December Nuggets of Gold (Music and Books + Free videos and more for teachers!)

Hello friends~

Well, it doesn't look like that snowy globe just yet, but you never can tell! ;)

I hope that you've been enjoying the reviews and giveaways that I've had to offer on my blog in the past week or two. Entries are still open, so go take a look if you haven't yet!
There's one for a Bible Journaling Kit, and one for Amy Grant's new Tennessee Christmas CD.

Now, here's a nugget for everyone~


FreeCCM is offering a 10 song Christmas sampler, featuring Mercy Me, Sarah Groves, Laura Story, Phillips, Craig and Dean, and Phil Wickham. What a blessing, and generous gift ~ all you have to do is enter your email~ which allows FreeCCM to let you know when they have new free offerings. *Note: Downloads must be made to a computer.

And here are some Books for Kindle that you may be interested in picking up:


A Goose Creek Christmas (Tales from the Goose Creek B and B, book 4) (free at the time of posting) ~ I just read this book, and it is a sweet, funny story. Reminds me a little bit of the Mitford Chronicles, if you remember those... Although it's book 4 in the series, I didn't mind reading it on its own, and am interested in checking out the rest of the series.

A Christmas Carol (Wisehouse Classics with Original Illustrations) (free at the time of posting) ~ Don't really need to say much about this one ~ we all  know and love Dickens' Classic story, and now you can bring it with you on your Kindle! :)



Joy to the World: A Christmas Nativity Counting Book (free at the time of posting)~ Something to read to your Toddler when you are out and about~ Simple little illustrations just right for little ones. :)


Something for the teachers among us... public/private/homeschool...

Izzit.org regularly offers great teaching videos that promote critical thinking, and right now they have a special "12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Spectacular 2016" . You can get a FREE DVD each day, for 12 days!  Plus, they are randomly selecting one winner each day to receive a embroidered fleece blanket.
I missed the first day (yesterday), but please check it out now ~ Each day offers a new video, and a new code, good only for 24 hours (I'll be posting on my Blog facebook page with the codes, so you can just keep an eye out there, if you like). 

And one more for the homeschooling teachers: 
IEW has some free events and more: 

1. This Saturday! December 10- IEW's Virtual Winter Retreat

Joining Andrew Pudewa are Sarah Mackenzie, Adam Andrews, and Jill Pike. There are six sessions that will encourage and inspire teachers and parents. If someone is not able to attend, they can still register to receive the recordings of the session they want to hear. 

IEW.com/virtualretreat2016

2. Twelve Days of Christmas Giving

Every year we celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas by doing what we love to do: give gifts. Families can register now at the link below to receive daily email reminders to download the free gifts. On the final day, we ship something special to their front door. 

IEW.com/Christmas16

I hope this brightens your week, and gives you something fun to enjoy!

Blessings~

Nuggets of Gold (Music downloads and books)

Hello all~

Well, this post just doesn't want to be cooperative! It was supposed to publish on Friday, but didn't. The good news is that means that there are a few more things for me to share with you.

NEW RELEASE TODAY
If you HURRY over to New Release Today , you can still download a song from Citizen Way's new album 2.0, On My Side. I expect it to disappear today, but not sure exactly when.

They also have an Andy Mineo song, Uncomfortable, performed by Jimmy Needham... It is a fantastic cover!

A New-to-me artist, Cody Summer has a song we enjoyed (very reminiscent of Alison Krauss) Way Down the River, from her latest album Canyons and Cathedrals...

Don't forget, you have to sign up as a member (free) in order to download songs for free, but they don't spam...

AMAZON KINDLE BOOKS
A few books for you this week... click on the covers to be taken directly to the book's page.
I'm not sure how long the author will have this up for free, but it's a fun (slightly complex) book that combines cartooning with penmanship... Cute!

And here is a neat little book that covers a single colored pencil lesson. It teaches the technique of underdrawing... Not something I ever learned, and definitely not a total beginner lesson.

For the History Buff/ Middle-High School Reader, I thought I would profile Free Kindle versions of a few GA Henty Books. I have reviewed Heirloom Audio Productions' Audio dramas of In Freedom's Cause, With Lee in Virginia, and The Dragon and The Raven. Keep your eyes open for their next production, Beric the Briton. You can check these great stories out for free, by clicking on the covers below, but I do have to say that Heirloom Audio Productions are AMAZING, so if you have audio drama lovers, check my linked reviews above as well... they qualify as Nuggets of Gold for their content, even though they aren't free or reduced prices. ;)

      

One more fun thing... If you have kids that like Nerf... this looks like a really fun project! I've had this page open in a tab for a while, so I might as well save it here until I get around to making it! :)   DIY Spinning Nerf Targets 

Until next time...

Blessings~

Golden Nugget (Book Recommendations for late summer reading (YA/Adult))

Just a couple of quick recommendations for you... for the last couple of weeks of summer reading...

Although I never thought I'd be a huge fan of e-books, I have found my Kindle Paperwhite to be a wonderful tool when I want to read late at night without bothering my DH (whose extremely early work hours don't jive with our nightowl-ish tendencies), and has lightened my packing list for vacation weeks. It's also great for borrowing books on Overdrive when on vacation and youngest has read all the books he's packed (Ask me how I know!). I just noticed that Amazon has a great bundle for kids (or adults, really...) Check it out if you're in the market... Kindle for Kids Bundle with the latest Kindle, 2-Year Accident Protection, Kid-Friendly Blue Cover  ($99 and it doesn't include the "sponsored screen saver adds!)

