Finish #100 – Jesus Calling

Finish 100! I made it! Just in time! I’ve been working on this one all year. Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is a devotional book with short readings and a few scripture references to look up each day. I chose this devotional after seeing (and flipping through) several copies at my brother-in-law’s house. It seems to be a favorite over there.

From some of what I’ve read on-line, this devotional seems to be a favorite of some and a great, horrible, practically evil thing to others.

I, for one, found it inspiring. Yes, it’s written as if God/Jesus is talking to you. That seemed to be one thing that annoyed some people. Yes, it’s not deep and theological, which seemed to annoy the same people. We don’t always need deep and theological. Sometimes we just need a kind word or a reminder that we have a loving Father. Deep thoughts are sometimes too overwhelming. While the scripture references are short, they get you into the Bible. Whether you read more or not while you’re in there, well, that’s entirely up to you. I found that I tended to read a lot more.

I’ve chosen my new devotional book for 2017 and can’t wait to dive into it on January 1. You’ll have to wait until the end of 2017 to learn the name of that one!

Stay tuned for a list of my top ten favorite books of 2016…and for the first book of 2017. I don’t know what that will be yet, but my basket of library books is full of goodies!

Now on to the festivities of New Year’s Eve…watching the ball drop at Times Square from the warm comfort of my living room, playing games with the family, eating junk food in my pjs, and drinking a glass of bubbly, non-alcoholic, sparkling grape juice! I sure know how to party!

Finishes #98 & 99 – A Macomber duo

Like a kid in a candy shop, so am I in a music store. We visited my favorite music store this week where I think I spent about two hours sifting through books, trying out songs on their keyboard (I can’t stand playing on keyboards, by the way), rejecting some books and putting others into the “buy” pile, and spending way more than I probably should on music for myself and eldest. I found a book of piano music from Mario video games and a couple of books of cello music for eldest. For myself (and eldest, as she’s already post-it noted several favorites), I found a book of Gershwin, a book of Ragtime music, and a New Orleans blues book.

And, because our music shelf was horribly packed and music was piling up on the floor and in a basket, we went to Walmart the next day and found an awesome new bookcase for our music room. Yes, we found an awesome bookcase at Walmart. Shocking, right?! It actually seems and looks quite high quality. (We knew it would be awesome as we had purchased one for middle daughter for Christmas. $68 for an awesome bookcase. Can’t beat that. We looked at one at ArtVan furniture store that would have needed bookends on every shelf to keep the books on for the low, low price of $1000. They had other options, but we were done listening. Actually, I was done listening when I walked in the door and was immediately pounced upon, not literally lest you think they are in the habit of assaulting their customers, by a salesperson with a CIA-like headset in his ear. We were pounced upon by another salesperson on our way out the door. I was beginning to think we would have to purchase something before they would let us leave. Most disturbing!)

So, in the midst of all the music store, furniture buying and setting up excitement, I finished two Debbie Macomber books. Yes, Debbie Macomber. If you’ve been following me on my 100 book journey, you will know that I am not a huge fan. I’ve had this book, passed on to me from my mom, on my shelf for many years. From the date inside the cover, it looks as if my mom read it in 2010. That means I’ve had it for 6 years. I figured it was about time that I crack open the cover and move this thing out of my house.

Finishes #98 and #99 are from a book titled A Gift to Last. It contains two novels, Can This Be Christmas? and Shirley, Goodness and Mercy. They were quick reads, both set during the Christmas season. Neither one did much to change my opinion of the author. I’m not saying they were awful. They weren’t. If you like a light story without too much “meat,” then this would be for you. My reading preferences have changed so much over the past several years, though, that I’ve come to expect more.

 

Finish #97 – Falling

I did a bad thing. A very bad thing. I hate to even admit to it, but I will…

I read the ending of Finish #97, Falling by Jane Green, before I was halfway through the book. Yes, I read ahead.

(Insert gasp of astonishment from all those who would never dream of reading ahead here. Insert murmurs of judgment and condemnation here also. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on!)

Is reading ahead a sin? It should be. There’s always guilt involved when I do it. I mean, authors spend a lot of time perfecting their stories, don’t they? Why should I skip all the carefully crafted build-up and jump right to the end?

So, why do I do it? Because I can! It’s like being able to see the future, and I like it!

Usually.

Not this time.

Jane Green, how could you give us that ending???? I can’t even tell you all what was so horrible without ruining the story for you. Just heed my advice: DO NOT READ AHEAD! Seriously. You will be so disappointed, so shocked, so, well, angry, that you will put the book down and wonder if you should even bother continuing.

But continue I did.

I learned a lesson, though. I don’t think I’ll ever read ahead again.

