Another Trying Day

Well, I'm happy to say this day is finally over. It's only 1:00 am, Kirsten has her homework for the past three day finished, pink eye caused an absence along with the inevitable eye doctor appointment (in between snow days) and her eye was pink again after school today, another call into the doc. I swear I saw myself driving back and forth to Mattoon and later in the day, on the way to Champaign. I know it was me because I was waving! I don't know when I slept longer than three hours, and that's not even because of the insomnia. The one time I'm tired even to sleep and don't have time to do it. Kris and Patrick are also coming down with some weird head cold, they even feel feverish. Forced Motrin on both of them, hope the pink eye doesn't catch onto them. Stuart is still grumpy from being ignored for the past three days, won't even come and lay next to me, which is his usual favorite spot. He just glared at me and squinted his eyes, daring me to reach out and pet him so he can take a bite of my hand. Going to force puppy sedatives on him (called rescue drops). Yes, I'm totally serious, I give my dog drops to help him to relax and not be so crabby. You can buy them at the health food store for about $10.00, well worth the investment. Buy in drops or spray, but drops I can put in his mouth (if I can get around the large, sharp teeth) because when I tried spraying his food, he refused to eat! He entirely too clever for his little doggy brain. Vet suggested when I asked for puppy Prozac. Again, no I am not joking.

There are a few new contests available online:

Jocelynn Drake @ http://jocelynndrake.blogspot.com/ is giving away the new cover art flats for her new book, Dayhunter (love the storyline--check my gadget for Nightwalker).

Also Rachel Vincent @ http://urbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-tour-contest.html is giving away a signed set of the shifter books in celebration of her new book, Pride. Her books are great reads and filled with escapism, which I think we all need. If you haven't tried the urban fantasy genre, here is an excellent chance to do so, who doesn't love, love, love free books? On Rachel's blog, she also lists a couple of other contest, so check it out.

I didn't get Blood Sins finished today, because as you know, I was on the road all day long, but did get Cold Case by Robin Burcell in, wanted Face of a Killer, darn it! Snow is delaying everything. I have pictures to post, but I'm waiting to load them on my computer, it's still under the weather, mostly because I haven't had time to find a compatible hard drive.

Well, Stuart finally has calmed down and lying at my feet, I hope not to bite them! He looks so cute and sweet, but doesn't even like the kids to move around in their sleep. So, fellow bloggers, going to call it a night or should I say a tomorrow.

Talk to you later (at least after the sun comes up)

Dottie

The Day That Will Not End

Well, everyone out there in blog land, I swear this is the day that will not end. I also am of the firm belief that spring will never arrive and summer will be delayed until fall, and then it will be time for freaking winter again!! LOL. It another eight inches of snow here. This morning when I looked outside (at 4:00 am no less), it was still snowing. By 8:00 am, it had stopped, but all the schools were closed. The kids are getting so bored that they're hoping school will actually be in session. I'm so tired of winter, I could SCREAM. Spent the entire day running from one doctor's appointment to the next and the roads were so slippery and icy, it was nerve racking and I didn't even have to do the driving. My ankle is killing me because of the extra stress, anything can cause the RSD to act up, but stress is the worst.

I'm almost finished with Blood Sins and I'm still waiting for Face of a Killer to come in. I can hardly wait to finish the book. The part I read was so good. Also, Jocelynn Drake has up her new cover art Dayhunter. It's really cool and sexy. I haven't start Scarpetta yet, but I hate to have too many books going at the same time, I get confused easily! Sitting watching Craig Ferguson with Cuba Gooding Jr. on, it's hilarious. Cuba making fun of the audience, about some guy sitting in back smoking (against the law), saying negro go back to the brain (talking about Cuba's new movie) and how he can hardly wait to go somewhere really warm and lay out in the sun to get blacker. Really politically incorrect, but also soooo funny. LMAO!! Since we just got home a few minutes ago, Kirsten is still up, and she's laughing too. Never seen Cuba so wild and funny before.

Stuart's mad at me for leaving him all day, he's feeling ignored, poor puppy. Growling at everyone while lying next to my leg. I hope he doesn't try to get even and take a bite out of my leg instead, you know how evil he can be. Mostly growling at eveyone else. Won't let anyone near me, possessive isn't he. Growling at Kris and licking my hand, probably tenderizing it to bite it later. The thing is he acts like he hates me some of the time too, but I did gave him a cookie, so may he'll forgive us soon. Growing sleepy so going to go for now, talk to everyone soon,

Dottie

E-books

I had a recent query on my blog as to if Jocelynn Drake's Nightwalker book was available as an ebook. I sent the query on to Jocelynn and she says that to her knowledge, yes it is available as an ebook as well as available on kindle, if you haven't seen or heard about kindle, it's this really cool little device about the size on a large palm device that holds about 10,000 ebooks. I've seen it available on Amazon.com as well as a couple of other places. It's on my wish list, with about a million other items. LOL.

Another snowy day here in Illinois, boring and cold. It looks so beautiful when it's first finding it's way to the ground, but it's so cold that as soon as someone walks in it, it turns to an icy mixture of dirty snow. It's not deep enough and moist enough to compact for snowman building either. They've canceled school so much that Kirsten has had make-up games in cheerleading almost every night but Wednesday which is church night here, and no one does anything else but go to church on church nights. I've tried to keep up with my planned daily blog, since the destruction of my old blog, but not doing to well with that either. Really having trouble with the sleeping thing, but oh well....

I hope everyone has had a chance to take a peek at Robin Burcell's book, Face of a Killer, I really have been enjoying it, I'll tell everyone about it when I finish the book. It has lots of action, which makes it a fun read. I also recently acquired Scarpetta and Blood Sins, so I'll have enough to keep me busy. The trouble is I'm having problems concentrating on what I'm reading, end up re-reading. All goes along with the RSD.

I've considered making a new blog just for family stuff, what do you think? mmmmm, still considering and thinking about time consumption. I think my parents would enjoy it, as well as other family members, but I don't know. It seems like I never have enough time, and I really don't do anything all day long, but I also don't seem to have that much energy either. Is there a pill I can take for that....I kind of doubt it! Well, going for now, I'm so tired tonight, hopes that means sleeping is easy. Talk to everyone soon,

Dottie :-)

Face of a Killer by Robin Burcell

From the Cover: 'FBI forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick questions the guilt of the man about to be executed for her father's murder twenty years earlier. The first stirrings of doubt occur when one of her forensic sketches on an unrelated case brings forth memories about her father's homicide that she'd hoped to forget. A mysterious envelope arrives in the mail on the anniversary of her father's death. She opens the packet and discovers a blackmail letter written by her father, an old photo of his army buddies, and a deposit slip from a bank long closed. Refusing to believe that her father was involved in any blackmail scheme, she searches for evidence to clear his name. Her investigation leads to a trail of corruption by high-ranking US political officials, and a meticulous and deadly cover-up by the military and the CIA. The more Special Agent Fitzpatrick digs into her father's past, the more she finds it riddled with dark secrets and truths, including the fact that her father's seemingly ordinary military career was anything but stellar or even routine.'

It's another Guess What moment! I was on one of my favorite blogs, The Lipstick Chronicles, Harely Jane Kozak blogs here, as well as several other great authors and guest bloggers, http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/. This week's guest blogger is Robin Burcell, another new author for me. She is a criminal investigator in California and retired police officer as well as an author. Harper Collins is offering the first 65 pages on her new book, Face of a Killer online(part of the Sydney Fitzpatrick series), [see sidebar gadget]. Wow, what an exciting read! The main character, Syd, is a 33 year old FBI artist/agent. The story is just starting to unfold for me, but I've ordered the book, as well as Deadly Legacy and Cold Case (part of the Kate Gillespie series), Fatal Truth and Every Move She Makes were unavailable at this time, but I'll probably be able to locate them online. Visit Robin's site @ http://www.robinburcell.com/ .

Talk to you soon,

Dottie

Another Day, Better Evening AND John Sandford Reviews (Two)

Well, it's almost 5:00 in the morning, which means I only slept for about 2 hours. Have been trying to go back to sleep, but the insomnia has won this round. I hate to take the pills the doctor prescribed, I know the pain in my ankle is the problem, but I don't like the after effects on the sleeping meds. I feel almost drunk the next day, which is worse than being worn out the next day. Going to have to go back and maybe have the nerve block, which I also really dislike doing, but I have to be able to sleep. After a nap later today, I'll feel better and then maybe I won't need the nerve block. See, to have the nerve block, they stick about an eight inch needle along the effected side of your spine, doesn't feel real good, and the last one caused back spasms longer than the effects of the nerve block lasted. My back killed me for about a month and my leg stopped hurting for about 3 days, it just didn't seem like a fair trade off or worth being in the extra pain. RSD causes my ankle to hurt, even though the original break healed months ago, my sympathetic nervous system still thinks it's injured and continues to make my ankle ache. Maybe I'm just being a crybaby and should get over it. I try not even to mention it to my kids or hubby, just causes them extra guilt and makes me feel silly.

Well, starting to get sleepy, so I'm going to quit for now, though I'll probably add to this post later today. Computer starting to act wonky anyway. Talk to you soon,

*************

Well, slept about 4 more hours throughout the day, and I'm feeling much better!! I'm already tired, so sleeping tonight shouldn't be a problem. Shouldn't even need my sleeping meds!! And my leg feeling better, not a lot, but enough that I think I'll be able to sleep, don't even want to try another nerve block right now. Still throbbing, but I think I can handle it.

*************

I've read another couple of good books since Christmas, Phantom Prey and Heat Lightning both by John Sandford.  Here are a couple of short reviews.

Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: Phantom Prey--384 (May 2008) Heat Lightning--400 (September 2008)


Phantom Prey is a Lucas Davenport novel (the 18th in the series) about a widow, Alyssa, who can't find her daughter, Frances, but mysteriously finds her blood smeared throughout the kitchen. Frances was heavy into goth, and Lucas must investigate, mostly as a favor to Weather, his wife and friend of Alyssa's. Lucas is sure Frances has met with foul play, but how and why, and who is this Fairy that everyone seems to know. Who is killing the goth wannabees? Only time will tell Davenport what he needs to know.

Heat Lightning is the second book in the Virgil Flowers series. Virgil Flowers is a detective from the Lucas Davenport series, who came with Davenport into the BCA. He's very good at what he does, sort of like a younger Davenport. In Virgil's first book, he investigated the death of an old man who burned to death. In this book, Virgil investigates the death of Vietnam Vets who appear to be executed in a traditional Vietnamese manner, with a lemon stuffed in their mouths. As the deaths pile up, Virgil gets deeper and deeper into the mystery surrounding the deaths. Virgil likes woman a lot, and soon becomes involved with Mai, one of the local Vietnamese-American women, or is she? There are many twists and turns in this story, with clues leading the reader towards the executioner that may involve the U.S. government. How deep will the mystery go? The Virgil Flowers series is excellent, especially for readers missing the womanizer that Davenport used to be, but with undertones of Virgil's minister father in the background.

John Sandford (a.k.a. John Camp) was recently embedded in Iraq, writing articles for MinnPost as well as recently covering the RNC convention. He is also releasing the 19th Davenport novel, Wicked Prey, in May. He's one busy man.


New author alert: Robin Burcell--Crime/Mystery--check out her new book, Face of a Killer and her website @ http://www.robinburcell.com/ . Good reading!


Have a great night!

