Oh Nuts

The other day, while doing another round of searching for more blogging prompt ideas. I came across the following question and I posted it on my personal Facebook page as well as in a FB group that I am a part of and on my Twitter page. If you were able to change one school rule, what would it be and why would you change it? After receiving several answers to the above questions I saw that standardized testing was the main topic that kept popping up in the answers. Even though I have heard of standardized testing and the discussion surrounding it, I haven't ever taken the test. So I decided to do some research so that I could add more to the conversation. Instead, I decided to let the following responses that I received to the question to the talking. Photo by  moren hsu  on  Unsplash Brooklyn - "I would change the enforcement of test lol. Why? Because it’s a waste of time. Instead, there should be more class discussion to test the knowle...

Gospel Reading: Luke 1:36-38 https://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=54667 "Mary said, 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.'  Then the angel departed from her." (Luke 1:38) Pray the Angelus, or a prayer of your choosing, for the courage to place your trust in God's providence as did the Blessed Virgin Mary.* *Taken from the 2019 Lenten Daily Devotional from the Basilica of The National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception.

The day I first started blogging was November 8, 2009. Yes, that long ago, though it doesn't feel like it some times. My first blog, which has since been closed and deleted, was called "Shieldmaiden of God." Some of what I have shared here has been similar to what I had written there. taken by me in Panera Bread Part of the reason why I got into blogging was that my sister and a long time family friend both had blogs at the time and I enjoyed reading what they wrote. In the 4 years that I had my first blog, I had fun learning about creating a blog as well as finding a niche of sorts to write it. I believe credit for the name of my first blog goes to my older sister, but I don't remember if she came up with the exact wording or of she suggested some ideas and I created the wording. Either way, my first blog was called "Shieldmaiden of God." When I first created this blog my original plan was to mainly share writing-related things. And while I still ...

Ash Wednesday Day of Fasting and Abstinence Found on Unsplash Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 "When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden." (Matthew 6:16-18) As Lent begins, ask Our Lord for His Guidance in your daily practice of prayer, fasting, and good works through the Lenten season.* *Taken from the 2019 Lenten Daily Devotional from the Basilica of The National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception.

Back in January, during one of the many snow storms that we had, I was sitting on the couch scrolling through my phone when the name Sybil popped into my head. Besides the name, the only other information that this character gave me is that she is an orphan/in foster care. Photo by  Álvaro Serrano  on  Unsplash While I haven't done much with this character yet, I plan on figuring out the details so that I can begin writing the story. One thing that I had started doing, shortly after the character idea came to me, was to start writing down the names to instrumental songs that I was listening to on Spotify. The idea that I had for that was to incorporate the titles as the names of the chapters and then base the scenes, etc. off of that. Whether it will work or not I don't know since I want to do research into different settings and such before I begin writing the story. And I may save this idea for November and NaNoWriMo so that I can have time to prepare and gather ...

Since I really haven't shared any knitting project updates in a while I figured today was a good day to do so. Especially since I just finished making four projects, one of which I have been working on for just over a year and a half. Dishcloth I apologize for the not so great quality of the above picture (^). Especially since it is a little hard to see the pattern. But it is a dishcloth that I made using a pattern that I found on Ravelry last year. The ten-stitch blanket ^^^ I started making in July of 2017 and didn't do a whole lot of work on,  until recently when I decided to work on it more. Before I finished it my sister had suggested that I take another coordinating color and crochet a border around the edge of it to give it a more finished look. As you can see I took her up on the suggestion and just did a simple single crochet border around it. The pattern is on Ravelry, The shawl/wrap is another pattern that I found on Ravelry and the yarn I used ...

This may seem like a strange fairy tale to have as a favorite, but one of my favorite fairy tales is called "The Robber Bridegroom." I first learned of this particular fairy tale, along with many others, in the book "Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales," which I had purchased at Barnes and Noble several years ago. Since you may be wondering why this is one of my favorite fairy tales let me tell you that I don't really know why it is a favorite either, especially since it is a rather morbid story. Photo by  Olivier Guillard  on  Unsplash When you first look at the title of the tale, it doesn't look like it will be too much of a dark and depressing fairy tale. But once you actually read it, then it becomes a bit morbid. What I mean by that is that the bridegroom and his gang, spoiler alert, are cannibals. That is why I still don't understand how I consider it to be a favorite fairy tale of mine, but whatever. So the bridegroom and his gang are cannibal...