A Winter Challenge

I usually stumble on things.


I'm not just talking about my own feet here. I mean I'm kind of one of those people who have a tendency not to notice something until I trip over it. Whether that is my own feet or less literally, great ideas and opportunities.

So last Wednesday I was wondering around the Works For Me postings at Rocks in My Dryer and I happened upon a lovely blog called A Joyful Heart . Don't you just love the name...A Joyful Heart. Anyway I love it and it made me want to stay and see what all she had going on over there. Of course one of the first things I noticed was the banner you see here. Winter Reading Challenge.

Now, I have to back track a little here because I need to explain that I not only "stumble" a lot, but I'm also a little slow to catch on sometimes.

When I encountered my first bloggy carnival I was, um, kind of confused. A carnival? On a blog? Where's the ferris wheel? Where's the cotton candy? Where's the sideshow? Then, after "stumbling around" a bit, I got it. It's a gathering. A place to meet others and exchange ideas, encouragement, recipes or ...well anyway....I got it.

So last Fall, as I stumbled around the bloggy world, I noticed at a few blogs there were people participating in a reading challenge. Huh? Didn't get it and moved on.

Then, as I said before, last Wednesday I wandered over to A Joyful Heart and the light bulb went on! I got it. A "carnival" of sorts to challenge myself in my reading, be sort of accountable and also find some great books.

And I've needed some challenging of late. Oh, I've been reading, but it's been mostly fluff. Not that there's anything wrong with that but, just like cotton candy, it's not very filling and you find yourself craving more.

So I made a decision to find some more nourishing fare. And here is what I decided on. Some I have already started. And a couple I'll be reading to my kids. Here it is, my Winter Reading List:

The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters (because I like a good medeivel mystery)

The Borrowers by Mary Norton (this one is for the kiddos)

HTML,XHTML & CSS by Elizabeth Castro (because I'm determined to understand how all this web stuff works and how I can make it work)

The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon(I mean Noel) by Ellen Raskin (I loved The Westing Game by the same author)

Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming (I've only ever seen the movie and I wanted to read it to the kids too)

(Not pictured and on order from Amazon):

Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (Homer's Illiad for kids; it has 5 - star reviews over at Amazon)

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick (this is another one to read to the kids)

(Also on order from Amazon and for ... ahem... growth and developement purposes):

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald (I can hardly wait for this one to come, I've read sooo many good recommendations)

Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens 2nd Edition by Paul David Tripp (this one is because in about eleven months we will have an official teenager living in our house)

The One-Year Bible by God (I have been reading this since last August so this is a more of a just keep going read)

There it is, what I am going to try and read between now and March 17th. With the weather being what it is in my part of the world that really shouldn't be too hard because it looks like this:

And if I'm lucky and it stops looking so snowy on our roof I'll also have a nice wood stove to sit by while I read. (The man can't put the wood stove in until the snow melts off our roof.) In the meantime I'll curl up underneath my electric blanket and read away the cold winter evenings!