A Little Peter Pan... and Christmas

This week started off incredibly busy, and has been holding steady! Bright and early on Monday morning my girls had auditions to be a part of the traveling Missoula Children's Theater. This year they are putting on the play Wendy and Peter, which is an adaptation of Peter Pan, and both of my daughters got a part! My oldest will be playing Mr. Darling, Wendy's dad, and my youngest will be playing Buddy, who is one of the Lost Boys. They are both super excited and having a blast with all of the play practices. If you are unfamiliar with this theater group, they travel to different cities in the US, hold auditions on a Monday, have intense practices all week long, and perform the play on Friday. Needless to say, my week is filled with Wendy and Peter and all that theater goodness!

Aside from that, not too much has been going on in my world. I am enjoying our new house, and simply loving the change. I've also been trying to get more organized with our homeschooling, specifically with records and grades. I have everything collected, but it is all super disorganized. My goal is to have everything recorded in a much more organized manner before I start this school year. It is taking a lot more time than I had initially thought it would, so we will see how quickly it comes along! I have ordered curriculum I need for my girls, so as soon as it arrives in the mail, our school year will start. I took my daughters to Target yesterday to pick out some new fun school supplies, which I think has gotten them both a little excited to begin the new year.

For any avid readers, I thought I might pass along that Target had several sizes of book covers in all kinds of patterns and solid colors for only $.65 each. Of course we had to pick some out! They work perfectly for some of those old library books I now own, the ones with damaged or messed up covers. I was surprised at all the choices in patterns they had available!

To get back into the swing of blogging, I suppose I'll share some of the books I've been reading. In all honesty, I've been in a bit of a reading slump.

 

I have been reading The Cat Who Came for Christmas, very sloooowly. I owned a beautiful softcover copy of this when I was a kid, and absolutely loved how beautiful this book was. I believe I read it, however, I don't have much recollection of the story now. I was able to grab up a hardcover copy of this book when I was at our base library closing and book giveaway. I found it super ironic, as I had been thinking for months prior that I would like to read this book again. I am enjoying it a lot! It is kind of a beautiful book. Not sure why exactly, because the writing isn't super "beautiful", nor has the tale really revealed anything that is super "beautiful", but there is just something nostalgic about it, and it simply makes me smile the entire time I am reading it. I can definitely see this book creeping its way up my list of favorites.

 

This is the other book I started reading this week, The Search for King Arthur. This is also another one of my free library books, one that I was super happy to stumble upon, as I was specifically hoping I would find it. I am always extremely interested in people of legends and all of the mysteriousness that surrounds the tale and if they existed. I love watching documentaries on people like this, such as King Arthur, or any person of mythology, or my favorite, Beowulf. So far I am finding this book very interesting. The beginnings of Arthur was not at all what I expected, and am curious to read on!

What good books are you reading lately?

I am still here!

I know I have been quite absent on here, but I am hoping to jump back into the swing of things.
About a week or so ago we decided spontaneously (kind of) to move. We have been talking about moving for some time, I think all of us just dreading the process when it wasn't actually required. But a couple of weeks ago I just woke up and found myself saying out loud, "We need to move." And that was the start of it! The next day we went in to speak with base housing to see about finding a new unit to move into, receiving the keys the following day and starting a week long journey of packing, moving, exhaustion, and all that good stuff. Even though it was probably a simple move in the realm of moving, considering we were just moving into a different unit on the same base, it somehow became one of the most exhausting moves ever. But it is done! We are in our new unit, boxes still amidst, but we are comfortably in our new home.
Why did we move? There was few reasons, but it really simply comes down to...we needed it. Since we moved into that house (almost 8 years ago), so much has gone on with our family, health wise, and we needed a change. Working with energy a lot to help my oldest daughter, I came to understand that our house just had a lot of bad (unhealthy) energy that was part of the land where it was situated, and it was really affecting us all negatively. The feeling I get in our new house compared to being in our old house is night and day. I always felt so sluggish in our old house, like I was literally surrounded by stagnant energy that I just could never seem to clear or escape from. I am loving our new home...energy and all! I am most excited to see how this big change will impact all of us, my oldest daughter's health especially. I am already noticing some sleeping differences. In our old house I use to need 9-10 hours of sleep (which was unusual for me to begin with), and I could take up to another hour trying to get myself out of bed, and still need a nap later in the day! Already in the new house I have found myself waking up after about 8 hours of sleep, on my own, and feeling rested.
Aside from the big change in moving, we have also been dealing with a lot of medical issues with my oldest daughter. Unfortunately she has been sick a lot this summer, preventing proper summer enjoyment. Mainly she has just been sick with viral stuff, but I just took her in again yesterday because it just doesn't seem like she is healing properly. Crohn's Disease is also running amuck in her body, which has now decreased the time frame between Remicade infusions. This makes me sad. She will now, after 4 years of taking Remicade every 8 weeks (aside from the initial couple of months of building it up in her system), she will be going in every 6 weeks. I am feeling quite overwhelmed with doctor appointments and homeschool stuff I need to get situated, so it may be a tiny bit before I am back to writing posts like I use to be. But I am looking forward to life calming down for us- hopefully very soon!

