Being Crafty ...

This almost makes me want to re-learn to do cross-stitch

 

 

You can find the pattern here: Etsy.com

Today's Poem

How Do I Love Thee? - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old grief's, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

There are only 14 Days Until My Birthday

So with such a great day looming in the not too distant future I'm sure you are having panic attacks wondering what to get a girl like me for a day like that... Well, never fear, here is the solution to your problem:

 

 

You can buy me any pair of socks from this website - www.sockdreams.com - I love every item on this website. I love socks of all kinds, and I can always use more.

 

That is all. Thank you. 

2010 In My Literary History

Here is a list of the books I read in 2010. I read significantly less this year over last year. Some were better than others, and some I shouldn't have read at all.  

 

At the King’s Command – Susan Wiggs

Wizards First Rule – Terry Goodkind

Stone of Tears – Terry Goodkind

Blood of the Fold – Terry Goodkind

To Desire A Devil – Elizabeth Hoyt

Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 – Stephenie Meyer

Someday – Alison McGee

Blue Moon – Alyson Noel

Ophelia – Lisa M. Klein

Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography – Lemony Snicket

I Am America: And So Can You – Stephen Colbert

Jesus Wept: Understanding & Enduring Loss – Joyce Ashton

Keeper and Kid: A Novel – Edward Hardy

Shiver – Maggie Stiefvater

The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan

Linger – Maggie Stiefvater

The Replacement – Brenna Yovanoff

Red Seas Under Red Skies – Scott Lynch

Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception – Maggie Stiefvater

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie – Maggie Stiefvater

Shadowland – Alyson Noel

Fallen – Lauren Kate

Towers of Midnight – Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

 

~*~

 

Now to break this down a little more...

 

The Good: I Highly Recommend These Books To People I Know:

Ophelia – Lisa M. Klein

Shiver – Maggie Stiefvater

Linger – Maggie Stiefvater

Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception – Maggie Stiefvater

Ballad: A Gathering Of Faerie – Maggie Stiefvater

Towers Of Midnight – Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

 

The Bad: I Wanted These Ones To Be So Much Better:

Fallen – Lauren Kate

The Forest Of Hands And Teeth – Carrie Ryan

Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography – Lemony Snicket

 

The Ugly: Never Ever Read These Books:

Wizards First Rule – Terry Goodkind

Stone Of Tears – Terry Goodkind

Blood Of The Fold – Terry Goodkind

Red Seas Under Red Skies – Scott Lynch

 

~*~

 

Books I'm Looking Forward to Next Year:

Forever - Maggie Stiefvater

A Memory of Light - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

Blood Magic - Tessa Gratton

Look who visited john for Christmas...

Choose Your Own Adventure

When last we left off you had chosen to follow the narrow ledge. Lets catch up with the story now and see where this takes us:

- Follow the Narrow Ledge -

Looking down into the ravine you have a sudden stab of fear and nausea that presses you back against the cliff wall. You feel like you can't breathe at the thought of descending the switchbacks, you silently point to the narrow ledge at your feet, though not very wide, it seems like a more plausible path for your escape.

"Not that way," you whisper to Creason. He is standing next to you staring down at the trees below. He doesn't move for a moment and you think that perhaps he hasn't heard you until he suddenly moves and starts off at a quick pace along the wall.

"Perhaps you are right, bearer. The forest is quite dense, and it will take us too long to find the Captain going that way. The river it is."

Letting out a partial sigh of relief, you cling to the cliff wall as much as possible as the two of you work your way around the curve of the rock. The moon crosses the sky above you as you walk marking the time as it slides towards the horizon. As the sun begins to rise, the path descends gently eventually flattening into a grassland studded with trees that looked as though they were refusing to grow, stunted and twisted into tangled knots of themselves, but there is no sign of a river that the path was named for.

Creason has been silent for the climb, and you realize that he probably isn't much of a talker, or maybe he doesn't like you, and you suddenly start to mistrust your companion.

"Is this the right direction?" You ask, feeling nervous in the silence. "Shouldn't there be a river here? You said this was the river trail."

The river is long dead." Creason answers you, not stopping or slowing his pace. "This used to be the river bed," pointing to the ground beneath your feet.

Looking down you notice that the stones of this path are smooth and the path is at the bottom of a shallow dip in the land.

"What happened to it?"

"He did." Creason replies, as though you know who he is talking about.

"Oh…" you pause for a moment, you want to ask, but you're afraid of sounding naïve, but the curiosity gets the better of you. "Who is 'HE'?"

Creason stumbles a step. "You don't know?"

You shake your head. "This has all happened rather suddenly, I'm not sure I'm even awake."

"You are awake my friend. Wide awake." Spreading his arms out wide he tipped his head to the sky as if trying to catch the sky.

"Then why doesn't anything make sense here."

"It will. It will. Soon enough."

Letting out a sigh you trudge on towards the distant tree line. It seems that Creason has forgotten your first question so you venture to pose it again. "So tell me, who is this... HE, that I have to fight? Why is it so important that I win?"

"You speak of Deathbringer. This man… This thing, is ruler of all the world, although not the rightful one. He is an evil older than time itself. He has spent millennia killing the people of this world and sucking their souls to gain power. He has obtained the power to control, time and space, though not to a large extent yet. Mostly he can move himself about through not only this world, but others as well. Eventually, with more souls, and the live force of the land itself he will be able to manipulate the entire universe. A century ago Deathbringer used his power to capture Argharna Rendall and locked him away from us. Without Argharna Rendall we are without protection. However, before he was sealed away he used his will to create this," He stops short and points to the medallion resting on your chest. "The Ring of Thanaur. Some say it contains the soul of Argharna Rendall. Other's say the bearer is the reincarnation of Argharna Rendall."

