Old Libraries Have A Mystique Aura About Them

Entering into a library and seeing thick rich carpets, old books, new books, creaky wide panel flooring excites me; there's just a romance about the place that gives a delightful chill when wandering around.  Dragging my fingers over the spines of books and hearing the whispered stories coming from them, I am intrigued to pull one off the shelf and read it to discover all the secrets, adventures, and mysteries the pages hold for me while I decipher the meaning of the story and think about what comes next or rather what doesn't come next   I love all libraries, but old ones have a mystique aura about them that captivates me.

Sarah and I went apple picking with Josh. This is me on a mean old looking tractor.

I am holding an apple picking thingy...

Love the view behind us. It drizzled a bit which I was very happy with. What better way is there to spend a afternoon than wandering through an orchard in the rain? I leisurely picked apples and occasionally decided to be adventurous and go for that apple way up high, the one out of reach, almost out of sight but you notice it out of the corner of your eye.  The apples were scrumptious, in case you were wondering. :-)

And this is an outfit I put together not particularly for Halloween, but for everyday wear.  Yes, okay I dress like fictional characters.  What 14 year old girl with an imagination and crazy ideas doesn't?

These are just some funny little tidbits I giggled over for um a "couple" minutes... or maybe more like 20?

*snicker, snicker*

~ Lyddie 

Fluffy Socks Help Me With Ninja Moves

I was attempting to turn my radio on with a sonic screwdriver.  It was such fun... I have good times with Me, Myself, and I.

This is what I think when I wear fluffy socks. 2% comfort, 3% warmth, 95% sliding around like a ninja.  My room has slippery wood floors which helps a lot with moving gracefully.  It's where I practice my ninja, and it's also where I dance. Well, I dance and twirl everywhere, but more so in my room. Like I said, slippery wood floors helps you move gracefully.

This is my kind of chair! Love. Love. LOVE.   OOO I'm reading this right now:

Very jumpy over the up coming movie!
And these are some shoes that I want to try and make myself. : )

I'm so indecisive about things.  The Latest thing I'm having trouble with is setting a wallpaper for my ipod.  It's changed 10 times in a week.  I hope I'm not the only one who can't decide between a Lord of the Rings picture, Star Wars, Doctor Who, or I Love Lucy. Decisions, decisions.  Why's it so hard?!!

My bedroom is 90% done!  Here are some snap shots of what I did, (Yes, I painted all this!).  I am SO pleased with it.

 Oh, the T.A.R.D.I.S. AKA Police Box I did not paint; It's cardboard. : ) This wall is fantastic! *giggle*

 This is suppose to look like torn wallpaper.

 My closet. The lyrics by my pillow are as follows: "Take me somewhere deep cause I'm quite exhausted and I need to sleep."
"Farewell nightmares I am free. Welcome streams of sweet dreams that settle over me."
"Dreams never die when we sleep beneath the open sky." "Only whispers can tell of the sweet dreams that we knew so well." As you can see, I concentrated on song lyrics that mention dreams, sleeping etc. because it's right by my pillow. : )

 Angle from the doorway.

It took me 5 hours to write those song lyrics, (song is On the Wing by Owl City) and it looks even better in person.  These photos were taken on my ipod so they're not the best quality of color.

I painted a spice rack for my nail polish. It's two sided. : )

 Above my window.  Allons-y translates to "Lets go!" in french.

And this is above my door.  So yeah all in all I love hangin in this room!

~ Lyddie

Fall = Wind Blown Sandy Locks...And Baggy Sweaters

Doctor Who, a British television show that was started up again in 2005 after 50 years off the air, has left me emotionally scarred.  I'm still torn up and weeping inside from the many traumatic episodes I've seen.  Yeah.  Just thought I'd start off on that heart-rending note.

On a happier note, I'm doing a complete renovation of my sweet little domain.  Up the stairs, turn left, last door at the end of the hall, can't miss it.  I'm most tenderly affectionate towards my room... I'll try and post some pictures when all is done.  I'm most anxious about my ceiling mural coming out all right.  Have you ever tried doing an 8x10 foot painting and working above your head?  It's so... fantastic!  I *occasionally* love and enjoy very much working and figuring out how to do hard things.  One exception always occurs when I say this though.  Algebra. One hard difficult thing that hates me and I it.  Here, you can get an idea of how I appear after battling this toughie.

