Hard to Believe

It's really hard to believe that it's been two months since the last retreat. I know I've told everybody (almost) that, but I still want to say it again. I thought it was so fun seeing friends again and making new ones. I've e-mailed them and even seen some of them since then, but somehow I figured it would be a long time before I saw any of them again. Maybe it's because four months have passed between every retreat I've gone to before this one. The first one I went to was in June 2004 (Camp Curry), with the next one occurring in October of that same year in Sterling. I didn't go to the Christmas one last December because it was in CO, and I think we were busy that weekend anyway. I did attend the retreat in February; it was in Minneola, and I met a couple new people. That was really fun! There was no retreat in April, but I went to Camp Curry in June of 2005. After that, the next retreat was in Shawnee in October, and now I'm preparing to attend the one in Clay Center.

I can remember every retreat I've gone to; my favourite has probably been the one in Sterling. At that retreat I learned how important it is to let your faith shine in your everyday life, whether you're a lawyer or a high school math teacher. I especially liked the prayer time when we divided into small groups of threes and fours. I wish the other retreats have had that, but I guess there's always been that at Camp Curry. I appreciate that!

76!

How am I supposed to choose a book when I've read seventy-six books this year! Oh no! However, I do have the capabilities and resources to handle this with calmness and ease. I will choose a book and write a review for all of you.

Now since you all are probably tired of hearing all about "the book of the year," I'm going to stop. You shall not hear the results until after the retreat, probably next Tuesday or Wednesday. I promise not to talk about it until I announce the results. :)

oooooookay

This is a better template, but right now it's kinda green. just kinda, tho. i'll change it later when i get bored. :)

i'm enjoying myself. i practiced an hour and half today. i think if i keep working on my music at this rate, i will have it ready in time. oh, and i have "Scherzo" memorized-- finally.

grandma's in sabetha as of this afternoon. i think everyone here was kinda shocked; dad said she wasn't gettin out today. i guess he was wrong! mom and lydia met them on oregon street this afternoon as they were headed to the hospital. i guess the nurses got tired of grandpa or something. just kidding! i think this is good that grandma is showing improvement.

our phone line is fixed. yay! however, that means my thoughts are usually interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone. it's never for me, so it's kind of annoying to listen to it. oh well. i guess i don't mind too much.

Seereuslie!!!!!!!! (Okay, so I'm not really)

The year is almost over. In fact, there are a total of four days and about seven hours-- give or take a couple-- until it is time to turn the page of the calendar. Actually, I need to do more than that: I need to put up a totally new calendar. I guess I need to think about that. Pretty soon it's going to be January, and then I'm going to look at my wall and wonder if anything's happening. I won't know because I didn't write it down because I didn't have a calendar. So there is a reason why you should get a sixteen-month calendar. It's so you don't get hung up without those precious little squares when the clock chimes midnight.

However, that's not why I'm posting. I'm posting because nobody has voted on the book of the year. I think I know what I'm going to choose, but I'm not announcing it until I have a whole paragraph written up, including author, and series of the year. In choosing the author of the year, should I go with the one whose books I read the most or the one whose books I enjoyed the most? I want your opinion! (note: it probably won't change my vote, but that doesn't matter :P)

The Beginnings of Vacation

I really like Christmas breaks. They're fun. The only bleak spot on the calendar is that I have to do chemistry sometime today. :( I wish I could just do my own thing and follow the book. I never know whether or not I'm supposed to believe what the book says. I also feel like I'm suppose to know that and instantly understand the material, regardless of the fact that there's a week between classes. Also, I really don't know how to pace myself. There's a lot of new material there, but I don't know how to work my way through it. I wish I could just follow the day-by-day and just read several pages per day, gradually working my way through the course. After all, this is supposed to be a self study (or whatever it's called).

Wanna know something really cool? My grandma walked 100 feet this morning. We all (except Mom) went down to see her last night for a couple of minutes, and that was really nice. I know Grandpa appreciated it. Eric took his violin down and tried to play "Son of the Puzta" that he's really actually supposed to have memorized, but it was obvious that he didn't. The bad thing about that it that he will have it (mostly) memorized, and he'll do very well for the contest. I hate that! I wish I could do that. I always practice more than he does, but he always does sooo much better than I in the actual contest. It really stinks. Anyway, the point is that Grandma is slowly improving, and that's a good thing. Even the fever that she had last night is gone!

hohoho!

Never mind. I guess I'm not leaving just yet. I will soon, though. You may count on it. I promise. I really think we're leaving in a jiffy. Actually, I'm not leaving in a jiffy because a jiffy is equal to like one trillionth of a second or something like that. I'm pretty sure we're not leaving that soon because a lot of jiffies have past since I said that. Oh, I know what I can do: I can find a new profile pic to put. That will be fuuuuuun. Actually, I'm going to do something else. Tahtah!

hahahahahahaha

Someone was saying that just now, so I get to, too. Right?

Elsbeth is soooooooooo cute. So's Cory.

And we're leaving an hour earlier than expected. Am I surprised? This means I have to get ready to go now.

