The Week in Words

Melissa at Breath of Life hosts the Week in Words. In her own words: " just write a post of the quote(s) that spoke to you during the week (attributed, of course) and link back here. They can be from any written source, i.e. magazine, newspaper, blog, book. The only requirement is that they be words you read."

I love good quotes that really make me think or strike my heart so I'm right in here. How about you? Join us as we share the quotes the that spoke to us over the week.

"It is as easy to draw back a stone thrown with force from the hand, as to recall a word once spoken."

Menander as quoted in Here Burns My Candle
by Liz Curtis Higgs pg 117

This one always hits me no matter how or where I find it written. I'm one who very easily lets things out of my mouth that I wish I had stopped up and thought about first, and then of course it is impossible to grab those words and stuff them back. It is an area that God is on a constant work with in my life and something that He is trying to teach me to be always aware of. I am so much better but still have much work to do. Sigh.

This next quote really hit me because I've been trying to make better choices as to the food I allow into my body. I'm definitely not to the point of study and buying right from the farmer type of eating (expense, people, expense!) that a lot who are way more knowledgeable than I, but that doesn't mean I can't make small steps each day and do what I am able. I am definitely not in the category of food snob, far, very far, from it, and will never be, but at the same time I want to make better choices than I am right now. As I'm in the middle age bracket (heaven's, I hate even typing that but it's a fact) I want and need to make small choices that make big steps in my overall health. Here the author is talking about how our eating used to be much simpler before government stepped in and convenience foods and/or eating out became our norm. I'm interested in this because I tend to be on the end of thinking that government and media get on their little bandwagons and tout semi research as absolute facts and then retract them years later. Simple eating has become complicated and expensive which it should never be. Anyway, I'm just trying to make better choices within the things I buy. So...

"...a lot of people in the government developed an opinion about why all the people were getting fat.
And suddenly, food got really complicated...Something that ought to be easy as pie -literally- became fraught with challenges, shrouded in myth, and obscured by a combination of complicated government regulation, marketing mystique, and dietary hysteria."

David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding
quoted from Cook This, Not That
pg.2

"Here's the actual good news: So much of the confusion about what to eat and how to eat surrounds the stuff that's prepackaged or cooked up in a restaurant. Cook at home, for example, and you'll automatically put a damper on your trans fat consumption. ...at home, in the comfort of your kitchen, you're in full control. No secret fats, no hidden sugars, no misleading menu descriptions. Just you and the simple building blocks for your next meal."

David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
quoted in Cook This, Not That
pg. 4

I love this set of books. They are in the Eat This, Not That series. I find them really a simply written guide that helps you to make better choices at restaurants, the grocery store and this particular book, with cooking at home. They actually show you in terms of brand names which are better choices and why. They don't advocate buying super expensive foods, they just give you tools to make better choices.

To join in, head on over to Melissa's.

Photo Hunters ~ Fresh

This week's Photo Hunter theme is fresh. I didn't have a whole lot of time to think on this with the oldest girl visiting and all but it dawned on me as I was making pancakes that I had some fresh stuff right there.

Fresh eggs:


And fresh milk:




For more "fresh" see Photo Hunters headquarter here.

Friday's Fave Five #80

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five where we take a moment and reflect back over the week and pick out five of our favorite things from our week. If you are new, please take a moment, and go here and read over the guidelines, and then just join right in.
This week was hard to pick out only a handful of favorites. There just seemed so many things to be thankful for.

1. My oldest daughter down for a visit. I so look forward to when she can come home. She arrived safe and sound and we had 10 days of enjoying her. It was, as usual, very hard to watch her drive away today. And especially hard, because she won't be home for Easter. Her school will be gone on their missions trip. It will be the first holiday we haven't had her here. It's gonna be tough, but I'm glad we had her here now. We enjoyed dinner out, seeing a 3D movie, talking about books, and just having her around.

2. Watching Survivor and Amazing Race with my oldest. Boy I miss doing that with her. It was lots of fun moaning at the bad decisions, cheering on the good ones and in general talking to the tv together. LOL.

3. Nachos. I know, I just have to mention food. We found a restaurant that makes really awesome nachos. But the best part? My son turning to me and saying my homemade ones were still better. I love that boy.

4. My bed. Now that the girl is gone back to school the thought of crawling into my bed is sounding better by the minute. Not that I didn't get into it while she was here, but I just wasn't sleeping the same. Between some job stress this week and the added late nights staying up with her it has caught up to me. I can hardly wait to get some good sleep.

5. Wild Cherry tea. The tea flavor I picked up while in the big city last week. Yummy. It smells just awesome and I'm dying to try it iced. It's the kind that you use a tea press with so it literally has big chunks of cherries, rosehips and such in it.

And just because so many of you asked to see a pic of "the purse", just for you:

I'm now ready for spring!

So what were your favorites from the week? If you do a post, please link on up so we can visit you. Please link to the specific post and not your home page so that we can easily get the FFF. Have a wonderful weekend.

Book Tour ~ Here Burns My Candle

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

Publisher's Summary:
A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.

Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her. Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips. His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her. One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.

A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.

