pensieve.me

Wordless Wednesday ~ Glitter & Glue

Glitter and glue.  I was glad to have preschool-age children to legitimize playing with glitter and glue again, a childhood treat for me in the days when imaginations roared louder than the techno noise of today. 

My youngest son completed a school project recently that required the use of these long-time friends of mine...I needed to take their picture...I needed them to "last longer". 

Do you have a favorite?  Does one view stand out more than the other?  Can you express why?  I'd love to know your thoughts :).

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Additional WW

wordless wednesday

A Cinquain Celebration

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This month's challenge is a good one y'all...it lives up to all the fantastic poems I've read of yours so far (since I've been disconnected for the better part of two days, I'm still visiting your PPL posts :) ).  Remember, you can write your poems any day this week according to those whacky guidelines, and hook up with Mr. Linky when they're posted. 

I'm just so doggone P.R.O.U.D. of you--especially those who are tip-toeing out of your comfort zone to share your creative genius.  For a few of you, this is a rose petal-strewn walk in the park; for the rest of ya, it's a tightrope walk over a pool of piranhas.  Kudos to you all!

Here are my poems for the week, and if you haven't yet gotten to yours, it's not too late!  Mr. Linky is here to stay like white on rice.

I took a queue from Kim and used a variety of methods:

 

Method 1:

Shopping
Frenzied, Frantic
Running, Searching, Crying
Ebay takes advantage of supply and demand
Giftcard

Method 2 (consistent with Adelaide Crapsey, 22 syllables total, two in lines one and five; four, six, then eight in the middle three lines)

Christmas
Incarnation
God gave because He loved
An eternal celebration
Savior

Method 3 (5 line stanza, rhyme scheme ababb)

Tis the season for celebration
We give and we receive
Christ born to bring salvation
Amazing grace, yes, I believe
Miracle of Christmas Eve

(Stay tuned for revised guidelines next month...it'll be a whole lot easier to follow.  I guess this is my versions of Vista, eh? ;) )

Pensieve's Poetic License ~ Cinquain and Celebration

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and more recent posts!!

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Wow, you guys are ON TOP of things!  Thanks to all of you who have already written your poems for this month's poetry challenge--y'all amaze, impress and inspire me!  "Thank" and "you" are two little words which carry a lot of weight in my book, and I sincerely appreciate your participation with PPL!

Click here for further information about this month's poetic form, and when your poem is posted, be sure to sign in with Mr. Linky below (to your post, not your blog's main page--it makes it MUCH easier for other participants to find your poem :) ).

Be sure to visit PPL posts if you write one yourself, k?

YIKES!   Somehow I deleted Mr. Linky...not sure how THAT happened...if you wanna add a link (or you  were previously linked) sorry for the inconvenience :/.

Deck the Halls, Y'all!

I'm LOVIN' all the newbie visits from BooMama's tour--
THANK YOU for visiting AND commenting!  :)

Boo Mama is hosting her second annual Christmas Tour of Homes and I thought it'd be a great way to a) park some holiday photos and b) cross paths with some new bloggin' peeps :). 

If you're new to PENSIEVE, welcome!  If you're OLD to PENSIEVE, well, welcome back :).

I'm gonna keep this as short & sweet as possible, posting pictures with captions instead of a lot of explanation.  (You're welcome ;).)

If you're a front door guest, this time of year this is what you'll see:

You'll have to step over a very colorful poinsettia welcome mat:

OOooo, I almost forgot--if you're a back-door friend, Santa himself will greet you!

Mercy...my manners! Of course, I'd offer you a little something sweet....it's expected this time of year, you know (as well as the subsequent poundage on the hippage...)

The other night I enjoyed our mantel in a different light...it was late, and it was the room's only source of illumination...

My children's homemade ornaments are among my favorites; these aren't ornaments, exactly, but every year when I re-discover them, I can't help but smile...it shouldn't be lost on you that Thomas' halo is a bit whop-sided.

Speaking of little angels, this is our tree topper, a Madame Alexander angel.  For years, our tree was topped with a bow, but when I saw this angel, I HAD to buy her...it was love at first sight.

Every morning, my husband turns on the tree lights while it's still dark; I love walking into the kitchen and looking through our den towards the sunroom and seeing our illuminated tree.  In daylight, what it loses in romantic appeal, it more than makes up in fun appeal--especially with Santa looking on :).

We have a crèche or nativity set in just about every room; my favorites are the simplest ones...or the one made by Stephen a few years ago ( :( his angel got broken this year and all that's left is that little gold heart behind Mary and Joseph):

We have multiple Santas throughout the house, too.  These guys are the ones who make me smile the most:

 

Fun Monday ~ ...on the STREET where you LIVE

As hostess for this week's installment, Katie wants to know "the story behind your home and the road you live on". 

Almost five years ago when we found out we'd be moving here, my job was to find a house.  Interestingly, on the way to look at a particular house, we "accidentally" found the neighborhood we live in now.  There was a house for sale in which we were interested, and our realtor called the listing agent while we waited in the driveway.  After looking at this VERY dated house, and realizing it was a) too small, and b) too large a project to take on, we continued down the street where we saw a "for sale" sign at the bottom of steep ascending driveway, but the house itself was obscured by trees.  Lots of them...a forest. 

As we meandered up the hill, the home appeared, but when I realized it was painted blue, my heart sank.  We had just changed the blue trim on our SC home, and while I love shades of blue, I couldn't stand it on our house.  The one we left, or the one we in front of me.  I didn't even want to look at it I was so sick of blue. 

In typical "don't judge a book by its cover" irony, we loved the house's interior.  It was dated and plain and very "oaky"...but it was spacious and accommodating...and a remarkable price for the size and neighborhood. 

Loooooong story short, we bought it, had a forest cut down so we could see our house from the street and Tad would have a yard to mow (he's crazy that way), and after 4 1/2 years, we're nearing the completion of interior improvements (THAT'S a post I've been D.Y.I.N.G. to write for 14 months!  Dying in the sense it has taken that long to FINISH everything (and it's not quite done, yet...) ). The house was built in the late 70s and had one owner prior to us. 

This is the view from our front porch, and at the end of the road where it curves right, sits that first home we looked at but didn't buy.

This shot is taken from about where I saw that snake in the road.  Five years ago, we couldn't see our house from that spot; in part, because it was spring and the trees were leafed out, and in part because the yard, then, was naturalized and so thick with brush and tree we couldn't see the home itself.  Curiosity, I suppose, is what compelled us to travel up that steep, winding driveway.

Funny how changing the exterior's color wasn't on the short list for our home improvements (but when it HAS to be painted, I promise it WON'T be re-painted blue!).

Visit Katie for more stories about house and home, and Lord willin' and the creek don't rise :/ later I'll be posting some interior photos for Boo Mama's Christmas tour :)... 

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...and writing cinquain's for this month's Poetic License (y'all write some, too "later", k?)...
...and link to my friend Kelly at Pass the Torch to raise money for St. Jude's Hospital (wait, this IS the link!) ...
...and begin finish my Christmas shopping...
...and complete my Christmas cards...
...and FINALLY send out surcies & pay it forwards to my bloggin' buddies...
...and take a tinkle break at some point...:/

Do you ever have the feeling you're being watched?

Taken outside our playroom window a few weeks ago.  While I was talking on the phone, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, and voila!  He was eating some breakfast and taking in a show...ME!

I wonder if he felt the same way about me....

Lucky Seven? You be the judge ;)

Swampwitch tagged me with another one of those "More than you really wanna know about me" memes, and since I rarely almost never always respond to tags right away, here's an attempt to divulge just a few more juicy tidbits bore you to tears with the minutia of my little life:

1)  While I haven't had the pleasure of swimming with dolphins (yet!), I have had the pleasure of "swimming" with Barry Manilow.  Does that need further explanation?

2)  I've had the pleasure of having two stepmothers--one was nine years older than me, the other was five years older than me...and no, those aren't numeric typos.  Technically, I never considered the second one a step-mom, she and my dad married long after I was out of the home and married myself.

3)  Writing poetry is a pleasure to me; reading it is not always.  I'm not proud of that.  (**I'm talking about the classics I'm "supposed" to appreciate..epics that anesthetize me rather than inspire....)

4)  Although I wore braces for a not-very-pleasurable two years and two months--including the very fashionable full headgear--I still had a gap between my two front teeth for years.  I decided to remedy that when I got married (what bride wants the Bugs Bunny effect in her bridal portrait?).  My orthodontist cemented a "temporary" little bar behind my teeth.

