REVIEW: The Secrets Beneath

The Secrets Beneath, by Kathleen Fuller, published by Thomas Nelson

Rebekah Yoder loves a good mystery—that is, until she becomes a part of one.

Rebekah Yoder has always been curious . . . or nosy depending on whom you ask. When a Yankee stranger moves into the house next door, she’s fascinated. Who is this strange old man who never waves or smiles? When Bekah sees him digging holes in his back yard, she’s sure there is a case to be solved.

But there's more than one case happening around home. Her visiting cousin is hiding secrets too. What more does an Amish girl need to keep her curious? Follow Rebekah as she finds out more than she wanted to know and learns that being curious can be good, but being nosy is something else. My daughter (9) and I both enjoyed reading this book. It's a fairly easy and quick read with a great lesson to be learned.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Rayovac - Mom Rocks the Holidays

As a cool way to start the holidays, why not reward yourself (or your mom) with a bit of cash?

Rayovac has launched an exciting sweepstakes where 3 Lucky winners will win $1,000 cash from Rayovac. In addition, 20 First Place Prize winners will receive a Rayovac Jam kit including a Paper Jamz guitar, drum, amp and guitar strap as well as 2 packs of Rayovac Alkaline AAA 24 packs (prize package valued at $90).

To enter:
1. You must “Like” Rayovac on Facebook: Facebook.com/Rayovac
2. Log on to Rayovac.com, complete the entry form and at their option, tell Rayovac in 120 words or less how you (or your mom) rocks the holidays.

Mom Spark is also giving away a $50 Visa Gift Card, Paper Jamz Guitar, and one pack of Rayovac Alkaline AAA 24 pack batteries to 5 winners! Visit Mom Spark to enter.

DISCLOSURE: Followers who promote the Rayovac Mom Rocks the Holidays Sweepstakes may receive gifts from Rayovac.

Summit Academy

My kids have been taking classes at the Summit Academy. At the end of this past quarter (just before the Thanksgiving Holiday) the school had a Parent's Night where the kids and their work were showcased. My daughter was in art and drama. For parent's night, her drama class performed a short skit. Her role was as narrator. She's hoping next quarter she'll get a different role.

My son had just the one class. He was taking guitar. He and one other boy in the class have had lessons before, the rest were brand new. It was a good review for him and good practice as well.

All of the kids did a very nice job on Parent's Night. My guys are looking forward to going back next year.

Fluff

If you hadn't guessed by now, the last two weeks on my blog have been filled with 'fluff'. With the holidays approaching and my son turning 12, I found myself trying to do too much at once. I'm sure I'm not the only one that went through it. That combined with having my kids at home for school, trying to get the house clean, etc etc, I was a bit stressed. So, hopefully next week I'll be better and can get my act in gear and do more than just write (or find) fluff for my blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're spending the day with family at our own house (novel concept) before traveling Sunday to visit hubby's. We hope everyone else has an enjoyable holiday too.

BBC - Top Gear goes caravaning pt. 3

This is the most humorous of the 3 parts..

BBC - Top Gear goes caravaning pt. 2

BBC - Top Gear goes Caravaning pt. 1

I was watching TV with hubby a couple of weeks ago and we were watching a rerun of Top Gear. This episode was just way too funny. It's broken on YouTube into 3parts, so I'll post each part separately, though I'm sure you can find them before they get posted on your own.

Lenovo Laptop

With the holidays coming up, we're all dreaming big but trying to be reasonable. My family has an argument about who actually gets some of the prizes I enter to win. The biggest one is between my son and my husband as to who's first if I ever win a laptop. My son wants it for gaming and to be able to 'wander around while doing school work'. My husband I'm sure just wants a new toy to play with (he has a laptop that he gets to use with work). We won't be purchasing one for either of them any time soon, it's just not in the budget. Instead, my son is setting his sights on more 'useful' things that we can afford like video games for DS or Wii, nerf guns, etc etc. It would be fabulous, though, if I could give him a laptop.

So, on that note I entered Crissy’s Can’t Wait til Christmas Lenovo Laptop Giveaway and hope to win a $799.00 IdeaPad!

And now you can too.

Happy 12th Birthday!

To my wonderful son.

Tonight in his honor we have 4 boys coming over with one additional girl to keep my daughter occupied. Nerf wars and more chaos will ensue while my husband presides. The girls and I will be cooking and attempting to stay out of the way. Good thing it's a holiday next week so I'll have time to recover and repair my house. ;)

May everyone else have a good holiday week.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Lion Sleeps Tonight

I have loved this song for ages. My daughter isn't sure she cares for the music, but I've only just introduced it to her. I love acapella groups and have for ages, but I have to say this one is one of my absolute faves.

AHG Stars & Stripes Award Ceremony

My kids and I were honored to be able to attend a special ceremony last night. A girl from our American Heritage Girls troop was being honored with the Stars & Stripes award. She's the first girl in Georgia to earn it. It's essentially the equivalent of an Eagle award for a Boy Scout. I tried to take pictures, but my camera (as usual) didn't cooperate. I think it was just too dark for it to manage. The Scout Master from our troop (593) presided over the whole thing, with an Eagle Scout from our troop, the 2nd recipient in GA (her ceremony is still to be held), and many other people participating. She was read a letter by one of the Snellville city councilmen (sorry, can't recall name) honoring her. She also had a Resolution read from one of the outgoing Snellville Georgia State Representatives. It was an excellent ceremony. My daughter and her group of Explorers, as well as several other girls from the Troop, were given the opportunity to participate by carrying flowers.

