Something Old and Something New: Meal Prep Week 2

Today C was out hiking, so I tackled our meal prep solo during Baby A's nap time. The whole thing took a bit over an hour on my own.

 I did some of the same chicken that we did last week. It and the rice held up pretty well. Nothing tasted funky or was soggy by the end of the week, so that was pretty nice. I also tried out this recipe from Damn Delicious here. I've done several of her recipes before and they all turn out well.

 After everything finished cooking, I added butternut squash since I bought it in a microwavable bag.

A lot of chopping later and everything is packaged and ready to go for another week. I didn't buy green beans or yellow squash this week, but I didn't get enough to replace them so we were short a few vegetables.

Meal prepping saves me a lot of time during the week. I don't have to take time each day to make our lunches, so I can have something healthy (or somewhat healthy) to eat without putting too much thought into it. This is really helpful with my one year old, since when she is hungry she does not like to wait.

What are some of your favorite meal prepping recipes?

2017 Reading Challenge: Talking as Fast as I can

Today I am reviewing:

From Goodreads: In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.

I've been a fan of Lauren Graham for a while now. I remember watching Gilmore Girls with my mom and sister(s). I finished all of Parenthood while pregnant/after she was born. I haven't really been disappointed by her work until I read Someday, Someday Maybe. It was alright, but I just didn't connect with the main character. I figured I just didn't like her writing style. 

This book was different. 

I decided to give this book a chance, since it had gotten some pretty good reviews on Tumblr (don't base all book decisions off of Tumblr). It was well worth it!

The book is barely over 200 pages long, so it isn't too much of a commitment. It felt like Graham jumped around between events in her life, but she did it smoothly so the reader doesn't get jostled along the way. 

The book covers a bit before Gilmore Girls part one, Gilmore Girls part one, time in between and Parenthood, and finally Gilmore Girls part two. 

There are some spoilers for the revival, if you haven't watched it yet, but to me they didn't feel that significant to the whole story to truly spoil it. 

To me, Graham writes how Lorelai speaks, so the writing was fun and had a lot of moments that made me chuckle. This is definitely a book to read if you are in need of an upper (but these days, who isn't in need of an upper?). 

My favorite part was probably the advice she had gotten on writing. I like the suggestions and I think I am going to try to apply it to this blog. I think doing the scheduled time and adjustments would work for other aspects of life, so I may play around with it. 

What did you think of the book? What were your favorite parts? Any book recommendations floating around out there?

How can I save some time with cooking meals?

We are starting to meal prep! C's cholesterol and mine both came out on the bad side, so we're hoping this will fix our cholesterol issues and help us to be healthier. 

We figured we'd keep it simple and do chicken as our main protein. We went with 3 different seasonings and seasoned the chicken separately. We baked all of the vegetables and chicken together. 

We baked everything at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cutting the chicken in half helped it cook a bit faster. 

C ordered these microwave safe containers to use for the meal prepping. We filled each with 1/2 a cup of rice, some chicken, and then lots of vegetables. 

Depending on how everything tastes, we may cook the veggies separately from the chicken. I'm not sure if we cooked the vegetables too long, but it would depend on personal preference. 

Does anyone have any tips for prepping? What about favorite recipes? Share them below!

2017 Reading Challenge: The Mistborn Era 1 and Era 2

I finally reread through all of the Mistborn books! I had read the first set last in high school and the second set was soon after I had baby A, so I was overdue for a reread. I'll try to say a bit about each book, but also consolidate when I can. Overall while I enjoyed the books the first time I had read the books, I'd say I loved them even more this time around! WARNING: Mild spoilers ahead!

The first book (in series one) is Mistborn: The Final Empire. From Goodreads: In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more? In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage — Allomancy, a magic of the metals. 

My brother-in-law introduced me to this series back in high school and it was as good as I remembered it.

In terms of characters, I really like the main crew of characters; however, Vin is the one I relate the most to. She's more of a quiet character who observes and thinks before she acts. She is tough, but is often not quite sure of herself. Vin grows up a lot throughout the first set of books and it's interesting to see how she changes. For the other characters, I really enjoyed their development as well as the wide range of character types. These characters don't disappoint and most anyone will find someone to relate to.

The overall plot for the first book was excellent. The book is lengthy, but I was engaged the entire time and was excited to see what was going to happen to the characters.

This book is fairly clean; however, the author does write some rather gruesome moments. I don't recall any swearing, but there is mention of prostitution and rape (not detailed, just someone mentioning that it happens and certain characters have participated in it).

The Final Empire is definitely my favorite of the first three books and a must read for anyone who enjoys fantasy novels. I'd recommend this for high school readers or above just due to the gore. I'm very sensitive to that, but it didn't bother me too badly here.

The Well of Ascension is the second book of the series. From Goodreads: Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire. Three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

The Hero of Ages is the final book of the first series. From Goodreads: Tricked into releasing the evil spirit Ruin while attempting to close the Well of Ascension, new emperor Elend Venture and his wife, the assassin Vin, are now hard-pressed to save the world.

In terms of characters, plot, and cleanliness, these next two novels are very similar to the first in the series. However, about halfway through both books I was ready for it to be over. I am all for long books; however, an author shouldn't just keep going for the sake of going. Have a point! I was reading these and just thinking that this guy needs to learn how to edit. If you plan on reading anything else in this series, definitely finish reading these last 2 books even though they feel like they are never going to end. 

I loved this series even more than the first!! While I believe these are kind of apart from the first series, it does help to have read the first series. The first series characters are mentioned throughout the second and it is fun to know the whole backstory. However, not necessary for full enjoyment. I read this series once before rereading the first group and while I did like the story, I was wishing I could remember the characters that were mentioned. 

Alloy of Law: Centuries after the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is on the verge of modernity - railroads, electric street lights, and skyscrapers. Waxillium Ladrian can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After 20 years in the dusty Roughs, in the city of Elendel, the new head of a noble house may need to keep his guns.

Shadows of Self: Shadows of Self shows Mistborn’s society evolving as technology and magic mix, the economy grows, democracy contends with corruption, and religion becomes a growing cultural force, with four faiths competing for converts.

This bustling, optimistic, but still shaky society now faces its first instance of terrorism, crimes intended to stir up labor strife and religious conflict. Wax and Wayne, assisted by the lovely, brilliant Marasi, must unravel the conspiracy before civil strife stops Scadrial’s progress in its tracks.

Shadows of Self will give fans of The Alloy of Law everything they’ve been hoping for and, this being a Brandon Sanderson book, more, much more.

The Bands of Mourning: The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metalminds owned by the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. A kandra researcher has returned to Elendel with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that no one can read. Waxillium Ladrian is recruited to travel south to the city of New Seran to investigate. Along the way he discovers hints that point to the true goals of his uncle Edwarn and the shadowy organization known as The Set. 

It is really hard to pick a favorite character from these books. I love how they interact and how we get to see a bit of the story from their points of view, which I believe is pretty hard to do. The author gives you Waxillium and Wayne, a lawman and his side kick,who are pretty funny together. Marasi and Steris (sorry if I spelled the names wrong) are also wonderful, especially Steris in book 3. MeLaan is also a great addition to the team (and from series one). 

The characters all develop well, but Steris has by far the best development so far. I may be biased because she just reminds me a lot of me. I wish I could say more, but I would give away too much of the plot so all I can say is that she is awesome! 

The plot is great and consistent throughout this series, plus it is all pretty streamlined. The author wrote enough to tell the stories well, but ended making me wish there was more. I'd rather want more than wish the story was over already. 

For anyone concerned with this, there is an lgbt character; however, the story doesn't go beyond just saying that the character is lgbt. 

In terms of cleanliness, there are a few swears sprinkled throughout and Wayne can be crude here and there but nothing too scandalous in my option. I would still keep with readers being in high school or older before reading this series. 

I am really excited to see what is going to happen in book 4, but the author hasn't started it yet :( You CAN keep an eye on story progression here. 

Let me know what you thought of the books, or leave other book recommendations, in the comments!! I look forward to hearing from you. I can definitely always use another book 😃

Future blog posts: I am going to make it my goal to post every Sunday; however, you may get more posts sprinkled in depending on how life goes. 

How will keeping a personal journal bless me and my family? Come Follow Me August Lesson

For tomorrow, I've been asked to sub in the youth Sunday School class. I figured since this is mainly a teaching blog and since I couldn't find the bookmark that I wanted, I would post it here for others to use as well!

I don't really have much experience with Dropbox, but here is the link to the file in Dropbox. If that doesn't work, save the images and print from there.

The main lesson materials can be found here. 

Novel Study Guide: Frindle

Frindle was one of my favorite books that we covered in elementary school and I still have a soft spot for the book. It was also the first whole class book I did when I started teaching.

When I taught the book originally, I always wished that I had more materials to use with the book than what were available to me. This led me to create a whole novel study guide for the book.                  

           

I started off with a comprehension guide and summaries for the chapters in the book. 

I also added a vocabulary book for students to fill out and reading response journal cards that go along with the story. The response cards are more generic, so they can be used with any other novel that you may use. 

All of this is available here. 

What are some of your favorite books to do with your students?

2017 Reading Challenge Revisited and Book Spotlight

It's been a long time since I have posted about this challenge. Can you believe the year is over half over? Here are all of the challenges together....

If you haven't started, don't give up! I have actually gone a bit rouge with the challenge and started rereading a series that I hadn't read since high school. I'll review that in another post, but for this post I will review the Remnant Chronicles. 

"A princess must find her place in a reborn world. She flees on her wedding day. She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection. She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father. She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan. The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance. Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love." ~Goodreads preview of The Kiss of Deception

I will agree with one of my Goodreads friends that this sounds like the summary for a cheesy soap opera, but it is actually really good! 

Cleanliness: This book is pretty good on being clean; however, there are a few moments here and there that are a little more salacious. I would keep this to a high school aged (and above) reader. From what I remember, swear words were minimal to non-existent among the three books, which is always appreciated as well.

Setting: The author does a great job painting the setting as well as setting up the different cultures we meet throughout the series. We get a lot of details, but it's not overwhelming like I've seen in some other stories that I have read. 

Characters: I liked the characters for the most part, but there were moments where Lia bugged me. I think I liked Rafe and Kaden the best, but I also liked Lia's friends at the inn a lot too. I wish some of the relationships were developed more in the stories. There were moments where I was like, "where did that come from?" 

Plot: I liked the plot of all three books, but I felt like book 3 wouldn't end. It just went on a little too long for me. Having a longer story isn't always good when it can be told more clearly in fewer pages.

Ending: Without giving away too much, the endings for the first two books had pretty good cliffhangers. The ending of the third was good and gave some closure, but definitely not how I would've liked to see it end, but oh well.

I would definitely recommend this to others. The author has a pretty similar writing style to the Hunger Games author. 

Find the books here: The Kiss of Deception, The Heart of Betrayal, and The Beauty of Darkness.

If you are more into Ebooks or Audiobooks, see if your local library offers the Overdrive service where you can borrow Ebooks or Audiobooks using your library card. 

What are some books that have stood out to you? Share them below.