Friday Slides Review!

To anyone who is on the fence about spending money on the Bombas Friday Slides, I bought them so you can have an honest review :)

First, I've had the $10 slides from Target. I wore them to the pool 2 years in a row. I have these slides from Amazon and I wear them around the house, currently. I don't love spending money on flip-flops so I usually have a pair of Sanuks and that's it. Bad flip-flops are really bad for your feet, and I haven't worn regular flip-flops out and about in years. To me, they give "stopping at a gas station on a road trip" vibes and I can't do it. (I think that comes from that Where the Heart Is movie, to be honest). 

Four years ago, I splurged on the Birkenstock Arizonas in teal. They are made of a styrofoam material* and are squeaky when wet. The feeling of my toes on that material was more than I could handle. They also have this raised support thing that you can see in the pictures. I don't understand why. It hurt my feet. Like, I couldn't wear them. Anyway, they sat with our outdoor shoes for a couple of years and last year Mav chewed on one a little and I didn't even care. I threw them away. Also, the print/logo rubbed off when wet. Basically, they were awful. 

I say all of that to put out there that I'm not unfamiliar to the game of buying summer slides that aren't flip-flops. 

This spring, I kept getting ads for Bombas and decided to splurge for Mother's Day. I was also riding out my foot issues for all of April and I used that to justify buying higher quality sandals for sure. Though, after the Birkenstock Regret of 2021, I was hesitant. 

I ended up going with the Desert Bloom, I got a size 8, and they were true to size. 

I cannot say enough good things about these shoes!

They don't get all weird and squeaky when they're wet. They dry quickly. They feel like nothing on your feet but are incredibly supportive. The footbed is almost completely flat and the ridges on the bottom actually kind of massage your feet the way those amazing adidas slides did back in the day. (I think I had them in 9th grade?) They also don't have a print logo or anything, just the name on the bottom. 

Honestly, I'm ready to buy another pair because I like them so much. If you are looking for a beach, summer, splashpad (me) sandal that is a little bit more elevated than a flip-flop and you can also wear with a sundress or into the grocery store after the pool (also, me), this is for you. 

*All of these slides have EVA listed as the material but the Birkenstocks were the only ones that felt like walking while encased in a styrofoam cup.

**I wish this post was sponsored, but it's not.**

Dinnerly review.

I subscribed to Dinnerly a few weeks ago. I picked Dinnerly on a whim, based on this article, which I bookmarked to refer back to. 

I think it was the best deal, price per meal, even though it wasn't a company I'd heard of before. 

Immediately I was annoyed: you must put in your card information before you pick your meals. Which means, you are locked in to a shipment before you pick and see what's available. Which led me to immediately, also, cancel my subscription as soon as I picked 6 dinners. 

The price was right with the hefty first-time customer discount, but I felt a bit like I was doing this:

...as I tried to navigate canceling without accidentally giving them more money.

I think I wrote that in the "why are you canceling?" reason box too. 

In addition, because I ordered on a Thursday, for a following Tuesday delivery, a lot of the meal kits were sold out. Friday is the last day on Dinnerly to make adjustments to your order for the following week. I didn't want to wait almost two weeks for a box (like, I was doing this so we could eat dinner the next week) so I just took what they had. 

Plus, my reason for doing this altogether was to get more variety in our dinner routine. Taking their recommendations seemed like a small price to pay and $70 was a good deal for what we got for sure. 

But that was a logistical issue on my end; I initially wasn't sure how the process worked. 

Anyway. It was about $70 for 6 dinners. 

The box showed up right on time. I don't know when it was actually put on the porch, but the timeframe was 9am-8pm and it was there when I got home from work at 4pm. 

Everything was packed in ice packs and still cold. 

There was one bag of chicken that leaked on the bottom of the box though, so I had to scrub down some of the items and throw away the ice packs away. 

I did report this on the website, which was very easy to do, and I immediately was given an $8 credit...

...after I reactivated my account of course and was set up with another delivery for a few weeks from now. 

