Katey's weekend; the start of mom's vacation
                                                       Well I know it's a little late and I should have started blogging  about it sooner but Katey, Hailee, and I had another girls weekend at the house just like we did in April when I titled blog post called Weekend News when mom, and Mark went out of town and Joy and Katey came over to keep me company.  Well anyway mom and mark went to Cleveland for a gulf tournament.  Yes it felt kind of weird not having Joy here and we didn't really have any party like we did the last time.  Friday Hailee, Katey, and I went to the store to find things that we liked such as food and beverages.  Neither of us were really hungry for a huge dinner so we got something small.

                                                   We even got KLONDIKE bars for dessert.  One of my favorites Yummy.  As we were checking out Katey started saying some of the jingle to the old KLONDIKE bar commercials and I finished it for her.  She thought it was funny that I would still remember that.  For the record I have an excellent memory.  I can tell you stories that happened 15 years a go with every single detail LOL.  :)  If you are wondering what flavor we got we got the HEATH.  They are great and yes they do have different flavors.

                                                 But anyway we just sat around and talked Friday.  Saturday everyone had to work so I thought why not work on my latch hook.  Jeez you wouldn't believe how LONG it takes to do one of those projects.  I mean of course I have been taking breaks in between because my hand gets sore but like I said on a previous post it is rewarding to watch your picture transform into the canvas especially when you customized it for yourself.  But anyway I put in a DVD and did that and did not want to stop.

                                            Anyway after Katey came home we ordered subs and watched The Olympics with Nathan and Hailee.  We all couldn't help but laugh at the men doing gymnastics for some reason.  Nathan said they looked funny and Hailee liked it better when the women did it. We also watched the swimming.  Today we might be having a pool day after Katey brings me over to her apartment to see her kitties.

                                             Anyway all this week mom is on her vacation from work and is also Hall Of Fame week.  We already got a few things planned but I think mom wants me to go to Dad's this weekend which I don't mind but that means I can't go to church with you Jess which I am bummed. Now Jess I am not hard on myself I am just a little disappointed.  I HATE making promises and not fulfilling them.  Oh well.  I will keep you informed on what we do bye for now.   

                                      My trip with grandma
                                                Well I am back and it feels GREAT to be home.  Like I said to you before you we left this trip was just about grandma and we have had quite a trip.  I will write about what we did each day and give each day a title just like how I did my previous post titled Catching up on never ending family fun. Since I already blogged Thursday I will start with Friday.  
                                             Friday That's what we get for being on the road again.
                                              Grandma and I left her house around 1:15, after she had got done volunteering at Aultman Hospital.  We were all smiles and she was singing the song On The Road Again.  She says that song really suits us because it seems like we are always on the road but as we were driving we noticed something started to sound funny and we had to pull over and we noticed that we had a blow out.  Yes she had AARP and we were able to call for help and help came at a pretty descent time but it still put us behind.  Grandma changed the lyric from I just can't wait to be on the road again to that's what we get for being on the road again LOL.   We got to Aunt Karla's safely.
                                             Saturday exploring different places 
                                              After a delicious breakfast of doughnuts and eggs thanks to uncle Bob and Aunt Karla, grandma wanted to see about getting a new tire since the spare couldn't be repaired so we were in search of doing that but also we wanted to do something fun.  Maria wanted to go to a book store so we did that when grandma was getting her car worked on.  Grandma was in search of a new book and found one and so did aunt Karla. 
                                                  Sunday church service
                                                    Well Sunday was of course church.  I don't remember the church that we went to but the service was really nice.  We sang songs and then of course listened to the sermon.  The sermon was about how god has given you each a special gifts and how you must learn to use them.  In the sermon he talked about the Chronicles of Narnia books in particular the The Lion, the which and the Wardrobe and how the three characters Peter, Susan, and Lucy were given gifts to defeat the white which and save their brother, Edmund and Aslan's kingdom.  He also said that in Narnia Aslan was their god.
                                                   He also said that in our way we have to learn what gift god has given us.  I thought it was pretty clever to use the Narnia series as an example.  :) 
                                                   Monday on the road to Cincinatti
                                                    Well the time finally came when we had to give hugs and say good bye.  Grandma and I woke up plenty early, not that we were in a mad rush to go but we wanted to say good bye to Aunt Karla since she worked and wanted to get a few things packed.  Yes just in case you had forgotten we had originally planned to spend a night with uncle Roger since we had to drop Emilia back home since we had picked her up on the way.  We had fun.  We didn't go to the restaurant though we just relaxed around the house.  You wouldn't believe even an hour on the road will just tire you out LOL.  :)
                                                   Tuesday Debate 
                                                     Both uncle Roger and Aunt Margret were persuading us to stay because that was the day we were going to leave.  For the record uncle Roger has been having back problems and it seemed like it was troubling him.  Grandma seemed worried when he had to lay down and seemed to think we were being a burden.  In the end we ended up staying. :)  
                                                   Wednesday Home sweet home
                                                     It feels so GOOD  to be home.  Grandma was kind enough to drop me off at my home instead of bringing me to their house like normal.  It felt good to hug my mom and Mark and to pet Onyx and to sleep in my own bed again.  So XOXO to all my followers it feels so good to blog again.  You'll hear from me soon lots of love.   
                                                                                                           
