Chirstmas is OVER!

Thank goodness Christmas is over. I had a good one just glad it's over. I talked with my dad and he agreed it didn't feel like Christmas I said nope it hasn't felt that in a while. I think it has more to do with the fact it was sixty three degrees and rainy...where was my snow?? I can tell you where it was waiting on kids to go back school and then will be out for snow days. I had three I repeat three Christmas dinners. One with Mama Marsha and we had soup. One at mom and Bob's and we an authentic Mexican dinner lol and the last one at grandma's where we actually had turkey and ham. It was all good. And I am pretty sure I gained like ten pounds probably not but it feels like it lol.
I feel very privileged to have gotten to all spend another Christmas with my daddy. I know that they are few remaining.
I am very happy with my presents. I got one of the cool messy bun beanies, some smelly lotion and body spray,$50 Barns and Noble gift card, comfy pajamas from Victoria secret, $20 Wal-Mart gift card and a nail polish set. Everything spoke to right to my heart. I needed to change my nail polish lol. And since I finished The Scott Peterson book A Deadly Game I am in need of a new book.
I have a list of one's that I want; and since I want instant gratification I will be driving over there so I can start reading them that day instead of having to wait until my order comes the mail.
After finishing A Deadly Game The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation by Catherine Crier I feel as if I understand the case a lot more. I liked the way that Crier writes she kept to the main details of that case. I can see why it is a #1 New York Times Bestseller. The main question of the whole trial was why?  Why Laci,who was pregnant with a baby boy? Why was Scott lying about things that he was doing? Why was Scott not forthcoming about his affairs? Why did he feel the need keep up his charade for so long? He was definitely a sociopath. I mean he actually thought that he could get away with this deadly game he was playing. He was a pathological liar he had his delivery down to T! He had fooled so many people for so long why not try to fool the police and the reporter's he knew would eventually surface.
I won't ruin it for you if you haven't read the book but I am sure most people know how it ends. Laci's body is finally found 119 days later. As to the why? Scott was not ready to be the devoted father and husband that he would have had to be an when Laci finally gave birth to Connor their unborn baby boy. He wasn't ready to have to quit seeing other women when it pleased him. One family lost a daughter and grandchild  while the other family lost a son and grandchild. A husband last his wife and baby but I think the families are more broken up with their grief than the husband. When the judge sentenced him to death he sat with his council and smiled and laughed. But as the last line in the book states Scott Peterson will live in an earth hell for rest of his life. I believe he did it because he wasn't ready to have to be an adult and deal with the consequences of his life. There are ways it ends unhappy marriage and killing your wife and unborn child is not the way to do it just saying.
Speaking of reading new books, I recently remembered that I have a library card lol, I looked and a lot of the books that I was looking in to buying are at the library so I will be making a stop that this week. That means that I get to spend my Barns and Noble card on other books YAY!

 

Christmas Memories..

Well it's only three days until Christmas! What three days oh wait I am done with all my shopping for once. I can honestly say that I don't really care for this holiday. When I was little it was a big holiday. I mean my dad would decorate the house from top to bottom and even the trampoline. He would sit it up on the side and put lights in it in the shape of a tree or star. And inside our tree was decorated as a family and we would laugh and laugh while we decorated it. Our house always smelled of Christmas candy being made. We would watch the Christmas cartoons the night before like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It was the best holiday ever. My grandparents would come up to our house and we would open presents and video tape them. I still have the video tape. Then we would go down to my grandparents house to open presents there. We would eat there too later in the day. After my grandparents passed we would do it all at our house. After my parents divorced, Christmas spirit died. I dislike the holiday. Nothing is the same. I decorate with Jessica and the boys. We don't hang lights because the house is high and one of us would likely fall lol. I spend my Christmas day with my dad at Mom and Bob's house. And right now that's enough for me. I am a little sad that Percy our Elf on the Shelf has to leave. I am rather attached to him.
So I had the silliest question asked of me yesterday while I was at work....Man walks in and straight faced asked me if I sell stamps? I looked at him and said well yes sir I do. when he left I just shook my head and was like are people really that silly? What do you think I do at the Post Office?
I am still reading the Scott Peterson book; it's 434 pages. I am just now to the part where Amber Frey comes in the picture. As far as I can tell after only reading 160 pages Scott Peterson is a sociopath. I mean the things that he does to keep up is lies are meticulous. He is very invested in them . I like the author of this book too; she keeps the police procedures to, I wouldn't say minimum but, exactly what you need to know to be able to make your own assumptions about the case. Her words really flow and that's what I like the best. I also like how it is set up by days and not just thrown together. I mean you know what everyone involved was doing on each day of the investigation.
I am excited to start a 2017 Reading Challenge! I haven't found one yet but I am currently looking for one. I mean I read a lot so why not expand to other titles.
I am also going to start a 30 day blog where you but more importantly I can learn more about myself lol.
So excited that my Nightmare Before Christmas Jack Skellington earrings came in today. I ordered them I think in October from Wish( coolest website ever). we had a discussion the other night while watching the movie. Is it a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie? Well Jessica said it was a Christmas movie while Ethan; who dislikes the movie, says it is a Halloween movie. I think it's both but I did Google it and yes I am a Googler, the director says it was a Halloween Movie. It came out October 29, 1993. I just liked my earrings lol they are cute 

just a few books that i recently read...

