The 8 months I didn't exist.

Well, what can I say....I go through phases. One minute I'm this somewhat consistent blogger, and the next, I've fallen off the face of the earth. It's not that I didn't have time. To be honest, I lost interest...but I'm back now! And hopefully will post something at least once a week for y'all to read and enjoy! 

Since my last post, A LOT of things have happened! So many things that you'd probably read this post for hours on end! (That is, if I've kept your interest!) One of the biggest things that has happened is this: 

Say a cyber hello to my now 5-ish month old rabbit, Pippin (the 2nd). Yep, I'm that much of a nerd, that I named my rabbit after a Hobbit from Lord of the Rings. BUT Pippin isn't a boy! She is a female mixed breed: 1/2 New Zealand and 1/2 Giant Chinchilla. And the best part is that I got her for free! My pastor raises rabbits for food, but back in October of 2012 I asked if I could possibly have one as a pet. He said he had a beautiful black one and said he'd keep it until after winter so we could build a hutch. 

The funny thing though is that during that time period, he never checked to see its gender, but found out in winter 2013 that she was pregnant! Question answered! So Pippin stayed longer than expected, and when she had her babies there was another black one in the litter! I originally was going to take Pippin after the babies had been weaned, but Pastor Duke said she is a good mother and took great care of them that he wanted to keep her to raise more rabbits. I thought that was the sweetest thing so I said yes and took home the black baby rabbit instead and named her Pippin the 2nd. :) 

It's crazy to think that I used to be able to hold her in one hand! She gets bigger every week it seems like and she's been a good pet to have since we had to put Barkley to sleep...on my birthday :( the 22nd of this month marked the 5 month anniversary. Luckily, we were able to bring her home and bury her in the back yard near the forest. Now Pippin's hutch sits right next to her grave and it makes me happy for some reason. 

Another big milestone for me has been entering pictures into the fair! I finally remembered to get them in before the deadline this year and to my shock, I won 2 ribbons!

This one of Barkley won 2nd in the "animals, color" category! She may not be with us anymore but she still won :) this is a picture of the picture, so it doesn't look as good as the original.

And this one won 1st place in the "seasonal,color" category! I took this at the multi-use trail behind our house :)

It's definitely been a fun, busy summer! Next week I'll post more about what I've done this summer :)

Have an awesome weekend! 

ERW

Categories: county fair, my photography, Pippin the 2nd, rabbit, summer

So Long, 2012!

Many people didn't think we'd all make it to 2013, but here we are only 2 days away from the start of a new year!

I thought it wasn't going to snow at all before the new year, but looking outside, we have a good 10 inches coating the ground! 

2012 was a fun-filled year! Looking back, here are some of my favorite memories I've taken the time to type up and share with you on this blog over the past year:

The Hunger Games movie

Elise turns 1

sharing about my favorite show, Heartland (which has the most views, by the way :D as of right now, 426!)

my tribute to Adrianne, who passed away in April

The Taste of Home Cooking Show

getting my Crowntail Betta fish, Tritan, who sadly, silently died during the night a few months ago :(

Disney-themed birthday party for my two friends

Volunteering at Word of Life Campground

Gettysburg trip

camping in the ADKs

9/11 tribute post

Dressing up as Glimmer from The Hunger Games for Halloween

One Year Anniversary for my blog!

Horse-O'-Lantern

Top 5 Christmas reads & Top 10 Christmas movies

So excited to see what this new year will bring! I already know of one big thing that will be happening in my life: graduating from Penn Foster Career School!!!

and I'm sure that'll only be the start of all the great things God has in store for me! He's been so good to me with supplying all my needs and answering prayers, and literally protecting me while I'm out and about! 

He also put two lovely ladies in my path who work at a vet clinic just down the road from my high school, and one of them is the hiring manager! she said if I would like, I could volunteer there or possibly intern in the future! I know this will be be a great stepping stone as I would like to be a vet assistant to a traveling vet because they go out to all the farms, and I really love all those farm animals =]

Something I'm going to do this new year is write down things that have happened in my life from the little things to the big ones and put them in a jar and at the end of next year, i'm going to take them all out and read them!

Yep, Pinterest...haha :-p can't take the credit!

