I guess y’all know we are preparing to move house for the first time in 18 years.  This week is a big un-clutter push.  We’ve been working on the garage and the older boys’ room.

Good grief!  What giant heaps of . . . stuff!

We’ve hauled a ton of junk out to the curb to be picked up by  the city next week 0n their regularly scheduled rounds.  Tossing junk is the easy part of this equation.  Dealing with the rest of the clutter is the hard part.

Stuff has to be sorted.  Decisions have to be made.  Plans have to be followed through on.

I’ve been gearing up and adding to our to do lists daily.  We’re doin’ pretty good.

It’s the books though.  Books are hard to part with.  But we’re doin’ it.  We’ve made a ton of categories.

• Books to give to friends that we think will use them.
• Books to sell on my book blog and maybe eBay.
• There’s also a secret category that I’ll tell you about in a few days!
• Books to give to Goodwill.
• Books to list on PaperBackSwap.

What?  You haven’t heard about PaperBackSwap?  You don’t know know what a cool deal you are missing out on!  It’s just what the name implies.  When you sign up and create an account, you list your books that you no longer need (it’s easy, you just enter the isbn).  Then once you have entered your first ten books they give you two credits that  you can use to order books from other members.  Usually one credit = one book.

And if you tell them I sent you (MotherHen88) then I’ll get a credit too (once you list your first ten books)!

So, get crackin’!  Un-clutter your book shelves and sign up!  Please use one of the links in this post to do so, it makes it automatically credit me as your referrer.  However, if you forgot to use my links, you can still list me (MotherHen88) as the friend who referred you!

The rare post script: My letter-carrier had a package for me today.  It was a book I had ordered.  Crackin’ myself up!

This post is linked to Frugal Friday and Thrifty Thursday.

My boys have some books for sale!

These books are from the clearance store in the Vision Forum warehouse.  They have minor dings and/or smudges.  They’re deeply discounted.

This week I have the following books available.

• Duncan’s War by Douglas Bond
• Soda-Pop Rockets by Paul Jarvis
• The dog Crusoe by R.M. Ballantyne
• Gascoyne by R.M. Ballantyne
• American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster 1828

For prices, ordering details and a photo or two go to my book blog, Good Reads.

If there is a particular book that Vision Forum carries that you would like to purchase, just let me know in the comments (over at Good Reads).  Ya never know!  It may be sittin’ right here on my desk just waiting it’s turn.

A good book should leave you… slightly exhausted at the end.  You live several lives while reading it.  ~William Styron, interview, Writers at Work, 1958

I’m happy to pair up my new feature called Good Reads with a new linky hosted by FishMama at Life as Mom called I’m Booking It in 2010.  I’m so glad she started a book reading linky.  I love a linky anyway, but the thing is, I haven’t been reading as much as I ought to, to my kids and for my own enrichment.

That’s about to change.

I have a whole list of books I have been meaning to get around to reading.  Now I’ll be all over it, because I told you I was gonna.  Just knowing that I told someone lends a bit of accountability.  I couldn’t bear the shame if you asked me in 3 months, “Hey, how did you like that book that you told the whole www you were gonna read and never picked up and is sitting there on your desk gathering dust?  Huh?  How’s that goin’?”

So, here’s my list for the next 4 weeks.

• P.G. Wodehouse, Five Complete Novels
• Tithing and Dominion by Powell and Rushdoony
• Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (to the kids)
• one more book to the kids (haven’t decided yet)

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.  ~Author Unknown

As many of you long time readers know, my Cowboys have a little side business selling books.  The books they sell are from the Vision Forum clearance store (which is very different from the Vision Forum online clearance outlet).

The reason the books were in the clearance store is usually a minor ding or smudge or some other reasonably minor damage.  If you are a perfectionist, you won’t be interested in these books.  But the rest of us can enjoy a real bargain as these books are deeply discounted!

This week I am starting a new feature called Good Reads.  I’ll be posting books for sale by the Cowboys.  About ten books per week.  But I’ll be posting the detailed info on my book blog, called Good Reads.

This week is Hank’s turn.   Here’s a list of what he is offering this week.

• The Pirate City by R.M. Ballantyne (2 copies)
• Post Haste by R.M. Ballantyne
• The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne (3 copies)
• With Roberts to Pretoria by G.A. Henty
• The Survival Handbook (a DK book)

Head on over to Good Reads to see photos and read prices.

