Hello, everyone! Welcome to a celebration. What are we celebrating? Eeyore’s birthday. Many happy returns, everyone!
No, actually we are celebrating 50+ followers on this blog. I wrote a status update on Goodreads last week asking for celebration ideas when I hit fifty followers. At that point it was “time to start thinking about it”. Give Jesseca and Elaina a round of applause for following my blog soon after to make this happen. 😉
These are just two of the fantastic followers I’ve been blessed with! All of you have been a great encouragement and a ton of fun. I’d like to take a moment to thank you. Hats off to all of you ordinaries. 😉
Let’s have ice cream to celebrate! I’m giving away eBook copies of my newly published short story “Enjoy the Poodle Skirt”! Just enter your email address into the box below (I promise I won’t use it for anything else), and I will send your free “ice cream” right over to you. 😉 Chocolate or vanilla? Or Oreo? 😀
(Offer is over! Sorry if you missed it. You can find the book for $0.99 on Amazon.)
Okay, now for the giveaway…
Eek! Just look at those prizes! 😉 You can follow this link to enter, and even if you don’t have any social media accounts there is something that you can do to earn points!
(Giveaway is over! Thanks for coming. 😉 )
I asked my family members and my friends on Goodreads to give me random words to incorporate into a challenge story. I chose these ten… aviation, scintillate, denouement, lilt, triplet, shabby, RV, Chublins, susurrus, and mold. See if you can spot them in the story! 😉
Chublins stumped up the steps to the shabby RV, dragging his toy airplane behind him. His lip stuck out farther than his nose, and hot angry tears spilled over onto his cheeks. He trailed into the kitchen wailing loudly.
“Ah, Chublins. There you are,” his mother said with a lilt to her voice. She picked up the third triplet and put him in his highchair next to the others.
He howled even louder.
“Chublins, what’s wrong?”
He shoved his airplane towards her.
Mother took it from him and held it up to the light, causing it to scintillate. The propeller was missing. “Oh, it’ll be all right, dear. I’m sure we can take it to Grandpa, and he will mold you a new one since knows everything about aviation.”
The comfortingly susurrus noise she made next as she stroked his wiry curls had him drying his tears and settling down to a happy denouement of pancakes with maple syrup smeared out to his ears.
Part one of my bookshelf tour! (Excuse the funny frame size, we were using a phone camera.) 😉 In this video I cover what I’m currently reading and show you the first shelf of my books. Enjoy!
Here’s part two in which I show you my second shelf as well as a few books from “the vault” and my desk. 😉
Thanks you all so much for coming to celebrate with me! Don’t forget to enter that giveaway and read Peter Pan. 😉
Once Upon An Ordinary 
Okay, so, lots of stuff to say in this comment because of the giveaway!
I think I’d really love to read Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke. I’ve been meaning to for ages, but I just haven’t gotten to it! Actually, I’d like to read most of the books on your shelf … but that’s just the one I happened to remember when I finished watching the videos. 😛
A dishwashing story … mmkay … well, this isn’t really a good one, but once my dad smacked me with a wet towel as a joke while we were washing dishes (I was drying, he was washing) and it hurt and I started crying (I was probably seven or eight?) and so he let me hit him with the towel. 😀
One ordinary hero I’ve been inspired by … hmm … let’s see … can he/she be fictional or …? What are the rules here?! I think I’m going to go with Winnie-the-Pooh. I mean, seriously! Isn’t he the best “hero” ever?!
Count my books. Let’s see … *marches upstairs to my private shelves* *comes back* I think I have about fifty different books, though many of them are several books, such as the complete Little House books, etc. 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s fun! It’s a really good book, and I think you will like it. 😉 If you want to remember the other books, you can always look at my Goodreads… There are gobs there. 😛
Aw, that’s so cute! ❤ We have a similar family story–except it was water guns. 😛
Yes, Winnie-the-Pooh is a fantastic hero. I mean, he saved Piglet and everything right? And he's such a darling. 😉
That's an awesome number! I still need to count mine. *glares at self for requiring other people to do something I haven't yet*
Thanks for celebrating with me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats Kate! What fun!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Victoria! 😉
LikeLike
Winning the summer library program in two days . . . XD SAME! When I was younger, I begged my sister to let me enter the high school level, as the middle grade level was too easy. 😉
Okay, I recently counted my books, and I own approximately 65, which is more than I thought, so I’m quite pleased!
One ordinary hero I’ve been inspired by . . . hmm . . . I’m gonna have to say my mama, for countless reasons. Suffice it to say, she’s just amazing. 😉
Favorite dish washing story, that’s hard, lol! I think my favorite is when I washed dishes once with my then 6 year old brother. He was just so cute as he tried to dry the dishes as I washed them, and his little boy chatter was so sweet. ❤
Evangelists in Chains is probably the book on your shelf I most want to read. It looks really interesting! Otherwise, the Viking Quest series. Those sound fun. 🙂
Congratulations on this milestone Kate!!! I am so happy for you; I love your blog! Here's to many more followers and posts! 🙂 God bless!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ha, ha! That’s great! So glad I’m not the only one that finds the summer reading program easy. 😉 Now, the Goodreads one? That’s a whole different matter entirely. 😉
Wow, that is a nice number! I’m sure your beautiful Mitford series helped with the number, didn’t it? 🙂
Yes! Mothers are awesome! My mom is one of my main heroes.