Author Bio:
LIZ CURTIS HIGGS is the author of twenty-seven books with three million copies in print, including: her best-selling historical novels, Thorn in My Heart, Fair Is the Rose, Christy Award-winner Whence Came a Prince, and Grace in Thine Eyes, a Christy Award finalist; My Heart’s in the Lowlands: Ten Days in Bonny Scotland, an armchair travel guide to Galloway; and her contemporary novels, Mixed Signals, a Rita Award finalist, and Bookends, a Christy Award finalist. Visit the author’s extensive website at www.lizcurtishiggs.com.

My Thoughts:
I loved the way the author took the story of Ruth and Naomi and gave it a different backdrop, 18th century Scotland. I enjoyed the story but admittedly I was one of those who struggled in the beginning quarter of the book because of the Scottish dialect woven throughout and the old way of speaking represented in the book. But once I got into the rhythm of that then the story really flowed along. I loved the historical aspect to the story and thought is was well presented. You learned of the historical goings on of the time without the story becoming dry and bogged down allowing the relationships playing amongst the main characters to be forefront. If you like Liz Curtis Higgs novels or historical fiction in general then I'm sure you would enjoy this book.

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for providing this book for review.

To purchase this book you can go here.

The Week in Words

The quotes I picked today are all from The Glaen Book blog. And all from one post. They are really simple yet really profound. I found myself really thinking that if I would change my way of thinking to what these three quotes are saying what a huge difference they would make in how I love and how I communicate that love with those closest to me. This is a very interesting blog and worth browsing around and checking out. It is connected to a book called "Glaen" which I reviewed here.

“The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost” – G. K. Chesterton

“We’re on loan to each other” - Robert Fritz

Robert Fritz points out that we are on loan to each other…that is quite true. Isn’t it interesting how we care for things loaned to us in different ways than we often care for things we ‘own’? -Fred Lybrand: the Glaen Book blog

Join us over at Breath of Life and share the quotes from your reading that have touched you in some way this last week.

Book Tour ~ Glaen

"Glaen" by Fred R. Lybrand

Publisher's Summary:

Author Fred Lybrand takes an in-depth look into relationships and dating, plus a little common sense for the real day-to-day world, in his latest book, Glaen.

Glaen introduces the character of Annie Hughes just as she suffers the loss of one of life’s foundational relationships—her parents’ marriage. As a graduate student, Annie suddenly finds herself at a loss to understand how any relationship finds and maintains lifetime staying power, especially a relationship as intimate as marriage.

Lybrand’s character development of Annie Hughes allows him to outline several foundational truths. Using Annie’s “research” and “journal” entries as the vehicle to present thought-provoking ideas to the reader, Lybrand first uncovers the lies of a secular world-view and then counters those lies with the truth of God’s design for the marriage relationship. These observations are made even clearer as the reader observes Annie’s interaction with other couples and friends who are in the process of dating and considering marriage. As she questions her friends’ choices, she also takes an honest look at the relationships she is developing within her own life.

The life changing principles found in Glaen are the gems Lybrand wants readers to take from the story and experience in their own lives and relationships. Thus, Glaen is a book that demands a second reading, as those who read its story will want to go through it again and highlight and examine the truths Annie uncovers throughout her journey. This book will serve as a great teaching tool for parents to use with their children as well as for church leaders guiding couples who are seeking a more satisfying marriage relationship.

My Thoughts:

A very easy read, Glaen is a story with big lessons. It's a fictional story that teaches biblical relationship principles. The author suggests reading it once for the story and then reading it again to learn. There is plenty of room on each page for personal notes and underlining. It's a great resource to use to teach your own children or a youth or young people's group what romance, love and relating really are from a biblical perspective and it would easily open up conversations between the readers. It is also a great personal resource for one's own relationships. A study guide is also available.


To read the first chapter of Glaen, you can click over here.

Thank you to the B&B Media Group for supplying this book for review.

To purchase Glaen, go here.

Spring Reading Thing 2010

It's Spring! Yahoo! And that means lots of things. Warmth, sun, buds peeking out, walks around the lake, bar-b-queing, bike riding. And it also means Katrina's Spring Reading Thing kicks off. I love this challenge. It's a no pressure challenge and I love going through books and book lists to see what I want to read over the next three months. And then I love visiting everyone on the Mr. Linky to see what they will be reading. So far this is my list but as always some things are subject to change. Sometimes books I have on hold just don't arrive on time or they are on hold by someone else and I have to return them before I can get them read. But I'm excited about most of the titles on my list. So here we go:

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs (book tour book). Set in Scotland in the 1700's the story plays off the biblical story of Ruth and Naomi.

An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick (book tour book). I've been looking forward to this one. It's the second in a series that is actually based on the author's own grandmother's life. I have a review of the first in the series here, scroll to #4.

The Right Call by Kathy Herman (book tour book). I read the second in this series in a book tour last fall and I'm excited to find out what happens to the characters. A review of the the second one is here.

Why Manners Matter - The Case for Civilized Behavior in a Barbarous World by Lucinda Holdforth. I could not pass this book by when I saw it at the library. The title just grabbed me.

Jordan's Crossing by Randall Arthur. This is a second book by this author that I am reading. I read his first last year for a book tour and I'm looking forward to this one. His stories are very thought provoking and heart searching. A review of the his other book is here.

Tall Grass by Sandra Dallas. I read my first Sandra Dallas book this year and I can hardly wait to read more of her stories. Loved the way she writes. A review book Prayers for Sale is here, scroll to #5.

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright. This has been in my book bag for a while and I always get book tour books taking it's place but I'm determined to get to it this time. It sounds like a great read.

The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. I love Michael Landon Jr. movies so I'm looking forward to his first writing. It's a story of a mother and her disabled son who in the midst of the depression years, recieves a special ability.

I Stand at the Door and Knock by Corrie Ten Boom (devotional). I love Corrie Ten Boom and have been looking forward to starting this devotional. I tend to "do" devotionals weird. I go in spurts with them, reading several in a day or none at all so we'll see how this one pans out. Each devotional is a little bit more reading than the norm but I'm looking forward to it as they are forty never before published devotions by the author.

Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I love this series of books that help you make better decisions of what it is you are putting into your body for food. It takes popular items that we all automatically reach for and gives us the better, more healthy alternative.

Experiencing the Ressurection by Henry Blackaby. For Easter I wanted to focus on Christ and his ressurection so this book is perfect. Not a long read but very powerful.

Food Rules - An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan. Bringing simplicity to daily decisions about food.

So far, that is it. I hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew, or read, as it were. So what are you reading this spring? To join in or check out other great reads see Callipider Days.

Friday's Fave Five #79

Welcome to Friday Fave Five. Join us as we remember five of those things that, over our last week, has blessed us. Details are here if you need them.

1. My oldest being home. She made it safe and sound and now we're having a wonderful visit.

2. A day trip to the big city. We made a quick family trip to the big city on Sunday. We had a errand to run, but then it was just fun time. Dinner at one our fave restaurants was a nice end to the trip.

3. A new spring purse. I do love my purses. It's about my only indulgence. I always laugh at myself and say my clothes my not be all that but boy I sure have great bags. Hubby gifted me with a nice spring/summer colored one. Now if it would get nice enough to pack away the winter coat I could start using it.

4. Il Divo in Barcelona concert on PBS. I've been enjoying watching this concert this week. I don't listen to this kind of music very often but I do enjoy this group.

5. This scent from Bath and Body Works. It's sooo nice. We don't have a Bath and Body Works in my city. So it's a treat to visit their store when we go to the big city and get to try a new to me fragrance. I wanted to try the new scent, Orange Sapphire, but it doesn't come out until the end of the month. They only had small purse size bottles of lotion. And it is nice! I might just have to order that one.

What were your favorites from this last week? Do and post and link on up so we can come and visit you.

Now I'm off to take in every moment with my visiting daughter. Have a great weekend.

Well, it's supposed to reach a balmy 21*C, that would be 70*F, today. Beautiful! And then things take a nose dive tomorrow and we're supposed to have wet flurries by Saturday. Welcome to spring in Southern Alberta.

Today my oldest arrives for a 10 day or so visit. I can hardly wait. So I'm just popping in here really quick to say hello and then it's back to getting things ready for her. I've got to do a quick clean and clear out of her room as we use that as a spare room when she's not here. It does tend to pile up with things we get too lazy to put away. Grocery shopping for her favorites and food requests will happen tonight after I talk to her. I like to cook what she wants while she's here because I know it's the only time she gets to eat those dinners. So I already have tonight's request of meat loaf, so I'll be making that this afternoon.

I'll pop in and out of the blog this next week as I can. I want to soak up every minute I can with her. I know we'll be watching Survivor and Amazing Race together which was something we always did before she moved. I miss having her as an Amazing Race watching partner. And I'm sure there will be very much chatting, and maybe a game of Star Trek Monopoly or two, and we have plans to watch While You Were Sleeping. She's never seen that. And we'll have a girl's night with me youngest daughter, too.

Friday's Fave Five will still be on! And if you really, really miss me I do have all sorts of reviews up on my book blog. I've been doing great with my reading this year, already I've read 10 books with a couple more almost done. I think that's a record for me. Anyway, I've got reviews up on them there.

So I'm off waiting with bated breath for her to drive up!

The Week in Words

This week's Week in Words is brought to you here by a very fuzzy-minded, very sleepy Living to Tell the Story person. I am soooo tired. This "Spring Ahead, turn your clocks ahead and lose an hour sleep" idea that our province has us do every March is really kicking my tail this time around. Saturday midnight was when we turned them ahead but wouldn't you know that is the day that we wanted to/had to go to the big city and had to be up by 5 a.m., which in reality was 4 a.m. And wouldn't you know, that Saturday night my son did not have a key to get in the house after work, which was at midnight, which with the time change conveniently became 1 a.m., and guess who had to stay up to let him in? Are ya following that? My sleepy brain cannot get any clearer. Anyway, operating on 4 hours sleep, with a drive ahead of us, I collected my free Tim Horton's coffee that I won, and off we went at the crazy hour of 6 am which don't forget my body was screaming, was really 5 am. After hitting the Home Depot to collect our tiles which they would not deliver without a fee, even though it was their error (a very long story), we hit the big new mall. We took our son to the cool store he missed out on the last time, (only to realize I forgot my camera) and after 2 hours in there, we hit the rest of the mall. After all that walking, 2.7 km just to walk the main aisle of the mall, at least another 2 hours worth in the mall itself, we hit our favorite restaurant for supper before we headed out for the long drive home. I am zonked. And that is my story for my big run-on, crazy sentences, and I'm sticking to it.

