a missed 10 on 10... turns into gushing.

I am so bummed that I missed yesterday being the 10th.

I feel like I always do that...

I need to put a reminder in my phone so that I am prepared better next month.
I will do that right now.

I have to be honest, though.
Had I remembered 10 on 10...
My pics wouldn't have been the greatest to look at.

You would have got to see me and Lance doodling away in McDonalds around 9:00 while the boys played.
We are both a bit obsessed with the Draw me game...
and I may have spied another guilty momma coloring away, while eating her breakfast, as well!

We left there and ran around the area a bit, enjoying Lance's day off... making due in the rain.

To a luggage store that had Crocs 50% off... in every size but Maddox's.
Except one pair...
And A&M pair...
that certainly wouldn't fly in this house!
So I left empty handed.
(knock Crocs all you want, but they are the perfect shoe for a 3 year old boy-- easy to put on-- easy to clean-- and almost impossible to tear up.  I love them.)

I ran into Children's Place to get Maddox some Aviator sunglasses.
Well, I got 2 pair, because they were 2/$6, and you can guarantee one pair will be lost or broken in a week!

We then dropped a few hours in Best Buy-- looking-- wrangling kids-- and buying nothing.
Although Lance tried.

Freebirds for lunch.

And then home buy 3:00 or so.

The rest of my pictures for the day could have been summed up in one.

My friend Amanda has asked me to read this book a few times...
but she asks me to read a lot of books.

I have seen this book blowing up on Pinterest and Facebook and saw that the movie is coming out soon...
So with her persuasion, I jumped in.

I was on call Friday so I got to read a few chapters before the pager started sounding off...
Tore through a few more after I got off at 11:00.
And was back up at 7:00am reading again.

Back home from Freebirds, the boys napped and I started reading.
Once they were awake, I fought through chapter by chapter to finish it last night.
(finally winning by locking myself into the bathroom, submerged into a hot bath.)

The book was sooooo good.
And a far-cry from my type of book.

The main reason I never read the Twilight series, (aside from not wanting to feel like a 13 year old or from not wanting to have another reason to think my husband should love me more than a fictional character-- like I had seen a couple of my friends do) was that I did not think I could connect with characters that aren't real.
I don't like sci-fi stuff... and if it is too far fetched-- I can't begin to like it.
Vampires... ware-wolfs... It just seemed too much for me.
But maybe I should give it a try now...
Now that I have stepped out of my comfort zone and fell in love.
Maybe I turned my cheek too quickly?


***
I have been texting, emailing and FBing everyone that I can think of to read this with me.
Kristen, Casey, Jenna, Erin, Kaleb...
I am already excited for the movie to come out... and hopefully making a GNO out of it!

And once Beckham wakes from his nap, I am off to buy the 2nd book.

I hope you will take my advice and read the series too.

I cried twice in the first 2 chapters...
And felt about every other emotion my body has, through the rest of the book.

It makes you think.
It is suspenseful.
It is sad.
Your heart feels the love she has for her sister...
and there's a love story along the way as well.
You can not put it down.

I realized, an hour after I had finished the book last night, that I still had that air bubble in my throat where I had been holding my anxiety for the main character, Katniss.
 
{{I wish this were a live chat so we could gush about how we felt when it was over...
but I am okay feeling like a crazy woman, gushing about-- as if I can hear your response.
So I'll continue...}}
 
Last night, while laying in bed, I was thinking about the book and how I am just not a fighter.
I think I would have just stepped off the circle before the games started and called it quits from there.

I was thinking about the arsenal of guns we own, and how I honestly don't think I could pull the trigger-- ending another human's life-- unless my children were in direct danger.
Not even for my husband, I don't think.
Or maybe so?
But still-- I would have to act on adrenaline alone... well... and maternal instinct.

[Don't tell my husband that I am saying such business about the fear of using our guns, it will just end with me at the range "getting more familiar with the pistols" and a "serious discussion" about the importance of being able to use the shot gun he bought me last year for home defense once I mentioned my stray bullet from the pistol missing and accidentally killing a neighbor.]

Almost my entire family is (or was) in law enforcement.
Beyond that, my brother is a concealed handgun instructor.
Between my husband, my brother, Lance's dad and brother, and both of my dads... we can lead a small army.
See, I was born into the ammunition... but I don't think I have the fight.

I can't hunt.
I can't climb trees.
I get cold just going into the garage-- much less sleeping in the rain.
I'm not athletic.
I would have died in the book.

I am certain.   

***
Okay, okay, okay....
just read it....

And then we can gush together.