The BREAKDOWN by B. A. Paris

“If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?”

If you have read anything by B. A. Paris, you know that her new book The Breakdown, is going to be phenomenal. I loved her book, Behind Closed Doors, and wanted to read this one when I found out about the release.

with all B. A. Paris books and really any psychological thriller, you do not want to give to much information away to others.

All I will tell you, is that this book sucked me in! I started it one night to read about 4 chapters and did not want to stop.

The Breakdown is about Cass who passes a car in the middle of the night. she passes a when it was storming outside, not wanting to get wet or hurt in case it was a set up. it was dark, in the woods, winding rural road. when she passed the car, Cass saw that there was a women in the car who ends up being found dead. when she thinks back on the night, she doesn’t know why she is so upset. could she have helped her? what would have happened if it was a set up and someone was going to take her car? she could have been hurt or even murdered herself? her husband didn’t want her on that road and she did it anyways to save a couple of minutes.

every day since passing the car, Cass can not forget about the woman. she could have saved her, right?

every day that she thinks about the woman, Cass is forgetting other important things in her life. agreeing to buy a present for a friend, where she left her car, taking her medications, setting her alarm codes, and tons of other things.

but then the calls start coming. the calls that are silent.

 

New Happy Planner/budget planner

I’m an organizational freak. ok, I do slack off at times. I love to be crafty. I love bullet journaling. If you know about bullet journaling, a moleskin journal would make sense to you. that was what I was using and designing my layouts each week. I was getting so in depth in my layouts and putting so much time and effort that I was not even using them. gasp! it is bullet journaling problem #43! ok, I made that up. but it’s true!

I have so much bullet journaling supplies that I didn’t want to give it up entirely especially with work schedules, bills, kid stuff, selling thirty-one and just every day junk I needed help!

I recently bought a new planner from micheals on sale! I was drawn to the pretty flower cover

originally, I was not going to go with the predated planner but after looking this planner started in july, so I really only lost about a month.

each month has a overlook of the month page, a monthly spread, and then broken down into weeklies. below I inserted a slideshow !

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while at micheals I was tempted by the inserts that they have for happy planners. I found a budget one. in the budget packet, there is enough for about 6 months. each month comes with a monthly spread (prob wont use this really but I have to put it in for the other pages), expenses, monthly budget in a glance, bills, and finally a budget review page.  look below another slideshow!

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I have not wrote in it yet. I’m doing that today. yes, I know. i’m suppose to be writing down my tasks but I have been doing other things today on my day off!

do you plan? what do you use? are you simple or like a lot of design?

Kid reward system

Hey everyone! I know that I have been missing for the past couple of weeks but it has been a busy couple of weeks! we went boy scout camping, getting ready for school, and now on to the second week of school getting into a routine.

we don’t have issues with discipline or behavior to much… well ok, we have a 10 year old boy that is everything like his father! lol. he is a chatty kid and in school it tends to get him in trouble.

the fiancée and I talked about the kid and how we didn’t really want to give him an allowance for chores, grades, or doing good in school. don’t get me wrong, it shows kids how to manage money by reward and consequence. but how we saw it, we never were given an allowance because as a family you help out around the house, this including chores. we don’t want me to think about the chores as a punishment but what he does to contribute to the family.

I know a lot of people may or may not agree with this. my own mother doesn’t agree with it. she says he should have an allowance for chores and grades because then he sees what happens when he is good. I was like “Mom, I never got an allowance!!!”

so instead of rewarding with money we decided to do something different. I put together a couple containers that I bought from the dollar store. really everything came from the dollar store, I think I spent about $7.

what I bought at the dollar store was four containers, two packages of pom-poms and popsicle sticks that are colored.

we knew that the kid was getting points in school based on his behavior. if he was given a warning or points were taken away we were notified thru an app on our phone.

the kid likes to talk. he is a talker. its not really a disruptive talking per the teacher but more like he wants to help other kids and he talks. last week he was telling us that he was doing very well in school to come to find out that he is not… he was being warned every day because of the talking. we knew it was coming. we were hopeful it would not be a problem. the lying was the other big issue. he wasn’t telling us the truth. he knew that we might not know what is going on in school if we didn’t ask the teacher. what he didn’t know was that I was in contact with the teacher all week and I found out that no…he was not doing very well and continued to lie to his dad and I.