day at the beach

Went to the beach last week and had a blast taking some photos. Thought I might share a few! We live near quite a few beaches, but rarely seem to take the time to visit them. I am not much of go-in-the-ocean kind of girl, but I do absolutely love to be on the sand or standing on the cusp of the magical watery world. The freezing cold waves splashing upon my feet and legs are so refreshing! And breathing the ocean air does wonders for a soul. I always find anything ocean related to be so incredibly inspiring. I think that the mysteriousness of what lies deep beneath the surface grips my never ending interest in myths and legends. One day I will spot a mermaid tail, or stumble upon a magical item that will transform me! If that never happens.... I would settle for seeing some dolphins swimming by!

lots of 4th fun

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans! Today we ate out at Fridays and then went to see our local parade, the first time in all the eight years we've lived here that we ventured downtown on the 4th. Then we got some ice cream and found a spot to watch the fireworks. It was pretty fun! My oldest even announced that it was the best 4th of July ever!

I even had two people wanting to hold my hand during the fireworks!

This is a photo of the beautiful tree we were next to during the parade....

Beautiful bark! I miss being around trees more often. Our base housing doesn't have very many, and the ones we do have are very tiny. 

Oh, and I came across a small craft booth at one point today during our walking, and discovered this little Spongebob Squarepants shell necklace. I couldn't resist that face! My girls and I each picked out one, as they were only $3 each. My oldest picked out a shell necklace with a pretty image of a crab on it, and my youngest settled on one with an image of a puppy!

Hope all that celebrate the birth of our country had a fun and safe holiday!

Adding to My Shakespeare Collection

I was in the mood to browse a bookstore today, probably because I keep thinking about how I wont be able to easily enjoy that anymore. So, I took my girls back to the bookstore today, with only 5 days left before their final closing. My youngest daughter was able to find a bunch of chapter books based on Disney movies; my oldest found a few E.D. Baker books and another Star Wars one she liked. Myself, I just really had fun looking through everything today. I was savoring being surrounded by so many lovely books.

I didn't find too much I was really wanting to purchase today, but I did buy three more Shakespeare plays (Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale). I've been wanting to start collecting Shakespeare plays for a while now and figured this was a good time to gather up a few. I used to have twelve of his plays, but I really hated the cheap bindings of the books I had and it really kind of bummed me out every I tried to read them. I eventually just gave them away and promised myself I would get his plays again in better editions. I normally hate Signet Classic books because they print too closely to the binding, making it hard to read once you start getting to the middle of the book. However, I really love Signet Classic for Shakespeare. His plays are not long enough for that to become a huge problem, especially since the spacing in plays have the words further from the binding. Plus, I love how Signet Classic has the footnotes set up to more easily enjoy Shakespeare. I am super happy to have found this Romeo and Juliet today. I already own a copy, which was my very first Shakespeare work that I read, but is for a Shakespeare beginner. My original one has Shakespeare's version on the left pages and a modernly worded version on the right pages. It is a little bit of a larger sized paperback, and is annoying to only need to read every left page now that I understand Shakespeare. I've been wanting a more simple edition for a while. I am really craving to read Romeo and Juliet now.

The only other book I got is Bran Plague. It is a sci-fi that reminds me a lot of The Host (which makes me wonder if this book is what inspired Meyer). It sounds super interesting, the idea of a colony of microbes living in her brain that share her consciousness. I liked the idea when I read (and watched) The Host, but I have never really been that impressed with Meyer's writing. I am hoping I will enjoy the writing style of Slonczewki.

 

Aside from all that book fun, I stopped at our local library to sign my girls up for their summer reading program. I tend to forget to do this every summer until the summer is almost over. This year I managed to remember! They have both recently gotten a ton of wonderful books from our bookstore's closing sales, so they have plenty to read. I think they will have a lot of fun reading this summer. As we were leaving, my youngest said "it's too bad they don't have a reading program for you, Mom!". Isn't it? I might just have to photocopy their record sheets and join in the fun with them. They would get a kick out of that. I also had to do some summer clothes shopping for my girls, including some swimsuit shopping. They've both grown so much! I think they are just about all set to start enjoy the summer weather! 

book heaven

I was finally able to return to our local bookstore that is closing to retrieve a book I placed back on the shelf. I did, however, replace the book back on the shelf, remembering why I didn't get it in the first place. The book sounds lovely, but reading the beginning chapter didn't have me thrilled to give the book a go. I am so incredibly happy I went though; you will not believe my luck!

I spent most of my time looking at the plays and poetry. I always forget how much I really enjoy reading plays until I pick one up again. Today I decided I would pick up a few more Shakespeare plays, being as I only owned Romeo and Juliet and the three Henry VI plays prior to today. There wasn't a whole lot of selections left of Shakespeare, or I should say a whole lot of selections of Shakespeare books that were actually in decent condition. Most of them had pages ready to fall out of the bindings. I settled on these three: Othello, Macbeth, and As You Like It. You can probably tell by the photo that As You Like It looks pretty old, but the binding is very nice still. The other two look practically new.

Remember way back when I said this was the specific edition I wanted of the Sophocles plays, and that my bookstore only had one copy that was damaged on the pages? Well, I sadly pause by it every time I visit the bookstore, but today I decided to flip through it one last time, longing for it to not be an OCD trigger.

There are weird brown speckles on some of the pages, as if it has been stained. With what? Who knows! Which is why it would be an OCD trigger for me, constantly having my mind wondering what gross thing was spilled upon these pages. However, I was flipping through the pages today and realized that the speckles were in a pattern through the entire book. Two pages fresh and clean, two pages with brown speckles, two pages fresh and clean, two pages with speckles. With that, and the fact that the pages are not crinkled as if they've been wet, I decided it must have been some sort of a mishap when it was printed- and I GOT IT! I am super happy to finally have this book in my hands, weird speckles and all! Considering that every time I ever see this book in any bookstore (even if new), it is always terribly damaged, this is absolutely amazing! I really love this version of the Theban Plays.

Would you believe I found another amazing find? They must still be pulling books out from the back of their store, as I have been looking for a copy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poems since I discovered his poetry online. Apparently, his books are hard to come by! They actually had three different ones on the shelf today. I chose the thickest one that appears as though it might contain all of his works. I really love his poetry; probably one of the only poets that I feel I could own an entire book of their poems and devour it all.

 

I got these 5 books and let my daughters each pick out another book, so seven books total at 50%. I only paid $11 for all those books today!. You cannot beat that! It is a bittersweet though. I've gotten a lot of wonderful books lately that I can't wait to read, for so cheap! But, in about a week we wont have a bookstore...

recent readings

I have been enjoying some of my new books lately. I started out reading Grecian Holiday by Kate Cann. From what I gathered, this was the first book in this series, though it appears each book is truly a different story with different characters, so I don't think it matters which one you start with. It started off slightly annoying, with a girlfriend and boyfriend arguing a lot over how to spend summer vacation. It was really just weird. Very immature, a very manipulative guy trying to twist things all weird. I am really hoping that the book will unfold and that the girl will realize he is not good for her. I am still struggling to figure out how old they are. They drink in bars and all of that, still in some kind of a school (college or high school?), but yet the girl and most of her friends are barely starting to learn to drive. I am so confused. It is written by a British author, so maybe a little research might clear it up. I knew before hand the book was British by the title, but I did not know prior to reading this book how different British English truly is from American English. For example, they would apparently say "the phone went" instead of "the phone rang", and "cases from the boot" instead of "luggage from the trunk" (I think). There was also a moment in the book where the weird boyfriend was complaining about one of his girlfriend's friends, calling her a "slag". I am not entirely sure of the meaning, but I was guessing "slut"?
It is an interesting read though to be somewhat immersed into another culture's writing style in this way. The girl has left her boyfriend for the summer and headed off to Greece, so I am hoping lots of fun things will happen. We will see!
Also, I picked up Shakespeare's Henry VI plays. I only read the first scene last night, which was 175 lines long, but I found it interesting. I noticed that I tend to gravitate towards classic pieces when I am feeling bummed, and other books when I am feeling more happy. I was feeling a bit bummed last night, so I set aside Grecian Holiday and opted for Shakespeare. This discovery is a little perplexing for me, and I am unsure what this means about me or why I am like that. Hmm.
Back to Henry VI. I really don't know much about this king. I know a lot about King Henry VIII, but not Henry VI. I have been fascinated with English Royalty for some time and tend to devour anything related, whether it is movies, shows, or books, so I am interested in learning about this time period through Shakespeare. I hadn't realized Shakespeare wrote so many plays that are historically based. I must say, learning history through the poetic nature of Shakespeare is quite wonderful!
I know I mentioned I was done buying books from our closing bookstore...but...
There was one more book there that I had really wanted that I put back, and I am somewhat regretting it. It has been haunting me, calling to me. Everything is still 40% from what I understand, so I may go back this weekend to see if it is still there. It was a large historical fiction hardcover book about all the women in Caesar's life. I did a bit of research and discovered it is the 4th book in a series, so I may see if there are any of the others there (though I am pretty sure there aren't). I think that time period would be really interesting to read about, and I am a sucker for anything that revolves around the feminine, girl power, and all that fun stuff. I'm sure I will giddily share my purchase on here if I find it!
What books have you been enjoying lately?

