Ticks

Starting off... I HATE ticks. They are so friggin nasty. I hear the word tick and I instantly feel like they are all over me and that feeling lasts ALL DAY! I have picked a quite a few off my cat this year and also from myself. Well this morning my youngest comes to me picking at her head. Asking what this little bump she found was. Of all things holy I tried my best not to freak her or myself out. It was a tick that has attached itself and was engorged on her damn head hidden in her hair. I safely removed it and called the Pediatrician.
It was a Dog Tick.

Nasty little buggers, right?

Information on Tick Removal 
Information on Ticks regarding Lyme Disease Signs & Symptoms , also Identifying Tick types

Yay YAy YAY!!

I found my camera that went missing .

I am SUPER ECSTATIC!!!  

I was so bummed that I was going to have to get a new one and miss this holiday season with pictures. I missed a few things like a halloween party, my son's field trip & festival parade and a trip to the pumpkin patch with the kids. But Tomorrow is halloween and I would love to get a picture of all the kids(mine & my nieces and nephews) with their costumes on.

Hurricane Sandy 2012

Feeling pretty good. Made it through the storm. We didn't even lose power. The schools remained opened. Checked out the yard. No pooling of water, a couple branches down but they are more on the twig sized side of things. No damage to my vehicles or home. Just a lot of wind. It is still a bit breezy today but not whipping like it was yesterday. Seems like we had more damage when Irene went through. We got extremely lucky and we are counting our blessings.

NYC/Manhattan got the brunt of the storm for NYS. News Clip from the storm:

Book Reviews/Short Stories

I am moving my Book Reviews to their own blog space to save more space for my personal stuff on this blog. I will also be writing some of my own short stories. 


New blog Space : http://karmasstories.blogspot.com/

Disney Princess Sofia not Latina enough for the Latin Community

                      Oh boy do they always find something to complain about when race is involved. 
  
Here is the statement Disney released on the issue :

          What’s important to know is that Sofia is a fairytale girl who lives in a fairytale world. All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures. The writers have wisely chosen to write stories that include elements that will be familiar and relatable to kids from many different backgrounds including Spain and Latin America. For example, Sofia’s mom comes from a fictitious land, Galdiz, which was inspired by Spain [...] this creates a world of diversity and inclusion that sends just the right kind of message to all children -- “Look around you, appreciate the differences you see and celebrate what makes us all the same.” I am eager for you and your children to meet Sofia and experience her world together!

 This is Princess Sofia. Although she doesn't premiere til Nov. 18th. There is already controversy about her complexion, hair and eye color. I personally think is ridiculous! People need to find other things to do with their lives and realize we all look different and we should not live our lives looking at color/race, religion, sex, etc. 

Movie Reviews- ZooKeeper, Lorax, Joyful Noise

About the movie: In Zookeeper, the animals at the Franklin Park Zoo love their kindhearted caretaker, Griffin Keyes (Kevin James). Finding himself more comfortable with a lion than a lady, Griffin decides the only way to get a girl in his life is to leave the zoo and find a more glamorous job. The animals, in a panic, decide to break their time-honored code of silence and reveal their biggest secret: they can talk! To keep Griffin from leaving, they decide to teach him the rules of courtship -- animal style. The film also stars Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb and features the voices of Cher, Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler, and Sylvester Stallone.



My Rating:


My thoughts on the movie:
Had some cringe worthy, funny & sweet moments. Over all though the movie was mediocre and didn't reach it's full potential.

Movie Trailer: 

About the movie:  12-year-old boy searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. 

My rating of the movie: 

My thoughts on the movie: I haven't read this particular Dr. Seuss book so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I loved everything about this movie. It was comical but serious about the issues of preserving trees and what would happen if they were all to disappear. Bonus My husband and Kids loved this movie.

Movie Trailer: 

About the Movie: G.G. Sparrow faces off with her choir's newly appointed director, Vi Rose Hill, over the group's direction as they head into a national competition.

My Rating for the movie: 

My thoughts on the movie: I love singing movies. I really do but this one wasn't that great. I guess I expected more from a dolly parton movie. I am not saying that the movie didn't have heart because it did. It also had some good qualities about it but the story line was mediocre and felt like it was all done before.

