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Showing posts from September, 2011

Book Review: The Realms Thereunder

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My 14 year old daughter loves fantasy fiction.  I have been reading more fantasy fiction because I want to expand my literary genre and so that I can better understand my daughter.  When I read the description for this new trilogy by Ross Lawhead, I knew this would be a book that we would both enjoy.  The Realms Thereunder is book 1 in the The Ancient Earth Trilogy series. From the Publisher: Uncover a land that has been hidden for over a thousand years. Beneath the land of Britain, a great army is sleeping. On a visit to an old church, Daniel Tully and Freya Reynolds awaken two ancient knights from a centuries-old slumber. They are kidnapped and taken to an underground city that stands in peril, besieged in all directions by a vicious war host. Nidergeard is the only thing protecting the upper world's blissful ignorance of mythical forces that have been held at bay since the creation of the world. In order to return home, Daniel and Freya must strike at the heart of the oppos

Dinner: a Family Affair

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Earlier this week I had a Monday.  Oh wait it was a Monday.  And it was one of those kinds of Monday’s.   With two in high school, one in junior high and the 4th daughter doing early elementary level some days I get nothing but school done during the day.  Because it was one of those   kinds of days, I was thrilled that dinner was already planned (thanks to e-mealz and the TOS Crew.  Watch for my review of e-mealz mid-October!). But this time dinner was special.  Not the food itself or the menu.  It was special because the whole family (except Supergirl who stayed out of the way.. that in and of itself is helpful!) contributed to dinner.  HoneyBear sliced and fried the smoked sausage.  BooBear prepared a salad.  Tailorbear diced tomatoes. Turtlegirl cut up a honeydew melon. Me?  I grated zucchini and yellow squash, and boiled the pasta.  I then assembled the bits and pieces into “Creamy Penne with Sausage & Squash” We worked together as a family to prepare dinner becaus

TOS Review: Aletheia Magazine

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I must start with True Confession time.  I really wasn’t all that interested in this vendor.  I saw them on the Upcoming Vendor list for the TOS Crew and I didn’t get all excited or jump up or down. God never ceases to amaze me though. My teen girls, especially my 14 year old, however, have been really excited about this vendor.  Aletheia Writing Magazine is a quarterly publication for Christian teens. The founders of this magazine, Nicholas & Stephanie Muzekari are committed to “offering readers a quality literary and artistic publication that nurtures spiritually-minded creativity from Christian teens across the country.”   Each issue includes stories, poetry, photography and art as well as Features and Book Review. As soon as the Fall Issue arrived, Turtlegirl, my 14 year old literature loving, budding author, disappeared into her room with the magazine. Thoughts from Turtlegirl:   I enjoyed reading stories from kids around my age.  I like seeing that I’m not the only p

Jeremy Riddle “Furious” CD Winner!

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I really love this CD!  I am so excited that I get to give one away!  Last week I posted my review and giveaway .   There were 21 entries at Midnight Eastern last night when I closed the comments. This morning I used Random.org to draw a winner.  And the winner is #5! Giant Sis contributed the 5th comment she said: Congratulations Giant Sis!  I hope you enjoy this CD as much as I have been enjoying mine! Thank you EVERYONE who participated in my giveaway!

Review and Giveaway: What Is He Thinking???

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*********This Giveaway has ended*************   Award winning Rebecca St. James is an internationally successful entertainer who also writes best selling books.  For more information about Rebecca St. James you can visit Rebecca St. James . About What Is He Thinking??   In WHAT IS HE THINKING??, Rebecca interviews a range of men from high-profile types to the guys next door, men that every woman can relate to. Although the interviews focus on single guys ages 20-35, Rebecca also includes words of wisdom from older mentors she respects who have been successfully married for years, people like her dad, life coach, and pastor. The men share their thoughts on topics like how women can respect themselves and the men in their lives, modesty, purity, taking it slow, friendship, letting guys lead, and more. This book gives them the floor to say what they would really like women to know. The men respond candidly to questions such as: What is the most attractive quality to you in

My Wonderful Birthday Weekend

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I can’t believe it is Sunday night already.  Time really flew this weekend.   What’s that saying?  Time flies when you’re having fun? It sure did for me this weekend. My birthday was yesterday but I started celebrating Friday night.  My husband (and I guess the children were included <grin>) decided that I needed to see Duran Duran in concert.  A friend of mine emailed to ask if I would like to go and my family insisted that I join her.  Two more of our friends were also planning to attend so we got seats together.  That was ages ago… or well at least during the summer.  I admit I was fairly excited to go see a favorite band the day before my birthday! Friday night was wonderful.  Yummy dinner with great conversation with friends followed by an amazing concert was a great way to start the weekend, especially a birthday weekend. On Saturday morning, I got to sleep in a bit and when I wandered out to see what everyone else was doing I found this: We had a lovely day togethe

TOS Review: Tri-Cross by Games for Competitors

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When I read this on the Games for Competitors website, I knew I wanted to request to be considered to review the Tri-cross game: Helps develop skills in the following areas: Logical Thinking Cause and Effect Predicting Interpreting Outcomes Abstract Thinking Memory (In Variations of Play) Visualization We love games here and teaching my daughters how to think is high on my list of educational priorities. A game that teaches thinking and problem solving skills is going to win my heart. As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received  both the Standard Edition and the EcoTravel Version. We preferred playing on the standard board, however, I loved having the travel version to take with us on our day trips and picnics. Everything you need fits inside the drawstring bag which easily fits into a purse or bag.   There’s an old saying that a picture is worth a 1000 words.  I think a video might be worth even more.  I’m not sure I could adequately explain the game usin

Announcing the Winners of the THEO Giveaway!

