Beauty and the Beast and Knitted Hats

I'm thinking:

It was rather funny this morning. I wrote something up for my journaling page and then went to preview it and see how it would look formatted on the blog and it turns out I had been writing on my other blog. I hadn't been on that blog in a while and it made me laugh because it felt like I was going back in time somehow. Slipping back into last year. It's funny how that can happen sometimes. You open a book, or a blog that you frequented almost every day in years before, and it feels like you are simply stepping back in time.

I'm reading:

So, it's January. I want to start keeping better track of the books I read in the next few months (hopefully all year, but we'll see how I do). I just finished reading my second book for the month (reading book number three and four at the same time right now). Beauty is the book I just finished (it was a Christmas present) and I have to say, it was one of the best retellings of fairytales that I've ever read. You never can tell with retellings of fairytales. Some turn out to be rather good, others not so good. The trick is, I think, keeping the strain of the original fairytale and not losing the essence of the story. Sometimes the author gets so caught up in creating their own idea of the character that they lose who that character really was, because it is all there to begin with. Even though fairytales are often written without an over abundance of words, there is still a strain of a character that needs to be caught onto if the retelling is going to succeed. I think Beauty was so well done because it felt like it was simply adding more to the story in descriptions and such, but never straying for long from the story's real beginning. Not to mention that the Beast actually seemed rather frightening to begin with, which I liked quite a lot. Nomally he isn't, and he's supposed to be. Beauty and the Beast is probably my favorite fairytale, actually. I just love it so much. After finishing Beauty I went and found my CD from the Broadway musical, and listened to some of the songs from that. I shall probably be obsessed with Beauty and the Beast for a little while now.

I'm wearing:

I rather look like a ragamuffin today. A tear in the knee of my jeans (put there by myself, thank you very much), a shirt that really was a dress but I wear it as a shirt because it's much too short to wear as a dress, and a ruffled shirt beneath that. Ah well, it's home I stay today, so I can enjoy looking like a ragamuffin and dance about the room in bare feet.

I'm listening to:

Songs from Les Miserables on youtube. I want to buy the soundtrack eventually. I'm just not getting tired of all these songs. They are perfect. Really, really perfect.

I'm creating:

I've almost finished knitting a slouchy hat with my Christmas yarn. I'm excited about it because the colour will just match the red scarf I have and the red mittens my grandparents brought back from Canada for me. So now I have a full set. Or almost. I just have to finish knitting this hat.

On the topic of creating I really need to start working on my NaNoWriMo story again. I haven't made much progress since November ended and I would still like to finish it. So there's another project waiting for me.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Did I mention I ordered a Latin book? That's what I'm most excited about this week. I read the introduction yesterday and I'm going to start on chapter one today. Yes.

" I really do enjoy you blog. Thank you Emily!!

I have been wondering exactly how you put your hair up in a bun ever since you first blogged about it. My hair is very thick and I cannot find a way to put it into a bun at all. Maybe you could post a picture of how it looks when it is finished, or write out a few instructions. I know it's silly, but I'm kind of at a lost of things to do with my hair!

*sigh* I did hope that my first comment to this blog would be a bit more interesting, but I suppose this has been the only thing to get past my procrastinating nature.

Oh well, I think you understand.

Thank you! :)"

Comment on It's Monday Again

Dear Reagan,

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. You see, I've always meant to respond in a post (like I'm doing now) but I was going to take pictures and things for you and I keep forgetting. So I thought I would write this up even if I don't have the pictures, as I suppose it's better to respond in the first place rather than never responding because you're trying to make it better.

I actually taught myself how to do it from this youtube video:

(I teach myself all sorts of things from youtube videos. Whenever I need to learn a new knitting technique or something you can always find a video and I just pause it and replay it as long as I need to. Very helpful.)

(I normally gather up my hair much lower than she does)

I hope this is helpful! And thank you so much for the comment. I love comments and I always get so excited to get them. Sorry I've been slow to respond!

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.