Krazy Kat

Our neighbors cat in absolutely insane!! I've mentioned before how he comes over to our house to grab his meals, but goes home in between snacks to rest in his luxurious cat-house (not what everyone else thinks). The cat refuses to stay inside, so they put a refurbished doghouse on their front porch with a heating pad inside under an afghan, so he will stay nice and warm. On really cold days, I have the kids carry him back to his house, so he can climb back into the warmth. Well, Killer comes over today, like any other day since he started only eating at our house, and cried for lunch. Kris goes out and feeds him his lunch, and about ten minutes later, I peeked out to see how he was or if he decided to go back home. Killer was out on the porch, picking up his cat food with his paw and eating it off his paw!! Okay, I thought the cat had just developed this love of our front porch, but maybe he thinks he's a person and, by the way, he's right pawed. I cracked up laughing at him, he has also decided he doesn't want to be watched while eating, so you can only peek at him. Cats sure are touchy.

Another interesting animal tale. On your way out of town, there is the Mason Home, used to be an old farm, and they still keep animals in the pasture, lots of cows and at this time of year, even a bull. They also have a donkey to help keep the coyotes out of the pasture. He usually hangs with the cows, kind of thinks of himself as an honorary cow, you know. But the farm next to the Mason Home has three pleasure horses, and when the horses are out, the donkey forgets that he's a cow and tries to hang out with the horses instead. He's got his head over the fence chatting up the mares. The cows are all laid back, relaxing in the sun, and Mr. Donkey thinks he's a player, coaxing the girls to the fence, and about the time they want to chat, he acts like it was their idea. Mr. Donkey is as cute as a button too. Laughed my butt off when we went out of town, and he had his neck all stretched out coaxing mares, and when we came back into town a couple of hours later, the mares had their necks all stretched out trying to talk to him. He's a lady's man after all.

Hey guys, you know that post I did about everyone else having too much free time, while I never seem to have any? Well, just ignore it while reading this post, because I apparently do have too much free time to make observations about cats, cows, and donkeys. Talk to you soon,

Dottie

P.S. I think I've found another author to add to my list, Lynda Hilburn is a guest blogger on Bitten By Books @ http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=3930. She writes paranormal (vampire novels)and from what I've read, seems pretty good. Her website is http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com and she participates in the blog @
http://paranormalityuniverse.blogspot.com. If you'd like to take a peek at her work, visit any of these sites. Paranormal romance, especially vampire romance, is fun and easy to read, if you haven't tried it, maybe you should take the opportunity to try it out.

Get Out And Vote At Urban Fantasy Land

Everyone who loves books, go to Urban Fantasy Land and vote for your favorite author, I have so many it's impossible to count, but some of my favorites are Jocelynn Drake, Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher, Carrie Vaughn, Carrie Jones, and Mary Janice Davidson to name but a few. Go vote for your favorite author @ http://urbanfantasyland.wordpress.com/ . It's your chance to choose the 2008 winners! If urban fantasy, paranormal romance, vampires, witches, fae, ghosts, ghouls, demons, or scifi is your cup of tea, this is the place to visit. They have contest to win free books, interviews with the authors (just read an interview with Jocelynn Drake about a month ago--one of the best new authors in urban fantasy). Everyone check it out and cast your votes for best book, best YA, best author, best new author, best author blog, best anthology, and then list your own personal favorites for heroine and hero.

Computer Problems

Okay, I know I said I kept getting an error when I tried to open my old blog, and then it deleted itself, but now I'm thinking my laptop ate it. You say, 'how could this be?' Well, it seems my hard drive is failing and I think when I had the blog open on a bad day (for the computer, that is) and it accidentally deleted it. I had both of my blogs open that day, working on my posts. When my posts vanished, I kept copies of them, but guess what, my computer also ate everything on the hard drive. This I did not know until I tried to create a new blog for reviews, and all my previous reviews were gone. A real pisser. I wondered how the blogs just vanished, but I was deleting gadgets and working on the sites. I think it just deleted everything when I pushed delete. Have to remember to keep my finger off the delete button, at least until I can purchase a new hard drive, computer isn't even 2 years old. Should have known better than to purchase a Gateway, should have stuck with Apple. It was doing weird stuff like deleting a paragraph in the middle of writing. I was trying my hand at a book and it ate it too. Another pisser. Trying to keep a backup of everything now, though it won't help me with all the stuff previously eaten. Looked up how to change out the hard drive, going to try it out, can't hurt, and maybe I'll learn another new skill or I'll be electrocuted, who knows. Just kidding, even I know enough to disconnect the power cord and remove the battery. Replaced enough electrical switches in my house to know that much, also looked to see where the hard drive is located on the laptop, looks easy enough, but if I screw it up, I can always take it to the computer shop, may as well put the new memory in myself too, if I have to crack open the computer anyway. Well, keep getting the error message that my hard drive is failing, time to go hard drive shopping. Talk to everyone soon, I hope, or it may be a few days if I end up having to take it to the doctor.

See you,
Dot

Gran Torino

SPOILER ALERT

This weekend my hubby and I saw Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood's new movie. It was great!! Definitely two thumbs up. I would have never thought I would cry at an Eastwood flick, but how was I to know he would have a heart, what with all the cowboy and cop movies (not that I haven't enjoyed every one of them). This movie was fantastic. Well, as long as you don't mind watching a not politically correct movie. It's a movie about an old white guy (Clint, I say this lovingly) who worked on the line at Ford Motors in Detroit, Michigan for 50 years. He was in the Korean War and scarred by the experience. He has no time, patience, or tolerance for people in general, but especially those not of the male white persuasion. Against all odds, he bonds with his Asian neighbors whom he calls many colorful metaphors and which I will not repeat. His neighborhood as become infested by an Asian gang. The movie starts out with the death of his wife and his disdain for his children and grandchildren who he views as sell-outs. They don't hold his values of hard work and Americanism. As the events unfold during the movie, he begins to understand his neighbors and bonds with young Tao and Sue. When gang violence rocks for neighborhood, he retaliates. This causes the gang to attack his neighbors and kidnap, beat, and rape Sue, those who they view as too scared or weak to protect themselves. Walt (Clint) makes his peace with God (who he hasn't always been on speaking terms with) and goes to face the gang. When he threatens their security, the members murder him with all of the neighbors, who have been too afraid to point them out to the cops, watching. There is no escape for the would-be gangsters now and Walt as atoned for his sins. As an after thought for his kids who just want his money and belongings, he leaves his house to the church and his prized 1972 Gran Torino to Tao, the Asian boy from next door. A fitting end to a great movie. I think I've seen every Clint Eastwood movie made, some are funny (a few), some are violent (a lot), and some try to explain life (several), but Gran Torino tries to accomplish all three. I laughed, I cried, I waited for blood shed, and finally I understood it's true meaning. It was worthy of the price of admission.

Valkyrie

My hubby and I saw Valkyrie around Christmas time and it was much better than I excepted. I had trouble seeing Tom Cruise in this film, but he was able to pull off a pretty good job. This movie was one of the movies to be released this summer, but due to the writers strike and the controversy concerning Tom Cruise's Scientology beliefs, was delay until Christmas Day. He played Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg, who created the last plan for the assassination attempt on Hitler. How things would have different if his plan had been successful. Hitler, being the coward that he was, committed suicide six months after the attempt rather than face allied troops for the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. I only mention this movie because the history channel is showing a special on Valkyrie tonight. It is an excellent show as long as you have a strong stomach. The pictures are true depictions and are actual events that occurred in 1944 and 1945.

