Leap Day

  Happy Leap Day folks!!  Have you seen today's Google Doodle?  It is perfectly adorable!!  Although it is only the last day of February, it is already feeling like spring here!  Most of the snow is gone and the robins are back.  I am waiting for it to dry up a bit before digging out and weeding the Rhubarb beds.  I am hoping for a big crop of Rhubarb this year because you can make so many delicious things with it.
   Since it is Leap Day, I am going to watch Leap Year tonight.  I know that it is rather cheesy and has a few major mess ups, but it is still amusing.
   I am also counting down the hours until I can watch episode 14 of Healer tomorrow night.  I am currently bleeding all over the place because at the end of episode 13 (last night) my second favorite guy was poisoned and I don't think that he lives.  It is sooooo sad!!  Especially how his death is going to hurt the Hero. 
  I know that this has been a really rambling post, but what did/are you all doing for Leap Day?

Favorite Five

This week I am going to post five of my favorite quotes from Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The book.


  "It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy.  "It's you.  We shan't meet you there.  And how can we live, never meeting you?"


  "Caspian, dear," said Lucy.  "You knew that we'd have to go back to our own world sooner or later."
"Yes," said Caspian with a sob, "but this is sooner."


  Lucy leaned her head on the edge of the fighting top and whispered, "Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now."  The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little - a very, very little - better.  "After all, nothing has really happened to us yet," she thought.


  But know one except Lucy knew that as it circled the it had whispered to her, "Courage, dear heart," and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.


  "That's alright," said Edmund.  "Between ourselves, you haven't been as bad as I was on my first trip to Narnia.  You were only and ass, but I was a traitor."


  Then someone else, whose face was vaguely familiar, had slipped an arm under her from the other side.  There was a lot of shouting going on from the ship, heads crowding together above the bulworks, ropes being thrown.  Edmund and the stranger were fastening ropes around her.

                         ~                                 

  Last of all came the stranger - a golden-headed boy some years older then herself.
"Ca - Ca - Caspian!" gasped Lucy as soon as she had breath enough.

Books I Turn To: When I Want A Light, Amusing Read

The other day I was reading a story, and I thought that I would share with you all, a list of books that I turn to when I want a light amusing read.  

All books in B.M. Bower's The Flying U Ranch series.
Daddy Long Legs and
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
Aunt Crete's Emancipation by Grace Livingston Hill
A Cathedral Courtship by Kate Douglas Wiggins
Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggins
The Railway Children by E. Nesbitt
The Range Dwellers by B.M. Bower  (Romeo & Juliet on a 1930's Montana cattle ranch)
A Soldier's Daughter by G.A. Henty
Rustler Roundup by Louis L'Amour
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Golden Stallion series by Rutherford Montgomery
Her Prairie Knight by B. M. Bower
And pretty much any Love Inspired.

Note:  This is not all of the books that I turn too, but it is a good portion of them.  I hope that they may help you all.  So long!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD.............


THIS IS MY 100th POST!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day: My First Ever OTP's

For Valentine's Day, I thought I would tell you all who my very first OTP's were.  Like my OTP's ages before I knew that label existed.  Like when I was 5-6-7.  You know.

Fritz & Roberta ~ The Swiss Family Robinson (1960)

So that was my first one.  I saw this movie when I was, oh, I think about 4 1/2?  Somewhere around that age.  And I completely adored this couple.

And this is the one that I had when I got a bit older!!

 John Carter & Jessie Alden ~ The Boxcar Children series

I have always imagined Jessie looking sort of like this.

And John Carter kind of like this.

And not exactly like this, but put both of them in 1940's/50's clothes and yeah, that's kind of what I see.

Thank you all once again for reading my blog.  And Happy Valentine's Day!!

The Bookshelf Tag

The rules of the tag are simple:

• Once you are tagged, copy and paste the image above into your new post.
• Show readers your book shelf and explain what books are on there.  Pictures are always fun!
• Tag as many other people as you want and copy-paste these instructions onto your post so they know exactly what to do.
• Make sure to leave a link to your post on the site you were tagged (for instance, the people tagged below by me should leave a link to their post in the comments here)

Thank you, LoverofLembas for tagging me!!

So....my lovely bookshelf.  I like to organize my books by size, rather then most read.