Movie Trailer: 

Lost my Camera :(

I lost my camera and I am sooo bummed. I imagine that one of the kids took off with it. Needless to say I probably won't ever see it again in one piece. It will be awhile before I can get another one. Especially since my son's birthday is next month and Christmas is shortly after that. Bummer cause around this time of year I take a lot of pictures (holiday pictures, birthday parties, etc) My son had a field trip last week that i would have loved to get pictures of but no camera to be found. So it looks like I am in the market. I will spend the next couple months comparing pricing, features,reviews, etc. Wish me luck!

Book Review- Home Front

About the book: In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war. 

All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .

Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life---children, careers, bills, chores---even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a soldier she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own---for everything that matters to his family.

At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope. 

What my thoughts of the book: It was a bit slow moving at first but once you got into the core of the characters they became relatable. I was never a soldier but I related to mother's love and sometimes marriages can be rocky. It was good and I would recommend this book.

Movie Reviews- One for the Money, The Sitter & This Means War

About the Movie:
Unemployed and newly-divorced Stephanie Plum lands a job at her cousin's bail-bond business, where her first assignment puts her on the trail of a wanted local cop from her romantic past.

What I would Rate the Movie :

My thoughts on the movie: It was cute. You could feel the Chemistry. It was funny and surprisingly  Katherine Heigl's jersey accent was believeable. Plus side the local cop was major eye candy :) 

About the Movie: A college student on suspension is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

My rating for the movie: 



My Thoughts on the movie:
It was funny. It had some raunchy humor. It had totally unexpected morals and a sweet underlying story. Not a movie for kids. The first scene had Jonah eating lady parts.

About the Movie: Two top CIA operatives wage an epic battle against one another after they discover they are dating the same woman.


My Rating For the Movie:




My Thoughts on the Movie: I am a huge Reese fan but this movie just didn't do her talent justice. The movie was alright could have used a lot more comedy. I did love Chelsea Handler's character. 

Book Review: Pretty Boy Problems

Book Description: Responsible, mature, employed...everything Avery Beauregard Montgomery is not. Instead, Beau is a
natural born charmer. He has breezed through life on his dazzling looks, six-pack abs and sparkling personality. But this pretty boy's luck has run out. Fed up with his freeloading and philandering ways, his brother and sister-in-law are turning on the tough love and turning him out of their house. For Beau, that just means moving on to the next...

Beau shows up at his sister's Dallas condo with nowhere else to go and no idea what to do with his life.  Suitcase in hand, he stumbles in to find not his sister but a bathing beauty. Someone super-model gorgeous with attitude, skepticism and no time for trifling pretty boys. Belle, his sister's new business partner, has already claimed the guest room and Beau's imagination. All it takes is one look for Beau to want to do some claiming of his own. Belle rebuffs his advances but offers him not only a job but an opportunity to do something with his life.

Finally, Beau knows who and what he wants. What will it take to get Belle on the same page?

My thoughts on the book:

   It was charming, sweet. The chemistry between the characters was moving. A brilliant romance novel. I would recommend this book to those who love romance novels.

Rocky start to the school Year

          So my son who is now a first grader (super proud mama for that) is having a rocky start getting back into routine. He is now throwing tantrums (throwing himself around and onto the floor) and not cooperating in class.  But this week he had a super super super wow week <~~ yes those were the teachers words. It is a brand new month and so far so good. Hopefully we are over the first month hump and headed towards greener pastures. We shall see.....

New Songs I like......

I am LOVING these new songs:
 Rihanna & Coldplay : Princess of China Kelly Clarkson : Bad Side Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars: Mirror

A little Rant about halloween costumes

                  So I and my MIL were on the search for the Kiera the Popstar Halloween costume. What a nightmare! The only ones we could find looked cheaply made for the $30's they wanted for it. So I decided well we can always throw one together and get it look similar and that way she could always wear the pieces again. Right? Wrong! Apparently stores don't sell or are all sold out of Purple sparkly dresses. And purple skirts or purple shirts. Ridiculous right? So My MIL calls me up and says I found this dress but it is white & has fur on it. So she ended up getting it and I am just going to dye it purple. I am going to have to seriously modify it to get it even close to what it is suppose to. So looks like I have a project on my hands. Thank goodness I have 3 1/2 weeks til Halloween. Should be plenty of time right? Right? Just say yes. 
                Anywho, Thankfully my sons wasn't quite as hard to find the size was the only issue that were ran up against. The kid just needs to stop growing he is getting way too big for his britches.

