Do you YouTube?

It's Friday.

Yeah!  *throws confetti*

Whew, this one has been a seriously long week.  And keep in mind that as I write this it is only Thursday and we had a day off.  

I know!  Right?

Yesterday I spent some time trying to get my youtube account to sync with my google account because I had a legacy youtube account.  Which basically means I set it up a really, really, really long time ago.  I didn't have all that many video's uploaded.  Just some boating and Xmas stuff.  After two hours and a major rager of a headache I ended up deleting the old account and starting a new one.  

Why do I torture myself that way?  I have no idea.

Anyway, I logged up one of my early works of the hubs wakeboarding and thought I would share it with you guys.  



Also you can now find me on youtube if you are so inclined to subscribe.  Not really up on the youtube lingo and why subscriptions are necessary but you can if you want.  If any of you frequent followers have a youtube channel leave me a note so I can check it out.  I definitely want to help get the word out and support you guys.

Have a great weekend and just know this...it's boating time somewhere.

Cornhole...it's really not dirty

We hosted a BBQ this past Saturday.

We invited all of the neighbors and a smattering of friends.  

It was a crashing success.  

The menu was a work of art.  Seriously.  (You guys know I am a kitchen diva right?)  So when I say we invited everyone for a cook-out you just know you ain't getting no burgers and dogs here.  Let me just add, there is nothing wrong with burgers and dogs.  But everyone was doing that this weekend and I really wanted to make something that my guest wouldn't be eating Sunday or Monday.  That's right.  I'm always thinking like that.

The menu consisted of Korean BBQ kebabs, Chicken & pineapple Hawaiian kabobs. two different pasta salads, tomato and feta salad, broccoli casserole, spinach dip, carrot cake, crack cookies and a 3 gallon dispenser of spa water.

I am always the last one to eat when we have company.  That's just how I roll.  I was hoping to get pictures, but everyone fell on the food before I could do that.  In fact, by the time I got around to making a plate there was exactly 1 Korean BBQ kebab left.  One.  No worries.  I had the chicken, but I think it is fair to say the steak was a huge hit.  

Since I have been planning this summer soiree for a little over a month I debated on what outdoor game I should invest in.  Horseshoes? Bocci? Cornhole?  Finally I decided to go with something I wanted to learn.  Cornhole won.  It sounds a lot dirtier than it actually is.

  

The point of the game is to throw your bean bags through a six inch hole from twenty six - thirty-two feet away.  I have no idea why I thought this would be easy.  It wasn't.  During the actual party, I just got to watch.  We had a rousing game of Cornhole going on behind the pool and a loud and boisterous game of bocci (neighbors brought over their game) happening on the east lawn.  (East lawn.  I crack myself up.  Snooty.)  

On Sunday, after breakfast I brought the new game out and spent most of the day tossing bean bags.  I worked really hard and even once I was able to get the Captain to join me, I still sucked.  But it's all good, because now I'm am fixated on mastering this game.  I promise to keep you guys in the loop and let you know how that fares.  

So tell me, what outdoor games do you guys like to play?  Keep it clean people.  And by people I mean Karla.  

A great debut...

The Temporary Wife by Jeannie Moon.

I want to start this review by saying I have read Jeannie's work before.  I felt so honored when she asked me to read one of her earlier stories.  So I was pretty sure I knew what to expect.

Yeah, I was totally wrong on that one.  Not the first time and I certainly hope it won't be the last.

For her first published work this story was so much more than just the idea of two people getting married to save a child.  Meg's tendency to not be able to walk on her own two feet without tripping may have been more believable if she wasn't always pitching herself into our hero's arms and wearing killer heels while she was doing it.  I can't walk on the dreaded things either, but when I lose it on a pair of heels all I end up doing is twisting my ankle, not landing in the arms of super hot guy.  

Sigh.  My loss.

And yes folks, that was my only beef with The Temporary Wife.

Jeannie took a recycled story line and made it fresh.  This reader sure did appreciate that.

Meg and Jason have a history, but we don't get mired down in it like some stories because this book wasn't about their past, it was about their future. One of the things you get a sense for early on is while Jason hurt Meg, our heroine was not some besotted women pining for what was.  She's grown into a women who recognizes that she has been hurt once by this man, but moved on. 

