2007 December « The View From My Fishbowl

Mr. Nameless

December 30, 2007 at 10:16 pm | In Just stuff, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments

Yes, the poor little bearded dragon is nameless. And considering that we plan on him being around for a while, we need something else to call him besides ‘The Lizard.’ Please go vote in the name contest! I chose the name Hidalgo, so you can help my case out by voting for that name, but don’t lie if you really like one of the other name suggestions.

Go vote!

An Open Letter to My Newfound Love

December 30, 2007 at 3:47 am | In Humor, Just stuff | 6 Comments

Some might say I was shopping around, but I prefer to say that I was just browsing and trying to keep my options open. Regardless, the first time I saw you, I knew we were meant to be together. Of course, I don’t believe in love at first sight. Love takes time to grow; infatuation can come in an instant. Infatuated I certainly was, but as we got to know each other better, it quickly developed to a loving friendship. But that first time I saw you…I will never forget it. I was in a crowded place with lots of people, when suddenly I saw you across the room. You were sitting, quiet and alone, and I just knew. Without me, your life was unfulfilled. And without you, my life was incomplete. I know going to church isn’t just about you, but knowing you will be there with me makes me anticipate it all the more. I had to sacrifice to win your affection. It came at great personal cost, but I’m so glad I made that decision. My life will never be the same.

Yes, I fell in love with a pair of black shoes. Some may say that every girl needs a little black dress. I say every girl needs a pair of little black shoes. And it’s a good thing I had some Christmas money to spend!

Christmas At Our House – The Day

December 27, 2007 at 4:26 am | In Christmas, Family | Leave a Comment

Contrary to the lack of photos to document such an auspicious occasion, we did have Christmas at our house. Two days of celebrating, actually, in two very different ways!

First, Christmas Eve: My brother, sister-in-law, and their two adorable, brilliant, lovable children came to spend the day. This of course included LOTS of food…all the traditional stuff, really. A turkey (but smoked, which is delish), stuffing, some sides, salads, pies, cookies, and lots and lots of coffee. We played some games, watched a movie, made a couple calls to family abroad, and tried to keep the kids distracted until it was ‘dark’ enough to open presents.

Second, Christmas Day: Although it was threatened that we would be awoken early at 3 AM to open presents, someone forgot to get us up. Ahem…I think he was sleeping. So instead of 3, it was the more livable hour of 9, but without two pre-schoolers there to liven things up, we were a bit quieter. Following the present time was a lovely day of nothingness. The four of us just hung out all day long talking, playing games, watching movies, napping, calling family around the country, and eating….it was WONDERFUL! Oh, since we had our traditional Christmas dinner the day before, we went with steak fajitas and homeade tortillas for Christmas Day.

So although many pictures are ‘missing’ from this post, here are two pictures we DID get!

A book! I love books!

A special picture of two special kids. The countdown has begun!!! Less than a month and they’ll be back in PA.

I've been thinking…

December 23, 2007 at 5:37 am | In Quotes | Leave a Comment

Lots of reading done lately, in both old books and new. Some things that have made me stop, reread, and think about for hours after:

“When people stop believing in God they don’t start believing in nothing – they’ll believe anything.” -GK Chesterton

“The hearts of all men are in the hands of God…If we have Him on our side, we cannot help but be cared for and helped, whatever our position may be, and wherever our lot may be cast.” -G. Mueller

“Every freedom can be denied a man except the freedom to change his attitude…Suffering is not an obstacle to happiness but often the necessary means to it.” -E. Elliot

Sledding…

December 21, 2007 at 4:30 am | In Family | Leave a Comment

…before it all melts away!

Looks like we may have more of a rainy and warm Christmas, rather than a white one.

Every girl needs a pair of pink snow boots.

Christmas at Our House

December 19, 2007 at 4:58 am | In Christmas | 2 Comments

Somehow, this holiday snuck up on me this year. Most years, I have almost all of my shopping done by Thanksgiving since I work on it all year long, or at least have ideas for everyone. I’m ready to decorate lavishly…every room, every window, taking out the old and bringing in the new and festive. I didn’t feel at all like decorating this year. A certain person in our house (we won’t say who, but he is younger than I am) was determined to have a tree, so set out to do it by himself. I felt bad that he was working on it all by his lonesome, so I offered to pitch in. That little bit got me inspired to put a few more things, but overall, it is very simple this year. Not such a bad idea!

