Is it REALLY Almost Fall???

Dear 2012: CAN YOU JUST SLOW DOWN ALREADY???

Love and Kisses, 

Me

Yep, that's about how I'm feeling lately. August is in two days. AUGUST. Sorry I'm a little caps heavy today, but honestly? We are in AUGUST? This means Back To School. This means the craziness of homework and schedules and soccer and other sports and running from one activity to the next and homework and the headache of buying cool school clothes and expensive calculators and HOMEWORK etc. etc. etc. (And now that I mention it-- is it me, or are calculators getting more pricey the older my kids get? Pretty soon the required calculator will be $500 and possessing artificial Intelligence, I swear.)

ANYWAY, as I was shaking my head at the calendar this morning, I was trying to think of what I've done this year so far, and answering the questions of A) have I met any of my goals? And B) have I done any of the things I wanted/needed to do? The answers: Not Really and Kinda Sorta.

That's what I get for having four kids and having to juggle my time evenly between them. Which is a virtual IMPOSSIBILITY, let me assure you. There's only one of me. Maybe when I'm at Staples in a few weeks buying my super-expensive calculator I can look at the prices of CLONE-ME machines. Because they have those in stock, right? How do women with more kids than me do it all?

;-)

Breathe, Lara. Just breathe.

My Book Featured in Deseret News!

I think I have arrived. ;-) So exciting! Click here to read the review.

I'm Scared.

Read a crazy post a few days ago, by a blogger who used a picture (off of Google, who doesn't?) and apparently even though she linked her picture back to the source and gave credit where credit was due, the person who owned rights to the picture sued her. And WON. And it wasn't a little bit of money.
So, no more Google image searches for me, unless they have ZERO copyright restrictions. I have decided that if I can't find it, I will draw a really, really SAD rendition in stick-figure form, of what I want the picture to look like, or take the picture myself. That way, I cover my...rump. Because I LOVE to google image search. With reckless abandon. Well, no more. So, if you see posts with crudely-drawn stick figures (because I can barely draw a straight line, that is why I'm a WRITER not an ILLUSTRATOR), it's because I couldn't find a picture of what I'm looking for. I am apologizing in advance.

TDF Recipe and WHERE IS MOMMY'S STYLUS???

Found this recipe on Pinterest. It is TDF. Seriously. It has FOUR ingredients, and my kids loved it. Like, they wanted to marry the cookies.

Lazy Cake Cookies

1 box yellow or white cake mix(I used yellow)
2 eggs beaten
5 T melted butter (don't skimp on this, use REAL butter!)
2 C M&M's or chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet because that's how I roll)

Mix together, put in a GREASED 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 20 min!

 Mine turned out like this, and seriously, this was all that was left after they cooled:

Thick like cookie bars. Didn't feel or taste like cake at all. YUM.

Now, in other news, I have a Stylus problem. As in, I have a stylus for my iPad, and it keeps GOING MISSING. This is highly annoying. Think of a tiny pen. Think how easy it is to lose said pen. That is a stylus. It's so tiny, but I can't live without it! Why? A stylus is soooo much better than using my finger! Especially since when I'm bored (never at home, usually when I'm waiting in the car or at Taekwondo) I like to play Big Fish Adventure/HOGs. So much easier/bettter with a stylus.

But not so much when THE STYLUS IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. Yes, I'm using shouty capitals. Yes, that's how annoying it is to me! I've tried clipping it on, magnetizing it on, etc. etc. Yet it manages to go missing. And no, my kids aren't the culprits. They swear up and down they don't take them.

How do I keep my stylus with my iPad? Does anyone else have this problem?

I Think I'm in Love...

Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw THIS in the grocery store today! Yes, it's a 24-oz. Diet Mountain Dew. Yes it's twice the size I normally drink. Yes, I'm bad and I drink diet soda. Don't judge.

I will say it was a tad awkward to tip back, because it's sort of like trying to tip a Duraflame Starter Log back to sip from, but I figured it out. Don't know if I will buy more of these, but wondering if this is our future? ;-) Yes, please.

