When fall comes around, there are some foods that I start to crave. These are things that I want every time it's cold, not just during fall. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
The first thing that I like to make and eat is homemade soup. I usually make vegetable beef soup, using browned hamburger and mixed vegetables. There are certain spices that I add to help make it taste oh so good.
Secondly, I like to make the stew my dad makes. It's just browned steak, mixed vegetables, potatoes, and a thickening agent. This is something that I grew up eating, and now that I live on my own, I try to make it for myself. But as most things happen, if you try to make something from your childhood, it's never as good as when you go get it from your parents or grandparents house.
Finally, I like to make my dad's chili recipe. It's just browned hamburger and Busch's beans with a chili packet. Some people would't think this is the best thing to have during the fall, but it's one of those things people want that they've had all of their lives.
Friday, November 2, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Favorite Fall Drinks
I don't know about you, but when the weather turns colder, I like to stock up on my favorite drinks. These are the drinks I go to when I want something special. My top three are: hot chocolate, tea, and coffee.
Hot chocolate is the one drink that I associate with fall and winter. I remember back when I was a child all of the times I would drink a warm/hot cup of hot chocolate with my siblings while we watched a seasonal show or movie.
One thing that I started drinking while in high school was hot tea. I use Bigelow Tea when I do make a cup, or a pot, of tea. When I know I'm going to be sitting for a while, I make a pot of whatever tea I feel like for the day. If I only have a few minutes, I'll make just a cup of tea.
Coffee was something that I didn't get into drinking until I was in college. After I got a taste of it, I couldn't stop drinking it. I drank it everyday while in college. When I got my first job out of college, I only drank it on the weekends or after I got out of teaching for the day. To this day, I don't need to have coffee in order to get through the day like I did in college, but I still enjoy a good cup or two every now and again. When I go out to get a drink during fall, I like to get one of the following: pumpkin specialties, white chocolate mocha, or one of the specials that I usually get throughout the year.
Hot chocolate is the one drink that I associate with fall and winter. I remember back when I was a child all of the times I would drink a warm/hot cup of hot chocolate with my siblings while we watched a seasonal show or movie.
One thing that I started drinking while in high school was hot tea. I use Bigelow Tea when I do make a cup, or a pot, of tea. When I know I'm going to be sitting for a while, I make a pot of whatever tea I feel like for the day. If I only have a few minutes, I'll make just a cup of tea.
Coffee was something that I didn't get into drinking until I was in college. After I got a taste of it, I couldn't stop drinking it. I drank it everyday while in college. When I got my first job out of college, I only drank it on the weekends or after I got out of teaching for the day. To this day, I don't need to have coffee in order to get through the day like I did in college, but I still enjoy a good cup or two every now and again. When I go out to get a drink during fall, I like to get one of the following: pumpkin specialties, white chocolate mocha, or one of the specials that I usually get throughout the year.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Why I Want to Travel
Many of you may be curious as to why I want to travel to so many places as listed on my Bucket List Page. That is a perfectly valid question, one that I wish to explain here.
I've always wanted to visit certain countries ever since I first learned about them in my Social Studies classes in school. As time continued, and I learned more and more about these countries through literature and movies, my desire to see these countries for myself has grown.
London is the first place I want to go due to the fact that I have a degree in English Education. I've developed a love of The Bard and many of the other well-known British authors over the years I was in high school and college. Through all of the historical background research for my classes, I've developed a love for the history of the city and surrounding countryside.
One cannot go to England without visiting Scotland. The main reason for my desire to visit this country is to see the beautiful countryside and possibly participate in games that take place here. I also grew up watching the 1950's movie Brigadoon, which is a movie that deals with a small town in the Scottish highlands. If you've seen this movie, you know what I mean.
Ireland is another country one would logically visit if visiting the British Isles. There are customs from this country that are often thought of as the same as the Scottish customs, but they are different. St. Patrick's Day is a holiday that has an Irish background. If you don't already know the background of this holiday, now would be a good time to go and re-read that part of your history books. This history, along with other stories from history, makes up just one reason why I want to go there. The other reason is because of the influence of Irish history and stories about faeries that were told in the movie Behind the Waterfall. This is a movie that was written and produced by Feature Films for Families back in the 1990's. It's a great movie and I highly recommend that you go watch it.
One country that I want to visit has to do with music. While I was in high school, one of the music classes I took dealt with music history. While learning about one of the composers, Hayden, I learned that he was from Austria and that his patron was the king. The castle Hayden lived in/performed all of his music in is beautiful (at least from the pictures I've been able to find). This is the one of the two main reasons I've always wanted to go to to Austria. The other reason is from a movie that many people have seen: The Sound of Music. It takes place in Austria and is yet another reason to go visit Salzburg and walk the streets that Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp kids did in the movie.
