Random quotes from a favorite story

Many years ago in the later 80's - around '87 or so - I read a book that struck a chord in me. It was called The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley. It was kind of a fantasy book for young adults/adults. I cherish that book to this day still, along with it's sequel (that came out before it) The Blue Sword. Though I enjoyed The Blue Sword better, there are several passages in The Hero and The Crown that still strike something deep within me. I thought I would share them with you today for no other reason than I have been thinking about this book incessently for the past several hours and can't sleep.
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She wondered if she had ever truly not known that Tor loved her, if it were only that she had always feared to love him in return. She was afraid no longer, and the irony of it was that Luthe had taught her not to be afraid, and that it was her love for Luthe that made her recognize her love for Tor.
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She did not mount at once but turned back to Luthe, and he held out his arms, and she rushed into them. He sighed and her own breast rose and fell against his. "I have put you on a horse - that same horse - and watched you ride away before. I thought I should never get over it that first time. I think I followed you for that. Not for any desire to help you save Damar; only to pick up whatever pieces Agsded might have left of you. ...I know I shall never get over it this time. If you do it, someday, a third time, it will probably kill me." Aerin tried to smile but Luthe stopped her with a kiss. "Go now. A quick death is best, I believe."
"You can't scare me," Aerin said, almost suceeding in keeping her voice level. "You told me long ago that you aren't mortal."
"I never said I couldn't be killed," replied Luthe. "If you wish to chop logic with me, my dearest love, you must make sure of your premises."
"I shall practice them - while - I shall practice, that I may dazzle you when next we meet."
There was a little silence, and Luthe said, "You need not try to dazzle me."
"I must go," Aerin said hopelessly, and flung herself at Talat just as she had done once before. "I will see you again."
Luthe nodded.
She almost could not say the words: "But it will be a long time - long and long."
Luthe nodded again.
"But we shall meet?"
Luthe nodded a third time.
"Gods of all the worlds, say something," she cried, and Talat startled beneath her.
I love you", said Luthe. "I will love you till the stars crumble, which is a less idle threat than is usual to lovers on parting. Go quickly, for truly I can not bear this."
She closed her legs violently around the nervous Talat, and he leaped into a gallop. Long after Aerin was out of sight, Luthe lay full length upon the ground and pressed his ear to it, and listened to Talat's hoofbeats carrying Aerin farther and farther away.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tor had been king less than three years when he was first called the Just, for the even-handedness of his wisdom; a wisdom, they said, that was never cold, and that sat strangely in the eyes of one not yet forty. Aerin knew where some of that old wisdom came from, for she had first seen it the afternoon that he had told her she should be queen, had asked her to marry him; the same afternoon that he had not asked her about Luthe. She hoped that she might never be careless of Tor's feelings. Tor, who had been her best friend all her life, and sometimes her only friend. Perhaps the memory of the reek of Maur's despair made her a little forgetful too, for she began to think of the wide silver lake as a place she had visited only in dreams, and of the tall blonde man she had once known as a creature of those dreams; for the not quite mortal part of her did sleep, that she might love her country and her husband.

The End
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I guess being enamoured of romance and love for as long as I can remember might have something to do with the reason this story resonated with me then and still does to this day. Two wonderful men who the heroine of the story loved desperately, but had to make a choice between a) the kind of love one finds with their soul mate and turning her back on all she knew or b) in the knowledge of that soul mate love being able to recognize and realize the deep love she shared with the person who had always been by her side, and in doing so, turned her back on the soul mate love to be the woman she was meant to be all along with the one she was destined to love and build a life with.

