Good Reads Read

 “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.”  ― C.S. Lewis
All  these books can be enjoyed by youth and adult. Every single one got a 5 out of 5 rating by me on Goodreads. Listen up people, these are good books.

 Out of My Mind- A non-verbal wheel chair bound girl finds her voice.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963- Moments of humor, moments of deep reflection. This books is worthy of its accolades and your time.
The Saturdays, The Four Story Mistake and Then There Were Five- the first three in a series of four. Heartwarming, vividly written stories of the Melendy family. Wholesome books the whole family will enjoy.
Counting By 7's- A glimpse of the mind of a genius. A walk through the journey of grief. The miracle of finding yourself surrounded by imperfect people that help you find your way.
Memorable characters, superbly written.
When You Reach Me- A nice throwback to A Wrinkle in Time. A coming of age with a twist of sci-fi.
Everything on a Waffle and One Year in Coal Harbor- I like books with hard life topics brought to life and beautifully thought through. Topics such as, loneliness, friendship, foster care, livelihood, environmental protest, loss, love and business adventures.

 The Giver- Do I want to live in the society portrayed in this book? Absolutely not.
Do I want to ponder on things that make the world tick? Yes.
Do I want sameness? No.
Can I celebrate diversity, independence, and free will? Yes, yes, and yes! I like this book because it makes one think. Yes it is sad, but there is something to be learned from the sadness and shock.
Gifted Hands- Anointed! Ben Carson is an amazingly talented man that persevered, worked hard, fought through prejudice, saved lives and changed his industry. Unashamedly a man of faith.

 The Julian Chapter- Even wonder why the bully of Wonder did what he did? This book answers that and more. 

 Never Abandoned by Lori Jo Schepers
Powerful! Redemptive! LoriJo takes the reader on a journey from brokenness to redemption, gives insight of the abandoned heart, and shares her struggles with honesty. With glimpses from behind the veil and touchstones from the Father, there is much to think about. This is a must read for hurting teens, broken adults, pastors, teachers, those pondering how a life can be redeemed, and anyone of influence. We all are people of influence. The words we speak, the encouragement we share, the love and concern of one makes a difference. LoriJo is a warrior, a spiritual champion. She will inspire you, her God will redeem you and change your life forever.

All of them were excellent reads! All of them!

#49 Pasta with Swiss Chard, Bacon, and Lemony Ricotta Cheese

Houston, we have a dilemma. We had to skip #48. I really did not want to but it was made with puff pastries. There are no gluten free puff pastries available on the market and to make them from scratch takes HOURS and HOURS of dedication to get them to turn out right. In the words of Sweet Brown, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
So unless someone makes some gluten free puff pastry or I can find it at a store, we are going to have to pass on #48. Oh darn, we had to have bacon tonight. :D

 I snagged a leaf of swill chard from my momma and daddio's garden. The onion came from the Kid's Garden. And then there was BACON!

 Scrumptious bacon, chard pasta on a bed of lemony ricotta cheese. WINNER! I have a big bowl of leftovers which have my name on them. We will definitely make this one again.
-Mom

Dinner was AWESOME SAUCE! I think I may have put in a little too much ricotta because it was pretty cheesy, but still it was YUMMY! -DD

Side note- The first of my e-cloth products arrived this afternoon. My new dusting cloths. I decided to tackle my bedroom fan since it had not been dusted in ???? who knows how long, if ever. They are amazing!

 I was having so much fun that DD had to go try one out on the kitchen fan. YEAH!!

 Who knew dusting could make me happy? I can not wait for my other products to arrive. :D

Just Keep Reading

The last month in books:

Cheaper By the Dozen
Owls in the Family
All of a Kind Family
Homesick
Ben and Me
Almost Home
Wonder

Yet again they were all fabulous.
My new favorite though would have to be Almost Home. Poetic, raw, real life with a dose of encouragement. A great read for the middle school crowd and those who love young adult fiction.

Wonder was thought provoking and sincere. Every person should read at least once.

Cheaper By the Dozen is a hilarious telling of the Gilbreth family. Written by two of the dozen. It is a wonderful glimpse into the life and mind of an efficiency expert at the start of the 20th century. Brilliant! Those who like biographies will love this book that has you laughing out loud as you turn the pages.

