Book Review: Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock

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2 books in 3 days? It doesn't happen often, but it happened this week. I read the book Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock. It told a story of 2 young sisters, Carrie, 8 and Emma, 6. Their father died a few years ago and their mother has since remarried.
The stepfather physically abuses them with anything within his reach. The mother doesn't pay attention to them and uses her words to hur their spirits.
I was shocked by some of the extent this man takes to these girls. When they try to escape and are found, their stepfarther leashes them to the ground and feeds them dog food! This wasn't a fun read and it reminded me that things like this exist and are out there.
The book was written well and switched between present time and when the father was alive. There was some sexual abuse that was implied, but not confirmed. I tend to enjoy books better when they push the envelope and this one didn't do that for me. The characters were well developed and I was amazed by the young girls' courage and how they dealt with things. The ending shocked me, but when I thought of it, it made sense. No, I won't ruin it, so you may read it.
Overall, probably not a book I would recommend, but it kept me busy while I was under the weather this week.
Let me know what you think!

Book Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins

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**No Spoilers**

I had read a few book reviews on this particular novel and even though it was a young adult book, I figured I would give it a go. After a long day at work yesterday, I made my way to our local library. I am lucky to live within a 5 mile radius of 4 libraries, but of course I went to the furthest (and nicest in my opinion) one.

I had never been to the YA section and it's upstairs in a corner and had some weird neon lights and beanbags. I think they decorated it to get more immature adults teenagers to read. Anyways, when I picked it up I was surprised to find out it was a pretty thick book and looked intimidating. I peeked inside and noticed the words were jumbled around and set up funny. If you read or have read this book, you will understand.

I started this book at about 7pm last night and finished it about 4 hours later. All 400+ pages of it, for me it was a fast read. I loved it, such an intimate and accurate portrayal of addiction and the downward, out of control lifestyle that can follow.

I have an odd fascination with addiction, from drugs, to alcohol to stamps to work. It all intrigues me and this book did not let me down. It shocked me to realize what someone in Bree's situation would do in order to get her hands on crank (or the monster). It was a hard read, in my opinion, for someone that fits the young adult category (I'm thinking teenage), but I can understand it as a cautionary tale.

I don't normally enjoy writing styles like the one in this book, but the pace and plot kept me intrigued I could not put it down! I would recommend this book to anyone, but due to the subject, I would probably recommend it to people over the age of 18.

From what I understand there is a whole series that follows Bree along her daily addictions and struggles, so I will probably read the entire series.

If you enjoyed reading this book, you may also like Down and Out on Murder Mile by Tony O'Neill. I read it about a year ago and still remember it well. It portrays the daily lives of a couple addicted to drugs and what they will do to get their fix. It is also recommended to those 18+ due to the subject manner and language.

So how was my first book review? Any comments? Suggestions? I would appreciate the feedback! If you've read the book, let me know what you think? Although I left spoilers out in case someone that hasn't read it wants to.

Not a good Tuesday :(

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I am not happy today. I feel like crawling back into bed and crying all day. I swear, it's male PMS day at work, I'm tired, Mr. P was cranky this morning and I have stuff at home I want to get done. Being at work is not helping right now :(

I added a couple books to my hold list at the library, I have a couple recipes I want to try out and Mercedes is getting her last round of shots today. I just feel overwhelmed. Like I need a day at home to reset. As you can imagine, our house is still trashed from the party this weekend. I had my lovely niece last night that thought she would just eat cookies for dinner last night without asking and I was having a personal trauma while watching her so I was distracted and then had to discipline her (which by the end of the night involved Mcdonald's playhouse?)
I think tomorrow would make a good personal health day :)

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Mom's 50th! John Deere Cake

We also had my mom's 50th Suprise party this weekend. OMG, with a toddler in tow, things are about 100 times more difficult. We managed to get the cake to the party and get my mom there without any problems and she really had no clue. Everyone had a great time.

Here's the cake:

I made an extra cake that was chocolate as well. It took me 20 minutes. The actual John Deere cake took 5 hours, but I like how it came out. My mom loved them, as did everyone else. I'm still learning so I see the imperfections, but everyone was really impressed. So what if it's not perfect? It was my first one and turned out great! We made it an early night because we had this little cutie :) She was my helper all weekend.

Cookie's 2nd Birthday Party!

My dog birthday party went off without any problems. All of the kids had such a great time. I got a lot of laughs from adults and some weird stares for throwing my dog a birthday party, but so what? I told people, it's like me laughing at you for throwing your kid a birthday party. I consider Cookie one of my kids, so she got to celebrate with all of her friends. Here are the pictures:

The birthday girl!

Tablescapes: I had 2 tables, 1 for people and 1 for pooches :) There were a few jokes about which one to eat from, but everyone seemed to figure it out. 

This was the people food table. I changed all the names of the food to correspond with their food such as pupcakes, snickerpoodles and woof crispies :)

And here is the pooch treat table!

I had a lot of fun planning it out. Cookie even got a few presents! I provided "doggie bags" to take home some treats. All of the treats were organic or natural (except the pupcorn).

FABULOUS FRIDAY FINDS!

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36 days until my birthday, although I will be a little over 21....

Fondant, Marshmallows, Chocolate & Blog Hopping!

I'm blog hopping today!!! It's no boss Friday, so even though I'm stuck @ work until 330, I'm online shopping and drooling over cakes :) I squeeze in work when I find time :p I am exhausted, my bestie came over last night and helped me color fondant and make chocolate covered marshmallows. I also baked 3 cakes for stacking. I'm pretty prepared for my cake making this evening. Here are some pictures to share....

Colored Fondant

Melted chocolate....

Smashed graham crackers

Pink sprinkles

Smore's Pop

A lot of pops :)
Super simple and fun to make :) Tonight I will be making cake pops with leftover cake scraps!

So busy, how do you do it? Splinter DVD

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 I have so much to do and not enough time in a day. I'd do it all today, but most of everything I have to do involves food, so it would go bad. I am horrible at time management :/ Since 3rd grade, my teachers have told my parents how smart I am, but I wait until the last second to get things done. For school it doesn't bother me, I work well under pressure, but everything else gives me a heart attack! 
I have cupcakes to bake (brownies too!) and a 3 tiered cake to transform, shopping to do, cleaning, decorating oh and don't forget working :( I considered taking the rest of the week off but I really like getting a paycheck.

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I also have a dr. appt today. I feel like a lab rat, constantly being poked and prodded and it's at my lovely girly doctor so I will be propped up on a table, legs spread. Ahhh, the joy of being a woman!

Last night we watched Splinter, it was a total miss, but after 45 minutes of watching it, we decided to just finish it.

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I give it 2 out of 5 stars. It wasn't great, it wasn't even good, but once we started it we managed to finish it. That usually doesn't happen. It's a decent Halloween movie, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. There was a line in the movie that I have to share though. The girl's bf is cutting off the infected guy's arm and she says "It's ok, we are just cutting off your arm." So that was the tone for most of the movie, LOL. They kept doing things that you know are stupid, but you know someone is gonna make it somehow. It was pretty gross, so skip it if you have a weak stomach.

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