This week I read three books in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. They were really fun. They reminded me a little of the Goose Girl, only in the future. I like the idea of smart prothetics. And I like the robots... I'm just not excited to wait a year to find out if Cinder can convince the Lunar people to follow her, and if Wolf with find Scarlet, and if Captain Thorn gets his sight back.. . Fluff is what I'm all about... YA fluff, actually! (must find another one to read while I wait....) I just started reading This is the Story of a Happy marriage by Ann Prachett. I'm really enjoying it. I was reading the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, but my library ebook expired, and I'm not sure that i really want to finish it. Happy Reading! wendy 2014 16. Cress 15. Scarlet 14. Cinder 13. Summer of the Gypsy Moths 12. The Round House 11. Ready Player One 10. Goldfinch 9. Wonder 8. Lost Lake 7. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand 6. Champion, Marie Lu 5. Prodigy, Marie Lu 4. Legend, Marie Lu 3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 2. Rapture, Lauren Kate 1. Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein

I knit three baby hats last month, but didn't quite get them delivered to the new babies. That is on my list for this week, and I mean it. I also finished scarf for my 19 year old dd who is serving a mission for our church in denmark. I started it in the fall but didn't finish it until last week. It is a dark mustard yellow - perfect for the fall, but maybe not so great for the Spring. I am getting a package together for her this week.... I started a dress for my 12 year old dd. It is nearly finished. So close. I am posting this up here to help me get it done. When it's done, I'll post a photo. I am also doing some mending - I sewed two buttons on a coat this morning, and took in a seam on a different coat. Both for my 16 year old dd. Cute coats, I hope she will actually wear one... I also have two skirts to mend this week. I seem to have a finishing problem. That's the goal for this week. Finish a few things. Deliver a couple more things. Send out a package... wendy ps - jenangelcat - I love the skirts! So cute!

It's been several weeks since I updated my reading list - whoops! But I've been enjoying the conversation and adding books to my want to read list on goodreads. Highlights from my most recent books: The Round House - an interesting look at life on a Reservation and how different laws make it really difficult to prosecute rape and other crimes. Ready Player One - The internet and video games are real life for everyone in this distopian? future world. When I saw the cover art, I thought that this book was set on an oil refinery. I kept waiting to see how an oil refinery fit in.. it took me about half way through the book to figure out the cover shows the stacks of rv's and trailers. I thought this was kind of fun. Goldfinch - everyone here read this book last year, and I thought maybe I should try reading a non-YA book. I found this book really interesting. The look at art crime was fascinating. But I am just flabbergasted by the huge amount of drug and alcohol use. Do people really live like that? And function at a high level? Lost Lake - fun easy read. Not my favorite by Sarah Addison Allen, but still sweet. One of the characters talks about how you can't go back and re-read a book because the endings change. She says that when the book ends, you have a chance to make up what happens next - that the lives of the characters sort of become yours, and when you re-read the book later, the endings have changed.... I read this book about the time there was a discussion here on WTM about JK Rowling coming out with little bits of detail about her characters. And I think that's what bothered me - JK is messing with MY endings! 2014 13. Summer of the Gypsy Moths 12. The Round House 11. Ready Player One 10. Goldfinch 9. Wonder 8. Lost Lake 7. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand 6. Champion, Marie Lu 5. Prodigy, Marie Lu 4. Legend, Marie Lu 3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 2. Rapture, Lauren Kate 1. Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein

I like Jack Johnson and Alison Krauss for chilling out. I also like Let Her Go by Passenger. How about a chill out movie? Dan in Real Life and Hitch are a couple of my favorites...

We just poach the eggs instead of hard boiling. Bring your water to a boil, crack open your egg and drop it in the water. Let it boil... Farm fresh eggs make the best poached eggs because they stay all "together" better than older eggs. Hard boiling fresh eggs is just frustrating...

