Eggs, Girls and Life

I know its been ages since I've blogged (again) summer here has been HOT. Our garden is hanging on by a thread. Parts are growing well, while others are withering and dying.

The kids are having the time of their lives even as their school supplies have started arriving. To keep them on track they have been doing very light summer school and reading each day.

On to the fun and insane topic that I really, really find funny. Our chickens! First off a few of them are laying already - cute tiny half sized eggs. We just ordered their legs bands so I can finally start naming all of them - instead of the two names I had because they were the only ones I could tell apart from the rest.

Tiny egg next to a golf ball

Also side note - out of the 12 babies we bought 9 survived to adulthood. ALL 9 seem to be female. What are the odds of buying unsexed babies and finding they're ALL girls!?!
Hubby added another set of laying boxes since we ended up with more girls than we thought we would.

Now back to naming the ladies. Drumroll....

1. Lemony Snicket (yes male name but since my beautiful Americana looks like lemon pepper seasoning it works. Lemony Snicket pen name for Daniel Handler)
2. Henrietta (You can't have a flock of hens without this name. Don't argue with me, I'm convinced this is a must.)
3. Clary (Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare)
4. Hermione (Harry Potter by J.K Rowling)
5. Anne (Jane Austen's Persuasion)
Anne has been changed to Lizzie from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice having both an Anne and an Annabeth was too confusing for the kids. Later on down the road when the flock changes we will have an Anne again.
6. Polgara (The Belgariad & The Mallorean by David Eddings)
7. Vin (Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson)
8. Kahlan (Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind)
9. Annabeth (Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan)

I don't know if you can tell but I LOVE reading. There were a few names that we cut out because we knew they would be uber popular and/or no one would know they were from books.
Cut names were Arya (both from Eragon and Game of Thrones), Esther (Dickens Bleak House), Tris  (Divergent), Rose (Vampire Academy) & Poppet (Night Circus).

Not all of the girls but most of them

Summer seems to be flying past! Highlights so far include my amazing B-day weekend, 4th of July party at Shayne's, lazy pool days with the kiddos and my sister scoring an amazing job!
Hope everyone else is having an amazing summer!

The Night Circus

The Night Circus - the words themselves suggest mystery.

The story in the book evolves and changes. You start out a by-standard following a suggested path. The path twists, then twists again, a time or two the path branches off only to come back again, in the end however, its like watching a top spin amazingly fast then to have it come to a stop as a ballerina.

The whole book is a senses delight. Colors, sights, smells, people and emotions.
Its vivid, literal, magical and metaphorical, all wrapped into a sensual emotive package.
 
While the book changes, taking you with it, it ends perfectly.

If you are someone with limited imagination and rarely see what you read, this book will change you forever.
If you are like me and seeing is why you read, your mind will expand the details. Will remember them from earlier and continue to add to the whole experience.
Its amazing.

Reading it again will be even more magical. This time I will see all the hidden clues, charms and delight in them in a new way. Understanding how they come together in the end.

I will be saving my money for tickets, one will not be enough.

I will be in the very late night crowd.

And I will be dressed in Gray, Black or White with one small touch of Red.

I am also sure that I will not be alone.

Come and read with me, come and watch with me.

Never to be the same again.

Come join the Circus of Dreams

Click to find the book

I would also like to thank my sister for demanding - loudly and repeatedly that I read this book.

Speak

It is a crime that I never heard about this book until a friend told me about it and then loaned it to me to read.

I had heard about the movie, but since Kirsten Stewart is not among my top favorite actresses I hadn't really delved in deeper.
I will be watching this tomorrow!
Also I think in this movie she would play the part spot on!

The book though - where to start? For starters both my children will be reading this in Jr. High. They will be reading this with me. We will be having many discussions on this book - about talking to me if they need me. About standing up for kids being bullied, about not letting anyone hurt them. The dangers of sneaking off to "cool" parties.
About depression, rape, violence, friendship and getting help.
I am sure that more topics will come to light - things that I might not have seen the first time reading through.

So Thank You Angel! This book is amazing!

