Prayers Needed!!!

Hello Everyone!

I am feeling very thankful today that I can write this post.  I haven't mentioned the exact location that I live but today I'm going to let you all know that we live very near Joplin, MO.  As most of you have heard, we had a very severe storm last night that brought a F4 tornado, rain and hail.  The damage is devastating.  There are 2000 businesses either affected or demolished.  There are numerous homes damaged as well. As for myself, family and close friends, we are all fine.  There is no way that anyone around this area is not going to be affected in some way or another.  I am not including any pictures but there are many online that can be seen.  There are also some very chilling videos to see or in some cases just hear what was going on in the midst of this tornado.  As of a few minutes ago, they have numbered the dead at 116.  I'm sure the number will grow.  So I'm saying all of this to say PLEASE PRAY for our town, those who have come to help and for the families of those who have been lost.  The support that I have been hearing on the radio and have witnessed in person is very overwhelming and humbling.  A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers and medical personnel who have come from all the surrounding areas to lend their support.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

Personalized Wedding Gift

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick post to share a wedding present that I recently made.  I wanted something with a vintage flair as that is the brides style.  However, I also wanted something personalized so I combined them together in this pillow made from Brick Red (my color name) Denim and Linen.

The bride's mother told me her living room was to have this red color but you know how fickle reds can be.  I'm hoping it matches.  The date is obviously their wedding date and then in small letters is their first names.  Here is a closer picture of the linen portion.

Unfortunately we were unable to attend the wedding as it was out of state and my hubby had to be to work very early the next morning.  I've heard it was a beautiful wedding and from the couple of pictures I've seen I believe it.  So a big Congratulations to our friends Hank & Hannah!  Hope you enjoy this pillow to remember your special day.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I'm linking up to:
Inspiration Friday
Funky Junky Interiors SNS 82
My Repurposed Life: Catch-as-Catch-Can
Debbiedoos Newbie Party

To Distress or Not to Distress; that is the Question

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is having a great week.  I need help with a little project that I have done.

I have a really old wood chair that I've been working on for a while.  Not because it was difficult to do but because I had to keep starting and stopping on the project.  Here is the before picture.

Here is the back of the seat as I took it off.

Notice the old rusty tacks.  This was not a staple job.  That's how I could tell it was old.

After I peeled the fabric back I noticed the padding was old and kind of yuck.  I didn't want to take it off though so I just added some bamboo batting on top to make it more cushy.

So here is what I finished up with; a new paint job, extra padding and new fabric.  However, I'm still trying to decide if I should distress it a bit or leave it the crisp whiteness that it is now.

WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?

Let me know, give me a vote, I need help! 

I'm needing to get it back into this room.

So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

Linking up to:
Funky Junky Interiors SNS 82

Time Travel, Wildlife and Modern Technology

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  We did a little time traveling, a little wildlife rescue and a battle with modern technology. You're probably looking quizzical and saying "huh?"  Well this is what we did when we time traveled. Our town had a Civil War Reenactment.  Here are only a few of the pics that I took.  You might think this is a lot but I actually took about 178 pics. 

Battle around the town square.

One of the commanders or captains or someone important.

March of the Union soldiers.

Shooting the canons.  Twas loud.

One of the upper class ladies of that time.

One of the "matrons" doing some knitting.

A few of the "casualties" of the war.  Notice the one guy is holding his hat over his face. Some of these "deaths" were pretty funny when you saw them move a bit or when it was all over and they all hopped up off the ground.

I loved this guy's canteen with the number 2.  It really was that blue color.  I just turned the rest black and white so it would really stand out.

Not sure about these pants.  Are they on backwards?  Hope they don't fall off.

This guy looked like he had spent considerable time on the battle front.  Maybe with the war over he can find a local barber. ;)

Now onto the wildlife rescue.  When we came home from the reenactment, my hubby went out to fix my mower (replace the blades) and found this little guy.

