Diary of a Transplanted Southerner

It’s Been A While

2012-11-24T22:49:00.001-05:00

For those of you who know me and have been a fan of my other blog Diary of A Transplanted Southerner, know that I had another blog on AOL that had this name. Sadly when I transferred it to Blogger, I picked up a troll of sorts so I closed this blog and opened the other. Well, I am happy to say that I am opening this one again. Mainly because I am starting my life over and I am no longer in Michigan. I moved out yesterday and not looked back.

This blog will now be reopened because I can finally blog freely again! So, keep your eyes peeled for a new entry (aside from this one) coming soon! For now I have unpack my stuff and settle in to my new home. Thanks for hanging out with me!!

Be Still My Soul~ A Review

2012-11-11T04:16:00.001-05:00

Joanne Bischof starts her career as novelist with this amazing book. She is in the process of writing book number two in the series right now. You can find her web site here. She is definitely an author to watch!

Her first book Be Still My Soul is set in the Appalachian hills. We meet Lonnie who is shy and likes to be in the background. She is a wonderful girl and has a quiet, strong faith about her. Her father however, is abusive towards her and it is reveled why in the book, so I am not going to say it here, you will have to read it to find out! Sarah, who is Lonnie’s aunt and best friend is the source of Lonnie’s faith. Lonnie dreams of moving in with Sarah and learning to make soap from her, so she can lead a quiet happy life. Then she meets Gideon. Gideon is a self centered boy who thinks everything that is wrong is not his fault.

He walks Lonnie home and tries to take advantage of her. She socks him in the jaw and goes into the house, unaware that her mean spirited father saw the whole thing and thinks the worst! Before she knows what happens she is supposed to marry Gideon and does not even know him!!

She is sad and upset because she can not convince her father that nothing happened. He wants her gone from his house. Both Lonnie and Gideon do not want to marry each other and do so under great protest. Gideon’s mother is less that friendly to Lonnie because she thinks that Lonnie’s mom stole Lonnie’s dad from her when they were teenagers. So, when Lonnie is living at the house with Gideon’s family she takes that out on Lonnie.

Soon after being married, Gideon decides that it is time to leave their home town to go to another town that is about a weeks walk away to start over. Before they can reach that town, they have so many adventures on the trip and end up meeting Jeb. As Gideon’s frustration with Lonnie finally comes to a head and he snaps and hurts her, Jeb shows up like an angel sent from heaven.

Jeb takes Lonnie and Gideon to his house to meet his wife Elsie. Lonnie and Gideon end up living there while the story plays out. To find out what happens next you will have to read this book.

I enjoyed this book and it was easy to read. I could not put it down when I got started because the story just entranced me.

I got this book for free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the sole purpose of this review.

Be Still My Soul by Joanne Bischof (Chapter 1 Excerpt)

A Sudden Glory~ Book Review

2012-10-29T13:19:00.001-04:00

Sharon Jaynes has a wonderful book called A Sudden Glory: God’s Lavish Response to Your Ache for Something More. Reading this book changed the way that I look at God and religion. In fact, after I write this, I am going to read this book again and actually do the Bible Study in the back as I read. There is also a discussion guide as well. Sharon has her website here. On her web site you can get daily devotions to your inbox and such.

Sharon’s ministry is mostly aimed at women and with this book she is telling us that a glory ache is not uncommon and that when most women feel it they add more stuff to their already over scheduled lives thinking that will help us. When we find that it does not we are usually at our wit’s end! Instead she recommends that we slow down and be still to listen and hear from God. It takes getting used to for us women to slow down and do nothing, but it is imperative if we want to soothe our Glory Ache.

Another thing that she tells us is to be obedient to God. To let Him lead us where we need to go. That is not so easy either because we always think that we know better and how to get there better so we want to lead. Instead, we need to focus and listen to God and move how he tells us to. As Jaynes puts it, it is a wonderful dance with our maker, let him lead.

Another thing we need to do is erase the line between our spiritual life and our daily life. We need to make them both the same exact thing, again not easy but if you focus on it and make it a priority you will be amazed at how much you hear from God all of a sudden!

All in all, I loved this book and as I have stated in the beginning, I am rereading it with the Bible study that is in the back of the book to get the most out of this book. I did not think I would have been able to get through this book, but as I read it I had several ‘glories’ of my own. This is a wonderfully written book and it is easy to understand and keep reading. I recommend this book highly!

As usual, I got this book for free from Walter Brook Multnomah for the sole purpose of this review.

A Sudden Glory by Sharon Jaynes (Chapter 1 Excerpt)

How Amazon Lost Me As A Customer

2012-10-27T07:46:00.001-04:00

Most everyone who knows me, knows that I used to love Amazon. Had you asked me a few weeks ago I would have told you how much I love shopping on the site and how it is easy to find almost anything you want or need there and it is usually at a lower price than most of the regular stores including Wal-Mart. I would have told you how the customer service is wonderful and how great everything is.

Not anymore. These days I am trying to decide if I want to even keep the website in my favorites. My friend Michael, wanted to get me a Kindle Fire HD for my birthday. ( last Saturday was my birthday) After reading how it comes automatically linked to the account used to buy it, he asked me if he could have my log in information so he could buy it from my account and that way it would be already linked and ready to use right out of the box. I gave him the information and he ordered it. I saw it in my orders that night.

The next morning I had an email from Amazon talking about how they thought that the order was a fraudulent order and they canceled it, without asking. So, I contacted Amazon customer service and asked why it was canceled without someone checking with me about the order. The person I chatted with was nice enough, and said that they made a note on the account and if Michael wanted to reorder it from my account this would not happen again. But it did.

The next day, it was reordered. I got another email talking about how it was a fraudulent order and Amazon had cancelled it again. So, again I contacted them, which was made even more difficult because they locked me out of my account by now. I explained to yet another customer service person what had happened and that this was not a fraudulent order. Again I was reassured that this would not happen again if the order was placed again.

So the next day, using an account linked to a different email address, I placed the order myself from my very own computer that I used before to shop on Amazon and the same thing happened for a third time. Again I contacted Amazon to explain the situation. I was told that an account manager would get back to me in 24-48 hours. That has not happened as of yet for either account and it has been a week since this all started. So I am thinking that Amazon does not need my business. I will take my money and shop elsewhere even though I might have to pay more money for the things I want. Amazon, you had a loyal customer in me, but this situation has pushed me away and since you can not follow up with your customers that have complaints, well, I don’t need to spend my money with you anymore. Good-bye.

Twice A Bride~ A Book Review

2012-10-14T16:39:00.001-04:00

This is the first novel I have read by the author Mona Hodgson, although this book itself is the fourth in this series which follows the Sinclair Sisters. In this book, however we are treated to the story of Willow Peterson and her landlady Miss Hattie. Willow is an honorary Sinclair sister, related by marriage. Her brother is married to Ida Sinclair.

Willow is widowed from the love of her life Sam, who actually saved his best friend, Tucker, who is Willow’s brother. She had a very rough time getting over Sam’s untimely death and it forced her father to put her in an institution because of it. Willow eventually does come out of what is known as depression these days but back in the 1890’s was termed as melancholia.

Miss Hattie is Willow’s landlady and owner of her own boarding house and has also been widowed. Her beloved George had cherished her for the whole marriage and Miss Hattie will not settle for anything less and is not even looking for a romantic relationship!

I loved this book and the characters within it. If historical romance is your thing, then you will love this book too! Hodgson does a wonderful job setting the scene and keeping the reader turning the pages to see what will happen next! There are quite a few subplots weaved into the story and they are expertly handled. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves romance or even historical fiction.

As always, I got this book for free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the sole purpose of this review.

Twice a Bride by Mona Hodgson (Chapter 1 Excerpt)

Not This Time

2012-10-05T06:48:00.001-04:00

To begin, Not This Time is the first novel I have read by the author Vicki Hinze. You can find her personal website here. She is a Christian fiction author who also writes amazingly complicated thrillers. Most books in the genre of thrillers are easy to figure out within a few chapters, however in Not This Time, Hinze keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Myself having grown up and lived a significant part of my life in Florida, where this story is set, I have to say that she got it right. I love it when an author will set their stories in places that I know because I feel that the setting is also a character and should be given it’s proper due as well.

I do have to admit that there is not much in this book that I did not like, in fact I am not sure that I did not like anything. I also have to admit that writing reviews for the thriller/mystery genre is extremely difficult because I do not want to give anything away and I really want people to read this book!

The characters in the story are all well written and fleshed out. I enjoyed that you do not know everything about everyone in the first few chapters. Hinze’s characters are flawed and amazingly human and the story deals with something that we as human deal with on a daily basis whether we want to admit it or not. Terrorism. Although, in Not This Time, it is mostly domestic terrorism.

There is also a very understated and expertly woven in undercurrent of spirituality in this story. It is not preachy and I love that because it lets the actual story of this novel shine through. The “God factor” as I like to call it is low key, but also adds to the story without getting preachy. Both Christians and non Christians will love this novel.

