Last Saturday we went to visit my dad's side of the family! 'Twas great... we were on the road for a looong time, and I was in the throes of a substantial winter cold, but I still had fun. Played wacked ping-pong among other things; with so many cousins and just one ping-pong table, you can't settle for a one-on-one game for long; it becomes a six-person game, with two on each end and one on each side to cover the wild balls. :-) I wasn't feeling too well that evening, so I spent most of my time in either a blue easy chair which afforded great comfort to my poor little stuffed-up head, or in one of the dining table chairs minimally participating in whatever conversation was going on. Fortunately, by Christmas Eve I was a little better, so I was able to sing "I Wonder as I Wander" for the church service. Admittedly, I felt like I needed to hack throughout the song, and I wasn't in my best voice, but I guess I didn't sing too badly. (Mom had rewritte

As before, I will be celebrating three Christmases: one at each set of grandparents' and one at home. The first was yesterday. Of course, to start the day off, I was working more on wrapping gifts (for a later Christmas, fortunately; yesterday's had been finished on Wednesday). The fun part about this year is that I used paint to write the recipient's name on each package... when the little nozzle wasn't clogged up, which it happened to do once yesterday, fairly badly. I bent over it, squeezing hard... While unbeknownst to me, my mom had lit a small, itty-bitty candle and set it in the middle of the dining room table where I was working. My hair isn't really short.... And you can probably guess where this is leading. A few strands of my hair caught on fire, startling me and causing me to wave it around so it would go out quickly (which it did, leaving no noticeable damage to my haircut). Fortunately the package on which I was writing suffered no harm at all. :-)

So I've been at home on break; it's quite nice. I'm getting pretty lazy though, or at least I'm not nearly as busy as I have been at college. I hope to remedy that soon. I have lots of projects up my sleeve.... books to read, journal entries to write, songs to copy into my songbook, meals to cook, Christmas shopping to do, relatives to visit, a Christmas letter to write, blogs to keep up on (*grin*), photographs to take, poems to memorize, and something in the bottom of my suitcase that I'm forgetting at the moment... dangit, I wish I could remember what that was! I remembered last night... and my sis would probably help me remember, but she's not around at the moment. Grr. I'm keeping up on my (relatively) new dancing hobby. I taught my brother the basic steps and two moves of Hustle today, believe it or not. He's one of the last people I would have thought interested enough to learn. But he wasn't bad at all, and admitted it was fun once yo

Instructions: Pick one artist/band. Using only SONG NAMES from that ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions...no repeating song names... I picked Simon and Garfunkel. And I had to get some help from an alphabetical list of S&G songs... but I know most of these, truly! 1) Are you a male or female? Cecilia 2) Describe yourself? The Only Living Boy in New York 3) Describe your day? Homeward Bound 4) Describe where you currently live? At the Zoo 5) If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Scarborough Fair 6) Your best friend is: Mrs. Robinson 7) Your favorite color is: A Hazy Shade of Winter 8) You know that: The Times They Are A-Changin' 9) What's the weather like? The Sound of Silence 10) If your life was a television show, what would it be called? The Dangling Conversation 11) What is life to you? Bookends 12) What is the best advice you have to give? Keep the Customer Satisfied 13) Describe your ex? Old Friends 14) Your current love interest? The Boxer 15) What'

I'm officially finished with my first college semester. Isn't that weird? Just yesterday I was homeschooled, in high school, at home, etc... Now I'm a "college kid"! In other nonnews, I have three candy canes sitting on my desk as of this moment; and I don't like candy canes. Not much anyway. I even had one a few days ago to make sure I still didn't like them, and I was right. So these three lonely little candy canes are going to my siblings, or maybe to some friends down the street. Whoever will take them.

This is finals week, and I'm not stressing out. Is that a sin? I do have two exams tomorrow morning, one of which might be the hardest of the three I have to take this week; and I've studied this morning and a little this afternoon. But I don't think excessive studying is going to do anything for me; I already know most of the material, and what little I don't quite remember is probably going to stick after glancing at the computer screen on which it was posted (mine) a few times. That's how I remember that John Lasseter was the founder of Pixar and developed the digitization of animation (basically, he directed/produced Toy Story ). See, it's the little things that I occasionally forget. The important stuff, like the four eras of journalism and the means by which TV stations get revenue, etc., is practically impossible to forget - especially since the questions are always in some sort of jog-my-memory form like multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank. We playe

Would you trade your right to vote for a new car?

Well, for those of my readers who aren't related to me... :-) (i know for a fact that both my brother and Mom have picked up on how to use the RSS feed for this blog!) Mom and my siblings went to visit my grandmother today, and Mom called when they got back. Grandma is doing better today; apparently yesterday was a bad day for her, and today has been an improvement. She's still in the hospital though, weak and with a cough; she's hoping to get out soon. The problem this time wasn't her heart, as it's been before; it was her kidney. She might have to go on dialysis. But... as Mom put it in a prayer request to our ch urch, "she is fairly adamant in not talking about eternity."

I mentioned over Thanksgiving that my grandmother wasn't doing too well... and she's worse. Earlier she was extremely weak, and coughing. Now she's in the hospital, for the fifth time in two months, and my mom's not sure how much longer she has to live. Grandma's not a Christian, so please pray.

Invigorating, that is, when it involves getting things accomplished. Today, since about eleven o'clock, I have worked on just two things - a group project and a research paper. Since that time, I have helped the group make great progress on the project, and have made considerable progress myself on the research paper. That's not even including the stuff I'm going to do tonight! This is probably the busiest day I've had for awhile, and for once I'm not yawning the whole day, but instead am finishing stuff that has to get done quick, and not dillydallying too much on the way. :-)

....has to be one of my favorite holidays, if not the favorite. It might possibly be second to Christmas, but it might not. So I got to see lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents - family is half the reason to have any holiday. My grandma wasn't doing well, but I'm praying she'll recover some. The rest were doing just fine, and we had a ball playing together, especially on my dad's side of the family. There we played a million games of "up and down the river" (a game using a normal deck of cards) and not a few of something called "authors" (which closely resembles "go fish"). I also took lots of funny pictures (which are not online, since I just got back to college a bit ago!). One round of photos features five of us cousins crammed onto a three-seater couch. It was a bit of a tight squeeze. :-P

...it is the official beginning of Thanksgiving Break. And, to commemorate this momentous occasion, I shall.... ...wash a load of laundry? Anyhow, I'm quite excited to go see my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I'll get to exchange notes with my college cousin and my seamstress cousin; and I will probably get to entertain the various members of my extended family who will ask lots of questions about college (just like last time). Doesn't that sound fun? Well, it will be. I will also get to eat lots of GOOD FOOD! In fact, I'll probably help make a good portion of it. In addition, I will be investigating stores for a good black skirt. My beloved Mafia has appropriated my current one for several months now.

