Thanks to everyone who participated in my Your Turn post and asked me some very interesting questions! I will be answering in one post a week. Today I'm covering the bases on all the questions asked about my favorite things.
Martha asked: What is one of your favourite words? Sesquipedalian
Martha asked: What was your favourite subject in school? I loved math, history, English (vocabulary and writing), and Spanish...but if test-taking were a subject, I might have picked that as my ultimate favorite.
Martha asked: If your house was on fire (loved ones and pets are safe) and you had just enough time to run in and grab one item, what would it be?
My digital storage: in other words, my laptop, hard drive, camera cards, and thumb drives. I wouldn't want to lose my photos and archives of all my writing over the years. The objects themselves have little value. What's stored on them is what's valuable to me.
Paige asked: What room of the house is it most important for you to have clean?
My room and bathroom are the most important to me since they are my responsibility (my room also serves as my office). Of general living space shared with my family, I would say the mudroom is most important to me to have clean. The entryway sets the tone for the entire house.
Ashley asked: Who's your favorite Bible character?
I will assume I cannot choose Jesus. My favorite Bible character would be Deborah. I explained why in this post.
Anonymous asked: Who is your favorite sibling?
Charity is my favorite blue-eyed sister. Daniel is my favorite brother. The writer @JourneysofFaith is my favorite brown-eyed sister. They are all my favorites, and I love them all very much. Dear Anonymous, why do you ask me impossible questions? At least it only gets easier from here...
Anonymous asked: Do you know of any good Christian family movies that are appropriate enough for a twelve year old and up? (Not animated ones)?
The Sound of Music (1965). My personal all-time favorite!
The Absent Minded Professor (1961). Crazy and funny! This professor missed his wedding three times and invented flubber, an anti-gravity substance.
Never a Dull Moment (1968). Very fun. An actor accidentally ends up mixed up with a criminal gang.
Holiday Inn (1942). Good singing. Good tap-dancing.
Sergeant York (1941). Probably #1 on the family favorites list. We used to watch this every New Year's Eve...in an effort to minimize the number of times we watched it in a year. We had a lot of the lines memorized.
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958). The inspirational story of missionary Gladys Aylward.
The Mighty Pawns (1987). Though not in the same league as the others, this is a good chess movie.
Gloria Kluth asked: Aside from the Bible, what's your favorite book?
My favorite book aside from the Bible is The Law, published in 1850 by Frederic Bastiat. It is available free online here.
Ashley asked: Do you have any really good books you enjoy reading?
The Bible is pretty much the only book I go back and read over and over again. A few books I really enjoyed though are:
Paris Underground by Etta Shiber
The Road to Serfdom by Freidrich Hayek
Omnipotent Government by Ludwig von Mises
Economic Sophisms, by Frederic Bastiat
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
I've also found I enjoy just about every essay written by Bastiat and most chess books by Jeremy Silman. Plus, although Tocqueville's Democracy in America has a lot of boring material in it, Volume 2, Section 4, Chapter 6: What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear is a must read!
Anonymous asked: What are some really good Christian books you'd recommend for teens?
I would say The Law and Paris Underground might qualify as Christian books. Other good ones are:
Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan
The Holy War by John Bunyan
Hinds Feet in High Places by Hannah Hurnard
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
If I Perish by Esther Cheng
The Secret File on John Birch by James and Marti Hefley
I don't have a favorite; I love dessert in general.
Ashley asked: What's your favorite kind of chocolate?
Symphony with toffee, thin mints, Reeses peanut butter cups, and Almond Joy are my favorite chocolates.
Ivy @ The Happy Whisk asked: Do you like eating crackers and if so, what's the best cracker you ever ate?
I've been following Ivy's blog as she experiments with creating jalapeno and onion crackers!
Yes, I love crackers. I'm not sure what the best I've eaten though is. I like Wheat Thins, Ritz, graham crackers, and even plain old soda crackers. Maybe the best was an animal cracker... Wow, I had almost forgotten about animal crackers...I wonder if I would still like them as much.
Ashley asked: What's your favorite song?
Linda asked: What 3 meals do you consider to be your "comfort foods"?
