I am a Blogging Addict...

I know, you are asking yourselves if I have gone off the deep end with all of those links to my other blogs I started.  Here's the thing...I wanted to do these as pages to where you can just click on the button from this blog and go to it but there wasn't a way to do that so I ended up having to make new blogs and link them on here.  And why do I have 3 other blogs??  Good question.  One...I have all these things on my mind...comes from being more of a thinker than a talker I guess.  My recipe blog I thought would be fun because I love recipes and people are always asking for some recipes and I love to share them.  The book review...maybe that is more for me but I do have alot of people asking my opinions on the books I read so thought that would be fun, too.  And the new entertainment blog...okay, I admit it, I have always been fascinated by celebrities and the world of entertainment.  I do have my own opinions about such things, too so hey, why not share those, too???  And in addition to having fun with these blogs, I do want to to get some experience in writing, just in case something comes up that I could use that skill somehow.  Course, not sure if my writing my opinions can be considered a skill but hey, it could be someday...who knows? 

So, those 3 things are what I talk about alot...food, books and entertainment.  Who knows, I may think up some other topics.  Whether you all enjoy them or not, I do enjoy writing them.  So that's my story and I am sticking to it!  Have a good and thankful day!

~Kim~

1000 Reasons to be Thankful

As I sit here trying to keep control of these muscle spasms I am having since I woke up, I still have reasons to be thankful.  Although I think I was supposed to start with #1000 instead of 1...does it make a difference?  So here goes...welcome to Monday!

6.  For the snow melting...although last night with thunder rolling made me a bit worried about this year's bad storms..

7.  For the chance to be at church yesterday even though it made a mess of my hours at work last week.

8.  For music.  Music has a way of comforting your heart or making you want to get up and dance.  Well, not in my case cause I don't dance but it does make me happy and WANT to.

9.  For Facebook.  Okay, it sounds strange but it is a way to keep track of my family that lives away from me.  I get to read what they are up to and see pics posted.  And for hooking up with friends, too.

10. For my home.  I know that I complain alot about how small this house is.  It is small...I am sitting here in the LR and can see the hallway to the bedrooms and the kitchen...that is all there is to my house.  No basement, no family room.  But it is a roof over our heads and it is very liveable.  Some people do not have homes to go to.  I can still have hopes for a dream kitchen, can't  I??   Oh and a basement would be nice in case of really bad storms!

~Kim~

Icy Tuesday Morning

Good morning!  The birds are chirping, the sun is warm, the snow is gone...oh wait...it's still winter!  Okay, so I am getting a little ahead of myself.  For a minute there, I thought it might be spring when I woke up this morning but I guess I was dreaming.  But as I was getting my second cup of coffee, I happened to look out the window in the back and saw the sunrise shining through the icy treetops.  It was an amazing sight really.  These pictures are just a little of what it looked like.  The treetops were shining so bright making it very beautiful.   I guess there are some good things about snow and ice.  

This picture really doesn't show the full effect but if you look very closely, you can see the very tippy top of the tree glistening a bit.

And for extra measure, the tree in the front.  Not as pretty but the poor tree is feeling a bit droopy today.

Here's hoping my day goes better than yesterday.  I started out the day being thankful but ended up being angry/discouraged/upset by the end of it.  I really did try!  But I unexpectedly  have the day off, although this is a catch 22.  I love having it off but it sure don't pay the bills.  At least this morning started out on a beautiful note.  The sun is shining and spring is coming.  How's that for a positive attitude even though my negative one wants to come out so very badly.  Hope everyone has an awesome day!

~Kim~

1000 Reasons to be Thankful

 Since being inspired by my niece by reading her gratitude Mondays, I decided to go along with her lead.  I didn't know anything about this 1000 gifts thing.  I just enjoyed reading Meri's blog and how she is thankful for what she has.  I admit that it always got me thinking hard about my life.  You see, everyone that knows me is familiar with my complaining.  Even my co-workers have to put up with my pessimism most of the time.  I am the "half empty" kind of girl.  Always have been.  I try to be grateful, I really do.  But man, it is HARD for me to think positive thoughts.  And it's not that I am an ungrateful person because in my heart I really am thankful for all that I have for I know that things could always be worse and for some people, they are far worse.  In my mind, I utter positive thoughts but my mouth says the opposite.  Yes, I have many things I need to work on in my life and this is a biggie.  Sometimes I make myself crazy with my complaining.

Which brings me to this 1000 gifts.  I went and checked it out and I am going to start writing down each week all that I am thankful for.  Maybe it will even make me more positive!?!?  Maybe this is God's way of lightly tapping me on the side of the head telling me that I need to stop driving people crazy...and myself, too.  So, here is the start of something good!  Oh, and thanks for the idea, Meri.  (Funny how this girl that I used to babysit has turned into such an inspiring woman!).  Here goes...

1.  For God that loves me wholly and unconditionally and never gives up on me.  His love has carried me  through some really tough times.

