Christmas break is fast blowing by...

We had a very good Christmas, we got so many presents that I think we should be classed under "spoiled rotten" although also with "extremely grateful." Hmm, unusual combination. We also had some really good extended family time, everyone sat around and talked after dinner. It was very relaxed, which makes it really strange that my skin totally broke out. Must've been the excitement or something, cuz I know I wasn't stressed out! lol. Anyway, we got a digital camera, with which Abby just took my picture, and that's the really big thing--oh and HP6 on tape, and then all the wonderful smaller stuff like clothes and belts and a purse and keychains and I said I wasn't going to list everything, so I won't. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd yeah, it was a very good Christmas. I love having everyone over to our house.

Then, we've just been lazing around, watching all the DVDs we got, ummmm, Can't think of anything so I'll cut to the chase.

Yesterday afternoon Mom and I left for our Sweet Sixteen Sleepover getaway. We went to a hotel in fairlawn, really close to Summit Mall, and we shopped till we dropped. I got my sweet sixteen cactus, (brownish purple, I'm sure I'll post pix of it), used some of my bath and body works gift card (I love the cherry blossom scented stuff! I'm going to reek of cherry blossom from now on!!), we smelled perfumes at Kaufman's and candles at Yankee Candle, we got clearance wrapping paper at Target, all kinds of good stuff. But all the time, we were looking for a ring. Yes, a ring. We searched at every jewelry store on the planet, Jared's; Mom got her ring at Jared's, we looked in the mall, we looked high and low and up and down. The lady at kay's was very nice, and I saw one I liked there, but she encouraged us to sleep on it once we had mentioned it, so we did.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the food. We had Donato's for dinner. It was soooo good. We were considering some fancier places, like Red Lobster or Max and Erma's, but Donato's is the BEST pizza, and to make it a little more gourmet I got to get root beer too. Pizza tastes even better with pop. Then for dessert, after we went to the mall and before Marc's and Target, we went to Coldstone creamery. It was pretty cool, the staff was nice, and the ice cream was good, but I wouldn't say it was the best or anything. Not after having Graeter's. MMMMMM. Anyway, snapping out of it.

This morning we had our complimentary continental breakfast at the hotel, there was a wrestling team from columbus there we think. Then we checked out and came back down to Belden village to spend more b&bw money (more cherry blossom!) and look some more for a ring. It finally came down to one at...ummm...I forget the name, but the one there was very pretty, and on sale for less than what we were expecting to pay, and there was one at Kay's that was a little bit more than we were expecting to pay, and there was, like, less of it, it was smaller. But it seemed higher quality. So we walked back and forth, back and forth, checked with Dad to make sure the more expensive one was even an option, it was--not to mention, the cheaper one didn't come with a warranty, and the one at Kay's did. So finally, after much agonizing and walking, we decided on the Kay's one. It's simpler, but very elegant and, well, GORGEOUS! I LOVE it. It's three pink stones, um, how bout this, I'll just wear it Sunday! lol.

Right now I"m working on ANOTHER to-do list. I've always had the impression that to-do lists are kind of bad, like, they take away from spending time with your family, and I suppose if you used them in excess they would, but I've found writing a to-do list and setting a goal time to be done is the only way I can get anything done!

If I make this any longer, however, I won't get anything done anyway!

Merry Christmas (Eve!)

Today's Christmas Eve! Mom and Meme have been cooking up a storm! Pops took us out to Bob Evans for breakfast (french toast) and then he took us to Borders and we got our first Christmas presents. He found me a giant book of Sudoku, Hannah got The School Story (wonderful book) and Abby got a giant Lord of the Rings poster. So that was really cool. And then we came home and I helped with some cooking, and then I did the brown belt for today in 25 mins. I've limited myself to one Sudoku from the book a day.

Ok, for everyone who's wondering, Sudoku is a puzzle with boxes arranged 9x9. You have to get the numbers 1-9 in every row and column, and then there are 9 "cells," boxes 3x3 within the bigger puzzle, and you have to get the numbers 1-9 in those too. It's reallly fun. It's like a process of elimination and logic puzzle. :-D

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Merry Chrismahannakwanzica!

Sweet lyrics to random song by Pillar on Launchcast

It's not like I'm walking alone into the valley of the shadow of death
Stand beside one another, 'cause it ain't over yet
I'd be willing to bet that if we don't back down
You and I will be the ones that are holding the Crown in the end
When it's over, we can say, "Well done"
But not yet, 'cause it's only begun
So, pick up, and follow me, we're the only ones
To fight this thing, until we've won
We drive on and don't look back
It doesn't mean we can't learn from our past
All the things that we mighta done wrong
We could've been doing this all along

Everybody, with your fists raised high
Let me hear your battle cry tonight
Stand beside, or step aside
We're on the frontline

And we'll be carrying on, until the day it doesn't matter anymore
Step aside, you forgot what this is for
We fight to live, we live to fight
And tonight, you'll hear my battle cry
We live our lives on the frontlines
We're not afraid of the fast times
These days have opened up my eyes
And now, I see where the threat lies

We've got to lead the way

I must admit, they're even sweeter with an electric guitar driving along in the foreground. I had to look up the lyrics to even figure out what the verses were, it was so far in the foreground, but it was a sweet song all the same.

Checking in Quick

Heloooo, today was a good day, I did 2 sudokus, brown belts, about 25 mins each, then I got dressed and stuff while listening to HP6 on CD (brilliant, as usual, except for Ginny's weird deep voice) and then I ate a magbnificent lunch consisting of a large amount of delicious vegetables and then all the fat and calories you could wish to make up for them. Oh, and I'm reading Pride and Prejudice, which is really funny and interesting at the same time. It's good Xmas Break reading. And tonight we're going to the Barn to see our cousins who live in Texas. So that'll be really fun!! And I got to talk to people online this afternoon and even practiced piano a bit. Anyway, now it's time to get ready to go, so I gotta run! Merry Christmas!!!

luv to all,
Katie
ps--this wasn't an e-mail, was it? oh well I ended it like one anyway! :-D

YAY FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK!

So life's good, it got even better this morning! It's Christmas break! We celebrated by having a watching "the Toy that Saved Christmas" and having a Sudoku race with today's puzzle. I felt about 6 years old, I was so excited about both of them. I lost the race miserably. I didn't really mind because I was just happy I finished by the end of it. I'm really fast at Sudoku if I'm not racing, but when I'm racing I make stupid mistakes. Slow and steady wins the race!! I started over three times, and finally solved it the 4th time. By that time everyone else had finished, but it only took me 30 mins to do it the last time. So I did it faster than everyone even though I finished last, which sounds so wrong but it's true. ;-) It was pretty funny. Mom did her first Sudoku today. Yay!

Ok, what else...only 6 days till Christmas! Yay! James and Bruce and Jacob posted! Yay! Oh, yall, we really gotta decide who we're killing in Cleb's Mafia game! He might decide to just kill someone every day!

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnd....NO SCHOOL! I'm not sleeping in or anything cuz it makes it so hard to start getting up again early, which I've gotten pretty good at. I just don't get dressed till I have to. Or feel like it.

Today we're going to dip more chocolate. We did some a week ago and it's almost gone. Dad read Eldest to us while we dipped and the time just flew. They're like, well, we should probably finish up, and I'm like, Hunh? It was 9 something and I thought that it was only about 8:20! Anyway. I think I'll go to Fishy's xanga now.

