American Girl Book GIVEAWAY!

Josefina, a New Mexican girl living on a rancho in 1826, has heard stories and legends all her life: priceless gold and silver buried in the hills, tales of La Lorna, a sad woman, who haunts the countryside. But she never thought that the tales might be true--until one day a mysterious stranger arrives at her rancho. At first, she thinks the the stranger is simply an interesting person. But when things begin to go wrong.... Can Josefina find the treasure before it's too late?!

To enter the giveaway:
You must be a follower of my blog! I can't count entries if not.
Only open to U.S followers.(sorry!)
Leave a comment with your e-mail. I won't give your e-mail out.
I'll draw a name out of a hat and e-mail the winner!
You have 10 days-till October 10th.
One entry per person, please.
Bonus entry:
Do a blog post on this giveaway and leave a link to it for one bonus entry!
Good Luck!

4-H Food and Nutrition Boot camp

Our wonderful 4-H agent Jackie and me (I'm in the hat)in our army clothes!

Yesterday our 4-H held a Food and Nutrition day Boot camp.It was really fun! First, I gave two speeches with Power Points on Portion Distortion and Calories. Next, Ms. Jackie told us all to wash our hands. Since all the little kids were being silly with the soap and water, I decided I'd just use hand sanitizer. Then Jackie said "Now we're going to use glow-a-germ to see who washed their hands the best!" Uh-oh. Yep,  I had the dirtiest hands! So I went and washed them again, along with everyone else, and they finally showed up clean.

Next, Mrs. McSwain talked to us about reading a nutrition label. We learned how to read one and tell what food is the healthiest. First, we all chose an item.  Then. we decided which item was healthiest based on the amounts of sugar, sodium, and fats. Some of the most surprising foods turned out to be healthy!(Speaking of which, Lucky charms are healthier than Wheaties!) Then Mrs. Cole taught us about grinding wheat into flour by bringing her mini electric gristmill. She showed us the difference between white flour and wheat flour. White flour tastes almost bitter, but wheat flour tastes sort of nutty.That was very interesting, too.

Thanks, Jackie, for having the camp!

Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena review

This is my favorite Nintendo D.S. game ever! I don't play many D.S. games(I'd rather read!) but this one is so interactive and fun I just can't put it down. I received it as a Christmas present two years ago from my wonderful parents. In the game, you'll follow the daring young adventure Samantha Swift (who reminds me a lot of my hero, Indiana Jones!)to Greece, France, Japan, Tibet, Guatemala, England, and Italy to find special stone roses. These roses, once they're found, will fit into a mysterious shield that was said to have belonged to Athena herself! What secrets could it hold? Help Samantha, along with her mentor Dr. Butler and friend Adam find the roses before evil Marcus Payne and and his nasty assistant, Ravena Stryker do! You must find hidden objects, solve puzzles, and use skills you learn along the way to get to the roses. Once you win the game, you can replay it as many times as you like, because there's always different items to be found. But when Dr. Butler goes missing, will you be able to help Samantha and Adam save him?

Sources:http://cdn-games.bigfishsites.com/en_samantha-swift-and-the-hidden-roses-of-athena/screen1.jpg
and http://www.ozzoomgames.com/images/ozzoom/games/samantha-swift-and-the-hidden-roses-of-athena/samantha-swift-and-the-hidden-roses-of-athena_200x200.jpg

Book Review of Nancy Drew #64 Captive Witness

This Nancy Drew is one of my favorites. In it, Nancy is on a trip to Europe with a group of college students and friends. Suddenly, the elderly professor in charge of the trip has his bag stolen, causing Nancy, Bess, and George to chase the thief. Why would someone steal it? They can't imagine why. However, the girls soon learn the professor isn't just some old man-he's head of a secret rescue operation to get 10 refugee children from an iron curtain country to freedom! But before she accomplish this, Nancy's father tells her there's a missing entry in a foreign film festival. Not only is the entry missing, the man who was to have entered it has disappeared! Is he being held captive, the only witness to an unsolved crime? As the two cases intertwine, Nancy realizes she's on the trail of something huge. Boat chases, kidnappings, deadly foes, and international spies-will this become the one case Nancy can't solve?

                                 READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT!!!!!!!!

My Day

I went to my candy striper program again today, and it went well. A friend of mine who is studying to be a nurse works there, and I was pleasantly surprised to see her. I got to help run lab samples to the nurses station. Then, after I finished my shift at the hospital, I went to the ETSF,(East Texas State Fair) with my family so my brother and I could show our rabbits. My bunny boy Buck(a kind of play on words because boy rabbits are called bucks) won third place!!! After that,  we went to Chick-fil-a, then home where we fed all the pets. Now we're going to play a quick game before showers and bed.

A sad post

Two days ago, my Granny(great-grandmother) passed away. Yesterday was the viewing and now we're going to go to the funeral. Even though I'm sad Granny's not here, I"m happy because I know she's with Jesus in heaven and we'll get to see her again someday.


John 14:1-4 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

Granny really liked collecting little turtle statues, quilting, painting, doing puzzles, flower arranging, being involved in her church,and many other things. She was a really fun person, and a good Christian. I'm glad I got to know her.

The Artsy Award!!!

First, thanks to Jenny for awarding me!
It's such a cute award.

Now, on to the questions...


1) Would you rather listen to music or make the music?

I'd rather listen.

2) If you must be forced,-anyway, so the question is, what is your favorite part about me? (I promise that's the last boring question) :

That you're positive!

3) Would you rather go to the beach or the mountains?

                                       Hmm. Probably the beach!

4) Tea or coffee?

Sweet Tea. Of course.:)

5) Volleyball or basketball?

Definitely basketball. I'm horrible at volleyball.

 I'm going to award this to:

1. Fashionbug at a World of Magic
2. Alyssa at http://lovealldoll.blogspot.com/
3. Purple Pixie at The Unsocialized Homeschooler
4. Ireland at A Pearl of Great Price
5. and last but not least, Christopher at A Boy and his Blog

 

1st day as a Candy Striper!

Well, yesterday was my first day as a Candy striper, and it was AMAZING!! (A candy striper is a junior volunteer at a hospital)  I got to wheel patients out to their cars, deliver medical records to different stations, and take wheelchairs to GI, OB, and everywhere that  the nurses needed one. I also delivered newspapers to the patients' rooms.  I really enjoyed helping the patients and I can't wait for next time!

Interesting facts:

• The first Candy Stripers were high-school girls in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1944. 
• They sewed uniforms  from cloth  provided by their teacher - a red-and-white-striped fabric known as "candy stripe". That's how Candy Stripers got their name!
• Candy Stripers is now an international program, and anyone- retirees, high-schoolers, and middle aged people, -can participate.

My earrings

I won Ireland's giveaway, and today my earrings came in the mail! They are sooo cute! I love them. Thanks, Ireland!

What I did for my 14th b-day

On September 13th, my 14th birthday, I had a great time! My grandparents came to see me, and they brought me some really nice gifts and then they played a lot of fun games with us....

My sparkly bracelet

Taylor swift's Wonderstruck perfume(Aunt Lisa got me this!)

Isn't the wrapping paper pretty?


Then my brothers and I got to go spend the weekend with Grandmama and Granddaddy!!While we were there, Mom called and told me to look at Anner's blog. Anners did a whole post just for me! (Thanks so much , Anners!) Then we went home, where I opened all my cards. I got a bunch of amazingly cute cards and a gift card to Bath and Bodyworks. (yay!) Mom and Dad got me a very pretty outfit, and a lot of American Girl History Mysteries! So I had a great birthday!

My job!!

My Badge!

  Yesterday I started work. Well, not really "work." I'm a teen volunteer at ETMC. (That's a hospital in our area.)I'll be working with the Ladies' Auxiliary. I had to take a really hard quiz on patient confidentiality and information on DHHS rules, but I passed, (yay me!:-) and so now I'm official. I got my picture taken  for  a professional badge that lets me go anywhere in the hospital. This way I can take lab samples and progress charts anywhere. I also get to help wheel patients to their cars. Soon, I'm going to buy some scrubs to go with my Candy Striper smock so I look official. I'm so excited! I want to be a pediatric nurse, so being able to volunteer in a hospital environment is really fun for me. I'll be working four hour shift once a week.

The Fantastic blog award!!

Look what I got!!

Anyway, here's what I have to do:
Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and tag them.
2. Ask the next person five questions and answer the five questions given to you.
   1) What's your favorite blog?
   2) Who's your best friend on blogger (who you don't know in real life)?
   3) What is your favorite award?
   4) What is an award that you wish you would get?
   5) What is your favorite thing about my blogs?
3. Award five people.
4. Always post the rules.

Thanks, Storyteller!

I have to answer these questions and think up 5 of my own!

1) What's your favorite blog? Ummmm-I don't know!
   2) Who's your best friend on blogger (who you don't know in real life)? Maybe Ireland, because we've been emailing a lot!
   3) What is your favorite award?The Beautiful Blogger award 'cause it's sooo pretty.
   4) What is an award that you wish you would get? The Glittery Blog award(yes, I made that up)
   5) What is your favorite thing about my blogs? Your Stories!

Now 5 of my own.....

1. What do you do when you're bored?
2. What's the last thing you wrote about ?
3. Tell me one random fact about you!
4. What do you want to see more of on my blog?
5. One left! Umm...What is your favorite historical character?(e.g. Ruby Bridges, George Washington,etc.)
6. Anyone who wants this award  can take it, you just have to post the rules on your blog and add the pic! Here's the photo url:
7. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/s3z6fGCseSc/UEdnsQOSr9I/AAAAAAAABQ4/KkNQQ0pfRR4/s320/blogawardfantastic.JPG

Shades of Gray Review

Will Page's life and family was ruined by the Yankees. The war has destroyed everything he knew and loved. So when he must stay with his Northern relatives, he's not happy.He loved his home in the Shenandoah Valley and doesn't want to live with relatives he has never met, people struggling to make a living on their farm in the war-torn Virginia Piedmont area. But, worst of all is that Will's uncle Jed had refused to fight for the Confederacy. How could his Uncle be a Union sympathizer?  Uncle Jed is cowardly, not fighting for either side and saying he's for the Union-or so Will thinks. Will refuses to call him "uncle". Aunt Ella, the peacemaker is kind, reminding Will of his mother, and she tries to help Will. And then there's Meg, his cousin, who could care less about the war and just wants to be Will's friend. Still, she's a bit silly and she doesn't seem to understand Will's pain-even when he tells her the Yanks are responsible for the death of his whole immediate family. Just as Will starts to understand Meg, she brings home an injured Yank! Will is furious! However, the Yankee, Jim, is interested in befriending Will. He tells Will he never wanted to obey Sherman's orders of destroying the Confederate countryside. Still, Will is suspicious. Besides, he has his own troubles with bullies. He doesn't need a Yankee friend! Just as Uncle Jed, Jim, Meg, and Will begin to get along, Will's friends from the South offer to take him in. How can he choose between the family he's grown to love and his good friends? 

   I gave this book 5 stars because I think it really explains the Civil war from the perspective of both sides in an unusual way, and it teaches you that someone you might think of as an enemy could be your friend. I also think the author did an amazing job of describing the characters so you felt like you knew all of them. Plus, the book is great for a Civil war study or a Virginia study, because it teaches about both.

Louisa May Alcott

Maybe you love Louisa May Alcott's books(Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boy's, Under the Lilacs, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, just to name a few.), but you don't know much about her. If so, read on!

Orchard House

   Louisa was born  in 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where her father, Bronson Alcott taught school. Her father and mother, Abigail, were transcendentalists, which meant they had different view than most people of their time. They were vegetarians, abolitionists, believed in taking ice cold baths and sleeping on hard mattresses. Bronson believed boys and girls, black and white, should be educated together. His ideas were considered so radical that people took their children out of his school, and it had to close. So, the family(Louisa, her older sister Anna, younger sisters, May and Elizabeth) moved to Boston. Once, while in Boston, six-year-old Louisa became lost. Instead of becoming scared, she laid her head down on a big, kind dog and fell asleep. Another interesting thing that happened to her while living in Boston was that she fell into a frog pond in Boston and nearly drowned, except a young African-American boy came running, leaped in and saved her life. Louisa speculated perhaps this is what caused her abolitionist beliefs.

 After Bronson's job in Boston failed when he invited a black girl to his new school, the family moved to Orchard house in Concord, Massachusetts, where they would spend the rest of their lives. (You can tour  Orchard House.) He took odd jobs here and there. Louisa said that despite their extreme poverty, times at Orchard House were the happiest times of my life. It is these times she based Little Women on.

 The family had several notable neighbors- Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, to name a few. These were Louisa's mentors, and they inspired her writing.


As a teenager, she wrote"blood and thunder stories" under a  pen name, earning a little money. Louisa always wanted to earn money for her poor family, but just as her writing began to get noticed, the Civil War broke out and she became a nurse. However, she contacted typhoid fever. During her illness, she wrote Hospital Sketches, about her life as a nurse. When she was asked to write a girl's book, she hesitated, saying she "never much liked girls, except my sisters." She wrote Little Women, which is loosely autobiographical, and it was a roaring success. Louisa never married, but she raised May's child Lulu, after May's death. She wrote until her own death at the age of 55 , from mercury poisoning. She contacted this from the medicine she was given when she had fever.

 Louisa lives on in her many writings, which remain popular to this day.

Find out who you'd be in Little women with this quiz:
http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/767819/which-little-women-character-are-you-girls-only

Who were the Harvey Girls?

Have you ever heard of a Harvey girl? Chances are, you probably haven't. So, I'm going to tell you about them.


  The Harvey girls were girls between the ages of 18-30(although some lied about their age- a few were only 14!) who worked in railroad dining places known as Harvey Houses during the late 1800-1920's.  they worked as waitresses and helped out in the kitchen or worked at the counters.The requirements for the jobs were very strict. No make up, gum, dating, smoking, drinking, or trading jobs. Fred Harvey wanted all his restaurants to serve good food and have good workers. "Service with a smile"= a Harvey girl was always supposed to be polite, even to the most irate customer. They went through months of training to learn how things like the 'cup code',(how to tell what drink someone wanted by the way the waitresses held the empty cup) how to memorize orders, and how to keep there uniform perfectly clean without wearing an apron. One angry manager was said to have tipped a table over as it was not set perfectly-one fork was out of place.

  Some compared Harvey girl training to being in the army, but it was a highly sought-after job. It paid well, and although the managers were very strict, there was a chance of becoming a boss of your own Harvey House someday. Harvey Houses offered young women a chance to see the world and "leave the farm", which is why many took the jobs.

 If you want to learn more about the Harvey girls, I suggest you read Harvey Girl, by Shelia Wood Foard. It's a fictional story, but all the historical details are accurate.