NEED A VACATION FROM THE EVERY DAY? LOOK NO FURTHER.......

Need a vacation from your every day stresses or just a little time to yourself? Doesn't a trip sound wonderful? Don't have the money? You would be amazed how cheap a little time away could be........if you just look in the closet or visit the library...... "Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book."

~Author Unknown

No, reading is not just for nerds and it can actually be a pleasant experience. "I LOVE to read" is an understatement. You can travel to places you never would have imagined. Even if it's just a few minutes a night after the kids are in bed, you can enjoy some time for yourself. If it has been awhile, look online or ask some friends what good books are out there. I have had wonderful suggestions from some of my friends like my sister Jessica, Sherry, Nicole, Mandy and my mother-in-law too! They seem to like some of the same reads that I do.

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."

~Mark Twain, attributed

You don't have to spend a lot of money on a good book. There are libraries in every town that are full of them. Some you can reserve titles online and pick them up, there are book drops outside and best of all a library card is free. Take your kids with you, what better example do you think you could be setting? Sydney has fallen in love with reading and I am just "tickled to death"! You can check books out for 3 weeks at a time and if you are not finished you can check it out again. You may have to go by or you may be able to call and check it out again by phone or online. This is much cheaper that buying books. You can also borrow books for your friends, but be sure to take good care of them so your friends will let you borrow again in the future!

Also, you don't have to go for the same type of book every time. For instance, if you read my blog you are well aware that I like books in the vampire genre. I am reading book 5 of "The Morganville Vampires" series right now, but that isn't all I like to read. Expand your mind! There are so many types of books you can read it is amazing. If you want to read all romance novels, by all means do so, do what makes you happy. If you don't like to read, don't torture yourself!

I have decided that in case anyone is interested, I will mention book titles from time to time in my blog just in case someone needs a good reading suggestion. If you know of a great book, send me a message and I will share it on my blog.

My first suggestion is:

THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer

This book is described as science fiction for people who do not like science fiction. Yes, this is the same person that wrote the young adult Twilight Saga, but do not let this turn you off, this is her first adult novel. I actually would never have thought it was the same author. This novel was a very pleasant surprise after reading the Twilight Saga. I would definitely read it again and probably will in the near future. I could not put it down. Here is a description for you:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.
Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.
When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

"My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter." ~Thomas Helm

(This is so true! I love it when this happens and hate it all at the same time!)

HAPPY READING EVERYONE!

HOUSEPLANTS WITH KIDS AND SPIDERS??!!

As a parent I try to be safe and aware of everything that is going on with my kids. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the smallest things. One of these pretty plants made it's way into my home but is definitely on the way out, thanks to my sister Jessica for paying attention. Isn't this a pretty vine? Remember my earlier post when Sydney and I potted some small plants in the kitchen one afternoon? The English Ivy plant, or also known as "California Fan" was one of those plants. My sister Jessica had just gotten one of these also. They are very pretty.
Well, Jessica called me today and let me know that I needed to check my plant. Apparently this plant has a very good chance of getting "spider mites". Also, this is a very poisonous plant to humans and animals. I had thrown away most of my plants or killed them when Sydney was a baby, but I have 3 that I have had for about 8 years. I didn't pay attention to the types when I was buying them a few weeks ago, if they were cute I got them. Bad idea.

A couple of weeks ago Rachel decided to lick a plant at Jessica's. She has never done this at home, that I am aware of, so that means that she probably has. I have put this plant outside for now and may hang it in a tree away from Rachel, we'll see. Please check all of your plants if you have indoor animals or small children, a simple google search will give you all the information you need. I am going to include some information on this particular English Ivy or "California Fan" plant. Common names - Common English Ivy
Botanical name- Hedera helix
Poisonous part- Leaves

This vine is grown both as an indoor and outdoor ornamental and it has caused poisoning in cattle, dogs, sheep, and humans. Symptoms of ingestion are difficulty in breathing, convulsions, vomiting, paralysis and coma. Dermatitis is rare but can be severe with weeping blisters which respond slowly to treatment. The berries are bitter so it's unlikely children will consume them in large quantities.

