A ridiculously good day...

And seriously, it's ridiculous to have a good day like I did, to come to the end of your day and think, damn that was good.

And what would a day consist of that made you feel that way? Well, first it would consist of coming home from work at 6AM, going right to sleep and not waking up till 2PM. I think I needed some sleep. It's been a little stressful these last few weeks and I just needed to unwind. Worked like a charm!

Then I got up and it was gorgeous out! Open the windows and doors gorgeous! NO A/C on in the house! My daughter cleaned out her closet and drawers, without being told to. Okay, there are about 8 bags of clothes in the hallway but that's okay because I might have found someone to give them all too. I hate just getting rid of stuff that looks brand new. I always hear about someone who could need them AFTER I get rid of them. So I'm working on a few people. Otherwise, we are unloading a huge load when we go to the Goodwill Store.

I had a great time just sitting around and talking with my son Greg for a little while and that made me so happy! He's been going through a lot of things these last few weeks and didn't really have a great beginning of summer. One of his best friend's mom died very suddenly and it shook all the kids up some. He's worried about his friend and I'm really proud of the way he's been there for Jimmy, really giving him a shoulder to cry on so to speak! So we had a nice little talk this morning that consisted of actually words, more so than grunts and groans! Loved it!

Then I finally got moving and cleaned up a lot of things in the house that just really needed to be cleaned. I got Victoria to give me a hand with a lot of it so now she really feels like she earned all that cash I have been giving her when she goes to the mall or movies. I didn't want her to feel like a free loader for her entire adolescence. She made a small dent in her debt to me! Greg was outside with friends instead of being in my basement playing video games with everyone, which freed up the rooms for me to get some laundry done and some cleaning up of crap done! Yes, those piles in the hallway are gone! Nothing to trip over now when I'm carrying baskets of laundry up and down. Why did I not think of this sooner!!

My oldest son is on his way home from his trip to Disney World! I can't not wait to see this child!! I've already explained to him that I'm going to be cleaning out the garage and basement, then renovating it into a little apartment for him because I had a really hard time with him being gone for 10 days. College is just going to send me over the edge. I'll be walking the streets with my shopping cart, looking for thrown away change and mumbling weird things while petting my cats. Good thing college is two years away, it'll give me more time to get more cats!

Then on top of it all, I remembered that I didn't watch this week's episode of The Bachelorette, which means I can watch it in work tonight! Oh let me tell you, in the wee hours of the morning, The Bachelorette is riveting TV that keeps you from losing your mind! Sometimes at 3AM, you just feel like pulling your eyelashes out, that's how bored you can get.

And then the cherry on my sundae....I found out that my favorite goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers just signed a 2 year contract! Oh yeah, I love my Fly Guys and it makes me so stinkin' happy that Leighton is staying on.

Now, to go kick back, enjoy my roll and salad and read my book!

That, my friends, is a really damn good day, with a perfect ending!

If you give a bibliophiliac a book......

she will always want more. And more. And more. And then she will have a lot of books that are just about every where. They will be on shelves, five of them. They will be on top of the books on the five shelves. They will be in crates, four of them. They will be doubled in front of and on top of the original stack in the crates. They will be staked, 40 high in that little space between the crates & the bookcase. And then they will be piled up on the floor in front of the crates and the bookcase. That's not even including the books in the boxes over in the corner or in the basement or in the garage. We aren't even going to mention those hidden treasures. Out of site, out of other people minds.



But there will come a time when you realize, you need to clean up your room and you need to organize those piles and you need to get rid of some of those books. Especially the ones that you have double of. How did that happen??

I have about 10 grocery bags, plastic not paper, with books in them that I am donating to the hospital I work at. I'm going to guesstimate that I'm cleaning out about 50-60 books. I also have a pile in the room that has to be packed up, another 20 at least. And I still have the 4 crates, stacked and doubled, & the 5 book shelves with others on top of the lined up books. And of course I still have those hidden books in the boxes that only I know are there.

