Check it out!

The Persephone Post linked to me! This entry, specifically.  Love it.

Soo..I’ve been cutting back on my internet usage and social networking, hence the long absences.  I may be back soon.  Or not.  We’ll just have to wait and see..

This is a sickness

Not the huge piles of summer clothes or all the shoes that I finally wedged into my closet.  Not the massive amount of food I’ve eaten today (who am I kidding, for the past three days).  Not the length of time since my last post on here.  No, na-no.  I’m talking about the stacks of books I unearthed when I moved the clothes and shoes and bags and miscellaneous school papers.

Do you remember what my bookcases used to look like? (aka the most popular post in applesandonions history)

And then I ran out of room and had to get this little bookcase?  (remind me to tell you about the science fair project I did on baking bread this semester)

Well.  It’s time for another trip to the antique mall.  The state of (part of) my children’s book collection:

No, I don’t have kids.  But I am a really good ECE major.  And my classroom library is going to be AWESOME.

And a peek at the big bookcase:

that’s pretty characteristic of how the rest of the shelves are looking–cluttered.

And I know that in a year (Oh.My.Gosh.One.Year.) (Everytime I think “I am a senior in college now” I get this really weird feeling in my stomach) I will have a place to put all those children’s books, but where am I going to put them until then?  And where am I going to put all of the books I am going to buy between now and then?  Because my amazon.com wish list is 4 pages long and growing.  And actually I was thinking about going and ordering some books tonight.  I know, I KNOW.  I shouldn’t, but I really should.  I’m student-teaching 4th grade next year, and my teacher said I should think of suggestions of books for us to read.  See there–Totally justified.  And, library books give me the heebie-jeebies.  (Please, no comment on the fact that I have been working in libraries for the past three years and I want to be a school librarian.  That has definitely contributed to my shuddery-old-book feelings.)

Erm, so yeah.  Me.  Pretty dillusional.  And addicted.  Told ya I had a problem.

my room smells like dirt

here’s why:

wow, take blurry pictures much?

I commandeered my sister’s windowsill while she was on her band spring trip this weekend, too, but I don’t have any pictures of it yet.

He Lives

I like bunnies as much (more, probably) as the next person, but that’s not what I was celebrating today.

I do so love Easter songs; I can’t help but belt them out with a big smile on my face.

“I serve a risen savior, He’s in the world today

I know that he is living, whatever men may say

I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer

And just the time I need him, he’s always near

He Lives!  He Lives!  Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He Lives!  He Lives!  Salvation to impart,

You ask me how I know he lives–he lives within my heart.”

“Because he lives, I can face tomorrow

Because he lives, all fear is gone

Because I know-ow-ow he holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because he lives”

“Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes

He arose a victor from the dark domain

And he lives forever with his saints to reign

He Arose!  He Arose!  Hallelujah, Christ arose!”

under my umbrella

It’s been..a week.

A really, really, really long, tiring, not-altogether-good week.

I’ve been trying to complain less, because I find it annoying when other people complain all the time.  So that’s part of the reason I’ve been scarce lately.  It’s been the kind of week where I don’t think I could have posted without complaining.  Case in point, this post, already.

Alrighty, let’s just embrace it.

Bad: Tripping over a huge rock while playing Frisbee with my cousins last Saturday, twisting my ankle, and watching it swell to twice its normal size.

Good: Spending time with my cousins and grandmother.

Bad, bad, bad: Climbing a mountain with twisted ankle, cousins, and grandmother.  Worse decision I’ve made in I-don’t-know-when.  And I don’t know why I did it, except that I didn’t want to be left behind or wimpy.  Dumb, I know.

Good:  Getting all the rain we prayed for all last summer.  I love the rainy weather.

Bad: Going back to school after spring break with sore foot, sore back, and sore throat.  And a fever (didn’t know about that until after school/work Monday afternoon).  Also bad: dropping the glass thermometer on the bathroom floor and breaking it.  Thankfully it was a mercury-free one (what is in it if it’s mercury-free?)

Good: Spending Tuesday afternoon curled up in a quilt with a pretty good book, then making cookies that were gobbled down in class Wednesday morning.

Good: Am currently rereading The Secret Garden, and loving it much more than I did as a child.

Bad: Sitting on gym bleachers for six hours today at my sister’s baton competition.

Good: Watching my sister do pretty good at her competition.

Bad: Watching Helga (gosh-awful annoying girl) beat my sister.

