The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I liked this book, I have thought a lot about the main premise and I agree that we all have the power to change things. Not just things in our own lives, but things in the world as a whole. Good thoughts and positive thinking really can change the way the world is and will be in the future. Think about prayer and the power of it when we multiply it with many others (fasting for certain things, pray groups, combined thoughts, prayer, for a person or idea, good wishes, etc.). We are all made in Gods image and have a divine calling and divine potential.
Some of the book was predictable having read his other four books, but it was still a good story with lots of things to back up his ideas. I cannot wait to visit DC again, I did not notice any of the things he was talking about the last time we were there.

Reading this week. I've been home sick.

This has been awful and I really did not surface until Monday. Four kids were home yesterday and I am thankful for friends and family for calling and feeding us. The kids were pretty sick of chicken noodle soup. Thank you. Do not visit, call and then you can't catch this, it is nasty.
Nora Robert and JD Robb, like this book, but then it is the 17th in the series I'm reading so it pushed the story ahead. The beginning is set in 2003 and the rest is set in 2053. I liked it. I read the next in the series also and it was long and I think I really must have been sick because I could not keep reading it, I took several naps and then fianlly finished it after reading two other very fluff romances.

Not my favorite of hers. I would not suggest this to anyone. I then read Sarah Child and it was good. Very classic romance.

Disappointed is all I can say about this one. She seemed to have an agenda is writing this book. License all professions, especially those who deal with death. A good idea, sure, but the book was filled with this propaganda and the main story moved ahead only slightly. The biggest disappointment is that I have to wait another year for the next one to come out and if it is as bad as this one then I won't read anymore of hers.

Raly in DC to let the government know they work for us.

I have to agree I think that those working in DC for us have forgotten who put them there. Write your representatives and give them your opinion of how they are doing their job. I worry we are on a downhill run and no one knows what is at the bottom.

Number 3 is done

I finished book number three last week. Bonnie, Meredith and Vanessa are reading it and Bonnie commented right away that it was much better then the 1st one(She read number one the other two didn't). Yeah!!!! Maybe practice makes perfect after all. I took my mother-in laws advice and decided to try writing in the 3rd person. I like it, it seems to flow better. The words also seemed to flow better right from my finger tips this time. Also, I have been reading more lately to get the idea of how to write better. I'll keep working on it, maybe someday it'll be good enough. Someone told me that it took Edison thousands of experiments to get the light bulb right, I hope I don't need to write that many books to get a keeper. Here's to practice and patience, two things I've never had large amounts of.

I'm going to re-write book number two in the 3rd person and see if it flows better.

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Loved it!!! I went a little crazy at the library and now I need to read three more books this week. I need to stay away from that place. This book is witty, sweet, laugh out loud in parts, and tears in others. You will want to hug your grandma when you finish it, I only got to call mine. A single girl in London is at her Great Aunts funeral, who she has never met, and well the funeral is called off and it's hilarious watching all the trouble she gets into. I will never look at an elderly individual the same way again. Read this book. We're all young on the inside, forever! Loved it!!!

The invisible fence project

David and the kids installed an invisible fence on Saturday. The funny part was that they all wanted to try the collar out. We just had them hold it, I wasn't going to allow anyone to place it around their neck. It does give you quite a shock. But, now we have to train Parker, or he will just fight through it and stand barking at us on the other side. This should be interesting. We had to lay out the wire to test before we buried it.

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

"How godless and hopeless will he remain? Not very. “What an unexpected reversal of fate,” he says: “only after my skin was burned away did I finally become able to feel.” And: “While I was now surrounded by far fewer people than before, they were far better people.” And inevitably: “Being burned was the best thing that ever happened to me because it brought you.” "

I cried and cried at the end of this book. It was dark, very dark, deep, and disturbing at times, but the theme was amazing. I cannot recommend this to everyone, the language at times is sharp and the visualizations are alarming with the burns he describes in great detail, but I am glad I read it. Mental illness and severe burns make this book very depressing, but the true theme is beautiful and well worth the journey. We are made better and whole by those we know and those we learn to love. Love is not something we use to control another, it is something we give to set them truly free. Religion is huge in this book, he even makes his own trip to hell as in Dante's Inferno.