It's still there over 20 years later (the bar, not the gap). :/.

5)  I was a Stampin' Up "D e m o n s t r a t o r" for a year (note the loose use of that word).  Although it was an absolute delight and pleasure to teach others "art therapy through stamping", I led only one workshop.  I just received a letter last week from them informing me I had not yet cashed a commission check and they needed me to (or to re-issue another one if I lost it) in order to clear their books. 

It was for five dollars and change ... wooohoooo, Happy Meal, here I come!

6)  One of my not guilty pleasures is to drink libations--"stale or sparkling" ;)--with cranberry, pomegranate or orange juices, but I won't eat fresh cranberries, pomegranates or orange slices.

7)  My parents did not find it necessary to give me a middle name when I was born.  It is NOT a pleasure in first grade to be the only person in your class who doesn't have one.  Undaunted, I created my own middle name.

Eventually, I plan to write about that last one...it's been in the queue since I started blogging.

The "rules" are:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
 First word of this post...check.

2) Post the rules on your blog.
In process...check.

3) Share 7 facts about yourself.
I can NEVAH remember what I've already shared...are any of these repeats?

4) Tag 7 random people and include links to their blogs.
Shoot...it's a BUSY time of year for all of us...I'm not sure who's done this and who hasn't, but here are my unlucky seven:

Laurie, Hulagirl, Elena Jane, Sandy, Alix, Jenni, Lisa

5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Will do.

I beg your pardon...!

Hmph...I guess it coulda been worse, but then again, what IS worse than a fruitcake??

You Are a Fruitcake!

You taste like nothing else in this world. And get ready, you're about to get tossed!

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?


HT:  Acaligurl

15 Words or Less Poem - Did someone mention "snow"?

OOooo, my....!  With Pensieve's Poetic License coming up next week, I'm feeling rather poeticious this morning; forgive me if I went a little nuts with Laura's "15 Words or Less" this week.  I forced myself to stop at four, lol.  Come on, guys, these are fun and easygreasy :).  Fifteen words?   Piece.of.cake.!

Winter's blanket
Fleecy white
Quiet slumber
Silent night.


Field of dreams, a child's delight.
Winter wonder--sled's give flight.
Flakes descend
Accumulation
Hope of Christmas
Celebration.

Cold wind blows
When it snows
Freezing nose?
Fingers froze?
Frostbit toes?
I envy those.

Not Wordless, Still Wednesday

One of those little blog peeves of mine is when Wordless Wednesdays are prose heavy.  No offense--I know I have plenty of tendencies that march a few of you right up to the edge of a cliff where you'd eagerly swan dive to your demise so you wouldn't have to wade through another strike-through of mine or click a thousand links to other posts .  A caption is fine, explanations are helpful and sometimes downright necessary, but lengthy stories to accompany a "wordless" post...well, why bother calling it wordless?  I don't get it.

THAT BEING SAID she says, kinda-sorta contradicting the above paragraph, but thinking she gets away with it because it's a SEPARATE post from her WW there were additional photographs I wanted to post with my WW today...but they begged more words than were warranted for a wordless post.  "Forgive me?" she asks with innocent doe eyes and a smarmy toothy Eddie-Haskell-grin :).

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Be sure to click the pictures; each image will reveal another that goes with the narrative.

Anastasia caught my eye because typically shells.can't.walk... when I saw one not only with LEGS, but on the MOVE, I had to investigate further.  When I got too close, Anastasia decided to play a game:  "If I can't see you, you can't see me."

Playing "hard to get" just made me love her more.  She'd creep back out of her shell heading right, and just as quickly change direction (and, oddly, I found myself humming Buffet songs... hmmmm).  We bonded instantly--why, she can't make her mind up about anything, either! 

Anastasia taught me a lot in the little time we had together-- she'd trudge uphill at a snail's pace scamper away at mock speed to avoid my camera the paparazzi's glaring eye with an "I think I can I think I can" attitude that would rival the Little Engine That Could. 

She was a good friend, my Anastasia...until she snubbed my feet and took up with another shifty character...

I shoulda known she'd stick with her own kind...her beady eyes gave her away :/.