Back to school blues

It's only the second week back to school for me and it's already kicking my ass. I spent 8 hours yesterday trying to construct 3D models of various atoms, bonds, and compounds for my biology class. Yes that's right, I said biology. Why are we doing chemistry the second week of biology? That is a great question. I would like to know that myself. My models ended up looking like something a preschooler could have put together but I'm telling you, it looks easier than it is! Not to mention I'm one of the most least crafty people on the planet, this is just not my forte. Here are some pictures of my lovely art work so you and I, and all the people in your office can have a good laugh.

This is a chlorine atom.  

This is suppose to be sodium chloride. 

There was an upside to my grueling friday however, I received a package from Fedex! I have been wanting a pair of aviator sunglasses for ever and I happened to stumble upon a pair of Steve Madden aviators for a mere $40 while ordering my make-up from Dillards. I though,  "eh, why not?". Anyway, I love them! What do you think?

This was suppose to be my serious police officer face lol. 

I think they're cute! Have a great weekend! 

It's a hard knock life.

The hardest thing about blogging is coming up with interesting things to blog about. No one cares if you have a crap day or if your kids are driving you up the wall. I really wanted this to be a productive blog. A blog about things I do, things I see, things I experience, things I try, etc. It's come to my attention that I am quite boring and rarely do I venture out.

That time of year has come around again, back to school that is. My husband is a full time student, working on his bachelors degree. I am a full time student trying working on my associates degree, and my son is a full time Kindergartener this year. Also my daughter is in ballet, my son is in t ball and both kids are doing AWANAs through our church. It's busy and I love it!

I'm so excited for the weather to change. It's like having a fresh start. Pulling out your fall wardrobe and putting away your summer stuff. The fresh, crisp fall air. All the festivals, hay rides, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and build up to the holidays.

Stay classy San Diego.

I'm now officially ready to bust out my fall wardrobe!

Summer was fun but I'm looking forward to fall. Skinny jeans, comfy sweaters, and BOOTS! Bring on the boots.

Steve Madden made the perfect fall boot when he came up with the "Intyce" style. I saw them on piperlime and instantly knew they had to be mine! I've never ordered from piperlime before but the free shipping and free returns policy sucked me in. I placed my order on Saturday and I received it on that Wednesday. So piperlime gets ✭✭✭✭✭ stars on quick delivery. Also, it was beautifully packaged. The box was delicately wrapped in tissue paper and included a thank you card from piperlime and a shopping bag.

  The reviews on piperlime were extremely helpful. Everyone suggested going up a half size so that is what I did and I'm glad because they fit perfectly! The leather is really soft and I love the color. They're beautiful and I can't wait to wear them this fall!

The moral of my story is not only am I all set for cooler weather, I will most definitely be ordering from piperlime in the near future.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I am a member of a social networking site called Cafemom. It's where mom's can chat with each other about life, love, and family : ) Cafemom is always having contests an giving away prizes. They are sponsored by hundreds of companies who give people products to test out and share how they felt about them.




I was fortunate enough to win a Samsung Galaxy Tab in a sweepstakes from Cafemom! It is small, thin, and super versatile! I'm going to be able to ditch my old planner and put everything on my new tab. The calendar feature is really easy to use. Just plug in what you've got going on and the time and voila! It has a camera, video chat, apps, contact list, web, video, music, and pretty much anything you can think of. You can read books on it, shop online, you can do pretty much everything on it. The screen is nice and big and super clear. Everything is in high def!

                                                   WOO HOO!

Mediocre Milly

I have been going back and forth on what I want this blog to be. At first I was going to have it be about all the things I attempted to do. I am a self proclaimed Mediocre Milly. What is a Mediocre Milly you might ask? It means I can do pretty much everything but I'm not great at any of it. I was going to put together a series of projects I attempted to do and see what came out shining and what totally bombed. While I still may do that, I think I'm going to add in everything in between. This blog is going to be one big smorgasbord. My life, my interests, my projects, my wardrobe, great bargains, home decorating, family, and friends. EVERYTHING! I hope to peek some interests along the way.

The hubby and I hit up a local winery today, Oak Crest Winery. We had a wine tasting and selected a couple of gems.

Cannon Ridge Red is a special edition wine. It was created especially for the anniversary of the cilvil war. It is a very smooth merlot. Absolutely delicious. One of a kind!

The second one we picked up is called Symphony. They have a sweet version and a dry version of symphony. We choose the sweet. It's a dessert wine that has a floral fragrance, is very smooth and just the right amount of sweet. YUM!

Here is a link to the winery's website if you're interested.

I am drinking the Cannon Ridge Red tonight.

Summer Reading List

I am an avid reader and when I'm not busy with school I like to indulge in as many books as I can. Here is a list of the books I've read so far this summer and a short, simple review.

The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
★★★★☆

This book was a very fun read. It's a story of a young man, Denny and his trials and tribulations with family and work. Denny is an upcoming race car driver who has to deal with balancing his family and his dream, the loss of his wife, and a heart wrenching custody battle for his little girl. The story is narrated by Denny's dog Enzo, who feels he is more human than dog. This book will make you think, cry, and laugh out loud. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Water for Elephants

Sara Gruen

★★★★★

I LOVED this book! It takes you back in time (the 1930's) to when the circus traveled by train across the country. The story is told from two perspectives. The first from a young, nearly veterinarian in his early 20's who lost everything and joined the circus, caring for the animals. The second from a grouchy old man, stuck in a nursing home and hating every minute of it. Although this book is fiction, Gruen did extensive research on the circus of this era and many of the situations that occur in the book are stories from people who actually experienced working for the circus in the 1930's. This is a love story and an interesting insight to how difficult it was to work in a circus, especially if you weren't in the show. I highly recommend this book! 5 out of 5 stars! 

