Books Worth Reading.. Sometimes More than Once!

Some of my faves....

1. The Martian
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. Fairest
4. Winter
5.  I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced, Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui, New York, 2010 (ISBN 978-0307589675)
6.  Juliet. Anne Fortier.
7. Catcher in the Rye (again).
8.  Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
9. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
10. The Secret (again)
11. The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd: Eighth Grade Bites  by Heather Brewer
12. The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd: Ninth Grade Slays by Heather Brewer
13.  Hiroshima by John Hersey
14. Married Lovers by Jackie Collins
15. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod 11th Grade Burns by Heather Brewer
16.  Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse
17.  Heaven is Real by Todd Burpo 
18.  Ask Your Guides: Connecting to Your Divine Support System by Sonia Choquette (Jun 1, 2007)
19.  The Power
20. 365 Ways to Live the Law of Attraction: Harness the power of positive thinking every day of the year 
21.  Thirst by Ava Delaney
22.  The Meditation Experience
23.  Charlane Harris's Dead  in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse)
24.  Forever by Maggie Steifvater
25. City of Ashes
26. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod 12th Grade by Heather Brewer
27. Grapes of Wrath
28. Nothing to Envy  Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
29. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
30. Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
31. Fifty Shades Freed by EL James
32. Hunger Games 
33. Mockingjay
34. American Sniper
35. Bared to You
36. Catching Fire
37. Fallen Angels
38. No Apology by Mitt Romney
39. The Midnight Garden
40. Sold
41. Gabriel's Inferno
42. Gabriel's Rapture 
43. Divergent
44. Allegient
45. Insurgent
46. World War Z
47. All 7 of the Shadow Children books by Margaret Peterson Haddix
48. The Magician's Nephew
49. Lion, Witch and Wardrobe
50. The Boy and His Horse
51.  Number the Stars
52. The Maze Runner
53. The Scorch Trials
54. Cinder
55. Scarlet
56. Cress
57. The Fault in Our Stars
58. If I Stay
59. Gone 
60. The Hunger
61. If I Stay
62. Where She went
63. Johnny Tremain
64. Sophia's War
65. The 21 Balloons
66. Island of the Blue Dolphins
67. 1776
68. American Sniper
69.  Fairest
70. Legend
71. Unwind
72. The Testing
73. Graduation Day
74. Prodigy
75. Champion

Being Grateful

Things I am Grateful For....

• My son and my daughter
• My family
• My pets
• having felt unconditional love
• a rewarding career
• the smell of rain
• The quiet and stillness of the Midnight Hour
•  Having been in love more than once in my life
• The Ocean
• Having been able to touch a dolphin and look in its eyes
• Seeing a humpback whale feeding in the wild
• wishing on shooting stars
• Watching my son's eyes light up after a Karate win
• Seeing my son's eyes light up when he discovers something new in the world
• hearing my son laugh when he thinks I am not listening
•  having a dog to snuggle up with
• sunlight on my face when I am down
• standing my ground
• being able to stand on my two feet
• speaking my mind when I have to
• for knowing my grandma and being her "pink and gold angel"
• for being so close to my mom
• for having two children whom I adore
• making snow angels in a foot of snow
• wishing on a shooting star
•  my mom teaching me how to cook
•  the smell of turkey in the oven
• eating crepes in Quebec
• seeing Hiroshima
• listening to my great grandma talk about how things were when she was a young girl
• for getting published in my college newspaper more than once
• friends - some I have known my entire life and we are still friends
• hot showers
• Santa Clause
• knowing there is more to life than what we can see
• meditating on the red rocks in Sedona
• having seen the Twin towers pre-9/11
• finding my grandma's family and piecing together the genealogy
• my education
• puppy kisses
• having put the bad memories of the past in the past and live with the great memories
• knowing when to forgive and when to just forget and move on
• cold beer with pizza
• listening to my son sing or do karate in the shower or in his room
• kitty purrs
• flowers
• my mom's uncontrollable laughing
•  the smell of an old book
• classic music
• Sinatra
• diet coke even though it is bad for me
• creativity
• for being able to name my baby girl after my Grandma Grace
• for having known and loved both sets of my grandparents and for having step-grandparents that were not "steps"
• the smell of a clean baby after a bath
• baby smiles when I am feeling blue
• the freedom to be able to vote
• french fries and ketchup
• the esp I have with my mom
•  laughing with my son until we have tears running down our faces
• power of prayer
• lost and found love
• being able to talk to friends I haven't seen in ages and feeling like we saw each other yesterday
• for having baggage because it has helped me grow as a person 
• wonderful childhood memories
• Vibram Fivefingers and Injini socks
• flip flops
• chocolate
• being brave enough to try new things
• baby snuggles and sighs
• watching my daughter explore her world
• having a very supportive admin at work and teachers that are so supportive as well
• knowing that a smile can change everything 
•  sushi
• having friends that I have known my entire life
• having new friends
• being able to  keep in touch with members of my ex's family
• gaming with my son
• cupcakes

