bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-bla-bloggin'

I happen to be listening to Spanish Christmas songs. These particular ones are called "Pastores y Zagalas" and "Que preciosas mananitas" y "Las Posadas". I shall attempt to find the translations. Pero primero yo estoy voy a comer arroz de español para mi almuerzo. Okay. Done with the spanish rice which was prepared by mi madre. So "pastores y zagalas" means "shepherds and shepherdesses", "Que preciosas mananitas" means "What precious early mornings," y "Las Posadas" means "The Inns." ¡Qué interesante! lol

I learned how to make some German paper stars the other day. They are like the ones below, but mine are much cooler because they are colorful and one is made out of ribbon! :)

Tiddlywinks

Please pray for our rabbit Tiddlywinks! He has a major problem with his teeth and he could die because of it!!! Please pray we can take him to a vet that can help him. He is a special pet of ours and we don't want to lose him! Thanks!

My account of December 22, 2009

Our family had planned several days before to go to a craft party at my cyber school's hq in West Chester, which is like an hour and a half from our house driving. Some of my family decided they were too sick to go so we it ended up just being me, my big sister, and my dad. My dad actually had lost his voice, so it was a much quieter ride than we were used to when being with my dad.
But my dad does this thing. Whenever my dad is driving near a fancy hot new expensive car, like a ferrari or mercedes or bmw or anything that is worth half our house, he ALWAYS says he can get in front of them and change lanes before them or whatever because the person isn't going to want to hurt their new fancy car by ramming into him for it. And each time he goes in front of them or whatever they ALWAYS beep their horns loud and long... and each time he says get my gun; I'm armed and they're not. And each time my mom goes "Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat!!!!!" (which is my dad's name). It was funny cuz this one time, there was a fancy car behind us and he beeped at us when my dad went in front of him and then later when the same car got behind a line of traffic, my dad drove by him quick and beeped at him lol it was so funny but my mom got all freaked out and my dad said I'm armed and they're not, and my mom was like how do you know they're not armed and for the tiniest split second I was like how can they drive without arms? and then I realized he meant firearms and I felt pretty dumb lol anyway so yesterday on this particular drive in Philly there is this guy and his gf in their hot new mercedes in the lane next to us and trying to change lanes and my dad says, "Watch this" and next thing I know I hear BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPP from the shiny silver mercedes and my dad says "Get my gun! Get my gun! I'm armed and they're not!" and we throw up his briefcase and I duck my head in my lap and then I look around quick and the car is behind us and the guy is glaring. But he couldn't afford to do anything to our car for fear of damaging his shiny new mercedes. So anyway, SURPRISINGLY, we arrived safely at the building and made our way through the confusing maze of cubicles until we reached the room where we were to spend an hour and a half making international crafts with the foreign language teachers. One of them was my Spanish teacher in 8th grade and 10th grade. She taught us how to make God's Eyes, that craft with popsicle sticks and yarn. We also spent a long frustrating hour learning how to make these German Stars. They are like origami, and you can make them with long strips of paper or ribbons.
On the way back, we are listening to the charming English accent version of the voice on the gps. Unfortunately, it tells us to stay left at the toll booth so we accidentally go through the EZ pass one and don't get a ticket so when we get to the booth where we have to pay, my dad almost has to pay $24 instead of $2 but then my dad explained what happened (with difficulty because of his lost voice) and the toll booth guy said it happens a lot so we got away with it. My poor dad. Later we met a friend at the grocery store and she asked if we enjoyed our dad not having a voice for once because he is usually extremely talkative, but actually I missed his voice because I had been having to do a lot of his talking for him.
After that, we go to a Chinese restaurant and order vegetarian Chinese food, but I don't order the moo shu vegetables because I don't know what is in them and my dad always jokes about cow feet. haha
But we are still hungry so we go to this place that sells luxury chocolates so that we can get free samples. But I couldn't find the samples, so when my dad shows me where they are, he said my eyes bugged out and I made a beeline for them like a zombie and he was teasing me the rest of the day about it! I reached for the biggest piece and Alyssa says, "Don't be greedy!" So I grab a smaller piece, rather disappointed, and watch as SHE grabs the biggest piece. I should really not listen to her so much.
Then we go to Wegmans and get the rest of our dessert. The first thing, I will not disclose what it was because my dad would get in trouble with my mom if she reads this. The second thing was a 2-liter bottle of cherry soda. We are all rather full by this time and my dad doesn't want to carry the soda around and I don't want to throw it away so I finish it off for us straight from the bottle. But by then I am too full and too tired to want to shop for food for Christmas. So I am walking around in a stupor while we get groceries and then I need to use the restroom because I had just drank about a liter of soda. But when I get to the restroom there is a guy standing in front of the door holding tape which says "Do Not Pass This Line." So I am forced to keep walking around feeling tired and sick and OOOH my brother just handed me two Hershey's kisses!!!! But what made me feel better was this funny thing I observed. I noticed a trail of chocolate milk on the floor, and I decided to follow it. I saw an employee discover it and he walkie talkied to some other employee, "We have a situation here! There's a trail of chocolate milk all over the store! Send someone over the clean it up." And maybe it wasn't that funny but since I was so tired I was laughing hysterically!!!
After that ordeal I wasn't so tired anymore, and we went to some other stores and the mall and I got a great Spanish-English dictionary for only 4 bucks and Alyssa and I helped my dad pick out something for my mom for Christmas. Then we went home and I went to bed and had a disturbing dream and woke up this afternoon.
Well, if you have just finished reading all of this, congratulations. I hope you have become a better person because of it, or have at least been amused.
Excuse me while I go refill my blood sugar.

