Bloglandria, Meet Mr. Awsumly.

I have a new friend.
He happens to be made of several colors of felt and he has brown buttons for eyes.
His name is Mr. Adam Awsumly, the Second. (I threw the Adam in there as tribute to Adam Young of the band Owl City)

Mr. Adam Awsumly is an owl. (He, however, doesn't live in a city...)

After playing around on Etsy (view mine!) I discovered people selling little critters and monsters made of felt. I found them rather adorable and set of to make a 3D Mr. Awsumly.
You see, in order for Mr. Awsumly the Second to exist there must be a Mr. Awsumly the First.
Here is the Senior of the two.
He is rather flat. Mr. A. Awsumly the 1st is on a shirt. One night I was bored and was thinking about how much I like owls...
So I stuck one on a black t-shirt. It is pretty sweet.

I am not sure what I am going to do with 3d Awsumly...I might put him up on Etsy....? Or I might just hold him and...squish him...? Because I can....

Both of the Awsumlys are very nice, in my opinion. And if I keep up this owl stuff I might just have a city...

Quote-ables.

Several years ago (I want to say like 5...) I attended a youth retreat with several youth groups from New England and something that the speaker said on that weekend has stuck with me since then.

"What are you thinking about when you have nothing to think about?" - Bo White

What is that supposed to mean, you are wondering, so let me explain.

After he said that he went on to explain it a little more and it basically came down to this; what is the screensaver/default of your mind?
What is it that comes to mind first when there is nothing else needed to come to mind at a certain moment. What, when you close your eyes, instantly pops into your head.

If the answer isn't God or something that is God-pleasing, it is time to do some reevaluation of what is going on in your cerebral cortex.

The human mind is sort of like a giant computer (sort of...); it has the ability to collect, store and use information. The human mind also has the ability to "download" things with out us consciously realizing what is happening. What we see and hear at all seconds of every day influences how we think and what we think about. It is hugely amazing the capacity that our brains have...but how is it effecting our lives?

Our giant-computer-like brain can very easily become taken over with "viruses."
What we watch, what we listen to, who we hang around with; all that effortlessly feed our minds with downloads. Our thoughts are easily consumed with what they shouldn't be. The Bible says "As a man thinks, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7).

Think about that one for even just a second and thinks begin to seem a little scary, if you think anything like me...

Keeping the life of our thoughts in alignment with God's will for us is a conscious and daily decision. Often we try to rationalize our sin by telling ourselves we are only thinking it...we didn't say or do it, so it must not count...right?

That verse from Proverbs says otherwise. Sorry.

It is very, very, very (etc, etc) difficult to set our minds on "things above" when we are down here and the world isn't looking so "abovely."

What are you focusing on? What have you fixated your mind upon?

"We bow our hearts, We bend our knees, Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things, Oh Lord we cast down our idols

So give us clean hands and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh give us clean hands and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let this be a generation that seeks, Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob"
(Give Us Clean Hands, written by Charlie Hall, sung by many.)

In closing, a not only "life verse" of mine, but a daily one;
"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."-Psalm 19:14.

STOP because I say so.

I own some rather interesting things and this is one of them.

Yes, people of Bloglandria, it is a stop sign. Only...it is wood. I am not really sure if wood stop signs were ever in use, but this one is rather old (the first red and white stop sign was made in 1954...but out of what I do not know. Were they always metal?) but even if someone made it as some sort of joke, I still enjoy it. And the long story that goes with it

My Hungarian grandfather, when he was alive, was a "garbage picker" (as I would say); my mom, her sister and her brother carry the same family mantle. I am doomed.

Garbage pickers do things like take tables off the side of the road when left out for bulk garbage day (they also specifically drive around with big cars on weeks that they know people will put out big things). Garbage pickers like to salvage items which they find for little or no cost.

Garbage pickers also like dumps...

I don't think "stealing" things from dumps is legal, but not like anyone else was gunna use the stuff. Let's not focus on the small details.

This top sign was a dump find. No, not found by me. By...well we will let him remain nameless for the sake of legal protection.

Anyway, when I was a little kid he gave me this wooden stop sign. At my old house I hung it outside my "tree fort" to warn trespassers of...I don't know what... all that was in there was stinky mushrooms, faux-bonfires and hemlock trees

Once a police officer, whom we personally knew, stopped outside our house and asked why we had a stop sign (not exactly a thing you should legally possess) hanging in our trees. We persuaded him that it was old and wooden and that we didn't steal it off some road somewhere in our wee little town.

It hung out there for a long time, but then we moved and I was older and tree-fortless.

In our new house the stop sign sat outside in our barn, over my busted up drum set (I had great aspirations to be a self-taught drummer, but dreams those never really took off.) next to a plastic figure of the Muppet drummer from Electric Mayhem Animal. As time passed my drummer dreams faded and the stop sign got tucked into a corner and left alone for sometime.

But the story just keeps getting more interesting.

At some point my youth group decided that old road signs would make cool decorations for our stage during worship and I was like "Hey, I have a stop sign you guys can use if you don't hurt it!"

Now, take a look at that picture above again; that stop sign used to actually look like a stop sign until...a severe miscommunication

When I handed over my sign I sharpie-d my name on a piece of duct tape and stuck it on the back. I carefully instructed them NOT TO PAINT IT.

A couple months passsed and somehow the tape with my name on got taken off and well...that was the doom of my sign. For unknown reasons they flung some brown paint on it and I think ran it over with a tire or something. Still I am not sure why this occurred, but we will just let the past stay past and keep going with this story...

Then they decided that sticking a stop sign on a stage in the middle of worship was kind of a discouragement to the worshipful atmosphere and it was stuck in the closet at the back of our sanctuary where all of our out of use props and decorations go. The poor thing stayed there for years.

More recently that closet has been gone through and people have begun to throw out stuff in order to make room for the new and I decided it was time to reclaim my stop sign before its final destruction came upon it. Plus, who wouldn't want a stop sign in their possession.

The beast is pretty heavy but I have decided that I am going to somehow hang it on my wall and perhaps I will require full 3 second stops before people can enter my dwelling place...

Now you know something about me and one of the things that I love that you didn't know ten minutes ago, so I guess this post accomplished something?

And once again I have left you jealous

...now stop that, it is unbiblical

A Bag for a "Dual-Brained" Weirdo.

At this point we are all pretty clear on the fact that I love to create stuff.
Why? Well, I'm not too sure...

Sometimes people can pinpoint whether they are "left-brained" or "right-brained," but I sort of break all the rules and come out as both. (I'm an oxymoronical freak, what can I say!)

• I am right handed, very analytic, good at logic, extremely organized, highly obsessive, strong-willed, and I like to plan things out...this makes me left-brained.
• On the other hand (no, I am not ambidextrous, but I did try for a couple months. Failed.), I am highly creative, love music and art, I see things uniquely, I love to write, and I am rather daring and crazy...this would make me right-brained. (I just took this test and it told me I was 45% left brained and 55% right-brained. Pretty accurate for something on the Internet)

But I am who who I was created to be, I like me that way and if you don't, too bad, it is not my fault. Take that one up with God...

We will move on now...

I basically love creativity because it is art. I delight in the ability to take something and form it into something else, unlike anything anyone else has.

Once I am accomplished at making one thing (say, hats) I have to move to something bigger and harder just to see if I can do it (like the sweater).
So, having made so many roundish, appliqued bags, I was getting bored. Plus my purse, the cool converse-y one, had seen so much love that the handles were wearing through and the poor thing needed to go into retirement.

Obviously I needed a new bag.
Obviously I wasn't buying one.
Obviously I had to make it!

And this time I made it totally different, just to see if I could.
Out of the scraps of other peoples bags and other random sewing projects I created my latest masterpiece. No appliques, no round edges. Instead, it is a cornucopia of quadrilaterals!

It is just a little crazy, but seeing as it is for me, I think it is just perfect!

If you stare closely, you might be able to find a swatch of fabric that looks familiar to you. I spy Emikel's bag, several of my own bags, my shirt, Sam's bag, my sister's bag, Sarah's bag, Julia's bag, a bag for Kendra's sister, my mom's bag and some other random stuff...

I also decided to put some of my extensive collection of buttons, from concerts and travels, to use.

I think my favorite one is the collection of multicolored skull one. I'm partial to pirates...

Now, I am happy and you are jealous.

The end.

"Now I know why God created laws against gluttony..."

