Happy Birthday!

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.

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

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

A few favorite Superbowl commercials:

A Couple Firsts

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

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

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

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

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

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!)

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

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

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!!

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!

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...

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

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

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...

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!

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: