I Don't Kiss Feet

It has been raining for the last three days. I'm not surprised. This is my last full week at home with my girls before I start back at working at school full time. School only starts after Labor Day if you are a student. So of course I had all kinds of outdoor activities planned to make the most of the little bit of summer we have left. So of course Mother Nature decided to intervene. She's kind of a brat like that. I could have been outside briefly yesterday. Could being the key word. See on Wednesday night, it rained. Not just a little bit. Like Biblical proportions, Winnie the Pooh sailing away from his house rain. At one point I heard we had a little over four inches of rain in a two hour time period. By the time the rain was done it was said we had over eight inches. I have no idea. My rain gauge only counts to five. This was not good for my basement. Water in the basement is not normally a problem at this house. The last house we lived in however, big problem. Like inst

Mondays are hard. Mondays after an extended weekend are even harder. Mondays after an extended weekend where you were child-free are the hardest.  As I'm sitting here, guzzling coffee out of an over sized Wonder Woman mug, listening to my children argue about which one of them missed me the most (apparently none of them missed that other adult), I'm already starting to wonder about my next vacation (of sorts). My vacation bucket list is nearly as long as my TBR.  Any place I'm going has to have a bookstore. On my most recent trip, we traveled to Omaha, Nebraska. It is about a five hour drive from our house. Of course if you have to stop once an hour to use the bathroom, it takes closer to six. Seriously, once an hour. That's just the other adult. I didn't have any kids with! Not the point. We went to explore the Henry Doorly Zoo which is suppose to be one of the best zoos in the country. We weren't disappointed in the zoo. A trip for next summer with the chi

I'm sitting here staring at my calendar. I have two and a half weeks left before I have to start back at work full-time. Where in the (insert four letter word of choice here) did my summer go? What happened to all the wonderfully witty blogs I was going to write? What happened to all of the cutesy projects I was going to do? What happened to all of the literature I was going to consume? Seriously, what happened?  I could say children happened. It wouldn't be a lie. Between swimming lessons, theater classes, summer rec classes, and all of the refereeing I've been assisting them with, it wouldn't be far from the truth. Throw in the fact that at five, my twinkers have decided that while they could easily benefit from daily napping, they won't do it. They are horribly stubborn little people but that's not the point. The point is they are partially responsible for a decrease in time spent at home. There's another part. See the wonderful thing about my children

I keep telling myself, I'm going to write a post. I'm going to write a post. I have this great idea! I need to write a post. Three girls, a full-time job, some cooking, some laundry, and a lot of wine later, there's no new blog post. It's a good thing my family's ability to eat isn't dependent on my ability to write.  So I have finally found myself with some free time and a fresh pot of coffee. The problem is I don't really know what it is I want to write about. I don't think there is really anything going on at my house. Well, there's always something going on at my house. I mean, I have three girls. There's always something going on. Granted the going ons aren't nearly as dramatic as they will be in about five years. However, when you have two five year olds (my babies turned five on April 7th :( ) and an eight year old, life is rarely dull. I could tell you all about the horrible infection I magically developed in my leg that kept me in

I'm starting this post with a picture of my mug. It's 4:00 in the afternoon. There's a pretty good chance, I have something other than tea in here. Honestly, it's coffee. Only because I have rules. One of those rules is that booze is not allowed if children are awake or if there is only one adult in the house. My children are most definitely awake so I must be the only adult in  my house. The beer is in the fridge. I'm all ready for the other adult to be home. It's been one of those weeks.  Sunday one of my twins decided she had enough of people not being able to tell her and her sister apart. To remedy that situation she decided it would be fun to take a trip to the emergency room for some stitches. Of course she decided to do this on a weekend in which the other adult in my house was in a different state. Thankfully we have grandparents close by. Did you know that head wounds bleed? A lot? On Monday morning, I had to have part of my dinning floor repla

I am sort of a nerd. According to my 13 year old brother, I am only allowed to be sort of a nerd because I have never seen an episode of Doctor Who and I don't like Game of Thrones. The Doctor Who thing I may remedy some day when I decide to subscribe to Netflix again. Even at that point it is probably unlikely. I have heard that it is one of those shows made for binge watching. Like I have time for binge watching anything. I don't even have time to get to the movies I really want to see before they are out on DVD. The Game of Thrones issue will more than likely never be resolved. There is another adult in my house who watches the show. I've fallen asleep during two episodes and during the third I got so bored that I got up to make tea and never came back.  When it comes to super heroes however, I'm all over that game. I have a rule about going to see movies in theaters on opening nights. The rule is I don't do it. I did it for all of The Lord of the Rings m

I'm not even sure how I ended up with an ARC of this book. My reviews of the previous two novels weren't exactly glowing. After the end of the second novel, I had promised not to even bother with the final book in the trilogy. Well if I had a nickle for every broken promise, I'd own a lot more books.  I was not blown away by the final installment of the Mistresses of Versailles trilogy. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. The manner in which the author handled the French revolution and the demise of the nobility was rather well done. I actually found myself feeling sorry for a character. This is quite the accomplishment since most of Christie's leading ladies have been nothing more than brainless, foot-stomping, spoiled brats. The leading ladies in this novel are not much different, especially Madame Adelaide, daughter of Louis XV. The reader is constantly beat over the head with Madame Adelaide's arrogant internal dialogues. I get it. She's a princess. S

