Summer Book Review

It's been months and months since I did a book post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading! I've read way to many to put together a review of all of them, so here is a list of the books I read over the summer, with a few highlighted:

We've been looking forward to "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer since "Eclipse" was released. Will Bella marry Edward? Will Bella end up a vampire? I won't give anything away, but I do want to caution parents that this is not as middle school friendly as the first two books (if you can call the first two books, middle school friendly). I can't say more without spoiling the story. You will have to read it to find out!

"Here Be Monsters!" by Alan Snow was a wonderful surprise! box trolls, cabbage heads, sea cows, rabbit women, pirate rats and an young boy band together to thwart the cheese hunters. This book is fun and will delight everyone. This book would make a great read aload bedtime story. The next book in the series is called "Man in the Iron Socks." I'll be picking that one up too as soon as it hits the library.

I was prepared to like "Moloka'i" by Alan Brennert. It started off sad, and got sadder. I skipped to the end, figuring if it had a happy ending I would keep reading. The ending was sad too.... I like my books with happy endings. I guess that's why I like reading kids' books so much. I never finished reading "Moloka'i." The characters were interesting and "real." The story was well written... just be sure to have a box of tissues handy.


This is a delightful series about a young London girl, Mary. She was orphaned by the plague and taken in by a street gang. When the gang's leader is murdered, she decides to set off on her own and see the world as a boy named, Jack. The adventure starts on the high seas in "Bloody Jack," and continues in the "Curse of the Blue Tattoo." There are several more books in this series that I'll pick up and read one of these days.


Other Kids books:
This is still my favorite genre. I split the kids books I've read into kids and teens catagories.

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce	The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech	The Stone Fey by Robin McKinley
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon	Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson and Nicoletta Ceccoli	The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and Carson Ellis
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale	Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis and Pauline Baynes	The Revenge Of The Shadow King by Derek Benz and J. S. Lewis
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones	The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle

Teen books:
These are still kids books, but may not be appropriate for young kids.

Two-way Street by Lauren Barnholdt	Austenland: A Novel by Shannon Hale	Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin Mckinley	Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley	Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Other adult books:
I took some reading time this summer to checkout some adult authors who I've heard a lot about, but have never read...

Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie	Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz	City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon	All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz	Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton
Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts	The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss	Dark Possession by Christine Feehan
Taken by Storm by Tami Hoag	Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

Vampire romance:
After finishing Breaking Dawn, I went into vampire romance withdrawl. As a result, I ended up reading all the vampire romance that I could find at the library.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks	Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks	Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks
The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks	Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris	Sugarplums and Scandal by Kerrelyn Sparks
Sunshine by Robin McKinley	A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole	No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

Couple of New Layouts

I've been wanting to finish a layout on Chris's track season, since track season ended last Spring. Finally, with motivation and inspiration from the 2ScrappyChixDesigns crop, I finally finished my layout!

Journaling reads: Chris started out in the 1600m (1 mile - PR 5:17) and the 800m (1/2 mile - PR was bad. He was too tired after running the mile. Chris was moved tot he 3200 (2 mile - PR 11:30). He came in third once, making his point total for the 2008 year - 1.

Here is another layout from the 2ScrappyChixDesign crop. Chris was just adorable in his XC sweats, lounging in his chair.

Journaling reads: For homework, for reading, for napping, and video games, PREFECT! It doesn't get any better than this!

Weekly Sports report

Chris had a XC meet today at Laguna Hills High School... he was incredible!!!
The meet was by grade level (frosh, soph, junior, senior). Since there wasn't a varsity race, the varsity sophmores ran the sophmore race. There were at least 10 schools running together. Chris came in 5th for his school (behind the three varisty sophmore runners and one other boy)... so that makes him the #2 sophmore runner this year! He finished the 3-mile course in 17:56... a new PR! That's over a minute faster than his fastest time last year (19:08). He was flying!!!

After his race we headed to his soccer game where he played most of the game. He played great, and the team won 2-1.

Chris's next soccer game is Saturday, 09/20/2008 11:45AM... then he has an XC meet that evening at Woodbridge High School in Irvine at 6:35pm.

Cheryl spent last weekend in San Luis Obispo in a college tournament. They won their first game 4-0, and tied their second game 2-2.

This week Tuesday, they had a game in Ventura and lost 0-3. Cheryl was center defender against a girl they named "Amazon Girl." She was over 6' tall and huge! Cheryl held her own during the first half. The coach put a more agressive player into center defender in the second half, and Cheryl was moved to left defender... the other team then scored their three goals. Cheryl was happy the goals were not her fault...

Friday, Cheryl stayed in the left defender position and made some great runs up the side. The team tied San Diego 1-1.

Cheryl's next game is Tuesday 9/16 at Rancho Capistrano at 3pm, against the #1 college team in their division. She plays again on Friday in Riverside.

Very Cool!

Look what I got!!!



I got this award from my friend Mara. I love visiting her blog too, but it wouldn't do for me to pass this right back to her! LOL!

