Dabbling Incorporated is Moving!

Hello all! Hope you have been well! After much consideration, I have decided to move the main updating of this blog to two different blogging realms: that of Instagram and Twitter! This will make updates not only easier for me, but also more often for you to read. Overall, it's a win win.

So, without much ado, here are the links to where you can find future updates!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dabblingincorporated/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dabblinginc

I will keep everything here as-is for reference's sake, so no worries. 

Thank you all, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Outdoor Dreams

When work and school are in full swing, it's nice to reflect on those days outside. Picnicking in the mountains and fishing with the family are some of my favorite things to do, and now that the weather is lovely, I want to go do these things more than ever. However, homework says I can't, and my work schedule is just about full time (which I honestly love because my job is fabulous!). So, for this fall and coming-winter, I shall be indoors. I do plan on working some side projects in when I get the chance, though, so while I may be slow-posting here, I am working hard on new content and info for this blog that I love so dearly!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday~! ♥

The First Week of August

Upon stepping outside yesterday afternoon, this little one promptly decided to land on me and stay on my shirt as I crossed our wide yard on my way to the driveway. Having to get into the car, I shook my shirt gently to swoosh him away, but when I got into the car and closed the door, guess who was on the window on the inside? This little darling! I found it quite amusing, and so did my little brother... if not more so. My mom said I must've had something magical about me right then. I simply think butterflies and little moths like to land on me, as it seems to happen quite often.

I return to school on the 17th, taking four lovely online classes. I'm excited, and pray that the load of work won't be so bad that I have to quit my job, for I truly, completely, and totally love it there. My manager is a fantastically kind woman, and she really makes the work environment one you simply wish to stay in all the time. So I will be balancing these four classes with salon time once more, and possibly some more church-related activities if the load isn't bad. As it stands, there is a possibility that I will follow my little ones from last year into the second grade choir, which would be fantastic as everyone in my family knows those little ones as my babies.

On the creative front, I have an ongoing crochet project that leaves skeins of yarn all over the top of my dresser. A very vintage flower-motif purse with a pattern that slightly confuses me. I may be pulling out a ton of stitches just to make sure I get the directions right, as in all my years of crocheting I have never quite seen a pattern like this. This artfulness aside, I am working on designing my own yearly/weekly/daily planner (following inspiration from my boss!) which I hope to have finished soon! I have an obsession with organization as it is, and organizing one's time is truly an art. The planner is much to detailed for me by my lonesome, but I will no doubt be testing out the design on several people before I make the artistic design of it final. I adore creating stationery-type things, so if this goes well, I may well not stop.... And I shall not complain about such.

Reading wise, I am still plugging through my growing collection of books, still in Philippa Gregory's novels. I am currently reading the Virgin's Lover, the fifth book in the Tudor series and the first solely about Elizabeth I. I had mixed feelings about this novel at the start, finding it very hard to become interested in due to the fact that it seemed to be very much like a fanfiction between Elizabeth and Robert Dudley (it still is to some degree), but now some politics have entered the picture and I find it easier to read. I still disdain, however, how I am being made to despise my most favorite historical figure.... While most of it may be accurate, I still find Elizabeth to be... overly reckless and heartless, which disturbs me slightly.... Even though there is a very high likelihood that this trait was inherited from her mother. As I said, though, I am able to read through it more steadily, and I truly pity Robert Dudley's wife. Having despised her in the previous book, I now understand why she was such a cling lunatic, and I pity her very much for being married to a man who has no desire whatsoever to let her settle down and run a farm as she has always dreamed.

On a totally random side note, my sister's birthday is on Monday, and I am finding it very difficult to STOP buying her things. I tell you... difficult! I had three gifts to start, gave one early, and now I have five more! My word, my word, I have problems. I think I know her too well.

Well, my coffee is about gone and there is a whole room and desk I must tidy up before school and work kick back in to full gear, so I shall cease my ramblings for now and go enjoy the cooling-summer air for a while. 

Have a wonderful Friday, all! 

Simple Treasure

Every once in a while you find something that just calls out to you. Some trinket you find particularly beautiful, even though it is infinitely simple. Almost like its a piece to a puzzle that makes up a small, decorative part of your soul.