  

First layer. Tolkien.  Grace Livingston Hill. and random.

Second layer.  Love Inspired.  Louis L'Amour.  Random.

My Tolkien books.

Isn't this bookmark lovely?  Thank you, Hope!!

The Grace Livingston Hills.

More GLH

GLH, Ruth Livingston Hill and a few others.

 Top Shelf:
4 Tolkien
25 Grace Livingston Hill
2 Ruth Livingston Hill
Watch For A Tall White Sail ~ Margaret Bell
Papa's Wife ~ Thyra Ferre Bjorn
In My Father's House ~ Ann Rinaldi
Little Women ~ Louisa May Alcott
A Tale of Two Cities ~ Charles Dickens
Across Five Aprils ~ Irene Hunt
At Home In North Branch~ Arleta Richardson
The Railway Children ~ Edith Nesbitt
Outlaw Red ~Jim Kjelgaard
Old Yeller ~ Fred Gipson
His Thoughts Said.. His Father Said ~ Amy Carmichael

Beverly Lewis

June Masters Bacher

Janette Oke and Lori Wick

Other Fantasy, TSP, Katherine Paterson, Elizabeth George Speare.

Classics.  Jo's Boys, Caddie Woodlawn, Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children.

The Golden Stallion series.

And my dear, dear movies.

 Middle Shelf:
Abram's Daughters series ~ Beverly Lewis
Love Is A Gentle Stranger series ~ June Masters Bacher
Season's of the Heart series ~ Janette Oke (the last three books of this series)
The Californians series ~ Lori Wick (the first three books of this series)
The Princess Spy ~ Melanie Dickerson
Ella Enchanted ~ Gail Carson Levine
The Scarlet Pimpernel ~ Baroness Orczy
Lyddie ~ Katherine Paterson
The Bronze Bow ~ Elizabeth George Speare
The Sign of the Beaver ~ Elizabeth George Speare
The Witch of Blackbird Pond ~ Elizabeth George Speare
Jo's Boys ~ Louisa May Alcott
Caddie Woodlawn ~ Carol Ryrie Brink
These Happy Golden Years ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Journey Home ~ Isabelle Holland
Heidi Grows Up ~ Charles Tritten
Heidi's Children ~ Charles Tritten
The Golden Stallion series ~ Rutherford Montgomery (the first four books of this series)

Odds and ends

James Herriot

Bottom Shelf:

Amy Carmichael ~ Sam Wellman
My Side of the Mountain ~ Jean Craighead George
Flight to Freedom ~ Ana Veciana-Suarez
Zlata's Diary ~ Zlata Filipović
Naya Nuki ~ Kenneth Thomasma
Black Beauty ~ Anna Sewell (this is the one that doesn't have a spine)
Black Gold ~ Marguerite Henry
Star, of Wild Horse Canyon ~ Clyde Robert Bulla (neither this....)
Old Bones: The Wonder Horse ~ Mildred Mastin Pace (or this, have spines)
Dog At the Door ~ Animal Ark
Sheepdog In the Snow ~ Animal Ark
Kitten In the Cold ~ Animal Ark
Pony In the Pumpkin Patch ~ Animal Ark
Maury Had A Little Lamb ~ Janette Oke
Skip ~ Aileen Fisher
Jim Forest and Lone Wolf Gulch ~ Joseph Maniscalco Rambeau
The Hooded Hawk Mystery (Hardy Boys) ~
All Creatures Great and Small ~ James Herriot
All Things Wise and Wonderful ~ James Herriot

All Things Bright and Beautiful ~James Herriot
Every Living Thing ~ James Herriot
The Lord God Made Them All ~ James Herriot
My Latin Book
And a Charles Dickens that I haven't read.

Well Folks.  That's all my books.  Well ok, that's not true.  Those are all the books that are on my bookshelf downstairs.  And actually not all of them really belong to me.  Like the Grace Livingston Hills?  Most of them are family books, but I am the only one who reads them.

I do have about 150 books on the Family Kindle and around 20 or so on my Kindle.  So yeah, a LOT of books!! Hope you all enjoyed seeing more of what my interests are!!!

And I tag, Jacqueline, and Olivia.

Liebster Award

Thank you, Faith for nominating me!!

Here are the rules:

- Thank the blog who nominated you and link back to them.

