Fall Reading Challenge

It's one month into the Fall Reading Challenge (although I didn't officially join this year) and I finished my list! Yes, the list only had two books on it but I really didn't think I'd be able to "get into" them.

Both are by Francine Rivers the first was A Voice in the Wind. My friends kept telling me to "just keep reading, it gets better after chapter seven". It took me until chapter 11 to be able to read more than a page at a time. By the time I got to chapter 17, I couldn't put it down! It only took two and a half months and starting it three times to finish. The second book was An Echo in the Darkness. I finished that one in a week! They were great! As Sure as the Dawn is the third in the series. I'm not sure if I'm going to jump right into that one.

Honey and I just started reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. He's reading it on his iPad, I'm reading it on my Kindle. This is the first book we've tried to read together, should be interesting!

A Puppy's Tail

Yes, I'm a dog person. I don't have anything against cats as a species, but when it comes to a companion, yep, it's a dog.

Max is my furry little companion animal. Honey is pretty sure I'd give him away before I'd give my dog away. Ummm...no comment.

Max was a puppy mill rescue, he was suppose to be put down but was saved along with 15 other puppies. It's been six years since Max adopted us. I found the rescue through Petfinder.com. I took both kids to visit two puppies the rescuers thought would work for our family. I told Honey we were just going to look, of course he knew better, I was bringing home a puppy.

When we arrived this little white fuzzy bundle of excitement met us at the door I couldn't get the Bean down to the floor fast enough for the loving to begin. Stumpy, as he was called, was all over us, jumping, wagging, wiggling, giggling (the Bean) and kissing. The puppy wasn't afraid of Bean grabbing at him or the noise a 2 1/2 year old can make. We visited with the other puppy too, he was a little smaller and a bit timid. I'm sure he would have worked for our family when he got comfortable with us, but Stumpy was a better match for our busy young family. So Maxwell Edison became part of our family.

Max had a few fears to over come, going through doors, walking in the grass and he was afraid of people in baseball caps. With patients, time and gentle guidance he's gotten over most of his fears one step at a time. I know, just like Max, with patients and time I can get over my fears and short comings too. It just takes one step of faith at a time.

September Project Wrap Up

Wow! I can't believe it's October already! I've been tracking my trips to the Stuff Mart for nine months now. I'm surprised I've stuck with it this long.

The most significant change I've noticed, is that I don't automatically think "I need to run to Stuff Mart and get that". Sissy still thinks we should run up there every time she has a "need" but I'm getting better at telling her "not tonight". On those occasions she really needs something she's big enough to go in by herself. One less trip for me. She can only buy something if she has enough cash (because Mom's not there to buy her other stuff).

The Bean is a little better about saying "next time we go to Stuff Mart can we look at..". He has also found out you can check prices on the computer, so he knows how much money he has to save. Sometimes things are cheaper on Amazon, saves me another trip.

I have four more months of limiting my trips to Stuff Mart, I think after the first of the year it will continue to be more natural to just not go. In September I made 8 trips, the total for the year so far is 48, average of 5.3 trips per month! At this rate I'll be under 70 trips for the year! When I looked at that number I was surprised! I was sure we were going just as much as we did last year. Our monthly average spending is down by 40% for September! Now that doesn't mean we're saving that much, but we are spending less at the Stuff Mart and I hope supporting smaller local businesses more.

I've very excited to see how the last 4 months of this project will go. Wonder how I can save and track the money I don't spend at Stuff Mart next year?

Fall Reading

Happy Fall! OK, I know I missed the first day of fall and the official start of Fall Into Reading hosted by Katrina at Calladidder Days. I'm not officially joining but I do like making my list and seeing what happens to it by the end of fall. I have a very short list, again but they're long (really long) books.

I was told that The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers is very good and I should read it. My friend loaned me the first two books and warned me that it takes awhile to "get into the story". I started A Voice in the Wind in August, then read a couple other books (one I requested from the library so I had to read it). I started it again at the beginning of September, and decided that I really just needed a lighter read. I read a couple more books. Now it's the end of September and after some friendly guilt, oops I mean, encouragement I'm starting again. Third time is a charm, right?

So without further explanation, here is my reading list.

A Voice in the Wind

An Echo in the Darkness

As Sure as the Dawn (well, maybe) All by Francine Rivers.

If I read those three then I can choose from one of these. I think that will keep my busy well into next fall, unless I find something else I just have to read.

Thank you Katrina for hosting the reading challenges and encouraging us to just keep reading!

Time for hot cocoa, my blanket and A Voice in the Wind. Happy Reading!