I was doing a little thrifting today with the family and found this little beauty sitting in an aisle of wooden shelves and boxes. I didn't even fully look it over before it was in my arms, and now it sits in my room, a match to my earthy-eclectic heart. ♥

An Analytical Craft

I have hoarded a lot of yarn and thread over the years, and I have finally decided that the one perfect project destined for each skein will most likely never arrive, so I have done the unthinkable.... I have used the good yarn on random projects! I have had to push myself to do such, but I think I shall be glad in the long run (and certainly have some more room to store... more yarn).

So, in my free time, I have been working on this lovely little creation. It is ever so delicate, especially after I wet-blocked it (which, by the way, was my first time wet-blocking a crocheted item. Very interesting experience, but now I want to wet-block everything!). The pattern stretched out and became even lovelier. There are things I would do differently, yes, but I am still very happy with the result.

Just to update, the new job is going very well. I love it so much and I am so happy with not only my 35-minute drive there and back, but the hours I spend there as well! Saving money for textbooks has never been this nice, and I thank God for working in my life as He has so that I am at this salon now. I am most grateful and thankful, and cannot wait to keep working!

* * *

I have been coming to grips lately with the fact that I am a more analytical person than creative, as I am sure I have mentioned before. My entire family is very creative, with regards to arts and crafts and things of the like, and I am finding out more and more every day how much more my mind is like my father's. Numbers, patterns, words, business... these things all appeal to me, and instead of trying to force my mind to understand how to draw a person's face or how to sculpt a bird from clay, I am embracing the fact that I am more comfortable following crochet patterns, writing papers, and dealing with mathematical problems. Yes, I am creative, but more so in the problem solving manner. It is very hard to analyze one's strengths and weaknesses objectively without comparing oneself to another, and I am still trying to map out all of those things for myself. It's quite the process, indeed, and is very humbling when I take a step back and realize that there is so much I simply cannot do. Not many people like to think of those sorts of things, and I don't care to linger there either, but I still have to give myself a break and say that there are certain things that I simply do not do well, no matter how hard I try. Once I set those things aside and tell myself that it is perfectly all right to not be able to do those things, I feel freer to focus on the things that I can do, and those are wonderful days.

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday! I have been busy, but I hope to get some more things done and post some more in the coming weeks! ♥

Blanche the Basset Hound

My family loves hound dogs. It is something that just comes naturally to us -- we all work best with hound dogs or rather big-boned dogs like our Saint Bernard. Whichever is the case, bloodhounds are our favorites of the hounds. My mom has been searching for a smaller dog, though, to round out our pack of lovelies, and as she was looking over her favorite pet-finding website today, she saw a future family member: a tiny little female basset hound.

So, I threw on my shoes and grabbed my purse, then hurried out of the house with my mom. Soon we were on our way to the local humane society, and when we got there, we quickly asked to see the basset hound. Turns out, she was in the little pen area behind us, so we turned around and looked over the chest-high wall to catch a glimpse of the tiny creature we had come to find. A pair of smart brown eyes looked back up at us instantly, and two chubby feet slapped onto the wall as the short little hound stretched to see us better. 

It was instant love. When we saw how mild she was, and how sweet and smart she was, we knew she was coming home. All while paperwork was being filled out, the little one was trotting all over the main room, running from me to my mom to various volunteers and other dogs, just plopping one chubby foot after another in a gentle manner that was void of over-exuberance. This one knew she didn't have to get anywhere fast, and she didn't try to get her stubby little legs to do so anyhow.

We were quickly informed that she loved to be a shadow. She would follow on the heels of whoever moved about, and then stop when the walking feet stopped and roll onto her back begging for a tummy rub. She was by no means invasive, as some little dogs can be when begging for attention, but rather rolled over and held up a sign that said, "Hey, I'm down here if you want to scratch my belly. Thanks." 

So she came home, and she handled the changes superbly. We introduced her to our Saint Bernard, Liesl, first, and the two instantly hit it off (especially since Liesl loves little creatures!), and then the two bloodhounds hurried out to meet their long-eared comrade. Our oldest hound, Ellie Mae, was first out the door, running ahead as elder hound. She instantly loved the new arrival, and our young male bloodhound, Moses, quickly greeted her as well. The pack then proceeded to follow the stubby one around the yard, and when the two big hounds went back inside to eat, Liesl proceeded to show her new small love around the yard. It was a darling sight indeed!

After conversation and the consultation of the baby name book I use for writing, our little one has been dubbed Blanche. Sweet and mild, simple and darling. The name was perfect.

