Book it 2012 - January

I am joining Life as Mom's Book It 2012. Check out what everyone is reading.

The first book I finished in the New Year was The Reversal by Michael Connelly. Connelly is also the author of  the book The Lincoln Lawyer that was made it to a movie.  The Reversal is about a killer that is being retried for a crime that was committed 24 years ago.  A child was abducted from her front yard and later found dead in a dumpster.  As in the Lincoln Lawyer, Micky Haller is back but as a lawyer for the prosecution as a one time gig.  I really liked the book.  It kept me riveted. If you like mystery and crime Micheal Connelly doesn't disappoint.

My library is VERY big into merchandising their books. This book was in their display of books for, I guess, for the New Years. (You know health and fitness/New Year Resolutions) I am a sucker for these displays.  I am an impulse checker outer.  That seriously is a real term.  Anyway, I picked up The Great Fitness Experiment - One year of Trying Everything by Charlotte Hilton Anderson. All kidding aside Charlotte spends a year testing diets and workouts with her gym buddies.  She shares what her and her friends learned doing CrossFit, Kettlebells, Karate, and Jillian Micheals etc. She also reveals that she has a eating disorder in the form of an exercise addiction. It is a very real and approachable book and the next best thing to exercise.  She writes at the Great Fitness Experiment.

Life as Mom booking it book was One Bite at a Time by Tsh Oxenreider.  I downloaded this to my Kindle.  Wow, this is a book that you read and let marinate.  I think I will be revisiting this book a lot.There is a lot of good information.  She had me at the first chapter with eating the frog.  Doing your most undesirable task first.  I have to tendency to put off the task I really dislike. So that is what I am really concentrating on. I also liked the chapter about Kaizen.  Kaizen is the Japanese term for small continuous change.  That really resonated with me.  I have a child on the spectrum(HFA) and change of any kind is difficult but when implemented in small bits change is possible.  Lastly, this quote also resonated with me in the book by  Meagan Francis of TheHappiestMom. com
"I used to feel really weird about 'outsourcing' certain parts of my life to outside help. I had this idea that MY mother did it all, all the generations of women before HER did it all, and therefore I should be able to do it all, too. Then I started paying attention to the housewives in the 18th and 19th century women's fiction I love, and realized - wow, all classes, even the tough-as-nails(and not rich) pioneer women often had a girl in the kitchen or they sent out their ironing.   I have come to realize that being an efficient homemaker isn't about doing everything yourself -it's about managing the home and all the tasks that go along with running it. That means knowing what makes sense to to do yourself, and what you either don't enjoy or don't have time for so you can delegate. "

I think that quote deserves an AMEN! As Mom's we get so much pressure to do it all and all by ourselves.  That just isn't possible.  That is an inaccurate stereotype. This good book whether you are a long time homemaker like myself or just starting on this journey.