I am laughing so hard right now — this is too hilarious! I went to Mary Yerkes’ beautiful site because, bless her, she has a link to Mom 2 Mom Connection. She showed us her results from a fun quiz called Where Do You Belong? Her answer says she belongs in London.

Well, I sat back and thought — OK, there is no one looking over my shoulder. I’m going to dream…and just answer exactly the way I REALLY want to.

HA! Here is how my quiz turned out:

You Belong in New York City

You’re an energetic, ambitious woman. And only NYC is fast enough for you. Maybe you’ll set yourself up with a killer career Or simply take in all the city has to offer.

This is too funny. I live about as far from the New York City lifestyle as a person possibly can. So, I guess that’s why someone like me enjoys keeping up with the world via words and books! I think I could be quite happy in New York. I’d love to work in a busy, crowded publishing house in an office piled high with books. I’d love to be an editor, seeking out writers who are full of dreams. I’d enjoy trying to discover THE ONE and propel him or her onto the bestseller list (like Nicholas Sparks was discovered by his agent…(sigh)…I love that story.)

Well, I’m thankful to be who I am and where I am now. But I do like to read those Chick Lit books every now and then about the 20-somethings who end up in NYC. In my 20s, I lived in a city of 12 million people (in Japan). Now I live in a world of 12 million crushed Cheerio crumbs on the floor. And 12 million kisses on my cheek from little people who love me and call me “Mama.”

Life is never dull.
(Don’t forget to VOTE today.)

Don’t you just love watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas?” My dad emailed to tell me it’s coming on tonight at 8pm (Eastern) — we’ll have to tape it because we’re going to see “The Living Christmas Tree” performance at a nearby church. I also found out this December 9th marks the 40-year anniversary of the first time it was ever shown on TV in 1965. You can read more about it at the Charles M. Shulz museum site.

Well, I also really enjoy going to watch “The Living Christmas Tree.” That’s one of my favorite traditions — I love the music. I always wonder how the person at the top of the tree keeps singing the whole time without feeling dizzy. There are lots of fake snowflakes puffing around.

Oh! And I almost forgot — when the Wise Men come out — these men really grow their beards out, and their costumes are glittery and fabulous. They usually sing a song called, “Wise Men Still Seek Him.” Just thinking about it gives me chills. I LOVE this song. It always reminds me how awe-inspiring it is that God came into the world as a baby. In a barn. With all the dust and mess.

A few years ago, I was 8 months pregnant on Christmas Eve, and I was a complete nervous wreck — having night after night of false labor. It made me realize what Mary had to go through — she didn’t have a hospital with sweet, smiling nurses and pain medication. Or those of you brave souls who’ve done homebirth — you’ve at least had a place where you could concentrate — I definitely would not want to be breathing through contractions on a donkey’s back. How come you don’t see Mary telling Joseph, “Stop the donkey! I’m having another one — a bad one!” in all these Christmas plays?

I’ve been perusing several women’s blogs this month, getting ideas for Christmas. Lorna in Finland at See Through Faith enjoyed a cup of tea and a slice of English mince pie with a friend after reading her Advent devotions (which she shared with us). And my sister-in-law’s blog is always a refreshing stop for me.

In fact, I had a little visit from the “Christmas Fairy” over the weekend! My sister-in-law went out in my backyard and climbed up a pile of old bricks to clip pine boughs and berry-laden branches. Then she also found a stick covered in some kind of lime-green lichen and immediately said, “Oh, look at this! Won’t this look pretty!” And within five minutes of her artful arranging, my mantle looks like something out of a magazine. And it didn’t cost me a penny! (Of course I told her, “I have to blog about this!”)

So back to the Charlie Brown idea — the less commercial, the better. I’m going to try to pare down our Christmas clutter and use more real pine greenery and berries…whatever we can find that’s simple and can be tossed back outside in a few weeks.

