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In case maybe you have a book club or something

Here’s the official update on stomach plague 2014:

Caroline went back to school yesterday.

P ate a whole bag of chili-cheese Fritos.

I spent the day feeling queasy and out of sorts.

What I’m saying is that one out of the three of us appear to have escaped unscathed. Because, let’s be honest, chili-cheese Fritos are a bold gastronomic choice on even the best days. Meanwhile, Caroline and I are both in the weird middle place when you’re recovering from a stomach illness and kind of want to eat but can’t figure out what sounds good and then you end up eating a brown sugar Pop-tart which leads to regret and chewing peppermint gum to get the taste out of your mouth.

And since I can’t really deal with the thought of cooking real food because of all the smells and such, I made P a grilled chicken salad for dinner. And Caroline and I agreed that maybe a nice breakfast taco with just eggs might sound good, but then she changed her mind and asked me to make deviled eggs. But then she couldn’t eat them and finally settled on a piece of toast with some peanut butter.

The point is that we’re living in dark culinary times over here. It’s hard to get back on the horse that threw you.

In other news that’s completely non-related, several of you have emailed and mentioned that you are reading The Antelope in the Living Room in a book club or a Sunday School class or something along those lines and have asked if there are any discussion questions available.

The answer is yes.

One of my favorite emails was from a friend of mine who told me her Couples’ Sunday School class chose to use the book as a small group study to encourage everyone in their marriage. I loved that because it’s always been my hope for Antelope, that in the midst of the funny and the silly and the absurd there would be moments that cause us to reflect on our marriages and appreciate the person we’re married to and that marriage is worth the fight.

So here are some questions that you can feel free to use however you want. Please ignore the fact that I refer to myself in third person in some of the questions. It was either that or the term “the author” and I couldn’t take myself seriously enough to write that.

I hope you find this useful and/or helpful.

And the good news is you can still order The Antelope in the Living Room for less than $10 here on Barnes & Noble or here on Amazon or here at Walmart.

Antelope Discussion Questions

1. In Chapter 1, Melanie mentions that she’d always envisioned a Christmas wedding but ended up getting married in August. How did your own wedding day differ from what you thought it might be?

2. Have you seen ways in your own life that marriage tends to amplify whatever insecurities you have? Have you looked for your husband or job or anything to complete you in some way?

3. Do you remember the first time you met your spouse? What stands out in your mind?

4. Have you ever made a list of qualities you want in your future spouse? What things did you include that ended up not being as important as you originally thought?

5. What are some things in your life that you feel like you’re waiting on right now? Do you agree that we’re all waiting on something, no matter where we are in life?

6. In Chapter 4, Melanie mentions a list of celebrities she’d be friends with if they ever met. Do you have a list?

7. Do you remember things you found out about your spouse after you got married that you didn’t necessarily know beforehand?

8. What was the first fight of your newlywed days?

9. In Chapter 7, Melanie discusses finances. Do you have a budget you stick to every month?

10. Has God ever called you to take a step of faith with your finances or career? What was it? How did you handle it? Did you see him provide in ways you couldn’t have imagined?

11. What was the worst home improvement challenge you’ve ever taken on? Was it worth it in the long run?

12. Do you agree that it’s sometimes our job to be our spouse’s cheerleader? When was a time that you encouraged your husband or helped them through something they were going through?

13. How did having your first child affect your marriage? Did it change the dynamic in ways you weren’t expecting?

14. In your marriage do you feel that challenges you’ve faced have brought you closer together or caused you to drift apart? How do you work together to meet trials that come up?

15. Do you and your husband share any hobbies? What are some common interests you have?

16. What are some challenges you’ve faced with your in-laws? Have you seen ways they have influenced things in your marriage? How do you deal with this?

17. In Chapter 21, Melanie tells of a time she needed to share some things with Perry from her past. Has there been a time that you’ve experienced this kind of grace and forgiveness? How did it affect you?

18. Have you ever thought about the legacy of your marriage and what it means to future generations? Has there been a time you’ve decided to stick with it even though part of you wants to walk away?

19. When you look at your spouse, what do you see? What are the qualities he has that you value even though you may have not even realized when you first married him?

20. Melanie uses The Antelope in the Living Room as six words that sum up her marriage. What are six words you’d use to describe your marriage? Do those six words change depending on the day?
It’s a book giveaway!

Today I want to introduce you to my friend Jeannie Cunnion. As long as the term “friend” can include someone I haven’t actually met in real life. There are some things you can just tell by a phone conversation.

Jeannie has a new book out today called Parenting the Wholehearted Child: Captivating Your Child’s Heart with God’s Extravagant Grace. And, listen, I’m not one to recommend a lot of parenting books. Mainly because I don’t read many (or any) parenting books. But this one is different because I love Jeannie’s message.

Here’s the description of the book:

Your kids aren’t perfect. And you don’t have to be either.
Are you exhausted from the pressure to be a perfect parent raising perfect children in this imperfect world? Do you ever wonder, ‘How did these precious children get stuck with a parent like me?’ If so, let these grace-drenched pages saturate your heart with God’s unfailing love while also equipping you to be a vessel of God’s unconditional love to your children.
With authenticity, conviction, and a lively sense of humor, Jeannie guides you on a transformative journey into raising wholehearted—not perfect—children, who live from the freedom found in being wholeheartedly loved (and liked!) by God.
Parenting the Wholehearted Child equips you with biblical wisdom and practical ideas to teach your children that they are fully accepted by God, not because of anything they do or don’t do but because of everything Jesus has already done for them.
Woven throughout the book is the good news that it is God’s extravagant grace—not your perfect performance—that transforms the hearts of children.

You can find out more about Jeannie by checking out her blog here.

And, even better, today I have the chance to give away two copies of her new book. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment on this post. One comment per person please. I’ll leave comments open until Wednesday at noon and then draw two winners at random.
That ticking you hear is my stomach

You always hear that life turns on a dime. Or maybe you don’t always hear that. Maybe it’s just me. And maybe when you account for inflation and the economy and such, life now turns on a quarter. Or a silver dollar. I don’t know.

The point is that I spent Friday in Chicago. Sophie and I had a day of meetings at Tyndale where we discussed various book business and future books and writer’s block and all manner of things like that. I suggested, based on my recent research of bestselling books at Barnes & Noble, that perhaps my next book should be entitled “Barley & Me: The Story of A Dog Who Fought in World War II, Died, Went to Heaven and Lived to Tell About it”.

(No one seemed to feel like this was the best idea.)

Then at 3:30 on Friday afternoon, a car picked me up and delivered me to the airport. I called P once I arrived and confirmed that my flight was scheduled to leave on time since he and Caroline were planning to pick me up once I arrived home in San Antonio.

I had about an hour before my flight boarded so I bought a parfait at Red Mango because I love their yogurt and granola and have been despondent since the one here in town suddenly went out of business. And I called Gulley and texted with Sophie until it was time to get in my position as Boarding Group B. Thankfully, I was B5. There was a time that being in Boarding Group B felt like defeat but now Southwest Airlines has gotten so tricky with all their upgrades that I’ve accepted it’s basically impossible to be in the A Boarding Group without spending an extra $12.50 and I refuse to do that on a matter of principle.

Anyway, as I was boarding the plane I texted P to ask where he and Caroline decided to eat dinner because I wanted to live vicariously through their Friday night Mexican food experience since my dinner was going to be the aforementioned Red Mango parfait and a tiny bag of peanuts. All of a sudden my phone rang and it was P calling to inform me that Caroline had just thrown up, but they weren’t sure if it was a bug or maybe just a one time thing.

And with that limited information, I had to turn off my phone and spend the next two and a half hours wondering what fresh hell might be waiting for me at home. The upside was I had downloaded the entire first season of The Mindy Project to watch on the plane ride and it kept me thoroughly entertained. I have no idea why I’d never watched it before considering my love of Mindy Kaling, but I’m glad it’s now in my life.

As soon as the plane landed, I turned on my phone and texted P who confirmed that Caroline was indeed in the throes of a bad stomach bug and had thrown up multiple times. So I called Bops and he came to pick me up from the airport and drove me to make a quick stop at Walgreens to pick up Gatorade and Sprite.

When I walked in the back door, Caroline was sitting on the couch next to P and looking fairly pitiful. I checked to see if she was okay for the time being and decided to take a quick shower to wash the plane off me. By the time I got out, she had thrown up again and gotten it all over her. This led to a flurry of bleach wipes and running to the laundry room and shuttling her to the shower.

