Table Manners - by Mia King a book review

There's nothing like reading a good book in the summer. So I was very excited to get the chance to review Table Manners by Mia King.

I had originally planned to read this book while working out on my poor neglected eliptical trainer...or even take it with me on my camping trip...but alas when I picked up this book it was too good to put down and I polished it off in just two days without even taking it near the eliptical trainer. ooops!

From the Author:  Meet Deidre McIntosh, the ever-resourceful lifestyle maven who has a knack for getting back up when life knocks her down.  At 41, Deidre has created a new life for herself with her own line of branded baked goods and a wonderful relationship with Kevin Johnson, one of Seattle's most eligible and sexy bachelors.  Creative, energetic, and loving, Deidre is the person people go to whenever they need a helping hand.

But when Kevin's ex-fiancée, the sultry and successful magazine publisher Sabine Durant, appears in Seattle, suddenly it's Deidre who needs help.  Already intimidated by Kevin's glamorous, moneyed world--and his sister, Marly Banks, who wants Deidre out of Kevin's life--Deidre knows she's no match for Sabine.  She turns to her friends for advice, but finds they're having crises of their own.  When her business begins to slip from her fingers, Deidre knows she must do something to keep her career and her love life from imploding.

This book is the sequel to Good Things.  I read Good Things a while ago so it was fun to get back into the story and catch up with the characters and see how they are all doing now.  And if Mia needs an idea for her next book I would love to hear what happens with Sarah next. ;) 
I found the story to be funny and intriguing.  I loved the dinner scene where the character Marla thinks that Deidre needs to have better table manners. 

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Penguin Group Publishing. Mom Central sent me a gift card and a copy of Table Manners to thank me for taking the time to participate.

ARGH!

Today I started off with a doctor's appointment for Darly on the agenda. I figured after the doctor we could swing by Walmart and pick up some of the 18 gallon plastic tubs they had on sale. Then I kept adding onto my list of errands to run.

When Darly woke up...she wasn't coughing anymore! An hour later and she still isn't coughing! Ummm she has been coughing since July 10th and now isn't anymore! So I called the doctor's office and canceled the appointment.

Then while Darly was cleaning her room she starts coughing again. (JUST SHOOT ME NOW!) But it seemed that it was just the dust because she's been fine since.

So I had a revised list of errans to run...

Petsmart: to get rabbit food
GNC: to buy Papaya tables for me & the rabbits
Home Depot: to buy a new breaker for Darly's bedroom. I also wanted to get some new switches & outlets and also some drop cloths (don't ask! I like shopping there!)
Walmart: to buy the tubs mentioned before.
Bank: deposit checks I've been hanging onto way too long

So we finally get moving...
Petsmart: I find just what I'm looking for with no problems, we visit the very pretty kitties for adoption and leave with just Rabbit food! SCORE!

GNC: Hummm where is GNC?!?!? I thought it was right next to the Ihop. Apparently not EVER! I just looked it up and it's next to the Safeway. UGH! DOWN A POINT!

Home Depot: I find the breaker & switches, but there's an empty spot on the shelf for the outlets. There is a note that says have an associate help me. So I flag one down...literaly! He comes over, then goes to look it up on the computer. They have 88, but they can't sell any until after they do the reset. So the dept manager says I can have the child resistant outlets for the same price! Wow that was a about a dollar & a half savings! But I didn't need child proof...oh well. Then I went for the drop cloth. I was going to get a large one and cut it into two. BUT the smaller one was $10 and the larger one was $29! Hummm I bought two smaller ones.

Walmart: We found our tubs. Then I wanted to look at camping gear and Darly wanted to look at the new G-Force toys. So we split up. I finished in camping gear (picked up two different sleeping pads to try out) and then I went through the Home improvement section and found switches and outlets for much less than Home Depot...so I grabbed those and headed for toys. Well it seems that Darly had finished in toys and went looking for me. Luckily when she didn't find me in camping she came back to toys.

Then we had lunch at Good Times Burgers...YUM!

The first bank went well...except, no lolly pops.

Then the second bank... no lollypops there. I asked about doing online statements and we set that up.

Then I decided to go buy the car dealership to look at new Explorers. They had two. But the sales lady wanted to sell me one from their other showroom. weird! Also I have a car that qualifies for the Cash for Clunkers program...for that they just give me the money and my car goes to the scrap yard since they want it off the road...but the dealership insisted on checking my car out for a possible trade-in. Ummm hello? My car is worth about $1K...maybe if I'm lucky. the clunkers program gives me $4K. I WANT THE $4K!!! Can you say NO BRAINER? ugh

Well the dingdongs at the dealership made me late getting home and I missed meeting up with someone who was coming by...we were off about 10 min. UGH! I feel terrible. I called and emailed my appologies.

Campin!

OKchick asked where I've been all week. LOL! Sorry I didn't post it earlier, but we went camping.

My homeschool group schedules a yearly camping trip and this past week was it. This year we went up to Golden Gate Canyon State Park! We stayed in a cabin this time. It was beautiful up there! And luckily everyone who went loved it too so it looks like we'll be going back for next year. YAY!

I got us a cabin for this trip because Darly was balking at the thought of freezing our tails off in a tent again. And last year we got rained out. This year it looks as if we could have gotten a tent site, but I'm glad we had the cabin too. The link I put up there is of the website describing the cabins. The picture show is of either the cabin we stayed in or the one right next to it...I kinda think it's our cabin because the next shot is the yurt that was next to us.

I invited our friends to come and share the cabin with us and that turned out to be perfect as most of the rest of our group had gone home a day before we did. It also worked out well for us because it gave Darly someone to play with for the entire trip (except for when Darly got mad at her for beating her at Chess...Darly isn't a good looser!)

