Monday, December 13, 2010

Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes, for to save her shoes from gravel.

  These cookies are magical and they get me in a Christmas-y mood. :)
I got this picture off of this equally magical blog.


This is a wonderfully catchy song ------------> Mad Tom of Bedlam

And in other news........

   Our house has been almost fully decorated for Christmas. The tree and the stockings are up, and there are other little decorations throughout the house. :) 'Tis a wonderful thing. All that is left is for me to put up the Christmas lights outside, which I keep completely forgetting to do. 
   I've been seriously considering something for the past couple of weeks, and I figure here is as good a place as any to bring it up. I've been considering whether or not to get a space heater surgically put into my body. It'd have batteries so that I wouldn't have to be constantly searching for an outlet. And it would mean I would no longer have to suffer from the cold. I've tried to keep warm in a myriad of other ways, and I'm afraid that this is the only way to keep my toes from developing frostbite.

Anywho......... that's all for now.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Ode To My Mother's Home-Made Gluten-Free Stuffing

  Happy Belated Thanksgiving y'all! Yesterday we had several people and their children over for Thanksgiving dinner and it was to much fun. My mom made stuffing that was AMAZING. And considering the fact that it was the first time she has ever made gluten-free or home made stuffing.........she deserves mad props to say the least. I would also like to mention the fabulous no-bake cookies she made and thank her for them. :D Oh, and by the way, you can say what you want, but no one pulls out a Thanksgiving dinner as awesomely and tasty as my mother, Petra Carden.


  
    Well that's all for now folks....

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Still Sleepy, Still Know That It's Not My Strength

  I am very sleepy. And now on to more important things than my complaining...........

  I would like to write that there's is no way at all that I would have been able to last throughout this past week on my own strength. God definitely was working.........and seriously, like no way at all in a thousand years. It's been that busy and energy consuming. But it has been worth every ounce of strength..that was not my own.

  Yesterday morning I helped Carmen, from Ecuador, study for her citizenship test. I was also able to talk to two other people who are also trying to pass the (absolutely ridiculous) test. The supervisor who was there to answer questions, hand out materials and the likes, had also (recently maybe?) been naturalized. Let me just say, that after hearing all of their stories and the stories of others who had been through the citizenship class, that the process for becoming a citizen is even more corrupt, unfair, and unpredictable than all my preconceived notions had even imagined. (on a side note: I would like to please ask that nobody contend with me on this. I know we all have our "opinions", but I would really rather not have to feel depressed, annoyed and frustrated after having to read the before mentioned "opinions". Especially after talking to people who have actually been through or are currently going through this process.) But anyway. Carmen and I exchanged phone numbers and she will call me after she takes the test to tell me whether or not she passed. Please be praying that she does, she is the sweetest woman and knows more than I do about the process of government in this country, but that does not guarantee her citizenship.

  In the next room was a computer class, and Kalsang (who I mentioned before, but spelled her name wrong) was there!. I talked to her for a little bit. And the day before when we had been talking in the Bible class, I found out that she didn't know what a Bible was. She had never seen one, or heard of one. She thought that the stories that were being told in the class were true, but she didn't know where they came from. I gave her a New Testament and showed here the different stories that she knew and that they had all come from this book. She was really excited about it, she didn't have any books in English to practice reading and she had no idea that all that she had been learning came from this one book. (the reason for this being linguistic. Her English is still coming along.) I wrote my e-mail address on the inside of it for her so that we could stay in contact. Please be praying for her as well.

 Well I have to go now, but everyone, please continue to pray for what is happening here and I will give more happenings and stories later.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Brain..is.....shutt.ing........down......

  My brain is dead at the moment. I would love to blog right now and share all that has happened, but I am incapabale of doing so at the moment.One of the subways was closed for construction and that altered our route to the point where instead of spending an hour and a half on one train, we spent a little over two hours on several different trains. I am exhausted and praying for some energy for later, once that happens, then I will blog..............unless I find myself doing something else. :D

Friday, October 29, 2010

Details (bulleted)

> I like the subway. It's relaxing and it's crazy fun to people watch. I don't why, but it just is.

> Yesterday we helped Urban Impact with their free English classes. One in the morning and a bible study English class at night. I was able to get to know two of the women who take these classes. Kellsung (sp?), who is from Tibet, and Miriam, who is from Guatemala. They were both so sweet and we had a ton of fun being silly and trying to understand each other. Miriam's been taking these English classes for about a month, but she's been in the U.S. since '93. (Which is my birth year :) .) Kellsung's been taking the classes off and on for about year, but I'm not sure when she moved here. Kellsung was in the morning and evening class, and I met Miriam in the evening Bible study class.

> The Hindus worship many many many many many......many "gods". It's really sad. And they do it mostly out of fear that they'll be destroyed if they don't.

> I don't understand why they're so many people who go on and on about how rude new yorkers are. I mean I'm sure that they're are those here who are rude, (just like every other place in the entire world), but on a whole, I just don't see it.

> There is a beach in New York.

> I am not a huge fan of cold beaches.

> Pastor Josh spilled water all over himself on the subway.

> I've been having an amazing time, and would really like to come back up here in the summer to do some more work. If at all possible.

> I would love it if everyone would continue praying. :D

I Know It's Friday.....

I know it's Friday and I didn't do a post about yesterday, but it is coming. We're about to start our day and head out, so I just have a little time to do a brief synopsis of what we did yesterday. Hopefully I will end up having the time today to update the blog about yesterday in detail, as well as today.

Brief Summary: 

   Yesterday we took the subway up to Queens (about an hour long ride). Went to go teach English. Went on a prayer walk, which included a Hindu Emporium. (we were in a place nicknamed "little India", more details later). We did some office type work to help out the ministry here. Then got dinner and  helped with the evening ESL class, then left at around 9 pm? I wanna say.

  Today I know we're are going to end up doing more construction oriented work and possibly visiting with an Indian pastor, but I'm not sure of all the details. I'll share more later.

  And please continue praying. God's been listening and we watched him bless what was done yesterday and it was amazing.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wednesday, October 27, 2010.....Post #2

  I have just taken a shower and gotten ready for bed and am currently enjoying relax/free time.........exciting right? But I am taking this opportunity to share more details about all that is going on and how the trip up here went. :D

 So this morning started out with waking up slightly before 5 am, and wasn't as bad as I thought. Got picked up at 5:45 by Pastor James and Mrs. Angela, then went to the church to wait for Mr. James and Mrs. Becky. Once we were on the road Pastor Josh stopped at the first Starbucks that we came to in Cary. (which of course is a great big surprise) ; ) We drove up through Virginia and the capital, and got to see the Washington memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the Pentagon, and went over the Potomac, which was pretty cool. Then we went up through Maryland (where we stopped for lunch at Panera), New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
 
  Once we got to New York we had to drive through Staton Island.......No lie, some of the Graffitti was ridiculously awesome. We got to Brooklyn to the Missions House we're staying at which, as I said before, is run by the sweetest people ever. It's Barry Lawrence, his wife Lynette, and their two daughters.

  We walked up to the subway station to get passes that'll last us all week and then got ourselves some dinner. We stopped at an organic grocery store that's on the corner of the next block, so that I could get some dinner to eat............it's amazing, I want one in Sanford. P. Josh and Mr. James went to grab sushi and Barry got pizza for every one, while Mrs. Angela, Mrs. Becky, and I went back to the house.

  We got to talk to and get to know Barry and his family while we ate dinner and some of the work they have been doing up here's amazing. Sadly though, my typing skills and limited time do not allow me to share all that they're involved with.

  Tomorrow the main thing, that is planned, is that we'll be working with muslims, teaching them English and trying to share the gospel with them. So please be praying for that.

       on a side note, I was informed on the drive up here that we would be singing, publicly............please pray for that as well.....

more later....

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

  Right now I am waiting for my phone to charge and the rain to settle before we head out, sooooo I am using this time to explain some things......including the previously used "we".   ^

  I'm on a missions trip to NY with my pastor, Mr. James, Mrs. Becky, and Mrs. Angela. We're staying in Brooklyn at a missions house. (at least I'm pretty sure that's what it's called.) The people who run it are super sweet and nice. For the next few days we'll be pretty busy working and doing what we can to help. And if everyone could be praying for God to bless what we are doing here, that would be awesome. I'll blog more about details and the like later. :D

Friday, October 8, 2010

Tell Me 'bout the Days When You Were Seventeen......♪♪

So this is just a little (very little) "what I'm being inspired by today" post.
               
This Photo
via Sma Kee on Flickr as seen via Matisse Color
 
This amazing video. (Which inspired the title of this post.)

 
And this photo
 
Photo by Lissy Elle
 
 
 
  On another note. I have to get up early tomorrow and take the S.A.T's. I'm not really dreading it, but I'm not looking forward to it either. I'm almost indifferent......(that probably isn't good). But maybe I'll be able to muster up some false motivation and as my dad says, "False motivation is motivation."
 
........anywho....goodnight all!!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Singing to You Over My Shoulder......♪♪

  I've given up on my kind-of-sorta-not-really-but-it'd-be-cool-dream of updating the blog on a daily basis. I have also decided to not do the whole, "ok. Now what crafty thing should I blog about......" way of blogging. From now on I am just going to blog about whatever is on my mind. So say good-bye to false promises of a daily blog, and hello to randomness that might have you worried.

Confession about my true feelings for Math:

  I love math. It's unorthodox, but true. Even when I was little I would do math in my head to help me fall asleep. I still do math problems in my head, but usually only when I'm upset, because it helps me to calm down. Now math class is a-whole-nother issue. I hate math class. It is sooooo boring. I have so many memories of people slamming their books on my desk because I was sleeping.

And in regards to the title of this blog post I give you.....*drum roll*...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE-4ekeMv0Q

That's pretty much it for now.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Paintings and Goal Numero Une y Deux

  In an effort to get all of my paintings posted and to get a creative post up, I am going to post pictures of a few of my paintings and their titles. Please let me know what you think. And believe me when I say you need not worry about hurting my feelings, because you won't....at all. :D I am honestly curious to know what y'all think.
Coffee

Harmony

Misery is a Butterfly
Tamed Tulle

I've got tons more photos of my paintings and drawings, but this all for now. :D

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Raleigh, Uncle Josh

  Yesterday we went to the capital and here are a few photographs of the excursion. My uncle Josh has been visiting with us and it has been quite a grand time. So the first three photos are from our adventure downtown and the last from our every day life when Josh was visiting.

  Singing in the heat in Raleigh. :D

My mom was going to take a picture of me next to the Army thing, because I'm going to join the army. That's when my brother stepped in front of me and wouldn't move. and yes I bit him.
Me and le oncle Josh. :D


Josh jamming on my ukulele. :D

Friday, August 13, 2010

Half Awake

  Today my family, le oncle Josh, and I went on an excursion to the capital of North Carolina. Many photos were taken and they are already uploaded to the computer. I will upload them, but not tonight, because the thing is I have a bed time and it takes forever for photos to load. :D So those are coming tomorrow, along with a creativity post. Today was a little dry, but I will make up for it. So ta-ta for now.

Go Hard, Go Hard

  I've recently discovered gospel rap....ok let me rephrase that. I've recently discovered gospel rap that sounds more like hood music than the canadian christian rappers I had been listening to. And although I have absolutely nothing against the latter, I just enjoy this stuff more. It also keeps me from listening to some rap music that I really really probably shouldn't be listening to. : /
  Here's a link to a song by my favorite artist so far. ---> Go hard 
I'll be blogging again later today, but I just wanted to share this. I'm going down to Fayetteville today with the family and le oncle Josh, so there should be plenty to share later. Hopefully with some pictures. :D

  a few other songs I like by lecrae:


- praying for you
- fall back
- Jesus muzik
- fanatic
- take me as I am

That's all for now folks!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Tha Garden Variety

  I've been working in my flower garden everyday......ok. quick segue. I laugh inwardly whenever I say something like, "I'm gonna go work in my garden." or "My sunflowers are doing well." The reason being that, I'm the girl who can't keep even bamboo alive. Seriously, everytime it turned black. But anywho...
I'm trying to grow sunflowers, babies breath, and corn flowers.


I think this is cornflowers? It's in the same spot I put the seeds, but I honestly don't know if it's flowers or weeds. : /


The plants in the straightish row on the right side of the pic are some of the sunflowers. :D They were the first ones to.....sprout? Well anyway, they were the first ones I saw. I love sunflowers. A sort of dreamish thing of mine is to one day have a sunflower field, they're so whimsical.


This is where I planted the babies breath. And I think that they're the smaller plants. I'm pretty sure the larger ones are weeds, but I'm not positive. Therefore whenever I pick weeds I pick around this area.

It's the Simple Things In Life

  I follow this -> blog. And on this blog Ms. Elsie has proposed a simple, but intriguing 'blog project idea'. It's a public 'simple goals before 2011' challenge. Here are the guidelines (paraphrased) for the challenge:

1. choose simple goals that will affect your life positively/happily on a daily basis. (I'm going to change this a little and add, or others lives positively/happily on a daily basis.)
2. do not choose result oriented goals, choose activity oriented goals.
3. choose goals that are personal, they can be daily, weekly or one time experiences.
4. choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished. It can be a small or large reward.
5. blog your goals, each one as you achieve it and a big post when they are all finished before the new year.

  This seems like it'll be a lot of fun, and great incentive to keep up with the blog. :D

So here are my simple goals:

1.Post a creativity themed blog post at least once a week. Hopefully this will force me into creating more often. :D
2.Upload decent pictures of ALL of my paintings, and the murals I've done on my wall.
3.Start a daily thoughts journal. I will pick one of my adorable little notebooks I have lying around and write down a thought each day that seems to have been prominent in my mind that day.Then every few days I'll post on here what the thoughts were.
4.Dye my hair. I have no clue whether or not it'll be a funky color again, or a more natural color. This is something I've been wanting to do for the past couple of days. :D

So there they are. My four simple nifty little goals.
If any one else wants to do this with me let me know in the comments. That's all for now.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Strange Case of Mr. Ormantude's Bride

  I was just sitting on my front porch, drinking green tea, and reading Ogden Nash's Good Intentions. I came across a poem that made me smile and I just had to share, even though I have already blogged today. :)


The Strange Case of Mr. Ormantude's Bride

Once there was a bridegroom named Mr. Ormantude whose
intentions were hard to disparage,
Because he intended to make his a happy marriage,
And he succeeded for going on fifty years,
During which he was in marital bliss up to his ears.
His wife's days and nights were enjoyable
Because he catered to every foible;
He went around humming hymns
And anticipating her whims.
Many a fine bit of repartee died on his lips
Lest it throw her anecdotes into eclipse;
He was always silent when his cause was meritorious,
And he never engaged in argument unless sure he was so
obviously wrong that she couldn't help emerging victorious,
And always when in her vicinity
He was careful to make allowances for her femininity;
Were she snappish, he was sweetish,
And of understanding her he made a fetish.
Everybody said his chances of celebrating his golden wedding
looked good,
But on his golden wedding eve he was competently poisoned by
his wife who could no longer stand being perpetually understood.

~ Ogden Nash

Lists, Yiroshima Battles the Pink Robots part 1

  I like writing in lists. It keeps me from rambling and all I have to think of are one to two sentence statements, which is very nice when I've just woken up and all I'm capable of is cave woman talk.......so here's a list:

1. I recently got bangs. My mom cut them and did a really good job. Here's props mom and thanks for the bangs. :D

2. I sleep on the couch, so waking up can be "interesting" at times. Like when I wake up to two tiny giggling kids sitting on me, or someone is trying to see how many things they can throw at me before i wake up.

3. I find it kind of crazy how I can't say 'I love twilight' without people automatically assuming that I'm talking about sparkling "vampires".

4. I love painting. a lot.

5. Best song title ever---> Yiroshima Battles the Pink Robots part 1 by the Flaming Lips

6. My one year-old sister LOVES to scream. I don't love this about her, even though she's completely adorable.

7. I finally made myself an account on Pandora....which rocks my socks.

  That's it for now. Nothing ground breaking, just trying to keep up with this. :D

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

New Blog, Good Music

  I am starting a blog (again). I've had a few blogs in the past, none of which I have consistently updated. I'm not really sure what this blog will include, but I'll try to keep it entertaining. No promises though. I do ask that you guys would harass me on Facebook to keep up with it. :D I'm still editing the format and layout, therefore the blog will be looking a little rough until, of course, I perfect it.

  Random Tidbit-
Here are a few songs I've been enjoying lately:

Jesus Muzik-Lecrae
Hate-Cat Power
Dog Days-Florence + The Machine
Stand Tall-Dirtyheads

  Well, I'm not going to make this a long one, so here's to a new blog (again) and good music.