This might be a little redundant...

But I couldn't pass up this cute sign.

in my kitchen...

Living Room

Here is my ugly carpet.

Since replacing or tearing it up is not an option we had to work with it.

A lot of our living room furniture is black... And we also had a lot of burgundy things.We covered the rocking chair with the burgundy.

Made some pillows... (yes, I know there are still pins in that pillow...) Actually, it all turned out pretty cute!

Katie also made this darling curtain for the front door. Here's some closeup detail.

More Pirates...

Here's The Modern Major General number from the Pirates of Penzance... with SUBTITLES!!! which is fantastic... especially at the end when he sings it so fast you can't understand a word... but, it's really amazing!!!

Here's an interesting tid-bit. Gilbert and Sullivan wrote Pirates while they were in America involved in a different kind of piracy. Copyright piracy. See America "pirated" their last opera "HMS Pinafore" changed a bunch of things and didn't pay any royalties. So, while Gilbert and Sullivan were over in New York investigating... they penned another opera... on the subject of piracy.

My Peeps...

You wouldn't believe how heavy this boy isSee what happened when Luke let go???

We call it "The Slide"

Our boys think they are super heroes

I think this is the "Buzz Lightyear" pose... but it might be "Superman"...

more house pictures

Bathroom

Sisters

Piano

My kitchen

Steph helped me remove the cabinet doors above the sink so we could have a shelf for cute things
Teeny-tiny stove

Baker's Rack

Pirates of Penzance - With cat-like tread

From Gilbert and Sullivan's ingenius opera "The Pirates of Penzance"
With Cat Like Tread- forte.... :-)


here's the lyrics for anyone that doesn't know them.

PIRATES: With cat-like tread, Upon our prey we steal;
In silence dread, Our cautious way we feel.
No sound at all! We never speak a word;
A fly's foot-fall Would be distinctly heard--

POLICE: (softly) Tarantara, tarantara!

PIRATES: So stealthily the pirate creeps,
While all the household soundly sleeps.

Come, friends, who plough the sea,
Truce to navigation; Take another station;
Let's vary piracee With a little burglaree!

POLICE: (softly) Tarantara, tarantara!

SAMUEL: (distributing implements to various members of the gang)
Here's your crowbar and your centrebit,
Your life-preserver--you may want to hit!
Your silent matches, your dark lantern seize,
Take your file and your skeletonic keys.

POLICE: Tarantara!

PIRATES: With cat-like tread

POLICE: Tarantara!

PIRATES: in silence dread,

ALL (fortissimo): With cat-like tread, Upon our prey we steal;
In silence dread, Our cautious way we feel.
No sound at all! We never speak a word;
A fly's foot-fall Would be distinctly heard!

Come, friends, who plough the sea,
Truce to navigation; Take another station;
Let's vary piracee With a little burglaree!

With cat-like tread, Upon our prey we steal,
In silence dread, Our cautious way we feel.



Another good place to hear this song... if you come over to my house... and all my sisters are there... and if the upstairs neighbor isn't home...

The only thing better than apple cider on a fall evening....

Is HOT apple cider on a fall evening...

Mozarella Meat Rolls

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 egg
3/4 cup cracker crumbs (or croutons or whatever you have.. I used crushed Doritos....)
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce (or spaghetti sauce, or salsa, or anything tomato based, actually)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. oregano
at this point I suggest adding whatever spices you like. I like Spike. red pepper flakes are good too.... whatever you want
2 cups shredded mozzarella (mozz is really the best, but cheddar works, too)
1/2 cup brown sugar


Combine beef, egg, cracker crumbs, onions, half of the tomato sauce and oregano. Shape on waxed paper (or aluminum foil) into a 10x12 inch rectangle. or something like that... :-) (like a jellyroll) Sprinkle cheese on and roll up into a 10 inch long roll and place in a greased bread pan. (remove the foil or waxed paper or whatever you used.) Pour 1/2 cup brown sugar into the remaining tomato sauce, then pour all over the top of the meat. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 min.

I love The Incredibles!

BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE)

The robot's in the financial district. Which exit do I
take?

HELEN (ELASTIGIRL)

Traction Avenue.

BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE)
That'll take me downtown. I take Seventh, don't I?

HELEN (ELASTIGIRL)

Don't take Seventh!

BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE)

Great, we missed it!

HELEN (ELASTIGIRL)

You asked me how to get there and I told you. Exit at
Traction!

BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE)

That'll take me downtown!

HELEN (ELASTIGIRL)

He's coming up! Get in the right lane! Signal!

BOB (MR. INCREDIBLE)

Not Traction!

HELEN (ELASTIGIRL)

You're gonna miss it!

I stole this from Katie's blog

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Rebecca
2. Jak
3. Becca

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU'VE HAD
1. flowershopgirl
2. ditto
3. ditto

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF
1. physical things???
2. like the way I look????
3. hmmm...... oh well, looks like I used up all the spaces...

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF
1. I only get three???
2.
3.


THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE
1. German
2. Irish
3. Swiss

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU
1. Snakes
2. Loneliness.
3. anger

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS
1. Food
2. music
3. my peeps :-)

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW
1. Jeans
2. blue stone ring (Lia Sophia, yummy)
3. new socks

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS/MUSICAL ARTISTS
1. Nichole Nordeman
2. Vivaldi
3. Gershwin

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS
1. I only get three?!?!?!?!?!??!?
2. Almost all of Nichole Nordeman
3. Show tunes, big band, 40s, ok, I'm cheating..

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS
1. writing a novel
2. ummm... writing a novel....
3. being happy all the time

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP
1. what kind of relationship???
2. I like when people listen when I talk and actually show interest in my interests
3. When the other person calls/writes me first.

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
1. why would
2. I lie?
3. No lies from me...

THREE THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU
1. ummm.... they're not emotional (at least not all the time....)
2. they're stronger which comes in handy when you need to open a jar of spaghetti sauce...
3. seriously... men are the balance to woman and vice versa, so that's a good thing

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES
1. Reading new books and old favs
2. Writing, makes me twittery and jittery and all around excited
3. singing, movies, cooking, being alone, thinking, cuddling with babies... ok, I'm cheating again...

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW
1. Write
2. watch my house clean itself
3. Read

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING
1. not really considering anything... but if I were...
2. something in design
3. ok, now for the real truth. Homemaker. it's a career. I promise

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION
1. Australia
2. Seattle
3. England

THREE KID'S NAMES
1. Melody
2.Felicity
3.Havilah

THREE THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Get married and have children
2.write something and have it published
3.make a difference.

THREE WAYS I'M STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL
1. I cry at movies and books
2. I like to fuss over my hair, makeup, clothes, etc.
3. I'm hard to read, I think... very girly, right???, I LOVE to take care of people, I'm fuss over other people's injuries, hurts, etc....

ok, cheating again... I'm very stereotypically a girl

THREE WAYS I'M STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY
1. um, I'm not
2. ditto
3. ditto


ok, well, what do you all think??? anyone want to play this game with me???

Miss Potter

"You see, we cannot stay home all our lives. We must present ourselves to the world and we must look upon it as an adventure!"

Amelia: "I have decided that you and I are going to be friends."
Miss Potter: "Have you?"
Amelia: "Well, Noman tells me that you're unmarried, as am I, and that you're not unhappy about it. And I can't tell you how much that pleases me."
Amelia's Mother: "Why can't you talk about the weather like other girls?"
Amelia: "Well, all the other unmarried daughters in our circle-and believe me there are a great many- they sit around all day gossiping and unaccountably bursting into tears. But YOU have done something. You've written a book. I warn you, I am prepared to like you very much."
Miss Potter: "Well, in that case, I shall have to like you too, Miss Warne."

needless to say, I finally saw Miss Potter. I LOVED it.

Busy!

Hi!! Dear faithful (or maybe not so faithful) blog readers

I think life may be getting a little back to normal for me... I have big plans to take pictures of my new house to share with you all... in fact I was planning to work on that this morning, BUT my sister borrowed the camera for the weekend. So, I'll do that for you next week.

