Tagged

So the lovely Lauren tagged me... 

If you could have dinner with one fictional character, who would it be?

Yikes, I have no clue! Um, okay, maybe Ben-Hur? Or the main guy from Costain's Silver Chalice. Just because that would be such an incredibly interesting time period. Or maybe TinTin? That would be fun!

What's your favorite kind of blog to read? Journal blogs, or more focused blogs?

Both, I guess. I usually like ones that either inspire me to be better in different areas... I'm also likely to avoid blogs written by women who are going through the same stage of life as me... I'm not sure why. 

Who would you most like to get a book signed by? 

Living- ? ;  Recently deceased- Julia Childs or Edith Head; Deceased for a while- Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Summer Olympics are this year! What is your favorite activity to watch?

Pretty much anything!

Classic question: which three books would you take on a desert island?

French dictionary, an illustrated encyclopedia, the Bible 

Africa or Alaska: if you had to visit one, which would you visit, and why? 

Africa - to visit one of my favoritest cousins and her family! (and see the Pyramids) Although I would love to visit Alaska too. :)

What are three places you'd like to visit before you die?

Europe (broad interpretation here!), Egypt, New Zealand... 

Have you been keeping up with the Republican primaries? Who would you choose for president and why? Yes & no. I see (WSJ)/hear (Rush Limbaugh) glimpses of what's going on, but I haven't purposefully been watching it. Um, and I think Santorum? But I don't really know, I haven't researched it at all....

Which type of poetry do you prefer: rhyming or blank/free verse?

Um, since I don't know what "blank/free" means, unless it means just non rhyming, I think it shows that I am totally too ignorant to answer that... I do enjoy poetry though!

Which movie are you most looking forward to this year?

I don't even know what movies are coming out that I should be looking forward to, but I would like to watch most of the movies that were featured on Sunday at the Oscars...

If you could have the powers of any superhero, which hero would it be?

The ability to fly! Peter Pan has always been my dream...

And for eleven random things:

1. My bedroom has a pretend patron saint, Saint Agnes

2. I like seasons.

3. And snow.

4. I really like to travel.

5. I am about to be in my 7th wedding as a bridesmaid.

6. I look horrible in white

7. I have a wardrobe instead of a closet in my room

8. I went to public school through 4th grade

9. Since my concussion one of my eyes goes straight up and down, the other at an angle. It's going to take a while to fix this...

10. I say carpet instead of rug.

11. My grandmother was my preschool teacher.

And that's all folks... It's time for me to go to bed! Thanks Lauren!

Day 60

1. & 2. Mom and I were drooling over these at Cutsforths. 
3. A nice stack of some of the library books I got 
4. Rootbeer floats to celebrate Jacob's reading progress
5. Rice pudding in progress
6. Snow! Maybe it will actually stick this time...
7. Not pictured: misc house projects, tidying up Dad's office, homemade Rubens for lunch, homeschooling, herding those silly sheep under cover!

Day 59

1. Visiting the Urban Farm Store with Hannah and the little Wolffies
2. A local community garden
3. Silas going down the slide at the playground near the community garden
4. Not pictured: Visiting the Chinese medicine man with Jacob, visiting & laughing with Christine, figuring out wedding plans with Rebekah!

Day 58

1. Waiting to meet with Scott's neurosurgeon. 
2. Crocuses in bloom in the Shaw's neighborhood
3. Noticing how nicely my shoes coordinated with the adjustment table
4. Not pictured: errands, Dr. K, watching the first part of French Kiss with Debbie, Rachel & mom at the Shaws/Shubins, Dr Z, a two hour nap (!), White Collar


Yesterday:
Church, Future Womans Camp luncheon in Ararat, shooting hoops, watching the Oscars with Tyler

Day 56

1., 2. &3. Spent various intervals of the day tending to baby lambs and herding sheep. Why do ewes insist on having lambs when its freezing? Last week it was practically balmy! All the ewes and lambs now have access to ample shelter from the rain/snow so hopefully we're good for the rest.