Goal #21 Glass blowing

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Random Acts of Christmas Kindness....

I recently was surfing the internet and found a wonderful Advent idea of completing a random act of kindness each day for the Christmas season. My son Garrett and I talked about it and decided that this could become a family tradition.  I created these cards (above) we could leave with some of the acts and I thought it would be fun to look back on all the things we did over our 25 days by blogging them.  I am so excited to get started and have already planned several things to kick us off! Stay tuned!

11/23/12 Let the RACK'ing begin!

We decided to start our RACK's early being that this is Thanksgiving week and we have a lot to be thankful for this year.  Our day started out going to Office Max on Black Friday of all days to exchange some printer ink.  We went well after lunch in hopes that there would be no lines and it was a good plan.  The cashier had been on the register for 5 hours already and was still in a very good mood.  Before leaving, I gave him a mini bag of truffles with our Rack'ed label on them. He jumped in the air and said "You have made my entire day! Thank you so much!". He was so excited and was grinning from ear to ear that I got goose bumps.  Tonight I gave the pizza delivery guy the same treat and he was so excited that he exclaimed "Merry Christmas!".  Was nice to see smiles and excitement with just something this small.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

11/24/12 Salvation Army Bell Ringers

Today when I went to Basha's for cat food there were two Salvation Army bell ringers outside (one at each door). Both of them were standing in the sun. Granted it is only 85 today here in AZ but when you are standing in the sun even at 85, it gets hot. Only one of them had a drink but it was almost gone when I looked at it an the other lady at the other door had nothing to drink.  So... today's RACK was buying each of them a bottle of water while I was in the store and giving it to them on my way out. They both looked shocked when I told them it was warm out so I bought them each a bottle water for standing out in the sun collecting money for others. 

11/25/12 My Son

So today's RACK was closer to home because I didn't go far from home today and because my favorite son didn't ask me to get him anything when I did go out. Normally he is a tad spoiled and I get him the simple things he does ask for but I ran to Target for formula and dog food this morning and he didn't ask for anything. On my way back, I decided to pick him up a Sprite and some Cheez It's because they are his favorite. He was excited to see the treats I got for him. Plus I made more fudge this afternoon so he can have some in his lunch box this week.  Love doing the unexpected little things for him that bring him simple joy. Love that kid so much!

11/27/12 My Son...again

This week I went back to work after maternity leave and it has been much harder than anticipated. I have to leave for work before Garrett gets up and my hubby now wakes him up etc and Grampy takes him to school.  It has been hard on all of us this week getting adjusted to the new schedule so I have tried to make my RACK's aimed at him a couple of days this week.  I put a Christmas chocolate bar with an "I love you" note on it in his lunch box today and he said that it made his day. He didn't expect it at all and he said that loved it. 

