Book Review: Deadly Ties

I have to admit, when I first started reading the book, I was disappointed in how slow it started out. I realized that you have to introduce the characters so that the story itself will make sense, I just wasn't sure about the way it was going. I will say, though, that it picked up speed quickly and was definitely a page turner.

The story centers around Lisa Harper. A young woman who has lead a rough life and believes herself a 'fumes' believer of God. One who gathers the fumes, but not the meat. Her father has died, her step-father is abusive and has her mom a prisoner in her own home. Enter Mark Taylor, a former soldier who is having his own problems with belief, both in himself and his world. The two together begin a voyage that not only brings them to a pivot point in their belief in God, but their lives.

It's an action packed thriller/mystery that everyone can enjoy. It also has the romance that will bring that genre in. A fast pace book once you get in, very hard to put down until it's finished.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review.

Guest Blogger - Review

My son wrote this as part of an assignment. He wanted me to share it here.

A Wrinkle in Time

“At that intent everything went dark, and Meg couldn't feel her body.” This is an interesting part of the book A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. A Wrinkle in Time is a fiction book for any adventure lover. It is about a family and 1 friend traveling across space it find Meg's dad. In this book review I will tell you about the book and author.

As I said the author’s name is Madeleine L'Engle, she has written over 40 books total. It took her about 2.5 years to get her first book(A Wrinkle in Time) published. No major publisher would help her, so she found a smaller group to help her, and they did help.

There is no real single area where the characters stay for long periods of time. They travel to many different planets, beginning and ending on earth. The main characters are named Meg, a boy named Calvin, a brother named Charles Wallance, and Meg's dad. It starts out with Meg, her brother and her mom downstairs, in the kitchen, talking. Then a lady named Mrs. Whatsit comes into the house and meets them. The next day Meg and company go to the old “haunted house” and meet a lady named Mrs. Who and talk with her for a while. Then they go home for supper, and then for a walk. On the walk they end up meeting Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and another lady named Mrs. Which. They talk for a short time and end up on a different planet where their adventure begins.

I thought this was a great book for people that love adventure books. There are are many exciting and suspenseful parts for the reader, including the part I told you about. There are fun and sad parts plus funny and not so funny parts to this story as well. I agree with the author that this book is a good book for all ages. It has plenty of things for all ages, young or old.

I recommend this book to anyone willing to read this and the book. I literally sat on the edge of my seat reading to the next part of the book after I got into it. I said already but will say it again that this book is for all ages willing to read. I think many people willing to try will like it. If you find it in a book store it or in a library I recommend you get it. If not you than for your kids, so you/they can enjoy an awesome adventure.

Georgia Aquarium - Dolphin Tales

As a volunteer, I was given a chance to sit in on a dress rehearsal for the new Dolphin Tales show at the Georgia Aquarium. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. The stadium seats a large crowd and is raised so that no row has a 'bad' view. I do think the upper levels are better, though. The first two rows have a chance of getting wet, so keep that in mind when attending.

When going, keep in mind that it is NOT a Sea World show, nor is it necessarily like any other show you may have seen. So you can't judge it by comparing it. Go in with an open mind and you'll thoroughly enjoy it. I can't go into specifics, but I can say that for those who like watching dolphins do tricks both with and without the trainers, you'll get to see that. For those of you that enjoy more of a 'show' that adds dolphins to the story line and enhances the display, you'll see that as well.

The show opens to the public on April 2nd (start of spring break around here). Tickets are already on sale on the Aquarium's web site, so you can check it out. Admission to the Aquarium does NOT include admission to the show (and vice versa). You will have to have admission to the Aquarium in order to get into the show.

With that as a teaser, enjoy!

To my nephew

Maybe I'm crazy..

I'm off to train for Disney's 1/2 marathon in January. Today I'm doing the Atlanta Women's 5k. I won't finish quickly, but at least I'll finish. It's a great first step to getting ready.

Seedlings

I'm actually getting a good start on some of the planting this year. I had put a bunch of seeds in one of those starter trays from Home Depot about 2 weeks ago. This is them as of this week.

Not long after I took that picture, I pulled the sunflower seedlings and put them in a larger container.

I also put the green bean seedlings in a separate container.

If you've ever wondered what you can do with old cat litter pails, now you know one thing. They make great planters, though you may want to punch some holes in the bottom to allow excess water to drain.

Board Breaking

My kids' Choi instructor likes to have the black belts do board breaking after testing. We didn't do it at the test itself, we did it at the day care where they take the class. I missed my daughter's actual kick, though you can see the result (she broke 2 boards) and her instructor's face is priceless. The instructor had thought she'd take a practice kick before connecting so she hadn't really braced for it.

My son I was a little slow on, but you can still see the end result.

