Monthly Archives: January 2009

Tagged by Jen

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6 Names I Go By

  1. Jennifer
  2. Jenni
  3. Cutie
  4. Sweetheart
  5. Aunt Jenni
  6. Jennilucifer

3 Things I am Wearing Right Now

  1. Shirt
  2. Slacks
  3. Shoes

2 Things I Want Very Badly at the Moment

  1. Slanket
  2. The Hunger Games

3 of My Favorites Things I Did Last Night

  1. Played with Dax
  2. Had Fun on Facebook
  3. Read

4 Things I Ate Today

  1. Oatmeal
  2. Soup
  3. Jell-o
  4. Apple Sauce

2 People I Last Talked to on the Phone

  1. Customer
  2. Corey

6 Things I am Going to do Tomorrow

  1. Work
  2. Read
  3. Exercise
  4. Go to a Scentsy Party
  5. Spend Time with Corey
  6. Sleep

3 Favorite Beverages

  1. Gatorade
  2. Milk
  3. Lemonade

5 Things I am Grateful for Today

  1. Corey
  2. My Kitties
  3. My Job
  4. Prayer
  5. Sleep

3 People Who Will Fill This Out (in other words, I tag you)

  1. Amber
  2. Debbie
  3. Megan

A New Plan

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As some of you know, one of my goals this year is to lose 100 pounds.  Basically, I want to get back to a size 10–the size I was when Corey and I were married. I’ve had some struggles with losing the weight, getting healthy, and not living my life so haphazardly.  I’ve come up with a few things to help me:

  1. After work, I won’t sit down to read, watch TV, or play with my computer until after I’ve exercised. Even if I don’t feel well, I’m going to exercise because I always feel better when I do.  I have too sedentary of a lifestyle.  My exercise is going to be an hour of DDR or following my Billy Blank “Boot Camp” DVD. The only time I’m allowed not to exercise is if I’m on my deathbed or extremely ill (e.g. puking, pneumonia), or it’s Sunday, my mandatory day of rest.
  2. I’m going to go to bed at 10:00 each night. I do much better when I get enough sleep. My biggest problem is that I lose track of time so I have my cell phone alarm set to remind me when it’s 9:45 pm.  Now, I just need to treat my cell phone alarm like it’s the law!
  3. I’m going to get up at 6:40 each workday and be to work by 8:00 when I should be there, instead of between 8:45 and 9:30. And, I’m going to get up at 9:00 on Saturday and Sunday (unless church starts at 9:00). I know I may be tired for the first little bit, but I’ll get used to it, especially if I exercise.
  4. I can only eat out once a week, whether that be lunch with my co-workers or dinner with Corey.  Normally, Corey and I eat out for dinner three to four times a week.  That’s just too much!  (Dinner’s where I have the most problems in eating healthy so that’s why I’m targeting it.)

I think if I can do those things, then my life will start to have some order to it.  I’m sick of disappointing myself and not feeling like I’m as reliable as I used to be.

Too Many Favorites?

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I’ve been thinking about something a lot lately.  As I read more and more books, more get added to my list of favorites.  I know that seems logical.  However, it seems almost every book I read ends up as a favorite.  What is it about a book that classifies it as a favorite?

So that you can be on the same page as I am, here are my favorite books, in no particular order:

  1. Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
  2. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
  3. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
  4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  5. These is My Words by Nancy Turner
  6. Dragon Prince trilogy by Melanie Rawn
  7. Dune by Frank Herbert
  8. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
  9. You Are Special by Max Lucado
  10. Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss

On my profile at Shelfari and Goodreads, I say the following about how I rate books:

5 stars: I use this prestigious rating only for books that belong on my Favorites shelf. Books on my Favorites shelf are books I can read over and over again.
4 stars: I use this rating for books I liked a lot, definitely recommend to others, and I will read again.
3 stars: I use this rating for books I liked, which I may or may not recommend to others and I may or may not read again.
2 stars: I use this rating for books I’m glad I read, but I didn’t like and I will probably never read again.
1 star: I use this rating for books I absolutely detested, do not recommend to others, and I will never read again.

If I think about it, the 24 books I’ve deemed as being a favorite do fit in the category of “books I can read over and over again,” even though I haven’t read all of them more than once yet.  It seems they do belong as one of my favorites.

I guess I just wonder if these books become favorites because I’ve only read 96 novels.  Do the books I’ve read just happen to be that good?  Or, do I not know what I’m missing, so I deem them as being a favorite when they should just be books I really, really like?  Or, could it be that I’m not critical enough of the writing or the story?  Am I just too easy to please?

Some of my favorite books are favorites because they got me to read.   Some of the books have sentimental value.  And, others are because I love their story.

None of my favorite books are great works of literature, like A Christmas Carol or The Iliad.  (Actually, I’ve never read either of those, although I do know the stories.)  No, my favorite books have more of an entertainment value rather than an educational one.  Is that wrong?

These is My Words by Nancy Turner

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These is My Words CoverTitle: These is My Words

Author: Nancy E. Turner

Series: Sarah Prine #1

Genre: Historical Romance

Pages: 416 Pages (Paperback)

Original Publication Date: January 22, 1998

Overall Rating:
Buy on Amazon · Add to Shelfari · Add to Goodreads

Summary from Back Cover

A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author’s own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier.  Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon–from child to determined young adult to loving mother–she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose.

Rich in authentic everyday details and alive with truly unforgettable characters, These Is My Words brilliantly brings a vanished world to breathtaking life again.

My Thoughts

These is My Words is amazing! My friend Rachel told my friends and me about the book and we all decided to read it as a group.  It’s on the library waiting lists so each of us have read, or are reading, it at different times.  My friends that had read it before I did told me the book was one of their favorites, but I had no idea how good it really was until I read it myself.

Like I said in the post Literacy and Karaoke, These is My Words is about Nancy Turner’s great-grandmother, Sarah Agnes Prine.  It’s written in a diary format and spans twenty years.

The book follows the life of Sarah as she grows from a 17-year-old girl to a woman and a mother.  There’s romance, heartache, adventure, and humor. As I read the story, I felt like I was right in the middle.  I cheered when Sarah cheered.  I smiled when she smiled.  I laughed when she laughed.  I was mad when she was mad.  I was in love when she was in love.  And, most importantly, I cried when she cried.

I definitely recommend this book.  Not only do you get a little bit a history, but a heart-warming, inspiring story as well.

Starz Bunnies Theater Presents Twilight

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When my sister LeAnn visited last summer, she showed me Starz Bunnies Theater.  Basically, it’s a site that reenacts movies, using bunnies, in 30 seconds.  Some of them are pretty funny.

Anyway, they put up their reenactment of the Twilight movie and I had to share it! ;) It’s almost better than the actual movie. :lol: (Unfortunately, I couldn’t embed the one from the actual site so I had to embed a copy from youtube.)

A word of warning: If you don’t like language or stuff like that, steer clear of the R-rated reenactments because they pretty much remain R-rated.  LeAnn told me Die Hard and Kill Bill are like that.