recent reads

Things have been slow on the reading front, but I have managed to read a few books.

First up, The All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.  We're attempting our first garden this summer and we knew that raised beds were the direction we wanted to go.  This book really helped me figure

out where to put stuff in the beds and how much to plant.  I've got a little plan worked up and I'm excited to get to start planting in a few weeks.



The second book I finished was Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond.  I really loved this series on the Pioneer Woman's blog so I figured I would enjoy the book too.  It's such a great love story and I really enjoy her style of writing.

The third book I finished was Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck.  No, I'm not pregnant, but my friend Jen recommended I read this book.  I was really fascinated by the section on eating for fertility and how important certain vitamins are.  She mentions cod liver oil several times, which I've been taking (not every day) for the last month because I kept reading about it.

My favorite part of the whole book was when she talked about what to do if you're sick in the 1st trimester.  I was worried that this book would make me feel bad about not being able to eat, but I liked her philosophy.  A lot of the preggo diets out there are so much food.  She said that if you can't eat much due to morning sickness, just make sure what you do eat is a real food.  I'm sure I'll still consume a large amount of Gatorade with the next pregnancy (it's already stockpiled in the basement) but I'm going to try to get some good food in there too when I can.  I did kind of skim the section on breastfeeding and what to feed your kid since we've already figured that out for the most part.

chickens

Just finished reading the book Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich.  It was one of those books that popped up on Amazon when I was searching for another book and the library had it.  She's a blogger who moved to Oregon (I think) and rents a farm and tries to live a little bit off the grid.  The book is divided into chapters of different things you can do to be self-sustaining.  The chapter on chickens made me want to get chickens for our backyard someday.  Sadie would probably end up eating them so I think I'll settle for getting farm fresh eggs.
The chapter on bee keeping did not make me want to get bees.  She didn't really sell me on that one.  It was a pretty good read and quick too.  I kept it in the car for when Hudson would fall asleep and I would be stuck in the car for a little while.
I do think it's funny how all these bloggers are getting book deals now.  It makes sense because they already have a following of people.  Hmmm, what can I write about that would get me a book deal.... :)

revitalizing

I'm not a devotional girl.  Especially marriage devotionals.  We've tried them in the past and we usually give up because they seem cheesy or they don't apply.  We decided to try to go through Love and War Devotional for Couples by John and Stasi Eldredge this year to see if it was any good.
I have loved it so far.  I knew we were too busy with a baby to try and read the book but reading 2-3 pages before bed seemed manageable.  There are still cheesy parts, like the written prayers, but written prayers are just kind of cheesy sometimes.  The book has made us talk about things we don't normally talk about.  At the end of each week there is a challenge for you as a couple and those have been great.  I actually wish there were more of those throughout the book.
Perhaps the best part of the book so far was the week on "Your spouse is not your enemy."  Reading through that week has made both of us more quick to apologize and made me realize that when I'm getting frustrated or angry at Mike, it usually isn't actually something he's doing but me listening to lies Satan is whispering. 
We still have a few more weeks to read, but I'm excited to see where this book takes our marriage.  I think this will be one of those books we come back to every few years.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

books i've been reading

I've been reading a bunch in the last few weeks.  Not because I've had a ton of extra time (super needy teething boy in the house) but because I didn't start reading my book club book until 1 week before and it was over 400 pages.  I didn't get it finished in time for the meeting, but finished that night.
Our book club book was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  She is the author of Seabiscuit.  This certainly was not a book I would have normally picked up but I really enjoyed it.  It seemed more like a "boy" book or something my dad would read.  It's about Olympian Louis Zamperini and what happens when his plane is shot down during WWII and his struggles in a Japanese POW camp.  Parts of it were really hard to read but it is such a story of triumph. 

The other book I just finished was Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I wasn't sure I would like it and had heard a lot of hype about it, but I couldn't put it down the last two days.  It reminded me a lot of The Giver, which was one of my favorite books from elementary school.  It's just a little bit more twisted.  It is written so well that I was captivated from page one.  I haven't heard the best reviews of the next two books but I'm still going to read them to finish out the series.

am I radical?

When I picked up Radical Homemakers from the library, I think I thought it was a different book.  I'm pretty sure that before reading it I thought it was about bringing glory to God through the way you take care of your house.  Not so much.  It's really about a call to return to the art of homemaking and being more self-sufficient and less dependent on our current economy.
I had a hard time getting into the book at first because it seemed very textbooky.  Took me back to my sociology days.  I pushed through and really got into it.  The first half explains how our society has evolved from a predominantly agricultural society to the consumer society we have today.  There were very similar themes to the movie Food, Inc.  The second half of the book told the stories of individuals and couples who were trying to be "radical".  I thought it would be more practical with more how-tos but it was still good to read their stories.
As I was reading this book, we were driving across Nebraska so I was ready to go live on a farm and grow our own food and raise chickens.  Then I got home and went to Walmart twice and Target who knows how many times within the first week.  So much for change.  I did think about some small steps I would like to try to make this year.
1. Make all bread products by the end of the year or get them from Great Harvest (they grind their own flour at the store).
2. Find a source for local eggs
3. Buy all of our produce this summer from the farmers markets so we have to eat more seasonally
4. Re-purpose clothes as inspired by Jess
5.  Buy meat that has been raised humainly

It seems so hard to balance living frugally and living sustainably.  When I can get a box of cereal for $0.79 that seems like such a deal, but I'm sure if I took the time I could make granola for cheaper.  So much to think about.  This book has definitely sparked some good conversations between Mike and I.

food

So Hudson is supposed to eating food now.  Or at least that's what our families all think.  We've decided to do things a little bit different than the usual rice cereal and purees.  We've waited until he is 6 1/2 months old and are going to follow Baby-led weaning.  Since I had never heard of this, I wanted to read a book about it.
Baby-led Weaning was an excellent resource and really explained the principles well.  I think the best way to describe it is a lase-fair approach to feeding your baby.  Pretty much, if he eats, great and if he doesn't, no big deal.  We will offer him lots of different foods that he can pick up and gnaw on and eventually he'll learn how to eat.
I'm excited to try this because it doesn't seem very stressful.  The book said that at the beginning if they go a few days without eat, it's not a big deal because it's really just play and exploration at first.  I also think that it's going to make Mike & I look at what we're eating because we're supposed to give Hudson the same stuff we're having for dinner.
I think my favorite part of the book was the part about giving your baby meat.  The authors said that it's great to give your baby a chicken bone to gnaw on or a piece of red meat to suck on because they will get a lot of nutrients from the juices (blood!).  I got these crazy pictures of Hudson sitting at the table with a turkey leg in his hand just munching away.

saving money

I just finished reading Be CentsAble by Chrissy Pate and Kristin McKee.  I've been trying to find ways to save us money, especially on groceries.  We used to go to the grocery store several times each week and spent way to much money on food.  I never planned meals, especially when I was pregnant.
This book had a lot of great tips, especially about planning meals.  They said that it's one of the easiest ways to save money, because you don't go to the store every other day.  I've started planning meals since I've been staying home.  It has made a world of difference.  It's so nice to only go to the store once a week or so, especially with a baby.  It's also great to kind of know what we're having to eat for dinner.  I don't pick meals for specific days, I just pick 7-8 meals to buy things for and then pick on the day of what we're going to eat.  I usually pick a soup, a breakfast for dinner, and a pasta each week and then other things we want to eat.  I've been trying to plan based on what's on sale, but that's been a little more challenging. 
The book also talks a lot about using coupons.  I've started using them and even snagged a great deal for a subscription to the local paper.  I haven't quite figured out the best way to organize them.  Websites that match the weekly ads with coupons are a lifesaver.  I don't have enough time to match coupons with sales.  If you're trying to save money, I would definitely recommend reading this book.

changing my thoughts

I knew this book would challenge me, but I didn't know how much.  I'm talking about the book Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy.  She's the mom who let her 9 year old ride the New York subway by himself a few years ago and took a lot of flack for it.  I vaguely remember the story from the news.
Now, right up front, I do not agree with everything that is in the book, but it was so good for me to read.  I am a worrier by nature and being a mom is bringing it out even more.  The first night we put Hudson in the crib in his room, I cried (a lot) and made sure my husband had closed and locked all the windows in his room and the living room.  So I know that I'm in for lots more worry and tears as Hudson grows up, especially if he's anything like his dad.
I want Hudson to have the type of childhood where he has friends in the neighborhood and I feel comfortable with him going to play with them.  I want him to walk to school by himself someday (I did and amazingly I never got lost!)
Skenazy's book helped me realize that a great number of my fears (abduction) are not really founded in facts.  Most kids are taken by a relative and your child has a more likely chance of dying in a car crash than being picked up by a stranger and killed.   I know there are horrible stories out there, but the media really plays them up.  I hope this book has helped me become less neurotic as I raise my kid.

decisions decisions

I read this book as Mike and I were trying to decide what to do about vaccines before Hudson's 2 month well baby check. While it was helpful, I liked Dr. Sears' Vaccine Book better. This book did have some new information about the connections between vaccines and autism and autoimmune diseases. The actual parts about the vaccines was descent. Sometimes, her descriptions of the actual diseases was scarier than the description of the vaccine reactions. I was disappointed with the sections on a few vaccines that she doesn't recommend. She didn't have much information. I felt that if she wasn't recommending them, she should have even more information so I could know why.