bekahcubed – Page 116

Thankful Thursday: Friends and Fellow-Transplants

January 27, 2011 5 Comments by bekahcubed

I didn’t plan to find myself in Columbus, Nebraska. I interviewed for a job in Omaha–and got offered a job here.

A head-hunter matched my sister Anna to a job here.

Few of us really CHOSE to find ourselves in the east central part of Nebraska, in the greater Columbus area.

But here we are. And for that I am thankful.

This week, I’m thankful…

…for baking with my sister, her reading aloud from The Pioneer Woman Cooks while I dropped muffin batter into tins and rolled warm muffins in butter and sugar

…for Pampered Chef parties where Anna and Ruth and I bite our tongues while the rep tries to convince me that I should be a rep myself (If someone has just told you that she teaches cooking on a college level and that she regularly advises her students that they don’t need all the gadgets sold by companies like Pampered Chef…you probably SHOULDN’T suggest that if she’d just try your products she might just learn that “they’re not a want, they’re a need.”)

…for large hunks of beef and friends who will cut them into steaks for you (and laugh at you for rendering your own tallow from the trimmed fat.)

…for great reminders at Bible study that all work can be sanctified work (Thanks, Beth) and that it’s easy to lose focus at work but putting up reminders for yourself can help (Thanks, Teresa).

…for upcoming parties–hanging out this weekend with another who’ll be around town, a Valentines Party next month, drinks at my house in March (featuring SimplyThick!)

…for the Providence of God that brought me–and these–into this dinky little town at such a time as this

Everyday Life, Technology

A Nightstand saga

January 26, 2011 4 Comments by bekahcubed

My favorite day of the month is the fourth Tuesday of the month, when 5 Minutes 4 Books (5M4B) hosts their “What’s on Your Nightstand?” carnival and my “to-be-read” (TBR) list grows by leaps and bounds.

I’ve been known to deliberately NOT schedule things for the fourth Tuesday of the month because I knew I’d be hopping around the blogosphere finding out what everybody’s reading.

I was really thinking when I decided to schedule one of my twice-weekly trips to Grand Island on TUESDAYS.

I was thinking even more when I FAILED TO RETURN a library book to the library in Lincoln when I was there last. That meant I ended up with a book overdue (the one book I had out prior to starting my new regimen.)

But I was REALLY, REALLY thinking when I figured yesterday would be a great time to take that overdue library book back to Lincoln.

It made brilliant sense in my mind. Drive to Grand Island in the morning (1.25 hrs), work 8 hours, drive to Lincoln from Grand Island (1.5 hours), have supper with my parents and little sister (it turned out my oldest little brother was there too), drop books off at the library, and then drive back to Columbus from Lincoln (1.5 hrs).

Combining the trips into a triangle meant I only added 1.75 hrs to my drive time for the day–instead of tacking on the 3 hr round trip to Lincoln some other day (and having to pay all the fines that’d accrue while I was waiting for enough time to accomplish said trip.)

So it was a smart idea.

Except for one problem.

Yesterday was the fourth Tuesday of the month.

I posted my Nightstand post, visited a couple of other posts before I left for work.

Then I was gone for 15 hours straight without internet access.

And I still had to work the next day.

Which means I am now, just now finally getting around to reading what’s on everyone’s nightstand.

That, by the way, is why I haven’t posted today.

What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (January 2011)

January 25, 2011 14 Comments by bekahcubed

Crate of library books Do you remember the library book reading plan I unveiled last month?

150 items checked out for six weeks?

I’ve had to lower my expectations–which means that this box of books is being returned to the library today…

unread.

I still did get a bit of reading done though:

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
I’ve never reviewed anything by Wodehouse for bekahcubed–mostly because I’ve been inclined to believe that everyone already knows about him and about Jeeves and Wooster and that I was the last person on the planet to discover just how delightful this author and his characters are. But perhaps there is someone like me a year ago, who had never been introduced. Wodehouse is a fantastic comedic writer, with tales of hilarious capers that have the advantage of being CLEAN.

