Jane Austen (Christian Encounters Series)

I was so pleased to find this book about Jane Austen, especially since I am currently in the middle of directing Pride & Prejudice at our local community theatre. It is a look into the life of Jane (“Jenny”) Austen, who wrote her three most popular works before she turned twenty-four, and died at the early age of forty-one. It is a quick read, at only 153 pages, and I would recommend it as easy for anyone over the age of twelve. Jane's Christianity is looked at along with all the other factors in her life, such as her family and her social standing in society, giving a balanced picture of the influences to her works.

My favorite parts of the book were when the author used humor to shed light on Jane's life. He also used many of Jane's own words to show who she was. I carried this book in my purse for a week, it's the perfect size, and read it during my brief free moments. I absolutely fell in love with Jane Austen while reading this book and I have a line of friends waiting to get their hands on it. Many books come into my house and then slide out again after we are finished with them, but this one I plan on keeping on my bookshelf!

Other books in the series cover famous Christians such as Isaac Newton, J.R.R. Tolkien and Winston Churchill.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Wii Fit Plus

First - I would like to say that I have Hubby's permission to write the following blog post.  He is comfortable with me discussing his weight issues and how we (as a family) are working together to become healthier.

Many of our family and friends know that Hubby has struggled with his weight for quite a while (as in: since he was 13).  Right before our wedding, he had lost lots of weight.  Then, in 2008, we purchased the Wii Fit which really helped.  He was focused on doing it almost every day and saw major results.  Up until GO was born, when he began to taper off his workouts.

Then, around May, the project team he is on at work went into high gear and he stopped working out.  It's been a battle since then.  He gained a little over 20 pounds in 5 months. 

Right after Thanksgiving, Hubby and I were with the Caterpillars in Target and saw the Wii Fit Plus.  For only $20 we upgraded our Wii Fit game to Wii Fit Plus.

Now, you can search the internet for reviews and game specifics.  All I can tell you is this.  Hubby has continued to watch his food intake and also been doing the Wii Fit Plus 4-5 times a week for the last 2 and a half weeks.  Already he's lost almost 7 pounds.  His goal was to lose 5 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, now there is a very real possibility he's going to double that!  His highest weight since we got married was over 220 pounds and he's now down below 210!

I am super proud of Hubby's commitment to his health.  Plus, he feels so motivated that he has taken the Half Marathon plunge and will be running the ING Half Marathon in March!  So, if you own the Wii Fit, I highly recommend upgrading to the Wii Fit Plus.

The Skateboarding is my favorite - and it really works my abs!

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Virtual House Party!

A few weeks ago I was selected as one of 1,250 people in America to host a Kodak Gallery House Party.  This exciting event will take place tomorrow night, where my guests will enjoy delicious food (THANKS COOKIE!), check out the nifty Kodak Gallery photo stuff that I have and then leave with 40% off coupons of their own.

BUT - lots of people can't join us tomorrow, so I thought I would have a virtual party on my blog.  If you've like what you see, leave me a comment and I'll send you the guest prize (a 40% off coupon code) - good after the "live" version of the party.

First - the Kodak Gallery site.  This is where you upload pictures.  Kodak Gallery holds onto your pictures, though they do have a minimum per year (rolling 12 months) that you have to purchase.  Personally - I have TONS of photos uploaded there and the $19.99 every 12 months is very easy for me to meet.  That is the higher threshold, if you have a smaller number of photos "stored" on the site, it's only $4.99 every 12 months.

I have personally used the Site for many gifts.  I absolutely love the photo books, even if the "new" version of the site took a little getting use to.  In the past, I've made photo books of all our vacations.  B10 and CW still pull out "their" books and read them.

I made an absolutely beautiful photo book of GO's birth.  I love the fact that I was able to use lots of text to tell the story (on special text pages) and lots of photos.  I am not a huge fan of "baby" books, the pastels and such just aren't my thing.  Being able to make a black photos book, with beautiful black and white swirls personalized GO's birth book for me.

I also use the site to print out photos for Christmas Cards and other cards during the year.  I have been trying to send out photos of the Caterpillars at least twice a year (if not more often).  To save money, I buy Christmas Cards in January.  Now, this may seem crazy, but it means that I can already have my Christmas Cards addressed and signed by October.  Then, I just take my family photo in October (the leaves have changed by that time, so it's a pretty Fall photo - and since it doesn't really snow here in Georgia - that works for Christmas).  Hubby and I pick our favorites and upload them to print at less than $0.10 per photo.

Basically, I spend less than $6.00 to send photos to all our friends and family - the grandparents and other relatives LOVE that.  Plus, I get everything in the mail by Thanksgiving and I seem on top of things!  (What a great feeling during the holidays!)

