways, A.G. Howard writes a great alternate version to the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. Except Howard's version takes places years after Alice escaped the Red Queens death trap and follows 17 year old Alyssa Gardner who is an ancestor of Alice and is doomed to face the same insanity that has taken the minds of her family ever since Alice escaped.

I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I will do my best to hit the main points of this book.

Things that make this book awesome and worth the read:
1. Wonderland is unique in the story. Much darker and twisted than the original.
2. Alyssa can hear the voices of bugs and plants.
3. The story line keeps you on your toes. Seriously. Even in the duller moments (which are few) I needed to keep reading just to figure out what the heck was happening.
4. Jeb. Don't you just get all giddy inside when a boy risks his life for you? Nuff said.
5. Morpheus. Couldn't get a read on this guy until the last few pages.

Things that make this book not so awesome:
1....

Yeah. I got nothing for this list. I would however, be careful if you are under the age of fourteen. Things get a little intense in a few spots and since I am a mom and a teacher, I would feel horrible if I didn't give a fair warning in that area.

The author was intensely original and for that reason alone (if not for the 5 I listed above), I will be purchasing the second in the series which comes out in just  few short weeks. Yay!

All the Voices in my Head

Found this pin and had to smile.

Countdown to Christmas

December is my favorite month! And not just because its my birthday month! This last week, even though it has been cold, I have loved. loved. loved the weather!

I know I have mentioned this before but everything is so much more fun with a cup of coffee in hand.

I am also more inclined to complete a few projects.

With Christmas break looming in the very near future, I am reminded of one of the reasons beside working with kids all day, that I chose to become a kindergarten teacher. 3 weeks of reading/writing/crafting/family time bliss!!

That's right. You heard me.

Three.

Weeks.

Three weeks of payed break is better than amazing. I am already on countdown and trying not to pack each day with something because I want to relax. But then again, that was my plan for Thanksgiving break and somehow I ended up doing three major projects. And by projects, I mean hunting down things I can add to my house without costing a fortune.

 This was our entertainment center.

Pretty. But way too small for the ginormous wall space. Plus, all the millions of wires hung out the side and we tried to cover them with a miss-match piece we used to have in another room. In short, I really didn't like it. But a huge 72 inch entertainment center was going to run about $400 on a good day.

Then one Friday night we swung by a local thrift shop. They were having a managers 50% off sale!

I know!

We found this for under $50.

Add some paint and new knobs and now I have a fantastic entertainment center. Seriously. We don't even turn on the television anymore. We just sit and stare at our new furniture.

I also painted an old dresser given to us for my daughter! It turned out pretty cute and we just recently added the knobs!

So for Christmas break I am on the hunt for two new nightstands and some lamps! And then I can read and write late into the night in my cozy bed where I don't freak myself out quite as much because there are less windows than the living room. Which reminds me, have you read Alice in Zombieland yet? If you haven't, I recommend it. The author is hilarious!



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Pinterest is my best friend

I know I have said this before and I am not ashamed to say it again...I am addicted to pinterest.

Literally.

I could spend hours on it looking at everything and following links. And I have.

My family swears they lose me during that time. I argue that they don't because I am sitting next to them while I am doing it.

So there.

Anywaysssss.....spending this black Friday writing instead of shopping. For one, because I am poor :) And for two, because the weather is just so fantastic that I can not help myself. (Not to mention I have developed a phobia of large crowds. Personal space, people!) But during a day-dream-brain break I saw this random clip on pinterest and thought I would share.

You writers knowhatmsayin.....

                                                       

Summer Blues

So my mom insists that I must have been switched at birth.

Unlike her, and most of the people in my family, I hate summer. 

Now don't get me wrong. I love the no school, less work, more play mentality. But if we could just switch those three months off to be during winter I would be a much happier gal. I suffer from what I call the summer blues. Actually, the scientific technical term is SAD. Not sure if they intended the pun when they named this one.

SAD is seasonal affective disorder. Now, I have never been professionally diagnosed. But I did look it up on webMD and that is pretty much the same thing, right?