Aw, I love it! Little kids are so cute doing chores!!! ❤
Oooo! You picked a good one! That book has seriously blessed me. The Viking Quest series is really fun. 😉 Someday I need to review them properly. 😉
Thank you! This blog would not be the same without you! You have been a great, encouraging follower. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dishwashing story! Once, our entire kitchen was full of dishes. Like. . . all 3 countertops loaded with them. And. . . I had to wash them by myself because other people were busy or gone. it took me nearly 3 hours total. And I was exhausted when they were done.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow, you’re a trooper! For some reason, this makes me think of the children’s story where the man had so many dishes dirty he loaded them up in his pickup bed and let them get rained to “wash” them. 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ordinary Hero: I am inspired by my mom. She is extremely dedicated to what God calls her to do and she has a passion for serving and listening to God. I want to be like her “when I grow up”. 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sounds like a great hero! My parents are my heroes too. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Number of books: 340-ish (some are in storage)
LikeLiked by 2 people
*eyes pop out* That is too awesome! Sometime you should make a tour. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ruby’s Quilt is ADORABLE!!! I want a copy of that! 😉 So cute! Your sister sounds awesome! 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Aw, thanks! I was so excited to make it when I was a kid, and it felt so special to have her work on it with me. ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow, Kate! That was fun! 🙂 Thanks for the tour of your shelf.
Okay, just warning you, this may be a long comment. 🙂
I’m not sure which book on your shelf I want to read. I seem to have either read them or am not interested. But, you need to get and read TCR-6! It needs a review or two. 😉
My favorite dish washing story? I have a few that I can think of. Most of them involve letting little ones (ages 2 or under) help wash dishes. One time at church I was in the kitchen washing dishes and my nephew (about 2 at the time) and my little friend (a few months younger than my nephew) came to help. Thankfully this sink had three places to wash dishes. So one child would “wash” the dish in the first “sink,” then the next child would “wash” it, and then I would either finish washing it or just rinse it. 🙂 It was such fun! Yes, the floor got rather wet, each child ended up with a soaked shirt even though they were wearing aprons, but we all have lots of fun!
My books? Really? You want to know how many I have? Well . . . I can’t remember the exact number, but it was over 800. And that’s not counting the ones on my kindle.
I told you this would be long. And I may be back. 🙂 Oh, and I’m looking forward to reading your ice cream story! Anyway, I enjoyed this post. Thanks for the fun time.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad you enjoyed it! My sister and I had a ton of fun filming it. 😉
Hmmm… well, we shall have to find you something. 😉 Yes! I’ve been tempted to get the eBook several times, but I’ve decided that it has to be paperback just to make the series complete. 😉
Aw, that sounds like way too much fun!!! 😉 Little kids are so helpful and cute, aren’t they? I love it when my nephews offer to help dry dishes. ❤
*mouth drops open* *faints* You are going to have your own mini Library of Congress soon! 😉
😀 Can't wait to hear what you think of it! I had a ton of fun writing it. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
We actually do use all our books as a “lending library” to other homeschool families.
Oh, and the short story with all those words was fun. 😉
LikeLike
Loved the bookshelf tour! 😀 And I’ve already read Peter Pan 😉 I actually read it for the first time only a few months ago, but I really enjoyed it! It was definitely pretty funny at times lol 😛
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Elaina! Oh, awesome!!! Fist bump. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just looked at the giveaway questions and I think I have somewhere around 350 books? But I’m going to be getting rid of some of them so that number may change 😛 Some books on your shelf that I would like to read are The Beauty and the Beast retelling and The Book Thief 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, that’s great! Paring down is good too. 😉 I like making sure I have my favorites on hand without being “drowned” in books. 😉
Ooo! Nice choices! Both of those are really good. 😉
LikeLike
Ok, I gave up on counting my books! I counted a few shelves and then did a guesstimate based on number of bookshelves I own. My conclusion is somewhere between 1500 and 2000.
~Mrs Marr
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s great! 😀 I can imagine that your homeschooling books are a huge part of that amount. 😉
LikeLike
Ooooohh!!! Look at all my words!!! XD
Okay, here we go…
Number of books I own…. I have no clue. Our upstairs room has a wall to wall, ceiling to floor bookshelf, and it’s a huge room. So does my mom’s office. And I’d say about 1/4 of those are mine? Maybe a few more? But in MY room I have 100+.
One ordinary hero: My mother. I’m not sure I have to say anything more.
Favorite dishwashing story: When I was little, it was always my younger brother and I’s job to wash dishes. (Now we have a dishwasher =D) Anyway, it generally deteriorated into a water fight! That was always fun ; )
But my favorite story… for the first half of my life (so far!) It was just me and my brothers. Now brothers are great… but I wanted a baby sister. I know I prayed for her a LOT, but my clearest memory was one day when I was loading the newly-acquired dishwasher, and praying my heart out. I think I was crying. but that evening, our parents called us in and told us Mumsie was having another baby. I just KNEW it would be a girl. And she was 🙂
Book on your shelf I want to read- Miracles by C.S. Lewis. because I started it, and lost it, and now it’s somewhere in the aforementioned Mom’s Office…..
