K.M. Updike's Blog, page 8

February Survival List

I'm so sad.
I'm so sad because lots of you don't like winter and I'm feeling a little guilty, tucked away in my lovely warm house, reveling in the joys of getting a whole sky full of snow dumped on me and my prairie.

So here are the results of guilt, I hope they help to make February just a little bit more doable and lovable.

Hot Chocolate Recipe

So when I'm caught in the middle of a wintery day and all the hot chocolate is gone, there's a little something I like to do that makes it all better. I cheat.

Hershey's Cocoa
Milk
Vanilla Extract
Sugar

Pick out your favorite mug, fill it with milk.
Pour the milk into a pan on the stove and heat until vapors begin to rise. 
Note: it would be a bad idea to leave the heating milk at ANY time.
Dump in two heaping tablespoons of cocoa
A teaspoon Vanilla Extract 
And as much sugar as you want.
If you have marshmallows, that's even better! Voila. Homemade hot chocolate in a mug!


Valentine's Day Goodies
Just chocolate, please-thank-you. It may come in any and all forms, flavors, shapes and sizes. But we like the dark chocolate with mint the best.

Comforting Books

The Silver Chair, C.S. LewisI Heard the Owl Call My Name, Margaret CravenLittle Women, Louisa May AlcottThe Little White Horse, Elizabeth GoudgeLove That Dog, Sharon CreechThe Borrower's, Mary NortonOr Some Comforting MoviesMy Neighbor TotoroMary PoppinsInside OutThe New WorldPeter Pan (2003)Alice in Wonderland (1951)Sarah, Plain and TallSkylarkWinter's End
Writerly Things

If you're a writer winter is a good time to brush up on your skills. Below is a list of some writing posts. Check them out. Buy their books, snuggle on the couch and do some larnin'.


Foreshadowing - Helping Writer's Become Authors How to Write in Deep Point of View - She's Novel Fall in Love With Your Writing Life - Lucy Flint Five Ways to Increase Your Story's Tension - Ink and QuillsFive Steps to Silencing Writer's Block - Your's TrulyMuch love and happy surviving(but don't forget to live),Kayla

How to Notice How Beautiful Life Is

After a snow storm on the prairie, just the ordinary ones where you go to bed and in the night it falls, the day is gray the next morning, the prairie is still. Cold. The most silent it ever gets. No wind, not even a whisper of it in the trees.

The grass lies slanted through the snow and the clouds are all rumpled over the horizon. The plowed field covered in snow, but you can see the dirt brown ridges in the soil poking through. The hills lie gray, running black with streams of trees. And there's a little yellow house just across the way, surrounded by pines. The ground matches the sky and everything is this blue gray color that can only be found on a winter day.

I sit down in the snow and long prairie grass, my feet tucked up under me, and just look and listen to the silence of it all.

   
When you can just sit and hear nothing but your breathing and watch a prairie under snow and feel the silence, you wonder how you could have missed living in such a place, and why hadn't I noticed sooner? How beautiful life can be when you just sit and listen to it breathing inside you. It makes you never want to leave, you can never get enough of it.

I hear their voices down the hill, my siblings traipsing up with the sleds, wondering where I am. I smile 'cause I'm there ahead of them. Their voices sound so hollow, but so near in the silence, with no wind to wisp them away. Some days it's good to look out through your own eyes, you can see so much more that way.

Love, 
Kayla


If you enjoyed this post share it with someone you love by using the social media buttons below

28 Things About the Books I've Read, Am Reading & How I Read

Credit for these amazing questions go to my childhood friends, Krystina, Nina and Kelsey. Which one of them is the actual author I know not. I'm simply a thief of their brilliant-ness.

Here's a link to my 19-year-old-self's answers to these questions.

1. Favourite childhood book?
Owl Moon. Yup. That one will never change.

2. What are you reading right now?
The Dream Thieves, Dreamlander, The Clockwork Angel

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
As shocking as this may sound, none. But it may soon be Big Magic.

4. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
The Dream Thieves, The Darkest Minds, The Clockwork Angel

5. Do you have an e-reader?
Nope. 

6. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I prefer one at a time, but it rarely ever happens that way!

7. Can you read on the bus?
Sometimes. But it's difficult.

8. Favourite place to read?
In bed or in a comfy chair in the sunlight.

9. Do you ever dog-ear books?
I scribble and underline in them mostly.

10. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Not always, but sometimes.

11. What makes you love a book?
The kind that have meaning. Which is the kind I fail to find a lot, and which also is the kind I cannot ever seem to get out on paper.

13. Favourite genre?
YA, classics, historical fiction.

14. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
If I don't like a book I usually don't finish it and don't give it a review.

16. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Alas, only about six!

17. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?Often enough!

18. Favourite fictional character?Must you always ask these sorts of questions? Now if you would ask me who my favorite non-fictional characters are, that would nice!

Gen(The Thief), Jacob(The Silent Boy), Liesel (The Book Thief), Ratty and Mole (The Wind in the Willows), Jess (Bridge to Terabithia), Dickon (The Secret Garden), Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre), Kit (The Witch of Blackbird Pond), Ronan (The Raven Cycle), Blue (The Raven Cycle), Puck (The Scorpoio Races) Jane (Jane of Lantern Hill), the list is endless!

19. Favourite fictional villain?Colin (The Memory Lights), The Lunar Queen & Step mother (Cinder) The Commandant (An Ember in the Ashes)

20. What books are you most likely to bring on vacation?
Most likely the book I am reading at the time.

21. What's the longest you’ve gone without reading?
I really did not start to read until I was about eight or nine at night. Goodness me, but that's forever!

22. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
I never remember any of those books for some reason . . . 

23. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Little brothers knocking at my door thus: "Kayla?" "What?" "Can I come in?" "Ok . . . " "Oh. Hi." "Hi." "Whatcha doin'?" "Readin'." "Oh." After which the door closes very slowly.

24. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Bridge to Terabithia

25. Most disappointing film adaptation?Eragon. (I'm not sure if this counts because I never actually read the book)

26. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Terrible prose. Lack of character growth. Lack of plot and tension.

27. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Just on the shelf.

28. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?If they are good and I liked them I love adopting books and giving them a home on my shelves.

Your turn! Take this really fun quiz and post it anywhere on social media with the hashtag #28bookthings so I can find it and read it, too!

5 Things I'm Inspired by This Week

I can't believe January is almost over . . . It's been so wintery here. No sooner has the snow melted we get a couple more inches and brother and sister have to inch their way home from school on snow packed roads. On the other hand, we've had hot chocolate more.

Coloring Book
There are so many different coloring books out there right now, but I haven't found I like more than this one. And it's rekindled my love of coloring. The kind of rekindled that make you want to scoop up every kind of pencil crayon in sight and day dream about buying a whole set of copic markers. Coloring is the drawing and painting I was never able to do to my satisfaction. 
Egg Drop Soup Recipe


Made this for lunch the other day and had the rest of it for breakfast. I forgot how much I loved it! This is a deliciously perfect homemade recipe for a wintery day when you're home. It's easy and quick and the ginger gives it such a nice, slightly spicey-ness without being bland.
Earth Therapeutics Natural Wood Brush

Need a head massage? Ever had a head massage? If you haven't, you should. And you can give yourself one, too. Every girl in the house right now has one of these brushes. It not only gives your head a stimulating massage, the natural wood soaks up the oils in your hair and distributes it evenly to your ends. I will never go back to plastic or metal brushes again.


Canva

Canva is an amazing graphic design site. It was a lifesaver when I stepped more fully into the blogging/writing sphere. Plus, being a little obsessed with graphic designing it made me extremely happy. I make almost everything in Canva now. Did I mention it's free to join? Lots and lots of images, illustrations, fonts, etc are free while some other things cost $1. You can be as simple or detailed as you wish, and with a little practice, and their handy-dandy drag and drop feature, you'll be a pro in no time.

The design at the top of all my blog posts were designed in Canva. You can upload your own photos or use some of theirs. It makes graphic designing so much easier! And they have templates for everything you could imagine, from Kindle book covers to social media posts. Warning: It can get a little addictive. If you're a creative, approach with caution.


Balmorhea



I love the beautiful simplicity of this music. Yet it's so full of character and originality even while still being so simple. I love pairing it with Rainy Mood. It makes for a peaceful, comforting atmosphere.

Let's chat! What have you been up to this week? Have you tripped over anything new and exciting? Tell me about it comments below.

If you found something interesting here share it with someone by clicking the social media buttons below

When You Have too Many Spots & And Your Windows Just Really Need to Be Washed

Today I wash windows. I wring out the cloth and rub over the glass, leaving spotted trails of water. The window is long and looks into the living room of Lori's ranch house. I wipe away the wet with a dry towel and gaze through the clear, clear glass. It's crystal, sparkling in the sunshine. Smiling at my smile inside the glass.

I move on to the next, carrying the bucket of dirty water. It's satisfying, seeing I've wiped away all that flithy-ness. Made the glass pretty again.

The morning air blows cold around my face. My fingers tingle. But I find myself in the window I just washed. My smile fades. I missed a spot. It wasn't there before. 






Why didn't I see it? How was it so easy to miss? I scrub hard on the spot, making doubly sure there are no spots left over. But low and behold, I look at my reflection and still see spots.

Sometimes I look right through myself. I see a clean, clear glass. No blemishes. No spots. Just a pretty me. It's like a big spot all over me, so big I can't see how big it really is. I'm ugly in places I can't even see. 

I wipe at the spots, at the glass of my soul, scrubbing and scrubbing. Trying to hide it from Him. From everyone.

But I'm not like the windows. I wash, and wash, and wash, leaving lines, smearing. They grow, breeding others, splotching my soul. Black bleeding spots, burning. I can't make them pretty again.

It's only pure when there's nothing underneath.





When I lose the rag to wash with, and the paint cracks and peels, when the rain comes and mud cakes the corners of my soul and I can't see anything but the good I am not, when I feel so ashamed of my dirt, my ugliness then He rips His spotless clean garment from His body. 

His body gushes blood from holes in His skin, running in red streams from His fingers, dripping over His eyes, off His cheek, pooling at His feet. He rises. Hurting, limping, hands shaking, He dips His white garment into the pool of blood . . .

And today He washes windows. My window. He wrings out the cloth and rubs it over me. Leaving spotted trails of blood. My window is long and looks into the Temple of God.
He smiles as He wipes away the black puss with a dry towel and gazes through the clear, clear glass.
It's crystal, sparkling in the sunshine.
He stands back, surveying the beauty of His handiwork.
He takes my hand and sets me in my place, wiping over me once more. The Finish. Smiling at His smile inside the glass, Him inside of me . . .

5 Things I'm Inspired by This Week

Just a few things I've had lying around this week . . .

BurstFit Fire

It's good and healthy to stay in shape. It's just - trying to get back into fitness is not really all that fun. But I started BurstFit Fire this week. And it was great, as certain sections of my anatomy can attest. Instead of a full body workout, Fire concentrates on target areas of your body. Here's to cheer and health!

Rainy Mood

Lovely background noise that doesn't make me fall asleep. Keeps the drum of noise down. And I've listened to it long enough now that it has become a sound I associate with writing. It's an incredible help to get me into the writing mode. Who doesn't love the sound of rain, the occasional rumble of thunder, cars passing by on wet streets, dogs and sirens subtly in the background?


Pilot G2 Retractable Premium Gel Ink Roller Ball Pens
Every year I underline verses in my Bible, and each year has its own color. These pens are my go-to for everything. The ball point makes it easy to take quick notes and appease my apparent rebellion against neat, line-conformed handwriting. The colors are very pretty, too.



Iron Will

Iron Will is probably one of the top reasons I love winter. And dogs. And young courageous boys. I think this is an excellent Disney film. My prejudices might be a little skewed because I grew up watching this movie and loving it. But still, I find reason to love it today as an adult. Namely, Will Stoneman is from South Dakota where I'm from, and Kevin Spacey's character, Harry Kingsley. A lovable rogue with an awesome character arc! 


This quote from Maggie Stiefvater:

Stiefvater is challenging the way I write my stories in every way. For instance, I have never liked writing in third person, or changing character perspectives. I didn't think it was a very intimate way of telling a story, and I'm all about emotion. But Maggie Stiefvater changed all that. I've not only found a new reason to love third person and different character perspectives, but I've found some new favorite story people as well. 

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!
Love, Kayla

Getting Through January & Finding Home

She said something like, "Being away from home so much only makes you want to stay home forever." Yeah. I feel that way a lot.

And then I said, "We humans are so contradictory. Once you're home, all you want to do is leave."










The house is quiet this morning. 10:06 and the only sounds are Mama in the kitchen and the soft voices of a children's choir, the occasional closing of a door.

Things go slower in the winter here at our house. Even chores are done with less hurried-ness.

Maybe there's something about the snow. Something blanketing us in. Something warm, something cold that diminishes any desire to get out, to be wild, to go places. Something making home, and love, and baked goods, and warmth less of a trivial quaintness and more of a wonderful haven.

Its after Christmas, and yeah, the snow and cold has lost the sparkle and the world its good will, and where's all the joy gone? January doldrums. But Christ is here. Him in all His glory.

Maybe this, too, is what makes us want to stay. To be where the world can't distract us, where we can live in awe and wonder. Where we can wait patiently, and see Him even in the ordinary drift of our lives.

Love,
Kayla

Things I'm Inspired By This Week

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas

I've been inspired by Bonhoeffer for many years. I thought his life story was amazing just from watching the film about him, but reading this book? Eric Metaxas did an incredible amount of work and research, and the result is a truly amazing account of Bonhoeffer, his family, his friends, everything. God is good.

The New World Soundtrack - James Horner



I picked this out as my "novel soundtrack" for NaNoWriMo last year, and as I didn't finish the novel, I'm still using it as background music whenever I write. James Horner is brilliant. I love the sweeping, yet simply wondrous beauty of this soundtrack. It captures the essence of discovering a new and startling beautiful world.

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt Caramel Filling
So I earned these. A whole bag of them. My sister often bribes me with chocolate. She's good at persuading. She knows everything about everyone and how to appeal to their deepest, darkest, most delicious weaknesses. Sea salt and caramel and dark chocolate? Um, heaven.

Knitting in the Round


I love knitting. It keeps me occupied when I have to sit still, and it makes me feel productive. Recently, I learned to knit in the round on double-pointed needles. Thanks to this lovely Czech youtuber, Bronislava Slagle, I've now successfully completed one of my dreams of knitting mittens! I've been so inspired I've made two pairs of fingerless gloves and I'm just about to finish my first pair of mittens. Go check out Bronislava's channel, she's awesome. I've learned to knit and crochet from several youtubers with amazing accents. They're the best.

Bee and Flower Jasmine Soap

Last year the my scent-love was Lemon Balm and all things citrusy. This year--it's Jasmine. I got this soap as a stocking stuffer (thank you, Mama!) and I kept it by my bed for weeks because I couldn't bear to open the beautiful packaging and plus the scent was amazing. Every time I got into bed I could smell it and it was so lovely. I've made myself use it now and it's heavenly. You can probably find it in your local co-op where Mom got this one, but I've linked to Swanson Healthcare where you can buy it. Keep smelling heavenly!
That's it for this week!
Love, Kayla

7 Young Adult Books That Need More Fans

You know you need to re-read a book when you talk to everyone about it because you loved it so much but you can't put into words what you loved about it . . . Read on.


The Sunbird, Elizabeth Wein

The Sunbird definitely needs more fans.

1) There is little action and tons of emotional and psychological conflict. I say this because I so often hear people complaining that they didn't like a book or movie because there "wasn't any action." There is more to stories and people than just action. Much more.
2) This book has everything to do with political intrigue
3) The kid uses his head. Telemakos is one of the most intelligent teens you'll find in any YA book without it being over the top or unrealistic
4) His name is Telemakos. Period.
5) He's a quiet, silent watcher. I really connected with Telemakos because he would rather have stayed in the background listening and watching rather than be in with the action

Read The Sunbird. Not because it needs more fans, but because of all of the above.


The Winter Prince, Elizabeth Wein
I probably should have mentioned this before The Sunbird because this book is about Telemakos's father, Medraut, Artos's illegitimate son by his sister, Morgause.