Lamb count: 6 - 1 =5 (one lamb got too cold last night)

Day 55

1. Lambs! We have baby lambs. So happy! Four so far. Three black and one white one with black socks and a black eye patch. So cute.
2. Crocuses
3. Amanda's birthday and lunch at Bob's Red Mill
4. Bangs. I got a much needed haircut and decided to take the plunge.
5. Not pictured: A neighbor over for a morning visit, the haircut, watching Downton Abbey*, Season Two, Episodes 2 &3 with Tyler, playing Dominion with Tyler


* Seriously, I'm not sure who could possibly not like this show. It's amazing. And I absoluetly adore Lady Grantham. Oh. My Word. If only I could be more like her.. then life would be perfect, right? I'm afraid I'm more like Lady Mary and the Dowager Countess in real life...argh. Well, I guess I've got a whole lifetime to work on it... or I could just marry an Earl.

Day 54

1. Trying to use my time profitably while waiting for Dr Z
2. On a walk, spotted a fun treehouse
3. And chickens in the same yard
4, Jacob discovering just how awesome Calvin & Hobbes are
5. Not pictured: Homeschooling, Costco, finally getting Home, watching Psych

Day 53

In narrative form today:
1. Went to the eye doctor today, and for the first time ever, my perscription didn't "significantly" change! Yay. BUT, very annoyingly, my contacts are too old and got trashed. So now comes the dilemma (which really isn't in the big picture of life). Do I a) keep the glasses I have, but don't like anymore ( I think my face is too narrow for them now) b) buy new glasses or c) buy new contacts. And if I buy new glasses, than which type? Do I go super trendy? Like hipster? Classic? Tortoise shell? In my picture I'm trying on hipster glasses for fun and looking at the photo I really like them... temptation! But I also have to remember that my eyes shrink to half their size because of my strong prescription.... oh, life is so tough. I think I'm going to wait until after I get my haircut on Friday to decide.

2. Working on my TOP SECRET PROJECT (TSP). It's not really, I just want to have substantial progress before I talk about it to much on here. But I did spend 10 minutes fiddling around with Scott's router trying to figure out how to get the bit and bushing in and was quite pleased that I eventually figured it out.

3. I also almost finished my jig for my TSP. So excited!

4. Not pictured: A major miracle happened today. I know, it deserves a picture, right? So here's the scoop. One of my favoritest dresses was a couple of sizes too big, so I decided to get it washed and put it in storage. Well, it accidentally went through the dryer (this would normally be a big oops that I go at great lengths to avoid with most of my clothes) and oh, my, goodness, it shrunk, but it perfectly so that I can now wear it!!! I'm so excited. I now have 5 Sunday dresses. Yay!  I can't get over it. Seriously people, it's a miracle.

And I think that just about wraps it up... people are still fighting the flu here. I'm trying not to succumb tonight just a little shaky and my dinner feels like it's sitting like a rock in my stomach. Hopefully I'll wake up well in the morning. :)

Books to read this year?

I just posted a comment on Janelle's blog on a post asking for book recommendations. This is what I wrote:

Sara

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

February 21, 2012 at 11:18 pm · Reply

I don’t read a lot of fiction, but if you are looking for easy to read non-fiction I would suggest books by Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers) Also, History of the World in Six Glasses (1.Beer, 2.Wine, 3.Coffee, etc) is fascinating. Julia Child’s My Life in France is great if you haven’t read that already. Last year I also enjoyed Moonwalking with Enstein (memory whizzes) and The Geography of Bliss. Looking forward to hearing about your finds!

This has got me thinking about books to read this year. And while I'm always on the look out for interesting non-fiction books, I'm also always trying to branch out and read more fiction....

I still need to finish Pilgrim's Progress. I keep getting sidetracked!
Alice keeps reminding me to try a Jasper Fforde book. I guess I should find out which one...
From talking to Joanna, and reading the comments on Janelle's post, I'm thinking about trying Hunger Games. I need to find someone to loan me a copy, I guess!
I'm also getting the urge to read a Grace Livingston Hill book, just because it's been so long, and they are incredibly fluffy for times when I don't want to think....

