I think found them TQ!

Here's the lyrics for Fiddler on the roof.
and here's your favorite
I don't remember this one though


thankfully this is the last day in July, so I don't have to try to blog every day this month

It's done....

Oly's crosstitch butterfly is finished, so now she has begun on her horse crosstitch. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We had quite a bit of them left over, cause I forgot that Karen doesn't useually eat breakfast. It turned out that we had made the perfect amount, cause later Oly had two more pancakes, and then we had pancakes for lunch. Only one pancake remained after that, and Oly insited that she would eat as a snack. :)

One would think...

....that with all the cookbooks that Karen has it would be easy to find a recipe. Never would you imagine that it would take two hours and fifteen or so cook books to find the right cookie recipe. (ok, so maybe you could imagine that, but still...)

Rose of Sharon

Fenella Vevina

(Which in Gaelic means "white shouldered sweet lady")

Happy! Yay!

I figured out the password!!!! Now I can get back on my computer!!! Ah, me is so happy!! :D

A very secure computer

My laptop is very secure. No one can get on it, but unfortunately that includes me.
Last night, instead of going to bed like I should have, I tried to change the password on my computer. I did end up changing it, but now the computer won't accept the new password or the old password. Hopefully we will be able to fix it; it would be aweful if we couldn't. I don't want to even think of that possibility. Unfortunately this is the not the first problem I have created by trying new things with electronic devices. With the exception of Dad's camera, I think I have messed up every sort of electronic device that we have in some way or another. :P

new and different things

Over the past couple days I have done several things that I have never done before. I sucessfully cooked chicken in two different ways. I read a murder mystery, well, actualy two. I answered the telephone without saying too many stupid things. And I stayed up watching a show on the food network, which was really weird for me cause we don't even watch television at home.

Ok, so why am I posting this?

This is todays random post. There. Now are you happy? :D

catching up

one more post and I've caught up with TQ....
he he he :)

A new experience

As a child I always wondered what it would be like to have a young man competing for my attention. Little did I know that I would have two young men falling head over heels for me, literally... right on to the floor.... :)

While Pasto' was talking to Karen, I had two little people jumping on me and doing what ever they could to get me to tickle them. On some occasions that included falling off the couch onto the floor. Oly had been sitting on the couch when it started, calmly stitching, but soon she had move. I haven't tickled little people since Bunny was toddler.

goats, 4-H, unfinished projects, and no motivation....

I have all the time in the world, and I don't feel motivated to do anything. I have to get things done for the county fair that is in two weeks and I don't have anything done for it yet. I could work on my crosstitch, but I don't like the way it is turiing out, and the fence looks really weird. i could finish painting that picture I was suposed to get finished, but I don't like the way that looks either. Or I could work on the story that I have to edit, but I cant do tha when i feel restless like this. You can't work on any type of art unlesss you feel like doing it or it looks forced. Once I get dicouraged with any long project, I just stop with it and perhaps in a tear or two I will find it at the bottom of a pile and maybe get a little more done until I give up again. :P

For some odd reason, this year I don't really care that much if I don't get anything done for the fair. It doesn't really matter. I've entered for the past four years or so, won my share of ribbons, and suceeded in all that I wanted. What do you do when you have met all your goals in a certain feild? Miss Nana is rather upset with me since I haven't gone to any of the 4-H goat practices this year, but I don't want to win showmanship this year. (I'm not saying that if I tried I would win, but that the intent of attending out 4-H goat practices is to prepare for showmanship. I'm just saying that if I don't care about winning, instead of standing out in the heat practicing walking my goat around in the show ring, I could be doing somehting more important that I actually care about) Why not let someone else win? As nice as trophies are, in the end they only collect dust. And how many ribbons does an individul actually need?

