Minabird

A WHOLE YEAR

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 14:34:00 +0000

OK, So I have been neglecting my blogging but I am ready to get back in the swing of things.
I was searching my friends blogs and realize that they haven't been updating either. Maybe blogs are a thing of the past? But I like to blog and I want to get back to sharing what's in my heart for my own sake.

Valentine's Day is coming in 3 days. It is totally normal for people to think about the loves in their lives. Of course, when you are young you only think about Valentine's Day as being in love with your significant other. It's all about boyfriend and girlfriend and in school- will I have a secret admirer bring me a candy gram? Well that never happened to me and I'm not complaining about it now, even though I may have then.
Now, as a 31 year old(without a significant other) I reflect on what Valentine's Day can mean for me. Since it was invented for consumer purposes...I can turn it around and express my love for my friends and family. As well as how much Jesus loves me and what he does for me. I found this and wanted to share it.

I love this picture. The guy who made it had good things in mind. It is just like the verses in the Bible.

So, enough about Valentine's Day....You want to know what I have been up for a whole year or more? At the end of my last post, I mentioned how I moved back to Delaware. I have yet to post a picture on that adventure. But I am now living in a cozy TINY apartment with my brother. I have had several jobs and I settled on a full time job as an Administrative Assistant for a boss I have known since I was 5. I love the job and work. It is just what my battered soul needed. I also have a part time job as a nanny to two young boys who are crazy and rambunctios. I put them up from daycare throughout the week and feed, bath, and entertain then until mom or dad come home. I really enjoy working for them and the extra money coming in helps too.

Of course life always has struggles and trials. And I have my family around me when I am overwhelmed. I am so thankful for them. Sometimes I wonder why God gave each of us a family if we are to be free from them and the worldy things. Then I am reminded that God knows our human nature and that family can support us and keep us real. There is an unconditional love that comes from them and I can also find my own selfishness and do things for them because it is a responsibility as a family member. I have a very big family and yes, I do not have as much in common with them as I would like and so our relationship can be very distant. But they have a purpose in this life too. God gives each of us a chance to choose and I must not judge but love them the best I can while still being righteous and good.
Ok I better sign off for now. I could talk forever. But I will try update more later.

Recap of 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:25:00 +0000

SOOO much has happened since I have last posted. Right after my last post, so much has happened that I had to concentrate on that in order to stay sane. So I will try to update as much as possible.

I enjoyed a season of strawberries. here I am with friends in a near upick field.

A friend's husband was kind enough to give me a crash course on changing my brakes.

June was filled with helping my friend prepare for her wedding. Then a week after they treated me to their vacation time. So I drove three hours to the south of Oregon to go boating and visiting the small towns there.
I took the bride out for an Appelbees dinner.

The wedding brought these two(sisters of the groom) back home for a visit.

The preparations and wedding collage.

Me and the Bride

Because my dear friends was in town for the wedding...I was lucky to get time with her. Here we are enjoying a fire before going inside to play games until midnight.

Then a week later I went on my own down south.

A little video of my drive.

Once there we went boating every day and I enjoyed paddling. We had to stop at the beach. We also went on the sand dunes...they are huge!!

This is the view from the lake house.

Here we are touring the small towns.

We then headed to the coast.

I had to drop off a friend at the airport who is going to spend a year in Norway. I still miss her terribly.

Here I am spending time at the beach with a friend and their little children.

Not much tops the Oregon Coast.

My summer was filled with this little girl. I cared for her and cleaned the house for the mother.

Fundraising consisted of Detailing cars for Dealerships. And Jeldwen concetion stands...selling food.

I got a part time job as a blueberry picker.

My summer 2014 was used for job searching and working temp jobs of babysitting. I also got a part time job at a car detailing garage. It was different for me but I enjoyed the hard labor.

July consisted of constant walks through this park close enough to my house that I could walk there. Here my room mate picked up her mother and went on a sunset walk. It was gorgeous and fun.

I spent this holiday at my church with friends.

On the 5th we went to a local Civil war reenactment. It was fun because the company was great.

I ended up getting a part time job doing car detailing.

My garden was flourishing and I got lots of beets from it.

Then we had another wedding to prepare for. This one I was a part of as a bridesmaid.
This collage is rehearsal night.

Here are all the Brides maids.

The Couple after the ceremony. They had a cute country wedding.

I turned 30 on August 27th. I celebrated it by getting a pedicure and going out to dinner and a movie my with my two roommates. Fall came around and work dwindled to three days in the month of October. I knew something had to change and my path lead me to move back to Delaware.
November 9th I was treated to another dinner with three friends to celebrate my birthday and also a going away thing.

So on November 18th I made my way across the country in my completely packed car. Arriving in Delaware in time for Thanksgiving.
At this point...this blog is very long and my trip to Delaware took a week. So I want to put it in a whole new post. I will work on the at that soon.

Almost Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 00:25:00 +0000

Hello Everybody

I can't believe it is already the 9th of June. Time is flying for me. I have been doing so much in my little/big home that I only briefly thought about my blog. But now that I am approaching summer and graduation I feel it best if I start this up again and update people on the goings on in my life.

