The Loop by Nicholas Evans

3.5 - The Loop by Nicholas Evans

I just finished The Loop.  Nicholas Evans also wrote The Horse Whisperer.  I read that one while in college.  The Loop  is about a pack of wolves in Montana, the ranchers they bother, and the wildlife biologists who study them.   I would place it in the Nicholas Sparks genre, though a little less romance.  Some of the descriptions were so clear I actually attempted to turn away so I didn't have to watch (which didn't help since I was reading the book).  I was very into the story and pretty much attempted to read it every chance I got.  When I found myself with downtime and wasn't with the book, I was annoyed because I wanted to know what was going to happen.  I actually stayed up late two nights in a row to read this sucker.  It is now back to my inventory on www.bookmooch.com, so it wasn't so great that I will never let it out of my hands. 

I am currently reading Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes.  I have read most of her books already so I am curious to see if I will like this one.  Stay tuned for that review.

I had this big long post written in my head last night.  I have now forgotten it.  That is why I need a laptop with wireless internet...so I can post in bed.  I often think of the best things to say while trying to fall asleep. 

awesome

So check out www.cbs.com for this weeks full episode of How I Met Your Mother.  The ending was so freaking funny.  All I can say about it is...awesome.

Ava and Tequi became friends finally.  We will see if it lasts or if Tequi just used Ava.  Tequi is usually terrified of Ava or he just hates her with a passion, either way, he runs every chance he gets and since her birth, he chooses to spend 90 percent of his life in Justin's closet on his bathrobe.  We were eating popcorn tonight.  Somewhere I have a picture of Tequi eating popcorn out of the bowl when he was a kitten, but I don't believe that was taken with digital.  Anyway, he loves popcorn.  He actually braved coming by Ava to eat it out of her hand.  He licked it a few times.  Then Ava ate it. 

Palmolive has phosphate free dishwasher liquid.  I am interested in trying it. 

I have been on a search for Orville Redenbocker's...this is key "POUR OVER" chedder popcorn.  I can't find it anywhere anymore and it is amazing.  It is tasty popcorn with cheese flavored fatty fat fat oil poured on top of it.  Finger lickin' good.  If any of you stumble across it at the store, buy it.  I will pay you back.  I am currently 0 for 4 in trying to find it.

By the way, you all are slacking with book recommendations....total: 0!  I asked Justin's grandpa for a recommendation and he gave me one right away.  I have since mooched it.  What is the worst that can happen?  I have already read it?

Yesterday we lost another recycling bin.  It blew away and is no where to be found.  It does have our address on it, so maybe someone will return it to us.

I am back on the spark people band wagon.  Flying solo, I believe, but back to it. 

Easter

Easter is over.  I actually didn't get ANY pictures of Ava in her dress.  It is the cutest dress she has owned thus far, in my opinion.  Maybe she will just wear it this summer for some type of photo session...Anyway, we all were up early at for church.  Justin was running slides and I was singing in the choir.  Ava came in her pajamas and was dressed there.  This definitely meant her hair wasn't in the best condition, but oh well.  My parental units, minus one, all came to church too.  It was nice.  We didn't get a lot of time to talk but I am glad they came.  We went to Justin's Aunt's house to get together with his mom's side of the family.  It was a good time.  His cousins are all getting so old.  Ava had lots of fun coloring, playing with different people and screaming up and down the hallway. We only get together with our extended families on Thanksgiving and Easter.  We used to switch back and forth, and that just didn't seem to work out well.  We decided to just see my family on Thanksgiving and his on Easter.  I think it will  be nice to have consistency with traditions and it is helpful for planning.

I think I am going to make a list of books I have read with reviews/ratings.  I don't know how yet, but I want to.  I want it accessible from my blog, but I don't it to be random posts.   I am currently reading a book called Sarah.  It is based on Sarah and Abraham.  I like it so far. 

Ok, so we didn't get any pictures of Ava in her Easter dress, but we did get some of her decorating eggs.

Here is a conversation Ava just had with Dori, after feeding her part of her egg.

"Do you want a blanket?  That blanket is mine.  Here, a blanket for Dori.  Here you go.  You're welcome.  Momma, Dori ate all my egg!"

 

PS, I just looked at the pictures.  What the heck!!! I edited them in picasa and apparently they didn't save to the ones in my c drive.  Do I have duplicates of all my pictures??????????

Apparently I am making up for last week, today.  3 posts in one day.  Two really don't count.  Thinking back on growing up, I spent a lot of time at my friends' homes.  Depending on the friend and the involvement of the parent, my friend's parents definitely had an influence on me, my ideas, goals, etc.

I spent a lot of time at this woman's house from about 4th to 8th grade.  She used to just sit and hang out with us sometimes.  I definitely think she made an impact on me.

http://paulaneedlework.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-watched-end-of-suburbia-last-night-i.html

Antibiotics in the house!!!

First ear infection of 2008.  Woohoo!  It has actually been 5 months.

Watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 today makes me not want to get new carpet EVER.  It looks like a lot of work.  I am anti-lots of work.

before I forget

Random thoughts that I have been meaning to post about.  I have been considering going with a non-password protected blog.  Just double posting essentially for a bit, taking care to avoid real names, too much personal info and whatnot and have a really tight site meter so I could see if there were any pervy searches for Ava's pictures. (my only reason for not going public)  I would keep this blog going until the trial period was over, so I could just delete the public one if it doesn't work out.  Thoughts?  Opinions?

I have posted a lot of books on www.bookmooch.com, so far people have asked for 8 of our books.  I am expected quite a few more responses for some I just added tonight.  I am currently attempting to only have to go to the post office once a week.  I really don't enjoy going.  The site is a book swapping site.  You get points for books you list and points when people want your books.  You get to "mooch" a book off of someone else for one point.  You don't pay when you mooch, you just pay when you send people books.  Essentially it all comes out in the wash, and it costs you about $2.50 to get a book you want, which if you wanted, you could re-list when you are done reading it.  This is actually cheaper for me than the library because I am very bad at returning books on time. 

We watched the movie "Breaking and Entering" with Jude Law.  It was pretty good.  Just a traditional drama, but it has some good writing and cinematography.

Have you ever just felt like you have over booked yourself?  That is a dumb question, I am sure everybody has.  It isn't like I am over booked, I just have things that are somewhat inconvenient to do, and I want to avoid doing them, even though I should do them.  It just makes my day a little crazy and timed out.  I have come to enjoy not having a particular time to do anything.  No real time to have to get up, no real time to be dressed by, etc.  I start to get annoyed when things are too set in stone.   

Friday it was nice out and Ava and I went for a bike ride and a walk.  We are definitely in need of outdoor toys.  I am looking forward to garage sale season.  I am also totally looking forward to being outside this summer.  I am thinking of actually planting some flowers.  Not going crazy, but just a few.  Just for something to do outside with Ava.  I asked a neighbor who has planted for 4 years now and they have yet to ever get any type of letter from the association.  I guess we are supposed to get approval first, but if it makes your house look nicer, I don't know why they would complain.  Here are some pictures from Friday.  They were taken with my phone, so please excuse the quality.  I am ready for it to get warmer again, by the way.

booty cubes update

Because I know you are all very interested, I did order some booty cubes.  I got the sample pack in cucumber melon, chamomile, lavender chamomile, and vanilla blackberry.  I did also get the foaming pump in calming whatever, can't think of what is was called, but it pretty much smells like lavender chamomile and tea tree oil.  It seems to work fine.  I do love the smell of the vanilla blackberry.  I prefer to use the pump with foam so I am trying to find out if you can dissolve the cubes and use them in the pump.  Justin has even started using the cloth wipes and foam.  I think that might be by default since we are actually out of regular baby wipes.  Not something I think of getting, though they are handy every where else around the house.   

Sacrilege

Ava has picked a non-wiggle song for her first song to sing along with and just randomly when she thinks of it.  The chorus goes, "holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty, holy, holy Lord."  She sings, "hoey, hoey, hoey, hoey."

colors and numbers

So Ava has been very interested in listing off the colors of things for the last few weeks.  Sometimes she does get it right.  She just told us she had a black lego.  Sometimes she will ask for her orange cup.  Usually everything is orange or purple though.  Even if it isn't. 

Today I was counting and I said, "One.  Two."  She said, "Feeee. Foooow. Five.  Nine."  She has done it repeatedly since then.  Nine always comes after five.  I thought it was a flucke the other day when she said, "I have two bobos!"  She did actually have two bobos.