Life Happens

I don't know about you, but sometimes you just have one of those days that you need to go back and start over. Today was that day for me.

Nothing too horrible really happened that started it poorly, just running late for work (although I got up an hour early... wtf?), pouring down rain (gee weather.com, I don't know about you but this really didn't seem like 20% change of rain!), and being extremely busy.

And then I get a message on my home phone from my cousin's number. Since it's unusual for him to call, I listen to the message. Come to find out it's a message from his fiance (who I didn't know existed) letting us know that my uncle passed away yesterday.

Talk about dropping a bomb. Granted, I have never been that close with my uncle, we haven't ever really seen eye to eye, but since my dad passed away our family has tried to be better about check in, meeting up, etc. He even walked my sister down the aisle when she got married last year.

So here I am, feeling like a giant ass because I keep saying "I should call him and check in..." and then I never have.

Anyways, turns out he was diagnosed with lung cancer a couple weeks ago and apparently it was more advanced than they had thought.

Anyways, enough with the ugly Monday news, let's back track to my weekend!

Friday:

Busy day at work ended with some beverages and TV watching with Chad. We essentially caught up on Bates Motel and went to bed. Let me tell you, last weeks episode has taken everything I thought I knew about Norma and Norman Bates and throw it into a rock tumbler and spit it back out again.

Saturday:

We woke up fairly early on Saturday morning (for no real reason) only for Chad to go outside and discover that his truck had been broken into. (I use the term "broken into" loosely, since he leaves his doors unlocked). At first we thought that they only stole his dirtbike helmet (and one glove) and the spare change and miscellaneous fuses from his ashtray. But then he realized that they also stole his house keys (again, I don't understand why he would leave his house keys in his unlocked truck) and his portable jumper pack. AWESOME. So, we had to go buy new door locks so that I could sleep at night without being paranoid that some thieving assholes were going to come into our house in the middle of the night and steal all our belongings.

Then Saturday night, we had my Sister and brother in law as well as two of our other friends over to play some beer pong and games.

I don't know if I have ever talked about this game before, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, you need to play Redneck Life (created right here in the state of Washington!). Trust me.

Sunday:

Sunday, as was intended by God himself, was a day of rest for me. We slept in until about 9:30, then we got up, watched some TV, and ate some breakfast (fried red potatoes with chorizo, with an over easy egg on top... BOMB). Then we decided we should PROBABLY do something productive, so Chad got to work replacing a couple of the locks (I was so freaked out on Saturday night that i made the cat sleep in the bedroom with us and locked the bedroom door, so if I heard any noises in the front of the house, I would know to grab my piece and get ready to bust a cap). I did manage to get my ass on the elliptical for a while too, before laying down to take my afternoon nappy nap.

That was just about it for my weekend... sorry for the long post, I know that nobody likes a long blog post telling you about all my woes and happenings.

Never Knowing

I didn't think I would get it done, but I managed to finish my book just in time to give you guys a review (since I'm sure you guys were just sitting on the edge of your seats, not knowing how you could survive if you didn't find out today what I thought of my book).

I just finished reading Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens



Here's the summary from the back of the book:

All her life, Sara Gallagher has wondered about her birth parents. As an adopted child with two sisters who were born naturally to her parents, Sara did not have an ideal home life, so the question of why she was given up for adoption has always haunted her. Finally, she is ready to take steps to and to find closure.

After months of research, Sara locates her birth mother - only to be met with horror and rejection. Then she discovers the devastating truth: Her mother was the only victim ever to escape a killer who has been hunting woment every summer for decades. But Sara soon realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her father is him finding out about her.

I have been really looking forward to reading this book. I really loved Chevy Stevens' other book Still Missing, so I had a feeling I would enjoy this one also.

The Good: There is a twist at the end that you don't really see coming until right before it smacks you in the face. Also, it's not one of those storylines that you find being overdone.

The Bad: A lot of the situations in the book are repetitive... she's fighting with her sister, she's arguing with her fiance, her daughter is being a brat. Granted, I know that those are things that realistically happen, but I found myself being kind of annoyed when I felt like I was reading the same scenario for the 3rd time when I really wanted to be moving on to more exciting things happening.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but not as much as Still Missing.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Eh, that's okay!

This week seems to be FLYING by (thank you sweet baby Jesus!) It's already Thursday!

It's okay... that the spring weather has finally arrived here!!! In the upper 60s (almost 70!) this week!

It's okay... that my hand-me-down computer is missing the usb plug for the wireless keyboard (except it's not REALLY okay...) At least I'm one step closer to having a NICE working computer again!

