Snow Day!

Yet again, my first day of school is snowed out... This makes two of the locations where I take classes.  I have been out of school for over a month now.  Going stir crazy, that's for sure!  If I'd known I'd be stuck inside so much over these weeks, I'd have started some big project to work on, but the plan was to be back in classes two weeks ago!  Now I keep saying, "Oh, I'll just clean something or read something today, no point in starting anything big because class starts in three days."  Noooo beans.  Looks like I'll be moseying around another weekend, reading, guitarring, watching phys lectures online from MIT... which I actually prefer to my own phys class. :)

Last night I was again bored so I started fiddling around with some stuff and made a few things that are pretty much worthless but were fun to make anyway. :P  

First was a bobby pin with a daisy on it...  Will have to make a few more of these for the sisters. :)

 Next was a headband.  Now that I have shorter hair (which I love, I am NEVER going back to high-maintenance inches and inches and inches!) I'm wearing more headbands and scarves since there's not a whole lot else I can do with my hair...  Anyways, this took way longer than I expected haha, you never expect the circumference of your own head to be so...large... :P

 And then another headband, this time experimenting with crocheting with beads!  I've never done this before, but I've heard of it and I knew the general idea. What you do is thread the bead you want to use onto the string BEFOREHAND.  Then you make a slip knot and start working, pushing the beads out of the way until you want them.  At the right stitch, just slide the bead close to the hook and crochet it into the stitch.  Pretty darn easy. :)  

I am very much aware that I look evil in that picture... bwa. ha. ha. ha. ha.

I also did some experimenting with crocheting around a plastic ring.  I put a lot of gold beads into the thread before I started and just added one every ten stitches as I went around.  

At least the snow is pretty!  I'm still a fan of the snow, very muchly. :)

Much colder and wetter, I present my pictures from outside...  Got quite a dusting and it's frigid!  Sorry for such a long post, but it's mostly pictures and I haven't posted in awhile anyway... :)

Been a Looong Time

I'm going to try and blog some over Christmas break.  Bit of a blogging failure, amn't I?  Sadly it's because I don't do anything bloggish or blog-worthy during the school year.  I've said before I doubt if y'all want to hear of my exciting (to me) escapades in calc and physics... :P  Oh well!

I'm trying to knit some lately, trying to finish that one last annoying sleeve and stitch together the sweater, so there may be pictures of that in the nearish future.

Mainly now I'm on break I'm just all about music.  Mainly my guitar.  Thinking about getting a mandolin... been wanting one for awhile, and I can haz Christmas money... :)  We'll see what happens!

Hospice today was...interesting.  I'm not sure why I do this to myself, it's a bit of a shock getting more involved after so long keeping to myself in the front room.  And always with the residentials.  Oh well, it's what I'm there for.  And I'll tell ya one thing, working there at all pretty much murders any sense of awkward/squeamish you have, but gently.  It's a real neat place like that. :)

Yep, seems like there's not much to say here I haven't already said to other people... and if you know me you know I CANNOT repeat myself.  Ever.  I can't rewrite, I can't edit even very much, and I can't re-tell stories I've already told.  I will try to keep that in mind in the next two/three weeks and remember to come here first. :)

Merry Christmas y'all!

AMZI

Long Weekend

I can't tell you how excited I am!  Sleeping in, no work to go to this morning, no classes on Monday, I tell ya...  I foresee knitting, reading what I want to read, listening to lectures I want to listen to, getting outdoors in this AMAZING weather, piano, guitar...and mountain dulcimer... :)

I mentioned the weather, yes?  The weather is amazing at the moment!  Chilly-ish in the morning, warm by the time you want to go out, so gorgeous.  And the air, it smells like fall or something.  It makes me crazy.  :)

Ooh, speaking of crazy, I think I might write this weekend...or draw, I'm not decided.  A big list of want-to-do's are piling up in my mind, and when they hit full Creativity Potential I think they'll all get done in a huge wave...



