The high school I attended during the late 90s only had one language class, which was a requirement for graduation. French was the only language class offered. Honestly, I doubt if anyone at the school would ever be taking a trip to France to actually use French. I struggled through the class, as I thought it was a complete waste of time. This is modern time, all schools should be teaching kids to speak Spanish, Chinese and of course English.

Colleges do have many language classes, but most require you to have a basic understand of the language before you take the class. If you do take a class, the majority of students won't remember the language. The problem is that you are studying from a text book. Teachers have lesson plans and they don't want to stay on a lesson for more than one class, meaning you'll have to learn the words in one session, which is almost impossible to achieve.

I do regret not remembering anything I learned from my high school French class. Now as an adult, I have been wanting to learn other languages, especially Spanish. Luckily, I got a chance to review the Pimsleur Spanish Level 1 Gold Edition.

The Pimsleur method was originally developed in 1963 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, who completely changed the way languages are learned. Since then, over 25 million people have used the Pimsleur method, which uses two principles - the Principle of Graduated Interval Recall and the Principle of Anticipation. The program has been featured on PBS and has been used by the FBI.

Unlike Rosetta Stone & Fluenz, the Pimsleur method isn't a software program, but instead it is an audio-only approach. The program is meant for your brain to memorize the words in one lesson. Level 1 features 16 hours of audio lessons on 16 CDs. Each lesson is only 30-minutes long. The program requires you to complete one lesson a day. If you feel you haven't grasped a specific lesson, feel free to repeat the lesson the following day or days until you feel you have mastered it.

Thankful
Return to Sugarcreek, book two
by Shelley Shepard Gray
Publisher: Avon Inspire
Pub. Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0062204479
Pages: 256
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/wAcFF
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/sgray

Review:

I hate to admit this, but I had forgotten about the book blog tour for Thankful by Shelley Shepard Gray, which I was suppose to post a review for two weeks ago. Typically when I receive the tour information from Litfuse, I would go ahead and set up a draft for the review with the correct schedule date. For some odd reason I had overlooked the tour email, so the book ended up at the bottom of my TBR pile. If I hadn't set up a draft for three other upcoming tours tonight, I would had missed the last day of tour, which is today! Luckily for me, the book is short and I flew through it a few hours ago.


Thankful is the second installment in the Return to Sugarcreek series and centers on Christina Kempf. She is in love with Aden Resse. She dreams of one day becoming his wife, but there is a complicated situation. Aden's parents died in a car accident ten years ago and with no other family to take him in, Christina's parents took him in and raised him as one of their own. Through the Kempfs' eyes, Aden and Christina are no more than brother and sister.

Though the grew up together as siblings, Aden has been in love in with Christina ever since he saved her from falling through a thin patch of ice. The experience has haunted Christina and she is now afraid of many things, but with her strong faith in the Lord, she might me able to overcome her fears.

Non-Stop
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Liam Neeson
Studio: Universal Studio Home Enterainment
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Retail: $34.98
ASIN: B00HLTD49C
Running Time: 107 minutes
Rating: PG-13

Review:

Arriving on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD Ultraviolet on Tuesday, June 10, 2014, is the thrill-ride Non-Stop, directed Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Liam Neeson. A special feature includes Suspense At 40,000 Feet - a behind-the-scenes look with the cast, producers and the director. Exclusively to Blu-ray is the special feature Non-Stop Action - a behind-the-scenes look at the film's visceral action sequences.

Liam Neeson plays Bill Marks, an alcoholic U.S. Federal Air Marshal, who finds himself aboard British Aqualantic Flight 10, a non-stop flight from New York to London. Just after takeoff, he receives several mysterious text messages on his secure air marshal cell phone. At first he thinks it is just a prank, but he quickly becomes full alert when he receives a message that one passenger will die every twenty-minutes if he doesn't transfer $150 million to a specific bank account.

With the other air marshal, Jack Hammond (played by Hell On Wheels' Anson Mount) acting a bit peculiar, Bill has no other choice but to trust the passenger sitting next to him, Jen Summers (played by Julianne Moore) and a flight attendant, Nancy Hoffman (played by Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery), with the situation.

