Tick Tock - The Time Keeper Book Review

I've been reading The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom along with a few friends and today is my final Time Keeper post.  

No matter how you are with your time, I feel like you could gain perspective by reading this story.  You may or may not identify with Dor, Victor or Sarah.  The important thing is that you reflect on how you spend your time and who you spend it with.

If you don't stop and evaluate how you spend your time every once in a while, then shame on you.  

My thoughts -

• The story's ending was a stretch of imagination, but I liked it.  
• The characters in the novel show how much we can impact those around us and how enriched our lives are when we prioritize the right relationships.  
• As a Christian, I love that God was truly at the center of the story.
• It was fun to think of a "Father Time" and what role he could play in our lives.
• I wish anyone with suicidal thoughts would read this book - especially teenagers.
• I would love to hear what a teenager thinks of this book.  In fact, I just might loan it to one and ask her to read it and share her thoughts.  Do you have to live more of life to understand the concepts here?

My Favorite Quotes - 

• Dor to Sarah (p. 195) - "Time is not something you give back.  The very next moment may be an answer to your prayer.  To deny that is to deny the most important part of your future."
• Dor to Victor (p. 206) - "There is a reason God limits our days... To make each one precious."
• Dor to Victor (p. 208) - "When you are measuring life, you are not living it."

My Question for you - 

Even if you haven't read the novel you can answer this one.  Was there ever a time in your life that you thought you weren't making a difference but were later told your actions were significant to another?

If you read the novel, how has it impacted your use of time?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

~ Mrs. Priss

Reflecting on my use of time like...

Tick, Tock - The Time Keeper, Part Two

Bookcover from www.amazon.com 

If you are just joining in and have no idea what we are doing, you can catch up here, then here.
We have read to chapter 21, but I am getting impatient.  Let's just finish the book before my next post.  Okay with you?  Then it is settled.  
We will have our final book posting on October 9th and wrap it up.
Questions: 

1. Can you identify with any of the characters and their personalities?
2. What is your current attitude about time? In other words, if Dor was listening to your thoughts on time, what would he hear?
3. Share a quote or thought that impacted you while reading this portion of the book.
4. Anything else you want to say?

First, I'm going to say that I love this book in part just because it is different.  Sometimes I feel like I am reading the same storyline in a different book.  That happens when you favor a particular genre or author.  I'm not a fan of rotating characters in a book, but he seems to be making it work and I can see the necessity of it in telling the story.
I'm not going to provide a synopsis of the book this time because I want you to read the story!
1. I'm having a hard time identifying with the characters, personally.  I can see glimpses of myself in most of them, but not enough to feel mirrored.  If I had to pick one, I would say I am a bit like Dor in that I miss the miracles of daily life in pursuit of my goals.  I hope I don't get stuck in a cave for thousands of years for that.
2. Time.  OH BOY.  Let's just say my whole entire family laughs when they talk about me and my calendar.  Everything I do in life is future oriented.  Days are mapped out to the point of insanity.  I have a lot to do and I will feel like a failure if I don't get it all done.  In my pursuit of making a difference and covering all of the bases, I wear myself out but I am very efficient with my time.  I don't understand how anyone can sit without doing anything and not feel an overwhelming sense of guilt.  Even when we watch television I am folding the laundry.  Anyone else have this problem?
3.  I love quotes.  

• On page 46, the old man said, "Man rarely knows his own power."  This made me think of the movie Pay It Forward.  What we do, whether positive or negative, has an impact on others.  We are all connected.  If you haven't seen that movie, go rent it.  Rent it now.
• On page 47, the old man tells Dor, "The length of your days does not belong to you."  I'm anxious to see what direction we are headed with this one.  Your thoughts?  From a spiritual aspect, my days should belong to God as I follow His will for my life.
• On page 52, it tells Victor's story of childhood heartbreak.  His motto in life comes from tragedy - "holding on to things 'will only break your heart.'"  This explains Victor's struggle with emotions and attachments.  Do you sometimes put barriers up when you don't really need them?  I know I do.  When your heart gets broken, it is hard to open up and trust again.  Do you put yourself out there?

I have no #4 for you today.  I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and insights!

If you like the book, don't forget to tell your friends to read it together with us!  They can still post on our last installment coming up on October 9th!

~ Mrs. Priss

Enjoying a good book like...

Tick, Tock - The Time Keeper, Part One

Time's Up! Did you buy the book?

Bookcover from Amazon.com

If you didn't, I want you to know it is not to late.  It will take approximately 1 minute to read the first two chapters with us and you will be caught up! It was really hard for me to stop at Chapter Two.  Did you stop?  Did you keep reading? The first thing I noticed about this book was the dedication.  He dedicated the book to his wife who "makes every minute of life worthwhile."  How sweet is that? I wondered what other husband's might say to their wives if they dedicated a book to them.   Are you ready for this?

• "To my wife, for always being there and keeping us in line - keep living the life, babe!" (Mr. Sinclair)
• "I dedicate this book to my wife who has been a great wife to me and a wonderful mom to my two amazing children! My life would be empty without her!" (Mr. Hart)
• "To my wife: the hook that secures the bungee cord called our life." (Mr. Priss)

Since this book is about time, I decided to give you an official definition of the word time.  When I tried to define it on my own, I was stumped.  Think about it.  How would you define it?  The Macmillan Dictionary says that time is "a particular moment during a day, measured on a clock."  If you want to delve even further into the concept, I enjoyed reading about it on Wikipedia. This story begins with an introduction of main characters.  A girl needs more time in order to look her ideal best for a date.  A man finds out he is dying and wants to know how much time he has left.  We see the importance of time from different perspectives.  Hearing about the dying man might make us scoff at the girl's ridiculous pleas for more time so she can tone her arms or buy better clothing, but we know we have all been there.  How many times have we placed importance on gaining more time for things that do not hold long term significance? We also meet Dor (the future Father Time), Alli and Nim.  They are childhood friends playing outdoors.  Dor is notably different from the others.  He is fascinated with numbers and is the first on Earth to attempt counting and use numbers. Not that my Michael is Father Time, but it made me think of him and his early fascination with numbers and letters.  He, too, thinks differently from others.  My favorite quote in the first eight pages is this: "One different child can change the world."   I'm counting on it, but that's another story.  Hopefully, different in his case is a good thing. The author brings up a thought-provoking comment -  "Try to imagine a life without timekeeping." Can you imagine it? I live by my calendar.  Do you?   The closest I can get to imagining a life without timekeeping is to think of our family's beach trips.  On the days reserved for just playing on the beach, we have no specific time set to do anything.  We get to just... be.  If we are hungry, we eat.  If we are tired, we rest.  If we are warm, we get in the water.   But, even then, we are aware of time. This quote really brings the point home. Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. ~ William Faulkner
Online Book Club Participation Guide:

• Leave a comment on our Facebook page or here on this post about the book, your thoughts, etc.
• Questions will be available each week to help prompt your comments, but you are not limited to these topics.
• If you have a blog and want to participate through your own posts, please leave your post address in the comments section with your comment.
• If you are going to read ahead (our pace may be killing you), please stop and take notes.  We will read about 50 pages at a time.  This is a bit of a snail's pace for me, but I don't want to lose any of you in the process.  Thoughts?
• Keep all comments positive.  We don't bicker with each other, do we ladies?
• Read!

Next Step: Read to Chapter 20 (page 56) by September 26th.

Today's Questions:

1. Can you imagine a day without keeping time?
2. What do you hope to gain from reading this book?
3. Does the setting of this book entice you to read more?

I look forward to hearing your comments!

Mrs. Priss
Ironically, giving you a time limit on this book like...

Run, Mrs. Albright, Run!

A few weeks ago I shared that I've recently taken up running. Okay, I use that term loosely. I hardly see myself as a "runner", but my training group leader keeps insisting that I AM a RUNNER! Who knew I had it in me?! 

After completing an Ease into 5K program on my iPhone, my sweet friend Shea (who just also happens to be the director at my local YMCA) talked me into joining the training team there. What really didn't compute with me is that it was a training for a half-marathon. I'm going to be real with you here... When I say that I didn't know how many miles a half-marathon is, I'm not kidding. And even after I learned how many miles, I still had no clue how many hours that might take. LORD HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL AND MY BODY! What have I gotten myself in to?! I am now registered for the Route 66! Gulp!  Well, happily, I can report to you that I've almost made it through 5 weeks of training and I still haven't died. BUT!! I'm no where near ready for a 13.1 mile run. As a matter of fact, my farthest distance so far is 5 miles. Tomorrow we will go 6 miles. I'm already getting a little stressed and anxious about it. How can I do 6 when 5 seemed almost too much? However, I have no doubt that I'll be able to do. I continually shock myself when I do just a little bit more or a little bit better than the time before. SHOCK, I tell ya. My mind seems to be my worst enemy. My shins are a close second.  I'd like to share with you how we train. It's because of this training philosophy that I'm able to do this and even remotely think of myself as a "runner."  I've always thought to be a runner meant you couldn't walk - at all. 

