About Me

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I love Jesus. I love my family. I love photography. I love books. I love thinking. Probably in that order. I have a wonderful husband, five beautiful daughters, a house, and a camera. I enjoy spending time talking to my husband, playing with my girls, redecorating my house and shooting things with my camera. In my spare time, I sleep.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Memories of my love for reading

Today on The One Minute Writer, the prompt was to write about a childhood memory related to reading. That certainly brought a lot to the surface for me and so I thought I'd share a few of those memories with all of you.

When I was a kid I loved to read! I loved books. There was one summer in particular that I remember pretty much spending the whole summer reading. This probably coincided with my decision to try to read every single book in my local library!

My school always participated in the Book-It Program. I always had one of the highest goals for number of books to read per month and I don't remember ever missing my goal. Which of course meant lots of free pizzas for me! It was like a bonus for all the reading I would have done anyway! I just loved going to Pizza Hut with my family & ordering my own personal pizza with my book-it certificate. It was most rewarding when the manager would bring the little glow-in-the-dark star for me with the check so that I could place it on my Book-It pin with precision!

One of my favorite school days was the one each month when everyone from my K-8 rural school would car pool to town to go to the library to pick out new books for the month. I remember one particular time when my teacher talked to my parents because he was concerned about the books I was choosing. I was really into the Sweet Valley High books at the time (this was in 6th grade) and one of the covers was a picture of Elizabeth & Jessica Wakefield in bathing suits and so he deemed that book inappropriate and talked to my parents about it. I was sooo mad! I'd been reading those books for a long time before that incident but he didn't get worked up until the bathing suit one!

Another time I remember having a assignment in school (I think it was actually for an outside contest of some sort) where we were asked to invent something. We were to brainstorm and try to think of something useful that we didn't think existed and then draw a picture of it. I had two ideas...the one I believe I submitted was a rig that attached to a bicycle that you could put your book on so that a person could read while they rode! It certainly makes me laugh thinking of that now and how dangerous that would really be but at the time I didn't think anything of it.

In fact, another of my memories from a few years later (when I was in high school) is of walking from school down to the public library where my mom worked and checking out a book & then reading it as I walked all the way through town to my grandparent's house. (I read the first chapter of 'The Firm' this way!) That's a little less dangerous than read & riding but it still couldn't have been too safe. (For those of you who are wondering...my second idea for an invention, which I didn't use because I was told it already existed, was a tray you place across the tub that would provide a way to read while taking a bath.)

The one thing that I think most of my memories have in common is that my love of reading blinded me to reality, practicality & feasibility! But I gotta say I find that rather enduring about my younger self! No wonder I had a problem with daydreaming! Sometimes I wish I could get a little bit of that innocence & wonder back. I hope that my kids have a love for reading that makes them lose sight of reality once in a while!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Del Tackett's blog

I don't know how many of you have heard of the 'The Truth Project.' It is an amazing study & program. I have had the privilege of not only participating in a Truth Project group but of facilitating my own small group as well. At any rate, Del Tackett (the teacher of the material) has his own blog "A Truth Observed" which is a very great blog to keep up with and I highly recommend it. In this particular blog from a few weeks ago, Cheering for the Underdog, he tells a very moving story that I thought was worth sharing. Enjoy!


Thursday, February 12, 2009

A Little Thursday Thunks Action

This week's Thursday Thunks

1.
You are driving down the road and there is a puddle in the road. A big puddle. Not one that will really wreck your car or anything, but a big puddle. There is no other cars in front of you or behind you - do you drive through the puddle or drive around it?

I don't know. It's kind of fun driving through puddles but I'd have to be pretty convinced it wouldn't hurt my vehicle before I drove through it.

2.
Go to Google Images, type in any word that comes to mind and post the 1st picture you see.


3. A college calls you up and says that you have been selected to take get any degree that you want on their dollar.... what do you choose?

Oooo...I'm not sure. Photography would always appeal to me but do I REALLY need a degree in that? I'd probably get a degree in interior design or something like that. Yeah...I'm gonna go with interior design.