I am totally looking forward to reading Hinze’s other novels hopefully soon. So, what are you waiting for? Go read Not This Time now! You will not be sorry you did!!

I got this book for free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the express purpose of this review.

Not This Time by Vicki Hinze (Chapter 1 Excerpt)

Trip & Other Surprises

2012-10-03T14:00:00.001-04:00

Well let me begin by saying that my trip to Georgia was amazing and so much fun! So much that I did not really want to come back home. Sigh. But I did get on the plane and came home. I am having trouble getting back into the swing of things with school and all. I was in Georgia for 8 days. I wish I had stayed. But you know me, I had things here that I had to come back to and take care of.

On the the surprise of the last couple of weeks. I got a call a few nights ago from a friend of mine. My ex-husband who was abusive to me, is dead. I am still trying to deal with that news and how I feel about that. It has been harder than I expected because I feel sadness, yeah I know he was abusive, but at one point I did love this man and it makes me sad that he is dead.

I actually forgave him for what he did and I let it go. Seems kind of interesting that after I did that, I learned of his death. Right now, I am stressed out and my PTSD is not doing me any favors. It is hard for me to concentrate and get things finished right now and that is also including school. I need to go for now, but I will be back soon. Ciao!

Finding Our Way Home- The Story of Me Too

2012-08-22T01:44:00.001-04:00

It has been a long time dear readers since I have posted anything here. I am happy to say that I am back on the Blogging for Books bandwagon after some months away. A lot has happened and that is another entry for another day. So on with the review!

In this wonderfully written, honest book by Charlene Ann Baumbich we find two strong women who are miles apart in their lives. Sasha, who is a wonderfully talented ballet dancer who was recently in a horrific accident that ended her dancing career early and Evelyn who is 19 years old, engaged and happy go lucky as can be.

As the story opens it has been a while since Sasha’s accident, but she is still recovering and not making much progress. Evelyn comes into the story as her assistant and home health care worker. Sasha is not acting like her usual self at this point being that she is depressed and cranky.

Evelyn comes in and turns everything upside down in Sasha’s life. She starts to understand that she was depressed and she needed to take her anti-depressants for the time being. When she takes that small but important step she is amazed at how things change in her life from being dark and dreary to being bright and happy.

Evelyn on the other hand is having trouble with her parents over her fiancée Jorden. Her father in particular does not really life him and in fact no one in Evelyn’s family is impressed with him, which of course makes Evelyn hang on even tighter to him. Eventually she does start to see things about him that she has not seen before, especially when she is the one paying for dinner more than usual.

Jorden begins to press Evelyn to get married before the two years she had planned on. Of course he has good reasons to get married soon and ups the ante when his family decides to move. It is at this point that something happens to Jorden and he breaks up with Evelyn which destroys her.

Evelyn eventually finds her way and gets her life back on track with the help of her parents, her grandfather, and of course Sasha. In the midst of all of this Sasha is trying to reconnect with her husband of 13 years whom she abandoned after the accident.

All in all, this book is wonderfully written and it reminds me that I too recently have found my way home. What a wonderful thing grace is. This book connected with me on so many levels and it was just what I needed at this time of my life.

As always, I got this book free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the sole purpose of this review.

Been MIA

2012-04-17T11:34:00.001-04:00

In some cases, that would be bad. However in mine, it was good. It has been difficult since December and apparently when things are getting better now they are falling apart again. School has been good, got through my math class with a B. Took me almost three to four hours of studying a night to do so, but it is over now. I am in to an Abnormal Psychology class now and it is just starting so we will see where that goes.

I have myself a new soldier that I adopted. His name is Michael and right now he is in Georgia at Ft. Benning. His company is getting ready to deploy to Kuwait in the next few months. So, I know I will be busy with that. He is a nice guy, very humble. Sometimes, I feel as though I go through the deployments with these guys. In a way, I guess I do.

I can not believe it is April already! I am wondering where the time went!! Hope this finds everyone well. I am good.. Just busy with school mostly and life. I hope to be back posting here regularly but we will see.

Ciao!!

Today is Blah.

2011-12-07T15:27:00.001-05:00

Not weather-wise of course. Weather wise it is sunny with a few clouds, rather nice considering it has rained a lot lately here in my little corner of the world. It is still cool probably cold, but the sun is shining and while it did snow here a little bit the other day, and yes it stuck for a while on the cars and such, it is rather nice today I think.

