Tuesday Tip

Wow it's Tuesday already and today my tip is related to a Wellness Challenge I'm participating in at work. Here are a couple tips on how to jump into a new fitness plan: First of all before you begin really take a look at yourself and decide what your realistic goals are. Start with short term goals that are attainable so that you don't get discouraged. Stay positive even in the face of set backs and make a decision to stay focused no matter what. My last tip in any new journey is support! If you have people that are behind you then you can stay on track.

Book Review - Endless Knight

Endless Knight by Kresley Cole is the second book in The Arcana Chronicles series. I reviewed it's predicesor a couple weeks ago. Here is the Summary: Shocking Secrets Evie has fully come into her powers as the Tarot Empress, and Jack was there to see it all. She now knows that the teens who've been reincarnated as the Tarot are in the throes of an epic battle. It's kill or be killed, and the future of mankind hangs in the balance. Unexpected Allies With threats lurking around every corner, Evie is forced to trust her newfound alliance. Together they must fight not only other Arcana, but also Bagmen zombies, post-apocalyptic storms, and cannibals. Gut-Wrenching Treachery When Evie meets Death, things get even more complicated. Though falling for Jack, she's drawn to the dangerous Endless Knight as well. Somehow the Empress and Death share a history, one that Evie can't remember—but Death can't forget. Endless Knight starts exactly where Poison Princess left off. Evie has finially come to the point where she understands what she can do but she's still very wary of what she is capible of. She doesn't want to be involved in this war and keeps trying to find a way around the game. She is a different kind of Empress in this game that she finds out keeps replaying. Evie also finds that she should want to not only play, but win, this game at the price of anything. We find out A LOT of the Empresses past and what's gone on in games of the past. Not everything thats revealed is sunshine and roses thats for sure. Death and Evie have history thats not always pretty and this information confuses Evie and her feelings for Death and Jackson. Now as for Jackson he stays on the edges of this book for the most part but we never forget about him thats for sure. He actually shows some more depth of his feelings in this book. I didn't think that his personality was all that becoming in the first book but he becomes a little more well rounded here I think. We do "find out" some information about him here that causes Evie some serious pain and she pulls away from not only Jackson but also Matthew as well because of it. I put that in quotes because this is something I already figured out and I'm not sure why she didn't but who knows. Jackson does eventually prove that he really does have deep feelings for Evie and will do anything for her - he showed this some in the last book but it was hard to get past his attitude to see it. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm quite annoyed to have to now wait for her to write the next book! I'd say read it but you kinda have to read Poison Princess first otherwise you won't recognize and apprecaite the Character development that happens here. Happy Reading!!

Thanksgiving Works Too

Ok well in the last post I mentioned getting Zilla a little hairy B.F.F. for his 8th Birthday. Well some interesting news came may way since that post. Zilla's Grandma has a co-worker who overheard her talking about Zilla wanting a dog and offered hers up. Apparently she has a 1 year old Male Boston Terrier that dearly missed her ex-roommates 3 kids and was getting a little depressed over it. She said that although she didn't want to get rid of him he clearly needed to be around kids and what to do you know I happen to have a kid that needs a dog! So ta-da we have a new puppy! We are picking him up the week of Thanksgiving and I just know that Zilla is going to flip his lid when he spys his new pal. I'm very excited for my sweetness and his new B.F.F. who's name is Stich (we're going to see if he'll come to Zilla's preferred name -Yoshi- though). I can't wait to see his face!

He Wants A Dog

Zilla wants a dog for Christmas. Over the summer we dog-sat my Aunt's dog for a month and ever since then Zilla has begged for a dog. He wants a dog that will play with him and even sleep with him. Now Zilla doesn't have a subtle quiet bone in his sweet little body so we'd be forced to go the puppy route so that it could grow up with him and get used to his brand of awesome. I have zero want for a big dog or any surprises so that rules out a puppy from the pound and leads us right to the land of overpriced pure breeds. My Ex-MIL raises Brussels Griffon's and those would be nice but she doesn't have any litters coming anytime soon. That news got be to looking into other breeds and I'm thinking that Miniature Schnauzers might be at the top for now. Honestly I can't really say that I want to deal with a puppy at all.

