Anne and Spongebob

I've been enjoying L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Windy Poplars, and thought I'd share a few quotes that I loved, or had me cracking a smile:

"I knew I would love the room...the very name 'tower room' thrilled me."

"I fell in love with it at once. You know there are houses which impress themselves upon you at first sight for some reason you can hardly define. Windy Poplars is like that."

"I can be alone up here when I want to be. You know it's lovely to be alone once in a while. The winds will be my friends. They'll wail and sigh and croon around my tower...the white winds of winter...the green winds of spring...the blue winds of summer...the crimson winds of autumn...and the wilds winds of all seasons..."

"And they like me...even Dusty Miller likes me, though he sometimes disapproves of me and shows it by deliberately sitting with his back towards me, occasionally cocking a golden eye over his shoulder at me to see how I'm taking it."

"I've never seen Rebecca Dew cry before. But when I tried tactfully to find out what was wrong she pettishly wanted to know if a body couldn't enjoy a cry when she felt like it. So I folded my tent and stole away, leaving her to her enjoyment."

"Little Elizabeth made saucer eyes at me over the rim of her glass. I felt that I was being weighed in some secret spiritual balance and presently I realized thankfully that I had not been found wanting."

I am finding this book to be such a nice surprise, filled with such wonderfulness. Don't get me wrong, I still am not much of a fan of the well loved Anne. She is just not my favorite character. I will probably not pick up any books earlier in this series, as I definitely prefer her without the obnoxiousness of her younger self. In this book, that seems to have mellowed out, but she is still not really a realistic character to me. To be honest, she very much reminds me of SpongeBob Squarepants, in the way that she is always so endlessly seeing the world as a glass half full. Everything is beautiful and wonderful, and if something bad comes her way, she sidesteps it with her positive attitude and continues on. It is quite magical to read, as I have always thought SpongeBob's innocence to be quite endearing. But it isn't a realistic character, or plot for that matter, that is making me love this book, because lets be honest, this plot is not really that intriguingly wonderful, Anne living in a town that seems to be filled with brats. But what I love about the book is that I think it is truly a piece that allows Montgomery to shine through. Miss. Montgomery must have had such an outstanding view of the beautiful world around her. From houses, to people, to nature. She can describe anything around Miss Shirley with such color, I am left in awe. Whether she is talking about the winds, a house, the children in her class, the unhelpful parents, the two elderly Aunts...it is so colorful to read. I love that she creates a story that does not just have magic in our world, but relays it in such a way that shows our world is magic. I am thinking that having such an exaggerated character and a plot that is shy of being really engaging, it allows all of Montgomery's beautifully creative descriptions to be the star, which I absolutely am adoring. This is probably the first book I have read in a really long time that has me in awe by the author's approach, and smiling! How wonderful!

just-a-list-of-random- questions-tag (with the 3 things about myself added)

This tag was started by Naomi over at Wonderland Creek, and I was specifically tagged by Olivia from Meanwhile, in Rivendell.

To participate, here are the rules:

~ Paste the button onto your blog post.
~ Leave a new list of questions (or just pass on the question list you answered) and tag a few people of your random choice (and say why you tagged them, if you have time!) (Be original and nonsensical in your question-creativity - make the blogging world a cheerful place :-) And be disastrously random.)

Now for the fun...

~Write down three facts about you - one of them is WRONG. Let your commenters guess in the comments which one is wrong (and tell them in the comments after a while)
~Answer the questions of the person who tagged you - make it all super random and interesting :-D

Animated movies- what's your opinion?
I like animated movies. I don't have much of an opinion about that, however, I very strongly despise movies that aren't animated that throw in animated characters. Such as The Chipmunks or The Smurfs. They creep and crawl under my skin and make me cringe.

Do you prefer earbuds or headphones?
I prefer earbuds over headphones, but I really prefer neither. I have pretty sensitive, weird, ears, and I can't use either of them very long. They all make my ears hurt.

What is one thing it seems everybody loves but you?
I discover that a lot. Such as, everyone seems to love the Anne of Green Gables book series, Divergent book series. Everyone will defend Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, even though her books are filled with errors and poor writing, and the ending of the entire saga is a complete letdown. Harry Potter, books or movies...not my favorite or even close. 
Not book related...I despised the whole ice-bucket challenge that everyone was having a blast with this past summer. I hated that it was a perfect opportunity to spread awareness and compassion about a disease, and instead it was turned into a game.
That is more than one...and I suppose I should stop now!


Do you have flowers in your room?
Not real, or fake flowers, but flowers of sorts. I do have a blanket on my bed with some flower print on it. Does that count?

Do you like the sound of keys on a keyboard clicking?
This is quite random, and I have no idea how to answer that. I suppose I don't not like it...

Who is one fictional character whom you absolutely loathe with a burning passion?
Ahh, this is tough. I don't tend to have those characters wandering through my mind afterwards; my mind tends to ponder on the ones I liked, or the ones that perplex me. The ones I loathe, it is no mystery to me why, so they are detested during the book or movie, and then cast aside. But, I hate the slimy little characters that manipulate and help create messes, then bow out cowardly and run for the hills. I especially despise them when their life continues to be spared over and over, and they continue to be a slime. An example, simply because I watched it recently....that gross slimy guy in the last two Hobbit movies, the guy that was an advisor or whatever to the other guy that governed that little Lake-Town. Every time he was on screen, I would just yell in frustration, "Why is he still alive!" And then seeing him hiding all dressed up as a woman. What?!

Are you a procrastinator?Not really. I am probably more the opposite, to a quite annoying degree. Unless my OCD is involved. If it is a task that triggers my OCD, I will dread it, agonize over it, and keep putting it off until I can no longer.

Shoes or no?
I use to love going about in the summer without shoes whenever I could. But now I don't think my OCD will allow that. In my house though...no shoes ever. Shoes are not allowed in our house once worn outside and must be removed immediately upon entering.

What are movies that take you back to the dear old days gone forever?
Hmmm. I am not sure. Movies will take me back to those dear old days, but I think that watching them again kind of revives that time a bit, so it doesn't feel like they are gone forever. But I get what you are meaning. The Last Unicorn, The Little Mermaid, Charlotte's Web, The Secret of Nimh, Rikki Tikki Tavi, and The Devil and Daniel Mouse.

Pens or pencils?
I rather like using pencils when I can get away with it. I usually tend to try and make everything I write perfect, so I like that I can erase and fix sloppy moments.

Now I suppose I am to create 10 new questions? Here they are:
-Socks or barefoot at bedtime?
-Soda or pop?
-What do you generally tend to use for bookmarks?
-What are your top three most favorite things to do in the whole world?
-Hair up or down?
-If you had all the means to do so, what would you do at this very moment?
-What is your favorite color, and what do you think it means about you?
-What is your favorite season and why?
-What is your favorite classic author, or classic book?
-If you had all the time in the world on any given weekend to have a TV marathon, what TV show or movies would you choose?

Who do I tag? Basically anyone that reads this is free to join in the fun....but if you do, please leave a link in the comments to your post link so that I can check it out!

Oh, and I forgot! 3 things about myself, one of them is false. Can you guess which one?
1. I use to live in New York.
2. My favorite food is pea soup.
3. I have seen the northern lights in person.

Anne of Windy Poplars....is good?

I am not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but I struggle quite a bit with insomnia. I just have one of those minds that I can never fully turn off. Even when I sleep, I am a lucid dreamer, creating my own twists and turns in some fantastical story, starting dreams days old where I left off. So, my insomnia tends to keep me awake for quite some time when I go to bed, thinking, pondering, pouring over my worries, which is why I always take a book to bed with me and have my YouTube app on my phone all set to go with no volume (to keep from waking my husband). I find it relaxing to watch people create their own pieces of art, mainly multimedia artwork. On top of having a hard time falling asleep, I also tend to wake up frequently during the night as well, leaving me in the same predicament. Last night I awoke in the middle of the night and was not interested in lulling myself back asleep with a random YouTube video; I wanted to read something, which I have not found myself doing much of lately. Of course, because I haven't really been reading much lately, I did not take a book to bed last night. This had me scrambling in my nearby closet where I store all of my books that don't fit on my one tiny shelf downstairs, to see if I could find something interesting. I ended up taking Anne of Windy Poplars back to bed and read the first ten pages. I was immediately pulled in, and surprised that I was!

