Bucket List

I saw the blog for Bucket List Publications and started following it immediately.

The places that Lesley has visited are absolutely awesome and she kicks my butt into gear to go out there and make these things happen for myself.

Bucket List Publications’ goal is to “make the bucket list dreams of others come true”. That is absolutely awesome and a great thing to do for others.

I’m checking out their site to see the places visited and see what can be added to my bucket list that I haven’t even thought of that I can truly make a reality.

Actually, that’s exactly what I do – show people how to make their bucket list dreams become their bucket list reality. Whether it’s skydiving, swimming with the dolphins, building a bottle school in a third world country, vacationing in Fiji, or even just being able to throw the alarm clock away and never have to use it again (this is #1 on my bucket list)…all your dreams can actually become a reality. My goal is to share with everyone who is willing to know how simple it is to make this happen for themselves.

I was told that the best thing you can do for yourself is to dream big and then go out there and make it happen. I absolutely love that I can help others make that happen. It brings so much joy to me to see others happy, smiling, enjoying life and having a good time.

 My ever-growing bucket list (most things are places to visit): 
I’ll only list a few.

1. Throw away the alarm clock (more on this in another post)
2. Skydive
3. Swim with dolphins
4. Visit Fiji
5. Visit Tahiti
6. Tour of Italy
7. Tour of China
8. Voluntourism trips
9. Visit Thailand
10. Mediterranean cruise
11. Visit Rome
12. Scuba diving in coral reefs
13. Fantasy Special Ops Adventure
14. Visit Germany
15. Visit Israel
16. Visit Egypt
17. Visit Japan

 Most importantly, take my girls to places that most people only see on TV or read about in books.

 I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes:

 Life is like a book, and those who do not travel only read one page.

 I’m determined to read the WHOLE BOOK. Who wants to join me in the book club of life?

I’d love for you to take the journey with me,
Much love,
Queenie

Doing the Happy Dance

Four of the books I ordered last Friday came in today. I was really shocked to see them waiting for me when I got home. They were actually scheduled to be delivered on Saturday. And then another book that was supposedly shipped out early and was supposed to arrive on Friday hasn’t even arrived yet. I’m hoping the post office didn’t deliver it to the wrong address liked they’ve done so often lately.

Books that just came in

I can’t read the books that I’ve recieved. Now I really need to hurry up and get my school work completed for the semester so that I can get to reading.

I also just found out that I am the recipient of another free book from LibraryThing.com. I love that site. I can keep an online catalog of all my books and I can recieve new books to add to my collection.

I have been chosen to receive a free book in the last three months to review. These are books that haven’t come out yet and the publishers give away free books to get early reviews. These are the ones I’ve won so far through this program:

March 2008 – One in a Million by Kimberla Lawson Roby
September 2009 – A Change Had To Come by Gwynne Forster
October 2009 – Goodness and Mercy by Vanessa David Griggs
November 2009 – Big Girls Do Cry by Carl Weber

Actually, these need to be the first ones I read (whenever I receive them) so that I can go ahead and get the reviews completed and posted to my profile. But I don’t think that would be a problem because I only sign up to recieve the books that I would actually read. I don’t choose books that I know I have no interest in.

Well, that’s enough about books tonight. I just get so excited thinking about reading for pleasure and not having to do it for a class.

Until next time,
Peace and Blessings

A Great Holiday

This turned out to be a great holiday. There were no big problems. No big disagreements. Everyone got along well. It was very peaceful and really stress free. I’m so thankful to God for bringing about so much peace in my life. We spent Thanksgiving Day at my parents house and then at my in-laws. It was a really good time and there was really great food. I hate that I missed seeing 2 of my sisters and 2 nephews and 2 nieces but hopefully I’ll get to see them for Christmas.

Friday we had breakfast and lunch at our house for my in-laws. It went very well. I think everyone had a good time and great food. We watched some movies, laughed and even napped.

