YIKES

Ok, so my oldest comes home tonight from football practice complaining his foot hurts… So after taking a look, I call the advice nurse, who says bring him in…. My hubby drove up from work only to have me greet him at the door with “You have your choice you can lead the small group we have coming in 20 minutes, or you can take Chris to the doctor”….  He chose doctor…  So I stay home to hostess and play the role of “leader” (my sister in law is at Disneyland).  The phone rings during our study… It’s my 12 1/2 year old  Johnny (who is at Pismo Beach with family friends enjoying camping, quads, and motorcycles)…  “Hi mom, it’s Johnny, I flipped the quad while riding today!”  “What!”… oh my heart was pounding, mind you this is the son who in Jan. 2006 got his heel broken in a golf cart accident and was in a cast for over 16 Weeks….  Ughhhh….  After I hung up with him, he is OK by the way and said, and I quote….”it was cool.”  Spike and Chris come home with Chris is a “shoe” some special devise that keeps his foot immobile….  He is to “rest” it and the doctor will call me tomorrow after the X-Ray has been read…  However Chris refuses to sit out for tomorrows football game, he plans to tough it out, even though she told him, he is in jeopardy of injuring the foot worse…  However if I get “the call” that it is broke, he WILL NOT be playing….  Mom’s orders!

Ughhhhh I have at least 36.2 more gray hairs after this evening… Why couldn’t my boys enjoy reading??  Do they have to be so physical?…  I guess being raised in a home with just me and my sis, this whole boy thing freaks me out a little! 

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The Glass Castle

I just finished another book…  I know it seems my blogs lately have been book reviews… Well it’s because I have been reading a lot… With the weather change, I have enjoyed curling up under a blanket and reading…

The Glass Castle

by: Jeannette Walls

I normally don’t read memoirs, but a friend passed this book along and she said it was a good read… 

The complete dysfunction of this family was described with such detail…  It really makes you appreciate things like indoor plumbing, and mattresses….  Oh yes and the fact that we eat FOOD not only once a day but MANY times a day.  I can’t imagine allowing my children to suffer the way Jeannette’s mother did.  This book wasn’t written way back when they did without, but rather a modern day current event taking place in the 70’s to now….  I really had to just keep reading because I couldn’t wait to see what this family would next…

I would give this a 4 out of 5 maybe a 41/2

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The Gift review

The Gift

By: Richard Paul Evans 

I anxiously await Richard’s books every year and this year was no different. I knew it would be in bookstores on October 9th so I went out first thing in the morning and bought mine.  I had no intentions of reading this book in one sitting, but I couldn’t put it down!The characters in the book have such deep and emotion filled relationships.  The story is truly touching and if only everyone had the faith of a child….  Collin is an amazing inspiration, and Nathan Hurst is a wonderful loving and compassionate man of honor.  I HIGHLY recommend you RUN not walk to your nearest bookstore and BUY this book; you will want it in your collection for years to come!

I give this book a 5 out 5….

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The Gift

Ok, Richard Paul Evans (my favorite author) just released a book today!  I drove to Borders first thing this morning and bought it!  I am so EXCITED!!  Of course I will give a review once I have read it!  Check it out…

The Gift

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Summer Sisters

Ok when you hear “Judy Blume” do you not think Superfudge, Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing, Are You There God it’s Me Margaret… ?  Well those were my first thoughts anyway…  However she also has some adult books…  I just finished reading “Summer Sisters” I read all 395 pages in two days.  I would definitely rate this book a 5 of 5… 

A story of Victoria (Vix) and Caitlin who are night and day in personality meeting in jr. high, and becoming fast friends.  Their true friendship developes when Vix goes with Caitlin to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer,  where the two friends become summer sisters. On the Vineyard, Vix and Caitlin first find love.  From pre-adolescence to adulthood. Solid Vix evolves into Victoria, an equally solid, Harvard-educated, Manhattan public-relations exec. Unpredictable Caitlin opts out of college and travels to Europe, where she has a string of short-lived affairs with a series of intriguing (in every sense of the word) foreigners. It is only after she returns to the Vineyard that Caitlin does the unthinkable, forever changing both her friendship with Vix and their lives.

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cha~ching hear the cash register ring

Ok, so I just got an email from my neighbor, saying she just returned from a disastrous trip from Target….you know how you want to just “run in and get a couple of things”? Well, almost $200 later…I have my couple of things plus a LOT more! Oooops…  this and the financial freedom class is what inspired this blog… 

My reply:

oooohhhh that is a big ooops… I did that yesterday at Wal-Mart (but I only spent 100.00) Spike said, I thought you were buying, cat food, kitty litter, and laundry soap… Oooops…  Well we are doing a financial freedom class through church called “Managing Our Finances God’s Way” and it’s really eye opening… insert a big GULP right there… Needless to say last night after our small group, Spike and I sat down to go over the “bills” the end result was me being disgusted with my self and my spending habits to the point of taking my ATM card out of my wallet!!!  Spike thought that was extreme, but I feel like I had to do that to stop myself!  I have a friend, who does a ONCE a month Target trip, now her bill is higher, but it prevents her from going in twice a week, and instead of just buying the necessities she was adding this and that, because it was on sale or clearance!  Hellllo that is me….  I figure the average Target or Wal-Mart trip runs me 75.00 to 100.00 at least once a week, but more likely two to three times a week, especially Wal-Mart (darn craft department)…  So if I adapt this once a month shopping, I will save time and money!  I could also apply this to my Costco trips, I always find extra treasures in there, they have such GREAT items… That is always a 200 plus shopping experience… The moral of my story is that I am going to try and

• just buy what’s on the list
• keep my shopping excursions to a monthly trip (except groceries)
• ask myself do I really need this

If I truly view my money as God’s, (which it is) then I will be a far better steward of it.  Here are 5 reasons to dedicate it all to God:

1.    It all belongs to Him.

2.    You are His money manager.

3.    You cannot serve two masters.

4.    You can make an impact on eternity (pay it forward).

5.    God blesses that which we dedicate to Him.

Our pastor had a great little quote on Sunday:

Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
or do without…

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