So just to make it easier on you, I'll give you somebody else words. Words that will probably actually make sense. Join us over at Breath of Life with your favorite quotes that you've found from your readings this week.
The first one I chose really hit me over the head this morning, even in my sleepy, fuzzy state. All I can is "Ouch". The author is talking about outbursts that we have and how revealing they really are about our relational and spiritual states and has quoted C.S. Lewis to make his point.

"Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding."

C.S. Lewis quoted in:
Us-A User's Guide by Daniel L. Tocchini
pg. 83

The second is out of the novel that I'm reading at the moment and just really blesses me. St. Francis seems to have a lot of quotes that really stick out to me. They are so simple and yet so profound at the same time. This one is no less:

"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."

St. Francis of Assisi
quoted in Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs
page before the first chapter

Hope those words make better sense to you than my babbling this morning. They certainly do to me. :v)

Book Tour ~ Us

"Us - A User's Guide" by Daniel L. Tocchini

Publisher's Summary:

Don’t just improve your marriage. Transform it!
Marriage Coach Daniel Tocchini shows how to break barriers and remove ruts in marriage.

Us isn’t about improving marriages. It’s about transforming them. Drawing on personal experience and stories from couples he has coached, Tocchini offers practical guidance to move couples beyond communication tricks and gimmicks to help them truly understand "Us" for the first time—talking honestly, listening generously, tackling tricky issues, breaking out of ruts, and abandoning self-centered “consumer thinking.” The good news, according to Tocchini, is that personalities don’t need to change in order for marriage to work. What needs to change is how we view ourselves, our spouses, and our marriages.

Innovative, insightful and thoroughly biblical, Tocchini’s approach has helped thousands in his popular seminars. Whether a marriage is in deep trouble or just coasting along, it's time for Christian couples to read the User's Guide that God intended.

In this intensely practical, innovative guide, marriage coach Daniel Tocchini invites you to open your marriage to transformation by learning to:

· Expect less—and infinitely more—of your life partner and yourself
· Actually talk to each other instead of making assumptions (and accusations)
· Break free of those recurring, unresolved arguments
· Manage the impact of difficult (but necessary) conversations on your relationship
· Defuse conflict without sweeping it under a rug
· Open the broken places in your marriage (the ones you hesitate even to talk about) to God’s kind of reconciliation

Tocchini explains, “This is a transformational approach to breaking through the barriers and getting out of the ruts in our marriage by paying attention to our conversation—what we are thinking, our motivation for thinking it, and the impact it has on our spouse.”

Author Bio:
Daniel L. Tocchini has worked with more than 5,000 couples through personal marriage coaching and the unique and life-changing marriage seminars offered through his organization, the Association for Christian Character Development. An ordained minister, chaplain, author, and highly successful speaker/coach, he lives with his family in California.



My Thoughts:
In the book "Us - A User's Guide", I found a very easy to read, totally eye opening time well spent. I don't think I have ever read a marriage book that actually got down to the nitty gritty of where we are at in our thoughts and our assumptions and how those affect how we react to circumstances and situations that arise in every marriage. Like the title says, it is a User's Guide, so it is not a band aid approach. The reader will be challenged in their thinking and where their motivations come to work to move from a "consumeristic" approach to marriage to one of a transformed mindset towards marriage and communication, always with the goal in mind to break through the barriers that we ourselves erect. This book isn't just for those who are struggling or in trouble in their marriages, but can teach all of us how our thinking and our approach affects our communicatations. Like the tagline reads for the book, the manual is not about improving your marriage but about transforming it.


Thanks to The B&B Media Group for providing this book for review.

"Us - A User's Guide" is avialable for purchase here.

Photo Hunter ~ Spiral

Today's Photo Hunter theme is Spiral. The very first thing that came to mind was at the lake I mentioned in yesterday's post, at the children's playground. It's part of the climbing apparatus.


And just for fun, here's a night vision version:


For more spiral head on over to Photo Hunters home.

Friday's Fave Five #78

It's Friday and that means it Friday's Fave Five! Join us as we look back over the week and find our five favorite things, be they activities, foods, quotes, etc. Anything that blessed you over the last seven days.

1. Spring decorating. Away goes the penguin and the snowglobe, the cardinal sitting on the snowy log and the dark colored or heavier scented candles. They make way for my bird collection, light greens and fresher scents. It's a nice change. There is just a few more things I need to switch out but already things feel lighter and airier. This weekend I'll be looking for some nice springy colored or designed pillows for the couches.

2. Books arriving in the mail. I have the privilege of doing some books for review each year and half the fun of them is getting the books arrive in my mailbox. I love when I see that yellow bubble envelope in the hands of the mailman. I know. I'm weird. But it really does make me happy. And it's my list. ;v)

3. A surprise coffee hand delivered. One of my dayhome parents stops each morning at her neighborhood Tim Horton's and every once in awhile she shows up with a coffee in hand for me too. It really makes me feel appreciated. And this week was a bonus because it's the famous Roll Up the Rim to Win and I won another coffee. The Rav4 would have been nice as would the $10,000 prize but I'll take another free coffee too!

