August 2008

At one point I had this post already written and ready to publish. All it was lacking was my weight picture. The original post was bitter. It displayed my frustration at eating right, exercising, and not losing any weight. I was sick and tired of it. It has been thirteen weeks and all I have to show for it is numbers on the scale that can’t make up their mind. Sometimes they are high and some days they are lower. They are not consistent. It sucks!

Fast forward to today. I was driving in my car and the word persevere popped into my head. My dictionary defines persevere as: to continue a course of action, ect. in spite of difficulty, opposition, etc.

Weight loss is not easy. It’s not easy eating healthy. It’s not easy to exercise especially on the days when I don’t feel like it. However, I have been consistent in meeting my goal. As a matter of fact, most of the time I have gone over my goal.

As frustrating as it can be, I have been committed to continuing this journey towards weight loss. I am so committed that week after week I meet my practical goal of exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes. I blog about it and even post a picture of my weight. Believe me, it’s not easy posting a picture with large numbers on it.

Why do I do it? Because I’m committed. I signed up for this and I’m going to finish. I’m going to persevere even when it’s tough. I encourage you to join me in this endeavor, it’s not too late. Head over to Ragamuffin Soul and take the plunge.

This is just a little bit of the interesting things I found this week:

xkcd–Google Maps
She Does Hair
Felt Crayon Roll
Math Learning Disabilities
Sewable fabric from plastic bags

• Trip to the zoo. Every year I plan on taking the kids to the zoo and just about every year I forget. They have been to the zoo before so I don’t feel terribly horrible but still…it’s the zoo. You’re supposed to go at least once during summer break.
• Weekly art projects. I had great plans on doing one project a week. One week would be painting with watercolor. Another week would be painting with tempera paint. Then we would work with modeling clay. After that we would sculpt with a different type of clay. Yeah. I think I actually did this a few times. It wasn’t weekly but I guess something is better than nothing.
• Nature journals. I was gong to take the kids on nature walks. We would gather leaves, grass, rocks, pine-cones, etc. while we were out. When we got home I planned on having them make a nature journal out of their findings.
• Story time. We were going to read literature this summer. It was going to be great! We would cuddle together on the couch and they would listen with awe as I read to them. They would be so engrossed with the book that when I was done reading they would act out the story for the rest of the day.

I’m not exactly sure what happened to our summer. I know we moved during the first part of it. We made trips back to our old town. The kids stayed with their grandparents for a couple of weeks but for the rest of it we were here. I think summer is getting shorter and shorter every year.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing
A Passion Redeemed

Revell (September 1, 2008)

by

Julie Lessman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Julie Lessman is a debut author who has already garnered writing acclaim, including ten Romance Writers of America awards. She is a commercial writer for Maritz Travel, a published poet and a Golden Heart Finalist. Julie has a heart to write “Mainstream Inspirational,” reaching the 21st-century woman with compelling love stories laced with God’s precepts. She resides in Missouri with her husband and their golden retriever, and has two grown children and a daughter-in-law. A Passion Most Pure was her first novel.

ABOUT THE BOOK

No man can resist her charms. Or so she thought. Charity O’Connor is a woman who gets what she wants. Her stunning beauty and flirtatious ways have always succeeded with men. Until Mitch Dennehy, that is.

Brilliant and dangerously handsome, Mitch is a no-nonsense newspaperman who wants nothing to do with her. Charity burned him once, destroying his engagement to the only woman he ever truly loved. He won’t play with matches again. But Charity has a plan to turn up the heat, hoping to ignite the heart of the man she loves. And she always gets what she wants–one way or another.

Or does she? Will her best-laid schemes win his love? Or will her seductive ways drive him away forever? Book 2 in the Daughters of Boston series, A Passion Redeemed will captivate your heart and stir your soul with a story of faith and redemption rising from the ashes of temptation, desire, and shame.

Praise for the first book in the series:

“Full of romance, humor, rivalry, and betrayal, A Passion Most Pure will captivate readers from the first page.” –Historical Novels Review “Superb! Incredible!

“I loved Julie Lessman’s A Passion Most Pure from the second I picked it up until the very last moment I stopped reading.” –Armchair Interviews

“I devoured this book and loved every single page. . . . This is a thick, juicy read, and one I would pick up again in a heartbeat.” –christianreviewofbooks.com

If you would like to read an excerpt from A Passion Redeemed, go HERE.

The following is an actual chat conversation between Hubby and a friend of his. His friend has been married a little over a year so they are still in that lovey-dovey stage.

