Ay Caramba!

God's Design in 2009

2008-12-31T18:56:00.004-05:00

Thinking about the New Year, I realize that I really am ready to WELCOME it! I am waiting with open arms and a ready heart to embrace all the change and newness. While it's not a new beginning, it is serving the purpose of the "easier way to carry on" I expressed in a former post. It is an excuse to not only buoy up and finally make the decisions I have been putting off, to fulfill bigger and better resolutions, but also to learn to accept. I not only choose to embrace what comes my way and what change springs itself upon me, but to embrace myself. I find I can be accepting of other people, but when it comes to myself I have little patience. Not that I regularly berate myself, but I simply tend to disregard my thoughts as either unimportant or too trivial to pay attention to. I am proud of my dreams, but my practical side shoves them into a cage, only to be let out to get some much-needed exercise on occasion. My mistakes, my choices which create difficult outcomes, my shortcomings, my mannerisms, my actions, my personality, my whole being is longing for acceptance. Whose isn't? Why not forget trying to find acceptance through others eyes when I can give it what it needs myself. Why not like myself the way I am, because that's how God wants us to view ourselves. Of course improvement is needed, but it is so much easier to be better and kinder when one doesn't feel threatened. I find this concept very freeing. With my approval and God's acceptance, I think this year had better watch out.

I feel like the cover of a comic book, with the me being the superhero clad in flamboyant costume exploding through the cover, captured in a kung-fu pose, ready to face all evil forces and terrible foes. With my new found strengths my muscles bulge, my agility increases, and my eyes glint with a terrible sparkle of joy, energy, truth, and strength for whatever attempts to thwart my happiness. The fire within me has been rekindled, bursting forth into ardent flame. I have not regained my strength, my strength has regained me. Look out world, I am waking.

Dreams of Wandering

2008-12-20T12:25:00.003-05:00

I don't need a new beginning...I need an easier way to carry-on! I want to hit the ground running. No that's not true. I want to hit the ground walking. I want to walk and meander down streets and through towns and cities and meet new people and smell different air and experience different cultures and smile at strangers' little children. I want a sense of newness...of life foreign to me. I want to be out of my comfort zone but not too uncomfortable. I want to be on edge, but not over the edge. It's rather exciting actually, the thought of packing a backpack and then just walking. I think it would do my soul good. Bring a Bible, a book, a toothbrush... And roam the country. I would love to do that. I don't think I would get far on my own...I like to be in contact with people. I just enjoy things better when there's someone to share it all with. But the main attraction is just the freshness of life. The unknown is drawing me. I want to explore, to travel, to see the things I've never seen...only heard of. One day. One day I will run to my car and jump in it, start the ignition and drive drive drive to never never land.

I wonder how long never never land will wait for me.

What Ships Are For

2008-06-13T16:49:00.000-05:00

A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for. William Shedd

Sailing Into the Sunset

2008-06-13T14:13:00.003-05:00

Life Is Good!!

2008-06-12T15:16:00.003-05:00

iiit's summer!!

Bullfighters

2008-05-05T12:39:00.002-05:00

Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters. -Ernest Hemingway

End of All Things

2007-05-31T17:39:00.000-05:00

NOTICE: I'm taking a semi-permanent hiatus to blogging. Semi-permanent because I am not deleting it, and perhaps someday a blogging whim will strike me and the craziness will begin anew. In Arnold Schwarzenegger speech: Awl be bawk. (Insert a "maybe" between "Awl" and "be.")

Tagged.

2007-05-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

Why not grab a blogging opportunity when it comes your way?

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED! And I am going to tag seven more people...*evil laughter ensues.*

Each person tagged must list seven random facts about themselves, as well as the rules of the game on their blog. Then tag seven other people and write their names on your blog. You have to leave a comment on their blog so they know they've been tagged and have to read your blog.

1. I am taller than Tom Cruise

2.My thumbs are double jointed

3.If the light switch plate has multiple switches, they have to all be pointing in the same direction or I'll go insane. I'll even run around the room to make sure that all the plates have them in the same direction.

4.I broke two nails today.

5.I just got a foot cramp.

6. Oh to groove half as well as George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou. That's my lifelong ambition. :P

7. I am addicted to depressing books that leave me moaning on my bed with the utterly wonderful agony of it all. (Wuthering Heights comes to mind.) However, I have yet to throw myself on my bed and groan. It would have to be pretty bad for me to do that. I'm more likely to do it with a cheesy novel than a sad book.

And, I am tagging:

Melody!!
Big Sis
Zan
Kayla
Stephanie
Hillary J.
CDS

(Here's hoping I beat Aaron in finishing my post first. I was writing fast so I would have more options of people to tag.) :D

Now I'm going to R-U-N-N-O-F-T!

2007-05-21T16:01:00.000-05:00

BLEAH

Quiz

2007-05-19T18:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a Bible test that I'm posting not to show off Aaron's and my incredible knowledge, but because it gave me a good laugh to take it. Example question:

Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the _____"
A. Wine
B. Lord
C. Turkey
D. Establishment

Who lived to the age of 969?
A. Methuselah
B. George Burns
C. Strom Thurman
D. Abraham

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Then I took a personality quiz, and it said:

Your score on this personality test was 71%

It went on to describe the answers to the personality test, but it seemed kind of strange to give someone an actualy score on a personality test. Does it mean I have a dysfunctional personality? Hmm.

The Nicest Thing

2007-04-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

Twenty days later, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannd she's back!

Remember Bria's post about the old man who held the door for her? Well I was thinking of it the other evening after someone held the door for me. I was leaving Blockbuster, and I had just grabbed my movie when two "modern day greasers" entered the building, filling Blockbuster with their aura of suave cockiness. One of them held the door for me as I was leaving.

ME: Thank you.
MR. GREASER DUDE: (in a butter smooth, cool as anything voice.) Always.
ME: (Smiling and laughing in the car all the way home.)

Ask me sometime and I'll tell you just how he said it.

I was grateful for his holding the door for me, and as I drove home thought how it's such a gentlemanly gesture to do so. When I was telling someone about the "always" guy, she thought he sounded really creepy. But he wasn't.

And here's one other thing. I remember DJ saying something about how although people let others hold the door for them, they almost always put their hand out to hold the door in case the person lets go. I don't like to do that. I feel that if the person is going the extra effort to hold the door for me, why not give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they're not going to let the door smash in my face. I'll let them do their job thoroughly. :)

I'm still trying to decide if this story is a you-had-to-be-there story. :)

A Bria-esque Post

2007-04-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

Sonnet One Hundred Sixteen

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken:
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
~William Shakespeare

A nonbriaesque side note:
If you skipped over this then you missed something beautiful. GO BACK AND READ IT!

A Few British Quotes and INSECT INFESTATION

2007-04-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple quotes from one of my favorite actors. I like it when famous people sound normal and like everyday people. And for the record, I didn't go hunting for these quotes, I found them all at one of my favorite sites, IMDB. Enjoy.

Discussing his working out to get in shape for a certain role: "The character is so vain and obsessed with his looks. While the psychology of the character was something that I could perform, you can't fake the physicality. Being English, I tend to enjoy going down to the pub far more than going to the gym, so it was very unnatural for me. I just had to convince myself that I loved it, which was the most difficult thing about playing this part. Working out is incredibly boring. I swear its true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have. I found I had to stop thinking when I was in the gym because if I thought about it, I'd realize how ridiculous it was that I was pumping iron when I could've been out having a drink and enjoying some lunch."

"The only thing that I'm obsessed with is sleeping and, actually, it is more than an obsession, it is a pleasure. I love sleeping so much that I could do it 12 hours a day if I didn't have to turn on the alarm clock...and still, sometimes..."

"I'm English. Our dentistry is not world famous. But I made sure I got moldings of my old teeth beforehand because I miss them."

"You can't help but find that violence is endlessly fascinating-and I mean true violence, not action-movie violence, just because it is used as the answer to so many problems. We're all taught as kids not to be violent, but you can't help but also see that violence is what works very often. Bullies thrive."

"At the time that Chris Nolan asked me to do it [Batman Begins] I actually couldn't do one push-up. They sent me to a trainer, who was having to hold my T-shirt at the back just to pull me up. I've come a long way from that."

P.S. or whatever you call an afternote on the blog. I have a fear of insects and spiders, and today I found a silverfish in my room (huh, I just cleaned it! Why is there this disgusting damp-lover in my dry clean room?) and then walked in to a spider. (I promptly vacuumed up the spider.) and then watched the new Charlotte's Web. Funny, but incredibly revolting with this furry faced, eight eyed, spider spinning webs. Shelob didn't bother me, but Charlotte did, even if it really was fake and Julia Roberts was her voice. All I can say is, at least they're not roaches!

Exclamation Points and Such Things

2007-03-31T18:48:00.000-05:00

Well folks, I was going to post "Inside looking out" and "portrait of a stranger" today, but I forgot my camera when I went to work, and totally forgot about blogging until now. All the enthusiasm I had for photographing cute little kids at my store is now gone, and I'm tired of looking at myself in a spoon for "inside looking out." However, I have been busy the past few days:

*I did lots and lots of school
*I played roof tennis (the game where Aaron and I hit the ball back and forth off the roof of the garage.)
*I opened, unpacked, received, tagged, and shelved 20 boxes of merchandise at the store. 100 more to go! (We just got a Melissa and Doug shipment in, as well as Groovy Girl. We got Haba and Small World Toys and Meccano/Erector last week.)
*I watched a great war movie.
*I thought about cleaning my room.
*I sang Phantom of the Opera with Aaron. My favorite song in the score is the one the Phantom sings by himself. The one with the line "let the darkness possess you". What's the name of it, Aaron?
*I broke a nail
And my favorite thing I did recently:
*I drove our standard transmission Toyota Camry from the Applejuice Factory (haha. Know what that is?) to my house! without stalling! except for once! in the driveway! oh joy! i hate stalling! and exclamation points scattered liberally throughout a blog post are a pet peeve! adios!

Photo Catch Up

2007-03-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

Black and White

Corner of my house.

Self portrait

I can't believe it's almost Friday and it's taken me this long to put my pictures up. Oh well, here they are, but I haven't done one for today yet.

Happy Birthday!