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I am pleased to announce that ~Jamie~ and Alane @RaH won the Introducing Theo giveaway.   Last week I posted about this adorable new series for children and you can read about that here .  My giveaway ended last night and this morning I used random.org to pick two winners.  I had a total of 21 entries so I used 21 as my range and I drew number 15. The 15th Comment belonged to ~Jamie~ I removed ~Jaime~’s entries from the count and drew another number from random.org.  This time it was number 6. The 6th comment belongs to Alane @RaH Congratulations to both of you!  Thank you everyone who participated!

TOS Review: AIMS Earth Book

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One of the things I love about being part of the TOS Review Crew is discovering new curriculum products from vendors I have never encountered before.  The Earth Book , subtitled, Hydrosphere, Geosphere, Atmosphere, and Their Interactions contain activities integrating math and science.  It is published by AIMS Education Foundation . AIMS is an acronym for “ A ctivities I ntegrating M athematics and S cience.” From the Back Cover:  “The AIMS Education Foundation is a research and development organization dedicated to the improvement of the teaching and learning of mathematics and science through a meaningful and integrated approach. I received a thick reproducible book (it’s over 475 pages!) and a CD-ROM.  The CD-ROM contains PDF files for the activities.  What a convenience!  I didn’t have to tear my book apart and I could print only the pages we needed.  The PDF files do not contain all of the information from the book but it does contain all of the consumable parts that can be r

Hair, Hair and more Hair!

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My daughter has extra extra extra thick hair.  Seriously!  I think her hair is 4 times as thick as my own.  When she divides her hair into two parts for ponytails or braids, there is enough hair in just ONE part for at least two people. She really struggles with how to “do” her hair.  She did a really cute  ‘do the other day and since I liked it so much, we grabbed the camera. I just had to share: Here’s another picture.  This time from the side: She pulled back part of her hair into a bun and secured it with an octopus clip and then braided the rest of the hair.  I am so glad that she found something she liked for her hair that was fairly easy and simple to do but looks fantastic!

Giveaway: Jeremy Riddle’s “Furious” CD

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This past week I’ve been listening to a pre-release of Jeremy Riddle’s new album, Furious.   I started listening at the end of a not so good day and found that the music was soothing for my soul.  This is contemporary worship music not just contemporary Christian rock.  Though I don’t care for contemporary worship music in my corporate worship at church, I do enjoy listening to it for myself.  Like a private prayer, if you will.   Listening to Jeremy Riddle allowed me to focus on God, gave me a kind of connection while I washed dishes or chopped veggies or just played on my computer.  After a very stressful day, I found Furious to be just what I needed.  I felt the tension leave my body as I closed my eyes and listened to the music. I think my favorite song is “Love Came Down” it starts with “If my heart is overwhelmed and I cannot hear Your voice, I’ll hold on to what is true though I cannot see.”   The chorus begins “ Love came down and rescued me.  Love came down and set me free.”  

Winner! Ginny Owens: Get In, I’m Driving CD

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Just a quick announcement to let everyone know that I used Random.Org to select a winner for the Ginny Owens Giveaway . I had 29 entries so I set the max for 29. I drew number 26: Which corresponds to this comment: I have sent an email to Sara.  Congratulations Sara!  I hope you enjoy the cd as much as my family has enjoyed it. For those of you who didn’t win there’s still a chance for you to win!  My friend Debra at Footprints in the Butter is also hosting a Giveaway   and so is my friend over at Ramblings from the Crazy House 2. Congratulations again to Sara @ Embracing Destiny!  Thank you, everyone, for participating!

Week of 9/17 Bountiful Baskets

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Over the last several months I kept hearing how my friend Brenda from Garden of Learning and my friend Debra from Footprints in the Butter loved Bountiful Baskets .  Two weeks ago I picked up my first basket.  I had only requested one conventional basket but I also did a special order of peaches.  My girls canned the peaches and I blogged about it here . I don’t remember exactly what was in my first basket but here’s a rough guesstimate: 8 ears of sweet corn 2 bunches of kale green beans some roma tomatoes 5 pears some teeny tiny (but delicious) plums 3 mangos 2 personal size watermelons some peaches This week though.. oh my word.   Let me show you in pictures what I got.  Keep in mind though that I got TWO conventional baskets. Doesn’t that all look yummy!  We’ll be eating well here!

