…God just had me on my own, because I had to find a place of being whole in Christ. I realized nobody else was going to make me whole. And I needed to focus on building myself up as a woman in Christ.
Kylie Delia
Quote of the Day
Category: blog
A Quiz About Gifting
With the holiday season right around the corner, it seems appropriate that NothingButKnit has shared a quiz about gifting… She always has the most interesting quizzes and, since it had been awhile since I did one, I thought it a perfect fit.
Now, let’s get to answering these questions!
1. Do you gift your handmade items?
I do! Most of the items I make are gifts, from the finger-less gloves I made for my sister (that she’s only just now getting to use) to the stuffed Baby Yoda’s (that continue to be mailed out) to a sweater for my mom (that I will finish even if it’s the death of me!) and the micro-preemie socks that I knit and donate… lots of gifts indeed!
In fact, I think there is only one item that I knit for myself, lol.
2. Do you have limits around who you gift to or what you gift?
Limits? Not really, now that I think about it. If someone asks if I can make something I’ve never tried before, I look at it as an opportunity to learn a new pattern, stitch, or skill.
3. What type of things do you like to make and gift?
I love to make micro-preemie socks and can have a pair finished and ready to go in just an afternoon! These are donated to a local NICU in fishbowl-sized batches, since a fishbowl was all I had to store them in, lol.
4. Have you received handmade items?
My mother used to crochet us hats and scarves and mittens and I wish that I still had some of those, but they would be too small for me to wear nowadays. Oh! And her oldest sister, my aunt, gifted me with a crocheted blanket that I use year-round.
5. Have you ever asked for a gift back?
I do not, mostly because the people that I gift items to already know about and want the item being made for them.
6. Do you gift handmade items for holidays?
Not as a general rule, but if something is finished close to the holidays then I will gift it.
Now, before you do anything else, may I suggest checking out NothingButKnit’s post and reading all of the fun and interesting answers she and others have shared!
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday for September 29: Favorite Book Quotes (these could be quotes from books you love, or bookish quotes in general)
I spent an awful lot of time thinking about these quotes… I knew I wanted to share the ones that have particular meaning and which have stuck with me through the years, in addition to some newer ones. Hopefully, you enjoy these quotes as much as I have and, perhaps, they inspire you to read some of these titles (if you haven’t done already, lol).
“You need discipline most, when it’s hardest to muster.”
~ Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
“Cruelty isn’t a personality trait. Cruelty is a habit.”
~ Rick Yancey, The 5th Wave
“Destroying things is much easier than making them.”
~ Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
“If you want to get a good sense of a person’s character, work alongside ’em. A little boring, back-breaking work’ll show you exactly who they are.”
~ Jun Eishima, Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
“If you’re as good as your word, words should be good enough.”
~ Rainbow Rowell, Carry On
“Kick off your shoes. Unburden yourself with song. Tell each other tales. Dance around the table. Leave the cleaning up for the morning. Then go outside and look at the stars.”
~ Noble Smith, The Wisdom of the Shire
“A life worth having is a life worth taking.”
~ V.E. Schwab, A Darker Shade of Magic
“…submitting to the will of another requires trust and humility.”
~ Ann Hood, Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting
“Memories were short and history unkind. It was the way of the world.”
~ Deborah Harkness, Shadow of Night
Which of these quotes stood out the most for you?
October TBR
October is my birth month and so I’ve decided to re-read some favorites. These titles have been gathering dust on my bookshelves for… well, longer than I care to admit, lol.
Mercedes Lackey is one of my all-time favorite authors and her world of Valdemar is absolutely wonderful! Brightly Burning is one title that is sure to make me sob, it’s inspiration and heart-break all rolled into one amazing book. As for Caught By Surprise? Well, now I know it’s a romance and I don’t generally read them, but this is such a cute book that I had to buy myself a copy after I first came across it!
Fantasy
Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey
Sixteen-year-old Lavan Chitward’s world is turned upside down when his mother is selected as a textile guild representative in the small rural community where he was raised.
Moving to the capital city of Haven rips him away from his friends and boyhood pleasures, and nothing in Haven seems to fill that void. Unable to fit into the nouveau riche society, and unwilling to follow his parents into the textile guild, he finds himself adrift and depressed. His father enrolls him in a special school that will allow him to choose a trade that interests him, rather than be apprenticed against his will.
