Author Thursday

I'm going to try to read at least one book per week and do a weekly book review for the book I read that week.  I may include some updates on my own writing on this weekly post.  If you have any suggestions or recommendations for me, please feel free to share in the comments below. 

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The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I have been carrying this book around in my purse for months meaning to start it whenever I had to wait in a doctor's office or wait for a carry out dinner.  It never happened.  So when I decided I needed to start reading a book a week to make my goal by my 40th birthday, I started looking at home for books I already had.  So technically this one falls under the "New York Times Best Seller List" as well as the "Finish books in my current collection List".  Killing two birds with one book!

I must admit that this is the first Nicholas Sparks book I've read.  While I have seen some of the movie adaptations, I have never actually picked up one of the books.  I don't know why it's taken me so long.  I lived in North Carolina for over 4 years and considering most of his stories take place in that beautiful state, I probably should have been a fan from the beginning.  I have to say that I really enjoy reading authors who write about places I've been or lived because it is so much easier to get a good "movie" going in my head. 

The basis of this book is a marine, Logan, in Iraq finds a picture of a woman and he starts having near misses in combat.  While others around him are killed, he continues to be saved from gunfire and explosions.  One of his friends convinces Logan to go find the woman in the picture because she is his lucky charm.  Logan's search sends him to a small town in North Carolina where he finds Beth, the woman in the picture.  He doesn't know how to tell her about the picture, but they begin to fall in love.  This is made more difficult by an ex-husband, Keith, who's family pretty much "owns" the town.

I enjoyed Mr. Sparks' descriptions of the towns and it brought back the memories of the hot, sticky southern summers as well as the beauty often inherent in those small historic towns.  Beth also has a son who is more into music and reading than sports and video games (every mother's dream right?).  She is a teacher and Sparks' description of that part of her character pleasantly surprised me.  It made me think that either his wife is a teacher or he has a teacher in his family as he is spot on about the demands of that job, especially in the beginning of the school year.  There were so many aspects of this story that were parallels to my own life that made it easy for me to relate to the characters' emotional states. 

The love story is not so fantastic that it is unbelievable and I appreciated the PG-13 rating of Mr. Sparks' writing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude.  But I am a Christian and when I can find a good love story where I don't have to get bogged down in the specifics of the sexual encounters, it makes for a much smoother reading.  I don't even think I read one cuss word in the entire book.  It's refreshing to find a writer who can tell a story that is relatable and thoroughly engaging without being crass and too sexual.

 

Updates on Jobs and the 40 by 40 Bucket List

I took a look at my blog posts this morning and realized that I have not updated in a while.  I forgot to tell you that I got a job!  That's right, a teaching job!  That's why my life has been so crazy lately and I haven't had time to do much of anything.  I am just now settling down into a routine and am getting caught up on all of my ambitions. 

About the New Job:

So I got a job teaching my favorite subject, SCIENCE!  And I didn't even have to take any extra tests to do it.  My official title is Science Specialist.  It is a half time elementary school position and it is a job that doesn't really exist in most elementary schools in America.  Basically, I teach Science to the entire school.  There are roughly 300 students in the school and I will teach most of the 1st-6th graders twice during the year.  I have the added bonus of either a teacher or a volunteer working with me in most of the classes.  I even had a parent volunteer to help me get materials ready and she comes in at least once a week to help with that.  Although it's technically a non-continuing contract, most of the teachers who have had this position in the past held it for several years before moving on to other things.  I hope that means I can keep it at least until K is in school full time (3 years from now).  So for right now I am working 3 days a week which gives me Mondays to myself and Friday's with K (preschool is only M-Th here).

About the Bucket List:

I did create a good pie crust yesterday, but I was not entirely satisfied as the rolling out part was much harder than I would like.  I have had a couple of suggestions from other friends and have found some ideas on the internet.  Basically, I think I overworked it a little which made it very hard, even after sitting on the counter (after an hour in the fridge) for over 20 minutes to warm up.  The end result was pretty good.  The crust came out all flaky and yummy.  I think I'll try again next week and take a pie or two to work for the other teachers to enjoy.

 

 

How about you?  Do you have any tips for the perfect pie crust?

 

 

Thanksgiving and The Bucket List

I was looking at my journal this morning and realized that it's been almost a year since I made my bucket list. These have been popularized on blogs all over as women come close to a decade birthday. I created my bucket list with the intention of attacking it and trying to accomplish it in little bits before my 40th birthday. I had over 2 years after all. How could I NOT accomplish 40 items in more than 100 weeks right? Fast forward to today and I am now just a hair over 62 weeks until my big 40. I was looking at some of the things on the list and realized that in order to accomplish the book lists (yes, there are TWO separate items relating to books), I would have to read at least one book each week now to get those two crossed off of the list. While I have done some things toward accomplishing several items on the bucket list, I have not actually finished any of them. Today, that is going to change (I hope)! One of the items on my bucket list is to learn how to make the perfect pie crust. I have struggled with this for years. I love to bake, especially around the holidays. But the pie crust has always eluded me. I found a recipe a few years ago that suggested using a food processor, but I didn't have one so I just put it on the shelf for "to try later". Well, today is later. Being Thanksgiving, it is time to get into the kitchen and experiment again. Last year, for Christmas, my sweet hubby gave me a large food processor so I am going to try the recipe for food processor pie crust. I have pinned the recipe, the butter is chilling in the fridge and I am ready to get baking. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! What recipes will you be trying new this year? P.S. I thought I would leave you with the list since I haven't posted the entire thing on the blog yet. 40 by 40 Bucket List 1. Finish my book. 2. Run a marathon. 3. Lose all the weight onece and for all. (Right now, I'm thinking 80 pounds?) 4. Look good in a bikini (and actually wear it in public!). 5. Finish K's baby blanket (she's 3 now!) 6. Learn how to knit. 7. Pay off all debts (except student loans and mortgage if we happen to get one in the next year). 8. Buy a house. 9. Take some prerequisite courses for PhD. 10. 11. Read at least 12 classics I never got around to reading in high school. 12. Complete A's baby album. 13. Complete K's baby album. 14. Learn how to make the perfect pie crust. 15. Sell my teaching stuff online (sold some books already back in August). 16. Read or get rid of any unfinished books in my current collection (sold some in June). 17. Learn and start using the art of Feng Shui. 18. Try Zumba! 19. Buy a red dress that I look sexy in. 20. Go to an opera (preferrably in the aforementioned red dress). 21. Submit my book for publishing. 22. Start and maintain a saving account with more than $1000 in it. 23. Learn Italian. 24. Learn how to wear a scarf (and start wearing them at least once a week). 25. Knit a cable knit sweater. 26. Complete our wedding album. 27. Transform my wardrode (and start dressing everyday). 28. Sew all the projects I started in the spring of 2011. 29. Get my passport. 30. Visit Canada. 31. Take a ballroom dance class. 32. Buy a pair of knee-high boots that fit my calves. 33. See Andrea Bocelli in concert. 34. Read 50 books on the New York Times Best Seller List. (I think I'm up to 4 for this list from this past year. I read Micro by Michael Crichton and The Hunger Games Trilogy). 35. Have dinner in the Space Needle restaurant. 36. Learn how to swim (for real!) 37. Spend (at least) one night in a 5 star hotel or a bed and breakfast. 38. Fix my grandmother's ring. 39. Write an article and get it published in a magazine. 40. Build something with wood.