Cozy Mystery Challenge: Book 2!

Right onto Book 2...

Glazed Murder by Jessica Beck

From Publisher's Weekly: When a dead body is unceremoniously dumped in front of her small town doughnut shop in the wee hours of the morning, Suzanne Hart knows it's not going to be an ordinary day. The deceased is Patrick Blaine, a friend and loyal customer. Against advice from her overprotective mother and hunky state police investigator Jake Bishop, Suzanne decides to try to track down Patrick's killer, but her investigation makes her a target.

 My Review: YUM!!! This book will have you craving doughnuts by the end of the first chapter!  Beck really knows how to write about foods and the doughnut making process.  Luckily, many doughnut and other goodies recipes are included - but in a different way. They are at the end of each chapter instead of at the end of the book.

The book starts off right away with Suzanne seeing the body being dumped. Several realistic characters are introduced, including Suzanne's mom, who is quite the lady! In between running around her small town and neighboring towns trying to solve them murder with her best friend Grace, Suzanne has a little time for romance... and an ex who won't leave her alone!

I have to admit that this book kept me guessing a little... there was one character  who seemed a little shady to me, and it took me awhile to completely trust this person lol The book is fun and engaging. Beck is good at dropping little hints as to who the murderer might be without making it obvious from the get go. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this series.

Want to join the cozy mystery challenge? Just click the picture below!

Woo hoo - Finally!

Yes I am FINALLY ranked by google. After ALWAYS being a n/a, I have FINALLY been booted up to a 2! How exciting is that? Very encouraging. Now to keep up the momentum.

FREE Downy T-Shirt! (hurry)

Downy just posted a giveaway on Facebook - go HERE and get a free t-shirt! Supplies are limited so hurry!!!

New Show on CMT: Working Class (Review)

I recently got the opportunity to watch a preview of the new sitcom "Working Class" which will premiere on CMT at 8 p.m. EST on Jan 28th - followed by another new episode at 8:30!

"Working Class" follows Carli Mitchell (Melissa Peterman), a single mom from a rough and tumble background, trying to give her three kids a better life by moving them to an upscale suburb.  She quickly finds that making the transition to “the good life” is harder than she thought.

 

She's unwittingly befriended by her cranky neighbor, Hank (Ed Asner), her only “career” prospect is a glorified deli job at the local grocery store, and the man she falls for not only already has a girlfriend – but he’s also her boss, Rob (Patrick Fabian). With her ladies-man brother, Nick (Steve Kazee), to help her out (when he’s not acting like one of the kids himself), Carli faces the challenges of parenting, dating, and making friends in her new community by doing more with less, staying true to herself and approaching each day with a touch of working class.

In the episode I watched, Carli’s old flame from high school shows up hoping to re-ignite his “spark” with Carli — even if it means humiliating her in front of her new boss. 

I thought this was a really cute show! I just love Melissa Peterman. Her character  was really funny and down to earth. I like how she tried so hard to do the right thing at work and could understand her nervousness in meeting with her boss! Ed Asner was really funny as the grouchy old war vet. The show was humorous and somewhat realistic. this episode did an all right job of setting up the series, and it left a few future plot developments open. 

For more information, check out the Working Class page on CMT.com



*The One2One Network provided a free pre-view of the show for the purposes of this review. I received no monetary compensation, although I will be entered for a chance to win a CMT prize pack and gift card*

Free MAGGI Soup Saple!

Free sample of Maggi "chicken flavored pasta soup".  Never heard of it before, but it is made by Nestle.
http://www.descubremaggi.com/Public/Default.aspx
Will arrive in 6 to 8 weeks.

Walt Disney World's NEW Announcement!!

If oyu are a Diseny fan, you probably have heard about the Fantasyland Expansion happening at Walt Disney World right now. Construction on The Little Mermaid Ride (squee!) and a Beauty and the Beat restaurant are already underway. The Pooh queue was already redone, and it sounds really neat! Mickey's Toontown Fair is closing soon - the barnstormer will be re themed and a double Dumbo ride will be added!

Today Disney released some new concept art, and it is spectacular!

You can click on it to make it bigger [it is cut off on the blog]. To the left, you can see the village haus and then the Beauty and the Beast area. that includes the restaurant and Belle's village. Next to that, nestled in the rocks is the Little Mermaid ride.

But the new and most exciting part is the announcement of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coaster! that HUGE green rocky area is the coaster! It sounds exciting: The coaster will feature a first-of-its kind ride system with a train of ride vehicles that swing back and forth as they whisk along the track. Cool! The current Snow white ride will be re themed into a princess meet and greet area for the leftover princesses lol Sadly Tink will be pushed to EPCOT, where it sounds like she'll only be out during the Flower and Garden Festival  >:(

Also announced was the new Star Wars attraction will open May 20th!

Exciting news! Can't wait until 2013 when everything will be completed! Thatm ight be the first time we get to go back to WDW anyway :(

Info from the disney parks blog

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 1/17/11

I actually had a menu plan for last week and we stuck with it! Here's this week:

MONDAY:  Cheesecake Factory! Yum!!
TUESDAY: Cheescake Factory leftovers or frozen meal
WEDNESDAY: Stuffed shells, from here or here
THURSDAY: bacon wrapped filets
FRIDAY: my mom's scalloped potatoes recipe, mmmm
SATURDAY: going to the city w/a friend, not sure where we're eating
SUNDAY: leftovers

For more infomarion, go to I'm an Org Junkie!

Cozy Mystery Challenge: Book 1!

I am so glad I joined this challenge because I am actually making time for reading again! I've been reading a few chapters in bed at night when Jeff is taking a shower. In fact, I went to the library before work yesterday to get a few more books, sinceI knew we'd be snowed in today.

My first book was A Catered Murder by Isis Crawford. To be honest, I THINK I read this book before. It seemed a little familiar. But I didn't remember "Who done it" at least!

Syopsis: In her assured debut, Crawford, a caterer with many travel-related articles to her credit, introduces an appealing family trio: tender-hearted Libby Simmons, owner of a catering business, A Little Taste of Heaven, in Longely, N.Y.; her wisecracking sister, Bernie, a refugee from L.A. and a disastrous marriage; and Sean, their wheelchair-bound father, a retired police chief. Nasty Laird Wrenn, a best-selling author of vampire fiction, plans to celebrate his success with appropriate menu (Bloody Marys, devil's food cake) and decor to match (black roses, a coffin) at a reunion dinner to be held at the local high school. When Laird drops dead at the dinner after drinking a glass of water, a slew of ill-wishers, including Libby's close friend Tiffany, whom Laird was stringing along, become suspects in his sudden demise. A naturally flowing narrative, lively and likable characters, and plenty of clever word play amid the foul play set this first novel above the common run of cozies. (from Publisher's Weekly)

I liked this book. Crawford did a good job on writing about the dynamic and differences between Libby and Bernie, but also how they are connected. The plot was interesting and the book well written. Crawford does a wonderful job of describing all of the food that Libby is making - from the gross (tomato aspic) to the delicious (devils food cake).  My only issue was the amount of characters - because the book starts with  a class reunion, many characters are introduced at once, and I had a hard time keeping track. In fact, when the murderer was named, I wasn't entire sure ho this person fit into it all! But it was a very interesting book and had enough twists and turns and possible suspects to keep me intrigued.

Want to join the cozy mystery challenge? Just click the picture below!

Exhaustion...

So sorry for the silence, but these past few days I have just been totally exhausted.  This getting up early in the a.m. to pee is killing me. I have stuff to post, more recipes and a few product reviews... so far my NY resolutions aren't really happening lol  Hopefully this week we can at least get to bed earlier!

In baby news, we recently bought a crib and just today we bought a dresser! So exciting! We have a list of things to do before we can get the baby's room ready though. So anxious to get started! That is the plan for this week.

Hopefully this week will go better, and I can get some more content up here!

Happy New Year! What are your resolutions?

Happy new year to all! Hope that everyone had a fun and safe night. Jeff and I saw a movie (Tangled again... it is am Must see!), did a little shopping, then had a very filling meal at the Melting Pot! Home at 9 lol We did stay up until 1:30 though! Made sure to see BSB and NKOTB perform too!!!

I usually don't do New Years resolutions. But this year... in a year that will bring one humongous change :-0 I really need to step it up and make change in other areas. AKA: stop being so dang lazy!! Just need to keep the house tidy and get into a routine so that when the baby comes, after the initial craziness, we can develop back into a cleaning routine that was already there.

So, my resolutions: keep the area around my laptop decluttered. It always looks so nice and clean and then papers just get attracted to it. (yup... it is the paper's fault... not mine! lol)

In that same vein... do my coupons every Sunday. I get so far behind and then take hours to catch up. If I cut and file them every week, it will go so much faster.

And just to get on a whole cleaning schedule. I'm going to check out flylady.net.  When I'm not working outside the house I need to more cleaning done :\

And e-mails, I have always been horrible at replying. I resolve to reply and respond when I read them, not set it aside for later and then forget! I still owe my gift card winner her gift cards... and i keep meaning to e-mail her about it, but of course haven't. That just reflects badly on me, and if I want to grow my blog, I really need to be more timely!!

So there they are... nothing too bad, and everything is attainable as long as I get off my butt and my computer and DO SOMETHING. Wish me luck!!!

Do you guys have any resolutions?

Hope 2011 is happy and healthy for all. <3