Me in Place

The Edge of the Divine; Patty, Sandi
SASR (Short Attention Span Review): This was a review book I got through Booksneeze.com – a site you can sign up for, request a copy of a book and review it on a blog and one commercial book site. So, it’s not really a book I would have sought out on my own, I’ll admit. But I did appreciate Sandi’s honesty and words of explanation about her journey in weight loss and her explanations of how she relied on God and His faithfulness to sustain her. Sandi had a long history of weight issues, and finally went through with a weight loss surgery. The book speaks of her emotional issues – with her family and with her Christian audience – and her physical issues. While I appreciated the book and her truthfulness, I found the book to have quite a few loose ends – how did her journey eventually turn out? (In other words, if it’s a weight loss journey, what were her goals and did she accomplish them?) A minor complaint, I realize!
Rating: 7

In times of stress, he shampoos the rugs and carpet throughout the house.

And I bake from-scratch chocolate cake.

We’re actually kinda handy to have around.

It’s a Friday. I hope to find time to post some pictures from our last couple of weeks as it’s been busy around here!

1. It is March – but I won’t be posting my February budget form. Because I don’t think it’s that exciting and because February was unique in that we ate out for my birthday, fed lots of people for SuperBoy’s birthday and were out of town for a week. So the grocery budget came in under $500, but it was also not really an average month. (Are there any average months?)

2. The UPS man just dropped off two boxes. Filled with “stuff” from my totaled minivan. Weird to go through your possessions from your car. And also thankful it’s a chore for one of my daughters to clean the van every week. So there wasn’t a ton of extra junk in there.

3. Reading the “in” book of the moment now in Christian women’s blogland. It’s “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. Slow reading it because her sentences are similar to Annie Dillard’s (very descriptive and pensive), but enjoying it and actually it was coincidentally exactly what I needed to be reading right now.

4. Can’t wait to show you the “scrapbook” I am keeping for this year! I think you’ll be interested and find it something you might be able to use!

5. Listening to a lot of Brad Paisley.

6. Eating a lot of eggs on english muffins.

I am the proud and spoiled owner of an iPad. Mostly because of my insane addiction to reading. Tired of lugging books around everywhere (seriously, I couldn’t go to the doctor/salon/daughter’s lesson without a book in tow), the iPad seemed to be the answer for my problem. And it is. And along with the ease of storing loads of books, I have discovered my own personal favorite apps. Here they are:

1. Angry Birds: Addicting and a world-wide favorite, you’ll love it. Easy to pass time with.

2. Kindle: The Amazon Kindle app is available free for the iPad even though iBooks is the default Apple app for books. Kindle is better because there are loads more books available through Amazon. And there are always lots of free books available on Kindle. Go to Amazon and search for “free Kindle books”.  And there are books with samples you can download. Read a chapter and try it out before you pay.

3. Sol Free: Free Solitaire app. My latest addiction.

4. TuneIn Radio: Love love love this app. Download it and you can listen to radio from all over the nation and the world. If you are a Dave Ramsey fan, you search for his show…if he’s on air that afternoon, you can listen live. OR you can set a timer and record the show to listen to it later. (If a program is not airing weekdays, i.e. Prairie Home Companion, then you cannot listen to it live that day.)

5. Pandora: Free basic app (or you can pay to get it without ads). Type in your favorite musician and it creates a radio “station” based on your musical tastes. Click on the thumbs up or thumbs down and the station will fit more to your musical tastes.

6. The Weather Channel: Ooh, so addicting.

7. Boggle: You have to pay for this app, but it’s a great app and the graphics are amazing.

8. Epicurious: If you’re into food, you’ll want this app. Graphics are great. Pick the recipe and add the ingredients to your shopping list and you’re good to go!

9. Fruit Ninja: Too funny – you swipe your finger across the screen to try to chop the fruit. Strangely fun. (Most games I have, I bought around Christmastime, when they were only 99 cents each. I don’t know how much they are now.)

10. New York Times and USA Today: Both are good newspaper apps, and both have crosswords. Both you eventually have to pay for, but you can get a free trial. Or, as I did for the NY Times, I ordered three months of crosswords, and have them for when I have an extra long wait at an appointment. Or, frankly, an extra long day as a mom – they come in handy as a relaxing evening pastime!

