A Happy Post

I feel bad for not posting this sooner. The weekend was a rough one, with way too many shifts at work and Jesse's funeral. I felt so bad by Sunday night that I could barely drag myself to work.

And then came Monday. Bella and Ana's Christmas play was on Monday. A morning performance, for the grade school classes (and if you couldn't make it to the evening show.) My mom and dad came up for the morning show. Ana was an Elf in the chorus. And Miss Bella had the leading role. She played Mrs. Santa Claus in the Oak Grove East production of "Santa Goes Green", and environmentally friendly little play about Christmas, recycling and saving the planet. Quirky and cute, Bella had more than double the lines of anyone else. Even Santa himself. She looked adorable. I had problems trying to upload the video, so I will save you having to watch. But just know that I am one proud mama!!

I ended up at both performances. Ana and Bella were fantastic. And I even cried. Just a little. Because I was so proud.

But the other event that caused me to be lifted from my deep depression happened after I got back from the morning performance. The mailbox door wouldn't close, so I figured there was something in it I should probably take in the house. And there was. Not one, but 2 packages. Bot addressed to me. When I use this blog to whine and vent, I guess I don't realize that people actually read it. And 2 of my favorite people in the world sent me a Christmas present to cheer me up. Chris and Debi, the two of you are so incredibly sweet I don't even know how to express my thanks. I love both of you very much. And I consider you family...as well as friends. If you ever need me for anything, know that you can count on me!! See? They know me so well:

Wednesday Randomness

I have a question to ask all of you, dear readers. Now that I've finished reading The Knife of Never Letting Go, I'm having problems getting into another book. I've tried starting a couple. I've read a few short stories. I'm working on a graphic novel. But I just can't sink my teeth into anything. Do you ever have this problem: when you finish a book that completely exceeds expectations; a book that is just so good you can't even review it properly; do you have a hard time reading something else?? I've hit slumps before. Usually a good book pulls me OUT of a slump, not puts me IN one! But I can't think of any other reason I'd be having problems. This is my favorite reading time of the year!!

I really wish I was able to read in Dewey's Read-a-thon this weekend. :( So sad, but I'm working. I'll be checking in periodically. Mostly just to cheer y'all on!! I'll be the one online when everyone else is asleep!! I keep seeing everyone's stack of books for the big day, and it just makes me sad. One of these days....speaking of that, Bethany posted this last night. If you can't make Dewey's Read-a-thon, she's hosting another 24-hour read-a-thon on Dec. 5th. I'm thinking this one might actually be doable for me!! We'll see if the stars line up just right!! Regardless, if you have the time, join in the fun!

Not much else going on right now. The only thing that seems to be holding my reading attention right now is a graphic novel by Garth Ennis: Preacher: Gone to Texas. It's bloody and violent as all hell....but I'm having a lot of fun with it. My little brother recommended it. We've been emailing/tweeting/facebooking lately. He gave me a huge laundry list of Graphic Novels to pick up. The boy is warped, so who knows what he'll have me reading!! Of course, you'll find out soon, I'm quite sure.

On the home front, Miss Bella came home from school yesterday literally jumping up and down. The 4th graders are putting on a Christmas play this year: Santa Goes Green (how environmentally friendly can you get?). She tried out for the female lead of Mrs. Santa Claus. She's been talking about it for weeks. And guess what? She got the part!! She's SOOOOOO excited. AND she has a solo to sing. Not a whole song, but a verse. And lots of lines to learn. It's going to be work, but I can't wait. The excitement on her little face was enough to make my entire week!!

We were supposed to do a "haunted house" this past weekend, but the girls got skittish at the last minute. But we've been thinking about taking Friday off and hauling Chad up to Joliet for the Statesville Prison Haunted House. It seriously looks like the thing nightmares are made from, but Chad and Mike are just drooling over the idea. Me? Saw a trailer of it....and saw me some clowns. I can handle just about anything but that. They really creep me out!

This is like my new favorite song. I heard it on Eastwick the other night, and I just HAD to find it. Isn't it great?? It's called No Heaven by DJ Champion!!

That's about it for me today. Just not much going on. Not much to talk about. Hopefully, I can change that in the next few days. Till then....later!!

Happy 9th Birthday, Bella!!

My baby is growing up!! Today was Miss Bella's 9th birthday. This is a picture of her at the Olive Garden today. (Her very favorite restaurant!) Mike, the kids, and Grandma & Grandpa and I took her out, then went back to the house for presents. It was a lovely day.

