Fall Y’all….

 

It’s here folks! It’s Monday and that means it’s time for the Fall Y’all Bloggy Giveaway hosted by Shannon at her new giveaway blog.

 

If it’s not already clear to you there are giveaways going on all over the place and the place to find them is at Shannon’s latest blog.

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Welcome to my blog!!

I’m Elaine Aka Mummymac and I’m a blogger from Northern Ireland (which it appears is quite a rare thing)

I’m also a stay at home mum and it also appears that is quite a rare thing too!

Enough about me ………….. on with the business……….

 

and so this is the giveaway with many thanks to the kind editor at Appletree Press I am giving away a copy of An Irish Country Kitchen by Mary Kinsella.

 

I recently purchased a copy of this book as my husband was taking an annual trip to the USA. He normally takes something of an Irish theme to his hostess and this year we decided on this lovely book. The book impressed me so much I decided to contact the people at Apple Tree Press who willingly donated a copy for this give-away.

Click on over the the Apple Tree website where you will find many books on an Irish theme, whether it be recipe books, history of Ireland or books of a more general nature they have quite a brochure.

And so to be in with a chance to win this book - here’s what you have to do.

Simply leave a comment to this post before Saturday 3 November at 10.00pm (GMT) and you will be automatically entered. I will make the drawing some time after this time using this handy random number generator and then post the results here and also at Shannon’s site.

NOTE: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A BLOG TO ENTER.

This contest is open to participants from UK, IRELAND, USA & CANADA. (Because I’m kind that way).

Be sure to check out all the other giveaways going on over at Shannon’s all week.

 

** note to the regulars - I’m taking a few days off blogging, have a good week**

** If you have a copy of Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress on your shelf please check out my previous post**

 

Mummymac.

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of Progress…

Just the other day when I was updating the post about my Reading List I had cause to search on Amazon for The Pilgrim’s Progress.

I was quite surprised and impressed to find 552 listings on there for this classic title.

Now I should say that some of the listings were not in any way related to John Bunyan but I didn’t have the inclination to sift them out for my statistics.

Wow - I remember when I was younger being told it was the top selling book apart from the Bible, it appears to be number 7 according to these stats.

Now we love this book in our house and have quite a few copies on our shelves.

So I got to wondering how many of the copies listed we have….

I got this copy a few years ago at a book sale - it was a great buy, my 6 year old loved it.

Princessmac got this version at our Sunday School prize night last year. A great adaptation.

We used this unabridged version a few years ago to study the book in our Adult Sunday School class. A very helpful study.

Daddymac brought this pictorial version home from a conference a few years ago and I’ve lost count of the number of times we have read it and we are currently reading it again! If you have tinnies in your house YOU NEED THIS BOOK.

I suspect Hubby owned this before we were married and it came with all the other books sorry there is no pic for that one.

JDMac got this a few years ago on Sunday School prize night. No pic again.

I saw this version somewhere but it must have been on someone else’s shelf as we don’t have it!

To end the list I may as well tell you that Hubby picked up an exceptionally old copy of Bunyan’s Select Works at a book sale in his favourite Scottish town.

One copy of this classic tale is enough for anyone - that is if you open the book.

If you have a copy of Pilgrims Progress on your shelf, get it down and read it

If you would like to read more about John Bunyan who incidentally wrote his bestseller while imprisoned check here.

So I’d love you to share what versions of Pilgrim’s Progress you have.

Send a link or just list how it was retold or who published it.

Do you have a DVD of PP? I see only a few listed but wouldn’t be sure if they are true to the original story. Perhaps you would say it’s one of those classics that’s better in book form?

If you have a copy, leave a comment and let me know,

Mummymac.

If anybody really cares…..

To-night is the end of an era in Northern Ireland.

I truly believe there are few who know.

I believe there are possibly less who even care.

In August 2005 those in charge decided to disband the Northern Ireland based Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment.

This happened back in August of 2007.

To-night in the Waterfront Hall the Band of the Royal Irish Regiment are holding their final performance.

Another casualty of our Labour Government who have no respect for tradition, history or patriotism.

As a tribute…..

Mummymac.

It’s Fall…..

Things just seem to be real busy round here but I wanted to remind everybody about 2 events.

The first is the “Fall into Reading” reading challenge. Check out the link in the sidebar and also be sure to check the list of books I’m reading. I’m really enjoying reading these days, I think I’ve reached the youngest child reaches a sensible age stage

The second is the Fall Y’all Carnival hosted by Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer. It starts Monday and if it’s anything like the last one it’s going to be big. Bloggers are giving away almost everything you could ever think off. It’s worth an check next week ladies - trust me.

I’ve got a nice little prize lined up but it’s a secret till Monday - no bribery - it’s a secret

Mummymac.

Wordless Wednesday - My boys….

Check for more Wordless Wednesday snaps here.

Mummymac.

Keep Reading…

It’s Works-for-me-Wednesday over at Rocks and I have found this to work for me.

