Sunday, January 28, 2007
Dang it. (Just imagine Napolean saying it.)
My computer, aka the laptop that we've had pretty much since the dinosaurs were around (or at least, in computer years... it's like 6 years old or something incredibly ancient like that!!) is a humongous pain in the patootie to use doing anything, like uploading pics or look at a blog or enter a response on a message board or type an email... ugh.

The old dear is getting to the point where she decides to just crash right in the middle of the day. Lovely.

SO- if updates are scarce from me, have no fear- I'm not dead, rather, my computer is. ;)

However, the income tax refund gods have been kind to us this year (yay for having kids!) and we will hopefully be upgrading to a new 'puter very soon.

as my gingy would say: "yay for yay!"

in other news, these are the things i'm enjoying this week:

-"bergdorf blondes", an audio book that promises lots of frivolous fashion talk and chic-lit fun, to listen to whilst i scrapbook
-the march kit from crop addict that arrived on friday (woohoo!)
-a brand new little planner from walmart that i can utilize to organize my thoughts & plans to take over the world
-the aforementioned good news regarding our taxes this year
-looks at products from the CHA floor here and here
-fitting into my pre-Emerson pregnancy clothes again! :)
-my straightening iron (it just makes for a good hair day)
-getting a day out every week by working at the Guest List
-reservations for the kids at Hotel Grandma for a getaway weekend for us in the near future
-and the traditional faves [clean home, stack o' library books, snuggly kids, and handsome chef that doubles as my husband]

things that are not so good this week:

-poop. foot stepping in poop. >:(
-waking up multiple times a night due to teething and/or thirsty kid
-fuREEZing temps without the promise of snow
-sad stuff... angry stuff...regretting stuff... hurtful stuff
-computer shutting down in the middle of emailing. grrr.


later dudes. i have hilarious pics of em wearing shaun's boxers (from the clean laundry pile), atticus being subjected to sisterly antics, jamming on the headphones, and multiple other things, but those will have to wait for a time when my connection is not so unreliable. :)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
You think you know me?
Compliments of Andy

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Lifeguard & Swim Instructor

2. Server at Johnny Rocket's

3. Nanny

4. Church Secretary


Movies I would watch over and over:

5. 10 Things I Hate About You

6. Garden State
7. Nig
htmare Before Christmas
8. Amelie


Four places you have lived:

9. Columbu
s, GA
10. Goppingen, Germany

11. Wake Forest, NC

12. Birmingham, AL


Four places you have been on vacation:

13. New Orleans, LA
14. Charleston, SC

15. Austria

16. Dallas, TX

Four of my favorite foods are:
17. Chocolate
18. Focaccia Bread

19. French Fries
2
0. Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo


Four places I would rather be right now:

21. in the library, curled up in the corner with a book
22. Scrap Etc. (1 or 2)

23. At the beach

24. At my scrapbooking desk

Four friends I think will respond:

25. Michelle
26. Mar
y H.
27. Nanny Peeker

28.YOU!


play with me!
copy and paste on your own blog.
delete my answers and insert your own.

have fun!


Oh yeah- and the Feb. gallery is up at Crop Addict! G
o check it out! :)

Here are afew sneak peeks of my contributions...

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Monday, January 15, 2007
In the spirit of a good book..
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Your Result: Dedicated Reader

You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.

Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm

Literate Good Citizen

Book Snob

Fad Reader

Non-Reader

What Kind of Reader Are You?
Create Your Own Quiz


I tend to read YA {Young Adult} fiction, and this is why:

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/?p=447
(make sure to read the comments too)

or, as sherwood smith says so succintly in the comments of the aforementioned blog entry,

YA usually includes trying to figure out how the world works, and one’s place in it—adult is coming to grips with the world one already knows.

YA can be about possibility—adult is usually admonishing the reader to accept the limits of a perceived reality.


YA can play, and humans are healthy who play—adult literature that gets praised for being adult says play is childish, and one must be serious.


One of the many reasons why I love YA fiction... or another reason:

YA is never about a middle-aged professor who has affairs with his students
Heheh.. :)

So anyways, the point of all of this is that last year, I made a goal to read 52 books (or, an average of one book a week). I believe I came short of the goal by 1 book. Poopoo. ;)

So I'm going for it again. So far- 5 books read in 2007. I'm well on my way.

Here's a brief summary of what I've read:

Maximum Ride- about a group of Avian-Human hybrid kids who are trying to escape their cruel scientist captors and save the world, etc etc. In places, the writing is a wee bit juvenile- as in tipping on the middle school side of the scale- but since the book is a pretty hefty number of pages and the actual plot is promising, it's pretty entertaining. Deals with genetic experiments, trust, leadership, and corporate/government conspiracies.

The Devil Wears Prada- checked this out from the audio downloads at the library and fully enjoyed being able to listen to a book while doing stuff around the home. Not too much substance with this one, but totally entertaining and fun chick read. Looking forward to watching this one on DVD as well. :)

Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever- the sequel to the first book in the list, it definitely develops the plot more and we see the characters become a little more three-dimensional (although the still seem to be pretty stereotypical and flat at times). An interesting thing that is combined with this book is a "real-life" blog that one of the characters "writes" and you can keep up with the story or additional clues to the plot in the time before the next book release. I find it interesting that more books & movies & tv shows are using that as marketing for their products (a la LOST).

Boy Proof - I picked this one up due to a review I read at Bookshelves of Doom. It's basically about a misfit girl who is obsessed with a character in a Sci-Fi movie. She dresses up as her, talks like her, the whole shebang. But as the story develops, so does Victoria and the layers to her character unfold... basically a new twist on the ol' "coming of age" story. What appealed to me was the understated way in which things were described and facts were revealed to the reader- the author never put it in your face, never spelled it all out for you. With comments here and there, the reader was able to put things together; I like that. I'm smart- I don't have to be told someone is lonely or has social problems due to the fact that she skipped a grade and has dysfunctional parents or whatnot.

Show me by the actions and words of the character, don't tell me about it.

/rant.

Peaches- along the lines of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," this is a fun teen read for girls (I would say in the 15 or 16 age range). Although it mentions some mature subjects from time to time, the focus in this story is how friendship can develop between the most unlikely people, and how friendship can change you. May be silly and fun and cheesy, but the underlying truths in this book are true for any age. I really enjoyed it, to be honest... one of those guilty pleasures (like "Bridget Jones' Diary). And I discovered that the sequel to it was just released in December, so I will be stalking my library for that soon. :)

I have many many more reading related comments to make, but this is probably enough for one day. Hehe.

And if you are still reading this, leave a comment about your favorite book related memory- or favorite book- from that golden age of being not quite adult, but not quite child anymore. :)
one manly, hairy leg.
i got my cast off.

I GOT MY CAST OFF!


woooooohoooooooooooooo!


...and now, I must leave you all to go exfoliate & shave this horrid, Golum looking thing.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Photos from the week
Some creative things:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

some cute things:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

some {pretty} friend things:

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

love having willing subjects for my experiments... er i mean... photography. :)
just a warning...
i may get a little "blog-crazy" these next few weeks after my self-imposed withdrawal from the internet world for a while. :) i needed the break, and some time of introspection, but it's time to get back into the real world and the regular grind of things.

soooo... how's 'bout an update?

-i get my cast off tomorrow, hallelujah! although it made a great new chic accessory, i'm a wee bit tired of trying to match up flat shoes with it. oh yeah, and the whole not-being-able-to-drive thing. yeah. that part pretty much sucked.
-i have discovered that i have several sweet friends who will not only put up with me, but are willing to drive out to my house multiple times and pick me up or keep me company so i won't get too much of a bad case of cabin fever.

(anybody remember that silly musical number from the Muppet's "Treasure Island" - I've got Cabin Fever!... ok see? just another sign of too many days cooped up with wee ones.)
eta


-i had a marvelous Christmas.. way too much to sum up, but i'm looking forward to taking experiences from this past year and applying them to next year and finding more peace at Christmastime.

-emerson dug Christmas. especially the gifts & eating parts.
-atticus decided to bust all up into the New Year with cutting his first two teeth, learning how to crawl, eating finger foods, and saying "daddadadaddadadda"

-i'm in the mood to create. been playing with the feb. kit at crop addict and having lots of fun and getting psyched for valentine's day.

-enjoying my mp3 player and the fact that i can download free audio books from jclc.org (just finished listening to "the devil wears prada" and really love that i can "read" while scrapbooking. i don't think it gets much better than that.)

-getting really really really excited about the Scrap Etc. Event {2007}... it's like, mere weeks away! (not too late to register just in case you want to take classes from kristina contes, jenni bowlin, alison tyler jones, robin johnson, stacy julian, and heather preckel.)


yeah... lovin' this blogging again. i missed it. i missed you guys. thanks for all of the love and support and prayers (and even goodie packages- thanks muchos karen!) to keep me going.

see ya on the flip side. ;)
trust & control
finally.

my mind is clear of the fog, and i am back into reality. how is it that God created us to be so complex? it seems to me like you can put in so many different factors and variables, and end up with different results every time.

the current equation was all sorts of things... teaching me about pride and control and trust.

as in, my pride makes me want to control everything in my life so that i appear perfect, but i'm not fooling anyone, let alone God.

as in, that little thing called *trust* where i have to give up all of those things that i want to control, and trust God to handle them.

(what- you're saying that the Creator of the universe and a gentle and loving Savior can actually be trusted to love and care for the things I care deeply about? pshaw.)

anyways... it's been a long road the last few weeks, and i know myself well enough at this point to know it's going to be a journey 'til the end of my days, but i feel like i am learning. and maybe, just maybe, it's actually starting to stick.

it helps to have a dash of humility foisted upon you as well.

so i want to dedicate this post to my husband, who has stuck by me for 6 and 3/4 years thus far, and sees the ugly in me daily. even when i think i'm covering it up pretty well, the "make-up" just doesn't work for him. he always has been more into the "natural girl" look anyways.

thank you for loving me. thank you for being my friend. thank you for caring about us.

here's to many more years of
ups and downs and
learning to peel back my facade and
laughing at silly rituals and
discussing books and
eating your culinary creations and
looking together with love at little people in our family and
waking up together and
leaning on Jesus and
figuring out what relationships consist of.

(and not so much of the me complaining and nagging about things. )

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Friday, January 05, 2007
alive but barely
just wanted to check in to say i'm still alive but hanging on by a thread.

got a heck of a cold and feeling pretty crummy... dealing with a bunch of emotional stuff too.

ever feel like you are under attack or something?

anyways... things should be back to normal sooner or later and i will get back to blogging soon.

trying to remember to color my thoughts with the brightest hues- but it's dang hard at the moment.