 

 



Muddy Roads and Books

Outside my window

Today is a day that verges along the edge of a boundary, a line, that separates Fall and Winter. Perhaps if I lived somewhere else I would definitely describe it as Fall weather; cloudy skies, green grass tipped with frost, muddy roads, but for us, it has a hinting of Winter. Not that Winter is even supposed to begin until the end of the month (doesn’t that seem rather silly to you? December seems such a wintery month to me, and yet Winter doesn’t even begin till the last few days.) When I look out my window what I really want to describe most is mud. Dark, chocolaty brown mud. I like mud. That is, I like mud when I slip on my extra tall boots (courtesy of last Christmas and my increasing need for boots) and trump about in a road of mud. Mud that squishes, squelches, and sticks to the bottom of the old boots.

 I’m reading

The Book Thief (so far I’m really enjoying it. I’m about ten chapters in I think, and it’s really well written and absorbing. I dislike how the book is broken up with these bolded sections between paragraphs, it’s rather jolting, but so far that’s my only complaint. Then again I’m still near the beginning)

Skipping Christmas (This is a reread. I recommend. It always makes me laugh.)

A Wodehouse story from my Just enough Jeeves story collection.

I’m  finding my list of books increasing by dozen as I’ve been going through Sarah’s book blogs, and really, I want to read anything she suggests. I have a great big long list of books to find now.

From the Kitchen

Cold coffee sitting on the tabletop.

A few plans for the rest of the week

I’ve been filling out a new address book, slowly but surely. Who knew it could take such a long time? I’m about half way through. I also need to finish filling out Christmas cards, but extra envelopes are necessary. Also, I would like to create some Christmas ornaments and things. That’s always such fun.

I’m creating

Well, I believe I covered what I’m creating in the prompt above, but I do also need to finish up my doll. I want to have it all ready to give to Ella on Christmas.

I’m listening to

Squealing children running up and down the stairs, thump, thump, thump.

 

 

The Victorian Lady and Christmas Lights

I'm thinking...(I wrote this yesterday? but I'm posting anyhow)

There is a lady who lives in the town nearest to us who wears Victorian garb every day, and when I say Victorian garb I mean everything. You can see her walking down the street with trailing skirts and lacy blouses, her hair up in a large pompadour. She often carries a parasol and rides on a very old fashioned looking bicycle. Now, I’ll be honest and say that originally I thought this rather strange. You know, one of those odd quirks of people belonging to a little town (and this is coming from someone obsessed with historic dresses and hairstyles.)
I’ve been thinking about her a lot though lately, and found that I really admire her. If I found it strange, you can well imagine the looks she must get when she walks into a grocery store or something. I admire her because she really doesn’t care. She isn’t doing it to make a show, to go against society or anything of the like- she does it because she likes to. She feels comfortable in floor length skirts and heels that lace or button up past the ankle. She wears clothes like that because she loves them, and honestly doesn’t care about other people’s opinions.
Which I find really refreshing.
It is all too common for us to worry how we appear in other people’s minds. To worry about the impression we are making, or what is being said about us. When really the most important thing is to have a good opinion of yourself. Now I’m not saying that we should all live a Victorian lifestyle, indeed that would be most impractical, but I think we should care a little less about what other people think of us. I know that there are times when I feel like simply being happy and humming as I go about doing whatever task I’m at work with, and yet I stifle the hum because I’m afraid of the stranger walking past me.
It’s not that I hide who I am, and if someone asks me I’m happy enough to answer them honestly, but there’s still that part of me that wants to be invisible. That doesn’t want to stand out. I want to be less afraid of being noticed, because if you’re confident and happy with yourself that’s what is really important, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Outside my window...it's a lovely chilly day.

I'm wearing...A striped sweater and jeans and am wrapped up in a large blanket.

I'm reading...Jeeves and Wooster books by P. G. Wodehouse

I'm creating... Almost finished with my doll's dress.

I'm listening to...Christmas music, yay!

A picture thought I'm sharing...

 

 

My room all decorated with lights, doesn't it look lovely?

