My 2017 Reading Goal

Photo Credit: changinghands.com

This past year, I rediscovered the joys found between the pages of a good book.  I'm not sure when, why, or how I lost that joy.  I've always considered myself a reader, but somewhere on the road from high school to college, then from full-time work to full-time motherhood, and now smack-dab in the midst of homeschooling two middle schoolers and a sophomore in high school, I stopped reading for fun. It seems there are always "better" things to do...wiser choices for how I spend my time. Shouldn't I be connecting with my children, planning school, preparing a meal, cleaning something, talking with my hubby, serving in some way, or doing the laundry?  Oh vey...laundry!  Just when I get that clothes hamper empty, I turn around and it's full again.  Ah...but I digress.

Somewhere along the way, I obviously picked up the belief that I dare not take the time to read.  That all changed in 2016.  I set out to read 50 books last year.  I didn't quite hit the target.  I made it to 42 (list is below).  But, compared to the 20+ previous years - let's just say this is a big huge improvement!

What made the difference?  I started reading every night.  I turn on my bedside lamp, crawl in bed, and read.  Sometimes it's only a paragraph...other nights it's several chapters.  I also tacked on some morning reading time...sometimes it goes along with my daily quiet time, sometimes it doesn't.  I've started taking a book with me...amazing how many pages you can read while waiting for your children's dental cleanings, or for the homeschool PE class to end.  At the end of the year, a friend introduced me to the Hoopla app.  Thank you, Wendy!  I'm already 1/3 of the way through my first audiobook of the year.  I highly recommend this option, it's been great for our 8-12 hour trips to visit family.  Each of these made a tremendous difference in the amount of reading I squeezed into the year!  Maybe one of these will help you, too!

In 2017, I'm once again aiming for a target of 50 books.  But, I am trying something a bit different... hoping it will pull me into new genres and introduce me to new authors and new ideas.  I scoured online challenges for ideas (Modern Mrs. Darcy, and Pop Sugar, and  a Google search for "reading challenge").  Then, I spent some serious time perusing Goodreads.com, Amazon, and my local library's website to find books to fit the categories.  There are so. many. good. books. out. there.

So...this is my list.  I hope you'll cheer me on...and even more, I hope you'll be inspired to join me, and find great joy in the pages of a book (or ten, or 50)!  As I finish a book, I will mark it with COMPLETE and the date I finished...mostly as my way of keeping track of things...and as a way to keep myself accountable to actually read all 50 books!

