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