The younger kids were thrilled to have a tiny dog, and we all look forward to having Blanche calmly trotting through the house very soon!

...But first, potty training!

Have a lovely Friday, all! ♥

The Dreamy River Valley

Spent a lovely weekend with the family going down the Tennessee river, and, oh, what a lovely trip it was! Once in the valley area along the river, the surroundings quickly became enchanting and almost foreign. It was like a little piece of New Zealand or something smack dab in the middle of Chattanooga, and it made my heart and soul rather joyful at the sight of so much green! Green trees, green hills, green cliffs... it was amazingly gorgeous.

There was this one hillside, pictured all the way at the top of this post, that I was particularly captured by. It looked like a small orchard of vineyard of some sort, and up near the treeline there was a small house surrounded by solar panels. It was too ideal for me to handle, and I should very much like to live in a place like that someday.

Simply perfect. If you ever get a chance to go here, do so. It is well worth any amount of money, and I plan on going back in the fall to see all of it again in stunning orange and yellow hues!

My first day of work was yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm trying to get back into the feel of working on the floor of a salon, and it is honestly going quite well. A lot of new things to learn with this salon, but I will catch on! It's a great place so far, and I plan on staying quite a while.

Have a lovely Tuesday, all! It has been raining quite a lot lately here, so I hope wherever you are, it's a little less soggy! ♥

Crochet Me Gloves

It has been some time since I sat down and crocheted, and the other day I decided that there was no point in saving yarn for superior projects when I never completed any projects at all anyhow. So I took out some of my best yarn and stitched together this glove for my sister! The other glove is still under construction, but shall be completed soon. This one shall not have to be alone for long, and I shall then be searching for more patterns to go after.

The pattern certainly worked out perfectly, and the glove is quite comfortable! 

On a side note, I feel such a strong need to clean and organize things around my room and around the house in general. I also have a strong desire to buy a million small succulents and put them in all sorts of fun pots, but I would start to need to acquire shelving... and I don't even have that for my books. 

Hope you all are doing well! It is a beautiful spring, and I hope this weather continues to my birthday this Saturday!

Have a lovely Sunday, all! ♥

Springtime Heights

Spring is in full gear now that the rains have ceased. Clover is blossoming wildly, which is great for the bees, and everything is warm and growing like crazy.

I have finished this semester of heck, and ended it on a really high note, which I praise God for. Now I get to begin looking for a salon job for the summer! I have several places in mind, but at the moment I am in prayer over the matter for several reasons. I am dropping it in God's lap, and I know He will choose what is best for me to do at this time. In the mean time, however, I get to simply enjoy the fact that I have no homework to write at all right now! 

Here are some photos from around the homestead as everything grows in! The blackberry is in bloom, which is lovely, and now I am simply waiting for the honeysuckle to bloom and fill the air with that heavenly musky scent so characteristic if Southern summers.

Also...fourteen days until I am 22 years old. My word, how time flies!

Happy Mother's Day to you all, and have a fabulous weekend! ♥

{Papers and Coffee!}

Editing essays this morning! Almost done with this semester!

It's cold out this morning, and I have a giant mug of coffee to keep me warm as I go through and proofread one of my papers. I am not overly fond of this step in the essay process, honestly... at least when it's my own work. But it has to be done, so I shall do it with joy!

Have a lovely Thursday morning, all! ♥

P.S. Editing is done!

To-Read List -- Updated Once More!

THE LIST://

The Red Queen -- Philippa Gregory
The Boleyn Inheritance -- Philippa Gregory

The Queen's Fool -- Philippa Gregory

The Virgin's Lover -- Philippa Gregory

World Without End -- Ken Folleett

The Norton Anthology of: (complete sets)
English Literature
World Literature
American Literature

The Mists of Avalon -- Marion Zimmer Bradley

Her Fearful Symmetry -- Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveller's Wife -- Audrey Niffenegger

Pirate Latitudes -- Micheal Crichton

Selected poems of Seamus Heaney

A-Z Aromatherapy -- Patricia Davis

On Writing -- Stephen King

The Book of Virtues -- William J. Bennett

Game of Thrones -- George R.R. Martin

The True History of Tea -- Victor H. Mair and Erling Hoh

The Bedford Anthology of World Literature

The Doctor's Wife -- Elizabeth Brundage

The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Wives and Daughters -- Elizabeth Gaskell

