J Stories

Normally it's just be called "Jessica Stories" since she's usually the one providing them all. But this time I have a Jake story too.

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Jake likes helping with the laundry. He likes putting clothes in the washer and he likes taking the wet clothes out of the dryer as I'm trying to put them in.

The other day he saw me walking back and forth to the washer with an arm full of dirty clothes, which was his cue to go help. We took turns putting clothes in the washer and as I was putting some more in, he comes walking up with a brand new roll of toilet paper and starts to toss it in as well. (He can just barely reach high enough to toss stuff over the edge.)

Thankfully I was standing right there and gave him a quick lesson on "no-no, that doesn't go in the washer." I started to go get more clothes but had a horrible thought. What if that wasn't the only roll he tried to put in?!

So I hurry to pull out the clothes I'd just added and sure enough, there was another brand new roll of TP underneath them! It was sopping wet. (I thought about taking a picture for the blog, but it looked pretty nasty. That, and just the idea of putting toilet paper on the web just didn't seem right.)

Can you imagine the mess that would have been?! Oh the horror!

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Now for two Jessica stories that at first seemed unrelated, but in the end proved to be very related.

Oh and just so you know...they've all been grounded from TV because of their behaviors lately.



Our conversation in the car after we dropped off Rebecca at school:

Jessica: When do we get to watch cartoons again?
Me: When you start acting better.
Jessica (in her most dramatic end-of-the-world voice): Never EVER?!!!!


About an hour later, sitting at the bar at home:

Jessica: How long is it before I turn 10?
Me: About 5 more years. Why?
Pause
Jessica: I'll start acting better when I'm 10.

I'll be back

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but it kind of feels like I have. I've just been busy cleaning up throw up and...uh...from the other end too. The kids have been passing around the stomach bug for nearly a week and they are all on round 2 now. This is also the last week of school, but school may be over for my kids already.

Anyway, gotta go help Jessica in the bathroom now.

I have some garden updates and Rebecca's birthday is coming up so I'll be back posting about those things soon (I hope).

And The Winner Is...

Jenni from Conversations With My Hairdryer wins the Skizzer book! Congrats! (I decided to use Random to do the picking for me. I figured if I had one of the kids pick a number they'd just pick their age. So I opted for the unbiased picker.)

Here is the random generator result:

Congrats again, Jenni. Thanks everyone for stopping by!

You Know You're a Mom When...

...ok, so I really don't have to tell you when you know you're a mom. But today was just one of those days.

I had to go to the dentist to get that fun little contraption that is supposed to help my jaw issue. Oh yes, it's just stunning, but if it helps I'm all for it. Still, I'm having braces/retainer flashbacks and even Mackenzie laughed at me and said "I still don't get it. Why did they give you that?" Never mind. Go do the dishes. (That'll teach her to laugh at her mom who now talks with a lisp. At least I have some power over my ridiculers, unlike in my teen years.)

I digress...

So I sent one child off to meet the school bus and loaded the other three in the rig to drop off at two different places. Don't ask why...it's just my life right now.

But right before I do, I sit down to put Jake's shoes on and I sit right in some oatmeal. Nice. You know how I knew it was oatmeal? Because when I stood back up I said out loud to no one in particular, "What did I just sit in?" Rebecca leans her head around my rump for closer examination and says, "Oh, that's oatmeal."

Run, go change my pants (not shorts, because it's only going to get up in the 60's...na na na na naaaa naaaaaaa). Drop one kid off then remember I've GOT to pay a particular bill TODAY.

Run back home. Pay the bill. Drop the other two kids off, go to the dentist and feel like a kid again myself.

I'll spare you my other 5 errands, but it was SO nice going into a store allbymyself! I felt like I was naked missing an appendage or three. Until...

I have to get groceries. Now, I'm a list person. Have to have my list or I'm lost. And have to mark items off the list or I stand there staring at it forever trying to remember what I got already. So I dig around for a pen. No pen. No pencil. No eye liner. The only thing I have in my purse is a crayon. I'm sure I looked lovely perusing the grocery store with my handy dandy crayon marking off items in my handy dandy notebook.

Actually, it only bothered me for about 11.3 seconds and then it somehow didn't seem strange to me.

Oh and to top off my "wondernous" mom day, I COMPLETELY forgot I was supposed to send a dozen of a baked item for a bake sale to school with Mackenzie. Dropped the ball on that one. I felt like a real winner, let me tell ya.

Not to mention the birthday gift I'd bought for Rebecca and then abandoned in another store. At least I realized it was gone, after I got home. I called and they are holding it for me.