                                       

                                           Book review (The Hunger Games)
                                                       It's so funny because I thought the next time I would be posting on here would be when I would be after the Louisville trip and I would be including the book review along with a mini title of the week like I did the last time but it wasn't the case which I was kind of glad because that way I can say good bye to you and say a quick hug. For the record I think I will be returning home to mom's Wednesday or Thursday so that's probably when I will be blogging but who knows I might be able to blog when I am in Louisville aunt Karla does have a computer but I doubt I will.  Okay Okay enough chitter chatter I will start with the review.

                          Review: Set in the ruins of a place once known as North America lies a nation of panem, a shining capital surrounded by 12 outlying districts agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in the annual televised event known as The Hunger Games, the fight to the death live on TV.  16 year old Katness who lives alone with her mother and her sister Prim reguards it as a death sentence as she is forced to represent in her sister's place.  LOL you probably didn't a review of what the book was about but I just figured I would give you something anyway.     
                      Thoughts: I really liked it.  I must admit at the very beginning I was only reading it for Emillia because she was literally begging me to read it.  I loved how Katness is strong and has to look after herself and others compared to (Bella) in the Twilight series.  Katness is more of a role model for younger girls to look up then Bella is.  I LOVED how she was brave enough to take her younger sister's place.
                           So go Katness !  LOL :)  I would say after a few chapters I wasn't just reading it for Emillia anymore.  I was reading it for me.  So yes like I said I could barely put it down after the action began.  In fact there is a line lining up to read the book at the house here.
                           Well better get going, I need to finish packing.  Good bye for now.                                                                                                                                            