In the meantime I'll stay in bed an extra hour.  Ha ha ha.  :)
AMZi x x x x x

Generally About Music

Been awhile, ain't it?  Or is that just the days running together in my head?  Ah well, I FEEL like I've been fairly busy...not actually super busy, just busy enough in short spurts to be too tired for anything but guitar in the off times.  :)  This is the view from where I sit lately. :P

And I love how these pictures came out, just a little fiddling around with exposure and contrast...and voila!  (pun not actually intended, but hey, it works)

And a better picture of me puppy!  I walked him last night down to the park, and we discovered two things...  He's scared of bridges (little ones over streams a total of 2 inches deep) and small people's parked bicycles...  Haha!

I'm getting my brain back into Spanish mode :: I've missed it!  I've always loved songs in Italian and Spanish, but I've got a new favorite.



And also, my new favorite composer (it's all happened rather quickly, but now I've got all sorts of music by him and I'm cranking away at it) is Ludovico Einaudi.  My current favorite and one I'm getting close on ::



Confession :: I've spent HOURS at the piano over last day and a half, what with this, this one, and the rest of Le Onde, and now I Giorni.  I adore it.  The reason why I know I've spent hours there is because I've got them down, and though they're both pretty simple, it takes me a couple hours to get a song solid and memorized.  AND I'm returning to Hospice House!  First day all over again today, I did miss that piano, but it really still isn't the same without Mr. Ralph.  Oh well... seems like a different place, the new wing, new people, a new day (I used to go on Thursdays)... but same old piano!  And in tune!

Weather's crazy here today!  Windy, cloudy, cool, I love it. :)
AMZi  x x x x x

PS this is my new favorite book.  No joke.  The ending... but it won't make sense unless you're like me, generally strange.  I know a lot people who wouldn't get his refuge at all, but I understand exactly.  It's amazing.

Favorite Songs...

Of the moment. :)



My favorite word is Everlasting. :)



Oh my.  Something about that... wow.

AMZi x x x x x

PS Amzi has started college classes and gotten her license, hence the busy-ness lately!

Breakthrough

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside

You want to be someone laying down your pride

You want to be someone someday

Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside

You want to have virtue and purify your mind

You want to be set free today

Then lay it all down before the King

This is my desire, this is my return

This is my desire to be used by You

You want to be real, you want to be emptied inside

And I know my heart is to feel You near

And I know my life

It's to do Your will

It's to do Your will

This is my desire, this is my return

This is my desire, to be used by You

This is my desire, this is my desire

To be used by You 

All my life I have seen

Where You've taken me

Beyond all I have hoped

And there's more left unseen

There's not much I can do to repay all You've done

So I give my hands to use

This is my desire, this is my return

This is my desire, to be used by You

This is my desire, this is my desire

To be used by You

Still Reading...

I have excuses for posting going down to every-other-day!  That there is the pile of books I'm currently involved in. :P  Plus I'm listening to a lot of audio lectures.  So.

My friend and I are going through the Bible in a year, using this plan.  It takes some commitment, but it's worth it!  I'm excited to get to some books I haven't read in a long time.

Last week another lovely friend drove me to see the Babies documentary.  It was very interesting....  lots of "Awwww" and "Yikes!" and laughing.  You know how babies (and documentaries) are!

Yet another friend sent me the sheet music to play this on the piano.  Instant Delight. <3



AMZi x x x x x

Edited to Add :: Contrary to popular (horrified) belief, the above song is NOT "from Twilight."  It was by several accounts (I haven't seen the movies myself) used IN it but it is an entirely independent composition.  Thank you very much.  :)

Off Again

Here I am, FINALLY getting around to posting after like 3 days...just in time to say, "So long, mates" before we dash off on a road trip for a week.  Timing, yes?  Brilliant.

I have been holding off posting only because the LGM was out of batteries and not taking any pictures, and I'm stingy and don't like to spend money on things that run out.  Like batteries.  So, we had a problem there.  But yesterday, I bought a set of rechargable batteries and the charger, so the camera is in business again!

Update Number One :: I did make that hat I was telling you about.  And I do like it.  I can't believe I can pull off a hat.  It's making me adventurous, though I have gotten the hippie label now.  No one will let me wear it out (which is all right since it's usually upward of 90 degrees in the heat) because I "look like I'm from Manitou Springs."  Well, I kinda am, recently! :P

And I'm sooo savvy I can read and study and listen to music and crochet at the same time!

Or maybe not... frogging...

Finished!

Update Number Two :: I did say adventurous, didn't I?  Well, how adventurous?  Stripes!

I was wanting some darkish red to go in with the lot to make it really all the nautical colors, but it's not to be. :P  And that would make it hard to carry the colors up.  I really really hate changing colors with knots and any other way.  So I just leave the blue yarn hanging off to the side and pick up the white yarn loosely, and knit two rows with it.  And vice versa.  So much easier!

Update Number Three :: For my birthday, I got this!!! and this!!! and they are woooondeeerfuuulll!  Buy them and play them!  You will love them!

So goodbye for a week, maybe longer...
AMZi x x x x x

Decision

I have leaned...leaned...leaned...FALLEN for one of those jumpers I showed y'all yesterday!  Which one you ask?

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/avocet/avocet_b.html

Actually, Number Two, the simple garter-stitch, button-less cardigan.  I like the drape and fit of it, and if I make the X-Small version, and hike it down a set of needles, and check my gauge, I think it will fit ME properly!  Now to scrounge up some yarn... I have about 340 grams of a nice navy I like (because that nautical jumper rubbed off some on me too) but I'm going to need something else.  I'm thinking white stripes.  I saw something like that at Old Navy in a jumper, and I like the whole sailor feel to it.  Fairly narrow stripes, by the way.

Yarn to be picked over on Friday (my birthday!) so updates then, y'all!
AMZi x x x x x

PS Brilliant friend of mine from Summit recommended GrooveShark to me :: a free, legal, easy music listening site.  I. Love. It.  I'm getting my fill of Nightwish on it at this very moment--"Amaranth," "Nemo," and "Over the Hills and Far Away."

Freeman Stand or Freeman Fall

Scots Wha Hae
by Robbie Burns, June 24, 1786

Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled
Scots wham Bruce have aften led
Welcome tae your gory bed
Or tae victory

Now's the day and now's the hour
See the front of battle lour
And see approach proud Edwar'd pow'r
Chains and slaverie

Wha'll be a traitor knave?
Wha will fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let 'im turn and flee

Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw
Freeman stand or freeman fa'
Let 'im on wi' me

By oppression's woes and pains
By your sons in servile chains
We will drain our dearest veins
But they shall be free

Lay the proud usurper low
Tyrants fall wi' every foe
And liberty's in every blow
Let us do or die

More Like WHAT?

Haha, sorry, I just heard about this and needed to blog it.  Wow.  Still reeling.  You've got to be kidding.

In the words of el padre, "not all Christian music is created equal."  Listen to this...



Sound good?  Let's just pick this apart a little.

Give me rules / I will break them / Give me lines / I will cross them :: This is called Antinomianism.  More on this in a moment.

I need more than a truth to believe in / I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes / To sweep me off my feet :: So your faith is therefore based on a feeling.  Does this mean that when you feel like you're all alone, your faith doesn't exist?  Does Christianity become any less of a "truth" when it's difficult?

More like falling in love / Than something to believe in / More like losing my heart / Than giving my allegience :: Am I the only one who sees the insanity in this?  Feelings, emotions, no thought.  The minute you STOP feeling like your head is spinning and your heart is leaping, where are you?  What do you have left?

Give me words / I'll misuse them / Obligations / I'll misplace them :: And did we want to actually identify this as a bad thing?  Because it isn't something to be proud of.

Cause all religion made me / Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet :: No, the word for that is the "law."  The law that man couldn't keep.  The law that requires perfection, which nobody can achieve.  That's the REASON for GRACE.  That's not "religion."

Back to Antinomianism.  Definition :: The belief that moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation.  YES, "By grace you have been saves, through faith," and NOT by works (that belief is called Legalism :: earning your way to salvation) BUT ALSO, "By your fruit they shall know you" and "so also faith apart from works is dead."  Antinomianism, taken to its simple, logical conclusion, leads to a "I have my ticket to Heaven because I prayed a prayer, so till then, I'll party!" mindset.  If you truly have faith, the Holy Spirit should be working within you, convicting and weeding out the habits of the world.  Give me rules / I'll break them is NOT a Christian worldview, it's just another form of Postmodernism.

I don't have anything personal against this Jason Gray guy.  Till today I never knew he existed.  I'm not pretending to know anything about the state of his salvation--that's not my place.  But I do know that on this account, he's wrong.  I can only hope he never has to "give an account for the hope that is within [him]" because saying, "I just...it just swept me off my feet!  It's like... falling in love" will NEVER cut it with a thinking questioner.

AMZi x x x x x

Lists

It's been dodgy round here lately...seems like one minute I'm crazy busy with all this stuff hanging over my head, and  the next, I'm sitting around with nothing to do!  Company coming, going.  Writing and then thinking and putting off and then making myself write again.  Abruptly running out of my rack of books to read (AAAH!!!  *instant shiftlessness*).  Suddenly remembering that I'm supposed to have a Bourree memorized by this morning... *cough* hope my violin teacher isn't reading! :P  Trying to figure out what to take, what not to, how to SURVIVE two weeks without my simple comforts...

One being music.  I am so dead here.  I'm taking the guitar conmigo pero no puedo tomar my iPod.  I keep catching myself saying, Oh, it's okay, I'll be fine, if I get upset, I'll just listen to that one--no.  No, I won't.  AAAHHH!  

Remember that post from day before yesterday, I think?  I hope they have leafy trees in Colorado.  I hope they have big sunny skies.  Dorothy, you won't be in Kansas anymore!  

So I've been making lists.  Don't get me wrong :: I make lists all the blooming time.  I make lists every day, for multiple reasons.  I usually have a master list, utilizing good old pen and paper, with checkboxes and everything I have to/want to get done that day.  I love checking them off!  If I forget to add something and I do it, I will actually add it after the fact just so I can check it off...  Yeah, I get that look a lot.  :)  

And I keep tucking away little things, adding things to lists or to the Bag of Awesomeness (aaahhh!  Did I mention yesterday that it is GREEN?????).  Things that I KNOW will completely change my mood from terrible to amazing...  Like this book ::

This.  Book.  Is. Amazing!!!  A brill friend gave it to me a few years ago (after I kept trying to steal her copy...always found out by the un-suppress-able laughter...rats) and ever since, it's the one thing I can count on to make me completely forget to be mad/sad/whatever.  I will laugh out loud (very loud) no matter how many times I've read a particular sentence.  Take this for example ::

"An angry Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theocrats to a church door.  The Pope's response was to declare Luther hereditary." 

Noooo, Pope, you don't say??  Watch out for his children!!

"Calvinists were the only ones who believed in pre-detonation.  It is not surprising that their preaching consisted mainly of dogmatic explosions."

You have got to be kidding!!  That is like...like a genius thought it up as a joke, instead of a mistake on a term paper!!  Oh, and I am very much a Calvinist, if it sounds like a disrespectful joke.  It's just hilarious!

Oh, and some AMAZING unintentional French jokes.  (Sorry, Frenchies, nothing personal really, I just...yeah...grrr...haha)

"The Quebec Act was an Intolerable Act because it would have required Americans to learn French in school."

HEAR HEAR!  INTOLERABLE, I TELL YOU!

"Another problem was that France was full of French people."

Ohhhh, that explains EVERYTHING!  XD

If I don't stop, I'll go on forever!  WARNING :: Not all of the book is exactly PG... Heh heh.  Mainly misspellings of inconvenient terms...  You have been warned.

But everything's kind of winding down before it winds up, if that makes any sense... Two more days!
AMZi x x x x x  

A Tuesday's Daily Doings

• 6:23am :: Wake up slowly.
• 6:24am :: Realize today is TUESDAY, not Saturday as had somehow got into my head.  Bound out of bed with joy.  (I work on Saturdays, hence the general dislike)
• 6:25am :: Jump out of my skin when the alarm goes off.  Run to turn it off.  
• 6:30am :: Open computer and prepare to write.  Commence distracting self with excuses.
• 6:47am :: Actually buckle down to writing when faced with having to stop soon... *shakes head at self*
• 7:09 am :: Stop writing and make breakfasts/lunches/backpacks, etc.
• 8:30 am :: Have nice quiet house to self.  Commence violining.  
• 8:40 am :: Still scales....
• 8:50 am :: Even more scales....
• 9:00 am :: Forget the scales!  Bourree instead!
• 9:12 am :: Receive announcement of plan (dun dun dun!)
• 9:20ish am :: Head off to Starbucks!
• 9:34 am :: Order a Java Chocolaty-Chip Frappuccino (steep $$$-wise, but a special treat)
• Shortly Thereafter :: Commence writing.  If I were a real author, like full-time, I would totally find me a nice quiet Starbucks to sit in all day.  When I hit writer's block, I'll just listen to interesting conversations, order tea, etc.  
• 11:47 am :: Head home, 3,000 words later.
• 11:50 am :: More violining, more writing...
• Sometime Later than Normal :: Lunch!
• 1:00 pm :: MORE writing...
• 2:56 pm :: FINISH Chapter 6, PRINT Chapter 6, add some bits to other chapters I kind of forgot...
• 3:18 pm :: Write this. :P

So there's my day.  :)  And because I adore mi violin....

This is my new desktop.  I think if you click it, it'll get bigger.  :)

AMZi x x x x x

The Most Un-Blog-Ish Subject

Music. :P  Really a silly subject for a WRITTEN and VISUAL art form thingamajig.  Ah well.  You're in for it anyway.



Check it out.  He plays it really abysmally so I'm sorry, but use your imagination.  This. Is. My. Favorite. Song. Evah.  I heard it performed yesterday (MUCH BETTER THAN THIS yeesh) and it kills me every time. :D

And also this one ::



I remember the first time I heard this... *big grin*  Fantastic, yes?

So I took some pictures :: I love shots of people's hands on pianos.

This is my favorite--like the real world is INSIDE the piano, and outside it's just black and white like the keys....

And check this out!!  El hermano of crazy savvy-ness has lately been making these funky things.  They're flat, 2-D pieces of paper, and he draws on them in a certain way, and when a picture it taken from an angle, it--well, it looks like this!

There's a shot we have of me holding it (it IS MY book, of course--The Forewarned) and it looks so blooming real!  Keep an eye out for that soon. :)

Must run... as usual. :)  Hope all y'all had such a lovely weekend as I did!
AMZi x x x x x

Waltzing Is Easy!

You just have to find the rhythm, see?

(because I'll take any opportunity to throw in some Renoir... :P)

Same whole deal with writing.  You just have to find the "rhythm."  For me, each story has had its own.  I've always been able to imitate many different authors' rhythms--styles.  Finding my own...not so easy, eh?  I'm like one of those actors, who never seem to get OUT of character.  You wonder if they actually are a person at all outside of their different voices, accents, impressions, etc.

I think I found my personal voice in Allemande, but I'm certainly not limiting myself to it.  I've got a slightly different voice in Forewarned.  Something a bit more period-appropriate.  Something more values-appropriate.  Of course, in a book like Allemande where themes of music, beauty, modernity, pain, thoughtfulness, und so weiter, you need to take some time saying things.  Everything you write had to be poetic.  Here, it's come out sounding a little more 1700s-ish, and a little less raw.  Less electric.  It's not wrong, and it's not bad, it's just different tastes.  Like we have different rhythms in music we like, styles, same in writing/reading.  


You're going to hear a lot about writing and books for awhile here, I'm thinking.  Honestly, just the feel of being "back in the swing of things" (hee hee) consumes my every waking thought.  Of which there are several, as ideas are keeping me up at night, too!  :)  


And so, I'm off to finish Chapter 2, leaving you with another quote.  

'“I knew that stab would take awhile to kill ‘im, poor soul, but didn’t expect him to last this long.”  He pressed two calloused fingers to the boy’s white throat.  I watched his cracked lips mouth numbers as he counted the beats.  Sitting back, he gestured to the shawl’s fringe.  “Clever way of moving ‘im, that." 

“Thanks,” I said, dropping to my knees beside him.  “Can we save him?”  I began rolling up my sleeves, but faltered as I noticed his stare.  “That is the point, right?”

“It’s one thing to ease a man’s going,” he began, letting out his words slow and careful.  “It’s another to save him.  What could we do with him if he lived?  The commander, not to mention Campbell, couldn’t know.”