A question I get asked a lot at holiday time is "WHAT DO YOU EAT ON THANKSGIVING!?"
You see, I am a vegetarian and people seem to think that the only thing worth eating on the holiday of Thanks is turkey...
Let me tell you, I do okay with out turkey, stuffing, gravy and all other meaty substances.
And I am brave enough to tell you exactly, to the best of my memory, what I ate yesterday;

- Mozzarella Balls- those I lost count of. The Italian in me took over and I lost control...
- Cucumbers- several slices. No dip. I have an odd disliking of all things white and fluffy...
- Other Italian cheeses- enough slices to fit on the many crackers I ate, which I also lost count of....
- 7 slices of really good Italian bread- Family tradition; without this bread we cannot celebrate any holidays.
- 3 servings of Corn Pudding- this is Thanksgiving to me; besides the bread it is really all that I care about food-wise. I had my Aunt double the recipe because there never seems to be enough for me and my cousins.
-1 Serving of Mashed Potatoes- typical.
- Salad- no dressing.
- 1 slice of Pumpkin Cheesecake- Yummmmm.
-1 slice of Pumpkin Pie- also yum.
- 1 Cranberry/Coconut/Chocolate/and some other stuff Bar- this was new. My mom and sister created it...twas pretty good.
- Three cups of coffee- 1 was decaf!
-Several other beverages of the punch-like variety- gotta stay hydrated!

Okay, maybe not wholly well balanced and slightly lacking in protein, but I certainly didn't starve. So you can all stop worrying about me now. Onto Christmas we go!

The Adventures of Emikel and Jro...

-CHAPTER 4-

Spring sometime in 2007, at a little park in the town we both used to live in as small kiddos. Little airplane made for children much lighter than the two of us.

We were soaring. We were flying. We were singing Highschool Musical. (we weren't actual HSM fans. we were more...mockers... and we, to this day, take every opportunity to sing any song from anywhere along with our lives.)

Quote-ables.

"DO YOU LIKE MICE AND BEANS?"
-Skippyjon Jones, Siamese Cat, Wannabe Chihuahua.

-Created by Judy Schachner-

Get ready to find your inner six year old, mis amigos, because I am about to spill the beans on my love for all things Skippyjon.

What is a Skippyjon, you ask?

HOLY FRIJOLES, how do you NOT know who Skippyjon Jones is?

Skippyjon Jones is a character of children's' literature written and illustrated by the author stated above. Skippyjon is a naughty little Siamese cat, whose "ears are too big for his head" and whose "head is too big for his body."

Conclusion; he is not a Siamese cat, he is a CHIHUAHUA!

So with his Chihuahua alias- Skippito Friskito- and his bandito disguise, he meets up with his Mexican Amigo, Don Diego- a giant purple Chihuahua known as the Biggest of the Small Ones-, and his band of Chihuahuas who call themselves Los Chimichangos.

Really. You have to experience it for yourself. You'll see. There is no way that you won't love him. Pictures are adorable. Words are clever and if you have even the smallest sense of immature humor in you, you will laugh.

I am an avid Skippyjon fan. I have a grand collection of Skippyjon books. (My personal favorite is Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse...but they are all muy excellente) I have a stuffed Skippyjon. 2 of his adventures are on my ipod.

And I have my whole family addicted. On car trips, listening to the Skippyjons on my ipod is a given. Every time I babysitting for my siblings, shortly after my parents walk out of the door a chorus of voices ask "ARE YOU GOING TO READ US SKIPPYJON JONES!?!?!"

They particularly enjoy when the Mummies rest in PEAS (in Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble) when he does his laundry in Mrs. Doohickey's birdbath (in Skippyjon Jones) when he gets rolled in a tortilla with 3 beans and sent off a cliff on a skateboard, and when he stuffs the antagonist (of Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse) in his pants and rides down a banister.

The 8 and 10 year old girls like it when Mama Junebug Jones calls her son a "Crumb cake."

The 6 and 7 year old boys crack up every time anyone mentions the word "dude."

Even my littlest sister, 19 months, knows that the proper response to "Do you like mice and beans?" is "Uhuh, Uhuh, Uhuh" just as stated in my favorite of the book.

I must say, I am especially good at reading it after having done it so many times. I have perfected my 'muy muy small voice', my Spanish accent, and the order of the high speed songs about Muchos Poochos, Licky Sticky Mangos and Chimichichangos that the books require me to sing (and repeat, and repeat, and repeat...).

I dare you. Go check out his website. Go to a library and read his books. Buy them for all the small children in your lives.