A conservative news outlet put me onto this meteorologist who called global warming a "scam." Curious, isn't it? Because, as OneNewsNow describes, he's got some credentials.

I finally have pics! Another here . Anyhow, notice that black stripe down the side? There's one on the other side too; their purpose is mainly to disguise the zipper. (Can you see it? It's in this picture.)

Invariably , that is the line I think of when I see the first snow of the year. Well, seeing as last year's first snow was halfway through October, the sixth of November is pretty good for having the first snow of the season. As before, no accumulation; it's cold enough though, and I'm rather glad I found a ride to Wal-Mart instead of biking into town as I had planned to do. I'm also glad of head, and sweaters, and coats, and various other garments intended to keep one warm. :-) So yeah; half the vivid leaves still cling to the tree branches, yet the clouds have decided to hurry their demise.

Yeah.... once I'm in a groove, things are routine and there's not much new to tell. Two months, has it been? Not bad. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are especially routine, just because of my class schedule and various events that happen those nights. I rather like it though. I'm contemplating a quick trip into town tomorrow to pick up some toothpaste. I hope it doesn't rain. Oh, one rather interesting thing - but backstory first. In my English class we've been assigned to do an audio essay, and as part of that we had a class session all about using the recording program Audacity. One of my friends, experimenting with mixing tracks, created an a capella beat using his mouth (as in POH-pupupu-POH or something like that), his hands, a file scraping against something, a couple pencils... he just kept adding parts to the beat. It reminded me of something like STOMP. And it was very very cool. Hilarious, too. :-)

See, it's November... and along with Thanksgiving and the end of Daylight Savings, the month brings us NaNoWriMo . (I've mentioned this before .... but few of you will remember.) So is anyone at all writing a novella by midnight on the thirtieth?? I'm not. Not this year. But someday.....

The very symphony that is my absolute top favorite... and they played it!! (Oh yes - the previous post might give a clue as to who "they" are ....) I've loved B's 6th ever since I saw it on Fantasia. (And if you need a clue as to what that is, check out an old post of mine.)

This is what happened this week: ... I enjoyed a concert by the college's instrumental ensembles ... I attended a comedic play put on by the drama department ... I watched "Hero" at a friend's apartment (artsy Chinese film) ... and I will be attending a county orchestra concert tonight. In addition, I just finished that purple skirt that I started awhile back . (No, no pictures yet - but I promise, I will post some very soon!) Now, doesn't that sound like a very artistic week? Anyhow. I really enjoyed the college concert because I knew some people in the bands and they did the theme from "Lawrence of Arabia" among other good pieces. The play was definitely funny, especially since my small group leader played two very different parts quite well. "Hero" was cool, in that it had some interesting special effects and uses of said effects, plus it made excellent use of color in differentiating parts of the story. I have no opinion on tonight'

Tonight was a campus-wide costume contest... and I was Julia Grant! (More pictures: one , two , three .)

Amazing! I shall explain. I've been busy working on a paper that I've since turned in - a rather big paper, actually. So that's one reason I haven't posted lately. Also, I went home this weekend, and visited my grandparents' (the other ones, not the ones I just saw) on Saturday. And my cousins. Great fun!! It was trick-or-treat night in their neighborhood, so my cousins brough their costumes and got all decked out for the event. My one cousin especially looked chilling: Isn't that a cool costume? Thirdly, I had an exam at eight o'clock yesterday morning I had to study for. Not much studying, but still, some. And I found out today that I tied for highest score on that exam. That's good. (I don't know the exact score yet, just that I did that well.) Fourthly, I had to read a long chapter for history. (All the chapters are long....) And I spent Sunday afternoon doing that. Oh, the joys of reading a rather dry recitation of this world's

...is one of my favorite pastimes. I went over to one of the music practice rooms today to practice a song I'm supposed to be singing at my home church this Sunday. On the way back, despite the cold, I took a roundabout way and photographed leaves lying in the grass... and the cross standing in the middle of the campus... and some leaves on a layer of brick. All in black and white. Of course, this being fall, I took some color pictures too. But I enjoyed the black-and-white ones more; today it was a little overcast, so the lighting was just right for that kind of photography.

...visited cousins... ...wrote a science summary... ...and laughed out loud at this sign! Isn't that hilarious?? Also, and in this same dinky little town, I saw a great water tower: Yes, this town definitely has a sense of humor.

Yeah, it's midterm break. It doesn't seem like it's been six weeks... but I guess it must have gone by without my permission! Or perhaps simply without my knowledge. I got new shoes today!!!! And I picked out some trim for my purple skirt. Black satin ribbon from my bottomless stash of notions. I'm going to love this skirt, I think. And believe it or not... I'm already making plans for another sewing project. I've had the fabric for months, but now I've finally decided on a pattern and a complementary shirt to make with the remainder of the material. It'll probably end up somewhat stylish too, for a change. Apparently long flared skirts are back in!

As of three o'clock this afternoon, I had completed my last midterm. This last one was an earth science lab exam, in which I had to identify fifty rocks, minerals, and fossils. Which is really not nearly as hard as it sounds! So the rest of this afternoon was spent typing up results of a survey I conducted for my research paper. This research paper concerns - of all things - Facebook. More specifically, my paper will explore the effects Facebook has on freshman socializing. No, seriously!

Get this... somebody pulled the fire alarm about seven-thirty this morning. So every last girl had to wake up, get up and file out the door in the cold to be counted. A normal prank. What's funny is that the same thing happened about three o'clock this afternoon! Yep. Two fire drills in one day. In other news, I've been aching for a sewing project, and finally came up with a good one! I'm over halfway done with a purple skirt. This skirt has two flounces - if you're not sure what that means, you can look at it on the McCall's website - it's the middle one on the left. I'm using some leftover material from old sheets that I dyed to make my sister's Christmas gift last year. Deep purple.... I didn't pay any sixteen dollars for this pattern; got it for free from the 4-H office a couple years ago. I love sewing. :-) It's a nice break from studying.