REFRESHING!

I also liked how Meg seemed to be the more emotionally stable of the two.  More willing to embrace the changes in their relationship, and dare I say it, be more alpha, where Jason worried more about what people thought.  A definite role reversal from romance novels of yesteryear where the hero was the quintessential male who never questioned what anyone thought of him.  

Meg also owned it when she was playing coy and when she was shooting straight.

Again, refreshing.

The story is solid, even if there were a few typos, but I think that falls more to the publisher than the author.  For me, this was a wonderful gem of a find and because I have read Jeannie's early works I was able to see how much she has grown and honed her craft as a writer.  

Don't take my word for it.  Read it and tell me what you think.

I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. 

BookHungry May Selection: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

It's that time again.  Time when five twitter buds come together to read and review a book chosen by the circle.  This month we read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Description from Amazon:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

Sounds intriguing?  Right?  Yes, it does.  But in theory while this book made me think, I can't say I liked it.  Was the writing done well?  Yes.  Were the characters developed?  Yes.  So it may be a little difficult for me to adequately explain why I didn't love this story.

Oh, who am I kidding.  No it won't.

The first part of the book carry's us through the story of Amy and Nick.  How they meet and end up moving from New York City to a little town in Missouri.  In Nick's passages we are with him in the present.  In Amy's, we follow her through diary entries.  

I didn't like Nick.  I wanted to like Nick.  What I did like was the reference to The Sure Thing.   I could write paragraphs telling you about that.  Unfortunately, we're not here to discuss one of John Cusack's best flicks (in this humble girl's opinion).  No, we're here to talk about my feelings toward Gone Girl.  Can I just say in reference to The Sure Thing there is a scene where John Cusack's character is explaining why Nick is a really good name for a guy.
 

"Yeah, Nick. Nick’s a real name. Nick’s your buddy. Nick’s the kind of guy you can trust, the kind of guy you can drink a beer with, the kind of guy who doesn’t mind if you puke in his car, Nick!"

I think this sums of the main character in this book absolute.  Or at least the kind of guy Nick wants to be.  He is very aware of how he appears and works hard to portray certain feelings and emotions, or at least the ones he thinks people want to see.

Contrived and sneaky.

Speaking of feelings.  I had plenty reading this and they varied in intensity.  Times I sympathized with Nick.  Times I felt his pain, real or imagined.  But then we learn what that burner phone he carries is really for and just like that (snap) I was over Nick.  

In the beginning I felt for Amy too.  Sympathy for her life and how she was raised.  The one thing Gillian Flynn did brilliantly was send my loyalties careening back and forth between the two characters. 

For a time.  

Then we hit part two and while the book moved much faster for me here, this is where it also went off the rails.  I felt my dislike bloom and grow for these two needy crackpots.  And crackpots they were.  Both of them.

This is a "thriller" so I don't want to give anything away.  The story was well written, but at the end I just didn't have any emotional investment in either Nick or Amy.  And don't even get me started on the ending.  The last sentence rings true for these two, but I would have preferred something more in keeping with the story.  

Don't take my word for it.  Read it.   Come back and tell me what you think.  Because this story will make you think.  And think and think.  Even now, a week later, I'm still cringing and a little repulsed and extremely glad these two are fictional or at least I hope they are.  

To be fair, I think it takes a talented writer to create characters that you don't or can't like and write a story that is cringe worthy while still leaving you on the edge of your seat.  Don't worry, if you don't want to read it, I heard they're making a movie out of it.

Have you read it?  What did you think?  Tell me.

Adventures in Grilling

Okay folks, I did it.

Grill that is.

And it was spectacular.  Which of course in Kelly vernacular means I didn't burn the steaks to a charbroiled mess.  They were edible. 

Let's take a moment.

And here is a pic of said grill.  I think Spirit and I are going to get along just fine.  

Actually, I did exceptionally well.  I think hubs was secretly impressed even as he walked me outside and explained for the tenth time how to turn the grill on.  I had it.  I did.  What is it with men and their grills?  I don't think he trusted me to use it.  Why can't he feel that way about the vacuum cleaner?  Oh wait, he does.  Don't judge him because he is attached to Dyson.  I think it's the purple ball.  

And I digress.

