Day 11: Sing A Little Song

This is one of those where you’re supposed to put your mp3 player on shuffle and see what comes up. It really came up with a random selection of music this time.
I'll admit, it's a bit of a dull blog post, but it's on my list, so I did it :~)

1. The Rake’s Song-The Decemberists-The Hazards of Love

2. A Family Affair-Hans Zimmer-Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack

3. Chennai Express Background Score-Chennai Express movie soundtrack

4. Jack the Giant Slayer-Jack the Giant Slayer Soundtrack

5. Be Prepared-Lion King soundtrack

6. Collide-Jars of Clay-If I Left the Zoo

7. The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)-The Decemberists-The Hazards of Love

8. The Wizard of Oz Main Title-The Wizard of Oz Soundtrack

9. Tea and Sympathy-Jars of Clay-Much Afraid

10. Teenage Dream-Glee Cast

 

Day 10: 5 Blessings in My Life

1. Growing up in a whole family. I didn’t even realize until I was out of high school how common broken families are. Or families where the parents are still together, but constantly fighting. I also didn’t realize until I was older that it is uncommon for parents to show affection to each other around their kids. My parents didn’t show affection in inappropriate ways around us, but they would hold hands and kiss around us. I never got why my friends were so surprised by that. But they always said it was amazing to see parents who acted like that.

2. Travel from a young age. And not traveling to resorts and suchlike. We camped, we slept in the car, we went to work camps where we cut down trees and poured cement as our “bonding activities”. And we seldom traveled on our own. There were a few times my siblings and I would spend a week at camp without the rest of our family, but almost all of our actual traveling was as a family. And even when I went to summer camp, it was a mile away from home, and my Dad would look to see if I was in sight when he drove by on the way home and would honk his horn and wave at me.

3. Living on a hobby farm. None of our animals really had any sort of use whatsoever. Oh, we tried a couple of times to raise chickens and turkeys that we were gonna butcher, but we wound up not being able to eat them. And my Mom sold mini horses for a while, but she sold them more so that we had room to have new babies the next year. She definitely was not making money on that venture. Mostly though, we get animals because we want them, not for any real reason. Though, I suppose wanting them is as good a reason as any. And my Mom has always been pretty ok with super random animals in the house. Like the reptiles we’ve had…She wasn’t happy with the mice I brought home when I worked at a barn though…Especially when they got loose.

4. My first pony didn’t know she was a pony. This may not sound so much like a blessing, but after I had some experience with a pony who acted like a stereotypical pony, I started to see how great it was to have a pony that acted intelligent like a horse rather than belligerent like a pony. I was also fortunate to be able to keep her even when I was technically too tall for her. It helped that I didn’t have showing and such in mind, so I didn’t have to “upgrade”.  And my parents weren’t the type to sell my pony out from under me, even when I was out of the state, or even out of the country. I spent hours upon hours with that pony, and I know that even though I was gone when she died, she died with people who loved her there. I don’t have to wonder what happened to her after I outgrew her.

5. Learning to read as well as I did. I don’t really even remember learning to read. I sort of just learned. And I started out reading proper books rather than the little books kids usually learn to read with. It’s really good to actually be able to read well.

Day 9: Something I Feel Strongly About

I feel very strongly that if parents plan to own pets during the time they have children, they need to start teaching their children to interact appropriately with said animals from the start. It seems like anymore, children have no idea how to treat animals. And a lot of that is because the parents go with the idea of “kids will be kids” and they aren’t bothered by the fact that their pets are terrified of the children.


With Chelsea when I was a baby :~) She wasn't a huge fan of people in general, and I'm pretty sure she'd have put me in my place if I was too mean to her. And she was my Mom's favourite child, so I had to be nice to her :~P

I do understand that sometimes kids don’t quite get that they have to be gentler with small animals than they do with other humans. But when kids are hitting animals, or pulling on their tails, etc., etc., seemingly just to scare them, I’m not ok with that.

I asked my Mom recently if I was like that with animals, after scolding yet another small child who was too rough with my animals (and yes, I make it clear that I don’t approve of such things, even to small children). She told me that my siblings and I were never like that. She made it clear that we were to treat animals kindly, and we did. I never recall having any desire to scare the living daylights out of our pets (I made a point of doing that to my sister instead).

