Currently

Reading ... in the Bible, 1 John. So encouraging!

In other books my most recent read was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's a book I've kept hearing about for years already and I kept thinking I want to read it someday.  That "someday" happened to be this week. 

It wasn't quite what I expected, but I was enjoying it quite a bit. This evening LV and Steven went fishing, Sharon was grabbing some work after classes, and with the house empty and quiet I decided to settle in and read the remaining 25% of the book. I had heard from some of my reader friends how they had to cry when reading this book, but I was starting to think there must be something wrong with me because though I was touched multiple times, nothing was inducing tears ... until it was. I don't remember the last time I cried this much while reading a book.

I still haven't fully recovered. 

Our home library has only books we truly love, and I think I just found the next book I need to add to it.

Writing ... menu plans, lists, and some letters.

Watching ... Steven and I have been watching an episode of Storage Wars after lunch for the past week or so. 

Listening ... to the birds singing. We have quite a variety of birds that hang out in the trees around the house, and they sing most beautifully. I especially like listening to them in the mornings when their songs seem to be at their sweetest.

Baking ... most recently I made a Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake on request for a birthday. It turned out fabulous. There's still a small piece in the refrigerator waiting to be enjoyed. Cheesecake isn't my favorite dessert, and I also never crave peanut butter in desserts, but somehow I still thought this is really good.

Cooking ... Eggplant Parmesan, Meatballs with an Orange Mustard Sauce, and a simple salad.

Feeling ... there's this sense of happy hopefulness. Like there's something good waiting just around the corner of life and I'm just waiting to see what it might be.

Disliking ... mud. I'm very thankful for all the rain we got, but mud is another story. Steven came in completely spattered in mud earlier today so some pre-rinsing of clothes needs to happen before I do the laundry.

Loving ... the beautiful spring weather we're having.

Playing ... today Steven and I played several rounds of Dutch Blitz. I used to dominate that game, but not any longer. I've come to the conclusion that he's better than me at every single game we have that's not strictly luck based.

Cleaning ... today I deep cleaned the refrigerator. I was going to clean one of the lazy susans as well, but oopsies, I finished reading that book instead.

X ~ XLR8

     Words beginning with an "X" are a bit more challenging and I have at various times during previous A-Z challenges simply resorted to using words beginning with ex and placed a heavier emphasis on the x part of it. 
    Today however I decided to turn to a little game Steven used to love playing.
    

    XLR8 was simple enough to play being very light on strategy.
    Most of the time it was only Steven and I playing it, though it can be played with up to six players.
    You start with the little speedometer at zero and five cards in your hand. On your turn you play a card and then draw another. The MPH cards helped you accelerate your speed. You play the card and turn the wheel on your speedometer to indicate your new speed. First one to get to 200 MPH wins.
    Included in the cards were caution cards. When played,  all your opponents had to reduce their speed to 25 MPH. Blow Out cards could be played on another player making them have to return their speed to zero. A Pit Stop card has the player of your choice have to skip a turn. A rare 2x or 3x multiplier card allowed you to double or triple your speed.
    This game appealed to Steven because of speed and racing. 
    I enjoyed it a lot because it was an easy one to pick up and play when ever, and the adding and multiplying was a nice bonus to slip in something educational while having fun.
    This little game won a creative child Game of the Year award back in 2008, I can see why.  
    The only complaint I have with this one is that instead of a game box it comes in ziploc "chip bag" of sorts. It works, but it's not my container of choice.

U ~ Umbrella Plants

    Umbrella plants, also known as May Apples are on the list of my favorite things in spring.
    It wasn't until after we were married that I found out that they produce flowers. I had never examined them closely enough to see the delicate white blossoms hiding under the umbrella like leaves.
    That first spring after we got married LV came into the house one day with a freshly picked bouquet that included the flowers from the umbrella plant.
    I was absolutely delighted with it.
    Every spring after that as long as we had access to umbrella plants he would present me with another bouquet. I loved each and every one of them.
    Currently the hill behind the house is covered in half grown umbrella plants. And after 25+ years of having an annual bouquet, I'm thinking it's fait to assume that before too long I will be getting another one.

T ~ Teachers

     School was an overwhelming new thing to me. Those first few days felt confusing and all I wanted was to be at home with Mom and my brothers. The kindness of teacher Lydia soon helped me get adjusted and I actually learned to look forward to going to school.
    Unfortunately after only six weeks something happened that made that she had to go home. It was out of state which meant a new teacher had to be found.
    Ruth was her replacement. She was a scary teacher, a bully with a temper. There are quite a few stories I could share of the happenings in our little one room school while she was in charge. She expected a lot from us and didn't hesitate to use a whip if we didn't measure up to what she thought we could do.
    Most of the time my lessons weren't too difficult, but then she decided first graders also needed to do memory work and assigned long German hymns to be memorized. I was fluent in Pennsylvania Dutch, I had just learned to read and write in English, but German? It was too much. I hardly understood anything. With Mom's gentle coaching I got it memorized and recited perfectly while still having zero idea what I was saying.
    All these years later I can still recite the entire hymn, but even now I had to have a number of the words of the first two lines translated in order to know what it says.
     Demut ist die schönste Tugend,
        Aller Christen Ruhm und Ehr
        Humility is the most beautiful virtue,
        The glory and honor of all Christians
    At the end of that school year Ruth was asked to not teach another year. The community was having other problems as well, so everyone homeschooled until they could move midway through the school year.
    It was toward the end of second grade when we moved and I was introduced to teacher Hannah. I loved her. She also expected a lot from us, but in a kind and encouraging manner. We thrived with her for the next three years at which point she transferred to a different school.
    Our next teacher was lovely, but much more lenient. My learning suffered a lot that year. She only taught one year and then got married.
    Enter teacher Sadie. She had lots of ideas on how to make school fun, that we didn't appreciate as much as we should have. She was a stickler for perfect penmanship and I chafed under her constant correction with her dreaded red pen. I really appreciate it now though. It was thanks to her that my penmanship improved greatly.
    Her weakness was grammar, language arts, english, or what ever you want to call it. It was so bad that the entire school was failing and finally the bishop himself convinced Mom to step in and teach that class for all eight grades.
    Having her come in to teach became the highlight for all of us students that year,
    Sadie taught for two years and then moved on to a special ed school. 
    My eight grades were over with six different teachers having had a hand in my education. I have fond memories of five of them. Ruth, however should not have been allowed to work with children.

S ~ Soup

     The Amish community my Dad grew up in had its own quirks. One of which was that instead of serving "church" peanut butter for lunch after church services they served bean soup and half moon pie filled with an apple filling.
    The soup consisted of beans, similar to navy beans but a bit bigger and meatier, torn chunks of bread, milk, and lots of black pepper.
    It was served by placing big bowls on the makeshift tables and everyone ate out of the bowl nearest them. Most tried  to keep to their side, but all that double dipping was still a bit much for those with weaker stomachs. 
    My Dad never talked about it without sharing the revulsion he felt when faced with eating that soup. He chose to skip the soup, eating only his allotted half moon pie, and go home hungry every Sunday.
    Because of his aversion to the whole ordeal Mom never made bean soup for us.
    So it was quite unexpected when I became pregnant with our first child and I craved bean soup even though I had never even tasted it before.
    I made some and enjoyed every bite.
    That craving ran its course and I haven't had bean soup since.