Traveling the world wouldn't be the same if I didn't make a stop in Paris. Paris is known as one of the cities of love, although this love is not the same as the other. But love is not the only thing the French do in Paris. There's art, food, and many other things the French culture has to offer that one would be foolish to not make a stop there in their trip around the world.
Italy is another one of the places people think needs to make an appearance on the list of places to visit when traveling around the world. I have to agree. With all of the historical, architectural, political, musical, and literary significance that Italy has provided the rest of the world, it makes logical sense to want to visit. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you weren't paying much attention in any of your social studies classes.
Yet again, another country one has to add to the list for reasons of historical, architectural, political, and literary significance would be Greece. Again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, go brush up on your history and pull out some of the classics in literature.
Australia has had a grip on my fascination after I watched the movie The Rescuers Down Under. This movie is a Disney movie that I've watched since I was very young. I learned about the country in world history while in school, and that only added fuel to the fire. The last little bit of fuel was when I first watched the movie Australia. All of these things have made me fall in love with this country, even though it's a country that will do everything it can to kill me one way or the other.
New Zealand is another place in the same hemisphere as Australia that I'd like to visit. Being a big reader, I've read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. When the movies all came out, I fell in love with the places they used to film Hobbiton and all of the other areas found in the hours of film. When I started looking up places to visit, I fell even more in love with this island.
The Netherlands have been a goal location because I'm somewhat of a history nerd and this is one of the most popular areas of the Vikings. Many stories and movies have been written that deal with the culture of the Vikings, whether that be finding actual sites of Viking burial grounds or like the movies How to Train a Dragon that deal with a variation of that life. Also, the landscape is beautiful.
Egypt has always held a fascination for me ever since I learned about the Pharaohs, pyramids, and ancient Egypt. Another reason I've always wanted to go here is the computer game that came out several years ago called The Clue Finders 4th Grade Adventures; Puzzle of the Pyramid. It's a computer game that helps students of that grade level (whichever it's geared towards) with different academic skills, i.e. math, reading, science, social studies, so on and so forth. These little games that help with these skills are built into a story of four kids who are in a certain country or store and they need your (the players) help to get from the beginning of the story to the end. In the 4th grade game, the kids are in Egypt and they need help solving a mystery that is emerged in Egyptology, both ancient and "present".
I've always wanted to visit certain countries ever since I first learned about them in my Social Studies classes in school. As time continued, and I learned more and more about these countries through literature and movies, my desire to see these countries for myself has grown.
London is the first place I want to go due to the fact that I have a degree in English Education. I've developed a love of The Bard and many of the other well-known British authors over the years I was in high school and college. Through all of the historical background research for my classes, I've developed a love for the history of the city and surrounding countryside.
One cannot go to England without visiting Scotland. The main reason for my desire to visit this country is to see the beautiful countryside and possibly participate in games that take place here. I also grew up watching the 1950's movie Brigadoon, which is a movie that deals with a small town in the Scottish highlands. If you've seen this movie, you know what I mean.
Ireland is another country one would logically visit if visiting the British Isles. There are customs from this country that are often thought of as the same as the Scottish customs, but they are different. St. Patrick's Day is a holiday that has an Irish background. If you don't already know the background of this holiday, now would be a good time to go and re-read that part of your history books. This history, along with other stories from history, makes up just one reason why I want to go there. The other reason is because of the influence of Irish history and stories about faeries that were told in the movie Behind the Waterfall. This is a movie that was written and produced by Feature Films for Families back in the 1990's. It's a great movie and I highly recommend that you go watch it.
One country that I want to visit has to do with music. While I was in high school, one of the music classes I took dealt with music history. While learning about one of the composers, Hayden, I learned that he was from Austria and that his patron was the king. The castle Hayden lived in/performed all of his music in is beautiful (at least from the pictures I've been able to find). This is the one of the two main reasons I've always wanted to go to to Austria. The other reason is from a movie that many people have seen: The Sound of Music. It takes place in Austria and is yet another reason to go visit Salzburg and walk the streets that Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp kids did in the movie.
Traveling the world wouldn't be the same if I didn't make a stop in Paris. Paris is known as one of the cities of love, although this love is not the same as the other. But love is not the only thing the French do in Paris. There's art, food, and many other things the French culture has to offer that one would be foolish to not make a stop there in their trip around the world.