Our training is based on the run/walk method by Jeff Galloway. I'm learning to love that man. My leader encouraged our group to buy a book by him. She said it really didn't matter which one because they are all good. I bought the book called Running: Getting Started. It was a very easy read and made SO MUCH SENSE!  Run/walk means you do interval training. You run for a certain time and then walk for a certain time. Beginners generally start out at a 1:1 (run a minute, walk a minute, run a minute, walk a minute, etc.) Those in our group that have been running for a long time are running 4:1.  I've learned a few very important bits of information from him and one that really surprised me.  1. You shouldn't run with a long stride. It should be a short stride and more of a shuffle. It's important not to "pound" the pavement too hard. When you run with too long of a stride or too fast, you can do damage to your shins. Sadly, I learned this the hard way. I should have read this book BEFORE my first run with the group. My first two times out with them I ran way too fast and too hard (4:1). My shins have paid for those two runs ever since. I now have to ice my shins after my runs, take Naproxen and wear compression sleeves on my legs. I also have slowed my running way down to a 2:1. I did do a 3:1 interval on our Wednesday run but that proved to even be painful on my shins. Boo! My mind and most of my body can move up to a faster interval but these dang shins are refusing to comply. 

This is a picture of me wearing shorts to run in for the first time along with my lovely compression sleeves. 2. Stretching isn't necessary for running. WHAT?! Yes, you heard me right. When my shins started hurting and I posted about having to take a few days off from running on my Facebook page, I got all kinds of feedback from my friends. And all of them said I needed to be stretching before and after my runs and that's probably why my shins were hurting. Of course that made perfect sense to me so I started stretching. I also did everything else that was suggested - ice cups, compression sleeves (I personally recommend these as they let your leg "breathe" and not get wet with sweat), getting a massage, anti-inflammatory medication,  and rest. It's good to know my shins weren't hurting from not stretching and more because I pushed myself way too hard before I was ready.   Jeff Galloway talks about stretching in the following short video. 
3. You can burn more fat by interval training and then on your "off" days, walking at least 30 minutes. I'm a believer in this now. The week I incorporated this I weighed in at Weight Watchers and had lost 4 pounds!! The past two weeks, however, I haven't tracked my food like I should and I've not lost any more. This running business makes a person hungry!  I also learned something else new this week from an article sharing running tips. Chocolate milk is an excellent recovery drink. The perfect mix of carbs, protein and sugar.Who knew?! Apparently lots of sports moms, that's who! Mrs. Montgomery informed me her boys' coaches have them drink it after practices and games. I've happily started drinking a glass of chocolate milk about 30 minutes after I run. No need to buy those expensive recovery drinks. 

I hope I've inspired a few of you to give running a try. For those of you who consider yourselves a runner, did I share anything you didn't already know? Have you read any books by Jeff Galloway? If not, I'd highly recommend that you pick one up. I'm going to pick up his book on running and weight loss and the one on training for a half marathon. I need and want all the help I can get.

Do you know what I really, really love? I love that runners everywhere are genuinely supported of each other. It's like I belong to some sort of cool club where everyone is nice. Want to join my club? If I can do this, most anyone else can as well.

Priss shared this one on my Facebook wall and it made me LAUGH OUT LOUD! 

I'd like to give a special shout out of thanks to a few people who have been extremely helpful and encouraging to me while I'm learning to run: Jonni, Jen, Tracy, Dana, Shelly, Michele, Shea, Jennifer P, Jennifer K, Nicole, and countless others who "like" and comment on my run posts on Facebook. You all encourage and bless me in ways you'll never know. Mwah! 

~Mrs. Albright  I'm a runner and.... 

The RHOK Reads!

It has been a while since I have been excited about a quality book.  You know what I mean -- a book with substance, one that will make you a better person for reading it.  Believe me when I say that I enjoyed the Twilight series just as much as the next girl, but I love a book that makes me reflect on my life and want to be a better person for reading it.
Reading a Mitch Albom book always achieves this goal.
I've been doing some thinking about how I use my time.  It is our most valuable resource!  Sometimes I think I need to volunteer more, sometimes I feel like I need to volunteer less.  Am I spending time on things that truly matter?

Book cover picture stolen from Amazon.com

Today, Mitch Albom's new book The Time Keeper comes out.  It will be a bit pricier because it is new, but I'm hoping some of you will be willing to jump in and read it with me anyway.  Personally, I will be buying the hardcover edition instead of the e-book on this one.  I think it will be one I want my kids to read someday.
From the website: In Mitch Albom's newest work of fiction, the inventor of the world's first clock is punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years. Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time. He returns to our world-now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began-and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. And stop the world to do so. Told in Albom's signature spare, evocative prose, this remarkably original tale will inspire readers everywhere to reconsider their own notions of time, how they spend it and how precious it truly is.  
My question for you is this.
WHO IS IN? Who wants to read this book with me?
If I get some RHOK readers to participate then I will be posting about it this month. I won't know if you are reading along with me unless you comment.  To get this thing going, please leave a comment at the end of this post or on our Facebook page.

