W surgery day

A quick post then Im off to take a shower and get my butt to bed!!

Today Wyatt has tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed. The
surgery went really well, no suprises. But him waking up was a
different story. He went in at 7:30am, and I didn't see him again
until almost 11:30, surgery was only 30 minutes. Even after I saw
him he was still sleeping and still on oxygen. Then after he
finally started waking up enough to comprend what was going on, he
couldn't keep anything down. We tried everything, and everything
kept coming right back up. What a extremely tiring day. He finally
went 20 minutes w/o throwing up and I literally signed the release
papers and ran out of there with him, he did throw up 2x when he got
home, but was obviously more comfortable (both of us were) with
dealing it at home. He's fine now, hasn't thrown up in over 4 hours
and is sleeping.

Originally I figured I'd be home no later then noon, instead it was
almost 4:30pm. Sitting in a hospital from 6am-4pm was horrible!!
For what was suppose to be a simple in/out procedure.

While at the hospital I did finish "When Joy Came to Stay". Im going to start "The First Mistake" by Merline Lovelace in bed.

Snow/upcoming vacation/blah, blah, blah

Yesterday late afternoon it started to snow, big pretty flakes coming down. The kids went crazy and demanded to go outside at 5pm, so out they went. This morning they saw all the snow (less then 1", it'll be gone this afternoon and leave behind a muddy mess)and once again they all 3 demanded to go outside, so all 3 kids were outside by 8am this morning and played until 9:30ish. Nice little morning break, I got my grocery list done, made the beds, put away the clothes.

Last night I was up wayyy to late getting driving directions for our upcoming vacation. The kids & I are going to meet my mom in Omaha end of the month for a fun-filled kids weekend. Im kinda sick of always going to the same places, so I got some directions to some new places, the Children's Museum, Aquarium and another museum. Who knows if we'll actually go there, but at least it'll be a couple more options. Weather permitting I really want to go to the zoo this time, this is the last year the kids will get in for free.

I did get a couple more chapters of "When Joy Came to Stay" read last night. Im well over 1/2 way now. Im still enjoying it, but the plot is starting to drag some.

Let's see..what else. The kids have school today, so I'll be going to the Y to work out. I'm sure I'll just walk on the treadmill again. Jane might be there so hopefully the time will go by fast while we chat. I wish I could think of a way to beable to read while I walk (lol..kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone..lol), but when I was there last week I couldn't think of how I could do it. They do have a TV there, but don't get a lot of channels, most of them are FOX news, CNN, MSNBC, etc.

Gotta go take a shower and give the kids a bath before preschool, Im cutting it close it's almost 10:30 already! And I gotta get lunch going. YIKES! Where did the morning go??!!??!!

I hate dr's!!

W has his adenoids & tubes surgery on Tuesday. I was on the phone non-stop from 9:30am-noon on friday with the hospital, dr.'s, insurance, hospital, dr., insurance, dr. insurance. In that order. He had his pre-op on friday, got a clean bill of health, and we toured the surgery center.

T also had a dr. appointment on friday for his elbow, he has tennis elbow in one elbow, golfers elbow in the other one. And he doesn't even play these sports!!

Yesterday Jane, Visa (foreign exchange student from Germany), kids & I went to K. Got the adaptor for the kids v-smile (Walmart), picked up swimming trunks for the boys (Old Navy), went to Goodwill and bought 4 new (to me) books.

Today is the Superbowl. T is working at the farm now, and going to come home probably soon. I'll make homemade pizza burgers tonight.

Im still reading "When Joy Came to Stay". I finally got over 1/2 way last night. It's a good book. I was hoping to get it done by this weekend, but that isn't going to happen..unless I have about 3-4 hours of uninterrupted reading time today (haha).

Kindergym

Today I took the kids to kindergym. It started at 9am which is very early for us to be up and about. Had A up at 7:30am (the boys were already up at 6am like usual). They LOVED it! No I take that back they LOOOOOOOOVED IT!! They had soo much fun. The instructor Jeff was wonderful with the kids and considering there were 12 kids in the class and only 1 minor fall with a crying spell (and it wasn't one of my kids) that was fantastic IMHO! lol I didn't bring the kids up to the play area, Im not sure if I ever will. I know once they see all the toys and videos up there I'll never get them out. :)

Now that I know they love it, I'll beable to work out Mon-Thurs. Today I didn't bring any work out clothes with me, because I wasn't sure how W would do. He had sooo much fun and was laughing and playing the whole time. That put a BIG grin on this momma's face!! :))

I don't know what we're going to do with the rest of our day, it's kinda chilly outside now but hopefully it'll warm up and we can go outside or something.

