The Magic Kingdom

We did go to Disneyland on Monday. The trip was worth it just to see all the Christmas decorations and sights like Sleeping Beauty's Castle at night. Pretty isn't it? There's just something about Disneyland especially now at Christmas.

Besides it makes me happy and today is ALL about being happy. Twenty-seven years ago today I married GG. My anniversary is filled with wonderful memories of our wedding day and the joy of all my family being there. My Mom was there. My brother Jonny was there. My grandparents were there. They are all gone now, but 27 years ago we laughed, we danced, we sang and we made memories. I'm so grateful for that.

Praise be I finished a book!

I finally finished MOUTH TO MOUTH by Erin McCarthy. Cute. Sexy. Predictable. One different twist was the heroine was deaf. Made for some interesting moments in the book. I haven't liked Ms. McCarthy's Vegas Vampire series too much. Just not for me, but I've enjoyed a few of her romantic comedy contemporaries. This sort of falls in that category.

Now I have Lucy Monroe's new book DEAL WITH THIS staring me in the face, but I think I'm going to dig a couple of westerns out. Yes, I know I've mentioned this about six times (more?) recently but I haven't gotten the books out yet. But I'm really in the mood. Anybody's guess why Christmas puts me in the mood for a western?

You know I feel like my reading has been paralleling my eating habits. I seem to be indulging in a lot of desserts and not anything I can really sink my teeth into. It's not for lack of choices. I think I just need to sit my butt down and honestly go through my tbr and choose.

Having said that I'm eagerly anticipating BLOOD BROTHERS by Nora Roberts which is due out on Tuesday. I so enjoyed HIGH NOON that I have high hopes for BLOOD BROTHERS to be something I can really dive into.

We are hoping to make a Christmas holiday trip to Disneyland this afternoon. Both GG and I are off and the boys each only have classes in the morning. I love seeing the seasonal decorations so that will be a highlight for me. Besides we all seem so busy lately that I've learned to really embrace and enjoy the moments we can all be together these days.

I think I finally have my top ten favorite heros list put together and hope to put it up tomorrow. I hope none of my favorite literary romance heroes feel slighted. Rather than have trouble picking ten like I originally thought I would I actually had to whittle the list down. I think I'll work on a top ten heroines list next. This was fun and gave me a chance to reminisce about some favorite heroes. Can you have a favorite hero and the book not necessarily be a favorite?

SoCal

Guess where we were yesterday? Yes, we went to Disneyland. We had one of those rare days where we were all off the whole day so we grabbed it for some family time. We had lots of fun and the park was fairly quiet until around 8 p.m. when all the date-night couples came. I loved all the decorating Disney did for Fall and who doesn't love Jack Skellington at the Haunted Mansion?

As a result my feet are a little worse for wear this morning. So I'm trying to decide whether or not to go swimming before the big meet up today with the other SoCal bloggers. Yep, you read that right. Today is the BIG DAY.

Now, the kind of decision I like to make is trying to decide which place to eat while enjoying the company of some real cool chicks. Of course that will be after we meet and shop at one of my favorite bookstores. It's nice to know the toughest decision I'll be making today is whether or not to eat at YARD HOUSE and choose from this menu or CHEESECAKE FACTORY and this menu. These are the sorts of big time head scratchers I can live with.

Between the trip to Disneyland and the SoCal meet up I'm feeling pretty darn good this morning. So, for your viewing pleasure, and in celebration of my good mood, check this out. Love the movie, get a kick out of Jack Black and I'm all about the "conversation stimulator". Sue me, the song makes me happy.







In case you were wondering or missed it the first time around. Here's our group.

Holly
Wendy
Nikki
Lori
Rowena
Daphne
Rosie

Spring Vacation

Spring Vacation wasn't really much of a vacation. We had lots of doctors' appointments and lots of chores to do. On the upside, we got to sleep in most mornings, I got a visit from a high school classmate I hadn't seen in several years, we saw my oldest son perform in the play MOUSETRAP and we made a trip to Disneyland, so it wasn't all drudge.

Besides, it's always nice to have that feeling like you've caught up on chores around the house somewhat, because let's face it household duties are never done. There's always something.

Anyway, I wanted to touch base because I always feel so out of the loop when I've been off line for a few days. Besides I also wanted to give people an update on Shmoo's recovery from the car accident and clear the air and my mind of something that's been nagging at me.

Sometime ago Jane (from Dear Author) mentioned that she refers to her husband as Ned because of her love of Nancy Drew. I have to tell you that I thought that was pretty cool, and well, cute. I haven't really been all that wild with referring to my husband as the guy I live with, even though I've been known to call him that. These are the things I muddle in when I can't fall asleep. Anyway, I thought about giving my husband a name for someone in literature, like Jane did. Someone that I really liked or had special meaning. However, either the name was too long or it was a name I'd already given to my children. Yes, my sons have names of characters from books. No kidding.

The tag "the guy I live with" got shortened to TGILW which I have to say is a pain in the butt to type. Consequently, I’ve been racking my brains for another dear name for the DH. One of the nicknames I had for him when we were dating was Gorgeous George. For those of you old enough to remember, the real Gorgeous George was one of the first outrageous wrestlers who developed a ring “persona” and became quite popular. TGILW is NOT flamboyant; is not particularly extroverted; hates the color pink; detests anything flashy and is a pretty conservative guy for the most part. Which obviously is the reason I nicknamed him Gorgeous George in the first place. So I figured, it's as good a name, if not better than TGILW so henceforth TGILW will be known as Gorgeous George or George or GG. Crikeys, I'm still conflicted. But it is easier to type.

As for my dear children, two males one recently turned 20 and one about to turn 17, I am christening them anew as well. Hence forth my older son will be known as Beanie Boy (or Beanie) for those of you who remember the Beanie and Cecil cartoon show. Oy! I’m really aging myself there. My younger son is christened (already) as Shmoo. We originally stole his name from the Seinfeld episode when Jerry and his girlfriend were talking baby talk to each other and calling each other “Shmoopy”. Somehow Shmoopy got shortened to Shmoo and it stuck. So you got it? Good. Enough with the names. I can quit obsessing about that now.

Now for the quick update on Shmoo. He is doing very well. The skin on his face is still pretty pink and looking like he is recovering from a bad sunburn, but it is remarkable how well his face has healed. His eye is doing well also. The tear seems to be healed, but he is still sensitive to light and has some slight blurring. All of this is a normal part of the healing process, so we are happy about that.

Below are a couple pictures of Shmoo. If you saw the pictures from the accident you can see how great he looks now.

Thanks again to everyone for all your kind thoughts, prayers and encouragement.

From Rosie, Gorgeous George, Beanie Boy and Shmoo.

Left side still looks sunburnt.

He is such a goober sometimes!

Happy New Year!!

Well, I'm back home from my adventures. We spent New Years Eve with my sons and their friends at, of all places, Disneyland. It was a long, interesting, fun day filled with many new memories and lots of laughter. I'm putting a picture of a portion of the group we were with. We even convinced ourselves to get annual passes for the Magic Kingdom and spend a couple of date nights there. Time will tell...time will tell.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and I look forward to getting back into the swing of things and catch up with all of you.