Just how it Happened

I could not believe what I heard!

2012-01-26T10:23:00.000-08:00

something incredible happened to me. i don't know how, it just happened. i had just gotten home from a long day at school when i received a phone call. it was a friend of mine from high school. let's call him brownie. lets also name another friend from high school--texas. texas just left to serve an LDS mission, so he's in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) right now. so brownie asks me where i am. i tell him i am at my apartment. he then says, "can we talk for a minute?" the tone of voice he had made me think that he just found out he had cancer and only had a year left to live. i said "of course." now, the dialogue that follows is the conversation we had. my thoughts are between stars, *like this,* and just so you know, i'm cutting out all the parts where his phone lost reception and decided to cut out so he had to call again.
brownie: i have a question for you.
me: ok...
brownie: i don't know how to ask it.
me: just ask it outright.
brownie: i don't really want to.
me: then ask it how you want to.
brownie: do you have a missionary?
*you are the last person i expected to ask me that, and that is the last thing i expected you to say*
me: No...
brownie: are you being honest with me?
me: of course. i mean i'm writing to some of my friends and my brother, but i definitely don't 'have a missionary.'
*what's going on? it sounds like he's accusing me of cheating on him...* (ps, just to be clear, we aren't dating.)
brownie: well i've been writing letters to texas, and i just got a letter from him today. he found a letter in his bedroom at the MTC and its from you.
*no way! this cannot be happening. that's hilarious!*
me: let me guess...it says i'm engaged to the missionary-i-addressed-it-to's best friend?
brownie: yeah, it does.
me: that's too good to be true! [fit of laughter] i have a perfectly good explanation for this. I did send missionary-i-addressed-it-to this letter in october, breaking up with him and telling him i was engaged to his best friend. however, missionary-i-addressed-it-to and i were never dating. in fact, missionary-i-addressed-it-to read the letter before he left for the MTC. it was a joke that we had so he could have some fun with it. so just to be clear, i'm not engaged.
brownie: i'm glad you had a good explanation because i was worried you were engaged and didn't tell me. i was kind of hoping it was from someone else with your same name, but with all three names in there, what are the chances? anyway, texas sent the letter to me so that i could give it back to you if it was yours, so we'll have to meet up sometime.

its a small world...what are the chances someone i knew would find that letter? basically the most hilarious thing ever.

more back story on the letter to come in the future, but right now i have homework to attend to.

Adventures in the Basement

2012-01-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

So, there is a building on campus that is hard to navigate. I got a call around 4 o'clock from THE MAN, and she wanted to go exploring in its basement. Of course I couldn't pass up the adventure. However, it turned out not to be much of an adventure. Not to say it wasn't fun--we just didn't get as hopelessly lost as we were hoping to. It is rather confusing though, and we were turned around more than once. We ended up wandering through all the practice rooms and standing outside listening to the beautiful music coming from one of them. It was great. And also, we talked a lot. Because that's what girls do.

PS I am not simply neglecting the blog, I just haven't had too many adventures lately that I can post about. But that should change.

Just As a General Rule...

2012-01-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

"If you find a drowned fat person, you know it was murder, because fat people float!" (I learned that in biology)

"There were going to be brownies, but I accidentally got the kind with coffee in them, so sorry." -person 1
"Don't tell us that! Now we all want brownies..." -person 2
"Okay guys, I'll have some ready in 30 minutes...Go get a game to play and ice cream." -person 3

"I'm sorry--short guys just intimidate me."

"Is the stove on fire again?" "No, somethings just burning."

"Few things go better with hamlet than chocolate."

"All you need to become a superhero is a belt--but it has to match your purse and shoes, otherwise the villains might die at the atrocity of your outfit! ...that could work I guess..."

Biology

2012-01-13T17:20:00.000-08:00

Today the theme for biology was defining life. its not very cut and dry. i took notes. all they were was quotes from the teacher. they went like this:

"Dead coconut. (he rolls it) Its moving! Live coconut."
"There are some humans that can't reproduce. It doesn't make them dead."
"The number one rule about being a bear is don't get eaten by other bears."
"This car had the amazing ability to let rain water in, but not to let it out. This guy says he can fix it, so we say, 'please do!' he opens the door and starts shooting at the floor. It was never wet again."
"Everything I see on you is basically dead. Its like a zombie movie every day."
"They found this pot of beans in an ancient Anasazi ruin--they looked like lima beans, and if you've ever had lima beans, you can guess now that that's what killed off the Anasazi."

Oh yeah, I learn a lot in biology.

Can vs Pocket Knife

2012-01-07T08:46:00.001-08:00

Things go missing sometimes, and you simply can't help it. This was the case with the can openers at my apartment. Nobody knows what happened to them, but they are gone. This was a problem for my roommate T-rex as she was trying to eat tuna for lunch. Then, several hours later, it was a problem for me as I was trying to have a baked potato for dinner. (Tangent: does anyone else think that potato looks prettier spelled potatoe? I do.) I couldn't open my can of chili. Solutions I came up with: banging the can in with a rock; skipping dinner; using the can opener on my pocket knife. I thought that the rock solution would be the best, but I wasn't sure i could find a rock nearby. Skipping dinner was a definite no. So, I dug out my pocket knife. It has one of those wimpy can openers that pokes an itsy bitsy hole in the can. That's only really useful when you have evaporated milk. I have chili. But, I went ahead and poked the hole anyway. Just like i thought, it was useless. However, I discovered something--i wasn't limited to just one hole. I poked holes about a quarter inch apart halfway around the can. Then I went back and connected each of these holes with another hole. I used a table knife to pry the lid back, and was able to get most of the chili out of the can. Can vs Pocket Knife--pocket knife wins.

Symphonies and Cough Drops

2012-01-06T07:11:00.001-08:00

Thursday night, I went to the symphony. For some reason my whole life I've associated the symphony with cough drops. The reason for this is the first time I went to the symphony before the conductor came on to the stage, they announced that anyone who had cough drops should take a moment to unwrap them now. I didn't think this was a legitimate concern and found it rather comical actually. Thursday night they didn't announce this, but through the whole concert I kept hearing old people unwrapping cough drops. It was, in fact, rather distracting. Concert etiquette includes some strange and random things like that.

A Long Time Ago, In a Kitchen Far, Far Away...

2011-12-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

Asymptote and I were making french toast and syrup. Adventure number one; I decided to add cloves to the syrup to spice it up a little bit. Little did I know that this would change the properties of the syrup, so when it was boiling, and I looked away for a few seconds, it decided to boil up and over the edges of the pan. It went down onto the foil. It caught on fire, but it burned itself out fast. Normally, the syrup doesn't expand at all when it boils. Adventure number two; Asymptote sprinkles cinnamon directly on the french toast when she makes it. Once upon a time, too much came out, and there was cinnamon everywhere. Then the foil on the stove lit on fire. Don't worry, it didn't last long--the flame died quickly as well. Adventure one meets adventure 2; While I was trying to help Asymptote clean up the cinnamon, the syrup boiled over again.

Eventually we decided to be done cooking and eat. This was much less of a fire hazard.

At some point, Asymptote jokingly threatened to poke my eyes with her fork. I ran to my room and grabbed my safety goggles for chemistry lab, put them on, and finished my meal with them.

quote of the cooking experience: "I have a solution in my closet!"

Kitchen Appliances

2011-12-30T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, Christmas happened. Christmas happened, and presents also happened. I'm the kind of person who loves to give people presents. I don't like giving mass presents, so nobody I give to gets the same thing, but I love to give them all the same. I still haven't delivered all of them. Oops! But I'll get to it sooner or later. (probably should make that sooner...) I really like to give gifts. More often than not, my gifts (not Christmas gifts, but other gifts) consist of food. I love to feed people. In fact, almost every time someone comes into my home, I feel like they should eat my food. I think it may have something to do with this need to feed people that my Christmas presents came about. Kitchen appliances. (You know its a sign of being a grown up when you are obnoxiously excited about getting kitchen appliances for Christmas.) My kitchen will now be equipped with an amazing George Foreman Grill. Its the kind of grill you can adjust the temperature on. Its the kind that has removable dishwasher safe plates. Its the kind that also has a set of waffle iron plates. Its also shiny! (Being a grown up does not mean being mature. Just thought I'd clarify.) Further, I got a nice and heavy solid marble rolling pin. This will make tortilla making much, much easier. Typically I have sore hands after making tortillas from putting so much pressure on the rolling pin. But that will not be a problem anymore. I also got a blender. It was very cheap, but it has a two year warranty, so it guaranteed to last that long. Then, my present to myself was a spinning spice rack. My spices are now all in pretty jars that are organized so I can find them. With all these new toys in my kitchen, I am going to have so many cooking adventures! And with my new cookbook, (When it finally gets finished) I will be fully equipped to handle almost any kitchen challenge. Speaking of that cookbook, I should probably continue to work on it now instead of writing here. However, I promise that there will be stories of kitchen adventures to come.

Hello to the World again

2011-12-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

Hello. It has certainly been a while. I stopped posting because I did. I also doubt that many people were reading anyway, so I figured you probably wouldn't mind. And sometimes, I just get too busy to say things. I think that soon I will get the up the gumption to write a real post, but for now, just know: 1. I am surviving. 2. You are surviving. 3. I will eventually finish putting together a cookbook that will be amazing and you will probably want a copy. 4. I will probably give you one if you ask. And 5. I may just change this blog to be about food (since that's really all I wrote about when I was in Europe anyway).

7/2/2011 Raitis by Mutters (ie i found out where "near Innsbruck" is), Austria 22:00

2011-07-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Things seem to be getting earlier and earlier. we left at seven this morning for salzburg. our first stop was Hellbruin. this schloss is famous for its water gardens which often squirt unsuspecting guests. it also has beautiful regular gardens where the sound of music gazebo happens to be. pictures were taken and memories made. after finishing up at Hellbruin we went deeper into the city and picked up some sandwiches for lunch on the way. we went to mozart's home and his birthplace. it was fascinating to learn about his life. we then went up the hill to hohensalzburg, the castle/fortress of the city. it was very cool to learn about its history and see the view from the top. there were also a couple museums with old artifacts. the most out of the ordinary exhibition is the marionette museum. it was interesting to see how much went into the business. we took our leave of the castle and went down to a square where we did a little window shopping and a little real shopping. delicious pretzels were definitely involved. We then went to mirabel gardens and enjoyed the beauty there. (the gardens are also a filming site for the sound of music.) We walked back downtown to get there before six to hear the glockenspiel in the tower play. it was rather amazing actually. it repeated a few times before ending. next we went to a high terrace to see a panorama of the city. it was breathtaking. everything had basically shut down by this point of the evening, so we drove back home, stopping for dinner at a gas station. interestingly, to get from innsbruck to salzburg, you drive across a corner of germany, and supposedly their highways don't really have speed limits all the time. at one point in the passing lane we got up to 189 kph (that's roughly 117 mph), and we were not gaining on the car in front of us. it was cool, but a little scary. it was a long drive, and everyone came home tired.

7/1/2011 near Innsbruck, Austria 22:00

2011-07-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Early morning again today. we headed out before 8 to germany to see Neuschwantstien and Hohenshwangau. Hohenschwangau was a summer/hunting residence for the royal family and is really very grand inside. there are lots of paintings on the walls and lots of intricate woodwork. The kind nag queen lived on separate floors, as was the custom of the time, with the children in a different building entirely. Ludwig, son of maximillian, was the one who built neuschwanstien. He was good friends with Wagner (the composer) and dedicated each of the rooms to a different one of his operas. He only lived in the palace for less than 300 days before a secret embassy from munich arrived to tell him that he was suspected of being mentally unstable and unfit to rule. they took him up to see a doctor to verify his condition. He travelled up, but before seeing the doctor, was found dead in the shallow waters of a lake. 125 years later we still don't know what happened-murder, suicide, or freak accident. Construction on the castle was immediately halted and it was never finished. This is the castle that walt disney based cinderella's castle off of. it started pouring rain really hard after that, so we just headed home, made dinner, and planned for tomorrow.

6/30/2011 near Innsbruck, Austria 22:00

2011-07-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

We had big plans for today, but because of the rain, we changed them. we went to Schloss Ambras. It was originally a hunting residence, but then it got remodeled to be a showcase house. It's the oldest modern museum still around. It displayed tons of armor, paintings, animal horns, and other various curiosities. This is simply a beautiful palace. After a quick lunch we went to Kristallwelten (right next to the swarovski factory). It's a strange and beautiful place, but quite the tourist trap. Next we went to the glocken museum (bell museum). It showed how bells are made and had bells from different countries and different times. It was super cool. and then, we came home. PS Sorry it's not too detailed today, i'm tired.

6/29/2011 near Innsbruck, Austria 22:00

2011-07-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Early morning-we packed and left. we were able to get in the car by about 8:30. We headed up to innsbruck, but took the scenic rout so we could go on the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse (Grossglockner High alpine road). It was such a beautiful drive. The highs mountain in Austria, Grossglockner, was there. It was very beautiful. I did feel a little weird though, cuz we all wore our matching university shirts. The whole road was just amazing! there were waterfalls everywhere and beautiful wildflowers-we didn't see any edelweiss though, unfortunately. We picnicked there, and after we left this road we just kept driving for basically forever. we arrived in a place near innsbruck around 4:30 and checked in to the farm we're staying at. Let me tell you, despite the many flies and slight oder of cows (it's a dairy farm) this is my favorite place we've stayed. Three bedrooms all close to each other, each equipped with a sink, mirror, and good lighting along with comfy beds and a couch and table in two of the rooms. Nice big kitchen with a microwave. the table's a little squishy to get into though. Also, separate bath room and water closet. this is perfect. only drawback is that there is no living room. so i'm all excited and unpacking when the parents leave for the store. they don't take long, and we' make a fairly early dinner of wurst, salad, grapes, carrots, and bread. after dinner, quite a while after, i being looking for my watch. Oh no! I can't find it. I must have left it in one of the cars (I literally looked through all my things and didn't find it.) I borrow the keys from the parents and go downstairs to look in the cars. I am unsuccessful at finding it, so i turn to go inside. i reach the from door, try to pull the handle, but its locked. I still am not sure how that happened, cuz i was able to go out the door just fine. Whatever. Someone is bound to come for me eventually. I should keep track of how long it takes--oh wait, i don't have my watch. I sit on a bench on the porch for an unknown number of minutes. Eventually the bugs are eating my flesh just a little too much, so i go sit in a car for another unknown number of minutes. Eventually a man can be seen through a window. I debate about going up and knocking on the window to ask him to let me in, and just when i'm about to, i see a figure come up to the front door to open it, but it's locked. They go to get a key. I can tell the person is wearing a black shirt through the cloudy glass, so i assume (correctly) that it is a member of my family. I get out of the car, lock it, and go up to the door. The man is watching me (I wonder if he locked me out?) with a concerned look on his face. But the door opens fairly soon and my mother is standing there confused. I explain that somehow i got locked out. she had seen me sit tin in the car through her window. a few minutes later she looked again. she saw me rub my eye and though i was crying, so she talked with dad about who should come console me. And that's my stupid story of the day. (PS i still have not found my watch. it saddens me.)

6/28/2011 23:00 Krumpendorf

2011-07-01T12:47:00.001-07:00

Today we got up and finished (almost) cleaning out the fridge of food. Then we headed downtown Klagenfurt, we needed to get there at about 9, for a bus tour of the city. The bus driver is a man we knew from church, and he told us about tit. It was no ordinary bus tour. the bus we rode in was actually an original police car from way back when. It still can drive at speeds up to 80 kph. Besides driving around the city, we stopped at a schools and saw some deer, we went to a transportation museum and got to ride an old electric train, and we went on an old boat to travel the perimeter of the worthersee. It was pretty amazing. The water in the worthersee is a really pretty aqua color. I like it a lot. The tour ended at about 1, so we stopped at a kebap place for lunch. I was very proud of myself because when it was my turn to order i said, "ales," which means everything. i spoke german to order food! (that exclamation point has a heart instead of a dot, you just can't see it.) yum. we then dropped mom off to do laundry, which turned into a funny story cuz she had the apartment keys. We realized that when we got there, so dad went back to get them from here while we waited. when he finally got home, we went inside. we didn't spend too long there before going to the university. dad had some work to and an office to clean out. for a while, he sent us out to get ice cream-homade ice cream. it was really good. we took as long as we could there and then went back to the university. we played cards until dad was ready to go. after realizing the time (just after six) we headed for a quick dinner at the golden arches (remember how the fridge is empty?)and then went to the store to get a couple thins for tomorrow. we came back home then and cleaned the kitchen. after that, the kids played cards. and then we found 65 euro cents! (and i'm not just saying that to make the story better. it really happened. they were in the couches.) after much discussion, we decided that next time we were in the store we would see what we could get with that. community money is exciting. Then we packed because it's our last night here. For that very reason, my dad's colleague dropped by. he gave us all university shirts (pictures to come) and had a book for dad about old klagenfurt. the other thing he brought was a gift for dad's "son's son." we didn't mention that the child he was speaking about is actually a girl. And i'm really tired, so i'm going to sleep now. goodnight!

Sent from my iPad

6/27/2011 22:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a rest day. We slept in and lounged around the apartment until after lunch when we went over to dad's office (he was working all day). After some time there, we went to a lecture he gave. (don't worry, it was at the request of younger than me one and me that we went.) It was very interesting and not difficult for me to understand. After that, dinner, which was trying to empty the fridge, so it was quit a random bunch of food. Next, we went to a family friend's house and took with us ice cream and toppings. We had a nice evening visiting with them and eating delicious food. They are very good people and i'm going to miss them. Only one more full day in Krumpendorf.

6/26/2011 21:30 Krumpendorf

2011-06-27T06:33:00.001-07:00

Church today was very good. I played the piano again for relief society, but because i't sheen so long since i've practiced, I kept messing up. I was a little embarrassed. Also, between sunday school and sacrament meeting, a guy from my sunday school class came up to me and asked, "now, who are you exactly?" I guess after being here a few weeks with no formal introduction, he was curious. I told him who my dad was and then he understood. (my dad was there a lot longer than the rest of us.) After church we went to the university to meet the man responsible for my dad teaching here and his family. We went straight there without stopping at home first, which we didn't know needed to be the case until after we got to church, so we were a little unprepared. We then drove up to a city called Bad Eisenkappel to catch the last shuttle up to the Obir Tropfstienhohlen (Obir Dripstone caves). It was the first cave i've been in (excluding when i was a baby) and it was amazing! stalactites and stalagmites and columns everywhere. there was one formation that looked like organ pipes, and they had Bach's fugue in d minor playing. There were lots of lighting effects used throughout the caves. Then we had ice cream while waiting for the shuttle to leave. (keep in mind that we hadn't eaten since breakfast and now it's about 4 pm.) After that we stayed in Bad Eisenkappel for drinks and strudel. Then we drove probably fifteen or twenty minutes more to the rester aunt for dinner. We started with soup. The soup i had contained pieces of dough that had little pieces of liver in it. It was actually really good. then we had salad, and may I just say that austrian salad is possibly the best salad i've ever had. After that, our main dishes came. They were all huge! younger than me three ordered pizza. She got a whole pizza. I ordered beef and got probably 8 square inches of meat a half inch thick. It was so much food! it was so good too. We were all bursting at the seams by the end. After all that food, we came home. And are going to sleep.

6/25/2011 22:30 Krumpendorf

2011-06-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

We spent today in Friesach. This is a smaller town with a moat and half intact city wall. we went to several museums and saw lots of cool things. The whole place still has cobblestone streets and just looks like it's straight from the middle ages. I have a picture of me in the stocks that should be awesome. After friesach (which is a pretty long drive, just PS) we came home to make preparations for sunday. and that's pretty much all.

PS my favorite flavor is black current. I love it. A LOT. I want to keep it with me forever. The End.

6/24/2011 22:20 Krumpendorf

2011-06-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a work day for dad, so the rest of us decided to go on an adventure to puppenwelt. Now, that's not what it sounds like (but yes, all my siblings and I were laughing at what it did sound like), puppen means dolls-we went to a doll museum. It was pretty cool. Next we went to a mushroom museum and learned about how mushrooms grow and reproduce. Also we learned that boy scouts shouldn't eat wild mushrooms because the poisonous ones look just like the edible ones. Then we went to a park that had tree carvings. They were very cool, but i was disappointed that there weren't more. My favorite was a penguin. They carve them out of existing trees or stumps and just leave them attached. After that park (and lunch) We went to another doll museum-the difference bing that the first museum was all fabric dolls made by the same person whereas the second was a collection of mostly porcelain dolls from all over the world. The oldest doll there was from 1860 I think. It was awesome. We spent the rest of the day just chillin'. We ate dinner, played rook, and are now going to bed.

6/23/2011 22:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

French toast for breakfast always makes getting up early so much
easier. It was supposed to be a clear morning and rainy afternoon, so
we went out to Nockhomstrasse, which is a beautiful drive, go gorge
our eyes on nature. Unfortunately, it decided to rain hard for 20-30
minutes which we waited out before continuing the drive. There wer
some cool stops along the way, including a farmer's museum, a prarie
dog museum (which included poop samples from seeral different kinds of
animals), and a panoramic view at the highest point on the road. next
we went to a porsche museum which was amazing! there were so many cool
cars and old cars, and even a car cut in half. It was super awesome.
After we finished drooling over the cars, we loaded back up and headed
out to the Folter museum (torture museum). It was really cool, but
very scary and creepy. After that, we were all feeling tired, so we
headed back home for food. (I always end on food for two reasons. Its
delicious and it's really the last important thing that happens
durning the day.)

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/22/2011 22:30 Krumpendorf

2011-06-24T08:07:00.001-07:00

We had lots of plans for today, so we got up and going fairly early.
We first ded a 2 1/2 hour hike to a beautiful waterfall. There were so
many stairs! i think already in europe i've climbed up probably 2500
stairs. And that is only counting the upward direction--i climbed back
down all those stairs too. Anyway, the hike was lots of fun, except
that we were all super sweaty cuz it was hot and humid-well more humid
than home. after that we ate a picnic lunch. We followed up lunch with
a vogelpark (bird zoo) which Younger than me two has been talking
about pretty much since day one. (He wants to have his house be a zoo
when he grow up-just ask him, he'll tell you all about it.) It was
pretty cool cuz we, and when i say we i really mean everyone but me,
were feeding parrots and several of my family members had parrots get
on their arms. Crazy! also, there was an emu. Emus make sounds like a
drum. Its really weird. There was also a random llama. Not sure why,
but it was there. But, the best part about the zoo was the playground.
They had a mini zip line! it was so much fun-even the parents went on
it. Also ther was this swing shaped like a giant basket and a set of
plankes raised a foot above the ground on springs that you try to stay
balanced on while trying to knock everyone else off by bouncing or
boving the planks. (It's a simple center of mass problem really. :D)
After the vogelpark we were going to go to a cave, but it closed early
for the day due to technical difficulties, so instead we went home for
the day and ate delicious food.

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/21/2011 22:30 Krumpendorf

2011-06-24T08:00:00.001-07:00

It was an easy morning. We drove out to a mountain and rode up a tram
and ski lift. It was such a beautiful view! we picnicked there for
lunch and then headed back down. Dad had to go back to the university
for some meetings after that, and the rest of us got lost for a good
20 minutes before finding what we were looking for. We had just missed
the boat by about 20 minutes and had to wait for an hour for it to get
back. It was a cruise ship that went around a beautiful lake that we
would ride on for an hour or so. We decided it would be easier to wait
with ice cream. Yum. The boat ride was beautiful, but fairly short. We
could have stayed on longer, but we were all hungry, so instead we
went home and made dinner. also yum. It was a good day.

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/20/2011 22:30 Krumpendorf

2011-06-24T07:57:00.001-07:00

This morning Younger than me three, KB, and I went to Hochosterwitz
with my mom. It was KB's last day with us, so we wanted to show her
the best castle around, which has, and i accidentally lied about this
before, 14 gates. It was lots of fun. Then we went to a spar (grocery
store) to get lunch and other supplies for the drive aged of us. We
drove three hours to vienna, and dropped off KB at her hotel, then
drove three hours back. We met the rest of the family for dinner.
Then I wasted the dishes with Younger than me three. The end.

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/19/2011 22:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-24T07:54:00.001-07:00

We checked out of the hotel this morning after breakfast. Then we went
o piazza del michaelangelo and saw the bronze copy of the David. I'm
pretty sure i've seen enough naked statues for an entire lifetime.
Then we just drove for five hours back home. We ate lunch on the road
and dinner at home, and pretty much that was all. Sorry today is so
short, but that's really all there is to say.

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/18/2011ish Florence, Italy

2011-06-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Not so early morning, but not so late either. the breakfast at the hotel-only served in the other building-was rolls and hot chocolate (which wasn't even very good hot chocolate) and crackers. Yeah, not super impressive or anything. After breakfast we went to the museum with the David, as in michaelangelo's david. It was long, so by the time we were done there, it was time for lunch. we stopped at a place that sold us pizza, gelatin, and drinks for a good price. it also had wifi, so i had the chance to check my email real fast, but not really send anything. it was good times and delicious food-did i mention i love italian food? Next, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and then left for the duomo. Story time, Mom was holding a spot in line because she and dad had left a little early to see what the situation was like. Well, my two younger brothers left the hotel slightly before us girls and dad but really at the same time, but they just disappeared, and we thought that we had somehow lost them in the hotel. we were all pretty concerned and mildly freaking out. turns out they just decided to leave and go to the dome ahead of us. Yeah, it was upsetting. We went up to the top of the largest brick dome ever constructed in the largest cathedral in the world. So many stairs!!! (463 i think.) But it had such a beautiful view. But it was also so high and scary. And then we went back town to the bottom of the cathedral. It was very cool. It's all so massive it makes you feel itty bitty. our next stop was the baptistry, which had the coolest mosaics on the ceiling. Next we got some fresh, homed gillatto, possibly the best gillatto in the world. But it was also more expensive than the less delicious stuff. Then we went on some bridges and took pictures. Dinner came next. pizza again, but it was a different kind, and also delicious. then back to the hotel for resting. But we went up to the terrace of the other building (which, by the way is well lit) and took pictures in front of a really pretty view of the duomo. afterwards we got italian hot chocolate. It was so thick we had to use a spoon to eat it. SO good. Then we went back to the hotel for bed, but...KB, younger than me three, and I talked until like 2 in the morning. When we were about to go to bed, there was this buzzer that went off, and we were all confused what it was. We realized pretty quick that it was the doorbell and someone really drunk kept on ringing it for a good 20 minutes. We got up and dead bolted our door at that point and just waited. Then downstairs we heard some really loud people and were concerned it was a fight, but then they started coming upstairs. turns out all these really noisy really drunk people were our next door neighbors. It was pretty loud for quite a while. But now i'm falling asleep.

6/17/2011 Florence, Italy 22:00

2011-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning by the phone ringing in a beautiful hotel room with a slightly confusing bathroom. Mostly cuz it had a bidet in it. (pictures to come.) We had a dessert buffet called breakfast and went on our way because we had a 3 hour drive to pisa, and i think you know where this is going-the leaning tower of pisa. but, before we got there, we wanted lunch, so we ate at a gas station cafe that sold us delicious sandwiches, soda, and dessert. after this refreshment, we drove the last 20 minutes into pisa and parked. we walked over to the leaning tower. We took a few pictures outside of ti before it was our time to go in. it was the weirdest feelings walking up those steps. sometimes it felt like i was going uphill, sometimes it felt like i was going down the steps i was actually going up, and the rest of the time it just felt like i was leaning to one side or the other. i did experience vertigo when i was on the outside, but it wasn't excessive, so it was alright. (they let you out on the 4th floor and the top. you can also go up to the very top above the belfries.) Going back down was harder for me-i felt less stable. It was really an amazing experience though. I realized that i know basically nothing about the leaning tower except that its leaning-homework assignment for me; find out why it was built. We also went through the cathedral next to the tower. something i've found interesting in Italy in Italy is that in holy places they enforce modesty. they have pieces of fabric to tie around your shoulders if you're wearing a tank top or your waist if your shorts are really short. Well, after the cathedral, we piled back into the car, ate our gas station dessert, and headed out to Vinci, as in Leonardo de Vinci. We looked at a museum of models of machines he designed. It was so cool! we also hiked the stairs to the top of a bell tower. Lots of stairs. The view up there is so amazing, it looked like a painting. That was all we saw in Vinci, and we started the drive to florence. let me tell you, when we got over the Arno river into florence, we got lost a lot before finding our hotel. this was partially because tomtom got confused and told us to go the wrong way down one way streets. Eventually we got there, but they told us they put us in another building, so we walked over there and went up this kinda scary looking street and went into a dimly lit building up to the third floor dimly lit rooms where we were going to stay. let me just say, i was disappointed. this place isn't very nice, but at least it has AC. (And also a bidet, in case you were wondering about that.) It took us a while to get into the rooms because we had struggles opening/unlocking the doors, and we thought one was dead bolted, but it wasn't. After resting for a little, we went to a restraunt recommended by the hotel people. we started looking at the menu and i'm pretty sure my dad just about had a heart attack, the prices were so high. well, after a few minures, he walked up to the counter and started asking about meal options and came back with a different menu with 4 options each first course and second course. it was all super delicious! I had noodles with a tomatoe sauce and then a curry dish with peas. It was all insanely good and authentic italian food. After dinner we went back to our hotel and went to bed.

6/16/2011 22:00 Verona, Italy

2011-06-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Early, Early morning today. We left at six for venice. We won't have any internet in Italy, so that is why all these posts are coming at the same time. It was a long morning, especially for KB with her jet lag. It was a very long car ride. It was interesting thug. We went through a toll road, but you take the ticket at the beginning and pay at the end. I think it's a little backwards, but I guess it makes sense because they have you pay depending on how long you were on the highway. We took a train the rest of the way into venice. it was hot and humid inside the train, and it smelled weird. It wasn't too exciting. We finally arrived in the city around 10. We walked around the shopping area and over several large bridges-very beautiful marble ones, and made our way to saint mark's basilica and all the other things in that area. We got some gilatto and went into the castle of the dodge. It had beautiful carvings and paintings everywhere. its also home to the largest paining on canvas in the world (7X24 meters). It was interesting to learn that the carvings at the tops of columns were not just decorations, but also political statements. We were all very hungry after that, so we went and ate lunch next-we had calzones of various kinds. Then we went to saint Marks's Bascillica. The mosaics all over the ceiling were so cool! lots of interesting stories about st. mark's body buried there. Then we went to the top of a nearby bell tower, which was really cool. it had a beautiful view of the city, but because of all the buildings, you can't see a single canal from the top. We were all pretty tired by this point, so we went and got some more gilatto and water before shopping for souvenirs (which was super easy, just by the way). We took a bus boat back to the other side of the city and went to a cart where i found my souvenir (a black and silver half mask with a feather on the side-i'm all ready for a masquerade ball). Then we went to a glass shop and that's where everyone else got their souvenirs. we took the train back to where we parked, and drove for another half hour or so to get to verona. we checked in at the hotel and then set out in search of dinner. We got a little lost and eded up finding a Kebab place where we stopped. These kebabs were delicious, but they had some different toppings than we'd seen before, like french fries. We also had sodas, and there's this really good soda we discovered called lemon soda which may possibly be my new favorite. It's italian and delicious. After dinner, we all felt tons better, so we walked up the steps of an old structure on the mountainside for a good view of the city. it was nice and beautiful . Then we went home to bed. PS this hotel was really nice. Really nice. Good sleep.

6/15/2011 20:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

Early morning today, but for a good cause. I got to sign up for my classes in the fall. I can't even explain how excited I am. Dad needed to get some work done, so the rest of us went out to Villach. We went to, wait for it, Monkey Mountain (mountain...mountain...mountain...). It was so cool!!! Monkeys everywhere. They were smelly and cute and crazy and mean to each other. I don't even know. It was insane. After that beautiful climax of the day, we went to the relief von Karnten, which is a giant topographical map of carinthia. It was very cool to look at. Then we took the scenic route, meaning we got lost a couple times yet again, surprise, surprise, to the villach start museum. It had old paintings and sculptures and rocks and furniture. It was interesting. After that, we came home for a quiet afternoon. My parents then went to pick up my former across the street neighbor, now to be known as KB (i'm not very creative with the names right now), and I made dinner. Dinner was quite a hodge podge event. (I can't think of the real word to describe dinner that i want to use, so hodge podge will just have to do.) Well, that turned into a quiet evening-not much to tell about.

PS sorry my writing is getting kinda boring, I am usually really tired when i write these things.

6/14/2011 21:30 Krumpendorf

2011-06-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

I slept in Late this morning-my dad had to work, so KD was going to take Younger than me two and me shopping. She picked us up a little after noon, and we went to the largest shopping center in carinthia. I bought a shirt fro roughly $10.50, which isn't bad for a shirt in europe (everything is much more expensive here). Then we had Kebaps for lunch. They are SO good! I wish we had more turks in the US so we could have kepaps too. The last store we went to was a cosmetics store and had pink shopping carts. :D We left the mall and went to get italian ice cream, real italian ice cream. Delicious. After that, we went to KD's house to pick up her computer and a paper she needed to scan. We also met her adorable bunny, pancake. He is a beautiful bunny. Because they only have a scanner at their flat, we went there to take are of that. We also had root beer floats, which is a very special thing because they can only buy root beer in an american store in vienna. We headed out again to pick up her mother from work and dropped her off at the gym. then we went to another shopping center and went to Claire's. I was surprised that they had claire's there too. After that, we went home. During dinner, we (meaning mostly I) instigated the telling of our parents' story, which is a very cute story that i have decided i need to record sometime. Das Ende.

6/13/2011 22:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

This morning was an early morning because we wanted to leave by 9:15ish. We picked up that girl who took me to the bar on saturday night who will now be known as KD, and brought her with us to a little, and i don't use the word little lightly, town called weitensfeld. It was a holiday, which i think translates to pentecost, and this town has a strange tradition. The plague wiped ot the whole town except four people, three boys and one girl. All the boys wanted to marry the girl, so she said that they must race, and she would marry the fastest. In the center of the town there is a statue of her, and they call it the stone virgin. Every year they have a three day festival, and three boys from this village race to see who gets to kiss the stone virgin. Its a great honor for them. Well, we had read that there would be music and dancing in the town square starting at 10, so we wanted to get there early. We ended up getting there bout 10:30 and yes, there was music, but there wasn't much to do. we ate some sweets, then talked, that ate lunch, then talked, and then stood around for a long time waiting for the race to start at 14:00. When 14:00 finally came around, there were a bunch of politicians on horseback who rode around and also some more prestigious politicians who were there to watch. there were speeches, singing, and then the horses rode three time up and down the main street so the plague couldn't come back. Finally the three boys were introduced, ages 16, 17, and 18. The one who I thought would win the race was the only one who was smiling at the beginning. But then he stumbled when he started, so he lost a bit of time. He still ended up winning though. Which I was pretty happy about. The race was 250 meters, and the winner was brought back to the statue on horseback. He then climbed a ladder and kissed the stone virgin several times (i'm not sure why so many, it's just a rock). We were all tired from standing, and so we left after that. We just went home for a quiet evening, and I called the missionary couple in the ward here to let them know i would be coming to the YSA family home evening. It was small, just me and two other girls, but it was super fun. we ate pizza (pretty sure i had half a pizza), talked about the 10 virgins, played rummy cube, and played phrase pictionary. I just said this, but it was tons of fun!

6/12/2011 15:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-12T11:19:00.001-07:00

A little after 9 last night, My friend did call, and we went our for a
couple hours. We went to a bar (gasp! don't worry-I had almdudler, and
My friend had fanta, and her friend had sparkling water-no alcohol for
us). The bar had a beautiful view of lake Worthersee, and and we just
talked about everything. Then her friend had to be home, so we dropped
her off and then we went down to the lake and walked around. She
showed me her favorite spot in the whole wide world-she even wants to
get married there. Its beautiful. They have a much different schooling
system here, and she is already training to be a kindergarten teacher.
She wants to open up her own Kindergarten in Klagenfurt where the
children learn music and English and sports, not just play around. She
is a really fun girl, and I had tons of fun. I'm pretty sure her
favorite english word is crazy because it can apply to everything.
Crazy good, crazy bad, it's just universal.

Church. My first time in relief society-i'm in a foreign country,
can't understand the lesson, and i'm asked to play the piano. Now it's
really not bad, I had someone translating for me, and i only messed up
on the piano during the intro, but played well while they were
singing. Sunday school was in english. This is when i found out that
today is father's day in austria. In the US it's not until next week,
and that's when we'll celebrate it. My dad also spoke during sacrament
meeting, but had to cut out lots of his talk-it takes much longer to
speak with a translator. There were also two special musical numbers
beforehand, one by primary children and one by their ward choir. Don't
worry though, the family got to hear the full version of the talk
later in the afternoon. That's pretty much the extent of our
adventures for today. It's been a good sabbath.

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/11/2011 20:40 Krumpendorf

2011-06-12T11:08:00.002-07:00

Once upon a time, in a land far away (literally), As i was awaiting my turn in the shower this morning, I got another call from that friend from ten years ago. She found out she has to work today, so she said she'd call if she didn't get off too late, but it sounds like my saturday night plans are cancelled, and with it approaching 9:00, I'm pretty sure they are. This morning, we climbed a mountain. We climbed to the summit-there's even a sign telling us we reached the highest point. it was a hot day, so that, coupled with humidity and long, onlypartially dry hair made for a fairly sweaty hike, but it was really quite nice. we found lots of wild strawberries. After coming back down the mountain and stopping at the Penny Markt, we picnicked in europa park. we didn't spend much time there because my dad's giving a talk in church tomorrow, and he wanted to work on it (and some other things i presume) at the university. Had I known this, I would have brought my journal, and the last 2 posts would already be published, but i didn't know. We went heavy duty grocery shopping next, meaning we bought food for today and tomorrow, and then pretty much headed home for a quiet evening. And we live happily ever after, The end.

6/10/2011 20:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Another sleep in morning, but we've been staying up late enough. Vacations should include lots of sleep time. We started the day's adventures with a picnic in view of Burg Hochosterwitz (Burg means castle). This castle is on the top of a hill and has ten gates that you must pass through before reaching the actual castle. This castle is so strategically placed that it was never taken. However, once it came close. It was laid under siege for a long time and eventually food started running low. They came down to their last cow, and after removing the meat, they stuffed it back up, sewed it closed, and threw it over the wall. Because the enemy army thought they were wasting this food, after this long of a siege, they got discouraged and went home. After our picnic, we hiked through all the gates up to the top. They have a cool museum up at the top with lots of armor, weaponry, paintings, and such. There's one stuffed man in a suit of armor who is 7 or 8 feet tall. Ten years ago, when we came here before, our dad told us about how the song "silent night" was written at this castle. Well, little three year old younger than me two was in the museum, and was slightly ahead of the rest of us. After seeing this man he came running back shouting, "Dad, DAD! I found the silent knight!" We all got a good laugh out of that. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to take pictures in the museum. This castle adventure brought back lots of memories. Next, we went to magdalenesberg, which is the ruins of an old Roman city. It was really cool--who knew rocks could be so interesting? Hey, maybe someday our 21st century life will be ancient history and become tourist attractions wherever it is preserved. After the city we went and saw a throne made from old rocks (marble mostly, i believe) that people used to bring offerings to for the duke of Corinthia so that they might gain favor in his sight. apparently he would bestow great favors on those who brought the best gifts. The car ride back home was fairly uneventful, except that we brought up, and played, and old game we used to play, invented by our father last time we were here. It's called Statue. We see who can stay frozen like a statue the longest. (Now, with six children under the age of 12, this was a brilliant game for our dad to make up.) The funny part is, it still works. :D dinner was fried potatoes and wurst. (I'm still not a fan of austrian hot dogs at all, but the parents don't necessarily need to know that.) The potatoes were delicious, and I'm loving the fresh salads. This is simply a delicious place.

PS I'm not sure why i tend to end on food or at least linger on it. Probably because it's such a fundamental part of life.

