Author Archives: Karin

Sep 25 2008

A great book

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the-13th-realityI just finished probably one of the best books I’ve read all year (and I’ve read a lot). It’s called “The 13th Reality, the Journal of Curious Letters” by James Dashner.  My friend Jennifer recommended this book to me.  It really kept my interest up.  The main character finds that he starts to receive these curious letters.  In these letters he has to solve some riddles and in the mean time strange and scary things happen.  I can’t wait until the next one comes out.  I think I will purchase it for our own personal library.  I’m sure that when my boys are old enough they will like it.  I even think Sophia might like it because there is a girl named Sofia in it.

navigatorI also read this book.  “The Navigator” By Eoin McNamee.  This was also a good book.  If the first rated 5 stars this one would rate 4 1/2 stars.  A bad force is making time go backwards and the main character is the only one who can stop it.  The author makes it really easy to imagine everthing that is going on.  This is another one for my Library for my boys.  Both of the books I read in less than a week and both of them I couldn’t put down.  You can tell by the fact that my house is a mess right now.  Tomorrow I think I have some house work to catch up on.

Sep 17 2008

Karin’s Rantings

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This section is just a place for me to ask questions.  Get things off my chest.  And just rant.  I don’t expect anyone to reply or for there to be any sort of solution.  But any comments are welcome.

Who Am I?

The age old question Who Am I?  I thought maybe I knew me but somewhere along the way I’ve lost the me in me.  If that makes sense.  Who knows when it happened maybe when I got married or after the first child. Doesn’t matter when it did all that matters is that it did.   If you ask me my favorite color I couldn’t answer.  I know what it used to be.  Ask me what I like to do.  I usually say sew or scrap book.  I really don’t enjoy doing those things it’s just something I do because I feel there is a need for it.  I used to love to ski, play tennis, sing, or hang out with my friends.  After kids those seem to go to the wayside.

So how do you reclaim the me in me?  I’ve read in parenting magazines that you are supposed to set aside some alone time.  Alone what?  When is that supposed to happen at 5:30 in the morning before my kids are awake and I’m a zombie, or maybe after the kids go to sleep and I’m exhausted.  Or do I count the brief half hour I get to run to the store without my kids while my husband takes a turn.

How is it that I have forgotten who I am but my husband keeps discovering who he is?  Since we have gotten married he has discovered that he likes to cook, hike, garden, and fish.  Which of course he always seems to find time for.

Even if I was able to find time for something, what would it be?  If I don’t know who I am how do I know what I would like to do with my alone time?  Also to do some things it cost money.  Where is that supposed to come from.  I know we don’t have a tree out back just waiting for me to unload all it’s gold.  We are still trying to pay off student loans.  We can’t afford a membership to a gym, club, or choir or something else I may or may not enjoy.  So for the moment I’m stuck trying to figure out where I went and how I should be found.

Sep 17 2008

Tis the Season for Canning

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Yes, it is that time of year again.  It’s the time when all your food storage shelves are full of empty jars and the storage room is covered in boxes of fruit and veggies.  So you start to clean and sterilize, peal and chop, blanch and boil, and stuff and seal.  It’s a lot of hard work but well worth it when you see your shelves full again not with empty jars this time but full.  The last few weeks Corey and I have been busy canning peaches, tomatoes, and pears.  We have also froze corn and jam.  In a few weeks we will probably have potatoes and apples.

We really lucked out this year on corn.  A friend of ours told us about a stake that had a corn field that needed to be picked or it would all go to waste.  So anyone who wanted some corn could go and pick.  She gave us directions and we put Levi down for a nap and got a sitter for him and took Preston and Sophia with us to the field.  For the next half hour we would enter what felt like a jungle and pick ear after ear.  Soon we had a garbage bag full and a couple of boxes too.  We gave 3 dozen ears to our friend who told us of the place and then started counting the rest.  It ended up that we picked 11 dozen ears of corn (including the 3 we gave away).  So we shucked and boiled and cut off the cob and froze 6 dozen.  Then we gave away another 1 1/2 dozen (we kept some for Sunday dinner).  Now our freezer is full of corn.  I wish we had taken some pictures but we need to get in the habit of bringing the camera with us.

Sep 16 2008

Septimus Heap Series

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magyk1I just finished the Septimus Heap series by  Angie Sage.  Or what is finished of the  series.  So far there are 4 books.  They go in this order: Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste.  If you like magic and wizards I think you will enjoy this series.  It reminds me a lot of the Harry Potter books.  I like to read books that have been written for a younger audience.  Then you can avoid any language or innuendos that you aren’t looking for.  This series has wizards, a castle, a princess, dragons and all sorts of other creatures.  You have of course two sides Light (good) & dark (bad).  There are two main characters Princess Jenna and Septimus Heap.  There are also a lot of other Characters but for the most part the stories are based around these two characters.  I don’t want to tell you too much about the books because I don’t want to ruin them for you.

Aug 26 2008

Preston’s first day of first grade

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Going to school

Giving mom a hug

Preston has been very excited to start first grade.  When the day finally came he was all to eager to get out the door.  I had to chase him down so I could get a hug from him.  He had his friend’s mom take him to school and then he rode the bus home.  His teachers name is Mrs. Edgett.  He said that he really likes her and she is funny.  I was more worried about the first day of school than he was.  Everything went off without a hitch until the ride home on the bus.  He was put on the wrong bus.  So he wasn’t at the stop he was supposed to be at.  I had to walk to another bus stop to find him.  He was just standing there waiting for me.  I thought he might be scared and start crying but he didn’t have any trouble.