Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Hidden Agenda By Lisa Harris


"Hidden Agenda" by Lisa Harris is a Christian mystery romance.  It is about the undercover cop who everyone thinks is dead named Michael Hunt.  He is rescued from being killed by a drug cartel by the most unlikely of rescuers one of the cartel leaders daughter and son.  That is enough of the story without giving much away.  I was intrigued to read this book as I like a good mystery.  My favorite character in the whole book is Ivan the son of one of the cartel's who is also deaf.  The young man was portrayed in the book as very smart and brave he was an wonderful character in the book.  This one was not to my liking as I like my story not to have a constant amount of action or a the hints of romance. The book was a constant action book which is not always my style except in mystery movies.   It would be a great movie but just needed to slow down a little bit for my taste in books.  Also I just don't think that every mystery book out there especially in the Christian world needs romance in them, I am tired of the romance in almost every Christian fiction I read especially the ones that are not listed as romance. I still would recommend this book for anyone who likes a fast paced action type mystery romance book.

I received this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group and was not required to give a positive review.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Slaying The Debt Dragon by Cherie Lowe


 "Slaying the Debt Dragon" by Cherie Lowe is a book on how the author's family got out of debt.   If the author looks familiar to you then you might read her blog Queen of Free. I will be honest I had not heard of her blog until this book so I came into this book very blind to her and her husband's debt story.  Which I think was a good thing but now I am going to check out her blog.  Now also if you are familiar with the Dave Ramsey program getting out of debt then you will be very familiar with the steps they used.  I am very familiar with the Dave Ramsey program so it was nice to read how an a family did their steps in a book form other than a quick debt free scream story.  This book was very fun and interesting to read not a dull get out of debt book.  Not only is about their story but it also has tips and stories from other people.  This book is one of the best get out of debt books I have read for tips as its not just tips or a business plan type book but of the fun story of one families story.  I want you to read the book for yourself it was a very good book to read.  I highly recommend this book.

I was given this book by Tyndale Publishers and was not required to give a positive review.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

The Financially Confident Woman by Mary Hunt


"The Financially Confident Woman" By Mary Hunt is a financial book specifically geared to women.   I really enjoyed how the author explained how she got to where she is now financially and that she had made major mistakes in her finances.  I also really enjoyed how she went into the point of being rich is not a sin and neither is being poor a sin. The first five chapters were on her story and changing our mental portion on money.  The rest of the book is the how to change our thoughts and habits.  The first 5 chapters were the biggest help for me.  The rest I have read many times before but it may be helpful for someone who hasn't heard before.  Now my only issues was that I felt the book was more geared toward un-married woman which is fine for others but I am married so the bulk of it really did not help me.  But I still will highly recommend it.  

I was given this book by Revell Publishing and was not required to give a positive review.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Look back at 2014 and forward to 2015

Well this year I am going to start with a typical type post reviewing things in my life from last year.  Then put goals for 2015 down.
2014
  1. Walked the Color Run in May.
  2. MIL moved out in August.
  3. Family member had major stroke and heart attack in the end of August.
  4. Learned major lesson on dealing with extreme hoarders don't ever I mean ever let them while in the hospital say its ok to get rid of stuff.  The are not thinking straight.  Even if you think its a good idea its not!  Yes we cleaned some trust me not enough but it is all back to that way again and we still get complaints about stuff that was buried and broken we got rid of but they decided now the items were wanted.
  5. Thanks to the hoarder lesson I have been on kick to purge my house I don't want to do that to my family.
  6. Started working on getting in better shape even lost about 20 pounds that is hard for someone with Hypothryoidism and cause of my past weight issues its also a mental game for me. 
  7. Started wearing pants again.  The story behind that was my hubby bought me a pair to wear so I could go hunting with him without getting caught in the branches.  Anyway I was hiking in the hills with him and realized my hip did not pop out once while hiking like it usually did.  See my hips have a tendency to pop out easily.  So we decided that I need to wear pants again on and off since they do help with keeping my hips in place.
  8. Learned that crazy people are still crazy no matter how nice you are.
  9. Learned how precious my kids are.  For Christmas this year I was blown away by their kind attitudes about gifts. Our oldest only wanted headphones to replace the ones his brother broke and clothes.  Our youngest told me that we got him too many gifts, we only got him a Bach cd (he loves classical music) and 3 new lego sets (2 small ones and a medium one, Amazon around Christmas has an excellent lego sale for my lego loving friends).  I was just blown away by them. 
  10. Was reminded on how very blessed I am by my hard working hubby (works 40 hours a week or more depending on the time of year with a swing shift job) who when we need extra money will do odd jobs or sell things so that I can still homeschool, go to our homeschool co-op, and only work very part-time.
2015
  1. Continue to declutter my house and keeping it clean.
  2. Continue are my getting in better shape.  I want to be stronger and healthier and down to my final goal weight of 160 by my 40th birthday which is in 2017.
  3. Be in the scriptures more this year.
  4. Walk more.
  5. Watch my oldest graduate High School.
  6. Stay away from family drama as much as possible.
  7. Try to make more closer local friends
  8. As much as possible stay away from crazy.
  9. Keep a better positive/negative attitude.  Yes a person has to be negative sometimes but not all the time.
  10. Keep up on my reading and staying off the computer.
My goals are not big ones or ones that I will completely do this year (well one I will be able complete this year) but ones I can work on all year.

May the Lord bless you this year.

Thoughts on my hubby

27 years ago was the summer before my senior year in high school and I went for a walk that would change my life forever.  I just wanted to ...