For more pictures click over to Special Exposure Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday.
January 6, 2009
Books 2009
Some people already know exactly what they are going to read for all of 2009. I'm not one of them! I do know which carnivals and book clubs I am going to participate in, however, and thought it would be handy to put it all in one place!
DAILY
Bible Book Club
I read about this "Read Through the Bible in 3 Years Plan" over at Reading to Know. The first year was 2008, but starting 1/3 of the way through doesn't bother me at all. We're in Job right now, and I'm excited to be reading God's Word.
WEEKLY
5 Minutes for Books is a great place for me to Join In because their regular Tuesday events overlap with my current reading lifestyle! Each week there is a different theme:
1st Tuesday (and the one most likely for me to skip if it's a busy reading month, as is evidenced by no book club post today)
2nd Tuesday-This category will usually be award winners
3rd Tuesday-Makes the child the reviewer, which is a lot of fun. We read 3 books a night and multiple other books throughout the day, rarely repeating, so we have quite a library to pick from!
4th Tuesday-Helps me recap all the books from the prior month and organize my queue of books for the following month
SEMI-MONTHLY
I'm a Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger, and my hope this year is to review 2 Thomas Nelson books a month. I'm very impressed with the way Thomas Nelson manages this program and recommend it to anyone who has the slightest interest in book reviewing.
BI-MONTHLY
This is the carnival that will stretch me the most. A couple of the books are on money management, which was a topic I read a great deal about once upon a time, but the others are completely outside my comfort zone (i.e. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle). One thing I'm committed to is spending little to no money on my reading material. Our library system has all 6 of these books, so assuming I can get a hold of the ones I need at the right time, then I will read them all.
This is the carnival that will stretch me the most. A couple of the books are on money management, which was a topic I read a great deal about once upon a time, but the others are completely outside my comfort zone (i.e. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle). One thing I'm committed to is spending little to no money on my reading material. Our library system has all 6 of these books, so assuming I can get a hold of the ones I need at the right time, then I will read them all.
QUARTERLY
5th Tuesday Carnival by 5 Minutes for Mom where we get to post about a book we read because of a review that caught our attention
ADDITIONAL
This reading challenge is to read any L.M. Montgomery book(s) of our choice and "talk" about them by Jan 30th. Here are the books I will read, in order of priority:
- The Story Girl & the sequel The Golden Road-I can not wait to read these!
- Kilmeny of the Orchard-This is bound in the same book as the 1st 2, so it seems a natural place to go to next.
- The Doctor's Sweetheart and other stories-14 short stories that I can pick and choose from if time is getting tight.
- My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. MacMillan-I don't actually plan on reading this before Jan 30th, but this book fascinates me so I will read it at some point this year.
Let me tell you how I picked these. I knew immediately that I didn't want to do the "Anne" books. Admitting my reading novice, I didn't even connect that L.M. Montgomery is the author of those beloved movies that have become a kindred spirit in and of themselves (I do own them). The even sadder thing is I've read the Anne books. Because those books would be so familiar, and if I read one I would want to read all of them (and can't before Jan 30), I opted for new titles.
The books listed above are what our library had (remember, I'm all about free), and I'm taking on this challenge as a chance to really enjoy myself. No pressure for deep review, and I'll read 1 book or I'll read 5, depending on my time constraints. The Thomas Nelson book I just got in the mail is tiny, and I'm putting off the "6 books" book until Feb so I think I'll get to read a few! What great enjoyment!
As the year goes on, I'm sure there will be other carnivals to pop up that I will participate in, but with this seems like a good plan for now. Starting in Feb, I will read about 4 adult books and 100 children's books each month, plus my daily time in the Bible.
As the year goes on, I'm sure there will be other carnivals to pop up that I will participate in, but with this seems like a good plan for now. Starting in Feb, I will read about 4 adult books and 100 children's books each month, plus my daily time in the Bible.
January 5, 2009
Samantha's VERY FIRST Haircut!
She just turned 3. How old were your kids when they got their first cut? I don't know that it's that I'm going to love it forever, but I like it and it's sure going to make Chest PT a lot easier!
January 4, 2009
Magic Marker Monday: Cowboys
Sat night the kids went to Parents Night Out at the Y so Dan and I could have a date night. At the end of the evening, Timothy ran to me with this paper in his hand. While he passed it to me he said, "Mom, I drew your favorite team!!!" (The other side of the paper said "I love you", but he had already shown me that.)
CF Question
Samantha has had a bloody nose today. I've read a couple of threads on the cysticfibrosis.com forums that they are not only caused by sinus issues, but also as a side effect to various CF meds. Can anyone give me some advice on this? I'm assuming I should call our CF doc tomorrow morning whether or not I think it's CF related? Email me at experiencingeachmoment@gmail.com if that's better. Thanks!
Sweet Phoenix
Please take the time to visit the blog for CF sweetie, Phoenix. He has had a difficult time lately, and needs an abundance of prayers.
Nothing Like the Playoffs!