The Reading Challenge

 Read, read read, all summer long. Read, read, read while I sing this song.
It was Memorial Day weekend that I issued a challenge to my children. I asked them to read 100 books by next Memorial Day. Well, at first it started out that I would like them to read 100 of the 150 books I placed on a book list sometime in the next two years but to be really crazy, why not read them all THIS YEAR?
And the fun part? I am reading them too. Although I have challenged myself to read all 150. If I found some value in them to be placed on the list, then I should obviously value them enough to dig in and read them myself. You see when I was a tween and young adult, I missed out. I was reading crap, literary fodder, books that were watered down and weak. Gasp! I know, I am ashamed.
That is where my life philosophy serves me well, it is never too late. Also, I now believe a good children's and young adult book is good for all.
When I made the reading list, I scoured the internet, read reviews, looked for classics that have withstood the test of time as well as sought out new treasures. I looked for award winners. I looked for depth of character. I looked for real life as well as found a few fantasy, threw in a healthy dose of biographies and nonfiction. Then I printed the list and challenged the kids. Their first goal was to read 14 by the middle of August if they wanted to go to an amusement park they have never been to. I am all for bribery. It works.

In the first month, I read the following:

 My daughter and I fell in love with the Penderwicks.

In the last three weeks I read these gems:

 There were some truly excellent stories in this lot. Every single one of them were well written. Although Hereville:How Mirka Got Her Sword was not really my thing, being a graphic novel. And I was surprised to see Odd Boy Out was a picture book, how did I miss that? Oh well, we all got an easy read out of that one.

Have you read any of these titles? Which was your favorite?

“Clearly one must read every good book at least once every ten years.”
― C.S. Lewis
For some us we need to just read them, it is never too late.

Kit Kittridge

Who is Kit Kittridge?
Besides being an American girl doll and the star of a chapter book or even a movie star, she is my new best friend. Seriously, I love her!
A week ago my daughter picked up the American Girl books at the library. She quickly devoured book 1 of Molly. When she went back to the library she could not find book 2 so she got the Kit Kittridge series instead. Hooked I say. In three days she has read three books. But my joy is not that alone. Oh no! The true reason I love Kit Kittridge: She has turned by daughter onto writing .
In the books Kit is a nine year old growing up in the Depression. With the help of her typewriter she writes daily newspapers to her dad to fill him in on the happening of the day.
Little girl finished book one of the series and asked if she could do that too. Of course, she can write articles for a newspaper!
We hopped on the computer, sorry no typewriters at this house, figured out how to make a newsletter on Word and off she went. Within 24 hours she had written 5 articles for her News. She figured out how to add pictures and clip art, then discovered text wrap.
With a little help from spell check and her editor(me) she was ready for print.
I could not be more proud or excited!
She has already exclaimed to dad that he will be recieving a weekly newspaper. Woot woot.
See I told you I love Kit. And now you know the rest of the story.

Highlights of Meijer Garden 2010

With the butterflies flying at Meijer Garden we joined our homeschool co-op on a visit.
I must say the diversity of the plants and flowers there is amazing. I must also state that the following pictures were taken by my mother, who did a fabulous job. Thanks mom!

Cactus

Pitcher Plants

My beautiful butterflies.

Butterflies all around in the aviary.

How many butterflies can you find on this one plant?

Don't forget to look for the birds...here is a blue one, an orange one and a yellow one.

Jailed? Not really, they are enjoying the kids gate of the Children's Garden.

Butterfly dress-up.

Archeological dig.

When we did our sculpture study back in January we studied Marshall Fredrick. After reading, The Outdoor Museum: The Magic of Michigan's Marshall M. Fredericks, we fell in love with his work. We even visited his museum. So we were delighted to revisit so many of his sculptures at Meijer Garden.
Here is the Leaping Gazelle...

Which is actually a fountain.

More Marshall Fredrick.

Red-Tailed Hawk looking for lunch.

Davinci's Horse...we were highly anticipating this sculpture after reading Leonardo's Horse by Jean Fritz

I absolutely LOVE the expression of the grandfathers face.

What kind of bird do you think might hatch from these?

Strike a pose.


Hope you enjoyed our trip to Meijer Garden as much as we did.

