Small Talk Six: Flower Power

This week's topic is flowers. Share your top 6 favorite flowers. Per the rules, you can do a list of 6, 6 paragraphs, 6 photos, 6 sentences, etc. This week, 6 photos (all from rgbstock.com).

1. Lilacs ~ For one, they're PURPLE. But, more importantly, they smell AWESOME!

2. Lily ~ Not just any lily. This is the closest pic I could find to what my favorite lily is. I only know it as naked-lady lily. (I'm afraid to Google that ...) They're pink. The leaves grow early in the summer, then several weeks later the flowers (TALL stalks) appear and bloom. Naked – no leaves.

3. Columbine ~ I LOVE how different they are from the "typical" flower.

4. Gerbera Daisies ~ I hadn't even heard of these before I worked in a flower shop for a few months during college. I think they're beautiful!

5. Bird of Paradise ~ In case you can't tell, I love flowers that are somewhat exotic and/or unusual. While I can appreciate roses, tulips, daffodils, irises, etc., I am drawn to flowers that are unique and different from what is often typically seen. I LOVE these, and they're even better in person than via photo!

6. Bleeding Heart ~ I love hearts, and these flowers just amaze me!

Wanna play? Check out the post HERE for this week's links and more detailed information on how Small Talk Six works.

Friday Fill-Ins ~ On Saturday, of course

 

1. Turkey and cheese sandwich and potato chips -- the best food to take on a picnic.
2. Summer is AWESOME.
3. I LOVE flip flops.
4. To love someone is to care more about them than about yourself.
5. I do not fancy taking a long hike.
6. When I crave food, it's usually chocolate – or salty.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching a movie with Mr. Ham, tomorrow my plans include visiting with my mom and Monday (Memorial Day), I want to sleep in a little then enjoy more time with my mom before she goes home!

This week's post is HERE.

Sign up to review sunblock

I was recently accepted to be a reviewer of Neutrogena UltraSheer Liquid Daily Sunblock. The product information (as provided by Neutrogena):

Neutrogena UltraSheer® Liquid Daily Sunblock, available in SPF 70 and 55. It's a breakthrough liquid sunblock so lightweight you won't believe it delivers superior sun protection. It's waterproof, sweatproof and won't clog your pores.

UltraSheer Liquid daily sunblock has a water-light texture that spreads easily over skin, absorbing instantly for a weightless feel and look. It provides an even, non-shiny finish that works beautiful alone or under makeup. This product also contains Helioplex® technology for superior broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection.

I can't share my review yet, but I have used it a couple of times now and I do like it. I'll tell you all about it when I can! Anyway, for more info on signing up, click on the graphic:

Blog Journal: Day 15

The subject for this entry is the Bucket List. Emma wants to know your top 5 bucket-list items. I recently posted a short list of my top two BL items. I'll start with those, and go from there.

My list, in no particular order:

1. Help my children find Christ and become saved. If I accomplish nothing else, I will be happy with just this. I want to spend eternity with them in Heaven!
2. Vacation in Hawaii. For as long as I want. Relaxing on the beach. Reading lots of good books. Not doing anything or going anywhere I don't want to do or see.
3. Get 100% out of debt, and stay that way!
4. Go to Italy. I wanna see Rome, Venice, etc. 
5. See Ireland, England, etc.

Next up: What is your worst habit?

Blog Journal: Day 14

(If you can't read it very well, click on it to see it at its full size!)

See more of today's entries HERE.

Tomorrow's topic: Top 5 on the Bucket List ...

Tune-In Tuesday #10 ~ Or Not

You thought I was gonna forget again, didn't you? I fooled you! ;-)

But, of course, technical difficulties are making it near impossible for me to post something. Grooveshark doesn't want to load, and YouTube doesn't either! :-\ If I think of it, I'll try to post again either tonight or later this week. If not, it'll be next week. Sorry! It's been a couple of hours with no luck for me! :-\

Blog Journal: Day 13

The current question is: What is my ideal age?

This is something I honestly never thought about. And my first thought is, I don't know! When I thought about it, 25 seemed like it. I have no idea why. Maybe that's because that's when I last was thin, and so I equate it with better things. I dunno.

Next entry: A photo of you in the area in which you blog. Yikes. LOL

To see other entries on the idea age, check out the Linky HERE.

