Gone with the Wind

I can't remember when I first saw the Gone with the Wind movie, but I know I loved it. My mom bought me my own VHS copy in a special commemorative box as a gift. I think I kept it for awhile even after we got rid of the VCR.

I have always been a book person. I can't think of one example of a movie I liked better than the book. I had heard that the Gone with the Wind book was an exception to that rule and wasn't as good as the movie. After seeing the movie I wondered if it might actually be true.

Honestly, I don't know why I never read the book. It's long, but long books don't intimidate me. It's old, but that doesn't bother me either. Probably the biggest reason was I didn't own the book and I was too cheap to buy it. So a few months ago I put it on hold at the library. The digital copy came up and they automatically checked it out to me so I thought I may as well give it a try.

I started reading it and was really enjoying it, but digital loans are short at our library and it had to be "returned" before I finished it. I was liking it enough that I bit the bullet and bought the book. I figure if a solar flare ever destroys earth as we know it this would probably be a book I would be glad to have on my shelf. And as an added bonus I bought myself the movie too; Amazon had it for only $8! The book was double that!

I don't remember now where I heard the movie was better than the book. Well, whoever it was, they were wrong! I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The movie was good because it was fairly (although not completely) true to the book. I felt the book was better because you could really get inside Scarlett's (messed up) head.

Like all my favorite books, I was sad when it ended. My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner!

Blog Book

Another year is in the books! I finally finished the blog book for 2011. I'm only two years behind... that's not too bad! It took me awhile to get it done, mostly because I still had to write a few of the posts from 2011. A few family members have told me it's cheating back date the posts, but I had plenty of photos to remind me and, in some cases, had notes that I jotted down about things I wanted to remember. I'm pretty sure in the year 2041 no one will care!

Now I have to get working on 2012. Thankfully, I have been doing a better job in 2013 so when the year is over I won't have to play catch up.

Book Review: See You in a Hundred Years

As I surf the web, I'm constantly jotting down book titles. I can't even remember now how I heard about this one, but I put it on hold at the library and had Jerry pick it up for me. [One mustn't leave hold books at the library here or they charge you $2!!]

See You in a Hundred Years (by Logan Ward) is a non-fiction book about one couple's attempt to leave behind their stressful lives in New York city and live like it was 1900 for one year. The book was published in 2007, but the family started their experience in the summer of 2001. If you think about that for a minute you'll realize they were living without a phone or television on 9/11. I was pretty impressed with their ability to stay true to their project during that time; especially since they were from, and knew lots of people in, New York.

Since I tend to stress out a bit when doing big projects, I could totally relate when the author noticed the irony in "stressing themselves out in order to de-stress" and "rushing to slow down" as they prepared for the project. I also had to chuckle his wife's addition of vacuuming floors to the "things to do" list prior to starting to live in the past. I would have totally put that on the list as well! His reaction to that was just as funny: "Vacuum floors? Give me a break. We can clean the floors with a broom in 1900."

They brought their two year old son along for the adventure which, of course, presented several challenges and added some humor as well. Throw in a stubborn horse, two crazy goats, and some chickens and you've got potential for some real comedy! Actually, there were several parts in the book where I laughed right out loud.

I learned:

• There are actually city kids who have never seen real cows. 
• Boys Scouts don't always make good neighbors.
• Logs can actually seek revenge (they nicknamed one "Forbidden Log").
• Roosters can run around without their heads for a good long time.
• Fruitcake, real fruitcake, might not be that bad.
• "Baking bread's like a lot of things in life. Easy once you know how."
• Gophers, ground hogs... both evil.
• And, last but not least, my dad isn't the only one to have ever heard of the Fukarwi Indians. (Seriously.)

I suppose part of the reason I enjoyed the book so much was I constantly thought about what I would have done if it were my experiment. If you don't have a fascination with country living and/or the late 19th century this book probably isn't for you. However, if you're normally not a fan of non-fiction, don't let that stop you, it almost reads like fiction. It isn't a challenging read by any means, it might actually have been a good book to have Wesley read if it wasn't for several swear words. :)

To Infinity!

My blog book came via Blurb last week! It turned out even better than I had hoped! I wasn't sure if I was going to like the "soft" cover, but I do. I think that is what I'll order from here on out. Well, unless I splurge for the most expensive cover.

There are typos here and there, but I am a real person and don't have an editor. :) That kind of thing will give it charm, right? Well, that's what I'm telling myself!

I worked a little harder on the cover this time and I'm glad I did! Here it is:
Here are a few randomly chosen pages:


And here is the page showing the blog post when I showed pictures of my first blog book:


I figure if I take one of these each time and post it so it makes it into the next book it will be like looking into a mirror with a mirror behind you. My blog... to infinity!

Coming to a Bookshelf Near Me!

After working on it on and off for the last few months I finally got my second blog book off to the printer this week! I have yet to receive it in the mail, but anxiously await it's arrival. It's a monster of a book! Twice as long as the first, just under 250 pages, and includes over 800 pictures. After the last book, I decided I wanted to get on a "calendar" year schedule, so this book actually has 18 months worth of blog posts.

I was very pleased with my first book so, once again, I used Blurb. Their "Book Smart" program pulled all my blog posts and put them into book format, one post per page. I was then able to edit and reformat. It is quite time consuming but fun as well. You can re-size the photos and use fonts or backgrounds as decorations.

Blogger now offers a service (Blog2Print) that allows you to turn your blog into a book. I considered this newer option but went with Blurb because they allow a bit more editing and customizing. Both services offer soft or hardcover. Blurb will actually publish anything! So you've written something that you would like to see in print, you might want to check out their site.

The longer the book, the higher the cost so I paid a pretty penny this time! But you can't really put a price tag on something that is so unique and special. I consider this blog my hobby (and my journal!) and printing it is my only cost. Last time I chose the hardcover (with dust jacket) and this time I chose the softcover. They do offer a hardcover with the image on the actual cover, but that is the most expensive option. Maybe next time I'll give that option a try.

The cover is pictured above. I put a little more effort into the front and back covers this time. I didn't really think too much about them the first time I ordered and they were a little bit boring. As I figure things out over time I'm sure each book with get better and better! Just in case you want to check it out, here is the link for info on ordering.

Bits and Pieces

Here are a few random Shown family tidbits...

Tonight I will be giving a short presentation on organizing and cleaning at the twins club meeting. I am not really a fan of public speaking, so if you feel like saying a little prayer for me about 7pm tonight, I would appreciate it. I think I have everything in order and am ready... at least I hope so.

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We went on a family walk last night, the first in a long time. Spring is just around the corner and the days are getting longer... but we're not quite there yet. Everyone was freezing cold by the time we got home.

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Wesley and I have been reading a few of Thorton W. Burgess' books about animals. I picked up a copy of Lightfoot the Deer somewhere (thrift store maybe?) and Wesley really enjoyed it. No surprise there, he has always been fond of animals and nature stories.

So after we finished Lightfoot, I thought I'd try to find us another book from the series about the creatures of the Green Forrest. Since the books are older, they are in the public domain and available free from various sources. After reading through the list of available books, Wesley chose Blacky the Crow.

So, here we are reading a book old enough to be in the public domain on my iPod touch! Old meets new... crazy! [On a side note, I highly recommend the "Stanza" app for downloading and reading books in the public domain.]

Anyway, here is quote from yesterday's reading that I really loved:

As black is black and white is white,
So wrong is wrong and right is right.

There isn’t any half way about it. A thing is wrong or it is right, and that is all there is to it. But most people have hard work to see this when they want very much to do a thing that the still small voice way down inside tells them isn’t right. They try to compromise. To compromise is to do neither one thing nor the other but a little of both. But you can’t do that with right and wrong. It is a queer thing, but a half right never is as good as a whole right, while a half wrong often, very often, is as bad as a whole wrong.

Amen! They just don't write books like that anymore! Speaking of reading, Wesley is slowly turning into a book worm. He has been requesting weekly trips to the library for more Boxcar Children books. He enjoys the kiddie mysteries, although he admits to reading ahead sometimes because he can't stand the suspense! He is setting a good example for the twins, who have taken to carrying around chapter books that they can't quite read. They even tell me how many pages they have "left" in the chapter just like Wesley does.

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Most of you who also read Jerry's blog know he re-posted the "Why We Homeschool" post I wrote on his blog. He gets a lot more hits per day than I do so it was kind of fun knowing a few additional people read what I wrote. Another blogger "shared" the link on Facebook and Jer got a few extra clicks yesterday. I got a kick out of someone wanting to "share" it! Thank you to those of you who left such nice comments on that post. We did have one person ask about the reasons I didn't mention (#1, #2, and #8). If you want to see all ten reasons head over to the original article I quoted.

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This concludes the most random post ever written by yours truly!

Book Review: Family Feasts for $75 a Week

After hearing about it on a few blogs, I was excited to get this book from the library to see if I could learn a few new grocery saving tips. Unfortunately, Family Feasts for $75 a Week fell short of my expectations.

I felt a little misled by the title. Knowing Mary Ostyn has 10 children, I figured if she could feed her family for $75 a week, I had a few things to learn from her. But the author (or editors) did the math for her family and then reworked it for a family of four to come up with the title. Mary is not paying $75 a week to feed her family. Instead, she pays about $75 per person per month or around $200 per week. With her numbers our goal (for a family of 8) would be about $138 per week. We're already under that!

The first section covers the "how to" and is relatively short. If you need a "beginner's guide" to grocery savings this book would be an excellent place to start. It's not that I disagree with anything she says... in fact, the reason our grocery spending is so low is that we are doing many of the things she suggests! I was just disappointed by the fact it didn't really have an "new, improved" ideas. The second part of the book is recipes, some of them sound really good, so if you are looking for some new frugal recipes this book might be worth reading.

Either way, I suggest you check it out from the library first to see if you find it helpful before purchasing it.

Preparing

I'm working on a post about Christmas and one about the trip. We've got lots going on this week, but we're never too busy to learn. Wesley took some time out to read for a bit last night. You sure can tell what a kid is thinking about by looking at what he's reading!

Just Read It!

I took the boys to the library this morning. As we were heading to check out we passed a poster that said: "JUST READ IT!" I suppose that was the library's version of Nike's "Just Do It". As we walked by it, Justus asked me what it said...so, I told him without really even thinking about it. He looked at me, with a kind of hurt expression, and said, "But, Mom, I can't read yet." Wesley and I had a good laugh. Justus never did get what was so funny!

Speaking of books, if you are looking for a couple interesting reads, I just finished and recommend:

Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block
Very interesting book about c-sections, natural childbirth, homebirths, and our current medical system.

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
The first book I read off my LOST book list. Very interesting and nothing like I usually read.

And You Just Thought It Was a TV Show!

You all know I only watch one show on TV. Well, if you didn't, you know now! LOST is that show. I think when the series comes to an end I'll just toss the TV. I won't need it anymore anyway. I'll just spend the rest of my life re-watching old LOST episodes on DVD and digging deeper into the hidden meanings of the show. What hidden meanings you say? It's just a show! There is nothing deep about it...

Read this blog post to change your mind. Literary references abound in this show where main characters are named after famous philosophers (John Locke, Hume, Rousseau) and episode titles are also books (Through the Looking Glass, Stranger in a Strange Land, Catch-22). The author of the above mentioned blog post, book guru J. Wood, has written a book about Lost. If you don't want to get the book, he writes a weekly post (like the one linked above) about the show that will make you feel stupid with a capital S. I was shocked the first time I read one of his posts. I wondered if I had even been watching the same show.

If you're like me and love to read, just reading the books referenced or seen on the show will take a good long time. Books...that Sawyer read, that lined the shelves of the hatch, and that the Others had a club to discuss! When you're done with those you can move on to reading the books that the writers used for inspiration. It could take years. At least I know I'll have something to do when the show ends!

Published!

Well, I finally did it! I have been wanting to do this since May when I had blogging for one year. I had the first year's worth of blog posts published in book format. So I guess that means I am now offically a published author.

I used an online company called Blurb. They have a program you can download onto your computer. You give them some info and they pull all of your blog posts into the program. You are then able to edit out and reformat to your heart's content. I found that was the most time consuming (and fun!) part. Backgrounds and fonts are available to dress up the pages, almost like a digital scrapbook. I didn't do too much of that since I wanted it to look like it did on the blog. I did add backgrounds to a few pages just for fun.