I just really needed to clean up that mess and couldn't take it any longer. I wanted to invite a neighbor in the other day to show her all my books and let her borrow a few but I couldn't bare to let her see the dust and the mess. So I got determined and I cleaned that room and fixed up all my books.

Now it looks decent, clean, neat and I can be proud of my collection!

My name is Lori and I'm a bibliophiliac!

Just wanna curl up in a comfy spot.....

and read my books! I just wanna escape from the every day crap for a few days. Can anyone blame me? I've had a rough week, I deserve it!

So that's what I'm going to do. I went to the library today to pick up my books that were in and I just about skipped out the door. Okay, first of all, they changed the system of picking up your books. You used to go to the counter and wait, they would find your reserves and then you'd check them out. Now, they have them on a cart in a corner of the library and you go get them yourself. I do not know why, but I'm liking this a lot better!

Today was jackpot day for me! Actually this whole week was book wise. I picked up Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo the other day and started it. I'm really loving this book. But today I picked up 3 books and I have a dilemma! I picked up Broken by Karin Slaughter. I just have to read it. I know I'm not going to be able to renew it so I'm going to dive in! I also picked up Pray for Silence which is the second book after Sworn to Silence. Now I really have to get moving. I've read reviews and the Silence books by Linda Castillo sound great!

I'm seriously in reading heaven right now! I'm going to go find a nice comfy chair in work and snuggle up with my book. Let's hope it's not a busy night!

Midnight Meanderings.......

I'm having a bit of a rough and crazy week.

Summer break started here and I should be in a much better place than I am but I'm dealing with a few issues and it's draining to say the least.

One of the issues is with my son, nothing really serious, just had to see him go through some things and I just want to take all the yucky away from him. Life was much simpler when their biggest struggle was putting their own shoes on the right feet!

We'll be okay and as long as he knows I love him and am there for him, it should be fine.

The other issue is much harder. My son's friend's mother is passing away as we write. She's been in the hospital for a few weeks and her organs are failing. J actually called my son G and told him today was the day. It's almost midnight so today wasn't the day, it's just going to keep going. Our boys are 13. Thirteen year old should be spending the day at the pool or the park, not the hospital. My heart just breaks for him. This means next week is going to start with a funeral. Not a good way to start any week, let alone the second week of summer. This poor kid. It just breaks my heart.

We know how much we love our babies, even if they are adults. We always tell them every day that we love them. They know it in their hearts. But tonight I wrote each of my children an email. I think sometimes, they need to be able to read it and let it sink in and maybe read it again. It will be there for them when they need to go back to it. Sometimes we forget the power of the written word. Only God knows if you are going to get another day, another chance to write things down. I think it's time to start writing little notes, leaving them here and there, because you just never know. And even if I live to be a 110 years old, at least I'll know that maybe I put a little smile on their faces while I drove them crazy!

It's Monday.....

and I just finished a book that took me way too long to read!

I finished The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White. It wasn't bad, a typical Karen White book if you read her books. This was the second book in this series and I'm pretty sure there are going to be more. It should have been a good quick read but I just didn't have a lot of reading time over the last few weeks.

I hate "rating" books. Not that I'm a huge influence on people's reading. I enjoyed this book. I'm a little disappointed that the characters didn't do what I wanted them to do but from the ending, it seems like there is going to be more of them in the next one. I think you have to enjoy a little mystery with some paranormal activity in it to enjoy these books.

And since it's Monday, I'm going to challenge myself every week, starting with today! I need to be done one and starting a new book every Monday. There's no excuse! Summer is here and there is more time to read!

So this week's book is......Sworn To Silence by Linda Castillo. This is a totally new to me author and I hadn't even heard of the book until I read my Bookreporter.com and they informed me that the second book was coming out soon!

I can't read out of order, it goes against everything I believe in.