The LDS church put out a new statement recently (in December, I think) about polygamy. I think polygamy is a bit of an embarrassing mystery even to Mormons. I liked this article because it points out that we don't really understand the why of polygamy. It does also talk a little about statistics - it states that at one point about half of all members of the LDS church were part of a polygamous family - husband, wife, or child. Then later it was closer to 20-30%. http://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-and-families-in-early-utah?lang=eng And here is a magazine article that talks about that official statement - giving some hows and whys. If I were not a member of the LDS church, it would be a peek into how mormons today think about polygamy. http://www.ldsliving.com/story/74595-how-the-churchs-new-article-on-polygamy-will-increase-lds-confidence And just a quick note to remind readers that the family in Sister Wives are not LDS/Mormons. I've only seen one episode of Sister Wives, and I thought the family seemed happy, if a little wacky...

In our teeny tiny bathroom, we put in hooks to hang towels instead of a bar. A bar can hold just 2 towels in the same space that we were able to put 4 hooks. We do have a storage cabinet above the toilet - I think that's handy, but it doesn't hold anything deeper than a roll of TP. Extra towels and bathroom supplies are stored in our hall way closet.

Our violin teacher would do a nice certificate and a gift card for a local movie rental place (just enough for one movie rental, I think around $3) for the students with "perfect practice"

Has she read the Goose Girl and other books by Shannon Hale? Each of her books has a sweet romance. T he Matched series by Ally Condie is cute. The Fallen series by Lauren Kate was a big hit with my 15 year old, but the theology was a little wacky for me. Basically anything YA seems to have a romance going through it... I felt like the making out in Divergent was too heavy for my 12 year old to read. My 15 yo and I recently read and enjoyed the Legend series....

I think I missed a week or two! This week I finished up the Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu. I really enjoyed the last book. For some reason I felt a lot of anxiety while I was reading book 3 (Champion). It was an odd feeling, but I was really worried about Day throughout the book. Happily, the ending was very satisfying. I liked the way the author kept the story going throughout the 3 books, bringing in more history of the distopian world. All in all it is my favorite YA trilogy that I've read lately. I also finished Unbroken. It was a fascinating book about WWII in the pacific. It seems like there is some kind of taboo about Japan vs US, so that was interesting. After reading Code Name Verity and The Book Thief, it was nice to read a different side of the war. One thought I had, though, is that all of the sweet stories of WW2 that I have read are set in Germany or England. Have you read any set in Japan that you would recommend? I thought the information in Unbroken was fascinating - the flight info - I didn't realize so many crews were lost just in training! The ocean survival - crazy! The POW camps - terrible... but I didn't really love reading the book. I'm not sure what to read next... 2014 7. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand 6. Champion, Marie Lu 5. Prodigy, Marie Lu 4. Legend, Marie Lu 3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 2. Rapture, Lauren Kate 1. Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein

I got the very cheapest Kindle Fire for Christmas. I have enjoyed reading books on it - I don't notice the glare to be a problem. I enjoy using it online, too (which I didn't think I would like) Facebook and The Well Trained Mind! I have a few apps that I use - Overdrive to download library books! A To-Do list that I really like. Goodreads. A weather app that is great. A notebook. and for my son: Minecraft! There have been a couple of things that I haven't been able to find, but not many. Have fun!

