sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling

Here is the most recent book I read. Very easy read. After the last book I needed an easy read!
It was pretty good.....I learned a lot about her life. The beginning was boring. 1/2 way through it it got kind of interesting.
2 out of 5 stars

Pillars of the Earth

This is the book that I have been working on the past couple of months (Since Labor Day) It is a huge book with almost 1000 pages and a lot of information on every page. It was really good and kept me interested but man am I glad it is over. I didn't think I would ever finish it.
I do recommend it if you have the time but if you are more into easy reads with only a couple hundred pages then this isn't for you.
4 out of 5 stars

Orchestra concert 11/08

Playing the music

Kaylee and her friend Hannah

Getting ready for the concert to begin

Kaylee had her concert last week. They played so well. You can tell that these kids have come a very long way. here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

a few pics from the night

Here is a crazy with some Team Edward pants on......wish I would have thought of that.

Here is the line when we first got to the theater.

one of the crazy girls in front of us.

here we are eating our dinner while we waited.

this is all of us together getting ready to walk into the movie theater and wait the last couple of hours.

MIdnight movie with all the other crazies!

In case you have been living under a rock for the past couple of months you know that the movie Twilight premiered at Midnight this morning. Some of my crazy friends and I decided that because we are so obsessed with this book that we had to make a date night to go and see it. We have our calendars all marked with this special day and the count down has been on since the beginning of the month. We knew that we were going to have to get to the theater pretty early but we weren't sure exactly how early. We decided that we would go by after work and if there was already a line then we would get in it but if not we would go and eat somewhere. I personally didn't think the line would already be forming, but I was on the side of checking to make sure and then figuring out what to do after that. We went to the theater and guess what, the line was already forming! Oh my goodness! We parked the car and we got into line. The time was about 6:00 PM. I would be fibbing if I told you that I was looking forward to standing in a line for 6 hours but it actually turned out to be ok. We had so much fun talking and eating (Donette brought in yummy cookies and Heather brought in chocolate covered strawberries.....shhh don't tell the theater) I read my book for a while, I talked on the phone for a while, and I talked with everyone. Then we were let into the theater. I think it was about 7;30 when they let us in. We found our seats and then more waiting. We played "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" on Susans phone and we just talked to each other for hours (there was no more reading of the books because the theater wasn't well lit) You should have seen some of the crazies there that were dressed up. I felt like I was at a Star Wars premiere with all the people that dressed up. It was so much fun and I couldn't have been there with better people. I am so happy that we all decided to go together. Thanks for all of it Diann, Donette, Susan, Heather, Kris, Eileen and Trey. I hope you had as wonderful of a time as I did.
OK now it was time for the movie. The excitement filled the air and everyone screamed and clapped when it started. The first time Edward was on the screen everyone screamed and clapped also. It was wonderful!
I have to tell you that the movie really disappointed me in the beginning. They didn't go exactly by the book and they crammed a lot of information into a very short amount of time so they could get to the good stuff and I thought it was a little to much but I still was right along with those crazies and screamed right along with them. Once they got a little further into the movie I was just as pleased as the rest of them and by the time it was over I had found a new favorite movie, a new favorite actor and a new character to dream about (ok I was already having the dreams from reading the books...I just had to throw a 3rd "new" thing in there) I have decided that I want to move to Forks, Washington and relish in all the beautiful scenery and if a family like the Cullins happens to live there, well so be it whatever happens.....OK that might be pushing it a little bit but please just let me dream about this for a little while without bursting my bubble.
The movie was over about 2:30 AM and Kris and I pulled in the driveway at 3:20 AM exhausted but also happily chattering about this wonderful movie. She went to her house and I went to mine. I climbed into my bed that had Matt, Aaron and 2 dogs already occupying it and closed my eyes hoping that I would fall to sleep thinking about this movie. After about an hour of tossing and turning I finally fell asleep to turn around and wake up at 6:15 to get Kaylee to school by 7:00 AM and Aaron to Christy's by 7:30 AM (yep you heard that right, I got about an hours worth of sleep) You would have thought that I would have been extremely grumpy but I did end up dreaming about the movie and I woke up with a smile on my face and felt total bliss. I knew right at that moment that I was not crazy for having bought another ticket to see the movie that morning because I couldn't wait to see it again! After I got the kids off to school I drove over to Donettes and waited for her, Susan and Trey to get ready. Then we drove to the theater and met Diann and Bill and we all went in to see the movie again (at 10:30 that morning)
Afterwards we went out to eat, then we parted ways. I made it home at 2:30 and the kids walked in the door at 3:05. I have not had a nap but I am surprisingly still in a fantastic mood. I honestly want to go and see this movie again! Maybe I will take Kaylee. She wants to see it.....I'll have to think about that. She asked me this morning if the next movie in the series opens at midnight if I would go to it again. I told her absolutely!
So to give you my review is kind of hard. I can't give it 5 out 5 but my heart wants to. All I can say is read the book(s) first and then watch it. I don't think you will be disappointed as long as you know it doesn't follow it to a t.