I have been doings tons of planting. I started a garden!!! See...

It is currently my pride and joy. What you see here is tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, and a few carrots. That last row is either cabbage, cauliflower, or radishes. I have no idea... I put a bunch of seeds in when the other stuff we planted did not grow. And I should have marked what each row was.

I have three flower plants at the end but only the one is looking like it is growing. It makes me wonder if I should take the others out and put them elsewhere.

But there are lots of other flowers that are growing faithfully!!

This bush is mint!! I love making my own tea from that. There are lilies growing in those stalks.

I also have other plants that are growing very well. Plus I have planted some shade bulbs in the garden between the flowers.

On memorial day my room mates mom stopped by and helped me uproot weeds and plant a whole section of gladiolas and dahlias. They haven't bloomed yet but I am looking forward to that.

I guess that's all for now. Who knows, maybe I will be able to get another post later on tonight. But right now I am going to go eat some trout I caught last Saturday. Yum yum!!

Snow Storm in the valley?

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 05:56:00 +0000

Yeah, this snow storm thing NEVER happens. But guess what? I woke up this morning to this. In this valley we sometimes get snow but never something to talk about. Currently, someone did a 360 having fun on the slippery road.(as I watch out my window)

This last Tuesday, it seriously snowed all day....watch this video and see.

These are seriously the largest snowflakes I have ever seen. I wonder why I didn't go outside and try to catch a few.
But not one single flurry stuck. For 10 seconds I thought it might stick, but then my hopes were dashed and nothing stayed.
But last night as I was saying goodbye to some old friends I found out that it was supposed to snow.

And this is what it looked outside my window all day.

Today's snow only started sticking on the roads after 2pm. It was only staying on our cars and the grass. But the roads stayed clear...then by some miracle the snow started to stick!!

So I started a fire with my very last log. It was a large one and I burned lots of newspaper but I finally got it lit. It stayed lit for about 5 hours...And now my last log is gone.

But I just stayed sitting on the couch and looking out the window at the snow. I did however, feel like I wanted to get some snackie food while I caught up on the Biggest Loser Finale. Isn't that horrible? Anyway, that show is very motivating. So at about 5 pm I headed to the corner store that you see in most of my pictures and got a sandwich, chocolate pudding, and other goodies.
Check out my last few pictures and a couple videos too.

Make this bigger and look at the house and dark spots to see the snow falling.

This was my little window I kept open so I could watch the snow falling and the goings on outside.

I then decided to venture outside to give you a better view of actually how much snow is falling. It's so hard to actually see it in a video or picture.

It was so cold out there so I headed back to my cozy corner on the couch.

There are so many things I want to blog about, that I have been doing these last few days but that will have to come another day. School was cancelled today and it is also cancelled tomorrow.
I'm trying to slow down a bit so I took a break from my preschool substitute position so I can catch up on homework. I just got a lot of trials going on with me right now. Some happy things and some sad things and also some tragic things. Birth, rebirth, near death, emotional loss, etc. You can pray for my dear niece. She has been in the hospital for two weeks now after she was born. She had many complications and we saw her getting better and then she got an infection and had to stay longer.

Isn't she such a cutie? Her name is Olivia.
So I guess I will close now. Look for more posts from me soon.
One of a trip to the beach, hiking with friends, day trip to Seattle, hiking trip with my brother etc.

Fruits & Vegetables fill my Fridge

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 21:33:00 +0000

Who doesn't love fruit and vegetables? I certainly love them.

I have a whole fridge of them. For the first time in my life, I washed my fruits and vegetable the way I was supposed to. I filled the sink with water and added white vinegar. Let them soak and then rinsed and brushed them. After that I cut them and put them in plastic containers for easier assembly. It feels so good to open your fridge and see this....

I am reminded of how much God loves and cares for me. This is how I want to live my life for a long time. I just have to actually make the meals then instead of being lazy.
A word of advice....never think you don't need to wear an apron while chopping beets. This may occur....

I have some really bad chopping knives and when I finally got through to the bottom it flew right into my shirt. Luckily I had some oxi-clean to spray that right out and now it looks good as new. I was a but worried though. Next time I will will be wearing my apron.

Now I must get the day started. I would like add a prayer request though.
There is a dear brother in Delaware that has been waiting a long time for a heart transplant and even missed one opportunity because no one was home to rush him to the hospital. Yesterday he finally got his new heart, from a 20 year old boy.
The heart is beating well but the next 24 hours are essential in seeing if his body will accept the heart as his own. He has about 12 children who have huge smiles on their faces.
This man is like a father to me and I am so excited he finally got his new heart. Please pray for his recovery.

How to Set Up a Miniature Christmas Town

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 22:31:00 +0000

Good Afternoon Followers,
How is everyone doing on this fine Saturday? Have you gotten anything done yet or are you just getting started. I woke up late today...I am a night owl even though I enjoy nice quiet mornings.
I have already emptied and loaded the dishwasher. Taken a load out of the dryer and hung up a load from the washer. Now I got myself a cup of tea and here we go on doing some paperwork. But first I wanted to post my little Christmas Village. I set this up before Christmas and took pictures but I forgot to post about it. So here it is. My mom taught me this technique.

