Announcing...a book review!

It's taken me long enough to get this out there! I planned on writing a review as soon as I finished, but of course it took a little while longer. Anyhoo, here it is. My review of C.S.Lewis' The Space Trilogy (comprised of Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength)! 

The Space Trilogy--C.S.Lewis 

And here's a great Lewis quote that I found, just as food for thought.

In terms of money...we have no money...

So remember back when I said I was car-shopping? Well, I was. Now I'm not anymore. The reason for this is, quite simply, that I finally BOUGHT a car! (Which is, along with purchasing college textbooks, why I have no money.) AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

What you say after buying a car and realizing that you finally don't have to spend hours searching online anymore.

Yes, I bought a car. Me, my dad, and my younger-but-taller brother drove out to Grand Rapids, almost 2 hours away, one Friday morning to a conference celebrating the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (no offense meant to anyone who does not agree with Protestantism, but that's just where we went that morning) where we listened to a few sermons, wandered among book tables, and went to eat Burger King. (I had a grilled chicken sandwich, which I'd never had before and discovered was quite delicious.) Ahem.

After that, we drove down another hour to Kalamazoo, which is where we had seen a pretty good car listed on Craigslist. We test drove it, talked to the guy selling it (we prefer private party sellers), and it was pretty clear that I was going to buy it. And so...I counted out a great big pile of cash (bye-bye, savings account...), shook hands with the seller, and drove away. I drove that home while my dad drove his car. And my brother rode with me just cause. Then we stopped for dinner (at Arby's, which was super healthy after already eating fast food) and I drank something caffeinated, which may or may not have been good for me. Ah well, we made it home safe.

Oh yeah, you're probably thinking "Well, all of this is great, but what IS the car? What does it look like?" Well, it's a 2004 Chevrolet Impala and it's silver. It's a nice, not-too-small but not-too-big size, sturdy so that it won't fall over in a high wind, but small enough to get decent gas mileage.

Ok, so these are stock photos, but it's pretty much what the car looks like.

We were really thankful to find such a good deal. For the age of the car it is in extremely good condition, maybe a couple spots with surface rust but nothing worse, no mechanical (or whatever) problems, only 70,000 miles on it. And a decent price, when compared to similar vehicles. So yeah, I went to the Secretary of State (the sketchy one that's open on Saturdays) today and got my license plate. And I'm sure I'm understating everything--I mean, that was the biggest purchase I've ever made in my entire LIFE and probably the biggest until I have to buy my second car in hopefully over 10 years or a home someday. Kind of intimidating.

Anyway, just wanted to give an update on that situation. Don't worry, I'm really financially fine! Just like Dave Ramsey says, I paid cash for my car and didn't go into debt. And just so you know, I'm not "into" vehicles, so car posts are in no way going to become regular with me! :) Thanks for reading!

Thankfully I wasn't stuck with something like this...

What's up Doc?

Yeah, I know. Bugs Bunny. 

Hello there! I have been rather busy lately, running here and there, doing this and that, and thought that this post title was very accurate. It fits the hectic last-weeks-of-summer-break attitude that most of us have around here!
So, without further ado, here is what's up, Doc:

Writing: 

Uhhh...yep. I've been slacking off, of course. I did finish typing out the 2nd draft (I handwrite my first drafts, so this is the first typing) of my 5th book, which is chronologically the 1st prequel, but as I wrote it the 2nd prequel (yes, it's complicated). Also, I've been working a bit on the 1st draft of the 6th book, which is chronologically the 3rd prequel AND I'm writing it last. Ha. There's at least some semblance of order! Then working on editing the second book in my trilogy, which thankfully, needs I think a bit less editing than the first one and I'm about halfway through the first stage of editing. 

Reading: 

• Exiles by Jaye L. Knight (the fourth book of the Ilyon Chronicles). It was quite good! Thanks Natalie! (Read her latest post about it here) 
• That Hideous Strength by C.S.Lewis. This summer I read the other two books of the Space Trilogy and I need to finish it. 
• Other people's blog posts :D

BLOWING ALL MY MONEY ON BOOKS AAAAAAAGHHHH!

Ahem. Sorry about that. It's just that I discovered that for college, one must buy textbooks, and to buy textbooks, one must spend money. So I bought all 12-ish of my books and spent a grand total of $754.17.  Lemme say that again.  Seven hundred fifty-four dollars and seventeen cents. I mean, come on people! How expensive can schoolbooks be? At least I could borrow my brother's Amazon Prime for free shipping (at least for 8 of 12 books). And I get to read Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time or whatever it is for school. Whoop-de-doo. 

Oh well, that's college for ya. I'm getting ready for that in a couple weeks, which I hope and pray will be a good transition from being homeschooled all my life to a public university.

Gallivanting:

Which basically means going around to different resale stores not particularly searching for anything, but just to get out and do something. I was able to go with a few different friends over the past week or so, and it's such a good time! Even when you don't find anything (such as when I ALMOST found a complete, old set of LOTR books, but didn't buy cause it was missing ROTK) it's fun. 