Ending aside. I enjoyed this book. I would have enjoyed it more had I read it as it was intended-from page one to page whatever without any skipping ahead. I do believe that I will be looking for more books by Jane Green. I want her to know, though, that if she ever gives me another ending like this one, I’ll revolt by never reading another one of her books!

Finish #96 – Operation Yes

As 2016 comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about goals for next year. I will not call them RESOLUTIONS. I refuse to use that word. I read somewhere recently that a large percentage of people stop keeping their New Years resolutions within the first two weeks…or something like that. I’m one of those people…and the resolution that I often give up on has something to do with diet or exercise.

So instead of resolutions, I’m going to be working on goals in the coming year. I may share some of them as we enter 2017, but since there are still a few days left in 2016, there’s no reason to worry about them yet! I will guarantee, though, that reading 100 books will again be on my list of goals for 2017. I found an interesting blog that I skimmed last night that had something to do with making a goal journal. It seemed like a neat idea, but I don’t know if that is something that I could keep up with for a whole year.

Last month I was concerned that I wouldn’t make it through 100 books this year. There were just so many left to read! Now, here I am with only 4 more to go! Yeah!

Finish #96 is Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes. I started reading this book to middle daughter and son last year. By last year, I mean last school year. It was supposed to be the last book that we read before summer vacation. Well, you can probably figure out, considering how long it took us to finish it, just how well middle daughter and son enjoyed it.

Yep. Not much.

I didn’t think it was too bad. However, there were two great heaving sighs of relief that could be heard as we finished the last page…one from each kid. Their greatest complaint had to do with how much description the author used.

I think this book may be the last book that I read aloud to the kids. Insert sad face here! At their ages, though, they can read so much faster on their own and prefer to do so. I’ve been reading aloud to them for over 17 years, starting with the piles of board books that I would read to Eldest when she was a baby. We’ve enjoyed all sorts of stories together over thousands of hours! We’ve enjoyed funny stories, poetry, funny poetry, brainy books about science-y things and historical things, stories from all over the world…

Reading together was truly one of the greatest joys of teaching them at home.

Finish #95 – The Total Package

Here’s a little poem for this evening:

Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house,

the lights were all flickering, about to go out.

The wind was blowing, whipping trees all around,

while piles of snow melted into the ground.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas (a day late)! It’s difficult to believe that yesterday was Christmas when the temperature outside has risen above freezing, the snowman that was on the porch had to be tossed into the yard before he melted everywhere, and, well, this is all my fault, the Christmas tree has already been taken apart and stored away for next year. Some might think that I’m a bit of a Christmas Scrooge for wanting to get the house back to normal as soon as possible after the festivities, but after having it up since Thanksgiving weekend, I’ve enjoyed it enough for the year.

You may recall that I previously wrote about Holiday Happiness Essentials and listed a couple of things that I considered essential to my enjoyment of the holidays. I ‘m pleased to say that I completed all the items on my list and a couple more that I hadn’t thought of at the time.

I made cinnamon rolls and enjoyed them for several days.

We watched a hokey Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel. Oh my gosh. Hokey with a capital “H.” I think it was called The Sounds of Christmas or something like that.

I made paper snowflakes…which wasn’t on my original list of things that I wanted to do this season.

We went sledding and played “Capture the Sled,” which was a lot like “Capture the Flag.” Let me warn you: It’s pretty tiring running through deep snow. I hadn’t been sledding in such a long time. I’d forgotten how fun it was to go spinning down the hill. Falling off the sled…not so fun. Luna, the dog, enjoyed running up and down the hill after us…until she heard some snowmobilers and decided it was time to retreat to the safety of her home!

I finished a Christmas ornament. Every year I think that I should make some ornaments for the tree, and every year, Christmas passes before I get started. I finished it this morning and hung it on the tree for all of 60 seconds before I started putting ornaments away. But, hey, at least I got it done! It will hang from the fireplace mantel until next Christmas so I can enjoy it for awhile. Here it is:

Here are two more that I did a while ago:

I think having a list of things that I wanted to do really made the holidays more enjoyable. It seems like I get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of getting cards out (and I wonder why I even bother since we hardly received any cards in return this year) and buying presents, that I often forget to relax and just do some things that I enjoy.

Amidst all of the hustle and bustle and the doing of things that I enjoy, I finished book #95, The Total Package by Stephanie Evanovich. I’ve previously read a couple of books written by her. I recall enjoying them a bit more. This one wasn’t bad, but it won’t be on my top ten list for the year.

Finish #94 – Dog Songs

Here lies Belle. I like to think of Belle as a hippie. She always looks a little stoned, she’s peaceful, and she’s loving.

Here’s a story about Belle:

Last night while eating dinner, middle daughter commented, “Oh, look, Belle and BooBoo are sitting on the stool together.”

We all turned to gaze at this unusual sight. Belle and BooBoo don’t often hang out together. They’ve never, that we know of, shared a barstool at the counter.

It got even cuter. Belle began licking BooBoo, washing his ears. We all said, “Awww.”

Then things took an ugly turn! Perhaps Belle encountered a particularly nasty tasting bit of ear wax. Perhaps she wanted the stool for herself. Suddenly, she lunged at BooBoo and bit his ear.

We gaped, mouths hanging open. Our little hippie had turned into a demon!

Whilst sitting there trying to wrap our minds around what we had just witnessed, the little demon struck again! Middle daughter was now choking on the cornbread coating her throat. The rest of us continued to gape.

I’ve often thought I should write down some of our cat stories. With four cats with four different personalities, we’ve got plenty of stories. Mary Oliver in Dog Songs, which is Finish #94, did just that. Only it was about dogs, obviously, not cats, and she wrote poems.

Finish #93 – The Christmas Box

“Holiday Happiness Essential”: Read a Christmas book. (I added that one to my list after my last post.)

Finish #93 is The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans. This was the first book I’ve read by him. I was surprised to see that he’d written so many when I was browsing the shelves at the library. Not only was this book a quick read, it was also a very interesting and thought provoking story.

Quoting from the story, “She knew that in my quest for success in this world I had been trading diamonds for stones.” What a great lesson that so many of us need to learn. You’ll have to read the book to understand the context.

I will admit that I often struggle with the desire to be “successful” in the eyes of my peers. These struggles are often intensified after exposure to one or two particularly annoying people in my life and whenever I read any comments online between the two sides of the Mommy Wars. But what does it mean to be “successful?” Am I only successful if I make a lot of money and have a great job? In the eyes of the world, yes, I would only be successful if I make a lot of money, have a great job, cure cancer in my spare time, and travel to foreign countries to do good deeds. (Unless you’re Mother Theresa. Then poor is okay.) But what would I end up with in the end? I might be remembered for a few years after my death, but then the world would forget me (unless I was Mother Theresa) and move on to the next great person. Would I make it into the history books, immortalized for all time, doomed to pester high school students as one more fact they’ll be forced to regurgitate on an exam? Probably not. Geez, some people get elected President and barely get a mention.

So what should we be striving for? What kind of success? I’m going to go for the kind of success that makes me happy, fulfills me, and is good for my family. What that looks like for me is going to be vastly different than what that looks like for you or anyone else. And if I never make it into a history book or do something great in the eyes of my peers…who cares! My family got the best of me, and giving them my best makes me FEEL successful.

 

Finish #92 – To Wed in Texas

Bah humbug.

That’s how I felt on Saturday. No Christmas cheer. Plenty of Christmas stress. Only a few presents had been purchased. No Christmas cards had been sent. I was ready to have a Christmas breakdown.

But after a lunch of breakfast at McDonald’s, Hubby and I tackled the Christmas shopping. This year we decided to support local businesses as much as possible. Hopefully, our family near and far enjoy chocolate, because we went on a buying spree at the local candy store. (We even treated ourselves to a couple boxes, which I can’t wait to tear into!) As the day progressed, I could feel my Christmas cheer gradually returning. We managed to get nearly everything purchased on Saturday. A wrapping frenzy ensued while we watched three episodes of A Place to Call Home and the ending of the greatest (in my opinion) space movie ever, Armageddon.

The Christmas card situation was tackled on Sunday. Following church, we crammed onto the fireplace hearth for a family photo. A trip to the store Sunday night yielded the rest of our Christmas presents and the cards all nicely printed out with our beautiful (in my opinion) family on it. The envelopes were addressed that night.

Big SIGH of relief.

Now I just need to wrap those last few presents and complete my mental list of “Holiday Happiness Essentials.” I’ve already checked off “Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate,” “Get a nice family photo,” and “Make cut-out cookies” from the list. What’s left: “Make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning,” “Make an ornament for the tree,” and “Watch a hokey Christmas movie…probably found on the Hallmark channel.”

Along with completing those “Holiday Happiness Essentials,” I need to get reading if I’m going to reach my hundred-book goal.

Finish #92 is To Wed in Texas by Jodi Thomas. It was a historical romance. I’m not usually a fan of historical romances. I especially don’t like ones set in England. Thankfully, this one wasn’t. It was, obviously, set in Texas. While I enjoyed the storyline, I did not enjoy all of the errors. Punctuation, weird sentence structure that didn’t make sense no matter how many times I reread it…There had to be more than five errors in the book. Five might not seem like much to some people. I can ignore one error, though it will annoy me slightly. More than five though? Yikes! Where was the editor? I’m certainly not always perfect when it comes to punctuation or sentence structure, but it’s not my job. Still, errors aside, the plot was interesting and the characters were likable (or unlikeable as in the case of one particular relative).

Finish #91 – 13 1/2

Allow me to introduce you to Rosie:

How’s that for a face that only a mother could love? Rosie doesn’t happen to be our most photogenic feline. She’s also a bit of a scaredy-cat weirdo. This little gal is scared of just about everything. It took her three years to warm up to the idea of wet cat food. Surely we were trying to poison her with that sloppy mess on a plate. She’d stick to dry food until she was quite certain that the other cats weren’t going to die after eating that wet stuff before she would give it a chance. She’s scared of the dog. It’s taken over three years for her to not run every time she hears the dog’s tags jingling. She only runs most of the time now. The one thing Rosie does love is her treats. Every single night she bellows at me to get her her treats and get them NOW! If I haven’t made it upstairs at the appointed time, she will venture as far as the stairs (hoping to avoid the dog) and loudly yell at me to get a move on.

But, despite all that, we love the little weirdo. She likes to cuddle (on her terms and at a time of her choosing) and she loves to sleep next to me. Sometimes too close to me, as was the case in the middle of last night when I woke up to a heavy weight sprawled across my chest.

So, I showed you a slightly scary looking (as in not the most attractive) cat who is scared of nearly everything. Now I’ll share with you a scary, suspenseful book. How was that for a segue?

Finish #91 is 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr. I enjoyed this book immensely. I’ve been looking for scary/suspenseful books at the library and just hadn’t been finding much. I came across this book title somewhere on the internet. I can’t remember where. Probably on a list of suspense books. I read the first bit while biking 15 miles on the exercise bike. I almost hated to drag my aching tired muscles and sore backside off the bike because I knew that I would have to set the book aside and get on with life for a bit before I could get back to it. I had a feeling that I knew where the book was going to go, and it did go there. So, even though the ending wasn’t a great surprise, I still really liked the story. I highly recommend this book.

Finish #90 – 19 Varieties of Gazelle

Hubby and I celebrated our 19th anniversary this week. In just about seven months I will hit the point in my life where I will have been married longer than I was single. If you are doing the math, yes, I was a young bride. Well, youngish, anyway. Not ridiculously young. But still young. Hubby was not quite as young as I was. He’s still got several years until he can say that he’s been married longer than he was single.

We enjoyed dinner out at a favorite restaurant, a restaurant where I always leave feeling like a snake that ate a giant pig. (In other words, so stuffed that I need to just go lie down somewhere for a few weeks to let everything digest.) Eldest daughter went along. The other two wanted to stay home. We picked up a couple of movies from the video store: Secret Life of Pets to enjoy with the kiddos and Spectre (A James Bond movie) to enjoy ourselves. It was lights out for me near the end of Secret Life of Pets. Eldest admonished me for my inability to stay awake. I fear I am turning into my parents. I seem to recall them nodding off every time we would sit down to watch a movie. It used to greatly annoy me as a kid. In my defense, though, some lights had been dimmed and I was tired from a morning workout with that dreadful Jillian Michaels DVD that involves too many push-ups, a five mile ride on the exercise bike, and a cross country ski trip around the neighborhood in frigid temps in the afternoon. I caught a few winks after Secret Life of Pets and rallied enough to make it through about half of the Bond movie.

Speaking of being sleepy…or, rather, things that make you sleepy…

Finish #90 was not the most exhilarating thing I’ve read this year. 19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye was a book of poems of the Middle East. I’m not a huge poetry fan. I used to enjoy writing it as a teenager, but I never really enjoyed reading others poems. I always found them confusing. I always got a different meaning out of them than my English teachers did in high school. Take Robert Frost’s poem about the road less traveled and how taking that road made all the difference. So…I, from my background of reading the Bible and attending church, felt that Frost was in a good place for taking the road less traveled. You know that bit in the Bible that says, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14) Yeah, I felt that taking the road less traveled was a good thing. Not so, according to my 11th and 12th grade Advanced English instructor with the heavily droopy eyelids that made her look like she was always sleeping while standing up. Frost was apparently depressed about taking the road less traveled. Apparently he should have traveled the busy road with everyone else. Who knows. Does it really matter? I’ll get what I get out of a writing. You get what you get out of a writing.

But enough of that mini-rant. (Do you get the sense that I have some unresolved issues about that English class and that English teacher all these years later? Welcome to my head, where all manner of things get revisited for years on end!) Back to 19 Varieties of Gazelle, which often left me puzzled, scratching my head (not literally, because I wouldn’t want someone to think I’ve got lice or fleas or a strange skin condition), wondering if it was just a cultural thing that kept me from understanding the majority of the poems.

To be fair, there were a few that I did enjoy. There was one about olives. I liked that one. Probably because I like olives. (Which is strange, as I only became a fan of them this year.) I also especially liked on titled “The Clean Rinse.” The first lines state, “Each time you go through this you lose a little less color.” The last lines say, “after awhile, you will have nothing more they can take.” I got that poem.