Musings of a Lizzie

Bored Stiff, But Vacation was Fun

2008-03-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

I'm bored stiff right now. I'm just recovering from a really nasty sickness, and I'm tired of watching movies and want to be out running around, but I'm not strong enough to be out running around. So I'm bored silly. And I'm sooooooo ready for spring to be here. I'm sick of all this cold and stuff. I long for the warmth, the color, the smells and sounds and activities of summer. Motorcycling, camping, no more coats, no more mittens, no more heaters, sunroofs, and birds chirping. When will it come? I wonder if I have spring fever...

My vacation was great. I went on a cruise with my family in the Caribbean. It was a blast! I visited islands I didn't even know existed before. We went to Puerto Rico, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, and St. Thomas. The ship was fun and huge, and it was an experience I'll never forget. I'm very thankful that I didn't get sick while I was on the cruise. That would've have been a bummer with a capital B. I went snorkeling, scootering, adventuring, kayaking, boating, sailing, and swimming amoung other things. It was a grand time. I'll definitely hope to go on another cruise before I die. It was just so relaxing and great. The picture is of me on St. Thomas with an iguana. They were just sitting there on the rocks for us to see and take pictures of. The lizards didn't care too much. They were just soaking up the sun. It was all in all a very memorable vacation.

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Taming Rafe
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: 101 Dalmations (although I've watched about 10 in the past few days)
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Cruise vacationing.

A Quarter of a Century!

2008-01-18T17:07:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday to me! I have reached that landmark age of 25! I am excited to be able to tell you that I can rent a car now. Whoopie! It's that last hurrah of stuff you get once you turn a certain age. Next up, senior citizen at 65. Unless I decide to run in politics. I know there's age limits to be reached in those ranks as well.

My birthday was very nice. I went out to eat with my family at Famous Dave's. Mmmmm! I got BBQ ribs. Surprised? You shouldn't be. You know I love ribs! Then, we came home, and some of us played Scatterbrains (also known as Scattergories), which Jon and Josh got me for my birthday. Then, I watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was pretty cool. I had a hankering to see one of the older action/adventure films where everything wasn't all CGI. CGI is cool and everything, but after awhile, you long to see actual sets, props, and dangerous stunts. You want to be able to think "wow, how'd they do that?" instead of "yeah, that was CGI."

I had Turtle Tracks ice cream (mmm mm!) while I watched the movie, and then I went upstairs to end my birthday. On a side not, I started my birthday out at 12:00, midnight, on January 14th. I couldn't really sleep, so I prayed and read Skppyjon Jones to myself. I had a party on the Saturday before, and that was fun as well.

So that's the breakdown of my birthday! On to a new year of growth and adventures!

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's Favorite Movies: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and the PBS broadcast of Persuasion.
Lizzie's Favorite Books: Troublesome Creek and Willow Springs by Jan Watson. Except that Willow Springs was sad at the end!
Lizzie's Favorite Music: my new iPod! But it's not really a song :)

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

2007-12-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I don't have anything spectacular to write about, bypassing the events of this last week which I'm not entirely sure I'd like to post on the web for the entire world to have access to. However, I am glad that it is Friday, and I don't have to go back to work until next Wednesday. I'm going to spend my holiday break sewing things for me, fixing my car, putting Stabil in my motorcycle, and having a merry Christmas hanging out with the family. And hanging out with friends too. Seeing how I said that I was going to be sewing, I think I'll get started on that very soon. Momentarily actually.

But first, I shall leave you with a very Christmas-y thought: Take a minute or two to just stop and marvel at God's love; that He cared so much about us that He became man to come and redeem us. Jesus is our remedy to all the world's problems. God has given us the ultimate gift, forgiveness and love. Merry Christmas!

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Skippyjon Jones
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Alex & Emma and the Bourne Ultimatum
Lizzie's Favorite Music: Christmas Offerings by Third Day
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Sewing

...And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Florida & Feeding Alligators

2007-11-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to Florida for a little vacation. Boy, was it nice to experience a little bit of warmer weather! I saw motorcyclists all over. Something that you don't see here too much anymore. I went there with my brother Dan and our friend Rob. Oh yeah, and I was sick too. I think I was pretty much on medicine the whole time. But that was okay, medicine lets me still enjoy myself.

Let's see, what did we do? Well, we played several round of mini-golf, I feed hot dogs to baby alligators, we went to Disney for a day, and we went deep sea fishing. I caught two King Mackerals and a shark or two. I felt sorry for the fish, because once I pulled them out of the ocean, they never went back again. Those poor fish. I really only like to catch them and then let them go. I'm still slightly bothered about pulling in fish to die, and I never planned on eating them. I don't like fish. Oh well. I did let the sharks go. I would have been very sad if they were kept and killed. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a fisher person. Oh, wait, I knew that already!

Disney was fun. I was coerced to go on the Rockin' Rollercoaster. Now I can name all the Aerosmith songs that I heard while waiting in line to get on the ride. I really liked the Rockin' Rollercoaster; except for the three loop-de-loops. I did not like them! I tried to curl up in the fetal position when we went into those. I don't know, I think it's some lingering bad memories form that one carnival ride that I went on in high school. Speaking of high school, there were High School Musical stuff all over the place. Ugh! We saw the Indiana Jones Stunt thing, a really cool Lights, Motors, Action show, that had cars, burning rubber tires, fire, motorcycles, and stunts! It was awesome! I could go see that one again, definitely.

We ate at some fancy-ish restaurants, but my personal favorite was the German Biergarden in Epcot. A buffet that was scrumptously filled with meat, sausage, pretzel bread, pudding with chocolate shavings on it, and delicious carrots and potatoes. Mmmm, mm. And there were yodelers there who played all kinds of German instrumants and folk songs. Very fun! I needed a vacation. It was about time for one.

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Lizzie's Favorite Music: Third Day's Offerings
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Ocean's 13 and Mission Impossible III

FOID

2007-11-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

Guess what! I put in my application to get my FOID card. That means I could own a gun, and shoot one in some places. Sweet. I forgot to put my height in on the application though. I hope they don't completely reject me for that. The photo you see here was one of my outtakes for the FOID photo. Somehow, I didn't think that the state police would look kindly on someone who looks like this. So I sent a better one. One that looks more sane. The police might like that one better.

So let's see, what have I been up to recently... I went on Saturday to Anderson's book store and met the author/illustrator of the Skippyjon Jones books and got a book signed by her. That was fun. I went with Meredith and her roommate from school Kendra. Then I had to race home, throw on my wedding clothes, and hop in the car to go to my cousin's wedding. My family was saying that I was going to make them all late, but please note that I was the first one outside waiting to get into the car. The wedding was very nice and a lot of fun. I made my feet hurt really bad by dancing away a lot of hours on the dance floor in my high heels. Well, more like medium heels. But my feet still hurt today. I hope they're better by tomorrow.

So, that about sums up what I;ve done recently. Oh, except for this: On Halloween, I dressed up in my 1770s dress and me and Dan and several of our friends went out to TGI Friday's dressed up in costume. You know, you just have to take advantage of the one day in the year where you can dress up in a costume and no one looks at you funny. And then we went to someone's house and watched Ghostbusters. That's about as scary as I want to get in my movies.

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Skippyjon Jones. "Holy Guacamole!"
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: I could say Everything in Illuminated, but I fell asleep and missed a lot, so I'll say the Office, even though it's technically not a "movie".
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Trying to find time to do things other than being a social butterfly. I find I have developed a very active social life every weekend...

Oh, I'm going to Florida in less than two weeks. That should be a lot of fun.

The Hunt!

2007-10-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

A couple weekend ago I went on the Hunt for Red October. It was very fun. I rode 701 miles on my little Blue Streak. Here you can see a photo of me with Blue. We were up in the Wildcat HIlls when I took this photo. Talk about tricky! I'm wearing layers and layer of clothes under an armored motorcycle jacket, and I'm wearing a helmet, trying to take a picture of myself. That's why it's not so good. Anyway, back to the trip. Friday we (Dad, Mom, and Dan and I) took off for Wisconsin. It was cold that day! We took mostly back roads, passed some teachers on strike, a lot of construction, farms, rich houses, and roadkill. Lots of roadkill. Then we got to a hotel just when I feeling very frozen, and there was a hot tub to warm up in. Mmmm, that was nice. The next morning we set out again, covered more miles, and then got to the meeting place for everyone going on the Hunt. We ate lunch there and then got maps of scenic routes, picked one, and hit the road. We passed some really beautiful farms and curvy roads. And every motorcyclist loves curvy roads! So then there was more riding, and in the evening, we got to this quaint hotel called the Don Q, and we warmed up in the hot tub again, and went to a banquet. The next morning, it was raining. Bummer. But we made the best of it and bundled up and waterproofed ourselves, and loaded our things onto our wet motorbikes, and headed out into the wet journey home. It was quite and experience. We stopped a couple times to warm up and such; one of the places was the original Frugal Muse in Madison. That was a cool place to go! The only bad thing was that I could only buy as much as I could fit into my bags on the motorcycle. But I managed okay. After 2:00 the rain stopped, and we continued home. It was a very memorable trip. Now I want to know, when are we going to South Dakota? Oo, not before I get new foam on my motorcycle seat :/ That got to be a little... ouch. And, on Saturday, we rode past a Corvette parade! It probably wasn't a parade, but it was like a group drive or something. I was drooling. It's a surprise that I didn't drive my bike off the edge of the road. But when I think about it, I think I'd rather have my little Blue Streak over a Corvette, even thought they are nice.

Also, I've got a facebook now. So if any of you (my fellow devoted readers) are on Facebook, all you have to do is look for me. Just don't type in Lizzie Bennett, you won't find anyone then.

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: David Crowder Band's Remedy, and BarlowGirl's How Can We Be Silent.
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Persuasion by Jane Austin. I wonder when she'll come out with some new stuff?
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Past episodes of the Office. It's not really a movie, but you can put a DVD in and watch it on TV, right? So it counts.

Hasta la Vista!

Drool.

2007-10-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Look! It's a Lamborghini! Let me tell you, when I saw that, my eyes practically jumped out of my head! I was riding back to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago with Dan from his company's 25th Anniversary celebration, and as we pulled up to a stop in front of the hotel, I looked out, and there it was! A Lamborghini Superleggera! Drool. As you can see from the pictures, I wasted no time in going over to examine it, and I checked it out the next morning too. The night shot was right after we got off the bus, and thee I am standing next to it in my dress that I made especially for the Odyssey cruise. That was a fun night. I got to get all dressed up fancy-like, and I actually had somewhere to go! The boat was very nice, and there was a chocolate fountain! I smelled the chocolate shortly after boarding the boat; I swear, I was like a shark that smells a drop of blood in the ocean. I went hunting down that chocolate until I found it. Dan introduced me to all his co-workers, and we danced to some 80s music and had a blast. We even got to go onto the bridge, where the captain was. And then to top it all off, I saw the Lamborghini before the night was over. Great times, great times.

I apologize for not updating any sooner. Work has been... busy, and then I just seem to crash when I come home from work. Today, however, I am feeling energized. And so you get the benefit of it by getting to see my blog updated. Unfortunately, I need to go and make my lunch for tomorrow, so I think I'll put down my favorites and then head off to do that. So long for now!

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Book: I'm having a brain freeze about what book I just finished reading, so I'll just say that right now, I'm reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. I hear it's good.
Lizzie's Favorite Music: Remedy, the new CD from the David Crowder Band. I love it!!!
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: I just watched Far and Away with Josh. It was some good brother/sister bonding time. He's been a little invalidish with his broken ankle, so I spent an evening watching movies with him.
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: I helped my 5-year-old cousin Olivia sew some pillows. That was fun. And I sewed my fancy dress! (shown above)

Adios amigos! Hasta lluego!

Back in the Saddle

2007-09-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

Look! I made artwork again! I actually made this about a month or two ago, but I didn't put it up here until now. I had to let it age a little bit. I call it "Cat in Helvetica." I created the whole thing out of these letters: C A T c a t, and all in the font Helvetica Medium. I got the inspiration from a website that Amber sent around our department in an e-mail. I like it. So I'm kind of back in the saddle with making artwork that's not made of fabric.

I discovered last week when the weather got a little cooler that my lightweight motorcycle jacket wasn't warm enough for 50 degree morning rides to work! So I did what any reasonable motorcyclist would do: on payday I went to Chicago Cycle and stocked up on cold weather gear! I got a nice warm jacket and some pants too. I figured they would come in handy when I go on the Hunt for Red October... in October.

By the way, today is talk like a pirate day! At lunch, Amber and I celebrated by watching a littl Pirates of the Caribbean in my cubicle. I was a pretty nice way to break up the day. And I went around our department saying "shiver me timbers" when I was cold. Arrr, avast ye landlubbers!

The reason I've been so far behind on my blog is because I've been so busy with stuff, and when I haven't been so busy with stuff, I've been busily trying to sew my fancy dress for the Ambitech Booze Cruise (at least, that's what Dan calls it). It's really the 25th anniversary of the company, and thy're taking everyone to the Odyssey boat on Lake Michigan. It should be a blast, and I won't be boozed, either. So I'll post a picture of my dress after the event.

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Finding Nemo
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist. It really made an impact on the way I think about some things.
Lizzie's Favorite Music: BarlowGirl's new album, How Can We Be Silent.
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: sewing and riding the Blue Streak! Vroom! And did I mention that I really like ATVs? I wish I had room for one, and one to ride on that room.

Go West Young Man!

2007-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying that the Brad Paisley concert was completely awesome! That said, I can continue to tell you about it. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite a show. I’ve never seen lights like those outside of Disney World! I started out the festivities by holding a BBQ of hot dogs at my house. Amber and her friend came over, and Matt and his friend, and even some non-concert attendees were there. So I grilled hot dogs, and they weren’t really burned, they were just deliciously browned. Hey! It’s the first time I ever grilled anything! I’m glad I didn’t blacken them! Then after that, I cleaned up and grabbed the tickets and my cowboy hat and we were out the door, heading off to Target so that Dan could buy a cowboy hat, and we were listening to a mix of the best Brad Paisley songs that Matt burned to a CD. And we were blasting it, by the way. And singing along with it. I think we got some crazy looks, but hey, how often do you get to go to a country concert?

So we finally arrive at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater, (after taking a wrong turn and ending up in an area where we stuck out like sore thumbs), and we got to park in the VIP lot, and then we got in line to wait for the gates to open. Dan and I stayed with everyone else until about 15 minutes to opening time, and then we left to go into the VIP line. Almost everybody was dressed up with a bit of a country flair, except for the little Naperville high-schoolers in their Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle clothes, with sunglasses bigger that fly’s eyes on the girls, and they were all in couples, wrapped around each other and being all smoochy in line. Tsk tsk, if their parents could see them…

And then it was concert time. Dan and I found our little box; it was pretty close to the stage, and right in front of the sound and lighting booth. This was the biggest concert I had ever been to. First up on the docket was Kellie Pickler, and after her, Jack Ingram, and then Taylor Swift. The crowd went wild for her, and the sad part is, she said “when I was in high school…” Shoot! She should still be in high school! Oh well, some people strike it while they’re young, I guess. Then, the moment I’d been waiting for! It was time for Brad Paisley! You know, I tried to win tickets to this concert back in May while we were camping. There was a sweepstakes with Hersheys, and we made s’mores while we were camping and got a game code, and I tried to win tickets with that, but we couldn’t get it to work. And now look, I got tickets anyway!

Brad Paisley was great. He sang a lot of new songs off his new CD, but also a lot of the oldies but goodies. Let’s see, he sang Online, Ticks, the Fishin’ song (one of my favorites), Celebrity, Mr. Policeman, Whiskey Lullaby with a recorded video of Alison Kraus singing along, Mud on the Tires, and many more. I had a blast. My one wish is that we could go back and see it again. I suppose I’ll have to wait until next time though… Maybe next time, I’ll have a pair of cowboy boots to wear along with my hat. I bet some of you didn’t know that I wouldn’t mind living out in the big west where I could ride a horse over my land with nothing but the open space around me, did you? Yeah, I discovered that when we went to South Dakota last year. Ever since then I’ve been becoming more and more countrified, (although I was a bit before too) and now I’m just waiting for that handsome cowboy to mosey into my life ☺

Lizzie’s Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie’s Favorite Music: 5th Gear, the new CD out from Brad Paisley (now why could that be?)
Lizzie’s Favorite Movie: Definitely NOT High School Musical 2 (or one for that matter). I was feeling a bit ill last week and I laid on the floor in the living room while the boys were watching it, and I think I got sicker after that. Barf!!!
Lizzie’s Favorite Book: Reclaiming Nick by Susan May Warren. Excellent read!
Lizzie’s Favorite Hobby: riding my little Blue Streak through cornfield-lined roads.

Adios Amigos!

VIP Tickets!!!

2007-08-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

Guess what?!?!? I got two VIP tickets to the Brad Paisley concert on August 26th! I'm so excited! I also can't wait to tell my brother, but he's still in Osaka, so I can't until tomorrow. Dad forwarded an e-mail to me last week about some VIP tickets from his work, and he wanted to know if I was interested. YES!!! I replied. So today after work, my family met up at a deli for dinner, and I see this long white envelope sticking up out of my dad's shirt pocket, and I saw "Brad Paisley" written on the front in black pen. Oh boy! Tickets! Plus, it was hilarious, because today at lunch Amber and I found out that we could go to the Jiffy Lube right down the street from Tyndale and US 99 was giving away tickets every three minutes. As it should turn out, Amber got four free tickets, and Priya got free tickets, and someone else from Tyndae got free tickets! Wow. So I am of a very tickety mindset today, but that's okay. It'll be really fun to go to my first country concert. Yee-haw! I'm gonna have a knee-slappin' good time, and I'm gonna drink 'sweate teay'. Mmmm, I can't wait...

