Kricket's Happy Korner: Happy Animals

I can't believe I totally forgot to do a post Friday. And I had something to Krank about too. But, it's a new day now, and a Monday at that, so let's think happy thoughts.

This past Saturday I started to do volunteer work at Foothills Animal Shelter. It was all orientation stuff and training, but I'm super excited. I've always wanted to work with animals. When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian, but as I got older and realized how much school that required, I gave that up.

I've always loved animals and growing up we hardly ever went without some kind of pet. Mostly dogs and countless hamsters, but we also had parakeets, and a cat, once. My dad is allergic to cats. And I am much more an animal person than a people person.

Once Daniel and I got married we went through two hamsters and now have a dog.

We got Happy from Foothills Animal Shelter two years ago and I love him to death. He's a great little dog. He loves to cuddle and play and he's as his name implies, happy.

So here in a couple weeks I'll start really working at the shelter. Part of this is to just get me out of the house and away from the kids once a week. And nothing is more relaxing and happy than hanging out with animals.

And now, if you have a pet, give it a big hug and a treat. If you don't have one and want one, go to your local shelter. Some of them, like Foothills, even have small critters like birds and rodents or reptiles. Save a life, an animal's and your's. :)

Kricket's Happy Korner: Girl Power!

Okay, I meant to post this yesterday, but yesterday went to hell in a hand basket, so here we are today. :P

I woke up this morning not having a clue what I was going to write about today. This last week has been kind of cruddy for me and I couldn't think of anything happy to talk about. But then I remembered what people always say, when you're feeling down, count your blessings and what you're thankful for, so that's what I'm going to do.

So, once a month, like many women, I get super grumpy and irritable and my body seems to go on strike and do everything it can to make me feel miserable. For a week or more I sit around hating the fact that I am female. But today, I want to talk about all the reasons it's good to be a girl. :)

1. In my opinion, girls are just naturally prettier than boys. We're all round and soft and squishy in all the right places. There's a reason God made Eve last, it takes time to make something this perfect. ;)
2. With that, we have more options in how we beautify ourselves. More clothing styles, more hairstyles, make up, perfume, the works. 
3. Our reproductive organs are all nicely tucked away inside of our bodies. I just can't imagine men are very comfortable most of the time.
4. Speaking of reproduction, we are the only ones that can have children. Maybe one day technology will be able to make men have babies (and I'll be totally on board with that) but until then, we're the ones that get to do that. As unfun as it is sometimes, overall, having children and raising children is a wonderful and amazing thing. That's why we put up with this monthly pain and annoyance.
5. I'll try not to be all sexist and say that women are better than men at almost everything, because that is more on an individual basis than a gender one, but it is nice that in this day and age, women can do practically anything they want. We can stay home with kids or we can go out and have a career in almost any field. Thank you, early feminist.

And there you have it. This is what I tell my self when I have those, "I don't want to be a girl!" days. It helps to think positive. :)

Thank you for reading and have a happy Tuesday! 

Kranky Kricket: Smart Phones Don't Like Toilets

So, I didn't update this last week because I had family in town and I went an entire week without getting on my computer. Minor miracle for me. But I'm back now and we shall move forward into the Krankiness. :)

Let's talk about smartphones and the people that provide them to us. About three weeks ago I upgraded to a smart phone and I was very excited. It can do everything my Kindle does, plus make phone calls. Only thing that kept me from putting my Kindle aside for good was the tiny phone screen. I don't like squinting at screens.

Anyway, when I bought the phone, the nice guy at the store talked me into getting insurance on the phone. At first I almost didn't do it. I've never once broken any of my previous dumb phones. I always managed to keep them safe in my pocket and away from sticky/slippery children hands. But as the salesman was describing the insurance, I got this image of Will or Jacob dropping my phone into the toilet so I went ahead and signed up for the insurance.

And lo and behold, I dropped the phone into the toilet. Serves me right trying to multitask at 5 a.m. I tried to save it as fast as possible but it was a goner.

So then I went to my local cell phone store to get a new phone and that's when stuff started to get annoying. Apparently, not all Verizon stores are the same. See I got the phone at the Flatiron Mall in Bloomfield with my sister. And the stores that are in the mall operate differently than a stand alone stores, at least with the insurance and stuff. So after driving all the way to one store and waiting around a bit with Will and Jacob in tow, I'm told I have to go all the way back to the original store.

I got sick later that day so I had to wait until the next day to drive over half an hour just so the salesman could call the insurance place for me and then I talk to the insurance lady and get it all settled. $100 later and now I'm just waiting for my new phone to arrive in the mail sometime tomorrow.

Of course, with all of this, I've lost my contacts and all the pictures that were on the now dead smart phone. I didn't have a ton of stuff on there yet, but it's enough to be annoying.

But I've learned my lesson. Never take a smart phone into the bathroom with you and make sure you're paying attention to all the fine print.

And that's my crankiness for the week. I hope your's has been less irritating. :) Thanks as always for reading and have a good weekend!

Kricket's Happy Korner: Who Are You?

I'm going to start this off with a little book review, because I like books, so there. :P

Storm Front by Jim Butcher get 5 stars!

Harry Dresden is a Wizard for hire, the only one listed in the Chicago phone book. Business is slow but things begin to pick up when he is called in to help the police solve a gruesome murder that could only be done through powerful magic.

I was told to read this book, so I did and I loved it. It's a fun read and Harry is a great character to be in the head of. The story never stops and even through the crap just gets piled on higher and higher for Harry, he always manages to scrape out by the skin of his teeth. It's intense and keeps you guessing. I didn't stop reading until my Kindle died and reminded me that it was past midnight and time to go to bed.

I highly recommend this for anyone who likes urban fantasy or crime mysteries. 

The other thing I want to share was a personality quiz a friend showed to me just this morning. I'm a sucker for these things but I have never found one that was so accurate. It's kind of scary. It had me down to a T. Try it out, it only takes about 20 minutes and maybe you'll learn something new about your self.

Personality Test

Thank you for reading, as always. Have a happy Monday and Happy Canada Day to my northern neighbors and early Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans.

Kranky Kricket: Not So Kranky

Yeah, I have stuff I could whine about today (I always do) but I don't want to do that because yesterday was Daniel and mine's 5 year wedding anniversary. :)

Back on June 27, 2008 Daniel and I got married at the Salt Lake City Temple.

In front of the Temple doors

It was a pretty amazing and stressful day (as wedding days always are).

In the 5 years since, I have moved a total of 4 times between 3 different states (GA->UT->CO), worked for 2 years, had 2 kids, been too poor to buy milk and then had enough money to buy a car, wrote one book that sucked and am working on another one that hopefully doesn't suck as much. Daniel has gotten his Associates degree in Accounting and had a few different jobs, and all the while we have weathered the ups and downs of life together. I couldn't have asked for a better man to have by my side through all of it.

And the best part is, I get to keep him forever and ever! You know, whether I like it or not. ;)

So looking forward, what will the next five years bring?

• Daniel will get his Bachelors in Accounting
• We'll get out of debt
• We'll buy a house
• We'll have at least one more kid
• I'll finish a book that is good enough to be published
• And the rest of life will just be smooth sailing....

I mean, that's how it works, right? Once you make it through the first five years everything gets easier? No? *looks disappointed* Oh well, I guess we'll just keep doing what we do, BEING AWESOME! :D

Wow, we looked so young!

Thank you for reading while I gushed and have a happy weekend!

Kricket's Happy Korner: Books!

If you hadn't noticed, I really love to read. I read as much as possible, but it's hard, I don't have as much time as I used to.

So, over the last couple of weeks I've read two very good books and I shall review them here.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley gets 4 stars.

It's a really interesting read since the main character wakes up in a park, in the rain, surrounded by dead people and has no idea who she is. But she soon finds out that she's an agent for a secret government agency that protects the world from supernatural threats and one of her co-workers wants her dead.