Tears are flowing as I think about this book. The imagery is full, I could see every thing clearly, even the arrow flying true in the blizzard towards his heart. Loved filled the pages, over flowing there edges. Everyone he met after the burns changed his life for the better and even though he didn't want to accept it, he found love through service. It is haunting and I don't know if I will ever forget some of the stories.

The main character despised church goers, "they pray on Sunday for God's will to be done and when it is they complain the rest of the week."

Love is enduring, pure and everlasting. Listen carefully, "I love you." whispers through the air to all of us.

Labor Day fun and Happy Birthday Charlie. whoops!

The weather was warm and the food was good. Charlie turned 13 and we had a picnic at the Martins to celebrate the day. Too much food and sweets, like usual. Vanessa and Meredith made the cake and it was really cute.

The keepsake by Tess Gerritsen

I didn't know they did this for books. The story is a page turner and I love this author. Lots of talk about archaeology and mummies. I stayed up way to late last night finishing it, it's hard to sleep when someones life hangs in the balance. Shrunken heads, bog bodies, and mummies are great ways to preserve a body, forever. This is one of her series books, the newest one.

Things I've been thinking about.

A true quote I read made me think. The quote "No one cares if your miserable, so you might as well be happy."

How true, no one really cares. We are all so self absorbed that we really only worry about how we feel and how other people might react to those true feelings. Happiness is something you cannot buy, you cannot move to it, you cannot dream it into happening, you cannot receive it in the mail, or make more money to lure it to you. Happiness is something you have to find inside of yourself. Happiness is difficult to control, it's something that you decide to be not something that just happens to you. Happiness is a conscious decision and so unhappiness or feeling miserable are also things we choose to do. Choose to be happy and the whole world will seem like a happier place to be. Heaven on earth is not just a pretty idea, it's a true possibility.

School is here at last.

Here are the three youngest on the first day of school. I dropped them off and then went home and cleaned for six hours. Then Wednesday I dropped them off and went back to bed for six hours. Thursday I dropped them off and went shopping, oil change, groceries and I finished another book. Ahhhhhh school. I missed getting a photo of Gunnar and Qatar, they did not look as excited as these three do.

Zeke is a safety patrol again this year and this is the photo from yesterday and the road he is patrolling. We will be riding bikes to school today. The van is in for some work and so we are carless, we did walk home the last three days.

Gross and stinky mess

This is what happens when you tell your son to go put a bucket of old potatoes in the garage so they can be thrown away at the next trash day. Gunnar put them in the bucket sideways on the shelf in the garage farthest from the door. We forgot about them and yuck. I was moving things and I the smell hit me first. I almost threw up when I picked up the bucket and realized what it was and what was crawling and growing around the mess.

David was sweet enough to bleach and clean up the shelf and the floor around the mess. The whole thing went in the trash and I was worried that even the garbage man might refuse to take it, it was that bad. The bag was Innocent, but it had to go from sitting in the mess at all. Yes those are maggots and lots of casings from other things, yet the garage is bug free, STRANGE!!!! Where did they all go? We did have a huge amount of flies in the house a few times this summer. The fly swatter was in high demand and the damage is still being washed off all the windows. YUCK!!!!!! BTW, Potatoes turn to liquid, stinky rank liquid when they rot.

JT and the haircut.

JT wanted his hair cut so David shaved his head. We thought this look was really new and unique, but JT insisted he didn't, so we shaved the rest. Everyone wants to look like everyone else, it's really sad.

This second photo is of a flower in my fountain that I wanted to try the macro feature on the camera.

My weekend reading. Peter Walsh and Tess Gerritsen.

Peter Walsh is one of my favorite clutter guru. He's always making me think twice about buying and acquiring new items I really don't need. This one made me cry in the first chapter. He talks about being present in our own lives and I'm very good at disappearing into me and missing out on things going on in my own life. Summer has been a bit long this year and I think it has been easier to sleep-in then face the kids who are sick of each other and even most of their friends at this point. It was a good eye opener and I'll now try to be present in my own life and get rid of the clutter, physical, mental and emotional out of my life. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with life, I think I am the only one feeling that way. But after reading this I would say that it is most of us.

Favorite story: Brian Dyson said. "Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air at the same time. You name them: Work, Family, Health, Friends, Spirit, and your keeping all of these in the air at the same time. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back, but the other four balls-family, health, friends, and spirit -are made of glass. If you drop one of these they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered, They will never be the same."
Work is resilient, but heath and relationships are fragile. Are we all remembering what is most important in life? I know I'm not.

