I love coming up with characters and story plots. I even enjoy writing to a certain degree. Though, I will admit that I get annoyed with story writing rather quickly... I can't ever get very far. And worse yet, I don't feel in the least bit called to write novels. So, I have come to the hard decision to quit for now. I will write the occasional short story and I will be songwriting, but I will not be writing novels. I feel guilty. I know that a lot of you were enjoying my story, "The Goode Vaccine." I just cannot continue. I don't feel God in this at all. I feel more called to be a songwriter/musician. So, though I love stories, I don't know that I'm one who is supposed to be telling them. At least not yet. Maybe someday...
Now, this does not mean that I'm leaving Inklings. Like I said, I will write the occasional short story. I might even post some of my songs if y'all are interested.
Dies ist Hailey! C strings on violas are kewlness. Arthur is Arthur!! ! I don't like "the twelve days of Christmas". Taylee's List goes like this
1. Adam
2. Arthur
3. Alex
4. Woody
5. Sam
6. Mr. Darcy
Poor Alex was in second place for just one night, but then we finished Widdle Dorrit and then Arthur took his place, poor guy!! Taylee just said "oooooh ARTHUR......" and "swooned". I think she loves him more than Adam, but she says it's not true. POOR JOHN!! AMY BROKE HIS WIDDLE HEART BUT SHE DIDN'T MEAN TO!!!
Cashews taste good. REAL GOOD. :-) Oranges taste better. The Boogy man in nightmare before Christmas is FREAKY. 0_________0
I don't know where Lichtenstein is. It's in Europe somewhere unless it's in Asia, which it's not. I'm an electrician from Cahson Citi. I 'lectrcute houses. There ain't no hosses in Cahson Citi. They're all up in..... Lake Tahoe New Yowk. JUST SETTLE DOWN. DON'T SHOOT I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! We were Joe. Bang. I AIN'T GOIN. My cowboy hat is kewl and I turn it to a..... TRIANGLE at the end...... LIKE A CUTE WIDDLE TRIANGLE TURNED UP NOSE! Garden hoses are random. Really random. Like the most random thing in the world probably. Alex sings coolness. Not the Alex on the list, the other one. The one on the list don't sing. :-) His brother does, his youngest brother. But not like Alex does. ;-) Alex's brothers don't sing, though. Only when forced to, which is um yesh. GRIIIIIIM REALITY BROTHERS, GRRRRRRRIM REALITY!!!!!!!! You sang good! No I didn't!
I run into misfortunes with naming my characters in stories. Um, but I can't tell y'all why cos it has to stay *quiet* cos they (not the characters, real peoples) don't want the whole world to KNOW WAHAHAHA. My name is Ricky Telephone. You should meet my daughter, Elijah Berryhound. ELIJAH!!!!!!!!! I love warm, soft Bettys. They are warm and soft. Well they are! Vita. meata. vegamin. That's Vita. meata. vegamin. ;-D Um, it's scary to be in trouble with someone who you think you're in trouble with, but then you're not, and it's okay, but still scary cos it was SCAAARY!!!!!!!!! I am not Mr. Pancks. Or Mr. Casby. Ho hohohhohoho. I cut thy beard.
We have new baby goats! But two died, and one is still living, and two were born yesterday! They both look really well. They are the same color, so it might be hard to tell which one is which! We haven't named them yet, but the other one that was born on Thursday, is names Ernie. My big sister was going to name him after a composer, but that was too hard for everyone to name. So she just names him Ernie. :-P One that died didn't have a name, but the other lived longer, but it was not doing well, and my sister names him Squirt, but then he died. The Mama wasn't being a very good Mama. Our Alpacas were being good to them tho! They were licking them off! LOL! Well, please pray that the most recent born ones will still live! There Mama is being very,very good to them. My sister said that she was giving the goats feed, and the goats LOVE feed, but the Mama wouldn't go because she needed to care for her babys! Well, better go! Merry Christmas! I can't believe there is only 5 more days till' Jesus's birthday!
It is early this Sunday morning - our dog, Jack, woke me up a little bit before 4:30 a.m. to take him outside. I am often woke up like this - not by my dog, necessarily, but other kinds of noises. I always take this as my alarm clock from Him, waking me and calling me to prayer. I love to get up early and have generous amounts of time, to take everything to Him in prayer.
