2,028 firefighters are putting out a forest fire that has consumed 6,843 acres since Wednesday.  They have the fire 50% contained and expect to have the fire fully extinguished by Thursday of this week.  Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a “State of Emergency” as our state faces costs of over $5.2 Million.  My prayers for today are for the firefighters and the animals of the forest.  I pray for their safety.

Had my best friend, Jill, not call me from the very smokey Santa Cruz, I wouldn’t have known about the fire.  I’ve been successfully avoiding television for the majority of the week.  Looking back upon my week, I can’t tell you exactly where I’ve redirected my energies to… but, it hasn’t been cozying up on the couch and watching the good ole’ boob tube! 

Today, the twins and I are going to try to hit the movie theatres.  I’m not sure what we’re going to see… but I’m hoping for a hot shower, comfy sweats, and a big ole’ tub of buttered popcorn and a frosty root beer!  Yes, the perfect late Sunday afternoon!

This Week’s Reads

This week, I reviewed: 

In My Mailbox for Review

No new books this week… although, I did put in a request for the new Shelley Adina books in the It’s All About Us Series.  Hachette said, “yes.”  YIPPEE!  I just love that series.

Contests 

I’ve still got three active contests on the blog this week:

On TV 

The Whale Wars 

After watching this week’s episode of The Whale Wars, I was emotionally motivated to write this post:  HERE.

More To Love 

Are any of you out there watching this FOX television show?  From the creators of The Bachelor/ette, they have developed this similar dating show, except the bachelor and his bevy of beauties are all “plus size.”  First of all, I don’t consider a Size 14 “plus size.”  The average American woman is in the range of a Size 12-14.  The ladies all differ in sizes, some more voluptuous than others.  I think that I like the concept of the show, but the show itself is a bit depressing.  Every few minutes, somebody is crying.   I understand that the tears may derive from a psychological pain that I cannot fully understand… however, it just makes the show more depressing than fun.  Rather that the show displaying that love happens at any age, any size, any color, etc., we get an hour of tears over how traumatic their prom was… or how they’ve never been out on a “real date.”  And, I have yet to turn the dial.  I’m still mildly hooked. 

Now, what I would like to see is The Bachelor/ette for love a second time around… people who are middle-aged and divorced.  Of course, that’s most likely because I’m middle-aged and divorced… but, it would interest me!  How do other people my age do it… with careers, families, etc.?  That would be a dating show I would definitely want to watch!

The Rest… 

I’m registered for school and got all of the classes that I need for completion of my accounting certification and my AA degree.  I’ll be transferring to a state college in the spring to complete my BA.  I’m taking 4 courses this fall and one of them is a biology lab… should be interesting.

The twins have enjoyed their week.  They’ve visited with friends and family and have had more than their fair share of TV time.  The menagerie is doing well… the pups were so fascinated today when a very green grasshopper came to visit our backyard.  For many of you, this may be a totally normal sighting.  However, in my city, this is not a bug that you see often.  So, the pups and I sat in total fascination of this awesome bug… until Tori decided that she wanted to eat it!  NOOOO, Tori!  Good news… the grasshopper escaped and Tori didn’t get her daily dose of bugs today.  Right now, she sleeps soundly at the foot of my chair.

The girls started soccer practice this week.  I met a really nice “soccer mom” on the field this week.  She’s the coach’s wife.  Of course, she’s just as pretty as she is nice!  I met her because she was reading Jane Green’s The Beach House.   As I just reviewed it, I couldn’t help but to open my big fat mouth and start conversing about the book.    While I met this super-cool chick, my twins got their soccer on!  They are loving it.  DeeDee is just exhibiting such a passion for it and is playing so aggressively.  I took them out to the park to practice heading the ball earlier in the week.  While we are at the park, I start off by leading them through some stretching exercises.  This, of course, led them to all kinds of social embarrassment… all of which I do not understand.  I mean, it’s 3 in the afternoon and we’re at the park.  Why is stretching before you play soccer embarrassing?  And, there were no other kids around… NONE.  So, how this is embarrassing is beyond me.  But, my girls are so long-limbed, tall and lanky that they are really not flexible at all!  I hope to work with them over the next few months on their flexibility and core strength.

All of this exercise stuff happened just before I broke my pinky toe.  I did this fabulous feat by opening a big heavy door right onto my little toe and the 4th toe.  Totally stupid!  I was entering the gas station, put my hand on the door and was starting to pull it open when this “Jerry Springer-ish” fight erupted to the side of me.   As I turned my head in a true lookie-loo fashion, I lost concentration of what I was doing with the door… just yanked open the door onto my now-non-moving foot.  DUMB!  DUMB!  DUMB! 

Well, I have several posts to write and a book to finish… so, I’m off.  I hope that y’all have a great Sunday and a terrific week!

As always, my thanks to all of you for reading not only this post, but the others as well.   Your readership means the world to me!  AND, your comments are invaluable to me!

P.S. There’s a fun little CONTEST over at Fizzy Thoughts.  Check it out!

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