                                     Catching up on never ending family fun 
                                                It has been a few days since I have blogged haven't it?  If you remember this was the weekend that Aunt Karla was coming up with Maria and Luke for Rachel's baby shower and grandma and I were going to drive down with them but due to something that was going on we decided to leave Friday instead and stay till Wednesday.  So yes I will be going back to grandma's to stay the night Thursday and grandma and we will leave Friday.  No, grandpa will not be coming.  He will be staying behind to look after Dunkin and to wait for results for tests of his dr's appointments.
                                            But anyway I think it will be nice to just have a trip with grandma. :)  Okay well anyway today will just be doing laundry and getting packed.  Well anyway I will update you on what we did on each day. Each day will have a title.  
                                       Thursday Waiting 
                                         Originally Aunt Karla was supposed to hit the road I would say early afternoon but she was having some work done on her car and that took longer then expected, so they didn't hit the road till 6. Originally grandma and grandpa were going to pick me up when they were originally going to go out when aunt Karla but that didn't happen.  Instead mom and Mark dropped me off on their way to dinner with a couple.  So it was just waiting and they arrived at 10PM and even though we were all extremely tired we were all hugging one another and happy.
                                     Friday Follow the brick road home 
                                      This was the first day that we actually enjoyed each other company.  Luke and Maria wanted to play Dominoes and during our break we decided to take a walk.  For the record my grandparents live on Roslyn and are surrounded by brick roads.  Grandma was commenting on how they will probably never re due the brick on these roads and that she was a little upset because they look so pretty but than everyone started making comments on how long it must have took to lay all those bricks down.  Maria said it must have been the romans that started it.  LOL.  :)
                                  I also learned that my great grandmother who lived very close DIDN'T like the brick roads and wished that they were paved over.  
                                Saturday Just lazing around 
                                I don't really remember much about what happened.  I don't think we did much except stay around the house.  I think Mom came over for dinner and that was it but I could be wrong.  I know a flash of anger quickly spread through me because grandpa wanted me to stay home with Maria and Luke while aunt Karla and the others went to the baby shower.  He thought I wasn't invited and that I wouldn't want to go.  But anyway you don't need to hear about that.
                                Sunday Baby shower; cook out with family
                                    It was a nice shower.  A lot of the family showed up and yes there were some kids there including Anthony.  Rachel was close to tears when it came time for her to speak.  We didn't play games but we had to put our names on an envelope to be entered into a drawling to win bath and body soup.  Yes I did win one.  
                                   We also saw diapers on the table and we were to write a note of encouragement on the diaper.  I couldn't think of one but mom's and aunt Karla's messages were cute and I have got to admit so was grandma's.  But after the shower we went to mom's and Mark's for a cook out and for me to get more clothes for me to stay longer.  So yes and I forgot to tell you Aunt Margret had came to drop Emillia off.  
                            Monday Clay's Park fun
                                 We all went to Clay's Park for a day of fun.  There is so many things to do there and you only have to pay just 10 dollars a person.  There are things such as volley ball, miniature golf, skate ramps, and a huge lake where you can swim.  There are a lot of inflatables in the water so yes we had fun.  On the way home we stopped to get ice cream which we didn't tell grandpa about because he doesn't believe in eating dessert before dinner and dinner was cooking when we came home.
                              Tuesday Goodbyes 
                               After a scrumptious breakfast at Lindsay's and after aunt Karla and Maria and Luke, and Emilia got their bags packed they said their good byes and they hit the road.  They are really eager to have us down there so it will be nice.  
                             So I guess that just leads up with today, just in case you are wondering if I had time to do some reading yes I did.  You can expect a review soon on the first of The Hunger Games trilogy.  I only have two chapters to go.  Well I better go as I told you I need to get some things together.  Till next time bye.   
                                                                                                                     

