RTT: Summertime, School, Mother's Day, etc.

It's Random Tuesday Thoughts, brought to you by Stacy at Stacy Uncorked! Be sure to check out her blog and link up if you want to participate! 

 

• It's finally summertime! We got to get in the pool yesterday and even though it was really, really cold at first, we stayed in for about 30 minutes or so. Today it's supposed to be upwards of 89°F, so I'm hoping we can go swim again when J gets off work! 
• We decided to keep Tobias around for now. I love him so much and it breaks my heart to think about finding him a new home, so we're looking into getting him de-clawed. He has been scratching up the furniture lately and we can't afford for him to do that. We really can't afford for him to scratch the baby when he/she arrives, so Toby needs those little daggers gone! 
  
• ^^Toby listening to the baby yesterday. :) 
• I'm 29 weeks as of yesterday! I am so excited! I can't wait to meet my little "acorn!"
• My first Mother's Day as a mother-to-be was wonderful! J got me this beautiful necklace (the little diamond represents our little "acorn!"):
  
• J and I went to church at Somerville Baptist and they gave all the mothers a little purse mirror:
  
•  After church, we ate at Cracker Barrel. Then we went home to let the girls go outside to potty. J gave me my second mother's day present. It's a calendar to record the baby's first year. (It's pink, but he said that since I'm the one filling it out, it doesn't matter if we have a boy or girl. ): 
  
• After resting a bit at home, we went to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. It was such a beautiful day! J took this pic of me standing on the bridge:
  
• This past Saturday, J and I had maternity pics taken by my friend Audrey. It rained the entire time we were shooting and only stopped just after we were done for the day! But, even though it was raining, we had a great time and it was well worth it! Here's my favorite so far:
  
• I made A's in American Literature, Psychology, and Physical Science and I made a B in Calculus! New semester starts the 23rd. I'm only taking Art Appreciation and Physical Science II. I'm hoping it will be an easy semester.

That's all I've got for now. Please pray for the victims of the tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. 

Finals Week

Actually last week we had finals, too, but this is the last week of finals. I've already turned in my American Literature, Physical Science and Psychology finals. The only one left is the dreaded Calculus final on Thursday. I will try to post Friday if I'm not completely devastated! "I think I can, I think I can..."

Wish me luck and if you're the praying sort, pray for me (and my sister) please! 

♥

RTT: I don't know...

Lemme go ahead and just start of the random with a bunch of bullets...you know how much I love those! 

•  Got a new post over at "I'm Pregnant...Now What?". Read it and leave me some advice! 
• J and I did some thinking and since he was told by the recruiter he can't go active right now, we are just going to stick it out here in Huntsville/Madison until after the baby comes. No sense in switching doctors and cities right before my due date. So we're stuck in this two bedroom apartment. I think we're going to be able to make it work though. As long as we're not still here when the baby starts crawling! We seriously need a room for just our sharp pointy furniture! LOL.
• We got a new washer and dryer! I'm in love...mainly with the color, but also with the fact that they are both quiet and I can wash more at one time. Plus, hello! Energy efficient! I hate that we couldn't get the pedestals because of the shelves, but the guy at Lowe's said if we move somewhere that we will have the room for them, they will come out and install them for us! Sweet! It sucks having to get into the floor to do laundry. Especially when you're pregnant! 
  
  

  
  I finished my American Literature research paper in one day! Only took me five hours!  
  • I'm really frustrated right now, because I can't get the stupid bullets to work right anymore, so I'm not going to even write anymore...so there! Stupid blogger.
  That is all the random I can handle today. I'm about to throw this laptop. Go see if Stacy is having a better day at Stacy Uncorked, and link up with the randomness! 
   

RTT: Nesting and Breaking up our Family

So last week, I got a nesting itch and had to have Jeremy help me rearrange the bedroom. We moved the bed from one wall to the other and then moved everything else around the room to accommodate the bed's new position. I liked it pretty well except for the fact that our bedroom will soon become the baby's room since we aren't moving. 

