In which I lament my unaccomplished-ness in the arena of music

I'm not sure Pride and Prejudice is good for me. It makes me want certain things....I'm not only talking about wishing I had a hero...though that can happen at times.

I'm talking about other more random things....

I long to have a real British accent...

I long to wear a Regency-era dress every day...

And it makes me wish I was accomplished, like Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

"All young women are so accomplished these days! They sing, paint, speak French and Italian, embroider, write poetry, and I know not what!" ;)

Mr. Bingley is so easy to please. But of course we'd all rather impress Mr. Darcy who has deeper ideas of the subject.

"I am no longer surprised at you only knowing six accomplished women, Mr. Darcy...I rather wonder at you knowing any!"

I can hold my own in many of these areas, but I regret that I am not much of a musician myself, though, to quote Lady Catherine DeBourgh, "I should have been quite proficient if I had ever cared to learn." ;)

It seems silly that I don't know how to play anything beyond a recorder (and can plastic be considered an instrument?) since both my parents are musicians. The Gentleman from Virginia plays the guitar extremely well, and even Sarah and Leah are becoming quite adept at the playing of the piano.

My voice is my only instrument, albeit a very portable one, and I do love to sing. I just don't know how good I am at it. :P I'd be afraid to spend an evening "entertaining" company with my songs. I think my voice takes after Katie's in the Doris Day Calamity Jane:

"I've heard you. Very nice for choirs and weddings, but I doubt that your voice would ever reach beyond the footlights." :P

Anyway, I love music very well. And I would love to learn how to play a bit on the piano.

"Do you play, Miss Bennet?"

"A little ma'am, and very ill."

Indeed, if I sat down to entertain people on the piano they would have to suffer through a halting "Mary had a Little Lamb" and someone would probably come over, put a hand on my shoulder and say, "There, there you do very well child. Now let some of the other young ladies have a chance to exhibit!" ;)

And I never hope to have this sort of a compliment payed:

"You are perfectly right, Miss Bennet. You have employed your time better. No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you play could think anything wanting."

I do love to listen to the girls play duets on the piano, or Daniel playing his guitar. All except one song the girls play. It's not their fault, but Sarah's part sounds like a fat hippo trying to dance. Seriously. It gives me the willies every time I hear it. :D

Mama says that she will teach me piano this fall, if I'd like. :) I think I'll take her up on that. I would like to advance past the "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and onto something more accomplished. ;)

I shall make that a goal, dear blogging friends. To get past nursery-rhyme songs...maybe I'll even make it as far as "My Mother bid me Bind my Hair"...I bet Mary Bennet could teach me a thing or two on that note. ;) ~Rachel

I Feel a New Passion Coming On ;)

I have had a new passion shaping up recently. You wanna know what it is?

*happy sigh*

Costume designing. Specifically for period dramas. Like the BBC movies! :)

Okay. So I don't know anything about designing clothing, as of yet, but I can sew, and I love costumes, and love drawing elaborate clothing so it all kind of fits together! (Right?)

So I found a couple of costume designer's blogs and discovered through the grapevine that the BBC people get many of their costumes from Cosprop. Click Here to swoon with delight.... :)

You'll be invited to wander through a gallery of pictures... and you might find me fainted away in some corner over the beautiful costumes. :P

Unfortunately I can't share any pictures, so you'll have to go over and look at them yourself, but here is the sort of costume I'd love to design...

The "Think of Me" dress...

Pride and Prejudice! Wedding clothes! What could be better? ;)

The costumes in the 2009 Emma were superb, I thought! :)

Not sure what movie this is, but that dress is so neat! :) (maybe "Daniel Deronda?")

