Be My Guest this month.... {Show Us your books}

So with this week still going at a Beauty & the Beast week in my heart, I love that this Tuesday is the link up for all the readers in Blog Land... the perfect thing for my Belle heart right now.

& yes, 2 of my reviews point to Beauty & the Beast ... this party is just rolling along for me to the countdown to the movie!!! YAHOOO!!!!

Be My Guest to my latest month of reading.... 

(like what I did there?)

We Should Hang Out Sometimes / Josh Sundquist

3/5

I love a true story... & really enjoyed this fun, enjoyable, light read.

You can see the video below on how this book came to light...

& you'll learn to love Josh Sundquist. He just seems like the nicest guy you can imagine.  He grew up with extreme conservative parents, homeschooled most of his life, & had cancer as a child & lost his entire leg.

But it didnt hold him back. He went to school, eventually became an Olympic paralympic skiier & does motivational speaking.

This book takes a look though at his dating life... or lack thereof I should say. He looks back at the girls he was interested in & tells the stories of their 'relationships' & then even meets up with these ladies currently & tries to figure out why they didnt make it work.

I laughed at a few parts... sighed at how sweet this guy is... & just felt bad for him in a lot of situations.

I will say, I looked up his website & his YouTube channel after reading the book & I wish I had before so I could 'see' his personality more in my mind reading this book.



I will say, it's a decent read, but nothing that is life shattering or changing. But something good to pass the weekend. It's really fast to read.  & will make you smile & remember what it was like to go through those younger years of trying to date.

The only thing I didnt care for it - the last chapter, the final girl... the one he is currently dating, (I think) - you'd think would get more credit than the others that didnt work out.  Oh well...

& I gotta say, I liked the guy even more when I found out he dresses up every year for Halloween as something that incorporates his one leg... & this past year?  He dressed up as Lumiere!!!!  Yep... I like this guy.

Longest Review ever!!!!
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Grace is Greater
Kyle Idelman
5 / 5

There are a handful of Christian writers that I can just sit in their book & take in so much easier than other writers.  Angie Smith is one, Kyle Idleman is another one.  & I may be a little prejudice since he is my pastor at the church I attend.  But it just shows that this guy is the real deal.

So this new book of his is talking about Grace.. a topic that I love to always fill up my soul on.  He covers how grace is greater than your mistakes... how you need to give grace to others (ouch!)... & how grace covers any circumstance.

I honestly can't say enough about the book. It's an easy read, not full of Biblical history that just leaves you feeling like you're sitting in a classroom not understanding - but every day examples & real life moments you can relate to.  Plus, Kyle is just funny.  He always adds footnotes to the bottom of his pages & you CANT skip them.  They always make me chuckle.

If you need a little soul filling... get this book. You wont be disappointed.

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Beauty & the Beast: Lost in a Book
Jennifer Donnelley
3/5

I wish I could say I swooned over this book... I liked it. It was enjoyable. But it wasn't the end all, be all Beauty & the Beast books. My favorite of all time is still Beauty by Susan Wilson FYI... THE BEST. I need to re-read again.

I think I have read every Beauty & the Beast book there is - Rose Daughter, Beastly, all sorts of retellings of Beauty & the Beast.. I'm a total addict. This was a good one but not up there with some of the others.

It does pick up with the movie, using characters like Plumette in it (which apparently has kicked Babbette out of the picture) but now I'm also intrigued to see how the movie plays out this week because in this book, the Beast is a big reader. That's different.

Another part of the book - which I dont think is a spoiler - but kind of had me like WHAT? was Mrs. Potts explained to Belle what happened to the Beast - about the enchantress putting a curse on him. WHAT??? But apparently they dont tell her how the spell can be broken. Well, put 2 + 2 together & DUH!!!!

I think that's what got me - this book just felt like out of character. I get all the Beauty & the Beast stories are different - I'm OK with that - but if you are going to use the Disney name & use the Disney characters, I would think having their character stay in line with one another in the movie & the book would make sense. & in this book, Belle gets trapped in a book after Death & Love make a wager on Belle & the Beast. A different idea... but to me, it just had Belle looking dumb. Not making smart moves - which to me, Belle is exactly the opposite of. That was my issue with it.

It's definitely a book I'm glad I have, glad I read it. It's just not something I'll go back to & read over & over again or hold close to my heart like Beauty does. That's OK... I'm still 110% a Beauty & the Beast fan & not everything is going to win me over (Cough... Cough... that new yellow dress... cough cough....)

So what book do I NEED to pick up next?

The weekend that confirms I'm old...

Before we get started... can we acknowledge the fact that Beauty & the Beast starts this week?????

THIS WEEK!!!!!!

I get teary eyed & hyperventilate. Seriously.

& what's driving me nuts? I have to wait a little bit to see it.

