Conglomeration

I have a number of fairly unrelated things that I wanted to share all at once.

First, my sister-in-law Sarah's sister-in-law (say that five times fast!) is having a giveaway on her blog for a bunch of random fabric scraps along with a yard of their favorite designer fabric.  If you're at all into sewing, you should check it out at their blog Made On Maple!  I know I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  I love pretty fabrics, but don't often get more than what I need for a specific project.  Getting a bunch of random pretty fabrics would be so much fun to play with!

Second, I have a new favorite song:  "Anchor" by Mindy Gledhill.  You MUST listen to it!  It's so lovely.  And easy to sing over and over and over again.  I actually bought the mp3 album just because I love the song so much, and I actually love the whole album!  It's difficult to not feel happy listening to it.  :)  So, really... listen to this song!!!


Third, Jesse realized just a couple days ago that it was officially one year from the day he lost his job out in Maryland.  I could probably write an entire post just on my thoughts about that (a whole year unemployed?!??!!!), but my thoughts on it are generally pretty muddled.  Suffice it to say that we've been very blessed with having unemployment compensation all this time, and that our expenses have been small enough that we've only had to dip into savings a handful of times.  Jesse had to re-apply for unemployment, as our state-funded payments have run out, but we still have up to 31 weeks left of federally-funded unemployment, as long as Congress doesn't opt to get rid of such extended benefits.  Of course, we both sincerely hope that Jesse gets a job long, long, long before those benefits would expire.  One year without a job is far more than enough.  If I'm being completely honest, I need Jesse to get a job just to get him out of the house!!  (Sorry, honey!!)  I love him to death, and I love having him around so much, especially when it comes to errands and juggling kids and doing chores.... but having him around so much for a whole year is a little exhausting.  I just don't function the same when he's around all the time.  My brain and body go into vacation mode (even after all this time!), and it's difficult for me to do things with the kids that I would do if he weren't around, like trips to the playground, or craft time, or even sitting down to read books.  I suppose it might be a glimpse into the life of retirees?  It's awesome having your husband at your disposal almost whenever you want him.  On the other hand, it's not.  He needs a job.  ;)  Plus, I have an unhealthy addiction to browsing realty websites and fantasizing about buying houses.  Maybe if he had a job I could put that fantasizing to practical use!!  Wouldn't that be fun?  Anyway, bottom line is that this job hunting thing has been extremely frustrating.  Since his one-and-only interview months ago, we've heard pretty much squat from every employer he's applied to.  We've got a couple decent leads right now, with personal connections, and he continues to find jobs to apply for.  But the black hole is often very discouraging.  Still, we remain confident that the Lord prompted us to return to Colorado for a good reason.  We'll just continue to hang on as long as we can.

Fourth on the docket:  Wildfires in Colorado.  We've had a very wet winter and spring here this year, but once mid-August hit, we got into a dry spell.  Combined with the hot temperatures, things dried out quickly.  And after all that precipitation, there was a lot of growth with things like grasses and brush.  Translated: Easy tinder is abundant.  We went to the city of Louisville's annual Labor Day Parade on Labor Day last week (and got waaaaay too much candy tossed our way! But it was fun!), and as we left, we looked up, where half of the sky was completely covered in a thick plume of brownish smoke.  We went to the highest hill in Louisville, got out of our car, and looked out at the mountains.  Not only us, but a whole crowd of people.  There was definitely a big wildfire out there.  We later found out that it was in the Fourmile Canyon area, just west of Boulder in the mountains.  It quickly got out of hand with the high winds we had that day, and eventually burned more than 160 homes to the ground.  It is just now, a little over a week later, finally seems pretty much contained, and residents are being let back into the area.  It is the most destructive fire in Colorado history, and happened practically on our doorsteps.  It's been sobering.  A couple of the staff at our elementary school are even affected.