Tracy's 2017 Reading Challenge

Photo Credit:  sensorialdaily.files.wordpress.com

1. COMPLETE (01.15.17): A book with an eccentric character: A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman
2. COMPLETE (01.15.17): A book by an author you love: Small Great Things - Jodi Piccoult
3. A book recommended by a librarian: The Help - Kathryn Stockett (Overdrive Audio Book)
4. A book that’s been on your “TBR” (To Be Read) list too long: Unbroken - Laura  Hillenbrand (Overdrive Audio Book)
5. COMPLETE (01.15.17): A book of letters: 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
6. An audiobook: The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving - Jonathan Evison (Hoopla Audio Book)
7. COMPLETE (04.18.17): A book by a person of color: Kindred - Octavia Butler
8. A book with one of the four seasons in the title: Winter House - Carol O'Connor (Hoopla Audio Book)
9. A book that is a story within a story: A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness
10. COMPLETE (11.15.17): A book with multiple authors: The Royal We -Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
11. COMPLETE (12.25.17): An espionage thriller: Rules of Deception - Christopher Reich
12. COMPLETE (01.13.17): A book with a cat on the cover: Simon’s Cat in Kitten Chaos - Simon Tofield
13. A book by an author who uses a pseudonym: Middlemarch - George Eliott (Mary Ann Evans) (Hoopla Audio Book) OR Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell) (Hoopla Audio Book) OR Blaze - Stephen King (Richard Bachman)
14. A bestseller from a genre you don’t usually read: The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
15. A book by or about a person with a disability: Piece of Mind: A Novel - Michelle Adelman
16. A book involving time travel: All Our Yesterdays - Cristin Terrill OR The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (Hoopla Audio Book)
17. A book published in 2017: The Most Dangerous Place on Earth - Lindsey Lee Johnson
18. A book that spans centuries: People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
19. A book about food: A Place at the Table - Susan Rebecca White OR Chocolat - Joann Harris OR The Hundred Foot Journey - Richard Morais
20. A book from a non-human perspective: The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
21. A book from a genre/subgenre you’ve never heard of (Have you heard of steampunk?  Please tell me I'm not the only one who hadn't!): 14 - Peter Clines OR Cinder - Marissa Meyer OR Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld OR The Affinity Bridge - George Mann
22. COMPLETE (02.27.17) A book with a color in the title: A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler
23. A book set in the wilderness: Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
24. COMPLETE (01.14.17): A book you loved as a child: Angel Unaware - Dale Evans Rogers
25. A book by an author from a country you’ve never visited: An Unnecessary Woman - Rabih Alameddine
26. COMPLETE (01.17.17): A book with a title that is a character’s name: The Storied Life of AJ Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin
27. A novel set during wartime: The Zookeeper’s Wife - Diane Ackerman (Hoopla audio book)
28. A book with an unreliable narrator: We Were Liars - E. Lockhart OR The Other Typist - Suzanne Rindell
29. COMPLETE (05.22.17): A book with pictures: Created To Be His Helpmeet - Debi Pearl
30. A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman - Ernest Gaines
31. A book with an alliterated title: Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt OR The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald - Hoopla Audio Book)
32. A book set in two different time periods: 11/22/63 - Stephen King
33. A book with a month or day of the week in the title: Monday, Monday - Elizabeth Crook
34. COMPLETE (02.13.17): A book set in a hotel: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
35. COMPLETE (06.17.17): A book written by someone you admire: The Magnolia Story - Chip & Joanna Gaines
36. A book that’s becoming a movie in 2017: A Dog’s Purpose - Bruce Cameron
37. A book set around a holiday other than Christmas (New Year's Day): Rules of Civility - Amor Towles (Overdrive Audio Book)
38. The first book in a series you haven’t read before: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith OR At Home in Mitford - Jan Karon (Overdrive Audio Book)
39. A 2016 bestseller: Two by Two - Nicholas Sparks (Overdrive Audio Book)
40. A book with a family member term in the title: Sister - Rosamund Lupton
41. A book that takes place over a character’s life span: A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving OR The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out A Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
42. A book about a refugee or immigrant: Little Bee - Chris Cleave
43. A book originally published in the year you were born (1968): Below Stairs - Margaret Powell
44. COMPLETE (01.19.17) A book you got from a used book sale/store: Unglued - Lysa TerKeurst
45. COMPLETE (01.29.17) A book that’s mentioned in another book: Pride and Predjudice - Jane Austen (Hoopla audio book)
46. COMPLETE (12.12.17) A book about a difficult topic: Powerful & Free: Confronting the Glass Ceiling for Women in the Church - Danny Silk
47. COMPLETE (03.29.17) A book about books: The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
48. A book with a one word title: Night - Elie Wiesel (Overdrive Audio Book)
49. A book you've started but never finished: One Thousand Gifts - Anne Voskamp
50. A book with less than 200 pages: Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
51. COMPLETE (05.20.17): The Murder House - James Patterson
52. COMPLETE (12.27.17): How to Find Love in a Book Shop - Veronica Henry

Photo Credit:  sensorialdaily.files.wordpress.com

Books read in 2016: 

If you're looking for reading inspiration / ideas...the books with an asterisk were favorites and ones I'd highly recommend.  

1. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo
2. Present Over Perfect* - Shauna Niequist
3. Parenting is Heart Work* - Scott Turansky & Joann Miller
4. Give Your Child the World - Jamie Martin
5. The Generosity Bet* - William High
6. What’s So Amazing About Grace* - Phillip Yancey
7. Crazy Love* - Francis Chan
8. Graceful - Emily Freeman
9. River Road - Carol Goodman
10. After Her - Joyce Maynard
11. Frozen Stiff - Mary Logue
12. The Dollhouse* - Fiona Davis
13. Before Green Gables* - Budge Wilson
14. The Bookshop on the Corner* - Jenny Colgan
15. The Undoing of Saint Silvanus* - Beth Moore
16. First Frost - Sarah Addison Allen
17. Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
18. One Summer - David Baldacci
19. The Peach Keeper* - Sarah Addison Allen
20. The Girl Who Chased the  Moon - Sarah Addison Allen
21. Invisible - Carla Buckley
22. The Deepest Secret - Carla Buckley
23. The Good, Goodbye* - Carla Buckley
24. Dust - Patricia Cornwell
25. The Thirteenth Tale* - Diane Setterfield
26. Justice For Sara - Erica Spindler
27. Think Twice - Lisa Scottoline
28. The First Wife - Erica Spindler
29. Don’t Go* - Lisa Scottoline
30. Call the Midwife* - Jennifer Worth
31. Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth
32. Nineteen Minutes* - Jodi Piccoult
33. Watch Me Die - Erica Spindler
34. Last Known Victim* - Erica Spindler
35. Then Sings My Soul* - Amy Sorrells
36. All the Light We Cannot See* - Anthony Doerr - THIS WAS MY FAVORITE!!!!!!
37. What Alice Forgot* - Lianne Moriarty
38. House Rules* - Jodi Piccoult
39. Her Daughter’s Dream* - Francine Rivers
40. As Sure As the Dawn* - Francine Rivers
41. Life for a Life - Frank Muir
42. Girl on a Train - A. J. Waines

Fighting the blues with red!

I don't know what's going on in my world, but lately, I've been so unmotivated and unproductive - which snowballs so quickly!  Being unmotivated leads to undone tasks which leads to more frustration which leads to me becoming a moody, temperamental, grumpy, and tearful (oh, so tearful) wife, mommy and friend.

So yesterday, tired of fighting the battle alone, I sought out my prayer warriors.  I opted to be vulnerable and ask for prayer, rather than staying alone, fearing I was the only one in the midst of fighting this particular battle.  Within minutes of hitting the send button on my prayer email, my sister Cambria called to tell me she's in the same place...and asked that I pray for her!  Throughout the coming minutes and hours, many of the people I'd asked to pray for me shared that they were dealing with the exact same feelings!  I'm not alone!  I love community and I love being a part of something bigger than myself.  I love that we can bear one another's burdens, in spite of our own...that we can love each other and hold each other up in prayer, even when it's difficult.  As I lay awake in bed last night, I was reminded of the Scripture verse that says, "Be still and KNOW that I am God."  I'm resting in that promise...that He is God...that He knows every intimate detail of my life...of who I am created to be...of the purposes He has for my days and for my life...and that I love Him...and that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Today, I got out of bed and started my day with my Abba Father!  Even just those few Psalms I read helped my day to be centered in and focused on Him.  I am resting in His hands today...knowing that He's got my back.

I began fighting back the unmotivation...I've stayed off of facebook (I'm toying with deleting my fb account, since I seem not to have the wherewithal to stay away from it and from that blasted Candy Crush game!). I've even done several loads of laundry...read lots of history and Bible to the girls and managed to finish the crochet heart garland I'd been working on for the past week.  I realized God was helping me to fight the blues...with love...with red hearts...and with the sweet melodies my girls are humming as they make their way through their day's chores and school work.

Pattern from make-handmade.com

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

I have a love/hate relationship with facebook recipes...they always look so temptingly, mouthwateringly delish.  But, I can't bookmark them!  So, then, I have to scroll through my fb wall...find the original recipe that I remember posting six weeks ago that I wanted to try...then decide if I want to add it to the week's menu...and it just takes too dang long!

Here's a peek into my over-organized brain:  I create my two-week menu complete with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This Word document includes hyperlinks (if I'm using a recipe I found online).  Facebook makes it impossible to "link" to these "shared" recipes...so, I guess I'll post 'em here and give credit to the original post-er.  Note to my readers:  if you find a recipe here, you know it met with my family's sometimes picky palates!

shared by Charles Sims Weight Loss

• 2 lb. pork tenderloin
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1 T. yellow mustard
• 2-3 T. maple syrup
• 2 T. olive oil
• 2 T. minced onions
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Place tenderloin in crockpot.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over meat.  Cook on low for 6 hours.