****I took some pictures with my phone and as soon as I get a chance I will post them.****

Another Rachael Ray recipe that I loved

I made it last night and I loved it! The kids didn't really like the artichokes but I thought they were fantastic! (even though I didn't cut them up and Matt thought I should have)

Spinach and Artichoke Tortellini Bake

Ingredients
2 pounds fresh or frozen ricotta-filled tortellini
Salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
A few grates fresh nutmeg
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and excess water squeezed out
1 10-ounce box frozen quartered artichoke hearts, defrosted
Ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Preparation
Preheat broiler.
Place a large pot of water over high heat to boil. Once boiling, salt the water and drop the pasta in. Cook to al dente according to package directions. Drain cooked pasta and reserve.
While the pasta is working, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with the butter. Cook the garlic in the butter until aromatic, about 1 minute, then sprinkle the flour over the butter and cook for another minute. Whisk the milk into the roux and bring up to a bubble to thicken. Add nutmeg, spinach, artichoke hearts, salt and pepper, and cook until the veggies are heated through.
Add the reserved tortellini to the skillet and toss to coat. Transfer everything to a large casserole dish and sprinkle with the cheeses. Place under the broiler to brown, about a minute.

I thought this was funny

I was behind this truck today and I thought it was funny so I snapped a pic of it. Thats great that we advertise in Spanish. there is nothing wrong with it but shouldn't we also advertise in English. English is this countries "official" language right?!?!?!

Aarons first NASCAR race

here is my favorite driver......Dale Jr.

Matt, Jeff, Aaron and Collin went to the race on Sunday. Aaron loved it! They sat across from the exit of pit road and right in front of them was number 24 Jeff Gordan......Aarons favorite!

Cub Fun Day 08

Matt took Aaron to Cub Fun Day this year. They did it at the lake this time so our troop had its Fall camp out also but we didn't attend because of CCD (Aaron can't miss it this year because of First Communion) They said they had a good time with the archery. They stood in line for a couple hours for the BB guns and then they decided to leave because they weren't even half way through it yet.

Another name change is headed my way

I'll refresh your memory in case you forgot but a couple months ago Aaron came home and asked me if he could change his name to Ash (because it is better than Aaron) I told him he could change it when he was 18 and he was fine with that. Well it is happening again, Kaylee came to me last night and informed me that although she likes the name Kaylee it really isn't a very good adult name. It is a great kids name but she can't see it as an adult name. I asked her what she wants us to call her and she isn't sure so I said

me - "well do you want us to call you Kay?"

Kay - "no, I like it and its OK if you call me Kay and if Kenzie calls me Kay and my friends but I don't want everyone to call me Kay"

me - "OK then what do you want us to call you?"

Kay - "well I was thinking about maybe Raye."

me - "ummmm.......OK"

Then she got up and started to leave the room so I yelled out jokingly.....

me - "how about Tabitha?"

Kay - "Tabitha......I don't know, I do like Penelope. How come you didn't name me Penelope?"

How do you answer that question? You find out within a span of a couple months that your kids don't really like their names....well they said they are fine but they have issues with them and they want to change them. How funny is that! I don't know about these kids of mine, they have quite the imagination.

President Obama

California just sent in their electoral votes.....Barak Obama is our new president of the United States.

If you believe all the emails that have been sent around over the last year you now think that the Antichrist who is a Muslim with terrorist friends is now going to run our country! Oh My Goodness, what are we going to do?

I certainly don't believe he is the Antichrist and he is an American but he does have some very shady friends that bring up some red flags in my opinion. Was he my pick to lead our great nation, absolutely not, but it had nothing to do with those crazy emails that flew all over the Internet. It had to do with policy's and I was on John McCains side time and time again. I tend to lean more on the right side then I do the left side. I am very proud to say that.

But now that we know who our president is going to be this coming January it is time to stop all the crazy emails and embrace President Obama (ok maybe not embrace but accept) It is time to give him a chance and I pray that what he has said since the convention is the truth. I pray that he isn't going to raise our taxes and I pray that he isn't going to withdraw all of our troops from Middle East because the war is not over. We are winning but if we pull out our troops I predict catastrophic events....mayhem to say the least. I hope and pray that he realizes this and listens to ALL of his advisers and congress (not just the left) I hope that he keeps an open mind and puts his liberalism's to the side for the greater good of our country. And finally I pray that he does goes through all of the policies line by line and he eliminates what is not working and fixes what needs fixing.

So all of my friends, we have been through history tonight. If you had a vote for McCain like I did lets not be angry that he lost this election. Lets not retaliate against Obama, lets all stand behind him and fix what has been broken.

Halloween 08

Darth Vader and Ugly Betty......have they ever been cuter?

I am sure it made her day

While we stood in line to pay for our pumpkins there was a couple in front of us. The lady was looking at Kaylee as we were talking, she interrupted us and told Kaylee that she has features of a model. Kaylee smiled from ear to ear and said Thank You.
Can you imagine how wonderful this made her feel! I tell her all the time that she is beautiful but for a total stranger to say it her you know that it completely made her day! I am sure she is going to remember this from years to come.

Carving of the pumpkins

Carving of the pumpkins is always a fun time in our house. First of all we had to go and buy the pumpkins.....note for next year, do NOT wait until the day before Halloween to get your pumpkins. Very "slim pickins" I think there was a total of 6 pumpkins in the entire store!

Then we came home and got busy. Matt was late getting home from work so we were already started by the time he got home. He helped the kids with the carving but they did the majority of it. I think they turned out pretty good. Kaylee even got a compliment on Halloween night from a fellow Trick or Treater. He thought it was a pretty cool pumpkin.

here are some pictures

Kaylee and I took some pictures with the puppies......after Jacks near death experience I had to get some with us. Now I just have to get some with Aaron and Matt.