Owlhaven's Giveway

Early on in my blogging I was very fortunate to run across one of my favorite bloggers, Owlhaven.
A homeschool mom to 10, this woman rocks. With posts about gardening, frugality, adoption, life and laptops. Laptops, yup, it's true. Mary is giving away a laptop to one lucky reader this week. Go check out the post:
http://www.owlhaven.net/intel_laptop_giveaway

I definitely could put a new laptop to good use.

Mark Your Calendars

Crane Fest XIV
Saturday and Sunday, October 11 &12, noon- 7pm
Free Admission
Parking only $3
Where: Kiwanis Youth Area and adjoining Michigan Audubon Baker Sanctuary.

What to do-
Crane Viewing- Best viewing after 4pm
Literally hundreds of birds come and gather together for mass migration south.
Art Show and Sale
Nature Discovery- Free interactive exhibit of 40+ live species of Michigan reptiles and amphibians.
Guided Nature Walks.- Free Explore nature trails with an expert.
Live Raptors- Free Birds of prey shown by Michigan Hawking Club
Birding for Beginners- Free. Learn the basics from Audubon experts.
Earthbound- Awareness organization will be providing educational materials.
Wild Ones- Michigan native wildflowers and plants for sale and natural landscaping advise.
Book Signing- On teh Wings of Cranes- Lowell Schakes' biography on Lawerence Walkinshaw.
Cranes as Art- Bellevue High School.
Bird Seed Sale
Old Time Farm Equipment- Free Hay rides. Rope making, corn shelling and more. Old fashion fun for the family.
Nature Book store and crafts.
Food concessions.

Something for everyone!

Dear Fellow Homeschooler:

Dear Fellow Homeschooler:
I would like to take a moment and introduce you to an awesome resource we have been using for the last month.
The Homeschool Freebie of the Day!
Brought to us by the people at Wholesome Childhood, they offer a free resource every weekday. Such as today, they are offering a free living book called the Story Book of Science. Here is what was said about today's resource:
The Story Book of Science by Jean Henri Fabre (PDF ebook) - The wonders of plant and animal life are told with rare literary charm by Uncle Paul in conversations with three children in this classic “living book” of science stories brought to us today by Yesterday’s Classics. Besides such stories as the ants’ subterranean city, the spider’s suspension bridge, and the caterpillars’ processing, he unlocks the mystery behind thunder and lightning, clouds and rain, the year and its seasons, and volcanoes and earthquakes.

There is no catch, you simply check in daily to see what is being offered. Click and download to your computer.
Want a heads up, subscribe to their newsletter and you will get a note every Monday about will be offered that coming week.

Resources are only available the day they are listed so don't wait, sign up today. You don't want to miss out.

Other great resources put out by the Erskine Family include:
Great Homeschool Videos
Homeschool Radio Show

Enjoy!

Bible in a Year

I have been thinking about starting a year long bible reading program for a few weeks now. Since it wasn't January 1st I procrastinated a bit. Then on Karen's blog this weekend she mentioned a reading program that you can start any month. So I went to check it out and it is exactly what I was looking for. You can choose from 5 different plans. Many different translations and you can start today.
I just read Day 1 Matthew 1-4.
To discipline myself I will not allow myself to get on the computer until it is read. After all it should be the most important reading of the day and it should have priority. And I know myself well.
Anyone want to join me on this journey?

http://eword.gospelcom.net/year/

The Boy's Soup

My boy loves to cook in the kitchen. He is quite the little chef. Today he asked if he could make his own soup recipe and I obliged. It was so incredibly good! I mean really really good. And not to mention simple. I wish I would have taken a picture of it as it looked, smelled and tasted great.
Here is HIS recipe:
1/2 cup cooked turkey- broken into bite size pieces
1 can Veg-All original vegetables with liquid
2 cups water
2 tsp soup base
1/4 cup stelline #35 (small flower shaped pasta)
salt, pepper and Mrs. Dash Chicken to taste

Bring to a boil all ingredients except pasta. Then add pasta and cook for 7 minutes.
Serve with bread.

You could substitute turkey with chicken and stelline with any pasta.

Hope you try it out and enjoy!

Health Challenge- Week One

The health of my kids are important to me. I want them to know how to make good food choices. I want the to stay active and fit. I want them to live life hydrated, contrary to my perpetual state of dehydration. I want them to enjoy foods, love their fruits and vegetables and know the difference between foods that help them grow and those that don't. Beyond knowing that sugar is bad and avoid fast food. I want to them to understand and embrace what it means to live and be healthy in all their lifestyle choices. This is why I am starting a 8 week Health Challenge.
I have been reading, yet again, The Family Nutrition Book by William Sears. I first borrowed this book from the library when I was pregnant with my first, 7 years ago. I insisted I own it and received it for a Christmas present during my second trimester. I devoured it then and made some great early childhood choices for my kids and their nutrition. As time has passed, fast food and many processed foods have crept into our diets. Candies and sugar, convenience foods high in fats and hydrogenated oils. I know that I can make the change in our families eating habits. Already in the last 3 weeks we have improved so much. Thankfully the kids are embracing it.
So the Health Challenge. Each week I will choose and area of our health or fitness that we can improve. Something very specific. This week it is drinking water. My kids like water. Most of the time it is what they ask for but I am never sure if they are drinking enough. As I was reading about it I came across a couple guidelines. Infants should be drinking, 1 and a half ounces per pound of their body weight. A 20 pound baby should be drinking 30 ounces of fluids. Breast milk, water, up to 4 oz of 100% juice. Adults should drink half an ounce per pound of body weight. So a 150lb adult should drink around 75 ounces per day. This includes liquid in soups, fruits, beverages and of course the preferred WATER.
So the challenge to my kids this week is to drink a 20oz bottle of water every day. They have the entire day to drink it. Each day they if they complete the challenge they get a sticker. Seven stickers at the end of the week and they earn a prize. Yesterday they each drank their bottle with no problem. Ideally their water intake would be a little more than the 20 ounces but I felt this was a good start and know that they get other fluids by fruit, soups and some juice.

So there you have it. Week One's challenge- Drink 20 ounces of water each day.

Stay tuned to see how it goes and what's next in our families health challenge. Oh yeah, one more thing, if you don't already own the above mentioned book. You should! It is an excellent resource. At the very least go out to the library and borrow it, to see for yourself.

Autism Awareness

The band, Five for Fighting, is donating $.40 every time the following video is viewed.
Check it out and bring awareness and funds to help fight autism.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

Hibachi Grill

Ukai 2 Hibachi Grill to be more specific. One of our good friends had a surprise 30th birthday party at this fabulous restaurant last night. I loved it! Seated in groups of 8 around the grill, you watch you dinner be prepared. The chefs were amazing as they bounced around eggs and then cracked them on the side of their spatula. They were full of tricks I for one was highly entertained. The food was incredible, delicious, fantabulous! I got the Sukiyaki Steak which came with salad, Miso soup, shrimp appetizers, rice, vegetables and the steak. Yum, yum. While it is on the pricey side, we plan to return soon and take the kids.
I highly recommend you give it a try.

Taking My Pulse

One full week! This week has flown by.
I weighed in this morning and... will keep reading and I will tell you later in the post how much I have lost.
I love having my water consumption and exercise miles on my side bar. It is very rewarding seeing them add up. 576 ounces of water in one week. I bet this is more than a months worth maybe even two months worth previously. So this is a HUGE improvement.
I made it into the gym 4 out of the 7 days. My first day back in the pool I was wearing my kids goggles. I had a goal of half a mile and I made it. But was constantly adjusting the goggles. Last night I borrowed my nephews goggles and swam the first 10 lengths without stopping. A huge improvement on last year. And made my goal of 1/4 mile. Running and biking have been good too.
The food journal: I have tracked every morsel that has entered my mouth. And since I am writing it down I have been thinking twice about what I let enter. Earlier in the week I was having a hard time finding nutrition facts on some things . So I ordered the Biggest Loser calorie counter book. Since then I have found a GREAT site. My Daily Plate at http://www.thedailyplate.com/
You can track your weight, find your caloric needs, journal foods and find nutrition facts for just about everything. And it's free. It also has a exercise section for figuring out calories burned. I am going to stick to my written journal for now and occasionally enter a day in on the daily plate.
One thing I AM going to do is keep journaling. I read an article about the number one indicator of weight loss. It is not food or exercise it is whether or not you keep a food dairy. I know it is keeping me accountable. That and it is helping me to see what I am not getting. Like enough red or green vegetables. I am able to clearly see how much of each food group I have eaten and because of it my diet is more well rounded. Whatever it is I am doing it is working. I have lost 9 pounds this week. One or two of this may be clothing as I was wearing a thick fleece at initial weigh in. But this morning I used what I will wear each time so that it will be consistent.
Oh, for those of you wondering about my kids and how they are taking the change. They are doing fabulously. They are at such a fun age of understanding. They want to eat healthy. They want to eat their fruits and vegetables. They are always asking if something is healthy. Yesterday they made their own fruit smoothies and loved them.They declared that they need to eat them more often. Still little girl will ask when we get to goto Mc Donalds. And I tell her not until February. Maybe by February it will not even sound good to me.If this is the case I will let her go with grandma.
Thanks Wendy for encouraging me to put my totals on the sidebar, it was a great idea.
Happy and Healthy week to all of you.

