Book Review: The Prince Who Was Just Himself

I was invited by Handlebar Marketing to review this book.  I received the book for free in exchange for my honest review.

The Royal Family are excited to be expecting a third child.  Upon the new little prince's birth, they notice that he is a little different from other children, but they love him just the same.  His older brothers are kind to him and he is a happy little fellow.  

Amazon writes, "When the youngest prince disarms the cruel knight Scarface, the nation’s most dreaded enemy, with an act of compassion, everyone finally realizes how good it is that each person is unique."

My daughter and I enjoyed reading this book.  The illustrations are cute and have enough details for my daughter to be interested in viewing the pictures.  The story prompted some great dialogue about how people who are different from us have good qualities and how we should be kind to others no matter if they are different.

My daughter enjoyed the book, but in some ways, it may have been a little young for her (she's 5-1/2).  I really don't think she will be asking me to read it to her again.  I will suggest it to her in a couple of weeks to see what her response is.

15 Goals in 2015 - Update

Click here to read the 15 Goals in 2015 introductory post.

We just got back from going out of town to visit with my husband's family.  We had a nice time, and Gracie loved playing with her cousins.  Since we were out of town for several days, I did not get very much accomplished.  That's ok, because I know that I need to be somewhat flexible and it is, after all, only the beginning of the year.

Here are some things that I have accomplished during this short week:

3.  To declutter and organize the house, garage, and shed.

     a.  Declutter 365 (Facebook Group, Webpage for January)

I have completed the first three days of this challenge.  Granted, I already had them set up, but I'm still going to count it.  I've also read the Facebook Group posts and have gleaned ideas from the many comments.

5.  To improve my photography taking and editing skills.

      a.  Project 365 (My facebook group)

   

So far, I'm doing well with taking and posting a photo a day.  I posted iPhone photos, but did take photos with my "big camera" but am not able to post them while out of town.

7.  To read 15 mentally-stimulating books (i.e. not fiction) (and blog about them).

     

I reviewed my Goodreads "want to read" bookshelf and also stalked my friend Valerie's bookshelves on Goodreads to get ideas for more books to add to my list.

In addition to the above, I want to read:

     a.  Free to Choose by Milton Friedman

     b.  John Adams by Dave McCullough (I may change to a different book by him.)

     c.  41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush

     d.  Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

     e.  Pioneer Girl:  The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder

     f.  A Little House Traveler:  Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Journeys Across America by Laura Ingalls Wilder

    g.  Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson

    h.  Laughs, Luck...and Lucy:  How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time by Jess Oppenheimer

     i.  Life Skills for Kids:  Equipping Your Child for the Real World by Christine M. Field

     j.   The Lost Colony of Roanoke by Jean Fritz

One of my goals is to lose 15 pounds, but I really need to lose more than that.  I just wanted to name it 15 because of the year.  I weighed myself on the morning of January 1st and recorded it in my app called Happy Scale.  I have not weighed myself since I was out of town, but I will weigh tomorrow morning when I get up.

I definitely did not adhere to my "No sugar, starch or soda" rule, because I knew it would be nigh impossible.  In face, I rather enjoyed eating whatever I wanted.  Thursday night, we had shredded BBQ beef, black-eyed peas, Amish macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and 7-layer salad.  Friday morning, we had carb overload for breakfast (cinnamon rolls, donuts) and snacked in the middle of the day (including a delicious pineapple-cream cheese cheeseball with Ritz crackers).  For supper, we ate at a restaurant called D'arcy's Pint which is supposed to be like an Irish pub.  I had an Irish boxty for the first time which was absolutely delicious.  I also had a ponyshoe which is Texas Toast covered with meat and french fries and cheese sauce.  The boxty was the best, hands-down.  This morning, we didn't have breakfast.  I thought we were supposed to have a breakfast casserole either yesterday or today, but that did not materialize.  We did have delicious lasagna, 7-layer-salad, black-eyed peas, and garlic bread for lunch.  We were on the road after that and stopped at Lambert's for supper.  I had catfish, green beans, peaches, fried okra, fried potatoes and onions, black-eyed peas, and, of course, a roll.  The main reason why I love that place is for the fried potatoes and onions, but all of their food is good country cooking.

I hope to talk about more accomplishments next week!  Thanks for reading!

15 Goals in 2015

Happy New Year!

A friend of mine (Susan of ByGrace) posted recently about 15 goals to complete before 2015.  I liked the idea, but I knew it would be impossible for me to complete what with all the Christmas prep, illnesses, and everything else going on.  However, I then thought that it would be fun to come up with 15 goals to complete next year.

Here is a list of my goals.  I brainstormed the other day and then finally honed them into a list this morning.  Granted, it's a little more involved than a simple list, but

1.  To read the Bible consistently and all the way through.

2.  To participate in a personal Bible study.

3.  To declutter and organize the house, garage, and shed.

     a.  Declutter 365 (Facebook Group, Webpage for January)

4.  To increase opportunities to grow my photo business.

     a.  3 new clients

     b.  Prints to sell for home decorating and postcards

     c.  Garage studio

     d.  Themed mini sessions

5.  To improve my photography taking and editing skills.

      a.  Project 365 (My facebook group)

      b.  Shoot in manual mode more often.

      c.  Go through book tutorials (Digital Photography Masterclass)

      d.  Study photography tutorials on Pinterest.

      e.  Edit using Lightroom.

6.  To complete 15 crafts or projects (and blog about them).

      1.  Two to three photo books.

      2.  A dress for Gracie

      3-15.  To be determined.

7.  To read 15 mentally-stimulating books (i.e. not fiction) (and blog about them).

      a.  Free to Choose by Milton Freidman

      b.  A book by David McCullough

      c.  41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush

      d.  Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

      e.  Pioneer Girl:  The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder

      f.   A Little House Traveler:  Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Journeys Across America by Laura Ingalls Wilder

      g.  Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson

      h.  Laughs, Luck...and Lucy:  How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time by Jess Oppenheimer

      i.   Life Skills for Kids:  Equipping Your Child for the Real World by Christine M. Field

      j.   The Lost Colony of Roanoke by Jean Fritz

      k.  To be determined (please comment with suggestions)

8.  To begin reading all of the Caldecott Medal books in order.

     Next year, we may read the honor books, and when Gracie is older, we will read all of the Newberry Medal books.

9.  To lose 15 pounds.

     a.  No sugar, starch, or soda. (When I say "no," I mean heavily restrict.)

     b.  Drink more water.

     c.  Begin exercise program. (Kettle Worx, Jillian Michaels, walking)

10.  To provide 15 social interactions with Gracie's and my friends.

       a.  Play dates

       b.  Game parties

       c.  Craft parties

       d.  Gracie's birthday party

11. To increase opportunities to serve others.

       a.  Help Mama declutter and with large projects.

       b.  Write notes.

       c.  Visit shut-ins.

       d.  Operation Christmas Child

12.  To complete K4 and begin K5 (Abeka Homeschool).

13.  To increase opportunities for Gracie's extra-curricular activities.

        a.  Swimming lessons in the summer

        b.  Violin lessons (maybe this spring, but possibly beginning in the fall)

        c.  American Heritage Girls in February

        d.  Soccer in spring and/or fall

14.  To prepare for unexpected events. 

       a.  House inventory

       b.  Will

       c.  Emergency prep

15.  To begin writing a book.

I have no idea how many of these goals I will successfully complete, but I think that it will make 2015 a fun, productive year!

I will try to give weekly updates on Saturday nights.

Will you be attempting any goals this year?

Merry Christmas!

 

Every year, I take Gracie's photo behind the Santa display at the Mall, and, usually, I use it in our Christmas Card.  Gracie will be 5 in January.

 The family photo was taken by my niece Kaylee when we visited California for her high school graduation.  She is studying photography and has her own Facebook page.

My baby girl is now in K-4.  I have been homeschooling her this year using the Abeka curriculum.  We enjoy it very much!  I had been wanting to take photos at the Davies Plantation which is located 10-15 minutes away.  I finally took the opportunity just days before they closed for the winter.  I look forward to going back in the spring to take more photos!

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

Contacts Sync for Google Gmail // Organizing Contacts into Groups

When I did my series on {Almost} Paperless, I mentioned an iMac app, Cobook, that I used as an Address Book on my computer.  They made an update to the app and changed their interface.  I didn't like it, and I didn't like how they imported my Facebook friends into the app resulting in many contacts with little data (just links to their Facebook profiles which is not useful to me at all).

I did some searching and found an app that has worked really well for me.  Contacts Sync for Google Gmail is an app that syncs the contacts in my Gmail address book with the Mac app Address Book as well as with iCloud.  This results in my iPhone, iPad, and iMac all being synced together.

Contacts Sync for Google Gmail has apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.  If you have a Mac computer, then you only need the app for the Mac.  You can use the resident app Address Book to organize your contacts into groups, and then use Contacts Sync for Google Gmail to sync them to your gmail account.  You may have to go to your gmail account (on the web) to find and merge duplicate contacts.  The initial setup can take a while while you tweak everything, but after that, it works like a charm!  You do not even have to have Contacts Sync for Google Gmail up and running all the time (although you can since it does offer Auto-sync).  If you do not use Auto-sync, be sure to sync every time you make changes to your address book or to your iPhone contacts.

If you do NOT have a Mac computer, then you will use the app for your iPhone or your iPad.  I can't help you any further with setting up groups.

Organizing Contacts into Groups (using the Mac app Address Book)


For best results, I set Address Book up to only show my iCloud contacts.  Here is the Preferences window:

When I enabled my Gmail accounts, it showed duplicate contacts (since they were all synced together).  Having only my iCloud account enables just makes it easier.

Below is a screenshot of my Address Book app showing how I have organized my contacts:

I have several main categories:  Business, CBC - my church, Christmas Cards, Church - other people/organizations besides my church, Family, Friends, Miscellaneous, OCC (Operation Christmas Child), and OtMP (my photography business).  Most of these are further subdivided into subcategories.  (The My Contacts category is one that Gmail generates on its own every time I add a new contact on my phone. It's somewhat useful for finding new contacts that need to be put into my groups.)

First, I put every contact into a main category (Ex: Business - all) and then I also put them into the appropriate subcategories.

The only thing I do not like about Address Book is that it does not tell me on the Contacts view all of the groups that the selected contact is in.  I have to go to gmail.com to see that.  I have not yet checked all of my contacts to make sure they are in the correct groups, but I know it will be somewhat tedious to use gmail.com and Address Book; however, once it is all set up the way I want it, I shouldn't have any problems after that.

One final piece of advice:  while you are reorganizing your contacts and are tweaking your groups, make sure you save a backup of your contacts before, during, and after the process.

DIY Dry Erase Menu Board

I made this dry erase menu board in less than 10 minutes -- if that!

I saw a package of 3 small dry erase foam boards in the office and school supply section at Walmart. I think they were $3-5 or so.  I had already been wanting to put (another) dry erase board up there. I have a couple of old ones whose magnets are pretty cheap.  After picking up the set of 3 boards, I went over to the craft aisle and found a package of 12 adhesive round magnets.  I already had the duct tape on hand to make the border.  One tip, snip the tape at the end lengthwise and rip it down the middle. You can use the outside edges for the front of the board and wrap the ripped edges to the back where they cannot be seen.  

I already had these Dr. Seuss notepads from Target's dollar spot.  Rather than have them go to waste, I am using them for two other purposes.  The one on the left will be my list of Kitchen prep tasks.  For example, I just bought some chicken and hamburger in bulk from Sam's Club today, so I need to repackage them into meal-size portions.  I will cook some of the hamburger before freezing it which helps make cooking supper go a lot faster!  The pad on the right is for my list of leftovers and other perishables that need to be eaten before they go bad.

ISO Sensitivity (for the Nikon photographer)

I've been a happy user of the Nikon D7000 camera for a couple of years now.  I love learning how to take better photos with my camera.

Most of my learning has come from trial and error as well as reading numerous web pages.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have seen my photography boards where I pin web pages that I have read or that I want to read.

The best paid resources I have used and that has been the most help to me is found at Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke.  She has two books (both print and ebook form) for the beginner and intermediate photographer as well as a video workshop.  I have purchased all three and they have been a big help to me!  (I also had the privilege of meeting Kristen and her kiddos when they came through Memphis last week!)

One particular screen in my camera menu has always confused me.  Here it is:

'

I understand what ISO is for (sensitivity to light -- the higher the number, the more sensitive it is to light) and that it's part of the so-called exposure triangle (along with aperture and shutter speed) used to generate properly exposed photos.  The more available light you have, the less sensitive the ISO needs to be.  For example, if you're outside in bright light, you can most likely use an ISO of 100; the less light you have, the higher the number should be.  The Nikon D7000 has a button marked ISO which you press and then rotate the Main control dial to change the ISO.  Which one is the Main control dial? The one that changes the number.  It's either the front (Aperture) one or the back (shutter speed) one.  Try both and see which one changes the ISO.  (I think it's the front one.)

In the ISO sensitivity settings menu, as shown in the graphic above (which I totally copied from another web page since I don't know how to get screenshots off of my camera),  I couldn't figure out what ISO sensitivity meant in conjunction with the Auto ISO sensitivity control.  "Does that mean it will change the ISO in increments of 100 or whatever number you select?"  The ISO sensitivty selection goes from 100 all the way up to the highest setting available (Hi 2 which is equivalent to ISO of 25600.

The Auto ISO sensitivity control is easy enough to understand.  This setting allows the camera to take over and change the ISO when the current settings will not take a properly-exposed photo.  You can set the maximum sensitivty (the highest ISO that you will let the camera to set) and the minimum shutter speed (the slowest that you want the shutter speed to go).

Well, my confusion was for nought.  I was basically over-analyzing what the menu setting was for.  This webpage explained it to me.  The ISO sensitivity is simply another way of choosing the ISO setting.  That's it.  You can either press the ISO button and turn the Main control dial OR you can go to this menu and select your ISO setting.  I feel kinda dumb that it's that simple, but I also figure there's probably at least one other person in this world who is confused by that as well.

Last week, our family went on vacation to Birmingham to visit with family.  We did lots of fun things, and I actually managed to shoot in manual mode the whole time. (Shooting in manual is not very difficult in theory, but it does take careful observation of several things including ISO and the exposure meter.  I usually prefer to shoot in Aperture mode which is easier for me.)  I have not yet uploaded my photos to my computer, but I am looking forward to seeing how they turned out.  One of the places we went to was the McWane Science Center which is a great museum for all ages.  The only bad thing (from a photography point of view) is that most of the lighting was garbage.  Too dark and wonky white balance.  We also went to the Birmingham Zoo (where I rode a zip line for the first time!!), and I'm confident that (most of) these photos turned out well.

If you want to see any of my photo sessions, please visit my Facebook page for my photography business Over the Mantle Photography.