Baby Bard Owl

Isn't he cute?

 We had a difficult time finding anyone to help us with this little owl.  After several phone calls, we finally tried the fire station.  One of the fireman just happened to know an officer with the Conservation Dept.  We contacted him and he told us he could come out in about 30 to 45 minutes but that he was in the middle of arresting someone.  I didn't even know they could do that.  We could tell that he (she) was injured so we didn't want to get too close.  And really, what were we going to do?  Owls aren't your everyday pet.  Anyway, the officer was able to get "our" little owl and take him in to be treated.  Hopefully they can do something for him.

Now onto my next subject.  Sorry for the long post buy hey, it's been a busy weekend.  Modern Technology.  Well, computers to be more specific.  Computers are those things you love to hate.  Or is it hate to love?  Any way you look at it it is a love hate relationship.  At least it is for me.  If you remember, I recently purchased a lovely new laptop.  However, I had some non-functioning keys and a few other issues and had to exchange it for another.  I had to wait about a week for Best Buy to get another one in the store.  In the meantime, my desktop died.  I still don't know what happened or what is wrong with it.  The geek squad guy (when I was growing up, it was not a good thing if you were called a geek) said they could look at it for free.  Of course if they have to repair it then there would be a charge. Yikes!  Hope it is something simple. Speaking of hating computers, I had this post almost done and was ready to sign off when my NEW LAPTOP decided to be ultra sensitive and delete have of my text.  Fortunately, it didn't delete all the pictures so I didn't have to go through all that again but it was still very irritating (that's the hating part).  However, all in all, I am really enjoying my new computer.  I have one more "computer" to have to learn.  My hubby just upgraded to a "Smart Phone".  I am having to learn how to use it so I can show him.  He's not as familiar with computers as I am and does better when shown something rather than reading the manual.  Some aspects of the phone are really cool but it is so sensitive that I have to keep hitting the back button because I accidentally hit something that I really didn't want.  I guess it will just take time to get used to it.  For me, I'm still loving my flip phone.  I guess I'll finish my weekend ramblings.  Hope I haven't put you all to sleep. ;)  I do have a project or two to post so stay tuned.  It just won't be tomorrow (or maybe that's today since it's almost midnight) as it is our 13th wedding anniversary.  Unfortunately, my hubby has to work but I am joining up with some of my family and taking the kids to a river to do some fishing and then taking a tour of a fish hatchery.  This is kind of a end of the school year field trip/treat.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

I'm still alive

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone has had a good week so far.  I've been a little out of touch lately.  I'm doing a quick post to catch ya'll up on a few of the goings ons around here.  I have been working on projects and hope to share some of those soon.  We had a two day garage sale last weekend and did fairly well.  I made a wedding present for friends that are getting married this weekend.  I'll show that later as well.  I had computer problems that had me taking my new laptop back and having to wait until Sat. (tomorrow) to get a new one.  I also had issues with my desktop when trying to install new virus protection software.  I spent a good portion of two days trying to resolve that problem.  Have you ever had a company take control remotely of your computer?  It is a really creepy feeling.  I was doing a online chat with my security company and trying to get the software to download properly when I gave them control of my computer.  It was like a ghost living in my computer.  I'm hoping I don't have to do that very often.  Anyway, with all of this going on as well as finishing up school, my laundry has gotten off of its new schedule.  I spent the last two days trying to catch up.  Now if I can just catch up on the ironing I will be doing good.  Tomorrow, there is a Civil War Reenactment in our town.  We are planning to take the kids in the afternoon.  That is after I go pick up my laptop.  :)   The hubby has to work Sunday and many of our friends are out of town at the above mentioned wedding so it will be a slow Sunday for me and the kids.  I will probably be cleaning house as we are having a real estate agent come give us an appraisal on Monday.  This might surprise some of my family but just so you don't get any ideas about us moving, it is just for tax purposes that we are having it done.  Our property tax just keeps going up and up each year but the value of our property (and probably everyone else's) is not getting any better in this current economy.  We are hoping to contest the fees that they are wanting to charge us.  There is more planned for the upcoming week but I think I will stop there.  Sorry if this seems a little disjointed and a bit of a ramble.  I just haven't had time to post and didn't want anyone to think that I had fallen off the face of the earth.  I will try and do better, I promise.  I know of at least three projects I will be posting about and maybe a recipe or two thrown in for good measure and variety.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane 

Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks Book Review

Hello Everyone!