We looked at houses for rent in our area, but our apartment complex requires two months prior notice before moving out. I think it's ridiculous...it's not as if they can show/rent the property while we're living here. They also require a fee of one month's rent to break the lease. We don't want to pay that and we don't have anywhere to move, thanks to the sequestration. *grumble grumble* So it looks like we're going to have to make our small two-bedroom apartment work for now. Which means we will have to get rid of Tobias. :( I love my Toby. I mean, look at this sweet pic of him when he was a baby:

 And this one:

He is the most loving cat that I've ever known. He calls me "mama" and begs to be picked up when I let him out of his room in the mornings. He has calmed down a lot now that he is almost two. It's just, we live in a two bedroom apartment! There is nowhere to put his litter boxes and I can't have him climbing into the crib with the baby. Since the baby will have his/her own room, Toby won't have his own room anymore and he really needs to be put up at night since he is a cat after all...mischievous and curious. 

I had the nesting itch again last night and I had Jeremy help (read: Jeremy did all the hard work) me move our bedroom to Toby's room (which is the apartment's master bedroom b/c it has a bathroom). We moved everything from that closet to the storage closet and then the baby clothes/gear went into our old closet. Our old bedroom is still a disaster, but the master bedroom is in working order and I cleaned the tub out today (Toby's litter boxes were in that bathroom). 

Now Toby's litter boxes are in the guest bath, which means the entire hallway stinks because J hasn't cleaned them out in awhile. We can't put Toby in that bathroom at night because it's just too small and he begs to be out. We can't leave him out in the "general population," as J calls the apartment as a whole, because he gets into stuff. 

It just breaks my heart...
I don't want to have to find my little furry buddy a new home...I loves him.

 Link up with Stacy Uncorked for more randomness. She's been crafty this week!

RTT: Plans Gone Awry

Last Friday (March 22nd), the recruiter J had been talking to called to tell him that because of the sequestration, J will not be able to reenlist as active duty. Ridiculous. He was just days away from signing the paperwork.

So it looks like we'll be here in Huntsville for awhile longer. We're still unsure of our plans. Pray for us that our new path will be revealed soon.   

This is as random as I'm gonna be today. Link up with Stacy Uncorked for more randomness.

RTT: School, Birthday, Family, etc.

I should be doing my Psychology notes since I have an exam that opens tomorrow and closes Thursday, but I really need a break. I thought I might try to do a little catching up on Facebook, but no one was posting anything exciting so I'm just gonna blog. :)
 

Finally finished my math assignment today, thanks to my sister.

Finished history study guide and quiz. Made 100%!

Finished English discussion after reading two poems. (supposed to read like 10? Didn't feel like it.)

Saturday J dropped me off at Jo-Ann's Fabrics to do a crafting event with Jaybee and Shelby. We made Fairies (Tinkerbell). Glitter EVERYWHERE!!!

• Sunday we went to church and afterwards ate at Cracker Barrel. I love looking around in the store while we wait for our table to be ready. Look at this cute owl I "need!"

Light-up Owl Lamp

• We went to church Sunday evening too, but didn't like the guest speaker as much as we like the Pastor. :/
• Yesterday my Mom, Sister, nephew and two nieces came to see me and spend some time with me for my birthday. :) Super-sweet! They may have wrecked my living room but I love them anyway!
• I made a Turkey breast (cooked in the crockpot), candied Yams, green beans and stuffing last night for dinner. It was so yummy! I enjoyed a leftover turkey with cranberry sauce sandwich for lunch today. Mmmm!
• I announced yesterday to my sister and Mom that Jeremy is going active duty! Surprisingly, they both seemed to handle it well. I did not expect that, especially after the reaction Jeremy recieved from his parents--namely his Dad.
• I am excited that J is going active. I can't wait to see where this new path God has placed before us will lead. :)
• Went outside to walk the pups earlier today and smelled gas really strongly. I walked around to the front of the building and J's car was leaking gas. I called him and asked him what to do and he said to look under the hood and find what was leaking and somehow stop it. I did...turns out he had cut the hose and left it hanging...DUH! I just rubber-banded it to the brake fluid container so that it wasn't pulling anymore gasoline out of the tank. I'm a regular Mrs. Fix-it! Haha!