Now, I have a weird frenemy association with Ann of Green Gables books. I have seen the movies when I was younger, watching them as my mom enjoyed them, but to be honest, I disliked Anne. I found her to be obnoxious and slightly annoying, and I simply just did not relate to her as a young girl at all. I was a very serious child (and I suppose I am still just as serious as an adult); I never understand why people fawn over Anne. However, I also owned a beautiful little box set of The Anne of Green Gables when I was a kid. For whatever reason, I fawned over that set of books. I cannot remember for the life of me how I came to own them, but I thought they were beautiful. I looked at them frequently and took great care of them. But...I never read them. As an adult, over the past 6 years or so, I've had that little box set in my mind, wondering where it ended up and how can I get my hands on it once again? Most of my childhood things that I made an effort to save have long since disappeared. Not many people in my family are very sentimental, or at least are not sentimental towards the idea of another's sentimentality, meaning that when I married and moved, all of my precious childhood things were done away with before I could retrieve them. I was actually quite saddened by this when I was able to return to our family home and went in the basement to go through my old boxes that I so carefully placed and stored down there, finding...nothing. I was an odd child that purposely kept most of my toys and things in pristine condition, saving them to give my own daughters when I was older. When that time came, there was nothing left of my efforts. But I suppose that is the way of the world.
But, that little Ann of Green Gables box set has been my mind, making me wonder about her. I haven't really picked any of L.M. Montgomery's books up, because I still have those strong remembrances of Anne being obnoxious. But I have wondered if I would like any of her books where Anne is a bit older, a bit more mature. While I was at our local base library giveaway a few months back, I snagged a couple of books in this series. I would have taken them all if they had them, but I was only able to find two, the Anne of Windy Poplars and Rilla of Ingleside. I have to say, L.M. Montgomery has written the beginning of Anne of Windy Poplars so beautifully, she may just bring me out of my reading slump. I am now actually finding myself wanting to know what happens to Anne in this book, and to read more of the world through Anne's eyes, so that I can know what parts of the world are grand to be friends with and to know the colors of things that have no color. This may actually be the book that pulls me in to read more in the series. Not sure what the overall view is of this book in general, from avid Anne lovers in comparison to the series as a whole, but so far, I like it! I am curious to see how much this book will pull me into the series, and if I will actually ever read through that tiny prized box set (now through mismatched library books), and still loath child Anne as much as I did when I was younger, or if I will grow to like her...

The Garden Primer

I had to stop at the library to return some books yesterday. I was looking for a specific book and had no luck, so I stopped in our local bookstore as well. I was also selling them a stack of some used books, so if my girls and I found something wonderful, it would be quite inexpensive. I am glad I stopped by! Not only did my daughters each find a couple of books each that was perfect for them, I too, found a great book. I was actually hoping to find a book dedicated to herbs, which unfortunately did not exist at the bookstore, but I did find a great gardening book that I am glad to have found, The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. This books is filled with so much information in a surprisingly compact, hardcover book. This book has over 600 pages of information, ranging from bulbs, compost, landscaping, planning, veggies, and anything else you can think of, yet is also lightweight. Why am I excited about this book? Because it is a normal sized book and lightweight! Most gardening books I find are oversized, heavy, and quite cumbersome to sit down and enjoy. Granted, this one does not have full color illustrations or photographs, which I do love, but I think the publishers made a smart choice. This is actually a gardening book I can sit comfortably with and enjoy, or even take to bed, and for only about $5, you can't beat that. This will definitely be a book that I will be indulging in a lot this summer. This was the only book I purchased for myself, but I was only specifically looking for an herb book. Even though I didn't get exactly what I was looking for, I am still pleased!

