Book Ends: Play Dirty

I finished reading a fictional novel last night that I wanted to share with my bloggie friends.

Play Dirty by Sandra Brown is set in Dallas and involves a juicy love story with the twist of murder, deception, and strange requests. The fictional cast of characters includes a former Cowboys Quarterback, CEO of a Dallas based airline, his wife, and Dallas Police Detectives. (The book also mentions the Texas Rangers which was an added bonus.)

Ms. Brown does a phenomenal job of drawing you in hook, line, and sinker with in the first few pages. The strange and emotional story of the quarterback make you continue to turn the page. Then, as the request of the CEO and his wife are brought to fruition, you can’t put the book down. Between the love story and the intense race to right the wrong, you’ll fly though this book in no time.

As an added bonus, this book has been on the shelves for a few years, so you should have no trouble finding this at Half-Price Books.

It’s a great easy summer read, but there are a few slow parts that could have been avoided. Her style of writing is simple yet complex and allows the reader to feel what the character feels.

Over all, I give it a 4 on a scale of 5.

Do you recommend another easy summer read?

The Waiting Game

Do you hate waiting for things? Christmas? Your birthday? Big test results that could determine the outcome of your life?

Okay, may not the outcome of my life, but definitely close. Craig took his competency test for history yesterday. Now we play the waiting game to see if he passed. He feels good about it, but he was questionable on several answers, so he’s a wee bit nervous. I’ve have so much anxiety about this, and it’s not even my test! I just want this so badly for him and for us.

We should know by the end of the week, but for the time being, please share how you overcome anxiety such as this. My fingernails are already bitten to the quick and I don’t want to pull my hair out… it’s kind of cute on me!

Still waiting…

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a busy yet relaxing weekend.

I got up early on Saturday and restarted by gym membership. YEAH! I’ve been so down since I haven’t been able to workout as frequently. Sure, I could run out side, if I survived the heat. So I bit the bullet and started back. I’m pumped. After work today, I’m hitting up the gym… but I digress.

After the gym on Saturday, I went to my favorite grocery store and managed to be a frugal shopper! At Central Market, I snagged 2 ahi tuna steaks, 1 big bunch of asparagus stalks, 1 bottle of pinot noir from Oregon, and some spinach artichoke dip with garlic parmesan flat bread crackers.

After the grocery store, I swung by North East Mall to see Craig at work. I couldn’t tell you the last time I was at the mall!

Then it was back to the house to start on dinner. After searing the tuna and sautéing the asparagus, dinner was ready… very quick meal! We had a delicious, seemingly fancy, yet inexpensive meal at home before going to see Little Shop of Horrors at Bass Hall. Oh, it’s my favorite! I had a hard time not busting out in song with the cast. During intermission, they had a Thriller show in honor of Michael Jackson. My night was complete.

Sunday was a lazy day at home with house cleaning. Since Craig was working, I got caught up on some reading and finished my book – The Last Oracle by James Rollins. It’s the fourth book in his Sigma Force series and it’s full of history, science, suspense, mystery, and action. Check out his website for an excerpt and to see a list of his other books.

The weekend came to an end with Craig’s soccer game last night, where he got a yellow card because he took a guy out. It’s not as bad as it sounds, he just tackled the guy. The game ended in a tie, but it was a well fought game with lots of drama. His team is great with drama, considering they are all grown men.

What did you do this weekend, anything exciting?

My Friday Prayer

Dear Lord,

It’s Kaylan, again. Do you mind turning the heat down a bit, it’s really hot here. See what my car temperature gage told me yesterday?

I would prefer the temperature to not be this hot any more. I do thank you for the warmth, but we can use a break from all the heat.

Sincerely yours forever,
Kaylan
<><

I know what you’re thinking… I live in Texas and I shouldn’t complain, but my fingers almost blister up when I touch my door handle to open my car. Then, I climb into my sauna-on-wheels, known as a Ford Edge, and I continue to bake to a nice bubbly brown until the a/c can catch up. Let’s face it, 110° is bloody hot!

