City of Ember Series.

I guess I will start us of with what I am reading. I am reading The Diamond of Darkhold which is the 4th book in the City of Ember Series by Jeanne DuPra. I started reading this series because of my youngest Kyle. When he was in the the 8th grade his class read The City of Ember. I have felt the easiest way to help my children with book reports or to understand the book is if I have read the book. I enjoyed the first book. The premise is that there is a city that is built under ground and I is slowly dieing. The food supplies, electricity ... is running out. It is interesting because this city has been self sufficient for over a hundred years because of rules. Everything had it purpose, everyone had their jobs and every one did what they needed to help the city survive. There is so much more to the book. I highly recommend it for preteens. It really gives them an idea of what it means to be an individual as well as part of a community. The second book, The People of Sparks goes on after the people of Ember find a way out of underground and are in a post disaster era. This book really helps show the dynamic of getting along and being an understanding person. I really not doing the series justice. It really makes you think. I just finished the 3rd book, Prophet of Yonwood. Oh my goodness! This one is deep. The first thing that annoyed me is, I don't like it when you are in the series and all of the sudden there is a time warp and you go back in time before the other books. I understand it is a tool to fill in the blank but really I missed the Lina and Doon. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I did not want to go back in time first and learn about how simple mis-understandings can cause problems. I understand what this book is trying to make you think about but when the busy body announced that everyone needed to get rid of their dogs because we should give all of our love to God and the dogs were keeping us from from doing good. I was mad. But it all worked out in the end and the dogs got to come home. So that brings me back to the 4th book. So far it is good. I will fill you in when I am finished.

Getting to know Diana!

So it is my turn to share a little about myself. You will learn quickly that I am not as photogenic as Jennifer and I may not be as articulate. I think Jennifer explained our situation very well. I think it will be very interesting for us to continue our conversations about books in this medium. I agree that because of our different experiences and common interests we can see different sides of the story and sometimes we agree 100%.( We will never agree on Edward and Jacob.) We come from two totally different backgrounds, we both share January birthdays, we were born in the same decade however on opposite ends, we both love crafts, we both married military men, she works with children and I am bombarded daily with the drama of children. That is just a few things about us. So now I will answer the same questions that Jen did and you will definitely be able to tell who is older, especially it you are blind and can't tell by the pictures.

• Who was your favorite celebrity as a child? Lief Garret. I had all of his cards that you got out of teen magazines.


• What type of pets do you have? I have two dogs, Brownie and Fluffy.


• What is your favorite color? Green, because it's not easy being green.


• What is most memorable about your high school years? Not much, I just tried to blend in and get by.


• What word best describes you? Conundrum


• What is your greatest accomplishment? I could say my kids but they are a work in progress. I could say my marriage but once again a work in progress. I think that my biggest accomplishment is that I am still here, I still get up every morning and I give 110% of myself to everything that is important to me.


• What drives you every day? What drives me is the fact that there is more for me to do.


• What is your favorite food? I am torn on this one. If you look at my picture, food is my friend. I can eat shrimp all day.


• Where do you want to retire? Any where on a nice beach.


• What is your business goal for this year? Going a different way, my goal is to learn to mind my own business and not to put my self out there as much.


• Where do you vacation? Our vacations are usually to visit family. We like going to Maine.


• Who do you admire? I admire those who put others before themselves.


• What is your mission? As soon as I find Captain Picard, I will let you know.


• If you were invisible where would you go? I would go to a Boston game and mess with the players. This in turn would really mess with my husband.


• What traits are you attracted to in others? Selflessness, genuine, honest, generous.


• What was the kindest thing anyone has done for you? Listened


• How do you want to be remembered? Not sure. I know how I don't want to be remembered, Wow she really knew how to screw things up.


• What would you do with a million dollars? Pay off debt and invest for my children's futures.


• If you were on an island, who would you want to be with?Why? Jennifer, because she can motivate me to do just about anything.


• You have a 10 minute speech to give at a high school, what is it about? Get over yourself. It is not all about you. There is life beyond this building.

Getting to know...Jennifer

I thought it would be fun to answer some random questions!  Maybe Diana will join me and answer the same ones too!

• Who was your favorite celebrity as a child?  My favorite celebrity as a child was Kirk Cameron.  I adored him!
• What type of pets do you have? I have a dog, a Westie named Tessie.  She is ADORABLE!
• What is your favorite color? Blue
• What is most memorable about your high school years? Probably all the time I spent in Colorguard.
• What word describes you best? I hate this question...really?  One word to describe me?  How about...indecisive?
• What is your greatest accomplishment? Finding love
• What drives you every day? The idea that I can choose my dreams and whether they are fulfilled.
• What is your favorite food? A good hamburger and fries!
• Where do you want to retire? Hmm...Ireland would be nice.
• What is your business goal this year? Hahahahahahaha...to start one. :)
• Where do you like to vacation? I would love to go back to London.  But, typically, anywhere where family is.
• Who do you admire? All men and women in the military
• What is your mission? To be content.
• If you were invisible, where would you go?  To a bank vault.  Just keeping it real. 
• What traits in others are you attracted to? Kindness, humor, and generosity
• What is the kindest thing anyone has done for you? Picked me up when I needed a friend.
• How do you want to be remembered? As a sweet person who lived a great life.
• What would you do with a million dollars? Pay off debt.
• If you were on an island, who would you want to be with? Why? Diana, because she knows how to cook and makes life fun!
• You have a 10 minute speech to give at a high school, what is it about? That everything you worry about in high school won't matter in 10 years.  Heck, even 2 years.

Here we are!

Hi There!

Diana and I (Jennifer) got the idea to start this blog for several reasons.  Buckle your seatbelt!

1) We are best friends.  We met in Texas through our husbands who were in the army.  We have been through a deployment together.  Diana has saved my life in more ways than she will ever know.  (I know...awwww.)  She was even at my wedding and allowed her boys to get dressed up in tuxes to stand by us. :)  After our husbands were out of the army, we continued to be together nearly every weekend at her house.  We would chat in the kitchen about everything (GOSH, I miss those days) and endure the silliness that comes from Ryan and Marty and the boys.  Well, lo and behold, life changes, and Ryan got a great opportunity for school and that landed us in North Carolina.  So,                                                               there's the separated by miles.

2)  We have kind of known all along that we both like to read, and would discuss books from time to time. We like the same kinds of books, and they are generally all different kinds.  There really isn't anything we won't attempt to read.  Some of our books are geeky, some are popular, and some are just great reads.  We started recommending books to each other and then would talk about them.  One really cool thing about us though, is the fact that sometimes we read the EXACT same book and see entirely different people.  I love that.  Case in point.  The Twilight Series.  Diana is Team Jacob, all the way.  I am Team Edward, all the way.  While the popular world has merchandise that advertises that very fact that some people would be for one over the other, Diana and I find it very interesting that we are reading the exact same story, but see totally different things.  I think we would both agree that it is our life experience and what our personalities tend to be.  So, I find that very neat to read the same thing, and get totally different views.  So, there's the joined by books.

3) Starting in April, lasting all the way until October, Diana and I become baseball widows.  Red Sox baseball widows to be exact.  Every game, Ryan and Marty talk through the entire game, so Diana and I thought we needed something to connect us too.  So, there's the blog and the baseball background :)

We plan on giving book reviews on this blog, with maybe an occasional movie review if it comes from a book.  But, everything is book related.  We read all kinds from kids' books to chick lit to mysteries to serious books.  We might add a craft blog here and there, since we both love to do crafts as well!