He did get a little snarky after when I confessed I forgot to turn off the propane at the tank.  I was then subjected to a ten minute lecture on proper grill maintenance.  I think he forgets the I know how to work the stove.  I did give him some satisfaction and admit my failure.  Sadly, I haven't reached Grill God status.

Yet.  

Obviously.

He also had to go out after and remind me to unlock the feet.  See we have to move the grill from it's spot against the house to grill and move it back once we're done.  He is quirky that way.

Tomorrow I am on to chicken.

Fingers crossed.  

Cray-Cray came to vist, but we didn't let her stay...

Technically this was supposed to be yesterdays post.  

I got a little lazy.

And by that I mean, I forgot to check and see if blogger actually permitted said post to be viewed.  I am unsure, but I think blogger has it in for me.  (I much prefer that thought process to the other, which is I just don't always know what I'm doing on this here blog.)

So this weekend was pretty cray-cray.

We are getting ready for our annual Memorial Day BBQ.  I love that in my head I really do call it that.  Our annual BBQ.  In the 12 years we have lived in this house this one will be our second.  And the first was five years ago.  So you can see where I would get Annual? 

Obviously.

For those of you who haven't met me.  I get a little OCD crazy when it comes to having people over at our house.  Normally I just buzz around like a nutcase (that's where the cray-cray comes from) cleaning like a fanatic and barking out orders to Captain Kid.  Hey, I have a husband and I am allowed to give him as many honey-do's as I see fit.  It's in the marriage agreement.

Really.

Now that I am extremely off topic I should tell you that my main goal this week was to get the backyard ready to host said gala.  Gala.  I like the sound of that.  Okay it will now forever be know as the Annual Memorial Day Breakey Gala.  (Bathing suits required.)  And we did.  Get the backyard completed that is.  And it looks great.  But I still haven't pulled up the two overgrown flower beds that need to be redone.  I'm hoping if I hem and haw long enough CK will do it for me.  He has a tendency to take over like that sometimes.  But maybe not.  It didn't work with the jasmine and I tried that for four years.

Boat Grill

We're big grillers.  And since it's just the two of us we use our boat grill most of the time.  It's little and hubs has made a stand so it's convenient.  But I pointed out that if we're having all of these folks over this weekend we need a grill that will accommodate cooking for everyone and not just two people at at time.  After mush research and debate we decided on the grill we wanted.  Okay I decided on the grill I wanted, hubs took one look and vetoed.  Since he is technically the griller in the family I gracefully gave in.  I swear I didn't pout overly long.  

Now, since new grill is put together and the first trial run has been accomplished with outstanding results I have to admit he might have know what he was speaking of when he said it had to be a Weber.  (If you guys tell him I said that I will deny it.  Of course.)

So tonight I will be making my first attempt to grill.  This should be fun.  Stay tuned for how that comes out.  I promise to share tomorrow.
 

When the word strip loses its appeal

Thursday was another crazy whirlwind day.

What did I do?

I'm so glad you asked.

I learned that I hate, hate, hate stripping paint.  (I was going to type that all in capitol letters, but figured that would be over kill with all the hates I threw in there.)

  

I'm a good neighbor.  Don't feel bad, there was no way you could know that unless you are one of said neighbors.  When they have a need, I'm always there to lend a hand.  Sometimes I hate that about me.  I really hated that about me yesterday.

Seriously, this task kicked my arse.  

We were set to do four chairs and a table.  All wrought iron.  Guess how many we actually accomplished.  No really go ahead, guess.  

Two. 

By the half day mark I was trying to convince my great neighbor that half scraped, half bubbled paint could be a new look for lawn furniture.  She wasn't buying.  At least not a noon.  By three she was singing a different tune.  I think it went something like... "Kelly you were right."  Normally I like being right.  Yesterday I got no comfort from it.  Maybe today, after I am refreshed sufficiently, I may will feel differently. 

Today we are on the look out for a sandblaster rental.  I promise to post some pics when we're done.  

Let's just hope it doesn't take us forever to get it done.

What are you doing this weekend?   

Shark Jumping

Tonight is the season finale of Big Bang Theory.

I am sad.  And I'm not even going to make a crack about stupid people here.  (Sheldon fans will know what I speak of.)