Gollum was nice?

Our Tolkien watching has come to an end tonight, we finally finished the final Lord of the Rings film. I have to say, it has left me even more baffled than the post I had written earlier. I had so many unanswered questions and parts of the plot in the whole middle-earth storyline that just didn't make any sense to me. Such as:

-If the eagles could come and get Frodo and Sam in the end, why didn't Gandalf just have the eagles fly them over the volcano in the first place, and just drop the ring in?
-Why was Gollum still so crazy after being separated from the ring for 60 years?
-Why was Gollum even still alive, when Bilbo aged so quickly once he was separated from the ring?
-Why was the ring so evil the second Frodo received the ring, but we really had no experiences with Bilbo using the ring that showed it was evil?
-Why was Bilbo so happy go lucky with the ring for 60 years, but Frodo was almost immediately ill with the ring?

So many ring questions. So many.
Being who I am, I did a bit of research. I found forums dedicated to middle-earth plot holes that coincided with my own thoughts, leaving other readers defending with speculations. I didn't want speculations though, I was hoping to find my questions clarified by Tolkien himself. I was saddened to discover that my intentions were not so easily fulfilled. Also, It did not surprise me at all to learn that the original version of The Hobbit, printed in 1937, the ring was not at all intended to be evil, and Gollum was not deceitful. It wasn't until Tolkien furthered writing The Lord of the Rings, changing what the ring was, that he went back and revised how Bilbo got the ring, how Gollum behaved, trying to show the ring to be corrupt (in 1951). This has been one of the major points that I have had issues with the whole while, watching all of these movies. Going from The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings feels so disjointed to me. It makes so much sense to know that The Hobbit was originally written that way, because that is exactly how I see it, which makes it not flow with The Lord of the Rings and brings up a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies for me. I honestly find it kind of sad that it was changed, as I think the original version was probably quite wonderful just on its own, without being followed up by The Lord of the Rings. I also think that it would have made Lord of the Rings make more sense for me as well, if it had been a separate story. Does no one else feel the undertones of the original version of The Hobbit that makes it feel like it clashes with The Lord of the Rings?

new leaves and a gardening journal

I am super happy to discover lots of leaves coming through on my bare mint plant. I ended up having to trim it down even further, to the point of no longer having any leaves and barely any stems. I was worried that it wouldn't recover. But I woke up this morning to discover a lot of teeny tiny leaf beginnings, ready to burst! How fun! I know they are hard to see, even with all the big arrows in the pic, but they are there! I am extra pleased to see the one sprouting up from the dirt, as that means a whole new stem, in which the plant desperately needs a healthy one. So maybe I have a slight green thumb after all?

I've also started to keep a gardening journal, to basically keep track of when I got the plants and what happens to them. I can record their harvests and repottings, things of that nature. I am hoping it will help me to be successful in this new endeavor. The book I am using is a suede book that my oldest daughter gave to me on a mother's day a few years back. She got me two at the time, the other one I've been using for poetry. This pretty pink one I've been saving until I could figure out something else wonderful to do with it. I love the color and embossed design on the cover, and the pretty endpapers inside.

While being busy trying to keep my mint plant alive, I also noticed that chive plants don't do well with their roots exposed through the glass canning jars. I have used canning jars a lot for indoor plants and have never seen this occur in a plant before. All of their bright white pretty roots started turning brown with the sun shining onto the canning jars. So, I decided to crochet some pretty off-white slip covers for the jars to help cover the chive's roots. I wanted all my plants to look uniform in front of my window, so they each got a slipcover. I will probably have fun switching the slipcovers out at times, to be festive during different times of the years. I was wishing I had enough of a springy yarn color to make all the slipcovers, but off-white was all I had enough of to use. I still think they turned out cute! And now my chives can be happy once again.
I am loving that I am remembering how much growing things makes me happy.

