Adjust the sails

My family (myself included) watched a movie the other night and it struck me how much the woman wanted to change who the man was. Mind you, he wasn't that great. He wasn't a very good husband, but it reminded me so much how I am. If I don't like something, I want to change it and change it fast.

My mind says that I should be happy, that everyone should be happy because I am. But that's not the way it works. I have to constantly remind myself that it's not about me. My selfishness is only getting in the way in matters like this.

I have to remember time and again that happiness is a choice. Even in situations where I believe I have every right to be angry, I must remember this. I have found that if I will let go of the anger and hurt feelings and just choose to be happy, things are better. But that isn't easy because of the selfishness in me.

There's another big factor in all that. My pride. It hurts to say it, but that's another big thing. I'm too proud to say I was wrong and that I'm sorry even if I was completely in the wrong. It's hard to admit it, for me anyway, to say that it was my fault and that I'll try to do better or whatever the situation may be. Instead I make excuses as to why I did what I did. That just causes more trouble because then I want once again to change things.

I said all that to say I ran across an inspirational quote yesterday that made me think of all this. It was by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. It says: "When you can't change the direction of the wind - adjust your sails."

When I want to change everything around me and can't, I have to choose to be happy, otherwise, I'm going to have an even more terrible time. The things I don't want to do, if I choose to be happy, won't be as much of a chore. That is my way of adjusting my sails.

It is a beautiful morning in Alabama. The birds are singing and the sun is shining bright. And today, I'm gonna be happy.

~Emily

Updates

You know how I said I was trying to eat healthy? Well, that didn't work out too great. I shoulda known not to try something like that right before the wedding. Which, by the way, went wonderfully! I am planning to post some pictures soon.

My sister has now been married for 2 months 4 days. They're happy. That helps me to get past missing her so bad. I got them to pose for a picture at a bonfire we had the other day.

Aren't they cute? I love them both so much!!!

I want to say that I honestly believe that God had a hand in my life over the past year. I know He is always guiding me, but this is so abundantly clear!! First of all, the day that JJ, my sister met her soon-to-be-husband, I met a girl who would become a close friend. I met her older sister next, then after getting to know them a little more, I met their sister. Since then, (I met them in July of last year) they have become some of my best friends. They are wonderful people. I love them so much! They helped me through JJ getting married. I would have had a much harder time getting through it had it not been for them. They are awesome. I feel like I've always known them and I haven't even known them a year!!

Well, that's all for today. Y'all take care!! God bless!!

Eating Healthy

     So, yesterday started my quest to try to eat healthier. That meant no more sugary drinks, no more chocolate (at least on week days. A girl's got to have her chocolate), no more unhealthy snacks, nothing like that.
   
     I did pretty good yesterday..considering we didn't have anything I wanted to eat that was healthy. I finally decided on an apple and some dried fruit and a sandwich. It was on wheat bread. I ate that and some soup for supper last night and I must say, I might have enjoyed it, except for one minor detail.

    Yesterday was the day that my sisters decided to open their chocolate and Cheetos. Of all the days, it had to be yesterday. I didn't eat any and I haven't been doing too bad, but still. I rode home from my older sister's soon-to-be-house with M-n-Ms and Cheetos in the car and I didn't eat a single one. (It was torture)

    It actually wasn't all that bad, I'm just feeling dramatic today. This morning, I got up and made some smoothies for my Mom and myself. They were pretty good! I'm not a big smoothy person, but I liked this one pretty good.

    It was called a Banana Bread Smoothie. I got the recipe off of Pinterest (I finally got Pinterest and I absolutely love it. If you want to follow me, my username is camoandlace95) and here it is:

Banana Bread Green Smoothie
Ingredients:                                              (Makes 2 big smoothies)
  ~1 ripe banana, frozen
  ~1 cup of milk
  ~2 handfuls of Spinach leaves (fresh are best)
  ~1/4 cup of walnuts
  ~1/4 cup of oats
  ~a sprinkle of cinnamon

Directions:
  Combine the ingredients in blender, light stuff on the bottom (spinach, oats, cinnamon, walnuts) heavy stuff on top (banana and ice, if you choose to use ice) and pour the milk on top of all of it.
  Blend the heck out of it (quoting word for word) until nice and smooth. ENJOY!