On with the book recommendations

Last year I reviewed Dear Mr. Knightley ~ a book my daughter also enjoyed, so when she noticed that the Kindle version was on sale, I decided I needed to bring it back to my readers' attention. Dear Mr. Knightley: A Novel  is currently on sale, Kindle version for $1.99 through August 31.

The other is a book I borrowed on Overdrive through my library~ Lisette's List: A Novel by Susan Vreeland. This was a great WWII Fiction read with a focus on French artwork and some very interesting bits on specific artists (Pissarro, Cezanne, Chagall, and a litte bit of Picasso). It tells the story of Lisette and her list of "Hungers and Vows," sort of a "Bucket list" that helped her to get through the War years and those immediately following by doing "the important things first."

I learned more about art, beauty, and an appreciation for the raw materials behind the art by reading this lovely and well written novel. I also greatly appreciated that there were no gratuitous scenes thrown in to mar the beauty and spirit of this story.

Let me know if you've read either of these books, what you thought, or if you might pick them up. Also, I'd love to hear how you use your Kindle (if you have one), or whether you're interested in picking one up.

Blessings~

Golden Nuggets~ June 13~ Music and books

A few quick "Nuggets" for you for the end of this beautiful June Week~

Some summer reading for your Kindle, and some music to enjoy

Parables from Nature (Translated)  Sweet Nature stories with "Golden Rule" parables


The Candle Star (Divided Decade Collection) A Middleschool Civil War Novel (I haven't read this one, just thought it looked promising)
Pilgrim's Progress: Updated, Modern English. With Original Illustrations.   A classic!

$0.99 at the time of posting

Free at the time of posting

Free at the time of posting

NoiseTrade has a new Songs Of the Summer Sampler Album, with songs by Unspoken, Lauren Daigle, Johnny Diaz, and others~ Check it out! :)

Blessings~

Nuggets of Gold for the Week of May 18

I'm back with a few more nuggets for you all~
Short and sweet this time around as I didn't get this posted last week,
and I want to get this up while the first Kindle book listed below is still free.

Music: Ginny Owens is a Contemporary Christian Artist (Musician). I was introduced to her when I wrote a review for one her albums back in 2011. She is still writing, singing, and performing music. In fact, I sadly missed the opportunity to hear her live just last night when she was performing with Michael Card.

Aaaanyway....  I wanted to let you know about a Ginny Owens Acoustic Sampler available on Noisetrade (Same deal as the last set of music I posted from Noisetrade~ you have to sign up, and give them your email, then they send you a link to download the songs. You can pay as much or as little as you decide to help support the artists in their endeavors).

Just to give you a little taste of her music (note~ please keep in mind as you watch her that she is blind, so she doesn't have typical expression in her eyes, and she tends not to blink, but her voice is wonderfully expressive!):



And here's another~

Here are a few Kindle books that I'd like to share with you.

The first is a childhood classic republished by a fellow FIAR mom's publishing house, Purple House Press. It's being offered free today (eek! only a few more hours) for Kindle.
The other two are a couple of novels that were enjoyable reads. (Click on the photos)

"New Adult" Romance
Free at the time of posting

Civil War Historical Novel
Free at the time of posting

Sweet Reprint by Purple House Press
Free at the time of posting
(Possibly only 5/18/15)

Once again, please let me know if you appreciate/enjoy these sorts of posts. :)

Blessings~

Nuggets of Gold for First Week of May~ Music, Books and More~

Nuggets of Gold for First Week of May~ Music, Books and More~

May has arrived and there are green shoots and bright flowers popping up everywhere~ the trees are budding out, and (here at least) there are baseball games upon baseball games upon baseball games! (So many that my schedule blew up, and I missed posting last week! EEK!)

However, just now I happen to have a few minutes to share some Golden Nuggets with you all~ please let me know in the comments if you found anything interesting or new here! :)

Music:

I know I've mentioned Christ August a number of times~ his latest album, The Maker, was released last month, and I highly recommend it! However, what you may not know is that there is an "Unreleased" album of Chris' available on Noisetrade. There are some fun songs, some sweet songs, and it's *all* Chris (I don't have every song on this album uploaded to itunes, but a goodly number of them are). :)

The deal with Noisetrade is that you can download music for free~ then, if you love it, if you have funds available, etc... you can "tip" the artist. Sweet!

Here's a neat lyric video by one of our favorite artists (who we *haven't* seen in concert yet...) Jamie Grace. She's a fighter (she has Tourette's Syndrome). Great song!

Jamie Grace has released a new Album~ 

not  a free or discounted "nugget" but a great find, none-the-less.

My Eldest made a quick Irish Step Dance video for a fun challenge on Jamie Grace's Facebook page~ it was quite appropriate, as it was the day before she left on her mission trip to Guatemala~ Doing Life Big! (We goofed a little on the last clip by not having the music right by the camera, so it's not quite as loud, but the STEPs are loud!)

Now for a couple of Books~ click on the covers to go directly to Amazon~
some lighter fiction today...

YA Fiction
Free at the time of posting

Sweet WWII Romance
(I enjoyed this one)
Free at the time of posting

  
I'll call it good for now, as we're on our way out the door again!
Again, please let me know if you enjoy these posts, or find something new here! :)

Blessings~