Book Review: In Bloom

The other book I'm reviewing is In Bloom: Trading Restless Insecurity for Abiding Confidence by Kayla Aimee.

I found Kayla's writing to be humorous at times. Some of the things she talks are her not so pleasant experiences of being bullied and picked on as a young teen,  feelings of shame and insecurities when she was a college student and as a young mom. Much of what Kayla shares  from her younger days I could relate to.

She makes some good points and I appreciate her use of scripture but there were a few problems I had with this book.

 She had too many references and celebrities including a quote in the beginning of one of her chapters from a deceased rock star who led a very immoral life. One or two celebrities is fine but to mention several throughout the entire book I felt was excessive.
In addition to the over " name dropping" of celebrities  some of the Christian authors she mention in a positive way are women known to have questionable doctrinal beliefs.

So even though I shared what I didn't like about the book, I appreciate the is a study guide in the back.  There are scripture affirmations in the back but some of the verses are from questionable and  unreliable translations.
I also admire her honesty about experiences and her feelings of not being "good" enough .

I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Why I Stayed

The first book I'm reviewing is Why I Stayed  by Gayle Haggard with Angela Hunt.  Gayle shares experience of her husband megachurch pastor Ted Haggard  being accused of sexual immorality and illegal drugs in November 2006. Some of the allegations Ted confessed were true.  At the time Ted was senior pastor of megachurch New Life Church in Colorado Springs.  Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of Ted Haggard nor New Life Church. 

Gayle is honest about what she and her family went through. She doesn't make excuses for her husband's behavior. She shares the power of forgiveness and how God was able to restore her marriage. I would recommend this book for any Christian wife who is going through similar circumstances .

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I also want to say, that I don't want to open up gossip about Ted's past. God has forgiven him but there are others out there, who still hold his sin against him as evidenced by other reviews  I've of Gayle's book.

Feeling Better

Hello my dear friends! Thank you all for your comments and prayers. I'm feeling better but void of energy, still coughing and the runny nose won't quit. I  managed to feel well enough to get dressed though.  I had spent the last several days on the couch in jammies and going through boxes of Kleenex. 

 Our couch is near one of the sliding glass doors that goes out to the patio. There is a bird nest  up in the eaves which has some new babies.  I made it my mission that I was going to " babysit" when mama bird was out getting food. I figured it was the least I can do since I was too sick to do anything around the house. By babysit I mean keeping predators away which has never happened since we moved here. Until two days ago. My teen daughter who has made herself  " grandma" to the bird babies was yelling there was a large bird trying to get at the babies. Well there was no way, that was going to happen on my clock so I opened the sliding door to go outside to shoo it away, stressing my poor husband out because I was still sick. In my pajamas. Barefoot.

Thankfully the bird flew away before it could take one of the babies and further traumatizing daughter and me.

Lessons I learned:

1. When one is sick, it's not the time to be Captain Bird Woman of Arizona!

2. I probably would have shocked our next door neighbors and they would avoid me at all cost.

3. Nature can be cruel.  I know God takes care of his creation and the reality is as much as we enjoy seeing our little birdies we can't watch them 24/7

4. I might have accidentally knocked the nest down then I would be in trouble.

Well that's it for now. My next two posts will be book reviews, one of which is very much overdue.

There Is Never a Good Time For Sick Mamas!

As I type this my throat is sore, my head hurt and chest hurts. 🤒😷This makes me crankier than stubbing my toe three times in the same spot.
I won't post a picture of me. I want to spare you that horror!🤤
 So I'm going to be away from blogging for at least couple of days. We are still waiting for the results of what turned out to a MRI and not a CAT scan of his lungs. I hope we hear back soon.
I'm going to take this time of rest to read a book I need to post a review on. Actually I have two books to review. One I haven't even started yet!

I hope to get well soon. I have some sewing I need to get started on, though it's a quick project, it hurts my head too much to sit up.
You all have a blessed rest of your week!

Repurposed Litter Buckets

Hello friends! I decided to take a break from my crochet hooks do something with one of the kitty litter buckets  that seem to multiply like rabbits in our home!  I hate to get rid of them because they are so handy!

I have one I use as a mop bucket but there are some hanging around in our garage. Yesterday, I was in my closet looking at all the bags and small boxes of yarn which has also invaded my war room prayer space and I decided I needed do something with that yarn.

I saw some nice ideas for litter buckets on Pinterest and decided to get to work on a yarn bucket.

Here is the before shot of a Tidy Cat litter bucket

I have lots of scrap fabric, a crocheted heart, letters from Dollar Tree and duplicate crochet hooks and here is the new and improved litter bucket now yarn stash bucket

Here the back of the bucket

I hope this gives you some ideas if you happen to have empty  litter buckets taking up space in your home or garage.

Happy Saturday!

Greetings my friends! Well today I'm doing better than I was earlier this week. I was quite the mess. So I have not Googled anymore medical stuff. Not even a stubbed toe! And I want to thank you all for your prayers.  They are appreciated more than you know!

I mentioned a few posts ago I was learning how to make a doily. Well I've temporarily abandoned that project because I had done a few rounds wrong so I ripped out the stitches. I will go back to the doily after I've completed the potholder. I really want to break the habit of having multiple projects going. I'm sure if I searched my yarn stash, I will find a long forgotten project that is still waiting to be finished. Not to mention, hooks I thought I had lost!

I want to experiment with the set of circular crochet hooks I have.  They will be fun to use.
Well enjoy the rest of your day and have a very blessed Sunday!

This and That

I've got a lot on my mind right now.  Maybe by the time I'm  done writing this post I will share  what is going on. In the mean time, I will reluctantly post pictures of my poorly made but usable dishcloths.  The red one is regular single crochet. Not sure how I messed that one up. The striped one is tunisian  crochet. Though I messed that one up I'm actually happy with it because of it being my first attempt at a totally new crochet technique. I  plan to practice more.

Okay so now that I have put off sharing what is on my mind, I will explain. At my husband's last  checkup his chest x-ray showed scarring on both lungs. His doctor had ordered a x-ray because Tim has reduced lung function and cough and the doctor wanted to rule out COPD. Now because of the scarring Tim is having a CAT scan done next week.  I made the very bad mistake of Googling lung scarring . Friends , it's bad from everything  I read. Now I'm totally terrified. I  could not find any information that would alleviate my fears. So I'm asking you all to pray.
I will update as we get more information.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today April 3rd 2018

Looking Outside my window... it's a nice partly cloudy day.

I am thinking... about how drive to Flaggstaff next week.

I am thankful for... the resurrection of our Lord and how lost I would be without Him

One of my favorite things... adult coloring books and coloring pencils

I am wearing a lavender dress, white headcovering and slippers 

I am creating .... 

A tunisian crocheted potholder.  I'm working on the second side of the potholder.  When it's done and I block it, it will lay flat.

I am reading.... a variety of crochet patterns

I am listening ... absently to my daughter's tv program

I am hoping... our car will make it to Flaggstaff next week. It has sometimes been finicky.

I am learning... how to do various types of crocheting including tunisian, using a steel crochet hook  to make a doily and using a double ended crochet hook .

In the kitchen... chicken fettuccini alfredo and french bread

Shared quote...  I don't have this time. Maybe next Daybook 

A moment from my day... laundry! I actually enjoy doing laundry.

Post Script 

You can learn how to  create your own Simple Woman Daybook by following this link  http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/p/httpthesimplewoman.html

Closing Notes

In my next post will be pictures of my  red regular crocheted dishcloth that I  made too small. The tunisian crocheted dishcloth is weird looking because I missed several stitches and has an almost hourglass shape. Much like my beginner projects many years ago

He Is Risen!

I  want to wish all you sweet friends a very beautiful and blessed Resurrection Sunday!

Photo by Jason Rutel courtesy of Creation Swap