Top 10 Tuesday - Books That Made You Think

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday Theme is:

Books That Made You Think

1. The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball

A book about the beginnings of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - you buy a "share" of the farm or gardens produce for the year) and the difficulties of farming in general. 

Think: Buy Fresh, Buy Local. 

My Take Away: I'm so lazy - I could do so much more with our farm!  

2. Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

https://amzn.to/2Qvrezz

I've struggled so much with running over the years, yet it is something I really want to do well.  Just for a bit - just to prove to myself that I CAN.  This book was amazing - one of my favorite reads this year.  It's a story of the authors journey to run with a hidden tribe of super runners, but mixed in between the chapters of the story are chapters of in depth research (not boring facts) and stories of super athletes accomplishments.  

Think: We were born to run.

My Take Away: I want to try running with LESS supportive shoes  - maybe the toe shoes that have become so popular...  (the book talks about how Nike started - and it wasn't based on how to make people run better...)

 

3.  The Greater Journey by David McCullough 

& 4. The House I Loved By Tatiana Rosnay

I'm really glad I read these two back to back.

David McCullough is one of my all time favorite authors.  His books bring history to life, in great detail.  

Think: About History - Artists used to actually set up easels and copy the great works in museums in Paris.  

I read shortly after The Greater Journey, and although I may not have loved The House I Loved all that much on it's own, reading to the two back to back was awesome.  After being immersed in the old Paris in McCulloughs book, it made the story in The House I Loved so vivid and real - as Paris was being modernized, and homes were being torn down to widen streets.

Take Away: I want to go to Paris.  But preferably in a time machine.  :-)  More realistically, I want to try my hand at charcoal drawings. I don't expect to be really good at it - it's just something I want to try.

5. The Bible In 90 Days

I try to read the bible in 90 days at least once a year.

Think: Reading the bible in this time frame gives me such a context of how everything fits together.  It really surprised me how, after reading the bible many times over the years, I had missed by reading it piecemeal.

Take Away: I can read this book 10 dozen times, and still learn something new, usually lists of something new, every single time.  It's amazing.

6. Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure

The best diet book, ever.  Because it's not really about a diet.  It's about our choices.

I read this last year, and I know I need to reread it this year...

Think: We are who we choose to be.  One tiny choice at a time.

Take Away: I can lose this weight.  I can. It will not be easy.

7. Little Princes By Conor Grennan

One of my favorite books, of all time.

To describe it would take up too much space here - go to the goodreads page above.  It's basically about how one college kid volunteered for something he knew almost nothing about, mainly to make his actual goal sound more impressive to others,  and how it changed his life forever. It changed his life, because he changed others lives.   

Think: This life is so much more than our bubble

Take Away: When I grow up (inside joke) I want to be more like Mr Grennan.  In the meantime, I can do more, with my checkbook.

 

8  Wild by Cheryl Strayed

& 9. A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson

I almost didn't include Wild, I skipped over it when going down my list.  Because I didn't really like this book.  Bill Bryson wrote about a similar journey, hiking on the other side of the United States:

I loved Bryson's book.  Maybe I loved it because he didn't even finish the hike.  And he was so honest - it's BORING.  I love to hike, but the Appalachian trail is, for the most part, all about looking at one very narrow path at your feet.  There are some amazing views, but mostly, it's about looking at where you are going to step next.  He's honest, and funny, and at the end I wasn't inspired to tackle the Appalachian  Trail.  (I have hiked very small sections of it here in PA)

Strayed's book made me shake my head the entire way through.  I raised two eagle scouts, with a 3rd working on his Eagle project this summer. That made reading  her exploits with too heavy backpacks, the wrong footwear, and hiking alone as a woman...  painful.  But it did make me think. In the end I did appreciate that with all the ways she could have handled her messed up life, she chose to go hike for weeks on end.  She knew she was a mess, and she took steps, literally, to make a change.  That is awesome.  Even if she was an idiot, she recognized that she was an idiot, which I guess, makes her a lot less of an idiot than I often am...

Think: Nature is good for us.

Take Away: I should hike more.  But not on the Appalachian trail  :-)  I should definitely hike the Ricketts Glen trail more often...

10. Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer

This book is similar to #2, Born to Run.  Different themes completely, but the same journey, and same style.  In Born to Run, McDougal is struggling with his running and ends up running with an unknown tribe of superathletes in a once in a life time race.  In Moonwalking With Einstein Foer starts out a normal guy with a poor memory, and ends up competing in the World Memory Championships.  Both books weave old stories and facts into the story of their journey.  I would love to fill my bookshelves with books just like these two.  They make you think, without making the thinking tedious.

Think: All of our electronics have cheated us out of learning old, valuable, skills for making our brains work.

Take Away: Find more books like these!

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An Index Of My Bookish Posts & Lists

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/reading.html

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http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

Baking Eggs for breakfast sandwiches

I saw this online somewhere..  probably on Pinterest.  Today while I had the oven on, baking up a storm for Coffee Connection & Youth Group snack, I decided to try it.  It makes a thicker egg than I think is ideal for breakfast sandwiches, but it works really well!  It might fit a biscuit better than the bagels and bagel thins I used...

The eggs on the right are just cracked into the muffin pan, the ones on the left I scrambled - I like scrambled eggs on my breakfast sandwiches.

What is BSF? (Bible Study Fellowship)

Overview:

BSF is an abbreviation for Bible Study Fellowship.

http://www.bsfinternational.org/

BSF is a worldwide International Bible Study Class, held once a week September through May.   New members can join the first week of the month, when introductory classes are held.

BSF uses a 4 fold approach to learning:

http://www.bsfinternational.org/Distinctives/FourFold/tabid/69/Default.aspx

Each week we arrive, children are taken to their classes (there are classes for preschool children, and the children must be enrolled before they can attend) and the adults gather in the sanctuary.  We sing a song or two, hear some announcements, and are dismissed to our small groups.

Each year you will be assigned to a new small group.  Your leader will be trained, and will attend a meeting the night before to go over what we are discussing that day.  The small group discussion will be on topic, no denominations can be mentioned, and they ask that we discuss only our study, no additional books or resources, but only the bible.  The questions we discuss are from the homework the week before.  After covering all of the questions, prayer requests are shared.  

From there we are dismissed back to the sanctuary, where we will sing another song, then hear a lecture on the study.  Bring a notebook for taking notes!

At the end of the lecture, we pick up our homework for the next week.  It will be several pages, and will include notes to read, then a bible passage to read and questions to answer from that passage for each day leading up to the next weeks study.  

Homework takes approximately 20 minutes a day - sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how fast you read, and how challenging the questions are for you personally that week.  Every week someone will be completely stumped by some of the questions - don't worry, it happens to ALL of us.  :-)    

This is the link to my post right after I started BSF.  Two years later, I am still so impressed with the BSF format!http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2010/10/bsf-bible-study-fellowship.html

What We Are Studying:

This year is Genesis.  

The studies in order are:

Genesis

Matthew
The Life of Moses
Revelation
Romans
History of Israel and the Minor Prophets
John
Isaiah
Acts of the Apostles

Where It Is Held:

 "In all, there are over 1,000 BSF classes with 200,000 class members in 38 nations across six continents! Over 800 of the classes are held in the U.S. "

Our local class is held at Community Baptist Church in Montoursville, Pa

http://www.experiencecommunity.org/info.php

Directions:

Community Baptist is approximately 2 miles north of Interstate 180 on Route 87 in Montoursville. We are located in the beautiful valley of the Loyalsock Creek. 

ADDRESS:

1853 State Route 87

Mountoursville, PA 17754

The class I attend is on wednesday mornings from 9-11am.

  New members can join the first week of each month, when introductory classes are held.  

To find what classes are available:

http://www.bsfinternational.org/Default.aspx?tabid=81&PageID=1

What You Should Bring:

A bible

A pen

Paper to write on

This is the notebook I made the first year:

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2010/10/had-fun-decorating-binder-for-my-bsf.html

It was overkill.  :-)  Last year I used a smaller binder..  this year I'm planning to use a 3 subject notebook - the kind with folder dividers, using the folders for prayer requests, and this weeks notes.  The previous weeks notes I will store in the filing cabinet here at home, rather than dragging them all back and forth each week.

Covers UP ceiling paint

This stuff is awesome! Dan still wont let me take the dropped ceiling out of the kitchen, and a magic eraser wasn't enough to clean up the metal tracks the tiles sit on. They had yellowed. This stuff made the ceiling look almost new, and SO much cleaner! It covered the water spots in the hall ceiling too. $7 a can, its not cheap, but it was worth it. It sprays straight up, it is meant for ceilings.

(my FB post last week)

A week later, I can see it is a bit splotchy around my stove, where the ceiling was a bit blackened from a cooking error awhile back..  I think a second coat might fix the splotchiness, but even if not, it looks SO much better as is!

Table Before & After

I need a smaller table in my kitchen.  We eat all of our meals in the dining room, so a full size table just isn't needed.  Plus, the table in my kitchen was Dan's great great Aunts, and I don't want it getting too banged up..  I'd rather put it away in the attic safely, and save it for when the kids are grown and one of them needs a nice table.

So I found this one at the Amish Sale.  It wasn't as cheap as my past deals, but it was a good price.

The chairs that came with it I did not like, so I bought the chairs on the right as well - also at the sale.

Cranberry spray paint, coated with black paint that I wiped off with a dry cloth, and antique walnut stain on the top (after sanding it lightly).  The chairs got a coat of the stain too.

Corn In the Kettle - Take Two

We did a second "Corn Day" here at the farm.  It went so fast - we were done by 11am!

We had a large crew - a lot more kids were helping this time around.  Many hands make light work!

Addie was happy to "help" some more too!

The Cutting Station

Luke removing the corn from the kettle

from the kettle, into coolers of cold water

 

Mainly spectators, they came to watch, then hung around to chat for a bit.  :-)

Coffee Mugs I loved -

Found these in the Shady Maple Gift Shop -

Front - A Happy Home is is made with Love

Back - and Caffeine, Lots and lots and lots of Caffeine

Front - God First

Back - Coffee Second

I was not impressed with the restaurant, but the gift shop here (which is the entire downstairs and roughly the size of our mall here at home!) was a lot of fun to browse.