Oh what a wonderful...Saturday!

Last night was my daughters' dress rehearsal for their dance program, which means today was their dance recital! I absolutely love watching their dance dress rehearsals. For me, that moment is extremely emotional, and I savor every bit of it. With how much my oldest has gone through due to Crohn's Disease, it makes my heart sing watching all of those beautiful young ladies having fun with their bodies and who they are. I love watching their passion and pride for what they have worked so hard to accomplish come to fruition. It is just one of those things that gets me deep in my heart...every time. I usually try to film their dances during the dress rehearsal as well, so that during the actual recital, when the audience is more packed, I get to just sit and relax, and enjoy! So, today set the day for greatness!
Then after the recital (and my girls changing into more comfortable clothes), we headed of to a lovely dinner to celebrate a recent family member's birthday. It was deliciousness. Then we stopped in our local bookstore (the one that is soon to close), to see what goodies we could find before all was gone.
Apparently they are closing their doors on the 13th, which is way too soon! Everything in the store was 40% off, so I decided to browse and see what would jump out at me. The cheap prices allowed me to give some random books a try, which was really fun!
My youngest picked out 5 American Girl books and a lovely book on a diary of a young lady that was on the Titanic (she is a bit Titanic obsessed), and my oldest picked out 5 more Star Wars related books and Geek Charming (there is a movie on this book that she likes quite a bit). As for me, here are my finds:

All 3 of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays. I have been wanting to read some plays lately, and really don't have any aside from the Theban plays and Romeo and Juliet. I am a sucker for trilogies (I am pretty sure being obsessed with 3 is OCD related...), so when I saw this I thought to myself, can't go wrong with Shakespeare!

I've heard good things about The Secret Life of Bees, and in all honesty, I've been really interested in bees since so many are dying out. I keep telling my husband I want to be a beekeeper, but he just laughs at me! I thought I might enjoy this story, it's the next best thing, right?

I have read about The Mermaid Chair several times online and just think this cover is so beautiful. The storyline sounds interesting, and anything even mermaid related has my attention. This was the only hardcover I purchased today, and all the books we got today were used books.

My last 3 books are these little strange ones; Spanish Holiday, Grecian Holiday, and California Holiday. I really have no idea what they are about, aside from the titles, but they have been catching my eye for quite a while in the bookstore. I think I would love to read a few books with a travel theme. I have a feeling they might be some fun stories, so today I decided to give them a try. I was actually really happy to see that all 3 of them were still on the shelf (yes, again, 3).

Beowulf, based on the screenplay for the movie that I so much love. I really didn't know much about Beowulf prior to this movie, and I loved it. I had no idea this book existed, but I am super excited I discovered it!

 

We ended up bring 19 books home for a total of $50. Most of the books we purchased were only $2.50 each. That will be our last stop in the bookstore before it closes, which makes me incredibly bummed. But, I am happy my girls were able to get so many books they love, so inexpensively- and I am excited to give these new random books a try and see what I like! I am still reading Star Wars Legacy of the Force Betrayal (at a very slow pace lately), but I am itching to give one of these new ones a go. Either way, I'm sure I will blog about whatever I decide to read...

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast

 

Tonight we finally watched this movie. I've got to say, I absolutely loved it. I haven't been much of a fan of the previous Disney Fairies movies, simply because I am just not fond of Tinker Bell's personality. They are cute movies, Tink is cute, but her mischievous, trouble-making ways rub me the wrong way. I can't say that I fully understand why, other than I don't relate to her at all. BUT... this new movie was fantastic!
There is so many wonderful undertones in this movie that I cannot get over. Of course it is the adorable fairies that everyone loves and finds so endearing, but there is also so much more. The movie touches on soul purpose, creatures misunderstood, true friendship, responsibilities, destiny, self sacrifice for the good of others- I could go on and on. The storyline was beautiful. And a little bonus for myself, Tink was not that much in the movie. I found myself watching the movie and thinking, wow, the Earth is a beautiful thing! When a movie has me thinking like that, it is great in my book, even if it is an animated movie intended for children.
I will probably be picking up this movie at some point in the near future to have in our collection, as I am thinking it will be a movie I will want to re-watch many times!
Oh.... and I really love it when animated movies show other animals that are not dogs, acting like dogs. It is so hilariously cute, and Disney added that into this movie just right! If you haven't seen the movie yet, I definitely recommend it, especially if you have some little ones in your life to watch it with!

Cinderella in the thrift store?

