Books Read in 2012

Yep, it's clear that I am unable to keep up this blog. This makes it 3 years now that the only post I have made is my list of books read for the year. Maybe someday I can get back to it. In the meantime, I can at least copy & paste the list of books I read this year. The number of books read this last year went down quite a bit, and that is because I had a very busy year again. Also, some of the books were big ones (LOL...).
I like variety when I read, so each year along with fiction I like to read some biographies, some theology, along with some science fiction, & some classics. Most of the books I read this year were wonderful, & only one or two that I didn't really care for. I really enjoyed reading The Hobbit with our now 10 year old son. I loved 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It was NOT a horror-I can't read horror-but a great sci-fi time travel book. I would love to re-read this one. The theology that I enjoyed this year were books by J. Vernon McGee & Charles Stanley & both were re-reads because I love them very much. I like to read some of my dad's books each year, & this year I read his really old copy of Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I read a lot of John Steinbeck this year & was amazed by his writing. I also read Jane Eyre this year. I thought I would not like it at all & I really enjoyed it. I was also very moved by Elie Weisel's Night Trilogy. Elie is a holocaust survivor. One of my favorite books this year was Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. I want to own a copy of this book. I also wrapped up the Mitford series this year & even read the two Father Tim novels that continue his story. I didn't read as many books as some previous years, but I did have a really good year of reading.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey

Archaeological Study Bible

Doctrine for Difficult Days by J. Vernon McGee

Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon

In the Company of Others by Jan Karon

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias

Jesus Calling: A 365 Day Journaling Devotional by Sarah Young

Julia's Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child

Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Light From Heaven (Mitford series#9) by Jan Karon

Miss Julia Throws a Wedding by Ann B. Ross

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

On What Grounds (Coffeehouse Mystery #1) by Cleo Coyle

Shepherds Abiding (Mitford Series #8) by Jan Karon

The Didymus Contingency by Jeremy Robinson

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident by Elie Wiesel

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters by Logan Marshall (copyright 1912)

The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life by Charles Stanley

Books Read in 2011

It's been just over a year since I last wrote anything here. And now, I'm just listing my "books read list" for last year. I got some good reading in this year! And not much internet time, obviously. I finished up the Yada Yada series this year & am still reading on the Mitford series. I've read a few good biographies & a few classics that I've always wanted to read. I want to read a few classics every year. One of my favorite books I read in 2011 was Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler & Lois Tverberg. I also enjoyed The Hunger Games series, although I did not like how it ended. And there is one book in this list that I really didn't like at all. It was very popular, but not with me. Another favorite was finishing up the Narnia series as a read aloud with our now 9 year old son!
Here's my list of books read in 2011:


A Common Life (Mitford series #6) by Jan Karon

A New Song (Mitford series #5) by Jan Karon

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Adventures of B.J. The Amateur Detcetive by Toni Sortor

America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag by Sarah Palin

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Catching Fire by Suzanne Cullins

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Dick Van Dyke My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo & Lynn Vincent

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terrror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

In This Mountain (Mitford #7) by Jan Karon

James Herriot's Yorkshire by James Herriot

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lunatic (The Lost Books #5) by Ted Dekker & Kaci Hill

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My Life in France by Julia Child

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Out to Canaan (Mitford series #4) by Jan Karon

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler & Lois Tverberg

Southern Plate by Christy Jordan

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

The Complete Jewish Bible

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

The Duggers: 20 and Counting by Michelle Duggar

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Hunger Games by suzanne Collins

The Inheritance of Beauty by Nicole Seitz

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Lord God Made them All by James Herriot

The Pioneer Woman Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out by Neta Jackson