Munich Signature and Danzig Passage by Bodie Thoene
My sister LOVED the Zion Chronicles when we were teenagers. I’m not sure if I ever even tried to read one–but I was sure I wouldn’t be interested. They were too full of history, too wrapped up with music, too…too…Anna. My sister clearly had better taste in books than I did. I started reading the first in this series when I was restlessly looking for something to read at my folks’ house in between grading endless finals at the end of the last semester–and have been hopelessly hooked. These are some of the most engaging novels I have ever read. Set on the cusp of the second World War, they follow a small group of Jewish musicians from country to country as the nations of the world fall to Hitler’s insanity.

Much Ado about Anne by Heather Vogel Frederick
I read this one as part of Carrie’s L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge–and thoroughly enjoyed reading about a book club reading Anne of Green Gables (how’s that for a mouthful?) Check out my review for further details.

The Science of Sexy by Bradley Bayou
Um, yeah. Don’t really know how much more I can say about this book than what I already wrote here. Follow the link if you want to hear about how my family (Mom, sister, brothers, and Dad) reviewed this book on fashion/style together.

28 Children’s Picture Books author name BARANSKI-BARKLEM
Picture books are always a mix of delights and duds. I sorta reviewed Lynne Barasch’s A Country Schoolhouse, which I enjoyed quite a deal. But my absolute favorite find in this batch is the group I haven’t reviewed yet–a collection of books by Jill Barklem about the animals that inhabit “Brambly Hedge”. The stories–and the art–remind me of Beatrix Potter with a little bit of The Hobbit thrown in. Absolutely delightful (but I’m sure I’ll be writing about these more in depth later!)

4 children’s nonfiction books about Massachusetts
And I still don’t know how to spell it. Someday, I’m going to remember that there’s a double s, then a single s, then a double t, then a single s. Only ONE set of double s’s, bekahcubed! Get it? (Can anybody guess how often I’ve given myself that speech?)

Ask me Anything a Dorling-Kindersley book
One of my favorites of the whole bunch–I’ve checked it out something like five times already and still haven’t gotten all the way through it. It’s 300 BIG pages filled with interesting factoids about absolutely everything. Info-holic that I am, I can’t abide to just skim it–I wanted to read the whole thing. (I read to page 240 and skimmed the rest.) Most of the sections are absolutely amazing–but readers must be forewarned that the section on dinosaurs is a load of evolutionary hooey (despite the fact that there’s plenty to be explored about dinosaurs without reference to evolution, this book chose to make the ENTIRE discussion of dinosaurs about evolution). Anyhow, I still enjoyed this book fully, learning about everything from super-fast cars to g-forces to how Venus flytraps catch flies.

Two cookbooks
I’m going to rave about both of these sometime in the next couple of months, but The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond and Quick Cooking for Two by Sunset magazine were both winners by my book. I’ve gotten rave reviews and had more fun cooking from these two books than I have from any in years! Definitely worth picking up.

Course, even after taking back a bunch unread, I still have two weeks with what’s left–and there’s plenty left!

I’m gonna focus first, though, on finishing up what’s currently in progress:

On my nightstand

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Bright-sided : how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Composting by Liz Ball
Confessions by St. Augustine
The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister and Phyllis Tickle
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
The woman’s fix-it car care book by Karen Valenti

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!

Book Notes, The Week in Words

WiW: Great Expectations

January 24, 2011 6 Comments by bekahcubed

“You have such expectations,” my Dad tells me again–the third or fourth time. “and it sets you up for great disappointments. You see, I never really expected much from myself or from life. And so when I turned out to have a wonderful life, I was pleasantly surprised. You have great expectations, so when things don’t turn out the way you expected, you’re disappointed–even if your life is still objectively quite good.”

It’s an observation, not a statement that his way is better or worse than mine.

But I think of it when I read these words in Anne of Green Gables:

“You set your heart too much on things, Anne,” said Marilla with a sigh. “I’m afraid there’ll be a great many disappointments in store for you through life.”

“Oh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them,” exclaimed Anne. “you mayn’t get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, ‘Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.‘ But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed.“

I’m glad my Dad doesn’t make light of my aspirations, like Mrs. Lynde and Marilla seem to of Anne’s. But his observations–and those of Marilla, Anne, and Mrs. Lynde–do make me think.

I do expect a lot from life. I expect a lot from myself.

I want to do, I want to be, I want to see, I want to hear, I want to write. I want to live an extraordinary life. I want to do extraordinary things. I want to be an extraordinary person.

I have great expectations.

But, as my dad and Marilla and Mrs. Lynde observe, it does set me up for more disappointments than if I hadn’t such expectations.

I end up with less time and energy than I thought I’d have even after moving permanently to Columbus–and I’m disappointed not to be able to accomplish the grandiose expectations that I’d had for how my first few months in Columbus might look.

I find myself in a corner of dietetics I didn’t expect to find myself in, in a corner of the state I didn’t expect to find myself in, with…

I find that life is very different than what I expected.

On the other hand, like Anne, I love the expectation itself–the dreaming, the planning, the process of trying to make the dreams become reality. I still haven’t taken that bike ride across Nebraska, but I’ve loved what training I’ve done (I’ve trained gung ho three springs in a row, only to find busyness and/or medical issues stymie the actual completion), I’ve loved the planning, I’ve loved the bike rides taken with friends in the meantime.

And, as my Dad points out, my high expectations, while not always achievable, have enabled me to achieve a great deal more than someone who just floats through life with no goals or expectations.

My dad makes it clear that my driven personality is not a fault but a blessing. But he is also quick to caution that it can become a fault. When I become so focused on results that I ignore people. When I become so focused on unmet expectations that I fail to be thankful for unexpected blessings. When I set my heart on things instead of Christ.

And ultimately, that is what it comes down to.

“You set your heart too much on things,” Marilla says.

She’s right. I do.

Not that there’s anything wrong with doing things, having things. Neither the doing of things nor the desire to do things is wrong. It’s the setting of my heart on things that is wrong.

“Do not trust in extortion
or take pride in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.”
~Psalm 62:10, NIV (c)1984

I was made to do great things.

It is right that I desire to do great things.

But my heart was made to be set on Christ.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
~Colossians 3:1-4, NIV (c)1984

Be sure to follow through with Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

I’m reading Anne of Green Gables as a part of Carrie’s L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge. Check out the link to see what others are saying about (or reading of) L.M. Montgomery this month

Family & Friends

Snapshot: Small Town Theater-Going Girls

January 23, 2011 2 Comments by bekahcubed

Lincoln (my hometown) is a small city or a big town, depending on whether you’re calculating by US standards or by whole world standards. In Nebraska, it’s the big city.

Columbus (my current lodging place) is a small town, no doubt. A small city by Nebraska standards.

But Schuyler, Nebraska is a small town by anyone’s standards.

Nevertheless, one Sunday afternoon a group of us younger women who somehow found ourselves working and residing in and around Columbus made our way to the smaller town of Schuyler, Nebraska to enjoy a movie.

Girls at Movie Theatre

For five dollars collected by Boy Scout volunteers, we saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (without 3D, thank goodness!) in a tiny community theatre.

We sat about in the middle of the theatre.

Five people sat in front of us.

Maybe twelve sat behind us.

The theatre shows one movie a weekend–7 pm on Friday and Saturday, 2 pm on Sunday.

The movies are generally family-friendly, PG-13 at worst.

We’re considering making it a habit.

Small-town theater-going girls.

That’d be us.

Faith, Family & Friends, Politics

Survivors of a Genocide

January 22, 2011 3 Comments by bekahcubed

On this day in history 38 years ago, a court decision legalized the genocide which has since killed over 40 million unborn babies.

In 1973, my cousin Danny was a baby. 615,831 of his peers were murdered.

In 1974, my cousin Donna was born (I estimate). 763,476 of her peers were murdered.

In 1975, my cousin Shiloh was born. 854,853 of his peers were murdered.

In 1977, my cousin Judah was born. 1,079,430 of his peers were murdered.

In 1979, my cousins Sarah and Janalynn were born. 1,251,921 of their peers were murdered.

In 1980, my cousin Jamin was born. 1,297,606 of his peers were murdered.

In 1981, my cousin Adam was born. 1,300,760 of his peers were murdered.

In 1983, my sister Anna was protected in our mother’s womb. 1,268,987 of her peers were murdered.

In 1984, my sister Anna and cousin Ariann were born. 1,333,521 of their peers were murdered.

In 1985, I was born. 1,328,570 of my peers were murdered.

In 1986, my brother Joshua was born. 1,328,112 of his peers were murdered.

In 1987, my cousins Joseph, Vicki, and Luke were born. 1,353,671 of their peers were murdered.

In 1988, my cousin Joseph and sister-in-law Debbie were born. 1,371,285 of their peers were murdered.

In 1989, my brother Daniel and cousins Elizabeth, Becca and Christine were born. 1,396,658 of their peers were murdered.

In 1990, my brother John and cousins Matthew and Paul were born. 1,429,577 of their peers were murdered.

In 1991, my cousins Patrick, Joanna, and Jennifer, and sister-out-law Joanna were born. 1,388,937 of their peers were murdered.

In 1992, my brother Tim and cousins Joel, Jesse, Jeremy, and Caroline were born. 1,359,145 of their peers were murdered.

In 1993, my cousin Eric was born. Another cousin, Melinda, was born stillborn and grieved for by a loving family. 1,330,414 of their peers were murdered.

In 1994, my sister Grace, cousins Michael, Aaron, and Naomi, and brother-out-law John were born. 1,267,415 of their peers were murdered.

In 1995, my cousins Dominique and Kyle were born. 1,210,883 of their peers were murdered.

In 1996, my cousins Ben, Joel, Clayton, and Hannah were born. 1,225,937 of their peers were murdered.

In 1997, my cousins Caleb, Bethany, and Susannah were/was born. 1,186,039 of their peers were murdered.

In 1998, my cousin Lauren was born. Over 884,273* of her peers were murdered.

In 1999, my cousins Isaac and Tabitha were born. Over 861,789* of their peers were murdered.

In 2000, my cousins Megan and Brett were born. Over 857,475* of their peers were murdered.

In 2002, my cousin Anthony was born. Over 854,122* of his peers were murdered.

In 2004, my cousin Brooke was born. Over 839,226* of her peers were murdered.

In 2006, Ezekiel was born to my cousins Shiloh and Janalynn. Over 846,181* of his peers were murdered.

In 2008, Lexie was born to my cousins Sarah and Byron. 1,212,350 of her peers were murdered.

In 2010, Mackenna was born to my cousins Ariann and Mike, and Carter was born to my cousins Adam and Theresa. A thus far unnumbered multitude of their peers were murdered.

In 2011, my nephew or niece will be born. How many of his peers will be murdered this year?

Please pray…

and take action

to end abortion

Are you or your children survivors of this genocide? Would you like your name to be listed within these rolls? Please leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll add you/them to the list. And please, please pray for the end of this genocide.

Statistics for 1973-2006 were obtained from The CDCs abortion surveillance project. Statistics for 2008 are from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.

*Statistics were not reported by the states of California or New Hampshire from 1998 to the present. Alaska did not report from 1998-2002. Oklahoma did not report from 1998-1999. West Virginia did not report from 2003-2004. Louisiana has not reported from 2005 to the present. The children in these states murdered through abortion remain unnumbered, but not forgotten.

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday: Technology

January 21, 2011 8 Comments by bekahcubed

My family was a curious blend of old and new.

I’ve written before about how our family didn’t really watch television when I was growing up–and only sporadically owned a TV, which was kept in a closet. We didn’t have TV, didn’t watch movies, didn’t play video games.

But we were by no means Luddites. In fact, my family was an early adopter of a few of the (now) most ubiquitous technologies.

Today Linda asks… What new inventions or technology came out when you were growing up that you remember being amazed at? Were your parents “early adopters”–did they get the “latest and greatest” pretty quickly or did they stick with the “tried and true”? What are some things that you remember being a big deal when your family got them?

My dad is a “techno-nerd”, has always been. His degrees are in ~~physics~~ math (my brother corrects my faulty memory) and computer science, and he’s worked in computers since graduating from college.

We had a computer, probably one of dad’s work computers, sitting at a desk in our basement, and I remember one time, when I was five or six (1990 or so), having Dad show us this neat little thing he was doing on his computer.

All I saw was bright green text scrolling across the screen–but Dad explained to me that this was the INTERNET. He was connecting to other computers, far away, sharing information with them and receiving information from them.

I didn’t know the significance of the internet at that time, could not have comprehended how much the internet would shape my life.

At that point, the World Wide Web, the application that would make the internet mainstream, was in beta stage.

The internet would not enter the vernacular until five years later, when free America Online CD-Roms started showing up in supermarket checkouts and elementary schools were routinely teaching “computer skills” rather than just typing.

We led the pack.

Another bit of technology we had before all the rest was Compact Discs. I’ve also written about this before.

Compact Discs were, from their inception, shortened down to “CDs”–but when we first started using “CDs”, the term more commonly referred to Certificates of Deposit.

I remember being quite young and asking a babysitter from down the street if we could listen to a CD.

She was rather confused.

“Don’t you know what a CD is? Don’t you have CDs?” I asked her.

“Yes, I have CDs at the bank, but…” (She was a smart teenager who invested wisely–I wish I’d have followed her example!)

Yep, that’s right. Compact Discs were as normal as breathing to me, but the rest of the world hadn’t a clue.

Oh, how times have changed!

Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Sickness

January 20, 2011 3 Comments by bekahcubed

“Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” Job 2:10

The words trickled into my mind as I told my sister of my thankfulness that I had not yet experienced a bilious emesis (vomiting small intestine contents.)

I was forced to accept the truth of these words and follow up: “But if God should grant me a bilious emesis, I shall thank Him for it.”

This week, I am thankful…

…that God is sovereign over both health and sickness–and that He will conform me to His image with whatever means He pleases

…that God is a gracious designer who has formed my immune system to work exactly as it is

…that God is merciful and never gives me more than I can handle (even when my whole GI tract is cramping and I can barely force myself to take in fluids)

…that God grants reprieve through a few moments of sleep here and there and a book that occasionally takes my mind off the pain my body is feeling

…that, as of yet, I have not experienced a bilious emesis. Stomach contents have come up, small intestine contents have gone down–and God is sovereignly wise and unfailing gracious, even should that circumstance change.

Works for Me Wednesday

WFMW: Boot holder-uppers

January 19, 2011 3 Comments by bekahcubed

Fabulous knee high boots Do you own a pair of fabulous knee-high boots?

Does your pair of fabulous knee-high boots have creases along the ankles from standing (drooping) forlorn in your closet?

You can solve that problem by following the shoe guru’s advice of packing your boots with tissue paper and then returning them to the box you bought them in for storage.

As if any of us have that kind of time (or space).

I choose an easier route, a simple three step route:
Fabulous knee high boots with wine bottles

Purchase 2 bottles of wine
My vineyard of choice is James Arthur Vineyards. And while White St. Croix is shown here, my favorite (and recommended option) is the fruity red “San Realto”. Mmm-mmm!
Drink bottles of wine
If you’re a bit eager to get those boots held up, I recommend throwing a dinner party to make the wine go faster. Don’t forget that the healthiest alcohol consumption is MODERATE alcohol consumption–that means 1 drink per day (or less) for women and 2 drinks per day (or less) for men.
Use empty bottles to hold up boots
Just slide ’em (the bottles) in, zip ’em (the boots) up, and set ’em (the boots and bottles together) in your closet. No more nasty crease lines–and your boots take no more space on your closet floor than the rest of your shoes do.

Fabulous knee high boots Disclaimer: I am not encouraging either underage drinking or drunkenness. If you are less than twenty-one (in the United States) or are an alcoholic or at-risk-for-alcoholism (or just prefer not to drink alcohol), you can use bottles of sparkling grape or apple juice to fulfill the same function. Furthermore, even if you ARE over 21 (in the US) and don’t think you could ever become an alcoholic, I reiterate: the healthiest drinking is moderate drinking. You’re only jeopardizing your health (and possibly that of others, as well as your Christian witness) by practicing drunkenness. Just choose NOT to drink to the point of drunkenness.

Check out more “Works for Me Wednesday” posts at We are THAT Family.

Book Reviews

Book Review: “Much Ado About Anne” by Heather Vogel Frederick

January 18, 2011 4 Comments by bekahcubed

In my experience, lit about lit or books based on books tend to follow a fairly typical pattern.

You know, high school students perform “Romeo and Juliet” only to find that their own lives parallel the play in ways they never imagined (and generally don’t get until the end of the story.)

So I was expecting some orphans or a precocious redhead or at very least someone in need of a bosom friend when I picked up Much Ado About Anne.

When I got a couple chapters into the book and still hadn’t started to see parallels, I got a bit nervous.

It wasn’t what I expected at all.

And that’s a good thing.

Heather Vogel Frederick’s Much Ado About Anne doesn’t try to recreate Anne of Green Gables (as though another author could do it better than L.M. Montgomery!) Instead, Much Ado About Anne finds the mother-daughter book club experiencing their own story while reading through Anne’s story in book club.

Two great conflicts rise in the lives of the book club girls: first, their mothers invite the oh-so-stuck-up Becca Chadwick to join their club–and then Jess discovers that her family may be forced off their ancestral farm.

The girls (and therefore their readers) learn interesting factoids about L.M. Montgomery thanks to one girl’s librarian mother. And, just like good bibliophiles, they find ways of relating what they’re reading to their own lives.

And so, they realize that Becca is a Pye, and must be tolerated as a Pye. They relate to the utter mortification Anne felt when she dyed her hair green–although, of course, their mortification is over something entirely different. And they emulate their new heroine by naming the lands around them with fanciful names.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. It has just enough Anne to make it worth its title–but not so much Anne that it’s lacking any substance of its own.

I’m glad I took the opportunity to take a glimpse at Anne through the eyes of four fictional middle-school girls. As a long-standing Anne-fan, I found myself thrilled with these girls’ glimpses of Anne–and I’m willing to bet that this book would be a great way to introduce a young reader who’s reluctant to read “old” books into the great story that is Anne. Once she’s read this, I can almost guarantee she’ll want to read the “back-story”–the novels the mother-daughter book club read and discussed and applied to their own lives.

Rating: 4 stars
Category:Middle grade fiction (female)
Synopsis:The mother-daughter book club gets busy reading Anne of Green Gables, dealing with their very own Josie Pye, and racking their brains to save Half Moon Farm.
Recommendation: Great for lovers of Anne, or lovers of YA fiction/young chick lit, or anyone who wants to introduce a younger girl to the joys of Green Gables.

I read this as a part of Carrie’s L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge. Check out the link for more people’s comments on L.M. Montgomery. Visit my books page for more book reviews and notes by me.