Saturday, April 30, 2011

At Home with Handmade Books, 28 Extraordinary Bookbinding Projects by Erin Zamrzla

At Home With Handmade Books by Erin Zamnrzla
Release Date:  04-12-11

This is a really neat book written by a very talented and creative author.  Her originality has resulted in many creative and different ideas for making several types of books.  This book contains many different original styles of books to make.  The reader can also take these ideas the author has created and come up with some of their own imaginative projects to make.  The possibilities are limitless.
The author binds the books together using the Japanese Book Binding Method.  She does mention that the books are crafted using ‘western’ materials.  In my opinion, and from experience, she probably stated this fact because my first thought was thinking I may not be able to make these types of books being they are of a different culture.  She puts our minds at ease right away making sure we know we are able to obtain the materials used for the projects.  As a matter of fact, in the back of the book, there is a whole section of resources to be able to go online and order the materials needed to make each project.
As you are making these projects, there is always a photo of the finished product to refer back to while making them.  The instructions are very clear and concise, easy and simple to follow every step of the way. 
There are many different styles and ways of making these handmade bindings, mainly using a poke and stab method to make the holes to sew the bindings together.  Needle and thread are used to sew the bindings together by hand.  
For myself, while reading this book, it has put all kinds of really neat ideas into my own head.  Right now I am imagining all the books I can make with these bindings now that I know how to stitch these book bindings together.  Given all the different ideas of what types of projects to make, I am anxious for an event to come along in which I can make from the inspirations this book has instilled in me.  I am thinking of gifts to make for someone using these techniques.  With this inspiration and the ideas inside the book, it makes me want to get starting making these patterns right away.
This book is a book you will want to keep in your library and use over and over again for the patterns, and also use it as a reference tool, or even as a book to just to pick up and browse through.
Information about the author of this book is included.  The author, Erin ZamrZla, has loved making things from paper for as long as she can remember.  She took a class in bookbinding, and thus began her wonderful adventures.  She lives in California and has a website, www.erinzam.com, where you can see more of her work.
This book was provided to me for free by Shambhala in exchange for a written review.

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Royal Wedding Continued!

The Royal Wedding did NOT disappoint!  What a beautiful, breathtaking event!  The love William and Kate share shows.  You can see the love with  glances back and forth to each other, and the whispering of words back and forth were so captivating.  To have love like that in real life is such a gift from God.
 It is not necessarily easy to find that perfect person where your love ignites and shows where others can see it, but when it does, it glows, just like Prince William and Princess Kate's love does!  Love IS magical!  "This" is what life is all about.  "This" is the type of love that endures through ALL of life's ups and downs.  "This" is what makes life so wonderful!
I am so blessed because I have found a love like this.  It took two tries, but I have it!  I found this quote, and this is truly how I feel about love, the one in my life that I love:
 "Some day, after we have mastered the winds and the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness the energies of love. And, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."
By:  Unknown
I found this quote on http://www.lovingyou.com/ .  It's a website of love quotes.
Quite a strong statement.  It says it all.
After today, after the honeymoon, The Royals will move on to day-to-day life.  It is 'tending to this love', day in, day out, that is worthy of rejoicing.  This is why we look so forward to seeing weddings like Prince William and Princess Kate's wedding.  We know what love is, how it feels, what it does for us as we do for it, day to day, week to week, month, years, a lifetime.  Life cannot be without love. 
So we rejoice and celebrate when others have found their 'love of their lives', and to see in them that 'fire' glowing ever so brightly, rekindles our love even more.
I am so happy for Prince William and Princess Kate. 
We all can use their love that eminates from them and apply it to our own lives as it should be.  Let's celebrate love today and every day.  It is a true blessing!

Okay . . .  on to real life now!  Back to blogging about books!
Laurie  

The Royal Wedding!!!