- Nominate up to 11 other bloggers to receive the award.  To be eligible, they need to have 200 followers or less.

- Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.

- Tell your readers 11 random facts about yourself.

- Give your nominees 11 questions to answer on their blog when they post their nomination.

Well let's see.  I nominate:

Rachael Steele
Abigail
Annie Twitchell
Laura Yackel


The Questions:

#1 – If you would live anywhere in the world, where?

   Ireland.

#2 – What did dream occupation did you have as a child?

  I don't know that I really had one!!  I know, shocking!!

#3 – If you could only wear one color for the rest of your life, which color?

  It would be a toss up between Brown and Black.  Probably Black though.

#4 – Favorite new book?

  Arabella by Georgette Heyer

#5 – Do you prefer to watch foreign entertainment with subtitles, dubs, or you don’t like to watch foreign entertainment?

  I have to watch foreign stuff with subs.  Which means that I can't do crocheting or knitting while watching it.

#6 – Favorite fairytale?

  Beauty and the Beast

#7 – If you decided to learn another language, what language would you choose?

  Gaelic

#8 – Books or E-readers?

  Both

#10 – Your favorite real historical lady?

  Sophie Scholl

#11 – If a new planet was discovered and you got to name it, what name would you choose?

  Macatoutou!  (A family joke)


11 Random Facts:

#1 - I am learning Latin.
#2 - I have recently discovered, that I would like to costume for theatre.
#3 - I don't like writing uppercase cursive F's.
#4 - When I had to write the word with this (ān'jəl) phonetic spelling I couldn't resist writing A.N.Jell (after angel of course).  It made my Mom and Mel laugh.  (Note: Only K-Drama fans will get this.)
#5 - Since watching episode 4 of Healer last night, I have become addicted to THIS song.
#6 - I bought foam curlers (those bright pink ones) and used them to curl my hair and....IT WORKED!! 
#7 - Curling Irons don't work very well in my hair.
#8 - I think that going to the theatre to watch Beauty and the Beast when it comes out in March of next year, would be an ideal first date. 
#9 - Milk Chocolate is my favorite kind of chocolate.
#10 - I am gaga over carved candles.
#11 - I love cheese.

And I am just going to pass on Faith's questions because my brain is kinda stalled.

#1 – If you would live anywhere in the world, where?

#2 – What did dream occupation did you have as a child?

#3 – If you could only wear one color for the rest of your life, which color?

#4 – Favorite new book?

#5 – Do you prefer to watch foreign entertainment with subtitles, dubs, or you don’t like to watch foreign entertainment?

#6 – Favorite fairytale?

#7 – If you decided to learn another language, what language would you choose?

#8 – Books or E-readers?

#10 – Your favorite real historical lady?
#11 – If a new planet was discovered and you got to name it, what name would you choose?

Favorite Five

   "If I may ride with you, Citizen Evremonde, will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and it will give me more courage."
   As the patient eyes were lifted to his face, he saw a sudden doubt in them, and then astonishment. He pressed the work-worn, hunger-worn young fingers, and touched his lips.
   "Are you dying for him?" she whispered.
   "And his wife and child. Hush! Yes."
   "O you will let me hold your brave hand, stranger?"
   "Hush! Yes, my poor sister; to the last."
                                                                                   A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

  Weary waited what seemed to him a reasonable time, but her lashes drooped lower, if anything. Then he made one of the quick, unlooked for moves which made him a master of horses. Before she quite knew what was occurring, the schoolma'am was upon her feet and snuggled close in Weary's eager arms. More, he had a hand under her chin, her face was tilted back and he was smiling down into her wide, startled eyes.

  "I didn't burn a streak a thousand miles long in the atmosphere, getting back here, to be scared out now by a little woman like you," he remarked, and tucked a stray, brown lock solicitously behind her ear. Then he bent and kissed her deliberately upon the mouth.

                                                                                  The Lonesome Trail by B. M. Bower

  But Bob was on his stomach in the road scuttling the ship that was to have carried away the princess. The chauffeur was fully occupied in the house, for he had been ordered to follow and be ready to assist in carrying away an insane person, and he had no thought for his car at present. It was an ugly job, and one that he didn't like, but he was getting big pay, and such things had to be done.  

                                                                                   Exit Betty by Grace Livingston Hill

"No,"—he calmly replied,—"there is but one married woman in the world whom I can ever allow to invite what guests she pleases to Donwell, and that one is—"
"—Mrs. Weston, I suppose," interrupted Mrs. Elton, rather mortified.
"No—Mrs. Knightley;—and till she is in being, I will manage such matters myself."
                                                                                   Emma by Jane Austen


  "And you think if I turn to religion, my despondency will vanish" --- he snapped a finger --- "like that?"

  "It's God I'm referring to, Mr. Clay ... not religion.  And I would no more tell you that than a blind man his sight will be restored.  God's ways are not our ways, Mr. Clay.  Sometime He heals, but sometimes He doesn't."
                                                                                   The Widow of Larkspur Inn by Lawana Blackwell

How I Fell In Love With Lord of the Rings

So I have been meaning, for a long time, to tell you all how I fell in Love with Tolkien's works.

  For the longest time my family didn't read/watch anything Fantasy because my mom wasn't interested in Fantasy.  However, my older sister, Mel, has always had a fascination with it.  About 4 years ago, Mel borrowed the LOTR books and movies from a friend and watched and read them.  A year later (March 17, 2013) Mom decided to watch the LOTR movies.

  They got all set up in the living room to watch FOTR and Mel told me not to sneak in and watch it.  I (who had heard her read the story of Aragorn and Arwen to Mom on the way to town one time), told her that I wanted to see Aragorn and Arwen.  To which she responded, "OH! NO!!!  We don't need you having a crush on Viggo Mortensen!!"  I informed her that that was an insult because I don't 'do' celebrity crushes!!     Well they started watching, and I was really, really sweet to them.  I made them popcorn and hot chocolate, and then sat down on the floor in front of Mel and they didn't kick me out.  I was ENTHRALLED!!!!  I wasn't allowed to watch orc/Nazgul/bad guy/Gollum, parts (I had been known to have nightmares from those things, but I am proud to say that I have never had nightmares from Tolkien's works), but I did watch the rest.  I was enchanted and sucked into the Wonderful World of Middle-earth!!

  The next day Mel told me most of the story of the War of the Ring (she wouldn't tell my Gollum's end though) while we were butchering a deer.  Two days after that, I was informed that I wasn't supposed to have watched it.  I didn't watch the rest of the movies with them.

  That Friday (March 22, 2013) Mel, Nan, Bobbie and I, watched FOTR again.  April 5, 2013, we watched TTT and April 12, 2013, we watched ROTK.  Two weeks later, we watched An Unexpected Journey.  (All of the movies were borrowed from friends.)

  Then, after I had watched all the movies that were out, I read the books.  And I think that I read all 4 books within 2 weeks.

So kinda long, but that is my story.

  Now I own the theatricals of TTT, ROTK, AUJ, DOS and the EE, of AUJ.  Other members of the family own, the EEs of FOTR, TTT, ROTK and the theatrical of TTT and BotFA. And I own copies of all 4 books, as does Mel and she owns the Silmarillion......WHICH SHE STILL HASN'T FINISHED SO THAT I CAN READ IT!!!!

  My little siblings have heard The Hobbit, seen the less scary parts of the first two Hobbit movies, and later this year will be able to hear the LOTR books.  Mel (and I) have created a monster and we are very proud of it!!

Movies I Watched In January 2016

So I decided to do the same with movies this year, that I am doing with books.  Here is a list of all the movies I saw last month.

Oh and the legend is the same.

Titles with nothing before them I watched for the first time.

Titles with ** before them are re-watches.

Titles with # before them I watched with my little siblings.

The Pirates (2014)

This is a Korean movie, (Mel says that it is almost a Korean version of PotC).  Mel and I watched the New Year in with it and I very much enjoyed it.  And they are making a sequel which I am really looking forward to.

**The Mistle-Tones (2012)

This is my favorite Christmas movie.  I try to watch it multiple times between Dec 15th and Jan 5th.  I only did it twice this time though.  See my review. 

**The Secret of Moonacre (2008)

I really, really enjoy this movie.  More about it later.

The Decoy Bride (2011)

This movie killed me!!!  It was tooooo funny!! It had a few *ahem* scenes, but on the whole it was ok. It also my first time watching David Tennant and if and when I ever watch Doctor Who, Ten is soooo going to be my favorite Doctor.  Well he will be if they don't cast Aidan Turner as 13.  Oh and Kelly MacDonald was super in it as well.

