Yikes! More Reading Challenges!

Just when I thought I was all done with reading challenges, I found some more. One of the ones I enjoyed last year started up again, and my daughter decided to host two herself.

14. 2013 Why Buy The Cow Reading Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Free downloadable ebooks
       Coupon Clipper: 12 books

15. Clocks, Cogs and Mechanisms Reading Challenge 2013 (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Steampunk novels
      Brass Gears: 1-3 books

16. What Would Jane Do? Reading Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Books written by Jane Austin, derivative works and movies
      Jane's Wisdom: 3-5 books and 3-5 movies

I'm not going to say that's all, because as sure as I do, someone will post a fabulous challenge I can't resist! I will just say, that's all for now. :D

Reading Challenges 2013

It's that time of year again! Of course I'm referring to time to sign up for new reading challenges. I promised myself, as I do every year that I wasn't going to go crazy and sign up for a bunch of challenges, but I looked over the new crop and just couldn't help myself. So here are the newest batch:

1. Embarrassment of Riches TBR Reading Challenge 2013 (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Books you already own
      Copper:  Read 6 TBR books
2. Library Books Reading Challenge 2013 (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Books checked out from the library 
      Board Book: 3 books
3. 2013 Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Mystery or crime novels or short stories
      5 books: Detective
4. New Year's Resolution Reading Challenge (Jan 1 through Jan 31 2013)
   Books to help with resolutions (mine is getting organized)
      Resolved: 1 book
5. Wishlist Challenge 2013 (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Books from your online wishlist
      12 books (one per month)
6. 2013 Fairy Tales Retold Reading Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Young adult or middle grade fairy tale retellings
      Cobbler: 1-3 books
7. 2013 Mount TBR Reading Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Books from the TBR mountain
      Pike's Peak: 12 Books
8. Foodies Read 2013 Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Any book, fiction or non-fiction about food, cooking or chefs
      Short-Order Cook: 1-3 books
9. Cruisin' Through the Cozies Reading Challenge 2013 (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Cozy mysteries at defined by cozy-mystery.com
   Level 1 Snoop: Read at least 6 books
10. Nerdy Non-fiction Reading Challenge 2013 (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Any non-fiction books
      Geek: 4-6 books in at least 2-3 different categories
11. 2013 Operation Deepen Faith (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   I. Wonderful Words of Life: Read one book of the bible each day for 30 days
   II. Going Deep: Study one book for the year 
   VI. Christian Nonfiction: 4 books
12. Operation Actually Read the Bible (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Read the bible all the way through--actually a perpetual challenge, but I'm putting it down for this year
13. 2013 Ebook Challenge (Jan 1 through Dec 31 2013)
   Any ebook of any length or genre
      Floppy disk: 5 ebooks

And last but not least...
This isn't really a reading challenge per say, but more a reflection of the ones I signed up for already.
Reading Challenge Addicts
   Hi, my name is Terri and I am a reading challenge addict. LOL
      In Flight: 13 reading challenges (so far!)

That's it. Or at least, that's it until I run across something else that looks like fun.


         

A Christmas Reading Challenge

This wasn't a good year for reading challenges and I blew most of the ones I signed up for. But when I saw this one, I couldn't let the year end on that note. I just discovered the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2012 over at The Christmas Spirit. It actually started Monday, November 19th, but it runs until January 6, 2013, so there's still plenty of time to get involved. The challenge is all about reading Christmas books. There are add-on's for Christmas movies and Christmas children's books as well. Be sure to check it out! I plan to do at least the Mistletoe level (2-4 books) plus Fa-La-La (movies--lots of them!) and Visions of Sugar Plums (reading Christmas stories to the kids).

While you're there signing up, be sure to take a look around the blog. If you are needing a good, strong dose of Christmas, you can definitely get it here!

Reading Challenge Update

Don't worry. I didn't join any more reading challenges, although I will admit I was tempted by a couple of late entries. However, I held fast and stuck with the already overwhelming number I had. Anyway, here's what I've read so far:

The Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family by Mary Ostyn
     This is a terrific book I had languishing on my bedside table waiting for me to get around to finishing it. Now I wish I'd read it a year ago when I bought it. I picked up so many great tips and got a ton of ideas that I will be using in the near future.

The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
     This is my first foray into steampunk. These are the first and second books in the Infernal Devices series, a series of supernatural steampunk books aimed at young adults. I'm still trying to decide if I really like this genre, but these stories are very interesting.  I can't recommend them for young adults, because there is some profanity and a scene or two of sensuality (the one in the second book made me blush0. You have been warned. Oh, and one last warning: if you get sucked into this series, you should know that according to the website, book three isn't expected until September 2013.