Records Day and a Cool Link

Yesterday after a late start I realized I HAD to do some errands. Deciding it best to do them earlier than later we headed out the door just moments after yesterday's post. A couple errands turned into a couple more and a visit to grandma and grandpa's. A little shopping and some more errands. Lunch and before I knew it, it was well into the afternoon. So I declared it a record's day. I had so many errands and paper work stuff to do for various things. Including but not limited to a non-profit I had a meeting last night for. So we took the day off. Record's Day.
Then I got thinking about it and decided that it would be best to take the whole week off. As I have various children on different days. Today I had an infant for a couple hours and my 4 year old niece for the day. Tomorrow I have my 9 year old niece. Then Thanksgiving. Then shopping. And the 9 year old again on Friday. Not to mention we could use the mental break. So we took a week vacation. YEAH!!!

My girlfriend sent this link to me today and I thought some of you may enjoy. With winter approaching, bad weather is inevitable. With that comes poor driving conditions. This link is to the states winter travel advisory site. It is updated twice daily. Click on the county and it gives the road conditions of major highways in that county. Could help you determine if the trip to grandma's is going to take 20 minutes or an hour. Go ahead, bookmark it today.
http://www.ohsp.state.mi.us/rw/home.htm

Again

There is a new book in our house. A very sweet book titled, I Love You More by Laura Duksta. It is absolutely adorable. A mother and son are out walking when the son asks his mom, "So, just how much do you love me?" What follows is the mother explaining how much she loves her son. Basically, she loves him more than anything in the world! I can relate to that. Before I had kids if you would have told me I could have this much love for another being, I am not sure I would have believed you. In fact I do love my kids more than pretty much anything else in this world.
What is really great about this book we are reading is that is not just the mother's response in how much she loves him. The book flips over and is then the mother asking her son how much he loves her. The boy from a child's perspective then tells how much he loves her. Basically, he loves her more than anything else in the world. A touching story of love.

I thought I would pass on this book to you as a recommendation for when we got through it, the kids beaming both said, "Again!." That tells me this one is a keeper. Enjoy!

Dog Whisper, I AM NOT

When our friends were here from California they introduced us to the Dog Whisper. I had seen the show title while channel surfing but never taken the time to watch it. I don't know thoughts of Dr. Doolittle and mind reading. This is so NOT what the show is about. The show is amazing!
We ended up watching 2 hours worth of Cesar (show host) correct the behavior of dogs and their human companions. Aggressive fighters, yippers, lethargic dog, fearful of vet and pulling. These were some of the dog behaviors we saw in those two hours.
I think I have mentioned here before that I am less than thrilled about our dog and her irritating behaviors. While I know she is blatenly stubborn with me, she can obey (mostly dad.) My favorite line of the show was "All this time we thought it was the dogs, but it is US!" Through inconsistency, yelling, our own fears, lack of discipline or lack of authority, we allow these behaviors. And I am guilty as charged.
Cesar is amazing in how quickly he establishes authority and corrects these behaviors. So amazing that is appears he has special powers. Really I think he is a highly observant man . He is extremely knowledgeable. He can train a person without condemning and he gets results. He totally and complete expects these dogs to respond. I think he only prays the humans will respond as well.
He has some philosophies that totally make sense. You can check them out here. He also has some great techniques. The one that I have started using is the sshhh. Distracting for the misbehavior and getting her attention. It works. He also advocates walking your dog. Since we have a back yard where she can run and play, we have not been talking walks with our dog. When we go camping we walk all over that place and she loves it. So I decided I was going to try and walk Kasi on a more regular basis. I started today. One of his biggest points is that as the human we are the pack leader. We must assume this role and let the dog follow our lead. Every time I have ever walked my dog she has led the way and pretty much dragged me to where she wanted to go. Today I took on the challenge of getting her to FOLLOW me. Yikes. It was one very slow walk as she would push ahead I put her back behind. I think I may have a sore wrist tomorrow with all the tugging. We practiced sitting. And I expected her to stay quiet when we passed the dogs in our neighbor. Sitting and distracting with the Sshhh, did work.
I have to say that it is going to be A LOT of work in retraining myself and my dog. It is going to require consistency on my part. And the expectation that she can and will obey.