“But—” I felt my heart sink as I gazed at the boy.  Blue veins stood out under the skin on his clenched knuckles.  He was trying to hold to life by holding to his strength.  “He deserves to live.  You may be bound to my…my father,”  the word tasted poisonous, “but I’m certainly not!  I’ll save him, with or without your consent.  I’m asking for your help—or at the least, whatever medicines and supplies we have on board.”

The sailor worked his mouth back and forth, weighing the cost and chance.  I still felt my spirits leap with each lungful of air the young soldier pulled in.  So strange the tiny miracles you never notice until they’re all you have left.

“Got a handkerchief?”  Morris asked suddenly.' 

AMZi x x x x x


PS :: Been listening to this on an eternal loop, nonstop, for like the last two hours.  Something about it just kills me, it's so gorgeous!

It Feel's Like I'm Falling...

...And that's what it's like to Believe...



The future's looking so much brighter....  Do away with Dread, start walking by faith.  The sovereignty of God is such a comfort, you know?  No matter what happens, I know this :: He's got me Exactly Where He Wants Me.  I know I wobble from time to time, and get bogged down in worry about what I'm supposed to be doing, or that I've "missed the boat" in one way or another.  That I'm behind, I lost a chance, I closed a door.

But none of that is true.  If I closed a door, it was meant to be closed.  I'm not behind because there is no behind.  I didn't lose a chance that wasn't mine to take.  Yes, we go through the agony and stress and hair-tearing wondering as we make our decisions, or choose our paths, or wait for an outcome.  That's because we're finite little human beings, and we can't see the end result or the big picture.  The point is He Can.

And we should not have to bear the agony and stress, because we know who's in control.  And thank God it ain't me!  We should approach our choices and decisions from a platform of prayer, and logic.  I do believe quietly and composedly sitting down and logically assessing the options is used as a tool of God.

But I'm the first to admit that that's not always possible.  Like I said, I'm not above stressing out and panicking and wanting to quit every darn thing that confronts me!  At least I know this, no matter what happens, There Is No Regret.

I will Never Regret taking one chance, or NOT taking another one.  Looking back, I can always say, "Yes, that was the Right Decision."  I believe God's will is immutable and inevitable.  Ergo, all of the world's "Missed callings," "Should Have's,"  "Could Have Been's," and "If Only's" are lies.

Everything rests in His Hands.  We are free to move Forward.  No Regret.  No Fear.  Stand Fast.
AMZi x x x x x

PS My current fave song ::

It's Country

Scroll way down and turn off the playlist player before you play these videos ::

I am Unapologetic.  I love country music.  Many people my age say they don't like country at all, but I find this hard to swallow.  They must be joking, right?  What's not to love?  

One of the best things about country music is what a vessel it provides.  You think about it when you turn on your radio :: country artists work all sort of Christian values and even blatant, unashamed Christian lyrics into their songs.  For example :: A well-known song, "Down the Road" has a chorus that starts like this ::

Her mama wants to know / Am I washed in the blood / Or just in the water 

That's deep right there.  And nobody knifes Kenny Chesney [[although I did a double take when I saw who wrote it because it's so... good!  Sorry Kenny Chesney fans, I just can't stand him and his usually-raunchy songs]] about it.  It isn't plastered over the tabloids or the news, and he isn't blacklisted, and it's played on radios nation-wide.  Or Carrie Underwood's new song, "Temporary Home," which is embedded below ::





That's a pretty clear message, and yet it totally culturally acceptable.  Ironic that music is often the battleground for our culture's movements and revolutions...and yet it seems to be one of the last fortresses of our country's roots.  Only in country music can you find real, unashamed patriotism, value of human life, traditional morals, and really good guitar.... ;)  Seriously though.  


Not to say that there aren't a lot of really nawsty and raunchy songs out there.  A lot of the country music playing on today's radios is dodgy at best.  But personally, I've just learned to pinpoint the bands that have those tendencies (hence the shock at Kenny Chesney earlier...) and avoid them.  It's all just another area where you keep a guard on your spirit.  Obviously you should be careful of what you're feeding into your ears (or eyes, or mind, or heart), but that is no different from any other music you could be listening to.  


