Oh, the fun to be had......

 Hey everyone! This post is to notify you all about some fantastic things going on over at The Inkpen Authoress. :) Rachel's having a blog party!!! xD And to quote Eloise, "A party you're not part of? What fun is that?" ;)

 The Blog Party

As part of this grand event, there is this really cool pair of fountain pen nib earrings, 

that could be your's free of charge!

  The Wonderful Giveaway

And what's a blog party without a contest? :) Click on the link below and check out all the info.

The Contest

 So, there you go! Please make sure and check it out. :)

-Sarah

Delving Into Dickens Blog Party: Samples of his wit

Hi Everyone! I wanted, first off, to remind you to enter the Delving Into Dickens blog party! :) I only have one entry so far (Thanks a million times over, Abigail) and I'd really appreciate more entries! You don't have to do everything on the list down there, those are just ideas! :) So go on and dig in! You'd have my eternal gratitude! ;)
But anyhow, I thought I'd share with you some of my absolute favorite quotes from the Dickens books I've read. I've always greatly admired the talent some people have for describing a thing perfectly in a few words, where I would take a paragraph and still not have quite captured the idea.

From Bleak House:
“Think! I’ve got enough to do, and little enough to get for it, without thinking."

"Everything that Mr Smallweed’s grandfather ever put away in his mind was a grub at first, and is a grub at last. In all his life he has never bred a single butterfly."

"We thought that, perhaps," said I, hesitating, "it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them."

From Little Dorrit:
"It is not easy to walk alone in the country without musing on something."

"She had gained a reputation for beauty, and (which is often another thing) was beautiful."
"He had a certain air of being a handsome man--which he was not; and a certain air of being a well-bred man--which he was not. It was mere swagger and challenge; but in this particular, as in many others, blustering assertion goes for proof, half over the world."

"In truth, no men on earth can cheer like Englishmen, who do so rally one another's blood and spirit when they cheer in earnest, that the stir is like the rush of their whole history, with all its standards waving at once, from Saxon Alfred's downwards."

"Affery, like greater people, had always been right in her facts, and always wrong in the theories she deduced from them."

From The Pickwick Papers:
"She dotes on poetry, sir. She adores it; I may say that her whole soul and mind are wound up, and entwined with it. She has produced some delightful pieces, herself, sir. You may have met with her `Ode to an Expiring Frog,' sir." :D (Okay, so here I have to laugh at what could be a caricature of myself, though I've never written anything that odious! :)
"We know, Mr. Weller - we, who are men of the world - that a good uniform must work its way with the women, sooner or later."

"It is an old prerogative of kings to govern everything but their passions."
"He was bolder in the daylight--most men are."

There you go! :) I hope you enjoyed the quotes! Charles Dickens has a sense of humor that never fails to crack me up! It's rather dead-pan, but absolutely hilarious! :) ~Rachel

Introducing the Delving Into Dickens blog party! :

Charles Dickens has fast become one of my favorite authors. Before I began reading Dickens two or three years ago, my only experience had been his A Christmas Carol- well-written in its own way, but not one of my personal favorites. However, since I am prone to suscribe to all things old-fashioned, and since, no matter where I read in the 1800's his literature kept popping up, I thought I'd take a whack at it and read a

Dickens novel.I picked up a copy of The Pickwick Papers from the library and dove in. The March girls of Little Women had formed a whole society from the inspiration they received from this book. It was several inches thick. Formidable? Yes. Worth it? Incredibly so.Since that first encounter with Dickens' novels, my respect and admiration for his writing has grown with each book. I have set myself a goal to read all of Dickens' books someday, and so far I have read:

Great Expectations

Barnaby Rudge

Bleak House

The Cricket On The Hearth

The Chimes

A Christmas Carol

The Old Curiosity Shop

Nicholas Nickleby

Little Dorrit

And so I get to the real meat of this post: In honor of having just finished reading the amazing Little Dorrit, I am starting a Delving Into Dickens blog party! I hope all of you who have read (or even seen adaptations of) any Dickens novels will join! Please take the button and advertise this blog party on your own blogs! I would love to get lots of people to join! So here are the party details!

Here are just a few of the things you can do when you join the party!!! :) (And you by no means have to do them all!)

Take the Blog Party Button and post it wherever you post things like this! :D

(Hopefully this button will work! It's my first time! :) You can take it from the sidebar)

Watch an adaptation of a Dickens novel- BBC, as far as I have seen, does an amazing job of adapting Dickens' novels. Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, (some friends have told me Little Dorrit also is a very faithful adaptation :) BBC generally make them as a TV mini-series and so have time to incorporate all the details that marks a plot as Dickens-esq! :)

Do a book review about your favorite Dickens novel (you may also do a review of a Dickens movie) Tell other reader what you thought about the book- what the best part was, your favorite quotes, scenes, characters, anything!

Throw a Dickens party within your own family: Dress up like characters from the books and serve a traditional English meal, or serve a High Tea. Think Plum puddings, cakes, tea, and things of that sort for a High Tea, and Beef Wellington, roast, puddings, and other sorts of hefty foods for a meal! :) Trust me- this could be hilarious! :D Especially if you stay in character!

Do a Character-Profile on your favorite Dickens character: whether it's your favorite heroine, the funniest character in the entire book, or even a look at the villain of the story have fun! :)
The possibilities for ideas are endless! :D This blog party will run from today, Thurs. March 3rd, 2011, until Thurs. March 31,2011
During this time I will be doing several Dickens-themed posts, so enjoy the ride! I'm super excited about this blog party! :) It's my first-ever, so tell me what you think! :)
Please enter this blog party! Tell all your Dickens-loving friends about it, and don't forget to enter your posts into the Linky below!! :) Have fun! Ready, Set, Go!!! ~Rachel

Book And Character Review On "An Old-Fashioned Girl"

As part of the Fiesta de Octobre, Jo posted some blog post ideas. Now, these particular ones just happened to be the sort of thing I'd love to post about anyway, so I chose to write a Character overview on a character from a book or movie. I chose a book, and the book I am choosing is....An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. This is one of my favorite of her books, with Eight Cousins a tie. Polly Milton, the character I'm highlighting in this post, is so...easy to relate to. Although "An Old-Fashioned Girl" is one of L. M. Alcott's lesser known books, I find it has just as much truth in it as "Little Women".
As Christians, we girls are all more or less what people would term "An Old-Fashioned Girl"...as one elderly lady Polly knows tells her, "Modesty seems to have gone out of fashion these days". Polly is about 14 years old at the start of the book, and is visiting some wealthy friends in the city. There, she is faced with challenges to her simple upbringing. What I love about Polly Milton is that she does struggle, but at the end of her visit, she not only has withstood temptation, but has changed in some way the family she was visiting merely by her sweet, modest conduct.
Then, half-way through the book, there is a lapse of 6 years, and our Polly is 20 years old. She has returned to the City to be a piano teacher, and help her younger brother through college to be a minister. This season of Polly is my favorite, because I can readily identify with her. Louisa May Alcott perfectly captured a wholesome, sweet, innocent young lady who is still tempted to be discontent at times, wants to see just for a bit what it would be like to be "one of those girls" who her friend Fanny associates with, gets tired of doing her "duty", gives up the love of a good man for a friend who loves and needs him, and generally comes out of all these things a brighter, and stronger woman.
One of my favorite chapters is "Forbidden Fruit" when Polly does give into a small temptation and finds that her conduct has changed some relationships, made her discontent, and generally was not worth the few hours of pleasure it gave her....So true! :)

The end of this book is amazing! I love it. Everything ends just how you'd want it! :D So I guess this was a book review as well as a character over-view! I'm sure you'll love "An Old-Fashioned Girl" so please read it! :)

Over all rating of book: *****
Over all rating of Polly Milton: ***** (I could go on.... ;)
Cautions: There is one chapter with a rather feministic point of view, but that is easily sorted through! ;)

Fiesta de Octobre Blog Party Book and Movie Answers

When I saw this last Fiesta de Octobre contest on Jo's blog, I begged Sarah to let me enter it...literature is right down my alley, and,as anyone who knows me will tell you, I could talk the hind leg off a mule about what books I love, what movie adaptations I thought were good, what characters are my favorites....(smiles at me cousin Matthew :) So, anyhow, she was a model sister and quickly agreed to giving me posting rights for this! So without further ado....

{1} It's nearly impossible to pick a favorite book, so what are your top THREE favorite books ? (other than the Bible :D) Oh dear. Only 3?!?!?...To Have And To Hold, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and...and...well, it is an old favorite, but it has shaped my creativity so, Little Women! :)

{2} Who is your favorite heroine from literature? (if you need to list more than one, that's fine) Yay! No number restriction on this one!!! :D Anne Shirley, Polly Milton (An Old-Fashioned Girl), Esther Summerson (Bleak House), Molly Gibson (Wives and Daughters), Emma Woodhouse, Eleanor Dashwood, Meg and Jo March, and So So So many more! :D

{3} Who is your favorite hero from literature? (see above note) Oh boy. Matthew could recite the list for me, he's heard it so many times! :D Sir Percy Blakeney (Scarlet Pimpernel), Capt. Percy (To Have and To Hold), James Percy (The Inheritance), (Lotsa Percys! :P) Gilbert Blythe, Roger Hamley (Wives and Daughters), Mr. Thornton (North and South), Aslan (Narnia), and TONS more! (Each book I read, I like the hero better than them all! ;)

{4} Who is your favorite author? (see note above) Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Eleanor Estes, Jan Karon, etc.

{5} What is your favorite type of book to read? Classic story...some adventure, some old-fashioned, pure romance, lots of humor, unforgettable characters, etc.

{6} If you could be a character from literature for one day, who would you be? Why? Oh mercy. You had to make me choose?....Emma Woodhouse...what else can I say? Huge old-fashioned house, a British accent, lovely clothes, being beautiful yourself, loving family, Mr. Knightley to scold you... :D

{7} What type of reader would you call yourself? Are you an avid reader, passive reader, or even a non-reader?? AVID READER!!!!

{8} Do you like reading aloud? Yes! To listening group of people. Ignoring listeners get on my nerves!

{9} Do you like mystery stories? Yes! Well, Sherlock Holmes! He never ceases to amaze me! =)

{10}All of us have read a book at some point or another and disliked the way it ended or who married who, etc. What book(s) bother you like that, and what would you change about them? Well....As Jo said, I would rather Jo have married Laurie in Little Women...oh! and in Wives and Daughters, the author, Elizabeth Gaskell, died before she finished the book and it is right at the sweetest part so it is SO frustrating! :( But the movie finished it off in a cute, albeit...interesting way! :D

{11} Just like books, it's *very* hard to pick a favorite movie. What are you top THREE favorite movies? The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Amazing Grace, and....Little Women...but those are equal to many many more!

{12} When it comes to movie adaptions of books, are you a purist or do you not mind changes to the storyline? If the storyline of the movie compromises the book's message, or drastically changes the story, it definitely bothers me!

{13} What is your favorite book-to-movie adaption?...BBC Does a really good job with any book I've seen them adapt...Emma is definitely a good one...Sense and Sensibility...Little Women, Lord of the Rings trilogy (okay, so they changed it a bit! :) Pride and Prejudice...

{14} What is your favorite type of movie to watch? Any well done, adventurous, exciting, and loveable movie with a solid storyline. (I despise twoddle-ly ones! :P)

{15} Do you like to watch movies with the lights off or on? Off!

{16} DVD or VHS? DVD!

{17} When you watch a movie, would you rather watch it straight through or skip around to your favorite scenes? If I have seen it more than 10 times....skipping the more boring scenes

{18} Subtitles? Depends...in North and South, at first I couldn't understand the Northern England accent, so Subtitles definitely helped!

{19} Do you make comments and ask questions during a movie, or sit in complete silence? If I haven't seen the movie, I'm quiet, but if I'm showing it someone else, I talk! :D

{20} If you could be in any movie (whether it's already been made or not) which movie would it be? Who would you want to be and why? O cool! :) Well, if I could look the part....Marguerite Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel! She is beautiful and clever, it is an exciting movie, the setting is so classic, and it would be so much fun! Or any BBC movie if I could look right for the character!

Yay! That was a really fun quiz! Thanks Jo! :)

Balderdash!

Over at Scraps From My Workbasket Miss Jo March is having a Fiesta de octobre blog party. She had a few suggestions for blog posts that we could do as part of the party, and so I thought I choose one! :) But first, one other note of business....beginning this Friday, I will be doing a book review each week. As part of this last stretch of high-school-home-school for me, I will be doing a ton of reading! Which I LOVE! :D So this week I will do a book review, and every week from then on, excepting next week, because I will be at Daughters of Destiny!!! :) Read about last year's trip here: This is the button for the weekly book review post:

It reads: "Love of Literature Review Series" because that is the name I came up with for this series of posts! :P If you will, you can put the button on your blog! :) But to the real subject of this post.... We were commissioned by Miss March to pick one of several topics...I chose to write an advertisement for a favorite game, trying to convince you all why it is the best! :D And this is the one I chose; Ladies and Gents, let me introduce you to: BALDERDASH!!!!

It is a game of bluffing, a game of wits, a game of keeping-a-straight-face-in-the-face-of-accusation....in short...it is a game I find extremely difficult! ;) Nevertheless, it is one of my personal favorite games to play with our family! We are all crazy, and I guess I must be okay at the game, because Sarah spends the whole time shouting out that every strange suggestion is mine! :D This is a game where truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and the very answers you swear cannot be real, are the very ones that are as true as anything! :) So, trying to be authentic to the time period when ads were the most fun, I will make up a little jingle, and entertain you with pictures....
(To be sung to the tune of "Happy Trails" and yes, I know it is a little cheesy. All jingles are.! :P)

Balderda-ash is fun,
We play it quite a lot!
Balderda-ash is fun,
Whether it's cold or hot!
It shakes up all the little grumpy peoples,
Who sit all day and glare through stodgy peep-holes.
Balderda-ash is fun!
So buy this game!
Bal-alderdashhhh iiissss fuunnnn! :D

Now to conclude our little advertisment for this afternoon, I'd like to introduce Mr. Harry Schuyler Grantide. This is he:

This fellow believes he is the best Balderdash player in the world. He has a strategy...takes random letters from the alphabet ( in this case a,b,e, and z, and arranges them so as to Stun and Impress his fellow players. Even if he bluff isn't so great, he thinks he is stunning enough himself to win anyhow. See the little shiny light around his head?...yep. I told you. Vain little man.
These are some rather unfortunate fellows. The moustached one has just lost a game of Balderdash.



As you can see, he is not a good sport! ;) This Ladies and Gents, is the only downside to Balderdash: the losers lose rather badly. ;) Thank you for your time, and tune in next Tuesday at 7:35 p.m. Thank you again."

Anyway, that was just a weak attempt at doing a 40's style advertisement for this most amazingly fun game!! Please play it! :) -Rachel

Fiesta de Octobre Blog Party Answers!

Hey You Guys! :) Jo March is having a blog party and here are my answers to her questions! :)

{1} What time do you wake up each morning? Usually somewhere around 7:45 ish. :) Why? uh...because I do, that's all! ;)

{2} You've just woken up, and you're thirsty. You fix yourself a glass of....Water.

{3} Where do you go to school? HOME-SCHOOLED!!!What do you like/dislike about it? That I'm always around my family and my teacher seems like she's related to me! ;)

{4} How many siblings do you have? I have 7 siblings. What are their names and ages (if you're allowed to share)? Daniel(191/2) Rachel (18), Leah (13), Anna (11), Benjamin (81/2), Abigail(6), and Grace (4).

{5} What is your favorite game to play with your family? Hm...that's a hard one...probably volleyball, Balderdash, or....Scattergories. :)

{6} What's the silliest thing you've ever done with your siblings, cousins or any other family member? Wow. I can't think of one particular time, cuz we're always goofing off! :PWould you do it again if you could? Yep!

{7} What's your favorite game to play with your friends? Volleyball, rhythm, or um...signs!

{8} If you could meet one person in the whole wide world (who's currently alive), who would it be? Probably....(as long as these people are nice;) Julie Andrews or the Duggars.....um..(this hard! Everybody I'd want to meet is dead already!:P)
Why would you want to meet that person? I just would like to see her in person, see if she's nice like on the movies, and make friends with the Duggar girls. :)
What would you say to them? :\ I don't really know...I'd like to ask the Duggars questions about having such a large family...

{9} If you could meet one person in the whole wide world (from the past), who would it be? Wow. There are soooo many people that I admire....C.S. Lewis, Roy Rogers or Dale Evans, and....maybe
Why would you want to meet that person? I admire C.S. Lewis' walk with the Lord, and Roy Roger and Dale Evans' because they were Christians working in Hollywood.What would you say to them? I'd have to think about that!

{10} What is your favorite way to worship God? Singing, dancing, playing an instrument, praying, fasting? Singing!!!

{11} "God cares about the little things of life." Do you agree? Absolutely!! =)
Can you give specific examples of ways that God has shown Himself in the little things of your life? Yes.....About a week ago, we all were longing for it to rain! :) And throughout this past week, we got probably 8" of rain!!

{12} Is there a particular Bible verse that has stood out to you recently? hm....Oh! =) This morning our family was reading the book of Jonah and in chapter 3.
Which verse and why? 3:6,9 really show how even back then, our human-selves were so pitiful and ungrateful! =)

{13} Your parents are out for the day, leaving you home alone (with your siblings). Then, your grandmother from out of state calls and says she'll be there in fifteen minutes. (She wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow) What do you do? We don't have a grandmother out of the state.......but...I'd probably call Mom and then bust to clean the house! :)

{14} Have you ever traveled out of country? No.
Why did you go? N/A

{15} What sport do you play and what do you enjoy about it? Volleyball!! I love playing with any friends or family, because you can talk and laugh through the whole game! :)

{16} Do you like cats or dogs better? Dogs! If neither, specify: N/A

{17} Country or city? Country to live in.....but I love visiting big cities.
{18} Cowboy hat or prairie bonnet? Cowboy hat!
{19} Flipflops or tennis shoes? Flip- Flops

{20} Do you like Jo's blog? YESSSSS!!!!! =)

Okay. There it is! :)
-Sarah