It is me that is blah. I woke up in a blah mood. Not really sure why. School is going well. Oh yes, just figured it out. Doug’s sister has invited us to a Hanukkah party the day after Christmas. As far as I know, the one person I do not like will not be there. But Doug’s Aunt and Uncle will be and I want to see them. So, I am going. I know I should sound more happy and excited, but honestly, I can’t. Not until I know for sure that the ‘person from hell’ will absolutely not be there. I know it sounds childish even to me, but after what I went through with this person, I have no desire to set eyes on her ever again and if I see her before she or I dies, it will be way too soon. There is no hatred there or any kind of feeling.

She does not rent space in my head that way. I have no desire to see her or be in the same room with her. I have my boundaries and that is a HUGE one for me. His sister already tried to cross it once and it did not work well for her.

Sunday was Doug’s Christmas party for work and we went. I have to say that honestly it was not as good as last year’s and a lot of people were disappointed I think. It was still kind of fun and the food was good, so all in all a win I would say. It was in the same place as last year and I was okay with that. Because it was a bowling alley and I did not have to get all dressed up, so again a win. I see these people once a year and this is it. LOL. Of course there are one or two that I see more than that, but really, once a year is good.

Doug has been really looking for another job because of the crap Home Depot put him through while he was on medical leave. On the store level, mind you, not the corporate level. When he went back last Thursday, everyone seemed to have missed him and at the Christmas party a lot of people asked about his foot. He is still in a walking shoe and they are still doing the soft cast thing on his foot, but he is at the foot doctor today so we will see what happens next. The doctor themselves moved him down to the wound care center, where they are aggressively treating his foot. I am not sure why they waited so long to do that myself, but I am not a doctor. But at least he is back to work and that is important.

I think this is it for now. Ciao.

A Sound Among the Trees- A Review

2011-12-04T02:56:00.001-05:00

This novel by Susan Meissner is set in Virginia for the most part. It switches between present time and the 1860’s. I really enjoyed this book because it has it all, romance, loss, perceived betrayal, and redemption. In this book, we see Marielle Bishop, who falls in love with Carter over the internet and on the phone. A very modern way to meet. Marielle is from Phoenix originally and Carter is in Virginia when a mix up with the online dating service that both belong to happens. Marielle is only interested in meeting local Phoenix men, but when Carter’s profile is dropped to her by mistake, she finds that they have so much in common. She emails him and from the beginning she is determined that she will not fall for him. As the emails and later phone calls grow more frequent Marielle finds herself having feelings for Carter and agrees to a meeting.

Carter has lost his wife, Sara four years ago and is living with Sara’s grandmother and his and Sara’s children. When he meets Marielle via online dating service he too is sorry that they do not live closer and is not looking for a long distance relationship. In fact, Carter was pushed into the online dating world by well meaning co-workers and is not sure he is ready for finding someone new. All he knows is that he is lonely and misses loving someone else.

Adelaide is Carter’s grandmother-in-law and owner of Holly Oak. She is ninety years old and has a business of sewing Civil War Confederate uniforms for the reenactments. In the beginning she is not sure how she feels about Carter remarrying someone else. She seems to feel like it would be a betrayal of her granddaughter Sara, if she liked this new person. Sara’s mother Caroline, has been in and out of her life but never hanging around too long. Caroline suffers from mental illness that runs through the family.

Holly Oak is the main character of this story, but is not human. It is a centuries old house that has seen a lot of hurt and anger in it’s time. Surviving the Civil War with a cannon ball stuck in the side of it, it is a strong house that was the backdrop to lies, betrayal, love, hurt, death, and in the end is still standing tall.

I read this book quickly and loved it very much! Such an awesome story and enough mystery to keep me turning the pages. I would recommend this book to everyone.

I got this book for free from WalterBrook Multnomah for the express reason of this review.

A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner (Chapter 1 Excerpt)
>

I received this book for free for the sole purpose of the review from WalterBrook Multnomah.

Waiting To Hear

2011-12-02T14:51:00.001-05:00

Since my last entry, Doug talked to Nancy in the office of our building and has since written a letter to the management company to get permission to be able to get DirectTV in here. I honestly do not know how one company can have a monopoly on cable in one building, I do understand having a preferred provider and all, but not letting other cable companies in at all, it seems wrong somehow and I know we are not the only ones who are fed up with Nickel and Dime Cable as I call them. So, now we wait to hear back and see what they say. I have a feeling I know what they will say, but I am hoping and praying for good news.

On the other hand, Nickel and Dime Cable came today to pick up their boxes and ask for money from me. I was like, not possible right now. Hence, the off cable service. The guy they sent was really nice and all, but I am frustrated because according to them they are still charging me $7 for a modem lease fee when I returned it in September. So, since I already have a migraine today, I will deal with that whole fuster cluck tomorrow or Monday. Sigh.

