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Journaling – Week 3




Day 15: A good idea

This week I’ve been on a social media break. I didn’t made any grand announcements or anything, I just simply deleted the apps from my phone so they wouldn’t tempt me. I did sign in and scroll a little, but ultimately I didn’t miss anything. This was a good idea because it’s eye opening to know how many times you think, “I should put that on Facebook,” or “oh, that’s a good one, I should share…” I never thought I was an over-sharer, but I think I am. People don’t really need to know everything that happens. This wasn’t really my reasoning for taking a break – that is personal and has nothing to do with the election or negativity or any of that; but it was an interesting discovery about myself and my habits. 

Day 16: What are your personal gifts?

Am I a gift? Do I have gifts? I mean, I can do a lot of things. I’m a positive person, and choose to think the best of people even at the worst of times. I read, blog, knit, crochet, am raising 3 awesome kids a long side my husband and I power-lift. I’m sure there’s a lot more to me than that, but honestly I am not gifted in any of these areas. I’m just me in those areas.

Day 17: A quote that inspires you

Deuteronomy 11:26 Today I am given you the choice between a blessing and a curse.

– This inspires me because God has given us a choice every single day. Every single day I have to make a decision how I want to live my life. Maybe I’m alone, but I find freedom in this. It makes me want to make the best of every day. 

Day 18: A mistake that helped you grow

So about 10 years ago my husband and I filed for bankruptcy. Yeah. Not good times. But I learned a lot about debt and money, and responsibility in those late 20’s moments that I am hardpressed to forget now. If anything, I know I NEVER want to be so far in over my head again, and I know what I need to do to keep afloat…even when life throws those wrenches at you.

Day 19: When you feel the most rested

The days I don’t have to use the alarm clock. I swear to you, I wake up basically at the same time anyway, maybe a half hour or 45 minutes later – but I think I get a better nights sleep just knowing I don’t have something to get up and do, even if the number of hours is the same. Oh, and after a stay-cation. I tend to be a lazy bum when I do those! J

Day 20: Word you want to share with others

You. Are. Good. Enough. I mean, maybe you’ll need practice or lessons or help. But seriously, in this game of life…you are good enough. I am good enough. 

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Journal Prompts – Week 2

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Day 7: Your Top three Priorities

1. My Relationship with Jesus Christ
2. Justin – my husband, lover, best friend, favorite person on the entire planet.
2. (no, that’s not a mistake) My three beautiful children!
3. Living my life to the fullest – or what I consider the fullest.

Day 8: A list of places you have visited

Oiy, this is going to be hard…..I’m just going to list them.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Illinois, Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands….that’s probably not it.

Day 9: Do your actions match your words?

I try my hardest to make sure they do.  I always want my yeses to be yes, and my nos to be no; however I’m human an I fail at times.  Unfortunately, probably the most with my kids.  I hate that reality.

Day 10: One thing you learned about yourself last year?

I’ve sort of known this, but I think this last year proved it more than usual. I never jump to the worst conclusion about people.  I always think people are mostly good, even when their words and actions say otherwise.  More than once in the past year my husband (who tends to lean the opposite) has pointed out something, and I’m always ready with an excuse…maybe they are having a bad day, maybe they didn’t realize what they were saying or how it could be taken…but usually; most of the time….he was right and I wasn’t.  However, I don’t really care to change this.  I don’t want to think bad of people.

Day 11: A challenge you have overcome

Well, I’m picking on that I’ve come a long way on.  I’m a bit of a worrier, but I used to worry to the extent of it becoming paralyzing.  I’ve really come a long, long way in this area.  My worry was at it’s worse when I was young, and I’m so glad that at some point I decided I couldn’t live my life wondering on the what if’s, and had to live my life.  Otherwise, I think I would be in a completely different place in life today.

Day 12:  A need you can meet

I can be a friend when needed, a listening year.  I can help financially when I don’t think I’m enabling something else (I have very strong issues about enabling…but I’ve come from a family of addicts).  I be and do all sorts of things, should people ask.

Day 13:  A place you have been recently

Well, last night Justin and I went to a new restaurant.  It was actually a brewery, but they had vegan options for food – so we thought we’d try it out.  It was different; as in, we walked in and had no idea how to behave.  You just sat at open seats, went to the bar to order food.  They had long tables all down the middle and some bars to sit at, and about 3 or 4 round individual tables.  We ended up at a long table with a couple who were on their first date (Match.com) and we talked to them.  It was an interesting/different experience.  The food was…okay…but the experience was fun.