This weekend I went on my fly/roadtrip with Elaine. I flew out on Saturday, and I'm sure most of my readers have heard the story, but I missed my connecting flight to Theif River Falls. But God worked things out and I got a flight to Grand Forks instead, the same city where Elaine and her roommate were at school in. So it worked out. Then we got in the car and started driving. It was a blast. I got to see Elaine again after two months of her living in North Dakota, and I got to know her roommate too, which was very nice. Now, where can we go for our next roadtrip? Oh! I know, Kansas!

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: I have to say it; Brad Paisley.
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Still "An Echo in the Darkness"
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Seeing the great lands on America.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Pride and Prejudice, and I liked Hairspray too.

'Cat Sick'

2007-08-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering what on earth I’m talking about with my title of “cat sick,” yes, I’m weird. Actually, (although this doesn’t excuse me from being weird) I picked up the phrase in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a couple of weeks ago when I was reading it in preparation for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I got to a paragraph that mentioned that Draco Malfoy had looked like he had just stepped in ‘cat sick’. I couldn’t help myself. I just started laughing! The idea of calling cat barf ‘cat sick’ just tickled my brain. So now I call cat barf cat sick. I know it’s a lovely subject to name my blog about, but in the past couple of days, I’ve been able to use the words ‘cat sick’ quite a lot, so it’s on my mind. Yesterday, Amber was updating a cover file for one of our One Year books, and on the back cover, there’s a drawing of a cat laughing on it’s back with what is supposed to be peanut butter next to it on the floor. You’re not fooling me though—peanut butter? Yeah, right. That’s cat sick! (You can tell by looking at the front cover illustration that it is peanut butter, but on the back cover, when the cat is isolated by himself, it’s definitely cat sick. No doubt about it. I hope you enjoyed that little tangent. As you can probably tell from my picture on this post, it's a day of randomness.

This week is VBS at church, and guess what? I actually get to help! They decided to have it in the evening this year for various reasons, and so, I can help! I just go home from work, inhale some dinner, and fly to church to help out in my special area—crafts. Sadly, I haven’t been able to “fly to church” on my excellent motorbike, thanks to our good friends Rain. Grrr.

My brother is in the Philippines right now. He left on Saturday morning and flew for a really long time to get to Hong Kong. And then from there he went on to Manilla. I hope he’s having a good time, and being stretched a lot too. I know he’ll come back with a gazillion stories to tell, but for now we have to be content to wait for him to come back to tell us those stories. And I’m flying out to Thief River Falls this Saturday! I’m going to have a great little road trip with Elaine and her roommate back here to the good ole’ hometown. So be looking for a post about that when I get back. It’s going to be a blast!

Saturday I also went on a motorcycle ride with my parents and their CMA (Christain Motorcycle Association) group. It was fun. I rode in a formation of one of those giant (but not too giant) groups of motorcycles that you see sometimes on the road, and we went about a hundred miles. We ended the ride at a little ice cream place in Aurora, and they gave out free slushies with every order. I got a medium chocolate cone, and it was about eight inches tall! And then I ordered a basket of fried okra. Mmm, mmm, good! I love fried okra. I want some now…

Lizzie’s Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie’s Favorite Music: Redemption Songs by Jars of Clay. They have I’ll fly away on that CD!
Lizzie’s Favorite Movie: The Bourne Ultimatum, Sahara, and parts of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Mostly, the parts I liked the best were the parts with the motorcycle in them. There were some unnecessary parts in there though…
Lizzie’s Favorite Book: An Echo In the Darkness by Francine Rivers.
Lizzie’s Favorite Hobby: Sewing! What a surprise! (and motorcycle riding!)

A Faire Day

2007-08-01T16:33:00.001-07:00

Hear ye, hear ye! This last weekend I went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. I must say, it was most delightful. My second year there, and still so mush to see—jousting matches, falconry, girls who think they’re historically accurate wearing chain mail bras (aren’t they aware that bras weren’t invented until the early 1900s?), glass-blowers and sculptors, etc, etc. I dressed up in my peasant’s outfit again, with a few revisions. I didn’t wear my peasant’s shoes though. They were very dusty and grimy, and not the most comfortable, so I wore flip-flops. I know that looked very historically accurate, complete with Legally-Blond-pink toenails. But it was way more comfortable for me.

We car-pooled up there, and in the morning, it looked ominous because of the heavy gray clouds hanging in the sky. Thankfully, it cleared up, and was sunny and bright for the majority of the day. I had a great time looking into all the little shops and seeing the artisans at work, and being there with my friends. I think the coolest things that I saw were the falconry falcons with their hoods on, the acrobats with knives and fire, the glass-sculptor, and the delicious strawberry ice cream in a waffle cone that I had right when I felt in desperate need of it. I liked that nobody looked at me like I was weird in my Medieval get-up either. Some of the costumes they had there were exquisite (not the chain-mail bras though). I was inspired to sew another costume. We’ll see how that turns out. For lunch I partied up with Joanna and Aubrie and we got a plate full of fried vegetables! Mmmmmmmm, greasy goodness. There were fried broccoli, zucchini, potatoes, onions and carrots. And we each got a turkey leg. See? We were covered; we had our meat and vegetables!

After a full day of fun-ness, the Faire closed, and we were forced to leave. We had dinner at an Oasis over the highway, and I was disappointed to see that Subway had no Dr. Pepper, and their Sprite (which isn’t my favorite anyway) was yellowy. So I made a new discovery—raspberry iced tea (sweetened) mixed with a third of lemonade is really very good. You can hardly taste the tea at all! So I have a new delicious drink in my mental menu.

My readers might remember that I had a goldfish at work named Jangles. He was the killer of a few of his tankmates, but I could never actually get rid of him, though I threatened it. Well, a couple of days ago, Dan’s giant guorami died, and his 20-gallon tank was empty. So, I took Jangle home to give him more swimming space (he was getting too big for the 2-gallon tank at my office). He likes it very much. Anyway, I needed new fish for my 2-gallon, so I went to PetCo at lunch on Monday, and I got four new little fish. They are black neon tetras, and I named them very appropriately: Kawasaki, Suzuki, Harley, and Honda. I think the need a fifth friend to be completely happy, and I shall name him Ducati (the rich man’s motorcycle) and of course, I need an algae eater; Vespa (the scooter).

And now for Lizzie’s Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie’s Favorite Music: the Daughtry CD, and Alison Kraus’s Lonely Runs Both Ways.
Lizzie’s Favorite Movie: the Importance of Being Earnest, even though I haven’t seen it in awhile.
Lizzie’s Favorite Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Lizzie’s Favorite Hobby: Riding my motorcycle!

Hasta la vista. . .

Tagged

2007-07-05T17:08:00.001-07:00

If my fellow readers may remember, back in May my blog was tagged and I said that I would get around to it on another post.

Well, I forgot about it until the tagger reminded the taggee that they (*cough* me) never did “get around to it”. . . Until now.

(Disclaimer: I won’t mention all the people I am going to tag, because maybe I don’t know seven other bloggers. Disclaimer #2: I might tag-back, but the tagged back can probably ignore it so that they don’t end up in a vicious circle. Disclaimer #3: I’m following the unofficial rules.)

Here are the official rules... Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Random Fact #1: I hate wearing dress slacks. They’re the most cold and uncomfortable pants imaginable. It’s jeans or skirts for me.

Random Fact #2: I like to ride my motorcycle with my helmet visor up; even after bugs hit me in the face, it’s hard to persuade me to ride with it closed.

Random Fact #3: Each night, before I go to bed, I have to put my favorite stuffed cat (I’ve had it since I was seven) on the left of my pillow, and my pink frog prince and lion with the lamb stuffed animals on the right of my pillow. Then I can go to sleep.

Random Fact #4: I really wish it would be acceptable to wear historical outfits for everyday wear in today’s society. They’re so much more interesting than a lot of current outfits. (See example in photo).

Random Fact #5: In my opinion, no outfit is complete without a little bit of cat hair on it.

Random Fact #6: Every work day at 3:00 pm, I have teatime. There’s no tea, only 3 peanut M&Ms, 3 peanut butter M&Ms, and 10 plain M&Ms.

Random Fact #7: I never go anywhere without my Burt’s Bees chapstick. If I forget it, I feel lost!

Now be warned! I’m going to tag all the other people I know who have blogs that aren’t devoted to one topic. Avast! The tag pirate is on the loose!

But, before I go and tag everyone I know, I’ll put down Lizzie’s Favorites.

Lizzie’s Favorite Movie: Ratatollie? (a.k.a. the Rat Movie). The girl in the movie rode a sports bike! (a.k.a. crotch rocket!). How cool is that? And the little rat was so cute. . .
Lizzie’s Favorite Book: A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. Very moving.
Lizzie’s Favorite Music: Lately (when I haven’t been on the motorcycle) it’s been Another Journal Entry by BarlowGirl.
Lizzie’s Favorite Hobby: Motorcycling! And sewing when I’ve had time.

Lizzie’s quote of the post:
“I’m the fun nazi! Nobody can have fun at lunch!
—me

As Promised. . .

2007-06-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I promised my cousin I'd update this today. Count that promise fulfilled! Here I am, typing away so that she has something to read inbetween studying tonight. I also said I'd come up with something cool to write about, but I haven't really thought of anything cool. So instead, I'll just post updates about my life. It might be interesting, it could be boring. That will be up to the reader to decide.

Last week I went to one of my many cousin's wedding. It was very nice. I even got off work early to go to it. That was a nice bonus. The wedding was very nice and classy, I had a lot of fun. The next day, I worked my first Saturday at Tyndale. There was this catalog that nneded to get done, and it came to me behind schedule, so I had to burn a little after hours oil to get it up to speed. I rode the Blue Streak to work that day, because on a Saturday, there's not as much traffic.

I burned more after hours oil all week long too. Except for Monday, when I followed Kelly home to pick up a bike for my garage sale. I still got home later that day though. And every day, I came home from work and did garage sale stuff. That was pretty much my week in a nutshell. It felt like it lasted a lot longer than a week though. Friday I took off to man my garage sale post. All of the money I raised I am going to donate for emergency relief in Darfur. It was really interesting on how that fell into my lap. I'm pretty sure it was straight from God. Tuesday afternoon I was staying at work late, so I turned my phone on so that if anyone tried to reach me, I would be there. Well, about five minutes after I turned it on, I got a call from a number I didn't know. I picked it up, and who should it be but World Vision! They were calling to ask for donations to their Darfur emergency relief fund! I told the lady that I had been planning on going home that night and looking for a cause to give my garage sale proceeds to, and then here she is, calling me before I got a chance to! I took it as a message from God telling me that were the money should go. I thought that was really awesome.

So my garage sale was Friday and Saturday, and I raised a little over $400! I was very pleased, and now I get to go deposit it and make the donation. Today I have a chance to breathe after that busy week. Later, I'm going on a motorcycle ride with Dan and maybe my mom and dad.

On top of all that, I found out that my super-good friend, the Lady Fair (a.k.a. Aubrie) is going to Kansas for school in the fall. It was a happy/sad sort of situation: happy for her, sad for me. And then the doctors told my dad that he has a little thing-a-magummy in him that could be cancer or scar tissue. So we have to wait for more tests and results to see what that is, and depending on what it turns out to be, we may or may not be taking our vacation to Colorado in a couple weeks. And suddenly I find myself plagued by headaches and a tingly right arm. Hmmm, I think it's stress.

Boy oh boy, it seems like God is trying to teach me to trust in Him more. It's a lesson that I think I must need right now, otherwise, I wouldn't be getting it. So I'm working on trying to trust that God knows exactly what He's doing and that He is trying to grow me closer to Him. I keep telling myself; God will not leave me out in the cold. The problem is making the head to heart connection. I'll keep working on that.

Well, until next time, this is Lizzie, signing out.

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorive Book: A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. It was very compelling.
Lizzie's Favorite Music: The six-hour long Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. Ahh, the memories...
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Ocean's 13. I saw it last night.
Lizzie's Favorite Hooby: I haven't had time for one! Oh, how my fingers are itching to sew!

Cash Fridays

2007-06-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! I didn't have any new pictures to post, so I put one of the coolest cartoon cats in history on instead: Puss In Boots! He's just such a cute cat. . . But I'm not biased or anything, just because I like cats.

Today was the second official Cash Friday, although it was really the fourth one. An art director at work who's office is right across from my cube has a nice speaker set that hooks up to iPods, I think it's a Bose. Anyway, I got introduced to all the fine points of Johnny Cash through that speaker (when one is in a cubicle, there are no doors to shut). I got hooked on Jonny Cash, and eventually I told Joe that we should have a Cash Friday, where we would listen to Johnny Cash tunes on Fridays. Last week we made it official for the whole department, and about 9:30, 10:00, we plug in an iPod (either his or mine as we have different songs on them) and then we play some Cash music, and people seem to stop by to listen. We've created a hot spot. The girl in the cube next to me enjoys Cash Fridays as much as I do, and the temp who was sharing my cube until today enjoyed them too. However, when I told my cubemate who's coming back from maternity leave next week about Cash Fridays, she said she waould have to make sure that she had her iPod freshly charged and her earphones at the ready. I guess everyone's not a Cash fan, huh? And there's a bonus: every other week is Double Cash Friday — payday!

My motorcycle will be more road ready as soon as I get the new carbs I won off e-Bay installed. That should solve the high idle problem. I'm excited! Gas savings are around the corner for me! And I'll be zipping to and from work on the Blue Streak soon; it's very exciting. Well, I think I'll get going, I've got some things to do still. But as always, my line-up of Lizzie's Favorites!

Lizzie's Favorite Music: Alison Krauss's "A Hundred Miles or More" album. It's so melodic, albeit a bit meloncholy.
Lizzie's Favorite Book: "A Voice in the Wind" by Francine Rivers. I'm not done yet, but I've read it before so I can verify it's goodness.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: NOT "Pirates of the Caribbean 3!" I give it two enthusiastic thumbs down! To purify my perfect memories of "Pirates of the Caribbean," I have now disavowed both sequels. Only the first one exists in my mind. In fact, I put my copy of the second one in my garage sale pile.

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
"Buzzzzzz Buzzzzzzzzz Buzzzzzzz crackle crackle Buzzzzzzzzz"
—Cicada in my backyard

Go Cicadas! Bring on the adventure!

Maiden Voyage of the Blue Streak

2007-05-22T19:14:00.001-07:00

The day has finally come! I took the Blue Streak motorcycle out for it's maiden voyage! It was sweet! Aside from little things that need a bit of tweaking like a high idle speed and the engine getting super-hot, I'd say it runs pretty good. Dad took it out for a ride first, and then Dan, and then me! I rode it around the block a bit, putting into practice all the skills I learned at my Motorcycle Safety Training class I took this weekend. It was fun. After all the months of work, a ride on my very own bike! I even got my motorcycle license today; it's got a little "M" on it for motorcycle. So I'm pretty thrilled.

After riding around the block, Dad and Dan and I went to the gas station to fill up my tank. We sure looked like our own little motorcycle gang! I only had to pay $8.42 to fill up the tank with Premium. Nice. And I can get like 45 mile to the gallon on that little bike. Tonight's been a blast and a half.

I've got to go so I can do my Bible study homework, but I just wanted to put this update on it. And Amber, I didn't forget that I've been tagged. I'll get to it. :)

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's favorite music: Johnny Cash because that's what I'm listening to now.
Lizzie's favorite movie: Shrek the Third. There was so much screen time for Puss In Boots!
Lizzie's favorite book: Sanditon by Jane Austen and Another Lady. It's good.

God Has Got a Plan, Understanding Isn't My Place

2007-05-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

17 days and counting until the Motorcycle Safety Training Course! I'm getting very excited, but on the same hand, I don't want May to completely fly by so fast that I don't know what happened to it. So, I'll have to be content with the normal pace of days. My goal is to get my motorcycle running by the time I take the class so that as soon as I get my license, I can go riding around with my dad and brother. We're getting close! There's no picture of it this time, because it hasn't changed too much. Although, it has an exhaust system now! And the weather is getting nicer—definitely good motorcycle weather.

In other news, my mom got a new knee put in, and according to all the doctors and therapists, she's doing better than average at this stage. Praise God! She's been back home for awhile, and gets better every day.

I've been in a growing point recently I believe. A series of revelations of things I need to change are the main things really. But I've decided to do something about them, not just say, "Oh well, it's who I am." That would not be good. Plus, I've realized that I'm pretty busy right now, but I'm doing pretty good about not stressing out about it. That's an indication of growth in the right direction. I've been spending a little more time recently reflecting on how I can change, namely, having a stronger faith. Not the little "I'm right on the edge of faith in some places, and in the middle of faith in all the rest." I want to be fully faithful.

Well, I'm going to wrap it up for now, but don't forget Lizzie's favorites!

Lizzie's Favorite Book: Sanditon, by Jane Austen and another lady, but I'm not done yet. I like it so far though!
Lizzie's Favorite Music: A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection by Alison Krauss. My favorite songs from there would be Simple Love, Sawin' on Strings, and Scarlet Tide. My Ain True Love is hauntingly beautiful too.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Shrek and Shrek 2. Puss in Boots is definitely the best animated character I have ever met. Of course, I'm not biased just because he's a cat.
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Being out on a gorgeous day soaking up the sunlight and taking in God's beautiful creation as it comes back to life for the summer.

Lizzie's Quote of the Post: (I've got two)
"Fear me... If you dare!"
—Puss in Boots

"I've got a ways to go from here, and vision doesn't seem so clear; but praise! God has got a plan, understanding isn't my place."
—Sanctus Real, from their song After Today

I Am Motorcycle, Hear Me Roar!

2007-04-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

That’s right! Motorcycle will be roaring soon! (I hope). The engine is mounted in the frame, and the exhaust system is being installed. I’ve taken my first real lesson, and though it was a bit hairy at times, Dad said I did pretty good. I got all panicky at the end when we were driving through some neighbor hood streets. It all started when a cop was following me and then I got nervous and stalled the engine at a stop light. From then on it was mostly downhill as far as my performance goes. But never fear! I have more time to practice. Now you know what I’ll be doing on the nice weekends between now and May 18th! We hope to have the bike running by the time I have my Motorcycle Safety Training Course.

Something that you won’t be hear roaring is my iPod mini. It’s a sad iPod. The poor little guy just can’t hold a charge anymore. I figure in a few more months I might invest in a new iPod nano, brilliant blue of course, and I’ll gift poor little iPod mini to my two younger brothers. I’m not sure what they would do with a micro charged iPod though. Perhaps I should trade it in to Apple. Would they give me a discount off of a new one? I should investigate! Wouldn’t that be great? I’m just getting a little tired of wanting to listen to music at work, and then turning on my iPod only to have it tell me that it’s out of batteries. But as my brother reminded my, an iPod is a luxury, not a necessity. Therefore, if I have to gimp along for awhile on my unreliable old one, I will. It’s not the most pressing need in the world.

I was at the farm last Saturday, and the theme for April is Spring cleaning. I read over the script for the house tour, and I was inspired to “spring clean” my own room. It hasn’t been cleaned from top to bottom since we moved into this house. That’s been about five years I believe. So I’m going to scrape away at the grime over the next week or so, including washing my curtains, cleaning my walls a bit, vacuuming out under my bed and dressers, and cleaning all my nick-knacks and doo-dads and closet (shudder to think of that one!) It should be very nice when I finish.

Before I go, I’ll give a prayer request: my mom is having knee replacement surgery next Tuesday, the 24th of April. Please pray that it goes well and is successful, and that afterwards (when she’s all healed up) she will have no pain in her knee when she does everyday things. Thanks!

Lizzie’s Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie’s Favorite Music: Anything except the little “beep” sound followed by the dead battery icon on my iPod. More specifically on the anything, I would have to say Alison Krauss’ new CD, “A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection.” I just got it yesterday.
Lizzie’s Favorite Book: I’m done with “Silk” by Linda Chaikin, and now I’m going to start “Sanditon”, the last novel that Jane Austen was writing when she died. It was finished up by “Another Lady”. I hear it’s good from VERY reliable sources.
Lizzie’s Favorite Movie: Well, Jon, Josh and I had a very Pirate Easter by watching “Treasure Island” and then “Pirates of the Caribbean”. I also watched “Big Fish” the other night. They were all pretty good.
Lizzie’s Favorite Hobby: motorcycle rebuilding and sewing. What a nice combination…

Lizzie’s Quote of the Post:
Today’s comes from “Big Fish”, in the scene where Edward Bloom is walking next to the little girl Jenny in the forest surrounding the town of Spectre; it’s more like a dialogue quote:
“How old are you?”
“18”
“I’m 8”
“That’s quite a big difference”
“Well, when I’m 18 you’ll be 28, and when I’m 28, you’ll be 38, and that’s not such a big difference”
(The follow-up quote comes from the same movie, only it’s been a bunch of years between the last quote and this one. Edward Bloom has come back to Spectre, and he sees a grown-up Jenny and asks her if she ever married. This is her response:)
“I was 18, he was 28. Turns out it was a big difference.”

An Ode to Bo

2007-04-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

This is an ode to Bo, my poor black, buggy-eyed goldfish. I came into work this morning, and he was dead. Poor Bo.

My Ode to Bo:

Here's to my little buggy-eyed goldfish Bo,
Who swam in his tank to and fro.
Bo had a gold tankmate,
a fish named Jangles who ate
all poor Bo's fins off!
But Bo kept his head aloft,
And grew back some fins;
When bored I would watch him spin
circles around the tank.
Now he's gone but I thank
My little fish that entertained.

—The End—

And so Bo has gone off to the big aquarium in the sky...It's pretty clear that I should never be a poet.
Now to throw off the morbid mood, here are my favorites of the post:

Lizzie's Favorite Music: Skillet's CD "Comatose". It's great for rolling down the windows after a long day, playing it pretty loud, and singing at the top of my lungs with. Go Skillet.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: The Sound of Music. How did I get through so much life without seeing it?
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Still working on finishing "Silk" by Linda Lee Chaikin
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Sewing... Again.

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
"I can't get this phone to unlock! Hey, someone's calling it!"
—Josh when he was trying to break into Dan's cell phone.

A Job for a Month

2007-03-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

If someone came up to me and said "You have one month to do any job you want. What do you pick?"

A Demolition Worker! It would be so cool to operate one of those big CAT things with the claw and pull down old buildings and just watch stuff crumble! I would just sit in my CAT thing, and use those little knobby-thingys to control the claw, and make it smash through walls and pull all kinds of stuff down. That would be a sweet job for a month.

I've recently thought that would be a fun job to have for a month, although ultimately, I like where I'm at now. I think I caught the demolition-bug last Faebruary when I went on the missions trip with Tyndale to Biloxi. Ever since then I've been interested in demolition. But I'd only like to do it full-time for a month I think. Demoltion in the dead of winter and the heat of summer must not be too fun. Maybe spring and fall demolition? Or maybe I should just stay at Tyndale. It's good year-round.

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: the song "Let Go" by BarlowGirl, and the "Comatose" CD by Skillet.
Lizzie's Favorite Book: This week, it's one I've never read. But, my name is one the copyright page, and I helped design it, so my pick of the post is "Happily Ever After" by Susan May Warren.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Haven't watched one, but I was talking about "Wives and Daughters" yesterday with Elaine...
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Sewing.

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
"I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by..."
—Captain Jack Sparrow

The Designer in Me

2007-03-23T23:44:00.000-07:00

The designer in me says that this is way cool! (Not the beer, the coaster!) Check it out! A conglomeration of stretched and distorted type reflects perfectly on the glass to say "Good things come to those who wait." Neat-O! I wish I was the genius who thought up that! It's just way too cool. Maybe, someday when I get married and I'm planning my cool wedding stuff (I'd better watch out, all the "cool design stuff" I see somehow gets incorperated into being a part of my someday maybe wedding!), I'll make coasters that can reflect messages into fake glass glasses. There will have to be a dark liquid in the glass though, or my saying won't show up... How about Dr. Pepper! Perfect. Now about the phrase... How about "Good things come to those who wait!" Wait, I think Guiness might have that copyrighted. Take 2, how about "...and they lived happily ever after, the end." Yeah, that could work. Sweetness!

Alright, I don't have too much to say, other than my Mr. Motorcycle is now in the garage! I've changed that poor bike's name more often that I can count. First Figment, then Donald Duck, now Mr. Motorcycle seems to fit. It works well with Mr. Grand Prix, the name of my car. (We're on personal terms though, so I usually call him just Grand.) And we can't forget Geefe the Apple G5 (my computer), or iPPi iPPi the iPod (self-explanatory I think. My iPod has the same first name and last name. Kind of like Robert Robertson, or Lars Larson, or Peter Peterson, or James Jameson, or William Williams... you get the picture.) So am I sick or what? Naming all my stuff? I've heard that such behavior is more prevelant amoung women than men. Oh, and to honor the fallen, we must not forget my good 'ole trusty Bonnie the Bonneville. Just for kicks and giggles, I'd be interested in seeing comments about anything my loyal readers might have that is inanimate, and yet bears a name. If you have something with a name, what is it? (thing and name). I hope my sewing machine doesn't feel left out! It is my other important electric maechanism, and it is nameless! How awful! Any suggestions? Maybe Bernie the Bernina, or Bernice the Bernina? (My sewing machine is a girl, whereas all the other stuff with the exception of Bonnie the Bonnevile are not).

You know what? I want a baby! Amber brought her sweet little Ashleigh and adorable Payton to work for a visit today. It made me want a little baby! I guess I'll have to wait on that though. Payton was so cute; if you ask him what Lightning McQueen says, Payton replies "ka-chow!' I love it! Ka-Chow!

In one week, I'm going to be rich! I just put my first ever two things up for auction on e-Bay. Next Friday, the bids will be up and I will be mailing off (hopefully) my first 1770s dress (not the brand-spankin' new elegant and exquisite one), and two itty-bitty little motorcycle/atv tire tubes. If you want any of those things, you'd better go bid fast! I should have said that they were touched by a relative of someone famous (me, being that I'm related to an astronaut!) and then they would've sold for a truckload of sweet moolah! $$$$$$$$$$$ Yeah right. Who am I kidding?

Okay, it's 11:30 pm now, so I'd better move on to my favorites of the post. Here they are, I know you (my loyal readers) have been waiting with baited breath:

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: David Crowder Band's "A Collision (or 3+4=7)" album. All I can say is "I am yours forever and ever and ever and ever," etc.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: "Finding Neverland." I actually broke down and re-bought it. If you have the lost one in your possesion, just give it to Dan, I've got a new one. That movie is good, but so melancholy at parts!
Lizzie's Favorite Book: I finished "A Severe Mercy!" Holy smokes, that Sheldon Vanda-whatever-his-name-was was a really romantical guy! I think he was a little over the edge. I mean, come on, no kids because they might come between him and his wife? What's with that? In the end he came around though. I do credit him for that.
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Hmmm, playing Call of Duty, working on Mr. Motorcycle, sewing cute little baby dresses, and crocheting. Oh! And don't forget shopping at JoAnn's for a new pattern and fabric for a dress! Um, I think I have my fingers dipped into too many pots. Oh well, you only live once, right?

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
"Peter's crow eats a lot. Yesterday it ate 12 worms, a bunch of bugs, a slice of bread and water. I don't know who's going to feed it next week, but it won't be me!"
-an excerpt from a letter that Mrs. Taylor read in chapel last week.

Dreams Accomplished

2007-03-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

This blog will be about two dreams accomplished: My motorcycle is painted AND I got to drive a Corvette ( a childhood dream). First, I painted the motorcycle parts. That started out bad. Just like last week. Spray paint on, see how pretty it is, watch in horror as paint starts to run. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully, my very smart Dad rushed them upstairs and used Mom's hairdryer to dry the paint, then he quickly sanded the stuff off, and we painted in light, light coats of blue. Lots of light coats. So we finished that, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. (I think Dad did too.) Problem was, I think I could've gotten high off paint fumes from the big inhale and following sigh of relief. So then I admired the pieces on the counter. Then I went to a reception for a wedding that happened a week ago, and then afterwards I went with some other friends to play Call of Duty ( and Lady Fair is VERY mean to me when we play Call of Duty, and she shoots me and says she's going to "splatter my brains." Real nice. Some busom friend, I was always nice to her...) So anyway, when I came home at 1:00 am this morning, I saw that my motorcycle parts weren't on the counter anymore, and I knew right away: Dad put them on the motorcycle! So I ran down the stairs, and lo an behold! the picture you see here is what greeted me. Ka...Chow. There's a engine-shaped hole, but once we fill that, there will be the rumble of an engine roaring to life in my garage. This week will be the exodus from the basement to the garage.

Now, about dream number two: I got to drive a Corvette! Do you actually know how long I have thought that I would only get to do that in my dreams? (Well, granted, last night I dreamt that I was driving a Lamboghini, but hey, we can dream, right? I blame car show.) Well, today, that dream became reality. Rob trusted me enough to let me drive his Corvette. I'm not sure I would let anybody else drive my regular old Grand Prix. But anyway, I got to drive it. It was only in circles around the church parking lot though, but still! Man, the power behind that engine was a thrill. So, this was my first time outside of the motorcycle driving a manual transmission, and that was interesting to learn. Let's just say I'm not fluid at it yet. But I was able to get is shifted fair enough and started up in a fair sort of style by the time my lesson was complete. I think I must've inherited some of my dad's racing blood, because I got way too much fun out of turning that car into ovals and figure eights in 3rd of 4th gears. Vroom vroom.

So aside from some video-gaming and shopping at Meijer and church, that was my weekend.

Lizzie's Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: BarlowGirl's CD, "Another Journal Entry"
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Casino Royale with a bunch of exceptions: the carousing with every available and unavailable women, the torture scene where I felt it was necessary for me as a proper lady to leave, and the part in the museum where he's looking for the bad guy in gasp! Body Worlds! Scary!
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Still haven't finished one, but "Severe Mercy" is good.
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Wiring my motorcycle so it lights up, learning to drive a Corvette, NOT painting motorcycle parts again, and crocheting.

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
Only four more minutes until the weekend! Wait, three, but I'm not counting...
-Me

Stop Suffocating!

2007-03-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, for all you people who said they were "suffocating" from waiting with baited breath for my next post; I just want to let you know that it said "coming soon" not "coming now." I guess that's what happens in this instant gratification society that we live in. (Ugh! Gosh computer! You're being SO slow! I clicked on this website 5 seconds ago and it's not loaded yet! It's like molasses!*)

*I'm guilty of saying this. I must be a product of the instant gratification society that we live in.

So anyway, I'm posting now. As you can see from my photos, I've been very industrious lately. The thing that I've been working on the longest is what I'll tackle first: Motorcycle! That's my new imperfect paint job that you see shining so briliantly on the screen. Sad news is, if you look real close on the photo, not so close in real life, you can see the hugest run of clear coat. Nooooooooooooooo! But wait, there's more: The blue paint reacted badly with my primer on the taillight mount, and side panels. It melted the primer and it all dripped down to look like rain on a dirty window! Plus, I got a small run on my headlight bucket, but out of all the pieces, it looks the best. So we (Dad and I) have to sand off the runs, re-clear-coat those pieces, and sand down the primer puddle ones and paint them with white first (as we did on the two pieces that didn't run), and then I have to go buy more blue paint (since we wasted a lot on those crummy parts), paint blue on, and then clear coat it all and hope we get no more runs. Phooey. But the paint DOES look really cool! I'm going to put black pin-striping on the lines between the blue and white. Sweet! And, I got signed up for Motorcycle Safety Training classes, and I've started to practice driving around the block (illegally, I don't have a permit, but I do have another person riding next to me) to get a head start on the class. I already read the whole textbook for the class too. It helps to have one lying around the house from previous biker parent's class. May 18-20 are the special dates! Wo-Hoo!

Now, as you can also see from my photos, I've been hard at work on the sewing machine (and the needle and thread) making this revolutionary war era dress. Isn't it splendid? I haven't hemmed up the bottom of the underskirt yet, but it's pretty close to being done. Now, what can I wear it to? Hmmm...

And today, Amber's baby decided that it wanted to come into the world. How exciting! But I've been sitting on tenterhooks all day, waiting to hear if she had her baby, if it's a boy or a girl, and how cute it is! I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. Babies are so cute! I'm going to make a little baby outfit as soon as I find out if it needs to be a dress or a little pair of pants with a shirt. Vital information there.

Well, I need to check on my laundry, so quickly, here are Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: NOT the cricket chirping all by his lonesome in my brother's room. Can we let the tarantula out to go find it and kill it? I's so annoying at 1:00 am. My real favorite music are some Johnny Cash songs like "Ring of Fire," and "Get Rhythm". Also, Sanctus Real's "Fight the Tide" album. It feels so springly.
Lizzie's Favorite Book: I haven't finished one in a sad while :(
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Space Balls - The Movie "Fooled you!" -Dark Helmet
Lizzie's Favorite Hobby: Besides sewing dresses and painting motorcycles? Playing Call of Duty!

Quote of the Post:
Raspberry? I hate raspberry! Only one person would dare give me raspberry; Lone Star!
-Dark Helmet again

Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley?

2007-02-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

or

I am going to say a very unLizzie-ish thing. Actually it will almost put me as a traitor! But never fear, not a traitor to Jane Austin.

I have been sick the past few days, and as one usually does when they are sick, I did nothing. Nothing except to watch movies and ponder life. Now in pondering movies, books, and life over the past few days, I must confess my traitorous feelings. If given the choice between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Knightley (from Emma, in case you are not an avid Austin reader), I would pick *gasp* Mr. Knightley! I'm sorry Mr. Darcy, but Mr. Knightley has a lot of things going for him that you do not. For instance: Mr Darcy couldn't stand Lizzie's family, and wanted to live as far away from them as possible, and they hardly ever came to visit, (except for Jane and Mr. Bingley). Mr Knightley told Emma that he would live in her father's house if he could not bear to be parted from his daughter. Quite the sacrifice of independence. Mr Darcy had, shall we say, difficulties in admitting his faults (which were pride, arrogance, and as he did admit; his good opinion once lost was lost forever). Mr Knightley laid all his faults out right before Emma, he had humbled her, lectured her, etc, etc. Not to mention, Mr. Knightley never told Emma that he liked her against his better judgment. Now, Mr. Darcy did call that one back, but once said, it is hard to forget. To their credit, they were both good dancers. (Mr. Darcy is the one shown dancing with Lizzie, whist Mr. Knightley is the one pictured with Emma at the archery range in his "backyard", or shall we say "extensive grounds"). Mr Darcy DID own half of Darbyshire (not the miserable half), and did make up for all his shortcomings quite eloquently by redeeming Elizabeth's fallen sister Lydia and by forcing the rake Mr. Wickham to marry said fallen sister, and also by reuniting Jane with Mr. Bingley, but I think he must have been feeling an awful lot of guilt after finding out what a mistake he had made by trying to woo Lizzie by telling her that he liked her against his better judgment. Mr Knightley was Emma's friend for years and years, and it seemed only natural that their state of friendship move into the next phase, which of course was marriage. And Mr. Knightley was holding back because he thought she cared for Frank Churchill, who was secretly engaged to Jane Fairfax all along! The cad! How could he have led Emma on like that while engaged to another? But I digress.

Those are just the ponderings of a sick Lizzie, thought up between hacking coughs. Good thing my fish at work is named Mr. Knightley. Oh no! I hope he's still well after I've abandoned him to starvation! I'm sure he's being taken care of though, either that or he's on a hunger strike.

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Still trying to get through "Severe Mercy". There's a lot of poetry and wandering thoughts in that book.
Lizzie's Favorite Music: Still the Shuffle button on my iPod.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: Well, let's see, what have I watched in the past few days... "Gone With the Wind" (now there was a foolish couple!), "Emma" of course, portions of Harry Potter #2 and #4, some "Little House on the Prairie" episodes, and "End of the Spear". That about sums it up I'd say.

Lizzie's quote of the post:
Sorry, I can't think of one, except for: "You can be thunder, because Thunder comes after Lightning! Ka-Chow!"
-Lightning McQueen from "Cars"

Motor Madness

2007-02-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

This week has been one of motor madness! Last Sunday I went to the Cycle World Motorcycle show. In one word: Inspiration. The photo of me and Aubrie on the motorcycle was from there. We're Biker Babes! Okay, so we're not really. I must confess, I went home that night and put some elbow grease into sanding down the bondo on my poor dented up gastank. The bondo picture would be the one with the blue tank and some salmon-colored gunk on it. Whew! My left arm sure got a workout that night! As you can see, I've also made some progress on the bike frame itself-Dad and I attached the airbox tonight. We also put the speedometer and tachometer on as well as some other controls and hooked up some wiring. Then I primed all the body parts: the gas tank, the side panels, and front and taillight pieces. It's moving along. . .Good thing too, I get to sign up for my safety training class at the end of this month!

I picked out the exact color sceme for my motorcycle yesterday at the Chicago Auto Show. I had the general idea what color I wanted, but now I've got the whole kit and caboodle worked out. See the picture of the mini cooper? Well, That's the color blue I saw that one time behind my car (coincidentally on another mini cooper). The extra feature? I'm putting those racing stripes on my bike too! Oh, it's going to be so sweet! Next Saturday Dad and I are going to buy paint. Yippee! Now, the quandry: my helmet is black. Just plain black. (Black was the cheapest color helmet I could buy in the kind I wanted. Either that or white, and white wasn't my size). I had this hairbrained idea to paint my helmet. Now there are two options. Option #1: paint my helmet all blue (the same as my bike) and put white racing stripes on it. Option #2: leave my helmet black, but put blue (or white) racing stripes on it. So I have to decide. It would be easier to just leave it be all black, but I don't know if I want to. A little extra hassle, and I would look pretty spiffy zipping down the road with a matching bike and helmet. Decisions decisions.

Now for the last photo that I didn't explain yet. That beautiful piece of work is the (now I'm trying my best to spell this) Lamborgini. Aaaahhhhhh. Ever since I was a little girl and saw a little matchbox car Lamborgini, it was my dream car. As a young impressionable girl, I used to think I'd actually own one. HA! Now I'll only own one in my dreamt up fairy tales. Besides, even if I had that much money, I don't think I could validate spending it all on a car. But hey, it's free to dream about it, right? I can imagine myself buckled into the driver seat, top down, cruising down some beautiful country road at top speeds. . . . . . . . . Feel the speed! The wind in my hair, the dryness of my eyeballs as the wind whips away all the moisture from them (that's how fast I'd be going. Oh, and there would be no police or other cars, just me and my Lamborgini); in my dreams is where that'll have to stay. Zoom zoom. I'm content with my Grand Prix and kz400 in real life.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little bike update and had fun imagining yourself behind the wheel of your personal dream car. Until next time, remember that you aren't the only one on the road, and there are policemen, so go the speed limit or not too far above it. Happy driving :)

Lizzie's Favorite Stuff:
Lizzie's Favorite Music: shuffle on all 908 or so songs on my iPod.
Lizzie's Favorite Movie: The Last Sin Eater (one of my favorite books turned into movie)
Lizzie's Favorite Book: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
"Die young, make a pretty corpse, that's my philosophy"
-Mark Lowry
(Don't get worried, I'll try not to die young. But then again, I don't control that either, do I?)

¡Adios amigos!

A Break in Tradition

2007-02-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry I had to do this! You're looking at this post and saying what?!? No picture? That's right. The reason is a good one: I'm updating this at work because I'm waiting for something or someone on all my jobs. So to make the time pass a little faster, I thought I'd do a little good 'ole fashioned blogging.

I do intend on posting very soon after this one: I'm going to show some updates on my sweet little motorbike. It's starting to come along nicely. At the end of this month, I can sign up for my motorcycle safety training classes. I'm so excited! This past Sunday I went to the Chicago Cycle World Annual Motorcycle Show. It was great! On a good note, I didn't see any motorcycles painted the same color that mine will be. It's going to be one-of-a-kind! Only matching up with all those blue 2007 minicoopers out there.

So check back this weekend for some cool pictures of where my ride's at now. I'll get you all up-to-date on what we're doing to it then.

Lizzie's Favorites:
Lizzie's favorite book: the Bachelor's Bargain by Catherine Palmer
Lizzie's favorite movie: Alex & Emma
Lizzie's favorite music: Me and My Gang by Rascal Flatts

Quote of the post:
Did you remember to save. . . All of you files?
-Homestar Runner

Ka-Chow!!!

2007-01-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is my gecko, Algy. He's a lot bigger than he was one year ago! I celebrated my 24th birthday almost two weeks ago. Next year, I'll be a quarter of a century old! Wow! But saying it that way makes me sound older than I really am. But you're getting older every day, right?

I'm sorry it took me awhile to update this. See, I was press-ganged into making a dress for the play, "An Inspector Calls", at our church, and I volunteered to make a dress for Kline Creek Farm. On top of that, I decided to have a costume party for my birthday, so, of course, I had to make a Regency-style dress for that. I looked very Pride & Prejudice-y. So after my birthday, I had a nice conglomeration of gift cards. That started all the trouble. I've become a DVD-aholic!!! I got Mary Poppins for my birthday, I bought Pirates of the Caribbean 2 with a gift card, I bought Finding Neverland (because I lost it a year ago; if I loaned it to you, could I have it back?), Anna and the King, and Milo & Otis with a gift card plus cash, but then I watched Cars (thanks Elaine), and I loved it, so I cancelled my Amazon order of Finding Neverland (hoping it would show up, I give it one more month and then it'll have been gone for over a year!) and Anna and the King, kept Milo and Otis, and bought Cars! Then I went to Target, and they had Zorro for $7.50! So I got it, and then I saw One Night With the King, and I was going to buy it when it came out, but thought that it came out next week, not this week, so to get the sale price, guess what I did, I bought it. Then, I made a BIG mistake: I went to Frugal Muse with Dan and Aubrie. I bought Gone With the Wind. Arg. No more DVDs until end of February! New law.

Now, in the middle somewhere of the saga above, I noticed that my debit card wasn't working. So I called the bank, and asked why. They took my card number, and lo and behold, I was overdrawing on my account! How? Did someone steal my identity? Debit card fraud? Did I wake up in the night and go online and spend $600 on some random e-bay purchase? So I headed over to yonder bank to tell them they had made a terrible mistake! After sitting with the most patient teller for two hours and fifteen minutes, we figured it out. A transfer of $300 that I had Dan do for me wasn't showing up right. Upon closer examination, we discovered, instead of going from savings to checking, it had gone from checking to savings! Yikes! So instead of having $300 more in checking, I had $300 less! That's like, a $600 gap! (The $300 was to be for my helmet, which I actually got for cheaper! Sweet!). Thankfully, after transferring the money back, I was only $10 down because of overdrafting fees. Whew!

Now lunch is running out, so here are Lizzie's favorites:
Lizzie's favorite music: Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts"
Lizzie's favorite movie: Cars, Ka-Chow!
Lizzie's favorite book: Well, I feel like saying Pride & Prejudice, even though I haven't read it recently.
Lizzie's favorite hobby: sewing, it would seam (pun intended!)

And Lizzie's favorite quote:
You can be Thunder, because thunder comes after Lightning! Ka-Chow!!!
-Lightning McQueen from Cars

Pink Hair, Riding & Progress

2007-01-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the long space between updating. But you think I'm bad? You should check out Lady Fair's blog! Now talk about neglect! (Just kidding Aubs!)

Now, as you can see by the pictures, I've had a few exciting things happen. Firstly, notice the picture of me on the skeleton bike. That's my motorcycle! It's coming together isn't it? I'm so excited about it getting done. March 1st I can register for motorcycle training classes. Which leads me to my next photo. See the one with me in the motorcycle jacket and mom's helmet? (I just bought my own helmet today) I'm getting ready to go out and learn how to ride! Next comes me on the bike with Dad and Dan flanking on either side. They're telling me how to drive a motorcycle. Third in the set: I've taken off! There I go, down the block, driving for the first time! It was so fun, and SO cold! But it was worth it. That was the Saturday before Christmas. On Christmas day I rode again. That was interesting because there were a lot of cars parked on the street! Good obstacle training.

Now see the picture of me and four other girls? That was at the white elephant party for our Bible study group. Someone got a box of pink hair dye, and the five of us dyed out hair pink in the church bathroom. Talk about adventuresome! Another adventuresome thing I did was to go to uptown Chicago with five other people to stay with the Jesus People over New Year's weekend. It was a real experience. The Jesus People live together, in a sort of commune thing. Share and share alike. My group was put up in the penthouse (the building used to be a hotel). So we were 11 floors up and could see all the city. It was great. We served a lot of food to homeless people, explored the city at night, cleaned up parts of the building, and celebrated New Year's with the Jesus People. Well, I've got to go and watch Mission Impossible III now, but real quick, my favorites:

Lizzie's Favorites of the post:
Lizzie's favorite book: I finally finished Ivanhoe! It was good, but Sir Walter Scott is a wordy guy...
Lizzie's favorite CD: Some Hearts by Carrie Underwood and the Sweet Home Alabama soundtrack. Go country!
Lizzie's favorite movie: Swiss Family Robinson, Little Women, and I'm sure there's more...
Lizzie's favorite hobby: collecting Willow Tree figurines!

Quote for the post:
"Friends and Heroes is final!"
-Amber

A Good Movie

2006-12-01T05:30:00.000-08:00

I had the unique opportunity this past week (okay, maybe it was almost two weeks ago) to see a private screening of "the Nativity Story". Because I work at Tyndale and we partnered with New Line to put out some books tied to the film, I was able to go. Some people were more priveledged than I though, Jen and Jackie from the Design department got to go to the Hollywood premire! Anyway, I saw the movie on the Monday before Thanksgiving, and I though it was excellent! The main part I was concerned about was that, being made in Hollywood it would be "dumbed down" so to speak, and that they would generalize it so that it "wouldn't offend people of other faiths". But they didn't! So I was happy. It was done very well (I thought, although some of my fellows designer co-workers were a little more critical, they're film critics). In my opinion, and my mom agrees (she saw it with me), it was very accurate to the Bible, and how could I say the plot line was bad? It's the begining of the most amazing story of all! That God would love us miserable humans so much, that by sending His Son down to Earth to be with us, to live with us, to suffer all the mean things we do to eachother, and ultimately, to give His life for us, that our sins might be atoned for! Who can call that a bad story? It's beautiful! So the Nativity Story portrays the begining of the demonstration of the love that God has for us, and that in itself is a powerful story.

Since the movie opens today, I have to reccomend that you go see it. You won't be sorry. You will probably leave a changed person. I give it four stars... or is five the highest? Either way, you get my point.

Now, You might be wondering; What is Lizzie doing updating her blog on a Friday at 7:38 am? Shouldn't she be on her way to work? Well, I would be, but it's snowing and so treacherous, that they decided to start work late! Hooray! A partial snow day! So I'm alrady out of bed, showered, and dressed, now what do I do? Certainly not go back to bed! Carpe Diem! Let's seize the moment and update my blog. You're reading the fruits of my labor then. I hope you enjoyed it.

But now it's getting close to the time when I should start to get ready to leave for work...again, so I'll leave off with my favorites:
Lizzie's favorite movie: In theaters, "The Nativity Story", on DVD, Disney's "Robin Hood"! Oo-de-lally!
Lizzie's favorite book: I've only been reading "Ivanhoe" for more than a month! I can't say it's my favorite though. Sir Walter Scott uses a LOT of words to get to the point!
Lizzie's favorite music: I'd have to say Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and "Begining to Look a lot Like Christmas" (Is that even the name of that song?)

I've got to go now, so until next time...

This is IT!!!

2006-11-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

After all my years of searching! The cave of Wond... Hold on a second, this isn't Aladdin. Start again.

After all my days of searching! Behold the future color of my motorcycle! I've been pondering for a good long time now, and yesterday morning (maybe Friday) I was at the stop light on President and Geneva, and this sweet color caught my eye in my rearview mirror. A sleek little mini cooper bearing the new future color of Figment the motorcycle! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had found my color. Pretty, idn't it? (I spelled it like that on purpose). It's going to be a sweet little bike come spring. I can hardly wait. It's going to be the color blue shown above (or next to, depending on how this text flows) and there's going to be thin silver pinstriping! Nice!

I'm learning all about motorcycles now. I can knowledgeably bandy about words like triple tree, clutch, sprocket, cam chain (although my bike doesn't use a cam chain), forks, fork seals, bearings, and T6 3.5/4.0 tubes and lots of other goodies. Probably all the stuff we're using to clean up the bike causes cancer in the state of California... Good thing I'm not in California, huh? But I've had chances to bond with my dad and my brother. Can't complain about that.

You know, it's been an...interesting...couple of weeks, but I won't go into much detail as I'm preaching to the choir here. Speaking of choir, I went downtown to Moody Bible Institute for the Handel's Messiah concert; it was wonderful! It's quite different from the Do-It-Yourself Messiah that I've been in for the past couple of years. I guess that's the effect of more voices and bigger orchestra. I'm inspired for the next time my church does the Messiah oratorio.

Well, I can't think of anything else to write, so I'll go ahead and round up the Lizzie's Favorites List:

Lizzie's favorite book: "The Brethren" by Beverly Lewis. It was the last book of a series. Exciting conclusions!
Lizzie's favorite music: the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack. The movie was okay, but the music! Ahh, puts me into a hillbilly state of mind and makes me want to sing "I'll Fly Away" and other good ole folk songs.
Lizzie' favorite movie: LORD OF THE RINGS!!! (That would be the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and the Return of the King.)

Lizzie's Quote of the Post:
"Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn!"
-Theoden, King of Rohan

By the way, Mawmaw and Pawpaw, if you're reading this, I and my Mom say hi. Hi!

Happy birthday Lady Fair!

1+1=1 Better One! Vroom vroom!

2006-10-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

I'VE GOT A MOTORCYCLE!!!! Not one, but two! I picked up the first one for $29 from a guy in the neighborhood who had it abandoned on his property for years. One little problem: Abandoneers don't normally leave titles with their abandoned vehicles. To solve that problem, I got an identical year bike with a title for $350. Now you know how 1+1=1 better one; I'm going to strip down the two bikes and take the best pieces from each one and put them back together as one wonderful bike. The last picture of the shiny brilliant blue bike is what I hope it will look like someday. It's a nice winter project, and I have to say, dad and Dan are just as excited about it as I am, because of course, I'm going to need their help, so they get a free project to help me on. Watch out next summer! Vroom vroom vroom! Come March 1st I'll be signing up for motorcycle safety training classes... And Mrs. Criss was right when she predicted I'd be the next biker in my family!

Ahhh, isn't she a beauty? I think (since all vehicles should have names) I will call her Figment. Maybe after it's repainted I'll paint it on in an inconspicous place in little scripty letters, like a tattoo. I can't wait to ride it! Right now there's Bike 1 stripped down in our basement, and Bike 2 is almost stripped down in the garage. After tonight I'll have finished that and it'll be in the basement too.

I can't leave this post without mentioning my wonderful adventure to the Mall of America with Lady Fair. It was great! We travelled by bus to Minneapolis and then wandered around in the dark looking for a taxi. Scary thing, those taxis. Saturday morning we went to spend the whole day at the Mall. We tried on lots of dresses, bought some clothes (did you know there's no clothing tax in Minnesota?) and I saw Matt Hammit, the lead singer from Sanctus Real walking down the concourse! Lady fair and I had ice cream twice in one day, and one of them was fried! Mmmmmmmmm. We walked about ten zillion miles and man, my legs are still recouperating. See, we walked all over the mall, and then after we left the mall we went to find a grocery store which was really far away, and our legs were already tired. For once, I think Lady Fair walked as far as she cared to in one day! Sunday we took the bus home, and there was a girl in front of us tossing her cookies. Delightful. It didn't curb my appetite though, as we didn't get any breakfast that morning. Who ever heard of a continental breakfast not starting till 7:00 am? Not me! It was so fun to be by ourselves, navigating foreign cities and trying to tell taxi drivers where we wanted to go, only to find out that we didn't really know where we were going to begin with. Ah, the memories...

And now it's time for Lizzie's favorites:
Lizzie's favorite Movie: Toy Story! "YOU ARE A TOY! YOU ARE A CHILD'S PLAYTHING!!!"
Lizzie's favorite Music: Oooh, toughy. I'd have to say Shuffle on the iPod
Lizzie's favorite Book: "And the Shofar Blew" by Francine Rivers. So sad, but good. They wasted so much time!

Lizzie's qoute of the post:
"Are the rumors true about you getting a motorcycle?" -Dan F. from Tyndale

...And so, the end is here, and as we sing our final curtain...

Incriminating Sight

2006-10-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Now if you need to laugh, you can just look at this picture. It'll solve your case of whatever has you down...temporarily. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of this hilarious set-up. Now I've posted it on the World Wide Web for the whole wide world to see! Bwa hahahahahahahaha!

Well, that's all I have time for, but if you check back soon, I'll have a really cool picture to show you. I just have to go to the DMV and make sure it's mine to show first. Now I've got you breath baited!

I won't forget my favorites though:
Lizzie's favorite music: Sorry all you rock 'n roll fans, I find myself getting tired of the same old beats and riffs and stuff. Rock went on a sabatical. Hello country! This week I'm liking Alison Kraus again, and I tried Rascal Flatts today, they weren't bad!
Lizzie's favorite movie: the Little Mermaid!
Lizzie's favorite book: I actually haven't had a whole lot of time to read, so I'll say the Bible, since that's all I read last week and I'm always reading that.
Lizzie's favorite quote she heard: "Okay, I'm not going to be jealous of you twice in the same day!"

(hint about next post: vroom)

Wild in South Dakota

2006-09-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Don't get the wrong impression. I wasn't wild in a bad way. The way media portrays "wild". No, I was in the wild west, enjoying the wild beauy and entertaining wild ideas about finding some handsome cowboy who owned a ranch, "gettin' hitched", and moving to SD where I could ride my horse (I would have one there) over our acres and acres of grassland. And then I would go home at night and cook up the best burgers in the state, fresh from our own cattle. Mmmm. Sounds romantically wonderful, doesn't it? Unfotunatly, I didn't meet any available handsome young cowboys who were looking for a wife. So, that put the cabosh on that plan. Maybe someday...

I did meet a handsome bison though! See that picture? He was dead though. Pleasant thought, huh? And then I went to Mt. Rushmore and saw those four presidents in all their rocky glory. Pretty impressive, I'd say. How about those people standing in front. What a nice looking family! Especially that girl right there to the left, in the back. She looks real nice. I wonder who she is? We also saw the Minuteman missle site from the Cold War. And missle silos too! Just one of those missles had 60% of WWII firepower in the warhead. Amazing. I'm really glad they never launched those things... I might not be here otherwise. There was a painting on the door to the underground capsule that the missleers sat in: it had a painting of a Dominos pizza box, and said "Delivery in 30 minutes or less or the next one is free". On the pizza box was painted a missle, and instead of Domino's, it said Minuteman II. I also saw wild bison (buffalo), burros, and pronghorn deer. Plenty of sights to see.

Now we're back home, back to the "suburban life". Suburban life isn't all that bad. Once I was back, I realized all the things I would miss if I went to live in SD with a handsome cowboy husband; my family, my friends, my church, my job, Kline Creek Farm, JoAnn Fabrics, the ability to run to the store and be back home in 20 minutes, access to the big city, and oh, gas stations on every corner! Yeah, I forgot that part. We ran out of gas on our way to South Dakota, on some long, lonely and isolated country road. Thirteen miles from the nearest town. Hmm, not good. Thankfully, God must've caused a ranch hand to get hungry and decide to go into town for lunch. He saw us on the road, turned around after acertaining our predicament and went back to his house to get a couple gallons of gas for us. Now that was an adventure!

Now it's time for Lizzie's picks of the post!
Good Books: There are several I finished recently that I really liked; A Bride Most Begrudging and The Measure of a Lady, both by Deeanne Gist. An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott is very enjoyable as well.
Good Music: Again, several. I just can't make up my mind! Leeland has a pretty cool CD called the Sound of Melodies, and "Another Journal Entry" by BarlowGirl is quite energizing. I'm still stuck on country too; once again, "Loney Runs Both Ways" from Alison Kraus.
Good Movies: What was the last movie I saw? Oh yes, "the Secret Garden". Quite intriguing. I've also recently veiwed "Take the Lead". Watching that made me want to take some dancing lessons (albeit more conservative dancing than what was shown on the movie. That was a little risque in places).

A new feature: Lizzie's quote of the post. Today it's taken from Pride & Prejudice.

"You must all go to Brighton, for that is the place to get husbands!" -Lydia Bennett

So that about does it for this post. Until next time...

The Renaissance Revisited

2006-08-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

Good morrow to you! Or good day, depending on the time. This last Sunday, I went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. The Lady Fair and I decided to make costumes from the period to wear to the fair, which you see pictured to the left. The fair was on Sunday, and we started sewing (and shopping for) them on Wednesday evening. It was a lot of fun making a rush project. At least for me it was. I am garbed as a peasant. Except for the hat, that might not be exactly peasant, but I bought it at the fair for another costume, and the best way to transport it was to wear it. See my shoes? I made those too. They actually weren't too bad, although I got quite dusty feet.

The fair itself was very fun. It does attract quite a few... interesting... people. There were a score of girls clad in chain mail bras. Um, being a fan of historical dress and costume, I can tell you that no girl would've worn that, not to mention that it would have been thought extremely improper! Sorry girls, in your attempt to be medieval, you became historically inaccurate.

There were tons of little shops that for the most part sold medieval and renaissance stuff. Of course, my favorites were the costume stores. It was there that I realized how much money I save myself by making my own! We saw a joust-to-the-death match, complete with swordplay and blood! All the costumes that the workers were wearing were magnificent, and a lot of the visitors weren't bad either (except for the chain mail girls). I've taken away inspiration from all the good ones to better my own renaissace outfit, just a few touches to add to the authenticity.

There was a guy selling flowers, trying to get the "lords" to buy a rose for their "lady". Eventually Dan caved and bought one for Aubrie, and the flower guy was making a big deal on how he should present it to her. That was pretty funny to watch. Then after that he came over to me and asked which "lord" belonged to me. Well, I answered none of them, and told him that maybe I'd come back next year with a lord. He laughed and said I should come back next week!

So the fair was a blast, as you can gather. That whole incident in the latter paragraph showed something to me though, and I was very glad to see it. Simply put, it was this: More than a month ago, I would have looked upon that whole scene with a tinge of bitterness, wishing it were me. Now that I've been praying about it, I found myself perfectly natural about it, and calm, and I was able to joke with the flower man without feeling cynical. It's amazing! God truely does answer prayer. While we're on the subject, I'll mention that I've put Mr. P behind me once and for all. It was clearly (I only see it now though) an infatuation, driven by my jealousy towards two certain people that I'm close to. I'm not jealous anymore. I'm content.

And now for Lizzie's top pick of the post!
Lizzie's favorite movie: The last one I saw was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Nice.
Lizzie's favorite music: Allison Kraus's album Lonely Runs Both Ways
Lizzie's favorite book: Kidnapped, by Robert Lewis Stevenson

Peace, or as they say in espanol, paz.

The Day I Got Arrested

2006-08-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Last week, on a bright and sunny Sunday, I headed out with my family and another family on an adventure of small proportions. Our goal: to picnic and hike around on the famed Starved Rock, of Illinois. We ate a nice lunch of cold cuts and fruits, along with bread and beverages. It was mostly enjoyable. I say mostly enjoyable, because, in fact, several members of our party were having a trying moment that tested those involved immensely over that weekend. But back to the picnic; no sense to draw up ill will at a time like this. The picnic was nice, and after packing up the assortment of edible goods, we ventured off into the wild unknown of the cleared out hiking path. No obstacles, nothing more exciting than the occasional muddy stretch of road. To one who has hiked the wilds of the Smokey Mountains, this was a cinch! A short trek rewarded us with towering cliff walls and signs affixed to them that read "no rock climbing, no swimming". We pressed on, and found, at a turnoff of sorts, a great pond filled with sludge. Then, another pathway veered off to the side, and it led up a hill! At last, a trail that was reminiscent of the rocky and rooty paths up the mountains of Tennessee! We trekked up, much to our enjoyment, and found, upon reaching the top, a creek of sorts, that wound through a gully and slipped over some rocks before tumbling to the depths of a small canyon. We stooped to rest and take in the sights, enjoying God's beautiful creation, and sending little sticks over the petite waterfall. I went to sit on a large boulder that overlooked the small canyon, and I was joined by my friend. We just sat there in silence, enjoying the serenity, and not saying much. Several other hikers went gallivanting by, but that was it. Later, I decided to go exploring a short distance away because the tension was so thick in the camp, I could have cut it with a blunt butter knife. I climbed up some mossy stairs that were carved out of the rock, and came to the top of an outcropping that hung slightly over the creek. While sitting there, I noticed two or three noble enforcers of the law, walking by with their watchdog.
"Ah," I thought, "they are going after those young hooligans who were here before us. I bet they had some illegal substances for ones so underage."
But then a strange thing happened. They stopped, looked at us, and signaled for us all to come over by them. So we did. We had no reason to worry, we were on a cleared out trail and we weren't climbing the cliffs or swimming in the tepid water. We reached the stately officers and suddenly, they grabbed us and clapped us in irons! They had their sniffer dog sniff through all our stuff and it sniffed us too! Then they escorted us through the trail, back down the hill trail, and across the forest trail. We stopped at intervals to wait for more prisoners, and then we would hike some more, through the brutal heat with no water. A man and a woman and their little dog walked by and talked to the police. Hey, I had seen them hiking along that trail earlier! Turns out, they were narcs! And their little narc dog too! Without much ceremony we were hustled along until we reached the parking lot were the car was. There was a paddy wagon waiting there, with armed guards on either side. My brother risked the wrath of the cops, and asked what we were being arrested for. The answer was startling.
"For leaving the trails, a crime punishable by imprisonment. You have just committed a class B felony!" shouted the big officer with the handlebar mustache.

"Gee wiz! We had no idea the path even ended!"
"Didn't you see the sign?" This was the narc speaking.
"The sign that said no climbing!"
"That? We weren't climbing rocks, we walked up a cleared pathway! It wasn't even roped off!"
"Well you should've followed the map at the trailhead."
Map at the trailhead? I looked around, no sign, oh wait! There, twelve feet off the trail, and overgrown with weeds and a tree branch covering half of it, was a green podium with a faded and yellowing map attached. What? We were supposed to actually see that thing when we started our hike? I didn't even know to look for one, and I surely would have never found it while it was buried! But before I could utter another word, I was hoisted into the paddy wagon along with everyone else. A metal door slammed in place. Then, with a start, the vehicle rolled away. Away from our car, the forest, the cops. Rumbling down the road, bumping along each crack and pothole in the road. A dismal rain began to fall. The slow, drippy, drizzly depressing type. Ten minutes passed, then a half hour, then 45 minutes. Suddenly, while going around a turn, the wagon began to careen out of control! It started to tip, then fell, with a loud thunk! to the pavement. It was clearly on it's side. The back door creaked, and then in swung lazily open. We all piled out, blinked at the light, and then, in a wild rush of adrenaline, we ran! And I was running! We made it back to our vans by way of a shortcut, and then, we drove like mad hatters out of that place.

And that's my big fish story of being arrested. You decide what was true or not.

Mostly Hypothetical, of Course

2006-07-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? The wooden box told me I was hot stuff! (Too bad that light was on and I posed for that picture, when I really did it, it said I was... nevermind. Those are dumb games anyway!)

So it's been a couple weeks since my last post. Let's see, what can I tell you, my avid readers, about. There's just so many of you! (Hi Lady Fair) Oh! Here's an interesting bit of news. I'm going to make a Jane Austin-style dress, like from Pride & Prejudice! I'll put a picture of it on here when it's done.

I also moved to a new cube at work. I left the Big Room (sniff sniff!) Although I won't complain, I can see sunlight where I'm at now, and eventually Amber is going to move into the other side of the double cube. One downfall: it's stinking cold out in the hallway! I notice a lot more traffic out there too, back in my old corner I only had visitors if they came there intentionally. Now people come by my cube and stumble upon me, and then they talk to me. That's nice. I bought a new fish for my cube today. Mr. Knightley. How fitting. In case you weren't aware, that's the hero from "Emma". I've started doing jobs too as a Production Artist. They're fun. Currently, you could call me a Production Artist Electronic Systems Assistant. Whew! What a long title!

Now this next part is all hypothetical of course. So let's just say someone liked somebody, but they had no idea what the other person felt. So that person went back and forth all the time, "they like me, they like me not" etc, etc. I think that person would be mentally worn out! And of course, that person wants to make sure they are within God's will too. How complicated. I don't know anyone like that though. That was purely hypothetical.

I think I'm going to go make some paper flowers now. I'm feeling particularly crafty right now. Maybe I'll play a little piano and some dulcimer too. But before I go, I haven't forgotten Lizzie's picks of the week!

Lizzie's favorites of the week:
Lizzie's favorite movie: the five hour long Pride & Prejudice! Thanks BBC and A&E!
Lizzie's favorite music: I'm going to make this a top five.
1. Emma soundtrack
2. Sense & Sensibility soundtrack
3. Alison Kraus & Union Station's Lonely Runs Both Ways
4. A Collison or 3+4=7 by David Crowder Band
5. Wicked Soundtrack
Lizzie's favorite book: Black by Ted Dekker (Red is turning out to be pretty good too!)

Adios amigos.

Back From Biloxi

2006-06-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Photo #1-It's even a McSpadden! I was re-inspired...

Photo #2-Sheer force of water. Wow.

Photo #3-How many of us can fit in one little bunk?

Photo #4-Black Widder!

Photo #5-A job well done.

Photo #6-Best. Game. Ever.

Photo #7-Don't cut me!

Photo #8-We could use a shower about now...

Photo #9-Cut 3 times and still too short was NOT our motto.

I'm freshly back from Biloxi, and my sumary of the trip? It was great! What a growing experience for me as a leader! Yeah, that was one spot I really needed growing in. The company was splendid, the weather was... well... Hot! The work was fulfilling and the fellowship uplifting. I increased my number of friends, and there's no regrets there. My fellow team members were Dan, Aubrie, Elaine, Dena Marie, Keren, Randy, Rob, and Pastor John. Oh! and the dulcimer playing guy, Steve was still there, playing his dulcimer... Sweet! It was great being back in Biloxi, seeing Patty again, fixing up houses and talking with the locals. They each have a story, every one of them, and what they need is someone to listen to them, to feel with them, to cry with them, to hug them. We all had to be that someone.

The experience is almost too much to put into words. The best way to know is to go yourself. Believe me when I say they still need people to help clean up, to help rebuild, to show God's love.

Thank you God, for making me, eyes and nose, hands and feet. Ears to hear, lips to speak, and a heart that beats for you...

2006-06-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Awww, isn't it cute? Those little animals are so adorable! They are supposed to be Milo and Otis, the curious cat and the pug-nosed pup. I don't know what wrong with me. I can't stop singing stupid songs! And Phantom of the Opera tunes with different words. Same story for Wicked songs. And don't tell me it's because I'm in love, because I'm not. I'm just truely deep down inside happy and joyful inside! I've got the joy (aubrie) joy joy down in my heart! Wher? Down in my heart! Where? Down in my heart! Down in my heart to stay! And I'm so happy, so very happy, I've got the love of Jesus in my heart!

I have felt very worry and care-free in the past two days, even though I'm up to my eyeballs in mock ups and presentation folders at work. It's a very good feeling. Maybe it's because I found out that Dad's CT scan came back clear. Maybe it's because I cast all my cares upon God. Maybe it's the exhileration of summer. Maybe it's all of the above. Whatever it is, I like it.

I bought my very own, left-handed dulcimer almost two weeks ago in Shipshewana. It's so cool! I can play it, and I'm learning it. and I'm very excited about it! I also bought the Pride & Prejudice piano music, and I'm learning those songs too. Being back at the piano after years of sporadic playing is very nice. Especially when I'm playing songs that sound just like the ones from the movie! And not just any movie; one of my favorites! I'm becoming musical again. I wish I could take my dulcimer to Biloxi when I go again next week, but I don't think there will be enough room in the van, and the heat and humidity down there could hurt it. Anyway, I might be too tired to play it. I'll be happy to look forward to playing them when I come back.

That's right, you read correctly. I'm going back to Biloxi next week with a group from church. It's going to be killer fun! (Not that we'll be killing anything, on the contrary, we will be rebuilding!) I'll tell you all about it when I come back.

It's 10:00 pm now, and I didn't make my lunch yet, so I'd better get to skipping! Peanut butter, apples and craisins, here I come! No matter what anyone says, that is the BEST lunch in the whole wide world. Mmmmm Mm.

Lest I forget:
Lizzie's favorite CD of the week: shuffle all 712 songs on my iPod.
Lizzie's favorite movie of the week: Pirates of the Caribbean.
Lizzie's favorite book of the week: I'm starting Black, by Ted Dekker. It's pretty cool!
Lizzie's favorite instrument of the week: tie between piano and mountain dulcimer.
Lizzie's favorite list of favorite things: Lizzie's list :)

And last but not least, a quote from Tyndale's first (but not last) design summer intern, Miss Missy:
Quote #8 from volume #1
"How can I put this to you? Mmmmm. Well, I didn't sign on to be an intern to scan or do anything that's boring. It's my summer vacation after all! Gee... it's like a prison in here!

And I can't resist one more... wait... two more!
Quote #3 from volume #1
"Well, I don't think the warehouse will be hard work. When I was a little girl I rode horses on our estate and I'd have to clean up messes... we have people for that sort of thing now..."

Quote #3 from volume #2
"Whatcha mean I have to keep redoing it until I get it right? I'll be here forever!"

A Waiting Period

2006-05-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

I recently read the phrase "a waiting period" in a book I just finished, and it seemed appropriate to my life right now. Waiting. In our society waiting seems like something to be made shorter, always pushing towards faster, faster, faster! Currently, I am in a waiting stage, I believe, and I also think that were the waiting not to take so long, I might come out a "cheaper" person, so to say. Let's put it in context of things. Obviously, fast food is cheaper (in both price and quality), fake pearls are cheaper, they are not as high quality as real ones, abridged books are faster to read, but they lack the stuff of life for the most part. The list could go on and on, but you get the picture. Anything worthwhile is waited for, and paid for dearly. (Lady Fair, you probably know where this is going.)

And so I wait. I've had the desire to rush things along, but then I'd be like the pearls that are made by force, rather than the beautiful ones that gradually form over time. There are a lot of things I'm waiting on, and I can be sure that God is carefully crafting me to be a natural pearl, rather than a forced one.

I'm waiting on my job. Will I get the new position as a Production Artist, or will I not? Will I remain an Electronic Systems Assistant for awhile longer?

I'm waiting on healing for my dad. Will he be cured from this thorn in his flesh? Will he be around to walk me down the aisle one beautiful day when I'm wearing white?

I'm waiting on the husband that God intends for me to spend the rest of my life with. Have I met him? When will he show up? When will I feel truly "in love" and know that he's the one for me?

Those are a few of the things I'm waiting on, but with those, and all the rest, I realize that God is crafting me, forming me to become more like Christ, and to do such a thing takes time. With each passing day I'm hoping to be more and more like the Savior who has rescued me.

Now, enough deep stuff. Did you see anything funny about that mannequin's arm? Now if that was a police officer, that would be a classic example of the long arm of the law! While I was typing this, I heard Stitch chirping. It was a most peculiar sound, and loud for one little tiny gecko! By the way, sorry for the long gap of no writing. I got my wisdom teeth pulled out, all of them, and one had to be sawed up, and then I got dry sockets, so I wasn't feeling up to updating this.

Here are my top picks of the week (there's a lot of them!)
Music: a tie between the Face of Love CD and the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack (it's really very soothing when you're recovering from having you wisdom teeth out!)
Movie: Hmmm, I watched a lot of them while I was invalid, which one to pick... How about Pride & Prejudice? Bet you didn't see that one coming! Mansfield Park was good too, but there's one part you have to skip. (It makes for a good bathroom break)
Book: The Englisher, by Beverly Lewis, the Witness by Dee Henderson was good too (I started and finished both this week, so I'll let them share the spotlight)
Play: That's right! This week Lizzie has a play on her list. Actually, a musical. I saw "Wicked". It was wicked good.

Hmm, I think that's about it, unless you want to mention game, in which case I'd say Dutch Blitz!

Love to all, Lizzie

Huff Puff!

2006-05-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Huff puff is right! I played soccer with the boys today. I haven't played since high school gym. Not REALLY played. I did really good until the last minute. I tried to kick the ball from Jon and he caught my shin cross grain with his leg. Ow! I'm getting a bruise and a bump. Ice is cold too!

I just turned in the volunteer questionaire form to Samaritan's Purse for my group from church to go. Now I only hope that they have the dates I need available. We'll just have to wait and see. I got a pretty good sized group together, and I can't wait to see what God has in store regarding this trip.

Well, in other news, things have been going along well, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me as far as that goes too. It could be getting exciting, but isn't life alway exciting? I think so.

I don't have much to write about today, but I just wanted to say hi to my one solitary follower. Hi Lady Fair! Sunday should be exciting! I can't wait!

My music pick of the week: take a guess, the Face of Love.
My movie pick of the week: I only watched one, so it'll have to be it, X-Men 2.

The end. By the way, check out Anonymous 342's spot. He wrote a new article. *gasp*

Go Sanctus Go!

2006-04-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

Last night was so cool! I went to my sixth Sanctus Real concert (I never get tired of seeing my most favorite band ever!) with Dan, Jon, Josh, Aubrie, Ryan and Randy. And look! This time I actually had my camera with me, so I got a picture with Matt, the lead singer! Too bad Josh doesn't look more happy! When I see them for the seventh time, I'll have to get a picture with all of them. Yeah, if you can't tell, I love Sanctus Real.

I don't really remember what I was originally going to write about, because Lour called me and told me a story that distracted me. Actually, it floored me. But I'll leave that out and just go on about the concert. Mainstay, the Afters, and, of course, Sanctus Real were there. It was at Olivet Nazerine University. We were all packed in the mini van on the way there and back, and Dan got a warning from a police officer who let him off easy.

Dad's recovering good, but sometimes I get scared. It helps to have loving friends and family around to support you during times like these, feeling God's arms wrap around you to comfort and strengthen you. It brings to mind the lines of a song that really hit home to me: I'm not alright, I'm broken inside, and all I go through leads me to you (God).

Praise God that I have him to cling to through thick and thin.

Lizzie's cd of the week: a tie between Kutless' new album, Hearts of the Innocent and Sanctus Real's Face of Love, third week and counting.
Lizzie's movie of the week: the African Queen

Catch you later!

The Prodigal Gecko has Returned!

2006-04-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

After three and a half months, the prodigal gecko has returned. That's right! I speak of Stitch! I was at work last Friday, and Josh calls me to say he found Stitch, alive! I was shocked! I signed him off as dead three weeks after he ran away! Sunday morning Dan was able to catch him, and I now have my little gecko back! I had to go out to buy him the fattened cricket (and another light! I put all his old stuff to use on Algy's home!) Stitch has adjusted well to his new home after a long absence.

Dad has gone back to the hospital and had more surgery. It has been up to me to keep my brothers fed and all that good stuff. I also have to watch the dog (almost a full time job!) I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I do know that while I was at JoAnn's this evening getting white thread, Sadie fell or jumped out of the boys second floor bedroom window. What they were doing with the screen up, I don't know. Miraculously, Sadie wasn't hurt! And that's saying a lot since all she had to land on was a hard concrete porch! It must have looked funny though if there had been any passersby: a little black dog falling out of the sky! Poor Sadie.

I did see Mr. Bennett today (aka Dad) and he looked pretty good. I walked with him four times around the floor where his room is. In usual custom, one of the boys accidentally elbowed him in the stomach, that's got to hurt! He had a very nice CNA there, and I thought of Lady Fair. She might make a great CNA on a cancer floor because she's so kind and compassionate.

Well, housekeeping is wearing me out, and it's late. I'm going to bed. But first, my music and movie picks of the week:
Lizzie's music of the week: still the Face of Love by Sanctus Real
Lizzie's movie of the week: so far the BBC production of Wives and Daughters (I'm only halfway through, but it's good, at least, the boys and I like it!)

Happy Easter to everyone, celebrate that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and then he conquered death and rose again!

ROCK ON!!!!

2006-04-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

Guess what I'm listening to right this very minute?! Only the long awaited, much-expected, can't be bad, new cd from Sanctus Real, The Face of Love! Oh, is it every spectacular! I advise everyone to get their hands on a copy, but you can't borrow mine, I'm listening to it. I have been really excited about this, (in case you can't tell!). And in a couple of weeks, I'll be seeing Sanctus Real in person... for the sixth time I think. Hooray! By the way, did I tell you that this cd totally rocks?
This weekend I'll be enjoying movies and music and that's about it, since I'm having my wisdom teeth pulled out on Friday. Ouch! But on the lighter side, I'll never have to get my wisdom teeth pulled out again in my life because they'll all be gone, and maybe my headaches will go away too! Bonus.
I also have a new fish. Lord Goring died. Very sad. So last weekend I bought Bo. He's a buggy-eyed black little goldfish and he's very cute. I figured that I'd had bad luck with betas, so I should try something different. I hope this little guy lives a long time. Sorry that his name isn't refined and dignified like Mr. Darcy's and Lord Goring's were, but I was feeling in a southern mood, and Bo was the name for him.
Speaking of Southern, I got to see the missions trip DVD last week in chapel. It was great! Cheers to Alan for doing such a remarkable job! Shockingly, I got in the video a lot, and I was even mentioned as a person who surprised Mark the most! (I wanted to melt into my chair because everyone looked at me and all of design was sitting directly behind me!). I got to reunite with my cronies from the trip, and after watching the video, I felt like I had just gotten back from my trip. John told me that I got a lot of "shout out time" (as he put it) on the video, and I agreed, although I confessed that I had no idea why, I didn't think I said anything THAT remarkable in my interview! I should've told John that he had quite a lot of air time as well, he was in almost every frame! Team #1 definitely got more time overall, because we had the videographer on our team, and he knew what kind of shots he wanted to get. Anyway, I get my copy either Friday (depending on how I feel) or Monday, so if you want to see it, let me know and I'll spread the love.
Well, the food downstairs is smelling mighty good to a hungry soul like me, so I think I'll go indulge in some taste-bud excitement. Oh! I forgot to say, I was designing and creating a presentation folder for some girl who won American Idol, a Carrie Underwood (sounds like a hobbit name to me), but if she can get a chance to write a book, maybe Sanctus Real can! Oh boy, if that ever happens, I'll be drooling to make the presentation package!
Signing out...
-Lizzie

Oh, I almost forgot!
Lizzie's cd of the week: The Face of Love by Sanctus Real
Lizzie's movie of the week: BBC's version of Jane Eyre, but don't watch it unless you've got 300 spare minutes.

Long Time, No Write

2006-03-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's been a little while. I guess that's because I don't really have anything to write about. Nothing that I thought would interest the thousands of gossip-hungry vagrants wandering the Blogger atmosphere. (No offense intended!) Lately, I've taken a creative turn, and I am thankful. I had a long dry spell with out feeling creative. You can see some of the fruits of my labor here; a cd cover and poster for Matt. I'm pretty pleased with them, which isn't something I'm prone to say about my own work.

These past couple of weeks since I got back from my trip have been a growing experience for me. In learning how to keep my focus entirely on God, and trusting Him to take care of me, and to give me what I need not a second before I need it, but the exact moment that I do. It takes a lot of trust and prayer. I've become more confident in myself, that confidence being that of realizing that I don't have to be as shy as my shyness always seemed to make me. I can talk to unacquainted people and become acquainted. I can learn how to do new things, and do them well. That is a good step for someone who's a lot like a loyal golden retriever: tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it as best I can. Granted, that's not altogether a bad trait, but it helps to be able to give you own input as well. God is changing me. Caution: hard hats! Area under construction. But don't worry, I asked God to do that.

My movie pick of the week: the new Pride & Prejudice.
My cd pick of the week: Shawn McDonald's new album, Ripen.

Good stuff. Well, I need to update my iPod with the afore-mentioned cd, and straighten up my room before leaving for choir. Like my blog, my room has become a little disorganized as I spent more time learning life lessons. Time to clean up!

A Turning Point

2006-03-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

I'm back! I arrived mostly in one piece back at Tyndale on Sunday morning at 8:00am. Parting was such sweet sorrow, but seeing my parents made up for it. I hope the things I learned on the trip will not quickly go the way of the dodo, which gave me a bit of a struggle, because I felt that I learned good things, and didn't want to revert back to old ways. I'll put this blog into two parts. Part 1 will be some stories. Part 2 will be lessons learned. Let's begin:

Part 1:
First we worked on Patty's house. It needed insulation and drywall, and to pass the electrical test, which as of 3:00pm today it still hadn't done. Patty told us at one point that before we came, she was despairing. Her husband had left her only a month ago, after they got the FEMA money. He took half and bugged out. She was left with two kids still at home (in the FEMA trailer) four dogs, a wrecked shell of a house, and no job. As we were leaving, she told us that now she had hope. She could see a light at the end of the tunnel, although she still had a long road ahead of her. As I was leaving her house, her daughter Kaitlyn came up with her dog and told me that her dog said goodbye and that it was going to miss me (she made it wave while saying this) Then, really quickly, she added that was going to miss me too. I was touched. She had never singled me out before, but it struck home with me how appreciative she was that I had come to help them rebuild their lives. I told her that I would miss her too.

Several days later, we found ourselves plumb out of work one day after lunch, so we headed back to the Samaritan's Purse HQ to get a new assignment. They sent us off to the Taco Bell house (it looked like a Taco Bell). The rest of the story, I found out that night, and this is how it goes: About 15 minutes after we had left SP HQ, the lady who owned the house and her daughter showed up, wondering where their house was on the list. The daughter had taken the day off work because she felt that her parents needed some encouragement. They were in tears as they inquired about their house, and then the SP lady told them to go on over to their house, because there was a team there now working on it! They came over to the house all joyous. The lady, Jesnah (Yes-Nah), a Croatian lady with both a Croatian and Southern accent (very odd) was bubbling all over to everyone about what used to be where, what additions her husband had made, everything. We were doing demo work, so there was wood and nails all over the floor. In between narrations of what used to be where and how the house looked before, Jesnah would say "Oh! I stepped on a nail!" For almost every step she took. We were so afraid she'd actually get one in her foot! We were relieved when she moved to safer ground. She told Kristen how her husband would come and sit on the steps for hours at a time, unable to work on the house because of health problems (they were an elderly couple) and how sometimes he would just sit there and cry. He had been there before we got there. Jesnah and her daughter decided to go back to their trailer and get him. (Their property was not big enough for a trailer to sit, so it was at another location). When he came, he was so touched. He had felt so discouraged that day, and later he got all choked up and told Jeff that without the Christians, they wouldn't have anything. God's timing was perfect for that couple. He knew they needed encouragement just at the right moment. He is amazing.

The next day, half my team went back to the Taco Bell house, and I was one of them. I got to rip out a whole little bathroom by myself! They dubbed me the Demolition Queen. I only had a little help. Mark helped me get the toilet and sink out, and I thought it would be wise to let him take out the light fixture too, I didn't want to get zapped, especially since I don't have a clue about wires and stuff. Later, I had to get John to cut out part of the ceiling, but the blade kept getting snagged, so we yanked on it till it broke off. I knocked walls out with a little sledge hammer and then when I couldn't get an accurate hit, I kicked it in. (Hammering at waist level is a little tricky!) I ripped the fake tile off the inner walls and pulled the foamy ceiling tiles off before unscrewing the plywood up there. The guy who built the bathroom must not have believed in drywall, because all the walls were made of plywood. I got lucky, my bathroom only had 1/8 to 1/4 inch wood. The other bathroom had 1/2 inch! When I was almost done with the ceiling, the unfortunate happened. It goes like this: Two screws got rounded out, so I had to pull them out with the hammer. Like I said before, the other bathroom had 1/2 inch wall, so the guys had the ladders. I had a folding chair. (hint: this is forshadowing!) One screw came out easily. Screw #2 was different. I yanked and pulled and twisted it... all to no avail. So I kind of jumped a little to get some more oomph on it, and then, the screw shot out like a bullet, all my weight was on the hammer, so I fell one way, the folding chair went the other way. I hit the 2x4 with a double row of screw heads sticking out about 1/4 of an inch. Then, because I hadn't hit the floor yet, I slid down. OW! Everyone came running to see if I was alright. I said I was, tried to get up, and realized my back felt like it was on fire! Diane bandaged me up, and I tried to ignore the pain and went back to work. That was when I finished pulling down the ceiling with a little help (after I pulled all the screws out of the studs though!)

Part 2:
I learned a lot of things. I'll just list them in the interest of time. I learned the meaning of Matthew 6:25-34. I learned how to make quick friendships. After all, I had to spend 36 hours in the van with these people, and that was only travel time! You don't get alone time on a trip like that. Being by myself when I got back was a bit of shocker. This led me to a decision: I've been trying to get to know Mr. P for months, and haven't really made any headway, if I'm quite honest with myself. I made the decision that I'm done with that. When I made that choice, as a conscious decision, I felt a little burden lift from my shoulders. Afterwards I found that Jeff had prayed about which people to put on what teams, and since Mr. P ended up on Team 2, and I on Team 1, it only served to confirm what I did. That part of my life is behind me. If God can send a team to work on Ray and Jesnah's house right when they felt so discouraged, I don't need to doubt that He can find the perfect guy for me. So I put it all in God's hands and I have moved on. I also learned that I can measure for and cut drywall, with the bend and snap method, and hang it with a power drill. Ooorah! I can build my own house someday! I also changed my heart. It used to say "no way" whenever missions came up. I like my comfort zone and I like it surrounded with familiar things, so I had always thought, "oh, someone else will do it". But now, if I feel God's calling me to be a missionary, I will not block it out or ignore Him. And I think that's a good thing to learn.

I'd like to take a minute to say thanks to all my missions trip cohorts, who made it really easy for me to get to know them, even though none of them will ever see this: Thanks Lisa, Diane, Kristen, Jeff, John, Mark, Kevin, Jon, Alan, Sheppard, Shawn, and Winder. And Ma and Dad for letting me go and encouraging me to go. It was really them who pushed me to sign up. I was scared to sign up, but once I did, I didn't look back. I might have turned to a salt statue! And Ma got a dog while I was gone. Little Sadie.

2006-02-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

This is my most recently completed art project. Please forgive the glare at the bottom, that's what happens when your camera has a flash and your art has a high sheen of gloss all over it. Anyway, it took me long enough to finish. I think I started it in the early summer or late spring of last year. It looks pretty good though. Special thanks to Dan, Miriam, Janelle and Laura, who, along with myself happen to be my subjects. (Please don't hate me if you don't like how I drew you! I tried my best!) I hope everyone likes it.

Next order of business. February 19th I am leaving for my missions trip, so don't expect to see any updates or comments from me until after the 26th of February. I'll be mucking out Biloxi Mississippi from hurricane damage. I'll make a special post when I get back all about my trip. It might break my traditional layout of one picture per post. I'm looking forward to it, as it is my first missions trip. Time to get to know the co-workers real well as I get dirty with them. I'd like to commemorate the Audio A song "Dirty" as my theme song for my trip. I'll listen to it everyday. (Actually, I probably won't). But I'm sure I'll get dirty and stinky and all that good stuff.

I don't really have anything else to write about except this: Did I ever mention that I don't like typing on a PC keyboard? Everything's so spaced out and far away! Give me a Mac keyboard any day over this one!

And so this is farewell. Please pray for me as I'm on my trip, I can be a little bit of a Klutz and I don't want to end up with a nail in my foot, or fall off a roof. And pray for the people we'll be ministering to as well. This is a great chance to witness to them in their time of need. And as Lizzie goes off into the deep South, she hopes that her alter ego of Captain Klutz might stay home. He gets a little break next week from the everyday trials of WWII.

-Lizzie

Behold, the Bean! (or My Field Trip of Dreams)

2006-02-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

From a couple days ago to all days henceforth, this Bean in Millenium Park will hold a special place in my heart. *sigh* I suppose you want to hear the story. Okay, I'll tell you.
Once upon a time in the land of America, in the fair state of Illinois, there lived a young maiden named Lizzie. She worked at a publishing house where they made Bibles and books and all sorts of good things. At this company there also worked a young squire, of whom the maiden had "eyes" for. One day, the manager of the department where the fair maiden worked decided that they would all go on a field trip to the Big City. Lizzie was sad, because she so wanted the squire to be able to go so that she could get to know him better. "Oh well", thought Lizzie, "I'll have to make the best of it."
The day before the design department was to leave, they had a meeting. The squire, Squire P, happened to be in attendance. (Happened? Or was it more than chance? I believe it was the latter). The manager saw Squire P, and said "Why don't you come with us tomorrow to the Big City?" The squire made no answer, but Lizzie kindled a little spark of hope.
The next day dawned bright and chilly. Lizzie parked her carraige at the hitching post and hurried in so she wouldn't miss chapel. Chapel was a very important event each week. She sat down and enjoyed it, although the speaker had been on Oprah, which (in Lizzie's opinion) earned her a point or two on the annoyance scale. But the most interesting part, or rather two most interesting parts, happened one right after the other. First, Lizzie Bennett saw the other Lizzy Benet who worked there, wearing the same thing Lizzie was! How shocking! Secondly, Squire P was wearing denim trousers, on a Thursday! Unheard of! The only other people who were clad similarly were Lizzie's fellow co-workers who were going on the Field Trip! Did Lizzie dare to hope? I saw her spark of hope grow into a little flame.
The fair maiden didn't hear anything else until a half an hour before she was going to leave. Sir Stephen announced to everyone that Squire P was going to come! Lizzie could hardly contain herself, she was so excited! Carefully, she planned her next move. She knew what people were going to be driving the carraiges into the Big City, but she wanted to make sure that whatever carraige she ended up in, also had Squire P riding along.
When they left the company, Lizzie stuck close by the squire, and ended up leading him to an available carriage. Lizzie was even more excited! For the whole ride into the big city she rode next to Squire P and listened to all his stories with rapt attention. Never once did she hear him talk about a lady fair of his, which was what Lizzie had longed to know. She found that the more she found out about him, the more she liked him. The fair maiden felt like she was in a fairy tale, sans the fairy godmother with her itchy fairy dust.
When they all reached the Big City, they went to some exhibits and ate dinner at a local inn called the Green Door. Throughout almost the entire time, Squire P stayed close by Lizzie, and they dined at the same table, across from eachother! By the end of dinner, Lizzie couldn't control the enormously big smile that wanted to stay on her face. But Lizzie didn't care. It seemed like she had never been to the Big City before because everything seemed new and wonderful. At the end of the trip, all the other carraiges had left except for the one that Lizzie and Squire P had rode in, but all the people who had rode in that one thought that they should see the magical Bean.
The group set off, and Lizzie was almost skipping, and when they reached the magical Bean, she was standing next to the young squire. Everyone admired it, and when he saw it, Sir Luke said it would be fun to be a superhero in the Big City, and then Lizzie and Squire P agreed and eventually, they were all laughing and joking and having a good time together.
Needless to say, Lizzie will never look at the magical Bean in the same way again. It will forever remind her of the glorious trip into the Big City, and how under almost impossible circumstances, everything was brought together by the one who is way better than a fairy godmother.
And Lizzie had yet to see if they would live "happily ever after."
THE END

Algernon the Gecko

2006-01-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

Say Hi to Algie! Isn't he cute? This is my adorable little leopard gecko who I got for my birthday from my brothers. Aren't they nice? Algie is a very curious little gecko, and he can consume a large volume of crickets in a single day. Stinks to be them!
This will be a very short blog post, since I have other stuff to do tonight, then again, maybe it won't. I just fixed my own internet problem, that's why I'm able to write this, and I feel a bit like a nerd. But hey! I'm a self-sufficient nerd.
I will address several topics in this post.
Topic #1
Beware when getting a tetanus shot! I got one last week, and it gave me a minor case of lock jaw. Aats aye I an't alk ight anyore. Aye outh on't ove an I an't ose it! Yeah, I had to stay home from work and everything. Hello fever and sore muscle! Man, what a horrible case of tetanus I would've had if I never got the shot! Thanks God for vaccinations.
Topic #2
Don't run towards doors with glass when you arm is outstretched. Lizzie's brother did that at church and he's paying the price. It cost him 24 stitches and a ride in an ambulance. And I got to go too because I was the present guardian. Sweet. Too bad they didn't go fast, run red lights, and flash their lights. I didn't get all woozy either when I came in the bathroom and saw blood everywhere. The biggest concern on my brother's mind was that we wouldn't be able to get ice cream that night. No, I guess not.
Topic #3
I got interviewed for the Tyndale Tydings! A life-long dream come true! I hope Mr. P reads it and pays special attention to this question and answer: TT: Who has influenced your life the most, and how? LB: My parents, without a doubt. Throughout my life they have been there for me, loving me and teaching me how to walk with God. It is my goal to be like them, ESPECIALLY IF I SHOULD ONE DAY HAVE A FAMILY OF MY OWN. (Emphasis added). Maybe he'll keep his copy of that Tydings forever, like I've kept his!
Topic #4
I don't think I have a topic #4, except this: I watched the six-hour long Pride and Prejudice while I was laid up with fever and sore muscles, it gets better and better every time I watch it. If you haven't seen it, why are you reading a Pride and Prejudice based blog? I did put that down as my favorite book other than the Bible, and as my favorite movie (both versions) along with the good old Lord of the Rings trilogy in the Tydings interview. In all reality, if you haven't seen it, I can hook you up. Just leave me a comment and I'll see how I can help you out. MawMaw and PawPaw, you might have to wait till I come visiting next, but then I don't know if you'd want to spend six hours watching one of the best movie of all time. (It's much more interesting to me than Mars though PawPaw, please don't take offense!)
That's all for now, signing off, I need to go feed those poor hapless crickets to my vicious little gecko!

A Wonderful-Good Day!

2006-01-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

If I ever started a previous blog article with "best day ever", please disregard it.

It's The Best Day Ever! Whoever said Friday the 13ths were bad and unfortunate was most assuredly mistaken! They are the best! I shall never ever say the are bad, and if anyone disrepects Friday the 13ths, I will tell them that they are silly. They are most wonderful! You see, if you're patient and wait on God through thick and thin, He'll come through. God has never let me down yet, and I don't believe He ever means to drop the ball on me. I will relate to my avid readers what happened today. (Please note: I'm still 22, so something extraordinary has happened!)

First things first. Yesterday was GroupWise Training for the Mac, and I was signed up to go to the one right after chapel. Providentially, Mr. P came and sat in the row behind me, and he sat right behind me too! He never sits with Design. He's always with his marketing cronies. Anyway, Barry asked him if he had heard about the classes, and Mr. P said no. So Barry told him to come to the class right after chapel. I almost flew out of my chair! That was my class! After chapel, I made my way up to the training room. The whole front row was taken, so I took my usual spot in the back row, the left most seat of the three computers. Then in came Stephen followed by Mr. P! Much to my chagrin, Stephen took the chair right next to me, but that's okay, Mr. P had to take the last seat, which only one away from me. The class lasted almost three hours. Three hours in the company of Mr. P! At one point I had a question, and the instructor didn't know the answer, but Mr. P leaned over, and said my name *sigh* and told me the shortcut he had devised to get around that problem. I most gratefully told him thank you (more so for saying my name than anything) And he was looking straight in my eyes! *sigh* Amber was in that class, and we were shooting e-mails back and forth to eachother about it, and her other little secret. By the way, congradulations Amber!

Today, I brought cookies in because my birthday is tomorrow. I set them up in my cube, and sent out an e-mail to Design and Mr. P, and invited them to my cube to taste my delectible cookies. I was all alone in the big design room (everyone else had gone to the GroupWise training today) and I sent Al a job related e-mail. Then, in a spurt of boldness, I tacked on this last little line: "By the way, does Mr. P have a girlfriend? I was just curious" (I used his real name though, Al would be clueless as to who "Mr. P" was) I shut my eyes, and hit the "send" button. Eeeek! I did it! I was both excited and nervous to get Al's reply back. So I called Ma to tell her what I did. I talked to her for a little while, and then I hung up. I got out of my chair to put something away, and who was waiting a little ways away from my cube?... Mr. P! He said he had come for a cookie, I said "sure, go right ahead!" And he took one, and held it, and I quickly remembered something that Ma had wanted to know from someone who does "journalistic" things, and Mr. P was just the person to ask. So I did. My legs were like Jell-O and I had to "casually" lean against my desk so that I wouldn't fall in a heap at his feet. I didn't know that stuff like that happened in real life! I've read about it in books, but they were fiction! After some conversation, he turned to go and said thanks for the cookie, and I told him he was quite welcome. Then I had a huge smile on my face that I had to try to compose before I went anywhere else.

And then later, I got an e-mail back from Al. He said he was 98% sure that Mr. P didn't have a girlfriend, but he could find out for sure if I wanted him to. I wrote back and asked if he could, and if he did, I would let his team win in Call of Duty all next week. Then he wrote back and said "Oh my! Someone has it bad!" Yeah, I guess I do.

And that was my most wonderful day ever! I can't contain myself! I think I need to play some Dance Dance Revolution and burn off some steam. And then maybe I won't be able to sleep, in which case I'll get up and play Medal of Honor until I drop over my keyboard! Oh, I can't wait till Al gets back to me with his results! Maybe he'll drop a couple of hints along the way too!

Well, I'm still smiling, but I have nothing left to write. I think I'll go and find something useful to do.

The Frog Prince

2006-01-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Do you like my poster? I think I'll hang up a copy of it in my cubicle. It's a nice little reminder, isn't it? As Superchic[k] so nicely reminds us, "all princes start as frogs, and all gentlemen as dogs." Now every time I feel like I'll never meet my "Prince", I can look at this poster and be reminded to be patient. Besides creating a reminder, I also learned some Photoshop tips while working on it. Tip #1, when you take a class to learn Photoshop, make sure that your teacher actually teaches it to you! I was unfortunate enough to not get any Photoshop training in my Photoshop class. Thanks. Now I can learn Photoshop through experiments, frustrations, and helpful co-workers who know it better than I do.

But isn't the Frog Prince cute? He hails from the kingdom of IKEA, but reigns in the dominion of Lizzie's cubicle, which he takes very seriously.

Unless something spectacular happens, this will be my last blog...

...as a 22 year old! Had you scared there didn't I? Next Saturday Lizzie Bennett turns 23! Hooray! Three cheers for Lizzie! On my next post, I will have a picture of an adorable leopard gecko who will be named Algernon, or "Algy" for short. For all of you "Importance of Being Earnest" fans out there, you know who his namesake will be! But I won't say too much, because I don't want to spoil next week's post.

Since I'm turning another year older, I want to list the top 22 occurrences of my 22nd year of life. Here they are:

Top 22 occurrences of Lizzie's 22nd Year
(not in any particular order)
1. Found out Dad had cancer.
2. Grew closer to God, family & friends.
3. Bought a car (Mr. Prix).
4. Discovered she likes Mr. P... a lot.
5. Went on vacation to Sanibel Island and Smokey Mountains and camped several times.
6. Completed first year of work at Tyndale.
7. Had a week's crash course on how to be housewifely.
8. Found out that one day I would have a sister who I dearly love.
9. Lost Stitch (in the literal sense).
10. Got creatively active again.
11. Read Pride & Prejudice, bought and watched the BBC version multiple times, and saw the feature film twice, got the soundtrack to it, and created this blog, which is based off Pride & Prejudice.
12. Has gone clothes shopping with Ma and she likes it!
13. Got a fish to keep her company in her cube (Lord Goring).
14. Went to see the Lord of the Rings Exposition.
15. Didn't go to the doctor or dentist once. SWEET!!!!
16. Went to a couple Sanctus Real and Audio A concerts.
17. Hung out in the 1890s a lot.
18. Climbed a mountain to the very top.
19. Learned to rely on God not only in troubled times.
20. Saw Anonymous 342 graduate COD State and get a real job.
21. Watched Jon and Josh get bigger than her.
22. Acquired a new hairstyle.

I'm sure a lot of those aren't really the top 22, but without reading my journals, I forgot some stuff. Either that or the first half of my 22nd year was dreadfully dull.

Well, until next week's exciting new episode, so long!

Why Do I Have To Be So Doggone Timid!

2005-12-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

Yeah. That's what I feel like: a soggy wet dog. A soggy, wet, timid dog. Come on, how many perfect opportunities does a person get in a lifetime? If I weren't such a coward I could make the most of all those opportunities! I've run out of fingers to count how many times I have blown it. It being my chance to talk to Mr. P. I had like, one excellent opportunity this afternoon at work, one yesterday morning at work, like three chances the week of Christmas at various times of the day, all in the mock-up room. Sometimes I get so frustrated at myself that I feel like yanking on my hair. Can God just show me a crystal ball that has a picture of my future family in it? That would make it easier...or maybe not... I confess, I'm completely dim-headed when it comes around to anything related with me wanting to be more than "just friends" with a guy. I've never wanted to do that before. Oh tellers of wisdom, or rather, advisors, please pass on the expertise!
Maybe I should take a lesson from the Phantom of the Opera.

Step 1: Find a mysterious costume.
Step 2: Hide out in various locations at Tyndale.
Step 3: acquire detailed information on the subject; or get spies. Spies are good. Then I don't have to be everywhere at once.
Step 4: Find the subject's most favorite pastime, hobby, or interest. Get better than them in it, and "school them" on how to do it better so that I become "the Angel of ________" (fill in the blank).
Step 5: At the appropriate time, kidnap the subject.
Step 6: Get killed by an angry mob... or be forced to live my life in seclusion...

Maybe that's not such a good idea. The Phantom might have been timid, but his plan was bad. Plan B:
Find someone on missions team #2 and create a scheduling conflict for them. Invite them to the president's house or something. Then, sacrificially give up my spot in Team #1 to let that person have it, and then take that person's spot on Team #2. Mission accomplished. Then I'll spend one week being a timid dog and missing the Third Day/ David Crowder Band concert to boot. Maybe that's not so hot either.

Plan C (this is it!!!)
1. Pray
2. Pray
3. Pray (for courage especially)
4. Get bold (ask subject a question they can't evade when passing in the hall or meeting in the mock-up room. Punish myself if I don't. No ice cream for 2 months!)
5. Get super bold (get spy to find out if girl at the banquet was a "special friend" or just someone [please be the latter])
- If the girl turns out to be a "special friend", break down in sadness, cry and get it all out. If not, throw a party and carry out the rest of the plan!! -
6. Bring the Lady Fair to work and have her ask him the question that I dreamed she asked him. Way to go Lady Fair!
7. Pray again
8. Act normal, don't pull into my shell.
9. Take advantage of every opportunity
10. Pray some more

Can someone else just do this for me? I'm feeling chicken. buck bwauk buck bwauk!
This whole business is complicated. I think courtship was set up to weed out the chickens from the rest. I don't want to be a chicken! I don't want to be weeded out! Especially when someone check off so many items on the "potential husband material" list. I try so hard not to set my heart on things, but like I said, it's hard, and where do you find decent people these days? Especially ones who remind you so much of your own brother! If I could marry someone like Anonymous 342, I'd be set for life! (Lucky Lady Fair) Oh, I'm so in a quandary, and I had to spill it all out, my journal couldn't satiate this.
All comments of wisdom are welcome. Please click "comments" and leave me a morsel of courage.

I'd better post this now before I chicken out of it too!

Me, a Missionary?

2005-12-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

I just found out that I am going on a Tyndale-sponsored missions trip at the end of February! I turned in my application a couple of weeks ago, and today I saw that I was going. I will be traveling to Biloxi Mississippi to help the elderly and the poor sort through and clean up their homes from Katrina. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll keep everyone updated as I get more information. So far, all I know is that I am going, and I'm going to be housed at the United Methodist Seaside Camp. In a twist of events that I don't understand but God does, Mr. P is going on the trip as well, but he is in team 2, and I am in team 1. Team 2 leaves for the same destination the day after team 1 gets back. I won't say I've been foiled again, because it was never my plan to be foiled in. Maybe someone will have to switch weeks and certain people will get moved to other teams to accommodate their schedule! But since matchmaking is not the reason that I'm going on this trip, I will try to be content. After all, look at all that Lizzie had to go through to finally marry Mr. Darcy!
Speaking of Mr. Darcy, I would like to say hello to Miriam who checked in on my blog. Hi Miriam! Yes, you do have to see Pride & Prejudice! It's so good! (I'm listening to the soundtrack right now, and it simply inspiring!) By the way, I'm drawing a picture of you from last year's recitation. I hope you don't mind that. I'll get you a copy when I'm done...whenever that may be.
And lastly, I would like to take a moment to remember my dear gecko, Stitch. In an emotional moment, Stitch decided that he did not want to live at home anymore. He ran away with nothing but the glass-clinging capabilities that he has to a place totally devoid of glass, believing, on a falsehood, that life under the bathroom cabinets and in the walls of the building in which I live would be glorious and better than anything I had ever provided him with. Without so much as a backward glance, he took off into the unknown, and I have yet to hear from him. Stitch has turned his back on everything he has known, choosing instead to live a wild and reckless life. Where he is now living, darkness reigns, and the light is banished. Doesn't he know that he needs the light to live? His very being depends upon it! Day after day, I stand upon the bathroom threshold and look for him to come crawling out of the depraved area where he has been residing. When (if) I see him coming, I shall kill the fattened cricket and throw a party for him, for my gecko that was dead to me will have returned.

