Book Review: Saving Alessandra

I was given the opportunity to review a book for a lady that I work with.  I must be honest, at first I was very excited...I love reading and I am rather opinionated, then I was nervous.  I have read and reviewed books before and had no problem offering my opinion.  As those of you who know me personally are aware, I very rarely sugar coat anything.  I got nervous because I was afraid the book was going to be boring, or hard to follow, or hard to get into, and I really didn't want to hurt her feelings. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about that. 

Saving Alessandra by Christine Maria Jahn

There are three main characters in the book, and because of the time period in which it was written (1800s) and the cultural status of the characters it was an adjustment to keep them apart.  I learned so much about a time period that I had never given a thought to before as far as fiction is concerned.  It is classified as a romance novel on Amazon, it is not a "typical" romance novel.  It is a love story  and is a very tastefully appealing book to those that enjoy that genre. 
My ultimate recommendation is that I would recommend this book to my fellow bloggers, it was a good read for me.  
This is the first in a set of three books that she has written and her first published book.  If you follow the above link, you can purchase your own straight from the Amazon site.  If you are a local friend and are interested in purchasing this book, let me know and I will get you connected with the author. 

Who I Am

It is time for me to be honest, I have not been inspired to write in a long time.  My home life has been turned upside down and I have not been mood to write and pretend all is well.  I am not that kind of girl.  I am real, I am not the kind of girl to tell you I am "fine" when all is really far, far, away from being fine.  I am not going to go into details as to what my life looks like...it would be boring and probably really sad for many of you to read.  I will tell you that even in the midst of all of my chaos, my God is bigger and more amazing that I ever realized.  Sure, there are days when I really want to doubt that he cares, that I would rather stay in bed than get up and continue in my "new" life.  I will tell you that I am working part-time at Chic-Fil-A and, honestly it has been an adjustment, in my own version of my life plan I never had any desire or need to go back to work.  In God's plan for my life, apparently he wanted me to go that route.
We are still homeschooling, it looks nothing like the traditional homeschool schedule, we do school in the evenings, some days it is a struggle, some days it runs great (ok, that part never changed).  In so many ways I do not feel that I fit into the typical homeschool circles anymore.  That has been a hard pill to swallow.  I am having to redefine who I am and what that means.  (The song "Who I Am To You" means more and more to me each day).
I took yesterday and today off from work so that we could participate in a field trip and it has been awesome to pretend I still lived in the SAHM world.  But, I know that on Monday I have to go back to the working world.  I am concentrating on enjoying every minute I have with the girls these few days.
On facebook I am participating in the what are you thankful for status updates for the month.  At first I had no desire to do that because honestly there are some days it is hard for me to focus on those.  I didn't want to even challenge myself to do it but, in the end it will probably help me more to "force" myself to focus on it even when I would rather not.  Don't get me wrong, I have lots to be thankful for, and I truly am thankful.  But I also feel very judged and would rather not subject myself to that.  It all comes down to who am I doing this challenge for?  And, that answer is myself.  I am challenging myself to look for things that I am thankful for for a whole month.  Focusing on the positive amidst the negative will surely help me grow even more.
If you are still reading this post, thanks for sticking it out.  I am sorry it isn't more pleasant or actually, no I am not sorry because I know that God is using even my unpleasantness to turn me, and my family into whatever awesomeness he has in store for us.  In the end, His plan is all that matters to me!

Back in action

I am finally back in the swing of things...sadly it has been over 9 months since I last blogged.  Since that time so many things have changed in my life.  To say I have been busy, stressed, overbooked, and crazy (at times) would be an understatement.  Through it all I know that God has amazing plans for me and my family.  Jeremiah 29:11 has never meant more to me than it does these days. 
Our school year is moving along as good as can be expected.  Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to post for this blog.  I will slowly begin posting again (I have no plans of waiting 9 months in between posts again). 
Some of the activities that have kept me on my toes lately are clogging, soccer, school, COOP, and did I mention I have picked up a job at Chic-Fil-A? 
I am so excited that fall is finally here.  I cannot wait to go apple picking.  I have some awesome outfits that have been tucked away waiting patiently to be pulled out again!  Stay tuned as I will be pulling out the camera and posting a recap of what exactly has been keeping my littles busy over the past few months!

New Playground

We recently received the coolest play area...EVER.  For free.  Yep, this playground is new...to us.  We are guaranteed to have many years of fun on this! 

 Look at the smiles on this little girls face!

 And here...

All three of the girls have enjoyed the past few weeks of playing on their new equipment.  Can't wait for the playdates to begin!

Halloween night

I am finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures.  (Truth be told there are posts older than Halloween that I want to add but I knew this would look awkward if I waited until Feb. to add their Halloween pictures.  In our family, we had a cowgirl, Dorothy, and Abby from NCIS on Halloween.  This was my favorite year yet as far as getting their costumes together.  They were so creative and everything fell together at the last moment, thanks to a friend!  I had ordered a Dorothy costume off of e-bay at the beginning of October and it never shipped.  (And, of course it had to be the youngest whose costume was about to crumble.)  I don't know what they are wanting for next year but in my opinion it is going to be hard to beat this years ideas!

Want to try it before you buy it?

If any of you out there are interested in trying the new Swiffer 360 Duster, follow this linkVocalpoint.com/BeTheFirstSample.  


I have to tell you, when we got ours I was excited to give it a shot but I didn't even get the opportunity.  My middle daughter grabbed it and away she went.  She dusted everything she could, she was running from one room to the next.  

Same old, same old

I am sick of this, and need a change...for those of you that don't know me probably don't realize how easily I get sick of the meals we eat.  It doesn't take very long for me to get tired of the same meals all the time.  Ask my poor husband.  I can't eat the same meal within the same 30 day period.  I detest leftovers.  I am finally at the point where I have an awesome system for supper.  I have 45 days worth of meals on our calendar(yes, I do plan out the whole 45 days at a time).  For me, having our meals planned that far in advance is a relaxation thing for me.  It is one less thing I have to worry about.  As it is now I go to the grocery store twice a month and buy what we need.  My goal in life is to get it to once a month but I am not quite ready to take that step.  I am slowly getting back into the habit of making my own bread and that will help our grocery shopping out a whole lot! However...back to the subject at hand.  I am so tired of our lunches, and breakfasts but mainly my new gripe is lunchtime.  I have no creativity in that area at all.  So, if there are any of you out there that have awesome lunch ideas, please pass them along.  I would love to find some really healthy ideas that I can rotate into our meals.