Yesterday marked my seventh week of being cigarette free! Yay me! This has been a constant battle for me. I quit without hesitation the 1st time. I wanted to get pregnant and wasn't chancing the money we were paying to do In Vitro. I was smoke free for 19 months. Then started up again....The second time I quit, I didn't really quit, I did good, and was down to one or two a day, would go with out for a day or two here or there but never fully quite. This time I am quitting for good (knock on wood).
Things I love about no smoking:
1. My hair smells awesome.
2. My clothes smells awesome.
3. Not HAVING to have one.
4. No more telling the girls "wait one min and we will go....mommy has to smoke real quick".
5. No more of the girls asking "when I become a mommy I can smoke?".
6. No more throwing money away.
Things a miss:
1. I miss smoking, I do, it was my vise. Some people eat, some will work themselves to death, some are adrenaline junkies, everyone has a vise and that was mine.
2.Smoke Breaks!! I miss smoke breaks at work...I need to still take breaks but can't yet I am afraid I might go find a cigarette from someone.
I know this will be an on going battle and hopefully I will win, I smoked the majority of the last 13 years. I want to be healthies...I want to do it for my girls.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Past Midnight, Raising the Dead & One Hundred Candles
Past Midnight
Raising the Dead
Past Midnight
From the back of the book...Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive….
Raising the DeadFrom the back of the book...Charlotte Silver's world is like no one else's...
As the daughter of the famous Silver Spirits paranormal investigators, Charlotte Silver is used to all things weird. But when coffins start floating down her street during a flood, life turns extra strange. And wonderful, when her friend and crush Noah signs on to help Charlotte and her folks in the aftermath. Cemetery cleanup might not sound exciting, but as shocking discoveries and a lurking stranger come to light, Charlotte learns that sometimes, raising the dead can bring unexpected rewards.
From the back of the book...It's taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I'm settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it's not as if Noah is anything more than a friend….
But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I've opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.
My Thoughts…I would rate all of these books a 3.0-3.5 stars. I love Young Adult Books, but sometimes it is hard to tell which books are actual Young Adults and which books are actually Teen Books, since both genres are for the most part grouped together. I found this to be more of a Teen book---maybe middle school age. It was a very easy read, easy to understand, easy to follow, easy to read without realizing how long you had been reading but I also feel it would appeal to a younger reader then me. Charlotte Silver wants a normal life. After moving around from state to state, country to country, Charlotte’s parents have agreed that they will stay in one city, the same house for an entire year in order for Charlotte to have her senior year of high school at just one school. Charlotte’s parents are paranormal-normal gurus, they write books, they investigate, and they even have their own TV show. They have been around the world and back conducting investigations. Charlotte just wants normal, maybe a chance to have friends and go on a date or two. I can relate with Charlotte’s character for wanting normal for just one year, her senior year. I think it is great that she has finally has someone she can consider a best friend, and also that the best friend is not freaked out about Charlotte and her families occupation. Charlotte as likes Noah, which Noah is good for Charlotte but he doesn’t seem to return the affection except in the friendship sense. Charlotte doesn’t seem to like confrontations, and there was several times where if she would of just opened her mouth and told her parents what was going on some of the events would not of happened….but then I guess there would be no story then and then where would we be? Charlotte’s life was normal for about 2 months and then the paranormal were unleashed.
I probably would read the next book in this series to see how the characters grow. I am not sure how many books the author has wrote but book 2 was better than book 1.5, which was better than book 1, so hopefully book 3 will be just as good.
View all my reviews
Friday, March 4, 2011
Always a Witch
Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough
4 of 5 stars
The adventures of Tam and Gabriel continue with more time travel, Talents, spy work, and of course, the evil Knights.
Since the gripping conclusion of Once A Witch, Tamsin Greene has been haunted by her grandmother's prophecy that she will soon be forced to make a crucial decision—one so terrible that it could harm her family forever. When she discovers that her enemy, Alistair Knight, went back in time to Victorian-era New York in order to destroy her family, Tamsin is forced to follow him into the past. Stranded all alone in the nineteenth century, Tamsin soon finds herself disguised as a lady's maid in the terrifying mansion of the evil Knight family, avoiding the watchful eye of the vicious matron, La Spider, and fending off the advances of Liam Knight. As time runs out, both families square off in a thrilling display of magic. And to her horror, Tamsin finally understands the nature of her fateful choice.
My thoughts…This book was just as good if not better then the first book. It started off a little slow but then I could not set it down. Tamsin character really grows & matures in this book. Now that it is known that she has a talent, one would assume that life would get better for Tamsin and that she would start to feel as if she belonged with her family, but it is the complete opposite. Since Tamsin has the talent to not only stop you from doing your own talent but can also take / borrow your talent from you, her family is somewhat avoiding her or avoiding using their talents in front of her because they don’t want her stopping or taking their talent.
A big chunk of the book is Tamsin discovering herself and what she must do to save her family forever. While she is in the nineteenth century she has no one with her and she has to figure out what needs to be done to save her family alone. With Alistair & Tamsin in the past each warning their families the future it constantly changing…at one point there is no longer a Greene family in the future. Tamsin never gives up though. Once she stops blocking Gabriel from finding her, he too travels to the past to help and protect the Tamsin, the girl that he loves and would give his life for. At the last moment Tamsin pulls together all the pieces to the puzzle, makes a selfless choice and hopes it will save her family. You will have to read the book to see if it Tamsin saves her family or it the Alistair succeeds, you might be surprised by the ending.
ISBN:0547224850 (ISBN13: 9780547224855)
Title: Always a witch
Series: Witch #2
View all my reviews
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Once a Witch
4 out of 5 Stars
From the back cover: Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search—and the stranger—will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all. This is a spellbinding display of storytelling that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant.
My thoughts....Wow, talk about a couple of late nights reading. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. If it wasn’t for work I would have finished this book in a day. I loved Tamsin’s character. I know how hard it is being a teenager, trying to fit it, trying to figure out who you are….then throw in being in a family that are all witches, powerful ones at that, and you have the magic at all. That must have been devastating for Tamsin. She seems to make the best she can out of it; she tries to be “normal”, goes to a private school, and is planning her future as a “normal person”. She still spends weekends and breaks from school with her family, which is how she meets the professor and agrees to help him even though she has no magic to help with. By agreeing to help the professor her life and her family’s life change forever.
But wait there is more! What’s a story if it doesn’t have a love match? Enter, Gabriel who is Tamsin childhood best friend. They haven’t spoken to eat other for about 10 years even though they promised they would, they promised they would write to each other every week, but what happened? Gabriel sure wants to know why his letters went unanswered. Tamsin is hesitant to tell, but Gabriel doesn’t give up so easy. He is funny, sexy, and sarcastic and most of all actually cares what happened and is currently happening to Tamsin.
Tamsin has some hard choices to make that may alter the past/present/future in ways she has no idea.
I can’t wait to start the next book!!
ISBN: 0547223994 (ISBN13: 9780547223995)
Original Title: Once a Witch
URL: http://www.onceawitch.com/
Series: Witch #1
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