We've Moved

We are excited to announce that our blog has moved to our own presence on the web.  We will be posting more often and with a wider variety of subjects. 

We have some exciting things in store.  Please join us at

http://www.passionatepriorities.com/

where we are passionate about the priorities in our life.

Concentration science experiment

My 9th grader is doing Apologia Physical Science this year.  We have been really pleased with Apologia products in the past.  This experiment was on concentration.  Concentration is the quantity of a substance within a certain volume.  

Here he is set up and ready to begin the experiment.  His little brother is watching on.

dropping the Tums tablets into the vinegar

Watching the results.  This was not one of the more exciting experiments but it was still a good lesson.

If you are still looking for a science course, I highly recommend this one.  We have done Apologia astronomy, general science and are currently working through botany & physical science.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

I wanted to show you the easiest peanut butter cookie recipe ever.  They also taste delicious too :-)

You will need:
     1 cup of creamy peanut butter
     1 cup of flour
     1 egg

That's it.  Really.  You will mix all of these together in the bowl like shown below.  You might want to double or triple the recipe so you have lots.  They taste great straight out of the oven.

Next you will drop them by teaspoon fulls onto your cookie sheet.  Then I like to sprinkle the tops with sugar.  Use your fork to smash the cookie flat and at the same time give it that criss cross look.

Bake them at 350 for 10 minutes.  You may have to adjust this temp/time to your oven.

Enjoy your delicious warm cookies.  Make sure to grab a glass of milk because you WILL be thirsty after these.

Apologia Science Project

My 6th grader is working through Apologia's Botany course this year for science. This is the first big project we have made this year (all 3 weeks of it so far).

He had to make a light hut from scratch and then plant seeds to try and force them to grow indoors. He planted 3 different types of herbs which we will use after they grow to make homemade soap.

Here here is in the middle of building his light hut.

Here he is showing the inside of the light hut covered in aluminum foil.

The seeds for planting


Here is the completed light hut with the herbs inside

The cute little pots of herbs

He has been taking such good care of his plants so far. He has to mist them with water several times a day so they don't dry out. I will update when his plants start growing so you can see the results.

Book Review: The Thorn by Beverly Lewis

This book is the first in the brand new Rose Trilogy series. Follow along in the life of two sisters, Rose & Hen. Rose has a close friendship with the Bishop's son but is being courted by another. Her sister Hen has married outside her people and is concerned for Rose.

I will confess, this was the very first time that I have read a book with Amish as the characters. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not but was willing to give it a try. I must say that this book was really good. I almost couldn't put it down until I was finished with it. The story was gripping and kept my interest until the last page. The only negative thing about this book is I have to wait until April 2011 to read the next installment. Beverly Lewis is one of my new favorite authors.

Bethany House publishers graciously provided this book to me for review. I was not compensated for the review and the opinions are my own. I was not expected to give a favorable review.

First day of school

Even though we actually had our first day of school on August 23rd I decided to go ahead and post these pictures now. I know I know, I'm really late at posting them.

How do you do school?

Here is my oldest, the thinker, reading on the front porch. Something about those rails called to him.


Here is my youngest, doodlebob, putting together a new desk for our laptop that we will use for math (Teaching Textbooks), spanish (Rosetta Stone) and typing.

Where do you do school?

The great Coke experiment

WARNING - If you love soda and don't want to be grossed out then don't read below.

The great Coke experiment

This was the first of one of our fun experiments. I had heard about all the bad things that soda does to your teeth so we decided to see for ourselves.

We started with a bottle of Coke (no offense to Coke, all cola products will do this) my sons tooth that he offered up for experimentation and a small bowl.

Put the tooth in the bowl and slowly pour the soda in.

The tooth sinks to the bottom and starts fizzing at this point.

Here is my son, Doodlebob (his nickname) checking on the progress of the tooth.

What else do you do with the leftover soda but drink it.

The tooth 2 days later. Lots of chuncks of the tooth broke off and were in the bottom of the bowl. The whole tooth turned a nice shade of cola brown. We decided it was pretty disgusting. Maybe we won't drink soda for awhile now. Ah, who are we kidding. :-)

We survived

Hi all. Sorry for all the posts in one night. I love to review books and was a bit behind on that so I decided to catch up.

Well, we survived our first week of our new homeschool year. This is my fifth year teaching but my first year teaching high school. Our work load is really intense. Our week actually went quite well. We did a fun experiment with Coke and teeth. It was pretty gross. I hope to post pics of that this weekend.

I hope all of my homeschool readers had a great start back to school too.

Have a great weekend!!

