Monday Funday #36...Things I've Learned And A Book Review.

Happy Monday all.  I am sitting here on my front porch enjoying the day.  The birds are singing and there is a fuzzy fox squirrel watching me type from across the yard.  AHHHHHH!!!  Just had a spider crawling down the front of my shirt.  Gotta love nature!!  Speaking of nature...I've arrived at the knowledge that I'm not much of an outdoor camper anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I love to go camping and be in the outdoors.

Now I have a lizard about to climb up on the porch with me.  I really should go get my camera so you can see what I am seeing today....Okay I'm back and armed with my camera.  Of course now I probably won't see a thing.  Anyway back to my story.

The kids and I have been camping in the tent all week.  Of course they had never camped outside before so we were doing practice runs in the house with the tent in the middle of the living room floor like it was HERE.  Except we turned the door towards the window so the back of the tent was against the couch.  That way the man of the house could see the T.V. and watch his man shows. :) Then Friday night we decided it was time to take it outside.  Of course it was only in the low 70's that day and it got down to about 50 that night.  It started out pretty good.  The kids and I read books for a while until it got dark.  The we looked at the sunset and the stars as they were coming out. It was to cold still for the lightening bugs so we didn't see any of those. After we looked at the stars until about 10, we decided it was time to go to sleep.  Everyone sack out pretty quick except for mom. I never knew nature could be so loud at night!!!  First there were the frogs over in the pond.  They were okay.  I love to hear them.  Then there was a visitor...First I hear a scritch scritch scratch scratch on the side of the tent.  Then here hear a little nose going sniff sniff sniff all around the back of the tent where our heads were.  That was pretty funny.  Of course the kids were asleep so they missed it.  I was a little afraid to look out and see what it was just in case it was a skunk.  P.U.    I dozed off for awhile then the coyotes came through.  and it got worse from there.  The yipped and howled for a good 10 to 15 minutes and woke up sis.  Then two different sets of dogs started barking. And who knew that birds chirped at night and so loud.  Let's just say the only sleep I got was from around 1:00 till about 2:30.  That is when sis and I both woke up with frozen noses and feet.  Time to abandon tent!!  I woke Boo up and was promptly told to go in the house he was staying put.  Then he woke up a little more and decided it was time to for him to leave to.  The sides of the tent were soaked from a heavy dew and it was barely 50 degrees outside and we were frozen.  That was the end of that adventure. I used to sleep outside all the time as a kid and never had a bit of trouble.  Hubby said it was because I was getting older.  UGH.  I guess maybe our next camping trip will have to be in the camper trailer.
 
If you have any funny camping stories I would love for you to leave me a comment about them.

 Here are a couple pictures of Mr.Squirrel.

 Here he is digging for something yummy to eat.  I tried shouting to get his attention but he just gave me a quick dirty look and went on about his business.

 

Then he decided it was time to move on through the yard.  His little friend was out in the field with a blue bird after him.  He had his tail tucked over his head and was doing a belly crawl to get away from it.  I couldn't get a picture of it before they quit.  Then I got back up on the porch and looked down to find a snake half way in a hole beside the steps.  Ugh!!!

Now for a book review. I was provided with this e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Book 1 of the Restoration Series

Released April, 2013!
Visit Gary Smalley’s website!
Buy this Book from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook | IndieBound | Books-a-Million
Jim Anderson is a successful businessman, and his wife, Marilyn, is the perfect wife. And why wouldn’t she be? He gives her everything she needs. That’s why Jim never expected to come home one day and find Marilyn gone.
After 27 years of marriage, Marilyn has had enough of feeling unloved and neglected. She wants to experience some measure of happiness before she’s too old to enjoy it, even signing up for dance lessons, something Jim would never do. What will it take for Jim to finally become the man Marilyn needs him to be?
Combining the literary talents of bestselling author Dan Walsh and the relationship expertise of bestselling author Gary Smalley, The Dance is the romantic first novel in The Restoration Series. Readers will get caught up in these flawed but earnest characters as they rediscover genuine love and start a transformation that will ultimately affect their whole family.


This book was really good.  It shares the story of a husband and wife who have been married for 27 years.  The husband is a workaholic and thinks every thing is fine at home.  Then one day he comes home to no dinner and a house that has not been cleaned.  That's when he realizes his wife has not been home all day.  He starts to panic and finally finds out from their daughter that she has left. His wife has left him clue after clue and dropped hints that she just is not happy in their marriage. His wife is happy with her new found independence and gets a job and starts taking dancing lessons.  This is something she knows he would never do with her because he wouldn't even dance with her at their wedding.  Through the book he starts to understand why she has left and starts to change the way he acts towards her.  He realizes what he had and that he doesn't want to lose it.  She is the love of his life even if he has not been showing her that.  He also sees what kind of father he has been by talking to his children and asking them to tell him what he is like.  The book also talks about fears that all couples have and that we need to try to over come those fears in order to be the spouse that God would have us be.  I can't wait for the rest of the series to come out to see how this family grows and changes along the way.  If you would like to read the book the links above will take you to the different sights that it can be ordered from.

If you have read this book I would love to hear what you thought of it.  Leave me a comment and let me know.

Feel free to link up anything that you have done over the past week or even an old post.  Don't forget to comeback tomorrow and link up at the blog hop.  I have a new Co-Host this week.  If you would like to Co-host or sponsor the hop please let me know.  Have a great week.