GO TO XANGA.COM/KIDABYTE AND VOTE!

ATTENTION BLOGGERS! ESPECIALLY BLOGGERS WHO PLAY MAFIA!

BREAKING NEWS! THERE HAS BEEN A KILLING ON SONIKID'S XANGA! MULAN HAS BEEN KILLED BY THE MAFIA! WE NEED YOU TO TRACK DOWN THE NEFARIOUS VILLIAN WHO HAS COMMITTED THIS FOUL DEED! GO TO http://www.xanga.com/kidabyte, READ THE FACTS AND VOTE--EITHER TO KILL OR SLEEP! WE CANNOT LET EVIL PEOPLE ROAM OUR CYBERSPACE! LET YOUR VOTE BE HEARD! http://www.xanga.com/kidabyte! GO GO GO!

Replying to allayall's comments

It's so nice to get an Inbox full of comments! so:

James: We've missed you at youth group! I feel like I haven't talked to you for ages and ages, just cuz you haven't posted on your blog or been online at the same time as me. I'm pretty much on ...well I haven't been on a lot lately but I can pretty much guarantee that I'm on between 8 and 9 when I am on.

Erin, ok, I'll go comment on your xanga...

Caleb, what's your xanga's address? I bet you've told me...

Meg, have you had a qt? :-D Can't wait to see you again, I was sorry we didn't get to talk more on Sunday. E-mail me! And yes, your xanga post is rockin awesome, chills-down-the-spine and all that good stuff. xanga.com/scifi_cutie, check it out!

So tonight I sort of spent three pointless hours in the Falls, one and a half studying for history and doing Sudoku, during Hannah's piano lesson, and then half and hour talking to Emma and Erin, which was the only not pointless part, and then we did tumbling and it was really short and I pretty much didn't do anything. Barely worked up a sweat. Did not get any exercise. Oh well, can't help it. At least I won't be sore tomorrow for the last day of ROAD. We're going to take a disposable camera and ask the teachers if we can take pictures for 0ur last day. Hope lots of them say yes.

Farewell! Comment more, post on your stuff, etc etc and now I'll go read everyone's stuff.

Survival, Living, Existing

I was just reading back over my old posts because I was bored and slightly depressed. I only get depressed when I'm tired. I'm tired. I can't think why. Too many just slightly late nights in a row. But then I was reading all these funny posts and comments and remembered how blessed I am and I'm cheered up a little now. Like, now I think I can do it. Do it = live. Why is life still a struggle for survival when you have a roof over your head and four walls around you and warm air blowing from the central heating system and all the food you could possibly want and awesome friends and a great family and really couldn't ask for anything more? And I still have to fight to survive? I don't have to struggle to exist, that's for sure, but it's always a struggle to live. The family and friends help the most with that. By making me laugh. And reading my blog. And staying in touch. And posting on their blogs. (ahem, James and Caleb...lol) And laughing at my not-funny jokes...that wasn't a joke, however, y'all haven't posted forever. :-)

So I'm kinda bored...I think I've used that title before

I'm watching Cinderella story again. We watched it last night. I love fairy tales. I'm typing this without looking so forgive my mistakes. It's at my favorite part when they're like playing 20 questions at the Halloween Dance. Oh. I didn't make any mistakes. This IMing thing is really good for teaching you to type. Fairy tales and happy endings are all so romantic.

So tonight's the White elephant gift exchange/Christmas party. And I should probably check my to-do list. Make sure I've done everything. Oyyyyyy ummmmmmmm ehhhhhhhhhhh weeeeeeeeelllllllll i'lllllllllll...just watch cinderella story now.

Oh, but I had a really good birthday. Kara and Warren did some nice stuff for our birthdays, and the food was so good....I ate so much good food this past week, I probably gained weight...like I care.

Ya know what I really like about Cinderella Story? The prince in shining armor is actually polite and respectful and nice!

Ummmmmmmm oyyyyy I'll stop now. buhbye....

Finally, a whopper of a post coming right up...

Ok, I have not posted for ages!! Which means I have tons to post about. First of all,

Wednesday

Dance class was very interesting. I am in no way the best dancer, but as I think I've said before I try really hard. So Amy gives us this combination and there was this weird arm waving thing in it. Have I mentioned before that she gives us very interesting similes of what we should look like? Like, petting a cat--a very tall cat. This one she said, "like, you're asking God to come down and help you. Okay?" She demonstrated the arms as she said that and then went to turn on the music. I always stand close to the music player, where she is, and I said, "I think I do that for just about every combination." She said, "What, ask God to help you? (haha) How's that going for you (more laughs)." Not mean laughs, just laughing laughs. So I said (to God), "Ok God, ya hear that? Help!" So I did the combination going to one end of the stage, and then we always do it coming back. Going was ok, coming back I actually did it. Pretty rare for me. So, then, shock of my life, Amy says, "Katie, go down there and do that again." Shock of my life! She does that when someone does something really well, she has them do it again for us to see what it looks like. But it's usually the older girls, juniors and seniors, and NEVER me. So I go down to the other end again, trying not to look too happy with myself, and say (to God), "Ok, I really need to do this well so she'll see that it works to ask you to help," and sure enough, can you say FLAWLESS??!! I was sooo thrilled. And her point was about the crazy arm thing, that it didn't look forced (not about the other two things in it, which I did not excel at). So I went back to my spot and said to Amy, "I think it worked." And she said, "yeah, God helped you with that combination." (more laughing laughs). But I was soooo excited.

Thursday

Hannah and I played piano in the background for a cocktail party on Friday, and so on Thursday I played through my songs. We had an hour to play, so half an hour each. I played through my songs, timing them, and it only came out to fifteen minutes. I was like, Oh, No. It ended up not being too big of a deal, I just repeated things a lot, but I was kind of depressed the rest of the day.

Friday

was Doreeeeee's Birthday, mostly devoted to school and piano. We got all dressed up and went to the Martin's Center, it was absolutley gorgeous, and we got to play on a gorgeous (baby?) grand piano for half an hour each. I had fun, made lots of mistakes but I didn't stress out about them so that was good. And then we had lots of fun celebrating Dorreeee's birthday.

Saturday

was the big day--my Sixteenth Birthday Party. And Doree's party too. In the morning, first, I babysat an adorable 1 year old named Emily. She is sooooooooo cute. So I had fun and earned some money. Then I went home and just had fun! We just talked for a looong time first--that's what we girls do, after all! Then we played Mafia for ages. Then we made pizzas. And played movie charades, very informally, but we had fun. I won't discuss all the minor details, but I will just say we had tons of fun. Soooooo much fun. We watched the Perfect Man, which abyack is currently rewatching, and I french-braided's Bea's hair and discovered that I'm not too bad at it. By the end of Christmas break I want to be able to do my own hair.

We ate lots of yummy food and stayed up late having yummy conversations. And all of a sudden it was Sunday and everyone got to see me in my sunday morning hyper glory--except Meg and Hannah, of course, who had to leave early so that they could go to the Brown's game on Sunday.

Sunday wasn't teriffically exciting--well, it was, just not more than usual.