Just because I no longer feel that 4-H is that important in my life doesn't mean that my siblings should feel the same way. We are each given special talents, and none of us are the same. My days of livestock are done, but I do hope that Nana and Matt will continue to enjoy the benifits of raising goats. Matt has really shown a lot of resposibility and has done taken over the job of goatherd management very well, as also has Miss Nan. Now Bunny.... well, lets just say that you never ahve to worry about him hurrying through a job :P

Wow! that was a long post. It was almost longer than TQ's shorter posts.... :)

My cross stitch group has grown once again!

Now Martin has joined and we have grown to four.... I knew sooner or later some more little people would be joining, but I really wasn't expecting that Martin would be next! Maybe now my brothers will learn :) It is so funny to have all those little people gathered around me exclaiming, "what do I do now?" "Should I put it here?" "is this right?" "Do I need some more thread?", etc.

I know there was something that Sarah had told me to say, but I can't remmebr what it was.....perhaps it will come to me later

Looking Up

I don't know quite why, but I don't really like the way this one turned out.

Blue Sky, Green Leaves

Sunset Photos

This is the first time I have attempted to photograph a sunset. (the first and third are different photos)

Silly me :P

I stayed at Karen's by myself while Mom took her to her doctors appointment, while I was calmly sitting at the computer I hear a noise. A terrible noise. A door opening. I rushed to the door and no one was there. I sat back down trying to reasure myself that I was jsut imagining things, and had almost convinced myself, when I heard it again. Tiptoeing over to the door, I peeked out the window, still no one there. I did this several times until I happened to notice that the wind was blowing out side. Silly me. The wind had just been opening and closing the screen door.

Yesterdays Sunset

Last night Sarah was nice enough to stop along side of the road on our way to Karen's house, so that we could photograph the beautiful sunset. I can't post the photos till I get home from Karen's house. One place where we stopped so I could get photos was covered in poison ivy, and being the inteliegnt me that I am ,I stepped out of the car into it before I noticed it was there. I also forgot to wash it off when we got to Karen's. Ooops :P So, if get poison ivy it was entirely my own fault. And if I don't get it, then, well, I guess it must be rather hard for me to get poison ivy. Sadly in the evening, the sun starts to get so low that you can no longer see it, and also, where we were there we corn feilds all around us, and we are so short that we couldn't see over the corn, so we couldn't take anymore photos. :(

I learned something new!

If you pull on the cord that goes from the computer to the mouse on Karen's computer, the monitor shuts off for a second. Hey! And when you tap it wiht your foot it does the same thing!

Amazing

All of Karen's clocks are set to exactly the same time!! (except for one, which is an autoset clock so it doesn't count) Karen has at least six or so clocks.
At our house each of the clocks is a differnt time. My clock in my bedroom is off by a couple minutes, the dining room clock is five or so minutes fast, the clock on the stove is ten minutes fast, the clock in the van is four minutes fast, the clock on the desktop computer is about five mnutes slow, the clock on my lap top is set to central time and it won't change, etc, etc. Th only way we can really tell what the time is is by looking at mom or Sarah's cell phone, but then sometimes even they report different times. :P

Me is alive!

I feel a good deal more cheerfuller :D I don't really have anything to say, but I have so far managed to post every day this month, and I 'd rather not stop now. :) Unfortunately I can't post any photos like I normally do when I dont have something to say, cause all my photos are on my computer and and I'm using Karen's right now.

I guess that's something new. I stayed at Karen's house last night, and slept very well, and manged to make french toast for the first time in my life!!! (I didn't eat any of it, cause I don't like french toast, so ask Sarah if want to know if it was edible) Sarah ended up staying at Karen's house too, cause she was only going to drop me off and then go back home, but we didn't get home from church until 10:00, cause Dad stopped by the H's house on the way home from bible study to look at some wood.... and you know the rest :) By the time we got to Karen's house it was 10:30, so there was no point in Sarah driving all the way back home that night, and Mom didn't want Sarah to drive alone that late.

It is so terribly nice to actully feel like putting smiley faces down :) :D :)

To Our Mighty Friend Whose End Has Come

Long did we sit 'neath the shade of your branches,
Sheltered from sun and the rain,
But now you are gone, and much do were mourn,
And sunburt, we are filled with pain.

Alas, our dear maple, we had but one choice,
For your trunk had almost rot through.
And as dear as you were, and dear you are still,
We cherished our house more than you

( You can see that the top of our tree was dying, and actauly it had almost rotted compleatly though in the trunk)

(Dad attatched a chain from our mighty friend to another ash that was farther away from the house. The tree he was cutting down was actually leaning over out house)

Thankfully it didn't fall on the house. :)

Oh!

Medieval gowns are awesome, medieval shoes are not!

School

This school year is looking rather promising, as long as I remember to keep my mouth shut during classes. I will be using a different Algebra book, which alone is great improvement. Saxon’s algebra I and II are SOO dry and boring! This year I will also have history which I haven’t really had for several years.

The only negative thing about this year, as far as I can tell right now, is that I’ll be taking two science classes. The advanced Physics will be challenging to get through, and some math I will have to learn as I go. The only science that I have ever enjoyed was Physics, which I took last year, and I’m hoping Advanced Physics will be just as interesting. On the other hand, I would rather not take Biology, cause that sort of stuff has never really interested me and I'm terrible at memorizing words. It will also be rather odd to take it after taking Advance Biology, though the Advanced biology didn’t really cover much of the general biology, it was just human anatomy and physiology. :P

It is so much easier to memorized equations than definitions.

it's done

All my junk is out of Sarah's new room.
I had better not say any anymore, as I am feeling rather negative at the moment.

Our Treasured Guest

While cleaning up my room, I happened across the little card that had been stuck in the bible in our hotel room on the way home from Amen, and that I had been urged to take home.

In elegant script the card read:

To our treasured Guest

In ancient times there was a prayer for “The Stranger Within Our Gates”

This hotel is a human institution to serve people and not solely a money making organization. We hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under out roof.

May this suite and hotel be your home away from home. May those you love be near you in thoughts and dreams. Even though we may not get to know you, we hope that you will be comfortable and happy as if you were in your own home.

May the business that brought you our way prosper. May every call you make and every message you receive add to your joy. When you leave, may your journey be safe.

We are all travelers. From “birth till death” we travel between eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you meet, and a joy to those you know and love best.

The last paragraph is...well...interesting.

Ancestry

(obviously this is not my photo)

I just learned something new! (imagine that) Something that even Sarah doens't know about. :D
Anyways, it turns out that even if Grandma isn't scottish, cause though her maiden name was Walace it hasn't been determined that the name is genuinely scottish, then we still have Scottish blood in us. On Grandpa's side, his great grandmother was a McQuade, and she was definitly Scottish.

We also are 1/64th American Indian. Ok, so we can't really claim to be Indian, but still....

:P

It is so terribly hard not be grumpy when the weather is this humid.

Sparrows

For some reason alot of the bird photos appear blurry, as if the camera had been shaking

Up-Date on My Enemy

Nothing has changed
I still hate talking on the telephone :P

Cleaning my bookshelves in anticipation of switching bedrooms

Well, um, TQ, you know how you asked about two months ago if I had your copy of “Prelandra”? Well, um, I kinda actually did have it, but I couldn’t see it cause it was hidden on my bookshelf behind numerous rows of books. [Insert sheepish smile here]

Uh Nana, um, I have your Little Women on CD too. And your “Anne of the Island” that I borrowed a million or so years ago. Sorry.

Since I’m at it, Mom, if you were wondering where “Whatever happened to Penny Candy” and “Economics: A free market reader” went, I’ve got them, along with Dad’s “Eerdmans Handbook to the History of Christianity”

Oh, and TQ, here’s your “God’s Smuggler”, and “Christy” and : ) George Washington’s “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior”. I don’t even remember when I borrowed those.
[Insert ‘nother sheepish smile here]

After the rain has passed...

