book review: Unspoken

PG

This book WAS. SO. LONG! I finished it about 2 weeks ago but it was so awful I didn't want to relieve it again!

There are three parts. If the dust jacket caught you like it caught me, let me save you some time. The first two parts you, the reader, are introduced to Bryce and then Charlotte. Bryce has a coin shop and Charlotte has recently inherited A LOT of coins from her grandfather. Charlotte goes into business with Bryce where she sells him the coins and he resells them, i.e. they make a lot of money.

Charlotte has a murky past where she was kidnapped and the cops didn't find her for 4 years, but her and Bryce start up a relationship and they fall in love, sort of, and get married (Charlotte has to get married in order to inherit even more gobs of money).

Fast forward to page 297 and start reading from there.

This book had about 3-4 different sub-stories that were obviously going to connect in the end and they did. Seriously, skip the first two parts and start at page 297! The last part was good and almost made reading this book in its entirety worth it.

**I received a copy of this book from Bethany House to read and review.

TPiR 101

I've always had dreams of coming on down at The Price is Right. I would watch TPiR with my dad every chance I got. Even now I watch TPiR with my kids; eating popcorn and playing along with the games. The lights, the games, the prizes, everything was so enticing to me and looked like a lot of fun! Me and a couple friends in college tried getting on the show during spring break and during the Bob Barker era to no avail.

Fast forward a lot of years. Joe is starting his second semester of his second year of pharmacy school and I'm hoping me and the kids get to see him at least on Sundays. I was looking at TPiR tickets and saw they were doing a baby shower special (bonus that I'm pregnant) AND it was during Joe's Christmas break. We got priority tickets and made a fast 2.5 day trip to California. We saw my sister and her family, went to TPiR, and then drove the 8 hours home so Joe could make it to his rotation by 4 p.m. (which we made, barely).

Here are a few things I learned about TPiR:

1. The set is TINY! I'm talking teeny tiny. The show makes it look like a GINORMOUS room with loads of space. Nope. They have the showcase area where they occasionally play a game, three "rooms" where they have the fold-away doors to reveal really BIG prizes, and the main floor where everything else is played.

2. It is loud. A man on stage has to show cards of the people who are called to be contestants. One game they revealed three prizes: a computer, washer/dryer/ and another prize. I didn't hear or see that the computer was an iMac and was totally adamant that the contestant was totally wrong with her selection.

3. There are A LOT of cameras. So many, in fact, that it's really hard to see the games being played on stage. I had to watch what was going on on one of the mounted TVs.

4. George Gray is pretty awesome. 

5. It takes 4 hours to get through screening. And four hours on bleacher type seating to a pregnant lady is torture! But, you get to know the people around you pretty well.

6. Food is available. During the 4 hours of screening, we were lucky enough to get offered an actual meal. Buy one. It is a lot of food and pretty expensive. They also provide snacks. My advice: bring something to eat with you.

7. Wear a catchy shirt. Most of the people who made an effort to make a shirt or dress up in non-normal attire were seated where the cameras saw them the most. Joe and I were front and center, about 5 rows back.

8. Don't blow the interview. Part of the screening process is where a producer comes out and briefly chats with wannabe contestants. They want to know who you are, what you do, and where you're from. Come up with catchy things to say. Our producer did not like my answer of being a mom. In fact, he kind of mocked me and moved on. Jerk!

Since it was a baby shower special, only pregnant women were selected as contestants. I wasn't selected and did not win a new car. Bummer! The entire audience did receive a fancy-smancy diaper bag though.

Our shirts centered around us not knowing what the gender of our baby was. Joe had recipe cards and I had an oven. Joe and I were invited on stage where we met Drew Carey and he opened our card for us. We're having a ........ tune in to The Price is Right March 3. They may show our gender reveal during the show, or they may just air it on their website.

Book Review: Chasing Hope

PG

I really really really enjoyed this book! I've been sick with this pregnancy and haven't read a book in about 10 weeks. I sat down tonight and finished the entire thing!

Sabrina Rice is a talented runner and Olympic hopeful when she's diagnosed with a life changing disease. She quits running and pursues other dreams until she meets a high school student with raw running talent. She's thrown back into the world of running and has to meet those feelings and heart ache she has never fully faced when she could no longer do the thing that kept her passionate about life and God.

I loved how the supporting characters also had their own hopes that they were chasing and how all the characters' lives were entwined with each other; my own choices could and do impact others lives! I also loved the little Bible study insights on Moses and the Children of Israel.

A major lesson throughout the book is never assume. Assuming only hurts.


**I received a copy of this book to review.

let's party!

I love perusing Pinterest and admiring all the fun and amazing things people accomplish. I saw this image and HAD TO MAKE IT. 

How festive and fun is this?!

I ordered WAY MORE ping pongs than I needed off of Amazon. I used a seam ripper from my sewing kit to make my little holes. My lights had a little hinge on the side so I didn't even need to worry about hot gluing the loose lights to the balls. Bonus!

I hung the lights during Christmas for a friends birthday party in December and I am planning on leaving them up for the New Year. 1) because I'm still morning sick and 2) they just add a little flare and fun because I'm missing my Christmas decorations.

Now, I have a HUGE bag of ping pong balls and don't know what to do with them. What projects have you seen or done that include ping pongs.

psych

This is not about the best comedy on T.V. but about being fooled into believing something so vehemently that I was crushed when I realized my mistake:

Joe has 2.5 years left of pharmacy school.

I knew this. I know this. But somehow my gifted math brain mis-calculated the time and I got excited thinking he was going to be finished with school in less than a year! Since this pregnancy has made my body react very strongly and very negatively toward chocolate, sympathy fruit candy can be sent instead.

i miss papa

Joe warned me that the second year of pharmacy school was the hardest, that he wasn't going to be around a lot, and he'd have to study a lot! 

His warnings are coming true.

The first semester of his second year of pharmacy school is coming to an end. And we miss him! He has done a good job of spending time with me and each of our kids, but I am ready for more! 

Joe is usually around Sundays, Tuesdays after 4, and Wednesdays after 4. Mondays and Fridays he is gone before any of us wake up and home after all of us have gone to sleep. Thursdays he studies with buddies and me and the kids are usually asleep before he gets home then too. Saturdays are iffy. He will study all day if he has exams the following week, which he usually does, and get home after bedtime again.

Kuddos to all the single parents out there. I do not know how you do it!

pregnancy lessons PART 2

Two weeks ago I shared PART 1 of this two part series. So, without further ado:

What Pregnancy Has Taught Me Thus Far

• When I am sick, I just want my mom!
• Everybody smells, even me.
• Surviving becomes #1 priority. 
• It doesn't matter what my other kids are wearing, even if it's just underpants.
• It doesn't matter what my other kids eat, as long as they have something to eat.
• I CAN throw up nothing.
• I become a withering mass of emotion; pet and home insurance commercials. Need I say more?
• Sleep is the BEST medicine.
• Eat foods that taste okay coming back up. NO APPLES!!
• Pregnancy sweat is AWFUL.
• NEVER. EVER. NEVER throw up in the shower.
• Eat plenty of fiber!
• Something that tastes good one day can be REVOLTING the next.
• Staying hydrated when you're vomiting is a delicate balance.
• I can't sneeze without peeing just a little.

Bonus things I have learned! (I have watched A LOT of TV in the past couple of months, most of it being about nature.)

• Hyenas are lead by a matriarch.
• She and all the other females have fake penises and try to mate with each other when they are little.
• Baby hyena siblings will automatically try to kill each other to take out the competition.