This post is for all you homeschooling moms, soon to be homeschooling moms, confused homeschooling moms, want to be homeschooling moms and don't want to be but will probably have to be homeschooling moms.  I fall, or have fallen, into all of those catagories.  Homeschooling is not for wimps much like parenting is not for wimps.  It takes a lot of time and effort to homeschool.  Unfortunately, I haven't always taken as much time or put in as much effort as I should.  Homeschooling is also a process of learning for not only the child but the parent as well.  It is a process sometimes of trial and error.  So, I say all that, to say that I have found a wonderful book to help us all in this journey to educate our children in the way we want them to be educated; with values that are ours and not "the system's".  To teach them what is important for success in life that you can't always get from the basic public school system.  The book is titled, "Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum".  My SIL introduced this book to me a few weeks ago.  I decided I wanted my own and was able to get it at a great price through Half.com. 

Cathy Duffy talks not only about what she recommends as a "good" book but also about learning what kind of teacher you are and what kind of learner your student/child is going to be by examining personality.  Maybe that sounds kind of like maybe you should be lying on a couch with a psychiatrist asking you all kinds of questions to determine who and what you and your kids are.  Well, it really isn't like that at all.  I found it very helpful to think about myself and my kids and how we operate.  Not all homeschool curriculums are created equal.  Some have more writing than others, some take more teacher participation, some take more sitting down time, some are more creative, etc., etc.  Not only are curriculums not created equal but children (and parents for that matter) are not either.  Some children are "Wiggly Willie's" or "Perfect Paula's" or "Competent Carl's" or "Social Sue's".  These are her classifications.  As Mrs. Duffy brings out, some personality types or learning types just don't do well with this curriculum but might do great with that one.  I have been homeschooling now for about 7 years.  I have two children; a boy and a girl.  Their personalities are very different.  However, they are close enough in age that I have put them in the same grade in some subjects.  For the most part this works out well.  However, they don't "learn" the same.  After reading Cathy Duffy's book, I have discovered that I might have to do a few things differently this year.  I believe I can still find curriculums that will fit both of their personalities and still be able to school them together.  That is the beauty of this book.  She has a lot of the research figured out so I don't have to do it myself.  I really wish I had had this book when I first started homeschooling.  Every year I keep thinking, "Next year I'm going to do something different."  Well, I'm still saying that but I'm hoping this will be the last year as I am going to try out some of Cathy Duffy's recommendations and hope that I get it "Figured Out" this year. 

I hope everyone has had a successful school year but if you feel like you need to make some changes, get a hold of "Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum" and see if you don't agree with me that it is a helpful resource. 

*I was not contacted to write this review or am not receiving any compensation for writing this review.  These are my thoughts and opinions only.

The other resource that I want to briefly mention is actually a catalog company for homeschool.  It is called Rainbow Resource Center.  They have both a catalog that can be mailed to you or you can shop online.  They have a huge inventory of all kinds of homeschool books, games, teacher helps, etc.  They also have great prices, excellent customer service and fast shipping.  In their catalog, they also do some reviews so it is nice to get a "second" opinion and compare to what Cathy Duffy has to say.  And as mentioned above, I wasn't asked to "put in a good word", as it were, for Rainbow Resources.  I just happen to think they are a great company to purchase from and do so every year.

So after all of that, have a great summer and hopefully a wonderful new school year.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane