I've been tagged!

Annabeth tagged me!

• Link to the person who tagged you.
  
• Post the rules on your blog.
  
• Write Six Random Things about yourself.
  
• Tag a few other people at the bottom of the post.
  
• Leave comments on their blogs, letting them know they've been tagged!
  
• Let the person who tagged you know when you've written the post.

1. I hate it when it rains, and your jeans are just long enough that the hems get wet in puddles, but the you sit down, and the soggy wet edges just BARELY go over the tops of your shoes and get your ankles wet. Or, even worse, you have to take your shoes off and your socks get wet from stepping on the edges of your jeans..... *shudder*

2. I'm very self-conscious, and while on this blog I may seem to be able to speak intelligently, I usually have to know someone very well before I can think about what I'm saying. So I usually end up sounding... well, not-so-intelligent. It works well if I can avoid speaking and not get on a very pathetic ramble where everyone in the conversation gives me strange looks. "Is she okay?" "I dunno, I think she's turned into a robot." "Is there an 'off' switch?"

3. I almost got baptized in a typical church with the typical white robe and the pastor I didn't know. But I chickened out, and then a few years later I got baptized by my dad and our home church leader, in a swimming pool, wearing a T-shirt over my bright green bathing suit. It was so much more special. Some of my life-long friends even came, and we hung out at the pool afterward.

4. I used to have curls. When I was little, I had really long red ringlets. And then one day Mom cut my hair and the curls didn't come back. (Unfairly, Sarah cut her hair short a few years ago and it grew out curly!! *pout*)

5. I am overly obsessed with the color green, and almost anything Irish. I go all out for St. Patrick's Day, and I'm quite annoyed that I was born in America, because that makes me something of a fake, even if I am part Irish. I wish I had an Irish accent, and I want to visit Ireland someday.

6. I love it when it snows, and you've had so much snow already that you don't feel compelled to go outside and play in it, you just sit by the fire with some hot chocolate and read a book. Unfortunately, that almost never happens because we get less and less snow... global warming? :P

I'm going to tag Jessica and Neil.

Today I Am.

I've been thinking about a quote from "When God Writes Your Love Story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy ever since I finished the book who-knows-how-long ago. Krissy Ludy (Eric's sister) is 31 and still single. 18 years ago she chose to remain faithful to her future husband and wait patiently for God to bring him into her life. When asked by her brother, Marky, "Krissy, do you think you're called to singleness?" she paused, reflected a moment, then replied, "Today I am."

I didn't understand how someone could be called to singleness temporarily. It seemed to me that there were people who were called to singleness permanently (like Paul of the Bible) and people who were called to marriage, but were single because the right person wasn't in their life yet. How could she say that "today" she was called to singleness? But after pondering it subconsciously since I finished the book, I finally understand. God may mean for me to be married someday; I don't really know. Until then, He has called me to singleness. I am single now, and maybe I'm meant to be single my whole life. But I don't have to look that far ahead. Today, He has called me to singleness. And today, I am content.

I took Sarah to her art lesson, and went grocery shopping like I usually do on Thursdays. Mornings at grocery stores seem to be mostly moms with young children. Almost every shopping cart has a little car seat, or a little one big enough to sit in the shopping cart seat. I can't resist smiling at kids when I notice that they're looking at me, but they usually don't smile back. They might keep watching, or they might go shy and look away.

Today, though, there was an adorable little boy twisted around backwards in his shopping cart seat to watch me. I was quite flattered, and smiled like I usually do. And he actually smiled back! So I kept smiling at him, he kept smiling back, and kinda ducked his head, like he was shy, still smiling. He was so cute. And then his mom looked up from tucking a blanket around his little sister in her car seat, and smiled when she saw him smiling at me and asked him, "are you flirting?" and hurried off before I recovered my senses enough to tell her that he was adorable.

The most interesting thing was that he looked like me. His hair was exactly the same straw-berry blonde that my hair was when I was about his age. So from now on, whenever I think about my future kids, that's what they'll look like. :P

~Lizzie

Elsie Dinsmore

The Elsie Dinsmore books by Martha Finley were very popular amongst Christian homeschool girls back when I was younger. I even knew a guy who read them. I've read them several times over the course of my life, and my impressions each time were very interesting.

The first time I read them I was 8. I thought Elsie was amazingly perfect. The way all the "good" people treated each other was sickeningly sweet, and the "bad" people weren't too awful. They actually came up with some pretty funny remarks.

The next time I was about 10. I noticed that Elsie actually wasn't perfect; there were at the most, two instances where she was slightly less than perfect. Their interaction with each other were still so sweet as to be sickening, but the "bad" people seemed worse.

I read them again when I was 14. By this time I realized that Elsie definitely wasn't perfect, but still close enough as to put me to shame. Strangely, the the over-use of "dearest" and "darling" in conversations was only becoming more unpleasant for me, even as I realized that Elsie wasn't as good as I'd originally thought, and that the "wicked" relatives were worse than I'd previously thought.

I thought when I'd read them at 14 that I'd probably already changed my opinion as much as I ever would, but I just began reading them again this week, and my opinions have continued to change. Elsie, far from being perfect, really has some pretty petty and childish moments. She and her father are very prejudiced against the "lower class," and while they are kind, they avoid contact unless to preach the gospel. This is particularly annoying to me as I would qualify as the lower class in their million-dollar world. Their frequent use of endearments annoys me even more than it did 3 years ago.

Besides that, their slaves do everything for them, and in one book Elsie admits that she's never so much as put on her own shoes and stockings, and they proclaim themselves tired after something as ridiculous as a carriage ride! And Elsie, as a grown woman, is requested by her father that she not carry her own child! A baby! And I know many 9-10 year old girls who quite frequently carry 2-year-old's with little difficulty. They are pathetically weak, susceptible to disease, and, dare I say, lazy!

The final straw has been this fourth book. Perhaps I will be able to recover some of my former interest in these books, but right now my Southern pride is aroused. They are supposed to be southerners, but they hide in England for the duration of the Civil War, chiding the South for attempting to succeed, from across the Atlantic Ocean. The Civil War was, as some people don't know, actually over state's rights. The federal government was becoming too powerful, so some Southern states decided to leave the Union. I wish the South had won, I think our country would be in a much better position today if they had. I'm completely disgusted with Martha Finley for creating such awful characters.

I can't read them any more. I wish I'd left the Elsie Dinsmore books as a pleasant childhood memory. Perhaps I can erase my memory of this reading and remember it as I did: a fairy-tale story of a little girl too perfect to be real.

~Lizzie

Cookies

Shouldn't chocolate chip cookies be slightly crunchy around the edges and gooey in the middle? Sarah was just criticizing my cookies and said I needed to cook them longer. Tell me this doesn't look good:


I'm highly insulted... although I think I should probably ignore her, because as she was complaining, she ate two of them.

Personally, I LOVE chocolate chip cookies, hot out of the oven, with the chocolate still liquid-y, the middle nice and soft and the edge with a slight crunch.... Yum.

~Lizzie

Brace Yourself

When you see the rushing wind, feel the pouring rain
Hear the thunder now, as the clouds roll in
And you’re blinded by the lightening
Do you also hear that still, small voice saying
It’s okay, you’re not alone
You may be scared to death but I won’t let you go
You may think the sky above is falling
But can you hear Jesus calling?
"Jesus Calling" ~ 33Miles

Thus begins four years of Barack Hussein Obama as the president of the United States. Be prepared for much worse than you were expecting. Trust me, it’s best to imagine the worst. Then you might be pleasantly surprised. Hoping that it won’t be as bad as you thought only sets you up for disappointment. That’s what I get for hoping that McCain would make it. Now I’m fully expecting everything I didn’t want and more: the banning of homeschooling, the beginning of communism, the return of terror attacks, schools becoming training camps for “Hitler” youth, the persecution of Christians, infanticide, the end of the world and the return of our Lord. Actually, the return of Jesus doesn’t fit on that list, because that would be a good thing that I will hope for my whole life. I did want to get married and have a dozen kids first though.

Something gives me the feeling that Obama might not be just ‘an’ anti-Christ, but maybe THE anti-Christ. Yes, I know many people have been suspected of being the anti-Christ for approximately 2000 years. And no, I haven’t really researched it, mostly because I’m freaked out about Obama enough as it is and I have plenty more pleasant ways to spend my time than reconciling his description to the description in the Bible. Not to mention that it’s enough for me that he’s been called “the Messiah” (which he does not deny), that he’s proclaimed himself to be our Savior and that so many people like him despite his creepiness. If Obama gets mortally wounded, I won’t be the least surprised when he rises from the dead…. on the third day. Just horrified and disgusted.

Don’t panic, life on earth has always been pain and frustration cushioned by little pleasantries and sweet moments. It’s just that I only recently realized it. And believe it or not, I'm actually a happy person sometimes... mostly when I don't have time to think about deep things.

Does 'easy' rhyme with 'greasy'?

~Lizzie

Beach Vacation 6

Remember the beach vacation series back in September where I promised to post a video of as soon as I could get it to work? I finally got it to work. So here's the video.

You might notice that I say "Yeah" a total of 4 times in this video. There's a very good reason for my lack of intellectual conversation.... it was not required.

By the way, here's the script if you were wondering what David said:

David: Isn't it cool? (Meaning his skim board)
Me: Yeah
David: Lizzie!
Me: Yeah!
David: Isn't it cool? (He didn't hear my answer the first time)
Me: Yeah!
Joel: Are you doing video?
Me: Yeah
Joel: Huh.

And actually, that's not Joel playing frisbee with himself, it's Bubba.

So I finally got that posted. Whew.

~Lizzie

I am SO special....

We went to the Hawks baseball games today, and I managed to get sunburned. Yes, in November. And I don't mean a light sunburn either. I mean lobster red. Oh, and the bonus?? It's only on the left side of my face, and my left arm, because the sun was to my left. Uh-huh. Let's hear it for the red-heads with pathetically pale skin. *everyone groans*

And sadly, it was the championship weekend, and the Hawks lost their second game and were eliminated. So that's the end of our fall baseball season.

Now begins basketball! I'm excited, since I enjoyed Hawks basketball last year, but this year my own little brothers are on the middle school team! Of course, according to Kara, that just makes the games more stressful. But I'm still looking forward to it.

What I'm not looking forward to is the conflicts with theatre rehearsals. We're going to have at least 4 middle school games on Tuesdays.. the same days as theatre rehearsals. And we're missing several awesome JV/Varsity games because of theatre. I'm already wishing I didn't do theatre this year. It's always a gamble. I mean, I couldn't possibly have known we were going to get stuck with "Oklahoma!" one of my least favorite plays ever. *sigh* But we also might have gotten a good play. It's just frustrating.

Hopefully I'll manage to enjoy "Oklahoma!" but I haven't managed it so far. I am really enjoying voice lessons though! They are absolutely awesome! I've always wanted to do voice, and I finally got to do it this year. It's been fantastic!

And now I'm off to nurse my sunburn.

~Lizzie