Before we left for our trip, Darly had ordered her next American Girl doll and unfortunately it was scheduled to be delivered on Monday...the day we were going to go camping. I had looked online and saw the package was listed as "out for delivery" which at my house can mean anytime from 6am to 6pm. So I asked the only neighbor I could find to keep an eye out for the package but I didn't feel too good about him seeing as he doesn't know me very well.

So then I went to fill up the car with gas and was waiting for my friend to meet up with us. While we were waiting at a nearby shopping center we saw the UPS truck heading toward my house... So we decided that since my friend wasn't there yet we would zip home to see if the package had come yet. It hadn't so we went back to the shopping center to meet up with friend...disappointed.

Friend has internet on her phone so we checked the package while we had lunch...it still showed out for delivery, but they don't always update the tracking...so I zipped back home once more before we were going to head to camping. Still no package, but I found another neighbor, ....one I trusted more to ask to keep an eye out for the package. He was happy to do it. So I left for my trip confident that it was taken care of, but Darly was disappointed that she didn't have her doll yet.

We returned yesterday and found the doll sitting on my front porch! The UPS guy had left it behind my front porch railing...so it couldn't be seen from the road. In fact the only way to see it would have been to go on the porch and look for it where it was. The box wasn't labled so even if someone had come on the porch they wouldn't have known what was in it. So neither of my neighbors got the package for us, but it was safe and sound. Darly is happily playing with her new doll and all is well.

We drove up to the campground on Monday. It was a lovely drive with only one slow up due to road construction...or more like parking heavy equipment in the road and taking a break! But we were only held up about 10 min or so. We arrived at the campground and paid our fees then headed to the cabin. We got unpacked and had visitors before we were done as some of our friends had gotten there the day before. After getting our site set up we went to visit our friends at another site.

Lilly was her usual pain in the butt because there were other dogs around. I really need to find a way to get my dog better socialized as she is becoming a problem when we camp. Yesterday I was really annoyed when two teenagers brought their dogs to the site next to us...just to visit their friends and one family allowed their very well behaved dog to run around off leash (which isn't allowed in the campground!) I came out of the bathroom with Lilly to be face to face with this dog. Lilly went nuts but the other dog just kept on walking, probably thinking "IDIOT!" about Lilly.

The view from our cabin was amazing and the weather was perfect. Having beds to sleep in was nice and comfy...I've never slept so well on a camping trip. I need to find better mattresses for our next trip...which will be Aug 3rd.

more hail and lady vs tree!

we had another hail storm the other day.  Luckily this one wasn't quite as bad as the first storm, I don't think that the roof is in any worse shape than it was before.  LOL!  However, damage to the garden continues...This bell pepper (I know it looks like an Aniheim, but it's a bell pepper!) got punched!Here's a pile of the hail after about 20 min of rain.  Looks like snow, huh?here's some flatten lettuce.  notice all the leaf litter on the ground.  UGH!  I don't think I'm allowed to have any produce this year.  Hello Farmer's Market!

AND NOW!  The Lady vs the Tree!The tree triesbut in the end the Lady is victorious!!!  YAY!  this will make nice fire wood!  ya!

A pretty normal week

I realized yet again that I've been a bad blogger.  So here's the latest scoop...it's pretty boring...you've been warned. ;)

Monday morning I went over to the Church to help deposit the offering.  Normally they schedule 4 gals to do this.  Two to work on the computer and enter the offerings so that each person gets credit for what they give and two more to do the paperwork and write out the deposit ticket.  Well this Monday one of the gals forgot to show up.  This bothered the other gals and they were torn between calling the missing gal or just trying to do it without her.  We ended up opting without her and did just fine.  I offered to do the data entry part by myself, but the gal in charge didn't want to do it that way because it isn't how they do it.  However, we had plenty of times where I was doing the data entry on my own and did just fine.  Luckily with the holiday it was a very low offering and we got done very fast, even with just the 3 of us.

As I was leaving my car reminded me yet again that I needed to take it back to the Brakes place to see why it was still making noise when I stepped on the brakes.  So I took it over and of course on a Monday they couldn't see me right away...but he gave me an appointment at 3pm.  When I took it back at first the guy couldn't find the noise and when he took me with him to see if I could point it out, it wasn't being noisy.  But finally we did hear the noise and it turned out to NOT be my brakes.  It's the bushings, they're part of the car's suspension.  He took a look at them and said that while they are cracked that I could still get about another 10K miles out of them before they need to be replaced.  I reported this to DH and he finally says I should look into getting a new car.

I'm a bit in shock because I can't believe that I've finally "driven it into the ground" so I ask numerous times for him to clarify his position on this, but no he reassures me that it is finally time to look for a new car.  He even mentions that perhaps this time I can actually get a new car instead of a used car.  However as the week goes on he teases me that perhaps I should only get a used car because I don't keep my current car clean enough...and by the end of the week we are both teasing that I should keep my current car and force it to last another 5 years.  sigh!  He's actually kidding though and I can go look at cars...just no obivious drooling.

On Tuesday Darly got to go back to her gymnastics class.  They've been on summer break for the last two weeks.  I was happy to see that even with hardly any practice she wasn't that out of shape and could still do most everything that she could before.  That's about all we did on Tuesday.

I should mention that during week one of the summer break I looked on google to find a gym for me to go workout while Darly is in her gymnastic's class.  and there is one right near her gym with personal trainers and I could get a free session online.  So I signed up for it and they bugged me about coming in.

