7QT - Downton, crying, and mugs

1 - Ellie Holcomb's "Marvelous Light."


2 - Thank you for all the warm well wishes and excitement surrounding the new radio show I am co-hosting with Heather and Rebecca. I'm excited and really nervous and would appreciate your prayers. And if you haven't yet, make sure you find us on Facebook so we can keep you posted on updates since most stuff has to stay top secret right now.


3 - Last night I finally was able to watch the season finale of Downton Abbey. If you haven't watched it yet jump to #4. ....... Okay, for the rest of us: Carson! Wasn't it so great when he proposed to Mrs. Hughes?!  And I really thought they would do something at the end so Tom would stay because I really don't want him to leave. Maybe next season will start off with him and Sybie coming back from the US. He's just so good and that is needed. I

 really loved Lord Grantham and Tom going to Edith and letting her know that they know about Marigold. So sweet. (And who cast Marigold? Someone who had a favor to fulfill, that's what I think.) I hope Edith finds love again, and I hope Mary does too, as long as it's someone who makes her less of a jerk. I'm so tired of Mary being a jerk to Edith.

The whole Bates and Anna and the dead scumbag thing feels like the song that never ends. I hope the married couple skipping away at the end of the episode brings about two things: an end to that tiring story arch and a baby.

Finally, didn't you love how the family responded to Mosley and Baxter when they explained how they had visited all those pubs? They were so touched and proud and I cried.


4 - I actually am crying a lot lately. So there's that.


5 - A painter immortalized the last meal of 600 death row inmates, as PBS shares. Her paintings, and the broken lives they symbolize, will break your heart.


6 - I always appreciate when someone on the outside publishes a piece respectfully written about the Catholic Church and acknowledges the hypocrisy that can come from the government and some liberals, so I am a fan of the Wall Street Journal's A Fight to Keep Catholic Schools Catholic.


7 - These mugs are great, aren't they?

They come from here, if you're interested (not an affiliate link, just something I liked)



Thank you, Kelly, for hosting again. Have a good weekend everyone!

Oh it's all just so Sheenazing!

Downton! Oh it was so good. But you know what was better?

Sherlock!  Travis and I cracked up through most of it. I looooved when John and Sherlock were playing the "Who am I?" game with the names on their foreheads. So funny. I was honestly a little bit disappointed in last week's episode - even though it was good, maybe my expectations were too high? - but this week's made up for it and then some.

I am Sher locked.

Finally, Monday is the last day to vote for the Sheenazing Awards. Go vote for your favorite bloggers and maybe find a couple new blogs to add to your list.

Winners will be announced Wednesday.

Downton Abbey and One Direction

Maybe this has made the rounds on Facebook and Twitter and it's old news.  But in case you haven't seen it and you love Downton Abbey and pop music as much as I do, please enjoy:



Best parts?

I say Lord Grantham's "flabbergasted" in place of "overwhelmed" and the "Mama"/"Papa" part.  Hilarious.

7 quick takes

1 - You can make fun of me.  It's okay.  But I think that secretly you like this song, too.

2 - So the post from last night was pretty heavy so this will be light and cheery, okay?  Okay.

3 - This is what I want it to look like outside my house:

I'd like it to be at least 10" deep.  I'd like for my husband to have a snow day wherein we sleep in and make waffles for breakfast.  I want to stand on my porch in the morning when the sun is up but the roads aren't cleared so everyone is inside and everything is still.  And I want to listen to the silence that only comes when a deep snow is still fresh.  Then later I want to build a snowman with the kids and pull them in the sled.  I want to go in and make hot chocolate while Travis and L and Ben shovel and JF and Resa nap upstairs.  

I want a snow day!

4 - Do you watch the show Ghost Hunters on Syfy?  If you do, the Jan 30th episode will supposedly be about the Peoria Asylum, an abandoned facility that closed in the 1970's.  It treated people with mental illness and locally it is well known for its supposed ghost stories.  If you watch the show or if you ever visit the site, please remember this, which is something I shared on Facebook earlier this week:

I know people just want the fun of a thrilling, local ghost story, but as the granddaughter of one of its former inhabitants I am bothered. If you're interested in the history of Peoria Asylum that's one thing and I respect that. I'm interested in it too. But if all you're looking for is a thrill I'd like to remind you that real people suffered in there. Real people lived their lives in there and those people and their memories deserve our compassion and respect, not our morbid curiosity. The stories my mom has shared with me of visiting her own mother (who had suffered brain damage) at the Peoria Asylum are nothing but sad. No one should make money or have a good time at the expense of another person, even if those people have been dead for awhile and especially if those people suffered because of mental illness.

5 - Downton Abbey question: Why is everyone so mean about Lady Edith?  Maybe I just identify with her too much and so I have a natural soft spot.  But I don't think she's that bad.  

6 - NFP question:  Travis and I would like to switch to the Marquette Method of natural family planning but there are no instructors in our area.  Has anyone else learned it via the website and emailing with a staff member?  I'm concerned that I won't learn it as well but we're also running out of options for methods that will work for us.

7 - This is funny, eh?

unable to communicate - so laugh

My introverted self is waaaay over stimulated after this past, glorious weekend.  Behold was fantastic, and I'm still processing everything.  I have pretty much retreated, and since I don't even have any pictures to post I'll show you this, The Fresh Prince of Downton Abbey.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Hat tip to Lisa for sharing the goodness with me in the first place.

7 quick takes

1 - This song is a tribute to what I had wanted to happen.

2 - I am on Pinterest.  Are you?  It's true what everyone says about - a great way to have hours of your life sucked away from you.  But it did teach me about the sock bun.

I look cute with a sock bun.  Not gonna lie.

3 - It's also how I learned how to do a simple Gibson Tuck.

I was hoping I'd look really cute with my hair like this.  But I got 0 compliments and my husband told me I looked like an AC.  (That's Apostolic Christian.  I was told once, by an AC, that there are more AC churches in Central Illinois than in the rest of the world combined.  So you may not know what an AC is.  Think strict Baptist meets strict Mennonite.  They're good people.  The women wear skirts, and always have their hair up with a little croqueted covering.)  It's not an insult to be told I look AC, but I would have preferred "pretty", "classy", or even "nice".

4 - Of course I was not trying to look like an AC.  I was a little more inspired by this:

It is true.  The void in my life created once I finished Lost has now been filled by Downton Abbey.  Simply put: I am in love.

5 - Here's a little post I wrote over at the Behold blog.  It's all about how I got involved with Behold in the first place.  Check it out!

6 - There is a youtube video all over the place called "I hate religion, but love Jesus".  It's really well done and you may have seen it.  If you have, I encourage you to read this commentary, written by Marc Barnes. 

7 - We still have our Christmas lights on the front porch and I still turn them on.  Especially now that there's snow I like having them glowing in the night.

Winter is so dark and I love coming home to a dark street with our cheery lights welcoming me.  But I do promise to you all that they won't stay up all year long.