I'm hungry. Maybe I can find something to eat. Oh, here we go. Nothing beats a loaf of bread for a midnight snack. I suppose I could make a peanut butter sandwich. No, I don't want to wait that long! :)

I still want to see King Kong, but I've pretty much given up the idea of seeing it in theatres. That would be, like, three trips to the theatre in a month! It will be a test of my patience to wait six months when I couldn't wait a week and a half to see Narnia! Oh well. I haven't seen Pride and Prejudice, either.

Yay for Today!

I have school done for today. Yay.
I have chemistry class tonight. Yay. (just kidding!)
Eric's almost done, so we're going to town soon. Yay.
What's wrong with what I come up with? I just asked what I knew. That was for you to guess, and nobody came up with anything. So I repeat: What do I know? The answer to this could be anything, as I know a lot. Yay.
The retreat is in two weeks. Yay.
I need to wash my socks. It's kind of cold outside. :)

What do I know?

Books of 2005

I know I still have two weeks left of the year 2005, but I figured I'd get started naming the books of the year. It was really fun keeping track of all the books I read this year, although I have to admit that I neglected to record a few. The Curious George books didn't count!

Choosing my favorite series this year is really difficult. I enjoyed Heirs of Montana by Tracie Peterson, as well as Dakota Treasures by Lauraine Snelling. My brothers will berate me for even doubting The Lord of the Rings to be the best, but I did enjoy the two books I read. I really enjoyed following the perils of Merry and Pippin almost as much as I trembled in fear for Frodo.

A few of my individual favorites include Emerald Windows by Terri Blackstock (May); Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Secret Tides by Gary Parker (September); Operation Firebrand by Jefferson Scott (July); Crossfire by Jeannette Windle (August); and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (December).

Check back in two weeks to see which ones win. If you have a favorite, please say so. Remember, I still have two weeks to read one or two books! :)

hm... it has officially been proven that I am unable to maintain a secret.

I also can't pay attention to details.

The only word ending in sede is supersede. The only three words (in the English language) ending in ceed are proceed, exceed, and succeed.

I also never want to learn the Chinese language. Actually, there's probably a million spoken Chinese languages because the Chinese have a hard time understanding each other. I don't even want to learn the written language because to be able to understand it, one must memorize 60,000 characters. There's no other way to learn it. Bummer.

Hm, that last post was a little long. I'll make this one a little shorter. :)

We're watching The Alamo right now. I didn't want to because I'd heard that it's kind of slow, and it is, but it's okay. I don't think I'm going to like the ending, though, because I'm getting drawn into the story, and then everybody's going to die. It's so sad. And Santa Anna, the cruel Spanish guy, is so filled with hate that he's ugly. The actor's good.

I almost have October's block embroidered. It's taken me a long time; it's going to take a long time to do November's. Lydia's expecting me to get it done before the end of the month. She should just get December's. Unfortunately, then she'd do it right away and I'd be even more behind.

I know I haven't done anything with my template, but I'm beginning to think it's okay. It's definitely not like I'd really like it, and some things are a bit screwy, but it doesn't look bad. I'm thinking that I'll just leave it until after the first of the year or until I find the time. It could be a while, especially with all the school I want to get done. It's hard to believe that I should be halfway through 10th grade.

Until next time!

Geometry was really fun this morning. We didn't go in Thursday just because the start of school had been delayed an hour and a half and we didn't really know what the schedule was was. So we evidently missed class. When we got there this morning, we discovered that we'd missed this super-long 60 point quiz. That's the closest to a test we've ever gotten there. Anyway, we got to do it in class while Mr. Hall gave a "lecture" in which he walked everybody through all the problems. At least I think that's what he did. I'm not sure because I didn't exactly listen, but that's what he does every time he hands back a quiz. But the point is that that quiz was a lot of fun. It took me a long time to do everything, but I think I'll do pretty well on it. :)

I still haven't updated my website. I have even gone to it to see what new tweak it needs. But I am going to rename a page. You'll have to guess what one it is! :)

I'm missing cheesecake tonight! Mom said they'd save me some and that there will be plenty left, but it's not the same. Bother chemistry class.

The snow is mostly gone. All those four (I really actually don't know how much we got) inches of snow depleted to various spots. Our driveway is a mess because by the time the ice starts to melt, it's time for it to freeze again. It's been a sheet of ice the past couple of days. However, you can't really go sledding on it. :(

On a brighter note, it's warm outside. I used to think that 45 was cold, but not after -3 (with a windchill of -14). I like it.

It's a lot closer to Christmas than I thought it was. Suddenly it's 5 days until Jacque gets home and we have one branch of our family celebrating Christmas, and then it's thirteen days until Christ's birthday. Hmm... it kind of snuck up on me.

How come everybody changes that little icon in the search bar to google instead of leaving it as a link to dictionary.com? That's such a cool website, I can't believe ya'll are depriving yourselves of it. I use it almost every time I make a post or write a paper -- well, almost every time I'm on the computer. What's up with that? :))

Oops! My bad. :)

Drat. I guess my template thing didn't work. It doesn't look at all like what I thought it did. Oh well. I'm not going to change it for a while. I don't think it looks too bad, and I really don't want to spend all that time changing everything. It takes forever! I might just get a totally new template and start all over. What do you think?