6/9/2011 20:00 Krumpendorf

2011-06-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

My father informed me that I can't make austrian bread because i don't have the right kind of oven. LAME. Anyway, this morning I was awakened to the delicious smell of french toast sometime around 8:00 ish. It was delicious. Our adventures for the day began fairly quickly at the reptile zoo. I honestly dislike zoos very much, but i looked at every kind of snake, spider, frog, fish, and turtle that they had along with the crocodiles. It was absolutely thrilling for younger than me two, especially cuz he got to hold a snake and pet a giant turtle (emphasis on the giant part). After the zoo, the professor had an appointment via Skype, so we headed to his office and ate our picnic lunch. after his call was over, we went to our most anticipated destination: Minimundus. This place is amazing! It has around 150 models of buildings, railroads, boats, and other architecture from around the world including the leaning tower of pisa, the Taj mahal, the eiffel tower, mesa verde ruins, and so much more! It's so cool!!!! (Minimundus translates to miniature world.) On the car ride home, my dad received a phone call for me and i got invited by an old friend who i played with last time i was here when we were both little, to go "Do something, like drive around the city" with her and her friend on saturday evening. I'm really excited, so I hope its super fun and not awkward. We also stopped at a store on the way home, surprise, for some groceries associated with dinner. After dinner, we spent some time together as a family and my dad told us a little bit about his campaign for vice president of academics when he was in high school. He has the humor to win that kind of election. Anyway, I think that's about all for today. Goodnight.

6/8/2011 19:00 Krumpendorf, Austria

2011-06-09T04:23:00.001-07:00

Excepting the professor, we all slept in today and got quite a late
start. we stayed at the pension until after lunch. after our bellies
were satisfied, we piled into the car and headed up to pyramidenkogel
which is an overlook at the top of a foothill to the mountains. the
view encompasses lake wertersee and stretches for miles in every
direction. the tower is 54 meters tall besides the mountain. i have to
admit, i experienced some vertigo while looking over the edge. after
we had our fill of unnaturally high places, we loaded back up and
headed out to Keltikwerlt. (for all you english speakers out there,
that translates to celtic world.) It was quite interesting. There were
some burial sites, as well as information about spiritual rituals and
their everyday lif. Kinda cool, but a little strange. our next stop
was a visit to rosegg to see their wild animal park and wax museum.
i'm not a fan of zoos, so the animal park was fairly uninteresting to
me, but younger than me two found it necessary to take pictures of
every rock, tree, and leaf along with all the animals. he completely
filled up my mother's memory card. although the wax museum was small,
i quite enjoyed it. the museum was inside a schloss, or an old times
mansion. It was pretty cool. We stopped by a store on the way home to
get food for the next couple days. its interesting to me that here,
they buy things in less quantity and just buy more often. their
refrigerators are much smaller, so they have less space to store the
food. the milk here tastes slightly different from home, but it
doesn't need to be refrigerated until it has been opened. also, they
sell eggs in sets of ten, not by the dozen. to buy pre sliced bread,
it's called toast here, is not as common as buying loaves of bread and
rolls. i'm inspired to get a cookbook and try some quatrain bread
recipes when i get back. we'll see if that actually happens. one last
thing, the water here. if you buy bottled water, or bottled juice of
any kind for that matter, its almost all carbonated. probably 95% of
it is carbonated. the carbonation is different than back home, it
hitnk it's that the bubbles are smaller. Anyway, i hope you all eat
delicious food today. I know I have.

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/7/2011 18:30 Krumpendorf, Austria

2011-06-09T04:12:00.001-07:00

Another tired morning for the family-we had to get up early in order
to be ready in time to go to the university with dad. 7:30 was the
published time to depart, but it ended up being more like 7:42, which
varely got dad to class on time. the family spent some time in his
office, on the internet and the took off to down town. we walked the
3.6 kilometers to downtown klagenfurt, leaving the car with dad. we
made a stop at minimundus on the way and bought karnten cards-these
cards get you into lots of attractions for free or at a discounted
rate. our google phone gps led us astray, so not according to plan, we
stopped at the landesmuseum which was, unfortunately for us english
speakers, completely in german except for the rat exhibit. It was an
amazing museum with cool artifacts from across space and time (yes, i
mean that quite literally). we spent quit a bit of time in there
before going in search of lunch. as we were looking for a cafe to eat
at, i remembered delicious turkish sandwiches and asked mom about
those. we soon saw a place that made them, so we had kebaps for lunch.
this sandwich is on a toasted bun or pocket bread with spit roasted
mat and various toppings including spicy sauce and chilli powder
generally. SO delcious. Something interesting about street side dining
is that they don' have you pay until you're ready to leave. they don't
keep an eye on you or anything, they just trust. they know you've used
their services and goods, so you will pay. that would never work in
america. next, we went to see the lind werm, which is a cool statue of
a dragon. (pictures to come...i think i won't be posting pictures
until i'm back home probably.) we then went to an amazing hall painted
with 665 coats of arms called wappensaal. the walls were completely
flat, and al the frames were painted on, but they were done so well
that they looked real. after that, we looked for a fountain we had
taken pictures by last time we were here, and after several tries and
getting directions a couple times, we found it! it was exciting. we
then walked out to the canal and walked back to the university. lots
of kilometers on our shoes today. we came home and ate delicious
food-leftovers from last night's spaghetti, and treats that we picked
up at a backeri I neglected to mention that we visited in Klagenfurt.
I also forgot to say that last night, we installed a new shower head
in our pension, and it's very nice. Another thing i neglected to
mention was the so-named-by-mom yogurt fiasco. when coming home from
the store the first time we went, yesterday, there was a yogurt in
mike's bag that got broken. It leaked. the end. that was
anticlimactic. :)

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/7/2011 9:00 Klagenfurt, Austria

2011-06-06T23:50:00.000-07:00

This morning my family went with my dad to the University so we could do some emailing and stuff with the internet here since its free for us here rather than paying for it at other places. Most of the posts I have done so far have been through email, but what i didn't realize is that i had the settings changed so they were only saved as drafts. they should automatically publish now, so things should be coming more often. If you want to talk to me, email is going to be the best way. I am having the time of my life. I love it here! I'll post again soon. farewell to all.

PS haha, it's the middle of the night there, and it's morning here already. :)

6/6/2011 18:00 Krumpendorf, Austria

2011-06-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

This morning was a more tired morning for most of the family, but we got up around eight. Dad had already left for the university, so we were planning on exploring the area. after a cereal breakfast, we all got ready, which took a long time with one shower to five people, and then set out on an adventure to see if the Billa, the grocery store we shopped at last time, was still around. It was still there, to our great excitement, and there was also a Spar, another grocery store, right next to it. after looking around at both stores, we bought food and soap and walked back home. the bread here is just so good! it tastes delicious unlike anything i've found in the states. also, something else interesting to note is that the mustard here comes in metal tubes like toothpaste. it tastes very different from our american mustard. we ate lunch and then just lounged around for a while. soon after we started to get tired, mom decided it was time to go on a walk again, so we went to see if the Baeckeri Nadrag was still around. It was, but we decided to wait until dad came home to go there, and besides, it was closed. We walked a little further on to an information place and got a map and some sightseeing pamphlets. then, while we were heading back home, our dad stopped and picked us up on his way home. we spent some time at home before going back out to the Bakery. Its funny, most places close from about 12:00 to 15:00 for lunch i guess. we ate delicious pastries, and then headed back home for planning and playing games. Mom and dad went to the store, so I expect we'll be eating dinner soon. I can't even explain how delicious the food is. Even the air here just seems, well, wholesome. Healthy. Wonderful.

6/5/2011 8:17 PM Austria

2011-06-06T08:35:00.001-07:00

Some things I neglected to mention:
The flight to paris was a ten hour flight. Between flights, in paris,
there was some sort of superman convention because we saw several
people dressed up in tights and underwear as superman, and besides
that there were other people all dressed up in neon spandex all over
the place. we landed in vienna, found our luggage, and met our dad.
Yay! then we got in the car and drove. the driving and roads here are
very different, but also the same. I slept some on the drive as well,
but not tons. The scenery is beautiful. it is very green here with
lots of trees. its also fairly humid, but i love it. we stopped at
mcdonalds for dinner and then went to our family friends' house. We
talked with them for maybe half an hour before the parents went to
dad's apartment and we stayed at theri house for the night. We pretty
much all slept through the night, but younger than me one was awake
for a little bit around 2:30. Then we woke up and got ready and went
to church. we were almost an hour late, so the first block of meetings
was over. i went to Young single adult sunday school. Partway through,
a man started translating for me, but next week I hope I'll be able to
manage better. Besides, most of the YSA seemed to speak english. Then
we went to Sacrament meeting--it was mostly lost on me because i
understand very little german, if any. After church, we went back to
our friends' house for a barbecue. the food was delicious. the food
here is different, but amazing! Interesting fact about the pretzels we
had, they're called lye pretzels cuz they're dipped in lye before they
cook. I was also showed a really cool plant called stevia which is the
new big sugar substitute. it's quite sweet. Our friends ended up
lending me a chemistry book which i'm excited to read. After some more
visiting time, we loaded up all our things and headed for our
apartment in krumpendorf. It s the same place we stayed ten years ago,
so i recognized our landlady and the apartment. it has been remodeled
some, but it's similar. We all got settled in and just spent a
relaxing evening together. For an evening snack we had palazzo cookies
which are covered in delicious chocolate and some delicious bread with
wild cranberry jam. we also tried some toast with duo, which is a
chocolate hazelnut spread with vanilla cream. ti was all super
delicious. there are also cherries growing in the yard here that we
are welcome to. some other funny things that happened, i think i
mentioned before that after the plane ride, my feet were really stiff.
well, that first evening i finally looked at them and they were super
fat. i'm pretty sure i lost my ankles. i took pictures, but its hard
to see. the swelling has gone down some, but at some point when my
feet are back to normal, i'll take more pictures and post them
together for before and after comparison. they swelled up some during
church again, but should be back to normal soon. also, random fact,
the toilet paper here isn't square, its rectangular. also they have a
different system of flushing is different. they have two buttons, a
big one for a big mess and a little one for a little mess. its pretty
brilliant if you ask me. As far as air conditioning goes, its pretty
much non-existent here, so there's lots of leaving the windows open.
their windows ar eamazing! they open horizontally and vertically
depending on which way you turn the handle. oh, this place is just so
beautiful! Its amazing!

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/4/2011 12:35 PM Paris, France

2011-06-06T08:07:00.001-07:00

I guess my judgement really was impaired by not sleeping because for
some reason I decided it would be a good idea to not sleep on the
airplane. I slept for the first hour and the last twenty minutes of
the first flight, giving me a grand total of approximately five hours
of sleep in the last 48 hours. I thought, for some strange and
unfathomable reason, that this would help with jet lag. we shall see.
so, i've pretty much pulled two all nighters, even though one was a
significantly shorter night. (It's just after noon here, but at home
it's just after 4 in the morning.) Now, we're taking off for a two
hour flight from Paris to vienna. its probably best for me to stay
awake in the middle of the day. I'm not feeling 100% anymore. Its just
a minor headache and slight dizziness, but both of those could also be
from flying. I guess my stomach is also slightly upset, but with
airplane food and a strange eating schedule, that should surprise
nobody. all things considered, I feel fantastic! (now say fantastic in
french.) The only thing i really dislike about flying is the way the
change in pressure hurts my ears, especially on the way back down. I'm
sleepy. I'll write more later. *sleep...almost an hour passes* Yep, i
couldn't stay awake, but the good news is, it still feels like mid
day. I believe this sleep deprivation will make it easy to sleep
tonight. The other good news is my head and stomach feel better than
earlier. The bad news is, i woke up, and 30 seconds later the flight
attendant asks me a question. i didn't understand, so i asked, "what?"
then he started to repeat the question, but interrupted himself and
asked if i spoke french. Duh! I didn't understand the first time
because it was in a different language, which didn't even occur to me
30 seconds after i woke up. I felst slightly foolish. That's just how
dumb i am right after i wake up though. changing the subject, I've
discovered something: flying is fairly boring and makes me
unproductive. Granted, i did finish crocheting a washcloth and watched
two movies, but really sat and did nothing but ake my feet stiff. I'm
excited to get to tomorrow. Well, I can't think of anything else to
say so I won't. The adventure continues...

Rosie Liddle
"Laughing gives you abs, rock hard abs."

6/3/2011 2:30 pm, USA

2011-06-03T15:21:00.001-07:00

Maybe I'll start this story with yesterday. Yesterday I graduated from
high school. My question is simply, why does the school board make
people who are ready to move on to the next stage in their lives sit
through an obnoxiously boring and rather long ceremony and pretend
that they're happy to be there and it's the greatest day of their
lives? The truth is that we all just want to get on with it and party.
Something you may or may not know about me is that I am usually asleep
by 9:30 and I usually wake up around 4:30. I'm not much of a night
person, not much at all. But, at the senior all night party I was not
even tired. And then we went to asymptote's house for an hour before
sending the boys home at about 4:30 (when I usually wake up). Still,
not even tired, so we decided to watch a movie. Five o clock in the
morning, and I fall asleep for the first time. Well, that was at the
beginning of the movie. We woke up at the end of the movie and decided
to try to watch it again since we were all asleep the first time, but
to no avail. At about 7:20 I woke up, conscious that I needed to go
home and pack, so the bestest friend cousin ever and I went home. Then
I packed, cleaned, and didn't sleep at all. Well, it gets to be about
one ithe afternoon, and it's time to go. I still feel fine even though
I've been awake for twenty seven of the last thirty hours. After being
in the car for about twenty minutes, I start to doze, and I doze the
rest of the way to the airport, but still feel fine and awake as soon
as we get out of the car. I am surprised that I'm not either acting
completely insane or completely dead. Usually I am one of those when I
miss a couple hours of sleep, let alone the whole night. Now I'm just
sitting in an airport. Thus, the adventure begins.

Crazy and Crocheting

2011-03-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

I suddenly realized today that sometimes I sing silently to myself. My mouth moves, but nothing comes out. It's cuz I'm not singing out loud, but I am singing in my mind. Most of the time the lyrics don't make sense, and they usually come from the dark abyss that claims to be my brain. Let me give you an example: "CD players always choose to hate me, but i can't really blame them cuz my stapler is crazy. You wouldn't want a water bottle full of green jello, no, cuz jello that is green is certainly not yellow." ...You get the idea. The great part is though, even though I'm not poetic, the tunes are usually all right. Not sure if I should have posted that to the internet.
. . .
Moving on, I learned how to crochet on tuesday night. I made a sunflower shaped wash cloth. I also started another one. I find myself letting my mind wander sometimes, and I'll just be picturing the path of the yarn through the stitch I'm using. If I had actually crocheted as many stitches as I've visualized, I would have a plethera of wash cloths. I really like it, despite that others sometimes make fun of me for being an old lady.

Inspirational thought: You can overcome the physical with the mental if you are really determined to.

Music, Lax, Food, and Learning

2011-03-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll admit it. I had very high hopes at the beginning of the year, but then I got busy and failed. So, I will now relate some things that I find ultra important. Number one, yesterday evening, I was involved in a concert called a Celebration of Cellos. A young girl had a dream to have a stage filled with cellos, and now, with grown kids herself, she's fulfilled her dream. I was concertmaster for part of the all cello orchestra, and I was the featured soloist for The Pink Panther. It was exciting, and I couldn't stop smiling. Number two, what have I said about lacrosse? I'm not sure. I am on the lacrosse team. It's my first year playing, but so far, I have started every game we've played. I play low defense. We won our first two games, but the last game that we played was not so good for us. Our whole team was having an off day. We'll work harder and do better in our next game. Also, our coach really likes to have secret meetings, not sure why, but she really enjoys them. Number three, I've been trying new recipies a lot lately. Yes, strange, but when I'm cooking for myself, I want to know what's fast and easy. And Yum. A couple weeks ago I made meat. I made crock pot Costa Vida style pork. It was delicious and easy, but after I cooked it, I realized something: I'm not a fan of pork. Today, I tried making homeade tortillas. They turned our really good, but I want to figure out how to make them full size rather than itty bitty so that I can actually use them for burritos. I practically survive off of those. I'll be doing some research, and some practice (look out family). What else? School's becoming really trying. Homework that is busywork is just awful! It's not that I'm sick of school, because whenever I'm there, I love it! I love learning new things. It's that I'm sick of homework. I'm sick of taking practice AP multiple choice tests, writing practice AP essays, going to boring concerts, and filling out forms about books I've read. I'm really good at doing the homework I enjoy. Physics homework always gets done on time, and the actual reading of the books always happens fast. But the boring stuff, simply put, is a lot harder for me to do. Is this senioritis? I believe so. If I'm gonna do homework, it's going to be something I enjoy. I feel like I'm getting long winded, so I guess I'll just end abruptly now.

just for your information

2011-02-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

previosly, i referred to one of my friends as somwon. her name has officially changed to asymptote. just so you know. also, i realized that i never finished the preference story. THE MAN and i re-asked her date with a bucket of ice cubes mixed with candy and a random flute. the poster said something along the lines of "thanks for breaking the ice! (don't worry, this time it comes pre-broken.) It would be *sweet* if you went to preference with me! P.S. I spy a flute... (it has magical powers)" originally, the last parenthetical was going to say it has nothing to do with anything, but there wasn't room for that, so it turned into magical powers. i don't do this story justice. the end. :)

The big post of everything

2011-02-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Recent happenings of late have been exciting, but i haven't written all week because i have been secretly planning a surprise party for The Bestest Friend Cousin Ever and i just couldn't handle it. Lying makes me freak out. I'm pretty good at it when it comes down to the moment because i'm pretty good at acting, but it really makes me freak out forever afterwards. So lying to her was hard, but i did it. the day of the party i cleaned my house, and at 5 i ran out of things to clean, and that was when the worst anxiety and freak outage began. it was bad-really bad. at six i brought THE MAN to my house to make sure everyone would know what they were doing when i brought TBFCE back. I was literally pacing in circles and losing my mind. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was also afraid that TBFCE knew what i was planning. I picked her up to take her "out to dinner" and we drove for about 8 minutes toward the place i was going to take her when i realized that i "forgot" my wallet. yep. and she totally believed it. (i guess that tells you what kind of person i am...) we turned around and headed back to my house, and just before we got there, i called my house with speed dial that i set up and just let it ring for a minute before hanging up, and all that happened secretly. after we got in and everybody yelled "Surprise!" the first words out of her mouth were "what-how did you-but that's not-but-what?" and we sang. the party was a success, with plenty of food and fun.

This week we were supposed to start Lacrosse practice, but something about the negative degree weather with lots of wind chill made my coach say that we needed to be inside, so instead we just conditioned. lame. I don't know what everyone was whining about...the cold wouldn't be that bad if we all just bundled up. whatever. basically, the only sensation i can feel in my legs is pain. when there is no pain they feel dead.

Basically i'm a hobo living out of the back of a car, minus the hobo part. i have food, water, clothing, blanket, lacrosse gear, shelter if i wanted, and LOVE in there-everything i need to survive.

Today I decided to make chocolate no-bake cookies. this happened:

yes, that is 88 cookies. the end.

Tool Dust

2011-01-31T15:35:00.000-08:00

As a preface to today’s post, I asked my mother to write this just because I wanted to know what she would say. All of my comments are in brackets like [this].

I’m a guest writer today and feel so special. I needed help with hanging up a bike for storage and asked lovely young helper [that would be me!] for help with the tools and placement. She was on the ladder and asking for the drill before I could figure out how I was going to get up there and while I was putting in the drill bit. After some adjustments to the drill she calmly [I was not really calm. I was terrified. It was quite the rush. I know, I'm an adrenaline junkie...] put one foot on the ladder and another one on a stair railing and began drilling. Then she put the bike hook in the hole and made it tight. She then noticed she was “toolie” [actually, my *pants were toolie] (sawdust from the drill). I thought that was a fun made up word, well actually it’s not a made up word but the way she used it was. The actual word is Tulle and it refers to a netting fabric and people usually leave the e on the end silent [of course she would know that, she majored in clothing and textiles :)]. Then we hung up the bike and it was going to be in the way [in the way of walking, as in every time you walked out into the garage you would get a “gut full” according to my mom] so we had to drill another hole for another bike hook and put both sides of the bike up. We again moved the ladder and this time she had to stand with both feet on the ladder and got more “tool dust” on her. We were successful and the job looks good. Then we laughed about the words and she asked me to write the story. The end. I’d like to thank all the people who gave me this opportunity because who knows if it will happen again. [Oh mom. Oh mom. I love you.]

Quote of the Day

2011-01-29T17:47:00.000-08:00

"You spilled the pretzels, and now I will spill your guts."

Adventures in Exercising and Preference and Babies

2011-01-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

Unrelated, i know, but relevant to the day.

So, Penny and i are exercise buddies. crazy, right? i don't like exercising...but it's worth it for lacrosse. I will be in shape! every other weekday morning, we go to the fitness center and exercise...either running or weights, depending on the day of the week. last time we went before today was wednesday, and this morning, penny said that her calves had been seizing up when she would sprint wednesday afternoon. The next sentence that came out of her mouth was, "Apparently I need to eat more bananas or something." yes...

Preference is coming up soon, and oh the stories to tell. :) we make life so exciting for ourselves. so, one night, The bestest friend cousin ever, THE MAN, the giant peach, penny, asymptote and myself were together and decided to do some preference goodness. penny had already asked the giant peach, so they were just helping. TBFCE and asymptote and i all made candy posters. well, we delivered them last friday. asymptote got answered on wednesday by snowmen on her porch. so cute! TBFCE got answered with a bunch of air heads saying, "I'd be an air head to say no." and I got answered with a "top secret for my eyes only" bowl of oats. it had a note in it that said: I'm too lazy to be very creative. Oh well. My answer's "Yes!" I laughed really hard. Well, THE MAN decided she wanted to be more creative. so today she had me take a huge block of ice into english to give to the guy she asked. problem...when he broke the ice, he broke the note...it was unreadable. We're not sure what she's going to do yet, but it's exciting. And after he broke it, she talked to him, and he told her about it, and she just played along. didn't say it was her. It's exciting.

Furthermore, the niece is here at my house. i was holding her for like twenty minutes. then i gave her away to younger than me two, and, well, i had a yellowish stain on my shirt. it was poop. baby poop. younger than me two was freaking out, and was all paranoid he had poop on his shirt. it was pizza stains on his shirt. my mom explained it this way, "Her poop isn't sticky!"

I love life. :D

what's inside other things...random

2011-01-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

I keep bandaids in my backpack, along with other useful items that normally i wouldn't think of, but for some reason did at some point.

The trunk of the car I usually drive contained at the time i drove home from school today a box of water bottles, a coat, a sweatshirt, a pair of shoes and socks, a pair of pants, a quilt, a lacrosse stick and ball, a backpack, music, a cello, a cane, and a couple granola-type bars.

My cello case has inside of it a cello, rosin, a bow, fingernail clippers, extra strings, a tuner, a metranome, a rockstop, cloths, and at some points today had keys, a watch, a phone, and mint chapstick.

I really like mint chapstick. It's good.

Physics and cookies

2011-01-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

One time, physics happened at my house. Or at least it tried to happen. cookies came along and got us all distracted and physics only kind of happened. things i learned today: 1) whenever you say sorry, you kiss their calculator better...or rather kiss your hand and touch the calculator to pass on the kiss. 2) The giant peach can get loopy when he eats too many cookies. 3) (preface: THE MAN leaned her head on my hair for a pillow and said it smelled good.) when somebody says, "that makes it even better" it can sound like "I smelled it better!" which is basically the quote of the day. and finally, 4) a good physics joke...ugh! this is so much "F dot D!" (for those of you who aren't nerdy in the physics area, "F dot D" is the equation for work.)

If Laughter be the medicine of the soul, i may have overdosed. Just saying...

ps. i hope i'm not just boring you...i hope you find enjoyment in this.

pps. are the shorter posts better than long posts?

To the Emilys in my life

2011-01-26T01:47:00.000-08:00

Since over 50% of my blog followers are named Emily, (granted one Emily is following me twice...) I decided to dedicate a post to you. First, I would like to say thank you to Emily for encouraging me to write on my blog. I didn't actually know that anybody read it. so thank you! second, i would like to thank Emily for actually reading my blog. i know it has boring posts sometimes, but it warms my heart that you read it anyway. and third, i would like to say, Emily, you are so awsome!

another quick story, you'll never know when i wrote this, because i changed the date and time of the post. so ha! :D

note: if you become a follower of my blog, one day i just might post in honor of you too. :)

Scandal!

2011-01-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

I wore sweats to school today. they're too short, so i usually push them up to mid calf and bunch them there. Some of my friends noticed...

Conversation this morning went like this:

Penny: I don't think I've ever seen you wear sweats before.

Me: yeah, probably. i don't wear them much.

Obi-1: I don't think I've ever seen that much of your legs before!

...there was much laughter...

...'nuff said...

Inspired by V8

2011-01-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

on the front of the can of V8 that i was drinking, it says, "100% Vegetable Juice" and then underneath that it says "from concentrate with added ingredients." that doesn't sound 100% to me. just saying. i know that's basically twice in one day, but the other was actually half written last night....so....here! :)

oh, and ps i'm halfway to january goal of blog posts...not sure i'll make it, but i'm doing so good!

The life of Fat Face

2011-01-24T06:09:00.000-08:00

So, random fact i discovered: whenever i try to say antibiotic, it tries to come out antibacterial ointment. not sure why, but it always does.

Yesterday I made soup, but ended up splashing it all over myself. blisters. yep. i'm a *smart cookie.

I've been living off of soup and smoothies. super delicious, but not completely satisfying.

the right side of my face is puffy. my personal opinion, it's puffy not from exposing the tooth, but from removing some of the jaw bone.

I'm dressed like a Hawaiian hippie. ukulele and all. :)

I missed lacrosse conditioning on saturday, and i feel bad because apparently it's the hardest conditioning session we've had.

i had a cello rehersal on saturday. only, as i was getting ready to leave, i realized i had left my cello at school. it was locked up all nice and securely so i couldn't get to it. yeah...nothing like playing somebody else's cello. it stinks like a high school locker room.

I can't think of anything else interesting to say, so....let's go fly a kite.

Oral Surgery

2011-01-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

First, whoever came up with the word 'oral,' i don't like it. it sounds like a gross word.

second, I was super concerned about being mean or grumpy wwhen i woke up. i wasn't. let me show you what i was...

It was rather distressing to me that i wasn't funny. I knew that something was funny every time my mom laughed...but i really didn't know what was funny. (oh, ps the first part was right after i woke up and the second part was after we got home.)

The end.

10 Reasons Why I'm a Rebel

2011-01-19T17:03:00.001-08:00

Inspired by me having to come up with a characteristic about me that starts with the same letter as my first name. here's "10 reason's why i'm a rebel."

1. when i go to walmart i go in the exit and out the entrance.

2. i say the phrase "i just lied" a lot because i lie a lot. (i always admit it though...)

3. sometimes i don't do all of my homework.

4. i wear flip flops in the snow

5. i sleep with my light on sometimes.

6. i read books in the bookstore and don't buy them.

7. i laugh during class at almost everything.

8. when people tailgate me, i slow to 1 mph under the speed limit

9. occasionally i draw pictures just to look like i'm taking notes.

10. when i don't want to answer the phone, i let the answering machine get it.

