Confessions of a Bored California Girl!

I was able to wrap up this book on my lunch breaks this week and let me tell you how happy I was this book ended. I wanted to shout from the rooftops that I was finally finished!

No, it's not a horrible book. No, it's not a super long book.

Yes, it took me less than a week to read....but still.....

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This book is....boring. I just didn't find it interesting at all. Maybe it's because I grew up with a Paps who worked on dairies and we grew up with Grandparents who lived out in the country area of town. I'm not sure but the entire time I was reading this book I felt like I was slamming my head repeatedly into a brick wall.

I understand, this woman is from Jersey and had never stepped foot on farmland, but seriously her constant bitching about a situation she didn't necessarily have to be in wasn't going to make the experience any better.

Don't get me wrong I do my fair share of bitching....yes I'll admit I complain like no one else's business at times. But the majority of the other time I'm trying to make the situation as enjoyable as possible. This woman apparently does not believe in it. She likes to point out everything gross and weird and wrong with country life and with 368 pages of this it gets old............real fast!

Other than her constant whining I did enjoy some of the humorous sections where I formed a clear movie reel in my head, picture - cows chasing an extremely freaked out blonde in designer duds!

Other than the few humorous moments I was not at all into this book. I finished it, thank the stars in the skies, but I wish I had read a sample of this book before:

A. Putting it on my book list

B. Subjecting my book club to reading it as well.

The author's only saving grace with me was the sympathy card. No she didn't ask for it, in fact if I hadn't done research (to get a picture of this chick) I would have probably never stumbled upon this fact.

Her husband died this year in April from cancer. And if there is one thing you can walk away feeling good about from this book, it is the love she has for her husband. After I found that out I softened a little for her.

Regardless of the fact that a big part of me softened, I still can't give her book higher than a C on the grading scale.

For those who are going to check it out just beware - there's a lot of whiny, bitching, and overall oddness.

Sunday Bloody Sunday!

Sunday in our house used to mean football all day, until Chuck started working Sundays. Well now that he's got himself Sundays off again (starting this weekend YAY) I know our house will be back to football bloody sunday!

You'd think I'd run and hide and turn my last solo sunday into an extreme princess day...but no. Instead I embraced my new life of Football Sundays!

I did make my way up into my scrapbook room and lit up this beauty! Thanks Bath and Body Works for providing a plethora of new scents that seriously make me swoon. The particular one I chose to burn this day was Cinnamon Sugared Donut!

After getting my room smelling like the local donut shop I gathered the materials I'd need for my Football Sunday Project!

Since my Honey is a San Francisco 49ers Fan, (I hear they are developing a vaccine for this horrible disease) I slipped on my face mask, plastic gloves, and disinfected my sewing table....

I kid I kid :-)

While I may not favor the Niners I do still love Chuck and I had promised him I'd make him a new valence to go in his Mancave, you know to "complete" the look!

Thanks to my awesome Mom for teaching me how to make a valence I just jumped right in and got started.

After spending what felt like a 1/2 hour ironing out the fabric, cutting it, pinning it and then ironing again I got to put in my first stitch! Of course a picture is 100% appropriate for such a task :-)

Suprisingly I whipped this sucker up in an hour and 20 minutes! So proud! 

Check out the before!  

And AFTER!!!  

I've considered making another set so they "scrunch" up but alas the Man of the Mancave likes them just the way they are!

Chuckles loved them and he was quite impressed that I survived, despite having to touch 49er paraphernalia (shudder).

I should explain I'm not even a huge fan of football. I'm a huge fan of the cutie pie players! (I'm looking at you Miles Austin and Jason Witten) Yep I'm that chick!

And technically I'm banned from watching Niner games anyways - apparently last season I was the one who made the Niners lose! It couldn't be because the team sucked - no it was my fault. Essentially any time I'd come down to hang out with honey the Niners would lose. The Brett Favre incident = my fault!

Not that I'm sad to be banned at all...just means more time in my scrapbook room surrounded by pink walls, cute trinkets, and the glorious scents of girl-ville!!

BTW - I should add, I'm a hater on the Niners cause I grew up with a DIE HARD RAIDER FAN for a Paps and a Sister who turned out to be just as intense :-) It was just in my blood! 

That's Just Peachy!

Last weekend I developed a craving....a craving for Baking!!! I hadn't baked in a long time cause I've been trying really hard to stay on track with my weight loss. But I had to cave.

