No matter what, our Creator loves you.

12:34:56 07/08/09 :) Yes I fixed the clock, but it's very close to that time when I post this here in CA OREGON*, anyway! Special birthday!



*Sheesh! I find I keep doing that lately where I will write my CA zip code instead of OR, mix up my state flag/governor/whatever, etc.

Lawson - so sorry this is late in the day!!



The jeep is to make it look more boyish. :D I make things too feminine all the time.

6/22 - My new lens came today! I got one similar to the one we just got at work, and I'm loving it. I took my camera around campus to get a few shots and I like this one, plus it has a woman in the background. Do you see her? I'll circle her behind the cut.

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I made these Hassleback Potatoes tonight. Well, just one Hassleback Potato, actually. I like the fun presentation, but it needs some adjustments. For one thing, it takes a lot longer to cook than it says it does. I put it in for 10-20 minutes longer than it said, but the middle pieces were still a bit undone. Also, I didn't use bread crumbs, so that might be part of the reason, but I found it wasn't very flavorful. I need to look at some of the suggestions in the comments for ideas. Anyway, I wanted to share because it's a good idea and can probably be really good when done right. Oh and obviously I kept the skin on because a) I'm lazy, b) I like potato skins and c) I think all the vitamins are in the skins, right?

Hi. My weekend has been just okay. I'm actually kind of fine with it being over, believe it or not.

Because of recent LJ posts, movies I've watched, conversations I've had and thoughts going through my head, I present to you the following questions. :) I'm leaving this entry public so that if you have a question or comment you'd like to make anonymously, you can!

( Relationship, etc. Poll! )

There was another Etsy shop that I neglected to advertise the other day, so here it is...

Love, Janie Lou

This is everydayjoy and her sister's store. They sell lots of cute wallets, purses and other creative little things--very unique! You know you want one! They also have a blog that's related to their store and products. :)

Today: We got a new lens at work (35mm/1.8) and I like it!

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Hey, I have very talented friends and just wanted to do a little advertising for them. Support your fellow LJers and at least take a look. :)

Posey Lane is stuff by violetvale and her sister. Cute jewelry, aprons, cloth pads and more for a reasonable price. I already have my eye on a couple of things. :)

Shnookum's Stuff is themegchild's store. So far she has photos available, but she also makes lovely jewelry and will be adding it soon.

Ladies, I hope it's okay that I just advertised those stores for you. Let me know if you want me to remove you from this post. :)

If anyone else on my friends list has an online store that you'd like a plug for, please let me know. :)

My friends are inspiring me to want to look into selling something.. not sure what, though!

As I mentioned earlier, I think I'm going to start writing up some lists of books I've read before I started doing book lists. These will just happen as I think of them. This first list will consist of some books I had to read for school.

Z For Zachariah - Robert C. O'Brien
This was required reading in junior high, and I remember liking it a lot. It's about a girl who is, as far as she knows, the last human alive after some kind of nuclear bomb (or something.. don't quote me on that) takes out tons of people. She writes about her days in a journal and much (all?) of the book takes on this format.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
We read this in high school. I know I enjoyed it overall, though based on my test/project scores, I must've not really understood it very well even though I thought I did. I should reread it. Anyway, I can't even remember exactly what it's about except that it takes place in the roaring 20s and is about a rich man, Gatsby, who has all these fancy parties and stuff. He seems very popular and charming, partially because I think he's new in town. There's also a love story mixed in there. I remember liking some of the descriptive language--I don't remember it being too flowery, but just right.

The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History - Julius Lester
I read this in junior high. I don't remember a lot about it, but it held my interest enough that I read it thoroughly and quickly. See, in school I was never good at required reading, especially from a text book. There were a lot of books that I never finished, or skimmed at best, and so I can tell which books I liked just by remembering their title and the automatic association that comes with them. :) This is fiction, even though it sounds nonfictionish by the title. It's for young people but it's something I should probably read again.

Farewell to Manzanar - by James D. Houston and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Another junior high book that I remember finding very interesting. It's a memoir about this Japanese family that had to live in an internment camp during WWII. I think it's told from the girl's perspective.

A Separate Peace - John Knowles
I know I've recommended this before, but I'm not positive if I've mentioned it directly in my LJ. I read it in high school. It's about two prep school guys who are good friends, but very opposite. One is super charming and silly, one is more serious and conservative. I won't spoil anything but of course there's a major happening that gives more insight about these friends. Very good.

No Promises in the Wind - Irene Hunt
Another book I remember being super interested in during junior high. My friend and I finished it much earlier than required because we were hooked. It takes place during the Depression and, as far as I know, is about a teenage boy who leaves his family behind to try and make ends meet for himself. Anyway, it was so good. Certain scenes are still quite clear in my mind--particularly some of his lowest moments.

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
I think everyone has read this, but if not, you should. It's a classic for a reason. It's about two men: one is mentally challenged and the other basically looks out for him in a father-figure sort of way. They end up working on a farm together, I think. I don't want to reveal too much about my reaction, because if anyone who hasn't read it wants to, I think it's much better when you go into it blindly.

