I'm thinking...

There's such a lot of things I could be writing here. I don't know if I've mentioned, but I was recently accepted into my school of choice, so that's been filling my thoughts quite a lot recently. It's a lovely feeling to know not only where I want to attend, but also that I'm an official student for the Fall of 2013. It's funny, it felt that I was waiting such a very long time and I had so much time to imagine out how I would feel if I got that white envelope with an acceptance letter, that it almost didn't feel real. I felt that I had only to blink and I would be back to the waiting process and realize that I had only been imagining it out again. The powers of an overactive imagination I suppose. Anyhow, I'm so very excited. I still feel a little worried about things, but I'm trying not to dwell on that too much. It's so easy to spend all your time worrying and then find that you wasted that time that was supposed to be filled with peace and happiness. These months are supposed to be months that I get to enjoy all the time of expectancy and excitement. Months of planning. I don't want to waste them in worrying. I know this is the college and I need to trust that everything will work out as it's supposed to.

On another note my head has been brim full with Much Ado About Nothing lines. Apparently my brain would not rest upon having memorized my own lines and is now forcing me to memorize everyone else's as well. Shakespeare lines go flouting through my head all day long and I believe if I'm caught unaware sometime I shall suddenly shout at somebody "BOYS. APES. BRAGGARTS. JACKS. MILKSOPS." or,  as it is more likely, I shall random start muttering dialogues that have nothing to do with my character. "What? My dear Lady Disdain, are you yet living?" "Is it possible that disdain should die when she has such meat food as Signor Benedick?" I'm afraid I've already caught myself at this obvious sign of insanity, and I'm finding it quite hard to keep from chattering to myself as I shelve books at the library. It's always been hard not to drift into dialogues (most often dialogues I'm writing for my own stories) at work, and even harder to keep from repeating things that I've memorized. Once you know the alphabet backwards and forwards and are slipping books and DVDs into their places at top speed you find your mind has far too much room for thoughts pertaining to other things than the job at hand.

On the subject of Shakespeare plays I recently went and saw Love's Labor Lost, which I would almost say is my favorite play now. It was awfully funny and very cleaverly done. They had set it in a 1920s area, a timeperiod I love and it was really fun watching it, especially from the viewpoint of someone who is currently taking part in a Shakespeare play. What I loved most was all the physical humor, at one point they had one of the characters reading a love poem that he had written all over his arms and puzzling how he was to send it.

Outside my window...

Little beads of dew are dripping off the blades of grass. There's something red hidden in the grass but I can't quite make out what it is, perhaps a ball of some sort. I can also see some of those tiny daisies appearing, though they don't seem to be open. Just closed little buds waiting for some sunshine to appear.

I'm listening to...

A CD of piano music called Overcome by David Nevue.

I'm creating...

I don't know if I'm really creating anything at the moment. No continuous project, I mean. Saturday afternoon Ella and I sat on the table and painted pages and pages of green watercolors. I painted a poster with that John Green quote "My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations." I think that's my favorite quote, or part out of any of his books. A sentence of brilliance.

Oh but camp NaNoWriMo is coming up! I think that's in June? I haven't read too much about it, except that I know there is one (I get the newsletters, you see.)

Oh and in May I'm going to get to sew! We're going to sew lovely vintage dresses and I'm so excited to think about it.

From the kitchen...

I thought perhaps I would write out a sentence regarding the dinner I wished to make, but having written it out I decided it sounded far too mundane and instantly backspaced.

On a random note we've been discussing what we're going to do for my birthday and I'm really excited now. I think we're maybe going to get dressed up and go to see Jersey Boys which is playing at one of the gorgeous theaters, or perhaps go and listen to the Symphony which would be splendid fun as well.

All in all this has been a rather excitable journaling page. I'm in just an excitable mood. That is, I would be if I weren't so tired. Sleep is good.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

From the Kitchen:

For the past two days I've been busily baking. Really, yesterday I was in the kitchen from as soon as I hopped out of bed, till nearly two in the afternoon. I made pizza dough, and at least three different batches of cookies. I wish I had taken a picture, I had four huge plates piled with cookies. Sadly, I handed off about half of them before even thinking of it. This morning I got up and made banana bread (which I just pulled out of the oven. Perfect for a yummy afternoon snack, along with coffee, before going off to work.)

I'm listening to:

Cold December Night. I love this song. Really I do.

I'm thinking:

The other day I was thinking on words. Actually, this is something I think on quite a lot. If you know me you will know that words are something I love, and consequently they are something I talk a lot about. (Goodness, I even named my last blog Meaningful Words, and my first post was on how we should choose our words carefully, because each word means something.) I was thinking about this program which you can use to see what your say ten, fifteen, twenty most frequently used words were on various websites. It's interesting you know, seeing what words you use the most often. Are they nice words? Words that give you a nice happy feeling, even as they are, disconnected from each other and any sentence that they might have been put into. I was thinking about if you could gather all those words that you spoke as well as wrote, what words would they be? I know the sort of words I would want my vocabulary to be summed up with, the question is, whether I live up to that. I certainly hope my words are ones that are kind and meant to bring joy to those with whom I'm talking, and those words that I have spoken that do not live up to this goal, I hope that I might eliminate in future.