The Disciplined Life by Calvin Miller
     This is one a of multitude of books I have downloaded for free since I got my Kindle several a few years ago. There are many such books available at various times. Check any of the multitude of Kindle blogs for listings of free books on Amazon. Many are free for a limited time, so if you see something that looks interesting, jump on it.
     I really liked this book and will probably re-read it before the year is out. There are lots of nuggets to chew on in this one.

Unfriend Yourself by Kyle Tennant
     Another free e-book. The author issues a challenge to unplug from social media for three days to consider the proper use of it and it's place in your life. Lots of food for thought here as well.

A Thousand Times More by W.S Gray
     Subtitled "A prayer plan to receive all that God wants for you." 'Nuff said.

The Best Gift by Wendy Markham
     I picked this one up last year at a library fundraiser sale. It's a book about a young lady that keeps time-traveling when she least expects it. It was an interesting story. My only real issue with it was that the plot presumes a belief in reincarnation.

That's it for now. Fortunately, some of these crossed over from one challenge to another and counted more than once. I'll post another update when I have another clump of books to report.

Oh, and while I didn't join any more reading challenges, I did get into a challenge with my eldest daughter to make 25 recipes and do 25 projects off of our Pinterest boards before the year is out. Yikes! I'll let you know how that goes.

Update on Two Week Purge

I'm halfway into my two week extreme decluttering venture. I wish I could say the work is at least half done, but alas, that's not the case. However, I still have a whole week to work, so here is the plan. Monday morning is going to be dedicated to a thorough cleaning of the kitchen. Tuesday, I plan to finish the hall. We're having crazy weather right now, so I may have to work the porch cleaning in around that. I still need to deal with the den and my room, but that will come later this week (I hope!).

We have hauled some stuff to storage and two loads to Goodwill so far. Tomorrow, I expect to add to that. We did a major weeding-out off the girls' clothes and tomorrow we are tackling all the boys' clothes. I'll keep you posted as other progress happens!

Anyone Up For A Challenge?

This is a crazy time for us right now. The school year is winding down and summer is on the way. I have three kids getting ready for summer camp and another two getting ready for summer internships. Throw in a birthday or two and it's a bit crazy.

Adding to the level of chaos, is the house. My normally too-small, too-crowded house is filled to the brim right now, since I started cleaning out my mom's storerooms. I have hauled home more than I've had time to process, so stuff is stacked in every spare space. By "spare space", I mean down the front hall, in the corners of the den, large amounts of the library, a piece of my bedroom and most of my front porch.

I can't deal with the chaos anymore, and I have fourteen(!) books to review next month, so it's time to do something radical. I'm planning a two-week purge. I'm talking extreme decluttering. This is what I'm planning to accomplish:

•front porch completely cleaned off
•front hall completely cleared out
•all boxes and containers removed from hall
•access to library restored and space cleared to move around
•I have some food items that need to be put in canisters and put away
•clean out and remove dead freezer
•lay out some simple menus for next month when I'm going to be reading like crazy
•work on the kitchen, which is looking a bit ragged at the moment.
•get my clothes weeded out and everything I'm keeping put away.

Whew! That's a lot for two weeks, isn't it? Prayers and well wishes are certainly welcome.

Since misery loves company, if any of you have stuff you need or want to accomplish in the next two weeks, whether a little or a lot, feel free to join in. Leave a comment and let me know what you're planning to do before summer gets into full swing.

Reboot Camp Update and The Kinder, Gentler Challenge

Well, I'm back and finished with my ten week challenge. It's been a wild ride. and I would love to say I got everything on my challenge list done, but I would be seriously lying if I did. The truth is more like "best laid plans of mice and men".

I started out full of hope and with great energy. I ended up a little frustrated and worn out. Here's how it all went down:

First, the good news
•Bible reading challenge: I did it! I read the entire bible (ESV) between Valentine's Day and Easter.
•Prayer journal: I started one, but I do better just journaling as it strikes me rather than at a prescribed time during morning quiet time. I will actually end up doing more journaling doing my own thing.
•Bible study: I completed about half of "Becoming a Woman of
•Menu plan: Got the menu plan and shopping list figured out and it worked wonderfully,,,the first month. More about that further down.
•Church jobs: Completed care pastor training. I'm currently behind on transcription, but I'm waiting for a piece of equipment.
•Reading challenges: I got them all updated in my records and completed the Christian Non-Fiction challenge.
•Reading: I planned to read 12. I actually read almost twice that.
     In the Shadow of Evil by Robin Carroll
     5 Dreams of Every Woman by Sharon Jaynes
     Passport Through Darkness by Kimberly L. Smith
     Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider
     Dealing With Death God's Way by Pastor Lee Armstrong
     1000 Gifts by Ann Voscamp
     9 Days in Heaven by Dennis and Nolene Price
     That's When I Talk to God by Dan and Ali Morrow
     Heaven is Real by Todd Burpo
     Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander Mccall Smith
     In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson
     The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis
     More Stories from Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson
     Max on Life by Max Lucado
     Bluebonnet Time by Lucas Miller, Harold Underdown, Flo Oxley and Amy Watson
     American Commencement by Michael Farris
     The Fun of Getting Thin by Samuel G. Blythe
     21 Day Weight Loss Kickstart by Neal D. Barnard MD
     Fast & Fresh Vegetarian by Marie Simmons
     The Bible (ESV)
     The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker
     Devotions for Lent by Credo Communication and Tydale
•Homeschooling: Got some good time in with the kids and have been working on one read-aloud that we'll finish this week and are starting another right after.

The Bad
•Vitamins: Nope. Didn't happen.
•Water: Increased water, for a while. Reverted to not enough water and too much iced tea.
•Beauty routine: I never got off the ground. I slathered on some lotion a few times when my skin was dry enough to crack, but beyond that, nothing.
•Home Sanctuary Challenge: I really wanted to, but life interfered.
•Creative challenges: None of these happened. Sigh.

The Ugly
•Diet: Did the No-S Diet for one month with no positive results.

•Exercise: Did Zumba 3-4 times a week for a month and then injured myself. More about that later.

•Changed the chore system and then changed it again. It's still a work in progress.

What went wrong
•The menu plan was going along great until my freezer died. Suddenly I was scrambling to use what I could to avoid loss and at the same time adjust my shopping to account for no longer having a freezer.
•The storage units I have been waiting to access since my mom died two years ago suddenly came available. Every spare moment and quite a few that weren't spare went into cleaning out two large storerooms and part of two others. Yes, she had four big storerooms. And they were packed.
•I was exercising faithfully until I injured myself moving heavy boxes and furniture in the above mentioned storerooms. It was a few weeks before my back quit hurting every time I moved.

What's next
Obviously, I bit off way more than I could comfortably chew. In addition, the storerooms and injuries threw me for a loop. From now until the end of May, I initiating what I'm calling "The Kinder, Gentler Challenge". Here is the plan for the next five weeks:
1. I'm starting a new bible reading program that will take me until the end of the year to complete.
2. I'm working to significantly clear out my house. My house was already pretty crowded, but I hauled home tons of stuff to sort out from my mom's storerooms. Now it's time to go through it all and clear things out.
3. I'm researching nutrition to make improvements to my eating and increasing my activity level to get healthier without straining the newly healed muscles.
4. I plan to read enough to keep up with my scheduled book reviews and complete at least one reading challenge.
5. Set up a comfortable area to write and craft.

That's it. Anyone else interested in coming up with 3-5 areas to work on over the next 5 weeks? What are you going to do?

One Week Down

It's been nearly a week since the Reboot Camp started and I thought it was time for an update. As with most endeavors, some areas are going better than others. Here's how it's going so far.

Spiritual
1. Bible reading is going very well so far. I'm using an accelerated version of what is laughingly called "Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers" (available here). The plan was originally used by the puritans, who could be called neither shirkers nor slackers, but I digress. Here's what I've read so far:
Psalms 1-62
Genesis 1-50 (that's all of it)
Joshua 1-17
Job 1-24
Isaiah 1-24
Matthew 1-12
Romans 1-16 (the whole enchilada)
Obviously, some days went better than others.
2. I did get my prayer journal started and have mostly kept up with it.
3. I haven't started a bible study yet, but I'll be starting one this week.

Physical
1. Kept up with the No-S Diet throughout the week. In that week I learned how much of my eating is habit rather than need. Hmm. I also upped my veggie consumption.
2. I did the Zumba abs workout 4 times last week. I'm not sure why they call it an abs workout since it made my arms, legs, and a few other parts hurt as well.
3. I totally blew taking vitamins and supplements, but I have set up my pill containers for next week and hope to get and stay on top of that.
4. I started out drinking water and ended up reverting to iced tea. I figured out that was because I was getting up earlier to pray and have more bible reading time, but I wasn't going to bed any earlier, so I was tired. My body wanted caffeine and I don't drink coffee, so tea was my friend. This week I'm starting a new thing. I will drink half my daily quota of water before I have a glass of tea, then the other half before I have any more.
5. I'm still working on the beauty routine. I only remembered to use the oil 2 days, but I did discover that it works great to take of waterproof mascara and other eye makeup.