It's okay... that I don't know what the hell to do with my backyard. To all my plant/gardening followers, please tell me good perennial plants that will survive in less than ideal soil and shade (I like flowering plants...)

 Don't even get me started on the plastic white trellis... or how badly our deck needs to be replaced, we are well aware.

Blank canvas... I need plants!

It's okay... that it's payday tomorrow!! So excited to do some grocery shopping!

It's okay... that my horse seems to be loving her new girl!

Good lookin' pair, right??

It's okay... that 3 of the 4 finalists on American Idol have been my top picks!

It's okay... that I am not going to reach my 4% goal for the Diet Bet I am in right now. I have a much better idea of how much dedication I will need for next time!

It's okay... that my laptop has been so spastic lately. As frustrating as it is to have it turn off whenever the hell it feels like it, I cherish my internet time so much more now (although my Pin boards are SERIOUSLY suffering!)

Anyways friends, I am happy to say I have been able to right this whole post without my computer freaking out on me even once, so I better not push my luck!

I was hoping to have another book review ready for you tomorrow, but I don't know if I will be able to pull one out, we'll see how much reading I get done between my chores, work, and life.

8 Years

Last Saturday was Chad and I's 8 year anniversary.

This year, rather than spending an extravagant amount of money on each other (such as the pistol I got him last year, and the engagement ring he got me) we decided no gifts and that we would just go to dinner.

Too bad I dropped the ball on making reservations for our actual anniversary... so we ended up having a belated anniversary celebration this weekend.

It started on Friday night. We stayed in and watched This is 40 at home.

Verdict? Great. We were both laughing almost the whole time. And it was great that the characters were the same, right down to the daughters. Too bad Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan weren't in it, but whatever.

Then Saturday night was our dinner date! I chose The Melting Pot, since I've been dying to go there and it was a special occasion. 

I was trying really hard to be a good blogger and take pictures, but I forgot to take pictures of the cheese course (we got the fiesta cheddar) and the salads, but here you go:

 This is Chad's "I'm so excited that you made me put on clean jeans and a button up to drive to the city to spend lots of money on this dinner" face.

 We both opted for a basic (aka cheap) selection of chicken shrimp, and filet chunks for our entree.

 The sauces: cream cheese/sour cream/chives, gorgonzola cheese, teriyaki, sweet chili, and yellow curry. I loved them all except the sweet chili.

 The cooking pot... 

 Serious contemplation over the dessert menu

 Our dessert dippers! We chose the chocolate peanut butter fondue. SO DELICIOUS!

And at the end of the meal, our waitress came back with complimentary chocolate strawberries as an anniversary gift. (I forgot to take pictures before we dug in, so I managed to snag this one).

Overall it was a nice weekend. Chad was even sweet and opened my car door for me (VERY unusual). And if you have a Melting Pot near you, GO! It is a little pricey, but our experience was really great and the service was wonderful!

A Land of Sheltered Promise

Back for another book review my friends! 

This week I'm sharing A Land of Sheltered Promise by Jane Kirkpatrick

The synopsis on the back is fairly long, so here is my cliff notes version:

It's the historical story (based on true events) that surround an area in Oregon known as The Big Muddy Ranch.
The first story starts in 1901 when a woman's husband is accused (and convicted) of murder. It follows her as she starts a life of her own on the land, and the changes it brings to her life.
Next up, in 1984, the land is transformed into the religious city of Rajneeshpuram which is, essentially, a cult. It follows the thoughts and actions of one girl who gets swept up into the cult, and whose mother comes to try to bring her back to reality.
Finally, in 1997, a group of people revive the land that had been used for the cult to start a youth camp using the buildings and resources that had been left behind.

Like I said, that's just the cliff notes of the story, and I'm sure not as good as if you were reading the actual synopsis, but you get the idea.

This book was one that I picked up at my church rummage sale last year and has been sitting by my bed since. I started reading it once last year and couldn't get into it. However this time when I picked it up again, I could barely put it down! I really enjoyed the way the three eras were tied together, and I think as far as historical fiction goes, it was really good. From what I can tell, the events are all true, but the names and characters (and obviously their thoughts, etc) are fiction.

Anyways, overall I thought it was a good book and give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. If you like US history, I think this would be a good book to read.

Work It Girl!

This will be a short post, due to the fact that my laptop has been a giant crap bag lately, so I want to get this out there in the world before it inevitably shuts off on my for no damn reason.

