Concerning Hobbits

Yea! After a very long time of waiting, I finally got to see The Hobbit movie! I have seriously been waiting for this movie for years, dating way back to when I first heard that Peter Jackson wanted to make the movie. He wasn't even in preproduction yet; he was just tossing around the idea.

Simply put, I'm a Tolkien fan. I often feel that perhaps I am too much of a fan, even going so far as to purchase a book of maps to go along with his books. ☺ My favorite of Tolkien's books is The Hobbit. The story is full of action and adventure, and I enjoy the characters. As I was reading it for the first time--years ago--I remember thinking that it would make a great movie.

Fast forward to today. ☺ David and I took Paige and Em, who have become Lord of the Rings fans thanks to their nerdy parents, to see The Hobbit, Part I in Mankato. I was very excited to get to go. I had to see it in 3D, and I am so glad that I stuck to that notion. The movie was amazing! Right away we got to see into the dwarven city, and the cinematography during that scene was unbelievable. It's truly mind-boggling what can be done with technology in our age.

The movie was very faithful to the book, right down to the dialogue. And I felt that Martin Freeman portrayed Bilbo well. My favorite scene was the riddle exchange between Bilbo and Gollum. It was spot on! I am anxious to see the movie again.

Now begins the long wait until next December for Part II to be released. Guess I will go play some Lego Lord of the Rings in the meantime.

Em's accomplishments

Emma completed another session of gymnastics last week. She has learned quite a bit in a manner of a few months. She is constantly practising handstands at home.

And she landed it!

 

 

 

Mr. Smiley Man

He is such a happy little guy, even though he's teething.

I still have a blog?!

I found myself remembering my little sounding board this past week. My mother informed me that she still checks my blog, and that's when I realized that it has been a year and a half since I last posted. :O

I had abandoned this blog for a very good reason: About a week after my last post (in the final weeks of October), I discovered that I was pregnant again for the fifth time. Right away I knew that I would soon be getting very ill and tired, and blog-writing was going to have to take a back seat. And boy, was I right. I struggled with simply keeping up on home schooling the girls and my household duties. David and the girls demonstrated wonderful patience and love towards me because I basically stopped preparing meals altogether.

But, that particular trial has past, and by God's grace we all endured...and survived. ☺ The girls still enjoy peanut butter sandwiches, despite having eaten them so often. ;-) And we have a new family member: Nolan Shawn Sowers!

Nolan was born on June 22, 2012. He arrived ten days early (thanks be to God!), and he weighed 8lbs. 4oz. He is now five months old, and he is such a little honey. He flashes his big, gummy smile at us often.

Since I have found myself having a smidgen of extra time again--and I no longer am pregnant and feel like death is nigh ;-)--I hope to begin writing on my blog consistently, if the Lord wills.

Thank you for your continued interest in myself and my family. I will leave you with some more recent photos of our family. ☺

My little kiddos are so precious!

The definition of "a rip-off".

I have an e-reader, and I love it. It's a Nook Color from Barnes and Noble, and it is a wonderful piece of technology. Reading on my Nook is my preferred way to read now. It's so handy to be able to find the definition of a word instantly or explore a topic or place further by searching it on Google. You can get a book that you want immediately instead of having to drive to the store or wait for it to arrive via mail. You can connect with other Nook owners and browse their virtual library and borrow books from them. And you can use the Nook like a cheap iPad: it has apps, games, and the Internet, of course. Like I said, I love it. :)

Some days though, I get mad at my Nook. -_-

Let me explain:
Last year I read a new novel written by a new author. I saw the book at B&N and it interested me so I bought it in hardcover form. I liked the story; the book ended with a cliffhanger so I was really hoping there would be at least a second book.

Two weeks ago I saw an article in the paper saying that the second book had just been released. Yes!!! I thought. Where can I get it? I checked Barnes and Noble's website for pricing, and they had both a hardcover copy and an e-book version. The printed copy was only $10.74, but the e-book was $9.99. ??? The e-version was almost as expensive as the bound and printed copy!!!

This happens so much that it has started to really irritate me. Why does an e-book have to be so outrageously priced? I'm pretty sure that all you're doing is taking the computer file of the book from the publisher and do some quick formatting to change it to a different type of file. Then you save that on the server. That's it. If you're eliminating all these people and equipment and materials that normally would be involved in the process of printing a book shouldn't the book logically be pretty cheap to produce? Why should I pay $10 for a digital copy when I can get a physical book to put on my physical shelf for only a dollar more?

In another instance, I tried to borrow a book from a Nook friend of mine. I put in my request, and a day later I got an email from Barnes and Noble saying, "You friend has already lent that book once, and books can only be lent one time." One time?! If I buy a book, even at $.50 book at a garage sale, I can lend that book to others an infinite number of times!
This has frustrated me so much that it has made me want to stop buying e-books. But guess what? I tried to find that book I wanted--the one that was $10.74--and no store in town had it. So I ended up buying the $9.99 e-version. o_O Once I started reading though I forgot about my grudge. I finally had my new book, and I could read it in a font size that was easy on the eyes, and I didn't have to worry about losing my place in the book, and I could look up new words, etc. I was happy again. ;-)

A truly traumatic experience.

About two months ago I noticed that Paige and I were itching our heads rather frequently. At first I didn't think much of it, but then it really started to bother me. Why do our heads itch?, I'd ask myself. It was just the two of us with the problem, but we were doing it often enough that it was catching my attention. I thought that perhaps we had dandruff or some kind of scalp dermatitis. So I bought a shampoo to target itching, but it didn't help. Hmmm... What was the culprit?

It didn't take long, and Abby started to itch the back of her head, too. Oh, no! I thought I had a sudden revelation: What if we have head lice?!? O_O

I did not want it to be true, but the fact that it MIGHT be the cause of the itching was too coincidental to be ignored. So I checked Paige and Abby's head, but I didn't see anything. I waited a few more days; still more itching. I finally did some online research so I'd know what I was looking for, and I checked their heads more thoroughly. With a dejected face I discovered we did in fact have it. :( Then came the brain-wracking questions: How did we get this?! Who could have given it to us? Who have we given it to???

Without being too descriptive let's just say I did multiple loads of laundry, vacuumed my house and its contents many times, and spent hours every day checking the girls' heads. We quarantined ourselves to our home; within two days the girls and I had watched an entire season of one of those cheesy teen shows they like. :)

I am super paranoid now about head itching. For weeks I had David check my head whenever I got the slightest tingle. The word "scarred" comes to mind. ;-)

I don't have any concrete answers as to how we contracted the lice, but I do know that earlier in the summer we tried on hats at a few department stores. I can only assume that we got it there. I didn't want you to have to read about the yucky details of having head lice, but I wanted to write this post so that I could give everyone some advice: if you or your child is tempted to try on that floppy sun hat on clearance at Target or the goofy Halloween mask at Walmart, DON'T DO IT! You just never know who tried it on before you and what they had on their head when they did it. :|

♪ So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye ♫

It has certainly felt like I have said "adieu" to my blog. I haven't written for months! This has mostly been because school has started again at our house. And once school starts I have very little free time for my hobbies. Now, I only have a few hobbies--blogging being one of them--but my chief hobby is reading. If I am given the choice between watching a show on Netflix, blogging, playing a game, reading, etc., I am going to choose reading every time. :) Unless a really good show like Merlin catches my fancy on Netflix. Then I'll watch every single episode in order at every possible chance I get! (Merlin is another reason I haven't blogged lately.)

Today David took Paige and Emma with him to my grandfather's farm. Dave goes there most Saturdays to chop down trees and cut wood. There is a lovely stream running through the property and a lot of woods for the girls to explore.

With the rest of the family gone, Abs and I have had a nice few hours together. She's napping now so I was going to sit down and read...or play my new puzzle video game. :) But then I remembered my blog and how I haven't written since summer. I figured God had given me a perfect opportunity to sit down and write. Or maybe He wanted me to do some dusting....? Nah. Definitely time to write. ;-)

Warning! Warning! Another list is coming!

With summer being almost over I found myself reflecting back on things that I did the past few months; the things that I thought about and the things that I learned. Suddenly I found myself with many items that were compiling themselves into the form of a "list". As Gru from that movie with the Minions would say--in a funny Russian-type accent, "Light bulb!" I had myself a What-I-Did-This-Summer blog post! So now I can say that this is my 2nd annual end-of-summer list!

What I Learned This Summer

1. Tons of spring rain brings a bumper gnat crop.
2. People will come up with MANY ideas and home remedies for repelling gnats.
3. Putting vanilla behind your ears makes you smell like a delicious cookie.
4. Gnats like cookies.
5. NOTHING will work against gnats. -_-
6. Being given free plants is wonderful!
7. Newly transplanted strawberry plants WILL produce fruit!
8. Birds enjoy strawberries every bit as much as we do.
9. Birds are like children in that they will only take one bite out of a piece of fruit and then discard it.
10. Sandboxes apparently are an excellent place for plants to grow.
11. One should be grateful that a $20 inflatable pool lasts longer than one summer.
12. Kiddie pool water can grow algae.
13. Abby can ride a tricycle.
14. My girls can skateboard.
15. I cannot.
16. Jumping rope is good cardio exercise for your heart.
17. Running is also excellent cardio, but only if you want your heart to explode afterwards.
18. Watching "Star Trek" with your spouse is enjoyable quality time.
19. Swim suits can be difficult to put on.
20. Swim diapers can't possibly be absorbent.
21. I CAN enjoy camping as an adult.
22. I miss camping as a child.
23. I like when my vehicle's carpet is spotless.
24. Going to Flandrau State Park pool will drag a lot of sand into my vehicle.
25. Having a ponytail holder in one's pocket (or on one's wrist) at all times is essential for summer comfort.
26. Most days I put my hair in a ponytail.
27. Nail polish has fun names.
28. I like wearing a watch.
29. A band-aid really DOES make you feel better, even if you're not bleeding. ☺
30. Dairy Queen or McDonald's ice cream is a must-have after taking a walk. ☺
31. My girls have a lot of sandals.
32. I will find at least one pair of sandals outside at the end of the day.
33. I enjoy pruning my bushes.
34. NO ONE can open my entry doors with the child-safety knobs on.
35. Reading in the afternoon makes me very sleepy.
36. Boat rides with friends or family is great fun!
37. Paige and Emma love to ride on tubes behind speed boats.
38. Dave and I do too!
39. I can't water ski.
40. Abby will only enjoy boat rides if she's in the bow of the boat.
41. I equate boat rides with pretzels. ☺
42. I equate long car rides with Twizzlers Nibs. ☺
43. If you can gain weight in the winter don't expect to lose it in the summer.
44. After ten years I finally got a decent bicycle seat.
45. I don't ride my bicycle often enough.
46. Potty training a two-year-old is difficult.
47. I cannot keep track of either my phone or my sunglasses.
48. You have to have two pairs of sunglasses.
49. I always wait until August before I order my school curriculum.
50. I enjoy summer vacation as much as the girls!