OK, here’s my daily reminder of these Weblog Awards — if you like this site design, please vote for Mom 2 Mom Connection in the poll. You can click here or directly on the logo, and it should take you straight there. I don’t like having to ask people to do things like this — but it’s making me all nervous because they post how many votes people have! And these other sites — wow — some have made their own logos with links. I don’t even know how to put a link in my sidebar template. If anyone knows, I’d love to find out.

Thanks for your support! What makes me feel jittery is — this thing lasts until December 15! And you can vote as often as once a day — so I can’t ask you to vote once, then leave ya alone. I gotta remind you every day. Which makes me feel annoying. (So if you’re annoyed, just ignore me here — sorry.)

Countdown: 3 more days until Narnia, 9 more days of this weblog contest, 19 more days until Christmas.

We’ve all been missing La Shawn Barber the past few days, as she’s had guest writers at her blog. Carol at She Lives wrote in her post, See If You Can Guess,

La Shawn’s lurking out there somewhere and has a bunch of guest bloggers filling in. I’m not sure I’m following some of their posts, though. I miss La Shawn.

Well, now the cat’s out of the bag, and we see what she’s been up to. WOW! She’s started a brand new site called Fantasy Fiction for Christians. So now all of us Narnia fans will have another place to gather together and express our views. I see that she’ll be including book reviews, so I wonder if she’d be interested in new fantasy fiction by Christian authors — such as the books I’ve recently reviewed here: book one and book two of Jonathan Rogers’ Wilderking trilogy, as well as book one of R.K. Mortenson’s Landon Snow series.

So far, her posts are discussing Christian Elements in Narnia, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” movie, and Harry Potter — including the possibility that J.K. Rowling is actually a pseudonym for several authors writing under that name!

Here’s what La Shawn says about her site:

This is a place for Christians who read fantasy fiction to discuss Christian themes and symbolism found in the pages of fantasy literature, popular and classic…For the rest of the year, news and commentary on the movies “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” will likely be the focus of this blog.

In addition to Harry Potter hoopla for die-hard Potterheads, however, FFC will strive to be clearinghouse for Christian fantasy fiction written by various authors, famous and not-yet famous…I firmly believe Christians can use a pop culture phenomenon like Harry Potter to share spiritual truths with unbelievers. While I am silent on the question of whether children should read the Harry Potter books (which are not written for children, according to author J.K. Rowling), especially Books 3-6, I think Christian parents can use these and other books containing magical elements, in conjunction with the Bible, to teach them to discern what are appropriate or inappropriate supernatural depictions.

So, I encourage you, if you’re interested in fantasy fiction, go check out her new site! (And if you haven’t already, vote for her main website as Best Conservative Blog in the Weblog Awards. (and don’t forget, I’m in the running for Best Blog Design!)

On another note, someone sent me a lovely email review of the latest Harry Potter movie from a Christian viewpoint. If I can get her permission, I’d love to post it here. She’s written a very thought-provoking piece.

Also, for any of you who try to leave me a comment and it doesn’t work, just send me an email and say what name you want me to post it under — as well as your URL, if you have one. I don’t know why my comments section doesn’t always work. Especially, if you’re an author of one of these books I’m reviewing, here’s a great way to send readers (and potential fans!) back to your site.

I’m still trying to get caught up on all the technological stuff required to be a blogger — does anyone have a teenager who has some time to teach a poor old mom a few tricks about trackbacks and WordPress? My brother-in-law tried to download some kind of plug-in for me last weekend that would help me write text around pictures, but we didn’t have time to finish. At this point, whenever I try to center a picture using the HTML for center, all the text underneath centers as well. I’d love some help — please email or send me a comment if you’d like to help. I’m too busy with my household of kids to “play around” and figure things out on my own. Thanks!

I hope you had a good weekend. I found out some exciting news for Mom 2 Mom Connection blog readers yesterday — we’ve made it as a finalist in the 2005 Weblog Awards! Our category is “Best Blog Design.” So, if you like my design, could you please vote for me? You can VOTE HERE at the Weblog Awards site. The voting goes until December 15, and you’re allowed to vote once a day. I don’t know all that many people, so I’m hoping my husband will remember to vote for me — and then I might get at least two votes a day!

I also found out that Mind & Media is a finalist in the Best Business category — Stacy Harp says “we’re like a David against a lot of Goliaths.” Please cast your vote for Mind & Media because Stacy started this business to help Christian authors publicize their books in the blogosphere, and she’s doing a great job.

Other Mind & Media reviewers who are finalists: Matt Anderson’s Mere-Orthodoxy and Jay Adkins’ blog in the Best Religious Blog category; Catez Stevens in the Best Australia or New Zealand category; Charmaine Yoest in the Top 501-1000; and our favorite political blogger, La Shawn Barber in the Best Conservative Blog category. All of these blogs stand for something I believe in, so they’re getting my vote every day — and hopefully yours too!

I encourage you to browse through the other finalists. This international award is a great way to introduce blogs to new readers. There were over 3,000 nominations this year for 37 different categories, and a committee narrowed it down to 15 finalists. I’ve already discovered some wonderful blogs I’d never heard of! The awards are hosted by Kevin Aylward of Wizbang.

Onto other news…

This is the week — FOUR MORE DAYS until “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Have you gotten your tickets yet?

If there’s any way possible, I encourage you to listen to Focus on the Family’s broadcast TODAY, Entering the World of Narnia Through Film. I just heard it a few minutes ago, and it was fantastic. I can hardly type these words fast enough, I’m so excited to tell you about it!

Dr. James Dobson interviewed author Kurt Bruner, who wrote the book, Finding God in the Land of Narnia, as well as Michael Flaherty, who is the cofounder and president of Walden Media. I had never heard the background of how Walden Media was formed — but its sole purpose is to find great BOOKS to adapt them to film. Bob Waliszewski was also a guest on this program — he’s the senior director of Focus on the Family’s teen ministries’ dept. and reviews movies for Focus’ website, Plugged In, as well as on the radio.

I did not take notes because the radio broadcast came on at 5 am, and I listened to it in the dark — but everyone is saying this movie is going to be even more far-reaching than “The Passion.” They said Lewis has created a world in which he can share the principles of Christianity in a fresh way that captivates. It’s best to first experience Narnia through books, but Focus on the Family also produced a wonderful radio broadcast that you can listen to. One of the interviewees said they were listening to it on a long car trip, and during the Stone Table scene, his child shouted from that backseat, “THAT’S JUST LIKE JESUS!”

The big shocking news for me is that parents are cautioned it’s got some very scary scenes in it, and it’s not recommended for children under age nine. Nine! What are we going to do? We’ve all been talking about it so much — how can we NOT take our younger ones? Does anybody have any advice for me? They said it may cause nightmares — the White Witch is truly horrendous during the Stone Table scene.

So, please — if you have time — listen to the broadcast! And when you’re on Focus on the Family’s website — you can see lots of other related articles and links.

Here’s a good article from today’s LA Times about the Denver-based millionaire, Philip Anschutz, who’s backed this movie with half its $180 million budget. If all goes well at the box office, Prince Caspian is rumored to be next…in Dec. 2007.

The countdown to Narnia continues…

I read this in the Fly Lady Digest a couple of days ago:

In October, Joan [a reader] and her husband had to deal with a fire in their home. It was tough on them. Through all of this she developed a great surprise for our members. This past summer Joan asked you all to send in a list of the 25 books you would like with you if you were stranded on a desert island. We supplied her with hundreds of lists.