I've been back on my workout/weight loss bandwagon now for the past month or so and I wanted to share with you some of what I've been doing.

Meal planning: This is ESSENTIAL for me! If I don't cook a meal for dinner and snag leftovers for lunch, those damn drive thrus (and Herfy's across the street from my work) scream my name and I can not resist their sweet temptations. Lately I've been a freaking champ though, if I do say so myself.

Motivation: Aside from the obvious motivation of not wanting to look and feel like a fracking whale, I joined the website Diet Bet. I first heard about it over at Mrs Monologues and thought I'd join. Basically you join a "game", throw down the "bet" amount (mine is $25) and you have 28 days to lose 4% of your weight. Then at the end of those 4 weeks, everybody who successfully lost their 4% gets to split the pot. 

I still have another week and a half to go, but I don't know that I am going to make my goal... I got a really slow start and I don't think I had a real idea of how fast these 4 weeks  were going to go. But I definitely think I will join a new round after this one is over because it's great motivation and an attainable goal.

Exercise: I've been spending some QT with my elliptical almost everyday, sweatin it out while watching season 3 of Grey's Anatomy (if you remember last year, I basically sat in the dark and watched the first 2 seasons non stop when I wasn't sleeping or working). It's a really good distraction to the discomfort of the good workout, and the working DVD player is in the basement where there isn't any furniture aside from my workout equipment, so it's working out nicely.

And I was going to embed one of my Pins showing the Dance Moms workout, but I apparently am still too stupid to know how to make it work with this new set up. 
A-holes.

Moral of the story, I'm down some LBs and hoping to keep on in that direction!

Current Status

As I type, I am sitting in the dark with a Mike's Harder Lemonade in my pink Vegas koozie, watching a re run of Swamp People, and it has inspired me... inspired me to tell you the things that I am fairly obsessed with right now.

Crunch Master gluten free crackers

No, I'm not gluten free or paleo or whatever... but I AM trying to make smarter snacking choices, and these little fellas have grabbed a hold of my heart and aren't letting go.

Pripyat Amusement Park

Now, I'd be a liar if I said I'm ONLY obsessed with the Pripyat amusement park and not the whole Chernobyl disaster. Weird, I know. But a) I love me a good abandoned park/house/anything, and b) it is so nuts to me that this whole area was just evacuated and never gone back to. Granted, I read online that Pripyat (and the whole 19 mile radius around the Chernobyl plant) won't be safe for human residents for 20,000 years, but there are houses that were left and nobody even went back to get their stuff ever!! And I've got a friend who lives in Belarus (she came here when she was really little because the US wanted to run medical tests on her to see the effects that blast had on her and her family) and I feel like I need to make her host me and go exploring!!!

These yoga pants

Clearly this lady isn't me. But this was the only picture i could find that would show you the fun little criss cross opening on the back of the leg. They are so damn comfy... but no, they haven't ever seen a yoga class.

Deadliest Catch

It's coming!!! Next Tuesday my friends... you can find me in front of my tv (although you can find me there most nights anyways...)

Saving Money

I don't have any cute little pictures for this, but lately I've been running around the house turning off lights and radios and anything I can to try to lower our bills.

And now I shall leave you, because my laptop is being a real pile, so I had to switch over to my IPad (and FYI, it SUCKS for blogging). So until we meet again, my pets.

The Big Reveal

For those of you just DYING from anticipation to find out which was the lie for my Two Truths and a Lie post, now is the time.

The lie is that I have moved once in my life.

Those of you who know me already know that I have NEVER moved before. 

It worked out that Chad and I (after failed attempts to buy OTHER houses) bought my house from my mom.

And now that we have that out of the way, I was going to link up for Oh, How Pinteresting, but I'm sure some of the rest of you are having the same problem with Pinterest not having the embed option pop up. 
Fools, FIX PINTEREST!!

And since my laptop has taken on a mind of it's own and turned off 3 times in the writing of this blog post, I figure I better just end it here before all is lost!!!

Get on the Bandwagon

I know this was a link-up going around the blogosphere for a while, but I am finally jumping on the Two Truths and a Lie bandwagon.

Here are the goods... two of which are true, and one of which is a big, fat, burning pants LIE.

1. I have moved once in my lifetime.

2. I am detest poodles.

3. I have a healthy fear of cows.

So my friends, take a stab at which of those is NOT the truth :)

Poor Little Bitch Girl and The Devil Wears Prada

Once again, I've held back a book review from you, so I have a double today.