Honestly...I thought I had a pretty good day...until I typed all this up. I wondered why I was so snappy with the girls when they were "helping" me in the garden this evening.

Sorry, no Jessica stories this time. She must be saving up for a good'n.

Wordless Wednesday

We took this picture on a hike last summer. Would you believe that this place is only about 10 miles or so from our house, as the crow flies?

Find more Wordless Wednesdays here and here.


(Also, the book giveaway is still open, so be sure to get your name in the hat!)

Blog Tour and Giveaway

Welcome to the Skizzer Blog Tour! Every so often I'll post book reviews of hot-off-the-press Christian fiction and non-fiction books. Sometimes I'll even throw in a giveaway for a copy of the reviewed book. Today is one of those days - details below!




ABOUT THE BOOK


After receiving news of her sister Becca's abrupt disappearance, Claire Trowling must piece together the shadowy remnants of a past she's long forgotten in order to find her. A cryptic note scrawled in Becca's handwriting leaves more questions than it answers. When a stack of mysterious letters bound by a rare necklace is found, Claire races to discover the secrets that hold her family captive. Suspenseful and full of intrigue, Skizzer takes you on a transcontinental hunt for answers, weaving seamlessly between the distant past of childhood and the urgency of the present.


"This debut novel from Kiesling is a quick and engaging read with plot revelations meted out skillfully enough to keep the pages turning.... [The book has] an adventurous story, a compelling protagonist and thoughtful musings on the real meaning of sisterhood." -Publishers Weekly.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A.J. (Angie) Kiesling grew up loving trees and words--trees because they formed the natural backdrop and playground for her childhood years in rural North Carolina, and words because they captivated her from as far back as she can remember. When she wasn't romping through the woods with her siblings, she might be found with her nose in a book--or lost among the shelves at the local library.

She has worked in the Christian publishing industry since 1985 as an author and editor. A former religion writer for Publishers Weekly and Religion BookLine e-newsletter, she frequently reported on spirituality trends and religion book publishing. Angie is the author of numerous books, including Skizzer (a novel, Revell), Where Have All the Good Men Gone? (Harvest House), Jaded: Hope for Believers Who Have Given Up on Church but Not on God (Revell), and Soul Deep: Prayers and Promises for Cultivating Inner Beauty (Barbour). She also ghostwrote Live Like a Jesus Freak (Albury), the popular follow-up to D.C. Talk's bestseller Jesus Freaks.

Beginning her career as a staff editor for Charisma magazine, she went on to cover industry news and book trends for the award-winning trade periodical Christian Retailing, followed by an editorial position on the startup website iBelieve.com. Over the years she has worked as an independent book editor and writer for some of the leading names in book publishing: Baker Publishing Group, Jossey-Bass, Thomas Nelson, Honor Books, Harvest House, Creation House, Barbour Publishing, and Xulon Press, among others. Today she heads up the editorial department at Xulon Press, a print-on-demand publisher based in Orlando.



Now for my thoughts on Skizzer:

I gladly recommend this book! It is full of suspense and mystery, leaving you with a new set of questions after each revelation.

Claire drops everything to search for her missing sister. As she digs up the past, old feelings surface and perspectives begin to change. Becca has always been a mystery to Claire and the quest to find Becca would reveal so much more than Claire could even imagine. Would things ever be the same between them?

I found myself saying, "I'll stop after this chapter." Then when that chapter ended I would say, "Ok, I'll stop after this next one." I finished the book in two days, which is amazing for me considering 1) I'm a slow reader (but I love reading) and 2) you know, 4 kids take up a little bit of my time. ;o)

Skizzer left me with just enough questions to keep me reading, but not so many that I was confused or frustrated. I did find myself having to flip back and forth to get the dates/timeline right in my head but I enjoyed the brief flashes of memories that both answered my questions and left me with more.



Buy the book here.

To find out more, visit A.J. Kiesling's website.




Want to win a free copy of Skizzer? Just leave a comment to this post and your name is automatically thrown into the hat to win. Depending on how many comments I get, I'll either randomly pick one, or I'll grab the child closest to me (who can say more than "Ma" and "ah-boo") and have them pick a number between one and two...or how many comments there are. I'll pick a winner on Saturday morning (May 31st). Unless I know you and already have it, be sure to leave an email address where I can notify you if you win. You don't have to have a blog to enter.


Also, check out other reviews in the Blog Tour for Skizzer here and see how you can win $40 to the restaurant of your choice!

