This is going to be the coolest Halloween Ever!

With the growing popularity of Pinterest this year, I have a prediction that this year people all over will be seeing the most awesome decorations ever this year at Halloween!  It took me a while to allow myself to sign up for Pinterest because I was warned how addicting it can be.  Finally my curiosity overtook me.  It is really inspiring!  I see so many great ideas that I want to try on there!  Yes, it really is addicting, and it seems you enter a time warp zone in Pinterest, so you don't notice how much time has passed while you are scrolling through hundreds of pictures of awesome stuff.

When I get out of Pinterest, I'm thinking to myself, "I gotta get to my sewing machine!  I gotta cook that recipe!  I can't wait until Halloween and Christmas!  I wanna decorate my house like that!"  Way to get the creative juices flowing.

Only I've spent all my free time looking at Pinterest rather than actually creating something.

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The Inheritance Series: A Review

The Inheritance series or "cycle" is about a young man named Eragon who lives in a magical land called Alagaesia.  He discovers an unusual stone, which turns out to be a dragon egg.  The dragon hatches, and the two become spiritually entwined.  Eragon and Saphira become great warriors with the power of magic in a battle to overthrow a powerful tyrannical king.

I've seen Eragon in the Scholastic catalogues my kids bring home from school.  I was in the mood for a light read, so I picked up this fantasy from the library.  I really liked it!  I got into pretty well and had a hard time putting it down.  This first book introduces many characters and describes a new land full of magic and mythical types of creatures.  It's heavy on details and descriptions, which I like.  As I was nearing the end, I realized that there was not climax, let along a conclusion to the story, anywhere in sight.  I soon discovered that it was meant to be a trilogy, not a novel.  So much for a light read.  Still I was excited about the story, so I didn't mind.

The second book, Eldest, was quite boring for me for the first 150 pages or so, but didn't disappoint me in the end.  It was still awesome.  The third book, Brisingr, was too violent for my liking.  There are many very detailed descriptions about bloody battles and deaths.  Blech.  Book three was hard to get through.  I started to grow weary of the story and wished it to end, but once again, toward the end of the book, there was no conclusion.  In the author's note, Paolini says that he couldn't get everything in the third book that he wanted to, so look for the fourth.  Even though I was tired of reading all these thick books when I had just wanted a light read, I still wanted to find out the ending--especially after I had invested so much time in it.  The fourth book Inheritance was also gory, but it provided the a satisfying climax and conclusion.  Perhaps it wasn't everything I had wished for to happen, but it made sense and worked out.

The series has characters that speaks several different languages.  There are often phrase, sentences, and even short paragraphs throughout the books written in these made-up languages.  It added depth to the cultures of the characters, but you have to flip to the index at the back of the book to find out what they mean.  How annoying.  I would have preferred a footnote.

Overall, I am glad I read all the books.  The first book was the best, as is often the case in series.  Paolini is good with descriptive writing and with conveying the emotions of his characters.

While reading the first book I realized that I had seen the movie.  That was not so good as the book.

I give five stars to the first book Eragon.  Three stars to the series as a whole.

Ladybug Egg

My little scientist Belle is always making new discoveries.  She loves catching bugs in her free time.  This lucky find laid an egg on the grass just after she put it in her bug house.  See it?  It's yellow.  Too bad everything spilled out and was lost (outside, thankfully).  It would have been fun to watch it change.

Falling to Heaven: A review

Falling to Heaven: The Surprising Path to Happiness by James L. Ferrell gives some  perspectives on age old troubles.  I found it very useful and a good exercise of my thinking and state of mind.  It repeats the same principle of forgiveness I first read in Ferrell's book called The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Hearts and Homes.  (That book was life-changing for me.  I wish I could give a copy of it to everyone I know.)  The basic idea is that we all sin and are all equally deserving of not being allowed to return to Heavenly Father.  Whether one sins more than another is irrelevant in the fact that we all need Christ's atonement.  We shouldn't judge or condemn others because they sin more than we do.

Falling to Heaven is written by an LDS author with some content the average LDS churchgoer would understand (including references to scripture stories from the Book of Mormon), though there are plenty of references to the Bible other Christians could relate to enough to get the idea.  It reads something like a good church talk.  It is easy to read, unlike a textbook, though by the end of the book I found it hard to give a synopsis.

This book was well worth the time I spent reading it.  I give it a four star rating.

Birthday Cake and Funeral Potatoes

April 6 was a special day this year.  It was Good Friday, the day we commemorate the death of Jesus Christ, and also His birthday.  We had funeral potatoes for an Easter celebration, and white cupcakes with white frosting to celebrate His birth.  Everybody knows we celebrate Christ's birth on December 25; most people know that's not really His birthday.  The Doctrine and Covenants chapter 20 verse 1 (D&C 20:1) tells us that God wanted His church to be reorganized on this special day, and though the language is not exactly specific, I believe it means that this is the actual day Christ was born.  So I started a tradition with my family a few years ago that I would make a white cake with white frosting (the white symbolic of His purity) or cupcakes to have a birthday party for Jesus.  We like to sing "Happy Birthday to You," and then share some of the cupcakes with our neighbors.  We still also celebrate in December.

Twilight: A Book Review

When my aunt suggested I read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, I checked the book out from the library. After reading the back cover to see what it was about, I sent it back to the library without reading it. Really? A teenage girl falling in love with a vampire? I don't have time for this. Some time later, I kept hearing about Twilight. Rave reviews were everywhere. My friend showed me the first movie at her house. I thought a couple hours invested in a silly story was better than how long it would take to read the book. I enjoyed it well enough, though I wasn't crazy about it like some people. She said the book was much better than the movie, as they usually are. This friend is what is now called a "Twi-hard" (like diehard for Twilight). She named her firstborn daughter Bella after the character in the book. I have a few other Twihard friends who wear the t-shirts and buy the dolls. One is nicknamed Renesmee after a character from the fourth book. They convinced me to read. I also am friends with a Twi-hater, who is ready to stage a book burning. I figure that this cultural phenomenon was worthy of my review.

Here is my opinion.

Twilight is intoxicating. The writing is emotional. I found myself still thinking about the story when I wasn't reading. I had trouble putting the book down to do my chores and to go to sleep at night. I couldn't wait for the next books to come in at the library, so I actually bought them. I was drawn in by the story, as I was able to feel the emotions of the characters as I read. That's one of my favorite things about a book--when I can feel what it is like to be in it. I didn't care for the second book so much, as Bella is mostly miserable through the whole thing. So was I. Book three picked up and was exciting again. Book four, well that one was just bizarre. Don't let your tweens read it. It's a little risqué.

I think the reason the books have affected so many people so strongly is because of the nature of Edward and Bella's relationship. He is deeply romantic, the epitome of a gentleman, and fiercely protective. He has in inordinate amount of self-control. His love for Bella is so strong, that he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for her sake. Real women will never find a man to love them like this since he can only do it with supernatural powers and decades of experience. But to read the book is to live it vicariously. It's a thrilling experience. Hopefully women will not rate their husbands against Edward, since he is a fictional character, and the poor guys will undoubtedly fail.

I give Twilight five stars, New Moon two stars, Eclipse four stars, and Breaking Dawn one star.

A Call for Prayer and Fasting

This message is a call for prayer and fasting in behalf of our country, the United States of America.

Ask God to remove the evil and corruption from our government and replace it with morality and wisdom.  Ask that solutions can be found to the difficult problems our nation is facing.  Ask what you can do personally to make a difference, and then take action.

Let us unite our faith, prayer, and fasting this Sunday, March 25, 2012.  We need the power of God to help us.

Please share this message with fellow concerned citizens via email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Pinterest, and word of mouth.

Please say a prayer right now, and then mark your calendar for this Sunday.