Tuesday Tip

Oh here's another Tuesday and I've got a tip that I really need to take to heart and I think that many will understand exactly what I mean! Ok that's enough chit chat here it is:

Take some time for yourself!

Ok I know that's not groundbreaking but sometimes, as a parent, we lose ourselves in our kids and let our life take a backseat to theirs. Besides reading I don't think I'd be able to answer the question "What do you like to do in your spare time?" with anything non-Zilla related! I don't really know if I 'outgrew' the hobbies I had Pre-Zilla or if I just don't even remember them. Now don't get me wrong I love my little monkey and it doesn't really bother me per say to spend my time either with him or thinking about him but I don't want to lose me either. I mean for goodness sakes for my computer background at work I have a scene from Mario Bros! I think I need to figure out something that I like to do (besides read) that doesn't involve my little sweetness.

The Garbage Nazi

Yep that's my new nickname, well at least according to Mena, and I'm embracing it completely. Apparently now that I'm "enforcing" all of the rules she really should have been following all along I've earned the new moniker. To be fair I'm generally a rule follower (minus the speed limit lol) and she should have known better! I've laid out the recycling mandate and have pointed out on Yard Waste day what we were required to do and was met with a few not-so-nice comments. Sorry Mom but life's better when you follow the rules <~~~~ that's what I tell Zilla anyway lol.

Book Review - Poison Princess

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole is the first book in the Arcana Chronicles Series. I read this book about 5 months ago and just finished the second book yesterday but thought I couldn't very well review the second book without first giving the first its glowing Review. Here's the summary:

Sixteen-year-old Evangeline "Evie" Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they're still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can't totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him? As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it's not always clear who is on which side.Who can Evie trust?

I liked the cast of characters in this book and I also liked how the Author had the Characters evolve and adapt to the new situations they were being faced with after the event they refer to as "The Flash" that changed their world. I didn't particularly like how whiny Evie came across sometimes but then I had to keep telling myself that she's only 16 and going through some major crazy. I honestly wasn't a fan of Jack as Evie's love interest in this book because he was basically a jerk the whole time. The only redeeming quality that I found was that he was protective of Evie and taught her some survival skills. There were also quite a few pages of Evie recounting her days before The Flash and although some reviews I've read didn't like this I enjoy getting a good back story. The ending of the book left me very excited to see where the story and Evie specifically were headed. I seriously enjoyed reading Poison Princess and when I was done got upset that I had to wait until October to read the next book! I will review the second book in the series, The Endless Knight, next week!!!

Homecoming Court Got it Right

Finally some uplifting news that made me smile was in the newspaper! This past week at West Orange High School's Homecoming celebration the school voted for their Homecoming King and Queen. I know big deal every school does this each year but wait...this year was a little different. West Orange High School proudly voted in Semone Adkins as queen and Trazjuan "Bubba" Hunter was voted king of the court by their fellow students. Both students are well liked and couldn't have been happier to gets their crowns. Oh and the reason this was "different" your asking well this was news because it's the first time in Florida that two students who have Down Syndrome were both given the Homecoming Crowns!!

As the Mother of a Special Needs child this just warms my heart because it goes to prove that not all teenagers are self-absorbed and only care about themselves and their popularity. It really gives me hope that my son is growing up in a World that can see past any issues and instead can just be kind to others.

Tuesday Tip on Wednesday

OK everyone yesterday I guess I forgot it was Tuesday so I missed out on posting my Tuesday Tip so I just decided to slide it on over to Hump Day instead! Here is my tip for everyone:

Don't get excited about reading a book in a series unless you can then continue on to the next book right away!

I just finished the 2nd book in a series and now I have to WAIT for the next book!! I normally have very little patience and this is no different.