The Faerie Queene -- Edmund Sepnser

Robert Browning's Poems

Sherlock Holmes -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Shogun -- James Clavell

Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo

Dragon Rider -- Cornelia Funke
Jesus, CEO -- Laurie Beth Jones
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World -- Joanna Weaver

THE POST://

Philippa Gregory creates another masterfully written account of the life of queens in King Henry the VIII's court. This tale brings in dear Anne of Cleves firstly, who is ever so kind and sweet down to her core, Katherine Howard, a naive girl who thinks mostly of pretty possessions, and Jane Boleyn, a woman with a dark past haunted by the ghosts of her late husband George and his sister, former queen Anne Boleyn. This story, much like the book before it, is filled to the brim with family plotting and innocent desires for happiness and freedom, and it is all wrapped in a thick layer of court life affected by a very irritable king who, in his old age, suspects everyone of treason. Gregory has crafted a novel that is not only worthy of being classic historical fiction, but a thriller in its own right, and I highly recommend it to those who favor these two genres and day-in-the-life stories undermined by plotting and deceit.

As I read through these books, I am constantly amazed by Gregory's ability to portray an unlikeable character in a light that makes you pity them. Such is the case with Jane Boleyn, whom the reader does pity very greatly as she comes to grips in the novel that she is, indeed, human and has feelings. Dear Katherine Howard, while a young girl when we first meet her in the story, is vain and a little on the ditsy side. By the end of the book, though, we learn that she, while still very, very vain, is only ditsy because of her youth. Anne of Cleves, the poor dear, is perhaps the sweetest character I have read in a Gregory novel, and goes from being an awkward foreigner in England to a graceful lady who was loved by the country she looked over for such a short time. She was my favorite character in this novel, and I admire her kind nature and concern for the people she was brought in to rule beside the tumultuous King Henry VIII. 

All in all, a joyful novel full of emotion and the human nature!

On a side note, I am quite happy to have finished this novel, and not because I was tired of reading it. This is the fastest I have finished a book in about three years. I am overjoyed about that, truly! I used to be able to finish 300+ page books in four to five days. This one was 500+ pages and it took about a week, but that is better than several months! 

Onto the next book in the series, the Queen's Fool!

Rain-Rivers & Water-Blossoms

The rains have officially come. The entire week has been overcast and chilly, though today is quite humid. The sky is gray and threatens thunderstorms near constantly, and it is not uncommon to see a steady barrage of rain falling throughout an entire day and into the night. The yard squishes with every step, and pools of rainwater linger everywhere.

The rain has withheld for the time being, allowing me the opportunity to yank on some boots and run outside. The most darling patch of mushrooms sprouted some ways down the yard and I have been itching to photograph them since I saw them there this morning. They are darling in person -- quite the characters as they stand there silently and simply exist! 

Once their portraits were captured, I was lured about the yard by the few flowers that have not been washed away this week. I do not know their names, but there are sturdy bunches of them gathered in places where water does not run through during the river-rains.

I finished my work yesterday and have nothing left for the weekend except projects hanging above my head like the cotton webbing of clouds above today. I can say with all honesty that I do not wish to spend time on them right now, as my mind has been running strictly in work-mode all week. My Wednesday break was removed when a cough kept me from choir, so I dedicated the day to writing a paper. As a result, I am sitting about today feeling drained and almost useless. It is rest, though, I tell myself, and my feeling of needing to do something productive is no doubt my body's way of unwinding. No matter how hard I try to unwind, however, the knowledge of what work lies ahead winds me back up and I spring about like the hares that rummaged through the yard this morning in search of tender leaves to munch on... though my springing is with significantly less spontaneous freedom. Not much longer, though! Soon I shall be able to rest knowing I don't have to work quite so hard all the time. The mental drain is quite strong this semester, that is for certain, and I know I have vented on it quite a lot here, but I do not say it lightly. It has been rough. I am thankful and happy, but oh. It has been rough.

Thankfully, walks through nature help, even if that nature is only my own dear front yard, battered by rain and almost unrecognizable beneath layers of mud and foliage.

Happy Saturday, all! ♥

Productive + Positive!

Spring break is officially over. I went into this break rather down and out, as school has been overwhelming, but coming out I feel empowered. I wrote a rough draft of a nine page paper and outlined an nine-page research paper in the last few days of the week, and much of what was eating at me before has gone away completely. So I have come into this final three-week stretch feeling empowered!