In the beginning...

...there was a blog. Called Mandy's Place. And I posted and posted and posted from the time I was like 12 to the present. And lately only got on every once in a while.

Soooo this feels kind of awkward, blogging after not being on for so long. I guess all I should say for now is announce that I am going bowling today!

The other day I learned chest block at karate class.

I also just finished up to the 2nd midmarking period of 11th grade.

Still desperately attempting to learn español.

I am so excited for the holiday season!!! Mi tiempo de año favorito!

And I quit all the stupid facebook games which my sister started me playing and which took over my free time. So perhaps I will be blogging more often. But ironically, all my blog posts show up on facebook anyway, because somehow I set my blog to be affiliated with facebook.

I made a skeleton dude for anatomy class named Mr. Skelly Ton. When it is time to get rid of him, I am going to bury him in the ground as befits a skeleton. Maybe even make him a gravestone...

My brother just pulled my hair...

...And his excuse: "I wasn't pulling it! Some of it just, um, got stuck between my two fingers!!!"
^^Exactly! :)

Heat Wave

I readily agree with accuweather.com when it says that it feels like it is 100 degrees. It's actually only 89, but it is still apparently the hottest weather we have had so far this summer. All that talk about how I wanted warmer summer weather, I take it all back! I love the rain; I would do a rain dance if I thought it would help. I have piled up my hair and stuffed it under a cap so it won't stick to my neck. Makes me feel kind of topheavy; 20+ inches of hair, even rather thin hair which requires gallons of volumizing shampoo and conditioner to keep it from being so thin that strands of it would be invisible to the naked eye, feels especially weighty when one is soaking in a pool of sweat. Days like this I almost feel jealous of guys, because their hair is already short and light and they can go around without their shirts. It makes me mad to see my brother parading around in only his underwear and shorts. In times past I have even bullied him into putting his shirt back on, just because it was annoying me that I couldn't go around without one too.
I feel like jumping into the creek, but on second thought that would probably not help since I bet it is almost boiling by now. And it is surrounded by poison ivy and supposedly according to my mom, lyme-disease-carrying ticks [I don't really blame her for being paranoid though, seeing as she has gotten lyme disease twice]. Seriously, come to think of it, the creek would be boiling if it were a hundred degrees Celsius rather than 100 degrees fahrenheit. Even though, to the chagrin of my Canadian friends, I have basically forgotten what I learned in chemistry last school year about converting temperatures, for some reason or other I still remember that 100 degrees Celsius is the temperature at which water boils. I wonder what temperature blood boils at? You know how blood has to be heated before they can inject it into people who need a blood transplant? Well I heard a story once about some people who tried to heat the blood in a microwave, and the person who got that blood died. Rather creepy... but it is a favorite anecdote of the people who believe microwaves are dangerous and life-threatening and possibly cancer-causing (of whom my mom is also one of, sort of :)
Okay, either I swallowed too much pool water yesterday or the heat is really getting to me. Or maybe it's the strange book I have been reading. At any rate, I had better quit typing before I spill out something really bizarre. Well, in parting, remember to stay hydrated and try to keep as cool as possible, which means you'll have to try even harder if you don't have air conditioning like we don't. Well, at least the giant fan is on now and buzzing its heart out loudly. My dad seems to be an expert in ventilation (or at least thinks he is), and has set up a system that coincides somehow with how the propellors on an airplane work (trust him for that!). The fan is so loud I can hardly hear myself think. So tata!!

The Call by Regina Spektor (but done by me this time)

~ Lyrics-- It started out as a feeling

Which then grew into a hope

Which then turned into a quiet thought

Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder

'Til it was a battle cry

I'll come back when it's over

No need to say goodbye

Just because everything's changing

Doesn't mean it hasn't been this way before

All you can do is try to know who your friends are

As you head off to the war

Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light

You'll come back when it's over

No need to say goodbye

You'll come back when it's over

No need to say goodbye

Now we're back to the beginning

It's just a feeling and no one knows yet

But just because they can't feel it too

Doesn't mean that you have to forget

Let those memories grow stronger and stronger

'Til they're before your eyes

You'll come back when they call you

No need to say goodbye

You'll come back when they call you

No need to say goodbye

Everyone has their own agenda

^that - a quote in a book I read a while back. Lately the following have been on my agenda - think, sleep, talk, eat, pick blueberries, play, read, shop. Not necessarily in that order, but sort of. But this is kind of just to let you know what I have been up to lately. So you don't worry about me. HA ha. I wish my agenda would change a little or a lot to include something very exciting. Like my sister decided to travel. Which I would like, but is an expensive habit, and we need to save up for skydiving lessons and flight school. Because those would definitely offer an extremely exciting and welcme change in my agenda.

Videos & Photos of Missionary Ground Pilot Class at PVYBC

At Piedmont Valley Youth Bible Camp (PVYBC) I was in the flight class and at the end of the week we all went to an airport and got to experience flying first-hand! I got to copilot for a while, and had full control of the plane for about 3 minutes... I also got to sit in the back seat for two more flights. I had never been in a small plane before and the one time that I had flown in my life was when I was 3 so I could scarcely remember that. So it was a new experience for me and it was absolutely the most exhilarating and AWESOMEST thing I have ever done!!! At first I thought I would be nervous, but somewhere on the fun van ride to the airport, I got so excited that there was no room left for nervousness! Also, while I was up in the plane I kept having this urge to jump out the window LOL... So now I have two new goals, to get my private pilot's license, and to go SKYDIVING!!! yeah! I took this first video of the plane our flight class rented taking off.

We also did a few stalls... one was called the roller coaster and I LOVED IT!!! We climbed so hard that we were being pressed into our seats and then all of a sudden, we stalled and we were just FALLING, falling out of the sky, floating out of our seats, and whatever was in our lap started floating around too! Unfortunately I did not get a video while doing that but I need to do that sometime :). We had someone else's camera with us in the plane, and it was just floating around inside the fuselage, then when we recovered it went shooting into the trunk lol... know what would be neat, turning a video camera on right before you did the roller coaster, then later seeing what video it took while it was floating randomly inside the plane hahaha.

Anyway this next video is one I took of takeoff while I was sitting in the backseat as a passenger.



We opened the windows in the airplane because it was so hot and we wanted to decrease the chance of us getting airsick. Boy it was awesome... I even stuck my hand out the window on several occasions, and the wind obviously pushed really hard on it. Our instructor was telling us how he stuck his arm out the window nce when he was going much faster to see what would happen, and it almost broke his arm!!! He also said if you have a bug hit you at that speed it really hurts LOL!

^ Me copiloting the plane!!!

Me having crazy hair cuz of the open window...

^ at an altitude of like 2000 feet I think.

^ The plane about to take off.

^A pond/lake from the copilot's eye view.

DEFORESTATION!!!

"THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!!"

Outdoors with Korah and Lanaya

Our 'crick'

Some freaky cool mushrooms i found.Famous last words - "Don't worry, these are the good kind of mushrooms!"

The "shelter" my brother and I half-built.

beautiful greenery

A fern growing out of a stump.

^me

A MOVIE NIGHT!!!

Well that's kind of what my mom, sis and I did last night, 'cept we started at 7:00 and watched A movie (8 Below), no more. Mostly because my sister dropped asleep halfway through it and my mom followed sometime later. We bought a pile of movies cheap from this really nice guy at this farmer/flea market we went to on Tuesday. Let's see, there was of course 8 Below, and Finding Nemo (oooh love that movie, my favorite part is when Dory speaks whale!!!), Ratatouille, Happy Feet, Over the Hedge, Everyone's Hero, Meet the Robinsons, Shrek 1 & 2, and I think that is it. We had our own table so we were there for a while and got to talk to a bunch of ppl including the ppl who had their tables set up near ours. When he found out I have a job picking strawberries, this one older guy named Luther was telling me how when he was a kid, they would pick strawberries from 6-6 every weekday and got paid a dollar each day! Then they would give all but 25 cents (which was their allowance) to their parents. I was like wow! It makes me grateful I get paid as much as I do! Anyway PVYBC (summer camp) starts on Sunday! I am so excited and I'm going shopping this afternoon for stuff to wear and other things I need to take there. I can't decide whether or not to get a haircut though. I probably should since I haven't had one since October (gasp) since I've been trying to grow my hair out but on the other hand I have neeee idea how I would want it cut other than a trim. Talk to u guys later...

What I look like with wavyish hair/pelo rizado

You guys like pictures, don't you? Here is what my hair looked like after Alyssa graciously French-braided it and I waited to take it out til it dried.

Red strawberries and Purple Asparagus

Well, this morning, starting at about 8:30, I began my summer job picking mostly strawberries. I got a little surprise when they asked me to help cut asparagus. Yeah what an event! ha ha
Some of the asparagus was actually purple. I'd never seen purple asparagus before but it's the same color on the inside as the green asparagus - green. My two favorite colors combined in one cute vegetable! It was fun slicing through the stalks. I had to use a knife and I didn't cut any of my fingers off! Aren't you proud of me? :D I did cut pretty close once, I accidentally trimmed my little fingernail. But anyway. Because I spent about an hour at the asparagus and the strawberries were a little sparse, I nly picked a paltry 17 quarts of strawberries... my first day last year I picked like 39! Oh well. At least I'm not sore at all from all thebending down. Last year my first couple days I wasso sore from all the stretching that I could barely walk!! But I guess it's because I'm used to it since I stretch a lot and and stuff for karate and soccer.
But the big bummer about all this is... I can't even go back tomorrow to be with my sister on her first day of work there because I'm not done with school yet and I have to keep working at it until Friday. How sad :'( I'm allllll finished with my English, History, and PE classes, but I still have a lot of work left to do on Geometry, Chemistry, Spanish, Art, and a PSSA review course. And I have finals in three of those due on the 4th. On the bright side, if I get all done with Geometry by tomorow evening, I can go to a pizza party! So I'd better get working. good-bye!

Photos

Lately I've been spending time and uploading photos on facebook and I had almost forgotten that I had a blog... so I think it's my blog's turn for some attention now! Well, the photos I'm putting up are from almost 3 weeks ago... My family and I, of course, were in the area so we went to a place called Centralia... it was supposed to be a ghost town but that aspect of it wasn't impressive because all the houses that had been abandoned had been torn down long ago and some people stayed in their houses so it didn't really seem like a ghost town... but the reason why those people who left, left, is a little fire that began in 1962- and is still burning... underground. u c, it was a coalmining town, but somehow the coal mine accidentally got set on fire... anyways, with plenty of fuel to keep it going, the fire is still burning, and in some places, such as a section of the highway in the area, the ground caved and smoked and stuff. It was really neat and eerie especially since it was pretty overcast when we went to see it.

^you can see why the road had to be closed^

Here Alyssa seems to be quite enthusiastic about the smoke she has found venting from the earth.

*cough, cough*

We were wondering why this house had five chimneys?

Wind power!

The crack in the highway...

My strong sister

I caught my brother trying to sneak into the graveyard! He looks very guilty doesn't he?

^Little old me

Well that's all for now... I'm all done in.

Laterz

Today's happenings and hair

I wish I could go to the library @ least once a week.
But such is not the case.

My karate class was canceled today. Which to be honest, I am a little glad about because I had some things I wanted to do today.
Alyssa and I, our soccer team won yesterday, 4-2.

I played with my oldest bunny rabbit, Missy Daisy, in the yard today. Usually I just set her in the outdoor playpen and leave her there, but today I actually set her down and let her romp around... at first she was rather surprised, but then she went exploring... you have no idea how cute it was!
I am thinking about getting my hair cut into a bob and getting bangs again. I had that haircut til I was 8 or 9 I guess.
I watched a really good movie today called Homecoming. It was made in 1996, when I was two years old. It's based on a book, which is entitled, naturally, Homecoming, and it's by Cynthia Voigt. It's the first of a series of books called the Tillerman series I think... I didn't actually read Homecoming; I read Dicey's Song, which is the next book in the series. Anyway, I love the movie and that book. So that is partly why I wanted to go to the library... to get more books from that series. The actors in the movie are all really great, and I love 'specially how Dicey looked... and she happened to have that haircut I was thinking of getting... maybe that even influenced me to want to get it again... I mean, I wanted to get that haircut again before I watched the movie, but I guess that made me want to get it even more. :) I just don't know when... I was also trying to see if I could get my hair to be like 2-2 1/2 feet long... and I am sort of close. I feel like measuring my hair... brb

okay Alyssa couldn't really decide but it is about 20 inches. If I cut it, I am definitely giving it to Locks of Love to be made into a wig for chemo patients. I like to think that if I did, another girl somewhere would have the exact same hair-do, down to the same hair, as me. Do you think I should cut my hair right away, wait til summer is over, or not cut it at all?

Here's a pic of me last Fall... my hair has grown like 4-5 inches since then. In Spanish, is hair pelo or cabello? or both? Because then horse hair would be caballo cebello...

Tengo hambre... quiero comer pizza... laterz

Dumb Questions on Homeschooling, LOL

I did not write this... I found this posted by someone who in turn found it from someone else on the World Wide Web. So I thought I'd share it w/ you... go ahead and read it if you'd like a laugh! Have you ever noticed that even the most intelligent seeming humans are capable of asking extremely stupid questions about homeschooling? Although I'm always too polite to retaliate, the following answers always run through my mind when I hear the following:

Do you parents make you homeschool?
1. Yes, they chain me up in a deep, dank basement and force me to learn independently.
2. Yes, they do. In my heart of hearts I really *want* to spend 6 hours a day in a stuffy classroom filled with stupid people, listening to a rude and irrational teacher rant incessantly.
3. No, I make them homeschool me.

Do you have any friends?
1. Friends? We don't need no stinkin friends!
2. Yes, let me introduce you to my friend Harvey. Say hello Harvey.
3. No, I'm a misanthrope sociopath who would rather die a thousand deaths than be socialized normally.

How do you meet people?
1. I have found that painting myself blue and running through the streets screaming is a very effective way to meet people.
2. I go to a playgroup!
3. Actively seeking out human companionship is illogical.

Do you get graded?
1. I grade myself. I am very proud of myself for maintaining my 4.0 GPA.
2. Grades are determined each semester by a coin toss.
3. Grades? What are those?

How do you know what to do without a teacher telling you?
1. I am omniscient.
2. I visit the library and pick books at random. Those books then become my curriculum for that semester. Last semester, I studies alternative physics, macrame, tomato growing, and the plot flaws in the Star Trek the Next Generation episodes.
3. The little green aliens who live under my desk tell me what to do.

How do you remember to work without a teacher nagging you?
1. I'm a very bossy person, and therefore I get on my nerves all the time by nagging myself to do homework.
2. Why would I need to be nagged? I love doing algebra homework!
3. I bribe myself. Whenever I finish a homework assignment, I give myself a dollar or a candybar.

Is homeschooling legal?
1. No. In fact, you could even be arrested for aiding and abetting a criminal just by talking to them!
2. Yes. The Government wants as many of us smart-aleck, self-motivated brats out of their high schools as soon as possible.
3. No. We live in a dictatorial police state where being different is punishable by death.

Do you like homeschooling?
1. No, I hate it. I'd rather have a root canal every day.
2. Dude, I love homeschooling. In fact, I love everything! Peace and Love, man.
3. Not particularly. I tolerate homeschooling because the alternative is so horrendous.

Are you going to homeschool your children?
1. With any luck, my offspring will be born on an asteroid colony, where homeschooling is the only viable means of an education.
2. What kids?
3. Certainly! In fact, my children will undergo an accelerated education, so that they will be ready for college by the age of 10.

You must be pretty smart to homeschool huh?
1. Actually, my intelligence level is below normal. I have simply acquired an immense vocabulary through memorization, which often fools humans into believing that I am more intelligent than I actually am.
2. I am a super genius, and my superior intellect allows me to take full advantage of non traditional methods of education.
3. Duh, what? Huh?

Little known facts about me that you may have never known before!

Well, since I spent almost an HOUR doing this, I thought I might as well put it all on here for you to survey...
After only answering questions for the past hour however, I am having difficulty thinking up things of my own to say... so anyway, read this and maybe you'll find out some little known fact about me that you never knew before!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The longest survey you'll ever fill out! Do the world a favor: fill it out and post it for all your friends. Do this because the person who sent it to you didn't sit here for ages for nothing. Answer all the questions honestly, no lying to avoid stuff.

Starting Time: 6:39
Full name: Maranda Leigh Powell
Sisters: 2
Brothers: 1
Eye Color: blue
Shoe size: 9-10
Height: approx. 5'6"
What are you wearing right now: Loose light blue jeans a few 'destroyed' patches that I borrowed from my sister cuz she can only fit them after a certain amount of serious exercising... and a Bright Blue BMA shirt that I got in a gift bag drawing at PA campmeeting.
Where do you live: Pennsylvania, the Keystone State
Favorite Number: 13 & 54 (they also happen to be my lucky numbers, lol)
Favorite Drink: Cold A-Treat Cream Soda and Polar Punch (I haven't had that in a while... it was a smoothie recipe we created composed of orange juice, frozen bananas, and pineapple)
Favorite month or month of your birthday: January
Favorite Breakfast: Pancakes

*******Have You Ever*****************Broken a bone: Yeah, when I was 3... I may have told you the story b4... kind of funny story, I was playing 'Zaccheus' on the couch with Alyssa. I was Zaccheus. I climbed to the very top of the couch and Alyssa would say, "Zaccheus, please come down!"... well, I came down, but not the way she expected! I fell and at the splat at the end, I slightly fractured my arm... it's one of my oldest and vividest childhood memories... come to think of it, most of my childhood memories are of injuries... kind of odd.
Been in a police car: naw
Been on a plane: Yeah
Ever came close to dying: I don't think so!
Been in a hot tub: yeah, several X @ hotels.
Swam in the ocean: Yep, but only a few times, in the Atlantic. When we lived by the Pacific, I was too young to go in the water. I've swam in Lake Erie more.
Fallen asleep in school: Yeah definitely... it's easy to do if you're a homeschooler
Broken someone's heart: you tell me...
Fell off your chair: maybe
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call: No
Saved e-mails: I pretty much save every email I get.
Been cheated on: nope, never gave anyone the chance.
*********What is-****************Your room like (color scheme?): It has alternating lime green and bright blue walls, with ceilings left white.
What is the last thing you ate: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Your favorite color and thing to do: my favorite colorz r green, purple, and orange. I guess my favorite things to do are reading, watching movies, and generally talking/socializing/doing things with other people.
------------Ever Had- -------------------------------
Chicken pox: yeah, unfortunately, I had it last fall. I think it was the worst week of my entire LIFE! I got hit pretty hard since I was kind of old to be having it. I have a couple teeny scars, but not cuz I scratched them... okay but I won't gross u out anymore...
Sore throat: ¡Claro que sí! Of course!
Stitches: Nada

Broken nose: Nopety nopety no
Someone who absolutely drove you up the wall or you couldn't get along with: Well some ppl annoy me only sometimes, but yeah I admit there are a few ppl I guess I don't like much!
Car sickness: Yeah... I mostly get it on really windy roads, in hot weather, or from trying to read in the car.
-----Do You------------------------------------

Believe in love at first sight for anything: No... that's one reason why I turned down the first guy who liked me... I guess he doesn't believe in it anymore either now...

Love picnics: Yeah
Like school: Well, I don't hate it... I guess I like it as much as anyone could like school.

Love your sibling/s and parents: Yes I love them all immensely!
Like to make new friends or meet new people: Yes

--------------Last Questions-----------Who was the last person you danced with? My little siblings, lol
Who/what makes you smile: Things that make me smile generally will make me laugh too...Being happy makes me smile... duh... um cute animals, funny forwards, books, and movies (I'll just be sitting quietly readin and I seemingly randomly burst out in laughter, yeah I luv funny parts of books), as far as people, anyone can make me smile if they say the right things!
--------------------------Who---------------------------------------------Did you last yell at last? My little siblings probably. A lot of times I have to yell just to be heard, you know, to make my voice carry.
Do you like filling these out: Kinda Sorta... I mean, I wouldn't want all my friends to be in the dark on all this highly important information on me!
Do you wear contact lenses or glasses: Contact lenses
Do you like yourself? Yeah, why wouldn't I?
---------------------Final Questions---------------------------What are you listening to right now: The birds singing through the window, a door slamming, people walking around downstairs.
What did you do today? School, reading, did a lot of updating on shelfari, talked on the phone, correspondence.
What car do you wish to have? Well, I really like those cute pontiac sportscars... but of course I'll probably just end up getting an affordable car that won't cost too much to replace when I crash it XD
Good singer: Taylor Swift pops into my mind
You the oldest: Nope, second oldest.
Indoors or outdoors: Well there are times that I'm in the mood to be outdoors, and times when I''m in the mood to be indoors.

------------------------Today did you------------------------------1. Talk to someone: my family members, Korah
2. Get sick: No3. Sing: probably, I sing a lot
4.Trip over something: If I did, my mind has blocked the memory of it for the benefit of my pschyological health.
5. Miss someone: yeah... :(--------------------Last person who---------------------------

7. Was in your bed: me myself
8. You talked to on the phone: Korah
9. You texted: I don't have a cell phone; thus, no texting
10. Went to the movies with last: I haven't been to an actual theater since I was like 5 (besides I-max 3-D theaters) but the last person I watched a movie with would be people my family
11. You went to the mall with: My mom and sister I guess

-------------------Have You Ever---------------18. Been to Mexico: No
19. Been to Canada: No

20. Been to Africa: No
21. Had somebody laugh just when you started walking towards them: I can't rightly recall such an incident, no.
------------------------Random-----------------------22 What books are you reading this summer? Wha!??? I have to wait for the summer to read?! aaaaaaahhhh I have been like totally reading hundreds of books lately (okay, that was a little hyperbolic... hehe I learned that word in Literature class, it's nice to know especially if you are always forgetting how to spell exaggeration, is it two x's or two g's?)... ANYWHOOO I have a virtual shelf of all the books I've read lately or some not-so-lately and of books I plan to get ahold of and read and of books I am currently reading... I think I'll be able to get a widget for it up soon on my blog, maybe. Anyway, I've been reading about the Holocaust in my Literature and History classes so I read a few required and supplementary books on that "event". Including NIGHT by Elie Wiesel, The Diary of Anne Frank (the definitive edition), Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, and Fire in the Hills by Donna Jo Napoli.
23. Are there monster's under your bed?? I used to believe wholeheartedly that there were. I conjured mental images of the ear monster, nose monster, toe monster, etc. I even got Alyssa to believe in them. I don't believe in the anymore, but sometimes I still make sure all my appendages are safe under the covers where NoThInG can get to them...
27. Favorite sport to watch or play? Volleyball, I guess. Soccer too.
30. Favorite location: My own home sweet home, the library, book stores, the beach
32. Who do you really hate: Satan
35. Ever tried to tell somebody something and they didn't understand: Yeah but usually if I don't think someone will understand something, I don't even bring it up.
36. Are you lonely right now? No... I have company. Mine annoying little brother makest his annoying young presence known at mine side at this time.
37. Ending time: 7:33 (Hey, I like 2 b thorough)

What's up?

^ when people ask me that, sometimes I can't really think of a good answer because I feel like my life, or at least a list of whatever I've been doing lately certainly isn't intriguing, or even interesting.
It's not like I'm going on a mission trip
or solved a mystery
or even got my drivers permit (which would be illegal for about another 6 months).
But if you're here that means that you're curious anyway...
And are expecting me to have put something on here.
So, just for you, I will tell what I have been up to...
After church on Sabbath my sister and my mom and I did a music program at a local nursing home, the Phoebe Home. We do it once a month, and it basically involves us singing/ playing our various instruments for an hour straight until we have lulled numerous old folks to sleep.
On Friday our mom had a friend of hers from church over and she brought her 3 little boys (all under the age of 6) with her. They were very cute and the two older boys didn't want apple pie.
In the past week we had a record temperature change (from about 40 degrees to 90) which has put me into flip-flops and summer clothes! It was so sweltering yesterday that all us kids went down to the creek and had a dip in our own spring-fed, frog-and-fish-and-stick infested pool. At which the neighbor lady, leaving for work, pulled up and asked us if we weren't too cold in there.
I've also spent a considerable amount of time soaking up sunshine on our hammock. Which my dad, in honor of the infamous fake meat, has dubbed the Wham-mock. :) I also read the book Johnny Tremain while swinging on it. That's a very good book by the way; if you haven't read it, you should read it. One of my favorite parts is when Paul Revere's daughter sticks out her tongue at Johnny and later apologizes and he says something like, "oh, that's all right, I liked to see it; it was so long and red! At first I thought you were a hound dog all dressed up!" It was also made into a movie like 40 or 50 years ago, which I would like to see sometime.
I watched some great movies too which I hadn't watched before. Namely: City of Ember, Bridge to Terebithia, National Treasure, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (aka NT2), Tuck Everlasting, and I didn't quite get to finish watching Holes. Yeah I know that's a LOT of movies to watch in just a week's time but I don't have much stuff on my agenda so I have to have something to do...

My Goldfish

I thought I'd post some pictures of my goldfish on my blog. For a while I had left my aquarium empty because my fish had been dying. But Orinoco and Cleo have been doing spendidly...

I had a hard time getting them to stop swimming a moment for the camera (in most of the pictures I got but deleted, they look like little orange blurs)... Goldfish, even feeder fish are so cute that it makes me sad that most of them end up dead by getting shaken to death in their bags by little kids on the way home, or worst of all DEVOURED.

Above is Orinoco... I got that from a song called Orinoco Flow and so I was thinking about calling my other fishie Flo but I decided to call her Cleo after the cute goldfish on Pinnochio, LOL.

^That's Cleo

The two of them, swimming together happily.

hungry anyone?

I thought this was appropriate since it's about what tomorrow is...

ATHEIST HOLY DAY - ( A MUST READ ) FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY!
In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter andPassover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discriminationcase against Christians, Jews and observances of their holy days. Theargument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognizeddays. The case was brought before a judge.After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, thejudge banged his gavel declaring,"Case dismissed!"The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Yourhonor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians haveChristmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur andHanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Yourclient, counsel, is woefully ignorant."The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observanceor holiday for atheists."The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God. Thus, it isthe opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God,then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day.
Court is adjourned.

Whataweek

I think this past week has been the most stressful week of my life! I still don't feel myself... I had deadlines to meet for school, and I hadn't completed a lot of my work. So there I was, working as hard as I could on my school, in front of my computer about 16/7... fortunately I got extensions of a few days for my geometry, chemistry, and art class, or yeah I woulda flunked. But I completed everything due...well everything except for a formal essay on whether I think it was right for the conspirators to kill Caesar... geez... and stayed up all last night doing that. When I finally got to bed it was 5:00 am. And when I woke up it was 11:00 and my sister was stuffing a very large spoon full of mashed potatoes she made in my mouth. At first I was concerned because the concoction was, well, green, but it turned out it was just from all the herbs used to season it. Anyway, it was actually pretty good but I am hungry again. There were a bunch of wild turkeys outsidein our yard this morning, it makes me sad that most of them will probably be shot. I need to chill, relax, maybe play some Zoo Tycoon. I think I'll get a hippo and an alligator. I love that picture! whoever drew it, thanks!oh the picture's by Bill Peet. Neat.I found it on http://www.everypicture.com/index.php?sc=1I think I'll put that site in my link... I'm taking an illustration class in school so yeah I like good art, and especially funny art, like Calvin and Hobbes and this picture of two mice I saw once, the one was holding a mirror up for the other mouse, who had hardly any fur left... and there was a pair of scissors next to them. It was just so funny! faugh I think I'm getting a little goofy from lack of sleep........... until I post again...

~little ME~

How Smart Is Your Right Foot?

TRY THIS NOW! This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And you will keep trying it at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot.But you can't!!!
1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction!!! I told you so... And there is nothing you can do about it.Make sure you pass this on to your friends... They won't be able to believe it either!!!

Hundreds attend global warming protest! :@

I got this this winter and it made me laugh; I hope it made you too!

Eastern Red-Backed Salamanders

The other day we we about to fill in this hole in our yard. But under some wet leaves in the hole I found two eastern red-backed salamanders. They're very common in Pennsylvania. So this isn't the first time we've found them. An interesting thing about them is that they don't have lungs so they "breathe" through their skin, and they need to keep their skin moist in order to breathe (like worms).

