- Death to Deconstruction
- The Time Traveler’s Wife
- The Post Birthday World
- The Westing Game
- Open Heart, Open Home
- Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better
- Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables
- Seriously… I’m Kidding
- Love You Forever
- On The Day You Were Born
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
- Tom’s Midnight Garden
- Glass Castle
- Giraffes? Giraffes!
- Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage
Category Archives: Books
Books I’ve Read So Far This Year
- Death to Deconstruction | Joshua S Porter
- The Practice of the Presence of God | Brother Lawrence
- The Thursday Murder Club | Richard Osman
- The Pursuit of God | AW Tozer
- Unoffendable | Brant Hansen
- The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief | Francis Collins
- Becoming Free Indeed | Jinger Duggar Vuolo
- Tropic of Stupid | Tim Dorsey
- The Man Who Died Twice | Richard Osman
Non-Fiction Books I Have Read and Recommend (Which you can also find on my Goodreads account)
- Death to Deconstruction: Reclaiming Faithfulness as an Act of Rebellion | Joshua S. Porter
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft | Stephen King
- Open Heart, Open Home: The Hospitable Way to Make Others Feel Welcome & Wanted | Karen Burton Mains
- Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story about God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables | Phil Vischer
- Unoffended |
- Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best… and Learn from the Worst | Robert I. Sutton
- How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them – A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide | Howard Mittelmark, Sandra Newman
- The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence | Gaven deBecker
- Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers: Ministry Anytime, Anywhere, by Anyone | William M. Easum
- Not So Big House | Sarah Susanka
- Untamed | Glennon Doyle
- Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage | Pat Fallon, Fred Senn
- Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work | Paul Babiak
- The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry | Jon Ronson
- I Watched a Wild Hog Eat My Baby: A Colorful History of Tabloids and Their Cultural Impact | Bill Sloan
- The Glass Castle | Jeannette Walls
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales | Oliver Sacks
Fear Not
- Fear of the unknown
- Be not afraid
- Look fear in the face
- Fear of heights
- Afraid to ask
- I’m not afraid of you
- Don’t make a decision out of fear
- No longer a slave to fear
- Faith and Fear (a short story)
- FOMO
- No fear
- Not afraid of anything
- Afraid of his own shadow
- Fear is the mind killer
Surprising Things I’ve Accomplished This Year (specifically given that it’s been a corona-year)
- Checked two new states (North Carolina, Mississippi) off my list
- Missions trip to Haiti
- Three “airports” in one day
- Landing & taking off on a dirt runway
- Attending/walking in a Haitian funeral processional
- Ate goat for the first time
- Iguanas in the wild (in Miami… they chased me away from my lunch)
- Finished unpacking all boxes from moving end of 2019
- Started packing up to move again
- Attended nephew’s high school graduation
- Vacation to San Diego
- Lodging at the fabulous beachfront Tower23
- Riding bicycles to Mission Beach
- Completed “Visual Communications” course through Sophia Learning
- Put more than 10,000 miles on my car
- Ran three trivia nights before the world shut down
- Read 29 books
- Successfully began intermittent fasting (lost 8 pounds and dropped my A1C from 6.1 to 5.4!)
- Watched multiple full series on Hulu and Amazon Prime
- Achieved level 40 and then level 41 on Pokemon Go
- Applied for 66 jobs
- Got hired for exciting new position with city of Clinton, Iowa!
Books I’ve Read Since COVID Started (in the order I read them)
- Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators | Ronan Farrow
- Pineapple Grenade | Tim Dorsey
- My Husband’s Wife | Jane Corry
- The Riptide Ultra-Glide | Tim Dorsey
- Tiger Shrimp Tango | Tim Dorsey
- Cassandra French’s Finishing School for Boys | Eric Garcia
- It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too) | Nora McInerny
- Red, White & Royal Blue | Casey McQuiston
- Shark Skin Suite | Tim Dorsey
- Untamed | Glennon Doyle
- Fast, Feast, Repeat: The Comprehensive Guide to Delay, Don’t Deny(R) Intermittent Fasting | Gin Stephens
- Coconut Cowboy | Tim Dorsey
- She Went All the Way | Meg Cabot
- Maestra | L.S. Hinton
- What to Say Next | Julie Buxbaum
- No Happy Endings | Nora McInerny Purmort
- Clownfish Blues | Tim Dorsey
- A Map of Days | Ransom Riggs
- The Conference of the Birds | Ransom Riggs
- The First Time She Drowned | Kerry Kletter
- One to Watch | Kate Stayman-London
- The Pope of Palm Beach | Tim Dorsey
Cookbooks on my Bookshelf (As proof that at one time in my life I actually did cook on a regular basis.)
- Lickety Split Meals for Health Conscious People on the Go (Seriously the best, go buy it.)
- Oh Deer! The Venison Cookbook for Beginners
- Sunset Wok Cookbook
- Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook / Feasting with your Slow Cooker
- 4 Ingredient Recipes for 30 Minute Meals
- Three Ingredient Cookbook Volume II
- Fat Free Living Cookbook
- Miserly Meals
- Pampered Chef All the Best
- Low Fat Mexican Recipes
- Betty Crocker Great Pasta
- Food for the body and for the soul
- Treasured Recipes / Far & Near Missionary Fellowship
- Magazine issues: Taste of Home’s Quick Cooking
- Magazine issues: Kraft Food & Family
Things I’ve Been Putting Off For No Good Reason
- Getting a pedicure
- Planning my next vacation
- Writing a book proposal for the Cali series
- Picking a paint color for the downstairs bathroom
- Karaoke
- Vacuuming my car
- Getting my library card renewed at the new location
Things I Would Rather Be Doing (Assuming the Weather Was Nice Enough for Weather Dependent Activities)
- Reading a good book
- Visiting family
- Watching Survivor
- Sitting around a campfire
- Making s’mores
- Eating s’mores
- Walking in the sunshine along the river
- Wilderness camping
- Writing & editing a novel
- Binge-watching home shows like Flip or Flop, Love It or List It, Desert Flippers
- Getting a pedicure
- Getting a massage
- Decorating a Christmas tree
- Planning parties
- Eating stuffed crust pizza
September Shaping Up (The month in movies, music, & literature)
Movies
- Come September
- See You in September
- Septembers of Shiraz
- Until September
Music
- It Might As Well Rain Until September
- A Lonely September
- Blue September
- The Late September Dogs
- Maybe September
- Pale September
- September Morn
- September Song
- September When It Comes
- The 12th of September
- Wake Me Up When September Ends