Quote of the Day

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.

~ The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket ~

Quote of the Day

"'I shall not keep you long. I have called you all together for a Purpose.....Indeed, for Three Purposes! First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve....

'Secondly, to celebrate my birthday. I should say: OUR birthday. For it is, of course, also the birthday of my heir and nephew, Frodo. He comes of age and into his inheritance today. Together we score on hundred and forty-four. You numbers were chosen to fit this remarkable total: One Gross, if I may use the expression....

'Thirdly and finally,' he said, "I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT....I regret to announce that-though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you-this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE!'

He stepped down and vanished. There was a blinding flash of light, and the guests all blinked. When they opened their eyes Bilbo was nowhere to be seen. One hundred and forty-four hobbits sat back speechless....It was generally agreed that the joke was in very bad taste and more food and drink were needed to cure the guests of shock and annoyance."


~The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien

Quote of the Day

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

~ Proverbs 11:14 ~

Quote of the Day

The Road goes every on and on

Out from the door where it began

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn,

My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

~ The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien ~

Signed and Sealed

Well, it's not sealed yet, but yesterday I sign a contract to teach K4 at Trinitas Christian School. It's the same school I taught at 2 years ago. I really love this school. I love the time I get to spend with my dad on the way in and back (even if I do sleep a lot of the time. :) I love that the administrator cares enough about daughters being under their father's authority that he brought Dad and I together in his office and explained to us that he understood that my father was my authority rather than him and he wanted to make sure that we knew we could come to him any time we felt that he had violated that hierarchy.

I have been looking forward to this contract since they asked me to come back at the end of the school year, but the school is trying to get more students and they didn't know what was going to happen. So I'm very glad to have it and I will be "sealing" it tomorrow and sending it off.

Now...to go find fun ways to teach the alphabet........

Tiffany

Hey, if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them. I'm planning on having a fun, stimulating year with them and would love any advice/suggestions.

Thoughts

Thank you, Clare, for tagging me! I had so much fun with this meme, but I think I come across as a little psychotic. Don't worry though, I think I'll be okay. You, on the other hand, might want to watch out! ;-)

I am: a child of God, chosen by grace.
I think: therefore I am. Just kidding. I think in quotes. One of my students last year asked me if I had a song and quote for everything. I think I told him, "YES!" :-)
I know: that my Redeemer lives. There I go again. Why waste time trying to say something better than someone else has said before.
I have: more than I deserve!
I wish: that I had more time to prepare for the trip.
I hate: it when people use my Lord's name in vain.
I miss: the Chanceys.
I fear: the Lord. I feel like I have to qualify that statement. I use the term "fear" in the old English sense. Hence, my interpretation of that statement would be "I greatly reverence the Lord."
I feel: excited about the trip!
I hear: the fan going outside the room and Shannon's sewing machine as she tries to make a camera purse.
I smell: homemade bread. Hmmmmm!
I crave: becoming closer to my Lord.
I search: for truth and wisdom.
I wonder: at the miracle of creation.
I regret: nothing. I have made mistakes, yes, but I also know that the Lord is sovereign and He has used all those bad decisions I've made to bring me closer to Him.
I love: my Lord and family!
I ache: when the weather changes. I have a back injury that always lets me know when it's going to rain.
I am not: ready for the trip.
I believe: that through Christ all things are possible.
I dance: whenever I get the chance. By dancing, I mean, Scottish Country or Swing, if I'm dancing with my sister.
I sing: every week at lessons and with the choir on Sundays, and any chance I get in between. :-)
I cry: every time I watch I Am David. What an amazing story!
I don't always: exhibit Christ-like attributes.
I fight: for what is right. I have my opinions (on many things) but I don't usually openly engage in a fight about them, until someone says something against what I know to be true. Then I quietly try to tell them what I believe and why.
I write: screenplays mostly. I have a play written, but I have to produce it before I can send it to editors. It's not as easy to produce a play as it would seem.....
I win: nothing. Ask anyone in my family. I don't often win, but I still like to play games!
I lose: everything, just by logic from the previous question.
I never: willingly touch spiders.
I always: stay away from spiders if I can help it. Truly, I can't think of something that I "always" do. I usually deviate at least once in a while.
I confuse: almost everybody, especially when I try to explain myself (refer back to "I know") or try to give directions. Trust me, with directions, asking anyone else is always safer than asking me.
I listen: to people. I've found that I often hear what's going on in people lives, just because I listen to them.
I can usually be found: at home. This coming year, I'll be teaching K4 at the school I taught at last year, so I'm cherishing every minute I get to spend at home.
I am scared: that I will lose a member of my family. That is the only thing I can think of. I know they would be with the Lord, but I don't know what I would do without any of them.
I need: help!
I am happy about: our trip!
I imagine: little children running around my perfectly clean house in hand sewn outfits as I put the bread into the oven, take off my perfect little "baking" apron, revealing a perfectly coordinating 40s outfit that matches my pearls perfectly and my beautifully applied makeup and then going to sit with them and read until their father comes home, exactly on time, so the dinner is never burnt. Ahhhh! Well, at least let me have my dreams until reality smashes them! :-)
I am wearing: A Ralph Lauren skirt and knit top
I look forward to: the answer to "I imagine" with the reality put back in. ;-)

