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We went to the Franklin institute in Philadelphia. Had fun will post more when we get home
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These posts are mobile pics I took of flowers at my mother in law's
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Gonna be gone off and on the next two weeks

We are on vacation and will be going to different places over the next couple of weeks some of which will be overnight trips.  We are going to my mother-in-laws tonight and staying there until Thursday. we plan on visiting her then on wednesday going down to Philly to the Franklin Museum and maybe the Mummers Museum, then on Thursday we plan to go to Valley Forge and then come home.  Hope to take alot of nice pictures.

I have turned my husband into a Tim Hawkins fan.  Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian that has some pretty good song paradies. This is what he imagines what would happen if corporations took over Church worship.

One Nation Under God

Blessed Be The Name of the Lord

gotta minute

this really made me stop and think.  I love American Idol!!

The stuff that holds us together

Adorable

a friend of mine posted this on facebook and I just had to share.

Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World by David Jeremiah

See my review of this book here

Officially on Vacation

I am officially on vacation.  Yeah!!! 

My husband sent me a disturbing video of a song that children in New Jersey are being taught.  If you want to see it it is here.  I don't like to get to political and some may not see anything wrong with the song but it is adapted from "Jesus loves the little children". 

The Homeschooling site for today is one from the Smithsonian.  Mr. President is a site that you can learn different facts about each one of the Presidents.  I do believe that we need to respect the President but not worship him.  I  believe we do need to pray for our President and all our elected officials whether we agree with them politiaclly or not.  i belong to the Presidential Prayer team and they have a web site but for somereason it is not working at this moments so I will post the link as soon as I can.

Sunset by Karen Kingsbury

See my Review of this book here

One more day till Vacation!

I only have one more day till vacation.  I am really looking forward to this time with my family.  We hope to have a nice relaxing time.

I just realized this morning that a site I had posted before for homeschool Free Rice has alot of different subjects that your child can brush up on all the while donating rice to feed the hungry.  Just change the subject on the screens top right hand corner.

New Car

I finally got my car yesterday.  I realized that when I was driving the manual transmission that I was always tense.  What a difference a day makes. 

Only two more nights and then I am on vacation.  I am looking forward to haveing a nice relaxing time with our family.I am sure it will go by way to fast.

This is a picture of my hubby getting ready to enjoy one of the Chocolate chip cherry muffins I made last weekend. 

Todays  Homeschool link is Home School Inc.  I subscribe to their newsletter and they have some really good info. 

Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLalla

see my review here

countdown

I am counting down to two events this week.  The first is I will be getting a new (to me anyway) car , so I will only have to drive our truck one more time and then I will have automatic transmission Yeah  no more clutch.  The clutch has been horrible with my arm. ( Just found out that my car won't be ready until probably tomorrow, bummer).    Second countdown is only 4 more nights of work then I am on vacation for two weeks.   We aren't really going anywhere special just doing a staycation.  We hope to go visit with Dave's mom for a day or two and go to some museums in Philly, maybe go to Valley Forge, go to some museums around here,  Head down to Washington D.C. for a day or two.  I have a tenative schedule but it's all up in the air depending when Dave gets back from his last load.

This will be us on vacation. 

The homeschool link for today is The Old School House Magazine.  This is a great magazine for all kinds of things.  You can suppliment your curriculmn and find inspiration for when you are burned out.

Just listening to music

My hubby and I spent the night last night listening to music while he was trying to tweak his Pam Pre before he left today for Texas by way of Misissippi.  It was a nice relaxing night.  Hannah joined in for a bit and played a game on the computer while my hubby took a break.  Nice family time. 

Fearless by Max Lucado

See my review here

French Bread Pizza

I guess this is the day for me to post some family favorites.

french bread pizza  You will need french bread one loaf makes about 6 pizzas so figure according to how many pizzas you want.  About 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce, 1 1/2 lb hamburger, i jar cheese spread and what ever toppings you want.  This is enough for about 12 pizzas.
Brown the hamburger,  while you are browning the hamburger

cut the french bread in half then each of those halves into three pieces

spread each piece with cheese spread  this adds a little zing to the pizzas

 

next after your hamburger is brown drain well and add your spaghetti sauce.  You don't want this mixture to be to runny.

spread the meat mixture on the pizzas.

add whatever toppings you want, I like mushrooms but the rest of the family doesn't although this is the perfect pizza for individual likes, here I just added pepperoni 

top with your favorite cheese and put in the oven at about 350 for 15 minutes

enjoy

 

Chocolate chip cherry muffins

These are some of our families favorite muffins.  They can be used as a snack, dessert, or breakfast.  If you like chocolate covered cherries you will love this recipe.  I got it off of the Taste of Home website here.