 

Road to Avonlea

I’m pretty sure most people have a favorite show. The show you own all the seasons to and know every episode by heart. That show where it only takes the theme music to make you perfectly happy. For me that show would be Road to Avonlea. When I was about nine or ten we rented the first season, and after that everyone knew that my favorite present on a birthday would be the next season. Even now it is the show that I go back to when I have a head cold or am feeling sad. There’s just something about the opening shots of the cliff tops in front of the ocean, the fields of waving grass, the soft piano music, it makes me happy. Perhaps this is partially because I have so many memories with it, nostalgia, but beyond that there’s something about it that I love so much. It’s s happy, it’s sweet, and it’s innocent. I’ve never been a fan of a lot of drama. I’ve always felt that there’s enough of that in real life without having to feed myself that in entertainment. I’ve grown some since when I was younger and used to refuse to read any book where a person died. I like a good story, I like plot and emotion, but I still don’t like an excess of drama. Road to Avonlea is essentially a happy series, a series following children running through fields and wiggling their bare feet in the sand on the shore. I honestly feel attached to each and every one of the various characters, Aunt Hetty, Uncle Alec, Gus, Felix, they’re all a part of my childhood and I have a special fondness for each of them.  Yes, Road to Avonlea has this special place in my heart.

 Leave it to Beaver

 If you know me you probably know that I love old black and white movies and TV shows. For years I knew that if I brought up a favorite thing to watch most of my peers would give me blank stares. They hadn’t even heard of these shows that had played back when their grandparents were growing up. Actually, I think this rather pleased me, as if I knew a lovely secret. Leave it to Beaver was one of these.  They’re awfully fun and sweet, and I have quite a few brothers so I like stories about little boys. Besides, I have a soft spot for Wally.

 I Love Lucy

 I don’t think I’ve laughed so much over a show as I have I Love Lucy. Comedy that makes one laugh with no crudity as so much of our humor now days is filled with. My favorite episode would probably be “Lucy does a TV Commercial.” I like the ones when they go to Hollywood a lot too though (mostly because of all the cameos of movie stars I know. I always go JOHN WAYNE and wave my hands about because I actually know all of the movie stars) Also, Lucy’s dresses are beautiful, but that’s just a side note.

 

 Robin Hood (BBC)

 This show is the best. No, really, I know I keep saying this, but it’s one of my favorites. It is just the sort of adventure tale I like, nothing too dark, but full of daring do and escapades. Yes, that’s the sort of thing I like. Robin’s my darling with the way he smiles and strides about cockily. I love Marian and her way of combining being ladylike and adventurous. (Did I mention her costumes. Beautiful.) and Will. I shan’t go into them all, but Will must be mentioned, as he’s quite probably my favorite character. Actually, the characters are what really make this show. They’re all really well done. I laugh, I cry, and with each rewatch I laugh and cry some more. I just love. (FYI I refuse to acknowledge the existence of a third season. It didn’t happen. That is all.)

Doctor Who

This is my newest favorite show. I actually hadn’t watched it until last Summer. I had heard all about it, but I’d never actually watched it myself. Now it’s very high on my list. I went through all the episodes at probably the fastest pace I have with any show before. What I like best is how different every episode is. They’re always different and I always enjoy them. I admit it, I originally started watching for Rory, because Rory is amazing, but as soon as I was through his episodes I had come to love everything about the show. Now my brother and I can chatter about Doctor Who for hours, and it has the distinction of being the only show I went so crazy about that I bought a poster (which hangs up by my desk if you’d like to know.)

 

 

It's Monday Again

I'm thinking...

I'm going to be keeping this short today. November is seeming a very busy month. (Also, no I never did finish the October challenge did I? Perhaps I'll write up some more letters in December. After college applications and NaNo.)

From the Kitchen...

Two nice little balls of bread dough sitting on the counter in a puddle of flour. What a lovely way to begin the week, with the smell of homeade bread flooding through the house.

I'm listening to...

Christmas music. (yes, we are listening to Christmas music already. It isn't really full out Christmas music though, just piano. It makes us all happy though.)

I'm wearing...

My periwinkle blue "Christendom" t-shirt and jeans. As soon as my hair dries I'm going to fix it into the bun style that I've been wearing quite often lately.

I'm creating...

I really do need to finish knitting my doll, don't I? My hope is to definetly finish it by the end of December. I'm rather looking forward to December as a month that will have slowed down some. A month of knitting, crafting, baking and counting down the days till Christmas.

Around the house...

spread all across the table are many pages of paper painted with lovely watercolors.

I'm reading...

Joy in the Morning, by P. G. Wodehouse.

Outside my window...

It's a rather grey day. (Is gray the British spelling and grey the American one? I was just thinking about that. Perhaps I shall look it up.)

One of my favorite things...

Baking bread.

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

Finishing up my bread, writing an essay, working on my novel, etc.