My Neighborhood Cat Friend - Woodka

This is a picture I took of Woodka today, a very friendly neighborhood cat who comes up to me on its own and lets me pet it.  Its fur is very fine and long so is easily matted.  It's very soft though and I feel honored that it comes over to me.  The yard is about a foot above the sidewalk and the cat stays in the yard for the most part.  I can sit on the wood border along the side of the yard and pet it up easily.  Today since it reached 61 degrees, I was pretty certain Woodka would be outside so brought along my cat massaging shell comb to brush it.  My cat loved it and didn't like any of the other combs or brushes I tried and Woodka liked it too!  I was able to get some of the tangles out of her fur before her owner called her back inside.  I miss my cats so much and am happy to see some outdoor cats in our neighborhood as we walk our dog, but this is the only one so far that comes up to me for petting.  

I highly recommend getting the massage comb from Leospaw.com for any cats you know.  Here is a demonstration so you can see how much cats enjoy it:

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Our Favorite Reads For January--One Non-Fiction; One YA Fiction

I am so excited to tell you about my favorite book for January, but it's really one of my all-time favorite non-fiction books:

The Power of a Positive Woman by Karol Ladd!

A MUST read for all women!

The Power of a Positive Woman by Karol Ladd is the best inspirational non-fiction book I ever read and plan to read it again! I absolutely LOVE this book and can't say enough good about it! It is Biblical, has scriptures included throughout it right in the text, interesting facts about people used as examples of putting the principles into action and is uplifting, encouraging and challenging! Topics include: faith, wisdom, prayer, joy, love, courage, hope and the main theme is making a difference.

I used it as a devotional book the first time I read it and highlighted lots of things. It is divided into chapters with subdivisions so provides short thought-provoking passages easily used as devotionals. At the end of each chapter is a a short application section called “Power Point” which includes further scripture with some questions to think about, a prayer, a main point to remember and some activity to do. If you are looking for a practical book that will encourage spiritual growth, this is it!

The Power of a Positive Woman is a wonderful book to use for a women's Bible study group which is how I came to read it. I highly recommend this book to all women, but I think men could certainly benefit from it as well.
(Karen's review, rating 10 stars!)

Gerard's January Favorite: The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban

Every year at a boarding school, the outgoing seniors leave a "treasure" behind in their rooms for the next senior occupying that room to find. Duncan finds a stack of CDs left for him that he doesn't think much of until he listens to the first one. Then he can't stop until he hears them all! What's on the CDs? You will have to read the book.

Like the CDs, this book is hard to put down. I finished it in two days! I got to really care about the characters, the writing is superb and the ending is shocking! Do I have your interest yet? All that being said, I give this book 5++ stars!

QUIET--The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking was my favorite of the month until I read this one. You can click the link to read my review of that one.

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Our August Favorite Reads: Fiction and Non-Fiction

We both agree that two books we read last month stand out that we both liked which are One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf and January First by Michael Schofield (nonfiction).

One Breath Away

Karen's review, rating 5 stars:
One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf is really, really good! It is fast-paced and realistic contemporary fiction with characters that are very believable. It grabbed my attention right from the start and never let me go! The hostage situation at the small school in a fictional small town in Iowa is described so well, I could feel what the characters were feeling. It kept me guessing who the gunman was right until he was revealed. I’m sure because this story is told from five different people, there is at least one that you will identify with. For me, I identified with the teacher—determined to protect her students from the gunman while thinking about her husband. The teen girl’s unwavering desire to protect her brother was both touching and heartwarming. It shows how a crisis can bring families closer. I highly recommend One Breath Away—it even has a dog in it!

Gerard's review, rating 5 stars:
In One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf, a lone gunman takes over a small classroom holding the teacher and pupils hostage. What made this book so good in my opinion is that it is told by five people as the novel is ongoing. I got to know their thought and background to understand what led up to this point. The writing is superb. If you want riveting, this is it! I could hardly put it down and kept saying how good it was while reading it. Oh, and good luck trying to figure out who the gunman is—I was completely surprised! To sum it up, it doesn’t get any better than this—don’t let this one get past you!

January First

Gerard's review, rating 5++ stars:
January First by Michael Schofield tells the true and ongoing story of Janni Schofield who has Schizophrenia. It is told by her dad, Michael. This is a fantastic read! You talk about a page turner—I really had a hard time putting this down. You will not read many books like this! Good luck, Janni, I'm praying for you and your family. This is a must read!

Karen's review, 5 stars:
January First by Michael Schofield is the true story of his daughter’s descent into madness and his struggle to save her. At just three years old, his daughter, Janni had hallucinations and symptoms of Schizophrenia, although it took several years for the official diagnosis. He shares his heart-wrenching story of how he and his wife were actually afraid of their sweet little girl because of her violent outbursts. She would hit her parents, her dog and often tried to hit her younger brother. Reading this, I felt sorry for Janni, her parents, her teachers and her brother. It is a very sad story of a family who fought so hard to be a normal family, but couldn’t. The husband and wife both love Janni very much but often found themselves disagreeing as to how best to help her. Fortunately, it seems they found some hope at the end of the tunnel. If you want to read an inspiring story of parents who don’t give up through difficult times, I recommend this book to you. Wow!


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What Cell Phone Service Do You Recommend?

Gerard and I put off getting cells phones for a long time because we just figured we wouldn't get much use out of them. Finally, Christmas of 2007 I decided to get some for us and now we're spoiled. We found out we use it more than we thought we would. I really hate how they lock you in for two years!

Now after a little over a year and a half, Gerard's isn't working. I tried turning it off and on, which sometimes does fix the problem, but not this time. He couldn't answer my call or bring up his contacts to call me. We headed over to the shopping mall where I had purchased them and found out:

(a) We have to go to some repair shop about 25 minutes from us to see if they could fix it; or

(b) Get an upgrade for mine and then have the guy change it to Gerard's number because he's not eligible for an upgrade until October 1. Then take his old phone back for an upgrade October and have the guy change it to my number. This sounds fishy to me. This just blows me away--we got the phones at the same time! Why would not both be eligible for an upgrade by now?

(c) Of course, if we got an upgrade, we would again be locked in for two more years! Do we really want this poor service for another two years--don't think so!

Gerard did not want to bother going to possible get it fixed. His solution is to go without one until October and just try charging it again and hope it works tomorrow. Who knows, maybe it will.

I do not want to keep paying for a busted phone. I am so annoyed and upset about this. I hate being locked in. I wish I could just go to get different phones from someone else but then I'd be paying two cell phone bills! AAARRRGGHH! I hate to complain but sometimes if I write it helps me feel better and get out some frustration. I also thought that perhaps you could give us some advice on what cell phone service is more reliable that what we have.

Revol? Verizon? T-Mobile? AT&T? Altel? Which one do you recommend? All we need is a simple phone. I do not use it for twittering, email, pictures, just phone calls. Is there any that doesn't lock you in for a certain amount of time?