Here are the cherries before I cut them in half.  I get a total of 18 muffins, Hannah usually gets 12 when she makes them as she doesn't cut the cherries.

All the ingredients before I mix them.

A bit blurry but ready to put in the oven.

I always double the recipe.  We also don't use the pecans, confectioner's sugar or cream cheese.  We don't put the glaze on but just leave them plain.  I also have found that I need to cook them a bit longer than the recipe says.

 Fresh out of the oven.

yumm

Dave will be taking some of these with him when he leaves for Texas. 

Drizzle

It seems like all it's been doing the last couple of weeks is drizzle rain.  Nothing really big but just enough to make everything wet. 

I did get a more understanding tech yesterday and we figured out for some reason I have to open the program from a fresh screen so I have to close down my page everynight and reopen in the morning.

This site helps you children work on their knowledge of vocabulary while alos helping the hungry.  For every word you get right they donate rice.

Frustration

I just got a new computer program for Hannah's math.  I installed it on Tuesday and she did her math no problem.  I went to look at her work yesterday morning and the program wouldn't work.  So I tried to reinstall it.  Still Wouldn't work.  So I call Tech support.  The first person I talked to had never heard of the error code that I had so she sent me to the next higher level of tech support and told me I was lucky there was no wait time .  20 minutes later I finally talk to a person.  He took me through several attempts at different things that could be wrong and every time it didn't work He kept telling me that it must be because I did something wrong.  Finally he just did everything remotely.  Hannah did her school yesterday no problem but this morning same error code.  So I will have to call tech support again.  I hope I get a little nicer specialist that doesn't make me feel like a complete idiot. 

Homeschool link for today is Project Gutenberg.  These are copyright free books that  you can download and read or print off.  Most of the classis fit into this catergory.

worry

I am reading Max Lucado's new book "Fearless".  It is all about our fears and worries.  He made a statement that I read yesterday that really hit home.  "Seek first the kingdom of weath, and you'll worry over every dollar.  Seek first the kingdom of health, and you'll sweat over every blemish and bump.  Seek first the kingdom of popularity, and you'll relive every conflict.  Seek first the kingdom of safety, and you'll jump at every crack of the twig. But seek first His kingdom, and you will find it. On that we can depend and never worry." - Max Lucado.

I find this so true about everything.  When ever I worry it just seems to magnify whatever I am worrying about.  This is a very good book and I will post a full review when I finish it but I thought I would share these thoughts today.

The homeschool link for today is who's who and what's what.  This is a current events quiz from the New York Times that runs M-F during the school year.  If they don't know the answers the quiz links to an article where  they can find the answer.

  

Amazing Grace

Bible Curriculmn This is an excellent site to have your children work their way through studying the Bible.  It has a study that they can do on each of the books of Bible and they are pretty indepth.

My hubby and I watched the movie Amazing Grace over the week (found it in the bargain bin at Walmart for $5).  If you are not familiar with the movie it is about William Wilberforce and english man who fought to abolish slavery.  It was an interesting movie.  William's pastor was John Newton (he wrote the Hymn Amazing Grace).  Newton himself had been a captain of a slave ship and became convicted of his part in the slave trade.  Read the words yourself and meditate on just how much grace the Lord does give us.

   Amazing Grace (How sweet the sound)


That sav'd a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.



'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears reliev'd;

How precious did that grace appear,

The hour I first believ'd!



Thro' many dangers, toils and snare,

I have already come;

'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.



The Lord has promised good to me.

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.



Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease;

I shall profess, within the vail,

A life of joy and peace.



The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God, who call'd me here below,

Will be for ever mine.

Class

I don't watch the Video Music Awards because I don't like much of the music out these days.  One young lady that I do like is Taylor Swift.  She seems to be a wholesome young lady and doesn't seem to have all the controversy swirling around her.  Except last night,, She won the best Female video of the year.  She was truly honored and humbled that she would win because she is a country artist and this was MTV after all.  Then Kanye West gets up and ruins her moment by saying Beyonce had the best video.  Poor Taylor didn't know what to say but she handled it with class.  Now if he had just waited Beyonce did win best video.  Then Beyonce did a classy thing and let Taylor come out and have her moment.
I would hope that when my daughters are in situations like these that they would be able to handle them with class like both these young ladies.

The homeschool link I'd like to share is for classics for kids.  This is a neat site that takes a composer each month and gives lessons on that composer.

The Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier

View my review for this book here.  I was disappointed that there were a few curse words in this book that would have been better left out.

