Father Brown, from G.K. Chesterton's "The Oracle of the Dog" :

"...It's part of something I've noticed more and more in the modern world...  People readily swallow the untested claims of this, that, or the other.  It's drowning all your old rationalism and scepticism, it's coming in like a sea; and the name of it is superstition....

"It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense and can't see things as they are. Anything that anybody talks about, and says there's a good deal in it, extends itself indefinitely like a vista in a nightmare. And a dog is an omen, and a cat is a mystery, and a pig is a mascot and beetle is a scarab, calling up all the menagerie of polytheism from Egypt and old India; Dog Anubis and great green-eyed Pasht and all the holy howling bulls of Bashan; reeling back to the bestial gods of the beginning, escaping into elephants and snakes and crocodiles; and all because you are frightened of four words:

'HE WAS MADE MAN.' "

Christian Book Distributors has a great deal going EVERY weekend called FAB FRIDAY sales.  Scroll down just a bit in my sidebar and enter "FAB FRIDAY" in my search box and you'll find some amazing deals each weekend.

This FAB FRIDAY specials include:

3:16 NEW TESTAMENT with essays by Max Lucado,  regular $9.99, FAB FRIDAY'd at $2.99

BRIGHT IDEAS FOR MOMS, Karol Ladd, regular $12.99, FAB FRIDAY'd at  $1.99

PLANET WORD NKJV STUDENT BIBLE, regular $21.99, FAB FRIDAY'd at $5.99

WOW!

Callapidder Days blog is hosting a FALL READING CHALLENGE--I blogged about it earlier. Here's What I hoped to read--

• Hinds' Feet on High Places
• Hope Again, Charels Swindoll
• Keeping Our Children's Hearts, Steven and Terri Maxwell
• The Enthusiastic Home Schooler, Mary Hood, Ph.D.
• Godliness is Great Gain
• Wisdom and the Millers, Mildred A. Martin
• Prayer 101, Warren Wiersbe
• The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis
• A Family Guide to Biblical Holidays, Robin Sampson
• The Plug-In Drug, Marie Winn
• God's Secretaries: The Making of the KJV
• more Jan Karon Mitford series books

I've mangaed to read 1/3 of what i set as my goal. i've read more books--just not what's on my list. I'm reading Shonda Parker's Mommy Diagnostics  and Debi Pearl's Created to Be His Helpmeet and G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries [selected]. I had read the PLUG-IN DRUG before, but wanted to read it again. HOWEVER, due to more interesting stuff in my bookpile lack of time, I think I'll drop that from my Fall list.

I have to be honest. I'm trying to read Hinds' Feet in High Places but I'm just not getting into it. I just want to tell Much Afraid "GET OVER IT AND GO ON , WILL YA'  ???????"

Cranky while reading a Christian classic, much beloved by people everywhere? Oh well, I'll just blame that on the sinus medicine, too.

Mommy Diagnostics by Shonda Parker is a book I wish I'd had when my children were infants! I'm only 3/4 of the way through it, but have dog-eared, underlined, and hi-lited so much already!

I've gingerly investigated healthy living for a while. I say "gingerly", because  it concerns me that there may be a lot of false information floating around out there. Also, I don't want to be one of those folks who are "made merchandise of". [2 Peter 2:3]. I'm more than a bit skeptical of the televangelists hawking supplements and Bible diets to cure sickness, fatness, halitosis, and romance problems.  I don't like someone trying to shame me into a sense of "unspiritualness" to get me to buy their products. On matters of health, give me proof and research, not just someone trying to build a semi-religious following.

Mrs. Parker backs up with research and experience the benefits of natural medicine, and does not denounce traditional practictioners or those who use a blended approach to wellness.   I've often shied away from natural medicine for being too "eastern" , or those who claim that you aren't Godly enough if you don't do everything that this book that Preacher Thus-and-So has endorsed.   The Christian viewpoint of the author isn't inferred, it's explicit. That's very much appreciated, but so is her committment to help readers make informed  individual choices.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it!  If you have healthly living tips, links, or other information, please leave a comment!

As part of my selections for the FALL READING CHALLENGE, I  finished Prayer 101 by Warren Wiersbe this morning.   The chapters are short and to the point, perfect for a group study, personal study, and reading aloud. 

