Grand Re-Opening

So, I have been totally neglecting this blog. Now, I’m introducing the Grand Re-Opening of my blogging life… with a different blog even. That’s right, A Joyous Journey is morphing into The Life of Linz. Don’t forget to update your bookmarks! And get ready to hold onto your hats, because I have the feeling that it’s going to be crazy at times!

Witty Title Goes Here

I’ve had this stashed in a folder for so long I forgot where I found it to begin with, but I discovered it earlier as I was doing a bit of hard drive clean-up on my computer.

I am thinking… that I need to get my hair trimmed, and maybe I’ll add one more shorter layer.

I am thankful for… a warm house, plenty of food, and a loving family.

I am creating… well, nothing much right now, but I have a drawing to finish.

I am going… to watch a movie with my family soon.

I am wearing… comfy PJ’s and fuzzy spa socks.

I am reading… Keep A Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot.

I am hoping… that I will get over this cold/sinusitis/whatever it is very soon.

I am hearing… water running, keys clicking, and my sister doing something in her room.

In the kitchen… all the kitchen work for today is finished and the teakettle is boiling.

Outside my window… it is dark and foggy.

Around the house… things are neat and tidy.

One of my favorite things… is homemade soap.

A few plans for the rest of the week… are: have friends over to eat lunch with us tomorrow, celebrate my best friend’s birthday on Tuesday, get together with other best friends, and have a wonderful New Year!

Brought to you by the letter M

So, needing some fresh content, and because I thought it was a nifty meme, I left a comment on Elisabeth’s blog asking to be assigned a letter. That letter turned out to be ‘M’, so here’s a list of 10 ‘M’ words.

1.) Music. My favorite thing in the whole world. I’ve come to realize that I am always somehow connected to music, whether listening to it, playing an instrument, singing, humming, or even just having a song running through my head. I’ve also realized that non-musical people can’t understand this love.

2.) Mocha. I love chocolate, and I love coffee…  so mocha is the best of both worlds.

3.) Movies. Watching movies is something I greatly enjoy, but don’t do that often.

4.) Mildly Amusing Musings. The aforementioned blog authored by Elisabeth. I love reading over there.

5.) Mom. I have the best ever. End of story.

6.) Micmiss. What my friend Aprille calls Christmas, and I think it’s the cutest thing ever.

7.) Migraines. I had one of these on Friday – ugh.

8.) Morning person. What I am not, but forced to try to be anyway since one of the girls I babysit arrives a little after 6:30.

9.) Minolta. My first camera, bought for $2.50 at a yard sale when I was about ten. Named Minnie, she was a nice little compact 35mm, and served me well until I got really interested in fell in love with photography. Then I upgraded to digital, first Mom’s Kodak, then my Canon P&S, and recently, my Canon Rebel XSi. Minnie is still around here somewhere though.

10.) Mess. The current state of my room. I should go clean it.

So, leave a comment requesting a letter and you’ll get one. It’s a never ending cycle.

There’s a New Shop around the Corner!

Are you looking for cute handmade greeting cards, or really neat decorated file folders to pretty up your paperwork? Then check out Misty Kristy Designs!

She has some really cute stuff for sale, like these sweet baby cards:(also available in a boy theme)

These cards which I just love:

And this is my second-favorite file folder set: (I’d show you my first favorite but… I bought ‘em!)

And I think these are cute too… I just love those owls!

She also has a few items on sale…

And, here’s a good deal… if you visit her website and sign up for e-mail updates, she’ll give you 50% off any one item in her shop! You can find all the details about that here.

Happy shopping!

*All photos Copyright ©Misty Kristy Designs, used by permission.

My Favorite Room

This post is for my poor readers who have been waiting to find out what my first favorite room in our house is.

So here it is:

The Living Room!

I was going to clean it all up first, but then I figured that I would show it to you how it looks “lived in.” This is the room we hang out in pretty much all the time. The kids I babysit play here. In the evenings, my family sits here together, even if we are doing our own things. We sit and drink coffee and talk here. When we have company, everyone gravitates here and finds a comfy spot. One of our pianos is in here, so we sing together or I play it or practice on it, and even teach lessons using it sometimes. In fact, I’m sitting in here now, by the fireplace (which you can’t see in the picture and is actually a LP gas-burning stove of sorts) sipping some hot spiced apple cider as I type, and I have this one thing to say… Life is good.

My “new” room!

Guess what? We got my room finished! As promised, here are pictures:

My room as viewed from the door.

The dresser side.

The desk side.

These pegs are my favorite part of the shelves.

Aren’t they just so cute?

So, there you have it. Do you like it? I love it! My room is my second-favorite room in the house now.

Creepy-Crawlies and Winged Things.

My sister has been raising four monarch butterflies – check out her blog to see pictures and read all about it! It’s been an interesting project. I never knew she had the makings of an entomologist.

