Just Take My Heart Brooke

Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark


 

My review

  rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a quick, easy read. There are more than one mysteries going on at the same time, but yet they are connected even though they are separate cases. I did have one problem. When a character dies, it is not know what this character knew and is never addressed.
 

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Brooke has gotten herself grounded. This week she has been pushing the line at preschool. Just enough to be annoying, but not enough to not get her stamp at the end of the day. Well yesterday her teacher wrote a note explaining this and asking us to talk to Brooke about this situation. We never saw this note. After Brooke's teacher called today, I found out that Brooke tore the note out of her notebook, put it in her pocket, and then threw it away at home. Needless to say, we really talked to Brooke and grounded her from the TV today and tomorrow. She was not happy, but we need to nip this in the bud. She is only 4 1/2, we do not want her thinking this behavior is okay.

Dead As A Doornail

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris


 

My review

  rating: 4 of 5 stars
Picked this up while on vacation. Through a misunderstanding, I was lead to believe this was the first in the series. Now I was able to read this without reading the previous books, I am worried that the earlier books will be ruined for since I do know things that have already happened. Needless to say, I did enjoy this book and iwll be reading the rest in the series.
 

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Sneaky, Sneaky

Melodye is a little stinker. Tomorrow night is the 3rd Grade Musical at her school. Of course she is participating in the musical. It is required as part of their grade. Last night Melodye told Tommy that she is upset that she has been staying in for a short time at recess to pick out a poem to read at the musical. She became upset that he had told me. When I asked her why, Melodye said it was because she wanted the poem to be a surprise. Luckily we did find out early so that both sets of grandparents will be able to make it to the musical. I don't think she realizes how exciting this is to be invited to read the poem. All I know is that I am extremely proud of her and she hasn't even gotten up there yet.

Promises Kept

I actually took the pictures I promised. I know it is pretty amazing.

First up we have the doll quilt I made for Brooke. I just realized that I didn't include the back. The back is a lime green. It looks real cute together. I followed a quilt-a-long that was very helpful. Definitely would recommend it.

Now we have the Lady February Sweater that I have been working on forever. Maybe I will finish it and be able to wear it before it gets too warm.

Melodye and I are leaving now to go here with the Girl Scouts for the weekend. Pictures will definitely follow from this trip.

Driving Me Crazy

I tell you computers can really drive a person CRAZY!!!!!! I thought they were supposed to make our lives easier. Our desktop computer crashed. It had an external hard drive that was set up to automatically back up files. But it hasn't made a back up since September!!!!!! Which means all of our Itunes information is GONE! Messing around with Itunes, I discover that we have two accounts. How in the world did we end up with two accounts? So I am trying to recover what I can, but it is killing me. I do not want this headache or responsibility. I have emailed Apple. I am waiting for the emailed response, but I am leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to a dude ranch with Melodye and the Girl Scouts. So I may still be resolving this issue next week, Frustrating I tell you.

The computer problems means that I did not take the pictures I planned. Hopefully I will remember to take the pictures and post them in between packing for our trip tomorrow.

Cumberland Falls Part 3

This is the last part of our vacation from Easter Sunday. The pictures with us by the falls didn't turn out. The lighting didn't work out for us to show up in the photos, but the rainbow came out awesome. I really do need to learn the controls of my camera and how to use Photoshop Elements so that I can make my pictures pop. But I think these turned out pretty good.

It really was amazing seeing such a beautiful rainbow up close. The girls were asking where the pot of gold was since they could see where the rainbow started and finished. I still wish we could have seen the moonbow, but this was a nice replacement. And on the plus side I actually could get photos that turned out showing the rainbow!!

I think tomorrow I will try to take some pictures of the doll quilt I sewed for Brooke and some of the February Lady Sweater I have been knitting forever.

Cumberland Falls Part 3

Boy did I take a lot of pictures on this trip. I have tried to narrow them pictures down and post in increment, but it will still be picture heavy. So be prepared.

 

We drove 41 miles to Cumberland Gap. There was an area that the kids could dress up as pioneer girls or boys. Melodye didn't want to do it, but Brooke did. Brooke decided to be a pioneer boy. Go figure. She was not happy at this point because another family had joined us at this point. But she still is cute.

Of course, I had to include a close up picture of such a cute girl.

 

We then drove up to the Pinnacle and hiked a couple of short trails. Melodye was so excited because we were in a cloud.

 

Everyone walked right on by and didn't realize that they had gone into another state. So I took a picture of my big feet standing in Kentucky and Virginia.

 

When we cam back through the girls had fun being in two states at the same time.

Then we were bad parents and left a girl in each state. Sorry I had to make that joke. It was either that or make the joke that they were grounded to different states.

 

I took a picture of Melodye and me, but it wasn't the greatest because we were cold from being in the cloud.

 

This is where we stayed at the Dupont Lodge. The lodge was very conveniently located to the falls. The staff there were amazingly friendly. I would definitely recommend staying there if you are going to Cumberland Falls. I don't know if I would call the Wi-fi high speed, but it worked for what we needed. Tommy says I am just spoiled and that I used to be happy with that speed.

 

We then went back to the falls and explored a little and took some pictures.

 

These are taken on some rocks before the falls. Let me tell you it was hard to get a good picture of Brooke.

 

While I took pictures Tommy skipped rocks and the girls watched.

 

We made Melodye take pictures of us. She wasn't happy to do that because she had better things to do. But she didn't do too bad.

 

Tommy and the girls at the falls again with Brooke being crazy.

 

Me with the girls. As you can tell Brooke still did not want any pictures taken of her.