I wrote my first romances in starting in the late 80's in High School for friends who wanted to star in a romance with the crush of their choice or boyfriend in various locations from a window-walled suite overlooking the lights of the city to being surrounded by snow while in a large log cabin in the mountains with a roaring fire and a bear-skinned rug. Yes, I created customized romances back then for others. Detailed romances that shared much, but left off at the right moment to let their imagination take over. I never wrote sex back then. Just the suggestion of leading up to it. I had many repeat customers. Hmmmm, that makes me sound like a tawdry tart doesn't it? I wrote for sheer enjoyment back then and never charged anyone. I reveled in the power of flexing my brain and imagination and coming up with different scenarios. These days I write only for myself. I don't really care about what other people want in my writing. If it makes me happy, that's what matters to me. If other's happen to enjoy it, well, that's just a bonus. And if I ever get published, that will be the icing on the cake with the cherry on top: to get paid for what I love doing most, other than being with my family.

Good night, or good morning, as the case is.

Oh, today's FFT will be to a couple of fun places. Get ready to enjoy them later.

Nic out.

15 things about me Thursday

Ok, it's time for another 15 things about me Thursday as the title suggests. I'm a little late, but that's ok b/c it's still Thursday and y'all will be ok reading about it tomorrow.

15 Things About Me:

1.) I can pick up things with my toes and write my name with my right toes.
2.) I dream in both black and white and vivid color. I remember most of my dreams.
3.) I make the perfect steak and the perfect mashed potatoes (which I may or may not post on a future Monday Meal).
4.) I've never broken any bones but I have dislocated my right kneecap more than once.
5.) I have borderline arachnophobia. The only spider I'm NOT afraid of is the most dangerous one. The most venomous spider, believe it or not, is the daddy long legs, however, it's mouth is so small, it cannot bite humans. Or so the urban legend goes.
6.) Caffeine and sugar don't affect me. I have NEVER had a caffeine high or a sugar rush. I can only wish that energy drinks did something for me or coffee of sodas, but to no avail. Caffeine just makes me warm and makes me have to pee a whole lot.
7.) I am not afraid of heights. I am afraid of depths. The one movie that has freaked me out more than any other is Deep Blue Sea. To watch a deadly shark coming at you from out of the murky depths makes me shiver even as I write this. I don't like not knowing what is below me.
8.) I am ambidextrous but my right hand is the dominant one.
9.) I can make professional flower arrangements.
10.) I know how to make balloon wraps (and have done so many times note: these are not my works just depictions):

11.) I severely dislike doing mathematical equations. I'd rather use a calculator than not, but will put pencil to paper if I have to. Math was NOT my forte in school. I excelled in language arts, English, History and creative arts like creative writing, art, drama and music.
12.) My favorite season is Fall. The days get cooler, the nights get chilled. Warm enough for shorts still during the days but cool enough for a sweatshirt at night. And best of all: IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!
13.) My favorite bread is Great Harvest Sourdough bread! For "specialty" breads I really jones for their Cinnamon Chip and Apple Scrapple breads. Nobody beats Great Harvest for tasty bread!
14.) I'm not affiliated with any political party. I vote for whoever is closest to my morals and values and beliefs. Ok, so 99.9% of the time I vote Republican b/c I am EXTREMELY conservative, but I have voted for the occasional Dem. Well, only 2 or 3 times before. But I have never blindly checked a straight party ticket.
15.) I make up inventive, child-friendly, curse words. There are some situations that I just want to let a curse word fly but little ears are listening, so I practice "safe says" so that a real word doesn't slip out in front of her and she picks it up. The LAST thing I need is for her to go around to my mom's friends or, God forbid, Sunday school and church calling someone a stupid a-hole or worse. My favorites are "Bloody" which is a mild English euphamism, "Biscuts and Gravy" in lieu of SOB, "Flippin'" or "Flipping" instead of Stupid or S#!ting, and "Stinkin'" or "Stinking" in lieu of the really bad F-word.

Em knows I'm upset when I use the last one when referring to something - NEVER in reference to her though. Uh-uh. You couldn't PAY me enough to cuss at a child. Nope, I will never use any curse word in reference to her or any other child. I am a BIG believer that YOU NEVER CUSS AT CHILDREN. NEVER, EVER, EVER...EVER! Have I made my feelings clear on that? I heard a mom swearing at her young daughter who must have been 7 or 8 at the most when I did my volunteering gig and I wanted to go up and smack her a righteous good one. BOILED MY BLOOD it did. She was a STINKING rotten mother at that point. It was over ice cream that the daughter didn't want to eat and the STINKING ROTTEN mother was cussing at her for not eating it after she had paid for it and was all in her sweet, scared little face over it. BLOODY, STINKING, ROTTEN EXCUSE FOR A MOTHER. Eat it yourself you troll.

