S.O.S. Update

My S.O.S. Challenge (Sick of Stuff) has continued. My goal? 5 things out of this house daily. I've met, if not exceeded that goal.

Today I will be working on my clothing. I have a box half full waiting for donation and hope to top it off and drop it off today.

I noticed when putting my laundry away that the drawers are so stuffed that sometimes I just pile the excess on top of the trunk at the end of our bed. Sometimes that pile ends up getting knocked down and then I end up rewashing it all whether it was worn or not.  Extra work for no reason.

Another item has been toys. A mothering book, which one I can't remember at the moment, gave me the freedom to purge toys whether they were sentimental or not by stating, "Think of toys as expendable. Like a movie or a day out at the park. Fun for awhile but not having to be hoarded." Or something like that, I'm paraphrasing here.

The point is, I can buy the kids a bag of 25 cent plastic farm animals at the thrift store and know that by the end of the week they will be forgotten and spread around the house. I can then bag them up and send them back to the thrift store (or even sweep them up and toss them) and still consider that 25 cents well spent. Because even if it's just an hour or two - they were played with. That doesn't mean they have to be kept. The freedom to look at toys (or books, or movies) in that sense is an immense help in pairing down our belongings.  
 

Green!

I think I'll snap a photo of my gardens (both flowers and vegetables) periodically throughout the summer to document how it grows it changes.

The flower bed out front is already starting to bloom on the border. I love seeing the bees and butterflys stopping by for a visit. 

My garden grew almost overnight with the rain we received the past few days. The peas are starting to climb so I just put the trellis out.

This year I am using grass clippings as mulch around the plants. It keeps the soil moist, cuts back on weeds, and adds nutrients to the dirt and plants. 

New to our gardening routine this year is our rain barrel. It comes in the nick of time as I just saw that our sewer and water prices are going up.

The barrel is filled with even a light rain and then can be used for watering the plants around the yard. The bonus, besides saving money, is that the plants enjoy rain water much more than city water (kind of scary when you think about it...we are drinking the stuff that the plants don't like!!).

Clearly Lead

Do you ever have something fall into place so perfectly, so planned out, that you know it's not a coincidence?

You all read a few weeks ago that hubby's work place was having even more cutbacks. Even a reader (Hi, Jess!) mentioned maybe it was time for him to start looking for another job.

That's a scary thing, after nine years of being employed at the same place. Having a decent job, with decent people, but having money worries because of cut backs. It takes a leap of faith to jump out of your comfort zone.

I started praying immediately after hearing about the cut back. I received peace about the situation. He seemed fairly content to stay where he was for awhile yet. What we didn't realize is that God was already working on our next path.

A few days after the above post, I went to Bible Study. A member there was asking about the fall Bible Study and so another member went out into the hall and brought in several bulletins (newsletters) so that we could all have the details about that next Bible Study. On the same page was a notice about a maintenance/custodian job at the church and school which I have never noticed before (apparently it's been in the bulletin for awhile!). I mumbled something to my mom about "maybe Ben should look into this" when the woman next to me, who works in the office, spoke up to say "if he is interested he better apply soon as they already did interviews this week."  She gave me the church e-mail so hubby could send his resume in. 

The next day he had an interview.

The day afterwards he was offered the job.

It was all so seamless. He didn't have to take a pay cut by accepting the job. It is a very Christian environment, which means he won't be treated just as another employee, but as a fellow soul. The job description is much of the same of what he did previously, but with less stress (no on call, few if any weekends). 

Sometimes it's quite clear where God wants you to be.   
 

Kids Being Kids

"Along with milk and vegetables, kids need a steady diet of rocks and worms.
Rocks need skipping.
Holes need digging.
Water needs splashing.
Bugs and frogs and slimy stuff need finding."
 

Centralia

This rainy, dreary weekend was apparently a "two book" one. I was able to escape to Centralia (a town in Pennsylvania) by Mike Dellosso. 

 "Peter Ryan wakes up on a typical morning only to find his house empty, his wife and daughter nowhere to be found. His world is shattered after a phone call to a friend confirms the impossible: his wife and daughter died in a car accident he does not remember. Haunted by faint memories and flashes of details, Peter becomes convinced that something isn't right and begins to question reality." 

This book left me on the edge of my seat and I just had to know how it ended. Which means from start to finish I read. That to me means a good book. 

While the ending was a bit confusing, the suspense and action in this book keep you reading. It's a bit more violent than books I typically read, but then again it's something you expect from a suspense genre. There is some religious overtones, though not so much so that it would bother someone not religious. Actually, it seemed sort of thrown in here and there, that it didn't exactly fit with the story. So I wouldn't consider this book "Christian genre".
 With the action in this book and the characters I foresee many men enjoying Dellosso's writing.

It kept me entertained the whole way through.

This book was given to me by Tyndale Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

 

U.S. Cellular Summer Help

Memorial day is typically thought of as "the unofficial start to summer". 

School will soon be out.

Vacations will be taken.

Weather will be variable. 

U.S. Cellular can help your plans become a bit easier. Organized a bit quicker. With my iPhone 5s I do have information at the tips of my fingers, which make on the go information attainable anywhere!

Some fun apps for the summer are:

*Hipmunk, which can help you find the best hotel and flight prices. 

*Yahoo Weather Map which can keep you up to date on the weather in your area, but also makes it easy to search the location which you plan on traveling to. That will help with packing for your trip, along with organizing which activities to do which days.

*If you are a big sports fan (sorry, I'm not, so this doesn't excite me!) you can keep up to date on "your team" with The Score app. Spend time with your family without being glued to a screen or radio and still know the score at the end (or middle!) of the game.

*If you truly want your schedule in your pocket (or purse) try using Google Calendar to stay organized and paper free. 

*Once you are home from your vacation (or just local staycation activities), get all your photos together and use Snapseed to perfect your photos on your phone and then share them on social media!

While the point of vacations, family time, togetherness is often to unplug, having your smartphone with you can enhance your memories and fun with just a quick check, snap, or search. 1 minute of checking the weather can mean a fun day spent inside a museum instead of a soggy hike you may have planned. :)

This post is sponsored by U.S. Cellular Blogger Brigade. All opinions are my own. 

When Mockingbirds Sing

Why did it take me so long while reading When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey to realize it was the prequel to In the Heart of the Dark Wood? It could have prepared me for this crazy ride and the disappointing ending.

"What marks the boundary between a miracle of God and the imagination of a child?
Nine-year-old Leah’s invisible friend seems harmless enough until he aids her in upsetting the tranquility of her new town, a place where her parents desperately hoped she’d finally be able to make friends and fit in. Hidden within a picture she paints for a failed toymaker are numbers that win the toymaker millions. Suddenly, townspeople are divided between those who see Leah as a prophet and those who are afraid of the danger she represents. Caught in the middle is Leah’s agnostic father, who clashes with a powerful town pastor over Leah’s prophecies and what to do about them."

This book is a religious supernatural one, yet once again with Coffey's writing, I didn't not find the ending very religious. The spiritual being in this book doesn't seem very good at all.

With that said, this book was read all in one afternoon. Once I picked it up, I had to finish it. And then it takes a weird turn about three chapters from the end and comes to a disappointing end. Which then happens all over again in the sequel. 

Which leaves me to question What is a great book? Is it one that you get completely immersed in? Is it only if you agree with how the book ends? I'm not sure. What I do know is that Coffey's books so far have pulled me in, and while I may be disappointed in the end destination, I did enjoy the ride.

This book was given to me by BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.