Officially Sucked In. Soooo Pretty...

No, not my stomach. Although I might need to after yesterday...ahem...but I digress...

I joined Pinterest last year. Got accepted, activated my account and did...nothing. Avoided it like the plague. Even slammed it a little to friends. I dubbed it the "ultimate in time-suckage" because, let's face it, anyone who Pins knows--Pinterest is a giant vortex of suck-you-in-make-you-pin/read/foam-at-the-mouth/covet/exclaim/browse-for-DAYS. I'm calling a spade a spade, here. I could spend hours on the boards, looking at all the domestic tips and recipes and handy DIY projects, all with tantalizing pictures shot in that super awesome camera filter that makes them look flawless and perfect.

Photo courtesy of alwaysfoodie.com

I call Pinterest "Web Candy." Because I feel like I've ingested 870574 spoonfuls of sugar after each re-pinning/browsing/liking episode. I LOVE it. I do find it funny, however, when Pinners pin things like "How To Avoid Sugar--the recipe book" and then go on to pin recipe after recipe for things like Super-gooey Chocolate Frosted Peanut Butter S'mores Bars, etc. (haha)

And apparently there are about nine hundred recipes for peanut butter cupcakes. It's mind-boggling.

Don't believe me? Go over to Pinterest and surf for free. And check out my boards while you're there. I'm still an amateur "Pinner," but I'm getting the hang of it.

Happy Pinning/Getting Sucked In!

Surviving the Washing Machine.

Photo courtesy of worldofmeh.com

You wouldn't believe the stuff I have pulled out of pockets AFTER being washed, or found in the drum of the dryer.

The latest survivors? Two of my son's 3Ds games. I have to hand it to Nintendo, they made those things pretty indestructable. I have washed and dried quite a few DS and DSi games over the years, and they always work just fine afterwards. (Although we have a few that are identified with black sharpie, because the labels melted off in the wash.)

Legos, rocks, candy wrappers, action figures, lego mini-figures, coins, paper money (eek!), you name it. I've washed it. Don't judge. I have three boys and a daughter. You think I have TIME to check all their pockets before I wash their stuff? ;-)

In "gross" news: I finally figured out something VERY important about my front-loading Neptunes. They need to be CLEANED, and on a regular basis. I won't go into major detail, but there was a smell involved, and I got curious and inspected the drum of the washer, and I won't tell you what I found. Safe to say, leave the door to the washer cracked open between washings, so...stuff can't grow in the drum. Because the water never completely drains. Add that to all the crap you wash out of your clothes and...yeah...GROSS, I know. I also discovered a handy little cleaner by Tide:

You dump this into your detergent tray (it comes in pre-measured packets), and run a cycle on hot, once a week, and it keeps your machine daisy fresh! Just make sure to check that drum weekly too. Yuck.

This completes my public service announcement. Should I step off my soap box? (HAHA)


Happy Wednesday!

Book Releases and Exploding Heads.

 Today is the release day for my book, UNEARTHED! Hurrah! If you feel so inclined, you can purchase it here or here or here.

Moving on, I think my head might explode soon. I think as mothers, we tend to feel like this. We have lists. We have calendars. We have appointments and errands. We have jobs, some of us, and all the stuff we have to do can get...overwhelming. That's where the head-exploding comes in. I've felt like that a lot lately. I think it's because I signed my kids up for so much stuff this summer. Sure, they have camps and classes and sports to keep them occupied, but it all means I get to live in my car and run around a lot.

Photo courtesy of ravenschixchat.blogspot.com

Not that I'm complaining, because I'm glad I can do these things for them, but it's a juggling thing. And guess what? I was never good at juggling. ;-)

And now, off to the races!

My Book Is Out Tomorrow!!

My LDS YA novel, "UNEARTHED," comes out tomorrow! Woo! I have to say, I am super excited! If you want to pre-order you can do it at Deseretbook.com, Amazon.com (they only have a few left) and B&N.com.Thanks for all your support!