I went to Joan’s site and found she’s compiled over 300 lists sent in by Fly Lady readers, narrowing it down to the Top 25 Books For a Deserted Island. I thought this list might help you out if you’re doing some Christmas shopping this weekend:

1. The Bible

2. Tied for 2nd place!
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter series

3. Tied for 3rd place!
Jane Austen’s books
Mark Twain’s books
Shakespeare’s plays
The Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

4. The next tier of books, in no particular order, includes:
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables (Children’s Classics), by L.M. Montgomery
Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Books by Charles Dickens (The Complete Works of Charles Dickens)
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Books by John Irving, esp. The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany

5. The third tier of books, also in no particular order:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
Books by Roald Dahl (Roald Dahl Gift Set)
Winnie-the-Pooh, plus others by A.A. Milne
The Poetry of Robert Frost
The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?, by Rick Warren
Charlotte’s Web (Trophy Newbery), by E.B. White
Poisonwood Bible; Prodigal Summer, etc., by Barbara Kingsolver
James Herriot’s books, beginning with All Creatures Great and Small
The Secret Garden, etc. by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Hearty also-rans, with a great many votes, include:
John Steinbeck’s novels (The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, The Winter of Our Discontent)
Agatha Christie’s mysteries (Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None (Mystery Masters)v, After the Funeral )
Willa Cather’s novels Great Short Works of Willa Cather (My Antonia, Death Comes for the Archbishop, O Pioneers! )
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
The Once and Future King, by T. H. White
Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Anything by Rudyard Kipling
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by A. C. Doyle

–and many poets’ work, including Emily Dickenson, Edgar Allen Poe (short stories and poetry), Longfellow, and Tennyson.

Thanks, Joan! Her loss of books in the fire was tragic, but she’s brought blessings to us all by taking the time to compile this list. There’s plenty more to see and do on her site for those of us who love books!

So this got me thinking, What would I like to read if I were stuck on a deserted island? Let’s say I could only pick three books. Well, the first one would be the Bible. And I’m not just saying that because it sounds good. One of my life goals is to read it through every year in a different version. This year I’m reading The One Year Bible in the New Living Translation (NLT).

The second book? Well, if I were on a deserted island, I’d like to have The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, this one volume I had in college. It would be fun to act out the different parts. Especially if I were with my family or a few other people — we could pass the time waiting for our rescue by putting on plays for each other. I’m not much of an actress, but my mom is. So I guess it’s in my genes. (Mom, do NOT get any ideas…I’d do this on a deserted island, but not in front of a real audience!)

When I taught high school seniors, we studied Taming of the Shrew, and I had them read it out loud in class. We also watched Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton go at it in the film version. And Hamlet. Oh, I love Hamlet. We also read it out loud in class and watched the film version with Mel Gibson. (Didn’t mind that at all.)

Third book — I’d like to take A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. We read these poems out loud when we homeschooled using the Sonlight Curriculum. All of my kids memorized this one, and recite it when they swing:

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside —

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown —
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down.

How about you? What three books would you take if you were stranded on a deserted island? Now, there’s a good dinner party question for you to ask someone tonight. Don’t forget to tell me about it!

P.S. Here’s a must-read article in USA Today 12/2/05: Is That Lion the King of Kings? All about Aslan, Narnia, the movie — and an awesome quote: “With Lewis, the story is the thing. You ought to read the lines first. Then you can read between them” (Bruce Edwards).

I shared with you a few weeks ago about Momstown Blog and how they conducted a worldwide survey to discover the most popular websites for moms. Far and above the rest, FlyLady got the most votes. In fact, I read that she received 33% of more than 30,000 votes. Well, I thought it was high time for me to check out her services and tell you what I think.

I have a few friends who tell me her methods have changed their household completely. But they warned me — don’t get overwhelmed by all the emails she sends. Instead of receiving her messages individually, I signed up on Flylady.net to receive a Daily Digest.

So I’m going to start something new here in my blog. On Fridays, I’m going to give you an update on what I’ve learned during the week and call it “FlyLady Friday.” My plan is to do this for the next 21 weeks. That should take us from today until April 21. Experts say it takes 21 days to acquire a new habit — so I’m going to give FlyLady’s methods 21 weeks — and maybe you’ll join the party with me.

If you’re one of my guy readers and you’re not at all interested in household maintenance — or what concerns most of the women in the world — then you may just want to skip my blog on Fridays. But then again — you may want to stick around and pick up some cool FlyLady lingo and impress your wife or lady friends — if you offer to pitch in for a “27-Fling Boogie” some afternoon, your wife’s going to wonder what in the world’s come over you — but she’ll be thrilled.

Here’s what Momstown said about FlyLady, when they were counting their votes for Top Mom sites:

FlyLady.net…has a following unlike any other, but a genuine following. They REALLY love that site, which is why it composes close to 33% of all votes…

Why? Love, pure and simple. While the vote is largely about business, business comes with a heart. You can’t fake it, you can’t buy it, and you can’t argue against it.

I can tell you one thing — from only a few days of emails — what I think people like about FlyLady is her “voice.” She’s got the perfect tone — like that wise older sister who offers you plenty of love and encouragement, but also knows the right buttons to push to motivate you.

Here’s the first thing you’re supposed to focus on: Shine Your Sink. FlyLady takes this so seriously, she even has a book called Sink Reflections (Ballentine Books.) If you go to Amazon and check out the reader reviews, you’ll see nearly 300 people are totally passionate about her book in some way or another.

She tells you to shine it with Windex, then wipe it dry with a towel. Then look in your sink and see your reflection. Well, I say — that’s a very positive suggestion — instead of saying, “Wash those dishes,” she says, “Shine that beautiful sink.”

And don’t most people respond to praise more than criticism? If you praise me and tell me good things, then I’m going to feel good about myself and work to please you. But if you criticize me, thinking I’ll learn more that way, I go the opposite way and feel like giving up. I don’t think I’m all that unusual — that’s just the way most of us think.

So, stay tuned for next FlyLady Friday when I tell you about Hot Spots, the Secret Weapon, Holiday Super Cruising Missions, and how YOU…yes YOU can become a genuine Fly Baby.

Yesterday, I noticed a link back to my site from Two Talent Living. So I went to that site and discovered the owner, Sallie Schaaf Borrink, is hosting the 2005 Blogs of Beauty Awards. Well, I was quite surprised to discover someone had nominated my blog for “Best Encourager.” Thank you to whoever nominated me — you really made my day!

When I have more time, I’d love to go visit many of the blogs that were nominated — the few that I’ve seen are wonderful. I was reading through the award categories and got to this one: “Best Quiet Spirit: Demonstrates a beautiful, quiet spirit through her blog entries.” And I thought — that’s got to be my sister-in-law. And there she is — she’s nominated in that category! I’m always wishing for a more quiet spirit — it’s nice to have a place to go to learn what one looks like.

Sallie has now chosen three finalists for each award, and you can vote on your favorites until 8 pm Tuesday, December 8. The contest is already a success in that it’s nice having all these blogs gathered in one spot — so we can “fellowship” in the blogosphere!

P.S. If you’re involved in the homeschooling community, you’ll want to check out the Homeschool Blogger Awards 2005. You can nominate from this site. Nominations are open until December 11, and voting begins December 12. The awards are hosted by Karen “Spunky” Braun (Spunky Homeschool), who is a homeschooling mom of six and a columnist for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

How many days are left until “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” comes to the movie theater?

Only 8 more days!

Don’t go into the theater without at first peeking at the book. Or at least reading up on what the series is about. You want to be able to tell your kids that Aslan represents Jesus. And the series is written by a Christian author, C.S. Lewis, who planted symbols of his Christian faith throughout all seven books of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Marcia Ford at FaithfulReader.com did an awesome round-up of the top Narnia-related books of the season, including one I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. Here’s what she says:

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NARNIA: Christian Meaning in C.S. Lewis’s Beloved Chronicles, by Jonathan Rogers (Warner Faith)
Rogers, himself a fantasy novelist, emphasizes the critical role imagination plays in fully understanding the truth of the gospel. He arranges the chapters of his book according to the overarching theme of each of the Narnia books — “Remembering the Signs,” for example, for THE SILVER CHAIR, and “Further Up and Further In” for THE LAST BATTLE. Rogers manages to highlight the biblical elements in the series without loading up the text with scripture references; his is a big-picture view that also sheds light on significant details. Includes a bibliography and notes.

If you don’t subscribe to the FaithfulReader.com newsletter, I highly recommend it. The reviews are heartfelt — most of them are like personal essays about books. You can sign up here.

Look into the eyes of Aslan. Do you see yourself?

We’ve made it to the last month of the year — December is here. This is the weekend many of us will begin hauling boxes up from our basement or down from our attic — as we attempt to usher in the season of Christmas.

Here are a couple of traditions we enjoy in our home that you may like to do in yours. We’ve used an Advent Calendar for years to count the days until Christmas. I bought it at a Christian bookstore. It has little pockets with numbers 1-25 on them, and inside each pocket is a little stuffed piece that we take out each day to create a Nativity scene.

The first few days are things like stars, the moon, clouds, etc. Then we add in angels, sheep, donkeys, camels, shepherds, wise men, and eventually the family of Jesus. This is always one of our favorite activities to do first thing in the morning — and I never have to hear, “How many days until Christmas?” because my kids can see the calendar and count for themselves!

We’ve ended up with several of those little tabletop trees, and I let the kids have one in their rooms all month. It’s a nice scene to see them going to sleep in the glow of tiny Christmas lights. On one of our table trees, we decorate using a book called “Adornaments.” Each little ornament is a small book — you open it up each day the twelve days before Christmas and read what the ornament means. Each is a symbol of Jesus. My kids love doing this. A friend gave this book to me last year, and I must tell you — it’s so easy for busy parents. And as the kids read, I’m reminded to celebrate Christ as the center of Christmas.

In years past, we’ve decorated a Jesse Tree, using a book called The Advent Jesse Tree: Devotions for Children and Adults to Prepare for the Coming of the Christ Child at Christmas (by Dean Meador Lambert). Our church used this book and taught us how to make ornaments that all relate to the whole story of the birth of Christ — beginning in the Old Testament. It’s really a magnificent way to give your family a glimpse of the BIG picture.

Oh, we also love to pull out our Christmas books and videos. A few years ago, I invested in some of those red and green Rubbermaid boxes, and they’ve been definitely worth it. (Though this year, I’m going to get better at LABELING the boxes with exactly what’s inside.) I used to not know what to do with all the Christmas books we got as gifts. They’d end up on the kids’ bookshelves and would be ignored and forgotten by Easter. But now, we pack them away at the end of the season and pull them out again with our decorations. They stay NEW this way! We have one book that sings little Christmas songs — that has got to be nearly ten years old. It still works, and every child has loved on that book.

So, from my house to yours. Now it’s your turn to help me out. What are your most-loved Christmas decorations?

I can get overwhelmed just thinking of all that I have to do — but I try to take it step by step and focus on what really matters — that my family enjoys being together celebrating the birth of our Saviour. Jesus is the REAL focus of the season. But it’s up to me to provide the background sounds, sights, smells, and TASTES (mmm…) to make their memories more tangible.

P.S. Just in case you think I might have my act together: I don’t! The Advent calendar is still in a box as of this posting — and will come out tomorrow, a day late. As I grocery shopped yesterday for seven people and seven cats, I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff, teetering very close to the edge. (Teething baby, one ear infection, two baton twirlers in today’s Christmas parade, one 4th grader in need of styrofoam balls for a solar system project, two light-saber-wielding knights in very LOUD action…) I will not make it through one tiny second of Christmas without being plugged into God’s strength through prayer. There — the TRUTH to “how I do it!”