An Update of Minuscule Proportions

     76 - Days until my birthday.

       7 - Goals finished.

     18 - Goals left to go.

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

I've Got An Awesome Mom

The first goal on my list of 25 is to take a spur-of-the-moment road trip.  My best friend and her husband are very good at doing spur-of-the-moment things. (In fact they got to know each other on a late night road trip to Milwaukee in college.) I really enjoy spontaneous plans...once they are happening, but I am a planner to my very core. I like lists and plans...oh and I really like lists.  I just tend to plan my time ahead of time and that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for spontaneity. 

This is an topic that my mom and work on whenever we are together for a extended amount of time.  I'm a planner...she is not.  I love that about her, but we definitely have different approaches.  Well, one morning when I was visiting home...my plans got turned upside down.  I was working on my quilt and had laundry going when my mom walked in from her bible study and told me to get ready.  We were leaving as soon as I was ready.  I promptly told her I had no dry clothes...no less clean ones.  She told me to hurry up and go find something.  Twenty minutes later I was in the car with my mom and my sister.  We picked up two of my favorite women, Teri and Holly and headed out of town.  So began my spur-of-the-moment road trip.

We had a great day.  We drove about an hour and forty minutes and visited with one of my mom's friends who just moved there and got a tour of her new house.  Then we went out to lunch at this restaurant in a really interesting old building.  Before it was a restaurant it was a whole bunch of other things including a funeral home during the Great Depression.  It is supposed to be haunted by a ghost named Martha, she didn't joins us for lunch.  We walked around town and looked in some antique shops, but I think the best place we stopped was on the way out of town.  It as refurbished farm called The Crooked Willow.  Each building has been redone and now showcases antiques and boutique kind of merchandise.  It is a good thing I have no money, because I could have easily spent it all there.

I just want to say thanks to my mom.  I was really surprised and that isn't easy to do.  You may not plan like I do, but you can sure plan a great spontaneous road trip!  Goal #1...check!

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

Little Bit Country...Little Bit Rock and Roll

This past August I went home for a visit and one day we headed out to my uncle's land for an afternoon that could only happen in the country! It was filled with guns, shooting, a 4-wheeler, a flooded crick (not creek...crick), family, sunflower seeds, and sunshine.

 I shot three guns.  The first one was a .22.  I was kind of nervous about the kick-back, but it wasn't bad at all!

First time I shot a gun.   How's my grouping?

Then I shot the assault rifle that is in this picture, which was pretty awesome.  It even had the legs on the muzzle.  It was intense.

But...the coolest gun I shot was one my grandpa George made...and I mean made. (Sorry I don't have a good picture.)  He carved the wood from a block into gun.  My grandpa passed away when I was a baby.  If he had still been around, I think he would have been out showing me what to do.  Not that I would give up the experience I had  my dad and uncles (they are pretty awesome) but it would have been great to have him there.

I have fulfilled goal #12...learn to shoot a gun.

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

Video of the Week

I am oh so excited for this movie.

Enjoy!



SURPRISE!!!  It's a muppet movie!  So, I grew up watching the Muppet movies.  Every Christmas we would watch Muppet Christmas Carol my whole familywe all could sing along with the opening song of Muppet Treasure.  (What?  It's catchy!)  I think my favorite is Muppets from Space.  Pepe the King Prawn is hilarious! So, I am very excited about this new one...Amy Adams and Jason Segel?  Muppets from Space might just be dethroned.

Do you have a favorite Muppet movie?

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

Video of the Week

This just cracks me up.





"I've already had like four babies"  These commercials usually make me laugh.  I also like the one where is the teenage girl.

Are you the smartest raccoon you know?

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

Eyeliner and Drink Umbrellas Are the New Art Supplies

In August, my sister, Spaulding gave each one of the siblings a small canvas.  She asked us to paint it or create a collage on it.  G painted a zombie farm on his.  It is quite the work of art.  

I wanted to do something a little more me so...I used this tutorial to create a collage a background of book pages.  I wanted to paint some lettering on, but the normal pencil transferring wouldn't work.  After some deliberation...I decided to try something else.  

First, I printed the text and placed it on the canvas where I wanted it to be.

Then, I flipped the paper over and filled in the words in with cheap black eyeliner.  

I think this pencil cost me $.99 at Wal-Mart.

I flipped it over and rubbed over the words to transfer the eyeliner...normally this would work with pencil, but because the Modge-Podge on the canvas was so smooth the pencil wouldn't stick.  

The transfer isn't perfect, but it is enough to fill in the letters.  

Because the letters were so thin and scripty, I used a toothpick...ok...I used a drink umbrella because I don't have any toothpicks, but it is basically the same thing.

This is the final product!

I know its no zombie farm, but I think Spaulding will like it.

Yours affectionately,

A.H. 

I Gave Blood and All I Got Was a Huge Bruise...and Test Results

I have never given blood or had blood taken.  So, when I went to fulfill goal #18 to have have my cholesterol checked.  My family has history of heart problems and I decided I should take some preventative measures.  So...for the first time ever I gave blood.  This is what I found out.

     -I have small veins.
     -I bruise easily.  A week later, I still had a huge bruise on my arm.
     -My cholesterol is within the normal range.
     -It is super weird to watch as you give blood.  It really should just stay in my body.  It kind of freaks me out...one reason I've never given blood before.

Only one blood-giving-goal left to fulfill, #22 donate blood...is it creepy that there is more than one?  Is it creepy that there is one at all? Ah well...either way...goal #18...check!!

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

P.S. If you read this whole thing...you must really love me.  Thanks!

Video of the Week

Finally!!!  I have been waiting for someone to put this video on youtube so I could use it for video of the week for a very long time.

Without any further ado.  Enjoy!



Mention Tea...Mention News...Mention Spice Girls.

Oh goodness...this advertisement really makes me laugh.  That's all.

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

We Didn't Start the Fire...Oh, Wait. I Did.

I grew up camping and having campfires in the backyard.  Yet somehow, I lacked any real fire building skills.  Well, ladies and gentlemen...that has changed.

                                                                No Fire....

Fire!!!

And I didn't all by myself.  I had to chase away my Dad once or twice, but that fire was all mine.  Goal #8...Done!

Now we couldn't waste a good campfire so we had some of my favorite people over for campfire fare.

After dinner we went for a boat ride on the river while the fire died down.

By the time we got back we had coal for s'mores.  You can't have a campfire and not make s'mores.  

All in all it was just what a summer evening should be.

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

Fishing is the Sport of Drowning Worms

I grew up in a fishing family, but there is a time in every young girl's life when her Dad stops taking the fish off the hook for her.  When that day came for me, so did the end of my rather pathetic fishing career.  I didn't mind so much.  I didn't have enough patience for it, plus I could just bring along my book in the boat and get some extra reading time in.  But the time came for me to face those scaly beings...plus my smallest brother, G was schooling me.  I think he was touching fish before he lost his diapers.  He really likes doing it, he talks to the fish as he takes the hook out of it's mouth.

To be honest...I didn't put the worm on the book G and my other brother B did it for me.  Thanks guys!  I was going to, really I was...they were just so...wiggly.  The boys did like it was no big deal, but it freaked me out.  I caught a fish on the first cast...it was so tiny!

Me and my tiny fish!

After a couple tries, I totally got the hook out myself.  Goal #16...Done!

I kept going...after the brothers put more worm on my hook.  I caught two more...one swallowed the hook and my dad took it out for me.  But I took the hook out of the third one by myself.  G offered (I told you he likes to do it!), but I did it myself. 

For the record...that is G shooting the fish with a water gun.  I heart him.

I liked the last fish, but I don't think Henry (that's what I've decided to name him) and Howard would have gotten along well.  I don't think I will take up fishing as a hobby, still not enough patience, but I had alot of fun with the family this day.  One more goal done. 

Yours affectionately,

A.H.

P.S. Thanks to my mom for being the photographer!

Video of the Week

It's Monday!  That means it's Video of the Week time.

This song just sounds like summer to me.  Like cotton skirts, sunshine, and flip flops.

Enjoy!

I found this song through Jon Acuff who, among other things, writes Stuff Christians Like.  He mentioned "Hey Mama" in a blog about 4 Types of Modern Christian Songs.  If you are running a little low on satire in your life...I am prescribing his blog.  As a pharmacist's daughter, I am totally allowed to do that.

Yours affectionately,
A.H.

I Dream of Scooters.

A couple of weeks ago, I packed up my car and drove home for a lovely two week vacation!  Howard, my fish who often travels with me stayed at home.  He doesn't do well in the heat (my AC is broken) and I thought I would give him time to unpack his cookie jar/fish bowl in our new place.

Anywhoo...while I was home, I put a big dent in my list of 25 Things to do before I'm 25, with some big help from my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my friends.  Thanks guys!!  

First one I tackled was riding a on a Vespa.  Now just a point of clarification...I call all scooters Vespas, because if I don't people assume I mean the small platform with sad little wheels and and a unmanageable steering system.  Its like calling a facial tissue a Kleenex.  Everyone knows what you mean...this is what I meant in when I wrote goal #11.

Now I know this is not Vespa brand, but it was still awesome!!!!  Ok...so it wasn't working super well, but I went down the street and back.  Goal #11...check.

Just for the record I have my future transportation picked out.  A GTS 300...I can't decide between the Dragon Red or the Midnight Blue.  Seeing as I have $0 saved...I have some time to decide.  Which do you like? Take a look.  This is not some putsy little scooter...it goes 80 mph and gets 65-70 mpg.  I so want one.  Maybe owning it will be on my 30 before 30 list.

Yours affectionately,

A.H.

Last First Day of School

Today is my last first day of school for the foreseeable future.  It makes a girl think about...

The future...
...I have no idea where I will be in a year.  I have some idea of where I want to be, but I've had lots of ideas in the past and on my first day of college I would never have guessed this is where I would be.  I am both nervous and excited.  I am nervous because I am a planner.  I am excited because I know whatever comes it is going to be good.  I struggle alot with God over who is in control of my life.  I make lots of plans, all with the best of intentions, but ultimately, I want to follow His plan more than my own.  I need to daily remind myself to let go of my well laid plans.

The present...
...I am a pretty lucky girl.  I have a family that loves me like crazy and friends that simultaneously support, join, and mock my tomfoolery.  Thanks guys!  I have to remind myself that the friendships that I make here don't have to end when my lease does.

The past...

...Looking back at the times when there were First-Day-of-School pictures, it strikes me I had no idea what would be quickly forgotten and what would have a lasting effect on my personality and they way I approach a situation.

P.S. That is my Kindergarten school picture!

I have changed in alot of ways, but I still have my long-curly hair, I still like to dream up the what-ifs, and I still love to a good book.

Grade school me would have guessed I would be alot of different things by now...a princess, a teacher, married, a world traveler, a professional photographer, or (for a very short stint in high school) a lawyer.  Never would I have said a graduate student, nine months from getting my Masters degree in Library Science.

I would be lying if I said I wouldn't change anything, but...for the most part...I like where I've been and I like where I am going.

*Deep Breath*  Here goes...I'm off to class.

Yours affectionately,
A.H.