Gravel Road Musings

  This has got to be one of the best books I've ready by Jane Kirkpatrick. I try to read as many of her books as I can as they come out because I enjoy the historical aspect of them. I learn about women I would never even have heard of without reading her books. This is the story of Mollie Sheehan and her husband's work among the Indians.  It starts out with her childhood. Her father had a definite grief disorder and couldn't bear to part with Mollie as she grew older. This led to some real struggles on Mollie's part, but I had to admire Mollie's respect of her father even though he was super stubborn and obstinate and unreasonable.  I also really enjoyed reading about positive Indian and white relations. So often we hear about the wars and the condescension toward the Indians, so this was very interesting to read about the positive interactions where they treated each other as equals and tried to embrace the American Indians with their culture rather than trying to...

  The No-Fail, Stress-Free Guide to Organizing Your Home It was a good time to read this book as I was in the middle of my own decluttering project. For me, I didn't find it to be anything super new or super eye-opening. Reading about the organizing personalities was interesting. I am a nothing out, more detailed organizer and I definitely live with everything out, less detailed organizers.  Shannon also gives a list of clutter personalities and while I really couldn't identify with any one in particular, it was interesting to read about. I think I would identify most with the wishful thinker and maybe some memory keeper in there as well.  The biggest takeaway for me from this book were the routines. Establish daily, weekly, or monthly routines or habits that keep the house looking organized with minimal effort. I also could use some help on the electronic decluttering. For me, I love organizing and so it is not an overwhelming thing for me. Because of the nature of my wo...

  The Power of Reading Aloud to Overcome Fear and Recapture Joy I'm interested in any book that talks about books. I can spend as much time reading about books as I can actually reading books. So, I really enjoyed this book. Jennifer explained well what I have tried to do in my own reading life, though I think she does a much better job of it than I do. There are so many opinions out there of what books you should read or what books are helpful, etc and my goal is to learn something from every book I read. Do I always accomplish this? No, I don't and some books do seem to be pure fluff, but most books can teach you something.  Jennifer showed how different books she was reading aloud to her children helped her in an area of her life where she was very fearful. For example, reading The Railway Children helped her to realize that, even in the midst of hard things, by living for a greater purpose and living with a clear vision can help to overcome the fear of expectations and str...