Daddy is Trying to Kill the Kids

I was out of town for work this weekend (as I usually am). Yesterday afternoon I get a phone call while at work from Daddy wanting to know if I got the picture message from him. I hadn't noticed one, so I looked...the caption simply said "guess what I found for the kids". I won't bother trying to post the picture message itself at it's really hard to see, but I was able to cross my eyes just far enough to realize what it was.

"Oh no you didn't."

"Yep."

"Did you already buy it?"

"Yep."

"Oh good lord."

I'll spare you the rest of the exciting conversation about him trying to murder our children & that he also needed to get fruit snacks & dog food.

So I'm sure you're dying to know at this point what method of torture he's planning for my sweet babies?
Behold the death trap awesomeness: http://www.amazon.com/Toy-Story-inch-Jumbo-Ball/dp/B003XXLEII

I'll give you a minute...(*quietly hums*)

See that open spot on the left side there next to Woody? The kids go IN there. I'm not even joking!! My kids are going to kill themselves in this thing! The sad part? I will be laughing until I pee the entire time!

Reading Challenge: The List

I've started a list of all of the books I can think of that I either already own, or have been wanting to read that will fit into the reading challenge I've signed up for. I really have no intention of reading all of them, just compiling a list of ideas.
One of the "rules" of the challenge is that re-reads do count, but I really would like to avoid that if possible, unless of course I get a hankering for a little Twilight or True Blood! LOL!

Here's what I have so far:

'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen
'True Grit' by Charles Portis
'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult
'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold
'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert
'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis Carrol -Finished 1/11/11
'Eragon' by Christopher Paolini
'The Golden Compass' by Phillip Pullman
'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café' by Fannie Flagg
'A Far Off Place' by Laurens Van Der Post
'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson
'The Last Unicorn' by Peter S. Beagle
'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom
'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' by Washington Irving
'The Lodger' by Marie Belloc Lowndes
'Never Cry Wolf' by Farley Mowat
'P.S. I Love You' by Cecelia Ahern
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde
'The Power of One' by Bryce Courtenay
'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen
'Schindler's List' by Thomas Keneally
'Seabiscuit: An American Legend' by Laura Hillenbrand
'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger
'Pygmalion' by Bernard Shaw (My Fair Lady movie)
'Déjà Dead' by Kathy Reichs (Bones TV Show)
'Darkly Dreaming Dexter' by Jeff Lindsay (Dexter TV Show)

'The Man Who Would Be King' by Rudyard Kipling

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson (I may read the others depending on how I like this one.)

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell

(The titles in italics are books I already own in one form or another.)

I'm also totally open to ideas from others so let me know if there's something you think I should read or might like!

2011 Page to Screen Reading Challenge

As mentioned in my previous post, I plan on challenging myself by reading more. What better way to challenge oneself than by participating in one! :D

Thanks to a couple of Facebook friends, this reading challenge was brought to my attention & it's PERFECT for me!



It's the Page to Screen Reading challenge that's being hosted by Reading Extensively & I'm extremely excited to join in!

The premise of the challenge is to read books that were made into movies or TV shows (extra credit if you also watch said movie or TV show)! I'm still wondering how many extra credit points we get for Alice in Wonderland considering there's only like 300 movie & TV versions of it! :D

Each time I finish a book, I will post a review here. I hope you all will follow along! I can't wait!

A New Year - A New Challenge - or 4

So I know the big thing to do is to make resolutions at the beginning of the New Year. I never really like to make them, because it's just something to fail at. Again. I'm tired of failure. So no resolutions for me, I think I'm going to go with challenges instead.
Challenge #1: Be healthier. Less "crap" in and on my body.
Challenge #2: Be a better blogger. No really - I don't know why I don't do this more often! I love reading my friends' blogs (even the blogs of total strangers) & it's very therapeutic too!
Challenge #3: Read more. Now that the kids are older & able to entertain themselves (& each other) sooooo much more now, I think I can use that to my advantage!
Challenge #4: MORE PHOTOGRAPHY! I tried one of those 365 photo blogs last year & made it to November (not bad, but still failed). Instead of focusing on one pic a day, I really want to focus on getting BETTER at my photography & I plan on sharing that journey here instead of in a separate blog (for now anyways).


So challenge #3 brings up...well a challenge! LOL! You'll read all about it in my next post. I think it's one I can actually keep up with for a change & I am really excited!