Deadly Disclosures by Julie Cave - A Book Review

Well, I am not a professional book reviewer and this will not be a long review.

Every once in a while I get to wanting something to read in the fiction department. I normally go for factual reading on nutrition, homeschooling, spiritual matters...that sort of stuff. So, every once  in a blue moon I need to just get lost in a story. I am a hard sell when it comes to what I call 'brain fluff". It can't be too fluffy, or too predictable. Bored is where I found myself  when it came to reading some of the leading Christian fiction writers.

As I was catching up on facebook one day I read where Ken Ham was promoting the writer Julie Cave and her Dinah Harris Mysteries series.

I quickly jumped over to Amazon and grabbed up the first in the series. Two days after it arrived I read the last page and order the second.



What I enjoyed most was the accurate story line of conflict of a Christians battle with Creationism verses Humanism and evolution. The facts presented were intriguing and the story was well written. My teenage daughter also devoured the book in no time and enjoyed it as well.

I have also finished the second book.


It was just as well written and so far is my favorite one of the series. It deals with the subject of eugenics. So as you can see, to call these "brain fluff" my not be fitting.

I highly recommend these books! I think they would serve well for any high-school student also and would fit well in your curriculum for teaching your teens to understand these very current topics from a Christian viewpoint.

Time to Do Things Differently

We have a schedule.

This week was to include homeschool in the morning and VBS in the evening.

I'm cooking for VBS. Last night we did 450 mini corn dogs. Served the children in shifts. Enjoyed the fellowship. Became really tired.

The schedule....oh yes....I forgot. We have been so tired, we {Mom}have been so tired in the mornings.

The mornings have moved slow, but good.

I have not minded the schedule very well.

We have read library books, played board games. Mom has laughed {does Mom do this enough?}

Today I have decorated a "hip hipster bag" won at the Library Summer Reading Program.

 While saying in my mind, "I don't have time for this."
While thinking, at the same time, "When will I have time for this?"
When? When they are big and don't care about mom helping with an iron on?
What am I waiting for?
I know, for the schedule to run like clock work, then I will be successful.
Really? I've been grasping at that for many moons and it don't feel good anymore.

"Mommy, can you paint my fingers?"

My usual response.....Not right now I have to______(fill in the blank with any task that really doesn't matter)

I painted 20 little toenails and 20 little fingernails.

(wait...what was on the schedule?)

We washed Jake. {cute little new puppy who had too many fleas} Cowboy has been asking for a week.

So I had to get this tired to slow down enough to see that those who are most important need time with me. Not just clean clothes, although important, the bodies in those clothes need hugs and smiles and I've been stingy with those because I have a schedule.

Now look, I am not bashing a schedule. We all need some order and there are things that have to be done. But as I played that game of Trouble and decorated that bag I realized that I had not done those things in a very, very long time.

Here was the reward, Little Jenna says, "Thanks Mom, that means so much to me." You don't know how profound those little words were.

Then to top it all off, Ann had this amazing blog post today.

Yes, I think I understand. Thank you Lord, for the time to learn this. That today I will live with one less regret.

Now, we will swim. Then the little ones will nap { I will rock that little Janie, singing her favorite "Rock-a-bye Baby" and I will enjoy every minute of it! }

We will go and try to reach out to the little children in our community that have been so sweet
{and hungry :)}

Yes, this week has been different.
Am I stressed? Not one bit.
Is that unusual? Oh yeah!



{A big thanks to Jessie, for the always wonderful pictures & coffee}

Yummy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bake {Thank you Shaping Little Souls}

Thank you dear Jessie for the lovely picture.

This is just too good. I found this while visiting this lovely blog : Shaping Little Souls

I didn't have Quick oats so I used Old Fashioned Oats and adjusted the recipe. The entire pan was gone in a flash, it was our dinner that day. *blush*


Here is the original recipe:

3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together. Spread into 9x13 greased pan.
Bake 350 for 20-25 mins. If you like a little crunchy top cook for a few minutes longer.
Serve warm with milk poured over top or dry like a breakfast bar.


I used 2 cups of Old Fashioned Oats and we did pour just a tad of milk over it. So good! And so easy and  a nice change to just a bowl of oatmeal.

Did you know...

that you can set your blog to be read on mobile devices? Finally! I may be the last to know, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Now, I can read all of your lovely blogger blogs on my beloved iPhone.

Yay! (it's all in the little things) :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

If I ignore it, it will go away....

Well, I don't want my blog to go away, but I have been ignoring it for some time. Disappointments, failures, busyness, loss of motivation...you name it. I have been there.