Soooooo...I caved in one of the best possible ways. I opened up my Taste of Home Guilt Free Cookbook and picked out a Peach Cobbler to make! I was in luck too cause I had everything on hand! Go Me!

This recipe is very easy and you just need a few items, in fact I bet you can even switch the Peaches out for other fruits. I might try a Berry Mix that I've had in our freezer saving it to make a smoothie, but lets get real I'm just not a smoothie person!

I digress - grab these ingredients: 1 egg, butter, baking powder, suger, flower, milk, peaches, and salt.

Open up your peaches and toss them into a pan with 1/4 cup sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes.

While your peaches are "standing" in the pot! Combine egg, butter, and remaining sugar.

Next stir in your milk, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Pour into an 8x8 pan sprayed with baking spray!

Then go back to your peaches. Turn on your stove top, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and let simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Should take a minute, maybe two max.

Gently plop your peaches over the mixture in your 8x8 pan.

Then pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Wait for your house be filled with the wonderful peach scent then get ready to enjoy!!

This cobbler is indeed dreamy and if you add a little fat free whipped topping (straight from the freezer) it's like HEAVEN!

This cobbler as so amazingly delish and light! I literally felt like I satsified my baking craving as well as my sweet craving! I had one slice with my frozen whipped topping and didn't feel bogged down by sugar. Nope I felt satsified and NOT GUILTY!!

Not feeling guilty is huge for me! I almost always feel guilty when I indulge in my sweet side but this one is on the healthier side and only 4 Weight Watcher Points per slice! Can it get any better? Probably not!

For the full recipe check it out here and then get in your kitchen ASAP to whip up your own! Better make it soon too cause it's more of a summer recipe than a fall one and yes Fall Is Almost Here!!

P.S. You'll notice the recipe called for egg substitute. I honestly can't stand egg substitute so I used real egg....it's your choice!

Ahhh the Life of Book Characters!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well well well - Look who's kicking butt on her reading list lately? Oh yes that'd be yours truly!! I guess I've been bitten by the reading bug again cause I feel like I'm devouring books like a fat kid devours cake! (Yes I'm a fat kid so Yes I can say that)!

This past week I was able to finish up my book Savannah Breeze by the wonderful Mary Kay Andrews!

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Now before I get into this review let me tell you that I LOVE MARY KAY ANDREWS! Seriously if this woman could live at my house and read me her stories every night I'd love it! Not because the stories are that well written (no offense Ms Andrews - Remember I LOVE YOU) but because I just absolutely love the characters! And being lulled to sleep with southern accents sounds so nice to me!

Ms Andrews chose to bring into the mix a character from her book Savannah Blues and give this woman her own story! Ms. Bebe Loudermilk (pronounced Bay Bay) is beautiful, charming, and wealthy! And that wealth causes an attraction by a sweet talking good lookin' hunk of a Con Artist who steals every last dime from her. Well almost every last dime. She ends up with a run down "Inn" down by the beach and has to deal with the grumpy Harry who happens to be the manager of this "Inn". I bet you can all guess how that storyline goes...if not then you seriously have not read enough Chick Lit novels!

A few other characters are involved and one happens to be Ms Weezie - the main character from Savannah Blues! And if you read Savannah Blues you will of course fall in love with Weezie :)

Aside from the fact that it is a Chick Lit novel I was a little saddened by the manner that Ms. Andrews wrapped this book up. It was fast and rushed and honestly totally unbelievable. I know I know - you are shaking your head saying "Duh Kendall it's a damn chick lit book" but I swear it could've been better!

Regardless - I still enjoyed this book a lot and cannot wait to dig into my next Mary Kay Andrews book on my 2011 List. . Until then....I give this book a B+!

Fa-La-La-La-La-La

Last weekend (the one before this last one) I got to sit down in my beautiful scrapbook room and do a layout. In fact my Sunday was damn near perfect (I know you are all waiting in suspense for my Peach Cobbler recipe) and I have to say this layout is damn near perfect as well! I mean it's Christmas and you just can't go wrong there!

This was our Christmas Eve from 2010! And it's so awesome to have my first of many layouts with all 6 of us!

I had gotten some cute Christmas rub ons awhile back and haven't used a single one! Nope not a one! Until now! My Paps always plays Santa Claus when it comes to handing out gifts... and it just seemed fitting to add a little rub on! Can you find it?