Last night, I got to take her out by myself. As much as I work these days, I make sure that each kid gets a "date" with mom on their birthday. We had such a good time, too! I always feel so guilty when I don't get to spend much time with the kids, but this is the one day a year that is just theirs. And it was really nice. Bella and I went to dinner at Perkin's. Then we had some time to shop. So I took her to Border's so she could pick out some books (Mom ALWAYS buys books for birthdays!). We hit Bath & Body Works for some smell goods and lip gloss. Then off to a movie. We went to see The Proposal. Kind of surprised me when she picked this one out. Cute movie. We had a wonderful time!!

She got some great presents....including some Barbies, a couple of movies, the new Season 3 Hannah Montana soundtrack (Ewwww, I can't believe I actually spent money on it!), and a super-cool Twilight Messenger Bag (don't get too jealous, Michelle!) All-in-all, I'd say that it was a perfect couple of days. Now...it's back to work for mom!

Hugs and Kisses

I just wanted to take a second to say Hugs and Kisses to all of you!! Thank you so much for all your heartfelt comments on my last post....although it was over a week ago. As you can tell, I've been going through some "stuff" lately, and by venting some of my frustrations, I feel a lot better. Just knowing I have lots of friends out there is more than enough right now to make me see just how lucky I really am. So....thank you, and I just know how much I appreciate it.

I have a huge post to do for the Nerds Heart YA. (for the record, although I'm totally late on the post, the next round judges already know my decision, so at least I have that going for me). I've been meaning to do it for the last few days, but things kind of got out of hand.

I thought taking a few days off would leave me with some time to blog, but alas, I was wrong. I've been in the middle of some serious house cleaning. Then there was Bella's basketball camp, 3 make-up softball games, end of the season soft-ball tourney, fall sports sign-ups. And last, but certainly not least, a trip to the emergency room and a CT scan for Bella. A family bike outing took an unexpected twist when my little Bella did a face-plant to the concrete. She looks worse for the wear, but she is fine. I think it probably scared me as much as it did her. I was right behind her and saw her hit the pavement. I swear, my heart just stopped. Thank goodness she was wearing her helmet, or I'm sure it would have been worse. Even with the helmet, she suffered multiple scratches, a bloody nose, a nasty cut in her mouth, and a bump on the forehead that caused a mild concussion.

So...all in all the last few days have been a blur. Please look for my Nerds post tomorrow and see who is crowned the Second Round winner: The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine by April Lurie or The City in the Lake by Rachel Neumeier. Also up this week: Book tour for Shawn Klomparens' Two Years, No Rain.

The Sunday Salon - Any Time for Reading??

The answer to that question would be a resounding NO!! Not for lack of want, but so little time this weekend. Friday was the only day this last week that I had completely off (ie, not working either job!) So, my husband and I took the kiddies to see The Dark Knight. And out to dinner. So...it was all family time.

On Saturday, my daughter Bella had her end-of-the-season softball tournament. Now....we really only expected to play the one game. Not that we didn't have a lot of faith in our girls, but they had a lot of odds stacked against them. First of all, in a league of 7 - 9 year olds, our team was ALL 7 year olds and 1 9 year old. Let's just say, all of the other teams were LOADED with older kids. I'm not sure who divides them the way they do, but we kind of got screwed from the beginning. Now, I had actually requested the coach, because Ray coach Bella last year and really liked him. And truthfully, it's not really a competitive league anyway. The "Lassie" division is more educational, a place to learn the basics. But through the season, we really struggled against some of the other teams. And we were actually picked to finish dead-last.

But our little band of girlies pulled out a victory in the first game and took us to another game!! We played for 3rd/4th place this afternoon. And although we lost by 1 run, our girls finished 4th out of 10!! We couldn't have been prouder!

There are our girls with their trophies and medals!! Aren't they a bunch of cuties??

On the reading front, I finished Good Omens last week, and I'm almost done with both the Bryson and the du Maurier. Hope to have both completed this week. I also want to join the Japanese Reading Challenge....but I haven't taken the time to figure out what I want to read yet! Yet another "to do" on my list.

So.....I guess this is a short Salon. Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!!

Happy Birthday Bella!!

Tuesday is actually Miss Isabella's 7th birthday, but we had a party today. This is a picture of her and her best friend, Mallory. It was a day filled with a cookout, Chocolate cake with yellow frosting, and lots of High School Musical presents. At 7, she has a major crush on Zak Ephron! That's why I've been gone for the last few days. Trying to get ready for the party!!

Later!!