And so it was that life turned on a dime. One minute I’m in Chicago at a business meeting eating Sour Patch Kids (Yes, I requested that they have Sour Patch Kids on hand because I felt that it conveys an unspoken message that I am both fancy and sophisticated.) and the next think I know I’m cleaning throw up off my child and the bathroom tile.

Thus was our vomitous weekend. Caroline was sick on and off until 4 a.m. Saturday morning. She ended up missing a soccer game and, more devastatingly, her best friend’s birthday party. There were tears and sorrow and a lot of questioning why she couldn’t have gotten sick on a Wednesday. P and I did our best to console her but there’s just not a bright side when you’re ten and missing a party you’ve looked forward to for the last month.

She seemed to be a little better by Saturday evening, but then got sick again on Sunday morning. And as of this writing, P and I are sitting here on the couch both feeling a little bit like bombs that might go off at any time. In fact, I didn’t feel that hungry for dinner and was tempted to eat a bowl of Cheerios but opted not to because I don’t want Cheerios to be dead to me in the case they might be the last thing I eat before the stomach bug sets in. But it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s in our head after all the trauma we’ve experienced over the last 48 hours.

Tick tock. Tick tock.
Fashion Friday: Edition it’s my kind of town

So I’m in Chicago right now. Eating potato chips in my bed at 11:00 p.m. It’s not the best decision I’ve ever made.

But the original plan was that Sophie and I were both going to arrive around 8:30 and eat a late dinner together because that’s not something we get to do very often.

However, the airlines did not go along with our plan and she is currently just now on her way her via Tampa, Florida because that makes sense. And my flight was almost cancelled due to mechanical problems but then suddenly was okay about an hour later. I choose not to examine that too closely and just prayed a few extra prayers as we took off.

The upside is that I’m in a lovely hotel room and there are chips here. And a fitted bottom sheet on the bed which is really the yardstick I use to measure all hotels. Plus, in what seems like an embarrassing abundance of riches, there is also a ceiling fan.

And did I mention the chips?

Oh, I guess I should also tell you that the purpose of this trip is to meet with our peeps at Tyndale. They’re the nice people who publish our books and we’re going to discuss some business. I have no idea of the specifics, but I bet we’ll talk about books and writing and such.

Anyway, let’s move on to fashion. There are twelve things today because I had to account for all the wedge sandals I’ve looked at in the last week.

1. deluge layered necklace

I love a turquoise necklace in the summertime.

2. j.crew chino shorts

I realize I featured these shorts a few weeks ago, but I just received the pairs I ordered and I love them so much. The colors are great, they are super comfortable, and they come in varying inseam lengths depending on how long or short you like your shorts.

3. turquoise sonation drops

More turquoise. Because I can’t resist it this time of year.

4. minnetonka ashley wedges

Okay. These are the wedges I ended up with. I saw them first at Whole Earth Provision. Then I went back the next day and they were GONE. GONE. So I ordered them from Zappos (Hooray for free shipping and free returns!) and UPS delivered them on Tuesday. I put them on my feet and it was true love. They are so unbelievably comfortable and I love that they’re casual and the heel is perfect. Not too high and not too low.

They also come in cobalt blue and black. I can’t express how much I love them and how comfortable they are. And just so you know, they don’t have half sizes so I recommend sizing up. I’m normally an 8 1/2 and I ordered a 9.

5. max and mia crinkled maxi skirt

This is another thing I’ve thought about ordering forever. I mean, just check out all the great reviews on the Nordstrom website. And it’s on sale. This is the perfect maxi skirt for those of you who don’t want one that clings to you. I love this color, but the cobalt blue is also perfect for summer.

6. sun drenched eyelet top

I just wanted to post the tiniest picture ever. Also, this top is a cute top for summer. Would go great with the J.Crew chino shorts or a pair of colored jeans.

7. franco sarto kris wedge sandals

This was a wedge that was under consideration. But I decided it was too similar to something I already have and I really wanted something a little different. However, I still like these a lot.

8. laurette cardigan

I saw this in Anthro a little while back and thought it was really pretty. One of those great things you can throw on over a tank or a t-shirt and it makes the outfit. And it’s now on sale for only $49.95.

9. clarks amelia avery wedge

I really love these. Just look at that cute wedge. How fun is that? And they also come in beige if you like something a bit more neutral.

10. plus size drapey v-neck maxi dress

I saw this on the Nordstrom website and thought it would be perfect for so many occasions. I love a black dress because you can dress it up or down with jewelry and shoes. And those drawstring sleeves add just a little extra something.

