Just so you all know

I am back on Facebook, but I might as well not be. Only about half of my friends can see anything I post. All of my pictures are gone. It's so frustrating. A lot of forums say it should have restated within 24 hours, but I've been back since Thursday, and no luck. So I've sent in a formal complaint, but who knows when/if that will be addressed.

Also, we're looking at buying a house!! Super exciting, right?! So far, it's been a roller coaster. Find our dream house, get pre-approved, no bids on the house since July, so they've got to be desperate, right? After our second counter-offer, another bid comes in. The sellers reject both offers, and our realtor calls us at 8 in the morning saying "Give us your highest and your best offer". Matt had to work until 10 that night, so we had super stressful phone calls debating what offer we should make. We finally asked for an extension, which they said wouldn't guarantee anything, but we decided to go with it. By 9 the next morning (after Matt has stayed up ALL NIGHT thinking about it), we called to make an offer and... it was already under contract. So we decided to put in our offer as the first back-up offer. A bit heartbreaking, as this house seemed pretty perfect. But through this whole process, our realtor has been super weird, to say the least, and we'll probably be finding a new realtor. But last night, we met with some super awesome friends who talked about how worth it the whole flipping a house process could be. They gave us tons of great advice, and the guy, who is an independent contractor and a great friend of Matt's, said he would be totally willing to help us and teach us and such. So... we might go down that road.

"Don't go down that road"

-B

The Crooks are joining the "idiot club!" Well, sort of.

That's right, we are getting a dog! ( I say sort of because we are not getting a puppy, like the rest of the idiot club, haha.) We have been wanting to get a dog for a while now and now that we are all settled into our house it is the perfect time. I wanted to adopt a dog because I just feel like it is a great thing to do to take a dog out of a shelter and give it a loving home. And let's face it, it's a lot cheaper and I really am not up for a full on puppy experience. So I have been searching for about 2-3 months online at the local shelters looking for a great one. I have also been doing lots of research on breeds. We found her! She is a 1-2 year old petite Boxer mix. She is so cute and friendly, we just met her today. She is such a sweet little thing and we are so excited to bring her home on monday and start training her and loving her! She loved the kids right away and just licked them to death. They don't know what she is mixed with, and we can't tell either. Either way, she is so sweet and the workers at the animal shelter said she is great with everyone, including all the dogs and is just a bundle of love. From the pictures online I was picturing a really big dog but she is so little! She is the perfect medium sized dog. I will post a picture of her next to Allison when we get her so you can have some perspective. When they first brought her out to meet us she just was wiggling with excitement and just wanted to lick us to death. She immediately rolled onto her back for us to rub her belly. The worker handed a treat to Allison and she told the dog to sit and then gave her the treat. It was really cute. Then we got to take her for a little walk and then we filled out the adoption paperwork. We just fell in love with her. They have to check our references and get her paperwork from the vet and then we can go pick her up. We are actually doing a 2 week foster period with her just to make sure she works out and then we will finalize the adoption. I have a tender spot in my heart for Boxers after growing up around Liz and I am excited to see what the future will bring with her. Just thought you all would like to know! Here are some pictures, they don't do her cuteness justice of course. She looks really big in these pictures, but like I said, she is very petite. These are the pictures the shelter had on their site. Some name suggestions would be great, we are stumped!

Some Movies Recently

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Just wanted to recommend a couple movies I have seen recently. On a side note, I loved the latest Twilight and was sad I broke the tradition and couldn't see it with all of you but I saw it in a nice theater in Oregon with my mother in law and sister in law. I loved it, my favorite of all the movies by far. Thought it followed the book well and loved the ending. Tore my heart out and then sewed it back together quite nicely. I was NOT ok with Carlisle dying. I loved how they ended it with Edward reading Bella's mind with all the memories, going through all the actors, and loved the song at the end. I cried, I'll admit it. :)

Anyway, we also took Allison to see Wreck It Ralph while we were out in Oregon as well. We all loved it! If you don't catch it in the theater definitely watch it when it comes out. It is great. We thought the humor was great and the story is unique and very creative. I think all of you would like this movie. There is also a nice twist at the end. 4 stars.

We have free HBO right now so we have recorded and watched a few movies and one we watched the other day was We Bought a Zoo with Matt Damon and Scarlett Johannson. It is a true story and just a all around great feel good movie. It is about a dad who is recently widowed and has a teenage son and 7 year old daughter. His son in rebelling a bit and they are just losing their relationship. He decided to start fresh and move to a new house and ends up buying a house on a whim that is also a wildlife park and they have to learn how to run it. It really is a great movie, we really liked it. Rated PG. It also has that cute girl from Super 8. Also the daughter is so adorable and reminds me soo much of Scout! Watch it peeps! 3 stars.

For the Jane Eyre Fans

"****"

(4 stars) - well, maybe 3 1/2...

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

I read a book this weekend that a friend recommended to me and I thought I'd share it because I just couldn't put it down.  This novel is a modernization of Jane Eyre (by modernization, I mean set in the 1950's-60's.)  I thought it was very well written (for the most part- more on that in a minute), it was very compelling and fun to wonder how she is going to fit the parts of the Jane Eyre plot into this version and how they will be changed.  I'm not going to spill the whole book and how she did it, but I will tell you a few things.  This Jane (Gemma) was born in Iceland and is brought to Scotland by her uncle when her parents die.  So most of the book takes place in Scotland instead of England and "Mr Rochester" lives in the Orkney Islands.

Now I'm going to explain my "for the most part" in hopes that if you know going in what I do now, you may be less disappointed.  1. there is no Bertha equivalent......... I KNOW!!!  I waited and waited for something crazy in the attic and there is nothing, she chose to leave that out entirely, so don't wait for it. How could she have left that out?  I have no idea.  2. (perhaps this is just my own opinion) but I thought the romance between the leads fell pretty flat.  We can discuss this further if you read it, and I don't want to go into more detail, but they didn't quite sell it to me.  Perhaps I just find Jane and Edward's relationship so adorable it's hard to live up to. 

Those grievances aside, I really enjoyed reading this book.  I really liked Gemma's childhood and school time.  I also loved what the author did after Gemma left the Orkney Islands.  I liked the tale modernized.  It all was very compelling and like I said- hard to put down.  An enjoyable little read I'm sure I will go back to.

Does anyone still check this thing?

Well, if you do, I have a story for you.

So tonight Scout was in our bedroom playing on the computer, Rob was in the living room watching the football game, and I was in the kitchen reluctantly cleaning.  Elle's eating corner was atrocious, I had made 2 batches of jam this afternoon and had made dinner, etc.  Anyway, the kitchen was quite the job to get into shape and all I wanted to do was watch a movie and eat ice cream.  But I dug in and I got all the dishes scraped and to the sink area, filled the sink with hot soapy water, and got on my gloves.  I opened the dishwasher with my first ready plate and........... it was full of clean dishes.  (Did I mention that emptying the dishwasher is my WORST kitchen chore? Well, I HATE it).  I especially hate it when I am all set to load it and am surprised with the need to unload it first.  So, when I made my unwelcome discovery I said (very loudly) "OH NO!" and I heard Scout yell something from the next room, but my ipod was playing and I didn't quite hear it, I just figured that she was wanting to know what was wrong, but Rob came into the kitchen laughing so hard with the obvious intention of sharing the laugh.  So I stopped my ipod and asked him what she said and he answered, "Tivo pieces".

HAHA!  Man that girl makes me laugh!  I bet Mike Birbigula would get a big kick out of knowing that he has a little 7 year old fan.

Very Pinteresting

This post is mainly for Em, but everyone can laugh at the pictures.

Yes, Em, there are a LOT of headband tutorials on Pinterest. But the thing I've been noticing that's here to replace all the ridiculous poof skirts of the past few years is... tulle tutus. I went looking for an example of one, and come across this beauty....

Definitely the worst I've ever seen. It's actually supposed to be a wicked witch costume (hence the broom, smoke, and tiny witch hat that I thought was a butterfly until just now), but I bet this mom will find any excuse to parade this masterpiece out. 

But then I came across this one. 

And minus the wrist and hair things, wouldn't Elle look cute sitting in a mountain of Cookie tulle? (Trick question, Elle would look cute sitting in a mountain of garbage).

And now, for your viewing pleasure... Ridiculous Things Moms Do To Their Children!!! 

A 9 month old flapper?

Caption "Presh!!" That flower is the size of her FACE!!! 

Ooh, this mom is trying to be DIFFERENT by not using tulle!!! 

The caption on this was "First Birthday Outfit!!!" 

 

This girl is so darling, but that bow distracts from her whole face!! 

Just thought I'd share. As with all things on the internet, Pinterest has it's wonderful sides, and it's gag me with a spoon sides. I've personally really enjoyed it, and my budget has loved all of the recipes and household tips I've come across. Just thought I'd put that out there. 

MERRY CHRIMAS EBAH!!!!!!

YEAH!

YAY!!!!

Guess who just got cast in the next Woody Allen movie!?!?!

scroll down for it..............

YAAAAAAAY!  That is some nice casting Woody! 

Remember this Matt?

I found this in a random little notebook buried in Scout's things.  She must have used it as a journal for a few days.  I about died laughing when I found it. 

Relax Pops!

I wanted to take a little time and call some attention to Dad/Husband/Uncle/Grandpa George for the recent change in his life. He has decided to retire at 74 years old! I don't know what it is like to have lived and worked that long... but I can imagine it wasn't always easy to keep going as long as he did. As one of his sons I can personally say that I am forever grateful for supporting me financially through life with always having a meal on the table, clothes to wear, Christmas presents, vacations, a warm house, school, my mission, and just for the occasional 20 bucks or a surprise gas take fill up or even a quick trip out to lunch ALWAYS on Pops, even if I really wanted to buy. This list could go on forever, but it overwhelms me to think of all the ways he supported me... and that is just me. He had 7 of us!

We all know I was the spoiled one though... haha

I am probably not the one to speak of this, as I wasn't really around for a huge chunk of it, but his employment has been broad, extensive, and all around impressive. I can't believe how many skills he has developed and knowledge he has acquired because of all of the different carrier paths he's gone down. Whenever people ask me what my Dad does or has done, I don't know where to start! And it's hard for people to believe it when I go through the list of things he's taken on at full bore.  I'm sure he would be the first to say that not all of them were successful, or proved to be very fruitful or however he'd say it, but he was always trying, and trying hard, and ALWAYS provided for us and did whatever he could. But more important than the financial stuff, he never let his work get in the way of spending time with us whenever we needed him. I could always talk to him, always ask him questions, and when I had a problem he would drop everything to help. Even if it was to epoxy one of my ghostbuster toys or something. :) 

I guess what I am saying is no money in the world would ever replace the feelings that came from that. Just good old parenting and unconditional love. 

Sappy sap sap sap. 

Dad, I'm so glad these last 8 years or so at the airport were so great. You seemed so happy there, and your boss and co-workers were so happy to have you working with them. It always made me smile to see how much those guys respected and treated you.  

Congratulations Pops! Enjoy yourself! Keep golfing and walking Bruce and playing Plants vs Zombies! LOVE!