Whew! I'll update on the other areas tomorrow. How are you doing on your challenges?

Reboot Camp

Image by liftarn via FlickrThere are times in your life when you look at your life and realize a few minor tweaks will make everything better. Then there are times when you need much, much more. I'm in the second time right now. I'm looking around and thinking things could be so much better. I had all these great ideas and plans for the new year. Alas, almost nothing has been done with any of them. At a time like this, minor tweaking isn't going to cut it. You need a complete reboot, hence my new Reboot Camp. It is almost 10 weeks long and runs from Valentine's Day to Easter, one "love" holiday to another, so to speak.

My daughter Spitfire and I are embarking on this plan to make positive changes in our lives over the next ten weeks that will hopefully carry over into the rest of the year. We are each setting our own goals, because we have different things that need fixing. At the bottom of the post, I'll tell you how you can play along.

I'm working on five different areas:

Spiritual
These are the things I'm doing to do to help my spiritual growth.
1. I'm going to attempt to read the bible over the next 10 weeks. This is ambitious considering time constraints and the other reading I have to do, but I'm going to attempt it.
2. I'm going to start a prayer journal. I've been meaning to do this for some time, but instead have been relying on my own overtaxed memory to keep lists of prayer requests and answers to prayer. It's time to write things down.
3. Complete at least one bible study.

Physical
This includes, diet, fitness and physical appearance.
1. Follow a modified version of the No-S Diet. I'm kicking it up a notch by eating healthier foods during the non-S days and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.
2. Exercise at least four days a week. I've been doing Zumba with Bookaddict, but it's been pretty hit-or-miss. Now it's time to do something more consistently, whether it's Zumba, interval walking or T-Tapp.
3. Take vitamins and other supplements. I have them but they aren't doing me a bit of good sitting in the bottle. 'Nuff said.
4. Drink more water and less other stuff. I already drink very little in the way of soda but I drink a lot of iced tea. I'm switching to more water and more herb tea and less iced tea.
5. Simplify my beauty routine. For a season, I'm packing up the daytime moisturizer, the nighttime moisturizer, the undereye cream, and the rest and using rosa mosqueta oil instead. I'll let you know what effect this has on my skin. I'm also paring down my makeup options in hopes that having a quick routine will ensure it actually gets done.

Household
This is about the cleanliness, organization, and systems of the house.
1. I'm instituting certain changes in the way chores, both the kids' and mine, are done. I'll post more details about this later.
2. We are working towards simplifying meal preparation and shopping. I have created a master menu and am working on a master shopping list. I'm also making changes to my pantry, refrigerators, and freezer to accommodate and aid this endeavor. Again, I'll be posting more about this as it unfolds.
3. Starting in March, I want to keep up with the Home Sanctuary challenges. When I was doing them before, my house looked better. This Company Girl has been seriously falling down on the job.

Creative
This encompasses writing and sewing and, well, creative stuff.
1. I'm going to attempt to finish my first novel. I started it several years ago during NaNoWriMo, and have played with it a little, but never seriously. I want to get it finished.
2. I'm going to work my way through at least one of my creative writing books.
3. A massive clean out of my crafting area is in order. Once again, I am simplifying. I'm narrowing down my stuff to needed supplies and basics, a few choice projects and the fabric and patterns for the upcoming season, along with a couple of reference books.
4. I'd like to complete half a dozen or so projects by the Easter. More would be even better.
5. Be more attentive to this blog. I plan to post regular updates on this project as well as other stuff. Stay tuned!

Other
This is a mishmash of other goals in various areas.
1. Keep up with church jobs. I'm working on the church blog, the church Facebook page and going through Care Pastor training. I would like to be more faithful about keeping up.
2. My reading challenges have been neglected while I was working my way through a pile of ARC's. I need to update my reading lists and see where I am.
3. I plan to read at least 12 books.
4. I'm revamping my homeschooling in several ways. We are trying some new curriculum and I'm carving out time to spend with the younger ones to shore up some areas they are lagging in.

There you have it. That's the plan. Can I do all it? I don't know, but I'm sure going to try. I can sure use all the encouragement and prayers I can get though. If you have goals of your own thus far unrealized and want to play along, write your own post about your plans and goals and link to this post. Then come back here and leave me a comment saying you're participating in the Reboot Camp and leave a link to your post. Feel free to join in anytime during the camp.