I started my CR read yesterday "When Joy Came to Stay" and I know Im going to really enjoy this book. Im on chapter 3 and it's really good so far.

Today's the first day of the rest of my life.

Today our YMCA membership went into affect. I went there today after the kids left for school and got my card, and walked the treadmill for 20 minutes (1 mile). I feel fantastic!! I remember now how good this felt last year when I was working out at home! The guy behind me (late 50's) was practically running on his treadmill..I could hear that ol' flywheel just a spinning. I didn't let it bother me, I just kept the speed at 3.5 (not sure if that's mph or what) and did a mile in just under 20 minutes. Good for a first day. Tomorrow the kids & I are going again, they have kindergym at 9am..heaven help us that I can get them all up, fed & dressed by then. I know B & A will love it.

The worst way to wake up..

Dh wakes me up Monday morning and says "Abby peed our bed." Shocked and disoriented I said "Huh?" He said "Abby just peed all over me." I don't even want to try to explain our sleeping arrangements, so just know that I wasn't in the bed.

Sure enough..4:30am, I walk into our bedroom (well dh's bedroom lately) and there is pee..all over! Now what to do? Do you wake up a sleeping child at 4:30am, change sheets, etc and risk her not going back to sleep? It's 4:30 for crying out loud!! NOOO..you don't.

She's been day/night trained since August, I don't know why this backsliding happened, but it happened again this morning.

Thunderstorm in January??

I wanted to post about this yesterday, but didn't get a chance.

Friday night we had the most bizarre thunderstorm I have ever heard!! The thunder was so loud, and so close to the ground that our house was literally shaking. And you could actually feel the thunder start at one end of our house and move through the house as it was rattling above us. The lightening was also soo close. When we woke up Saturday morning it was soo foggy, it was like we were living in the clouds.

The kids slept right through the storm. I woke up a couple times and ended up having to move to the boys room with Buck, because he was freaking out.

Yesterday we didn't do much, Troy had to work at the farm so the kids & I stayed home. It was damp and icky with threat of rain all day. The kids went outside to play later in the afternoon and got full of mud. They loved it.

Im reading "A Million Little Pieces". Im almost 1/2 way through. I will finish this book, it is really good. I've been speed reading the stuff that I know is false (what Frey has already admitted is false) and reading the rest of the book as it's a fiction.

Today the kids & I might go to K, maybe go to BK for lunch and go play at the library or something. Maybe head up to GW, see what they have there. I don't know..I need to get groceries today, but I'll do that after they go to bed tonight so I don't have to do it tomorrow while they are at school.

Booooring day!!

The kids & I didn't do much of anything today. It was a really good day for me, PMS must be letting up! The kids & I played lots of games and played.

Really isn't much else to update on. I haven't heard yet from the other review places, but I have my fingers crossed. If they don't accept me..oh well..it's not like I don't have craploads of other books to read. :)

Im starting "A Million Little Pieces" tonight. Im going to read it as a fiction book. Im hoping I can get through it though, there is no paragraph margins and no puncuation marks and the typing is super small. Im kinda an orgainzied freak and catch misspellings in books and it drives me crazy. I hope I can get through it, I've heard it's a great book, regardless of the fact that it's a bunch of lies.

Hoping to do some more book reviews!