4. Jumbo peanut butter cookies that I didn't have to bake myself. If you read here, you know cooking I love, but baking? Well, not so much. Although I do like to eat it. And my youngest girl took it upon herself to bake some cookies. They sure tasted good!

5. Living close to a community lake. I love that I am within walking distance to a really lovely community lake and park. I love to go for walks there with my camera ready or just go to sit in the park with a good book when the weather is nice. Hubby and I like to go bike riding around it too when we have the chance.

What were your faves this week? If you do a post, link on up!

Book Tour ~ Screen Play

Screen Play by Chris Coppernoll

From the Publisher:


Screen Play (David C. Cook 2010), the third novel from author Chris Coppernoll is an inspiring story of friendship and faith set amidst the complexities of Hollywood and cleverly combined with an uplifting love story reminiscent of Sleepless in Seattle.

At thirty, Harper fears her chances for a thriving acting career and finding true love are both fading fast. After a devastating year of unemployment and isolation in Chicago, Harper is offered an unexpected role in a Broadway play—as understudy to New York’s biggest diva––and everything in Harper's world changes.

Harper also hopes to find love in NYC, but when it doesn't happen, she reluctantly signs up to an online matchmaking site. Frustration mounts when the only match Harper is even remotely interested in lives in a remote territory on the opposite coast, thousands of miles away. A faith conversation during her year in Chicago shapes how Harper sees everything. She wants to see God at work in her life, but His ways are mysterious, and she's faced with challenges in the secular world of Broadway. Harper feels like an actress who doesn’t act and a woman in love with someone she's never even seen, but God's about to change all that.

Linked through the contemporary, text message world of internet dating, Harper learns it's possible to care for someone outside her own universe, even when that someone can't be touched, and ultimately how to love. She reaches out through the impersonal world of cyberspace and becomes more aware than ever of God reaching out to her. Sometimes the person farthest away from you, she discovers, is the one who's closest to your heart.

“Screen Play is a story about believing that God can do great things, even when we’re at our weakest,” say Coppernoll. “I hope readers will be swept up in Harper’s story instantly and that their excitement won’t let up until the very last page.”

Romantic Times Online Magazine has given Screen Play 4 ½ stars and selected the novel as a “Top Pick”.


Author Bio:
Chris Coppernoll is the author of six books including Screen Play, A Beautiful Fall and Providence. A national speaker to singles, Chris is also the founder of Soul2Soul, a syndicated radio program airing on 800 outlets in 20 countries. Chris holds a Masters degree from Rockbridge Seminary and is deeply in love with his wife, novelist Christa Parrish.


My Thoughts:
For me this story took a couple of chapters to really get rolling but once it did, I really enjoyed the story. The characters are real with flaws and issues they are facing. I really like the character of Harper who after having a year of some really difficult issues to overcome, walked out her faith in the very difficult setting of first Broadway and then Hollywood. I thought the romance part of the book was sweet and engaging with a realness attached to it. And although I am just at the end of the book, not quite finished, it is a part that is gripping and hard to put down. I am very interested to see how Harper will walk out her faith in the midst of a huge circumstance that she could have in no way prepared herself for. All in all a fun read with a message that explores Broadway, Hollywood, internet dating, love and faith.



Thanks to B&B Media Group for providing the book for review.

Screen Play may be purchased here at David C. Cook

Random Dozen ` Plinko Edition

It's the Plinko Edition of Random Dozen. Join us at 2nd Cup of Coffee for some random plink fun. Linda gives us a definition of "plink" just in case we weren't sure:

"Plinking refers to informal target shooting done at non-traditional targets such as tin cans, glass bottles, and balloons filled with water." Plinko is also a carnival game we play at Oneighty, but pot-luck shots fits this meme better, I think.

So here are your random plinko questions lined up in a row just like tin cans:

Well the only Plinko I know is the one on "The Price is Right" and there is a money pay off with that one but I'll give this my best shot, Linda! Get it, best "shot". "Shot- targets". Yeah, ahem. Moving on.

1. How old is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet? I would have to say that would be my great big winter boots that I used to wear when we'd go toboganning with the kids. Since I rarely wear them there's been no need to get rid of them. But they are there if I ever get the urge to once again get nostalgic and throw myself down a steep snow covered hill on a little piece of wood with no steering mechanism. So all that to say about 10 years old or so.

2. Did you buy Girl Scout cookies this year? If so, what variety? No, the girl's haven't been around as yet. Is it that season already? Do they even go door to door anymore?

3. Do you know how to ballroom dance? If not, would you like to? No, but I can do a mean polka! I haven't been to a dance in many a year, but I would love to learn the real ballroom dancing. Although the Latin ones at my age and body type would not be pretty and you wouldn't catch me dead in the outfits, but the more traditional ones I would love to know how to do.

4. Were you a responsible child/teenager? For the most part. I had a bad year where I lost my head and I've always had a wee bit of an issue with procrastination but being the first born and having European born parents who lived, ate and breathed responsibility, I think I was pretty responsible.