  So, it turned out big, like I said. My mom has some Coca Cola glasses, the heavy glass ones, and they were nearly running over with green deliciousness. I figure next time I'll half the recipe and see how it turns out. Now, I didn't have walnuts so I used almonds and it still turned out great.

   Mom and I both agreed that it was eatable and I enjoyed it after I got over it being green (really, you can't taste the spinach). I have a ton of recipes for smoothies that I want to try out so I'll try and keep y'all posted on how everything goes. Until next time, here's a picture of my smoothie. Hope you enjoy it!!!

       ~Emily

I don't quite know how to begin this post. I want to apologize for not writing more. I want to tell you all about what has been going on in my life and I want to mention movies and people and Christmas and a whole lot of other stuff. So, let's begin :D

OK! So, the apology: I'm sorry for neglecting you so and I hope to do better. I hope you are not too angry with me though I will say I have missed you and have meant to post several times. I had a nice long post all written out and had about a million pictures to put on it but our internet was completely nuts at the time and I couldn't upload...Sadly.

Next, what has been going on in my life. Well, my sister's wedding date was moved back to February. From June so it was quite a move. I'm happy for her but sad to see her go. She is really happy and extremely excited and our friend KattyRae has her hands full getting a wedding shower planned and well, things have just been really busy.

Now, on to Christmas! Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the way everything is. It's cold,  families get together, great food, talking to friends you haven't seen in a while and lots of other stuff. This Christmas was awesome. We watched the "Nativity Story", it was my first time to see it, and "It's a Wonderful Life". If you haven't seen them I would recommend both. They are fantastic movies

My soon-to-be--brother-in-law got to meet the family at Thanksgiving and he was invited to join us again at Christmas. He seemed to enjoy himself and the family had a good time too so that was all good.

On to movies!! I saw "Red Dawn" in theatres. It has been forever since I saw the old one so I can't really compare the two. I know that the new one seemed to have a ton of language which I didn't care for at all. I saw the "Hobbit" a few days ago with some friends and it was fun! No, I don't just go to the movies but I enjoy going when it is a good movie. I'm supposed to see the "Hobbit" again soon with a whole group of people and this time in 3D so I'm excited. I like the Lord of the Rings trilogy but they're not my favorite movies. Like a friend said, I just can't justify a Good Wizard. But the movies are pretty good. Some parts of it are disgusting but the "Hobbit" wasn't that bad. The book was supposedly written for a younger audience so the movie is less ugly. Now do not, I repeat NOT, take it that I said that it was not bad. It had some trolls and orcs that were pretty ugly but I didn't find them as bad as the LOTR. I wouldn't recommend this for younger children but use your own judgment.

Well, I have enjoyed it. See y'all soon!!!!

~Emily

"The Day They Came to Arrest the Book" book review

   
     The following is a book report I wrote for school:

     The book The Day They Came to Arrest the Book  has stood out to me among many that I have read this year. It has really made me think.
     It begins by introducing you to a few of the characters at a public high school, George Mason High. Barney Roth, a senior student; his friend, Luke; and their school's principal, Mr. Mick Moore, whom the students have nicknamed "Mighty Mike".
     The story itself is begun by a teacher, Nora Baines, who is teaching a class on 19th century history. The first book on their reading list is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The students are to read a portion of this book as homework. From there, the story gets more and more interesting.
     When Mrs. Baines's class is resumed the following day, a black student, Gordon McLean, and a girl named Kate state that some of the material in the book offensive. Gordon finds it racist, that it speaks of African Americans in derogatory terms. Kate, on the other hand, finds it sexist, in that the women in the book, in her opinion, are stupid and are also looked upon as inferior.
     Mr. McLean, Gordon's father, complains to Mr. Moore that it is offensive and should be censored. Mr. Moore, it is discovered, does not like the controversy and therefore usually deals with book censorship without consulting the school board--which, by the way, is against school policy.
     Mrs. Baines is infuriated by this because Mr. Moore tries to convince her to censor the book without making a fuss. Mrs. Baines tells the school's new librarian, Deirdre Fitzgerald, about the conversation in Mr. Moore's office. Ms. Fitzgerald is just as upset.
     The students seem torn. Barney doesn't like the idea of banning a book and Luke seems to feel the same way. Kate, on the other hand, is all for throwing the book out of the school, as is Gordon.
     A group of parents complain to Mr. Moore and school policy is upheld. The board is elected to decide whether the book should be banned. Among the board members are: Ms. Fitzgerald, a black professor, a newspaper editor, an activist, and two others.
     At the hearing, several arguments are given. One party says that the book should be thrown out in its entirety. Another says that it should be banned, but not completely censored--meaning you would have to have written parent and teacher consent to get the book out of the library. The third party says that it should be allowed to stay on the shelves without censorship of any kind.
     The vote from the meeting is four to three in favor of censorship but not complete removal, just putting it on a separate shelf, or as one character states, "putting it on house arrest".
     Things continue to heat up. Barney, as head of the school newspaper, writes how he is all for letting the book stay public in the George Mason Standard.
     Barney then decides to talk to the school's former librarian, Karen Salters. Mrs. Salters makes it clear that she did not leave the school because she wanted to. She says that she was forced to resign by Mighty Mike.
     She tells Barney that Mr. Moore has been censoring books for years--even going so far as to rip pages out of books that he found offensive, even the Bible. She says that she finally had had enough of his nonsense and argued with him. Mr. Moore decided that firing her was not a good idea as she could go public with all that she knew. He therefore decided to make her working likfe miserable until she resigned.
     Things reach such a climax that it becomes national news. Another hearing is planned, this time on television.
     The hearing goes pretty much the same as the first until the end. A young black student stands.
     He speaks his mind concerning Huckleberry Finn. He says that he is glad that he was able to read the book, that he wasn't forbidden to do so. He speaks strongly.
     The vote from the first hearing is overturned and Huck Finn is enabled to go free, so to speak.
     The Day They Came to Arrest the Book ends in more of a question than an answer. Mr. Moore has just been thinking of how they could change board members and Kate, Barney, and Luke are discussing the outcome of the vote. Kate can't believe that she stood up for the rights of blacks only to have a black student tell her it wasn't any of her business what he read. Barney and Luke are glad it's over and don't harbor any bad feelings toward Kate even though she insulted them several times over their feelings about the book.
     At first, beginning this book, I didn't thinkI would like it.I'm not normally one to try and involve myself in controversy and this is ver controversial. On the one hand, you have those who say Huckleberry Finn is racist and sexist and on the other hand, you have those who say it is actually speaks against racism and sexism.
     My personal opinion is more to the latter. I have nothing against blacks and I certainly have nothing against women being a woman myself, but I believe that every book out there is offensive to someone somewhere.
     In conclusion, I believe that The Day They Came to Arrest the Book is a great book. It faces some very controversial issues, yes, but in its entirety, I believe this book should be read by every student.

     The End
   

     Be warned, though, if you do get the notion to read this book, it has some language in it. Not very much, but this author seems to find that it adds emphasis to curse. I disagree, but I was willing to overlook it since there wasn't very much.

     Talk to ya later!

     ~Emily
   

My lovely sister's engagement photos

     I promise that I haven't forgotten you. I've just been really busy. :)    

     As promised, several photos of the happy couple. These are some of the official engagement photos:

     I was gonna put just one, but they're so darn cute!

     Talk to ya soon!

     ~Emily

Good News

     We had some great news Thursday. My sister is now engaged as of Thursday night. It is amazing. I'm so happy for her but sad at the same time because she will be moving out in no time at all it seems. They have a rough date set in June, but it could be moved back anytime. The date is set to accomodate his brother who is overseas with the military right now. He is supposed to get back in May, but they don't know for sure. Also, her husband-to-be is finishing college and will graduate in May, so they are planning around that.

     I'm so glad to see how happy they are together. They are always talking or texting or chatting on the computer or somehow communicating with one another. It's so sweet to see them together.

     I knew that he was going to ask her before she knew. She was talking to me about him and telling me how happy she is and I could only nod and smile. I can see it every time they are together! If it is alright with them later, I'll post a picture of them together.

     Talk to y'all later!!!

     Emily