2007-03-27T10:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my Stephanepha! She's turning sweet sixteen today, so hop over to her blog or leave a few comments here, and wish her many happy returns! (I couldn't decide on what pictures, so there's a bunch! Oh she will kill me when she sees the last one.)

I LOVE YOU, STEPHANIE!

Answers and Such Things

2007-03-23T14:31:00.000-05:00

AHA! The long lost returns! Only to be long lost again, I'm sure. I finally have the answers to those vocabulary words I posted eons ago. I don't know if you're even interested anymore (on that note, I don't know if you ever WERE interested) but here they are. I promised I'd post them and post them I will.

(No, I didn't forget to post them, they're at the end of the post. The answers are the ones in bold type.)

I have about four drafts on blogger which I could use to make world shattering (in a good way), absolutely phenomenal posts. But there is one problem. Cara is lazy.

Let me fill you in about my life over the past few weeks:

My D&G sunglasses were broken by a soccer ball kicked in the house. I will not say which younger brother it was, to spare him embarrassment. :)
I promptly bought a pair of aviators at Target (Linds and Amy, I thought of you!) and had them labeled as hideous by the great DJ. In return I made a slighting remark about anime, so we're fair and square.
We just got a shipment of over 70 boxes at the toy store. All of them have to be separately received, tagged, and shelved. Not to mention lugged between the stockroom and the store. It's work, but I like seeing the fun new stuff we get. Plus I have the best possible job anyone could ever have.
I went to Faredwood
I got knocked down during a volleyball game and could barely drive home it hurt so much to sit! And that's something, I never get hurt...almost never.
I wore green for St. Patty's day. Speaking of St. Pats, I read my favorite card of all time recently. It was a St. Patrick's day card at none other than TARGET! On the cover was a bartender saying, "On St. Patrick's Day, please drink responsibly." On the inside it said, "Use a coaster."

*pause so you can let it sink in*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I missed 24 on Monday--unheard of!
I started research on fashion designers for my term paper. I don't have a final topic or thesis yet, but it'll probably have something to do with five Italian designers (Armani, Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Cavalli, Versace, etc.) and their history, then comparison of their designs and lives and such things. It's either something like that or comparisons of fashion designers from different countries (Chanel, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Armani, Vera Wang, Donna Karen.) Soooo, that'll be an interesting journey, writing the paper and researching.
I watched a Grade-B movie and loved it.
I bought Crime and Punishment, but am still finishing Vanity Fair. I just haven't had the time to sit down and finish it. I have two hundred pages left, not bad.
I considered drawing and painting again--I haven't done n in so long--but didn't do it.
I'm currently busy with ideas for painting our basement and stairs.
I officially started to love learning languages, especially Spanish which I am studying this year.
I remind myself each day not to forget Stephanie's birthday on the 27th.
I wrote a check.
etc.

Have a smashing weekend, all.

Pariah¹- a person despised or rejected by society
Pariah²- an Indian soothsayer
Pariah³- an ancient tool used for sharpening knives

Boff¹-a loud hearty laugh; belly laugh
Boff²-to hit someone in a slapstick manner
Boff³- someone who has a nice car

Rowel¹- a special tool used for planting bulbs
Rowel²- an infectious disease among animals, mainly contracted by Indian elephants.
Rowel³- a small spike-covered wheel on a spur

Suzerain¹- a feudal overlord
Suzerain²-the vast dry grassland in Northern Africa
Suzerain³- C6H7; sextochloride septogen

Pannier¹- baker or gourmet chef
Pannier²- a hoop used to expand a skirt at the hips
Pannier³- the small metal clip used on yachting lines for the purpose of hoisting sails

Popple¹- to move in a tumbling, irregular manner
Popple²- to walk with a bouncy gait
Popple³- English slang: foolish talk; drivel

Peculate¹- to flex the chest
Peculate²- to wander aimlessly without purpose
Peculate³-embezzle

Manque¹- of or pertaining to mandarin cuisine; containing sweet and sour flavor
Manque²- unsuccessful, unfulfilled
Manque³- ornate; intricate

Happy Birthday!

2007-02-27T12:19:00.000-05:00

Feel like you've seen this picture before? Well you have! You saw it posted on Aaron's blog on my sixteenth birthday. Aaron did it because I was fifteen going on sixteen, but today I'm posting it because Rolf (aka Aaron) is seventeen going on eighteen, or rather, IS eighteen.

I guess I could write a mushy post about my awesome older brother, but I don't feel quite up to it. You all know that he's pretty boss anyway.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AARON!

Various Things To Do With Building A Vocabulary, a Word That Can Mean an Insect As Well As a Relative, and Ugly Dolls.

2007-02-24T22:24:00.000-05:00

Did my title make you want to read my post? I could picture the link gallery in my head, and was trying to think of a title that would grab me. Part way through the thought process I got bored and just wrote out a long title. End of "The Blog Title Saga."

Soooooo, on to what I was really going to write about. My aunt from Georgia flew up yesterday. (Here's where I was thinking about how down South--at least, I THINK it's in the South--people say "ant" instead of "aunt". I think that it is pitifully incorrect and lazy to pronounce it that way. Now that I have finished my spiel...) Last night, my brother was itching to play some sort of game (surprise, surprise) whether it was a board game, card game, or word game. My AUNT and I relented and played the game of Dictionary. Okay, we didn't actually relent. Aunt Holly came up with the idea, Aaron heartily agreed, and I succumbed to the pressure and joined the (two) masses. For those of you who don't know how to play Dictionary, it's a game where you pick a word from the dictionary (once again, surprise, surprise) that nobody knows, then write out the correct definition and have the people who do not know the meaning of the word make up their own definition. THEN, the person who knows the right definition reads all the other definitions and everyone votes on what they think the right one is, etc. etc. I guess there isn't really a winner to the game, unless you keep track, which we didn't. Well, I guess that's true for all games. If you don't understand what I just explained to you, then tough. Life is hard.

Well, for playing with only three people, it was a pretty awesome time. The wrong answers were regularly guessed, meaning we were pretty good at fake definitions. After we'd finished playing, we were just making small talk, when that strange phenomenon known as Blogus Inspirationimus hit me like a lightning bolt. I reeled from the shock of it, went to bed in attempt to recover from it, but couldn't shake the condition and am currently fully enslaved to the gripping hold of the disease. This was my inspiration: I should make my blog readers try to guess the correct definitions to the words we did last night! *insert wily smile.* "Let's see how smart they are." Without further ado, here are the words: Oh wait, I do have some further ado. NO LOOKING UP THE WORDS BEFORE GUESSING THEM! And don't let your answers be spoiled by other people's answers. Also, there is no prize for the person who gets the most correct answers. I'm not one to give out twenty dollar gift certificates and such things. :) Hopefully with no further ado, I present you with the words: (Enjoy!)

Pariah¹- a person despised or rejected by society
Pariah²- an Indian soothsayer
Pariah³- an ancient tool used for sharpening knives

Boff¹-a loud hearty laugh; belly laugh
Boff²-to hit someone in a slapstick manner
Boff³- someone who has a nice car

Rowel¹- a special tool used for planting bulbs
Rowel²- an infectious disease among animals, mainly contracted by Indian elephants.
Rowel³- a small spike-covered wheel on a spur

Suzerain¹- a feudal overlord
Suzerain²-the vast dry grassland in Northern Africa
Suzerain³- C₆H_7;sextochloride septogen

Pannier¹- baker or gourmet chef
Pannier²- a hoop used to expand a skirt at the hips
Pannier³- the small metal clip used on yachting lines for the purpose of hoisting sails

Popple¹- to move in a tumbling, irregular manner
Popple²- to walk with a bouncy gait
Popple³- English slang: foolish talk; drivel

Peculate¹- to flex the chest
Peculate²- to wander aimlessly without purpose
Peculate³-embezzle

Manque¹- of or pertaining to mandarin cuisine; containing sweet and sour flavor
Manque²- unsuccessful, unfulfilled
Manque³- ornate; intricate

One more thing, I purchased my Ugly Doll! After much deliberation, I decided on *drumroll*

MOXY!!!

Moxy's got a lot of "moxy". She's a real get up and go Ugly, with far more energy than her older brother OX. Moxy's favorite activity seems to be bouncing off the walls and jumping in and out of mischief. Her giant antennas are always on the look out for a good time, and she can hear a party from miles away. She could hear you coming from all the way back over there! Are you a party animal? No? Would you like to take care of one? No? Well that's ok because Moxy is here to take care of you. She can take care of pretty much any problem you may have...it's a gift of hers. For example, see how messy your room is? No problem! See? Moxy is on your side.

I need that support when my room is messy, which is like, uh, every day. She was the last one left in my store after someone bought one today, so I grabbed her while I could. Right now she is sitting on my bed with Wedgehead and Ugly Dog. They're getting to know each other.

"Guess Who?"--A Walk Down Memory Lane

2007-02-10T11:36:00.000-05:00

When I was pretty little, my mom would send the majority of her kids to a friend's house. Those were GOOD times. It's funny how something you loved doing years ago can stick in your head. I can smell the scent of their house (you know how every house seems to have its own smell, that's another topic for another day.) just by thinking about being there. I remember crawling in the coolest game closet in the world, singing "And the Caissons go rolling along..." at the top of our lungs, and being reprimanded for playing with the cannon. Here's the dead give-away: we loved to read Tintin when we were there, in fact, that was quite possibly the main attraction of the house at the time. Speaking of the house, we're not sure where this picture is taken, so brownie points for the people who figure it out. Actually, this is a pretty easy guessing game. So, with all this information, who are the people in the picture?

Now, guess who this is!

Superbowl Commercials

2007-02-02T22:20:00.000-05:00

A few favorite Superbowl commercials:

A Couple Firsts

2007-01-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

My first acrylic painting: You'll have to be satisfied with just part of it while I wait until I get a good picture of the whole thing. The color is much redder, and the features are defined by sharper lines than they appear to be in the picture below

My favorite part of the painting.

My first (ever) oil painting.

My New Favorite Toy

2007-01-18T23:23:00.000-05:00

The longer I work at my toy shop the more toys grow on me and the more I want to own them. I pride myself in knowing that we sell "cultured" toys where I work. My current favorite stuffed animal, which we do sell at the toy store, is any kind of UGLY DOLL! I hope you've heard of them, because they're the best thing since sliced bread.

The one I own is Wedgehead, the blue one with, the wedgehead, duh. Here's what it said on his tag that came with him: Wedgehead has his eye on you. and he likes what he sees! Finally, someone who understands him! He is very handsome too...can't you tell? What do you mean he looks pitiful? Look at that charismatic posture! Wedgehead understands you too. He sees things the way you see them... OK, so he has to stand on his head to do so, but still! He understands exactly what you mean. Wedgehead and his best buddy OX are on a mission to prove that humans really do exist, and he would like you to help them on their quest. The proof can be found in the snacks! Have any?

Bria has Ugly Dog. There's a picture of two ugly dogs, one pink and one red. They're the ones that look like one-eyed cats. I'm keeping Ugly Dog company while Bria's away.

Now, there are many many more Ugly Dolls, and here is the question? Since I want more more more of them, which should I get next? That orange one? His name is Chuckanucka.
I really like
Moxy, the aqua-colored one with the yellow teeth and tall straight ears. But Ox, the bright green one with an "x" for one of his eyes, has some appeal too, although he's not as cute as some.
Tray with the three eyes is smart looking, Ice Bat looks cuddly, and Babo looks stupid but sweet. Oh these are not my only options, there are Bop 'n Beep, Wage, Jeero, Cinko, Peaco, and Target. There are these ones in different colors and sizes. Hmm, tough decision, tough decision.

Then there's always the option to make my own ugly doll, which I plan to do anyway...

Make sure you read the blurb about each ugly doll. This is a very important decision I am going to make. Each doll is so unique, so different. Which one would be the best company right now? Which one would give me the best pleasure? Which would give me the best advice?

(I get the 12" size, or smaller. 2' is a bit pricey.)

Hopefully Not A True Prediction

2007-01-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

Because Beck' is the hot topic in our house right now, I wrote a limerick in his honor. (By the way, I haven't read the article I linked to, so hopefully it's good.) While we're enthusiastic about Beckham's coming to the U.S, I'm also a bit disgusted at one of the reasons: so his wife can shop at the better stores in the United States. HA! Former Spice Girl, ideas like that will end up like this:

There once was a girl who liked shoes

David Beckham her husband did choose

Till one day they split

Twas the end of all it

And the feelings of both they did bruise.

(A bit negative, but considering it was a school assignment and I wrote it in 30 seconds, I think it's pretty swell.) ;)

Lamentations and 2007

2007-01-01T11:18:00.002-05:00

I just wrote a long, beautiful post, just to have the computer turn off suddenly on some computer whim. No, my battery was not low and no, I don't think I touched ANYTHING! I'm so frustrated. The post was a retelling of my worst memory of 2006. It was/is very, very blogworthy, so I'm sure it will be up here sometime soon.

For now I'll be just be contented with wishing you all a Happy NEW YEAR!

2007. Weird.

Sentences Pulled From My Archives

2006-12-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

Aaron and I were perusing our blog archives recently. We winced, laughed, and snorted at former blunders, typos, and wordings. All that is behind us now! We're official bloggers now, no longer diary-blogger-wannabes.

Several sentences from various posts amused me. Amused is an understatement; they left us in stitches. It was all sort of accumulatively funny; blunt upon witty upon untactful, etc. I picked out 29 choice ones. There were lots and lots of others that were hilarious, but they all had to do with inside jokes or were simply too embarrassing to repeat.

1. I've a little bit of a problem though, is a dragonfly a boy or a girl? I have a feeling that a damselfly's the girl. Oh phew, someone just told me that there are mail and female ones of both. That takes a load of my shoulders...

2.I thought that this Science would be the worst thing that happened to me since brussel sprouts, but it's really not that bad!

3. Wow, i actually remembered something!

4.I didn't know that food meant so much to me, until now!

5. well, too many posts already today so i'll keep this one short! (Is there such a thing as too many posts?)

6. It only takes a couple million dollars! (In total seriousness.)

7. Did you know that a stunt guy actually died filming that? (About Ben Hur.) I find that really sad, cause I would love to be a movie stunt person, and I really don't want to die on set.

8. Eugene whatever-his-name-is made an AWESOME interception/catch. (Trying to show off my "knowledge" of the Patriots when there really was no knowledge to show off.)

9. I do not love it when people have fingers in my mouth.

10. I decided that I'm loony too. Not really, actually. I just felt like saying I am, cause i love the word loony.

11. I pinned it (my hair) up to the back of my head (not the front) with tons of clips.

12. They were white, which fortunately my eyebrows are not.

13. The tractor was slowly going down. Glug glug glug. It sounded like that.

14. They're far from boring but they're not interesting

15. I was so good this evening!

16. I took a nice long, relaxing weekend away just to refresh my mind so that I'd have something new to write about. Wait, that doesn't make sense, and I didn't take a vacation to refresh my mind anyway.

17. The Main House is big and empty and vacant since nobody's there. (Soo redundant.)

18. (We) hauled our hefty bags (no, they were not trash bags) into the house.

19. Us three girls (don't tell me, I did it wrong. is it objective or nominative case? I just learned that, but I guess I didn't really...)

20. After resisting the urge to dip in the 33 degree water, we went back. (That doesn't sound like an urge at all!)

21. I was such a smart little girl

22. Aaron served the ball and i saw it out of the corner of my eye and dived for it and my high heeled clogs gave way from under me and i tumbled to the floor, a mass of me. (pardon the "mass of me" bit, i was going to say a mass of arms and legs, but that didn't sound too flattering, so i chose the alternative.)

23.There was a very little amount of sleep for everyone, because a person who I will not mention had snoring issues. (I meant "a person whose name I will not mention")

24. I must go, I love long posts, and though none can be too long, I guess some can get rawther close to that. (Contrary to quote #5.)

25. Not on yer life! Just felt like saying that, actually quoting Aaron because he said that to me because I was terrorizing him and spraying him with scented water, and after he gave me a frustrated glance I pointed out that he had not said "please don't" and then he shot back and said that I hadn't said "may I?" so I asked him and he said, "Not on yer life!" The End

26. It turns out that Clyde wasn't raptured.

27. I’m not usually in a thoughtful mood like I am now, and it’s a rather strange feeling to put a few of my many thoughts down on paper.

28. Even though I like to be slothful I'm glad I am not a sloth...(I believe that was a very profound and intelligent statement.)

29. The part where the ferry tips over and all the people are in the water trying to escape the tripods made me want to become a really fast swimmer. That way if a tripod was ever chasing me, I'd escape.

THE Post

2006-12-07T21:06:00.000-05:00

Oy vey. My post, THE post, is here at last. I ask myself, how am I finding time to write a blog post, while meanwhile the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season keeps on hustling and bustling around me, sometimes catching me in its grips and sometimes releasing me for a moments peace...a peace during which I blog to tell my readers, that I am going to blog no more this year. I'm so busy, so active right now. I have so little time to blog. When I do get a spare moment, I call a friend, or write a friend. I love information first-hand. I also love telling people my most recent news when I can see their face and reaction. PURELY SELFISH!

But everyone, have one jolly, Merry Christmas!

(Advice of the day: Do NOT download iTunes free holiday song of the week, Jingle Bells by James Taylor. On second thought, maybe you should. I can't stop laughing when I hear it. It's the most hilarious Christmas carol, ever!)

2006-11-25T16:33:00.000-05:00

JUST SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEE THOSE STUPID PIGS ANYMORE...

Post coming within, uh, the next year.
(And I hope your screen isn't too much larger than mine, because if it is you will still be able to see those stupid pigs.)

Damien Hirst Works of Art

2006-11-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

This Little Piggy Went to Market, This Little Piggy Stayed Home

The Physical Impossibility of Death In the Mind of Someone Living

Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purposes of Understanding

Well, I thought these were pretty hilarious. They look like they took a long time to make. That's about the extent of my artistic criticism for the day.

Olimpio Fusco

2006-10-31T16:50:00.000-05:00

John Singer Sargent's Olimpio Fusco is one of my very favorite works of art. Just thought I'd share it so you all could enjoy it as well.

ROADKILL!!

2006-10-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

Last night I ran over three baby raccoons. I am in denial and don't want to talk about it. Here's what happened: I was driving back from town with my mom. It was late, and I was tired. I was within a couple miles of my house, heading up a hill, my highbeams were on, when I saw a car approaching. I flicked my high beams off and there DIRECTLY in front of me was a family of raccoons waddling across the road. We just went over roadkill in Drivers Ed., so I checked my rearview mirror, prepared to step on the brake. There was no one behind me. I was going to brake, but then I saw that there was just no chance of not hitting them, so I didn't bother braking too much. There was no way I was going to swerve to avoid the critters. There was dirt to my right and oncoming cars to my left. Sigh. Then I hit them. THUNK. I didn't run over any with the wheels, but I believe I hit the back of one with my undercarriage, and possibly got two of the other five or so raccoon kittens, cubs, or whatever you call them. I just started wailing, not crying but wailing, and it was all horrible horrible horrible!!! I drove by the place this morning, and didn't see any dead animals nearby, so I'm hoping all I did was stun the raccoon. Aaron said that we should go and get it for dinner. Daddy said, well, I'm not going to say what he said. It was sad and cruel, not to be repeated.

That is my terrible story. I can't believe I've already contributed roadkill to the already "roadkilled-out" country, before I've even gotten my license.

Thirty Days of NO BLOGS!

2006-10-13T23:37:00.000-05:00

I'm back! I've had a month with NO blogs or xangas or myspaces or livejournals or any other cyberspace stuff. It's been refreshing and enjoyable. I didn't swear off internet all together, I still had to use it for school and such. Anyway, a few things that've happened in the last month:

I caught on fire. Actually, my sweater did. (It was just yesterday!) I am amazed at how quickly I started thinking once I realized my sweater was burning. HeywhudjaknowI'monfire,perhapsIshoulddosomethingaboutit,
thisisjustlikelastyearwhen mymom'ssweatercaughtonfire,hmm,maybeIshould
stopdropandroll. I was about to stop, drop, and roll, but the fire went out. It lasted only about two seconds, thankfully. I liked the sweater I was wearing, and wanted to keep it blue without large brown spots. Although my sweater wasn't burnt, I reeked of burnt yarn all evening. Yick.
I am over halfway done with Drivers Ed.!