It's actually starting in theaters on THURSDAY... THURSDAYYYYYY!!!! & Ricky cant go on a work night to see it....

& we cant go on Friday night because I have a 10K on Saturday & I need to get in bed fairly early & again, Ricky will be in bed by 7:30... & then Saturday, we have the race & then a birthday party we are going to.

I'm totally going to go on Sunday to see it - going with my youth girls... I think there's like 9-13 of us going.

But I want to see it with Ricky first.... so I think we're going to try & squeeze it in sometime on Saturday in between the race & the party.  I'm still trying to talk him into going on Thursday.  But he said he'll be too tired to enjoy it... which tells me he secretly loves the movie as much as I do ;) ... dont tell. We'll keep that secret between us.

Kind of an accurate picture of us trying to figure out the time to go to the movie!!!!

Anyways - ITS THIS WEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm totally fangirling....

So back to the weekend.

Friday started off with a busy bang.  I stopped by to fuel up with some Starbucks - much needed - because we had a MSM hangout.  These things start at 8pm.  START at 8pm.  I'm usually in PJ's & cozy with knitting & in fuzzy socks at that point of a night.  & yes, I'm old.

One for me. one for Ricky.
... do you think the straw hole in his gave it away that I tried it?... oops.

But this night, I'm living it up with some middle school kids hanging out at church.  I loved some of my girls from my small group showed up.  They are the funniest girl... they way they talk. One of my favorite lines from the night when one girls said, "He needs to get on Craigslist & find some standards to live by"... where do they come up with this stuff? I wasnt that clever in 7th grade.


I got home & debated watching The Vampire Diaries.  It was the series finale. This is it - its over. No more.  Cue the feels.  But I wanted to be able to enjoy it & not be tired so I went to bed.

Or if you want to call it bed.  Bruno was up so many times throughout the night. & my back was hurting (did I mention I'm old?) & I couldn't get comfortable. So I think I slept maybe 4 hours. Dang it.  I hate when I cant take advantage of sleep on the weekends.

But I got up before the sun & ended up watching The Vampire Diaries finale... & totally got weepy over it.  Yes, I say all the time I'm a crying person - over every emotion.  But the finale was REALLLLY well done.  So good that I ended up watching it again to take it all in.  If anyone watches the show & watched the finale... let's talk. I need someone to talk about all the amazing things in the ending of it all.

OH Salvatore brothers... what will I do without you?

I spent some of my morning working on my hand lettering & doing my bible study memory verse for the week.  I love having these papers with my verses on them just to keep to look back on to remind me of the study.

Then, I finally had to give in & do my long run.  Except I threw in the towel on doing it outside. It was in the low 30's & the 'real feel' was like in the 20's.  I just couldnt.  Not for 8 miles. So I headed down to my treadmill to really test out if it's fixed.

Whew... it held out the entire run.
& I got through more of The Crown.. one more episode to go.

I'm so dreading that up next is 9 miles... God help me

The rest of the day, I just felt spent... with no sleep happening the night before - I was lazy. Knitting & crocheting & just loving on our little blind boy.

& I was in bed & asleep by 8:30pm.  Yep... once again... old. But I figured with the time change, it made sense to go to bed early.  Which I know it doesn't really matter what I do - it'll still kick me in the butt for the whole week loosing an hour's sleep.

Sunday had me running to Panera to pick up some bagels for my JOYster's Bible study (I've claimed JOYsters for my JOY SISTERS... clever, huh?) & then headed over for our MSM group.  To which the girls laughed at me when I thanked God in prayers that this is the week that Beauty & the Beast comes out.  I keep it real in prayers.  Really real.

But then headed right over after church for JOYsters...

Someone else is excited about Beauty & the Beast coming out
(side note... her mommy says she always says to anyone that gets angry, "YOU MUST CONTROL YOUR TEMPER" like the movie where they yell at the Beast... this girl gets me)

I stopped to pick up some dinner for Ricky & I on the way home & then about 5:30, got settled in to finally slow down.  Just in time for a new week to kick in.

BUT THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST WEEK!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited???

How was your weekend?

Cold & snowy?

Excited about Beauty & the Beast?

Friday Favorites

Favorite Easter Shirt

I really think I'm going to snag this up for Easter.

Easter is my FAVORRRRITEEEEE holiday. 

Such an exciting thing to celebrate

Ruby's Rubbish

Favorite Faith Thought




Favorite Beauty and the Beast



So Jamberry has jumped on the Beauty & the Beast train & there are some SUPER CUTE designs happening right now.  I want them all!


Favorite Phone Case



OK... this is kinda adorable


Favorite Purse



I love how soft & giving this bag is..
.. & HOW BIG IT IS!
Do you know how many books & knitting projects I can tote around in this?
what? you dont use a purse for those things?

Favorite Peencha

Favorite Funnies

I only pick it up because I know I'm the one who 1. has to clean up the melted mess
or 2. I'll be the one who slips & falls because of it

... every time I look at my bank statement & see how much money I've spent on all the latest 

Beauty & the Beast stuff

... but then know its not all going to be around forever 

... when the hubs asks if I have enough yarn already

... when everyone wants to shake hands in church but the flu is still going around

...me at 4:00pm today

Happy Weekend Y'all!!!

Lights, bagels & when I force my way into a family.....Thankful Thursday #115

This week I am Thankful For:

{The numbers go with my One Thousand Gifts Journal - so just ignore}

174 / Spare Lights.
We had a really bad storm the other morning coming into work & while I was getting ready, the lights went out in the house.  Well, my husband is a flashlight freak... that's a great Superhero name for him. Flashlight Freak!!!... anyways, his collection of  flashlights paid off for me.  See all the light in my kitchen?  Those are all from motion detector lights & a lantern I was carrying around.  It worked out well for a stormy morning!

Side note - someone PLEASSSEEEEE tell me what kind of floor would look good with these cabinets!!!
I want new floors!

175 / Safe.
Tornadoes were apparently hitting fairly close - close enough anyways - & we were all safe.  I ended up not leaving work until they passed & then ended up getting stuck in HORRID traffic so I was about 2 hours late for work that day.  Apparently, everyone else had issues too. One of our coworkers didnt make it in till noon. I told her at that point, I'd say forget it & call it a day.

174 / Treadmill Repair.
Glad to pay a little bit of money to have someone come look at my Milly & get her all fixed up & tuned up.  Especially after looking at the cost of new treadmills - YIKESSSSSS. My Milly is only about 5 years old & I'm basically the only person who uses it. The repairman even said it has a lot of years still left on it.

177 / Parking for 5k.
We always - ALWAYS - have problems parking for races. I swear, I dont care what time we leave, we're always barely pushing it in time & always struggling to find a spot.  But this time, even though we were still pushing it, we were able to get in a lot that was close to the race & only cost $5.00. Other places were charged like $10 & $15... to which Ricky had to make a comment how expensive running can be.  #truthbomb

181 / Willow Tree Nativity.
I talked about this on Monday... but so happy to get the set on clearance at Family Christian.  I had another blog friend email me & tell me she went to her local store & got one too for 60% off.  If you ever wanted one - now is the time!

182 / A night with my MSM Girls.
I cant tell you how thankful I am for the group of girls I ended up with in Middle school ministry. They are just the best. & they truly had my stomach hurting from laughing.  & we had some really good in depth conversations too, which is exactly what I want - these relationships to grow where they know I am there to listen... & laugh with!

184 / Mango Sherbet.
Yesssss!!! The girls wanted to go for ice cream late in the evening. I'm not a big fan of ice cream but knew Graeters has an AMAZING Mango sherbet. If you are ever there - get it. Its delicious....I'm now craving another one.

185 / Bruno.
Yesterdays post says it all... my poor little bouncy boy.

189 / First Session of the year.
With 2 of some of my favorite people.  It's so funny because every year, they do a Christmas picture with their family - I love their whole family... like LOVE them.  So for the past few years, I take their Christmas photo & photoshop me & Chasity in it because every time I see them, we always say we want to be an official family member... & they told us we could be :) haha... I use a picture that was taken at their son's wedding & crop me & Chasity right in the middle of their family.  I told this couple from the weekend I hope they didnt mind that I do that & its all because I love them. They told me that they look forward to it & this last years pic,& they even made sure to leave space for me to crop me & Chasity in it.  HAHA... this has become the best Christmas tradition ever for me.

Original Pic

2015 Picture

2016 Picture

Cant wait for 2017 picture!!!


192 / Free Bagels at Panera.
I love the reward program at Panera. I love any place that gives me free stuff for visiting them a lot.
This month at Panera, I get a free bagel EVERY DAY!  This is like the 2nd time I've gotten that reward in the past 6 months.  We'll stop by & get it & just keep it to warm up for later.  Ricky is now officially hooked on the cinnamon crunch bagels... he didnt believe me that it was the best at first. He's a believer now.

Tell me something good that's going on in your world!!!

I think my dog is part cat... or has a great guardian angel!

I'm going to start this post off & giving the ending...

Bruno was fine.

Whew... Are you scared yet?

Because I was freaked out of my head Saturday night... & now, totally convinced that angels care about animals as well as humans... or Bruno is basically a cat & is wearing down his 9 lives.

Which may make sense when we think back to this post where Bruno nearly died choking on a bone...

This dog.



Anyways.  Our poor little boy is just having a tough time lately. He's 16, going on 17 - & no, this isn't a repeat post of seeing the Sound of Music this past weekend. He really is 16 & will be 17 in August.  Grumpy Old Man is a legit name I give him. He lives up to it fully.