Not a bad way to start the week... even if it is going to rain all week. There is a huge storm moving toward my lovely realm as I type this.

May flowers. Just keep those in mind. May flowers.

Wishing you all an empowered, productive Monday! ♥

To-Read List, Updated

THE LIST://

The Red Queen -- Philippa Gregory
The Boleyn Inheritance -- Philippa Gregory

The Queen's Fool -- Philippa Gregory

The Virgin's Lover -- Philippa Gregory

World Without End -- Ken Folleett

The Norton Anthology of: (complete sets)
English Literature
World Literature
American Literature

The Mists of Avalon -- Marion Zimmer Bradley

Her Fearful Symmetry -- Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveller's Wife -- Audrey Niffenegger

Pirate Latitudes -- Micheal Crichton

Selected poems of Seamus Heaney

A-Z Aromatherapy -- Patricia Davis

On Writing -- Stephen King

The Book of Virtues -- William J. Bennett

Game of Thrones -- George R.R. Martin

The True History of Tea -- Victor H. Mair and Erling Hoh

The Bedford Anthology of World Literature

The Doctor's Wife -- Elizabeth Brundage

The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Wives and Daughters -- Elizabeth Gaskell

The Faerie Queene -- Edmund Sepnser

Robert Browning's Poems

Sherlock Holmes -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Shogun -- James Clavell

Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo

Dragon Rider -- Cornelia Funke
Jesus, CEO -- Laurie Beth Jones
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World -- Joanna Weaver

THE POST://

I finished The Red Queen last night, and what an end it was. Of course, knowing history, I knew the outcome of the novel would have to be in favor of the Tudors, but the fangirl inside me was screaming at the top of her lungs in support of the Yorks and all the lovely little romances there. Ah, alas, such cannot be, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

The character of Margaret Beaufort was quite interesting and written ever so well. From her naive beginnings of wishing to be dedicated to a nunnery when she was just a girl, to her power-hungry ending as mother of the king of England, one cannot help but pity her. All throughout her girlhood, she was told that girls were useless creatures in a man's world, and as a result she dreamed of being as saintly as Joan of Arc. However, her life, dictated by her harsh mother, changed this faithful little girl into a harshly staunch woman who felt her only reason for existing in the world was to restore power to the then-ousted Lancaster family through her first and only son, Henry Tudor. Even when her choices were quite unreligous and unkind, I could not help but admire her faithfulness to her cause. I pitied her and the bitter woman she had become by the end of the book.

Overall, a wonderful read, especially right after reading the York side of this story through the eyes of Elizabeth Woodville (whom I also admired ever so greatly during my few months reading the book she was prominent in). Overall, a wonderful series to spend several months enveloped in, and I not only came out of this with a great amount of enjoyment and historical satisfaction, but also more knowledge of the War of Roses itself! This, my friends, is why I adore historical fiction.

Now, my literary rant is over. I have posted several days in a row here, I know, and with quite a bit of information, but I have felt inspired to do so! It must be the weather, which thankfully combats the gloomy mass of homework that I must quickly chew through in these remaining months of classes.

How a wonderful Thursday, friends! Go forth and read! ♥

(P.S. I have added my two newest books to the list. Hurrah!)

A New Season and Name

No, I have not gotten married. The name change is not that of my last name, nor of my first for that matter. For some time I have considered a simple change-of-name for my dear lovely blog here, and tonight I finally felt inspired to go through with it! (Of course, it may just as easily change back should I not like it tomorrow, but I really have been giving this a lot of thought!)

Why? Well, this blog is almost three years old. A lot has changed in three years, especially on the personal level. I feel much different than I did three years ago, and perhaps I wished to show this maturation through the renaming of my favorite little online journal. I have grown quite a bit, I feel, and I am unusually drawn to change. Good change. A moving forward sort of change. It is refreshing, and I rather like the feel of it.

A little history behind the name. As you can see, I have the words' definitions underneath them above on the banner. Of course, these are the present and past participle forms respectively, but they are the same. The idea behind it is this: life is a steady road. It is what we each make of it. Some roads are bumpy, some are smooth, and others are winding and wild, reckless as the land they cut through. Dabbling is the spontaneous act of, as parents put it when their children go about such things, getting one's fingers into everything. And fearlessly doing so. Incorporating something is the act of bringing random bits of everything together and making one big thing. I have always prided myself on getting into everything, and through high school I thought that was just a state of being. I was just naturally into everything. Now I feel it has become a serious part of the paving of my life road. I. Am. Into. Everything. All the time. Even if I am not physically doing something new or making something or travelling somewhere, my mind sure is! (I pray that made sense.)