after a couple of days of looking into ways for discipline that would work for him we came up with a reward and consequence jars. each day he can get pom-poms from his dad or I.

pom-poms are rewarded with no warnings in school, no points taken away, chores done correctly with no reminders, no back talking, putting clothes away correctly, etc.

when he gains pom-poms, he can “cash” them in for popsicle sticks based on how many he has. each color of popsicle stick was assigned a number (red 160, orange 125, yellow 100, green 75, blue 50, purple 10). he can “cash” in any day or at the end of the week. we explained that if he waits he could gain all 160 pom-poms to gain a red popsicle. on each popsicle I have labeled rewards based on how many pom-poms and how long it could possibly take him to achieve them. the reds are worth more, some of the rewards are going out to movie and dinner, dinner to his place of choice, $10 to spend. the rewards go on from there. you can see in some of the pictures what I wrote on them.

we are hoping that doing this is showing him that when he is doing good in school as well as expectations around the house are done then he can benefit from them.

now, I don’t want you to think that he goes without. he does not. if we go to the store and he sees something that he would like to have, we buy it depending on the situation and if we think that he deserves it at that time. we will continue to do that but this gives him something special knowing that he did this because of his good actions. does that make sense? or only in my head??!

for bad behavior like warnings, points being taken away, not doing chores, back talking, lying, etc then he has a consequence jar. in the past couple of years, we had consequences for his actions and usually they lasted the rest of the night. he suffered and we suffered. if we had something planned then we couldn’t do it because we didn’t want him to think that we forgot about what he did, but then we started suffering and fighting.

this new thing that we are doing does not take away from the action that deserves a consequence. if we feel like a behavior deserves more than just one popsicle stick or more than just no tv but losing other things then we have that option. we are the parents after all! lol

instead of going on colors by severity of consequence I just wrote on plain popsicle sticks. I’m hoping that it gives him some kind of control over his action. instead of us telling him what is going to happen, he draws from the container to find out what happens.

I am hoping that this reward system works well and doesn’t come back to bite us in the butt!

have you ever done anything like this before for your kids?

anything that you can add or help me would be much appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my version of chicken tikki marsala

disclaimer: I have never cooked tikki marsala or ate it before. I’m sure the real version and not from a can is so much better. plus I’m not sure if I made it correctly.

to begin I cubed chicken breast. had about 3 lb all together.

diced up an onion and pepper.

coated the chicken with flour, pepper, and salt

cooked that until brown with the onions and pepper.

then I added the sauce…yes from a jar. I let that simmer until done.

I also served it with rice

it was good. a lot spicy then i was expecting. I told the guys it smells like pumpkin cooking. I wish we had places around here that has this meal available. I need to look into making it from scratch.

have you ever had this before ? do you like it ?

adventures of a curvy girl- get your butt in gear

hello everyone!

I have not been blogging very often in the past 3 weeks. I have been so busy with work, the kid, working out, getting ready for school, camping and life.

while I have been busy, my healthy eating has diminished. why? I have no idea. I feel like I’m not able to eat healthy because we have been so busy.

i also took a week off exercising due to boy scout camp for 4 days… which is an exercise in itself.

school is starting this week and I’ve been thinking I need to get the family on a schedule. a schedule not only to help get things done but one that I can easily follow.

my plan is to get back on track of doing body pump monday, Wednesday and Friday. I would love to do piloxing from 645 to 730 on Tuesday and Thursday but with the bf schedule and kid going back to school I’m not sure how this is going to be possible.

I know, I know sounds like excuses. I’m envious of families that do all kinds of things in the week including eating healthy and working out.

How do you do it ????

Lost and found sisters by Jill Shalvis

I was in need of a feel good romantic book after reading lots of dreary books.

lost and found sisters by Jill shalvis hit that category spot on.

Quinn Weller has everything, a loving family, the perfect job, and a boyfriend ready to marry her. but after losing her sister Beth, in a car accident two years ago, she hasn’t felt the same. she feels empty and that something Is missing in her life.

when a lawyer tracks her down to tell her that she is really adopted and that her mother passed away, she can not believe what she is hearing. she finds out that no only did her mother have brief contact with her but she left her an inheritance…and a sister.