I had to get the first one to see if I liked this author and this series!

So here's hoping this is a good series, a good author and a good new find!

Happy Reading!!

I'm going to sound like Andy Rooney.....

but here goes!

I think technology is ruining things!

Okay, I'll revise that some. Not all things. But some things.

Remember when people used to actually send cards, made from card stock and then they signed their names and then, they mailed it! Now, it's a Facebook message or a text or an email.

I hate that!

And if you have a phone to text with, why not use it to just make a call with instead. I know it's not as fast and easy but imagine how nice it would be to let someone hear your voice. Maybe that would just make some one's day! Instead of a text that was probably sent to 15-20 other "contacts"!

This morning, at 9:20 AM, I got a text from my niece. Now mind you, this child hasn't texted me ever before this morning. Not even on my birthday but let's not go there. She texted me to "remind" me to be thankful for all the "fathers and father figures" in my life. Wonderful. I just got reminded at 9:20 in the morning that it's Fathers Day, not to mention the little reminder of the fact that I don't have my father to share this day with. I don't have any "father figure" as she called it to share this day with. Yes, I have my husband but it's not the same as having your daddy. There's just a little piece of your heart that hurts a little deeper on days like this. And thank heavens I had a text wake me from a very sound sleep to remind me of that!

I think the more technology people have at their disposal, the less they actually use their heads and think!

I truly hope all the dads out there had a fabulous day! And I hope that everyone out there that missed their dad today found a little bit of peace and enjoyed a wonderful memory that made them smile even if they cried too.

Reading time......

Honestly, I'm glad it's summer and school is over. Well, as of tomorrow morning at 10:30AM it's over.

I like the relaxing, no schedules schedule of summer. No homework, no projects, no last minute can you run me back to school cause I forgot a book, no running to the store to get ink for the printer cause the project is due tomorrow.

The only, ONLY, thing I will miss about the school year is that little bit of time between when I park the truck and then the kids come out of school. That was a little bit of reading time for me. Not every day, since I would sometimes have my older son with me and we'd talk. I loved those days. But the other days, when I could sit back, open the windows and crack open my book.

I'm going to miss those few precious extra minutes every day!

I know I"ll get more reading time during the summer. More time at work, at home, before I go to sleep in the morning, even at night on the weekends! But those few minutes were only reading minutes. There was NOTHING else I could do in those minutes. There was no phone, no washer or dryer, no outside interference that could keep me from reading in those few minutes. At home, someone will see me sitting and relaxing, a pile of laundry will call out my name, a dirty tub will realize and work it's way into my mind.

Those few minutes in the truck, they were mine, all mine, and they were priceless!

Until September my friend, until we meet again!

Morning thoughts.......

I'm actually writing this to help myself stay awake. I'm exhausted today and can't wait to go home and crawl right into bed!

The two younger kids are off from school today and the husband said he'll get up with the oldest and take him in, then head to work. That means I actually get to go home, get in my bed and sleep. For how long......that is the question!

My daughter had 3 friends sleepover last night. They are forming a club on Tuesday nights to get together and watch some show together that they all like. They thought it would be cool to take turns having a sleepover on Tuesdays and watch the shows together. Even cooler that we got to be the first house this little "club" took place at. Who else is betting that we are the ONLY house to host this wonderful club??? Ah, guess we'll wait and see. Hey, at least I got to be the cool mom on this one!

My oldest son kicked some serious butt this year in high school. He's an honors student and is ranked #19 in his class. Yes, I brag about this..... A LOT. Wanna know why? Cause his mother wasn't the smartest girl in her class of 525. She ranked somewhere in the lower 400s-to the higher 500s. Yeah, should have studied harder and paid less attention to the boys. Oh if only we got to do it all over again!!

So yeah, I'm pretty damn proud that my son is that smart. I think I had it in me the whole time and since I never used it, God allowed me to pass it on. The boy can thank me later, when he lets me live with him and his lovely wife.