Diverse Doings

Well, here is the “what I have been doing update” I promised… as soon as I decide where to start…

Remember the flower bed I talked about? I decided to turn it into an herb bed instead. I planted Sage, Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Mint, Feverfew, Yarrow, Calendula, and Lavender. We’ve been having fun using the savory herbs fresh, and I’ve harvested and dried some as well. Our garden is growing well, too… we have lots of green peppers and tomatoes right now! We’ve also been going to the local produce auction. (people bring in their produce to be auctioned off – is anyone else familiar with that?) We’re hoping to get some apples, peaches, green beans, corn, and beets to can and/or freeze. (Neither our beets nor green beans survived in the garden this year.) Although we haven’t been able to get any produce yet, there is lots of yummy stuff to take pictures of, like…

Sweet corn…

Peaches…

Tomatoes…

Blackberries…

Lots of Watermelon…

even Garlic.

And of course, lots of people. Most of them are buyers for local grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

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Speaking of photos and the auction, a few weeks ago we were there, and I couldn’t help but notice a lady walking around taking pictures with an SLR – a Canon Rebel, to be exact. So, me wanting a dSLR very badly, and a Canon Rebel in particular, (I’m now accepting donations to the “Buy Lindsey a dSLR” fund, by the way) I wanted to talk to her and ask her about the camera. Finally, as we were leaving, we saw her and her husband loading up their truck, so we went over and started talking to her. It turns out they were from Georgia! They have a big farm where they grow watermelon and some other crops. They sell their produce here, and at a few other auctions in the area, and so every year, they make a circuit to personally check out how things are going. They were really nice people. Anyhow, about the camera… it was a film SLR, and she bought it a few years ago just because she loves to take pictures. And she’s a really good photographer – she showed us lots of pictures of their farm and from their fishing trip. She also told me her aunt is a professional photographer who turned her stables into a studio, and wished me success in my photography ventures. So… that was neat.

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I’m also working on semi re-doing my room. A few years ago we had gotten these two bookshelves at a yard sale. They’re sort of like the top part of a hutch or something. Mom came up with this really neat idea to put them on either side of my window. (Sorry, but you’ll have to try to imagine it along with me until I can get some pictures posted.)The plan was to find both a desk and a dresser that were four foot long and set the shelves on top of them. Back in May, I found a desk I just loved, but I didn’t actually purchase it until sometime in July. Then, we decided that the bookshelves needed to be painted to match the desk. Mom and I had fun picking out the colors! I did the outside frame and the actual shelves in a “Rich Chocolate” (yum!) and the back panel and row of pegs across the top in a creamy tan called “Warm Buff.” Actually, Mom did the “Warm Buff” part – she is much better at “cutting in” around edges than I am. Oh, I do have a picture of that shelf and the desk…

(You can see my window to the left of the shelf, in the middle of that wall.)

So we’re half-way done… we were having trouble finding a dresser, but… my cousin had one she was getting rid of that works perfectly! The dresser also needed to be painted to match, so on Saturday I did the “Rich Chocolate” part, and hopefully tomorrow Mom will do the “Warm Buff” part around the edges of the drawers. I’ll post pictures of the whole thing when it’s done.

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That’s pretty much it in the way of noteworthy happenings… and anyway, this post is long enough. Kudos if you made it this far. To tell you the truth, I need some help from you all. I’m not sure if people really like to read about what I’m doing – so I’m going to give you the floor for awhile. You could ask me a question, or if you have something you’d like me to write about, let me know and I’ll consider it. I guess I just want to know what you want to see here, because I am really running out of ideas.

So..?

Kindred Spirits

Jenifer has given me the “Kindred Spirits” award… how sweet of her!

I have been doing some thinking about the kindred spirits in my life lately. Whether I know you in real life or just from online, you are are such a blessing to me! I’m giving this award to all my fellow bloggers and readers. I love you all!

I’m it!

I don’t usually do tags (so please don’t go on a tagging spree ) but, as I’m sure you’ve noticed (if you are still hanging ’round here) this blog is in dire need of fresh content.

Jenifer gave me the fix for that, though! She tagged me quite awhile ago, actually, so here goes…

Who is your favorite author and why?

Can I pick two? I have to say definitely Louisa May Alcott and L.M Montgomery. Why? Although they both wrote fiction with a bit of romance, their stories are clean. But the thing that really draws me to them is their characters are real. They have real struggles and real triumphs. You can learn a lot from them. Sadly, most of today’s fiction I’ve read, even that which is classified as Christian and you might expect to have some moral to the story doesn’t even come close to that – it’s mostly fluff, and not really worth my time.

Who was your first favorite author and why?

If we’re talking about books I read in elementry school, then that would be Beverly Cleary or whoever wrote the Junie B. Jones books. If we’re talking even before that, it would be whoever writes the list of ingredients on toothpaste tubes and shampoo bottles. Seriously, I used to spend a lot of time trying to read the backs of those things. The long words were fascinating, although unpronouncable.

Who is your most recent addition to your favorite authors and why?

Elisabeth Elliot. So far I’ve read Keep A Quiet Heart and I just finished Passion and Purity. Both were really good.

If someone were to ask you right now- which author would just pop into mind?

Shakespeare!

Ok, so I’m going to bend the rules a little, and instead of tagging people, I’ll make it an “open tag” – if you want to do it, feel free, and if you don’t, feel free not to!

Coming soon… a newsy update to tell you what I’ve been up to. (‘sides no good )