#1 Cold cereal, particularly frosted shredded wheat.
#1 Cold cereal, particularly frosted shredded wheat.
#2 Mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, etc... (a Thanksgiving dinner)
#3 Chicken noodle soup
You did say meals. If you had just said foods, I would have replied with bananas, peanut butter, cake, and junk food (Little Debbie's, etc.).
You did say meals. If you had just said foods, I would have replied with bananas, peanut butter, cake, and junk food (Little Debbie's, etc.).
May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You may be my #1 pick.
Other favorites include:
#1 Hymn: Near to the Heart of God
#1 Pop Song: The Impossible Dream
Meet the bloggers who asked:
Martha blogs at Plowing Through Life and Miniaturopolis. Her sense of humor keeps me laughing, and her photography is pretty awesome. She believes in having fun blogging, and Miniaturopolis is one of the blogs I visit randomly throughout the week, just to keep up on what her little people are up to.
Ashley blogs at Precious Moments. She posts a lot of good devotionals and hymns, but just when you think visiting her blog is becoming a regular church service, she'll go alligator hunting!
Paige from Sunday Best and All the Rest is my favorite fashion blogger. She also posts devotionals and California photography. She has a knack for making me jealous in the middle of winter by posting photos of green grass. On occasion she, or her mother Lisa, will also post photos of green (mint chip) ice cream or frosting, for the sole nefarious purpose of making me hungry (or at least so it seems)!
Linda posts lots of positive thoughts at Linda's Peaceful Place. She posts videos and memes with humor, beautiful music, cute animals, and inspirational quotes.
Gloria shares how-to's on her crafts and sewing projects at Inspired to Create. I sit back and admire them, glad that there are other people far more crafty than I in this world. She also shares her thoughts and photos at her other blog, Reflections.
Ivy writes at The Happy Whisk. I've never met anyone quite like her. She makes all of her food from scratch, runs a half marathon just for fun (she's a "light jogger"), minimized by getting rid of 90% of her stuff, loves Halloween, and is usually busy on home-improvement projects--if the whisk isn't at work creating some concoction.
Anonymous comes up with some of the hardest questions I've ever been asked (more to come in next week's post).
What are your answers to the questions above?
I'd love to learn more about you!
Since I'm a new reader of your blog, it was so nice getting to know you better. : )
ReplyDeleteI look forward to more of your answers.
Thanks Happyone!
DeleteFabulous post, Bethany. I thoroughly enjoyed the questions as well as your answers :) If I could grab only one the from my burning home it would be my books {though that is more than one thing}. When I was a teen there was a forest fire near our home...it wasn't too close, but it was just over the mountain. There wasn't anything to fear, but I was paranoid we would have to be evacuated so I packed up all my books in rubbermaids {just in case}. Of course it was all for not, but a girl can't be too careful.... {{smiles}}
ReplyDeleteI loved the list of books you gave: Pilgrims Progress, Hinds Feet in High Places, and The Hiding Place are some of my very favorites.
Have a blessed Sunday! Hugs!
Sounds like you believe in preparedness--better safe than sorry! I remember a while back we had a little tornado in the field beside us. I took a hard drive with many of my photos down to the basement before I went outside to watch the tornado. I promptly forgot where I put it, and ended up missing the drive for years! Just recently my sister found it in an old camera case!
DeleteThat was fun! I like your answers, especially about books and movies. Do you think one of your siblings may have been anonymous, trying to tease you? :)
ReplyDeleteYou seem very perceptive, Mari... :)
DeleteThis was a fun read, Bethany! You have a good cleaning philosophy. ;) And now I have some new book ideas...:D
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy whichever books you try!
DeleteI was JUST telling my husband that I absolutely love waking up to a clean kitchen in the morning! It drives me nuts if I leave dishes overnight. Haha! I loved your answers! I also love Gladys' story and one of my favorite books is The Hiding Place!
ReplyDeleteGladys Aylward and Corrie ten Boom both lived inspiring lives. A clean kitchen is pretty important!
DeleteBethany interesting anwers
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThis was a lot of fun. I like the same candy bars as you and dessert in general! lol
ReplyDeleteYou must have good tastes.
DeleteHi Bethany!
ReplyDeleteI found out about you a lot of very interesting information.
Very interesting and inventive post.
Greetings from Poland.
Lucja
Thanks for visiting, Lucja!
DeleteThis was great, Bethany! Thank you for answering these questions (some of them my own) and sharing all these interesting things about you. It's so much fun learning about blogging friends from different areas of the world. I can certainly relate to the digital storage; I feel the same way. I've copied all my cherished files and photos onto an external drive and placed it in a fireproof safe. I would sadden me to lose all that data, particularly the images!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a good idea! I have a cousin who has drives with copies of his photos stored in all sorts of different places just to be sure he will *never* lose them.
Deletei love soda crackers (most folks call them saltines down here, though) and eat them a lot. sometimes with wisconsin cheese. sometimes butter. or plain with a glass of milk. :) yes, back-up drives for photos... wish i had a mudroom. :)
ReplyDeleteI usually call them saltines as well--just took a guess that more people might know what I mean if I called them soda crackers. I wonder which name is more commonly used. They are good!
DeleteThe Sound of Music and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness are the only movies I've seen on your list--and obviously those are both really good! In a fire, I'd definitely go for my digital storage, too. Someday I will look into really backing everything up on some sort of internet/cloud thing but...I haven't done that yet. Besides my blog itself, most of my personal files are just on storage devices.
ReplyDeletePicking favorites isn't easy to begin with, and they really made it pretty hard on you. I have 3 blue-eyed sisters and 2 brown-eyed sisters so your strategy wouldn't work for me. ;P
Heh! You would have a really hard time answering the favorite sibling question...but I'm sure with your creative spirit you would find a way, or make one!
DeleteThis is my first time on your blog, I've come over from Sweet Nothings. I loved this post and look forward to learning more about you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Cindy! Great to meet you in the blogosphere!
DeleteBethany, it is so lovely to see this post and your responses to the questions that were asked of you. I also love a good Thanksgiving meal (or Christmas dinner, too), so we have that in common! I also love how you incorporated some nice photos into your post...looking at the food photos I am drooling! I love old movies and I love the 1940's movies on your list of favourites...and I also love The Sound of Music!
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you so much for mentioning my blog here in your post, I really appreciate your kindness, and I am so glad that you enjoy my posts. I post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I really enjoy your posts and it is so nice getting to know you better! Thank you so much for sharing. :)
Thanks for letting me in on your posting schedule. When I come on off days, I just scroll back to see what I missed. :) You always have something good.
DeleteGlad you enjoy the good old movies!
wow...this is such a great post. I missed asking you questions so, if I may, I would be very interested in knowing your age...if you'll tell me yours, I'll tell you mine...hahhaa...oh, wait...I have my age posted for all the world to see, right there on my sidebar.:)
ReplyDeleteActually someone else asked that as well, so it will come up in my answers. I'm 22 years old...and now I'm headed over to your blog to check out that sidebar! :D
DeleteVery interesting, Bethany! I enjoyed getting to know you better! God bless you. :)
ReplyDeleteGod bless you too, Cheryl!
DeleteGlad to know you more Bethany .
ReplyDeleteAgree that laptop is most important among all non living things we have .
My laptop is getting so old it isn't really worth much anymore--but inside it are plenty of photos and documents I would hate to lose.
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed learning more about you and reading your answers to the questions left for you. And what interesting questions they were! It was a pleasure to read of all of your movie and book recommendations and favorites, which reminded me of a few books that have been on my to-read list that I had completely forgotten about, namely The Hiding Place. Ooh, I'd definitely have to agree with you on the comfort meals. A Thanksgiving style supper is warming to the soul in so many ways, and of course delectably wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to visit you this morning, and have also greatly enjoyed going through some of the posts in your St. Louis series. I just returned from a lovely trip there at the end of August and it is neat to see which attractions we both visited and your take on them :)
Have a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Jazzmin
Oh, that is awesome you got to spend some time in St. Louis this summer! I hope you will share about your experience there on your blog! We had a great time there last year. Hope you get around to enjoying The Hiding Place. I love the quote from Betsy ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still."