This book gripped me from page one and was a great ride. Even parts of the book that could have been very info dumping and boring were good, not perfect, but still good.

I highly recommend it to people who like the paranormal and/or superheros like X-Men.

Don't Bite the Bridesmaid by Tiffany Allee gets 5 stars!

Alice needs a date for her sister's wedding that's taking place on a week long cruise. Who better to ask than her hot neighbor Noah? Problem is, Noah is a vampire.

This was just a fun and quick read all around. I'm not normally one for paranormal romance or vampires but the characters in this book are just soooo good. They feel very real and I believed everything they did. The romance was wonderfully sexy and the ending was also quite satisfying.

I haven't enjoyed a romance like this in a long time.

So there you have it. What good books have you read recently, tell me in the comments!

Have a Happy Monday!

Kranky Kricket: Mommy Guilt

Oh my, I just realized, here at 7:30 PM on a Saturday, that I forgot to post a blog yesterday. I had it all planned out in my head too. But have no fear, brave reader, I am here now. Following is a slightly pessimistic, and rambling, view of motherhood.

So let's talk about Mommy Guilt. It's a thing, I'm sure of it. And it's brought on by some crazy idea of what the "perfect" mother should be. In my mind, the "perfect" Mom is one who keeps her house clean, kids properly fed and appropriately clothed, is loving but firm in her disciple, keeps her kids busy doing healthy or educational things, sticks to a good schedule/routine, and is always productive. Any thing else, like hobbies or spending time with people who are not your kids, is just gravy.

I am none of those things. Well, I might be a couple of them on any given day and I've only manged to do all of them at once, maybe twice a month, but that's it.

I'm always behind on the house work, and my house isn't even all that big. There are some days where the majority of Will's diet is Goldfish and we're all in our PJ's all day. My disciple ranges from spoiling the boys, to completely over reacting to minor things. The boys spend way too much time watching TV and not enough time being outside or doing something constructive. My routine, even when written down, is all over the place most days. And I spend way to much time being online doing next to nothing.

I am so far from perfect it's scary and depressing. And there are many days that I go to bed kind of hating my self for it. And rationally, I KNOW I shouldn't feel this way, I KNOW that no one is perfect, not even those people I look up too. I KNOW that there really isn't such a thing as "perfect". And yet, I always find my self lacking.

All of this, is Mommy Guilt. We Moms want the best for our families and we want to give them our all and make life easy and beautiful for them. I mean, that's our job right? It's not enough that we're pregnant for 9 long awful months and then push a baby out of our abused bodies. We're expected to care for and nurture every aspect of this tiny creature's entire life.

And this Guilt doesn't even cover our other roles as Wives, or Employees, or Friends, or Family. This just has to do with children.

It's a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure. Lives are in our hands. If we mess it up, there's a whole life damaged and scarred, that might not be able to recover. Lot of freaking pressure, I tell you. Thus, the Guilt.

And Mommy Guilt can be debilitating, trust me, I know. I fight it every day. I open my eyes every morning and have to decide how I'm going to approach this day and by the time I close my eyes at night, nothing has gone as I planned. Sometimes it's totally out of my control, but many times, I know it's my fault and what I did wrong. I promise to do better the next day, but it never really gets better. The Guilt makes it hard to get up the next day. It makes me want to curl up in a ball and sleep, hoping that when I wake up, all the problems will just go away.

To be really blunt, it fucking sucks. ((or no, she said the F word, run for your lives, cover your bleeding ears!))

BUT, I offer hope, more for my self than you, but you can have it too, I'll share. Now, repeat after me: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PERFECT. SCREW WHAT OTHER PEOPLE DO OR THINK. YOU ARE THE MOTHER TO YOUR CHILDREN, YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR THEM AND YOUR SELF. THE REST OF THE WORLD CAN EAT YOUR HOME MADE CHOCOLATE POOP PIE! (bonus cookies for the person who gets that reference)

Now, go forth, dear reader, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Comments welcome!