Book Review: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Summary from Amazon.com: Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we're not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O. Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she's ever heard. Each moan, spank, and--was that a meow?--punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O. Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension's gonna be thick... In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.

My Review:  Seriously, I love Alice Clayton.  I read her books The Unidentified Redhead and The Redhead Revealed over the summer and they are definitely books that kept me laughing.  And Wallbanger did not disappoint.  Clayton's books are witty and Caroline Reynolds is my kind of girl. No-nonsense and she bakes constantly.  Caroline and Simon's relationship clearly starts off rocky and I love the way the sexual tension builds along with their friendship.  Their romance is not something that happens instantly and it leaves the reader waiting at the edge of their seat.  The best part about the book is the witty banter between Caroline and Simon, as well as Caroline's inner dialogue about her lost O, which is hilarious.  And the nicknames she gives Simon's "harem"...Spanx, Purina, Giggles.  I die.  And how can you not love Clive the cat?  This was a wonderfully quick read that will have you laughing out loud!

CSA Week 3 and MPM

I was ridiculously excited about this week's CSA and I am thankful that we now go every-other week, because my fridge and freezer are bursting at the seams!

Because of the holiday, we picked up our package on Wednesday, and this week has me giddy.

• 2# butter from grass grazed cattle
• 1# pumpkin sage linguini
• 1 pint maple syrup
• 1 pint homemade bloody mary mix
• 2# all purpose flour
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 bag mixed greens
• 1# onions
• 1 dozen eggs (I bought a second)
• 1 head bok choy
• 1 stalk brussels sprouts
• quarter peck Empire Apples

So the menu for this week:

Sunday/Monday: Homemade vegetable beef soup

Tuesday: Velvet Chicken (using the bok choy) and roasted cauliflower and broccoli (both from Fresh Fork)

Wednesday: Unstuffed Pepper Soup

Thursday: These damn ravioli that I WILL make this week

Friday: Pot roast with carrots and potatoes

Saturday: Thai Chicken Pizza

Linking up at OrgJunkie!

Giving Thanks

(I wrote this and thought I hit publish for Thanksgiving.  Apparently I did not.  Blogger fail)

Today is a day on which we are supposed to give thanks. Thanks for things that what make us happy, for what gives us purpose. For those people things, and places that make us complete. What am I thankful for?

For this lovely young woman, who found her way home to us:

For this pretty girl, who is coming into her own:

For the silliness of teenagers.

For toddler giggles, smiles, and snuggles:

For the man of my dreams, for being a wonderful husband and father:

For our parents and siblings and their significant others and children.  For our warm home (ugly golden yellow siding and all), secure jobs, and our health.  For our bed-hogging puppy and bitchy cats.

For all of this and more, I am thankful.

Menu Planning Monday

Thanksgiving week.  I am DYING for some turkey, stuffing and overall deliciousness.  And Black Friday shopping.  And by Black Friday shopping, I mean LEGIT Friday, not this Thursday night BS.  Anyway, here is our menu!

Sunday: BLTs, french fries
Monday: BBQ pork, pasta salad, coleslaw
Tuesday:Roasted beet and chevre ravioli, salad
Wednesday: Thai Chicken Pizza (baking day!)
Thursday: Thanksgiving!
Friday: Leftovers?  Lettuce?

Linking up at OrgJunkie!

Weekend Planning

Ah, finally the weekend!  I have definitely missed Weekend Planning, so I thought it was time to bring it back!  This week feels exceptionally long, especially with Thanksgiving break next week!  I have curriculum planning on Tuesday, so I will only be with my students one day next week!

So, what is on the agenda?
Friday:

• Pick up Logan
• Pick up produce bag
• Make a quick dinner
• Help run the front of house and sell tickets for the play at my high school (helping out the new director)

Saturday:

• Make weekly menu and grocery list
• Haircuts for me and Lexy
• Clean bathrooms; put away laundry; clean bedrooms
• Back to school to help sell more tickets

Sunday:

• I care about nothing else except going to see BREAKING DAWN 2!

Book Review: Bared to You

From Goodreads:

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness—beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires.

The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart..

This summer, post-Christian Grey, I found Gabriel Emerson. And then I found Gideon Cross in Sylvia Day's novel, Bared to You.  Many people will compare this novel to 50 Shades, but really, I didn't find much of a comparison.    The story is told from the perspective of Eva Trammel, a 24-year old blonde bombshell who is trying to make it on her own and away from her over-protective mother.  Enter Gideon Cross, the young, handsome billionaire who wants Eva immediately.  As the story unfolds, we discover that these two BOTH have had very traumatic pasts and it is something that they will need to face in order for their relationship to survive.  Gideon is obsessive, controlling, and dominating; Eva has major trust issues and runs at the first hint of trouble in the relationship.  Day's writing is more polished and mature than EL James; there is no real "BDSM" but the sex scenes are definitely raw and sensual.  I became invested in the characters and their stories and for some reason, even though they are both so screwed up (way beyond even Christian Grey), I truly hope they are able to have their happy ending.  I really can not wait until Day releases the last of the Crossfire Trilogy (stay tuned for my review of the second in the series, Reflected in You!).  WARNING: Very explicit sex scenes, so if you are weirded out by 50 Shades, steer clear of this one, even though it definitely has MUCH more of a plot!

4/5 Stars 

Jamie's 16th Birthday Party: Recap

I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves, but I need to talk about the stupid cake. I was so excited and then the orange layer collapsed on one side and then I really thought I was going to lose the entire thing.  I had to put SKEWERS in it to keep it together.  I was so sad about it.  So it was my Leaning Tower of Cake.  Jamie had a blast at her party and I was really excited about how it turned out!

Mini Candy Buffet

Laffy Taffy, Skittles, Mike 'n Ike, Gummy Bears, Rainbow Twizzlers

Birthday Banner

Dining room set up

Banner at night

Family in living room

A LIGHT SABER!  

Rainbow cake that almost wasn't

Inside of rainbow cake

Logan and his cousin, Lilah

The girls and their nonna

Demolished cake

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday: Hamburgers on the grill, baked beans, salad

Monday: Frittata with Yukon gold potatoes and turnip greens

Tuesday: Chili with cornbread (maybe)

Wednesday: Chicken puffs, honey mustard brussels sprouts, rice

Thursday: Tortellini bake, Caesar salad

Friday: Chicken stir fry

Saturday: Depends on if the kids are home!

Linking up at OrgJunkie!

Winter CSA Week 1

Week 1 of our Winter CSA! Pardon the terrible IPhone picture:

I am so glad that we took the plunge and also signed up for the winter share. I finally feel like I have control of it now and it will give me a chance to practice before our next summer share. I have a feeling I will be freezing quite a bit!

This week included:

• 1 whole pasture raised chicken (we are going to do Beer Butt Chicken and I will make more stock)
• 2 spaghetti squash
• 1/2 gallon apple cider
• Quarter peck winesap apples
• 1 handful sweet peppers (will slice and freeze for recipes)
• 1 bunch turnip greens
• 1 bunch kale (plan is to blanch and freeze for soup)
• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 dozen eggs (making a frittata with the eggs and turnip greens)
• 1 bunch beets and tops (I am going to give this recipe a try this weekend)
• 1 stalk brussels sprouts 
• 1/2 bag stir fry mix

I am really going to try and document how we use it throughout the week and do a recap on the weekends when I post our new bag contents!  Fingers crossed!

Logan's 2nd Birthday: The Inspiration

As with every toddler of the male persuasion, Logan is pretty much obsessed with trains.  It came on suddenly and he just adores his choo-choos now.  So when trying to decide on a theme for his second birthday party, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Elmo went out the window and on came the trains.

BUT.

Not just any trains.  But one SPECIFIC train.

The Polar Express.

Last year, we took Logan on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic' Railroad's Polar Express and he just loved it.  So, instead of a regular train theme, it will be a Polar Express theme.  For once, his December birthday will come in handy with this theme!  Plus, I figure that this will be the last time I get to choose his theme without any strong opinions from the little man himself.

I also have included some pictures of a regular train party that I may decide to go with instead of the Polar Express.  In that case, orange and navy blue will be the colors :)

Source: thecakeblog.com via Gia on Pinterest

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Source: catchmyparty.com via Gia on Pinterest

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Source: catchmyparty.com via Gia on Pinterest

Source: onmysideoftheroom.blogspot.com via Gia on Pinterest

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday: Easy Eggplant Parmasaen
Monday: Rigatoni with sausage
Tuesday: Velvet chicken with bok choy
Wednesday: Chili with cornbread
Thursday: Chicken paprikash
Friday: Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted veggies
Saturday: Depends on our CSA

Linking up at OrgJunkie!

CSA Week 22: Final Summer Share

Well, it is Week 22 and the final week of our first Summer Share CSA with Fresh Fork Market.  

This week's bag:

• 1# ground beef
• 1# ground pork
• Turnips
• 1 bag salad mix lettuce
• 1 bunch carrots
• 1 head jumbo bok choy
• 1 head broccoli

I have a TON of stuff leftover from last week as well, so I will be scrambling to get some things frozen this week.  I am going to try a recipe from our weekly CSA newsletter called Velvet Chicken with Bok Choy, as well as use the pork and beef to make a meatloaf.  We have leftover potatoes I can use to make some garlic mashed potatoes as a side and some greens I am sure we have floating around.  I am still stumped with the ginormous rutabega from last week and I did not like the turnips last time, so I am going to try again.

Looking forward to our first Winter Share CSA starting this week, as it will be primarily protein driven, which is good because we are backed up with produce!  It has been a true pleasure working with the folks at Fresh Fork and I really look forward to continuing the CSA in the future!