I'm dying to see what his ranking is for this semester since he went up in every subject. Hey, J, you aced Sophomore year of high school......what are you going to do now??? I'm going to Disney World!

Yep, the kid is going to Disney World. Remember when your friend took you to the park with them or to a movie? Well, my son makes a friend who is going to Disney since they have a vacation place down there and he gets to take a friend with him.

Boy did that kid step in it or what???

He leaves on Sunday and will be gone for 10 days. J wasn't one of those kids who slept over people's houses or went away with friends. He was a homebody. He liked to go visit but never stayed long. This is the first time in 15 years that he has been "away" from us. He actually feels bad going to Disney without us. I told him that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and he should run like the wind!!

Meanwhile, I'll be back at home practicing my deep breathing and pretending that I don't have control issues and am perfectly fine letting him go out in that big old world, spending money and not checking with me first.

Guess it will be a little mini practice for when the big "C" comes into play. I can barely face that he's going to be a J....Jun....Junior in high school, let alone go to c....col....colle...forget it!

Now I need a couple of tylenol before I hit the sack! Nite Nite!

Waiting on Wednesday......

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted Jill over at http://breakingthespine.blogspot.com/

I love finding a new author. Even though I love my old faithful, tried and true, it's nice to find a new one now and then.

I have about 6 books on reserve at the library right now. I would love to know what's taking them so long. Seriously, don't they realize that we are dying to get our hands on these books. Why isn't it one persons job to just go into the library in the morning and bring up all the reserves for that branch up on the computer. Then that person goes around, finds all the books and logs them into the system, then sends them on their way! I would love to have that job. I would even travel from branch to branch just to do that! LOL

One of the books is Karin Slaughter's new one so I have to wait until July when it's released. Okay, I get that and I'll try to be patient. Another one is The Lies We Told by Diane Chamberlain. I like her books and I think the library is acquiring that one so I'm on hold till they get it in.

The others are new to me authors. Sworn to Silence and Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo are the first two. I'm hoping Sworn to Silence comes in fast, and first. Another one that's new to me is Sue Miller's The Lake Shore Limited. Believe it or not, I have never read a Sue Miller book. I'm also trying and patiently, ahem, waiting for Never Wave Goodbye by Doug Magee.

Now if the library would just cooperate with me and get a move on, I'd be knee deep in new books. Because there just aren't enough books laying around my house waiting for me to pick them up! And I'm starting another list already of a few new authors I want to look into. And then there's a few series I want to get back into reading. And there are a few "summer" type books that I keep promising myself I'm going to get and enjoy. HA!

I just can not ever see myself being "caught up" on my TBR pile/list. I just do not see that happening!

I mean seriously, pulease!

Teaser Tuesday......

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

"What are you doing?" he asked calmly

I was still on my hand and knees. I looked up in annoyance, "I'm studying the effect of raindrops on puddles." I lifted a hand and he hauled me to a standing position.

~The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White

So far, I'm really enjoying this book. There's that little Southern charm & architecture to the book with a dash of paranormal that is just enough to give you the chills or make you look around the room when you are reading alone in the house!

It's 11PM, do you know where your children are?

That's an announcement that we see on our TV at different times during the night. Our mayor here in Philadelphia will pop on the screen and say "It's 10PM, do you know where your children are?" And every night I tell him I sure as hell do!

Every night I leave for work between 9:20 PM and 9:30 PM. It's about a 15 minute drive from my house to work, and I have to be in by 9:45PM.

While I'm driving to work, without fail, I will pass kids of alllllll ages still outside.

Doesn't anyone have a curfew anymore?

My kids have the same rules I had. My kids don't go out on school nights during the year. Now, as the year draws to an end, I might let them go out a little bit but they are either home by dinner time or they are home around 7PM, 8 PM at the latest. But during the school year, they are in the house doing school work, studying, getting showers, etc.