Oh dear. I had so many grand adventures to mention, but I can't remember them now. It doesn't help that it's kind of late and I'm exhausted. Maybe my memory will be refreshed tomorrow.

Be back later...

2006-09-20T22:32:00.000-05:00

This is Aaron hacking Cara's blog to tell you all that she is taking a break from blogging and will be back to amuse and gratify her audience in about three weeks. In the meantime, here's another cool blog you can check out . . . .

Click here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-13T21:39:00.000-05:00

Guess what I just realized? Cara is a four letter word.

"The African Letter " Sounds like a murder mystery or something.

2006-09-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

The other day I was sorting our mail-we sort my Dad's office mail from our home mail-and I came across a letter addressed to me. It was a small envelope, there was no return address, and about five stamps labeled "Burkina Faso" were on it. Huh. The address was handwritten. I wondered if it was from a missionary? Naw, I never get that kind of letter. An old pen-pal writing me again? It couldn't be that, my two pen-pals I've had were both from Thailand. Well, I guess they could be in Burkina Faso now, but it seemed kind of unlikely. Then I figured out what it was. "It's Anthrax!" I yelled, and Aaron grabbed the envelope and held it up to the light in mock fear. No such luck, we weren't going to die after all. Everything was as it should be. The only contents of the envelope were a few sheets of paper.

This makes me remember something from a few years ago when the Anthrax scare was, um, a scare. It was a crisp morning in fall, actually that's not important but I put it in for effect. I don't think it did much for the story, though. Anyway, a bunch of my family was standing around the table as we sorted through the mail. When the mail comes we all hover about the person sorting it, ready to pounce on World or Anthropologie or Readers Digest. Mama, who happened to be the "sorter", picked up an envelope from some unknown company in some random Asian country. It's not quite clear how the idea got into her head, but somehow she decided the envelope contained Anthrax. She had us leave it on the steps outside, then we all had to scrub our hands in bleach water. We were going to wait till Daddy got home to see what he thought about the letter, but it flew away so we never found out what really was in it. I think it was a missionary group asking for money. I bet they never thought it would be mistaken for some bio-chemical-whatever they're called.

Back to "The African Letter." I opened the envelope, took it out, and was really surprised to see a letter ALL IN FRENCH! Eh wot? I could translate a few words here and there but not nearly enough to get the gist of the letter. I called Bria, but she was working at Fairwood, and there was no way I could read the letter to her. (My French accent is atrocious) Aaron worked on it for most of the afternoon, and managed to translate most of it.

It turns out it was a letter from a girl I sent a shoebox to through Operation Christmas Child. Every year our church participates in Operation Christmas Child, which is organized by Samaritan's Purse. People fill a shoebox with small fun gifts for a child in a particular age group. They wrap the box and drop it off at an Operation Christmas Child box drop off place, where the volunteers who work there send them out to all over the world to needy, poverty stricken people. For the past few years I've filled a shoebox at each Christmas, and it has become one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season. I usualy make a box for a girl in the 5-8 age group, filling it with hair accessories, play jewelry, hard candy, and art and school supplies.

I filled a box as usual last year, had it dropped off at the right place, then promptly forgot about it. I'll post the translated letter once I get the complete thing back from Bria who is working on it.

From what Aaron and I translated, the letter was from a five year old girl saying she was sorry she hadn't written sooner, she thought I was the nicest girl in the world, she can't wait for me to send her more presents, and she is five years old. Saying her age twice seemed to be a very five-oldish touch to the letter. I think it must have been written by her mother, because the handwriting was definitely not that of an average kid her age. Maybe they have really good handwriting in Burkina Faso.

And as to the Red Sox game, yes we lost, but we had an awesome time there. Fenway seemed so huge and small at the same time to me. To read reports of it visit Aaron's and Ryan's blogs. Here are the people who ended up going to the game: Daddy, Bria, Aaron, Ryan, me, Doug, Elizabeth, Katherine, Uncle Dave, Ben, Andrew B., and Katie A. It was such a party!!!

Look For Me On TV...

2006-09-06T10:57:00.000-05:00

We're going to a Red Sox vs. White Sox game tonight! Pray the game doesn't get rained out and that the Red Sox don't lost too badly tonight. (And if it's not too much, pray that maybe they'll actually win and get out of this disgusting slump. At least we haven't been doing too bad against the White Sox.) Someone gave us two tickets (Thanks Mr. L!) and we bought five more tickets for very cheap. A lot of Red Sox fans seem to be pretty discouraged right now. It was unbelievably easy to ge t good seats. So if you want to go to a Sox game before the season's out, today's the day!

New Hairstyle!

2006-09-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Impulsive. Sometimes I get in this impulsive mood where I just want to do something crazy. 999's blog gave me ideas, and here's what happened:

Black and White

2006-08-31T16:08:00.000-05:00

For black and white day, here's my most recent drawing.

Blue

2006-08-31T16:02:00.000-05:00

For lack of time, I'm posting a picture from Girls' Week as well as a picture from last year, but I was playing with it recently and inverted to the colors. I'm also refraining from blue quotes. Time, time, where is the time?

Red (My Favorite Color)

2006-08-30T16:20:00.000-05:00

Another twirling picture.

And a picture of the writing on my shirt in case the skirt picture isn't red enough.

Some quotes for you:

When in doubt wear red.
Bill Blass

Red is the ultimate cure for sadness
Bill Blass

Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.
Jules Feiffer

Color Week Is Da Bomb!

2006-08-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

I'm so into this color week. Not as much into my own pictures, but into looking at everyone else's. Keep up the awesome picture-taking, everyone! I'm very excited to see everyone's amazing talent. It's not too late to start color week now, if you want to...

And Steph just started posting color pictures. Hurray!

Green

2006-08-29T14:27:00.001-05:00

Hurray for color week! I am having muchos fun taking pictures and looking at everyone else's fabulous color shots. Thanks, Liane, for getting us all to do this!

And now, for some green quotes!

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.
Pedro Calderon de la Barca

When you're green, you're growing. When you're ripe, you rot.
Ray Kroc

Absolute green is the most restful color, lacking any undertone of joy, grief, or passion. On exhausted men this restfulness has a beneficial effect.
Wassily Kandinsky

(I've decided I enjoy putting in a random quote, even if it doesn't have much to do with the color green.)

Yellow

2006-08-28T20:53:00.001-05:00

I've changed my mind. I'm going to do color week! Or at least yellow day...

A few random "yellow quotes" for your enjoyment.

Yellow usually means it's not that serious.
Bobby Unser

I'm frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it.
Alfred Hitchcock

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.
Pablo Picasso

There is no blue without yellow and without orange.
Vincent Van Gogh

(The Alfred Hitchcock quote is my favorite...)

What a horrible thing yellow is.
Edgar Degas

How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.
Vincent Van Gogh

Quote of the Day

2006-08-26T20:35:00.000-05:00

If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you. ~Anonymous.

Girls' Week Pictures

2006-08-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

I finally had my girls' week pictures developed. Usually, I take tons of pictures at Girls' week and have them developed right away. However, this year I only took one and a half rolls (within fifteen minutes). But here are a few of my favorites. The rest will be on Webshots as soon as I get my laptop's internet working.

Toad Mauler

2006-08-18T13:24:00.000-05:00

Call me locust squasher, cricket mangler, toad mauler, snake shredder...Or just Cara-who-likes-to-mow-the-lawn.
Mowing the lawn is one of my favorite summer things to do! Just don't look too closely at our lawns next time you come because even though "someone" did a beautiful job cutting them, they're starting to turn brown, copper, orange--the grass is dying. Crabgrass is starting to dominate. Anyway, enough about the grass. More about the wildlife in the grass: there were toads hopping every which way to avoid being shredded by the mower. Once I saw one fly belly up about three feet to the side of the mower. I wonder if he had been hit by the lawn mower or just jumped out of the way. Hmm. This makes me think of Katherine's Toad (or frog?) story. The one about running over it and its guts spraying everywhere. I tried to find it in her archives but I didn't. :) I also ran over a few crickets and grasshoppers, the poor creatures. I would hate to be a little jumping insect and have to get away from the mower. It would be a nightmare. Maybe I should stop mowing so I don't scare them so much. I watched the grass to the side of the mower as I pushed it, and all the grass in about a foot wide area next to the part I was mowing would move with creatures franticly hopping away from the blades of death.

Enough about mowing. Time to go do some more work.

A Thing of Beauty...and Luxury...and Comfort...and Money...and Power...

2006-08-12T12:03:00.000-05:00

World's Most Beautiful Dog...Hands Down

2006-08-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

2006-08-01T20:39:00.000-05:00

I watched "Angels in the Outfield" for the first time this evening. Although it's not on my favorite movie list, I got quite a few good laughs out of it.

It was strange to see Matthew McConaughey not being cocky!

Baseball just doesn't seem to be up Adrien Brody's alley, but he was fun to laugh at.

Pictures From My Visit To the Hills...(Which was a while ago)

2006-07-23T22:09:00.000-05:00

Sabbath Is Coming...

2006-07-21T18:16:00.000-05:00

It has been one busy busy busy week. Most of you know by now that that the majority of Monday was spent shopping. I don't think I ever want to go shopping again. The endless "oohing and aaaahing" over clothes that just don't really work, it's a grievous injustice. Anyway, I got a few things. Woopdedoo.

Tuesday I was at the lake from 10-3!!! It was very fun, thanks Valerie and Nika (as well as Spencer and Sage) for a wonderful time!

I'm finishing up last year's school, and my mom wants me to get a minimum of three hours done each day. (Fifteen hours a week.) I didn't do any school at all on the first two days of the school week, so the past few days have been spent cramming five hours of school in. I did it! Praise the Lord for the Sabbath, though. I am sooo tired.

Ryan asked me to play some soccer with him the other day, so we sauntered down to the lawn and kicked the ball around. Our goals we were using were not so great. One has large holes in it which have been there since a few years ago when my dad cut the neighbor's cat out of the net. It had strangled itself. Suicidal feline. The other nets are miniscule. About two by two feet. We stick two of them together to make one net. So Ryan and I puffed and kicked around for a bit. For a while we were running around doubled over laughing with that sort of exhilarating, spluttery, gaspy feeling you get when you laugh while you run. So that was fun fun fun.

