Friday Show and Tell

http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ hosts Show and Tell Friday every week. This is the first time I have participated in it. It is so neat to visit different blogs and see what people have to share. Since we have brought out the Christmas decorations this week, I decided to share a picture of these little plates that are so special to me.

My Grandma gave these to me when I was only one year old. Every Christmas, they have been displayed somewhere in our home. When we moved 600 miles away from our hometown, they helped me feel like I wasn't so far from home that first Christmas. Grandma died three years ago, but every time I see these little plates I remember her and how much she loved Christmas and pretty decorations.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

This is one of absolute favorite Christmas songs. I love the words and the joyful melody. The fourth and fifth verses are different than the version in my hymnbook. I think sometimes they are combined so that there are only four verses. My favorite verse is the third, with the line, "Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth." The words are by Charles Wesley and the music by Felix Mendelssohn, one of my favorite composers.

Hark! The herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies; With th’angelic host proclaim,“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Refrain:
Hark! the herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored; Christ the everlasting Lord; Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’incarnate Deity, Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
Refrain

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.
Refrain

Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home; Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head. Now display Thy saving power, Ruined nature now restore; Now in mystic union join Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.
Refrain

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface, Stamp Thine image in its place: Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love. Let us Thee, though lost, regain,Thee, the Life, the inner man: O, to all Thyself impart, Formed in each believing heart.
Refrain

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/

Maybe this is right...

Which Little Women Character Are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Meg You are the perfect model wife. You love going to parties but wouldn't be caught dead not wearing the latest trends. Meg 70% Marmee 70% Beth 60% Amy 50% Laurie 50% Jo 30%

It took FIVE tries to get this answer. The first two times, I was Marmee, which doesn't fit me at all. The third time I was Beth. The only things I have in common with Beth is that we are both shy and play the piano. So I tried again. This time, I got Laurie. That was the worst answer yet. I tried one more time, and got Meg, which was the Little Women character I've always thought I had the most in common with. I don't think that description really fits Meg or me, though. Oh well. I guess I still don't know which LW character I'm most like. :)

Thanksgiving

As I mentioned earlier, the drive through the mountains was absolutely beautiful. I am certain I have never seen the leaves turn such brilliant colors.
In some places, like here, the mountains were all red and oramge. Just stunning.
On Thanksgiving Day, my dad, Gabrielle and I went to my aunt's house for dinner. My mom had to stay behind at Grandpa's house because she was cooking a Thanksgiving supper for her side of the family. So, after eating a great dinner at my aunt's house, we went back to Grandpa's and ate another really large, really delicious meal. Saturday night, we also had a Thanksgiving dinner with our church. It is nice to be able to go back home for Thanksgiving. We don't travel back for Christmas anymore -- the holidays are too close together and it's so much trouble to deal with packing presents -- but I enjoy being able to spend Thanksgiving with all of our family members and the friends from our home church.


For the first time in my life, I went Day-After-Thanksgiving shopping! My mom has three sisters, so they, their daughters, my mom, sister, and I went to a big mall shopping. Nobody really got any shopping done, but it was fun to go out and look around. The mall had great decorations in it, too. The mall here hardly puts up any decorations. There was a big crowd, of course, but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be -- unless you wanted to buy something. Then the lines stretched for what seemed like miles. :) So, even though it was fun, it's really more practical to wait for another day to get real shopping done, for me, anyway.

While I was on vacation...

I cut my hair! This is the shortest I have had my hair in about ten years. For once it wasn't a hard decision, either. My hair was so long that I couldn't style it well anymore and the ends were really damaged. I decided it was time for a new style. I think I ended up getting about seven inches cut off. I really like this length, too. It's easy to straighten, like it is in the picture, and I can also use curling gel and bring out lots of curl.

Home Again!!!

We just got back from our Thanksgiving trip today! We really enjoyed our visit home. The trees were absolutely brilliant when we drove down. I was glad that I had my camera in the car with me, because the scenery was so beautiful. I'll have to post more about our trip and some of my pictures tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Travels

We're leaving tomorrow to go to visit our family for Thanksgiving. It should be fun. We always spend time with our family and friends and we have three Thanksgiving dinners -- one with my dad's side of the family, one with my mom's side of the family, and one with our church on Saturday night. We're also planning to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. That should be a big headache and a lot of fun. Hopefully, I'll be able to update a few times on my aunt's computer while we're away. Just in case I don't get the chance, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Christmas Music

I love Christmas songs. Many of the songs we sing every year have such beautiful, rich words if we really take the time to think about them when we hear or sing them. Between now and Christmas, I am going to post the words to some of my favorite carols so that I can spend at least a few minutes thinking over their words and my readers can, too. Some hymns have more verses than are typically printed in our hymnbooks, also, so this might be a way for us to learn a new verse or two. I thought I would post the words to everyone's favorite, Silent Night, first.