To watch her life, her hurts, her heart, her pain and her art. To see how others view her, how she views herself and how one great art teacher see's her - truly and really see's her.
One person among hundreds holds the power to help, and help he does. Without hurting her more, without pushing.
The writer is amazing, the story starts simply, carefully winding its way to being an emotional masterpiece.
I highly recommend this book to young teens. To see, feel and walk an emotional road.
For ladies who have been hurt - this is a book that will bring tears and possibly the start of healing.

This book will be one for my bookshelf of favorites, on my kindle and in my heart for all times.
A book  that took 5 hours - with bathing kids and making dinner - to read. So no matter how well read, if you have dyslexia it won't matter - you can read this.
Take the time - it may even change your life. ;)

My newest toy - The Kindle

Sorry for the glare.

Ok first off the Kindle comes in a very ugly gray color.

Skins like the one I added to my Kindle can be purchased for differing prices.

I also added a screen protector to keep it from getting scratched up.

My number one reason that I like this better than the Nook is that it has a keypad.

For me the Kindle is a great ebook reader and I don't know what I did without mine.

The price is reasonable if you are into classics - most of which you can get for free.

If you are into best sellers or the latest books it might start to get pricey. The good news is many books are available for free somewhere and there are many cheap disks filled with 75-200 books for few dollars.

These disks then can easily be turned into ebooks. 

Not all features translate, no chapter forwarding or last page bookmarking and no text to speech enabled.

However when you can get 9 of Gene Stratton-Porter books for free, whereas in a book store you would be looking at 100+ dollars, its a great deal.

Once you buy a book make sure to back it up onto your computer in case anything goes wrong this way you won't have to repurchase.

Usability - Great

Battery - Amazing!

Storage - HUGE

Weight - Medium paperback book

Purse size (my purse anyway)

Great for right and left hand users

Again I am writing this review based solely on my personal experiences and uses. 

I have not been paid or compensated in anyway for this review.

Austen Quiz

Take the Quiz here!

I just love Jane Austen!

Always before has Pride and Prejudice been my favorite book

now though I am leaning more and more toward Persuasion.

Its simple, sweet and gentle.

Book Blog and my week

Following in the footsteps of a friend, I have created a blog just for my writing.
This blog will remain about my family and weight loss. I did not write in yesterday about my weight as I did not lose anything this whole week.
I found the problem though and should again start losing weight.

Advice: when trying to lose weight make sure your carbonated flavored water is sodium free.

That said I will also mention that it snows in Southern Utah. A fact that us Northern Utah people sometimes forget. Like I did this last week when I packed up the whole family and drove them down to Escalante Petrified Forest for an out door camping trip. In the hopes that it would be much warmer down south. We lasted one night only because we were unwilling to leave our camping gear behind to make a beeline for a hotel. So instead we pulled the kids into our sleeping bags and huddled shivering all night long. Early morning as the condensation dripped through the tent and onto our heads we packed up and ran for home.
Vowing never to try camping again so early in the year. Best part of our trip was seeing several herds of deer.

Today we finished putting away the last of our camping items and won't try to camp again until June (alright maybe May), I am a gluten for punishment.

Hubby has managaed to lose another two pounds and is now down to 280!!

Little man can now count out loud to five, this is huge as he has only wanted to sign before and now he is vocalizing!!!

Apologies

I am very sorry to anyone that might have tried to view my page in the last several weeks. I had a gadget on my page called real time counter. Whether the original program was buggy or it was hacked but it kept redirecting people away from my page.
For this I am very sorry but I have managed to delete the gadget and clear the matter up.
Thank you very much for your patience.

I have given my book over to my four free editors and am eager for their help in making my book Shine-y!
Book two is undergoing its second rewrite and I am very excited.

Medifast and Me

Alright I am desperate at 209 pds I have joined up. My husband started medifast January first and in two months he's lost 50 pds so far. As soon as I get my box of food in the mail I will start this strict diet as well. Last summer I weighed 205 in June I spent the next three months walking every day. During the winter I have tried to eat healthier and smaller amounts and still I gained four pounds. AHHHHHH!
Still trying to get an agent for my book and I am sending copies to Bis Sis and BF to see if they like it.
(Crosses fingers)

I will try to do a weekly check in here on my blog letting everyone know my progress and how everything is going.

