Just More Books

Good thing I have books to blog about now, because I'm having serious blogger block trying to come up with something else meaningful to write. Maybe I've been reading too much to think of blogging content. Since I last wrote about books, I've finished Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back (very interesting) and Wrangler in Petticoats (a fun, 1800's, western romance) and now I'm reading Doctor in Petticoats. Doctor in Petticoats takes place before Wrangler in Petticoats. I'm quite annoyed that I read them out of order! Completely ruins the suspense.

Let me tell you about another fabulous children's book I received for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review since I'm guessing you really don't care what I've been reading.


When I saw the option for another "polar bear" book to review I didn't think twice about it. God Gave Us So Much is another keeper. If your kids like any other book in this series, then this would be the book to get, since it's three in one - God Gave Us Love, God Gave Us Heaven, and God Gave Us the World. Each one is basically a curious little polar bear asking fitting questions about the topics of our world, heaven and love. The adult polar bears give very appropriate answers for a preschooler's level of understanding. You can tell the author put in excellent thought into each book and they teach kids a wide variety of great concepts. In God Gave Us Heaven they even have the bridge illustration fit in very naturally. Elliana loves having any of these books read to her. I think we'll have to check out God Gave Us You and God Gave Us Two sometime soon!

Grandma Robertson

Please deal with me while I mourn a minute. This fine lady passed away yesterday. She hasn't been my grandma for long, but I still teared up when I heard that news. (Side note: Wyatt looked at me and said, "Uh oh!" I guess he's already afraid of crying women.) Seriously, if I have to live to be over 90 years old, I hope I can do it with as much grace and dignity as Grandma Robertson. She always looked beautiful, and I don't think I ever heard her complain. She was always giving and was always ready with a cup of coffee. In our house she will easily be remembered by all the blankets, quilts and plastic spoon roses she gave us.

Now that she's gone I wish I would've asked her more about her life on the farm, life before dishwashers and the term "fat free", life during all the eras I didn't live through, and more about what she remembers of Bradley as a little boy. I wish I would've written her more letters and sent her more pictures. Death is good for making a person remember what's important.

My dad always makes "grandma cookies" on his grandma's birthday. I've decided I should do the same for my grandparents, making something I remember them making. For Grandma Robertson we decided that means making peanut butter cookies with fork marks on the top.

$2 billion made. $300 million saved.

We got to be a part of a wonderful wedding this weekend, so I actually took time to iron my clothes for the wedding. As I was trying to plug in the iron I grumbled to Brad about the new outlet he had put in for us to try. I have given up using it when I plug in the vacuum, so I don’t know why I even tried it with the iron. Brad plugged the iron in and informed me that this great new tamper proof outlet is what all new homes are going to have now because the national electrical board voted to change the code. Considering I haven’t been able to plug anything into the great new outlet without Brad’s help, I certainly don’t feel inclined to want a new home right now.

This led to an informative discussion in which I learned some things I will now rant about.

This little code change will cost around $1 more per outlet plus a lot of annoyance at trying to get things plugged in. I guess it will protect your child if they stick a paper clip in one side of the outlet, but they make little plastic covers for that or you can just keep your eye on your child.
Now if you don’t care about tamper proof outlets, you might care about this new code. If an electrician goes into a home and touches a circuit, they now have to put in an arc-fault breaker. So let’s say you want a new outlet in your bedroom. Instead of that costing you around $60 (if you used Robertson Electric) it would now cost you $120 if your house was compatible with the breakers or up to $200 or more if it wasn’t. That’s just one outlet.

As for new construction, a new home could have anywhere from 8 to 20 breakers. The breakers you formerly were able to use cost $4. The arc-fault breaker costs a minimum of $30. You do the math on that one.

This is what’s really intriguing on this topic. The manufacturers, who sat on the board that voted for this, will generate over $2 billion in revenue annually. The amount of property damage that this will prevent across the nation is only $300 million. Over $2 billion made. $300 million saved. Hmmmmm.

So I wondered, who makes up this National Electric Code? Well, I went and did some very deep research  to Wikipedia. It didn't really answer my question, but it did tell me this.

"The National Electrical Code (NEC), or NFPA 70, is a United States standard for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment. It is part of the National Fire Codes series published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). "National Electrical Code" and "NEC" are registered trademarks of the NFPA. While the NEC is not itself a U.S. law, NEC use is commonly mandated by state or local law, as well as in many jurisdictions outside of the United States."