"What do you think?" You ask, this is more information than Citrine provided before sending you here.

"Me, well, I thought it was a little of both. But now, after meeting you, I have yet to reform my opinion. I can't see one like you destroying such evil. You seem like such a weak thing. With no training, I doubt you'll survive. But you are the chosen that is why now is the time that you must destroy him for good."

Your feet suddenly feel very heavy and you don't want to continue. You put a hand to your head feeling very overwhelmed.

"Come now, Bearer, you can't quit now. Not to sound like I am preaching dooms-day, but the only way out of this now is death." He starts walking again leaving you where you stand. "Captain Faelphrestad has a camp just beyond these woods."

You know he's right, but in the pit of your stomach the fear is gnawing at you and the dagger on your hip seems like a good way out. Pulling the dagger from it's holster you hold it in your hands before you.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Kill yourself

Continue on the path

2010 For the Evans’

It is Christmas time again, and though I know I don’t have to write a Christmas letter I actually enjoy doing it, it lets me look back on the year and see what we have done. This year, instead of mailing this out to everyone I'm just posting it here so that only the people who really want to know what's been up have to read it. So lets take a look back at some of the events of 2010:

This year has gone by so quickly. I know that is totally cliché to say, but it really has. Since 2009 has turned into the forgotten year this year and all of its adventures have seemed rather surreal. The months have come and gone and though they were filled with activities we literally look back each month and ask ourselves where did the time go.

During the year of 2010 we have had A LOT of time to spend with our families whom we love.

Back in February we went to Disneyland with a few members of the family. John and I, John’s parent’s Jerry and Lorraine, our brother-in-law Scott and his daughter Lucy, and Scott’s parents Paul and Debbie. It was such a joy to share Lucy’s first time with her and to see her excitement at meeting the Disney Characters and enjoying the rides. We had a lot of fun chasing a 3 year-old Lucy around Disneyland, but we also had a lot of fun being by ourselves in Disneyland. It seems like pre-season is always a great time to go with few lines and nice weather. It really is the happiest place on earth.

Summer came quickly and the Pears family welcomed a new member to the family when Norm and Rebecca had their first baby. A beautiful little girl named Sophie. And thus followed the months of family.

Raymond and his daughter Nicole came to visit from Tennessee, and Andrea and her brood (Mike, Andrew, Nicolas, Miah, and Mikayla) came down from Washington. They all stayed for July and most of August. The family gathering was not only for Sophie’s baby blessing, but to support our father and each other through some difficult times. Prior to Sophie’s birth we found out that Father Pears had some rather serious health problems starting with Kidney Stones, then Prostate Cancer with radiation treatments, followed by Pneumonia… and now, six months later he is finally feeling a little more like himself.

After the influx of Pears’ they all mostly went home though Nicole stayed in Utah to start her first year at BYU as a college student. Andrea’s oldest, Kenji, also popped down for a quick visit with his girlfriend Hannah and spent a week at my house, which I loved.

Also in August, Lariann’s husband Scott got remarried to a wonderful woman named Ariane. Ariane and I both served in the Washington DC South mission so I already knew and loved her before she joined the family. Now Lucy has a new mom and we have a new member of the family to get to know.

Other additions to the family this year include Ryan who belongs to Liz’s brother Keith and his wife Rachel, he was born in September. John’s brother Jared and his wife Julaine had another little girl named Brooklyn not to long before Thanksgiving.

The only other trip we went on this year was to St. George for Thanksgiving where we were able to spend time with John’s oldest siblings, Scot and Heidi , and Kristin and Scott and their family.

It has been a good year for us. We are thankful every day for our families and our friends who love us so much. We have been blessed with jobs and a home and those things that we need to get by. We may not be rolling in the dough or living in a house boat off a beach in Hawaii, but we have what we need, and thankfully we have those we love.

May you be blessed this holiday season and throughout the coming year. Please know that we love you, and remember the true reason for celebrating this season is Christ and his love for us all. Happy Christmas!

Love always,

Liz and John Evans

Intellect & romance over brute force & cynicism.

It has been a while since my last post. I have been either sick or busy, or sick and busy.

I hate this time of year. We've been passing a cold between us now for the last 3 weeks and I'm ready for it to be gone.

Holidays are not my favorite time of year. Christmas Parties, Family Parties, Work Parties, Friend Parties, Church Parties, Social Events, Shopping, Stupid People, Angry People, Bad Drivers, Snow Days, No Snow Days, Gift Giving, Gift buying, Gift Wrapping, Bad Gifts, Good Gifts, Re-Gift Gifts...

It's like there is hardly time to breathe. Like I said, I hate this time of year.

But to pacify my husband we called in sick to work the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and pulled out the tree, decorated it, wrapped all the presents and put them under the tree, decorated the house (not much) and then we were ready for Christmas... but there were still 25 days left at that point.  

I’m just a Grinch I suppose. I truly can’t stand the holiday season. I love the MEANING of Christmas, I just hate everything else about it. This year has been especially hard for some reason. I don't know what it is really, but I have been particularly bitchy this year. I have no desire to do anything. I don’t really want to give presents to others even though we have already bought them. I don’t want to go out or be social, I just can’t tolerate all this fake “joy and gladness” that this season brings. You want me to appreciate Christmas. Why not try being nice to me the other 11 months of the year and don’t just try to buy my love in the 25 days in December that its “required” of you. I hate fake people.

Ugh!