I do hope God hears/reads my blog-prayer because I would really like it to be less hot.

How do you beat the heat?

I prefer a nice margarita or an ice cold beer. The best place for cold beer is this place called The Pit BBQ in Saginaw. They keep their glasses so cold that when you get your beer it’s a slushy liquid! Mmm… beer.

And my pick for the best margarita is R.J. Gators in Hurst at the North East Mall. If you get the regular frozen Gatorita, it comes in a huge martini glass, and I mean huge, and there is a tequila topper on top. One of those things makes me loopy. Hola, margarita!

Please silence your kids!

It should say this before a movie “Please silence your cell phones and your noisy kids before the movie.” Either that or the movie theater should have a strict limit on what age should be allowed into the movie, a loud and seemingly scary movie at that, regardless if a parent is present.

Sorry to all you parents reading this, but if you pay $8.50 to watch a movie, you shouldn’t have to put up with talkative and screaming kids that are 4 years old and sitting right in front of you.

Last night, Craig and I went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. At a major part of the movie, the young kiddo in front of us stood up and wanted to have a conversation. Maybe the parents can tune that noise out, but I can’t. It was so distracting that I had to say something his mom. It was only then that they tried to keep the kid seated and quiet.

Geez… you have a theater full of people and they have no courtesy for those watching the movie. Get with it people… you’re not the only one on the planet.

If I wanted to hear babies during the movie, I would have gone to see a matinee Disney film. Instead, we saw a loud, blow-em up, action, thriller at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday. Who brings their young kid to see this?

Sigh. I’m stepping off my soap box now.

For those interested, the movie was good, although much darker than the first. I would say the first movie is fluffy, getting the full story with a feel good ending. The second is more action packed, lots of moving parts (no pun intended), with highs and lows periodically placed throughout the movie. Again directed by Michael Bay, the one thing I wasn’t fond of was some of the scenes where people were falling. Their scream couldn’t have sounded more fake to me. And some of the effects looked like they didn’t take their time in post-editing. Also, those that have seen it, did you think Megan Fox’s lips look like she’s trying to be Angelina?

Over all, I think the movie is worth seeing, especially if you saw the first one, and definitely see it in the theater were you can get the big booms and bangs during the action.

Vote for Ian

I don't mix work with pleasure very often, but please vote for Ian Kinsler to go to the All-Star Game. Voting is unlimited, so vote now and vote often!

That’s a Wrap…

… on the family vacation.

I didn’t have a good wifi connection on the last day of our vacation so I couldn’t post a follow up to the day before.

The chutes were cool on Thursday. Much better than I thought they would be. We floated on the Comal River in New Braunfels. Here’s a fun fact: it’s the shortest navigable river in the State of Texas. After that float, we floated the normal part of our river in Canyon Lake. After the sun starts to set, that river gets really cold. Okay, so the temperature of the water doesn’t change, but you practically shiver out of your tube because you’re missing the warmth of the sun. Our frozen booties made it back to the trailer for a nice burger dinner, compliments of Craig the grill-mister.

Friday morning, we got in one more float before packing up and heading out. That afternoon, Craig and I had a snack at Mozie’s in Gruene before starting our trek to Granbury to hang with the folks for the 4th of July. We traversed the back roads of Texas where there are quaint little towns and lovely scenery. Moo Cows abound in those parts of Texas, along with cactus. Who knew there was so much cactus territory here? How do the cows and horses maneuver through it all?

Anyway, we spent the weekend in Granbury at my parent’s lake house. The weather was nice and the water was warm, very different from the rivers we floated. We watched fireworks from the lake on the boat and watched Craig kneeboard on Sunday before returning to our neck of the woods in Hurst.

Now it’s back to the grindstone. Craig started his teaching program yesterday with online classes. He’s so gung-ho about it that he almost finished two days worth of classes in one day. Nice.

Things are going well back at the office. It’s busy with All-Star stuff, but it’s better to come back and be busy, than be bored and wishing you were still on vacation.

Pictures to come soon…

Family Vacation – take 3

Hola. Yesterday was a nice relaxing day floating the river after breakfast. With the rain from yesterday and the day before, the water level was a little higher and moving slightly faster. That equals better floating conditions, because you don’t have to get out and move your tube off the rocks when you get stuck. Don’t get me wrong, I still get stuck every now and then, but it’s not nearly as much as on Monday tubing adventure.

After tubing, we went to this bar called Daisy Dukes. That’s the same name as my brother’s two boxers – Daisy and Duke! Anyway, the bar was a cool, local bar with fun people.

I think we’re going to float this thing called the chute today… but I’m not sure on that. I’m on vacation, so I’m just rolling with the flow, literally.

Until tomorrow, have a killer time doing whatever it is you do.

Family Vacation – take 2

Hello friendly bloggers. I wish you were all with us on this trip.

After a late and rainy start to the day, things shaped up nicely for a wonderful afternoon. We began at Magnolia Café in Austin with a rather large breakfast. I had the Magnolia Omelet… two fluffy eggs filled to the brim with yummy goodness - avocados, tomatoes, lots of gooey cheese, and black olives all topped with a phenomenal lemon sour cream sauce. I threw eating healthy out the window… but I wasn’t hungry again for hours! Oh, and I had two sides, home style potatoes and black beans. Oh, to eat breakfast there again.

To let the food settle and to make us feel better, we went for a stroll in the park… for a geocache. Yep, I know what you’re thinking, I’m a dork, but it’s a great way to see the city or at least the small park we were in.

We found a short windmill in the middle of this park, hidden from the street view. It took us about 10 minutes before we made the find, but I pointed to spot here I thought it was and Clint went and got it. It was the first find for Carole and Blue. Clint had never heard of my game before, so needless to say, it was his first, too.

Now that breakfast is officially settle, off to swim. Remember kids, you have to wait at least 30 minutes after eating before getting in the pool!

We headed over to Barton Springs Pool, a natural spring that comes from Colorado. Whew, it was chilly, but after you were used to the cold, it was actually really nice. The water was so clear and clean, minus the seaweed, which we aptly named spring weed. But the spring weed was few and far between so it was a nice time to swim. We had some rain move through yesterday morning, so it was that much nicer sitting on the bank of the spring after getting out of the water. Craig even snuck in a nap while we were swimming. That was a stellar place… I wish we had one in DFW. If you get a chance to swim in Austin, no matter what time of year because it’s always the same temperature – 68/70 degrees, I encourage you to visit this spring in Zilker Park.

We were worn out after swimming all day, but we had worked up an appetite. For dinner, we visited Salt Lick Barbeque. Oh. My. Goodness. Those of you that really know me know I love one type of meat at a barbeque joint, sausage, and sausage only please! The only place where I really love their sausage is Spring Creek. But now they have a competitor. I got the sausage plate and it came with so much sausage I felt my stomach would explode if I ate it all, and I’m not even talking about the side items. Fortunately, I only cared for their potato salad which is extremely hard to describe, but they are so simple and good. The other two sides, which I only had a bite of, were barbeque beans and coleslaw. Back to the sausage… it was delicious and juicy. Not one piece of grizzle and when partnered with their delectable sauce you wanted to scream out loud that it was so good. I have leftovers that I’ll probably eat for breakfast this morning after my blog. Gotta hurry… I’m hungry for more bbq.

After dinner, we trekked back to the campsite and wound down the day with some good conversation outside the trailer in the nice muggy outdoors. Today, it’s back to the river to tube, after bbq breakfast that is.

Pictures of our family adventure will be posted after I return, but stay tuned for more excitement.