Evening

Ok, I promise this is the last photo for tonight.

Sarah Makes Dinner Rolls

More Ornaments

A Spherical Reflection

Two Turtle Doves

A post for the sake of posting

Here's your blog post my Dear Overly Fun H- Person. :)

My dress that I will wear when we go to Washington DC in January is basically finished; I only need to finish sewing the bodice lining onto the gown. It turned out better than I expected, especially since this was the first time I have worked with any fabric other than cotton. Anyways, that is about the only new thing around here.

Perhaps I'll have something more interesting to say after we go ice skating on the pond this afternoon......

Please?

Oh, please?
Please let the ice melt overnight so we can get down to church tomorrow. The roads are still pretty awful, and whatever snow melted today will now freeze all over the road and then we won't be able to get down to South Bend. Missing a whole two Divine Services would be awful. :(

I forgot my library book was due today. Oh yay. Hopefully it won't matter so much if Dad can drop it off on his way to work in the morning. I still need to check out Snow Goose, but I guess I'll just have to do that some other time. Perhaps I can do that when Mom and I go to get my books for the college classes.

Sarah will be leaving in only about a week. :( Then we won't see her till maybe after Easter. That will be a long time. :( Her cell phone (Verizon) doesn't work in Canada, so now I get to keep her cell phone so that I will be able to call Mom if I need help at college. Also I can take it when I go biking, since Mom and Dad finally agreed to let me bike by myself now that Sarah is gone.

There are lots of owls outside this week. Last night there was one really close to our house. It is fun to take a walk in the dark and then get scared by silly owls or coyotes. As long as someone is with me, it isn't that scary, but for some odd reason, even though they aren't dangerous, I still can't get myself to go in the woods on my own when it is dark. Perhaps if I had a strong tall body guard with a long sword I would venture out after dark. :P

Matt is pretty happy with the stack of WWII documentary videos that he got for Christmas. They are interesting, but so very sad and... and..... just awful. It isn't some made up stage dramatization, this is actual footage; real men being killed; real ships sinking; real planes falling into the ocean; real sweethearts grieving. I almost can't watch it without getting sick. Oh Father, how could men do such horrible things to their fellow creatures?

Pie Day

Sarah and I worked in the kitchen all day. It is amazing how many dishes get generated when we are cooking. Sarah made apple turnovers, apple pie, and dinner rolls. I made pecan pie, pumpkin pie, custard pie (my first atempt), and cherry pie. I, um, burnt Sarah's dinner rolls. She really aught not have trusted me to keep track of the time they were suposed to bake. : ( Poor Sarah.

Snow Fort Photo

Now that I got the photos finally downloaded, I can show you how high we got our snow fort last week. Sadly, it completely melted the day after we fixed it.

Please, Come Back Time

Time has utterly gotten away. I was hoping that life would slow down during Advent, especially since school has ended, but instead life has gotten even more chaotic. I can't believe it is almost Christmas. I would like to stop and catch my breath for a moment, but in only about twelve days Sarah will be leaving, unless Augustine College calls and says it won't work. I will be starting my college classes the day after Sarah would start at Augustine. I don't even know what books I need, and Mom and Dad might not even be there when I start and I might have to try to get a ride with one of Sarah's friends that is attending there. It is so scary not to know for sure what is going to be happening in the next two weeks. Dad and Mom have been so busy that they haven't put things on the calendar so I have absolutely no clue what is happening even tomorrow. Maybe after Sarah finally knows for sure what college she will attending this semester, life will once again establish a routine. Uncertainty always makes me panic, but I shall just have to deal with it, cause I will never have everything completely sure all the time.

Also, now that the winter solstice is over, it should start staying lighter later. I don't remember being so depressed by the early darkness in past winters, but I really can't wait until the sun sets at eight o'clock instead of at five.

Yes, I do know that my paragraphs are not well constructed, but oh well.

HaPPy :D

Spanish is all done!!! :D Yay. Only took me 15 or so hours........

Anyways....

We are going to Washington DC....
two days after the presidential inauguration!!!!

There are almost 4 MILLON people expected in Washington DC!!! Yay!

:D So awesome! :D


oh, and I have decided that I want to be a hermit when I grow up. Since it would be kind of lonely to be a hermit by myself, I'll form a hermit community.

I think maybe I aught to go to sleep....

:D :D :D :D :D

Untitled Post

Tufted Titmouse

Fence

Last

Today was my last day of our original homeschool co-op. I think I learned as much as I possibly could; indeed, I have been greatly blessed by the wonderful teachers that have been there. As good as it is, there aren't any more classes left for me to take. I will be greatly looking forward to once again taking really hard (not hard as in lots of homework, but mentally challenging) classes.

The Rainy Day

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is dark and cold and dreary;

It rains and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the moldering wall,

But a every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold and dark and dreary;

It rains and the wind is never weary;

My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,

While hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! And cease repining;

Be hind the clouds the sun is still shining;

Your fate is the common Fate of all,

Into every life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

Christmas Wish

On the way to church last night, Tinny and Oly rode with us from School. About half-way there, Tinny leaned over his car seat and said softly, “Are you think what I’m thinking?” He smiled a knowing look.

Some what perplexed, I asked, “What are you thinking?”

He leaned even closer and whispered, completely assured, “I think I’m going to get a million dollars for Christmas!!!”

Done!!

Yay!! It is done!! I Finished my career paper!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D:
Attempt #4 decided that it would finally work. I guess that is better than writing five papers......
Well anyways, it is done. I'm not exactly proud of it, but at least I'm not ashamed of it like I was of the other three papers. It isn't really the career I would choose, but if you had asked me ten years ago I would have said it was. It was the only career that came close to working, and that I could write about with basically no heart, and that made it alot easier. In some places it sounds a little too dramatic.... It also has some very random stuff that I don't think I'll ever do...... maybe, but it is very unlikely.

It will be so awesome to fall asleep without panicing about the paper.

Frustration

How many meals can a person burn in a day? How many times does the floor have to be mopped in an afternoon? How far does tomato sauce splatter when it falls off the counter? How much flour can one get on their clothes? How long should it take to write a career paper? Why is it so uncomfortable to cry with a sore throat? How many times can a person change their mind? Why can't a house ever stay clean? Why can't the roads be better so Mom and Dad can get home quicker? How can one person be allergic to so much? Why is it so hard to be nice to your siblings? How many subjects are there to argue about in a day? Why does walking throught the snow and then going back in the house and getting warm make a person so sleepy?

Personality Type

Our Financial Peace teacher suggested that to help us with our career paper we take a personality test and see what careers are recommended for that type. According to it, I am a ISFJ. Almost all of the various descriptions of a ISFJ personality report that they "tend to be attracted to troublemakers." Oh dear.

Silly Alarm Clocks

Nana's alarm clock does NOT work. It wakes me up, in the next room, with its annoying beeping, but she sleeps through it!!!!! I'm not sure that there is really anything, besides shaking her that makes her wake up. I could probably go outside her room and scream and she would never hear it. Since she sleeps so soundly, I have to get up and go in her room to turn her alarm clock off and then once I turn it off, she wakes up and sleepily asks me what I am doing in her room. :P And I can't go back to sleep after that, cause I'll I can think of is that I HAVE to get the career paper done. So I lie awake writing the paper in my head and editing it, and then by the time I am working on the second paragraph I finanlly decide that I might as well just get up and actually write it on paper. As soon as I have gotten up and get out the paper to write it down, I can't remember what I was going to say. : ( Bother.

Ice

Snow

things

We have more snow! Yay! Now we can finish our snow fort.

and

We have our christmas tree up! It is kind of misshapen, but looks better than many of our past trees. We got it late last night and had to haul it back in the dark from the back of our woods.

and

I finished Nana's christmas gift last night. I'm glad to have that out of the way, though it always seems like Nana's gift is always the first one I finish.

and

IT IS DECEMBER! Only four more weeks till christmas.

and

Only two weeks till my career paper is due.
Yikes, I had better go work on it......

Seven Random(ish) Things

I was tagged by Maggie, so here it goes.

1. I have natuaraly grown basically every hair color that there is except white.

2. I have never changed a diaper in my entire life.

3. When I was little I would get out of bed after Mom and Dad had tucked me in and wander around the house to pick up my siblings stuffed animals. I was sure that the animals would be lonely if they spent the night on the floor so I put all of them in my bed and made sure that they were completely tucked in under the covers.

4. I fell into one of our ponds on Wednesday. :P Mature indeed.

5. The only TV show that I have ever regularly watched was the Creation Network. It aired at 9:00 every Friday night, so Sarah and I would pretend to be asleep so that Nana would go to bed because Mom didn't want Nana staying up to watch it. We loved watching it, though we usually fell asleep when Dr. McInstosh was talking in the second half of the program. I guess we were kind of weird kids.

6. The heat register in my room makes weird noises and keeps me awake at night.

7. The first time I checked out a book from the library and returned it without reading it was last month.

And since I don't think that there is really anyone who reads my blog who hasn't been tagged yet.......
Oh wait.
I tag Pasto' Grobein so maybe he will post on his blog.... but if you don't want to Pasto', feel free to ignore the tag. : )

Again....

I cut another finger on my left hand. Fun. A least it is the first time I've cut this certain finger.

Glass in the sunlight

We were cleaning in preparation for thanksgiving and had both sides of the glass cupboard open so the sun was shining nicely through the glasses making them sparkle. Mom thought it was a little weird of me to take photos of the glasses. : )

Sunset

Since I can't download any of this winters photos from the camera, I'll just have to live with posting ones that were taken before the snow.

Snow Fort

We built the awesomest snow fort today. Almost all the snow in the front yard is completely gone, and we barely had enough to get the fort somewhat finished. Instead of having a square fort, we made it in a circle so that it will be harder for the attackers to climb up over it and we somewhat smoothed the outside. It looks somewhat like a keep. Matt was sad that we couldn't put battlements on it. It is really tall. Well, tall for us. We couldn't get it any higher than almost five feet 'cause it would be hard to lift the snow above our heads.

I hope it stays for a while. 'Twould be quite sad if it all melted before we got to use it. :( If it lasts, we can add onto it. It still needs to be taller and the doorway needs to be extended and an arch needs to be placed over the entrance. There are only two fire steps inside, so we will need to put in a couple more. We could also put an extention on it and make it a two room fort. Any improvements will have to wait 'till we get more snow, though.

The outside of the fort isn't perfectly smooth like I would like, but my dear helpers decided that it was time to quit. They did do a good job, dispite quiting at the end. I guess I kind of wore them out. : ) Maybe they will go to sleep earlier tonight.

No co-op tommorrow : ( Sorrow.

Oh, and only a month 'till Christmas. Yikes.

If the depression ever got so bad that we couldn't drive our car....

Acording to the map, it would take us only seven hours and twenty three minutes to walk to Emmaus. Hmmm. Perhaps we should try that someday and see if it is really true. If we wanted to get to church by 9:00, we would have to start walking around 1:30 in the morning. That would be fun. Then if we left church at noon, we wouldn't get home till seven, just in time to have dinnner and fall asleep from exhaustion.

Biking might take less time.

its here!

I got the letter from the community college. I am now officially signed up for next semester classes!
I'll be taking
Art 100 (Intro to Digital Art and Design)
Psychology 101 (General Psychology)
and
Math 105 (Intermediate Algebra)

I think of all the classes, I'm looking forward to the Math class. I'm not extremely excited 'bout Art 100, just 'cause it doesn't seem as interesting as the Photography class that the college offers. Unfortunately, the photography class doesn't work with my schedule, but Art 100 is recommended for it anyways. I think that the classes add up to about 10 credit hours. Not too bad, I guess.

It will kind of be odd to be on my own(ish), especially without a Sarah to shadow. I might ::gasp:: have to actually speak with someone new. Yikes. : ( Mom will be dropping me off early in the morning, and not picking me up 'till really late in the afternoon, since I can't drive yet. : ( Oh well. Mom hopes to start drivers ed in March or so, but I'm not exactly counting on that.

And since I feel like it I'll add this, though it doesn't really have to do with anything and I'm not really serious 'bout it.

Droplets

I feel pretty happy 'bout this photo. :D

Not all of the photos I took today look very good, but I this one makes up for all of those. I can't beleive how nice it turned out! :D

I had better go finish up school work, now that I have gotten this done. : (

We've got SNOW!!!

A whole two inches or so! Yay!
It is so beautiful. : D

Of Summer Now Passed

Last night, we all stayed overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Us kids and grandpa watched "Where the Red Fern Grows". By the end of the movie, all of us, excecpt Matthew, were crying, including Grandpa. Over all, I think it was a fairly good movie, though the theology wasn't exactly straight. Then after the movie, Grandpa told us stories about when he was a boy, the army and working for Grandma's dad. Though most of the stories have been told to us before, I could never get tired of hearing them.

We talked until Grandma came and told us it was time to go to bed. I had forgotten how restlessly Nana sleeps.
Kick. Pull the covers. Flop. Kick some more. Pull the sheet off the end of the bed. Flop. Kick. Flop. Knock the pillows off the bed. Needless to say, I didn't get very much sleep last night.

I found him!

Gustavus has been missing for almost three months. My heart was deeply greived at his abscence and I was forced to use other knives that hated me. :(

But, oh joy, he is back!!!!

I have my dear Gustavus!

Mom found him when she was cleaning out her adv. biology bag. Hmmm..........

Anyways, he has been found, and I can again return to using my beloved Gustavus.

Remnants of Summer

It is so terribly dreary outside right now.

If only the sun would come out from behind the dull grey clouds.

::sighs::

Only five weeks to complete this

Finacial Peace
Career Paper Guidelines
Due 12/11/08

Begin researching ONE specific career of personal interest with details regarding tasks and job requirements
Oh dear. Um, what does "specific" mean? Does it mean only one area of study? I have absolutly no clue what I am planning on what career I am planning on pursuing. Bother. Once I have an idea on what that is, this paper should be pretty easy. Too bad she said that it had to actually be something I was interested in, cause it might have been easier to make up some random diffucult unlikely career and somehow make it really sound like I was interested in it.

Investigate necessary education with potential locations for training and/or college
Fun. Easy to do if I knew what career I was writing about.

If the feild requires gratuated education, consider acceptance rates from specific undergraduate colleges
Okay. That will be fine, ONCE I know what career. :(

Is there someone from that field who might be avalible for interveiw? Is there a specific college to contact regarding that career?
Uh, NO. I am not interviewing anyone. Ever.

Develop an action plan to achieve this goal. This is not MERELY a finacial plan.

1-3 pages typed in Arial 14 font. Include name, date, and class in heading.
Arial 14? Thats odd. Normally teachers always want it in Times New Roman size 12 font. She didn't say anything about double spaced either. Strange. :-/ Oh well.

2-3 resources cited in bibliography that uses format on pg 67 of co-op guidelines.
Yikes.

Start your research early so that you have time to develope it. Write in 3rd person with high school vocabulary and writing skills. If you have experienced the Institute od for Excellence in Writing course, utilize your sentence openers, dress ups and decorations.
Early? :o I guess that really means "start your research NOW". How exactly am I supposed to write what my career plans are in 3rd person?

Happy Birthday Sarita!

Life still goes on at Happy Sprouts Farm

We've got it

Now we are all sick. :P Today is not going to be fun. Uh oh, I wonder if MOm will feel well enough to get out and vote. :o I guess, it is somewhat good that we are all sick, cause then we should be better (ish) by Friday, but goodness, this sickness is nasty. :(

Pavilion

Vacant

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel;
He has come to his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty Savior,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets

He promised of old that he would save us from our enemies,

From the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

To set us free fro the hands of our enemies,

Free to worship Him without fear,

Holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

You my child will be called the prophet of the most high,

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

To give His people knowledge of salvation by forgiveness of their sins.

IN the tender compassion of our God,

The dawn from oh high shall break upon us

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death

And to guide our feet unto the way of peace.

Song of Zachariah

A whole five books!

Our library is awesome cause there is no limit to how many book you can check out. :D I could probably take the whole library if I wanted to. I didn't do that today, but I did check out five books. I think I probably scared the poor librarian cause I was feeling rather giddy about the prospect of FIVE new books. I don't think I have read a new book just for the fun of it since school started. I feel rather starved to read a new, not weird book. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, since we are reading that for liturature, is not weird. I somewhat enjoyed it, well, enjoyed doesn't quite fit; it was very interesting, but it doesn't fit in the new category cause I have already read it. The sequel to it was one of the books that I checked out, but I was deeply disapointed cause it doesn't tell what happens. Instead it tells about Cassie's gradfather, which kind of odd that the sequel takes place before the original story.

When I will end up reading all the books, I'm not sure, but oh well. :D

Today's Walk

Braving the snow and cold, I went for a walk in our woods. Some of the leaves are still green, with not even a hint of yellow or red. It looks odd to see the snow on the bright green grass. The colors in the woods seems to be on the whole, brighter and more cheerful now that cool weather has come. Swarms of mosquito's seems a long off memory.

Halfway through the woods, I happened to look to my side. Only four yards away there was a white tailed deer standing there with wide eyes watching me. It must have been a yearling, for it was smaller than most deer at this time of the year. Its ears perked up and it stood attentively, stiff as a statue, deciding the best course of action. Turning swiftly, it bounded into the underbrush, its white tail bobbing as it ran.

The sky was threatening snow, and unfortunately I did not have a coat, for my sister decided to leave it at our co-op. Though still cold, the snow on the grass was melting; my tennis shoes became drenched with water, making a disturbing squeak as I walked. Occasionally, a pile of snow would fall off of some leaves overhead and tumble to the ground in front of me.

Looking across our neighbors pasture from our hill, I could clearly see the dark clouds swifly fleeing towards the east. The horses quietly grazed, barely heeding my approach. Suddenly, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds from where it had hidden it's face all afternoon. The whole pasture was bathed in a golden hue. Yellow felcked the horse's manes and body. The red of the nearby oak tree stood out. As sundenly as it had come forth, the sun once again removed its self from veiw, and once again, the world was covered with its blanket of grey clouds.

Daddy's Birthday

This is the the first year that I have made Daddy's birthday cake. Usually, Sarah always insists on doing it herself, and it always looks far better than my attemps. Sadly though, Sarah won't be home for Dad's birthday, so I had to make the cake. I'm fairly pleased with it. It doesn't look that grand, but considering that this is the first cake that I have ever frosted without getting hysterical about the frosting not looking perfect, it is a big accomplishment.

Autumn comes to Happy Sprouts Farm

The wind is blowing rather strong here. Not a warm summer breeze; a harsh cold wind that passes through thin jackets. I wouldn't be surprised if we get some type of snow tonight. Already there are heavy dark clouds blowing quickly across the sky. Uh oh. If it rains/snows hard than we won't have internet access. Bother. :( Oh well. Hopefully it won't snow till I can get my coat back.

It is terribly sad that we won't have Emmaus co-op tomorrow. : (

Awesome Scores

Mom took me to the comunity college today to get the basic tests so that I might be able to take some classes this winter. The testing went very well! I passed out of most of the primary classes, so that means I should be able to start taking classes when ever I want! It is so nice to actually feel like I'm actually making progress in school. :D Yay! Maybe someday I might stop jumping up and down.

Rain drops on roses....

One can post photos of guns for only so long.