Hobbit Day

Hobbit Day

"September 22nd is the Birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular Middle Earth Cycle books (The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings respectively) in which Hobbits, typically between two and four feet tall and nothing like your usual ‘hero’, accomplish great feats and amazing acts of courage. It is in honour of these creatures and those acts that the day is celebrated with events not unlike the birthday party described in the beginning of “The Fellowship of the Ring”. 

In the United States Hobbit Day has gained some measure of legal dignity due to the elected officials who support the day and the goals of the American Tolkien Society. The Day has also attracted Bipartisan Support from places as the U.S. County Courthouse, to the White House, to the U.S. Capitol. 

History
A separate event to Tolkien Week (although the Week will always fall over Hobbit Day, running Sunday to Saturday), Hobbit Day is perhaps the oldest running day celebrated by fans. There is some debate on the date that Hobbit Day should be celebrated on, due to the differences in the Gregorian and Shire calendars. Tolkien once said that the Shire calendar is ahead by about ten days depending on the month. A suggested alternative date by hardcore fans is September 14th. Although the day was not officially designated until 1978 and has had many names and designations, it has been celebrated since 1973, shortly after J.R.R. Tolkien died on September 2nd of that year. 

Observances
Fans celebrate by anything from going barefoot all day and having seven meals, to Literary discussions and readings, Lord Of The Rings Movie Marathons, and throwing parties in honour of the ‘Long Awaited Party’ at the start of the Fellowship Of The Ring with events such as feasts, games, costumes and fireworks."

-taken from DaysOfTheYear.com 

these dates are from last year

this info provided by the AmericanTolkienSociety.org

September 19 - Talk Like a Pirate Day

Because it is a thing!

Talk Like a Pirate Day

"Once upon a time -- on June 6, 1995, to be precise -- we were playing racquetball, not well but gamely. It wasn't our intention to become "the pirate guys." Truth to tell, it wasn't really our intention to become anything, except perhaps a tad thinner and healthier, and if you could see our photos, you'd know how THAT turned out. As we flailed away, we called out friendly encouragement to each other -"Damn, you bastard!" and "Oh, jeez, my hamstring!" for instance - as shots caromed away, unimpeded by our wildly swung rackets.

On this day, for reasons we still don't quite understand, we started giving our encouragement in pirate slang. Mark suspects one of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance, might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and strained something best left unstrained. "Arrr!," he might have said. 

Who knows? It might have happened exactly that way. 

Anyway, whoever let out the first "Arrr!" started something. One thing led to another. "That be a fine cannonade," one said, to be followed by "Now watch as I fire a broadside straight into your yardarm!" and other such helpful phrases. 

By the time our hour on the court was over, we realized that lapsing into pirate lingo had made the game more fun and the time pass more quickly. We decided then and there that what the world really needed was a new national holiday, Talk Like A Pirate Day."

-taken from TalkLikeAPirate.com

This video (below) is courtesy of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, thank goodness for children allowing us to indulge in our young hearts!

signs september succeeds

So September maybe one of my most favorite months!

(October is most definitely the all-time fave just so we'er clear).

September is the intro to the autumn season! It brings and end the the miserable, hotness that summer has become, it brings back school (which I loved), I can ditch my awkward summer wardrobe, my utility bills drop, outside events are actually inviting, this is the first year I'm looking forward to a new season (rather than re-runs or Netflix) of a current TV show Once Upon a Time, hot chocolate is acceptable, the light and dark hours make sense, birthday month is coming, fabulous holidays fall into place, and thanks to St. George's awesome elevation change I can still go boating!

Carefully note that I said nothing about winter or snow-don't misunderstand my love of season change! This is the obvious break-down of seasons by month:

• Spring: March, April, May
• Summer: June, July, August
• Autumn: September, October, November
• Winter: December, January, February

The fact that our seasons don't exactly line-up with the corresponding months is recognized, however I believe we come pretty close (here in Utah County). The reason Autumn is my favorite season is because I love all the months that fall in her grasp. Spring I like most of the time, but March, April, and May pick and choose when to have good days and when to have winter days. Summer I really only like June. And Winter-hmmm, is a toss-up, I like Christmas (expect for the (singing) music, over decorating, stores, and any time I have to travel), but hmm yeah Winter is a dreary time for the most part.

But back to September. Not wanting to forget Labor Day or Patriot Day I will refer readers back to another post: We Will Never Forget, by Riley Lewis.

Having that said, September is awesome because there two unofficial holidays that have become official. Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19th and Hobbit Day, September 22nd.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

"Once upon a time -- on June 6, 1995, to be precise -- we were playing racquetball, not well but gamely. It wasn't our intention to become "the pirate guys." Truth to tell, it wasn't really our intention to become anything, except perhaps a tad thinner and healthier, and if you could see our photos, you'd know how THAT turned out. As we flailed away, we called out friendly encouragement to each other -"Damn, you bastard!" and "Oh, jeez, my hamstring!" for instance - as shots caromed away, unimpeded by our wildly swung rackets.

On this day, for reasons we still don't quite understand, we started giving our encouragement in pirate slang. Mark suspects one of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance, might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and strained something best left unstrained. "Arrr!," he might have said. 

Who knows? It might have happened exactly that way. 

Anyway, whoever let out the first "Arrr!" started something. One thing led to another. "That be a fine cannonade," one said, to be followed by "Now watch as I fire a broadside straight into your yardarm!" and other such helpful phrases. 

By the time our hour on the court was over, we realized that lapsing into pirate lingo had made the game more fun and the time pass more quickly. We decided then and there that what the world really needed was a new national holiday, Talk Like A Pirate Day."

-taken from TalkLikeAPirate.com

This video (below) is courtesy of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, thank goodness for children allowing us to indulge in our young hearts!

Hobbit Day

"September 22nd is the Birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular Middle Earth Cycle books (The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings respectively) in which Hobbits, typically between two and four feet tall and nothing like your usual ‘hero’, accomplish great feats and amazing acts of courage. It is in honour of these creatures and those acts that the day is celebrated with events not unlike the birthday party described in the beginning of “The Fellowship of the Ring”. 

In the United States Hobbit Day has gained some measure of legal dignity due to the elected officials who support the day and the goals of the American Tolkien Society. The Day has also attracted Bipartisan Support from places as the U.S. County Courthouse, to the White House, to the U.S. Capitol. 

History
A separate event to Tolkien Week (although the Week will always fall over Hobbit Day, running Sunday to Saturday), Hobbit Day is perhaps the oldest running day celebrated by fans. There is some debate on the date that Hobbit Day should be celebrated on, due to the differences in the Gregorian and Shire calendars. Tolkien once said that the Shire calendar is ahead by about ten days depending on the month. A suggested alternative date by hardcore fans is September 14th. Although the day was not officially designated until 1978 and has had many names and designations, it has been celebrated since 1973, shortly after J.R.R. Tolkien died on September 2nd of that year. 

Observances
Fans celebrate by anything from going barefoot all day and having seven meals, to Literary discussions and readings, Lord Of The Rings Movie Marathons, and throwing parties in honour of the ‘Long Awaited Party’ at the start of the Fellowship Of The Ring with events such as feasts, games, costumes and fireworks."

-taken from DaysOfTheYear.com 

these dates are from last year

this info provided by the AmericanTolkienSociety.org

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

So you can clearly see why this is such an important month!

for sale

So I was in the midst of writing a August's post (because I really did have a goal of monthly posts), but before I had finished, we had an offer. So then went out and found a house, and they accepted our offer, then the day before all the paperwork and leg work was to get started for both transactions our buyers backed out (we found out later for personal reasons). So here we are back to square one and now my original post still works I just missed my August deadline. Oh well. Blogger allows you to change the date of your posts, so (for layout and timeline purposes) I will change the date to an August date, allow the full story to be told for anyone interested, and yet my blog will still 'look' organized!

For Sale:

• 4 bed
• 3 bath
• 2 family rooms
• 1 living room
• 1 kitchen
• 2300 square feet
• click here for listing and pictures

Yep, the house is up for sale officially with pix and all!

It's been kinda fun getting the house ready for sale. First there is the initial clean and staging for pictures, then the livable-but always ready to show clean, now we have reached "Why are you eating? That makes the kitchen dirty and all I do is clean up all day!" Okay, it's not that bad yet, but - well - you know.

Why is our house on the market in the first place you ask? Why not? We knew we weren't going to stay in this place forever, and after expert advise (people who know the market) sooner seemed better than later so here we are.

But I don't really want to just talk about the why's and what now's of selling and buying. I kind of wanted to elaborate the things one thinks about when selling and buying. Its takes a lot of prayer and reassurance and yet people do it all the time.

The first time we were labeled buyers, was for this house. Good old 1404 (because what other name do you give a house? It hasn't earned Bag End yet, but I would hardly call it #4 Privet Drive, and we just don't have any of the right numbers for 221B Baker Street), was our first ever home-buying experience and you care about such different things on a first time go.

First Time Around

more room

yard

out of time

Second Time Around

more room

schools

yard features

distance to work

distance to shopping

covered parking

ISP

neighbors/neighborhood

Yeah, a few more points of interest.

Well in any event wish us luck, we are now to the point where we just want it to sell--just sell! We still go looking for a new place, but we can't do anything until our place sells.

I also feel for our awesome agent. He has all the basic paperwork that goes with the job, but agents also have a separate, perhaps, unseen set of qualities that either make or break them.

• organized
• happy and upbeat
• realistic
• great at communicating
• consoling and comforting
• optimistic
• willing
• patient
• outgoing and yet relaxed
• informed
• engaged
• current
• on top of things

Yeah our agent has all that! And we want to thank Nate and his family for putting up with us!

6 years and 2 weeks

So....

I started this blog when I got married. As of 2 weeks ago that was 6 years ago. If I had stuck to my challenge of 1 post a month, this blog should have (12*6) 72 posts. Rather, the stats show a 30 next to the word 'posts'.

Now there have been a variety of ways I have tried to attack the issue at hand. Big posts with a month by month break-down, a video of picture clips, a grid, bullet points, etc. That was cool, except every one is doing it now. How does one attempt to stand out anymore? Of course the need to stand out wouldn't exist if I could simply post monthly, but sadly that is not the case. Also long dry blogs about the Steele day-to-day workings is, in most cases, even boring to me-I can't imagine trying to write an average week for us and keep it interesting for my intended audience.

"Today, Ty went to work. Then Tav and I hung out 

A) at home and played with cars, or

B) at Emery's and ransacked the place."

Pretty scintillating huh? Yeah I thought not.

Not that I'm complaining. I love being home with my little boy! Didn't realize how much I would love it. In all honesty I never really thought about it. I never thought about kids until school was over, then things have just sort of fallen into place since then.

I don't mean to diminish the growing pains and triumphs in our new little family. There have been plenty! Now he's 15.5 months and the changes in our lifestyles and personalities are evident.

So what is the purpose of this, not really an update about us, not really sharing a cool story or experience, more of a "Hi, we're still here and doing well!"

I scroll thru FaceBook and love seeing when friends update blogs! But now that Google Reader has been done away with, :( I had to re-evaluate how and when I check all my blog reading list. To my surprise I found that not only is Riley out-doing me (and I'm the one who begged him to start a blog, then helped him set it up), but Shandon is also blogging like crazy! Great, now it's friends and family!

I'm so proud of both my brothers! They have great talent at writing and I'm glad they are willing to put in the time to share those talents! And I guess, in a cruel ironic way, they are encouraging me to get back on board. I certainly have the time, I pretend to have the talent, I just need a plot! (Thanks Snoopy).

So there you go, hopefully I will find interesting topics to discuss here, still pertinent to the Steele Family, but I will no longer ignore 'journal writing' just because I don't find the day-to-day worth writing about.

We Will Never Forget

Riley Clay Lewis

3 hours ago

I have often pondered the phrase "We will never forget" and wondered exactly what we mean by that. Those directly involved in the 9-11 attacks will certainly never forget their own struggles for survival. Those who perished clearly will never be forgotten by their loved ones. As for the rest of us, what are we saying when we boldly declare that we will never forget? Are we completely honest when we do so?

Have we forgotten the unity that so briefly enveloped our country in the attacks' aftermath? Have we forgotten the day when no one cared about Republicans and Democrats, about blacks and whites, about rich and poor, or about gays and straights? Have we forgotten a time when former rivals mixed their tears together and established new bonds of brotherhood? Have we forgotten how grief brought us all under the same banner, with only one title that mattered: that of being American? In September of that fateful year, the first word of that now popular phrase took on new meaning. "We" was no longer used in contrast to "you" or "them"; rather, "we" became an all encompassing link that permeated disagreements and differences, borders and boundaries. "We" became something more than just "you and I." "We" became a symbol of something much greater.

This September 11, as we are reminded of that which we claimed we would never forget, let us remember who "we" are and the ideals that "we" uphold. Let us remember, not passively, but as we actively go about working toward a world without any more days that we'll never have to forget.

Thanks Ry, I couldn't say it any better!

super massive update!

This time it is a really good excuse! First I vowed that I wouldn't do another blog post until Ty set us up with a new blog site. Blogger's editor is not my favorite program, and once I actually start a post, I get frustrated and finishing the post takes forever. But there have been some major things happening in the Steele’s world and they should be on the blog. The other half of that is the very fact that there have been many things happening and thus the paradox arises once again-when there is stuff to blog about there isn’t time to blog.

Well here we go - - -

June: · Les Mis · Two Towers · speak in church · nickle arcade · houses houses houses · BBQ w/Kayde · Father’s Day · anniversary no. 4 · boating	July: · house hunting · bank loan approval · house found · boating · packing · family reunion · moving · unpacking	August: · unpacking · yard work · baby on the way · Riley back · FatMan’s · decorating
September: · party · recuperate · BYU vs Utah	October: · birthday month · "it's a boy!" · Seuss party · speak in church · Halloween parties birthday sushi (and other food)	November: · Ry's murder mystery · sewer · Thanksgiving
December: · Midway · family · Christmas	January: · New Year’s LOTR marathon/Super Smash Bros · baby shower	February: · Lillie’s blessing · dr. dr. dr. · shower install
March: · ward baby shower · dr. dr. dr. · family · Tavish!		April: · family · Ry, Shand, Raydon, et. al birthday month! · Tav one month · St. George

And yes, we know that most of these events warrant posts all their own, but as most of you know-we are not traditional people. Generally houses and babies should get lots of attention. Pictures, weekly updates, emotional investment narratives, and whatnot. Believe me they are there. If you would like to hear about them or see the fruits of our labors please feel free to join us for a Wii Party night or an evening out to eat! We would much rather spend time in person because quite frankly we like to talk!