My Christmas Gift to You
December 24, 2008
Last year this time I worked as a shelf stocker at Barnes & Noble. My job was to put books on shelves, not necessarily help people find what they were looking for, but every now and then someone would stop me and ask for help. So I thought I’d share with you the one book I handsold.
A man asked me for a book on personal finance, and I showed him Dave Ramsey’s book Financial Peace Revisited. I had discovered the book recently and loved it. Dave Ramsey is a personal finance guru who teaches old-fashioned, common sense money advice, and the book goes from showing how people get into financial trouble to how to get out of that trouble to how to save for your future, how to retire with dignity as he puts it.
With the economy scaring people, I know many are looking for ways to shrink their budgets and stretch their money. Having financial troubles can put a horrible stress on a marriage. Whether you fit any of those scenarios or are in good shape but would like to pick someone’s brain, Financial Peace Revisited is where you need to go. The book is one of the most helpful, encouraging, and fun books on money. It’s well worth your time and money.
Well, that’s probably the only non-fiction book I’ll ever review here. Now back to our regularly schedule fiction.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
I Love Our DVR Because . . .
May 30, 2008
. . . when the freecreditreport.com commercials come on, we can sit there and rewind them and play them over and over.
And over.
In Case You Were Wondering But Were Too Afraid to Try . . .
December 5, 2007
In case you were wondering but were too afraid to try, if you leave a plastic jug of peanut oil outside (the jug with the leftover oil from the deep-fried turkey), the critters in them thar woods right behind your house will do their best to claw their way through the plastic into the peanuty goodness. In fact, they’ll even manage to make one big claw mark on the bottom that you don’t know exists. Until later.
In case you were wondering but were too afraid to try, letting the peanut oil in that clawed jug leak all over your garage floor overnight leaves your house smelling like overcooked meat.
In case you were wondering but were too afraid smart to try, cleaning up a couple gallons of peanut oil with newspaper only leaves you with a wonderful example of how long eternity is.
But I’m still thankful.
There is Oil Dry.
Did I Mention the Birds?
November 8, 2007
Driving home from work today, I saw a cloud of birds that reminded me that I had failed to mention the, um, gathering of fowl here in the fall.
Let’s just say Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds comes to mind. You drive by a field and suddenly there’s a black cloud flying up into the sky. The road ahead is covered in black until a car approaches. Honestly, I’ve never seen flocks of birds this big.
But I did see the coolest thing last week. I was, again, driving home from work, and in the distance I could see a black cloud of birds together in the sky. But they weren’t flying anywhere. Instead, they were shifting within the same space, and their shifting caused variations in the shading of their bird cloud. Different shapes as more birds flew to one side and then moved down and up. Reminded me of the fish in Finding Nemo, the ones that formed into shapes for Dorie to guess at and mocked Marlin for being whiney.
So it was very cool to see birds doing almost the same thing in real life. And much more comforting than thinking about The Birds.
[Wo]Man Vs. Wild — Kansas
November 5, 2007
The new season of Man vs. Wild has started, and as I’ve watched the commercials showing where Bear Grylls will go next, I must say I’m very disappointed to see that he’s not chosen to try to survive here in eastern Kansas.
Really. For this suburbanite, Kansas is not the safe urban environment I’d expected.
Where do I begin?
First of all, there are bugs here. No kidding. Lots of bugs. This was a shock to me as I had not realized how much Chicago had mastered the art of destroying bugs. (Except for those 17-year cicadas this past summer.) Yes, Chicago has ants and some bees and wasps. But seriously, the city and suburbs are bug free compared to here.
Here two massive spiderwebs appeared overnight outside our front door and our garage door. Massively massive spider webs. Complete with thumbnail-size spider keeping watch from the web’s center. Sheesh, it looked like we were decorating from Halloween.
And then of course, there’s the issue of going out in the evening and leaving your porch light on. Which is worse? Fumbling for the right key in the dark or letting the hordes of bugs drawn to your light enter the house with you? We quickly decided to fumble in the dark.
