A Short Break

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I’m taking a short break for Christmas ~ and I’m sure you all are too! I’ll be back in January, but hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas and New Year!!

The Pirate Queen ~ Book Giveaway & Review

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Saphora had planned to just quietly slip out of her home and life without anyone stopping her…or even caring that she had left, especially her husband. Her bags were packed and moments before she was ready to leave, her husband came home and dropped a bombshell.

Cancer.

In that moment, everything changed as he wanted to retreat to the very place she had hoped to escape and hide. Saphora struggles between knowing she needs to help her husband, but their marriage has been anything but stable. Surrounded by family, she observes changes in her husband that trigger changes in her ~ in their relationship with each other and with God.

My Thoughts

The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman was not quite what I expected ~ but in a good way. There are so many sub-stories within the book itself that it would be almost complicated to explain it all, except to say that Hickman did a great job tying everything together, without glossing over messy issues and the impact that they can have on individuals and families as a whole. 

The Giveaway

Would you like to win a copy of The Pirate Queen? I have one copy to mail to one of my readers! Leave a comment on this post ~ be sure there is a way for me to contact you. The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, December 28th at 8pm.

This book was provided for review by Waterbrook Press. All opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Fall into Reading 2010 ~ My Wrap-up!

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Overall, I am SO happy with my results for the Fall into Reading 2010 challenge. While I didn’t finish all of the books on my original reading list, I did add several books onto the fiction list and two onto my non-fiction list {still working on one of the non-fiction books}.

My final complete tally is 15 fiction books and 2 non-fiction and I also finished up the Bible. I really tried to stick to my list as much as I could, but there were a few books that came across my path over the last few months that I added to my stack {pushing other books aside ~ ahem}.

Katrina had a few questions for we could choose to answer…

Did you discover a new author or genre this fall? Did you love them? Not love them?

I originally chose to review the book The Twelfth Imam by Joel Rosenberg for my husband. To be honest, I wanted HIM to read it and pass along the info.

That didn’t happen.

I was very surprised to find out that I really enjoyed the book ~ not typically a genre that I would pick up to read or necessarily choose to read. Finding out that it’s part of a new series…sigh. I have a love/hate relationship with series, mainly because I’m too impatient and don’t want to wait to find out what happens! I want to know now {grins}.

I also have really enjoyed the book Six Ways to Keep the “Little” in Your Girl by Dannah Gresh. It was one that I added onto my list just a few weeks ago, but is something that I really needed to read right now. Simple and straightforward ideas and an easy read too ~ really liked it.

Here’s a look at the books that I read or am still in process of reading:

Completed Fiction

~ Love’s First Bloom by Delia Parr

~ Surrender the Heart by MaryLu Tyndall

~ Masquerade by Nancy Moser

~ The Vigilante’s Bride by Yvonne Harris

~ Take Three and Take Four by Karen Kingsbury

~ Eighth Shepherd & Ninth Witness by Bodie and Brock Thoene

~ A Rush of Wings & The Still of Night by Kristen Heitzmann

~ The Twelfth Imam by Joel Rosenberg

~ The Convenient Groom by Denise Hunter

~ Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy

~ The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman

~ Maid to Match by Deeanne Gist

 

Completed Non-Fiction

~ The Bible ~ finished up my Bible in 90 days at the end of October!!

~ Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel

~ Six Ways to Keep the “Little” in Your Girl by Dannah Gresh

 

Still Working On…

~ Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God by Mary DeMuth

 

Books I Didn’t Start….or Finish

~ Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

~ Tenth Stone by Bodie and Brock Thoene

 

Fall Into Reading 2010 has been hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. Starting Tuesday, December 21st, others will be sharing their reading updates. Katrina will be hosting the Spring Reading Thing 2011 starting this March, so stay tuned for that!

 

 

Hair Jello

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Kaleb walked into the house the other day after playing outside in the snow for quite awhile. He pulled his hat off and caught his reflection in the door of a cabinet.

“OH! Mom, my hair is sticking up! I need to put some water and jello in it to fix it!”

Thankfully, he meant gel, but I just had to laugh out loud at that one!

Head on over to Mary's at Not Before 7 for some more Tiny Talk Tuesday!! And yes, I know that it’s not Tuesday yet, but I’m still posting it for that {grins}.

 

Cream Cheese Ginger Bread

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  Download a 4x6 recipe card for your recipe file here.

When we were reading the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett, I pulled this together one morning for breakfast with the kids by combining a few recipes and making due with what I had on hand. It is one that we’ll make again during the holidays and fills the house with a definite ‘holiday’ cheer. The kids loved it as our breakfast.

 

Cream Cheese Ginger Bread

Ingredients:

{for filling}
~ 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

~ 1 cup sugar

~ 1/3 cup flour

~ 1 egg

 

{for batter}

~ 3 cups flour

~ 3/4 cup sugar

~ 1 1/2 tsp baking soda & salt

~ 1 tsp. ginger

~ 2 eggs

~ 3/4 cup milk and oil

~ 1/3 cup molasses

~ 1 cup chopped pecans

 

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients for filling together well and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour and other dry ingredients. Sift together well. In a separate bowl, beat together egg, milk, oil, and molasses. Stir into dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in nuts.
3. Pour 1/3 - 1/2 of batter into a well-greased bundt pan. Spoon filling mixture over top of the batter. Cover filling with remaining batter.

4. Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes and invert on a cooling rack.

5. Dust with powdered sugar.

Note: I used whole wheat flour and coconut oil in my baking and loved the results! Recipe card here.

That’s My Son!

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If you are ever worried that your kid will be ‘that kid’ in a Christmas program, you just need to make sure that they are in the same program as MY kids. Then you can rest easy and sleep well the nights before the program.

Case in point: Christmas program #1. In the first picture Zachary has decided to help everyone line up CORRECTLY before the program begins {he’s the one front row with the red outfit and blue hat}.

He also ENTHUSIASTICALLY participated with all the movements {notice the tip toes??}. We stopped him just in time a few minutes later from goofing off in the microphone that you can see right in front of him.

Case in point: Christmas Program #2.  Before the program even started and the kids were lining up on stage, I heard snickers all around me along with “Yo ~ LOOK!” Guess who? :)

This picture shows the start of Zachary’s ‘wardrobe adjustment’. I was on the other side of the church, so a friend was nice enough to send me shots from her side {he’s the one in the white t-shirt}.

The adjusting continues…

Ahhh…that’s better!!

To his credit, he was given a microphone in this play and did REMARKABLE!!! :)

I only wish we had video to show him dancing…too much fun! :)