Fall is arriving and that means big, baggy sweaters, snuggy pants, (actually I wear snuggy pants year round)  boots, *I'll still go barefoot everywhere* and picture taking of everything out doors.  I think fall is the best time for photos.  Fall is also the season I let my hair down; no scrunchy, just wind blown hair.  Besides sea breezes, I love fall breezes that have the color and smell of red maple leaves.  I allow that kind of breeze and wind to play with my hair and whisper and laugh in my ears as it scoops up my sandy locks and whips it across my rosy, wind blown cheeks.  I am currently lamenting over events that happened in a book I read two months ago.  I will never get over the damage that comes from fantasy books. Never...

Doesn't this picture of towering books just give you the "shivers of delight"?

This is my idea of a day well spent; wandering and exploring rooms that look like this. Just. Simply. Perfect.

And on that lovely note, I'll end.

~ Lyddie

Yes, Yes, the Best Night Ever.

OO I had the most fantastical night with Owl City last Thursday night. I joined in on his Midsummer Station World Tour in Boston.  Here are some photos. I snatched up a spot close to the stage, and then I sang the life out of me! My dad enjoyed it as well.  Listening and singing to his music makes me smile. It's as simple as that. :-D   It was a very energetic show, and I enjoyed myself immensely.  I made these Owl shoes and painted my door with Owl City lyrics. Pretty epic, I think,  no scratch that, I know it's an epic door. :-) I love walking into my hide away even more now, if that's possible.

Okay other 'new' things about me.  I've started learning French and Elvish, I'm into French cooking, I rediscovered my love for lemon squares, and I have many plans for a bunch of artsy, crafty things.  I have Pinterest to thank for filling my head with such amazingness, well the ideas were already there in my ever whirling thoughts, Pinterest kind of just brought all these ideas to the surface. It had to push through a lot of other whimsical, fantastical  things going on in there, but it finally emerged through all the aspirations.

Today I read To Kill A MockingBird by Harper Lee.  Looooveeeddd iiit! *said in a sing song voice*

~ Fin 

Spring has announced it's arrival by raining for almost the past two weeks and I've been love'n it!  I'm the kind of  person who loves the rain even if it rains on a day I didn't want it to.
 I went to the theaters with Josh and Dad to see The Avengers.  I was anticipating this movie for months and I wasn't disappointed. I must say even though it was definitely one of the best superhero movies ever, I'm debating whether or not if it's my favorite superhero movie.  That debate will probably be happening  forever.  My favorite superhero dude is, (and always will be) Ironman.  Although Hawkeye was really up there with his "totally for real, but totally unbelievingly not real" skills with a bow and arrow.  : ) Just another reason why I need to get an archery set now and expand my amazing skills that I have for the sport er, I mean will have once I actually get one.

~ Lyddie

Best Life Size Stuffed Animal Ever!

Tomorrow night is the performance of Macbeth!  Today's rehearsal went really well.  We've got some super cool props and such, so it should be a great night.  I've got 20 free minutes while I wait for my clothes to bleach so I thought I'd write.

Today I was on the search for my favorite childhood stuffed animal.  I started on Amazon but I couldn't seem to find it which was odd because that place has everything!  Anywho, I looked again this evening and wait for it.... YES! Found it.  And what is "it"? Well,

Best stuffed animal ever, right?  I won't say how my first one got away from me, (believe me, it won't happen again) but I will say how I discovered it when I was about 10.  My Nana took me out for my birthday to a toy store in Falmouth and said I could get anything I wanted in there.  I looked up and there was this alcove above the store door.  On display were these life size dogs.  My trained eyes immediately zoomed in on the husky dog, my favorite breed.  Well, you know the rest.  She bought it, and I was in childhood bliss, the "I've got the best stuffed toy ever kind of bliss". So, yeah, I just ordered the same exact one off Amazon with my babysitting money and am waiting with the highest anticipation ever for it to arrive!  Gotta go!  Mum just got home from work!

