My 101-item Bucket List

So I accomplished a lot of somethings today, but here is the something that took the most brain. :P I made my 101-item bucket list...actually, the idea of a bucket list is a little morbid. But I don't see it as a list of things to do before I die, but as a list of the things I want to accomplish while I live. There really is a difference, don't you think? Here's the definition of a bucket-list, per the Rachel Heffington Dictionary:

bucket-list: n. a list compiled by people who have random, interesting, ambitious, or simply a lot od things they wish to do during their lifetime and are afraid they haven't the brain to remember them all. ;)

Without further ado, here's mine!

1. Buy a pair of red shoes
2. Visit Scotland and get my fill of the accents, if that’s possible
3. Take a walk in the autumn rain and unexpectedly meet Someone who is very glad to see me.
4. Publish one of my books
5. Make a Charlotte Russe from scratch
6. Fall in love with a godly man
7. And marry the man I fall in love with
8. Ride on a galloping horse without falling off
9. Wear a soft white dress with a wreath of rosebuds in my hair to a dance
10. Receive a letter from a Secret Admirer who is just that—a secret—
11. Plant an orchard
12. Sit for a portrait painting
13. Read all of Charles Dickens’ novels
14. See an indigo bunting
15. Go to Paris
16. Watch a Broadway show on Broadway in New York City
17. Drink a cup of tea at the Plaza Hotel while there.
18. Wear red lipstick and a fifties dress
19. Take a road-trip to a place I’ve never been before
20. Be a bridesmaid in a close friend’s wedding
21. Own a peacock
22. Visit Hilltop Farm in the Lake District (Beatrix Potter’s home)
23. Spend an entire day out in public speaking with a British accent
24. Wear a hat to church
25. Hit the high note in “Think of Me”
26. Be rescued, somehow, somewhere without any ill-effects afterward
27. Act in a musical that we sell tickets to
28. Eat dinner at a five-star restaurant without forgetting the order of silverware
29. Eat a bowl of chili without getting the stringy cheese on my chin
30. Be asked if I am the writer, Rachel Heffington ;)
31. Take a stunning picture of…something.
32. Wear a necklace made of real diamonds
33. Attempt to walk a picket fence and hop off into someone’s arms like Josie Pye (It better be a strong someone…)
34. Eat an ice-cream cone while standing on the line between two states
35. Drive a Tin-Lizzy
36. Meet someone famous in an unusual setting
37. Overhear two people talking about me and walk out just as they are about to say the juiciest part.
38. Make a come-back worthy of an Elizabeth Bennett at a perfect moment
39. Cook an entire meal on a wood-stove
40. Hear my own writing read aloud without blushing and wishing I was a million miles away
41. Get a box of Winnie-the-Pooh themed checks and use every one of them
42. Change a 100$ bill into pennies at the bank, come home, and walk through the pennies barefoot, then return them.
43. Get rid of the strange dark spots on my knees
44. Tie a string to a June Bug’s leg and watch it fly around
45. Sing a solo for a talent night and not die in the process
46. Try swing-dancing
47. Learn to play something on the piano
48. Learn French. Tres Elegante!
49. Pin a butterfly to copy and paint without feeling mortally guilty
50. Wash my hair in a real waterfall
51. Memorize an entire book of the Bible
52. Drink an entire pitcher of hand-squeezed lemonade over the course of a day or two. (It needn’t be a huge pitcher)
53. Spend a night sleeping in a hammock outside with a buddy in the hammock beside me
54. Go for a trip where I stay wherever-it-was for at least two weeks
55. Make a surprise trip to a friend’s house, let myself inside, and hide somewhere before jumping out at her
56. Sing a duet with a guy who can sing. (“I See the Light”, wot-wot, Daniel?)
57. Be dipped while I’m dancing without being dropped or making a funny face
58. Dance a waltz in full ballroom gear with a dashing partner I am either related or married to
59. Make a 101 item bucket list
60. Sell a painting
61. Let someone kiss my hand
62. Get proposed to at least once
63. Play a game of “telephone” with enough people so it’s actually funny
64. Make a pulley/message system from our house to the Walkers
65. Learn all the words to “Benedy Glen” and make someone cry by singing it in pathetic tones
66. Get a hug from a monkey
67. Teach a parrot or other bird to say, “Miss Summerson is my Angel” and, “My name is Guppy”
68. Whistle “Dixie” while in the presence of a Yankee
69. Hum “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” while in the presence of a Rebel
70. Buy something expensive and then return it, just for the fun of it
71. Make a mailbox that is an exact copy (in miniature) of our house
72. Use the internet without saying the word “blast” or “stinkin’ thing” when it vexes me
73. Design and sew a wedding dress
74. Use an old “Mary Poppins” era telephone
75. Walk into the Library of Congress and pretend I belong there
76. Acquire a pair of cowgirl boots
77. Use a Charles Dicken’s quote at an entirely random moment in a conversation
78. Drive up to a drive-thru window wearing dark sunglasses and poke a cane out the window to “read” the menu, then ask for a different menu in Braille
79. Catch and tame a cottontail rabbit
80. Find a real patch of mayflowers
81. Visit Boston again and eat some real clam chowder
82. Go on a missions/visiting trip to Pastor John Zaharia’s church in Romania
83. Visit Austria
84. Visit Germany
85. Get a French Manicure
86. Have a red-haired daughter
87. Write a book with a character named Catherine Durrant as the protagonist
88. Have an old-fashioned picnic at a historical house
89. Take a ten-mile walk on a brisk autumn day with a group of friends and sisters
90. Get pleasantly scared so badly I scream like a girl (wait…I think that’s happened already)
91. Plant a Queen Elizabeth Rosebush (two) and let it go crazy over an arbor
92. Name every house I live in once I’m married
93. Own a blue, black, and white parakeet and name him Admiral Boom
94. Keep a jar of fireflies on my nightstand
95. Raise a batch of tadpoles without letting them eat each other
96. Learn to play the mountain dulcimer
97. Have a cat that has a litter of kittens and name them all characters from books
98. Host a literary ball
99. Read all of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries
100. Solve a mystery using Holmes-like deduction
101. Eat an ethnic meal made by a person from that country

If you've gotten that far, then I applaud you! Bravo, and thanks for reading! :)

So Little Time, So Much To Do.

Well...the title says it all! :D This is the list I compiled while putting Gracie to bed:

The List of "If I were to have all the time and enough money to do as I pleased with my first graduated fall I would:"

• Direct and put on a play, including scenery, costumes, and that sort of thing. Preferably a musical.
• Teach an art class for the younger kids
• Run a weekly field day and teach a nature class for the younger kids
• Illustrate a whole children's book, as well as write it.
• Make a movie-costume reproduction. (i.e. Meg March's forget-me-not blue dress, Queen Victoria's rose and gold ballgown, Emma Woodhouse's red coat [2009], Lizzy Bennet's dark blue Spencer jacket, Ann Shirley's charity-ball gown, etc.)
• Design and make my own dress
• Get to the point of no return in writing Puddleby Lane. (at least 1/2-way through)
• Buy a pair of red shoes and wear them out
• Start our Sweet Alyssum Etsy Shop
• Read at least one more Dickens book
• Make a hundred-point bucket list....maybe even 101 to even it out. ;)
• Go out and paint with my field-case
• Go to the Beauty and the Beast Broadway show, Josh Groban concert, or an opera.
• Outfit a writing corner for myself....probably in the Reading Nook.

See? Dear me...I wish I wasn't so ambitious at times like this. ;) ~Rachel

Heat Wave

Okay. We are officially hot around here....

Everyone expects heat in the summertime. That's a granted. But truly....120 degree heat indexes? Don't you think it's a little bit much? We step outside and are suddenly *terribly* grateful for the A/C waiting for us inside when we're done with all the gardening...

Yes, I just said "done" in the same sentence as "gardening". They don't belong together, but at least we can plea a potentially dangerous condition (heat exhaustion) as a reason to take a break. :)

Anyway, just thought I'd share that with you. :) I peep out the window each morning and think,

"Here comes the smoulder!"

Damsons in Distress....or at least, in a pot.

This is me....in case you had any doubts about that. ;)

Ehh...you're right. ;)

Moving on! I must have some home-maker cell in my body that won't let me rest, even on my birthday. Because yesterday afternoon I went for a walk to see if a neighbor's peaches were ready. This neighbor, who passed away recently, was our beloved Miss Virginia. Her nephew told us that whatever fruit comes into season in her yard we are welcome too!

"It has the odor of grave-robbing about it!"

-Miss Pole, of Cranford

Ahem. As I was saying.... It is such a blessing because I've always wanted an orchard! Anyway, we were too late for the sour cherries, and my wisdom teeth mess put me on the too-late side for the wild cherries, but I was just in time for some lovely white-flesh peaches yesterday. Naturally me, being a bit bulkier than what tender, bendy fruit trees enjoy, and Gracie, being too small to climb higher than me, we only picked the fruit on ground level. But then I saw It.

The It.