I am incapable of sleeping in past eight o'clock, most of the time seven-thirty. Yes, that's A.M. Yes, even when I've been up till one o'clock the night before. Anyways.... Being Friday night, my dorm is emptying itself of its inhabitants, and tomorrow I will probably wake up to half-empty next-door rooms and a very slow, nearly dead, campus. All of which are conducive to midterm studying! So I will be reviewing notes from history and my journalism class, both of which have midterm exams early next week. Speaking of which... the other midterm exam isn't going to be all that hard, since it's simply identifying fifty rocks, minerals, and fossils. I went to review the items today, and found that I could probably remember them all if I just looked over my list a couple times. All I have to do is remember that schist is shiny and chert reminds me of the Beatles. (Don't ask me why; I think it has to do with the movie "The Yellow Submarine" and the

...when you've just read nearly sixty pages of required reading and actually think you could have chosen to read the book for your own benefit. This autobiography for history, written by one Olaudah Equiano, a former slave, is quite interesting and somewhat adventureous. I don't like it as much as Chesterton's autobiography, of course, but it's sure more interesting than ever Ben Franklin's was. And more interesting than normal biographies that I've read. And it's a good thing. I have to finish at least the bio part (there are other documents in the book too) by Friday. In other news.... Huh. I can't seem to think of other news. Except that the yearbook photographer will be at dance tonight! And I'll get to gather interesting material for the captions, since I'm in charge of the dance page!!

I'm going to have to start naming my homes - home-home and college-home. That's because both feel that way now. All my important stuff is at college-home, but my family, some friends, and church are at home-home. Anyways... As the title mentions, I am back now (well, as of last night actually). Got some homework done last night, and had an exam this morning - that's why I'm out of my first class so early. And I can't really think of anything else to post. Except that I still think that driving class was an absolute BLAST. :-)

Yesterday I went to a really cool driving school to which I received a gift certificate. It's one-of-a-kind, at least in this region of the U.S. - there were people from all over, of course; the teachers were from Florida and California. (The Floridian was actually an Irishman, but has been here in the States for twenty years.) And it's normally REALLY expensive, so when I got this gift certificate I just had to go!! We got to do crazy things - drive a slalom course really fast (well, as fast as flooring it in first gear will get you - I squealed the tires every time, that's for sure!), drive a car that was rigged up to skid easily and try to keep control of the car while it was skidding constantly for about twelve minutes, floor it into a patch of water and smooth asphalt then try take a quick right turn.... all sorts of fun stuff! So we learned what to do in such sticky situations as someone suddenly pulling out in front of you, or suddenly coming upon a patch of ice t

OK, another weird story from history class: At Waterloo (the famous battle that Napoleon lost), there was a Prussian guy by the name of Gebhard von Blucher. He was the general of the Prussion force fighting against Napoleon. That's not all he was.... he had sensitive feet, you see. And he was so paranoid about Napoleon that he refused to step directly on the dirt floors of his house. He stepped only on the carpets. It was because, according to him, Napoleon had bribed his servants to heat the floor and burn his feet... crazy, right? But, of course, there were the abdominal pains... which he attributed to his pregnancy ... he said he was pregnant with an elephant .

After all my qualms about getting anything resembling a MySpace account... I got a Facebook account... and I'm still trying to figure out how this works...

My history book says that the phrase "mad hatters" came about because mercury used in hatmaking sometimes poisoned the workers and caused dementia!

OK, so I had my friend take a photo of me the last time I was wearing my "Hermione cape" (or, rather, the fall cape which first caused her to say I looked like Hermione ). Compare with a web image of Emma Watson, actress who portrayed Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies: Granted, she's not smiling, and I am. Oh, and if you're more curious about this cape than about my supposed resemblance to a fictional character, there's a decent picture of it on my Flickr. I really like this cape. I even have a matching hat that I often wear with it. It's a marvelous cape for fall weather.

As the title thoroughly explains, I'm visiting back home this weekend. It is nice. :-) I found a bulletin board on sale tonight! So Mom bought it for me. Oh, also got a shirt and some navy shoes. But those were earlier, and not as accidental. And I didn't know I liked so many of Casting Crowns's songs. "Voice of Truth," and "If We Are The Body," especially. And until this summer, I didn't know I liked so many 4HIM songs either. "Measure of a Man," "For Future Generations," and "Basics of Life" are good. Yahoo Music is at least good for finding the IDs of songs off the radio that you like. And makes a handy radio station for those times when you're stuck without any good traditional ones.

You know, pep rallies are pretty much fun get-togethers where we all lose our voices yelling so much. And, of course, we all look ridiculous in homemade team shirts which match, but aren't identical by a looong shot. Oh, yeah, and the things tied around our heads so we resemble a gang. But it's fun. Especially when your team (i.e. your floor) wins. :-)

I found these blog posts while surfing the Rebelution website yesterday. I found them very insightful. The Wishlist: or, "Teen Girls Define a Real Man" The Checklist: or, "Three Teens Define a Real Woman" Biblical, also. Thoughts?

One of my friends keeps telling me (and everyone she knows who's seen the Harry Potter movies) that I look just like Hermoine Granger. Everyone has agreed with her so far. Of course, I've never seen the movies, and this is the first I've heard this....

I'm playing an old tape now of Rich Mullins, one with "If I Stand" on it. That's close to being my favorite song of his...

Let's see... last night I went ballroom dancing again... that is SO much fun. And I'm going to be working on a research paper this afternoon... And it's cold here in the library. I must be sitting under an A/C vent or something. Well, I guess I'll tell y'all about ballroom dancing. A couple nights a week, a bunch of college kids get together to learn various ballroom dances from a guy going here who happens to look like Jesus. (It's funny!) Last night we learned salsa and swing dancing. I learned swing a looong time ago, but I forgot it all immediately, so I had to re-learn it. It was a lot easier than I remembered. The best part about dancing is when you get a guy who knows what he's doing and you can get on a roll with doing fancy moves like spins and such. :-) My little friend Bee sent me an e-mail today! And this isn't the first thing she's sent me - last week, I got a picture in the mail from her! That was soooo much fun. Now I'm go

So the freshman retreat was last night and this afternoon. Last night consisted mainly of pool, euchre, foosball, and variants of volleyball, with a bonfire worship time thrown in for good measure. 'Twas fun. Met a guy who is related to my pastor's wife. (Small world, really.) And since he was the only other person I knew on the canoeing trip this afternoon, we paddled a canoe together, and travelled seven miles downriver in about an hour (maybe a little over). That was also fun, especially the last mile or two, in which we had a friendly competition with another canoe team to see who would make it to the landing first. (Our two canoes were the frontrunners, even though this wasn't a race.) Oh yeah, we got there a few seconds before they did. Definitely close. We amused ourselves during the succeeding wait by skipping rocks and trying to keep warm in the sun. A couple teams got overturned and so were freezing while we waited for the bus to get us. The wind was the w

(As described by the previous transmitter of this questionnaire.) 1. Full name: RS 2. Single or taken: plastic, please. 3. Male/female: I'm not a bathroom! 4. Birthdate: Um, yesterday? 5. Astrological sign: the octagonal red one. 6. Siblings: two, one crazy and one just peachy 7. Eye Color: anything but yellow! 8. Shoe size: I'd agree, mine aren't as big as bball players'! *~ R e l a t i o n s h i p s~* 9. Who are your best friends: Jane Austen and G.K.Chesterton! 10. When are you online: now! 11. Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? I have lots of friends! 12. Did you send this to your crush? I hate violence so I refuse to crush people! *-;-*S o m e E x t r a S t u f f *-;-* 14. Do you do drugs? uh, no? 15. What kind of shampoo do you use? Purple! 16. What are you most scared of? my lamp burning my homework. 17. What car(s) do you wish to have? Purple! 18. Who is the last person you called? A professor 19. Where do you want to get married? On Earth. *-;-*F a v o r i t

Has it really been six years? Or... has it only been six years?