~ Lyddie

Since this month has been super crazy I don't know where to start!  I finally got a paying job for babysitting
1-2 year olds at my church every week.  They are so fun to play with. :-) I'm currently in a second Shakespeare play.  We're doing Macbeth.  I'm not in it as much this time, even though I play two different people, Lady MacDufff and a Gentlewomen which is like a maid or something.  Last night, (Friday evening) I went to the theaters with Hannah, Annie, Olivia, and Caleb to see Star Wars the Phantom Menace in 3D.  I was the only one who wore a Star Wars shirt!!  Clearly we can see the bigger fan here people. :-) So, my mom and I are official vegans now.  Meaning we only eat plants and whole grain foods. Absolutely nothing that comes from animals. It's been going really well although it's super hard for me because I see my siblings eating everything I'm trying not to eat but want to.  I've basically been making ziti
for all my lunches.  I know, I know!  So yummy and it's impossible to get sick of eating ziti practically everyday right? Ha-ha.  Here's a picture of our guinea pig.  Sarah and I got out some stuffed animal toys and put him among them.  See if you can spot him!

Oh, he is so cute.... Today I'm planning on a huge organization of my room.  I want to make wall space for my I Love Lucy posters but I don't want to take down the cute old fashion little girl pictures I have on my walls.  The only answer is I need a bigger room with 50 foot wall space.

~ Lyddie
Luke 6:31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 

A short narrative of Christmas... My Christmas.

It's 6:30am Christmas morning.  You wonder why you don't hear your little sister squealing with delight downstairs.  You roll over and peer down from the trundle bed at what appears to be a snoring lump, but it's hard to tell through the early morning light.  It's the kind of light that has some rays of the darkness from the night, but is slowing deciding to lighten up into morning.  You reach down and feel the lump. Yup, it's your little sister alright, sound asleep on Christmas morning.  So much for her boasting the night before about how early she'll rise!  How typical of her.  Well, I suppose I'll have to wake her up.  After all, no one is allowed to sleep in on Christmas! No one!  You stumble out of bed and start jiggling her awake.  Her eyes flicker open, and with an expression of confusion, delight and sheer excitement, she leaps to her feet.  She takes your hand and starts pulling you down the hall, down the stairs, and takes a quick stop to awaken the guinea pig Phineas, after all, no one is aloud to sleep in on Christmas, no one!  Down the next flight of stairs she pulls you, but you don't resist the pull of her hand, no, you go most willingly, for you too are filled with excitement.  The kind of excitement that only Christmas morning can bring.  After examining everything under the tree, you run to the fire place and look to where you hung your stocking but lo what is this? No stocking do you see!
Your eyes wander to the bottom of the fire place and you see five stockings all lined up.  Too heavy with loot to be hung on the designated pegs on the mantle.  You give a contented sigh and wander back to the living room where you plop down on the couch and... you read until everyone else finds their way to the room with the warm glow, and the brightly colored presents.  You then hear a roar and you know your oldest brother just arrived in his sweet ride.  By that time, your sister has already opened her stocking, but you like to wait for everyone to gather around on the couches.  Afterward, it's time to get ready for the morning church service.  When you come home, everyone starts the preparations for dinner, and once everything is cooking, you settle back down with the family to hand out the gifts you bought for them.  Your ears are filled with the sounds and exclamations of happiness, thankfulness, and glee.  The rest of the day is filled with the happiness that family brings to you.  That night some of the brood go to the movies to see War Horse.  What a good movie it was!  The clock reads 1:00 am and you can't believe how late the movie got out.  You start looking forward to a good night's sleep.  As you crawl back into bed that night with weariness,  (the kind you get from spending the day laughing, smiling, tearing paper off of gifts, and eating an enormously delicious meal) your mind is playing back the day and you give a shudder of contentment.  You start to whisper your prayers in the dark and you thank God for the greatest gift of all.  His son, Jesus Christ, born that we might yet live.   "Aahh it was a good day", you think just as your eye lids close and you fall into a deep sleep, not to awake from until 11 o'clock the next morning. : )

~ Lydia Catherine

Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ ... to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ!  — Romans 16:25-27 

Hope ya all had a nice Thanksgiving!  My family had a wonderful meal together, and  afterwards,  I took a nap while all the guys watched the football game.  Later that evening I took a slice of pumpkin pie but was disappointed with it.  BJ's pumpkin pie was false!  Ick, it tasted bad.  A warning to all, never be deceived by pies being sold at BJ's.  They may look scrumptious, but they're really foul tasting.