5. How many of this year's Oscar-nominated movies did you see? All of one: The Blindside. And it was awesome. Sandra Bullock was worthy of the her Oscar win. The others I really have no desire to see. Oh, I did see Julie and Julia where Meryl Streep was nominated. Hmmm, she really could have won for her portrayal too.

6. If you're going to have a medical procedure done, such as having blood drawn, is it easier for you to watch someone else having the procedure done or have it done yourself? Having blood drawn on or someone else doesn't bother me unless it was my kids when they were little. That was hard. One time when my oldest was about 15 months old she had to be IV'd and they wanted to put it in her foot. I wouldn't let them but they wanted me to hold her down while they IV'd her hand. I told them no way and had to leave the room and had a mini meltdown. Her Dad stayed with her and then I swooped in to offer all the hugs, kisses and comfort.

7. What is your favorite day of the week and why? Saturday because it is truly the only day that is mine. I can sit, with coffee in hand, read, blog, watch all my cooking shows that have been recorded over the week. It's the only day where, until the teens pull themselves out of bed, that I have some time totally to myself. So I savor the Saturday mornings.

8. Do you miss anyone right now? This kid:

Man I miss my oldest girl. It doesn't get any easier not having her around even though it will be going on 2 years that she's been gone this summer. But she's coming home for a week or so in the middle of the month. I'm so excited!

9. Do hospitals make you queasy? Not really. Out of my element maybe, but not queasy.

10. At which store would you like to max-out your credit card. Not that you ever would, you responsible person, you. LOL. Well, I'd sure give it a great shot at the Home Sense store, which I think is sorta like a T.J. Maxx if I can tell by the commercials, or I think I can do a pretty good job at the Williams Sonoma store too. It's probably a good thing we don't have either one in my city and I have to go to the big city to find them, so I only get there about once a year.

11. Are you true to the brand names of products/items? Depends on the item. Of some things I am adamant on the brand name and others I buy whatever is on sale.

12. Which is more difficult: looking into someone’s eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when he/she is telling you how he/she feels? Wow, this is a hard question. I had to really think about what I do. I think for me it's harder to look into someone's eyes when they are telling me how they feel. Maybe it has to do with a control thing, where if it's me doing the talking I'm in control and I usually can communicate how I feel, but if it's the other person telling me, I don't know what's coming and therefore I feel more vulnerable? I don't know.

So there ya go. Do I win the money? :v)

The Week in Words

Melissa over at Breath of Life hosts a weekly carnival called The Week in Words. It's all about sharing quotes from our readings from the past week that have spoken to us or touched us in some way. The only requirement is that they be words you read. I think Melissa is taking a bit of a blogging break right now but I still wanted to do this because I love me some quotes and I think it's a great place to just write them down somewhere.

I saw this quote over at Gold in the Clouds. It really spoke to me because I have some major decisions to make that may change my career after providing child care for 20 years. But, as you can imagine changing careers after 20 years is pretty darn scary and is full of questioning and wondering. It's been really hard and I'm afraid to do the wrong thing, sorta the jumping out of the fry pan into the fire kind of fear.

"Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step."

Joni Erickson Tada

I've been reading this awesome book called "Unexplainable -Pursuing a Life Only God Can Make Possible" (link is in my sidebar). It's been taking me forever because it is one of those books where there are so many gold nuggets that it is full of my underlining and notes and thoughts all over the pages. This week I started a chapter on God-given Passion. It is speaking about when so many people today are just going through the motions of life that people with passion stand out & make a difference. The first sentence started with this quote:

"Catch on fire with enthusiasm, and people will come for miles to watch you burn".

John Wesley quoted in Unexplainable pg 199

It sorta made me laugh because I know he is talking about people being drawn to enthusiasm but my mind sorta first thought with today's voyeuristic world, people enjoy watching others "crash and burn" as evidenced by the profusion of reality tv. LOL. I guess that is where my mind tends to go now with the above mentioned career decision. But when I read it in the correct context that the John Wesley meant, I totally understand what he is saying. I am the same way. I love being around people with passion and enthusiasm. It makes life so much more fun and gives purpose. And usually people with passion and enthusiasm and purpose stir that within others too. And I want to be one of those people. I want to be enthusiastic and full of passion for life and for Jesus. So I love this quote by John Wesley.

Any quotes you'd like to share that stood out to you in your reading this week?

Photo Hunters ~ Foreign

Skies like this may be foriegn to most of you but to us it is quite familiar. It is a chinook arch and it brings with the very warm, and very blustery warm winds coming off the mountains. In the winter it can warm the temperature by up to 20 degrees within a couple of hours when it is blowing at it's finest. It can be extremely windy for days. And I mean extremely. But it helps us get through the cold winters by giving us some breaks in the frigid cold and snow. The arch is always to the west and the clouds always stretch over top of the city and spread way to the east.

(Sorry it's a bit blurry, I took it while driving down a very busy main road with my cell phone).

For more on foriegn see Photo Hunters home.

Friday's Fave Five #77

Hi & welcome to Friday's Fave Five. Yes, it's really #77. I made a mistake last week. We have a new button! Fresh and springy. I'm hoping that by putting it up Nature will take note and start guiding us into spring. Feel free to grab it to use on your posts or in your sidebar. Then join in and tell us what your favorite things from your week have been. If you're new you can go here for the guidelines and then just jump right in.