Wednesday we went to the park with our homeschooling friends and had a curriculum sale...kinda a yard sale for all our old school related stuff.  I managed to get rid of some of my old stuff!  YAY!  We took home one of Darly's friends for a few hours and that night we got to watch the International Space Station fly over our house...AND we saw a shooting star...this was Darly's first shooting star.  She was so happy.  Before she had been whining that she might never get to see one.  I tried to reassure her, but of course I don't know anything.  So when I saw the star I pointed it out, but she had already seen it.  Her friend either didn't see it at all or was unimpressed.  Hard to tell because this friend isn't impressed by much.  Later we met up with friend's mom at Dairy Queen for ice cream and friend went home.

Thursday we went shopping with some different friends and had fun visiting before Darly had to go to gymnastics.  While she was at the gym I decided I would try to figure out where this gym for me was at because I was having trouble locating it with google...the google stopped in the middle of the road and there are loads of office buildings around there.  So I walked by where the google map stopped.  I couldn't locate the gym!  No sign of it anywhere.  So instead I went for a walk.  It was a nice walk but one of the buildings near there is under construction so that wasn't the most comfortable place to walk past.

Friday morning Darly had an open gymnastics class...she loves these as they allow her to work on anything she wants to.  The "coach" is actually just an older student at a higher level.  And there aren't normally that many kids in the gym...so it can be like a private lesson.  Darly is still having trouble with her hand springs...she doesn't really spring her arms enough yet.  I've seen her do them perfectly before, but for some odd reason she just can't get them now. 

While Darly was at the gym, I went home and worked out on my eliptical trainer for 25 minutes.  While I was doing it I really didn't notice the time and just picked 25 min as a stopping time because I figured I needed the rest of the time I had while Darly was at the gym to get a shower and to get back over there...Darly frequently quits early because a full hour & a half by herself or nearly by herself is too much for her.  So now my plan is to workout while Darly is at the gym each time.  Hopefully I can start loosing the extra weight I've put on.

After her gym class we went to lunch at Panda Express.  I picked a dish that was low fat (mushroom chicken) and Darly had Kung Pau Chicken...she just eats the chicken & nuts out of it, so I had her zuccini.  But almost immediately Darly said she was tired, so we went home.  Later Darly said she had a headache, I figured she was dehydrated and told her to drink some water...she did and took a nap.  She said she was fine.  So we met up with friends to take advantage of a deal at Taco Bell.  Every time our baseball team scores 7 or more runs we can get 4 tacos for a dollar.
When we got there Darly says she isn't hungry.  So I try to see if perhaps she just wants something small like nachos and she says no with her hand over her mouth!  I have to tell her to run for the bathroom (kids!  why can't they figure out when they're gonna puke?!?!?!?)  After I place our order I go to check on her and yes, she did puke but she hadn't gotten there in enough time to aim very well.  :p  So I had to get some towels (no paper towels in this bathroom!) so I go back into the restaurant and get napkins then back to clean up her mess.  I didn't get everything, but if they expect better, they should have papertowles instead of a blower!
After the puking, Darly felt fine and ate her tacos with no problems.  So we think she must have just had some bad Panda Express.  Which reminds me that I need to let them know that!
We watched Wallace & Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit with our friends.

Saturday we had a yard sale to help Darly earn her next American Girl doll.  Darly and her friend sold quite a bit of their old stuff and I got rid of some stuff too.  Not nearly all of the stuff I wanted too...a trip to Goodwill is in order, but enough for Darly to get her doll.  So we will soon have another doll in the house.  I reasoned with Dh that while it may seem like a lot of dolls for her to have (this will make her 4th) that it was better than her spending the same amount of money on a bunch of lesser priced toys and then having a bigger mess!  That seemed to be the most helpful for DH.  Now of course he's worried that he'll have to make more doll beds.  I think that he should. ;)  LOL!
Speaking of DH he called yesterday so I got to talk to him a bit.  While it is wonderful to hear his voice and talk to him, it seems that we have more meaningful conversations via email.  So when he calls there isn't much to say.  Oh well, it is still good to hear from him.

I found out from him that his siblings are planning to take MIL to live in Michigan.  I now feel like I should go talk to her and 1) see if she is having decent conversations yet and really knows what's going on...and 2) see if she really wants to go back to Michigan.  I know that she said she didn't want to ever go back there before, but perhaps because she knows that she needs so much help now she's willing to let her daughters help her now.  I feel really bad for not going to see her since she was first in the hospital, but I've always felt out of place.  DH's siblings don't feel as if I should be involved with this at all.  And Darly doesn't want to go see her (The last time Darly saw her in the hospital she was in pretty bad shape and that was for a surgery!  When I saw MIL after her stroke she looked worse so I can't imagine that Darly would want to see her like that.)  Of course I worry that MIL won't ever be in good enough shape that Darly will be comfortable around her.

Today is now Sunday and I've heard Darly coughing a few times.  I think that it might be best if we don't go to Church this morning so she can sleep more and hopefully get over this cough.  I'll have to go do the offering deposit tomorrow anyway. 
 

 

weekend update

Well what I had planned and what actually happened changed quite a bit, but we had a good time, so all's well that ends well...right?

I thought that we might hike (it's all of a mile) to downtown and check out the city festivities...maybe find a funnel cake & corndogs to much. Come back home, light up my firepit, cook hotdogs & smores over the fire and then watch the city's fireworks from our back porch.

What really happened is: Darly nixed the hiking downtown cuz she hates hiking and she doesn't like funnel cake (she's tried it just once!) So we didn't do that.