11/29/12 Coffee Kindness

Today's RACK was a fun one because I hardly ever go to Starbucks anymore and today was the first time I wanted one since before I was pregnant.  I had a $5 gift card in my wallet and decided when I went through the drive through that I would RACK the car behind me.  There was a lady in a larger SUV behind me and when I gave the cashier the gift card with taped to our RACK card all he could do was tell me over and over how "cool" this was and wanted to know what other RACk's we had done so far.  When I pulled out and back around the corner, I saw him giving the lady behind me our RACK card and the gift card.  It was a slow moving morning in our house and I hate the daycare drop off so this RACK was definitely a good way to start off my day. I hope I made her smile and started her day off on the right foot too.

12/1/12 Pedi Time

Today I went to get my feet done and rather than get a mani pedi, I just got the pedi.  Today's RACK was to give the girl that did my fantastic pedicure the tip I would have given her if I had gotten both.  She kept asking me "You sure?".  

12/3/12 Starting the week with a smile

Today's RACK had been planned since we came up with this RACK idea for the holiday season.  I could not wait to hear about it and couldn't keep it a secret. My friend Amy is a teacher like me and she has had a challenging school year. I can relate to that in so many ways.  I knew I just had to do something fun for her as we start the countdown to winter break so... Today's RACK was a surprise delivery of flowers in a smiley mug to start off her week.  She told me tonight that she spent the day trying to figure out who they were from.  That story truly made my day. 

Here is a photo she sent me of the flowers. 

 


12/7/12 McD's Sprite and Garrett's Holiday Shop RACK

This week has been crazy with work and daycare and all that goes along with it so we have done simple things like hold doors open for people or just ask them how their day is and actually listen to the response. Today I did a RACK on my way home and when Garrett got home he said he did one too!  I was excited for him because it was a very generous RACK for a kid.  

My RACK was to pay for the car behind me at McDonald's. The lady ordered 2 sprites.  She was in disbelief when the cashier told her it was paid for. I kept seeing her trying to give the girl a $5 bill and the cashier kept talking to her and pointing to my car. Finally she put the $5 in the car and I could see her smiling. 

Garrett's RACK  involved change left over from shopping at the holiday store at school.  He did his shopping and had $3 left over. He said there was a boy who was in 4th or 5th grade and was short some money for what he wanted to purchase.  Garrett gave the boy his $3 so he could get what he had picked out. I was touched by Garrett's RACK because I know how hard it is as a kid to give up any money that is extra and it is equally just as hard to not buy something for yourself. Garrett is always telling me how he is broke and needs to do chores for some "cash".  Garrett's RACK made me a very proud mom today. 


12/8th - 22nd RACK's

Keeping the blog up to date while working and taking care of 2 kids has been a huge challenge. I also have had to remind myself that spending money on RACK's is NOT necessary so here are some things that I have done over the last couple of weeks that I feel have truly touched people in some way...

• Bought coffee for the car behind me at Starbucks several times, including breakfast once,  stopped and talked to several elderly women in the grocery store while shopping (these had to be some of the BEST RACK's because I had Gracie with me and I could tell that each lady was lonely in some way and wanted to talk), held doors open in busy stores for people, stopped to talk to random kids after school just to see how their day was and to tell them I could tell they learned today because they looked so smart and happy, bought a pack of cigarette's for a man whose card kept getting declined (no I don't support smoking but there was something about the guy that I just felt compelled to help out.. specially since the cashier gave him an attitude for his card getting declined - I know how sucky it is when that happens), sent a ton of candy canes and chocolates to school with Garrett to pass out to his class and anyone else he could give them to.. I know there were others but those are at the top of my head. I also have a stack of maternity clothes that are just about brand new that I need to donate this week. 

The best things I think I did over the course of the past couple of weeks was to stop and listen when I asked how someone was or to start a conversation with a stranger in a store and then wish them a Merry Christmas afterwards. I enjoyed talking to the people I took time to talk to and it was nice to smile at a stranger and share something in common. 

 

 

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