I've also made photo mugs - they've turned out well, BUT you need to use the right photo.  I recommend lighter photos rather than darker ones.  Also, the higher quality photo the higher quality end-product.  Most (while not all) of the complaints I have heard about from the site have been either user-error or poor quality photos to begin with...  Kodak is great, but they aren't magicians!

For my family, who's invested in a very nice camera, this is a great alternative to having professional photos taken.  Being homeschooled, we don't have anyone taking school photos twice a year, so this is a great alternative (and much cheaper!).

Before this "fancy" camera, though, I had two point and shoot basic digital cameras.  And I was still able to get great photos printed with them.  I even have a few black and white photos that are 8x10 hanging in my hallway - when I took B10 to Gatlinburg he took my camera and snapped a few shots.  They turned out to be beautiful nature photos (from The Great Smokey Mountains National Park).  For less than $10 I have 3 framed photos that most people think are professionally done (or at least not done by a 7 year old!).

So, thank you for joining my "party".  Browse the website and feel free to ask me any questions.  If you leave a comment saying you attended - expect the coupon code in your inbox!

Sorry I couldn't also send the chocolate covered strawberries!  :D

~Lone Butterfly  )i(

Tyson Chicken

Okay, rarely do I use my blog to promote a product - however I feel very strongly about the social responsibility shown by Tyson Chicken this past week.

For those of you who watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on ABC, I'm sure you know exactly what I am talking about (Episode 176 - "King Family"). For those of you who don't, I'll recap quickly.

This season, the show has been redoing homes for "heroes", that term being applied in many different ways. I've seen shows with soldiers returning from overseas, one that featured a family who lost the father and oldest son (the son died trying to save the father from drowning - after saving his youngest sister) and various other "heroes".

This week's hero was a family who runs a daycare for needy families. They live below the poverty line, because they give so much back to the families they serve. They keep the children until late at night if necessary and feed the kids lunch (and dinner and breakfast), not to mention running a clothes closet for the families.

Early in the episode Tyson Chicken announced that they were giving the family free food for a year AND giving the daycare free food for a year. That alone impressed me, especially in these economic times. At the end of the show, however, came the kicker - Ty (the host) announced that not only was Tyson doing that - but they were ALSO giving EVERY FAMILY who had children at the daycare free food FOR A YEAR.

We are talking about 15-20 families, from what I could roughly count.

Now, I know that this was a business decision - and very likely came out of a marketing budget. But I tell you what, I'm much more likely to pay $.50-$1.00 more for Tyson chicken (over the other brand), because they did this - no commercial would have ever convinced me to do that.

So, when you're standing in the frozen food aisle or in the meat section and trying to decide what to purchase, I encourage you to buy Tyson's products. I've decided to only purchase Tyson's for the months of February-July, six months of loyalty (and likely more), even if it costs me a bit.

To begin with - yes, the chicken served during Thinking Day - all Tyson's!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Cutest Shoes EVAH -

- which sadly do not belong to me.

My mum (who wears the same size shoe as I do) went to visit HER mum in a far away state. While there, she found something at that Target that we do not sell here.

~

I know, because I've looked.

Do you see the adorableness of these shoes? The perfect little flowers? The tiny little red ladybugs? Now, imagine a perfect Banana Republic jean skirt, that flows just to my knees, a slightly off-white 3/4 quarter length sweater, and a bright red tank.

~

I was rockin today at work.

Here is another picture of the shoes, modeled by me.

I suggest you rush out to your nearest Target to find these. And if they have them there - I'm a size 7 and my birthday is in November. ;)

To recap - shoes are adorable. Especially on me. (See my "kickin it back" pose? It's all the shoes.)

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Two Things...

Two "big" things occured on our electronic front this past week.

First was the death of my digital camera. It was a good little camera, coming in at a fine 5 pixels - but I had been hoping to upgrade to a nicer one since last summer. Husband and I had talked about what kind we wanted to get and how quickly we wished to purchase this newer camera. We looked at the after-Thanksgiving Day sales and the Christmas sales and the after-Christmas sales...but never actually bought something.

Then, on Thursday, at CW's 6th Birthday party (right at the beginning, of course), my camera breaks. The on/off button won't turn on or off.

Now, you can do a lot of things when a digital camera has issues, but there's nothing in the world that's going to make one turn on if the on/off switch is broken.

So, I ended up with precious few pictures of my baby's big family birthday party at the really awesome (and brand new) bowling alley, but at least he had a blast.

The second item of importance in our electronic lives was a birth, per say.

We finally got a Wii.

Wii!

A Wii!

Wii got a Wii!

I would post pictures of the family playing (watching), but if you'll recall - we had a death in the electronic family. ;)

Aunt Boo and Uncle Firefighter found the Wii at their Gamestop. They live in a much smaller town, about 30 minutes further out of Atlanta than Husband and I do. We are eternally grateful for the quick-thinking (and grabbing) skills of Firefighter. He protected the Wii with his life, while Boo was calling me (so I could call Husband) to confirm we wanted it.