Day 14: Someone who made you proud

This week it was my youngest daughter, Abigail.  Abigail got a piece of wood…it was HUGH, stuck in her foot.  We went to the Children’s ER, and were there half the night.  She had to get needles stuck in her foot…not once, but TWICE, and didn’t throw a fit, or even cry.  She was so brave and real.  Her realness and ability to converse will with adults really shined through that night.

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Week in Review – Week 2

img_8870Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope this week has found everyone well.  I’m really hopeful that I can make something fun out of this Week in Review weekly posting, as I fear that my slow progress through my ‘reading’ list might actually become boring.  I’m sorry about that, but I do spend a lot of time doing things like working, mothering, powerlifting, wifeing.  You know, all very important things. img_8851

Another couple of my activities also include knitting and crocheting, and since July I’ve been keeping a Bullet Journal.  This week I was happy to re-stock on my favorite pens for my journal.  I’m a leftie, and I have trouble with img_8844the push/drag of pens.  Sharpies are pretty smooth riding, and I love the boldness of the ink.

I also finished up a scarf that I had been working on for……well, way too long.  A friend purchased the yarn and asked me to make her a Bronco’s scarf.  I did.  But I should have gotten it done about a year ago.  Yiee.  But I HAD to finish it because I want to start making Christmas gifts for this year, and I didn’t want to start making new things until I finished the one that I had committed to first. img_8825

Also in the playbook for this week was starting the preparations for my youngest daughter’s 10th birthday!  She is alllll about Five Nights at Freddy’s right now, so I’m doing a FNAF themed birthday party, the best I can anyway.  I already said it on Facebook, but Chuck E. Cheese’s really needs to bank in on this new and probably quickly passing fad while they can.  Do you know how many pre-teens would LOOOOVE to go see the freaky animatronics from their game, and play in an arcade as well?  Seriously, get with it people, before the opportunity is gone.  Anyhow, I’ve got a few things on Etsy ready to buy, and I picked up some REALLY nice and REALLY expensive FNAF invitations.  They are glossy print pictures, but $20 for invitations is a lot, you know.  Still, the nicest invitations I’ve ever purchased by far, so it does kind of take some of the hurt out of the purchase.  If it wasn’t such a specific theme and I told the kid from now on we are only doing parties for the milestone birthdays (10, 13, 16, 18) from now on – so I kind of felt like it had to happen, you know?

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Kind of creepy, don’t you agree?

 

Okay, so on to the books.

I visited NetGalley.com this week, and decided to allow myself 3 requests.  I will wait to hear back about these requests before I can go request anything more…that way I prevent having a huge influx of books that absolutely must be reviewed!  So here is what I requested:

24763621Wintersong by S. Jae-Joenes

All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.

But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.

Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.

 

 

28220899 Freaks by Amanda Hocking

Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…

Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.

When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.

But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodies are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.

Bestselling author Amanda Hocking draws readers inside the dark and mysterious world of Freeks.

 

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The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller

Pride, prejudice and forgiveness…
Hampton Hall’s new owner has the villagers of St. Hampton Heath all aflutter–all except Lavinia Ellison. The reverend’s daughter cares for those who are poor and sick, and the seventh Earl of Hawkesbury definitely does not meet that criteria. His refusal to take his responsibilities seriously, or even darken the door of the church, leave her convinced he is as arrogant and reckless as his brother–his brother who stole the most important person in Lavinia’s world.

Nicholas Stamford is shadowed by guilt: his own, his brother’s, the legacy of war. A perfunctory visit to this dreary part of Gloucestershire wasn’t supposed to engage his heart, or his mind. Challenged by Miss Ellison’s fascinating blend of Bluestocking opinions, hoydenish behavior, and angelic voice, he finds the impossible becoming possible–he begins to care. But Lavinia’s aloof manner, society’s opposition and his ancestral obligations prove most frustrating, until scandal forces them to get along.

Can Lavinia and Nicholas look beyond painful pasts and present prejudice to see their future? And what will happen when Lavinia learns a family secret that alters everything she’s ever known?

My currently reading list is actually the same as it was last week, so I won’t bore you with that one.  So until next time my lovely readers, cheers!

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Journal Prompts – Week 1


Another something new I’m trying out. I got these short journal prompts via Pinterest, and have been using them in my Bullet Journal. 

This is just the weekly pages, I have a monthly tracker and lists too.