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! Tomorrow is my Birthday!!! WOOT! I can't believe I'm going to be 27! I will try to post Thursday with my spoils! I already have my gifts from Mom and Sister. Wait til you see what the kiddos made me. :)

 

Head on over to Stacy Uncorked for more randomness! ♥

 

RTT: For the love of the couch!

This post is gonna mostly be about a couch... More specifically, our first couch. This couch:

Here it is in Elijah's Barrel, next to the ottomon that I later bought.

Still in the Thrift Shop, Elijah's Barrel-March 2009.

We lived in our first apartment in Pell City, AL for 5 months without a couch. 

I loved the little thrift shop in downtown Pell City and visited it often,

especially after work. I found our couch for a steal- $250.

Mom came over with the truck and helped us move it the short mile to our apartment.

Here's Jeremy and our precious nephew, Boog (at 9 months old :).

Bit-Bit...that flash is bright!

Here's the couch on moving day in August 2009.

  

From there, the couch and the rest of our stuff, went into storage 

for almost two years while J was deployed and after while he was looking

for a job. Then we moved to Anniston. Here's Bina snoozing on the couch. :)

Then Tobias joined our family and he loves to lounge on the couch too! Here is with

his Daddy and Bina.

 Later, Boo-Boo joined the family and got to enjoy the couch too!

 And then Boopsie came along and snuggled up to the couch

Then we moved to Madison and our living room is huge,

but our couch was the only thing to sit on.

Reba joined our family and she got to enjoy the

couch for a couple of days before we decided she was too 

hyper to be on it...but I captured her enjoyment. :) 

 And Boopsie came to stay with us for 5 days and she enjoyed

the couch some more.

Now it's time to say goodbye to our lovely couch. :( 

We've bought new furniture and even though we want to hold

onto the first piece of furniture we bought together, we don't

have enough room for it. 

Our couch has seen many family moments, held many a babe

and puppy and been the perfect place to hang out or take a nap.

I'm really going to miss it. :(

For more random stuff that doesn't involve my couch, visit Stacy at Stacy Uncorked and link up to Random Tuesday Thoughts! :) Have a great Tuesday! 

RTT: Cat-Interruptus, Online Splurging, Ivy then and now...etc.

• The most annoying sound on earth is a the sound of a cat grooming itself or a dog licking itself. Disgusting!
• Does your cat need to be held or "loved on" often? Mine does...especially if I am sitting at my desk doing schoolwork. 

• What special allowances do you make for your pets? I put a blanket on my desk for Toby to lay on so he doesn't try to lay on my books or laptop.

• If you have a cat, what does it most like to get into? Mine loves to get into the trash and knock it over. He's always looking for Q-tips.
• I finally got my plant to look like it isn't dying! My Mama helped, but I have kept it alive...so that counts! 

2011                  2012

•  Do you like to buy things online? I do. I recently purchased a book for my History 201 class online {but accidentally sent it to my Mom's address...} and a necklace from The {Posh} Daisy! Yesterday I ordered 4 books from the Bargain bin on BAM's website and they arrived this afternoon {Wednesday}! Awesome Sauce!

 

• Can anyone please tell me why the pictures I add to a blog post always show up under the last picture posted, or they start at the top if they're the first photo? I always have to copy and paste my text above the photo, because it won't let me rearrange the photo by clicking and dragging. It's quite annoying! 
• I had to meet J on the base this morning at 11 so that he could pick me up at the Visitor's Center to get me through the gate. I didn't realize it, but my Military ID expired on the 11th and I was afraid they wouldn't let me on base. Anyway, they wouldn't let me fill out the information or renew my ID without J present. So ridiculous! Anywho, I got it all done and hopefully I won't have so much trouble next time! 

Sorry this is late, I've been trying to catch up in my History and English classes and the teachers keep adding more work to do! Ugh! Hope everyone had a great Tuesday!
Head on over to visit Stacy who is still keeping the Randomness alive while Keely has abandoned us for all eternity! is still on sabatical... :) 

 

RTT: Rhetorical Questions

• I always think of really awesome random things during the week and I never think to write them down or start my RTT early. How annoying.
• Why do the makers of baby dolls make the ones with the eyes that close when you lay them down? That is building up little girls' expectations when they're older. Real babies don't close their eyes as soon as you lay them down. Sometimes they scream... 
• Why do dogs always need to go outside right after you bring them in? My dogs are retarded.
• Why do babies always poop in the clean diaper you just put on them? 
• J's car broke down Sunday when he got off the interstate after work... Why do things always get harder?
• Why are some professors so difficult? The first day of school {Friday, 17 August}, my History professor didn't even have a mail area on Blackboard and still doesn't. Oh now guess what? We have a quiz on the first chapter, due Friday and I don't even have any books because Financial Aid hasn't paid me yet. What am I going to do?
• Is it fall yet? I'm ready to decorate.
• I'm really nervous about my Psychology class and History classes. Neither of the professors put very much information on Blackboard. Especially the History professor. And my English teacher doesn't have any assignments up. I'm already missing my English 101 teacher, even though I was ALWAYS doing an assignment in her class. {of course it was a summer semester, so it was crammed into two months.}
• Why are all the free books for Kindle the first in a series? I hate getting interested in a series and then having to BUY the second in the series. I know...I'm a cheapskate. 
• J may be going to Colorado for a month. Needless to say...I'm pretty pissed about it. Love that he got this job, sucks that they're sending him away after only working with them for a month. 
• I really hope my check comes in the mail today or tomorrow. This is so frustrating. 
• I'm watching "I'm Having Their Baby" on Oxygen....ridiculous how people can just give away their babies...
• I had to reduce the amount of books I thought I would be able to read this year. I had to look at it realistically and last year I was only able to read 73 and that was before I even started taking classes. This year, so far, I've read 60, so I set my goal at 75. I think that is much more reachable. 
• I'm pretty sure Reba has Kennel cough, I'm going to take her to the vet if she keeps coughing. She hasn't been doing it as much this week as she was last week. Maybe she's getting over it now.

I'm out of randomness for this week. Be sure to check in with Stacy at Stacy Uncorked for the random link-up! Hope everyone has a great week!

RTT: I can't believe I'm 26!

It's been awhile since I've done an RTT. I hope I've been missed! 
Let's make this introduction short and sweet; Stacy is still the host of Random Tuesday Thoughts. Check out her blog at Stacy Uncorked.

I can't believe it's almost Halloween. Isn't it still August!? Haha. Well, anyway, yesterday was my birthday. I'm twenty-six! At least I'm still 9 months younger than J! :P 
I just finished making the treat bags for the trick-or-treaters. I put in two Dum-Dums, a pack of three crayons, a Halloween pencil, two bracelets, two spider rings, a pair of plastic fangs, two peanut-butter Mary Janes, One mini Almond Joy/Payday, one Reese cup mini and around five pieces of mixed candy (gum, jawbreakers, suckers, sweettarts, Warheads, lemon drops, taffy, etc.). I made 23 bags, b/c I ran out of candy. :( I hope that we don't have any more kids than that. I think we'll have to go get more candy anyway. 
 Mama, Amanda and the babies came by to see my yesterday. They woke me up by banging on my bedroom window. Scared me to death, but it was worth it. :) They pitched in together and bought me all three of the Twilight movies on DVD and Mama made me a cake. :) 
 J and I went to Douglasville to eat dinner and then shop some. We got a bunch of stuff at Party City and some stuff for the fur-babies. And some crazy good deals at Ross! I'll take pics later when I post the pics of the Halloween decorations. 
  Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and stuffy nose. I feel pretty awful, but still have a million loads of laundry to wash,dry, fold and put away {lots of smokey camping stuff}. I'm gonna end here. Hope everyone has a great week and Happy Halloween! :)

RTT: I don't feel like it.