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It is mornings like this I cherish. I not only had copious amounts of time to pray, but I was able to have personal devotions in the book of Malachi; time to write in my journal; and now, time to write to you. Time to blog, and the ability to connect, has been difficult these past few months. I have been so busy trying to catch up my blog with the "big events" that have happened in our family, I have not been able to keep current with the daily things.
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I am looking forward to completing all of the "big events" - I have a few more to go, including the Victorian Tea Party that Rachel hosted with her friends for a birthday party for her younger sister, Ruthie. Other things have happened - like getting to know fellow blogger, Ruth Fleming, in real life. We visited her farm in Tennessee in late August - and have been back to Tennesse three different times since then. Our husbands became good friends, our children got along fabulously. We have taken an acquaintance on the blog world and incorporated them into our real world. I'd like to write about that, eventually.
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Our family has changed significantly in the past few months. The best way to put it is that we've all dedicated ourselves to Him in a way that has never happened before. We've changed our dress codes. We've changed the music that we listen to. Were more committed to keeping the Sabbath in an unprecented way. We look forward to the coming new year and making His holidays, the Biblical Feasts, a priority in our schedules.
In the past few months, we have cancelled our subscription to cable televsion. In fact, our T.V. set has gone virtually unused, and not even the public t.v. stations make it to our living room. We purged our movies, our cd's, and my own book collection. We went to thrift stores and Good Will in order to quickly (and cheaply) re-vamp our wardrobes.
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I'm contemplating changing the top picture of our blog - I know, your thinking - it's about time!
I kept that picture up there just because it is a favorite of mine and although we've had family pictures since then, that just happened to be my favorite. But the picture on top no longer represents what our family looks like - and not just because we've added four more grandchildren and one daughter-in-law. Over the coming weeks, with the goal of Jan.1, 2010, I hope to have all the "big events" updated, and the picture on top gone (but with what picture to replace it with, I haven't a clue yet.)
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My daughter Rachel, has started to blog again. You might see our family through a different prism of light through the writings of my teenage daughter. If you leave her a comment, I'm sure she'd appreciate the encouragement (like we all do.)
On my list to write about:
The Week of Tabernacles (a Biblical Holiday in October) that we spent honoring in Tennessee and met new friends. This week, and the week we spent at Bill Gothard's seminar (Basic Life Principles) ,in August, has changed our entire family.
Ruthie's Birthday party - A Victorian Tea - that her sister planned and hosted.
My blogger friend, Ruth, now a "real life" friend, and our visits with their family.
The way were celebrating Christmas this year
Our recent trip (just this past week) to the Wisconsin Dells - our friends hosted us at their time-share resort condo.
The book that I am reading right now on marriage that I LOVE and highly recommend!
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Dec. 20, 2009
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Some pictures [if I can get this to work...]
Posted By
Syd
Here are some loverly peekchurs of our day, the snow, and the gingerbread [actually gram cracker] houses! This is my gingerbread [gram cracker] house...er outhouse! It was Dad's idea actually. But I had so much fun making it. No one ever told me I was lacking in originality! [the toilet paper roll is a white jelly bean and the seat is gram crackers and a butterscotch hard candy. The bushes outside are green icing-covered really really really fake fruit thinys and the rest I think you can tell.] [and yes, that is my huge hand holding it]... I still can't believe I actually made a gram cracker outhouse...... I wonder if I was the first.... =D
This is our little village that we made. Arabella made the cabin[ which in my personal opinion is the best!], Mom made the doghouse [it says "Buck" for all those who don't know. That is our dog.] and I made the outhouse. The cabin is made out of gram crackers for the base and fence and roof. The door is icing and twizlers, the 'wood' is tootsie rolls [as is the snow shovel or the 'snovel' as I was made fun of for saying] and the chimney, path and roof are chocolate. The dog house is just gram crackers and icing. Mom later made a woddshed but we haven't gotten pictures of that yet...
This is my dog Buck trying to run through a saint bernard-sized snow with beagle-sized legs =) It was hilarious to watch.
This is the front of our house and that's mom's car. Yes, it really is over half way up mom's tires =) Also notice it on the seat of the picnic table.
This is my and my beautiful sisters. That was at a resturant and no, the outfits were not coordinated. It was all by accident =) [l-r me, Poe, Arabella]
This is a really weird formation that occoured on our deck. Cool don't ya think??
And here is the last... Dad got out his old jeep truck and pulled us on a sled. That was some of the most awesome fun. We fell off a million times but that was the best of the fun. Buck had a great time too... chasing us! He is a great dog.
Well that's all!!! I'm so glad I finally figured out how to post pictures!!!!
