Don't send a lame eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

College Bound

I just read a post on another blog about a mom bringing her daughter back to college after spring break. M has 1 more year of high school left and then she is off to college. This past week, we brought her for a tour of one of the biggest colleges here which is about 1 1/2 hours away. Not a horrible drive so we could go get her on the weekends, but the campus is sooo huge. 983 acres of land. It is so huge that they have an "urban" side and a "country green" side. And that is exactly how our tour guide described it. It is a beautiful campus right off the lake, but I just don't know if I am ready to let her go yet LOL!!! I know I can't stop her from growing up and am so proud of her for her high school accomplishments, that I know that she will succeed in college, but is just hard to let her grow up and move out. Oh well, better get used to it as there are 4 more after her URGH! LOL

Happy Easter to All My Bloggin' Buddies!

What LoriAnn Means

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Lots of Things

wow, it has been awhile since i last updated!! i am getting over the last of pneumonia - YUCK! that really sucked!!! still have the cough and don't like to be outside - the cold helps the lungs but then as soon as i walk back inside i cough for 1/2 hour. - will be glad when it gets a bit warmer - and stays warmer so this totally goes away - the coughing in no way helps my back or neck AT ALL!!!! anyway, what's been going on??!! well, first of all, i have some pics for mary!!! haha lol!!

told you i would think about you while eating krispy kreme doughnuts!! lol! really, i only ate the bottom two - i only like the maple frosted ones. but the kids and dh devoured the rest - m came home with 2 dozen of them.i have also decided that i have a new addiction to cupcakes - not that i want to eat them, but the cake decorating techniques on them are amazing - and i love the cupcake towers - i think this is a much better way to serve birthday cake - especially to little ones lol!! so i went to the competitors book store over the weekend and picked up

i am going to start collecting cupcake cook books. i think eating a cupcake is a bit healthier than eating a piece of cake anyway - this way i can control the portion size that my kids are eating. if i make a 9x13 cake - i have caught jj eating 1/4 of it at a time - he says he can handle it cuz he is 5'6" and only 120 lbs. - but how am i supposed to explain to ty who is about 4 inches shorter and 30 lbs heavier that jj can have it but he can't - they are only 11 and 12 so they just don't get it yet - so cupcakes are solving that problem - although i was thinking that if i make 24 cupcakes, jj will just eat 3 of them and my friend mary pointed out that if i don't frost them all, i can freeze the rest!!! and with cupcakes - if i try a recipe and the kids are not thrilled about it - dh can bring the rest to work - i would never send a half-eaten cake with him, but cupcakes - yeppers!!

while at the "other" store i also picked up

now i would get these at my store - IF we carried them - but we don't - we usually carry papercrafts - but i have not even seen that one lately. so i got my fix of scrap magazine. ya know, if i was smart, i would just get subscriptions to them and save $$$$$ - but i don't always want each month - some just don't thrill me - i supposed it would still be cheaper and i could RAK the ones that i don't need.

so on monday, i got a fabulous package in the mail from RITA!! she had an 80's song challenge on her blog and i guessed right on one of the songs and her dd picked my name YEAH!!! here is a pic of all the great things that she sent me.

lots of rub-ons and chipboard, which are 2 of my favorite things to scrap with! thank you so much rita - you are tooooo awesome!! so since you have totally sparked some mojo - i did some pages with these great items - on the first one (kiss) i used the chipboard and rub-ons from rita and then some flowers from nancy! the second (life) i used some chipboard from rita and letters that i had received from nancy in a swap. and then the third (chicks dig me) was just one to fullfill the march commitment club - it was actually the one i had done first lol!

other than that, not much else has been going on. i went back to work - two, 4 hour days a week - and basically - i don't move for the rest of the night after getting home. i am dealing with this but is getting old really fast!! the back pain is no better - legs still go numb - and at the most inconvenient times. can't get out of my truck, right leg first cuz the leg gives out - can't go up and down stairs, can't lift anything - really sucks, but we will get through this - will just take some time!

oh, i have also been reading - (what's new right lol)

i just finished Sylvia Day's Heat of the Night - Dream Guardians, Book 2 - this is a great book, but i think needs some better editing. ok, so i speed read, but i usually don't miss details and there just seems to be some small gaps. i swear i read where they were standing on one side of the room and then in the very next sentence they were on the couch but never a statement as to why/how they got there - just a bit choppy - but that could just be me - however, this is a great story and i think she will have an awesome series here. i think there needed to be a bit more of the good vs. evil fighting - it went very quickly in this second book. i read the entire 256 page book in less than 3 hours, and than included me making dinner while reading. i think it would do much better as a mass market size instead of trade - i say this because a lot of my paranormal customers just will not buy a trade size book - they feel they can wait the 9 months to 1 year for it to come out in mass market. why spend $14 on a book when there are so many to choose from and they can wait and then pay $8. all that being said - she has hit upon a great series here - hot good guys - potentially very evil bad guys - basic and raw "extracirricular activities" without being overly done and drawn out - no wierd stuff - plus she has enough characters to continue with a kenyon type series. each is an individual, but needs the previous stories characters to complete the entire line. i didn't loose track of what happened in the first book and she gave great hints as to what was coming in the third.

i also am half way through Dakota Cassidy's Accidental Werewolf. Dakota's books are usually extrememly spicy but she has hit mainstream with this one and toned it down a bit - and you know what - it is not missed. like i said i am only half way through and i feel there is a bit too much "thinking" by the main character (marty) - but then she has just been bitten, and turned into a werewolf so i suppose there should be a lot of irrational though by marty. i am totally loving said irrational thoughts by marty - Dakota is hilarious as she describes this "tail" of a dilemma (you'll have to read the book to know what that means lol)
If you are looking for something real - and i mean really real - you should check out A Women in Berlin. this book was written anonymously for obvious reasons. it is an sad story that i would never have picked up myself, but a friend that i work with had recommended it to me. check it out here http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Berlin-Eight-Weeks-Conquered/dp/B0013TFBJM/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205332322&sr=1-11

and last but not least, Janet Evanovich's FEARLESS FOURTEEN will hit the bookshelves on June 17!!!!!!!!!

i am off to catch up on my favorite blogs and get some pork in the crock pot - see ya!!!!!