Avon

Shop Avon with my mom. Follow the link below to her online Avon store.
http://youravon.com/cllanes

fear

one of my favorite movies of all time. . . Fear staring Marky Mark. he was his absolute hottest in this movie like underwear model gorgeous. plus he's shirtless like 8 times.

i'm going to have to run out and rent this movie. that's the only way i'll get it outta my head. how did it get there in the first place. . .you (may or may not have) asked? well . . . this week on A.I. katie stevens (which i despise) sang the rolling stone's wild wild horses. her version sounded like oatmeal, all lumpy and gross looking, but still tolerable. especially if you add lots of sugar. that's katie herself, sugar.

anyhow . . . . as she was singing i was trying desperately to place that song. where have i heard it and loved it. i sat and thought and thought and thought until it finally came rushing at me. FEAR. . . THE ROLLER COASTER SCENE! i've looked it up on imdb.com to see who was sang that version. it was the sunday's. that is going on the ipod.

more on A.I. please be sure you're voting for Siobhan Magnus. she's the greatest and should not win but should come in 2nd. (for obvious reasons). i think she'll be like lady gaga, a . . . "superstar!" . . . (ala Molly Shannon).

Charlie All Night by Jennifer Cruise

Hot! Hot! Hot!. . . This book is hot.

It's an easy read paperback I found in a junk pile of books at a yard sale marked for a nickle. It was the best nickle I ever spent on entertainment.

Allie is a high maintenance do-gooder trying to be career savvy as a radio station producer in a small town. When she meets Charlie her whole life turns upside down. He's the bad-boy who's fun to have "fun" with but no respectable girl would ever take him home, right? Turns out he's working at the same radio station with her and suddenly they are spending time together around the clock. However, its only a temporary arrangement because Charlie has a quick job to do in Allie's small town and then he'll be on his way.

When I meet other couples, or even close friends, I always like to know their how-did-you-meet story. In high school, in college, we worked together once, she does my taxes, he mowes my lawn. . . etc. It's interesting stuff. This is that kind of story. Only Jennifer Cruise has added spice. I've always said that mine and my husbands story would make a great book one day. I'll have to around to that.

The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

One of the reviews I read on goodreads.com said that you will need an insulin shot just to read a Nicholas Sparks book. I kept away from good-ol' Nick Spark for years because of these kinda slams. I am so mad and stricken with sadness that I let the options of others keep me away from the best author EVER!!

I love this sap sappy sappiness. . . lOve it, eat it with a spoon!

Julie Barenson finds herself back on the dating scene four years after the death of her husband. With no family and only a hand-full of close friends, her husband gifted her a great dane puppy after he died to keep her company. The puppy arives four months after his death in box with a note from him where he promises to continue watching over her.

The "guardian" theme runs wild throughout the book. Its never perfectly clear who the real guardian is, but I think the author wanted it that way. Everybody is a guardian of someone. As everybody needs a guardian in this story because Nicholas Sparks has added some suspencse to this book. It is a love story before it is a triller, but still effective.

She's a young widow who's never really dated. So when Julie does start dating; she decides to date a few "wrong guys" before ending up when the right man. In the back of her mind, she knows who this right man is, but the idea of him is overwhelming and ethically questionable. However, dating turnes out to be much more than Julie ever expected or deserved.

Again, I love Nicholas Sparks and I have another lovefest lined up for review. It was a great read; totally worth the tears and fist shaking in the air. Then again, I am that kindda reader. It may not be everybody's cup of tea.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The newer cover of this book has a picture of Kate Winslet on the front. It's a scene picture from the movie that came out based on The Reader. The copy that I found in a used book store and bought had Kate Winslet on the cover. As I was reading, I kept thinking to myself. . . "I know this story." I'd never seen the movie and couldn't remember exactly how the story ended but I knew for a fact that I knew the story. After several chapters, I Googled The Reader. (Because that's how all great mysteries are solved. You Google it.) That is how I figured out that I had once read this book way back when it had its original cover. However, I am so very glad that I re-read it. I don't think that I had a full appreciation of the story the first time around. Actually, I may not have even finished it.

.

The story starts post-Holocaust in Germany and follows Michael Berg, a sickly 15 year-old, as he grows into a man. He meets Hanna Schmitz, a woman in her mid-thirties with average looks. They began a passionate love affair. It's unclear how long that affair lasts, however, the affects of it last Michael's lifetime. He will forever compare every relationship to this one and every woman to Hanna.

After some time has passed and Michael is older his life will once again intersect with Hanna's. The meet again when Hanna is accused of war crimes. From there he keeps Hanna in his life, but from a safe distance.

The love story and the stories from the war are intertwined in the book. Its impossible to understand the story in it's entirety without having some understanding of the Holocaust. Because of that, I found myself "Googling" the Holocaust multiple times while reading the The Reader. I had to know. I had to know why; usually ending up in tears and sickened, but it was better that way. I liked the love story. The message I got is that we love people for who they are at that time in our lives. It almost doesn't matter what they've done in their past. We can try to make it matter, but we feel how we feel.

The Danagers of The Family Life

i have been physically injured on multiple occasions since i've been a wife and mother. so many time so, that i can say with confidence that being a wife and mother is a dangerous job. yesterday i was hurt yet again, while mothering. i cried. i stood at the driver's side of the car and just sobbed. my feelings were hurt and my leg was bleeding onto my work dress.

therefore, i've decided to put together this list both as a warning to want-to-be and new parents. it's that bright yellow WARNING label that should come on babies and husbands.

