I Got Tagged! :)

Hi everyone!  I got tagged by "Dreaming of Avonlea".  So, without further ado, here are my answers.

8 Books I've Read Recently:

1.  "I Will Carry You" by Angie Smith (a really touching book sharing the details of Todd and Angie Smith and the loss of their daughter, Audrey Caroline, and how they grew closer to the Lord through it)

2.  "Things Worth Remembering" by Jackina Stark (a great new Christian fiction writer)

3.  "Tender Grace" by Jackina Stark

4.  "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine (I know, this is a YA book, but I'd never read it before and it's really well written.  Besides, I like reading YA books, especially when I'm tired and my brain needs something simple.) :)

5.  "Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen (a re-read:  I LOVE all her books!)

6.  The Book of John in the Bible (for devotions)

7.  "A Tale of Three Trees" retold by Angela Ewell Hunt (a children's book I read aloud to my oldest daughter's 1st grade class)

8.  "Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman (a great book for moms!)


8 Songs or Albums I Listen to All the Time:

1.  "Beginnings" by Fernando Ortega (album)

2.  "Embrace the Cross" by Steve Green

3.  "In Her Eyes" by Josh Groban

4.  "Song of Hope (Duet)" from The Lord of the Rings the Musical

5.  "Celtic Treasure" by Hayley Westenra (album)

6.  "Dulaman" by Celtic Woman

7.  "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" by John Michael Montgomery

8.  "Comme Facette Mammeta" by Mario Frangoulis

9.  "Enchantment" by Charlotte Church (album)....I know, I know, that's number nine, but narrowing it down was really hard!  I listen to LOTS of music


8 Things I Love:

1.  My husband and girls (and the rest of my family, too!)

2.  My church

3.  The security of knowing I am loved unconditionally by my Heavenly Father

4.  Spending time with my friends

5.  Shopping for bargains

6.  A walk on a misty beach

7.  Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

8.  Writing Stories


8 Things I've Learned This Year:

1.  How to re-wig an 18" doll

2.  How much I need to depend on God DAILY for strength to be the Mommy I need to be

3.  How important it is to stop and enjoy the little moments in life

4.  How much nicer life would be if I was a little bit more organized! :}

5.  How much I am completely addicted to chocolate!!!  (in the process of working on that)

6.  How deep God's love is for me, and how I can depend on Him no matter what

7.  I can't really think of any other things...except that this has been a year where the Lord has really been patiently and lovingly showing my my flaws and how I can't be Super Mom on my own!!! 


8 Recipes I Want to Try
    Um...okay, I'm not much of a cook, so this one could be difficult.  Seriously, if I was rich enough, the first thing I'd do is hire a personal chef so I never had to cook again! :)

1.  There's a recipe for brownies in my book "Deceptively Delicious" that actually includes pureed spinach.  I want to try it out of sheer curiosity (and hey, if I can eat brownies and get a serving of veggies at the same time, it's the best of both worlds, right?) :)

2.  You know, I pretty much just want to work through my "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook and try lots of the different recipes.  I don't have any specifics right now.  At the moment I'm just trying to get better at planning a meal for each night and only buying the stuff I need for each week.  It's definitely a work in progress, but I've been going strong for 3 weeks now.  Yay!

So I'm cheating and moving on to the next set of questions!


8 Favorite Online Hangouts

1.  Blogger.com-I love blogging!  I've found so many great blogs through this, too. :)

2.  Youtube.com-I don't have my own account, but I use it for research and have a few channels I follow.

3.  eBay.com-I love this site a little too much!  :)

4.  Etsy.com-lots of fun handmade items here.  I love the doll clothes and the scrabble tile necklaces!

5.  Bonanzle.com-This was a site I found kinda by accident, but it's where I found my original Gotz Tess doll (now rewigged and named Emily) and my PM Felicity doll.

6.  Shopgoodwill.com-another online auction site that can have some fun stuff.

7.  Rhapsody.com-I love Rhapsody!!  I have several playlists that I play while doing housework and writing my stories.

8.  Whitsend.org-yep, I still listen to Adventures in Odyssey!  I grew up listening to them as a kid, and I still listen to this day.  You can also access Focus on the Family and Focus on the Family Weekend Magazine programs through the Odyssey player.


8 Projects I Need to Work On:

1.  Getting into a routine with my housecleaning, exercise, and schedule.

2.  Doing better at a regular devotional time with the Lord.

3.  Getting caught up on my scrapbooking!!  I'm about 4 years behind.  :{

4.  Continuing to work on my story.  I want to try to type at least 1500 words per week.

5.  Going through my paperwork. (oh, joy!)  I have a few boxes of old paperwork I need to sort through.

6.  Barbie project!  I have a drawer of Barbies I need to clean, restyle hair, and dress in princess dresses so I can sell them on Craigslist for Christmas.

7.  Barbie project #2-I just recently purchased a big lot of nice Barbies at a yard sale so I could re-sell them.  Unfortunately, when I got them home, I discovered they smelled like stale cigarette smoke.  So now I'm in the process of trying to get rid of the smell so I can sell them!

8.  Possibly learning to sew?  I'm hesitant to add another potential hobby to my already overflowing list of hobbies, but I would really like to learn how to sew doll clothes since they can be so expensive.  Haven't fully decided on this one yet.

9.  Since the last one was a maybe...my husband, my dad and I are going to work on making an 18" doll Doll House for the dolls my girls will be getting for Christmas.  My husband is going to pick up refrigerator boxes to make a prototype (yes, he's very methodical about these things...my dad and I would just throw something together and say, "Hey, it works!"  The three of us make a good team and balance each other out), and then we'll work on the plans.


8 Other People I Think Should Do This:

1. njmomto3

2. Gomunk

3. Elinor Dashwood

4. american girl fan

5.  Maddi

I only have 5 followers, and I don't know who else would see this blog, so I'm just going to tag 5 people for now.  Thanks for the tag, "Dreaming of Avonlea"! :)  Thanks to my five followers, too.  I'm so happy that at least someone is reading this blog!! :)

P.S.  I would love to add some pics to this but I'm posting this from my mom's house and don't have any pics with me.  : (