Book Review: White Christmas Pie by Wanda Brunstetter

Book Review: White Christmas Pie by Wanda E. Brunstetter



While I do love reading, I'm not getting to it as often as I like nowadays. I keep saying once I'm finished with my PhD I'll have more time to read. Who knows? But over the holiday break I get a chance to read more often. I just finished White Christmas Pie by Wanda Brunstetter.

This book was a nice, light read. The main character was Will who was left to be raised by Amish couple when he was 6 by his English father Frank who was looking for a new job, as his job as on the road trucker wouldn't suffice for a young boy that needed to be in school. Fast forward to when Will is 22 and still living with the Amish family and is engaged to an Amish young lady to be married.

What will happen with Frank reaches out to meet his son? Will will leave the church and return to be an Englisher? What will happen to his fiancee?

This book was neat because it told the story from the perspective of Will, but also from his biological father Frank. Both, were struggling with some issues and it was interesting to see the perspective from both sides.

The White Christmas Pie doesn't come into play into later on the story, the last probably 4-5 chapters really, but it tied everything together nicely.

If you like Amish fiction- this is a good one.

If you are interested in my other book reviews- you can see them here.

What I've been reading lately

Around here it's been pretty rainy, cold and otherwise yucky outside so I've been inside quite a bit.
I am in my last semester of coursework for my PhD- so I've been studying for my qualifying exams as well as working on my dissertation in my "spare" time, but I still do like to read for pleasure when I can.

I wrote about my 2018 Reading Goal and am on par to read my 50 books this year.

Book #6 was 

I enjoyed the style of the book, the writer herself was good. It was an easy read. I'm not sure that I totally understood or perhaps buy into some of the content, but it was worth a read. One of the things I'm working on is just learning how to communicate better, be a better leader at work etc. I felt like this gave me some good perspectives to think about for sure. I would recommend this book.

Book #7 was 
This book has been around for a while and is on a lot of lists of "must reads" for managers, leaders, etc. Again- since I'm responsible for about 11 other faculty at my current job- I am trying super hard to learn how to best lead. This was a very fast read. Like probably 2 hours and you are through. It was light and had some good points. Would recommend if you are in a leadership position and want to learn to communicate better.

Book #8 was 
I could read Christmas novels at any time of the year and when my library gets a new one in I tend to scoop it up. This had a lot of my favorite components; historical, Christmas and just a nice feel good story. There were of course some sad parts ( Civil War time period) but overall was a very nice book. I found it nice to cozy up with and would recommend.


Have you guys read anything good lately? What have you been eyeing at the library to read next?

Book #5 of the year: Plain Christmas

You may recall that I wrote about my 2018 Reading Challenge. Hopefully you guys are getting a chance to enjoy reading a bit this winter as well.

The 5th book was "Plain Christmas" written by Sarah Price.
 

I really enjoyed this book. It is an Amish fiction book, set in modern times and revolves around Christmas. What's not to love ? It's about a young woman who grew up Amish but never joined the church and she ended up marrying an Englischer. She hasn't been home in a while so they decide to return home for Christmas. What I like about this is that I think it gives a good glimpse into what a difference there is in most people's day to day lives and that of an Amish family. The kids play in the barn all day and the women enjoy working side by side in the kitchen etc. It was just a refreshing read for me.

This book is part of a series though by Sarah Price and this one is actually #6. There are 5 other books about the same characters that you should read first. I wish I would have read them in order!

How are your reading goals going this year?

Have you read anything good lately?

Book #4 of the year " Mountain Midwife" Review

You may recall a few posts back, I wrote about my goal to read 50  books this year. I'm tracking them on Good Reads ( read about it here). Although I love reading and 50 shouldn't be a problem, I am finishing up my PhD this year, and working full time and of course the kids, animals etc. Either way- it will be fun to see what books I read and I'm happy to share some of my reviews with you.

                                                                   
This book " The Mountain Midwife" is a fiction book set in mountains of Virginia in modern day. Although I don't know a whole lot about midwifery, I've always enjoyed learning about it and this book did not disappoint. A very bright young lady- Ashley who was an established midwife wanted to go back to school to become a doctor- she thought she could help her patients more if she were a "real" doctor. There was a little romance, a little scandal and was just a great book I couldn't put down. It had been on hold at my library for a while before I got it- so it's popular! I would recommend this book for sure!