                                    Mark's birthday celebration; a new blog 
                                                      Well actually it was a little late but we finally celebrated Mark's birthday.  Mark's actually birthday was on July 6th but due to work we couldn't have a cake or anything so it was just a quiet night with pizza and just reading our books and watching our usual shows. Of course he still got messages on facebook by his friends and family wishing him happy birthday but of course there was no cake or special meal which is our tradition but yesterday that was fixed.  Grandma and grandpa invited us over along with uncle Craig and aunt Lisa for grandma's famous homemade lasagna and an angel food cake for dessert.  
                                                         So yes it was the celebration he missed out on.  As we went outside after dinner I would say he got one of the greatest gifts of all which was rain.  Actually it was a gift for everyone, we need the rain but anyway when everyone went into the garage to stay dry both Mark and Uncle Craig just sat in the rain letting the cool rain drench them and I think another great gift he received was a call from my uncle Rick who might be coming into town in a few weeks.  So yes it was a nice (late) birthday celebration.
                                                 Well anyway, yes it is true I DO have a new blog but it is off limits.  I have set the private setting on it.  No one can read it except me.  It is called Heather's Journal and it is to record more private thoughts if I am having a bad day or if I am feeling depressed.  I Do go through spurts where I will feel angry or depressed and I just need to write them down.  In fact I wasn't myself yesterday or last night.  In fact a burst of anger shot through me over a text message Jessie sent me yesterday.  All she did was call me silly when I asked her who wrote grandma's thank you note.  
                                                 I am not saying that's all you put on the text Jessie but for some reason a surge of anger just burst through me and even though I tried to hide it by texting a smiley it just affected me for some reason.  In fact now I think it's silly how I got a little angry about that.  But anyway in the journal I will go into more detail.  Heather's Corner is supposed to be about happiness.  Even my mom said there were posts on here that were not apprepiate and I agree with her finally.  
                                              In fact I was going to stop blogging all together because of an argument my mom and I had but than I came up with Heather's Journal to solve that problem.  Well better go.  
                                                                                                                              Lots of love   

                                   Animal  curiosity; movie review 
                                            Have you guys thought this when you were little?  If you could choose any animal or creature that god has created on this earth that you would like to be?  It's funny because I used to talk and think about this a lot with people my age at school and many thoughts came to me such as maybe I would like to be a dog, or a horse but I wasn't thinking of all of the creatures like the ones that lived under the sea like whales or dolphins.   In fact that would be the creature I would like to be if I was an animal.  For the record I have always loved dolphins.  
                                       They love to play with people, and they seem to sense if a person has a disability such as a fake leg, or arm.  I think it would be neat to touch or play with a dolphin.  :)  In fact last night my mom and I watched the movie Dolphin Tale and here is how is a review and what my thoughts were.
                                       Review: Set in Clearwater Florida and inspired by true events, the story is centered on Winter a friendly bottlenosed dolphin who was found on a beach with an injured tail by a young boy Sawyer.  

                                   Thoughts: My mom and I both LOVED it.  She kept on saying that it was so cute.  I loved all the cast.  I LOVED Nathan Gamble's performance as Sawyer and I loved Harry Connick Jr performance as a vet/ caretaker of winter and lastly I LOVED how they had Winter play herself in the movie.  Yes they actually used the real dolphin.  It is a real inspiring uplifting family family film.  My favorite kind of movie.  So I reccemend to rent it on DVD or Blu ray or if you have HBO it may even be on there.  So watch the trailer and see if it looks good LOL.  
                                Well anyway back to what I was talking about earilier about animal curiousity what animal would you like to be?   For those of you that can't comment on here comment on my face book page.  As I told you before I would love to be a dolphin maybe it's because I have always loved the water and my favorite movie was the Little Mermaid LOL.  Looking forward as to what you have to say  :)                               
                                                   