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
    Lets just say this book will have you hooked from the beginning. It was a wild ride. Travel reporter Lo Blacklock has been giving the assignment of a lifetime, a week long cruise on an exclusive luxury ship. Its a perfect getaway until she see's a woman's body being tossed over board. Now with all the occupants of the ship accounted for she knows that something is going on. You start to think that you have it figured out and then BAM another twist is thrown at you and you have to go back over all the clues that you have pieced together. The last few chapters will have you on the edge of y our seat for sure. So say its a page turner is an understatement. I read this book in one sitting. I am excited to read her other book In a Dark, Dark Wood.

Devils Knot by Mara Leveritt
    In 2011, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history was set right when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were released after eighteen years in prison. Award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt’s The Devil’s Knot remains the most comprehensive, insightful reporting ever done on the investigation, trials, and convictions of three teenage boys who became known as the West Memphis Three.
    So I read this book and I definitely recommend it. I personally didn't think that they did it; but that's for you to decide I guess. I think they were used as scapegoats just because they looked different than the other people in their town. I was only six when this happened but reading it as an almost 30 year old makes me realize that their are sick twisted individuals out in the world.
    As I said I don't think that the three boys did it, I think they should have talked to the step dad more, considering he had so many complaints against him and he had broken the law as many times as he did and it was just swept under the rug.
   You should also watch the movie Devils Knot with Reese Witherspoon. There is also three documentaries titled Paradise Lost 1,2&3 that are worth watching too I hear. I haven't watched the documentaries, I plan on it.

Local Girl Missing by Claire Douglas
   I read this book in one day. Which may say something about me but that's another story lol.
Claustrophobic, twisty, creepy and dark, Local Girl Missing explores what happens when the discovery of some human remains opens up a cold case in an off-season seaside town. Narrator Francesca ( Frankie) is forced to face up to a childhood she fled long ago, and confront uncomfortable truths about who she and the people she grew up amongst really are. It will keep you guessing right to the last page.
   Frankie comes back to the seaside town that she ran away from when her best friend committed suicide by jumping from the pier. Her best friends brother calls to tell her that a body has been found and they think it might be Sophia. She starts to hear things in the room next to her that is supposedly not occupied. Then she starts seeing a girl that looks like Sophia on the pier. You start to guess what's going on but when it comes to the actual ending of the book you a re surprised at how the author twists it around so you don't really know what's going on.

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner
   This book was good, it was a little wordy about the police proceedings. I mean I feel like the author spent a lot of time talking about the police and what they were doing and not a lot of time on the actual story of the missing girl.
   This story focuses on the main character of Manon Brashaw she is a member of the police force. She has no life and listens to the police radio to go to sleep at night. One night she hears that a girl from the university is missing, she is the daughter to the surgeon of the royal family,  has been missing for nearly twenty-four hours. Her home offers few clues: a smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry.
  They start to investigate her boyfriend, best friend and parents. With little to no leads, what does come to light are her strange behavior and her love life. Manon must use all her skills to find Edith alive. When the ending comes together you will be surprised at the reason she was missing and presumed to be dead. I recommend this book for two reasons, one if you like reading about police procedures and two if you can get past the police procedures you will uncover a story about a missing girl that twists you in many different directions.

Tent Number Eight by Gloyd McCoy
    On a warm summer day in 1977, the State of Oklahoma was shaken by the heinous and vulgar murder of three Girl Scouts in Tent Number Eight at Camp Scott near Locust Grove, Oklahoma. The investigation of their murders and the subsequent trial of the Native American man accused of those murders will forever be marked as one of the most historical in Oklahoma history.
   I wasn't alive when this happened, but I remember hearing about it growing up. So I had to read the book for three reasons. One: it happened in Oklahoma Two: I wanted to know more about it. Three: it is still unsolved.
   I don't think that they guy they wanted to pin it on was the one that actually killed the three little girls. I think that he was just one that the police had it out for and knew that they could pin it on him. There are many things that happened that the police could not explain nor connect Gene Leroy Hart to.  There are two other books that talk about the Girl Scout Murders;  Someone to Cry For the Children by Michael Wilkerson and The Camp Scott Murder by C.S Kelly. I would like to read them both but I am not paying almost $100 for the book by Michael Wilkerson. So I will wait and maybe find it someday. Great News I just checked the Siloam Springs Library and they have it so I will be checking it out soon!

Elf on the Shelf

So here is our Elf on the Shelf Schedule:

Day one: Percy Arrives at our house with goodies
Day two: Percy just hangs around
Day Three: Percy shoved himself into a jar so the boys could show him around
Day Four: Percy got captured by the army
Day Five: Percy got caught up in his video game
Day Six: Percy was trying to raid the piggy bank
Day Seven: Percy Mustached the boys picture
Day Eight: Percy left coal for the boys because they had a bad attitude
Day Nine: Percy sent the boys on a scavenger hunt
Day Ten: Percy wanted to have a bubble gum blowing contest
Day Eleven: Percy got into the stickers
Day Twelve: Percy got sick
Day Thirteen: Percy aka Captain America
Day Fourteen: Percy needed some fresh OJ
Day Fifteen: Percy spent the day in the fridge because it wasn't cold enough  outside
Day Sixteen: Percy spent time with the Tooth Fairy and she sent them new toothbrushes
Day Seventeen: Percy had way too much coffee
Day Eighteen: Percy underwears the tree
Day Nineteen: Percy got some boo boos
Day Twenty: Percy tries the dog treats
Day Twenty-one: Percy counts down the days  

Day Twenty-two: Percy has a movie night

Day Twenty-three: Percy leaves the movie Elf

Day Twenty-four: Percy freezes the boys underwear

Day Twenty-five: Percy leaves the boys coloring books

Day Twenty-six: Percy leaves free Reindeer poop

Day Twenty-seven: Percy gets caught in the candy bag

Day Twenty-eight: Percy went bowling with candy kisses and peppermints
Day Twenty-nine: Percy the Beach Bum
Day Thirty: Percy hijacks the Christmas eve bag from Santa and leaves cookie mixes to make.
 

food for thought

hmmm... well let's see I have to say if it is going to be this cold it had better be snowing. I mean really this is for the birds.   
    I finished S is for Stranger by Louise Stone; last night. Let me just say A is for Amazing!?! On the book cover it states a gripping psychological thriller and they didn't lie one bit. I just happen to run across the book on my pinterest  and it sounded like my kind of book. Well from page one you start to wonder what is going on. Sophia is an ex alcoholic with an ex husband, they share a child together. Well when the book starts they are all three supposed to go to the fair for Sophia's birthday. Well Amy their daughter goes missing and when she call the husband to see if he has her, he tells her that he was at home and never at the fair with them today. Later the book goes into some back story about Sophia and her friend in college who died. She gets a note from someone and she goes to look for her by herself. At this point in the book I couldn't put it down I had to see what happened next. The end of the story was a little off, but if you read the book and put the puzzle pieces together you will understand what happened. That's the part that I liked best, I mean it doesn't come out right and say what was going on, but like I said if you read it you will pick up on the clues that lead to the end.
   I recently ordered A Deadly Game: the untold story of the investigation of Scott Peterson, by Catherine Crier with Cole Thompson. I am super excited to read this one. I was a Sophomore in high school when this happened, I remember it but not a lot of it. Hopefully this book will put it into perspective. It was recommended to me to read it. And I found it on EBay for 0.99, I mean that's a deal!
     I made a breakfast casserole for a friend this morning and OMG that thing was amazing. I will definitely be making one when its my week to cook again. All it was: tator tots, cooked bacon, cooked sausage, eggs and cheese. Bake it at 350 for 35 min.
    Also put together a Gingerbread Barn to go with the Gingerbread house that the boys and I made the other night. They are cute. Pretty sure that Emmett only likes eating the icing while Bryson likes eating the candy. Makes decorating hard when all your decorations get ate before you can use them lol.  
     Just finished all 11 seasons of Bones on Netflix and I am having some withdrawals. I cant wait until the last seasons starts. I really would like to read the Kathy Reichs books that the show is based on. I might start those soon.
     I am worried about my dad, I know he is getting up there in age. I just am not sure what I will do if anything happens to him. I am not ready to deal with it. I know he's not as fine as he lets on but its not something that you want to have to think about. I love him, he is my rock and my number one supporter no matter what.
    I still have to go Christmas shopping. UGH! I don't know what to get my niece and nephew. then I still have to mail it and that usually costs just as much as the presents themselves. I know this I work at the post office lol.
    I am ready to admit that I have a nail polish problem. I have went through four I repeat four different Christmas designs in the last two weeks, but they were all cute. So it makes it okay right?

Well it's Monday!

     Well look its Monday again, its like it never ends. Mondays get a bad rep and not sure why. Pretty sure its the person not the day that makes it suck. I mean we all got up this morning on the right side of the bed at the house and was out the door in a happy mood. I had some coffee and then a little more before I headed to work. Geeze when I got to work I had 30 packages to scan in, usually I only have like 10 maybe. Gotta love the Christmas season.
     I got the stuff for Emmett's teachers Christmas gifts; still have a little bit to get. Hope they like them. I just made Rudolph, Santa and Frosty out a of a mason jar with goodies inside. I still have some Christmas shopping to do but that will have to wait until next Monday after I drop the kiddo at school. Pictures later!
     I have recently read a really good book called The American Girl by Kate Horsley.
It was about an American girl that signed up for a Foreign Exchange student program with a family in France. I mean what could go wrong when you are hundreds of miles away from home. Soon the girl wakes up in a hospital not knowing what happened to her, or the family that she was staying with, or if she had something to do with their disappearance. The story is told from two perspectives Quinn the American girl and Molly the journalist that happens to help find the truth. This story is one about a small town and all the secrets that they hold. No one wants to talk about it but everyone does in the secret of their own homes. This book is definitely one that I would recommend if you liked Girl on the Train. Its a contemporary mystery leading to a shocking twist you never saw coming.
     I started reading S is for Stranger by Louise Stone. Right now I am only on page 56, but its got my anxiety level up with trying to figure out who is telling the truth and who isn't and why the person who isn't telling the truth isn't telling it. Did that confuse you, it kinda did me lol. Anyway the plot is a recovering alcoholic is with her daughter and ex at a fairground and the next thing you read is the daughter is missing and the ex is at home saying he never went to the fairgrounds with them. Who is telling the truth. I mean the worst thing that could happen is your child go missing but what if no one believes you? Give me a little bit and when I finish it I will let you know if you need to set everything aside and put your nose in this book or not.
     I am excited because today my new book came in! A Deadly Game; The Untold Story of The Scott Peterson Investigation by Catherine Crier. I can't wait to read this one.
    I also have my list of books that I want order and read next: Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight, All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll and Dead Run by Erica Spindler. There is another one but it evades me right now. It will come to me eventually lol.
     Our Elf Percy has been up to some of his old tricks. He underweared the tree with the boys underware this morning, they were not amused at all. I think it embarrasses Emmett and Bryson tried to take them off. I on the other hand find it funny. Pictures to come.

Hello Sunshine!

    The title to my blog explains my life to a T!
   I am almost thirty years old and am finally starting to love myself the way I am. I am happy for the first time in a really long time. My best friend of 25 years told me I needed my own book blog because apparently I read a lot. Shocker there lol.
   Let me tell you about me. I was born in March on Friday the 13th, yes that probably says a lot about me. I am the youngest in my family. My parents are divorced. I am a huge daddy's girl, he is my rock, my biggest fan and supporter. He stands behind me no matter what I choose to do. My mother and I talk but its different since the divorce but its getting better.  I have an older sister and brother. I have nine nephews and nieces. I love being an aunt, its my favorite. I have had the same two best friends for 25 years. I wouldn't want to do life without them.
  I graduated from Watts High School in 2005 and went on to Northeastern State University. I graduated from NSU in 2011 with a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education. I have subbed in many schools. I got the opportunity to teach First Grade last year at Watts Elementary and it was awesome. I loved my kiddos. I loved teaching. But I guess that God had other plans for me, because when it came time to renew my contract; it wasn't. I am now employed at the Watts Post Office and I love it here. This is my second go round here. I like getting to meet new people and hearing about my hometown from the older generation when they come in.
  My hobbies include: READING, which is why I am starting this I guess, watching movies, music ( and I listen to everything ) I might have a slight addiction to nail polish. During the holidays I love doing Elf on the Shelf for my two youngest nephews.
   My reading started out young. I read a lot, I think its a rather healthy addiction I mean it could be crack and we both know that stuff is bad for you right?!? I was the child that stayed up past my bedtime reading. I started reading the Babysitters Club by Ann Martin and it just went from there. When I got my first library card I started the Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene. I read the Fear Street books by R.L Stein. My sister got me into Historical Romance books, the first one I remember reading was Lottie and the Rustler by Linda Lea Castle. I recently started reading True Crime and Psychological Thrillers. The one that started the spiral was Tent Number Eight about the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders by Gloyd MoCoy. Then I went on to read Devils Knot by Mara Leveritt about the murders of three little boys in West Memphis Arkansas. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware was also very good for a book that makes you think you know what is going on and in the end you have no clue until you get to the last page and your like holy crap I didn't see that coming.

I guess what I am trying to say there are lot of books on my to be read list and a lot that I have recently read that I think people should know about. So follow me and I hope you can find the love of reading like I have and maybe even find your favorite new book!