Love this dress of Jo March's in Little Women! :)

So this is where my little creative side of my brain has been wandering from time to time. Now if only Daniel would decide to make period dramas for a living.... ;) And give me free reign of the fabric store! :D -Rachel

I'm Still Here!:)

Up to this point Rachel's cat has eaten a baby mouse, killed the other one, and then lo and behold, one of the little kids found the supposedly eaten baby mouse in Anna's room!! And alive, at that! So I just got back from dropper-feeding the mouseling.
Now, an explanation on my tardiness of posting: Our whole family has been particularly busy these past few weeks, and I've been helping feed the baby goats every 3 or so hours, milking Daisy twice a day, feeding baby mice, watching kids, working in the business, etc. So in my free time I do have, I have been reading Great Expectations, and just relaxing, not really blogging. Suffice it to say, that Rachel makes time for blogging in her free time and I don't.
Daisy the goat, has given her owners great anguish by her inconsiderate actions. She doesn't stand still for 2 minutes at a time, and has spilt a whole bowl of milk too many times. We have sought advice from a very good source(Maddie W.:) and changed some things accordingly, and yet, she is still the most ornery old goat that I ever did see! And her off-spring aren't much more refined. This morning finally, Lizzy took to sucking down milk, but Chip hasn't "quite got the idear" of this method yet.
So, poor us, ;) ..............
Well, I was going to post some really cool words that I found while browsing through Matthew's iPod dictionary, but he is gone, and I don't remember most of them, so that shall have to wait.
We watched P&P last night with mom, my aunt, Daniel, and Matthew, and I think everybody liked it! Aunt Christy was surprised at Wickham and Lydia, and Mom was shocked that Lizzy refused Mr. Darcy's proposal. It was fun to watch their faces at the different parts!:)
I hope this post is droll enough, but I don't really have a lot to post about and am home watching the kids with Aunt Christy while Mom is shopping, Daniel, Matthew, and Rachel are working, and Dad is digging footings for the W.'s mobile home!
-Sarah
Oh! Here's a fun Regency dance that we came across!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwF16IvY984

My Review of "Pride and Prejudice"

Hello Everyone!(My word, I always seem to start off that way!) Okay, so this past weekend I watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice for the first time. I absolutely loved it!!!

I thought it might be interesting to give my thoughts on each character. (Not every one, but the main ones)

Lizzy Bennett:

I thought that BBC did a great job casting Lizzy. She is very pretty, but not in that make-uppy way, she just has naturally pretty features. The way Jennifer Ehle did the job, was great and I believe it captured the attitude and character of the heroine perfectly.I love the relationship between Lizzy and Jane, because it is exactly the way that sisters are in the "real world" ! ;)

Lizzy's faults of being prejudice and sometimes prideful, are very noticeable, and I love how her character develops when she realizes how unfeeling she's been.

Jane Bennett:

Jane is described in the book as being the prettiest of all the Bennett girls, and in my opinion, this production didn't really count that in. (Lizzy is prettier, I think. Though, I know the casting directors picked her out on purpose) I've always loved this character, because she is an oldest sister, who tries to forget about her troubles in order to be encouraging and helpful to the rest of her family. You can tell that the character is a great friend for Lizzy, and her over-all attitude is meek and and she has cheerful countenance.

Mr. Bingley:

Where shall I start- Mr. Bingley is the perfect gentleman, though, he's easily influenced by those he looks up to. He's always friendly and jovial, and makes sure to look into the needs of others.

I think he and Jane make a great match, in the end!!

Mr. Darcy:

This young, English gentleman is very prideful and totally the opposite of Mr. Bingley at the beginning of the story. As the story progresses, he notices how repulsive his actions and attitude are. The last bit of the book, he tries to improve his outlook of everybody or everything, and repents of all his old self. Though he still has a bit of pride in him at the end, I believe that he and Lizzy are perfect for each other! And Colin Firth was the best man for the job, I think!:)

Well, I may do more later.... I don't know, but Anna is needing to get on her for her math, so I'd better be going! Please leave a comment on your opinions or thoughts of this movie!

Thanks for reading this!

-Sarah

Goaties!

Hey Everbody! I was just gonna post some pics of the new baby goats! There is a boy and a girl(as Rachel said) and they're adorable!!! The boy got his longer hair from his dad and his "prettiness" from his mom, and the girl is black and tan on her face and legs and is black with a white splotch on her back!!

Do you like em? I sure do!! :) :)

Okay, well I've gotta go, but I just watched Pride and Prejudice last night and I absolutely loved it!!! Mr. Darcy and Lizzy are my favorite!

Gotta go!(matthew says hi)

-Sarah