 

In other news –

Thanksgiving was nice. John and I drove down to St. George (the day after a huge winter storm.) The drive down was very… hmmm. There’s not really a word for it. We waited until 11 am to leave home for the 6 hour drive, hoping that it would have warmed up a little and the roads would have cleared a bit. But no. I think the temperature was still below 20 when we left home, and since it was Thanksgiving travel day there were a ton of people on the roads and the roads were all icy and treacherous and it took us nearly 2 hours to get through a usually 45 minute drive. After that our windshield wiper fluid was frozen and wouldn’t squirt, causing us to pull over ever so often to throw snow on the windshield or pour some water on it. It finally thawed just outside of St. George… 6 hours later. Then there was a speeding ticket along the way.

Once we were actually IN St. George all was well. Most of the family was staying with John’s sister Kristin and her family. It is always nice to see them. I love being in St. George. Kristin is such a nurturer, it’s nice to just be taken care of once in a while.

For Thanksgiving dinner there was John’s Parents, his sister Rachel and her husband and baby, his brother Scot and his wife, Kristin’s mom and her husband, the sister missionaries, plus Kristin her husband and their two kids… it was a full house.

We drove down Wednesday and came home on Friday. It was just a short trip, but a short trip some times is better then no trip at all.

We came home early so that I could spend some time with my oldest sister who had brought her family down from Washington for the holiday. I love seeing them, I sometimes wish they could stay longer, but then I realize how loud her kids are and I think to myself, “if they just lived here I could see them more often, and send the kids home when the drive me crazy.” But that’s just not how it goes. So they all came and spent time with us while they were down and John and I hosted some “family time” in our little house, which I have declared “Not Big Enough” for the entire Pears family.

 

Well, lets see what has and is going to be happening this month…

 

December 2^nd was John’s work Christmas party and we had dinner at The Lion House. The food was okay. We had something called Chicken ala-BAM! That was rather mediocre, with cheese cake for dessert.

December 3^rd was the Page family Christmas party. It was in Woods Cross this year.

December 7^th was Lariann's birthday I weathered it pretty good this year, but John took the week to wallow in depression, but that’s okay.

December 9^th we went to the movie and saw Tangled. Loved It. Such a cute movie.

December 11^th the family went out to dinner to celebrate Lari’s birthday. Which was much better than last year when we were forced to go to the cemetery and sing happy birthday to her tomb stone. (That’s not something I’ll do again.) the Evans’ and the Bredthauer’s all went to Javier’s in Layton for some yummy Mexican food. After dinner John and I spent some time with our Friend’s Angie and John for game night.

December 13^th we went to the movie again to see the latest of the Narnian flicks. I Loved IT! I thoroughly recommend all three of those movies.

 

That bring us to today… What’s coming up?

 

December 17^th This day is my work Christmas party. We’re staying in this year and ordering from the Olive Garden. After work, John’s parents, Devin, John and myself are all going to see TRON: Legacy in 3D IMAX. We’re all expecting it to be great. Disney better not disappoint us.

December 18^th is the McDermott family Christmas party. I’m hoping it’s not a pathetic disaster like they usually are. This year they’ve discontinued several family traditions that will be missed, but like I told my mom not to long ago it seems like this party only continues every year to humor grandma, but once grandma passes away these parties will probably fall to the wayside. I doubt we’ll see much of anyone once grandma isn’t around anymore.

December 19^th we are having dinner with our super friend Holly. Not only is it her regular dinner for her friends, but it also covers her birthday which is on the 21^st and Christmas party. How nice of her to wrap it all into one night for us.

December 21^st our niece Kira turns two and Holly will me considerably older than that.

December 22^nd John’s sister Rachel is having her birthday and we promised to go out to dinner with them. It is also the day my best friend Loran’s daughter Ashley is getting married.

Then it’s on to Christmas:

December 24^th we’re having the Pears Christmas party at my brother’s house. Fun and enjoyment for all.

December 25^th is Christmas day and it is always full of running about and presents.

 

So far it looks like that will finish out the month for us. There are no plans for New Years, though I have heard a rumor that NKOTB will be hanging out with Dick Clark.

 

Our movie watching

The Dungeonmaster (1984) - This movie also goes by the title of Ragewar. We watched this movie on the "THIS Network" this channel is full of interesting movies. I don't know why I had to watch it, but I stayed awake until 11 pm on a work night just so I could see the ending. So campy. The movie doesn't really explain much of anything so you have to make up the rest of the story and figure out what's going on without much help from what's going on. But for the most part this super intelligent fellow has a computer built into his head and a girl friend who he doesn't pay attention to. Then this wizard comes along, or maybe he was the devil, and pulls the two of them into a dream world and the fellow has to overcome seven tasks with the help of only his computer in order win his girl back. If you have ever heard the line: "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" ... well, it comes from this movie.

 

Bridge to Terabithia (2007) - This movie was terribly sad. I hadn't expected that. I didn't know anything about the book/story before stumbling across this movie on TV, and let me just tell you, if you don't know what it's about, and you're a sap like me, then you should probably have some tissues (or long sleeves) handy before watching this movie. A boy gets a new friend, and they share a wonderful adventure full of imagination, excitement, and sadness. It is very kid friendly. It teaches about loss, about family, friends, imagination and to "keep your mind wide open."

 

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) - I know I covered this movie not too long ago when we actually saw it in the theater, but it really is just that good. I now own it in my personal collection. I'm not much of a Nicolas Cage fan, but the movie was good despite him. If you haven't seen it yet I suggest you watch it with you family today.

 

Planet 51 (2009) - This movie was quite enjoyable. An astronaut lands on an alien planet and suddenly he is the alien being hunted by the military. It was cute and funny and definitely one you could show your kids.

