Are You Listening?

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

See my reviews for these books here

Audio books

I have really enjoyed audio books over the last few years.  I have listened to book that I know I wouldn't have been able to get through if i was reading them but I really enjoyed listening to them.  I discovered that certain types of books are still better in the traditional book form like the mystery series i read by Joanne Fluke about Hannah Swenson.  I tried listening to this series on audio but since such a big part of the whole thing is that she is a baker and there are recipes in the book this didn't work for me. 

I have tried to get my daughters interested in audio books.  Not to much luck but Hannah does like to listen to Adventures in Odyssey and Down Gilead Lane.

If your children are auditory learners then this might interest you.  I go thet link for Loudlit.org  today.  Although they don't have many titles yet they do offer the option of reading the book page by page with the audio.  Check it out.   

Made Our Reservations for Disney

My wonderful hubby made our reservations for Disney World yesterday!!.  We will be going for our 25th anniversary.  This will be a trip with just David and myself.  Hannah is a bit disappointed but we have already taken her twice and we wanted to celebrate this  milestone with the something special for just the two of us.  Now I get to plan all the details.  We decided that we were only going to two of the parks, Magic Kingsom because its my favorite and Epcot because it is David's Favorite.  We took the money that we saved on not going to the other two parks and bought tickets to the Cirque de Soliel show that is at Disney.  So now I have to decide when we are going to the two parks and were we are going to eat on what day.  I love planning a Disney trip!!.  I know one of the restraunts we will definately be going to is The Coral Reef at Epcot.  This is a wonderful seafood restraunt that has huge aquarium that you can watch the sharks, turtle etc swimming around and they have divers come down and feed the fish.   

I am going to start doing my planning now.  Have a great day. 

A Love woven True by Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller

See my review here 

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

So I have a double Whammy today.  My little car was being blown all over the road on my way home from work this morning.  Boy is it warm outside. 

The latest audio book that I am listening to is certainly gripping but the reader is really distracting.   She is really good with the voices but her cadence while she is reading the book is not quite right.  She pauses  when she shouldn't and then she tries to make it more suspenseful but it just doesn't seems to work.  It is really amazing how much a reader can make a book enjoyable or not.

The cd that we wer using for Hannah exploded in the cd rom so I was scrambling for something else for Hannah to use.  I decided on American Heritage  this is the link for the high school course but you can access elementary and middle school.  It is free.       

Bone: Buried Deep by Max Collins and Kathy Reichs

See My Review for this book here

The Slave Across the Street By Theresa Flores

I listened to this as part of ChristianAudio's reviewers program.  My review can be found here.
This is a story of human trafficing and although not graphic it does not leave you wondering what happened.  

I have a confession to make

I am a Book Aholic.  I guess it is better to be addicted to Books than to other things.  I have been looking into getting either a Kindle or a Sony E-reader.  I am leaning toward the Sony because friends of ours have one and they have been raving about it to us and besides the Kindle will be coming out with an app for Blackberry soon so I can sync my kindle books to my Blackberry just like I am syncing my Barnes and Nobles books to my phone.  The screen is a bit small but it comes in real handy when I am waiting for someone or at work so I don't have to carry a book back and forth.  While I wait and ponder I have been collecting free books in the event I get one.  I have the software on my computer.  Also I belong to both Audible and Christian Audio.  I have become a reviewer for ChristianAudio and Thomas Nelson.  And I have certain series that I have to read.  And I belong to Book Of The Month Club2. Yes I am a Bookaholic and I am not afraid to admit it.  

I guess I have the January Blues

I get this way every January.  I guess I have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder.  You know when your mood is affected by the weather.  I just don't function well when I'm cold and the weather is a bit gloomy. 
Thus the reason for the sporadic blog posts. 
I did add a new link to my left sidebar to Down Gilead Lane.  This is a wonderful radio program that is a littel bit like Adventures in Odyssey.  They just ended the program but are still playing the series starting from the beginning.  My kids all have liked this series.  I still listen to it on my MP3 player and have started to buy the series from the beginning so I can have all 12 seasons.  It is put out by CBH Ministries formerly Children's Bible Hour.  This is the same ministry that puts out Keys for Kids which is a great devotional for younger kids.  I use to get  an email eveyday that I used for Hannah.  If you are interested you can go here to check it out.
I am still behind in my Bible reading but still reading a bit everyday so it may be closer to 180 days than 90. Oh well as long as I keep at it.   

Abandoned to God: Oswald Chambers

See my review for this book here

Oldest Daughter Has moved out

My oldest daughter moved out this morning.  It wasn't an emotional scene as this was her second time moving out.  I thought my youngest would miss her but she said the Faith wasn't here that much anyway and that we will see her on Sunday.  We have arranged for her to come home every Sunday for dinner so at least that one day I know she will eat well. 

Two down and one to go.  At least I have her for at least 4 more years.  Sigh

Holly and Homicide by Leslie Caine

See my review for this book here

How to reach your full Potential for God by Charles Stanley

See my review of this book here

already Behind

I took on the task of reading the Bible in 90 days and I even spent my Christmas money that my parents sent me to buy the special Bible that is suppose to make the reading easier.  Reading 12 pages a day, I can do that, ha yeah.  I always start yawning after about 3 pages.  Of course these 12 pages are two rows on a page.  I should be able to read the Bible after all it is the divinely inspired word of God and I have no problem reading books by my favorite authors. 

I am currently about three days behind.  The program has two days in it that you can not read.  About this time I would just give up but I am going to keep going.  so what if I don't finish in 90 days the important thing is that i read the Bible all the way through.

okay so I have convinced myself,  how about you?  Keep at it.  so what if you didn't make your goals today.  Every Second of every minute of every day is a chance for a brand new start.       

