English Toffee Giveaway

Like I even had a choice whether to post this or not. In my current state, my appetite does the driving. :-) (Thanks, Andrea for the hot tip!) To the two people who still read my poor, abandoned blog, go check this out: http://englishtoffeeanytime.com/index.php

My Two Cents on Twilight, the Movie

Ignore this post if you're not a fan, mostly bc you'll see how much of a dork I am..haha.
Going into this and any book made into a movie, I look for two things: Does is stay fairly true to the original story? Does it incite in me the same feelings as the book? If I can say yes to both of those things, then it's been a successful movie and anything else is icing on the cake. That was indeed the case with Twilight.
I was able to see things on screen that I had only imagined when reading the book or that I just wasn't able to visualize come to life before me on the big screen. Going in knowing that the movie would never be as good as the book (they never are), it was good for different reasons. Here's some things that I wasn't crazy about:

Bella--I didn't understand her character as much here. I never understood why she loved Edward so much even though this was from her perspective. From the book, I could see that his beauty and that he was perfect in everything were what did it for her..didn't get that from the movie though. I didn't mind that she never smiled. I didn't think she ever smiled much any way so I felt like that was true to character. I would have loved to hear them say they love one another at some point though.

Edward--nice beautiful face and I think he really transformed from Cedrick Diggory to be this character well, but, man, someone needs to tell him to stand up straight and hit the gym! Book Edward was PERFECT for goodness sake!

I really really hoped to see the "stupid shiny Volvo owner" scene. Deleted scenes maybe..

Meadow scene--I could what they were trying to do with his skin like diamonds, but to me "sparkly Edward" came across as "blurry Edward". It was weird. Maybe it was the screen and it will look better when on DVD. (Oh yes, gotta have the DVD.) Other than that (major) detail, this scene was better on screen than I had visualized from the book.

One of my favorite things was the addition of a new character: Charlie's mustache! That thing was awesome! It should have had it's own lines or something. Team Charlie's Mustache over here!

I thought I'd try something new for a change and, hey, actually post something. Madness, I know! I'm not feeling too philosophical or creative at the moment (and you know my blog is known for in depth philosophical matters and creativity) so I'll brag on my cute kid instead. Here's some pics of him in October.



The cutest puppy ever!



Jailhouse rock Elvis..bc I just couldn't decide on one costume




Walking up to his very first trick-or-treat house.



At the pumpkin patch..even though it wasn't really a patch bc everything was pre-picked. So pumpkin store maybe?? It was also my *gasp* 28th birthday.




Ben with pumpkins. We got him a Halloween book ("Happy Halloween, Biscuit!")to learn about pumpkins and Halloween and boy did he ever..he won't quit asking to read that book and point out the pumpkins. Aye..I'm going to have to buy a Thanksgiving book now so he'll move on. (Wouldn't you know all the Thanksgiving books for his age group are all checked out at the library.)



NOT a different Ben costume. But it was just too cool of a handmade one to not post. He could see out of black mesh that the eyes were made out of. Too bad all the other kids could easily run past him and get all the candy first. That's the price to pay for looking good though.




Elvis and his hound dog Boomer at the church trunk-or-treat.

Back to High School, More Like

The other day, I was pushing Ben in his stroller at McNeese taking care of some last minute school stuff. We are coming out of the handicap ramp in Kaufman Hall. It's like a two-lane ramp with a rail in the middle dividing the "lanes". Three police officers, pretty young, were walking towards the ramp and the middle spotted Ben and started talking to him, not paying a lot of attention to where he was going. Can you see where this going? He walked right smack into the middle rail! He bowed over in pain, holding his groin and his co-worker buddies started howling laughing at him! I felt like I was in high school for minute there. It was the funniest thing I've seen in while.

Funny Stories..true stories

My little boy, Ben, cracks me up! It is amazing to watch him take the things he learns and use them himself. Here a couple of examples. He has learned to make all kinds of animal sounds (cow, pig, sheep, elephant, dog, bear, lion, etc.). He also makes sounds for his dear parents. He likes to imitate us snoring. Now I'm not sure where he gets MY sound from because I am confident that I don't snore! :-D Adam on the other hand, well...Funny enough, he makes the same snoring sound for his dog, Boomer, a pug. So we are in church the other day and there is a family with a newborn. I had noticed Ben watching and had explained that it was a baby. Shortly after we got there, the cute little newborn did what all newborns do when there parents are awake--he went to sleep. Ben, using the new sounds he learned, saw the baby sleeping, pointed and started snoring!