I've been reviewing books for Harper Collins, first look program for almost a year and to an extent I have enjoyed it. I enjoy it when I actually get choosen to review for them. But it frustrates me to no end when I spend over 20 minutes every month going through the 10-15 books they have to offer to review, decide which ones I really want to review, submit my request to review those books and then I wait..and wait..and low and behold I don't get choosen, and I hear people in reading groups Im in say "I got 3 books from first look this month to review"! That only makes me say "WTF??". Like I said I've been reviewing for them for almost a year and I've been choosen for 3 books..one of them I KNOW I didn't sign up for. What I dislike about Harper Collins is they've taken reviewing books and turned it into a lottery. Like it should be an *honor* to review a book for them, when *THEY* should be honored to have people offering to do just that..and not pay them mind you. So I've decided to try a couple new review companies. I hope I get choosen for one (or both) of them. bookloons.com and curledup.com. I know there are so many more review companies out there and if you know of any good ones, let me know. :) It's not like I want a free book..I review books because I think my opinion matters, and I think I do a darn good job reviewing. I don't like/not like a book because the majority of the population likes/doesn't like it. I form my own opinions and don't really give a crap what the majority says. Just ask me about "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. Lord knows Im probably 1 out of 100 that didn't like that book..no I take that back..it was HORRIBLE and I honestly can't even think about that book w/o my heart rate going up and that horrible taste of stomach bile creeping up my throat. So on to another subject. In closing this subject I'll say..I hope I get picked. These 2 review companies (from what I understand) don't run like first look, you can pick which books you want to review, or they pick for you. Which Im ok with. As long as every once inawhile I get picked and I feel like they WANT my opinion. Ok on to something else.

Today it was sooo windy outside, but the temps were in the 50's so the kids & I attempted to be outside as much as we could. We would go out for 30 minutes, come in and get the feeling back in our hands for 15 minutes, then head back outside. They had so much fun, even considering at any moment their little feet might leave the ground! lol Me on the other hand..man was I a B*tch today. I don't know what my problem is. Maybe it's PMS. I was literally hanging by a thread all day today and was sooo jumpy and unreasonable. I really think 99% of my problem is my body is all out of wack regarding sleeping. I called the YMCA (we sent our check and paperwork in earlier this week) today and asked when our membership takes affect, they said Feb. 1st, I hope working out will get me back on track. I have started taking vitamins in hopes that that helps. It's just not right that a very, very busy SAHM stays up until 1-2am, and then tries to function all day with 3 active 4 year olds. It's not that I don't try to sleep, it really isn't. Almost every night I lay in bed and toss, and turn, read, then toss, and turn, read some more and finally just say "Screw it..I'll get up then."

Ok this is a long enough post. Wish me luck on my potential review thingies..

WOW it's been awhile again!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. Doesn't seem like it's been almost a month, but the blog doesn't lie!!

Today Abby came home from school, promptly pulled out 2 pieces of artwork she made at school. She said "Look mom..this is for dad." Black piece of construction paper, with white tissue paper glued to it and not 1, not 2, but 10 stickers on it! And "Daddy" (not written by her) on top. Then she said "Look mom..this one is yours." Black construction paper with purple tissue paper glued to it. With "Jennifer" written on it and not a single sticker. Now why is T "Daddy" and Im "Jennifer"? ROFL! Can you tell she's a "daddy's girl"??

Yesterday the kids rode their bikes to the library, while I literally ran behind. They had so much fun, the weather was great, even though it was a bit breezy.

My memory doesn't go back any farther then the last 2 days. But Im sure we've been busy playing and doing as much as we can while the weather holds out. I do remember one day it was 65+° and we went to the park, about 20 other kids there. The kids had a blast. We rode our bikes that day too.

I have hopes that Wyatt will catch on to potty-training before I die. One can dream right?? We got a progress report from school for him last week, and Im happy to say that he's accomplished all the goals we had for him this year! YEA WYATT!!!

Yesterday the family signed up to join the YMCA. Im sooo excited about this! I plan on working out while the kids are at school, getting them enrolled in some activites and taking advantage of the child care there..giving me time to work out again. God help me..Im either going to loose weight this year, or die trying. No more excuses!!!

While I've been away from my little blog I have been reading up a storm. I have 9 books done so far this year! WOO HOO! Im crossing everything that I'll actually hit my 52 goal for b-a-w. Here's what I finished:

"Three Weeks with My Brother" by Nicholas & Micah Sparks (non-fiction)
"Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" by James Patterson (fiction)
"The Father Factor" by Lilian Darcy (romance)
"The Bachelor" by Carly Philips (romance..book 1 of series)
"The Perfect Husband" by Lisa Gardner (thriller/suspense)
"Mom to Mom" by Elisa Morgan (self-help/parenting)
"Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik (fiction)
"The Woman Next Door" by Barbara Delinsky (fiction)
"Goodnight Nobody" by Jennifer Weiner (Mystery)

Great reading month so far!!