The "J" List

The "J" list is like Oprah's "O List" only cheaper, much much cheaper! It's some of my new or new to me favorite things!

On the left is "The Green Album" cd! It's Muppet songs, sung by current popular artists! How can you not have a good day when you start it listening to Mahna Mahna? Bean thinks we should listen to it every day on the way to school and Sissy already has it on her iPod! (It's not on mom's iPod but that's a post for another day.) There's also a "Kermit Unpigged" cd!

The odd pink thing is a poo bag holder. I saw a diaper bag dispenser (just like this one just labeled differently) on Another Ten Miles blog. Heather pictured it on her "Baby Must Haves" post. I saw that and thought perfect "in the car" trash bags! They're small, contained and refillable! No more hunting under the seat for a stuff mart bag! Woo hoo! I found the pet version in pink at Target! Thanks Heather!

Turtle Wax Bug and Tar remover! We have big bugs and they leave big squish marks on the car. No more squish spots!

Greeting cards from the Dollar store! My friend Laurie told me about them! I'm very excited! I spent $14 on 3 greeting cards! That's crazy! I really want to be able to make card and have them ready on time (ha) but just in case that doesn't work out...Dollar store here I come!

Hello...Kettle?

I've learned a lot from my kids, for example don't say "yes" to a child if you don't fully understand the question, toddlers like to color with lipstick, more about Polly Pockets and Clone Troopers than I ever wanted to know. I've learned about fashion, when Sissy says "that's kind of Mom-ish" I should put it down and walk away, she doesn't mean it as a compliment.

Yesterday I was listening to the loving sounds of my children interacting, oh no, wait that was Leave it to Beaver. I was listening to my kids argue on the way to church. Anyway, Sissy started to lisp when she wants to be cute. I find it less than adorable coming from a 16 year old. Bean likes to talk "baby talk" to the dog. Sissy finds this less than adorable coming from her brother. She told him to quit because it annoyed her. Strangely, I told her the same thing about her "lisp" just the other day.

Tonight, Sissy yelled at Bean because he didn't put his cup in the dishwasher. Her rant went something like "He's 8! He should be able to put the cup in the dishwasher! It's not that hard!" I told her "I know, I thought the same thing this morning when I asked you to put the cutting board in the dishwasher."

I was told once when you point a finger at others you have three fingers pointing back at yourself. I've learned that's true, the behaviors we dislike in others are often things we do ourselves. The next time I have the urge to complain about someone else I'm going to make sure I don't do the same thing. Then I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

Where Did Summer Go?

I can't believe my kids go back to school in one week! I'm wondering what happened to our summer? Apparently we have been very busy. I took Bean shopping to finish up his school supply shopping and was surprised at how few supplies were left. I don't know what I'm going to do about Sissy's. She doesn't find out what she needs for her classes until school starts. Yikes!

Summer has passed with a blur of activity! June was spent at karate, karate camp and play group for the Bean. Marching band practice for Sissy and a road trip to my nephew's High School Graduation. Whew!

We were home two week (more band and karate) and left the beginning of July for a vacation in Texas. We went to visit Honey's brother and his wife. Honey's mom flew down to join us. We went to the Johnson Space Center, the Gulf at Galveston and did a little shopping. Texas has a lot of outlet malls! Bean's favorite thing, his uncle's magnetic toy and cable tv. Sissy's favorite was shopping. (Pictured in front Bean, L to R Sis-in-law, Honey, me, Sissy, Bro-in-law and Mom-in-law)

We left Texas and drove around the Gulf to visit my friend and her family! We met them at the Gulf in Florida for breakfast. The kids got to try out a boogie board and we saw dolphins! We visited some more, had lunch, said our good-byes and headed home. Honey was on vacation the whole week after we got back from TX/FL. I had no idea what day it was for those two weeks. We didn't have a schedule, no band practice, no routine.

August started out with an impromptu trip "home" for the weekend to the fist annual Homecoming. Honey left Sunday, Bean and I stayed so my sister and I could help my dad with some organize/purge projects he'd been putting off. The "girls" also went to do a little shopping at a flea market/craft sale/Amish market. That was a lot of fun, HOT but fun! All my "finds" fit in my trunk. Woo hoo!

The first week of August was band camp for Sissy. Our brave band director loads the kids up on a bus and takes them to a college campus for a week. They come home hot and tired but they learn a lot and really become a cohesive unit. Honey went for part of the week to be a chaperon, he came home hot and tired too.

This is our last week of summer, Sissy is volunteering at the hospital, Bean is squeezing in a little more play time with his friends. I'm just hoping I can get them back in routine with as few melt downs next week as possible.