I'm back... from where?

I messed with my template before supper. My colors didn't all match, but at least I know what everything was. Then I went to supper. I didn't save anything because I figured no one would come close anything-- if they even got that close to the computer. Bad idea. After I finished eating, I started a load of clothes. When I came back to the computer, Eric was on there, and he had closed all my programs without saving anything. So now I'm mad at him because he made me do it over. He's mad at me because he thinks I'm obsessed. I'm not obsessed! Well, I might be a little, but it's really fun to see what I can do in the template. I like to think I'm that smart. :) Haha. Yeah right. It's fun anyway.

Mom thinks we all spend way too much time on the computer. She's probably right. However, I did get all my school done today. I think I'm well on my way towards accomplishing my goal: get two weeks of school done in two weeks. Isn't that such a great goal? I'm really hoping to have it reached by December 16. On a smaller scale, I'm hoping to have a week's worth of school done this week by Friday so that I can get someone to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with me Friday night. I can't go watch it with the CY in Topeka. :( That would be so much fun... Oh well. I might be able to see it twice, though (not in the same night!).

So now I'm going to republish and see what it looks like. Blogger is so slow right now. I don't have a very good connection with them (why do I say them, anyway?), and it seems as if the more I publish, the longer it takes for my page to load. However, it seems as if our Internet has been slow overall the past couple of days. Sometimes I can't tell whether it's the computer or the Internet, but I think it's the Internet. Anyway, I'd better publish this before I lose my connection. :)

I did almost nothing today. I did do laundry, but that was only because I was desperate and it was piled high in my room. I have most of it taken care of, but I still have a couple loads left to go.

I didn't poke my nose out of bed until 10:00 this morning. Lydia tried to haul me out at some ungodly hour by bringing Hugh up and talking very loudly, but I ignored her and refused to open my eyes. Eric was really nice, so when he came up at 10:00, I got up 15 minutes later because he didn't even try to get me up before 9:30, which was the time before which no one could address me. ...and that was a very long sentence So after I got up I took a really long shower, and that felt good as well. Then I sort of got busy. I thought about e-mailing everybody because I haven't done that in forever, but I failed to find the motivation. :(

However, it's been a very pleasant day. I didn't even get cold! Well, my feet did, but that's because I didn't wear socks at all until about 15 minutes ago.

I think I might just list the movies I've watched, kind of like the way I list the books I read on my website. Instead of listing the director like I list the author of every book, I think I might give my rating based on a 1-10 scale.

So... I'm about ready to dislike geometry. Eric didn't get two of his papers back today, and they were worth a lot of points. I still haven't gotten a worksheet back that I handed in a long time ago. Plus, I don't see where we're going with all the weird assignments we have to do. Today we handed in a piece of paper that was covered with drawings of football fields, volleyball courts, etc. We were even supposed to draw a wrestling ring. Please don't ask me why because I know not.

Secondly, I apologize to everyone. I'm so sorry for all the times I inserted commas before subordinate clauses in some of my sentences, specifically when I use the word "because". It's so stupid of me, but I forget almost every time and put the comma in. I'm sorry.

Thirdly, I now have four movie reviews to write. I have so much to do tomorrow. Whenever I have a lot to do, I don't get anything done. If I can't get it all done, why do any of it? It doesn't make sense that I leave something undone, so I'm better off not starting it. (I'll probably start everything and finish nothing, though.)

That's the story of my life in three different categories. Categories and content may be subject to change at any given time and place.

Oh! I forgot. I left my purse somewhere for the first time. I'm kind of surprised I haven't done it before. I left it at the theatre after band, and after a dozen and a half phone calls, we got Boyds to drop it by Rippes' on their way home.

I'm off to sleep for the next decade.

Socks

So... I'm back from Rippes', where I spent my afternoon. It was actually pretty warm there. I liked it. There are certain rooms in the house that were really warm; I started to get hot pretty quickly. One was the bathroom, and the other was Austin's room. I even thought about shedding a couple of my four layers! Most of the other rooms were nice, and the only time I got cold was when I went outside in my socks and no coat. I thought it was pretty nice until I came back inside. Then I realized that my feet were really cold and I shouldn't do that even though I like wearing socks outside in the winter. I don't like going barefoot, and I don't mind wearing shoes (actually, I like it most of the time:P), but I think it's so much fun to go outside in socks when it's 20 degrees out.

New Template

I want to change my template. However, I don't want to risk having to redo the html. I like to have links, but I don't know if I could rewrite part of it again. :-S. Help me!!

Just kidding. I'm sure I will be able to do it. However, if you don't see links soon...

UPDATE: Well, I changed my template a lot of times and even changed the colors. Changing the colors was actually the reason I wanted to change my template, and it's what took t he most time. I love blogger's FAQs! They made it so much easier. Actually, they made it possible.