Low-down on our trip

I don't know how much time I have before the kids notice Im sitting here so I'll try to get down as much of our trip as I can. I guess it would be easiest (so I can go back and re-read it later) if I just break out trip down day by day.

12/22-We left our house around 10:30am. We stopped in Omaha at Chuck E. Cheese at 1:30 and stayed until 4pm. We ended up spending the night in LeMars, IA ending our drive around 6pm.

12/23-We arrived at my in-laws around noon. Unloaded our crap and went to my moms house around 5pm for her b-day. Mike & the kids were there. I have no clue what time we left my moms house, must of been around 9pm. The kids fell asleep on the way to the in-laws.

12/24-We had nothing planned for this day. Next year we're going to celebrate OUR (dh, me & kids) christmas this day. In-laws bought some toys for the kids to open on Christmas eve day. Dh's brother & his girlfriend came out for awhile. The kids & I played in the snow and made a snowman. MIL & I were up wayyyyyyy to late preparing for the Christmas feast.

12/25-Christmas at the in-laws. Everyone was there but one BIL and his wife and 1 nephew. Had a GREAT time! I laughed soooo hard while doing dishes with 2 of my SILs. Bobbi & Becky..I love ya!! Again up wayy to late cleaning up from Christmas feast.

12/26-Christmas at my moms. Mike & Brandi came w/o the kids (they had something going on with Julie). My aunt Lynette, aunt Sharon and Jodi (Sharon's friend) were there. My grandmother didn't come because she said "we just have to much to do tomorrow, we have to go to the bank and post office." I got a nice bag of apples from my grandmother (how inconsiderate!!!!). My brother said everyone else got nice gifts (they celebrated with my grandmother on the 24th, and Troy & I were not invited because my grandmother does not like kids).

12/27-Went to my moms in the afternoon. Dh stayed w/ his parents for the afternoon. Mom & I went to McD with Breezy & Devin and met Julie there. It was great to see her. Bobbi Jo came out later with Steph & Jessie to the in-laws. Kids had a blast.

12/28-Went to playworks with my mom, Brianna & Devin (and my kids of course). Stayed there from 11:00-7pm. Kids & I were bushed!!! Dh went to Cabelas with one of his brothers and his dad.

12/29-Went to McD again to meet my dad and my grandparents. Devin, Mike & Brandi came also. Brianna had something else going on. It was great to see my dad & grandparents.

12/30-Snowed all night. Kids & I went outside to play in the snow. Didn't go anywhere.

12/31-Spent the day running around like crazy. Went to Rick & Joy's to drop off their x-mas card. They were both sick so we didn't bring the kids in. Went to Shawn & Becky's. Stayed for a few hours, the kids had BLAST together. Becky & I laughed together. Went to my moms house, but she wasn't home. Bobbi & the girls came out to in-laws and stayed to watch the ball drop.

01/01-Started coming home. We left my moms at 10:30am and called it at day in Lincoln at 5pm. We went to Chuck E. Cheese in Lincoln (won't go there again..the pizza was horrible). Stayed at the "Settle Inn" (won't go there again either, they wouldn't let us have a suite because apparently they don't allow kids in the suite rooms..bastards!!).

01/02-Got home at noon.

Today Troy went to the dr. for his sinus cold, got a shot in the butt and some penecillion (sp?). He went to get our mail (OMG..needed a dump truck!!) and went to pick up the dogs. Buck got a scratch on his eye somehow and is now on eye drops..oh yea. Troy is out hunting now, he goes back to work tomorrow am.

Today the kids & I didn't do anything. It's back to our boring ol' life. :(

Back from vacation!

We got home at noon today. We had a wonderful time!! I have lots of laundry to do and I want to sit and relax before going to bed so I'll post more about our trip later.

Bottom line is..we had a great time! Kids got spoiled rotton and didn't want to leave, neither did I.. :(

Off to MN we go..

We're leaving in about 7 hours for Minnesota. I just got done licking over 60 Christmas cards. Can you see my tongue hanging out dryer then a desert??

I got the checkbook balanced, the kids & I are packed (dh isn't packed yet..he can do that tomorrow morning himself..he went to bed at 8:30pm tonight complaining of a new body ache (lol) ). No ER visit this time, unlike our previous trip to Minnesota last May. Hard to believe that's the last time we were there was in May. This year seemed to have flown by and Im left wondering what has happened. So since this will be my last post of 2005 let me do some reflecting..