First you need to have a string of lights. These can be green or white..no matter. Now it depends on how big of a surface you have. You might not need such a long string. I used a 100 count string and it seemed to work for my surface.
The first thing to do is zig zag the lights up and down your surface so they are evenly spaced. You don't really want the light poking up so try to lay them as flat as possible.

You can see that my lights pop up naturally, so I taped down the ones that seem to not want to stay down...plus this helps to secure the lights so they don't move around to a place you don't want them to. Make sure there are lights all over and they are not all bunched into one spot. This will leave dark spaces in your town.

After that you will want some white felt cloth. You can also use long pieces of cotton. I have some white felt in the middle and then I covered the corner with some small cotton fabric I had. The edges may stick up so you can use double sided tape or wrap your tape and secure the cloth to the surface you are setting it up on.

You might have to get down on the ground in order to see if the felt is secure enough. Sometimes the light will peek through around the edges and you can only see them at eye level.
After that, you can add your village pieces. I always start with the houses first.

I have so many, but I love each of them and can never pick which ones to put on so I over-crowd my village.

After the houses you will want to add the trees, if you have any. I like to put the big ones in the back so as not to block anything. Then I place the small ones around the place. I usually try to put the trees close to the houses in order for it to look more natural.

Then you can add the people. I don't have many people so I try to group the like ones together. I also had this little fence so I stick that in the back of the village to add an aesthetic appeal.

And then you have your whole village. Enjoy!

Remember, you can click on these pictures to view them larger.

2014 New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 23:48:00 +0000

Hello Everyone,
Sorry this post is a couple days after New Year's, but better late than never.

How has everyone been doing in this New Year? Did you celebrate with friends or stay home and enjoy some coziness in your house? Or did you make it an early night and sleep through the New Year? Did you perhaps watch the Ball drop on TV?

I did what I do every year. I went to church and spent a wonderful evening of festivities before grabbing a drink and toasting into the New Year with 500 other people. Then we went outside to enjoy the fireworks. Here are a few pictures I got.

We counted down on this little TV

Then we headed outside to watch about 10 minutes of Fireworks. It has been really foggy here lately, as you may have seen in another post. But it gave an awesome look for the fireworks.

I am currently having a day at home. Sometimes everything becomes too much and I need to relax. So I made cresent rolls.

While running this fireplace in the background.

My family on the East coast is enjoying very cold weather and a snowstorm. How I wish so much that I could be there all cozy on the couch with fuzzy socks, tea, a sweater, and a blanket while reading a book.
I told myself that I was going to read a book before I started school and school starts on Monday again. Guess that didn't pan out too well. Oh well, when school starts there will be plenty of books to read.
I guess I'll go snuggle in my bed and chill for another hour until I head to a fundraising event.
I hope every one of you guys are enjoying the weather you have right now. Remember, where ever you are, there is always someone who wishes they had your weather instead of their own.

Christmas and the Aftermath

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 20:36:00 +0000

Morning people,
I had to go for a cup of coffee this morning. It's rare (within the last month) that I will take a cup of coffee because tea has been able to satisfy me. But I am exhausted and a cup of coffee sounded so delicious.
So here I sit, trying to wake up. All the other blogs that I keep a close eye on are not really posting so I thought to post for myself.
Now, let's see where to start...

OH RIGHT!! How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was adventurous as I was house hopping, even to my own. More on that later. Did anyone get to have to some snow for your Christmas morning? I would have loved that. But having wonderful friends is just about as good as snow on Christmas morning. Snow always puts the "icing on the cake" for me at Christmas time...did you get that reference? Haa haa, sometimes I crack myself up.
So now to more details on my Christmas...where should I start? Since I am a picture person, let me look through my pictures...

I just got a refill on my coffee so I will wait for you to refill your cup with what you are drinking...ready? OK then let's start. This seems like a good place. A tradition I have kept
every Christmas I have spent in Oregon is going to a family friend's Christmas Eve celebrations. The best part of the night is when we dance around the tree.
This is something I first experienced in 2002 when I spent a Christmas in Norway. That was an awesome winter vacation(with actual snow*winky face).
Back to my Christmas Eve. As I was driving home from my painting job that evening...the fog came in. It was actually only about 4pm.

We always sit down and have a meal, then we make our way to the living room to play games. Each year this family also invites some other people and they are always different. This year we had a special friend with her husband and two sons. Their other son is in Norway this year.
The game we played this year was Catch Phrase.
After the game some people had to sit on the most competitive player because he was laying down instead of going around the tree with us.

Here is a quick peek at us going around the tree.

And the fun wasn't over yet. We headed back to the dining room to fill ourselves with desserts and passed out a few gifts to each other.
Then at about midnight I made my way to another house until about 3am to an open house. Usually there are much more people at this place but this year, it was a bit sparce. Atleast one other girl was there with me and also the mom of the bachelor who lives there. She is a great friend and "mom" to me.