Anyhow, this is a word cloud of a collection of words on this blog.

One of my favorite things:

The week before Christmas. I just want it to last forever. I just want to stretch out these days in which we get to finish up on Christmas presents, baking Christmas cookies and making Christmas crafts. On which topic, here's a picture of my favorite Christmas craft of this year

 

Isn't it just lovely?

 

 

I'm creating:

 

A couple days ago I embroidered the facial features on my knit doll, and I'm just finishing up the red dress I made for her. I'll post a picture after I sew on the arms, as the arms really are necessary. I am a little nervous to actually sew them, because I've worked so hard on her and I don't want to mess her up. I've also named her Lorna, after Lorna Doone, so I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate her name onto a tag of some sort.

 

I'm hoping:

 

For snow. I hope it will snow. Please? Please let it snow?

 

I'm reading:

 

The Book Thief. I'm actually really impressed by this book so far. It's one of the best written books of a recent publishing date that I've read.

 

I'm wearing:

 

Sweat pants, a green t-shirt and a jacket of my Dad's that is immensely to large for me. Yes, it is noon. Yes, I do have to work soon. No, I shan't be dressed in such a manner very shortly. However, too large jackets are really warm and cozy. Jackets that fit just aren't this cozy. They're really not.

 

 



Of Knitted Dolls and Carrot Cake

I'm thinking...

At the moment I'm hiding from the morning. You might think this an impossible task, and indeed I have suspicions that while I might be fooling myself, I'm certainly not fooling anyone else, yet, still, I can't really persuade myself that it is a bad plan. I have hidden myself away from the alarm clock's persistent noise, away from the cold cold air and the horrid sunshine (not that I mean to say I dislike sunshine- I just find it entirely too cheerful in such trying times) and I'm feeling rather successful in my attempt at convincing myself that it is not morning. However, I cannot be wholly successful in this attempt, as proven by the mere fact that I am writing this rather than sleeping. As far as plans go I believe this one is as good a one as any to awaken me sufficiently to acknowledge that I must brave the cold air and get out of bed, but for the moment I shall continue to write on and hide myself away from the world under a thick quilt.
I can't quite believe it is Monday morning. How quickly days go, don't they? Really though, yesterday and the day before were just lovely days. We set out adventuring to see what we could see, and found ourselves in a set of lovely rooms looking out and across the bay to Canada. (a quick moment of recognition for the kisses blown across the wind to Canada. Really, we love Canada.) We explored the hotel, avoiding coming across the wedding group in their finery whilst attired in swimming wear. We skipped across the docks outside the hotel and danced under the billowing silken tent. We sprawled out on the couch and floor to watch the new Spider Man movie (which I enjoyed immensely. I've decided that it's now my third favorite superhero movie. I like the Avengers the very most, and then I think I like Iron Man, but after that I would say I liked The Amazing Spider Man.) In the morning we ate eggs and pancakes at a little diner (most notable for the bright yellow seat cushions and vintage signs hung willy nilly about the wall) and suddenly we were on our way home with the weekend over and done. (of course, it didn't happen so quickly as that and we had numberless wails of hunger and boredom to combat, and whist saying the rosary Ella struck up such a wail it was like praying in a hurricane.
Here we are though, safe and sound and ready to start Monday morning! Out of bed one goes and down the stairs to make some coffee.

From the kitchen...

I am fully confident that I could survive a diet of bread, butter and potatoes (just thinking ahead in case the world food supply is demolished and I need a plan. If necessary I could do away with the bread- all right the butter too since that's rather a luxury but GET THE POTATOES. If the potatoes die, I do to. Why am I not Irish?) That is, you see, what I meant to say was "I had bread and butter for breakfast this morning."

Did I mention I'm going to be making carrot cake today? I'm rather excited if you couldn't tell. I've been thinking about carrot cake for days now.

I'm creating...

My knit doll (See This Post)

She's actually almost finished. I have yet to embroider the eyes and mouth, finish knitting half an arm and sew both arms to her torso, but all in all she's almost finished.

The blue/green yarn I'm going to knit into a dress for her. Isn't it lovely? It's also very soft.

 

I've also been working out a synopsis for my NaNoWriMo story (TEN DAYS BEFORE IT STARTS) Perhaps I'll get it worked out and post it in say three days, a week before the actual challenge begins. Yes, that seems like a rather good idea.

 

I'm listening to...

 

A boy whistling, a chair moving across the floor (controlled I presume by the boy who is whistling) and some discussion going on about maps.

 

One of my favorite things...

 

Baking. (Did I mention I was making carrot cake today? Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.) I'm also feeling in the mood to make bread, but I'm not sure if that will happen today.

 

Around the house...

 

I think I need to find some warm socks and a sweater, it's rather cold this morning.

