Goodbye GFC, Now What Should I Use?

GFC was so convenient! Click follow on a blog, and new posts automatically showed up in your Google Reader. Shortly after I moved from Blogger to WordPress, Google announced that GFC would no longer be available to WordPress users So I posted Linky Followers in my sidebar. I still read the blogs I followed in Google Reader. Now Google is doing away with the Reader as of July 1st.

I’ve been trying out different readers. Linky Followers has a decent reader, as does Feedly. I’ve also been using bloglovin’ lately, and I really like it. You get one email every day with all the new posts. The readers that I have tried recently are making it easy to transfer the blogs your following to them. They ask you if you want to transfer, you click yes, and it imports your lists. It was very easy on the ones that I tried. Yes, I transferred my blog list to several different readers so I could see which one I liked best.

When you find your new favorite, don’t forget to add Linda’s Lunacy! I have a bloglovin’ button in the right sidebar along with Linky Followers and Networked Blogs.

Don’t forget to follow Linda’s Lunacy on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinerest, too!

One day this week, Zach decided he wanted to organize all his books. Who am I to stop him? lol He got everything looking nice. I hope he keeps it that way!

They kids (and adults!) are happy that the pool is now open. PE this week has consisted of swimming.

Our amazing homeschool news this week is that Hannah finished her high school work! Her last subject to finish was Kentucky State History from Switched on Schoolhouse. She scored a 96% for the course. 🙂

Calen has two subjects left to finish, Geometry and Abeka World Literature. He should finish both of those in the next week or two.

Guess I better get those diplomas ordered! For our older two, I ordered the diplomas from HSLDA They were very beautiful, and included a ribbon and seal. There are several places now that homeschool parents can purchase diplomas from. I’m going to get these two from HSLDA, also. That way all our students diplomas will look the same.

Calen and Hannah decided to have a joint graduation and party. So that will be in a couple of weeks, as soon as Calen finishes.

Have any of your children graduated from homeschool high school? What did you do to celebrate?

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.

I made gluten free chocolate chip cookies last week that led to this picture I posted on Facebook. This is what fail looks like.

I cut them into squares and have been eating them. There were just for me, and I don’t care what they look like. lol

Hannah took over and made the regular chocolate chip cookies to take to our family reunion. so much better!

Maybe I should have her make mine next time! lol

Now…. to answer the question that I get asked about a hundred times a day……….

What’s For Dinner?

Dinner Menu:

Saturday – Sabbath- Make ahead meals- Family Reunion!

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Sandwiches- ham and sliced chicken on homemade bread, with lettuce and tomatoes

Monday – chicken – Baked chicken, baked potatoes, green beans

Tuesday – pizza/pasta – Homemade pizza with garlic crust, and homemade turkey sausage and onions, salad with homemade dressing

Wednesday – beef – Beef and Rice, peas, corn

Thursday – super simple – Chicken Pasta Salad

Friday – Sabbath Dinner – Meatloaf, rice, broccoli

For more ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday

It’s the beginning of a new month so I’m going to start a new feature. The first Saturday of every month I will share The View From My Front Porch.  I thought about calling it The View From My Rocking Chair. That makes me sound super old, though. lol But I am, indeed, sitting in my rocking chair on the front porch when I take these pictures. lol

Saturday on the Farm – The View From My Front Porch

Out in the yard, the bush on the left is a purple Butterfly Bush. It might look small, but it’s between 6 and 7 feet tall. The little flowerpot tower next to it is planted with Sweet Alyssum. They are flowering, but you can’t really see them in this picture. Farther down in that bed, almost behind the pole/tree, is the Cat Mint. As you can tell by the tall grass around this bed, our weed wacker stopped working. AGAIN! The brand new one we just bought two weeks ago. grrrrr So that’s going back to the store, and my husband is going to buy to buy a different brand. Seriously, why can’t they make these things last longer? We’re lucky if we can get one to last a whole growing season. But two weeks is ridiculous! Ok, enough about the lawn equipment!

I took my 17 year old daughter to the local green house and had her pick out some flowers to plant on the front porch. One of these years I will build a green house (Ok, my husband will build it…..lol) and grow my own flower starts. The Pineapple plant in the round pot on the left is looking pretty sad. It didn’t care for winter in the house. (See? I need a greenhouse!) Of course, it would have minded winter outside a lot more! lol I started it last spring, so hopefully it will perk up and give me a pineapple this year.

As you can see, we had been planting the flowers and I didn’t even clear off the trays before taking the picture. That’s how you know this picture is real, and not staged! lol My little veggie plants in the other trays are waiting not so patiently to be planted in the garden.

Looking straight ahead, in the picture below, you can see the Cat Mint from the picture above, and the Butterfly Bush from the picture below. You can see the “Front Bulb Garden”. Planted there are Daffodils, a lone Tulip, Crocus’s. There were a few other bulbs planted, but they stopped coming up. Basically, they are all spring bulbs. My daughter planted Gladiolus’s, and there a five or six growing. You can see the Butterfly house, too. I’ve never seen a Butterfly go in or out. Maybe this year. To the right of the Butterfly House, those flowers in the bushes are Honeysuckle and Wild Roses. There is no better smell than Honeysuckle and Wild Roses! Not counting chocolate, of course. lol In addition to giving us privacy from the road, these “weeds” that most people cut down give us beautiful flowers, a place for birds, and you can even eat them. You can make Honeysuckle Jelly, anyone else love to just suck the juice out of the flowers? lol The Wild Roses have numerous uses, as well. I’m a big fan of letting the wild stuff grow.

