Schmoo meets the neighbors

He's so much bigger now than he was a few weeks ago!

Tonight I got to show off our little Schmoozer to the neighbors across the street.  The two kids both loved how cute Schmoo is and told me so over and over again.  I love getting to show him off and getting to know our neighbors a little better.

(Our neighbors asked us our last name again because they don't want the kids calling us by our first names.  Seriously?  We're to the Mr. and Mrs. Taylor who live across the street stage?  Weird!)

A photo that makes me happy

Image from
http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/maru-20090425-125127.jpg

This is Maru.  He's a cat who lives in Japan.  His owner takes TONS of pictures and videos of him, which is understandable because he's hilarious.  He even has his own Wikipedia page.  I follow the owner's blog where he posts pictures of Maru with really horribly written English captions almost every day.  

This cat makes me happy every single time I see him.  Seriously.

20 of my favorite things

1. my husband
2. my family
3. our pets - Butterball, Olly, and Schmoo
4. pictures of people I love
5. the color purple
6. purple Pyrex
7. the smell of lilacs
8. reading
9. musicals
10. Gilmore Girls
11. DVR
12. crying at a good movie
13. vacation
14. ice cream
15. coffee
16. Christmas
17. knitting
18. scrapbooking
19. Goodwill
20. Target

Favorite quote

My favorite quote is "If you could envision the type of person God intended you to be, you would rise up and never be the same again."  It reminds me that the vision God has for my life is so much bigger and better than I could ever imagine.  It also reminds me that God is in control, which definitely helps out when things aren't going the way I'd like them to.

Favorite book

Oh my goodness.  I definitely can't pick just one favorite so instead I'll give you a few of my favorites.

• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Beauty by Robin McKinley
• Traveling Light by Katrina Kittle
• anything by Mark Doty

The first two are children's books that I've read over and over and over again.  The third is a novel that I've read over and over again.  (I haven't had it long enough for the third over...)   And Mark Doty is a poet and novelist who packs so much meaning into each line of his writing that you have to take your time while you're reading it.  That's definitely something that I need sometimes, to have to take my time and enjoy what I'm reading.

Favorite TV show

Picture taken from
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/12191247.html

My favorite TV show is definitely Gilmore Girls.  It ran for seven seasons and I'm 99% positive that I've seen every single episode.  I'm completely willing to watch them all again just to make sure...

The best part about Gilmore Girls has to be how quotable the show is.  For example:

• "I'm afraid that once your heart's involved it all comes out in moron."
• "Oh, I can't stop drinking the coffee.  I stop drinking the coffee, I stop doing the standing, walking, and the words-putting-into-sentence-doing."
• "Oy with the poodles already."
• "When a woman gives birth to a crack baby, you do not buy her a puppy."
• "I don't like Mondays but unfortunately they come around eventually."

I absolutely love it!!!

Favorite movie

My favorite movie is definitely Little Women.  I have seen it too many times to count.  What do I love so much about it?  It focuses on the importance of family and friends.  It goes through all four seasons and about every emotion.  It captures the feelings of rivalry between siblings, the love of a relationship, the sadness of losing someone you love.  It's a classic story and an absolutely beautiful movie.  Take a look at the pictures to see for yourself:

All pictures taken from
 http://periodmoviecaps.blogspot.com/2010/01/little-women-1994.html

I have two stories involving this movie.  The first is that when I was in college, this was the movie I used to watch whenever I was sick.  Since I lived with the same roommate for three years, she got to the point where she dreaded coming home to see this movie on because it meant 1) I was sick and 2) I was going to be crying because I always cry at this movie.  

The second is that I chose the song "For the Beauty of the Earth" to walk down the aisle to at my wedding because I really like that song and partly because it's the song that's used during Meg and John Brooke's wedding in the movie.

Favorite song

My favorite song has to be "The Rainbow Connection" sung by Kermit the Frog.

I have a long history with this song.  My Grandpa Chuck had a player piano roll of this song and it was a family favorite to play and sing.  Over the years, the song has always reminded me of my family and home.  When it was time for me to pick a song to dance to with my dad at my wedding, I chose "The Rainbow Connection."

It's great to be reminded of that moment and that day, especially since today is Andrew and my one year anniversary!  I can't believe that it's been a year already.

An impromptu poem from the fabulous Billy Collins

The Effort

Would anyone care to join me
in flicking a few pebbles in the direction
of teachers who are fond of asking the question:
"What is the poet trying to say?"

as if Thomas Hardy and Emily Dickinson
had struggled but ultimately failed in their efforts -
inarticulate wretches that they were,
biting their pens and staring out the window for a clue.

Yes, it seems that Whitman, Amy Lowell
and the rest could only try and fail,
but we in Mrs. Parker's third-period English class
here at Springfield High will succeed

with the help of these study questions
in saying what the poor poet could not,
and we will get all this done before
that orgy of egg salad and tuna fish known as lunch.

Tonight, however, I am the one trying
to say what it is this absence means,
the two of us sleeping and waking under different roofs.
The image of this vase of cut flowers

not from our garden, is no help.
And the same goes for the single plate,
the solitary lamp, and the weather that presses its face
against these new windows - the drizzle and the morning frost.

So I will leave it up to Mrs. Parker,
who is tapping a piece of chalk against the black board,
and her students - a few with their hands up,
others slouching with their caps on backwards -

to figure out what it is I am trying to say
abotu this place where I find myself
and to do it before the noon bell rings
and that whirlwind of meatloaf is unleashed.

Better late than never

So I've been wanting to post more, but have been completely uninspired as to what to post about (especially because I'm not sure who actually reads my blog) so I'm going to join one of my best friends Erika in this 30 day posting schedule.  I'm just a little late since most of the people started this at the beginning of the month.  Oh well. 

Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 - your favorite movie
Day 3 - your favorite television program
Day 4 - your favorite book
Day 5 - your favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where I live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - my worst habit
Day 28 - what's in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

Schmoo

I was SO EXCITED about Labor day weekend because we added a new member to our family: a puppy!  His name is Schmoo and he's a beagle/lab mix.  His name comes from Rabbi Shmuley who used to have a show on TLC called Shalom in the Home.  So his full name is Schmooley Shalom Taylor.  And of course we've been taking lots of pictures so here are just a few of our outrageously cute puppy.