Another funny Ben story..We are riding in the car and asking him what a cow says, what a dog says etc. He responds with the appropriate sounds. Then we ask him what sound Ben makes. He doesn't know so he just makes one up. We tell him that Ben says "waaaa" but we could never get him to do it. The other night we are about to go to bed and we ask him sound he makes. I thought he would have forgotten since we only told him that one time. He starts whining and waa-ing with a big grin on his face! so cute!

From Shaggy to Shorn

I finally broke down and cut Ben's hair. This is his second haircut. I like it long, but it just got of control. I missed it though the minute I cut it. Adam was probably tempted to roll his eyes at me when I cried over it..lol. I don't think I cried as much as Ben, but he just didn't like sitting there. I don't guess I blame him. It turned out cute I think although I'm kind of partial to the kid it's on. :-)

What a Deal!

There's nothing like getting a good deal to put me in a good mood. The other day, my neighbor stopped by asking if I wanted to walk with her down the street. She had seen some lamps that someone had put out by the road for trash pick up and she wanted to get them. So I went with her. We get there, she's checking out her lamps and I start rummaging through the boxes and stuff. Now this isn't the kind of thing I EVER do, but having someone with you always makes you a little braver for some reason. It's mostly moth-ball old lady stuff. Then I open this one box that has an entire set of comforter, shams, bed skirt, and curtains. It had never even been used. The receipt was still in there from 2001 and it's like a $500 set. Would you believe they were actually the right size for our king-size bed?! When does THAT ever happen? So there's my FREE find! And the only thing better than a good deal is a free one! (Don't worry, I washed it all before I ever used it, just in case.) And to my neighbor, if you're reading this, whose comforter set this was--If you didn't mean to throw it out, I'm really sorry, but I'm attached now. You can have my old one.

More Vacation Pics

Right now, I'm bored in the middle of summer trying to survive the heat, I'm kind of trying to relish in our Florida vacation memories a bit. Here's some pics I haven't posted yet.

We went to the zoo in Gulf Breeze. It isn't the fanciest, that's for sure, but it has animals and that's really all ya need for a zoo. Although, paved sidewalks instead of the gravel ones would have been good, especially trying to push a stroller through it..not so fun.

Here's Ben and me in the train that takes you around the zoo. (A MUCH better way to see the animals than pushing a stroller through gravel.)


On the train ride, we caught a view of the reindeer who must have been vacationing in FL too waiting for Christmas to get here.


At the petting zoo..Ben did NOT like those aggressive, hungry goats and sheep. I really think they could have jumped that fence with proper motivation.


Adam had already gone back to work when we went to the zoo, but came back the weekend just in time for the beach! These pics are in Destin. I'm from about an hour from there. I really really miss it this time of year. There's just a feeling on the beach there that I don't get anywhere else I've been. Sure did used to tempt me to ditch a lot of class back in the day though!

Here I am doing a little body surfing.


A couple of family pics



Here's Ben and me watching the waves roll in. Just beautiful.


What a view..


Here is one sleepy kid.


He fell asleep in the car in the couple minutes we drove to the restaurant. (PF Changs..my favorite!) I ate most of my lunch with him asleep on my shoulder. He did wake up finally though..kind of.


Alright, I'm ready to go back now!

A Sad Day

We planted a garden in the spring time. It was perfect--just enough plants to produce just enough food for our little family. It was growing fine until one afternoon it started to rain. And the next afternoon, it rained. And the next. And the next. Until our cute little garden that Adam worked so hard (with the neighbor's gas-powered tiller) to put in was drowning to death. We dug trenches around it. Didn't work. They filled in with rainwater and became motes like to protect our plants from invaders or something.

Then one night I lay in bed awoken by a noise. Actually, it was a lot of noises--frogs, really loud croaky ones. And guess where they were..Yep, in our used-to-be-cute little garden. I almost bought dirt to fill in the whole lot the next day, but I didn't. I was patient. The rain stopped. The garden dried except for the "motes". They didn't. And how could they? They were now home to lots of babies..that's right. Tadpoles were in our garden!! We were trying to grow vegetables and we grew frogs instead. Where did we go wrong? Adam fixed our frog problem though. Froglegs, any one?

