Review: Extra Large Families . Rating: Painfully Awesome.

We've had one child before, and now we have eight so I feel like I am quite qualified to give a thorough review on large families.

It's good. Crazy...  But very, very good.

Did I mention crazy?

When we had just a couple of children things felt slightly chaotic and I was on the edge of losing my mind a lot.  And now, with eight children ranging in age from 17 down to 1 year, I can tell you it gets easier.  I'm not sure it gets less chaotic, but you grow accustom to it. It's farmiliar. Comfortable. And I wouldn't go back and change it - not for any reason ever.

I could go into all the reasons why it isn't bad to have a bunch of kids but the truth is, if you don't already get it you probably aren't going to through my explanation.  I've learned that people who are against large families usually remain so until they're ready try to understand - not when I talk them to death.

Large family rating: Painfully Awesome. It's the highest rating I can give.

And that really all I have to say about that.

Review: Twilight. Rating: intriguingly Stupid.

I read Twilight not long ago, after avoiding it for quite a while because I just knew it wasn't going to be worthy of my attention.  And while after reading it I definitely don't think it was the best use of my time ever, I didn't hate this book like I thought I would.  I admit that it didn't interest me enough to pick up the second book, but it wasn't as awful as I had thought it would be.

Okay, maybe it was a little awful.

Summary -

Regular Misfit Teen girl is infatuated with Hundred Year Old Man Vampire who lives in a teenage boy's body. Old Man Vampire in teenager's body is infatuated with Regular Misfit Teen girl.  He wants to eat her. She finds this attractive. Danger ensues. He must rescue her but will he eat her instead? 

Oh my goodness? What is going to happen?

First, the only thing I really liked about it were the action scenes.  I thought the romance portion was stupid, embarrassing, and pedophilia-ish.  A hundred and something year old man infatuated with a teenage girl is just not normal, no matter how young he appears.  Shivers, people, shivers, that this was an acceptable theme for any book written for young people.

I also thought that Misfit Teen was stupid. Everything she did was stupid.  She had almost zero redeeming qualities and that ticked me off good.

There was no physical romance aside from kissing, though it's discussed between the two. Old Man Vampire lets Teen Girl know quite firmly that it's too dangerous for them to be together in that kind of way because he wants to bite her and drain her of blood and she'll be dead.  She doesn't seem to understand the danger because she's stupid. 

All in all I am rating this book as intriguingly stupid.  This rating would probably be like a 4 out of 10 or something.  I can't really recommend it but I don't think it is the end of humanity as we know it either. Pick it up at your own risk.

Review: Cuisinart Keurig Coffee Brewer. Rating: Shweet.

I've owned a Cuisinart Keurig Brewer for about a year now and can honestly say that it is positively awesome.

The basics:

• I can brew many different sizes of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or just water with this Keurig Brewer.
• My brewer came with it's own reusable K-Cup, which we hardly ever use but it's nice to have anyway. 
• It comes with its own little water filter which is a nice bonus.
• The water tank is huge so I don't have to refill it after just a couple of mugs. This was one of the biggest reasons I went with the Cuisinart.
• It looks cool on my countertop and everybody who sees it thinks it's pretty much amazing and then they want one for themselves.

I got busy reading tons of reviews before I decided to purchase the Cuisinart. I wanted to make sure I was getting the best Keurig brewer my money could pay for. And since I had about $170 saved up, a 20% off coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond, and the Cuisinart had the best reviews... 
Well, you get what I'm saying.

I haven't had any issues with this brewer in the last year.  Not one.
Unless you include the needle getting clogged. It was an easy fix though - just needed a little cleaning which consisted of a little warm water. Machines need cleaning sometimes, people. This shouldn't come as a surprise or anything.
I get a nice strengthed brew from my Cuisinart and my favorite K-cup coffee is Gloria Jean's English Toffee. If you like a bold, strong brew, as my husband does, there are tons of great K-cups out there that deliver a good punch.

I only use filtered water in my coffee maker - never tap. We have a Primo water dispenser and I always fill my Keurig's tank up using the bottled water from that dispenser. I recommend this to anybody who brews their coffee at home. Filtered water is easier on your coffee machine than tap.

All in all, I love my Cuisinart Keurig Coffee Brewer. LOVE it.
Rating: Shweet. (that's pretty much a 12 out of 10)

If it broke today I'd cry. Then I would stop crying and run out and buy a new one right away and everything would be awesome again.