Day 52

1. Washing the potatoes that got dug up in October. They had been sitting in our garage. Like forever.
2. My gardening clogs look so good with my orange farm sweater.
3. Caulking the inside of a flower box
4. Brownies & milk, with a letter from Ellen!
5. Not pictured: My day getting completely rearranged ( I was supposed to go out for lunch with Scott and then Bible Study), praising the Lord that I haven't succumbed to the flu like the majority of my family and being thankful that no one is actually throwing up!, enjoying a free afternoon to just work on projects* that have been neglected since October *happy dance*, watching some Red October (love that movie!) and Monk, making brownies with Jacob, skyping with Rachel, watching New Girl


*Projects: I think I tend to like projects a little too much (I get obsessed) so when God gives me an afternoon to work on them it feels like a great big present! I'm learning to be thankful for little moments to work on my projects (and to not get sucked into them!).

Day 50

1. Stephen, aka, Baby cuteness overload during Sunday School...courtesy of Amanda

2. Not pictured: Church, visiting, praying for a friend who's almost two weeks overdue!, parish group with the Ayers, Poindexters, Lopezes, Shaws, Barnards, and Jonathan and Joanna staying super late!, and praying tonight that we all don't get the flu that's going around

Day 49

1. Andrew taking a break from cleaning (and shooing silly Sophie off of the freshly vacuumed couch and my freshly cleaned valances... naughty kitty)
2. Making twice baked potatoes for church
3. Ironing previously mentioned valances (this was after I had painted the tops with starch...)
4. Not pictured: Yoga class, lots of cleaning by me and some of my favorite young men, cooking for tomorrow and dinner, looking at some of Scott's 600+ pictures from Japan, Downton Abbey

Day 48

1. Topaz and the Bantam chickens

2. Not pictured: Schooling, deep cleaning, Trinity Arts Festival, Jacob's basketball game, Trinity Arts Festival again (which I totally forgot my phone and hence no pictures of all the amazing artwork and the beautiful springle... lame.) and then Andrew and Daniel's basketball game

Day 47

1. Hung up Dad's Christmas gift in his office
2. Went to the dentist
3. Not pictured: Not much else - schooling, walk around the pasture with Tyler, paperwork for Dad

I love Bloglovin!

Just claiming my blog on Bloglovin'.... So far it seems to be the easiest way to follow blogs (for me at least!)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 Has anyone else tried using  Bloglovin'? It took me a while to get used to it, but I like it better than anything else that I know of (mainly google reader)... I used to keep all of my blog links in my favorites, but my bookmarks are notorious for disappearing every few years...

Day 46 (Birthday!)

Today is my birthday! I had a lovely evening with three of my favorite ladies with whom I've been doing a Bible Study now for a little over a year. The picture above is from an outing we had in December to celebrate completing a year together. My mother then awesomely got it placed on a mug and gave one to each of us tonight. So fun!


Our outing was right before Christmas, and after taking an historical house tour we ended up at a Konditerei in Salem, where the picture was taken. You can't see it to well in this blurry photo, but the window has a swag with lights on it, which makes the picture so festive! And we all love how it says Desserts in the window... and you can tell we are holding our leftovers. :)


Most of the day I just puttered around leisurely... and cooked. For my birthday dinner, I made ginger pineapple glazed ham, mashed potatoes, and a spinach salad with candied walnuts, mushrooms & avocado. Christine brought the appetizers and Jeanne & Janna both made the amazing flourless Chocolate Cake. Tyler and Daniel (and Anna - my little friend) also lovingly helped with the food and then all the young men lovingly did dishes!

Musings on my birthday eve

So tomorrow is my birthday.

I've always had an interesting relationship with my birthday. I know this may sound odd, but I'm much better about enjoying my birthday than I used to be. I remember being quite young and not very excited to be having a birthday. Kind of backwards, huh? I chalk it up to being a control freak. Argh.

