Busted!

I think I mentioned back in January that we got two new kitties. Manx kitties. They were sweet, little teeny baby kitties when we got them.

Then they grew.

And ate.

A lot.

And turned into adolescent kitties.

And now they are ornery.

See.

This is Toby, he's into shredding paper towels and toilet paper. Usually he does his little shredding destruction when we're gone. But this time I heard a ruckus in the kitchen and tiptoed in....BUSTED!!!

I feel like I have a toddler in the house again. I keep telling myself it's a phase, soon they'll be big, fat, lazy cats that just lay around in the sunlight all day (I'm ok with that).

And I admit....they are still sweet. I'm pretty smitten with these kittens.

Daydreaming on a Friday Afternoon

I'm following in Impulsive's footsteps today and hooking up with her friend, Becca, who hosts a Friday DayDreaming on her blog. It's kinda cool (well, not 'kinda', it IS cool), where you post a vacation pic and daydream about it. You should go over and visit and link up.

So, here's what I've got for this week. Last month, as you know, we went to Cape San Blas, FL.

Had another wonderful time. It's a magical place, but one of the best times of the day is sunset. The sunsets are amazing, I literally stand there and just stare until the sun drops into the ocean and leaves behind a glowing horizon.

This is Katie standing at the ocean's edge watching the sun go down. She just stood there and watched and watched. When the sun was gone and darkness had descended on us, she turned and said, "well, that was another great day." Love her!

I'd like to just sit here on this Friday afternoon and dream about standing in the warm ocean as the waves lap around my feet watching a beautiful sunset.

Happy Weekend!

My Neck of the Woods--Angry Birds

I'm linking up with the RHOK today to share what's going on in My Neck of the Woods. What's really going on is back-to-school preparation (school starts one week from today), but I'm choosing to ignore that and squeeze every last minute out of summer. So let's just pretend BTS isn't happening.

Here's what's going on in My Neck of the Woods...

The Angry Birds live show.

Of course we've all played Angry Birds on our phones or iPads. And I'm sure you know that the stuffed animal birds are available for purchase (at the grocery store and other retailers). If your kids have blocks they build up the village with the pigs strategically placed then they throw the stuffed Angry Birds at it. It's totally awesome when the blocks come crashing down over and over and over again on the wood floor (**sarcasm**). But shoot, they're happy, so it's all good.

That's what's going on in My Neck of the Woods!

Perspective

It's hot. We know, we know. It's HOT! So please quit posting your dashboard temp gauges on Facebook, etc. We're all hot and we all know it's hot. Ok?

Sorry to get testy...I think the heat is getting to me (ho ho ha ha hee hee). Not really...I like HOT weather--I'm cool with it!

Ok, seriously, it's not going to be hot forever, so let's all simmer down a bit and put it into perspective.

You could be doing this....

Or this...

See this...this is the temperature forecast for Baghdad, Iraq.

It's really hot there, too.

As you know, I don't get political on the ol blog (in the words of Bush the 1st "not gunna do it"), but I think we need to put our little heat wave in perspective. You're probably wearing shorts, tank tops, swimsuits, flip flops, etc. Not full combat gear. Just keep that in mind the next time you say, "ugh, I'm soooo hot." We don't have it that bad.

Hopping off my soapbox now. Hope you have a great Wednesday!!!

3 Quick Reviews

Ok, so you know we just got back from vacation. I like to read. I love to read on the beach. And it took two days to get there and two days to get back, so that's a lot of car time, too. So I read. So today I'm not going to give you long book reviews, I'm going to keep it quick. Here's what I read last week:

The Middle Place

by Kelly Corrigan

Rating: 4 out of 5

This is not a non-fiction (like I thought it was when I grabbed it as I was whizzing through the bookstore the day before we left). It's very well written and very relateable for mothers who have small children and are in "the middle place" between being a parent (to their children) and a child (to their parents). The main theme is her fight and her father's with cancer. Her wit and humor make it an easy read for a topic that could be depressing. It wasn't a "I couldn't put this book down" type of book, but it's very good and I would recommend it.

The Red Garden

by Alice Hoffman

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

This is a very interesting book. If you decide to read it here's my first piece of advise...stick with it. The first 3 or 4 chapters you'll be thinking "blah...eh." But stay with it. This book isn't a 'story,' each chapter is a glimpse at the life of a citizen of a town in Massachusetts starting at the founding of the town and continuing through the 1990s-2000s. The common thread that binds the chapter together and the character together through the centuries is this garden that is behind the founder of the town's home where the soil is blood red. I would recommend this book and it's interesting cast of characters. But like I said...stick with this book through the beginning.

A Soft Place to Land

by Susan Rebecca White

Rating: 3 out of 5

Man, I really wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like the characters and was waiting for that "aha" moment in the book. But it never happened. It's the story of two sisters whose parents die in a plane crash when they are in 7th and 10th grade and their relationship throughout the years. This could have been a beautiful story but I just kept wanting to take a hold of both girls and shake them by the shoulders and say, "it's not always about YOU!" This is a decent 'beach read' where it isn't too deep, so don't expect too much out of it except for one mini drama after another. Oh--also more character development was needed. Read it if you'd like...it's just ok.

Happy Wednesday! Have a hot day!

My Neck of the Woods

I'm linkin' up with the RHOK today and showing you My Neck of the Woods.

Go check them out to see others, always fun to see what's going on in other's Woods.

Here's what's going on in my neck of the woods.

'Nuf said!

Later gators.

A Month? Dang!

Shazaaaam! Whoa--no way has it been almost a month since I posted. In the words of Joe Dirt..."dang!"

Dang!

I could sit here and give you a million excuses why I've been absent for a month, but shoot, it's summer girls and boys and sometimes mama's get a summer break, too.

But really I've just been uber-busy. I won't give you details, I'll just say it goes a little something like this...summer camp, VBS, golf camp, pool time, grandparent's visit, pool time, kid #1's birthday, 5K races, pool time, kid #2's birthday...etc, etc. But I'm no different than the rest of you parents out there. I've just put blogging on the back burner. But I'll be back. Just not next week.

Oh, and there's this little thing, too...

I'll fill ya in on that later...

Dang!

Happy Hot Thursday!