ATTENTION Everyone!

The name of the blog has been updated!
Our new name is Maria Shiphrah Dalton Publications.

Our address is now:

http://mariashiphrahdaltonpublications.blogspot.com/

I am not sure if this will affect followers in any way, but be sure to continue reading the blog!

A Special Christmas Treat

A sneak peak at Tiperet, the third book in the Tiphereth Trilogy, with an introduction to one of the main families!


The Tamam Family

"It was a crisp, clear autumn day when the Tamam family arrived. Ynyth and Gwynarae were the same, only a few years older. Mimnesko Eucharistia, whom Aramoth and Aramiel had never seen, was four years old and a very sweet little boy. Eirene was eight and looked very much as Theria had at that age, only Eirene was more playful and less serious than Theria had been at that age. The twins—Endikos and Hupakoe—were fine manly boys of eleven years, who looked as if they had been going through the same physical training Aramoth had at that age. But then they saw Eleutheria. Eleutheria was small and shorter than Aramiel, but very beautiful. Always mature for her age, she was now, though only sixteen, a woman. The dignity she had always been known for as a girl became her even better now, and it displayed itself in her quiet voice and in the way she carried herself. Her long, dark, wavy hair was twisted on the back of her head to accommodate traveling. Theria’s brown eyes were not only very beautiful, but expressed wisdom and discretion."

…The Tiphereth Trilogy, Tiperet, pg. 227

Enjoy your Christmas and remember to leave a comment on the previous post voting on your favorite cover picture!

The Exciting Process of Publishing!

Reading once, reading twice, and still not read to the eagerly anticipating children!  Or anyone, for that matter.  Proofreading can take forever!  And yet, it is exciting to know that this is the last time I have to read it before I send it to the printer.
  
Please comment and let me know which of these pictures you like best for the cover!*

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*WARNING:  Your comments may or may not be taken into consideration for the publishing of this book.  One or more of the pictures may or may not have ever been candidates for cover photos.  The Authoress reserves all rights to make a final decision based on her own wishes. :)

Graduation Pictures

Please feel free to leave comments!

Some more Graduation Pictures!

More Graduation Pictures!

My family and I

My friends and I!  Sadly not all my friends were able to attend, and we had a hard time finding everyone who did come for the picture, but these are most of my friends!

Still more pictures to come!  Many thanks to everyone who took pictures and emailed them to me!

My Graduation Speech!

Today was my highschool graduation! It went very well! I have posted my speech and some pictures. My speech went very well. I am usually nervous, but thanks to the prayers of my friends and family, I wasn't nervous hardly at all and I spoke clearly and slowly without looking petrified!

A picture of my lovely dress...

My table decorations...

And the food!

I didn't take any of the pictures, being busy graduating...

so I owe the photo credits to my Mom and my guests. 

More pictures coming later!

Here is my graduation speech!

Thank you all for coming, I am so glad you could all be here.

When I was learning the alphabet and learning to write the letters, I had a few select letters that I believed were completely unnecessary. I think they were w, x, y, and z. I didn't use those particular letters for anything important and so I thought they were unnecessary and didn't want to learn them. Of course now I know they are very important. In the last few sentences I used them fifteen times.
When I reached around fifth grade, I granted that those letters were necessary. But by then I had learned how to diagram complex sentences and I did not enjoy it. I didn't see any use in diagramming sentences and I did not want to do it. But I had to do it and I managed to get through diagramming.
When I got to algebra it was even worse. I held firmly to the belief that Math was entirely unnecessary. My Mom told me many times that Math was very important in life and she would remind me that I used math to sew and bake. So I granted that Math was not entirely unnecessary. Whatever Math I had learned in the past was useful, but whatever I hadn't learned yet was unnecessary and I had no use for it. The culmination point was one day when I opened my Algebra book and turned to my lesson for the day. I could not believe my eyes when I read the title. It said, "Imaginary Numbers". I had evidence right before me that Math was not useful. How can something imaginary be of any use whatsoever?
But through all that I learned to persevere through difficult situations. I did like my school. I always loved reading, history, and the sections of my English books that were about poetry and creative writing. Science was always fun as well, as some of you may remember was evidenced by the museum in our back yard. Although I had to persevere, and school was challenging, I am so thankful for God's provision and the way He worked things out along the way.
I will never stop learning. All of life is school. Not all of life is quadratic equations and imaginary numbers, but there will always be parts of life that we don't like. We just have to trust in God and persevere and He will grant us success. 

Success is relative. When you are standing on the sidewalk watching a car drive by, it looks like the car is moving, but if you're the one in the car, it appears as if the sidewalk is moving. It is the same thing with success. Success is measured by the goal. To some people, success would be having a big house and lots of money. To other people success would be earning a scholarship to medical school or being accepted to NASA. It all depends on who you are trying to please and who you are measuring yourself by.
When I was little, I was going to be a scientist when I grew up. To me a scientist was like being a doctor. It was a highly respected position that only really intelligent people could get into. I meant everyone to talk about how smart I was and to see for themselves how great homeschooling is.
Since then I have come to see what success truly is. I wanted to succeed in the world's eyes. I know now for certain that I would not have enjoyed being a scientist. One reason is that science is closely intertwined with math.
My main goal in life should not be to succeed in the eyes of other people. If I know that I have done what is right before God, then I will have succeeded in life. As long as I am obeying God and walking in His ways, I don't need to be a doctor or a scientist or an engineer. True success is only attained by doing well in God's eyes. I have come to see that it doesn't matter if I succeed in the world's eyes, but in God's eyes, and that is my vision for the future.

Giveaway!!!

True Femininity is having a giveaway to announce the opening of a new Etsy store, True Baby Designs! 