Book Review - The Lord's Prayer by R.T. Kendall

This book is about the most known and misunderstood prayer from Jesus himself. The prayer is covered line by line and goes into quite a bit of detail. The author lists versus to support what he is saying which I always appreciate.

I was looking quite forward to this book because I always love to learn more about scripture. I was a bit dissapointed because I felt the book was redundant. I had a hard time trying to get through the book. I felt like I did not learn much from this book after all was said and done. That being said, I plan to pick this book up again at a later time and see if I can learn something from it then.

Bethany House publishers graciously provided this book to me for review. I was not compensated for the review and the opinions are my own. I was not expected to give a favorable review.

Book Review - Love is a Flame by James Stuart Bell

This book is a collection of short stories about Love and what happens when it is rekindled. We all know as married couples that it isn't always easy. I think we all go into marriage thinking that it will be a fairytale but soon realize that you must work to keep your marriage healthy.

This book contains true stories of how other couples were not only able to save troubled marriages but to make them wonderful. If you marriage is good you might think this book isn't for you. I confess, my marriage is great so I thought I wouldn't need much from this book. This book however proved to me that everyone can learn something. I was so inspired by some of the stories that I have changed the way I do some things in my own marriage.

I think this book would be excellent if you are struggling in your marriage as well. The author did a fantastic job of collecting a wide variety of stories that are sure to reach out to you.

Bethany House publishers graciously provided this book to me for review. I was not compensated for the review and the opinions are my own. I was not expected to give a favorable review.

Book Review - No More Christian Nice Girl by Paul Coughlin & Jennifer D Degler

I love to read books and I like sharing them with you. This is because I love to look at other people's blogs to get a good idea of books I would like to read. That way I can go into the book store armed with a shopping list.

This book has such a cute, fun cover. The title drug me right in. What this book hopes to explain is that being "nice" is not good enough. Being "nice" can hurt your relationships more than you know. They explore how you can become an authentic, powerful woman of faith. Who doesn't want that?

This book was really engaging. I read the book pretty fast. One of the things I loved about the book is that at the end of each chapter you meet CNG (Christian Nice Girl) Nicole. The authors apply what you just learned into the life of Nicole so you can actually see it played out. The chapters end with study questions so you can use this as a stand alone or group Bible study. I can't wait to go back and do the study questions while reading the book a second time. I have more dog eared corners in this book. I would recommend this book to all women. I think it is a must read.

Bethany House publishers graciously provided this book to me for review. I was not compensated for the review and the opinions are my own. I was not expected to give a favorable review.

Book Review - Flight To Heaven by Capt. Dale Black

This book is about Capt. Dale Black, who as a commercial pilot has flown all over the world but focuses on the one flight that changed his life. As the front of the book says, A plane crash.... a lone survivor.... a journey to Heaven and back.

I wanted to read this book because like alot of Christians I long for Heaven. I am always interested in reading anything that might offer a glimpse of that. I was a bit hesitant when starting the book because you never know what is true or not. I was pleasantly surprised that the book seemed more about the authors experiences here on earth and how his life was changed. The book was a very quick, engaging read. I was challenged in my own life by a few things the author shared.

I think this book is worth reading, I am sure you will be glad you did. I am glad that I was able to read Capt. Dale Black's story.


Bethany House publishers graciously provided this book to me for review. I was not compensated for the review and the opinions are my own. I was not expected to give a favorable review.

School has started

We started school yesterday. My oldest started high school. I don't even know where the time went. It really does seem like just yesterday that I was holding that sweet baby boy in my arms. My youngest just started middle school. Again, where did that time go?

We have had a great first two days. We have already had science experiments and fine arts projects. I will post pictures in the next few days.

I hope school is going well for everyone else as well.

Book review: Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

Wow. That pretty much sums up what I thought about this book.

This book is a true story about the friendship that forms between two men who you would never expect to be friends, and the woman who started the whole thing. One is a homeless drifter who grew up in virtual slavery. The other is an art dealer with money and influence.

I was excited to read this book but I had no idea what to expect. This book by far has been the best book I have read recently. I read while working out (which is not one of my favorite things to do) and seriously I was sad when my work out time for the day was over. The book was that good. I did not want to put it down. I love how it is written from both of the mens point of views. The chapters are short and easy to read. If you only read one book this year, MAKE SURE IT IS THIS ONE, you will not be dissapointed.

This book was generously donated to me as part of the Booksneeze review program. The opinions expressed are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

Homeschool planning.... Full Speed Ahead!!!!

Homeschool planning is under way here. This year I have a 9th grader and 6th grader. We plan on using the following for curriculum....