Blog Tour & Book Review: More than Conquerors

I had agreed to review this book prior to starting Proud Book Nerd. As such, the expectation is that it'll be posted here at Ramblings & More. I believe that this is the last book review I'll do here on Ramblings, but I am not 100% certain.

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Title: More than Conquerors

Author: Kathi Macias

Author Bio: Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer and radio show host who has authored 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley.

You can find Kathi online at www.kathimacias.com and at her blog http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com.

Book Summary: With violent crime on the rise and the political climate changing throughout Mexico, the opportunity for open Christian witness is rapidly decreasing in many areas. Hector Rodriguez pastors a church on the outskirts of the once-peaceful and tourist-popular border town of Tijuana. He has also visited other small churches in the remote and not-so-Christian-friendly towns of Chiapas state, delivering Bibles and ministering to those in the most persecuted areas.

Hector’s mother accompanied him on one of those trips and stayed behind to teach reading—using the Bible as her primer—to a handful of Christian converts living among the Mayan population in San Juan Chamula, where superstition and paganism run rampant, and resentment of outsiders runs deep. In a reaction to that superstition and resentment, Hector’s mother pays a serious price for her unwanted presence—and Hector must then choose whether or not to continue his work in some of the most dangerous areas of Mexico.

My Thoughts: This is the second book in the Extreme Devotion Series, and I like it better than the first. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I do. Perhaps because, while there still was violence, it wasn't nearly as violent as the first one, No Greater Love. This story highlighted the hope we have in Christ, and how God can reach anyone – even those people might consider the most unlikely candidates for conversion. While the family featured in this goes through much pain and loss, there also are great reasons for celebration. We also see that God truly does work everything out according to His plan. My favorite thing was seeing how God protected His people later in the story. The characters were likable and their devotion to God was inspiring. I found myself wanting to hear from God as clearly as these people do. I do feel I must say that the editing was sub-par. There are a couple of instances when the pronoun used didn't make sense, and I had to guess that it should be "she" instead of "he" – or vice versa. There also were some missing quotation marks and missing paragraph breaks. I read this book for enjoyment, but found these errors distracting. That said, overall this was an enjoyable story filled with hope and inspiration.

Source: Sent for review.

Book Trailer: I've seen these on other blogs, and thought I'd see if there's one for this book. There is.

Own It: Get your copy of More than Conquerors HERE.

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If you enjoyed this and would like to read more of my reviews, please join me at Proud Book Nerd.

Blog Journal: Day 12

If I could go back and change one thing in my life, what would it be?

So, how about you? What would you change?

To see other entries from today, check it out HERE.

Come back tomorrow to see my answer to the next question: What do you think is the ideal age to be?

Sunday Stealing: The Voice Post Meme

This one is too fun not to do every week! Taken from the Sunday Stealing blog! :-)

1) What's your middle name?

Ann

2) How old are you?

33

3) Where are you from? Are you living there right now?

I am from the Chicago suburbs. I do not live there right now.

4) Is it cold where you are?

Not in the least bit. At 7:36 p.m., it's 87º! 

5) What's the time?

See above: 7:36 p.m.

6) What are you wearing?

Shorts and a tank top.

7) What was the last thing you listened to?

Cyberchase as Abby watched it.

8) What was the last thing you ate?

A Club Lulu from Jimmy John's

9) What was the last thing you watched on TV?

Last night we got caught up on Lost. We'll be watching the end of it all once the kids are in bed.

10) What's your favorite tv show? Why?

Lost ~ It's so interesting, suspenseful, thought-provoking, fun ...
24 ~ The suspense
Private Practice ~ Who doesn't need a little drama? ;-)

11) Quick! Find a book, or something with text on it! Flip to a random page and post the second paragraph's first sentence.

He pushed a basket of bread and an olive oil dip across to her. ~ Page 176 in The Last Christian by David Gregory

12) What was the last movie you saw? How was it?

13 Going on 30. It was cute. 

13) Do YOU think you have an accent? Where do people in your country do people speak with strong accents?

I don't think I have an accent, but I'm sure elsewhere in the country I would be perceived as having one. I don't get that second question, so I'm gonna ignore it ...

Blog Journal: Day 11

Another late one.

This one is about where I live. Pictures have been requested, but I'm not sure I have any of my home – or home area – on my computer. So, I'll also look online, see if I can come up with any.

I live in an area of the U.S. called the Quad-Cities. It's an area that encompasses cities/towns in both Illinois and Iowa. It's actually a gorgeous area – lots of hills, the river and bluffs, trees, etc. Unfortunately, I can't find any pics of our actual house, but here are some pics/images of/about our area.

This first image is a map of where exactly our community is located. I'm not sure why so many counties are red, as only the two touch on either side of the Mississippi River are part of the "official" Quad-Cities.

This one is an aerial shot of the area. The river toward the top is the Mississippi River. The other river is called the Rock River. We are looking north. Yes, that is accurate. North. In this particular area, the Mississippi River bends in such a way that it runs east-west, and Iowa is north of Illinois. The island in the Mississippi River is called Arsenal Island. There's an Army base there, and it's where Mr. Ham works (for the Army Corps of Engineers).

This is Lock and Dam 15. On the right is the Rock Island Arsenal (island), and the bridge is crossing the Mississippi into Iowa.

Centennial Bridge, looking toward Davenport, Iowa.

This is the area in which I live. My husband and I both actually are from the Chicago suburbs, but his job brought us here. It's good – cheaper to live here. Plus, it's beautiful here and MUCH less congested, population wise.

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Head on over to Toddler Awesome if you wanna play along and/or read others' blog journals. The next question is: If you could change something about how you have lived your life so far, what would it be?

Blog Journal: Day 10

Today's question: What are you afraid of?

My answer: More things than I should be. As a born-again Christian, I should have no fear. I should be able to fully 100% trust in God for EVERYTHING. And, believe me, I'm trying! But, there are still things that get to me. I actually recently posted about my fears. So, rather than rewriting it, here's a link:
Top Five Fears

I would add a few things to the list: rejection, abandonment, failure. To name a few.

Fear is something I've always really, really struggled with. In fact, I used to love scary (and not just horror flicks, but supernatural thrillers, too) movies, but decided a few years ago that it was not something I should do. I struggle enough with fear, why invite it in like that? Since then, I've been a LOT better. It's still a struggle, though.

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Head on over to Toddler Awesome if you wanna play along and/or read others' blog journals. Tomorrow will be all about where we live.

Friendly Friday Follow #1

I'm excited to be participating in this the first week it's out. I'm not sure how often I'll do this, but I've grown quite fond of Emma over at Toddler Awesome as of late, and wanted to support her.

For those of you who are new to Ramblings & More, hello and thank you for visiting! :-) I'm always excited to make new friends! This is my primary blog, in which I talk about anything that comes to mind, hence the name. (Yes, I used the word "hence" – my degree's in English ...) When I say anything that comes to mind, I should add that I do NOT post book-related stuff here (at least not regularly and not if I can avoid it). If you love books, then check out my book blog, Proud Book Nerd. I'm excited that you're here. Let me know if you decide to follow, and I'll return the favor!

To find the links to others' posts, just go HERE.

Friday's Fave Five #4

I really mean to participate in this every week. Just sometimes life gets in the way ...

This is hosted on Living to Tell the Story. If you'd like to join in, the rules of play can be found HERE. This week's post, with the MckLinky attached, is HERE.

 1. Good Movies ~ I saw a couple of good ones this week, one of which was He's Just Not That Into You. OMGosh! I LOVED it! AWESOME movie! It's probably my favorite in a long time. I noticed in the end credits that it's based on a book. I think I'll be adding that to my to-read list!

2. Wonderful Teachers ~ On Wednesday, Grant finished his first year of preschool. Those of you who know me personally know that this time last year was very rough for me. We had some concerns over his development, and were even concerned that he might have ASD-NOS. After some reading I did, I was convinced that wasn't the case, and took him to Iowa City last June for a full evaluation. Long story short, nothing more than a speech delay. PRAISE GOD! Thanks to the speech delay, he qualified for a preschool in the school district. I was very, VERY nervous about this. I was worried he wouldn't separate well, worried he wouldn't blend in, worried about EVERYTHING. God placed him in the right class with the right teachers, and he FLOURISHED over the past nine months! He was in absolutely WONDERFUL hands, and I am so excited and pleased to say he'll be in the same class next year! :-) God is so good!

3. Mr. Ham Comes Home TONIGHT ~ Yahoo!

4. A New Adventure ~ Last week I finally decided to get my own domain for my book blog, and switch to Wordpress. Proudbooknerd.com was born. I'm having a little bit of a tough time adjusting to WP, as it is quite different. But, I'm confident that once I've made that adjustment I'll be very happy. I am QUITE happy with it overall. It's easier to use and, most importantly for me, MUCH easier to customize.

5. Birthday Parties ~ My poor sweet Abigail hasn't been invited to many classmate birthday parties since entering Kindergarten in 2008. She got invited to one this week, and was SO EXCITED! She'll be going for sure. I hope she has a WONDERFUL time. I feel bad for her, not getting a lot of invites, but I do know that will make the ones she does go to that much more special. But, my heart aches for her. I sure hope this doesn't mean she'll have to live with the horrid rejection I faced as a child/teen.

Blog Journal: Day 9

I wasn't able to post this yesterday, but I'm having too much fun with this Blog Journal event to let that stop me! ;-) Yesterday was about weddings. It's a chance to share photos/stories from our weddings. I definitely have a story. Not sure about pictures ...

This is me before the wedding:

My mom and me before the wedding:

Mr. Ham and me right after the wedding:

And me at the reception:

Unfortunately, that's all I have on photobucket. The rest is still in the album – this was done before photogs were using digital! ;-) I don't have time to scan others in.

The main story of our wedding was the weather. We were married on January 2, 1999. We lived in the Chicago area, and anyone from anywhere within a couple of hundred miles of there likely knows what that day was.

Background: December of 1998 was unusually nice. I remember relatively warm temps as recently as a week before my wedding. I remember going to bed the night before and there not being much snow. I must've heard of the impending storm, because I know the FIRST thing I did when I woke up. I looked outside. We had been SLAMMED with snow overnight. There was TONS of it. It's what we Chicagoans call the Blizzard of '99. It was absolutely NUTS. My sisters and I got stuck in the snow about a block from our house on our way to get our hair done. One of my sisters ran back to the house, and I remember my dad, my uncle, and my brother-in-law running our way with shovels! LOL They dug us out, and we decided only to take major roads. Fortunately, the salon was in a major shopping center in Wheaton. My hairdresser said she had her husband on standby with his four-wheel-drive truck to get us there if needed! LOL

The snow, the storm, the weather. Many, many – nah, most – of our guests weren't able to come. Including important family members. It was sad not to have them there, but we totally understood. Amazingly, all of the people who had a part in our wedding were there. Every last one of them. One of my bridesmaids had to dig out the entire alley on her block to get her car out, but she did it! LOL At the end of the festivities, our photographer told me that we must be really special because we had a GREAT showing for the way the weather played out! That meant a lot to us to hear.

That storm ushered in a NASTY cold snap, and the temperatures were the coldest I remember in a long time. There was so much snow, ice, etc. that even O'Hare Airport was closed for a couple of days. (That is almost unheard of!)

The funny thing is people we'd meet at friends' and family functions all knew about our wedding. We'd meet someone, and our wedding would come up, and they'd say "Oh, that wedding!" LOL We were famous – sorta! ;-) We still hear that sometimes, but nowadays it's usually, "You were married during that storm?" It's definitely a day most Chicagoans will remember.

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Head on over to Toddler Awesome if you wanna play along and/or read others' blog journals. Next up: What are you afraid of?

Blog Journal: Day 8

Today's question: What does romance mean to me?

My answer: I honestly don't know. I haven't given it much thought, really. So, let's see what Webster says ...

1 : to try to influence or curry favor with especially by lavishing personal attention, gifts, or flattery
2 : to carry on a love affair with

There are lots of others totally unrelated to anything I associate with romance, so this is it, I guess.

The first one, well, I think that's the courting/engagement phase. It all but disappears once a couple settles into marriage. At least, that's how the story goes. And, honestly, that's how things have played out. He does occasional grand gestures, but generally they're a thing of the past. Now, honestly, I'd like a bit of the gifts – that's my love language ...

Anyway, the second is definitely true. It can encompass the first, but it's not dependent on the first. It's the things we do every day that show each other that we love each other. It's him making me chai on the weekends, trying to replicate how they make the chai tea lattes at Starbucks or Panera. It's me making sure there's a cold beer waiting in the fridge for him at the end of the day. It's him cleaning up after me when I was SUPER sick, never griping, never giving me crap about it, and to this day being graceful about it. It's me putting a towel in the dryer for a few minutes so he's got a warm towel when he steps out of the shower on a cold day. It's him leaving extra cash for me to find when he goes out of town for work. It's me leaving a lamp on in our bedroom when I go to bed so he doesn't have to come to bed in the dark.

It's all of those things, and so much more. I am very blessed that God gave Mr. Ham to me. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

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Head on over to Toddler Awesome if you wanna play along and/or read others' blog journals. Tomorrow we share our wedding pictures and/or stories (or your dream wedding if you're single).

Tune-In Tuesday #9

A day late and a dollar short. But, hey, better late than never, right? RIGHT? ;-)

I have two songs for you. One is the aforementioned Switchfoot song, the other is appropriate right now. (Sorry, no lyrics today)

1. The Bed's Too Big Without You by The Police ~ I love this song. Always had. And this one works right now. Mr. Ham is gone for the week for business, and so, this song works. Enjoy!

2. This is Your Life by Switchfoot ~ Still not on Grooveshark – I'll have to look into that. Anyway, here's a "video" of it. (Not really a video – picture of the band while the music plays.)

If you participate today (or did yesterday despite my forgetfulness), please share a link! :-)

Have a blessed day,

To All You Domestic Women

You know who I'm talking to. If you're one of those domesticated women, I got a question for you.

Excuse me? What do I mean "domesticated"? Oh, let me lay it out for you ...

If you're one of those women who cooks and cleans, and does it WELL. And you also have time to be a good mom to your kids, and time to blog, and read 100 books a week, and hang out on facebook, and garden, and sell Tupperware (or Pampered Chef, or Lis Sophia, or ____________ (fill in the blank) ), and still be a good wife to your husband. You know, dates, quality time ...




sex ...




(Damn! Listing it all totally gave me a minor anxiety attack!) I have a question for you. How do you do it? Seriously. I mean, is it for real, or is it a front? If you really do it, HOW? Spell it out for those of us who apparently missed that class in school.

Better yet. Send me some of that super-mommy mojo, PLEASE! I could use some.

Oh, and as for the real question: Do you use index cards for your recipes? Do you file them? And here's the STUPIDEST question ever: do you put the labels in front of or behind the tabbed thingy that says the letter of the alphabet?

Say WHAT?

Does your recipe box go: A ~ Recipes starting with "A" ~ B ~ Recipes starting with "B" ...
Or does it go: Recipes starting with "A" ~ A ~ Recipes starting with "B" ~ B ...

Or is your system completely different – more like a cookbook? (I do alphabetical, because I think of the name of the recipe I want, then get it, rather than think of what I wanna make, then where it's categorized, etc., etc., etc.)

Inquiring minds wanna know ...

Blog Journal: Day 7

So ... no. Sorry. No graphic again today. I'm just not into it. When you see what I see, I think you'll understand ...

Today's task is to write about what's going on with each of your senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing).

The Eyes Have It

I see clutter. The books I need to find homes for, the ever-growing pile of laundry (both to-be-washed and to-be-sorted-and-put-away), the never-ending dishes to clean, the toys scattered all over the place ... and it's much worse than usual, because my wonderful hubby is gone for the week! :-(

Do You Hear What I Hear?

I hear the kids playing outside – well, the older two. I also hear the birds chirping and some people mowing their lawns. Occasionally, the dog barks. Inside, I hear silence (outside noises coming in through open windows – YES!), because Miss Natalie is still napping.

Oh, Taste and See

I taste Dr Pepper. Love that stuff ...

What's that Smell?

I smell ... spring. Finally! (We've had a it of a "cold" trend lately.)

How Touching

I feel slightly chilled with the windows open, letting in the below 70º F air. But, I'm LOVING it!

If you wanna link up, do so HERE. Tomorrow's topic is to discuss what "romance" means to you.

Top 2 Tuesday: Bucket List

Another fun new meme. This time I found it thanks to Sam over at Life is Beautiful.




This week's subject is the top 2 things you wanna do before you die.

I honestly can't say I have a bucket list. Sure, there are things I wanna do, but I haven't sat down and really thought about this much.

1. Help my children find Christ and become saved. If I accomplish nothing else, I will be happy with just this. I want to spend eternity with them in Heaven!

2. Visit a few places that I really, really, really wanna see. Examples: Hawaii, Italy, and Ireland – to name a few.

If you wanna play, you can link up at the post HERE.