I figured that so far the information wasn’t overly private, it would make a cute weekly blog post. If ever it gets too private, I’ll just mark the day as such and move on.  This week’s is a bit shorter because the week started on Sunday, and I’m going to post on Fridays. Let’s just see how this goes, shall we? 

1. What are you most looking forward to?

 Making memories with my kids. Spending time with my husband. Finding out what God has in store for us this year.

2. Three goals for this month.

a. Creating better home cleaning habits

b. Being more ‘present’ when I’m home with the kids.

c. Start my home-made Christmas presents for 2017.

3. Describe your day in 10 words.

a. Catching up with work, then home relaxing with a book.

4. Something that you’re looking forward to.

a. The weekend trip Justin and I have planned in February

5. A time you don’t want to forget

There are many.

a. The birth of all of my kids

b. Marrying Justin

c. The day we met

d. Dancing under the stars after our first date

e. Our first kiss

f. Sitting with my grandpa in his big red chair and watching tv at 5.

6. A trip you want to take this year.

a. I want to go to the beach with my husband and kids.

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Week In Review & Currently Reading

So this is something new I’m going to try – we’ll see how consistent I can be with it.  Just to give you a little look into my life and see what’s happening.  My hope is to do this on Sunday evenings, but since this week has been messed up due to the holidays, Monday it is.

So this week has been pretty nice.  I haven’t had many back-to-back days off of work in a while, so having 5 days over the Christmas weekend, and then 4 over the New Year’s weekend was a special treat for me. You would think that I would have read more, but geesh, times are busy.  I did get to Barnes and Noble and purchased the first two books of The Illuminae Files series.  My friend has raved about these books (mostly the audiobooks) but when I saw them in person, the cover, the inside – everything, I knew I had to own them!

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I also went shopping with my children.  They spent pretty much all their Christmas money. but that’s okay…it was the point I guess.  I know I should probably teach them to save (and my son has learned that concept since he saved a couple years ago and bought himself an ipad, which is probably the most used electronic he owns).  But we had fun.  Abigail bought herself a whole load of Five Nights at Freddy’s stuff.  She’s also gearing up for a FNAF birthday party later this month.  Azalyah paid to have her ears pierced (again) and then took advantage of the sales at Claire’s.  Elijah bought a GIGANTIC stuff tiger.  I wish he wouldn’t have…I encouraged him to look around for something else…alas, he has a thing for tigers. :/

What I’m Reading:

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I have the ARC Version of The Piper’s Price by Audrey Greathouse which she sent me for review.  I’m about 30% into it, and I’m hoping for a bit of action here soon, it’s kind of moving slowly for me right now.

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Illuminea by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff  I just couldn’t wait to open the cover of this series.  It’s written via documentation and acquired IM conversations on board a ship in space…it’s kind of the YA Star Trek without non-humans so far.  Very fun to read!

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How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  This is for a class I’m taking at work.  Maybe I’ll figure out how to be a little less introverted! 😉

 

 

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Getting to Know Your Blogger

I was tagged in a post by Alisha at The Bohemian Housewife WAYYYYYY back forever ago, to do this ‘getting to know your blogger’ survey.  I started it and just recently got the chance to finish.  So I figured, what better way to start off the new year than a quick survey!?  And by quick, I actually mean quite long….

  1. What is your Nickname:  Neeters
  2. Favorite Dessert: Cinnamon Rolls, please.
  3. Do you have any pets? What are they?  Three Cats; Jasper, Jinx and Joe, and one Fish: Ezekiel
  4. Book you’re currently reading? The Piper’s Price, Audrey Greathouse
  5. Best book you’ve read in the past 30 days?  I haven’t read much in the last 30 days.  Paper Crown I guess.
  6. What is your Song of the Week?  Heathens – Twenty-One Pilots
  7. When was the last time you cried?  I don’t know..but I guarantee it was a video I just watched on Facebook.
  8. What are the three closest things to you?  Phone, Nail File, Coffee Cup
  9. What time do you normally wake up?  6:15 – I’m a full time working mom, have to get those kids up, ready for school and out the door by 7:20.
  10. What is the last text you sent?  Dangerous question, it could be anything if I’m texting my husband.  But you’re in luck, not TMI:  “What kind of soup were we going to make?”
  11. If you could have any book character as your BFF, who would it be?  Tessa Gray from The Infernal Devices.
  12. Sushi or Pasta?  Sushi from Fusion because their vegan sushi is awesome! J
  13. Have you ever gone skinny dipping?  I’m going to be honest and say that I do not have near enough confidence to do something like that.
  14. What color is your shirt?  Black and white stripped
  15. When do you blog? Lately, I don’t.  I’m at work 9 hours a day, and when I’m at home my husband or kids are on the computer – hubby works full time and is in college full time as well, but since we’re looking at a new year, I’m trying to make some goals that will have me blogging more frequently.
  16. How many states have you been to?  Gosh, I don’t know.  Like visited, or driven through.  I’m going to go with visited and guess 10.
  17. How many Countries have you been to?  4 if you include USA.  I’ve been on a couple cruises, that helped me out with this one some!
  18. What is your comfort food?  Whatever it is, it must include bread.
  19. Favorite thing that is blue?  Well, that is my favorite color, so that’s a hard call, but I’m going to go with the ocean.  I’ve been on two cruises, and nothing is as beautiful and changing as the blue ocean.
  20. Favorite Holiday Candy?  Why Holiday?  That’s pretty specific.  Chocolate is good.  Chocolate covered pretzels..or um…OREOS! Yum!
  21. Last movie you watched?  Doctor Strange
  22. If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you pick?  A cat.  I’m pretty happy.