"And dark is his path on the wings of the storm..."

These photos are not that great, and they don't do justice to the mighty clouds, but Dad and Mom were calling for me, and Miss Nana wanted me to do my dishes, and the storm was coming fast, so I didn't have time to fiddle around with the camera to see if I could get better photos

I realy like these kinds of storms with their awesome blue clouds.

Medieval gowns are awesome

This site has some nice ones too.

Black-eyed Susans

Forgetful me....

Now I have 29 small lumps of charcoal that once were rolls.

My Crosstitch Class

My cross stitching class has grown. It first started when I bought my cross stitch for our county fair so that I could work on it during bible class. This caught the interest of Justinian, who wanted to "help" me, so he worked on the lettering. Since I'm supposed to be the one working on the project for fair I made him a cross stitch project that he could learn on something that the finished quality didn't matter. The next little person to start cross stitching was Cecilia. Then this Sunday, during bible class, my little stitching group was joined by Oly. She has requested that I make her a cross stitch pattern with her name on it and a horse.

Today I felt rather squished with Justinian on my lap and Cecilia and Oly sitting with their chairs pressed up against mine on either sides. :) Normally I would have felt like my bubble space was being intruded upon, but I don't really mind when little people invade my bubble. Justinian decided to turn my cross stitch bag upside down during bible study scattering the contents on the ground underneath the table :)

Rabbit and Cavy 4-H Expo

We left at 5:00 this morning to travel up to the capital to participate in a state wide 4-H contest. We did fairly well, though not as well as we have done in past years, probably due to the fact that our team didn't study. :) I'm so very glad to be back, and so exteamly sleepy since I didn't go to bed on time like I was supposed to last night. Now I get to watch the kids all by me lonesome self, until Mom and Dad get back from a wedding in Chicago. Sarah is going to stay with Karen tonight. Cavy is the technical term for a guinea pig :)

Did you know you can get ones like this:

(this is a "texel")

Or this, and yes there is a cavy inside all that hair :)

(this is a "peruvian")

This rabbit has one of the better of the rabbit names: "Champagne D'Argent" the "Creme De' Argent" Aren't they so cute! (way cuter than a baby aardvark)

The Tetons (Jackson Hole, WY)

Since I'm in a mountian mood and my blog needs more photos.....

This is one of Daddy's photos that we took in 2005 (before gas was so extremely expensive)

And this one is mine.

O, Joy Unbounded! O, Sweet Relief!

The painting and the plastering are done! Well at least the first coat is done.
Anyways, Sarah and I are DONE for a long, long time !!!!! :)
Hurrah!
I shall never ever go into the construction industry!!

Wow!

I have managed to post aleast once every day in July :) Looks like I have been on the computer too much :P

Alas...

Mom had wanted me to perhaps take some classes at the community college to supplement my homeschool education, so she had me look through the course book when it came today in the mail. I looked through it, but nothing really looked that interesting, except for one class. Photographic Design. The class description listed item after item of things I wanted to learn. It all looked wonderful; I could hardly wait to begin it in the fall. Then my eyes fell to the times the classes would be held: Thursday at 2:50. Bother, that is when our homeschool co-op meets. Even if I could drive, I really couldn’t miss co-op. So much for that : (

I guess I'll have to wait and see if they change the day for next semester....
Oh please, please change the day.....

"I want to see mountains! Mountains, Gandalf!....."

I do beleive that heaven will look something like this and this (note: These are not my photos)
Ah, wonderful! :P I’m my restless frame of mind. I want to travel, to see new places, do new things. I want to do something new and exciting. I want to find a huge mountain with clear cold streams, and jagged cliffs and pine trees and oh, oh… to dance in a field of flowers and watch the cloud’s shadows as they speed across valleys down below. To go to Scotland and see the rolling hills that have heard about, to fly across the ocean and see miles upon miles of water stretch out below me. Oooh! The Swiss Alps! Yosemite! Oregon!
Mountains! Mountains! Oh, mountains!

I won’t be able to get to sleep tonight until I have succeeded in wearing out my mind which usually means I stay up till 11:00 filling millions of pages in my sketch book with random drawings.

Hmmm

I, think, I use, waaaaay too many commas

Inteligent Us

Mom and dad are gone at Karen's cleaning out the freezer and installing the handrails and other such stuff. We had to leave at around 1:00 so that we could go to a Rabbit Expo practice, and so we locked the upstairs door and left. When we got back fro Rabbit Expo practice, we went to get in the house and we realized that all the doors were locked and Sarah didn't have her key with her. Unfortunately she was in one of her moods where she gets kinda hysterical and doesn't exactly think through things very well (the mood she was in after she hit the stop sign last winter, which was why I didn't let her call mom on the cell phone). And I really hope she isn't in that kind of mood when she reads this, if she is, well, goodbye.....
Anyways I ended up taking a chisel and hammer and breaking into Miss Nana's bedroom, by releasing the window clasp with the chisel. We didn't break any glass, or make any unrepairable damages which is good, considering what might have happened if plan A hadn't worked. Other suggestions had included making holes in window screens, and other such things that would have really brightened Dad's day. :)

Reasons why I should stay off the computer :)

All these must be done before the second week in August
1. Finish my cross stitch for county fair
2. Finish my painting that I started months ago, and that I have to finish because I told
my art teacher that I would enter it in the county fair
3. Re write fractured fairy tale for county fair
4. Decide which photos to enter in the fair and get them printed
5. Switch Sarah’s and my rooms, so I will be down stairs with Nana when she goes to college, which means I have to clean up all my junk :P
6. Pack for vacation cause we are leaving for that right after the county fair
7. Finish painting the cabin thing
8. Make some clothes that Sarah needs for college
9. Shave and wash my showmanship goat

Rolls at Midnight

Last night I stayed up really late making rolls, cause I accidentaly strated them before we left for swimming, so mom had me put them in the fridge to rise. When we got home it was 10:00, and I, like usual forgot about them. It wasn't until after prayers that I rememberd, nd by then it was 10:30. So I ended up staying awake until 12:00. The sad thing is that even though I was the last one asleep, I was the FIRST ONE OF MY FAMILY TO WAKE UP!!!! Sleepy heads! :)

Today should be the last day that Sarah and I have to plaster. Then we can paint!!!!! The first coat will be just plain white :(

A Naval Battle

Across the placid waters, a fierce battle raged. Upon their circular vessel, two bravely fought for survival, as they were attacked once, twice, three times by three merciless pirates. Finally the pirates realized that to capture such a mighty boat, they must work together. With this new strategy, they quickly flipped their opponents, and rushed to board it. The two defendants came up from under the water where they had plunged, and struggled back to recapture their vessel. For a while it appeared as though the pirates were winning, but finally, as the two began to think their efforts vain, the pirates fell of and thus the two were able to take over command. This exchange happed several times, and during this the oldest of the defenders ‘s arm ended up getting twisted around, for the pirates were ruthless and often did horrible things like tickling peoples feet in order to get the two off the vessel, and also, the youngest of the pirates was kicked in the mouth, on accident of course. The same pirate that was kicked in the mouth claimed that he was no pirate at all, for he was “neutral”, which basically meant that he was for neither side, and would help which ever side that was trying to capture the ship. In the end the two defenders won, though if you ask the pirates they might tell you a different story, but don’t listen to them, cause older sisters are always right.