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes! You supplied quite a few interesting ones. Thank you. 😉
Wow!!! That’s great!!! We have quite a few family bookshelves as well.
😀
Water fights are sooo much fun. I remember one time when I had extra big, thick soap suds and made a “beard” of them on one of my siblings. 😛 AWWWW!!! That is so special. ❤
"Mom's Office" sounds frighteningly full and fun. Hope you find the book soon!
LikeLiked by 2 people
This looks like fun!
Number of books I own- is a vast unknown. A lot.
Ordinary hero: My grandfather
Dishwashing story: Water fights with my siblings!
Book on your shelf I want to read- The Viking Quest series looks interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“A vast unkown…” Ha, ha! I love it. 😉
That’s a great ordinary hero! And water fights are so funny. 😀
Oh, yes! It’s a very good series! 😉
LikeLike
YAY for 50 followers! That’s fantastic. 🙂
Which book on your bookshelf would I like to read? Hmmmm! Maybe the ones by Rebekah? I also really want to re-read the Viking Quest series some time!
My favorite stories to do with dishwashing is when we used to have another family live with us. Each night when we did the dishes we would set the timer for a really short amount of time and then race as fast as we could to get all the dishes done before the timer rang. The goal was to all be sitting in the living room when, with a second to spare if possible. That involved tons of shouting, running, and laughing. 🙂
Ah! As for how many books I have? I just recently counted (and then bought several more), and I currently have 617 books, but another seven or so are on the way. (For me to review.)
Fun questions, Kate! And it was cool getting to hear you on your bookshelf vlog! YAY for books! Thanks for doing this celebration!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! 😉
Oh, yes, all of Rebekah’s books are so good! 😉 You’ve read the Viking Quest? That’s really fun! Which book was your favorite?
We’ve done that before!! So. much. fun.
Hats off to you! That’s an amazing number. 😉 And more on the way is always the best…
Glad you could come, Lydia! And I’m so happy that you like the vlog. I was kinda nervous about it since I’ve never done one before. 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
Goodness! I read those books probably six or so years ago, so I’m not sure which ones were my favorite. 🙂 I’ll have to re-read them some time and then I’ll know. (Except I have so many new books to read that my re-reads are happening far less than they used to….)
Vlogging is a lot of fun! I hope you keep doing it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a list of re-reads that just keep growing!! 😉 It’s a lot of fun, but new books do often take priority. 😉
Aw, thanks! I just might do more of them once in awhile. 😀
LikeLike
Congratulations on 50 followers!
I loved your bookshelf tour!!! It was awesome!! =D I really want to read the Viking series! I’ve seen it so many places I’ll have to get it!
By the way, I sang the Gilligan’s Island theme. It was all I could think of. ;D
My favorite dish washing story… well that would probably be once my sister Rebekkah and I decided to do dishes late at night once and I was not in the mood to do it slow. So we ended up developing a system where we could both be washing dishes at the same time with each of us having a steady stream of water for rinsing. We ended up getting the dishes done in record time and it was awesome. =)
Ordinary heroes are so awesome. When I was eleven I thought teenagers were just about the coolest people ever, but in the co-op we went to they didn’t really pay attention to me. But there was one seventeen year old girl, Alyssa, and she hung out with me, and let me help her out with stuff. Alyssa is still one of my heroes because she actually cared about me when it would have been easy to ignore me.
I own about 200 books. I did not have time to actually sit down and count every single one, but I estimated between 190 and 200. =)
-Mikayla-
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much! 😀
Glad you enjoyed it. 😉 We had a lot of fun making it. Oooo!!! Yes! I think they would become new favorites for you. 😉
Hahahaha!!!! That is too awesome. 😀 That song–it’s, um, really goofy. 😛
Wow, record time, eh? I love it when the dishes just “fly” into the cabinets.
That is great! Alyssa sounds like a very special hero. This serves to remind me as well to be friends with everyone no matter there age. What an inspiring story! 😉
Ha, ha! I haven’t even counted mine for that reason. I probably should now. 😛
LikeLike
Funny dishwashing story – My little two year old brother decided he wanted a piggy back ride while I was washing dishes, so he pushed a chair over behind me and climbed up on my back. I started to lower him off when he dropped his toy tiger in the water and splashed the soap bubbles up on his face. Then he blinked and said, ‘Morgan, you wash me please? I dirty. I have bubbles on my face.”
Book count. Around 145, but I’m at the library, so not quite sure.
Everyday hero – A few people from my church who have been, are in, and are going into the military.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, that is so adorable! 😀 I love the way little kids talk.<3
That's a great book number and heroes too! 😉 We have a whole book on Medal of Honor recipients, and it's AMAZING!
LikeLike
Book I watnt to read – The Book Thief. I’ve seen the movie and it was amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, yes!!! I love that movie. My Pinterest is flooded with quotes and pictures from it… 😀
LikeLike