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin mother and Child. Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight;

Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light;

Radiant beams from Thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Silent night, holy night Wondrous star, lend thy light;

With the angels let us sing, Alleluia to our King;

Christ the Savior is born,Christ the Savior is born!

ALTERNATE TRANSLATION
HOLY NIGHT
Holy night, peaceful night! Through the darkness beams a light

There, where they sweet vigils keep O’er the Babe in silent sleep;

Resting in heavenly peace,Resting in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holiest night!Darkness flies and all is light!

Shepherds hear the angels sing;“Hallelujah! hail the King!

Jesus, the Savior is here,Jesus, the Savior is here.”

Holiest night, peaceful night!Child of heaven, O how bright

Thou didst smile when Thou was born; Blessèd was that happy morn,

Full of heavenly joy,Full of heavenly joy.

Words by Josef Mohr written circa 1816-1818. Music by Franz Gruber circa 1820. Source http://www.blogger.com/www.cyberhymnal.org..

ART SHOW!!!

The art show was yesterday! I was so nervous and indecisive until the very day before, but I finally made up my mind and took all ten of my drawings. We had an hour-long drive to get the show, so we got up early yesterday to be there in time to register. Signing in is one of the worst parts of the day. I had to fill out little information cards about each of my drawings (title, category, etc), then we had to pay and find someone to hang them in all the correct sections.
We had finished all this by ten o'clock. Judging didn't even take place until one. We decided to leave the show and go Christmas shopping at a mall in another town. It is really tedious (and stressful) for me to just sit waiting. When we came back, it was after one, so I went to my drawings to see if I had won anything. I had entered in four categories: Landscape, with the bridge, the ship, and the house; Portraits, with the two babies and Gabrielle; Animals, with Princess and the horses; and Miscellaneous, which is the category I had to enter the drawings of my hands under.
The ribbons given were first, second, third, and a couple of honorable mentions per category. In Miscellaneous, my hands at the piano won second place. In Portraits, my drawing of the baby won second place and my other drawing won an honorable mention.
In Landscape, my bridge won second place and my ship won an honorable mention. In Animals my horses won second place and Princess won an honorable mention.
Out of my ten entries, seven won ribbons! I was so excited about that. I didn't win a first place or a best in show this year, but my work was recognized in every category. To me, that was just as great! My little 8x10 pencil drawings were competing with oil paintings as large as 18x24 -- and I actually won ribbons! I was surprised by the way the judge ranked my portraits (comparing my portraits to each other). I thought my drawing of Princess was way better than the drawing of the horses. And as for my bridge drawing, my art teacher actually told me not bother entering it, because the composition wasn't any good. It was definitely interesting to get such an entirely different perspective.

The art show was inspiring for me. As anyone reading this could probably tell, I was suffering from a bad case of burn-out. I wanted to lock my pencils and paper in the closet and not look at them for... like... six months. Now I'm making all kinds of plans for my next projects and I feel excited about drawing again.

A Great Book...

http://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search=to+have+and+to+hold&productid=12850

I was reminded of this book by one of my friends when she emailed me to tell me how much she loved it. It was one of my Christmas presents last year and I finished it before New Year's Eve. This is a book you canNOT put down! From the very first page, I was interested in the story (which isn't always the case, even with some of my favorite books), and the great historical content of the book was such that it was like going back in time and living in Jamestown. My favorite character was definitely the hero of the book, Ralph Percy. Our library doesn't have any other works by Mary Johnston, but I should request some. This was easily one of the most beautiful, romantic stories ever!

“We drank of the same cup then, your Honor, and we will drink of it still. We twain were wedded, and the world strove to part us. We stand suffering for that which is right and true, true by the laws of England, and most of all, true before the God who ordained that a woman should follow her husband, yea an though a sovereign should command otherwise!” (Excerpt from pg. 260)

Today I...

This morning, my mom and I went to vote. I don't think every state is holding elections today, but our state is voting for governor and a few other offices. I didn't get to vote in the last presidential election, even though had turned eighteen and was registered. November 2004, I was back in my home state in an ICU waiting room because my grandpa had had major complications following open heart surgery. I look forward to being able to cast my vote for President next year, though.



After voting, we stopped by Walgreens so I could pick up some photos. I tried to scan an older photo to make a copy of it, but the scanner wasn't working correctly, so I gave up on that. I need just a few more prints to finish my scrapbook! Then we went to the grocery store, and then to the library to pick up a few books for my sister. I'm reading a biography of Charlotte Bronte right now that is actually pretty interesting. I need to check out a few a few more books soon. I've been making list of a few I want to read.



I baked a frozen pizza for lunch when we came home and then decided to give baking bread another try. I love whole wheat bread. In fact, now that I'm used to it, I don't like white bread anymore. I thought I would make things easier for myself and used a recipe from my mom's bread machine cook book. All I had to do was pour the ingredients in the machine in the order they were written and turn it on. I think I still managed to make a few mistakes, though. I didn't have quite enough honey in the jar to fill the measuring cup and I added a little too much salt, so I'm not sure if this loaf will turn out any good either. Making my own bread is turning out to be as annoying as making my own pie crusts. I have got so many stories about the dumb mistakes I've made attempting those, but that's another post.