Italy is another one of the places people think needs to make an appearance on the list of places to visit when traveling around the world. I have to agree. With all of the historical, architectural, political, musical, and literary significance that Italy has provided the rest of the world, it makes logical sense to want to visit. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you weren't paying much attention in any of your social studies classes.
Yet again, another country one has to add to the list for reasons of historical, architectural, political, and literary significance would be Greece. Again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, go brush up on your history and pull out some of the classics in literature.
Australia has had a grip on my fascination after I watched the movie The Rescuers Down Under. This movie is a Disney movie that I've watched since I was very young. I learned about the country in world history while in school, and that only added fuel to the fire. The last little bit of fuel was when I first watched the movie Australia. All of these things have made me fall in love with this country, even though it's a country that will do everything it can to kill me one way or the other.
New Zealand is another place in the same hemisphere as Australia that I'd like to visit. Being a big reader, I've read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. When the movies all came out, I fell in love with the places they used to film Hobbiton and all of the other areas found in the hours of film. When I started looking up places to visit, I fell even more in love with this island.
The Netherlands have been a goal location because I'm somewhat of a history nerd and this is one of the most popular areas of the Vikings. Many stories and movies have been written that deal with the culture of the Vikings, whether that be finding actual sites of Viking burial grounds or like the movies How to Train a Dragon that deal with a variation of that life. Also, the landscape is beautiful.
Egypt has always held a fascination for me ever since I learned about the Pharaohs, pyramids, and ancient Egypt. Another reason I've always wanted to go here is the computer game that came out several years ago called The Clue Finders 4th Grade Adventures; Puzzle of the Pyramid. It's a computer game that helps students of that grade level (whichever it's geared towards) with different academic skills, i.e. math, reading, science, social studies, so on and so forth. These little games that help with these skills are built into a story of four kids who are in a certain country or store and they need your (the players) help to get from the beginning of the story to the end. In the 4th grade game, the kids are in Egypt and they need help solving a mystery that is emerged in Egyptology, both ancient and "present".
Friday, September 7, 2018
Writing
As long as I can remember, I’ve always loved thinking up different story ideas in my head. While in school, I usually didn’t think much about actually writing any of those stories down and actually trying to takes those stories to their best versions.
I’ve counted all of the stories that I’ve actually started, and they number seven manuscripts. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of potential that’s just setting around my house taking up space and not being shared they way they’re meant to be shared.
The first story is about Peter Pan. It's about how Peter has actually grown up a bit (about 5-8 years) but still takes care of lost boys. Another girl, after Wendy and her brothers come back from their first adventure there, goes there with him and ends up falling in love with him.
The second one is about a western that deals with a young girl who has had a hard past. She is tortured, escapes, and has to survive as a man in order to be able to get the man responsible.
The third one is about Camelot and the whole Post-King Arthur story. This one takes place after Arthur dies. It's all about how Camelot morns the loss of their king and what happens to one of the knights who survives the war and a serving girl in the castle.
The fourth is about the whole Santa Clause story. This one is about a young reporter who's at his wits end trying to find a story worthy of his Christmas story for the Christmas edition of the town's paper. He meets a young couple in the town's beloved coffee shop and hears their story about Santa. He then uses it to save his career.
The fifth is about a young girl who creates a detective agency with her sister and two step-sisters after figuring out the whole situation with her step-mom and finding a hidden door/time machine that helps them solve different mysteries and such. Haven't finished the outline and actual plot with this one, but it's been in the works for over ten years.
The sixth is a spin off of the T.V. show Bonanza. It's about a girl who goes to live with the Cartwright family and falls in love with one of the boys. I haven't figured out which one she'll fall in love with just yet, but it's one of the kinks I have to work out.
Finally, the seventh is a sci-fi that takes place in space. It's about a young girl who becomes a space pilot for the revolution in a galactic war.
I also have several concepts that I’ve yet to explore to see if they could become anything useful.
I’ve counted all of the stories that I’ve actually started, and they number seven manuscripts. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of potential that’s just setting around my house taking up space and not being shared they way they’re meant to be shared.
The first story is about Peter Pan. It's about how Peter has actually grown up a bit (about 5-8 years) but still takes care of lost boys. Another girl, after Wendy and her brothers come back from their first adventure there, goes there with him and ends up falling in love with him.
The second one is about a western that deals with a young girl who has had a hard past. She is tortured, escapes, and has to survive as a man in order to be able to get the man responsible.
The third one is about Camelot and the whole Post-King Arthur story. This one takes place after Arthur dies. It's all about how Camelot morns the loss of their king and what happens to one of the knights who survives the war and a serving girl in the castle.