If you are joining me, please get the book a.s.a.p. and read the first couple of chapters by Thursday, September 13th if you can.  Participants can either keep to commenting on the post that day (or under the post on the Facebook page) or may choose to post about it on their own blog and give us a link to their post.  If you post about it, I promise to get over there and comment on it.  I'm a giver like that.

I'm really hoping some of you will read along with me.

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller??

Mrs. Priss

Reading every night until my eyes won't stay open like...

Frugally Reading: A PSA for the Tulsa City-County Library & Libraries Across the Country

+   =

Frugal Reading

Okay- I admit it. I'm a frugal nerd. I just found out Monday morning that the Tulsa City-County Library lets me now check out books on my Kindle FREE for 14 days!!! WooHoo!! What? You mean you already knew this and didn't tell me? Or, maybe you didn't and I am telling you for the first time. I'm so excited I just can't hide it! Really. Now before I break into full song and dance, because believe me this girl cannot dance a jig if her life depended on it, let me tell you all about it. Evidently as of September 21, 2011 public libraries and schools in the U.S. can now lend eBooks for the Amazon® Kindle. OverDrive announced that it has begun adding Kindle compatibility to over 11,000 U.S. public and school libraries.

First off you need the following things:

• A valid library card
• Internet access
• A computer or device that meets the system requirements for the type(s) of materials you wish to download
• Free software for the computer or device on which you wish to use the materials available at Tulsa City-County Library

The Kindle downloading is easy. You just find the book you want, see if it is available as a Kindle version, see if its available for checkout, add it to your cart, and it automatically links to your Amazon account from your PC and uploads to your Kindle after you hit the button get library book. Easy. I downloaded Nora Roberts' Chasing Fire which was released April 22, 2011. There are limited numbers of copies of Kindle versions just like physical books so if a book you want is not available you may have to add it to your wish list. When my 14 days expires, I do nothing. The book just disappears from my Kindle and I can check it back out if its available.

You can also download digital books onto other devices such as iPods, iPhones, iPads and other eReaders. You will just need to download the OverDrive App and follow the instructions given on the Tulsa library website. At this time some readers ARE NOT supported  or have limited functionality so make sure you check out the website to find out before you go out and make a specific purchase.

Another reason that I am especially excited about this is that this year my 5th grader gets to read books that interest him and not just Accelerated Reader books for a test. He loves reading on his iPod, but I am really thinking for Christmas that I may encourage reading a little further by taking a leap and getting him his own Kindle. Oh, I can't believe we only have 86 more shopping days until Christmas!

If you are not in the Tulsa area and want to see if your local library is participating yet in the OverDrive network, click here. 

♥Mrs. Hart♥

Bringing you exciting frugal reading news like

Whatcha Reading?

I was browsing through my old posts on my personal blog looking for ANY kind of inspiration for what to post here at the RHOK today.

What?! I'm lazy and uninspired right now.  So, sue me!

Anyhoo, something that caught my eye was that the last two summers I've been on a book release countdown.  Summer of 2009 I was waiting on Catching Fire (2nd book of the Hunger Games Trilogy) and the Summer of 2010 I was waiting on The Mockingjay (3rd book of the Hunger Games Trilogy).

It made me a little sad.  I wish I had a book I was anxiously anticipating right now.  <---I'm such a nerd like that.

However, I thought back to a convo some of us housewives were having on Facebook not too long ago and remembered that there were several people who had STILL NOT read The Hunger Games Trilogy.

So, my question for you is...Have YOU read The Hunger Games Trilogy??

If not, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! <---yeah, I went there...used all caps on you.

Let me tell you, I fell in love with this trilogy back in 2008. I had finished the Twilight Saga and I was desperately searching for something to fill the void. Steph Meyer mentioned on her website that she had just read The Hunger Games...and it was one of those books that you "take to dinner and read under the table."That was enough for me to run out and buy it that day. 

I read the first book in two nights...and I had to wait almost a WHOLE year for Catching Fire, which I turned around and read in ONE DAY.  Then, I waited another year for Mockingjay and devoured it in 2 days.

Also, if you have read and loved The Hunger Games, you should give James Dashner's Trilogy a try.  The first book is titled The Maze Runner and the second book is titled The Scorch Trials.  The third and final book is titled The Death Cure and will be out in October.  I really loved these books!  I know they don't sound very girly or romantic, but there is a love story intertwined into the plot.  You know I have to have a little romance!  If you liked the dystopian society of The Hunger Games, you'll love The Maze Runner.  It has a lot of the same characteristics as HG...survival, standing up for what is right, being a rebel.  I highly recommend.

The Hunger Games movie will be out in March 2012!!  *squeeee* <---already fangirling

I think I see some more (non-Twilight) premiere parties in my future!

What books are you reading this summer?
~Mrs. Edwards


...and total nerd.