So, a while ago, I decided I needed to be better about enjoying it and I have been. Mostly it starts with being thankful. Which I think is even more important to remember when you're turning 27 (!) (eeks) and you're single.  ; ) Because if I don't start now, there will always be something for me to gripe about! Hopefully singleness won't always be the thing I'm tempted to be whine about and then of course, there will be something else that I will be tempted to focus on. It's amazing how that happens...

Also, between the new years and my birthday, I usually try to come up with a character attribute or two to focus on praying about this year. Usually it's something that God's laid on my heart that I'm miserably failing in and needs special focus. It's nice to know that I won't ever run out of attributes... right? So right now I'm working on a) sensitivity and b) less independent.

Sensitivity is kind of an interesting word, and I'm not sure if it's exactly mentioned in the bible. But I think what I mean by it could be similar to "lovingkindness"... Basically, just being more aware of other peoples. My mother (and probably my poor friends) will tell you that I'm not sure if I've ever picked up on a hint once in my life. And to be honest, I'd like to be more sensitive to that. I know that girls have a tendency to be too sensitive and I think I've kind of rebelled against that, so I'm going for a moderate approach.

And, yes, I'm working on my independent streak. Praising the Lord for not being independent is one of my new challenges. And really, it's a stupid mindset because are we ever really truly independent? Nope. And it probably boils down to selfishness and making it all about me. Dang-nab-it.

Isn't fascinating how often are weakness are our strengths taken to an extreme?

Day 45 (Valentine's Day)

1. An impromptu Valentines feast of Swedish Pancakes after everyone got home from basketball practice
2. Dad & Daniel playing with a new toy - a score board for HOOPS basketball games
3. Not pictured- running errands/doctors, a nap, watching Downton Abbey with Tyler 

Day 44

snippets

Boring things I'm thinking about right now...


1. Getting some bangs. I think it's time. I also want new glasses. Erm.

2. Watching the Grammys for maybe the second time in my life. Interesting. It's my impression that there's a lot more "curvier" girls on the music scene than there used to be...

3. The need to buy new clothes. I have one pair of pants that fit. Not good.

4. How amazing Courageous was compared to what it could've been. They've come along way!

5. How awkward it is going up for your birthday at church and no one else comes up. I thought I'd be safe; but the twins didn't come up.So thus I was up there all by myself. Argh. Oh well.

6. I didn't know Adele was British. Oops. And I like her dress. But not her hair.

7. Looking forward to playing the piano regularly again. The functional neurologist said it would be a good idea to start playing. Nice to have an excuse! Yay.

8. A good Sunday. Good sermon, some catching up with friends, having the Murrays, Poindexters & Erlands over for dinner. And some amazing apple cake with cream cheese frosting. mmmm.

Day 42 (a wedding!)

Today my dear friend Kate got married to a great guy, Scott. It was lovely.

1. The Toast

2. The Cake

3. The Eating of the Cake

4. The Dance (my high expectations were well satisfied... Kate teaches dancing, and in fact, I may take due credit for piquing her interest in dancing! So, Scott, you're welcome.)


5. Not pictured: Watching Courageous this evening and celebrating Jacob being a Cone for six years now! (feels like forever!)

Day 40 & 41

1. Sign of spring walking around the neighborhood

2. Pretty window box

3. Playing a fun game of Settlers with Winston & Bekki

Day 39

1. Crate & Barrel for wedding present
 2. Walking around downtown Hillsboro

3. Not pictured: Dr Z, babysitting* (well kind of), getting shakes & malts at the soda fountain in downtown Hillsboro, a fun  time chatting with Bekki (an exchange student from Switzerland)

*I'm babysitting in Hillsboro for 2 nights for a family that I've been babysitting for about once a year (or whenever the parentals want to get away for a few days) for about 15? years. They're getting kind of old now, so it's not really baby sitting anymore! And they have an exchange student living with them, so that makes it doubly fun!