***Edit 2/12/14: Made this yesterday...used a 4 lb. tenderloin and doubled the remaining ingredients.  Great flavor...but 'twas the driest roast imaginable.  Not sure if it was the recipe or the particular cut of meat, as my tenderloin was not well marbled.  Does anyone have any tricks for cooking a really lean cut?  Is there an overnight marinade you'd suggest?  Would marinating it overnight in pineapple juice break down the meat fibers a bit and make it more moist and/or tender?

NOEL mantle idea

I love the look of this Christmas decoration and really wanted to "pin" it, but apparently, the link takes you to inappropriate content or spam, so I copied this photo from Pinterest so I can save it! Have no idea what diytrendy.com is, but I'll trust Pinterest and just save the photo and go from there.

i {heart} organizing

I ran across these photos on a website called "Beautifully BellaFaith" - but Google tells me it links to spam or other inappropriate content, so I can't pin my favorite pics. So...I thought I'd post them here on my own blog to keep track of them:

Credit: IHeart Organizing

These fun benches were created using two tall/narrow bookshelves and installing them on their sides - and then filling the spaces (shelves) with baskets!  What a splendid idea!  Benches and storage all in one. I wonder who I could get to make the cushions for these?  This idea was originally posted on the website, I Heart Organizing

Credit:  none found

How about saving counter space with a hanging fruit basket!  I've got the perfect spot for this...now I just need to find the basket!

Credit: none found

I love the idea of taking circular nesting baskets and attaching them to the bathroom wall - what a great and decorative way to store washcloths, hand towels, and bath towels. I wonder how difficult it will be to teach the girls to fold this way?

Korean Beef Bowl

KOREAN BEEF BOWL

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Cooked rice, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Serve immediately with rice.

I copied this delicious recipe and photo from this website.  Covenant Eyes doesn't like the website (not sure why, and I'm not willing to go looking for the reason), so I moved it here to make it easier to retrieve!

Restart

I've been toying with restarting my blog (it's only been about 8 months since my last post).  Gotta admit, I'm quite hesitant to jump in, because I don't want it distract me from the more important things...like quiet times with God, actually doing life and school and having fun with my family and friends.  When I mentioned this to Darren today, he suggested that I allow the blog to serve a particular purpose:  to briefly review what we covered in school the day before...thus providing semi-built-in accountability, as he will use these daily reviews to keep up with what the girls & I are doing in school. He and I both feel this will give him additional ways to engage the girls without me having to rehash the days events over dinner!  As an added bonus, this will also give grandparents, aunties & uncles a snapshot of our schooldays.

To keep me focused and the posts short and to the point, my practical husband suggested that I set a timer for 10 minutes...that will keep me from searching the web for just the right photo...agonizing over just the right wording...you get the picture.  I'm a perfectionist and this is admittedly a big struggle.  My husband gets me...he understands the way I tick and what I struggle with.  Yep...I love that man...and I'm so very glad he's mine!

This school year, we're re-entering the world of boxed curriculum, by way of My Father's World.  For several years now, I've wanted to design my own curriculum - pulling together different resources for the 3 R's - reading, wRiting and aRithmetic (along with art, music, science, history, spelling, etc.), and creating my own boxes to check.  Welp, I've had enough of that and am really ready for someone else to create the check boxes for me!  So...we're heading into the era of ancient Rome through the Reformation.  I'm most excited about studying the medieval portion of history!  Knights, kings, queens, castles, ahhhh...the romance!  To add to the fun this year, we'll be joining a group of friends to study the human body - using Lyrical Life Science (volume 3 - Human Body)...and loads of ideas found on Pinterest and all around the web.  The girls will also begin piano lessons for the first time.  We're all very excited!

Our first day of school will be Tuesday, September 3rd (we typically school through the summer, but this year, I wanted a solid break - so we schooled through June and are waiting until after Labor Day to begin). Our first week back will include our science club with piano lessons beginning the 2nd week.

So...now, I'm off to enjoy this last week of summer vacation...and the freedom of sleeping in, reading comic books, riding bikes, and swimming while all the neighborhood kids are at school (our pool is really quite big when we have it all to ourselves).

Happy last week of summer to you!

BTW - I didn't set a timer for this first post...I'm certain it's been longer than 10 minutes since I started!  Don't tell Darren!  :o)