Princess Academy by Shannon Hale


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is not your typical Disney princess type book despite the title. This is a book you might give to a daughter who doesn't really like being just a "girl."

View all my reviews >>

Some more Christmas. . .

This is what happens when you don't like the Christmas present I got you. Just kidding! This is Paul nearly 1 week after nearly breaking his neck in a surfing goof. (Begin humming the song "Wipeout" in your minds--I'll do the drum solo) My husband is generally not a complainer--his father always told him "Take what you get and make no bother" which has always served him well. Well, until now that is. Saturday before Christmas, he went surfing BFE early in the morning. Next thing I know, he's telling me he had a bit of a wipeout and he's climbing into the shower to get cleaned up. He comes and lays down and is essentially useless for the rest of the day--which is pretty much how it is when he goes surfing. I drag him to a birthday party an hour and a half away, and I make him drive there. We get home and toss the kids to bed. The next morning he says he hurts too much to go to church, so I take the boys and we leave him in peace. When we get to church, a few of the guys come up and ask "is Paul okay?" Several of the guys he regularly goes with saw the whole thing, and they were really worried about him. Our doctor friend comes said he'd come and check him out. They decided that it was just a shoulder "stinger" and he told him to just keep doing what I had him doing--800 mg of ibuprofen every 6-8 hours. The following Monday, he decides to have me drive him to work rather than riding his bike. He wakes me that morning, and I go downstairs and try to wake up completely as I'm putting my shoes on. He walks out and asks, "Honey, what's the number for that spousal abuse hotline?" I look up, and he's sporting the worst shiner I've ever seen. It is about as black as the shirt he's wearing in the picture. The good news is that it wasn't horribly swollen. The bad news, I can't look his co-workers in the eye--my husband can be very inventive with the spousal abuse stories. I truly think we narrowly avoided a broken neck with this accident--it could have been so much worse. We are truly blessed.

One other way we are blessed is that I have sleepers for children--they don't nap much, but they sleep in until 8 most weekend mornings--for you parents out there, yes, I'm bragging a bit. I have nephews who get up at the butt crack of dawn most mornings (we don't have them for sleepovers very often). So, Christmas morning started at 8 am. I was up long before they were, I was chomping at the bit to get downstairs. One of the really nice things about not having a job is time to be able to wrap presents long before Christmas eve. We actually were able to go to bed before Santa arrives (midnight). I didn't get as much baking done as I'd like, and my mother was out of town for a funeral so we didn't get ANY Christmas fudge, but I did get to bed at a decent hour Christmas eve. Santa brought a lot of Legos, and several Wii, XBox and DS games plus a few books, and assorted videos. It was a good year all around, made better by the fact that I finished my shopping (for the most part) well before the Christmas rush.

Star Wars things were also a great hit. I purchased several Christmas CDs. Josh Groban is one of my guilty pleasures--I love men who can sing--and his Noel album was fantastic. I'll admit to also purchasing David Archuletta's Christmas from the Heart CD. He can sing as well, but he has the pre-pubescent boy whiny sound that I can't stand--so I'll probably donate that one. I'll wait for him to mature a little before completely writing him off however--he does sing well. Finally, Jake and I really got into the a capella show that aired over Christmas break--I used to love BYU's Vocal Point (founded by a friend of a friend) which is still going strong 15+ years later. I picked up a CD from Straight, No Chaser and a capella group, which instantly became a hit with the entire family. It has songs like "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" and the Christmas Can Can and the 12 Days of Christmas which were hilarious and all done a cappella--they are fabulous, and I'll probably look for other Cds from them.

I just had to show a picture of Christmas at my mother's place--there is a beautiful tree behind all those presents. We Morris's know Christmas!

The one guest who didn't enjoy Christmas dinner

Poor, poor Cody!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year--a gift for you. . .

I have been searching for this man since I heard "Trouble" on a dog food commercial of all places. I finally figured out who it was, and then found this video, and I had to share. Enjoy!