Even if you find them highly childish, you will at least be chuckling to yourself as you read.

My Life on a Key Chain...

This might be one of the more random posts,

but you can blame my friends Sam D. and Weeze

for helping me analyze this to the point of ridiculous...

Having left my key lanyard on a table, my friends decided to scrutinze it and this is what was discovered:

Somehow my life is very symbolically represented in what that lanyard holds. It was actually rather strange...

It might be profound, or it might be a product of caffienated soda and late night analysis...

Either away, it will come out semi-amusing. Here is what you will find on my key chain;

- Durango car key- You can't analyze took much out of that. It's for the car. It gets me places. Clearly important in my daily life...

- Unique-looking zebra printed house key- Signifies the importance of my family which is also very unique...however none of them are zebras...as far as I know...
-Gas station "speed pass"- I get things done fast and as efficiently as possible

-Starbucks key chain-sized gift card- I love coffee. I love Starbucks. Enough said...

-Gym Membership Card- I love physical activity and the gym gives me a way of getting lots of it. Although, lately I have been slacking...

-Town Library Card- for the importance of literature and books.

-2 rings-

---Cladaugh Irish Ring- (I used to wear it on my thumb, but it cracked so it would frequently pinch me) for the love of the Irish and their Dancing.

--- Big signet-like ring with a bird on it- I love silver rings; they kind of make up some sliver of my identity; without them on, I am just not me. I have four which almost never leave my fingers. And of course this particular one has a bird on it, which though is really a blackbird, I say it is a raven.

- A Mini Converse Sneaker- bought for me by my friend "Mopeeps;" if you know me like she does then you know that I constantly and almost only wear Converse High Tops. The best.

And then the lanyard itself -Black and White, reading MERGEAHEAD.COM- my youth group's web page. Merge is a HUGE part of my life. It is MY youth group. Plus, I am very involved in the worship team- come on a Sunday night and you will find me with a Microphone in my face and a Keyboard at my fingertips.

So, now you either think I am crazy, or you found this interesting. I don't mind either way.

But I find it intriguing that I managed to create a pretty full representation of myself on something so small.

On Name Stealers, Soul Suckers, and Abnormally Hairy Men...

Brace yourself.

This post is on my active boycott of all things Vampirious.

Oh, where to start....

The Twilight Saga.

I am the anti-Twilight and I could list off reasons why enough to fill the total capacity of a blog. No, I am not going to see New Moon tomorrow. No, I didn't see Twilight. Nope, I haven't even read the books. Nor do I ever plan to. Ever. (and I know what I know from extensive analysis of this fad, not from participating in it. It's good to know your enemy's tactics if you want to counterattack...)

This is a full on protest. Anyone care to join me?

Okay. Now I begin.

Firstly, Isabella "Bella" Swan (or her creator...) STOLE MY NAME! I can't even put into words how annoyed I am by that. Every time I introduce myself to a female (generally...) between the ages of 10 up to about 20 my first name is always followed by the response "OH! Like in Twilight."

No. Not at all like that.

I have literally had a 12 year old girl ask me if I was named after Bella Swan....(To which my response was "Yes. I've mastered time travel.") The first book was published in 2005 and I am just a wee bit older than age 4...

Also, there are the Twilight jokes; "Bella, say hi to Edward for me!" "Bella, where's your vampire boyfriend?"

NOT. FUNNY.

I still love my name, but no longer is it unique. Recently it has topped the charts of popular baby girl names as #1. I spent my life being totally use to being the only Isabella in a store, in a group, on a beach, etc, etc. But now I constantly turn my head in confusion as a parent calls their pig-tailed 2 year old....

But this is only the beginning of my anti-Twilightism.

Fad books- you know, the ones that everyone, even non-readers, are reading just because everyone is reading them? Then authors and publishers jump on board the craze train and soon the world is over taken by shallowly written books which all have the same plot and seemingly same characters!

Wednesday, to help prove my point, I went and counted the number of vampire books on the 2 teen shelves in my favorite book store. The number I came up with was just from looking at titles and covers and not even having to open the books.

23.

TWENTY THREE DIFFERENT TITLES (not including Meyer's) with Vampires in main roles.

As someone who is passionate about reaching youth culture by youth literature, I already have something very serious against Teen Romance novels. They infuriate me to no end; why are we feeding youth with such garbage? But what makes me even more upset is when the main characters include Soul Suckers! It's a whole new level of wrong and awful...