 

Tangled (2010) - This is a Disney movie. And let me say how nice it is to watch a musical movie with an original soundtrack. Some of songs were quite cheesy, but as a whole, I loved this movie. It even got me crying here and there. It is the story of Rapunzel so there really was nothing too surprising, and the characters were great.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) - I loved this movie! I have been so excited as I waited for this to come out. I love the Chronicles of Narnia and all the adventures that ensue in this world of wonder. In this one Lucy and Edmond and their cousin Eustace go to Narnia and meet up with Caspian for a sea going voyage. They go to several islands on a quest and meet evils and have to learn things about themselves along the way. I love Reepicheep, I think he is my favorite character from the movie but the entire cast is great. This is a very family friendly movie. There may be a bit of scary for the kids at the end, but for the most part its fun for all ages. And now I'll share a bit of advice I received before I went to see this movie, "Bring Tissues" trust me. if you're a sap you'll need them.

Dead in Comics?

I think you have to be a comic person to get this. (suprise, suprise.)

http://www.classic-consoles.com/games/1609/xmen-death-becomes-them.html

better than harry potter

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid619268882001?bctid=686907500001

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday

To start with - Thanks for the Vo5 suggestion Jennie, it seems to be helping a little. Not so many snarls now, and not so many scatterings of broken hair on the bathroom floor in the mornings. :) Now if I can just avoid major breakage for a while I might feel better about getting it trimmed...

And Speaking of hair... I decided that I want John to have David Tennant hair. I think he may be able to pull it off with all his crazy cowlicks. I just have become rather fond of the crazy rooster hair that David Tennant sports as The Doctor. What do you think? Could John pull off this look?

We have been watching Doctor Who every Saturday night on PBS for the last few months. Sadly, it is drawing to the end of the TENTH Doctor (David Tennant) so I'm not looking forward to this regeneration the last few episodes have been rather traumatizing to me and I'm usually in tears at some point during the episode. Perhaps that means I'm too emotionally invested with The Doctor, but I say so what? Its not the first time I have adored a Doctor. I always did love Tom Baker (who I'll admit was the first doctor I really remember.) He was Doctor number FOUR and absolutely fantastic. I'm still waiting for the day I receive my own twelve foot long Doctor scarf. My next favorite Doctor was number FIVE who was played by Peter Davison. But now, with David Tennant, I'm not sure what order my favorite Doctors go in any more. I guess I'm just a lover of the doctors. I was told once by a friend of mine that I would make an excellent Who Girl, and I'm inclined to agree, I think I would make a fine companion to the Doctor. Needless to say, it seems that the Doctor will need to join our DVD collection soon since we have missed so much of the latest reincarnation of it.

We have watched a couple of movies this past week:

First off we saw RED. This movie was fantastic. John and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was funny, action packed and just what we needed to see last week. Unfortunately we had our date night on Friday and were reminded again why it is that we don't go out that particular night of the week. As for the movie I highly recommend it.

Next we watched Satan's Little Helper. This movie was dumb. It was the last of our Halloween Movie Month movies that we hadn't had a chance to watch yet. It's a bout a crazy little boy and a crazy killer in a mask. I don't recommend it for watching.

Speaking of things I don't recommend watching.... I went to see The Color Purple: The Musical on Wednesday night with Scott's new wife Ariane. I took Ariane because John did not want to go, and I had offered the tickets to a few different people, until finally I found someone who wanted to go with me. I'll admit that I really never cared to read/see/hear/etc this story so I wasn't too excited too see this, but whatever, it was part of our season ticket package so we just took what came to us. In order to prepare for this musical event I read the cliff notes a while ago so I could understand what was going on and perhaps see something in this story that might inspire me to like it... after reading the cliff notes I still stood by my first impression. On the other hand Ariane loves the movie of The Color Purple, (she's even invited me to her house to watch it some time,) so when I invited her to go with me she was pretty excited so, in the way that I do, I tried to build my own excitement off of hers, and it helped, a little.

Well, after months of waiting, Wednesday night finally came and Ariane and I set off to the Capitol Theater to be culture-ized. What a night. To start off with, the tickets I had said they were for the night before 11/16 - ugh! - which was frustrating, because I had written all the dates down on my calendar from the dates given to me on my receipt. But lucky for us they were able to give us seats for that night so we weren't left out in the cold with expired tickets. (Now I have to make sure I look at the tickets before writing the dates on the calendar for next year so we don't have this same issue again.) All in all, the Musical was pretty good, if you like The Color Purple, but I don't think I'd ever see it again if given the opportunity. I enjoyed the second act more than the first act. I wasn't very fond of the music, but the production of it was nice.  The performers all did a very good job. There was only one song in the production that I'd even consider listening to again. If you want to see it, go see it, but I'm not putting it on my recommendation list.

When Ariane "dished" about me to her husband via text message during intermission she said I was "a very courteous date."  Isn't that nice of her? I opened doors, I bought her a drink, and I even let her have the aisle seat.

The best part of the night was spending time with Ariane.

SIDE NOTE: Many of my readers may not know that Ariane and I were acquainted long before she married Scott. Ariane, aka "Sister Stevens", was one of the sisters serving in the Washington DC South Mission back in the days that I was also there. I had the opportunity to spend two of my precious days as a missionary serving with Ariane, once when our companions had something they had to do together, and again when she and I drove to Cumberland, MD for a baptism of someone we both taught. I fell madly in love with her all the way back then and had always wished that I could have had her as a companion. I never did get to serve with her, but we did spend time in the same Zones periodically throughout our time in the field. So back last .... um .... October, I think, when Scott told me and John that he was dating Ariane Stevens I couldn't have been more overjoyed. I remember going home with John that night and saying to him "I wish Scott would marry Ariane, that would be so cool." And well... he did, and it is.  She's a great person and oh so loveable. Her personality just makes you want to be her friend. I think my glowing opinion of Ariane when my Mother-in-Law asked me about her helped, at least a little, to prepare the family for Ariane joining us. Because sure, she's not really "one of us" but really, she is. As the new mother of my niece, she's as much a part of the family as any of the rest of us. (And as a side note to my side note: she is a great mommy to my little Lucy. Scott chose good.)

