Welcome

  By Giulio Mozzi | April 2, 2012 - 10:18 pm |
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Are you searching for the perfect book to read on your next vacation?  Do you devour the best sellers before they ever make the New York Times list?  If you love to read, you’ve come to the right place.  This website is all about literature. From science fiction to historical romance to modern poetry, we love it all.  Check out reviews of some of the latest titles to hit the shelves and learn about news in the literary world by browsing our feeds.  We are the one stop shop for all the info any book worm is looking for online.

Must Reads for Kids

  By Giulio Mozzi | March 22, 2012 - 7:04 pm |
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Series books have become a new fad among tweens today. There is something to be said for the classics that are conspicuously devoid of vampires or teenage drama and violence.  Still, we can’t deny that series sell. Here are some series books that need a good resurrection for you to consider:

1. The Chronicles of Narnia

These stories have everything to keep an imagination active. Like a healthy diet for the heart, the stories add elements of fantasy, themes with moral messages and a lot of action! With the recent popularity from the movies, these classics are going to be around for a long time. From the creation of the magical land of Narnia, to all the turmoil that ensues, the story is epic in its delivery. The characters are endearing, and you find yourself longing for more in the end.

2. The Little House on the Prairie

Simple times can warm the heart. Following the Ingalls family as they brave the frontier is such a special adventure. While the slant is from a girl’s perspective, it easily translates to all children. Good family values and a wonderful story from start to finish keep the whole family engaged. Starting with a little cabin in Wisconsin, moving to the prairies of Kansas, and the bitter, cold winters in Minnesota, the Ingalls family survives some of the harshest conditions. Yet they form strong family bonds through it all. Excellent series.

3. Dear America

Not a chronological series, but a fun way to look at history as it was happening. Most of the major events in American history are captured through the eyes of girls who lived through some trying times in this country’s history. Again, written from a girl’s perspective, but with so much history and action, it captures a wide audience.  From the Revolutionary War to the Oregon Trail and all points in between, history looks very different in the middle of it happening.

 

Is the Movie Better Than the Book?

  By Giulio Mozzi | March 3, 2012 - 5:33 pm |
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I am a total foodie. I admit it. So when I saw that there was a movie coming out about Julia Child, I was thrilled. I loved the movie, Julie and Julia. It was nice to see a movie that was mostly free of profanity, vulgar sex scenes, and overly graphic violence. The humor was spot on as well. In short, I loved the film!

I’m also an avid reader. I got the book by the same title, and I was super excited to read it. But I have to say that I was a little disappointed. The language thing bothered me a good bit. I’m not a fan of profanity for profanity’s sake.  Also, it felt a little self-indulgent. It was as if I was reading the whining of a small child. I just couldn’t get past that part.  Maybe it’s because I listen to a lot of complaining in my line of work as a high school teacher, but still I want to think adults will be a little better. The humor was pretty good, so it wasn’t a total flop for me. I like the snarky humor. The quick wit that Julie Powell had was undeniably poignant. I felt like I was laughing at her mishaps right along with her, but it did get to be a little much. It’s like a friend who is having a hard time, and you just want to say, “Get over it already!”

I’d highly recommend the movie, but the book I’m not sold on. I normally wouldn’t say the movie was better than the book.  In fact, there are only a few books that I think were outdone by their movie predecessors. That being said, I am stoked to see The Hunger Games. From all the movie reviews I have heard and seen on the news, the movie is going to be better than the book. We’ll see.

Different Accessories You Can Get With Your Galvanized Steel Deck

  By admin | March 13, 2013 - 5:43 pm |
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You may have already heard about the new material that has taken over the world of decks and boat docks as well as boardwalks and walkways. Galvanized steel is here to stay and is making a difference in many people’s lives by improving the way their decks and walkways both look and feel. Since the galvanized steel deck typically can last up to 100 years, many folks are finding out that they will never again have to spend time replacing or working on their decks again. This has everyone very excited and has a lot of people making big changes and improvements to the outside of their homes. You may have been made aware of WickCraft Company galvanized steel decks but you may not be as aware of all the accessories you can get to go with them. In this article we will look at a few of the many different accessories you can get with your galvanized steel deck.

If you live on the lake, you will be happy to know that you can now get vinyl boat bumpers so that your boat will be protected from the deck. These boat bumpers are made to hang vertically and they are very easy to clean with acetone. You can also get boat bumpers that are adjustable depending on the water level.

Benches are a great asset to any deck and these are one of the many accessories you can add to your galvanized steel deck. You can get these benches made in cedar or vinyl and in either white or tan. They come in sections four or six feet wide. Think about how your family and friends will enjoy hanging out on your galvanized steel deck that also offers them benches to lay down on or sit and enjoy visiting with each other. You may find that your party is never ending as a result of installing benches on your deck.

If your company loves to swim and needs an easy way to get back onto the deck once they have jumped off of it into the water, they will love that you have installed either a ladder or steps for them to use.

These accessories are able to hold up to 500 pounds so you will not have to worry if you have a few guests trying to climb up on them at the same time. These ladders and steps can be angled for easy access. They can also be secured to the frame of your deck all the way down to the bottom of the lake so that they are extra secure for all of your guests. You might also want to consider WickCraft Company Boardwalks and Pier Systems From WickCraft to make getting down to the water a little easier. View the most popular Wickcraft Track & Marine Rail systems online at http://wickcraft.com/FAQ.aspx.

How to Save Money When Buying Books

  By admin | March 4, 2013 - 9:07 pm |
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Buying books is not what it used be for many people. For the younger generation, buying a book today usually means purchasing an e-book for their mobile device. While this may be the future of books, it seems though it will be a while before we are all convinced that actual book made from paper are useless. I am guilty of purchasing some electronic books, but usually only when I find one that I can’t purchase anywhere else or that has been offered at a great discount.

But when given the choice I almost always choose real books. To me they are so much better than their electronic counterparts because they feel better in my hands and they are just easier to read. I spend enough time looking at a screen that I like the look and feel of a paper book no matter what the topic. This isn’t a good enough reason for some who are looking for the cheapest version of a book though.

If you like a good deal when buying books but, like me, don’t care for electronic books then there are many ways to find a good deal on regular books. The internet is a great place to find used books at a great discount. Often you can also find new books a lot cheaper than regular bookstores as well. Another option to consider would be checking out a used bookstore in your area. Because they always have new books coming in, it is a fun way to find new reads without spending a lot of money.

My Review of “The Shack” by William Paul Young

  By Giulio Mozzi | January 22, 2013 - 8:10 pm |
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If you have not read “The Shack” by William Paul Young, you should. This book is a really awesome story about how God appeared to someone and worked things out in their life for good even in the midst of pain and suffering. God in this book takes on many forms but one of the strangest ones is when He is viewed as a female. For this reason many Christians are turned off by this book, but do not let this stop you from reading it. Of course The Shack is fiction but it is a riveting story of how a family lost their daughter to an abductor during a family vacation. Many years after this abduction the father of the family receives a note from God that takes him right back to the place where the abduction took place.

The little girl’s father takes a journey back into the darkest part of his life by following what the letter tells him to do. Basically he begins to relive this nightmare that had taken place in his life four years earlier and is able to work through the sad and hurtful feelings he was left with as a result.

What this book does is helps us all to answer the question of where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain and suffering. With all that has gone on in our world in the past few weeks, all the pain and suffering that is going on in the lives of the parents who recently lost their children, I would totally recommend reading The Shack to help you make more sense of it all.

Restaurant Owner Ditches Tobacco

  By Giulio Mozzi | April 26, 2012 - 4:51 pm |
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Owning a restaurant was always one of my biggest hopes and dreams. It took four years of scraping and saving everything I had to get enough money to pay the lease for long enough to get my restaurant running smoothly. My restaurant quickly became a relatively successful joint in the heart of the city that I live in. However, I was always a heavy smoker. I would say I average about one pack a day. In reality, I didn’t have the time to smoke a pack a day but I would anyways. Some days I would smoke in the kitchen while I was preparing food.

This is a huge safety violation and against the law as well. One day I was reading online and I stumbled Green Smoke E Cigarette Reviews. The more I read the more fascinated I was with the thought of cigarettes that didn’t have any secondhand effects! I could smoke wherever I wanted! It seemed too good to be true so I wandered around online and read Blu E-Cigs Reviews. The more I read the more I realized how legitimate the whole thing was.

I ordered my first electronic cigarette after reading the SmokeTip E Cigarettes Reviews. Everyone has a different brand that they are loyal to. That doesn’t change with electronic cigarettes. Everyone has something different they are interested in.

How did it affect my restaurant? It improved the quality of my food, and it improved my health, and gave me more time in the kitchen where I belonged. I wasn’t trying to run out quickly while something was broiling to get a quick hit of nicotine. This simply revolutionized my cooking. I was able to take it to the next level thanks to electronic cigarettes and their helpful properties. I have since converted many of my patrons to electronic cigarettes.

Some of my regulars realized I was acting differently and they inquired why. I let them know about premium electronic cigarette and from there they decided to check it out themselves. They switched and have since become zealous in the way they try to convert people just like I do! It is never too late to try to learn how electronic cigarettes can help you. Check out an Eluma Electric Cigarette Review and find a brand that works for you! Everyone can find something to like with electronic cigarettes. The future is here.

The Most Loved Game of 2012

  By Giulio Mozzi | April 12, 2012 - 4:54 pm |
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Online no deposit Bingo has developed as one of the leading online games available today and as adding new fans to its following each day. It includes all of the same fun and excitement that you remember from traditional Bingo that you probably played as a child, but then combines it with cutting edge technology. By doing this, and by using the World Wide Web, users are able to log on from anywhere in the World and play Bingo with people from all around the globe.

In some cases there is a charge for online bingo, but there are still some sites that offer free bingo. Online bingo is legal in almost all areas, but before playing, be sure to check out your local legislation to confirm. In some areas where it is illegal, if any profit is made it must be donated to charity. As long as you send the profit to charity, you have not done anything against the law. If you don’t, then you are breaking their local laws and regulations.

Playing at the latest bingo sites basically the same rules and functions as traditional Bingo. Players are given a card and then wait to hear which numbers are called out. They mark off numbers as they are called that exist on their card and hope that the numbers they are crossing out meet the criteria to be considered a ‘bingo!’. This can be accomplished in various ways, depending on what style of Bingo they are playing. Sometimes this is straight line, or four corners, or even postage stamp or full card.

With online xbingo, users can play several cards at one time and at some sites, there is no limit. Another benefit of online bingo is that users don’t have to individually mark off numbers as they are called. With online bingo, the numbers are marked off automatically for them!

If you see the term “minimum buy-in” while playing online Robinhood bingo, this is referring to the smallest amount of cards in one bingo game that you must purchase in order to be able to play. Different sites will have different requirements about this, so be sure to check it out before you begin playing or spending any money.

If the style of game being played is deemed to be “texas blackout” then this is referring to how “bingo!” will be reached. If the first number called out is even when playing this style, then players must cover all the even numbers on their card to achieve ‘bingo!’.

Online bingo is based on all of the same rules and requirements that traditional bingo is, but it allows you more freedom. You can choose when to play and where you want to play. You can play as many cards as you like or as few as you like. The sky is the limit with online bingo!

A Romantic Vacation to Italy

  By Giulio Mozzi | April 11, 2012 - 10:16 am |
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For years and years my husband talked about vacationing in Italy. I’d always wanted to go, and while my husband might have preferred going hunting in Africa, he was willing. Originally we’d planned to go for our honeymoon, but we didn’t have the money and decided it would be better if we waited until we did. Of course, I quickly got pregnant, and then I had another child and all of our travel plans had to be put on hold until our kids grew up enough to either come with us, or to be able to stay in the United States while we traveled. As luck would have it, the first time we were able to turn my dream of an Italian vacation into reality wasn’t until after our youngest graduated from graduate school.