Merry Christmas! Not Happy Holidays

2005-12-16T16:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! None of that vague happy "holiday" junk. What? Is someone afraid that I'll be offended if they wish me Merry Christmas? Hah! Bah humbug you "politically correct" fiends! Merry Christmas, merry Christmas, and merry Christmas to you too.

Yes, Christmas is upon us. Alas, I was farther behind in my shopping than ever this year, but that's all right, I've had a lot going on! This is the time of year when Tyndale becomes a ghost-town. Everybody's off enjoying the...Christmas season. (If you thought I was going to say holidays, you were incorrect). So yeah, I'll be at work, maybe one or two other people will be there. Yep, that's about it. I don't think we'll be having a green Christmas this year. After all, it's not yet winter and we already have had snow. Actually, several of them. That's alright, I like snow. What I don't like are blistering winds! Cold, freezing, bone-chilling winds. The kind that sweep across the midwestern plains in January. But for now it's Christmastime.

Well, I'll be signing off now. Thanks for reading my blog, and have a very merry Christmas. I've got to go do some stuff so that I'll be ready to go watch King Kong. Bye!

Wait... I'm back. I feel like I should write just a little more to make reading this worth your while! Oh! I could write this: Remember in Pride & Prejudice when Mr. Bennet tells Lizzy that every girl "likes to be crossed in love" now and then? Well, he was wrong!

My Week as a Super House-Wife in Training

2005-12-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

Yes... That's me, the Super House-Wife in Training!

Yeah right, who am I trying to kid?

Back to reality. It was a crash-course training week in house-wifely duties. Part 2 of a two part training session. Let's have a brief recap:

Monday, Day 1
I take the boys to work with me. They enjoy it, surprisingly! They look around every corner, into every cubicle they pass by, longing for a view at the elusive Mr. P. Lucky them, they got one, and I don't think that they totally blew my cover. He even introduced himself to them. How nice! Now that they've seen him in person, maybe they understand why he's "bewitched me, body and soul", although I tend to believe that he would make a better Mr. Darcy. Ahem. Back to the task at hand. Dinner was provided that night by a kind soul from church. We had Tots with our dinner. "Hey, are you gonna eat your Tots?" Yes, actually we did. We ate every last one. Thanks Napoleon. Then on to choir. After wards I bought the boys ice cream at Culvers because they were good at work and they didn't blow my cover to Mr. P.

Tuesday, Day 2
Rough day really. A co-worker at Tyndale died form melanoma on Thanksgiving and this was the day of her memorial service. Difficult because of 2 reasons: 1) She was my co-worker, and it's hard to watch them suffer their illness 2) She had the same kind of cancer Dad does. Follow my mind if you will. Do you see me imagining the funeral being for someone else much closer to me? If you did, then you saw what my mind did to me at the end. I came home rather a mess, and as Anonymous had to go to school that night, he called the Lady Fair to come and spend the evening with me. How kind and thoughtful of him, foreseeing my need. As you can gather, I only did the bare minimum of house-wifely duties that night, and after the Lady Fair comforted me in the absence of my own dear mother, we watched the Phantom of the Opera (is here, inside my mind) I went to bed feeling emotionally wrung out. Oh yes, dinner was provided again, but I won't complain about it being lasagna. (Although I might call it lagagsa)

Wednesday, Day 3
I've been ambushed! The common cold set a trap for me and caught me, or rather, I caught it! As the day goes on I begin to feel like I stayed up 24 hours in a row, not so, but I felt weary. The day itself went good though. Again, I was spared cooking, we had dinner at the house of Lady Fair and her family. The boys were at Bible study, so while we waited for them, we watched part of Willy Wonka. I was so cold. When we got home, I went straight to bed.

Thursday, Day 4
Gasp! I forgot to make my lunch! Or wait, no, that was yesterday. Whew! Let me sleep for 5 more minutes. La la la la la. Take shower, lolligag at picking out clothes, open shade... Oh my gosh! Snow! It's going to take 10 billion years to get to work! Hustle bustle, hurry hurry! Thank goodness for automatic car starters, I can begin to thaw out Mr. Prix while I'm still getting ready. Leave house, drive on slick road. Reach Rt. 53. Oh...my...word. Did people forget how to drive in the snow? Hello? This road is clear, so why are you gridlocked? 8:15 am. Reach work thanks to an alternate route. Chapel already started, so I have to stand in the back, clearly marking my tardiness. But I am not alone. Mr. P was tardy too. I get home late this day because I have to stay 15 minute extra to make up for tardiness. It feels like detention. I hurry home, no word on dinner. Messiah practice is drawing nigh, oh well, can't wait anymore, I'll cook dinner!! Dat ta daa! The first task of the house-wife: Cook grub! Mmmmm, it was good. The other dinner did come eventually, we still have it in the fridge, it was lasagna again, this time with spinach, a slight variation. We go to Messiah, it being the last regular practice, it goes longer than normal, my big list of things to accomplish goes unchecked, undone. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll still have it, tomorrow, it's only a daaaay a-waaay!

Friday, Day 5
I'm a poor little orphan. Actually, sticking with the house-wifely theme, maybe I'm nearing empty-nester. Imagine, I'm the mom. All my little boys have gone off into the great big world and left me a lone with the cat. No matter, I can check all those items off my list! But first; music! I need some. I ingeniously figure out how to connect my iPod to my computer speakers (detached from computer Geefe of course) and make the iPod play through them instead of the headphones. This does not go without thanks to the adaptor that I had to buy a while ago to connect the speakers to the computer. So I bring the whole kit and caboodle down to the kitchen and put iPod on shuffle. Begin work. Item #1, kitchen: Gasp, what a mess! Brothers don't really understand how to clean (or keep clean) a kitchen. I spend a lot of time here. Dinner comes, I eat it by myself. There were oatmeal raisin cookies too! (I had 4, don't tell anyone, and don't remind me of touch it to your lips, goes straight to your hips!) Then, I did another house wifely thing: I made scones for breakfast tomorrow, and on top of that, I experimented with the ingredients! I put in lingonberry sauce instead of dried cranberries. I'll see what it tastes like tomorrow. I hope they're good! Item #2, make mom and dad's bed. Who's been sleeping in it? They've been staying at their downtown suite with round the clock room service where the bellboys and clerks and maids all wear scrubs! Item #3, cat litter. Let's just say, I shouldn't have left it unchecked for the better part of a week, mistake. Minus 5 points for that, although I do that even when I don't have any house-wifely duties on top of the full-time job. Between jobs, I take some time out to waltz around the kitchen to my music with my kitty as my dance partner. I hope the neighbors didn't see.

So in conclusion, now you know why I haven't updated my blog in a week. I've been practicing house-wifely duties. Watch out for when I'm a real one! I'll hopefully have things a little more under control. Although I thought I did pretty good. Ma has NEVER left us children all alone to our selves in our ENTIRE lives for this long before. A+ for me!

Update:
Saturday, Day 6
Due to ... complications, my on the spot training of house-wifery continues. And so does the common cold that attacked me earlier this week. Um, yeah, I'm supposed to be singing in the Messiah tomorrow, but as of right now, my most powerful voice is this blog. Not good. My blog can't sing the hallelujah chorus, can it? For my duties today, I did all the laundry, and folded it. I don't think I'll get to put it away, or sort it out, but that's okay, it usually takes Mom 2 days to get all the laundry finished, and she's a pro! Hopefully she'll be pleasantly surprised upon her return home to see all the work she thought that she would have to do is already done. And I even had time to spend on my artistic endeavors. Maybe soon you'll be able to see some of my more recent works. I also just finished watching Love's Long Journey with Lady Fair. It was good. There was a beeg stvrong Norvegian man in the movie, and Lady Fair was making fun of me! She has this way of laughing at you that you almost don't realize she's doing it! Some fair lady! She looks at you, with a sort of squinty look, and snickers, and then snorts, and then laughs her head off! Okay, so maybe you do know that she's laughing at you. I guess it is kind of obvious. I love her for it though. The "Beeg stvong Norvegian man" needed "daaker hair though, jah" Anyway, I need to go fold some more laundry to complete my house-wifely tasks for the day. Until later,
-Lizzie

A time of Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T08:15:00.000-08:00

Pretend with me, if you will, that this quarter pounder is really a cornocopia of food at a Thanksgiving spread. There. Doesn't that look tasty?

Today I want to take time to count my blessings, but I think I'll have to cut it short. To count my blessing, I would have to go on forever. I won't actually count them though, I shall just name them.

I am thankful first and foremost for my relationship with God, that He has given me salvation, and that He has control of my life, for Bibles and prayer and for study of God's Word. I am thankful for my family, for the friends whom God has bestowed upon me, for the situations in my life that draw me closer to Him. I am grateful that my family all trusts in God, I am grateful for my job, for my church, for a house to live in. I'm thankful for Mr. P, for books that are great delights to read, for movies that make us laugh, For companionship, for comradery, and for brotherly love. I am thankful for a warm bed, for a soft cat with tickly whiskers, for geckos who lick their eyes, and for betas in aquariums at work. I'm thankful for technology, for the means to take part in that technology, and for the ammenities to take a shower everyday. I'm thankful for my artistic talents, my sense of humor, my strange hair, and generally for the person that both God and my parents have made me to be. I'm thankful for all the sacrifices that my parents have made for me, for the times they spent on their knees in prayer for me, for the fact that I'm alive today. I am thankful for the provision of a new car, for music that touches and expresses the soul, for the brilliant array of colors and hues and tints. For the feel of cloth, for the texture of everything, and for the ingenuity of our minds to create things from cloth, wood, metal, and paper. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to teach little children about God's love, and for voices to sing and glorify Him. I'm thankful for the ability to read, to write, to think, to dream, and to reflect on what I have learned. For the chances to love those around me, for friends who can help me out of sticky situations, for advanced medical care, and for the means to afford it. For the computer I am typing on, for the sweet smells that I am smelling, for frozen salad, for an extended family, for grandparents, and for times of laughter. I'm grateful for the little girl in Nicaragua who is impacting my life, and for the creation of pencils, and erasers. I'm grateful for the chance that I have of sharing this with you. I'm thankful for chocolate, for birthdays, for fruit, and for the dinner on the table. I'm thankful for ice cream, for traditions, for heritage, and for this country. I'm thankful for summer, for winter, for springtime, and fall. For the buds on the trees, the leaves on the trees, and the fallen ones down below. For flowers, for flora and fauna, for insects and spiders and little feathered birds. For freshly baked bread, and apple crisp that is warm, for hot cocoa and popcorn and tall glasses of orange juice. I'm thankful for IKEA and for JoAnn's, for John's and for Old Navy and Gap, for resourses to spend there, and for a Ma who now loves to shop. For seat warmers in cars, and ice scrapers and gasoline. I'm thankful for Jane Austin and all my other favorite authors. For bands that rock out, and mock-up rooms and exacto knives and rulers and light tables, for double-sided tape, and spray booths and iPods, and I'm thankful for younger brothers, and heckling, and Kline Creek Farm, for historical costumes and sewing machines and patterns, for pait and paintbrushes, for bristol board and Sharpies, but I could go on forever, and I need to make apple crisp for dinner. For all of this and so much more I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving
-love, Lizzie Bennett

Pride & Prejudice Forever

2005-11-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

Hello! Aren't I in a fair way of updating my blog everyday? I'll have to stop that, or else everyone will come to expect it! Oh! Today was a most glorious day! If only words could describe! I have undone what I did yesterday, and THAT does not happen every day, now does it? I had a second chance with Mr. P, and I almost bypassed it again, until my small inner brave self urged me on to not have a repeat of yesterday. I was practically singing when it was all over... in fact, I think I was! It was "And the Glory of the Lord", by George Frederich Handel, and then I got a papercut. Ouch! But even that couldn't bring me back to solid terrain!

And I just finished watching the BBC production of Pride & Prejudice. I think that for the whole last half hour of that movie I can't stop smiling. As Anne Shirley would say "Oh, it's so romantic!" And I was reading the book too during lunch, I'm at the part where the Bennets discover that Mr. Bingley is returning to Netherfield to go shooting (and to get himself a wife!). It was, needless to say, a very relaxing lunch, and I couldn't help but wish that my lunch break was two hours instead of one. And tomorrow, I will be going to watch the new Pride & Prejudice (for the second time) with Lady Fair and World Denominator. With ice cream afterwards! Oh, it will be delightful! You know, I can't help it when I'm reading Pride & Prejudice to imagine myself as Lizzie (hence the blog name), and Mr Darcy is none other than... well, you get the picture. *sigh*

Okay, enough of this silliness. I also found a sponsor for Rosita, and it only took one day! I thought it would be a lot harder, but I sent out the e-mail, and ten minutes later, someone was asking after her. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I did ask God to help me find one. And that's not the only thing I've been talking with God about, but we'll leave that for another day.

And Lady Fair! Stop announcing false engagements all over blog-dom! You're giving people false hopes!

P.S.-I was wearing one of my new lotions today, I believe it was Pearberry, and as I was standing in the cafeteria microwaving my pizza, some guy from the warehouse came over to use the other microwave. He's standing there looking at me, and I just watch my pizza with renewed interest. Oh! Look at how the cheese bubbles! Still staring at me...then, "what kind of perfume are you wearing?"
'Um, I'm not wearing perfume"
"Well is it something else?"
"I guess it could be my hand lotion"
"Smells like strawberries (eeek! Pearberry has strawberry smell in it!) "It smells good"
"Uh, thanks?" (Beware when you go to Bath and Body and buy lotions at half off prices! You could attract the attentions of people that you don't want to!)
And that is Lizzie Bennett's good advice for the day. After all, as Lord Goring says, "The only good thing to do with advice is to pass it on"

Meet Rosita, smell this, and hear my woes

2005-11-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

Hi again. This little girl is Rosita Germania Fureroz Matos. This Christmas season, I'm going to find a sponsor for her. Here is my gameplan. I'm going to send out an e-mail to my department at work, and I'm going to have a picture of her in my cube. Of course, you can already see that she's on my blog. If nobody turns up for the job at work, I'll proceed to church and...my friends. I don't want to put pressure on everyone though. Most people who are reading this are still in college...I think. I also intend to send an e-mail about her to Mr. P, along with the rest of my department. She's cute, isn't she? Rosita hails from the Dominican Republic, and she's five years old. Hopefully I'll find someone to sponsor her.

Next item of the day. I went to Bath & Body today, and I confess, I bought *cough* eleven bottles of lotion. And not one duplicate smell either. Amazing, isn't it? Let's see, there's Cotton Blossom, Plumeria, Peony, Cherry Blossom, Moonlight Path, Juniper Breeze, Sweet Pea, Gardenia, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Pearberry, and Sheer Freesia. That ought to last me for a little while, don't you think?

As the final entry for this time, I must tell about how much I lack courage, especially when it comes to really important things. My story is similar to the man who was stranded on his rooftop in a flood, and he prayed that God would rescue him. Three boats come by and ask if he needs a lift, but he says no, God's going to save him. Then he drowns and when he gets to Heaven, he asks God why He didn't save him, and God tells him that He sent three boats. Well, that's kind of what happened to me, except with out the flood.
I've been praying for an opportunity to talk to Mr. P, and it came today. He was in the mock-up room and I walked in, said hi, and didn't say anything else for the whole two minutes that we were both there together. As Mrs. Bennet would say, "Oohhh! I've been having spasms and flutters all over me! Well, that's how I was for those two minutes. But, I'm done chasing my mind in circles about that. Instead, I've decided that I need a badge of courage to remind me not to be so shy. Like in that book, the Red Badge of Courage, only I think the red badge of courage in that book was a bloody wound. Maybe I don't want that kind.

Good day to you, and I shall be eagerly waiting to read your comments.
-Lizzie

I've hopped aboard the bandwagon

2005-11-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

Upon much thought and by popular demand, I have created a blog. *Gasp* I have "hopped the bandwagon" so to speak. I have no clue what I am to write about. I spent too much time deliberating over a name for my blog to spend much time doing that.

At this time, I would like to thank my beneficiaries who have encouraged me, bantered me, and insisted most pressingly that I create a blog. Lady Fair and Anonymous 342, this goes out to you. ( Anonymous 342, please note that you did not "insist most pressingly" on me. That would be Lady Fair's doing, but then, you can't blame her for anything.)

Additionally, I would like to explain what I think my blog will be about. Certainly you (the reader) have noticed that the title of this blog is "The Musings of a Lizzie" That would be Miss Elizabeth Bennett from one of my favorite books, Pride & Prejudice. Seeing how I view myself as a person a lot like Lizzie and how most blogs consist of musings, well, you get the picture. It'll basically be ramblings and thrilling stories (but they won't be anything compared to yours, Anonymous, they'll be more like Anne's) and lamented woes. Our society needs more laments. As long as it's not complaining thinly veiled as a lament. I despise complaining. It is the annoying piece of grissle that always finds it's way into the center of you delicious cut of chicken.

And now...release the dogs of comments (not war).

As Kip would say: Peace out!