4. Are you blogging on a laptop or desktop?

Desktop. I sometimes really wish I had my own laptop but all my info just fits more readily on a desktop & it's really what works best for us.

5. Which store, excluding a grocery store, do you shop at most often?

Un
fortunately...Wal-Mart. I actually went over a month without shopping there a year or two ago but they are just too darn convenient & inexpensive-- I can't help myself!

6.
My daughters tried out for the school musical last night. Were you ever in a school play/musical? Which one?

Oh yeah...I've been in a few. In high school I was one of the theatre kids. I was in almost every production from 10th grade- graduation (Very small school & they didn't have a theatre department my freshman year) The three major productions in high school were "Rehearsal For Murder" in which I played a delivery guy. Then my junior year I was Ms. Claire DeLune with my own solo in the musical "How the West Was Fun" (My brother played the lead!) And then my senior year I was Becky Thatcher in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Fun times! I also was in a few plays in college as well. The notable ones being "Comedy of Errors" in which I had no speaking lines. And then "The Crucible" in which I played Betty Parris. I had so much fun! Some of my best memories of high school involved working on plays!



7. I read yesterday that a school PTA group wants to try to ban white bread, cakes, brownies or any other "treat" from their lunch menus... plus make kids' lunchboxes brought from home not include any "junk food". Thoughts on that one?

I think it's a good thing to rid the lunch menu's of such things and offer only healthier choices, however to ban the parents from being able to pack whatever they want seems to be an invasion of parent rights. If a parent wants to feed their child "junk food" they should be allowed to do so. But I think that the schools themselves should be responsible enough to make better choices for their students than the students will generally make for themselves.

8.
How many people can your kitchen table seat?

Ppbbstt...It is meant to seat 4 but we've squeezed at least 6 people around it before...if not more.

9.
What time is it right now?

10:55 am

10.
Walk out the front door of your house/apartment, turn right, walk 2 blocks. What do you see?

Well..I'm not sure how to measure 'blocks' on my street. I go a block & I'd have to turn on to another road because if I went straight I'd be walking in a field. If I turn on the next street and walk what I'd consider to be another block...well I'd be standing at the highway. Behind me would be the road with our mailboxes in the middle of it; I'd see a field to right & a little house to the left; Straight ahead & to the right would be a more lucrative community of houses. Strait ahead & to the left is a college's experimental field & Straight ahead is the state patrol offices behind another relatively empty field.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

My break

So...after my last post over a week ago, I got my needed break. My parents offered to take my girls for a good portion of the week. The came up on Tuesday afternoon (my birthday) and took the girls home with them until we came up and got them on Friday night. As they were leaving, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to be without them for that long. But I did fine. As soon as they were gone Russ & I hopped in the car & drove to Ft. Collins for a birthday trip. He took Wednesday off to be with me. So we stayed the night in a motel watching a movie & eating Olive Garden take-out. And then on Wednesday we slept in and missed the free continental breakfast *darn* but it was great to be leisurely. We went to PF Changs for lunch and then we went shopping. We hit a couple thrift stores, a couple toy stores, Ross, Whole Foods & the mall. We also made a stop at the Bible Superstore so I could pick out the new bible I've been wanting as my birthday gift from Russ. We ate supper at the mall--Chic-Fil-A & Inta Juice. *yum* We finally started home at about 7:30. I was soooo tired...I thought I'd sleep on the way home but couldn't (I have a really hard time sleeping on the road.) Thursday Russ went back to work and I slept until 10:30. When I did get up, I got dressed and then sat on the couch for an hour just listening to my thoughts and the tick-tock of the clock. It was wonderful. I had no idea that just sitting could be so rewarding! In the afternoon I ran errands around town and marvelled at how easy it was not having to load & unload children from their carseats at every stop. When Russ got home we went out and ate at a local Mexican cafe and then came home & watched several hours worth of Scrubs. Friday was mostly spent preparing for a weekend with family. I was sooo happy to see my sweet girls faces smiling at me & the sweet little hugs I got when I arrived at my parents house but I was suprised how much I really did enjoy my three days without them. Thanks Mom & Dad.