I had to leave the store before I fell to my knees and began crying out for the hopeless, lostness of my generation. I sat in my car in the mall parking lot for quite some time, literally feeling sick and praying my heart out.

Let me just tell you a little about Vampires. Contrary to popular belief they are not the attractive, sparkling, large eyebrowed type.

Vampires are EVIL. They can't even be expose to sunlight (they are supposed to turn to stone, not sparkle!)as they are creatures of the darkness! Weird things hide out in darkness...

They maintain immortality by sucking blood out of mortals. Edward Cullen (whose last name "conveniently" means handsome in Gaelic...) obviously kept himself busy for the last 104 years... oh wait, he drinks animal blood instead of human... what a hero...

People used to write books about killing these wicked creatures by driving stakes through their hearts...

And now people write books about falling in "love" with them!?!?!

Then there is Jacob Black, Bella's "Friend" (I won't get started on that...) the Werewolf, who seems to always be shirtless...

...Yeah, that's right, they are evil too, actually. Creatures of darkness that shift from Human to Wolf form, free of human cares they go about biting/eating Humans and Livestock. That's what werewolves do...

There are many more things wrong with these books besides the the name stealing and Teenage -Romance-with-Evil plot. There is murder committed by Edward, large amounts of vampires trying to bite Bella in a revenge, Bella trying to get her wondrous Vampire boyfriend to bite her so she can be a Vampire, attempted suicide, and to top it off Bella, by book4, ends up with a half-vampire-half-human baby...

And in the end, to save her life, her dear love Edward the Soul Sucker finally turns her into a vampire...

HOW ARE THESE GOOD BOOKS??????

How are they good for anyone to be reading, let alone teenagers?!

Feel free to disagree, that won't change anything for me.

I think while all of this makes me angry, even more so it makes me sad. I am not mad at Stephanie Meyer really, I am also not mad at the people who love books and movies like hers. I am, however, very angered with the tactics of the prince of this world -Satan- and how he has found another way to destroy the minds of youth.

Our female (sadly even some male...) youth are OBSESSED with these books where the tiny, pretty, 17 year old female character is throwing herself into the arms of Vampires and Werewolves for the sake of "love."

Something- EVERYTHING- is wrong with this picture.

I am going to stop myself now instead of going on forever about this.

If anyone is interested in boycotting with me, feel free to join in.

And for those of you who are "in love" with images Vampires and Werewolves and find yourself on "Team Edward or "Team Jacob," I am genuinely sorry that the media has corrupted your minds...

I, High Speed, O.C.D Knitter...

Previously in my post about my handmade red beret I mentioned that I was going to try to tackle a sweater...I did. I tackled that baby in one week and I even followed the pattern! (although, I have to confess one sleeve is a tad different from the other because I didn't follow the pattern so great on sleeve #1. But you can't tell...s'all good) I am so very pleased that it is just unbelievable. I don't think I will be knitting anymore sweaters in the near future. I accomplished my goal and I couldn't be happier...and besides if I knit another I'll never wear it, because I've already decided that I am wearing this one for the rest of my life...

The pattern. WHICH I FOLLOWED ALL BY MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!

Bulky Bernat Roving, dark gray yarn. I think the sweater took about 5 balls of the stuff.

Tobin James loves to help roll yarn...

Sleeves in the making.

Looks like the picture on the pattern, right!?

And look! A working hood!

This picture epitomizes me-ness...

...and the sweater is pretty cool too.

The Adventures of Emikel and Jro...

-CHAPTER 3-

Okay, listen, it was for kids. 2006. We are acting the parts of King David (or were you just plain Shepherd David?) and Joseph in Technicolor. Don't ask questions. We need no explanation.

Hot Spiced Cider, Anyone?

*keep scrolling down for today's quote-ables post. today was just another 2 post sort of day...*

I have confessed before and I will confess again, I adore apple cider. I am not ashamed of my great love. And I do not mean that nasty stuff that comes in powder form in a little rectangular packet that you dump in some boiled water. No, no. That stuff is vile. It tastes like you are drinking...a holiday candle...

No, I mean the hot, steaming, in a chilled mug, at a fall fair, filled with spices that tickle your nose as they mix with the lingering scents of fried dough, onion rings and hay that fill the crisp air, kind.

But moments like that come just barely once a year. I love hot mulled cider WAY too much to sit around all year waiting for the perfect fair atmosphere.