I know my blog has nothing to do with football, but I'm a football fan!!! Dan is from Kansas, and I am from Dallas, so when we got married we needed a neutral team to root for (because the thought of cheering for the Cowboys sickened Dan, and I didn't know that there were other teams TO cheer for). We were living in San Diego when we first got married, so it seemed like a logical choice. Needless to say, this has been a tough season for our teams. After the perpetual defeat of the Chiefs and the humiliation last week of the Cowboys, it's nice to have a back up team!!! Go Chargers!!!!
No matter what you feel about the Colts or the Bolts, tonight was an amazing game of football. I could go on and on about MANY Charger players, but I'm going to pick my very own MVP...Darren Sproles (#43). He's a free agent at the end of the season, and the Chargers better get ready to shell out the big bucks in order to keep him!!!
The first game of the day went my way today as well. I'm so glad Arizona won, proving that whatever you're record if you win your division you deserve to be in the playoffs. Tomorrow I want Miami & Philly to win.
January 2, 2009
"Cure Found" Blog
We are starting a second blog! As I mentioned here, I will be talking about Cystic Fibrosis at least once a week here on my blog, but with Great Strides starting up soon that's not enough! My husband has developed quite a passion for fundraising and with such a need for the online CF community to be as tight as possible, we have decided to start a blog which focuses on CF. I will write every once in a while, but Dan will be the main contributor. The name of our new blog is...
It will have a three fold purpose:
- Awareness-We have to get the word out! Not only medical information, but how this disease affects families on a day to day basis.
- Fundraising-Yes, we will be including our Great Strides information, but we want to hear about yours too! We want to share fundraising ideas and tips. What's working? What's not! Do you have pictures of fundraising events? We want to see them! Are you new to fundraising and want to know where in the world to begin? Put this blog in your google reader and stay tuned for those posts!
- Hope-The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has been such a good steward of the money raised in the past. We benefit because now our generation is living longer and has a higher quality of life. As we stumble upon (or search out) news stories detailing the drugs and treatments coming down the pipeline we will be posting them.
Blogging New Year's Resolutions
I loved this article Stephanie told me about over at Blissfully Domestic. I've been planning on making some changes to my blog, and we might as well call them resolutions!! It will be fun to look back in a year and see what all I accomplished (and of course what I didn't). So in 2009, my blog will...
Have one design the entire year. In 2008 instead of rearranging furniture, I just changed my blog template every couple of months! I should have tracked how many times, but I really got crazy around the holidays.
Keep my Google Reader in check. I've been doing a lot of behind the scenes work on my blog, and the thing that suffers is reading others' blogs. As I type this my Reader is back up to 363. It's ridiculous. Somehow I need to delete some blogs in my Reader. Just for CF, I have 50+ blogs. How in the world do I decide which ones to get rid of?
Write more about Cystic Fibrosis. A year ago I said I would write once a month on CF. That seems like nothing now! I'll be writing at least once a week on CF and doing much, much more to promote awareness for this cause. More on that in the near future.
Read and review books consistently. Reading was a passion of mine years ago. Once I got married, it was all about marriage books. Boy that topic gets old. Then when I became a mom, everything narrowed down to parenting books. Ugh, those things are depressing! Every once in a while there's a little morsel that helps, but generally I find they either make us feel more defeated or never address the very specific needs we have (in our case, CF & SPD). One of the biggest surprises I've had in the blogging world is returning to my joy of reading.
Develop a military network. I've barely posted about our military life, but with the looming deployment it's about to hit me in full swing. I'm blessed to have met CFers who are military wives, but at this point I've only found less than 5 blogs that relate to being a Christian military wife. This is the biggest area of need for me and my blog, so if you know anyone in this category please leave me their blog in the comments!
Communicate with my non-blogging friends. I have many, many friends who just don't want to build relationships through blogging. I can respect that. Because I blog about my life these days, I rarely send those global emails any more that give updates with pictures and Samantha's CF status. In 2009, I want to return to doing that because I love those friends (um, and family). And I'm sure they want to hear from me just as much as I want them to check my blog.
I'll close with saying that I would always want my life and blog to reflect the love of Christ. This isn't a resolution since I can't set a goal to be "more reflective". But what I hope and pray is that I am continually letting go more and more of myself so that eventually He is the one seen. He's worth knowing intimately.
Have one design the entire year. In 2008 instead of rearranging furniture, I just changed my blog template every couple of months! I should have tracked how many times, but I really got crazy around the holidays.
Keep my Google Reader in check. I've been doing a lot of behind the scenes work on my blog, and the thing that suffers is reading others' blogs. As I type this my Reader is back up to 363. It's ridiculous. Somehow I need to delete some blogs in my Reader. Just for CF, I have 50+ blogs. How in the world do I decide which ones to get rid of?
Write more about Cystic Fibrosis. A year ago I said I would write once a month on CF. That seems like nothing now! I'll be writing at least once a week on CF and doing much, much more to promote awareness for this cause. More on that in the near future.