Just before we left for Italy, I laid down the law. This was going to be the perfect time for my husband to give up smoking his miserable cigarettes once and for all. Years of smoking had started to take a toll on his health and he’d developed a nasty cough, and I was starting to worry about it.

Even though he agreed to leave his cigarettes at home, I knew he was going to need something to help if he was going to be free of the hold cigarettes had on him or else he’d go right back to smoking when we returned home. I went online and started to research smoking alternatives. That was how I stumbled upon Luxury E-Cigarettes. These are battery powered cigarettes that produce a clean, water-based vapor that many feel is healthier than cigarette smoke. The thing that I really like was that many of the people who had started using a Blu Cigs coupon and electronic cigarettes said that they never thought they would ever need a real cigarette again. If it worked for them, I figured it would work for my husband.

I did a little more research and finally found a glossary on electronic cigarettes reviews that I was able to use to learn more about the different brands of e-cigarettes. In addition to using it to help me find Green Smoke discount codes and e cig coupons, I also used the information to learn that by taking advantage of the Premium E Cig coupon. I’d not only be saving money, but would be providing my husband with an electronic cigarette that would closely resemble the brand of cigarette he’d been smoking since before I met him.

Although my husband complained a little bit about the electronic cigarette when we first got to Italy, after a day or two he adjusted and eventually admitted that they weren’t nearly as bad as he thought they would be.

Getting Started Playing Online Bingo Games

  By Giulio Mozzi | April 7, 2012 - 9:53 pm |
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It wasn’t that long ago that playing a game of bingo meant getting all dressed up and going to a town hall or community center to play. The nice thing about this system was that in addition to getting to play bingo, you also got to mingle with all of your favorite people. The downside was that the times that the bingo games were schedule wouldn’t always be convenient for you, forcing you to skip one game and hope you could make the next.

The days of leaving your home to enjoy a rousing game of bingo have passed. Today you can play all the bingo you want and whenever you want. Best of all, you don’t even have to worry about leaving your home. You can stay all snuggled up in your pajamas and cuddle on the couch while you play a couple of games.

Bingo players have never had it so good.

You can thank online bingo rooms for making your life so much easier.

Many bingo players balk at the idea of playing bingo online. The biggest concern that they have tends to do with the social aspect of the game. If they can play bingo at home, when will they get out of the house and actually talk to people?

First off, just because you play bingo online, there’s nothing that states you can’t still go to the ones held around town. You might even find that by playing the online games your skill has improved so much that you’re winning all the brick and mortar games as well. You’ll be the envy of your bingo playing cronies.

The second thing you need to know is that the online bingo rooms understand how important the social aspect is to the game of bingo. They’ve done everything they can think of to preserve it. The first thing they focused on was creating websites that have a cozy, friendly feel. When you log onto an online bingo room, you’ll automatically feel at home there. The second thing the online bingo sites did was create some truly excellent chat rooms. You won’t believe the number of people you meet while you’re logged into the chat. Even though everyone might come from a completely different part of the world, every single one of them shares a love of bingo. After just a few visits, you’ll have connected with a few whom you quickly start to consider friends.

The third thing you’ll get from online bingo will be improved cognitive function. The online games move much faster than the real time games. Some people think that if you play enough online bingo, you could decrease your risk for degenerative cognitive diseases.

To learn more about online bingo and other fun games, check out these sites:

• Comeon Casino offers bingo and a variety of other games.

• Try Spinandwin.com for a variety of casino games.

• If you want to play with the top gamblers, check out Scarface Slot and Bet365 Casino.

