Fellowship of the Ring/House/My Last Amen

Hola, all my faithful readers! Sorry for taking a while to write again. I'm terrible at writing things often, just take a peek at my diary (DON'T actually do that!) or talk to Dagmar. Either one will confirm my ineptness at frequent writing.
I just started reading Fellowship of the Ring a couple days ago, and I really like it! I've already seen the movies, so it's rather difficult to keep my mind from jumping ahead and thinking about the end or what happens next. I watched the movies first because I tried reading it and listening to some cds of the books, but it didn't make much sense and the cds were hard to follow because of the similarity of voices. Now, the first movie is playing on TV, but Mom says we've been watching too much TV lately, and won't let Rapunzel and me watch it!! AAAARGH!! And I really want to!!! But I did get to see Pippin deliver one of my favorite lines:
"What about breakfast?"
"You already had breakfast!" Strider replies.
"I know, but what about second breakfast?"
"I don't think he knows about second breakfast." says Sam or Merry.
"What about Elevenses? And Lunch? And 4 O'clock Tea, and Supper, and Dinner??"
I just loved Billy Boyd's (Pippin's) accent there, it makes it sound more like 'sickond brickfist'! I love listening to different peoples' accents. Call me weird if ya want.

Okay, now for the house part. Recently, Mom and Dad decided to try to rent or rent-to-own our house to some one, while still trying to sell it. Whichever happens first. We've been flooded with requests to come see the house after we put it up 'for rent by owner' on Craig's List and have been cleaning almost non-stop (I'm getting good at just 'surface cleaning' the house at a moment's notice!). Tomorrow at noon, my parents are meeting with our realtor to talk about something (I'm not allowed to say what at this moment), and we just need prayers that our house will be sold or rent-to-own-ed or something this month! It's been over a year since Dad got the job and we put the house on the market, and he's been working up in Wisconsin during the week and traveling back here for the weekends for a year. So we really need to sell quick, especially because we have our eye on a house up there that would be just about perfect for us.

I've been listening to music off of Downhere's myspace page while I type this. My favorite on there (or one of them, anyway) is 'My Last Amen'. Here're the lyrics, as best as I can get them. The cd it's on isn't released yet, and neither are the lyrics, so I've got to write them down as best as I can, all by myself.

"From the corner of my eye
There’s a tear I’m trying to cry
But the feeling can’t be found
Like a note thrills in a song
When I play it again it’s gone
‘Cause if it’s never been the sound (?)

And it keeps me wanting
That mysterious thing
Like a night is waiting
For a dawn

CHORUS:
Every prayer I say
(A little closer)
To my resting place
(A little closer)

When my final breath is the beginning
To never leaving (?)
And I will find my last amen
My last amen

Vs. 2
I could swear I have two hearts
One to stay, one to depart
This sad tragic kingdom
And it burns me down to the core
Because I know there’s so much more
It’s just a pale reflection

And it keeps me wanting
That mysterious thing
Like an outcast waiting
To be loved

CHORUS:

Aaaah aaaah ooo ooo
And while the thrills are fading (ooo ooo)
The joy is in the waiting
Somewhere in the grand design
It’s good to be unsatisfied
It keeps the faith and hope a little more….
Alive.

Aaaah aaaah aaaah
(Oooooo)
A little closer
(Oooooo)
A little closer
When my final breath is the beginning
To never leading (?)
And I will find my last amen
My last amen
Amen
My last amen
Amen"

I'm not quite sure a couple of the lines are correct. I heard a rumor that this song is downloadable, but the wording made me start to wonder if it's still available. Care to enlighten me, Matt? There's an article about it at www.thefreechristianmusicblog.com, it's the second one down. And even if you don't download it, check it out, it's a cool song. Just get on Downhere's webpage (I have a link to it here on my blog), then at the bottom of that page is a link to their myspace page.

K. is bugging me to "get off the computer!!", so I'd better go now before I get in trouble.
Ta ta for now, friends!
~Kiwifruit

More pictures

Okay, now I should be able to at least show you step 2 in my butterfly painting process, and hopefully the finished product. After tracing the outlines of the printed butterfly pictures and adding the details inside, it was time to put some color in. I chose blue and yellow for the first one.

I really like the way the finished blue one looks. No, it's not exactly like an existing species of butterfly, but it looks good for the picture.

Next I painted the one with the flower in the circle. That will go in the middle of the three-picture frame. Note that, while it's not exactly the same, I put a blue in that's very similar to the one in the first butterfly.

I don't have a close-up of the third one, but here are all three. I wasn't happy with how the third picture turned out, so I did another. I'm still not completely satisfied, but I can always make a few changes. I don't think the purple and pink go with the other butterflies. Here's the last two:

So. There are the pictures. Now I need to decide what else I want to talk about. I did a couple of sketches of flowers yesterday. Two are pansies, a yellow and a purple one, one is a dianthus, and the fourth is a wild rose bud that I picked. Yes, I know I should have let it bloom, but the bud itself is so pretty before it blooms. The purple pansy turned out quite well.

Today Rapunzel and I are going to bike down to our friends' house and make a music video (hopefully). It's to "Go" by the Newsboys (who are incredibly super cool, by the way:>), and maybe I'll put it on here so all y'all can see it. But that depends on whether or not we actually get it done or not. It's been in the works for nearly a year now, ever since I got the Go CD. And then I have ideas for at least two other videos, but they haven't been rehearsed and I might do them with another set of friends.

The trains are coming back through now. They were stopped by the flooding in Cedar Rapids, but now they're coming by more often to try and catch up with all the trips they missed. It was nice and quiet without the trains.

We are showing our house on Saturday. Oh, I didn't mention that before, did I? Nearly a year ago, Dad got a new job in another state. So we put our house on the market and are still waiting for it to sell, since we can't afford a new house until this one sells. So we're showing the house on Saturday. Actually, this morning we had to get up early to clean so that our realtor could show some other realtors through so they'd be familiar with the house. I cleaned almost non-stop for two hours, then we went and parked in the parking lot behind our house to wait until they were done, since it was only supposed to take about fifteen minutes. They came and were here for about five minutes (it couldn't have been more), and left. All that cleaning for five minutes. Oh well, at least that means we won't have to clean as much tomorrow and Saturday.

"And that's the news from Lake Wobegon, my home town..." to quote Garrison Keillor.
I'll post again tomorrow or day after with news about the music video and various other stuff.

Au revoir!
~Kiwifruit