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My Reading ListFebruary 06, 2012

I’ve had a Google Android phone for a while now. I discovered the Audible app around the middle of last year and have been loving it. I also discovered I can read Amazon Kindle books on my phone, which is only a little akward due to the small screen size. Due to these discoveries, I have finally been able to get back into reading! I have been collecting way too many books lately…all purchased with the intention to read them within a short while. Sadly, my good intentions were hardly ever realized. I just ended up with piles of unopened books. Now, I listed to one book on Audible on car rides and such, and at other times read a different book on Kindle. I have gotten through a lot of books this way!

Since my discovery of Audible and Kindle on my Android phone, I have been able to read/listen quite a bit. I felt like sharing the more influential and interesting books that I have come across, along with the ones I have downloaded but have yet to finish or start. I will be updating this post as I read them in order to give a short review of my findings. I will need to warn you now that I am very easily amused as well as a poor critic, as I seem to like almost everything I read or watch.

These are in no particular order! The ones I’ve already read obviously appear first, followed by a list of currently reading and then soon-to-be-read tomes.

Finished reading:

“Talent is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin
This was a great read. It dispelled all sorts of myths and traditional thinking about talent — what it really is and how it is created, not inherited. I really enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it for parents and for people who feel they were short-changed or overly blessed with inherited talent, lol.

“Stiff” by Mary Roach
I really really loved this book. I doubt very many of my friends would, though. Mary Roach is hilarious. This was her first book after starting out by writing online magazine columns and such. It’s all about cadavers (dead people) and what happens to the human body after death. It mainly focuses on people who have donated their bodies to science or had signed up as organ donors. It details many advancements in technology that were only achieved due to the unflinching courage of these amazing, albeit expired, volunteers. Read at your own risk. :)

“Born to Run” by Christopher Mcdougall
A truly fascinating read about the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico’s Copper Canyons. These people are desperately poor and mainly live off of corn and limes and the occational goat. They can run an amazing number of miles in one go, especially for people who have so little quantity and variety in their diet. They have won or almost won a couple of ultra-marathons (we’re talking around 100 miles) in the United States. This book really got me interesting in running/jogging for exercise.

“The Frontiersmen” by Allan Eckert
This book is enormous! I bet the physical book weighs a ton because it takes a total of 30 hours and 29 minutes to listen to on Audible. I loved almost every second of it. Sometimes it got a little boring, but very rarely. The Frontiersmen is mainly centered upon a fellow named Simon Kenton and the Native American leader Tecumseh. Simon Kenton turns out to be an amazing unsung hero of the early days of the United States! He was close friends with Daniel Boon and barely escaped death at the hands of the Native Americans numerous times. So many times, in fact, that the Native Americans stopped trying to kill him because of their belief that he was protected by the Great Spirit. Tecumseh and Simon end up having a mutual respect. It’s a great book, but very long. Also quite gory…like, REALLY gory. People back in those days were brutal when it comes to torture…it makes waterboarding sounds like a spa treatment. I really hope to create or find an edited version that just says, “And then they tortured them.” or something instead of detailing the whole mess, lol. That way I could share this with homeschoolers.

“Spark” by John J. Ratey
I really started getting into exercise due to this book. It is a very encouraging read. I knew that exercise was good for you, but I had no idea how beneficial it could be. I think everyone should read this book. I think it would cause a lot more people to start exercising, but Alan said he thought it would just cause a greater percentage of the population to suffer from the guilt of knowing they should start exercising, lol.

“Parenting Isn’t for Cowards” by James Dobson
I liked this book. At the time, I really appreciated the message of guilt-free parenting it conveyed. Alan and I were planning to start trying for children in the foreseeable future, and I was feeling nervous about being an adequate parent. Dr. Dobson mainly talks about the variety of temperments that children are born with and how nuture helps balance, but does not negate, the inborn qualities of a child’s personality. He also addressed the tendency of modern parents to take everything a child does as a personal reflection upon their skills as parents. This is apparently a relatively new trend, as in past decades, some kids were just known as being especially nice/good and some as bad apples. As for discipline, while Dr. Dobson did touch on the subject, it was an extremely small part of the book. He only mentioned spanking twice, and in passing. He mainly focused on what seems to work better with which temperment with which a child was born. I thought this book was revolutionary at the time, but it was the first parenting book I had read. Since then, I have come to respect this book very much, but have found more helpful information and guidance in subsequent parenting books (most of which I have yet to read, lol).

“Brain Rules for Baby” by John Medina
I really like this book. It has very practical and useful scientific information about the brain development of children and how to maximize this development in children. He doesn’t site any scientific study that wasn’t replicated with double-blind studies except when he wants to mention one that he finds to be relevant and likely to be proven in late studies. I really like his quantitative scientific approach — no best guesses or idealistic ramblings. He is a developmental molecular biologist who is very pleasant to listen to (which is good because he narrates his book himself on Audible). I highly recommend this one, and not just for parents! I am considering checking out his other book: “Brain Rules”.