First, let me just say something about my 100 Days of Health. Lesson learned was that health is to be reached for every day and when you are as overweight as I am 100 days is not going to be the fix all. I knew that  and yet, I waited for something magical to happen. In a way I guess it did. I am still plugging along. Not as dedicated as I was at hitting 10,000 steps, but still not just giving up. I am not stopping. I have decided that if I have days where I feel this bad at 41, then what will it feel like when I am 51 and still in the midst of homeschooling? That is enough to press on, however long it takes. I will try to give sporadic updates about weight loss and what I am doing. (I do want to do a post that compares my Fitbit to the BodyBugg that I tried and sent back. If you are wondering....go with the cheaper fitbit....it is much BETTER!)

We are still schooling, it is very hot here and other than swimming and doing barn chores, in the summer no one wants go out side. We LOVE spend our days out in the spring and fall. So, we school. This year however, I am getting very ready to just have a few weeks in a row to not have to do it! I am still loving MFW and trying to sell everything I own to afford the purchase of MFW World History and Rome to Reformation. :) My honey says that I really need a new washer ( my old, deep one broke and my brother gave me one for free. The problem is it is a really small washer. I mean really, really small. Small as in, wash 3 loads for what I could do in my old one in one load) I told him I really can handle washing clothes all day...just please give me new books!

Next week we have VBS. Then the kids are looking forward to spending a week in my parent's new lake house. Then after that Greg is on vacation. ( that is a whole different story....we are just still thankful that he has a paid vacation coming)

Well, enough rambling. I have to get ready for night service. I am trying to find my focus again. If I cross your mind, say a prayer for me!

Day 83-86 of 100 Days of Health Habit

One day......

 I will have more time for this blog......

{So thankful for the time I have :)}

Okay, so this has been a week of refocus. It has felt good. I am not where I thought/wanted to be as far as weight goes, but I am lighter and think that by the time I count down to 100 I will be able to say that I lost somewhere between 15-20 pounds. (20 being very ambitious)

Today I racked up almost 11,000 steps without meeting with Leslie Sansone. I wore that clothesline out! 11,000 steps worth of house work? You probably think I live in a dump.....no, just a house with 6 people (that includes a 2 year old....they count as five people right?) and a homeschool.

I would like to write more but it is late and I am tired. So, I will go. Have a blessed Sunday!

Day 81 & 82 of 100 Days of Health

I'm just so thankful! "For what?", you may ask. I am thankful that I started this crazy 100 day thing and blogged about it. Had it not been for this accountability then I would be off on the other side of this yo-yo where the scale starts to move in the wrong direction and I go for months without the thought of food journaling or exercising.

 So, as you have read, I have had some trouble with getting refocused in the last few weeks. Who would have seen it coming? Nevertheless, it did and I swayed and faltered but I have not quit. Yesterday, what I will call Day 81, was the day I just jumped right back into daily exercise. (I must do this to get anywhere near 10,000 steps) I got real close and at the end of the day, after a 5 mile walk I had 9500 steps. The biggest thing that I need to change right now is to get this exercise stuff done first thing in the day. That would almost guarantee that I would make my goal every day. HOWEVER, you dear readers, who for whatever reason read this madness on a regular basis, will recall that I am NOT a morning person. It is time to suck it up and just do it! Just get up early and get it on! Oh, how I am trying!! :) Today I did not get up early, but first thing (while everyone was dressing and having breakfast) I did a 4 mile walk. YAY ME!! Can I just say it again? YAY!!!!

Also, I am going to be really focusing on my diet and making wise choices.

Today, so far here is what I have consumed. {note: we are in need of a grocery store run}

Breakfast: 1 C Multigrain Cheerios

                 1 C Skim Milk

Total Calories {196} Can you believe that? :)

After my 4 mile I was hungry so for a snack I repeated breakfast. {196 kcal}

Getting creative I decided to cook a pound of dry beans in the pressure cooker.

I chose Great Northerns (is it not crazy how cheap you can get beans?)

I pressured for 1 hour:

1 lb Great Northern beans

1 C brown rice

1 TBS garlic powder

Some season-all

I love beans, my family does not share my love of them. Cowboy and I enjoyed a lunch of beans and rice. 

1 Cup {225 kcal} and this is worth mentioning NO FAT and 10 grams of fiber! 

YUM!

So here it is 3:00 pm and I stand at 7000 steps. I intend of making that 10,000 today!