Spent the weekend cooking

At least it felt that way.  Hubby will be on his way to Texas by way of Louisiana within the next 15 minutes so I made some casseroles and such for him to take in the truck with him that should keep him well feed for the next week. 

I made him a dozen egg muffin sandwiches,  at least a dozen french bread pizzas, a entire lasagna which we divided up into different containers,  sent along two containers of chili left over from Friday night and an entire ham casserole that I had made extra and nobody here really liked it but David. 

He will probably be gone for two weeks so this should keep him well feed for the first week.  It is so expensive to eat on the road. 

While he is gone I will squirrel away  little bits of different meals that we have here at home.  This will be difficult as Faith is moving out so It will be just Hannah and myself  home and I really don't like cooking big meals for just the two of us.    

Hubby is Here

My Hubby is home for a couple of days.  We find it a little hard to do the schooling when he is here.  He always has ideas on how school would be better or run more smoothly.  I appreciate his input but most of the time don't impliment his ideas because Hannah and I have gotten into a rhythm with school that works well for both of us.

I got my ring back from being sized yesterday.  It is taking some getting used to wearing it as it is raised quite a bit and is larger than I usually wear.  But I do really love it.

I am still behind on the 90 day challenge so I have decided to just read it as I can and If I don't finish it within 90 days that's okay.

3 hours to get home

It took me three hours to get home this morning.  We had a bit of snow this morning and it made the roads icy.  I guess a van flipped over on the highway (don't know if anyone was hurt but I prayed for them) a bit in front of me and I sat in traffic for 2 hours.  Luckily I always have my phone with me with several books downloaded and I had my mp3 player with several audio books on it also (not to mention my old phone with audio books on it as well) Okay so I am a reading junky and I guess I like all my gadgets. 

I started listening to Oswald Chamber:Abandoned to God this morning and listened to about an hour and a half.

Didn't get any of my reading done for the 90 day challenge so will have to read later today.  Had to start school as soon as I got home.

Keeping track of everything that enters my mouth on sparkpeople.com.  Went over on my calories a bit yesterday but not by much.

Next week will be starting back with flylady.net  It's kinda like cleaning for dummies.  She takes you step my step through what to do and even though I have been doing this along time I like to have step by step instructions.  I decided to start this next week so we could get back into the swing of school and I could get the Bible reading into a groove.

This is what my daughter drew for art yesterday.  I thought she did such a good job I framed it.  I really have to look into art lessons for this girl.

not much happening Here

We have been getting back into the swing of school again. 

Please go visit http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/  .  They have several old time radio programs available, one is of The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  They offer free programs every week. 

My oldest daughter maybe moving out within the next couple of weeks.  This is bittersweet as we have raised her to be independant but we will miss her.  (Not to mention the transportation she provides for Hannah to various things that I will now have to drive her too)

I am about a 1/2 day behind in my Bible reading.  I have just started Exodus and Moses and Pharaoh have just started the back and forth of God bringing a plague and then the magicians perform the same thing and Pharaoh's heart is hardened. 

I have found a wonderful site for the diet resolution.  Actually I have belonged to it for about a year but haven't availed myself to all the site offers.    It is sparkpeople.com check it out, it is free.     

Happy New Year one and All

Our New Year's celebration was very laid back as I mentioned in another post.  My son came to stay with us for the evening.  I spent much of the day Thursday cooking so we could have the goodies that night.  My youngest daughter baked brownies (they turned out a little hard as she put them into a pan that was to big) and snickerdoodles (these turned out good although she didn't put in the cream of tartar and she accidently put cinnamon in the wrong bowl, the cookies were just extra cinnamony).  I made the potato skins (just bake potatos, let cool slightly, scoop out pulp, put on favorite toppings and bake an extra 15 minutes at 350)  These also freeze great.  I also made Honey bbq chicken wings (use frozen chicken wings, mix a cup of honey with whole bottle of favorite sauce, pour into chicken wing bag and coat wings well, pour onto a baking pan.  bake at 350 for 1  hour).  I also made meatballs (just took frozen meatballs and put in crockpot with jar of spaghetti sauce on high for 4 hours)  would have been better if I had made the meatballs.  We also had chips and dip.  and of course soda. 
Faith went to a party with her friends.
Justin and Hannah played Wii for a while then we all played Disney Monopoly.  We have our own rules for certain things so had to reestablish them along the way.
My hubby made a fire in the fireplace and Justin opened his Christmas Presents since he wasn't with us at Christmas. 
We watched the end of Wild Hogs and then watched the ball in New York, Red Rose in Lancaster, White Rose in York and the Stawberry in Harrisburg all drop together.  Then we went to bed.
Next Mornging we slept in and I put our breakfast in about 8.  We ate breakfast and watched the Mummers parade all day.  I made some ham and cheese sandwiches and then my son left for home. I will post the recipes for the breakfast and the sandwiches later.  Last night we watched the fancy brigades.  We were a little disappointed this year.  Seems like last year about every one we were saying WOW during their performances but not so much this year. 
Today is just a regular Saturday. Hubby is out doing errands and I am here blogging.

The Bible in 90 Days: I have read the first day and half's readings.  I have decided to break each day into two separate reading times as I was finding my mind wandering yesterday as I was reading.  It still amazes me each time I read it about how willing Lot was to sacrifice his daughter so the messagers wouldn't be taken by the men . 

My resolutions:  1.  Lose weight.  Not going to set a number on this one I just want to lose some weight and maintain it being off.
2.  Read the Bible in 90 days.  I have read the Bible all the way through but never all at once. 
3.  Better organized.  maintain the house better and get my daughter onto a chore schedule.
4.  Maintain our budget.  We have made great strides with this last year but hope to improve more this year.