Currently reading:

“The Blessings of a Skinned Knee” by Wendy Mogel
I have started on this book and am really liking it. It is mostly focused on Jewish traditions surrounding family and parenting. The Jewish traditions basically outline an authoritative parenting style, and this author, since she’s a psychologist, gives great insight into all of the possible scenarios along with suggestions on how to affirm your authority over your child in said scenarios. I have agreed with everything I’ve read so far.

“Love and Respect” by Emerson Eggerichs
I am in the middle of this book and think it’s great! I think everyone in or considering or wishing for marriage should read it.

Will be reading soon:

“Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child” by Daniel Goleman and John Gottman
I read the first few pages and really didn’t want to put it down, but I decided that I needed to finish “Love and Respect” first.

“Connection Parenting: Parenting Through Connection Instead of Coercion, Through Love Instead of Fear” by Pam Leo
I don’t expect this book to be one that I really like…it sounds like an idealistic, feel good, generally-good-ideas-with-no-practical-application-guide, mostly-lacking-scientific-research book. We’ll see, lol.

“Simplicity Parenting” by Kim Payne and Lisa Ross

“Children Are from Heaven” by John Gray

“The Practicing Mind” by Thomas M. Sterner

“Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives” by David Snowdon

Updates will happen, I promise!

Interests

New Salad Dressing AddictionOctober 08, 2010

This is my new salad dressing addiction. It is VERY delicious. You can read it on their website, Garlic Exressions, but I will give you a brief description. It contains an apple cider vinegar made with Northern Spy apples from a single supplier on the shores of the Georgian Bay. The garlic used is fresh, and the canola oil is fresh pressed and from the USA.

It is FANTASTIC dressing, and I always make sure to put extra on my salad so I can have some leftover to drink, which is especially good when I have avacado in my salad. Garlic and apple cider vinegar are very good for you, and canola oil is one of the healthier oils out there, and is pretty much tasteless…I know this because I accidentally got a mouthful of it when I confused the jug with my soda bottle. I spit it out in the sink and then was very surprised by the lack of aftertaste.

I order it by the case directly from the Garlic Exressions website, and usually split the large case of 12 bottles with a friend from Alan’s work. The website has the best prices I’ve found online. I originally found it in a fancy natural foods store in Flint, MI while visiting my brother and sister-in-law when she had my niece, Isabella. I am so very happy I bought it.

Food

Java Jack's Coffee HouseFebruary 18, 2010

My freshman year of college was spent at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Texas. There is now an actual Starbucks across the street from the campus, but I don’t remember if it was there when I was going to school. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was, because I would have gladly walked the few blocks it took to get to Java Jacks!

Java Jacks has WAY better coffee and the store has a much more unique character. They roast their own coffee in-house, and have excellent customer service. It’s been four years since I’ve been there, but we have made many orders for their signature Lumberjack Blend coffee. The last order was 22 POUNDS of coffee! There are many fans at our church.

If you’re ever in that neck of the piney woods, make sure to stop by and order a cup!

Food Interests

PhobiaJanuary 18, 2010

Several years ago I was told that everyone has a phobia of some sort to some degree. I think this is probably true, even though the phobia might be of a very small degree. A phobia is an irrational fear of something, be it an object or a situation/activity. At the time, I couldn’t think of any personal phobias. I thought about it for a few days and then replied with a very very stupid angsty “this will sound cool” teenager answer: the moon. Keep in mind that I was 15 or 16 years old, lol…

In fact, I believe I LOVE the moon. I really like it when it’s full and you don’t need a flashlight to see. What a stupid answer! But hey, I was all into wolves and being cool and stuff. Plus, I had completely forgotten my actual real phobia that I have had since a small child. As you readers may have gathered from the photo, my phobia has to do with sewage in general. I think this sort of bleeds into my slight germaphobia as well. That phobia seems to be localized to my hands, but it is very common. A lot of people can’t stand having dirty hands. I’m not really afraid of it, unless it has to do with sewage, lol.

When I was very young, we lived in a house that had a poorly installed septic tank. When it would back up I had to be accompanied in the bathroom and would become upset when I needed to go because I really really didn’t want to go in the dirty toilet! I would sometimes resort to going in the bushes in our back yard. Other times I would pee in the bathtub and “flush” with the shower head. Gross, I know, but keep in mind that I was very young and terrified!

The roots of my phobia might go back even further to my potty training days. I believe I was training fairly early, but I’d have to confer with my parents on that matter. Once I was out of diapers, I only had two accidents. I only wet the bed once. My other accident happened while I was standing next to my mother, who was kneeling on the floor for one reason or the other. She says that she saw I had begun to wet (there was an audible terrified gasp from me), looked down to what she was doing and began to give me a gentle verbal correction, but when she looked up, I had scampered off to the bathroom, in obvious distress. I don’t know if my phobia started with a general fear of accidents or not.

To exacerbate my phobia, when I was around 9 or 10 years old, I watched the movie It. Granted, watching it again as a teenager revealed that it is actually quite a stupid/corny movie, but as a child who already was terrified of toilets, it was very scarring. It caused my toilet phobia to expand to everything that had to do with bathrooms! I became scared of drains; especially of stepping on them or having to get anything out of them. There are a few scenes in It of blood coming out of the showers and of It (the clown) coming out of a shower drain. I believe there is also a scene of blood bubbling out of a sink drain, but I wasn’t afraid of sinks, although I didn’t like that slit that allows water to drain out so it doesn’t spill over. Oddly enough, the movie didn’t make me afraid of clowns at all, lol.

I remember when automatic flushing toilets were a (scary) new thing. And as with many new technologies, there was some tweaking that needed to be made with most of the new sensors. The early models would flush if you got anywhere near the thing, never mind sat down on it. I was in a bathroom once that once you were in the stall, any movement across the sensor would make it flush. That toilet must have flushed 15 times by the time I got the heck out of there. My first meeting with an automatic toilet was when I was 10 years old when Andrew my dad and I were on our way to Colorado for a ski vacation. We stopped at a rest stop for everyone to use the potty. As I was the only girl on the trip, no one could take me into the bathroom and calm me down enough to use those darn things, so I ended going in the bushes! The worst are the ones that flush if you just lean foward too far while you’re STILL SITTING DOWN. Even now it takes immense will power to keep from freaking out. That happened when I was little and I jumped off the potty and plastered myself against the stall door until I willed myself to sit down again. I can just picture myself catapulting headlong into a stall door and falling out into the isle, heh.

When Alan and I moved into our Waurika apartment, the toilet got stopped up really badly. We tried to fix it ourselves, but it didn’t work. At one point, my friend Dustin was here with us and while Alan was working on the toilet, I heard water start to hit the floor. I went into a panic attack—tearing up and breathing hard. Generally freaking out I guess. Dustin told me to stay put and they both cleaned the floor so I wouldn’t have to go in there, lol.

When we moved into our house in Duncan, I was under stress for about two months learning to live with a septic tank again. I hadn’t dealt with one since I was a kid, and my fears were still apparent (and highly irrational). We weren’t even having really bad problems, but I still had a very hard time of it. We did have a clog in the pipe below the bathtub, and it took a few days for the plumber to come out. It was actually somewhat therapeutic, even if it was stressful. I was forced to face my fears and use a stopped-up toilet and shower while standing on a small plastic footstool. I am a little better from the whole experience. I’m sure if the whole thing backed up and sewage overflowed everywhere that I would have come out WORSE from the experience.

So, while I still view an easily plungged stopped up toilet as a crisis, still hate automatic flushing toilets, and sometimes have nightmares of backed-up septic tanks, I believe I am on the mend from this phobia. I can’t imagine what having kids is going to do… Maybe it will serve to further desensitize me to the whole thing…hopefully without scarring any of my kids in the process.

Sorry for the potty post! It’s my blog afterall. :)

Interests

Clock AddictionDecember 03, 2009

I’ve had an affinity for unique clocks for as long as I can remember. I don’t buy them very often, but when the bug bites, it bites hard… The desire to buy clocks only comes around about once every one or two years, and can be quite expensive. Here are the more unique clocks that I have at home right now:

The first one is a barber clock. It is and runs completely backwards so when it is hung opposite a mirror, it appears to be completely normal. Mine is running a little slowly as of late… I might try one more new battery, but if that doesn’t work I’m going to have to hunt down a new backwards-running mechanism. The second clock is made out of a genuine 13” bronze Zildjian cymbal. The third clock is self explanatory, heh.

I’m afraid the bug is upon me again… I’ve finished the search cycle, and the clocks that I have found are as follows. Here are the ones that are out of my price range:
That cuckoo clock is probably the only one I’ve found that I like.

Leather clocks:

That cuckoo clock is probably the only one I’ve found that I like.

These are the clocks that are within my price range:

Bronze clocks:

Wood clocks: California redwood root, backwards clock, and cypress tree.

I am buying the musical notes clock to put on my will-have-one-day upright piano, and I bought the red wax-seal looking clock, the backwards wood clock, and the tall skinny steel clock. I would bid on the cypress tree clock if the numbers were in a perfect circle… I would really like to get the swirly clock, but we’ll have to see what my money situation turns up looking like!

Interests