So I'm not gonna.

I just cleaned the house

and I don't feel like blogging.

But you should. And check out 

Stacy, the current Random leader,

at Stacy Uncorked.

Well, one random thought:

Why does my kitten put his

toys in the food or water bowls? 

Weirdo.

Here's a pic of some cuteness:

RTT: P-O-R-T-one-C-O

Tuesday?

Doesn't feel like Tuesday.

Stacy is the "temporary" host of Random Tuesday Thoughts. She's been holding down the fort for Keely for a bajillion Tuesdays now.

To participate, head on over to her blog, Stacy Uncorked. Be sure to leave her a comment, because who doesn't like some comment love!?

• I just gave the kitten a bath. He was surprisingly ok. Of course he kept trying to latch on to the edge of the sink, but he was relatively good. 
• He's currently purring away on my chest. He's still a little damp, but I guess he loves me anyway. :P
• This morning whilst I was doing the morning rituals on the toilet...*ahem*, he tried to use my knee as a ladder and scratched the top of my thigh all the way down to my ankle. It hurts.
• It's thundering outside. Hopefully we'll get some rain.
• Jeremy and I went yard-saling Saturday morning. We got some great deals. Including a new desk for the spare bedroom. It's huge! I will have to post a pic of it when I get all of my scrapbooking supplies organized and put away. It is currently covered in papers that I am trying to separate.
• Got this cute Holly Hobbie doll for 50-cents.

• We also went to a Vineyard near where we live and sampled their Muscadine wine. It smelled heavenly in there. I bought a candle so our apt could smell similar. 
• Yesterday, I drove to my sister's house--an hour away, to babysit the kids while she went to her doctor's appointment. Then, I rode with her to take The Princess to an impromptu doctor's appt. Poor baby has bronchitis. :(
• Boog knows his ENTIRE alphabet. We looked at a magazine in the doctor's office and he spelled out the title P-O-R-T-one-C-O. LOL. Portico, but he said the I was a one. It did look like a one! He's so smart. :P
• Since I was gone all day yesterday, I didn't get to clean the house and do laundry like I usually do on Mondays. So, I'm way behind. Gotta go switch out the laundry. 

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

RTT: I hate you Sarah McLachlan

Yes, it's Tuesday and that means it's my favorite day of the week. Maybe not this particular Tuesday, since I woke up with a headache, but in general...

Stacy is still keeping the random alive, so be sure to check out her blog to link up to Random Tuesday Thoughts. I wonder when Keely will resume her reign as Random Queen? 

• So, as the title implies, I hate Sarah McLachlan and her stupid ASPCA commercials. 

They make me sad and feel bad about yelling at the dog for being
mean to the kitten and for yelling at the kitten to stop trying to eat my face. I mean, am I supposed to be a horribly disfigured Whitney or a kitten-less Mama because Sabrina ate him? That's what I thought. Shut up Sarah McLachlan. I don't have any money to send those poor little kitties and puppies. 

• Speaking of poor kitties, this one is going to have brain damage if he doesn't get out of my face while I'm trying to type. {I just gave him a good ole dose of morning breath and he still won't get off of my chest.}

• Had to get up at 5:30 this morning to find Jeremy's name badge for work. He uses it to clock in and out, so he had to have it. I looked in the obvious places; on and around where he is supposed to put it. And I found it in third place I looked; under the bags on the kitchen table. {We went to the Dollar Tree last night for some fall/Halloween decor.} Why can't men find things on their own? I told him he didn't even look. {He probably didn't.}
• Ever read The Book Thief? Not what I thought it was going to be about; it's better. It's from the perspective of Death. And it's about a little German girl who was sent to live with a foster family in Nazi Germany. I've never read any books like this that are written in the time period of the Holocaust. It's an interesting perspective. I will definitely be doing a review when I finish it. 
• It is really hard to see what I am typing when there are two little orange ears in my way... Tobias!
• We went to Target last night after watching a movie. We bought kitty litter, some facewash and make-up for me and some dog treats and spent over $105!!! WTH? EVERYTHING is too expensive.
• Bina and Tobias are getting along a little better. She still acts like she hates him when she thinks we're not watching. But I caught them on video several times last week, playing. {It's not the best quality b/c it was so dark, but not bad for a phone.} Note Tobias winking at me. :P

• Until I started playing this next video, Tobias was purring like a little motor: 

• Sorry all of this randomness is about the cat. He's just so darn cute, I can't help but talk about him. 
• Did y'all see the giveaway I posted yesterday! It's awesome software, so be sure to check it out! You really need to enter this giveaway! And tell all of your friends! 
• It's raining today. I LOVE it! 
• What is the best kitten food to feed Tobias? I've heard that if the first ingredient is corn, don't buy it. Is that true? What do you cat owners feed your kitties?
• Did you know Roseanne is on Netflix? I'm already on Season 2. I love that show.
• I love doing these things on Facebook:

  YOUR NURSING HOME FRIENDS : Use the first 7 people on the left side . No cheating!
  
  Wheelchair races you down the hallways -
  Has to change their depends A LOT -
  Steals your food -
  ... Vaselines your walker handles -
  Steals your teeth -
  Has the booze stash -
  Still gets it on -

  That's enough random for today. I'm still sleep-hungover and haven't eaten breakfast yet. Be sure to enter the giveaway! Have a great RTT y'all! :) 

    

RTT: Is summer over yet? How 'bout now?

I think Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. Even though Keely is still hiatus-ing, being random never gets old. Thanks Stacy for stepping in to be our surrogate fearless leader. You are greatly appreciated! If you're going to participate in RTT, be sure to link up with Stacy and check out at least one other blogger's RTT! 

• When I read a book, I keep a pencil close at-hand to underline misspelled words. How can the most simple of words get by an editor??

• I just noticed that through our bank, we are on a rewards program that earns us points for using our debit cards. Apparently we can buy stuff with our points. And the irony in the fact that I notice these reward points the day after I delete the email from the bank, which stated that the reward program was ending in October, is not lost on me. I didn't think we were on the program until I checked the balance online today. Go figure...
• Sometimes I convince myself that if I don't attend an event, it was like it didn't happen. I.E, if I didn't go to Boog's third birthday party, it wouldn't have happened. He would still be 2 forever. I shouldn't have gone....*sigh* I can't believe he's 3. 
• I went with Amanda to her ultra-sound appt Wednesday. It was scheduled for 3:40, but I thought it was at 2:30. I didn't intend on being gone ALL day. When we got there, they acted like they didn't even know she was supposed to be there. They told her that the appt was for Thursday. Whaaaaaat? They didn't want to work her in, but reluctantly, they did. We were there over 2 hours.
• It was really cool getting to "see" the new baby for the first time. They were just making sure everything was going well (and it is going well) since this was an unplanned pregnancy. Read about why, here.
• I hated driving home afterwards though. It was dark and I am nearly blind, so it took forever to get home.
• I am so excited about Fall! I can't wait to drag out all my orange, red and yellow decorations and mix them in with all my green. Fall is my favorite time of the year and this will be the first time to decorate our new home. Here is what our living room looks like now (viewpoint from my couch.):
  

 <<< To the left is the hallway
and to the right is the entrance into the kitchen. I love my books, but that bookcase is only 3 years old and already falling apart. Small knick-knack shelf is from a thrift store (I painted it sage-green), painting is from TJ Maxx and the sign is from Hobby Lobby! ♥

>>> Bookshelf again and the entryway to the kitchen. The sign to the right of the bookshelf, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" is from Hobby Lobby. I hung the O,A,K,S all by myself, which is why it is crooked. They are also from Hobby Lobby. The plate between the doors is from Germany. J brought it to me when he was laid over coming home from Afghanistan. And the magnetic calendar is from Dollar General. I ♥ Sunflowers.

 <<< Cross is from H.L. as is the PRAY plaque. Love the lamp (One of 3 matching) from Big Lots. Yes, that is a pack of leftover sparklers from the Fourth of July. Note the green watering can. DVD shelves from Wally World. Clock and candle holders from Kirkland's. Birdcage mirror from Cracker Barrel. Birdbath dish and bowl from Ross.

>>> I love the little bird candles from TJ Maxx. The dish they are in is from a thrift store. The candles on the stand with the rocks are from a neighbor. Pyramid monkey is from the same thrift store as the dish. The doilies are from the $ Tree. I ♥ that place. I have books everywhere. Even in the bathroom. :)

<<< Sorry this picture is so dark. It's pretty cloudy outside today (Friday is when I started this post). Mirror is from Kirkland's. Horseshoe above door was made by a fellow army-wife, Colby. It is yellow with a ribbon hanging from the bottom. The KEYS plaque is from Ross, I believe. The Bless Our Home shelf/rack thingy is possibly from TJ Maxx or H.L. The flag stars and heart are from H.L. Table came from a neighbor that was moving out and didn't have room for it. It was cherry red, but I painted it. The ottoman is actually white with a gray blanket thrown over it until I can find some pretty fabric to cover it. We bought it at the thrift store for $35. The dog came with the husband. I guess technically we're still paying for her. Haha.

• I think maybe I got carried away with all the green. What do y'all think?
• I've been reading Chelsea Handler a lot lately. She is so funny. I think next, I'm finally going to finish up the last four books of the Sookie Stackhouse series (aka True Blood on HBO) by Charlaine Harris. Also on my list is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. 
• I changed my mind and read The Kite Runner instead. It was pretty good. I was unprepared for the graphic scene and then they wanted to flash back to it a few times. Ugh. All-in-all, it was a good read. I wouldn't rank it on the top of any lists though. 
• I'm currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. So far, it's confusing. But, I'm only on the 2nd chapter. 
• Did I tell y'all that we got rid of the beetles? They just stopped showing up when it got hot. But yesterday when I cleaned the living room, I moved the rug by the front door and there were three under it. Not a big deal since I hadn't vacuumed since last Monday. But now, we have earwigs. Nasty little things and I can't stand them. At least the beetles didn't bite. And the beetles were slow moving. We're not the only ones with these earwig things though. We cat-sat for our neighbor over the weekend while they were out of town and when I was refilling the cat's water cups, I saw an earwig on the sink. I think they're just bound to be in every apartment b/c of the area. They're attracted to water and moisture, so I don't know why I keep finding them in the living room and bedroom. Ewww. 
• Facebook still reminds me of my statuses from last year:

• My sister is so funny. 
• Meirikichitokufu is my Japanese name. Or Meirikichi for Whit. What is yours? Use this to help you:    TRY YOUR NAME IN JAPANESE: A= ka, B=tu, C= mi, D= te, E= ku, F=lu, g= ji, H= ri, I= ki, J= zu, K= me, L= ta, M= rin, N= to, O= mo, P= no,Q= ke, R= shi, S= ari, T= chi, U= do, V= ru, W=mei, X= na, Y= fu, Z= zi.... ...then paste your Japanese name in a comment... :-) ..... share this......it's FUN!
•  Because I'm awesome, that's why.

• I think this random thing has gone on long enough for this Tuesday. Til next time...