See y'all!
;-)Syd
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Dec. 19, 2009
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"What's worth the price is always worth the fight."
Posted By
Pip
Someone should write a book of prompts for blogposts. I literally sat here for five minutes without rational musings or logical bits of brilliance leaping to my fingers. *wild laughter* I've read way too many blogs with dull openings; the first sentence should create an impression that represents the post as a whole. But enough of this blah. Due to the disgracefully un-recent date to the last ramble on here, I have decided to once again haunt the cyber public. *shoves on nerdy glasses and gives her Reader a toothpaste commercial smile with sparkles and a blast of classical music*
The past two weeks have been a whirl of activity; the Jack Tale Players have had multiple performances which all require rehearsals and lengthy trips in a very old van. The director has also been running several performances of his Christmas play and I was one of the volunteers he had serving in the 'dinner' section of the dinner theatre. I've never tried my hand at waitressing, so it was a bit WOOOOOoooh at first but I warmed up to dashing back and forth with coffee and iced tea pitchers. Both Camirryn and Dadsy were waiters at one time, so I got some pointers in that regard. December has also brought me a singularly thrilling/terrifying experience: movie audition. *watches the Reader fall over dead* Paramount is remaking 'True Grit', an old John Wayne western, and they were having an open casting call for the state I live in. I prayed about it and my parents and I eventually came to the same conclusion that hey, I might as well. So Dadsy drove me up to the theatre they were holding the audition at and we stood in line for, I kid you not, three hours. Two cups of coffee were consumed in those three hours spent hopping around to ward off the cutting winds, not to mention an actual alley stretching out from our slow-moving meander to the glass double doors and a ton of normal girls who could honestly care less whether they made a professional impression (which they didn't to us, the ever-innocent bystanders). They had me fill out a form, rant at a casting director about who I was and why they should consider me (the rant lasting for a grand total of thirty seconds), and then we struck off on the long, snowy road back home. Drive for three hours, stand in line for three hours, talk for thirty seconds, drive for three hours. It was an eventful day. But I had a blast, despite unexplainable breathlessness and shaky legs as we walked out of the theatre, my eyes still scorched from the casting director's stony glare. *grins* I'm glad I was able to try out; I can technically claim to have auditioned for the lead role in a Hollywood movie.
I was asked by Momsie last week about the topic of a persuasion paper that would address one of the cultural issues I found lacking in justice. Years of observation has shown me an extremely troubling truth, one of those nasty little details that modern culture strives to cover with weak arguments which, shockingly enough, had been embraced by the crushing majority. Call me dramatic but this is one of those things which lurks behind prejudice! I'm speaking of the immediate assumption people make that homeschoolers are stupid. Count yourself fortunate if you've never had this blatantcy tossed in your face. I once heard these obstacle aptly described as a cross to be borne. One doesn't think about preconceived notions against the value of home educating when they think of persecution, but think about it: Johnny is educated outside of the government-financed school systems, he's not accepting the generous educational standards offered by the public school systems, thereby obviously not getting the correct or sufficient education he requires/deserves/shouldhavehad, so Johnny is stupid. Nice logic, huh? Not. I'm not out to flame public school systems, only state my opinion because I believe it should be addressed. If I were to write a persuasion paper, this would probably be the topic because no good argument can thrive without passionate belief in your viewpoint. Personally, I think that unless circumstances are such that the parents cannot educate their own child, communication between family members and the standard of education would be higher if Johnny was taught by his own parents, learning their world views and building his own based on the biblical values so savagely discarded from mainstream education. We lose ourselves to the constant stream of what beneficial citizens should behave like and discover that home educating is generally discouraged. Because of course, Johnny would learn better in a big classroom surrounded by detached peers, taught by an impartial teacher with an 'approved' curriculum (approved by whom, I might add? Is it possible that these teachers and the writers of their textbooks have world views which might conflict with the world view Johnny's parents wish to install within his heart and mind?), drenched in the cultural norm day after day instead of staying home and developing good character and a strong relationship with his family. I've noticed that when a homeschooler makes some sort of mistake, blame automatically falls on his parents for having raised him in such a fashion, or on the fact that he was homeschooled. And then when a public schooled or culturally accepted person messes something up, people are quick to make excuses because he was shoved into the ever-encompassing Flow. I thought the world owes us nothing. Apparently conformity is owed much! Why is it that those who set their gaze on heaven, rather than earth, are the ones to whom nothing is owed? Homeschoolers aren't robots without emotions, that the norm may slap a label bearing 'STOOPID' on and then throw away for useless. This rant shall now be ended. On a fringe note for this segment, I'd love to hear your opinion on this. The Hideaway has been very silent lately; what are your thoughts? Is there such a thing as an ideal mind, a cerebral level that a 'beneficial citizen' might chase after? If so, is it reached by public school systems, personal soul-searching, homeschooling or something else? Feel free to bash anything I've said. Opposition builds determination, does it not?
Our plans to go Christmas shopping were dramatically altered when it began snowing early this afternoon...and never stopped. The flakes are coming down in lashing sheets! In the almost-four years we've lived in this house, we've never had so much fluffy, milky, beautiful snow! The Girls and I were thrilled, running from one window to another and squeaking with delight at how much the drifts had grown since our last window-check. Falling snow is insanely inspiring. Which is a good thing, because my writing has recently dragged me through a laundry wringer, then chained me to a persnickety computer and shoved a leaky pen into my weary fingers. Exaggeration? I think not. I get into these weird moods where I doubt I'm even qualified to call myself a writer, and begin begging God to either blast me away with mad inspiration or distract me so I will quit worrying. I seriously can't imagine NOT writing, seeing as how when I don't write much of anything for a single day (*gasp*), I get all scared that maybe the words will one day just dry up and my fingers will curl idly around the handle of my cup brimming with tepid tea. Lately my writing has really suffered, whether from lack of time/inspiration, or from sheer exhaustion in trying to glean words from a scene where nothing.is.happening. This book is...a tad slow. So I threw in a rather violent curve of plot, which seemed to help. I am back on track and happily banging away the hours, loosely following my outline (*frowns at the wild laughter from her Reader and ahems*) towards a twelve-year-skip-ahead. My satisfaction is fragile when it comes to this particular book; it's given me way too much trouble sofar for me to say I'm now on safe ground.
This wraps up my month-spanning summary. I could bore you with piddling details, such as the fact that I now own an actual black cloak (*pleased smirk*) that I'm soon going to freak Wal-Mart employees out with, or the fact that I've already done a year's schoolwork, or the pros and cons of being iced in for a couple days so that we find it necessary to walk down our very long driveway to the mailbox (pro being the beautiful scenery and a nice sister-sister talk with Katsy, con being there was no mail on account of the crazy amount of snow we got this afternoon)...but what is imagination for? I hope your own life is going as colorfully.
Merry CHRISTmas!
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Saturday, December 19, 2009
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Washing Dishes By Hand
Posted By
Alison
Sometimes progress isn't always the best thing. For several years we've used the dishwasher to wash our dishes. Well, most of them. Of course there were always the dishes left over that couldn't go in the dishwasher for one reason or another, so my sister (or Mom) was stuck washing them. Why not me? you ask. Ha. It was my sister's job, that's why! Up until recently, it was my job to empty the dishwasher. This happened daily, sometimes twice a day.
Well, a few months ago, Mom decided we were going to quit using the dishwasher. Just an experiment to see if it made any difference on our electric bill. We kids (I was, at least) were skeptical, but went along with it cheerfully enough. Surprisingly - I found I love washing dishes! We quickly worked out a schedule. Emily is to wash the breakfast dishes, Elisabeth and I do the lunch dishes, and Amy and Mom do the supper dishes. It works out pretty well!
And what do you know? It does make a difference on the electric bill! I guess that means we have an inefficient dishwasher. I'm not kidding about enjoying dishwashing, either. There are so many advantages! First off, We don't have to have all those non-dishwasher-compatible dishes piling up on the counter in between meals. The counter seems to be "freer" of dishes, which I like. The warm water feels good on my cold fingers (just so long as it's not too hot!). And it's nice to do the dishes with a sister. Our home does not have to be filled with the sounds of a super loud dishwasher. No one has to empty the dishwasher!
One more thing - we don't run out of knives anymore! That might not seem like a big deal. But we used to be running out of knives constantly, it seems. Now that the dishes get washes more often than once a day (in theory at least, right?), the cupboards are more full of dishes.
So you see, technology isn't always that much better. In this case, I think washing by hand is better. That doesn't mean I'm going to start washing clothes by hand, though. Don't get any funny ideas.
1. What are your favorite Christmas cookies to make? Snickerdoodles, and a lot of other kinds!
2. Have you ever had a "White Christmas?" Not that I remember, but the rest of my family has when I wasn't born.
3. What is your favorite Christmas alubum? Umm, I don't know!
4.Do you have everyone's Christmas present? Not yet. I still have to by for my two friends and my sister.