So I may not be the Dog Whisper but I am trying to learn a few things from him to make our pack a happy pack.

Check out his site to learn more, http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/

What Does It Look Like Again?

With the entrance of nice weather comes being outdoors. For my family it means hiking and most recently geocaching. Which has taken us into the woods for a few caches, ok many caches. Pretty much every summer it is inevitable, contact with poison ivy. I am one of those people who get it. Now you would think by now I would know what it looks like and avoid it. You would think. Not the case. Let's have a reminder now of what it DOES look like.
Visiting the poison ivy site, I am reminded. LEAVES OF THREE, LET THEM BE!

Needless to say the kids and I have all gotten it. Thankfully this year's recovery has been MUCH better than year's past. Thanks to Aveeno! Their colloidal oatmeal bath along with their anti-itch cream has done wonders. And it is kid friendly. The kids rash did not even spread. Mine did because I initially thought I had bug bites which I itched and spread the poison ivy to other parts of my body. DOH! It is almost gone now and Aveeno has really worked well.
http://www.aveeno.com/products.jsp
Scroll down to anti-itch to learn more about the products.

Remember LEAVES OF THREE, LET THEM BE!
Science lesson over.

My Visit to Playmakers

I made it to Playmaker's yesterday and was not disappointed. I found one of the guys I had been referred to, which was a bonus. He had me take off my shoes, roll up my pants and walk 20 feet and back so he could get a good look at the way I walk and what my feet need from a shoe. After looking at how I had worn my old shoes he had an idea of what would fit me best. He pulled about 10 different styles away from the wall so I could look over each. Then I chose 3 different shoes, all different brands to try on. To try them on, I not only put them on my feet but I ran around in them, walked around the store, swifted weight and really got a feel for the shoe before trying on the next one. Then I had it down to two different shoes. Both were great shoes, I really could not go worse than the old pair and everything was like a miracle in comparision. So I put one of each and walked around some more. I felt like I had a winner. Then I asked about any sales in a shoe that may fit me. He pulled out a shoe from last year that was very similar to the one I had choosen. I tried that one on while still wearing the other and walked around some more. The only difference I could feel was in the middle foot support and I liked the original choice best so I went with those. The other would have saved me $20 bucks, and normally that would have been a done deal. But I really wanted "the best shoe for me." So that's what I did. I ended up with a pair of Asic Gel 2120's. Love them! I ran 1 1/2 miles in them last night and was more than pleased. First of all, I broke my mile mental block and secondly my feet and legs felt good. Woohoo!

While I was still at Playmaker's I wanted to look into watches. I have not had a watch in many, many years. I have been wanting a watch since I began my training. In the fall I had a stopwatch, do you think I can find it anywhere? Um, not so much. So I found a display of watches and asked for assistance. The gentleman that came over was wonderful. He was a triathlete. He knew what he was talking about and owned one of the watches so he could truly answer my questions. Brilliant! Timex makes a whole series called Ironman Triathlon. They are perfect for runners of any kind and are water resistant making them good for pool use. The one I chose has a 30 lap memory. Love it! While I was running my 1 1/2 mile last night, each time I hit my lap mark I hit the split button and it recorded what lap I was on and how fast I ran that split. NO MORE WONDERING if I am on lap 10 or 11. Hit the button and whalaa...my watch tells me. Brilliant! It made the run so much more enjoyable, I was no longer focusing on which lap I was on and I was able to relax into the run and focus more on form and breathing. NOTE: For those interested in picking up one of these watches I found them $15 cheaper at Wal-Mart. Worth every penny I paid for it, especially with the added input from the sales guy, it's an even better deal at Wal-Mart.

This is my watch, just a different color. Mine is more of a teal. It also comes in pink.

So I walked out of Playmaker's having spent some money but very happy with what I found. Need a new shoe? Go to Playmaker's! Seriously.