With my reading schedule when I finish a book, even though it’s late at night, I don’t sit back and feel as if I’ve accomplished something then go to bed.

I deliberately read the first 2 or 3 chapters of my next book on my schedule, that way I am more likely to pick it up the next day.

If I don’t start the next book asap I tend to have a few days off reading!!

This works for me.

Check out my current reading schedule here.

Mummymac.

Granny Annie’s Chocolate Cake.

As a child this is my birthday memory. Forget the presents, forget the parties. If you didn’t get one of these cakes it just wasn’t a birthday.

This is Birthday time of the year in our house with 1 just past in September and 2 coming up in November there is plenty of baking to be done. All our cakes are based on this recipe though my kids are going through the more complicated cake the better stage. Thankfully Daddymac is the arty type and he takes charge of piping and all the final details.

If you’re looking for a simple cake that is simply delicious here it is.

I’ve been asked for this recipe a few times lately so get baking girls

Granny Annie’s Chocolate Cake.

8oz Caster Sugar

8oz Soft Margarine

7oz Self Raising Flour

1oz Cocoa

4 eggs

Cream the sugar and margarine and add the eggs, then gradually the flour and cocoa.

Pour into 2 tins and bake for 30 minutes at 180C.

Icing

3oz margarine

4oz icing sugar

1 Tablespoon of milk

100gms Bournville Chocolate melted.

Cream margarine and Icing Sugar, add milk and chocolate.

Sandwich cake with a little and use the rest for the top.

Decorate as necessary.

(Try not to eat it all yourself )

If you want a nice plain sponge just leave out the cocoa and add another oz of flour instead then sandwich together with jam, top with jam and coconut or use fresh cream to decorate if preferred.

Mummymac.

Farmhouse Vegetable Soup

This month’s recipe roundup is hosted by Melanie at Motherhood Apologia and the theme is freezer recipes.

You could say this theme is like a red rag to a bull as I double-up and freeze almost every meal I make. Some would call me organized but I think of myself more as lazy, wouldn’t you rather make a meal once than twice?

Anyway as I refuse to sit all night and type in a host of recipes I freeze I have chosen just one which was given to me by a friend.

Farmhouse Vegetable Soup

(Give to me by a Farmers wife - so it is authentic )

This is a good soup to freeze as if you don’t like your soup thick you can add more water to it when you are re-heating it. Personally I’m a thick person

1 cup of soup mix
2 stock cubes
6-8 carrots
6-8 stocks of celery
6-8 small leeks or 4 large leeks
parsley

And that’s all she gave me!! - She didn’t tell me what to do!! She obviously didn’t know I’m the type who follows a recipe to a T.

Regardless I just chop it all up, stick it all in the saucepan, cover it with water and simmer it as low and long as you can.

Hope it works!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of this months recipes.

Mummymac

The how to’s of Worship.

Until I was married in 1996 I had probably never heard of the term “The Regulative Principle of Worship“.

About one month after our wedding I heard the Late Robert Sheehan preaching on the above subject during a series of meetings in our provience. He presented his case thoroughly and Biblically.

Since we started to attend our current church in 1997 I have lost count of the number of times I have heard this subject preached on and indeed the number of discussions we have had in our home around the topic.

Until now I don’t believe I have read any material on the subject save that which is found in the Scripture.

Daniel Ritchie’s book The Regulative Principle of Worship was shown to us just a few days after JP and I began to read Daniel’s blog. A fellow church member was asking JP if he would be interested in borrowing his recent purchase. JP called me over and said “Look at this book”, at which stage we echoed “That’s that guy………”!!

I decided to include the book in my Fall into Reading schedule for 2 reasons, the first, outlined above was that I hadn’t read anything on this subject before and the second reason is the fact that I believe I have exhausted the parenting and homemaking books and I need to broaden my subject matter.

While I would not agree with everything in this book (as a Reformed Baptist) I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and have benefited much from it. Daniel comes from a Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) approach and so we wouldn’t agree on areas such as Baptism and exclusive Psalmody.

The subject of Worship seems to interest so many churches to-day, few unfortunately are concerned about what the Bible actually says in relation to their Worship. Certainly there is much food for thought after reading a book like this and it could only bring Glory to God for Christians from every denomination to read this book and reform their ways.

As Daniel himself says, ” Who knows what great things the Lord may do through modern day reformers“.

If you are interested in reading about what the Scriptures say about Worship, this book is a worthwhile introduction to the topic.

Mummymac.

A sad lad..

So Daddymacs off to USA for the conference and we’re already looking forward to his return

We have a busy week ahead with things to do and people to see. Have car, must travel and all that.

Don’t worry about him either, he’s had his fix. What an anorak!! - I guess that’s ok - I knew that when I married him.

We’ve been enjoying tracking his flight on here.

Is anyone else filling shoe boxes for operation Christmas Child?

Hope you all have a great weekend. I will when our boxes are finished
Mummymac.