So here is what I do. I make my own, easier version at home (like, minus giant carafe, the fair and the varied background scents). And it's pretty darned good, if I do say so myself. And I am about to share that method with you.

Here we go:

First you must get some apple cider- the average comes-in-a-gallon-at-your-local-grocery- store type.

Pour it into a microwaveable coffee mug and stick it in the microwave for Two and a Half minutes (really, you COULD do it in a pot on your stove top, but lets be realistic. This is the 21st century. The microwave generation. Of course I am telling you to put it in the microwave...)

While it's heating up get a tea ball - you know, one of those (http://http://www.accordtea.com/images/ac700px/infuser%20ball.jpg) little doodads for holding tea leaves- and fill it up with

- 8-10 whole cloves

- 1-2 cinnamon sticks, broken up (those little guys can be hard to break up, so if you decide to do it with say, a knife, and you hack off an appendage, I am not to be held accountable.)

Then get your cider out of the microwave, add in a "bloop" -we don't measure in my family...a bloop is like 1-2ish tablespoons - of Orange Juice (I personally like the pulpy kind but...whatever you want...).

Put the tea ball in and let those tasty little spice-y critters flavor up your cider for something like 3 minutes.

And then just like that, you have some mad good hot apple cider in your own personal mug and you didn't have to wait in line for it. If you want fried dough and onion rings, you get to figure that out yourself.

And just as I am not responsible for limb loss, I will also not be responsible if you make the mistake of putting the tea ball in the microwave. You heat it up, take it out and THEN put the metal ball in, safe away from radioactivity...

Don't say I didn't warn you.

And don't be scared. Cider flavoring is perfectly safe. Feel free to try this at home!

Quote-ables.

"IF YOU WANNA KISS THE SKY, BETTER LEARN HOW TO KNEEL." -U2, Mysterious Ways

Absolute. Favorite. Song. Lyric.

This past week I couldn't find my ipod (found it yesterday, but its now uncharged...) so I was at the mercy of whatever CDs I had in my car as I drove to and from dust assassin destinations (I clean houses. But I find that is a boring job description so I refer to myself as the Dust Assassin), church, dance, other such things, and shopping trips for the new room. Recently, I have been listening to Skillet's latest album- Awake- which is phenomenal, but after hearing it over and over and over and over, I searched around my car for something I hadn't listened to in a while. My CD visor contained an album called "In the Name of Love," a bunch of Christian artists doing U2's songs as some sort of African fundraiser. I popped that in and it has kept me entertained over the last week.

I love U2.

I grew up listening to U2, one of my dad's favorite bands, and I formed a great appreciation for them. Their music is good, but their lyrics are just...amazing sometimes. As I said, that lyric up there is my all time favorite, and I know and like A LOT of songs.

I love music. Partly because I love it for its musical qualities, partly because I am a musician, and mostly because I can't bear silence. Or maybe I just enjoy destroying it...? I am always listening to something, singing something, or...talking to myself...but that's another post, so don't worry about it...

I cannot pick favorites well; picking favorite bands or favorite songs is a toughy. I have a really broad range in musical taste- my ipod contains everything from Heavy/Hardcore to Josh Groban, from Phantom of the Opera to 80's rock, Alternative to Irish Folk, Rap to Instrumental, Worship to Disney soundtracks...when I said broad, I seriously meant it.

But, I would have to say that Skillet is my FAVORITE band because I love John Coopers raspy, unique voice, I love their use of the keyboard mixed with heavy, grungy guitar parts, I am drawn symphonic-type rock (any song where there is a screaming/yelling dude with a violin in the background someplace...it's a winning situation), their lyrics are great, and I also like that their drummer is a girl.

But picking favorite songs is reaaaaalllly hard and it constantly changes. Current top fifteen;

- Whispers in the Dark- Skillet
- Comatose -Skillet
- Forgiven - Skillet
- Snow (Hey Oh)- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- So, In This Hour- The Rocket Summer
- Brat Pack- The Rocket Summer
- Shadows- RED
- Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
- Hot Air Balloon - Owl City
- Buffalo Solider - Bob Marley
- Ohh Ahh- Grits
- Sunday, Bloody Sunday- U2
- Amazing Because It Is- The Almost
- Starlight- Muse
- All Consuming Fire- Misty Edwards


Point of this post- I love music. And as a writer to the core, I especially love clever lyrics that make you think about something other than just noise coming out of someones mouth. Conversely, I can't stand lame lyrics that are meaningless or lyrics that happen to sound like 7 trillion other over-used/cliche-y songs.
You should too.
And if you have an fantastically clever lyrics in your own personal favorites, tell me. I'd love to hear 'em.

