Pallet for Home

If you've been a reader of this blog for any lengtrh of time, you should already know that I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan.  The principles Dave teaches have changed my life in seriously positive ways, and I was excited to see The Money Answer Book come up for review with Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze! 

Here's a little about the book from TN:

This question and answer book is the perfect resource guide for equipping individuals with key information about everyday money matters.

Questions and answers deal with 100+ of the most-asked questions from The Dave Ramsey Show—everything from budget planning to retirement planning or personal buying matters, to saving for college and charitable giving. This is Dave in his most popular format—ask a specific question, get a specific answer.

Now, here's what I think:

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I never thought of having a "no matter what" list until I read this.  Dave's principles are clearly outlined in the pages of this book, and if you've not been a listener of his radio show, this book is a great first resource to own to become familiar with his thought processes.

From an outline of the Baby Steps, to the Debt Snowball worksheets to insurance planning, and straight through investing, this stratagem is a proven method for debt freedom and wealth building.  If you're looking for a quick and easy read that is also a source of clear financial wisdom, order this book today!

To read more from Thomas Nelson's product page click here.  For a sneak peek inside the book, go here.

Nate spent a few hours researching and discussing his next steps to get this lawn growing. (Remember.... the house was forclosed on right before summer so the yard went through the summer without any water. Oh! and the previous owners took all of the plants with them...). He decided to reseed the yard. He raked up all of the dead grass (and there was a lot), put grass seed down, covered it in compost, and fertilized it. Now we water and wait.

The Lynn Lane Target has the bonus packs of French's mustard shown above, and if you go here, you can print coupons and get the whole scoop on the deal!  Enjoy!  Thanks, Totally Target!

One of the best ways to get free or super cheap books is to provide reviews for companies and authors.  My wise daughter, Carman, has been doing this for a few months on her site, A Sequence of Continuous Delights.  Because of her encouragement, I'm now reviewing for BookSneeze!

There is no greater wisdom on this earth than Scripture, so getting to review free Bibles and Bible study materials is very exciting to me because of the multiple benefits!  Free books + God's wisdom = a win/win situation!

Here's a summary from Thomas Nelson's website:

Book Description

Beautiful full-color maps and charts illuminate the Scriptures.

This updated edition of Thomas Nelson’s popular Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts has everything your customers need to visualize the events, places, and people in the Old and New Testaments. The resources include:

* New, full-color, high-resolution maps and charts.

* Downloadable PDFs of maps and charts for presentations and classes.

* Tables, charts, and diagrams that organize Bible information for ease of learning and memorization.

* Historical articles providing insight into Bible times.

* Introductions to each book of the Bible.

Perfect for small-group leaders, Bible school teachers, and anyone curious about biblical times or wanting to locate key events from Scripture, Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts provides a visual overview of the Bible in its entirety.

I've been studying along Hebraic lines of Christianity for many years now, and I enjoyed the charts and maps in this book because I could get a better picture in my mind of places and the timeline of events.  It would take many years of study to exhaust the resources packed into this resource!

I'm providing a link to the book’s Thomas Nelson product page, and a link that will allow readers to preview the book.
Thomas Nelson, through BookSneeze, provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for reveiw.

The grumpies

A kids book
To X and
to Scott and Lucy,

The grumpies wake up 
right before dawn
they put on their hats
and scurry along

they spread over the land
and over the sea
and sometimes I wake up
and they are all over me

They are hard to get rid of
because they get in your hair
they jump in your undies
they are really not fair

they will slide down your toast
and slip in your jam
they will do laps in your tea
yelling "grumpy I am"

the grumps like to bring
along their dog pout
who will sit on your lower lip
and make sure no smiles get out

he is a guard dog
like guard dogs can be
he will teach you to grumble
and growl at me

You'll say, "No I don't want to!"
and, "Go away NOW."
the grumpies will mumble and bumble and cheer
their job almost done, they will take a big BOW

and dive in your pockets
where they are hard to get out
all nestled and cozy on a day full of rain
a grumpy infestation is really quite a pain

the grumpies like to turn
all colors to grey
their favorite greeting is
"Hope you have a miserable day!"

When they are in your pockets
you don't have a chance
because they are quick
and they will make you quite slow
they will zip up your zipper
the next thing you'll know
they will take both your shoelaces
and rappel down your pants

the grumpies are very very hard to shake
they will make you quite snippy
as they fill up your clothes

All my best intentions to post more regularly have taken a back seat to finishing the school year strong, and keeping up my responsibilities here at home.  Thank God for Proverbs 31 Amplified, which reminds me that I can't take on new responsibilities that cause the neglect of my present duties!

So, here's a little sneak peek at what I've been doing since my last post...

Yup.  I climbed it. A 55 foot verticle wall is nothing for this homeschool mom!  I did it!

Yes, we've been taking dance lessons!  My daughter is going to prom in a few weeks, and for the last five weeks or so, we've been going once a week to learn ballroom dancing.  She asked me to join her in the lessons, and I have for most of them.  The foxtrot is my favorite, followed by the rumba.  They've also learned West Coast swing, which I've not practiced much.  It's all great exercise, too, which is a bonus!

What have you been up to this week?

Im not going from my list at all,  but I am tired of writing about really heavy things and I shall revisit the work of these photographers in more detail later.  Right now I just want to revel in the beauty of my favorite images.  Looking at fashion photography for me has always been a lovely drug, from my days as a model oh so many years ago.  I love fashion,  I love clothes and I love the illusions created by fashion photographers.  It is not deep, it is beautiful and it is commentary on contemporary culture.  These are my favorites, most of them were working when I was, their images are stunning.  I am not going to get into much more depth with this one than that. Although there are many other fashion photographers, these are my favorites.  

Nick Knight

born Watford, Hertfordshire, England on 28 November 1969
He is not necessarily my very favorite photographer but I love these images and had to include them because they are transcendent and magical

Steven Miesel

American Born 1954
Steven Miesel is the master of making a woman look italian and beautiful.  I like his editorial storytelling and his images are just magnificent.  Most of these are for Italian Vogue, some for American vogue.  This editorial is called State of Emergency, I love it, it is everything you are not suppose to do in fashion. They are violent and wrong and so on point about the state of media and government creating fear with subtle cues.  There is a certain untouchability with beauty and fashion that is kind of a lie,  this editorial to me is brilliant, or maybe I just like chicks looking touch with guns.  I think Steven Miesel would be a hell of a lot of fun too shoot with. 

This next editorial in Italian Vogue as well, it's called Supermodels in Rehab and I think its just as relevant as the state of emergency editorial.  He shoots models in a combined editorial, fashion, illustration and almost faux journalistic way. 

These are a few other images by Steven Miesel
This editorial was called Vogue patterns