The It I've been waiting for ever since I heard Miss Virginia mention having s

uch an It the first year or two we moved here....

This It is rare in our county. For heaven's sake! It's rare in America!

Because this It, is a beautiful damson plum tree! :)

Photo courtesy of Google images.

I didn't get any pictures of this gorgeous tree of my own, because that self-same homemaker cell went into over-drive and I commandeered Benjamin to help me strip the tree bare without a second thought. Truly though. Who could resist such a beautiful crop of fruit! The tree, though it's been neglected in recent years and not sprayed or pruned or anything was absolutely dripping with smokey purple plums about the size of large marbles. The tree branches looked precisely like this:

Photo courtesy of Google images.

Isn't It a beauty? Benji and I picked every swingin' damson we could lay our hands down, then shook the tree violently to get the rest. They just *wouldn't* come off the top of the tree despite our efforts with a rake, so I decided to let the birds have those ones. Benjamin and I carted our peach-basket home, two-thirds full of the purple damsons. I had tried the fruits but they were very acidic while still being sweet. Like a plum that dries out your mouth in the same way green apples do. That was when I did some research and found they are cooking plums. Very well.

Homemaker cell went into over-drive again. I'd preserve them. I picked through my loot, taking out any damsons that weren't good, and then measured out the fruit. I ended up with....12 pounds, I believe. The recipe for damson jam stated that since the damsons are cling-stone plums, you must boil the plums in the water first, then skim out the pits. Fair enough. I set the damsons to boiling and a couple of hours later began trying to "skim" out the pits. Ahem. I decided I had better do what one site suggested and let the mixture cool.

This morning I gave in to the job of dredging up damson-stones and I washed my hands really well, then plunged them into the vat of pinky-purpley fruit, squeezing all the damsons until the stones came out, then fished them out. I really needed something like this:

That being done, I reverted to my original recipe.

But what do you know? They wanted me to put 12 pounds of sugar in my jam! No sirree!

I cut the sugar in half at least, but then began wondering if it would jell that way. Thankfully, we had some packets of fruit pectin left in the pantry from strawberry season, so I put those in

and boiled the mixture a long time before finally ladling it into hot jars and putting the lids on. It made exactly 14 pints of delicious jam.

I do hope it jells right....

But if not I already have plans. Damson sauce (yes, that's what I'll call it if it doesn't jell) might be delicious on gingerbread or spice cakes. :) And it wouldn't be bad over vanilla icecream either. I've even heard-tell you can put it on game...think turkey and cranberries. :) I'm not too worried about the end product...we didn't pay for the fruit and so a mistake won't be the end of the world.

Oh yes! I have a book of Victorian-era jam and relish recipes, and so I took the remaining few damsons, packed them in a jar, and per the recipe in that book, made "spiced plums". Only I jerry-rigged the recipe to fit my tastes.

I started with packing the damsons in a clean jar after pricking them all over with a hairpin. Then I made a syrup out of a cup of vinegar, two cups brown sugar, a heaping spoonful ground cloves, and a heaping spoonful of ground cinnamon, boiled together on the stove. When that was syrupy, I poured it into the jar over the damsons and capped it and voila! Another experiment! :)

The only thing left was to clean up. And yes....I looked that glamorous the whole time. ;)

Happy Birthday, Rach! :)

Happy 19th Birthday Rach!!! :)

You're a great sister and godly example to all of your siblings. I know that the Lord has great plans in store for you, and I love you lots!

Your sister,

Sarah

"That Meant Everything" By Daniel Heffington

Here is the beautiful song that our Gentleman, (Daniel) wrote for me for my graduation! It was one of my favorite presents I received! :)

Make sure you watch it, and if you have a brother (or a sister) you love, feel free to repost it! :)

Oh yes! And don't forget to visit our cousin, Matthew's brand new photography blog!

-Rachel

Speechifying :)

I am sorry we have not been posting very often. The truth is, we've been super busy this week getting ready for my graduation because my party is on Saturday! :)
I have written my speech and am now reading it over and over. I *do* get to read it, rather than memorize and recite it, so that is a relief. :) But I want to read it with personality, hopefully. :P
I don't know if this happens to other people, but mentally I am not nervous, but in the moment my body responds nervously. I get really hot all of a sudden and then my mouth wobbles so that it takes all my concentration to keep a steady smile. :P Not so fun. :D
But anyway, I'm less nervous right now that I'd have anticipated I'd be less than 48 hours till The Moment. :D
I have been amusing myself by thinking of inserting famous movie quotes about speeches into my own speech. (Though I'm not going to do that for real)

Take Mr. Knightley, for example. "You know I cannot make speeches. Perhaps if I felt less I could talk about it more."