The Hobbit vs The Lord of the Rings Movies

Okay, since our Gollum Day and the highly concentrated couple of days of watching Tolkien stories flashing before my eyes on our TV, I have been a tad perplexed, and in deep thought about these films.
I have never much cared for The Lord of the Rings movies, and expected The Hobbit films to be the same. I was quite surprised to discover that I actually enjoyed The Hobbit films quite a bit, which in turn, had me pondering upon the differences between these trilogy films and why that is so.
For myself, whether it is books or movies, there is a line where a fantasy story passes from enjoyable to almost torture. I generally cannot stand the really high fantasy stories where there is no evidence of our world, our people, and coupled with so many foreign thoughts (including unpronounceable names and places) that I cannot relate or keep up with. For me, The Lord of the Rings falls into this undesirable category. I have a hard time relating to most of the characters in this film as they are all experiencing things that are so unlike my own experiences. I mean, I can't imagine carrying an evil ring on a quest to save the world, all the while the evil ring is destroying me from within. I can't imagine being a guardian of said person saving the world, fighting evil after evil after evil. For me, probably the most relatable character in The Lord of the Rings, is Gollum. And lets be honest, that is a very sad character to relate to. The only other moment that caught my attention was when Boromir continued to fight to save his friends even when his downfall was set in stone. I get this view of not being relatable is not the same for most, as I am well aware this is a very popular, classically viewed piece of literature. For me, my mind just doesn't work like that. I am battered by too much at once.
But, The Hobbit was a little different. Which is weird for me to comprehend why I liked one set of films and not the other. I think there is slight differences within The Hobbit films that changes where it lands on the spectrum of fantasy for me, leaving it shy of hitting that line that pulls me into torture to watch and read. First off, the quest is much different. The quest is about getting back something that has been taken, and finding where you belong. That is relatable. Very much so. The main hobbit, Bilbo, is so much easier to relate to than Frodo. Bilbo is scared to join in on the quest, but steps up and does so anyways. That is relatable. Bilbo's companions always underestimate his ability to matter in the world and what they are trying to accomplish. Relatable. Bilbo struggles with standing up to do the right thing, while surrounded by others who wont. Relatable. Other characters are also just as relatable. Thorin struggles to overcome a disease. Bard is a standup father trying to do the right thing and protect, relatable and inspiring. Gollum struggles with his inner demons. Tauriel loving one that goes against social acceptance. And lets be honest, Tolkien needed some girl power amidst the world of men. I even appreciated storytelling Balin and Smaug's flaming wrath and greed. These are all characteristics that human's in our world can appreciate and relate to. I get that people see these things as well in The Lord of the Rings, and I myself know they exist, but I can't see through the high fantasy aspect of the story to be able to appreciate it while I read or watch it.
Other things that struck my mind while pondering all of these films, am I the only one that thinks Bilbo in The Hobbit films and Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings films don't quite match up in personality? If I hadn't known their names, I wouldn't have even thought they were the same person. And why is Gollum still alive in Lord of the Rings without any aging compounded with torture when he hasn't had the ring for 60 years, but Bilbo ages super fast being without the ring for a short period of time? I wouldn't think 60 years without the ring is nothing to sneeze at. That didn't make sense for me. Also, I love that dwarves saturated the films so much, as I tend to always feel they are my favorite race amongst all these races Tolkien has created in this world. I was sad while re-watching The Lord of the Rings recently, their absence with but one dwarf was a bit of a bummer, and so much more apparent after watching The Hobbit films.
This does make me want to pick up The Hobbit book and give it a try, but I have a feeling it will not be as awesome as the movies. Am I wrong fellow readers? I mean, it is not a thick book, and to be coming from that same story made into 3 movies, seems like it is almost destined to be a let down now to go to the book. I generally think books are better than movies, but I have a hard to seeing that one small book will hold more details than 3 films. Even so, I will probably give it a go in the near future because I did really enjoy the films. I can get through watching The Lord of the Rings on occasion (like our Gollum Day), but they will never be movies that I will seek out to watch.
I will end this really long rambling post by sharing my most favorite characters in The Hobbit films, in order: Smaug, Gollum, Bard, Bilbo, and Thorin. And I just have to say....

I AM FIRE, I AM DEATH.