Saturday morning was family day. We went to see A Christmas Carol in 3-D. Had never seen a movie in 3-D at a movie theater before and it was a cool experience. I hate that it cost an additional $3 because the movie was 3-D but that was okay. The movie itself was kind of boring and I was dozing off through most of it. I guess once you’ve seen one A Christmas Carol re-make, you’ve seen them all. Will be going with the 3rd-4th-5th graders on Tuesday to see A Christmal Carol at the IRT. I don’t ever remember going to the IRT before but the little one insisted that I chaperone so I’m going. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay awake.

The rest of the day, after the movie, I’ve been working on Calc 2. This is my last chapter and there are 9 sections in this chapter. I’ve only gotten through 4 sections and the 4th section I don’t understand.

I’ve had so much problems getting tutoring for this class. I didn’t realize that getting a distance Math degree would be so difficult. I think if I was doing something else there wouldn’t be such a big problem but it’s kind of hard to teach yourself Math. If I could teach myself Math, I would have done it a long time ago and not paid so much to go to school. I could have tested out of a lot of these courses. I’ll be bugging my instructor next week again trying to get some tutoring done. It’ll have to be over the phone. Although I’d rather for it to be face to face or via web cam, I’ll take it any way I can right about now.

The writing class is going well. I’ve just got to do my short story/1st chapter and then 2 more reading assignments. Actually 1 1/2 reading assignments. I’ve done most of one, just need to do dialogue exercise.

Geometry is difficult but I think that’s only because I don’t know how the instructor wants me to answer the exercises. And when I ask, she gives such vague answers in her email. I really need to talk to her via phone but she’s not letting me know when a good time to call her would be.

Tomorrow, the kids plan on putting up the christmas tree. I ordered some more candles (Ginger Pumpkin, Pepperment Bark, Homemade Cookies, Apple Orchard). Going to have the house smelling real good for this holiday season. I’m so looking forward to now up until Christmas. I’m in a baking mood and want the house smelling good will all kinds of yummys. Not sure yet what all I’ll be making. My brother wants me to make him a pecan pie. I’d love to find a good recipe for chess pie but I guess I’ll settle for buttermilk pie since hubby likes that just as much.

I also ordered myself some books:
Secrets and Lies – Rhonda McKnight
The Ideal Wife – Jacquelin Thomas
Double Crossed – Darrien Lee
A Deep Dark Secret – Kimberla Lawson Roby
Forsaken – Vanessa Miller

I can’t wait to read them. I’m going to try and get them all read during my semester break. It’s supposed to start Dec 15th but they are allowing us a 3-week extension if we need it because of book and financial aid delays at the beginning of this semester. I’d really like to be done by Dec 15th instead of Jan 4th so I’m really going to be shooting for it. I want my 4-weeks in between semesters to recooperate and to enjoy some leisurly reading.

I tried to do NaNoWrimo this year but it didn’t work. I just had too much school work to do that I really couldn’t fit in leisure writing time. But I was able to get 5000 words down this year which is a huge step from last year. Last year I didn’t even log on to the website for the entire month. So mabye next year, I’ll be able to crank out more words. Every semester I get better at handling the work load.

Well, break time is over so I’d better get back to this Calc 2 stuff.

Until next time,
God Bless

Life, Life, Life

I said I was going to try to do better. I actually tried to do a posting yesterday but wordpress wouldn’t come up on my computer. I needed a break yesterday. I had started working on Calculus II at 10:30 am and at 7 pm last night, I was still working on it. There were only 20 questions in the exercise but at the end of the night, there were still 5 that I could not figure out how to solve. I agree with hubby when he says that more than 5 hours is too much to spend on one lesson but we are talking about college level Calculus II.

 I emailed the professor last night and told her that I spent over 16 hours on this one lesson and that I was still having problems and that I needed her help because I have to take the test on Friday. She did respond and gave me the examples in the book to look at for those particular questions. She also gave me her home number to call her in the evenings to discuss the problems. That is SO helpful. I will try to work through the sections again on my own in the next 2 days and then give her a call on Thursday if I’m still having problems.

 I’ve put Geometry on hold until I can get to the library and find some books on theorems and proofs. The thing I hate about my Geometry class, which I’m sure I’ve already said, is that it goes under the assumption that I just got out of high school geometry last semester.

 The writing class is going okay. I have to read Charlotte’s Web for the class and dissect it. Glad that it’s a children’s book and that it doesn’t take long to read it. I’m almost finished with it. The second reading assignment for this class is a really long one. Only someone who doesn’t have a full time job and have a family can complete it in one week. I started it the last week of August and I’m still trying to get it completed. I haven’t even started on the other assignments for this class for week 2.

But I look at it like this, if I work on all classes a little bit and make sure I work on something every day, then I’ll be able to finish on time without any stress at the end because I procrastinated. I want to finish the majority before November because I really want to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. I didn’t do it last year but there was good reason for that. I had a lot of personal stress in my life back then. But this year, things are looking pretty good.

The home search has been put on hold. Need to get some things in order. Also, need to save up for a down payment. Just found out that they don’t do “no money down” loans any more. So we have to come up with at least 3.5% for a down payment. For the size house we’re looking for, that’s at least $10K. So things are going to be tight for us for a while so we can save up but it will be well worth it in the end.

Pudds is doing really well so far in the 4^th grade. She was a little worried about it in the beginning but I think things are turning out good for her. It makes it easier when you already know all the kids in the class and their teacher is excellent. I really like her and her style of teaching.

I’m not quite sure how Pumpkins is doing. It doesn’t seem like they’ve done any school work yet. LOL I’m sure they’ll start next week. They had a middle school leadership camping trip last week and this week they are only in school for 3 days. When you’re barely in school, it makes it difficult to do any class work.

I need to start looking into high school scholarships for her. They are having a high school information session at the end of the month. I also need to look into applying for NCHS. But the only thing with that is that I don’t want to pay for school. That’s the main purpose of us buying another house and moving.

Okay, I need to get back to work. I have a lot to accomplish today. Until next time, and I hope it’s not two weeks later.

Glad for a Break

I’m so glad to be getting a break from school. Although it’s only going to be a 3-week break, I’m happy nonetheless. My plans for these 3 weeks is to sit back and enjoy them. I’m going to do a lot of reading. I started it off by reading Worth a Thousand Words by Stacy Hawkins Adams in one day. I started it this morning and was finished reading it by 5pm today. I’ve already started on my second book during this time off, The Devil is a Lie by Reshonda Tate Billingsley. I am on a roll. There are at least 2 more books I want to read during this time off. The other books that I read will be a matter of pulling something off my shelf or out of the many bags of books that I have.

The other thing I’m going to do in these 3 weeks is get my kids ready for the next school year. It’s going to be an exciting but also a busy school year. They are or will be involved with so many things. There is: volleyball (for both), basketball, girl scouts, church choir rehearsal (for both of them), track (for both of them), CLD classes. And all of this while I’m going to school taking 3 classes the first semester and probably 3 classes the second sememster. I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to get 63 credits done by the spring of 2012. I guess they know something that I don’t know. But we’ll see.

Well, that’s really all I wanted to say today so I guess I’ll be getting off of here until next time.

2009 Book List

Here’s the start of a list of books that I’d like to read in 2009. I do this every year and I do get to some of the books on my list but I never get to all of them. The only time I really have to read now is when I’m not in school. I don’t plan to be taking classes this summer so hopefully I’ll get tons of reading done.

Well, here’s my list. Visit my “Books” page to see which books I’ve read (or listened to) in 2007 & 2008. This list will continue in 2009.

