Appreciated Indian Summer

Indian summers are the best thing.

They are God's way of giving us a couple more days of the previous, beloved season in the midst of the approaching cold. How wonderful they are!

What did you do with this shockingly warm weather? I know I felt like I couldn't do enough, smell enough, see enough and feel enough to soak up these amazing past days.

I walked on the beach, visited the light house, drove thru all my favorite parts of my town, stopped and sat and thought... feeling the cool breeze across my face.

It's also worked out wonderfully that I've been 100% free the last two days! Leaving me to do whatever I wanted. It's been so sweet... back to reality tomorrow.

A photo documentary of a New England "Indian Summer":

Simple Pleasures

Happy moments are falling asleep while eating ice cream. :-)

We have 4 wonderful boys that have been added to our family for 10 days. Today being really the first day. I'm going to try to post some funny pictures that capture humorus moments with them apart of our family.

What brings a smile to your face during the hustle and bustle of a normal day?

Today's Moment

In my last post, I talked about noting the special moments in life.

Well this was my precious moment today:

If you were in the locker room at my place of employment at around 10:45 this morning, you would have found me leaning in the corner of the lockers opening a card. It was a card that was given to my mother the day before from a coworker of mine. It was addressed to me.

Somehow my gut told me what was inside. I didn't want to believe it. And to my great despair, I was right on the money. My lovely coworker, whom I have grown really attached to (which isn't a new thing) decided it was time to leave. She was enduring things that she shouldn't have been at all... I knew it truly was only a matter of time. Because of that I cherished the days we worked together even more.

She left without warning so the note was her 'goodbye' to me. I stood there, hunkered in the locker room about to cry. But they really were selfish tears... I know there are better things out there for her and I'm wishing her all the best.

The fact that she took the time to actually say 'goodbye' to me in the best way she could at the moment, touched me.

She had a wonderful smile. Yes, and an infectious laugh. Her sense of humor was delightful. I will miss her dearly but hope to keep in touch.

Lovely Lisa cared.

That was precious to me.

Connecting One Generation to Another

Recently, for kicks, my lovely aunt typed in my grandfather's name into Google. Actually she typed every single one of our names, but this one amazed me. I mean I was simply struck.

She typed in his name intending to find my brother somewhere but because my brother shares the exact name with my grandfather, my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather this came up: She clicked on one of Google's links and then realized it was a digitized article from the 'Pomeroy Tribune'. She looked at the date and realized it contained simple information about my great great grandfather in 1891. I was staring at the computer screen seeing a couple sentences about my great grandfather and a baseball game he pitched in as an adult.

The fact that someone digitized that telegraph from so long ago amazed me. Having something that linked me to my grandfather whom I never knew, and will never know, stunned me. I had an overwhelming feeling---- the kind that comes when cross paths with a certain person who suddenly makes the world feel small. The kind that comes and makes you just stand there and stare in unbelief.

I cant believe there is something actually out there that connects me to my great-great-grandfather over 118 years ago. It connects the 19th century to the 21st.

Closeness or Distance?

I've always known that I have the habit of attaching myself to people very quickly, but recently over the last 2 months that fact has really been smacking me in the face.
I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not. Seeing that usually I dont get the chance or am able to fully communicate to the people that I DO in fact care for them in a big way.
It's been brought to my attention a lot recently, like I said, thru work. I love my job. Seriously, it's not JUST the stuff I do when I'm there and interacting with people, but I LOVE the people I work with. Like I've mentioned here before, the co-workers make or break the job for me. Well again, over the last 2 months, 3 different ladies that I worked with have all left for personal reasons. I miss them so very much. :(
Not that I mind that they didn't end up saying goodbye or giving me one last hug, but it just seems like I cared for them more than they knew.
This whole dilemma of my attachments to people I've known about for sometime. It really only becomes apparent to me when someone leaves... someone I love leaves my picture of life and doesn't come back. That happens occasionally with friends and I just dont know why. Well I do. It's like the classic saying that's ever true "you dont know what you have until it's gone." I have a gaping hole that's left in me for a very long while. But I know I have to give it to God and just trust that my friendship with them was for a time and served some good purpose... even though at the moment it seems like it was only meant for hurt to follow. Usually years later, I'm able to reflect and laugh and cry and see just how much they touched me and how me knowing them somehow changed my life in a special way forever... and who knows, I just may have helped them too.
*sigh* I've tried to not adhere to people but it just isn't working. I do anyways. Why? I'm not totally sure. I have accepted the fact that it's just apart of me being who I am. The compassion I posses and the general love I freely give. If I shunned everyone or didn't allow myself to become too close, then how would I be blessed in someway? How would they? I would travel thru life cold, bitter and unhappy.
So I guess this rambling is me telling you that I care for you more deeply than you know. Than you'll probably ever know. And if for some reason life's path severs our friendship, I'm mourning the loss of your hugs, your smile and your specialness in a way that cant be explained.