Anyways, me and the sun are not friends. It hates me and I strongly dislike it. I hate the heat of summer and the forever and endless blue sky. A few clouds would be nice, along with a cold breeze. Give me some gray skies and a downpour of rain and then suddenly my mood lifts, I can't stop smiling and the creative bug hits me with a vengeance from hibernating in those drearily bright summer days. 

So you can imagine my surprise this morning while I am laying in bed reading and I hear the loud rumble of thunder. Rolling from my tangled covers I fling open my curtain to see a downpour of gargantuan sized rain drops! And then I did the only thing you can do when summer gives you a surprise like that: I flung open the sliding doors and ran around, spinning in the back yard with my kids until we were all drenched. 

Now that I am sitting on the couch, listening to the beautiful and glorious rain outside, I only slightly mind that it is still around 90 degrees outside. (I mean really, rain and heat should be enemies). And I don't even care that my frizzy hair that I spent an hour straightening is back to being a wet, crinkly mess. I am just smiling because today was the first hint that happy weather is just around the corner. Goodbye nights with no blankets because I am too sweaty to even handle it. Goodbye bright skies that make me rush from shaded spot to shaded spot so that my skin doesn't melt off. Goodbye only drinking coffee at 5 am in the morning because it is the only time of day that doesn't feel like a sauna. Hello scarfs, boots, and late nights of writing. Welcome back imagination that the summer blues tried to hide. I have at least a dozen characters speaking in my head (Schizophrenic much?) ready for me to write their story.

 Now in the words of Hemingway, time to bleed.

Midnight Madness

For those of you who don't know, I am addicted to Pinterest. (And coffee. But I will never admit that to my husband).

My favorite pinning time? Midnight, because the house is quite and I can scroll page after page guilt free. Also because everything is so much funnier when your sleep deprived. I literally laugh until I cry. And sometimes I find little gems like this that have just the right sarcastic undertone that all I can do is smirk and think that whoever created the pin in the first place would be my best friend.

Now to kill 6 more hours until I can slip into my midnight madness!

80 % is the new 100%

So this last weekend my husband was gone for a family wedding. The last time he left for over a week I decided to pack up and take the kids on an adventure of our own in the steaming hot deserts of Arizona.

This time I thought staying home might be perfect.

And it sort-of was.

My great friend Yolanda challenged me to write a post while he was gone. And I did...in my head :)

Monday morning rolled around with a weekended gone and the husband back home and no blog post posted...but in my defense I did have it written and pictures ready, it just wasn't shared yet. Mostly because my weekend was crammed with everything on my to do list.

I find that lately, in trying to give myself 100 percent in so many different areas of my life, I end up only giving 80 percent to all areas and I am burnt out and stressed on top of it. Not to mention the guilt and self loathing for not being perfect in my multi-tasking.

For instance, I fully believe that a clean house, children entertained, fresh homemade food always prepared, workout done, favorite book with coffee enjoyed, several thousand words for my book written each night, husband time, pamper time, devotion time, and work time are all very reasonable things that I should be able to give my full effort towards daily.

So when I end the day with a thrown together meal, a sink full of dishes, kids and mom in a melt down, no words written for my book because I am exhausted so I ditch the workout, ditch the reading time, ditch the coffee and fall asleep mid-conversation with the husband...needles to say I wake up guilty and swearing to do better only to end that day in a frustratingly similar way.

It feels like an endless cycle.

So, the weekend I found myself husbandless, I decided on one thing. I would fill my weekend with all those hobbies and must do's, but I would only give them half as much as I expected from myself. And honestly....it worked out amazingly!

I worked out some, drank some coffee, read a few chapters, wrote a few chapters, watched a chick flick, built tents with the kids, baked with the kids, visited a friend, ignored the dishes but picked up the living room, crafted with the kids, painted, slept....my list really could go on. And since I did not expect 100 % from myself in ALL of the areas, I had no guilt towards the less-than-perfect me. I highly suggest it for anyone struggling with a full plate! There is something very relaxing about just going with the flow and letting go of our ideas of how we should be, and just be. Enjoying the small things with no expectations is a very freeing thing.