Say it like Bob Barker!

A new caaaaaaarrr!




Say hello to David's 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid.




Say goodbye to our savings account! :)

It Starts.... again

Kindergarten.

She started kindergarten.

How did this happen? How did 5 years go *poof*? She was absolutely happy to be there, and I didn't even shed a tear, although I thought I would. I knew she'd have a ball.

I still worry.

I hope she makes good friends. I hope kids aren't mean to her. She's so sweet and innocent. Sarcasm means nothing to her - she doesn't understand it. Everything is at face value with her.

I hope she behaves and respects. I hope she learns. I hope she loves school like I did.

I pray to God that He be with her and her brother daily. That He guide David and I as we raise these kids we have to be good people. Kind people. Smart people.

Where did the time go?

Tiffany Cake

My sister and I made a "Tiffany Box" Cake. Check it out on my cake blog. :)

Horrible Cakes

DR. Horrible, that is.

Cake Wrecks takes Sunday's off from Wreckage, to show good cakes. This Sunday's post were a Horrible Delight.

Click this picture to see the Horrible Good Cakes.

Patches

I enjoy collecting patches. Yea, geeky. On our recent Spring Break vacation this April, I collected patches for most places we went, except in New York. I missed the gift shop being open at the Statue of Liberty and they didn't have any when we went to the Empire State Building.

I came home and did some searching, but never did find a patch available for the NY visits, until about a month ago, when someone posted one on Ebay.

Oh yea, remember the day trip and me saying I got a lame patch at Fort Clinch? Yea, there it is too. What a LAME patch.

This picture below is from 2007. I need to take another picture. The patches have already made it more than half-way down the left side of the picture. It's like a little piece of our history; telling the story of where we've been.

Like Butter

WHAT is our obsession with teeth whitening? There MUST be an obsession, there must! Every other ad on AOL, FaceBook, MySpace, is about teeth whitening. Sometimes, there are two ads on the page, and they are both about separate teeth cleaning items.

Creepy, creepy ads showing scary mouths. *cringe*

What is up with this? Am I wrong? I'm getting kind-of paranoid. Do my teeth look like butter?

Phantom of the Opera

I've seen this book in play form and in movie form before ever reading it. I have to say (sorry Kim), I am not a fan of this book.

I found Christine Daae extremely annoying. She was so weak and gullible. I mean, a "voice" is teaching you to sing, and you think this is normal? You go along with it? You disappear for a period of time with this "angel" and this is o.k.? The man you love wants to marry you but you can't "anger the voice?" Argh. She irritated me.

Erik/The Phantom was not even remotely likable. He enjoyed creating torture rooms? He kidnaps Christine and I am supposed to feel something for him? Not even a little.

The only characters I liked even a little were The Persian and Raoul. That's it.

I was just so disappointed in this book. I wanted to like it so much. I wanted there to be this amazing love story, but I didn't feel it. I felt irritated immensely with the girl, and downright apathetic about the Phantom.

Sarah, really, call me.

THIS is the cake they had at Sarah Michelle Gellar's babyshower? REALLY?


Sarah. Aren't you, like, famous? Ace of Cakes? Pink Cake Box? Shoot, you can even call me!

(thanks to Buffyfest for the link).

Bowling, and why we're all in the WRONG business

Saturday, we went bowling. We have not been bowling in years and Jake had a coupon he got the last day of school, so we decided to use it.

Isabel was scared. Don't ask why, we don't know. She cried as we walked in because she didn't want to. (say that with a whine).

We walked in mid-afternoon and handed them over the coupon. She asked how many other games we wanted (one for starters) and how many shoes (4). Three paid games (1 for each of us) and four shoe rentals equaled $32.00. Holy Snot! We're in the wrong business!! One game! We were shocked but ponied up for one game.

The minute she got her shoes, she was psyched! Bouncing up and down psyched.

We can't tell you who won. We thought we started the game on their computerized system. David and Jacob each took their turn. It was only after that we realized the computer was not registering the scores. David and Jacob had to re-do their first frame. When it came time to end Isabel and my games, the lane shut down. See, they don't give you practice bowls. Those two frames David and Jake bowled? They deducted them from the total frames paid for. Isabel and I lost our 10th frame.

We had a good time, but I can't say I am happy with the AMF company. High prices and no practice rolls signal poor customer service in my eyes. If we go again, I may search for another company to go visit.

Books on CD

I've been having a really good time listening to books on cd. With about a 35-45 minute trip, one-way, to work, I've been able to go through these pretty quickly.

"Anansi Boys," "19 Minutes," "S is for Silence," "The Mermaid Chair" and a couple of 'Temperance Brennan' books are the few I can remember right now.

It takes some amazing skill to be able to read these books, create various accents for the male and female characters and convey the emotions needed. My favorite "reader" so far has been a Mr. Lenny Henry, who read Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys." He was fantastic, switching from British voices, to Jamaican, male and female.

I've heard that the gentleman who reads the 'Harry Potter' series, Jim Dale, is equally fantastic. I have put myself on the library's queue for the audio books, starting with 'HP and the Sorcerer's Stone." Alas, (earwax) I am 13th in line. *sigh*

I recently picked up some of Kathy Reich's 'Temperance Brennan' books on CD. You know Brennan. The lead character in the "Bones" tv series. Let me just say, the name and the profession are pretty much the only thing the books and the series share. The book-version Brennan, the original, actually has feeling. She gets disgusted at the crime scenes, bile rising in her throat. She has emotions, she was married, she has a child, she's an alcoholic. T.V. Brennan is not a very sympathetic character. I don't like tv Brennan. She a social idiot. The book one, again the original one, is much better.

My most recent "listen" was "Break No Bones," and I wanted to chuck the whole thing out of the window. The reader was, I am sorry ma'am, horrible. I hated her voice. It made me cringe, like nails on a chalkboard. She was all "breathy" and "whisper." When she did the different male and female voices, she was fine. It was when she was narrating, not reading dialog, that I wanted to drive my car into a ditch. She made a few errors too. The funniest being this: She was reading the description of someone's boat. Boats have these things called live wells. (Live pronounced like "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night.") You keep the fish alive in there; live well. She read it as 'Live,' like "Live your life to the fullest." The boat had a live (long & prosper) well. I cracked up at her gaffe. I was SO glad when that cd set was over. Listening to her made me realize that even *I* could do that job.

So, do you have a favorite reader? A book on cd you remember that you loved? Let me know, so I can put it on my queue.

Brisingr

The third in the "Inheritance" trilogy-that-became-a-four-parter, Christopher Paolini's 'Brisingr' to me was much more enjoyable than 'Eldest.' I won't bother you with the details. It's the third one, so there's too much background to cover. Elves, dragons, shades, dragon riders, goblins, humans, oh my!

Paolini's writing is getting, in my humble opinion, so much better. Starting out at age 15 with his first book, "Eragon," is an amazing feat. As he grows older, I feel his story-telling is growing too.

It's just so unfortunate that the movie for the first book, "Eragon," was so poorly done. I was so excited about the movie, and then was completely disappointed. When I saw Arya was not even an elf, I knew it was bad news. And as much as I adore John Malkovich, he was just...being John Malkovich. Everyone else in the movie has an accent, except him. He just phoned it in. So disappointing, that movie. Thus, I assume there will be no more "Inheritance" movies. A shame, but at least we've got the books.

MAXIMum Idiocy - Redux

Remember my 'Maxim' rant from June? If not, click here and also here read how stoooopid 'Maxim' publishers are.

Well, now others too are noticing. Three friends sent me the following links to other moms, irate at the gall of Maxim sending their magazine as a replacement for a video game mag.

Boy's Magazine Mysteriously Switched with Maxim (thanks Lisa L.)

12-Year-Old Kids Still Getting Racy 'Maxim' instead of Gaming Magazine (thanks Trekkie Gal and Laura G).

I am glad I am not alone.

I Feel Wonky

Click here for Wonky Cake!!

:)

Don't Forget Your Diapers

I went to Sam’s Club today where I saw this. Not one, but THREE errors. I almost peed my pants. Get it? Peed my pants?



It was next to the photo lab. I almost stopped at “steal,” but I continued reading and BURST out laughing. I told the photo gal “Read that.” She reads and says “Isn’t it supposed to be ‘inconvenience?’” I said “Yes, but do you know what ‘incontinence’ means?” Shake of the head. I tell her. She bangs her head on the counter and her shoulders shake with laughter. She tells a co-worker that “so & so” messed up the note. Later I hear on the overhead paging system “So & So to photo lab please.”

Daytripping in Florida

Sunday we left in the morning for a trip to the northeastern coast of Florida. St. Augustine, Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach and Jacksonville.

We drove and drove and drove. We stopped off to look at the ocean. We stopped at Whataburger for lunch. We took our car on a ferry ride. We saw gorgeous homes on Amelia Island. We stopped at Ft. Clinch State Park and went into the Fort after a torrential downpour (and I got a lame patch - lol). We wanted to shop the beautiful Fernandina Beach downtown area but the rains started back up again. We drove home, stopping at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We arrived home, tired but pleased with our trip, at 8:30 p.m.

Princess Tea Party

Isabel was invited to a Princess Tea Party, which she attended this weekend. Isabel wanted to be Snow White. No, Cinderella. No wait, Snow White.




Cinderella won out. I wish she had picked Snow White. There were zero Snow Whites and five Cinderellas at the party, plus a couple of Sleeping Beauties, two purple princesses and more. :)

The party was for a Pre-K classmate and was held at the Boston Coffee House. We love the Boston Coffee House, always visiting the one in Orange City. We had no idea there was one in Deland. It was a comfy place right in downtown Deland. They converted the back two rooms into a tea party for the girls, who all had to dress up as a Princess.



The lounge was set up for the girls' tea,



while this side room, above, was set up for the adults. There was an open window in between the rooms. The Boston Coffee House had an assortment of sandwiches, cold salads, fruit trays, water and coffee set up for the adults. It was a delicious spread.

The girls were served tea, then were giving grilled cheese (shaped like hearts, how cute!) or PB&J sandwiches and chips.

The girls had such a good time (giggles and squeals do not lie), as did I, talking to moms and dads. The staff was so nice and attentive, the food was great, and the grandparents of the little girl having the party were so appreciative of everyone being there for their little girl's day. It made my day seeing how happy they were with the party and how happy their granddaughter was. Happy Happens, you know. :)

Maybe next year, we'll have a party here too!

My Insurance Company Need Not Worry

I won't be changing car insurance agencies any time soon, even IF new companies make promises about their rates.

(Doesn't someone have to proof these before the sign company does the lettering? This means that not one but at least two people thought this was correct.)