We ended up playing another game of catch phrase for about 2 hours. However, there was someone there who's birthday it was so every hour on the hour, we had to sing to him. And sometimes again when we were proud of him for something he did. Sometimes we would do it when he re-entered a room but he did pretty good about staying in one spot.

Now onto Christmas Morning

There is a family here that I consider to be my family. And I refer to the children as my nieces and nephews. I have never done Christmas morning with them and I decided this year was perfect. When I arrived in the morning I see this. There is even more hiding behind the tree. The best gift of all was this girl got this huge bear. You could never guess though because it was in a smallish box that was only half the size of the bear. The more she unwrapped it, the bigger it got.

Then I headed over to couple's house to eat a real mexican lunch. It was so yum.

One of my favorite things about Holidays is that it leaves time to play games. Here we are playing Skip-bo. I hadn't played that in over 10 years.

I was there most the day until late afternoon. I headed home to prepare for my own visitors. I like traditions, as I have told you, and I don't have my own, so I thought to make one. I invited friends over for a light meal and fellowship. It was huge success and so much fun. I think next year I might actually invite people to actually spend Christmas with and spend most of the day hosting for them.

Here is some coziness.

One of them even stayed to help clean up...She is the greatest. We then stayed up til 2 talking and playing Heads Up...a wonderful game that is so much fun.

Well that was my Christmas. The next two days were spent lounging around and being lazy. I have been fighting a cold for a while now and still haven't been able to kick it. It could be all the yummy goodness I have been snacking on.

So now I look around all the things that need to be done before school starts in a week. There is a very long list...
I still have to finish some cards and send them out before the new year. And it's just around the corner. I guess I better go make a dent on them so send out tomorrow.

Check This Out

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 18:20:00 +0000

Hello Readers,
How's every one this morning? Have you made your cup of tea yet? If you haven't, go do it. I found a video for you to watch. You might make sure you have a tissue close by as well.
I found this video from another blogger. Well done WestJet. I will be looking into your airline for my next flight.

3 more days til Christmas! How are your Christmas preparations coming? Have a great day.

Tea and Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 18:42:00 +0000

How is everyone doing this morning?

My room mate made cranberry-oatmeal cookies last night and so I decided to have some with my tea this morning. Most of my mornings have started that way. I enjoy spending my mornings with a cup of tea. Susan Branch taught me that. My mom tried to make me a coffee drinker, so now we each can enjoy our own cup of something in the morning as we grow old together. Too bad we live a whole continent away from each other. Now I'm rambling...which reminds me I need to finish my About Me page. Sorry to those of you that have been wanting to read more.
I just took another bite of cookie and realized there are also chocolate chips in these cookies.

As I was saying, most mornings I get a cup of tea, while still in my pink bath robe, and sit down in front of the computer to check on some blogs I follow. If you have a blog you would like me to follow, please leave me a comment. Most mornings I am dissapointed because there are no new posts. Then I am inspired to get on my blog and post something. So here I am.
I have to leave soon to provide child care for a darling little girl. But I will take time to leave you with this picture.

The finger is so irresistible.

The other morning, my room mate and I decided to write our Christmas cards for the local friends. We decided to make ourselves an awesome breakfast first. My room mate is very good at making pancakes. So she did and I made eggs etc.

Then our table turned into this...

and we still have to finish some cards that need to be mailed back home.
Now I must get ready to leave. I hope you all have a wonderful day and don't forget to let me know you stopped by.

Christmas Festivities

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 21:10:00 +0000

I have been very busy this past week. Let me catch you up on what I have been doing.

Currently I am taking a day at home trying to get rid of an annoying cough I have had for days now. I decided I better not let this day go to waste so I put a load of laundry in the washer and dryer, filled and started the dishwasher, and made a cup of tea(or 2). I also set three pots to boil on the stove. Sometimes moisture in the air can help to dispel the mucus.

And here I sit, listening to christmas music and downloading some new songs.

We finally got our tree decorated and we brought a friend along to help. The branches on our tree went in weird angles and we had to work together to get the lights on the tree. Here my room mate is working on putting more lights on.

And then comes the Ornaments.

And here is in the living room right now.

We have also been doing other decorating as well...Check it out

And Christmas Festivities wouldn't be without some baking.

Yummy ginger snaps that aren't too crunchy...yum yum

We will store them in our snowman cookie jar. There they are.

Ok, I think I've taken up enough of you time. I hope every is enjoying this Christmas-time.

Oh Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 17:32:00 +0000

I am A little behind in decorating this year but that's because I am in the middle of finals week. I will share a little of what we have been doing so far. We finally got the tree into the house but it was seven feet tall...we ordered a six foot(personally I think a four foot would have worked and then we could set it up on a side table and still be able to fit all the furniture back into the house.
My room mate's dad brought us the tree from our church and helped us set it up. Come to find out, this tree seems to be on the verge of browning all over...It must have been cut a while ago.

But my room mate is great with a pair of snippers and proceeds to trim the tree. This next picture is how it currently looks in our living room waiting for us to decorate it.