Or Bilbo's unforgettable 111th birthday speech! :)

Bilbo: "My dear Bagginses and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfoots." [cheers]

Old Proudfoot Hobbit: "Proudfeet!"

:) But in all seriousness, my speech will be given probably by 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. I'd appreciate your prayers for my nerves! :) ~Rachel

Society: Blunders and Brilliancy Movie Quote Quiz Answers!!! :)

1. "It's just this new small-talk: You do it so well!" "Well, if I did it properly, then what was you sniggering at?"

Answer: Freddie Einsford Hill and Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady--people who got it right: Melissa, Abigail, Jo March, and Nana & KK

2. "Yes, the library is fine. I wish I read more....I prefer being out of doors....of course, I can read...and I'm not suggesting one can't read out of doors..."
Answer: Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice (2005)--People who got it right: Melissa, Carrie, Nana & KK, and Abigail

3. "It's not.....so bad...." "Are you blind?! You look like a circus clown!"
Answer: Society girl and Eloise in Eloise at the Plaza. People who got it right: No one. :)

4. "You must give us either one thing clever, or three things very dull indeed."
"Three things very dull indeed...well, that will just do for me."
"Oh, but there may be a difficulty. You must limit it to only to three at once."
Answer: Frank Churchill, Miss Bates, and Emma Woodhouse from Emma -- People who got this right: Melissa, Abigail, Nana & KK, Jo March, Carrie, Maria Elisabeth

5. "Dancing is the ornament of every polished society."
"And every unpolished society--every savage can dance."
Answer: Sir William Lucas and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (1995)--People who got this right: Maria Elisabeth, Abigail, Jo March, Melissa, Nana & KK

6. *Gun shot* "Boring conversation anyway. Luke! We're gonna have company!"
Answer: Han Solo of Star Wars (pardon my slipping memory as to the name of the first movie)--People who got this right: Melissa, Jo March, Nana & KK, Abigail, Carrie

7. "Oh hey! What are you doin' here? I mean, it is your house but...."
Answer: Riley Poole in National Treasure 2--People who got this right: No one

8. "Cynthia. If you must have the last word, please don't let it be a truism."

Answer: Mrs. Gibson from Wives and Daughters--People who got this right: Carrie and Abigail

9. "You may, like us, admire her hair from a distance without taking the liberty of touching it."
Answer: Richard Carstone from Bleak House--People who got this right: Abigail

10. "I can hardly believe my ears!"
"*We* can hardly believe your mouth!"
Answer: Lord Tarleton and MP (Member of Parliament) from Amazing Grace--People who got this right: No one. :D

11. "More at home here, than in Vienna? In all your glittering salons, gossiping gaily with bores I detest, soaking myself in champagne...."
Answer: Georg VonTrapp in The Sound of Music--People who got this right: Maria Elisabeth and Jo March

12. "No light propitious shone..."
"Edward, you have no passion. Read it like this: "No LIGHT propitious shone!"

Answer: Edward Ferrars and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility--People who got this right: Melissa, Nana & KK, Abigail, and Maria Elisabeth and Taylor Lynn

So, without further ado, and counting in the extra points for correct character identification, the scores stand as follows:

Taylor Lynn: 2 points

Carrie: 9 points

Jo March: 9 points

Maria Elisabeth: 12 points

Nana and KK: 14 points

Abigail: 15 points

Melissa: 15 points. :)

So that leaves me with a tie! Melissa and Abigail have both won the Society: Blunders and Brilliancy Movie Quotes Quiz. So....do you gals want to try a tie-breaker quote? :) Here it is:

"Well, I'm sure he's a very good sort of man..."

"Yes...and I'm sure he kept a very good sort of shop before his elevation to knighthood!" :D

It's up to you two to break the tie or call a truce! ;) So, did you have fun with this themed movie-quote quiz? :)

What's a Bucket-List?

Hello Everyone! :) I thought I'd do a post concerning this topic, because it's been mentioned on our blog, and I know not everyone is familiar with the phrase. First of all, what is a bucket-list?

Bucket List: A list of things you want to do before you die. (aka "kick the bucket" :P)

I have not compiled one of these for myself yet, but I do know several things that would be on mine:

To never stop growing in and learning about my Lord! :)

To visit NY City and go see a Broadway show!!!!

To learn either French or German, and be able to translate, speak, and read either fluently.

To get a Great Dane puppy. (Now, when I say puppy, I mean puppy. Not a 9 month old dog, please. A cute, little, as young as I could get, puppy. :)

And to fall in love and marry a man after God's heart and have a family! :)

Do you have a bucket-list? If not, what would a few of your top things be?