Since my daughters and I love dolls (it has kind of become our way to bond...long story), and seem to spend way too much money on them, I've decided to start giving thrift stores a try. This is actually very huge for me, as thrift stores are kind of a trigger for my OCD. Since I was very young I have really despised thrift stores, they kind of freak me out. They still do. I hate the smell of them. I try to avoid touching everything, and refuse to look at anything other than the dolls to see what treasures we might discover. And even then, I will only dish out money if it is in near perfect condition and EVERYTHING can be thoroughly sanitized to my high expectations. So, this new endeavor is really pushing me out of my comfort zone.
So far we have only checked in our local thrift store 3 times. The first time we found a couple of good books (the one I got for me, I still haven't felt comfortable enough to sit and read it...but I will get there), and a bag of 2 Bratz Babyz fashion dolls and a café play set of some kind for only $3. The second time my youngest lucked out big time and found a bag for $5 filled with all kinds of Mix and Match Lalaloopsy doll parts. There ended up being enough parts in the bag to make 3 complete dolls!

Today, I found a Disney Cinderella toddler doll! I have been wanting to get a toddler doll for a long time, but just haven't wanted to spend the money, unsure if I would enjoy making clothes for one. This one I found was in near perfect condition, with her original dress. The dress still needs to be washed, but she is freshly sanitized (several times), and her hair was thoroughly washed (several times). Her hair looks a little fuzzy in the picture, but I am pretty sure that is because I washed her hair with really harsh soap (it looked better prior to the washing), and it is still wet. I need to fiddle with her hair a bit. I think she is probably one of the prettiest Cinderella ones I have seen. Cinderella would probably not be my first choice, but for only $4 I could not pass up the chance to finally own one! Now I can get started in making some bigger doll clothes and see what I can come up with on a larger scale.
I did some searching and discovered she is actually a real Disney Store toddler doll, before they started making the Disney Annimators dolls. I am pleased with my find! We are officially on a doll buying ban though...thrift store and other. I've spoiled myself and my girls a bit too much in that department lately.

sewing doll clothes

I've been having a lot of fun sewing some doll clothes lately. I already have a small pile of fabric, but I stopped in Joann's Fabrics this past weekend to see if I could find some other pretty fabrics, only to discover that all their clearance fabrics were 50% off! Clearance fabric is about the only kind of fabric I buy, and I really only buy a very small amount, since doll clothes doesn't take much. I tend to have only 1/4 yard cut for each, which actually allows for quite a bit of clothes to be sewn from it. I got a bunch of new fabrics (my girls did as well). I think altogether we picked out about 12 different fabrics and paid only $8. It was pretty amazing. Everything the dolls are wearing in the photo I made (although the middle doll's shirt is a no-sew shirt), which I am also pretty amazed about. Me and sewing don't normally go together. I can't believe I am actually producing useable outfits! My Maleficent doll is one of my favorite dolls, given as a Christmas gift from my youngest. She is sporting some lovely monster pants. I got my Ariel doll from Disney World a couple of summers ago, beautiful doll. She is loving her new pajamas! And the middle curly haired doll is new; I found her at Toys R Us last week and couldn't resist. Since when does Barbie make a curly haired blonde doll with freckles?! She didn't come with a name, so I appropriately named her Riley Poof. Unfortunately, she came with one eyebrow paint a bit messed up (she was the only one available), so I've told my girls it is just a scar from a her podracing on Tatooine. Anyways...I've also made several doll pants for my daughters as well. I think up next is a pair of pants with dinosaurs all over it, a patterned picked out by my youngest!

another bookstore...gone

So, this past weekend I went to a store I don't normally, and discovered it was in the same shopping area as our small local bookstore. When I got out of the car, I pointed to the bookstore across the huge parking lot to show my girls how close we were, only to discover a giant sign hanging before their entrance informing me that they were closing. I was so incredibly sad at that moment, if I wasn't out in public I probably would have wallowed in my tears! I have so much enjoyed having a bookstore that I can easily drive to and wander through the isles looking for something delicious to devour. It is so depressing that it is so hard for our town to keep a bookstore open.
With that said, my personal book buying ban is out the window. I immediately chucked it and was reading to start hoarding everything I could. They have a lot of books I know I want to read, books that I've put off purchasing for a late date, books I know I will be paying a lot more for down the road than right now. Everything in the store was 20% at the time, on top of used book prices to begin with. My oldest daughter made out like a bandit. She loves the Star Wars series for kids, such as Jedi Apprentice or Jedi Quest novels, and they had a ton on the shelves. I think I got her 8 Star Wars books total. My youngest is apparently unamused by books at the moment and just insisted she found nothing of interest. I kind of pushed a couple of books on her that looked like something she would enjoy. Myself, I finally splurged and purchased 4 of the Legacy of the Force books. I have been eyeing this series for a while, really interested in reading them. Unfortunately, they were several books shy of the series, but I will seek them out online to fill in the gaps. I am now the proud owner of:

1. Legacy of the Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston
2. Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss
3. Legacy of the Force: Inferno by Troy Denning
4. Legacy of the Force: Fury by Aaron Allston
5. Star Wars: Tales from Jabba's Palace edited by Kevin J. Anderson

The bookstore has lowered the percentage to 30% off as of today, so I am sure I will return to try and gather up a few more of the books I've been wanting. Then when we are void of bookstores, I wont feel so panicked. Then my indefinite book buying ban will be reinstated!