It's still not done yet, but I'm going to stop for now. You'll just have to suffer through it. :)

Random

²⁶ Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, ²⁷ a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land." ²⁸ Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth. ^{[b] 29} And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
[b] 23:28-- Sela Hammahlekoth means rock of parting

1 Samuel 23: 26-29

---

The Thanksgiving psalm sing in Winchester was really good. I enjoyed it a lot, even though I still couldn't sing. I did croak out a few "notes," but every time I tried, I started coughing, so I gave up and just listened. It was still really fun; I enjoyed it!
After the psalm sing, I was talking with Sarah B., Lisa, Jackie, etc, when Sarah's little sister came up and was trying to tickle everybody. She tried to tickle me, too, but it didn't tickle. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to tickle and she just wasn't a very good tickler, or if everbody else was pretending. So I pretended, too. :)

Chenga

This is what we did this evening. Eric wanted to play chess, but I wanted to play Jenga, so we compromised and did both. :)

Jacque and Becky left this morning. :( Jacque left her four decks of cards. I didn't really think she would, but I'm guessing she forgot them. Oh well. I'm not upset except for the fact that the jokers to two decks are missing, and so are the boxes that hold each deck. I like to keep it all together.

It's really warm outside. I went to town this afternoon, and I stupidly put on my winter coat. I could have worn flip-flops. Oh, I just looked, and it's 61 outside. That's really warm compared to what it has been. Well, okay, it's been on an average of 59 upstairs all week, but it's so much nicer when it's that warm/cold outside. I actually think it's warm in here right now, which is weird, because basically the temperature doesn't change. My perception of such merely varies.

The Thanksgiving Psalm Sing is almost here! I'm looking forward to it. It's in Winchester, and I know for certain that Lisa probably won't skip out on that. She's missed a lot of other stuff due to play practice and school, but the play has happened, and her church is hosting the psalm sing, so she'll be there. Also, others will be there. Yay!

It's kind of fun watching other people clean. Mom and Lydia (note the names here) are cleaning the computer room so that Eric (note this name) can have his friends over tonight to play Warcraft II. Why they're playing that, I don't know, but he is, and those boys are building grand plans. Eric's kind of in here supervising, but he's not really cleaning. Mom and Lydia are actually having a little trouble cleaning because it's a bunch of Dad's papers, and they really can't throw those away. Mom has this huge box that she's piling everything of his in. That's interesting because most of it is junk, and that's what I do when I clean the computer room. Unfortunately, it's not going to be sorted through for a long time, especially if nothing there is of any importance. Eric just found some money of his and said, "Hey, it does pay to clean!" Mom replied, "Well, Eric, if you'd just take care of your stuff...!" Well, this room is actually looking better. Eric might be able to fit everybody in this evening.

Hm, I think I'm going to see what I can do to help. I might go brush my teeth or clean up the kitchen a little. We are going to have company!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Grandma and Grandpa were surprised to see Jacque. It was really funny to watch Grandma. Dad and Eric parked the car behind the garage, and then Jacque and Becky ran into the house. Kristin saw them running, but Lydia hushed her pretty quickly. Kristin was shocked. Then Jacque came in, it actually took a moment for the fact that Jacque wasn't really supposed to be there. She said, "Jacque!" then "my, my, my!" We were guessing she would say, "Oh, oh, oh!" but it was good anyway. :) Grandpa was surprised, too, but I didn't see his reaction. He really enjoyed it, though.

So, I'm going to eat now.

History Test

What is going on here! Do you remember that history test that Mom said I flunked and had to do over? Well, the story's not over. The first time, I didn't really flunk it: I didn't even get a D! That really, really bothers me. I wasted all that time retaking a test?

Now, weeks later, I'm preparing to take the next test over the chapter I haven't touched in two weeks.

Interesting

I have a cold, and I've finally entered the really disgusting Phlegm Stage. Wanna see what I blew out of my nose this morning? :)

We have a new washer. I'm so glad. Now we can do the laundry that's been piling up for the last two weeks. Yesterday on the first out of nearly a dozen loads, I was leaning on the washer reading the owner's manual when this really loud buzzing went off. It was really loud! I jumped. When Mom and Dad went to get the new washer, they learned that someone else had bought the same model as the one we had and had exactly the same problems. If Mom and Dad weren't already set against that model, they were then!

I had something else to insert here, but I've been thinking about this post for a while without writing anything down, so I don't have anything right here. Yesterday I was going to post, but I felt really lousy.

We went skating the other day. Well, not very many people actually skated. It was mostly the younger ones. There really weren't very many people there. I met a couple of new people, and that was cool. There's really quite a few homeschoolers in the Sabetha area. I don't think I know half of them! Well, maybe I do, but I don't know more than that.

I'm hungry.

I'm going to go do more laundry in our precious new washer. Then I'm going to find something to eat. Hopefully Mom and Eric will be home soon.

It Stayed

The snow stayed. I couldn't believe it. The temperature is currently 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Three guesses whether I think that's warm or cold. I didn't wear my winter coat outside today.

When I woke up this morning, I had four e-mails in my inbox. That was sooo neat. Then I got one more this afternoon. I like it. I like it a lot. Now I have a lot of e-mails to reply to. I'm so bad about replying to a lot of people. Pretty soon I think I'm going to start writing shorter e-mails.