I have so had it with them I can’t even begin to describe it. First they continue to charge me for internet service after I had it turned off. Now they are charging me for equipment that I no longer have in my possession. Arrg!!! This is why I did not want to deal with them in the first place. But because my building will not let me have a choice, I was stick with them. And to be honest, their service sucks. The internet, phone and cable is not worth what you end up paying for in the end. So, hopefully I will have DirectTV soon and can be happy once again. If not, well, I will have to think of something else I guess and that will really piss me off.

Stuck and Not In a Good Way

2011-11-29T14:07:00.001-05:00

I suppose that this might become kind of a rant, so if you don’t want to read it all, I am okay with that. In my apartment building, they only have Comcast cable, I think I mentioned that before. Now, I have had a lot of issues with Comcast over the last year and little bit that we have lived here. So last night in the grocery fliers, there was a thing for DirectTV. Which we had at the house at one point and the only issue we had with them is that the repair people that came out would not replace the line when we were telling them that there was water in the line.

So, I called last night and I qualified for the deal that they are offering, but the hitch was that I had to talk to the apartment manager about getting this. Doug went down and talked to them and they said no. If it was because they thought that they were going to drill to put the dish up, DirectTV said that they would clip the dish to the ledge outside the window. I asked specifically about that to be sure that they would not drill. It would have been so much less than Comcast and get so much more! I am really mad because I tried Comcast and they really suck. I wanted something better and I feel that I should have the choice. I guess I do have a choice, Comcast or move. I can’t afford to move so I am stuck with no cable now. Sigh.

Well, going to go. Ciao.

Rainy and Chilly

2011-11-27T15:51:00.001-05:00

There have been a great many changes in my life in the last couple of months and all of them good, I think. I gave up cable for now. With rabbit ears on my TV I still get CBS which is where most of my programs are in the first place. The only channel I can not get right now, is ABC, which is Castle on Monday nights, but I can watch that online. Actually, I will most likely wait and get the season on DVD. We have so many movies and streaming from Netflix, so it is not like I am actually missing anything. I am not.

This actually helps me because I have more time to dedicate to school. And I don’t feel like I am missing anything at all. Now, don’t get me wrong, I might change that tune after a while and now, when I say there is nothing on TV there really is not. Sacrifices needed to be made and since I need the internet for school and we need a home phone, this was the one thing that we can get by without I think. I am not saying that we will not get cable again, but for now, it is off.

The weather here is cloudy, rainy, and chilly. I think last night they mentioned snow flakes by the middle of the week or so. Not sure. I know it will be in the 20’s for the low this week. Nice day to read and relax, which is what I am doing. Well, back to my book! Ciao!

Still Alive..

2011-11-26T17:07:00.001-05:00

I know I have not written in a while and well, life happened all at once I suppose. Thanksgiving was good, it was just the two of us and so it was quiet. Although Doug asked his sister over for dessert with out telling me and I got mad about that. His excuse was that he thought I would say no. It is not that I would say no, I would have said yes, had he asked me or even discussed it with me. Instead, he did it behind my back and can you imagine how pissed off I would have been if she had shown up and I had no idea she was coming here?? We had a slight ‘come to Jesus’ meeting over that because I was mad. I don’t do that to him and I don’t expect him to do it to me. I understand that it is his sister, I don’t have an issue with him inviting her over, just freaking tell me she is coming!!! That was and is my point to all of this.

So he called her Thanksgiving night and she was not coming over, but would be here today to look at the clothes I am getting rid of. So today, we were waiting and waiting, she supposedly was to be here at 1pm. He called her at 1:15pm and she was not coming over, but had no intentions of calling to say that. That is what pisses me off. Then she tells Doug to bag up the clothes and give them to Sandy so she can look at them later. I have no intention of doing that. Mainly because all she had to do was come here for 10 minutes and look at them and she could not even do that. I am going to donate them to the Salvation Army across the street or something. I have had it.

Doug got a fantastic deal on our turkey. There is a store here that gives out stamps and if you filled so many books you got a free turkey up to 12 pounds. When he went to go get the turkey the smallest they had was 12.5 pounds, so he paid $.50 (50 cents) for our 12.5 pound turkey. It was a wonderfully juicy one too!! He made all of Thanksgiving dinner and it turned out really well!! In fact, the left overs were fantastic today!!