View Boulder Fire Area in a larger map

We had plans to go on a hike that day at Chautauqua Park in Boulder.  The fire was north and slightly west of that point, and the wind was carrying most of the smoke away from the area, so we went ahead with our plans.  Well, it was a vastly more difficult hike than I anticipated, because of the constant rather steep uphill, on top of carrying an approximately 30-lb. Alex on my back. I had to keep reminding myself, "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger!"  I want to get into better shape.  How better to do it than tote around a heavy toddler??  Anyway, this was the first time I had hiked Chautauqua.  It was a beautiful area!  I can see why it's so very popular.  And the kids did great, especially Jacob, who could barely manage a short, flat, easy walk on Memorial Day without complaining that he was going to fall over and die if someone didn't carry him.  He not only kept himself from complaining, but he was running ahead of me, up the steep hill!!  I was very proud of him.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from our hike:

View of the famous Flatirons from Chautauqua Park.  A bit of smoke haze in the foreground.

Isn't this gorgeous??  Melinda, Jacob, and Jesse pose on the trail heading uphill towards the Flatirons.  Melinda and Jacob are carrying American flags they got from the Labor Day Parade.

One of the cool things about mountains in Colorado is all the neat boulders and cracked rocks and mountainsides.  We spotted this little stack of boulders on the way back down, and had to take a picture with them. 

The plume of smoke darkening the sky over Boulder on Labor Day (1st day of burning), just northwest of where we were hiking.

It was more than a little shocking when, on our way to Grandma and Grandpa Newson's house this past Sunday (just less than a week after the Fourmile Fire started), we saw another plume of wildfire smoke to the north.  Turns out it started out in the area about halfway between Estes Park and Loveland.  Someone burned a "slash pile" (branches and other yard waste), and it got out of control.  Honestly, what are people thinking, burning fires outside when the ground is bone dry and there's a wildfire not fully contained right in plain sight??  They're lucky that there were already federal firefighting resources nearby working on the other fire, so they could get a head start on containing that fire.  But they still have a ways to go.  We've been praying for rain and moisture.  And Jesse helped volunteer at a Boulder County emergency resources collection center, accepting and sorting through donations.  Wish we could do more... but hopefully the dry summer is well on it's way out.  For all we know, we could have snow in a few more weeks!

Pick-me-up

Not having a great day.
I Googled "I need something to cheer me up"... and came across this wonderful remedy.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole.
Enjoy.

Have You Missed Me?

It's been a whole week since I last posted!! What's been going on with me?? Well, not too much. I've just been in a "don't-want-to-sit-down-to-blog" mood. There've been things happening, I just haven't wanted to write them out, you know? Hopefully I'll catch up over the next few days, hmm?

I thought I would get back into the habit by sharing my favorite Christmas music.
I tried uploading songs and making a playlist for you to enjoy... but alas, many of my albums are in .wma format, and Playlist.com only accepts .mp3 types of formats. And there's no truly easy, free way (that I know of) to convert everything. Plus, it was getting to be a pain trying to figure it all out just for a blog post, anyway. So, I'll make do with just a post sharing the albums and linking to them for you.

Are you ready??? Here we go! (Each album title I list is also a link its location at Amazon.com, if you wish to preview the music.)

Carpenters Christmas Portrait

Why I love this album? I love Karen Carpenter's voice, first of all. It's crystal clear, has a lovely range, and oh-so-singalong-able. And I really love the order of the songs... they seem to just melt right into each other effortlessly, making the whole thing just a pleasure. There's a perfect mix of instrumental and vocal pieces. I come back to this album year after year, and never get tired of it.

Amy Grant Home for Christmas

I grew up listening to this one. It was always one of my favorites. I love Amy Grant's voice, and her versions of classic Christmas songs. The to-die-for song on this album is "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)". I also love "Emmanuel, God With Us", "The Night Before Christmas", even though their musical style is so 90's. I also love the last song on the album, an instrumental "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".... it has an Irish jig sort of feel to it that always makes me want to get up and dance. And in fact, I frequently did, as a teenager. ;) This album just makes Christmas seem like Christmas, you know?


Harry Connick Jr.'s When My Heart Finds Christmas

This one wins the most upbeat award in my collection. The jazzy/big band style is prevalant throughout, and it's one you can really blast through the speakers and enjoy while you're busy in the house, or just to kick up your heels and dance with the family! I love the original song on this album, "When My Heart Finds Christmas", which has a beautiful sentiment and tune. In fact, quite a few of the songs on this album aren't traditional Christmas tunes, which is really nice for when you need a change. And I have to admit to wearing out the repeat button when I get to "Ave Maria"... it's soooo peaceful, and I can listen to it about 20 times in a row and never stop sighing in contentment. I bought this album in college, and have listened to it every year since.


Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong

I bought this one just last year, and it quickly shoved its way to the very top of my favorites. Sarah McLachlan's voice is just so wonderful to begin with (even Jesse enjoys listening to her!), and her entire album is just something totally different from all my other Christmas albums. Starting off with a bang, "Happy [Xmas] (War is Over)", which is a beautiful rendition. Following it is "What Child is This" sung to the tune of Greensleeves, which is different but absolutely lovely. "River" and "Wintersong" are both original and wonderfully beautiful, of course, but my all-time favorite on the album is "In the Bleak Mid-Winter". It really spoke to my heart perfectly last year, and it's just a hauntingly beautiful song, anyway. I can listen to it over and over again without tiring of it. There were a few songs that took some warming up to, but once I did, I fell in love with them. And thus, I enjoy the whole album thoroughly.

Raffi's Christmas Album

This is a MUST HAVE, if you have children in the house. I grew up with Raffi's Christmas music, and I still enjoy it today. Raffi has a great voice, and sings clearly so children can understand and learn the words. In fact, as I write this, Jacob has been sitting in front of the CD player just going from song to song, concentrating on memorizing the words. Melinda has learned the words to "Jingle Bells" almost flawlessly, in just the week we've had it out to listen to. My personal favorite is "Must Be Santa", which has a singing style similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", where you add on a couple more characteristics of Santa each round, then sing them all as you work your way back down. There are a few lyrical songs sung in French (I'm pretty sure Raffi is Candadian), and while I don't really understand them (despite 2 years of high school French... I sure don't remember anything I learned!!), they are beautiful, and it's nice to expose the kids to other languages. I enjoy the whole album, and catch myself singing to many of the tunes randomly throughout the day, without the kids' instigation, that's how much I like it! If you don't have this one, don't forget that you have the option of downloading the MP3 album and listening to it right away, so you can enjoy it with your kids this year!!


David Lanz Christmas Eve

I saw this performed in concert. In fact, it's the only concert performance I've ever been to in my life (if you don't count the little ones I attended at college, at least, and I don't). David Lanz is a "new age" pianist, and the quirky fact about him is that he can't read music. Oh, he can compose absolutely beautiful pieces, but he can't write it down or read it. Which makes his music even more amazing, in my opinion. This album is my favorite instrumental Christmas album. There are some extremely complex pieces, and some so tranquil that you could fall asleep to them, if you wanted to. Each more traditional Christmas carol is alternated with a short "Angel" piece, each with a different feel to go along with its title. Each piece is beautifully arranged and exceptionally enjoyable.


Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops: A Christmas Festival

There was a piece we played in our High School band for our Christmas concert - it was a really fun version of "Sleigh Ride". It took me so long to figure out where it originally came from and then which album I was searching for once I figured it out! It haunted me - every year, I would hear it on the radio, but nobody ever said who it was performed by. So, I hunted. And finally found it. And this was the album it was on! The version of Sleigh Ride on this album is my absolute favorite... not to mention that it just brings back so many fun memories of playing in a band (Clarinet, in case you didn't know that about me!). And hey, you just can't go wrong with the Boston Pops, am I right?? Many of these pieces will be instantly recognizeable to you, I'm sure.


The John Rutter Christmas Album (The Caimbridge Singers)

I have to admit that I don't actually own this album. What I do own, however, has a great many of the pieces from this album. When Jesse and I participated in the ward choir when we lived in Louisville, Colorado, we had the most awesome choir. I don't mean to brag... but I really feel that way. ;) Our organist was simply fantastic, and the pieces we performed were pretty unfamiliar to me at the time, and took a lot of practice to get them right. One particular year, we were singing a lot of traditional Christmas carols, as well as bits from Handel's Messiah. Not your typical fare for most ward choirs, at least in my experience. Anyway, one of our choir members gave us all a mix CD including a lot of the pieces we were working on, to help us get more familiar with them, as well as a whole slew of additional ones I'd never heard before. I've since fallen in love with all of them, and it's another one of those albums that I go back to year after year, eagerly. Most of the traditional carols from my CD, I later discovered, are probably from this John Rutter Christmas Album. They sound exactly the same. And, dare I say, this album includes the best of them. If I ever lost my copy of the mix CD, this one would be a fitting replacement. Personal favorites include "Wexford Carol", "Jesus Child", "Nativity Carol", "Star Carol" and "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" (both performed in our ward choir), and "I Wonder as I Wander". Love this album!!

That, I think, is a pretty solid list of my favorite Christmas music. There are a few others that are "just right" for certain moods.... but if I listed all of those, I would end up listing all my Christmas albums! ;) Tell me, are there any on this list you weren't familiar with yet? Any you might be interested in listening to yourself because of hearing about them here? Any of your favorites that didn't make it onto my list?

Obsessed with Twilight

Many thanks to my sister Melissa, who generously gifted me with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Collection for Christmas this year. She told me time and time again that I would just absolutely *love* them...and I was sure that I would enjoy them -- when I finally got around to reading them. There are very few books out there I haven't enjoyed, after all! But I really didn't know much about the books, besides my sister just being (what seemed like) excessively eager to get me to read them. Christmas vacation, with Jesse home from work, presented a perfect time to delve into Twilight, though, putting aside more serious reading and other projects I had a mind to do. And yes, I was instantly hooked.

I've now read all three books (currently in the series) three times each. And I want to do it again. Like...right now. I can't really describe how captured I am by the characters. I'd have to go into long details about how experiences in my life help me relate Bella, the main character. Or how the intensity of a range of emotions portrayed within the books have helped me pull out of my own semi-persistent "blah" sort of mood towards my life. There is a passion in me now that I've been missing for a long time, I guess. And how on earth did three little books do that to me? I'm not sure. All I know is that the stories seem completely magical to me. I feel what the characters feel. I experience what they do. When I read the books, I am totally, 100% immersed into their lives and perspectives. And I just don't want to leave that when the book is done! I've found fan fiction to read. Extras and "outtakes" on the author's website. Forums where I can read what other fans are saying. There's a movie to look forward to, hopefully out at the end of 2008.

But one of the biggest impacts to me, outside of the books themselves, has been that Stephenie Meyer actually included "playlists" on her website - music that inspired her while she was writing these specific stories. It's been ages since I have listened to new music. At least 4 years, I guess, since I've purchased a new album for myself. I thought it was kind of a kooky idea to check out this music, but since I'm aching for more Twilight, I did it. My MP3 player that Jesse gave me for Christmas came with a free month subscription to Rhapsody, and I basically have unlimited free transfers of songs for the duration. So I found each of the songs that she included on her website, made one giant 56-song-long playlist, and stuck it on my MP3 player. And then I listened. And ya know what? I *love* this music. Who knew? A whole mix of bands I've never or hardly heard of (like Muse, Marjorie Fair, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park (okay, that one I'm still getting used to...), Coldplay, and so on), and nearly all the songs included just really speak to me somehow...in genres I've never been exposed to before, or at least minimally exposed to (Rock, Brit Rock, and Alternative/Punk). But wow, I love this music! It's odd to say out loud, but it feels really thrilling to find new music- for me- that I really enjoy.

My Rhapsody "Twilight" Playlist (you can listen to 25 of them for free with a free account).

At any rate... all of this - the books, the music - make me feel oddly awake and aware of myself in a way I wasn't before. I LOVE it.