Love Finds You In Sugarcreek, Ohio by Serena Miller
Publisher: Summerside Press
Pub. Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1609360023
Pages: 320
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/smiller
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/vBQwd

Review:

Sometimes a few things will slip past a blogger; with me that would be not reading a book that has been sitting on my desk for several weeks. On Sunday, I noticed I had a review scheduled for today, so I picked up Love Finds You In Sugarcreek, Ohio. My intentions were to do a "speed read" of the book, but I was instantly engulfed into the story by the second chapter, leading me to read about three-fourths of novel by that same night.

Love Finds You is the name of a series of books form Summerside Press, which each book being written by a different author and the book settings are set in different towns. Love Finds You In Sugarcreek, Ohio was first published in 2010, but it is being re-released to tie-in with the made-for-TV adaption that will air on Up on Sunday June 1, 2014.


Most Christian romances (and I have read plenty of them) centers on a female main character with a male romantic interest being the second main character, but here it is reversed with Joe Matthews taking centered stage. He is traveling in Ohio with his young son, Bobby, in a pickup to escape their painful past. After his wallet is stolen and his truck breaks down, they encounter an Amish man, Eli, who kindly drops them off at a farmhouse.

The farmhouse is owned by the Troyer sisters ( Bertha, Lydia and Anna). Despite their advancing years, they are determined to open up their home as a Inn again, taking in a few guests in the extra bedrooms and leaving the two cabins for travelers. Typically, they would charge fifty-dollars for a room, but since Joe and Bobby were down on their luck, the sisters let them stay for free for the night. Eventually, they come to an agreement that Joe will do odd jobs to get the place up and running again in exchange for food, shelter and a little extra cash.

No, you're not mistaken, today is not Monday, it is Tuesday; meaning this post is a day late, well actually, it is two months late, as my last Monday rambling was on March 25th. My intentions was to write this post yesterday, but since it was Memorial Day, I didn't have time to work on any new posts.

I did found some time to watch the Axel: The Biggest Little Hero DVD which I received an advanced copy of the computer-animated movie. Look for my review of the movie on June 3rd. And of course I watched the made-for-Lifetime Petals on the Wind, which is loosely based on the second half of the novel of the same name by V.C. Andrews. Though the acting was better than the first film, Flowers in the Attic, the sequel felt rushed and jumped around from scene to scene. If you have never read the book and did watch the movie last night, you were probably confused. The good news is that If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday will be made into movies, set to air in 2015.

I still haven't watched the Flowers on the Attic DVD that came out back in April, though I did watch it when it originally aired on television in January. I guess I keep procrastinating DVDs that I own, including Game of Thrones: Season Three, American Gothic: The Complete Series (I have had it for over two years), and the complete series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, which I have owned for several years.

Father's Day is only a few weeks away, meaning you only have a short time time to come up with the perfect gift for your husband, father or grandfather. For me, finding a the perfect gift for my father isn't an easy task, but thanks to great stores, like Best Buy, shopping can be a fun experience.

Best Buy is having a huge Father's Day featuring the best gifts ranging from $50 to $100 and up, so you are guaranteed to find the greatest gift at an affordable price. Whether or not your father is a gizmo guru, an entertainer, fitness fanatic or a memory maker, Best Buy has perfect gifts for every father.

My father would fall into the entertainer persona, which is great, as there are many great gifts with free shipping on qualified orders.

Here are my top 5 entertainer presents from Best Buy:

• Samsung - 48" Class - With a built-in Wi-Fi, your father can surf the Web or access Samsung Apps from this nifty LED television.

• Apple® - TV - Your father will be able to stream your favorite movies and television series from Netflix, Youtube and the iTunes store.

Few people know that many of the popular phrases used daily, actually derive from the Bible. Below are some of the top phrases. See how many more you recognize in the film SON OF GOD, on Blu-ray/DVD on June 3rd, on Digital HD™ today.
Samuel 13:14 – “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.”

Matthew 16:3: - “And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

Matthew 5:41 – “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.”

Psalms 21:2 – “Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.”