Library!

The Hedberg Public Library in Janesville Wisconsin is possibly the best library I've ever seen!
It's huge. There's a cafe and used books for sale on the first floor. Then you can either take the stairs or the elevator to the second floor where you can actually check books out. The spot where you return books is pretty nifty. You set your returns on a conveyor belt! You can pick up your ILL (inter-library loan) holds yourself, and you can even do a self-check out! The library is HUGE and I found myself lost for a moment. It's great!
Oh yeah, and they have a statue of a giraffe.

"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity."
-Colossians 4:5

This is a great song.

Another Klutzy Moment

Klutzy Moment #2: (being posted on this blog, anyway. I've had far more than 2 klutzy moments)
Punching myself in the jaw.
While I was asleep.
Who knew pulling your blanket up could be so dangerous?
This was at about 1:00 AM. It's now 8:52 PM and my jaw is still kind of sore.
I guess I can punch hard.

What a weird dream...

I just remembered that last night I dreamed I was learning about appositives.
Really? Why? What a waste of a dream!

Why Study Latin?

Written by Cheryl Lowe.

Have you ever wished you had a good answer for those people who ask why you would spend your valuable education time studying Latin when you could be spending it on something more “practical”?

There are three reasons Latin has long been considered the one master subject before which all others must bow.

First, Latin teaches English better than English teaches English. “The study of one’s own language,” says classicist Charles Bennett, “is achieved incomparably better by the indirect method of studying another language ... It is because translation from Latin to English ... is so helpful to the student who would attain mastery of his own language ... that I find the full justification for the study of Latin.” In other words, education based on the study of the child’s own language is inferior to one based on Latin.

Second, the mental discipline Latin instills in students makes it the ideal foreign language to study. Latin originated with the Romans, and their character pervades the language they created. The Roman, says R. W. Livingstone, “disciplined his thought as he disciplined himself; his words are drilled as rigidly as were his legions, and march with the same regularity and precision.”

Latin is systematic, rigorous, analytic. Its sentences march “serried, steady, stately, massive, the heavy beat of its long syllables and predominant consonants reflecting the robust, determined, efficient temper” of the Romans themselves.

Latin is clearly superior to other languages in this regard. Like English, modern languages are “lax and individualistic,” reflecting the modern temper of those who speak them. Thinking that you can get the same benefit out of studying them is, in Livingstone’s words, “like supposing that the muscles can be developed by changing from one chair to the other.”

Third, Latin is the ideal tool for the transmission of cultural literacy. Latin is, in fact, the mother tongue of Western civilization—a language that incorporated the best ideas of the ancient Greeks, and which then, after the conversion of Rome, put them into the service of Christian truth.

Rome fell into ruin, but the dying language of the disintegrating empire was infused with new life. Harnessing the power and precision of the old Latin, Christianity transformed the tongue of conquest into the tongue of conversion, and Latin became the very language of the Christian faith for over a thousand years.

Christian Latin takes the intellectual discipline of classical Latin and adds another element: simplicity. Although the basic grammar and vocabulary of Christian Latin are the same as the classical, Christian Latin authors emphasized the transmission of Christian truth, striving for clarity and simplicity above all else. Because Christian Latin is easier to read, it is the perfect gateway to the more difficult classical Latin of Caesar, Cicero, and Virgil.

Today we spent some time cleaning up the backyard; making sure all our stuff is up for the winter (and separated from my relatives things), and lots of raking. There's still a lot of trees with green leaves, but the oak trees are nearly done losing their leaves.
We had a big bonfire tonight to burn some excess wood and the leaves. The fire was huge! All the dogs seem to enjoy watching fire, so they would come by and watch it for awhile, but they quickly get too warm. I suppose it's because of the fur coats....

What is it with girls who make stupid faces and take a ton of pictures of themselves? They think they look great, but they're mostly silly! And it's kind of vain to have an entire Facebook photo album of yourself and no one else...
It gets so annoying!

I dislike it when the dogs randomly forget they can use their face to open a door! Lucky was sleeping in my room last night, happy as could be.
At around 1:30 I heard whimpering coming from him. I tried to ignore it thinking he was dreaming, but he just kept whimpering! I finally picked up my phone and used it to light Lucky up and see what was going on. He was laying in front of my door, upset that he couldn't get out. My door wasn't latched, though. It was just swung shut, but he easily could have used his snout to open it...like he always does.
But instead he decided he had to wake me up and get me to open the door. Silly dog!

In other news, it was pretty chilly when I let the dogs out this morning (around 7:00). I forgot to look at the thermometer, but I know that in Rockford it got down to 36 and it was 38 in Chicago last night. So it wasn't too cold, but it was cold enough I'd wished I hadn't walked to the door barefoot! I'll need to get some new slippers soon. I still have my monkey slippers, but I want another pair of slippers that I can destroy and not be sad about. I tend to wear through slippers really fast.