Lonestar Secrets by Colleen Coble

See my review for this book here.  Great book!!

In depth Bible Study

It's fall and time to start another Beth Moore indepth Bible study.  I went to Pequea BIC church on Thursday for this study.  It works out well because they changed the youth group time to Thursday nights for Sr High and Wednesday nights for Jr. High so Faith no longer will take Hannah to youth group.  Any way  I saw several people that I know from when we attended there and I meet a really nice lady that will be in my discussion group.  This was the intro session so we didn't break up into groups but watched the intro video.  Beth was her usual funny, insightful self and she got us all excited about doing this study on Esther.  I will try very hard to finish this one.  Seems that I don't quite finish them up but I have decided to go over the old one I never finished and finish them up by this time next year.  Anyway I really like Beth Moore.  I listen to her on my mp3 Player that I download from here at oneplace.com.  I put the downloads on a cd so I can listen over and over again.  I also dvr her once a week from Life Today with James Robison.  Her blog that she writes on with her daughters is here.

Update on my arm.  It is feeling much better I have been able to not use a heating pad at night when I sleep and was actually able to sleep for a bit on my left side.

I didn't post a homeschool link yesterday  so here is the one for today.  The Home Scholar is run by Lee Binz and she has alot of info on how to go about homeschooling high school.  She also has a great membersclub that you can join for a fee.  I haven't really found much on schooling high school and although I have already graduated two I found alot of good info on her site.

September 11th

My daughter made a comment this morning when she got up about how appropriate it was that it was raining on this date.  Our prayers go out to everyone that was effected by the tragedy that happened on this day in 2001.  It is still approriate that we remember this date.

Worshiping God through Dance

I decided to try an experiment and post some videos of dances my girls have participated in over the years.  Turn off the music in the sidebar so you can hear the music for the videos.

Not much to say today

I don't have much to say today.  I did read that someone did a word frequency counter for President Obama's speech to the school children and found that he referenced himself more than school, education, responsiblity, country, nation , parents and teachers COMBINED.  I am not really a politcal person but I found that an interesting fact considering the speech was suppose to be all about the subjects mentioned.

The homeschool link for today is Baldwin's Online Children's Literature Project.  This site has many of the books needed for the oldfashionededucation.com and amblesideonline.com.

I'm a Great Aunt

Our niece had her baby yesterday.  The whole family is very excited as this is the first great grand child.  We are anxiously awaiting the first pictures to posted to the internet.  I think about how when I had my children the only thing avaiable was mail to get pictures to everyone.  How Things have changed in the last 20 years.  Even in the last 14,  we rented a cell phone (one of those huge things) when I was awaiting my youngest daughters birth so I could call my hubby when I went to the hospital.  Wouldn't you know it he was in a no coverage zone and had to be told that I was in the hospital by some guy on a forklift.
Any way here's hoping the best for Kristin, Rich and little Sarah.

the homeschool link for today is for CurrClick  They offer a free product every Monday This weeks is about reading and speaking Hebrew.  I have gotten some pretty neat things from them in the past.  They usually run a special around Mother's day also where they offer alot of freebies all at once.

Family time and holidays

Since yesterday was Labor Day I got to thinking about family.  We have certain traditions in our family. On New Years day we watch the Mummer's Parade ( this is a Pennsylvania thing).  On Memorial day and Labor day we have a cookout.  On Thanksgiving my husband whole side of the family gets together and we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas at the same time.  Around Christmas we go chop down a tree, eat chili , decorate the tree and then watch "It's a Wonderful Life".  We mentioned to the kids that this year we had an artificial tree and it caused a near riot.  It was changing the tradition.  Change is hard after you have done something the same way for years.  But Change can be good also like when you go on a diet or start to eat healthier, quit smoking or other bad habits.  Question why you do certain things a certain way.  I read a story once about a lady who when she made ham for Christmas always cut off the two ends.  When her children asked her why she did it that way she said because that was how her mother did it.  When the children asked their grandmother why she did it that why she said because she had to to fit it in the pan.  lol
Traditions are going to change as you life changes but the love you have for you family will only grow stronger.

Not in to much pain today but I did overdo it a bit yesterday.  We try to have the ladies I work with over on holidays so that they have a nice holiday so I had to work a double shift yesterday and my arm is not use to it.  Oh well slowly but surely hopefully it will get better.

My homeschool link for today is Homeschool Freebie of the day.  These are the same people that do the Homeschool Radio show.  They post a really neat freebie every week day. Today was a audio about Davy Crockett with a listening guide.  Also if you sign up for their newsletter you get an extra freebie everyweek.

The pictures below are of my daughters while they are waiting for the burgers to grill.  

This is a picture of Hannah after she made the dessert for our cookout. 

This is my son who I can never seem to get pictures of when I am taking them.

Just a quick Word today

I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord.  They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart.  Jeremiah 24:7 

Believe it or not the unltimate goal God has for us is not power but personal intimacy with Him. Yes, He wants to bring us healing, but more than anything, He wants us to know our healer.  -  Beth Moore

I read this little book by Beth Moore called " A Quick word with Beth Moore Praying God's Word" yesterday.  It really helped me to look more closely at my prayers and to really think about the Scriptures as I am reading them and prayback to God when I am at a loss of how to pray.

maybe some relief

After my trip to the doctor yesterday (he thinks I have a pinched muscle) I went to the drugstore and got some pills.  a muscle relaxer that is to help me sleep and a pain reliever.  I actually got a good night's sleep.  I am not painfree but it seems a bit better today.  I am extremely thankful for the insurance we have that helps us pay minimally for our prescriptions and a small copay for our dr. visits. 

Homeschool link for today is Homeschool radio shows.  We bought the Far Above Rubies Curriculum from them and like eveything else are using bits and pieces of it round out our school .  Far Above Rubies is a full four year curriculum for girls.  It is unit study approach.  There is a similar one for boys but I don't know the name right off hand

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Going to the doctor AGAIN!!!

After two nights of little sleep because of the pain in my arm and because the tylenol I have been taking just isn't cutting it,  I called this morning and made another appointment for today at the dr.  Hopefully he will give me something that will help with the pain.  I had to take a shower at 4:00 a.m. to ease the pain. 

September 26th is Free museum day.  You can go here to find a museum near you and then follow the link to print your free admission pass.  The pass is only good for two people.  We are going to try to go to The Natioanl Christmas Center.  I have always wanted to go there but couldn't justify the expense so now I can go and not feel bad about the money.

Weakness

This time with my arm being injured has taught me abit about weakness.  Number one is that my left hand and arm is not nearly as strong as my right.  Second that if you don't use it you may lose it.  I haven't been useing my right arm and hand much because quite frankly it hurts.  I have noticed that with in the last few days my right hand  shakes when I try to hold a glass in it.  It has only been a week and I have used my hand some but it still is feeling the effects.  I think that this can also be said about our prayer life.  If  we don't pray every day then we will feel the effects.

My homeschool link for today is what we have been using for Math.  It is a totally free math program from England.  You do need a code for some of the teacher material but if your email them they will send you the code.  The program can be found here

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Reality

 I am a sucker for the so called reality show.  Alot of times it is kinda like a car wreck,  you can't help but watch.  One of my favorite reality shows though is about Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.  They just announced yesterday that they are expecting their 19th child!!  Their baby will be born about 5 months after the birth of their first granchild.  My husband did the math and that is over 14 yrs being pregnant.  I admire them for their dedication to the calling that they feel that God has givien them.  If you would like to read their story you can here duggarfamily.com.  I admire them not only for being able to handle that many children and seemingly doing a wonderful job but for consistently showing Godly love and principles every week on their show.  I am sure that the show has afforded them more opportunties than they would have had without it but they don't seem to have let it go to their heads like other reality families.  I struggle with trying to get just one child to stay on track. I also admire them for dedication to frugalness.  They actually are debt free and didn't inccur any debt when they built their house which they used as a homeschooling  project for their children.  Here's wishing them health and happiness with their new bundle of joy.

My arm is a bit better today.  It is hurting less and less. 

I just posted a review of the book Someday by Karen Kingsbury on my other blog A room Without Books is empty  This is a the third book in the third series about the Baxter Family.  I really enjoy Karen's books.

My homeschool link for today is another all inclusive curriculumn site.  amblesideonline.com  is a site that has every grade laid out for you and it follows Charlotte Mason philosophy.  Great site.

Life

Went to the doctor yesterday and they think I have a severely strained muscle in my arm thus all the pain.  I can't go to work till Wednesday and I have to try to rest it a bit but still use it.  Take tylenol and ice it and use a heating pad.  It is  a bit better today not quite as bad pain wise.
Yesterday's school was not quite a regular day as Dave was here.  Hannah got quite a bit done though so hopefully today will be more typical.
Continuing on the subject of different websites I use for homeschooling.  One that I really like   is oldfashionededucation.com.   This has a full curriculumn that is laid out grade by grade using books and resources that you can get mostly for free on the internet.  I haven't used a full year but like most things have used bits and pieces.  It is a great resource for getting ideas for literature and also filling gaps in history.