1) scrapped my entire back on concrete while saving my oldest son from a bike accident at the park
2) while carrying my oldest son i tripped over a curb and then fell back first onto said curb
3) burned ALL 10 of my finger tips making a school project
4) scalded un-countable times trying to cook
5) kicked, scratched, hair pulled, peed on etc. . . . .

i am scared. so so so very scared.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

Alice Sebold round two did not go well for me. Unfortunately, I gave up on The Almost Moon almost at the very beginning. Not literally, since I was several chapters into the book. However, the main character (not memorable) had not moved from the same location since page one.

I think it should have been flashbacks with the occasional back to reality. However, ended up more like reality with the occasional flashback and it was very slow paced. The story is about caring for an elderly parent. A tough job.

I wish I could have stuck it out to see what happened. So, if you know, please fill me in on the ending. In the meantime, I'll wait for the movie.

stuck in the mud

funny story.
our house falls to pieces when it rains. everything that could go wrong will go wrong with that house when it raining outside. we have a terrible driveway. cracked right down the middle so that there's this hump in the middle and a ditch on either side. when it rains both the side ditches will fill up with MUD. they've progressively gotten worse. now its not just a little mud its more like two small muddy ponds.

this morning i ran to 7-11 for some milk and then was just going to quickly drop off the milk at home and then shoot off to work. instead of parking out in the street, or in the driveway ocean, i parked right in the freakin' yard. right up to the porch almost. so then when i went to leave i back out and didn't hit cement, but mud. the car got stuck right away. the more i tried to back out the deeper i dug myself. before i knew it, the tires were spinning and shooting mud 15 feet into the air!

after several "creative" attempts to free my car, we gave up. it is still there. . . in the front yard (and half way into the neighbor's yard).

help me.

toby's hair

we tried. we really did. the plan was to grow it out and see if it would eventually fall into a cascade of flowing curls. he would be like a young joe jonas. but it didn't work out. more and more he was looking like a young corbin blue. yikes! nobody wants that look. so we cut it. now. . . well now, tobias is the splitting image of his brother and no one else. i think that we should keep it at a medium length. not to long and definitely not to short.

2010 Resolutions (3)

1) i'm doing Pilates this year. the first week is over and my @$$ hurts. not like a figurative @$$, but literally. my butt hurts. there must be some muscles there that i've never in my 30-years of life never ever used. sitting in those classes is really embarrassing right now. i'd like to think that i'm not in terrible shape. (ok a 5 on a scale of 1 -10. 10 being like an Iron Man). the very basic in Pilates is very difficult for me. i cannot do the basic roll up. a roll-up is where you get into the sitting position from the laying position using only your "core". lay down flat on your back now roll upwards, arms extended and sit up. . . not as easy as it sounds. nor is it as easy as all those women in my class make it look.

well i'm only 1 week in so my first Pilates goal is a freakin' ROLL UP.

2) i am going to second hand all that i can. clothes, books, furniture, anything. i've shopped second hand for years, but i'm going to try to do it for as many items as possible this year. both as a way to save money and also as a statement toward American over consumption. the tendency in America is to buy new. well, (because its FUN). but. . . i want to have my shoes repaired. i want to cook from scratch. i want to hit yards sales for my new sofa this year.

there may be many of times that i buy from the mall still but i'm gonna try my best and see how it goes.

3) i have been making this one for about 4 years in a row now. but. . . i will pay off the ol' credit card. i only have one but i've taken full advantage of it.

i stopped using it about 6 months ago, so now i just have to pay pay pay pay!

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

So while at the movies recently, I saw the preview for the movie "The Lovely Bones". I'd see this book on the Target bookshelves for months, but never gave it a second thought. Once I saw the synopsis, I had to have the book! After many library checks and a few tries at my local Half Price, I finally found a copy. (It killlls me to pay full price for just about anything.)

Side Note: After buying the book, I found a free copy online at Google Books .com.

The story follows Susie Salmon from her tragic murder, to her stay in "her the-in-between" and finally to heaven. She watches her family deal with her death. All of them suffering in their own way. Her death is the death of her family as a it was. They will never be the same again. She's torn between moving on and staying glued to the happenings down on earth. So the reader gets to see her mother, father, sister and brother all grow and move on. Susie stays closest to her sister's life because she sees her sister's life as the closest thing she could compare her could-have-been-life to. Susie is proudest of her sister and happy with her life's accomplishments and journey. Her mother and father fall apart and her baby brother is just lost in the shuffle of it all.

Susie also watches her killer. It's a weird situation for her. It is like a terrible gruesome accident on the side of the road, horrific and yet its hard to look away. She watches him hoping that he'll be caught. Hoping that no others will die and that her murder will be justified.

I enjoyed reading Alice Sebolds take on heaven as I have always imagined it very similarly. As a place where there is safety and happiness, but still a great connection to earth. My imaginary heave would be like watch television only the main characters would be all the people from my life that I'd miss so much. It was a tragic story of a child's murder, but it never felt too sad. It felt safe. Which is how I'd like to imagine death. Death should not be sad or scary, but safe.