Hey, people, I want to know who goes to my website. I know that if you got here because of my website, you do go there without me prompting you. I'm proud of you. Unfortunately, I doubt there's any of you out there. And I put all those jokes up! I'm actually about to go put another one up. Eric sent it to me. :)

Andrew always says that a person loses most of his body heat through his head. I read that somewhere, too, but I beg to differ. I was just fine when I was wearing my shoes. Well, this morning I wasn't because my tennis shoes aren't very warm, but I changed when I got home, and I was just fine. Then a little bit ago I took off my shoes, and now I'm really cold. What's going on here!

English wasn't that boring the other day. I was studying punctuation. I got to that chapter and thought, "Oh no. I hate studying commas." However, first I had to go through the end marks. I didn't realize that I could just end an exclamatory question with an exclamation mark. I have quite a few of those sentences, but I've never known how to end them. So now I'm using a lot of emotion in my questions. :)

Yum

I love my nose. It made me change my mind about winter. Mom brought home oranges from the store. I love the smell of oranges. It made me feel that snow was alright. Oranges remind me of church Christmas parties because I would always get an orange in my candy bag. Also, winter is the only time Mom ever brings home oranges. I love them. So I got to peel one to put in the salad that Mom's taking tonight. I was almost done before I put a hole in the skin! I discovered that glasses are good for another thing: they protect my eyes from the deadly acid of orange juice.

I had a bite of orange, and it tasted really good.

I also smell sausage. We're having biscuits and sausage gravy for supper. Yum!

Something's weird, and it's not me!

I haven't updated since, um, saturday, and i remembered something that i was going to post for lydia:

• 1000m=1km
• 1m=100cm
• 1m=1000mm

that's all i'm remembering right now.

this chair squeaks a lot. i don't like it.

it snowed today. i was sad: i didn't want it to snow for a couple of weeks. i wasn't going to admit that it's time to wear a winter coat or that the ground was going to be messy for a while. i don't like mud. i also don't like wearing heavy coats. i didn't wear one today, anyway.

ew, yuck, in that last paragraph, all my sentences began with i.

my toes are really cold.

i made it through chemistry last night!! of course, i got lost when andrew started talking (i have a habit of doing that-- he doesn't exactly do it the way the book does), but that was okay because i understand the chapter. i wish i did before the last test...

we didn't have piano lessons today. mom has a moms' meeting tonight @ rippes' with a surprise baby shower. mom's taking the refreshments (donut holes and a fruit salad, which i'm supposed to make as soon as she gets home with the honey). and lexi's birthday party was cancelled because wendy's sick. lexi surely isn't happy about that, but mom took her birthday present down this afternoon. that should soothe her troubles some!

i did a math lesson today. i don't think i'll finish the book by august next year. i also had geometry class this morning. it was boring because we didn't go over anything new, but some of it was confusing. after most of the papers were handed back, which took about 45 minutes, we went over the worksheet that we were supposed to hand in today. however, we didn't. >:(

anyway, i'd better start laundry before mom gets home. at least all i have to do now is fold, and fold, and fold...

life is so complex.

it's almost thanksgiving! yes! only 11 more days until the actual holiday, but things happen before then. like NO SCHOOL.

in cy tonight, eric and tim couldn't decide how to spell hospitality. they couldn't decide if it had one or two ls. that cracked me up.

it feels really good not to be using capital letters. tomorrow i have to go back to typing like i'm supposed to, but it feels good. sometimes i forget that i'm not typing right and start capitalizing letters, so my sentences look weird. and when i start leaving out spaces-- that's just weird.

i watched charlie and the chocolate factory the other night. it was weird. go to my website sometime tomorrow (i'm not writing the review tonight) to see what that was about. be forewarned, if you don't like the "w" word, i don't think you'll like it-- the review or the movie.

...and that's about all the complexity i'm revealing to you.

It Is Chaos.

the auction tonight was very boring.

i told lydia that since she didn't want to, i would post certain math concepts on my blog. it's like taking notes-- sort of. however, i forget which ones she was having trouble with the other day, so i'm not doing it right now.

Fever Pitch is soooooo stupid. i don't think i'm going to finish watching it.

Saturdays...

I don't like Saturdays. Do you know why? It's the only time that I can wake up feeling like I've gotten enough sleep, and Andrew spoils it by stomping up the stairs as I'm waking up. He always says, "IT'S TIME TO GET UP, MARTHA!" I'm not impressed.

So today after that happened, I was somehow delegated to do laundry. No way am I doing laundry. The washing machine is broken, and it's not fixed! No matter what you try to tell me, it is not easy to do a load of laundry. If you think it is, you each do a load-- all the way through-- and tell me it's just fine. That includes cleaning up your mess.

Beyond that, I think my Saturday is okay. We're hosting a ton of people for dinner after church tomorrow, so we're doing a lot of cooking today. I think I'm supposed to make something pumpkin. Then tonight I have to accompany Eric. He really doesn't like to practice or even prepare in any way, so it shall be interesting. We'll see how that goes.