First up, Poor Little Bitch Girl by Jackie Collins

Here is the synopsis from the cover:

Denver Jones is a hotshot twenty-something attorney working in LA. Carolyn Henderson is personal assistant to a powerful and very married senator in Washington with whom she is having an affair. And Annabelle Maestro - the daughter of two movie stars - has carved out a career for herself in New York as the madam of choice for discerning famous men. The three of them went to high school together in Beverly Hills, and although Denver and Carolyn have have kept in touch, Annabelle is out on her own with her cocaine addicted boyfriend, Frankie.

Then there is Bobby Santangelo Stanislopolous, the Kennedy-esque son of Lucky Santangelo and deceased Greek shipping billionaire Dimitri Stanislopolous. Bobby owns Mood, the hottest club in New York. Back in the day, he went to high school with Denver, Carolyn, and Annabelle. And he connected with all three o them. Plus, Frankie was his best friend.

When Annabelle's beautiful movie-star mother is found shot to death in the bedroom of her Beverly Hills mansion, the five of them find themselves thrown together... and secrets from the past have a way of coming back to haunt everyone.

My initial thoughts on the characters are that they are very predictable. Their names seem really cheesy, and their personalities are the kind that I feel like I may have come up with  in high school creative writing (the rich, shallow celebrity child, the smart dedicated attorney, and the delusional, well meaning mistress).

With that set aside, though, I feel like this was a good story. It grabbed my attention, and it was an easy read. There were a couple little twists and things that I was kind of on my seat to find out (is she going to get away from those people? Who killed the mom?) but I don't think it had the suspense and mystery that the cover lead me to believe.

Also, this book is part of a series (the Lucky Santangelo series, I think) written by Jackie Collins. I didn't realize that until I found the book on Good Reads. But unlike when I read that random Stephanie Plum book, I was able to read this book without missing anything from prior books in the series.

Overall, it wasn't the BEST book I've ever read, but it was good as far as chick lit goes, and i would read other books by Jackie Collins.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

I'm not going to bother giving you a full overview of what the book is about, since I think most of us know.

The book is more entertaining than i remember the movie being. As movies usually do, there seemed to have been a lot of stuff left out of the movie, and the characters were a bit different. 

It wasn't a book I was really looking forward to reading, since I had already seen the movie. But it was entertaining, and I was always thinking to myself "Andrea, you are such a dumb bitch, just quit your job!!!" and whatnot.

Not much to say about it other than I have read other things by Lauren Weisberger before that I have enjoyed, and I look forward to reading other things.

Another 3.5 out of 5. Entertaining, but nothing spectacular.

Easter Weekend

(So I started this post on Sunday night and somehow I never posted it... my bad)

I don't know about you guys, but this weekend was BEAUTIFUL!

Seriously, the weather here was AMAZING. 

Friday night, Chad and I just stayed home and relaxed. He's been working pretty much 12 hour days for the past two weeks, so he was pretty beat. We ended up just sitting on the couch, catching up on Bates Motel (in case you haven't watched it, it is MESSED. UP.) and then going to bed.

Saturday was spent doing chores... we went to Costco to spend lots of money, cleaned the kitchen, and then went to do some work cleaning up in the front yard. I'm not really very good when it comes to plants and gardening, but I THINK most of the stuff I pulled out was weeds. Then we tried to barbecue and discovered that our grill didn't get cleaned QUITE as well as it should have been last year... and it was all moldy... whoops. 

Then we spent some time with some friends and then went home to hit the sack.

Then EASTER!!! 

This is the first time in YEARS that I haven't been required to go to church (not that I hate church or anything, but it was nice to not be required to go). So Chad and I went to our friend Dustin's family breakfast and spent some time eating, hiding eggs for the little kids, and then watching them find them. And then it was off to the farm to spend some time with the Evans clan. We sat in the sun (I got a bit burnt... no surprises there) chatting, and once again watched the kids hunt for eggs. 

Here's a few snap shots of my Easter festivities:

I was pretty damn proud of my easter cuppycakes. Mad skills, yo.

 Mason's not quite sure where to go look for eggs...

...but then he found one and flung it through the air because he was so excited.

Easter eggs grow on trees around here...

Egg hunting on the farm...

Chad's aunt got a new puppy... meet Losa! (they are dog trainers and people are frequently giving them free dogs with fantastic bloodlines... lucky ducks!)

Gotta love the view from the grandparents back porch...

Anyways, sorry I was a loser and failed to actually post this when I thought I did... I'll be back tomorrow with a couple book reviews!