A must read: "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young

I am an avid reader. I love to read, especially at night after the kids have all settled in and my husband is lost in World Of Warcraft. My reading tastes run from one extreme to the other, and Iwill often read the same thing several times.

One genre of books I don't tend to read are books with religous undertones. See, I have my beliefs. Things that I think about religion, about God or even if there is one and I don't like to have my beliefs challenged. I don't want to admit that over the years God and I have become strangers at best. So, I avoid those books.

Over Thanksgiving, I was telling my mom how bad I wanted a Kindle, that digital reader by Amazon, because then it would be so much easier to store my books and the kids wouldn't get to them. My mom is not much of a reader other than the occasional magazine.

She said "You like to read, right?" "Yep" I told her. She then told me she had a book she wanted me to read. It was "The Shack". She said that it was a good book, one that would make you laugh and cry...

So she lent it to me. I don't know why, but I felt that I had to read it.

I read it in three days.

I plan on reading it again.

I cannot really explain what the book is about without giving away the plot. But I can tell you this, it is a book that talks somewhat about God. It does not force religion on you. It does make you take a step back and look at your life, your beliefs, or in my case lack thereof.

You will cry. Alot. The book opens your eyes and makes you think. When you finish it, you are left with a feeling of wonder. After reading it, I felt different. While my beliefs were not challenged, it made me think. Think about redemption and forgiveness. Think about judgement.

It is a book that you must read if you are at a crossroads in life, or just need a pick up.

I needed that book. My mom, who doesn't read, says she felt like she had to read that book after reading a review.

This book is on the New York Bestsellers list...with a mere 200 hundred dollar advertising budget.

You can visit www.theshackshop.com for the authors blog, more information or to purchase the book.

Read it.

It will change you.

Great Gift Idea for The College Boy or Soldier in Your Life: The Automated Man

How many times has this happened to you, you give your son, who is going off to college or moving out on his own for the first time, a credit card and remind him to use this card for "necessities only"? Only to get your statement the next month and see that the card was used for anything but necessities? Or your college aged son, nephew or grandson comes home for the holidays looking as if he just crawled out from underneath a bridge somewhere. When you ask him about his appearance, he tells you that he ran out of money 2 weeks ago, and couldn't buy more shampoo. (Your guess is as good as mine as to where he spent that money at).

The truth is, when our children head off to college or even just move out on their own for the first time, everything that you have taught them about personal hygiene seems to be forgotten.

This is where the Automated Man comes in. The automated man is essentially an auto ship program for all of your son's, nephew's or grandson's personal hygiene needs. For $39.99 a month your son will receive a toiletry kit filled with the essentials that he needs. From soap to shampoo, deodorant to toothpaste, you can make sure that your son is taking care of himself.

What is great about this service is it is affordable. Your first order is valued at $140.00 and each additional order is valued at $80.00. The cost to you is simply $39.99 (plus tax). By signing up with Automated Man, this ensures that your son at least has the products to take care of himself and ultimately saves you time and money (No more trips to the post office...Automated Man ships directly to your son!)

Here is what i liked the most about the Automated Man service, they can ship to the military. As everyone knows, soldiers are lacking the personal hygiene implements that they need, especially out in the field. By signing up with the Automated Man, you can make sure that each month, your soldier is receiving the products that he needs. This would especially be great for those of you that adopt a soldier. This is a great way to make sure that they have what they need, items that may be hard to come by once they leave base.

If your son runs out of an item early, you can simply log onto Automated Man and let them know. They will send it out right away. If it is close (within one week) to your normal ship time, they will send the entire shipment early.

You can visit The Automated Man website for more information. You can also reach them by calling their customer service line at 1-888-315-DUDE.

With the holidays just around the corner, this would be a great gift to give the college boy or soldier in your life.

Product Review-Hooked On Phonics Reading Program

Midway through the 2007-2008 school year, I was called into a conference with my son's first grade teacher.

My son was not where he "should" be as far as academics were concerned and his principal and early intervention specialist had thought that maybe we should consider holding him back a year and having him re-do the first grade.

I left that meeting feeling defeated. I felt like I had dropped the ball as far as parenting my son was concerned. I also knew that I did not want to have my son retained in the first grade. My husband and I talked about this to great lengths. My son would be going to a new school for the next school year (thank goodness for that ) so no one but him would know that he was having to repeat the first grade. I still wasn't comfortable with the idea though.

I decided that I would give it one last go before comitting to retaining him or not. Since reading was his weakest area, I began looking for ways to bolster that skill.

I had previous experience with HOP as an early childhood educator a few years prior. I had seen first hand, the success that a child could have with this program. However, I was put off by the cost of the program itself.

I decided, anyways, to check out the website again and see what resources they would have available in addition to the popular programs.

I was surprised and delighted to see that with the HOP reading program (and others as well) they offered a simple payment plan. $20.00 down and then $21.00 a month for 4 months would allow me to have this program for my son. I was so pleased with this offer that I explored some of the workbooks on their site and ended up purchasing a 1st grade workbook that covered all subjects.

When I recieved my package (I purchased the Deluxe) I immediately opened the box and was impressed with how easy it was to understand the program and how developmentally appropiate the program was.

My son started it on that following Monday ( I recived it on a Saturday) and within one week of using the program, his teacher noticed that his reading comprehension and confidence had increased.

We have been using the program now for about 5 months (taking time off during the summer for the birth of his baby brother) and are now into the 3rd box, the second grade box.

The workbook was great too. He was able to do most of the activites with no assistance, and the ones he did need help with it was very minimal.

He is now reading at nearly a second grade level, which is great considering when we started this program he was only reading at maybe a kindergarten level.

Be sure to visit the Hooked On Phonics Website for all of your childs needs. They have kits for science, reading, math, writing, and for multiple languages too. They even have kits for toddlers to use.

Hooked on Phonics is a great resource for any parent, and I highly reccomend it

New!!! Product Reviews Coming Next Week!!!

As I said before, I am revamping my blog. I have been working on new topics, giveaways and things like that, and will be unveiling them within the next couple of weeks.

Starting next week, I will be doing Product reviews here on my blog. If you have a product or service that you would like to have reviewed, please send me an email at maustin27@gmail.com

Please allow 5 days from the time I recieve your product for the review to be posted.

I look forward to working with alot of new people!!!

Till next time!!
Melissa A.