11. spring step cezanne

Do you see how many wedges I’ve considered? These come in a few other color combinations but for some reason I like them best in the black. Which is why I didn’t order them because I didn’t need black.

12. ressica tunic

This is on sale right now for $39.95. I love the way it looks with white jeans. Please note that the reviews indicate that it runs a little big so you may want to order a size down.

That’s it for today. I’m going to go finish my chips.

Have a great Friday.
Big Boo Cast: Episode thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

Well, Sophie and I recorded a podcast yesterday.

It was our first one in a while because she’s been very busy trying to meet a book deadline and I’ve been very busy playing Candy Crush. Which is practically the same thing.

I can’t remember everything we discussed but I know it includes such things as her trip to Mississippi for her Mama’s birthday, my current obsession with finding the perfect wedge sandals, and T.V. shows. In other words, business as usual.

You can click here to listen. Or here. You can even listen right here.

Or, as always, you can subscribe on iTunes.
Fashion Friday: Edition I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

I’m sitting here with P and he’s watching Alien Vs. Predator. It’s as relaxing as you might imagine. For the record, our money is on the Predator.

It also seems that the pollen has started to get to me because my eyes are so itchy that I can barely stand it. I wonder if this is how Bob Costas felt at the Olympics.

Anyway, let’s move on to clothes.

1. free people reckless abandon tee

I’ve had my eye on this for awhile, but was hoping it would go on sale. But then it sold out at Nordstrom and at Piperlime so I figured all hope was lost. But what to my wondering eyes appeared about an hour ago, this top on sale at Zappos for $66.99. (Or $15.00 if P is reading this.)

It also comes in white. I just happen to own enough white shirts and am trying to add color to my wardrobe.

2. tinley road ruched mini dress

I featured this dress a while back at full price, but it’s now on sale for $34.97. I love a good basic black dress that can be dressed up or down with accessories and this one has a ton of potential.

However, be warned that it’s a final sale item so if you break it, you buy it. Or something like that.

3. beaded collar necklace

Last week I bought the best turquoise and gold necklace at Nordstrom and I desperately wanted to share it with you, but it’s not online. So I had to settle for this which is equally cute but not the one I bought.

4. lush knit maxi dress

I was shopping with my friend Leah and we noticed these maxi dresses were on sale for just $38.90. She loves them because she doesn’t mind a strapless bra. I just can’t do it.

But I do have to say it’s the softest dress ever and very flattering. Maybe I could buy one and just wear a denim jacket over it with a normal bra and hope it doesn’t get too hot causing me to make a Sophie’s Choice between public bra strap shame or sweating profusely.

5. lucky brand santana flat

I’m not currently in the market for a flat, but these Lucky Brand flats are so comfortable and I love that they have kind of a squared toe instead of just a round one. Plus, they’re on sale and come in several color options.

6. ideology hooded wrap cardigan

Yesterday I ran in Macy’s because I am on a quest for the perfect summer wedge. (I know about Sheaffer’s must have wedges and I promised her I’d go try them on next week. But I think I want something with a little less heel.)

Anyway, I went to Macy’s to try on some shoes I’d seen online but I got distracted by the active wear sale and ended up accidentally buying this wrap cardigan. It was such a great deal and it’s the perfect weight and it looks so cute on. Trust me, you will love it. I’d also order a size up because it runs small.

7. fergalicious platform wedge sandals

These were the shoes I went to Macy’s to try on, but they didn’t have them in the store. And so I am still on my shoe quest. As Gulley said, “I’m in love with a shoe I haven’t met yet”.

8. toms mixed rope wedge sandal

These have real potential to be my soul mate. Or my sole mate as the case may be. (What has happened to me? First the egg roll joke and now this?) Toms are always so comfortable and these are really, really cute.

I’m also liking the sierra wedge sandal.

And these platform wedge sandals might be the perfect solution for those of us who want to add a little height without ending up in the ER with a sprained ankle with the cause listed as “vanity” in the doctor’s notes.

9. gap stripe fluid tee

I tried this on at Gap this week and really liked it. It’s much cuter in person than it looks in the pictures.

10. j.crew stripe maxidress

This maxi dress makes me want to be a better person. And by better person, I mean a person who is willing to wear a strapless bra. It is so cute and on sale for only $55.50.

That’s it for today.

Have a good Friday.