Personal Survival Kit. And Man Crates.

Have you guys heard about Man Crates yet?  Man Crates is trying to become the ultimate resource of gifts for men.  I think their idea is brilliant.  It's like a gift basket full of awesomeness.  But delivered in a wooden crate.

With a crowbar to open it.

For example, the zombie survival kit for the Walking Dead enthusiast in your life?

I think the best bet for The Man would be the Slaughterhouse Crate.

Because, meat.

What else?

They have a ton of options and the fact that they have to be opened  with a crowbar has my brain thinking this is something I need to be ordering for The Man's birthday.

(Since I forsee Man Crates becoming huge, I'd like to steal a second of their time and suggest a crate for that motorcross, four-wheeling, razor riding enthusiast.  The type of which I have living at my house.)

Man Crates wanted to know what I would keep in my own personal survival kit.

I thought of 5 daily things I need to survive the schedule of working mom who's also going to school.

1. McD's Coke.  Say what you will about soda pop.  Say what you will about drinking said soda pop in a styrofoam cup.  This stuff is my happy place.  

An even happier place?  Make it a Dirty Coke from Sonic.

2. 3x5 index cards.  I know, that's a bit strange, but honestly, I use them for everything.

Weekly menu planning
Shopping lists
Flashcards for studying
Notes to kids' teachers
To Do lists
Lessons and talks in church
Devotional and Firesides even.  All written out in idea segments on 3x5 index cards.

Guys, I keep a small stack of them in my purse, just in case.

Take a solid look at this picture of the shopping list we have hanging on our magnet board for the kids to add items to as we run out.

Let me know when you see it.

I live in a house of comedians (And no, I'm talking about the fact that we apparently really need more ranch dressing).

3. Sunglasses.

The sunlight... it burns... it burns...

4. Younique 3-D Eyelashes.  It's like eyelash extensions in a mascara bottle.  And it washes off like regular mascara.  I don't leave the house without it.

Unless I've just had Lasik and am not allowed to wear it for a week, and let me tell you, that was a harsh week to make it through.

If you haven't yet, find yourself a consultant (google it, there are a million of them) and get yourself some of this stuff.

Better yet, if you want to order some, let me know and I'll get you hooked up with my consultant.  Seriously though.

5. A John Grisham book.

The man is a literary genius.  I don't care what you say.  Want to borrow one?  I own them all.  Luckily Grisham feels the need to publish a new book every single fall.

This makes Christmas shopping for me an easy task for The Man.

Speaking of easy Christmas shopping, I need to go place an order at Man Crates.

*Man Crates did contact me to write a personal survival kit post, but I did not receive anything for doing so.  My opinions and words are all my own.

5 a.m.

Is it just me or is this week going s... l.... o.... w...
as in I feel like I've had Wednesday twice already, but here we are, only on Wednesday.  Is it seriously only Wednesday?

I've been working a 4-10 schedule this week and it's killing me slowly.  Getting up at 5, being at work by 7, working through my lunch...

I find myself nodding off at my desk.

I used to work similar hours when I worked at Burt Bros, putting in more than 40 hours every week.  #64 on why I like my job.  I don't work hours like that anymore.

Except this week (of my own choosing so I can have Friday off without using any vacation time), and it's draining me.  Man alive, I'm sure going to appreciate the weekend... if it ever gets here...

As I turned off my alarm at the awful hour of 5 a.m., I noticed there were emails waiting for me, so as I stumbled through the dark to the bathroom for my shower, I opened them up.  If you have to get up at 5 a.m. you might as well do it with some exciting news, right?

Macy Robison had emailed me to let me know that I'd won her give away for this John Bytheway book:

and it's signed by John Bytheway himself. 
Since I love John Bytheway about as much as I love John Grisham, I did a little dance. 

Apparently if your name is John, and you're an author, I'm going to to love what you write.

Thank you Macy Robison for making my morning.

calico joe a novel

I fell in love with Grisham's writings with the first paperback novel that I purchased at a yard sale.  So I picked up a second one and found I was just as hooked.

I don't know what it is about Grisham's writings that get to me.  Perhaps it's his easy flow.  I never hit a dry spot in his novels.  With some author's all of their books "feel" the same.  If you've read one, you've read them all.  Not so with Grisham.  Each novel takes on it's own journey.  It's own twists, it's own story.  And they never end in the same way. 

I began to follow Grisham on facebook simply so I could be in the know easier about his upcoming book release dates.  Needless to say when I saw a post claiming "free books for 25 bloggers, just send an email" I was on it with baited breath.  I linked up this post I'd already written about John Grisham in an email (with all it's typo's and errors, cringe) and hoped against hope.  When I got the email saying I'd be getting a book I literally jumped up and down and did a little dance.  And then I sent a text off to The Man with at least ten exclamation points.

I'm in love with Calico Joe.

There, I said it.

I expected a light hearted book about the American past time, baseball.  And though it was centered around the game, it most certainly wasn't just a baseball book.  There was a depth to this book that I didn't expect at all.  It gave me chills, twice. 

When I read inspirational books I read with a pencil in hand.  Underlining things that touch me, that have an outside meaning to me, that catch me in the moment for my life.  I've never done this with a fictional novel.  Why would I?

My copy of Calico Joe has pencil in it.

How do I tell you about what's in this book with out telling you what's in this book?  I don't want to give any of it away and ruin the experience.  Because reading this book was an experience.

The characters grab you.  Paul and Joe.  Even Warren. 
It's about a boy, Paul, and not just the boy Paul, but the grown man Paul.

"When you get backhanded by your father, the pain lasts far longer than the bruises."
"He tipped his cap to me, and at that moment I realized how much I wanted to adore him."

By the end of Chapter 11 I had my first chills, the writing and story were so dead on.

This is a story about baseball.  But it's also a story about raw feelings.  Being enough, not being enough, and dealing with hard blows in life.

It's a story about second chances and "the restorative powers of forgiveness."  It's about the fact that being enough, might just be inside you after all.

Grisham has 29 books, including Calico Joe.  For years The Chamber has held out as my favorite... until now.  Calico Joe took me by surprise and when my daughter, who has decided along with me that Grisham is a "must read", asks me which book of his to read now, I'll be handing her this one. 


Read it.  Read it now. 
Or actually, read it on April 10th, that's when it goes on sale.


I did receive a free book in exchange for writing this blog post, but the opinion is 100% mine and true to how I feel.  Just ask anyone I know, I talk about Grisham all the time, and would have written this post even had I paid for the book on my own.

He doesn't know my birthday but...

West and I were watching my new addiction, The Vampire Diaries, last night. I found it on Netflix, decided to check it out, and now am utterly hooked. We were watching one of the first episodes where the character Damon makes fun of the Twilight series and then something was said about reading Grisham. I started to laugh simply because John Grisham is my favorite author of all times. It started years ago when I was big into yard sales. I started picking up his paperbacks for a quarter. From there I just started buying them from book stores and now... I own them all, and just buy them as he writes them. So I started to laugh at the line, but what really surprised me was when West stated, "Hey! That's your favorite author!" I was shocked. "You don't know when my birthday is but you know my favorite author?"
I had him there. He's not a man for details. And I know this. He knows my birthday is immediately around the time of the superbowl, so even though he doesn't follow football, he knows that when they start advertising the superbowl, it's time to start finding me a birthday present. It works. So to hear that he had my favorite author down... as far as I'm concerned, that's all the proof I need that the man loves me.