Finding an Agent

Yeah my life feels like that!

I am now trying to find a literary agent - who knew what a headache that might turn out to be like. Any ideas on how to write a query letter?
Hmmmm me neither so I am hoping my brilliant and genius husband might finish reading my book so he can help me try to sell it.
Book One is almost done with it's last rewrite I have taken it about as far as I can get it by myself. I now need a agent and more professional help. Book two is still on it's first re write and book three is almost complete I now need to spread my wings and see if I can get my baby to fly.
Please pray for me...my sanity was already at the breaking point and now I decided to add to that this...AHHHHHH!

I love my book my cute little sci fi teen/adult fun book but I am not sure how to get it into the right hands so if there are any literary agents reading this and you would like to browse, peruse or just glance at some of my pages please drop me a line. :')

Thumbs and thumbing

So we have arrived at the war of the thumbs something has been brewing in our home for the past several months and while it seems silly we are now on the brink of childhood nuclear war. There are also may quotes about thumbs showing that many times we have insulted with out thumbs in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the very beginning when they are having a street brawl one of the insults traded is "do you bite your thumb at me sir? Yes I bite my thumb at you sir" and it continues spiraling the same insult around.

In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence.

-Newton, Sir Isaac
Attributed.

Well my children have started the thumbs up thumbs down war. Silly right well to my children getting a thumbs down is the end of the world and of course being children throw it at each other on a whim. Today has been especially bad so with screaming, tantrums and emotional children I would like to let everyone know that I have no clue where my two picked this up or created such an insult. No matter what Hubby and I do we have not been able to get our children to stop this titanic war of theirs. Our new resolve is to ignore any further thumbing here is crossing the rest of our digits hoping it helps. I love children especially my children but today that love is being tested they seem to be bouncing on my very last nerve. To top it all off after spending the whole day fighting, yelling and screaming my son lays down sweetly like an angel to take a nap!! AHHHHHHH

Just in case any one was wondering I think I am going insane lets just hope that my book sells. I am about as far as I can take it on my own and I am starting the long road to getting it published. This year may very well be the strangest year of my life.

New Couches

So for the last year I have been talking about getting new couches and yesterday was the day! These are the Ikea Extorp series these covers are being discontinued so we bought both couch covers for 50- being smart parents of two very wild children we were prudent enough to buy two sets. :)
I know I know everyone out there is thinking we should just beat our children right? Well they aren't all that bad but they most certainly are my dastardly duo.

Book one is now 139 windows pages long in a book it will be several hundred pages and is mostly ready to find it way to a publisher. Book two is written but only on it's first rewrite and I have amazingly enough started on book three!
I am having a ball being able to write this story and no matter what I will be reading this story for years to come.

Thank you Shayne and Sara for helping us get rid of our old set and bring home our couches your the best!

Books and family

For those that don't know I am writing a book actually a series that one day I hope to have published book one is now at 119 pages and book two is at 55 pages. The good news is I love them and whether they get published or not I will be rereading them for years to come.

My kids are doing great Gideon is only wearing diapers at night, and has added a couple more words into his vocabulary.
Autumn is improving her reading and writing skills, this last week she really has shown huge progress. I am really very proud of her for working so hard this last week.

Sorry I have not posted many pictures lately I will try to pull out the camera and chase the kids in a little while.
Wil has lost 34 pds in 20 days using Medifast, I have lost some weight over the holidays but I really need to get back on the treadmill. I really don't want to have to join him on this diet so I had better hurry.

Changes

Book news first - I have completed my first book!! Yeah! I am still rechecking and rewriting but it is mostly finished and I have started book two of the series. I am so thrilled.

My hubby started Medifast last week and has gone from 337 to 317 in a week - mostly water weight but we have high hopes of being able to get him down to a healthier weight - kind of want to keep him :).

Next we have completely changed our children's room's around we bought a new bunk bed with a tent on top, and have moved both children into Autumns room. Gideon's old room is now food storage on my exercise room making much needed room in the living room! Next on my list of changes are hopefully new couches for the living room.
But like all things in my life change takes time, and so will my couches.

As for the kids Autumn is reading better and better everyday and Gideon can do a real cartwheel and is trying to do back flips and the most amazing thing he has been adding new words to his vocabulary!

Sorry all my words seem to be taken up for my books but I will try to get on more

My News

Sorry I have not been on for a while, between the holidays, family time, my hubbies recovery and my most recent fascination I just have not had a lot of time.

So my big news I am writing a book! Ok so I have been trying to write since I was 15 and while my imagination is more fertile that you could ever imagine I have always had a hard time writing things the way I want them to come out. So you see and hear what I see and hear however I have started a fresh attempt. Something I am very excited about so far I have a good solid 9 pages!
However after one week and about 7 revisions I finally have 9 good pages with lots more to come. Even my husband thinks this one has promise.

So if you were wondering if I fell in a hole or jumped off a cliff the answer is nope I just have disappeared inside my head for a while.
Here's hoping I can get this book finished whether anyone publishes it or not I would like to finally be able to end one of my stories.

Zoo Day

Our last day together we went to the zoo and of course we took our neighbors daughter since our kids just can not live with out spending at least one day a week together.
Saturday morning Mid sis went back home and this morning (Sunday) Big sis went home :( boo hoo.
We had a great time but I am exhausted so today is going to be very quite - nap & then shopping for a plant.
Wil is also buying me the Twilight series Big and Mid sis are both fans and after watching the movies I am very confused hence the books.
I feel bad that I am joining the crazy people craze - but since I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan why not another kid series?
Now all I need to do is finish shopping (kids presents) and then we will be ready for Christmas.
Hubby and I are mostly taken care of minus my Christmas Eve Chinese dinner :) and a ton of Christmas present wrapping.

See you tomorrow

A Very Full Day

My little cutie!
So today I have been working all day long, I started with dishes, an hour walk with my neighbor then more deep cleaning. Earlier today we had our garbage emptied now its half full!


My clean laundry pile that I still need to fold and put away, at least its all clean!


Our kitchen table, I have my step mother coming for tea tomorrow so this mess needs to be all cleaned up!

My list of things to do tomorrow

1. Clean kitchen floor
2. wash dishes
3. Vacuum living room floor
4. fold laundry
5. make lunch and tea
6. put up Christmas decorations

AHHHHHH that is one huge list add to the fact that I will also being going on my daily one hour walk in the morning.
However it is raining right now so I might get lucky and get my morning walk scrubbed! At least one can hope!
We are trying to get the whole house cleaned and organized before Wil's surgery on Thursday so that way we can spend those days just getting him better.

Now for a quick book review I recently read the book "Not quite a bride" which is a hilarious book about a 30 year old woman who's younger sister is married and pregnant, and when her best friend also gets engaged she gets desperate to have her dream wedding while she is still young so she hires a fake fiance.
It just goes from bad to worse as the screw ball comedy gets more and more out of hand.
While its not a work of genius it is really good for a laugh!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!
My books came in and so far I have read Lady Susan, Mansfield Park and of course my favorite Pride and Prejudice. I have 4 more to go and just love Jane Austen's writing more and more.
Conversations, wit, morals, sense, education and development of the stories are wonderful because with her books you don't know where she will end them yes they normally end with "happily ever after" but not necessarily the same happily ever after you wanted at the beginning.
Not only that but the journey is worth the trip full of fun, pain, growth and love.
With Mansfield Park I was pleasantly surprised the movie had taken more liberties with the book then I had supposed and I am finding it a deeper and richer gem then I had hoped for.