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  ~Anna Quindlen

Hank has published a great review of the book The Pirate City on his blog, Calico Zak.

Momma Bug is so right!  I have no idea how to accomplish a good bloggity break.  So, apparently, a break of less than a week is all that is called for every few weeks.

I’ve been blogging in my head on a daily basis.  I figured I better put some of it in print before it gets lost in there.  Sometimes I think I should write this stuff down on paper so it won’t escape into the hinder regions of my Dory-esque brain, and then the practical part of me takes over and screams at me – “WHY?  WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU BLOG ON PAPER AND THEN TRANSFER THE SAME INFO ONTO THE WWW?  Big waste of time and effort!”

So, all that to say, I’M BA-A-A-ACK! And boy do I have a lot to tell you!

I’ve planned THREE, count ‘em, THREE new weekly features for the Ranch!  And they’re all interactive.  That means you gotta play along! I hope you’ll participate!

#1

First is the fitness and weight-loss Linky I’ve been hemmin’ and hawin’ about for a few months.  I’m gonna call it “Fit as a Farmhand” and I’ll post it every Tuesday (actually it’ll go live every Monday night around 10 p.m.)  Starting next week.  You know, new year – new me!

All you have to do to participate in that one is post about your fitness/weight-loss program, progress, plan, whatever ya got along those lines.  Then come here to the Ranch and link up on the Linky-do.

If’n ya don’t know how to link up on one of those Mr. Linky/McLinky dealies, FEAR NOT!  It’s easy and I’ll give ya detailed instructions.  If you can blog, you can link-up!  And if ya don’t blog, you can tell us about your progress/program/plan in the comments on the “Fit as a Farmhand” post!  See?  Everybody can play!

#2

My second BIG IDEA is not even my own idea.  Hubs asked me to do this one.  You long time readers of my blog may recall that the Cowboys frequently buy books and other items from the Clearance Store in the Vision Forum warehouse and offer them for sale at a huge, HUGE, huge discount.  I’ll be writing a weekly FOR SALE post offering an assortment of these items.  The items find their way to the Clearance Store (which is different from the clearance section of the V.F. website) due to (usually) minor dings and dents or insignificant smudges.  If you’ve been wanting to pick up some Hentys or Ballantynes (and many other items) from Vision Forum for your kids, but can’t bring yourself to fork over the mucho dinero, this might be a wonderful opportunity for you to get the books you want at a great discount and help my Cowboys earn a bit o’ dust in the process.   Look for the FOR SALE posts on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

#3

The third new feature has been niggling around in the back of my mind for several months.   I’ve been wanting to start this and have finally worked out the details.  It’s been a complete and total secret this whole time.  It’s another weekly Linky-do.  I’m gonna call it “Sally Mae Cooks” and will star my darling 6¾ year old daughter.  We’ll feature one newly learned kitchen skill or newly mastered recipe every week, complete with photos (I can’t resist taking her picture, she’s a cutie!  And the boots!  They’re to die for!).  If you have a child who is ready to learn to cook, or who is continuing to learn new skills in the kitchen and want to post about it on your blog, I insist hope you’ll link-up here at the Ranch every Friday on my “Sally Mae Cooks” posts!

I’m hoping to be ready to kick off all of these new features next week, the first full week of the year.  Tex is gonna be real busy makin’ me some smart buttons so y’all can plaster ‘em all over the www use ‘em to decorate your posts that you promise to link-up. You  promise to link-up, right?!?!

There ya go!  Time to get ready!

This Post is written By: Hank/ Calico Zak

A few days ago I finished reading this book about John Calvin by Douglas Bond.

This book is probably one of his best, and resembles The Guns of the Lion and Hostage Lands.

The main character, Jean-Louis Moulin, is a tanner’s son who grows up in the same town and goes to the same school as Calvin.  Early in his relationship  with John Calvin,  Jean begins to hold a grudge against him for possessing a far better knowledge of things than he and begins to spy on Calvin at the age of twelve.  A few years latter a plague comes from the east carried on the backs of rats.  Pestilence ravages France and the town of Noyon where Calvin and Moulin reside.  The plague claims millions of souls including Jean’s mother, sister and the girl he loves, making him pitiless and self centered.

While meandering through the forrest Jean trips over a victim of the plague, who unbenounced to him has a royal commission, but all Jean sees is fine clothes and a purse full of gold.