Because Mum is working tonight at the hospital, I made dinner for everyone.  I hunted up some cook books and found one called The Pampered Chef.  I flipped through the pictures till I found one that looked promising.  It was called Lasagna Chicken Alfredo.
It was super good and I enjoyed making it.  Everyone else liked it too. Well, everyone except Sarah but she hasn't learned to appreciate good food.

I've almost completed my Christmas list for others so, now I will put up my 5 things that I hope to see under the Christmas tree. Hee,hee that rhymed. : )

1. Permission slip from parents to go on a mission trip.
2. An I Love Lucy T-shirt, (or anything I Love Lucy!)
3. Music.
4. Elf ears/anything elfish or faerie-ish.
5. Books and then some more books.

Odd combination off stuff, I know.  Specially want number 4. : ) My BFF, Renee, told me on the phone I need to stop living in my books.  ; ) Ha-ha yeah right! Speaking of Renee... She's coming back to the Cape next summer! YAHOO!!!  I am very psyched with this news and am already counting down the days.  Summer could never come fast enough for me.... Ahh anywho, Mum's working late tonight and I plan on staying up to greet her when she comes home and to offer her some late night dinner, well more like super early breakfast.  So, that means reading O Pioneers by Willa Cather till she comes home. : ) Fun.

Good night ya all!

~ Lyddie Catherine ~

On Wednesday my family went out to TGIF, (Thank God It's Friday). I love that restaurant.  I got chicken that was encased with melted cheese, fried red peppers and onions.  I had creamy potatoes on the side.  

 The other day I heard Sarah calling me to come help her.  I walked into the room and I couldn't see her face because Phineas was on it!  She yelled, "Help! Get him off!" So, I picked him up with much protesting from the pig and I put him on the ground and he shot away like a rocket into the living room under the couch.  So I'm thinking, "Okay he's under the couch. He's not likely to leave that room."  A couple minutes later I hear, ''Hey, Phineas is in my room.'' Apparently Phineas likes exploring all the rooms in the house.  I went into Dave's room and sure enough, Phineas was under his bed.  Ha-ha.  I bribed him out with lettuce.  : ) 

Thanksgiving is next week!  I've got a lot of things to be thankful for.   Here's some verses on thankfulness. 

"In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thes. 5:18  

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, his steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

"Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" 2 Cor. 9:15

 I've got to go... Phinny just bit Sarah on the stomach.  I think he was trying to nibble the chickens on her shirt.  : ) 

I won't be blogging again until after Thanksgiving.  So, I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families on Thursday! 

~ Lyddie 

Delight In God. 

"Delight yourself in the Lord--and He will give you the desires of your heart!" Psalm 37:4

Sin has taken our attention off of God--and fixed it upon ourselves, and the things around us.
Grace calls our attention off of everything else--to fix it upon God. It directs us to . . .
  look to the Lord,
  come to the Lord,
  trust in the Lord,
  wait on the Lord,
  hope in the Lord, and
  even delight in the Lord.

"Delight yourself in the Lord." Take delight--not in health, or wealth, or position, or friends, or in anything that is changeable--but in the unchangeable Lord. 

Delight yourself in His glorious character--as gracious, merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. 

Delight yourself in Him, as . . .
  the father of the fatherless,
  the friend of the friendless,
  the hope of the wretched,
  and the Savior of the lost.

Delight yourself in His gracious covenant, which . . .
  anticipates your needs,
  provides for your needs,
  limits your trials, and
  provides strength for the day, as every day's work requires.

Delight yourself in His paternal relation. He is not only your God--but your Father! 
  He cares for you, with a father's care!
  He loves you, with a father's love!
  He pities you, with a father's pity!
  He will receive you to Heaven, as to your father's house!

Delight yourself in His precious promises. They are but drops from His ocean of love! They are intended to . . .
  show His love,
  display His grace,
  manifest His care,
  draw out your confidence,
  banish your fear, and
  assure you of all necessary supplies.

Delight yourself in his special providence. A providence that . . .
  marks your steps,
  directs your paths,
  measures your troubles,
  bounds the rage of your enemies,
  numbers the very hairs of your head, and
  makes all things work together for your good!

God in His providence, superintends all your affairs, even the most minute--so that nothing can happen to you by 'chance', or inadvertently do you harm!

Delight in creatures--only produces disappointment, dissatisfaction, and discomfort.
Delight in God--ensures satisfaction, comfort, and certainty. 

To delight in God, is only to prefer . . .
  the ever-flowing fountain--to the shallow stream;
  the glorious sun--to the dim candle!

This is a Grace Gem I got a couple days ago. 

Here's some really cool facts that I read from google. 

• It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
• By law, every child in Belgium must take harmonica lessons at Primary school.
• More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
• • Rats and horses can't vomit.
  • Most lipstick contains fish scales.
  • • If you keep your eyes open by force, they will pop out.
    • The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

if you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.

Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. 

A duck's quack doesn't echo anywhere, and no one knows why.

In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Milicent Roberts.

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

A crocodile can't stick its tongue out.

A shrimp's heart is in their head. 

In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand (or attempted to do so). 

People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, you're heart stops for a mili-second. 

I have no idea how much of this stuff is true, so don't go believing it all. : ) But they are pretty cool to read.

It's November now and therefore time for me to start my Christmas making list.  It seems my list gets bigger every year and my amount of money gets smaller every year.  Even though I enjoy hand making my gifts, it still takes money to buy the supplies.  And that's where parents step in.  : ) I've gotten a lot of fun ideas from different websites, so I think I'll be making a large portion of presents for friends and family.   I am very ecstatic about the fourth and final Inheritance book that came out last Tuesday.  I started the series about two years ago and they are one of my all time favorite book series.  I've been waiting two years for the last book to come out and the wait felt so long!!  Here's what the book covers look like. I own all of them of course. : ) 

The first one was written by the author when he was only 15!  And he was home-schooled. : ) 
Since I'm talking about books here's what I'm currently reading:

The last three are for school.  Looks like everyones out side but me so I'll log off now and go down to the pond and bogs for a sketching session. 


~ Lyddie 
"There's a reason why we're born with brains in our heads, not rocks." - Brom from the Inheritance Cycle  

Just When I thought My Dental Woes Were Over...

Without saddle. Aka going native. 

With western saddle.

And this is Sarah on the lunge line riding Willow. (Willow is in the line from Secretariat).

This is a cute Oreo cookie pop my mom made.  She got the idea from a cool website called pinterest.

It's an Egyptian mummy. : )
So, last night being October 31, I had this LOTR night planned.  I had never seen the extended editions for  all three movies.  I started them at 6:30 pm and ended at 6:00 am the next morning.  It took me 12 hours just about to watch them all!!  I can't believe I went through the night.  It was really fun though.  There were a ton of scenes in the movies that I had never seen before.  I also made Elven Lembras bread.  I made the leaf out of fun foam.  : ) Oh, I also cooked a buffalo dip which is outrageously delicious.

Last Thursday I had the misfortune of having my wisdom teeth extracted.  I didn't think it would be so soon but apparently it is better and easier to have them out before the roots grow too deep.  I was put on anesthesia so I don't quite recall much about what happened.  I do remember having my IV put in, my heart monitor, breathing monitor, and blood pressure attached to me as well.  When I started breathing in the gas I had the funny feeling that my body wasn't there and I felt all floaty.  All went well, thank God, and I came home safe and sound.  The good part is I got to relax for 3 days on the couch reading, and watching movies and eating a ton of ice cream. : ) The bad part; I had enormous chipmunk cheeks for almost a week.  Yeah, there was a lot of swelling on my jaw.  Not fun. : (

Okay this eraser is so cool.  We bought it at Job Lot.  Mom says we bought it for Caleb. *snicker, snicker*

Okey dokey that's all!