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