Good Morning!
It is 5:25am.  I've been up all night as the coverage of The Royal Wedding started at 3:00am!  I LOVE THIS!!!  I just saw the groom, can't WAIT to see the Bride!
This is going to be DIVINE!
Hope you all will enjoy the wedding!
Goodbye for now!
Laurie

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Hawaian Island - Oahu

Oahu Revealed, The Ultimate Guide to Honolulu, Waikiki & Beyond by Andrew Doughty

This book is pricesless!  My Sister and Brother-In-Law live on the Island of Oahu.  My Father-In-Law just moved in with them there on the island, from his home state of Michigan.  He has Mesothelioma from working around asbestos.  He is on oxygen 24/7.  While living here in Michigan, the weather is not good for his health, with the humidity to the winter cold.  It made it really hard for him to breathe.  Here, in Michigan, he only had a 'possible' 3 months left to live.  Living here broke his marriage, lost his house, and his health completely plummeted.  He got an invitation from his daughter to move to Hawaii with them, knowing his health 'would improve' because of the weather there.  He is a now a NEW MAN!!!  Now he can go without Oxygen for several hours each day.  His worst day on Oahu is his best day in Michigan.  His health has imnproved SO much, the doctor's have now given him a wonderful outlook for his life!  The BEST thing he did for himself was to move to Oahu.  We are SO happy for him.
So, he bought this book for us at Amazon and had it shipped to us so we can see where he lives and know what he is talking about when we talk on the telephone! 
This book is wonderful!  VERY informative.  When we talk to him on the phone now, we can open this book to see what and where he is talking about!  This book covers every possible activity, place, history of the island, and more!  It is a great companion to learn about this island, part of the Hawaian Islands!  I give this book a '5' Star rating!  In use, it really works!  I would HIGHLY suggest this line of books by Wizard Publishing, Inc. for any place on the map that they have a book available on.
(Hopefully, one day, we will be able to go and visit our family there!  We'll know everything about the Island, plus from his personal experiences!  This is a priceless gift he gave us, as we miss him SO much, yet we KNOW this is the BEST for his health!  It does make us happy to know he will live a longer and much better quality of life living there.  Thank God for my husband's sister for taking him in!  Not to mention the Grandkids LOVE having Grandpa living with them!  And, the family dog!  That is his new buddy!)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Oscar’s Adventures in the Woods, by Pam Stone  Illustrated by Eric Hectorand Candace Schinzler-Bell
What an adorable, beautifully illustrated and easily understood book for young children!
It is all about Oscar the Turtle.  He wishes he could be free to roam like the pet cat in the house and one day when his owner, Shelby is cleaning his aquarium, Oscar goes for a walk, gets lost, which turns out to be an adventure in the woods that Oscar really likes.
All young children will learn that some pets like to be free rather than kept as a pet.  Shelby, the little girl in this book, learns this from her Mother and Father, and the actions of Oscar, the Turtle.
Again, the illustrations in this book are just beautiful.  This is one of those books where young children will want to have this book read to them over and over again as they stare at the pictures and ask questions about the story.  This book will be loved very much.
This book was provided to me by Bostick Communications/Outskirt Press, and the author, in exchange for a review.
Laurie Carlson
The Bible Search Engine   by Pamela L. McQuade
release date:  5-1-11

This book was provided to me by Barbour Publishing in exchange for my writing a review of my opinion of the book, either positive or negative.  I give this book a positive review!  This is a great book to refer to when you want to look up a word in the Bible to see what it means and where it is located in the Bible.  It may be located in many places and they are all listed. This is great!  I kept thinking of words to look up and the definition was there along with the Bible verse!  This is going to be a great reference tool while reading the Bible, or if you have a question about a certain topic, or even at a Bible Study you are doing or attending.  You could even be in church listening to a sermon and have this book with you when the Pastor refers to a certain topic, you can be ahead of him and look the word up and find where it is located in the Bible and go there.  The book is set up alphabetically just like a dictionary.  All you have to do is look the word up under the letter it starts with, again, just like a dictionary, and it pops up.  So far, everything I have thought of to look up has been right in the book.  This book is so neat, you could actually sit down and read through it.  It is not monotonous as it is broken up with photos corresponding to the word you have looked up.  This is a really neat and useful tool to have.
A 5-Star Rating for use with Bible Studies, in church, or as a reference book at home.  This is one of the nicest books I have come across ever to be able to look things up in the Bible.  This is a GREAT TOOL to have at your fingertips at home, even if you are just wondering about something in the Bible!  You have the answers at your figertips!
Laurie Carlson