Um? YES!

Always buy a Wii if you can get your hands on it. Don't believe me? Take a look at what you can sell the thing for on eBay if you have the receipt and an unopen package. I am SO glad we payed retail.

We only purchased the boys one extra game - Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

I was very surprised at the E+10 rating (ie: For everyone ages 10 and over). I would hardly call this a violent game, or in any way inappropriate for my 6 and 8 year old sons. In fact, I think it's rather adorable, when you "kill" another character they simply break apart - because they're all LEGOS! And there's virtually NO sexual connotations at all. Princess Leia in her "Jaba the Hut" outfit? Sure - it's painted on the flat square LEGO block. There's no cleavage to be found, no inappropriate shaking of various backsides - it's all LEGOS!

All in all - this has quickly become a family favorite to play.

After we take our daily fitness test, of course. Which is awesome. Everyone has their own Mii, that looks like them. Then we can daily (and only once a day) take a fitness test. If we have time, we can use the Wii to train. (As a side note - the boxing leaves you SORE the next day - you're throwing punches hard!) And there's something for everyone. CW is the reigning bowling champ - on one of the games he scored 3 strikes in a row!

I have to give Nintendo credit for taking the video game to a new level of family fun. It's truly something that we can now do together, and we aren't sitting around like lumps on a log. (Poor Husband, who does most of the Lego Star Wars playing, has to stand the whole time so he can dodge and swing his lightsaber!)

So, there you have it - the Circle of Life complete in one weekend.

Now, I'm off to play some Tennis with my sons - on the Wii.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Let's just cut to the chase...

I could tell you lots of reasons why "Shooter" is an incredible movie, but in an effort to actually do real work today - I'll try to narrow it down to the Top Ten Things I Love.

1) Mark Wahlberg is hot - don't even try to deny it - you KNOW you loved Marky-Mark.

2) Kate Mara has good hair. I want her hair. I am coveting the hair. She's also the reason I am moving "We Are Marshalls" to the top of my Netflix list.

3) The script is awesome. The screenplay is based on the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter, who I will be researching further. I could seriously love this author. Great movies like this have to come from great books.

4) Three words: "Old Shooting Expert". When you take my advice and see the film, you'll know exactly who I am talking about (assuming you can keep from falling onto the floor, because you are laughing so hard).

5) Kentucky girls who do not sit around and wait to be saved. (Plus, they have good hair).

6) I saw it twice - the last movie I saw more than once involved a school called Hogwarts and a boy named Harry. I don't pay good money to see a movie more than once in the movie theatres.

7) Go to the official website and click on the Gallery page. (Everyone in this movie is fantastic.)

8) Imagine Mark Wahlberg (henceforth known as Bob Lee Swagger) - with him walking slowly - and things exploding in the background. THINGS EXPLODE, PEOPLE! THINGS EXPLODE! Not only do THINGS explode - but this is a SNIPER MOVIE... PEOPLE EXPLODE! (Oh my sweet dear baby Caterpillars, I do so love me some exploding people.)

9) This bears repeating - things blow UP! People get SHOT! This man is a highly trained SNIPER! I love military movies. I love movies with guns. I love movies with a plot. I love patrotic movies. This has all four!

10) Refer back to Reason Number One. Enough said.

~Lone Butterfly (who is currently watching the trailers on the website.)

Eragon and Eldest

So, part of me feels like if I'm going to make an effort to read books this year, then I should be writing some sort of book report afterwards. Like back in school where you would answer questions (or perhaps I should find my extra shoeboxes and make a diorama).

The two books I just finished reading are Eragon and Eldest, the first two books in the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini. The story of the author is almost as fascinating as the books. He was a homeschooled kid who graduated from High School at 15 and began writing. He's currently only 23 years old, and finishing up the final book in the trilogy. (We also share the same birthday - WOOHOO for November babies!)

I enjoyed Eragon and Eldest because they embraced the fantasy world I enjoy, especially dragons. I found it interesting on another level, because you can almost see the religious issues that Christopher is dealing with in real life shown in the religious issues that Eragon (and the dwarves and the elves) deal with.

On a scale of one to ten, I give these two books an eight - and I would feel comfortable reading them aloud to B10. It has no "bad" language, very little "sex" (it's mostly immature feelings of love and how they are communicated between the characters), but does involve much death. This doesn't bother me, as the death and bloodshed are not graphic, and the characters deal with it (usually painfully). It's not glossed over. I can appreciate the author asking the reader to deal with the emotional turmoil along with Eragon and his cousin. Overall a great read.

Links to the official websites of the books: Eragon and Eldest