Here is what I need to do:
1. Pick 7 of your favorite blogs
2. Winners can put the logo on their blog.
3. Link the person who gave your award to your blog.
4. Name the 7 that you are giving the award to with their links.
5. Leave a message on their blogs so that they know they've won!

And here are my picks...
flutteringby: Mary is my bestest Chix! Unfortunately, she had to make her blog private because her work place doesn't allow their employees to have public blogs.
ElephantFreak: Susan is a Message Board friend. She is a wonderful mom and scrapper with a new baby. I always like to check in to see what her family is up to! I also have to checkout what she's reading... we like a lot of the same books.
Brisinger: Becky is another one of my Message Board friends. Just like Susan, she is a mom, and scrapper with a new baby. I love seeing the pics of her family, and her great layouts!
CindeeQ: Cindee is a crafty, working mom, and my former Circle Journal buddy. She has cards, layouts, and she's a CTMH consultant. Her blog is always great for inspiration.
WhoopsieDaisy: Jane is stamper extraordinaire and an SU consultant! She has lots of great project and card tutorials on her blog. I got to meet Jane when she was with her family at Disneyland. She is even nicer in person than she is online!
FarNorth: Jan is my friend from Alaska and another amazing stamper! I love her technique tutorials that she gives on her blog. Her cards and projects are beautiful!

That's it for now!! Thanks for stopping by!

Half-Marathon Photos

The professional photos from the Disneyland half-marathon were posted today. Here is one of our wave starting. I put a circle around Chris and me.
Here are a couple more of Chris and me taken by a photographer.

My mom and dad showed up at Angel's Stadium to cheer us on, And take photos... THANKS MOM!!! Angel's Stadium was at mile 10. You can see the Mile 10 marker behind us.

Recipe to share

Chris and Jim were going to soccer practice last night and Cheryl had a night class. Here's a recipe that I made for my family last night that I found on my friend, Susan's, blog. It's easy, it's fun, and my family loved it!


Beef Cups
1 lb ground beef
2 T water
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
1 cup cheese
1 cup corn
2 cans refrigerated biscuit dough (20 biscuits)
1 tomato diced
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin lightly. Brown meat, drain, and remove from heat. Stir in taco seasoning mix, water, cheese and corn. Flatten each biscuit and pt into cups, making sure that the dough reaches the top of the cup. Spoon in meat mixture and garnish with diced tomato. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy.

Susan made hers with beef, BBQ sauce, and minced onion.
I think next time I'm going to try sloppy joe meat... YUMMY!

Half Marathon results

We finished the half marathon! It was fun. There were lots of Disney characters running around and tons of people!

We left the house at 4:30am to get to the race before the 6am start time. Traffic was so bad that Cheryl and Jim had to drop us off. We walked to the start to find our corral, while they parked the car in the Mickey and Friends parking structure. Jim and Cheryl were waiting at the start line, but they said the start was such a huge mob of people (10849 in the race plus spectators) that it was impossible to pick us out.

People were stopping to take pictures with the Disney characters, and lots of runners were dressed as characters themselves. It's amazing how many men were dressed as Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell. They are either very confident or kind of weird. There were radio stations, marching bands, cheerleaders, hula girls, boy/girl scouts, and a mariachi band all along the course. With all the spectators cheering us on, it was a very fun time!

Chris and I started in the the third wave of Corral F (2:10-2:15), because we had no idea how long it would take Chris to finish. He took off and left me after the first mile. Chris finished in 01:50:43 with a pace of 8:26. Based on his finish time, I should have started him in the first wave of Corral C. He ended up having to dodge around people for the entire race, so he may have finished faster if he started earlier. I finished in 02:16:57 with a pace of 10:40. When I met Chris at the finish line, he already ate and had his picture taken.

*EDIT*
Chris finished in 1:50.43
Chris finished OVERALL in the top 7% : 770 out of 10849
Chris finished 30 out of 123 in his age group

I finished in 2:16:57
I finished in WOMEN in the top 25% : 1627 out of 6407
I finished 192 out of 717 in my age group

Saddleback College Soccer

College soccer started today, and Cheryl was in the starting lineup as Center Defender (Sweeper), the last defender before the goalie. She played all 90 minutes. She had never played that position before, so was very nervous. She got especially nervous when the Right Defender was injured and had to leave the game. The other girls were very encouraging. The home game against Palomar today ended in a 0-0 tie.

A new layout

I had such great plans to scrap all summer... But here it is, only my second layout and summer is just about over. This layout only uses one piece of patterned paper by Rouge de Garance called "Make Your Mark", one photo, two stickers, and a grungeboard swirl.

A sad day at our house...

You all remember Itch? Well, poor Itch passed on to the big fish bowl in the sky. Cheryl was very sad... Good-bye Itch...

Summer's Over...

The final cut for the Saddleback College soccer team was today. Cheryl made the team! She is now playing college ball! Her first game is next week Friday. Here is her entire schedule, but check with us first, Papa, because she won't be at all the games. Her class schedule was difficult to work with this semester because she waited so long to register. She has Psychology, Physics, English, Art, and Soccer (all classes that she needs to transfer to USC). The math classes were full, so she will have to complete her math during summer school. Go Gauchos!!!