                                Aria's first birthday
                                           Boy what an afternoon I had yesterday. Yesterday was the day that Becca was throwing a birthday party for Aria who just turned 1 yr old.  I was really excited because this was the very party of my loyal friend's children 1st birthday that I wasn't going to miss.  See my friend Holly had a baby girl named Alysa two years ago this September and I got an invite and was going to go but than my grandparents asked me to go to Cincinnati to go to my uncle's restaurant for the first time so of course I bailed on Alysa's party.  No I didn't have a gift yet.  
                                  But anyway I wasn't going to miss this one," I thought to myself as I got my invitation in the mail.  The party was really cute.  It was all Disney and mostly had to do with minnie mouse.  Becca wanted the the theme to be the disney princesses but her mom talked her out of it telling her that there will be plenty of time for her to grow into that phase.  LOL I wonder how that will go I know I went through a phase where I didn't to be called Heather I wanted to be called Ariel or Belle.  So I wish you luck Becca.
                                 For the record I tried to look for a gift that had to do with the Disney princesses such as a doll and I even came across this beautiful story telling belle doll that comes with a book and a bunch of little accessories and when you hug her or put the book or accessory in her hand she will sing and interact with you.  But I was a little concerned but the choking hazard and I watched the video review they had posted and I thought she was just a little too young for that yet.  I was than looking at just a simple doll of princess Ariel that you could just hug because she had a soft body, but then I just started asking around for ideas.  I got a lot of suggestions such as learning toys, UGGS, a little purse, and clothes.  At the end I decided to take Jessie's suggestion which was to get her clothes.  
                               She told me that 1 yrs old go through clothes like crazy.  They are constantly growing, or they are getting into messes so they need all the clothes they can get, so that's what I got.  Mom picked out two cute two cute outfits for me.  One was a hello kitty and was a yellow and pink flower outfit.  So thank you Jessie for the suggestion.  Yes she did get toys too.  
                            She fell in love with the toys that made noise or sang.  Yes, Becca did have to change Aria's outfit because she had got food all over her birthday outfit so I could see how the baby clothes could come and handy LOL.  Yes I even got a little messy feeding Aria.  Aria got a spoonful of mashed sweet potatoes on my cheek.   So it was really fun and it was nice to spend time with her family again.         

                                 4th of July fun
                                      How many of you had a happy independence day?  and celebrated America's birthday with having a BBQ or just visiting family, or just watching fireworks at a near by park or lake?  We have celebrated the 4th many different ways in the past.  When my dad lived on lake cable he would grill ribs and we would take the boat out and watch the fireworks from the lake.  But anyway this year was different.  
                                        This year I had celebrated it with mom.  She was throwing a good bye party for James and Joy before they move to Texas tomorrow.  Yes I have known about this for awhile.  If you remember in April in a post called Movie evening update I had said that received some news that was shocking and that was the news.  James and Joy were moving to Texas.  
                                         James is going to start his own computer business and Joy has her father down there.  Yes they went down there I would say a week ago to find jobs and such and yes the big move is tomorrow.  Well anyway the party was fun and Joy's grand entrance in the pool was funny.  She was originally going to do a canon ball into the pool and splash everyone but she tripped over Onyx and both landed in the pool.  LOL I bet Onyx didn't like that.  
                                     He doesn't like clear water but he likes dark water such as a lake or a pond. In fact dad said when they watched him in the Summer at lake cable James used to throw the ball in the lake and he used to jump off the dock to retrieve it in the water but not in the pool. But anyway we didn't have a huge huge crowd.  I would say about 18 people and people came at all different times and the menu was sausage and peppers, baked beans, potato salad, plus many more and for dessert I had made my ice cream sandwich cake that everyone loved at Hailee's birthday party.  Just like last time it was a hit.  
                                  As everyone was eating it everyone was commenting how I outdone myself, how good it tastes, ect.  I will post the recipe so that any of you guys who want to try it can make it.  The full recipe serves 20 to 24 people.  Perfect for a party don't you think and you can even cut the recipe in half.  Here is the recipe for the ice cream cake.  
                                  What you need :
                                     24 ice cream sandwiches 
                                   8 ounces cool whip
                                  2 king sized butter finger candy bars.  (If you can't find king size, use 3 regular size bars.)
                                 10 ounces chocolate syrup
                                  1 (8 ounce) bottle Carmel topping
                                  Directions
                                  1. arrange in six layers in a 9x13-inch pan
                                  2. first layer: 12 ice cream sandwiches placed over bottom over pan 
                                  3. second layer: half the container of cool whip
                                  4.third layer: half of the chopped up butter fingers, along with half of the chocolate syrup, and Carmel topping.
                                 5.fourth layer: the rest of the ice cream sandwiches 
                                 6. Fifth layer: rest of the cool whip along with the butter fingers and toppings.  
                        When you do decide to make this let me know how it turned out and how you liked it.  :)  But anyway it was nice party.  No we didn't really go see any fireworks except for for tiny ones around our neighborhood but we still had fun.  I wished them both Joy and James the best before I went to bed.  I am sure they will do just fine but I must say it is still a shock that they are really leaving.  :(  Well better go I am on the search for a birthday gift.  
                                                 

