Water Park Etiquette

To My Fellow Water Park Goers,

Good Afternoon! Those of you who live in Moses Lake and visit the water park in town please do not take offense at what I am about to tell you. However, if any of these "observations" hit close to home, please take the time to deal with your personal situation!

First of all, if you are not specifically between the size of 0 and 6, please, please do not wear a bikini. Bikinis should also not be worn by women who have hairy bellies and those who have had children and have the flabby belly and stretch marks to show. If you think you are skinny enough to wear a bikini, please step in front of a mirror...if any of the above show or you have what is called a "muffin top" you are not eligible this season to be showing off your body.

To be more specific about the size of a woman in a bikini...if you are FAT you should not be in a bikini! Women who are my size (and I am a large woman) should not...let me repeat SHOULD NOT be prancing around in a bikini.

Secondly, if you do wear a bikini please keep in mind that this is a family water park. Consequently, if you do wear a bikini and the top barely covers your nipples? Please don't wear it! I personally don't like to see your over large (and probably fake) boobs flopping around in the water. I really don't want my five year-old nephew to watch you walk around the park either!

Also, if you suffer from nipplitis, that is the disease where your pebbly nipples show through your suit, you might want to consider buying a suit with a built in bra. I know they sell as I own one!

I also need to point out to some of you the life-long rule about white t-shirts. This really should be a no brainer! If you, for some reason, choose not to wear a swimsuit to the water park and instead choose to wear a t-shirt and shorts...please, please wear a colored t-shirt that does not show your Victoria Secret bra underneath. Really! I don't prance in my bra while out in public.

On a side note...if you are the lady who chose to wear her bra as a bikini top today while at the park (yes you, the one who was wearing some stupid yellow bandana on your hair today!) it is NOT a good look. Thank you for later choosing to put a shirt or swimsuit over it later in the day!

I don't mean to make you not enjoy your day at the water park, but I think you might have a bit more fun if everyone in the park isn't staring at you and making fun of you (and really when it comes down to it...blogging about you to the world).

If I was a bit more sneaky, I would have taken pictures of some of you today and shown the world that I am not making this up!

Thank you,
A Concerned Water Park Citizen

The Vanishing Sculptor....Book Review

**The winner is The Blonde Duck.....thanks for entering**

Here's another great book review and book giveaway...this time the book is The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul.

Book Summary:

Donita K. Paul's 250,000-plus-selling Dragon Keeper Chronicles series has attracted a wide spectrum of dedicated fans--and they're sure to fall in love with the new characters and adventures in her latest superbly crafted fiction novel for all ages. It's a mind-boggling fantasy that inhabits the same world as the Dragon Keeper Chronicles, but in a different country an an earlier time, where the people know little of Wulder and nothing of Paladin.

In The Vanishing Sculptor, readers will meet Tipper, a young emerlindian who's responsible for the upkeep of her family's estate during her sculptor father's absence. Tipper soon discovers that her actions have unbalanced the whole foundation of her world, and she must act quickly to undo the calamitous threat. But how an she save her father and her world on her own? The task is too huge for one person, so she gathers the help of some unlikely companions--including the nearly five-foot tall parrot Beccaroon-and eventually witnesses the loving care and miraculous resources of Wulder. Through Tipper's breathtaking story, readers will discover the beauty of knowing and serving God.

Author Bio:

Donita K. Paul is a retired teacher and author of numerous novellas, short stories, and eight novels, including the best-selling DragonKeeper Chronicles, a series which has sold more than a quarter million books to date. The winner of multiple awards, she lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she spends time mentoring and encouraging young writers. Visit her online at donitakpaul.com.


Now for the giveaway....

Rules:

1. One Entry: Leave me a comment about what you are reading right now.

2. Second Entry: Follow me and leave a comment that you follow (Separate comment from above please)...if you have been following simply leave a comment that you have been following

3. Third Entry: Blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave a separate comment that you did.

Contest is open until Friday, July 3rd, and the winner will be chosen through random.org, announced that night and shipped out as soon as I receive the winner's shipping information.

Good luck and have fun!

Ice Cream Treat

After walking through Costco I convinced my sister to let Dajia share a Chocolate yogurt with me (she has to eat gluten free due to allergies...she can eat some in small portions so this was a treat!)

This is where she was told she can only have one more bite...so she made sure it was a BIG bite!! I think she is looking at her Momma to see if she is going to get away with such a bite....

YEP!!! She got away with it!

Taking pictures of babies is always a fun time and a lesson in patience!!! I had to take quite a few of these in order to get the picture below...

Momma and Elliana!

Costco Run

Dajia going for a ride in my Costco cart! When I opened my wallet to get my Costco card she saw that I had a couple of dollars inside....the whole time we were walking through the store she kept saying, "I want a dollar! I want a dollar!"

Isn't she just cute?

This cutie patootie is Elliana, she is 10 months old and practicing to be a football player! Just kidding...she is just a hefty thing that she looks like a football player! I'm not sure how my average size sister and her average size husband produce such big babies!!!