As I was first reading this thread, I was thinking that my job is still the same - laundry dishes kids.... but on reflection: Ten years ago my husband was finishing up flight training for the AF. We had 3 girls, 10 years old to toddler and a new baby boy. I was homeschooling and thought I would forever... Flash forward 10 years - 6 deployments - 4 moves - oldest dd graduated, one year of college, now in denmark serving a mission for our church. - the others are growing up so fast, and I love it! They are fascinating and surprising and challenging and fun. I think the biggest change for me and our family is my husband. He used to be very laid back, relaxed, easy going, fun, anyone's friend. He was a super fun dad, very involved with the kids. He is now way more intense and moody. He is still good at talking to people and getting to know them, but he also basically doesn't like to be around people. He is also rather detached from the kids. His current job makes it tricky to attend events, but even when it is possible, he makes very little effort to be involved. Though things seem really good right now, in my heart I am constantly tense and worried about the next thing that will frustrate or upset him. I think I used to be fun, but now I feel like all of my extra energy goes toward keeping things on an even keel. That doesn't sound so happy... 10 years ago I felt very secure in who I was (#1 mom)...where right now I feel like I'm at a crossroads. Kids are growing up, all are in school, and I feel sort of guilty staying at home. I should probably get a job, but I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up, and I also worry that a job would be too heavy for me to carry right now. (Does that make sense?) All of that sounds sad! In many ways I am impressed with who I've become and the many adventures we have had. I am proud of our children and the big people they are becoming. Thinking of something positive: One thing I did 4 years ago was dust off my violin and I started playing again for the first time since high school. I now have a teeny tiny violin studio with 6 students. That is pretty sweet. And we have basically remodeled repainted reroofed redone every inch of our 1970's dream house ourselves! I've learned a lot! The most importAnt thing being: don't buy a fixer upper when you know you will probably move in about 3 years!!! Okay next 10 years! What do you have in store for me?

I keep thinking about your dress, and now I'm thinking that you should go with a traditional cotton camo fabric, not satin... it will be stiff, but that will make it more fifties / shirt-dress looking, and fun! With the tulle layer, it will be just adorable. I think finding the "right" camo will be challenge enough... and maybe she needs a little orange in there, too! I made a flight-suit dress for a party once. It was made out of a flight suit - a basic heavy cotton in dark green.... and it turned out great, if I do day so myself! It had a layer of tulle, and it was really fun to wear. I think the opposites (heavy dark fabric with pink ribbon and fun tulle in party dress) is what made it cute. Trying to link on my kindle -http://rapidlife.blogspot.com/2006/08/flightsuit-party.html

PS - that is expensive fabric! $12-$27 a yard! It could be fun to buy satin camo for one layer, and then different colors to compliment the camo in the lower layers - greens or tans or pinks... Or just wait until you have a 40% off coupon...

I was at our local Hancock Fabric store last week looking at prom fabric and patterns with my dd's friend. We saw some satin camo! I remember seeing it in pink, but I can't remember if they had it in green if that is what she is thinking. http://www.hancockfabrics.com/Camouflage-Satin-Realtree-AP-Pink-Fabric_stcVVproductId156296391VVviewprod.htm

I have no idea how I missed this thread this week. I know I had a busy week, but still.... Last week I finished The Book Thief. Loved it. I was up late Friday night, just sobbing. I am not good at writing about books. Love reading them. Can't think of anything to say about them when sitting in front of the computer. A friend came over this week and we talked about books and had a great discussion... I'm not sure why I have writers block when I try to "discuss" books on paper. I think part of the problem is that I have a hard time remembering names of characters. So, like right now, I want to say something about how sweet the little girl(what's her name? Liesel?)'s new papa is. How sweet it is that he gets up at night to read to her when she has nightmares. I loved the view of her mama sleeping with the accordion in her lap while papa is away at war. I think it's easy to say "how could they have let that happen" when thinking about the Germans during the war, but I wonder what I would have done if I were there. 2014 3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 2. Rapture, Lauren Kate 1. Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein

The Penderwicks (several in the series - the kids are not on their own entirely) The Saturdays (another series. again, the kids are not entirely on their own, but mostly)

Button Button was a favorite around here. Memory. Also some kind of "hot and cold" - one of the students goes out of the room, while the others hide a small item. Then the student comes back in, and the others sing a song louder and softer to direct the student to the item.