Healer (2014-2015) 2 Eps

This is another K-Drama.  I have only watch 2 episodes so far, but I am dying to get back to it!!  (Mel, don't you DARE say anything!!!)

** BBC Emma (2009)

I watched this with my dear friend, Keturah, for our second Friendaversary. 

Dragonheart (1996)

We did a free trial on Hulu and this was the second thing we watched.  While it was rather cheesy and corny, it was still amusing and Dennis Quaid was cool in the roll of dragon hunter.  Plus Draco was awesome and his and Bowen's relationship was really, sweet and inspiring.

BBC Sense & Sensibility (2008)

And THIS!!!!  My raptures are far to long to all be put here, so I will suffice with saying....I ADORED IT AND LIKED IT WWWAAAAAAYYYYYY BETTER THEN THE 1995 VERSION!!!  Dan Stevens, Hattie Morahan, David Morrissey and Charity Wakefield were all AMAZING!!  And Margaret was awesome!!

** Pride & Prejudice (1995)

With Hulu we were able to re-watch this and *swwoooonnssss*!!  Why can't I be Elizabeth Bennet?!?!  Jk!!  It was really good to watch it again.  

# ** The Secret of Moonacre (2008)

So yesterday was my half-birthday and we had a little celebration.  There wasn't any Ice Cream, so I made Spritz cookies and we watched this in the afternoon with all the kids.  They had all been really looking forward to it and I don't think that any of them were disappointed!!  Now Jill loves Loveday and Sir Benjamin, Joni and Jenny have HUGE crushes on Robin de Noir, Spiffy and Shorty are wearing feather collars like Robin and Sandy is obsessed with black Lions.

Yes it is a rather cheesy, corny movie, it has horrible CGI, several noticeable continuity errors, and other things, but on the whole I love it and it is a family favorite now.  Plus....I will admit that I really like Robin as well!!!  Despite his awful feather collar!!  You can read my thoughts on him HERE.

How to Steal A Million (1966)

Then at night, Mom, Mel and I watched this movie by ourselves.  OH MY GOODNESS!!  I had seen quotes from this and read the plot, so really, really wanted to watch it.  Plus......it was Peter O'Toole!!  You see....I kinda have this thing for Irishmen!!  And it was my first Audrey Hepburn!  Yes is was also cheesy, but I still loved it and I am definitely putting it on the re-watch list and hopefully owning it someday!

Well!!  That is all that I watched Last month guys!!  Oh I did watch my weekly dose of Green Gables Fables, (an Anne of Green Gables web series), and got to gag through most of last months episodes because it is Anne and Roy or Annoy.  Isn't that the perfect non-ship name?  No, I didn't come up with it.

Books I Read In January 2016

So this year I decided to post a list of all the books that I read in the month, at the end of each month.

Titles that have nothing before them are books that I read for the first time.

Titles with this ** before them, are books that I re-read.

 Titles with # before them, are books that I read out loud to my little siblings.

** The Little's Colonel's Knight Comes Riding ~ Annie Fellows Johnston

Bath Tangle ~ Georgette Heyer

The Black Sheep ~ Georgette Heyer

Frederica ~ Georgette Heyer

Arabella ~ Georgette Heyer

Grand Sophy ~ Georgette Heyer

** The Ankulen ~ Kendra E. Ardnek

** The Sun Jewel Contest ~ Kendra E. Ardnek

** Marcia Schuyler ~ Grace Livingston Hill

** Phoebe Deane ~ Grace Livingston Hill

** Miranda ~ Grace Livingston Hill

** Astra ~ Grace Livingston Hill

** Amorelle ~ Grace Livingston Hill

The Rakshasa's Bride ~ Suzannah Rowntree  (A Bollywood Beauty and the Beast retelling)

** Nobody ~ Susan Warner

The War Romance of the Salvation Army ~ Grace Livingston Hill

The Tryst ~ Grace Livingston Hill

Flight to Freedom ~ Ana Veciana-Suarez

# ** Under the Lilacs ~ Louisa May Alcott  

(This was a re-read for me, but the first time my little siblings had heard it.)

And that's all folks!!