Halloweeeeeeennnn!!!!

Ah, Halloween! That glorious time of year filled with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, super heros and princesses and of course, CANDY!!!

It's also the time of year when Christians bring out the judgement guns. People who mean well, but forget the whole "judge not" commandment we find in the Bible...interesting how that happens.

Our family celebrates Halloween! *GASP* Settle down, people, settle down.

Do we set up a shrine to the devil and sacrifice cats in order to try and call up spirits from the beyond? Nope

Do we pray to the moon and thank Mother Earth? Nope

Funny though, that's how it is perceived by those Christians who choose not to participate.

If you choose not to go trick or treating or hand out candy. That's cool. It's your right, you know that whole free will thing. I don't go knocking on your door or filling up your FB newsfeed with messages of "How dare you deprive your children of the experience!"

I don't try to make you feel guilty for it.

I don't list a bunch of unrelated Bible verses in order to prove my point.

I will, however, post pictures of my absurdly adorable children decked out in their Super Hero costumes (Batman and Robin this year) because they are just that stinking cute and awesome.

A friend of mine shared this blog post and it's perfect:
Why I Celebrate Halloween

Enough said.

Happy Halloween or Happy Candy Day or Happy Regular Thursday to you!!

The Home School vs Public School Debate

Let me start by clarifying, that this debate I speak of is just the one going on in my head, nothing bigger than that.

And, never say never!!

I once thought "I will never be able to homeschool, it's just not who I am"

Well, the joke is on me, because I think about it more and more every day.

Why?

Oh, there are so many reasons!!

And it's not so much about the content that is taught in public schools: evolution, homosexuality is good, sex is fine and long as you use protection...we can work around that. My parents managed to teach me right from wrong regardless of what was taught in school.

But, yes that's a concern.

It's more about the fact that I literally feel sick to my stomach every time my 5 year old comes home from school and says they had a Lock Down Drill that day....

Or the fact that almost every single day there is another horrifying story of bullying on the news...

Or the fact that in the town we used to live in a 7 year old stabbed another 7 year old in the back with a pencil....7 YEARS OLD!!! This did not happen in inner city Boston, this happened 2 towns away, where we have friends!!

Maybe I am just a mama-bear wanting to protect and shield my little ones from any potential harm. And you know what, there's nothing wrong with that. That's kind of my job right now, to protect them.

I am really not the over-protective type either, my husband is the helicopter parent, not so much me...

My 5 year old is a very social little guy. He loves school and the structure there, he loves meeting new friends. So, that's a damper. I don't want to take him away from that.

My 3 year old is more clingy, so I would like for him to have to go to school, to learn some independence

But, is public school the best way to do that?

I just don't know

And then, I can't help but think that the more Christian families pull their children out of public schools, the darker those schools become. We are taking the light away...


So many conflicting thoughts....

I will not take any action this school year. J will finish Kindergarten where he started....

But, I will be spending a lot of time on my knees in deep discussion with God about this during that time...

Monday Monday....shoot me now

It may not sound right, but Monday's are just as miserable for us mother's who don't go to work during the day too.

Source

Especially gloomy ones like today...

My Monday's usually consist of lots of dish washing, sweeping, laundry, meal planning, grocery list making, room cleaning, laundry, and lots of other not fun stuff...

I am procrastinating today...

Big time...

If I even look at the washing machine, it makes me nauseated....no, scratch that, it makes me want to punch something...something soft, I'm not a huge fan of pain...

For the past week or so, I have been in one of those moods, where you just want to throw everything cluttery in your sight into the big blue trashcan, dance a happy dance as the big blue trash truck takes it all away, and bask in the beauty of a clean, clutter free house...

Unfortunately, I can't....

Pretty sure the hubs would not be thrilled if I tossed his tools....

Source

So, I will put on my Monday face...get off the stupid computer (time-sucker-away-er) and get my butt in gear...wish me luck...

Otherworld by Jared Wilson - A Disappointing Review

Otherworld: A Novel by Jared C. Wilson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Word of the day: Disappointing

I was very disappointed in this book.

I am a big fan of Dean Koontz and Ted Dekker, and I love supernatural thrillers. I was hoping this would be up to par...boo, it wasn't.

The first chapter was super engaging, creepy, interesting and I got excited! But I was super disappointed that we never found out who "she" is or what happened to her, but I just now realized..."she" was the cow...ugh!
Whatever.

I enjoy stories being told from different points of view, but this was just confusing. Way too much bouncing around. It was hard to keep track.

The premise is good, but the storytelling was just not there. I could tell where it was going from pretty soon into the book and that's disappointing. I like to be surprised. Even will all the bouncing around, it was still straightforward, I could guess what's going to happen next.

It was a struggle to finish this book, but I powered through.
The spiritual message is a good one, but from a storytelling perspective, it was just (say it with me!) disappointing.

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Red Hill by Jamie McGuire - A Review

Red Hill by Jamie McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was debating between a 4 and a 5 on this one. So, really it's a 4.5 :)

The characters are very real and easy to connect to. The story is engaging, it pulls you in from the beginning. I love page turners and this definitely was one for me. I just wanted to keep reading to find out what happens next!

The beginning was a tad confusing to me, I would have liked to have seen a little more explanation of how this disease came to be. That part was very vague which maybe was the intention since it's just the background story to these people's lives, but I still would liked to have seen just a little bit more.

There were also a couple parts in the book that just didn't make a lot of sense, but I won't go into which parts, there are some serious spoilers if I do.

The "zombie" part was very well written. It was scary and gross, but not overly so. Bad idea to read this when it's time to get flu shots for my boys ;)

I was emotionally attached to the main characters, all the characters introduced along the way too, right away and cried at least 4 times reading this book.

The "love story" aspect of this book is muti-faceted. We get to see so many different levels and types of love. There's the strong love of a parent, soul-mate love, new found love, I-can't-have-you-but-I-want-you love, and the strong binding love of people going through something horrific together.

I like it when stories are told from more than one point of view, but if you don't then this book is not for you, but try it anyway!

It's definitely worth a read!!

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Undertow by K.R. Conway: A Review

Undertow by K.R. Conway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

LOVED this book! The only thing I am disappointed in, is I have no idea when the next story is coming out??

I love YA books, but tend to lean towards dystopian/post-apocalyptic ones (don't ask me why, I don't know), so I wasn't sure how much I would like this one.

I was pleasantly surprised! I ADORE the main character. I was getting bored of the main characters who think they are unattractive and are super shy, but are actually drop dead gorgeous (just annoying). I like how she keeps to herself but only because she has no interest in the high school dramatics, not because she isn't sure of herself, because she is.

Let me give a huge THANK YOU to K.R. Conway for the lack of a love triangle! Super sick of those and also THANK YOU for not making every single boy in town fall madly in love with her!

The way she adjusts to this new found knowledge of a world outside the normal one she is used to is fantastic, she doesn't just shrug her shoulders and say "I knew it!" and jump in with no doubts. Love that.

The way the love story builds is also a breath of fresh air. They kind of fall in love at first sight, but the friendship builds first, Love that!

Sorry, I feel like I am rambling and jumping all over the place and this is probably getting annoying at this point, but I just can't really go into details without spoiling parts of the book!

I very rarely want to read books more than once, but this one I do!
As soon as it comes out, GET IT! You won't be disappointed.

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First comes fall then comes @$$@#@#$

I have very bitter sweet feelings about Fall

It's my favorite season, hands down

 I love the colors on the trees, watching the kids jump in leaf piles,apple picking, baking apple pies that are apparently to die for, living in hoodies...I love it all

Plus,I am a fall baby, and birthdays are awesome

So, what's not to like, you ask? Winter, that's what..fall is a precursor to winter!

I try my best to be content in winter, there's nothing I can do about it, I can't change the weather, I can't make the snow melt, but just because it's there doesn't mean I have to like it, right?

Yes, snowball fights are all kinds of awesome and snowmen are cool for the whole 2 seconds before miniG attacks them and sledding is super fun, and everybody needs a white Christmas, but after the first week or two, I'm done, that's good, we can move on...

 Tell me I'm not alone in this!!