July Blog Challenge

Bloggy Moms Blog Challenge this month is all about childhood dreams and aspirations. Here's my entry.

When I was a kid, I dreamed about a lot of things lots of little girls dream about. At various times, I dreamed of being a dancer, a singer, and a movie star. But outside of those brief fantasies, the thing that really tugged at my heartstrings was being a teacher. I remember writing an essay in the third grade about my desire to be a teacher.

I was heavily influenced by several factors. I had a wonderful first grade teacher I adored who left during second semester to have a baby and came back to the school to show it to us. In second grade and third grade, I had another teacher I thought was wonderful because she would help me with math when I needed it and went to bat for me to fight school policy so I could check books out from the library that were beyond my grade level.

The biggest influence of all was my mom. She was attending college to become a teacher and prior to starting school I actually attended some of her classes with her and was entranced by the things they were talking about. Before all that though, she taught me. She taught me how to finger paint. She taught me how to write my name.  Best of all, she taught me to read and read well.

As time went on I turned my attention to other pursuits and interests and dreamed big dreams, but teaching was always somewhere in the background. It's said that some people have a gifting or personality for certain things. I've been told mine is teaching. I teach when I'm not even trying to. I've now graduated four students from our homeschool and I never get tired of the challenge. i love figuring out just how to explain something or illustrate it in such a way that the student understands it.

I never became a movie star and the major dancing I do is in my living room with a baby or toddler in my arms. The closest I've gotten to being a singer is singing in the church choir and a short stint doing some performances for charity. However, every day I have the honor of being a teacher. And I couldn't be happier.

7 Quick Takes Friday

---1---

Wow. What a week. Crazy stuff has been happening around here. I thought summer was supposed to be a more laid-back season. Uh, yeah. Not so I've noticed. We have been going non-stop with no end in sight.

---2---

Bookaddict has graduated high school. Four down, six to go. She's planning to take a year off to pursue her writing. She's one of the most disciplined people I know when it comes to her writing. Almost every day, she's up before anyone else, working on it. My novel would be finished by now if I was that disciplined. Hmm. Something else to work on.

---3---

Bookaddict and Guitarzan are serving as interns at our church's summer camp. They are leaving Sunday and will essentially be gone until the end of July. We've been running hither and thither to make sure they have everything they need to that time. It's a wonderful program that provides leadership training and the opportunity to utilize what they've learned.

---4---

I have so many things I want to accomplish this summer. I have major house shoveling out, er, I mean, decluttering,  projects to do.The first one on the schedule is redoing the front room to make it a highly functional office/workspace. I have boxes to go through, bookshelves to assemble, craft and sewing stuff to organize, schoolbooks to shelve and supplies to organize. Oh, and I also have several boxes of papers to sort and file or shred. Ugh. It's going to be glorious when it's finished, but right now it just looks like a lot of hard work.

---5---

I have piles of reading to do. I already had a lot with the various reading challenges I entered and then I got into book reviewing. Now I have books arriving in the mail that are starting to pile up. I definitely need to carve out some time this summer to get some reading done. Perhaps I should declare the hottest part of the afternoon to be rest and reading time.

---6---

Spitfire is still here visiting and we are having adventures. We've done some fun shopping and she's been a tremendous help with getting the interns ready to go.  She's also keeping me well supplied with makeup, skincare and cologne. She sells Avon and is constantly running across something for Bookaddict and I to try. She's helping with the War on Frumpiness. Now, if I can just remember to use all of it.

The other day we had car trouble and it took us almost two hours to get home (normally a twenty minute trip). At one point we were stranded on an overpass with big trucks zooming around us. Not fun. Fortunately, after the car sat a bit, we were able to get off the overpass and out on a less-traveled road.

---7---

Speaking of the War on Frumpiness, it's been a slow painful battle with many casualties. Some of these include my collection of baggy t-shirts and some lazy habits. Both keep trying to resurrect and creep back in. Old habits die hard. Let's face it, the reason it's such a battle, is it's easier to throw on some mom jeans or sweats and a baggy shirt, run a comb or brush through your hair and stick it in a ponytail and go along your merry way. Skincare and makeup and fixing hair take time and effort. Looking for cute , stylish tops that fit in your budget takes time and effort.  When those things become habit, it's gets easier. The time has been carved out and you just do it. It doesn't take any more time to put on a cute top than to pull on a baggy T.

A small victory was scored yesterday when I found two tops, in the exact colors I needed for choir performances next week, hanging on a clearance rack. They are both a flattering style and a nice, inexpensive addition to my wardrobe. This is great timing. We have a major skirmish coming up next week, when our church is doing a week-long conference flanked by weekend church days and I have to look put together every day for nine days straight. Help! Send reinforcements!

-----------------

I hope you have had a wonderful week. A special shout-out goes all the Home Sanctuary Coffee Girls stopping by. For more of 7 Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary. Have an awesome week!

The War on Frumpiness: Weight Issues and Self Confidence

One of the things that frequently contributes to feelings of frumpiness for me is knowing I'm a few (OK, quite a few) pounds over optimal for my body. It makes clothes shopping a hassle and getting dressed to go somewhere a chore. When I'm conscious of every bump and bulge, it's hard to walk tall and be confident. One thing leads to another, and pretty soon I'm wearing baggy clothes to cover up and blowing off putting on makeup or jewelry. I develop a "why bother" attitude and let myself go. This is a sure path to frumpdom.

The good news is that summer is the ideal time to deal with your body. Some of the best things about summer work on your behalf. How hard is it to eat a piece of grilled meat and a big salad, have a nice glass of iced tea with lemon, and finish off with a big slice of ice cold watermelon? Congratulations. You just had an awesome diet meal. Fresh fruits and vegetables are low in fat and calories and loaded with antioxidants. Lean grilled meats provide protein to build muscle and are great for your hair and skin. Wanting something sweet besides fruit? Ice pops are low cal and low fat too. Juice bars are a little higher but have more going for them nutritionally. Italian ice is easy on the hips as well.

It's also an easy time to get active. Go swimming, walking or play with the kids in the yard. It's a great time to be outdoors and moving around. Just make sure you don't overdo the sun and heat and that you stay hydrated.

While we're making positive strides on the bumps and bulges, let's talk about attitude. One of my favorite movies is The Last Holiday. In that movie, Georgia Byrd, played by Queen Latifah,  goes from a quiet, plain, frumpy woman slogging through life to a vibrant, exciting woman who had decided to embrace life and milk it for all it's worth. The transformation is startling. I love the part when she goes shopping and is trying on a ton of different looks. When she finishes, she is stunning and is turning heads when she walks into the room. She carries herself with grace and style and confidence despite the fact that she's not a size 2.

We can do the same thing. We may not be able to walk in an expensive shop and tell them to make us over, but we can find attractive clothing within our own budget and wear it with confidence. What changes are you making in your war on frumpiness?

Blog Challenge: Best Friends

This month's blog challenge at Bloggy Moms is on the subject of best friends, so I have to write about my friend that I'll call November. We met in junior year of high school. It was an inauspicious beginning, complete with insults, but it was a beginning nevertheless. We hit it off and became nearly inseparable throughout the remainder of high school. November left for college right after school to start with the summer session, while I stayed behind and ended up living in her room for a couple months while my mom was out of town.

In the fall, I joined her at college and we were roommates. Let's just say that two only children should not share a dorm room and leave it at that. It's a testament to the depth of our friendship that we survived the ordeal with our friendship intact. Then things got crazy. November got engaged and found an apartment. I got married after first semester and moved with my dh. We saw each other off and on the next semester and then lost touch as we went our own ways.

The great thing about true friends is that you can go months without talking to them, but when you do, it's like no time has passed at all. For the next couple of years, we would go months without talking and then catch up with each other again. Every time we talked, it was like old times. It's been like that ever since. We've kept up via letter, phone, email and now, Facebook. Over the years, we've weathered deaths of parents, infertility, straying children, a straying husband, divorce, health issues, and the general blessings and hassles of life. We've laughed together, prayed together, cried together and unloaded on each other.

A really crazy thing that can't even be explained is, although we've been best friends since high school, neither of us attended the other's wedding. However, that was recently made right, when I had the honor to attend November's second wedding, which was combined with a renewal of vows ceremony for those in attendance. I stood right next to the happy couple while they exchanged vows and right next to my wonderful dh at the same time and we reaffirmed ours. It was an incredible moment I'll never forget.

It will be 20 years this fall (I'm feeling old now), since we were first acquainted and I still count November among my best and dearest friends. She has impacted my life in so many ways and I thank God for the privilege of being her friend.

War on Frumpiness

I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror and all I could see was frumpy. No makeup, hair just hanging there, over-sized t-shirt thrown over mom jeans, tired eyes, dry skin. Frumpy. Blah.

The good news is that I'm not taking this laying down. I'm declaring an all-out war on frumpiness. From now until July 28th, 10 weeks from today, I'm going to be doing whatever I can think of to eliminate frumpiness from my life and my wardrobe. But this is more than just an outward makeover. I'm working on the inside too. Every few days I'll be posting about different things I'm doing to improve my health and my appearance, Anyone wanting to join in is welcome. Just comment and let me know you're in!

Book Challenge Update

I've been taking stock of where I am in terms of book challenges. The bad news is that I'm way, way behind. The good news is that I'm having fun and reading a lot of good books and I think I can get caught up. This is how things are stacking up so far:

Total books read so far: 30
Library challenge: 17 of 100
Nancy Drew challenge: 11 of 56
E-book: 8 of 20
Twenty Ten: 5 of 20
Thriller/Suspense: 4 of 10
Christian Non-Fiction: 4 of 12
Colorful Reading: 2 of 9
Marple/Poirot/Holmes: 0 of 6
What's In A Name 3: 3 0f 6
Theme Quest: 0 of 5
Revisit Your Childhood Favorites: 3 of 5
Mystery Cafe Challenge: 2 of 4
Aussie Author Challenge: 0 of 3
Time Travel: 3 of 3 (complete)
Clover, Bee, and Reverie Poetry Challenge: 0 of 2

OK. I obviously have a lot of work to do. I hope I can get in some quality reading time this summer. By the way, I have some more reviews coming soon!

More Pockets

Here are a few pockets I finally got around to photographing and uploading:

This is an antique washstand and washbowl and pitcher that are currently next to the bed on my side. At least four generations of babies in my family have been bathed in that washbowl. The washstand was my great-grandmother's.You can tell this isn't a magazine picture because there is actually an alarm clock and phone on there. LOL The picture of the lilacs was painted by Princess. Isn't she talented? The porcelain box in front was a gift from Horsecrazy.

This is my chest of drawers. The hatboxes and gold book were gifts from Spitfire. The gold book has the Ten Commandments in both Korean and English. The candles and picture I've had sitting around the house waiting to be used. I know you're wondering, so I'll tell you. There's currently nothing in the hatboxes. I think I've figured out what I want to put in one of them and maybe in another. I want to use them for things I want close by, but don't necessarily have to be accessed every day.

This is my computer that I blogged about before. Notice the nice clean desktop and keyboard.  I just looked and it's not that clean now, but it's close. I think I'm going to make that a regular monthly task.

This needs to be tackled every week. It's amazing how fast receipts and mint wrappers and things accumulate. I already need to reorganize this because I've added an eyeglasses case to the mix and now the purse is full again. Maybe I need a bigger bag.

The Pocket Challenge ends tomorrow. I need to take and upload a few more pictures as I wind down the challenge. If you've been playing along, be sure to get your pics put on your blog and leave me a comment so everyone can come take a peek.

It's a Sickness, Really

I have caught a bug. I am thoroughly infected with the challenge bug, reading challenges in particular.  I have already joined a few, but I just found a whole new batch that I want to join, so here goes.

First, there's the Clover, Bee and Reverie Poetry Reading Challenge. There are 4 levels of participation. I plan to do the Couplet level which is only two books.

Next up is the Time Travel Reading Challenge. I'm planning to read three time travel books to fulfill this one. I'll be doing my own time traveling as I do the Revisit Your Childhood Favorites Challenge. I will be reading five of my faves from childhood. Another form of traveling I'm doing is a bit of globe hopping via The Aussie Author Challenge. I am doing the Tourist level and reading three books written by authors from the Land Down Under.

I'm also planning to do some mystery challenges. First, there's the MysteryReaderCafe Reading Challenge. For this one you have to join the Yahoo group. It requires reading four books that fit within specific parameters. Another mystery reading challenge is The Marple Poirot Holmes Challenge. For this one, the participant must read two Miss Marple mysteries, two Hercule Poirot mysteries, and two Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

A non-fiction challenge is in the mix too. I'm reading ten books for the Christian Non-Fiction Challenge 2010.  I have plenty of books in my TBR (To Be Read) stack that qualify. I'll also sneak a few in on a couple of other challenges, like the E-Book Reading Challenge 2010. I'm trying the highest level, 20 e-books, ironically enough known as "Obsessed".

Just for even more fun, I have a couple of challenges that are on the quirky side. The first one is the ThemeQuest Reading Challenge. I'm jumping in on the lowest level, Theme Thing. I'll be reading 5 books, on the theme of my choosing, which is Peace. Last year was very un-peaceful, so I thought this would be an appropriate theme for the year.