On weekends they can go out and they have a curfew. I have a 15 yr old son who goes out to his one friend's house all the time, a bunch of them go there, they hang out and will go around to the store, the school and play stick ball or just take a walk to the water ice place, etc. They are not hanging in a park, or a corner or anywhere else where they could get into trouble. I usually have him come home by 11:30PM. He never walks home, I pick him up or someone else gives him a ride home. If they go to the mall or laser tag or the movies, they'll come home when they are done so it might even be earlier than 11:30.

My other 2 kids are usually with friends, at their houses or ours, or at the mall, movies etc and always get a ride. The latest for them is 10PM, maybe 10:30 if they are at some one's house. They always get rides and they are never walking around the neighborhoods.

I just can't believe how many kids I see at 9:30 at night, riding bikes in the middle of the street, cutting between cars and then yelling cause someone has beeped at them. I'll be driving home on the weekend from picking up my kids and I'll see a girl about 15-16 yrs old walking home by herself. That just blows my mind.

It's 9:30PM, why are these kids out riding around in the dark anyway???

We had to be home in the neighborhood by dark. We could hang out and play Jailbreak but we had to be on the street when it got dark.

I know we always used to walk home, but we always had someone else with us and I think it was just a different world and time when I was younger. We could do that and didn't have the scares that we have now.

There's too much trouble going on these days, it's scary out there. So when the Mayor of Philadelphia asks me "Do you know where your children are?" you better believe your sweet patooty that my answer is "Hell yes!"

More Blogs...Get hoppin.......

There's another Blog Hop going on so I figured why not jump on board. Check it out!

Erin from http://droppedstitches72.blogspot.com/ is hosting another great blog hop! Check it out, drop by, click in and join the fun!! The more the merrier!!

On a lighter note......

I spent most of my Sunday night at work looking around the blogger world.

It took hours!

I still am trying to figure things out. I'm getting there. I found a few old blog friends that I used to follow but somehow they weren't there anymore. It happened with 3 different blogs. I don't know, maybe I clicked something one of those times I was clicking things.

It's driving me crazy that my "Followers" has the number 22 there but I can only find 20 followers. More blogging gremlins out there than I thought!

My list of blogs that I'm reading is growing, which is cool. But my actual reading time has suffered a little. I really need to figure out how everyone is reading so many blogs, updating and then knocking a few books out a week. Anyone out there sleeping???

I'm already getting back into that old habit of thinking about something and then thinking I should jot that down so I can blog about it later. The family is going to think I'm nuts walking around with a little notepad again.

So as my summer countdown begins, the new ideas are flowing and the blogging might just get a little more creative.

At least that's what I'm hoping for!

Morning Meanderings......

Good morning! Hope everyone had a good weekend! I did but as usual, not long enough and nowhere near enough me time!

I'm still reading the same book. I know, I have to get a move on it. There's no way this book should be taking me so long but it just seems like I don't have enough reading time. I've actually trained myself to fall asleep in the mornings, when I go to bed, by reading. So of course, whenever I crack that book open, my eyes are drooping by the third page. But I'm still enjoying The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White. This is the second book in a series Karen White started and I really enjoyed the first book, The House on Tradd Street.

I read to escape, so I usually don't read anything "heavy" or "deep" because I just want to curl up, enjoy and forget that there is a world out there with real problems, real tragedies and real drama!

Heaven knows that recently, I've heard of a few horrible real life tragedies. My one son has a friend whose mother is in the hospital. Our boys are only 13 years old. J's mom is not doing well and he told one of the friends that his mom is close to dying. I think she might be from the bits and pieces that I'm hearing. We had heard that she was "waiting for a new liver" but then we heard that she didn't get on the list due to some health issues. Now she's in the hospital again because she had a surgery and didn't do well. It took her a week to come out of the anesthesia from this surgery. I don't know what's up with that. Last night I heard that she's "back on the breathing machine", which to me, that means she's back on the vent and not breathing well on her own. I'm not a nurse but I work in a hospital and you know when you hear certain things, certain things aren't good. All this going on with J just breaks my heart. Kids losing their parents is just so wrong, so hard. I know it's worse the other way around, but it just stinks that this has to happen at all.

And on to a happier note, this is the last week of school for my kids. My oldest has some really short schedules on Monday & Wednesday. Then he is done school for the year. He will officially be a Junior in high school. Would someone please let me know how THAT happened?? I still remember that first day of Freshman year when I dropped him off and cried all the way home. I was driving too. Good thing we only live about 5 minutes from school.

My other son and daughter have half days all this week which is just wonderful for my sleep time! Nothing worse than getting 3 hours of sleep, then getting up to drive, then hurrying home so you can crawl back into bed. They will officially be 7th & 8th graders next year! SERIOUSLY???? Hurts to say it! I really do remember them going to kindergarten just like it was yesterday.

But I'm looking forward to the relaxing time of summer! No schedules, no alarm clocks, no club meetings, no driving back up to school for forgotten books. Nothing but sun, fun and enjoying the fact that I'm there, with my babies, enjoying every second, even if it gets a little crazy!

And maybe, just maybe, a little more reading time on my deck!

Remember that scene in......

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, the one where he gets all excited because everyone likes him??? Isn't going on your blog and seeing new followers just like that scene?!! Thank you everyone for hopping by and checking it out.

I promise I'm going to return the favor this week at work. My Internet connection is horrible at home ever since my son & his friend "fixed" it. Funny thing, they all can get on and stay connected and the Wii works via on line. But my little notebook keeps getting kicked off and then I have to reconnect every 5 minutes. So writing longs things and going to a blog and reading is frustrating when you have to go through every step every 5 minutes. I do better reading at work anyway, lots of peace and quiet there!




I'm not huge on book reviews since I've never really reviewed any books. I love to read, books and blogs, and sometimes I'll give my opinion of a book that I grabbed from the library or Doubleday. I don't have any publishers or anything that I am hooked up with. Just my thoughts and opinions here. Hope that doesn't disappoint!





It's great to see so many new people, have so many new places to visit and new blogs to rely on for a nice relaxing evening!!

Just a game..........

some may say that. And I get that. But I'm still bummed.

My guys were supposed to win Lord Stanley's Cup.

It was meant to be. It was time. It was our turn.

I mean seriously, when there is a season where the Pittsburgh Penguins (blech) and the Washington Capitals (blech again) are knocked out of the playoffs, but the Philadelphia Flyers amaze and astound hockey peeps around the globe, when we make history over and over by amazing, dazzling and coming back, that's the season that we DESERVE IT!!!!

I'm damn proud of my team! They kept me on the edge of my seat, the gave me goosebumps, they made my stomach do flips, the made my heart race, they rocked my world!!!!

And we'll be back.......WITH A VENGEANCE!!! GO FLYERS!!!

National WHAT???

How cool is this! I found this over at Lori's Blog http://www.lorisreadingcorner.com/ and thought it was just too cool not to share!

June 15th is National Buy a Girlfriend A Book Day!

What a great idea! I just love it!!

Anxiety??

I swear I make myself crazy! I can work myself up and into a tizzy over nothing! I really need to get control over this. And I'm starting to notice patterns. Yes, it's usually once a month, and it usually happens when I'm over tired because of my crazy schedule. I'm realizing that I worked Friday night and only had Saturday night off. I'm feeling overtired, stressed out and in serious need of some down time. I had a few nights where I didn't get enough rest because of school schedules and meetings. The more I talk myself through this and tell myself why I'm feeling this way, the better I'm starting to feel. Well, that and the consumption of M&Ms seems to be helping.

I also find that sitting down and making my lists really helps. So I'm making my lists for the weekend. I would absolutely kill to have time in my schedule to meditate or take yoga. I need to add that to my list for the summer. I wonder if I could get a yoga video and watch it while in work. Not the ideal place for yoga though.

I also think that by mid week, I'm so tired of being by myself for 8 hours at work that I start to feel buggy. But then again, if I had to deal with people for 8 hours, I might be worse. Maybe it's more about being stuck inside. I need some fresh air and sunshine. Of course I have off tomorrow night and they are calling for rain. I'm not even going to get my hopes up for Thursday!

I'm just going to practice my deep breathing. And eat more M&Ms.

On a happier note, I found some new books at work. I scored The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra, The Guest List by Fern Michaels, Right Next Door by Debbie Macomber and 8 Sandpiper Way by Debbie Macomber. I'm a little behind on her address series. I need to get moving on that this summer too.

I took the kids to the library after school also. I was looking for a book that the site said was at that branch but I could not find it anywhere. Maybe they already pulled it and are sending it to me since I reserved it! Yeah, that's it.

While I was there, I just had to pick up a few new ones. I got The Killing Edge by Heather Graham, The Wild Zone by Joy Fielding and Dead Famous by Carol O'Connell. I need to check O"Connell's website though. I have that need to read in order disease and I do not want to start Dead Famous if it's not the first of her Mallory books. Gotta have order somewhere in my life!

You would think with so much to read, I would just curl up, get comfy, crack open a book and get lost!

Oh man that sounds like heaven!

Big sigh of relief.......

I had a Moms Association meeting on Monday night and quite frankly, I wasn't looking forward to it.

This will be my second year as President of the Association and after sitting back for a year and letting things continue the way they "always did it", I realized it wasn't working. It's hard to come in your first year, shake things up and expect people to just love ya! So I slowly tried to make some changes. Most of the girls were on board and you always have the few that just don't like change. Oh well, change is a comin'!

Surprisingly, there were no fights, no tears, no storming off, no hurt feelings and nobody mad at me! Ta-da! It can be done. And I really think the changes are going to be good for the organization. With a little luck, attendance numbers will increase and I'll be able to come back a year from now and say I did it. Crossing my fingers!!!

My disappointment for the day was my trip to the library. I have 4 books on reserve. Two of the four aren't released yet so I'm waiting. The other two were supposed to be at the library on the shelves just waiting for someone to come and get them or a librarian to pull them off the shelf and send it on it's way to me. Neither happened! The one library was closed since it was open on the weekend. I hate these damn budget cuts!! Really messes up my library time! Then the second library did not have the book on any shelf in that entire library. I thought maybe I got lucky and they had pulled it already but no, nope, nada! So now I have to wait!

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I have nothing to read while I wait. It's just the disappointment of thinking you are getting two new books and then nothing!

I did have a little good luck today though. When I got to work, I found a copy of Money To Burn by James Grippando on the give away shelf. So now I'm a little happier!!

Would it be rude???

And I know the answer to that question is yes. Which is why I haven't done the "rude" thing but oh my heavens, it's killing me.

Don't you just wish it was okay to turn around to a friend and say "Ya know, the problem might be that your 12 yr old daughter is a bit of a bitch, spoiled and nasty at times!"

I mean I totally get that all little girls start out perfect and sometimes they have some outside influences that can make them a little "less" perfect. I have a 12 yr old girl. I know how they can be. But in all honestly, how can you sit there and listen to your 12 yr old child, who you are sending to catholic school nonetheless, sit there and badmouth person after person, without saying something to them about how wrong it is to do that.

I know no kid is perfect and doesn't always see the best in every kid and situation but as parents, isn't it our job to say something to them, to teach them that maybe they shouldn't be so mean or harsh. Isn't it our job to tell them that maybe instead of being so nasty to someone, they could cut them some slack and reach out to them? I know I know, in the perfect world.......

Okay, so that's my gripe for the day.

On to better things. I scored some new books at work last night. We have bookcases here at work where you just bring your books to share with anyone and everyone. Gotta love that! Last night I managed to get a copy of South of Broad by Pat Conroy. I had taken it out of the library once but returned it unread. That might be a nice summer read after I'm done with The Girl on Legare Street.

And onto an even better thing.....I got to continue a tradition with my son the other day. We were out shopping and I noticed the the newest Magic Treehouse book was out. My oldest son is almost 16 and we started reading these books before he could even read. I loved sitting and reading them with him. Of course, there came the time when he learned to read and I lost my job as narrator of this fine series. Bittersweet indeed! But he always enjoyed reading them, even if the entire book was read in the back of the car on the way home from the shopping trip where we purchased the book. By the time we would get home, he'd be done! My favorite part of this tradition is that I write in the front of each of the books. Just a little something about how what is going on with his life ties into the title & theme of the current book. It's fun for me to write to him and he seems to enjoy reading my little "pat on the back" to him. He asked me the other day if I was going to ship him the newest Treehouse books when he goes to college. I told him I actually thought about that the other day and figured it might not be such a good idea, but I could keep them in a special place for when he came home to visit. That's a couple of years off anyway.

I think he just likes reading my little notes to him. Maybe I'll start writing in the front of his Michael Crichton books I keep finding for him.

Wow, how did we go from The Magic Treehouse to Michael Crichton books so fast????

Peek-a-boo!

I'm going to try and come out of hiding! Really going to try and blog a little more, seriously! And I know I've done this before but if at first you don't succeed........

The funny thing is, there is always so much to write about. So many times I think of something that I want to write down and just never get to it. So maybe this is the time to give myself a little kick in the butt.

One thing is for sure....it's not going to be just a book blog. I can't keep myself that disciplined. I wonder too much in my thoughts to just concentrate on reading and reviewing and blogging about books.

But, there will be a lot of book talk since reading is one of my passions.

Okay, so let's kick it off with some book talk. I started reading Jodi Picoult's new book, House Rules, the other day. It's okay but I'm not dying to get some down time to curl up with it. I carry my book with me everywhere and I actually had it with me in the car, came into the house and put it on the steps to go upstairs and I'm pretty sure it's still sitting there. Now, I have to read every morning when I go to bed or I can't sleep. That meant, I was going to have to go down both flights of stairs to get the book. I just wasn't in the mood, so I grabbed another book. So now I'm reading The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White. I'm having serious deja vu with this book but it's can't be since it just came out in November and I've been waiting for it. I'm thinking it must be because it's part of a series following The House on Tradd Street and some of the characters are the same. Or there might have been a chapter or two in the book to give you a sneak peek. Either way, it's a good story so far and just what I needed to help me relax and escape before I fall asleep. That's all I ask for!

I'm on the fence about this whole summer coming thing! I like summer because it takes us away from the hectic schedules, tons of homework, meetings, and believe it or not, the extra wash. My kids wear uniforms. Every weekend I have to make sure I have those uniforms done for the week. It's an entire extra load and it's annoying. So actually, that's one of the things I look forward to about summer. I also get to go home from work at 6AM and go right to bed instead of waiting till 6:30, getting the kids up and ready and then driving everyone to school. Going to bed at 6AM is wayyyy better than going at 8AM. More sleep, less cranky mom. It's a win/win in my house!

The only reasons I'm really not looking forward to summer is the reality that it brings with it. My oldest son is going to be a junior in High School, that means my other son will be in 8th grade and my daughter in 7th. That means they are getting older. We'll be looking at colleges. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm in denial. I like it here. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I have kids that are growing up on me. I never wanted that, I enjoyed those younger years. I want them back! DO OVER!

But whether I want it or not, summer is coming, change is coming, new adventures are coming. I need a bigger boat and paddles cause I'm up "youknowwhat" creek!