1. Welcome Home! Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy; Woodhouse, Kimberley; 217
SASR: Kimberley’s daughter, Kayla, was born with a rare disorder which means she feels no pain, doesn’t sweat and uses cooling gear just to go outside! Kimberley takes you through their trials of housing, jobs and medical bills as they help their daughter live a full life. Eventually they were on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and were blessed to have a house built with temp controls. Interesting story. Rating: 8

2. Decision Points; Bush, George; 512
SASR: Bush focuses on 14 decisions he made while in office and gives explanations for his decisions and also admits he got it wrong at times. It was a good reminder to realize we don’t know the whole story when hearing the media. Although it wasn’t very personal – I did find it interesting and a good read (And it was the first book I read entirely on the iPad. I’m still rating that experience as opposed to real, in hand books.). Rating: 8

3. Justice Game; Singer, Randy;
SASR: Good legal thriller by a Christian author. Rating: 8

4. Extraordinary, Ordinary People; Rice, Condoleezza; 333
SASR: Story of her life, focusing on her parents. Interesting and inspirational. And, now  – because she’s a pastor’s kid and a piano player whose talent lies in sight reading (as opposed to improv)  – I feel we are best friends. Highly recommended read. Rating: 8

5. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother; Chua, Amy; 225
SASR: Loved it. Good read.

6. Always the Baker, Never the Bride; Bricker, Sandra; 288

7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Skloot, Rebecca; 338
SASR: “Doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died. They launched a medical revolution and a multimillion-dollar industry. More than twenty years later, her children found out.” Interesting book detailing the life and death and life (!) of Henrietta Lacks and her cells. Rating: 8

8. Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey; Demer, Joanie and Wheeler, Heather; 243
SASR: I’ve read a bunch of books on couponing/saving money at home, and yet this book managed to still teach me more! Recommended. Rating: 8

9. ReShaping It All; Bure, Candace Cameron; 238
SASR: Good book about healthy living -including spiritual principles, which I think is important!

10. Made to Crave; TerKeurst, Lysa; 224

11. Listen; Gutteridge, Rene; 432

12. The Simple Dollar; Hamm, Trent; 224
SASR: Hamm discusses how he paid off debt and started working for himself.

13. The Lights of Marfa; Dykes, Doyle
SASR: Memoir written by Doyle Dykes, one of the world’s best finger pickin’ guitar players.

14. Keeping the Little in Your Little Girl; Gresch, Danna
SASR: Keeping an eye on what our tweens see and hear in media, what we say in front of them, etc all adds up to giving them a balanced approach to their future/teen lives. Good points.

15. Almost Heaven; Fabry, Chris; 400

16. Unplanned; Johnson, Abby; 288
SASR: Former Planned Parenthood Director crosses the life line.

17. One Thousand Gifts; Voskamp, Ann
SASR: The “in” book of the year for Christian women, Voskamp speaks of her journey to gratefulness. She was challenged to make a list of 1,000 things she was grateful for and finds contentment in the Lord as she creates the list. Voskamp’s sentences are reminiscent of Annie Dillard’s – long, poetic and slow moving as she takes time to look at the “little things” in life. Note that the slow moving comment is not negative…the sentences match the mood! I read this during a time when I had a no-complaining rule in my life, a wrecked van and insurance people to call…and the book was an encouragement! Rating: 8

18. The Edge of the Divine; Patty, Sandi
SASR: This was a review book I got through Booksneeze.com – a site you can sign up for, request a copy of a book and review it on a blog and one commercial book site. So, it’s not really a book I would have sought out on my own, I’ll admit. But I did appreciate Sandi’s honesty and words of explanation about her journey in weight loss. Sandi had a long history of weight issues, and finally went through with a weight loss surgery. The book speaks of her emotional issues – with her family and with her Christian audience – and her physical issues. While I appreciated the book and her truthfulness, I found the book to have quite a few loose ends – how did her journey eventually turn out? (In other words, if it’s a weight loss journey, what were her goals and did she accomplish them?) A minor complaint, I realize!
Rating: 7

19. The Missional Mom; Lee, Helen; 224

20. Black Ships Before Troy; Sutcliffe, Rosemary ; 154
SASR: Read for school with kids. This is a great and readable adaptation of the Iliad.

21. The Hobbit; Tolkein, J R; 320(school)
SASR: SO excited to read this out loud to the kids. And equally excited to find them enjoying it as much as I did. We talked about Gollum for days afterward.

22. Good to Great; Collins, Jim; 300
SASR: Classic business book. Rating: 8

23. Detectives in Togas; Winterfield, Henry; 272 (school)

24. Jump Off the Hormone Swing; Pintus, Lorraine; 240
SASR: She discusses PMS and peri-menopause. Got it free from husband’s work.

25. What Good is God?; Yancey, Philip; 287
SASR: Yancey writes a chapter about his travels to different parts of the world and then includes the speech he gave to that particular group of people. He speaks to them about having a faith that matters. Rating: 9

26. Choosing to See; Chapman, Mary Beth; 288

27. My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business; Van Dyke, Dick; 304
SASR: I love reading biographies. This one won’t really reveal any deep, dark secrets, but it’s interesting and a good read.

