need something to read or watch?

I love books. I love movies. I love TV.

This should come as a surprise to exactly ... no one.

What may surprise you is that I've recently been getting rid of some of my books, movies, and TV seasons. I decided to do this because recently I felt like God was asking me to. I don't want to overspiritualize anything here—it's not like I heard the voice of God say, "Becky, sell your stuff!" But one day while I was reading my Bible, I suddenly had the thought that I should go through my DVD collection and get rid of some things.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the thought came from God or just randomly popped into my brain; weeding things out of my collection is a good thing. When I started my blog Cinematic Survey in 2009, I had 162 movies and 39 television seasons on DVD. That number has risen substantially since then. And don't even get me started on my shelves and shelves of books!

About a year ago, I decided to go through my bookshelves and give the books I no longer wanted to the Nebraska Christian library. While it was hard to part with my books at first, each time I look through my shelves, I have an easier time getting rid of a book or ten. And I give away almost all of the review books I read, keeping only the ones I really really love.

While I've been quite happily giving away books, I've found it quite difficult to get rid of any movies. (My Cinematic Survey journey is proof of that—of the 85 movies I've reviewed, I initially decided to keep 72.) But when I had the prompting to go through my collection, I immediately pulled 10 or 12 things off the shelf. Comparatively, that's not very many, but it's a start.

I gave Blendy first pick, and she took several things. The remaining movies and TV seasons were listed on half.com, and I've already sold two things (Bones seasons one and three—for much less than I paid for them, but for more than I'd have made if they remained on my shelf!). I have 13 things listed right now—if you're looking for a really good deal on Edward Scissorhands, I can totally hook you up!

Hopefully, I'll have the same experience with DVDs that I did with books and find that the more I go over the shelves, the easier it will be to weed out the things I don't need to keep. And maybe I'll even make a little money in the process!

winner!

I never win anything. Maybe that's not technically true, but the last thing I remember winning was a McGee & Me video from our local Christian radio station when I was in elementary school. Wait, I guess I did win a $5 Pampered Chef gift certificate at the Kansas State Fair a few years ago, but $5 doesn't go very far when you're talking Pampered Chef, and I never got around to redeeming it.

This afternoon, I received an email from an employee at WGBH, the Boston PBS affiliate. I won a free copy of the new Masterpiece Classic production of Emma!

I watched Emma when it aired in January, and I desperately wanted to buy it, but I've been saving my money to pay off those pesky medical bills. I added it to my Amazon wish list in hopes that my mom would buy it for my birthday ... which isn't until August. Earlier, I was watching the 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow version for my movie rewatch project, and I found myself wishing I could follow it up with the Masterpiece version, which I believe is far superior. And now I can! (Well, I can after I've allowed 3-4 weeks for delivery ... )

Here's the funny thing: I don't even remember entering the drawing! Guess I can't say I never win anything anymore!

snow day #1

Ah, snow days--one of the benefits of working in education! Today, we had our first snow day of the year. Tomorrow, we'll have our second! I spent a rather lazy day at home, and it was fabulous. I'll have to get some actual work done tomorrow :-)

• I woke up at 11:30. 11:30! When I went to bed last night, I initially set my alarm for 9, but then I decided to just let myself sleep. I had no idea I'd sleep so long, but I woke up feeling wonderfully rested!
  
• Blendy braved the snow to spend the afternoon with me. Or was she spending the afternoon with my fast internet?
• While she was here, we made biscuit pizzas for lunch. They're such kid food, but I still love them!
• I finally cleaned up the living room--it was about time! I also did all my dishes. Again, it was definitely time!
  
• I put up the rest of my Christmas decorations and wrapped some presents. (Note the cross-stitched angel at the top of the tree. One year, Val and I had a colossal fight about what should go on the top of our tree--she thinks this angel is ugly, and I love it! Now that I have my own tree, I can put it wherever I want ... and it fits in well with the rest of my tree!)
  
• After seeing a commercial for Dean Cain's new Christmas movie, I had an urge to watch Lois & Clark. So I did. For hours!
• Janae gave me her recipe for her amazing molasses cookies a few weeks ago, and I finally made them today. They didn't turn out quite as amazing as hers did ... after they cooled, they turned into rocks!
• Check out Cinematic Survey. I finally posted something new!
• I never really had supper ... I just had molasses cookies. So, at 10:30 p.m., I decided to make pancakes! They were delicious.
• Several months ago, I wrote about this cross-stitch project that my grandma started several years ago. My goal was to finish it by her birthday. Well, that didn't happen, but today, as I was trying to figure out what to give her for Christmas, I decided to attempt to finish it before we go to Kansas on the 24th. Do you think it'll happen? (Interestingly enough, the day I wrote about the project was also a snow day.)
  

catching up

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I feel like I have my life back. Sort of. I'm no longer tied to my laptop for hours a day, but December brings its own craziness. So here are some little snippets I've been wanting to tell you but haven't taken the time to yet:

• Amazon is once again offering a free Christmas mp3 every day of the month through Christmas. Of course, these are hit and miss in their quality, but it's worth checking out.
• Last year, I blogged about Christmas music. Karen left a comment recommending Selah's Rose of Bethlehem. At that point last year, I'd already spent way too much money on Christmas music, so I didn't consider buying it, even though I love Selah. Yesterday, it popped up as a recommendation on Amazon. I listened to the 30-second preview of each song, and then I downloaded the mp3 album. Phenomenal! I highly recommend it.
• I officially have my first cold of the season ... fortunately, this cold seems to be controllable by DayQuil. Most of the time, cold medicine just knocks me out, but today I felt better after taking it! I'm hoping my ears don't get plugged ... that would make singing quite difficult!
• Speaking of singing, we have our first official Singing Christmas Tree concerts this weekend. We had a dress rehearsal last night, and things were pretty rough (as in nearly all the altos stopped singing during one song because we couldn't find our notes. It was truly painful). We have another dress rehearsal tomorrow night, and the concerts start on Saturday ...
• But I'll be missing the Saturday concerts because I'm going to see The Nutcracker in Omaha with our international students!
• You might notice new badge on the left hand side of the blog. I've joined another book review program--"Blogging for Books" for Waterbrook Multnomah. Multnomah put out the Palisades romances in the '90s, but they do publish books that aren't in the Christian romantic fiction vein. I'm very excited about the first two books I'm going to review for them, but as I don't have the books yet and the reviews can't be posted until sometime in January, I'll keep you in suspense a little longer!
• Saw The Blind Side with my sisters and cousins on Sunday. I loved it! It's a feel-good movie and it actually portrays Christians in a positive light! (Side note: Tim McGraw looks completely different when he's clean shaven and not wearing a cowboy hat!)
• I haven't posted on my other blog since Halloween. I do intend to remedy that soon, honestly!
• The latest issue of the Advance should be mailed tomorrow. (Finally!) You can also see it here. Note my awesome cousin Nate, trumpeter extraordinaire, on page 3 and my wonderful student council kids on page 8. The STUCO kids make my role as adviser fun and incredibly easy!
• I'm having a love affair with apple cider. STUCO sponsored a Thanksgiving social, and we majorly overestimated how much cider we'd need. I brought a full jug home with me, and I've been drinking some every night. How had I never before realized just how awesome cider is?
  
• My apartment is still completely undecorated. I did put up my stairwell decorations, so anyone who goes to the mailboxes will think I'm ready for Christmas. It's just a ploy. Maybe I'll have some time on Saturday???
• Cari suggested I write the book jacket synopsis for my novel and post it. That's a great idea ... I'll just have to force myself to do it! I will throw you a bone for now ... the title is Together for Good. 
• Have to give them points for creative marketing ... I got this in the mail the other day:
  
  
  
  
  
  I really have no interest whatsoever in the show (especially after reading the review in TV Guide), but I could always use another jump drive!
  
  
  
  
• Our amazing drama team took second place in our district this week! I love drama competitions because I don't have a real job to do--I just go along because I'm state certified and our drama director isn't. So I get to enjoy the play without the stress that comes with being in charge! The play is called "Searching for Happily Ever After." It is, as one of our judges so aptly put it, "Walt Disney meets the Bible."
  

what a weekend!

