Boarding up the Windows

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I pause at the doorway of my little vacation house, my satchel over my shoulder and my suitcase wheeling behind me on the wood floor.  My eyes scan the dim interior, checking to make sure that the windows are properly boarded and the filmy curtains drawn.  It looks like a different place - sad and lonely.

But vacation is over, and it's time to move on.  As I slowly close the door and turn my key in the lock, Indy whinnies from his horse trailer.  I glance one last time at my temporary home.  The ferns by the log walls will curl up for winter and the leaves on the trees will fly, without me there to watch and marvel.  Grass will grow up over the gate, and no one will mow it down.

But when I come back, I'll rediscover what I've missed and won't be any worse for it.

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I'm boarding up the windows.

I'm leaving this blog.

I owe you a lot more explanation than that, though, so here are my reasons....  

1. The long and short of it is, I need to start living more of my life off the computer.  I need to do more, rather than doing a little and then documenting it all.  

2. I need to get my writing on track.  It suffered this summer, and I'm afraid that if I don't force myself back into it, I'll lose it.

3. I want to fully concentrate on school and stay ahead in my classes, while still making time for Indy and my other responsibilities.

4.  I'm dissatisfied with my blog, wishing it had more of a purpose.  I'm at a loss for what posts I should write, since I cover almost everything under the sun on one web page: horses, fashion, weather, family, small town life, health, books....  If / when I start up again, I want to narrow down my blog subject.  I've recently discovered that I'm very interested in interior design, and always have been, so I may start a blog with that subject sometime.

I love you, followers! (And I can't believe I got up to 92 - you're the greatest!) You can stop following now, if you wish.  Or you can keep following so that in half a year, or a year, if / when I come back, you'll be able to see if I've changed much.

You'll still be able to find me commenting and reading other people's blogs.  Especially Gwyn's, Carlotta's, and Margaret Free's, and I'll also keep participating in Stephanie Morrill's writing prompt contests.  I may be on Cleiti, if that starts up again.

And of course, if you're brave, you can always visit me on Pinterest.

If you'd like to keep in touch, shoot me an email and I'll do my best to talk to you regularly :) I'll stay tuned on LBaaG to get any last comments / questions, and then, I will take my leave.

It hurts to say goodbye.

But nevertheless, goodbye.

- Ellyn

If I were...

If I were a gemstone, I’d be a peridot.


If I were a scent, I’d be sugarplum!


If I were a pair of shoes, I'd be suede boots with fringe or ruffles.


If I were the weather, I would be the day of the first snow and around 30 degrees.


If I were a facial expression, I'd be serious.  (Even when I'm happy I tend to look sort of mad...)


If I were a car, I'd be a pink Hummer or a girly pick-up truck.


If I were a time of day, I’d be sunrise.


If were a month, I’d be May and November.


If I were a place, I'd be a brook flowing over polished stones.


If I were a liquid, I'd be grapefruit juice.


If I were a taste, I’d be tart apple pie.


If I were a sea animal, I’d be a dolphin.


If I were a food, I’d be a thick slice of french bread slathered with butter .


If I were a color, I'd be turquoise blue.


If I were a musical instrument, I would be the banjo or guitar :)


If I were a flower, I’d be a small violet.


If I were a song, I’d be a soft country song...or a bluegrass tune!


If I were a planet, I’d be Neptune.


If I were an object, I'd be an umbrella stand.  (Caught you off guard, didn't it?)


If I were a fruit, I'd be a wild raspberry.

If I were a day of the week, I’d be Tuesday.  (*shrugs*)

If I were a sound, I’d be the rhythmic beating of horse hooves against earth, or the quiet sound of wind on water.

This tag is for everyone! Thanks, Nela and Olive Tree.

Tagged Once More

Thanks Lily Litten! :)

How this works:

You share 7 likes, 8 hates, and 1 love. I seriously don't understand the random numbers.  

I like pirates

I like apple orchards

I like Crooked Still

I like awesome dreams

I like sledding

I like waking up early

I like Jawbreakers and Shockers! (candy)

I hate sweating

I hate human trafficking

I hate anorexia

I hate Satan

I hate being stressed!

I hate filth and clutter

I hate blobby pens

I hate bananas :)

I love.......

Jesus!

( I know it said only one, but I'll go on to say - 

Special people!

Laughing!

Horses! 

And I tag...

