The Last Song

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

This was a very good book in my opinion.  I have to take Nicholas Sparks somewhat sparingly though because of the fact that almost all of them are loves stories, with a tragedy somewhere in there, and then happiness by the end.  I almost always cry when reading them, and I don't like to cry all the time.  I don't think that they are the same books, just a similar story, so once a year is good for me.  Still he always writes with a passion, and I do enjoy that.

This book was about a teenage girl, who is rebelling against life in general.  She doesn't want to go visit her father, but her mother forces her to go for a visit.  She ends up having a wonderful summer, falling in love with a boy in the area.  Learning more about herself than she ever though possible.  Then tragedy strikes.  Things aren't seeming to work out the way she wanted them to.  She ends up staying longer with her father than anticipated, but she is enjoying it.  Finally she goes home and becomes the woman that she wasn't in the beginning.  I could relate to this book.  I was a rebellious teenager at one point, and now I'm finally grown up too.  Even if I don't want to be all the time, I've grown up to the point that I realized the error of my ways.  So relating to this book was easily done.  I was smiling, crying, and falling in love, myself.  So overall, as with all Sparks books, this was a hit.  I can't wait to see the movie.

I have many more books to catch up on.  I was lucky enough to visit half price books and pick up a few more.  I've also joined this site called paperbackswap.com.  I love this site.  I enter books that I've read, ship them out, receive a credit, and then can get a book that I want delivered to me.  It works for me.

My next book that I'm reading is One For the Money by Janet Evanovich.  I've heard many great things about the whole Stephanie Plum series from a few friends of mine, so I've been eagerly awaiting a chance to get them.  So I ordered this one, and have started reading it as of two nights ago.  So far so good!  Have a great and wonderful Christmas!

Wishing...

Wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas!

Let me tell you about the day....

We woke up...I made coffee, because who can live without coffee, right??  Then we proceeded with our day. (Is proceeded a word? it just doesn't sound right.)
 Our first stop was Lowes, I absolutely LOVE Lowes!  First let me tell you about the Lowe's build to grow classes that they have for kids.  My little ones love to make their little toys or treats.  This whole month they have been doing a Christmas train, it started with the caboose, the passenger car, and today they made the engine train.  Very cute!
Then we went to Walmart, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond, and finally Target.  We didn't find the deals we wanted, so we spent a total of $0.  Walmart in HH was supposed to have a ubuild monopoly deal going on for only $5.  Old Navy, was supposed to have $1 scarves, Bed Bath and Beyond is just a fun store to go to, and Target will not price match things when there is a limited amount of time IE door busters etc.  L-A-M-E!!!
So then we ran by the Walmart in K, no luck on the ubuild monopoly, I was starting to get my hopes up, but we headed out to CC to go to a beer brewing store anyway for the hubs.  And guess WHAT?  We found the Ubuild monopoly for $5.....then I obviously I had a coupon for it $3 bucks off, so I got it for $2, I would have gotten it for just the tax, but I used my other $5 coupon early.  MEH!  I still got it for only $2.  It was $15 at Target.  S-W-E-E-T!!!!
Unfortunately, Paul's beer store, was not stocked the way it should have been.  I guess those snow storms are taking its toll.  Its okay though, he still was able to find things online for his Christmas present.  So we came home so he could research.  He really wants to try to brew his own beer for Christmas, so why not.  Its no more or less than what I would have gotten him, so why not?
After getting home, we decided to rent some movies from redbox.  Ohhhhh, I love redbox.  How can you NOT?  $1 for a movie...its great!  Better than netflix, (although I still like netflix), its still cheaper.  I can get whatever movie I want, and only spend $1 as long as I watch it that night.  Since I joined, I got a free thank you rental, so we got 2 rentals for $1.  Nice, huh?
Then off to goodwill I went, because I like goodwill.  ITS COOL PEOPLE!!!  I found two interesting frames, and a Nancy Drew book for Autumn for Christmas.
We then proceeded to Bath and Body works.  FIRST off, you should totally add them to your facebook, and sign up for emails.  I get free things all the time with them...ALL THE TIME!!  First we got their new scents Bali Mango, Fuji Passionfruit, and Hawaii Coconut.  They were just the 2 oz lotions, but we still got two for free, and I spent $1 on the last one.  3, 2-oz lotions for $1.08 (tax, blah), very cool if I do say so myself.  We did play the system a little, I printed two of the online coupons for free lotion, Sierra really wanted one, and I wanted one, I chose the coconut, and mango for Autumn as a stocking stuffer.  Sierra chose the passionfruit, and the girl was being nice so she just let us have it.  To be fair, I had the two coupons, but they are only supposed to give one per customer...not sure if Sierra counts as a customer just yet....lol.
We then hit up the other goodwill.  I'm telling you people, ITS COOL, and don't judge.  Yes we go to goodwill.  First off, the girls LOVE it.  They typically get a new book, or cheap toy or something when they come with, and I can see if there are any goodies.  We ended up getting 24 books (most of them for the kids, but some were awesome, brand new hardcovers for me), I spent 27 bucks on them all.  They had a military discount of 15%, so it ended up being a little cheaper than it could have been.  AND I have MORE Christmas presents for the girls...and they will literally NEVER know the difference.  

So, have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE saving money.  It just feels sooo great to save, even if sometimes its only a $1 here and there.  Every $1 counts when you are a military wife!!

Now I must move onto something completely off topic....I WON this ADORABLE set from cleverlyinspired, and I ADORE this site.  She has so many wonderful ideas for crafts, cooking and more.  I highly recommend her site, if you get a chance you should totally check her blog out!  Its literally chock full of awesome ideas!
But I regress...here is the ADORABLE set that I won for the girls:

 How cute is this???

 This was an 18 mos old baby girl dress...I had her wear it as a shirt.  She'll probably wear it once or twice more, and then we'll give it to my little sisters daughter.  It will be super cute as a dress too huh?

I also won a baby doll dress, and an actual dress that would probably fit Autumn, but Sierra can wear it any time of year.  Its the red plaid, but no ho ho ho on it, so she can wear it whenever she'd like, and believe me.  She's a DRESS wearer, she LOVES her dresses!  She can't wait.

I love giveaways!  Thank you cleverly inspired!

Introducing...

My sweet little niece: 

Layla Grace

 Little old lady feet!

  She's so precious!  Congrats to my little sister and Charles, she's a beauty!

Book Review

The Time Traveler's Wife

Audrey Niffenegger

First off, let me say that I was riveted, almost from the beginning.  The beginning can get a little confusing for a few minutes.  Once you "get" what is actually going on, things start to make sense, and then the book gets really good.  From the title you can automatically assume its about a wife of a Time Traveler, and while correct, its also a romantic love story, that both is tragic, and complete.

Me, being a military wife, some of this actually kind of reminded me of our life.  How my husband is absent a lot of the times.  How sometimes I don't know where he is.  I don't have to worry about WHEN he is, but the worry is still there.  The main character in the book is a very strong, patient woman, loving and understanding, she only has eyes for her beloved.  Her husband, Henry, integrates himself into her life, from the time that she is just 6 years old, until she is much older.  I don't want to give the book away, or tell too much, but I wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I will be looking for others from this author as well.  The writing was superb, keeping the reader interested, and not lulling too much.

I haven't had a chance to see the movie, but I am very excited to see it.  I think it could have been done beautifully, and I am very interested to see what Hollywood did with it.  Overall, I highly recommend this book!

Currently reading: The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

I can't wait to see the adventure Mr. Sparks will take me on..yet again!

Favorite Ornaments...

 Hurricane jar filled with multicolored ornaments, LOVE IT!

 More....

 Hand painted by me, gingerbread man...I painted this when I was pregnant with Sierra, just before she was born.

 I absolutely adore our angel!

 Autumn made this when she was in preschool

 Disneyland a few Christmas' ago!

 Last year I bought this at a Christmas markt in Germany, I miss the Christmas markets!

 Another from good ol' Germany

 I love it

 Some Texas love anyone?

 The girls advent calendars for this year.  There are 25 bags, I bought some goodies from the dollar store, for 22 dollars, I had the brown paper bags from a long time ago, and I printed off the template from another blog.  I also dug out my ribbon in my gift wrapping bag and hole punched, then tied them, so the girls can't peak!  Now I just have to find the blog that I used to print the template, and you can have an advent just like me, for soooo much cheaper than buying one....or more.  BTW-we had enough for two more kiddos!  =)

I love the holidays!