Thyme.

{Or, Time}

There's just never enough of it, is there?

;)

P.S. ~ Just finished a great book, A Jane Austen Education. 

You should read it too!

Conversational Jumpers

I noticed something funny today: people who are what I call 'conversation jumpers'.
Do you know the kind?


You'll meet them and  everything ( your names, whatcha-doin', etc.) is hurriedly exchanged in a few quick sentences back & forth. Then, it's onto the strange, funny & amusing dance of conversation!
You'll say something as they watch you eagerly and try to look like they are listening intently (maybe they actually are, I don't know sometimes)... and then as soon as you pause for a just a tiny space of a few seconds....
 they pounce! Jumping into the conversation!  Just like their namesakes.
(Often how quick they take over the talking can take me by surprise.)
Okay, so then they rattle on & on.... dear things.... about this & that  or anything, nothing and everything! Whew!

Next, you may try to add something later on and start to form a sentence (hooray! maybe you'll get in what you have to say!) but just when you think you're safe.....in jumps the Jumper! And they go, "Oh! yes! Yes, yes, I know what you mean. It's like this one time I---"


And back and forth, on it goes. :) Until they tire (which seems to not happen to quick) or you excuse yourself.
Or....you can do what I like to do and just sit/stand there and watch their fast-paced word patterns and trains of thought ramble all over the place. It's kind of fascinating, really!

I don't know, I like to notice the odd little things we humans do & laugh at them.
Now, I don't mean laugh at those people doing it per se, but rather laugh at us, all humans. We are funny! And we do these funny things. :)
All part of the design I guess.
{Right, God?}

Quiet Days

Quiet days.
Full of this -- and that
or -- this and that things.

Much of nothing,
nothing of much.
Soft and hard,
long and slow.
In and up,
out and down.

Quiet days.
They do so much
when we do so little.

A Tale About Alice

Life is full of surprises.   For my birthday (which was last Saturday, the 12th) I received a very special book from a friend of mine. It was a book on one of my favorite subjects: Alice, from the Alice in Wonderland book tales!
This book was a story in which the authoress, Melanie Benjamin, mixed the fact and fiction surrounding Alice Pleasance Liddell's and Rev. Charles Dodgson's (aka Lewis Carroll's) lives into a quaint, curious tale that both entertains fully as well as leaves you puzzling... "so what was the real story?"

My favorite thing about this book (besides the cover, and inside photographs of the real Alice!) was the way Benjamin wrote the tale: in the present, first-person. This is my favorite way to write and read a book, however I seldom find it used and especially not to this extent! This alone made it a very enjoyable read for me.

    Other than that all that, all you need to know before running our & buying or borrowing this book is that you probably should read up on the real story first, if you want to be able to distinguish it through the reading. Now, if that's no concern for you, and you just want it all to blend together beautifully in your head:this is the perfect story for that. :) Go right on ahead...
    Also, Melanie Benjamin really did her homework on the facts that we do know about the two families. So, if you're any sort of a historical AiW buff, you will really enjoy (like I did) all the little details carefully tucked in the story!

Just don't forget to, 

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." *

~Hannah

Book Review: "Same Kind of Different As Me"

I've read this book recently, and I just can't get it out of my head. It touched me and moved me. It opened my eyes too...
Slavery was 'abolished' officially with the publication of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but did you know that not all the former slaves were free after that? Many of them kept living and working in the same conditions, for years, even up until the 1940s and 50s. Even if they were no longer slaves in name, they lived just like their forefathers and met up with their own walls of seemingly impossible challenges of their times in the quest for true freedom and equality.
This story is about how God took a son of a slave, named Denver, and used a couple called the Halls to change many, many lives. It's a redemption story. And it will make you cry in unbelief, and weep for joy.

I highly recommend the reading of it.

~Hannah

Here's Something ...

If you can't already tell, I am currently in a huge blogging slump...
Haven't felt like writing anything.
Haven't had time to write anything other than school papers,
and thoughts are flying in & out my head so fast
I have not been able to catch them lately.

So sorry about that....

But here's an interesting picture! It's of antelope bounding across the prairie out West (most likely South Dakota.) It was really beautiful out there. That trip was what taught me that I actually do love traveling; I just didn't know it.
Not sure which one of us was holding the family camera on this one though, so the credit goes to "our general family group"! lol.
I pray God that you all are well and less busy as me!
~Hannah

It wasn't really me....

Hey, Today Is the Day!

Just wanted to say right now:
I am very excited!
About everything!!
About CHRISTMAS, and living, and cleaning my room, and starting college again next month, and.... just everything! :)
It's a funny, but nice, feeling.