Calvin who has been selected to be a priest is fleeing from Noyon to Paris via carriage.  While Calvin’s carriage stops for minor repairs Jean crawls under it and grabs hold of it.

When they arrive in Paris Jean-Louis disappears into the crowd, a special talent that he has acquired, and returns to Calvin’s side and pretends to be a luggage boy and carries his luggage to Calvin’s residence.  While doing so Jean muses to himself how he has grown broad while Calvin seems to have gotten smaller if anything.  After awhile Calvin recognizes Jean-Louis and offers him a job as his servant.  Moulin accepts the offer and soon comes to like it though he regularly reads  Calvin’s  mail, visits wine shops and attends houses of ill-dispute.

In time Jean finds out that a piece of the clothing he salvaged from the dead man has writing on it. It is a royal commision for one Maurice De Picard to report to his majesty King Francis any conspiriters against the “Holy” Roman Church or teachers of the new learning (Reformed Theology) and in return would be granted large sums of gold.

A few months latter he starts turning in Reformers for gold without Calvin suspecting anything.  But this did not sate his commissioners lust for blood. Eventually Jean turns in Calvin himself.   While waiting for the guards to come and arrest Calvin, Jean starts reading a bible translated into french.

He reads: ” Truly, I say unto you one of you will betray me”  Jean hesitates but still reads on further down the page “Judas came out, one  of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs..”

Calvin returned home and notices Jean had been reading the Bible and that he was rather pail.  When Calvin inquires why he looked so sickly he did not respond and thought it must have been the scriptures themselves that had moved him and implores him to read them more often.  After Calvin finishes and Jean tells him they must fly and that there is no time for him to even explain why he knows but that the king is after his head.

There is much more to this book than I can describe and this being only half the book so you will have to buy it and see for yourself.  It is probably one of the best books Vision Forum carries.

P.S.:  The most interesting  part of the book is probably the last chapter.

I remember getting ready for our first and second years of homeschooling.

I remember paying through the nose for brand new curriculum.

I remember pouring over homeschool catalogs and making lists and running totals and having to cut my lists in half and then some.

I remember my first book swap after our second year of homeschooling and having my EYES OPENED to the glorious world of second hand books.  Books that were within my budget!

Suddenly I could afford whatever curriculum I wanted.  As long as I planned my purchases for the bookswaps.

After my third year of homeschooling I learned how to do it all for free by getting a table and selling last years stuff and using the “earnings” to finance the purchases for the coming year.

After our fourth year of homeschooling I was able to sit my kids at my table to sell last years stuff, while I had the freedom to drop by the table occassionally to just pick up more cash and shop, shop, shop for next years stuff.

I also supplement this wonderful method with purchases from the thrift store, and the used book room at our local homeschool curriculum store.  (Yeah, we have one, no, it ain’t all that useful.)  But I used to buy items in there for little of nuthin’ and keep them for several months (maybe use ‘em, maybe not) and sell them at the next swap for more than I paid.  Sometimes much more.

Now that I have kids old enough to babysit the littles I go alone.  At last year’s book swap I shared a table with my neighbor and we both made out alright, but it was tiresome, and hot, and I spent everything that I took in.  I came home with a lot of neat stuff, but no cash.

This time, though, I did something I’ve never done before.  Today was the swap that I usually attend.  Since I am on a $$$DIET I originally declined my neighbor’s offer of sharing a table again.

But she’s so good, she always offers twice, and when she offered the second time I decided to think before opening my mouth.  (I’m smart that way.)  And I thought to my little self, “Self, you need to get rid of some stuff or you are just gonna have to pack it and move it and you may never, ever use it anyway!  Why don’t you just try to sell it?”

So I told her I had some stuff to sell but I didn’t need to buy anything.  And do you know what she said?  She said, ” Well, why don’t I just take your stuff and sell it for you and you don’t have to go.”  What an angel!

Well, sir!  That is the way to go!  I sat here in the luxury of my own home, enjoying the company of my very own children, eating my meals at the normal time.  My routine was not impacted by this bookswap in any way.

Unless you count having to answer the door a minute ago and have my sweet, angel of a neighbor hand me $42.50!

So, unlike last year, where I listed the school books I bought, this year I am gonna list what sold.