Family Pictures

2011-01-17T15:26:00.001-08:00

It's been way too long since i last posted. ten days is just too much time. i'll be better.

older than me one is leaving to germany for two years. wow. i'm gonna miss him lots. he's basically the coolest person i know. he's leaving on wednesday. because of this, we did family pictures today. the studio we went to was bitty, and all ten of us had trouble fitting in the studio. The parents, older than me two, his wife, their baby, older than me one, me, younger than me one, younger than me two, and younger than me three. we're all just so cute in our matching family outfits, it's ridiculous. it's kinda funny how they do that, but usually they dress groups up in the same outfit to take pictures as if to say, "i wasn't sure i belonged, but then i checked my shirt and it matched everyone else, so i'm not lost." i'm not criticizing, i just think it's funny.

oh hey, guess what! the term finally ended on friday. yeah, it's on to the next term. school. i'm excited for everything i'm learning, but the homework makes it stressful sometimes.

my favorite quote of yesterday, "they're wearing these weird skin colored sandal things...why? they're standing on clouds, they don't need shoes." older than me one said that. he's funny as well as awesome. This post is dedicated to him. the end.

Blogging. Me. Records.

2011-01-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

My blogging records:

Most posts in a month: 8

Most posts in a year: 20

Isn't that sad? This year I hope to post at least 15 times during the month of January alone, and then post more and more as exciting things happen this year. The plan is that we (meaning my family) are going to Austria this summer. I will want to keep my blog current then. Also, I'm graduating, so I'll be moving out and off to college. I will want to keep blogging then so people I don't see much anymore will have some idea of what's going on.

My new year's resoloution for my blog?

At least triple the record for most posts in a year and at least double the record for most posts in a month.

My life may not be that interesting, but hey, I find it entertaining.

Teeth...yeah.

2011-01-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

So, Baby is here. I only got to hold her for a few seconds on the day she was birthed, but the next day i was going to the orthodontist, which is right by the hospital, so i got to spend about two minutes with her in my arms. She's so perfect!

But, the orthodontist...

Most people have 28 teeth plus wisdom teeth. I am missing one of my 28 teeth. it is on my right side, and it is the furthest molar back. However, I have only one wisdom tooth, and guess where it is? right behind the space where that missing molar should be. This creates somewhat of a problem on account of the tooth above that space in the top of my mouth. you see, it has been dropping down ever so slowly. it's a little bit too low. Here's what they're doing. I'm having a surgery to expose the wisdom tooth and pull it up. then, using the rest of my bottom teeth as anchors, they're going to move it forward using braces. but there's also the problem of the top molar. they're going to put bands around my second to last molar on both sides, and connect them across the roof of my mouth. then, possibly putting some brackets on my top teeth towards the back to help with the anchoring, they will put some kind of attachment/band/bracket on my unfortunately positioned molar that will then have elastics or something putting pressure on it in the upward direction. the visit yesterday was to get the bottom braces on, and to put spacers in the top of my mouth around the teeth where the bands will go. next week I'll be getting the bands fitted for the mold so they can make the top piece for my mouth, and then i'll be having the oral surgery the week after that (proabably) on friday, and then on the following monday, i'll be getting everything else put in my mouth. it's a bunch of lame and unconventional oral work. but hey, my mouth just has created an unconventional situation. So pretty much, I will be in a lot of pain for the next little while, and just might have to survive off of yougurt and mashed potatoes. It's certainly going to be an adventure.

BABY!

2011-01-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

So, i'm officially an aunt, and i'm basically bouncing out of my chair! She's the cutest baby ever. these pictures of her don't do here any justice.

She's my favorite, and I love her lots, and did i mention she's so cute!!!! Older than me two and wife are super happy too.

P.S. The bestest friend cousin ever looked up the word 'Dickens' because i suspected that it had a definition, and i was right, it does have a definition; it means the devil. go her!

Radio STAR!

2010-11-05T16:26:00.001-07:00

I was locked in a room in the school today after school. locked in. I sat in front of three computers, a microphone, and a soundboard. yeah, i was broadcasting LIVE on the school radio station. It only reaches as far as the hallways and half the parking lot. that's probably a good thing considering i am super redundant and don't know anything about the music i'm broadcasting. i need to research music and musicians so i can be more smooth on the radio. yeah, it's kind of a problem. i always have my partner pick the music, and i do all the wierd stuff. i'm the identity confused DJ. when my partner and i are working together, i just say a random name, but when i'm on my own, it's the identity confused DJ. yeah, i'm a dork. i never know what to say or do, so i end up sounding redundant. i'm gonna have to start listening to the real radio so i know what i should sound like. yeah, that's kinda all i have to say for today.

ps aren't you proud of me? that's lots of posts in a row!

Oil

2010-11-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

So every 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first, you are supposed to change the oil in your car. It has been about 6000 miles and 6 months since the car i drive has had an oil change. so, today, i was supposed to take another car, and my mom was going to get a lube and oil on it. but, i was running late this morning and i forgot to take the other car. i was talking to...i don't know if i've given him a name yet...yes, i have. it's the giant peach. I was talking to the giant peach about how i was supposed to not drive it cuz it was s'posed to go in for an oil change, and he kind of offered to help me change the oil by hand. not sure how serious he really was about it...bit it was kind of an offer. i ended up taking him up on it. I went and bought an oil filter and we changed the oil. yup. i was all greasy and gross from the oil, but it actually got changed. we had some tool issues though. that's too long of a story for me now though, cuz i'm tired. so, i'll go back to doing homework like i'm supposed to. Go team!

I Have Chemistry Again!

2010-11-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

trust me, those were excited words.

...and kind of a lie. only a little though.

let me 'splain. There's a girl who's my neighbor. she broke her jaw. it was bad, and she had to miss a lot of school. so, i'm her chemistry tutor. yeah, i know, i haven't taken chemistry for over a year. so what? i still have my notes. yeah, they're incomplete. sketchy, sketchy. I was surprised at how much i remember. it's pretty great. only i was unprepared. yep, i didn't know what i was doing. i went in to talk to mr chemistry teacher, but he wasn't here today, and i didn't have access to a textbook or anything, so it was trixy. (yes, i really did just spell "trixy" with an X.) i will get more resources and refresh my memory better tomorrow about it. I love chemistry. lots and lots and lots. good times.

random ending!

Friends

2010-10-23T12:42:00.001-07:00

We all have friends. Family counts. Old people count. Babies count. But seriously, making new friends is amazing. If you know any people who you aren't friends with, you should try this. I made a new friend recently. I've known this girl for probably five years, and have never really been friends with her before this year. It started out as randomly being in the same classroom. We asked each other questions about music. "How do you record stuff?" "What do you think of this harmony?" "Do you ever [insert almost anything here]?" Which then turned into sharing music with each other. Not just any music, music we'd written. Sharing something so personal with somebody else can't help but build trust. Then we started having conversations and discovered, hey, we're super similar in the way we react to things and the way we think even though we come from backgrounds that are polar opposites. She and I are pretty much really great friends now. yeah, i know what you're thinking (actually that's a lie, i don't, but I'm guessing that you may be thinking something like this, at least after i tell you that you are) "That was a happy coincidence for you two to be spending time in a flexible classroom situation like that, but making friends isn't that easy." Well, you're right. that was a happy coincidence. making friends isn't that easy always. I find though, that the easiest way to make friends with someone else is to share something with them that will build trust. I'm not saying you should pour out your soul to complete strangers, but telling stories about your day/week is a pretty good way to start. smiling and saying hi helps too. it's hard to make new friends, but you may end up making friends with somebody who is your polar opposite and exactly like you at the same time. It's amazing. :)

Music Addict

2010-09-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to music. Especially ukulele music. My mother was in Hawaii, and she got herself a beautiful ukulele. She's going to learn how to play it, and I'm excited. And I'm also very excited because I'm going to be an aunt, and I'm going to have a neice! A little baby girl!!!! SO excited. She even has a name and everything. Life will be good. Older than me one got an exciting letter in the mail yesterday, but isn't opening it until tonight, and in it, there holds the location that he will be spending two years! GO LIFE!!! Pretty much have lots of super exciting news. What else? Hm. I'm no longer addicted to cucumbers, but they are still delicious. forever. I also love smothies. I feel sophisticated when I wear pearls. I'm procrastinating my stats homework. I want to party. Live long and prosper.

Online School

2010-08-18T16:13:00.001-07:00

I just finished the first quarter of Financial Lit yesterday, and today I got half of the second quarter finished. I feel productive.

Standing for the USA

2010-08-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, awesome things happen. Today, I'm going to tell you about something awesome that happened while I was at Girl's State. One hundred thirty-something girls are sitting in a giant hall (I swear it is the Great Hall from Hogwarts only with carpet and no tables) listening to a patriotic presentation. This is the first night any of the girls have spent together, so none of them really know each other well. There is a female trio singing songs, with story reading in-between to go with the slide show. There is background music set for the slide show too. So, after a story is read the trio usually sings. This time they didn't. It was just music. Then the words start, and the song is recognized. "Proud to be an American" plays, and after the first few lines are sung, you hear whispering among the girls. They are whispering the words. Gradually the whispering turns into singing. Then comes the last chorus. When the girls sing/hear the line "and I'll proudly stand up [cymbol crash] next to you" almost every single girl stands up as if on cue. Nobody cued us in. We didn't plan it. It just happened. Truth be told, I didn't even know that I had stood up until I realized that everyone else was standing. It's just acting on impulse. How amazing is it that we all had that impulse at the same time? Amazing. I love this country. I am truly proud to be an American.

Today

2010-08-12T19:46:00.001-07:00

Today I started job hunting. If anybody knows of a place that is hiring, especially if you can put in a good word for me, let me know. Yesterday I played frisbee in the sprinklers. The actual playing of frisbee didn't last very long. Neither did playing in the sprinklers. We ended up mostly just talking. It was fun. I really like playing music, but it's ridiculously hard. Yep. Not much happened last few days. I've been working on my online school. I'm gonna get stuff done before school starts if I work hard. It'll be good.

That's all Folks!

(tee hee :P)

In Life...

2010-08-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

In life, crazy things happen. My cello quintet finally decided on a name. We are Cello Players Anonymous. I love it. Sometimes I went to girls camp. Yep, and I got sick, and stayed sick for a long time. I haven't been sick for a really long time. Girls camp was the greatest though. College. Don't know what's going to happen there. Cousins from Texas = Awesome. String camp was good. Running is hard. Music is amazing. Did I metnion I got a ukulele? I took it to camp with me. I love playing it. Food is delicious. Sometimes life is super busy, and I say scatterbrained stuff to try and catch my blog up. I'll try to do better.

Running, Playing, and Working

2010-06-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I neglected to mention that I've started running. Now, before you all go into shock at the thought of me exercising, I would like to explain. I've been running with my mom in the mornings of this week. We've been doing a run 2 minutes walk one minute thing. The reason I'm doing this at all is that I'm going to do cross country starting in a couple weeks.

Now you can go into shock.

It's a pretty ridiculous idea, I know, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I'm going to do it or die trying. (If I actually do die, please come to my funeral.)

Now, I'm going to tell you about things that are a little less painful in my life. So let's start with the cello. My small ensamble group, which doesn't have a name yet but will eventually, had it's second rehearsal yesterday. First off, I want to say, the guy who didn't come to the first rehearsal pretty much completes the group. We were already having fun before, but his character really just adds the final touch to make the group insane. I love it. Our music is gonna be pretty cool. We haven't chosen which pieces specifically we will be doing yet, but the options we have are fun. I'm excited.

I have a job interview today. It's for a baseball stadium. I'm super nervous. SUPER NERVOUS! I don't know if It's likely that I'll get the job because so many people apply. I just hope that I make the cut. I'll let you know how it goes.

That's all I have to say today, so TTFN!

Summer

2010-06-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Summer means different things to different people. What does summer mean to you? For me it means searching for a job, working on school, getting in shape (don't laugh, it's going to happen), juggling schedules of different camps and such, and seeing family. This summer has been insane. (Yes, I know it's only been a day.) Let's rewind a little bit. Older than me one graduated. HE GRADUATED! It makes me happy for him. He's going on to new adventures in his life. It makes me sad. This next school year will be the first of my school years that I have not had him around after school. The other thing that worries me is that makes me the oldest in the house. It's never a good thing. The oldest child in this house usually has the most conflicts with life. And the beginning of senior year also has lots of stress with applying for colleges and stuff. Don't worry, I might die, but I'll be fine. :) The night before graduation, Fat Suit and I went and did a photo shoot together. I did the make-up, and it wasn't all that great cuz it was so on the spot, but it ened up looking pretty cool. I'm in the process of editing them all. It's way fun, but way time consuming. My favorite so far is a picture of just my face, and I look like a demon. It's kinda freaky, but it's cool at the same time. Okay, moving on to the present. Yesterday was Memorial Day, as we all should know, so it meant hanging out with the fam. We went up to a park for a super extended family reunion. It was fun. There are some cousins who happen to be in town now, and they are super duper cute! As well as the cousins who live here who are moving soon. (Their little ones are super duper cute as well.) So the mom thinks it'd be a great idea to invite these families over for dinner. Then she invites the grandparents. Then other cousins from out of town are invited, and pretty soon, 31 people later, we are having a huge party at our house for dinner. It was pretty sweet. I neve would have had the courage to plan a party that big in a couple hours like she did. Go THE MOM! She's pretty awesome. And, that's all for today. Go summer.

Last Day of School Panic Attack!

2010-05-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at graduation practice, being very bored, when a friend of mine walks into the building and comes directly to me and tells me that English Teacher (ET for short) didn't get my final. A wave of panic swept over my body. Then she reminded me that grades are due at three. It's 1:00 right now, and we haven't even started rehearsing the music! I'm freaking out inside. It's 1:15 and we finally start rehearsing. The combined number is rehearsed. It's 1:30. The band leaves, the choir rehearses, and we (the orchestra) wait. I talk to the friend who actually physically turned in the assignment (lucky for me she's in band) and try to figure out what could have happened to it. Maybe it got thrown away, or maybe it got stapled to hers. Those are the two options we can think of. It's 1:40 when we rehearse. We finish rehearsing at 1:45. I hurry and put my cello away. Next, I have to run up a million billion stairs, with my cello. I start out running, but then there are people in the way, so I have to slow down. I realize then that my legs are unhappy with me for going up all those stairs so quickly, and try to ignore them, because that is very unhelpful. Then I got out to the car, 1:50. Traffic wasn't too slow, but there were a lot of cars around. I go straight back to the school, and I get there at 2:10. (Yeah, I was watching the clock like a crazy person.) The friend who turned in the paper actually got there the same time I did. We go to ET's room. He's not there. but there is a stack of papers that have been graded, and we begin to search through them. The friend just wanted her final back. After a minute, we find her paper. Mine is stapled to the back of it. I pull it off, ask her to watch my cello, and the go to search for ET (who is moving classrooms). I find him fairly quickly, explain what happened, and he makes fun of me for a moment (It's just the way his humor works), and changes my grade. Relief overcomes me, and I go home. Then I think about how this would make a great story for the blog. Now, it seems kinda lame, but whatever. :)

Music 'n' Stuff

2010-05-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

The end of the school year. Yes, it's torture, but no, it can't be avoided. So, some stuff I've been up to. Remember when I posted a while back about the cello ensamble I'm going to be a part of? Well, my small group met for the first time last week, and I'm super excited. Not only is the music as awesome as I dreamed, but the group really seemed to work well. We were missing one guy, but it's lifeguard training season, and he's a lifeguard, so he was busy. That seems to bode well for him though, a cello-playing lifeguard. It's like somebody took me and older than me one and mushed us together. I'm very excited. We're meeting again next week to get the rest of our music, and hopefully name ourselves and come up with costume ideas and stuff. SUPER 'CITED! I love music. I don't know if I have said that yet. I LOVE MUSIC!!!!! Other happenings, school is almost over. Graduation is this week, so that'll be fun. Plus, I did the math, and I figured out that if I even get a 50% on my last final, I'll end up with an A in the class (unless the points are weighted, which I'm pretty sure they're not). So I'm basically done with school this year. No, I haven't gotten a job. It's hard to find time to find one. And I'm scared. I'll do better at applying soon. Hm, what else? I have a cold. I went shopping for buisness like clothes, and found some really cute stuff. Late birthday present/early back to school shopping. (It was a lot of stuff.) Good times. I'm going to start running with the cross country team this summer. I'm frightened out of my mind. I love life, but it's busy with stuff. I love you all!!! (Especially Aunt Stephanie who comments a lot :D much love specially to you!)

bad news

2010-05-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

I told my BFFWIAMC (best friend forever who is also my cousin) that I would post somthing on my blog . . . the only problem is I don't remember what it was. now i feel really bad. :(

Toothless, Brainless, or Footless

2010-05-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Toothless:
Younger than me one. wow. baby teeth do not come out of that child's mouth on their own. he got 4, yes 4, teeth pulled yesterday. poor child.
Brainless:
as you can tell by my last post, school is very hard right now, and my brain has malfunctioned. if that's too big of a word for you to understand (which it isn't), because today i didn't remember what it meant, mal means bad in spanish. and functioned means worked. my brain worked badly. it was a rough day. they were very nice when they explained it to me though. then i realized, i really do know what it means. so a little bit of brain overload happens at the end of the school year with a billion and one projects, a zillion tests and a kajillion things to do. right now i'm "working" on my inquiry project. i surveyed the orchestra at school. i don't know what to do to present. that's my main problem. so i'm blogging to give myself a brain break. there's a ballroom concert this weekend i'm involved in. the ballroom class i'm in is performing. i just finished learning the second routine today. i missed class yesterday for an AP test, and so my partner taught it to me after lunch. because the dance room had a class in it, we were dancing in the hall. we also didn't have music. it was strange feeling. but now i know the routine for the waltz. the other routine we're doing is a swing/cha-cha medley. it's fun. i like dancing. i haven't performed ballroom for several years though, so we'll see how it goes. in fact, i haven't performed purely dancing for several years. anyhow...i'm brain dead for a little while.

Really awesome sidenote: i learned how to say flamingo in sign language! i'm happy :D

Footless:
ok, so i actually do have feet, i'm just not convinced that they're doing their job right. i have discovered anew talent: falling over spontaneously. not sure why. not sure how. it just happens. i'm sure it's very entertaining to watch because i've been told so. just thought i'd share.
:) good luck to you all in all your endeavors. live long and prosper.

This is what school does to me sometimes:

2010-05-08T14:46:00.001-07:00

FRIED BRAIN

not nearly as good as...

Fried Rice

or as good as...

ICECREAM

but i can't do anything about it, cuz i'm learning good stuff. it's worth it.

Sometimes...it's one of those times when...

2010-05-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's one of those times when you need something from the store and it's 8:35 at night.

Sometimes it's one of those times when you agree to get stuff for others too while you're out.

Sometimes one of the things you needed is not at the store you go to first cuz they're out of it.

Sometimes the lines at walmart are so long that you don't get out of the store unitl 9:10.

Sometimes it's one of those times when all the other stores you would go to closed at 9.

Sometimes you think of a different store that would still be open, but you realize you don't actually know where it is.

Sometimes you're lucky enough to find it anyway.

Sometimes that store had what you needed.

Sometimes by the time you get home it's almost ten.

Sometimes you were planning to use that 8:35-9:00 time to study for your AP Calculus test the next day, but you couldn't.

Sometimes you forgot to start your laundry.

Sometimes you realize that it's no bueno to be up late the night before an AP test.

Sometimes you're frustrated enough, and then you realize you bought the wrong color of something, but you already opened it, so it's too late.

Sometimes you fall asleep with your light on because you were trying to finish some things up while waiting to change around your laundry.

Sometimes you wake up late the next morning.

Sometimes the feelings of frustration didn't go away while you were sleeping, and now you're in a hurry.

Sometimes you have an "early morning religion class" that suddenly makes everything dissapear.

Sometimes you go into your AP test feeling a lot better after that class.

Sometimes you wonder why you were so upset about such little things.

Sometimes you know that stress just does that.

Sometimes, you have to take a step back and laugh.

Sometimes you have to smile your way through.

Sometimes you have to wear bright colors, because that always helps.

Sometimes you tell the story....

And Sometimes it helps.

Sometimes you just hope that some people are actually reading your blog.

Sometimes you wonder if it's best if they missed this post.

Sometimes [insert something frustrating here], BUT it's going to be okay.

Sometimes life is just that way.

100 cellos

2010-04-27T17:36:00.001-07:00

i forgot to mention one flamazing thing happening in my life. it's cello-tastic. last friday, i had a lunchtime meeting with a couple of the cellists in my section at school and a really awesome lady whose name escapes me, but will return to my brain one day. so for now i will call her cello lady. anyway, cello lady is organizing a concert for next march, and it is going to be almost completely cellos. (there's a few numbers where a drumset or piano or something is needed, which is why it is only almost* completely cellos.) she wants to have the big ensamble comprise of one hundred cellos! i get to be part of that. she's also having several smaller ensembles perform, and i get to be in one of those too! i'm so excited for this, i'm practically bursting. it's going to be an amazing experience, and i'll get to meet other cellists from all around...well, not very far away all around, but at least from all around the county area....or maybe larger...we'll see. idk how far away cello lady is going to recruit. other best part of this, it's going to be a totally professional experience, meaning i'm not paying to be there, i'm there on my own merits. AH!!!!! SO EXCITING!!!!!! I MIGHT EXPLODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (can't you tell how excited i am? it's pretty obvious by my overuse of exclaimaition points and capital letters.) anyway, that's the news for today. my new "inspiring" thought: "laughing gives you abs. rock hard abs."

Sometimes...I blog instead of homework...

2010-04-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

so, school is getting to that point in the year where testing is all we can do. the standardized tests are absolutely pointless. the state feels like they have to test, so they wast money on it. they should use that money to go towards not firing teachers. then, there's the ACT, which, by the way, scores were just posted, and i improved my composite score by a point, and still don't know how i did on the writing portion yet. and, finally, there's AP testing. *sigh* i just spent an hour filling out my information on a form so i can test. bleh! so pretty much, it's time to crack down and study. as i realize this, i realize that i haven't posted on my blog for a weekish. so instead of studying, i decided to write here. :D funny story of the day. i have a friend who shall heretofore be known as the giant peach. i stole the giant peach's keys during second period, and forgot to give them back. so I, making this a big deal, search frantically for the giant peach during lunch so i can make sure he gets his keys back. and i find him. and he's calm. and i made it way to big of a deal. the giant peach was planning on just getting the keys back after school at the AP form filling out meeting. yeah, so i kinda forgot that the giant peach would be there. then i felt bad for forgetting, but frustrated that it wasn't a big deal like i had thought it was. me. over reacting. yep. oh, another funny story about the giant peach, he was the one who took me to prom last year. and he didn't get me pictures until prom this year. (i didn't go, just fyi, i watched a play instead.) it was pretty great. only it was early in the morning. yeah. yay for the giant peach getting me pictures in a very "timely" manner. :P well, in conclusion, i would like to leave you with an "inspiring" thought; "satan wants you to think it's too late to put down the cookie, but it's not. put it down and don't eat it!" (quote by older than me one.)

Return to BLOG!

2010-04-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

so one day, i was spending a couple minutes on facebook, and i saw somebody say something about "read my mom's blog" and thought, hey, i have one of those. it's been a long time since i've seen it. what was the web address again? i found it! and i'm rather sad that i've not posted anything for a long time. i decided it was time. updates....i'm one year older and wiser too! now my friends can stop telling me that everyone's all growing up except for me, cuz it's happening to me too! life's about to get really ridiculous. with AP tests and CRTs and FINALS (it felt like it needed caps too) coming up, there's a lot of information to cram into my brain. sometimes i wonder if my brain only has a certain carrying capacity and stuff starts getting booted out with the new information coming in. i hope i'm not losing my childhood memories! that would be unexpressably sad. i'm really excited about something my friend (said candy adventure friend from last post in november....we'll call her ady, short for adventury) and i are working on. ady plays the piano pretty well, and she created an arrangement of a beautiful primary song, "If The Savior Stood Beside Me," and she needed a cellist to complete it. it's really pretty, and really fun, and i'm super excited. it's pretty much the greatest thing ever! we're both so excited about it that we're planning to perform it in my "early morning religion class" and her "middle of the day religion class" (if you catch my drift :P). i don't know why i speak in code here, it's just fun! also, i got contacts. my eyes are getting pretty used to them, but they're itchy still. they get less and less itchy all the time, but they're still itchy. wanna hear a secret? i read four books this weekend, just because i wanted to. i probably should have slept more instead, but i haven't read a book just for the fun of it in a really long time, and i wanted to. so i spent my weekend on that even though i should have been doing other things. wow, i'm a little bit random and sporadic in my post here. i'll stop before i get too random. expect more soon (hopefully)!!!! oh, but one last thing, a story i'd like to share; once upon a time, my friend fatsuit and i (it's not a fat joke, it's because we were going to both be wearing fatsuits in a play together, but it didn't work out) were creating tape people to be playing a cello/viola duet on display in the orchestra room, and right now, one of the bodies is mostly made, but it has not shoulders arms or head, and it's sitting in my cello locker. when i came back to school this morning after the weekend i forgot about it, and i opened my locker to put my cello in and screamed when i saw it. it scared me so bad, and at first i thought it was a person. it was freaky! the end. goodbye.

Candy Party

2009-11-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

so last night, friend and i decided to have a movie night. we went to hollywood and rented a video. it was intense. she and i were in hollywood for like a half hour before we chose a movie. we went with romantic comedy, but also kids show. then, friend wanted to go buy candy, so we went to target to get leftover haloween candy. we splurged and bought a ton of candy, cuz hey, it was cheap! we knew it was cheap because we had a competition to see who could find a price scanner first. well, i found one first, but it was broken. so that didn't work out so well. then i found another one that did work. the candy was really cheap. when we were checking out, friend had a bunch of quarters, and the guy at the register did a magic trick with one of them. it was really cool! after our target excursion, we came back to my house to watch the movie, and lo and behold, the lady at hollywood forgot to take the thing off the dvd case that would let us open it, so we got back in the car and went back to hollywood. then, we came back to my house, and realized that neither of us had eaten dinner, so we had a nutritious dinner to balance out what was coming. next, we setteled in and watched the movie. we ate candy through the whole movie, and by the end of it, we were sick of sugar. however, we still had a bunch of candy left over, so we decided to put it in friend's locker and we could eat it the rest of the year. good plan. then we talked for a long time. good, deep, conversation. i was laughing my guts out half the time. it was amazingly fun. then it was time for friend to get home, so it was over. good times, good times, and i just wanted to let you know that i have them. :D

Magical Updates on StUfF

2009-11-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

today in PC (productions company) we did dance auditions for pippen...i'm proud to say that i was not the worst dancer there....but i wasn't the best either. there's this one kid who walks really bouncily, and it transfers over to his dancing, and it's the funniest thing ever. in a good way. he's not a bad dancer or anything, it's just the bouncyness was...comical? and it is a musical comedy, so it works. :D i'm so sore though, cuz basically the whole time we're down close to the ground with our knees bent, and so my quads got quite the workout. also, i had an intense core workout in PE yesterday, and i was already sore from that. who knew that core included legs and arms? not me. speaking of "Not Me" it's a song from Aida (just wanted to let you know how my thought pattern worked here) and i'm playing in the pit orchestra for that. it's pretty intense. the songs are challenging, but very do-able. i'm 'cited. we get to join the cast next week, and it's going to be flamazing like a flamingo! skipping around again, back to pippen, vocal auditons are on friday. i have struggles. i really....just wow. that's all, just wow. it's just barely out of my range. barely. half steps on the high end, and if i put it down an octave (which is allowed cuz this role was originally written as a man) it's a half step too low. sad story. but i'm just full of excitement! yay!!! magic. ok, um inspiring quote of day: "shoot for the stars, and if you miss because of a faulty gun, or because you have bad aim, at least you're out there in space, and that's an accomplishment, because becoming an astronaut is hard."

epic randomness

2009-11-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

older than me one always knows when he needs a haircut, because he starts to get the "joseph smith" wings on the side of his head. mom thinks they're cute. but, it's also time for a haircut. that's all i have to say for now. thought of the day: smile, it makes you feel good!

i'm baaaaaaack!