It's really weird... I'm actually using this planner that I got. And it's actually helpful. I still use posty notes a lot, but the planner has a use of its own now. You have to understand... I tried to use a planner off and on, throughout junior high & high school grades, but after a month or so I just stuck it in a drawer someplace and never used it again. As it is I take mine to every class, I need it so much!

I visited the local church - and I mean LOCAL. It's so close, and so frequented by college students, that there's actually a paved shortcut to it! But of course, it had to rain; so the hem of my dress was soaked when I got there. Fortunately it wasn't raining quite as bad when I left (just a light drizzle instead of a steady drizzle). Church was nice. Music was different than chapel here at college, which is good. Preaching was good. People were friendly. They have Sunday school in the evening, which is... odd. But interesting, I guess. I won't be able to go this evening (we're celebrating a birthday today), but I might try it next week!

First funny thing: the "drive-in" movie last night was "Grease". Second funny thing: despite the campus's no-R-rated-movies policy, one of the three movies that everyone has to choose from to see is "The Matrix". Third funny thing: there are no signs on the food, even just to tell possible allergy-irritating content. But anyway. It's Saturday, but I woke up early anyway so went ahead and worked more on reading the history chapter for Monday. Long chapter, but rather interesting if you work on paying attention. I have maybe twelve pages left, which is good.

Now you may finally see my campus! And here's the Flickr photo set with all the pics, including my six-foot bed!

I love this. My brother found me a program that would make my laptop chime every quarter-hour, half-hour and hour! Just like Big Ben, too! (The Westminister clock tower, remember?) I love it!!!

This morning, at eight, half the freshmen had to take a couple tests. One a general demographic survey, so not really a test; and the other a test of basic Bible knowledge. The Bible one was generally easy, except there were a few questions that I had to guess on. Probably ten to fifteen percent were the guessing ones. And that only took an hour. So I went and got the last of my college books, and have been online since then, e-mailing/IMing family and checking blogs (of course).

So I woke up about quarter after seven this morning... not by any alarm. Just the body clock still going on summer time (when I had to be up at six half the time). I dawdled in bed till about quarter to eight. We headed to the chapel about nine-thirty to browse around the church fair. I found one church that looked like it might be a good fit. Lots of kids, says the youth pastor, so I might be able to help out with them at the midweek service. I'm looking at their website... weird. Does this mean what I think it means? "In speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. " Huh. Later today we're all going to a small-group-related thing about campus ministries. I think that will be interesting.

*nods at timestamp* I'm officially at college. Just the first-night meetings went till eleven. Then I had a few miscellaneous things to do.

Whichever you prefer; maybe you're Vulcan and will take the more precise description. As the title implies, or fairly shouts, I'm soon to move into a dorm room with a girl I've never seen before. Doesn't that sound scary? On the other hand, I'm also on the brink of intense learning and an entirely new experience. That could either be scary or exciting, depending on your personality. For me, it leans toward the exciting. A lot. And then, I'm nearly to decorating the room in bright Hawaiian colors and all sorts of maps and posters. Now doesn't that sound fun? So, you may or may not hear from me on Saturday afternoon. Also, you might possibly read a hyper post tomorrow around sixish or nineish. I'm not sure. And, just for the fun of it, here are some photos on my Flickr about college .

And I went shopping last night, to buy: --milk, eggs, and Velveeta (for the family --a medical thermometer, imitation vapo-rub stuff (I think it's officially "medicated chest rub"), a small tension rod, a power strip, and a pillow (for me at college) Now I am slowly getting my trunk packed, along with a couple boxes, a laundry basket, a wastebasket, a suitcase and a duffel bag. No, seriously - I have a trunk and I know how to use it! :-P It will store clothes & linens, and double as seating. Oh yeah, as far as furniture goes, I also plan to bring a bookcase (hence the boxes - they contain books, mostly) and a sewing machine. Now do you understand how big my dorm room happens to be? Considering I'll probably be able to arrange all the furniture along the walls...

And by long, I mean long . Back in May of 2006, I mentioned on my old blog that I'd just seen the Monty Python movie about the holy grail. The funniest line back then is still the funniest line, in my opinion anyway; but I've just found the verse from which the Biblical insult was taken. Look it up at Bible Gateway .... Really. You have to read the old post in order to understand this post!

It's Amazing! It's Astounding! It's " Increible! " The RS can speak TEN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES!* *(now for the rest of the story...) I am fluent in English and Hypertext Markup. I am relatively familiar with Spanish. I can sing one song and speak approximately five words of French. I know a poem and a few words of Latin. I can sing two Hebrew songs, and one song in French Creole; and I can greet someone in Japanese, German, and Hawaiian. Hebrew Japanese Spanish English French Latin German Hawaiian French Creole Hypertext Markup Count 'em. Ten languages. *grin*

Yeah, ours was wet.... Now it smells of bleach and mustiness. And my feet hurt from hours of basement working this morning/early afternoon. Now for the long story: We had a worse than usual rain storm this past week, which caused our basement to get... wet, shall we say. So we had just a teeny bit of water, but it was all over - and thus anything that directly touched the floor was ruined, or pretty much. Boxes of books, a few old files (fortunately nonessential), miscellaneous stuff, and four suitcases (well, three suitcases and one vanity case).... lots and lots of stuff. We won't miss most of it though. So at about nine this morning, after I got my bookshelves painted, my sis and I descended into the dank smelly basement to clean up. And were there almost constantly till about one o'clock. Each of us had a doughnut somewhere in there to tide us over till we really had some lunch. And now there is a huge pile of black trash bags and brown cardboard boxes outside our gara

I changed a few of the pictures on my blog layout, most notably the featured one. What do you think? I finished up my summer babysitting job today..... And we had a little water in our basement this week. Happens after almost every very heavy rain. AND I'm almost finished with my dorm room window curtain!!