Don't you just want to grab those checks and squeeze???

Congratulations Josh!

It's official...my nephew Josh graduated from Peninsula High School last Sunday! I don't think I've been to a graduation since I graduated from high school 17 years ago!! Nothing has really changed...

Maddy, Josh and Auntie Rachel!

It was hard finding him after wards in the midst of the 300 students that graduated and the couple thousand of people that came out to watch!

Maddy and her big brother Josh. She gets a bit emotional when she sees Josh as he lives with his mom and only sees her once in awhile. She just loves everyone!

Dad, Ernie, congratulating his son on a job well done!

Josh left for California yesterday with a few high school buddies...going down on the cash they have and HOPING to make it back on that same cash they have. What are the odds that they make it back? LOL!!

Josh is also heading off to college later this summer. He will be attending Washington State University in Pullman, WA and I believe he will be studying Broadcast Journalism or something like that.

Way to go Josh...Great Job on a job well done and finishing strong. I'm proud of you!

Book Reviews for that Guy in Your Life

Here is another book review...actually three book reviews for you! These are books that you might like to buy for that special guy in your life! Remember, Father's Day is this coming Sunday and all these books can be purchased through Random House.

Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart by Chuck Black:

Sir Dalton, a knight in training, seems to have everything going for him. Young, well-liked, and a natural leader, he has earned the respect and admiration of his fellow knights, and especially the beautiful Lady Brynn.

But something is amiss at the training camp. Their new trainer is popular but lacks the passion to inspire them to true service to the King and the Prince. Besides this, the knights are too busy enjoying a season of good times to be concerned with a disturbing report that many of their fellow Knights have mysteriously vanished.

When Sir Dalton is sent on a mission, he encounters strange attacks, especially when he is alone. As his commitment wanes, the attacks grow in intensity until he is captured by Lord Drox, a massive Shadow Warrior. Bruised and beaten, Dalton refuses to submit to evil and initiates a daring escape with only one of two outcomes–life or death. But what will become of the hundreds of knights he’ll leave behind? In a kingdom of peril, Dalton thinks he is on his own, but two faithful friends have not abandoned him, and neither has a strange old hermit who seems to know much about the Prince. But can Dalton face the evil Shadow Warrior again and survive?

Eyes Wide Open by Jud Wilhite:

I had it all backwards. The main thing was not my love for God, but his love for me. And from that love I respond to God as one deeply flawed, yet loved. I’m not looking to prove my worth. I’m not searching for acceptance. I’m living out of the worth God already declares I have. I’m embracing his view of me and in the process discovering the person he created me to be.

In Eyes Wide Open, Jud Wilhite invites you to discover the real you. Not the you who pretends to be perfect to satisfy everyone’s expectations. Not the you who always feels guilty before God. Not the you who secretly feels God forgives everyone else but only tolerates you. Not the you who looks in the mirror and sees a failure. The real you, loved and forgiven by God, living out of your identity in Christ.

A travel guide through real spirituality from one incomplete person to another, Eyes Wide Open is a book of stories about following God in the messes of life, about broken pasts and our lifelong need for grace. It is a book about seeing ourselves and God with new eyes–eyes wide open to a God of love.

The Disappearance of God by Dr. R. Albert Mohler:

More faulty information about God swirls around us today than ever before. No wonder so many followers of Christ are unsure of what they really believe in the face of the new spiritual openness attempting to alter unchanging truth.

For centuries the church has taught and guarded the core Christian beliefs that make up the essential foundations of the faith. But in our postmodern age, sloppy teaching and outright lies create rampant confusion, and many Christians are free-falling for "feel-good" theology.

We need to know the truth to save ourselves from errors that will derail our faith.

As biblical scholar, author, and president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler, writes, "The entire structure of Christian truth is now under attack." With wit and wisdom he tackles the most important aspects of these modern issues:

Is God changing His mind about sin?
Why is hell off limits for many pastors?
What's good or bad about the "dangerous" emergent movement?
Have Christians stopped seeing God as God?
Is the social justice movement misguided?
Could the role of beauty be critical to our theology?
Is liberal faith any less destructive than atheism?
Are churches pandering to their members to survive?

In the age-old battle to preserve the foundations of faith, it's up to a new generation to confront and disarm the contemporary shams and fight for the truth. Dr. Mohler provides the scriptural answers to show you how.

SisterChicks in Wooden Shoes...Book Giveaway

**We have a WINNER....random.org chose #7 as the winner of this book. #7 is Shinta vio Neyst from the Faroe Islands**

Ok...so I am going to be honest with all of my blogging friends, I did not read this book. I started to read it and then got busy getting ready to go out of town for a week or so and wasn't able to get back to it. In fact, I haven't read one word from any books since Friday and I usually read a book every day or so....

I did start the book and from the first few chapters that I've read I can tell you that I like the writing style and the development of the characters, and I think you will too. The book is called Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes and can be purchased online from Random House for $13.99.


About the Book

When a mammogram result comes back abnormal, midlife mama Summer Finley makes a snap decision to relegate fear to the back burner and fulfill a lifelong dream. Summer heads for Holland where she meets up with tulips, wooden shoes, and her best friend, Noelle.

Pen pals since fourth grade, Summer and Noelle have never met face-to-face. Through decades of heart-level correspondence, they have sustained a deep friendship. A week of adventure helps both women trade anxiety for a renewed and deeper trust in God. When Summer confides in Noelle about the abnormal medical report, Noelle finds the freedom to share a long-held heartache, and both women discover they needed each other more than they realized.

About the Author

Robin Jones Gunn is the best-selling and award-winning author of over seventy books, including the Glenbrooke, Christy Miller, Sierra Jensen, Katie Weldon, and Christy and Todd: The College Years teen series. The Sisterchicks® series has sold more than 300,000 units, bringing her total sales to more than 3.5 million books worldwide. A Christy Award winner, Robin is a popular speaker, both at home and abroad, and is frequently interviewed on radio and on television. www.robingunn.com

www.sisterchicks.com

WIN A COPY HERE

Would you like to win a copy of this book? Well, you are in luck as I have a copy to giveaway to one lucky winner. This contest is open to anyone, and I will ship internationally!

Rules:

1. One Entry: Leave me a comment about your best friend and something that you would like to do together! (My BFF is Susana and we love to travel together!)

2. Second Entry: Follow me and leave a comment that you follow (Separate comment from above please)...if you have been following simply leave a comment that you have been following (hint, hint...this is how my winner won last time!)

3. Third Entry: Blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave a separate comment that you did.

Contest is open until Wednesday June 17th and the winner will be chosen through random.org, announced that night and shipped out as soon as I receive the winner's shipping information.

Good luck and have fun!

Peddling Birth Control Pills

Ugh, how frustrating!

I take birth control....for female reasons, not to prevent pregnancy (yeah, cause you have to have sex to prevent pregnancy and I ain't!!). So I am going out of town tomorrow and plan on being away for over a week and thought I'd refill my birth control today so just in case I decide to not come home in time I would have a continuance of my pills. However, Rite Aid informed that I was not able to refill these yet as the refill falls within some time frame or other.

Seriously! Do they think I'm refilling them earlier in order to sell them on the black market? Do you think that the drug dealers out there have secret stashes of the little pill that makes Aunt Flo visit on a regular, consistent time frame?

Do they not realize that anyone over the age of 12 can simply go to Planned Parenthood (not that I am advocate of Planned Parenthood....and please don't flame me for saying that....I just don't believe in everything they do...my blog...my opinion so shush!) or some other clinic like that and get them for FREE? Do they not realize that every medical clinic in America gets BC pills to pass out to patients?

Hello? Really?

And if it is a medical billing issue then I think that they can work around that seeing as how I am going out of town and cannot refill. What do those individuals who work as missionaries or overseas do when they aren't anywhere near an Americanized pharmacy that can refill their prescription?

Ugh...just irritated!

Happy National Donut Day

It is good to learn something new...and today I learned that there is a National Donut Day...who knew! Here are a few interesting tidbits...

* Started in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army; goal was to raise money for charity and honor those Salvation Army volunteers who baked donuts for soldiers in WWI.

*American infantrymen, who had a fondness for yummy donuts, were called Doughboys!

*It is celebrated every year on the first Friday in June (psst...that is TODAY!)

*One of the more recognizable donut stores is Krispy Kreme...who opened its first store in Winston-Salem in 1937 (heck when I moved to Georgia in 1998 I had never even heard of Krispy Kreme; they hadn't quite made their way to the NW yet!)

*Krispy Kreme is giving free donuts away today...that isn't news you say! But I heard they were giving you the donut of your choice...not just their glazed donuts!!! That is news!

Just curious...do you spell it donut or doughnut? Hmmm.......

Enjoy!

Love you Auntie

I was cleaning out my text messages on my phone and came across this cutie patootie!! This is my niece Dajia and the love message she sent me when they were in Hawaii back in February!!

I love this girl!

I call her on the phone and always here, "Hi Auntie Rachel...I love you!!" Last week I was talking to my sister while Dajia was taking a bath and then I hear, "Are you talking to Auntie Rachel? I wanna talk!!" Sorry that my phone battery died baby!

Amish Love

What’s all the hubbub about Amish fiction? Major media outlets like Time and ABC Nightline are covering it, and authors like Cindy Woodsmall are making the New York Times bestseller list regularly. What makes these books so interesting?

Check out the recent ABC Nightline piece here about Cindy and her titles When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and When the Soul Mends. It’s an intriguing look at Amish culture and the time Cindy has spent with Amish friends.

And don’t forget that Cindy’s new book The Hope of Refuge hits store shelves August 11, and is available for preorder now.