"The only tolerable state is having just written." Happy 1st Blogiversary!

“It's hell writing and it's hell not writing. 

The only tolerable state is having just written.”

-Robert Hass

Today marks the first "blogiversary" of Proverbs 2 Pursuit :: Wisdom.  As I look back on the last year and some of the posts I have made, I realize that I have grown in ways I did not expect.  Initially, the goal of this blog was to focus on my breakdown and learning about education, specifically as it relates to SC, and to chronicle our baby steps into homeschooling.  However, though we have done some of this, it has also been a place to talk about struggles with SC, to share the blessings God has bestowed upon our family, and a place to hash out what being a parent to SC really should look like, considering the uniqueness God created within her.  

I love what the blog has become, and while when I first started I was consumed with posting regularly in blog hops and getting my voice out there, I am much less stressed if I miss an "appointment," because I just don't have anything of quality to contribute that day.  I am okay if I don't post for a week because we were busy, or on vacation, or if my post is mostly pictures, or a brief bit of thankfulness.  I think over the past year, the blog has become less about "having a blog" and more a representation of me and our life, which is exactly what I want it to be.

So, in looking back today (which is Top Ten Tuesday), I wanted to highlight ten of my most-read/commented-upon posts, and I hope you enjoy them.

1. "Most people would walk along a path beside the river."

2. Thankful Thursday: 

"How Not to Have to [Wash] the Dishes"

3. Top Ten Tuesday:
PBS Kids Shows

4. Top Ten Tuesday:
"Home is home, though it be never so homely."

5. Top Ten Tuesday:
"Books and movies are like apples and oranges."

6. 2013-2014: K5/1st Curriculum:
"Look what a lot of things there are to learn..."

7. What 2 Read Wednesday:
"She was expecting something empowering."
Book Review: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
stories by Nathan Englander

8. What 2 Read Wednesday:
"is the fleeting jolt of meaning that art gives us valuable?"
Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

9. "...come to this hallowed place/ Where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon..."

10. "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

Which of these posts was your favorite to read, or is it one that I have not listed?  Leave a comment below, then check out some other Top Ten Tuesday posts here:

"Don't worry. The moon is as good as ours." Summer Movie Giveaway: Despicable Me + Bowl of Goodies

"Don't worry. The moon is as good as ours."

-"Vector," Despicable Me

One of the movies that we, as a family, have been looking forward to seeing this summer is Despicable Me 2, which comes out in theaters this week on Wednesday, July 3.  If you have not seen the original, Despicable Me, it is a fun story for both kids and adults about Gru, a villan, who is attempting to do something spectacular in his villainy.  However, a new up-and-coming villan named Vector is stealing the spotlight.  Gru gets the idea to adopt three little girl orphans, Edith, Agnes and Margo, so they can use their cookie-selling venture to gain entry to Vector's headquarters and help Gru attain super-villan stardom, and a hilarious adventure ensues.  

Since the second movie is coming out Wednesday, I thought it would be fun to host a movie-themed giveaway with the original.  So, you could win: 

(1)  Despicable Me (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy version)

(2) Organic (Non-GMO) Popcorn - 1 bag

(3) Honest Kids Berry Berry Good Lemonade - 6 pouches

(4) Annie's Bunny Fruit Snacks Summer Strawberry - 6 pouches

(5) 1 red plastic bowl to share your popcorn in

*A note about paleo eating and this giveaway: Most people who follow the paleo lifestyle are on average only paleo 85% of the time.  I see no reason why part of your 15% cannot be for a family cuddle and laughter while you watch this fun movie.  However, the popcorn, juice and the fruit snacks are organic, GMO-free and made with only the best ingredients, and the juice is sweetened only with juices (no added sugars at all).

Please complete at least the blog comment requirement below to be entered for the drawing and sign in to the Rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



**This giveaway is only open to those residing in the contiguous USA (as I will have to ship it).  I am not being sponsored by any of the companies of which I am giving away product, nor did I receive any compensation (including said giveaway products) for holding this giveaway.  Please see my disclosure page if you are concerned about affiliations.

Thankful Thursday: "I've been wishing for this since I was 10 years old..."

This week I am thankful that I got to see the movie E.T. (1982) in the theatre yesterday.  They were doing a "4 weeks of Spielberg" thing, and E.T. was it for this week.  I remember seeing it as a child, but I didn't really remember much about it other than a very basic plot line and that they dressed E.T. up as a ghost on Halloween.  However, seeing it on the big screen, with the music of John Williams booming throughout the room, was an incredible experience.  The plot goes up and down, wrenching at your heartstrings, bringing you up, dragging you down.  Even though I knew how it ended, I couldn't help but get teary-eyed when Elliot, the young boy who had found E.T. and took him in, said after his presumed death

"Look at what they've done to you. I'm so sorry. You must be dead, 'cause I don't know how to feel. I can't feel anything anymore. You've gone someplace else now. I'll believe in you all my life, every day. E.T., I love you."

If you haven't seen the movie, I will stop my synopsis here and request you borrow a copy or just go buy it.  As an adult, looking back at these tough decisions of childhood, I deeply felt what Elliot was feeling.  I have never seen Ghandi, the best picture winner of the Oscars the year E.T. was nominated, but it must have been genius to have overtaken such an incredible work of art.

I also want to mention that I am thankful that I got to have this experience with SC.  She is so in tune to the emotions evoked by music, and even more so when there is a film that accompanies it.  Listening to her describe the beginning of the film ("like a nightmare"), and then moving on to gleefully clapping when E.T. first lifts himself and Elliot off the ground, flying through the air on the bike; the anxiety as the government agents enter Elliot's house while they are gone; to see her tears and hear her moans as she witnesses what she believes to be a sad ending to the film: I witnessed the magic that movies can create as I watched her watching the movie, and would recommend E.T. for that, even if for nothing else.

Have you seen any movies lately that you would recommend?  What are you thankful for this week?  Comment below, then check out some other Thankful Thursday posts here




**This post contains affiliate links.  Please read my disclosure statement.

Top Ten Tuesday: "I didn't want normal until I didn't have it anymore."

"I didn't want normal until I didn't have it anymore."

― Maggie Stiefvater, Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception

I am not typically one for branding or advertising, but I read a good list last week of ten things one family uses all the time and realized I might have a few helpful hints that I have picked up as I have grown up in the past ten years.  So, for Top Ten Tuesday this week, here are ten things we cannot live without in our house:


1. Electric Tea Kettle:  My in-laws gave us this tea kettle for Christmas this year and I don't know how we lived at all without one.  We use this on a daily basis for coffee in the morning and tea later in the day.  This one is very simple and it works great.

2. Mrs. Meyer's Laundry Detergent: This is the only laundry detergent we have found that will really get out the smell of urine the first time through the wash (if you have potty trained, you will know this is a must).  I have only ever used the geranium smell, and while it seems overwhelming when the clothes first come out of the wash/dryer, it is barely lingering when I pull them from the closet to wear.  They just smell clean.  I have read that some of the other scents will stick around for a long time and smell horrible, but I can attest this is not the case with this one. 

3. Greenling:  This is the local farm-to-consumer delivery service, and if you live anywhere in Texas, please check them out to see if they are delivering to your area.  They deliver local produce, meats, eggs and other goodies weekly, and their prices are comparable to those you would find at Whole Foods or Central Market.  For me, the nearest Whole Foods is almost an hour away, so having my "green box" delivered to my doorstep has been a huge gas-saving blessing.  They also give information about each of the farms/ranches that provides them with products so you can make an informed choice. You can shop by a pre-selected "local box" that changes weekly, or you can create your own box by choosing items individually.  They even offer "meal kits" for those short on time, complete with recipes.
Check out Greenling here.

*If you are not in Texas and/or Greenling does not deliver to your area, I urge you to seek out local farm co-ops and meat producers and give them a try.

4. French Press: We make coffee most mornings, but neither AC nor I drink it all day long.  This means that the typical 10-cup or 12-cup coffee maker is just too much for us.  We tried a Keurig machine for a while, but it was so much mess because we never really liked the coffee (or teas) that came already in a pod, so we had to use the pods where you pack it in yourself.  Eventually we just gave up.  We discovered a French press and are immensely happy now.  It is very simple to use, makes the perfect amount for a cup or two of coffee in the morning, is easy to transport the grounds out to the composter, and cleans up in the dishwasher.

5. Netflix: Before SC was born, and before streaming movies over the internet was a "thing," AC and I have had a Netflix account.  However, we no longer have the DVD account, and what I really love most about it now is that it will open into a split adults/kids section.  I can choose the kids version, SC could navigate it by the time she was 3 because it has a scrollbar at the top that is just pictures of recognizable characters, and it includes many of the PBS shows we like to watch (at the most convenient time for us).  We can also stream it on a phone or iPad anywhere we have WiFi, which has been great for eating up time in airports or other non-productive places that SC needs to sit still.  It has also been nice to catch up on shows AC and I like to watch, but not be glued to a set TV schedule every week.
Check out Netflix here.

6. Apple TV: We have had an Apple TV since they were first introduced, and it is an item we could not live without in order to stream music from the computers to the stereo speakers.  It has also been great, since SC was born, to be able to stream photos onto our large-screen television for viewing by family instead of having to all huddle around a 13" laptop screen.

Find Apple TV at Amazon's Apple Store Here

7. Canus Orange & Clary Sage Goat's Milk Soap: I will admit, I have always been a fairly stinky person.  I am pretty sure I got my dad's sweat/stink genes and it has been a long time coming where I feel comfortable when the 100 degree temps arrive in Texas.  However, about two years ago, I was doing research into essential oils, soap making, and deodorant making as a last-ditch effort to find products that really worked at getting me clean and controlling my body odor without using a ton of chemicals that would just cause other problems, I came across this soap at Whole Foods.  It has changed my life.  It is the only soap I have ever used (since I was a teenager at least) that I get out of the shower not already smelling myself.  I may have an oversensitive sense of smell (especially when it comes to my own body odor), but for as long as I can remember, I have always bathed, washed certain areas three or four separate times while in the shower, and stepped out only to rush to the deodorant and slather it on because I still could smell myself.  This soup is superb, does not dry out my skin, and the essential oils get rid of the body odor in a major way.

8. iPad Mini: We gave in around Christmas and bought a "family" iPad Mini and it has been a great purchase for the whole family.  SC gets to play a ton of cheap, educational games, AC gets to use it for some grown-up games, tracking travel and sports scores, and I have my recipe app on it that I use while cooking.  We do not have 4G on it, so we can only use the internet when we have WiFi and that has not been a problem at all.  Also, the size of the iPad Mini is perfect of SC to hold.  I think the larger one would be ungainly and would end up being dropped quite often.

9. Charcoal Grill & Smoker:  A few years ago for Fathers' Day AC got to pick out a new grill/smoker.  We had a gas grill but he really wanted to try his hand at smoking, specifically brisket.  After a few uses of the smoker and its subsequent grill attachment, we gave the gas grill away to a family member.  Though it seems like it may take longer to get a charcoal grill going for dinner, it really doesn't, and the exquisite flavor of a charcoal grill (and the mesquite wood we throw in) makes any extra work (the steps to start the fire) worth it.

10. PlayStation 3:  Last, but definitely not the least on this list, is our PS3, which has grown and changed in usefulness as media forms have grown and changed.  It is a gaming device (which both SC and AC use equally, if not often), but it is also a BluRay player and our Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming player.  Though we initially only purchased it so AC could play video games (pre-SC) and watch movies once in a while (before everything came out in BluRay), it has changed and grown as our family has.  At this point we have no plans to buy the soon-to-be-released PS4 and will probably hold off until the PS3 no longer works.

Obviously we are technology bugs over here, which I suppose is appropriate considering AC's job in the technology field.  What are some of the items that your family cannot live without?  Leave a comment and then check out some other Top Ten Tuesday posts here

**This post contains affiliate links.  Please read my disclosure statement.

Top Ten Tuesday: "Books and movies are like apples and oranges."

"Books and movies are like apples and oranges. 

They both are fruit, but taste completely different."

Stephen King

This week for my Top Ten Tuesday, I am going to focus on ten movies that are coming out in the nearish future that were based on books that I either want to read or have already read.  

Typically, I generally prefer the book to the movie, and there are some movies that I have had a really hard time reconciling the choices the movie-makers made with the way the book has "played out" in my head as I read it.  For example, I struggled with the first few Harry Potter movies because I imagined things happening in a much less cheesy way than they did on screen.  In fact, after the second movie came out I gave up on them all until recently, when I both reread all seven books, and then viewed all seven films consecutively.  

So, here are ten books-to-movies that are coming up soon that I want to see (and a couple that are already out), and hopefully read (if I haven't already) before I see the film.  I have also included release dates for the films as they were available on the interwebs.

1. Warm Bodies (February 1, 2013): Based on the book by Issac Marion, this is a book I had not heard of until I saw the rather amusing trailer for the film.  It is about a zombie who falls in love with a live girl, and while it is not in my normal reading/viewing bag, it looks interesting and different enough from many of the zombie/monster stories that have been permeating our recent culture. 



2. Beautiful Creatures (February 13, 2013): Another film based on a fantasy novel (the first in a series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl), this is the story of two teens with special powers and their effort to uncover secrets about their respective families and the small southern town they live in.

3. The Reluctant Fundamentalist (April 24, 2013): This is a book that has been on my to-read list for a while, and is about two Princeton graduates, an American woman and a Pakistani man, and their struggles in the aftermath of 9/11.  It is by Mohsin Hamad, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize.

4. The Great Gatsby (May 10, 2013): I just finished reading this book, and while I enjoyed it, I did not feel like it really was life changing.  That being said, I am interested to see how Baz Luhrmann interprets it in the film.  This is the story of the narrator Nick Carraway and his observations of the relationships that go on around him, specifically as they have to do with his mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby.

5. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (August 23, 2013): This is another fantasy novel that begins a series, by Cassandra Clare, and though I have read the first two books in  a semi-related series (The Infernal Devices), I have not read this yet.  This novel is the story of a girl, Clary, who encounters a group of warriors striving to rid the earth of demons.  When her mother disappears and she has to get her back, Clary gets the help of these supernatural warriors, and along the way discovers she might be like them.



6. Ender's Game (November 1, 2013): This is a book I read as a young teenager, in junior high, and it is a book that moved me deeply.  I am very excited to see how the filmmakers have turned it into a movie.  By Orson Scott Card, and also the first in a science fiction series, it is the story of Ender, a brilliant young boy, who is recruited to help save the planet and become a military general.  Through it all, Ender struggles with the battle "games" they are playing, interacting with the other children, and the concepts of justice and right vs. wrong. I have not read the other books in the series, but this one was exceptional.



7. Catching Fire (November 22, 2013):  This film is based on the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  While the first film did a very good job relating the plot of the novel, if not necessarily the theme, it failed, in my opinion, to evoke the same reaction from the watcher as Collins does from a reader of the book.  That being said, the second and third books were even more emotionally evocative, and offered more in the way of presenting a specific theme to the reader.  I am hesitant that the films will be able to pull this off and be as moving as the books are, but I still want to see them try.  A poor execution of a film only disappoints me, but I lose nothing from the experience of the reading of the books. These books should be read consecutively, as the plot builds until the final book, and the full message Collins is attempting to impart is not visible until the final book is finished.  If you have not read the first book, stop reading now and skip to number eight!  This book, specifically, is about the Capitol forcing the two main characters, Peeta and Katniss, to return to the arena in a special edition of the Hunger Games, as there has been some revolting against the Capitol, and it is trying to maintain control of the districts. 

8. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 13, 2013): SC and I listened to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien on a long car trip, and I was very excited to see the first portion of the film when it came out.  That being said, I have still not seen it, as I am not sure how it will work to split up the story into three parts.  The story (as a whole) is the adventure of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who is rather comfortable staying at home, but gets dragged into helping some dwarfs get their property back from a dragon.  It is a very entertaining story, but I am just not sure how it will be split out into three movies.



9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (December 25, 2013): This film is based on a short story by James Thurber from his collection The Thurber Carnival.  It is a collection that has been on my to-read list for a while, and "Secret Life" is the story of a man who has five different daydreams about possibilities of life while he waits on his wife in town at her weekly trip to the beauty parlor.



10. How I Live Now (2013): Another from my long list of to-read books, this is the story of children and teens attempting to survive without adults during a terrorist attack and subsequent war.  It is a young adult novel by Meg Rosoff, and won the Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature in 2004.



10. A Wrinkle in Time (2013): Ever since I read When You Reach Me, which was based on ideas presented in Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, the latter has been on my to-read list, and specifically, my read-aloud to SC list.  It is a science fiction novel about a young girl who searches to find her scientist father after he goes missing.  It is the winner of the Newbery Award, and the first in a series.  Hopefully the movie will be rated "G" or "PG" and SC and I can both read the story together, and then see the film.


 
The Perks of Being a Wallflower: This film is already out in theaters, and it is one that I really want to see.  I read the book in my early college years and it is one of my absolute favorites.  It is another young adult novel, by Stephen Chbosky, and deals with finding oneself amidst the regularity of life, specifically in the pseudo-world of high school.



Silver Linings Playbook:  This fim is also already out in theaters.  I have already seen this film, but I have not read the book, but after seeing the movie and enjoying it immensely, I think that the book will offer even more.  By Matthew Quick, it is the story of Pat Peoples, and his attempt at a "comeback" after a stint in a mental health institution.  Along the way he tries to win back his ex-wife, handle living at home with his parents, and meets a young widow who has her own host of psychological problems.



So either I am really interested in fantasy/ science fiction books and films, or that is what just so happens to be coming out in 2013.  I think it is a bit more of the latter, though I have really enjoyed some of the fantasy/ sci-fi books and films I have seen lately!  

What movies are you looking forward to in 2013, based on a book or otherwise?  Leave a comment, then check out some more Top Ten Tuesday posts here:



**This post contains affiliate links.  Please read my disclosure statement.