It almost felt like spring today and but for the Weatherman threatening us with crummy weather later this week, I would almost have let myself believe that the gray skies, doom and gloom of winter were behind us.
But, I digress. It was a gorgeous day, and the kids spent almost all of it outside. To be quite honest, it's one of the things I love best about my kids. They'd much rather be outside any given moment than inside. ... They're good kids.
So, imagine my delight when Diana brought in a special surprise for me:
Are they gorgeous or what??
There is a ditch that runs along the back side of property
and until today I didn't know that wild daffodils grow
there in abundance.
I LOVE daffodils! They're my birth flower!
What a perfect gift from my little princess Di.
And then there's Dominick.
He too spent the entire day outside.
But he didn't bring me flowers.
He did what boys do!
He brought me laundry.
This isn't even a 1/5th of the mess he was.
Oh well. I'll take the daffodils and dirty knees if it means they'll be my little ones in the sun a bit longer!
After Brooke's whirlwind of a birthday, I was determined to set out enough
time for Dominick to celebrate his properly. (Alas, no shopping mania for him).
Friday morning Dominick and I worked on the cake he'd designed.
I don't want to brag exactly (YES I DO) but it was kind of awesome!!
He drew me the picture and we worked together to make this:
After dropping Anthony at work, I took Dominick to Kmart to buy
the Big Wheel he'd been wanting. Despite it saying they had 4 in stock,
the shelves were bare and all of the "searching the back" came up empty.
After a few moments of pouting, Dom and I went back to look
and found something even BETTER! (I love when that happens!)
It was a few dollars more, but it was worth the extra cost.
The Razor Rip Rider is bigger than the version he'd wanted and
we don't have to worry about him outgrowing it overnight!
As soon as we'd left the store, I dropped
Dominick off to Ed and had just
enough time to get Diana to her jazz class.
Then, on the way home, I picked up Dominick's
pick for his birthday dinner:
McDonald's chicken McBites.
(I sure do have some classy kids!)
We ate dinner, sang the song, opened gifts and eventually cut into the cake!
He was thrilled with the Legos, Nerf Gun, (from his older sister) and bumper cars
and we were thrilled that he was thrilled! :)
All in all, a great 9th birthday!
Nancy's has been running a sweepstakes with a grand prize being a trip to Paris.
(Oo la la)
Slight problem, on the contest entry page it asks you to:
"Flip to the back of the NEW box and answer the following question exactly
as it appears on the box: What three times of day are
perfect for enjoying a Nancy's Quiche?"
Well, up until this week, none our groceries stores had the new box!
BUT THEY DO NOW!
So, for anyone searching: Here's the back of the new box!
You can enter the sweepstakes here: http://www.nancys.com/paris/
I love to read and I read a lot.
I can cruise through 6 books a month without breaking a sweat.
So, when the Dollar Tree started carrying hardback books, the habit escalated.
HOW can you say no to a book-for-a-buck? (Book for a buck) (I totally just made that up and I love it) (OMG! We should have a BFAB club!)
But it's a risky business when choosing a BFAB because, sometimes, there's a totally valid reason for a hardcover book to find itself on the Dollar Tree shelves as it's final resting place. Sometimes (thrice to be exact) it truly stinks! But then sometimes....
You find a book so incredibly poignant and beautiful
(if not graphic and totally inappropriate),
that it makes you wonder how you'd never heard of it!
I picked up and bought MY BOOK (as we will now refer to the book that you'll never read) because I thought the cover was pretty.
I didn't even read the jacket, I bought it simply for the artwork.
When I got home, I put it on my nightstand and knew I'd get to get to it eventually.
A few weeks later I found it cued up in the pile and began the story.
The first few chapters were nothing short of torturous. The unnamed narrator is in a car accident that leaves him with 3rd degree burns over all of his body transforming him into a severely disfigured version of himself. And the author spares no detail when describing the inner workings of a burn unit. It turned my stomach enough to make me want to walk away from the book entirely. The next chapter covered the narrators fantasy of killing himself immediately upon his release from the hospital. Again, it's graphic.
I've read many (MANY) books that kept me turning the pages just in the hopes that it would "get good" only to be bitterly disappointed on the last page.
This is not one of those books.
It does "get good".
No, it "gets incredible"!
When the narrator meets a psych patient who claims to be a 700 year old nun from Germany, the entire dynamic of the book changes. And it's not the only outlandish claim the nun, Marianne, makes! She also claims to have known the narrator in the 1300's when he'd worked for the Condotta as a mercenary soldier.
From there, the author spins a beautiful tale.
Marianne takes in the burn victim and tell him 4 poignant ancient love stories
before revealing to him their own love story from so long ago.
I am doing this book absolutely no justice as I try, in vain, to "sum it up".
As the Kirkus review puts it, "this spellbinding narrative seems considerably less ludicrous when reading it than when summarizing it.” One hopes.
I won't say more (I've given you too much already) but I can say that when I finished the book at 2am a few nights ago, I was sobbing.It very well could be the greatest love story of all time.
And for that reason, I can't share it with you.
- For one, you won't like it.
It's graphic, stomach turning and delves into some very controversial topics.
-Secondly, it has questionable language. I'm just trying to protect you.
-But finally, and this is the kicker, it's mine.
Have you ever seen a movie you loved so much that you recommended it to all of your friends only for them to come back and say "Eh, it was alright"?
Well, that is this for me! I love this book so much, that anything less than "OH MY GOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW AWESOMELY AWESOME THAT AMAZING BOOK WAS!" will break my heart.
But, if you REALLY want to read it (which you won't)
I'll give you a teeny tiny clue:
So, good luck with that.