Winner of the EOS Books Contest

It's another GUESS WHAT? moment!!!! I was one of the winners of the EOS Books contest!!
EOS Books @ http://outofthiseos.typepad.com/ is part of the Harper-Collins Publishing House. I won the 10 years, 10 weeks, 10 giveaways....(there were 3 winners), I will receive a copy of every book EOS publishes in 2009. This happens to be the publishing house of some of my favorite authors and it means that I will be creating another blog to review all these great new books I will be receiving. If anyone else enjoys scifi, urban fantasy, young adult fiction, or paranormal, I highly recommend this blog and publisher. They have free ebooks they post online, the fur, fangs, and fey series where they interview the authors, and The Beyond podcast (which you can listen to on their website. They interview and review some of the best and newest authors in the business). I'm so excited!!! I love Jocelynn Drake's series, The Dark Days (I've read Nightwalker), she's a new author with two new books coming out in 2009. It is also the publisher of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Series, she also has a new book in 2009. They also publish Vicki Pettersson, Robin Hobb, Raymond E. Feist, and many, many more. I have no idea how many books I will be receive, but anyone who knows me, knows I usually have a book with me for when I have a free moment or in case I get bored and need a distraction. Another book I'm looking forward to reading is Need by Carrie Jones, I will have to pick this one up after listening to her on the new The Beyond podcast.

There are a couple of movies I would really like to see, Gran Torino, Bedtime Stories (looks really stupid--so must be excellent Adam Sandler), Inkheart (excellent book), Wolervine (of the X-Men series), Harry Potter (another excellent book), and the new Star Trek movie (some are out now, coming out in January, and this summer--many delayed due to the writer's strike).

Well, I'm so excited about the EOS books contest, I can hardly sit still. I'm wired and can't wait to get my first book!! I guess I better go for now, going to call my sister and tell her about the contest too.

Talk to you soon,
Dottie :-)

The Internet - Where Anything and Everything is Available

You know, I've been surfing the Internet for a long time, yeeeaarss. But I've noticed recently that if you want to find anything, if you look hard enough (and with a narrow enough search) everything is available at the end of your finger tips. I couldn't figure out how to get my vacuum to work correctly after I replaced the belt, and on youtube, I found a video of how to change the belt on the brand and exact model of my vacuum, do you believe it? I typed in how to change a belt on my Kirby. Presto! There it was! Either people have to much time on their hands or I don't use my efficiently (this might well be the case). Anyway, the video really helped me and saved a service call to the vacuum repair shop (probably about $50). I'm not sorry everyone seems to have more time put up information on the 'net, I just wish I could find the time to try it out for myself. Maybe it's just me and I'm having one of my angst moods, but literally wiki can change by the minute, how is the information relayed so quickly?

Also, if you want to find out any information about anyone, it's available online. I like to read and I have several favorite authors. Not only does each and every one of them have a website, a blog, and a publisher page, but there are blogs about the blogs of the afore mention authors, as well as blogs about their books, breaking thoughts down of the characters in the books. You know, not every book needs to be analyzed, some are just supposed to be enjoyed. Reviewing a book is one thing, but analyzing the characters thoughts is a little over the top because they're fictional and don't actually have thoughts, although I really like to read all of it. I just want to know how they do it and what am I doing wrong? Surely, it's my time management skills, lack of sleep from the insomnia, the RSD in my ankle that's causing me perpetual pain, or maybe I'm just PMS'd today.

These are just my random musing for the day, if anyone is interested, while I'm watching Hellboy for about the hundredth time (by the way, it's one of my favorite movies and I'm enjoying watching it, have it on DVD). There just doesn't seem to be anything worth watching on TV, maybe I'll check out what's available on Hulu, a great free online source for shows and movies. Like I said everything's available on the Internet.

Have a great night and a happy tomorrow

Dot

Resize YouTube Video in Sidebar - Learn a New Skill Today

Guess what? I learn how to resize video to for the sidebar. It's so simple and easy to do:

1)Sign into your blog.