• Melissa & Doug “Abacus”    $4.50
• Wooden 1-5 counter    $3
• Melissa & Doug Bead Sequencing Set    $8
• Melissa & Doug Wooden Magnets    $2
• Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons    $5
• Lauri Alphabet puzzle- lower case    $2
• Lauri Alphabet puzzle- upper case    $2
• English for the Thoughtful Child    $5
• Curly Girl    $3
• Intermediate Language Lessons     $3
• Bible on CD    $5

Can’t beat it!

Did I miss going to the swap?  Having all the fun of shopping at such a deep discount?  Yeah, a little.

But I didn’t miss wearing myself out trying to fight the crowd.  Getting all frazzled from the failing a/c in a gym full of bargain-crazed moms.  Not being able to resist the swan song of a lovely piece of homeschool usefulness priced at ¼ of it’s retail cost.  These I can live without!

Now I need to figure out what I’ll do with the books that didn’t sell.  I think I’ll offer them here on the blog.  But I’ll wait for for another post ‘cuz this one is already a mile long!

Here’s your shortcut back to Frugal Fridays.

These are a few things I learned in the last several days.  If you think I am completely unobservant and should have known about these for ages, you are not alone.  I agree.

BBC Dance Mat Typing  This is supposed to be for the kids, but I can’t get enough of it and it’s just as well, ‘cuz my typing stinks!  needs some polishing.

Google Books - Oh my, what a resource!  You can type speller into the bar and get to a book called Wheeler’s Graded Studies in Great Authors: A Complete Speller.  There are other books, but this book is like a gold mine.  Ha, never buy a spelling book or a copywork book again.  

Google Books – I know, but look what happens when you type in Ray’s Arithmetic Second Book.  I love old books and there are a wealth of ‘em available just for the searching.  And Ray’s Arithmetic?  Heavy on the word problems.  And word problems are where it’s at, mathematically speaking.  Remember Bill Cosby?  He called word problems ‘If a man…’  because they all start out that way.  ”If a man leaves Boston at 2:30, heading south, at 35 mph…”

The Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project

Read G.A. Henty online.

Page By Page Books – more free books online.

Planet eBook- um, more.

Oh.my.word.

I’ve mentioned before how much I adore The Book of Virtues.

I picked it up today to read some stories to the kids.  I don’t particularly know why I was so emboldened to read them some stories that might be a touch above their comprehension.  I read some moving poetry and then landed on an exerpt from an account of the Donner Party by one of the children who were there.

Wow.

I was so touched by the emotion conveyed through just words on the page.  I don’t often read about death and starvation to my children. 

We were all speechless for a while.  It’s rather hard to think about, as a mother, saying good bye to our beloved babies, likely for the last time on earth.

Makes me breathe funny.  Makes me look at my kids and my kitchen in a new light.

The Book of Virtues   By William J. Bennett / Simon & Schuster Trade Sales Bennett, former Secretary of Education, shows your whole family how to learn more about biblical principles from many genres of literature. Stories from the Bible, American history, poems, fables, Greek myths, philosophy, fiction, and fairy tales are all used to illustrate the virtues of self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, courage, and faith. 830 pages, softcover from Simon & Schuster.

I just love reading Little House in the Big Woods.  And every time I read it to my children we make butter.  You know?  Because Ma Ingalls made butter.

Ma Ingalls had it goin’ on!  That woman could do it all, and did.  I’m tellin’ ya, her butter was some kinda fancy!  She dyed (it’s alright, she used carrot juice), washed and salted her butter, then pressed it into molds.  That woman went all out, ya know?

Me?  I poured a pint of cream into a clean quart jar, screwed the lid on, and handed it to my kids.

Took 20 minutes of shaking to turn cream into butter.  Then I rinsed it a little, salted it a little and stuck it in the fridge, then mopped my brow and felt like a pioneer wimp.

Now it’s your turn!  What have you made?  If you have a photo or a link to the instructions, please include them.  If not, that’s ok too, just tell us all about it.  And you may reach back into your archives for this.  I won’t insist on only “fresh” posts, as long as it’s never been linked here before.  It might be new to many of us.

Please link here in the Mister Linky box.  If you don’t have a blog you can still play along,  just tell all about it in the comments box.

Here are the Mister Linky rules:

• Put your name in the first box with a (brief description) in parenthesis.
• Put your permalink in the second box.
• Leave the link for your post, not your homepage.
• Put a link to Ship Full O’ Pirates somewhere in your post.
• Feel free to use any of the banners we create for this.

I am looking forward to seeing all of your projects that you’ve been working on.  This ought to be fun!