Words

I love learning new words and the more I read, the more words I learn. Another blogger I thoroughly enjoy, also loves words and often will post her own collection on her blog If she doesn't mind my copying her, I also thought it would be fun to post a new word I have learned in my own reading.

I have recently begun the process of reading Jane Austen's books. I used to never be able to get through Pride and Prejudice, but after watching the movie and beginning to understand the Regency era, I cannot get enough of her! A good friend of mine let me borrow Jane Austen's last book, Sanditon. I'm about half way through it and I love it. As I read this, there have been a few times where I need to stop and look up a word. The most recent one is used here:

"He was convinced that the advantage if a medical man at hand would very matierally promote the rise and prosperity of the place [Sanditon], would in fact tend to bring a prodigious influx; nothing else was wanting."

Prodigious- from dictionary
–adjective

1.	extraordinary in size, amount, extent, degree, force, etc.: a prodigious research grant.

2.	wonderful or marvelous: a prodigious feat.

I'm ready for Spring

I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for spring. As much as I do enjoy the cooler weather, I absolutely HATE the wind that comes with it. When the wind picks up here, my allergies get so bad and my skin dries out. I'm also ready to break out my cute skirts and spring-y outfits. I'm ready for warmer weather.

Things haven't changed much in our home. My husband is still out looking for work. There was a moment where something sounded promising, but it never panned out. Well, at least it seems that way. If God has that job in mind for Eric, it will happen. I have to admit, I am losing patience. Not with Eric, mind you, but with the whole process. With the whole country in a major recession, it just does not seem likely that Eric will find a job any time soon. I do get discouraged at times, but I just need to focus that God is greater than this and something bigger than we could ever imagine will come our way.

My job is okay. It's definitely not what I want to do at all and I often find myself getting discouraged at my situation, but I still remind myself that is a million times better than my old job and that my paycheck is really helping pay the bills. My only source of hope is that once Eric is in a steady job, I can quit this job and stay home. Finally! Looking back, I realized that I could have always stayed home. We are living on so little and and can still pay our bills and eat. I don't know why we never realized that to begin with!

As far as my baking adventures go, Eric and I and a friend of mine tried our hand at scones and lemon curd the other day. Eric worked on the lemon curd while my new found friend and I worked on the scones. They were so delicious! We will definitely be making those again. It's so fun to be able to be hospitable without spending a ton of money.

Well, that's it for now I guess. I will leave you guys with a cute picture of my snuggle bug, Stella.

A closeup of her sweet face!

25 Random Things

I posted this on my facebook account, so I thought I would just copy it here. I didn't think it would be hard to think of 25 things about me, but it took me quite some time.


1. I'm really not interesting enough to have 25 random things about me.

2. I'm pretty allergic to cats but I have two of them anyway.

3. Purple used to be my favorite color, but now my favorite is red.

4. I have lived in the same town my whole life.

5. The farthest I have moved from my childhood home is less than 10 miles.

6. I hope to change that someday.

7. I want to be fluent in French before I die.

8. So I can visit France and talk to the locals.

9. I love Styx and The Carpenters and I don't care who knows it.

10. According to my cousin, I "own" Sabotage by the Beastie Boys on Rock Band.

11. I met my husband on the internet.

12. I love Diet Coke and drink it all the time. Because of that, Eric calls it "Diet Crack".

13. I have a freakish obsession with Disneyland and can often spout off random facts about the park.

14. I often think about going back to college, but then I get an anxiety attack, break out in hives and get sick to my stomach. It's safe to say, I won't be going back to school anytime soon.

15. I'm really struggling with finding 25 facts about me.

16. I am the youngest of 3. There are 13 years between me and my eldest brother and 9 years between me and my middle brother.

17. I was a "surprise".

18. I have an irrational hatred of Nicholas Cage and I refuse to watch any movie with him in it because he annoys me so much, I want to punch him in the face.

19. I once spent 12 hours in one spot, just so I can see Johnny Depp in person. I saw his head. My life is complete.

20. My absolute favorite movie is The Princess Bride, followed closely by Singin' in the Rain.

21. I named my cat Stella just so I can yell "STELLAAAAAAAA"

22. I didn't enjoy the book Pride and Prejudice until I saw the movie (the 1995 BBC version). Now it's one of my all time favorite books.

23. I tend to jump on book bandwagons late on purpose, just so I don't have to wait so long in between book releases. For instance, I didn't start reading Harry Potter until the 7th book was just about out and I just started reading the Twilight series.

24. I am a severe procrastinator and always have been. I crank out my best work when the pressure is on.

25. I am an awful test taker. I can know the information inside and out, but once a test is in front of me, I completely blank out and panic. Which is probably why I freak out when thinking about school.