Gage started school three weeks ago and I thought all the extra time would allow me to get back into the blogging groove, but that hasn’t happened yet. I have high hope that I’ll get into a rhythm soon.  Until then I can’t stress out about Wednesday Quizzes.  They WILL be back but probably in October.

And I have a winner to announce. I have a signed ARC Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb.  The winner is……

Vicki!

Congratulations, Vicki.  It will be in the mail soon 🙂

The Hidden Connection. Finished 7-8-15, rating 4.25/5, health, 167 pages, pub. 2015

The body doesn’t lie. At the root of all chronic health issues is an immune response to something in your environment, often leading to poor gut health, nutrient deficiencies, and internal inflammation.

The modern system of medicine has created a paradigm in which it’s normal to suffer from many conditions. You have been taught how to “manage” disease rather than uncover the root cause of the symptoms. This book will awaken the health detective in everyone, by teaching you how to listen to your body’s messages and discover what’s feeding your disease. It invites us to consider the functional approach to nutrition by looking at the systems of the body to correct imbalances and dysfunction.    from Barnes & Noble

I met this warrior mom at the Autism One conference after I listened to her presentation.  This was the description of her workshop…

Using the D.E.A.P.™ approach to wellness, Kathleen will take you through a journey of hope and triumph as she demonstrates the power of food as medicine that she used to reverse 21 chronic health conditions in her family, including PDD-nos, fibromyalgia, IBS, severe food allergies, chronic pain syndrome, endocrine disorders and more. She believes the body has the greatest ability to heal when we “lift the burden.” Her personal story, nutrition expertise, and insatiable curiosity will awaken the health detective in you.

She started on her healing journey after she had been put on disability because of her health issues and one of her sons was diagnosed with PDD-nos (Gage’s diagnosis).  This book is a great primer for what you need to know to start working toward better health.

I’ve read this book once and will read many sections again.  She will teach you what symptoms mean, digestion, the roles of our  body systems, common disorders, allergies, supplements, how to shop for real food, and how to detox not only your body but your home.  Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?  She makes it easy to understand and each section gives you the highlights and how you can take action.

In my own journey to restore Gage’s health I have let my own decline with excess weight gain, terrible eating, and too much stress.  This book will be something I’m going to be working through a little more in the next few months as time allows.  My first goal is the elimination diet she outlines. The diet itself only last 10 days of eating basically fruits, meat and most veggies – wish me luck!  I did get a chance to meet her when I bought the book and she even gave us moms some kid friendly alternatives to unhealthy favorites.

Honestly, I recommend this to anyone, especially those with chronic conditions.  She and her family were in the same boat and this is how she plugged the holes and made the boat whole again.

This is her website and this is a 5 minute talk on YouTube that gives an overview of her outlook on health.

Mom life these first 4+ has been exciting, fulfilling, and stressful, and I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve said or thought, “When he’s in school all day…”  As a stay-at-home with a son who has food allergies, tummy problems and who benefits from various therapies, I have been operating on DEFCON 2 for many years just looking forward to some rest.

Tomorrow is pseudo-finish line that I’ve been aiming for as Gage starts full day Pre-K and I find myself surprisingly tearful and sad.  The summer is over and I’m sending my guy to school for 6 1/2 hours a day. That’s six+ hours that I am not cooking, chauffeuring, obsessing, getting frustrated…and I thought I’d be celebrating I in the streets. Instead, I am feeling resistant to be handing off these duties to someone else for the day.

.Remember this guy?

This is him last weekend at bedtime storytime at Great Wolf Lodge.

So, today I am sad, but tomorrow when I come home after dropping him off at school I may feel differently. I have a feeling that I will start decluttering the house at a feverish pace or I’ll take a nap. I’ll keep you posted.

This was taken at the botanical garden last week on their “zip line”. He looks ready to conquer the world right?

Belonging. Finished 6-22-15, 3/5 stars, 341 pages, pub. 1995

Today Joanna has the life she’d always dreamed of…
Joanna Jones, the successful host of Fabulous Homes, a New York based TV show, seems to have it all. Blessed with great looks, she has a successful lover and a job that gives her fame and money, while allowing her to indulge her passion for beautiful homes.
Tomorrow she might lose it all…
Suddenly and shockingly, Joanna will discover what she doesn’t have: a committed relationship she can depend on. Now she faces a stunning discovery alone and makes the tough decision to leave her glittering life for an old Nantucket house on the ocean, new friends, and unexpected enemies. The choices ahead will test her courage; the surprising twists of fate will challenge her faith as she faces a day of ashes, a time of sorrow, and one extraordinary new chance for love, happiness, and…

from Goodreads

This has been languishing on my shelves for many years and many moves and finally the Nantucket setting reeled me in.  I love the idea of being able to find a place that feels like home and helps you heal with beauty and friendship.

What I didn’t love was Joanna herself.  She initiated an affair with a man she knew was married and even pregnant with twins managed to find herself drawn to married men.  Her life wasn’t perfect, but she still had all of the advantages of beauty, wealth, fame…and I never really forgot that.  I loved her companion, Madaket, and she brought the only warm feelings I had for any of the characters.

The beautiful Nantucket and spiritual Madaket made the sometimes slow-moving story worth reading.  This is an older book and I will probably try one of Thayer’s more recent books because I’ve seen lots of positive blogger reviews.

Four years ago I started writing my 5 word movie reviews and asking for your input too, tying it to raising money for charity.  I love seeing what you all come up with.  The more participants the more fun!

We hit 100 reviews this month (our fourth time around) and have a new winner! Sheree topped the reviews this round with 23!  Way to go Sheree 🙂 And thanks to the other 16 of you who added your two cents (and $1 for charity).  So where is the money going? Only Sheree can do justice here so I am including the whole email she sent me.  I really hope you’ll take the time to read it and Sheree’s beautiful post  about her daughter.

I’d love it if the donation could go to Heartfelt … in memory of my daughter Taleah. My post on Tuesday in memory of Taleah and her 25^th birthday probably explains it so I’m more than happy for you to link to that … and who knows maybe it will touch someone going through that heartbreak.

http://teddyree-theeclecticreader.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/25-years-my-sweet-baby-girl-loving.html

Losing Taleah so many years ago, there were very few precious things to keep, a few photos, a tiny name band. Things have changed, in part due to many people like myself who wrote letters for childbirth education groups, participated in neonatal death follow-ups and grief groups, talked to doctors and midwives and funeral directors about things that could be done better. We as a society generally don’t ‘do’ grief well but by talking and sharing our experiences we learn and grow, it fosters change and healing and death becomes more ‘normalised.’

When you don’t take your baby home, when your arms are empty and your heart is full, when there are so few physical things to treasure, memories are all you have, so the ones we create after a baby dies are all we have to share. So I make memories and celebrate and remember Taleah and all she gave in her short time in my arms.  This is where wonderful organisations like Heartfelt make a difference.

“Heartfelt is a volunteer organisation of professional photographers from all over Australia dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature births, or have children with serious and terminal illnesses.   

Heartfelt is dedicated to providing this gift to families in a caring, compassionate manner.

All services are provided free of charge.”

The $100 donation was enough to pay for two sessions and I am so thankful for knowing a warrior mom like Sheree!

I feel like I have been absent from the blogging world this summer even though I have posted a few things and visited a few of you.  The first few weeks meant lots of Gage and mommy time and the last few have been camps and a quick July 4th trip to Michigan. This is a picture of a picture so sorry about the glare.  Here he is at nature camp, 5th one from the left.  These are 3&4 year olds and the camp is 3 hours, up to half of that walking through the miles of trails they have.  He likes it a lot and will be going 4 more weeks this summer.  It’s in Shaker Heights and takes us 20 minutes in rush hour to get there. I spent the first week exploring the area by walks of my own and some shopping.  I’ve already told Jason I would love to live the area near the nature center. This last week I took him downtown for week of camp at the Great Lakes Science Center.  This is picture is from first day drop off, there were 15 kids in his group.  Unfortunately, camp was from 8:30-11:30 which meant I was driving during rush hour.  It normally took 35 minutes but one day it took an hour! I decided to treat this camp as a mini-break for me and spent some time exploring the waterfront area, one day my mom joined me and one day I met Jason for coffee.  It was a fun week, but by the time we got home for lunch every day I was exhausted!  He loved this camp too, but I’m honestly not sure how much science was going on.  On the first day Gage’s favorite thing was riding the elevator and the rest of the days I heard a lot about the indoor playground. Cleveland gets a bad rap much of the time so I want to share a few pics I took so you can see that it has some beauty too. The Science Center from the front, back, and inside.  Yes, that is the back of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from the inside and those benches between the two buildings were my favorite reading spot. A few fun views of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... On the other side of the HOF is the Coast Guard. I walked by at 9:10 one morning and they were playing a game of football outside. You might be able to see them if you look closely. As I walked out to edge of Lake Erie it got quieter and more peaceful. The Arcade is beautiful and attached to the Hyatt if you are ever looking to stay. And now indulge me further with a few photos of the Eastman Reading Garden between the Historic Main Library and the newer Louis Stokes Wing.  I was enchanted.    

Have you been to Cleveland?

Fun fact –  Cleveland was home to the first electric traffic signal in 1914.

I’ve got winners!!

I finally got around to mailing out two previous winner’s books without even announcing they had won!  Life has been kicking my but lately.

went to Michelle and went to Marjorie

And now for those who will be receiving books from my book wall giveaway…

goes to Vicki

goes to Anne

goes to Rita

goes to Michelle

goes to Kim

I spent years working for Barnes & Noble and a year at our local library, so it’s not a surprise that I like books. I always thought that this yearly project of collecting my To-Be-Read books showcased not only my OCD tendencies, but also my problem of buying too many books, but this year I discovered something else.  Once a year I get to touch all of my books.  I used to have the time to shelve and reshelve and rearrange, but then I gave birth to Gage and that free time was no more.  So, I would buy books but they would languish on a shelf, untouched.  This year,  I spent my time during the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon recreating my book wall and I felt like I was rediscovering the books I’ve added to the house the last few years.  It made for an enjoyable read-a-thon.

Anyway, here are the details.  I started with 837 books from last April and over the past year I’ve read or given away 31, so that left me with 806.  I looked over the shelves and chose 5 that I knew I would never read and pulled them out, leaving 801.  And then I added the new books that I’d acquired over the past year, all 75 of them, and created this, my new Mt. TBR.

876!

None of the stacks fell over this year (although I did catch a few with my body before that happened!), but the weak link, there always is one, was that second stack from the left on top.  And I had to add  yet another row to the bottom right.

I only had a net gain of 39. so, not bad, right? When I told Jason he seemed to think that it should have gone down, but I was thrilled that it hadn’t been more!  Lots of great reading ahead.

Now for the giveaway (if you’re still with me).  I have 2 brand new books that I’ve received duplicates of, 1 that I won’t read, and the 5 old books that I pulled from the stacks knowing I’ll never read them.  All you have to do is tell me in a comment if you’d like to win one or more of them.  I’ll draw winners over the weekend.  Open internationally 🙂