Congratulations to Chrystal our winner of the Wonder Hangers contest!  I’ve just emailed you, please get back to me within 72 hours or a new winner will need to be chosen.  Thanks to all who entered, you can look forward to another new contest soon!

Okay, it’s official, I am most definitely out of the pop-culture loop.  With media icon popularity being able to be judged partially upon the number of cell phones sporting spiffy ringtones, I would have been completely unaware of the German-accented chipmunk-like voices emanating from phones that represent a European chipmunk-like phenomenon called “Schnuffel”, a little bunny with techno-music leanings that have inspired a full length album from EMI titled “Ich Hab’ Dich Lieb”.  Yes, it’s German.

In any case, if you’re more up on this than I am, and you have a fondness for this long-eared animated rabbit, you can get a whole slew of snuggle ringtone‘s online, some of which even include your name – there’s one for me – “Hey Jennifer, there’s a cute call for you, so pick it up!”  Hmm, not exactly my style, but you can find many more music-inspired tones at the site, though like any mainstream site, surfer discretion is advised.

This morning I was trying to network together a PC laptop running Windows XP and our little MacBook running Mac OS X 10, and, ehm….let’s just say that my technical skills just aren’t up to the challenge.  I am a networking no-nothing, and DH is pretty much in the same boat.  Put us both together with dueling operating systems and…wahwahwah….waaaah, waaaah, waaah.  Think Clint Eastwood here.

Looks like we’re stuck with using our PC just to upload files to websites that hate Macs (yes, it’s sad but true, we’ve had total compatibility issues with some websites that we NEED to upload to!)  Maybe one day we’ll get a second computer, it’s definitely on our wishlist, because the little laptop is always in hot demand!

Some of you may already be familiar with Garage Sales Tracker – the website that works with over 250 resources to bring you one of the most comprehensive listings of garage sales available anywhere on the internet!  Well, for those of you who are really up with your technology and are bargain hunters to boot (who doesn’t love a garage sale?), you may want to take note of the new iPhone application that Garage Sales Tracker now has available.

It’s FREE, and as more and more garage sales become listed online through Garage Sales Tracker you’ll be able to track garage sales on the go with your phone!  Very neat, if you ask me .

To celebrate, Garage Sales Tracker is giving away TWO iPhones in a contest through Twitter and Facebook.   The contest started May 6th and is running through June 4th.  You do need to be a resident of the US to win (that counts me out!)  But to all of my US readers (that’s around 90% of you according to my stats), do drop by and check out the details if you’d like to win a sweet piece of technology for yourself.

And, whether you enter to win or not, consider listing your garage sale at Garage Sale Tracker, or look up sales in your area there!

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!

Waiting for this one to arrive .

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

and the book:

Chosen Ones (Aedyn Chronicles, The)

Zondervan (April 13, 2010)

***Special thanks to ***Special thanks to Pam Mettler of ZonderKidz for sending me a review copy.***

Alister E. McGrath is one of the most respected Christian theologians of this century. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dr. McGrath currently serves as Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education, and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture at King’s College, London.

Visit the author’s website.

Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (April 13, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310718120
ISBN-13: 978-0310718123

TO BROWSE THE BOOK, CLICK ON THE BUTTON BELOW:

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Chosen Ones (The Aedyn Chronicles)

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK.COM OR AMAZON.COM!

In different seasons of my life, people tend to gravitate towards asking me certain questions on a regular basis.

If I have an older baby on the ground and I’m not pregnant yet, it’s the inevitable, “Are you pregnant yet?”

Quite a few people know that we don’t act to prevent conception, and leave our family planning in the hands of the One who knows what’s best for us.  And no, that Person isn’t me, I do a very poor job when I try to run my own life!

When I am pregnant it’s the “How are you feeling?” question, particularly in the tetchy first trimester, where I currently find myself.

My answer over the past few days?  Yes, I am nauseous, in fact, I feel like I’ve had a mild case of the flu for the past week (I  did have a cold, but the nausea is independent of the sniffly nose.)  I barely kept my lunch down while I was eating it and it was…mashed potatoes, doesn’t get much blander than that.

Yes, I am eating a very limited number of items these days, most of which are white, and experiencing cravings for…frozen french fries (after they’re baked).  Of course, that isn’t a staple around here, so I’m longing for a BIG shopping trip to the city where I will buy a LOT of cottage cheese, a HUGE jar of polski ogorki pickles (dills), and a ginormous bag of frozen french fries, because honestly – here in the country, they don’t make their containers big enough for a family of six.

So, there’s my official answer .  I am glad to be queasy however, as I hadn’t been feeling very pregnant before.  Knowing all those hormones are hard at work lets me know that tiny baby is hanging in there, knowledge that puts any first trimester moms mind at ease.

As my regular readers know, I’ve dealt with adult acne, for, well, all of my adult life.  When I’m pregnant and newly breastfeeding it decreases to a dull roar, but most of the time it’s a real hormonal nuisance.  Still, even considering all these years, I’ve never been tempted to try a prescription for acne medication.  Why?  Just hearing about the scary side-effects was enough to make me turn my cheek.  Some of the common ones are weight gain, mood swings, and now there are cases linking accutane and ulcerative colitis, ouch!

Apparently there is now a movement to seek out legal compensation for chronic intestinal damage following a course of accutane treatment.  Who would have known?  Definitely won’t be asking my doctor for any!

I hope you all had a happy Mother’s Day!  Around here we keep things pretty laid back .  We relaxed, we made a cake (well, DH and the girls did, we didn’t have all the ingredients, and they didn’t follow the recipe strictly, so it was a bit of a flop – it WAS pink though!), and had a tea party with Larry’s sister (the girl’s aunty), and Larry’s Mom, and us!  All the Mom’s we could round up on short notice.

Larry helped the girls make cards for me, very sweet!  Even baby got in on the action – she’s almost 2 though!  Wow, better stop calling her baby soon!  He made his mom a card – yay, bonus points for him!

In any case, our day was pretty laid back.  What did your family do on Sunday?

I am a big fan of ready-to-go lapbooks (no planning required!) and can have a hard time getting started with a new creative endeavor (like making my own lapbooks) without a bit of inspiration and ideas to get me started.

That’s where The Template Pack from In the Hands of a Child comes in.  This is a great “jumping-in” point for homeschoolers who want to move away from pre-made lapbooks into new territory, or for those who want to start from scratch. The Template Pack includes an overview of lapbooking, basic supplies, and making popular base typehs with file folders before digging into the templates.

Almost all of the common templates are included with tips for when to use each sort of template, how to assemble them, and the blank elements themselves that are ready to print and fill in before adding to your lapbook. If you just need straightforward empty books that are ready to fill in (saving a LOT of time), this is the most comprehensive e-book of its kind that I’ve seen.

Personally, I use The Template Pack as a reference to remind me of the different sorts of elements I can include, and spring board from there to make my own customized elements in Word.   Either way, this is a great starting point for inspiring great hands-on learning solutions in your homeschool.

CLICK HERE TO BUY IT NOW AT CURRCLICK.COM OR AT HANDS OF A CHILD!

Did you know that April 25th is World Penguin Day?  It correlates with the beginning of the annual northward migration of penguins.  Missed it?  Don’t feel bad, we did too (stomach flu).  But for penguin loving families, any day is a good day to learn about penguins and if you want to keep a picture book in mind that comes along with a teaching guide for educational extension possibilities, Pierre the Penguin is where it’s at.

You might be familiar with Pierre’s true story if you and your family have watched the bonus disc that comes in the latest boxed set of March of the Penguins on DVD.  That is where we first saw Pierre and his special situation.  Dealing with feather breakage and loss Pierre was scaring the other penguins in his zoo habitat, and wasn’t able to swim due to the lack of insulating feathers.  Thankfully, an aquatic biologist came to his rescue, and Pierre the Penguin is his story told in simple, child-friendly rhyming text that quickly engages young listeners.

The blocky text style with only a few words on each page against the large realistic illustrations make this title particularly engaging.  I love Marzollo’s use of action and sound words that really draw my preschoolers in.  This inspiring story is also great reading for budding young scientists with a longing to make a difference in the lives of troubled animals.

A question and answer section by Pam Schaller (the aquatic biologist who worked with Pierre) is included for children who’d like to learn more, and the full teaching guide is available here to download for free!

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM!