Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Meaningful Monday Thought.....

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Henry David Thoreau

Serials and Scenarios ~ The Me Project ~ Kathi Lipp

Kick Start Living Your Dream -
The Me Project - 21 Days to Living the Life You’ve Always Wanted
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN-10: 0736929665, ISBN-13: 978-0736929660
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Paperback: 224 pages, Retail: $12.99

Summary

(San Jose, CA) Has that rush to make (and break) New Year’s resolutions already waned? According to Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, taking small steps every day will not only help you stay committed to your goal, but will also help you ultimately achieve that goal when obstacles come up. Author Kathi Lipp wants you and your friends to live out those dreams—and have some fun along the way.

As women, we forget the goals and dreams of our younger years. The busyness of everyday life gets in the way. To-do lists replace goals. The Me Project provides women with fun and creative ways to bring back the sense of purpose and vitality that comes with living out the plans and dreams God has planted in our hearts. Kathi Lipp’s warm tone and laugh-out-loud humor motivates women to take daily steps toward intentional goals. The end result? We get back our lives and enjoy living in the confidence of a purposeful life in spite of our chaotic schedules.

This handy guide coaches women to do one simple thing toward achieving our goals each day for three weeks. A woman experiencing the exhilaration of a rediscovered life offers more as a wife, mother, friend, volunteer, career woman.

Finding the balance between living day-to-day with purpose while pursuing the passions God has placed in our hearts is a delicate pursuit. In this refreshing, insightful book, Kathi lays out a doable plan that makes sense and helps make our God-given dreams a reality. Never stop dreaming, because women who dare to dream do make the world a better place.
—Jean Blackmer
author of MomSense: A Common Sense Guide to Confident Mothering
Publishing Manager, MOPS International www.MOPS.org

Kathi Lipp is a busy conference and retreat speaker, currently speaking each year to thousands of women throughout the United States. She is the author of The Husband Project and The Marriage Project, serves as food writer for Nickelodeon, and has had articles published in several magazines, including Today’s Christian Woman and Discipleship Journal. Kathi and her husband, Roger, live in California and are the parents of four teenagers and young adults. For more information visit her website: www.kathilipp.com




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$62 value

Comment at Scrambled Dregs to be entered into the random drawing (one randomly chosen comment per blog will be entered in the drawing).

My Review:

I hadn't read Kathi Lipp before I received the review copy of The Me Project. Kathi is an engaging author who doesn't hide her humanity behind a glossy mask of perfection.

I began reading this "how-to" because I'm drawn to the books that are designed to help me to become a better me. At first the Me Project came across as self-help more so that God-influenced. But as I got into the nitty-gritty of the different daily projects I began to feel the pull of conviction and challenge to stop and ask God what He would like me to work on, and to take an inventory of my dreams.

I will continue to work on this process. I did choose to adapt her initial suggestion to think toward a tighter time frame with a shorter to-do list. I think Kathi wouldn't have an issue with my choice. I am not completely through the book yet, and am still mulling over which 21 Day project will be my focus. If you looking for a little push or for a project to do with a few friends, the Me Project would be a terrific resource.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Wisdom like Snowflakes to You

Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.

Samuel Coleridge

Serial and Scenarios ~ Operation Bonnet ~ Kimberly Stuart

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Operation Bonnet David C. Cook; New edition (February 1, 2011) by Kimberly Stuart



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kimberly says:

I am a writer of comedic fiction, and would like to suggest that you laugh regularly when reading my books. Let’s also try for one to two teary moments. If you are crying more than that, you don’t understand my sense of humor and should move on to another author.



I grew up in a book-loving home. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. My mom loves books. My dad loves to read the first chapters of books and then make us all listen as he recites his favorite passages. I, however, enjoy reading books in their entirety and came into writing as a result of book-love. After earning two fancy degrees in education and Spanish, I promptly let the thinking part of my brain take a breather and instead became pregnant. (I’m sure a lot of other things happened between early literacy and pregnancy but I don’t really remember any of that. If you also have shared your uterus with another human, you understand.)



In an effort to author a book that would entertain my sassy, irreverent, breast-feeding/drooping friends, I wrote my first novel, Balancing Act. People were so nice to me after that, I decided to continue with writing. Also, I can’t craft, knit, or scrapbook, so what else was a nice, Christian girl to do?



In addition to writing books to make my friends laugh and cry, I observe the chaos at the home I share with my unfailingly supportive husband and three offspring. We’re doing our best and so far, no one’s been to prison.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Twenty-year-old Nellie Monroe has a restless brilliance that makes her a bit of an odd duck. She wants to be a private investigator, even though her tiny hometown offers no hope of clients. Until she meets Amos Shetler, an Amish dropout carrying a torch for the girl he left behind.



So Nellie straps on her bonnet and goes undercover to get the dish. But though she’s brainy, Nellie is clueless when it comes to real life and real relationships. Soon she’s alienated her best friend, angered her college professor, and botched her case.



Operation Bonnet is a comedy of errors, a surprising take on love, and a story of grace.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Operation Bonnet, go HERE.



Watch the book video trailer:







My Review:

I love a novel that makes me laugh and makes me pause at moments of poignancy in between laughs. Operation Bonnet is a delightful story that does just that. I would not have picked up the book based on the cover or the title. I'm not a fan of the Amish trend in Christian publishing. However, another reviewer recommended it to me, suggesting that she thought I just might love it and she was right.

Kimberly Stuart has written previous novels that I've either liked or liked a lot. Operation Bonnet blows them all out of the water and is one I loved.