Margaret Rowena

Nela

Gwyn

And anyone else who really wants to do it :)

Love, 

Ellyn

For Lack of Anything Else...A Tag

A Simple Tag :D 

When can you remember laughing the hardest?
When my brother was gesturing about something at lunch and he had a cup in one hand, so he poured his milk right over his shoulder.  

There was also the time when we had pea pods for lunch, and we were eating off these tupperware plates with a bump in the middle.  My other brother pushed down the bump, but then the bump popped up and all of his pea pod ends skyrocketed into the air.  The look on his face was soooo funny.  I'm laughing now thinking about it.  

What is one thing you're excited about for tomorrow?
My friend's birthday party! And going to ride my other friend's horse Honee this weekend.  

How many posters are in your bedroom?
Well...three, I think.  I also have a fancy horse decoration, a whiteboard, and a mirror.
What is one place you'd rather be right now?
Hm.  Wearing a long medieval dress and galloping away on a destriar.  So...middle earth?
What can you smell right now?
Air.  

I just smelled the computer to see what it would smell like.  Weird ;D
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
Uh....my friend Whisper, I think.  (fake name, obviously)

What is the corniest movie you've ever seen?
I...don't know...I thought When in Rome was kind of corny :)
If you could choose one food to live off the rest of your life, never mind nutrition, what would it be?
French fries!
Where are you going next?
Probably to practice banjo or have family prayers in the living room.

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I tag:

Anyone who is now in the middle of writing a book! :)

-----

By the way, I will probably be posting more infrequently because of a sudden increase of school.  :P I'll get to it, though, don't worry!

Love always,

Ellyn

Melancholy Ellyn??

My friend emailed me a personality quiz a few days ago, and I just took it today.  Here are my results.  I highlighted the parts that are extremely me in red.  My sarcastic comments are in blue.

Melancholly

21 Sanguine, 50 Melancholy, 14 Choleric, 36 Phlegmatic

Hail to you who is Melancholly.

The depth to see into the heart and soul of life. The artistic nature to appreciate the beauty of the world. The talent to create a masterpiece where nothing existed before. The ability to analyze and arrive at the proper solution. The eye for detail while others do shoddy work. The aim to finish what you start. (<-- Haha.  No.  I don't always finish what I start...) The pledge "if it is worth doing, it's worth doing right." The desire to "do all things decently and in order."

Here is what is so totally awesome about you:
You are deep, thoughtful, analytical, insightful, serious, purposeful, genius prone, talented, creative, possibly artistc, musical, poetic or philisophical. You are considerate, conscientious, self-sacrificing, and sensitive to others. In the workplace you set high standards, pick up after others, are schedule oriented, organized, detail concious, persistent, and thorough. You like charts and graphs. You see the problems and find creative solutions. As a friend, you make friend's cautiously, are content to stay in the background, avoid causing attention, are faithful and devoted, deeply concerned for others, will listen to complaints, and you can solve people's problems.

This is a realistic analysis of what is wrong with you:
You remember negatives, hold on to hurt, sulk, get moody or depressed or guilty, you are too introspective, self-centered, with a low self-image, you feel persecuted and your mind is off in another world. In the workplace you may be too meticulous, or a martyr. You are not people oriented, choose difficult work, are hesitant to start, spending too much time on planning, prefering analysis to work, and you are hard to please with your high, high standards. You secretly have a deep need for approval. As a friend you live through others, (not that much of a hermit) are critical, withdrawn, hold back affection, don't accept compliments, you are unforgiving, suspicious, and you dislike those in opposition towards whom you are antagonistic and even revengeful.

And yet you are still wonderful. There is no blame here. This is just how melanchollies tend to be. This analysis is just a tool to help you understand yourself better so you can have more power to get what you want. (More power to get what I want??! That sounds dangerous...:P) Your negatives are difficult, but your strengths are the most powerful, the most disciplined of the 4 temperments. Without you things spin wildly out of control. Without you no one thinks before they leap into action. You are our Rock. (Rock?? Sure, whatever you say...)

If you'd like to take this quiz, go to this link.   But I guess it's on a dating site or something, so at the end, it will ask for your name and gender and stuff.  Don't give it to them unless you want to be matched up with a creep from a dating site.  Instead, click "Proceed to result".  If you take it, let me know what you get!! :)

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-personality-plus-profiler-test

My Nest

Olive Tree did a post on her nest, so I took up the idea. A nest is a place where you go to cry, smile, write memoirs and stories, read, and other things. My nest, though special to me, is not really unique...it's my double bed. :)

I love my bedspread - it just reflects my personality so well. Above my bed, I have a stained glass window, which I can turn on todouble as a reading light! Cool, huh?

On the left of my special soft reading chair cushion thingie - I think it's also called a boyfriend pillow ;) - you see Iceberg the polar bear, Pickles the puppy, Suds the sheep, whom I sewed myself, and my two Webkinz, Cally and Ruby Belle. I don't do Webkinz anymore - my pets expired a couple years ago and I had started growing out of it, but I kept the stuffed versions because they are so cute :) On the right side of my pillow, you see a folder for my writing snippets, my notebook, and a big stack of books that I'm reading at the moment.

What's a nest without a cat to share it with?

I usually have more stuff on my dresser, but I sort of cleared it off for when we paint my room. You can see evidence of wallpaper on the left side of the photo. :P

Terrible picture of me. Eeeggh. And I never smile while I'm reading - this is just posed :)

---

P.S. Margaret Rowena awarded me!

Here are the Rules:

1.) Get really excited that you got the coolest award EVER!! (WOOOHHOOO YEAHAHA! Zip idy doo daahhh)
2.) Choose ONE of the following options of accepting the OMB Award:

• Write about your most embarrassing moment.
• Write a "Soundtrack of your childhood" post.
• Make your next blog a "vlog" (video blog). Basically, you're talking to the camera about whatever.
• Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning, before you do anything else (hair, make-up, etc.) and post it.

3.) Pass the award on to at least three, but preferably more, amazing bloggers. Don't forget to tell them.

I'm going to give you a morning picture. But...it's not morning. So look for it tomorrow!

I award...hmmm....

Heather

Caroline

and Ashley!

Thanks, Margaret :)

- Ellyn

Days 26-30

It's the last post of the 30-Day-Challenge! I hope you guys enjoyed it, because I know I did. :)

Day 26: A childhood memory

Hm...there are so many. I would say wrapping Christmas presents for our kitties in newspaper and putting them around the tree. :) I don't remember what the presents were. I think I made them toys from string, paper, and such.

Day 27: A physical feature that you love

Is this on me, or just in general?

My favorite feature of me are my eyes, because they get really blue sometimes. Also, my high metabolism. :) My least favorite feature of mine is my height! I'm really tall :) That's one reason why KC wouldn't have been a good horse for me - he was quite petite and I was outgrowing him fast.

My favorite physical feature in general are eyes and hair. Typical, I guess, but it's so cool to see how many different ways people style their hair. And they do say that your eyes are the windows to your soul.

Day 28: A scar you have and its story

Well...I have all these tiny little scars on my arm from when I got caught outside in a hailstorm. The sky was green and I was running, running, running toward the house, trying to make it....

Just kidding. One of my bad habits is picking things. I love the feeling of it. So I have all these tiny scars on my arm from when I picked off the scabs during nightly storytime some years ago. I do still pick them, but I'm trying not to... :) My favorite scar that I have is a small dent right next to my left eye. My mom says it gives me character. I got when we were shopping for someone's wedding clothes at the mall and I fell down the stairs. :P Yup.

Day 29: Hopes, dreams, and plans you have for the next 365 days

This is a cool question because it was just my birthday :) I hope, dream, and plan to finish my book and try out self-publishing with it. (I'll write a post about self-publishing later.) I also want to join 4H and show Indy at the county fair next year. That means lots of practice, because he isn't a very good gaming horse.

There are just so many possibilities when I think about what the future holds. It makes me giddy.

Day 30: A motto or philosophy

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

Days 21-25

Day 21: Something you know you do differently than most people

Well...I rarely eat cookie dough while I'm making cookies :D Though I admit that if there are chocolate chips or M&Ms, I will pick out a great quantity and eat them. But my hands are clean! (Can you tell I couldn't really think of anything?)

Day 22: A website

Christian Cowgirl is a great website for horse-lovers who ride Western and English both. Visit the forums for talk about your horse life, your God life, and much more. My name on there is "indyluv"

Day 23: A way in which you want to be remembered

Definitely through my writing! I want to write books that aren't dark, morbid, and vulgar, but still appeal to teens. (Especially Christian teens)

Day 24: A movie no one would expect you to love

The Hannah Montana movie. I actually really enjoyed it. Too bad Miley Cyrus isn't taking the high road.