Anyways, we were able to go swimming with Daddy-O and Mommy tonight and it was fun, dispite the injuies from being forcefully pulled off the inertube. We didn’t even have to wear our lifejackets :D

What we had for supper tonight :P

Borscht

Mom really likes beets, so she really enjoyed it. :P
Its taste, or at least the type that we had tonight's taste, was like what one would expect salty dill pickles blended up with peppercorns to taste like. It didn't help that the color and consistency resembled other red substances. :P

To Celebrate the fourth....

First, Sarah and I went a parade in a small near by town. 'Twas a small country parade, but still it was fun. The best thing was they had a bagpipe in it. Sarah and I were going to go and work some more on the plastering imeadaitely after, but next to where we were parked someone must have gotton hurt, 'cause some of the police and the firemen were gathered around a group of people, and an ambulence came after a while. The police man had parked right behind our van, so were weren't able to get out until everything had been taken care of. We ended up sitting in the grass away from our car for about half an hour or so.

Finally it was over, and we were able to....

put up more plaster!!!!! :P

You can see some our efforts in the above picture

Photos from Long Ago

Nordhouse Dunes 2005Little (if I remeber correctly) Sable Point Lighthouse
Ludington State Park

Little Smith Lake

This is the beach where some of you went swimming today. :) Because of the high water levels this year, the beach is compleatly underwater, so that is why you wouldn't recognize it . (These photos were taken in the winter of 2006)

A Random Walk

A Dragonfly

E. Farjeon

When the heat of the summer

Made drowsy the land,

A dragonfly came

And sat on my hand,

With it's blue jointed body,

And wings like spun glass,

It lit on my fingers

As though it were grass.

Mowing the Lawn

The best thing about winter is that the grass doesn't have to be mown, though by the spring I am so glad to see green grass that I don't really care about mowing for the first couple of times. Our lawn mower, which we have had for more than 10 years, got water in the engine, and yes, it was my fault. By the time the lawnmower started for the first time in two weeks, the grass was really long. Since we didn't have much choice, we started mowing. About 4 feet into the lawn, the lawn mower decided that it was done, it needed a long rest and refused to start. When I last checked, it was still on strike.

Three weeks with no lawnmower, and the grass was soon so tall that all you could see from the road was our chimney (OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit), but anyways, Dad finally decided that he would have to get a new lawnmower. When we finally got it, and introduced to the grass, it promptly choked on it, leaving the yard looking very chewed up. It took several mowing jobs before it began to look decent. )

Oh, well, at least we don't have to water it!
Or stomp down mole holes.
Or put poisoned mole peanuts in all the little mole holes, even though they don't reuse the ones that we stomp down.
Or set mole traps and kill poor little moles :(

Hungry People :D

Of the many things that I witnessed at the conference was a phenomenon that I had before hand only heard of. You often read about how boys eat lots of food, and, I had only really had experience with my brothers, who eat lots of food, but they aren’t hungry till the next meal. I watched as the boys in our group would eat a hearty meal, and then an hour or so later they would already begin to be hungry.

The first day right after breakfast, since the conference had not yet started, Mom provided lunch meat so that we could make our lunch to take with us to the Steamtown Museum. We all gathered round the table that contained the lunch meat, cheese, and bread, with which we were to assemble our sandwiches. A certain boy was one of the first ones to have his sandwich made, and so he stood off to the side waiting till we were done. Looking up from where she stood placing her sandwich in a bag, Sarah exclaimed, “ -- What are you doing?” Unconsciously he had begun to eat his sandwich, though breakfast had only been 10 minutes ago.

Those of us that were in choir had to leave earlier for the service so that they could practice, and that left us unchoirinated people with almost an hour to with not much to do. We usually sat in the lounge with OFHP and talked with her till it was time to go to the service. For some reason, I think, OFHP wasn’t there to talk to, so we kinda just sat around, until one boy remarked, “The cafeteria hasn’t closed yet!!! I think I want some more food”. Please note that prior to going down to the lounge, we had just had supper.

I’m not trying to make fun of anyone, it is just funny how hungry boys can be, and there is nothing wrong with being hungry.