Good: Naming the girls my sister competed against with my mom.

Good: Planning my next quilt.

Bad: Not having money to buy the fabric I want for my new quilt.

Good: Getting my bird-making kit from Alicia Paulson.

Bad: Not having time to make the birds.

Bad: Not having time to do the things I want to do, period.

Good: Going to compile a wish list of fabric I can’t buy.

Bad: Hitting publish without proofreading or adding a picture.

Spring Scarf

I have kind of been wanting to jump on that scarf-wrapped-around-your-neck-like-a-bandanna bandwagon for a while; that whole spring/summer trendy square cotton scarf thing.  Various factors have held me back, but when I read how easy it was to make one, I had to do it now-NOW-rightnow!  Especially since the window of time for wearing scarves in spring in Georgia is pretty narrow, and probably ended last Friday.  I’m wearing mine right now. 

The _____ ______ Book Club

Last night I watched “The Jane Austen Book Club” (which is not a bad movie, although parts of it really frustrate me [teacher-student relationships, and having seen how screwed up that is in real life]).  However, it did make me want to be in a book club again.  One different from the one I was in in high school.  I just like how, in the movie, they built that kind of community around the common theme of Jane Austen’s books.  And I like how the characters’ lives mirrored the lives of the book they were assigned to.  And I liked the porch swing at what’s-her-name, the blond girl’s house.  And I love, love, love Hugh Dancy’s character.  He is my favorite.

So I was thinking, I want to be in a book club and meet once a month and have food and talk about a good book.  I know that I am really good at thinking up these potentially great ideas and planning everything out and never putting it into action, but this I think could be fun.  But what books to do?

See, I am really into this specific genre of the women’s novel from 1900ish-1960ish, and I want to talk about these books, but no one else has ever heard of them.  So how about the Persephone Books Book Club (and take turns picking a different book from the list)?  The Other Elizabeth Taylor Book Club?  The Frances Hodgson Burnett Book Club (and then a trip to Knoxville to see where she lived)?  The Dorothy Whipple Book Club?  A Summer Book Club (Summer at Tiffany’s, The Summer Book, etc)?

I think the problem would be finding enough people interested in doing it; I can only think of one or two.  And, of course, finding the time to do it.  Most of the books can be gotten pretty easily though inter-library loans (a.k.a. i.l.l. a.k.a. my b.f.f.)

So anyway.  I don’t know.  What do you think?

Where to start?

Dude, this month has been gotten away from me–can you believe March is almost OVER?  What is the deal?

But isn’t spring great?  The rain, the sunshine..the whole world changing right before your eyes..I’m definitely a fan.

Lately I’ve been really into purple and yellow together.  I figured out why the other day; it’s that whole color theory thing, with those two being opposites on the wheel (yeah, I’m pretty technical when it comes to art).  But purple and yellow, what a great combination.

I reread Anne of Green Gables last week (spring is the perfect time to read that book) and had to decorate my room Anne-style.

Yellow bells and redbuds (why are redbud trees called redbud trees when they’re obviously not red?)

Today my mom told my dad that she thinks something had eaten the little purple flowers that always grow beside the driveway.  She saw them there yesterday but not today.  Oops.  I kept my mouth shut.

Things I need to tell you about:

-my quilt(s)

-the 10gazillion books I’ve been reading

-I’m going to be a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding; and the ensuing drama; and the awesome shower i’m going to throw

-my grandmother and I are going to see the King Tut exhibit Friday; I’m driving us to the ATL (yee-ikes)

And so much more, but it’s country night on American Idol, the only week I’m the least bit interested in, so I gotta go :)

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Endpapers, on the other hand, are fair game.

Were it not for these lovely endpapers, I probably would have put this worn, stained, slightly smelly book back on the library shelves.  I’m glad I didn’t.

This is Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple, who I knew about from my beloved Persephone Books.  Her great rep and the illustration above prompted me to check out the book.

I may have been the first person to read it since 1968.  Don’t you love inscriptions like these?  What, I wondered, could be on page 43?

“Mrs. Lockwood had actually found herself thinking what she was saying and of course that ruined conversation.”

Putting personal adversion to old books aside, I am going try to buy a used copy of this book, if I can find the right edition.  See if your library has it; I’m sure you’ll love it.  Just look past the cover.  (Hint to Whitney: Your library has it.  Fic Whipple.)

Beauty is in the eye of the cupcake decorator

No one besides me appreciated these pastel pretties..