What’s with Naperville and TV lately?

Ok, so I live in Naperville. I don’t usually post locations of personal stuff on my blog, but I have to share this:

And then I was watching this episode of Warehouse 13 this afternoon:

Woo-Hoo!

Posted in Fun Stuff | 1 Comment

Book Review – The Mailbox, by Marybeth Whalen

The Mailbox: A Novel, by Marybeth Whalen

(Just so ya know up front, this book was provided to me, for review, by The B&B Media Group. Also, I worked with Marybeth during my stint as an admin and writer for FaithLifts.)

In the Christian Fiction category, this book receives a 4 out of 5 stars.

My Review
Snackable? It’s a small meal type book. Chapters are not huge, but it’s best to stay with a chapter until the end. It does a Past/Present flip flop with each chapter, so it is good to stay with the chapter breaks as best as you can.
“Lundie” ending? Yes. :)
Best thing? It surprised me a little in the end. I love having both a surprise and a Lundie ending in the same book!! LOL.
Worst thing? I struggled at the beginning of the book to get the flow of it. At first I thought it was just a bunch of different non sequitur stories. It took a couple chapters to realize it was one set of characters in different time frames. After I got that figured out, it was great!
Special Features from the Publisher Book Preview on YouTube
About the Author
Posted in Book Reviews, Christian Fiction | 2 Comments

Gratitude – August 2

holy experience

  1. Air conditioning
  2. The fun of planting flowers in the back yard – hoping to create a natural privacy screen
  3. The old Game Boy to keep a 4-year-old occupied during grocery shopping
  4. A solid weekend of getting stuff done, and getting exercise
  5. My hubby – I’m so blessed to not only love him, but like him!

If you’d like to join the gratitude community, stop on over at Ann V’s blog, Holy Experience

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Good-bye Avedis…


Springbrook’s Avedis Pinner

June 26, 2000 – July 8, 2010


You were the best dog we have ever known.
We miss you.

Posted in Photos, Reflection | 3 Comments

Book Review – Nightmare, by Robin Parrish

Nightmare
by Robin Parrish

(Just so ya know up front, this book was provided to me, for review, by the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance.)

In the Christian Fiction category, this book receives a 4 out of 5 stars. Click here for more details on what my scores and ratings mean.

My Review
Snackable? Not really, although the chapters are not terribly long, and they do have good solid breaks between chapters (past/present). Suspense-wise, it’s not easy to just read a little and put it down.
“Lundie” ending? Yes. :)
Best thing? It was genuinely scary. It addressed the paranormal in a way that was respectful, in my opinion of the Christian world view. I especially like what the author had to say in the “From the Author” section:

I believe that there are all manner of supernatural things happening in the spiritual realm at all times. And I believe that the spirit realm exists parallel to the mortal world we live in, and the two overlap in ways we can’t and won’t fully understand until our time here is over.

Worst thing? First, as much as I wanted to read this book, there were a couple of nights that I was reading in bed when I decided it was a bad idea. Again, to quote the author,

“While I’m fascinated by the work of paranormal investigators, it cannot be overstressed that touching the paranormal is inherently dangerous.”

Mr. Parrish’s writing had me right there in the thick of it, and frankly, some parts had me a little spooked and were best saved until morning.
 
Second, the flow of the last few chapters had me struggling. I suppose when anyone tries to write about the (fictional) truth behind the mysterious and paranormal, it can be difficult to accept. It certainly wasn’t enough to stop me from re-reading this book somewhere in the future.

Special Features from the Publisher Read the first chapter.
Posted in Book Reviews, Christian Fiction | 1 Comment

Newsboys (Note: Music WILL play)

Now, I’ve not been a huge fan of the Newsboys in the past. A couple of their singles were fun, but they never seemed to “hit home” like some others (Jeremy Camp, Todd Agnew). Now that they’ve been joined by dcTalk’s Michael Tait, I’ve found that I like a lot more of their songs. Not sure if it’s just the fact that I LOVED dcTalk….

Just hoping that this isn’t a VanHalen plus Gary Cherone thing…

Click HERE to hear some snippets (Removed the widget because I was tired of hearing it every time my blog opened!!)

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Gratitude – May 20

holy experience

  1. Hot coffee in the morning
  2. Happy weather to walk around the neighborhood
  3. Quiet
  4. Sunshine
  5. The feeling you get when you’ve completed something you’d been procrastinating…

If you’d like to join the gratitude community, stop on over at Ann V’s blog, Holy Experience

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Video Review – Diarmaid MacCulloch’s A History of Christianity

A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
Presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch

Video 1 of this series was provided to me, for review, by The B&B Media group.
 
 
 
 
 

My Review
What I liked
  • I was a little disappointed when he said he wouldn’t be addressing Jesus, but I was glad about it as the video progressed. This video is a history of the Christian church as an organization.
  • It was fascinating! I got sucked right in, as I am prone to do with all historical fact shows. It’s weird to me how things can seem so boring by description, but can’t seem to turn it off once I start…
  • Totally agree with his observation about how Western Christianity might do well to take a lesson from the Church of the East, and learn how to LISTEN.
What I didn’t like
  • At first it was a little distracting because all I could think was that he sounded like Stewie from Family Guy, but that faded after 10 minutes or so.
Special Features from the Publisher
Posted in Documentaries, The B&B Media Group | Leave a comment

Book Review: Indivisible, by Kristen Heitzmann

Indivisible: A Novel
by Kristen Heitzmann

Just so ya know up front, this book was provided to me, for review, by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

As this is the first review since my hiatus from all things bloggy, my scoring is getting recrafted. I think I’m going to start giving a 1-5 scale for the book overall based on its genre.

5 stars = “Go buy it right now!!! I’m getting it for my Kindle too!”
4 stars = “Add it to your wish list ASAP. I’m keeping mine.”
3 stars = “Yeah, I enjoyed it. I’ll pass it on.”
2 stars = “Glad I didn’t pay for it! Or if I did, you can have mine if you still want to read it.”
1 star = “Don’t bother. I won’t even burden you with my copy.”

In the Christian Romance Fiction category, this book receives a 3 out of 5 stars.

My Review
Snackable? Middle of the road. You do need have to have a few minutes to sit down to hang on to the clues along the way.
“Lundie” ending? Had a predictably happy ending.
Best thing? The theme of recovery (from addiction, abuse, etc.) was prevalent in all story lines.
Worst thing? It was hard for me to read such dark concepts (torture of animals) in what I was expecting to be an otherwise “Christian” novel. I actually do enjoy forensic science (esp. Patricia Cornwell – Kay Scarpetta series), and am not easily grossed out, but somehow the shock factor of the suffering of the animals made me ill in this genre. It felt like the “yuck” factor was turned up a notch to make the book a little more “edgy” and I’m not sure the usual readers for this type of book will appreciate it. I didn’t.
Special Features from the Publisher Download Chapter 1
Audio Interview with Author – MP3
Posted in Book Reviews, Christian Fiction, WaterBrook Multnomah | Leave a comment

Jib-Jab Star Wars – Starring: The Pinners

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