Comic Book Review: Rex Zombie Killer

Yay, another zombie book! I know that's what you're thinking and honestly, I thought it too. Zombies are the new vampires and honestly, I'd rather have sparkly vampires. Now, before you throw stones or glitter at me, at least let me finish this review.

Rex isn't like any other zombie story out there. It isn't about yet another group of people holed up somewhere shooting zombies in the head in the hopes to survive. Rex is all about a group of animals, including a baseball bat wielding gorilla, making their way across the country. Their goal? Safety and maybe a new home. Their challenges? Zombies (duh!) and the scum of the Earth that somehow always survives these things.

Before you know it, you'll be falling in love with the characters and if you're anything like me, cheering them out loud as they face one challenge after another. It's true. If you'd been in my bedroom while I was reading this, you'd have heard me muttering go Buttercup..go...Of course, after that, I'd probably have screamed to find you standing in my bedroom, but let's move on from that, shall we?

These guys here are the ones you'll be falling for before you know it. You'll be cheering them on and then looking at your own pets just a little bit closer. This double-sized, 56-page one-shot ships in April at a special price of only $3.50, and will be available for pre-order in the February 2012 Diamond PREVIEWS catalog. (Order Code: FEB12 0806)  It is rated TEEN+ for mature themes and violence, however, I can tell you that my 11 year old read the first few pages of this and is just waiting for me to hand over the laptop long enough for him to read the rest. It's one of those books that you need to read for yourself and then decide if your child is ready for it. Additional one shots are planned for the future and I can't wait to get my fingers on them!



I was provided with a digital preview copy of this book. As always, all comments, thoughts, and ramblings are 100% my own. Thank you to Big Dog Ink and Rob Anderson for the use of the photos included in this review.

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Tackle It Tuesday : Clean Life Challenge Week 6

I know I say this practically every week, but where the heck did last week go? Well, for me, it went curled up in bed as much as possible. Yep, I came down with some sort of stomach bug and it laid me out. I did manage to get last week's challenge done though! Ok, it's mostly done. Let me show you the after pictures and then, I'll fill you in.

Doesn't that look so much better? I say it's not done because I have a few more things that I want to do. First, I want to put labels on those two small totes. The bottom one holds spare cables that I keep finding. Eventually, I'll get those matched up to their devices and that will only hold extra cables. The top one holds things for the cats, like combs and such.  I also want to get rid of that second misc bin. Right now, it holds tools that I find laying around the house. I do have a tool box somewhere and as soon as I track that down, it will go into the laundry room and the tools will be placed in that. The only other thing I want to do is add to that grey case there. By add to it, I mean stack other things on top of it. I have a variety of small cases that hold nails, screws, etc and I want them to be all stacked up there. That will happen as I find them.

Now, for this week's challenge..We're going back into our bedrooms and we're going to tackle one of our nightstands. Now, for you overachievers out there who tackled your nightstands when we did the top of the dresser, don't think you get an off week. Nope! Instead, I want you to go back through the 5 areas that we've already covered and make sure that they're still yay locations in your home. Easy enough, right?

Here's what I have to tackle this week..if you're squeamish at all, I suggest you stop reading right now...

Horrible, right? Yes, that's a Halloween pumpkin sitting on the night stand. I have no idea why it's there unless it's there to hold up that cereal bowl. Yeesh!

Ok all, I'm off to tackle the world, but I can't wait to read your posts and see your before/after pictures. Remember to post your links here or pop over to our Facebook group and join us there. :)


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Menu Plan Monday

I hereby announce that I will not be menu planning this week. I actually did manage to cook twice last week. Neither time was it something on my menu. The big part of this was because I came down with a stomach bug that held on most of the week. Cooking a meal for just me wasn't happening, I'm afraid. This week has the feel of chaos already so I'm just going to wing it. I promise I'm not giving up on this forever, just for this week. Next week, Justin will be in town so there will be more winging it as we try to get things done, enjoy our time together and just be a together couple. I do love the together times.

So, for now, sit back, relax and wait for my next post regarding non meal planning topics. ;)



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2012 Reading Challenge

Just before the first of the year, Justin and I got to talking about ebooks and he asked me how many I had on the iPad. The honest to goodness truth is, I haven't the first clue. I have both iBooks and the Kindle app on there and between the two, it's probably well over 1,000. Typically amused by my never ending pile of reading material, Justin has challenged me to read through all of the books in iBooks before the end of 2012. Out of my ever loving mind, I took him up on the challenge. The only way I can get out of reading the book is if I've already read the iBooks version.  Keep your eyes open as I (probably semi-frequently) keep an updated list of the books I've read so far:

4.50 From Paddington
The A B C Murders
After the Funeral
And Then There Were None
Appointment With Death
At Bertram's Hotel
The Big Four
Black Coffee
The Body in the Library
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
Cards on the Table
A Caribbean Mystery
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Clocks
Crooked House
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Hickory Dickory Dock
Lord Edgeware Dies
Mrs. McGinty's Dead
Murder in Mesopotamia
Murder on the Orient Express
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
The Peril at End House
A Pocket Full of Rye



First posted 1/15
Updated: 2/5

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Tackle It Tuesday : Clean Life Challenge Week 5

Sometimes life gets busy and that's why I'm so thankful for this challenge. Yes, I know that it's my challenge and I wrote it all up, but I'm thankful that when I had the time, I took the time to do it. It means that no matter what else happens, I have one task that I make sure gets done every week. I intentionally chose tasks that shouldn't take days to get accomplished. Because of that, I can present to you, my finished bathroom drawer:

There it is! All tidied and organized. You might remember that I had those little bins in there before. The problem was that they kept sliding around and then when the kids would slam the drawer shut, as kids do, they'd even fall over sometimes. This week, I took thirty seconds and fixed that problem.