I see an off-white/ivory door...

"I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore I want them to turn black"

No, I am not feeling depressed, don't worry.

Nor do I like the Rolling Stones.

And I don't see a red door either.

But somehow this quote is applicable...

Today I am painting. AGAIN. Doors will be black. Desk will be black. I will paint it black.

For the love of Black, White, and Pete...

I love black and white photos. I am a blackandwhitephotoaholic. There is just something about the coloration that interests me more than regular full-colored photos (and they conveniently match my black/white/gray themed room!)
Here are some sweet photos taken by me, of me, or involving me, that will soon be finding their way onto my Sparrow Gray walls.

It took me forever to narrow my album of potential wall art down to just these few...I'll end up printing more and buying more frames, I assure you. There will end up being some sort of gallery; I must feed my addiction!

Black and white photos are totally worth it.

*ps: Pete has nothing to do with anything. I don't even know who Pete is, but it seems to me that a lot of people love him...? "OH FOR THE LOVE OF PETE?"

The Room of Newness...

This would be a shot of my current room-or the one that TraLaLaLa (formerly Faz.) and I share. It's a nice room and I do like it a lot a lot, but it's running a little low on space...another thing is our whole HOUSE is running out of space.

When you have so many kids in one house you eventually run out of places to pack them in...

If something wasn't done, I would be sharing a room with 4, someday 5 sisters. OH GOLLY JOLLY ROGER!

So, we've expanded. Over the past 3 weeks or so we have been renovating our over-garage attic into a NEW and very much so IMPROVED room for TraLaLaLa and I, and man, it is AWESOME!
Somewhere within the next couple weeks we should (or Jimmy and Billy the highly skilled builders, I should say) be finishing it up...painting need to be finished, carpet needs to go in, furniture needs to be collected and painted black, stuff needs to be moved in, hammock needs to be suspended off the ceiling, beautiful things need to be hung on walls, etc etc etc. I AM SO EXCITED. I have never had so much space in my life and best of all, the ugly bunk bed of metal doom will finally be passed to some younger siblings and I will no longer have to see it!!!!! Plus the closet is the size of Rhode Island...

More pictures to come when everything is complete, but I figured I would give your curious minds a little taste of what has been going on in my room of newness. By the time it is done it will be a BEAUTIFUL black, gray, white and red (with a large vinyl pop of green cucumber couch) haven of artistic fantasticness.

Did I mention that I am excited!??!?!?!?!?

TAKE IT TO THE HILT.

"Faith: jumping off a cliff and

being full convinced you will not reach the bottom."

Bungee Jumping.

265 feet off a Costa Rican bridge.

Scariest thing I have ever done. Best thing I have ever done.

On a missions trip to Costa Rica this past July my team spent the free afternoon jumping off of a bridge in the rain forest. Insanity.

I looked down, with my bare toes off that yellow platform, my body literally shaking. It was pretty terrifying. The 12 voices behind me all cried "Don't look down!" Don't think about it!" Look in the distance!" Jump like superman!" "JUMP, JUMP!" but I tend to analyze everything and I didn't do what I was told. I looked down. Standing there I was thinking "this is just a bad idea. I am about to throw myself off a bridge and put my life in the strength of some stretchy rubber."

But you only live once. I knew I would enjoy it, I just had to convince myself to take that initial jump. But I could have stood there all day working on that. I just had to do it. I turned, looked at my team, yelled "TO THE HILT, BABY!" (my life motto) and shortly there after began plummeting towards the dingy Costa Rican river. And I LOVED IT. Falling through the air with some bungee velcro-ed to your ankles is probably the best feeling in the world. Slight rush of blood to the head, and tiny lack of circulation in my feet, but it was so worth it. Let me just tell you, it changed my life...

Fear is crippling. Fear is no fun. I do no have time to be afraid, fear is a total waste. I have one life and I am going to live it as full as I possibly can. I am going to live my life to the hilt.
Sometimes you just have to jump.

*all photographs on this post by Jeffery Crandall, photographer extraordinaire*