Friday Five

What is Friday Five? I don't know, I just made it up. Maybe because I had planned on doing the Thursday Thirteen and I missed it.

1) Today was supposed to be Mackenzie's Track & Field day but the school postponed it due to rain. I didn't schedule any tutoring hours today because of it, so this afternoon I'll probably do some much needed cleaning of the house and do some much needed reading to Jessica (the only one who will be here and awake this afternoon). Oh and they rescheduled the Track & Field day for next Thursday, which I have a dentist appointment. So I need to see if I can reschedule that, too. That's always fun.

2) Ok, well I called and guess what? They are closed on Fridays. I wonder if they will be also be closed on Monday because of the holiday. Yikes!

3) Three day weekend ahead!! What will you be doing? Considering it's supposed to only get up into the mid 60's and rainy all weekend, I doubt we'll do any grilling out or much outside stuff. Maybe we'll chill and watch movies. Maybe we'll install a ceiling fan in our bedroom and a switch for the new fan in the living room. Maybe Stan won't be too thrilled with this honey-do list I'm making up right now. Maybe we'll play the Wii. Maybe we'll run through the house in our underwear, singing "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me." Maybe we'll watch Jake walk around the house with his blanket on his head and running into things. Maybe we'll be full of cabin fever by the time Tuesday rolls around.

4) The reason I have been frequenting the dentist lately is to fix my jaw...or at least relieve the pain and headaches. I'm getting one of those very attractive mouth guards to help. It should look just lovely (at least my family will be the only ones to see it), but I guess if I survived going to school with a bionater contraption in my mouth (much, much, much worse than a retainer...imagine having both top and bottom retainers that are attached to each other so that your teeth stay together...and then try talking that way) and enduring the ridicule of that I can endure another plastic contraption. Word to the wise: if your jaw pops on one or both sides when you open your mouth, go get it looked at. It's a little piece of bone that is being rubbed away or pushed out of place and the only "real" way to pseudo-"fix" it is surgery. No thanks. It may not hurt at first, but it will. And the daily, intense headaches? Not so much fun.

5) If you've read this far, well, bless your heart! I do have some fun stuff coming up. Next week (Tuesday) I'll post a book review...first of many to come. And with this particular review, I'm also doing a giveaway for that book. So after your fun-filled, three day weekend come back and win a free book!

Have a great weekend!!!

Wordless Wednesday

See more Wordless Wednesdays here.

Hello ~ Good-bye

I would love to stay and chat and tell you about Jake climbing up the slide the wrong way at the playground and falling and busting his lip and blood gushing everywhere, but I must go.

We've been having SUMMER weather the past few days and according to the weather report, summer is not actually here yet and we shouldn't expect this extravagant summertime treatment much longer. No, no. Meaning - rain and cooler temps are on their way once more.

Montanans are like a colony of ants. When it's cold you won't see many of them out and about (mostly because YOU are not out and about to see if anyone else is out and about, but that's a different story). When it's warm it's like everyone is connected to the same brain wave that makes them chant "Must go outside. Must go outside. Must go outside."

I've wondered what we must look like from the sky. You know...the same view you'd have leaning over an ant bed, watching the ants scurry along without any knowledge of your presence.

Anyway...

I've also been sporadically hard at work clearing the rocks out of the flower bed that I'm insisting on re-doing. You know, those "Flower Power Garden Makeover" posts from so long ago? I'll give an update later in the week when the temps have dropped again and I'm back in front of the computer screen, talking instead of doing.



Jake is okay, by the way. He loves it when he gets to suck on a piece of ice through a plastic baggie. Give him a pacifier or a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and he's fine.

Eventful Weekend Ahead

If you like Jessica stories, you're in luck because we seem to be full of them lately.

The other day Stan and I were talking about our upcoming schedule. This weekend is going to be full, complete with a birthday party (not one of ours), a graduation (not one of ours), a changed church schedule (because of the graduation), and...drum roll, please...a date! Yes. A date! Just the mommy and the daddy. No kids. Can you believe it?! It's our anniversary - eleven whole years. Thank you, thankyouverymuch.

And where does Jessica fit into all of that, you ask? Well, as we were trying to get it all sorted out in our heads she pipes up...

"And I'm in a Grape Peeling Contest!"

I guess she felt left out and since we always go to Mackenzie's and Rebecca's school events, she wanted us to come see one of her events.

Why she chose "Grape Peeling Contest" we'll never know. But I'm sure she'd be great at it. I think she's sure she'd be great at it too, even though she made it up.

Have a great weekend!!!

And be sure to practice that grape peeling. Just in case there's a contest.