A Recent Purchase

I've recently bought a bunch of books. Well not a bunch I guess, but 6. Or 7. I purchased one of them as a duplicate as a gift and another for someone special. I cant WAIT to give these to the people I thought of!!

Ugh! I love thinking of people!



Of the books I bought, it's hard to say which I want to read first or which I'm most excited about. VERY HARD. But I've chose to feature one.

Multiple Blessings:

Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets

I cant wait to read this book!! I'm going to scream when I get the package in the mail. The tv show Jon & Kate Plus 8 is my favorite show ever. Apart from the FoodNetwork of course. I love their realness. I love how they care about eachother, pray with eachother, go to church, the craziness of their meals, the madness of rounding up the kids to go somewhere and how they trust the Lord. I love how they show all those things on tv. They aren't perfect and they know it, and it makes the show so refreshing from the normal, everyday fake perfectness that floods millions of television screens every minute. Plus that's my idea of a family :) A lot of kids, relaxed but strong parents and a whole lot of care, love and attention.

Here's what CBD says about the book:

Just three years after giving birth to twin daughters, Kate and Jon Gosselin learned they were pregnant again - with sextuplets. In Multiple Blessings, Kate chronicles the emotional and exhausting journey she and Jon made from the time the babies were conceived through the first two years of their lives. After struggling to carry and deliver all six babies, then coping with months of neonatal intensive care, Jon and Kate thought they'd made it through the hardest part of the journey.
Not even close. Stress-filled days and sleepless nights became their world as she and Jon managed to feed, bathe, clothe, and monitor the health of their fragile infants without losing sight of their love for each other and the twins. This is an honest and uplifting story of faith. It's the story of a young couple who trusted in the ever present hand of a faithful God to provide the strength and courage they needed to face seemingly impossible challenges one day at a time.

It's About Time, HANNAH!!

Hello readers... whoever you might be.

I'm here to plead. Well maybe not because I dont know what I would be pleading! lol. Well I feel horrible for not posting in (eeeek!!!) over 2 months!

Life's been chock full of adjustments and I have recently hardly had the time to even check my email. I've missed sharing my random thoughts so very much.

SO. I'm here to tell you that I will be back! Back in the blog-posting-action :)
Expect more updates on me and my crazy life very, very soon.

Thank you so much for reading!

"Just a little gift..."

I found this at our front door the other day:

Not knowing the address I opened it, seeing it was addressed to me:


I found a velvet black box in it with a card also addressed to me:


Opening it, I saw some scrawled words:

It was from my Grandpa Jack. :)

The velvet black box contained a couple costume piece jewelry. A gold looking ring with mock diamonds in it all around and a necklace and a pair of matching earrings! Neither of the pieces are my type of thing, but because what the card said and who they were from made them the most beautiful things my eyes ever beheld. I will wear them in honor of him. Those are the second thing my Grandpa has ever given me. :) Grandpa isn't an affectionate person. When I tell him I love him on the phone, he says "Uh-hu". So to get this made me cry. ♥

You see, my grandfather has Macular Degeneration so he is unable to see very well. He sees worse than he lets on, I believe. I'm not so sure he can even tell what we look like anymore...
That's why his handwriting is so bad. But after much careful study, I realized what the card said:

"Hannah,
Just a little gift
to let you know
I think you are
a fine granddaughter.

Love,
Grandpa Jack"

Busyness

Due to busyness, I haven't been able to post... and greatly to my disapointment!

I was able to post just now a couple new entries on my food blog.
Take a peek if you want!

I hope to be back soon!!

I Have A Job!