What have I been up to?

I have been a little absent on here I think. Maybe more scarce is the correct word? But in all honesty, I haven't been up to much. Most of my time has been me trying to get my girls all caught up on their school work so that they will be completely done with their curriculum before summer break, which I am pleased to say they are right on target. I have also been thoroughly enjoying my ukulele. I have to say, I am really loving having an instrument in my life again. I practice about an hour every morning before my girls get up, and sporadically here and there during the day whenever I have some time. I always find it extra fun when I am practicing in the early morning by myself, the rest of the house quiet, and birds chirping along outside! I am not 100% sure a ukulele is the instrument for me, but we will see. I am dedicated to exploring it further and finding out. I am having a lot of fun with it. I have developed some lovely calluses on my finger tips that have already peeled and returned. For some reason it makes me feel accomplished knowing they are there. I don't remember my fingers going through that process when I played the viola, though I'm sure they did. I do wish we had a nice sheet music store in our area though. I would love to just browse through music books and find ones I really like that I can visually see are within the playing range of the ukulele. But, I do have my two ukulele books that I just need to dig into more.

I've also been in the mood to make some new doll clothes, though I can't seem to get much into crocheting lately. I think I am a little burnt out from crocheting. So, I dug out a small pile of fabric that I own (for reasons I am completely unaware of). I am not really a big fan of sewing. I hate using a sewing machine, so anything I attempt is hand sewn, which means it is time consuming. But, I managed to figure out how to sew a decent pair of pants for a Monster High doll. I am quite proud of it! Draculaura is loving her new Perry the Platypus pants!

 

Cockles and Mussels....Oh My!

I decided to completely humiliate myself and share my progress on my ukulele in the area of chord playing. You are free to laugh as you wish, as I am well aware of the giant pause each time I have to play a specific chord. I'm still trying to master the crazy fingers! I suppose you can now get a little taste for what everyone in my house has been hearing me singing for the past several days! I think my oldest is hating Cockles and Mussels at this point, but my ever cheerful and positive youngest just continually tells me how wonderful it all is. Even just now I heard her faintly singing Cockles and Mussels from the other room. My purpose for sharing is mainly to force myself to have fun with it all. I wanted an instrument that would allow me to not be so serious and that I could play in a very casual way, and I am finding myself trying to "master" it all in a perfectionist sort of way, so I am trying to remind myself to just have fun. Hope you enjoy!

What musical instruments are in your own life? I'd be curious to know!

My Mother's Day Flowers

My special blue flowers are still holding strong and looking beautiful! I took a few photos that I thought I might share on here:

beer and tobacco?

This is the Bout of Books week, and to be honest, I haven't felt in much of a reading mood this week. BUT, I am going to count my ukulele book, which I have been devouring on a daily basis. I am actually having a blast learning Irish songs on my tenor ukulele, finding the lyrics hilarious and super fun. Even though I am loving learning this new instrument, I have to say, I am absolutely more in love with being immersed into all of these folk songs- I think I have found a life long love affair. I am a singer, which I sort of keep to myself. Not the proud (or even good), wishing to be famous singer...but the constantly rhyming to a tune throughout my day singer. Just so you fully get the picture, I generally don't sing known songs...I sing constantly made up songs about whatever task I am doing or whatever I am talking about. I think it is more of a personality trait that at times drives my family insane, but I don't hear a word of it! I am sort of loving that I have stumbled upon this genre of folk type songs that suite me perfectly, even though I am singing about trying to find me noggin' hat that has been all gone for gin and tobacco, or a woman cryin' over cockles and mussels. I think it perplexes my husband why I am enjoying them so much, sitting there listening to me going on about beer and tobacco, but I love it! When I am reading through the lyrics, I can picture a moment in time where people were just belly laughing and having a great time singing together, like a real musical (whether that is how it went or not, it makes me smile!). Right now I am really good at reading the music and playing the harmony of the songs on my ukulele, which is my comfort zone of playing instruments. But, I would like to get really good at playing just the chords (which is how most people approach the ukulele, because it is probably actually easier), but chords like that don't really come natural to me coming from my musical background. I struggle more with that. Makes me feel like I have crazy fingers. But I would love to just be able to play the chords and have relaxed fun singing these wonderful jigs. 
My daughters have become quite interested in Mom's fun, so I jumped on the opportunity to bestow some of my musical knowledge upon them and ordered two soprano ukuleles from amazon (for only $35 each), and will be giving them some music lessons and teaching them how to play it. They are pretty excited, though they will most likely not be playing and singing songs about beer and tobacco. Since I was placing the order, I also picked up another songbook for the ukulele by the same author, Nautical Songs for Ukulele, which I am super excited about. I am glad that I pulled my ukulele back out this spring, the timing must have been just right...