Chris made the cross country team at Capistrano Vally High School. He is also going to play AYSO Fall soccer. His school schedule this year is: English, World History, Spanish 2, Chemistry, Geometry, and Cross Country. He's set to start the
Tuesday after Labor Day. Go Cougars!!!

Chris and I still have the Disneyland half-marathon next weekend! I hope the weather stays in the 80s. It would be miserable to run in 100F heat.

I went in to sign papers for my new contract today. I start back to work at Rockwell-Collins on September 16th, 32 hours per week. My summer is also coming to an end.

We have had one busy summer after vacations were over!
Four vision checkups
Six visits to the doctor (including the emergency room)
Eleven visits to the dentist
One visit to the vet

More Training...

My friend Tami posted this challenge on Iraq and Back. It's a training program to reach the goal of 100 consecutive push-ups in six weeks. I've let my weight training slip while I've been training for the half-marathon. This looks like a fun way to get back into it. Anyone else want to join us?

I'm starting with day 1 of the program tomorrow. My initial test is 7 normal push-ups.

Wordle, Wordle, Wordle!!!

I love the look of word patterned papers and embellishments. One little word can set the entire tone and feeling of a layout. What about 10 or more carefully chosen words? Even better!!!

I found this great site on the TallyBlog, called Wordle.
http://wordle.net

Here is a screenshot:
You can "point" Wordle to a blog or webpage and it will pull words off the page to create a fun jumble of text.

Another fun option is to use your own words instead of letting Wordle select them from your blog. Which is what I did for this card. The FAQ section explains how to make some words larger than others and how to keep phrase words together (like "Wish Big"). I type the words I wanted on the page, I just clicked on the Go button underneath the box and it pops up with my custom word art. The menus on the top can be used to change the font and colors.

Here is how I got this to print out in the size I wanted:
1) Make sure the browser window is active and do a window capture (Alt-PrintScrn).
2) Open an image editor, like Photoshop.
3) Create a NEW photoshop image. (File-New)
4) Paste the window capture into the new photoshop image (Ctrl-V)

Now you can crop, resize, and even edit your wordle. In my case, I resized it to fit on the card, and added some fun dingbats to fill in the empty spaces.

In this layout, I generated the wordle using a quote, "Look for what is good and you will find it." When the wordle was generated, it was just a jumble of words:

I used Photoshop to copy the words onto my photo, and move the words around so that it would read like the quote.

This is so much fun!
I hope you'll all give it a try.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yep, 23 years today! How did we celebrate? A trip to the Candy Baron of course! Cheryl came with us, but she's still hiding from the camera. And our big dinner this evening... take-out Chinese Food! Happy Anniversary to us!



Can you see Chris's hair in the photo? Jim trimmed it up. Now his hair is black with frosted tips. Looks pretty cool, huh?

Cheeky-munk

Here's my poor little Cheeky-munk... shhhhhhhh... hehehe!

Half-Marathon Training - week 12

I haven't done a running post in a while... I'm still on my way to Ohio. I've run over 800 miles since January! And I'm still training for the half-Marathon at the end of this month.

I made all my goals last week. Yahoo!!! Here are the training goals for this week.
Here is my schedule for this week:
SUN - off
MON - 13x800m miles
TUE - off
WED - 40-60 min
THU - off
FRI - 40-60 min
SAT - 25 min

I ran 16 miles last Monday, and I feel great!

Chris stopped keeping track of his miles. He's been training with the cross country team for the last couple weeks and is getting back into race shape. The next tryout is this week. He's very sure that he'll make the team.

We did some running while we were in Kauai. The weather was great! Not too hot, not too humid. Here are some photos of our runs. This is Waimea Beach. It's a black sand beach. We run along the beach to the Waimea Landing:



My Aunt, Uncle, and Grandma live right on the Waimea River, so we also ran up the river trail. Here is a good picture of the river from the Swinging Bridge. We just took pictures here, we didn't cross...



Along the river trail, it's really beautiful!

Good-bye Wisdom Teeth, Hello Breaking Dawn!

Cheryl had her wisdom teeth out on Friday... After she came out from the general anesthesia, the nurse put her in a wheelchair and took her to the elevator. The elevator was mirrored. She took one look at herself with the two rolls of white, bloody gauze sticking out of her mouth and said, "Hey, I look like a vampire!" We've had vampires on the mind waiting for the new Twilight book, hahaha!

I got an email notice from Amazon that Breaking Dawn has shipped! Cheryl and I have been looking forward to this book! Will Bella changeover or not?

Anyway back to Cheryl... When she came out of the general anesthesia, she started chattering away... non-stop! I couldn't understand most of what she said because of the gauze stuffed in her mouth. It's such a change from when Chris got his wisdom teeth out. Chris said nothing... got in the car and said nothing... got out of the car at home and went to bed.

After Cheryl got home, Chris made her some mac and cheese while I went down and picked up her prescription. I got home and put the mac and cheese in the blender. I know it sounds disgusting. It even looks disgusting... but it tastes just like mac and cheese. LOL!

She won't let me take her picture, but I think she is so cute with the fat cheeks. I've been calling her my cheeky-munk.