There he finds himself terrorized and tortured by the boys in the sixth form until, with an awful roar, the gift of fire awakens deep within him and extracts revenge for his sadistic treatment…
With the help of a unique herald, an empathetic healer and a special companion, Lavan soon learns to keep his gift under control and eventually, to direct his awful firestorm as far as he can see. When the kingdom of Karse attacks, Lavan is hurried to the border to assist his king and country by repelling the invasion. During the final battle Lavan earns the name Firestorm and becomes one of the most famous heralds in the history of Valdemar.
Romance
Caught By Surprise by Sandra Paul
He’d make her pay…
…for luring him to her ship and having her men imprison him.
Yes, the beautiful American had sealed her fate, for Saegar, the royal prince of Pacifica, would claim Beth Livingston as his wife, brand her with his passion and make her his forever….
What had her father’s crew discovered?
Whoever–whatever–he was, Beth knew the prisoner with the chiseled face and chest of a Roman warrior directed his anger at her, and if she didn’t convince her father to release him, she would one day feel the full wrath of his fury–and his heart’s desires….
Blog | I’m a Gamer Girl (Streaming on Twitch)
I started taking my Twitch streaming seriously this year, mostly I think because of how isolating 2020 has been with the continued restrictions and never ending lock downs.
Even though I was one of the lucky ones who was able to continue going to work every day, I spent Monday thru Friday from 9am until 6pm in a windowless office with my door closed and next to no human interaction. That might have been worse on my state-of-mind than just being told to stay home, honestly.
But enough about depressing stuff! Back to the stream…
Mainly, I stream two things: gaming and knitting (though I’m branching out into crochet fingers crossed)
Knitting streams have music and conversation, sometimes some tips and tricks that I’ve learned, and just a general good time. These tend to last the longest, because I like to either finish a project or make some serious progress before calling it quits, lol… this has led to a number of way-too-late nights, but it’s hard to regret such a thing when I’m having so much fun!
As for the gaming? Well, I’ve streamed all kinds of games but am currently focusing on Final Fantasy XV and 7 Days to Die which I play with my brother on a multiplayer map. I really enjoy being able to share games that I fell in love with and to just ramble on and on about the different canon and fanon bits of lore that I have rattling around in my brain, lol.
If you’re looking for a laugh, I’m pretty sure that my evil cackling when I summon Ramuh to strike down my enemies in Final Fantasy sounds absolutely, hilariously deranged.
What am I hoping to accomplish with this, you may ask. Well, my goal is to reach Affiliate status in the next few months, so I’m working to build my following and encourage people to hop in the chat and have conversations with me… What can I say? I like to talk with people. 😛
To that end, I’ve decided that if I can get to 25 followers before my October 22nd Birthday, then I will do a “Spooky Halloween Weekend Stream” and let my followers decide what I’ll be playing! This is especially nerve-wracking because I don’t play horror games. Like. At all.
I’m sure it will be a fun evening for all and I plan to have one scary game and one fun-scary game, so I can take a break from the terror inducing title that is chosen for me to play, lol. Here are just some of the titles that have been suggested to me…
Do you enjoy scary books or games? Why or why not?
Quote of the Day
Life isn’t about finding yourself.
George Bernard Shaw
Life is about creating yourself.
Two Book Tuesday
I continue to struggle with some writer’s block in regards to blogging, but I have hope that it’ll work it’s way out of my system. It strange but it seems as if the more my brain works, the less ability I have to put thoughts into writing.
I’ve only just begun listening to The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd, but a chapter in and I’m already interested in where the story will go…
I first learned about indigo dye by way of Japanese indigo, or aizome, a number of years ago and found the topic to be absolutely fascinating!
What is really cool about The Indigo Girl is how such a young woman was able to use both her intellect and the resources around her to make an impact on history. Being a “northern girl,” it’s only been in recent years that I’ve taken an interest in biographical material on Southerners other than major historical figures or entities.
From what I’ve learned, what’s left of Eliza Lucas’ writings are a highly detailed look into the life of an elite colonial woman. I would love to get my hands on a reproduction of her letters. ❤
Eliza Lucas’ story is sure to be a good one and I look forward to sharing my thoughts in a full-length review as soon as I’m finished with it, lol.
I swear that I’m going to read Wesley the Owl even if it kills me to do it!
Truly, I’ve been trying to sit down and crack this book open since I added it to my July TBR list and it just keeps slipping away from me.
Owls are one of my favorite birds of prey and I’m really looking forward to reading about Stacey O’Brien’s life with baby barn owl Wesley. Y’all cross your fingers that I can actually read it sometime soon!
Meandering Michelle 