Nellie is a twenty-year-old crazy-haired girl genius with a hunger for private investigating and a sacrificial love for her Nona. Nellie works at a golf shop, studies PI techniques and takes care of her Nona while her parents travel the world. Her best friend Matt helps her score sweet spying tools and listens to her rants. Nona is losing it, but it's slow enough and the spells are infrequent enough that Nellie thinks she can hold off the inevitable. Her life is full. Rich? Fulfilling? Not quite because she lives in a town where crime is rare, stealth is rarely required, and folks are pretty decent. Boring. Then Amos, the used-to-be Amish boy comes to town. He is hired by Tank, the golf club owner, for the annual project, this year, a mini-golf course. Amos is a walking culture shock with a concern. One that he thinks he could hire Nellie, P.I. to look into. She only will need to infiltrate the tight-knit Amish community to help him out. One that he has been firmly shunned from.

Nellie enters a stretching period where she helps, in a backwards, inside-out and upside-down sort of way. And in the process she grows up a little bit and finds out a lot about life.

I loved this novel. Charming, sweet, funny, sweet, touching, did I say sweet, and interesting. If you read one novel this year, I'm thinking you could do far worse than this one.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Word to the Wise ...

and Procrastinators....

(But I don't know any of those...)

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Serials and Scenarios ~ Giveaway....

Life Ready Woman

Shaunti Feldhahn MomLife Today is thrilled to announce that Shaunti Feldhahn will be joining their team as a regular contributor to the MomLife Today website and blog! MomLife Today is also helping to promote Shaunti's latest book, Life Ready Woman, by giving away 2 Weekend To Remember Gift Packs and much more! Weekend To Remember Get-Aways offer marriage-changing principles that you can take home and apply to your daily lives to strengthen your marriage. Whether you are newly engaged or have been married for 50 years, you will find value in the tools provided at the getaway. Don't miss this opportunity to receive a conference registration for you and your spouse ... and more! MomLife Today will be randomly selecting NINE lucky recipients to receive one of these great gifts: 2 Weekend To Remember Get Away conference registrations for two. $259 value each pair (Two couples will receive this.) 2 Life Ready Woman DVD packs. $149 value each (Two different people will receive this gift.) 5 The Life Ready Woman books. (Book will go to 5 people.) To enter click one of the icons below then tell your friends. Winner will be announced on March 2nd on the MomLife Today website. MomLife Today provides encouragement, advice and resources to help YOU with your daily Momlife! Because...every MOMent counts! Want to help Spread the Word and enter to win a $30 gift certificate to Amazon.com - blog about the contest, add the blog button to your blog sidebar or share it on Facebook or twitter. Email amy@litfusegroup.com for the html codes. Sample Facebook post: Shaunti Feldhahn is joining MomLife Today! Find out more and enter to receive Weekend To Remember Gift Packs! http://www.momlifetoday.com/2011/02/shaunti-feldhahn%E2%80%99s-life-ready-woman-and-a-giveaway/ Sample Tweet: @shauntifeldhahn is joining @MomLifeToday - find out more and enter to win Weekend to Remember gift packs! http://ow.ly/3ZJ5m Find out more about Shaunti and her book below.

About Life Ready Woman

Thriving in a Do It All World Are you a 'Doing it all' or 'Do what matters' woman? Whether a stay at home or working mom, an airplane-hopping executive, an empty-nester caring for multiple generations or a single juggling high demands of career and personal life, today's fast-paced modern world leaves women gasping for balance. We as modern Christian women want to look to the Bible for guidance on how to manage our lives -- but because the world of women looks so different today than it did when the Bible was written, it is hard to find chapter and verse that seems to apply to our situation today. Thankfully, God has given us exactly that timeless, unchanging guidance for how to find peace, clarity, and God's best for our lives once we know where to look! The Life Ready Woman: Thriving in a Do-It-All World, reveals a profound biblical roadmap for how each of us can find the abundant life we are longing for, rather than the stressful, torn, how-do-I-balance-it-all life we often feel like we are trying to keep up with today. Actually being a LifeReady Woman means that you are clear about your life, bold in your faith, and able to find God's best for you, and the end result will be that you not only survive but thrive in our do-it-all world. God has given every wonderfully unique woman different skills and abilities, different desires, and different temperaments -- and every woman around the planet and through the ages is certainly living in different circumstances. But no matter what a woman's life looks like, the Bible says that God has an individual mission and plan that He's carefully designed for each of us. And He wants us to find it. Starting January 2011, The Life Ready Woman and the Life Ready Woman Video Series will help every wonderfully unique woman to thrive as she identifies and courageously pursues God's unique design and callings for her. LifeReady Woman puts you on a roadmap to make decisions that will lead to relief, delight, and fulfillment instead of regret. Find out more about the LifeReady Woman book and study

About the Author

Shaunti Feldhahn is a former Wall Street analyst and the best-selling author of For Women Only and now The Life Ready Woman with Robert Lewis. These resources investigate and illuminate those easy-to-miss truths that have the greatest power to transform lives. Shaunti is also the mom of two active young kids, and wife to attorney and entrepreneur Jeff. In the middle of juggling work deadlines, soccer runs, church activities, business opportunities, field trips, and time with her husband, she has seen personally how vital it is to have a biblical blueprint for life balance. For more information about Shaunti, please visit her website at www.shauntifeldhahn.com.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ tiny but in the hands of the Almighty

Storms have a way of teaching what nothing else can.