I love the summer season for a lot of reasons, but not this one.  I have to say goodbye to Sheldon for almost four months.  Oh the horror!  

I love that I still LOVE this show.  So many don't know when to let a good thing go.  

You want an example? 

So glad you asked.

Bones.  This show used to be all about the science and the implacable Dr. Brennen was refreshing.  This season not so much.  She has become whiny, annoying and quite frankly I think Booth can do better.  I watched it through the end of the season hoping this would be the last because I won't be able to watch next season, but no.  They decided to end it on a stupid serial killer, who if we are to be believed is so much smarter than everyone else at the Jeffersonian. Have the writers of the show not been paying attention.  The team at the Jeffersonian are smarter than God himself.

I think Bones has officially jumped the shark.

Sigh.

The other season ending that I recently watched which made me want to starting cutting myself was NCIS.  This was another show I have come to rely on for great drama and wonderful season endings.  Remember last year when Scott Wolf blew himself up?  Yeah, good stuff.  This year.  Meh!  For an hour we kept asking ourselves, where is this going?  Where?  Please dear God, WHERE?  But no one answered.

The ending was unsatisfying to say the least.  And now I don't know if its that the show is played out or if its just me.  Expecting more and getting less.

Okay, rant officially over.  What season finales impressed/pissed you off this year.  Share please.  

Color makes me happy

I have been keeping super busy this week.  

My self imposed sabbatical. 

Monday was all about getting the garage cleaned out.  Oh, the horror.  I am still not over that one yet.  

Yesterday I worked on getting our front patio all set for the summer.  Hubs has been bemoaning for years that fact that we no longer have a front porch.  For a little reference here; in our last house we did.  Have a front porch that is.  In this house we don't.  Did I mention we built this house in 2000?  No?  We did.  

We have a gorgeous back yard with a pool and a big patio.  (Pictures another day.  Promise.)  

But he isn't happy with that.  I have never understood his insistence that a front porch was needed.  I guess he likes to feel more connected to the neighbors and sitting out front allows that in a way hanging in the back yard doesn't.  Me?  I like being anti-social.

Okay, back to the patio.  

I decided that if he wanted a front yard hang out it needed to be comfortable and colorful.  It also had to be cheap since that makes the hubs most happy.

I has two plastic Adirondack chairs out there with a make-shift table.  (I had a terracotta pot turned upside down with a slab of stone on top.  Yes, I am resourceful.)  I have since had to draft make-shift table into service as a true planter.  It is now housing my pineapple sage plants.  

So I had to figure something else out.  We had a stack of resin chairs in the backyard stacked up along with some more of those plastic Adirondack chairs.  All of them were in okay working order if not the best looking shape.  My solution?  Paint.

I swear, it does a body good.  

I picked out two primary colors and went to town. 

I also moved the catch-all table that we keep in the garage in case of parties to the front.  Why I had never thought to do this before; I have no idea.  So with some paint, re-arranging of some outdoor furniture and new pot for the make-shift table hubs is officially all set.  
 
I think it turned out pretty well.  

See...

By the way.  I don't think I know what sabbatical means. 

Snake in the Grass...

Yesterday was a crazy day.

CRAZY.

I decided that I needed to get out of the house and reorganize the garage.  I think I may be nesting.  Either that or I'm just plumb crazy.  See, there's that word again.

I am paying the price today.  For a couple of reasons. 

1.  I didn't get my blog post ready for today.  (Bad Kelly.)
2.  I have aches in places I didn't know you could ache.  
3.  I passed out about 7:30 last night which accounts for the ridiculously insane early morning rise.  (It is still dark outside.)

But there were a couple of things that I learned yesterday.

1.  My husband is never allowed to go into said garage again.  I don't care if it is his man cave.  They place was a mess.  I was going to take before and after photos; I was just embarrassed by the before.
2.  I am perfectly capable of slinging 50 lbs at a time without him.
3.  Snakes don't scare me as much as I thought they did.  (Yes I got a picture.  Now don't worry I took this one with my telephoto lens.  I'm not crazy. After all I don't know how fast these suckers are and I am not schooled in all things snake so I wasn't sure if this bad boy was poisonous or not.  Turns out; no.) 

Aren't you glad you stopped by today.  Okay I am off to con the hubs into a back rub before another day of insane yard work begins.