I think she did a pretty good job. I have been watering the thing and it just seems to be sucking it right up so I guess that's a good sign that it is still alive.
I guess I'll leave this as that. I still have one more final paper to write and I must begin so I can finish. I'll post more Christmas fun later.

A Photoshoot with Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Earlier this afternoon I took a friend to a sweet little place called Deepwood Mansion. I have taken pictures there before and I knew it might be perfect for her because she wanted a candid shot.

This morning it sprayed us with a little snow...we still had some from the first snowfall about 5 days ago. So, Let me take you on a little walk through the park. First we go down this hill and turn the corner... OH!! What a beautiful bench...must snap picture.

Let's back up a little, go through a gate and look at this site...so many places to snap pictures.

And we love hearts so must photograph this bench.

Now our friends have arrived and we go up to meet them. However, we run into a holly tree.

We snap a couple pictures of our client and then we move around the mansion to get another view. However, this door is so inviting we must take a photo of this wonderfully decorated stairway.

These steps are beckoning us to climb them. We walk to the right and see a decorated tree in the closed in veranda. What a site to behold. *snap*

After this lovely photo shoot we decided to venture into the woods because that's were our friends who came with the client/friend went. We talked about how great the outdoors is. I could go on and on about great the outdoors is for everyone and their health. Did you know that people with ADD or ADHD are able to concentrate better after spending time in nature for even just 15 minutes? We'll leave all this talk for another post. But now we are a little cold. So we must return home where we can look at all our pictures and remember our fond memories.
But first we need a cup of hot chocolate to warm our bones. It's been below freezing for almost a week now.

How do you like my little snow people kissing? Aren't they darling? My sister gave them to me for Christmas about 3 years ago. They are actually salt and pepper shakers and their mouths are magnetic. My room mate has a pair of shakers already so I leave mine for decorating my desk.

Silver Creek Falls after a snowfall

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 05:42:00 +0000

"A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together."

As you may have read in another of my posts, it snowed here last Friday. That was perfect for me and my room mate because we wanted to go to the snow and take some pictures for a Christmas Card. We took a younger friend with us who is interested in photography and needs some experience photographing people. I also brought my camera along and couldn't help taking a few pictures myself.

Silver Creek falls is a park with many waterfalls. Even though I have been there many times, I have never been there after a snowfall. I love how the snow looks on all the ever green trees.

Here is that waterfall at a closer view.

These photos were before we got into the park. Then we went into the park to another spot for a huge waterfall. First let's take a stroll over this bridge.

And look over at at the water.

Now let's stroll on further until we see some small deer in the distance. Too bad they ran away and I couldn't get a great pictures.

Now that they have run away, even though we tried really hard to walk quietly to not make any noise.
So we keep walking and get closer to the large waterfall as we hear it rushing in the distance.

We are so shocked at the huge icicles hanging from the side. It is so cold that everything that has frozen except for the running water. Now we have to go further. We keep strolling around and start to make our way down. OOPPS!! We slipped on some black ice. It was covered in snow and surprised us. However, we dust ourselves off and walk down further to this awesome view.

You can see the pathway that people can walk on. That's the white strip on the far side of the waterfall...this leads around behind the waterfall...I am pretty they blocked that off.
Besides we had to take some pictures with people in it and the light was getting away from us.
I managed to have our photography snap this picture of me.
I hope you enjoyed our little excursion but the sun is really going down and everyone is frozen so we trek on back to the car to warm up. Now we drive home carefully because some of the roads closest to the park still have frozen snow on it.

Our First Snowfall of the Season

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 20:22:00 +0000

I have been fighting a cold these past few weeks and so I slept in a little this morning. But I woke up to a wondrous sight!!

and then I check the weather forecast...

It's Gonna Snow All DAY!!!

That meant school might close. At 11:30 I noticed that it stopped snowing. Big Bummer. But! at 11:45am I got a text saying that school was closing at 2. YAY! That means that I won't be going into work.

We live on a 2 way stop corner road. I have already seen two cars slide on the snow. People in Oregon do not know how to drive in it. And that is the main reason I do not want to go out in the snow. But now it's 12:19pm and the snow has begun to fall again.

Even the mailman is still out and about. I love those guys.

I skyped with my mom for 3 minutes until she hung up on me to call my brother. Even though, I got to talk to my 2 year old nephew and 3 year old niece for a few minutes. They still love me.

I just realized that we didn't really think about going food shopping...The house doesn't really have much food. Maybe if I wait until late tonight and I can go get some. It's only supposed to snow for today but I wouldn't mind being snowed in for the weekend. If I had more money, I would get snow tires and get up to the mountains. Maybe chains will do the same thing.

Here is one more snow picture before I leave you to do some more school work.

Evening on the town

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 19:48:00 +0000

Yesterday I spent all day working on school work. In the evening a had date with a friend. We went to a cute little coffee cafe down the road from her. It was my first experience there and it was cute. There was a little fireplace, that was already surrounded by people and the place was pretty big. It's not like your modern day coffee shop. Most people like to make their coffee shops old fashioned and rustic but this one was nice too. There was a bar to sit at, tables and booths. They served more than coffee but they also served handmade crepe sandwiches. I am going to be returning there for sure.

