It's been CRAY-ZEE around here

Seriously though...insane!  I have been busy, but the kids have been especially nuts this week.  To the point that I want to send them somewhere for about 2 weeks just so I can have a little peace and quiet.  I should say that it's just the boys, Bailey is pretty quiet unless the boys are messing with her.

I have been staying up way too late at night reading and then having trouble sleeping once I do go to bed   I am so lucky to have kids that wake up at the crack of dawn and can't be quiet even though they are WAY too old to still be loud when they wake up....that way totally sarcastic and 100% true!

I have been working, sewing again.  It's nice to have a little extra money, but the stress that comes with offering a custom service is still there.  I don't care for that at all, that's why this will just be a summer gig.  I will take my last orders probably the 2nd week of July, so if you want anything make sure you get it ordered before then.  I start my new job on August 15th and I don't want to have any orders unshipped at that point. I am shooting for having everything shipped at least a week prior to my starting school again.

I have been working hard on my other blog, my book review blog {Dive} Under the Cover.  I have been working on getting it out there and getting more views and followers.  I am finding that numbers are pretty important to publishers when it comes to who they pick to receive ARC's of their books.  Right now I am just trying to build it up.  I am not really actively seeking out books.  I have had a couple that I really would like to review that I have taken a chance on, but haven't had to much luck.  I am okay with that really, since I am just starting out I don't expect to get any.  I am hoping that by building up my following and by posting regular, what I consider nice quality, reviews I will be someone that they will look at in the future.  That said, I have had a couple of authors actually contact me about reviewing their books and that's super awesome as far as I am concerned!  I am broadening my reading scope and reviewing some books that I may not have come across otherwise.

Speaking of books, I got this is the mail today...how awesome is this?!!

 This is my very first signed book and I was pretty excited when I saw that envelope in my mailbox today.

I am going to have to buy a new bookshelf for all the books I am going to be getting!

I am off to get the kids in their rooms so I can watch Pretty Little Liars from last night and then maybe catch some Mad Med before I head off to bed to read a little.

Obsessed...who me??!

After this week I think that I need to do a post about obsession.  If you have been reading my blog for very long or you know me, either personally or online you know that I tend to get obsessed about things, people, etc...!!  So, I am going to give you a little picture of the things that I am obsessed with lately!

Let me preface this section by saying that I have tended toward Paranormal/Romance books for about 5 years now, maybe longer.  Ever since I discovered Twilight, which was the spring that they first started working on the first movie.  Before that I read primarily Historical Romance.  I will also tell you that I am a bit of a follower, so if a bunch of my friends are reading something, I want to read it too.  They may not be personal friends either, in fact it wasn't until I had read the Twilight series several times that I was able to convince some of my friends to read it.  Most of my recommendations come from Facebook Friends.  So that's how I got into this whole genre.  I have strayed from it here and there to read some contemporary romance, murder mystery, things like that, then came the Fifty Shades series...  I devoured those books in less than 4 days, and for about a week I had a really hard time finding something that I could get into at all.  It was literally a fluke that I found South of Bixby Bridge by Ryan Winfield.  You can read my review of the book on my other website.  It was one of those facebook ads that says "if you like Fifty Shades of Grey, you will like this book", so of course I had to check it out!  I read some reviews, checked it out on Goodreads and saw this picture on Ryan's Author Profile page and I thought to myself, "if that is the author in the picture, I will read anything he writes".  You all know how shallow I am about things like that!!  So I bought the book on Amazon, read it in a matter of days, it would have been way less time if it hadn't been over the weekend, because I didn't want to put it down.  Long story short...you can read my review if you want to know what I thought of the book beyond that I enjoyed it very much!

The obsession comes in here...I posted my review on Goodreads and within a few hours I got a message, through Goodreads, from Ryan Winfield!  To say that made my day was an understatement...it made my whole week.  He was so sweet, he even tweeted the review from my blog and I have gotten more hits on that post than all the others combined.  I feel like I am cyber-stalking him, but it's not at all creepy, I promise!!  I just think that it's super awesome that he takes the time out to interact with his fans.  Not a lot of authors will do that and I know that he is just kind of starting out, but it's a really good way to build a fan base.  I know that I am anxiously waiting for his next book!

I have been obsessed with these two albums this week...listening to them over and over on my phone!

I am obsessed with these shows and I am sad that the seasons are over...

There are so many more things I am obsessed with but I am going to have to save those for another time!!