"Don't Be Disparaged."

Went to Tupelo today with Kathryn and my mom....had a really good time, till we got home. Then 'disparagement' set in; the house was a mess. Well, not really a mess, but not as clean as I would have liked. I decided I would check my mail, write a quick note here, then roll up my sleeves and dive in. Also need to put up the summer decor and get out the fall. So I'm not going to let this get me down, I was in a good mood before entering the house, and I refuse to lose it.
"I'm off to the races!"

Autumn is coming!

Fall is here! At least, the fall weather; even though autumn doesn't officially start till the 23. Today we opened up all the windows, turned off the air conditioners, and let the delightful, cool breezes waft their way through the house. The sky was so blue, and so clear; the clouds so white, so billowy....it looked like the sky stretched forever.

I've been listening to Martina McBride today...my favorites are: Anyway, I'll Still Be Me, and House Of A Thousand Dreams. These are awesome songs, and say so much that is in my heart right now.

This was my verse of the day on facebook, and I thought it so appropriate for today's entry;
"Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." I Peter 1:8-9

"Disparaging Week"

This was a pretty little flower, but a bad shot. :)
I'm fighting a pretty bad headache; trying to resist the urge to scream my head off, as it probably wouldn't help anyway. lol.
Not that it entitles me to whine and complain...but the forces of nature and my headache have conspired against me today. Because, on top of my headache, I'm also dealing with allergies. I've had a pretty bad week. Agghhhhhhhh! No, it didn't really help.

I'm reading Tolstoy's War And Peace. No idea if it's a good book or not, but it was recommended to me as a classic. And it's taking forever for me to get through, I think I'm finally on chapter five, it's due this next wednesday, and I've already rechecked it once.

I have a million different things pulling at me at once. Probably contributing to the headache, no surprise there. Right now, I'm struggling to have the right attitude. And picking my battles wisely. I'm losing most of them at the time.
One of my greatest friends is coming over tomorrow night. I'm so glad, because then we can philosophize, which always makes me feel better.

OK, enough whining for now. Things to be grateful for; since I've pretty much hit rock bottom on my finances, I should be, and am, glad that I've sold a steer. If only it brings a good price, that should help me out for a while. But the cattle prices are down a lot since last year-wait, I said I'm not going to complain anymore, didn't I?

Sometimes I wish we could just go back to simple times. I've been watching Wives and Daughters; A really good movie.

Well, I've gotta' go; have some more errands to run, and it's awfully tempting to just whine some more on here. I need to work on my attitude before I see or talk to anyone. :)

My Week

I went out of town to visit a friend of mine this week. It was an awesome time! She got married last spring, so it was good seeing her again, and getting to know her husband a little too. We went shopping one day; got some great bargains! They also showed me a house in their family that pre-dates the Civil War! That was amazing! I'm an avid fan of the Civil War, am actually writing a book on it, so try to get my hands on anything from the time.
I'm considering taking up the cello; found one for a decent price, and also one of the staff at State, from Romania actually, has consented to give me lessons. I'm excited!
I can't believe it's already September! This is crazy! Where does time go?
I'm reading a book by Debra White Smith, titled "What Jane Austen Taught Me About Love And Romance". It's very interesting. She uses I Cor. 13:4-8 and compares each attribute to some one of Austin's characters. I recommend it; she uses lots of humor in her writing; I've enjoyed it immensely.
Well, I'm the only one at home right now, so that means I must feed all the animals; our four dogs, bizillion cats, and horses, cattle and ducks if they need it. They've already waited quite late, so I'd better get out there now.

Becoming Jane

We watched the movie today with a couple friends. I really liked it; excepting a few scenes. Stuff that wasn't really in keeping with Jane Austins' character, and then there was one scene that should have rated the movie R, in my opinion. So while I can't recommend it based on that, otherwise it was good. If you do plan on watching it, I'd recommend waiting till it was on DVD, so you can skip that scene, instead of walking out of the cinema for a time. We then had some interesting conversation about it. Warning! Spoilers. :) Our first problem was, if Tom Lefroy really did care for her, then why ever didn't he say, "Wait for me. I'll make my way to support you and my family, without my uncles help if need be"! Instead he goes and gets married to somebody else! Yeah.... Then there was Mr. Wisley. Why didn't she marry him?! He was so obviously above Lefroy...He actually took time to think before he spoke, and people wrote him off as slow! Or worse...And his conversation was very intelligent...He was so much more of a man than Lefroy! Lefroy may have been a little more exciting, or 'stirring' to ones emotions....but really, is that what's important in marriage, or life, even? There's so much more. And personally, her whole stance on not marrying somebody she didn't love...love is a choice, not a feeling. As Mr. Wisley said, "Affection is a flower that takes time to blossom." I'm not saying she should have married him right off, but given it some time at least. Oh, well, I needed to get those pent up, angry feelings out somehow. :) There's my tirade for today.
Flag Football season starts tomorrow; along with Volleyball for the girls. Unfortunately, I'm too old for the Volleyball team, maybe they'll let me assistant coach!

Some More Ramblings...

Well, here it is, more than a week since I last wrote. Ha-ha, the story of my life....I just seem to get so busy; and then I lost my Internet connection for a while there too.
My grandfather turns 80 tomorrow, so we went over to their place and celebrated with him today; all his sons, their wives, and their children. It was very nice, and just such a special time to spend all together. We made homemade ice cream, always a plus... :) The guys played football; meaning my four brothers and my cousin's husband, Nick. My Dad, and another cousin, Cody, even joined in the game some. My sisters and I played Frisbee with Cody some, and joined the married granddaughters later in watching the football game. My brother got married a year ago last March; they're expecting in January; and my cousin got married this past July. It's a weird feeling, being the oldest single in the family now..... :) But I guess I'm not suffering too much.... :)
My parents just had their 30th, and took a trip to the Smokies. I was 'president', and my twin brothers were 'head of security' while they were gone. :) We had a good time. My parents brought back little somethings for everyone, mugs for the four youngest, a biography of a native from the Smokies for Kathryn, and a book of Mountain Family Recipes for me. I was, and still am, very excited about that one....can't wait to try some of those; though others, like the chitlins, I'm content to leave well enough alone. :)
I guess I'm in a 'philosophical' type of mood, because I've been doing a lot of that (in my head) lately....I'm missing the day's when my friend Christi and I used to stay up all night doing that. lol. But I'll try to restrain myself for the time being. I am so glad she's finished up with one of her jobs, maybe we'll have some time to see each other again.
So, I have like a million books I'm supposed to be reading on my bookshelf. I've been reading Richard Blackaby's Putting A Face On Grace. It's really good, but since I'm reading so many different books right now, it's taking me forever to get through any of them. I'm also reading Nancy Leigh DeMoss's Holiness, just started it, so can't say much yet. And I'm still reading A Sacred Romance. That one's taking a long time, probably because it's so deep. I am aching to read Elliot' Let Me Be A Woman, I've heard so much good about it, but am making myself hold back on that one till I finish one of the others.
I had been making a lot of progress last week on the book I'm writing, The Count; but this week it seems that inspiration is gone. Oh, well. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it goes. I guess that's just the life of a struggling, amateur author. :)