I received an advanced copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley. All of the opinions are my own.  I am actually kind of disappointed that this book wasn't as much of a train wreck as the previous novel,  The Sisters of Versailles .  First I would just like to say that if the author had filled her books with the kind of writing talent she displayed in the last chapter of this novel, her books would be five star reads for me.  The women in this book are just as one dimensional as they were before. They are all a bunch of brainless magpies. Sex and fancy things are the greatest motivators of the 18th century apparently. Diane was back in all her moronic glory. Older doesn't always make for wiser. Ugh. Just ugh. I've never actually seen the show Reign but I imagine it watches much like this book reads. Very young adult.  The only reason I accepted a copy of this book was because I didn't think it could be any worse than the previous novel. Surely Madame de Pompadour is a muc

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Have you ever seen the movie Mean Girls? Did you find yourself wondering what would happen if Mean girls were set in 18th century France? Wonder know more! The Nesle sisters are here to answers all your questions! Seriously, this novel read just like Mean Girls set at the French court in the 18th century. The biggest difference between Mean Girls and  The Sisters of Versailles ? I liked Mean Girls. I still like Mean Girls. The story begins with Louise, who much like Mean Girls', Cady Heron, is horribly naive when it comes to the ways of the French aristocracy, as well as the world. Louise is dull. She has no voice of her own and is perfectly content being pushed around by people with their own agendas. Catty princesses and courtiers are constantly calling her names behind her back and to her face. Her own sisters are constantly scheming against her. The whole time she just accepts it as the w

Once upon a time, I had this glorious dream of being a blogger mom. I could sit at home all day with my coffee and my Pinterest.  I could take pictures of my creations and read my books. Then reality smacked me in the face. In the real world, I'm not creative. I'm not artsy. Most importantly, while I think the projects I pin on Pinterest are cute, I have no idea what I would do with most of them once I completed them. None of those things stopped me from attempting to live my dream. I started a blog any way. Occasionally I posted pictures of food. Mainly I made snarky comments. I have no idea if anyone read what I was writing. Did I feel better when I was done? Maybe. Sort of. No. I did feel pressure. "Well, you've started this blog thing. Now you should probably come up with something to post every day. It better be something good because nobody wants to read the sarcastic conversations you have with the other adult in your house." So I stopped writing. In addi

It’s been a rough few weeks if you live in Minnesota. First, Mother Nature decides to forget it is spring and drops her mid-60s to high-40s. I had to turn my damn heat back on after having the air conditioner on last week. I shouldn’t complain too much since according to my Facebook, On This Day, it was snowing around this time two and three years ago. However, I have two four year-olds who have become accustomed to spending hours at a time digging in the garden and playing at the park. I don’t know who is going stir crazy faster, me or them? Secondly, and significantly more tragic than Mother Nature’s inability to understand the seasons, Prince died. It doesn’t matter if you like his music. His impact on the industry is undeniable. I will even be as bold as to state, Prince was greater than Michael Jackson. I know. I know. My Minnesota bias is showing. Don’t get me wrong, as a child of the 80s, I love me some Michael Jackson. As a child of the 80s, who grew up in Minnesota, Prince

I promised pictures of a Batman cake. I have pictures of a Batman cake. I would have had pictures sooner but I’m easily distracted. First, there was the day off I needed to recover my house after the birthday party. I sort of had a day off but my house is not really recovered. Spotless houses are so overrated any way. Secondly, I had to take some time to do this to my keyboard: This was easily the best thing I have ever done to my computer. The other adult in my house (who works with computers for a living) won't go any where near my desk now because he can't stand my keyboard. Third, there was a new Suicide Squad trailer. I had to watch it a few times. Can we just take a moment to appreciate Clint Eastwood’s gene pool? Scott Eastwood is a fine genetic specimen. Fourth, there was Monday. That’s all I’m saying about that. Fifth, Mother Nature happened on Tuesday. I had every intention of creating a new post on Tuesday while the Twinkers were napping. Mother Nature decide

That's probably as dirty as it sounds but not the kind of dirty you're thinking.  The upcoming anniversary of the day the twins made their appearance in this world is coming. We have sent out the princess/superhero invitations. The Barbie dolls and new Star Wars light up shoes have been wrapped. In case you missed it, the Twinkers are identical girls. The other adult in my house isn’t getting any boys. My uterus is closed for business. If he wants someone to share his love of all things nerd with, he has to work with what he’s got. Queen Bee isn’t as receptive to all things nerd as the Twinkers. She would much prefer to be left alone in her room with a book. A child after my own heart. The last thing on my list was cake. On the way home from the Twinkers’ preschool screening the other day I tried to find out what kind of cake the Twinkers wanted. Here’s how that conversation went: Me: “Little girls, what kind of cake do you want for your birthday party?” Both Twinkers