There's been a lot of changes this year. The kids moved to big kid beds. They turned 4 and started preschool. We had a lot of fun this summer going to the swimming pool and parks. They rode their bikes alot. They figured out how to run their battery operated cars. They moved out of "carseats" and into booster seats making our life soo much easier. I can comfortable take them anywhere and for the most part they are fairly well behaved.

Wyatt-finally started coming out of his shell (preschool has helped sooo much). He stopped peeing on my floor and is starting to get the hang of peeing in the potty! THANK GOD!! He's starting to talk to adults instead of shying away and running.

Blaine-had surgery to remove his adenoids and is breathing out of his nose for the first time in his life! NO MORE SNORING!! YEA!! He's getting the hang of potty training. Talking sooo much more and turning into a regular PITA tattle-tale, more times then not making up stuff to tattle about.

Abby-completely potty trained. Talks up a total storm. Is a huge mothers helper. Still doesn't like sleeping alone (we'll work on that next year..maybe..personally I love laying with her, she's quiet when she sleeps! lol)

Dh-got a job in Minnesota and lost it within 2 weeks. UGH! Still working at the farm and at BD. Went hunting a lot this year. Spent lots of quality time with the kids in the tractor this years harvest. Enjoyed 4 days of just the kids & him while I was in NYC.

Me-Went on my first vacation ALONE to NYC and had a fantastic time. I've enjoyed the past year with the kids at this age. They are such a joy to spend time with, but still require more work then humanly possible sometimes. Read a lot of great books. Enjoying my 2 day afternoon breaks while the kids are at preschool.

Best books I read in 2005-"Autobiography of a Face", "Gentlemen & Players", "Aprons on a Clothesline"

Worst book I read in 2005-"Truth & Beauty"

Kids school program

So tonight was the kids preschool program. Stacie told me right before the program how good all the kids had done on practice today and she was really hoping that they'd do even half as good as they did today. HA!!

I started tearing up when I saw Blaine come out, put a sticker on the snowman and walk to his spot, then came Abby (more tears) and a few kids later out walks Wyatt. The first song went so well. The kids had little snowflakes on their hands and heads and were singing. After the song I saw Blaine's bottom lip come out and I knew trouble was brewin' in his little mind. He started crying "Mommy..where are you?" I waved, but that didn't help. Then he started saying "Mommay..I want to go to bed." Please keep in mind Blaine asks to go to bed around 6:30, if we're lucky we can hold him off until 7:30, it was now 7:10pm. Then he started crying "I want to go to daddy's bed." Well..needless to say Stacie took Blaine off the stage and he came running to me, which in turn brought Wyatt & Abby down. Im not sure what happened after that (because Blaine was crying pretty hard so I left the gym), but I was told that Abby did go back on stage to finish the program and Wyatt spent the rest of the program on Troy's lap, while he (Troy) continued to *try* (key word here folks) to video tape the rest of the program. Apparently Troy gave Wyatt my camera to occupy him, I got back to my chair after the program and I had no film left in my camera. :) It should be another interesting roll of film when I get it developed. lol

The kids opened up their christmas presents tonight from Troy & I. Santa's presents will be coming after we get home from Minnesota (I THINK). Troy mentioned that Santa may come tomorrow night instead..we'll see. They seem to love the presents they got. Abby's fav is the doll and stroller (of course). Wyatt loves his fireman that crawls on the ground. And Blaine loves his navy guy that crawls on the ground.

Well it's time to *try* (again key word here) to carry Wyatt upstairs and put him to bed. That kid is seriously getting wayyy to heavy to lug up stairs. He has to be pushing 50 lbs pretty hard. Then Im going to read some.

Oh what to do!!

Today I took the kids to church. Im trying to get Wyatt use to church (this is a 4 year battle so far). He really has problems sitting in church with so many other people around him. Thankfully we go to a small country church so me having to get up 50x during the service isn't a big deal, everyone there knows what we're dealing with regarding Wyatt.

There is 1 little girl there named Allie. I'd guess she's around 10 years old. Today Wyatt was having a real difficult day in church so him & I spent 99% of the service sitting on the steps. Allie kept following me & Wyatt out and saying "What's wrong with him??" I should add that Allie was at church alone today (very very very common because her family lives directly across the street from church..her family just sends her out the door about 5 minutes before church starts and Allie walks home when it's over. She sits with whoever she chooses and whoever wants to keep an eye on her. Today she sat directly behind us with no one really watching her. Again it's really no big deal because our church only has about 10 families..tops).