YAY! I'm excited!
After a few application submissions to different places, I am now at a wonderful place. The people at Stonewall Kitchen here in my town were the ones to say "yes" to me. I was elated.
I work in their Cafe portion. I LOVE IT. Today was actually just my second day, but day one I knew I loved it. For me personally, the people make or break the job. If I was doing something extremely boring, I would be fine with it if the people were friendly and kind and fun to be around. WELL. I got 10 of those!!!! Everyone who works in the Cafe is AMAZING. I seriously like these people. They are so patient with me too since I am new. That makes me feel not so much like the odd duck out.
So come someday and I'll serve you a Machiatto and a lovely blue cheese, pecan salad. :)
From different things I've heard from people, it's hard to find something you love as a source of employment, well I certainly lucked out. I look forward to every day I work--- I cant WAIT to go to work. I'm up super early and prepared just waiting in my blue hat, white collared shirt, tan pants and neat, black apron. :) I may be pathetic, but I enjoy it greatly and praise God for this wonderful provision. We prayed over each application submission that the door would either be closed or open. I was interviewed this past Monday and was asked to work the very next morning! It's so God and I'm very very pleased... not only for knowing that this is where I am to be now, but it's a joy to boot. :)


God is so good.

Today... Is A Beautiful Day

Today is very special to me.

Today is the day God chose to give me one of my friends. Not just any friend-- a truly amazing friend. I really cant explain who she is to me because first of all, it defies everything in our minds--- everything the makes sense. Because God moves and acts in ways our minds cant fully comprehend. Once we grasp that, it makes us realize how finite we are and how infinite He is.

This incredible girlfriend of mine and I share a very unique tie.

We're like the little kids on a playground who find someone their size and then holds hands the rest of the day--- there are no hindrances to their instant friendship. It's like they've known each other their whole lives.

We're like those silly girls you see roaming around the mall. Giggling and smiling like they have no cares in the world.

We're like confidantes to each other- telling our secrets without coming out and saying that that's exactly what they are. We just know we will be respectful enough to not share it with the world even if we weren't instructed to not do so.

We're like sisters. We love each other with a bond deep enough to entwine our lives forever. We care and hold each other up regardless of the circumstances. We come to each other with prayers-- we've cried together. And because we both share the same Father, we'll know each other forever. The joy that that brings to my heart is unexplainable.

Here's to another year, dear. Thanks for being my friend.

Today's Kitchen Adventure

Ok so today mom had me clean a thawed turkey, season it and put it in the oven while she was gone for the afternoon. No biggie right? Right.

WELL. I talked to mom about 2 hours into the cooking and asked what temperature the bird should be at when I stick the thermometer in it when it was cooked. She said 160. I thought that sounded a bit low, but hey, she's been doing this a lot longer than I have. I hung up and checked what the thermometer said and it read 'Poultry---190'.

"Well that's a bit different than what mom said!" Confused I checked the old fashioned thermo we had and it said 195. Buffudled I went to this new fangled oven thermometer that mom got dad for Christmas. It said 180 for poultry. Oookkkkaaaayyyy....... to the computer I went- "let's see what the up-to-date world thinks and does their poultry." Old trusty Google said several places (6) that it was to get to 165. I took it out at 165. We cut into it and dad was convinced that it was done. Good, I thought! I conquored the confusing battle!! But then when he went to carve it, he was disturbed at how it looked. So with ALLLLL the other side-dishes ready and table set, back in the oven the turkey went. :-P

It didn't come out so great.


I had four different temperatures from several sources. Oh brother. And a few degrees in the touchy world of poultry really does make a whole difference!

Not to confuse me or anything...

I Was Tagged!

My lovely friend of the blog 'The Inept Aspirant' tagged me! That was a surprise to me when I went to her blog for my daily visit. Apparently, it's called a 'meme'.
"Huh?" I know. It's pronounced "meem". It's translated as an idea that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

So there are rules and here they are:

1.) Write 5 specific things what blogging has done to you-- either nice or not so nice.

2.) Link back to the person who tagged you.

3.) Link to the parent host

4.) Tag some blogging buds

5.) Post these rules!

Seems easy enough... :) Here I go!

Mrs. G tagged me. And here is where this was started here!


1- Blogging has been a fun way to get things off my mind. As my mother once asked me "Isn't that what the old fashioned paper journals are for?" Yes and no as I told her. Somehow it's different in a good way.
2- I really like being able to see into other people's lives (I'm not stalking I promise!) and how they live and how they think. As I have discovered, God sure did create may different kinds of minds--- making for a colorful world!
3- With my #2 reason in mind, I can see how He has also blessed people with talents (like her and her and her! Plus general family life: This lady, This lady, This lady and This lady!)and such that I can gain from! I love learning, and what's better than from someone who has tried it first-hand instead of a stuffy old text book?
4- [rolling eyes] It's just something else I do on the computer-- I try to keep Internet activity to a minimum nowadays for family reasons, hence my posts arent that frequent. So along with email and facebook, it's another thing to add to the list that "calls" me online even when I am trying to not do very much.
5- I cant think of another one! It's encouraging, I guess I could say! To see that people may be going thru something I am, or thinking about something that has also been troubling my mind. It's something that screams "You're not the only one in this situation!"


Phew! There- now its my turn to tag!

My friend Miranda because I've known her forever and I think she could come up with good ones.

Miss Bethany because I love reading her blog and she's so sweet!

Miss Kate- she's an amazing women and I love her lots.

And last but not least, Miss Kim, fondly called Kimmer. :) She's incredibly thoughtful-

Last Week's Lovely Surprise!

I know this is a late post but my week has been so crazy that I haven't been able to submit this.

Last Wednesday I got a call from my dear friend Kate and she asked with Miranda and I were going to be able to meet her for lunch about an hour away from us on Friday. I made some calls, asked mom and dad and POOF! we were able to!

I was very excited. She said she had a friend who hadn't seen the area and thought while showing her this amazing spot on the coast, we could meet her there for lunch also. Sounded great to me!

When we finally made it, no thanks to MapQuest, I see Miss Kate sitting patiently waiting. We got out of the car, exchanged hugs and were chatting while we walked to our table. There, cowering behind purses was my fantastic girl friend JEN!!! I have missed her so much since I first met her in person back @ Passion::Boston in October. HERE SHE WAS!

They said that my face was priceless... I've no idea, seeing that I cant see my face, but I sure saw her and I couldn't run fast enough to her or hug hard enough. It really did feel amazing to hug her again...
She's from Minnesota, mind you, so it's not like she makes it to Maine very often. So when you get two incredible ladies like Miss Kate and Lady Jen in one spot together, you get an UNFORGETTABLE lunch. :)

Miss Kate, Lady Jen, Me, Miranda!

I sure have amazing girl friends... thank you Lord for ALL of them.

This Makes No Sense

I loathe running...

...well at least I thought I did!

I can maybe understand now when someone says they are on a "running high" or "active high". Johnny and I have been doing some xcountry style running thru the woods and I actually *cough* may... um... be liking it?? Shh! I didn't say that!

It's not that long of a trail and I feel bad for Johnny because we are going somewhat slow-- for his usual pace anyways---

Just my luck though to start liking something and then winter is going to set in. O well. Maybe by the time of the first snow, I will be devoted enough to get my body out of bed in the morning and run on the perfectly good treadmill we have downstairs. :-P

"Why Does the Moon Turn Orange Sometimes when it Rises?"

When I say that it reminds me of the movie "The Kid." Ever seen that? If not, it's a must. It's Bruce Willis at his BEST. I believe it's rated 'G' and by Disney. It's very near the top on my favorite flick list.

Last night however we were at the beach and saw the moon rise into the sky for the evening.. it was red and then got lighter as it ascended higher in the dark night sky.

I remember roughly how that happens from watching "The Kid" (who says you cant learn stuff from watching a movie??) but wanted to brush up on my facts. ;)
So I looked it up!
Here's what I found!

The Orange Moon

Have you ever wondered why the moon is more orange or yellow in color when it first rises at night? This effect is caused by the atmosphere of the earth. The reason for the orange color is due to the scattering of light by the atmosphere. When the moon is near the horizon, the moonlight must pass through much more atmosphere than when the moon is directly overhead. By the time the moonlight reaches your eyes, the blue, green, and purple pieces of visible light have been scattered away by air molecules. That's why you only see yellow, orange, or red.
The moon can have an orange color at any time of the year. Sometimes the moon appears orange even when it's directly overhead. This occurs when there's a lot of dust, smoke, or pollution in the atmosphere. The size of those particles will determine the type of color you will see.


