~Thanks for stoppin' by my blog! About myself, I am a fifteen year old young lady, with the hope of someday becoming a wife and mother while serving the Creator. Old fashioned things, farms, and novels have their place in my world, not to mention Medieval Literature of fair maidens and courageous knights. Beth March, Elizabeth Bennet, Elinor Dashwood, and Miss Georgiana Darcy are some of my heroines. I also live alone with my parents, dog, 5 cats, and around 20 chickens. Walking in the woods, writing the suspense, romance, and historical, playing the piano, reading novels, stargazing, baking, and blogging are some of my hobbies, along with our arrival of our beehive. I enjoy just sitting around and listening to classical musical, symphonies, and good old oldies on podunk radio stations. Enjoy your stay, and don't forget to comment! ~ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:50:00 -0500 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:50:00 -0500     Well, the time has come for me to move from Homeschoolblogger. I have enjoyed all of the friendships I have made, and I will continue to uphold them, just from another site. lol     You can find me here....www.PainterofWords.com     Stop by and leave me a comment! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/605500/ Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/605500/    I want to thank all of my fellow bloggers who left a comment wishing me all the happiness in my 15th year of life. And my dear cousin who left me an entire post expressing her celebration! Thank you dear one!    I will try to tell what happened for my birthday...it was very small with only my parents, and my close family.    We had a small campfire where we roasted hot dogs, and all sorts of campfire goodies. Then for dessert we had delicious pumpkin pie...which I have had on all of my birthdays instead of cake...I like pumpkin pie a lot better!    Then we opened presents before it got too dark...and I received (which I already knew about and watched her order it) a drawing book with loads of good tips, Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm. However, I did have to mark off all of the obscene drawings...hint 'drawing the head and figure'    And sometime this week, another thing my parents ordered for me was the movie North and South by BBC drama! I absolutely adore this movie...very heartbreaking and tragic. I think I almost enjoy the music to the movie more than the movie itself.    And the most surprising item occured on my birthday list! I had the honour to meet the four oldest sisters of the Farmgirls. We had been chatting, and decided to meet at a small reenactment going on at an easy distance for the both of us, so we planned and became acquainted. I had truly an exciting time...and my cousins even decided to meet them with me.   From left to right...Emily Rose, myself, Breezy, Cassia, Susannah, Leah, and Jessica They were all so sweet, that we ended up walking and touring with them for almost six hours...but it was worth every minute. I count meeting them as a belated birthday gift! :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/603974/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/603974/ Hi Everyone.  I wanted to invite you over to my blog to view more photos of Maggie in honor of her birthday. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/602616/ Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/602616/ Happy Birthday Maggie! I am so blessed to have such a sweet friend, cousin, and sister as you. Since today is such a special day, I thought I’d surprise you with this post, and share a few thoughts. Your talent for writing is always inspirational to me. You have the imagination to come up with what to say, what the characters will do, etc. I can’t wait until you finish one and get it published for they are so intriguing! Here is a little ditty I wrote about our history (sing to the tune of the Farmer and the Dell). The Three girls would play, The Three girls would fight, Oh I’m sure glad they changed, And now they get along. For those of you who did not know us long ago, we never got a long. But since then God has changed our hearts and are now all three best friends. God has changed our lives so much in the past few years, and I am forever thankful for His mercy and grace. It is a beautiful to think that we will get to spend eternity in the presence of our Savior together. May God bless you in the coming year and continue to grow you in godly womanhood. I love you!   Your Cousin, Emily Rose http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/602222/ Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/602222/ I was tagged by Cousin Breezy Rules: Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write six random things about yourself. 1. Today (the 9th) is my 15th birthday! 2. If I could choose a language to learn in school...it would be Hebrew 3. I have a Rooster named R2( who is just learning to crow) and is just like a dog or cat to me...he is very sweet...Here is a picture of him... 4. I don't like going out to eat...I do like restaurant food....but actually going into a retaurant and eating in it just bothers me....neither myself nor my family has no idea why 5. For breakfast nothing can beat homemade bread for toast....I could live on toast 6. I just entered a giveaway by Joy The prize is the book Pure by Rebecca St. James and here are the rules: 1. You need to have permission by your parents to enter 2.You must be a residence of the United States or Canada and have an address...no PO boxes 3. You need to post the rules on your blog and if you do not have a blog you need to tell someone outside of your family about the giveaway 4. Leave a comment on her blog telling her you would like to enter. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/602218/ Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/602218/   Have you ever seen a tornado before? No, but I have seen a funnel cloud   Have you ever been in a landrover?  No, to tell the truth I really didn't know what one was, but I do now:)   Has a tornado ever hit your house? Nope   Have you ever ridden a horse?   Yes   Have you ever been in a castle before? not really, but I hope to before I die...it's on my list   Have you ever lived on a farm?  Yes   Have you ever explored a secret passage? No, but that would be so much fun!     Have you ever explored a ruined castle?  Once again I must sadly hang my head and say no   And tripped over a gravestone in a graveyard? Oh yes! Of course not the newer ones because they are about the size of the church they are next to, but the older ones are great for tripping   What is your favorite type of tree? I really like Willow trees and Birch trees 1. Favourite Animal: Any farm animals...except sheep...they are not my favourite 2. Favourite Color: Lavendar or calm green 3. Favourite Food:  I enjoy many things that are Mexican 4. Favourite Dessert:  Fruit Smoothies...strawberry and banana 5. Favourite Book: (Other than the Bible) I really liked Frankenstein, but there are others...Little Women, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Scottish Chiefs, etc.   6. Favourite Movie: I enjoy North and South (BBC) and Pride and Prejudice   7. Favourite Instrument: I play the piano and can tinker on the mandolin, but I REALLY want to learn the cello, and as far as listening to...the Celtic flute   8. Favourite T.V. Show: I really don't watch TV shows...except the OLYMPICS 9. Favourite Song: Anything...practically that Hans Zimmer composes   10. Who will you tag?  