Any good books that you all have read this year? Did you all make a goal on how many books to read this year?

Happy Homesteading!

2018 Reading Challenge- Follow along or start your own

I do love to read. And reading is quite frugal  if you do it right. Doing it right for our family includes trips to the county library on a regular basis. Our library ( and probably yours) has a system of reserving books that are popular- so you will be next in line to get it when it is returned. Many times on a Wednesday or Thursday night the kids and I will log into our library account and reserve the books we want for our next trip. Sometimes if they are offered at another branch they will just send them over. Normally by Saturday as long as we aren't on the waiting list for a popular book we will have the books in hand when we go to the library . We just give them my card and they have a beautiful stack of books ready for us. Think about how much a pile of lovely books would cost at a bookstore!!


Anyways a site I like to use ( that's free of course) is Goodreads . You can connect with friends ( connect with me here to read my reviews of my books, see what I'm reading, view my 2018 Reading goals etc. There also is a place under " browse" where you can enter into giveaways of books you would like to read. I've done this often and last year  won between 10-12 books. Can't beat that!

This year I have set my goal to 50 books. I actually set it to 50 last year as well and although I feel like I did read that many books, I didn't keep track of them all. I think I ended up tracking only like 27 or so....


As you track what books you have read they give you recommendations on other books that are similar that you might like. I've found some neat books that way.

I'm currently finishing up a  book called " The Snow Globe" and it will be my first book read of 2018.

The temperature is 8 degrees right now, with a windchill of even colder, so what better day than to curl up in a blanket with a good book!

Happy Homesteading Y'all! What were your favorite books of 2017? What books are on your list for 2018?

Great Book series for young readers- Dave and Pat Sargent Books

We have 3 little ones: ages 8,6 and 2. The older two are of course really getting in to reading. I happened across a book written by Pat Sargent a while back at a yard sale or something and it had been in my daughter's book shelf. One day she found it , and read it. She couldn't put it down!.

Then she read it again. And again. I started looking online at Ebay, Amazon etc. and found that Pat Sargent has a whole series of "Barney the Bear Killer" books, as well as many other books her and her husband Dave have written.

The series my daughter really loves, is about Barney a black and tan coon hound, and his owner an 8 year old little girl, and their adventures in the Ozark Mountains. It is a wonderful series and I have since read them all to myself, and aloud to my younger daughter. My older daughter has read them all herself multiple times.

They do have another series for younger readers that each one teach a moral or character lesson.
They are called the Animal Pride Series and are very nice as well.

 

They do have their own publishing company as well and I have found many books at a bargain price at www.ozarkpublishing.us  . Many of the paperback books on that site are only $1!

 

I know it can be hard to get kids interested in reading sometimes, but this is a series my kids all really really love, and hopefully some of you will find it as lovely as I do.

My 3 Favorite Homesteading Magazines

I love to read. But, I have discovered that despite my desire to read long romantic classics by the fire placed , curled up with herbal tea, typically I only have a few minutes here or there to flip through a magazine while kids are yelling, biscuits are burning and a whole host of other chores are waiting to be finished. That is why MAGAZINES ARE MY NEW BEST FRIEND. That's right folks, I now relish walking to the mailbox for my coveted treasure. I sneak away for a few minutes after dinner and can read an article , enough to energize me and fulfill my desire for print materials. I thought I would share with you all my top 3 magazines. Perhaps you could benefit from them, or at least gain enjoyment from them.
I will say though that IF you are going to order magazines ( and I order them rather than borrow from the library because I like to KEEP mine and reference them over and over) then I recommend ordering them from Ebates. Once you sign up there you can shop Magazines.com and get up to 26% cash back from your order. Great way to get magazines a bit cheaper.

1. Hobby Farm Home
 
Yes, this is my favorite. It has all kinds of articles in it that just "fit" so well with my life. Last month they had an article on vintage Pyrex! They have amazing recipes that I always find myself trying, crafting projects, articles about raising animals and gardens, about keeping your home. It's my number 1 for sure. I would highly recommend this one. Soap Making, bath and herbal mixtures, canning, all the good stuff.

2. Hobby Farm

Hobby Farms is just as well written as Hobby Farm Home, but is a little less "home" and a little more " farm". They have more articles about animals, cows, horses, goats, chickens, pigs, turkeys, sheep etc. They have articles about equipment and gardening also though. I really enjoy this magazine.

3. Mother Earth News

This one has been around for a while and it pretty awesome. It has more in it about greener living. Solar power, how to save on electricity, building greener homes etc. It still has recipes and gardening advice in it as well though.


Other magazines that I love but just didn't make my top 3 list include Organic Gardening, Vegetarian Times and GRIT. What are some magazines you enjoy and anxiously await each month?


Linked up with Teach Me Tuesdays


Happy Homesteading!

Book Review- We Had Everything But Money

I purchased this book " We Had Everything But Money" at a flea market recently for $2! I have been kind of seeing it here and there and always forgot to look for it at the library, so I was happy to find it.

Priceless Memories of the Great Depression.
They are indeed priceless. There are numerous stories of inspiration, dedication, community and love in this book. It is a collection of different stories, rememberences, recipes etc. of the Depression Era. The stories are a light read, and you can read several stories at a time.

The Pictures.
Oh my there are amazing pictures in this book. I shared some with the girls, pictures of feed sack dresses, little ones peddling apples, just amazing pictures of our nation's history. I would say this would make a great coffee table type book ( if you are into that sort of thing).

Bottom line.
I liked it. It is well worth $2 :). It wold be worth more than that though. I could see it being used as part of homeschool unit about the Great Depression. It could really be inspirational to be happy with what you've got, and it teaches about the human spirit.

Until next time...
Happy Homesteading...

Linked up with Monday Barn Hop

Laura Ingalls: Part 1 Introduction to Series

Okay, I'll admit it. I love Laura Ingalls. I love the books, I love the tv series, I love the grand imagination and sassy little spark that she had in those books and tv shows. This may be a little bit off of my "typical" blog posts, but I am going to start a small series today on Everything Laura.

 The series will kind of go like this:
Part 1: Introduction to the Series, information about Laura
Part 2: The books!
Part 3: Dress like Laura
Part 4: Places to visit to have that "Laura Experience"
Part 5: Cook like Laura
Part 6: Other books you might enjoy

So today I just wanted to share a bit about Laura Ingalls Wilder.

She was a real person! It's not just a tv show, or a book. She actually was a real person and I think sometimes people don't really realize that she isn't a fictional character.

This is a picture of her as an adult.

 

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born February 7, 1867, seven miles north of the village of Pepin, in the "Big Woods" of Wisconsin.,^[ Her life here formed the basis for the book Little House in the Big Woods.

 
In Laura's early childhood, her father settled on land not yet open for homesteading in what was then Indian Territory near what is now Independence, Kansas—an experience that formed the basis of Ingalls' novel Little House on the Prairie. In the years subsequent to this move, her father's restless spirit led them on various moves to a preemption claim in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, living with relatives near South Troy, Minnesota, and helping to run a hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa. After a move from Burr Oak back to Walnut Grove, where he served as the town butcher and Justice of the Peace, Charles Ingalls accepted a railroad job in the spring of 1879 which led him to eastern Dakota Territory, where he was joined by the family in the fall of 1879. Charles filed for a homestead over the winter of 1879–1880; De Smet, South Dakota was home for the rest of his, Caroline, and Mary's lives. After spending the mild winter of 1879–1880 in the Surveyor's House, the Ingalls family watched the town of DeSmet rise up from the prairie in 1880. The following winter, 1880–1881, one of the most severe on record in the Dakotas, was later described by Wilder in her book, The Long Winter. Once the family was settled in DeSmet, Wilder attended school, worked several part-time jobs and made many friends, most importantly the bachelor homesteader Almanzo Wilder (1857–1949), whom she later married. This time in her life is well documented in the books Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years.

On December 10, 1882, two months before her 16th birthday, Laura accepted her first teaching position, teaching three terms in one-room schools, when not attending school herself in DeSmet. In the book Little Town on the Prairie, Laura states that she received her first teaching certificate on December 24, 1882, but this was an enhancement for dramatic effect.^{[citation needed]} Laura's original "Third Grade" teaching certificate can be seen on page 25 of William Anderson's book Laura's Album (Harper Collins, 1998). She later admitted that she did not particularly enjoy teaching, but felt the responsibility from a young age to help her family financially, and wage earning opportunities for females were limited. Between 1883 and 1885, she taught three terms of school, worked for the local dressmaker and attended high school, although she did not graduate. Her teaching career and her own studies ended when she married Almanzo Wilder, whom she called Manly, on August 25, 1885, when she was eighteen and he was twenty-eight. Almanzo Wilder had achieved a degree of prosperity on his homestead claim, owing to favorable weather in the early 1880s, and the couple's prospects seemed bright. She joined Almanzo in a new home on his claim north of De Smet and agreed to help him make the claim succeed. On December 5, 1886, she gave birth to Rose Wilder (1886–1968) and later, an unnamed son, who died shortly after his birth in 1889.