This weekend we have another football game to go to at our local U. Plus, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa! And a pile of work to finish here at the house.

I'm just glad the computer is working again!!! Beware!!! it is possible to get a really bad virus in the first hour that you have your internet connected!! It may requre 3 hour phone calls with your tech service guy... btw... THANKS DAVE!!!

all right, well, I gotta get to some things. I'll talk to you all later!!! have a great weekend!

Last night...

We had our first dinner guests in our new house!!! Just three sisters, but they seemed to like it.


A friend of mine always says: "You're only a guest the first time."



But, in the case of sisters... they aren't even guests the first time.

They came in, rolled up their sleeves and helped us cook!

Toy Story

AKA: "Buzz and Woody" Luke's birthday movie.

"Buzz Lightyear Mission Log. Stardate 4072: My ship has run off course en route to sector 12. I've crash landed on a strange planet. The impact must have awoken me from hyper-sleep.on the squishy surface of the bed. Terrain seems a bit unstable... No read-out yet if the air is breathable... and there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere --"







ALIEN #1 A stranger!

ALIEN #2 From the outside!

ALIENS Oo-o-o-o-o-o...

BUZZ Greetings! I am Buzz Lightyear! I come in peace!

ALIENS Tell us! What is it like outside?

"The Last Sin Eater"

An old Welsh tradition. The people's need for a savior. Instead of turning to Christ... they appointed one man among them to live forever as an outcast, only coming into their midst when one of them died. He performed a ritual. And for a price, "ate" their lifetime of sins. Took them upon himself. Pawned his own soul for theirs. He was the scapegoat, so that they could come before God with a clean soul.

This book The Last Sin Eater is the story of a people that adopted this practice. It's about the man that became the Sin Eater.

I highly recommend this book. It caused me to look at salvation in a whole new way. Jesus Christ was the ultimate sin eater.

It's a little spooky in the beginning... but tough it out... you'll be so glad you finished!!!!

Today....

Is my little brother's 6th birthday.
Yippee!!!!!!

French Toast for breakfast.... more excitement to follow....

Lincoln

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

-Abraham Lincoln

moving

tonight I moved all of the rest of my things into the new house. my room is very empty. it's very sad. like a ghost town. tonight, i'm sleeping on the couch.

The young girl passed...

... And in passing she looked at him.

She looked at him steadily, with a sweet and thoughtful look

which made Marius tremble from head to foot.

It seemed to him that she reproached him for having been so long without coming to her,

and that she said:

"It is I who have come."

Marius was bewildered by these eyes

full of flashing light and fathomless abysses.

He felt as though his brain were on fire.

She had come to him, what happiness!!

And then, how she had looked at him!

She seemed more beautiful than she had ever seemed before.

Beautiful with a beauty which combined all of the woman with all of the angel,

a beauty which would have made Petrarch sing and Dante kneel.

He felt as though he was swimming in the deep-blue sky.

At the same time he was horrible disconcerted,

because he had

a little dust

on his boots.

-Les Miserables

Victor Hugo

answers

I got some questions from my Big News post, so I thought I'd answer some questions here.

Two of my sisters and I are moving into a little house by ourselves. It's turning out to be quite an adventure!!!! First, I have to say that we have the full support of our parents, in fact the house we are renting belongs to my dad... so he is our landlord. We are moving about a grand total of 1.3 miles from mom and dad's house, so we can stop over anytime we want.

We're excited about having our own place to decorate and take care of. We're also a little anxious about being on our own though. It's all very bittersweet.

In all my lo0king ahead to the future I never imagined that I would live away from home before I got married. But, God's plans are much different, I guess!!! I'm trusting Him totally. I know that this move will be good for us.

Well, I'm busy, busy packing and trucking stuff over to the new house so I better scoot.

One piece of advice. Spring clean. It's very good. And then maybe you won't have so much to do when you have to move.

All right. I'll try to keep up with this regularly this week. We're getting internet at our new house Wednesday!! Now, to get the computer over there... Actually, first we have to get something to set the computer on....