Fall into Reading 2011

Yay!  It's time for another reading challenge from Callapidder Days!  I don't have a lot of time to write this because I have to get ready for work, but I know that if I don't get it done now it won't get done!  Call me crazy, but these nights of taking care of a newborn don't seem to be doing my brain any favors ;)

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella.  I love Sophie Kinsella.  LOVE.  I just got this book from the library yesterday and had a RIDICULOUSLY hard time not starting it.  But I figured that my family would enjoy eating dinner more than they would enjoy knowing I would be "MIA" til the book was finished.  Much better to leave that for the weekend when football is on ;)

Reflections on the Savior by Max Lucado.  This book includes "And the Angels were Silent," "The Gift for All People," and "No Wonder They Call Him the Savior."  I  thought that since Christmas is coming up (YIKES!!  How in the world did that happen so fast?!), I would "prepare" in a different way.  I was planning on only reading one, but I'm going to try to shoot for all three.

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger.  I've never read this one but it is on one of the lists of books that I want to read that is included in my 101 in 1001 list, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Also, it was one of the shorter books on the list.  At this point in my life, this is a very good reason to choose one book over another! 

The Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer.  So, Confident Woman, we meet again!  I think I've had this book in 2 other challenges and never even started it!  One time I lost it and found it a few months after the challenge ended (luckily it was my book, not the library's) and I can't remember what happened the other time. 


As a further part of the challenge, I am going to try again to read my Bible at least 3 times a week, and read the Bible together as a family at least 3 times a week.  We've actually already started this (except when we were on vacation) and it's been such a precious and needed time.  It's absolutely amazing to hear my little girl excited about what Daddy has read to her.  Even if she doesn't understand it now, just having those seeds sown is going to be awesome for her!

Alrighty, so there's my list for Callapidder Days' Fall Into Reading 2011 Challenge!  If you decide to join, let me know so I can check out your list!  And make sure to look at other people's goals, too.  I've found out about some great books that way!

I Heart Faces: White

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is "White."  I knew right away which photo I wanted to enter.  Here is my gorgeous girl at our family reunion last month.  Love her!

Check out the other "White" entries by clicking on this button:

I Heart Faces: Let's Hear it For the Boys!

Click on the button below to see more entries for the I Heart Faces photo challenge.

101 in 1001 Update

 I have got to update my 101 in 1001 list because I've made so many changes and can't remember them all!  


Color coding:
Red - finished!
Green - in progress
Blue - changed
Black - not happenin' yet!

Hobbies
1.  Learn to play one song on the guitar
2.  Learn a new song on the piano
3.  Take pictures of every task on here
4.  Complete the DeLorem challenge
5.  Take a good picture of a waterfall
6.  Ride a tandem bike
7.  Be able to identify 5 different local birds
8.  Make a toy
9.  Get our geocache total to more than 1000
10.  Do 10 of the things in 1000 Things to Do Before You Die
11.  Make a purse or bag
12.  Grow herbs
13.  Take a photography class
14.  Finish a scrapbook (I'm trying to get Gracie's first year done by the time the baby is here...it's taken me this long to get through the first week of her life, so we'll see ;))
15.  Knit or crochet something other than a scarf (was "knit something other than a scarf")
16.  Do one craft project a month for one year (forgot to specify an amount of time)
17.  Take one picture per day for a month
18.  Make a pillowcase dress

Food
19.  Have a foreign food night
20.  Go to a place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
21.  Go to a place from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations
22.  Try sushi
23.  Have an April Fool's dinner
24.  Make a big holiday dinner (Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc)
25.  Find 5 good and inexpensive organic recipes
26.  Make a vegetarian meal that J doesn't say “Where's the meat?”
27.  One new recipe per month for one year (forgot to specify an amount of time)
28.  Make file of yummy recipes
29.  Try 1 new food per month for 6 months (forgot to specify a time)
30.  Stick to a menu for 1 week
31.  Eat at least one thing that I've grown
32.  Learn to can properly

Organization/Cleaning/Home
33.  Keep room clean for 2 weeks
34.  Plant new grass
35.  Put all pictures on CD
36.  Organize all pictures
37.  Christmas cards sent out on time
38.  Make lists of things in pantry to put on doors
39.  Fix kitchen light
40.  Move the fridge and vacuum behind and under it 2 times a year
41.  Touch up paint in entrance to kitchen
42.  Paint entrance to our bath
43.  Put pictures in the frames on hutch
44.  Go to bed with a clean house for 1 week
45.  Paint our bathroom
46.  Paint the hall
47.  Clean out the garage

Travel
48.  Take G to a pumpkin patch
49.  Take G to Apple Hill
50.  Go to a zoo
51.  Go away with J
52.  Geocache our way through a roadtrip
53.  Visit three Olympic parks
54.  Go on vacation with friends
55.  Visit 2 new states

Self
56.  “Get ready” (hair, clothes, make-up)every day for one month
57.  Go on a girl date with Chels
58.  See a picture of myself that I honestly l like
59.  Make a new friend
60.  Drive on the freeway
61.  Memorize 1 Scripture per month

Health
62.  Participate in a race of some sort (was "participate in a half-marathon til I realized I hated running :))
63.  Take a new fitness class at the gym
64.  Do a bike ride from bikethewest.com
65.  Take multivitamin everyday for a month
66.  Limit the amount of complex carbs I eat for 2 weeks (was "stick to a low carb high protein eating plan for 1 month but things change being pregnant ;))
67.  Go hiking
68.  Workout 3 times per week for 3 months

Family
69.  Family picture taken once a month for one year (forgot to specify a time)
70.  Teach Gracie her ABCs
71.  Teach Gracie a memory verse (just learned "God saw all that He had made and it was really good!" Genesis 1:31a)
72.  Sleep under the stars as a family
73.  Have another baby (10.5 more weeks baby!!)
74.  Go camping
75.  Take G horseback riding

Movies
76.  Watch 20 of the John Wayne movies we have (was "all the John Wayne movies we have" until I realized how many we had and how many of them were hard to watch because they were so old!
77.  Watch 100 movies from either the AFI list or this Christian list (was "watch the Top 100 movies (Yahoo list)" then I changed it to just the AFI list, then just the Christian list, but there were a lot of movies that I couldn't get, would not watch because it was scary or inappropriate, etc, so I thought I'd give myself more leniency ;))

Reading
78.  Read Bible three times a week for 3 months (was once per week for 1 year but it's hard to keep track of like that!)
79.  Read from the Bible as a family once a week for 3 months
80.  Read through the Bible
81.  Do everything I plan to do in a book challenge
82.  Read 10 young adult books (was "favorite" but there were a lot of new ones out that I've been wanting to read)
83.  Read 50 books that I have been wanting to read but haven't (was "read or listen to half of the books on the Top 100 list that I have")
84.  Be part of a book club
85.  Read at least 1 book a month for 1 year

Money
86.  Go 1 week without extra spending
87.  Go one month without extra spending

88.  Stick to a budget

Enjoying life

89.  Lie down on the grass and watch the sky with G
90.  Watch a sunset
91.  Watch a sunrise
92.  Go to the taping of a TV show
93.  Go to one new store or restaurant per month for 6 months (forgot to specify an amount of time)
94.  Talk to my grandma about her life

95.  Talk to my grandma and grandpa about their lives

Other

96.  Pay for someone behind me in line (food, toll, etc)
97.  Find the “perfect present” for 5 people
98.  Finish décor in Sunday School room
99.  Win a giveaway
100.  Get mentioned on a blog
101.  Win a photo challenge

Spring Reading Thing 2011

I've decided to be a part of Callapidder Day's Spring Reading Thing 2011.  And that's the 2nd time I've written "2001" instead of "2011..."wait, just did it again.  Hmm, apparently I am living in the past! 

Anyway, I am going to take it pretty easy on myself and say that my main goal for this is just to read as much as I can and ENJOY it!  I'm thinking that once baby boy comes (end of July...eeek!) I will have even less free time, so I'm going to make the most of G's nap time and the time between when she goes to bed and J and I go to bed.

The books that I am hoping to read are:

 Yes, yes I did start to read this in the last challenge.  No, no I did not finish it.  Definitely hoping to this time though.  It just was hard for me to read because I felt like the author kept jumping around too much for me.  I've pushed through though and am now at a point where I feel like I can read the rest if I just make the time.

This was the free audiobook one month at Christian Audio (go there!!  They have a new free book to download every month!)  I started listening to my brother's copy a few months ago, but it's hard to listen to when you've got a toddler you're trying to keep entertained on a loooooong car trip!  This is a recommendation from my younger (and smarter ;)) brother.

This was another free download from Christian Audio, and one that I'm really excited about!  

Saw this one on someone else's reading list and thought, "Why not?!"

Another recommendation from my little bro

So there you have it.  There are some other books that I have just waiting for me, but these ones are the ones that I want to focus on, and if I am able to get through them and onto the next bunch, so be it :)

I Heart Faces: Anything But A Face

This week at I Heart Faces, the challenge is "Anything But A Face."  I love this picture of my sweet girl because we told her that there was snow, and she immediately ran to her room, threw on her rain boots, scarf, and hat...over her jammies of course! :)  Once she got out there she wasn't real sure what to do, but she sure knew how to dress!

Check out more entries here:

101 in 1001 update

I guess I'm mostly writing this post for myself, so that I can actually feel like I've done SOMETHING in the last few months!  Morning sickness has kept me down pretty much since before I even knew I was pregnant, so I am feeling very lazy, and not in a good, relaxing kind of way!  So here's my progress:


(Black font - haven't done, red font - done, blue font - in progress)


 Hobbies
1.  Learn to play one song on the guitar
2.  Learn a new song on the piano
3.  Take pictures of every task on here
4.  Complete the DeLorem challenge
5.  Take a good picture of a waterfall
6.  Ride a tandem bike
7.  Be able to identify 5 different local birds
8.  Make a toy
9.  Get our geocache total to more than 1000
10.  Do 10 of the things in 1000 Things to Do Before You Die
11.  Make a purse or bag
12.  Grow herbs
13.  Take a photography class - Took a class by Katrina Kennedy and it was absolutely fantastic!  I'm also taking another class, but haven't finished the final assignment, so I'm not counting it...yet ;)
14.  Finish a scrapbook - I've FINALLY filled in some pages of Gracie's scrapbooks.  Yes, I had already made them in a class and never used them til now.  Don't judge me ;)
15.  Knit something other than a scarf
16.  Do one craft project a month
17.  Take one picture per day for a month
18.  Make a pillowcase dress

Food
19.  Have a foreign food night - I finally felt like cooking a few weeks ago and made some Potstickers (super yummy!), peanut rice (fantastic the 1st day, gross the next cuz of the soggy peanuts), and some wonton wrappers filled with ricotta cheese, vanilla, cocoa powder, and cinnamon (apparently I don't like ricotta cheese very much!)
20.  Go to a place on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - Went to The Nickel Diner in LA with the Schofields and it was pretty darn fab!  Chels and I were very impressed!  But not with the Maple Bacon Donut. 
21.  Go to a place from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations - Went to Red's Java House in SF, which happened to be right where we park when we go to the Giant's games, which was very convenient!
22.  Try sushi - tried it at my sister-in-laws baby shower but wasn't in love with it.  I'm told you need to eat "good" sushi though, so maybe it wasn't "good" ;)
23.  Have an April Fool's dinner
24.  Make a big holiday dinner (Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc)
25.  Find 5 good and inexpensive organic recipes
26.  Make a vegetarian meal that J doesn't say “Where's the meat?” - I think I've actually done 2 of these, but can only remember one!  It was an arugula salad with pears and brie and it was to die for!
27.  One new recipe per month
28.  Make file of yummy recipes
29.  Try 1 new food per month
30.  Stick to a menu for 1 week
31.  Eat at least one thing that I've grown - we had a garden over the summer and though it didn't do great, I did get a few peas, zucchini, tomatoes, arugula, and lettuce out of it!  All were super yummy except for the lettuce, which was really bitter.  The peas we got so few of that Gracie and I ate them straight out of the garden since it wasn't worth getting a bowl to bring them in!  I think we got less than 10 total, but man they were good!
32.  Learn to can properly

Organization/Cleaning/Home
33.  Keep room clean for 2 weeks
34.  Plant new grass - and I love it :)
35.  Put all pictures on CD
36.  Organize all pictures
37.  Christmas cards sent out on time
38.  Make lists of things in pantry to put on doors
39.  Fix kitchen light - and by "fix" I meant change the lightbulb...but now we have another one out ;)
40.  Move the fridge and vacuum behind and under it 2 times a year - did it once this year out of necessity when James put dishwashing soap instead of dishwasher detergent in and there were bubble everywhere!
41.  Touch up paint in entrance to kitchen
42.  Paint entrance to our bath
43.  Put pictures in the frames on hutch
44.  Go to bed with a clean house for 1 week - well this was a nice surprise!  I was thinking that I had written to go to bed with it clean for a month, so was bummed when we made it a little over 2 weeks and I got sick so couldn't keep up with it!
45.  Paint our bathroom
46.  Paint the hall
47.  Clean out the garage - done, and it looks marvelous!  We even had a yard sale and made a bit of moolah!