Check it out if you are having issues with any of your balls in the air.



Another good one. Not as good as the last, but still a page turner. I left for church with only 30 pages left, when I got home I finished it and WOW I love mystery. Great story, modern day drama mixed with 1800 drama in the Boston area and a few murders to boot.

In Nursery I got to spend an hour holding a sleeping baby. It was a nice way to spend an hour. I didn't feel I needed to do anything else. Thanks Meredith.

Rudeness and how to avoid it.

I was watching Oprah the other day and she did a show on Rudeness and how 85% of the population complains about the rudeness of others and 99% said they are never rude themselves. Well someone is confused that's for sure. Have you done any of the following:

1. Been late for any reason.

2. Email while on the phone.(this one I do not agree with, multitasking is my life.)

3. Taken a parking spot you know someones else is waiting for.

4. Answered a Cell phone while talking to another person.

5. Answering you call waiting for a non-needed call.(non-emergency or you were waiting for someone to return a call or call.)

6. Spoken you mind without worry to what others might think, or hurting others feeling, or writing your feeling where others will read them?

7. Expect someone who is a family member, or friend to drop their life to help you out(non-emergency item you just don't want the hassle) when you aren't even willing to drop your life to help yourself? Some people cannot say 'NO' it does not mean we take advantage of them.

8. Gossip

9. Do you use the ten item or less line with more items?

10. Do you let your children cry, yell, or talk loudly in meetings, church, theatre or other quiet areas?

11. Do you forget to RSVP or do it late?

12. Do you cut in line?

13. Texting or taking or making a call during a meeting, church, theatre, or other quiet areas?

14. Thought you were better then a service worker and left a small or no tip because of any reason? Most problems are not always ones they create, do not take someone else's mistake out on the wrong person.

Peggy Tabor Millin once said, "We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace."

Being rude is really just transferring your feelings of inadequacies about 'whatever' to other people and their behaviors.

Everyone we know or meet has the opportunity to feel who we really are, are we who we want to be or are we too busy to really care about others? Polite behavior, a thank you, and a please are never out of place or out of fashion. Think about that the next time you decide something needs to be said or done, does it really? What difference will it make? If the answer is that it will make you feel better, then don't do it. Write it down, yell at the air(when your alone), or let it go. Rude behavior is something we all do, lets stop and see what happens. I bet we will all feel closer to each other and to the Lord.

My favorite genre- Mystery

Genre choice is something I thought I didn't have, I mean I like most things I read. Horror is not on the top of the list, I usually end up throwing the book out the window, the images are so real so I skip that one. I started my Romance phase about two years ago and have enjoyed the happy endings and light stories, fast to read and a fun way to spend a quiet afternoon. Vampire stories are huge right now, but they've lost their thrill for me. Chick-lit is cute and silly at times. Fiction is something I always pick up, how-to, self-help, history, religious, etc. Western have never kept my interest long.

Mystery is now my top rated Genre, I always loved it, but with the caliber of authors out there writing mystery it is hard to stay away. Tess Gerritsen is amazing and just getting better and better. Every one I read I'm surprised at how much better it is then the last. Kathy Reich, the one who produces Bones, is one of my favorites and of course the Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason is pretty interesting to read.

If I could get close to any of these guys with my writing I would consider that a huge success. Who knows, we will see. Practice makes perfect, it's obvious in the authors I read. Every book better then the last.

If you haven't read Gerritsen you should she is amazing, I hardly put her books down once I start them.

Tess Gerritsen

School marvelous school and more.

We met every ones teachers last night and I'm more excited about school starting then ever. JT is in a 2/3 combo with only 10 2nd graders so he should be getting lots of fun experiences this year. Cenny has the same teacher that Zeke and Qatar had at her age and Zeke has a teacher with many special certificates in gifted and talented education. Qatar has dropped early bird choir, he's no longer feeling like an early bird I guess.

Gunnar started his job at Hyvee and bagged groceries for Meredith yesterday. He's also involved in Link Crew. He and a girl are assigned a set of Freshman to be friends with and show the ropes at school too. He's gone most of the day today with this responsibility.

School starts Tuesday and I think I'll sit on the couch and marvel at the silent house.