He also found a set of holiday dishes, 4 plates, 4 salad plates, 4 bowls, and 4 cups, a serving platter, a serving bowl, a butter dish, napkin holder, salt and pepper shakers, candle holders, creamer, sugar bowl, and gravy boat for $20. They are really cute and when it gets closer to Christmas I will show you the pattern on them. They all match. Kroger here also has holiday glassware for like a $1 each. Which we got a couple of glasses.

I changed the season on my blog to winter now. Since it is after Thanksgiving and Christmas is right around the corner. I am going to go.. Ciao!!

Spring Cleaning in Fall

2011-11-21T12:29:00.001-05:00

So last night while I was sitting in the bathtub reading, I realized that I had a closet full of clothes that I can not wear or do not like for the most part. So, after having gotten out of the tub and got dressed, I went in and started to clean out my closet. I would say that 90% of the stuff that was in there was too small for me. So, I have it all in a pile waiting on Doug’s sister to come over and pick through it and anything that she does not like, I am donating. There are so many things in there that I honestly have never worn because they were bought for me over my objections. These things still have the tags on them.

It is not like I will be without clothes because I have so many clothes that I literally have them on the floor because I have no place to put them all! Well, that is partially the truth, I hate folding clothes, so I usually live out of my clean laundry basket and they end up being tossed on the floor when I am looking for a specific thing. So, I am trying to get better organized for the new year and see what I need in terms of clothes. So, when I get my school money I can buy what I need.

It is actually nice to be finally getting this done. I have been wanting and meaning to do this for so long and I honestly always found something better to do instead. Before we moved from the house to the apartment, I cleaned out my shoes. I got rid a a couple of pairs, but I am not really a shoe person, so I tend to wear most of my shoes. Although I have a couple of pairs of heels I only wear when I have to.

This year has flown by so quickly, here we are almost at Thanksgiving and I have to wonder where the rest of the year went! School is going well and I am really enjoying it again. I was so burnt out by the time I took a few months off I actually thought I would never enjoy school again. But I was wrong and I am grateful for that. It flurried here the other day and stuck to the grass for a bit, well, at least until the sun came up. It was interesting to see the white on the ground, but the forecast for Thanksgiving does not call for snow in my little corner of Michigan. Not really sure if I am happy or sad about that.

My table and chairs that Doug got in February were finally put together for my birthday last month. They look nice and I love them! It is nice to be able to eat at an actual table at home now. Doug made his first ever pecan pie the other night and while I am not a fan, they look great and smelled good too! I think he is making pumpkin today and tomorrow for a few of our friends and for us. They are delicious! He made them last year for the first time and they came out great!! I am looking forward to that!

The trees around me are naked all ready because it has been so cold here as of late. Some trees still have some leaves, but I missed the colors this year and I am bummed about that. Not sure if we will get to the apple cider mill this year again, but it is okay. It is sunny and chilly here, of course the sky is clear so there is no clouds to hold in the warmth. I am finding myself colder this year than I was last year, but I think it has been chillier this year anyway. Well, going to run. Ciao!!

Final Grade and Other Stuff

2011-11-20T16:22:00.001-05:00

I forgot to mention my final grade for my Skills for Success class, which was an A. I got an A on on my final project and so I was happy. I have started Interpersonal Effectiveness, which looks to be another class I can get an A in with no problem. Today is Sunday and I am relaxing for the most part. Church was good this morning and because it was friends and family day at my church, it was packed!! Which was so nice to see.

I am tired today. I think it is the overcast and chilly weather. I like the chilly part, but the overcast really makes me tired. I am starting a book called “God On A Harley” which so far is interesting. This will be a short entry. I am going to run for now, Ciao.

Forever Faithful…

2011-11-18T15:40:00.001-05:00

I normally really like Karen Kingsbury’s writing and love her books, however, in this instance, I could not make it all the way through this trilogy. I could not make it through the first book in this all-in-one-three book set. I am not quite sure why I could not actually read this. It seemed like a story that I would have loved. The first part of book one was talking about how Hannah Ryan loses her husband and a daughter. Hannah is supposed to be Christian. In reality, I think (assumptions are mine) that she is kind of a Christian. Meaning that she goes to church, listens to praise music, she reads her Bible, but because she has never faced hardship in her life, she assumes that she never will. According to her, God won’t let bad things happen to me. Then a drunk driver takes her husband and daughter and she is left with nothing but anger.

She ignores her surviving daughter in order to begin a crusade to make sure the man who killed her family would be punished. At this point, her surviving daughter is dealing with the grief of losing her dad and sister who is her best friend. Not only that, she is wishing that she had died and her sister had lived because her mother is making her feel as if she is not enough.

After that part, I put the book down and thought I would give it a few days because I was very emotional. As it turns out, I never came back to it. I tried. I picked it up many times to open it and read again, but just could not make myself. The emotions in the book are so powerful that I could not cope with the grief and deep sense of loss on the part of the characters. I have not really ever reacted this way to a book before. So it took me by great surprise when I thought about why I could not read this book.

Having said all of that, I will try to read this book at a later date and if I get through it I will amend my review to reflect that and what I thought about the trilogy in full. But for right now, I am not going to force myself to read this yet.

I got this book for free for the sole purpose of writing this review from WaterBrook Multnomah.

Forever Faithful Trilogy by Karen Kingsbury (Chapter 1 Excerpt)

Monday but Technically Tuesday

2011-11-15T04:08:00.001-05:00

My class ended yesterday and today I start a new class. I am waiting for the grade on my final project, I am hoping to keep my 100% in that class. I am applying for a scholarship and I would like to have only A’s and B’s on my transcripts when it is time to send my application. That is my goal. I was up checking out my new class and I thought I would stop by and do an entry now that I have some time.

I have missed blogging, but last week got out of control for me. Not because I did not have a plan, but because life happened and well, we all know what happens then. Friday was Doug’s birthday and I had gotten him an Xbox 360. We went to Olive Garden with his cousin to have a birthday lunch. Which was nice. We were supposed to go out to dinner, but again life intervened and we ended up staying home having delivery from a pizza place down the road. I had pizza and wings, Doug had a sub. They have great food, so I did not mind. Of course, I bought dinner for him.

Saturday, well, Saturday was one of those days that you look back on and ask yourself, where did my day go? Cause I sure did! I ran around with Michael (Doug’s cousin) getting some things taken care of and got home at 4:30pm, then we had to go to Joe and Vickye’s house for dinner for Doug’s birthday at 6pm. Joe’s mom and dad were there too and we all had a great time. They got Doug a couple of things and he was overwhelmed I think because he was not expecting gifts. After we came home, I finally got my project finished for class, so that I could go to church on Sunday with a clear mind.

Sunday was pretty much a day for me to recover from the last couple of days and it was nice and quiet. So, here we are to Monday, well I woke up with a migraine and had it all day. I had already completed my school work, so it was not really a big deal for me to do very little today/yesterday. We had taco salad for dinner as it was quick and easy. Looking to Thanksgiving dinner and getting prepared for that. There have been some things going on with Doug and his job because he has been out on medical leave because of his foot. He had/has a diabetic ulcer on the bottom of his heel. Since he is a diabetic, it is not good. It looks a lot better than it did and it is healing so very slowly.

Apparently some of the information given to him at the store level, was flat out wrong and he found out about that today when he called the corporate office because he got a notice in the mail about him not turning more leave paper work in (he did) and why did he not go back to work. So he called and spoke to a very nice person and got a lot of great information out of the call. While this diabetic ulcer thing is going on, now there is an issue with his big toe and he is concerned about it. So am I. He sees the doctor weekly for his foot, so it is being monitored closely. As a matter of fact, he sees the doctor later today/tomorrow. So, it will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

The weather here has been cool and nice. Rain today. So you know my windows are open!! Not much else going on right now, except I am most likely going to bed now. So, Ciao!

Last Week of Class and Other Stuff

2011-11-10T16:50:00.001-05:00

So this is week 5 of my class that I am in. I am now working on my final project for class and it is going well so far. I have to do a Power Point for this and while I do not hate them, but they sure are a ton of work!! More so than me sitting down and writing a paper for class. Having said all that, I do have to admit that I still have my 100% going in this class and now I am so nervous because this PP assignment is worth 300 points and that is a large chunk of my grade. I know that I am doing my best on it so I know that I am doing well.

I did end up taking a little more time for myself after last week because let’s face it, I needed it badly. I did my assignment that was due kind of half assed but got full points on it. Which in all honesty shocked me. I did send an email to my teacher explaining what was going on in my life and why my work in class may not have been up to my usual standards. I am glad that I did so.

Dealing with that whole situation last week took so much out of me and I know that was the goal in the long run. He got what he wanted. I ran scared. Since the changing of the cell number, the calls and texts stopped. Which was a major thing. I am okay and moving on now. I needed more time than I thought I would to get back on track but it is okay. I am back on track now and moving forward. Ciao.

Taking A Few Days

2011-11-06T12:43:00.001-05:00

I know that I have not posted since Thursday, well that is because I took a couple days to deal with the aftermath of the situation I wrote about on Thursday. The cell number is changed and so far everything is quiet, which is good. However, after being subjected to almost endless phone calls and texts for three days, it seems eerily quiet to me.

I have not really gone anywhere yet since all this mainly because well, he accomplished his goal and I am scared. I feel like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop and I hate feeling like this. Yesterday, I spent the day catching up on school work, not that I was behind exactly, I was behind for me. Because of all this crap the last week, I have been just trying to give myself time to deal with it.

It is not easy. Thank you to all the people who left comments here and on my Facebook page, I appreciate the support and advice. I had a lot of text messages too. I had to change my cell number which irritated me more than anything, but since I have done that the calls and texts from him have stopped. Which is good. I also tightened my Facebook security settings as well. Hopefully this is enough for now. I am seriously considering moving all my game playing friends to another page and leaving people that I connect with on a regular basis on the page I have now. I don’t know yet.

Well, this is it for now. Ciao.

The Last Few Days

2011-11-03T20:30:00.001-04:00

Since Monday I have been subjected to stalker like behavior from someone that I threw out of my life. I have let it go for the last few days hoping that this person would burn out and get bored with talking to my voicemail. Sadly this is not the case. Yesterday he stopped calling and I thought it was done, but today I got text messages from this person that rattled me so much that I called the cops and changed my phone number.

The last few days have been hell and I would not wish this on anyone. Hopefully this is all now finished because I have a new number and I filed a report with the police. If it continues, I will continue to push for charges about this person. All I wanted was to be done with them and they went bat shit crazy on me. Sadly I never thought that this person would. Sigh.

Right Now I Wanna Scream

2011-11-01T16:02:00.001-04:00

In the last few days I have been dealing with something that I honestly was not going to even mention here. Although it is over as of yesterday and this will be the last mention of it, I need to get my feelings out of my head so I can let go of it for once and for all.

A friend of mine from the bad old days in Florida, had been in my life for a while and we had been talking and stuff. We had a big fight before my birthday and that pissed me off because this person (I think) did it on purpose. After my birthday, we talked and I decided to try and let him back into my life again.

He began by telling me he loved me and missed me. He wanted to be with me. All of this while I am living with another man. He was telling me I was the only one who he was talking to . He wanted to be in my life and yadda yadda. Saying all these pretty things to me. However, knowing him like I do, I did not buy any of this.

Come to find out (yesterday) that he is thinking about moving back to Florida. Something he has told me over and over again that he would never do. Various reasons why. So when he said this to me, I was surprised. I asked why. Apparently while he was telling me I was the only one, there was another girl too. Mind you, he hurt me because I thought we were friends enough to not lie to each other. I thought we had passed that a long time ago.

Apparently I was wrong about that. What hurts the most are the lies. He told me he was living in Texas when he is living in another state. He told me he did not have a cell phone when he did. When we first started talking, he told me he was single and he was not. So, this is on me because with his past, I should have seen this coming. Live and learn.

He lied to me about things he did not need to lie about and when confronted about them, he would have all kinds of excuses ready. So, I threw him out of my life yesterday. He called me 15 time or so after I hung up on him (it might have been childish to hang up on him, but I did not feel that I needed to talk to him anymore). He left me voicemails that I deleted without listening to. I unfriended him on Facebook and I erased my call log on my phone as well as took him out of my phone.

I honestly do not need so called friends like that in my life. Oh and for the record, I told him that I was staying here and I was happy for the most part where I am. I am hurt by the loss of a friendship, which apparently only meant something to me and not to him. If it mattered to him at all he would not have lied to me repeatedly.

It Has Been A While

2011-10-28T13:30:00.001-04:00

I just realized that it has been a while since I last wrote here. I got caught up in school and some days there just is not time enough in the day to get here too. Speaking of school, it is going very well and I have a 100% in my class currently. Which makes me really happy. It seems that October has flown by and November is right on the horizon.

The weather has been great lately and nice and cool. Which makes me happy. The windows are open and there is a nice breeze coming in. The table is finished with the chairs and it is really nice! For now, I like it where it is and will most likely stay there. I am trying to train myself to eat at the table now, but I have not done so everyday for 6 years. I am pretty good at eating dinner at the table though.

I know that sounds strange. Well.. I have to run, school work to do. Ciao!

Birthday and School

2011-10-21T15:11:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday and overall I had a great day. Got my new phone and it is great so far! Went to Red Lobster for dinner, it was wonderful. I enjoyed the quiet day and I did not do very much at all, which was nice.

School so far is great and I am all caught up with class. Actually, I am ahead of the game so far. I have an A in this class and on Monday I am moving into week 3 of my 5 week class. I am enjoying school so very much and I am glad.

I know this is short, but I gotta run for a bit. Ciao!