28. Mrs Astor Regrets; Gordon, Meryl; 308

29. The Happiness Project; Rubin, Gretchen; 315
SASR: Gretchen attempts to be happier and have more fun. Each month, she chose a different aspect of happiness to work on, including: being a better mom, better wife, better friend. I liked her ideas and the fact that she tackled an “abstract” with lists. Very good and inspiring because it fits my personality and sounded like something I’d do! Rating: 9

30. A Million Little Pieces; Frey, James; 382
SASR: Memoir of James’ battle with drug and alcohol addiction. Mostly known because of Oprah railing on him and outing him on some of the fabrications in the book. Well-written, though. Rating; 8

31. Trigger Point Therapy Workbook; Davies, Clare; 248
SASR: Well, that title threw you for a loop, right? I was loaned this to flip through, but I ended up reading the entire book. The point is that finding trigger points of pain and applying pressure to, you know, release myofascial pain can help heal muscle/soft-tissue pain. Interesting. Rating: 8

32. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made; Brand, Paul, Yancey, Philip;
SASR:

33. In His Image; Brand, Paul; Yancey, Philip:

34. Stories I Only Tell My Friends; Lowe, Rob;

35. Bossypants; Fey, Tina

36. Eat That Frog: 21 Steps to Avoid Procrastination; Tracy, Brian

37. Beautiful Boy;

38. Room

39. The Confession; Grisham, John

40. Still Life; Penny, Louise

41. A Marriage Carol; Fabry, Chris & Chapman, Gary

42. EntreLeadership; Ramsey, Dave

43. One Day; Nicholls, David;

44. Boundaries; Cloud, Henry

45. One I won’t mention because it was so maddening, I’d hate to think someone would think I was recommending it…

46. Housekeeping;

47. Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism;

48. Bring It; Horton, Tony

49. Heaven for Kids; Alcorn, Randy

50.

As I contemplated my goals for this year, I kept coming back to one word: Creative. And that’s how my Word of the Year was born. I want to focus on that word and use it in a variety of different ways how creative! to accomplish

1 – what NEEDS to be done

2 – what I WANT to be done

3 – what is FORCED UPON me to be done (grrr…)

4 – and what I DESIRE to do.

After last year – a totally Lame Year – I needed to find some inspiration in my life. And the word CREATIVE is helping push me in the right direction. It’s so easy to get into a rut and my personality is one that hates to be stuck in the muddy rut of daily life. Bringing in the CREATIVE is just to liven up the day to day. I’ll be interested to see how the word inspires, motivates and maybe even provides a few surprises.

How I will apply the word:

I need to be CREATIVE in what I read and learn this year.

• -My goal is to read 75 books and make sure I have business, learning, fiction and non-fiction all in there.

I need to be CREATIVE in motivating my kids in our homeschooling.

• -My goal is to take 5 field trips specifically for learning/experiencing.
• -My goal is to get them through 5th/3rd/1st grade!
• -My goal is to do science or history projects with them at least once a week.
  -My goal is to help them be organized in their goal keeping. The girls want to read 200 books each. I need      help them stick with a record of that.

I need to be CREATIVE in my dealing with money as the Co-CFO and bill payer of the family.

• -My goal is to feed my family of five (plus a couple other visitors) for $100 a week.
• -My goal is to take the time to search for the best deals I can.
• -My goal is to tackle some goals we have financially that are none of your business.

I need to be CREATIVE in seeking out time for hobbies and interests.

• -My goal is to keep cooking up a storm. (1 recipe out of each cookbook I own!) Build another garden. (Gardening catalogs have already arrived!) Keep freezer cooking with my sis-in-law (if I can keep convincing her). Spend some time doing crafts.
• -My goal is to stay motivated with working out. Pursue ways to keep learning on what works and what I enjoy doing.

I need to be CREATIVE in how I reach out to others in showing hospitality, or encouraging, or in ministering.

My goal with the blog is to discuss what I’ve been doing to pursue the CREATIVE!

And, just in case you think CREATIVE is a hoity toity word, my definition is pretty broad. I.E. I was proud of how CREATIVE my kids were in this little creation:

In a sad, sad turn of events, I have gotten dumber by 5% this year. I’ve been doing the Jeopardy calendar for the last…15 years or so? It used to be I had help from my team at my work, now that I’m on my own at home, I wing it with my smarts. And, let’s be honest, my smarts on physics and opera are not really up to par, apparently. Anyway, here’s the results from this year:

Last two year’s results are shown/discussed here and here.And in 2007, I used to be 72% smart.

Don’t forget about Ebates! You sign up and get $5…then, every time you place an order online, go to ebates.com first and search for the store and click through. You end up getting anywhere from 2% -50% of the purchase price of your order back. It adds up and you’ll receive a check in the mail every quarter of the year. So far, I’m up to $85 back from purchases we’ve made over the past year.