These flannel diapers are made in cute prints and are priced at only $9.99!
You can find out more about True Baby Designs and the Giveaway here!
http://Truefemininity.blogspot.com/2010/11/announcement-and-giveaway.html 

Reformation Heritage Choir Pictures

Our first concert, last spring.  More to follow of our winter concert!

Bureaucracy

While reading my civics textbook the other day I came across a quote from President Ronald Reagan on Bureaucracy. I thought this part was very funny:
"To give you an illustration of how bureaucracy works in another country, England in 1803 created a new civil service position. It called for a man to stand on the cliffs of Dover with a spy glass and ring a bell if he saw Napoleon coming. They didn't eliminate that job until 1945. In our own country, there are only two government programs that have been abolished. The government stopped making rum on the Virgin Islands, and we've stopped breeding horses for the cavalry."

Even the clothing of medieval Europe was better.

Lydia’s Traveling Sacque/Spencer

I have always liked this sacque, even though it is Lydia's and no one else wears a similar one. Lydia only wears it in one scene—she is departing for Brighton to stay with Mrs. Forster. When I decided to make it, I kept in mind three characteristics:

1. The fabric is silk, demonstrating Lydia's extravagant nature.
2. The sacque has large polka dots illustrating her bold and daring personality.
3. The black closure on the red silk represents her flirtatious behavior.
   
   
   I chose broadcloth (I usually work with broadcloth) of a solid red.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   1. The fabric is broadcloth which is practical for everday use.
   2. The fabric is a solid color illustrating sobriety, practicality and reservedness.
   3. I chose dark brown for the closure, to give it an "autumn" rather than "coquettish" flavor.
      
      
      I used 1 ½ yards of the broadcloth and ¾ of the brown trimming. I also bought ¼ yard heavy interfacing for the collar. If I made it again I would get 2 yards of fabric. 1 ½ was not enough, and I just barely managed to make it fit.
      
      
      I decided to do a false collar because I didn't want to do a whole collar. (Basically it just has a collar on the front.) I used my regular dress bodice pattern. When I made my regency dresses I shortened the bodice to the length I wanted by folding up the lower end. For the sacque I added about an inch to the shortened pattern; I wanted to give it leeway as a jacket. I also made the sleeves follow the contour of the arm, getting skinnier toward the wrist.
      
      
      
      For the "points" I measured around myself where the waist would be and added a few inches for seam allowance and for "jacket wearing". Actually I just rounded up to 32 inches because that would be enough and made it easier. The length of my points was determined by the scanty amount of fabric I had left, but I think the length is around right anyway. I had the shortest side of the triangle—the top—be 8 inches. At the bottom I measured over 4 inches and made a mark, drawing lines from either end of my eight to that, making an even triangle. I then made three more placing them opposite ways so as to make them fit better—I mean fit at all.:) (I had originally had 1 yard stuck in my head, but knew that wasn't enough and thought I should get 2, but 2 is so much!:) so while at the cutting counter I quickly compromised 1 ½. It worked this time, but just barely!)
      
      
      The points actually took longer to sew than any other part of the sacque, because I had to turn under the two long sides of four triangles.
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      If you look carefully at Lydia's sacque, you can see that the closures look almost like frog closures but also have a button. I have never done frog closures before so I did it like Lydia's. I pinned the trim onto the sacque the way I wanted it and sewed it down. Afterwards I made a button hole in it and sewed a button on. It was hard to make a button hole through the trim, but I really like the way it turned out.
      
      
   4. And here are pictures of the finished Spencer/Sacque!
      

Ultra-Anachronistic Rag Curlers

And two beautiful loaves of bread!

I decided to do my hair up in rag curls one night, but having no fabric I wished to cut up at the time, and necessity being the mother of invention, I came up with these ultra-anachronistic hair curlers.

 I cut the plastic bag into tie-able strips and rolled the hair up around it starting from the bottom – almost like using hot curlers. Then I tied the ends of the plastic together around the curls. It just shows how nostalgic people today can get. Rag curls are old fashioned, plastic bags modern. And the scissors are colonial.
The bag did say to "Recycle"!
And the other day I made Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread. It was delicious, especially with milk. The loaves rose beautifully!

 

Here is the recipe. I know it may seem rather complicated,J but it is worth it! To our family, this is quick bread because we didn't soak the grain overnight!
Do not let bread over-rise!
Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Breadyield: 2 loaves

2 ½ cups warm water
1 cup all natural unsweetened Peanut Butter
3 teaspoons salt
½ cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons milk
5 teaspoons of yeast
6 ½ + cups whole wheat flour (I used 8 ½ last time)
Mix all the above ingredients, let rest 5 minutes. Knead. Let rest 45 minutes (80-100 degrees F.). We put it in the oven without the oven turned on.
Add 1 – 1 ½ cups chocolate chips. Knead for 5 minutes. Cut dough in half, shape into smooth loaves. Place in greased bread pans.
Let rise in bread pans in oven at about 100 degrees for 45 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 37 minutes.

Certified!

I completed and passed the class and now I am certified in CPR and First Aid by the National Safety Council!
I took the class at Delaware Technical and Community College and it was a very good class. There were a few sections that made me personally grimace a little (like burns, compound fractures, and impaled objects) but the rest was really fine. We had a workbook to complete and a DVD to watch in class.
It was not a difficult class; and contained some information that it might be helpful for everyone to know. I got to take home a copy of the DVD, my workbook, and a Quick Guide to emergencies. Also my Certificates! They gave me two certificates for in my portfolio, one for CPR and one for First Aid, two business card sized certificates for in my wallet to prove I'm certified on the go.
So I am very excited to be certified!