I got myself a Creme-de-menth Latte. It was delicious. I know what I want to add to my Christmas list.

After the coffee shop we went to Northern Lights Theater. It's a theater that serves you food. You order your food at the counter and take a number. Then you go sit down and there are tables in front of your seats. We watched "The Butler". It was a pretty good movie. There are some violent parts but I understand why they showed them like that. They really did happen and people should remember what others did to black people, not long ago. They weren't brutal or gory. Sometimes you were left with the impression that happened. So I think it was done in good taste.

I have been adding songs to my Christmas Playlist lately.
This is one of my recent favorites - Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant
I also love the movie that the video shows. The first time I watched it, I knew I had to own it.

I hope you all are having a great day and I hope you continue to have a great day. If you have snow, throw a snow ball for me. And maybe give it a lick. ;)

December Has Arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 20:01:00 +0000

Yay! Bring on the Christmas Cheer, hot chocolate, freezing nights, fireplaces, apple cider, gatherings with friends, snow, and anything else related to December.

I have to say that Christmas is my most favorite holiday of the year and Winter is my most favorite season. Since I live in Oregon, I never see much snow. I would really like to take a trip to the mountains this year. I have never done that - drive to the mountain for snow.

Unfortunately this day is windy and the leaves are still falling on the ground...no snow. They had predicted that we might see some, but I think we will see rain for the next few days as the Mountains see snow...wish I was more of a skier.

On another note, me and a friend decided it was time to get out of town. I have final projects and finals this week and next so I thought it would be nice to get out of Salem. So we headed East and found us a cozy(old-fashioned) little bed and breakfast. The owner was really nice and friendly. Since we arrived in the dark about 6 and left the next day at about 9:45am we didn't have much time to visit the two young horses in the field or swing on the front porch or the swing hanging from the tree. Too bad, I guess I'll have to go back. We did however, manage to take some pictures. This one my friend took of me. This is the back porch view from the inn. These hills are called the Elkhorn Mountains. The fog lies over a river.

Now I must find my camera so you can see what the inside looks like. Where did I put that thing?

Oh! I found it in my purse...This is our room. Just click on the pictures if you want to view them larger.


The right side of the room.


A King Sized Bed with a door that leads on a side porch.

The Awesome fireplace that we let burn while we were sleeping.

A working Phone

The rafters with a side window


This little victorian corner.

Right across the hall was our bathroom.

Our room was on the second floor with 3 other rooms. There was this common room for us to use. Since we were the only guests in the whole place, we got to use it all to ourselves.

One of my favorite decorations.

The next morning our host showed us the back porch...with a view like this I had to take pictures.

Check out the holly tree!! It was huge. I am standing on the upper level porch.

Then down on the lower level here is a landscape for you.

Last night Brunstad was showing their Music Feast Presentation and our Media team allowed us to stream it into our homes. I had my friend and her parents over to enjoy it with me.

It was too bad that my laptop was acting up and we had to take shifts of moving the mouse constantly or the video would freeze.

Yummy food.

My Day of Being Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 20:21:00 +0000

My Thanksgiving was awesome like usual. I went to the Cooper's at about 3 with my Sweet Potato Casserole. Here's the Sweet Potatos before I boiled them.

I added all the ingredients to the bowl...

Then I blended it together and added the crushed pecans..

This was the final project after they started to dig in. I got all good reports from it. So I guess it was a success and it was almost gone by the end of the night so I might have to make it again next year.

Here is some pictures from the rest of my day. After we devoured food.

This picture was actually before we ate. I had to fight them to get off their phones.

Near the end of the night we brought out the Phase 10 Cards.

And like we've done for the last two years we decided to continue the tradition this year too.

So that's all for now. I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving and try not to let your left overs go to waist.

~A Day of Thanks~

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 20:54:00 +0000

My house is starting to smell like Sweet Potato Baking...I am making a casserole from Susan Branch's calender.

The potatos are currently boiling and the decorations are keeping me company as I listen to Christmas music.

Around 2 o'clock I will head over to the Coopers house to eat and eat and eat. Since my job is to bring the candied yams...I decided to branch out a little today. Tommy, their son is in Norway and he is the one whole really loves my yams and so this year I will do something a little different.
I hope all of you are with friends or family this day.

This verse was on the Brunstad website when I looked this morning. It pointed out that there were other days of thanks but they only happened when something great was going on. This verse says we are to give thanks in all times. I will take this into my heart and thank God everyday what He done for me in my life. There have been some unthankful times and I know that those times I was supposed to be thankful for too. God gives us opportunities to over come evil in our flesh. In this world of destruction and sin I must stand strong no matter what comes. God is always beside me and working with me. I am Super Thankful for that.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Traditions

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 20:24:00 +0000

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I am going to spending it with my usual family.

When I spent my first Thanksgiving in Oregon I decided to pick a family that had many girls like my own family. That is the Coopers. The only thing is that every year there is another one missing from the event. They always invite other friends so there are still a lot of people there. But this year we are going to be missing many people. Their only son is in Norway for Thanksgiving. And a few have married and moved to other countries.