Look first at the white moon directly overhead. See the red part of the arrow pointing to the white moon? This red part of the arrow shows the part of the atmosphere we are looking through to see the moon. Now look at the orange moon just rising in the east. Look at the blue portion of the arrow pointing to the orange moon. See how much longer the blue line is than the red line. This shows that we are looking through about three times as much atmosphere at a rising or setting moon.

...Just in case you were wondering...

Saturday @ the Farmer's Market

Today was SO fun at the Farmer's Market! It's called Gateway Farmer's Market-- It's right here in York. I love it because there are so many local businesses/farms and you get a real sense of community.

This is what I bought:

This Apricot-Peach tea from Portsmouth Tea Co. which I am currently sipping ice cold now! It's aaammaaaaazzzzinnnngggggg. I wish you could smell the sweetness of the peach and the robust apricot.

I also got one of my recent must-have-stand bys:

Hubba Hubba Foods 'Chow Bambino'

I've recently run into many recipes that need Italian bread crumbs and I've got plain on the shelf. SO. My brilliant mind remembered our large stash of Hubba Hubba products! It's been fantastic. Dad love their rub for steaks called 'Java Jerk'. He loves it so much that the owners dubbed him 'Java Steve'. lol.

Stevie of course had to get his favorite, well known cinnamon rolls from Borealis Breads from here in Wells, Maine:

Does look good huh?



Mom got some b-e-a-u-tiful flowers from a farm here locally. They just BEAM. I've never seen a flower like this!!!


The picture doesn't do it justice.

Then the last thing we bought was a loaf of bread from When Pigs Fly Bread Co. here in York.
It was GOOD. It was cranberry, brown sugar, pistachio, orange bread. In the words of Rachel Ray "YUM-O". :)

This Saturday has been pretty great!

Depressed. But We Did See a Purple Mushroom

So after a couple months of having my friend's amazing camera, we went outside to take some graduation pictures (which is why we borrowed it). But today's pictures came out HORRIBLE. Actually there isn't a word low enough to describe these.... much less how I feel at the moment. Depressed is an understatement.
When we actually have time to take pictures, it's overcast--- while hiking thru the woods it started to rain! That means mosquitoes are gonna come out and out they did. My legs and arms and face and neck and and and! are covered with itchy bites. Plus Johnny HAD to go to this certain spot and didn't tell me how far it was. So hiking is pretty much what we did and that irritated me greatly. Why? Because I had spent 15 minutes using a flat iron on my hair and then sweating like that defeated it completely.



The only thing remotely close to good that came out of today's time was we saw a cool mushroom. I've never seen a purple mushroom before today!















*sigh*
Today's been horrible. Despite the fact of my earlier attempts of trying to make it great---with the listing 3 great things.
I'm looking forward to Verlin's visit tonight-- that's at least something I can count on.

Today's 3 Things

I get these little magazines from the National Guard called 'Hooah' about every two months... interesting name huh? Still not sure exactly how to pronounce it. lol.
I've been getting hammered with stuff from The Guard over the last year... oh the joys of growing up. ;)



This magazine has some enjoyable articles in it! I really do like it. Last night I read one that said something about making your summer great--- one portion was on finding three things in a day that make it special. Chances are you wont have those three things together in a day again, because most of the time, that 24 hours is pretty unique. For me anyways.
Well I thought that I would list 3 things... however my day pretty much just started, so I'm not sure what good I can get from it--- Maybe I'll count on stuff that I know is planned and then it gives me something to look forward to. I'm that kind of person... it helps my attitude greatly if I have something to look forward to. Is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure.

So todays 3 great tidbits are:

1.) Waking up this morning

2.) Having time to read

3.) Having a friend over for dinner!

Doesnt sound too bad to me! I think I'll start doing this.. though maybe at the end of the day as a reflection.

So it begins

Are you ready to see into the mind of Hannah? Becareful, it could be a scary journey. ;)

This is somewhere where I will place and post things that are completely random-- things that pop into my mind. I will post things I find hilarious, roll-on-the-ground funny or just plain ol' goofy!

Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be interesting! lol.