Read and review books consistently. Reading was a passion of mine years ago. Once I got married, it was all about marriage books. Boy that topic gets old. Then when I became a mom, everything narrowed down to parenting books. Ugh, those things are depressing! Every once in a while there's a little morsel that helps, but generally I find they either make us feel more defeated or never address the very specific needs we have (in our case, CF & SPD). One of the biggest surprises I've had in the blogging world is returning to my joy of reading.
Develop a military network. I've barely posted about our military life, but with the looming deployment it's about to hit me in full swing. I'm blessed to have met CFers who are military wives, but at this point I've only found less than 5 blogs that relate to being a Christian military wife. This is the biggest area of need for me and my blog, so if you know anyone in this category please leave me their blog in the comments!
Communicate with my non-blogging friends. I have many, many friends who just don't want to build relationships through blogging. I can respect that. Because I blog about my life these days, I rarely send those global emails any more that give updates with pictures and Samantha's CF status. In 2009, I want to return to doing that because I love those friends (um, and family). And I'm sure they want to hear from me just as much as I want them to check my blog.
I'll close with saying that I would always want my life and blog to reflect the love of Christ. This isn't a resolution since I can't set a goal to be "more reflective". But what I hope and pray is that I am continually letting go more and more of myself so that eventually He is the one seen. He's worth knowing intimately.
Celebrating New Year's Eve With Kids, Part II
We had a lot of fun New Year's Eve night utilizing these 5 Tips I read on 24/7 MOMS. Tips 4 & 5 will have to wait another year, but here's how we used Tips 1-3:
1. FAST FORWARD - This one was a bit easier for us being on the West Coast. The New York ball dropping is aired live, so we let the kids stay up to 9PM to "Ring in the New Year"!!!
1. FAST FORWARD - This one was a bit easier for us being on the West Coast. The New York ball dropping is aired live, so we let the kids stay up to 9PM to "Ring in the New Year"!!!
2. BUBBLE WRAP STOMP - This was fun, but may go over a little better when the kids are a little older. The kids thought it was cool initially, but when it came time to actually doing it we had some problems. Timothy was frustrated because he couldn't quite get it to work. Then he was bothered by the fact that Dan and I kept popping them after that imaginary time span that we were allowed to. Samantha quietly opposed by covering her ears and running away. Hmmm...
3. BOARD GAME BONANZA - This was a huge hit. We had 10 games, so we "counted down" to the new year 10....1. It took right at one hour and 5 minutes. Here is our stack.
Dan said he was going to have me committed, but he joined in the game playing fun anyway. Timothy thought the idea of playing 10 games was awesome, and in keeping with the obsessive nature of our precious boy, he had to determine the order that all 10 games would be played in before we could start the first one.
That order was:
Candy Land
Scooby Doo
Dexter's Laboratory
Crazy Eights
Uno
Old Maid
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Go Fish
War/Battle (from kindergarten)
Lucky Ducks
What turned out to be really fun is at the end of 9 games Dan, Timothy, and I were all tied with 3 wins each. And guess who won Lucky Ducks? Your truly was the New Year's Eve Board Game Bonanza champion!!!
So did you use any of the tips? Or do you have your own tip to tell us about?
January 1, 2009
300th Post
I started blogging on Sept 19th of '07, with really no goals and no knowledge of what in the world I was doing. Wow it was a slow start! It took me almost 6 months to write my first 100 posts and then 5 months to write the next 100. Sometime in September '08 I must have decided I was jumping in with both feet because in the last 3 months I've written my 3rd set of 100 posts! That's about a post a day which is a nice, steady pace. Since it's my 300th post, I thought I would recap which posts have been comment worthy and which posts haven't been!
These all garnished zero comments:
1. Every single Giveaway post.
2. Memes and/or references to other blogs.
3. Care for the Caregiver Retreat.
4. Switchflops and Travel to Ft. Smith, AR.
5. Craft Fair and I Spy Bags.
These were the top comment receivers of 2008:
1. Org Junkie has been good to me!
2. Wordless Wednesday & Special Exposure Wednesday is fun each week, but I think this one was my favorite of the year!
3. CF Posts like The Diagnosis and This Video
4. Celebrating 8 Years of Marriage (I only received 4 comments the year before!)
5. Presents Galore: Real & Virtual (that was recent!)
Needless to say, I will keep linking to Org Junkie, Wordless Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday. On the flip side, I will stop torturing you with giveaway posts unless it's some object that I absolutely must win! I love this blogging thing!
My New Blog Design
Just thought I would comment on the obvious...I have a new blog design! I like it for it's overall simplicity, but I was drawn to it for the header...
- I love clean lines, but I also like color!
- When I was growing up, I went to Mt. Lebanon Baptist Encampment every year. My favorite view was an expansive green field with one weeping willow in the middle. My new header reminds me of that place. Wouldn't you love to read a book under that tree?
- The sky is remarkable to me. On the left we see a nice sunny day, but the clouds are rolling in. Since we have a bird's eye view, we see the storm that's coming. I'm not that old, but I've lived long enough to understand that there is always a storm on it's way. I don't have to know what's coming to know I'll be safe.
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