Happy New Years Eve!

So long 2013 and thanks for all the memories (and fish).

Our Smilebox Holiday card:

Free digital scrapbook generated with Smilebox

And the Auto Awesome yearly wrap-up from Google:

Happy New Year!

Thoughts on Resolutions

Do you make New Year's resolutions? I don't, but I do. See? Even that explanation isn't a resolution. A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. If forming new or changing old habits were that simple, it would be a different story. But making changes isn't that simple. I'm sure there are some out there who can make a firm decision and stick with it from that moment on, but, let's be honest, most of us are not like that. We need time to build new habits, change old ways, dig ourselves out of the groove in the record where we find ourselves stuck (did I just date myself? Record grooves?!).

So I don't make New Year's resolutions. But I do find myself making "new starts" all throughout the year. At my birthday. At New Years. As the seasons change. As the moon is new, then full, then new again. Every Monday morning. I like to call it setting goals rather than making resolutions. Goals have a path to get to them... a sometimes meandering, often detoured, path but a path nonetheless. Not something resolute and static like a resolution with its sense of either success or failure in black and white terms. You either did or did not lose 10 pounds by December 31st.

This year I find New Years a particularly convenient time to start tackling some new goals because we are finally feeling settled into the new house we moved into the first of November and I'm pretty happy with the results of some goal setting and path wandering I started a few months ago. Our homeschooling schedule is starting to feel like a better fit, the budgeting and meal planning I started has settled into what feels like a natural habit and, with a little help from the Flylady, I am making great strides toward establishing and maintaining house care and cleaning routines. Whoo! Doing pretty good! Time to shake things up again and make some new positive changes... this time with an inward focus. Because I am That Mom. I am the mom who is an expert at ignoring my own needs in favor of my family's. I know that because my loving husband has told me, over and over again.

Knowing I need an inward focus on my next set of goals to tackle, I have selected four in a self-care vein. Blog more. Read more. Move more. And meditate (but I can't say "more" on that one because I don't already do it). So "Blog more. Read more. Move more. Meditate." A pretty good mantra for 2014, don't you think? What are your goals or resolutions for 2014?

Silly Saturday - Christmas Melody Parody by Screen Team

2014 Reading Challenges

Fortunately, I didn't enter any reading challenges in 2013. Given how hectic this year has been (finishing up our first full year of homeschooling and buying a house/moving), I doubt I would have finished them. Looking back through my Goodreads list, I still managed to read 17 books, not including all the books I read with the kids for homeschooling and such. Not too shabby!

1) Cutting Your Grocery Bill in Half by Steve & Annette Economides
2) America's Cheapest Family by Steve & Annette Economides
3) The MoneySmart Family System by Steve & Annette Economides (I met my budgeting resolution last year with the help of the Economides family!)
4) Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (finally finished that series... still haven't seen the movies)
5) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
6) Bebe Day by Day: 100 Keys to French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman
7) French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting by Catherine Crawford (another theme... not sure I agree with the French parenting style but I did glean a few things from these two)
8) The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler
9) Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
10) I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano
11) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
12) The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
13) Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
14) The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston
15) The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
16) The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
17) The Tree Shepherd's Daughter by Gillian Summers
18) More Rainbow Fairy Magic books then you can shake a stick at... but that starts getting into books read with the kids.

For 2014, I am in two book clubs so that should keep me busy. I have The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway teed up to meet those obligations in January. I have decided to tackle two reading challenges this year. I enjoyed the What's in a Name challenge in 2012 so will join it again this year, now hosted by The Worm Hole. The 2014 categories are:

1. A reference to time (Eleven Minutes, Before Ever After)
2. A position of royalty (The People’s Queen, The Last Empress, The Curse Of The Pharaoh)
3. A number written in letters (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, A Tale Of Two Cities)
4. A forename or names (Rebecca, Eleanor & Park, The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D.)
5. A type or element of weather (Gone With The Wind, Red Earth Pouring Rain) 

I was tempted by The Cheap Reader's Reading Outside the Box Challenge but was a bit intimidated by 25 books since my book club books may or may not fit all the categories of the challenge. That could result in a challenge that just isn't feasible for someone with my limited reading time. I know! I know! I should find more time to read but I want to set achievable goals. So instead I selected the Color Coded Reading Challenge from My Reader's Block as my second challenge for 2014. The 2014 categories are:

1. A book with "Blue" or any shade of Blue (Turquoise, Aquamarine, Navy, etc) in the title. 
2. A book with "Red" or any shade of Red (Scarlet, Crimson, Burgundy, etc) in the title.
3. A book with "Yellow" or any shade of Yellow (Gold, Lemon, Maize, etc.) in the title.
4. A book with "Green" or any shade of Green (Emerald, Lime, Jade, etc) in the title.
5. A book with "Brown" or any shade of Brown (Tan, Chocolate, Beige, etc) in the title.
6. A book with "Black" or any shade of Black (Jet, Ebony, Charcoal, etc) in the title.
7. A book with "White" or any shade of White (Ivory, Eggshell, Cream, etc) in the title.
8. A book with any other color in the title (Purple, Orange, Silver, Pink, Magenta, etc.).
9. A book with a word that implies color (Rainbow, Polka-dot, Plaid, Paisley, Stripe, etc.).

Of course, neither of the books for my January book club meetings meet either of the challenges. (sigh) Not an auspicious start but I have faith that I can meet both of these challenges this year. Are you planning to sign up for any reading challenges this year? Which ones?