2.  So thankful that the power is still on after an icy night.

3.  For books!  Not sure what I would do if I didn't have books to read.

4.  For my two kids that I love more than I can say.

5.  So thankful that I have my Keurig coffeemaker.  I found coffee made at home that I actually love!


~Kim~

Books, Books and More Books

I love books, plain and simple.  I feel lost if I didn't have a book with me at all times.  I have kind of broadened my horizons so to speak this past year.  I used to stick to the same authors most of the time but recently I have discovered many new authors I have not heard of before thanks to friends, family and book store recommendations.  My mainstay authors have been James Patterson, Beverly Lewis, Robin Cook, and a few others.  This year I have read books by Lee Child, Karen Kingsbury, Justin Cronin and other authors I have yet to discover.  To verify my love of books, here is my full bookcase of books I have yet to read.  I had to take the pictures in increments because the full bookcase was too big for the camera.

I love to read murder mysteries,  autobiographies, medical mysteries, Christian fiction, sometimes westerns...pretty much anything that looks interesting.  I also like books written with the same characters such as the Michael Bennett or Jack Reacher series of books.  Reading Christian fiction has always been my favorite books to read simply because I am inspired by the stories of God. No matter what the story is about, I somehow get inspired by just one concept in the book. 

Some of these books have been given to me, some bought off of Ebay and some I get a really good deal at the book store.  Some I have had for a while and not read and some are pretty new.  Oh, and before you say boy, she spent alot of money...I do usually sell the books on Ebay when I am done with them if I choose not to keep them.  So I end up getting some of the money back and someone else gets to enjoy them, too!

So, in light of my love for books and because I have had many people ask me how I like the books I read, I decided that I would start a page from this blog to review all the books I read.  How I like them, if I got anything from them, if they were boring or exciting, etc.  Thought it might be fun.  We will see how it goes.  You can let me know if you do read the books and how you like them, also.  I will get the first review up as soon as I can. 

~Kim~

I'm a Little Teapot, Short and Stout

I have just recently discovered how fun it is to collect teapots.  Actually, I have been wanting to start collecting them quite a few years ago but never did. So, I thought I would share what I have so far in my collection.  I bought my first teapot this past December on Ebay.  Gotta love Ebay.  As some of you know, I love the Wizard of Oz so I just HAD to find a teapot with that theme. 

The other two I got for Christmas thanks to my sweet daughter.  They are so cool! She loves her Momma!

Tramp is so cute, isn't he?  Can't wait to continue adding to this collection. 

~Kim~

Monday Madness!

Yes, I do consider it madness when I have decided to go without sweets at least for a week.  Why would I do such a thing?  Because my fondness for sweets have taken a turn for the worse.  I bought 2 candy bars a couple days ago and ate both within the same hour.  Daughter made chocolate sheet cake (awesome!) three times this past month and I KNOW I ate at least half of the cake each time.  Something is wrong when you grab a fork and start shoveling every bit into your mouth.  Oh, and I have recently discovered how awesome Tim Horton's glazed cinnamon rolls are first thing in the morning.  Out of control I tell ya! 

So, I have decided it is in my best interest to take control once again (did I ever have control??) and stop the madness I have created for myself. 

It is not going to be easy.  It is only 9am and I am craving  a doughnut.  Doesn't help when I see a Dunkin Doughnut's commercial every 5 minutes.  Oh, and here is what I have to contend with in my house.

Leftover football shaped doughnuts and Schwan ice cream sandwiches. Not that these are my favorite sweets to consume but hey, they will do when I have a strong craving that is out of control. I would just throw them away but I do have a family that would be flabbergasted to find them in the trash. 

All  I know is that the more sweets I eat, the more I crave them and the more I give in, the more I feel bad about myself when I do.  I might have picked the wrong time to do this with Valentine's day coming up and oh...that nasty thing called a birthday.  But then again, if I can conquer my sweet craving now, then I will feel like I really accomplished the mission set before me. 

So, here I go.  Wish me luck.  I am setting a realistic goal of 1 week. Maybe after that I may not want sweets like I do now.  I might just have to give in just a little for my birthday though.

Blizzard of 2011

So, for the past 2 days, here in MI we have been bracing for one of the worst blizzards to show up according to the weather guys. For the past 2 days, grocery stores have been packed, gas stations with lines backed up to the street, everyone getting prepared to be snowed in for days.  Last night came.  It started out snowing rather hard for a few hours but by the time I went to bed, it was hardly snowing at all.  I woke up this morning expecting alot more than what we actually got.  I have not heard the official word but I would say we might have gotten maybe 8 inches?  Just a guess though.  It could have been worse.  We still have power and that's a very good thing.  Here are a couple of pictures I took today.I am trying to experiment with taking pics with my Blackberry.  Oh, and Phil the groundhog didn't see his shadow.  Whoever came up with that anyway?? Hurry up spring!  Hope everyone else faired well in this "blizzard".