I came home from church and called my friend whos son has Autism and get some ideas from her on how to deal with Allie and her endless questions. I feel armed to deal with her tonight at the church Christmas program. If her mom is there also, Im planning on approaching her and hopefully she'll be able to help me (if she even cares) answer Allie's endless questions regarding Wyatt's behavior. Wyatt was soo good in church all things considered. Blaine & Abby were good as gold. They both sat great with my friend Jane and listened. :)

Felt like a bloggin'

Im waiting for DH to come home from deer hunting and have a couple minutes before the timer for supper goes off.

Yesterday I took the kids to the library, I made a HUGE mistake by going wayy to late for Blaine. Lately he's been asking to go to bed around 6:30 and at 7pm last night we were at the local library. He ran away from the children's section and was kindly brought back by one of the librarians. I put him in timeout for running away, he was laying on the floor whining he jumped up to quickly and hit his head on an electrical box (the boxes at the library stick out about 3-4". Next thing I heard him SCREAMING and I went running to him and blood was pouring out of his head. The librarian literally FREAKED OUT asking if she needed to call the unit. I was completely calm (totally my nature) and said "No..just get me the key to the bathroom." She was totally freaked out, shaking, got the key and opened up the door while I held Blaine's head with blood running down my arm. I got him cleaned up and found a little microscopic cut (about 1/16" of an inch). It quit bleeding after 2 minutes and Blaine quit screaming after 3 minutes. I had to sign paperwork with the library regarding the accident. The librarian called this morning to find out how Blaine was and I assured her he was totally fine.

You never know what will happen with my kids.

Quick, Quick, Quick!!!!

This does not happen often!! Dh took all 3 kids for a car ride and said he'd be back in about 2 hours! 3 things I want to get done, laundry, dishes and take a shower...that is after I update my blog with the new book Im reading..and of course check emails for just 1 minute (ROFL).

Sick as a dog

I've got such a bad head cold. I am literally plugged up from the neck up. YUCK!

Saturday

Today the kids & I are going to a b-day party for the Becker triplets. Blaine is still not 100%, but he did eat today so he's getting better. I just hope Im not making a huge mistake taking him to this party. He really wants to go, and I really want him to go. Worse case..he pukes all over the party, and gets all the guests sick. I called Erin yesterday and told her we were not coming because Blaine was sick and she told me (no practically begged me) to come even if Blaine felt a tiny bit better, because I was the 3rd person who had called saying they were not coming because of sick kids. Erin said her kids have already had the flu, and actually are just getting over it also. Like I said Blaine ate today, and now he's upstairs resting. FINGERS CROSSED IM NOT MAKING A MISTAKE!!!

After the party we have a couple errands to run around Kearney. So I hope Blaine is up to all that too.

Troy just walked in the door..holy shit..gotta go..I didn't think he'd be home.

Jen

December already??

WOW I can't believe it's already the 2nd week in December! I have my christmas shopping done! YEA! This is probably the first time in quite awhile that I've actually had it done this early!! lol

It definately feels like winter around here. We've got about 10" of snow on the ground, which is very unreal for this area! Usually we get snow and within a week it's all gone, but not this year so far! I just hope the weather really starts warming up the next couple of weeks when we are traveling to/from Minnesota.

Not to much new. Blaine is sick and has been for 2 days now. I finally got him to eat a small scoop of ice cream tonight, other then that he hasn't eaten anything since Thursday. Tomorrow we're suppose to go to a b-day party for the Becker triplets. Im hoping Blaine feels well enough to go, because Wyatt & Abby really want to go. Im going to wrap their present tonight just incase we do go. FINGERS CROSSED!!

I've finished a couple books since I posted. The last one being "The Horse Whisperer" by Nicholas Evans. Good book, but I didn't care for the character Annie or her storyline..which IMHO was more then 1/2 of the book. I didn't like the ending either. I also saw the movie "The Notebook" (based on the book by Nicholas Sparks) the other night and cried like a baby. I'll definately be buying that movie next time I see it and have a few $$ to spend.

That's it for now..