The Boy in the Moon, by Ian Brown

As a person with a ‘now’ lifelong neurological disability, I can relate to Ian Brown’s search for his son.  My disability is much different than Ian’s, but I can relate to how Ian Brown feels for his son.  In my case, my disability changed my life forever in middle life, but I had and lived a full life.  For Walker, he never had a chance to experience any part of a normal life, and deep down, it was Ian’s desire to try to draw his life out for him to live a normal life.  When a person has a disability, their world is a completely different world than anyone elses.  You are not in the ‘normal’ world anymore.  It’s so different.  Yet, if you think Walker’s world in this way, this is all that Ian knows.  He does not know life to be any different than the life he has lived so far.  I know Ian Brown knows this.  I base that upon my in-laws who have a son with Autism who is barely reachable.  He is happy.  It is the only life he knows.  Yet day to day, he lives his life and knows no other.  It is ‘his’ life, his world.  That is how I feel for Walker.  This ‘is’ his life as he knows it.  He has no loss of life as this is what it is.  It is just different than other peoples.  Walker doesn’t even realize it is different.  Life just is.  This is his every day.  With the severity of his disability, I think it is good he does not know any different.
I understand all of Ian’s intense research, going to meet with different doctors, specialists, and meeting with as many people as he knew that has/had a child like Walker.  I think it is a coping mechanism and also another search for answers to help, because I did the same thing when I was diagnosed with a very rare neurological disease that hits only 1 in 1 million people.  With very rare diseases, most all doctors are at a loss to help.  Like Ian said in the book, some doctors never heard of the disease he has.  When they know nothing of the disease (and I even experienced doctors leaving the room to look my disease up on the internet), you feel so empty.  Then you go about a search as Ian did, trying to find and get to the doctors who do know about it and sometimes it can be impossible.  When it comes to a disability, if it is the parent or the person afflicted, they/we are going to do whatever it is we can to find more answers.  There just ‘might’ be a glimmer of hope to help make the disease better by learning different treatments, etc.  For people who do not have a lifelong disability, this may be hard to understand unless you actually experience this.  Unless you are really in a world of Ian’s or have a disabled person in your family, you know how deep down how devastating it can be, yet it also puts a drive into you/Ian, to try to find a cure, and even a deeper drive to too reach his son, to find something to help him live a better life.
The decision to put him into a group home most likely still haunts Ian to this day, without him admitting so, but there comes a time where the parent does have to admit that they cannot help their child any longer like a home can.  To admit that is like giving in to defeat. 
I admire ALL that Ian and his wife have done for Walker.  They stuck together.  This story was very heart touching and true to life for myself.  I could relate to all that Ian wrote about, but in a different way, as this is a child and from the beginning of his life.
I really enjoyed this book as I related to most all of it.  At the end of the book, Ian wrote that it took him so long to write the book, but it was because he was living it first.  So true.  Such a devoted father!  Ian is a very lucky boy, even if he never understands it, you know he knows it.  This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for a review by the Early Reviewers Program at http://www.librarything.com/
Laurie Carlson
A Celebration of the Simple Life  By Wanda E. Brunstetter

This is a very nice devotional book, full of scripture, on topics of the celebrations of simple, everyday life.  Wanda Brunstetter uses the Amish lifestyle as an example for the simple daily life devotions she writes, and chooses Bible quotations that relate as closely as possible to the topic of her devotions.  She covers almost every topic of daily simple life that I can think of.  She makes it a point to explain that we, who are not Amish can relate to the daily simple life of the Amish as well, using the Bible quotes to reinforce her point.  Again, the Bible quotes are chosen as closely as she can get them to her quotations.  This would make a beautiful coffee table book to pick up and read every now and then, or even daily. It would also make a beautiful gift to give to a special person, friend, family member, or whoever is special in your life.  There is a nice page in the front of this book to write a special message to the person you are giving this book to. This book was provided to me to read in exchange for a review by NetGalley.  The review can be positive or negative and of my opinion.  I give this book a huge positive, and a 5-Star rating because the book is absolutely beautiful.  A GREAT coffe-table book, or even a book to sit down with after a long day and just escape life and relax with the beautiful photos and devotions. 
This book was provided to me in the form of an E-book, free of charge, via NetGalley in exchange for a review!
Laurie Carlson

I just entered giveaways!

Hi!  I just entered giveaways on http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/ for:
A Discovery of Witches
and
Bumped!
Also, she has a "Spring Cleaning Giveaway"!
Check it out!!
http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/
I'm excited!!
Laurie

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

and the WINNERS ARE:

For the Blog Tour,  "The Scent of Water, Grace for Every Kind of Broken" by Naomi Zacharias, the WINNERS ARE:

#1:  Lisa Peters!!!  http://www.bookhimdanno.blogspot.com/!!!  CONGRATULATIONS!!!  You have won the Review Copy of this book!!!  You have 1 week to contact me via email to claim your prize!!!  EXCITING!!!

#2:  Valca85 !!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You have won a copy of  "Recovery" by Alexandrea Weis!!!  You will have 1 week to contact me to claim your prize!!!  EXICTING!!!  *Please keep reading.  I am unable to contact you.  Friend Connect has NOT been working for me.  I try to send you a message and I get a message stating Friend Connect is not working at this time.  Please try again later.  I do not have your email as you did not leave a comment.  PLEASE contact me at my email addy listed below!!  I have asked every one of my Followers for help to contact you!!!

#3:  My Life, One Story at A Time !!!  CONGRATULATIONS!!!   You have won a copy of  "Recovery" by Alexandrea Weis!!!  You will have 1 week to contact me to claim your prize!!!  EXICTING!!!  *Please keep reading.  I am unable to contact you.  Friend Connect has NOT been working for me.  I try to send you a message and I get a message stating Friend Connect is not working at this time.  Please try again later.  I do not have your email as you did not leave a comment.  PLEASE contact me at my email addy listed below!!  I have asked every one of my Followers for help to contact you!!!

 My email addy is:  laurieisreading@gmail.com

*I NEED "HELP" FROM ALL OF MY FOLLOWERS FOR #2 AND #3!!!  PLEASE!!!
I tried to contact my new Followers who won through Google's Friend Connect, but I keep getting a message stating Friend Connect is not working and to try again later.  I try again later and the same thing happens!  I 'am' logged in.  These winners did not leave a comment with their email addresses.  Bummer!!!  I don't know how else to contact these people.
When I click on their photos, Friend Connect does NOT give their Blog Site.   If ANY of you can be of help to me, I would SO appreciate your help!  I can only hope that since they are Followers, they WILL get this message and contact me!!!  I am holding the CONTEST WINNERS OPEN for "1 week" to give them time to get this message and to contact me!

My email address is:  laurieisreading@gmail.com  IF ANYONE  KNOWS THESE WINNERS, "PLEASE"  help me out!!  ANYONE CAN EMAIL ME OR COMMENT UNDER THIS POST so I can contact the winners!
Thank You!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Thanks to EVERYONE who visited my blog and is a New Follower!

Thanks to everyone who visited my Blog Giveaway!!  Thanks to ALL of you who are NEW FOLLOWERS of mine!!  I "AM" working on joining all YOUR blogs, but it's taking some time!  I promised I would be Followers of yours by this weekend, but I didn't figure in cleaning and cooking for Easter dinner and all that!  I WILL JOIN YOUR BLOG!!!  I have a LOT of new followers, and I am SO excited!!! You know what else is taking me longer to get to ALL of you? I am reading your blogs!!!  I LOVE them ALL!  You all have unique blogs!  I love every one I go to to join!  What a lot of work we put into them, huh?  It is now 11:50pm and I can't keep my eyes open anymore! I need some shut-eye and will continue getting to yours tomorrow!  I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog!
Tomorrow, Monday, I will submit the entries at random.org and they will determine the winners! I will contact you by Tuesday, the 26th!  Good luck!!!
My next BIG thing is the Spring Carnival Blog Hop!!!  Starts May 1st and goes to May 8th! I will have a review of the book "Growing Up Amish" by Ira Wagler. Wow! What a book!  It's about a man who grew up Amish and went through a LOT of grief and turmoil trying to decide if he wanted to join the Amish church or not.  You'll have to come and read my review!  Since I read that book, I came across a link on You Tube and watched several documentaries on the Amish.  I learned a LOT!  I will include that separately in my review!  I have the link saved if you want to watch the documentaries as well!  I have several Amish books to read and write reviews on.  I'm afraid while reading them, from what I have learned about the Amish church, it won't influence how I feel about reading them. I can honestly say that I 'can' separate my opinion about things while writing a review, so no worry there. I just hope I can 'enjoy' the stories as much now!  I'm sure I will!
I see some of you are also in this Spring Carnival Blog Hop, too!!  I will see you there!!!  Can't wait!!!
Thanks again!  Come back again and keep following!!!  MORE giveaways to come!!!
Laurie

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Scent of Water for Every Kind of Broken by Naomi Zacharias

“The Scent of Water, Grace for Every Kind of Broken” by Naomi Zacharias

This book was a very eye opening journey for me, the reader, while the author tells us her story of traveling around the world trying to help women and children where she can.  This book is full of places from around the world, right to what is inside of us.  I will say my review of this book does not even touch the surface of what she did, where she went, and what she, personally, got out of her travels and portrays as she tells us her story.  The only way to get the true understanding of what she went completely and what she has to teach us from her experience is to read this book for yourself.
This is a story of truth.  It is a story of life and lives.  It is of sadness, happiness, of learning, of doing.  It is reaching out to others when no one else would even consider it, and people reaching out to us.  Naomi goes through life learning her own lessons of life, and helps to teach us what she has learned.
Naomi Zacharias has written a work of Non-Fiction, telling us about her life experiences starting at the young age of 23 when she went to work for Wellspring International, an outreach of RZIM.  From the book, their foundation bases their values on Rescue, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Re-entry; helping individuals in need and existing organizations serving women and children at risk.
Knowing that, you understand why she traveled and did some of the things she did.  She has been all over the world to such extreme places, such as in Pakistan riding in a car with outside temperatures of 125 degrees, wrapped up, hidden in the dress of the area so the Taliban would not kidnap and take her hostage if they knew she was American, all in the name of helping people.
She went to Amsterdam, Asia, India, and other countries visiting the Red Light Districts, trying to help the women who had become sex slaves of prostitution to try to help themselves get out.  It is not something you can force these women to do, she says, as they must make their own choices to get out.  It was not most of their choices to become sex slaves, but by the time Naomi would come across them, most of them could not get out or had children, and this occupation paid well.  They had no friends or relatives to rely on for help, and could not return home as they had this title of “Prostitute” hanging over their heads, by no fault of their own.  They had become a shame to their families.  If only these families knew they had sent their daughters to this life by blessing them.
This was amazingly eye opening to me.  I knew of the sex slave industry, but I had no knowledge or the circumstances surrounding it.  This part is not in the book, but, when Natalie Holloway disappeared, there was speculation that possibly she had been kidnapped into the sex slave industry.  When I heard that, I thought no way.  I was wrong.  I now can see why people thought that.  I did not know this happened so often, and to so many women, nor did I know how easily this can happen to any woman.  I did not understand the extent of this problem until reading this book.
One of Naomi’s descriptions of how women are kidnapped or even fooled into the sex slave industry will never leave my mind.  It was of an airline attendant who was romanced by a man who traveled often on the airlines she worked for.  He brought her gifts every time he flew and was so nice to her.  He eventually expressed his wishes to marry her and her family approved of him.  They married and she flew back home to his country with him.  Immediately, right from the plane, he took her directly to the Red Light District putting her in a room with a window in the doorway right away.  There was no going home with him.  In this society, this was accepted.  He put her to work for him.  She tried to return home one time, but her family had known what had happened to her and they rejected her calling her a “prostitute”, yet this was none of her own doing.
Some of these stories were heartbreaking, yet when Naomi’s and the organization she worked for was able to and did help so many of these women, it was as if it was God rescuing them.  Had Naomi and her organization not been there, they would still be stuck in a life they did not want and could not get out of.
Naomi has been all over the map helping people where she could.  She visited Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where the Tsunami had taken countless lives.  Her description of the destruction of the Tsunami was horrifying.  She helped people there.  There are too many more places to list, but as she was helping these women, they helped her as well, in ways she never would have expected.
Through all Naomi’s travels, she learned a lot about her own life.  She had her own personal trials she went through, good and bad like we all do.  Life lived is not to be perfect.  She talks of the deception we all come to realize that the fairy tales have, even though we know they are not true, the dream we still have is we want life to be like them.  Life cannot be so.  Life without these triumphs and failures is a life without growth.  God meant for it to be this way.  This is the way we grow.  She said that “Ruin is a gift.  It’s the road to transformation.”  It was this way for all the women and children she helped and for her own life as well, and for our lives, to.  She says it is ‘the scent of water’, the drop of water that allows us to bud, to blossom, to grow.
I want to thank Zondervan Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.  It was truly my pleasure to read this book.  I got so much out of this book that I almost feel guilty in only writing a review in exchange for it.  This is a short book of only 222 pages, but it is so full of life, lives, and learning, I could not just write a ‘short’ review.  There is much more to this book as I only touched on a small portion, believe it or not.  This is a definite must-read.  I give it a 5 star rating on my scale.
Laurie Carlson

***If you would like to enter my "BOOK GIVEAWAYS", - see the left side column for what books are being given away for this Blog Tour, (THIS REVIEW COPY OF THIS BOOK IS BEING GIVEN AWAY in addition to 2 different books) click on Follow Me and LEAVE A COMMENT after this review!  ALREADY A FOLLOWER?  PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT after this review or email me!  This Blog Tour by Zondervan runs through Sunday, April 24th.  Winners will be drawn by Random.org on Monday, April 25th, and notified by the latest on Tuesday April 26th.  You will have 1 week to email me your address of where I can send you your book!  If I don't hear from you within that timeframe, the prize will go to the next winning number that Random.org had generated.  The same process applies to the next person.
GOOD LUCK!!!  Thanks SO much for coming to my Blog Tour!!!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Tomorrow starts my 1st Blog Tour!!!!! The Scent of Water by Naomi Zacharias

It's finally that time!  Tomorrow starts my FIRST Blog Tour! Sponsored by Zondervan! They provided me with this book and I will be posting my review on this book!  I hope I get lots of new Followers!  I have some good books to giveaway!  I hope everyone comes to visit!  I am looking forward to this!  There will be "3" book giveaways instead of just "2"!!!!
I will see you tomorrow!
Laurie 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

URGENT!!! Karen Kingsbury's "Leaving" Blog Tour Rescheduled!!!

Urgent!!!  The Publisher/Zondervan, has rescheduled the Blog Tour for Karen Kingsbury's NEW RELEASE of "Leaving" dates to Monday, May 16th - Sunday, May 22nd, 2011.  This is beyond my control, but I apologize for the Publisher and if there is any confusion.  It took the Publisher a little longer to get the books out to us Bloggers, so the Publisher changed the Blog Tour dates.  My Contest/Giveaway for this Blog Tour is also changed to these NEW DATES as well.  Change your calendars!!!  This will still be an awesome tour!!! I 'just' got the book in the mail yesterday!  I am starting to read it today!
I will see you sooner than this, though, for the Spring Carnival Blog Hop!  I am reviewing the book "Growing Up Amish" by Ira Wagler for this Blog Hop!  The dates for this, as a reminder, are Sunday, May 1st - Sunday, May 8th!  Contest/Giveaways for this Blog Hop are scheduled as well!
Don't Forget!!!  See you then!
Laurie

Recap – our new eBook website – iWriteReadRate.com

Recap – our new eBook website – iWriteReadRate.com

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Review on The Bible Search Engine

The Bible Search Engine   by Pamela L. McQuade  
**release date is May 1, 2011
***** 5 Stars!!!!
This e-book was provided to me by Barbour Publishing in exchange for my writing a review of my opinion of the book, either positive or negative.  I give this book a positive review!  This is a great book to refer to when you want to look up a word in the Bible to see what it means and/or where it is located in the Bible.  It may be located in many places in the Bible,  and this book lists where they  are all at, in all the books of the Bible, by the name of the books and the chapter and verse number.  The book is set up alphabetically, just like a dictionary.  This is great!  I kept thinking of words to look up and the definition was there mixed in with the Bible verse, helping you better understand the word as it is applied to each verse in the Bible!  This is going to be a great reference tool while reading the Bible, or if you have a question about a certain topic, or even at a Bible Study you are doing yourself or attending with others.  You could even be in church listening to a sermon and have this book with you when the Pastor refers to a certain topic, you can be ahead of him and look the word up and find where it is located in the Bible and go there.  The book is set up alphabetically just like a dictionary.  All you have to do is look the word up under the letter it starts with, again, just like a dictionary, and it pops up.  So far, everything I have thought of to look up has been right in the book.  This book is so neat, you could actually sit down and read it cover to cover.  It is not monotonous as it is broken up with photos corresponding to the word you have looked up.  This is a really neat and useful tool to have in your library.  As I mentioned above, I had an e-book format to review, but I would suggest the 'actual' book and not an e-book format for this book.  It is just easier to have the actual book available and to be able to share it with others if need be.  You would also be able to use the copy machine to copy certain words to provide to your Bible Study group, etc.  Reference books like this are nice to have in a hard-copy book format, at least in my opinion.
Thanks for reading my review! 
Laurie Carlson

Sunday, April 10, 2011

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! A BLOG HOP SCHEDULED!!

Good Sunday Afternoon!
From Monday, May 1- Sunday, May 8th, join in in a Spring Blog Carnival!!!
This is sponsored by three other Bloggers, one of them being http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/ !!  Check out her site!  It's nice!  This is a "Blog Hop"!  Where you can 'hop' from Blog to Blog!  You can enter Giveaways, Contests, and Challenges.  I am not sure what the challenges are, as they will all be different, but it sure sounds like FUN!  There will be OVER 150 different Blogs participating!  I'm going to participate myself! 
In addition to my Blog Tours already scheduled, I am also participating in this Blog HOP!  What is a Blog Hop?  This is where there are 150+ Bloggers with Blog Sites who are ALL participating in hopping from Blog to Blog and reading each others' reviews on the books we have recently read!
This is only a few weeks away, so mark your calendars!!! 
I will be posting a review on the book:  "Growing Up Amish, A Memoir" by Ira Wagler.  This is a Non-Fiction Book, based upon the author's life experiences.
I will have a BOOK GIVEAWAY also!  TBA on  the day it starts.  In order to participate in my book giveaway, you need to become a Follower!!!  If you are already a follower, please just comment after the book review and you will be entered!!
You HAVE to stop by and read my review on this book.  This is NOT your Amish novel.  This is by an author who really 'did grow up Amish, in the Old Order Church'.  He did end up leaving his community, as we hear of in the novels that are written.  What we don't know from those novels are the details!  We follow this man from his birth to middle age, where he is now, writing about his past. 
MORE TO COME!!!
I started reading this book, and if I had the opportunity, I would never have put this down until I was finished reading it!  This book is SO good!  I was carrying my Kindle around the house reading it!!!  It is quite the eye opener!  Eye opening because of how it 'really is'.
Join me!!!
Laurie

Saturday, April 9, 2011

I GOT MY KINDLE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello to Everyone!
I GOT MY KINDLE TODAY!!!!!!
I absolutely LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been playing with it ALL day today!!!!!!!
Me, NOT a fan of e-books HAS CHANGED AND I "LOVE" e-books!!!!!!!!
Me, who SWORE I would NEVER get into e-books, LOVES E-BOOKS!!!!!
I cannot believe how WONDERFUL this little contraption is!  What it does, what it can do and MORE!!!!!!  And reading on it is a DREAM!!!!!
I got some money for Christmas from my Dad and my Uncle.  I kept saving, and would give the kids money here and there and kind of had to keep starting over saving for it.  FINALLY!!!  I had enough.  It took me 4 months!!!
What was the REAL PRICE I PAID? 
I called Customer Service as I could not download a book I had to read and write a review on from a website.  My beautiful, just about 18 year old daughter, in 1 week, offered to make homemade pizza with her boyfriend!  WOW!!!  DELICIOUS!!! My 13 year old came home.  Well, let me tell you . . .  this was the 'real price'!!!  I went in the bedroom as I could not hear on the phone because my son's friend was with him.  4 kids in the house.  My husband had a meeting tonight and was not home.  Well . . .  do you know what Airsoft Guns are?  They are guns that shoot plastic bullets.  My son decided to load it with FLOUR!!!  He shot it at my daughter and her boyfriend.  UGH . . .  then he reloaded again.  He never took his wet, fully mudded shoes off, either.  Can you picture this?  Imagine . . . 
UGH!!!!  THIS IS NOT MY HOUSE!!!!!  OH MY!!!!!  HOW old is my son? 
Needless to say, the conversation got cut off short and Mom had to come to the rescue!
You all can go ahead and laugh!  It's okay!!!  I am just 'now' starting to laugh.  My daughter and her boyfriend were just about COMPLETELY white with flour.  They were mad and running after the 'little squirt'!  Flour and mud has 'coated' the house!  The cupboards are white, along with everything else.  The carpet is white mixed with mud. 
All for my Kindle!!!!!
Was it worth it????
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a GREAT rest of the night!
I've cleaned what I can and the rest, well, my SON is cleaning tomorrow!!  Why?  He took off running to his friend's house to 'spend the night'!!!
Looking back, I think it was a good thing he left!!!!!  LOL!!!!
But, tomorrow, he will be using a TOOTHBRUSH to wash the kitchen floor with down on his hands and his knees!!!!  The joke is on HIM now!!!!!
Now I am enjoying my Kindle!!!
OH!  While he is scrubbing the floor with the toothbrush tomorrow, I will be sitting in a chair in the kitchen, READING MY KINDLE!!!!!!!
Laurie

Saturday, April 2, 2011

CONTESTS/GIVEAWAYS!!!!!!

CONTESTS/GIVEAWAYS!!!!!!  Check out the left side column here on my Blog for all the information you need because you WANT to enter them!BLOG TOURS!  The week of April 18th-24th and the weeks of May 1st-May 8th AND May 16th-May 22nd!   You DON'T want to miss these!  Read all the details in the left side columns!  Be SURE to come by my site, http://www.lauriehere.blogspot.com/ anytime, but especially during this time for your chances to WIN!!!!!