We all went to a certified teacher's house again this morning to be assessed, just like last year and every summer before that for as long as I can remember. It was nice. The lady, who also writes for her local newspaper, offered to let me write an article or two for the paper over my college breaks. (The newspaper is trying more to get students who are interested in journalism in on the action.) Wouldn't that be cool??? Also today, we went swimming. I got dunked about a hundred and fifty times. Well, maybe not that much. But it seemed like every time I came up for air, either my brother or our tall mutual friend dunked me again. Of course, once we got in to the really deep area, where none of us could get footing, I dunked them right back. Serves them right! :-P By the way - has anyone ever played Dragon Tag under the mushroom in the pool? It's just like normal tag, only it's in the pool, and base is the mushroom - which must be reached by swimming under the

I had fun awhile back photographing my fountain pens... now I'm going to redesign my blog a bit using the photos! Which is your favorite of these three? I played with the second one so now it looks like somebody painted it or something. Not exactly sure what the effect was called. I like it though.

Anyhow, remember that bookstore gift card I got for my graduation? I finally used it, at a store that was closing down in Tennessee! So I got: Persuasion (J.Austen) Jane Eyre (C.Bronte) Elements of Style (Strunk/White) Dear Mr. President (no idea of the author; it's a bunch of letters sent to the presidents over the years) a pack of little notebooks for my purse a portable purple reading lamp and a portable silver lamp for my brother's birthday The books were forty percent off and the the others were a dollar each.

Wow, this was a great trip. We went to a city outside Nashville to help out with a VBS for poor kids that lived in the neighborhood behind the church where we were. I had charge of the K-1st graders, only three to seven of them (four most nights). I loved 'em. Here's one of them doing crafts: She was Jasmine - a very pretty name. She was very shy at first, as you might expect, but she warmed up to us after a couple nights. We also went on a few excursions: ....to the Carter House (which was in the thick of the bloddiest battle, by percentage, of the Civil War)... ....to Brentwood, TN to gawk at all the famous singers' houses... ....to a little place called Merridee's, where famous singers frequent (Michael W. Smith was there the time we went) and where I enjoyed taking many black-and-white photos... ....and to the Opry Mills Mall, where we were able to take a self-guided tour of the Aquarium Underwater Dining Adventure. All these excursions took place because a couple w

Well, not quite I guess. But I'm still off, starting very early tomorrow morning, on a mission trip to help with a VBS. Therefore, I shall disappear from the face of the 'net until sometime Saturday or Sunday or Monday. I hope to have pictures up sometime next week, too! My sis will be going too.... her first trip without the rest of our family. Should be interesting. I was about her age when I went on my first mission trip.

I went to the dentist yesterday (in between spurts at the church blood drive where I was volunteering). First time in one and a half years. I need to floss more. Got a gigabyte thumb drive on sale yesterday too (on my way home from picking up the van from the shop, in between spurts at the blood drive). Works great. Now maybe I'll have more MBs available on my computer of five gigs... well, only about three or two gigs when you consider that it had Windows 2000 on it, then I installed Windows XP. That all takes up quite a bit of hard disk space. I'll use it mostly to store photos from my digital camera. And to transfer files whenever I need to - since I have no CD-RW drive, and may not have one till I get a new laptop in one or two years (I haven't decided yet). What is the feasibility of living without a CD-RW drive for two years at college? Consider the digital camera factor as well as the thumb-drive addition. Oh - is it "disk" or "disc" when d

Now I've finally got my pictures of my dress.... Ain't it pwetty? :-)

....ever heard of the brand name? Apparently, it's higher-end.... as in, a cotton dress with nice lines sells new for over a hundred dollars. And, this same expensive dress must be sold later for four dollars, because it was outgrown. Of course, I happened to be the thrilled buyer. Even if it wasn't some famous brand - it's really pretty (large pink floral print), with a nice ruffly collar, and long skirt, and good fit!

We got a new kitten!!! Her name's Dani. (The train of thought looked like this... couldn't think of a good name. Decided it had to be two syllables with accent on the first, but not a common people-name. Tried to come up with something Spanish. Neighbor boy by the name of Daniel suggested we name it after him. Feminine form is Danielle, which in Spanish is Daniela, which is often shortened to Dani. We all liked it. So her name is Dani - not Daniela or Danielle, just Dani.) Oh yeah, it's pronounced DAH-nee, not DON-ee. There's a difference. 2 more pics on my Flickr.

My sister mentioned today at supper that it finally rained last night. I told her I hadn't heard it. Next thing I knew, she was staring at me wide-eyed. Apparently, she conversed with me last night, after it had started raining. It went something like this: "Sarah... where's your weather radio?" Me: "The crank one or the plug-in one?" "The crank one." Me: "I dunno." (Then she felt her way around for my normal plug-in radio, which also receives weather signals.) (She turned the light on then, but decided it would probably be too bright for me, so turned it back off. She says she was surprised that I didn't say anything.) "Sarah, where's your flashlight?" "Sarah.... where's your flashlight?" "Hey Sarah, where's your flashlight?" "Where's your flashlight, Sarah?" "Sarah, I can't find your flashlight in the normal spot... where is it?" "Hey, where's your fl

or, some such title for a post that will generally include college stuff. :-) Went to orientation this week - I know, it's odd to have it two months before classes even start, but it was pretty nice. Scheduled my fall and J-term classes; got a student handbook; received not one but TWO T-shirts. (One was given to everyone - one person per shirt and one shirt per person, that is - and the other I won after beating several people at keeping your balance while trying to knock the other person of their's.) Called my future roommate today, and just sent her an e-mail. One of the things I told her was that I'm making curtains out of this fabulous stuff I found at Wal-Mart a few weeks back: Nice and bright - it will sure help make our prison-resembling, white concrete block, old stained tile dorm room look cheerier. Especially if I use the rest to make a wall hanging or something. Not sure yet what I'll do when I've only used a few of the thirteen yards I bought and h

Yup, just got back from my family's yearly Camp Vacation. Now, we actually go to a camp-camp... not just campgrounds. So there are Sunday-school-type sessions every morning and evening, and something planned to do (or not) every minute of the day. It's our fun summer stay-up-late-and-get-up-early vacation; a great contrast to our winter laze-around-all-day vacation. Anyhow... the theme was superheroes: "Save the Family, Save the World!!" Obviously, I was Batgirl (or Batwoman, whichever you prefer). I resembled the new one from Batman & Robin more than the original (who was a brunette I think). And the black cape was a skirt of Mom's that didn't fit so well; all I did was rip out the back seam. The Mafia was Captain America, and my widdle brudder was a ninja: Don't we all look so good? :-) Mom and Dad dressed up too, but not with quite so much complexity. Dad was Superman (masking tape comes in handy trying to make that logo) and Mom was the Gree

