The Mayo Clinic Diet-Review in Progress

The Mayo Clinic Diet emphasizes foods that are not only healthy, but also taste great. Part 1, the “Lose It!” phase, is The Mayo Clinic Diet’s two-week quick-start plan. “Lose It” is designed to help dieters lose 6 to 10 pounds in just 14 days. After dieters complete the “Lose It” phase, they move on to Part 2, “Live It.” This phase is designed to help dieters continue to lose 1-2 pounds each week until they reach their desired healthy weight. “Live It” offers a customized guide to using the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid.

About the Plan:


My Review:
I received a copy of the diet and a journal to track my progress. I love how easy it is to follow the plan and how much SENSE it makes. This is a review in progress as I'm still going along...I'll update this review as I move onto the other steps.

• Started: Feb. 22nd 2010-Start Weight: 143lbs
• Check In: March 1st-143lbs
• March 8th-
  

**I received a free copy of the book and journal in return for an honest review.

Quick Review: The Bone Chamber

The Bone Chamber was fun. It's action packed and full of suspense. It's the second in the Sydney Fitzpatrick series but I didn't have any problems following the story. There's enough back history provided that things flowed smoothly. I really enjoyed the character development. Griffin and Sydney are great characters with plenty of chemistry! The suspense was well-written and pretty intense. The twists and turns are actually kinda surprising and definitely not formulaic.

The Bone Chamber is definitely for those that have a fondness for action driven stories, with just a dash of (hinted) romance. I enjoyed Burcell's writing and will definitely pick up more of Robin Burcell's books! The phrase "page turner" would be an understatement for this one!!

Weekly Plans for Feb. 22-28th

I always start the week off with Bookish Plans, and lately it seems that they always fall through. You've seen them if you've been here before, you know I crash and burn more often than I fly. Well not this week. This week is going to be about catching up. Instead of listing what I am going to do I'll just post a list of the books I need to read/review and HOPE they get read. How's that for aiming low?

So here is my list:

1. *finish: The Bone Chamber-Robin Burcell-FINISHED (review will post on Feb. 24th)
   
2. *finish: The Great Hunt-Robert Jordan
3. She-Rain-Michael Cogdill-Read/review
4. Stormrage-Richard A Knaak-read/review

There..IF and that's a big if..I finish half of that I'll be a happy toaster. I have reasons for being a slacker last week! I really really do! My husband started his new job and he works like fitty bajillion hours, so I've been on Mommy overtime PLUS I have been busy on a job (from home.) So when I have a break I'm usually sleeping.

But this is my second week of adjusting to the schedule, so I think I feel comfortable with it and can squeeze in some much needed reading time!

Quick Review-Searching for Whitopia

Rich Benjamin's book makes you think. I laughed and winced at times, occasionally all at once! This isn't a light fluffy read though. It is a timely look at an old problem. This intelligent and thought provoking book hits on the nasty R word..racism. Rich takes a look at parts of white America and how they live, secluded and clustered away from the world and the big bad changes they see in the future.

I will say that I appreciated Rich's approach. Not all white people are afraid of people of color and not all white people are afraid of change. He makes that clear, which helps this book have a balance that other books fail to reach. This book is definitely for those looking for a witty and absorbing "serious" read.

And now a word from our Blogger....

Okay that was just a little of what I like to call "Humor" to start off this post. So you probably didn't notice my little absence since last week, but I was without interwebs for a few days! Remember back a few weeks ago when I mentioned our monitor was kicking the bucket? Well the bucket has been kicked...and kicked hard. Woo hoo! So yeah, I was stressing out and going crazy without my internets. My husband was in between jobs and thus in between paychecks, so we couldn't afford a new one. Monday (yesterday) he started his new job at a local Rent-a-Center and came home with a monitor!!! Apparently they had cleaned our their inventory and had one flat screen monitor laying around just waiting for us to pick up and take home! It's not as big as our last one but it works and it's nice! It's not too old so it shouldn't die on us anytime soon. Yay!

My husband is my hero! So with that note, I'm back! I'm working on catching up with the review books I have and whittling my TBRs down, writing reviews, and tweaking this blog. Once we have a few paychecks under our belts and I have a good sense of what spare money we'll have at the end of the month I'll start hosting some giveaways!

So now back to our regularly scheduled blog posts....

Review-Lighting their Fires

Using a trip to a baseball game, teacher Rafe Esquith describes his methods and ideas about teaching and creating well rounded children. He explains the elements of a well rounded child and what ever parent should know about how to help their children be the best. I loved how he laid it all out bare and simple so that everyone could understand and follow through.

As a mother of a boy that is quickly growing up and starting to understand more about the world, this book was an eye opener. I really appreciated the straight forward, non-nonsense way Esquith explained his methods. I found his ideas interesting and logical. I had several "ah ha!" moments while reading this book.

Each little story is told to show his techniques and give a bit of history to them as well. This isn't just another dry "How to Make Your Kid a Genius," book. There is enough humor and fun to keep things from turning too serious. I would suggest this book to anyone with kids. I learned a lot from it and think that I will use some of the tips and techniques with my son.

Review-Angel and Apostle

This book...WOW! Beautifully written and such a wonderful read. I can't describe how beautifully Deborah Noyes uses words. I devoured each and every word in this book. Noyes is quite masterful at catching your eye from the beginning and holding the attention til the last word. I couldn't stop reading this book!

I felt that Pearl as a character was a living breathing person who was neglected and tormented by her mother's past. She was treated as a little devil for sins that were not her own. She was teased and segregated by her peers and the one person whom she needed was frigid to her. I felt sorry for her and wanted to wrap her up in my arms and let her know she was okay. Cheesy as it sounds I really felt for that little girl. Of course she grows up and has her own issues to deal with but Pearl as a child is someone that demands sympathy.

I loved reading Pearl's story, from beginning to end I was completely in awe. The characters develop and change so beautifully. I really cannot say anything else other than this is a wonderfully written, well crafted book that I would highly recommend. Deborah Noyes has created a masterpiece in my opinion.