TOS Review: Discovering Who I am In Christ

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For the past several weeks Turtlegirl, age 14, and I have been working through Deeper Roots’ Discovering Who I am In Christ bible study. This study is intended for students in grade 8 but can be used for grades 7 or 9 as well. Discovering Who I am in Christ is book 2 in the Discovering Series but book 1 is not a prerequisite for this course.  This book focuses on helping 7th, 8th and 9th graders understand their identity in Christ . The teacher book is laid out exactly like the student book but contains answers, teaching tips, suggestions and notes.  For the study pages and tests the teacher guide has the student copy and a second copy with the answers. Through the TOS Crew we received the student workbook and the teacher guide. The teacher guide which sells for $28.95 is the heart of the program and, in my opinion, a necessary component.  I recommend purchasing the teacher guide even if you do not purchase a student workbook ($19.95) We really like this course but before I get

What a week! What do you mean it isn’t over yet?

I keep thinking or maybe it’s just wishfully hoping that today is Friday.  It’s been a long week and we’re not done yet!  I almost titled this post “The best laid plans” you know “the best laid plans of mice and men yada yada yada. I planned for this to be our first FULL week back to school.  I even had a “school wide meeting” on Sunday afternoon to discuss how to do some extra work on Monday and Tuesday so that we could go to church on Wednesday for the Feast day.   I made lesson plans and printed out some ebook pages for certain students.  In other words I was close to being organized.  And then…. A nasty, unwelcome, tiny critter invaded my home.  Sunday evening I hear:  “Mom, my throat hurts and I don’t feel well at all.”  A kiss on the brow confirmed the fever.   Monday morning said child is feeling worse and fever is not abating and child 2 begins to complain of the same symptoms.  In the middle of the night I awake to the sound of crying.  Child number one is withering in pain

THEO DVD Review and Giveaway!

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  My family has been enjoying the first episode in a brand new animated series for children: “Theo: Saving Faith.”  This short clip tells the story of Abraham and his saving faith in God. The DVD I received also contains a bonus episode: “Good News”.  In “Good News” Theo explains the Good News that God loves us and he defines sin.   Geared for younger children, these wonderful, exceptionally animated episodes appeal to all ages.  My 12 year old loved these and she’s a difficult sell.  She voluntarily watched the DVD three times in one day!  She says she loves the mice.  “They’re so cute and funny!” I think these would be great gifts to give to children or to church libraries to use for VBS or Sunday school. You can go to the Theo Presents website to read more about how to use this as a Bible Curriculum and to read more about Theo I am so excited because I get to give away 2 (yes TWO!) copies of the DVD to two of my blog readers.   Just leave me a comment telling me if you’d use your

A little Humor this Monday

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So this actually happened yesterday but I’m having a Monday and I needed to laugh again.  (Note the first part isn’t the funny part.  You’ll have to keep reading for the laugh) Turtlegirl has been asking to get a hair cut for quite some time.  Finally, her daddy took her to get it cut.  He needed a hair cut too so off they went. Here is a before picture: And an after picture:  (Isn’t she adorable!!) Now for the funny part**: Another one of my daughters (I have 4 of them!) and I were talking about how cute and adorable the hair cut is and how flattering and wonderful it looks on Turtlegirl.  I also commented on how it reminded me of a young lady we know. Me:   She’s got kind of a “R” (insert name of friend) look going for her now. Other Daughter: I thought she looked familiar Turtlegirl (with indignation in her voice) I should look familiar! I'm your sister! Other Daughter (with a heavy sigh) That didn't come out right. If you happen to be my Facebook friend you mi

Ginny Owens CD: Get in I’m Driving (and Giveaway too!)

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Maybe you are like me and you’re scratching your head going “Ginny Owens?  Ginny Owens?  Nope, I can’t quite place the name.”   When I received the email offer to review this CD, I was unfamiliar with her name or her music.  I checked out her website:  Ginny Owens Music .  After reading her story and listening to a clip of the music I knew I wanted to review the CD. I’ve heard it said that the eyes are the windows to the soul.  I would say that music is the bridge that connects two souls and can give us a glimpse of the soul that the eye can not. From her Biography Tab : Born and raised in Jackson, Miss., Owens was discovering melodies on the piano almost before she could complete a sentence. Songs began to emerge from her fingers as the vision began to leave her eyes and by the age of three a degenerative eye condition left Owens completely blind.  Despite her physical challenge, Owens pursued a music career.  Songs provide a window into a world Owens can’t see and an outlet for her t

I am so proud of my girls!

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Earlier this week, on one of our last days of Summer Break, the girls teamed up to can peaches.  I was going to can them with their help.  But, instead,  I helped them… a little.. not much.  Mostly I was an observer. : BooBear got everything laid out. They didn’t need the funnels but here you can see the jars, rings, lids, jar lifter and even the “Bible” of canning, The Ball Blue Book.      We had ordered a box of peaches from Bountiful Baskets.  Supergirl had the very important job of bringing the peaches from the box to the counter.       Turtlegirl and Tailorbear did an awesome job peeling and halving the peaches.  We used the “immerse in boiling water then dump into cold water” method to make peeling easier.  We noticed that ripe peaches are much easier to peel. Once the peaches were ready, the girls loaded up the jars and then loaded up the canner.   BooBear really likes to use the jar lifter. Her sisters complained because they also wanted a turn but BooBear &quo