Again this is a character driven story, has very little to do with action and everything to do with people. Which is I hope your main reason for reading any book!

It's filled with Medraut's darkly twisted emotions, spellbinding, terrifying encounters with his father and mother that leave you reeling to know what happens to change it all.

It needs more fans because it's more about what happens to the insides of peoples lives instead of what you see on the outside.


No Promises in the Wind, Irene Hunt

I'm a huge fan of brave, intelligent boys who take on the responsibilities of adulthood far before their time. Young people who do courageous things, even though they're young, because they know what it means and what the cost is, has always inspired me.

This book needs more fans because:
1) Josh is just such a boy
2) It's about young people doing hard things3) You need to know about the harsh life on the road during the Great Depression for more than 300,000 young boys and girls. Because you do. And then re-evaluate your own life.
Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler, Frank McDonough

If you want to be great, read about great people.

You need to read about a real life heroine in the middle of Germany during WWII because:
1) She was an artist - in every sense of the word
2) She resisted Hitler and saw right through his schemes and began weeding out his contradictions from a very young age
3) She was afraid, but did it anyway
4) She died for what she believed was right
5) She loved God and Germany and fought to keep them from Hitler's destruction

Sophie Scholl needs more fans because she was a real girl in the midst of real terror and tragedy and still was not afraid to die.

The Life and Death of Terry Dodd, K.M. Updike
Because it's about:
1) Small people doing big things
2) It's the '70s, baby
3) Girls who read books
4) Girls who people-watch
5) 1953 black Chrysler Windors
6) Mysterious next door neighbors
7) Drunks who are more than just drunks

Of course, I think you should read it period. But that may just be me.

Jane of Lantern Hill, L.M. Montgomery

This book needs more fans because:
1) The protagonist, Jane, is a simple, quiet, loving girl in a loud and raucous world who only wanted to be loved by someone who wanted to love her.

If you don't read it for any other reason, read it for that.

You may also want to read it because:
2) There is a lion
3) Her father is a writer for the Saturday Evening Post
4) They live on an island in the most perfect island house you'll ever see
5) I refuse to divulge anything further on the grounds I may spoil the story!

It needs more fans because you may find Jane a true kindred spirit and the peace to be as quiet and caring and loving as she. Even when the world is loud and hurtful.

I Am David, Anne Holm

Getting back to courageous children, ahem-ahem . . .

Because:
1) It's about the little known or written about post-effects of WWII in Bulgaria
2) David has a secret
3) Jim Caviezel plays Johannes in the movie adaption
4) Europe - Italy, the Swiss Alps . . . *contented sigh*
5) Courageous young boy. My heart's this twisted agony-ridden mess inside me for boys who've had to grow up too fast, seen horrible things, and never known colors or love.

I Am David isn't driven by action, but a boy's desire to find his home, his mother, and love after spending the first half of his life working in a prison camp.

So there you have it. Seven Young Adult books you need to go read. Right now. And become a fan.

Love, Kayla

Living Christmas

A mug of milk on the window sill. All the white, winter light pouring into the living room. A sheet of cold covering the glass as you gaze out January slipping in over the world outside.
A left over Christmas cookie. The Christmas tree standing all empty of presents and looking kind of forlorn.
When I was two I cried when we took down the Christmas tree. I still don't like to be in the house when all the Christmas things go away.

These days when all the pretty lights come down, and you have to get back to the way things were—like life keeps interrupting the good things.

All these seemingly unholy moments of scheduling and school work, and trying to get out of bed on time—they're not an end of something. Because this is what Christmas is for—Christmas is a reminder of all the things we hoped for— Christmas saves us.

Christmas awakens us to the life we should be living, to the beauty that has been given us.
Yes, even a Christmas cookie with green sprinkles on a window sill. 

The good things in life aren't just the high days and holidays. They're everything. They're the candle flame on the counter. They're memories. They are the perpetual junk drawer full of odds and ends. They are the shoes always crowding the front door when they're not being worn. Even the days after Christmas, they're the good things.

These are the days when we begin living Christmas.
O Come O Come Emmanuel - David Tolk
Love, Kayla