Then around 3pm or so it started raining! I grabbed my firepit and put it on the porch under the roof to keep the wood & pit dry. At about 4:30 or so I tried to light my firepit...still under the porch's roof, but pushed out so the wind would blow all the smoke away. The temperature was dropping, Darly & I were still in shorts and were getting cold...I was running low on matches (they're on the shopping list now) and the darned fire wouldn't light!!! It was too windy.

So we ditched the fire! and cooked our dinner inside... POUT! I was so looking forward to a charred hotdog. So I put mine under the broiler to try to crisp it up...no luck there either. pout!

so now...how to do smores? I grabbed one of my soybased candles (the one that smells like cookies) and we roasted our marshmallows over it's flame. I nuked my chocolate & graham crackers in the microwave...so my smore was nice and mushy! I then made another smore and had just a marshmallow too.

It had been raining constantly since 3pm, so I was worried that there wasn't going to be any fireworks... I even started channel surfing for a fireworks show on TV. But luckily the rain did stop at about 8pm, and the fireworks went off at around 9:20pm. We watched from my family room couch (sitting backwards!) in the nice warm dry house! :D

as soon as the show was over I watched TV, even though my neighbors were still shooting off illegal fireworks (you can buy them just over the state line -2 hours away) for a good 2 hours afterward. :p

Darly & I got to watch Turner & Hooch. She liked it, but I totally forgot that Hooch dies in the end...I told her before that he does get shot and almost dies...and then the darned dog dies! What is with all the dead dog movies & books? Can't any of these animals live a nice long life??? bah! Well she didn't even notice that he had died until I appologized for forgetting that he had died. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned it.

Sunday after Church we went to the library, the farmer's market and then home to wait for the insurance adjuster. I got a cuc, a zuc & a tomatoe at the farmer's market. YUM!

The insurance adjuster said that I should be getting a new roof! I hope they don't depreciate the roof too much. I would like to change the color of our shingles to match the house...they're currently grey and the house is brown. :p

I was talking to the neighbor about the roof and he mentioned that they had found a turtle in his front garden... we asked to see it and found out he had a Western Box Turtle...no idea how it got there as they don't roam our streets. LOL! and while checking our yard for spent fireworks I found instead crow feathers & a beak!!! I'm thinking that perhaps a coyote got this bird as cats normally leave more parts behind.

We finished off the day by watching The Next Foodnetwork Star. I'm glad they finally got rid of Katie... It looks like Jamica might be next.



Free Signature Generator

new baby!

You didn't think that I seriously meant an infant did you? @@

Here's the latest addition to our household... now we can have two surfers on the internet...no waiting! :)

My only problem is that I am reluctant to stick a lot of the "junk" that we have on the desktop over on the laptop...I know it will happen eventually, but ya know...I wanna keep it pure for a while...

speaking of pure...ignore all the crud you can see in the background of those pictures!

The fun part of this was seeing all my neighbors' wireless connection names. :p My next door neighbors' son is just sick!!! I'm glad our computer has figured out how to connect to our connection by itself now and we don't have to see that anymore.

You may be asking why after all this time I finally got a laptop? well the answer is quite silly... I was thinking of going on a road trip this summer and wanted to get a dvd player for Darly. But then I got to thinking... "why get a dvd player for the car that just plays dvds?" I'm trying to rid our house of uni-taskers and seeing that we don't take a lot of road trips, having a dvd player that you can only use in the car didn't make any sense to me. So whalah! A laptop that also plays dvds. :D

You may be asking what DH thought of my purchase? Well before he left he was considering getting a laptop (for himself!) but decided against it when he learned that he had to bring one from work...he didn't want to carry two on the plane. So when I told him my plan he started giving me a shopping list of stuff to get for it!

Course now I have to wait for my turn on the laptop because it is Darly's favorite new toy. Me, being old and lazy, I actually prefer the desktop...which is where I'm typing this post.

Happy 4th of July to everyone in America! Be safe and have fun!

Free Signature Generator

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Coffee!

Free Signature Generator

Ah Hail!

Did I show you my hail pictures? Here, lemme get those!

Well after the storm we had to go out and access the damages.  We have 5 screens that need to be replaced, the lines to our A/C unit were cracked (they still work THANK Goodness!) and there is some paint that was chipped off. 

But then we have to get the roof checked out. 

My neighbor (the one with all the cars) is in the contracting business and knows a guy.  He told me that he was going to ask his roofing friend if he would do our roofs for what the insurance would pay.  And since my neighbor was able to line up 5 interested folks the roofer was all for it.

So now I wait for my insurance adjuster to take a look to see how much they'll give me for the roof.  I'm also going to see if they'll fix my falling front porch too!  Hopefully the adjuster calls soon.  Not that I'm in a hurry to get the roof replaced...I would just like them to call me back.  I hate waiting.

 

Free Signature Generator

Hail damage & stuff

Here are some shots of my garden after two hail storms. There are my tomatoes. Not too bad. I'm still worried about the one there in the last pix...It still has a few leaves, but it seems to be the one that got hit the hardest.
The peppers don't seem any worse for wear, but I'm still wondering where the other pepper plant seeds I planted went! The lettuce looks great, in fact I should harvest a bit for lunch! And the spinach looks good too, but it got to hide out under my cherry tree...note all the cherries that didn't survive. I guess I shouldn't have set my heart on some cherry jelly this year. :(

I didn't take a picture of my beans...that was just too pittiful to capture. There again I'm missing plants. My carrots seem to be okay too, but they're still very tiny.









Free Signature Generator

ugh! when did this become a chore?

oh man. I've been avoiding this blog like the plague. It has been pretty boring around here though. Here's what I've been doing on Facebook... oh, I wouldn't try clicking on any of these links...no idea what will happen!


Renee just got a new high score of 20700 in Bejeweled Blitz.

Renee at 10:00am June 24
Oh Shoot! I promised DD that I would let her play so she could hear "A New High Score!" so I have to quit before I get so high that she can't hear it...like last week. bummer!

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee is playing FARKLE.

Renee commented on Leanne's photo.
Renee commented on Leanne's link.
Renee likes Leanne's link.
Renee commented on Jennifer's photo album.
Renee likes Gina's link.
Renee commented on Stephanie's photo album.
Renee commented on Virginia's photo album.
Renee commented on Heather's photo.
Renee commented on Jen's link.
Renee likes a link on Heaven Fest's Wall.
Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on Jennifer's photo.
Renee likes Mar's photo.
Renee commented on Mar's photo.

Renee gotta do the bills and mail DH's Father's Day package. :o Grocery shopping would be nice too.

Jennifer at 11:10am June 22
I paid bills!! (while singing 'another one bites the dust' no less....)

Here I had realized that I forgot to use my coupons when I went grocery shopping! I pondered going back to the grocery store to have them give me credit for them.
Renee at 5:36pm June 22
probably not worth the gas though!

Lynn at 8:26pm June 22
Depends on how much the coupons are worth. Can you use them next time...instead?

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on Leanne's photo.
Renee commented on Cheryl's link.
Renee commented on Leanne's link.
Renee commented on Jennifer's photo.
Renee likes Stephanie's album Summer 2009.


I posted my pictures of Faith Day 2008 because Steven Curtis Chapman requested that we post some pictures. I don't know if he can see them...or if the page is really him, but the pictures I have are of him.
10 new photos
Jane likes this.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on OKchick's photo album.
Renee likes OKchick's album Relay.
Renee commented on OKchick's photo.
Renee commented on Jennifer's photo.
Renee has just set his/her highest weekly score on FARKLE.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!


Renee commented on Marsi 's photo.
Renee likes Marsi's photo.
Renee likes Marsi 's link.
Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on Leanne's photo album.


Renee took the What Princess Bride character are you? quiz and the result is Westley
You are strong and decisive. But you may ocassionally engage in certain illegal activity if the situation so demands.
Renee this was actually DD's result...I got prince Humperdink. :(

Heather like this.

Heather at 11:37pm June 20
Humperdink! Humperdink! Humberdink!

Renee at 9:02am June 21
I was actually expecting to get that. Before I started, I thought "which character would be the worst to get?...oh yeah, Humperdink." and of course that's what I got. :p Oh well. At least I wasn't the rodent of unusually large size!

Heather at 10:33am June 21
This is true!

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee said to Paula: "I didn't write the following: It is SO cool that we are facebook friends. By the way, my Bejeweled Blitz score is way better than yours."

Renee has just set his/her highest weekly score on FARKLE.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!


Renee commented on Heather 's photo.
Renee likes Heather's photo.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!


Renee commented on Jen 's link.

Renee Since I couldn't talk DD into the Renasance Festival today, I didn't bother getting dressed yet...it's almost 3:30pm and I'm still in my bathrobe. :O

Jen at 3:22pm June 20
Good for you!


Jennifer at 5:55pm June 20
oh I wanna go! I think we'll go when we get back from Hades...er..I mean Texas.

Renee at 5:58pm June 20
I did finally get a shower and dressed. Now I need to think aobut dinner. It's always something!


Renee likes Jen's link.
Renee commented on Melissa's photo.
Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee smells like smoke...we used the fire pit again tonight even though it was too windy.
June 19 at 10:23pm

Brenda at 11:22pm June 19
I like that smokey smell, though...just like camping!

Renee at 11:26pm June 19
exactly!

Brenda at 8:43am June 20
now you're making me miss ours - I haven't moved them over from our old house yet (my brother moved in there so we have been slacking about getting all the outside things moved) I want fire! ;)

Renee at 10:04am June 20
What has been funny is DD wants roasted marshmallows, but all we have are the mini ones. So we've been roasting them. If we don't burn them they roast up in a minute and end up making funny shapes because they're so small. And I think that DD has forgotten one of the ingredients of somaos...the chocolate. She's only been bringing out the marshmallows & graham crackers. hee hee

Renee Now she's vacuuming! I offered her a choice of vacuuming upstairs or emptying the dishwasher and now she wants both...for money.
June 19 at 6:33pm

Paula at 8:06pm June 19
LOL, no money. She had all day to do it so now she has to do both ;)

Renee Instead of vacuuming, dd is reading about Rebecca Rubin
June 19 at 5:23pm

Renee at 5:24pm June 19
Rebecca Rubin is a lively nine-year-old girl growing up in a big Jewish family in New York City in 1914. She dreams of becoming an actress, but her parents and grandparents have traditional ideas and don't think young ladies should perform. When Rebecca learns that her cousins in Russia are in great danger and must escape to America, she puts on a show to raise money—until her disapproving grandmother steps in. Unexpectedly, Rebecca finds another way to earn money. But for her plan to work, she'll have to keep it a secret. Includes an illustrated "Looking Back" essay about Jewish immigration and culture. Author: Jacqueline Dembar Greene. Paperback or Hardcover. 96 pages.This is the newest American Girl.
Show 2 more comments...

TC. at 9:13pm June 19
That was a good book...I remember reading it.

Renee at 10:10pm June 19
Kathy: the libraries should have it soon.Linda: Yes, it's the latest American Girl historical doll & books.

Renee became a fan of American Girl.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on Jen's link.
Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee no gymnastics today. The owner messed up and forgot to schedule someone to be there. :( So I asked if DD would vacuume upstairs while I did downstairs (I have two vacuumes)...she asked if she could do upstairs later today. I said sure if it's today. I finished vacuuming downstairs & got the dishes done too.
June 19 at 1:56pm

Renee at 1:57pm June 19
still waiting for her to vacuume. tap tap tap!
Show 5 more comments...

Paula at 5:57pm June 19
You should try that!

Renee at 5:58pm June 19
I don't think that she cares about exercise. She still has the metabolism I had as a kid...eat anything and not gain an ounce. :p Too bad that goes away at 30.


Renee is thinking of vacuuming my house while the kid is at gymnastics this morning. Not fun but necessary. :( I should empty the dishwasher while she's still asleep.
June 19 at 10:20am

Renee at 10:21am June 19
I don't know why I feel as if I need to do these things when she isn't around...don't ask. I'm warped...just leave it at that!

Renee at 10:21am June 19
perphaps it just feeds into my procrastination thing...see I'm still here on the computer instead of actually doing any of it!

Renee
States I've Been To
Put an X by the states you have been to. The average is 8; how do you match up? Should you choose to play, here's what you do: Copy my note. Click on “notes” under tabs on your profile page. Select "write a new note" in the top right corner. Paste the copy in the body of the note...
June 19 at 10:13am ·

TC. at 10:21am June 19
Been in 39, lived in 5!

Renee at 10:22am June 19
I tried to pick folks I knew had been to a lot. Good job!

TC. at 11:23am June 19
A couple of those tiny, east coast ones I might have been to. It gets interesting out there!

Barbara at 5:54pm June 19
Wow, that's a lot


Renee commented on her own note States I've Been To.
Renee commented on Laura 's note States I've Been To.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on Leanne 's photo.
Renee commented on Heather 's photo.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!



Renee did a dumb thing...I searched online for a replacement knob for my car and now every auto salvage place in the country wants to sell me one...two phone calls so far!
June 18 at 10:43am

Renee at 10:55am June 18
apparently getting just the knob ... not possible!!! they want to sell me the entire new AC control box for upwards of 100 plus shipping!!! CRAZY!I may just go to the Ford dealer at this point. :p
Show 6 more comments...

Renee at 9:20pm June 18
I tried the pliers...they wouldn't grab on! :-(

Renee at 10:15pm June 18
I just got a quote of $245!!!! I emailed him back..."All I need is a $2 plastic knob!" ding dong! he had the attached request that I just need the knob.


Renee commented on Leanne's photo album.
Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee likes a link on Improv Everywhere's Wall.

Renee commented on Laura's photo.
Renee commented on Laura 's photo.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee likes Heather 's photo.




Renee just got a high score of 162,600 in Bejeweled Blitz
This score earns her a 150k Star Medal. Renee will earn her next medal at 175k.
Renee woo hoo! but I'm bumming my kid out!

June 16 at 6:13pm

Vikki at 6:19pm June 16
Ack, the server's down!! I can't play!!!

Lynn at 10:27pm June 16
Why are you bumming your kid out?

Renee at 9:49am June 17
she wanted to hear "A NEW HIGH SCORE!" but I had already scored 75K at that point and now she'll never beat me. Next week I need to let her play first so she can hear that.


Renee just got a new high score of 162600 in Bejeweled Blitz.

Renee just got a new high score of 83900 in Bejeweled Blitz.


Renee just moved ahead of Aimee , Mar, Brenda, Karen and 8 others on the Bejeweled Blitz leaderboard.

Renee just got a new high score of 18000 in Bejeweled Blitz.

Renee is playing Bejeweled Blitz!

Renee commented on Carmen 's photo album.

Renee commented on Marsi 's note Me In Threes.

Renee
Me in Threes
Three names I go by: 1. Renee 2. Mom 3. Um... kids aren’t usually comfortable calling me by my last name. There are a few who do. ...
June 16 at 2:17pm


Jen
In this note:Renee
Me in Threes
Three names I go by: 1. Jen 2. Mom 3. Miss Lindner-Green, if you're nasty... ...
June 16 at 12:44pm · View note

Renee thinks the new license plate toll system is pretty cool!
June 16 at 12:01pm

Renee at 12:02pm June 16
drive past the toll booths, get a bill about a month later. go online and pay via credit card and don't get that bill for another month!
Show 3 more comments...

Renee at 12:31pm June 16
I better put my credit card back in my purse so I can pay for my car later!

Marsi at 12:32pm June 16
not as bad as I thought it'd be! Good to know.

Renee took my car in to get the breaks checked... fingers crossed.
June 16 at 11:41am

Renee at 11:45am June 16
brakes perhaps? LOL
Show 7 more comments...

Renee at 9:52am June 17
I'm a happy girl now. I feel much safer. They even fixed the emergency brake for me...they had left my car parked with the emergency brake on (I NEVER use the thing!) so when I tried to back out of the space and couldn't go I was wondering, but then I released the emergency brake and was in awe!DH would frequently put the parking brake on...like in the garage! and I would drive for MILES without noticing it. So it is good to know it actually works now.

Jen at 10:55am June 17
Wow! I'm glad to hear it :-)

Renee is bushed! oh my it's 1:40am...no wonder!
June 16 at 1:37am

Lynn at 11:09am June 16
What were you doing up until 1:40am??? I hope you ended up getting a good nights sleep.

Renee at 11:29am June 16
LOL! Late night coffee with friends.

Renee commented on Jennifer's photo.
Renee commented on Leanne's photo.
Renee commented on Marsi 's photo.
Renee commented on Leanne 's photo album.
Renee likes Marsi 's photo.


Okay, okay! I know I play Bejeweled A LOT! But actually it is everyone else's fault...if there was more stuff to comment on or more blog posts to read I would be doing that instead. LOL! Aren't I tricky to put the blame on all of you. hee hee

Actually I should get off my lazy butt and start exercising or I'm going to become a HUGE blimp while DH is gone.

Speaking of him, he has been emailing me about twice a day sometimes, others it is a day or two between emails. He's doing well, but homesick of course. He got to move from his first man cave to one that has it's own bathroom in it...he of course had to clean each one himself. The first one he had to clean while he lived in it...ugh! The second one he could clean before he moved into it.

He says the nice thing about having his own bathroom is he actually has cold water in this shower because the water line runs near his air conditioner. When he was in the old man cave he had to use a common bathhouse and there was no cold water at all...he said he never really felt clean because he was sweating so much.

Oh if you're still reading this... I have to brag about myself here...yesterday Darly, Marsi & myself were at Walmart to buy haircolor (for just Marsi & me of course! Darly has some temporary hair color that she can use if she wants to.) So while Marsi was debating which shade to choose, Darly asked to go look at the fish...they were close enough to us, so I allowed it.

Darly came back rather quickly to report that two Betta fish were in the same container, fighting! I was in shock...who would do such a thing? So Marsi & I head over there and sure enough someone had dumped a second male Betta into a container and they were fighting. The yellow betta had the blue one by the face and they were turned on their sides...Not good!

I looked around and didn't see any Walmart employees. So not wanting to watch these two poor fish kill each other and seeing quite plainly that there was the original container right there, I grab the containers and pour the yellow betta into the other container with enough water that he would be happy. After that excitement we look around and notice that someone has put two toilet brushes into one of the other fish tanks...the one "brush" is the kind that has toilet cleaner on it. UGH! Soon a Walmart employee comes by and I mention to him that someone had combined the bettas. He told us that it happens all the time. How could someone be so cruel? I'm sure it was teenagers....the only ones with that kind of time on their hands. He thanked me for separating the fish. I really think that Walmart needs to make the fish not so accessable to the customers. Maybe they could install a customer service button by the tanks so that if someone wanted a fish they could call for help...but to have it so that people can kill the fish is wrong. IMO.

and now I'm sitting here in my bathrobe wondering if I should wake up Darly so we can go to the park...I don't know if Darly's friends are going to be there. I should call them.



Free Signature Generator

Better Bandz - review

Today Darly & I went to the Parker Country Festival.  One of our favorite things to do is see the parade and watch all the dogs that get brought along.  But the next thing we do is go see all the vendors.  I love checking out all the great new ideas that they have there and today we came across something that was a bit different.

Better Bandz - "The Leader in custom, Sport and Designer Head Bandz"

We've done reviews on headbands before, but this band was much more comfortable.  I'll have to get a picture of Darly wearing her headband here later (she currently needs to wash her hair!)  but designs are very cute and comfy.  And they stay in place so very well.  They sell the bands for wearing while doing sports (we will have to try them for gymnastics!) too and I can just tell that they will be great at keeping our hair back and staying in place.  I can so totally see all the girls at the gym wearing one with our gym's name on them.

Their bands currently come in 3 sizes, small/medium/large, which is a good thing since nobody has the same sized head and they have very comfy elastic that hides under your hair to keep it nice and snug.  The velvet liner keeps your hair in perfect style and every hair in place.

I'm going to update this post with pictures and reports on how the band holds up at the gym for you, so that will have to wait until at least Tuesday.  :D

Free Signature Generator

Meeting Mr. WRONG! – Review

For all you single gals out there in the dating pool I sure hope that the fish were you live are much better than the ones in this book and for all you married gals, this is what could be available if we need to date again…ARGH! I think I would rather become a nun.

Stephanie Snowe writes about her own experiences in the dating world after suddenly finding herself single thanks to a real jerk. Stephanie is a fellow mom blogger who normally writes at 'Jason. For the love of God' You should read it too, it’s good stuff.

Description
'Don't email me if you want a supermodel. I'm twenty-two, divorced, and I have twins. I'm also overweight, unattractive, and have no education to speak of. I'm pretty much not going to bring anything to the table except the fact that I'm pretty nice and won't ask you to pay my bills. Here's my email address. Don't email if you're full of it.'

With this ad, Stephanie Snowe relaunches herself into the world of dating. In this real-life account, she discovers that the search for Mr. Right can include a lot of wrong turns. With light-hearted sass, Stephanie introduces us to each Tom, Dick, and Denny, and their neuroses, pets, mullets, lies, and puking.

A girl can get discouraged having to deal with dive-bombing birds, first-date proposals, and eavesdropping mothers. Is there a knight in shining armor out there with a higher IQ than his horse? Stephanie hopes so.

About the Author
Stephanie Snowe is the author behind the blog, 'Jason. For the love of God'. In her spare time she does things like hold down a full-time job, parent her children, and pander endlessly to her dog Ginger. She also enjoys plotting elaborate revenge fantasies involving angry monkeys trapped in boxes, and preparing boxed dinners that she pretends are homemade.

So I get a copy of the book and I laughed my head off. This was so very funny. I was also so very very very thankful that I have my wonderful husband… so ifwhen I get upset at my husband I guess I should grab this book and remember what else is out there. :p

And to all my single friends out there, I’m going to be praying for you that you don’t end up with anyone like these guys.

If you would like to see what all the fuss is about check out Meeting Mr. Wrong or Jason. For the love of God.

Thanks to Mothertalk.com for another great read!

Yahoo is WORTHLESS!

I know that doesn't sound like a very nice thing to say. But I'm very frustrated with them. Yesterday I received an email from someone pretending to be from Yahoo telling me that I needed to update my email account for some odd reason. However, when I saw what it was they considered an update it was pretty easy to figure out that it was a very poor attempt at phishing my info. They wanted me to EMAIL them my account id, my password, my birthdate & my country of origin. Yeah right! Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck?!?!?

Anyway, so I found out how to get to the full headers so that I could report the email as abuse...and had to cut and paste the headers to the email (since when did that change happen?) and then forwarded the email to yahoo abuse.

Today I got an email from yahoo telling me that because the person was not a yahoo user there was NOTHING they could do. WHAT?!??! Some idiot is out there trying to steal info and my only recourse is to hit delete?!?!?!? What kind of abuse prevention is that?

I just have to pray that no one fell for that sad excuse for a phishing scam.


Free Signature Generator

YES, I snoop!

Today I came into the computer room while Darly was using it and she closed the window that she was looking at.  The page seemed innocent enough, but the fact that she chose to close it bothered me.  SO I snooped.

when I got on the computer I checked the history and started clicking on the links.  Darly came in and asked what I was up to.  I told her I was looking for the page she closed when I came in.  She was shocked that I could do that!  and seemed unwilling to cooperate with me by telling me what it was.  So I kept digging until at last I did find it.  I'm not sure why she insists on being secretive with me...so I'll just have to show her how I can find out what she's up to.  We just discussed at dinner crazy folks who steal kids...  Spill or I snoop!

Free Signature Generator

Where have I been?

where in the world have I been? Good question. If you're on Facebook you know that I have been checking in there quite a bit. But if you're only looking for me here then you know that I've been sadly remiss in my blogging duties. *sigh!*  I have been reading your blogs and posting comments on most.

I don't really have an excuse. It isn't like I've been so busy that I couldn't come blog. It isn't that I've been too depressed to blog...I'm not. I just haven't wanted to blog. I'm ready to take your lashings.

Darly and I have been busy. Visiting with friends and doing stuff so we aren't stuck here in the house worrying about DH or MIL. Both are doing just fine by the way.

DH is finally "in country" and doing what they sent him there for. He said in his email (he keeps trying to call us when we're out!) that he had a meeting today with all these important people. He reports that his sleeping quarters are a pit or a cave or some other place that you really wouldn't want to sleep. I'll have to see the pictures, hopefully he can borrow someone's camera because he didn't take one with him.

Well that was stupid! I realized how late it is getting and went to log out of stuff so I can go make dinner and logged out of blogger! Luckily I didn’t close the window so I still have this post. WHEW!

And now I see that I was so tired after dinner last night that I never bothered to come back to the computer and finish my post. Ugh! See this is sort of why I haven’t been blogging…tired apathy.

Last night after dinner I sat on the couch and watched a tiny bit of tv…as in the first commercial and I was snoring. Being old is terrible!

I tried to set up this system for getting Darly to help out with the chores around here. I made a list of chores that she could do and how much I was willing to pay her to do them. Then there’s a grid with the days of the week…so if she empties the dishwasher on Monday, Wednesday & Saturday…she marks those days and gets paid for each one. Well she’s only emptied the dishwasher once. :p So since I don’t want to A) run out of dishes and B) be swimming in a sea of dirty dishes…I’ve been doing it. Sigh

Those extra chores seriously cut into my Facebook Bejeweled time.

Dollar Off Coupon! Kellogg's Eggo Bake Shop Twists

Hey do you remember that review that I did on Kellogg's Eggo Bake Shop Twists? What? You don't? *sigh!* Okay, go read it again real quick...I'll wait (the link is in the name above).

Well the kind folks at Kellogg's sent me a nice email asking me to let folks know that if they visit http://www.redplum.com/pages/ViewOffer.aspx?ec=send_offer&id=1056351 they can get a dollar off coupon! Isn't that sweet? I though so, and I'm going to go get some more twists.

I wonder what they would taste like with ice cream on them?

Pledge Multi Surface Cleaner - Review

I just took this survey that says I'm an Avoider Cleaner.  Hummm I really didn't need a survey to tell me that.  LOL!  It's a dirty job, but it must be done...by someone...preferably not me.  hee hee but seeing as there isn't anyone else here, I guess I better do it!

So I was happy to try out Pledge Multi Surface Cleaner cuz well I bought these silly tables that have both glass and wood in them. :p  and cleaning them is a bear.

It's cleaning made simple

Today we're constantly on the go. Thankfully, there's a multi-surface cleaner that keeps up with our busy lives. With Pledge® Multi Surface, you can move from surface to surface, room to room, cleaning and dusting in no time at all. Easy to hold and easy to spray, Pledge® Multi Surface tackles dust, smudges and fingerprints on nearly every household surface, including mirrors, glass, wood and stainless steel. With an antistatic formula, it's great for cleaning electronics too. Get the residue- and streak-free clean of Pledge® Multi Surface and clean more, faster.

Safely cleans many surfaces:
Wood

Wood Laminate
Plastics
Stainless Steel
Glass
Mirrors
Electronics
Granite

Well the Pledge Multi Surface made easy work of my multi surface tables and did a great job on my dining room table too!  I've already mentioned that I'm an Avoider Cleaner so I don't have to tell you that I didn't go cleaning my entire house...right?  Okay...I didn't go clean the entire house!  and I probably won't...but when I do get off the computer and clean some of the house, I'll be grabbing the Pledge Multi Surface. :D
http://www.howicleannow.com/  to check out the stories of 5 other bloggers and click on the link for a $1 off coupon for Pledge Multi Surface.

Free Signature Generator  Thanks Family Review Network for the chance to try this out.