As I write this post, I'm sitting on my couch, covered by the throw I knitted a couple years ago, sipping Bella coffee, and watching Charade, the next installment in my great movie rewatch. I have the day off, as I used incredible foresight to realize that after last weekend, I'd need a day off to recuperate!

Friday--I rushed home from work at 4:30, packed up, and headed over to my parents' house to pick up Val. After making two trips back to my apartment to get things I'd forgotten, we headed off for Indiana. We didn't take the normal route, though. Earlier in the day, I'd tried to search for Starbucks along the way, but Starbucks' website wasn't working right, so I tried to use Google Maps instead. When I typed in our starting and ending points, I was surprised to see a new shortest route pop up. Supposedly, by taking Highway 30 East until it runs into I-29 and then taking I-29 South to 680 East, we could cut 30 minutes off our drive. I was a bit skeptical, but I decided to give it a try. And it may have worked, if only the Columbus Starbucks would have been where Google Maps said it was. As it was, we drove around Columbus for about ten minutes before deciding to try to find coffee in Fremont. Val called her past and future roommate Jamie to have her google coffee shops in Fremont. She found one downtown that sounded promising ... except it closed at 5:30, and we got there at 7:30! We finally found a Scooters, but by the time it was all said and done, we'd spent over 30 minutes in Fremont, and we lost any time advantage we may have had by taking that route!

The rest of our drive was rather uneventful, though we did have to deal with rain and some intense fog. At 7 a.m. Eastern, we pulled into Grace. I got a kick out of watching Val and her roommates greet each other--lots of squealing, jumping, and hugging!

Saturday--After sleeping about four hours, we woke up to a delicious breakfast--pancakes, potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee, and juice!

At one, I headed off for South Bend to see my college roomie Jen. We spent several hours downtown at Art Beat. Neither of us bought anything "artsy," but we enjoyed browsing the booths, listening to music, and admiring the sculptures. We met up with Jen's friend Peter, a photographer, and we served as models for a few shots. Recently, a bunch of sculptures by artist George Rickey were set up downtown; Peter told us to go look at one of the sculptures and talk about it. At first, I wasn't that impressed with the sculpture, but the longer I looked at it, the more entranced I became. I ended up enjoying the various sculptures more than anything else we saw at Art Beat!

After we were finished wandering around at Art Beat, Jen took me to The Chocolate Café, where we each bought a piece of cheesecake. I got the Dulce de Leche, which tasted remarkably similar to the caramel cheesecake I made earlier this year. (Maybe that’s what I should do with my life—make cheesecakes and sell them for ridiculous amounts of money!) Anyway, we took the cheesecake back to Jen’s apartment, where we sat and chatted while sipping delicious jack-o-latte coffee. This portion of the day was definitely the highlight of the trip!

I spent the evening with Val and her friends. I’m getting braver in my old age, and I sampled some of the edamame they made for supper. I wouldn’t call it my favorite food ever …

Sunday--We went to church. At Christ's Covenant. It was wonderful. I'm still processing, so that's all I'm going to say about that for now.

Following Papa John's pizza with the girls and a brief, delightful conversation with Val's friend Sproul about our mutual appreciation for Nathan Fillion, we were on the road again. Val drove all the way to Des Moines, and we got there in close to record time. In fact, some guy we passed on the interstate recognized us at a gas station and commented on how lucky we were to not get pulled over!

We were hoping to stop at a Panera just outside of Des Moines for supper, but they were closed by the time we got there, so we went to Dairy Queen instead. Val observed that the Sunday night crew must have been the B team!

Monday--At 12:15 a.m., we got home. I crashed nearly immediately and slept until 9:30. I have greatly enjoyed my day off ... it has been the perfect way to end a wonderful weekend!

wanna buy a movie???

I've gotta say, the great dvd rewatch experiment is going well. Not only am I enjoying watching the movies--for the most part--but I'm also successfully selling the movies I've decided to get rid of. True, I'm only making a fraction of what I initially paid, but any money is better than having the unwanted dvd's take up space on my shelf!

Now if someone would just buy Bailey's Billions ...