Fox in Socks

My little "Fox in Socks" for the weeklong  Dr. Seuss celebration at school! 

Book review

I just started reading a book that I can't put down. I'm a HUGE fan of Greg Iles. I love most of the books he's written. "Turning Angel" and "Blood Memory" are still 2 of my favorites. "The Devil's Punchbowl" was awful. It gave me NIGHTMARES. But this..... THIS.... is just a great book. It's definitely a page turner. 

And cool factor: About a year ago I became friends with a guy who grew up with Greg, still hangs out with him, and played in Greg's original rock band. This guy grew up and still lives in Natchez as does Greg Iles and he gave us (Chad and I) a private tour of his beautiful antebellum mansion he bought a few years back. (Our friend's home, not Greg's. I don't know where in Natchez he resides.) I know that doesn't put me DIRECTLY meeting Greg himself, but when I found out that our friend was best buddies with him, my jaw hit the floor. 

Anyway, I just had to throw that in. I don't get many "cool factors" in my life. 

But seriously. Read this book. I'm going to purchase the second in the trilogy to take along with me on the 17 hour bus ride to Washington D.C. coming up soon.  

Music. Soul therapy.

Music and writing are my therapy. They've both been there for me at my worst times and best times. I have neglected blogging, just because I find it hard to sit down long enough these days. But currently I have 1,300 songs on my iPod and the list is growing. I lost my iPod a few weeks ago and seriously felt like I lost a piece of me. Fortunately, I found it. Right in the place I put it so I wouldn't LOSE IT! (That's my mommy brain for you!) 

Anyway, these are some lyrics that are still a favorite. 

My Valentine

What's not to adore?! (I know. I'm a little partial....)

Good ol' Hayes

Ummmm.... I seriously love this guy. Seriously. Love. This guy. Right here. 

Once again, I'm light years behind. But this album makes me HAPPY. His songs and his music and his style are just plain fun. My favorite song is "Another Like You". 

Awesome. 

First world problems.......

Soooooo.... Here's a story for you...... I bought one of these portable phone chargers from Groupon to have on the 17 hour bus ride for our upcoming D.C. field trip in March. I used it a couple of times to make sure it worked okay and I tried to use it again yesterday. To no avail. It suddenly wouldn't charge my phone. So I told Chad he needed to look at it and see what was wrong. This is the convo that followed: 

Chad: "Did you charge it up?"

Me: "Um, what do you mean, 'charge it up'?"

C: "As in, CHARGE it up. Plug it into the wall with the cord it came with."

M: "Ummmm. I guess I didn't realize it came with a cord???If so, I didn't know what it was for???"

C: "Mandy. How did you think it would keep enough power to charge your phone?"

M: "well, I thought it had a certain number of hours on the device and once it quit working, you just threw the whole thing away and got a new one."

C: shock.... Disbelief.......shaking his head in his hands........

Yes. This really happened.... 

My Musician

Super proud of this kid, once again. He performed at an event called "The Hymn Festival" where the piano players are judged on everything from finger position to posture to the way they perform their memorized piece. This kid made a perfect score! 40 out of 40!