I keep saying things in threes. (fun fun fun, busy busy busy.) It makes me feel like Nanny in the Eloise books

A good Sabbath to all! I go now...

2006-07-17T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today I went shopping. I went shopping for a long time. I went shopping for a very long time. I went shopping for 10 hours. (Total.) I am tired. Good night.

Say These Really Fast

2006-07-16T19:23:00.000-05:00

Today after dinner, Bria, Aaron, Ryan, and I spent a few minutes reading Fox in Sox. We each read it through once (out loud) seeing how far we could get without stumbling over our words and muddling the sentences. I know that the difficulty of the book is mostly because of all the difficult phrases in a row, but here are a few of the most challenging. They are not as hard when set apart from the others, but they're still enjoyable. What a genius Dr. Seuss was! So say these, fast! It's guaranteed fun.

Clocks on fox tick.
Clocks on Knox tock.
Six sick bricks tick.
Six sick chicks tock.

Here is lots of
new blue goo now.
New goo. Blue goo.
Gooey. Goeey.
Blue goo, New goo.
Gluey. Gluey.
Gooey goo
for chewy chewing!
That's what that
Goo-Goose is doing
Do you choose to
chew goo, too, sir?
If, sir, you, sir,
choose to chew, sir,
with the Goo-Goose,
chew, sir. Do, sir.

Bim comes.
Ben comes.
Bim bringgs Ben broom.
Ben brings Bim broom.
Ben bends Bim's broom.
Bim bends Ben's broom,
Bim's bends,
Ben's bends.
Ben's bent broom breaks.
Bim's bent broom breaks.
Ben's band. Bim's band.
Big bands. Pig bands.
Bim and Ben lead
bands with brooms.
Ben's band bangs
and Bim's band booms.

Luke Luck likes lakes.
Luke's duck likes lakes.
Luke luck licks lakes.
Luke's duck licks lakes.
Duck takes licks
in lakes Luke Luck likes.
Luke Luck takes licks
in lakes duck likes.

Through three cheese trees
three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew,
freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made
these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made
these trees' cheese freeze
That's what made these
three free fleas sneeze.

When tweetle beetles fight,
it's called
a tweetle beetle battle.

And when they
battle in a puddle,
it's a tweetle
beetle puddle battle.

AND when tweetle beetles
battle with paddles in a puddle,
they call it a tweetle
beetle puddle paddle battle.
AND...

When beetles battle beetles
in a puddle paddle battle
and the beetle battle puddle
is a puddle in a bottle...

...they call this
a tweetle beetle
bottle puddle
paddle battle muddle.
AND...

When beetles
fight these battles
in a bottle
with their paddles
and the bottle's
on a poodle
and the poodle's
eating noodles...

...they call this
a muddle puddle
tweetle poodle
beetle noodle
bottle paddle battle.
AND...

Now wait
a minute
Mr. Socks Fox!

When a fox is
in the bottle where
the tweetle beetls battle
with their paddles
in a puddle on a
noodle-eating poodle.
THIS is what they call...

...a tweetle beetle
noodle poodle bottles
paddled muddled duddled
fuddled wuddled
fox in sockx, sir!

Fox in socks,
our game us done, sir.
Thank you for
a lot of fun, sir

(I had to include the whole tweedle beetle part. It's too wonderful to leave out.)

Fun Times

2006-07-09T22:44:00.000-05:00

My life has been so busy and full of fun the past few weeks. I am amazed at how many memories have been created in so small an amount of time. Friendships are stronger, new ones are made, and life is pretty much just great.

Girls' week was so wonderful. Thank you, thank you, Andrea. We did so many amazing things: shopping, uh, shopping, and um, shopping, SHOPPING! Yes, we did shop a lot. No wonder the week was such a blast! I had never realized how much fun it is to shop with a group of girls who share similar tastes to you. And hey, even if someone didn't like what I got, there was at least one girl who did! The benefits of a large shopping group are many.

The most amazing part of the Girls' week was the devotions and meetings. Our theme was "Intimacy With God." We would do a quick Bible study of a few Psalms, and then write down our heart response to the message we had read. I know that I grew in my friendship with Jesus, and I believe the other girls did as well.

I am still so thankful that Uncle Tim was our driver. I love him! Van rides were pretty much the coolest time ever. A few times some girls performed skits in the back seat (Meredith and Indiana Jones was a title of one), we sang a few songs, but the best parts of all were the waving and the honk signs. Every now and then, as we were cruising down the highway, we would all plaster ourselves on the window of the van and wave for all we were worth at the poor people who happened to be passing us. We also made signs that said "HONK!." Ah, that was the most fun of all. We got so many people to honk, and if someone was too embarrassed or too non-obliging to honk, we would stare at them and wave and bang on the window until they turned red in the and zoomed off down the highway. Good times. Once we were waving to some guy in a truck, and apparently we amused him so much that he took a picture of us. That was funny.

The family convention was fabulous. Thank you to Paul and Laura. (No, I don't usually call them that, but I try not to use people's whole names on my blog. So those of you who thought I was being incredibly disrespectful can rest easy. I wasn't.) I would list my favorite activities I participated in, but that would pretty much be the whole convention, and if you want to read about what we did, just go to Craig's blog.

However, there are a few things not in his post that I enjoyed IMMENSELY. I spent the first afternoon on the lake with many of my good friends. We canoed and swimmed (swam?) and laughed until I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Since when was this much good fun allowed on earth? A few of the boys came very close to tipping my canoe, which I shared with two other girls, but they were gentlemen and right before we were thrown into the watery depths of the lake, they rowed to shore to get us a bailer. And here I am ashamed to say how we repaid them: We tipped them! Apparently, later one of the guys thanked us for it. It was delightful to see the canoe sink down down down. Somewhere we had a glitch in our canoe tipping plan, because we ended up with the under water canoe of the guys, and the ended up with ours which was above water and floating. We ended up swimming with the canoe (under water) toward shore until someone came and rescued us and emptied the canoe of water and blah blah blah you've heard enough of this story.

Basically, it was a good time had by all.

2006-07-09T22:41:00.000-05:00

Your Driving Is is: 67% Male, 33% Female

According to studies, you generally drive like a typical male.
You're confident in your driving skills, and hardly any situation gets the better of you.
And while you may have a few tickets under your belt, you're still a very good driver.

Do You Drive Like a Guy or a Girl?

2006-07-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

You Are Batman

Billionaire playboy by day. Saving the world by night.And you're not even a true superhero. Just someone with a lot of expensive toys!

What Superhero Are You?

In Which I Reduce My Body To Charred Remains...Almost

2006-06-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

Today I was going to make chicken on the grill. I went out side, turned the propane on, opened the valves, and lit a match to light it. (The bottom of the grill is so full of charred remains of meat; it's too clogged or something.) Anyway, the match wouldn't light right away. I got it on the third try. Third try is the charm, right? I hate that saying... I tossed the match into the grill and WHOOMPH! A gargantuan amount of flame flew into my face. I shielded my face with my arm and stepped backwards. After the flames died down in about one nanosecond, I quickly checked my hair to make sure it was still there. It was. But then I smelled the stench of frizzled and fried hair. All the eensy weensy hairs on my arm are reduced to a half a millimeter. My mom told me to pray next time I start the grill. The End.

2006-06-16T23:41:00.000-05:00

When I was in NY, Klara and I had fun dressing up...something I hadn't done in a looong time. She was Nanny McPhee and I was Mrs. Quickley, though you have to use your imagination to tell she's the person I'm trying to look like. Hurray for fake beauty mark and crocheted and yarn hair! The funnest part of dressing up was saying: "Behaive" and "Aw, look at the little small things."

Update

2006-06-16T21:51:00.000-05:00

Vacation was wonderful. It was glorious to bask in the sun, not worry about school, run around playing and being crazy, and to just relax. Hurray for the summer.

I came home to a very different house and room. My walls are now a beautiful red, instead of the flowered wallpaper they were a few weeks ago. I have wood floor instead of rug, and that is perhaps the greatest blessing. I am very very hard on clothes, furniture, and things like that. My rug was well worn and had definitely payed for itself, but it was looking very sad and sorry. I also got a fan/light fixture installed. Three cheers for home improvements! Maybe I'll post pictures later.

I was gone the last few days to one of my favorite places. I had a wonderful visit with some of my favorite people. Thanks to the Holschers for a lovely relaxing time at their house.

Since War and Peace, I have read two Lemony Snicket books (I figured I had to read them sometime.), and half an Alistair MacLean. My reading skills are almost completely exhausted. However, I have the whole summer ahead to enrich my mind and vocabulary with other great literature.

Mission Accomplished

2006-06-04T12:38:00.000-05:00

Last night at 10:30, Cara officially finished War and Peace. It took me approximately five weeks. The last part of the epilogue was the hardest. My dad says that I'm now officially a nerd. Ha. Now I can relax with a nice cosy Alistair MacLean. H.M.S Ulysses, here I come!

Fasting From Blogland

2006-05-24T18:07:00.000-05:00

I have decided to have a blog fast for the next few days. I'll be working to get us ready for the Cape, to get the house ready for home improvements, and to finish up school. Because blogging is my #1 time waster, I'll refrain from the enjoyment of visiting each different site and seeing what people have to say. So tata for now, and perhaps you'll hear from me when I'm at the Cape.