Day 25: A recipe

Here's a really simple snack treat that I made for a Victorian tea at our Bible study. Actually, the tea was called off last minute, so my plates of dainties were swarmed by hordes of brothers. But these are SUPER good.

Here's what you need: Pickles (not too small, not too big), Cream cheese, sliced cold-cut ham, toothpicks

Here's how: Spread the cream cheese on a slice of ham. This is harder than it looks, people! Be delicate! My mom had to use her fingers to get it on smooth. The piece I tried to spread looked more like something off a scarecrow when I was finished. Roll up a pickle in the ham. Simple enough. Now, cut the pickle into slices, poking toothpicks into the slices as you go. Ta-da!!! It may sound weird, but just wait until you taste it. :)

Days 17-20

Day 17: An art piece

Well...here's a charcoal picture I drew using a program called Draw Today. It's really easy! Anyone could do it. And the pictures you get are really lifelike. Can you tell who my subject is here?

Day 18: A time when you felt passionate and alive

The time when I get the most like that is in the fall, when wind is whipping through the trees and blowing leaves everywhere. Wind gets me all hyped up. Usually I run around our pasture a few times to blow off some steam.

Day 19: A talent of yours

Writing. And listening to people. Usually I'm the one my friends choose to confide in and have deep conversations with.

Day 20: A hobby of yours

Same as the above :D But I also love collaging! I take cardboard boxes, cover them with black paper, and then cut pictures out of magazines and glue them on. Here are a few photos of my best ones.

I do a lot of horse themed ones because that's the kind of magazines I have the most of. :)

I love, love this one!

Here's a little one I have on my dresser.

20 Things...

10 Pet Peeves

1. Bananas – touching them, smelling them – everything about them.

2. Keeping pet fish and people who give goldfish away at fairs. I won’t elaborate, cause I don’t want you to be paranoid about fish too.

3. Loud chewing and chewing with mouth open

4. Everybody talking at once

5. Not being able to work

6. Spongebob

7. Guys wearing skinny jeans or pants down around their knees

8. Forgetting what I’m going to say

9. Hearing things I already know

10. When my brothers start playing the piano just as I turn on my radio
Ok, now for a more positive approach!

10 Pet…Good Things

1. The way little kids say my name – “Ewin”

2. Eating and reading at the same time

3. Knowing exactly what to say

4. Crooked Still band!!

5. Working really hard

6. Dark chocolate with sea salt

7. Short people

8. All of my family’s inside jokes

9. Feeling a thrill when I see a horse – any horse.

10. Finding out I’m really good at someting.

I’ll write more later! Have a wonderful weekend.
May 28, 2010

Inkblots 1

A few weeks ago in our writing club, the Inkblots, we were discussing how our beliefs come out in our writing. To illustrate, we did a survey of sorts so we could compare our answers with our writing. Here are my questions.

1. What do you think is the most important virtue in a man?
Standing up for what he thinks is right.

This is evident in my novel – Torn Heart – with both men and women. After all, part of a rebellion means the people are rising in order to to uphold their own beliefs, correct?

2. What do you think is the most important virtue in a woman?
Friendliness – willingness to accept everybody

I think this comes through in Torn Heart as well. The main character, Jacha, doesn’t know how kind people can be until she settles in to spy at a country farm. The people there, the mistress especially, all instantly accept her for who she is and welcome her into their home.

3. What offense are you slowest to forgive?
Slandering me (talking bad about me behind my back)

I can’t think of any example of this in Torn Heart. Betraying isn’t exactly the same thing as slandering.

4. What offense are you fastest to forgive?
Um…maybe some kind of physical injury.

This was a hard one to answer, but I don’t think this is portrayed in my story, either. At one point, one of the villains wounds Jacha and it helps her see that his side is the wrong side. However, he wounded her deliberately, and in the above question, I meant an accidental wound.

5. What kind of story do you like to write the most? (Not genre, but theme)
Friendship/Character growth
Torn Heart is definitely all about character growth! Jacha starts the book as a wary, timid animal out for herself, and ends the book…well….you’ll see for yourself if I get it published.

So this didn’t work out perfectly – I didn’t get all affirmative answers – but the opinions in my head about virtues and story themes at least worked out right. It worked enough to illustrate the point: that because I’m a Christian, my Christian views should come out in my writing. If they don’t, it will be a clue to me that I need to spend more time in the Bible instead of my fantasy books.


March 5, 2010