 

We hiked further and found an area that the girls played in the sand and tried to make sand castles.

 

I kept trying for a cute sister picture, but this was the closest I go. Although I should be happy with it because it does show their personalities.

 

I then wrote our name and 2009 in the sand. My family thought I was crazy when I told them to put their feet in the shot, but I like how it turned out.

 

We tried to see the moonbow, but gave up at about 11:45pm. The girls were tired and it was COLD. We did see the start of the arch, but there wasn't any color to the arch yet. The moon hadn't risen high enough yet. Plus I don't know if I would even have gotten any pictures since I don't know the controls on my camera. I really should learn that someday.

So this was Saturday and we still have Sunday to show. I forgot after we left Cumberland Gap, we went for a drive and ended up in Tennessee and Virginia. The landscape was just gorgeous in Virginia, so green. I wish we could have stopped to take pictures, but not a safe thing to do on the side of a highway or byway as I saw a sign say. Maybe some other time.

Cumberland Falls Part 2 and Three book Reviews

2Tonight we should be able to see the moonbow, but we have to wait until 11:15pm for the best time. The girls are resting right now while we wait.

I have read two books so far while on our trip and one before our trip. So here are my reviews.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a hard one to get into and also a hard book to stay interested in. Don't get me wrong, there were sections that I did not want to put down, but then there were more that I couldn't wait for them to be over. I continued reading this because I really enjoyed the musical and I wanted to see what similarities there were. My real problem with Wicked was the sheer enormity of characters. There were characters that were introduced out of nowhere and then not mentioned again or until much later. These characters seemed like I should have known them, but there really wasn't a reason to know the. All in all, I would not be recommending this to anyone.


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Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel by Perri O'Shaughnessy

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this Nina Reilly book. My problem was that I know things from the previous books and I kept skipping ahead trying to figure out when things were going to happen. But if you are a fan of the Nina Reilly books this is a must read. Although now that I think about it, there can still be more prequels besides this one. We do not know how Nina ends up in Tahoe or how Paul becomes a private investigator and so forth. Interesting to see if there will be more prequels to come.


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The Associate by John Grisham

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I am so glad that John Grisham has returned to what he does best. I read all of his earlier books, but when he started moving away from his earlier style of writing, I stopped reading them. The Associate is definitely a return to the style of writing that I enjoyed so much in the past. The character, Kyle is a real likeable character. I was rooting for him all along. I was wishing for someway of knowing what happens to Kyle in the future. If John Grisham continues to write in this style I will continue reading. I would recommend this to anyone who likes John Grisham's earlier books.


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Cumberland Falls Part 1

We left this morning at 6am and drove for seven hours. We have made it to Corbin, Kentucky where Cumberland Falls are located. Every time there is a full moon there is a phenomenon called a moonbow that occurs. Unfortunately it was rainy and cloudy so we could not see it tonight. We are holding out hope for tomorrow night.

We did go see the falls inbetween rainstorms. The girls couldn't believe the waterfalls that we saw on the stairs.

Brooke obviously did not want her picture taken. Actually she was mad because we told her we wanted a nice picture not a crazy one.

Here is the whole family.

Here are a couple of the falls.

Birthday List

Once again I am asked for my birthday list. There are so many things that I would like. My problem is that I never feel comfortable giving a list or asking for anything as a present. I know it's crazy, but I have always been that way. But then how do I expect anyone to know what I want unless I tell them. So here goes a try at a list.

• I would love a camera strap from this seller named cottoncandybynatalie.

The fabric choices and combinations are just too cute.

• I would like some new stitch markers like these, these, these, these, these, and these.

• I also like some sock yarns like Alexandrite, Tyrian Purple, Meridian, Aquarium, Patina, Gelato and Martinique. This bag is cute for holding socks while knitting them.

• I like this pattern from Heather Bailey. Also her fabric is gorgeous like this, this, this , this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

• I also like fabric from Sandi Henderson. Some favorites are this, this, this, this, this, and this.

• I need a new camera battery. I used to have an extra one, but the original battery died. The battery might be cheaper elsewhere, but I don't have time to look for it elsewhere.

• Someday when we are rich, I would love to have an Ipod Touch.

• I would like two of these or four of these to organize my photos.

• Here are some cute Flip Video Cameras for hen we are made of money like this, this, or even this.

• And of course, I love anything Twilight like this book, but I especially can't wait for this book.

Now, Thomas remember these are just ideas and I do not want everything. Hello, we are not RICH or even close. LOL. Also, this list is not all inclusive. I reserve the right to add more and you are more than welcome to come up with things on your own.

Tell Me This

How in the world do you not put your car in park when you exit the car?!? I am asking this because a parent's car hit mine today at school while she was in the building. I was getting my things out when her car jerked forward and hit mine. Luckily I wasn't hurt and the van has a tiny scratch. Most of all I am glad that her van hit mine instead of a kid walking through the parking lot. But that still doesn't make me any happier that this happened. It really made for a frustrating day. I am waiting for a copy of the police report I filed. I am also going to have my brother look at it tomorrow to make sure that I didn't miss anything. That's a plus of having a brother who is a mechanic.

Start Your Engines!

Soccer has officially started and the craziness that goes with it. The girls have practices at the exact same time and day, but on opposite sides of the city. Luckily we will each be able to take one girl to their practice. The only problem we will run into is when Tommy has a meeting after school. Hopefully that won't be that often.

Cute Story Alert!!!

The other day the girls were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. After a few rounds Melodye told Brooke that she had a glue gun and it beat everything else. Brooke told Melodye "No I Barack Obama'd you." And the game ended at that point because evidently at my house Barack Obama beats everything else.