Shoe Quotes

2006-05-20T12:03:00.000-05:00

1972: The first woman falls of her cork sandals. Millions follow. ~Vogue

When a woman pulls on a great pair of boots, she not only walks differently--she behaves differently. ~Catherine Wilson

You want to fall in love with a shoe, go ahead. A shoe can't love you back, but, on the other hand, a shoe can't hurt you too deeply either. And there are so many nice-looking shoes. Allan Sherman

Give a girl the correct footwear, and she can conquer the world. ~Bette Midler

If shoes don't hurt, they don't have style. ~Emma Bombeck

If the shoe fits, it's too expensive. Adrienne Gusoff

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. ~Frieda Norris

A pair of shoes must be perfect like an equation and adjusted to the millimeter like a motor piece. ~Andre Perugia

Always wear expensive shoes. People notice. ~Brian Koslow

Stilettos--not combat trousers and pierced tongues--are a real source of girl power. ~Lesley Thomas

Something I Read Recently Which I Found Intriguing

2006-05-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

In order to persuade the public to support a particular viewpoint, environmental activists often exaggerate some risks and downplay others. By using true but misleading statements, practically any substance on earth can be made to sound like a menace to society. For example, consider the following true statements about the chemical dihydrogen monoxide(DHMO):

DHMO is a powerful solvent that can corrode many metals.
At high temperatures, DHMO decomposes into explosive gases that can be used as rocket fuels.
Chronic exposure to solid DHMO can cause severe tissue damage and gangrene; exposure to the liquid form causes temporary changes in the skin. Contact with DHMO vapors can cause severe burns.
Laboratory animals fed large amounts of DHMO exhibit nausea, vomiting, edema, and electrolyte disturbances; only a few grams injected intravenously can be fatal.
DHMO is used in the manufacture of pesticides, plastics, and nuclear weapons; it is also used as a general-purpose solvent and coolant in the chemical industry. Many industries dump DHMO into the environment. It is often stored near populated areas.

Based on the above facts, would you think DHMO should be banned? Carefully regulated? Or not regulated at all? Actually, banning dihydrogen monoxide would be a grave mistake. Even though all of the above statements are true, human life would be impossible without DHMO--which most people call water.

Although no one seriously proposes to ban water, many current environmental debates--from chlorine bans to the elimination of pesticides--are based upon similar exaggerated fears. Although there are many legitimate concerns about pollution, keep in mind that not everything that sounds ominous is a threat to the environment.

Movie Which Guarantees Enjoyment To Almost Everyone...

2006-05-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

Check out this amazing movie I just came across. ;) Here it is...

2006-05-05T18:44:00.000-05:00

Your Hillbilly Name Is...

Leanne Lou Rambler

Hillbilly Name Generator

Drawings by Cara

2006-05-04T20:03:00.000-05:00

Here are my two most recent drawnings. Thought I'd share them with you...

Driving

2006-04-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

My first days of driving have gone really well. Wednesday was spent anstily waiting for my Dad's automatic to be available for me. I worked hard on school and even cleaned the house a little. Then I called Daddy to see if his car was ready for me to use, and guess what? He had to go to Portsmouth. Well, that left three options.

Option #1: To wait till he got back
Option #2: To illegally drive the uninspected GMC Safari
Option #3: To attempt the standard.

Option 3 being the most appealing to me, I decided to drive the standard. (Here's where I heave a long sigh.) Mama graciously set aside somet ime for driving with me, and we set out in the Camry. Starting went really well. I smoothly started, got out of the driveway and accelerated on our road, and then...I forgot that there's more than one gear. Yes, I know, it's embarrassing, but I totally forgot that I had to shift and then I did it really hasty and then I freaked out and decided to have my mom drive me to the parking lot and to practice driving there. Some more humbling things happened which I'll leave to your imagination...

The parking lot was good. I practiced shifting between gears, and starting on hills. It all was good, until little kids started to run in directly in front of me. Then I had to back down a hill to let someone pass me, and from there on it was downhill...no pun intended. I had difficulty starting up again. Lots of mothers at the playground nodded their heads sympathetically when they heard me stall. They all knew what it was like...argh. After a while I got tired of people watching me, and I had Mama get me out of there.

When Daddy came home around nine he asked if I still wanted to drive with him in the automatic. We decided to give it a try. I got the crash course (my dad laughs when I say that, then he starts making jokes about the "crash" course...) in driving that evening. We went on some back roads, jumped on the highway for a few minutes, took some shortcuts to a gas station, Daddy had me pump the gas, then we went to Hannaford and I parked, then we got back on the highway and went home. It was all so unbelievably easy and uncomplicated. I want to drive to Fairwood and visit Bria now...

So that is my saga about my first day of driving. I have attempted the standard one more time since then. I drove it to my house from my grandfather's, about two and a half miles. It was a magnificently flawless ride. My spirits were boosted and now I'm ready to shift again.

Onto other things--

Highspeed Internet is the most glorious thing in this world. A few hours after we had it installed, Aaron was looking up some stuff online. I needed to call mom, so I was hunting around for the cell phone. Then Nancy pointed out to me, that I didn't need one. I could actually use the phone and be online at the same time. Thank God for wireless and highspeed.

I've been chipping away at War and Peace for the past couple of weeks. I had expected it to be a totally baffling, boring book. On the contrary, it's very easy to read. It also has an enjoyable story line. The most daunting part is the length. My copy is 1384 pages. The Russian names are sometime difficult to remember. I get Anna Pavlovna and Anna Mihalovna mixed up now and then. But for the most part, it's a straightforward book. I wouldn't say that Russian literature is my favorite stuff to read, but it definitely isn't too bad.

The pool is open! Come on over and swim, everybody! The majority of the leaves have been skimmed out, but there is still a layer of dirt which needs vacuuming. However, with a little zap of the heater, and a little warmer weather I'll be in it, dirt or no dirt. I can't wait to start this year's lap chart. Last year I started counting laps in the end of July/beginning of August. (A lap is there and back across the pool) I got 200+ something in, but I've already blogged about that. Maybe I'll get 500 in this year...

That's about all the news I have right now. Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!

The Long Awaited Day

2006-04-25T14:13:00.000-05:00

The big day has come! The moment we've all been waiting for! I start driving today! Unfortunately, the long awaited moment has to wait for a few more moments. My parents are gone for the afternoon, and Mama still has to dig out my birth certificate. Anyway, I now can drive on the road without breaking the law. Hurray! No more furtively avoiding eye contact with policemen in case they'll read my inner thoughts...just kidding. Just you wait tomorrow! I'll be cruising New Hampshire's roads.

A Story For You To Enjoy

2006-04-03T15:04:00.000-05:00

The Dinner Party
by Mona Gardner

The country is India. A large dinner party is being given in an up-country station by a colonial official and his wife. The guests are army officers and government attaches and their wives, and an American naturalist.
At one side of the long table a spirited discussion springs up between a young girl and a colonel. The girl insists women have long outgrown the jumping-on-a-chair-at-sight-of-a-mouse era, that they are not as fluttery as their grandmothers. The colonel says they re, explaining that women haven’t the actual nerve control of men. The other men at the table agree with him.
“A woman’s unfailing reaction in any crisis,” the colonel says, “is to scream. And while a man may feel like it, yet he has that ounce more of control than a woman has. And that last ounce is what counts!"
The American scientist does not join in the argument, but sits watching the faces of the other guests. As he looks, he sees a strange expression come over the face of the hostess. She is staring straight ahead, the muscles of her face contracted slightly. With a small gesture she summons the native boy standing behind her chair. She whispers to him. The boy’s eyes widen: he turns quickly and leaves the room. No one else sees this, nor the boy when he puts a bowl of milk on the verandah outside the glass doors.
The American comes to with a start. In India, milk in a bowl means only one thing. It is bait for a snake. He realizes that there is a cobra in the room.
He looks up at the rafters—the likeliest place—and sees they are bare. Three corners of the room, which he can see by shifting only slightly, are empty. In the fourth corner a group of servants stand, waiting until the next course can be served. The American realizes there is only one place left—under the table.
His first impulse is to jump back and warn the others. But he knows the commotion will frighten the cobra and it wills strike. He speaks quickly, the quality of his voice so arresting that it sobers everyone.
“I want to know just what control everyone at this table has. I will count to three hundred—that’s five minutes—and not one of you is to move a single muscle. The persons who move will forfeit 50 rupees. Now! Ready!”
The 20 people sit like stone images while he counts. He is saying “...two-hundred and eighty...” when, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the cobra emerge and make for the bowl of mil. Four or five screams ring out as he jumps to slam shut the verandah doors.
“You certainly were right, Colonel!” the host says. “A man has just shown us an example of real control.”
“just a minute,” the American says, turning to his hostess, “there’s one thing I’d like to know. Mrs. Wynnes’ how did you know that cobra was in the room?”
A faint smile lights up the woman’s face as she replies: “Because it was lying across my foot.”

Books

2006-03-28T15:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I read my 50th book of the school year. I thought I'd celebrate the wondrous occasion with listing a few of my favorite books on that list.

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. War of the Worlds
3. Wuthering Heights
4. In This House of Brede
5. Far From the Madding Crowd

I read a bunch of heftier books, but they weren't quite as wonderful as the previously mentioned. I'd planned on reading m any many more books this year, and I enthusiastically started books like Anna Karenina, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserable, Crime and Punishment, etc. However, I didn't finish any of them because I felt that I wasn't enjoying them and giving the attention they deserved, so I put them aside for later reading when I can throw my heart and soul into it. So for now I'm just finishing up Dickens and such.

A few nights ago, I was feeling the need for some light, enjoyable reading. I scoured the house, Bria's room and basement mostly, but nothing jumped out at me. Then my brilliant mother came up with a brilliant idea and a brilliant book. The BFG by Roald Dahl. Growing up, I strongly disliked Roald Dahl's books (except for Charlie and the chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator) especially James and the Giant Peach. I never would have thought that when I was fifteen I would love them and be reading all of Dahl's books. Yes! It's true! I've finished the Charlie books, The BFG, now onto Matilda, The Twits, the MinPins, etc. Roald Dahl has the most wonderful imagination. He comes up with such lovely creatures. (e.g. Vermicious Knids, Sausage lipped giants, the unforgettable Oompa-Loompas, humplecrimps, wraprascals, crumpscoddles, and the great squizzly scotch-hopper...the last few which area ll mentioned in The BFG.)

Anyway, the BFG is about a Big Friendly Giant with huge ears who is nothing like the other nine giants int he world who hunt little children and eat them every night. He's a sweet, runt giant who catches dreams and gives little children nice dreams at night. One night he finds a little girl who has seen him and takes her way and together they save the world from the awful giants. And he talks in a loverly way. This is not the best example of his amazing speeches and words he comes up with, but it will do. At this time in the story, Sophie is very worried about little children in England because the giants have just headed their for a midnight snack.

"We've absolutely got to stop them!" Sophie cried. 'Put me back in you pocket quick and we'll chase after them and warn everyone in England they're coming.'
'Redunculus and um-possible,' the BFG said. 'They is going two times as fast as me and they is finishing their guzzle before we is halfway.'
'But we can't just sit here doing nothing!' Sophie cried. How many girls and boys are they going to eat tonight?'
'Many,' the BFG said. 'The Fleshlumpeating Giant alone has a most squackling whoppsy appetite.'
'Will he snatch them out of their beds while they're sleeping?'
'Like peas out of a poddle.' the BFG said.

Maybe my description of the book doesn't make it sound as glorious as it is. But I suggest you read it. Especially on a Saturday afternoon when you feel the need to laugh.

I Must Have Been Bored...

2006-03-10T17:09:00.000-05:00

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Here's How I Scored!

2006-02-04T23:07:00.000-05:00

You scored as Cara. You are Cara. Bouncy and happy (most of the time), you love art (whether it's creating it or critiquing it) and movies. Especially movies...and art.

Cara

100%

Alison

92%

Duncan

92%

Aaron

83%

Ryan

75%

Bria

50%

Earl

33%

Ian

33%

Which Sandford are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Webshots!

2006-01-30T22:45:00.000-05:00

community.webshots.com/user/carabethie

Catch-Up Time

2006-01-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

Everybody~

I am so sorry that you've had to see my little annoying dinky post about Christmas fuzziness every single time you've gone to my blog. That is absolutely pitiful. If I'd realized it was such a short silly, nothing-really-to-sat-but-saying-something-for-the-sake-of-saying-something I would have written something else sooner. Enough said.

The youth weekend we had last weekend went very well. There were many amazing adventures we had...(Meredith's nose being ripped open, sort of, Me being slammed to the gym floor by the force of a flying ball which hit me in the head,...) but all was grand. I took another two rolls of film, mostly of people jumping around playing football, or girls in the sleeping attic.

I have lots of fun pics from when the Holschers stayed here the first week of January. Lots of shots of us skating. Speaking of skating, I used a snowblower for the first time yesterday. It made me feel nice and macho and tough. Heh heh. But then I got really cold doing it so I had Aaron take over while I shoveled. (Oh yes. I forgot to say I was snowblowing the snow on the pond.)

My newest hobby is snowboarding. I had some Christmas money to spend, and I was wondering what I should use it for. Aha! Snowboard and boots! So I went to the store, picked up a nice blue and purple snowboard and am braving my hill. My first time down was exhilarating. I was so awesome. And then my second trip down was on my back with my legs in the air from time to time. I had a bad start and then I couldn't get up because my board kept slipping further down down down. The rest of my attempts were more similar to the second one than the first, but my excitement and determination is as steady as ever! I need to find a place to do the half-pipe...Eventually.

Well tata and thanks for reading! I shall post again within the next half a year!

2005-12-21T16:17:00.000-05:00

I am really looking forward to Christmas! I think that the best part of Christmas is when people like the gifts you give them. It makes everyone get the warm and fuzzies. I finished my shopping yesterday, but it was so tempting to buy more for everyone. All of the nice thngs that I knew people would love would jump out at me...but I'll write more later. An older sister whose name I shall not mention wants me to call and order pizza now so she doesn't have to wait for it to be made. Must free the phone line!

One of Many Conversations in My Busy World of Babysitting

2005-12-14T21:55:00.000-05:00

With Christmas coming the kids I'm babysitting are getting increasingly excited and anxious about Santa's arrival. Here's what Dylan and Raina had to say about it:

Dylan: (In a very loud, melodramatic voice) Look what Santa gave me! SPIDERMAN and his motorcycle! *pauses to see my reaction and shakes with joy*

Me: Wow! I love Spiderman! When did you see Santa?

Raina: At my cousin's Christmas party. But the reindeer were scared, so they stayed on the roof and Santa came in a car.

Dylan: They weren't scared of me! (Triumphantly) And Santa gave only me a present, Raina didn't get anything!

Raina: (Heatedly and Belligerently) LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! You didn't see any reindeer, and Santa gave me a present too!

Dylan: (for the rest of the evening, mumbles) Liar liar pants on fire, liar liar liar, liar liar pants on fire...

Left Brain, Right Brain

2005-11-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

The subject in school that I struggle with the most is writing. It was a surprise to me when I realized this, because it used to be my strongest, not the weakest part of my schoolwork. I was trying to figure out how this had happened, and I decided that there could be one or two reasons why I have to work so hard to write a good essay.

#1. I used to write all the time, whether creative writing or a school composition. The last few years I had very few writing assignments, and my writing muscles slowly atrophied. Could the simple reason that I dislike writing so much be that I didn't exercise my composition skills?

#2. I've learned a lot recently about the differences of the right and left brain. They say that if you use your left side of the brain mostly, you think in words. (or something like that.) I used to see my words in my head as I talked. It was like those screensavers where you have a phrase run across the screen...I would see the words run through my head in consistent motion...and I think that you use the left brain for writing. However, a few years ago I learned that when you draw pictures you have to look at shape, something which the left brain doesn't do. Seeing the negative and positive spaces is a skill of the right brain. I taught myself how to use my right brain, to see shapes and colors etc. As I became more adept at that, my drawing skills increased, and I seldom used my left brain. Aha! Maybe I used my right brain so much that my left brain isn't use to the exercise! hmmm...

Or it could just be that my writing book is more challenging...which is probably what it is, but the other solutions sound more interesting.

I have watched a lot of movies recently, being sick and all. Probably my favorite one that I saw was War of the Worlds. Those of you who have seen it are probably wondering what's wrong with me. At least, I've had a few people ask me that already. Teehee. I've always been a fan of the science fiction and fantasy section of the library. (Though some gets a little too strange for me.) I just read some H.G. Wells this summer, and I was interested to see what a movie about one of his books would be like. Sometimes though, I wonder what Wells had gong on in his mind. Some of his stuff is very strange. I read The Time Machine at twelve o'clock a.m., and I did not sleep well that night. (And I'm not one to be scared, either.) Anyway, I absolutely was contented with War of the Worlds. The blood spraying everywhere was disgusting, but it didn't bother me that much. The part where the ferry tips over and all the people are in the water trying to escape the tripods made me want to become a really fast swimmer. That way if a tripod was ever chasing me, I'd escape. Yeah right. But I'm thankful that tripods and aliens aren't invading the earth.

Two Recent Events

2005-09-24T16:23:00.000-05:00

A couple interesting things have happened to me recently. One frustrating, one slightly funny.

1. I tend to leave glasses of water all over my room. Two on my vanity, three on my bureau, and one on my window sill, etc. My cat schooner has a habit of drinking from the glasses...a habit which I despise. When I wake up in the middle of the night thirsty, I never know if my water is clean or cat-contaminated. Schooner also sticks his face so far into my glass that he loses his balance and falls over, splashing my water all over the contents on my floor. (And there are usually quite a few things on my floor.)
On Thursday morning I ran up to my room to grab my library book. I was frustrated to see Schoons had once again dumped my water. I wiped it up, forgot about it, then went back downstairs. (An hour passes.)
I went to my computer to do math. I started it up, then turned on the monitor. (Or rather, tried to turn it on.) I thought that it had been unplugged, which happens often. Sure enough, it had been; but when I turned it on, instead of seeing the "Press a Key Now," I saw blackness. And then I heard "ffhp ffhp ffhp." Uh oh. No matter how much I tried the monitor wouldn't turn on. Whenever an electronic appliance doesn't work for me, I call Aaron. And that's what I did here. He and Mom came up and we all came to the same "conclusion." The water had shorted my monitor. Aaron comforted me with this: "Don't worry, it's the worse monitor in the house anyway." Thanks a lot. At least it isn't my very own, just a cast-off from my Dad's office which I grabbed.
END OF STORY #!.

2. I think it was Thursday evening around 11:00. I washed my face and went into my room to moisturize it. I almost used my hair straightener. (Lotion that's hair straightener...not the irons.) I thought that was very funny. I had just turned the lights out when I realize that my face needed a little more cream. I groped through the dark till I found my cream, then applied it to my face, climbed back into bed, and was wondering what that strange smell was. My hands smelled like it, and the scent seemed to be clinging to me. Then! Light dawned! I jumped up, turned on the light, and sure enough; I'd used my hair straightener. I flew to the bathroom sink, flushed my face, then made sure I used the RIGHT moisturizer. Aaron was saying I'd have very straight eyebrows...Ha! As if they were curly.

Signs...

2005-09-15T23:34:00.000-05:00

Signs of Bria being gone:

~washing dishes takes a LOT longer.
~the graphing calculator is free most of the time now.
~my secrets are whispered into a black furry ear (kate's) instead of my sister's.
~not as many new, amazing, gourmet food (e.g cowboy pie, fried bananas...if you can call it gourmet. more likely "exotic.")
~whenever i get my e-mail on webmail I don't have to retype my name in because bria used it last.
~my exercise video is always where i left it.
~the laundry is backed up a little more than before.
~the Internet is free at night; I don't have to wait til one o'clock to use it.

2005-09-01T00:52:00.000-05:00

Thank God for good food, clothes, a loving family, and shelter from the rain and storm.

Me an Obese Priest?

2005-08-30T20:26:00.000-05:00

I took a test that said in my past life I was an obese priest who lived in North Canada who was killed in battle. Lovely.

Softball Pirouettes

2005-08-28T19:32:00.000-05:00

Today we had a church picnic. It started with a loverly game of a trivia thing, and then there was food and all that jazz, and then the fateful softball game I'm here to tell you about. I was so absolutely determined to hit the ball out of this world. The ground was quite wet, and to my ABSOLUTE embarrassment, I swung mightily and twirled around all the way on my toes and gracefully (so I've been told by a few people) flopped to the ground. I sat there for like one second and was so incredibly embarrassed. but then I got up. I couldn't hit the ball for like TEN pitches after that. Oh joy I felt stupid. And then I hit it badly and dad caught it. Here's where I say a bad word. Next time up to bat practically all the people who knew anything about softball and baseball were giving me millions of tips on how to connect the bat with the ball. I swung again, and fortunately I didn't pirouette that time.

Someone came over to me later, and said they'd heard all about my twirling fall. She said she'd wished she'd seen it, and that someone had gotten it on a camcorder and then she could send it to Funniest Home Videos. Haha-*sarcastic laughter*. But then I re-enacted it for her. So all was fun and it was a good day.