Also the title I have probably had for 5 or 6 years and have been "saving" it! Saving it for what? Well I guess for this layout! It worked perfectly!

I got to use up some more embellishments like the gift stickers below that I have had for at least 4 years if not more! It was so nice to use up some random stickers that I have been "Saving".

And of course it's 2 2-page layouts cause I can't cut out too many pictures!

Aren't we all so happy??? Happy and Super Spoiled!!!

This year My Sister and I finally got my Paps the one thing on his list that keeps repeating each year. 2 million dollars. Redeemable at the North Pole only! We actually found some cute 1 million dollar bucks with Santa's face on it and as you can tell from the Picture below my Paps LOVED them!

And I was happy to have one picture of my Mom for the page. Seriously ONE PICTURE!! I'm calling you out Mom - this year I need at least a few more so get ready to Smile Pretty :-)

This layout turned out just like Christmas - Perfect and Full of Love and Laughter! I could not be happier with these pages and I look forward to many more years of Scrapping Christmas Eve with our Family!!!

Gripping!

I never would have thought that I would have finished this book within in a few days, especially when my schedule has been insane and preparing for our Annual Family CampFest! But I did and I am so excited to review John Grisham's novel The Confession!

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This book has been the most gut wrenching and "real life" book I've read this year. It's about a young black man who has been wrongly accused of the murder of a classmate. Then 9 years later while Donte (the young man) has been rotting away on death row and has just a couple days to live the real murderer comes out and confessions to a priest hours away from Texas. Yes the book takes place in Texas and if you know anything about Texas they firmly believe in the Death Penalty. Now I'm not saying every single person in Texas does but the people in this book do.

Mr. Grisham provides a large collection of interesting characters and seriously keeps you hooked and involved in this case. I was so immersed in the book that it brought me to tears a few times. It also left me wondering if I even want to research the death penalty issue. I don't want to say much more about this book because it truly is a must read. If you read any books off my list from this year please make it this one.

Mr. Grisham has the ability to open up his readers eyes to a real issue that I may not have otherwise thought twice about. If I could I'd give this book higher than A+ because it was truly thoughtful, gripping, moving and above all an eye opener for how things are run in certain parts of this country despite any evidence.

For those who are interested in crime (true or false), the judicial system, crooked cops, innocent men, guilty men, murderers, lawyers, the church, Texas, and so many other topics that are covered in this book. I'm serious - read this book!

Happy Belated Labor Day!

Hello Everyone and Happy Belated Labor Day!! I hope you all enjoyed the wonderful 3 day weekend! It was a fabulous over here! I got to hang out with my 2 future sister in laws, scrapbook, bake, and read an entire book! Could it be any better?

Yesterday after spending a few hours in the scrapbook room (layout coming soon) and baking up a healthier peach cobbler (recipe is definitely coming soon) I got comfortable on the couch and plowed through this book. A super easy read and it only took me a few hours to get through it!

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This book is about a woman in her 40s, Deidre who is a baker of cookies! The only reason I chose this book is because I thought it would focus more on her baking rather than all the other drama in her life. Now if I had known that the main characters in this book are in their 40s and 50s I would not have picked it up. Not that there is anythng wrong with it but I can't relate to people in those age groups so for me, it was extremely difficult to keep in mind that these people are older.

Deidre has all sorts of problems creeping up in her life such as; her cookie line just not pleasing the focus groups and having to revamp multiple times, a friend has a heart attack and Deidre feels the need to run the womans restaurant until this chick snaps out of her depression, a boyfriend who is considered Seattles Most Eligible Bachelor and his ex fiancee who enters the picture to steal him away, and of course the Sister of her honey who hates her.

It's all been done before but regardless you can't help but really like Deidre as a character. Overall grade a C. It was an average book and I could never really connect with any characters.

Next up - The Confession by John Grisham!

Last One :-(

Well here is the last of the Christmas cards I have been working on. I am sure I'll make some more but this is it for Christmas for now! Sad Day - but I'll be sharing Halloween cards soon!!!

This just happens to be Chuck's favorite card I've made!! This one was a lot of fun to make as I got to use a crap load of GLITTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I could say I'm off to make more cards or even I'm off to scrapbook but nope not today. Even though I'm sad I won't be working in the craft room I will be going shopping with the Future Sister in Law, so it will still be a fun day. And with Monday being a holiday I can get in my scrapbook room and get my craft on!!!!!!!