Now, looking towards the right, we have the big Butterfly Bush ( also in the picture above), this one has white flowers. My husband gave it a serious trimming last fall, but it’s still over 6 feet tall. On the pole/tree is the Mandevilla . I had just moved it outside for the summer. I couldn’t lift the pot to take the tray out from under it. My husband had to do that. I’ve had this plant for a few years and usually put it in the back yard, but now that we have the front porch, I’ll get more enjoyment out if it here. It will look neat from the road (which is behind the tall bushes/weeds in the background) with the vine growing up the pole.  The flowers that you see on the right of it, are not on the Mandevilla, but on the Fuchsia in a hanging pot on the other side of the pole. I bought that at the greenhouse, too. I’m going to have to find another spot for it, though, it gets too much sun there.

You can see flowers in the two pots on the ground, they are Calibrachoa  The pots are in the corner of the porch and the ramp going down to the grass that you can see a corner of. The pots are around the same height as the one that contains the Mandevilla, but they are sitting on the ground.

Those are the Yahtzee dice I made out of a pressure treated 4×4. (Well, my husband did the cutting, I did the dots.) I try to add a new yard game every year, I found this online, and they were easy to make. We’ve played with them already, and it’s fun to roll the big dice in the yard.

I hope you enjoyed The View From My Front Porch!

[Read more…]

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Betty Collier is a nurse by profession, author by passion, and storyteller by the grace of God. After reading the headlines that tennis pro Venus Williams suffers from Sjogren’s syndrome, Betty discovered she had many of the same symptoms. This began her quest to share the journeys of five other remarkable women battling this incurable illness. The third in her Living Inside The Testimony Book Series, Betty hopes others will discover that they too live inside testimonies meant to be shared. Betty lives in Bartlett, Tennessee, with her husband, the absolute love of her life, and their two sons. Betty’s passion for increasing awareness of this silent disease takes her beyond the inspirational stories she has written about to the streets of Nashville, TN where she will run with Team Sjogren’s on April 27, 2013 in the Country Music Half Marathon to help increase awareness and raise funds for Sjogren’s research.

Visit the author’s website.

Award-winning author Betty Collier has intricately woven a beautiful, edifying and inspirational book that informs readers of Sjogren’s syndrome – its signs and symptoms, diagnosis, medication and treatment, complications, and other related information. Readers will be captivated by the inspiring and uplifting story of five remarkable women who embarked on the same journey through Sjögren’s syndrome. This book takes Venus Williams’ fight against the same autoimmune disease many women are suffering right now as a concrete instance. Along with her story, Collier brings into the limelight the cases of Cathy Taylor, Estrella Bibbey, Judy Kang, Lynn Petruzzi, and Paula Beth Sosin, the five women who opened their hearts and shared their Sjogren’s stories with the world for everyone to understand more about this incurable disease. Through the heartwarming stories of these five women and the intimate details of their journeys, millions will be inspired, encouraged, and motivated to face the crossroads in their lives.

Product Details:

List Price: $15.99

Paperback: 102 pages

Publisher: XLIBRIS (February 12, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1479780154

ISBN-13: 978-1479780150

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:

SHOWgrins by Betty Collier Book Review

I reviewed and loved Betty Collier’s first two books, Living Inside the Testimony and An Angel in My Room, so I was excited when I found out about her third book.

SHOWgrins tells the stories of five women who went from not being to find out what was wrong with them to finding out they had an incurable autoimmune disease, Sjögren’s syndrome. Sjögren’s is pronounced SHOW-grins. And now you know where the name of the book came from.

SHOWgrins is an excellent book that follows these women from their worst to reclaiming and living their lives. I highly recommend SHOWgrins, as well as the authors previous books.

 
*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. I received no other compensation. I was not required to write a positive review. My opinions 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.”

The featured post from last week’s Making a Home – Homemaking Linky is:

Honeysuckle Jelly from Taylor-Made Ranch. I remember well standing around the Honeysuckle bush with my siblings and cousins sucking the honey out of the blossoms. I’ve shown my kids how to do it, too. Have to keep those family traditions alive. lol I have yet to make Honeysuckle Jelly, though. This recipe makes it look really easy.

If you missed the Honeysuckle recipe last week, stop by now to see it.

Taylor-Made Ranch Blog's photo

Making a Home – Homemaking Linky

Now it’s your turn!  Share your posts about homemaking ideas, recipes, crafts, decorating, cleaning tips, basically anything that has to do with caring for a home and family.

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No giveaways, please. Giveaway links will be deleted. You can link your giveaways on my Thursday’s Giveaways linky. Thanks!

Please provide a link back to me. A text link is fine. Of course, family friendly posts only.

After last weeks week long breakfast for the freezer session, I didn’t do anything major in the kitchen this week. I did make cupcakes on Friday for my father in laws birthday.

We’re having a family cookout today, Memorial Day. If you’re having a cookout, too, let me help you get ready. See my post How to Prepare for a Large Cookout.

Now…. to answer the question that I get asked about a hundred times a day……….

What’s For Dinner?

Dinner Menu:

Saturday – Sabbath- Make ahead meals- Fish and Chips

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Sandwiches- ham and egg salad on homemade bread

Monday – chicken – Cook out! Hot dogs, Linguica, potato salad, homemade baked beans, chips, and, of course, S’mores!

Tuesday – pizza/pasta – Crockpot Chicken Parmesan, broccoli

Wednesday – beef – Homemade meatball subs, carrot sticks

Thursday – super simple – Leftovers!

Friday – Sabbath Dinner – Baked chicken, rice, corn, peas

For more ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday