Fifteen books...

Don’t take too long to think about it. List 15 books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.



1. Harry Potter, by JK Rowling

2. Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis

3. The Dark is Rising Series, by Susan Cooper

4. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede

5. The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien

6. 10 Apples Up on Top, by Theo LeSieg

7. Small Pig, by Arnold Lobel

8. Norton Anthology of Music: A History of Western Music, by J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout and Claude V. Palisca

9. Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer

10. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain

11. The Little House books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

12. The History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage

13. Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine

14. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly

15. Grandpa's Teeth, by Rod Clement



I tag... Anyone else who wants to fill this out too...

House Pictures! (Click to make them bigger.)

Okay, this is what I have for now... In terms of pictures of my house. I have more, but they're along the lines of "this was here before I moved in" and not very interesting.




















The outside of my house. That's the front door and the side door on the right. It's yellow, but it looks kind of white in this picture.


















This is the porch, filled with all the stuff we brought to begin cleaning. The lady who owned the house before me had her own beauty parlour and this was where it was. I don't know why she used red all-purpose outdoor carpet. Or why she carpeted it half up the wall. (Which you can't really see in this picture. But yeah.)


















This is my living room, looking through to the dining room and kitchen. The chair and TV will be hauled out. I'm ditching the pink curtains.


















Part of my kitchen. The window looks out to the top of my garage and the city garages and skate park.

























My teeny gas stove. It's kind of cute. To the left goes to a random room. It was damaged by the flood last year. That's also where the other not-working bathroom is. We think it used to be a garage. The side door is in there too. Before you get to the random room, if you turn right, you will descend into the creepy basement.



These pics are from yesterday:



















Jessica pouring the paint for the living room. It's called "warm shawl" but that isn't very descriptive. It's a sea-foam green color.

























It's my house, so I got the first honors of starting the whole process. I rollered and Jessica did ALL the trim!

























Ta-dah!!!! 6 hours later, it's done and looks BEAUTIFUL!

























Jessica wanted to paint the bathroom herself, and not let me see until it was done. This was the picture she took of the action. :-) The bathroom color was called "iceberg" but it's more of a light aquamarine. (And it dries a little darker than it looks in this picture.) I really like it!

I don't have pictures of the dining room color, but that is in the process of being painted a lovely sunflower yellow. (Called "carried away.") I suppose I'll have to take some of those and post it too. :-) The kitchen and the two bedrooms are going to be painted white. Boring, I know, but the kitchen actually doesn't have a lot of real wall to paint. A lot of it is plastic counter-like stuff. And since you can see through the house from the living room to the kitchen, that'd be ANOTHER color I'd have to coordinate. And white bedroom walls. Well, let's face it. They're going to be covered in posters anyway. Especially the bedroom I'm taking... Which it's vintage wood paneling. Joy. :-) Posters will be EVERYWHERE!

Upon discussing the utter creepiness of my basement with Jessica, I have decided to act like the Dursleys and treat my basement like Harry Potter. Translation: Maybe if I ignore it, it doesn't exist. Hopefully I don't have to go down there... Like. Ever.

Okay, I'm exhausted... Time for bed!!!

Guess what, guess what???

I have a place to liiiiiiiiiiive!!!!! I've been praying so HARD! And yesterday, while we were looking at a bunch of other places my mom ended up randomly talking to the right people and found me find a place!!!!!!! :-D

I am renting a little house in Sumner, Iowa. It's yellow and it used to belong to a little old lady. It has a creepy basement. But other than that, it's kind of cute. And it's 10 minutes from Tripoli, where I'll be working.

The house has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (although one doesn't work yet. The water is shut off on that part of the house), a living room, a kitchen with a small gas stove and a fridge, 3-season porch-thing, and a small lean-to garage. My landlord said he would provide me with a microwave, a lawnmower, and a washer and dryer. He has also provided me with some random kitchen utensils that he had, and figured I could use, including a brand-new wok and a lovely red teapot! He is also going to re-shingle the roof of the garage and has helped fix one of the doors to the working bathroom because it didn't shut. He is also working on touching up the paint on the outside of the house.

My family and I, including Jessica, are helping fix the place up a little. My landlord said I could paint the inside whatever colors I'd like, (as long as it's not something dark or ridiculous) and he'd pay for the paint. That's what Jessica and I are going to do tomorrow.... Paint, paint, paint! Today mom and I cleaned. Mom vacuumed and shampooed the carpet, and cleaned the working bathroom. I spackled all the holes in the wall.... THERE WERE DOZENS OF THEM! This lady was crazy about hanging things on the wall with GIANT nails that were meant to NEVER come down EVER. So I spackled and spackled and spackled. And then I unscrewed all the outlet covers and air vents and dusted for cobwebs. Like I said. Tomorrow we paint.

I have pictures, but I need to find the cord for my camera. It's gone missing...

Another bonus about my house is that it's right in front of the city garages where they store the snowplows and stuff.... And my driveway is part of their parking lot... So when it snows, I'll literally the first person plowed out! :-) I'm also one block from downtown and 3 blocks from the local library. AND the movie theatre in Sumner is $0.99. Major WIN!

