One More Week!!!

Holy crap people, I am getting married in SEVEN DAYS!!!

SEVEN DAYS!!!!

...I'm a little bit excited.  Actually, I'm a lotta bit excited.  Or maybe you couldn't tell.  Anyways, I just wanted to inform all of you that I will no longer be posting to this blog after I'm married; I'll be starting a new one.  :)  I'll post a link to it when it actually has something worth looking at.  But until then, happy holidays!  You know what, never mind, screw politically correct--

Merry Christmas!! 

And a happy New Year, and all that jazz, and thank you for reading, and here is a picture of an orangutan contemplating a tiny banana. 

Merry Christmas again, everyone, and I will talk to you again soon--most likely as a married woman.  :)  Cheers!

Book Review: "The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963" (and corresponding unfortunate events)

Dear people, what a sad, sad day.  As I sit here and ponder the tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conneticut, it breaks my heart.  Snow is falling outside my window, deceptively calm and quiet, reassuring and restive.  Here in my wonderful valley, with my family asleep nearby and the Christmas lights softly glowing, it's hard to believe that anything so awful could happen. (If by some chance you haven't heard the news yet, you can read it here.)

Today, I finished another beloved book, and it just so happens to correspond with the shooting in Conneticut. 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis

Synopsis:  Kenneth Bernard Watson tells many a tale of his family in Flint, Michigan in the early 1960's.  He tells stories of his schoolmates making fun of him for his lazy eye and for being so smart for a ten-year-old; he tells stories of his older brother (and official teenage delinquent) Byron, when he gets his lips stuck to the freezing cold mirror of their car, the Brown Bomber; stories of younger sister Joetta's unfailing Sunday School attendance, his best friend Rufus, the World's Greatest Dinosaur Battle Ever, and many other stories that will leave you falling in love with the whole family of the Weird Watsons and laughing at the antics of the entire family--until a trip to Wilona Watson's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama and the deaths of four little girls due to a bomb placed in their Sunday School class changes all of their lives forever.

My Rating:  * * * * (out of 5)

I remember putting this book down today with B's head on my shoulder, hoping to get some sleep before he went to work the night shift at our local hotel, and literally thinking, "I am so glad that as Americans, we don't have to deal with this kind of violence anymore".  It wasn't until later that I found out about the school shooting.

People, there is no need for this.  The killing of any human being is an awful, awful thing, and the killing of so many, and so young, is completely unnecessary.  Hold your loved ones close this season and thank God that you will not have to send back unopened Christmas presents this year.  Send your love and thoughts to those who are grieving at this time.  And let's hope that someday, we really won't have to deal with that kind of violence.  Ever again.

New Recipe: Crockpot Italian Chicken

We tried a new recipe this week!  On Tuesday night actually.  Sorry but I forgot to take pictures :/  But anyway, here's how it went:

4 chicken breasts
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used that Neufchatel...stuff...instead)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 packet zesty Italian dressing mix

Basically, you just dump everything in the crock pot and cook it on low for 4 hours and serve over pasta (or, in B's case, brown rice).  I actually had to cut the recipe in half because our crock pot is teeny tiny, but the size of the finished product was the perfect serving size for both of us!

And according to B, who is my most honest food critic ('cause he's Mr. Fitness Guru and he hates eating anything that's not completely healthy if he thinks it might affect his physique negatively), said:

"On a scale of 1 to 10, as far as taste goes...this is definitely a 10."

So not only a 10, but a definite 10!  :)  Yay for recipes found on Pinterest!!  I told him it would come in handy.  So here is the link to the recipe on my Pinterest board.

Happy cooking!!

p.s.  Going to try making egg-nog cookies tonight...stay tuned.  ;)

Book Review: "Inkheart"

Hello, friends! 
To everyone who is interested, I just finished re-reading "Inkheart" today and I figured I'd give a bit of a review in case some of you haven't yet read it.  (p.s.  I love it.)

Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke

Synopsis:  After reading aloud from a book called "Inkheart", book doctor Mortimer Folchart's wife disappears into the story while some of the characters from the book transfer to our world.  Mo and his daughter, Meggie, live without Teresa for nine years, while every copy of "Inkheart" is mysteriously stolen.  One dark night, Dustfinger--one of the characters from the book who got snatched from his story and plopped into our world--shows up at Mo's door and tells him the villain from the story, who also appeared in the human world, is after him.  Dustfinger, Mo, and Meggie all travel to Teresa's aunt's house.  Elinor, as a collector of books, seems a viable option to hide "Inkheart".  However, shortly after their arrival, Capricorn's men show up at Elinor's door, kidnap Mo, steal "Inkheart", and leave.  Panicked, Meggie and Elinor follow, with the help of Dustfinger.  Upon arrival at Capricorn's village, they discover Capricorn's men waiting for them--the book they thought was "Inkheart" was, in fact, a different story.  Unfortunately, Meggie and Elinor had brought the real book with them as collateral for Mo's release...but now Capricorn and his men have everything right where they want it--Mo, the sorcerer who can lure things out of their stories by the mere sound of his voice; his daughter, the one thing he will do anything to protect; the book itself, of which all other copies have been destroyed; and Elinor, the troublemaking, bold-tongued woman who would have gone to the police otherwise.  Now all Meggie has to do is figure out how to escape, release Mo, steal the book back, kill Capricorn and his men, and rescue Elinor...and maybe bring her mother back, too.  She only needs the help of "Inkheart"'s author, Fenoglio, and, of course, the elusive fire-eater Dustfinger.

My Rating:  * * * * * (out of 5)

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys tales of adventure, suspense, and unexpected twists and turns.  Ms. Funke does an incredible job weaving a tale of mystery, betrayal, and the incredible deeds accomplished by human love.  I actually read this book a while ago, and had almost forgotten about it until I started moving some of my things into B's apartment.  I was swept away by the story all over again when I restarted it!  Seriously.  Give this book a try.  Or, even better, give it to your favorite bookworm for Christmas.  Cheers!