No one http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/600517/ Sun, 5 Oct 2008 21:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/600517/ Today was our honey extraction day! We took our super to a place where they extract the honey for you, because the machines are really expensive. However, we are discussing on making a small investment in a hobby machine. One that you must manually spin, with only two or three frames in at a time.:) So today, we took only one super which has maybe ten frames and this {see picture} is what we got out of it. 40 pounds of honey, in a 5 gallon bucket which is not quite full! You only have to pay 15 cents a pound...so we got a really good deal...and it is home made...sort of. :) This was really exciting for us...and we are hoping to have a small business-family and friends. And I am going to enter it in 4-H next year! And may I add...I do not like honey, and yet when I tasted this...I was surprised how sweet and natural this honey is compared to store bought! *And I must thank you neighbor, Charlie, for getting us started and taking us to the extraction place* http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/599135/ Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/599135/   Munchkin # 1 Munchkin # 2 Munchkin # 3 Myself and Munchkin # 3. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/598655/ Wed, 1 Oct 2008 22:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/598655/      I finished The Scarlet Pimpernel yesterday, for it was historical literature that went along with history, in which we are studying in depth the French Revolution. A lot of things lead up to this time in history, and many things are affected in history due to it.     The Scarlet Pimpernel was written by a woman, born in Hungary, unto which the English language was a second language to her, and yet she wrote her adventurous, inspiring, and time-standing novels in that language. She is a tremendous authoress, who combines proper writing skills with readable material that anyone can easily follow along. Her name was Baroness Emmuska Magdalena Rosalia Marie Josepha Barbara Orczy, also known as Emma within close relationships.     The Scarlet Pimpernel is a novel, set in the midst of the French Revolution, in the year 1792. The ways of life are changed by the two words Republicans and Royalists. The guillotine is working, and the heads of hundreds people-royals, aristos, peasants, men, women, and children- are lost by the hands and sharp blade of ruthlessness. One hundred people are being beheaded a day just in Paris.     Yet, innocent men and women along with their children, are fleeing the blood stained streets with the help of a silent league- who follow a single heroic man...the Scarlet Pimpernel. He is a man who braves French legions, mobs, malicious Republicans, and the fate of Madame la Guillotine. This man is the adventurous protagonist.     The antagonist is Chauvelin, a vicious Republican who is overly anxious to murder every royal family he comes across...and is known for succeeding. He is cunning, and "fox-like" and is willing to risk his authority to find and kill the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin does not want those he believes he can have upon the blade, stolen and escorted secretly out of France right under his nose.     One person under Chauvelin's vicious authority is Lady Marguerite Blakeney. A former French actress who married the wealthiest man in England...the honorable and lethargic  Sir Percy Blakeney, a close friend to the Prince of Wales.  Margeurite had known Chauvelin before the Revolution twisted his thoughts. Chauvelin, ready to do anything to capture the Pimpernel, tortures Lady Blakeney with a choice. She, being a woman able to hear many things and have the clout to have confidential secrets and would be able to find the identity and whereabouts of the Scarlet Pimpernel, is told by Chauvelin that she must chose between the Pimpernel's life, or her brother's, for Chauvelin had recently acquired a piece of paper that could send her brother, Armand, to the guillotine for treason.     That is all I can to those who haven't read this incredibly intense book. I enjoyed reading the descriptions of Baroness Orczy, and her style is very understandable and enjoyable. I encourage all to read this book, if only for the good background on how the French Revolution affected the hearts of her native countrymen.  For more information about The Scarlet Pimpernel go here. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/597334/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/597334/ The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they have printed. 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Italicize those you intend to read. 3) Underline the books you love. 4. And I crossed out the ones that I have no real idea of what they are...but I do know a few  1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein 3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte  4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling   5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6. The Bible   7 Withering Heights – Emily Bronte   8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell   9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman   10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 11. Little Women by Lousia May Alcott   12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy   13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller   14 Works of Shakespeare- A few plays here and there   15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 16. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein 17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks 18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot 21. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 29. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol 30. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 33. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis 34 Emma - Jane Austen 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 36. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 40. Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (when I'm older) 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 46. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth 56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 70. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 71. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 75 Ulysses - James Joyce 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 78 Germinal - Emile Zola 79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray 80 Possession - AS Byatt 81. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry 87. Charlotte's Webb by E. B. White 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks 94 Watership Down - Richard Adams 95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare 99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo I have read 13. How many have you read? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/596428/ Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:00:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/maggswaggs/596428/