Yep! I velcroed those suckers right to the bottom of the drawer. Now, they're stable but if I ever wanted to remove them or move them, it's no big deal. I'm still on the lookout for the right sized container to stick into the back of the drawer to hold extra vitamins and things that are only used once in a while.

Once I finished that, I scooted into our laundry room to snap my before picture for the new challenge. This week, we'll be going into our laundry rooms, storage centers or hall closets. We're going to tackle one shelf and get it cleaned off, cleared out of junk and spiffied up with only things we need, use and love. For me, this one is going to be a challenge. I haven't even looked at this shelf since we moved in nearly 3 years ago. I think I want to use it to store household tools and extra cleaning products, but I'm not 100% sure yet. Guess it's a good thing I have a week to figure it out, huh?

My shelf is so long that I had to take 2 before shots. Here they are:

Look at the variety of items on those shelves! I see playdough, litter box liners, pieces to my vacuum and who knows what else. Sheesh! I think it was more than time for this challenge to roll around. What do you guys think?



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Menu Plan Monday

Wow, it's Monday again. I don't even know where the last week went. It seems I was just sitting down to add this part back into my routine and suddenly..wooosh! The entire week is gone. Well, I have some bad news to report. While I made up that delicious menu, I didn't cook a single thing off of it. Not one thing. I have perfectly reasonable reasons excuses why that is. Let's see...
Monday - No milk
Tuesday - Didn't feel good
Wednesday - Went out for Roger's birthday
Thursday - ???
Friday - Picked up pizza for Roger's actual birthday
Saturday - Kids pushed some buttons and we were busy..before I knew it, it was late & Justin saved my butt by ordering dinner
Sunday - Wasn't feeling super hot so just had some fruit & a sandwich for dinner.

Nice job, huh? Geez. I guess the fact that I made the menu plan is a step in the right direction but I think I need to make a firmer step. Maybe this week I'll manage to cook 2 of the 7 means, huh? Life is slowly coming back together and I have to remind myself that slower is better right now. If I keep it slow, I keep it manageable while I build new routines and habits. Now, since I did nothing off of last week's menu...here it is again! I am making a few changes since I won't have the boys this weekend and we don't have a birthday to celebrate.

Monday - Mac n Cheese (with tuna/peas)
Tuesday - Salt n Pepper Pork Chops w/ salad
Wednesday - White Cheddar Chicken Pasta
Thursday - Easy Peasy Calzones
Friday - Grilled Ham & Cheese
Saturday - Pizza
Sunday - Baked BBQ Chicken w/ Salad & Garlic Smashed Potatoes




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Guest Post: Mamavation Support

My name is Andrea Emilien.  I am a 37 year old happily married woman with gets to be a stay-at-home-Mom to my two kids.  I am also a best friend, daughter, sister.....and a binge eater. 

Yes, that's right.  I'm a binge eater. 

For years, and I mean like 25+ years, I've kept this hidden.  From my parents, from my best friend of 20 years, from my husband.  No one knew because that was what I wanted.  But I have come out of the closet so that I can be a better person, a healthier person.  And so I can fix me.

Since I've had kids, it has always been about them - what they need.  I think all Moms do the same thing.  We put ourselves on the back burner for our families.  But I can't do that anymore.  Taking care of myself IS taking care of my family.  If I am not healthy, how can I show my kids to be healthy?  How can I be the role model that I should be for them?

My inspiration and motivation is a little selfish too - I don't want my kids to ever be embarrassed by me.  I don't want to be the fat Mom, the Mom that my son or daughter doesn't want to be seen with.  The hardest thing I have ever done was to not cry when my daughter saw a diet pill commercial and turned to me and said "Mommy, you need those pills so you can be skinny too." 

For this reason, I am applying to be a Mamavation Mom.

What the heck is a Mamavation Mom??  It's a 7-week online boot camp where two Mom's lives are put on public display.  They learn basic and essential skills from professionals while sharing their struggles and tribulations with the Mamavation community.  The goal is to start the path to healthy living so they can then in turn pass along the information they learn to their families and stop the obesity trend. 

I've completely changed my lifestyle.  I'm working hard to be a better role model.  My kids and I exercise together.  We are all eating better.  I've gone to a gluten-free, lactose-free and egg-free diet and I feel so much better!!  I've been working hard to make this change for my family and I would love to be able to benefit from the further instruction of the Mamavation leaders and the professionals who give their time for the campaign.  I also want to inspire other Mothers like me who feel trapped in their body with their own secrets.  I want my public fight with obesity to be something others can look to and feel like they have a chance also.

Please, take a minute to consider my story and my intentions.  I would love your vote for Mamavation Mom.  You can watch my video and vote HERE. 

Want to connect?  I am friendly.  :)  You can find me on Facebook or Twitter.  I love new friends!!

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Hi all! Andrea is just one of the incredible women that I've met through Mamavation. I would encourage all of you to jump right in there and vote for her and this life changing process.



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