I started a tradition there and hopefully we can do it for the third time this year. I take a picture of when we get the food and everyone tries to do the same pose. It turned out great last year and I look forward to seeing how it goes this year. I will share the picture with you after I take it.

Also every year I make my mom's famous Candied Yams. They like them because they aren't too sweet and I add walnuts...YUM!!!
If you ever think you might want to try it out, here's the recipe

I am in the last few days of babysitting children. Their parents come home on Monday. I am currently enjoying a nice cup of coffee and thinking about the homework I have to get done.

Last night I had a friend over to read out of Articles of Johan O. Smith. Article 400 had some wonderful words.

It is called "First Love 1928". I believe it's an excerpt. Anyway these words really made my hear burn - "Those who hear the voice of God rely on it completely and do ask what people think."

I recently was asking some people what they thought on a particular topic because I wanted feedback on how I should do something. I got the revelation as I was asking someone else. She didn't even have to say anything, it just came to me.

But these words were so powerful for me. I must always delve into what God is saying to me. If you get a chance to read that article, please do. It really put this topic into perspective for me.

Christmas is coming after Thanksgiving and I am already looking forward to decorating for it.

Well I better sign off. A great day to you.

Novemeber has arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 20:29:00 +0000

I am spending this weekend babysitting 8 children. It's my joy. Check out these cute two boys..

We started our morning with some cuddles and smiles. Now they are playing a nice game of Sorry(in between discussions about who skipped who).

I am working on getting some homework done but I realized I haven't updated in a while. I thought I might add some more pictures from my trip since it is the month of November.

Here are some pictures from the second leg of my trip. We headed out D.C. and made our way to Chicago. This train had a viewing car where I spent the whole 17 hours. The seats were not gonna be ok for me. So I took everything with me and made myself comfortable(the best way I could). I was hoping we would have WIFI but I was out of luck on that.

The sun started setting.

We stopped at train stations to let people off. This one in Martinsburg looked pretty cool.

Train Ride Home - Washington D.C.

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 16:26:00 +0000

-Susan Branch

Hello Folks...Fall as totally arrived in Salem, Oregon. No doubt about it. I am just now making some fall decor to put around the house. I have to bring out my gourds. I saw a great banner thing I can make with them and I am so excited.

So yeah, I am guessing you want to read more of my journey...

To begin with, I arrived in Philly so hungry.
It was a bit hard to find my bearings. I had been to the station before but never by the train part. Union Station is big station.

It consists of MANY shops, tours around D.C, and also the bus station. The train part wasn't all that big. I walked around trying to find some place to eat. I didn't find anything great but my carry-on was bulky and then I realized what "Store your luggage" really meant. $6/hr, not bad. So I stored that one since I knew I wanted to walk around D.C. anyway(one less thing to worry about). I finally settled on a pizza place that also had a per lb bar and they had a lot of healthy options so I choose from them. After that I went exploring. I looked at a map and realized I might be able to walk where the mall(large strip of grass you can walk on and see awesome buildings) was.

I ventured outside and realized I had a great view of the side of the Capitol, straight out from the station. I figured that I don't really go there in all the times I have been to D.C. so I went there. I walked around the huge statue where homeless or run down people were sitting.

I had to avoid traffic as I walked away from the station. Listening to walking signs is a great idea. I realized these two tall guys were walking right along with me. They seemed odd but not in the homeless type of way. I don't want to seem prejudice so I won't say what race I thought they were. So I just decided I was going to walk faster to avoid them. Some how they caught up to me at each block corner.

I took my time looking around. There are many parks near the historical buildings. As I got closer to the Capitol I noticed there were tons of police everywhere. I walked past what I assumed was the senate building because it said something about senate offices there. I got even closer to the Capitol and there were police on every street surrounding it. It wasn't until I started to get on the roadway that was right in front of it that a police officer stopped me and informed us(me and those two guys) that we had to head to the left. She gave no explanation. She simply said, "I need you guys to do me a favor and head that way."

My thoughts went like this...Is the president there and they are having some meetings about Syria or is someone hurt? I saw about 3 police searching a hippy looking person's belongings so that made me think there might be a bomb threat. I saw that I could walk around the grass in front of the Capitol and so I did. It was funny as I walked I was trying so hard not to look guilty...HAA HAA What do I have to feel guilty about?

Anyway, I finally got around and took some pictures. These next "few" pictures are the journey around the grass to try and get a picture.

"Success" at LAST!

I then decided, since I was hot and sweaty, I could head back to the station since I was not going to get any closer. I went through a grassy/park area. I found a bench and sat down for a bit. I passed this next water fountain and took the opportunity to do a photo op.

Once I got back to the station I realized they had a Jambe Juice!!! YAY. I went in there and got a c booster to cool down...I was hot. I then found out where I was going out from and went to sit down. There were a couple of people who came and went beside me. One lady sat with me and she was trying to find the right place to go. She was on my train but was getting off sooner before me.

