P.o.t.W.

Wishing
(excerpt from It Can Be Done)

Horace Greeley said that no one need fear the editor who indulged in diatribes against the prevalence of polygamy in Utah, but that malefactors had better look out when an editor took up his pen against abuses in his own city.  We all tend to begin our reforms too far away from home.  The man who wishes improvement strongly enough to set to work on himself is the man who will obtain results.

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Do you wish the world were better?

Let me tell you what to do. 

Set a watch upon your actions,

Keep them always straight and true.

Rid your mind of selfish motives,

Let your thoughts be clean and high.

You can make a little Eden

Of the sphere you occupy.

Do you wish you were wiser?

Well, suppose you make a start,

By accumulating wisdom

In the scrapbook of your heart;

Do not waste one page on folly;

Live to learn, and learn to live.

If you want to give men knowledge

You must get it, ere you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?

Then remember day by day

Just to scatter seeds of kindness

As you pass along the way,For the pleasures of the manyMay be ofttimes traced to one,

As the hand that plants an acorn

Shelters armies from the sun.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Day in the Life of the Maidens

In preparation for a family fellowship at our aunt and uncle's house last Saturday, Julia was baking a cake and the following conversation ensued:

Julia:  I'm not going to beat the cake batter as much as the last time."
Jenny:  "I knead the cake batter."
Julia:  "You don't knead cake batter, you beat it."
Dad:  "It kneads to be beaten."
Jamin walks into kitchen at this moment, and says:  "What needs to be eaten?"

Needless to say, we all had a good laugh at this.  =]

Just in case you need your daily prescription of laughter, here are a few Pinterest funnies. . .

Till next time!

Blessings,

Sarah

A Quick Hello!

We apologize for the lack of activity in the blogging world.  It is officially Hay Season! 

I guess the point of this post is just to give you faithful readers an update as to why we are absent.  These next two weeks may prove rather hectic... VBS begins this coming Sunday evening, and while we are very excited for it to come, the stress of preparing the preschool crafts as well as the songs for the music sessions, not to mention spending hours at a time in the hay fields, is crazy.  We've also been asked to paint the set, which is a CASTLE, by the way, and I'm not sure when that will happen.  Thankfully, some gentlemen of the church are proving a big help to us with that.

And to top it off, we are expecting the arrival of our cousins from the desert of Arizona this weekend.  =]  Just in time for VBS!  Then that Saturday, after the week of VBS, we are going to Dollywood!! 

That's just the layout of the FIRST week of June.  Good gravy.

It's all good.  =]

Hang in there!  We will post when we can.

Have a great week and Happy Memorial Day!

In the meantime... Here's something just for laughs:

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Umbrella Cats, Rainbows, Photography, and Furry Moles

Salutations, friends!  Welcome back!

Did you read the title of this post?  Have I aroused the deep, sometimes dangerous, feeling of curiosity that dwells in the dark, dank, dungeons of your thirsty soul?

Hmm.  Well, you'll have to do better than that. 

No matter.  Continue reading... 

If you dare.  

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I thought I would share a summary of this past week.  We haven't been super busy as of late, but I'm sure that will change.  Hay season is on the way! =] With all of the rain we've received (approximately 10 inches over two different periods), our fields seem to have blossomed.  And though they are not as full and thick as we would like, we are thankful.  

Due to all the rain, there is this wonderful contraption called an umbrella. Aren't these marvelous inventions fantastic?  Ha! our kitty thinks so!

Below, you will see Nala with her paraplouie (*ahem* French word for umbrella).  I don't really remember why Ma put her opened umbrella in her room that day, but Nala seemed to like it there.

Fun Fact:

The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra meaning "shade" or "shadow;" and umbella (umbel, a flat-topped, rounded flower).  The Latin word, in turn, derives from the Ancient Greek ombros. 

The word parasol is used to refer to an item designed to protect against the sun, while the word umbrella refers to a device to protect against rain.  There is a difference between the two, commonly the material, be it waterproof or not. 

Brolly is a slang term for this handy invention and is often used in Britain, as well as other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Kenya.  My favorite name for this contraption is the Bumbershoot, an Americanism from the 19th century. 

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There's your educational fact of the day.

And where would we be without the Promise of the sky, or rather, the Hand who made a promise to us.

Maiden Photography. 

Here are just a few photos taken within the last two weeks.

Tulip, from a early Mother's Day bouquet.

"Purity," Autumn Angel Encore Azalea

Yellow Coreopsis

Have you guessed?  I love taking photos of flowers!

"Cedar in the Rain"

The above photo was taken in the forest adjoining our house after one of the long rains.  I love the water droplets, and was very pleased with how this particular photo turned out. ^__^

"Beauty of Pink"

All of these photos can be found on my DeviantART.

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OK.  So, we've seen Umbrella Cat, a rainbow, and a bit of photography... What's next??

Furry moles!!!

"Why moles?" you may ask.  Well, because... I caught one today.  With my bare hands!  He was so cute and furry! =3  And just to make you believe me, I have PROOF!

Photos courtesy of the Brother-Knight (who found the little mole, while working outside, and called our attention to him).

Seriously.  He was cute.  Look at him!

Needless to say, the experience brought back memories of Brian Jacques Redwall books, and I was trying to think of some of his mole names...  But alas, none came to mind.

I did let him go, by the way.  He was trembling so!

This little guy wasn't the first miniature rodent I've caught.  With my hands.  You won't believe me (because I don't have pictures), but I have captured a mouse, too!  I have witnesses.  My whole family, including my grandparents, saw him.  And, yes, he was adorable!  Have you seen Disney's The Lion King?  Think of the little mouse that Scar was playing with, and that's exactly what he looked like! 

  Thanks for stopping by, traveler!  I hope you were entertained. =]

An Evening in the Maiden's Home

Greetings, fair readers!

Now, I know what you all are thinking...

"What?!  Two posts in one day?!"

Aaaand...

"I wonder what an evening in the Maidens' home is like?"

....

Yes, you were thinking it.

Well, to satisfy your curiosity, here is a taste of what it is like to be in our family!

~*~

A little background:  We were cutting up fruit for Mom to take to her MOP's meeting in the morning.  Sadly, by the time we thought to document our conversations, we had forgotten most of what had been said, so Sarah and Jamin are the stars as they were the ones chatting while I typed out their words.

Jenny:  Is the watermelon good?

Jamin: *cutting up a watermelon* Oh no.  No, we can't give this to them.  It's red; you want it white.  We'll have to eat it.

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Sarah:  OH!  I just found an awesome-- actually it's very sad--

Jamin:  It's sad?

Sarah:  -- It's How to Burn 800 Calories in 30 minutes.

Jamin:  What?

Sarah:  The picture was of a BURNT PIZZA! *dies laughing*

Sarah:  *looks at some rotten grapes*  Are these the bad grapes?

Jamin:  The bad grapes?  They're in time-out.

*pause*

Jamin:  Did you get that?

Sarah: *a silly laugh that sounds like: eeeEEEAAAHAHAHA!*

Sarah:  Oh, what's that?

Jamin:  It's just a flesh wound... I think it's watermelon.

Sarah:  That's dross. *pronounced like "gross," just with a 'd'*

Mom: *on the phone in another room* Okay, well, I'll let you go, now.

Jenny: *makes a horrified face*  What, she was holding her hostage?!

By the by, here's a random fact, Sarah cannot cluck like a chicken.

...

Yeah, I know.  You have always wanted to know stuff like this.

~*~

And that's that!

Unfortunately, you missed some of the best parts of our conversations due to our failing memories...

Hopefully we can do this again sometime soon!

Perhaps, we will manage to capture some of our father's wit.  He can be quite funny!

For example, he describes himself as "Tigger on the inside, and Eeyore on the outside."  There you have it!

I'm sorry, I don't speak txt...

WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

*BWOOOOOP BWOOOOOP*

It's another RANDOM post!

But first, before we get to the randomness... Today is our mother's birthday!!!

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Happy Birthday, Mama!

We love and appreciate all you do for us, even though at times we forget to show it.

You put up with our moods, attitudes, and behavior, and know us better than anyone (except our King, of course).

Thank you for being there!

Love always,

Sarah, Jenny, and Julia

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and now... BACK TO RANDOMNESS!!

So, can you guess from the title what our subject is today?

We three maidens had this conversation just this morning, and what do you know, the urge to share it with you, dear readers, hit me like a frisbee (well, not literally), and in all actuality it was almost a passing thought.

Almost. 

As to the conversation, our mother received a text from a good friend asking for her to call ayc.  Well, we poor, naive maidens were at a loss wondering in vain as to what those three little letters could possibly mean.  So, we wracked our little brains trying to figure it out and came up with:

a yellow cat

all young cuckatoos

and eventually settled on 

awesome yodeling caribous.

Until, Ma called her friend and finally asked the meaning, therefore bursting our virtual bubble and otherwise deflating our brilliant ideas.

Do you know what it means?  Sure you do.  "At your convenience."  

Other "words" we struggle with are:

TY  -  thank you

YW  -  you're welcome

@TEOTD  -  at the end of the day

2NTE  -  tonight

2GTBT  -  too good to be true

B4N  -  bye for now

CM  -  call me

and SO much more.  I mean, come on, how long does it take to just type the sentence out??  Exactly how many abbreviations do we need in our vocabulary?  I've only now come to understand "IDK" and "TTYL."

Must the English language become even more confusing?  I have a hard enough time SPEAKING correctly.

In my opinion, I think we should learn Elvish.  Yup.  You read me.

So anyway, in concluding this educational post, I am sharing with you this video.  It is none other than a VeggieTales Silly Song that fits this subject all too well.  =]  

Enjoy!

Silly Song with Best Friends Forever from the episode The Penniless Princess.

Hope this brightens your day!

TNT!!