Room

Emma  Donoghue 

★★★★☆

Apparently I love books with unusual narrators. Room is narrated by a 5 year old boy, Jack. Jack lives in Room with Ma. At first this book is a little difficult to read. Jack sometimes doesn't use pronouns or adverbs. Instead of "the" room or "a" room, it's written as "room". Jack's Ma is being held captive by "Old Nick". They live in a shed in Old Nick's backyard which is what they call "room". This book is about what it is like for them to live in such a small world and what happens when their world expands. This book is very tastefully written and although the subject matter is a little tough, it isn't one of those books that constantly makes you cringe. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Flowers in the Attic

Virginia Andrews

★★★☆☆

I read this book after I read Room because in a interview at the end of the book Room Donoghue references Flowers in the Attic. This book was very hard for me to read. The book is narrated by the oldest girl, Cathy. Cathy has a very happy family life. Mother, Father, older brother Chris and younger twin siblings Corey and Carrie. After Father dies, Mother whisks the family off to live with their rich Grandparents in hopes of mending a broken relationship and getting back into the will. The dying Grandfather does not know about the children and cannot know about the children because if he finds out, he will definitely not put his daughter back in the will. The children must hide at their Grandparents house in a small room with an attached attic. Although their Mother assures them they will not be trapped in that room for long, as the weeks turn to months and the months turn to years they begin to realize they may never get out. I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Something Borrowed

Emily Griffin 

★★★★☆

I am always a fan of reading books they turn into movies. I have seen this book on the shelves for years but it wasn't until I saw the previews for the movie that I decided to give it a try. This story is about a girl (Rachel) who is very smart but very forgettable. Her best friend (Darcy) is one of those girls every guy wants to date and every girl wants to be. Rachel has her life all mapped out. She went to law school, got her degree, and is working at a firm she hates. Her life starts to slip off track at her birthday party when Darcy's fiancée (a guy she went to law school with) goes home with her. Rachel thinks it was just one big mistake but Dex, Darcy's fiancée, makes it clear that for him, it wasn't a mistake. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It is funny, witty, and very entertaining. 

A Stolen Life: A Memoir 

Jaycee Dugard

★★☆☆☆

I choose this book mainly because of the hype. I think it is terrible what Jaycee Dugard went though and I really wanted to hear what she had to say about it. Her story is touching but it wasn't a great read. Her life literally was stollen from her when she was 11 years old and she spend 18 years doing absolutely nothing in her captor's backyard. Her life soon revolved around animals and her children. I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

★★★★☆

The Hunger Games is set in the future. There was a world war that divided the world into districts. Everyone is very poor and it kind of has a "Big Brother is watching you" feel to it. There are strict rules that must be followed by each district or the "Capitol" will punish you. When the children of the districts turn 12, and every year thereafter until they are 18, their name gets dropped into a raffle. A boy and a girl from each district is chosen from the raffle drawling to fight in the hunger games. The children must fight each other to the death until only one person remains. The story is about what it is like to live in this time and experience fighting in the hunger games. It is hard to write a review for this book without giving to much away. It's a great book and a three part series. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. 

The Help

Kathryn Stockett

★★★★☆

I really enjoyed reading this book. This is another one that I've seen on the shelves but didn't buy until I saw the previews for the movie. The story was a great one. It tells what it was like to be a woman in the early to mid 1960's. This books has many perspectives and really tells a great story. I would have given this book 5 out of 5 stars had it not been for the ended. It wasn't that I didn't like what happened in the end, I just felt like the author had a solid story the whole way through the book and it felt like at the end of the book she kind of gave up and got lazy. It didn't feel as strong towards the end of the book. I do recommend reading this book and I am excited to see the movie... when it comes out on DVD. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

I hope you like my extremely amateur book reviews and if you have any suggestions for my next summer read I would love to hear it! Also I would love to hear other peoples opinions of the books on my list so if you have read any of these books, tell me your thoughts. 

Baking Bread

My first attempt is baking bread. I've never baked bread before because it's very intimidating. When I think of yeast and kneading my head starts to spin. There are so many things that can go wrong while attempting this but what the hey, let's give it a try. There is nothing more delicious than fresh baked bread.

I pulled this recipe out of my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. If all goes well my bread should look something like this:

Better Homes and Gardens
White Bread

•  5 ¾  to 6 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 ¼ cups milk 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 ½ cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt just until warm and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

(here is my bread at this point)

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Kneed in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double in size (45 to 60 minutes)

(Kneading the bread did not turn out to be as scary as I thought it would. You push the bread out, away from you and then fold it over towards you and push back out while turning the dough. It was pretty easy.)

(To let the dough rise, I put a bowl of very warm water on the bottom rack of the oven and my dough on the top rack of the oven. I waited for an hour and this is what my dough looked like when the timer went off.)

3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease two 8×4×2 inch loaf pans.

(I only had one proper loaf pan so I had to wait until one loaf was completely done before I made the other loaf.)

4. Shape each dough half into a loaf by patting or rolling.
( I had to look on youtube how to shape bread into a loaf and found this very simple video.Thank you heavenly homemakers)

(This is what my bread looked like after I shaped it and put it into my greased pan and let it rise.)

5. Place shaped dough halves in the prepared pans, seam sides down. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (about 30 minutes).

6. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. (If necessary, cover loosely with foil for the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking to prevent over browning.) Immediately remove bread from pans. Cool on wire racks completely.

(I did put foil over my bread for the last 10 minutes of baking and my bread turned out beautifully.)

My whole family loved it and in the morning we are going to have french toast! YUM!

WOO HOO! I can make bread! Who knew?