{P.S. Here is how I did the four miles. It was a lot of fun and different. And I burned 580 kcal while doing it!} 

O_O

This morning at 12:00 am the alarm on my phone went off. I was startled and grabbed it up to see what was going on. It said "100th DAY!" ..........ugh......

Really? Already? What has happened to me the last 3 weeks?

I did not intend to stall. I have been pressing on and just not had time to blog. Anyway, I am sorely disappointed. I never intended to have a break in these 100 days. Nevertheless, I am going to finish what I started. So, Lord willing, tonight I will report on my steps and calories.

In all honesty, I have said it many times. I am a one-track girl. I have been extremely focused on our homeschool. I have been convicted by letting things slip. I have had too many nights full of guilt or disappointment over things undone. I have reevaluated my priorities. I have refocused on what it is that I am doing here. I have mentally listed the things I that I can no longer allow myself to let go undone. There are books I read to Jessie that I want to read to Jenna. There are nature walks that I long to take with them all. There are nature notebooks that remain blank that haunt me because I bought them years ago. I have right before my eyes the proof that children grow up.....fast. I want to live these days fully. I want to not look back after these wonderful years of preschoolers and sippy cups and wonder why I did not redeem the time. I desperately want to be a good steward over what God has blessed me with.

So, with that in mind. I will leave this computer now. My "plan" is to continue the health post tonight. I pray that I get better at doing all things well in my life..... all at the same time. :)

Blessings,

Day 80 of 100 Days of Health Habit

No I am not MIA~

I am here trying to get refocused.

First I will admit that without the tracking of my steps it is very easy for me to get lazy.

I have received my new fitbit and today we are tracking away.  

Thanks for checking in and I hope that in some small way these post help someone else. The main way it is helping me is by causing me to press on to the finish line, instead of letting setbacks become total detours that undo all of good that I have done for my health. 

This journey will not end when the 100 days ends. For me, this will be a long journey, but I fully look forward to reaching my goal of being in a healthy weight range with a healthy BMI.

Today I am trying to get in steps by doing 1 mile mini walks throughout the day. 

And, I want to share this timely email I received from Sparkpeople today.

Another Fitness Myth Debunked
Somewhere along your journey to fitness, whether in the gym, reading the latest books, or talking with your friends, you'll hear a lot of advice about exercise--not all of which is true.

Fitness Myth If you can't exercise hard and often, there's really no point.

TruthEven moderate activity is shown to reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke. If you don't have 30 minutes in your day to exercise, try splitting it up into 10-minute segments instead. Everyone can find 10 minutes to spare sometime during the day! There are simple things you can do to increase your activity without having to go to the gym: take the stairs instead of the elevator, jump rope or do body weight exercises (push ups, crunches) at commercial breaks, take a short walk after lunch. Remember that any exercise is better than none!

Exercise Extra: Clip on a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps daily, which equals about 5 miles.

So, here's to health and getting refocused! (Which is really, really hard because all I can think about is the HOMESCHOOL CONFERENCE I will be attending this weekend! :D)

Okay, an update.

I'm so sorry I haven't update in so long. As you may remember we took a break from blogging for our revival. Then as I was gearing up earlier this week to update, those terrible storms came in and changed the lives of a lot of people. I just felt very trivial thinking about a "health habit" when so many people were hurting.

I can't decide if I want to just jump back and pick up where I left off or start at day 80 in the morning. I had intended to keep going. But, now I feel kind of out of touch with the whole thing. The last two weeks have just been hectic, although I am not complaining.

Also, during those last two weeks I washed and dried my trusty fitbit!! Although, again, I just can't get that excited over such a small loss. I have replaced it and life goes on. That is a blessing.

Pray for my friend.

Count your blessings.

Have a blessed weekend.

A Recital

This morning we hosted the recital for my daughter. It was a lovely time! Here is a clip of Jessie playing her pieces ,accompanied by her teacher.

Filling Your Home with Beauty

I'm a little late at this, but if you hurry you can still catch the deal on this beautiful cross.

The good people at Dayspring and (in)courage.me gave a wonderful opportunity to receive (free) a beautiful product in return I just had to give an honest review and link it up.

Lately I have been on the hunt to fill my home with scripture and inspirational pieces that are beautiful. When the box arrived and inside was this beautiful  cross I knew just where to place it. It is a great size and has my buzz words of late on it: GRACE, THANKFUL, FAMILY, BLESSED, HARMONY, HOME......

So, go on over to Dayspring and get this while you can save money on it. Fill your home with beauty!  This is really nice and I am sure that their other products are just as well. Browsing through their store site has given me great ideas for the gifts I need to buy throughout the year. :)

Day 73, 74 and a word about days 75-79 of 100 Days of Health

I am happy to report that I am feeling myself come out of the pit of "this just ain't working" to "I can do this!" 

Dear readers, I can tell you that without the blog holding me accountable I would have surely quit by now. It is my pattern: first comes all out excitement...you know, that "I gonna change the world"  feeling, then the new wears off, it is harder than anticipated and boom.....failure. But, because I have a few readers who leave kind remarks and little encouraging notes I am able to refocus and finish. 

This week our church will be in Revival. It is a week long, nightly revival and for that reason I will not blog until the end of the week. There is just too much to do to worry about getting a post up. We will continue our school this week also, so the days are full. Pray that the church will be revived and that some lost wandering soul will come to know Jesus.

My goal is to not get on the scale until the end of the week. I don't need anything to get me agitated like that piece of glass and metal can. I just want to come through this week taking care of business and keeping my mind  on Christ.

Have a blessed week!

{Here is a link to the first post that tells about this 100 days, just in case you missed it! 100 Days of Health
You can click on the Labels "100 Days of Health" and "Weight Loss" to get to the post that are focused on this health habit.}

day 71 & 72 of 100 Days of Health Habit

72 days.....

When I started this 100 days where did I see myself being at day 72? Oh, I always have the pie-in-the-sky ideas. I am sure that I thought I'd would at least be 30 pounds lighter and running marathons by now. Well, maybe that is a stretch, but I did see myself a little bit different from where I have been. The sickness of last week really set me back more than I expected. I have also dealt with the scale not moving like I was sure it would. Okay, I am not whining.. I am just typing as the words come. So, what does one do when the motivation has fizzled? There is really only two choices. {As dear hubby reminded me this morning during a much needed heart to heart} I can just quit because my body has not acted like I thought it should or I can keep on. It is that simple. Logically, I know that I must keep on. Poor-pitiful me wants to cry about how long she has not had a Grande White Chocolate Mocha {I'm sorry, I can't stand the "skinny" drinks at Starbucks...I'm spoiled)  I also am perfectly happy saving those calorie splurges for every so often and not three times a week. It is just when you get down you see all of the negative. 

I have a choice. Not really, I don't. It is not a choice to be healthy, it is a must. I MUST continue on this journey no matter how unmotivated I feel. I MUST press on. There are too many reasons not to. The first one being that today God has blessed me with the health and strength to move, the brain to think through meal planning and learning healthy ways, the support of family who love me. I don't want to live disappointed in myself for failing, yet again.  

I told you before that I am a "one-track mind" person. Well, lately my mind is just on school. The yearly homeschool convention {aka Homeschool Mommy heaven on earth} is coming up. I am so into getting ready for that and plugging away at our lessons. I am learning to focus on all of these and do all of these things well every day. I want to cook healthy meals, exercise, get all of our lessons in and keep the house clean and running......WHEW! No wonder I am ready for the conference! It is a the shot in the arm I need right now.

So, it is late. I got my 10000 steps in by cleaning and doing laundry. We have revival all week next week and I can't stand going into that with dirty laundry and a messy house. I actually work better under pressure....go figure! We did have a lovely morning fishing with some of our church family and the kids had a little egg hunt.

Sweet!

Cowboy caught a turtle!

Me and my dear Jessie...I just love her!

Day 70 of 100 Days of Health

Day 70 was a day of trying new things in the kitchen. The last thing you want to do is get stuck in a rut with only a few choices of "healthy" meals that you like. My kids love to experiment with food so that helps out greatly.

Today we started with a lightened up version of French Toast that used Egg Beaters instead of eggs. I found it on the Spark Recipe site. They really liked it, kids like anything with a little powered sugar on it.

For lunch we tried a recipe from a Weight Watcher's cookbook that Jess and I have been going through for the last couple of weeks. It was WONDERFUL and pretty!

I changed it only a little.

Here we go, making a small mess.....I am a messy cook.

We used

French Bread, cut in 1/2 inch slices
Deli sliced Mozzarella Cheese
tomatoes
Baby Spinach
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1 T. Olive Oil
1T. Red Wine Vinegar

So you mix the salt, pepper, oregano, oil and vingear together and brush it onto the bread.
Layer the cheese, tomato and spinach and then place a heavy object on top. Cook for about 2 minutes, then flip, weight and cook the other side.





It was wonderful and fun!





I got my steps in (YAY!!!) 10,120 to be exact!

Have a great day!