But with the aging, his sight is fleeting.  & by fleeting, I mean basically gone.  We've since learned he's totally blind in one eye & the other eye must be on its way out too.  He can't see when you put a treat down & you have to tap on the floor for him to come over to it.  Stuff like that.

He must still be able to see shadows or something though because he does look at certain things & he's not run into any furniture or anything in his path yet.

I told Ricky I'm not going to take offense to the times that I talk to him though, he looks at the refrigerator & thinks its me standing there.... bygones....

but he goes outside, we have 2 little steps to get out of the kitchen, he gets nervous about the edge of the steps.  He goes slow.  He's not sure of his footing on the steps.  You can tell his distortion is off.

So we do what we do with all our dogs when they get old. Treat them like babies.
They get the full royal attention. Spoiled all over again.  Circle of life.

Back to the main point of this story - I get home late on Saturday.  It was 11:45pm.... Ricky had already gone to bed & I was greeted at the door by the 3 dogs.  I went ahead & took Bruno outside for his nightly potty break - which is a joke because being a grumpy old man, he has a grumpy old bladder & we get up with him at LEAST twice a night, sometimes up to four times a night. Poor boy.  So I thought maybe this would cut down the wake up calls since it was going to be near midnight before I got him in bed.

I went & got on my sweats, washed my face & brushed my teeth & came into the kitchen & saw my little man standing there. He'll surprise us sometimes by actually making it back up those stairs to the kitchen.

I loved on him & told him "good boy" for making the hard leap of 2 steps & then said, "let's go to bed"... which all the dogs know exactly what that means & the race is on to get the best spot in bed.  & yes, I've lost out on that many a night & Harvey Dent is sporting a comfy spot on my pillow while I'm curled in a ball in the middle of the bed.  I'm that dog owner, what can I say.

So I start walking to the bedroom - turn off the light in the living room & go to the bathroom to find my warm socks....

& then hear a noise.

Harvey Dent jumped up & looked & I thought, What in the world was that? ... but really didnt give it much thought after that.

Until I went to the side of the bed where Bruno usually stands waiting for me to pick him up & he's not there. I started running around the house looking for him.  I woke Ricky up yelling. I knew Bruno couldnt get back outside... & couldnt find him anywhere.

Then the noise came back to my head & I was scared to death to look... but I held my breath & turned on the lights at the bottom of the steps... & he wasn't there....Thank God.  I was so afraid he was going to be laying at the bottom of the steps.  Our poor little man hasnt been down those steps in years because 1. his vision & 2. his little old man legs cant do all the steps from one floor to the next.

I made Ricky get up to help me find him.

& after about 5 minutes, I told Ricky - go see if he's downstairs. & Ricky gave me a look & said, He cant get down the steps.  I know - thats what I thought too ... but that noise.

So Ricky runs downstairs ... & whose in the back dark room, roaming totally lost?  Bruno....

OH MY GOSH... that was him... he fell down the steps.



We have security cameras throughout our house... we had to go back & watch what had happened.

So when I said, "let's go to bed" - all the dogs followed me - except when I turned the light out, it must have totally darkened for him & his one blurry eye & he got confused & got turned around.  He ended up back tracking & was the top of the stairs. You can tell he's not sure where he's at....

& while I thought he was still behind me & walking to the side of the bed, he's at the top of the steps... & takes just a small step too far...

Switch to the basement camera... I can't even watch it completely because the first time I saw it, he was just a blur of rolling from the top to the bottom... the sound of it is HORRID... I just saw the white ball of fur, literally flying down the steps & I cant watch it again nor watch the rest of it.

But Ricky said that he just stands up & looks around trying to see where he's at & starts walking around trying to find his way back up.

Y'all.... Y'ALL!!!!!

How he just got up & started walking & not even flinching or yelping out- not affected by the least,  He didnt even limp away.  He was 100% fine.  I am totally convinced his guardian angel was laying on the steps padding the fall for him.  Its the only thing that makes sense to me & this poor fragile 16 year old dog.

Oh my gosh... breaks my heart.  Ricky & I felt so bad... I know its nothing we could have prevented but still, accidents still make you feel guilty.

& for the record, we had a barrier up at the top of the steps for just this knowing his vision hasnt been great - but it had been taken down during the day... needless to say, I'm about ready to install a gate that is permanent & can't be moved after this.

I told Ricky I think what helped Bruno was that he's so fat & round, he probably did just roll down like a ball.  Which kinda is sad... but a little funny too.

These dogs... they keep us on our toes.
& apparently they keep their guardian angels on their toes as well!

Needless to say, the next day, Bruno got his little 'walks' in some extra doses to keep that 'extra love' going .... he deserved it.

This little grumpy old man... he's one tough guy...

who now gets carried to bed every night!!!