That one on the left is wriggling away. They like to wiggle on their sides like those sidewinder snakes to try to escape from predators. So the first time I saw one do that it was kinda startling.

The bigger one trying to escape ^ v

One of my favorite memories is a time several years ago, I was playing around in some woods with these boys we knew, and we found like twenty salamanders and put them in this cup. Then we took them inside their house and showed them to their mom. She was so scared she shrieked and jumped a mile high and asked us in a very shaky voice to please take those THINGS outside right away!!!

My views on littering

Here's a little persuasive speech I wrote on littering (rather, why not to litter, not like how to litter lol) for my *ahem* Literature and Composition class. I have never been good at persuasive speeches, so please bear with my feeble attempt. :/

Don't be a LITTERBUG!!!
By Yours Truly

Everyone, I have something that should be brought to your attention!
I’m sure something like this has happened to you – you’re walking along when suddenly you find that your foot is stuck to the sidewalk. You spend a few moments prying yourself free and find a glob of warm, pink, gooey gum on the bottom of your shoe. Or maybe you’re taking a walk along a country road, trying to enjoy the scenery, but it’s impossible not to notice all the loose bags and aluminum cans scattered along the side of the road. Many roads probably have enough aluminum cans alongside of them to build a small airplane! I don’t know about you, but all the ugly litter lying around really gets me down in the dumps!
The fact that it’s illegal should be enough to keep us from littering. But there are even more consequences to littering that you might not even consider. A still-smoking cigarette butt could cause a fire, a sharp object on the road could bust some poor person’s tire, and chemicals dumped in the woods could find their way into a water supply and make people sick. Animals could get caught on or choke on a bright looking bag, balloon, or candy wrapper some human has set free. It’s not that hard to keep our world clean. Instead of tossing that empty soda can or used tissue out your window, just keep it in your car for a little while until you can get to the nearest trash receptacle.
You might think, “Oh, it’s just one little piece of trash; it won’t matter.” But if everyone litters, all that trash will pile up and just look plain gross! Even things that will decompose, like food scraps, can be hazardous, e.g. slipping on banana peels, or by enticing animals to wander out close to the road to eat some food someone has tossed, thus causing accidents. You might say this is far-fetched, but you’ll be sorry if something like that happens to you!
Don’t people know that there is a reason for a littering fine in this country? I bet if everyone who littered were actually fined, there would be enough money to pay off the national debt! But I hope you have figured out by now that even if you don’t get fined for it, littering doesn’t pay!

The Urge to Create

By Michael Card


How many are your works, O Lord!In wisdom you made them all; The earth is full of your creatures.
PSALM 104:24 NRSV
From the old lady who fills a page with doodling as she talks on the phone, to the man who welds together dinosaurs in the middle of the desert out of wrecked car parts, all around us are examples of this mysterious, powerful urge to create, to be creative, to live out or somehow respond to the beauty of our creative Father.
Perhaps you can look around your own home and see peculiar pots or pictures you’ve created because there seemed to be no other choice but to create them. People who cannot sing or play a note fill notebooks with songs. Others labor for decades over novels without the remotest hope of ever seeing them published.
We are driven to create at this deep wordless level of the soul because we are all fashioned in the image of a God who is an Artist.
How do you react to the idea that God is an Artist? What can you say about the art he has created?

Yesterday I...

played in the snow for the first time this winter. We don't have a hill, so I built a big mound of snow for the kids (and me, hehe) to sled off. Sledding isn't good enough for my brother however. Of course he had to SURF, standing up on his sled. Because dude it's so cool, you know. hahahaha
Today I'm going to town today to get a birthday present for Alyssa.
I put some stuff on my art blog if you wanna look. I've actually been doing more art than music lately. I'm rather surprised at myself.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!!!
I'm going to go make a snowman.
But before that I guess I'll help Alyssa with her geomtry homework AGAIN. Cuz her birthday's coming up and all,
so bye

Midterms

well I'm halfway done with 10th grade now... yesterday was the end of my second marking period. I'm pretty sure I got at least a B or B- in every subject... Yeah I would have gotten more but I'm such a procrastinator... I ended up finishing over a month's worth of each subject in less than a week. LOL
To keep me from getting distracted from doing school my sister hid my keyboard (or tried to, I found it anyway). It was the first time in at least a month or two that I went a day without playing piano... I was soooo happy to get it back last night that I laughed. I'm addicted to it, I tell u!!!
The baby rabbits are about 6 weeks old now I think... they are so sweet and getting bigger all the time! Tiddlywinks is chinchilla, just the same as her mom and Hopscotch is still black and white, no change there.
My birthday was great, I got at least 8 birthday cards... not exactly all on my birthday, but I actually like getting late birthday cards because it makes it feel like your birthday isn't quite over. :D
I RRRREEEEEEAAAALLLLYYY wanna get the Narnia movie soundtracks... BIG FAN

My Birthday

Today was my birthday. My sister made me a chocolate cake.