So, for the time being, I am going to test out this new blog name. The content shall not drastically change, nor will the person whose fingers are relentlessly slapping at the keyboard to write this.... But she herself has changed. And she feels it in the air! More shall come, and she knows this for certain! 

(She does wish to know what you think, however, as your opinions as readers matter greatly. Please comment with your thoughts below!)

Join me on this ever-changing ride, dear readers! Wherever you are, whether I know you or not, let's all grow together!

Hope you all had a blessed, lovely Tuesday! ♥

P.S. These are blossoms from the sprout of the peach tree. I  don't recall if I told you all, but when a large pine fell last November, it crushed our huge peach tree. Thankfully, this little spindly wonder had already sprouted at the other's trunk, and it has flourished now that it is alone in the space. It has been a joy to watch it grow, and it's blossoms were so tender and fresh! Its first blossoms! A milestone for Baby Peach!

Of Bunnies, Blossoms, and Books!

Spring has come at last! I am thrilled beyond words, and now eagerly await steady warm temperatures to come and settle over the land. This week is supposed to be stormy, and even now the sunlight has taken on that odd yellow hue that is characteristic of stormy weather when the light filters through a thick sky-blanket of clouds. I spent a little time outside today and greeted the rabbits as the cool wind ruffled the wind around me. It was truly lovely and refreshing. Were I not sick at the moment, I should have liked to have spent a few more minutes outdoors, but the pollen floating about does not exactly make a stuffy nose any better.

Easter was a lovely day, and I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and church to spend the day with. A wonderful meal followed by wonderful fellowship and a great little Bible-study talk at the dinner table over cups of coffee and dessert. I thank God for letting me be able to relax in such a manner! 

Now I am on spring break, which I am also greatly thankful for. I have exactly one month left of this semester, and all that stands between that and me at this moment are two unwritten papers due in three weeks and a business plan. Inhale. Exhale. I can do this. I can do this. However, even while I'll be writing said papers over this break (toss in some math homework, too), I do plan to spend time fishing and crafting as much as my analytical mind will allow. At the moment I am taking a break from cleaning my room to write this, but I will be back in the grind tidying what has been destroyed by an overfilled school schedule. Oh how I cannot wait for summer and some freedom! I adore school, but this girl needs a break that lasts more than a week, I can tell you that.

I have also managed to come to add two new books to my reading list, both treasures I found at Goodwill. They follow my major and my faith, which makes them unique against my large shelf of fiction. However, I thoroughly look forward to sticking my nose into the pages! They are: "Jesus, CEO" by Laurie Beth Jones, and "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver. As I said, both seem to be very good reads and I will start them as soon as I finish "The Red Queen" by Philippa Gregory (which I have almost finished, by the way!).

Oh, not much else is occurring, truth be told. It is pleasantly slow today. I have begun to wonder if it is worth the effort to start random journals and record my thoughts, but I am afraid I won't be able to dedicate to such things because I have never been much of a diary keeper. But there are many things I could ramble on about here. Perhaps I should simply start rambling here! It could be quite entertaining, honestly.

On a random side note... I am feeling ever so Celtic/Medieval today. It must be the spring combined with the near constant reading of historical fiction. I need a Tudor gown. Now.

...To Pinterest!

Wishing you all a lovely week wherever you are! Try not to work too hard and allow yourselves a time to rest and enjoy the changing of the seasons!

Happy Monday! ♥

As the Saying Goes...

...April showers bring May flowers. ♥

The view from my bedroom while I write papers: cherry trees, green leaves, and an ambient song of a steady downpour and thunder.

Spring is Coming!

Spring is coming, my friends!

With the changing landscape comes renewal, a time to start all things fresh and new.

Make sure you take a little time for you in these coming weeks!

I myself as feeling refreshed, renewed, and revitalized.

Let's go get things done!

Have a wonderful week! ♥

The Giant Fan & Unread Books

(Drag the pictures to your tab bar to see them better. I had to take horizontal shots!)

I have decided I have a very eclectic sense of style when it comes to decorating... and family members feed into it oh so much!