1. Well you know, I just have to list the Gold Medal Hockey Game as the first right? I mean what kind of good little Canadian would I be if it didn't make the list. It was great because it was such an awesome game to watch. Lots of heart stopping moments, really close and definitely a nail biter. Just the way I like it. And making it even better was having a friend over who also likes hockey to watch it with me. Sheesh, and I've declared twice now I wouldn't mention the Olympics anymore.

2. Beautiful weather. It has been just lovely here for the past week or so. The beginnings of a breath of spring. I'm under no illusions and know there is probably one more blast of snow coming sometime but now it will be what we call spring snow. It won't hang around long and it won't be frigid. But right now, we've been going outside as much as we can soaking up the sun. It's wonderful after a long winter.

3. Going for walks. Because of the gorgeous weather, I've been so much more motivated to get out there and get some exercise with good ol' walking. And my walking partner has been a very happy pooch who is just as glad to be getting out and about.

4. A nice slow, fairly stress free week. It was one of those easy going weeks that are really a gift from God around here. Low stress, no running around. Each day just flowed nicely from one into another.

5. Mini Honey Mandarins. I nabbed a few boxes of these just because they were a really good deal. Now I wish I had bought way more. They are the sweetest, most lovely tasting little oranges I've ever had. And when I say tiny I mean tiny. These are them in relation to Fruit Loops. Aren't they the cutest little oranges? Each section is smaller than my thumbnail. But boy they pack enough honey tasting sweet in their tinyness that two is enough. So delicious.

Share with us what your favorites from your week have been. Do a post and add it to our Mr. Linky. Please link to the specific post and not your home page. It will make it easier to find the FFF post for those visiting you. Have a great weekend.

The Game That is Still Making News

It's the game that is still being talked about around here in Canada. But now it's not about winning it. It's taken a more mysterious turn. Breaking news of the moment?

Well before I tell you let's take a trip down memory lane. Recent memory. In fact, go a little bit ahead of that picture of Sydney with the medal and go to Sydney scoring the winning goal. Okay, now do you remember what he did right after scoring the the goal? Remember him throwing his stick and his gloves off and his mouth guard in jubilation to receive his teammates throwing their bodies against him into the boards? Okay now that you have that picture back in your conciousness here is the breaking news here in Canada.

The stick and the gloves and the mouthguard are now missing. Someone took them. And it's big news because the hockey hall of fame wants them and they are now worth mega bucks. Now seriously, I love hockey. Love it. But do I really want anybody's, even Sidney Crosby's, used mouth piece? Ewwww, I think not. I can understand wanting the stick that scored the goal. And I sorta get the gloves, although, can we say they probably stink. But the used mouth piece? Really? I wouldn't even want my own kid's used mouthguard as a souvenir. I don't get that kind of obsession with a sport or person.

Of course now that it's breaking news what can the person who has them do with them. They can't display them because it's all over the news that they are gone missing, they can't tell anyone they have them in case someone squeals on ya, they can't put them on ebay or black market sites 'cause the cops are now watching all the sites for it to show up on there. Sounds like they are in a wee bit of a bind. They have this sports memorabilia but have to hide the fact they have it.

And this isn't the first time this has happened to Sid the Kid. When he came back from the world juniors someone stole his jersey which was eventually returned through the mail. Someone figured out, I guess, that they were in a wee bit of trouble. I mean us Canadians can get rabid over our hockey heroes. But in that case, the jersey was actually stolen out of Crosby's personal belongings in an airport, but this time I can see some poor rink rat or volunteer cleaning the ice or picking up the stuff thrown on the ice after the game, thinking he came across a cast off and thinking he just had the find of his life is now shaking in his boots wondering what to do with the darn stuff without incriminating himself. Or maybe someone did steal it out of the pile of the teams stuff. Hmmmm, where is Columbo when you need him?



I'm sure this will be talked about for days now on the news. Anyway, the mouthguard thing boggled my mind and I know I said that Olympic blogging was now over on this site but I just had to let you in on the breaking news around here. You can now feel informed. Back to regular blogging tomorrow.

Random Dozen

Linda's getting all St. Patricky and green on us for this March Random Dozen. To join in visit her at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

1. Do you prefer even or odd numbers? Any particular reason? What an odd question! :v) Until you asked I didn't even realize I did but I would say I've always liked even. I have absolutely no idea why.

2. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being "not at all" and 10 being Carly Simon-worthy, how vain are you? I used to be more vain when I was young, I know that for sure. Where I am on the scale now? I'm not sure how to answer. I'll have to ask someone else in the morning.

3. Among these Irish stereotypes, with which do you identify most closely? Talkative, Proud, Inquisitive, Love to party, Hot-tempered I definitely gravitate towards the talkative. Although I have been called fiesty which is probably a nice way of telling me I have a wee bit of temper.

4. How lucky do you consider yourself? Not lucky but blessed.

5. What is the subject of your favorite post that you've written? Oh, Lidna, you know I have a really hard time with questions that ask me to narrow things down to one, but I think the one about an era ending when all my kids finished elementary school is one of them and this one about stepping out and this one about growing.

6. Describe March weather where you live in three words. I can do it in one: unpredictable.

7. How apt are you at detecting blarney when you hear it? (Smooth talk, flattery) Depends who's dishing it and what it's about.