2)Click on customize at the top right.

3)Click the tab on the left 'Edit HTML' and it will bring up the code for your template.

4)Page down code until you see sidebar (mine was about half way down the navigation bar).

5)It should look something like:

#sidebar-wrapper {
width: 220px;
float: right;
padding: 5px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
background-color:#6DA655;

6)The part you're interested in is 'width: 220px;' which tells you how wide your
sidebar is. Remember the number before the px, mine is '220' which is the width of my sidebar (your's may be different) don't change HTML, just click page elements.

7)Downsize blog,and in a new window,search youtube for the video you would like to embed,copy that complete code(it's usually shown in a box in top right handcorner of the screen,just put mouse on code, right click select all, right click copy)

8)Go back to your blog, and click on add a gadget on sidebar under page elements.

9)Go to add html/java gadget, and click the '+' to add it to your blog.

10)When it brings up the gadget, name it,and in the text box,paste embed code from youtube. Before saving it, look at the code to search for the size.

11)Look at the first line, mine had the following number values for width and size, and near the bottom of the code, the values are repeated.

first line: object width="465" height="344
values shown again close to bottom of code: "width="465" ^^^^ height="344"

12)Change the width/size numbers as follows in the text box of the gadget.

Remember to replace them in both places or your changes will not be made, again mine was '220', but your's may be different.

first line change to width of sidebar: object width="220" height="220"
change values near end of coded: width="220" ^^^^ height="220"

I wanted mine to look square, but you may want your's rectangular shaped, so you can make the height number bigger or smaller.

13)Click save in bottom of gadget.

14)New gadget should appear in the sidebar.

15)Drag new gadget to where you would like it on the sidebar.http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42197

16)Click save changes and then click view blog.

You should now have a correctly sized youtube video embedded in your sidebar.



I even adjusted the size my podcast and the Tink gadget in the same way to fit nicely into the sidebar.

Two post in one day, I'm smokin'. Talk to you later,

Dottie

From the Ashes to a New Blog

Well, this is for anyone that was following my blog, it crashed, burned, but from the ashes of the burn, a new and better blog was born. I just kept getting this weird error message and then I couldn't post on the blog anymore. Sorry, don't know what happened, but I hope this blog works better and looks sweeter.

Kirsten competes tomorrow in gymnastics, well just tumbling. It has been an incredible long day, had to go get Kris's books at the college, which meant he had to stand in line for hooouuuurss. Kirsten had to go to the orthodontist (mouth still hurts) and doctor, she injured her back in competitive cheerleading. Pat's still good, but then he always is. All the kids did fantastic with their grades. How could it be otherwise? Hubby was busy all day with a business meeting. My Grams still her cute self. Mom and Dad doing well. Stuart still grouchy, grumpy, and growly. Killer the Kat still doesn't match his name (he should be called Krazy Kat in that he belongs to the neighbors, but for some reason will only eat at our house now!?!)

For this new blog, I chose my favorite fae, Tinkerbell, because I do believe in fairies. I do, I do.

I actually always liked the Disney fairy, she's incredibly cute and mischievous, a fairy after my own heart. I don't know, I might get sick of this template and change it tomorrow, who knows, but for right now it seems like a good idea.

Haven't been home to keep up this the news---Is Blago still the governor of Illinois, don't know but have heard on the radio that their having impeachment hearing. Did they seat Rollin Burris as the junior Senator from Illinois? Don't know that either, I'll have to turn to my trusty CNN news source to get a quick update and news fix.

Dot ^_^

If you need a realtor, please call my sister:

TANYA ROBERTS
REALTOR
RE/MAX PROFESSIONALS
(217)899-9097
(217)787-7215
tanya.roberts@comcast.net
Oh, by the way, (I LOVE REFERRALS!), if you know of anyone, family or friends looking for great service buying or selling real estate, call or e-mail me their name and business number, and I will take really good care of them!