Got Tea?

"New research has shown that regular tea consumption can protect

against arterial stiffness in the heart -- a condition that's been linked to a

shortened lifespan and higher risk of cardiovascular disease."

I saw an article on Facebook the other day posted by Science Alert talking about the benefits of drinking tea. They didn't go into details of which kind of tea, but it did mention green tea. As someone with a history of heart attack and stroke in my family, this was good to hear. You can read the entire article here.

Star Wars Nerd

I found these necklaces at Target recently. Darth Vader I found in the Christmas stuff before the holiday. I just got the Storm Trooper on clearance. They had moved them over to the toy section in the Star Wars area. The chains are pretty short, around choker-length, since they're made for kids. Not that that's ever stopped me. I have so many necklaces made for kids. They're the most fun. They come in these little tin boxes too.

Anyway, I've worn the Vader one on longer chains already. I just opened the Storm Trooper up today. Rick and I are going to see The Force Awakens later this afternoon, so I'm trying to decide which one to wear. This will be my forth viewing of the movie, and second time seeing it in 3D. Even after three times, I'm really (really!) looking forward to it.

Now reading ...

I decided that I wanted to read more in 2016 and spend less time online. Posting this is an oxymoron in itself, but oh well. I love to read, and I have dozens and dozens of books lying around that I haven't read yet. At first I thought it would be fun to read one new book a week. With school and everything, that's probably not realistic, even though I still read aloud to the boys at the end of each school day. Then I thought one new book a month might work, but that sounds ... well, kind of boring. So, my goal is to read TWO books a month. That doesn't include the ones I read with the boys, or the daily reading of my One Year Bible. I think I can handle reading two a month. If I manage more, then that's great. I'm going to keep track of them in a journal, so that should give me a little accountability.

Right now I'm reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I started it ages ago, on an airplane, I think. I can never read on planes. I get too distracted. I decided to start with that one. I love Neil's dark style of writing. I loved Coraline, both book and movie. So far, The Graveyard Book seems to be just as interesting. It's dark, but interesting, and I heard there might be a film eventually. When I'm finished with that one, I'm going to finally read Michelle Moran's Madame Tussaud book. She writes historical fiction. I have all her books, but haven't read this one yet. That will be interesting.

What are you reading right now? Do you have any reading goals for the New Year?

Back-To-School ...

We started back to school yesterday after two weeks off. It was so nice to have the break, especially having Nicole home. She's no longer in college, but still lives in Billings, so we don't see her nearly as much as we'd like. Even with having to take time off for my father-in-law's funeral in late November, we still took our regular time off for Christmas and New Year's. We'll make up for lost time as we go along the rest of the school year. The boys are busy with their academics, but we still try to do fun stuff to break up the stresses of things like pre-algebra and geometry. I still read aloud to them every day. This week they're sketching dinosaurs, which has been fun. Yesterday they did Tyrannosaurus Rex. Today they were working on a Stegosaurus. I had to run up to town for a bit, so I haven't seen the final copies of those yet. Even so, it's good to be back in the swing of things and finally have a little normalcy.  

Shoot for the moon ...

I took this photograph sometime in early December. These past few days I've been thinking about what I want to do differently in 2016. I'm usually pretty good about making New Year's Resolutions, but I'm not always so good at keeping them. Had I thought of any before, I would have posted them. As the days have gone by though, a few have popped into my mind.

For one, I would like to take more photographs. I know that sounds totally stupid because I take photos all day long. We always see people with their faces glued to their phones. I do that too, but it's mostly relating to some silly picture I took, or some photo challenge I'm following. However, I'd like to get outside and take more photographs with my camera, and not just my phone. I took the moon photo with my Canon obviously. Now that I think about it, I took this in California while I was home for my father-in-law's funeral.

I would also like to read more. I'm starting up my One Year Bible again, so that's a start. I have so many books I want to read. I've gotten in this bad habit of staring into my phone at night before I go to bed. I need to put it down and read more. I've been spending way too much time online. Anyway, it's nothing major, but it's a start. I think Norman Vincent Peale says it well ...

Keep Calm & Be Crazy

I saw this photograph on Facebook the other day. I think it came from an AARP page or something. I love the quote, but I love the lady's style even more. This particular lady doesn't look that old, but I always smile when I see very elderly women dressed to the nines with a full face of make-up and eccentric clothes. I know that's not everyone's thing. Many elderly people just want to be comfortable and couldn't care less about fancy clothes and such. Even so, when I see one all decked out, it always makes me smile. I want to be that kind of little, old lady. :)

New Beginnings ...

The year 2015 was full of challenges, upsets, losses, and disappointments. Sure, there were good things about the year, but I'm not in a mental state to focus on them right now. I need to concentrate more on the negative—mostly negative things I know I did—and try to work from there. I have a list of things I want to do this year to improve my outlook on life, and hopefully, make me a better person. One of those is reading my Bible more. I started my One Year Bible last year, as some of you might recall, but I only got about halfway. I've read the entire thing before, but last year I slacked off. I need to get back with that, so that's just one thing I want to start doing. I began it last night and found Psalm 1:1-6 sums me up perfectly right now ...

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers.

But they delight in doing everything the Lord wants;

day and night they think about His law.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

bearing fruit each season without fail.

Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.

But this is not true of the wicked.

They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.

They will be condemned at the time of judgement.

Sinners will have no place among the godly.

For the Lord watches over the path of the godly,

but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

Yes, that's me for sure. I really need to stop being like the worthless chaff. I need to be more productive with my life, so hopefully I can prosper more. I hope 2016 is like that for me.