It only took me the next day realize that it was the day before 9-11 and they may just be taking more precautions around the capitol because of the Syria thing and rebels might be wanting to take action...

I guess that's enough for now. I will blog about my next part soon. Until then...thanks for reading my blog. LEAVE COMMENTS!

Train Ride Home - Philly to Washington DC

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:50:00 +0000

I took a train ride from Delaware back home to Salem, OR. It was very eventful and I wanted to share as much as I can before I forget. It has been a week since I arrived home but I am sure I will remember a lot to put in here.
My first leg of the trip took place from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.

A great friend gave me a ride to the station and it's a good thing I checked with traffic etc before hand because I knew that the main road was blocked off for construction. So she just dropped me on the side of the road and off she went. I headed into the station not having any clue what to expect. I walked through some stores until I finally found the middle of the station. I stood in a line that I thought was important until I realized that it was only the information booth. So I looked around and finally found the ticket counter.

      I headed there and gave the guy my ID and printed eticket. He gave me actual copies and I asked him about where to take my luggage. I had one large suitcase going all the way through to Salem for me so I never had to retrieve my luggage from the stations when I switched. He directed me to the luggage counter that was to my right. *This first leg did not carry on luggage for me, so this was the easiest way.*

      I went over to the luggage counter and told her what I needed. She worked everything out for me and then I asked her where do I go for my train and she says to look on the board and it will tell me which stairs to go down.

I went to an old fashioned huge board. It was not digital. It was one of those that flip each number to reflect what they are trying to show. I saw my train but I was a bit confused as to where I should go. So I went to the information counter and asked her where I was supposed to go and she asked about my train and that I should go to stairs 7. There was already a small line forming by stairs 7 so I headed over and got in line. I only had my backpack, purse and carry-on luggage, that I bought from goodwill for $6. I then found out that they only let you go down when there is 10 minutes before the arrival of the train. I stood there for about half an hour or forty minutes. I didn't know what to expect so I just stayed. Then the time finally came and we all filed down the stairs to this picture.

Here is a picture of train station in Philly where I started my journey.

I see now why you have to go down certain steps because you cannot get from one platform to another to get on another train. We waited a little thinking the train was going to come on the 7 track. Then a train came up and it was on the 8 track. Me and some other passengers were a bit confused. Another girl asked me about it but I informed her that I had no idea and had never ridden on a train before. Finally the conductor came along and others had asked him if this was the one going to D.C. He said yes so we filed in. I went looking for a two empty seats and almost thought I wouldn't find one, until I did. I put my carry-on on the the top and settled myself into the seat. My eyes were glued to the window most of the time.

The first two hours from Philly to D.C. was eventful. There were two young boys in front of me that liked to do some rough housing. I passed many old and rundown town houses. As I passed through Baltimore I noticed many homes in need of repair and the streets were so dirty. It kinda shocked me.

I passed a huge graveyard but I didn't get a picture of it. I also went over a few bodies of water.

Through the first part I saw other trains. We went through Philly. It was kind of of funny because we headed straight back down to Delaware. But I did have to go to Philly to get the train because of my luggage. The Delaware station did not allow any type of luggage at all.

Here is a bit more the industrial part of Delaware.

I was arriving in Washington right after lunch time so I decided to just eat an apple instead of going to the dining car.

I found a magazine in the front seat pocket and occupied some of my time reading.

Here are a few other things I saw...

My Summer 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 02:03:00 +0000

My summer was spent in Delaware. As many of you know, I grew up there. My family still lives there and I needed a summer with Amish, country, heat, friends in my heart, and familiar atmosphere.

The sky in Delaware is very beautiful.

It actually rained many times in the first month or two that I was there. But some nights were great and we spent them outside in the yard when it was cool enough.

I would get up at 7am almost every morning and some mornings were filled with snuggles. The children are so affectionate and they loves hugs.

Of course I can't forget to include the fifth child. He is so cute. I am totally smitten with him and his little smiles.

There was a youth conference and I saw many friends there.

Even friends from Salem that I hadn't seen in a while.

Two evenings a week I would take three children to karate practice. These two worked very hard and were awarded two updated belts.

Fourth of July was spent with the friends with games, a speech about going to war on a split second, laughter, good food, and a water balloon fight. In the evening we headed to a small farm owned by one of the friends. My brother in law brought out some fireworks he bought and gave us a show.

Out came the sparklers for the children to enjoy. My nephew decided to make some art.

We made it to the beach a few times as well.

After a nice summer the children started school again. The youngest started kindergarten. He was so excited and he still loves it.

My birthday rolled around and I spent it at the beach with a few friends.

Last night the fellowship headed to the pier to fish and hang out.

All in all this was a life changing summer and I will never forget the things that God has taught me and the road I must continue on. I am headed home in three days via a train. That will be a three day journey and I hope to blog while I am on the train with some cool pictures of my new experience.

Loss of a Father

noreply@blogger.com (Minabird) — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:23:00 +0000

On September 26, 2007 my dad died. I have been thinking of him a lot lately and wanted to post this in tribute of him.

A rose from the bush outside and I lit a candle right now in remembrance of him.