Just kidding about the froglegs part. Actually, he just filled it in with sand and we're going to move our best plants into planters until next year when we start the garden anew in a different, higher part of the yard. It was a pretty sad day for the tadpoles though.

An Eternal Teenager

Takin' Lisa up on her question, here's what year I apparently belong to..Does this mean that I don't belong in '08?? In '98, I was a junior in high school, so I guess I'll always be a teenager in my head!

You Belong in 1998

With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/">What Year Do You Belong In?

Vacation Part 3

After the Castillo de San Marcos fort, we headed out to Anastasia Island State Park for some fun in the sun! It was beautiful there.

Ben is getting is toes in the sand with help from his Paw-Paw and Granny Cheri

Does it get any cuter than little kid footprints?!

Adam is in search of the perfect wave. I don't think he found it there. The waves were pretty mild.

Nonetheless, we weren't taking any chances!

Ben loved it when the waves crashed up on them! He'd lick the salt off his lips just afterwards.

Some quality father-son time building a castle. Adam kept saying that he was building it for Ben, but he was having way too much fun for it to have just been for Ben!

Yes, he made us take pictures afterwards!

I didn't do anything cool like build a sand castle or play in the waves with Ben (although I COULD have made a sand castle with all the sand that was in places it shouldn't be after we left..)

The coolest part of being at Anastasia Island was when we saw the satellite after it had just been launched. What a neat thing to see and to be there on the beach seeing such a sight.

Vacation Part 2

While we were down in Williston, we went swimming at a couple of the many natural springs in that area. The temperature is 70 degrees, but it feels more like 40 to me! It is soooo cold! But Ben loved it after he got over the initial shock. Me, on the other hand..Here's Ben swimming at Manatee Springs. We also swam at Fanning Springs which feeds into the Suwanee River.

We also visited Cedar Key, FL which is one of the oldest ports in the state. I had the best fish sandwich at a little cafe there! Here's some highlights of the town.

Ben on a manatee.

Here's my dad at an old homestead there that we toured.

A view of downtown from a distance.

We saw a couple of dolphins swimming out a little ways too, but every time I tried to snap their picture, all I got was the splash they left behind!

On Saturday, May 31st, we took a daytrip to St. Augustine. It is about two hours from my dad and stepmom's place. If you have never been there, if you ever get the chance, go! There is so much history there and so much to do and see. We visited the Castillo de San Marcos, a really old fort. We got there just in time to see them shoot off a cannon.

There was a parasailer out in the distance that we watched nervously. We weren't too scared for him though since they only shot a blank. :-)

Here we are with one of the volunteers. I'm sure they love when tourists such as we were bug them to be in their pictures.

Here comes a litte tourist! Man, we've got to do something about his hair! One of the watchtowers overlooking the Atlantic.

Sometimes I've Got to Get Away (Vacation Part 1)

...which I did with my family these past couple of weeks. (Adam came back a week earlier than myself and Ben.) We had such a good time visiting family, sightseeing, and enjoying the beautiful weather. On Saturday, May 24th, we attended the 50-something annual Chessher Reunion held in Baker, FL (in the panhandle area). My paternal grandmother is a Chessher. She celebrated her 92nd birthday just a few days after the reunion. She gets honored every year at the reunion for being the oldest living member of the family. What an amazing lady she is! She had 10 kids, raised 13 kids, took care of my Aunt Mary who had Downs Syndrome who passed away last year, and has just been such a strong example to me and my family. Ben also got the award the second year running for being the youngest member of the Chessher family in attendance. (It would have gone to his cousin Zac, born three weeks after Ben, if he had been there.)

On Memorial Day, we were in Williston, FL just south of Gainesville with my dad and stepmom. My cousin came up from Orlando with her little boy Zac. This was the best picture I could manage of those two little busy bees together: (Zac is on the left, Ben is on the right.)

The next day, we went to the University of Florida's butterfly atrium where they breed butterflies and then release them in the atrium and let you walk through, sit on benches or whatever. It was crazy..butterflies where EVERYwhere! You had to be careful where you walked or moved your hands.

My stepmom Cheri and my dad. See the butterfly flying by there?

Ben had to take a breather.

Beauty begets beauty.The result of that begetting..a line of cocoons.

If you stayed in one place for very long, butterflies would take up residence on you. Here's one on Adam's wrist and Ben's shoulder.

Just as Cheri is taking the picture, one lands on her hand.