The English Ivy is a common houseplant that can be kept as an indoor or outdoor plant. Although the basic care is quite simple, they are at risk for developing spider mites, which can cause extensive damage to the plant.

Once spider mites infest an English Ivy plant, they will suck out the sap inside the plant's tissues. They will then inject toxin into the leaves, which causes them to become yellow and dry.

PLEASE CHECK ALL OF YOUR PLANTS FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR KIDS AND ANIMALS!

UNPLANNED ADVENTURES

Today my friend Julia said this on Facebook "Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones you don't plan." This is so true. Last October we woke up one morning and I said to Jason "Hey, let's go somewhere. Lets call your Grandma and my Grandma and take them to Oak Island." We had been wanting to go but never took the time. Jason's Grandma had never seen a lighthouse before and Oak Island had the only one that Jason and I had not seen in NC. We called everyone and said "be ready in an hour!" We drove to Fort Fisher and had a picnic on the beach, then we rode the ferry over and played on the beach in front of the lighthouse. Sydney and Rachel thought it was so cool to go on a day trip with both Grandma's. They has the best time singing in the car.

I have a couple of day trips planned for the girls this year but with no specific dates. I think I will keep it a secret until the morning we are leaving each time. I will know when we are going, but it will be fun for them when they wake up on a new adventure that they weren't expecting!

"THE ETERNAL KISS"

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."
"What a stupid lamb"
"What a sick, masochistic lion"

“You're like my own personal brand of heroin,”

Okay, so if you know me at all you have to know that I read the Twilight Saga, all four books, by Stephenie Meyer last year and absolutely fell in love with them. I absolutely LOVE vampire books and vampire movies. I always have, so I'm like a kid in a candy store with all of these books and movies that have been coming out. Yes, these are in the young adult section but I will also say that no 12-15 year old of mine will ever read these books. That is a little too young. Maybe not for the first book, but when we start breaking headboards and stuff like that, you need to be a little older..... With that said, you can find some great books in the young adult section so I tend not to look in only one section at all.

My sister Shannon said she is going to scream if she hears one more advertisement today that "New Moon" is releasing on DVD tonight at midnight, so I just has to send her a message on Facebook to remind her, one more time...lol. I have not bought Twilight and I am not going to buy New Moon, I want to wait until they have made all the movies and come out with a box set. If I buy them now they will come out with something great later and I will still but it anyway, so.

My DVR has been so empty lately and I have been reading a lot, I am still reading The Morganville Vampires, I am on book four. But some of my favorite bloodsucking shows are returning soon! yay!

The Vampire Diaries returns.

This Thursday night at 8pm.

Stefan and Elena are worried about Damon......

This Sunday night begins reruns of True Blood season 2 so everyone can get a refresher before Season 3 begins on June 13, 2010

If I don't answer the phone, leave a message, my DVR is about to be full.....

BLOG # 31

Well, I had to name this BLOG # 31 instead of DAY 30 OF MY BLOG due to my failed internet connection Saturday night and because on day 1 I made 2 entries. Either way I am still proud that I finished it. I have enjoyed writing this blog and would like to thank everyone that has been reading it. I am definitely going to continue my blog although I may not have an entry every single day, or I may, I have not decided yet.

When I first started this blog this is what I posted on the front page:

"Through my blog I plan to have "me time" which is something mommies lack a great deal of. I plan to use my blog as a stress reliever, to get things off my mind. I don't really care if anyone reads it or doesn't. Subject matter will definitely vary due to my current adventures. I am only dedicating myself to 30 days to start off with and see how this new adventure pans out for me! At the end you may think I should be institutionalized. If you already think you know me...we'll see."

I have definitely had the "me time" that I was looking for and it has helped to get things off of my mind and put them out here for other people to read and give feedback. Thank you for all of your comments on blogger.com and my Facebook page. I will continue to add the link to Facebook when I make an entry.

My question for you is, do you think you found out anything new about me or did you know everything all along?

UPDATES

In one of my previous blog I mentioned my tendency to buy way too many clothes and I am glad to say that I have not been doing that this month. With all of those gorgeous spring clothes out it has been a little difficult not to just snatch them up. I still need to go through Sydney's old clothes that I put away to see what Rachel can wear before I buy anything. If I go ahead and buy a bunch of stuff I will probably find a ton of stuff in my closet and something will go unused.