As part of this post, I'd like to invite ya'll to enter a bucket-list giveaway held by Polka-Dot! Here's the link:

This looks like a really fun thing, and I hope ya'll enjoyed this post! :) Thanks!

~Sarah

We're Back! Albeit wisdom-less. :)

Well, here I am, lying in bed with icepacks on my face and a dizzy head, but okay after my wisdom teeth surgery.

*squints across to Sarah* Yep. She looks all right too. :P We got our teeth taken out yesterday morning. I was first, and my surgery went pretty well. I think the Doctor said my surgery was a little more severe than Sarah's because my teeth were more impacted. :P

But overall the surgery part was pretty much pleasant. I didn't feel the i.v. go in, and only heard their voices and the drill without feeling anything. The only thing I didn't like was that the blood-pressure machine kept squeezing me, like every five minutes. But once I was asleep I didn't feel it. :)

However, we are both doing well and not in *much* pain. (Except when we didn't have our medicine yet and I took a sip of icewater and burst into tears. :'(

Apparently we were both pretty loopy when we got home. I leaned on Dad till we got into the house, stumbled into the study, sat down, flopped over, and was asleep. Then I finally hauled myself upstairs and into bed where I awoke a short while later to find Sarah in her bed beside me. :P We slept a great deal of yesterday, watched The Young Victoria, and tried to read a little.

Unfortunately my pain medicine makes me feel yucky, so I'm trying to survive off of ibuprofen until Mama calls the pharmacy to change my prescription....I have 45 minutes till I can take my next dose...think I can make it?..... :/

Sarah's the good little patient who eats *all* her food when it's given to her, who doesn't feel ill every time she swallows her pain stuff, and who sleeps through the night....(Well, there is a story about *that* one... ;)

Well, I'm beginning to feel sleepy again. Just thought I'd give you guys an update! :P We took some pictures so as soon as our sense of humor comes back we'll post them! ;)

-Rachel

In Which I Speechify.

So I'm graduating July 16th and I have to give a speech. The writing of the speech does not worry me...it's the delivery that worries me. Of course, my dear friends remind me that it is only what God thinks of me that matters. That is a comfort, but my jittery feeling is by no means entirely squelched yet. I wish I could faint on command.....d'you think it'd work if I simply look at my dear Abigail and say, in woeful, Anne Shirleyian tones,

"I think I can be rendered unconscious." And then flop over? No? Rats.

I am putting the final touches on my speech before my wisdom teeth surgery in....2 DAYS!!!!!

Somehow, it feels terribly like writing a will before going to the guillotine. *sigh* The one nervousing feeling almost (but not thoroughly) wipes out the other. :P

Anyway. I was looking up public speaking tips and the ones that helped most, I've put below in order to remind myself and you if you're ever faced with this shocking predicament of having to speak in front of, perhaps, nearly 200 people! O.o

1. PRACTICE!!! You do not want to wait until you are five minutes from The Time and then start reminding yourself of what you've written

2. Be familiar enough with the speech that you do not have to read it as if it's a script. (I may cheat on this, and not do notes, but have my whole speech written out just in case my memory fails me. :)

3. If you're too nervous simply visualize your triumphant feeling at the end of the speech and try to calm yourself down by pretending it's already over. ;)

4. Release your nerves by having doing jumping jacks, jogging around for a second, or otherwise getting out energy. Then, depend on the rest of the nervous energy to get you through

5. Smile, no matter what. Even if something terrible happens, keep smiling, and, if possible, incorporate it into the speech to make everyone laugh. :P (Kinda embarrassing, wot?)

There you have it! :) Wish me happy speechifying! ;) ~Rachel

Happy Independence Day!

"Four Score and Seven Years ago", (times 2.7 :P) our fore-father's committed high treason.

"That's what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration. Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and, oh, my personal favorite: had their entrails cut out and burned!
So here's to the men who did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right."

But we celebrate this High Treason on our dearly beloved Independence Day because,
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and provide new Guards for their future security."

We will have fireworks, we will have parades, we will all wear red, white, and blue and cheer and laugh and enjoy our freedom because of these men who risked all to get away from tyranny.
It's worth a holiday.
(Please, no offense to any Great Britain-ers out there. It is simply my "Patriotism and...all that." to quote your Thomas Clarkson of Amazing Grace. ;)

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." -Thomas Jefferson

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?"-Thomas Jefferson

It's totally a cliche, but today, more than ever, I'm proud to be an American. :) ~Rachel