The first sections starts out with helping us to sort out real prayer from empty religious statements,  "church-speak" that has become cliche.  Dr. Wiersbe teaches about eliminating useless, vain repetitious or unthinking speech, and then prods us to consider our attitudes about prayer. Are we praying in a manner that recognizes God as our loving Father? Do we understand that our prayer should be in accordance with His will?   In the last section the author urges us to consider how we approach the throne of grace and how often we approach it.

My favorite quote is this:

"The Father always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him." 

Amen!

I'm a little late to jump in, but I will anyway.  What a pleasurable challenge! Since childhood, I and  books have been very dear friends.  I have alot of books to review for the church library, too. Here's a partial list of what I have to read. Here's hoping I can get quite a few of these read:

• Hinds' Feet on High Places
• Hope Again, Charels Swindoll
• Keeping Our Children's Hearts, Steven and Terri Maxwell
• The Enthusiastic Home Schooler, Mary Hood, Ph.D.
• Godliness is Great Gain
• Wisdom and the Millers, Mildred A. Martin
• Prayer 101, Warren Wiersbe
• The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis
• A Family Guide to Biblical Holidays, Robin Sampson
• The Plug-In Drug, Marie Winn
• God's Secretaries: The Making of the KJV
• more Jan Karon Mitford series books

Here's some I'm putting on my library "to read" list:

• Of Plymouth Plantations, William Bradford
• Children of the storm, natasha Vins
• Postmodern Times, Gene Edward Veith
• Captured by Grace, David Jeremiah
• Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
• King Lear, Shakespeare
• Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
• All the Hank the Cowdog books!! 

Head on over to Callapidder Days to join the fun.

Home haircuts bring to mind one of my favorite quotes from the Andy Griffith Show [gee I've been referencing that show a lot lately]:

"Sherriff, you may have a city haircut, but your heart was shaped in a bowl,"---Brisco Darling

My husband's family tells horror stories of their Dad cutting their hair at home. First, my father-in-law would sit them on a stool in the living room, tie a towel around their neck and say, "Well son, how do you want it cut?"  The oldest son--getting to go first--would always give specific instructions about how he wanted his hair parted, how long it needed to be,  and "leave a little here, Dad."

Then Dear Father-in-Law would begin and suddenly--accidently on purpose--the clippers would be set  to the wrong length and whole strip of hair was pratically shaved from their poor little heads. "Oops, I guess it will have to be a burr this time, son."

But not so with this e-book that I know you'll enjoy. No bowl haircuts or buzz cuts here!

Nancy Baetz over at Homeschooling Is Life has done homeschooling Moms on a budget a huge favor by writing this book.  Haricuts for Little Men gives you easy step by step directions for cutting car, including how to LAYER with great photos to show us how.  Demonstrating by cutting her own son's hair, Nancy takes the mystery and fear out of cutting hair at home. 

I'll be using it when our little Earnest T. Bass needs another haircut. THANKS Nancy!

When the whole crew has laryngitis, the best part of homeschooling can't happen--read alouds! Here's some neat sites I found to put reading back into our quiet [except for coughs and sneezes] day.

http://wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm   Read alouds of Beatrix Potter tales, Just So stories by Rudyard kipling, and interview with Mr. Rogers, Grimm's fairy tales, and others

http://www.kennedy-center.org/multimedia/storytimeonline/alexander.html  online version of Alexander and the terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

http://www.storylineonline.net  Members of the Screen Actors Guild read children's books [including The Polar Express]

 http://librivox.org   Lots of FREE classic audio books I found Anne of Green Gables, The Railway Children, and lots of great poems Not all of these are children's selections, some may need screening, but most seem to be great, especially for classical homeschoolers

Years ago I read his book, Illiberal Education.  I just read from Albert Mohler's blog that he has a new one out called What's So Great About Christianity.  I can't wait to read this! Dr. Mohler's  blog has commentary and excerpts--very good reading!

It's a practical and hilarious book about creative good stewardship. Living Well on One Income In a Two-Income World by Cynthia Yates was chock-full of tips for organizing, using up, substituting, and finding great deals.  Time management,  money management, resource management--all in one book. This one is a keeper!

And it's at  LIBRARY AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES for $6.48!  What a bargain!