January Book Reviews

It's Book Review Time!

Here are the books I've read this month.

I'd love to receive lots of comments telling me what books you guys have read lately!

Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting and unique book! The girl goes to play a "total immersion" video game and when the equipment is damaged she has to win the game or she may die - for real. I really liked this book. It seems like it would be kind of weird but I thoroughly enjoyed it.




View all my reviews Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the 1st half of the book where Ender is in Battle School. I still enjoyed the whole book but the 2nd half brought my rating from 5 stars down to 4. I don't really know why but I didn't like it as much. I'll probably read the sequel sometime.


 


View all my reviews The Missing by Beverly Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book - can't wait to read the finale.







View all my reviews The Telling by Beverly Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book made me think a lot about repenting and forgiving. The forgiving part seemed to come so easily to these Amish characters. It made me want to work more on forgiving others so readily.

Linking up to these parties.

Something to Think About - Happy Marriage

"A happy marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion." Pres. Gordan B. Hinkley

I found this quote in the article What Happily Married Couples Do.

Food Storage Closet

I have been SUPER busy lately. So busy that, while I have tons of projects to blog about, I have not had ANY time to blog.  Here's a little taste of what I've been up too.

Remember this closet?

And this mess?

Wait... that's just part of the mess.

This is not normally how we store our food storage. When we got this closet sheetrocked we decided to move the food storage in. In order to do that I had to take all the food off the shelves, then move the shelves in.  So for about a week this is what it was like.

We also had a whole bunch under the stairs, among other things.

See that diaper box? I use them to store everything. This one's full of empty mason jars.  

After one afternoon of work this is what I got done.

Doesn't it all look so nice and organized.

I put the most commonly used items where the kids can reach them easily when I send them down to get something.

Here's what it looks like now after another afternoon of work.

It worked out nice that I had enough buckets so they all lined up and I could use them as another shelf for my mason jars. I put like items together and oldest things on top. There is a tiny bit more room for more #10 cans of things but it's pretty much filled up.  

Is it weird to get so excited about organizing food storage?  

Linking up at these parties.

This project has been featured!!!
Check it out here.

Rant & Rave Link Party

I want to let all of you other bloggers know about a link party going on now over at Randee's Organized Chaos. When you link up you agree to review two blogs and you will receive two reviews of your blog.  She even gives you some questions to use as a guide as you're reviewing.

Go and check it out. There's still 9 days left to link up.

I just got my first review yesterday and it was so helpful. It's no secret that I'm new to this and I have no experience with websites.  The person who reviewed my blog has experience with web design.  She was very positive and gave me lots of tips of things I could do to add to my blog and make it better. Most of the things are simple but had not even crossed my mind.  I'll be taking her suggestions to heart.


I would love to get more feedback. If any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Something to Think About - Attitude

I sometimes come across great quotes or thoughts. Earlier this week I read an article and thought "I should share this" So I've decided to start Something to Think About Sunday's. I won't guarantee that I'll have something every Sunday, but when I come across something then I'll share it with you all.

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Sometimes we're known as Mormons. Our church puts a magazine each month called the Ensign.  The very first article is called "Living the Abundant Life" by President Thomas S. Monson.

The article is not really churchy or preachy, but rather full of good advice.

Here's the part I'd like to share. Click here to read the full article.

"Living the Abundant Life

At the advent of a new year, I challenge Latter-day Saints everywhere to undertake a personal, diligent, significant quest for what I call the abundant life—a life filled with an abundance of success, goodness, and blessings. Just as we learned the ABCs in school, I offer my own ABCs to help us all gain the abundant life.

Have a Positive Attitude

A in my ABCs refers to attitude. William James, a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, wrote, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”¹

So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment.

Charles Swindoll—author, educator, and Christian pastor—said: “Attitude, to me, is more important than … the past, … than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.”²

We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude." - President Thomas S. Monson

I love the part about choosing our attitude each day.  We all have our bad days - but each day is a new day to start fresh. I truly believe our attitudes hugely affect our lives - for good or for bad.

 

Click here to read the rest of the article - it is wonderful. President Monson goes on to tell us that B is for Believe in yourself and C is for Courage. 

Cream Cheese Braid

Today's recipe is one that you'll have to plan ahead a little bit.  The dough needs to refrigerate overnight. 

Stir together yeast, sugar, warm milk and 2 c. flour. Mix together and let sit 1/2 hour.

It should look like this:

Add eggs, salt, sugar and 1 c. flour. Beat till smooth. Add butter in small chunks and beat well. Add flour 1/2 c. at a time to make a dough. Then let rise until double (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours)

 

Deflate and refrigerate overnight. I covered with plastic wrap.

The next day make your cream cheese filling and egg glaze.

The egg glaze is just an egg and one T. milk. 

Mix well.

For the cream cheese filling, place softened cream cheese in bowl.

Beat well.

Add sugar, vanilla and 2 T. of the egg glaze.

 

Mix well.

 

Now it's time to roll out the dough. Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll out into a rectanglish shape.

Spread out 1/2 the cream cheese mixture down the center of the dough. Then spread jam (I used my Raspberry Jam) on top of the cream cheese. Using a pizza cutter, cut one inch strips on the sides of dough at an angle.

Fold dough across and press it down.

Place it on a cookie sheet.

Brush with egg glaze.

Repeat with second half of dough. I like to wrap it in freezer paper and freeze for later. Just thaw in the fridge and bake.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Top with cream cheese frosting for extra yumminess.

Cream Cheese Braid

Dough:

1 T. yeast

1 T. sugar

1 1/2 c. warm milk

2 c. flour

Mix together and let sit 1/2 hour.

2 eggs

1 1/2 t. salt

1/3 c. sugar

2 1/2 - 3 c. flour

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

Add eggs, salt, sugar and 1 c. flour. Beat till smooth. Add butter in small chunks and beat well. Add flour 1/2 c. at a time to make a dough. Let rise until double (1 1/2 - 2 hours). Deflate and refrigerate overnight. 

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

4 T. sugar

1 t. vanilla

2 T. egg glaze

Mix well.

Egg Glaze:

1 egg

1 T. milk

Mix well

Jam

Divide dough into 2 pieces. Roll into a rectangle. Spread cream cheese and jam in center of dough. At an angle slice dough on sides 1" wide. Fold over pieces. Brush egg glaze on top. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Go here for my cream cheese frosting recipe.

Linking up to these parties.

This has been featured!!!!
Check it out here.



And here!

Top 10 in 2011

Ok, so I'm a little late in doing a top ten, but honestly it never occurred to me until now.

So here we go.

#10

Bead Board Christmas Trees

# 9

Glitter Jars

# 8

Quick Easy & Cheap Christmas Crafts

# 7

Reversible Bead Board Pumpkins

#6

Crocheted Hats

#5

Easy Quiet Book

#4

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

#3

Rolled Paper Christmas Tree

#2

Advent Calendar

And the #1 link of 2011 is:

Sew It Yourself - Shoe Organizer

Linking up to these parties.