Random Summer Reflections // And a Very Random Game

I figured it was about time for me to give you an update on what's been going on in my life as I'm sure you've all been dying to know.  (How do I reckon that, you ask?  Well, it stands to reason.  When one lives the sort of extraordinary and exciting life I live,  people are bound to want to hear about it.   Common sense, folks.) (And no, that bit about my life being exciting was not a lie.  It was sarcasm.)

Right.  So I shall be dividing this post into sections as I did with another such post back in March.  Only this time each section shall be headed by a movie quote.  (Don't ask me why.  I just get weird ideas sometimes.)  And since we're going to have movie quotes sprinkled throughout this post, I thought to myself, why not turn this into a quote game as well?  Good idea, right? 

So, if you feel inclined to play just leave a comment guessing where the quote comes from and who said it.  (10 points for every correct guess.)  Then if you wish to comment on this post in general (you know, like comment on all the witty and wonderful things I say) please leave that as a separate comment so I can publish and reply to your regular comments right away, instead of waiting until the answers to the game are announced.  Does that make sense? 

Anyway, I hope it does because I can't say it again.  Ain't nobody got time for that. 

[P.S. The title does not lie.  This truly is a very random post.   You have been warned!]

 

"Knittin', Zeb?"

As a matter of fact, I have been doing quite a bit of  knitting this summer.  Much more than I've done the past couple of years.  And it's been quite fun.  I hadn't realized how much I'd missed having a handwork project to work on.  Usually I make doilies, dishcloths, or potholders, but being rather tired of that (and already having way more of those things than any sensible person needs!) I decided I'd make a blanket this time.  Which was a very wise decision considering that I had a lot of cotton yarn cluttering up my hope chest, and it was about time I cleaned it out.

Here's a picture of the finished blanket.  It's a conglomeration of different colors because...
well, that's the reason I buy cotton yarn, for the colors!!  And the more the merrier, right?

Like I said, it was a wise decision, making a blanket.  However, being the orderly person I am, the colors had to go well together, and since I had some colors that just didn't mesh, and not enough of the ones that did...well, you get the picture.  I had to make a trip to the store to buy more yarn.  And my blanket, though being made to my satisfaction, did not quite fulfill the purpose of cleaning out my hope chest, as I ended up having leftovers of some of the newly purchased yarn.  So yeah, I think I have just about as much yarn cluttering up the place as I did before.  *sigh* 

 

"You speak as though it was something to eat."

(This quote is actually referring to babies, and I plan to talk about babies later...but for now I'm going to use this quote to continue talking about yarn.  You follow me?)

Because you see, when I was at the store looking for cotton yarn I came across this delicious, mouth-watering, scrumptiously soft, baby yarn.  And I said to myself, "I need to make a blanket out of that someday."  So when I had finished my first blanket and was beginning to feel rather lost, not having a project to work on, I remembered that yarn and made straightway to the store to purchase some. I am now working on my second blanket, and here's a picture of my progress so far.

Actually, I'm farther along now than when this picture was taken, but at least
this gives you an idea of what it looks like.

As I said to my twenty-one-year-old brother, "Isn't it yummy?"  (And my brother's reply: "Yeah.  Let's just skip the pizza and have yarn for supper instead."  Har, har.) 

 

"Madness in this weather.  Insane!" 

So it's been summer, right?  And summer's hot, correct?  And when summer's hot, you're hot (or I'm very much mistaken).  

Now, tell me.  When you're feeling hot do you go out looking for ways to make yourself feel hotter?  Of course not!  That would be silly, right?  

I think so. 

Which is why I'm so terribly confused as to why, on one of the hottest days of the year--when I was already as listless, and dull, and lazy, and hot as ever I could wish to be--I actually agreed to play badminton with my fourteen-year-old brother?  I don't get it. 

 



Sure, I protested to begin with.  Of course I did.  But in the end I said yes, and  I don't know why.  For I am not the kind of girl to do that sort of thing.  It really should have been the death of me considering the condition I was in at the time (I mean, I could barely walk, let alone run), but funnily enough, it didn't kill me!  No seriously.  I survived, and actually felt invigorated.  (Crazy, what?)  But that's not all.  I even won the game!  ME!  MYSELF! (Yes, you're right, this story is becoming quite bizarre.) But I assure you, it's true.  It was England versus the United States. Olympic level badminton.  (We sort of had Olympics on the brain.  Go figure, since we were watching it every single evening.)  And England won!  I won! I beat them all!  I was an Olympic gold medalist!  I WAS THE BEST!  I WAS.........hot.   (Let's go inside, shall we?) 

 

"My advice to you is get yourself a job and look after your kids."  "They're not my kids!"

Right.  So I have gotten myself a job  and I am looking after kids...though "they're not my children."  ("But they're somebody's children, Mr. Potter.") (Am I in a movie-quoting mood, or what?  How do I turn me off?)   To speak plainly, I have now begun working at a preschool, three mornings a week.  I just finished my second week and boy! am I tired.  Having to get up at 6:15 every morning is no piece of cake, especially considering that I have yet to learn the art of going to bed early the night before.  It's been good for me, though.  I know it has.


"I do wonder he did not remember the book."

I would like to announce that unlike the gentleman featured in the above quote, I have been a good lad lassie and not forgotten to check out some of the books which my blogging friends have recommended to me.  Thus far I have checked out three from the library and finished reading two of them.  (Okay, so that's not very impressive.  But it's something.) Those books were:

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell.  It was Olivia's review that sparked my interest in this book and I'm very glad I read it.  It's not a favorite or anything but I enjoyed it. Elizabeth Gaskell is an excellent author.  She really understands people and knows how to write about feelings that are common to all of us.   If you like classic books and have never read any of hers I'd definitely recommend that you do so.

Random Elizabeth Gaskell quote

With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin.  Natalie wrote a lovely review for this book here, and after reading her thoughts on it I decided I'd better read the book myself.  I must say, it was quite good.  There were a few boring spots every now and then (didn't care for all the technical war stuff), but overall it was a sweet story.  I liked Mellie and Tom's relationship a lot.  The way they fell in love was quite refreshing coming from a Christian romance novel.  (Ahem.  The sequels were not nearly as good, though.  Sadly, I couldn't even manage to read them the whole way through.)

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.  I'm afraid this is the one I didn't finish. (Sooory, Jillian.)  I assure you, I had the best intentions in the world, but I quickly found that I had picked a bad time for it.  My mind just wasn't in the right frame for tackling such a large book.  So I sent it back to the library and it will have to remain on my to-read list for a while longer. 


"My father taught me that victory goes to him who takes the greatest risk."

(I told you this post was going to be random, right?)

This quote always reminds me of playing Farkel with my siblings because it happens to be my twenty-three-year-old brother's favorite line whenever we play that game.  It's his motto, and his most common explanation for why he's choosing to roll the dice one more time, when it really would be advisable for him to refrain.  (By the way, have you ever played Farkel?  It's a dice game.  5's and 1's count as  points and also any combinations you get like 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, and stuff like that.  It's fun.  You should try it sometime.)  

So anyway, I played a few very good games of Farkel recently--one in which my older sister got the first ever 6 of kind, to my brother's and my deep chagrin.  She was super lucky that night.  And I was about as bad as I could be.  We were even playing with my dice--which was adding insult to injury.  (Traitorous dice.)  However, we had our usual witty remarks flying back and forth throughout the game, so it was quite fun and entertaining...despite my epic loss.

The traitors themselves.  Oooh! You, naughty dice! Shame for shame!

 

I brought up the subject of Farkel because...well, I don't know.  Why did I bring it up?  ("Because you wanted to use that quote. "  Oh.  Well...maybe.)

 

"I do not enjoy dancing and I'm not good at it."

That's not strictly true in my case, since I'm sure I could enjoy dancing if I would let myself, but you see, I don't let myself.  We attended my cousin's wedding earlier this month and I had the opportunity to dance, but I didn't take it.  Why?  Well, because.  '"Tis not my way or my nature" to be obliging about these sorts of things.  Puts me too much out of my element.  In the end, I confess, I almost wished I had danced, just because it did look rather fun.  But I comforted myself with the thought that there were already too many people dancing.  (Which was actually true.  I did not make that up just to ease my conscience.)

 

"I always wanted to be a June bride.  And have a baby right off.  In the Spring maybe."

Dreams can come true!!  Guess what, people?  I'M GETTING MARRIED!  IN JUNE!

Okay.

NOT. 

That was just a joke.  I don't even have a boyfriend yet. ("No boyfriend?"  Miss March bursts into tears at the remembrance of her lonely, unhappy state.)  ('Hem.  Not really.) 

Anyway, where was I going with this?  Oh, yeah!  What I was meaning to say--before I so rudely interrupted myself with that poor attempt at a joke-- was that MY SISTER'S GOING TO HAVE A BABY!  Yaaaaaay! We are all very, very excited about it.  Indeed, how could we not be? BABIES ARE THE BEST!

 

 

 

"I fear you have long been desiring my absence.  I shall leave you now."

 

Whew.  Thank goodness.  I'm happy to inform you that this post is now coming to an end.  I hope you managed to get something out of all this mumbo jumbo, but if not...well, I'm sorry.  There's nothing I can do about it now.  I'll just leave you with a short poem by Mr. Ogden Nash.  (Because after all this rambling I feel a great need for some real, deep thoughts.)

 

The Egg

By Ogden Nash

Let's think of eggs.

They have no legs.

Chickens come from eggs,

But they have legs.

The plot thickens;

Eggs come from chickens,

But have not legs under 'em.

What a conundrum!

 

 

I hope you all had a lovely summer! 
What's one activity you indulged in a lot this past season? 
How about an activity that you associate with summer, but never actually got around to doing this year?  (For example I didn't go swimming at all, which isn't actually unheard for me, but which still seems like it ought to be a regular part of the season.) 
And for those of you who are just heading into the summer, what's one thing you're very much looking forward to doing over the next few months?

 

 *****

 

Thanks for plowing through this long and rambling epistle.  If you wish to take a crack at guessing the quotes in this post, please do!  I've included them down here for quicker reference.  Answers will be up next week sometime.  (Also, just so you know, some of the quotes come from the same movie.  'Cause I'm so creative.  ;))

1. "Knittin', Zeb?"

2. "You speak as though it was something to eat."

3. "Madness in this weather.  Insane!" 
4. "My advice to you is get yourself a job and look after your kids."  "They're not my kids!"
5. "I do wonder he did not remember the book."
6. "My father taught me that victory goes to him who takes the greatest risk."

7. "I do not enjoy dancing and I'm not good at it."

8. "I always wanted to be a June bride.  And have a baby right off.  In the Spring maybe."

9. "I fear you have long been desiring my absence.  I shall leave you now."

 

(P.S.  If I misquoted any of the quotes, I apologize.  It's hard to remember them word for word sometimes.)