                                 Pizza party 
                                    It finally happened!  Becca had came over and there were no cancellations.  When I was reading my book yesterday I had gotten a phone call and I expected it to be from Mark explaining what his ideas were for dinner but I didn't expect it from Becca.  I mean I knew that she was in town and I knew that we were meaning to get together but she was having trouble with her phone and in between she was borrowing her younger sister's Cara's phone.  But yes last night when I picked up the phone she yelled,
                                "Heather I got my phone fixed."  
                                I couldn't help but laugh and say that I noticed and then she said that if I wasn't doing anything she could come up with Aria and visit for awhile.  I of course said I had no plans and that they had no problems stopping by for a visit.  So yes, she came for a visit but unfortunately Aria couldn't come.  Becca said she started to get fussy and she wet herself, and she had to call her husband Ryan to go take her home.  It was funny because as Becca was enjoying a couple slices of pizza she let out a sigh and she said,
                                    "Your house is so quiet and calming compared to mine."  I couldn't help but laugh and she told me what her house is normally like.  After awhile Hailee came down and joined us in our chat.  We talked about all kinds of things.  Hailee asked Becca how she liked living in Kansas.  
                                   She likes it where she is but other parts she isn't so fond of.  We also talked about Nicholas Sparks movie adaptions and what our favorites were.  Becca LOVED The Lucky One and I must admit so did I.  Hailee didn't have the chance to go see it with us when the group of us went that one night but she wants too SO bad.   But unfortunately she had to go and as I walked her out she told me some things that she asked to keep secret so I will not tell.  It was great fun.  Well that's all for now. I am going to go read.  :)  

                                 Book review (The Best of me)
                                         Well I told you there would soon be a book review soon because I had the urge to read lately and I was in the middle of a good book.  Yes, I was still reading The Best Of Me by Nicholas Sparks but not anymore.  I must admit I am not the fastest reader.  I must admit I could never finish a novel in a day like some people can, now depending on the number of pages maybe a week but it ususally takes me a good month because I really want to grasp everything and sometimes I will read paragraphs or sentences over again.  But anyway for the record I didn't read this on my e reader.  Rachel had given me her hard cover to read and I must admit it felt natural to be to able to flip the pages.
                                 Anyway here a review that someone wrote from Amazon that I thought was most helpful and I will also add my own thoughts as well and add a photo of the cover just in case any of you are interested.   
                               Review: It follows the story of Dawson Cole.  A young man from a never do well family, who is sent to prison after he accidentally runs over the town's Dr and is upon release and is nearly killed during his new oil rig job and Amanda Collier, his high school sweetheart who came from a wealthy family, who all these years later is married and is a stay at home mother.  Their occasion for their reunion is the death of Tuck, an elderly car mechanic who was their mutual friend who wished for them to scatter his ashes at a cottage owned by his wife who died before him.  
                              Thoughts: I really liked it.  It is similar to the Notebook but different to.  It has some action in it and I loved how I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what was going to happen next and I loved how you could tell what each character was thinking.  However though I do agree with some of the reviews that I read.  I personally didn't believe that it was his best but I highly recommend it if you like a good love story. :)  Here is a photo of the cover.       

                                      So you know I am now reading The Hunger Games.  Ricky had commented on one of my posts that I would really like that one but than Emillia finally stopped talking and raving Harry Potter when  and is all about the Hunger Games now but she couldn't tell anything about it like she did with Harry Potter because I haven't read the book or movie so she gave me the extra copy she purchased for her mom before we left Cincinatti.  So yes I am reading The Hunger Games and I posted that on facebook LOL.  I am already having a hard time putting it down and she said read the book before seeing the movie.  Well I am going to go.  Lots of love.