The fourth is about the whole Santa Clause story. This one is about a young reporter who's at his wits end trying to find a story worthy of his Christmas story for the Christmas edition of the town's paper. He meets a young couple in the town's beloved coffee shop and hears their story about Santa. He then uses it to save his career.
The fifth is about a young girl who creates a detective agency with her sister and two step-sisters after figuring out the whole situation with her step-mom and finding a hidden door/time machine that helps them solve different mysteries and such. Haven't finished the outline and actual plot with this one, but it's been in the works for over ten years.
The sixth is a spin off of the T.V. show Bonanza. It's about a girl who goes to live with the Cartwright family and falls in love with one of the boys. I haven't figured out which one she'll fall in love with just yet, but it's one of the kinks I have to work out.
Finally, the seventh is a sci-fi that takes place in space. It's about a young girl who becomes a space pilot for the revolution in a galactic war.
I also have several concepts that I’ve yet to explore to see if they could become anything useful.
Friday, August 31, 2018
Post VBS
Well, safe to say vacation bible school is over. But, I have to say, it was rather nice.
It was very different from what I've grown accustomed to, but it was rather nice. First, meeting in the evening allowed me to sleep in and not have to stress about not waking up in time. Secondly, I was able to spend the day with the family and work on getting ready for my sister's wedding.
Yes, I was expecting to spend more time each night with the kids, and yes, I was expecting it tonot pass so far, but it was really good.
It was very different from what I've grown accustomed to, but it was rather nice. First, meeting in the evening allowed me to sleep in and not have to stress about not waking up in time. Secondly, I was able to spend the day with the family and work on getting ready for my sister's wedding.
Yes, I was expecting to spend more time each night with the kids, and yes, I was expecting it tonot pass so far, but it was really good.
Monday, July 2, 2018
VBS
This year for Vacation Bible School, the church I attend changed its normal schedule. In the past 10+ years, we've always had VBS in the mornings for about four hours. This year, as mentioned, is different. The time of day, the amount of time, and the structure of the stations are just some of the changes that are happening this year. After VBS is over, I'll post again as to my opinions from the week along with my opinions and viewpoints from the week.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Yarn Projects
For those of you who know me, I’m pretty handy when it comes to the crafts that deal with yarn. I’ve been crocheting and knitting for over twenty years. Another reason I’ve started this blog is to share pictures and details about each project I’m working on.
And yes, I do sell the projects once they’re done, as long as it hasn't already been promised to someone else. If you’d like more information about buying any piece I post here, just comment on the post that’s about the piece you want and we'll talk.
And yes, I do sell the projects once they’re done, as long as it hasn't already been promised to someone else. If you’d like more information about buying any piece I post here, just comment on the post that’s about the piece you want and we'll talk.
Monday, June 25, 2018
Introduction
Hello out there blogging world! Yes, this is another blog to muddy up the waters of the World Wide Web. What makes this blog unique enough to be worthy of your time? This is a perfectly valid question, one that I've been asking myself. Why start this blog if it's going to be like so many of the blogs out there?
But that's the thing, how many blogs out there are considered completely new? One that has never been done before? To my knowledge, I've not been able to find a "niche", as they call it, that hasn't been done before. So, I'm joining the multitude of people who have chosen to write down what happens to them in their lives.
This includes many different avenues of information for you to read and be a part of: my career, personal life, any travel plans I make, so on and so forth. If I could direct your attention to the pages entitled "About Me" and "Bucket List", they'll both list what these will, hopefully, look like and be about.
Now, the only promise I can give, outside of the one I've already given, is in the frequency of the postings. I may post once a week, three times a week, once a month, or even once every other month. What I'm trying to get at here is that I am going to do my best to find a good posting schedule that works for me and my life. As the seasons of my life change, so may the frequency of the posts. Just be patient with me and roll with the punches.
But that's the thing, how many blogs out there are considered completely new? One that has never been done before? To my knowledge, I've not been able to find a "niche", as they call it, that hasn't been done before. So, I'm joining the multitude of people who have chosen to write down what happens to them in their lives.
This includes many different avenues of information for you to read and be a part of: my career, personal life, any travel plans I make, so on and so forth. If I could direct your attention to the pages entitled "About Me" and "Bucket List", they'll both list what these will, hopefully, look like and be about.
Now, the only promise I can give, outside of the one I've already given, is in the frequency of the postings. I may post once a week, three times a week, once a month, or even once every other month. What I'm trying to get at here is that I am going to do my best to find a good posting schedule that works for me and my life. As the seasons of my life change, so may the frequency of the posts. Just be patient with me and roll with the punches.
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