Snow here has piled up around us making it easier to spend time inside reading however I am still exercising and watching what I eat so the pounds are still coming off me - which I am so happy my hope for the holidays was to not gain weight this year and so far in one month I have dropped from a size 22 to a size 20.
I have more energy everyday and a strong desire to keep going (I used to be a size 5 before my daughters pregnancy made me happy just to be alive).
Any way Christmas decorations are being packed up and put away til the ending of this year.
I only wonder what this year has in store for us??? Who knows what will happen.
May your New Year be bright and full of wonderful surprises.

Christmas & Sesame Chicken

Christmas this year we have decided to branch out and do Chinese, so we are doing lettuce wraps as the appetizer, Sesame Chicken, Chinese lettuce salad & brown rice.
My step mom is doing another main dish, as well as a noodle dish.
Last night my father and step mother dropped by for an impromptu visit for which I am deeply thankful I spent all of yesterday cleaning my home :).
They brought us our Christmas present early which was wonderful!! Finally I bought Wil's present and his present for me as well and they are both hopefully going to be here before Christmas I can only pray they make it!
The kids, family and friends are all taken care of and ready to hand out which is great as I never know when I am going to see some of them.
As you can imagine from the picture we have snow, the other day we got 4 inches and as its snowing right now I think its fair to say we will have a white Christmas this year - for which my adorable children are very happy. I am just happy I had finish raking the lawn and cleaning up my drive way.
My Christmas presents are Jane Austin's Collected works, Tell me the Secrets by Max Lucado & some minor books and pjs. For my hubby he wants a special razor I am nervous about this razor since he can cut himself rather badly with it however its what he wants so he gets it along with other minor personal items. For my daughter she gets Tinkerbell items and an Ikea childrens tea set, my son gets trains - thomas the train and an Ikea small magnet train set.
Trying to get my children to understand the REAL meaning of Christmas is not easy however I have a wonderful nativity set and every Christmas I take it down and read the story of Jesus's birth using the nativity set to tell the story. I am looking right now for a box set of Gold, Frankincense and myrrh however I need one I can afford and finding a nice affordable one is proving to be a huge challenge so I might end up getting it for Christmas one year.
The visual aid products help my children pay attention and understand the words better.
With the ads, movies, retailers and all the hustle and bustle its hard to explain to my children that Santa is not real but Jesus is - I feel like a trout swimming up stream.
I am praying that next year is a wonderful year for our family this year has been good but hard, the hubby is just starting his physical therapy from after his back surgery and I am finally begining to lose the weight in earnest.
We can only pray that his job remains stable and good during this next projected hard year - with lots of companies closing many of their doors.

Sesame Chicken

By Rhonda Parkinson, About.com

Sesame chicken is a very popular restaurant dish. The sauce recipe was posted on our forum by Reykjaviky. (Guide notes: You may want to increase the vinegar or lower the amount of sugar. It all depends on how sweet you want the sauce).

Sesame Chicken serves 3 - 4, or 5 - 6 as part of a multi-course meal.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 whole boneless chicken breasts
• Marinade:
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine or dry sherry
• a few drops of sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• Sauce for Sesame Chicken:
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/8 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 TB dark soy sauce
• 2 TB sesame oil
• 1 tsp chili paste, or more if desired
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• Other:
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (see recipe directions for link to how to toast)
• 3 1/2 - 4 cups peanut oil for deep-frying

Preparation:

Directions for Sesame Chicken: Toast the sesame seeds and set aside.

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce: mix together all of the sauce ingredients. Pour them into a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are deep-frying the chicken.

To deep-fry the chicken: add the marinated chicken pieces a few at a time, and deep-fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remainder of the chicken.

Just before you are finished deep-frying, bring the sauce back up to a boil.
Place the chicken on a large platter and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve the Sesame Chicken with rice.

Alternate Healthier prep:
The only changes I make is that I marinade the chicken for about a day or two and I do not use the cornstarch, flour, baking soda/powder in the marinade. Mostly because I do not fry the chicken as we are trying to eat healthier. In stead, I cook the chicken in the marinade and then discard the marinade after the chicken is cooked. I recommend this recipe a 1,000 times. Your taste buds will crave it. I know ours do.