When you are done editting you upload the finished product to their site and they print it for you. Only when you print do you have to pay. Everything up to that point is free. Books are pretty reasonably priced depending on number of pages and cover style. I chose a hard cover with dust jacket and my book was about 120 pages. I had a free shipping code so I saved a bit with that and ended up paying just over $50. This frugal momma choked a bit at the cost but the finished product turned out great and is...well...priceless.

Cover

Pages (above and below)

Inside back dust jacket

Blurb isn't just for blogs either. If you have a book you want to publish, they will do it for you. One book or 200. Stories, poems, cookbooks, photos, etc. You can order a copy of any book on their site, including mine (although mine is set to "private" right now--if you want the link let me know).

Books that Challenged My Thinking

I read a lot of books. I enjoy fiction but also read plenty of non-fiction. The following are some of the books I have read in the past few years that have really challenged me. I used to view the world quite a bit differently than I do now, thanks in part to these books.

• Money: The Two-Income Trap: why middle-class mothers and fathers are going broke by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi AND The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
• Cleaning: Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley
  
• Coupons: Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom by Stephanie Nelson
• Feminism: The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality by Mary Pride
• Contraception: A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ by Rick and Jan Hess
• Children: Children: Blessing or Burden by Max Heine
• Assisted Reproduction: Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Our World by Liza Mundy
• School: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
• Our Government: Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth and Tragedy of Ruby Ridge and the Randy Weaver Family by Jess Walter
• Conservatism: Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots by Rod Dreher
• Food: More-With-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre
• Islam: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn
• Self Sufficiency: The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
• Just About Everything: The Bible

If you have ever seen the movie The Matrix you will know what I mean when I say that I often joke with Jerry about how it was a lot easier to coast happily through life before I took "the red pill" and started thinking about these things. :)

A New PBS

No, not the Public Broadcasting System...it's Paperback Swap! I have been hearing about this site for a while now but never gave it a try. Now that I'm on the lookout for an inexpensive source for good books to use for school I thought I'd join.

The great thing about PBS is...the books are all FREE! You list books you don't want and when someone requests your book you mail it to them (costs about $2 or so). For each book you send you get a credit to request one of your choice and the other person pays to ship it to you.

It's perfect if you want to...

• read books the library doesn't have...
• get books cheap...
• get rid of some books...
• reduce, reuse, and recycle...
  

When you list your first 10 books you get two free credits to give it a try. Then every time you send a book you get another credit. Jerry and I chose 12 books we didn't want anymore and listed them. Almost immediately we had 3 requests. I was shocked. Now these weren't bestsellers. They were an odd assortment of non-fiction and cookbooks. But most people, now us included, have a "wish list" of books and as soon as one of those books is listed you get an email.

If you love to read or if you have books sitting around collecting dust that you'll never read...this is for you! You get "new" books and get rid of ones you don't want anymore! The selection is awesome and changes constantly. Jerry and I had a great time putting books on our wish list! Now the real fun starts though...as we are shipping books and getting others in return.

You can also get credits for referring new members...so if you are interested and want to give it a try...click on the blue PaperBack Swap button on the lower part of the side bar on the left. (Below my reading list) Then we can get an extra book!! And if you have any questions let me know!

A Short Book Review

Don't know if you ever look at my reading list, but I just finished The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How my Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan. It was a quick non-fiction read. Terry Ryan, the author, is one of Evelyn Ryan's ten kids. Evelyn kept the family afloat by winning contests with her jingles of 25 words or less. Some parts had me laughing out loud! Evelyn was born a few decades too soon. She would have been an awesome advertising executive. Mr. Ryan was quite a piece of work (aren't all Irishmen!). As I read I couldn't help thinking how fun this families blog would have been! Some pieces of her "round robin" letters to her "contesting" friends even sound like blog posts! It's a quick glimpse back in time to a large family with a great sense of humor that remained upbeat in spite of their circumstances!

Books

I noticed something about our house the other day while I was putting away laundry. We have books or reading material in every single room of our house. We actually have book shelves in: our room, the baby's room, the kitchen, Roz's room, and several on the landing upstairs. We have a big basket in the living room with kids books. The boys have a drawer full of books in their room. We LOVE books. We are on our 4th copy of Goodnight Moon so sometimes we love our books to death.