Say the first book that comes to your mind:

  1. Funny: My Lady Jane
  2. Sad: I don’t read many sad books on purpose.  The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey
  3. Epic: Six of Crows
  4. Scary: I don’t do scary.
  5. Long: The last book of The Cinder Chronicles..I didn’t think it was ever going to end.
  1. What is your favorite holiday?  Thanksgiving or 4th of July.  Both because it’s time with family with no added pressure.
  2. Name something you’ve always wanted to do.  Travel to Paris.  I took French in High School, and while I was there the class took at least 2 trips to France, but I wasn’t able to afford to go either of the years.  Now I just…want to go.
  3. Do you have any tattoos?  I just got one this year…and that is the only reason it’s not listed above.
  4. What is your strange habit?  What makes you think I have any?  My habits are pretty normal.  I used to bite my nails all the time, but then I discovered Jamberry Wraps…problem solved (finally…seriously I’ve been biting my nails since basically childbirth).
  5. How many siblings do you have?  One whole brother, one half sister, 5 sister-in-laws (counting both sides) and 2 brother-in-laws.
  6. Pizza or Tacos?  Pizza.  For sure.
  7. Sad Endings or Happily Ever After?  Always Happily Ever After for me.
  8. What is the last thing you drank?  You can always rest assured, it’s either water, coffee, or tea.  I don’t drink much else.
  9. Would you rather be a mermaid or space traveler?  Mermaid.  I think that what I’d find in the ocean would be prettier than the vast area of space.
  10. Doctor Who or The Walking Dead?  Er..no?
  11. Do you dance in the car?  Yes.  And I’m the world’s best karaokier…in the car.
  12. Favorite subject in school?  Band.  All my friends were there.
  13. What is the weirdest thing you own?  Who came up with these questions? I don’t know.  I’m about as normal as normal gets.
  14. What is on the walls of the room you are in?  Family pictures, and paintings that either I or my daughter painted in those paint classes that are popular now.
  15. Have you ever won a big giveaway?  A big one, no?  I rarely win anything, my mom apparently kept all the luck she was supposed to pass to me.  She wins things all the time.  A big screen tv, a wide variety of concert tickets, money.  She’s got a knack for winning.
  16. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go?  Ha!  Paris, France.
  17. What is your biggest pet peeve?  When people use the word ‘irregardless.’
  18. What movies could you watch over and over and still love?  I’m a re-watcher, much like I’m a re-reader.  My family watches Harry Potter movies every year (we’re in the middle of a re-watch now), Pride and Prejudice (with Kiera Knightly), Ferris Bueller, 27 Dresses…there are for sure many, many more.
  19. Were you ever a boy/girl scout?  For a short amount of time.
  20. Ever ran out of gas?  Yes. A few times in 2016 alone…my gas gauge was broken.
  21. Where would you want to retire to?  Anywhere warm.  And if they had normal size bugs also – that would be a bonus.
  22. Are you a morning person or a night owl?  I used to be a night owl, but growing up has changed that.  I’m a semi-morning person.  I don’t really want to get up, but once I’m up I tend to wake up pretty easily.
  23. What is most important in life?  I’m going to go with Family on this one.  And love.  Not receiving as much as giving.
  24. ….I’m supposed to add one, but this survey is already really long.

 

TAG THREE BLOGGERS: Lenore from Celebrity Readers,