Monthly Archives: August 2013

Pretty Darn Funny (with a giveaway)

Posted in Uncategorized by

Those of you who have weathered the years of Diapers and Divinity may remember that last year I won a video contest that was part of a release party for a new web series called “Pretty Darn Funny.” I told a humorous story about my son Clark and won a CRUISE (it was so fun!!). So now I’m indebted to this web series for the rest of my life. When I got word that they were about to release season 2, I knew I wanted to support them and share the news.

Screen Shot 2013-08-18 at 10.46.54 PM

Basically PDF (that’s a very clever acronym for “Pretty Darn Funny,” not to be confused with a digital document) is a bunch of cute, clever episodes about the adventures of an (almost) all female comedy troupe that’s trying to fill a void in the genre of clean comedy. The thing is, their routines really aren’t that funny, but they are. Their mishaps, and lack of fame, and just down-to-earth, hilarious day-to-day lives are all just fun. It makes for some great entertainment.  Anyway, I think you need to know that TODAY IS THE DEBUT OF SEASON TWO, and there will be a new episode released every week for …. I actually don’t know, but I think it’s about six weeks.

Go find it all here:

Website: http://prettydarnfunny.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/prettydarnfunny

Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/pdfunny/

I even got to meet the lead actress (“Gracie,” played by Lisa Clark) and she is really just the kind of person you wish you could hang out with all the time. And the producer of the series is the husband of my talented friend Jana, so basically I want you to enjoy this show and appreciate it. (I think you would even if I didn’t like all those people in real life.)

Anyway, Deseret Book is going to offer a prize I can give you as a giveaway associated with the launch of season 2. I have no idea what it is yet, so we’ll just call it a SURPRISE. Get up to three entries by:

Here’s a fun teaser to get you in the mood.  It’s a parody of Footloose… but “mom style.” Pretty darn funny, indeed.

If you like what you see, either the parody or the new episode, help them get the word out by sharing and liking and all that other social media jazz, and then come leave a comment so you can get your entries in the mystery drawing. Winner will be announced Wednesday-ish. Probably. 🙂

(And if you’re going to Education Week at BYU this week, I’m teaching Tues.-Thurs. at 4:30. Come say hi. And pray for me.)

 

Advertisement

Summer reading report, so far.

Posted in Books by

Now that my children are able to swim while I sit and read a book (joy!), this summer I’ve been able to do a lot more reading than I could in years past. Here are some of my summer reads to date:

Title
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1)
The House at Rose Creek
The Secret Keeper
Blackmoore: A Proper Romance
The Lemon Grove: A Novel
A Timeless Romance Anthology: Spring Vacation Collection
Longing for Home: A Proper Romance
A Timeless Romance Anthology: Summer Wedding Collection
In His Hands: A Mother's Journey Through the Grief of Sudden Loss
The Kiss of a Stranger
Band of Sisters
House of Secrets (A Shandra Covington Mystery, #1)
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Persuasion: A Latter-day Tale

Some of these I’ve blogged about already, and some of them I’m still going to tell you about a little later, but you can go to my Goodreads account if you’re at all interested in knowing my reviews of the books.

Today I want to tell you about Sarah Eden’s newest book, Longing for Home. Even though I’ve met Sarah briefly before and we have a long list of mutual friends, I had never read any of her books before this summer. I don’t want to dare say that I get tired of reading Jane Austen, because I love her books, but I wanted to read something similar to Austen rather than repeat my reading of her classics for the who-knows-how-many-really time. I knew that Eden’s books are Regency Romance, so I gave them a try, and found them to be quite delightful. You can see from the  book list above that I read several. When I got the chance to read Longing for Home, I was excited, but a little skeptical because it wasn’t even Regency. It was Wyoming in the 1800s and that sounded eerily Western to me, but I read it anyway and I really, really liked it. In fact, I think it may be my favorite of her books so far.  Here’s a description:

Though she was only a child during the darkest days of Ireland s Great Famine, Katie Macauley feels responsible for the loss of her family s land and the death of her sister. Now a woman grown, Katie has left Ireland for America and the promise of earning money enough to return home again and plead for her family s forgiveness. She arrives in Hope Springs, Wyoming Territory, a town sharply divided between the Americans who have settled there, with their deep hatred of the Irish, and the Irish immigrants who have come searching for a place to call home. Her arrival tips the precarious balance, and the feud erupts anew. Even in the midst of hatred and violence, however, Katie finds reason to hope. Two men, as different as they are intriguing, vie for her heart, turning her thoughts for the first time toward a future away from Ireland. Katie must now make the hardest decision of her life: stay and give her heart a chance at love, or return home and give her soul the possibility of peace.

 

eden

It really wasn’t a western at all, but I did learn a lot about some of the challenges of the immigrants and settlers. I really liked Katie’s spunk and determination, and her overall lack of self-pity when there was much she could have mourned. The story is a romance, which usually makes it quite predictable, but it was more than that too. She has competing suitors and some real challenges to face and I really didn’t know how it was all going to play out. I think Eden develops her male characters well, and this book is no exception. This was a great read and one I can easily recommend.

What’s been one of your favorite summer reads so far?

Reflections on an amusement park

Posted in Uncategorized by

lagoon

I spent 11 hours yesterday at the amusement park with my son Clark. He got some money for his birthday, plus saved up some of his allowance and decided he wanted to spend a day at Lagoon. Since he’s too young to go unsupervised, and we already established that it’s too expensive to take the whole family, he invited me to come and he paid my way.

Here are a few observations from a day of rides, walking, and people watching:

1. Unfortunately, I did not get the memo that all females over the age of 13 were supposed to wear tank tops and denim booty shorts.

2. I assumed that if I’ve always loved roller coasters ever since I was young, that would not change now that I’m getting older. I was wrong. I seriously think that a ride called The Spider gave me a mild concussion.

3. I’m not sure if there’s any kind of graduation or licensing program for tattoo artists, but there should be.

4. Young love is SO, SO awkward. Clark said, “There sure are a lot of people here on a date.” I’d venture that about 1.5% of them are destined for long-term happiness.

5. Why would a grown woman with substantial girth wear black stretch pants and a HelloKitty plush backpack? Why?

6. I couldn’t believe how many people were there with babies in strollers. It exhausted me just watching them chase and care for their young, little families. I know I tried to pull it off too, but now that I’m old and tired, I wonder why I forced myself to endure stuff like that.  My little kids would have been just as content to play a few board games at home with me, and I might actually have some money left in my savings account now.

7. Most people had way too little clothes on, but once in a while someone wandered past in jeans and a sweatshirt. It was about 93 degrees. I almost got heat stroke just watching them walk by.

8. No matter how vigilant I am about sunscreen, I never remember to consider where my hair parts on my scalp. I suspect I will have fake dandruff for a week or two.

9. Clark is a pretty fun kid.

10. Because I let him take the lead on what he wanted to do, and because he’s not a controlling order freak (like I’m learning that I am in some ways), we probably traversed the whole park a dozen times. I can’t even guess the miles we walked. I took an Aleve last night when I went to bed and only woke up with leg cramps once.

Despite my cynical comments and my utter exhaustion by the end of the day, it was great to spend a full day with my sweet 9-year-old son. It was also great to be completely unplugged from the rest of the world (I even forgot my phone) and just live in the moment. But I may not need to visit an amusement park again for a couple years.