Cancer Sucks.

Yesterday I was reading through my google reader and I come up on a cancer post. & it brings it all back to me. The time when we could have lost my grandpa. It was 2006, I had just lost my mom's dad less than three weeks prior to this. I was fourteen at the time, a freshman in high school. I remember the night before I found out. My grandma was over, and we were cleaning out our big toy closet that we had and when we were done, she said as a reward, we could go to Coldstone the next morning after church. Yay Coldstone! I had never been before, but I knew I wanted to go haha. So fast forward to the next morning and we're at Coldstone, and Mady doesn't wanna go with Lynn to drop me off with my Mom and stepdad, and she asks my grandma if she could ride home with her, and my Grandma said no, it would probably be best if you rode home with your mom. So we leave, and earlier in the morning, Lynn and I had been discussing how I was having a tough time that weekend about losing my mom's dad unexpectedly a few weeks earlier. Then about twenty minutes before she dropped me off with my mom, she dropped a bombshell, "I don't want you guys to be scared, but Grandpa has cancer." I lost it. I started crying and sobbing. This had to be some sort of cruel trick. It had to be. God wasn't going to take away another one of my Grandpas right now was he? Lynn then explained that my Grandpa had spots in his mouth that were cancerous and the doctors were treating them, and that he hadn't been able to eat at all or very much for the last week or so and then he had our pastors in our church pray over him and he was able to eat again, now if that's not a God story, I really don't know what is. I remember getting to my Mom's and my stepdad being an absolute jerk about me crying. Him yelling at me that I didn't even cry at my own grandfather's funeral, now this was about three years before I started sticking up to myself in front of him, but looking back I would have said HE is my grandpa. Just because he's not blood doesn't mean anything. I remember not wanting to go on the limo party with my soccer team. I remember being so grateful that a few months after finding it, they got it all, and it's now stayed away for 6 years. I am so blessed to have a grandpa that loves me and cares for me so much. So, if you didn't know this, I hope you now understand a little bit more about why I look up to him so much, why he means so much to me. Bottom line, cancer sucks and I'm so glad my family came through the other side with my Grandpa still here with us, because I know so many families who weren't so lucky!

Book Club Friday.

So it's my first time linking up with these two lovely ladies for Book Club Friday!  

Awhile ago, these two hosted a Book Swap, and I was partnered with Katelyn.  

She sent me an awesome book for my Kindle.  The book?  

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Here is what Amazon had to say about the book:From the New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . .

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. 

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.

& what did I have to say about the book?  

I absolutely loved it!  I laughed and cried right along with Kate and Tully, fell in love with Johnny and  hoped that Tully would come to realize that fame and fortune weren't everything.  

If you're looking for a book about friendship that lasts and is more like a sister to sister relationship, Firefly Lane is a book you should read!  

It's Okay

It's Okay..

To go as far as to say I know I have the three cutest furbabies EVER!

Chloe who just joined our family last week

Leader who lives with my Mom.  

& Cooper baby.  

To not have thought about school at all during my almost month break, but be ready to go back on Monday!

To be excited about going to the State Fair on Sunday with some of the fam.  

To watch Days & shake my head at some of the storylines

To lay around in sweats all day catching up on blog reading and writing.

To really not enjoy Taylor Swift's new song all that much.

To love jamming out in the car with Mady.

So what's okay with you today?

Show & Tell #1

If you were searching for a home right now, what would be on your must list?

-a pool: Gotta keep cool in the Minnesota heat and humidity!

-a hammock: take a nap and a nice reading area.

-my own office: for blogging and studying!

Show me your favorite room in a house?

I love offices that are spacious, like this one:

                                                                                       Source: shepaysless.com via Shane on Pinterest

I love the zebra print and the black and white!

If you could have any room redone, which would it be and what would you have done?

I'd love my own room, right now, I'm sharing with my sister.  I would have a chalkboard wall, I would have a wall of bookshelves and then I would have a nice little desk/office nook.  

Tell me where your favorite stores are to shop for home decor?

I don't really buy myself stuff for the house, considering I still live at home.  I do like pottery barn and a chic look I guess, I don't know really haha. 

Show me your dream home

                                                                                   Source: google.com via Magen on Pinterest

I love the look of this house!   

Go link up with Becky from Mrs. to Mama!

Great Monday.

Today was pretty awesome!

I got to sleep until 10:30 which is virtually unheard of. Did a few chores and then just relaxed most of the day.

Around 4:30 Mady and I decided we were going to go tubing down the Elk(a river) that runs right through our backyard, we thought hey what the heck why not bring Cooper.  Yeah, that didn't work so well. We started off by the bridge, and right after the first turn, we hear the hissing that indicates that her tube has a hole.  Not just a tiny hole though, a big hole.  So we walk back upstream, get her a new tube and bring the dog back home, then we went and tubed and were able to actually get all the way down to my grandma and grandpa's which is where we get off & my grandma asked if we wanted to go see Ice Age: Continental Drift and we both were really wanting to see it, so we agreed, and we just got home from her house after seeing the movie and then having homemade peach pie.

Mady and I are just watching The Ex and falling asleep.

Tomorrow is my last day of work for 8 days and then it's vacation time!

& don't forget to link up on Mrs. Monologues' blog for Blog Star tomorrow!   

The Random.

Happy Saturday Evening!  Hope everyone's weekend so far is going good.  I have worked both days and work has been crazy!  Good thing I like crazy :)

Last night, I watched We Bought A Zoo with the family.  Such a great movie! I strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I mean, it's Matt Damon, how can you go wrong? Now I really want to read the book!

You know what I think is sad?  Widowed men.  Women bounce back quicker from losing a loved one I think.  I just think a man who has lost his wife, there is something that tugs at my heartstrings a lot.  I'm probably weird lol.  But it's just a thought in the random thought filled place known as my brain.

I just watched Michael Phelps won last gold medal in the Olympics.  I have been watching the Olympics pretty much non-stop.  My favorite two events so far? Beach volleyball and swimming, and who can forget the fab 5 USA Women's gymnastics?

I have two more shifts at work, then 8 days off.  I'm heading to Iowa for the stock car races for a part of that, and then my Uncle will be coming in from Colorado, so I'll get to spend some time with him, so I'm pretty excited!

I have to be at work by 7 a.m. tomorrow, so I should probably sign off and head to bed!

Have a good night everybody!

Dear Friday...

Dear Blogging,
I have fallen in love with you all over again!

Dear Work,
Holy craziness today!  Loved it though!

Dear Co-Worker,
I think us having to rely on us the last two days has made you a lot more tolerable.  Thanks for helping kick butt the last couple days!

Dear blog friends,
You guys are awesome! The bloggy world? Also awesome!  Personal blog goal for the month is to have new content each day!  So far so good!

Dear Mady,

DUH! I'm gonna breathe! SO glad to have you home!

Dear Coffee,

I love you.  'Nuff said.

linking up with the amazing Ashley once again!

It's Okay!

It's Thursday and that's more than Okay with me!

It's okay....

that I decided to not have any sponsors on my sidebar this month! 

that I am sponsoring two awesome blogs this month...Kodi's and Neely's

that I have an awesome group of guest posters for next week that I am so excited to have you guys meet!

that I am excited that I get to go watch some sprint stock car races, not to be confused with Sprint Cup racing, down in Iowa next week!

that I think tuition sucks.  

that I am determined to win the giveaway that Jenn is hosting for Munchkinland Design's third birthday!

to remind you to link up for Blog Star that will be happening on Tuesday with Mrs. Monologues and her awesome street team! 

to be super excited that you have a three week break from school! 
So what's okay with you today?