There are even bugs in busy areas, right outside shopping malls where cars and people are coming and going constantly. I’ve almost stepped on a praying mantis, a moth the size of my palm, a numer of grasshoppers and crickets (too many to count), and even a walking stick. I tell you, this place is a bug collector’s paradise.
And then there are the snakes.
You heard me. On my first day in my back yard, I walked out the door, looked down at my feet, and saw that I’d almost stepped on a snake.
So what if it was a garter snake? I’d never even seen one before. Man, am I sorry to have that thirty-some year streak ruined. I tried to act calm (my daughter was right next to me). And before long the thing flew through the grass and left. But frankly its speed freaked me out too.
Lest you find yourself laughing at me, let me really scare you. There are copperheads in them thar woods.
There’s a couple in our church who have some land and live off a gravel road. Evidently copperheads like rocks. They’ve seen copperheads on that road and have run them over and killed them. (Our friend says you drive back and forth over them until you’re sure they’re dead. Just so you know.)
Another man in our church was visiting this family. He was driving down their road on his motorcycle and saw a copperhead up ahead in the road. So he decided to peal out on the bike and kill it. (Again, should you ever find yourself on a bike with a copperhead in front of you, you HAVE to peal out on the snake to kill it. File that one away, okay?)
But sadly, after he pealed out on the bike, he looked behind himself and didn’t see the snake lying dead in the road.
Or slithering off to the side.
He jumped off the bike to see if it had gotten somehow wrapped up in the bike and was about to bite him. Thankfully, it hadn’t
But it gets better. There are rattlesnakes here, too.
Another family in church was cleaning out their window wells a few years ago. Their son, not realizing what it was, picked up a baby rattler by the tale. He found it all cozy in their window well. Thank goodness we don’t have window wells. They’d never get cleaned.
Lastly, there’s the sky. I’ve never given all the ozone theories a thought, but here there are little holes all over the sky. You can see them best at night. Little white dots all over. Kinda pretty, if it weren’t so scary.
I tell ya, Bear Grylls has nothing on me.
I’ve Been Everywhere, Man . . .
September 10, 2007
The other day, while we were driving somewhere, one of my kids asked me how many states I’d been to.
So I started listing them for him — Illinois (duh), Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, Kansas (double-duh), Nebraska, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, South Dakota, and California (obviously flew there).
I was really surprised by how big that list was. Twenty-five states. Some I’ve only driven through, but that still counts.
Now I know some of you have been to many more than twenty-five states. Let’s see who’s been to the most!
What Was I Thinking
August 6, 2007
I had a funny/odd thought recently while I was doing laundry. I was emptying the dryer, and it was one of those loads that was all shirts and didn’t seem to have an end. Around the four hundredth shirt, I got annoyed and thought, “What we need is someone to invent a hanging-up machine.”
A picture flashed in my mind of a woman scrubbing her clothes over those scrubbing boards (was there a technical term for them?) and saying, “What we need is someone to invent a machine to wash clothes for us.”
And then I pictured a woman sitting beside a running river, her hands in fists as her bearskin floated away with the current, and she said, “What we need is someone to invent a container for water so our bearskins quit floating away.”
Okay, don’t know if that last lady ever existed or not, but needless to say, I felt pretty silly for complaining about having to hang up my machine-washed and -dried laundry. Maybe someday there’ll be a machine to hang up clothes (someone please get to work on that!), but for now I’m thankful for my washer and dryer.
Long may they live.
An Award!
August 1, 2007
Erica Vetsch at On the Write Path gave me the Rockin’ Girl Blogger award. No, it’s not for my musical accomplishments (which are none). It’s for my blog.
Thanks, Erica!
I get to pass the award on to other blogs I think are worthy, and to be honest, this is hard. The ones I read daily have just been given the award as well, but oh well. Right back at ya’, guys!
Kaye Dacus at Write Time, Write Place (she gets deep down into fiction-writing techniques)
Georgiana at Georgiana D (just fun stuff from a fellow writer)
Erica Vetsch at On the Write Path (another fellow writer with fun stuff)
Camy Tang at Camy’s Loft (a just pubbed writer who talks a little bit about everything)
Novel Journey (I LOVE this blog — great author interviews and behind-the-scenes publishing industry news for book lovers and writers alike)
May the Force . . . Annoy You
July 30, 2007
I got quite a number of comments on last Monday’s post where one child asked me to make the other child stop using the force on them. And yes, that really was said to me in a most serious manner.
Want to know the story behind it?
We have a Legos Star Wars video game, and my kids were playing it together. One of them was Darth Vader whom we all know has force powers. Evidently “Darth” wanted to get into whatever Child Two was doing in the game, and so “Darth” used his force powers in the game to move Child Two elsewhere. This happened over and over and over until Child Two got upset and called for me to make him stop using the force.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but we’re not as talented as all that!
July 4, 2007
Have a great Fourth of July, everyone!
Let’s Talk Food!
May 14, 2007
In our house, we love the grill. Most of what we barbecue is beef, like burgers or ribs.But the other day, I saw a marinade that I thought I’d try. It was a McCormick’s Chipotle Pepper pack. Add water and oil and chicken and wah-lah!
I marinated it for about 4 hours, cut up a couple roma tomatoes, a green pepper, an onion, and some of the chicken for kabobs and served it all with sour cream.
Oooooooh, was it good!
There were some extra vegetable pieces so I sauted them and served them with the chicken. Take away the sour cream, and it was a super yummy and healthy meal.
Man, I’m drooling on my laptop. Time to buy more marinade!
8 Random Things
May 10, 2007
Yep, I’ve been tagged. Georgiana and Pam both got me a day apart. I’m probably cheating here, but following are my eight random things about me for both Georgiana and Pam (who might demand satisfaction if I don’t obey orders).
1. I’m a huge baseball fan. My husband (a sportsaholic in his own right) says I’m a bigger fan than him. We’re addicted fans of the White Sox (who can’t hit to save their lives right now).
2. I’ve lived through a tornado and an earthquake. Would be great fodder for a scene in a book someday, but sadly I was too little to remember it.
3. I’ve been to Brazil and fought off the snakes–oh, wait. No fiction here. There were no anacondas. But I did go down one of those ridiculously steep water slides while in Brazil (those slides that are almost vertical and make your stomach get stuck in your esophogaus). And yes, I screamed the whole way down.
4. Man, this is hard. Okay, I almost hung up on my agent the first time he called me. (He doesn’t even know this.) I thought he was a telemarketer and was a milisecond from hanging up when he introduced himself. After that, I was very polite.
5. I love chocolate. Love, love, love chocolate. Particular favorites are hot fudge sundae at Culver’s with double hot fudge (I did say I like chocolate!) and Oberweiss’s Triple Chocolate Shake. Okay, I’m thinking I need to find a recipe with quadruple chocolate in it. Any suggestions?
6. Speaking of chocolate, I have an awesome chocolate chip brownie recipe with chocolate chip cookie dough on top that I’m frequently requested to bring with me when we go to friends’ homes. Not bragging, just saying. After all, I’m following someone else’s recipe! [If you want it, email me -- sallybradleywrites {AT} gmail DOTDOTDOT com. Leave me a tip while you're at it.]
7. I have a screw in my ankle. No “Well, that explains it!” from friends. I do hold power over the comments.
8. Eight of these things? Sheesh. Okay, I really, really, really wanted to marry a guy with a unique last name, something like Wojciechowski or Pierzynski or Ctvrtlik. So of course I marry a Polish guy — who has an English last name from his dad. Oh, well. My friend Maureen says it’s a much better last name for a writer — easier for people to remember.
And speaking of Maureen, make sure you read the post below as well. If you know anyone who has Fragile X syndrome or another genetic disorder, you might want to pass it on to their family.
Whoops, almost forgot. Have to tag eight other people. First, here are the rules.
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Okay, I tag Deborah, Christa, Carolyn, Delia, Robin., CeeCee, Rhonda, and Patricia.
Good gravy, that’s done. I need a nap. You have no idea how tempted I was to tag Georgiana and Pam again!
Note to Self, Again
April 24, 2007
From now on, clean out the fridge whenever you have a cold.
A Bigger Life by Annette Smith
April 18, 2007
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
In 1997, Annette was working as a home health nurse. She traveled the back roads from house to house, caring for ill and injured, homebound people. Because of her unique position in the lives of relative strangers, she often found herself bearing solitary witness to intimate behind-the-scenes situations full of grace and meaning. The desire to honor both a particular patient and a poignant scene involving the woman and her husband prompted Annette to write a fictionalized story, The Anniversary.
That first story appeared as a column in the Houston Chronicle newspaper and as an essay in Today’s Christian Woman magazine. Later it became a chapter in Annette’s first and best-selling book of short stories, The Whispers of Angels, that has sold more than 100,000 copies
Since then, Annette has penned four more books of stories, two volumes on parenting, and the Coming Home to Ruby Prairie trilogy.
Annette and her husband Randy, a High School teacher and coach, make their home on a wooded lot in Quitman, Texas. They are the parents of two young adult children, Russell and Rachel, both out on their own. Wally, a grateful, rescued mutt provides warmth and entertainment and keeps the Smiths’ empty nest from feeling too lonely.
In addition to writing, Annette continues to serve part-time as a registered nurse. She finds the people she works with and the patients she cares for provide great inspiration for her fiction.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Joel Carpenter did not plan for his life to turn out like this. He never meant to be a single dad, working at a hair salon in Eden Plain, Texas. But after making a careless choice four years ago, his marriage was permanently shattered. Now at twenty-seven, he finds himself juggling custody of his preschool son with Kari, the ex-wife he still loves, and sharing Sunday dinners with a group of other single dads.
Joel regrets the choices that brought him to this place, but it’s not until the worst happens that he learns how much he still has to give. In the midst of deep tragedy, he learns that forgiveness is way more important than freedom. Hopefully it’s not too late!
A BIGGER LIFE is a story of love in the midst of heartache, and friendship in the midst of real, everyday life.
Sally Says — Rats! I knew this book was coming up on the CFBA schedule and wanted to interview Annette about it, but I didn’t write it down in my daytimer. Maybe I’ll interview her later. I’m intrigued by this book.
I read A Bigger Life a couple months ago and enjoyed it. It’s not your ordinary Christian fiction book. First of all, it’s told first person through a man’s POV, and it’s written as if he’s sitting across the table from you, telling you his story. It goes back and forth, from where he’s at in the present to the past that’s led to this moment. It’s a book that starts out a bit leisurely but builds the further you go.
One thing I really appreciated about the book was that it showed me a new perspective — that of a single dad. The main character, Joel, hosts a group of single dads at his house on the weekends. And there was one character who really got to me. I don’t remember his name, but at one point he told Joel that the guy who’d married his ex-wife would get to raise his daughter. That right had been stolen from him. And he was heartbroken by it.
I do recommend A Bigger Life. It’s a great read for a book club (hmm). This is the only book by Annette that I’ve read, but it’s so well done, I may have to read another!
In other important news to me, I got my braces off today! Yippee! Actually, in the picture of me at the top, I’m wearing braces, but they’re Invisalign, the type no one’s supposed to be able to see. I had those for a long time but had to switch to the real thing to perfect my chompers.
One humorous thing about having braces as a mom was hearing my three-year-old (at the time I got braces) say orthodontist. Not too many pre-schoolers out there telling people they’re taking their mom to the orthodontist!
Note to Self
April 12, 2007
Technically, one very yummy Hershey’s Special Dark mini candy bar does NOT deserve another.