Goal Check-Up

This is my personal grade for the half year mark of my goals. Pretty sad...but it is time to remotivate myself.

Spiritual Goal: Reading the scriptures D- I was really good at the beginning...not so good now. Pray C I do pray throughout the day but I don't give myself time to think and meditate.

Mental: Read 27 books. I have read 8 out of 27. I am not counting the books that I have already read and have read again this year. That means I have 19 books left to read.

Physical: C- We got a gym membership and I was really good for a month we went everyday...then as usual I stopped...life happens and I got stuck. Time to remotivate myself.

Emotional: A+ I finished a quilt in January and have finished a few other crafts since then as well.

Personal: Get out of debt. B- we are still working on it. Budget is in place now we just have to take it one month at a time:)

Book Reviews (This is going to be a long one!)

Because I haven't blogged for so long I have a lot of book reviews that I need to share. I have read some great books!

Fabelhaven Book 5: Keys to the Demon Prison

I loved this book best out of the five book series if you ask me. I thought that it wrapped things up pretty well. My favorite part was that it had a little bit of a romance in it to. Great fantasy story perfect for all ages...well mabey not the little ones:)

The Witch at Blackbird Pond

I loved this book. No wonder it won a Newberry Award. I loved the mix between romance, adventure and history. It wasn't a long book but definatly worth the read if you have the chance.

The Giver

This book was GREAT! It was interesting and very short. I loved being able to think about living in this world of "sameness" it made me grateful for the world we live in even with all of its imperfections. My husband and I are going to read the other two books that follow this same type of story line. The second is called Gathering Blue and the third is called The Messanger. Neither one of these stories are about the same character but my mother-in-law tells me that it connects to the story in some way. I will let you know when I finish reading them.

Divinely Designed

I am a sucker for LDS romances. This book was such a fun read! I finished reading the whole book in 24 hours. If you know me it takes me awhile to get through a book because either I lose interest or I just don't have time. You know that I truely love a book when I make time to read it. This is a story about a girl who has graduated from college and is moving away from home again to start a new job. Many exciting and interesting things happen to her along the way. Read it I know you'll love it!

Where the Red Fern Grows

I LOVED this book. I read it to my kids at school. One of the ladies that I teach with said "this is the kind of book that they will remember forever and it will change their lives." I thought that those were some pretty powerful promises. She was right! I bawled my eyes out but it was one of the most powerful books I have ever read. This book is based on a true story...the life of the author. It isn't considered a biography or nonfiction because there are fabrications to the story. After we read the story we watched the movie. The movie is not as good as the book (typical) but it is still worth watching:)

The Lightning Theif

I read this book twice this year. Once to my class and once with my husband on a road-trip. The book is SO much better than the movie. If you saw the movie and thought "hey that was okay" READ THE BOOK. It is different than the movie (I almost prefer it that way. I think thats why I didn't love the Harry Potter Movies they followed the books too closely but were forced to take a lot of it out) In the book there are different things that happen that would have been hard to put into the film. The parts that were left out were some of my favorites. My husband and I plan to read the rest of the series together. I am excited to see where it goes from here!

Jewelry Frame

For years I have been packing all of my jewelry into boxes and placing them in a drawer or on a shelf. I was sick and tired of digging through all my jewelry to find what I wanted. So I asked my wonderful husband to make me a jewelry frame. I drew him a picture, went to Home Depot with him to get the supplies and he made it for me. It turned out wonderful!! If you would like to see my another adorable jewelry holder follow this link. This is where I got inspired to have my husband make me one of my own.

Measurements: 2 feet tall and 3 feet long

(I could have gotten away with a 2x2 frame but I still love it.

Materials you will need:

10 feet of 4x1

6 feet of 2x1

1 roll of square chicken wire

3/4" hooks

hooks to hang it with

Acrilic Paint

Sandpaper

Dark Old English Polish

Tools:

Chop Saw (to cut the wood)

Staple gun (to staple the chicken wire to the frame)

Hammar

Drill

Painting:

I painted the entire frame black. Then to give it an antique look I took sandpaper and sanded the edges and corners until the wood was visible. Then I sanded the center part of the wood to give it some scratched texture (in some parts you could see through to the wood). Then I took the dark Old English and an old rag and wiped it all over the frame.