my ukulele

I am not sure if I mentioned this or not, but my husband gave me a ukulele this past Christmas. I have been craving for an instrument to get all creative with music (I think a good majority of my body was created with music), and I haven't done too much in the sense of playing an instrument since I left high school. I played the viola from 4th grade through to my senior year, even made it into our local youth symphony in 6th grade! But playing the viola was just not the same by myself compared to playing in a full orchestra, and my interest in the instrument dwindled. My heart would absolutely love to have fun on a penny whistle (and I have, we own several), but they are so high pitched that the sound really tends to hurt my ears, and the deeper toned whistles are much longer, requiring quite a large hand span to play, which I don't have. So this past Christmastime, I was pondering and researching on instruments that I thought I would really enjoy. I didn't want a complex instrument, but I wanted that I could fully enjoy, without hurting me ears. I settled on a ukulele, and before I had even shared my desires with my husband, he was apparently already deciding to get me a ukulele for Christmas! I was lucky enough to find a tenor ukulele, the only one in the store. As we were paying for it, another lady came in, disappointed to find that I had purchased the tenor, as she came to purchase it herself. It was destiny I suppose, that I arrived just before her and got my hands on this ukulele!
Aside from all my reminiscing about Christmas, I came home and got right to learning it. The first night I was playing some simple Christmas songs. I eventually grew upset about the ukulele, feeling as though it was very limiting (and in some ways it is). I then put the ukulele away in my closet....until last night. It has been whispering softly in my ears for a week or so, haunting me to give it another go. I am now trying to approach it differently. I had meditated a lot on this instrument and came to understand that I need to approach it more as a lute or harp than a guitar, strumming it much differently. I gave that a try last night and had a lot of fun with it. I need to just experiment and figure out how to translate that to being able to play actual songs from books rather than just plucking my own magical tunes.  

I really only own 2 ukulele music books (and a fold out chart of all the chords that I haven't even used yet), one filled with Christmas music and the other filled with Irish songs. I so want to be able to play a lot of fun Irish songs on an instrument, that was my ultimate desire or reasoning to trying a go at a new instrument. That is, I guess my goal, to master an instrument in a way that allows me to enjoy playing Irish music. I am glad that I put it away after Christmas, it allowed me to shake that guitar connection with the ukulele so that I could learn it a bit differently, a way that might actually allow me to get to where I want to be with this instrument.

So I think that is what I will be doing this Mother's Day weekend. That and enjoying my new mint, basil, and lucky bamboo plant (my first mint and basil sadly died). Oh, and my lovely Mother's Day bouquet of blue flowers!

A Grimm Struggle....

Well, I am oddly finding myself at odds here, in terms of My Grimm Monday meme. The more I read of the original tales, the more I feel like I don't want to?
I suppose I'll explain...
What you've always heard is true, the originals are dark, but not dark in the way that I had assumed they were. I had read several when I was younger, the originals of the well known tales, such as Cinderella and Little Red, but I think when you just randomly pick a tale, especially the ones you are unfamiliar with and have no current comparison, their darkness is more apparent. (Check out this article that goes a bit in depth on the gruesome side of these tales.) They are not written more dark as in the sense that the stepsisters cut off their heels, but are dark in a way that is strange for me. It is as if these old tales take the worst characteristic possible in a person, amplify it to such point that it doesn't make sense, and then nothing more. The character does not see right, has no desire to make things right, and gets everything they want, leaving little room for any sort of a positive message. To find a message within, you really have to stretch the mind, and then find yourself doubting that was what the story was intending to relay. And I have to admit, I am a huge lover of Aesop's Fables and stories with morals, I have been since I was a young child. Grimm tales just seem a bit twisted to me and am finding myself wondering how people sat around back then listening and enjoying these tales in this form, which is disappointing to consider as I always imagined that experience to be so magical! I am so much more appreciative of the creative minds of those in our time and how they can weave these tales into such magically wonderful stories, and I didn't know it was possible for me to appreciate them more than I already did! However, that is leaving me in a place of deep thought about this project.
In all honesty, the tales are really negative, and I feel like I don't need to foster that in my own mind as I cannot read anything without thinking too profoundly upon it. I don't want to sit around and read about someone who was so ghastly manipulative that he tricked his entire town to kill themselves. I feel like I am trying to love people more in general, and I purposely created this meme to try and foster something more positive in my world and create something that I can be excited about approaching on a weekly basis, and these tales are not helpful in that aspect. It never occurred to me that I might not actually like the original tales. So, sadly, I will be pondering on this, maybe reading a few more tales from my Grimm book to be certain the themes run through, and then probably trying to slightly tweak my new meme into something that is more appropriate for what I wanted to get out of it.
Do you have any of these same feelings about the original Grimm tales? I have to say, I generally adore older literature and have always been so fascinated with the idea of oral storytelling; it surprises me that I am not finding myself loving these tales. But, I am guessing if I am dreading picking the book back up again to write out a My Grimm Monday, I should probably make some changes... 

a book at the hospital....GASP!

Tomorrow is a Remicade Infusion day for my oldest daughter, which means packing up and driving out to the childrens hospital not long after we wake up. Her infusions last at least 3 hours long (sometimes much longer), and I never take a book. Why? OCD. I equate a hospital with germs, which means I bring the least amount of things so that the least amount of things are contaminated. It also means I avoid touching just about everything, and I sanitize my hands a zillion times. Not only am I on high alert for myself, but my daughter as well, as she has a compromised immune system. The hospital is a major trigger for my OCD, and a lot of my OCD trails back to that...germ infested place. But, I have been getting a lot better. I don't feel so full of anxiety while I am there (though I still avoid everything as much as I can). One thing I have decided to try and change is bringing a book with me. My books are precious, and probably one of my possessions that I would least like to have the possibility of becoming contaminated, especially since you cannot really fully sanitize a book. And by contaminated, I am going by my distorted OCD mind, where if I see my book, say, in the same eyeshot as an overflowing nasty garbage can...it is contaminated. Even though my eyes are aware that my book did not touch it, my mind says....WOAH! I saw that grossness, and my book was too close....contaminated!
So, tonight I am thinking about which book I want to start, which one I am willing to take with us to the childrens hospital tomorrow, the book that will be my introduction to this change that I can hopefully enact during our Remicade days. I have been having an urge to continue on in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I read the first book a while back and loved it. I purchased all 4 books together, used on Amazon I believe, for a very inexpensive price. Maybe The Second Summer of the Sisterhood will be the book? 
It is a little bit of a bigger book though, compared to paperbacks, which makes me a little nervous. Silly, I know, but I may pick a smaller paperback for this first trip. Smaller in my mind means I can keep it away from everything germy easier....if that is the case, I may opt for the second book in the Crochet Mystery series, Dead Men Don't Crochet. I read the first book in that series and thought it was super fun, probably mainly because the main character crochets and has a crochet circle at the bookstore...could it be more perfect? I own all of the books that are out in that series so far and need to start reading through them.
Now it is time for bed and choosing a book to start tonight before I fall asleep, one that I will be brave enough to bring with tomorrow and continue on reading while my oldest daughter lays in a hospital bed and watches some movies...

cranes...cranes...and more cranes!

I've had origami cranes on my mind the past few days. I am not sure what triggered it, but it isn't uncommon to have the little paper pretties to come fluttering into my mind. I don't know if I have mentioned before, but I do love folding paper cranes. I really adore the true story of Sadako Sasaki, which you can read more about here. I have read that book, too, and loved it. I also have a personal belief that the cranes do help to create peace within, and then also holding that peaceful energy long after in the paper crane itself. I actually have over 600 paper cranes folded, grouped together and hung in different rooms throughout our house. I have bunches by each of our beds, and one bright colorful strand by my own bed that cheers me up when I am feeling low.
I will guess that cranes have been on my mind because I have been having a harder time connecting with energy lately to do energy work, and folding cranes has really always helped align me to where I needed to be, to a more peaceful state that allows me to be more perceptive. So I am sure I am needing to fold a few lately. I don't usually use origami papers, as I always find them so expensive.

Most in our house have been folded with thinner scrapbook papers, but I also have a huge stack of post-it type square papers (without the sticky), and I have long forgotten about. I dug them out tonight. They are such bright pretty colors (the papers I used to fold the strand by my own bed). I believe I paid less than $5 for a stack of 1,000 squares, all the colors of the rainbow! I decided tonight that I would use those, and maybe decorate them a bit with my stamps. I had fun creating little prints on that papers. I like to fold a bunch to hang in our house, and sometimes I fold a strand especially for someone dear to me, such as my mom. I got some Halloween papers a couple years ago and folded her a strand with lots of Halloween colors. But I also like to fold random cranes and leave them places while I am out, well, I use to. I haven't done so in a long while, but I should start that up again. I liked to take receipts (our copies) at restaurants and fold them into cranes and leave it with the signed copy...just for smiles! Anyways, I thought I might share a picture of some of my paper cranes, and my own stamped patterns I created tonight!