Does that mean we could change these annoying codes if we storm the gates of the Nebraska legislature and beg for reform? Maybe I need to become a lobbyist.

This is going to make my fabulous electrician look like he’s trying to make a lot more money, but he’s really just doing what he has to do. In reality, it makes you think it could cause him to make less money because who wants to pay $200 for a new outlet?

Show Me What I've Got

In light of the recent post on Elliana Zea & Co. I suppose this video is fitting...

Good Reads

Once I start a good book, it becomes less of a problem for me to create time to read. When I started my new book by Francine Rivers  it made it real easy to keep my resolution of reading one night a week.  Now I need to get started on the second book in the series  so I can continue keeping my resolution.

After I get done with that one, I might start Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back. Brad just finished it in short order. The boy it's about is from Imperial, NE, which is very close to where we lived last year. My mother-in-law and Brad both said it's an easy read. 

Now for the latest book I got free for reviewing purposes...

God Gave Us the World is a keeper! I had never read any of the other books in this "series," (God Gave Us Love (God Gave Us...), God Gave Us You, etc.) but I would be very interested in checking them out now. I sort of felt it was fitting that we were reading this book around Martin Luther King Day Jr. Day because it talks about how God made bears all different but that they're all special. That's just one of the great points it teaches kids. It would also be fitting to read on Earth Day because it talks some about why we should take care of the world. I love how it explains God has creative and BIG and of course that it tells that He made our world. It's certainly not as long as Horton Hears a Who but it's not a two minute read either. The entire book is a conversation between the mother and daughter polar bears, so I feel like I need to create distinct voices for each when I'm reading in order to help the little people know who is talking when. That's definitely not my specialty!

In case you didn't already know, I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Show Up Big Time

This week I've been asking God to show up big time for us, for our friends, for Joanne. I want to see Him do something miraculous. I'm sort of tired of waiting for all of our dreams to come true. A summary of the conversation in my head has been something like this:

Me: God, would you please show up big for us? I feel like I need to see you do something miraculous.

God: Don't you think I show up big for you everyday? Remember what big things I've done for you in the past?

Me: True. This flower on my counter that's about ready to bloom is pretty amazing, You protect us and provide abundantly for us, and have given us two amazing children... I just want to see something really big. I want our problems solved!

God: Well, If I always did what you wanted right away, then that wouldn't strengthen your faith and you would be in charge instead of me.

Me: So true. Thanks for showing up in big and small ways everyday. I'm still going to keep asking you to do the miraculous! Then I'd have something exciting to blog about.

God: I will do the miraculous, you just keep your eyes open, keep asking and keep trusting.


 

Envelopes

What a good week for me! Sorry to those of you having a cruddy week. Your week(s) will come soon hopefully.

Thanks to the snow, it looks like I get to only work 1 day this week instead of 3. Even though I like my job,  this is a great thing! What's even better about that is I had picked to not work today when the school year started, but last week I asked to switch this day with another day next month when our sitter is not available. That switch is working out splendidly!

Speaking of working out, I registered for the Lincoln half marathon this week. That makes for a great week, since I love a good reason to excercise. Anyone else out there going to go for the half this year?

Another reason why it's a good week - I'm getting such a kick out of making envelopes out of my old calendars. It doesn't take much around here. When I saw the link on moneysavingmom.com on how to make envelopes out of your old calendars, I set to work right away on my 2010 Mary Engelbreit calendar and squeeled outloud when I finished with each one. This is my type of craft.

I'm sure many of you more talented craft types could do much better, but I'm completely fine with my results. This one turned out perfectly.

So today I went in search of all the other old calendars that I didn't have the heart to throw away. I first started saving them because I dreamed of having a Mary Engelbreit room someday where I would frame my favorite calendar pictures and line the walls with them. Even after I figured that would never happen, I still couldn't throw them away and felt annoyed at my pack rat self. Until today! I found all my old calendars. Will you think I'm nuts if I tell you I have at least 8 of them?

See that calendar from 1996?! Ha! I can't wait to make it into envelopes!

If you decide to make envelopes using the directions of the link above, I found that it works best to fold the bottom corner up first a little past center then fold the sides in and have them meet at the center. That way you don't end up with a square envelope and needing to pay more for postage. You also need to know these required dimensions if you don't want to pay more for postage. May this lighten up your week, like it's lightened up mine!