In 1894, the  young couple moved to Mansfield, Missouri, using their savings to make a down payment on a piece of undeveloped property just outside of town. They named the place Rocky Ridge Farm. The ramshackle log cabin was eventually replaced with an impressive 10-room farmhouse and outbuildings. The couple's climb to financial security was a slow process. Initially, the only income the farm produced was from wagonloads of firewood Almanzo sold for 50 cents in town, the result of the backbreaking work of clearing the trees and stones from land that slowly evolved into fertile fields and pastures. The apple trees did not begin to bear fruit for seven years. Barely able to eke out more than a subsistence living on the new farm, the Wilders decided to move into nearby Mansfield in the late 1890s and rent a small house. Almanzo found work as an oil salesman and general delivery man, while Laura took in boarders and served meals to local railroad workers.^{[citation needed]}Wilder's parents visited around this time, and presented to the couple, as a gift, the deed to the house they had been renting in Mansfield. This was the economic jump start they needed; they added acreage to the original purchase, eventually owning nearly 200 acres. Around 1910, they sold their house in town and using the proceeds from the sale, were able to move back to the farm permanently, and to complete Rocky Ridge Farmhouse. What began as about 40 acres (0.2 km²) of thickly wooded, stone-covered hillside with a windowless log cabin, over the next 20 years evolved into a 200-acre (0.8 km²), relatively prosperous poultry, dairy, and fruit farm and an impressive 10-bedroom farmhouse. ( www.wikipedia.com)

I'm not too sure if her life was ALL that different than many other's that lived during that time. But what was dfferent was her ability to chronical those events so vividly in her books. That is what makes us feel connected to her and feel a bond to her life.
Tomorrow we will look at her book series and discuss where to buy them, etc.

Happy Homesteading.....


Linked up to Homestead Barn Hop Frugal Days Sustainable Ways

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes,

We are pretty lucky where I live that we can grow tomatoes quite well. We normally start them from seeds inside. We put them outside in the ground normally the week or so after Easter.

I'm getting pretty excited about my tomatoes I must confess. There are several things about tomatos I thought I would share with you today.

The first is an awesome website/ seed catalog that specializes in Tomatoes. It's fabulous. When I get my catalog in the mail, it reminds me of when I was a kid and my mother would get the Sears Wishbook catalog around Christmas time. I try to get my chores done quickly and get the girls in bed so I can sneak away a few moments of alone time and savor the beautiful images of tomatoes........
You can request a catalog by going here http://www.totallytomato.com/RequestCatalog.asp    or you can shop online through thta link also. I'm telling you , it's amazing. Great quality, all different varieties and honestly just plain fun!

So we always grow a ton of tomatoes. We of course use them as slicer tomatoes to put on sandwiches or salads, and we all enjoy just picking the small varieties right off the vine and snacking on them. But we always have such an excess. Last year alone we put up
- salsa ( hot, medium, mild and EXTRA hot)
- green tomato relish
- pasta sauce
- stewed tomatoes
- tomato juice
- Italian stewed tomatoes ( great for chile, has onion, garlic and pepper in it)
- whole tomatoes
- tomato based veggie soup
- pizza sauce

One company I have found that has some great pre made mixes for a lot of the stuff is Mrs. Wages. You can find their stuff at http://www.mrswagesstore.com/  . You can start buying now in bulk. I don't use the premade stuff for the salsa , soup , juice or stewed tomatoes, but the mixes are great for pizza sauce, pasta sauce and ketchup.

Of course I want to enjoy all the yumminess of tomatoes while they are still fresh, so I have a fabulous little cookbook I love.

I acually went to a local tomato festival and they were selling these books, but of course they were $30 or more, so I came home and got one from off line for around $8. It was used, but it has so many really tasty recipes to use tomatoes in. I highly recommend it.

Well that's all for me today, I'm off to drool over my Totally Tomotoes catalog some more while the bread is baking and everyone else is napping.