DeleteHello Bethany, Happy Labor Day to you. Wow, congrats on all the posts in recent days. I've been on a bit of a blogging break while doing some end-of-summer traveling. Comments on earlier posts: Aug 22 Manly Drug Store - Looks like good lunch stop. I must try a Green River ... hope I can find one out here! Aug 24 St Paul's Lutheran Church - Some neat pictures ... I especially like the stained glass ... beautiful! Thanks for stopping, although unplanned, and snapping some pics for us. Aug 27 Your Turn! - A guest on Oprah's show once asked her, "What do you know for sure?" The question stumped her at that moment and caused her to do so much reflective thinking that she later wrote a monthly column in her magazine, O, "What I Know for Sure", and then she published a book by the same name. So, my question is: Tell us one thing that you know for sure. (Take your time on this!) Aug 30 Bremer County Courthouse - You won't be surprised to know my favorite photo is the display featuring a photo of Miss Bremer and other historical artifacts and photos. Very neat! Sept 1 Prohibition Party: Jim Hedges - I think JH might win my vote by his answer to your question about abolishing the Federal Reserve, "This is a plank that some of the fellows wanted to include. I don't understand it. I'm not able to address that. You know I'm honest; I'll tell you, “I don't know.” Wow! Very nice job with the interview! Sept 3 Answers: My Favorite Things - So interesting to see all your favorites. I must immediately get a copy of The Law and read it! Wow, you have been prolific in posting! :-) Lastly, let me say a great big Thank You for the very kind and thoughtful comment on my Oriental Limited post August 27th! Especially that last paragraph! You are the best!
ReplyDeleteHi John, Wow, you leave such thoughtful comments! Thank you so much for stopping by and catching up on all of my posts. Hope your travels went well.
DeleteIt would probably be hard to find a Green River, but I'm betting you could order some lemon-lime syrup, mix it with carbonated water, and maybe add some phosphate, and you'd have your own Green River. My sister made her own (minus the phosphate) for her high school graduation open house. She got her lemon-lime syrup from a local soda fountain, but they must order theirs from somewhere!
"What do you know for sure?" is a good question. Thank you for asking. I will answer it in an upcoming post.
Hope you enjoy The Law as much as I did!
Take care! Many blessings to you!
Nice learning about you! I love The Sound Of Music movie too ♥
ReplyDeletesummerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
It's a great movie. I enjoyed the Sound of Music Live! with Carrie Underwood as well--it couldn't compare with the old movie, but as a live television performance it was great, and offered a nice new take on it.
DeleteThanks for sharing some of your favorites!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Linda!
DeleteHello stranger! Somehow I lost track of you! Loved this post...lots of wonderful things to love! The gospel song was awesome...my two favorites are How Great Thou Art and Jordan's Story Banks. Have an awesome week!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you around again, Marie! Those are two wonderful songs. My sister and I used to play Jordan's Stormy Banks as a piano duet; it was a lot of fun. And How Great Thou Art is always an awesome song to sing. Last funeral I was at, the whole church sang it together. I love singing, but couldn't make it through the song without crying. Victor Hugo was right when he said, "Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." It can pull emotion out of the most stoic soul.
DeleteOh my goodness, this was great fun to read. You cracked me up with the animal crackers. Now I gotta try and make those. Thanks for answering. You rock.
ReplyDeleteIf you do make animal crackers sometime, be sure to post the recipe on your blog. I might take a crack at making them myself (if it's super easy! :D ).
DeleteI once saw very old animal-shapes in cookie cutters. Those would be fun. But I don't even know what animal crackers really taste like, but they sound so fun.
DeleteThey're good! :)
DeleteAhhhh! what fun it was to read your answers!
ReplyDeletethanks for taking the time to so carefully answer each question. :)
Many blessings,
Ashley
Blessings to you as well, Ashley!
DeleteThis was so neat and fun! Also, wow, I wasn't expecting to get mentioned! :D
ReplyDeleteThank you for asking me some interesting questions, Gloria!
Delete