Occupatus sum...

You know, I'm tired of the word 'busy'. Why don't we find some other words for it?

How about...
...industrious...diligent...employed...engaged...engrossed...persevering...hustling...studious...active...?

Whatever the word, that's sure what I've felt like these past few weeks. This has been our usual week.
Monday: Handbells, mandolin and guitar lessons
Tuesday: Tennis
Wednesday: Violin lessons
 Thursday: Piano
Friday: Whew! Nothing, finally.

Add school and some distractions to that formula and voila! A recipe for... well, all those words up there. :)

Tennis is fun*. I didn't know anything about tennis before (I mean, besides that you have to hit the ball), but now I know a moderate amount. Enough to play mediocre-ly, which is not a word, by the way. Does anyone out there play tennis? Any other sport?

And I'm still learning mandolin. It's real fun (ha) too. But eighth notes are hard, and so are scales. I wonder if I'll ever become a famous mandolinist bluegrass player (my dream :)

And without further ado: pictures.

*clap, clap, clap, clap* 

Me playing the mandolin.

I've been reading Acts lately. You?

I'm also learning to crochet. So much easier than knitting!

I FINISHED ALGEBRA 1!!! Now I'm working on All The Math You'll Ever Need. Good book.

Metal stamping.

 So that's what I've been up to. What has filled your life with pizazz lately?

Grace be with you,

Abby :D






*a rather over-used word around these premises

Stamp! Stamp! Stamp!

Hey everyone! I haven't posted in-- what? Fifteen days? Now I know why you guys aren't keeping up with me. Ugh.
Anyway, it's been too long.
I've been feeling pretty busy lately, but this week I was able to do some metal stamping. I got the stamps from beaducation.com at Christmas time.

 I finished a project on Friday: making napkin rings for a certain family I know. :) My mom really wanted napkin rings that were pretty and that wouldn't get squished easily. So she set me to work on making some out of thick-ish wire and stamped charms. How do you like them?

Here are all the stamped charms. As you can see, I *ahem* made a little mistake on one of the names. I was doing so well, too! Can you find it?

Here are some finished ones.

On a napkin.

And here are some necklaces I've made.                                        

This one is interesting, because I accidentally used the Qs instead of Os.
So it says, "FAITH HQPE LQVE" Whoops. 

What are your hobbies?

Grace be with you,

Abby :D

The Mindlessly Busy Rut: A Rather Rambly Post

I understand why people aren't looking at my blog much anymore. It's because I've gotten boring. Stale, and unpredictable. That makes sense.
I wish I could have everything figured out in life. Where everything fits: Devotions, school, music, tennis. It's hard to balance all of the busy things that we have to do.
"To the left! Right! Too far! Noooooooo....." as you fall into a deep hole of busyness without any productivity. And as you try to sort it out, blogging gets left on the very bottom as I sink into a daze of mindless internet surfing.
 I think it happens to everyone. To me, that's the dreaded curse: Loss of being productive and helpful.
How do I re-balance my stack? I'm not really sure.

But here's my plan.

This idea is from Preparing to Be a Helpmeet.
Quote:
"Start today going up and down the library aisles and plan to introduce yourself to a new subject each week. Or, if you are computer-oriented, spend your time studying vital subjects rather than idly 'surfing'."
End quote


So that's what I will do, to get myself out of this mindless rut. Is there any subjects that you like that you think would be interesting? I would love it if I could get a list.

Expect to hear about the things I'm learning, as soon as I figure out what to learn.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Grace be with you,

Abby :D