Friday, September 24, 2010

Flashback Friday: Books, Books, Books!




         Today, I am joining in on the fun with Mocha With Linda and participating in Flashback Friday.


Did you like to read when you were a child?  I ADORED books!  BUT...I enjoyed my Mother reading to me more than I enjoyed reading to myself.  My dear Mother read to me just about every single day!  I was fascinated with the pictures as well.  I loved the colors on each page, and especially the expressions on the faces of people and animals. 

 What were your favorite genres, books or series?  I mostly had Little Golden Books and Tell-a-Tales Books.  I also had some 'big' books of Bible stories, Richard Scarry, and Mother Goose.

 Did you read books because of the author or because of the title/plot?  I honestly didn't even consider that Someone had written the book.  I just loved the title and the actual story.

 Did you own many books?   I owned several, not like hundreds or anything, but I had a good collection.

 Did your school distribute the Scholastic book orders (or some other type)?  I loved Weekly Reader.  I know we brought home book order forms, but can't remember which company.

 Did you visit the library often?  I visited the one at school every time we were allowed to , but I don't remember visiting a public library until I was at least 12 years old.

A Cup of Christmas Tea by Tom Hegg and The Twelve Blessings of Christmas are excellent Christmas books.

 Was there a summer reading program when you were young, and did you participate? I don't remember one. 

 Do you have any particular memories of your school libraries?   There were pictures around the top of the wall of all the United States Presidents.  I loved the smell of the library.  I remember the round tables in elementary and the colorful orange chairs.  

 What were your favorites and least favorites among the classics (the ones high school English teachers assign!)?  I enjoyed reading Our Town in Literature class.  I honestly didn't enjoy Shakespeare, but Mrs. Wright even made Romeo and Juliet not so painful.  

 If you didn't like reading, do you like it more today than you did then?   I do enjoy reading more now than I did as a child.  As I said, I adored books, but had rather be read to than to read it for myself.  When I got in upper elementary school, I didn't read alot of books except for the ones we read in school.  I went through the magazine stage in Jr. High.  I read Tiger Beat, Seventeen, and Teen magazines religiously. 


I read a little here and there, but it was not MY HOBBY.  Then, for my 28th birthday, my Mother-in-law gave me The Covenant by Hilda Stahl, and Va-La...I've bought books and read ever since!  We now have a library/office which I really have to control myself, or I'd stay there all the time.   I have a very nice collection of books.  My favorite authors include:  Elizabeth George (Christian writer), Helen Steiner Rice, Elisabeth Elliot,  Hilda Stahl, Janette Oke, Lori Wick, Lori Copeland, Max Lucado, Emilie Barnes, Al & Joanna Lacy, Beverly Lewis, Stephanie Grace Whitson, Kim Vogel Sawyer, and Robin Lee Hatcher.  I enjoy reading about the United States Presidents and their families.  I have several books about the Bush family.

I still have my first grade readers (Tag) and several other readers from school.  I have kept ALL of my children's readers.  Most of theirs are from A Beka.  My first grade teacher, Mrs. Judy McCreary gave each of her students a Tell-a-Tales book for Christmas.  She gave me Lazy Fox and Red Hen.  She signed the inside To: Liesa  From: Mrs. McCreary    I have that book displayed with my children's books in my library. 


My dream is to write a book someday.  Maybe one of these days, I'll have my own book displayed in my library.   Writing a book is one of the two things on my Bucket List. 

I cannot say enough about GOOD books!  I do not enjoy reading books on gadgets or computers, or screens.  There is just something about holding a book in my hand.  I highly recommend reading to children.  Even as babies, my children enjoyed the soothing sounds of me reading to them.  Oh the things we can learn, the stress we can relieve, and the encouragement we can obtain simply by reading.  A few of the books I read to my children are Mother Goose, Curious George, Winnie The Pooh, Good Night Moon, Corduroy, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, Five Little Monkeys, I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly, Little Golden Books, Weekly Reader Books, etc.  As a young girl, Noelle loved Nancy Drew books, Mandi series, Little House series, Christy series, Anne of Green Gables series, and Sarah Plain and Tall series.  Cale read more biographies of baseball players, etc.   He had still rather read true stories of missionaries.
The MOST important book I've ever held in my hand is God's Holy Word, The Bible.  God's book is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.  I am convicted, challenged, inspired, helped, and comforted when I read it.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Final Day of Vacation 2010: Going Home

Sunday morning, we got up and dressed for church.
There was a car show in Pigeon Forge the weekend, but we had not had any trouble with heavy traffic, UNTIL Sunday morning. 
We saw many old cars....everywhere!
We finally made it to church for the preaching hour. From the time I said, "I see the church.", it took us 10 more minutes just to get to it.
We had skipped breakfast, so as soon as we got out of church, we headed to The Red Rooster Pancake House for breakfast/lunch.
True to their name, there were roosters everywhere!
And smack dab in the middle of the restaurant was this:  a tractor!
Good bye for now Smokey Mountains....you are beautiful!
Welcome back to Georgeville, the mountain of dirty laundry!

Home Sweet Home
by
George!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Day 3 of Vacation: Hurray For DOLLYWOOD!

WARNING:  Viewing the following pictures could have side effects.  These side effects could include all or some of the following symptoms:  Packing your suitcase, Calling 911 for Dollywood tickets, Filling the car up with gas, Skipping school or work, or Simply 'googling' Dollywood.   View at your own risk.

Day 3 of our Vacation By George...
Notice anything weather wise?  Hint:  We are singing, splashing, riding roller coasters, taking pictures, and yes, being happy in the rain!
Our day began with a delicious breakfast at the motel.  Scot had gotten sick the day before.  Cale and I had been sick the week before.  Poor Scot was coughing almost every breath and his throat was sore.  After breakfast, on our way to Dollywood, he and I went into Walgreen's and purchased cough drops, cold medicine, and umbrella's.  Just so happen, we had grabbed the poncho's before we left home Thursday morning.  I even tried to encourage him to wait until later in the day about going to Dollywood, hoping the rain would let up, but he was a trooper, and just kept right on going!




Check out the rules for teachers!  Reminds me of a couple of books I've read by Lori Wick and Janette Oke.
I loved the little school house!
Even the conductor was trying to stay dry...
We were dry while sightseeing by train.



Ya'll know I had to take pictures of the church! 


One of the stores: ( hand blown glass items)
We enjoyed a Country Music show in the dry too.  These young ladies and men did an awesome job singing some old and new country hits.  They sang songs by Loretta Lynn, Brad Paisley, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and many others.
You know by now that I'm all about the food!  Philly cheese steak sandwiches, homemade onion rings and homemade chips was what we chose for lunch.
I don't have pictures of all the rides.  It was hard to get pictures while riding and while trying to keep my camera dry.  We rode everything though, especially the roller coasters. 
This baby went upside down!  What fun!


There were really neat statues everywhere!

If case you haven't noticed, there are very few pic's of us!  We hadn't been there 10 minutes and we looked as if we had skipped the shower, blow dryers, and make up that day!  By 2 p.m., the sun came out.  People started coming into the park that were nice and fresh looking!   Needless to say, we didn't fit into that category....but FUN, WE DID HAVE! 

We left Dollywood at closing time (7 P.M.) and went back to our motel thinking that we'd shower and go eat out, but about the time we got back to our room, it started thundering and pouring rain again.  If you've ever been to Gatlinburg, you know that they don't have Drive Throughs, etc.  The restaurants and stores are all bunched up together and you have to park in a general parking lot and walk to all the places.  I changed out of my wet clothes, Scot drove me and Cale to Burger King, we went in and got our food, called him, and he came back through and picked us up.  What an evening!  Scot was still feeling bad.  He had taken cold medicine every four hours that day.  He is seldom sick, so with all the medicine in his system, he ate supper and went straight to bed.   We truly had a wonderful day at Dollywood in spite of the messy weather and Scot being sick.  I purchased a 2010 Christmas ornament there to add to our collection.  

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Day 2 of Vacation: Traveling On

We got up and left the motel in Cornelia, Georgia about 9 a.m.  It wasn't long until we began seeing some of these:
Mountains!
This was taken in North Carolina.




We went through this tunnel to get to Gatlinburg.
After we checked into our motel, we went to Corky's for lunch.
Delish!
And then, we went sightseeing and shopping.
Remember The Dukes Of Hazzard Television Show back in the early 80's?
We browsed in Cooter's!

Bo OR Luke?  That was always the question!  



We watched them make this:
Good stuff!
We went back to our motel room and freshened up, then we went to find the Comedy Barn. We had tickets for the 8:15 show.
After we found it, Noelle and I went into some nearby shops...and had a little fun with some of the statues.

While Scot & Cale did this!
Then we all went to the Comedy Barn where we laughed and had a great time!
After the show, we went to The Happy Day's Restaurant for shakes and a snack.
What a wonderful way to end our day...

No trouble sleeping, we had worked all the walking, shopping, and fun into the day that we thought possible!