Pinterest Links

If you use Pinterest at all, I’m sure you noticed that the links on some of the pins go to spam sites. I tried to just delete the link, but for some reason I was unable to do that. I decided to link to my blog. I haven’t done the crafts and I’m not offering a tutorial on how to complete these hand made items. I’m sure the pictures belong to someone else, but in the interest of not sending a follower of mine to a porn site or some other spam, I’m posting them here.

This first picture was pinned by Phoenix Commotion. They build with recycled and salvaged materials. Their craftmanship is surprisingly innovative, and often humorously so. I don’t know if they created this table top, or just repinned it because it was made with recycled materials. Even so, if you use Pinterest, find theirs and follow. They pin some cool stuff.

This next picture was entitled Vintage Jewelry Mirror. I found this to be interesting, because we have a good bit of vintage jewelry inherited from grandma. I thought about trying my luck on Etsy, but I have little time to devote to that. I can certainly wield a hot glue gun faster than fiddling around with online sales.

Now that I’m posting this picture, I see now in very small print at the bottom that this picture should link to The Crafting Chicks. I will restore that on Pinterest.

I’m not sure why this link was flagged as spam. It goes to Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas blog. She has giveaways, contest and ads on her blog. Nothing unusal. I like links to easy science experiments and crafts and quick lessons to use when homeschooling. We have books, but the quick stuff is fun and helpful to break it up and give me ideas when there are ‘moods’. There was one today, and I used one of the pins to do a quick science lesson using a 3D diagram. I’ll be writing about that in another blog post. It’s interesting how the ‘mood’ and diagram turned into an object lesson.

Book Review -In Christ Alone

 

Like the last book review I posted, In Christ Alone is a preliminary review.  I’ve had the book for about a month, but I am just now starting to read it.  It is very timely for me, as illustrated in the following quote from the forward by Alistair Begg:

"One of the signs of aging is the temptation to view all our yesterdays as the good old days and to find in the present more causes for alarm and disappointment than are justified."

As I read more of this book, I will make notes and later write a full review.  So far though, it’s just what I needed.

Book Review – Life Of Fred – Fractions

 

This is actually a preliminary review, since we’re not very far into the book yet.   We purchased the first book in the math series by Stanley Schmidt, PhD.  These books can be found and purchased at Polka Dot Publishing, for which I also have a banner link in my "Math" section in the right hand column. 

So far, I am very impressed with this book.  Our 11yo started Algebra 1 recently, and he said he was so thrilled that I bought Life of Fred-Fractions, because the main area in which he is struggling in algebra is fractions.  He has squirreled away the book in his "office", and he said he’s loving it.  I read some of it to Headmaster Mark, (our Schoolhouse principal extraordinaire), skipping around to parts that looked interesting.  There’s more in there than just math and I’m excited about Dr. Schmidt’s teaching philosophy, as it reflects my own.  I’ve been ‘dismissed’ over my teaching philosophy in the past, but the proof is in the pudding…I don’t know if my kids would like to be compared to pudding, but it sounds a lot more appetizing than saying, "The proof is in the standardized test scores".

Book Review – Created to Be His Helpmeet

Click here for my book reviews on LibraryThing.com

I’ve read through this book twice and I intend to read through it again and again in the future. I’ve talked to several women about the book and I agree that it can be viewed as a manual on "how to blame it all on the woman", but that would be the wrong view. I believe It is a biblically based, inspirational book on the role of a woman in her man’s life. Debi Pearl uses simple, straightforward language and many real-life examples to effectively communicate God’s design for the woman in marriage. I must say though, reading and knowing God’s design and carrying it out are two different things! This last year for me has been a real challenge, after reading the book for the first time. Just when I think I’ve got it handled, a new and taller hurdle appears. I have so much growing to do yet. Thankfully, Michael Pearl is working on the husband’s version of this book. I’m looking forward to peeking in on that one!

In the right hand column, under the heading "Book Reviews", you will see random covers of books that I have catalogued on a site called LibraryThing.com.  This is a very cool site if you enjoy reading and have a library of books that you like to share and talk about with other avid readers.   To read the books I have reviewed, click on The Reading Chair.

 

Virtual Field Trip – Cades Cove – Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Several people had mentioned Cades Cove to us before we left for the Smoky Mountains.  I wanted to try and make time to drive through the settlement, but we weren’t able to do it until we were on our way out of town.  We had to go through it quicker than we would have liked, once we got there.  The day was sunny and beautiful and the drive into Great Smoky Mountain National Park was beautiful, too.    I like the barren look of the landscape in winter and we took a lot of pictures along the way.

We spent a lot of time throwing sticks in the water and watching the river rushing over the rocks.

Good

Better

Best!

The mountain views changed throughout the day, as the clouds came and went.  There were deer out in an open field, but it was fenced in by barbed wire.  This didn’t deter some people from trying to get in there and pet the deer.  We read in our Cades Cove guide that this settlement was once inhabited by up to 700 people…pioneers and farmers.

Proof that I was there…

We were able to get pictures of the deer and wild turkeys, but there were no black bears to be seen where we were driving.

The inhabitants of Cades Cove were evicted from the land after the state of TN seized it to make it part of the National Park.  The last resident to resist this was John Oliver, and he fought in court for 6 years before abandoning his home in 1937.  The government intended to allow the forest to reclaim the land, but they were convinced to allow the older buildings to remain.  There were more modern structures, but they were removed.

These pictures are of Primitive Baptist Church.  The members of this church continued to meet here up until the 1960’s, against the wishes of the park service.  This structure would probably not be here, if the congregation had not continued, as the park service wanted to ‘develop the land’ here.

The interior of the church was completely wood.  I hated to see the graffiti. I am very big on history, preservation and restoration, and it makes me angry to see someone’s name and the date written on a 200 year-old wooden church pew in black Sharpie.

Ryan stood in the pulpit and a man walked in and said, “Hey!  Whaddya say preacher?  What are you preachin’ about today?”

View of the cemetery out of the Primitive Baptist Church windows.

Actually, this was originally just the “Cades Cove Baptist Church”, but there was a split in 1839, due to a disagreement about whether or not missions were authorized by scripture.  13 people left the Cades Cove Baptist Church to form the Cades Cove Misssionary Baptist Church and the remaining congregation changed the name as you see here to the Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church.  Besides these, there is also a Cades Cove Methodist Church, but the Primitive Baptist Church would “remain the dominant religious and political force in the cove, their meetings interrupted only by the Civil War”.(Wikipedia)

Derek in the woodshed…

I was born in the wrong time period.  I absolutely could live here.

This was our last picture as we were quickly leaving Cades Cove. We were driving on a one-way road in a caravan with other cars, and I handed Emilee the camera as she opened the side door of the van to take this picture.  Ryan and I want to come back and go hiking here…we hated to leave.

Thanks for joining us on our virtual field trip!