Then tonight, I'm hoping that we can see The Wizard of Oz. Hoping. I don't know if we'll be able to, but Dad said we might not have to stay for the whole auction. Eric and I could probably leave after we're done playing. However, he doesn't think the auction will be long, so we'll see.

In concluding my evaluation of this certain Saturday, I have ascertained the day to not be bad-- just not great. I'll enjoy the baking, but I would enjoy the cleaning more if the washing machine worked.

Oops. I forgot. I need to do chemistry today. Aaaaaaaaaw! Just kidding. I'll probably put it off until Monday.

A very good evening

I'm so excited. I didn't think that I would be able to go to Winchester for Hello, Dolly! but I did. It was fantastic! Lisa did a very, very, very good job, and so did everybody else. Joel was Dolly's prize (I forget his name), and Daniel was Cornelius. Boy, did that role ever fit! It almost made me want to be in drama, but not quite. I refuse to do Les Miserables. However, JCN gets a standing ovation from me.

I'm going bungee jumping!

I figured out why Blogger has a space for titles. When I was the 4-H reporter, the guy in at the newspaper office gave me some tips. He said that when I write something, I write in the order of interest. The title is usually about the most interesting thing. It's supposed to attract attention. Do you think my title attracts attention? :)

I'm supposed to be painting the porch. Mom gave me the choice of going to work with her or painting the porch. I chose the porch. It sounds kind of fun, especially since it's nice outside and I really need a break from school. I did retake my history test, and I think that I'll get a better grade. It's hard to remember all the poets' names and what they wrote!

School Rant!!

I hate school. Actually, I don't, but right now it seems to fit.

I felt like a bum today, so I didn't even start school until 11:00. That was a dumb idea: I had several long assignments today, not excepting the chemistry homework that I put off all week. Now I'm tired of school. It's dark outside, and that immediately puts me out of the school mode. However, I still have chemistry class tonight. :(

So here's the deal. A couple of weeks ago, I had a history test to do. So I studied for it, just as I had the previous ones. Unfortunately, I didn't take it. The next day, I didn't take it. A week later, I gave up waiting for *my teacher* to be around to ask her for it, so I just got it and took it. The whole thing was a dumb idea. First of all, I forgot everything, and so I bombed it. Secondly, I have to retake it. That bothers me. Mom and Dad said that the grades don't matter as much as the learning. So why do I have to retake the test? It will put me back yet another day (or three), and there's no guarantee that I'll do better. I don't want to retake the test. I want to just take the 40% or whatever I got on the test (I'm pretty sure I got at least half the credit for the essays) and go on. It'd be a waste of time to go back.

I'm supposed to be helping Lydia finish Algebra 1/2. That's an adventure. I don't like it because she has trouble understanding it, and I am very inadequate at communicating her problems. Very. I get so mad when she doesn't get it because I run out of ways to explain. I wish I could help, but I am not the one for the job. The problem is that she won't let Andrew or Dad help her, and nobody besides me really has the time. Eric does, I guess, but he gets so wrapped up in doing nothing that he wouldn't be of any help; besides, Lydia doesn't want a male math tutor. Maybe she thinks that it's in the chromosomes that the mathematic mind comes, and she wants none of it. So she wants either me or Mom, and Mom is never home. Last week, the only time Mom graded anything was at piano lessons. That bothers me that she's gone so much. We are supposed to be independently studying for the most part, but not all the time. That leaves the tutoring to me.

I'd better go show Lydia that parentheses do matter when algebraically adding.

What was lost has now been found. Yay!! (That means I found my history book.)

We played Capture the Flag tonight. It was so much fun. I even got a flag! Of course, I also made a ton of blunders and let a lot of people out of jail, etc.. I'm terrible on the defensive end.

I really thought I'd like Robots, but it was just another really lame, animated movie. I do not have a passion to watch animated movies. In fact, with few exceptions, I'll even watch a dumb chic flick first! I guess Robots was okay, but I'm willing to let it go and move on to other movies.

I was sooooo unproductive today. Andrew, of course, came up half a dozen times -- before 8:30 -- to get me out of bed. So I went and hung out in the bathroom until he left. Then I stayed in bed until about 2:30 and read There Is a Season, the newest book in the Cheney & Shiloh series. It was okay, but I think every time Lynn and Gilbert start a new series, their writing deteriorates. The Cheney Duvall, M.D.series was delightful (for lack of a better word); however, 30 books (the House of Winslow series) is way too many. I enjoyed There Is a Season, but I think someone needs to explain to the Morris pair what that phrase really means.

After Supper

Supper's over. I know that you already know that because the title of this post says as much, but I figured it was an appropriate introduction. :D

Lydia and I got two movies to watch, and we're not telling Eric and Brandy what they are. It's so much fun! Eric has gone almost mad with curiosity. Eric says, "Secrets are bad, but not so bad if you don't know about them." Ha ha. Well, I'm not telling, even if you do know there's a secret. It wouldn't be a secret if you knew what it was. Besides, you'll find out soon enough when we all sit down to watch them.

I want it to be December! The retreat's in Clay Center, so I can go!!!