Scott really enjoyed these dinners. They were, I admit, very easy to make and the 4-person portion gave us lots of leftovers because the kids didn't eat it. They have pb&j most nights with fruit and yogurt. They also like to eat their dinner at 4:30pm so there's that. 

I was okay with the dinners. I don't really do pork. Ground beef is hit or miss for me. I like chicken and vegetarian meals most. This box had a mix of all of them so I hit my goal of variety and they were all very easy to make. 

Here's the details:

Ravioli. This was really good. I'm usually not a fan of stuffed pasta and never buy/make tortellini, but this sauce was great and it made a lot. The ravioli in the box was round and the ravioli in the picture was square. I don't know why. 

Shepherd's Pie. This was like a bbq beef with veggies cooked in it. It was supposed to be "sloppy joe". I took a short cut and used a package of instant potatoes for the top. Scott liked it a lot. It was fine but not my favorite. Wells didn't try it either. 

Boneless pork chops. Scott, again, liked this a lot. I've literally never made a pork chop before because, shocker, it's not my type of food. I was in a hurry so I saved the rice for another night. 

Garlic Butter Steak. I made the rice with this. Skipped the potatoes because of time. Probably our favorite of the meals. 

Okay, this fascinated me. I could not get behind the cooking method of putting raw turkey sandwiches into the oven, so I cooked the turkey first. The sauce was good. It needed some tomatoes and cucumbers and it would've been make-at-home Greek food. So I feel like that was a missed opportunity.

Fresh dill on potatoes is a must after making this. The fries were very good. 

Flavor palate-wise, this was tasty. Stone ground mustard on chicken, and ranch on potatoes. You kind of can't beat that. 

Liked:

Lots of food for the price.

Very simple recipes but lots of flavor.

Some new cooking methods learned (cottage fries, put dill on fries, put garlic butter on steak)

Disliked:

Very potato heavy. We still have a bunch of potatoes on the counter.

Very meat-and-potatoes, which Scott liked but I didn't care about.

You are given nothing but raw ingredients in a box and you have to sort out what goes with what. 

In the end, I really liked the convenience of it. While I don't mind *cooking*, it's the finding recipes, making a list, physically getting the groceries, making sure I have everything...and then cooking that just wears me down in this particular season. 

This was a good experience so I do have another order placed for this week. I do recommend them 100% for the price vs. some of the other companies. 

This is obviously not a sponsored post but here's a link if you want to try it. 

Opening the box was a lot like the co-op experience I had in Colorado, when my friend and I would get fruit/veggies every week and then have to figure out what to do with them all. 

Diaper Bag review (completely unsponsored)

The two little straps are for attaching to a stroller, but I don't use them. 

I don't want to say I love this diaper bag because it's a diaper bag and, to be honest, I've refused to spend boatloads of money (more than $50) on a diaper bag because...it's a diaper bag. I could never feel about this the way I feel about certain purses in general.

I do think if you spend $200-300 on a diaper bag right out of the gate...like, before the baby arrives...you are wasting money. Buy something cheaper, in a style you like, and then get something more expensive down the road. In my case, I didn't even use a diaper bag for months. I just kept one stocked up in the car and stuck a bottle and blankie in my purse when we went places because it was all he needed. If he needed a diaper change, those supplies were in the car. We also weren't out on all-day excursions when he was really little either, though, and I do know that if I'd been packing him up to take to daycare, I'd have gotten more use out of a diaper bag in general those first several months.

So, that being said...

I don't love this bag because it's just a diaper bag. But I do like it a lot.

I got navy blue because I usually choose navy blue if given the opportunity. It has all gold accents which are fine. I think it'd look great in black or gray too, which are the other options.

I use this back little zipper pocket for gum and chapstick. 

The bottom zipper pocket goes into the bottom of the main compartment...I'm sure there's a reason for this, funcionality-wise, but I don't use it. 

The straps are a great size/fit. It feels like I'm just carrying a laptop bag or something, not a big, bulky diaper bag. 

I love that it has two side pockets. They're a bit small for water bottles, but my 32 oz. Hydroflask easily fits inside, even with all the other items you see below. I use the side pockets for my phone and keys. 

Diaper clutch, wallet, snacks for Wells, and a clutch I used to keep in my Longchamp to catch all the little items I didn't want floating around and getting lost. Lotion, medicine, chapstick, etc. 

There's pockets the whole way around and I'm pleased to say I haven't become frustrated by searching for anything yet. There's also an attached lanyard for keys. 

This bag also has a steel frame (or a metal one at least) and completely holds its shape. Meaning, I don't become frustrated trying to hold it open or wrestle it closed. 

Three insulated bottle pockets plus a mesh pocket.

It easily fits three 8 oz. bottles. 

The only thing I would 100% change is that I would make the front pocket for bottle storage have two zippers so they can meet in the middle. Because it can be a little bulky and difficult to close if it has 3 bottles plus a snack in it.

I've been using this for about two weeks now and I'm definitely satisfied with it. And...it was only $31.99! Plus it had a 5% off coupon to clip at checkout. I will say that it appears that the black one is $31.99 now and the navy is $37.99. Either way, not a huge difference.

I don't know how long I'll use this one for, but having a functional, easy-to-use diaper bag really helps with the day to day. We took it out for the whole day yesterday and had success, so that was the true test. I still keep our other diaper bag in the car with extra clothes, blankets, etc. I read a great tip about keeping full outfit changes in gallon ziploc bags and then putting the dirty or wet clothes in the ziplock bag to transport. Which is a genius idea, and now I keep three sets in the car and have certainly made use of them.

Any diaper bag hacks to share? 

Blogging for Books: Lincoln in the World

I took a lot of history classes in college. They always involved a textbook of some kind and then a bunch of other books the professor deemed important. I always wondered what it would be like to be a professor and get to choose the books that those broke college students "had" to buy.  Did you read your college textbooks?  I didn't.  I had the best of intentions.  I always bought the books. I rarely read them. Taking good notes on the lectures, I found, was the key to success.

All of this to say that Lincoln in the World read like one of those books a history professor would tell you to read, but you never actually got around to reading it. I'm a certified social studies teacher in two states, and  I fancy myself as someone who knows a lot about American history. I liked the movie Lincoln.  And I know a lot about William Seward after my time spent teaching Alaska history.  And one of the very first non-fiction books I ever remember reading was about Lincoln, when I was about 6.  Also, I read that Lincoln/vampire book and actually really liked it.

But I didn't get into this book.  It was full of information, yes, but wasn't pleasure-reading in any way. It was kind of a compilation of other authors' books on Lincoln instead of one person's opinion on how Lincoln helped to make the U.S. a world power.  In my personal opinion, there is nothing more boring than studying foreign policy.  The only interesting foreign policy I've ever come across was the build-up to World War II.  I just have this picture in my head of the U.S. being very isolated during its first 200 years.  You don't hear a lot of foreign policy between the Revolutionary War and World War I.  Weren't we busy with other things?  Going to war with ourselves and Reconstruction and all that.  While 19th century American history is interesting (hello, Little House on the Prairie), this book wasn't to me.

I didn't make it through the book.  I skipped a couple of chapters here and there and...sorry, Blogging for Books.  I wanted to like it.  I just didn't.

Blogging for Books: The 13th Gift

When I heard about Blogging for Books, I realized it fit in nicely with my reading goal for the year.  Rounding out the year with a Christmas book sounded ideal also, because I usually try to read a holiday-related story in December.

There was a bit of a snafu in the ordering/shipping/receiving process.  This book took over a month to arrive.  My intent was to have it posted as a review early in December so you all could read it if you were in the mood for a Christmas story.  However, arrive it did, and I read it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I suppose it worked out alright in the end.

The 13th Gift is A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith.  In it, she draws from her journals and remembrances of the Christmas after she lost her husband, Rick, in 1999.  She has just become a single mother of 3 children and is struggling to make it through the holiday season.  An anonymous gift giver starts leaving presents on her family's doorstep, one each day, leading up to Christmas.