 

Picture thoughts I'm sharing...

 

 

 

 

 

I liked this quote so I wanted to add it to this post

 



 

 (Where I found it)

 

 

 

 



Crafty, Crafty Emily

Outside my window...

A window really is such an interesting thing, you know. It is like a description in a story; revealing the outside world, the scene, and yet limiting sight to a certain dimension. Here we have a window, a rectangle of limited size, and yet it frames a sight that reveals so much to us. We see the corner of a rooftop in one corner, a chimney emitting great billows of smoke that drift out of our sight and down the other side of the house. On the other side of that same window we see a row of trees, their colors bright and vibrant- reminding us that fall has come. Looking to the upper part of the window we have the sky, pale and almost white, a solid mass of cloud, making the entire scene to appear unfinished, as if an artist had left the upper half of their page blank.
If I were writing a description for a story I would be limiting myself to such important details as the window limits. I would be creating a sense of the place, the outside, without going on for pages and pages at a time. A window, a description, framing so much more than we can see, yet even from our limited sight we know it is there.

I'm thinking...

Working at the library I have a tendency to retreat into my thoughts, to create an imaginary world for myself like I always did when I was younger. I remember that even the shortest walk of those days would turn into the weary travels of a shepherd maiden with but a crust of bread to sustain her. Now, those thoughts have turned from a imaginary game, to the creating of a story yet to be written, but when you compare them they are very like. Of course I am much more concerned with the idea of plot and connection of a series of ideas to tie the whole thing together, but is there so very much difference to the creating of story then and now? Then it was a game I played; now it is the catching of ideas and characters to weave into a written story.
Whenever I don't have anything much to occupy my thoughts with, I have at least a half dozen stories that must be thought out and their endings decided.
Right now the story that occupies my mind the most is my Nanowrimo story. Up to this point the main idea has changed so much you would never connect it and my original idea. All I really know right now is that the story is to be focus on a sense of division. A division of self, a character with conflicting personality traits, and then a division in choices, as far as the character's future is concerned. I'm pretty sure that my main character will be named Elise (though this changes from day to day. Yesterday her name was Elaine, but really, I think Elise fits her better) I also have a couple other ideas for things I want to tie into the story, but I don't think I shall write them down here. I need to sort them out in my thoughts some more, and I don't want to write the whole plot out.

I'm listening to...

Bei Mir Bist Du Schon (Means That You're Grand) by the Andrew Sisters. (Yes, my obsession with their music has yet to weaken. They're still my favorite.) That reminds me though of this CD I brought home from the library yesterday, they (supposedly) make an appearance on it. It's actually a radio program with Abbott and Costello from when they (the Andrews Sisters) were very popular. I'm excited to try it out and see what it's like.

I'm creating...

Oh dear. Did I mention that I'm in an extreme crafting mood? Especially knitting. I've been trying out all sorts of different knitting techniques and perfecting them. Originally I was just making little swatches of knitted patterns, but then I decided that I would really love to make little knitted jumpers and things, but before I could do that I would need to make a little knitted doll to wear those jumpers and miniature hats and flowers and things. So I googled for knitted doll patterns and I found the dearest doll ideas. (weefolkart.com)

Look aren't they the dearest things? Can't you just picture with a wee little knitted jumper with a sweet little ruffle at the hem?

And look with those sweet little embroidered eyes and mouth? *squee* (but truthfully I would prefer hair of one colour. Maybe I'm unimaginative. Oh but if it were to be put into braids! Wouldn't that be lovely?)

(*edit* I previously had pictures from their post, but on second thought as I'm not very sure about copyright so I'll just let you all go to the site itself and look at the lovely pictures there. Do go and see. They're adorable. I'll post a picture when it's my own creation to share)

...and now I desperately (yes, my dear, I do know the italics make me sound dramatic, but aren't they just necessary? Okay, I'm going to stop now- but they're just so much fun. Putting undue stress on a certain word in your sentence. Quite.) need to go to a yarn shop and buy a nice large darning needle and and some soft cream yarn.

I can make all my jumpers and things from my "extra" yarn in my knitting bag, but honestly, isn't the cream simply necessary. I see you agree with me. How sensible of you.

I'm reading... Well, I was going to say something about the books I'm actually reading, but then the words "I'm reading" reminded me that I really need to finish this up so I can read the history chapters I'm supposed to read after writing this. So- I'm reading history chapters?

Some picture thoughts I'm sharing...

A picture of Ella and I that Mom took the other day. I rather like it.

 

 

And then I took a picture of the leaves on the ground. I like it because it just focuses up in that one area, which I think is neat.

 

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...

 

Not getting distracted? (*cough* riiiiiiight. Somehow after my knitting story that doesn't sound so convincing, does it? Did I mention I woke up in the middle of the night with a knitting needle in my hair? Yes.) I'm very excited for next weekend because I don't work and we're planning on doing something fun. Perhaps I shall write a post on it. (as well as writing up all those letters I'm behind on. YES. THAT IS THE PLAN.)