Ariane and I had fun reminiscing about the mission and people and places we knew and loved, we talked about all sorts of things that I don't usually tell people, we talked about Lariann and Lucy, and life and death and family... It was an amazingly wonderful night.

TANGENT: I must admit though that the idea of going out with Ariane frightened me a little. I am not the person that I used to be. That bright girl with the testimony that she knew ten years ago isn't really me anymore. I'm kind of a recluse who spends too much time wallowing in depression and being bitter and self absorbed, but my time with her was like a step out of my life back into what I know I should be. It was a nice breath of fresh air. I didn't want her to see that person I have become and wonder what happened to the other one. I was afraid I'd have nothing to talk to her about and that the evening would be full of awkward pauses and those meaningless conversations that people have because there is noting better to talk about.. but it wasn't like that at all. It was like being back with one of those friends that even though you haven't seen them for years you can just pick up where you left off and just keep going. It was nice to talk to her about Lari, because as a family we have really tried to avoid the topic so as not to offend in Ariane in anyway... but she asked me to tell her about Lariann, and that was refreshing. (Now, In-Laws, this isn't an invitation to swamp poor Ariane with Lariann stories, this is just saying that Ariane would like to know more about Lari because she is a part of her life now. Let Ariane dictate what and when the Lari stories are shared.)

So next week is Thanksgiving. This year has gone by so fast. John and I haven't really accomplished a lot this year, but we have spent a lot of time with our families. We're going to St. George to see his oldest sister for the holiday. Technically this years should have been the Pears Family Thanksgiving since last year was Evans family thanksgiving year, but there were also extenuating circumstances last year that required all the Evans children to be present... if you catch my drift. But this year, we have the opportunity to go to St. George and spend time with both oldest Evans siblings together. - Oldest brother Scot and his wife recently moved to Las Vegas from Jackson, WY so now he's just two hours from Kristin and this year he has the holiday off. So we're making a quick trip to see them and then rushing back to spend time with my oldest sister who is visiting from Washington again. This is going to be a busy holiday weekend. But next year, NEXT YEAR, it's back to the Pears'.

Starting next week it's our 81 days of Hell. Thanksgiving, Christmas Parties, Christmas, New Years, My Birthday, Our 9th Anniversary, John's Birthday and finally... Valentines Day.  It seems that in that entire expanse of time we hardly have time to breathe so if you don't see us, hear from us, or talk to us in the next few months, know that we love you and we'll get back to you in March.

I'm off do do some Christmas shopping... does anyone have any ideas of what I can get John that is not a DVD?

I'm a little bit Country

This should have posted a few weeks ago after we saw the Rider's in the Sky, but I have been too sick/distracted/tired/depressed/busy to post it. It's up now so enjoy this weeks selection.

 

Wyoming Wind

    Bar J Wranglers

 

Wyoming Wind

Silver Spurs
The Old Chisholm Trail
Whoopi Ti Yi Yo
Cool Water
Pinin' for the Pines
Timber Trail
Fiddlin' Man
The Cowboy Song
A Fathers' Love
Lulabelle

A Wind in My Face

 

I first encountered the Bar J Wranglers many years ago when I accompanied my parents on a trip to Jackson Hole, WY for one of dad's Credit Union Board meetings. The Board Members all got to go to dinner at the Bar J Chuckwagon where we got to eat delicious steak and have a old western kind of show... and I loved it. I have been a cowgirl at heart for most of my life, but I didn't have a lot of cowboy music in my repertoire... until then.

I can't say that this is the first Bar J CD that I bought because I made my mom buy me a few that first night, but this is the one I think I have listened to the most over the years.

This music reminds me of my Grandpa Mc. Sure, he never made me listen to this, and I really mostly only remember his as the old guy, but I hear stories of his days as a cowboy and I remember thinking how awesome that would be. (that, and a lot of hard work.) Grandpa always wanted to have the song "Strawberry Roan" sung at his funeral... it wasn't, but I wanted it there too. Sure, that song isn't on THIS CD, but it is on others. In my heart I'm and old west cowgirl who would have rode the range and herded cattle with the best of them, but that's not my lot in this life so I will settle with listening to the music that talks about those days.

This CD includes songs like Silver Spurs that talks of bull riding no matter the cost, and The Cowboy Song that speaks of the hard days on the trail. Both of which often bring a tear to my eye. I think my favorite song on this CD is A Father's Love it makes me cry every time. And you can never go wrong with some cowboy poetry with A Wind In My Face.

If you're looking for some good old country without looking at the Rider's in the Sky, Marty Robbins or Son's of the Pioneers I suggest looking up and listening to The Bar J Wranglers for some yodeling, dancing, and cowboy fun.

Yee Haa!

 

"Let me tell you a secret, about a father's love. It's a secret that my Daddy said was just between us. Daddies don't just love their children every now and then. It's a love without end, amen."

Today is Wednesday

Today is the 314^th day of the year. That makes today Pi Day. Go have yourself a piece of pie today to make yourself happy.

 

I finished reading the Towers of Midnight yesterday. All 861 pages of it. It took me an entire week to finish, but that was mostly due to being sick and tired and having other things that needed to be done. I probably could have finished it in like two days with no distractions. It was pretty good. Not as good as I wanted it to be after waiting nearly 16 years to read it, but it'll do.