Wierdest Google I've had yet

Ok, I just saw that someone found my blog by Googling "does cheese constipate you". Good LORD, my blog was the first link to come up out of 1,420 links. I can say so far that that is the strangest Google I've gotten so far. Mostly it's been Misheard Song Lyrics or Chicken Enchilada Casserole or some variant of it.

Where Do I Start?

My ticket y'all!


Oh my heavens! What can I say other than I'm still flying over THE MOVIE. It brings everything full circle and draws that circle to a close. Seriously, go see it people. 2½ hours didn't seem like 2½ hours. And that is the kind of movie I like!

So, I went to see Revenge of the Sith at 12:01 a.m. I got there around 9:50 and they were already seating people. The theaters were already packed when I got there and the ONLY place left to sit was in chairs on the floor level. I was lucky and got one in the middle right in front of the stadium seating. So where do I start in my review? Why at the beginning of course.

I played solitaire, Snood and Elf Bowling on my phone to help pass the time. Snuck some energy drinks into the movie b/c hey, it was going to be a late night. Energy drinks don't do much for me except make me have to pee a lot. A whole lot. Must be the caffeine. I'll explain my resistance to caffeine in the 15 things about me later today. Luckily I only had to get up twice during the movie and I made sure that it was at a time when there wasn't a lot going on. Which was few and far between.

Sitting in a theater full of people I realized something, I can sing in front of a crowd, as long as they're not paying attention to me. Around 10:30 I called my mom, who was looking after Emily while I was at the movie to see if Emily was asleep. She wasn't. I usually sing to Emily to help her fall asleep at night or at least to push her to the point where she calms down enough to get to sleep. I had to sing 4 songs to her before I noticed that her voice was to the point where she was going to fall asleep. I just closed my eyes and ignored the hubbub of activity, light saber fights and voices going on around me and sang to her. Yes, I did say light saber fights. Went on every stinking 15 minutes or so by some overly enthusiastic amateurs and got old real quick after the first 2 times. SIGH!

But I know that you didn't come here to read about that. You want to know about THE MOVIE, yes? Even if the answer is "no", tough noogies. You're getting my review anyway.

First off the previews.

The first preview was AMAZING, SPECTACULAR and had the ENTIRE theater whistling, clapping and cheering. What was is you ask? None other than the preview for The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. The special effects were un-freaking-believable! Nothing looked CGI at all. The preview was at least 2 or 3 minutes long. The theater went WILD for it. The movie has been moved up from December 19 to December 9 and I CAN NOT WAIT for it to come out. Yes, I must confess that the CON (Chronicles of Narnia) are my favorite books hands down and I own quite a bit of CON memorabilia including a couple of 2nd edition books and one 1st edition printing of some of the CON from the 40's as well as some of the board games from England, a Narnia advent calendar that is behind a wardrobe door and other assorted items. I've written Narnian fanfic, have a Narnian character name and am one of the original members of the online Yahoo Narnia group. My name is Nicole Boedeker and I am a TOTAL Narnia Geek!

The rest of the previews looked singularly uninspiring after the LWW preview with the exception of Batman Begins. That one looked pretty darn good.

SO, 12:15ish rolls around and the Lucasfilm, LTD logo fills the screen and the theater gets frenzied at this point. It starts out with these familiar words appearing on the screen:

A long time ago,
In a galaxy far, far away...

And the crowd goes wild with thunderous applause and deafening cheers.

Ok, let me just pause here to say this:

The score: PHENOMINAL! Williams really outdoes himself on this final score in tying a lot of recognizable music from all the other 5 episode scores together in this one. Beautifully done!

The acting: Some characters I had issues with b/c the acting was wooden. Like it was being forced at times (cough...cough...Natalie/Hayden love scenes..cough). But even those characters (separately had good acting too. Mercifully JarJar, though he shows up in the movie, utters not one blessed word. Thank you George for that! Best acting award goes to Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine/Darth Sidious. He HIT this one out of the park, people. His acting here is outstanding. Runner up, Ewan McGregor. Ewan really got the essence of the original brilliant actor to play Ben Kenobi, Sir Alec Guinness. It is like you ARE watching Sir Alec as a younger man. Brilliantly played. His acting in the last 30 minutes just TEARS at your heartstrings. Also Yoda was masterfully CGI'd and exceptionally well done. A couple of scenes were really deeply heartrending while a couple of others provided for some of the very few lighter moments of the movie. This is a MUCH darker movie so those are very few indeed.

***Parents, young kids SHOULD NOT go see this. There is a lot of violence and Ani as Darth kills the younglings in the temple. Though not shown, the aftermath is shown and it is HEAVILY implied. It definitely shows that the younglings trusted Master Skywalker and he slaughtered them. Could really give younger kids bad dreams about people they know wanting to kill them or something. Kid's psyches are fragile enough without having to endure something like that as well. But you are aware of what your younger children can handle and can't. Please be aware of this before taking them to see it b/c you think it would be a "cool" experience like you had as a kid seeing the originals. This is much more intense, scary and violent than any of the other 5 episodes. If you have doubts, wait for the DVD. Ok, enough of the public service message and spoilers. ***

The special effects: Way above par. While there were several green screen effects that were very noticable - the Ani/Padme suite effects of being on the balcony and seeing the city in the background was the most noticable I thought. Interesting that the more complex CGI effects were seamless, especially Yoda, the volcanic planet
and the space/ground battles.

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So I decided that I would rather not finish the synopsis of it and stick with my review above. To do an in depth synop as I was doing, would have taken up too much time and ruined it for someone who hasn't seen it yet. Just know that I LOVED IT!

I'm there at 12:01 are you?

Yes, I have a ticket to go see Revenge of the Sith tonight, er, Thursday morning at 12:01 a.m. I went to get my ticket around 5 today and there was already a line outside of people camped out. Out of 5 screens showing RotS, 3 were already sold out, and the 4th one was about to. SOOOO, I gave in, geeked out and got my ticket!

Matt was pretty ticked that I didn't invite him. I feel bad about that. He works nights and has been picking up extra hours so that he can bring in more money and I didn't want to take away any of that. I wasn't going to hide the fact that I was going tonight from him and knew that he would read about it tomorrow anyway, so I told him. I didn't want him to find out in the morning b/c that would have been just crappy. He said that would have called in to go with me, but they make the schedule at 3 and he wasn't going to screw them over to go to a movie but if he had known earlier... Ah me. There's nobody else I would have wanted to see this movie with and I thought that he would have not gotten off of work. Sometimes we think we make the right decision and we really don't, but don't know it until after the fact. That seems to happen a lot.

I'm sorry babe. Had I known you would have called in, I would have let you know sooner and gotten a ticket for you and we could have gone together. I would have liked to have you there.

For the rest of you, I'll be posting a review tomorrow! How many of you are going or have already seen it?

I'll be there at 12:01, how about you?

Today's HDQ

If you could do one thing with someone right now, who and what would it be?

For me it would be swimming with the dolphins with my family. I'd love to be able to swim with those beautiful creatures and watch my daughter's face as she experiences something new, different and wonderfully exciting like that for the first time. I've always wanted to swim with the dolphins and have heard that it is an amazing experience. Plus you got the white beaches and clear, beautiful waters. Here in Texas we have brown water in the Gulf b/c of all the shipping business that is done in it. The water is pretty NASTY and not anything you would readily want to swim in. Ahhhh, to be sipping tropical drinks packed with plenty of punch on the beach. Something I've never experienced before. So that would be nice too.

OR

Go to New Orleans with Matt and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and her husband. We've tried going twice before but plans never solidified. I've been to NOLA more times than I can count. Used to go several times a year, but I've never been to Mardi Gras. I LOVE New Orleans. It's right below Kansas City as my favorite city in the US. Of course I haven't been to that many cities, but those two are tops for me.

Ok, your turn. Tag, you're it.

Pincess Picture Tuesday - time goes by so fast

So, how proud can a mommy be? Let's see, I'm pretty proud of my little PQAL.

We've been working on baseball. Usually kids at her age are trying to learn to play T-ball. Not my Em. She can throw a ball pretty far and has been working on her swing. I've been soft-tossing the ball to her and she would almost hit it. Miss it by just a couple of inches. Finally I told her to keep her eye on the ball and watch it as I threw it to her b/c you can't hit what you can't see. So, I try again and she smacks it! We're not talking barely hitting it, we're talking about smacking it past me and halfway across the yard. 8 times in a row she did this! Yes, that is my little darling athletic prodigy. Last year at 2½ she was swimming into the deep end at my inlaw's pool (about 10 feet deep) with a little life vest that latched under her legs and would just stay out there and swim like a little fishy. She gets it from my husband's side of the family. He, my BIL and SIL all swam and my BIL and SIL went to state for swimming. Currently my BIL teaches her a lot. Recently taught her the backstroke.

We had a backyard picnic today b/c this was supposed to be my last day at home. We had the leftover chicken and rice that I made from yesterday's Monday Meals recipe. Put a blanket out in the backyard and ate and then we lay there as I read her part of a story. It was a multi chapter story so she got the first chapter which was about 9 pages long. She does good with attention span on longer stories. We had planned the picnic last night so when Matt said that he was going to suggest that I keep her today b/c this was supposed to be my last day home I was thrilled! Emily woke up talking about the picnic and was so happy when I got the blanket to put outside on the lawn. It was a good day with my sweet baby girl who is growing up all too fast.

Over the weekend I realized that next year she could feasibly start school. I don't want her in a public school b/c the public schools are secularistic and teach selectively what our American heritage and history is. I want a good solid backgroud for her that doesn't "allow" kids who don't cut the mustard to pass up to the next grade. Public schools have lost accountibility for what they are teaching our kids today and why they allow a "pass" for trouble kids who aren't making the grade. No, I want my daughter in a private school. She would miss the mark by 3 weeks, however, in a private school, she can take some placement tests and go in early. One reason I want this is b/c she is already doing basic math, is learning to spell, not the basic letters like C-A-T or D-O-G but more complex words like M-O-V-I-E and H-O-N-E-Y and K-I-N-G...You get the picture. The story about M-O-V-I-E is I was talking to my mom on the phone one day and spelled movie into the phone so that Emily wouldn't know what we were talking about. Emily says "Movie? What movie are you talking about, mommy?" I was floored. I have never told her how to spell it and neither has anyone else. That was her first word that she ever spelled. She can write her letters on top of knowing what they are. She's been writing (copying) words and letters for at least 3 months now. She also is easily at least ½ a head to a full head higher than any of the other kids in her Sunday school class that are her age. If she can pass the test, she's in. I'd much rather have her be the youngest in the class and at least somewhat measure up to the other kids in height (she would still be bigger most likely but not as big) than have her be one of the oldest in the class and look 2 classes older than what she really is.

So anyway, here are this weeks PQAL pics of my baby girl! Who's not such a baby anymore. BOOHOO! Parents, enjoy them when they're young. Time goes by too fast and before you know it they go from being rocked to sleep in your arms to starting their first day of school.


Think this is Emily? Guess again. It's me when I was about 4. Emily swears it's her. LOL.

It's Picnic Time:





Yes, she plays GameBoy better than I do. She can whip my heinie in Super Mario Brothers. Her manual dexterity, hand/eye coordination and foot coordination is unparalleled for her age.

Batter Up!


And finally, a picture of my very incredibly handsome step-son, Brian. He is taller than me now (I'm 5'7") and just turned 14 yesterday. I couldn't love him anymore than if he were mine. Happy birthday baby boy!

Oh my dear stars!!! My day is complete!

Master Yoda voted for me on the blogette contest!



I am in Star Wars Heaven!!! This is me grinning from ear to ear!



Oh happy day! I'm walkin' on sunshine! WOAAAAHH YEAH!

There are two really good blogs out there for Star Wars - Darth Vader's and Master Yoda's. I prefer Master Yoda's b/c full of humor and wit it is. So go visit Master Yoda's blog and enjoy the fun you must. Just click on the picture above and it will take you straight there.

It's almost here! It's almost here!

STAR. WARS. REVENGE. OF. THE. SITH! I can hardly sit still b/c I am SOOOOOOOO ready to see it. There are a lot of excellent movies coming out this summer, but ROTS is the first, the best, the only. Well, there is the delish Christian Bale as the new Batman. But still...the FINAL installation in the trilogy, the culmination, the completion, the one that ties everything together starts tomorrow (well, techincally Midnight Thursday). The questions will be answered. SIGH. Can you tell that I can't wait to see it! The only problem is, I don't know if I will be working by then or not. I emailed my employer yesterday b/c I haven't heard anything about my background check and since my offer letter says on or around the 18th. So I got a response today saying that my background check hadn't gotten back yet. SIGH. What could be taking so long? I have never been in trouble with the law, done anything illegal, I am one of the most normal, almost background boring people you will ever meet. What in the world could be taking so long? Again... SIGH. So I own an assault rifle. It's legal. It's my favorite firearm, hands down. That shouldn't be a problem, should it? If I don't start until Friday or Monday, I will have to just go see the midnight showing of ROTS. Anyway, I took the Star Wars Personality test and am ok with the results. Even though My character got killed off in Ep 1, he still was a kick a$$ guy!

Monday Meals - Chicken and Rice

Good Monday afternoon everyone. It is time once again to post a totally delish, easy to make dish! Today I have decided to go with comfort food. Something to warm you to the tips of your toes - not that the spring weather isn't doing that already. But the spring weather can't make your tummy happy and this is like maybe a 10 minute prep time - see EASY! So without further ado, here is this week's Monday Meal:

Chicken and Rice:

Ingredients:
9x13 pyrex or corningware baking dish
6 thawed boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1½ cups of long grain rice (NON-INSTANT) if you use the instant it will get mushy.
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can french onion soup
1 can water
salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 390F/198.9C
Spray the baking dish with a non-stick spray
Sprinkle rice evenly along the bottom of the dish
Lay the chicken breasts down side-by-side in the dish on top of the rice
Take the cream of mushroom, french onion soup and water and blend them together
Pour the soup mixture on top of the chicken, lifting the chicken slightly so that all the rice underneath is covered with the soup mixture
Cover with foil and put in oven for 1 hour
Take foil off and bake for another 20 minutes
Take out and ENJOY!

Yield: 6 servings

See this one was EASY, yummy and makes for a good meal.

Side dish

Honey Sweetened Carrots:
Cook baby carrots or sliced carrots until tender
Drain thoroughly
Add 1/4 cup butter (NOT MARGARINE or OLEO or any of that other processed filth)
Pour approx 1/4-1/3 cup of local honey over hot carrots
Let set and simmer over low heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally
Serve with Chicken and Rice

Dessert:

Yummy Nummy Frozen Lemonade Pie
(The perfect cool treat for a warm night)

1 can 6 oz. frozen lemonade
1 pt Vanilla ice cream,softened
3½ c Thawed Cool Whip-type topping
1 ea Ready graham cracker crust
1 x Yellow food coloring,opt.

Place concentrate in large mixing bowl and beat about 30 seconds.
Gradually,spoon in ice cream and blend.
Fold in whipped topping and add food coloring,whipping until smooth.
Freeze,if necessary,until mixture will mound.
Spoon in pie crust.
Freeze until firm,at least 4 hours.
Store any leftover pie in freezer.

Yield: 6 servings