From Random House:

After the unexpected death of her husband, Joanne Huist Smith had no idea how she would keep herself together and be strong for her three children--especially with the holiday season approaching. But 12 days before Christmas, presents begin appearing on her doorstep with notes from their "True Friends." As the Smiths came together to solve the mystery of who the gifts were from, they began to thaw out from their grief and come together again as a family. This true story about the power of random acts of kindness will warm the heart, a beautiful reminder of the miracles of Christmas and the gift of family during the holiday season.

What did I think of the story?  I enjoyed it.  It was a nice reminder to keep the true meaning of Christmas in the Christmas season.  It was definitely one of those "you should read it but it might make you feel a little down" kind of stories.  Like a movie on the Hallmark channel.  Nothing wrong with that, but you need to be in the right frame of mind, I think.

I very much enjoyed that fact that it was true story.  That made it easy to identify with and sympathize with the author and her family.  I like that it was memoir-based and it would probably be extra special to her children and grandchildren because it chronicles such a difficult time for the family.

It wasn't the best Christmas story I've read, as some of the writing was more journalistic than literary (given that the author's a reporter) and it read as being very clinical, and "detached" is the word I came across a few times on Goodreads when I was reading other reviews of this book.  But I will say that the beginning of the book pulled me in and I read five chapters before I even looked up.  However, after that, it did become a little monotonous and the ending wasn't anything jaw-dropping or spectacular.  And, I swear to you, I read the last two chapters twice and I only *think* I know what the 13th gift actually is.  Implied endings are hard.  Unless of course, I missed it in my cough-syrup induced fog (which is quite possible).

Anyway.  If you are a fan of the real-life-inspired Christmas movies that are on the Hallmark Channel this time of year, you will probably be a fan of this book.  I rated it as 3 stars on Goodreads.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review, but all opinions are, of course, my own.  I do appreciate the opportunity to add this book to my repertoire for the year!

My go-to snack

I'm one of those people who has to eat every couple of hours.  I have a pretty strict schedule during the week.  Breakfast around 6:30am, a snack at 9:45, lunch at 12:30, usually a snack at 3:45 on the way home from school, and then it's fair game when I get home.  Sometimes I eat at 4:30 or 5:00.  Sometimes I get busy and dinner comes around 6:30 or 7:00.  That usually depends on Scott's schedule.

However, I can almost guarantee you that the snack at 9:45 always includes some kind of natural sugar + a healthy fat.  Honey PB with rices cakes is a favorite.  Another favorite is a Larabar with an apple.  Larabars are the one healthy snack food that I carry with me everywhere.  I always have one in my purse or in my desk at school.

I started buying Larabars as a sweet, but healthy, snack when we were in Alaska.  I would pay whatever I needed to pay for them at Fred Meyer and keep them in my desk at school.  They gave me a feeling of fullness and enough energy to make it to the next meal.  Before workouts, if I didn't have time to eat at home, they were quick and easy.

Larabars are actually the only kind of bar that I buy.  I don't invest in the granola bars you find in the cereal aisle because they're mostly sugar and they don't fill me up at all.  Plus, they have way too many ingredients for my liking.  If I'm going to spend that much on what can really be classified as a candy bar, I might as well buy the Larabars because they're so much better for you.

I do buy them at the commissary often, but they usually only have the same 4 or 5 flavors.  Cashew Cookie is probably my favorite, followed by Lemon.  The reason why I buy the same few flavors again and again is because they are only 79 cents at the commissary.  At other stores, they may have more flavors but are sometimes double the price.  I was seeing all these fun flavors online, but couldn't find them myself.

A few weeks ago, I emailed Larabar, which just happens to be based a couple of hours from me, and asked if I could try some sample flavors.  I definitely chose the right time of year to contact them, because they sent me their Seasonal Flavors!  I mean, you can't be seasonal flavors, be it coffee, candy, or Larabars, right?

These flavors were fantastic.  The Snickerdoodle has a hint of cinnamon and vanilla and the Pumpkin tastes just like a pumpkin cookie. I swear it does!  I'm not even a pumpkin-lover, but this bar is tasty.  The Gingerbread was sweet with a hint of spice.  

I'll be looking for more of these fun flavors so I can stock up before the season's over.  Let me know if/where you find these kind!

Thanks for the folks at Larabar for the samples!

Are you a Larabar fan?

Clarisonic Mia 2

I was not compensated for this.  I didn't receive a Clarisonic Mia 2 to review because, really, I'm not that lucky.  I would've taken one in a heartbeat.  It didn't happen.  I bought this one, and it made me slightly ill to spend $130 on a tool that is meant for cleaning my pores.  That was the PX price.  They retail for $150 online.  

My skin has always been an issue.  It's never been bad enough to warrant real help, but never good enough for me to be completely comfortable.  I do not wear foundation, just mineral powder, so what you see is really what you get.  I can't stand the idea of sweating off make-up, so I don't wear a lot.  I've discovered over the years that I can't use Covergirl anything. As soon as Covergirl touches my face, I break-out, and that includes blush.  This is why those skincare/make-up commercials have always been particularly confusing to me…those products don't work for me!  Same with Neutrogena/Clean and Clear/etc.  I do like Noxema Triple Clean and that's what I use to take make-up off at the end of the day, and I like Burt's Bees' Sensitive Skin facewash.  

I've used Pro-Activ since college, and until the last few months, it's always served me well.  I think my issue is that I have very large pores.  Combine that with the fact that I went off of medication a few months ago and now my hormones are all out of whack, my face has been unpredictably disobedient. The Mia is supposed to help with that. I've been using it for almost 3 weeks now.

My thoughts:

1.  It comes with its own cleaning solution in a trial size bottle.  The bottle has lasted me about 3 weeks.  I bought a new bottle, regular-sized, for $21 (also at the PX).

2.  It's timed.  There's a pattern to follow, and it only runs for 1 minute at a time.  It's 20 seconds forehead, 20 seconds nose and chin, 10 seconds for each cheek.  It beeps when it's time to switch location.  Completely idiot-proof.

3.  It charges magnetically.  It's kinda cool, really, because no real plug on the Mia means it's waterproof.  You can use it in the shower.

4.  It needs to charge for 24 hours, initially, to be fully-charged.  You'll get 24 uses out of a fully charged Mia.

5.  If it is wet, and you're using it in front of the mirror while looking in the mirror, water will dribble down your wrist and it's really annoying.  It's easier to look down into the sink.

6.  Don't press too hard.

7.  I'm guessing the brush head needs to be replaced every so often (Ah ha! Every 3 months).  This could be an expensive habit..

8.  You can use it twice a day, but I usually only use it once at night after I take off my make-up with Noxema and a washcloth.

9.  Keep your moisturizer handy: it dries out your face.  But not in a gross flaky way.  In a "it feels nice and non-greasy" way.

10.  Overall, I really like it.  It hasn't totally changed my life yet, but I suppose it'll take some time. 

Scott said it looks like my pores have shrunk and my skin feels much cleaner.  I saw cheaper versions of cleaners out there, but I thought it was was going to pay $20 for something that might work, I may as well just take the plunge.  I've been thinking about buying one of these for a year or so, but never felt like spending the money.  Clear skin is priceless though, and I heard it takes 6-8 weeks for results to truly show. It's been about 3 weeks since I bought it, so we'll see!

Have you tried the Clarisonic Mia 2?  Any thoughts?  What are your skincare secrets?

365 Slow Cooker Suppers

I started using a slow-cooker regularly in 2011.  You see, I was bored in Alaska and I started reading food blogs.  Stephanie O'Dea's A Year of Slow-Cooking was one that I read from start to finish and I still read it today.  I've tried, I'd say, over 1/3 of her recipes.  Rarely have I been disappointed.  She provides the perfect recipes: easy to follow, easy to find ingredients, and I love reading her "verdicts".  She can tell a story about a recipe without going into excruciating detail.  Any cookbook of hers would be a winner in my opinion!

I was thrilled to be given an opportunity to check out 365 Slow Cooker Suppers right after it hit the store shelves on September 24th.  These are the recipes I tried:

Buffalo Chicken Stew
Whoa.  We loved this.  I'm generally not a fan of buffalo-chicken-anything, but Stephanie's description made me want to try it and we fell in love.  Depending on how much wing sauce you add, it can be pretty spicy; ours was.  I also added some cornstarch to a bit of the broth at the end of cooking time to thicken it up a bit.  I didn't have celery and was too lazy to cut up carrots.  Scott's opinion was that the smaller potato chunks were the best ones, so cut them up small!  We topped it with just mozzarella because, again, something about venturing to the store for bleu cheese didn't appeal to me.
This stew was warm and comforting on our first 50 degree night this month.  The changes I made are in parentheses.

1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (The cookbook says to dice the chicken. I put the whole package in without dicing, and then shredded it 30 minutes before the cooking time was up.)
1 small onion, diced
4 red potatoes, diced (I used about 8.)
1 cup chopped baby carrots (I skipped the carrots.)
1 cup celery, diced (Didn't have any celery)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 packet ranch dressing mix (powdered)
6 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup buffalo wing sauce
Shredded cheese

Combine everything but the cheese in a 6 quart slow-cooker.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5.  I've made this twice, using both the high and low cooking times.  Both work well!  Just adjust for your needs.
Serve with cheese on top. (You could even put this in oven-proof bowls and broil the cheese with croutons on top a 'la French onion soup.)

Lazy Sunday Pot Roast
I made this on a Sunday, of course.  I like the idea of making dinner without really "making dinner", or being home all day with the oven on.  I put this in the crockpot at 10am and it was done at 6pm.  It was probably done at 5:00, but I let the eight hours run out.  I figured it wouldn't hurt; more time equals more tender, right?

It was tasty.

Scott requested this potato soup.  I liked the roasted garlic part and he really is drawn to vegetable soups.  This would be a great soup to customize and perfect for a large group.
We went through this phase a few years ago where we ate a lot of roasted garlic.  A restaurant in Anchorage used to serve it with a dense chewy bread, and it spread like butter.  Top it with tomato and wow.  ...I think I need to share that recipe...

Anyway, the garlic "roasts" in the slow-cooker and gives this soup a terrific, sweet flavor.  I think next time I'll add some corn too.  We ate it with BLTs, but you can skip that step and just load that soup up with crumbled bacon!

(I was sent a cookbook to check out via digital download, but all opinions are my own. I've already bought hard copies to give as gifts this Christmas.  I'm a believer in the crockpot and a huge fan of Stephanie O'Dea's...totally in a non-creepy, blogging kinda way :)

"Happier at Home"

Gretchen Rubin makes me want to live in New York City.  While the city is a nice place to visit, I've never felt the desire to stay for more than a day or two.  Her descriptive writing, though, almost has me sold.  (I don't think I could ever get Scott to even visit NYC.)

Happier at Home

My takeaway from the book:

1.  Setting up shrines.  Your house is supposed to reflect things you love.  There's no shame in showcasing that.  Like Gretchen, I set up a shrine of books.  I was having trouble deciding which books to display because I don't like clutter.  Out of my collection, I picked out my favorite children's literature, and then added in the adult books I cannot do without.

If you haven't read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, you need to get on that.

1/4 of my Dear America collection.  These are my favorites.

2.  "Just because something's fun for someone else doesn't mean it's fun for me".  When I read this Secret of Adulthood in The Happiness Project back in January, I was floored.  THIS was what I'd been looking for:  permission to be me.  I spent so much time struggling to fit in while we were in Alaska.  I learned that if I want to bake cookies and read books on a Friday night, it's okay.  If I prefer some Weeds re-runs to going out to a crowded movie theater, so be it.  And, most importantly, if I choose not to go camping in the cold rain, it does not make me a societal outcast.  It makes me ME.  And that's okay.

3.  Make your bed.  I've never been the person to make my bed, unless there's a reason (i.e. company coming over).  However, I've taken this task on each morning since we've been here.  It does make me happier.  It gives me a more organized start to the day and, really now, it takes 60 seconds.
Now if I could just apply this to "clean up kitchen at night"...

4.  Set aside 15 minutes to "suffer".  I don't really have a cleaning schedule, but I try to clean something everyday (laundry, floors, bathrooms).  When I do force myself to clean, I set a timer.  15 minutes of solid work and you'd be surprised how much gets done.  You should try it if you're a multi-tasker.  I often try to do so many things at once and none of them get completely finished.  When I'm disciplined enough to use this technique, it works.

5.  Moderation vs. rules.  I'm not good at moderation.  In the book, Gretchen mentions setting rules for herself, like not eating crackers and not eating at children's parties.  Those are good rules to follow in my opinion.  For example, I rarely ate anything my students brought in to share because it wasn't for ME, it was for the kids.  I like to choose when I eat cupcakes.  Also, I can't buy cereal.  I'll eat the entire box in 18 hours.  It's an exhausting cycle and one I don't care to get caught up in, so I'm one who sets some rules for myself.  Because I'm really bad at moderation.  I eat sweets, drink caffeine, and eat bread everyday.  But I don't buy cereal.  For me, it's about choice, not moderation.

6.  My love for this book was solidified when she ended it with an ode to Laura Ingalls Wilder.  To quote:  "Laura Ingalls Wilder is the best writer about home!"  To anyone who's ever enjoyed a Little House book, that's the absolute truth.  The Ingalls family made a comfortable, cozy, meaningful home anywhere.  In a sod dugout, in a cabin, in a shanty, in a hotel they helped to run, in an uninsulated store building and, later, an insulated one, in the Surveyors' house (a "rental").  It didn't matter where they were; if they were together, if they had their china shepherdess and kitchen table with the red-checked cloth, then they were home.

Did you read Happier at Home? I was really glad that it gave me immediate and relevant ideas, not just "Oh, I should think about that..." ideas.

(I borrowed this book from the library and all of the opinions are my own. I just really liked it and wanted to spread the word.)

Book Review: Breaking the Devil's Heart

Lauren @ShootingStarsMag asked me if I'd be interesting in reviewing this novel by H.A. Goodman.  In my effort to read more, I said, "Sure! Why not?".  The author, Mr. Goodman, was kind enough to ship me my own autographed copy of the book within a week.  I was provided with the book, but all of these opinions are my own.

Here's the synopsis:
When Stewart and Layla recruit a demon to spy on the Devil, their decision takes them on whirlwind ride through the afterlife. Journey alongside this young couple in H. A. Goodman's new novel, Breaking the Devil's Heart, and join forces with a teenage Angel outcast to bankrupt Satan's underground Company and save Heaven from civil war. H. A. Goodman's Breaking the Devil's Heart is a rollercoaster afterlife experience that tests a young couple's love, their grasp on reality, and the essence of human nature. What happens when Stewart and Layla tour Hell's Marketing Department and Stock Exchange? What happens when their relationship is tested by Satan? This book is unlike anything you've ever read, or ever thought the afterlife might be like. Breaking the Devil's Heart is an enlightening look into an alternate world, a new afterlife, and a profound journey inside the human conscience. --Amazon

#1  This was not book I ever would have picked up for myself.  The cover art didn't scream "Kristin!" and neither did the title.  However, I've purchased an awful lot of books just because they were "pretty", or because "everyone else likes it, so I should too".  Those books have been discarded, given away, or long forgotten.  This was a lesson in not judging a book by its cover.

#2  While I'm not a fan of sci-fi, I love books about dystopic societies.  This book is about a dystopic version of the afterlife.  In other words, it's not quite what we've been believing or expecting.  It was reminiscent of a book I read a few years ago called Elsewhere.

#3  Breaking the Devil's Heart combines history and philosophy to make quite the brain bender.  It really made me think!  I dog-eared lots of pages with particularly poignant information.

#4  There's a lot of stuff about Nazi Germany and the good/evil battle that went on within the conflicts there.  The author, I'm sure, knew that's how he could easily hold my attention.  Give me a depressing WWII story any day.

#5 There are some twists toward the end that will surprise you.  I like books and movies that surprise the audience.  This book ends in a way that demands a sequel, and I guess my only complaint would be that maybe the ending wasn't as unpredictable as I would have liked.
It was still a great story!  In trying to find "balance" between work and play, I would read 4 or 5 chapters every night before bed.  A lot of the time I was so tired, but didn't want to put it down!

Overall, I'd give this book 4/5 stars.  It wasn't my usual kind of reading, but it a good novel for fantasy.  I will definitely look into reading this author's first book.

Happy weekend!

Book Review: The Coffin Quilt

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The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi is about the Hatfields and the McCoys.  After watching the Hatfield and McCoy miniseries in June, I started researching the story.

It is heartbreakingly ironic.

If you don't know your history, there was some bad blood between the Hatfields (of West Virginia) and the McCoys (of Kentucky).  Both lived near their common state border.

These disagreements had been left over from happenings in the field during the Civil War.

Then, in 1878, there were some hogs.  Some hogs that needed to be brought in for butchering.  And, back in the day, you needed to mark your livestocks' ear so you knew whose was whose.  Well, there was a dispute over the ownership of a hog.  This fueled the fire.

Each family had like 26 kids.  They had enough that they started running out of decent names and just had to come up with whatever.  Robert E. Lee Hatfield?  Pharmer McCoy?  Johnse Hatfield?  Trinvilla McCoy?  "Bud", "Fanny", and "Adelaide" were the good ones.
Anyway..

The pretty Roseanna McCoy ran off to marry Johnse Hatfield and then....it got real.

I don't want to tell the whole story, but it does end up with just about everybody dying.  (Chick lit, it is not.)

Source: barnesandnoble.com via Kristin on Pinterest

The Coffin Quilt is historical fiction by Ann Rinaldi.  She explains how and why she wrote the way she did at the end of the book.  Brilliant, and it's exactly how I would write about a subject like this too.

The story is told by Fanny, the youngest McCoy child.  The feud, of course, began long before she was born.  The Coffin Quilt begins in 1880 when Fanny is seven and ends* in 1889 when she's 16.

This book was a quick read.  Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down.  The language is different (19th century Kentuckian), but it's easy to understand, and kind of amusing.

If you study history at all, you know that a lot of people tend to cling to religion at times when they would be better served by logic.
For example, Mrs. McCoy is more concerned about reciting quotes from the Bible's prophets and moving pebbles around a tree stump (damned to the left, saved to the right, or something like that) than she is about the reality of the situation.  The McCoys seemed to believe that this feud was God's doing and couldn't be altered by man.  That worked to their disadvantage, in my opinion.

If they had woken up and realized, "Hey, maybe we could allow Ro to marry him.  We've got 17 other daughters anyway" or "Hey, maybe we shouldn't 'pray on it'.  Maybe we should attack and get our sons back after they'd been kidnapped".  Or even, "Maybe we should stop letting Alifair try to drown Fanny under the water pump".

Fanny, as an 8 year old, saw the reality of the situation.   She couldn't do anything about it though, so that was frustrating.

Now, of course, the Hatfields aren't innocent in any way.  They rounded up 3 McCoy boys and executed them to avenge one man's death (a drunk uncle).

If you watch the miniseries, you'll think "Who's the bad guy? Who's the good guy? I'm confused!"  Because I had no idea who I wanted to win.  Trust me.  There were no winners here.

*Apparently there was a court order to end the feud, but honestly, everyone was dead, so it kinda fizzled out.

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Oh.  What's a coffin quilt?
The Hatfields had a coffin quilt that Roseanna worked on.  She added McCoy names to it.  The McCoys didn't believe in coffin quilts.  They were busy shuffling their "pebbles of the damned" around on a tree stump.
No wonder there weren't any winners here.