And for the most part there is such a good, clean, grassy pureness in country music.  I've grown up on it.  I can remember very clearly (and I have a TERRIBLE memory!) my car-seat days,  driving along when it's raining and asking Mom to turn off the radio and explain every single song.  "Mommy, why is that man so sad?"  "Well, his wife died and..."  Etcetera.  I bawled my eyes out, but it's a good memory now! :)


And it ain't just for country folks.  Heaven knows I'm a suburbanite and only inherit the "Cowboy in Me" (Tim McGraw, go listen to it) from el padre.  But my argument is embodied in "Hillbilly Bone," a song by Blake Shelton with Trace Adkins.  New stuff, old stuff, it's not all that different in the long run.  Grow up slow, with your eyes wide open, and grow up Country.  ;)


AMZi x x x x x

*DING DONG!*

*Door opens* Hullo hullo hullo! Thought you mightn't be able to make it, but so glad you could! Come right in, step on the mat, leave your shoes if you'd be so kind. Right this way! Have a seat, just make yourself at home. And how are you? Glad to hear it! Shall we have tea, do you think?

A fine spread, don't you think? Why yes, a genuine crochet tea set! How on earth did you guess? Oh, yes, I assure you, every piece designed and hand-made by Yours Truly, and completely serviceable. Well, yes, you would think it would leak, wouldn't you? But you see, I've discovered the most MARVELOUS way to overcome that little difficulty! It's quite simple :: Don't Use Real Tea!

Do you think the tea has steeped long enough? I should say so. Marvelous speedy stuff, this Invisible Brew, you know. Will you take cream? And sugar? One lump or two?

Do be careful :: it's quite hot! And while you're waiting, won't you take one of these dainties?

You must try the petit fours and eclaire! Oh, dieting? Posh and tosh! Very well, if you insist on something a little more wholesome...

And in case someone Happens Along, we'll save them these little extra bits :: a lady finger cookie and a jam-center thumbprint.

I believe we are now supposed to make Small Talk, whatever that is. Let me see... Well, on Friday, I was ruthlessly dragged off to a concert by some lovely friends (you know who you are) in Revenge for some Naughtiness of mine. These very painful (delightful breathtaking exciting) Consequences were very very painful (wonderful enjoyable) to bear (seize upon) and I'm very very sorry for the Naughty Things I Did (contemplating doing it again jk!!). I suffered (enjoyed myself) immensely, but I am still unsure if I'll ever fit in with a concert-going crowd. You see a lot of people at concerts (BIG surprise, yes?) wearing their finest and pearls and suchlike, generally people I would never have an opportunity to mix with on a regular basis. They do seem to appreciate it, but they ARE so reserved and quiet about it. Not my lovely friends, of course :: they seem to have found a nice middle line, I wish I could attain. I still think that concerts should be listened to standing up, and you should be allowed to jump up and down and yell when the glorious themes sing out, and that clapping and poking each other and telling each other to "LISTEN!" and suchlike should be allowed. :P Like a sporting event, the crowd should roar when the brass picks up the melody and runs with it. Just my personal opinion. I can just picture myself, when the chords at the end of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz resolve themselves, jumping up and yelling, "SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRREEEEEEEE!!!!" But that would hardly be acceptable, would it? Too bad!

You do notice that I've been holding my pinkie out this whole time? And taking very small, ladylike sips? And not reaching across the table? And refraining from stealing your cookies? All of this Being Have is wearing on my nerves...I don't know how much more I can take! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

*a few minutes later*

Ohhh, dear oh dear oh dear! What a way to end our little tea party :: with a food fight! Good job the tea service is mostly unbreakable! Would it be entirely improper to say that...I rather enjoyed it? *sigh* I thought it might. Ah well. I do hope you'll come again sometime, perhaps for lunch. I promise not to throw the salami! Cross my <3!

As for not posting yesterday, I have my excuse! And it is this:

Russian Weddings Take For-Blooming-Ever!!!

Do come back soon, because I've got a book from the library, and there will be a lot of Crochetery goodness coming up in the weeks ahead!

AMZi x x x x x