Our TOP TEN favorite board books for children ages birth to two are:

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
• The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton
• Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
• Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton
• Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
  
• Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino and Steven Kellogg
• Old, New, Red, Blue! (Cars book) by RH Disney
• The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault, and Lois Ehlert
  

okay...make that eleven...

• Mirror Me (Baby Einstein) by Julie Aigner-Clark

Hayden had three of these (Mirror Me, Goodnight Moon, and Old, New...) memorized before he turned two. He is our biggest bookworm yet!

Two of Hayden's favorites

Our TOP TEN most read (and requested) books for children ages two to five are:

• Snip Snap What's That? by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland
• Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman and Marla Frazee
• Corduroy by Don Freeman
• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
• The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman and Tim Raglin
• Meet My Staff by Patricia Marx and Roz Chast
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett
• Birds (National Audubon Society First Field Guides) by Scott Weindensaul
• The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg
• the books I made--see below

A couple pages from the books I made

The boys love the books I made for them. I got blank books and used Sharpie markers to draw simple pictures. I put things in there personalized just for them: address, phone number, colors, favorite things, even our menu. I got a chunky board book instead of paper to make one for Hayden since he loved the big boys books so much. They love to read about themselves. I think age 3 is the best age for this. They don't care if you can't draw! I didn't put any people in the books since I can't draw people or faces. I did draw a pretty sorry looking Bob the Builder in one though. If you want to avoid drawing altogether you could use stickers or now you can even take photos and have it made into a book online at Shutterfly or Snapfish.

Our main "library", branches are available in every room!

Keep the kids books on the lower shelves so they can reach them!

This last year we branched out to beginning readers for Wesley. I should make a top ten list of those because some are pretty bad. If you want to get started writing that would be a good place to start! Fresh material is badly needed in that genre. We did make a few of our own but I don't think they'll be published any time soon.

What we do to encourage reading:

• Keep books in all areas of the house
• Keep books where kids can reach them
• Read something every day
• Read to the kids
• Read in front of the kids
• Read in a house, with a mouse...just kidding, just seeing if you were paying attention
• Let each kid have their own books
• Make your own books
• Expect some books to get chew or ripped (hopefully not the ones YOU made!)
• Go to the library
• Record yourself reading books and let the kids listen to the CD at naptime

Okay, instead of a poll this time...please leave a comment and tell me your favorite kids book or books.

Annual Budget Review

Last night we had our "Annual Budget Review". Jerry and I sit down once a year, at the beginning of January, and set new budget limits for the year and review how we did the previous year. Sometimes we have some nice surprises and other times we are shocked at how much we went over budget (last year we were way over on dining out!). Strange as it may sound we actually look forward to our yearly review. It is also fun to look back at all our budgets from years past.

We use Quicken to keep track of all our accounts. We don't balance the checkbook on paper at all anymore. Since it is all on the computer we print off a "report". We can look up anything we need since it is all right on the computer. We try very hard to categorize where all our money goes. We did pretty good...this year we only had $9 in miscellaneous for all of 2007!

We used to be "average" savers. We would save up some but something would always come along to eat up the savings and if it got too high then we would spend thinking we had enough. Thankfully, we had minimal debt...a car payment, an occasional credit card we didn't pay off right away, and, of course, the mortgage.

But we had a major break through in our finances a few years ago. We sat down and added up all the non-monthly bills. You know the ones that come and you think "why didn't I save up for this....I knew it was coming". We took that total and divided it by 52 weeks and started putting that into our savings account by direct deposit (so we didn't have to think about it) when Jerry got paid each week. We also figured out what we should have left each week after paying ALL the bills and added that to the direct deposit amount as well to kind of force of to save. We thought we'd see if we could live without that money but knew it was there just in case. It was kind of our habit to spend it if it was there.