Ex-Terminator – Suzetta Perkins

Dying For Revenge – Eric Jerome Dickey

The Bishop’s Daughter – Tiffany L. Warren

Home Wrecker – Dwayne S. Joseph

The Million Dollar Deception – RM Johnson

Sistah For Sale – Miasha

Never Enough – Miasha

My Husband’s Girlfriend – Cydney Rax

My Son’s Wife – Sheila E. Lipsey

Jezebel – Jacquelin Thomas

Confessions of A Preacher’s Wife – Mikasenoja

Too Little, Too Late – Victoria Christopher Murray

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved – J.D. Mason

By The Grace of God – Keshia Dawn

The Fire Down in My Soul – J.D. Mason

From the Extreme – Renea Collins

Mr. Fix-It – Crystal Hubbard

Up To No Good – Carl Weber

Something On The Inside – T.N. Williams

The List – Sherri L. Lewis

Keeping Misery Company – Michelle Larks

Married To The Badge – Stephanie Johnson

The Someday List – Stacy Hawkins Adams

A Voice Behind Thunder – Carrie Elizabeth Greene

Illusions – Wanda B. Campbell

Little Black Girl Lost – Keith Lee Johnson

Little Black Girl Lost 2 – Keith Lee Johnson

Little Black Girl Lost 3 – Keith Lee Johnson

Little Black Girl Lost 4 – Keith Lee Johnson
We Take This Man – Candace Dow and Daamiah Poole

The Best of Everything – Kimberla Lawson Roby

Talk To Me – Pat Simmons

Married Strangers – Dwan Abrams

Divorcing The Devil – Dwan Abrams

Happily Every Now – Nicole Rouse

Soon and Very Soon – Sherryl Kiser Jackson

The Object of His Protection – Brenda Jackson

Through the Storm

I just finished reading a powerful book about prayer.

 

The book is called Through the Storm by Vanessa Miller. The book is a part of her Rain Series. I don’t want to tell the story because I want everyone to go out and get the book and read it for themselves. However, while reading, you will definitely get the feeling of how powerful prayer really is.

 

The thing I love most about Vanessa’s books is the details that she gives about the angels. Every time I read about one of the angels and how they are fighting our battles for us, a big smile comes across my face.

 

It’s a great joy to have an overwhelming good feeling after reading a book and Vanessa’s Rain Series has definitely done that for me.

I can’t wait to read more from Vanessa.

Free Time

What is free time? Free time to me is not thinking about all the different things that I have to do. Free time is doing something that I love to do.

What I do on my free time is read. I love to read. I haven’t had a chance to read the way I like to read since April. Why? Because of no free time. Now that my semester has ended, I have a week and a half of “free time”. What have I done so far… read. I have read one book already in a little over a 24-hour time period. I’ve started on my second. My goal in this week and a half of free time is to have 3 books read.

I have the 3 books picked out, “Dance Into Destiny” by Sherri L. Lewis, “Through the Storm” by Vanessa Miller, and “Can I Get a Witness?” by ReShonda Tate Billingsley. They are all what you would call Christian Fiction/Urban Christian books.

Pat likes to go fishing when he has “free time.” He hasn’t been fishing in two years. Does that mean he hasn’t had free time in 2 years?

Our lives get so busy with all of our daily chores and responsibilities that we often don’t take time out to do something that will be relaxing to us – do something that we enjoy.

What kind of things do you do during your “free time”? When was the last time you had “free time”? When will you have your next “free time”?

Until my next “free time”,
God Bless

Worth the Wait?

I have been reading a book for 3 months now. Well, trying to read the book. It is called “Worth the Wait” by Katherine D. Jones. I’m an avid reader and it never takes me that long to read a book.

I’m about 2/3 the way through the book. The problem is, it’s not very interesting. There’s nothing that catches me and makes me want to hurry up to see what’s going to happen.

Usually when reading a good book, I can’t put it down. I have to force myself at any given time that I’m reading the book to put it down so that I can get other things accomplished – or sleep.

But with this book, I can close it and put it down in the middle of a sentence. It doesn’t even matter to me. I am going to finish the book, eventually. I want to go ahead and get it finished because I have other books that I want to read but I’m making myself read this one before I read another one.

I’m still trying to find out what the purpose of the book is. I have no idea where the author is headed. After waiting 3 months to get to the end of this book I hope it is “Worth the Wait”.

Can I Get a Witness?

My book came today. I didn’t think I’d get it.

ReShonda Tate Billingsley sent me her newest book Can I Get a Witness? and I can’t wait to read it.
ReShonda’s book Let The Church Say Amen? will be in theatres soon.

This will be the first book in the genre that I love to read will be made into a movie. I can’t wait to see it. I’ll have to read the book again just before the movie comes out so I can remember what happened. I’ve read a lot of books since then so I need that update.

I’ll post again after I’ve read the book and give a review.

God Bless