Five Minute Friday - Thinking like a Man

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Someone said to me that I should “think like a man.” Of course, my first instinct was to tell them to shove it and accept that thinking like a woman was the best way to think. But, I wanted to give it some thought, to see if maybe I was missing something.

So, I had to determine what thinking like a man meant. To me, thinking like a man seems like thinking without feeling. I can see some benefits to thinking like that. You can make decisions without caring about how others might feel. You wouldn’t have to stay up all night worrying about what the people in your life might be feeling. Thinking like a man would certainly alleviate some anxiety and sleeplessness. Two very good points for thinking like a man.

But, despite how much I would enjoy a little less anxiety and sleeplessness, it isn’t in my nature to think without feeling. I don’t know if it’s a “woman” thing, or a “Mandy” thing, but I put emotion into everything I do, and I don’t see that as a negative. I think that making decisions without considering others isn’t the right way for me to think.

The fact of the matter is that I am a woman; I think like a woman, I feel like a woman, and I care like a woman. I think there is a good reason that men and women think differently...we balance each other.

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And, I have learned that it is really difficult to cover a subject in just five minutes.

Book 5 - The Everything Homeschooling Book

Synopsis: This is a resource book that covers as much about homeschooling as possible. It covers how to start, whether you're starting right away, or taking your child out of public school to start homeschooling. It discusses the different options for homeschooling like curriculum-based homeschooling vs. unschooling. Schedules, organizing, and obstacles are also a major focus. It ends with covering getting your homeschooler into college.

My thoughts: I know this is a silly book to use for a 52-book reading plan, but I ended up reading it cover to cover. Being someone that is just starting out in the world of homeschooling, it gave me things to consider, and some extra confidence that this can be done. I have a feeling that I will be referring to this book many times over the next few years.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Book 4 - The Maze Runner

Synopsis: Thomas, a teenager, shows up in an unfamiliar place inhabited by 50 other young boys. He has no memories. The boys explain to him that they were all left there, one a month, and that they are surrounded by a giant maze filled with creatures that try to kill them. They spend their time trying to solve the maze and find a way home, even though none of them remember where home is.

The day after Thomas arrives, a girl shows up. She is there to start the ending of the maze. The book follows their time trying to work together to find a way out.

My thoughts:This had a very similar feel to the Hunger Games. It moved along quickly, and was very well thought out. My only problem with the book, was that the author decided that the boys should use fake swearwords, and should use them often. It was very annoying reading with the boys calling each other "shuckface," several times each page.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Book 3 - The Next Always

Synopsis: This is the first of three books about the Montgomery brothers. They, along with their mother, are renovating an old building and turning it into a bed and breakfast. This book focuses on the youngest brother, Beckett and his romance with the owner of the local book store, Clare.

My thoughts: Okay, I'll be the first to admit that it was an easy read. It had been a while since I've read a romance novel, so I thought it would be about time. I have always been a fan of Nora Roberts, and this book didn't change that. But, it wasn't one of her best.


The book didn't have an ounce of conflict until well past half way through. The characters were well developed, and it was a sweet story. But, the lack of conflict was made up for by the very descriptive writing about the bed and breakfast they were building. It sounds like a place that I would love to go!





Rating: 3 out of 5

Five Minute Friday - Cooking vs. Baking

I wasn’t thrilled with the prompt for this week’s Five Minute Friday, so a friend of mine gave me a new one. Cooking vs. Baking

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To me, the difference between cooking and baking is like the difference between:

House and home

Hand and heart

Average and spectacular

Necessity and desire

Need and want

Everyone needs to eat.  Without basic sustenance, the average human being would die, so you need to know how to cook a meal. Luckily, for me, things can be easily microwaved and still result in some form a basic food. Survival.

But, just like your mom taught you when you were growing up, you have to eat your dinner before you get to eat dessert. Dessert isn’t a necessity; it’s a privilege. That’s why heart goes into making it.  You can’t bake an apple pie without putting love into it.

Stop

I could go on, but my five minutes ended. :(

Thank you, Melissa, for a topic that made me smile while I wrote!

Book 2 - You Know When the Men Are Gone

Synopsis: This is a collection of 8 short stories that are loosely connected together due to all of the people in the stories having something to do with Fort Hood in Texas. There is a mix between stories about the women left behind when the men go to war, and stories about the men themselves.

My thoughts: From the beginning, I was very annoyed because the book cover didn't make it clear that this was a book of short stories, rather than a novel. I don't have anything against short stories, but I need to be in the mood to read them.

All of the stories had a very negative feel to them, which I can't believe is how it is all the time in the military. Not everyone cheats, or gets cheated on, when in the military. Not everyone dies, or loses someone. Marriages don't always end in divorce after the war. But, in this book, they all did.

The worst part of this book was that you get just enough of the story to start caring about the characters, and then the author leaves the ending wide open and unfinished. I can understand doing that every once in a while, but not for every story. That isn't good writing. That is the lack of being able to close a story. I think the author did a very large disservice to all military families.

Rating: 2 out of 5 (It gets 2, rather than just 1, because I did start to care about what was going to happen to some of the characters.)

Wordless Wednesday

Presidential Fascination

I have been somewhat enamored with presidential history for a while. While looking up some random information for a President's Day bulletin board at work, I came across this, and I found it completely fascinating!

“Some folks believe that the curse of Indian chief Tecumseh has killed every U.S. President before the end of their term in office, if they were elected in a year that ended with 0. The first victim of the curse was William Henry Harrison, whose troops killed the Indian chief in 1813.”

Harrison, elected in 1840, died of pneumonia after serving 31 days in office.

Lincoln, elected in 1860, assassinated.

Garfield, elected in 1880, assassinated.

McKinley, elected to a second term in 1900, assassinated.

Harding, elected in 1920, died of a stroke in 1923.

Roosevelt, elected to a third term in 1940, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.

Kennedy, elected in 1960, assassinated.

Reagan, elected in 1980, survived an attempted assassination.

Why you don't marry your first love...

I was recently speaking with my first love, who has become a dear friend. We were discussing our children, and while talking about his son and his first love, I found myself saying, “Don’t worry, he’s smart enough not to marry his first love, so he will be fine.” For some reason, I couldn’t get that out of my head while driving to work. It probably stuck in my head because I was saying to my first love that it's stupid to marry your first love, and I found that odd.  

It always made sense to me that you don’t marry your first love, even though I know some people do and have very successful marriage. But, I never took the time to determine why that made sense to me. This is what I came up with for why you don’t marry your first love:

You learn something from each relationship, so if you only have one, you miss out on many lessons. From your first love, you learn to be vulnerable. This is a very important lesson.  After your first love, you learn how to deal with relationships ending. This is a valuable lesson as well, because any relationship (friendships, romantic relationships, business relationship, etc.), can come to an end, and knowing how to get through that ending is an important skill to have. And then you get back on the horse, and the relationships following your first love teach you:

-           to trust, and learn when not to trust

-          to relax and have fun

-          to be supportive and to allow someone to be supportive for you

-           to have passion and to learn the difference between passion and love

-           to forgive and learn when to forget

-          and finally, to commit

I know a lot of this can be learned from your first love, but I think it’s hard to learn all of that from one person. I know I didn't. And, you also learn a very valuable lesson when you are between relationships. You learn who you are when you’re not in a relationship. Without that time alone, you can end up become what the other person wants you to be, rather than who you want to be.

And, my final thought on not marrying your first love…is that if you did marry your first love, you would never randomly meet your true love one day at the mall. J

Five Minute Friday - Roar

Let’s do it. Let’s just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Let your mind and your words and your heart fly free; wild – no editing, no over thinking.

Won’t you join me?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – don’t edit; don’t second-guess.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Must: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

http://thegypsymama.com/2012/01/five-minute-friday-roar/

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on: Roar…

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There are so many times that I want to be heard, but I don’t make my voice loud enough. Not loud in the volume sense of the word, but loud in how much I try to voice what I am saying to people that aren’t listening. 

There are times that we choose to stay silent, rather than ROAR, when people choose not to hear what we’re trying to say. Those times need to be fewer for me. But, many people are like me in that we don’t respond to people who Roar because those that do are just annoying. 

There has to be a middle ground to being heard and not being obnoxious. Sometimes I feel like yelling “I actually know what I’m talking about, so shut up and listen,” but I know that wouldn’t be effective.

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So, this was my very first attempt at Five Minute Friday…and it’s not that easy. To write without spending time thinking about it, or having the chance to edit it and pull it together into something coherent, is harder than I would have expected. Hopefully, it will get easier to learn to “just write!”

Wordless Wednesday

Book 1 - Magyk

Synopsis: The book takes place in a magical land. It is a mix of Arthurian settings and a few modern elements, like guns. It is the story of the seventh son of the seventh son and a country being taken over by an evil wizard. Sadly, there isn't much to say without giving everything away.

My thoughts: It was a very easy read, being that it is made for young adults. Sadly, despite being well written, it was so very predictable. It is the first of a series, and I will give the second book a chance sometime. The first book had to provide so much background information, that the second book could be better.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The 52 Book Challenge

A friend and I were discussing our desire to read more in 2012. We both love to read, but haven't read as much as we like in the past. She wanted to set a goal to read x-amount of books in one year. After talking about it, we finally decided to do one book a week, so 52 books for the whole year, and blog about each book that we read.

The one rule is that it has to be a NEW book - one that you have never read before.

It can be an genre, any size, any shape, any color. :)

My first book is 'Magyk' by Angie Sage