So, to all those who take the time to read my blog, THANK YOU! and have a happy, healthy, adventurous NEW YEAR!

 

<3,

ERW

Categories: memories, Pinterest ideas, year in review

My Top 10 Christmas Movies

What's this?

 Consecutive posts?!

This doesn't happen often! haha

I figured since I did my top 5 Christmas Reads, I'd also do a Top 10 Christmas Movies =)

I think I sorta did this last year, but many of you may not have seen that post, and every year I always seem to find another favorite Christmas movie...so here it goes:

Let's go backwards and count down to my absolute favorite movie!

10. The Nativity Story

Great movie, but read the story directly from the Bible too =)

9. The Polar Express

 

Saw this in theaters with my sister and (at the time) my future brother-in-law! The way the boy doubts about Santa Claus being real is a fresh way to start the movie, because you automatically think all children believe Santa is real. Favorite part of the movie is when he loses the girl's ticket and you watch as the ticket gets carried off by wolves and an eagle, and you see all this amazing scenery! 

8. A Muppet Christmas Carol

How can you say no to The Muppets? I grew up watching these crazy characters, and whenever I watch this, I always think back to all the fun me and my siblings had around Christmas time because we grew up watching this every year! and we still do! 

7. Elf

I'm not the biggest Will Ferrell fan, but I just love him in Elf! I can't imagine anyone else being Buddy.

6. The Christmas Card

This is a Hallmark movie that follows a military man's journey to find the woman who sent him a Christmas card to the Middle East. It's such a cute movie and it had Ed Asner in it, and love that guy! He was actually the one who played Santa in Elf (Christmas fun fact!)

5. Ernest Saves Christmas

Bring in the Redneck! My Grandma and Grandpa W. introduced me and my siblings to Ernest P. Worrell--a redneck Southerner who gets in just about any misadventure you can think of! In this movie, he helps Santa (who just so happened to find his way into Ernest's taxi cab in Orlando, FL) find a replacement to carry on the Christmas tradition! Because, hey, he may be Santa, but he can't live forever! KnowhutImean? (just an Ernest saying, don't mind me, hehe)

Oh, and if you didn't know, Jim Varney used to be the voice of Slinky in Toy Story before he passed away...

4. Christmas With the Kranks

Every year, Luther and Nora Krank can never seem to make it on that cruise and skip Christmas! ;-)

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas

Aah, the ultimate Christmas classic! not a Christmas goes by that I don't watch this! God Bless, Charles Schulz for creating the Peanuts gang :-)

2. Deck the Halls

Danny Devito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenoweth, and a few scenes with Jorge Garcia from LOST! what's not to love about this movie! 

okay, we're at #1! and if you know me, you'll know that I love horses and I love the Canadian show, Heartland! So when they came out with a full-length Christmas movie in 2009, it was obvious that I had to get it for my Christmas movie collection!

1. A Heartland Christmas

Amy (on the right in the picture) and her boyfriend Ty (on the bottom in the sleigh) get a call that a herd of horses has been trapped by an avalanche near Pike River and decide to go and bring food and blankets and figure out how to get the horses free. Amy's sister, Lou (on the left in the above picture), on the other hand, wants a traditional Christmas with everybody there to help out. One thing leads to another, and Lou finds herself almost alone on Christmas Eve, but Mallory, their neighbor, stays with her since her parents got stuck at an airport coming home. 

Meanwhile, Amy and Ty try to help the horses but another avalanche comes down the mountain making it even harder to free the horses. Amy's grandpa, Jack (in the middle in the above picture) and her father, Tim show up to help with the rescue, and at first, the town's people are hesitant to help, until the grandson of the man who abandoned the horses, starts to help them. Soon the whole town comes to help and finally the man responsible seeks forgiveness and jumps in to help out. With the horses freed and taken care of, Amy and the rest of them manage to make it home on Christmas Day and enjoy the day with family.

I'm sure some of you have the same movies on your Top 10, but maybe you saw some that weren't? My advice? If it's a Christmas movie, give it a whirl! You never know...you may find a new must-see for every Christmas! More Christmas movies, the better, right?

=)

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

ERW

Categories: Christmas, movies