So, without further ado, here are some photos of the Christmas season at our house!

We generally have a hard time deciding which ornaments we want to put on our tree. We have boxes of ornaments that have been given to us, made by us kids when we were younger, have come from other countries, and they all have memories attached to them. For the sake of all that is sane, we decided to go with a simple, classier theme this year, and didn’t even delve into the boxes of ornaments.

The Christmas village takes up two windows in our dining room. My mom slowly built her collection over the years until it got too large to fit on the mantle. Wanting the kids to be able to see the little people, we put it on a more accessible level for them.

Our manger scene is my favorite Christmas decoration, and the one we put up every year. Jesus IS the reason for the season, no matter how much they commercialize it! Of course, being the sticklers that we are, we always put the wise men in another room, as if they are still traveling to find the ‘young child’ Jesus. Nothing bugs us more than inaccuracy!!! LOL

Other than these three main items, we just have a few snowmen set out here and there. Nothing extravagant this year, but the less we put out, the less we have to put away, right?

This isn't Bing Crosby, but…

December 17, 2007 at 10:22 pm | In Christmas | 4 Comments

This had me ROFL! Although I put most of my links to share in the sidebar, I felt this one deserved its own post. Seriously, who has time to design this stuff? Go and smile now!

Much ado about nothing

December 14, 2007 at 4:50 am | In Just stuff | 2 Comments

I really feel as if I ought to post something, but to be perfectly honest, I feel completely uninspired to write! Things have been crazy around here, as they always are, especially at this time of year. Between decorating at home, decorating at church, and making Christmas gifts, I feel as if every drop of creative juice has been dripped right out of my body. Of course, I would love to share pictures of all the decorating and making I’ve been doing, but never think to get the camera out until I am in my pj’s, sitting warmly esconced in a pile of blankets on my bed. Like right now.

So, I’ll just sit here instead and write a substantial post on nothing. I’m sure it will be very informative for you.

Today we had an ice storm. Things were pretty quiet around church without school being in session, so I decided to take the day and clean out a (small) portion of the attic. We have a very large attic which always gets stuffed with things that people ‘donate’ or things we think we might need in the future. Generally those things that we are sure we will need again just sit there collecting dust for a few years, until someone else comes along and says, “Who put this in here?” To the dumpster it goes! I happen to enjoy being one of those someones who gets to throw the stuff out. It is very satisfying to me to fill a garbage bag and just GET RID OF IT! So I picked one unsuspecting corner in the attic, and you should have seen the pile of stuff that was removed. Junk, junk, junk. Seriously, I don’t know what people were thinking when they put half that stuff up there.

I enjoyed the low-key day brought on by the storm. It did cancel my piano lessons for the day though, which was a bit of a disappointment. I depend on those lessons for the $ they bring! The storm also canceled a Christmas party that I was truly looking forward to…so instead, I stayed home and did nothing. It was a very wonderful evening…an unexpected break in the ebb and flow of the ever-rushing Christmas season.

Tomorrow starts our Christmas cantata, and hopefully the weather will be clear enough that our cast will show up! And of course, some visitors…

I have a friend coming to stay with me! His name is Mr. Bingley, and he is the cutest little parakeet. My friend is going away for a month, so he needed someone to love and protect him. Of course, don’t tell OUR bird that he is here, because Benaiah would probably be jealous. That is, if he realized that it was, you know, another one of his kind. I truly think that Benaiah thinks he is a human just like us. Yeah, he has some personality issues…but he’s cute.

So there you have it – much ado about nothing!

Corners of My Home: Paneling

December 11, 2007 at 5:06 am | In This Ole House | 3 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my house. These posts are to celebrate the uniqueness of our old farmhouse…with all its cute little quirks.

Today’s feature is…paneling! A good deal of our main floor has been paneled, mostly painted white. All in all, I like paneling. I think it gives walls a unique textured look as opposed to flat and boring. And of course, there are all the old nails, starting to come up in some places.