Beached whale.

Well, all-righty then. We are going with the beach theme. I must admit, I was a little bummed. Magenta sounded fun. HOWEVER. The beach theme will match my washer/dryer better, be easier to do and cost less. I have three beach scenes that I bought over the summer and now I will have a spot for them. A few less accessories to buy. Heaven knows I like blue. I currently have three rooms with some form of blue paint on the walls.

Thanks for your input! And I'm always surprised by the number of votes I get. I'd love to hear from you quiet people who vote but never comment. I'm just sayin'. Makes me wonder how many people do not vote or comment.

Book It!

Regardless of the noise levels over the summer, I was able to sneak in some great reading and thought I'd share. (Although, the majority of them are from Leanne's blog, if you'd just dig around there under "literature".)

Between Two Worlds- by Zainab Salbi. This is a true story about the daughter of Saddam Hussein's pilot. One line in this book pretty much sums up the strongest message (IMHO) of this book. "Any society that stops questioning its leaders is vulnerable to dictatorship..." It's amazing what can actually happen in our world. We need to take a stand against the things that we don't agree with. This book will open your eyes to the way women suffer in this world and how it's accepted as the norm in some cultures. It should be at the top of your list.

Kate Morton- great author. Read her books. You will not be disappointed.

Slave My True Story- by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis. According to the date of publication and the "about the author" section of the book, this girl is approximately my age. It's horrifying to me that in this day and age, there are actually slaves. My age, no less. This is a must read book. Meaning, you MUST READ IT. I am so fortunate to have been born when, where and to whom I was born.

Dancing Under The Red Star- by Karl Tobien. Another true story that makes me thankful for the when, where and whom of my birth. This story is about a young girl whose family was transferred, by Henry Ford, from Detroit to Gorky, Russia right before the reign of Stalin. Another example of a tyrant running a country. It's amazing how easy and blessed my life is. And how we, thus far, have had relatively decent leaders who have not completely overturned our lives, as a whole. Another must read.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay- by Suzanne Collins, I think. It's crazy the imagination some people have. Seriously. I kept thinking that through this series. While it's so unlike my usual books, I could not put the books down. They are so good.

Look Me In The EyeMy Life With Asperberger's- by John Elder Robison. So interesting. Maybe not the actual storyline itself, but it gave me a greater understanding of Aspberger's. I recommend this book. It would be interesting to get this perspective from someone on the other end of the autism spectrum. I realize that is unlikely. But I would love to read that book.I do not, however, recommend his brother's book, Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. I'm sorry. It was creepy and made me uncomfortable.

The Book Thief- by Markus Zusak. Why aren't you at the library getting it?

Sing Me Home- by Jodi Picoult. Hmmm. It wasn't as good as some of her others, but it wasn't the worst, either.

Bringing Adam HomeThe Abduction That Changed America-by Les Standiford. This was interesting because it's a true story about John Walsh's son that was abducted. It was hard because it's a true story. And you hear things you don't want to hear. But I wanted to know the story. And I got the story.

Dirty Sexy Politics- by Meghan McCain. So-so. Nothing earth-shattering. I'm actually not 100% sure why she felt compelled to write a book. Basically, she went on the campaign trail and didn't conform to rules that go with campaigning. And she didn't like everyone. Other than that... Oh! One thing that did confuse me- I'm pretty sure that she said in this book that she was a straight woman. Didn't she come out of the closet? I read the sentence more than once to make sure my eyes didn't deceive me. Even still, I feel like I must be mistaken. Anyone else catch that? It was at the end of the book, so maybe you didn't get that far... ;)

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid-by Jeff Kinney. SO FUNNY. You don't even have to be 9. Although, it helps if your 9 year old checks out the book at the library. I'm just sayin.

Mrs. Mike- by Benedict Freedman. One of my mom's favorite books of all time. It's a good book.

I'm always looking for a good book to read, so please recommend a few to me. My list is dwindling, causing me to have a small anxiety attack.

May God bless and protect this country.

Now and forever.

Misk-ellanious.

Get out and vote!!------------->

The picture (below) is sideways, but you get the idea.

If you don't, I really can't help you. Sorry.

That's a whole 'nother set of issues.

Now I just hope your monitor is adjusted so this green doesn't come out to funky.

Also, I hope your monitor isn't adjusted so that it

looks like my house has random items laying around.

I hate when computers do that. So. Anyhow.
I start school next week! Wahoo! Time to go out and buy
new jumps and a new outfit. And a backpack. ;) They are on clearance right now.

Other than that...
My windows are supah dupah clean. If you need a guy, I got a guy for you.
Seriously. I have 30+ windows in my house. And two sliding glass doors. He charged about
$100 less than I was expecting, as this wasn't my first rodeo.
FYI, I don't do windows. Because I can't make them disappear like I want them to.
So, yeah. You need a guy? I got a guy.

Aimee, you can come here now. Hurry up before Kaija touches the window.
She's getting tired of wearing gloves. ;) Oh. Wait. Never mind.
She just licked the window.

Oh. And.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION MONTH TO MY
WONDERFUL FRIEND AMY!!!!!!
May you be blessed with rain in Texas. Raining Converse, that is. Or at least ONE pair.

Your choice.

Is it weird that I want to stand in my bathroom and twirl?
I painted it the other day and all I can scream is: LOVE!!!!
It's fabulous. Green and fabulous.
So that leaves me with my next tackle: the laundry room/mudroom.
I've picked some color schemes over there to the right.
Vote on what I should do. Thanks. You're nice.

Wishing,washing.

And that's how it goes. I find out that I'm going to have overnight guests and it's all systems go. Suddenly, it's imperative that the dust balls underneath my bed are gonzo. Because, duh! That's exactly where people look when they come over. Always.


I worry about the wrong things. I remember one time, a friend of mine came to visit and I tackled the apartment with gusto. I had everything spit polished. Or so I thought. She sat down and jokingly ran her finger across my candle holder. The tip of her finger resembled a furry little mouse. Duh. Dust the stuff you see, Mindi, don't waste your time organizing your pencil drawer.


Thankfully, I have relaxed since then. And, it's my family that is coming. They already know what kind of mess I am capable of. After all, they lived with me for a lot of my life. It still is, however, a very good excuse to clean the nooks and crannies that are overdue for TLC. So, if it isn't done by Friday, it isn't going to be done for a while. Had these visits not coincided with my kids going back to school, I would have been more lax. In the past month, I've been twitching over the deep cleaning this house so desperately needs. Kids home 'round the clock = more cleaning for me. And so the combo of the two put a very hot fire under my rumpus.


Disclaimer: Just because I blogged about this doesn't mean my house is going to be immaculate when you come. It will hopefully be cleaner than it was. And you will never know what kind of a yardstick "was" was, will you?

On another note, we made the hard decision (any decision that Zztop and I need to make together is hard. We wish and we wash.) that we will be unable to make it to MN for Christmas again this year. There's a lot that went into it. Part of it? We will be there for Logan's pins and plates removal later in the winter. So. For now, that's the dealio. You know how we operate. Wishywashy, squishysquashy.

Speaking of hard decisions, I *think* we have really figured out, in our heart of hearts, where we really want to be. I'm not announcing it here to jinx it. But I think we know. I feel really at peace about it and have not second guessed it since, which usually happens when I really do come to a decision. That being said, it is still mostly out of our control, so... Life can change.

For the record, I like it here at the moment. Zztop and I balance each other out on this. When I hate it here, he likes it. When he hates it, I like it. Right now, I'm the happy one. It might have to do with the change of the season. There isn't much I hate at the moment.

So, here's to making decisions that hopefully stick. Just not on my clean walls, thankyouverymuch.

Counting on my dreams

Ooh, my quality of life just improved. The kids get on the bus later than last year. Much later. That means we get to sleep in. More sleep = a happier me. This, however, may mean that I won't be getting up a half an hour earlier than the kiddos. Because they will probably wake up on their own with this new schedule. Earlier than they need to. And I'm not waking up a half an hour earlier than early. Sorry. Not happenin'. Trust me. I'm down with this new plan. (is that last sentence still cool?)

Also. I realized in the commotion of switching to a new bank that I made a $137 oversight. In my favor. Ha! Even better than finding a $20 in your pocket.

Which sort of makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing by going back to school for Tax Preparation. Oh, yes. And I'm really excited about it. If I like it, which I'm 99% sure I will, I am going to go for my Accounting degree. YAY! This is kind of a huge thing for me, but I'm really happy to do this for myself. My history has shown that when my baby gets to be this age (over a year), life gets easier and I start looking for something for myself. I've never dared to take this step in the past. Which is weird, because I've done other things- like the Fitness Instructor thing- that weren't necessarily a long term goal of mine. I guess the things that you really want just hold so much more value and therefore the chance of failing at them is a greater risk. But greater risks also mean greater rewards. So why not do what I really want to do? That being said, I'm incredibly nervous and excited in equal portions. It's kind of life changing for me, if you can understand that. I'm really allowing myself to do something that I've wanted to do since high school. Kids to raise or not. I've realized that if you don't embrace your opportunities for happiness, who will?

So here's to fulfilling life's dreams and ambitions! And getting more sleep in the process.