Our non-monthly bills list is as follows (I'm sure everyone's would be a little different):

Water bill (ours come quarterly)
Medical bills (not covered by insurance)
Vet bill (annual exam and meds)
Dog grooming (quarterly)
Car insurance (twice a year)
Life insurance (quarterly)
Gifts (birthday, Christmas)
Safe Deposit Box (once a year)
Car registration (once a year)
Car repair (just in case)
Property taxes (once a year...we do not escrow ours and earn the interest in the mean time!!)
Tax preparation fees (once a year)
Subscriptions (newspaper)
Membership dues
IRA contributions
Home repair
Clothing
Charity (not tithing that is weekly)
Church activities (kids, trips, etc)

Basically the only things we budget for on a monthly (sometimes
weekly) basis are:
Mortgage
Telephone/Cell phone
Electric/Gas
Gas for the vehicles
Groceries
Household (paper goods, shampoo, etc)
Dining out (we really need to cut back on this one!)
Internet
Medical/Dental (comes out of paycheck weekly)
Tithe

A little over one third of Jer's paycheck goes right to savings, some to be spent later when we need it, and some to be saved. So now when those non-monthly bills come we transfer the money from savings to checking and pay them. No problem. Plus with the "forced" savings our account really started to grow! So much so that we looked into other places to keep it so it would earn more interest for us. We finally decided on a money market deposit account (MMDA) which has the great interest rates of a money market but is also insured like a regular savings account. Now we keep our savings there (we use Capital One's MMDA) and love to see the interest! Way better than our bank and no minimum balance either!

Using this method we no longer carry a balance EVER on a credit card. Our vehicles are paid for so no more car payments. Right now we are trying extra hard to save for a down payment on the new house. Once we have the new house we would like to work towards paying off the mortgage early. We have done all of the above over the last few years as our family has been growing (and most years we have had high medical bills as well since we have a high deductible plan and preemies!). We often wonder how much we could have saved by now if we had only started sooner!

I just thought I would share...this is what works for us. As far as saving money goes, I think the most important thing is do SOMETHING. It doesn't have to be this method or any other in particular...find what works for you and your family!

Until I write mine (ha!)...here are some financial books I found helpful if you are interested...check the library:

• The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
  
• The Two-Income Trap and All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren
• America's Cheapest Family by the Economides
  
• The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
• Raising Kids with Just a Little Cash by Lisa Reid
• Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two Income Economy by Jonni McCoy
• Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

My Bookshelf

*Check back often...this list is always changing!*

Books I'm Currently Reading:

• Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
• Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family in a Small Family World by Meagan Francis
• Blacky the Crow by T. Burgess (with Wesley)
  
• Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell
• about 4,000 magazines that I got free subscriptions to :)
  

Books I've Recently Read:

• (for books currently being read...see above)
• FINISHED: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
• FINISHED: Dragon Fly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• FINISHED: Lightfoot the Deer by Burgess (with Wesley)
  
• FINISHED: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
  
• FINISHED: Once in Every Life by Kristin Hannah
  
• FINISHED: Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
• FINISHED: The Boxcar Children (book 1) with Wesley
• FINISHED: The Shack by William Young (thumbs down)
  
• FINISHED: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (audio book)
• FINISHED: Beowulf with Wesley
  
• FINISHED: Treasure Island with Wesley
• FINISHED: Home Educating With Confidence: How Ordinary Parents Can Produce By Rick Boyer
• FINISHED: The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer
• FINISHED: Time and Again by Jack Finney
• FINISHED: Poppy and Rye (with Wesley)
• FINISHED: Replay by Ken Grimwood (LOST list)--great book!
• FINISHED: Manager's of Their Chores by Steve and Terri Maxwell (excellent!)
• FINISHED: File Don't Pile by by Pat Dorff
• FINISHED: The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (wow!)
• FINISHED: The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares (LOST list)
• FINISHED: Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block
• FINISHED: Poppy (with Wesley)
  
• FINISHED: Ragweed (with Wesley)
  
• FINISHED: Survival for Busy Women by Emilie Barnes
• FINISHED: The Duggars: 20 and Counting! by J. and M. Duggar
• FINISHED: The Longing by Beverly Lewis
• FINISHED: Gianna by Jessica Shaver
• FINISHED: 102 Minutes The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by J. Dwyer and K. Flynn
• FINISHED: To Train Up a Child by Michael Pearl
• Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style by Harvey Bluedorn

Some of my ALL TIME favorites:

• The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality by Mary Pride
• Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
• The Duggars: 20 and Counting! by J. and M. Duggar
• Yes, They're All Ours: Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other by Rick and Marilyn Boyer
• A Full Quiver by Rick and Jan Hess
• The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Replay by Ken Grimwood
• The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Favorite Kids Books:

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Snip Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland
• The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
• Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
  

For the Boys:

CURRENT MOON

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