Heidi recently participated in a Hockey Jamboree for her Mite/U8 program. A Jamboree is basically a tournament where you keep playing win or lose. It is a super fun way to end the season and a huge fundraiser for the association.
We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the arena watching and cheering Heidi through five games. She was exhausted by the end of the weekend but she left excited for the next year, even considering participating in the summer hockey program.
Heidi came a long way this season. She not only improved her stick and puck handling skills, she made a lot of really good friends who she looks forward to seeing each week. And as a mom, that's really all I can ask for!
This memoir follows Gretchen Berg, an American woman, through a year of teaching, shoe shopping, cultural assimilation, debt pay down, and the search for a soul mate all while living in English Village in Erbil, Iraq.
Gretchen is a very relatable thirty-something woman who is open minded enough (and far enough in debt) to set out on an adventure in a war torn region based on the gross exaggerations promised to her by her friend who worked at the school in Iraq.
I enjoyed following Gretchen’s quest to become culturally aware, even if she really was just trying to feel at home. I also enjoyed laughing (with her) about all the added luggage fees she accumulated during her time in Iraq. When will the woman just learn to pack light?
Great book, Ms. Berg! Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Give Away!! I won this book over on Chick Lit Is Not Dead and I am feeling the Karmic Pull to pass it on! If you would like my copy of this book just comment below. If more than one person requests the book I will draw names from a hat or something. Please submit your comments by March 9th!
Lacey Terwilliger is living what she thinks is the perfect life. She has a home in a cozy small town. She has a husband who provides for her. She is able to stay at home and keep the house while helping her husband run their successful insurance agency. She is a member of the Junior League. Everything is perfect.
Until it isn’t.
After a confused and slightly drunk local florist delivers flowers to her on a random week day, Lacey discovers her husband is having an affair with his secretary. And he is doing a bad job of hiding it!
In an act of revenge Lacey makes a very public example of her husband and then flees town to seek solace in her summer cabin.
While in hiding Lacey learns who she really is and what she is looking for in her life this time around.
I found this book to be an absolute riot. I loved it from the first page all the way to the last. Lacey is loveable and relatable if not a little over the top. She is a woman you want to cheer on as she blazes her path into a life where she can be the Real Lacey.
Last week Shawn returned home from Dog School with Cupcake
with the news that she was very close to passing her class. At the end of the
night the teacher told Cupcake and Kevin they would pass next week if they get
their “down” mastered.
Wait! Hold up!
Who is Kevin? I needed to know.
Turns out Kevin is another dog in her class.
I don’t know what it was about that name but when I heard it
I just knew I needed to have a cat named Kevin in my life. He needs to be a boy
(obviously) and he needs to be a kitten. He would fit in well with Peter and
Eddie. I just know it!
So I tell my BFF Shannon about this need and she starts
sending me links to Catteries (who the heck knew cat breeders were called
Catteries?!) because Shawn said I could only get a Kevin if he was a Doll Face
Persian.
Did you know that Doll Face Persian’s from a Cattery are
like $2,000?
Well, no Kevin for me.
At least not right now. But some day I will have a Kevin in
my life. Most likely after Eddie has passed on (he is 13 but Shawn says he will
live to be 23 because he is so ornery).
If I wait until Eddie is no longer with us then I can get
whatever cat I want. So, in 10 years I will have a Kevin and he will be a black
with gray striped tabby. Or another big orange tabby. Only time will tell.
Peter in the dog food bin when he was about 8 months old. This picture doesn't really go with this post but I found it on my computer today and just had to share it.
This is the cute story of Olivia. A waitress in a small town in upstate New York who is feeling stuck in her life and looking for a big change. Just as she is about to board a plane to Europe to get away from it all she meets a woman who changes her life in an even bigger way than she could have imagined.
I found this book to be a fun, quick read. The story was a nice blend of love story, adventure, coming of age, and super natural. It was a bit predictable but that really didn't spoil anything for me.
I recommed this book to anyone who likes Chick Lit or Cozy Mysteries.
To say we have been busy would be an understatement. The last few weeks have been normal busy plus cookies sales for Girl Scouts, final project for our Girl Scout Journey, huge presentation for me at work, huge "troubled" project to fix at work, extra day off from school and work turn swimming outing, and goodness knows what else has been going on.
Oh, yes. Cupcake has been training extra hard for her test.
To pass out of Level 2 Dog School she needed to be able to lay down on command without a treat to guide her down.
She practiced. She studied by laying on the couch, laying in her crate, laying on the bed... I mean, she is a bulldog so the act of laying down is not new to her. Just the command.
She was so nervous yesterday she didn't eat breakfast. (Or she didn't eat breakfast for so other reason, I just think it's funnier this way).
At 6 pm when Heidi and I loaded into the van to go to Girl Scouts, Shawn and Cupcake loaded into the truck and headed to her big test.
At 7:30 Shawn met us at the Girl Scout meeting for Heidi's final presentation bearing the news that...
She is so proud!
It's official!
Cupcake had passed level 2!! Way to go Cupcake! You are such a smart dog!!
I just hope in level 3 they teach her not to eat books....
Yesterday I read a blog post over at ELF that inspired this little post.
She asked what song would you consider "your song" for you and your husband/boyfriend/partner.
This had me thinking a bit and I realized we have a lot of songs that we hear that make us thing of the other one. But the song we danced to at our wedding was When I See You Smile by Bad English.
I love this song. It reminds me of when Shawn and I first met working at K-Mart when we were in High School. That job made me crazy. The store was always messy and short staffed which meant we were always, always busy even if there were no customers in the store.
I was going to high school, part of the Marching Band, and working at least 20 hours a week so I was often tired and short on patience.
It was Back To School Season (which used to be August, not July) and I was desperately trying to clean up the school supplies while backing up the front check outs. The supervisor was a nightmare of a woman (who ended up getting fired for coming in to work one Saturday morning still drunk from the night before and falling asleep in a shopping cart. True story.) and she was making my night very painful.
Every time I would walk by Shawn, who was working in the Sporting Goods department, he would say "Hey, let me see your smile."
I would give him the biggest, fakest, cheesiest smile I could muster.
This was one of the things he did that made me fall in love with him. We started dating about 6 months later and never looked back.
When I was planning our first dance at our wedding I realized that every time I heard that song it reminded me of this story and it became "our song."
What is your song? Does it have a story behind it?
Happy Valentines Day to all who celebrate, Happy Thursday to those who don't!
Hugs!
Kara