Also, I want to list things I am thankfully to God for
(because remembering everything He does for me is very important!)
My beloved chum, Caroline, always inspires me to turn my thoughts this way. :)

~ my sister Lizzie.
~for playing dress up again( see picture above)
~ being able to find yummy non-dairy food to make & eat!
~the sound of the classical radio ....playing all day long. :)
~Mom's amazing-super-industriousness! If only I can learn to be so awesome. ;)
~the Bible. Yes, wow, really.
~the promise of getting together with friends & family more this month!
~the possibility of SNOW~!
~my little brother. He is so creative, he's building a huge model airplane right now!
~ribbon!
~cookies.....yum!
~books (just finished a re-reading of The Scarlett Letter, and I'm working through Debt-Free U still. Both amazing!)
~God's grace.
~having things to clean! Really, it's interesting. I may complain about doing it, but the very fact I have a home, a room, and a room of my own is a huge thing.

This is the picture of a Scarlett Tanager I started late Monday night!

I think I am highly attracted to color & solid black lines. ;)

 

 

Here's our beloved Maxi! <3 What a sweet poochie!

He likes napping on my bed. :) And he's almost 7 years old now!

Here is the room damage before! There are two huge piles (winter & summer clothes) taking over my bed!!!

If I'm ever going to get those Christmas cards out, or gifts made...this desk has to get clear as well!

Here we (me, myself & I) are half-way done! Whew...now to attack the closet and the stuff under the bed!

I am using Ashley Skabar's Dairy-Free Cooking site on About.com to make some sumptious things for the family! Her recipes are delicious and invaluable to us as a family, what with 3 of us needing dairy-free foods!
Here are a few recipes that I'm working on right now (and need to get back to ASAP!):
Deviled Eggs
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Yellow Cake
Dijon Caramel Chocolates

(c) http://www.papaspantry.org/2008Pg/Classes.htm

That last one is sounding really yummy....

When you read this, try to think of what being alive as a child of God really means. :)
It's positively a MIRACLE.
Love,

This Inspires Me! :)

"[Possible] Careers for English Program Graduates" *

The following represents some careers for English majors.

Account Executive
Actor/Actress
Administrative Assistant
Administrator
Advertising Copywriter
Analyst
Artist
Analyst
Attorney
Author - Fiction Non-Fiction
Assistant Scientific Writer
Bank Officer
Biographer
Book Critic
Business Manager
Circulation Assistant
City Manager
College Professor
Columnist/Commentator
Comedy Writer
Communications Manager
Congressional Aide
Copywriter
Corrective Therapist
Creative Writer
Critic, Art/Book
Crossword Puzzle
Curator
Customer Service
Desktop Publisher
Director
Radio-TV Commentator
Radio-TV Newscaster
Reading Consultant
Reporter
Research Assistant
Researcher/Pollster
Retail Sales
Technical Consultant
Technical Writer
Training Specialist
Editor, Film/Video
Editor, Magazine
Editor, News
Editor, Newspaper
Editor, Publications
Editor, Publications
Editor, Writer
Editorial Assistant
Education & Training
Educational Program Specialist
Entertainment Agent
Fashion Merchandiser
Foreign Correspondent
Freelance Writer/Consultant
Fundraiser
Greeting Card Writer
Hearing Officer
Hotel & Motel Manager
Human Resource Specialist
Human Service Practitioner

Humorist/Comedian
Information Abstractor
Insurance Agent
Interior Designer
Interpreter & Translator
Investment Counselor/Manager
Journalist
Labor Relations Specialist
Lawyer
Legal Assistant
Librarian
Sales Representative
Sales/Service Manager
Script Reader
Singer/Voice
Teacher
Social Welfare Examiner
Social Worker
Translator
Underwriter
Video Scriptwriter/Producer
Literary Agent
Loan Officer
Lobbyist
Magazine Writer
Management Trainee
Manuscript Reader
Market Research
Marketing Specialist
Marketing Writer
Mass Media
Media Planner
Medical Records
Narrator
Novelist
Paralegal
Paralegal Assistant
Personnel Manager
Playwright
Poet
Politician
Probation and Parole Officer
Product Manager
Program Manager
Proofreader
Property Manager
Public Administrator
Public Relations Specialist
Public Speaker
Publicity Assistant
Publisher
Publishing Assistant
Special Events Coordinator
Speech Writer
Sports Writer
Stockbroker
Talent Agent
Teacher (all levels)
ESL Teacher
Writer
Documentation Specialist
* Source: Penn State Mont Alto's English Major Webpage


Isn't it just INSPIRING? :)
So many options for an English major!
(I put my favorite in bold.)

Here's To The Future!
;)