Electronic Readers vs. The Real Deal

  By Giulio Mozzi | April 3, 2012 - 5:45 pm |
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the e-reader craze going on right now. I’m torn over the choice. There are some definite pros and cons to this argument. At the end of the day it may all come down to personal preference, but here are some fleshed out thoughts on the subject.

The Nook, Kindle, and most tablets are the major contenders in the ring for e-readers. Most of them are competitive in their pricing, with the tablets notwithstanding because let’s face it, they are pretty cool and do much more than just reading.  With price being an issue, the comparison for the average reader might be that it’s just better or more feasible economically to buy used or secondhand books every so often rather than buying the e-reader once. There is also the plus of all of the available downloaded books. However, if you’re an avid reader it might be a cheaper way to manage your habit. While I’m not one of these people, I know people who spend a good chunk of their take-home pay on the old paper-paged standard monthly. Still, there’s no buying second hand e-books… bummer there.

The original book, which still strikes me as funny that the paper-based book has become something that warrants the title ‘original’, has some advantages. Cost is a big player. As I said before, you can’t buy second hand e-books. Then again, books wear out over time, especially that favorite classic you read twice a year religiously. E-books will never wear out. Can I just put this out there? Aren’t bookstores wonderful? You go in and you’re instantly flooded with the smell of coffee and new pages aching to be perused. It’s more of an experience than actually for the purpose of buying books. When it comes down to it, I suppose it’s going to be a choice between the experience of the original or the convenience of the new kid on the block.

“The Total Money Makeover” Really Works

  By Giulio Mozzi | February 16, 2012 - 12:29 pm |
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My husband and I have been married for three years, and we both brought some debt into our marriage. We’re both high school teachers, and we don’t make a lot of money. With times getting tight and being laid off for three months, it was time to find a better way. Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover was just what we needed to jumpstart our finances in our marriage. If you are dreaming of having money, of not fighting over money, or just getting ahead, you need to read this book.

Dave’s baby step system makes it simple to get out of debt and find financial security in a really uncertain economy. Baby step one requires that we save a little money for the emergencies that come up while we’re working on our pile of debt (about $50,000 in total for us).  Baby step two is to get out of debt, and let me tell you, it’s easier said than done.  I won’t ruin the whole book for you, but I highly recommend you get this book. Don’t just read it. You need to study it, and use the tools he provides for you. You won’t regret the time or money you spend investing in this.

Most marriages end because of fighting over money, and this is a lifesaver for your money and your marriage. I am glad we started out so young and early in our marriage following this model. This could be a preventative measure for us. This book is easy to understand, and we didn’t need a Ph.D in finance to get it. I found it to be very user friendly with logical sensible information.  If you have a nickel to your name or even if you don’t, you need to get this book!

“Stuff Christians Like” is a Must Read

  By Giulio Mozzi | January 1, 2012 - 1:15 am |
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Do you like to read? Are you a Christian? Do you enjoy a good laugh? Then I can recommend a book for you! Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff is a hysterical look at the idiosyncrasies of the Christian culture.  All of the little things Christians do that are completely normal to them and even what the outside world can get a good kick out of are now compiled into a blog style book that’s sure to get you holy rolling.

Ok, ok so this isn’t an infomercial, it’s a review. A complete how-to guide to making casseroles for the appropriate tragedy, a flow map on how to respond appropriately during worship, and of course the why’s and how’s to the infamous side hug are just a few of the rib-splitting explanations to things you never knew anyone else thought about.  Acuff has a way of taking what would normally be mundane and not really that glamorous into something hilarious and completely accurate. While Acuff does have a Southern slant, anyone can appreciate this view of modern Christian culture.

The really surprising part about this book comes near the end. Just when you think that this guy, Acuff, is a one trick pony, his real writing talent shines. He is able to sum up the Gospel so succinctly that anyone who has been enthralled in his humor is now blown away by how simple the truth of the Gospel can be. Great read for anyone who really wants a good laugh and enjoys some practical, common sense theology. Go read Stuff Christians Like, you’ll be glad you did.