Book Review: Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

I love Janet Evanovich. She's just plain funny. Her Stephanie Plum books are hilarious. I like the numbered Plum books so much better than the 'in between' numbers books. It is a series that you have to start with 'One for the Money' and work your way up. She's on 14 now I think. Anyway, in between her numbered books she has books that are 'holiday' based. This one was St. Patrick's Day which was ironic because I started it on St. Patrick's Day! She has this character 'Diesel' in all the in between books who I don't get (which I think is the point) and would much rather she stuck to Morelli and Ranger and forgot about Diesel all together. So for a super fast read, give it a shot. But read the number books first!

How I know I live with a toddler (part 4)...

* I find socks all over the place. His thing is going barefoot... even in the winter.

* He's the only one I take pictures of. I probably have a million.

* If I bagged up all the treats that have fallen into the cracks and on the floor of my car I would have a super value size bag of an eclectic party mix.

* I go to the bathroom with the door open. All the time.

* We lost the phone the yesterday because he was talking on it and then it was gone. It's battery is dead so we couldn't 'page' it and today he pulls it out of the pantry for another conversation! Sneaky little devil...

* All the rocks on my candle plate are in the nightstand drawer or in the linen closet.

* Our alarm clock's volume is either turned way down so we wake up an hour late or is so loud that it scares the bijimminies out of us. Or all the alarms are set to wake us up at 5:20, 6:00 and 6:30 on Sunday morning... Any way it is a rude awakening!

Book Review: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

I shouldn't have gone to see the movie while I was reading the book because I had absolutely no motivation to finish it because I knew what happened! The book was good but (and I never say this) I liked the movie better. I don't know if it was because I saw it first or that I really liked Helen Mirren in the role of Elinor or it had some comedy in it... Probably all three of these things. I think the book lacked comic relief which was appreciated in the movie and would have been in the book as well. It is a good read if you like Harry Potter and sci-fi/fantasy books but don't see the movie first! I do have the second book in the trilogy but I am not going to read it for awhile. My book now is just a fast, funny one from one of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich.

30 Random Songs...

My girl, Mel, from Chicago Girl Gone Mild had this posted on her blog. Something fun- maybe you'll get some new songs out of it.

Put your ipod (MP3 player, whatever) or itunes on shuffle and what are the first 30 songs that come up...

1. Battleflag- Lo Fidelity All Stars (featuring Pigeonhead) Explicit lyrics but a really cool song!
2. We're Going To Be Friends- Jack Johnson A cover from the White Stripes for the Curious George movie
3. Icky Thump- The White Stripes
4. Wait- Get Set Go
5. Call Me- Blondie
6. I Can't Be (Demo)- The Ramones
7. I Remember You- The Ramones Two in a row? Really?
8. Downtown Line- Griffin House
9. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature- The Guess Who
10. Evil (Is Going On)- Howlin' Wolf ??
11. All My Days- Alexi Murdoch
12. Take A Picture- Filter
13. Ocean Stone- Chris O'Brien I LOVE this song!! This would go on an 'All time favorites' list
14. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man- Muddy Waters
15. Sir Duke- Stevie Wonder Stevie's my man!
16. The Obvious Child- Paul Simon
17. I Can See For Miles- The Who
18. Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk- Rufus Wainwright
19. Missed the Boat- Modest Mouse
20. Peaches- The Presidents of the United States
21. Good- Better Than Ezra BTE rocks!
22. And It Stoned Me- Van Morrison
23. I'm Shipping Up To Boston- Dropkick Murphys
24. Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle- Cake I like Cake. A LOT.
25. Little Green Bag- George Baker
26. Waiting For My Real Life To Begin- Colin Hay The dude from Men at Work!
27. Paperweight- Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk Schuyler is Sissy Spacek's daughter. Don't ask me how I know that. Cool, mellow song.
28. Forever My Friend- Ray LaMontagne
29. Breakin' Up- Rilo Kiley She is pretty cool. I like her.
30. Better Together- Jack Johnson

For as much Bob Dylan that I have on my ipod/itunes, I am very surprised he wasn't even in the top 50 in my shuffle... Weird. Yet The Ramones (I have, like, 30 songs in there by them) and Jack Johnson (about 30 songs again...) got hit twice. Out of 1300 songs that is what came up though!

Random bits...

I forgot to mention this in my last post: Frosting is not my favorite medium. It is very unpredictable and messy. Maybe I'm not doing it right. I don't know. Just to clear that up.

I was driving behind a Hummer this morning and noticed the bumper sticker: 'Your SUV is hurting MY Earth.' Hmmmmm. I'm not quite sure about this. Aren't Hummers the worst when it comes to pollution? They are major gas suckers, right? Just a little hypocritical, isn't it?

I want to have a giveaway... BUT I'm not sure I have enough readers of my blog. I'll make something that people will surely like... Cards? A neat necklace or bracelet? How about some delicious homemade cookies to go along with it? A fun CD? We'll see. Maybe I'll put the word out on Facebook and then all the people on my Friends list will respond. I'll let you enter even if you don't have a blog!! Guys can enter- I'm sure whatever nifty thing I make they can give to their wife, girlfriend or best friend. Come on people, you know I am creative, don't you want some of that? :) Leave me comments! What do you want? Keep it within reason, please!!

The Birthday Party!!

We had AJ's 2nd birthday party this morning. These were the details!

The birthday boy

The birthday party invitation. I drew, colored and cut out George and then added the balloons. Obviously Curious George was the theme...

I was trying to make the cupcakes look like George the best I could. Although they really don't look like George, at least they look like monkeys! The cake and frosting were both homemade. I gave up sweets for Lent... so I have no idea if they were any good or not! I didn't even lick the batter (or chocolate chip cookie dough) off my fingers.

I made a paper banner that I figured I'd use every year. The colors are masculine and neutral so it can be used for anyone.

The goodie bags included a CD mix of kids songs (mostly by They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Jack Johnson & Lisa Loeb- music that I can tolerate as well!!) and Curious George masks that I made.

All in all it was a great birthday party. I was glad with all the little handmade details!

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde & Hoisin Pork with Snow Peas Stir Fry

Last night I made the Hoisin Pork with Snow Peas Stir-fry and it was great! I would have added a little chili garlic paste to give it an added kick and then it would have been perfect. The sauce consistency was excellent. This was a nice light and easy stir fry that I would make again. Click here for the recipe! I think you could easily substitute chicken, beef, tofu or shrimp if pork isn't your thing. Oh, and I made mine over rice not rice noodles. It pretty much looked like the picture!

I made these Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde last Saturday night and they were very good. The recipe is from Cooking Light and you can make them yourself by clicking here to get the recipe! They were super easy and didn't take long to make at all. Of course, my plate presentation wasn't quite like the picture above...

Book Review: Mary Had a Little Ham by Margie Palatini

This story was so cute! It is about a girl named Mary that has a pig, Stanley Snoutowski, who she knows is going to be a star! Stanley leaves Mary, his family and farm behind to find his way in the big city performing. He gets rejected and through his very encouraging friend, Mary, always gets back out there. It is a great book about the power of positive thinking, friendship and encouragement and self-esteem. It is a definite feel good book and teaches kids about not giving up.