Review - Mushroom chips

My kids and I went out to Lawrenceville's Spring on the Green festival last Thursday. We eventually wandered over to some of the shops to check them out as well. While there, we discovered a small store on the bottom level that has an eclectic selection of stuff (they'd just opened), which included some mushroom chips that they were sampling. THEY'RE GOOD! My son (who rarely tries new stuff) actually really likes them. His preference is the hot. My daughter liked the low sodium more, but enjoyed the hot as well. We'll have to try some of the other flavors at some point, but in the mean time, I thought I'd recommend them to my friends. You can find them online at: http://themushroomcap.com

For those of you local, I don't remember the shop name, but it's directly across the street from the parking deck, lower level.

Getting in shape

for the Walt Disney World 1/2 marathon. I've decided it's time to do it again, so I'm back in training. My first 5K is this weekend at the Women's Health 5K at Candler Park. From there, my daughter and I are doing a 5K with friends with Diamonds in the Rough. I'm still working out the rest of the year but am looking at the US 10K in September and the Merrell Mud Run in October. I've registered my family and I for the Family 5K at Disney which runs the day before the 1/2 marathon. Hubby has decided to run the 1/2 marathon with me this year, though I have a feeling either he'll zoom ahead or be falling behind.. dunno about the keeping pace thing.

My dad is supposed to do the 1/2 with me as well (he's done it with me before). My mom had lap-band surgery last year and she's in training to do the 5K with my kids. It should be a fun (if tiring) weekend in January next year. If you're interested in info on the Disney marathon weekend, you can find it here.

Book Review

Same Life New Story - Jan Silvious

A different way of looking at your own life. It takes the stories of Naomi, Leah, Rahab and more from the bible and takes a look at how their life was and how they changed it. It teaches you to take a look at your own life and how to possibly change the way it is progressing so that you can be more satisfied. It's not a totally life changing book, it isn't aimed at that goal. It's a life coaching book to make you more aware of what you want and need out of your own life.

In the book you will learn to ask yourself the questions that only you can answer. It will guide you to which questions need to be asked by giving the story of one of the women of the Bible. It shows you what she did to change her story. By learning from her, you can learn to change your own story. It helps you to begin a journal that will help you collect your thoughts and figure out your answers. There is also a group study guide for those that would prefer to begin this journey with others.

A wonderful approach to helping women guide themselves through the rest of their lives. You cannot change your history, but you can learn from it. By learning what you want and what you need, you can then learn how to change what happens in the future.

Thoughts from the book:

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." - Arnold Bennett
"Believing you are doing the right thing can be a trap if you do not learn to ask yourself good questions" - Jan Silvious

I received this book free from Book Sneeze in return for my honest opinion.

Belt Presentations

New il-dan blue stripe New black belt! Cake!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Don't forget that there will be a St. Patrick's Day celebration in downtown Lawrenceville starting at 2p today. Maybe we'll see some of you there!

Black Belt Test

The much awaited black belt test pictures. Sorry for the quality. I was video taping at the same time I was taking pictures. It was an interesting challenge. Congrats to my daughter for doing so well. I know the family is proud of her.

Featuring boy at Choi

No pictures of the big test yet, just an appetite whetter from my son's testing Friday night. I apologize for picture quality, my camera isn't highest quality and hubby didn't have his. This is my boy doing his pattern.

Highest kick - not sure why the eyes are closed.. they are on every photo.

A handsome group of instructors and students. All did very well.

Boy in the House

My son 'worked' as a page for the Georgia House of Representatives Friday. We got there early (as indicated by our packet, but earlier than necessary apparently), so one of the door keepers let us onto the floor for a quick picture.

The pages ran notes and papers from people outside to the representatives inside. They looked constantly busy to me, though my son said 'not really'. At the end of it, my son received a certificate signed by our actual representative (BJ Pak), $10 and a button. They took a picture of him with the Speaker of the House and our representative which will be mailed to us later. I asked my son if he'd like to do it again, his reply "eventually".

Busy Weekend

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us. This evening my son will test for the next color stripe toward his 2nd degree black belt. Tomorrow afternoon my daughter will test for her first degree black belt. We'll have some family coming down to join us to watch how she does. Her primary instructor is very pleased with how she's done and says she should blow the test away. Hopefully, I'll have some good photos to share next week.

FurKids visit

My kids and I got out this afternoon and paid a visit to Furkids to see what was up and who was there. A bit of turn over, which is a good thing. Quite a few need a lot of TLC, but these caught our eye..

This is Mango (dmh), a pretty little girl. Very friendly.

Eclair (dsh), another sweet girl. I sat down and she sat with (on) me.

Cocoa Puff (dsh) was a sweetie. She was very happy to see us and have us pet her (as you can see, she LEANS into the petting).

This little one (dsh) we couldn't find the name on. My daughter sat down and he sat with (on) her. I sat down and he transferred laps. When I stood up, he went back to my daughter quite happily. Definitely a lap cat here. As always, you can find out more information on these and others at their website: http://www.furkids.org.

Worm Feeder/Tower

I found the directions for this on instructables.com. We had tried a worm farm for a while and managed to kill all the worms. We had tried a compost pile in the garden and forgot to tend it as well as we should. So, we're moving on to a combination of the two, with a minimum of effort (hopefully) for us. I purchased 4 pieces of cull wood from Home Depot, for a total of $4. Using our drill press, I put holes in the bottoms of all four pieces of wood.