Quinn leaves L.A for wildstone California to see her sister. along the way she finds comfort in a handsome and sexy guy. does she stay in wildstone and live outside her comfort zone or move back home?

if you are a fan of jill shalvis, colleen Hoover, Susan mallery and Kristin Higgins then you are going to love this book.

I read it in one day!

the child by fiona barton

if you have read *the widow* by fiona Barton, you will not want to miss *the child*.

this book has lots of twists and turns.

there is am old house in London that is being demolished that reveals bonys of a baby that was buried.

kate, the journalist, wants to give the child the attention she deserves and writes a story.

as she digs into the story, she finds out that there was a baby that was stolen from a maternity ward years ago.

the story gets deeper as she looks into stories and the people that live on the same street.

the plot ends up around 3 women with an even shocking ending.

returned…just to leave again

hello folks. I returned last week… and didn’t post for this week…and prob won’t post for another week.

it has been a crazy week. between working, family stuff, and just plain being busy I haven’t had any motivation to post.

I feel bad and I’m sorry for anyone that usually follows me.

starting tomorrow I’ll be gone for another week for boy scout resident camp.i won’t have connections to internet or phone for about 5 days.

then once I return it’s getting ready for school. it’s going to be a crazy couple of weeks.

Adventures of a curvy girl: program by design at YMCA

Do you go to the YMCA? I joined a couple of weeks ago when I found out that I could do it through work. Do you go to the gym and do your own routine? or do the group classes?

I was going upstairs to the gym where the equipment is and doing my own thing. then I found a couple classes that basically make up my cardio and strength training.

one of the benefits of the YMCA is the program called “program by design.” I have not been to other gyms, but I’m sure they have something similar to this. basically, it is a free service provided by the y from one of the trainers.

today, I had my first meeting with one of the trainers. he meet with me and we discussed what I wanted to get out of the exercising and how he could help me get there. I am a very organized person that needs things wrote down for me and a plan. I like my plans. Ok, I love plans and I stick with plans.

I basically told him that I need something very detailed and options. if I continue to go to my piloxing class and strength training class I shouldn’t need to go upstairs to the gym. but life gets in the way sometimes and I don’t always make it to a class. instead of saying oh well… and never returning (which I have done). I want options. if I don’t go to strength training what equipment could I use upstairs and how many repetitions. if I don’t do piloxing, then I could do treadmill interval training, walking, swimming, or cycling. options are better than anything.

I was very satisfied with the outcome of the meeting today. the trainer was very nice and very informed about what to do. he took in to consideration that I have a life and a family, that going to the gym every day sometimes isn’t possible.

the first meeting is basically to go over everything that I want for a program to stay fit. the next meeting (next Wednesday), is to go over the design that he has made out for me with my options. I am looking forward to seeing what he has designed for me.

 

have you every had this done, an exercise plan designed for you?

did you enjoy it?

get bored?

my biggest fear is that I won’t like it and I will be disappointed in myself when I don‘t follow it.

library haul 04

my addiction for books has gotten me into trouble !

I went online to renew my books yesterday and my fines were up to 15.75! I have a book that has been racking up fines since July 7th. called the library immediately to see when they closed. I had 30 minutes to get there.

rushed around and found books that I needed to return.

went to pay my fines…and got more books. even when I have about 10 sitting here to read lol

the sunshine sisters by jane green

Ronni sunshine is known in Hollywood as a star. she was never a star at home but pushed her three daughters away. they each went off on their own path in life. ronni calls them home to spend time with her due to an illness.

every last lie by Mary kubica

Clara’ s life is disrupted when her husband and daughter are in a accident, taking her husband’s life. her life gets messy when her daughter starts having nightmares about the night. when Clara starts looking into the accident she finds out there was more to it then an accident.

secrets in summer by Nancy Thayer

every year visitors flock to Nantucket for the summer. Darcy looks forward to meeting her new neighbors each year that blossom into friendships. this year, her neighbors are not only someone she knows but does not look forward to seeing, her ex husband and his family. while dealing with them she is juggling two different romances along with other neighbors she has met.

secrets of the tulip sisters by Susan mallery

Kelly and Olivia have never been close. Kelly is a tulip farmer that has a pretty predictable life. her life is thrown for a curve ball when her sister returns home and a man that sets his sights on kelly.

I’m excited to read these books but I need to finis up some of my other ones!