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling by Neta Jackson

Books I Read in 2010

I haven't forgotten this place. I just have a hard time getting here.
At the end of every year I post the list of the books I've read in that year. I figured I should get it done before I forget & end up doing it in July!
I had a really good year in reading. I enjoyed almost every book.
I read Truman Capote for the first time. I enjoyed In Cold Blood, but didn't really care for Breakfast at Tiffany's. To say that I "enjoyed" In Cold Blood seems really weird to say, but I did like the book. It was not my usual kind of read, but I could see that I really liked his writing. But I just didn't like Breakfast at Tiffany's. I read a few Bios. I read both Laura & President Bush's books. I enjoyed both of them. I really liked the new Bonhoeffer book. It was very meaty & not a quick read at all. I really liked it. It was an honor to read this book about this faithful man.
I've been reading The Chronicles of Narnia to our almost 8 year old son. That's a lot of fun, & it brings back memories of reading them to our almost 20 year old daughter when she was his age. Both our kids have birthdays this week, so I couldn't just say they were 7 and 19. :)
I really enjoyed the Circle Trilogy books by Ted Dekker. Wow, they were amazing. I do not have the words to describe them. I started reading the Lost Books that follow the charactors in the Circle Trilogy, but I have not finished them. I have two more to read, & then I think there are three more books that follow another storyline from that series. It's a bit confusing, but it is a fun series. Love it! This year I re-read To Kill a Mockingbird, which I want to do every few years. I love that book, like most folks do. And I re-visited with Corrie Ten Boom. Loved those books too.
It's been a year of great books. I'm starting off 2011 with one of my dad's books, so I'm starting the year with a great book.
It's been a year of not getting on the computer very much.
It's been a year of growth, especially with our kids!
It's been a year of loss, as we lost my husband's mom. I miss her & am still grieving her. I find that I cry when I talk about her, even if it's a funny story (it usually is something funny!).
It's been a year of battling cancer for my mom. She's a survivor. :)
So here's to another year.
Here's to life, growth, & most of all, trusting in God.
Here's to giving our lives, every day, for Him.
And here's to another year of great books!

Here's my list of books read this year:



All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot

Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich by Eric Metaxas

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Death Comes for the Archbiship by Willa Cather

Decision Points by George W. Bush

Healing Foods from the Bible by Bernard Ward

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

It's Not About Me by Max Lucado

Next by Michael Crichton

Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

The Circle Trilogy Book 0: Green by Ted Dekker

The Circle Trilogy Book 1: Black by Ted Dekker

The Circle Trilogy Book 2: Red by Ted Dekker

The Circle Trilogy Book 3: White by Ted Dekker

The Greatest Story Ever Told by Fulton Oursler

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

The Holy Wild by Mark Buchanan

The Lost Books #1 Chosen by Ted Dekker

The Lost Books #2 Infidel by Ted Dekker

The Lost Books #3 Renegade by Ted Dekker

The Lost Books #4 Chaos by Ted Dekker

The Oath by Frank Peretti

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Tramp for the Lord by Corrie Ten Boom

Herb Garden 2010

HELLO! I'm Back!
Well, I haven't really been away.
Just not able to be online long enough to keep things updated here.
I have been busy as usual, but hope to be able to get back to posting recipes & things about our garden.
We've been gardening for years, but this is only my third year to have an herb garden. I love having an herb garden. Love it!
So here's the first garden update of 2010, specifically an herb garden update.

Today I havested my first load of Chamomile this year. I enjoy drying the flowers & having nice chamomile tea with honey in the cold weather.

You can see that our chives have flowered. Some folks like to add these flowers to a salad. Our 7 year old son likes to eat them right off the plant. Wow, it gives him BAD BREATH! LOL

You'll be able to see that I haven't weeded yet.
Actually, I haven't done anything in the herb garden yet, except pick chamomile flowers today.
You can see, it is quite a mess. But the chamomile are flurishing & flowering. The cilantro (to the left of the chamomile) seems to grow so quickly that it goes right to flowering & then to seed. I'll probably just pull them up, because I still have tons of corriander seed. Tons! You can't see the thyme, it's right behind the camomile, & I have plenty of it. Ha Ha, yes, I have plenty of thyme, but not plenty of time. It is flowering & looks beautiful with all its little pink flowers, & smells divine. There's a sage plant back there too, & the fennel is back also. I hope it flowers & goes to seed because I use a lot of fennel seeds. I also have weeds flurishing & I hope to get those out of there soon. :) The dill is coming back, and the basil has not arrived yet. I thought it was annual so I bought new seed last year, but the basil ended up returning. So we'll see if it comes back this year.

We have also planted most of our regular garden. We have planted our rows of corn & green beans, our hills of zucchini, 24 tomato plants plus 1 yellow tomato plant & 1 cherry tomato plant. We also planted our green pepper plants, broccoli, & cabbage. I planted half a row of radishes, & will finish the row in a week or so. That way we don't get all our radishes at once. We still have some planting to do. We've just been doing a little here & a little there, & we are almost done. We need to plant our beet seeds, & find a new place to plant cucumbers. We also still need to plant our onions.

Sorry I've not been able to keep up here. I have taken lots of food pictures & hope to post some recipes soon.
Tomorrow we're going to grill chicken, & I'm make KFC cole slaw this evening to go with it.

Freezing Fog

Now that it's almost Spring, I'm finally getting around to adding my pictures of the freezing fog.
I'm running a bit behind on things on this computer.
That's an understatement.
This winter season has been a long one on a few fronts.
I've had a lot of extra babysitting kids, which is a wonderful thing.
I had to quit a set of brothers that I've been babysitting for 2 1/2 years, which was an incredibly hard thing.
We've had a hard winter weather-wise. We've has lots of snow & wind & ice, & even some freezing fog.
February was the hardest with the loss of my Mother-in-Law. I was blessed to call her Momma for almost 25 years. I'm so thankful to know that she called Jesus her Savior, so I KNOW she's in no more pain & living with Him for eternity. Praise the LORD. I miss her & the grief hurts, especially for our children.

I'm ready, oh so ready for Spring. I've seen my first robin, which always brings tears of joy to my eyes, some years even more than others. I really had to choke back the sobs this year!

So just before we shout HELLO SPRING, here's one last quick look at something wintery:
Freezing Fog

This fog hit us for 3 or 4 mornings in a row. I'm not sure I understand how this freezing fog works. We had about 10 inches of snow on the ground, & these few days the temps were staying around ZERO, & we got this fog every morning. I wouldn't want to drive in it, but it sure was beaufiful to look at what this fog left behind.





The freezing fog left this really thick layer of what looked like snow, but was actually more of a freezing mist or frost. It was really cool.









Then the sun came out & burned away the fog, & left this beautiful sight.

Books I Read in 2009

Here's my list of books that I read in 2009. I enjoyed reading almost all of these, but thankfully I have learned that I can put a book down & stop reading it if I'm really not enjoying a book that much. I used to have to finish a book I started.
My least favorite in this list was Before the Sun Goes Down by Elizabeth Metzger Howard. I just didn't like the story at all, & didn't care for the writing either. It was after reading this book that I decided that in the future I would put a book down & not go back to it if I wasn't enjoying it. I just do not have the time to put into a book I don't like.

I had a few favorites this year & can't pick just one. I would say my favorites were Chesapeake by James Michener, All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot, any books by Beth Moore, The Chronicles of Narnia books (I'm reading them out loud to our almost 7 year old son), & I also enjoy the Yada Yada Prayer Group books by Neta Jackson.



A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

Anne of Avonlea by L.M.Montgomery

Armageddon by Tim Lahaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

Before the sun Goes Down by Elizabeth Metzger Howard

Bible (NASB-started read through 5-5-08 reading 4 chapters a day, finished 2-27-09

Blue Ribbon Recipes: Country Fair Winners (published 1968)

Chesapeake by James A. Michener

Desecration by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin


In The President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect by Ronald Kessler

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore

Kingdom Come by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

Levi's Will by W. Dale Cramer

Maggie-Now by Betty Smith

Moon River and Me by Andy Williams

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Poems of Faith by Helen Steiner Rice

Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert

Praying God's Word by Beth Moore

Prophet by Frank E. Peretti

Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen

The Case of the Runaway Corpse (A Perry Mason Mystery series) by Erle Stanley Gardner

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Gardens For All Book of Tomatoes by Dick and Jan Raymond

The Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

The Remnant by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

The Shack by William P. Young

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real (book 3) by Neta Jackson

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough (book 4) by Neta Jackson

These High, Green Hills by Jan Karon