MONDAY, however, was just about the most exciting day I've had in my entire life. First, Dad calls and plays a clip on the answering machine of him on the radio winning a 42 inch plasma TV. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!! We left him a voicemail of us just screaming and screaming. That was the first exciting thing. The second thing was getting a postcard saying that the PSAT scores are coming! The third thing was, they came!!!!!!!! I was sooooo fumbling trying to open the envelope, then Hannah was fumbling getting out the scissors, and then finally there it was. I had a Hermione moment--well, I didn't then, I am currently about the PLAN--"It seemed to go well at the time, but looking back I know I failed everything!" But I didn't! I did--pretty well, actually. Especially with the word stuff, just OK with the math. But I did better in everything than I did when I practiced the weekend before the real thing. So I was realllly happy.

And now it's Tuesday. And my dance class is canceled and reschedueled for during the homeschool group Christmas party, so I won't be able to go. But I have to go get ready to go to dance and stuff now. I did wake up early this morning and took advantage of it by getting school started and finished early so that I could blog and e-mail people. Tada! I got it all done, amazingly, but I really gotta run now.
Catch ya later! lol bye

So I'm kinda bored...

I'm bored and my head hurts. Like, OWWW! Cuz I've got a sinus infection AGAIN. But I'm taking the leftover antibiotics from last time so hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. I think I type better with my eyes closed. Anyway, today we went Christmas shopping. SO tired. It was tiring. I didn't have all that much energy to begin with. So I'm pretty exhausted. My whole face hurts from my wretched sinuses. I should start a IHMS club: I Hate My Sinuses. Or IHMWS, see above. Or I Hate My Painful Sinuses. Or I Strongly Dislike My Painful Sinuses. Ok, I'll stop rambling/complaining now. I got most of my christmas shopping done at least.

I cooked breakfast (with Hannah) and dinner today. Nothing fancy. Just pancakes and ham and leftover muffins and peel your own clementines for breakfast--oh, chocolate chip pancakes!! And grilled cheese and chips and salsa and bananas with cheerios for dinner. Not cheerios with bananas. The other way around. So that's probably the most I've ever "cooked" in one day in my life. OH but don't let me forget my helpers--Hannah actually cooked the pancakes mostly, and Hannah and Abby cleaned up dinner.

Would someone hurry up and get online so I can talk to you??

wow, that was kinda cool. Ten minutes later I'm talking to 3 people. And ten minutes after that I have to get off. Oh well.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

The bad news: My dance class was canceled last night.
The good news: WE WENT TO SEE HP4!!!

It was amazing!!! My first thoughts were, "Wow, this is soooo fast paced!" And then I thought, "oh, it has to be, doesn't it?" There was absolutely no extraneous material--and I don't mean the funny bits, I mean actually plot line things. There were plenty of funny things, but I didn't get the feeling that I did in HP3 that, "OK, enough of this, why didn't you cut it and put THIS in?" Everything in the movie was very cool.

SPOILERS:
There was no:
Ludo Bagman
Winky
Mrs. Weasley
Mr. Roberts
The Durslys
Ministry refusal to believe dear old baldywart was back (we're going to be murdered in our beds) (ha) (or NOT)
Dobby

Those were the main things, I think. And there was pretty much nobody but Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Like, there was, but there were tons of minor characters. Fred, George and Neville took greater prominance. And Filch. IT"S SNOWING!!!! Anyway...there was practically no Sirius. But they did have the school song! We loved that!

I always imagined the Priori Incantatem to be more quietly intense, not so chaotic. And the echo people were not as JK described them and therefore I don't think they were how anyone imagined them.

In the lake was pretty cool--sufficiently creepy. The dragon was sweet. Anddddd.....I think I'll go eat monkey bread or something.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I'm hoping to post later! :-)

i guesss i won't post anyway (no caps allowed)

i feel like eating ice cream now but I just have a few things to say...

i have a cold and a horrible pressure headache
despite that, i had a ton of fun rockin with my sisters to "meant to live" and the mood ring song (cuz we would rock and then pretend to be emotional girls)
and...i like switchfoot but i think reliant k has to grow on me, not extremely rhythmic

and i'm going to go eat something cold and soothing...or go to bed early...either way i'm "going going gone...like frank sinatra's mom...or somthing..."

Un otra vez, aquí estoy, preguntando qué hacer para los últimos minutos de Español. Yo pregunto si hay programas donde puede hablas en otra lenguas con gente que habla eso lengua. Así un amigo de pluma. Yo podría escribir a mis primos que está aprendiendo Español.

Nadie necesita leer eso, sólo estoy aburrido y no estoy motivado. Estoy enfermero. Y muy, muy, muy cansado. Yo tenido muchas noches demasiado tarde. Lo será interesante ver qué esto dice. Babelfish no es muy confiable, pero es mejor que sólo un diccionario. Y ahora, veremos. Y verás.

I am again, here, asking what to do for the last minutes of Spanish. I ask actually I wonderif there are programs where she can you you can speak in another languages with people who speak that language. Thus like a pen friend. I could write to my cousins who are learning Spanish.

Nobody needs to read that, I am only boring BOREDand I am not motivated. I am nurse sick. And very, very, very tired. I had many nights too much late. He will be it interesting it will be interesting to see what this says. Babelfish is not very reliable, hence all the pinkbut it is better than only a dictionary. And now, we will see. And you will see. Y ahora, tú ves! And now, you see! And now I´m done with Spanish!

HI I'M SO HYPER!!

I"m hyper a lot of the time actually, like every other day, although this time I think it's owing to the delicious piece of spice cake with amazing muy rico caramel frosting that I just ate.

So today's the big day, Nov. 18th. HP IS OUT!!!! Dad really wanted to go see it today, and I did kinda too, and I think just the two of us could've made it but the other three couldn't. Mom's not feeling well, Abby's seeing a movie tonight, and Hannah had too much school. And of course it wouldn't be as much fun to see it not as a family. But we'll see it soon. If you've seen it...I'm not as strict about not finding out what happens with the movies because we already know what happens. But don't tell me anything anyway, anything more than what you thought of it! We might see it next Wednesday after ROAD.

I'm taking a half hour break before piano because I feel like it, GOSH. :-D

I'm listening to switchfoot, the Beautiful Letdown. Got it from the library to see if I want it for Christmas. Abby got to it first and decided even if I don't want it, she does. And I got 2 Reliant K cds.

NEXT WEEK IS THANKSGIVING! IT SNOWED! 19 DAYS OF BEING 15 YEARS OLD LEFT! Oh, and it's so funny, cuz Dad always prays on our birthday that the next year would be even better than the year before, but I'm not totally sure that's possible. Fifteen has been a reeeeeaaally good year. hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm-hhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm...

WOW. I THINK I LIKE THIS CD. {WE WERE MEANT TO LIVE FOR SO MUCH MORE} Or maybe it's just the electric guitar. I think electric is one of the things I thrive on. OH AND GUESS WHAT!! My dance song has ELECTRIC GUITAR in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited when I heard it!

I think I'd better stop shouting now. HAVE A GOOD LIFE!

So life's goin' pretty well...if not great...

Tonight I did a back walkover off the hassock (little round heavy footstool type thing) and seeing as I have never kicked over off anything that is a big improvement. Also I really need to learn how to do it cuz there's only a few of us in my class who can't do it (rock ON fishy!!!). Annnnnd...Sunday was of course terrific, we played Balderdash the whole two hours of youth group. I laughed so hard!!!!! SO hard. And Brittani P and I won. Blonde Brittani, not Brunette Brittani. And...I've only got a little bit here...oh, don't let me make it sound like life is all of a sudden peachy and relaxed, it's actually peachy and INSANE! I don't know how I do it except maybe owing it to my morning routine and my wonderful boyfriend...lol!!! :-) Routine being wake up to Ordinary Day, the lyrics of which I will post sometime...hey, why not now...

Woke up this morning, went to the window, saw a rainy day
Feeling the pressure from all of the things I gotta face today
All of my days are totally crazy
Can't do nothing right
It's an ordinary day

Every minute feels like an hour slowly creeping by
All of this stress, but I do my best to take it all in stride
I need to decidde need to unwind all these things are on my mind
It's an ordinary day

Things are crazy but it's alright
You make me feel alive again
When it rains You are the sunshine
That lights me up from deep within
I can finally treasure this love beyond a measure
You've given me the pleasure of an ordinary day

And also I blink along to the music, which is a new addition to keep my eyes open while I read my One Year Bibble. lol. Sure, Bibble. yeah. So where was I going with that? OH, that's how I make it through life in general. :-D Well I'll get off now so abby can have some time before the biggest loser.

Meet Tiddlywinks

Say hi to Tiddlywinks. I don't know how I got her where she is, it was sheer dumb luck (and I mean the dumb part, I know next to nothing about HTML). WARNING: DO NOT WASTE TIME PLAYING WITH TIDDLYWINKS THAT SHOULD BE SPENT DOING SOMETHING MEANINGFUL WITH YOUR LIFE!!!! It's very easy to do. Cuz she's so cute! :)

Diez mas minutos de Español

Decidió ya que tengo diez mas minutos de español puedo escribir en mi...blog. Ñ'= oh, he olvidado que no puedo escribir caras que sonrir cuando tengo los adjustos de español.

Estoy seguro que nada de esto es claro, pero puedo entender español más mejor que puedo escribo o hablo.

Cinco más minutos. Me crees voy a traducer este en altavista.com.

It decided since I have ten but minutes of Spanish I can write in my... blog. Ñ' = oh, I have forgotten that I cannot write expensive that to sonrir when I have the adjustos of Spanish. I am sure that nothing of this is sure but can understand Spanish better than I can I write or I speak. Five more minutes. You create to me I am going to traducer this in altavista.com.

Wow, fue terrible.

Decidió ya que tengo diez mas minutos de español puedo escribir en mi...blog. Ñ'= oh, he olvidado que no puedo escribir caras con sonrisas cuando tengo los ajustes de español.

Estoy seguro que nada de esto es correcto, pero puedo entender español más mejor que yo puedo escribirlo o hablarlo.

Cinco más minutos. Pienso voy a traducir este en altavista.com.

Ok, that time it came out better. Time´s up! Supongo necesito más que un computadora saber si este es correcto o no.

These past few days

Ok, so Thursday was the worst day I've had in MONTHS. I woke up, watched my hamster die, and then the day kind of just went downhill from there. I wasn't actually too sad about the hamster, he's pretty old and now I don't have to take care of him for nothing in return (like getting to get him out and play with him sometimes would be all the return I would need, but we never had time). But watching your hamster dying isn't a good way to start your day, I don't recommend it. Then I had a million algebra problems and the whole thing was just really annoying becuase I took 3 review tests and then I took form A of the test and there were so many questions that I didn't know how to do. You'd think that when you're getting tested on two years' worth of material they'd give you decent review sheets! So Mom said that I didn't have to relearn all the stuff, I just had to go back through and find out how to do the problems I didn't know how to do, and do them. So I spent the entire morning doing that, plus a little reading when my brain was about to burst. "The entire morning"=9-1, so 4 hours of algebra. That'll put anyone in a bad mood. And then my grandparents arrived, but we still had work to do. I did get to go on a lovely walk with Mom, the weather was really nice. But I finished school at like 7 something, which included dinner and a walk, but still! That was a depressing day. But I was kinda proud of myself once I got un-depressed enough to notice that I actually accomplished a lot. Just a little bit.

Then yesterday we did school in the morning, but we got it all done in time to go see Dreamer with my grandpa at 12:45. It was pretty good. Not one of my favorites, because it's one of those horse stories that 10 year old girls love but are really predictable. Speaking of predictable, I'm going to be really surprised if the sister in Kira-Kira, which I just got from the libray, makes it to the end of the book. I'm just saying it now so that when she ends up dying I have proof that I thought of it before I read it. :-D Anyway, we went to Outback for Mom's birthday dinner, which was really nice (and really delicious!) My grandma just gushed about how I was eating vegetables. "I never thought I'd see the day!" Et cetera. That was funny. I'm thinking, as she's gushing: I'm almost sixteen, I have to eat vegetables sometime! Actually I really like veggies with rice and chicken. SO good. I still don't like salad though. :-)

Then this morning I totally wore myself out by raking leaves and then playing in them with Daniel and Tyler H, who were over cuz their dad was chopping up firewood. It was Tyler's idea to make a pile of leaves, and I wasn't too enthusiastic at first, but I'm like, he probably doesn't have that many trees in his yard, I'll make one (we have sooo many leaves and trees), and then I ended up having more fun than he did! So now I'm tired and blogging and then I'm going to call some friends...or not, cuz we're watching a movie, but we still have long distance tomorrow, so whatever!

And...anything else going on? Tomorrow's sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE SUNDAY! So...we're going to watch the second Indiana Jones, I think. Oh, and on the subject of movies, we saw a trailer for Narnia, and it looks really good. I don't often look forward to movies and I don't often really want to see movies before they come out on DVD and we can get them from the library, but I now I've got two: Harry potter, which is a given, and Narnia, which looks amazing. AND it's coming out close to my birthday, so I might ask to go see it as a present. I'm having trouble thinking up presents. Oh, do you have any CD suggestions, like Reliant K or Switchfoot? I put beautiful letdown and mmhmm and happy (mat. west) on hold at the library, to see if I'll like them. So, if you have any CDs that you think I'd like comment on them. :-D I'm leaving now. :-) Oh, and guess what *cracking up at myself* we didn't really have dinner, because we were so full of outback leftovers from lunch that we just got Dairy Queen (not real food, ice cream) and now we'll just have some snacky thing.

After 2 mil postscripts, I'm really stopping! Extra KT pts if you read the whole thing. Don't ask what kt pts are cuz I don't know.

WHERE DOES ALL THE TIME GO?

Tyler H. can read, Leah Hr. is in Sunday School, next month is Thanksgiving, which is when we put up the Christmas decorations, and in between Christmas and Thanksgiving I'm turning sixteen and I'm going to be learning to drive soon, half my friends are turning seventeen shortly after the new year (isn't Kailee L supposed to be 17? She's part of the older crowd of the highschoolers in my homeschool group). Doreeee's starting highschool, we have a job, the half of my friends that are turning 17 is also graduating from highschool at the end of next year (aren't Patrick and Adam doing that?). I just don't get the teenagers who can't wait to be adults or 18 or 21 because time flies just fine all by itself without us blowing on it.

Another Snapshot of my current life.

My life is soooooooooooooooooo crazy, like...sooooooooooo crazy. I'm doing school in four days in order to have Wednesday off, which really isn't that bad, it just makes Thursday and Friday a little busier than usual. Usually they're my "easier days" which end up being just as long as Monday and Tuesday because I have the mindset that I don't have as much work to do so I kind of take it easy.