I started my summer job this week: babysitting an only child Tuesdays through Thursdays. It is not for the faint of heart! Because, among other things, I have: --pitched for softball practice --baked snickerdoodles --pulled the girl around the hardwood floor on her blanket (it's as good as a tilt-a-whirl) --run through the sprinkler --ridden a bike over the lawn --played quarter soccer (fun game, I might have to write instructions for it someday) --and floor soccer --and I've waitressed stuffed animals for "McCece's Diner" about five times. --Oh, I was chef twice too. I'm telling you, this girl has to be the most active little girl on the planet! She can sit still, but only when she's drawing or writing. She can't even sit down during commercials - she feels the urge to get up and do cartwheels! I am not kidding, really! Oh, and we played Charades today. 'Twas fun. A couple of hers were hard - once she was the playground lady, and it took me f

A long time ago (two years, in fact), I used to write bite-sized opinions of books I'd read. Now I just read them and rate them out of 5, in half increments. Maybe I could revive the old practice and make it into a blog?.... A friend from the RI just got a gift card to Barnes & Noble and wanted ideas on how to spend it. Here's what I said: Persuasion, and Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen); the Complete Father Brown (G.K.Chesterton, actually anything by him is going to be fun); Eternity in Their Hearts (Don Richardson, good missions book); the Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling, great to read to children); Parker Pyne Investigates (collection of Agatha Christie short stories starring said character); Rose in Bloom (my favorite of L.M.Alcott's); and Abolition of Man (C.S.Lewis - another of my favorite writers). Enough to start with? :-P Oh, the "Light and the Glory" books (Light and the Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea, Sounding Forth the Trumpet)

As you mey (or may not) know, I want a purple PT Cruiser eventually. When I actually get my own nice car. But, in the meantime, I am perfectly content with driving friends' black PT convertibles. With the top down. *big grin* This was at said friends' party for their little girl, who turned one! She's adorable, honestly. Has the cutest little dresses, too. AND, we are holding an Academy for Tree Climbing in our front yard, with the pupils being little girls ages 8, 6, and 5. You'd be surprised how well these short kids can climb. (Better than I could at their age!)

Last Saturday, I was over at a graduation party for a friend from church. While there, I learned that: 1. He has an autographed photo of Chuck Norris; and 2. I am well acquainted with the third-cousin-twice-removed of the first man to walk on the moon! (No, really.) (That last person is the kid who was graduating, of course.) ....and this is the hundredth post!! But I didn't learn that at the party.

Sunday night: church. Pretty much self-explanatory, but it was really interesting. All about beginning anthropology. Monday night: 4-H public speaking contest. I didn't compete this year, but my sister did; instead I helped announce a couple of the sections. Tuesday night: 4-H demonstration meeting for my club. We always do one a year, at which everyone demonstrates something-or-other about their project for five to eight minutes each. Not bad, really. We had ice cream and cookies afterwards, too. Wednesday night: youth group. Good stuff. Played fire-and-ice (or knockout, whichever) afterwards; of course, I was out first time every time. :-P Thursday night: babysat three children, all under the age of seven, for several hours. I must have played ring-around-the-rosey ten times, not to mention the walk we took and all the other stuff. 'Twas a lot of fun though, even if tiring. Friday night: finished up my long essay for homeschool. (Well, it's supposed to be for h

As promised.... pictures of the graduate! I changed the tassel only after my cousin reminded me to. :-P Of course I couldn't just skip it, so I went ahead and switched it over to the other side. The other funny thing: the kid dubbed Q (on this blog, at least) yelled to me that I had to "chuck the hat". So I did - I threw it as far up in the air as I could. I had no worries about trying to figure out what cap was mine, considering the dearth of 'em at my graduation ceremony. *grin* More photos forthcoming, if my computer cooperates later!

My party was fun... there were friends and cousins all over the place, and I stood up the whole time... tiring, but wholly enjoyable! Some friends came from their house an hour away to see us! (They were going to an aunt's birthday party too, in our general direction.) And my wonderful aunt on my dad's side drove hours and hours and HOURS to get here, no kidding! She had to drop off her oldest son on the other side of her state before she even started heading here! No pictures yet, though. I promise, I'll have 'em up before the week is over.... :-)

Announcing My Homeschool Graduation "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 A Homeschool Graduation for THE READERSIS will be held on June Ninth, Two Thousand Seven Two o'clock P.M. My real-life ceremony slash party will end at five, so the cyber party begins at six o'clock P.M. (Well, that's almost what my cards said...) So come to my (cyber) graduation party! I shall try to get away after my little shindig to post pictures too! And in case you're REALLY bored this Saturday, you can get me a cyber gift! (Similar to cyberbucks.) My wish list includes: USB jumpdrive laptop battery plastic drawers (5, on rollers - the kind that are always in the Meijer ads) [Diversion - a Meijer store is just a Wal-Mart dressed in red. And they spread only through five Midwestern states. Got it?] [Continued...] small bookcase digital camera battery iron with auto shutoff ta

...how many ways can you say bored? I'm not sure if anything interesting has happened recently.... except that I read J. Budziszewski's book How To Stay Christian in College this week. Good book. I especially like the chapter "What God Thinks of the World". I generally like the style, too. Not hard, of course, but it made me think.

Remember awhile back when somebody or other (I'd guess a Constitutional scholar of some sort) suggested that it would be narrowly Constitutional for Bill Clinton to be elected the Vice-President in 2008, even though he's served two terms already as President? Or any former two-term President, for that matter - even though an untimely incapacity/death of the President would put him in a position of a third-term President, even though Amendment 22 of the Constitution forbids electing a President to a third term: "No person shall be electd to the office of the President more than twice..." Of course, it says nothing about electing a former two-term President to the office of Vice President, and then the President going postal. Third-term President by finagling. Could some guy actually sneak this by the Supreme Court, do you think? Nope. Re-read your Amendments to the Constitution, specifically the end of Amendment 12: "But no person constitutionally ineligible t

I'm off to see the cousins this weekend. Yep, just as we do every Memorial Day week(end). It will be great. :-) We'll run around in the yard, and play in the cousins' pool, and talk to my one cousin about his freshman year at college, and scold my other cousin (in fun, of course) for not writing me back, and show all the cousins my new digital camera... I love visits to cousins!! :-) And since they always occur on holidays, I therefore love holidays. Mom will be making poppyseed bread to take for one particular cousin who craves it. It's amusing. Yes, I have an amazing number of cousins on my father's side. It's great for holiday family get-togethers! *** I was thinking aloud last night... to my sister, of course... One thing I hope for at college - probably the only thing I'm none too sure about - is a roommate I can talk to. The way my sister and I chat after the lights are out at night, about anything and everything, bouncing ideas and opinions off

I have finally listened to "Puff the Magic Dragon" in its entirety. After years of knowing that he lived down by the sea in a land called Honallie (or however that should be spelled). And this was a result of finding it among my ramblings on Yahoo Music. I am enjoying this "customize your station" thingy.

On April 18, five Muslims entered a Christian publishing company and killed three believers in the southeastern province of Malatya. Two of the victims were Turkish converts from Islam and the third man was a German citizen who had lived in Turkey for 10 years. News reports said four of the attackers admitted that the killings were motivated by both “nationalist and religious feelings.” More at Voice of the Martyrs. It was grisly.

Last night was the graduation celebration at church, as mentioned before . When the youth pastor got up to grill us, I was first (of course - the only girl!). The last kid, however, was by far the funniest. He made clear to us the difference between a computer nerd and a computer geek. A computer geek has greasy skin. A computer nerd is more intelligent and cool. Also, geeks are into hardware and nerds are into software. Of course, the kid described himself as a computer nerd. On another night, Dad said that, since I'll be going off to college and boys will start asking me out, I should come up with some good excuses not to go (to use on the boys I don't like, of course). He mentioned the one that he got in high school - "I have to wash my hair that night!" - and that got me and my brother on a roll. Also thinking of "I have to paint the driveway" from some episode of Full House that my brother saw once, here's what we came up with: --Sorry, I hav

In other words, I got a new hat yesterday. A nice navy blue messenger hat: And I got one last Friday at another rummage sale - a purple knit cap. Which brings the total to twenty-two plus a graduation cap! ( Proof - i.e., pictures of all twenty-two-plus hats! )

I finally used my digital camera for something I thought about putting on here.... And I finally uploaded the pictures... SO here is a picture of my church's new sanctuary!! Ain't it niiice? The red flag on the right is the AWANA flag, if you're not familiar with the program. The projection screen is hidden up behind that triangle on the back wall. And those two black-sheep chairs are there because they have arms, which are helpful for a couple nice elderly folks. And speaking of photos... I missed a photo album last time. I have six large ones, not five... three, four, six, yeah that's right. (Read: three that are huge, one that is good and large, plus two that are medium large, add up to six.)

I must have flipped through ten photo albums this afternoon... make that fifteen... *begins counting* five of my own a couple of mine that oughtn't to count since they're so small seven of Mom's and Dad's... or, six; one was empty, I forgot another two of Mom's and Dad's another three of Mom's and Dad's I think that's all. What did that add up to?.... sixteen, not counting the little things. See, what did I tell you?? I was picking out pictures to put on my display board next Sunday at the Graduation Celebration at church. Every year, all the high school grads get all their old school stuff and pictures together, including little trophies and such, and display them on tables around our little church gym. ( See my details of last year's to get an idea of what it's like. ) I will be displaying the aforementioned five photo albums (which I invariably type ablums) and some trophies from 4-H and the million pictures I pulled out of the variou

OK, we went up to my grandma's to pick up my graduation pictures from my uncle. While we were there, this same uncle gave me an Internet card for my laptop! And it works! Then another uncle (the bachelor one) gave me a niiiice black leather laptop bag to put all my stuff in. It even has a unique smell, since he smokes pipes in his living room where the bag was stored for awhile. Not a bad smell, actually; nothing at all like cigarettes' smell. Plus that uncle also gave me a hat from my Dad's favorite college sports team. A nice wheat-colored, woven something-or-other hat (I'd say straw but it's not), with a black band around the crown that has the logo on it. I really like it, but I may have to surrender it to Dad because it fits him pretty well too. ...and of course, amid all the excitement, I left the envelope of pictures on my grandmother's kitchen table. I should be getting them in the mail either tomorrow or Saturday.

I babysat a little two-year-old girl this afternoon, whom I shall call Livy. (For absolutely no reason related to the old Roman guy . I'm sorry if you will forever after picture this little girl with a toga on, because she's much cuter in a pink dress.) Anyhow, Livy certainly loved the outdoors today, because I took her on two walks (well, me pushing the stroller type walking) totalling an hour, and besides that - when she wasn't napping or snacking, that is - all she did was play outside in the swing or something. We had the bubbles out for a few minutes, but not too long. Mostly I pushed her in the baby swing and we picked white dandelions. The reason for our sudden weedy affections was: "let's blow the little seeds away!" And she really enjoyed it, once she got the hang of blowing hard enough, and stopped putting the dandelions too close to her mouth. It's more fun than blowing bubbles, don't you know, and less expensive.

A Quiz!! Yeah, it's been a couple years since I made a quiz about myself. But it's fun. Care to join me, or at least take my little quiz? Pretty please? :-P

I started my new journal today. A cute, half-page-sized, purple-and-yellow "Diary" (as it states) with a butterfly on its front and a lock on its side. (You know, one of those cheap little square locks that provides almost no real security and breaks about the seventh time you unlock it. Just gives a sense of security, not necessarily a reality.) So I named it May, I think. For an obvious reason. Used that naming method on one about two years ago, which I started in April. The journal, that is. I never name the locks. On another note........ today was our church's annual Mother-Daughter Banquet. 'Twas good. And, I planted about twenty (okay... maybe only fifteen...) little plants in our front yard this morning, in the big, slightly muddy area where the huge ugly bushes used to be. I guess gardening isn't so bad after all. There's still dirt stuck under my nails, though. Shall I bore you with an account of my last homeschool group meeting, a picnic? I though

...from my new (to me) laptop. No kidding. This guy at church asked my brother to fix his TV - a simple matter really - and when we dropped it back at his house, he came out with this little black box and said he had an extra one lying around so I might as well have it! Apparently his son used to type his college papers on it. He also gave us some speakers, but that wasn't a surprise. As I said two days ago, when I put it in the car to go home: YIPPPPPPEEEEEEE!!!! So now I've installed XP (or rather, my brother installed it and I bothered him a bit while he did), installed the stuff that came with my camera, and borrowed an internet thingy temporarily. (Only sporadically, and only till I get my own internet card thing.) This keyboard thing is a little difficult to get used to - I'm forever looking for the "end" key in the wrong spot - and the mousepad is a whole new ball game. I keep messing up with it, but I am getting better, I promise. :-) This is so muc

Yup, I went and bought it! It was really cheap... and I used a gift card to buy a 512MB xD picture card, also on sale. As far as the camera goes, I think they were just trying to get rid of old stock to make way for the new. If a camera this nice is sold at a hundred bucks, wouldn't you begin to suspect some such reason? But I had no intention of getting "the latest model", mostly because I can get a camera just as good (or better) for much less. So, you may be able to see a few things in the next few weeks, once I figure this little thing out... such a teeny little thing... it looks like a garage door opener, only a tiny bit bigger and heavier...

I may well be getting my first digital camera .

oh my! (You knew it was coming...) Visited campus Thursday and Friday for a big incoming-freshman bash. Went bowling, sat around in the cafe, enjoyed the beginning of a dorm party, ate a couple times in the cafeteria (different building from the cafe), went to chapel and three classes, wore out my shoes (figuratively) on a sort of scavenger hunt, and heard the president speak about one paragraph. (The college president.) And talked to a bunch of people at the various functions. 'Twas enjoyable enough. I met a few girls that I think I'll like - one who will definitely be in my dorm. The only other kid that I knew prior to this big bash found a roommate (but I didn't; I'll survive), who seemed nice enough. A lot of the girls struck me as.... oh, I don't know. And it wasn't that many; they just stood out. Chapel was fine; the most interesting person was the choir director, and for good reason! She was so into directing that her (relatively short) hair flop

Yesterday I headed up with the rest of my family to see my uncle. He's a photographer - has been for years, and took the pictures at my parents' wedding. (He wasn't even related yet!) Anyway, the reason: SENIOR PICTURES. So we spent an hour at an assisted-living community (no kidding) shooting me, in various positions, in various locations, at the little pond outside the complex. The ducks got in a couple of my photos, but I don't think I picked those. Of the six that I did pick, in one you can see the pond and the little stone bridge in the background - Mom says that is the "essence of me" picture, as I am also holding my fountain pen over a book in that. (It's supposed to look like I'm writing in a journal, but the book's actually my darling little copy of Pride & Prejudice .) And, another of my pics featured my wonderful little gold acorn hat. It's the one left-of-center in this pic, beside the pink rain hat: I really should get a pictur

Quoted from Heidi's blog : --Go to Google.com --Click on Maps. --Click on Get Directions. --From New York, New York --To Paris, France. --And read line # 23. Seriously..... or, not so seriously.... In other funnypapers, I dreamed up a one-question multiple-choice pop quiz for you last night! 1. The one and only question: what is a puncher? The choices: A. a remote control B. a device for synthesizing tropical fruit juice C. a hanging exercising bag D. a combination of B and C E. none of the above F. a sleeping bag G. not a sleeping bag H. a person hired by an underworld organization to rough up potential squealers or business associates I. a person not hired by an underworld organization, etc., etc., etc. J. a combination of B and H K. a combination of A, B, C, F, and I EDIT (5/1/2007) :::: I guess it is line 24. My wonderful sis pointed that out.... on the map directions, I mean. Line 23 just tells you to turn onto Long Wharf.

Ho-hum. I'm relaxing after about two-and-a-half hours at a sort of health fair at a local high school. I helped out at one booth - in fact, the booth with two (sometimes three) pairs of FATAL VISION goggles. You know, the ones you wear to find out what it feels like to be drunk. I got to lead one gaggle of kids for about two hours, one after another, in walking down a line and maneuvering around three cones. Worked pretty well, though it was really hot in that gym. (Oh yeah, I helped out because I am part of a 4-H group that does this every month.) Last night, however, was boring. Attended another monthly 4-H meeting for the county, spent two hours stuffing bags with literature for a mock crash, and paying little attention to the mindless babbling around me. It got old.............. I mean, imagine people playing with their cell phones and talking about the most trivial things! And not in an interesting manner. Sometimes trivial things are fascinating, but not this time.

Go read the other post first (the one from today, I mean). It's not that long, really! It just looks long because of the font I use. Anyway, in case you desire to follow the saga of the autographs in the future, you may go find the "autographs" label down on the side under "Nooks in the secretary as recorded by the amanuensis". I just found all the posts and added that label to 'em. Did the same thing with "links", actually. And if you're wondering what an "amanuensis" is, either look it up or don't. If you look it up, you can sound really smart in front of your fellow 4-H'ers (and crack me up in the process, as my sister did). If you don't, you may encounter a joke some day playing on the general ignorance of the meaning of that word. (Something about a pastor and his church-secretary wife going on a cruise, and him telling everybody he was travelling with his "amanuensis", and him getting envious lo

Item #1 in today's dispatch: my cousin sent out a news release to the family - about his first date at college. (In his particular family, there's a running joke that all the aunts have banded together to marry off the nieces and nephews; this release was named a "CALL Report" after the name of the band, CALL, which was derived from the first initials of the four aunts. Fortunately these are only his aunts, not mine, since they are really serious!) (Okay, long parenthetical...) Apparently he took a friend of his out to a banquet, where he won some awards. However, I don't know if it really counts as a date: "It was mutually understood that (my cousin and the girl) went together just for an enjoyable evening because of unfortunate religious incompatibility." So is it or is it not a date? Does it just count as a fun outing? Item #2: no, not the Reagan from the RI. This Reagan is an adopted son of the late President, who also hosts a radio show and

Oh yes, and I read Psalm 86 two days ago. Thought I'd tell y'all that it's my favorite psalm, even above Psalm 1 and Psalm 23 and all the other ones that I like. Well, it is so far. You can look it up if you want to. I think http://www.biblegateway.com is the address of the website that I frequently use.

And I happen to be feeling much better, thank you. :-) About four days ago, my sister got a rather large envelope in the mail... with a frank on it. She received a personalized, signed photograph of our U.S. representative. And two days after that, she received another oddly-sized envelope, this one containing a photograph of Johnny Depp. You can't read the letters in his signature, of course. And I am getting a full scholarship to *insert college name here*! For about four days, I thought I wasn't... and my attendance there was in jeopardy. (My award letter said I was getting just $7,900 a year instead of the thousands more that tuition is. It makes a huge difference with my family, as you may guess.) Now, I had been told in January that I was getting a full scholarship, so I fired off an e-mail to my wonderful admissions counselor (who just happens to share my first name), and got a reply on Tuesday. My letter was wrong... I am getting the full scholarship, and she doesn'

Seriously.... never heard the guy, but apparently a bunch of walking communters in Washington got a free few-minute concert for the taking from Joshua Bell, violinist. (Long article, but very very interesting.) JC from the RI put me onto this. Hmm.... Are we too busy to listen to a bit of violin on our way to work??

I don't feel like doing anything. Unfortunate. Because I know I had several things I was going to blog, and they've all just escaped me simultaneously. You know what I mean? Oh, they're coming back.... we got snow today. AND LOTS OF IT!! What in the world is God up to, I wonder? So, our dining room is filled with... one large vase (the kind that you get with those huge bouquets), two bud vases, and three champagne glasses filled to the max with daffydowndillies (aka daffodils to the uninitiate). I scrambled to pick 'em all last night, between Mom getting home from her 1st job and having supper before we ran to church for Wednesday night services. The poor things were freezing (obviously), but they were still blooming this morning, so I think we've saved 'em for now. Sorry, no digital camera = no instant pictures, or I would show you the profusion of daffydowndillies that has overrun the flat surfaces of the room. So much for spring. But I have faith.