8. How "green" are you, environmentally speaking? We recycle all the usuals, plastics, paper, cardboard, tin, glass, milk cartons. I don't however compost, don't have an electric car and do I dare admit I let the water run while I brush my teeth? And don't get me started on the crazy so called environmentally friendly light bulbs they are forcing us to use. Can't stand them. And how environmentally friendly can they really be when they contain mercury and you can't just throw them in the garbage and you need to dispose of them like hazardous products? Me thinks someone is making some money off that venture and are giving us a bunch of blarney.

9. What is your favorite song this week? I'm not really into listening to music as of yet this week.

10. You are walking along and see a coin on the ground. What denomination does it have to be before you will stop to pick it up? Protestant. LOL. Just kidding. I'll pick up any coin.

11. Complete the sentence: "Every time I look outside my window ...." I first look at the sky. What can I say. I'm drawn to clouds and sky.

12. What was the #1 song on the day you were born? See this site to find out. "Are You Lonesome Tonight" by Elvis Presley. Now I tried it on your life's theme song on the day you turn 18 and it was "Le Freak" by Chic. Put the two together and how depressing is that to have as a life theme song. Good thing I don't order my life after these things.

Au Reviour, Olympics 2010

I'm still sitting recuperating from 17 days of Olympic addiction. I have never watched so much sports crammed into such a short period of time in my life. Even though I have always loved watching sports and the Olympics this one was really the one the caught me up and carried me away to new couch potato heights. Let's just say my non-sport watching family is very, very glad to have their tv back. From the glory of the most gold medals ever won spewing from the box in the corner of the living room we are back to watching Survivorman eat bugs, the Mythbusters blow things up, Simon being his cranky self on American Idol and King Russel trying to mess with people's heads in Survivor. I don't know if I'll ever be the same.

Especially after that gold medal hockey game. Talk about stressful. I'm mean when you're country's national pride is on the line and the opposing team ties it up with 24 seconds left in the game, it is the stuff coronaries are made of. But how awesome that our very own national hockey icon, that is the one after The Gretzky, scored the winning goal. It couldn't have been played out better had someone actually written a script. Well for the Canadians anyway. The U.S. team were awesome. They sure gave us an incredible run for our money. Speaking of which, the announcer at the beginning of the game said they were people outside the building with 10 grand cash wanting to buy a ticket and no one was selling theirs. Oi. What I could do with 10 grand.

Anyway, the closing ceremonies were great. How awesome that Joannie Rochette carried our flag. My favorite part? The giant beavers, mounties and moose! You can't get any better than that. Us Canadians do know how to throw a quirky party! LOL. Loved the whole spoofing of what Canadians are most known for. We so know how to laugh at ourselves, don't we? Totally could have done without Shatner and that other female comics humor, though.



So now they are over. No more mentioning Olympics on the blog. I'll have to find other things to write about. Back to real life. And I think a good place to start will be planning for this blogging event:

The Week in Words

It's Monday, so that means it's time for "The Week in Words" hosted by Melissa at Breath of Life. It's all about quotes that have touched you in some way from your readings from the past week. Click here for the details and then join in!

My first quote is from a fiction novel I read last week. It is by one of the main characters speaking to the media outside a courthouse regarding a situation that was absolutely inconceivable and the decisions that had to be made, absolutely impossible. The three characters were all believers and had resolved the situation peacefully. What the fictional character, Nate Camfield, said resonated with me because I have some hard decisions to make and even though I do not face anything on the scope of what they had to deal with in the story it still put my focus back where it should be.

"We are human - all of us...and as you can imagine we have each had feelings of anguish, of guilt, of anger. But the world won't understand how our situation has been resolved without hate, without lashing out at one another, without lawsuits aimed at destroying each other. Listen carefully because I'm going to tell you exactly why..

It is because we have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because our belief that our treasures are stored up in heaven, not here in this fleeting life on earth. That is the reason we are able to see beyond our selfish desires...If you can see the peace written on our faces in the midst of this horrilbe situation, don't think that it comes from within ourselves. Never. It is peace that only comes from God Almighty, through His Son, Jesus Christ, a peace that I can testify passes all understanding. It is a peace that comes from a sure knowledge that we have given our wills, our very lives over to Christ. We have put our faith and trust in Him alone. And we are filled with the assurance that He can take even tragedy and turn it into something beautiful."

Beneath a Southern Sky by Deborah Raney
pg 296

If you want to read more about this book you can go here for my review. It's a really great read.

My second quote is about God's timing in answering prayer. Oftentimes I am very much impatient, wanting God to answer it immediately in the way that I want. This really spoke to me.

"Being patient with God does not mean believing that He is still in process but believing that He knows - better than we do - that we are still in process. Being patient with God means trusting that He is sovereign and loving. It means believing that His love will not allow Him to answer requests that don't line up with His ultimate purposes ...

"As the heavens are higher thanb the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" -Isaiah 55:9...

...When we know that God is loving and just, we don't have to understand His ways in order to be at peace in the midst of life's stresses. We can accept that God operates on His own timetable."

The Love as A Way of Life Devotional

by Gary Chapman pg 57 & 58