Anyway, I have to leave for art class in an hour and when I come back, I hope I will be able to work on my scrapbook and read for a while. Hope everyone has a great day!

Blogging

I read a lot of blogs. I thought I read a lot of blogs when I read about eight on a regular basis, but now the "MyFavorites" link section of my Internet homepage is full of blogs. Some are new finds, but I have been reading a few of them for more than two years. It amazes me how you can learn so much about a person through reading their blog. When I find a new blog that looks interesting, I sort through a few of the older posts, and in fifteen minutes, I already have an idea of the blogger's interests, family life, and personality. I am often amazed, too, at the thoughtful posts, neat pictures, and great ideas so many bloggers post on a regular basis. Before I tried blogging myself, if I gave any thought to how all those posts I enjoyed ever got posted, I just thought that the blogger probably set aside fifteen minutes for a picture and a paragraph, maybe thirty minutes to put together the long, insightful posts. Now that I blog, I laugh at my former ideas and ask for a big round of applause for all those bloggers who really put time and thought into their posts.

When I started blogging, it was in part for the fun of it, but I really wanted to work on my writing skills and and have a place to post photographs. I had no idea what I was getting into. It is hard to say what I want to say without having the luxury of several rewrites and it is even harder to come up with new things to post about that are even mildly interesting on a consistent basis. I wanted to blog about all my craft/art/cooking projects, but I didn't want my blog to consist solely of that. I wanted to write what I thought about the news or in response to articles I read, as well as detailed movie/book reviews. So far, I just can't find the time. For example, I wanted to write a post on October 31 about the Protestant Reformation. I did have it written out nicely in my head. The trouble was, October 31 came and went and I never even began the post. I do have one very good excuse for my shortcomings: I'm very new at blogging. I only set this blog up in July. It took two months for me to get all the details worked out and I deleted several of my first posts because they were awful (even worse than these). I only began letting people read my blog in September, so I've really been doing this for only two months. My two biggest problems that I must overcome are these:

1. Even though I'm 22, I can't move past the high school mindset that I need at least a week to write a paper before I hand it in to the teacher. Blogging doesn't work that way. I suppose I could write longer posts out and work on them apart from the blog, then copy them into a post, but the point is for your blog to be like your online journal, not your online collection of essays. I may have to try that way a few times, though, at least until I get used to posting about something besides crafts.
2. I have an obsessive habit of proof-reading. Each post must be proofed at least ten times before it is published or I have a nagging feeling throughout the rest of the day that I used the wrong form of "there" somewhere in that post. (I've noticed that the typos somehow slip by anyway. If you see one, don't worry. I always find them two days after I publish it.)

So, my new goal is to put more thought into my posts, even if it takes me three days to get one post up, and I only get to proof-read it three times. Again, to all the bloggers out there who post such great stuff so frequently, thank you!!!

All of my artwork is...finished!!!

I have finally finished all of my artwork. They are all framed with coordinating mat-boards. I am breathing a sigh of relief now that they are all finished and I can simply draw when I want to now, instead of rushing to get everything done. The art show is next Saturday (eight days from now). I might take all of these drawings or leave a few behind. I haven't decided yet. Whatever I decide, I have to think of titles for each piece I enter and decide if I want to put the piece up for sale. That's hard for me on both counts. I am really not creative when it comes to names -- so far all I have come up with is "Ship", "Bridge", "Horses"...:) I don't like putting pieces up for sale, either. It is different when I draw something for someone and give it to them. When that happens, I know the person really wants it and will take care of it. It just makes me sad to think of putting so much work into a drawing and then selling it to someone and never seeing it again. I know that's slightly ridiculous. When I've drawn a lot more, I probably won't mind as much, but for now, I have a hard time letting go of my drawings. :)

Anyway, here they are. I've thought of a few titles, but if anyone has any suggestions, by all means suggest. I do have to say that these pictures are a little blurry. It is very difficult to photograph graphite drawings, for some reason.

My hands playing the piano.
My dog Princess. I'll probably just use her name. The pirate ship. I thought about "Sailing", but that doesn't quite seem right.


My sister. I drew this last year, but didn't enter it in the show, so I think I will this year.
My dad's hand strumming his guitar.
Horses in a pasture near our house. I thought of "Winter Grazing" or "Grazing in Winter" because, as you can see, all the trees are dead. :)
For portraits, I could just use her name.


The city skyline. I thought of "Bridge to the City". I told you I was really bad at this.
Again, I could just use his name.

I am so glad all these projects are finally completed. Hopefully, next year I will be able to take lots of great landscape photos for references and complete a lot of portraits. Of all subjects, portraits are my favorite to draw.