A major LOSE is that we need to start going on mouse patrol and plugging up holes and stuff before it starts getting cold... Like, normal "it's getting to be winter" -cold. Not "50 degrees at night during the end of July" -global warming cold. There is no "evidence" of mice, other than random little bits of steal wool shoved in random places. And the house is old... Like... Built in the 30s-40s I think. (Aka.... creeeeeepy basement. Did I mention it has a crawlspace?)

Okay, that's all I have for now, aside from posting today's XKCD comic, which seems to be about perfect. Timing-wise anyway! :-)

Children of Earth...

OMG TORCHWOOD!!!!!

That's about all I have to say... I don't want to spoil anything... BUT OMG!!!!! IT'S SO GOOD!

AND VERY CREEPY! Rachel V. and I are watching it and all I'm thinking is: Where's the Doctor? This is really bad!!! WHERE'S the DOCTOR????

But the Doctor isn't coming... Because this is TORCHWOOD. And they can do it! Eventually.... After a lot of suspense and stuff......


Wow.... Captain Jack.... is ~dreamy~


What is it about a man in suit pants, a nice collard shirt, suspenders and a long blue wool, army-issued coat that makes him even more ridiculously attractive??? *siiiiigh*

Save the day Torchwood! I don't think my fangirly heart could survive any other way!!!

Job job job...

Okay, so now I can officially announce it, since I've been approved by the school board and am now an employee. :-)

I have accepted a position at Tripoli Schools as their elementary general music teacher, and 5th grade band instructor. I am really excited! I got to see my classroom yesterday and go through some of the filing cabinets and other classroom materials that are there at the school. It was really fun, although I have a lot of work to do. I also got my keys and got to meet a couple of the people on staff.

The only downside is that it's only part time, so I will have to find a second job somewhere... Which I think I can handle. I mean, you do what you can to make ends meet, right?

Another thing that I find amusing is that I'll be living in the Waverly area again.... I just graduated from Wartburg and thought I would be getting away from the Cedar Vally area... And then... I'm back! Haha! Surprise! Oh well, at least I know the area.

But yeah, I am really really excited about this job... I get to work with the leeeeettle kids! :-D

Now what I need to do is to FIND AN APARTMENT! I *need* an apartment!!!!

I have walked on the Wibbly-Wobbly Bridge and Survived...

I saw Harry Potter. ~8-D

It was very entertaining.

In fact, I think this movie is starting to get back on track... I'll even go as far as to say, well done!

Jessica and I got soaking wet standing in line, with torrential winds and pouring pouring POURING buckets of rain!

We earned those tickets gosh-darn-it! We're hardcore. Pictures later.

Now, I must go to bed.

An errant need...

So, while browsing Wikipedia... Because I randomly check it to see what the featured articles are... Today they had one about bowdlerized street names in England and how they used to reflect the type of work that went on in that area. (Baker Street, Threadneedle Street etc., although those are not the bowdlerized ones...) Our tour guide at the Globe Theatre touched on this subject, but it's hard to find anything specific online.

So through my reading of the Wikipedia article, I have come across these three books, which interest me greatly. Unfortunately, I do not have the funds to procure them... Maybe someday...

Discovering London Street Names, By John Wittich

The Street Names of England, By Adrian Room

A Dictionary of True Etymologies by Adrian Room

Without the City Wall: An Adventure in London Street Names, By Hector Bolitho and Derek Peel

Don't those books sound like they'd be right up my alley? (Haha! I couldn't resist!) Perfect for someone like me who loves random facts and trivia knowledge and knowing the origins of things...

I do already have a book, that I purchased while on my trip to England, about the origins on the names of the various tube stations in the London underground. That's cool too. But it's packed away at the moment... With all my other England stuff.

... I also need to invest in a good music dictionary...

A good long update...

It's been a while since I've written a decent post updating the interwebs, so I should probably do that...

The last weekend of June was Isaac and Laura's wedding. It was really beautiful, and I certainly had a good time and enjoyed being able to be there and show my support for my two friends. Everything about the ceremony was wonderful and the reception was a good time. :-) If something went wrong or not as planned I didn't notice. I got to hang out with Bre and her family for the day and it was nice to visit with them and catch up with some other friends that I knew.

It was also good to hear, in the message, that the husband should never stop courting his wife. That just because they're married he should never stop showing his love. Hearing that my brain went "ding" and it just reaffirmed some topics that I had been discussing with Jessica, Bre and the Rachels.

That Sunday, the 28th, Jessica and I had a "girl day" and we made Avocado Feta Salsa and watched the last 5 episodes of a season in America's Next Top Model. Then we watched an episode of "Bridezillas" (never again... whew!) and we topped off the day with STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE. We're watching the whole series, from episode I to episode VI... Since it's been ages since either of us have seen the original trilogy and Jessica hadn't seen all of the prequels.

