Something About Dar

Mouth wide open, as usual1

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Who Am I?

My name is Darlene, but my friends call me Dar. Growing cup, I though Darlene was an old person's name, and I was right. I'm beginning to fit that description as the years go by. Although, my oldest son said to me today, "You don't look like 45! What does 45 look like anyway?" I replied with a simple, "Um, this, I guess!"

I am a wife of 1, mom of 4, Lola (grandma) of 3 with one on the way. My top 5 strengths according to Clifton Strengths are: Positivity, Belief, Arranger, Harmony, Futuristic. I am learning more about myself every day.

I am an Enneagram 9: I love peace, naps, and sleeping. I don't like being pressured to make decisions.


What Was Reading Like as a Child?

I grew up in a small logging town in Oregon. 3 months after my 4th birthday, I watched the school across the street from my house burn down. I was devastated. I thought I would be dumb forever. I had spend the better part of my life longing to go to school with the big kids and learn how to read.

So, you know what I did? I taught myself how to read! Booyah!!!! I don't need schooling! Turns out, I still went to school in the fall, but I didn't know that was going to happen. My love for reading grew as I learned what a library is! 

Around the age of 7 or so I was allowed to walk to the public library all by myself. (Remember, this was the early 80's and such a small town that when I did something bad my mom knew about it before I even got back home.) I can still remember the smell of the library and how I loved looking through the card catalog. I have a dream to have my very own card catalog cabinet. I'm not sure what I'd put in it, but I'd just love it!

Reading Slumps or Spurts and How I Get Un-Slumped

I think we all go through times where we have have slumps and spurts in any area of our lives. Surprisingly, when my oldest was a newborn that was a time when I could read a lot. I'd read while he napped, I'd read when I'd nurse him, I'd read my books out loud to him. As time went on, I'd read more to him and my own reading was overshadowed by the books I'd check out for him each week. As my family grew to 4 kids, I'd read tons of book aloud to them that also interested me. I was more tired in those years so I read really easy things for myself. Pretty sure I read the entire Kay Scarpetta series during that time!

Nowadays, I can just be so tired that I fill up my "free" time by watching tv shows in the evening. However, I found that when I take time to read, even if it's less than 10 minutes at a time I feel much happier. 

I get un-slumped by just doing it. Like many things in life there isn't a magic spell to make it all better. I have to put in the effort first, then the benefits come. 

This is my self-care, a not-so-small way for me to take care of my heart, soul, and mind.

Favorite Types of Books

I'm pretty varied in the types of books I've read over the years. In the last few years I've read a lot of personal development, brainy neuroscience, parenting, Bible study, leadership type of books. While I love fiction a lot, I somehow forgot how to look for those type of books. I'm jumping back on that bandwagon now.

As a kid, I loved biographies and stories of people coming west. One time I told my dad, "When I grow up I want to be a pioneer and go West. He heartily laughed then took me to look at the Pacific Ocean that's only about 30 minutes from where I grew up. He said, "Here's the Wild West, honey. Don't turn your back on it. It's sneaky and can carry you to the sea." We'd sometimes venture into the ocean, on a boat, looking for whales. That's as far as I would go. 

I digress...or do I? I love memoirs. I am incredibly interested in people's stories of overcoming. I want to ask questions that are too probing and inappropriate, but I don't.

What I'm Currently Reading

All the Impossible Things by Lindsay Lackey

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

Confessions of an Adoptive Parent by Mike Berry

Be The Bridge by Latasha Morrison

Come back soon for Joellen's intro and some great book reviews! We have so many fun plans for all of you! 

What Are We Doing?

Welcome to our blog! (We do post affiliate links here, just in case you were curious.)

Dar and I have been friends for quite a while now, and both of us have been through our fair share of ups and downs, embarked on many individual endeavors, and moved more times than we care to remember. We've always wanted to do something together, but we never really knew exactly what we wanted to pursue or what it would look like.

 

Through a random set of circumstances (which is often how these things seem to go), we decided to read a book together and talk about it with friends online. Then our brains just couldn't help themselves, and the ideas began pouring out, often ten or more at a time! It all has led to this. The Paper Gem Society.

So who are we? Just two regular ladies who love books, enjoy art, and feel most alive when we are talking about all the beautiful things we are learning about in life.

What are we doing here? We are going to share with you the gems we find in books, and the books we discover to be gems! This will be through posting here on on our blog, sharing through our Instagram, engaging in live discussion on our Facebook page, and eventually putting out a podcast too.

When will all this happen? It's already started! Just barely :)

Our first live book discussion is November 10th and we'll be talking about a book we've recently read: Friendish by Kelly Needham. It's all about having the right perspective on friendship and how we can work towards having thriving relationships with the women in our lives. There's still time to get your copy and join us! Here is the link to purchase on amazon, and here is the link to join us on Facebook.

We hope that through all of our sharing and discussing, you can see the gems hiding out not only in your books, but in your life as well. God places little jewels in our lives for us to pick up, enjoy, and help give us the courage and desire to keep pushing past the difficult circumstances we are all bound to encounter.

We hope The Paper Gem Society can be one avenue that brings light and beauty into whatever circumstances you are in, through whatever book you are reading, and through the things we are gleaning and sharing with you. May it be a place of peace, enrichment, and love!

Happy to be here ~ Joellen