Then piano's crazy because I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to learn all this scales and arpeggios stuff when he said only to spend 15-20 minutes on them. I could easily spend half an hour learning all the stuff I'm supposed to learn. Plus there's the stuff to learn for Wednesdays which is really only one song a week but I've only got 2 or 3 songs, so adding another one is adding quite a bit. Learning my lesson songs is going quite well though.

Then there's choir, which isn't all that crazy, it just takes up mindspace sometimes trying to remember to look up a skit...hmmm...what was it supposed to be about? BAD Katie...at least some of you are in my group.

Dance is good, I've been trying to really try, because that's what my teacher looks for. Even if you do the step right, if you don't do it with everything you've got she doesn't...like it? appreciate it? And half the time --no, actually, 99% of the time--it's when you DON'T have the step right and you're not giving it everything you've got that she doesn't like it. So that's not just energy expending, it takes up a lot of CPU too. I like that, I think CPU will be my new code for mindspace. And then I'm trying to make friends with the girls at dance too, so there goes more CPU.

It would be cool if I could see a little window like the CTRL-ALT-DEL one that has all the processes and how much CPU they're taking up for my brain. Ha. That's really tangential. Oh boy, I just made up a new word. Yay.

UMMMMMMwhat else. I don't know. All that other stuff. :-D Whatever. I don't have CPU to spare at the moment :-) Oh, I did have something else but it's so nifty (nifty, huh?) I'm putting it in a separate post.

The Piano Job and other Random Excerpts from My Current Life

This Wednesday, Doreeeee and I went to our first day of the piano job. Another pianist was also there to help us out. It went really well. We both got rave reviews and had fun doing it. The only thing I'm not completely happy about is I don't think I did my very best, but there's always next week. And we need a few slower songs, so this week I'm focusing on maintaining the songs I've learned and learning my lesson songs and Beauty and the Beast for a slower warm-up song. Not that we did a bad job playing or anything, but I think the reason we got such rave reviews is that we were nice and open to instruction, not because we played complicated amazing music.

UMMM I was going to mention something else on here but I forget what it was. OHHHHH welllll.

Aiee, life is insane

So today was nonstop, mostly because when I was sick I just did the bare necessities, so I'm not behind in reading or anything. But there was a lot of extra stuff like a history test and art paper that I didn't do, so I did a lot of that stuff today.

And, this is good, but the current application to real life is bad, I got a job. A good job. A job that pays well. A job I think I'll like. If I can just get some piano music into my fingers. Doreeeeee and I are both doing it. There's a dance class in the public schools that has acommpianists, and the accompianist for the Wooster one is out of town for awhile, like a long while, like moving away for awhile then coming back later, so Doreeeee and I are going to do it. It's on Wednesdays, like all schoolday. We went to a similar class Monday, and I loved it, it's 4th and 5th graders, like my favorite age of kids (ok I like a lot of ages of kids), it was really high energy and I think I'll really like it, but learning at least the beginnings of at least 5 songs (really hopefully a lot more than that) by next Wednesday is a daunting prospect. I like the learning songs, but then if I practice piano for half an hour longer than usual I pretty much don't get done with school till dinnertime--at least I didn't today. And I had a lot of extra catching up stuff to do, so that didn't help. Actually I think that was mainly responsible for how late I got done. So piano didn't help.

And this Saturday, on top of everything else, I'm taking the PSAT. But as Mom said, that's done Saturday and I don't have to think about it again. I really hope my brain is in good working order Sat. It's all in there if my brain just dredges it out. Everything seems so logical when you've got the right answers in front of you and you can see what you did wrong. But it's so confusing when you don't know what the most logical thing is.

I have to go to bed, because you really get the effects of a good or bad night's sleep the day after the next day. So. Yeah. I just keep listening to my music (JUMP5, Newsboys, ZOEgirl) to keep me from going completely insane and I think I'll be ok.

A conversation between friends

I just thought this was kind of funny.

ktyack: i think my left eardrum is about to burst
sonikid: IT IS!?
ktyack: i dunno
ktyack: lol
ktyack: it might be
sonikid: DUCK 'N' COVER PEEPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ktyack: rotfl
sonikid: kidding

American History Essay

I find it interesting that many people (such as the founding fathers) in my American History readings are described as knowing how to use their minds. How many people today know how to use their minds? How many people think about and talk about politics and society and people in general?

People back in the 1700's and before didn't think that people could rule themselves, but I look at some of the kings and wonder if they could rule themselves, let alone an entire nation. People didn't think that all men were created equal, even those who were the ones at the bottom of the ladderbelieved that they weren't as important as the noblemen. All people are equal? Even slaves? Even women? Even peasants? They're just as important as men or kings? All are created equal?

How many people think that radically today? I don't think many do. I think people still think that some people are better than others--whether it's between blacks and whites or freshmen and seniors or the janitor and the CEO. People don't show other people the respect they deserve.

And I know I'm criticizing society in general, and that there are people in society in general who live up to this nation's claim that all men are created equal (and, Meghan, I mean all mankind, I'm just quoting the Declaration of Independence), but I wish they'd be more prominent and more radical. It's much more noticeable when you see someone do something wrong than something right, and therefore it takes a lot more of people doing things right to make everyone notice.

So I wish everyone would use their minds and make things happen and make people notice, make people notice that you treat everyone with respect, whether it's the janitor or your boss. The revolution truly was first in the minds and hearts of the people. Because when people use what they've got in their heads, big things happen. Unless you call the forming of a nation an incident not to be noticed or remembered.

New antibiotic and the "PPSAT"

Last night I had my first dose of my new antibiotic, a liquid this time, in my most cherished shade of pink. I was going to wait to take it until after consuming my delicious french bread pizza, but I decided that the pizza would taste better without the threat of medicine hanging over it, so I took all two tspfulls.

IT WAS SO YUMMY! I mean it tasted like someone had dissolved sugar into water until it was thick with the sugar. Then there was a nasty aftertaste, and that's when I was glad I had taken it before the pizza, cuz I could just eat and therefore it didn't taste bad at all. So that's a GIANT relief.

And then today, practically first thing in the morning (all of 11:45, but it was the first serious thing I did all day) I took the Practice PSAT that they give you when you sign up for the PSAT. I'm not sure how I did. I answered all the questions, and I scored above average, but I made some seriously stupid mistakes on the math stuff (90x2 isn't 80, and 2+3, my arch nemesis of arimetic, is, once again, not 6!) So I did ok besides those. And I need to be a little more thorough in checking my answers, but I had plenty of time to check on the word ones.

Time to go take yummy pink stuff!

Update on sickness

I woke up this morning seriously thirsty and dehydrated (even though I drank A LOT of water yesterday). Then Dad checked my temperature and it was 102.9. Not good. So I took some Advil and ate a popsicle and went to the doctor. She said I have a sinus infection. I'm the only one in our family who gets them. I've only gotten one once before, in February 2004, right before our trip to Florida, but it was more like a never ending cold then.

It's really not too terrible to be sick--I mostly feel ok if my head's resting on something, and I just get to lay around and listen to HP on tape and eat popsicles. The bad parts are: I'm going to have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on and I have to take antibiotics. I hate taking medicine, though I'm sadly getting good at it. It's not a pill, it's chewable, and it tastes better than "the purple stuff" (which is my ultimate medicine nemesis) but it's still medicine.

