Links, Books, and Things I Love – November 2017

Here are favorites from October and what I’m looking forward to in November. We share once a month at Leigh’s.

1 Second Everyday

[If you can’t see the 1 Second Everyday video, click here]

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5 Things Around the Web

1. Eight Questions to Help You Understand and Apply the Bible
by Matthew Harmon

question-Bible

“The questions we ask when we read the Bible largely determine how we understand and apply the Bible. So we need to make sure we are asking the right questions, the kind of questions the Bible was designed to answer.”

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2. The 15 Most Influential Websites of All Time
By Alex Fitzpatrick, Lisa Eadicicco, and Matt Peckham

Most influential websites

How many can you guess?
The web turns 27 years old on December 20.
Here’s TIME’s collection of the 15 websites that most influenced the medium, and why.

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3. How to Engage a Fanatic
David Brooks
“The only way to confront fanaticism is with love, he said.
Ask the fanatics genuine questions. Paraphrase what they say so they know they’ve been heard. Show some ultimate care for their destiny and soul even if you detest the words that come out of their mouths.”

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4. Why Americans have stopped eating leftovers
By Caitlin Dewey

Leftovers

“The average person wasted 3.5 pounds of food per week.
Of that, only a third consisted of inedible parts, such as chicken bones or banana peels. And of the remaining, edible trashed food, bin digs found that 23 percent consisted of prepared leftovers, from any source — followed by fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and liquids and oils.”

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5. What decent men can do in response to #MeToo
By Nicole Stamp
This includes 14 concrete ways that men (and women) can improve the climate for woman around them.

Such as,

  • 1. Practice this phrase: “That’s not cool.” Say it to other men who are saying disrespectful things to or about women.
  • 6. Don’t call her sweetie. With colleagues and strangers, avoid diminutive nicknames like hon, baby, darling, girl, young lady or kiddo.
  • 7. Revise your idea of consent. If your partner hesitates, stops reciprocating, avoids eye contact, becomes quiet, tense or frozen, or otherwise slows the tempo of any sexual encounter, then you should STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
  • 11. Give extra space after dark. If a woman is walking alone at night or in a secluded area, please recognize that she’s probably nervous. So, if you’re walking behind her, slow down to increase the distance between you.

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5 Things on Books

1. The Library (Usually) Doesn’t Want Your Used Books
by Nick Douglas
What do you do with your used books? Some suggestions here.

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2. 10 Excellent Fall Nonfiction Reads
by Anne Bogel

fall-nonfiction-books-02

This list includes several favorites I just finished: Braving the Wilderness, Reading People, and The Power of Moments. I love The Power of Moments so much I’m doing a 5-part series on it here, How to Mark the Moments

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3. A Five Minutes Guide to Better Typography
The content here is useful, but the way it’s put together? It’s art.

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4. 15 Terrific Audiobooks You Can Listen to in 6(ish) Hours or (Much) Less
by Anne Bogel
Also from Modern Mrs. Darcy, this is a list of shorter audiobooks, if you don’t want to invest a lot of time listening to one book.

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5. Six Books I Finished + Five Great Books I’m Reading Now

Books-I-Recommend-October-2017-LisaNotes

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•  Reading Now

  1. The Righteous Mind
    Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
    by Jonathan Haidt
  2. Downsizing the Family Home
    What to Save, What to Let Go
    by Marni Jameson
  3. The Sacred Enneagram
    Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth
    by Christopher L. Heuertz
  4. Dream Hoarders
    How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It
    by Richard V. Reeves
  5. How to Think
    A Survival Guide for a World at Odds
    by Alan Jacobs

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5 Things I Love

•  5K Together

ribbon-run-2017

Tatum, Morgan, Lisa, Jeff, Averie, Jenna, Trey

Morgan talked our family (including her sister-in-law and niece) into running (or for some of us, walking) the Ribbon Run 5K again a couple of Saturdays ago for the fight against breast cancer. It was the perfect day for it. And we all finished!

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•  A Walk in the Park

Jeff-Morgan-2017

Jeff and Morgan (~6 months)

After the race, we hiked on Monte Sano Mountain together. We got in a lot of steps that day. (Everyone slept well that night.)

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•  “Prayer, Love, Food . . . in that order”

pray-house-of-harvest

“Prayer, Love, Food . . . in that order” is the motto for House of the Harvest every Saturday morning in our community. So this picture is a frequent sight after free groceries are loaded into cars.

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•  Reading Time

Aleesa

Terita and Aleesa

This sweet young author read her published book to Jenna’s 1st graders a few weeks ago, The Day I Met Walt. I’ll write a blog post soon about the story behind the story because it’s a beautiful one.

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•  Happy Halloween

Halloween 2017

Jeff & Lisa. Jenna & Trey

Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday. But Jeff and I tried to get in the spirit for our extended family’s Halloween party. We pulled out his old referee shirts from back in the day. Jenna and Trey were a deer and deer hunter (he nabbed his prey).

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5 Things on the Blog

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What was one of your highlights from October? What are you looking forward to in November? Please share in the comments.

previous Links and Books

31 thoughts on “Links, Books, and Things I Love – November 2017

  1. Sherry Stahl

    Lisa,
    Me again, today from #chasingcommunity
    I love your video! I don’t know how you remember to video every day 🙂 I can’t believe the internet is only 27 years old. Boy do I feel old!!! My highlight from October was having all the kids home for Canadian Thanksgiving and having time to just hang. It was so much fun and I felt our blended family had truly blended this weekend. The kids all stayed up too late the first night facetiming my daughter’s boyfriend. It was a beautiful thing 🙂 In November I’m looking forward to getting my book proposals all sent out. It’s almost harder than writing a book!
    Love connecting with you girl and getting a window into your world!
    Much love,
    ~Sherry Stahl
    xoxo

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Videoing something every day has finally become a habit. But I still have days where I get to nightfall and suddenly remember I haven’t done it. Those are the days that a TV show or a book gets to be my One Second. 🙂 How fun that you got to have all the kids together for your Thanksgiving, Sherry. That can be quite an accomplishment for most families, so congratulations. Blessings to you as you send out your book proposals! May the Lord give you favor with just the right publisher and audience.

  2. Kristi Woods

    Lisa, you know I LOVE posts like these, so you can imagine my excitement when noticing we were linked alongside each other at #heartencouragementThursday. The 1 Second video – what.a.cool.idea. It’s a smile generator for certain. Also, I’m still wondering why folks won’t eat leftovers. The title grabbed my attention earlier this week. Guess it’s beckoning for a further dive into the article. Great list all around. Thanks for sharing.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Thanks, Kristi. I appreciate your encouragement. I eat leftovers also so I had to read the article, too. 🙂 It’s nice to me to not have to make another meal from scratch but just to pull something out of the fridge. I do, however, occasionally let something go bad and then feel guilty about it. Those mysterious Tupperware items can be scary. ha.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Thanks, Michele. Jeff used to referee high school basketball games on the side because he loves basketball so much. I would go to the games when I could, just to see him in action. But I had to learn to tune out any crowd reaction to calls they didn’t like. 😉

  3. floyd

    Another month… Man alive they’re flying. Love that one second video! That cotton field brings me back to my roots…

    Good stuff, Lisa. Thanks for sharing. Let’s call a fair game, huh?

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Don’t know about there, but fewer and fewer cotton fields each year around here. More corn and soy beans and houses, houses, house. I’ll keep it fair on the calls. 🙂

  4. Brenda

    So fun! Love these, Lisa. 🙂 How are you enjoying the enneagram book? Is it one you’d recommend? I’ve been kind of interested in that lately. I tested as a 2. 🙂 Thanks for sharing today. ((Hug))

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Yes, I am really enjoying this Enneagram book. It is one I’d definitely recommend. But I’d also recommend The Road Back to You for the basics on it, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram if you want to go more in-depth.

  5. Sarah Geringer

    Such a treasure trove here, Lisa! I clicked on the “Why Your Library Doesn’t Want Your Used Books”–I never thought about it before. Throwing a book out feels almost sinful to me, until he mentioned recycling, about which I’m passionate. I like the idea of a used book becoming a new box for books I order on Amazon!

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      I have probably only thrown away one book in my whole life. ha. So I know how you feel, Sarah. It was a book I thought contained harmless material and I didn’t want anyone else to read it either. I have two boxes of books to donate sitting now in my garage as I try to decide the best home for them. 🙂

  6. Trudy

    As always, Lisa, a wide variety of interesting information. 🙂 I always smile at the 1-second-everyday video. I knew a lot of food gets wasted, but it’s shocking when you put numbers to it. It’s so sad. There are so many hungry ones who would think leftovers are a special treat. I always love the photos of you and your family. 🙂 Love and hugs to you!

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      I know; when I think of how much food I throw away, I cringe. 🙁 I grew up thinking I had to clean my plate every meal (which did me no favors! ha)…until I learned to put less food on my plate to start with (but that was only as an adult).

  7. Bev @ Walking Well With God

    Lisa,
    I loved #3 on How to Engage Fanatics….with love. Everyone is shouting these days and I think that what they really want is to be heard. Congrats’ on the 5k – what a wonderful family event. My husband and I have a long drive coming up and your post jogged my memory to get an audio book. The fun part will be getting us both to agree on something lol. Enjoyed your Halloween costumes, though I agree that Halloween isn’t my favorite holiday. Lots of good stuff here….thanks 🙂 Happy November!
    Blessings,
    Bev xx

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      I agree with you, Bev: what people really want is to be heard. We talk over each other too much; somebody has to stop and listen. Hope you find a great audio book for your long trip!

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Thanks, Linda. I have fun putting these together, although they lead to a LOT of rabbit trails as you can imagine. The internet is too broad for an information-hoarder like me. 🙂

  8. Barbara H.

    I enjoyed the article on engaging fanatics – not what I was expecting, especially from the NYT! I was also surprised by the one on leftovers – I love leftovers! My favorite lunch is warming up leftovers. But some do occasionally get thrown out, particularly if they are past their prime, getting that way either because it was something that wasn’t so good the first time, or I just didn’t get to it in time. The one on typography was really cool.

    Good for you all for completing the 5K! And I like the costumes! I always enjoy your second-a-day videos.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      I love having leftovers for lunch too because it means I don’t have to put anything else together. 🙂 Maybe it just means I’m lazy. ha. I’m pretty particular about expiration dates, so I probably throw out good food occasionally even if it’s not bad but the date is due.

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Thanks, Lyli. We had a fun time at the party, especially seeing how everyone else dressed up. My youngest niece was terrified, though, of another niece who was the lion from the Wizard of Oz. ha.

  9. Lynn D. Morrissey

    Thanks for the Brooks recommendation. Just finished listening to him and the News Hour, and I respect him a great deal. We need to engage people more, civilly, if possible. I don’t mean we should ever be vitriolic, but rather, if the civility doesn’t work, we may need to disengage, and keep praying for them. But sometime, if people feel they’re heard, the will listen in turn. Thanks for sharing, Lisa.
    Lynn

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      I respect Brooks a lot too. Glad to hear the same from you, Lynn. He usually brings a quiet voice of reason when things get too noisy around us. I also agree with you that sometimes it’s best to just disengage at times. We can trust God with the gaps and yes, always continue praying! Thanks for these insights.

  10. Mari-Anna Stålnacke

    Wow. What a month for you! I love how you do so many different things on your blog and share your life and sweet spirit with us. Thanks for inspiring and uplifting. I need that, this time of year is not my favorite. Thankfully, November is here full of writing! Abundant blessings to you and yours!

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      This time of year brings challenges to me, too, Mari-Anna, so I’m right there with you. We lost our middle daughter Kali 24 years ago on November 13, so all these years later, I still get melancholy around this time.
      Blessings to you too, friend!

  11. Jean Wise

    loved the Halloween fun pics. I look forward to your review of Downsizing the Family Home since that is what I wrote about in October on the blog – letting go and I am really in a decluttering mood. Simplify is my invitation right now. Thanks for a great post to read today, Lisa. I always learn something on your blog

    1. LisaNotes Post author

      Unfortunately, I’m doing more *reading* about decluttering than actually decluttering. ha. I got the Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning from NetGalley after I saw it on your blog! Between these two books, hopefully I’ll be motivated to make time to go through some boxes. Or at least my laundry room. 😉 Simplify is a wonderful invitation to open.

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