My first dog, Stukey. We could do anything with that dog, and she never snapped or did anything bad to us. Her biggest problem was that she was scared of storms and guns and would run to my Grandparents' house if she was frightened. 

I believe that it is important for a child to have pets, and to grow up with close relationships with animals. However, I also believe that kindness must be taught, or else a kid may as well grow up without animals.

And a love for animals that begins at a young age often ends up being a lifelong love :~)

 

Day 8: Words of Wisdom That Speak to Me

A lot of people struggle with this. Especially as they get older. There’s so much pressure to use your time in a useful manner. But really, why is that so important? And who determines what is useful? Sometimes, the most enjoyable moments in my week are the moments that I am doing nothing useful at all.

One week, while I was in India this last year, I was spending some time at a farm, doing horse therapy and whatnot. I was being very useful, either teaching people to do horse therapy, or typing out instructions for what to do with it when I was gone, and explanations of why horse therapy works. I did a ton of research, and editing that research down so that the dozens of pages I sorted through were in a packet that was actually feasible for people to read.

Anyway, all of that to say that I was busy being useful a lot of the time there. I frequently had a movie or audiobook playing while I was typing, but was just sort of half paying attention to it. One night, however, Marius wasn’t feeling so good, and he really wanted to cuddle. So I stopped the stuff I was working on, put a movie on, and laid in bed, cuddling with Marius. We snuggled like that for the entire movie. I didn’t do anything useful, not even any sewing or knitting. Just cuddled with my little boy and enjoyed the movie. Sometimes I look at the way I have spent my evening or my day or whatever, and I am annoyed with myself. I know that I should have done something else, and I’m irritated about that. But this wasn’t one of those times. I loved the time with Marius, and even now, I am glad that I did that. I was wasting time, but I do not look at it as time wasted.

Snuggling with my sick little boy. He's so fat now compared to this photo :~)

 

Day 7: If Only I Had A...

The question for today was 'What are 5 things someone can do to win your heart?'

 

Hmmm...That’s interesting. Not sure if I have one of those...I’ll give it a try though. I've made the font bigger on this one so it doesn't look like such a pathetically short blog :~) 

1. Write letters. Real letters with a lot of thought in them.

2. Love my animals. Tolerating them or pretending to like them won’t cut it.

3. Go on adventures with me. Don’t just talk about going on adventures and then choose that we should sit and watch tv. Actually go on adventures.

4. Accept my quirks and faults.

5. Be passionate about travel and doing things to benefit others.

Day 6: Something I Struggle With

Again, this post could go on for a while. But I will spare the 2 people reading this and pick one thing.
One of the biggest things that I have been struggling with lately is caring. I have hardly gone out anywhere since being home. I have been to 2 weddings, and one small party with some friends. And that’s about it other than time with families. I have options of things I could do to be around people. And they’re good people, people I usually get on well with. And I keep thinking that yes, I’ll go next week and see people, go to a game night or a Bible study, invite people over, etc. And then when it comes down to it, I don’t go. Because I just can’t get myself interested to the point that it seems worth the amount of effort. I mean, I do a lot of things at home. It's not as though I am simply sitting on the couch watching tv all day, but I just don't care to go out.
I know this is sort of a problem in my life. But I’ve grown so used to not having people to hang out with that I just don’t have the interest anymore. Pretty pathetic excuse, I know, but that’s the way things work.
Anyway…I realize that this isn’t something that should be such a struggle. I mean, how hard is it to get up off of my butt, take a shower, get dressed, and walk out the door? But it seems to be very difficult for me.   

Day 5: 5 Places I Want to Visit

1. Mongolia

Not sure why, but I’ve wanted to go to Mongolia for years. And then reading Horse Boy made me want to go even more.

 

 

 

 

2. Romania

I read a book called Fell which was set in Romania, and since that, I’ve wanted to go. The descriptions were so beautiful, and it sounds like a place I would enjoy visiting.

 

 

 

3. Rajasthan

Lots of people have told me that it is one of their favourite places in India, and it sounds amazing. Also, there is an animal rescue there that I want to volunteer with.

 

 

4. Iceland

It just looks so gorgeous. If you don’t agree, watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty…

 

 

 

 

5. Antarctica.

Because how cool would that be? :~)

 

Obviously, since these are places I want to go, and have not been, these are not my photos. I did a google image search and found them all. One day...