I'm going to watch the Princess Bride this afternoon I think, because the boy in it is sick. :) It seems like he had what I have--fever and a bit of a cough. But until then, Jelly Blobs of Doom, Kiko Match, and Freaky Factory await.

Random things about my current life

1. I'm sick. I had a fever of 101.5 this morning and I lost my voice over the weekend. I took some advil and my fever went down. But that's not much fun. I just did reading stuff for school today.

2. I had a really fun weekend. Ok, actually about half of it was fun. The middle half. With a fourth on each end not-so-fun. All day Saturday we cleaned. I actually got off pretty easy, but cleaning is just tiring. Then Saturday night we had the annual church hayride, which marks the beginning of the fun half. The weather was soooo nice. I took off my sweatshirt for the sunny parts. It was pretty amazing. We had hot dogs (I did mine and it ended up being cold by the time I got to the end because I wasn't patient enough to stand by the fire that long) and S'MORES!!! so yummy.

We brought brucedashark, tinkerbell6458 and supergurl101 home from the hayride and played MAFIA! That was fun. By this time my voice was well gone. Yes, it is twisted that the church youth group's favorite game is Mafia. Don't ask me why that is--actually, I think it's because we're just good at it, and have lots of fun playing it.

Sunday morning was church, which is always fun, we had a lot of people in Sunday School this week (it's been going every other: 5, a lot, 5, a lot), which was fun, and the songs were good.

Then we got home and I crashed (here begins not-so-fun second fourth). I think I had been having so much fun that I didn't notice that I wasn't feeling so great. But when all friends were gone, I was just dead on my feet. So I read HP6 all afternoon, got through about 2/3 of it. I haven't reread it since the first time. It wasn't a thouroughly unpleasant afternoon, when I was just laying there my head didn't feel funny, and HP6 is a good book, even if Swift says it's not. The ending might be a bit sad and mean, but that doesn't mean the rest isn't good.

Ummmmm this concludes my random (sort of) things about my current life. I think I'll go read more HP6 and eat some frozen fruit stuff (which is like a popsicle cake, I suppose). Good for someone needing fluids and Vitamin C. :)

Quotes

Yeah, so I haven't posted for awhile, but I'm going to do a random post of my AIM profile first...haha!

if you're looking at this, you rock...have a nice day!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Mt 6:33

IMPACT, you really rock...and anyone else who went to LT, for that matter...

"...we fools who love..." "...the choice between what is right and what is easy..." ~Dumbledore, HP5 and 4, respectively

You know the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?" Well, it's true, cuz it really is greener over here!

"You are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"
"Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have!" ~Hermione, HP5, both about Ron. Ha!

"I am no man!" ~Eowyn, at the thrilling climax of LOTR3

"I can't do it Sam."
"I know.
It's all wrong.
By rights we shouldn't even be here.

But we are.
It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end, cuz how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

victory! we have victory!

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it'll shine the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories...had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't, they kept going, because they were holding onto something."

"What are we holding onto, Sam?"

"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo.
And it's worth fighting for."

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. -George Bernard Shaw (don't be afraid to get a little dirt under your nails!) I got that off my cousin's profile, and I liked it, so here it is.

"You're not going to spend eternity with your dirty laundry," so invest in the things that matter.

Harry Potter

Arg! So I'm on my HP web site (mugglenet!), which I have a link to, and I see they have a picture of Mad-Eye Moody as he appears in the movie. So I go look at that, and under that there's a link saying something about "Not all Christians are anti-HP," so I click on the link and it goes to Christianity Today's website. There are a bunch of articles about Harry Potter, some for, some against, and I go to one of the against ones because I love ranting at them. But then of course I needed someplace to rant and someone to rant to, so I go to my blog.

YES witchcraft is real. YES HP has witchcraft in it. NO the witchcraft in HP IS NOT real. YES, some kids think it is, which is why the books are not for all kids. My argument goes down to the bottom line that parents should decide whether or not their kids should read the books. Some kids are too imaginative and shouldn't read them, but if they know that it isn't real and it's just for fun, let them read it! Also, don't be anti-Harry Potter without reading the books. The magic is a minimal part of the story and is usually very humorous. When I think about HP I think about the friendships and conflicts and characters, not the magic. Ok, if I write much more I should just put on my 7th or 8th grade HP report (which isnt' a bad idea...) So I'll stop now.

These are a few of my fa-vor-ite things

Also could be titled "Things I thrive on and probably couldn't live without"

Seeing the color yellow
Wearing the color pink
Bright colors in general
Talking to friends
Hanging out with friends
E-mailing friends
Anything to do with friends
Good books that make you sigh when you're done with them (see my profile for a list of them)
Quiet Times
Goofing off with my sisters (especially when we're supposed to be brushing our teeth, or are brushing our teeth)
Freaky Factory and Kiko Match (http://www.neopets.com/games/freakyfactory.phtml and http://www.neopets.com/games/kikomatch2.phtml. I have a feeling that these two are fads and I could very easily live without them, but they're nice to get your brain off school, and I have fun with them).
Singing randomly (it's especially fun when I do it in my Carlotta voice. Ha. You don't want to know. *grins ominously*)

I'm sure I could add more if I could think of them.

And another post--not the last

I just finished Witch of Blackbird Pond. If you haven't read that, you should, because it's really really good. My definition of really really good is when you get done, you close it slowly and siiiiiiiiiiiiiiggh. And then siiiiiiiiiigh again. Until your family goes, "Katie just finished a book and it must've been good, cuz we're all going to be blown away by those tremendous sighs." And then you go post on your blog about it and add it to your profile. :D

So it's a pretty good day today...

Yeah. So. Ha. Aren't I articulate this morning. Go to http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=21, cuz it totally rocks. If you can, read it out loud.

I had no intention of writing any of that, but there it is so I might as well leave it.

I am so weird. Just--so weird. When I get happy, euphoric, high on life, I have SO MUCH ENERGY. Like now. Oh my. The particular reason for this euphoria is I just finished Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors. It's the fourth book in a series of what weill have five books. It's like Harry Potter, but different (aren't all books these days). It was really good. It's nice to read a book that makes you keep reading and keep reading and won't let you stop. It's even nicer to read it on a Saturday afternoon that you don't have anything going on and are able to keep reading. Yeah. Ok. Moving on.

Yesterday, when I didn't particularly want to go bowling, I played the best game of my life. 138. With bumpers. But they were mostly there for morale, because the 2 strikes and 3 spares that I got all in a row didn't use the bumpers. So that was cool. It really wasn't fair, because I wasn't trying at all and Abby was trying really hard. Funny how those things work. *shakes head*

Um. Yeah. Hi. Oh dear. That was a Doreeee-ism. *shakes head again*. Goodbye.

bladidadida

hmm, I think I've used that title before. Oh. I have to go now. Ha. Back. Well, I'm bored. Everyone's at school. *sigh*. I'm not doing school 'cause my grandparents are here, so we had finished up school before. so yah, I'm booorrrreedd. We're not doing anything till later, so I have nooottthhhiiiinnnggg to doooo. I guess I could go do something. Ha. very funny. Yah I just crack myself up. Oh dear. I need to do something productive. so I guess this means this waz a pointless post...Buenos dias, me amigos. The orange was Doreeeee pretending to be me. Which is interesting. To say the least. Ha. "lol" means that's really truly funny. "Ha" means I've never seen something less funny in my entire life, HEY!and I usually only use it when I'm morose. Which is my word for when I'm not perfectly happy, lol. Ha. >:P Yeah, this was pretty much a pointless post. But it amused me. So not totallly pointless. We're going bowling today. I wanted to go ice skating but we flipped a coin, which is the best way to decide things, so we're going bowling. Which will be fun as long as we have bumpers. I start too many sentences with Which. WHICH is really ha. Oh well. Ha. Blah. Those rhyme. Oh dear. I'd better leave now.