9th grade

Tapestry of Grace year 1

Apologia Physical Science

Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra

Easy Grammar grade 9

Write Start A

Rosetta Stone Spanish year 1

Foundations in Personal Finance - Dave Ramsey

Electives

cooking around the US

logic games

typing

state notebook

6th Grade

Tapestry of Grace year 1

Apologia Botany

Teaching Textbooks grade 6

Easy Grammar Plus

Write Start A

Rosetta Stone Spanish year 1

Foundations In Personal Finance - Dave Ramsey

electives

Alice computer animation software

logic games

typing

state notebook

It looks like we have our work cut out for us. We will be very busy this year.

I will be so happy when all the planning is done. See you again when I am able to unbury myself from these stacks of books.

Yummy stuff!

I decided to try making some yummy chocolate chip brownies. They were so good. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Here are all of the things you need to make the brownies. Well, everything except you don't need my bamboo plant and candles that are in the background. :-)

Any recipe using this much brown sugar has to taste good right?

Ahhh, ready to go into the oven.

I think they were a hit.

You will need:

4 cups brown sugar

2 sticks butter

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

melt 2 sticks of butter and combine in a bowl with the brown sugar

then add 3 eggs, vanilla and flour slowly

stir in chocolate chips

bake at 350 for approx. 30 minutes

enjoy!!

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

I was excited to be able to review The Hole in Our Gospel book by Richard Stearns. He is the president of World Vision. In this book he poses the question, "What does God want from us?" He states that he believes the hole in our gospel is from lack of following through with people once they are saved. He focuses on the poorest of those in our world and tries to show that we need to be doing more for them.

I enjoyed reading about his personal calling and what got him to where he is today. The book was hard for me to get through because he used alot of statistics that seemed to be repetitive. He most definitely has an agenda with this book and seems to want you to believe what he does rather than have a feel for yourself. I did not like this part of the book.

Overall I thought the book was worth reading. It made me rethink a few things and also made me appreciate all that God has done for me even more.

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of the Booksneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive reveiw. All opinions expressed are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Brand new Cricut carts!!

Here are some pics of the brand new Cricut carts due out in August. These have not been announced anywhere yet. These pics are thanks to MarshaT on the Cricut message board. www.cricut.com

I hope you enjoy them. Again, I must say that PC has outdone themselves. I can't wait to add these to my collection.

Winter Frolic

Happy Hauntings

Country Life

Rock Princess

Video #28 Cricut Lite cart Block Party

Here is my latest video using the new Block Party cart. This cart is exclusive at Walmart. They have 24 different ones.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Busy summer so far

This has already been an extremely busy summer. I don't know where all the time is going. It seems like we just finished school and I am already planning and purchasing books for next year. My kids will be in 9th and 6th. I have alot in store for them. We are going to be slam full with stuff to do.

I will post soon what we plan to use for school. Check back for that.

There are lots of neat things happening this summer. I have more videos coming up using more cute stamps by Victorine Originals. http://www.victorineoriginals.com/ I also have several books to review as I have now become a blogging for books reviewer as well. I also hope to be able to announce very soon about a great opportunity to work with another company. Keep checking back.

I guess this is long enough for now. I will be posting a new video shortly using the new Cricut Lite Block Party cartridge. I hope you come back to check it out.

If you are interested in seeing any particular videos or posts then just send me an email. Go to view my complete profile and then clink on contact me.

Have a great summer everyone!

H2O Seasonal cart

Pumpkin Carving Seasonal cart

October 31st Seasonal Cartridge

This is the new October 31st seasonal cart. Wow, people have been waiting a long time for a Halloween cart. This looks like a fantastic set of images.

3 Birds On Parade Handbook

If you go to the following link you can see the entire handbook for this cartridge before you buy it. I must say it is the cutest one to date.

It comes with a complete font and tons of word art. You can't go wrong with this one.

Check it out.... www.cricut.com/res/handbooks/20003743BirdsOnParade.pdf

New Cricut Cart

Wow, PC is super busy. They just released 24 carts called Cricut Lite's which are exclusive to Walmart.

Now they have released more. How's a girl to keep up :-)

3 Birds on Parade

New Disney Layouts

Hey everyone. I have been super busy around here trying to finish up our school year. I have also scrapped a ton of layouts. I am up to 105 layouts for the year which is a record for me. I plan to keep on going. I wonder how many I will finish the year with.

Here are some more of my Disney World trip layouts. Sorry for the funky pictures. I blocked my kids faces out on these. I am still trying to find out what works best for me.

I hope you enjoy them.