So, while I didn't get pictures of the ceremony, I at least did get to attend. The only picture I took that DID come out was pre-ceremony of my daughter in her uniform.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

I like the beginning of the song (watch for the words), though the dancing is fun to watch as well.

Random Picture Day

My son's troop is headed out to the Okefenokee to camp this weekend. In honor of that, I repost this picture of the albino gator at the Georgia Aquarium.

Happy Veteran's Day!

LOLBirds

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Have you ever..

wondered about people with visibly dirty hands trying to 'wash' them using hand sanitizer? Dirt for all it's covered in alcohol is still dirt.

Victoria Bryant State Park

My daughter's American Heritage Girls troop set up a family camping weekend out at Victoria Bryant State Park. My son chose not to go as he's going camping with his troop next weekend and temps were expected to get below freezing on us. We were the 3rd family to arrive and set up our tent.

We had a cool view of the creek/river running behind our tent.

We survived the night of cold and were woken up by a wild turkey right behind our tent. (I was actually already awake, not having slept much during the night.) We climbed out of our sleeping bags and had a warm breakfast. This is my daughter with one of her AHG friends.

Some time after lunch we decided to 'hike' over to the play ground and check it out. The night before we had stopped in a small field to check out the stars. We decided to go back in daylight to see what the field looked like. We found a lot of turkey tracks all over, mixed in with deer tracks. My finger is beside the turkey track to show how big it really was.

This is a view of the creek over by the playground area.

The kids spent at least 2 hours running around the playground. It had some really cool things for the kids to climb on and play iwth.

This thing would go up and down at the joints depending on where the weight was. The kids had a blast trying to make it jump so that kids would jump/fall off.

Around 4pm we decided it was time to head back to the campground and get ready to go home. I wasn't willing to stick out another night of freezing temps. We crossed the creek on the way in and on the way out of our campground at this crossing.

All in all a very beautiful area. The park itself was rather small, there are a few hiking trails in the area as well.

Sierra's great adventure

This past Sunday was a beautiful day. We decided to actually take the dog with us out to Stone Mountain and wander some of the trails. We knew we couldn't go far (dog is way too out of shape), but we did better than I expected. Sierra had a blast.

On the Nature Trail bridge

A really cool tree. The hollow was big enough for one of my kids to fit in to..

A rock bridge to nowhere..

The Grist Mill

Sierra loves to wade in the water

Pre-Halloween Activities (Saturday)

My kids elected to do a couple of things on Saturday. We first visited downtown Lawrenceville to check out their Fall Festival. It was to benefit the Lawrenceville co-op. So, we took some food down and put it in the bin and wandered. The only thing we paid to do was spin art on frisbees.. we thought that was a cool concept.

Later that evening, we dressed up in costume and headed over to a local church for their Fall Festival. It was like I remember them being with bobbing for apples, 'fishing', cake walks, and a lot more. We spent 2 hours there, the kids never really stopped moving the entire time.

Book Review: Illegals

Illegals The Unacceptable Cost of America's Failure to Control Its Borders

By Darrell Ankarlo
Published by Thomas Nelson

You hear plenty about the new laws in Arizona, cracking down on the illegal immigrants in their state. You know that the Border Patrol is having problems maintaining security on our borders in CA and NM. What you may not know is that the problem is a lot worse than it seems. Dan Ankarlo, a radio personality, decided he wanted to get the information on the illegal immigrants from their point of view. Why is it happening, why can't we stop it, what does it mean?

Starting with a trip across the border into Mexico, he begins his search for information talking with the folk who do the smuggling. Why do they do what they do? Their answers can be startling and reveal a very big issue on the other side. He talks with those who are trying to get in. Why go to the effort and cost to come in the illegal way? He talks with those who have made it across and then been caught. Will they try again?

Mr. Ankarlo interviews some of the Border Patrol. He finds out what resources they have, what they need, what they're doing to stem the tide. For they cannot stop it given what they have. There are too many coming across and too many working on BOTH sides of the border to catch even half.

Even more than that is the attitude of some of those who have settled here illegally. Their agenda to "take back over" New Mexico. To gain a hold politically to change the way the US is run. All is documented through Mr. Ankarlo and his team in this book. A definite must read as a wake up call on immigration.

GO VOTE!

Get Ready.. Get Set..

Tomorrow's the deadline for picking out our new governor as well as other positions in the state. I have to admit, I'm not impressed by anyone, particularly the democratic and republican candidates for governor. I'm seriously considering voting libertarian just because I really DON'T like Barnes OR Deal. I can't say I'm affiliated with ANY party any longer. Back in HS and college, I considered myself republican.. then I switched to democratic.. now I'm an independent who will vote based on who's running and has my respect.

As to the other candidates, we have to look at Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Insurance Commissioner, Ag Commissioner, Public Service, School Superintendent, Secretary of State, Labor Commissioner, US Senate, etc. If you're not sure who's on your ballot, you can go to http://www.sos.ga.gov/mvp - which amounts to a 'my voter page'. Enter the info requested and it'll bring up the details.

Rant on..

Hopefully you've already thought of all of this, if not, make sure you take a look and become an EDUCATED voter. It really rots my teeth when people tell me "I didn't know any of them so I just randomly picked". Then they can't remember WHO the picked and they want to gripe about who wins. Come on people! Get a grip! Educate yourself! Do the novel thing and TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.

Rant off.