Katie's Marvelous Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here it is...my semi-secret recipe! :D It used to be Mom's but I kind of absconded with it...:D

2-4 medium-sized slightly overripe bananas (5-7 for a double batch)
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 c oil
1 ½ c flour
½ c wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ generous c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together egg, sugar, and oil. Mash bananas until creamy and add to mix. Add flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt (don’t forget those last three or they’ll end up being bland pellets. Trust me, I know). Mix all that up. If you only used two (or 5) bananas you might need a dash of milk. Add the chocolate chips. Don't forget to eat a few yourself. Mix it well cuz this is the part that determines how well-distributed your chocolate chips are. You don't want too many in one muffin and none in another! Bake at 350 degrees until they look brown and muffin-y. Mom always does that part, so I don't know how long exactly. Another important thing I've learned form experience is to grease/oil the muffin tins. Makes 12-18 muffins depending on how many bananas you used and how big your muffin tins are. Double batch makes 24-30 muffins, depending on how many bananas you used and how big your muffin tins are. And if you used 7, expect LARGE muffins (by my standards). Enjoy!

A nest of mice and some chickens

There's a nest of about 5 little baby things in our front yard. Mice, moles, or rabbits. They have tails though, which narrows it down to mice. They're really cute. I'll have to post a picture of them.

We were playing Bocci this evening, and Abyack was saying, "oh, man, dad's so much closer than me!" But we didn't know yet, so I said, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." She said, "Why, cuz one might be a twin chicken?" Which I thought was absolutely hilarious.

The Haircut Saga

Yesterday I got my haircut. I just wanted basically the same thing I have now (really long hair with no style) but interesting. So we showed Denise (that's the hair stylist) a picture and she cut away. She just trimmed the ends and put in a bit of layering in the front. It looked cute the way she had it, but then we got home and it kind of just disappeared. It looked nice if I got it all arranged and just sat there, but if I walked around it blew into oblivion.

Neither Mom or I was really happy with it, so Mom called today and asked if there was a spot that I could go back in. There was. We explained the dilemma and she was really good about it. She said she could put in more layers, but then she'd have to take off about 4 inches of the length and that would be a bit drastic. She also said just putting in more layers would make my thin, fine hair look...thin and fine. So the other option was to just do a bit more of what she did yesterday. We went with that one. It looks really nice--more how I imagined it would look in the first place. Like, you can actually tell I got a haircut. Wow!(That's unusual, for those of you who didn't know.) Not at first glance maybe, cuz it's still way long, but there are shorter pieces of hair in there.

The hairstylist was really good about considering my hair type and what would work with it, and what we wanted it to look like.

So the drama is over and I have a cute haircut. I'm happy now. :)

School has begun

The Madness has begun. Well, ok, so it's not all that insane...yet. No piano or dance till next week.

Today was the best day of school yet as far as length goes. Monday and Tuesday I worked ahead on my reading books so that Thursday and Friday I won't have them. So M and T took till about 4:30 or 5, but today was only till 3:30. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have super short day...or I'll just read my SAT book all day...

This year I don't have all the annoying vocabulary and analogies books, but Home Ec has replaced them. Just in the workload, it's not annoying or anything.

Next Tuesday I'm starting piano. With my new teacher, Mr. S. He's quite nice, but all the same I'm a bit nervous because I haven't played piano all summer, except for sometimes in church. So my hands get tired more easily--my back does too, it's not used to sitting up straight for 45 minutes straight. It's really amazing though, I haven't done any exercises or scales all summer and my fingers still remember how to do them. Not as fast as I did them last year, but they remember. Only if I very strictly do not think about it.

Spanish: I don't think I remember as much as last year, but it's coming back quite nicely. It's fun, too. I'm watching National Treasure with Spanish subtitles right now. Hannah's started. And we're going to order Rosetta Stone. Actually we did, but there's a big hullabaloo because we're not totally sure it's legitimate. Well, we're quite sure it's not. Sheesh, I've been using "quite" way too much this post!!!

I think I'm going to take back what I said at the beginning of the last paragraph: I think I do remember as much as last year, at least as far as vocabulary goes. Verb tenses have slipped away, but just a little bit. It's all still there if I just dig a bit.

Same goes for math. I'm mostly reviewing what I learned at the end of last year. It's weird because it's not challenging, but if I did anything farther ahead I think I would be totally lost.

humdeedoodeeday

Why is it that I always feel like doing a million things at 10:00 at night, when I have to go to sleep, but now in the afternoon I don't feel like doing them?

But let's see here...I also think one of the reasons I didn't like Dominator was that it was too much too soon. But I don't know if I'll ever work up to liking something I disliked that much. And I don't think it would've been much different if I had gone with friends. Maybe if I went with friends, worked up to it more, went on it cuz I wanted to and not cuz I thought I should, and had my eyes open, MAYBE then I would like a roller coaster.

Ooh, I'm gonna go make some muffins. Mmmmm. Banana chocolate chip. We have lots of bananas.

Geauga Lake

Wow. Ok. So much to write, so little time.

Rides I went on:

Liked:
The Merry Oldies (you drive a car around a track)
The carousel
the swinging ship thingy--that was my favorite!
the 3D dino show

Didn't like:
The Beaver Mining something or other (small roller coaster)
Dominator (roller coaster)

Didn't care:
The scrambler thingy ma do
bumper cars
ferris wheel

The first things we did were the roller coasters.
First the small one. It was my first time on a roller coaster, and I wasn't sure I liked it too much. So I went on it again, trying to get more confident. It was a little better the second time. I went on it again later in the day and it was even better then, but still not fun on some of the corners.
Then the big one. I did not like it. Hannah and Dad went on it first, and Hannah loved it, so Abby went, and she loved it, so she took me, but I didn't like it. There were a number of factors:
>I did it because I thought I should, not because I wanted to.
>I sat on the edge seat. I'm not actually sure if that made it worse, but Hannah said it was shakier on the edge seat than in the middle seats.
>I had my eyes shut the whole time. I think I closed them on the big hill up.
My heart was beating soooo fast! I think if I had opened my eyes I might've had a heart attack!

Ok, bad stuff over--after that Hannah, Dad and Abby went on X-Flight. The first thing they said when they got off: something to the effect of "that was so cool! I loved it!" Second thing, "Katie, you would not like that." I used that as ammo when they said, "Don't you want to go on it?"

Then we ate lunch, I think. That's when my day started to improve, my burger was really good and it was nice to sit down and have a drink of water! We went on the merry-go-round, bumper cars and the Merry Oldies thing next. I've already said everything remarkable about those. I think I would like the bumper cars if I were in an energetic enough mood. Whiplash just didn't seem all that appealing today. I like the car thing because it's SO HARD to steer! I drove Hannah the first time. I wasn't totally sure that you had to steer, so we're approaching the first turn and Hannah yells, "Turn!" I'm like, Oh, ok. Sounds good. Oops. So that was fun.