I tag Emma and Lauren Christine and anyone else who wants to join in! It really is a lot of fun to do!

Tiffany

An Announcement

Our family is going away on vacation this coming Tuesday. We're visiting the West, and I mean all of the West. We're flying to Las Vegas, then driving to California, going to San Fransisco, driving up the coast, going into Washington over to Yellowstone, then on to Mount Rushmore, the down to Colorado (where we'll be going to Denver Fabrics :-), down to The Grand Canyon and back to Las Vegas and then flying home.

We are accomplishing this in three weeks (please pray for my dad, that's 4000 miles of driving for him). So I won't be able to post during that time.

But I thought I might take advantage of the new scheduled blogging and plan some of my favorite quotes from books to pop up while I'm gone. I'll at least try and see if it works.

So, if you don't hear from me again, you'll know it didn't work. Otherwise, My favorite quotes, comin' up!

Tiffany

The Big Read Check

I found this at Sommer's blog and it looked like fun! The people at The Big Read say most people have only read 6 of these 100 books. We'll see how I do.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

2) Italicize those you intend to read.

3) Underline the books you LOVE. I resorted to making them blue because I couldn't find the underline button. :-)

4) Reprint this list in your own LJ [I'm not sure what this means.:-(] so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)
WATCHING MOVIES DOES NOT COUNT!!! [However, listening to books on tape does. ;-)]

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling-I read the first two to right an article about them for our church newsletter
5 To Kill a Mockingbird
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens (but I love the movie:-)
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graeme
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (since I've read and love 33 I suppose I've read and love this one. :-)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (I actually enjoy LM Montgomeries other works better.)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding (Who wants to read about flies?:-)
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (The first Jane Austen I read.)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (Now I’m curious.)
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (I think I might want to try this someday, but it’s not even on my list yet.)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (I had to read this in a class with a professor who had done his 30 doctoral dissertation on it. That was not fun.)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I found an old copy of this at a library book sale and haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (I saw a really weird cartoon of this once. It was very disturbing.)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (but not until I have a ton of time)

Well, I've read 27. Just slightly more than average. How'd you do?

Tiffany

Things I'm Never Guilty Of :-)

I'm writing a script and treatment for a festival and was browsing a forum and found some very good rules to follow. I thought I would post them here for everyone.

1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalise.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
17. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
19. The passive voice is to be ignored.
20. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
21. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
22. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
23. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
24. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
25. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
26. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
27. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
28. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
29. Who needs rhetorical questions?
30. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
31. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Now that you have all these rules, you can write perfectly!

Tiffany

A Shock

This post is a shock because I never thought I would be able to do this. I'm posting pictures of myself at the beach.



I love the water and swimming, but not the immodesty. I had pretty much given up beach going. However, Shannon came up with a brilliant solution. I'll let her tell her story, but I copied her and found a short-sleeved leotard, board shorts and a big tankini.



The result is a modest (even when wet) combination that allows me to swim and play around without being immodest. When the tankini rises the leotard covers everything.



These pictures were taken on my actual birthday. Shannon, once again, is the photographer.

It's very comfortable and light. I'm so glad Shannon came up with the idea.The water isn't really that cold. It just startled me.

Tiffany

Seagreen

October last year I made a dress to wear to the Award Ceremony at the SAICFF. However at the last minute I changed my mind and wore a formal dress. But I wore the new outfit the next day. However I never got the opportunity to get pictures.

For my birthday this year, we stayed overnight at a friend's house on the beach. The dress was a seagreen colour so I wanted to get pictures on the beach. My sister was a darling and took them for me (as she usually does).

The shell and skirt are made out of linen look-alike.

The over-shirt is a stiff sheer. I'm not exactly sure what the fabric is, but it scratches if it isn't bound off. :-)

I was not being stuck-up in this picture, Shannon took this picture right before a sneeze.

Tiffany