Using wood screws I already had in my garage I put the 4 into a post/tower.

I had thought to use a post topper from Home Depot on the top, but my tower isn't square, so I used more recycled stuff from home. An old square aluminum pan and a piece of wood for 'weight'. I did use some small screws to attach the pan to the wood. Not the prettiest piece of work, but it WILL work and all in all a workable solution.

Now I'll wait until the next band of rain goes through, then dig a hole in my garden and put it in place. I'll follow the directions given and put in some moss and get some night crawlers from the local bait shop. Hopefully by then, I'll actually have more stuff to compost too.

Jimmy Carter Museum

After we finished with Fernbank on Monday, we had time to kill before going to the orthodontist to have 3 more brackets fixed in my son's mouth. I decided that since this was maybe 2 minutes out of the way, that this would be a great detour. I've never been there, so I was feeling nosy. My kids were bored not long into it (they'd had enough culture/history for the day), but tolerated me and my whim. They did enjoy the outside garden area, though.

Fernbank's Mythical Creatures exhibit

After visiting the new Nature Quest area at Fernbank, my kids and I had to go downstairs and take a look at the mythical creatures exhibit that just opened. With kids like mine, the first thing (other than the huge dragon at the entrance) that caught their eye was this.. imagine their surprise on seeing a pokemon as a mythical creature.. it was being compared to this guy, the ahuizotl. One friendly, one not, but both having the same basic features.

Of course, all the 'standards' were there. The Roc..

The Pegasus..

The unicorn..

The dragon..

I tend to think the most 'exotic' of them was this rare find that looks amazingly like my daughter..

There was also a small area that my son enjoyed which discussed how some myths might have been formed from (what is now) archaeological finds of animals, just rearranged. Now, whether they were arranged to fit a myth or a myth was created to fit the find, no one really knows. But it was an interesting way of looking at it.

Fernbank's New Nature Quest

Being members at Fernbank's Museum of Natural History, we had a chance to preview the new Nature Quest before it opens to the public. We took advantage of it and went this morning to check it out. As you enter the area, you're "under the sea" with some cool interactive games on screen, some magnet animals to put back on the pier and more.

You move up the 'river' which is an interactive video on the floor to a shack on the coast. On one side of the river is the shack itself which has lots to explore.

You then go further up the river to the forests and "water fall". Another interactive video on the floor of the river, a tree to climb, bridges to cross and more.

This replica of a dug out log canoe is across the 'river' from the shack.

A rope ladder to climb up the inside of a tree to get to the bridge.

Baby American Alligators. My camera didn't want to cooperate very much on this. Located just inside the entry, in the coastal area of the gallery.

In the 'forest' area is a 'waterfall' made up of vapor cascading down. Behind the waterfall were these guys. Mole Salamanders.

There's a lot that's interactive scattered around the whole gallery. From microscopes that zoom in on bugs, to an archaeological dig where you can piece together pottery. This was a 'nightscope' that showed the gallery as it might be if it were real and it were 'night'. Watch out for those nocturnal animals!

My kids had a lot of fun. I was half afraid they'd consider themselves too old to enjoy it. Instead, we spent around 1.5 hrs in there just checking it all out. My son was done before my daughter, but that wasn't wholly surprising. If I remember correctly, this opens to the public in two weeks. You'd have to check the Fernbank web site to make sure, though.

Planning the garden

My kids and I turned their old play yard into a garden last year. They did a lot of the work when it came to planting and picking out. This year, they've decided to sort of take a back seat. I did all the clean up, so I get to do most of the planning and picking out. So, here's the basic plan so far..

Bulbs bulbs bulbs.. there's already some amaryllis that I put out last year as an experiment trying to break through, so I'm just going to expand on that.

Flowers.. the iris bulbs my daughter planted are going strong. I forgot what the other bulbs were (bad me), but they're ok too. This area was already used for flowers last year, so it'll stay the same.

Veggies & fruit.. the one blueberry bush that made it through summer is still there. We'll get another one (since it takes two) and put it out. The chives came through ok too.

I'm going to retask the old sand box. We turned it into a compost pile last year, but didn't take enough care of it over the winter for it to be overly productive. So, I'm thinking about getting a liner and turning it into a water garden. I want to see how hard (expensive) it would be to do a solar 'fountain' in the center. I can run the panel behind the house to the open area near our creek. If that works, maybe next year I can put in koi and feed the local hawks. (ha!)

Spring Day when it's not Spring yet

While it's not spring yet, it certainly felt it and looked it Sunday when we went out to Stone Mountain Park. Lovely scenery, lots of people and dogs, great lunch/dinner at Katie's.

The lichen is actually from a piece of wood at home, I just thought it was neat looking.

A turtle in one of the lakes at Stone Mountain

The lake as seen from the Grist Mill

A view of the mountain from a portion of the Cherokee Trail between the playground and the Grist Mill.

My kids and I have decided that this summer we need to go fishing out at the lake and rent a canoe.. not necessarily on the same day.