2009-11-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

so, thanks to my cousin emily, i'm blogging again! yay for emily!!! only, i haven't really figured out what to say today. um...halloween was yesterday. younger than me one was charlie brown...younger than me two was a knight--chain mail and all...younger than me three was the lolipop queen. mom was a bird i think. not really sure about that. she was probably a crow though. we have lots of candy in our house. yum. hm....school. wow. i just got done with a play, closing night was wednesday. auditons for the productions company musical are coming up this week on either wednesday or friday, and i can *almost* hit the note that i need to hit to get the part i want. it's lame. so, if anyone has any this-is-how-you-can-improve-your-range-quickly tips, they would be appriciated. i also took the act for the first time last weekend, and i felt really good about it...now i'm just waiting for my score nervously. i really hope that it's a good one. college is really freaking me out right about now. just because it is. um...yeah, can't think of much to say today. sorry. i'll do better on my next post. i'll probably be more alert. funny story, i didn't know about the time change today. that was fun. ok, in closing, i'd like to give an "inspiring" thought. Everything will turn out all right, even if it's not how you want it to turn out.

...[girlish laugh]...

2009-04-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

so, it's been a while since i've said anything, so i thought i'd say some things. i'm now a liscenced driver. YAY! also, i got asked to prom on wednesday, and i got a dress today, and i'm thoroughly excited. the dress has a creme top with pink beads and the bottom is pink poofs...and it's just awesome. also, i'm playing medusa in a ten minute play, and it's extremely creepy, and it's faboulously fun! that's all for now. TTFN!

Um, I'm saying stuff!

2009-03-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

a lot has happened. this last week was missionary week for seminary. it was totally amazingly awesomely wonderful! also, i did roading last week. my birthday isn't for a couple weeks, but that's ok, cuz now it's over and i can stop being nervous. i passed by the way, just in case i wasn't clear about that. which actually brings me the answer to that question that i asked last time, you rember, the one that went "what significant event in my life happened on the day that 1) abraham lincoln was shot, 2) the titanic sunk, and 3) the day before tax day?"which the answer to is my birth! also, basically everyone in my house is sick. actually, that's a lie, only half of everyone is sick. the oldest four children (including me) are all sick. we have this cough, sore throat, golfballs in our throat kind of thing. i'm bothered by this because i have to sing a lot coming up, and it's hard to sing at all, let alone well, when you're sick. so i'm severely bugged. hm. what else? nope, that's all i have to say today. actually that is a lie, i do have something else to say; i'm in a play in three weeks, and we've only had one rehearsal, and that was a get connected with the other cast members' kenisthetic energy day. so i'm basically frightened for that, especially since i get stabbed and my head gets cut off. but that's all i have to say. for real. ok, bye. :D

END OF TERM!!!!!!

2009-03-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

it is officially the end of the term, and i made it through successfully! i'm so happy about it. i was all stressed the last couple days, but now i feel a lot better. also, it's spring today!!!!! i'm ecstatic about that. (i hope i spelled that right, but i've never been good at spelling.) that's all i have to say today. actually, i have a pop quiz for you! what significant event in my life happened on the day that 1) abraham lincoln was shot, 2) the titanic sunk, and 3) the day before tax day? be the first to answer, and you're awesomer than everyone else. :D

Nerves

2009-03-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

i'm very nervous, cuz i'm giving a talk tomorrow. it shouldn't be that scary to me cuz i don't get nervous on stage, but this is way different, because this is serious. and, i'm also happy cuz it's showtunes saturday. that's all.

So, I'm Actually Not as Whimpy as I Thought...

2009-03-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

So basically, when i did planks again last night, instead of morning, i was able to hold them for thirty seconds, and i was able to do all six reps too. so i'm feeling good. we'll see how tonight goes later. yeah, i know this is boring, but it's all i've got to say.

stuff

2009-03-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

hm. yeah. sorry that it's been a month and a half since i last wrote...just not much stuff has happened. well, stuff has happened, just not stuff i know how to write about. school's going well. yeah. i'm getting better at driving. lots better. i bet i'll be able to pass my road test that i'll be taking in about a month. i went to bed at seven last night and didn't wake up until seven this morning. it was happy. i only woke up once during the night, so i'm pretty sure that the extra quilt i have on my bed (besides the sheets, quilt, and fleece blanket that i already have) is helping. :D it's a good quality quilt, homemade, so it's really warm, and kinda heavy. it's nice. also, i'm such a wimp. i've been doing planks the last couple days (and i only mean couple) and i'm extremely sore. this morning when i was trying to do them, i was sore enough, and my elbows hurt enough, that i was only able to hold them for twenty seconds....yeah, i'm a wimp, but at least i'm doing something. anyway. yeah. that's all i can think of. bye. :D

INSANITY!!!!

2009-01-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

yes, i'm insanity...

and i think that people are funny. but i really don't have anything to say, so...

that's all.

Just Cuz I Felt Like It

2009-01-28T14:47:00.000-08:00

i'm posting something today just cuz i felt like it. hm. and now, my mind is going blank, and i don't remember what to say. i drove yesterday. i'm getting lots better. i still haven't driven on state street or the freeway, but i'm feeling like that time is not too far away. although, actually thinking about doing it makes me nervous. hm. i like ice cream. and yummy smelling lotion. that's all i have to say for now.

Burnt Cookies and Curly Fries

2009-01-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

first off, i'd like to apologize for taking so long, and to the Aunt Susan, i'll write as fast as i can :D so, for the two stories i promised. i decided i’d better tell the burnt cookies story first. it happened about two months ago, the beginning of December. my mom was making treats to give away, and she had to have treats for fifty people (she was making treat plates with a "group of friends") and decided to do congo bars. so, we made a triple batch. unfortunately, we ran out of eggs, brown sugar, and chocolate chips. we couldn’t go to the store because it was a sunday, so we borrowed them from a neighbor. we got the batch all mixed up, but something was a little off...to this day, i'm not sure what. for some reason, my mom decided that we could make them in jelley roll pans because we didn’t have enough glass ones. of course, me, being the observant person that I am, thought that it might not be such a good idea, but I didn’t say anything because I figured, hey, she must know what she’s doing. well, it turns out she was trying that idea out for the first time. she put them in the oven, and i came up to check on them whe the timer went off. *suspenseful music* i opened the oven, and to my surprise, out billows smoke! (now i'm not talking black smoke filled the room, i'm talking smoke came out and stang my eyes and made the room smell bad.) so, i wait for it to clear a bit, and pull out the cookies. the problems: the cookies weren't done; the oven was still smokey; the house smelled. now you may be wondering, "why on earth was the oven smoking?" here's why. the congo bars needed to expand, and they went up over the sides of the pans and dripped to the bottom of the oven where they promptly burnt and got themselves stuck. it was actually kind of funny looking because there was a ring of burnt cookie the size and shape of the jelly roll pans in the bottom of the oven. mom comes in, and i explain to her what has happend. she seems really upset, but i myself find the situation so totally ridiculous that i can't keep from laughing. so, now we have a whole new set of problems: the cookies have to go back in the oven to finish cooking; the cookies taste like the oven smells, so we have to get a new set of treats for the treat plates; the house still smelled, and people were starting to ask questions, and that is never a good thing in a stressful situation. we ended up making nut clusters, and cleaning the oven later. the ironic thing about cleaning the oven is that we had just cleaned it the week before from overflowing pies...or did that happen the week after? i'm not so sure anymore. that's the problem with waiting so long to tell these stories. okay, since oubviously i'm not straight on that story, i'll tell you one that is a little more recent, and this one comes with pictures. *cue ooooo's* so, the day started out as a normal day, people just going about their normal buisness. only younger than me one had to go to the dentist. he ended up having to get two teeth pulled, so he came home quite numb from the procedure. also, mom brought Arby's home for dinner when they got home. YUM! curly fries are the best part of arby's. however, we only had four orders of curly fries, so we all split them (but they were the larger size, so it was just fine). mine were on a plate. now, if you know much about our family, you might know that family dinners often times involve laughing, and lots of it. well, mike was laughing. now to fully understand this statement, you have to see what it looked like.

it looks funny when numb people laugh! well, that just made everyone laugh harder, including me. being the person that i am, i took a bite of my sandwich right before he started laughing again, and i laughed and started choking on it. don't worry though, i made it ok. i made the mistake of taking a drink after i was "done" laughing/choking, and then looking at younger than me one while drinking, and i started laughing again, and spewed my drink all over, and some of it got in my nose (didn't go out, but got in there). OUCH! so what i was doing was laughing, trying to breath, but not succeding, coughing, crying, and moving my curly fries off of my plate, because that is where most of the drink went. this is what i looked like.

actually, that's not what i looked like right then. that is what i looked like after older than me one said that i had something on my face under my eyes (mascara that was running), and told me to wipe it, and i did, and all it did was make my make-up streak. in conclusion, my curly fries were soggy, and i was saddened greatly by this, and ended having to eat soggy curly fries, which has never happened before, but let me tell you, they taste a lot better when they're crisp. (those stories always seemed better in my head. oh well.)

I'm Putting in my Two Cents

2009-01-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

yes, i understand that i promised you two good stories. first, i want to say that i got through the term, and it ended well. second, i want to say that i'm going to make you wait a bit for the stories. i sincerely apologize. i'm just not having much time. sorry! i'll post as soon as i can. i promise.

just letting you know

2009-01-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

i'm going to post as soon as i can! i've got a great story about burnt cookies that i never told you, and a story about curly fries, losing teeth, and lemonade. it's gonna be good, so just be patient until i have time to post again...but i have not forgotten you! i promise. :D

My Tounge is Exploding with Flavor!

2009-01-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

so today was kind of sad. okay, it was very sad, but it was also very happy. my great grandpa died, and his funeral was today. it was an all day event, cuz he was being buried in a city about two hours away, and we had the funeral here. I'm just glad that he's going to be with his wife again. i never knew her, but i will meet her someday. also, we had a really yummy dinner. it consisted of sandwiches (mine had ham, mustard, havarti cheese, lettice, tomatoes, pickles, pepper, peppers, and really good bread), fruit, veggies, crackers & cheese, and other good stuffs. so basically my tounge is feeling all tingly right now. it's pretty intense.

I'm Determined to Post SOMETHING Today

2009-01-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

i just wasted four hours playing risk. yes, i won. yay! NEVER LET ME PLAY IT AGAIN! that's all for today.
:D

PS

2008-12-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

PS what do you think of my new background? I'm trying to go for a new look.

Life Is Still Going

2008-12-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

i am still alive, i promise. i just had a really busy couple of months. not that it's a good excuse, but it is an excuse. stuff has happened, and lots of it. but, i'm not sure it's a good idea to dwell so much on the past, so i'll try not to say too much about it. the play was awesome! older than me two is back home, and back in his old room, so i am back downstairs. in my old room. but it's ok cuz it's still my own room. i'm just really slow at getting moved back in. there's also stuff in the closet that isn't mine that i have to work around because we no longer have a guest room, so it has to stay, but there's plenty of room in there. i have driven several times, but not yet in the snow. (i know, aren't i lucky?) hm... yep, that's really it. that and homework have basically taken over my life. but then came the christmas break. i slept tons!! i also have been having fun. except for when we found out that great grandpa died. that wasn't fun. last night we went to dinner at my grandparents house. it was sooooooooooooooo yummy! my tummy was very happy. then, on the way home, which they tried to make me drive, but i didn't feel very well at that point, so they didn't make me drive, a deer ran into our car. we did not hit it, it hit us. isn't that a little sdrawkcab (that's backwards spelled backwards. just for fun.)? so it's pretty much a good thing that i was not driving, cuz i would have freaked out very much. yep. i think that's all i have to say today. i'll try to write more often, but because this upcoming week is the last week of the term, we'll see how well i do this time. maybe i'll do better. maybe i won't. but the important thing is, i'll try.

SUPER SPEEDY UPDATE

2008-11-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

sorry i haven't written, the rehearsals for my play have been very time consuming, and so has homework. it's pretty intense right now. yeah, i've only driven once more, and it was the mini van both times. it's scary! i don't like driving much. the play is this week every night, so if you want to come see it, feel free. it's at the high school. :D that's all i have time for. i'll catch up again over Thanksgiving Break!

I Remembered What I Was Going To Say!

2008-10-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

I DROVE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON SUNDAY!!!!! it was the scariest thing of my life. and, for the record, i did not hit the other car, they hit me! (just kidding, i didn't hit anything.) The Dad took me around the block, and then decided to drive me to a parking lot to practice there. it was scary! also, in other news, my professional headshots that i got taken through the school came in! i'm not trying to brag or anything, but they really do make me look good. (photoshop...miriacle!) and now, i forgot what else to say... so yeah. i'm short and almost sweet today. :D bye