Yes – if you sign up through my link, I get  a $5 bonus after you place your first order. You also get $5, plus whatever ebate you’ve earned for your order. Lately, sites have been having specials, which is how I ended up getting 50% on two of our orders!

Click here to sign up: Ebates.com

So, to review :

1. Sign up at ebates.com
2. Search for the online store you’re ordering from. I.E. Target or Kohl’s, etc
3. Click through to that site and place your order. That’s it!

Here’s an update of the books I’ve read since well…the last update.Highlighted titles are ones I’d recommend.

53. A Beautiful Blue Death; Finch, Charles; 324
SASR: A maid is found dead – the quiet free-lance detective, Charles Lenox, attempts to solve the mystery of who solved her. The writing of the detective’s character is the great part of the book – sort of along the lines of how well-written Nero Wolfe is in Rex Stout’s mysteries. Rating: 8

54. Made From Scratch; Lee, Sandra; 270
SASR: Hard life overcome by hard work.
Rating: 7
Mom Rating: 3 kids

55. Hollow; Morrow, Jena; 240
SASR: Author battles with anorexia.
Rating: 9
Mom Rating: 2 kids

56. A Girl’s Best Friend; Billerbeck, Kristin; 319
SASR: Girl gets conned by a pretend musician who dumps her at the altar. Her dad also uses her to sell the diamonds for his company. This is supposed to be entertaining chick lit. Um…I’ve liked some of Billerbeck’s books, but this one just felt forced.
Rating: 6
Mom Rating: 3 kids

57. The September Society; Finch, Charles;
SASR: Follow up to A Beautiful Blue Death. This was another great Victorian mystery from Charles Finch. We follow Lenox, who dreams of travelling – but never takes the trips – and asking his neighbor, Jane, to marry him. The mystery involves the mysterious deaths of a couple young men and the calling card of “the September Society”. The mystery is good and I didn’t really know what the ending would be, but more than that, I like his atmosphere, and most especially, cheered for his description of Lenox’s love for buying books from the bookstore. (A Soul Mate!)
Rating: 8
Mom Rating: 2 kids and a cuppa tea!

58. Beyond Belief; Hamilton, Josh; 256
SASR: Amazing story of number one draft pick, Josh Hamilton. After an injury while in the minors, he became addicted to cocaine and crack and lost out on three years of baseball. But, with the help of his grandmother, and  – more importantly – the Lord, he beat his addiction and made a comeback – and is now in the majors. It makes cheering for the Rangers this postseason all the more interesting with his story in mind.
Rating: While I’d love to give this a higher number, the writing in the book itself (Not written by Hamilton) was poor and often repeated entire phrases. So…6 for writing, but 9 for story.
Mom Rating: 3 kids and a postseason game

59. The end of overeating.; Kessler, Dr David; 321
SASR: Interesting book about our responses to food. Some good, maddening, gross insight into restaurants in America and their ways of developing food.
Rating: 7

60. The Accidental Adventurer; Washburn, Barbara; 190
SASR: Barbara married Brad Washburn, who was a mountain climber and museum director. He just expected her to go along with him on his trips, and she did! In doing so, she became the first woman to climb Mt McKinley. This is her life story, told well and interestingly. In their later years, they helped develop a topographical map of the Grand Canyon and various mountains. We even found a map of Mt Everest my husband owns (which was published by National Geographic) and realized this was the map Brad was the director of. (Book on National Geographic’s list of 100 Best Adventure Books.)
Rating: 8
Mom rating: Easy to read.

61. Licensed for Trouble; Warren, Susan May; 373
SASR: Warren is one of the few Christian fiction authors I read. This book is the third in a trilogy of mysteries starring PJ, a wannabe PI. The mystery surrounds a man who turns up as a handyman – but he has amnesia and wants PJ to search for…him. The mystery deepens as it’s discovered he was a soldier and possibly involved in a diamond smuggling gang. Note that this is the third in the trilogy, obviously, don’t be like me…start with the first one titled Double Trouble.
Rating: 7
Mom Rating: Perfect escape reading

Under the heading of “Well, Of Course”, our vines only grew two pumpkins. Let me back up and remind you this was the first year of us having a “real” garden. In my overzealous way, I bought too many tomato plants, too many cucumber plants, too many pepper plants, oh, and for good measure – two pumpkin plants. Have you seen how huge pumpkin vines grow? We didn’t plant them in the garden, we threw one in our back corner compost junk spot and one in a seldom used corner by a fence. Two huge vines grew. Guess how many pumpkins grew? Let me remind you, we have three kids. So how many pumpkins grew?

Well, of course..

Two.

But we managed and had fun carving our very own pumpkins grown with our own hands.