While I was away at a children's musical rehearsal, my dad found this not-so-little beauty at Goodwill and decided that my bedroom needed it. It was certainly a pleasant surprise, and I put it up on my wall above my bed as soon as I got a free chance to do so. A painting of poppies was there before, and now I plan on hanging that in another place on my wall. It's so exciting for me to move things around in my room. I know it sounds silly, but it makes me quite happy.

School has been very stressful on me, even with organizing and scheduling. There is just SO MUCH. I bounce in and out of feeling motivated and productive to feeling completely overwhelmed and smothered, but I still plug on through all the work. I can't wait for summer -- it will be a very nice break! I'm not complaining wholeheartedly since I do adore the classes and am lucky to have the chance to study them... but good gracious! All this so fast? 

On a side note, I have been meaning to share my current reading list with you all!

These are but a few of the books I have accumulated over the past three years, all of which are (wait for it.....) UNREAD.

I'm slowly working on changing that, though

For those who are infinitely curious, the list includes:

The Boleyn Inheritance -- Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen -- Philippa Gregory

The Queen's Fool -- Philippa Gregory

The Virgin's Lover -- Philippa Gregory

World Without End -- Ken Folleett

The Norton Anthology of:  (completel sets)
English Literature
World Literature
American Literature

The Mists of Avalon -- Marion Zimmer Bradley

Her Fearful Symmetry -- Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveller's Wife -- Audrey Niffenegger

Pirate Latitudes -- Micheal Crichton

Selected poems of Seamus Heaney

A-Z Aromatherapy -- Patricia Davis

On Writing -- Stephen King

The Book of Virtues -- William J. Bennett

Game of Thrones -- George R.R. Martin

The True History of Tea -- Victor H. Mair and Erling Hoh

The Bedford Anthology of World Literature

The Doctor's Wife -- Elizabeth Brundage

The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Wives and Daughters -- Elizabeth Gaskell

The Faerie Queene -- Edmund Sepnser

Robert Browning's Poems

Sherlock Holmes -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Shogun -- James Clavell

Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo

Dragon Rider -- Cornelia Funke

I have been on a Philippa Gregory run for some months now, so I shall start with all of her books first. I adore them ever so much. As I chew through this list, I shall keep you all updated and perhaps provide brief reviews of each book as I go!

What are you currently reading?

Have a lovely Sunday, all! ♥

Kids & Classes

Hello all! Sorry for the silence as of late -- taking five classes is rough! I can honestly say I don't have time to sit down and think anymore, all my time is taken up by homework. As a result, a lot of "me" things have been neglected (like a haircut!).

However, while classes have held me down under an iron boot, life has not ceased going on around me! All of our expecting does had their kids between the last weeks of January and now, and they are complete darlings! They are certainly called kids for a reason, and it is fun to see the strong difference between the boys and the girls as far as their behavior is concerned.

Having all the kids finally born is a relief to me, as the goat yards are toward my end of the house, resulting in me becoming the honorary "listen-for-the-screams-of-labor" girl. 6 am every morning I would get a text message from my mom at the other end of the house that said, "Goat screaming?" Sleepily I would squint at my phone and reply, "Rooster crowing." Then I'd get a "Thx" and be allowed to go back to sleep.

Now that the kids are here, one wold think I would be able to get some sleep. Not so. Two of our does (who were bottle fed by us when they were young) like to scream loudly for their food. They are fed almost three times a day, yet never fail to scream like they are starving in the wilderness. So, 7:30 am, screaming starts. Bye bye sleeping in, but I don't mind. They're the family animals, and I love them dearly... even if they do scream something fierce!

So now I get to sit and watch the kids run around like maniacs from the safety of my own window. It's a wonderful thing to see.

As far as anything else goes, like I said, I have absolutely no time. It's been getting me down a little because I don't even have time to sit and read for a while. I love my classes and love what I'm learning, but I think I may be ready for a break. A long break. Over the summer. It could be a mix of the dreary, cold weather mixing with a stressful workload, but it has been a few weeks of drudgery for me. I know I'll push through it, but in the mean time it's just not fun. I'm trying to tell myself it's all right to take a break and do nothing for a while, but when you have a workload staring at you, it's a bit tough to relax.

To update you all on my growing fondness for coffee: I think I may love it more than tea. I had to switch to decaff, though! Two cups of coffee in the morning gives me some gosh awful anxiety. ACK!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone! ♥
Stay warm out there (unless you're lucky enough to live in Florida or California)!