*Twinkle, twinkle.* Those are our Christmas lights, still up and twinkling...but for how long? Last year I made it until February before the decorations got to me and I ran around the apartment ripping all signs of Christmas from the walls - it might not last that long this year.
Already I'm starting to twitch. Already I'm planning what decorations to put in what boxes to make it easier for next year. Already I'm sensing how relaxing it will be to get back to a less-cluttered apartment life. Already I'm thinking...maybe tomorrow is the day. Maybe I should just give in. Take down the (3 foot, fake) Christmas tree, box up the snow globes and village houses and nativities, coil the lights and unhang the ornaments. Put the holiday movies back on the shelf and let my Christmas spirit have a rest. I had a good run. I'd been ho-ho-ho-ing since September so there's nothing to be ashamed of, right? Still...I feel a little sad that I'm so ready to toss the holiday cheer into a box and throw it in the closet until Christmas 2008.
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Feeding this desire to return to 'normal' living is finally finishing our honeymoon scrapbook. I love scrapbooking and we have a tonnage of pictures from our honeymoon adventure...so since September 2006 I've been scrapping away...two HUGE 12x12 albums later I am done. Finished. I have to stick down the last two pages of pictures I've set in place and that's it.
Anyway, my point is that we have a cute little one bedroom apartment, and nearly the entire time we've lived here I've had the card-table up in the middle of the living room with my scrapbooking stuff on it. I love the size of our apartment, it's perfect for us...unless I put up the card-table and then the living room shrinks dramatically. It drives me crazy, but what can I do? I have to scrap...I must...I am compelled to by forces stronger than my need for open space. So now, at long last, my big scrapbooking challenge is completed. Tomorrow I will collapse the table and our living room will be back. For practically the first time since we've been married we will not have to walk in circles around it, or be careful not to trip over the extension cord connected to the lamp on it. We will have a big, open room of greatness!
At least until one of us decides to do a puzzle...
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It struck me as I was typing about decluttering our home of the Christmas decorations that our rooms will be essentially just as cluttered. A few less nick-knacks perhaps, but I'm talking about our obsession with books. Our five bookshelves are crammed full, with volumes stacked sideways on top of neat rows, on some shelves we've stacked them to the top two books deep; in the past few months we've taken to stacking them wherever there's space.
As I sit typing this I look up and see a stack of 11 classic novels on the desk...wait I just scanned to the left and noticed 30 more books stacked next to the computer speakers. There are books on our table, a large stack on my dresser, next to the TV, and on the floor beneath our console table. Our little Christmas tree has been sitting on a covered box...a box filled with books.
You would think this would make us stop buying them, but we can't. We just can't go to the library and turn down a 25 cent edition we don't own. Every time we think we've completed a collection of a classic author we find something else they've written. We've tried to slow down, but the fact is we still have quite a bit of money on two different Barnes & Noble gift cards...and so no matter how we watch our money the madness continues. We are enabled by friends and relatives to bow to our sick need for literature.
I can't imagine not being married to a fellow nerd. J hears it from me quite often...I adore the fact that both love to turn pages and smell new and used books and I love that while it clutters our apartment that I can look anywhere in our place and find a story waiting.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, January 14, 2008
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
insomnia and nerd-dome
Blehhhh. I'm a tired girl. Night before last J and I were hit with insomnia. Boring, mind-numbing insomnia - J got three hours of sleep before heading to work and I got four before our neighbors decided to start fighting and wake me up. Needless to say yesterday evening we both sat in front of the TV and stared mindlessly, even though the writer's strike has officially hit and there were only stupid repeats. We did this because we had several conversations going something like this:
"*mumble* hmmanumana"
"Huh?"
"yuhgabadee."
"Oh."
"What?"
"Huh?"
It was a long, confusing night.
Today, however, I woke up (to the neighbors fighting again) and made sure all my Christmas cards were stamped and ready to go (they are, yay!!)...well that's about it so far. My mind is still sort of numb and after a couple weeks of feeling pretty good my FMS is flaring up a little. So...I'm stealing the following thingy from my mama because let's face it...today is no day for original composition.
-----
What have you just read?
I recently finished a streak of Sinclair Lewis works - from most recent back: Kingsblood Royal, Babbitt, Dodsworth, and Ann Vickers.
What are you reading now?
Stories for Christmas (Charles Dickens) - a collection of long and short stories that appeared in various Dickens publications that I'm finding quite amusing and alternately a little disturbing. 700+ pages of goodness from my favorite author.
and The Brethren (John Grisham) - which I recently picked up at a rummage sale. I don't normally read two books at once since I'm easily distracted and confused, but Stories for Christmas is large and heavy and I needed a lighter, less arm-straining book for my bubble bath reading.
Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?
Truman Capote's first novel, Summer Crossing, that we got used at Barnes and Noble (that most wondrous of book stores!).
What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
Moby Dick. I hate Moby Dick. It's boring and long. And The House of the Seven Gables - curse you, Hawthorne, for putting me through that. And Catch-22 - oh my gosh. BORING. Redundant. Preachy. The kind of book that makes you want to stab out your eyes.
What's one book you always recommend to just about anyone?
I can never recommend just one, but I'll try to keep it short:
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hiding Place
Jane Eyre
Dracula
Admit it, sadly the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?
They don't because J and I are the book-owning kind of nerds and not the library kind - we prefer to deck our apartment with hundreds of volumes of classic lit, history books, and the like and then choose what's next from our own shelves. Our library sustains us quite well. They do recognize J from when he came as a kid to book hours and things and laugh because we usually only hit up the library to check out movies.
Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don't like it at all?
To Kill a Mockingbird. I love it to death, it's my #1 fave and for some reason whenever I recommend it people are like 'eh.' - and they either never touch it or say they read it in high school and didn't like it. Foolish people.
Do you read books while you eat?
I have tried for years to master this practice, but have failed. I either end up reading and forgetting I was eating my food or have to close my book and eat first...I just can't seem to keep the book open while I use my fork, spoon, or hand to eat. It's too unwieldy, it's just too hard.
While you bathe?
All the time. I never bathe without a book, and usually if I'm looking around the apartment and can't find my volume it's because I've left it in the bathroom from when I took my bath. I have only dropped my book in the tub once or twice, but I've ruined many a bookmark from this particular habit.
While you watch movies or TV?
TV, not movies. Books are a great commercial-filler.
While you listen to music?
Yep.
While you're on the computer?
Not all the time, but I have been known to sit and check email with a book open at my elbow.
When you were little did other children tease you about your reading habits?
When I was little my friends were even nerdier about books than I...talking about you, Betty and Melissa...
What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down?
I know that this has happened, but if it's night I'm usually wiped out and even when I want to stay up reading I fall asleep. J has closed my book and turned out my light for me countless nights because I just can't do it.
Have any books made you cry?
Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, Beloved (Toni Morrison), East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Jungle, ... I'm just gonna stop and say yes, many books have made me cry.
-----
Now THAT was a questionnaire I enjoyed. I love books, I just love 'em...it's put me in the mood and I'm gonna knock off a few more Dickens' Christmas stories. :)
"*mumble* hmmanumana"
"Huh?"
"yuhgabadee."
"Oh."
"What?"
"Huh?"
It was a long, confusing night.
Today, however, I woke up (to the neighbors fighting again) and made sure all my Christmas cards were stamped and ready to go (they are, yay!!)...well that's about it so far. My mind is still sort of numb and after a couple weeks of feeling pretty good my FMS is flaring up a little. So...I'm stealing the following thingy from my mama because let's face it...today is no day for original composition.
-----
What have you just read?
I recently finished a streak of Sinclair Lewis works - from most recent back: Kingsblood Royal, Babbitt, Dodsworth, and Ann Vickers.
What are you reading now?
Stories for Christmas (Charles Dickens) - a collection of long and short stories that appeared in various Dickens publications that I'm finding quite amusing and alternately a little disturbing. 700+ pages of goodness from my favorite author.
and The Brethren (John Grisham) - which I recently picked up at a rummage sale. I don't normally read two books at once since I'm easily distracted and confused, but Stories for Christmas is large and heavy and I needed a lighter, less arm-straining book for my bubble bath reading.
Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?
Truman Capote's first novel, Summer Crossing, that we got used at Barnes and Noble (that most wondrous of book stores!).
What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
Moby Dick. I hate Moby Dick. It's boring and long. And The House of the Seven Gables - curse you, Hawthorne, for putting me through that. And Catch-22 - oh my gosh. BORING. Redundant. Preachy. The kind of book that makes you want to stab out your eyes.
What's one book you always recommend to just about anyone?
I can never recommend just one, but I'll try to keep it short:
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hiding Place
Jane Eyre
Dracula
Admit it, sadly the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?
They don't because J and I are the book-owning kind of nerds and not the library kind - we prefer to deck our apartment with hundreds of volumes of classic lit, history books, and the like and then choose what's next from our own shelves. Our library sustains us quite well. They do recognize J from when he came as a kid to book hours and things and laugh because we usually only hit up the library to check out movies.
Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don't like it at all?
To Kill a Mockingbird. I love it to death, it's my #1 fave and for some reason whenever I recommend it people are like 'eh.' - and they either never touch it or say they read it in high school and didn't like it. Foolish people.
Do you read books while you eat?
I have tried for years to master this practice, but have failed. I either end up reading and forgetting I was eating my food or have to close my book and eat first...I just can't seem to keep the book open while I use my fork, spoon, or hand to eat. It's too unwieldy, it's just too hard.
While you bathe?
All the time. I never bathe without a book, and usually if I'm looking around the apartment and can't find my volume it's because I've left it in the bathroom from when I took my bath. I have only dropped my book in the tub once or twice, but I've ruined many a bookmark from this particular habit.
While you watch movies or TV?
TV, not movies. Books are a great commercial-filler.
While you listen to music?
Yep.
While you're on the computer?
Not all the time, but I have been known to sit and check email with a book open at my elbow.
When you were little did other children tease you about your reading habits?
When I was little my friends were even nerdier about books than I...talking about you, Betty and Melissa...
What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down?
I know that this has happened, but if it's night I'm usually wiped out and even when I want to stay up reading I fall asleep. J has closed my book and turned out my light for me countless nights because I just can't do it.
Have any books made you cry?
Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, Beloved (Toni Morrison), East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Jungle, ... I'm just gonna stop and say yes, many books have made me cry.
-----
Now THAT was a questionnaire I enjoyed. I love books, I just love 'em...it's put me in the mood and I'm gonna knock off a few more Dickens' Christmas stories. :)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
a very merry questionairre
It's true. I stole this from my Mama's blog.
We have two, soon to be three. The first is from J's sister when she went to Venezuela years ago. It's less than an inch tall, but cultural and cute. The second is about the same size, but made of ceramic...from J's childhood. We're inheriting his folk's old nativity (a more 'normal' sized one this year since they got a new one, so that's exciting. The one I unChristianally covet is made by Willow Tree, as you see on the left. Of course I love just about everything I've seen made by Willow Tree, but oh my gosh, I just adore this nativity set. Perhaps one day...
My brother-in-law. I have everyone else done and so far my ideas for him include....nothing. Everything he likes has to do with hunting and fishing and all manner of outdoors and thus anything to do with those hobbies is pricey, so I've come up with nada. Last year I think all he got from us was an assortment of candy. Poor guy.
J. I know everything he likes and my biggest problem with him is not buying him a thousand things.
Well. Sorry, Gramma C. One year when she was poor and I was like 11 or 12 she sent me a used spatula for Christmas. It was kind of a let down...
Mail!!! Yay! I know this phase of card writing will one day dwindle, but I just love jotting personal notes and addressing cards and applying stamps and sending them on their merry way.
It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas are tied in my heart. The thing is there are so many different types and styles of holiday movies that I find my list of faves is huge because none of them really compare to each other.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Usually the urge hits me around June...I start scouting for deals and piling things up so the spending isn't a deathblow in December. J adores Christmas so as soon as Christmassy things hit the store shelves he loves to buy little ornaments or crafts for us to do, and we can afford it if I have most of the shopping done by then. He's so cute browsing the aisles and looking at everything. :)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Oh of course. Who hasn't? There's not much else you can do with all those bottles and cans.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Cookies! Nog! Rolls!
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Every manner of small twinkling lights...and by twinkling I mean not flashing or pulsing or any headache-inducing spectacle. Just little lights all aglow.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
Oh Holy Night.
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?
This year, being poor, we are staying home. And by home I mean on Christmas Eve we have a get together with the Groovys almost all day, and sometime before that is the Funny Side's Christmas festivities. And Christmas Day we open our presents from each other in the morning and then probably head down to Blondie's for the day. Basically by staying home I mean we don't get to see my side of the family since they are across state borders. :(
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
I admit to you...no. I never can remember all their names, probably because it's very infrequent that I try.
20. Angel on the treetop or a star?
My special, beautiful porcelain tree-top angel is about half the size of our tiny tree, so until a larger tree is procured she graces the top of a bookcase and a kind of corny, shiny star tops our baby tree.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Last year we couldn't wait and each opened a present from each other on Christmas Eve - this year we've been especially horrible. For instance, J let me open a present today. YAY!!! It was the special Charlie Brown Christmas soundtracks - three discs of Charlie Brown music in an adorable collector's tin that I'd been eyeing at Wal*Mart a while back. I'm so happy! Needless to say we've been listening all morning and afternoon. :)
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Humbugs. Like my mama. I just love all the decorations and the shopping (only because I do it ahead of time, if I waited until the last minute shopping would not be such a highlight) and the music and the smells and seeing Christmas lights. I'm enjoying it all so much that grumpy people annoy me to no end! (no offense, mommy)
23. What I love most about Christmas?
Everything, but mostly knowing I get to share it with J. He makes it all so fun and bright. Well, and of course, the reminder of Jesus' trip to earth. Pastor Dan has made some great points that hit me just right in his sermons lately to do with Christmas and it's really made me appreciate the real meaning of Christmas all the more this year.
-----
I assumed there would be 25 questions to this thing, but apparently I was wrong. Bizarre and kind of confusing.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper - because if you wrap everything individually it feels like you are getting/giving so much more than if you dump it in a bag. Plus with a bag there's none of the joy of cutting and taping and ribboning...how I love to wrap presents!
2. Real tree or artificial?
Right now we have a two-or-three foot fake tree that J has had since childhood. Hencely most of our ornaments are laying decoratively on bookcases and window sills since not even half of them are small enough to fit on said tree.
3. When do you put up the tree?
This year we made until the week before Thanksgiving...but we couldn't take it anymore and had to decorate and be jolly. :-D
4. When do you take the tree down?
If it were up to J it would probably never come down, but I usually lose my Christmas spirit around February and pack everything away.
5. Do you like eggnog?
Eggnog is the beverage of my soul. I delight in every creamy sip, though sipping is scarce this year...$4.43 for a half gallon is just too much for these poor folks. We've only bought it twice so far - once when it first hit the shelves in October and once last week.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
The first thing that comes to mind is the down comforter my folks got me when I was in my teens (I think). I was SO excited and it was so warm and cozy and I still snuggle into it to keep warm.
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
We have two, soon to be three. The first is from J's sister when she went to Venezuela years ago. It's less than an inch tall, but cultural and cute. The second is about the same size, but made of ceramic...from J's childhood. We're inheriting his folk's old nativity (a more 'normal' sized one this year since they got a new one, so that's exciting. The one I unChristianally covet is made by Willow Tree, as you see on the left. Of course I love just about everything I've seen made by Willow Tree, but oh my gosh, I just adore this nativity set. Perhaps one day... 8. Hardest person to buy for?
My brother-in-law. I have everyone else done and so far my ideas for him include....nothing. Everything he likes has to do with hunting and fishing and all manner of outdoors and thus anything to do with those hobbies is pricey, so I've come up with nada. Last year I think all he got from us was an assortment of candy. Poor guy.
9. Easiest person to buy for?
J. I know everything he likes and my biggest problem with him is not buying him a thousand things.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Well. Sorry, Gramma C. One year when she was poor and I was like 11 or 12 she sent me a used spatula for Christmas. It was kind of a let down...
11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail!!! Yay! I know this phase of card writing will one day dwindle, but I just love jotting personal notes and addressing cards and applying stamps and sending them on their merry way.
12. Favorite Christmas movie?
It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas are tied in my heart. The thing is there are so many different types and styles of holiday movies that I find my list of faves is huge because none of them really compare to each other.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Usually the urge hits me around June...I start scouting for deals and piling things up so the spending isn't a deathblow in December. J adores Christmas so as soon as Christmassy things hit the store shelves he loves to buy little ornaments or crafts for us to do, and we can afford it if I have most of the shopping done by then. He's so cute browsing the aisles and looking at everything. :)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Oh of course. Who hasn't? There's not much else you can do with all those bottles and cans.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Cookies! Nog! Rolls!
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Every manner of small twinkling lights...and by twinkling I mean not flashing or pulsing or any headache-inducing spectacle. Just little lights all aglow.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
Oh Holy Night.
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?
This year, being poor, we are staying home. And by home I mean on Christmas Eve we have a get together with the Groovys almost all day, and sometime before that is the Funny Side's Christmas festivities. And Christmas Day we open our presents from each other in the morning and then probably head down to Blondie's for the day. Basically by staying home I mean we don't get to see my side of the family since they are across state borders. :(
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
I admit to you...no. I never can remember all their names, probably because it's very infrequent that I try.
20. Angel on the treetop or a star?
My special, beautiful porcelain tree-top angel is about half the size of our tiny tree, so until a larger tree is procured she graces the top of a bookcase and a kind of corny, shiny star tops our baby tree.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Last year we couldn't wait and each opened a present from each other on Christmas Eve - this year we've been especially horrible. For instance, J let me open a present today. YAY!!! It was the special Charlie Brown Christmas soundtracks - three discs of Charlie Brown music in an adorable collector's tin that I'd been eyeing at Wal*Mart a while back. I'm so happy! Needless to say we've been listening all morning and afternoon. :)
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Humbugs. Like my mama. I just love all the decorations and the shopping (only because I do it ahead of time, if I waited until the last minute shopping would not be such a highlight) and the music and the smells and seeing Christmas lights. I'm enjoying it all so much that grumpy people annoy me to no end! (no offense, mommy)
23. What I love most about Christmas?
Everything, but mostly knowing I get to share it with J. He makes it all so fun and bright. Well, and of course, the reminder of Jesus' trip to earth. Pastor Dan has made some great points that hit me just right in his sermons lately to do with Christmas and it's really made me appreciate the real meaning of Christmas all the more this year.
-----
I assumed there would be 25 questions to this thing, but apparently I was wrong. Bizarre and kind of confusing.
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