Travel
48.  Take G to a pumpkin patch
49.  Take G to Apple Hill
50.  Go to a zoo - went to the zoo in Washington DC and it was fantastic!  Can't believe that place is free and so gorgeous!
51.  Go away with J
52.  Geocache our way through a roadtrip
53.  Visit three Olympic parks
54.  Go on vacation with friends - went to LA with the Schofields and had a blast!  Besides my child hitting their child ALMOST the entire time they were together ;)
55.  Visit 2 new states - Ooooh, another bonus surprise!  I thought I put 3!!  We visited family in DC, which meant that we were able to hit both Virginia and Maryland!

Self
56.  “Get ready” (hair, clothes, make-up)every day for one month
57.  Go on a girl date with Chels - went shopping at a ridiculously expensive mall, but luckily found a few H&Ms.  Def need to do another girl date with her though ;)
58.  See a picture of myself that I honestly l like
59.  Make a new friend
60.  Drive on the freeway - Oh boy, I'm basically a pro at this now!  Though I only go when I can see how busy it looks, especially when I have a kid or 2 in my car to distract me!
61.  Memorize 1 Scripture per month

Health
62.  Participate in a half-marathon
63.  Take a new fitness class at the gym
64.  Do a bike ride from bikethewest.com
65.  Take multivitamin everyday for a month
66.  Stick to low carb high protein eating plan for 1 month
67.  Go hiking
68.  Workout 3 times per week for 3 months

Family
69.  Family picture taken once a month
70.  Teach Gracie her ABCs - Every time we brush her teeth, we sing the ABCs 4 times (once for the top, bottom, together, and tongue) so she's getting it down pretty well!  Like all kids though, she gets messed up on LMNOP :)
71.  Teach Gracie a memory verse
72.  Sleep under the stars as a family
73.  Have another baby - due July 31st :)
74.  Go camping
75.  Take G horseback riding

Movies
76.  Watch all the John Wayne movies we have - watched a few this week, but my goodness we have a lot!  
77.  Watch the Top 100 movies (Yahoo list) - going to revise this again!  Using this list but only going to watch 50 of them that I haven't seen before.  The reason I changed it in the first place was because there were some on there that I don't want to watch (like The Shining), but the other list I was using has some very hard to find movies, and a few that were really terrible (Life of Brian was one of them...vulgar, rude, etc..though SOME relatives of mine love it ;))

Reading
78.  Read Bible once per week for 1 year
79.  Read from the Bible as a family once a week for 3 months
80.  Read through the Bible
81.  Do everything I plan to do in a book challenge - check!  Read some great boks too!
82.  Read 10 favorite young adult books
83.  Read or listen to half of the books on the Top 100 list that I have
84.  Be part of a book club
85.  Read at least 1 book a month for 1 year - Totally forgot about this one!  I think I probably did this last year, but since I don't remember specifically which ones, I'll start again!  January - Twenties Girl (loved it!  But I think Sophie Kinsella is great anyway)

Money
86.  Go 1 week without extra spending
87.  Go one month without extra spending

88.  Stick to a budget

Wow!  Of all the "categories," I did not think that I'd finish this one first!  We've been doing a cash budget and love it!  We've actually been able to put a bit into savings finally, which is excellent!

Enjoying life

89.  Lie down on the grass and watch the sky with G
90.  Watch a sunset
91.  Watch a sunrise
92.  Go to the taping of a TV show
93.  Go to one new store or restaurant per month
94.  Talk to my grandma about her life

95.  Talk to my grandma and grandpa about their lives

Other

96.  Pay for someone behind me in line (food, toll, etc)
97.  Find the “perfect present” for 5 people
98.  Finish décor in Sunday School room - someone actually took this over for me because they had a fantastic vision for the room and it is AWESOME!!!
99.  Win a giveaway - won the photography class mentioned in #13!!
100.  Get mentioned on a blog - got mentioned on Katrina Kennedy's blog here for winning the class and here for placing in the top for a photowalk I went on (which was an amazing experience!)
101.  Win a photo challenge

So all in all, not too shabby, but there are a lot of things I need to get a move on with!