Next up is the What's In A Name 3. For this challenge you read one book in each of the following categories: 1. A book with a food in the title, 2. A book with a body of water in the title, 3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title, 4. A book with a plant in the title, 5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title, 6. A book with a music term in the title.

To brighten things up, there's the Colorful Reading Challenge. This one requires that you read nine books with a different color in each book's title. A really fun challenge is the TwentyTen Challenge, reading twenty books in ten categories in 2010. Check it out.

Whew. That's a lot. On the other hand, many of the books required for these challenges overlap the ones I'm already in. There are also some cool challenges coming soon, you might be interested in. A few of the ones on the horizon:


March 20-June 20  Spring Reading Thing 2010 at Calapidder Days. (I love this blog!)
April 2010 to March 2011  World Party Reading Challenge
April 10th  The 24 Hour Readathon
May1- September 30 Non-Fiction Five Challenge

A great place to find new challenges (and a major cause of my current affliction) is A Novel Challenge. It's a blog totally devoted to...you guessed it...reading challenges. Take a look and you'll see that in spite of all the challenges I'm doing, I'm hardly scratching the surface of all the challenges out there.

If you are a reader, there's probably a reading challenge out there for you. Jump on board one of more of these or some other one and be sure and leave a comment and tell me which one or ones you're doing!

A Quick Update On Challenges

It's been a crazy week full of activity and busyness. I hope to get back on track with posting more regularly next week.

This week I have completed a couple more pockets that I will be posting about later on. Those doing The Pocket Challenge should note that there is a little over two weeks until the challenge is over. Be sure to link up to your pictures of finished pockets.

We are having fun with the new recipe tryouts.  This month we are focusing on recipes from Family Feasts for $75 a Week by Mary Ostyn of Owlhaven. So far we have tried several recipes and liked everything we've tried. I'll post at the end of the month with more details of which recipes were used and what we thought. Next month, we'll be trying recipes from Not Just Beans by Tawra Kellum of Living On A Dime. Not Just Beans is out of print and has been replaced by Dining On A Dime. According to the website the new book has 268 new recipes and tips and two whole new chapters.

The reading challenges are a mixed bag. I'm making fair progress on the 100+ challenge. I am a little behind on the Nancy Drew challenge, but those are quick reads and easy to catch up on when I have a bit of time. The library challenge is proving to be more of a challenge so far. I need to sit down and make a list of books to check out and start working my way though the list. I need to check out a couple of mysteries or thrillers first so I can get caught up on the Mystery/Thriller challenge. I know I have all year to finish these challenges, but I don't want to spend all December trying to play catch-up.

On the decluttering front, I have bagged up four bags of pseudo-Duplos. They don't like to connect up to the real ones and we are tired of messing with them so out they go. I'm trying to figure out how I want to count them for the tally. Horsecrazy counted one bag and there were over 180 pieces in just that bag. I might end up counting each bag as one item. Any ideas?

What challenges are you involved in and how are you doing on them?

GVDCD4DAYEBK

A Pocket Full of Fun

Most of my pockets so far have been either primarily functional or primarily aesthetic. My latest pocket, however, is all about fun. First, we had this empty corner in the den where we moved out a piece of furniture to make room for our Christmas tree. When the Christmas tree was gone, we decided we didn't want the piece of furniture moved back, so it's been sitting like this:

 

Pretty boring, huh? I sit caddy-corner from this area and every day I look at it and think there must be some better use for it than collecting dust bunnies. Then one night it hit me. After hearing someone tell my youngest children to sit or duck down because they were building things on the coffee table and blocking the viewers sight of the Olympics on the television, I got an idea.

I took a rug that was still folded up in its package, a laundry basket from my workroom, a little plastic basket from the same place and the bead and wire toy we never have a good place to put and created a kids' corner.

This is the 'after ' picture with Sweetpea enjoying the new kids' corner. This has been a huge hit with her as well as Ribbit and Ladybug. They a loving having all the Duplos available and having a place to play with them that they don't have to move out of someone's way. It's a win-win proposition.

A New Challenge--Declutter!

The more I do in this house, the more obvious it becomes that we simply have too much stuff. If it was all high-quality, useful or beautiful or both, or had significant sentimental value, I could live with that. However, I'm finding that is far from reality. In light of this discovery, and inspired by this, I've decided to challenge myself to eliminate 500 items by the end of this year.

Obviously, normal everyday trash doesn't count. But clothes that don't fit anyone, school stuff we no longer need or want, books no one wants to read and the worn-out, used-up, stained, ripped, broken and just-plain-ugly are all fair game.

Anyone up for some radical decluttering?