That cracks me up! One day at the library, we checked out a few picture books for the little ones, a couple of chapter books for the olders, and I picked up a book from Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series, I think Alvin Journeyman. The librarian was going through the books, and gave me a raised eyebrow and said "oooo, and one for YOU!" I hadn't noticed, but the cover had a picture of a man without a shirt, lots of muscles... So embarrassing! And it's not even a romance, either! Just a bad cover on a good fantasy novel... I am a little nervous about joining in the 52 Books thread - I love to read, but I have a hard time keeping track and sticking with challenges... Here's what I've been reading so far: In progress: Hobbit (read aloud) Unbroken The Book Thief Finished: Rapture by Lauren Kate. My dd15 has read this YA series and just loved it. She suddenly started reading this year, after a few years of not reading much of anything. She is reading and wanting to talk about the books she has read and really wanted me to read this series with her (she may have been abducted by aliens, she also willingly did chores this weekend...) I generally enjoy YA fiction, but maybe I'm just not in to angels... I give it 3 stars - not terrible, readable, glad to be finished. Next she says I must read Legend.. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. My sister gave me this for Christmas. I really enjoyed it. It had a few things going for it that I knew I would love: WW2. England. Airplanes. Strong girl lead. A book about a book. I give it 5 stars. It was really well written and a great story. I am looking forward to her book Rose Under Fire. 2014 2. Rapture, Lauren Kate 1. Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein

My dd 12 is really excited to try this! She has a Cannon PS, but we never thought to use it like that! Thanks! The spotting scope is a good idea, too...

Those are beautiful! How did he capture them?

Thanks for this topic. I just did 3 things that I've been putting off - I made an appointment for my car to get worked on - the check engine light has been on for a week or two and I've been avoiding that. I called our doctor to get something worked out for my dd. And I called the hospital to get a blood test arranged for me! All little things that are not emergencies, but all have been on my to-do list for more than a week! Thanks!

I heard about it at my meeting yesterday, and I'm trying it starting today. Our leader said that ww members have asked for them to "just tell me what to eat" so that's what this is. Eat this. Don't track. Just eat these simple things for the next 2 weeks. That's all. I think it sounds like a good idea. Simple. BUT, I know I can get in to trouble when I don't track, so I'm going to keep tracking, and stick to the list of foods and see how it goes. The list of things to eat is basically what I stick with when I'm really "doing" the program, so I don't think it will actually be very hard. I also like that each day you are give 7 cheat points. 7 seems more manageable than 49. But they do recommend that you stick with the suggested cheat items. I think this is mainly for the people just joining up this week, as an easy way to jump in to the program, but I think it would be confusing to know how much is the right amount to eat...

I think it's mostly a matter of acclimation. We moved from Hawaii to South Dakota about 4 years ago (in January). That first winter was so cold. I could not get warm. I bought cute warm boots - I was still cold. I bought ugly warm boots - still cold. I wore wools socks - still cold. I wore layers of warm socks and long johns and I was still cold. My toes just ached. And no one else seemed to notice the cold - the neighbor kids didn't even seem to wear real coats, or boots! The next year I was fine. I was not achy in the cold. And now after a few years, I own better layers, and the cold doesn't bother me as much. My kids rarely wear real coats or boots, and a fleece jacket really does work for most any weather (above about 7 degrees f if it's not too windy...) I think the dog race sounds like fun. Layer on the socks and clothes. I think the idea of boot warmers is smart (I wish we had thought of that our first year here). And maybe you could keep some hot cocoa and blankets in the car for when you need to warm up. Do you have neck gators? My chin still doesn't do well in the cold...

Thanks for this, HoppyTheToad! I find large goals very exciting to write down, but rather depressing when I don't make them happen. I think mini goals might just work! I signed up for a session with the Tiny Habits website. I like his methods. Here's what I'm working on: After I roll out of bed, I will kneel and pray. After I brush my teeth, I will floss. After I read my email in the morning, I will open YNAB. That seems actually doable. A+ for today! I also downloaded the Lift app and signed up for 4 things to work on: Run daily. Drink more water. No sweets. Daily declutter. So far so good, there, too! Thanks for the motivation and permission to keep my goals small!