I almost forgot

Just a few closing thoughts for the day:

I am loving this whole SITS thing. I had no idea there were so many other crazy bloggers out there. Oh the world it has opened up to me. It has left me wondering how many days I can get buy with saying "No housework today". It has made me very envious of some of their swanky designs though and I would love to have a new look from this talented woman. And oh yeah I almost forgot (but not really cause my lovely ones have gotten on my last nerve today)

Only 75 days till school starts!!

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz Book Review

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

I have read many other reviews of this book and I agree with most of them, the good and the bad. I, however, am not an all or nothing person. I also must say that I love Odd Thomas and there will never be another book like the original. This is a good book, if taken for what it obviously is. It is sporadic and very noticeably a set up for future story lines but why is that such a big deal. It is still a good piece of work and if you are going to be involved with a series of books you have to be able to roll with what the author is trying to accomplish. Koontz is known for letting his books lead him and I believe that is what he was doing here. Yes, this could have been a much greater novel but that may have ruined where he is going and yes, what was included in this book could have made a very compelling short story if written by a less voluble writer but again who knows what would have been lost. Now I can get on with my thoughts on this installment of the series.

“Odd Hours” gives us everything that we have come to expect from our loveable fry cook. He is humorous and philosophical yet full of humility. This writing is some of Koontz’s most memorable, although broken and erratic at times there are some real literary gems in this book. Some of the other characters are so enduring, namely Hutch and Birdie and some of the scenes so visible in my mind that I was delighted. There are many loose ends and unanswered questions but how else would he keep you anticipating where he will take you in the future. Then there is the whole situation with Annamaria which is very entertaining and took me back to read many of the sections a second time after I finished the book (I think I have her figured out but I will keep that to myself). By the end of this book Odd is no longer a naïve young kid, he has been forced to deal with where his gift/curse is going to lead him. This is, as I said, a good book if taken for what it is – a link in a series. If you haven’t read any of the Odd series, I highly recommend them but don’t start with this one. Start at the beginning and continue on through the 4 already written and the 3 more to come and I’m sure it will all make sense.

Wedding Afterthoughts

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures from my brothers wedding. Not of the actual wedding as you see, just a few shots from afterwards. This first one is a great one of my
StairSteps

And this one, believe it or not is the favorite of most of my family.
It's just us being us.
Gabbing and goofing.

And oh yeah......76 days till school starts!!

Under control?

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up

is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller

I have already had a glimpse of what my summer is going to be like and I’m not having any of it. So when the kids get up today I am laying down the law. It is time for them to realize that Mommy is not here to be their slave. They have got to be responsible for themselves. I have tried in the past but it is a hard thing to accomplish with 4 kids in a house this small. So I have a new plan. I can’t punish one without punishing them all (did I mention that we live in a shoe box?) so I have come up with a new idea. I have lists made up of what they need to do and all of the conditions lined up. For their morning chores I have decided that they will be doing nothing until they are done. The TV will not come on, they will not use the computer or phone and they will not go outside and play. In the evenings they are going to pick up any and all messes they made during the day and do their tasks for helping to clean up after supper or they will not get to do any of the aforementioned things for an extra hour after they get their morning chores done. I hate to punish them all if just one of them is being lazy but I have no other way to do it. I’m hoping they will put enough pressure on each other (without getting too mean about it) that they will each get their things done without making a fuss. I am reliably inconsistent so all of you keep your fingers crossed for me. This is the first of many battles that I will have to fight this summer, I am sure, but if I can get this one thing under control the rest should be much easier.

Random Abandon

Given my obsession with Myspace and now blogging I never thought I would say I didn’t want comments but after just two days of my kids being off from school I have said it. They, for some reason, feel the need to comment on every statement that is made so we have a new rule – No Comments! This doesn’t apply to me – Obviously!!

Boy- n.: a noise with dirt on it.

Dickens Dinner #2 is over and done and we actually made it to this one. All went well but everyone wasn’t there so we shall see what the future holds.

“I can’t believe yall got to play with Play-Doh all day. That’s so not fair.”

Ok not a weird quote for a family with a bunch of little boys except….

It came from my 13 yr. old talking on her cell phone to one of her friends from school.

Got to love the last week of school!

Now I shall leave you with a short thought: Remember someone always has it worse than you!

77 days till school starts!!

One day, One choice, One pound at a time

SW-218
CW-186
LW-185.2
GW-160

Ok. Ok. I know. Honestly I can't seem to get past this point. I bounce down and back up but I just can't get below 185. I thought I was going to do it this week but the cards were stacked against me. I gained -no lie- 5 lbs. while we were in Tennessee. I lost all of it and on Thursday I actually saw 184 on the scale but it was short lived. Along came TOM and out the door that went. I will break through this week though. I promise you. Sometimes it is so easy to do this and sometimes it seems impossible. I'm trying so hard to make our lives healthy but it is not an easy task in this world. I know that it can't all happen overnight and that there are many facets to it but I want to feel like I am passing something good onto my kids for their future. That's why (as you know if you've been reading) I wanted to do this a healthy and smart way and not just by taking some pills or starving myself. As my title states though, I can't be perfect and healthy all the time. Each day brings a new struggle and new choices to be made and many times the weight just creeps off but at least I'm no longer headed in the wrong direction.

The joysof summertime and boys

At some point last weekend Jo hurt his foot, at exactly what point we cannot pinpoint, that is the loveliness of young boys. My guess is that he did it jumping into the pool at the hotel, he says he did it at the baseball game Monday night but I distinctly remember him limping on the trip home Sunday. In either case he is done with baseball for this season and let me see you try to keep a 10 yr. old boy sitting still. We took him to the doc and got an x-ray which they promptly said they were afraid to read and sent it on to a higher up radiologist. All came back clear though and apparently he just has a stone bruise. Still means no running for awhile and not going barefoot for a long while but that's better than a chipped heel. Oh the joys of summertime and boys, I have a feeling its going to be a long summer. Let the countdown begin and No I'm not joking!

79 days till school starts!