Get Talking - Saying 'Yes'

This week's question asks:

What do you always say yes to?

I always say yes to a hug!

Physical touch is one of my love languages (along with time).

Get Talking - Guilty Pleasure

The question for this week to get us talking is:

What's your guilty pleasure?

Hmm ...
I've been thinking about this and having trouble deciding.

Is it

• Chocolate Mousse
• Pedicures
• Having a PJ day
• Lying in bed for half a day reading a book

I can't decide.

This makes me think of Miss Dorcas Lane in 'Lark Rise to Candleford'. 

In every episode she has at least one thing that is her "one weakness"!

My sister made a list of them one time, and I think there were about 15 different things!!

Book and Movie Associations

Do you ever associate movies and TV shows with books? I'm not talking about movies that are based on books, rather the content or character or something else makes  you think about a particular movie or show or book and you feel like you just have to watch it or read it?

I do ... all the time.

Sometimes there's a flow on effect, where one leads to another.








I love Dee Henderson's book 'Undetected'. Every time I read it, I then get the urge to watch 'The Hunt for Red October' starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.

This also connects with an episode of JAG that refers to 'The Hunt for Red October'.

Then I've been watching 'Operation Petticoat' starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. Which leads me to my next book:

'Every Storm' by Lori Wick. While not set on a submarine, it does involve a rescue and war time.

There are others as well.

If I'm going to watch 'The West Wing' then I always watch 'The American President first.

Not that it actually comes first (although it was made first), but some of the sets were used in both the movie and the TV show and some of the actors are the same, although not in the same roles or even having the same name.

I'm sure there are others, but I think you get the idea.

How about you? Do you associate books and movies or TV shows like this?

Get Talking - Dinner Time!

Card number 2 from my Kikki.K Conversation Starter Cards says:

If you could choose five famous people to have dinner with, who would you choose?

My five are (in no particular order):

• Queen Elizabeth II
• My grandparents were the same age as Queen Elizabeth II and it would be nice to hear her tell about her experiences at similar ages as my grandparents. I'd also like to know if she is going to nominate a successor to the crown, or just leave it to the current succession line (e.g, skip Prince Charles)
• Sir John Monash
• Sir John Monash was a real forward thinker and planner. I have long admired the way he thought about the need for larger roads and space for them to expand; places for cities to grown and the like. I'd like to know what he would do about some of the situations in my area that we face, and what kind of plan he would come up with to address them.
• Dee Henderson
• Dee is one of my current favourite authors. I'd like to ask her about the break she took from writing, if she is going to write a sequel to 'Before I Wake', and how she handles being a single woman.
• Robin Jones Gunn
• Robin is another of my favourite authors. There are just so many things we could talk about!
• John, one of the Apostles
• John walked and talked with Jesus and he possibly lived longer than any of the other apostles. He wrote my favourite gospel. I'd like to ask him what it was like to be with Jesus.

So, who would you choose to have dinner with?

Get Talking - Kicking Off

For Christmas in 2015 (yes, I know, only just over a week ago) I received a little box. In that little box are 50 cards. And on each card is a question.

They are from Kikki.K, my favourite stationery store.

Finding things to put on my blog has been a bit of a struggle (other than books to review and reading challenges), so I thought this might be something fun for each week.

The first card is:

What are you planning right now?

There are a few things I'm planning:

• Crafts for Kids Camp
• Some house cleaning tasks, like washing windows and curtains
• To make some new notebooks
• Going grocery shopping
• How to rearrange my DVD collection (it no longer fits on the shelves)
• What to do with all the paper scraps from my cardmaking projects
• How to fit in a cardmaking day before the end of the school holidays (along with what seems like a million other things to do as well as needed rest)
• How to fully tidy my desk and keep it tidy (I tend to dump things while trying to sort out their actual home)
• What books to read for this year's reading challenges
• Making prayer a priority

That's a pretty big list so far, and there are more things I could add.

How about you?

What are you planning right now?

2016 Reading Challenges

Happy New Year everyone!
So, today begins another year of reading ... which books will I read?

Yes, I have decided to do a reading challenge ... or three!

The first is the 2016 Anne of Green Gables Reading Challenge.

The guidelines are:

Guidelines:

• I’m going to keep it really simple. All you have to do is complete books 1-8 between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016. I’m not setting a schedule, just read at your own pace. Easy, peasy, lemon squeasy!
• Any format is acceptable (hard copy, e-book, audiobook)
• Crossovers to other challenges are allowed encouraged, and totally expected 

Extras: (Updated)

• Since there are 12 months and only 8 books, I decided to add two more titles to my list. If you want to do a book a month, that would leave room for 4 additional titles.

I'm planning to read one a month, but I think I'll find it hard not to just read through the whole series at once.
As well as the Anne books, I plan to read:

• Jane of Lantern Hill
• Magic for Marigold
• Kilmeny of the Orchard
• ? ... The last one I'm not sure of yet, so stay tuned.

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The second challenge is kind of a follow on from 2015. Once again Bethay House is running a reading challenge. I enjoyed it last year, so I thought I'd join in again. One of my sisters was doing it with me last year, and the other one will join me this year.

These are the categories:

I've already got a few ideas for some of these categories, and there will be some cross-overs with at least one of the other reading challenges I'm doing (but probably both)!

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The final challenge is the 2016 Alphabet Soup Challenge.

I liked the idea of this challenge and thought it would be a fun one to do - a real "challenge" for some letters!

I'll be setting up a page on my blog dedicated to this challenge, which I'll update at I go. I'll also add them to my challenge update posts.

There will be some cross-overs with the other challenges, but that is fun too.

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I can't promise regular monthly updates, but I'll do my best to update at often as I can.

Reading Challenge Update - 2015 Final

I didn't quite finish the pile. Just one book left, but it won't get finished. It is also a carry over from the 2014 Challenge. Some times I don't think I'll ever finish it, but it's actually a really good book.
I'm happy that I got most of the books read.

I won't be doing a TBR Pile Challenge in 2016, but maybe one day if my TBR pile gets some on there for a long time again.

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Now this challenge I did finish! Some books were hard to choose, but I did have fun.

I've given updates through the year, but I thought it would be fun to list them all here now.

• Takes place in your state or country: In All These Things by Marjorie Buckingham
• Makes you cry: Not My Will by Francena H Arnold
• You loved as a child: The Circus Collection by Enid Blyton
• Your best friend recommends: Knowing God by David Egner
• Has a great cover: Ghost Writer by Rene Gutteridge
• Features someone who shares your eye colour: The Promise by Jane Peart
• Is over 500 pages long: The Bible
• Begins a series: Buried Secrets by Irene Hannon
• Is in a genre you don't normally read: The Land Uncharted by Keely Brooke Keith
• Has a child main character: Swallow Me Now by Melissa Gijsbers
• Takes place in your favourite time period: My Brother's Crown by Mindy Starns Clark & Leslie Gould
• Is written by an author you've never heard of: Andrew Murray: Destined to Serve by Olea Nel
• Was made into a movie: The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado
• Reminds you of someone you love: Sisterchicks in Gondolas by Robin Jones Gunn
• Includes a Christmas scene: The Christmas Joyride by Melody Carlson
• Is a classic you've never read:  Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

I'm still figuring out if I'll be doing any reading challenges for 2016, but if I do choose to do any I'll post it in the next few days.

Happy New Year and happy reading!

ACRBA Tour - Star! Stable! Saviour! by Cameron Semmens

6 - 10 December

Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance

is introducing

Star! Stable! Saviour!
(Wombat Books 1 December 2015)

By

Cameron Semmens

About the Book:

“Forget the kids! It was me who loved this in our house. OK the kids did too!” – Sally Smith

The traditional Christmas story has been told and re-told for nearly two thousand years – but never quite like this. Poet Cameron Semmens’s quirky and alliterated re-telling of it in Star! Stable! Savior! brings a totally fresh perspective on the ancient Christmas story.

Originally published in 2007 under the title The Story of The Star, The Stable and The Saviour, the book sold out after only a few years. Now it’s back with a fresh, punchy new title.

About the Author

Cameron Semmens is a poet, entertainer and poetry educator with 15 books to his name. He makes his living through words: performing, running workshops and book design. He lives in the Dandenong Rangers with his wife and two children.

My Thoughts:
This is a funny take on the Christmas story ... and a real tongue twister!!
A good idea for the kids in your life who have already heard the Christmas story a million times and can probably tell it better than you can!

Worn by Tenth Avenue North

ACRBA Tour - Intertwined by Jennifer Slattery

2 - 6 November

Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance

is introducing

Intertwined
(New Hope Publishers September 2015)

By

Jennifer Slattery

About the Book:

Abandoned by her husband, an organ procurement coordinator fighting to keep her job and her sanity encounters an old flame facing an unthinkable tragedy.

For Tammy Kuhn, being an organ procurement coordinator is more than a job. It’s a ministry. But when her husband of sixteen years leaves her for another woman, struggles with childcare, her absentee ex-husband, and an altercation with a doctor threaten her job. Embittered and overwhelmed, she fights to maintain her sanity when a late night encounter with an old flame stirs emotions long since buried but the ICU is no place for romance.

About the Author

Jennifer Slattery writes missional romance novels for New Hope Publishers. Her debut, "Beyond I Do", releases in August. She also writes Christian Living articles for Crosswalk.com and devotions for her personal blog, JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud; Internet Cafe Devotions; and Takin' it to the Streets', a ministry serving Omaha Metro's working poor and homeless. 

When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, hanging out at the mall with her teenage daughter, enjoying her real-life hero husband, or serving in her church or community.

My Thoughts:
This book shows just how messed up life can get - especially when divorce is a factor. It shows the hurt for the adults involved and also for the children, and the way children can be manipulated by the adults who are trying to hurt each other.
I found it hard to put this book down because I needed to know that it all worked out in the end.

This is also a book that highlights the need for organ donation, and the hope it can bring to a family to know that the loved one who they have lost, can live on through the lives of the organ recipients.