2005-08-26T10:51:00.000-05:00

I like lollipops

BEWARE! MUDDLED THOUGHTS!

2005-08-09T18:32:00.000-05:00

Too many people I know have blogs! I could take the time to read everyone's blogs, but it would take ETERNITY! or some amount of time almost that long. I think we need to start stopping people from making blogs! Let's all congregate and start the Blog Control Organization of America.
Actually, I really do enjoy how many blogs are out there. I'm just making a big deal of it. There were some people who I didn't know well enough to carry a conversation, but now, thanks to blogs, we all know more about eachother. It's very cool.
Oh @#&*^$@^!! my luscious frappe has frozen. I stuck it in the freezer to melt, I mean thicken and chill, and it froze. not that surprising I guess.
An interesting thought came to mind just now. Why are certain things called what they are. Like, why is an oven called an oven, a tree a tree, a spoon a spoon, a pen a pen, etc. Of course,someone had to name them. I wonder if Adam had to name more things than just animals. I’d never htought about this, but could Adam speak right when God made him? That’s the impression I get from Genesis. Anyway, why call a tree a tree. Hmm, this is getting complicated. Now I’m thinking that God probably named a tree a tree, only, did He say it in English. Most likely not. So what did He call a tree? The word tree probably evolved from the word God gave it.
There’s also the Tower of Babel to think about. I wonder if when the people’s languages changed if their "linguistic area" in their brain was completely wiped out and replaced with Old English or whatever it was replaced with. Actually, they probably still made perfect sense to themselves and just couldn’t understand why everyone else was speaking strangely in gibberish. I’m afraid that I’m not educated enough on this subject to write much more. Probably quite a few of you know the answers to these simple questions and thoughts of mine. I’m not usually in a thoguhtful mood like I am now, and it’s a rather strange feeling to put a few of my many thoughts down on paper.
But, I’m going to stop "thinking" right now. I’m too muddled and tired and confused to continue. Guess I’ll go and browse some other person’s blog and read their written down thoughts.

Laziness!, Thy Name Is Cara!

2005-08-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

I love to be slothful. None of this workaholic stuff for me. It would be so easy to live my life and just be lazy. Sleep in, watch movies, read blogs...it would be ideal. People tell me I'd get bored if I did that. Hmm. I wonder if I would. Maybe I should try it and find out. Even though I like to be slothful I'm glad I am not a sloth...(I believe that was a very profound and intelligent statement.)

School started up last monday. It "officially" started, although we're not all "gung ho" or anything yet. Just getting about five subjects max a day so far.

I've been swimming like crazy as well. My mom offered something like a dollar every four laps to whoever does the most, so I've spent a lot of time in the pool. Good exercise as well as a grand way to earn some money.

2005-07-17T19:32:00.000-05:00

Caleb

2005-07-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

Bria and Karen

2005-07-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

This is a fav from vacation.

2005-07-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth

2005-07-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

kimberley!

Dreaming and Fortunes

2005-07-17T14:20:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how all of the things from our past week get thrown together into hundreds of dreams each night. A few weeks ago, when I was sick, I had just watched Sense and Sensibility. That night I had a very deep and sorrowful dream. Something about Willoughby leaving and being a jerk. I woke up totally convinced that I was Marianne and that dear dear Willoughby was gone, oh mournfulness... then i realized that I was still me in my bed in the US in the year 2005. It was kind of a comfort to come back to normal life.

We had chinese for dinner the other night, and I entertained myself with opening fortune cookie after fortue cookie. (four all together.)

Your winsome smile will be your sure protection.

Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century.

You will step on the soil in many countries.

There is a prospect of a thrilling time ahead of you.

Well! not too shabby for fortunes! Someone got one that simply said, "Tastes sweet!" I hope they meant the cookie...

Recycled Posts?

2005-06-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

Whenever I have difficulty with coming up with a blog entry topic I decide that I'm going to recycle old posts. But I never can get myself to. It'd just be so easy! Take old ones and put them in half a year later, and maybe no one would remember it!

Anyway, I was thinking recently about people sneezing in (usually older) movies and how they stop the sneeze by putting their finger to their nose. I've never had the sense of mind to try it. But, I've always wondered if it works. I can only think of one movie with real people that someone did it, but I could tell you numerous Walt Disney cartoons where Goofy or someone stops a sneeze.

Catch Up

2005-06-14T02:54:00.000-05:00

Okay everyone, I'm not burned anymore.

I'll get pics, hopefully within the next week. I haven't developed film yet.

Undeniable Fact

2005-06-02T23:54:00.000-05:00

The undeniable fact is that i am a first class, grade A, bright red beet. to some extent... I red a book on the beach and got so into it that i didn't notice the passing time or the heat overhead...you know the rest!!!! I seldom burn, at least not this badly....Guess it's a new experience for me.

Cape Cod AND Bust

2005-05-30T23:54:00.000-05:00

I just read Aaron's post about our unfortunate events. Unfortunate events indeed. However, he forgot to mention one. When the AAA guy finally picked our car up and headed back towards the Citgo station in asthma, (spell check...really Eastham) we realized that we didn't want the bikes to be left overnight at the station. (so far, what we had heard about the station didn't sound too promising. When Mom first called the people they told us just to leave the keys in the car and they'd pick it up during their night shift. She mentioned that there were bikes on the car, and she said, "oh, just leave the bikes there, we'll take them!" right. Then the lady said, "are they nice bikes?" no she didn't really say that, but she sounded very much like she was planning to organize some dirty work in the pilfering/stealing line.) Anyway, we four kids biked to the cottage. And right when we got there we noticed mom, Karen, and Nancy all clustered around something on the wall. They were also doing some strange actions such as jumping up and down, holding their ears, and poking the wall thing with furrowed eyebrows. Turns out that they set off the alarm when they were getting into the house. They were trying to punch in the correct code or something. They called some one who told them to do something and they managed to get it turned off before the rest of us got into the house. But the police had to follow up the alarm, and two polite but serious police guys showed up a few minutes later. It amused Nancy and I to see that the strange lumps in their shirts were bullet proof vests. Ha. We dangerous burglars we.

We have been having a grand time with Frisbee, swimming, tanning...You know what people do at a beach. Today we walked out to the end of the sandbars and found an eight foot stick and promptly "planted" it in the ground to see if it could withstand the onslaught of the coming tide. But then two party poopers, so to speak, walked out and dragged it back in to shore.

Bria and I went for a walk this evening and worked on skipping stones. I was doing quite well (at least I thought so), with an average of three skips and Bria having two. But then I found out that she counts how many times the stone's in the air, while I count how many dimples in the water it makes. Anyway, I did get four skips once...My skipping stone skills are getting quite good. Maybe I should look into it as a profession!

hmm, how interesting is it for people to read about my vacation. Well, whether it is or not, you guys are so missing out on being at the beach! What a compassionate person I am!!

Alex has a skim board, which I tried my "hand" at this afternoon. Ha. It looked easy! I sent it flying, and confidently, cockily chased it, then jumped on it, and promptly flipped into the air and landed on my side. Next try I managed a distance of three inches....

Cape Cod or Bust!

2005-05-27T23:48:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we head out to the cape for our annual two week vacation. I remember when the sibs and I were all younger, and one of the highlights of the trip to Cape Cod was making numerous colorful "Cape Cod Or Bust!" signs. Maybe I'll recreat the past and do it again tomorrow!

Last night I woke up around sometime in the middle of the night in a rather confused daze. As I was trying to get to sleep I heard the hinges of our front door groan. Oh no! I thought! It's a robber in the night! What should I do? I didn't panic. I just got up and shut my door and went back to bed. Ha. What a brave person I am!

That made me think of how at the last Youth Weekend Justin Lera was telling a bunch of people how one night in the men's dorm some guy started screaming in his sleep. It creeped Justin out and he said that he got up and locked his door. Then, later in the night, when he had to make a trip down the hall to the bathroom, he grabbed tha lacrosse stick as protection. Apparently, Wesley was wondering what he was doing...

Speaking of Wesley, the other day, Aaron, Ryan, and I were driving down the highway when I saw this tan car which looked like Wesley's. I pointed it out to the others, and we all thought that it would be interesting if it turned out to be Wesley. After a few minutes, we had managed to pass cars and be directly behind the tan-car-that-was-maybe-wesley's. then we zoomed past him (probably at a speed of 120), because our curiosity had overcome us and we were dying to know who it was! It was Wesley. He didn't notice us at first, so I peered out the window and waved my hands and head and grinned like a maniac to get his attention. It did, and our mission was accomplished.

Yoga and Such

2005-05-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I was watching TV with Bria and Aaron. Towards the beginning of the show we were watching, I flipped through the channels to see if anything good was on. Star Wars episode 2 , which Bria hasn't seen, was on FOX. Ithappened to be towards the end of the movie, and we were just about in time to watch the fight between Yoda and Count Dooku/Dukoo - howeveryou spell that - and I was getting all hyped up and telling Bria that the fight between "Yoga and the bad guy is like the best part in the movie!!!" Seems like only I would call him Yoga! And then, this morning I was telling my mom that Star Wars had been on, and called him Yoga...AGAIN!

Quite often in my daily life, I see or say or think of something rather interesting and chuck it into the back of my brain to save for my blog. I've been realizing that the "back of my brain" is a bottomless abyss and that all of my wonderful blog topics are gone forever. So, people, you have been deprived of some very interesting subjects!

2005-05-23T16:32:00.000-05:00

my hand drawing

Artwork That Describes Me

2005-05-17T12:20:00.000-05:00

You Are Best Described By...

Under the Wave Off Kanagawa
By Katsushika Hokusai

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

Not Raptured

2005-05-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Today we went over to the Fairwood Bibleschool Graduation. It was a grand time. I'm sad to see Jeff and Lisa go, though. I'll miss them. I'll probably see them at Feasts and stuff...

When they were taking pictures of the students after the graduation ceremony, people were looking for Clyde because he was nowhere to be seen. After I mentioned that he must have disappeared or raptured, Derrick said that if he was raptured it wouldn't be good for me. I mentioned this laughingly at dinner. Derrick, my dad says, "Speak for yourself Biker Man." Ha. It turns out that Clyde wasn't raptured.