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
A strange but good book about the future when all books are required to be burned. Instead of reading, people watch lots of TV and have limited knowledge and ideas about the world. The main character is one of the firemen who helps to burn the books, but then has a change of heart and rebels.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers
This book was very hard for me to finish. I think partly it was just because I had procrastinated and was panicking near the end, but it must've felt slow to me at that age. I have no idea how I would feel about it now, but I should probably check it out again. I don't remember a lot about it except there is a teen girl and I have this one scene in my head where she applies cooking vanilla like perfume to smell nice. (Unless I'm confusing this with another book?) I think I tried that a bit after reading the book. :) Here's what Wikipedia says it is about: "It is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the U.S. state of Georgia." I seriously do not remember that. Haha! But I did read the whole thing. And I do remember a somber feel to much of it.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
This is about a young girl, Scout, and her brother and dad. Her dad is a lawyer and ends up representing a black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman. This takes place back in like the 40s in the south. Since it's told from the little girl's perspective, it has a different feel to it--innocent, I guess. There are some other little story lines including a scary neighbor (Boo Radley) down the street and, my personal favorite part of the book, a costume party (?) in which Scout dresses as a ham! Something really cracked me up about that. Also, the movie based on this book (starring Gregory Peck) is good and worth watching.

Right now I can't think of what else I successfully read (in full--we read some extremely abridged versions of things in our textbooks) that was required for school. Well, except Catcher in the Rye, but I think I have talked about that a lot (because I love it), including right here. We also read some plays, but I might list those another time. I'm sure more will come to me later.

This weekend has gone practically nothing like I imagined, but it's been very good! Here are some photos from yesterday, though I'll post 365 photos another time. I'm behind on entries that I know I should comment on--sorry for the delay.


The following are some photos from Ankeny Wildlife Refuge. I had gone at Easter but wanted to see it now that more has grown. There were lots of these dragonflies and I couldn't stop taking photos of them.

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8am-1pm: Worked (meeting, annoyance, lots of unrelated projects)

1-2pm: Went to the library

2-5pm: Worked some more (lots of phone calls!)

5-6pm: Drove home, cooked and ate dinner

6-6:30pm: Posted photos to the 2009_365 community

6:30-9pm: Went to choir

9-9:30pm: Responded to LJ comments

9:30-10:15pm: Played Spite and Malice

10:15-11pm: Worked on church bulletin stuff

11-now: Read emails and typed this entry

And now yo estoy cansada. And I am so glad tomorrow is Thursday.

PS tingilya, I got the books--thanks! It's funny because I had forgotten about them until a few weeks ago I was going to sleep and I thought, "Who has those now, anyway?" :) But it was no rush. Thank you.

5/8 - Just some little weedy flowers along the ground on campus. So cute!

( More photos of the day, plus others. )

As always, thank you for looking! Now I should turn on some good music and do a few things around this place before I head off. Have a great day!

mrs617, thanks a lot for getting me addicted to Bubble Spinner. :P I think you and I often like the same sorts of games. My highest score so far is 314. What's yours? My usual score is like 100, though. :)

Oh and for other players out there, it took me like two or three games before I realized you could bounce off the walls...ha! So I'm giving you the heads up.

Sorry so many photos of bluebells. They keep on living, so I'm forced to keep on photographing. Seriously, they get fuller and fuller and so I keep thinking, "One more shoot before they die!"

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As always, thank you for looking. :) You help me a lot.

How can they call it "non-drowsy"? HOW??

I read just one book this month. It was a combination of procrastination, not feeling like it, busyness and a sort of "off" library schedule (too many books, not enough books) that kept me from getting anything else finished.

The Host - Stephenie Meyer - 23.5 hours (20 CDs)
This story is about aliens who have come to earth and inhabited the human bodies with the intention of taking over all human bodies. Typically the human's awareness dies off and only their memories are left for the alien to sort through and live with, but in the main character's case, the human is fighting to stay alive and so there's an internal dialogue and struggle between the two of them. The human, Melanie, wants to find her brother and boyfriend (who have, as far as she knows, hidden out and not been taken over by aliens), and through her memories and persuasion is able to make the alien care enough about this brother and boyfriend to cooperate and search. I liked this book a lot. I'm not really a sci-fi person, but this is much more about relationships, mixed with some adventure. There were definitely some parts that I was squeamish about, but overall I was really into it from start to finish. It gave me lots of happy feelings. Meyer is obviously very imaginative and did a great job with this, I thought. I thought the chosen narrator for the book was okay, but her voice wasn't really as youthful as it should've been (the main human character is about 20). But I got over it.

Oh and with my 15-minute commute, it took awhile to finish this. :) Good thing I go home at lunch!

Total books for April: 1
Total books for 2009: 17

I'm still on target for 50 books by the end of the year, but no more one-book months for me!