On 3/10 my post was called GETTING BACK ON THE WAGON. Well I just realized that 3/10 was 6 days ago and I still have not gotten on that treadmill. What has been keeping me from it this last week. Just me, I've gotta make myself so it. I really enjoyed it before and I will again. I have got to MAKE the time for it. I have no excuse, I'm a stay at home mom! Not to say that we're not busy because we are! I know what people think about stay at home moms because I have been there. But this is definitely a topic for another day!

I am taking Sydney this afternoon to sign up for baseball, thus beginning our busy spring/summer schedule. :)

IT PAYS TO SAVE

My sister Shannon has went coupon crazy, or so I thought! She may actually be onto something. I use coupons sometimes but there are actually people out there that are expert couponers. Shannon is on her way to "expert couponer status". She kind of got me restarted (if that's a word) on coupons. Like I said I use them sometimes, but in the past 2 months I have started using them more. Getting the paper every Sunday is a start. I get 2 most of the time. You can also go to coupons.com and print out coupons that Food Lion, Wal-Mart and all the other store accept. I have been going through them each time I go to the store to see if there are any coupons for the items I need. I don't use them just because I have them or they will not save me anything. This morning Rachel and I made a trip to WalMart after we took Sydney to school. We needed to get some groceries, Rachel's training pants and I picked up some Easter stuff. I went through my coupons and at the checkout I saved $30 off of my bill of $200.00 with my coupons. During the month of February I saved over $100.00 by doing this. If your money is tight or not it's worth it to try it. You can spend the money you saved on something else. Why pay full price if you don't have to? If you have kids it really pays to use them on diapers, wipes, toys, you can even find Gerber coupons for baby clothing items.

This is a website where you can buy coupons for about .05 cents each, http://thecouponcutters.com/, if it's a good coupon it's worth it. Shannon and I use ALL H.E. detergent, it was on sale for $3.99 at Wal-Mart down from $5.99 , after the coupon we paid $2.00 a bottle. We both stocked up with this deal. There are also a lot of coupons also that say "any size" and you can get a ton of free items this way or if you wait for something to go on sale. For instance, Shannon had Gillette Mach3 razor coupons for $4 each and Target had theirs on sale for $4.99 she got the razors with refills for .99 cents each. She also got $2.00 snuggle dryer sheets coupons from this website. The small box is $1.97 at Wal-Mart and she ended up getting 18 boxes of Snuggle dryer sheets for free.

http://thecouponcutters.com/

There is a great website hip2save http://hip2save.com/, this lady posts deals every day, freebies, coupon deals and deals that she finds at online stores as well. I love her site. She also has a tutorial for people that are new to coupons.

It really doesn't take much time to do this. Shannon has a binder to keep hers organized and I just keep mine in a box on the kitchen counter. Just think, if I save this every month and put it to the side I could pay for the kids Christmas or even use it on vacation or whatever I want. You should try it, you would be amazed at how much money you can save.

Shannon has actually started getting so much stuff that Mama, Jessica and I have started shopping in her pantry!

SHORT OF MY GOAL, BUT NOT GIVING UP

Well tomorrow was supposed to be day 30 of my blog. I have been waiting for tomorrow so that I could say I completed my goal of challenging myself to a 30 day blog. As you can see, there is no post for yesterday. I almost forgot about it until late last night. I tried to sign on at 11:45, barely getting it in by the deadline of midnight for yesterday's post. My internet connection failed. I waited until 12:45 and kept trying to get it to connect, but it was no use. I went to bed. Technically it was after midnight anyway so I wouldn't have made my post at that point. This morning the internet is working just fine. I am going to push day 30 to Tuesday instead of tomorrow so that I will still get in 30 days even though I fell short by missing yesterday.

Next I would like to ask anyone reading this blog if they think I should continue to write it. I have really enjoyed it even though I feel in the last week I have rushed it a little. Please give me some feedback.

My sister-in-law Amber came last night and brought "Baby Maegan", this is what Rachel calls her. Babies are such a sweet gift. I don't know how anyone could ever mistreat them. If you have children in your life, don't forget what a blessing they are.