Book Review- Words Get In The Way

About the book : The modest ranch house where Callie Wyeth grew up looks just as she remembers it - right down to the well-worn sheets in the linen closet. But in the years since Callie lived here, almost everything else has changed. Her father, once indomitable, is in poor health. And Callie is a single mother with a beautiful little boy, Henry, who has just been diagnosed with autism. Returning to this quiet New Hampshire community seems the best thing to do, for both her father and her son's sake. Even if it means facing Linden Finch, the one she loved and left for reasons she's sure he'll never forgive. Linden is stunned that Callie is back - and that she has a son. Yet in the warm, funny relationship that develops between Henry and Linden's menagerie of rescued farm animals, Callie begins to find hope. Not just that her son might break through the wall of silence separating him from the world, but that she too can make a new start amid the places and people that have never left her heart...


My Thoughts of the book: Definitely a MUST READ. This book was touching, beautiful story. I related to the book because I have a special needs child and it can get difficult. I loved how the relationships formed. I cried. It was great , great  book. Once I started I couldn't put it down. The writer draws you in and keeps you glued til the very last page. I recommend it 10,000,000,000,000 times. 

Book Review- Breaking Silence

About the book : The New York Times bestselling series hailed as “gripping” (People magazine) and “compelling” (USA Today) returns with Police Chief Kate Burkholder called to the scene of a horrific tragedy on a peaceful Amish farm.

The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family. When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit. But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death—clearly, foul play was involved. But who would want to make orphans of the Slabaughs’ children? And is this murder somehow related to a recent string of shocking hate crimes against the Amish?

Having grown up Amish, Kate is determined to bring the killer to justice. Because the other series of attacks are designated hate crimes, the state sends in agent John Tomasetti, with whom Kate has a long and complex relationship. Together, they search for the link between the crimes—and uncover a dark secret at work beneath the placid surface of this idyllic Amish community.

Chock full of twists and chills and set against the unusual world of the Amish, this series “will delight fans of Chelsea Cain and Thomas Harris” (USA Today).

My thoughts on the book : It was interesting, tragic & twisted. You think you know who did it and the writer throws a wrench in there to put a kink in your pipes.I was a great read. I could barely put it down. I would recommend this book.

Book Review- Lone Wolf

Synopsis:

Edward Warren, 23, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose in a NH hospital, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara.

Cara, 17, still holds a grudge against her brother, since his departure led to her parents’ divorce. In the aftermath, she’s lived with her father – an animal conservationist who became famous after living with a wild wolf pack in the Canadian wild. It is impossible for her to reconcile the still, broken man in the hospital bed with her vibrant, dynamic father.

With Luke’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?

LONE WOLF looks at the intersection between medical science and moral choices. If we can keep people who have no hope for recovery alive artificially, should they also be allowed to die artificially? Does the potential to save someone else’s life with a donated organ balance the act of hastening another’s death? And finally, when a father’s life hangs in the balance, which sibling should get to decide his fate?

My thoughts on the book: It provoked emotion. A real tearjerker.Made you think about death & how it effects those around you. I enjoyed the book very much. I would recommend this book.

Book Review- I've Got Your Number

About the book:
Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.



My thoughts on the book: It was a really cute love story. It had alot of humor. I would recommend this book 

Book Reviews- Bannon Brothers Series

About the book :

With relentless suspense and a deft feel for creating men of power and character, Janet Dailey introduces three unforgettable brothers: RJ, Linc, and Deke Bannon.

Cold cases aren't RJ Bannon's usual line of work. But Ann Montgomery's long-ago abduction is too intriguing to pass up. Especially with a two-million-dollar reward for Ann's safe return about to expire.

Ann was just three when she was taken in the night from her family's historic Virginia mansion more than twenty-five years ago. The Montgomerys, socially prominent descendants of horse-and-hounds Tidewater aristocracy, launched a heartbreaking search, but no trace of the missing girl was ever found. Bannon knows the chances of finding her now-alive or dead-are slim, yet he can't stop searching for answers. Especially once he meets Erin Randall. A beautiful, talented local artist, she seems to share some tantalizing connections with the vanished Ann. The deeper Bannon's investigation goes, the more convinced he is that Erin's tied to the case. But his quest for the truth will put her in mortal danger.

Hugh Montgomery never stopped wondering what happened to his little girl. Now, as a legacy of lies and deception comes to a shocking climax, a hidden menace explodes. Who will live and who will die? On his own, Bannon vows to protect Erin at all costs...and puts his own life on the line...

My thoughts on the book:

 You could pretty much guess what was going to happen before it actually happened. It was good but a few more twists and turns would have made it even better. I would recommend it. 

                                               The 2nd Book is called :

About the book: With relentless suspense and a deft feel for creating men of power and character, Janet Dailey introduces three unforgettable brothers: RJ, Linc, and Deke Bannon. Rugged. Tall. Built to last. Linc Bannon has it all - and he's there every time Kenzie needs him. They share a mission: to serve their country stateside, Linc in high-level intelligence and Kenzie as an expert trainer of combat dogs. Independent and sexy, Kenzie is definitely one of a kind - and the only one he wants. But if you ask her, she doesn't need a hero in her life. Until two of her friends, thousands of miles apart, are suddenly struck down. One, a soldier, is dead; the other, a civilian, is barely alive. Linc goes into action and uncovers a lethal web connecting the tragic events. A killer is at large, unhinged and with unfinished business. Kenzie has no choice but to join forces with the one man who can get past her defences...As a hidden conspiracy threatens to explode with devastating consequences, Linc is honour-bound to protect Kenzie. With all his heart, he vows to risk his life for hers...

My thoughts on this book: I loved it. So much better than the first. It thrilled it chilled. Even if you don't read the first you could still read the 2nd and not miss anything. This one was better written. Held my attention. I would recommend this one. 

Book review- Then Came You

An unexpected love story…

Jules Strauss is a Princeton senior with a full scholarship, acquaintances instead of friends, and a family she’s ashamed to invite to Parents’ Weekend. With the income she’ll receive from donating her “pedigree” eggs, she believes she can save her father from addiction.

Annie Barrow married her high school sweetheart and became the mother to two boys. After years of staying at home and struggling to support four people on her husband’s salary, she thinks she’s found a way to recover a sense of purpose and bring in some extra cash.

India Bishop, thirty-eight (really forty-three), has changed everything about herself: her name, her face, her past. In New York City, she falls for a wealthy older man, Marcus Croft, and decides a baby will ensure a happy ending. When her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to technology, and Annie and Jules, to help make her dreams come true.

But each of their plans is thrown into disarray when Marcus’ daughter Bettina, intent on protecting her father, becomes convinced that his new wife is not what she seems…

With startling tenderness and laugh-out-loud humor, Jennifer Weiner once again takes readers into the heart of women’s lives in an unforgettable, timely tale that interweaves themes of class and entitlement, surrogacy and donorship, the rights of a parent and the measure of motherhood.

My thoughts on the book were. It was way too slow moving, poorly written. It would have been a good story if the writing was a little smoother. I do have to add though that the Last 40 pages were great. All in all I was disappointed. There wasn't a strong climax. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you are an insomniac and need something to help you sleep.

Why hello October?!

          So this year has been flying by. The summer was super crazy busy. Went to a couple weddings, camping,etc. All fun times. School started back up in the beginning of September. So Back to the PTO meetings once a month. Meaning Fundraiser's up the wazoo have started. 

           Still doing my weightloss thing. lost 20 lbs since May. It has been a long slow process but I am starting to see some results. Like my double chin it is gone well almost. I lost alot of weight in my face. My love handles are smaller and tighter. My legs look great. I feel smaller. My mother who I don't really see that too often has noticed my significant weightloss. I still have a long way to go but I am proud of myself for sticking with it for this long.

         Other changes I have made are I am going back to school. I am getting my degree as a wedding consultant. I have a goal to eventually own my own business which I want to expand on to all party planning not just weddings.

            Halloween is coming up at the end of the month and the kids have already decided on what they want to be for halloween. Buggles wants to be Kiera the Popstar from the Barbie movie "Princess and the Popstar". Bud wants to be Iron Man. They are both do able considering their first decision was a Mermaid and R2-D2. Both of which I would have had to make and would have been a PIA to do so.


               Well until next time........