National Boss' Day

Wait What? Bosses get a day where I have to give them something for making me do work? That doesn't sound good or well it wouldn't if you have a bad boss. I thankfully don't have that problem! All of the people I work for are super nice and make it a pretty awesome working environment. So Thank you Marchelle and Allan for just being you!!

Just Between Friends

Twice every year in my area I participate in a kids consignment sale. It's that time of year again and all weekend I've been driving myself nuts getting everything ready for the sale. It's a lot of work to gather, clean, price and tag everything before taking it to the sale. I'm hoping that this sale is just as successful as the last and I can get a nice check for all of the stuff that's been cluttering up my house! Zilla is not so much a fan of getting rid of his stuff but eventually he'll understand that I'm not going to keep buying him stuff (or let others do so) if he can't clear out space! So wish me all kinds of luck in getting rid of the car load!!

If Wishes Were Horses, Beggers Would Ride

You gotta love the old English Proverb that goes to prove how ridiculous wishes can be. Sometimes wishes are just things we say out loud but don't really mean.

Today I said one of those things that while nice wouldn't actually be something I wanted. I thought "I wish Zilla was just a little more normal" even though in reality I wouldn't trade him in for a more socially acceptable version ever. I love my munchkin more than life and think he's perfect just the way he is. I'm not one of those parents looking for a "cure" for Autism because to me that's just how my son was made. That being said there are days where I long to not have to think about all the things that swim around in my head. I NEVER once thought when I was planning to have a baby that words and phrases like 'bahavior plans', IEP, 'we need strategies to deal with this issue', 'we'll call in a specialist', and on and on and on would be a part of my daily life. I've thought more about my sons education and schooling than I ever put into my own and he's only in second grade! I wouldn't ever want to change my monkey but it sure would be nice to have a little less contact with his school lol.

What prompted this awesome post is Zilla decided that instead of doing his one on one math with his teacher yesterday he'd destroy his classroom instead. His classmates then had to be cleared from the room and lost 40 minutes of instruction time while they tried to calm my child. I hate that he gets so overwhelmed that he has to lash out like that and I hate that he's the cause of such a problem for others. What I hate the most though is the feeling of helplessness I get when this happens. It'll be all be ok, his school adores him and he'll pull out of his funk like it never happened at all.

Family Of Gamers

Zilla has become a serious gamer of late and loves all things Mario. And because my munchkin never does anything half way he has made us all into a "Family of Gamers". On a daily basis we are forced um I mean asked to play either Mario Bros, Mario Cart or Disney Infinity with him. I even managed to round up another Wii remote so that we can all play at once. I have to say that I'm pretty sure I never played with video games this much even as a kid. Zilla is in his element while playing and he really enjoys beating Mena and I every time we play. There has been plenty of yelling, trash talking and TONS of laughter in our house! As a family we've made it through World 1 and are now trying out (very poorly if I'm being honest) World 2 Level 1 but that's HARD people! I think that secretly Mena and I are hoping Zilla will just pull us through it lol. We are even planning to use our "Family of Gamers" status for our Halloween costumes. I got Zilla the Mario costume and I'm going to be making myself into a Question Mark Box with a 1up and Mena is still deciding. Zilla just adores when we are included in his fun and whats better in life than making your kid happy? Nothing!

Tuesday Tips

On my first day back to blogging after a long hiatus I've decided to start a weekly Tuesday Tips post. Each week I plan to share a tip I found in a book, online or just somewhere I've read that either helps me or would be a good idea to keep in your little bag of tricks!

I've noticed over the last year or so that I've let my normal organization go a little bit and I really need to fix that so here's our tip for today:

Sort items using a five-box method. Have five boxes with the labels: Keep, Toss, Give away, Donate and Trash. When figuring out whether to keep or toss an item, don't ask yourself if an item has any value or if you’ll need it some time, because answer will probably be yes. They say that instead ask yourself “Does this item have enough value? Will this get in the way of finding more important items?” because that will likely be a different answer!