5. Have you ever gone caroling? No.
6. Stay at home or go somewhere for Christmas? Stay home!
7. Is your birthday near a Holiday? It is a few days after Valentines Day.
8. Do you have lights on your house? No.
9. Do you have crazy Christmas decorations in your front yard, (Blow up santa's, giant snow globes, etc...)?
Ehhh, no.
10. Fudge or Cookies? FUDGE!!
11. What are three things on you Christmas list? An American girl horse for my doll, and new dress for her, and one of her books.
12. Is there always an orange in the bottom of your stocking? No.
13. Do you have a traddition for Christmas eve? Yes, we always go to a Christmas Eve sirvice, and my Grandparents come up here, ( But they have moved next door to us! So they don't have to drive two hours! ) And we open the presents that us kids have bought for each other.
14. Favoriite Christmas book? Jesus's birth!
I will tag: Sunshine, Okiegirl, and Penguinlover! Merry Christmas!
Yesterday we got to go to the Hoover Dam!!! It was soooo fun. The panorama above is facing the water opposite of the dam. I didn't even think of getting a panorama on that side... To post all the pics I took I turned them all into collages... It's easier that way. :-) The first one is all the pictures (well not all... I got rid of some) that I took when we dropped my dad off at a bike trail. Sorry these backgrounds are white. I was having such a hard time not freezing up the computer any time I tried something that I finally gave up. :-p
Then after that we went to the library. It was so nice. Every few inches there was another old book. I love old books and our librarian has admitted to us that our library keeps up with the newer books. :-p So I got a ton of them. This collage is random pics from the library. Somewhere in the mess of pics is a picture of a book quilt that was hanging in there. It was so neat looking!
After the library, we went to a small museum. The lighting wasn't the best for pictures so I didn't get very many good ones... I liked it because it was a hands on museum and you were allowed to touch everything. :-)
Then we stopped back at the bike trail, ate lunch and picked up my dad and we all headed to the dam. It's hard to see how big it is until you see the worker's cars down at the bottom. They were tiny! The bottom right hand picture here is a bunch of men in a cage hanging over the bridge being built. That bride is almost more interesting than the dam! To me at least. :-)
The trip ended with this last picture on the way home. Notice the for sale sign behind the bush on the right. Want to come live out here? It comes furnished! (see the chair?) We'd love to have you.
It snowed all day yesterday and last night, and there is a lot of snow on the ground right now! We played in it all morning! We got about six to eight inches. In Bakersville there was about 10 to 12 inches! That's a lot! It was so hard too. My Mom said that there was a lot of sleet, so that is what made it so hard. Well, Have fun in the snow! Merry Christmas!
Hi!!! I'm Jekara. I LOVE Haflinger Horses! I'm in 8th grade.(home schooled) My interests are: 4-H, Horses, God, friends, Sports, (NOT Baseball or Football) and a lot of other stuff. well, I hope u all like my blog!
This is my gingerbread [gram cracker] house...er outhouse! It was Dad's idea actually. But I had so much fun making it. No one ever told me I was lacking in originality! [the toilet paper roll is a white jelly bean and the seat is gram crackers and a butterscotch hard candy. The bushes outside are green icing-covered really really really fake fruit thinys and the rest I think you can tell.] [and yes, that is my huge hand holding it]... I still can't believe I actually made a gram cracker outhouse...... I wonder if I was the first.... =D
This is our little village that we made. Arabella made the cabin[ which in my personal opinion is the best!], Mom made the doghouse [it says "Buck" for all those who don't know. That is our dog.] and I made the outhouse. The cabin is made out of gram crackers for the base and fence and roof. The door is icing and twizlers, the 'wood' is tootsie rolls [as is the snow shovel or the 'snovel' as I was made fun of for saying] and the chimney, path and roof are chocolate. The dog house is just gram crackers and icing. Mom later made a woddshed but we haven't gotten pictures of that yet...
This is my dog Buck trying to run through a saint bernard-sized snow with beagle-sized legs =) It was hilarious to watch.
This is a really weird formation that occoured on our deck. Cool don't ya think??
Dad got out his old jeep truck and pulled us on a sled. That was some of the most awesome fun. We fell off a million times but that was the best of the fun. Buck had a great time too... chasing us! He is a great dog. 
Up until recently, it was my job to empty the dishwasher. This happened daily, sometimes twice a day.