 

I think the towers of midnight drained the life out of me. The book has some sort of vampiric effect that makes one have to read it even though your life is being sucked out moment by moment... Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck… Life... Draining... Can't.... Think... Need... More... Balefire...

 

No, but seriously, you should still read it. 

 

Aaah! That's part of the books effect. It sucks the life out of one person and then makes you give it to someone else to read.

 

Nevertheless, the book was pretty good. I have some complaints about it, but I’ll keep those to myself until John finishes. I am not going to say anything about the plot, or what did or did not happen in the book because so many people I know are either currently reading it, or waiting to borrow a copy. But I do suggest reading it. There were some parts that made me smile and one or two passages that made me tear up a little, or at least made me think that I probably should be crying over this or that.

 

Now it's on to reading The Historian. (which looks equally as thick as the last one but it only has 720 pages.) I don't know if I'll actually finish it (or start it) before the end of the year, but I'm going to try.

 

Life is pretty good for the most part. We don’t have anything terrible going on currently. no one has died, no one has smashed our car, no one has been fired, and no one has been arrested so for the most part life is good.

 

I’m just getting over a bit of a sickness that I had over the weekend. I came home from work last Friday and lay down on my bed around 4:30 and didn’t wake up until 10 am the next day. You’d think that that much sleep would make a person feel better, but around 12 on Saturday I decided that I was still tired so I took another 3 hour nap. Yep, I was feeling pretty much like a useless lump and I felt so ill. The weekend just wasn’t working out for me.

 

We did go to church on Sunday though. I think this is the first time again since September. I think we skipped the two weeks of regular services during October. Church was SO loud. I hate the noise it really grates on my nerves so I sat through Fast and Testimony meeting wanting to either leave or put my hands over my ears. But I didn’t do either. I listened like the adult that I am with my hands in my lap.

 

I was really doing pretty good until the Bishop got up near the end of the meeting and said something about the noise to the effect of "God must really trust us to give us all these kids..." and that just sent me into a rut thinking well apparently God just doesn't trust me and that makes me a horrible person and I don't deserve any kids because I’m selfish and rude and even I wouldn't trust me with kids... blah blah blah... I made it through the rest of the block and made it home before I started to bawl. And thus swirled me into the depths of depression mixed with sickness and those two are never a good combination. I thought I felt awful before church, but my evening ended up with a migraine – you know, the good ones with nausea, rainbows (not the good kind) and ice packs.

 

It sucks how you finally think you have this no baby thing under control and you’re totally okay with it and life is okay… and then someone says just the stupidest thing and it just drops you down to where you were before, or worse. (I know he didn’t say it to offend anyone, he was simply stating something that he thought, but to me it just hurt that empty place in my heart.) I'm just frustrated, I guess.

 

I stayed home sick from work on Monday because I felt like crud and I really should have stayed in bed, but with the rage and frustration in me I got up and cleaned my house and put my Halloween decorations away. That was a bad idea because it didn't make me feel any better on either aspect, it just made me more sick.

 

And speaking of Halloween decorations… or just decorations in general – This has been added to my per peeve list recently – I just don’t understand the need some people have to decorate for EVERYTHING. Sure, John and I joke some times about putting hats on the Skull in the living room to mark passing holidays or seasons (Pilgrim hat, bunny ears, new years crown… you know, like those absurd geese that people like to dress up on their lawns.) but really when it comes down to it we decorate for two holidays, and two holidays only: Halloween and Christmas (and Christmas mostly because John says so not because I want to.) Who wants to store all that crap? Who has the time to decorate and redecorate their house on a monthly basis? What’s the point of it all? Does anyone ever really come over to your house to see it? Really? I guess I’m just not one of those kid of peoples. Now if you are one of these kids of people, I’m not trying to be offensive, (I’m just feeling snarky today,) I’m just stating my own personal views. To summarize: Two thumbs down to decorating.

 

What else is there that might be on a happier note. Ummm…

 

I get to go see the Color Purple next week with my adorable friend and new sister-in-law-in-law. I don’t know how I’ll like it, but I’m going. Ariane proclaims that it is one of her favorite stories so since she likes it I’m going to trust her opinion. Maybe I’ll like it more because she will.

 

Harry Potter comes out on 11/19. John and I have our tickets to go see it on the following Monday. We’re going to watch it in IMAX.

Tangled comes out on 11/24 – but we’ll be in St. George for the holiday so we’ll see it when we come back.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes out 12/10 and TRON comes out 12/14 we don’t have tickets for these yet.

 

There are:

14 days until Thanksgiving

44 days until Christmas

63 days until my Birthday

 

Well, that’s it. I have nothing else to say for today.

 

End of Line.

I found them. I found them. I found them!

"Found what?" you may ask... and my answer is:

These!!

Many of you may not know that once upon a time I had a pair of shoes that I loved. They were Ox Blood Red Dr. Martins Mary Jane's with decorative die-cuts across the toes with a silver buckle. Such beautiful shoes.

I got them as a gift from a member of the Annandale Ward in Annandale Virginia. Her name was Sister Mertz. One evening while my companion and I were at their house for dinner Sister Mertz asked me what size shoes I wore. I answered that I wore 8.5 and she said she had some shoes in her closet that would probably fit and that she never wore. She disappeared for a short while and soon re-emerged with these shoes in her hand.

My shoes in their first and last trip to Washington in July 2009

It was love at first sight. The Ox Blood red caught my eye and my heart. They were perfect shoes for me, they fit perfectly, they were my style, they slipped on and off with ease. Ah! I loved them. I have even composed poetry about them. But Alas, as all things in this world go, they reached the end of their usefulness. They were pretty much dead in 2008, but it took me a whole other year to throw them away. I was so attached to those shoes.

Since then I have looked and looked to find a new pair of those shoes. I have bought shoes that might be okay, and shoes that were cute, I even bought a pair of Union Jack Boots that I love now, but they can't replace the shoes I miss. My sister-in-law even bought me red Mary Jane slippers to help fill the gap, but it just wasn't working.

Most of these shoes I have bought to replace the dead ones are junk. They have been Payless shoes, or clearance DSW shoes, and Target shoes... but they just don't cut it. One pair fell apart, one pair stretched so now they don't fit, and the other pair wreaks havoc on my poor knees.
Not to long ago at dinner I said to John "I need new shoes." and he didn't argue, stating that shoes are a necessity of life and if I need new shoes just buy some... He didn't know what kind of can of worms that opened. I decided that if I buy another pair of shoes I'm buying some GOOD shoes. While perusing the Dr. Martin website I found the shoes above. And I knew they were for me. So red, so shiny it was like being in the Mertz apartment all over again, falling in love.

Happy Holidays!

Guy Fawkes Day Poem

Traditional British

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot ;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
'Twas his intent.
To blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below.
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God's providence he was catch'd,
With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring
Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !
Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,
A farthing cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down,
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar,'
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head,
Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

- Accept Creason’s Help -

Creason stands over you watching you pack, but suddenly he turns and crouches next to you. “Come Bearer, the sisters are coming.”

His urgent tone hurries you along and soon you have your cloak back around your shoulders. It’s easier to wear it than to carry it you determined. The two of you hurry out of the cave and back on to the path you had been following before.

“Do you know the way out?” You ask.

“I have a general idea,” Creason replies, but he looks in several directions before pointing a finger. “This way, I believe.”

“You believe?”

“You’re the one with the guide Bearer. Perhaps you should ask him.” He said, pointing to the raven that was swooping circles in the air before you.

“Harry,” you call, sticking out your arm, and your raven flies to you, perching on your wrist. He stares at you, his head tilted to the side. Taking a deep breath you throw out a hope that this bird can under stand you. “Get us out of here.”

“Caaw!” he screeches at you before launching off your arm and taking flight. You watch as he flies away, banking to the left and disappearing around a corner. It only takes a moment for you to realize that you should probably be following him.

The air is so heavy with heat you find it hard to breathe; your foot falls becoming heavier as you go. The silence is oppressing, broken only by the periodic call of Harry if you fall too far behind.

“The mouth isn’t very far from Here.” Creason assures you, punctuated by a caw from your raven as though he were agreeing.

After walking for what seemed like hours through the heat the entrance to the caverns appears before you as a gaping black hole in the red rocks. You are so glad to see it you start to run to the exit, each step bringing you closer to real air.

Thump thump thump thump, your footfalls echo behind you as you finally break free of the oppressiveness of the heat that you close your eyes as you step into the open breathing deeply of the fresh cool air. You’re about to take another step when Creason grabs the back of your shirt and pulls you back.

“You may be the Bearer, but you are not wise.” He growls.

You open you eyes and glare at him before you notice that he is looking at the ground before you, or the lack there of. In front of you there is a small ledge about the width of your shoulders and then a sheer drop off that is lined with dense pines thousands of feet below.

“We can go down that way if you wish.” Creason says, pointing at a series of narrow switchbacks that cut straight down the side of the cliff, “Or, we can use the river trail.” Pointing in another direction you see that the narrow ledge you’re standing on wraps around the side of the cliff face and out of sight.

You watch as Harry files in circles high in the air, not giving you any further direction.


WHAT DO YOU DO?

Take the Switchbacks down
Follow the Narrow Ledge


I've given this some extra time. You have until Midnight 11/12/2010 to vote for the next step.

Happy Trails to You

Last night was fun.

It was the first "date night" we have had in a while. We've spent the last two months of  date nights home watching horror movies, so it was nice to get out again and get ourselves some culture.Well, our evening started when John and I went to The Desert Edge Brewery for dinner. Yumm. It's in Trolley Square and it is always good food. After dinner it was off to Abravanel Hall for some musical entertainment.

This week is the Heber City Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Fair up in Heber City, UT (if you couldn't guess from the name) and the Riders in the Sky kicked off the week of events with a concert at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City with the Utah Symphony. Let me just say that it was awesome.

I love the Rider's in the Sky. (They are almost as high in my book of Cowboy Singers as the Bar J Wranglers.) Remember back in the early 90's (1991 - 1992) they had a short run of Saturday morning TV. After Pee-wee Herman went off the air in 1990 the Riders got his set. I remember watching them. I enjoyed them back then, and I enjoy them now.

They had a couple of opening acts with Sourdough Slim who plays the accordion and sings cowboy songs, and also there was Waddie Mitchell who tells Cowboy poetry. I wasn't too impressed with Sourdough, but I do love some cowboy Poetry.

They sang some songs I knew, and some songs I didn't. They also did a few songs from Disney since they wrote a lot of the music for Toy Story 2, and they preformed the music while we watched the Pixar short film called "For The Birds" that was included with "Monsters, Inc" when it was in theaters. Yeah, they wrote that music.

So the show was good and we were glad we went even though John complained all the way to there. Yes, he enjoyed it to once it started. He says he prefers the Riders in the Sky to all the other Cowboy music I listen to.

Perhaps next summer I can drag myself out of my cool house in the middle of July to see the Riders in the Sky for free. (They usually perform at the Layton Park in the summer time)

 

Halloween Movie Month - Final Week 9

Survival of the Dead (2009) - Yes, this is another in the "of the Dead" series. This one was about a couple of soldiers who made a brief appearance in the Diary of the Dead and the stragglers they picked up along the way. Mostly it's about an island off of Delaware called plum and the decades old feud between two old men and their families. It is also proposed in the film that may, just maybe we can get the zombies to eat the animals instead of eating the humans... but John and I both agreed that that is a stupid idea because what will the zombies do when they don't have anymore animals to eat? that's right, they'll just go back to eating humans. There is some foul language and some zombie gore, but pretty tame for some of the movies we have watched lately.

*

The Army of Darkness (1992) - This is a classic movie for all to love. We have been on a Bruce Campbell kick lately, and this movie fit the bill for what we were looking for. This is the third installment of the Evil Dead movies after Ash is sucked into a swirling vortex he finds himself in a medieval world where he has to obtain the Necronomicon, battle an army of darkness, save the girl and return to his own time. I love so much about this movie: the two-headed Ash, the mini-mirror Ashes, the army of the dead, the cheesy dialogue "Gimme some sugar, Baby" - it's just a great movie all around. I don't recall to much swearing, and there is a little bit of gore, but for the most part it's a pretty clean film that most of the family can enjoy. I don't know why we don't own it yet.

*

From Dusk to Dawn (1996) - Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney. What can I say about this movie. There were parts of it I liked, there were parts of it I hated. It took too long to get to the Vampires, and the version we watched had too much naked and vulgar language. This is one of those movies that was entertaining, but I think it would probably do better to watch it as a TV edit. There was lots of blood, lots of swearing, lots of inappropriate verbiage, and not enough action.

*

Predators (2010) - I was expecting more action, and more from Laurence Fishburne. But I was disappointed. John and I spent the movie deciding who would be the next to go. There was not enough Predator involvement in the film. For being such bad-ass aliens they sure weren't trying to hard to hunt their prey in this one. There were some parts that were quite funny, and some that were just stupid. There was a lot of swearing, and not too much gore. If you're a fan of the Predator movies you might as well watch it. That's why we did. but as a whole, there are other Predator movies I'd rather watch instead.

*

Open Graves (2009) - The reason we rented this movie... Eliza Dushku. She's my girl crush. I have all sorts of weird dreams about her all the time. (And just in case you're ever trapped in a crashing airplane with her and she tells you that she knows how to fly - it's a lie - good thing I woke up from that one. Yeah, I'm a dork, I know.) Anyways... this movie was not so bad, but no where close to good. a bunch of youths gather to play a cursed game and all goes wrong, people die and a wish is granted but it's not a happy ending. Would I tell some one else to rent this move. Not likely.

 

**

 

Well, that's the end of our Halloween Movie Month(s). We had fun and watched a lot of movies. Some were good. Most were bad. We really slacked off this last week and didn't finish watching some of the favorites we have in our personal collection, but they're always there for watching when ever we want.

 

I was asked to keep an eye out to see if there any movies we watched this year that are teenager appropriate... Lets see:

 

Disturbia (2009)

Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

The Mist (2007)

Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985)

Will Vinton's: Claymation Halloween Special (1987)

Silver Bullet (1985)

Army of Darkness (1992)

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Alien Apocalypse (2005)

 

And here are some that we didn't watch this year I I wouldn't mind letting my teenager watch:

 

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Ghost Busters (1984)

Ghost Busters II (1989)

Evil Dead (1981)

Evil Dead II (1987)

Hocus Pocus (1993)

The Black Cauldron (1985)

CreepShow (1982)

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The Frighteners (1996)

Clue (1985)

 

There are other, but I don't have my DVD folder in front of me so this is all I can think of off the top of my head. 

As a parent of teenagers you may agree or disagree with my choices, but these are movies that I deem youth appropriate, or are movies that I watched as a teenager that haven't scared me for life.

Happy almost Halloween!

Arrr!

Picture Perfect

There are some bonuses to having friends that are photographers. These fancy pictures are thanks to our super friend Megan Smock. Here are a few of the ones I like even though they are all pretty darn cute.

Liz & John

October 11, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

...

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie

by Maggie Stiefvater

 

The second book in the Books of Faerie series. I loved this more than the first book. Why? Because this one was all James all the time. I love him. I loved being in his head and on his side of the story for this one.

James and Dee have ... parted ways ... since the end of the last novel. There is a huge rift between them that neither one of them is ready to cross. Things were said and not said in the end of Lament that each would like to take back or fix, but they both believe it's not possible anymore.

James spends a good portion of the book lamenting (no pun intended) over his loss of friendship with Dee. And Dee keeps us posted on her life through a series of text messages that she never sends. It's quite heart breaking. They are starting their fist year at a Musical Prep School where a lot of crazy things happen. There are faeries about, and James hates them. However there is one faerie, named Nuala that he builds a bond with. There is a lot going on in this book there is the surface story of James and Nuala, the back ground stories of James and Dee and James and his roommate, and then there is the story about what's going on in the faerie world. They are all nicely intertwined and you find yourself really feeling for James and some of the choices he has to make. There were several places in this book where I cried. I wanted James to be happy, but some times he just sabotages himself (like we all do some times) and he is left with words unsaid. Dee is really frustrating in this one. On one hand you want to know more about what is going on with her and her cryptic messages, but on the other hand you just want to slap her for the words that come out of her mouth. And Nuala ... I don't even know what to say about her. I liked her, but I didn't. I wanted her to be happy, but not at the expense of Dee. I wanted the end to not be the way it was. But the end was good enough.

I'd love to read another novel about these characters, but according to Maggie there probably isn't going to be anymore novels in this series. That's oaky though. I guess what we got was good enough.

I don't think it would make a good stand alone read because there were a lot of references to things that happened in Lament. I recommend this book to those who loved Lament, those who wanted more for James.