A blog of book reviews, by 'Til

'Til I write my own novel, I'll read the work of others and write my thoughts here. . . for research.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

1998


nearly 10 years ago, this was us. . . . . .
many times, i jump first and then think later. this causes a lot of what i do to be harder than it was supposted to be. on the other hand, it also causes me to do a lot of things that i probably would never do. so now i have a whole lotta "life experiences" under my belt. but i learn from my mistakes and how can i learn if i don't make those mistakes to begin with. so the logic here is . . . . i will be freakin' genius by the time i'm 40!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

monday madness



up at 6:30am, it's time for school. rodney and i have been looking forward to this day for several weeks now. we got everything together and got tommy there on time even though it was a mad house at the local elementry. every parent wanted to drop their babies off for the first day of school. however, i did noticed that we were one of only a hand-full of parents who walked in their 5th grader. i don't care; he's still my baby. i'll walk him into his first day of 12th grade too!




after all tom's homework was done and before Kyle XY started, vic stopped by to drop off my new PUMA bag! i love it. i wanted something cool to travel with on my up coming trip to portland. he stayed for a bit to share some of his own drama, so thank goodness i had Kyle XY set on the dvr!

jam packed weekend


we stared our weekend really early, like at noon, on friday afternoon. rod and i had a meeting with the priest at our new church regarding tobias' coming baptism. it was a great meeting. father josef was fabulous to us. he spoke with kindness and wisdom. both of which were greatly appreciated. he also gave thomas some great advise that i can only hope that tommy takes to heart. anyhow, now we're all set for 9/30 for toby's baptism. sarah and morty i hope you two our ready to take on that challenge of being my son's spiritual leaders!!

saturday we spent literally 12 hours away from home running around. it was a long day for the kids and i felt horrible about it. poor toby was soooo tired. but we got a bunch of stuff done including some last minute back-to-school shopping. plus we had so much fun. rod and i even threw in a little adult fun. we ditched the kids and hung out with maria, kevin, sarah and patrick for a quick appetizer and drink at matt's.

sunday was uber hot! the boys and i ran out to the book store and the grocery store and then vowed to never leave the comfort of our air conditioned home again! thomas spent the evening getting used to the idea that school starts in the morning. 8am buddy!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

no salad for the crears

i made a salad for dinner. a salad that cost me $20 and 45-minutes in the kitchen. but my family refused to eat. they said it had weird stuff in it. but i've really been thinking lately about how i eat and what i feed my family. it's become important to me lately.

i am an adult and would like to eat like one, yet i often find myself in front of a bowl of Chef Boy’Ordee and i wonder how i got there. More than once i’ve eaten cereal for dinner and reheated pizza for breakfast. i’m trying to avoid this and eat better . . . healthier. i’m not getting any thinner or younger. So i open the fridge and cupboards to see where i stand. hummmm. . . ice cream, cookies, popcorn, Nerds, macaroni, frozen waffles, Coke and Kool-Aid. so, i’m not off to a good start. but i can take baby steps to get us where we need to be. this is why i like going out to eat so much. when i dine out i am able to treat myself to a vegetable. i can’t blame my family though. i should set an example, but it is sooo easy for me to fall into the trap of convenience foods and I give into their demands. Rachel Ray, i need your help! what is easy to make, kid friendly and healthy? i’m going to sit down with Rodney and see what compromises we can come to regarding our diet.

but not tonight because i want to go to Braum’s. nothing makes me feel better like a whopping scoop of Rocky Road! (baby steps)

Monday, August 20, 2007

tax free sunday



i saved a total of $3.80 this weekend during tax-free shopping. after friends gave rave reviews of steve & berry's, i decided to check it out. i was not much for bitten. it was cute stuff but a bit casual for this shopping spree. i was in the market for work attire. i did, however, fall head over heals for their huge line of button up shirts. they had short-sleeve, long-sleeve, solids, and prints, and everything in between. i settled on two short-sleeved button ups that were 2 for $20. not a bad deal. next to ross, i think i've found another fav for clothes shopping. then we left that mall and headed over to our favorite better mall just down the way to meet up with my brother and nieces.

saturday night


well, i wasn't upset for long because this night i went to hang out with people who have stuck around me for few years now. embasing my flaws and failings. highlighting my postive chararteristics and virtue. not once competeing with me, judgeing me nor have they looked down at me. just being my friends and allowing the same in return from me. i had previously misunderstood. we had dinner al fresca. we shared the recent events in our lives, some advise and even a few tears. (we're women so all of that is totally allowable) after dinner we hit up another swanky place on knox/henderson for just one more drink. i didn't get home until 12:45am. which, by the way, is the lastest i've been out since tobe was born.

saturday day



i took tommy to a friend's birthday pool party. i did a drop and go, which is the coolest part about tommy being 10. i came back an hour early to hang out with sarah. she was there i she didn't want to sit poolside alone. understandable. at the party, i ran into an old friend's ex-boyfriend and their son. their son and my son grew up together; in the same daycare until they were 5. tommy has no memory of this boy. and seeing him after so long was odd. he's about to turn 11! i couldn't help being overwhelmed by nostalgia just looking at him. i knew his mom so well. she was my best friend for so long and now it's been over 10 years since we were best friends and 3 years since we've even spoken. after we left the party i was upset and sad remembering my lost friendship. a friendship i've grieved for so many years now. just when i think i'm over it something like this happends. it really is a small world.