Now I'm trying to get the library's copy of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

On Tuesday Rachel D. came and visited and that was lots of fun! She had to take the last requirements for Wartburg's piano basic skills test, which was 1pm on Wednesday, July 1st. Wednesday Rachel and I went to Wartburg, Rachel took her piano test and PASSED! :-D Which means she will graduate on time and be able to student teach in the fall! YAY! We then had delicious Chinese for lunch at our favorite Chinese buffet and then drove home... And rented RV and Desk Set from the Library. We watched RV and then that night we met up with Jill and went to city park and walked about the carnival that was in town for the 4th to see the sights. We then all chipped in for a funnel cake and ate it while we sat by the lake. When Rachel and I got back we watched Desk Set. (I love that movie!)

Late Thursday morning, Rachel and I biked downtown for some delicious Cabin Coffee. :-) We then proceeded to bike around the lake... And which a great misunderstanding ensued. I thought Rachel knew how far it was around the lake. And she had no idea it was 14 miles and she hadn't really biked since she was 16. So when we got back, she was way tired and decided to stay another night! :-D I had rehearsal for Mason City's municipal band and after that we met up with Brett and Jill for dollar bowling and that was really fun!

On the 3rd, Rachel took off for home. :-( I tried to convince her to stay and swim across the lake with me, but she declined. We'll just have to save that for next time. :-) That night I played (in the rain) with the Mason City municipal band and that went well. It was fun! :-) I enjoy playing patriotic music, especially the Armed Forces Salute when all the people who have served our country stand up to be acknowledged when their song comes up. After the concert Mason City sets off their fireworks and I sat in my car in the rain and watched, while eating free, but very very salty popcorn.

July 4th was fun, but not very eventful... Got up and went to the parade. Came back and slept for 2 hours. Then I watched 3 episodes of NCIS (which is one of my new TV addictions... More on that later...) I met up with Jill, Brett, Anne and some of their friends for Clear Lake's fireworks and that was fun. It was a good show this year and the night was mostly clear, not buggy and cool. The only downside was that there was no wind--not even a breeze, so the smoke from the fireworks didn't blow away... It just sort of lingered, so when the grand finale started some of the smoke was obscuring the full brilliance of the pyrotechnic glory. Oh, well, it was still fun! :-)

I spent Sunday watching more NCIS. In fact, I finished the entire first season. :-)

And that's an update on most of the "stuff" that's led up to now.

Jessica and I have been exercising fairly consistently this whole summer. We go jogging almost every day. We're up to almost 2 miles, but I still can't make it jogging the whole way. If I focus, I can usually make it about 1.5 miles before I walk for a while and alternate between jogging and walking the rest of the way. I usually don't cramp up anymore, though, which is nice!

This week I've also been biking a lot. Jessica, and her mom have invited me to come along with them to Lanesboro to go camping and biking for the weekend, and they're thinking about going this weekend. I'm excited, it should be fun!

Okay, so TV shows... I've always enjoyed NCIS, but the times I've watched it have been few and far between... Mary and my parents have been way more into it... Mary even dressed up as Abby for Hallowe'en. But since we have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD I have started watching them.... AHH! They're so fun! They're so entertaining! And suspenseful!!! And it's different... I mean, I really feel like the characters are written as individuals with their own specific quirks and personality traits that really makes them believable, and how they all interact with each other makes the whole show ten times more amusing and entertaining.

Mary, Rachel D. and I all agree that we *would* say yes to date with the character Tony DiNozzo... Because he would be ridiculously fun to flirt with and seems to be someone who you could just go out with and have a good time. :-) And he's probably a good kisser. ^_^

ANOTHER good TV show that I've started watching, upon Jessica's urging, and really REALLY enjoying is The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker. Who. Is. DREAMY! And handsome and evidently from Australia! (I didn't know this until I looked him up on IMDB... He's plays an American in the show.) *siiiigh* He has great hair and gorgeous blue eyes.... :-D And of course, the whole premise of the TV show is highly entertaining too... A TV psychic working with the California Bureau of Investigation to help solve mysteries, based on his talents of reading people's body language, interpreting their inflections and interacting with them. So cool! :-)

(For the record, since I seem to be on a roll: I am also in love with Craig Ferguson and David Tennant.)

And I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of interested in seeing what The Vampire Diaries has in store this fall on CW. I mean, it looks like a total Twilight knock-off... Which I think is why I'm intrigued. :-) Hopefully they won't claim that the French Revolution was really a mass execution of vampires... *cough* Moonlight *cough*

Oh, and speaking of the undead, I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. It is very very brilliant and entertaining! I really like it! Grahame-Smith takes the original Austen text and just manipulates it and adds... Zombies! It sounds bizarre, and it is, but really, it's fiction.... And very amusing and at times very very clever! The book opens with the lines:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains much be in want of more brains."

Read it! It's awesome! :-D Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters are masters of the "deadly arts" and have sworn to fight and destroy the "unmentionables" aka zombies. (It is of course, Regency England, so proper decorum must be maintained at all times. Even when talking about things such as zombies...)

Okay, how was that for an update? :-) I'm off to shower and go to bed.

Until the next!

P.S. Harry Potter comes out on the 15th! I'M EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

Happy 4th cont.

This was too spectacularly good to pass up and not share:

Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July!