Everything is just as it appeared to me. All I did was copy/paste and change the names. You have no idea how hard it is to not clean it up and correct the typos. Thank you Friend for loving your wife so much that you provided me with excellent blogging material.

Friend: I LOVE YOUSO MUCH!!!!!!
Hubby: oh, really?
Friend: hey
wrong
person
but
you know
in a sort of Plutonic love
Hubby: i just about died laughing
Friend: it was bound to happen
I’ve almost done it a few times before
Hubby: now i know you’re the type to use multiple exclamation points.
i’ll be keeping an eye on you…
wait… plUtonic ? is that, from real far away?
Friend: Platonic
Hubby: your love is no longer a planet…
Friend: I’ts love that’s classified as love for a long time, then
later, using more powerful telescopes, they discover that is isn’t
really love, but rather lovoid
Hubby: got to go, thanks for the laugh

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing
Twice Loved

Avon Inspire (July 22, 2008)

by

Lori Copeland

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lori lives in the beautiful Ozarks with her husband Lance. Lance and Lori have three sons, two daughter-in-laws, and five wonderful grandchildren. They are very involved in their church, and active in supporting mission work in Mali, West Africa.

Lori began her writing career in 1982, writing for the secular book market. In 1995 after many years of writing, Lori sensed that God was calling her to use her gift of writing to honor Him. It was at that time that Lori began writing for the Christian book market. To date, she has more than 95 books published including Now And Always
and Bluebonnet Belle.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Texas, 1865 Willow Madison and her friends, Copper and Audrey taught school in neighboring Texas communities until the Yankees rode into the area and burned them out. In the midst of fear and chaos, survivors banded together to fight for what remained of their homes. Then word reached the people that the terrible war was over.

Now penniless but still hopeful, Willow vows she will take care of her friends, Copper and Audrey, and her ailing uncle, in Thunder Ridge, Texas, even if it means having to marry wealthy Silas Sterling, a man thirty years her senior. But standing in her way is handsome sawmill owner Tucker Gray, with his enticing eyes and infuriating headstrong manner—the man Willow cannot get out of her head . . . or her heart. Even though her friends beg her not to give up her dream of happiness, Willow is determined to do the right thing for those who are dearest to her. But which path does God want Willow to take: a life of duty and commitment . . . or a life of everlasting love?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Twice Loved, go HERE

Image by Hubby

We love to eat pineapple in the summer. Hubby took this picture one evening right before we cut into and ate it for dessert. It was yummy!

This week was hard. I had no motivation to make my goal nor did I care if I made it or not. I had a lot of emotional eating and feeling blah. I just didn’t care.

Anyway, here’s my weight and I did make my goal but barely.

Also, hubby thought it would be cute to stand in the air-conditioned house and take pictures of me mowing the lawn. Wasn’t that nice of him. So in honor of his hard work, here’s one of his pictures.

Oh and be sure to check out the other participants progress in the Ragamuffin Top Challenge.

Every once in awhile when I get bored I like to Stumble!. When I find something I like not only do I mark that I like it I also add it to my delicous bookmarks.

I use StumbleUpon to find new information and delicious to bookmark the info because who knows when I will be on another computer and want to access that information. You know the times when you are at a friend’s house and want to show them this great article you came across but can’t remember where it was. Well, with delicious I can sign into my account from my friend’s computer and easily find the article. This has become a very useful tool for me to use since I have lost all my bookmarks before and there was no way for me to remember everything that was saved.

The following is some of the things I have saved recently…

• Handmade cloth napkin tutorial–Cloth is cheap and I can easily sew these napkins even though I don’t really know how to sew or use a sewing machine.

• Getting Started in Your GFCF Kitchen–I have a son on the autism spectrum and GFCF (gluten-free, casein-free) is something my husband and I have talked about trying.

• Preparing to Bake in Your GFCF Kitchen–A follow-up to the previous article.

• Loft Living for Children–My boys share a small room and I’m always looking for ideas on how to maximize the space. I have also liked the idea of loft beds ever since my second son was born almost eight years ago. Since I’m still looking at ideas I obviously haven’t done anything yet. Someday.

• The Feminist Ezine - 1001 Feminist Links and Other Interesting Topics– I am interested in women’s issues and these links provided me with a lot of reading material. The list is fascinating.

The cool thing…I found the links on my own! Usually hubby is the one sending me the links. Yea for me! Oh. By the way, today is my one year blog anniversary. For the one of me you who actually reads this blog I say thank you. I also say Happy Birthday to me! Now I need to find some chocolate and life will be great.