Bueno Winner

Random.org picked #13 as the winner of the Bueno giveaway . Congrats, Jeff!

Handmade Journal Giveaway!

For my friend Jen's handmade journal giveaway, go here! (It ends February 20th!)

Giveaway Reminder

Dear beloved blog readers (that means all of you),

Please go to this link and enter my calendar envelopes giveaway right now.

You don't want to miss out on the beauty of writing a letter on red paper to match the high-gloss envelope, do you?



Please?

A Giveaway

I crafted these lovely envelopes out of old German calendars and so I'd like to give a set of three to a lucky reader, specifically this set:





If you want to win, do the following:

1. be a subscriber to this blog
2. send a link to this blog to a friend
3. leave a comment

All entries must be in by the 20th of January! If I get a lot of entries, I'll do another giveaway and you can choose which set you'd like (see them on my Photobucket).

Giveaway Winner and a Virginia Woolf Quotation

It was really hard to choose a winner from five entrants. Ha ha. I laughed as I entered the number 5 into random.org.

Natasha won! She wrote:

I've been reading your blog for a while, but never commented before- I hope you don't mind.

I really like Susan B. Anthony, she was such a strong woman.

Also, I'm sure you already know this but CJane mentioned you in her most recent blog post. (http://blog.cjanerun.com/2010/03/sucker-i-tell-you.html)

Natasha, let me know where to send the book (in a comment)! And don't forget to send it on!

And here is a Virginia Woolf quotation for your enjoyment:

I think the effort to live in two spheres--the novel, and life--is a strain.

-Virginia Woolf

Agreed. Found here.

Michelle? A Giveaway?

I bet a lot of you have read the story "The Yellow Wallpaper." If not, you definitely should read it (you can find it online here). If so, I bet most of you haven't read other stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. So, as an apology for not posting very interesting things very often, and as a way to get a lucky person to read more of Gilman's works, I'm giving away this book:





There are three requirements:

• Comment by Friday, March 26th.
• In your comment, tell me who your favorite feminist or female writer is.
• After you have read the book, pass it along to someone else!

Where I'm Supposed to Be

Francy left for her hometown today. I, being the indecisive buyer that I am, looked at coats and debated for two hours! (What do you think, should I spend 75 bucks on a peacoat and 50 bucks on a waterproof coat that's longer so I can layer?) Finally, having bought nothing, I was mad at myself for being so indecisive and for having wasted so much time, so I went to the Aldi to get some food for the next few days. I gathered the basics: some cheese, some vollkornbrot, some frikadellen, some nutella, and a mango. Then I found out that they don't take Visas. Great. So I put everything back except for the frikadellen, deciding that I needed meat desperately (which is funny, because I'm not usually a big meat eater) and that I had enough change. Then when the lady rung it up, it was more expensive than the sign I read. I said that to her, but she just shook her head and I left, without any food except a cheese roll I had bought with some change.

I figured I had enough to scrimp together some meals until the morning when I could go back with some paper money. I took a nap, looked all over the internet for inexpensive Wellies that have polka dots on them (they don't come in the "inexpensive" category that I can tell), and decided to go see what was going on at the institute (known as the "RIZ," pronounced "Ritz"). There I had wonderful conversation with the Seiperts and a girl named Geeta. Elder Seipert delivered babies for years, so I learned all sorts of interesting things and told him what I could remember about Mom's pregnancy with Heidi. They also gave me advice about visas and restaurants and getting a bank account. I told them about not being able to get groceries today and Elder Seipert insisted I take a ten-dollar bill from him to be paid back later. They said they were hungry, so I went into the other room for a game of ping pong, promising that I'd play just for a bit and then tell the guys that we should leave.

Ping pong was great. There's this guy named Mike who has been at every single activity. He loves doeners and pretty much anything that has to do with food. He cooked the FHE meal, which was really good. So Mike, Sam, and I played around the world. With three people, once someone had a miss, the other two played a normal game to three and then we started over. Mike had this really vicious-looking serve but it was gentler than it looked. They invited me to play football tomorrow. I was so excited! Then I remembered that I don't have any good shoes for sports with me. They asked my size and called the sisters. They're picking me up in the morning.

The Seiperts said they would give me a ride home, but they kidnapped me and took me to their apartment, where we ate all sorts of good stuff, including some marzipan. Mmmm. They gave me an American pillow and we talked about eastern Germany behind the wall and how the saints were blessed. I told them all my President Monson stories. I am so grateful to have the Church here. Can you imagine what a week this would have been without all the things because of the Church community?

In Manchester, I noticed that Marie is really good at recognizing the blessings from the Lord. We'd be talking about something and she'd say, "You know Michelle, we're really blessed being members of the true church, aren't we?" Despite the difficulty of moving here, I'm where I'm supposed to be.

From President Monson to Sister Oberg

President Monson showed up during the first hymn yesterday at the rest home. I was playing the piano, so I just saw a tall guy enter and at first thought it was one of the singles ward guys who has come before. Then there was this sound behind me that I can't explain, and I knew it was President Monson. The branch presidency had decided to spontaneously sing a song, unpracticed. It looked like something I could handle. They invited President Monson to sing with them, but he laughed and said something that had the tone that meant, "No way! Good luck brethren, heh heh!" They sung really well for not having practiced. He said, "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir awaits you!" I love President Monson.

President Monson made the meeting go way over, but he told interesting stories as usual. Some of the guys left early, and I wondered if they had as good of an excuse to leave as I did: to play the piano in Relief Society. However, I favor the rest home over Relief Society because I know that at least one other person can play the piano in R.S., but I'm not so sure about the rest home. Anyway, Pres. Monson spoke about all sorts of things: deciphering between Tongans and Samoans to give them the right greeting, Tongan stake presidents visiting his home and smashing the couch to the floor, visiting some islands only to discover the welcoming committee had slept in (so he was told to get back on the boat to be welcomed), being miraculously able to speak at all 87 widows' funerals, and being shown a cemetery with thousands of white crosses of servicemen from WW2. He spoke of a woman who lost four out of her five sons to the war, and another woman who asked him if her son Arthur would live again, and how he spoke about it in conference later. Although not a member, she was invited to watch conference with her neighbor during that session and heard his talked entitled, "Mrs. Patton, Arthur will live again." I wasn't sure where he was going with all this, then he said, "It's hard to lose loved ones. Since it's Memorial Day tomorrow, let's remember those who have passed on for our freedom. But above all, let's not forget the other Son who died that our lives would be tolerable." Awesome.

Sister Oberg gave her departing mission talk. She told everyone about shelf reading and cash services and other things. She butchered the name of the unit, but most people do. I loved to hear things that Sister Neish and Sister Barton had said. The bishop read a letter from President Waddoups. Not working at the Library has been a lot like my graduating from college: it just seems like an extended summer and that it will start up again soon.