Book Review: Dinosaur Empire! by Abby Howard

I'm a nut for dinosaurs. When I was young, I wanted more than anything to be a paleontologist. Except I didn't know the difference between a paleontologist and an archeologist., so when I told my older sister I wanted to be an archeologist, she told me I'd have to touch human skulls. Five year old me didn't want to do that, so I gave up on that dream and dinosaurs.

Fast forward 30 years and I have a child of my own and he loves dinosaurs. So of course I start looking into dinosaurs and y'all! the things they have discovered about dinosaurs and well... to sum up (too late) I LOVE DINOSAURS!

Anyway, a friend posted about this graphic novel, Dinosaur Empire! (Earth Before Us 1): Journey through the Mesozoic Era, coming out and I immediately preordered it. I had never heard of Abby Howard, but a feathered dinosaur graphic novel. Oh yeah, count me in!

This graphic novel is now available and while it's marketed to ages 8 and up, I've been reading it through with Bear and he's understanding all of it. Now don't get me wrong, this book is information dense. Many pages are covered with several animals and so much information. But if you've got a lover of Dinosaurs, this is a book you want on your shelf. I love how Abby Howard pressed the idea that you have to be willing to let old ideas go to accept the new science, because gosh! the world of paleontology is constantly discovering and rediscovering these amazing animals.

Well that's my two bits on this particular book and now that Abby Howard is on my radar, I'm gong to be hoping we get a sequel. I'd love to see a comic book about prehistoric animals of the Cenozoic Area. They don't get enough love and there are some amazing creatures.


And as a personal note, I've been up late this whole week working on finishing dolls early so I can prepare for the in-laws. My cat, Amelia, is beside herself. She likes me to be in bed promptly so she can nurse on my nightshirts. Weirdo. Anyway, here's a picture of her trying to be cute and tempt me to go to bed.

Stress, my old arch-nemesis

The in-laws are coming next weekend! Time to freak out and throw all the things in a closet, while praying no one needs any of those things I've thrown in the closet ... or the closet. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

T.G.I.F

Who identifies with this squirrel?

I do! I do!

Yeah, this has been a week. I'm going to take the rest of the day to finish trying to catch up on housework and work. No time to waste online today. Have a fantastic weekend!

A Doctor's Visit and a Dog Reading

Today we went to the doctor's for Bun's 3 year appointment. Perfectly normal. Hooray! Very strong-willed. um, yay? Bonus, no shots, so I've got a happy girl. Although the children don't realize I'm already plotting against them with flu shot this autumn. (I am the mean mother. mwahaha!)

When we got home, I was reading over our library's events and saw they had a cute program for children to read to therapy dogs, which I casually mentioned to Bear. He immediately got a book out and began to read to our dog. Rory, our dog, loves story time. He always sits in on our story reading. Can we saw aw.... heck! Look at that messy floor.

Ugh, yeah. I know I'm going to get on picking up those toys after I post this. Ah the shame! She it's working!

PS. The book he's reading is this one: We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book)

PPS. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have heard me lamenting ordering mini pigs without pool floats. Well, don't be like me, order this set instead! 20PCS Butterfunny Rubber Pig Baby Bath Toy for Kid with 5 Mini Swim Ring Same number of piggies! Same price (at least when I just checked, but cute little pool floats! Oh no!

The Day the Piggies arrived.

For the past few weeks, I've been having trouble sleeping. I lay down and my eyes fly open. When I manage to fall asleep, it is not restful, so yeah. I've been dragging.

Apparently on one of those non-sleeping nights, I ordered twenty squeaky pigs. They're really cute, but I don't know what I was thinking when I bought them. What was I planning to do with all these piggies? Amazon needs to add a comment section for customers who forget why they're ordering things.

Since the piggie party arrived today, I'll spend a few days playing with them until I decide what to do with them next. They are awfully cute. 

If you're interested, here's the link to the POPLAY Rubber Pig Baby Bath Toy for Kid,20 PCS. Join me in a pig parade of tiny, squeaky proportions!

We trek into the heart of darkness... Walmart

I needed a prescription refilled and the few odd things, which Aldi doesn't carry.* Our local Walmart is not usually terrible, except they are remodeling so an ordinary in-out trip now becomes a time consuming ordeal of hunting for products and dodging pallets of shelves and products in transition.

Not the best situation for two wiggly children, who have been kept indoors for a bit too long due to the hot spell and swarms of vicious mosquitoes. Several times I had to snatch a child out of the way of a customer, as my children swirled and twirled through the aisles. We were only in the store for 20 minutes, but by the time we were ready to check-out, Bun had it and started shouting for chocolate. (What the heck!? I don't give her that much chocolate. She gets one m&m when she uses the potty.)

Now, I'm not the sort of parent to give in to my child shouting for something, but Bun isn't the type of little girl who will silently accept not getting what she wants. So needless to say, I had to apologize to the clerks and other customers in line and in the end, Bun still didn't get the candy she wanted. (I'm told being firm will pay off one day. Believe me, that day can't come soon enough. Oh my ears.)

As for chores today, I put the dishes away, made some granola, and hard boiled some eggs for The Dude's lunches and snacks. I wish I could say I did more, but my head has been quite done in. I'm waving the white flag on today. Now if only someone would come and make dinner. ha!

*Hello Aldi!
I love your prices and your store and your prices. But can you please carry frozen veggies in a bag? Mixed Veggies, Green Beans, Broccoli? Those sorts of things? Please?

Baby Steps

Hopping in and right back out again today.
Our schedule is a little screwy because of the solar eclipse. I took Bear and Bun outside and showed them the pin hole projectors and while I pointed out the darkening sky, the crickets waking up, the cooling temperature, my children were digging holes in the yard. (sigh) Maybe one day they will remember when their mother stared at an empty paper plate for hours. haha!

Anyway, I've got the laundry running and need to fold it up, but my big accomplishment is I changed the sheets! Yup! Even though my back hurts and I really wanted to phone it in today, I stripped and made all three beds. Go me!

Alright, I've really gotta run, because yeah, lots of laundry and dinner's not going to make itself.

Did you get to see the eclipse? What did you notice? This was my first ever seeing a solar eclipse and I'm thrilled. :)

What is wrong with me?

Recently we had family visit and our house was an overwhelming mess.  I had to spend two weeks concentrating on the house.  Cleaning things, scrubbing things, vacuuming, and putting away the towering piles of clutter that had grown.

Now, I could make excuses, because I have them. I was tired. My back hurt. We were still having lessons. ETC.

But that's not 100% true. What I'd done was stop using my cleaning schedule. I know it works. It works like a charm. If I stick to the cleaning schedule, by a months time, cleaning the bathroom every week is no longer a daunting task. Picking up our living room takes only minutes.

I know this. 

So why is it that I always give up on the schedule? Why can't I stick with what I know?

Instead, I get "busy" and put other obligations first.

Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself what is the point of this post. And I guess it boils down to me  admitting I'm a failure at following my own advice. A hypocrite.

I will be working hard to make posts regularly, updating with how I'm flailing with my own chores. Sort of an attempt to shame myself into cleaning this house of mine, despite sore backs and obligations.

haha! I'm seeing parallels in my attempts to lose weight. Ok, one guilt trip at a time, Marcy. That's the next hurdle.