Never mind, I want it to be the end of November. It's Thanksgiving!!!

You know, Eric says that I have too many secrets, but I can't keep a secret for what it's worth. Remember, I just blew one. Yes, Jacque, I know you remember very well!

Should I talk about school? I should. In geometry, Mr. Hall was upset with the class because most did pretty bad on an assignment (Eric and I both got 100%), so he gave us all a quiz that was totally over proofs. It was pretty boring: everything that was on there was something we'd already done on one homework assignment or another. We're not progressing very quickly-- at least that's what it seems like to me.

Then I came home and got mad at Eric-- again. Eric, I really wish you would get your stuff done. I've been waiting for a week to do that vocab quiz. Do you expect me to forget everythng before we take it? Also, I don't like the fact that you're always too busy to discuss literature. I'm sure you wouldn't be nearly as busy if you'd just read the chapters. Because you didn't do that, and because you suddenly got out your violin that you hadn't practiced since your last lesson (excepting the session you and Austin had last night), Mom and I talked about a chapter. It's not as much as I'd like to have done, but it's a start. Be warned, I'm steamed up at you right now.

So then I discovered that I lost my history book. Oh no! That's really bad because I promised myself that I wouldn't borrow Eric's book. I always get so mad when he "borrows" mine that I decided that I would do unto another as I would have him do until me. Well... I broke my promise. However, I returned it in the same condition that I borrowed it: I didn't write or underline in it at all. You should be proud of me. Actually, you should be ashamed of me because I did borrow your book, and that wasn't nice of me.

English seems to be a static subject. I don't get excited about it at all. I don't even work at it. Something's not right because I've always claimed that it's my favorite subject. Oh well. I just can't find it within me to get worked up about it. :-S

Here is an abrupt end to the cross-examination of my subjects. I might provide more later, but I doubt it.

Passing Time

I'm just passing time until Mom and co. show up. Supper's waiting on the table, getting cold. I wonder where they are. And we got two movies to watch tonight! We're not going to have time if they don't get here soon because Brandy has to work tomorrow and therefore must go to bed early to get her beauty sleep. :)

So... I guess that's all I have to say because I suddenly realized that I do have things to do unti... they just drove in the drive. Toodles! I'm off to eat my lukewarm supper. :D

Retreat

The retreat was so cool! There were 44 people there; that's a lot! I met new people and got to know those I'd already met a little more. So that was fun. Attendees were from Stillwater, OK; Morningside, IA; Minneola, Quinter, Dension, Winchester, Shawnee (duh!), Topeka, Lawrence, and Clay Center, KS; and CO Springs.

The sessions were really good. Now I want to get Praying with Your Eyes Open, the book that the retreat's topic was based on. I'm interested to see what it's like.

We played Capture the Flag in the dark. However, we could see where everybody was and what team each player was on because we had glow sticks. It had good and bad sides to the story, but I think it helped. Our team 50% of the time, and it took the blue team longer to win than it did ours (yellow).

I stayed up way too late. But it was worth it.

Now I'm recovering. I can't wait until the next one, which is in Clay Center.

Update on Last Post

I'm not going to delete my last post or even edit it because that's really what I thought at the time. Also, we haven't talked about Literature today, so I'm still a little ticked off because I feel like we're never going to get it done. It takes us forever to finish anything. Even laundry. It's taken the entire afternoon to run a load of jeans through the washing machine because cold water runs in at a trickle. It's really annoying, and I don't have time to stand there and pour water in.

Well, maybe I do. It's not like I'm doing anything else.

I drove into school today. Eric always gets so nervous, but he doesn't want to drive, and I pay attention. I even go the speed limit in the parking lot. I don't know what his problem is. :P

When I was in my blog the other day (I can't remember when), I went into the html so that I could edit my links. I wanted to do it, but I couldn't just click and type. Well, I could, but not in the way that I imagined. So I got to the FAQs of blogger.com, and it walked me through it. The template that I had chosen didn't have a built in paragraph for links, so I had to copy and paste. Then I had to move the pasting down to where I wanted it because it wouldn't paste there for some reason. Then I lost a line in the middle, so I had to go back and find that. It was actually kind of fun.

Eric just read this and said it made no sense. I don't care. I just had fun doing it, and I don't really care if anybody makes any sense out of anything I post here. So there. :P

So, that's what my day's been like. I went to class, came home, started that load of jeans, did school, fixed dinner, read a book, and now I'm going to put that load of jeans in the dryer, because they're finally ready.

Less than three days until the retreat!!

Literature

I hate literature. No, that's not right. I hate discussing literature. That's when Mom puts her condescending voice on. There's nothing I say that will produce the right answer. She will ask the question and give both Eric and me an opportunity to try to answer, but then she reads the answer in its entirety, whether or not we're even close to the right answer. So I hate that about as much as Pip hates Uncle Pumblechook in his condescending pompousness.

5 Days More

Five more days!!!!!!! to the exact minute!!!!!!!!!! It'll be so much fun!!!!!! Lisa might even be able to go!!!!!!

I'd better publish this so it really will be to the exact minute. :)

7 days

One more week before the retreat! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!! I can't wait. It'll be so much fun, and I'll get to see all my friends that I haven't seen since July. Then I'll get to see the people I met in March. That was fun; I hope I get to know them better this retreat.

I'm not excited enough to count the hours until the retreat because I don't have THAT much time on my hands, but someone else is, I'm sure. :)

Experiment: Failed

Okay, here's the deal. I was going to try something new today. I got up really late and didn't do any school at all this morning. I even went over and played with Barbies with Lexi for an hour and a half. Okay, that wasn't so fun, but it was fun to see her and play hide-and-seek with her. I also got to hold Taylor and he didn't scream. I think Barney helped a lot. You know, "I love you. You love me." That sort of thing. He even smiled. Lydia is convinced that he hates her and loves me enough to even it out. Mom says babies don't know what they think. I'm miffed.

Well, then I got home around noon, and then I didn't feel like doing school at all. I hate doing school in the afternoon. Plus, it's freezing in here; I don't think I could play anything on the piano very well.

The result of this experiment is that I failed big time. I'm not going to put off school until after dinner again. I'm going to do it in the morning, and when something's happening in the morning, I'm going to do it the night before because I hate making things up. I'd rather do it ahead of time. Well, you know how I'm going to feel about school for the next couple of days. Making it up. And don't say I could do it now because I refuse. No way am I going to mess up my gorgeous handwriting with my icicles of fingers. :)

Title

I have two things to say in this post titled "title."
First, why do I have to title all my posts. After finally think of a title, I feel as if I have to restrict that post to just such as pertains to the title. It's restricting. So this time I'm going to write about something that has nothing to do with the title.
Second, I'm beginning to like blogging, even if nobody ever comments. That's because I have neglected to tell anybody about it. So it's my fault that nobody ever comments. I like blogging because I can basically write about whatever I want, it's computerized, and I can save the paper in my journal for what I'm really bothered about. Here I can spout whatever I want and then delete it later after I've had my fun with it. The downside is other people can view it, but it's not too much of a downside because I guess I don't care too much if people read this. However, since almost nobody does see it, it doesn't matter, does it?

Career Options

I don't want to think about having a career. I want to go to school forever. Maybe I could get my doctorate. Only problem is, what would I get it in? I don't know that either. Neither do I want to think about it. I could be a realtor. That's a boring job. Maybe I'll be a journalist. I like reading what columnists write. Dad doesn't when it's a bunch of hooey, but I think it's interesting. It would be fun to change people's minds, or paint a picture for someone with words. That'd be cool because I am definitely not artistic.

Hey! I thought I wasn't going to think about having a career. Oops. That's what I get for titling this post "Career Options". :P

I don't have a title, so live with it.

I'm bored, so I was e-mailing a bunch of people on my contact list. Lydia saw what I was doing and said why don't I update my blog instead. Well, I am, but this is all I'm going to write because at that moment, I had run out of things to say and am not going to repeat what I did have to say for the umpteenth time. So, this is my officiall update.

I don't like school right now.

• We have no strict schedule. Nothing's ever really due. Sure, we have a day-by-day, but nobody get's in trouble for not following it.
• There's no schedule at all, except for mine, and nobody ever follows mine. I don't like it!!
• Once I turn something, I'm lucky to have it graded in the same week.
• Once something is graded, I'm lucky to see it before the following week passes.
• There is absolutely no competition. I'm a competitive person, so that really puts me down sometimes, like right now.

School

It took me forever to finish school today: one whole hour over my finishing goal! I thought I'd take my time getting out of bed this morning and just breeze through my lessons. Well, I did take my time getting out of bed, but it took me three hours to finish, and I still have to practice piano and do my geometry homework. I'm thinking about taking my chemistry test, too, but I'm trying to put that off as long as possible.
I liked it better when I was doing a day's work in two hours, although I guess three hours isn't bad. It's not like I'd do anything productive anyway. Yesterday it took me all day to finish, but I found out that it helped because I got a 99% on my history test! That is definitely a reason to take my time!!!
So, I guess I won't complain anymore about school taking a long time. However, I will say that there are a ton of distractions working downstairs. Lydia lost a book and is nearly frantic. She pretty much spent all morning looking for it, but she did make an apple crisp. Yum.

Movies

I don't know what my favorite movie is. I don't know if I even have one. I'm watching The Princess Bride right now, and that' probably in the top ten. I also like National Treasure. I never believed that I would like a Disney production with Nicolas Cage, but it was really good. My favorite, though, is probably The Sound of Music.I can't wait until The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe comes out!

Me and I

Young children say, "Bill and me are going to play outside." Usually, someone corrects them. Later, children are drilled in this grammar rule until they are sure they know it. However, what does one do when he hears someone says, "Do not crash into Catie and I"? Most merely gloss over it because they think that using "me" instead of "I" all the time is taboo. It's not. Saying "Lance and I" occurs when Lance and I are doing the action. When the action is being done to us, we say "Lance and me."
English is a confusing language. However, this is a basic covered in all grammar courses, and even before a person reaches high school, he should be able to easily discern when and when not to use "I".