Shards of History by Rebecca Roland

This is NOT a review because I haven't read it yet. I'll post that later. But Rebecca is a friend and her book is ON SALE right now for only $4.99 for Kindle! Since I live in Missouri and I am no longer an Amazon Associate because of the new tax laws here (grrrr), I can't post a fancy link to the book. So here's a text link to get your there:

Shards of History by Rebecca Roland

And here's a picture of the book cover:

Another of her books is also on sale for only $.99 for Kindle. 

The King of Ash and Bones, and Other Stories by Rebecca Roland

The sale runs until Wednesday, January 1st. 

Wordless Wednesday - Merry Christmas

Your Morning Funny

I am not endorsing KMart, partly because, I don't even think there IS a KMart within driving distance of my house.  But I do love me some funny commercials.  And this one is my new favorite.  Maybe NSFW, which is kinda funny to say about a commercial airing on network television.  I guess it depends on your office.  :-)

Liberty's Kids Deal

The video series Liberty's Kids was a key component to our homeschool unit study on the Revolutionary War .It is really well done and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

Amazon has a great deal on it right now... the complete series for $7.99!!!

Bargain Kindle Book in Honor of Earth Day

In Honor of Earth Day, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is only $1.99 for Kindle.

Intro to Poetry... humorously

My son wanted to learn more about poetry this year during our homeschool studies.  While we haven't really tackled the subject in depth yet, I did find a poetry book that has us ALL reading poetry on a regular basis.... I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats .  It's hilarious.  There's barely a day that goes by that someone isn't reading aloud from it.  LOL.  While not a traditional way to introduce poetry, it's definitely a humorous way.

Hunger Games Trilogy for Kindle, $5 for all three books

Amazon has a great deal on the The Hunger Games Trilogy right now... $5 for all 3 books in Kindle format!  I haven't read them yet.  I'm not usually a fan of dystopian fiction, but for $5!  Why not?!

Angel Soft Deal

Occasionally I run across deals too good to not share... I'll post them here as I find them.

This is an Amazon deal and they are subject to change, but it's good as of right now.

Angel Soft Double Rolls, 48 rolls for $22.63 with a $1.00 coupon you can clip right from the page.  That works out to just $.45 a double roll.  My rule of thumb is to stock up when double rolls are $.50 or less.  If you sign up for Subscribe & Save, you can save 5% or more on top that that.  The new subscribe & save program gives you more of a discount depending on how many S&S items ship to you each month.

Green Smoothie Progress

I won't post every day on this challenge but I did want to chime in that I have been making my daily green smoothie.  I typically have an Herbalife Formula One shake for breakfast with coffee and creamer in it (my own mocha).  For the green smoothies, I've made them for either breakfast or lunch.  I still use 1 cup of soymilk and the Herbalife shake mix, but then added some more water, 3/4 cup frozen mixed fruit, a cup of spinach and a 1/4 teaspoon chia seeds.  I occasionally add some other fruit too like a banana or blackberries... whatever we have.

Instead of mixing it in the Magic Bullet as usual, I used the Nutri-Bullet (same company, more oomph to the motor).  I read recently that longer blending incorporates more air into the smoothie/shake and makes it more filling.  In tests, people ate fewer calories of other food following a longer blended shake than a quickly blended shake.  I usually use the shake as a meal replacement so I don't know if I'm eating fewer calories or not. In reality, I'm eating a few more with all the fruit and such added to my shake but I'm also feeling full longer and reaching for snacks less so it probably adds up to fewer calories.

Join me for The 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge

The 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge

I don't know about you, but it is difficult to get enough veggies into our diet... and my family LOVES vegetables!  If you have a picky eater, then it's even more challenging.  Join me for The 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge to learn an easy way to get more vegetables and fruits into your diet in a healthy, TASTY way.

2012 Reading Wrap-Up

I set a modest goal of completing two reading challenges in 2012.  To see my original post about reading challenges, visit here.

My main goal in 2012 was to read more and I did do that.  While my Kindle Fire helped, I also read a lot more "old-fashioned" books last year as well as a few audio books.

There were many (MANY!) books I didn't read cover to cover.  There are also dozens (DOZENS) of picture books I read to my children (I have Belinda and the Glass Slipper nearly memorized). We started homeschooling our kindergarten daughter and 4th grade son this year so there is a long list of books on homeschooling and books on various topics we've learned this year (fish, Ancient Egypt, the American Revolutionary War to name a few).  The fourteen completed books listed below are actually pretty good considering how busy I am. I would like to finish more than that in 2013.  I'll make another post for my reading challenges I picked this year.

2012 Challenges

The first challenge I picked for 2012 was the 6 in 12 Adult Reading Challenge sponsored by the Midcontinent Public Library system.

1) The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
2) The Year of Learning Dangerously by Quinn Cummings
3) Ghost a la Mode by Sue Ann Jaffarian
4) Blood of Eden by Tami Dane
5) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (re-read) by Robert C. O'Brien
6) Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
7) Soulless by Gail Carriger
8) Changeless by Gail Carriger
9) Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
10) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Rigg
11) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (re-read) by Douglas Adams
12) Truth and Beauty by Anne Pratchett
13) Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
14) Parenting with Love & Logic by Foster Cline

The 2nd Challenge I signed up for was the What's in a Name 5 Reading Challenge.  The categories for 2012 were:

1) A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
        The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (probably a stretch but we're going with "field" from this title)

2) A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
        The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

3) A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
        Ghost a la Mode by Sue Ann Jaffarian (is a ghost a creepy, crawly?)

4) A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
        Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Rigg

5) A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
       Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

6) A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking
      The Year of Learning Dangerously by Quinn Cummings

A couple of those I had to stretch a little... mostly because I let this challenge fall off my radar.

All in all I did pretty well.  I definitely read more this year than I have in past years and that was the ultimate goal.