Then my day improved about 200%: we went on the Swinging Ship. That's not its actual name, but who can keep those all straight? It was REALLY FUN!!! Yeah, it's like a 3 thrill rating and I sat in the middle, (abby: "cuz your a wimp") but I had so much fun. I went on it three times straight in a row and screamed every single time!!! Um, then we went on the Scrambler thingy (once again, Dad and Hannah tested it and then Abby and I tried it. It was ok. I probably would've liked it more if I hadn't just gotten off my favorite ride.)

Uh, let's see, finishing up quickly...I went on the car thing again while the Coaster Three went on Dominator again. Oh, and then they did X-Flight again.

It was the perfect day to go: it didn't get too hot, there were virtually NO LINES! I stood in line for something twice, just waiting for it to go once, we were like the first people in line. So if you really liked something (like the swinging ship) you could just get off and get on again! It was pretty breezy all day too, which was really nice. We kept getting really thirsty from screaming and the heat, but the vendor people give you cups of water (thank heavens, we're not reduced to buying water).

We're all really tired, but it was really fun! And now I have to go wash off my Geauga lake sunscreen and sweat.

umm, I don't really know why I'm posting, but I'm sure I'll find something to talk about

oh, yes I definitely will. I babysat the family with the "ooh, we're winning" boy tonight. His name's Ian. I was whacking him with his Spider man gloves (he looooves spider man) to tease him, and he said, "Hey, you hit me!" I got all innocent and said, "no, it was the gloves!" And the first thing that pops into his head was, "No it wasn't, they don't have eyeballs!" Like, "it's the most obvious thing in the world! That's the only reason they couldn't hit me!" Then he did say, "And, they're not alive!"

Tomorrow we're going to Geauga Lake. And I'm going to go on a roller coaster. Just a little one to start with.

Oooh, I gotta tell yall about all this good food I've been having! Last night we went to Cici's Pizza. It's an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, and did I eat all I could eat! It's not just pizza (there are lots of kinds), there's also dessert (the apple pie pizza was reallllly good) and salad and pasta.

And today we went to Grinders, and I got breaded shrimp with fantastic seasoned vegetables and fries. Mmmmmmmmm.

Editor's Notes

I keep thinking, "oh, I should add this to that post" and "oh, that's not quite what actually happened" so I'm going to do one post to correct some of my others.

Sisterhood:
There is some inappropriate stuff in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I didn't really notice, except for noting that they made bad choices. I mean, I did notice, but I didn't. So consider yourself forewarned.

Babysitting:
Just because they're angels sometimes doesn't mean they are all the time. For instance, for part of the summer a babysitting day didn't go by that Maria didn't have a hissy fit about something or other. Oh, and I totally forgot to post about Mandy, the Crazy Dog. ADORABLE, but a puppy, and therefore crazy! :) She was a lot of fun, though, when she wasn't chewing on something she wasn't supposed to.

Umm, was there something else? I don't think so...the cacti are doing great--oh, yeah, there was something else--my white cactus is blooming too! I noticed the day after the other one. They're white flowers (which is why it took me awhile to notice), and I can't figure out how they're going to bloom through the spines, but I guess cacti have a way of managing it, so I'll just watch.

Vacation Post #1

Today we played mini golf and went bowling. I did not do too well at either, but had fun anyway. I had some redeeming shots, which was nice (like getting a spare my last turn --except then I didn't hit anything with my extra bowl) (oh, and in mini golf I hit it through a log cabin window and no one else did--but then I scored 5 on that hole). Oh, and in the middle, we had SWENSON'S for lunch. It was SO GOOD!!! There is nothing like a Swenson's burger, fries and a coffee/hot fudge shake. Mmmmm! I was the last one finished eating and had to quickly suck down the last bit of my milkshake cuz we were at the bowling place. There was so much flavor, you couldn't just snarf it down. I saaavvooorr. Sooooo yummy. ok, can you tell that was the highlight of my day! (and my two parenthetical redeeming shots.)

Tonight we're going to trumpet in the land. We should probably be leaving right now. ok, we are. Which means I can't format fancy. oh well. I'll try anyway cuz no one's moving.

Babysitting, more babysitting, and some more babysitting.

Let's start with some fun statistics: From last Tuesday to today (that's one week) I have babysat:

>16 kids

>45 hours

>2 dogs

>5 families

>6 days

>age range of 5 to 12.

>4-9 hours per family

So yeah. I'm tired. But it was fun. Crazy, but fun. I've learned a lot, like how nice it is to live somewhere not cluttered and where the counters get wiped off. I didn't know I was a neat freak--well, actually, I'm not. I have this weird personality that I"m whatever everyone around me isn't. Like, if no one's leading, I will, but if someone else will, I won't. If no one else will clean up, I will.

One family has kids who listen right away, one family is really considerate, like they're there to serve me, not vice versa. One family has a girl named Maria whose life ambition is to be a princess. She has the most vivid imagination...mostly copying off of her favorite movies and making her the damsel in distress and me the sidekick or bad guy. Oh, and she adds her own plot to it. Another family of kids (triplets) loves to play with my long hair. Loves it. The girls played with it for about an hour, while I read to them. And the last family has a boy who plays video games, asks if I can play it for him, and then says stuff like, "Ooh, we're winning!" and "you're getting lots of points for us!" which could be totally annoying or adorable. I consider it to be adorable, or I couldn't babysit him for 7 hours.

and a top view--they go all the way around. EEEEEEE! usually that means scary but this time it's excitement--you should've seen me when I realized it was blooming! My family can tell you, I was EX, CITE, ED! Ok, now go to the bottom and go up, cuz that's the order I did them in, so my comments will make more sense. 

group picture...I know they're about the same as last time, but it's like a family picture, lol. The red one's head is too big for its stem, I'm trying to figure out a way to prop it up. It tilts every time I repot it straight. 

whole view--look how tiny they are! 

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! I don't know how I got the camera to zoom in this far but I'm really glad I did! 

okay, enough people: my cactus!!!!!! all the little hot pink dots are buds! 

and the finale--james won 

SPOONS!!!!!!! spoons and mafia are my youth groups favorite pastimes 

more sophie--she can stand up without holding onto things now! 

more of da guys 

sophie, our youth leaders' adorable daughter! she's ...about 9 months old? no idea. I could figure it out if I had time or brainpower... 

da guys--notice sonikid 

more best buds, still on sunday night at the cookout 

two of my best buds 

mafia, sunday night. We had fun! 

Grandma, you could say the matriarch. 

cousins! we were playing mad gab...this is their team, and my sisters were on a team with me, and we totally lost. I think their southern accents helped a lot. 

I took like 15 pictures like this and there is only this one that turned out remotely the colors it actually was. 

and, last but not least (of the LT pix at least) me and tony again, but this time MY eyes are closed. Doesn't anyone have one where we're both looking? 

my lovely nails--since you can't really tell: they say LT ! 05 ROCKS 

the girls at church before we even went to columbus to get on the bus 

before the bus ride really started, late late at night...you can see just about everyone. except james, isaiah, adam and jeremiah, I think that's everyone. 

flip flop fighting while waiting for the bus--the guy behind tony is adam. 

the rest of the ladies picking--you had to pick the dried flour/water off of the shirts 

ladies cooking