Gallivanting also can mean going different places as a 'last hurrah' before the school year. My family went up to Tawas yesterday, just for the day and to see some relatives who live up there. We ate too much food and had a good time. Plus I got to try bubble tea for the first time ever, which was interesting. The kind I had was actually rather good--tolerable at the very least--and I may have to try it again sometime. :) 

Car Shopping:

...yes...it's fun. So far I've driven 3 cars. One was nice to drive but had a terribly dirty interior (and it hadn't been used in soooooo long that there was a wasp nest on the thing-where-you-put-gas-in). One was nice-ish to drive (if I'd had more time) but REALLY messed up. One was really nice inside but I wasn't crazy about the way it drove and there was a strange clunking noise. So now I'm back to the drawing board. Or back to Craigslist, as the case may be. 

Eating and Sleeping:

This may sound rather dull, but the end of summer usually is the time I sleep in the most, knowing that when school starts I won't get that...uh, privilege, I guess. Weird thing is, I like to get up early but I don't like to WAKE up early if you see what I mean. I like getting up early once I'm out of bed and awake, but it's the waking up part that I simply cannot stand.

Watching:

How could I have forgotten this Very Important section until now???? *Smacks forehead* 

• Oliver Twist (BBC, the 1985 version...someday when I can, perhaps I'll review it).

Oliver had a different actor when he got older, but little Oliver is simply adorable!

• The first two episodes of Cranford with some friends who hadn't seen it before. That was fun! 
• A bunch of other random movies that I won't bore you with listing...
• Some episodes of Spongebob, because of my brothers.

And now I find that I don't have a 'wrap-up' for this post...so I will wave and awkwardly say "Good-bye!"

The best coloring page ever

My Daily Walk, a.k.a "I never knew there was this much green in the whole galaxy."

Hullo there! I have just returned from a Very Long car trip! That is, I suppose it was only 5-6 hours, but it was Very Long when 6 of us kids were riding in the back of a large van with only 7 seats between us. Along with all our cargo: backpacks and duffel bags, sheets, towels, a guitar (yep), seventy boxes of food and drinks, and a bunch of board games, books, and things. Oh, not to mention our pillows. All 8(ish) of them. And my younger siblings' stuffed animals. And...well, you get the idea. We went up to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (or the U.P. if you prefer) to spend a vacation week at a little cottage on a tiny, private lake called Piatt Lake. It's owned by a Bible conference society or something, and is quite a nice little place in the middle of Hiawatha national forest.

It is sooooo beautiful up there! I'm just going to share a few highlights from our trip.

• The lovely view from our cottage deck, where I could just stand with a cup o' tea or coffee, listening to the silence.
• Eating tons and tons of tasty food, getting ice cream at a small place in Newberry called "The Scoop." Living on the water makes me hungry.
• Hearing somebody call their kid "Lando."  Like, as in Lando Calrissian? 
• Two chipmunks, affectionately named "Teedo" and "The D.L.F" (by me) who would annoy us when we ate outside--one time, one was so close to me it was eating out of my hand. They didn't seem overly afraid of us. 

Aren't they adorable???

• Hiking through the beautiful, lush green woods of the Upper peninsula (even if it was a bit muddy) and being blown away by the beauty of God's creation

The pictures don't do the lighting justice by a long road.

• Chillin' with the guac from my chip hat, or rather, sitting inside with my notebook (I drafted like 16 pages!!!) and listening to my brothers' stir-crazy rainy-day madness. Somehow it was decided that Cinderella would henceforth be known as Cinderooble. Not sure how that happened. 
• Jumping off smallish cliffs of sand and bouncing down the sand dunes! 
• Reading books: "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis and "The Secret-Keepers" by Trenton Lee Stewart
• Standing on a giant dune with 500 feet to the waters of Lake Superior beneath me, the closest to flying I'll ever get. It was majestic. One wrong step and we would fall, on the edge of a precipice, but with such a glorious landscape. It was awe-inspiring indeed, and I plan to return someday so I can run down the huge dune. 
  
  
  
  
• Seeing two Bald Eagles sparring in midair and getting it on video! Seeing a little baby bear in the wild (from a distance, that is) as well as hearing the eerie cries of loons.  
• Kayaking across our "home lake" to a place where the water seemed like glass and all was silent. It's called "the lagoon" by the residents of the lake, and I can truly say that some of the places seemed magical. 

A view of the lagoon

• Just...doing stuff...I guess....getting totally carried away in my book that I was writing and hardly being able to stop. It was lovely. 

Although I loved it up north, we didn't get to swim, really, it was already too cold (which is why I wouldn't want to live up there all the time--wouldn't be warm enough for my liking), and I was exceedingly glad to be home! To sleep in my own bed that doesn't smell like a stranger's house, to have the comfort and convenience of home...it's good to be back.