7 Quick Takes

Look!! I actually got the picture this week. It doesn't go anywhere if you click on it, but the picture is there!! So exciting!! Ok, here we go...

My past Quick Takes have been mostly about my kids. And while they are the center of my attention these days, I felt as though this week I would be more likely to keep your attention if I expanded my horizons. Let's give it a try.

1. This week I committed myself to figuring out how to use this amazing thing called the internet without asking my tech savy hubby. This has meant that most of my use of the computer must be done when he is not here. If he even glances over my shoulder he can figure out what I am trying to do and then conduct a much more effecient way of doing it. If I should protest that he show me and not do it for me, it's like learning to drive all over again. Scared, unsure, and feeling the pressure of not messing up and hitting something very expensive!! Now, just to clarify, I am not computer illerate. I am computer inabled. I have had no need for over ten years to learn on my own. I simply ask and receive. But in light of my new found perspective on life (more on that later) I felt the need to become independent. So far, I have gotten a picture from one site to another (check out the top of this blog), Labeled blogs, and even put a link in my writing (thank you Sarah @ This Heavenly Life -did it again!!). I have also dipped my creative feet into ordering pictures online!! I can feel the wind in my hair as I breeze through the World Wide Web as an amazingly fast speed of at least 35miles per hour. Look out people, I'm coming!!

2. I mentioned my new found perspective on life. I will be having a Birthday in about 6 1/2 months. It seems a little premature to be thinking about this, but this is no ordinary birthday. This is a milestone birthday. One of those you are suppose to look back and see how far you have come, laugh about all the stupid things you did in your previous years, and feel accomplished and content. I do not feel accomplished. I do not wish to look back and laugh at all those things. I LIVED through them, isn't that enough????  Those around me have already lived through this birthday and are still alive to tell the tale, so I am pretty sure I will still be here. But, it has brought to mind my priorities and desires. Me. Apart from my husband and children. I can't imagine a life without them, but I would like to at least a personality and interests that may or may not coincide with all of theirs. How is my brain doing?? Is it rotting from neglect of inteligent conversations? Can I still read a book that has more than 10 pages? Will Junie B. ever get that nasty May??? I pull books off the bookshelf in hopes of reading them. They sit until someone comes by and puts them back on the bookshelf. I guess I am just questioning my head. What do I enjoy?? How can I incorprate what I enjoy into my daily life and still wear all the hats I need to?

3. Christmas is coming. I love Christmas. I love to decorate for Christmas. And I am a stickler for waiting until Thanksgiving night to put them up or listen to any Christmas Music. This year, I am extra excited. I have BIG plans for our deck!! You know, the one no one can see because there are no houses behind us. I don't care though and I am super excited. So, should I wait or go for it???

4. I have been watching this spider outside my window for over a month. He built his web in a precuilar spot. Perched high above the ground with only two beams to anchor him. The wind always seemed to be blowing his home in all different directions. But he stayed. Today, I noticed he was gone. His web is no longer there. I felt a tinge of grief over the loss of him. He never spoke to me or wrote kind things about me in his web like Charlotte nor did he come down beside me and scare me like Little Miss Muffett. But he was there, and I found myself, more than once, wondering why he chose to build his home there. Was it the view?? The rush of adrenaline over the constant threat of destruction?? Or perhaps that was the best place to catch flies. For whatever reason he came, he is now gone. And I feel just a little sad. I hope he found a more secure place to build his home.  

This is a picture of him early one morining with the dew, it really is beautiful.

5. Did I mention Christmas was coming?? Well, I love Christmas. It may be my favorite holiday. Not for the gifts or stress over buying them, but the joy it seems to bring out in everyone. Even those that don't know or beilieve in the reason behind it. We have this tradition with Grandma. We buy a birthday cake and have a birthday party. We sing Happy Birthday and talk about Jesus. The past years it has been short. Yes, he was born today and he loves us very much. Ok, we can eat cake now. Maybe this year, our oldest will ask more? Maybe we will tell more. We have some others that are pretty fun, like buying a new Christmas Cd every year (we have quite a collection now!) and making yummy food. What are some of yours?? Any good ones I might want to steal and start here???  (I didn't make it!! I just have very little to say that doesn't have to do with my kids. Oh well, maybe next week!!)

6. This week I discovered the night sky. I know what your thinking. Geez Emily, did you have any thoughts on your own before this week or were just a sheep following the herd??? I can not tell you what happened this week to create this crazy steriod like intitative to discover inside my brain, I am sure by next week I will have settled back into my old procrasting, child centered life again. But while I am here, in this place, let me tell you about the sky. It's not just the night sky. It's the night sky after midnight. It is breathtaking. The stars seem so bright and close. Like if I stood on my tippy toes I could reach them. The picturs they create are exactly like the ones I remember seeing in books as a child. Only in 3D and much bigger. They just go on forever. I have been meaning to research what this season is in our place on Earth. What constellations should we see, is this brightness normal, and I have been sleeping like a normal person at this hour and have never noticed!? Maybe if I actually research it, I will let you know. (See, it's still me!)

7. And lastly, thank you for actually getting to number 7. Such random thoughts this week and I must digress.  Have a great week and check out more 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary (ha! I did it again!!!)