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!!!!!