Clout Book Review

 

I received this book for free from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review. I have never previously read any books by Jenni Catron. I was curious about the book Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God Given Influence. There are two sections in this book, the first part is all about the seven different ways that we may prevent ourselves from using are talents or being able to recognize our talents, and then how to go about using them. I enjoyed the first section in the book more than the second, which I thought that it was not as in depth or as long. So what did I enjoy the most about this book? It is always a good thing to look more inward to see why we do certain things, how we might be holding ourselves back, as well as how we think how others perceive us, how to use our talents, decide what we are good at, trying new things, etc., were just a few subjects that this book made me think about. Changing a way that someone thinks about themselves, is never going to be easy, but I think starting small and thinking positive is at least a start. After reading this book, I can see that I  have more talents than I previously thought, and how to better use them for good in helping other people, etc.

This is a book, that I want to reread but also want to pass it on to other people. So, I have decided that I will donate it to my church library, this way lots of different people can enjoy it.

I rank this book 4.5 out of 5

2014 Chunkster Challenge

 I found this reading challenge a few months late, but I am still going to sign up. So here are the rules for the chunkster challenge:

• Books must be more than 450 pages
• Audio and E-books allowed
• Book can be Adult, YA, Fiction or Non-Fiction
• No Graphic Novels
• Open to anyone
• Books can be used from other challenges
• Essay, Short Story, and Poem Collections are allowed but they have to be read in their entirety

Even though I don't have to list the books I will be reading for this challenge, here are just a few that I can immediately think of:

Clean Sweep ARC Challenge

Ok, so I am late in finding this reading challenge of ARC that is for the month of May, but only found it through looking at a Bout of Books participants blog. For this challenge, read any ARC that you are behind on for this month, if this sounds like fun to you click on the button above.  Here are the ARC I need to read and review:


Pages Read: 160 out of 186
I have been reading this book during the week for the bout of books challenge.

Pages Read: 34 out of 1,168
Yea, this books is a chunkster as it is three novels in one book. I have had this book the longest, so I really need to make sure that I read it this month.

Pages Total: 304
I haven't started reading this book at all.

Goals:

I want to at least read two of my books, preferably I would really like to finish all three, but I am late in joining this challenge. Also, with a book over 1,000 pages it might be too much to finish all three. At least I am close to finish Clout.

Bout of Books: Day 5 & 6 Updates

 I didn't do too much on Friday but read more on Saturday. I don't think I will reach my goal of reading 3 books, but we will see how far I get.

Friday:
Pages Read: 24
Books Finished: 0
Titles Experienced:


Saturday:

Pages Read: 59
Books Finished: 0
Titles Experienced:

IHSW May 2014

 I haven't been able to participate for a long time in the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, so I am excited to be able to have enough time for counted cross stitch. I will only be working on one project, which is a gift for my sister, she is a lover of music.

Here is the before this weekend.....

I hope I get quite a bit done, but I think I have gotten a little bit off on my counting with the leaves. The finished design will have more piano keys, roses, and a flute. Will you be doing some cross stitching or other type of craft over the weekend?

Bout of Books: Day 3 and 4 Updates

 I did good on Wednesday on reading two different books although not as much as the previous days. I wasn't feeling good on Thursday so I didn't complete that much at all.

Wednesday:

Pages Read: 106
Books Finished: 0
Titles Experienced:


I read 42 pages of Jane Eyre and read 65 pages of Clout.

Thursday:

Pages Read: 4
Books Read: 0
Titles Experienced:


Needless to say, I hope to get more read today, as I am feeling better. Are you reading any good books?

Bout of Books: Day 2 Update

 I was able to get a lot farther in my reading yesterday than I was on the previous day. I only read one book, but that is ok as I ended up finishing it.

Tuesday:

Pages Read: 210 (there were a few chapters included about the next book in the series, which I didn't read)
Books Finished: 1
Titles Experienced:


So what will I be reading today? I have read a little of Jane Eyre, but do not plan on spending the whole day reading her book (I was already halfway done reading it).

Here are the rest of the books that I can choose from:

Quilt Retreat Photos

I have gotten behind in posting photos of quilts lately. Every year I go with members of my quilt guild on a retreat, it occurs about a month after our annual quilt show (I still need to post photos of those quilts as well). Enjoy the photos!


This first quilt is mine, it is a string quilt made of 1930's reproduction fabric.  Two years ago I did a block exchange and gave out the fabric to various other members and told them to add some of their own 1930's fabric to the ones I provided. At the first retreat I went to I pieced the blocks together, but never did actually quilt it. This year I knew I needed to get it done, but what should I do with the quilt? I had run out of the fabric I had given out, so I couldn't make more (most of the blocks have a at least one fabric that is the same throughout). So I just decided to give it as a gift to one of my grandmothers as a lap quilt. I think she will really enjoy it with the cheery fabric.

This block I made as the President of our quilt guild on the trip broke her hip and needed emergency surgery. Her favorite color is red so, all of us at the retreat made one block, the quilt top is in the photos below.

The view from outside of the room I stayed in.

I love this quilt pattern. I will be making one similar in July when I take a class from Bonnie Hunter.

 A small creek on the retreat property.

 This is the quilt top all complete of everyone's quilt block they made as a gift for a speedy recovery of our quilt guild President.