Romans 15:13

I was having trouble thinking of something to post today, so I decided I would post a verse. I think this may be my favorite verse. It's just so perfect.


"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
-Romans 15:13

It makes me happy!

Really!?

Today I almost gave myself a fat lip with my glasses.
It reminded me of the time I gave myself a black eye while making a hoopskirt.
I'm special.

I wonder if I should make a new tag for "klutzy moments"?
I'm sure I'll end up with enough to post about that I might as well start that tag...

I find it unfortunate that my parents won't allow me to tape this to the backdoor. I asked, and they said no. But really, who wouldn't want to get rid of demons of stupidity?
Oh well. At least I can be humored here.
Thanks for the picture, Aunt Chris!

Autumn

I love autumn, it's a wonderful season. It's so pretty and the weather is so pleasant!
There is one think I dislike, though.
During the summer the house stays around 70*, so it's fairly warm in here. During the fall it goes to about 65*. It doesn't seem like a huge difference, but when you've gotten used to 70* (and it was probably still 70* just a few days ago!) those five degrees really make a difference, and I'm cold in here now!
We don't turn on the heat until winter, and then we'll keep the house at about 65*. At that point I'm used to the temperature. But it feels so cold in autumn!

Brr! At least I have some hot apple cider!
I Googled "autumn" under images and found this picture. I like it!

Cool!

Whoa, I accidentally found this!
I think it's the complete Harvard Classics set online, as well as other books (if you go to the main page).

Reading

I finished the section on Benjamin Franklin in the first volume of my Harvard Classics set. Now I'm working on The Journal of John Woolman.
I think I should be done with this portion fairly quickly, but we'll see...

John Woolman

"I saw that an humble man, with the blessing of the Lord, might live on little, and that where the heart was set on greatness, success in business did not satisfy the craving; but that commonly with an increase of wealth the desire of wealth increased."
-John Woolman

Aspen trees

Seeing some of the trees around here has made me miss Aspens. The trees around here are pretty with their many different colors, but I still miss Aspens. They're so pretty in the autumn. They have perfect colored leaves!

October 17th

Today is Jeremy's birthday. It would have been my grandma's birthday too. It's also the date that my grandpa would have had his half birthday. And My other grandma has her birthday on December 17th.
Maybe Jeremy's right about 17 stalking him!

Ow. Head hurts sooo bad.
It probably doesn't help that I hit my head on a metal bar of my bed while I was sleeping (at least I assume that's what happened). Ow.

"Ow" looks like a really weird word when you think about it.


*update*
An hour and a half later...

I've now failed to notice a glass door and hit my head on it.

*sigh*

Today I was looking at a bottle of dog shampoo. It says "Flea and tick shampoo for dogs with oatmeal."
Dogs with oatmeal? As in the dogs have some oatmeal?
Why not "Flea and tick shampoo with oatmeal for dogs" or something like that? Why "...for dogs with oatmeal"?
It just doesn't make any sense!
My dogs do not have oatmeal. I don't mind washing them with shampoo that has oatmeal content, but I'm not going to specifically search for a shampoo that has to be used for if your dogs have oatmeal. I don't generally feed my dogs oatmeal.

This makes no sense, and it disappoints me.

A verse I feel like sharing:

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.'"
-John 13:7

Poor puppy!

I'm kind of feeling bad for my poor little puppy.

First of all, she decided it would be a lovely plan to go roll around in the yard one evening, and she got all messy and needed a bath. She really doesn't like baths, and she really dislikes not having her collar on. Usually I put her collar back on as soon as she's dry from a bath, but her collar needed washed too, and it takes awhile for it to dry.

So, last night she had gone to bed collarless. I was getting ready for bed but realized I needed my phone (I use it for my alarm), and I couldn't find it. I searched for a few minutes, but finally gave up and called it. Cuddles was laying on top of it (Cuddles sleeps in my bed), and unfortunately the phone was set to vibrate and ring. It scared her really, really bad. She jumped straight up and ran out of my room, scared as could be.

I went to bed, and I was almost sound asleep when Cuddles came back. She jumped up next to my head, and since I was almost asleep she scared me, causing me to jump and hit her in the face. I felt sooo bad! I got her calmed down, and she seemed fine. But all in one night she's missing her collar, gets scared by my phone, and I hit her in the face. Poor girl.

Sneezing Panda!

I was looking at one of my favorite videos: The Sneezing Baby Panda, when I found a website for this famous little panda: http://www.sneezingbabypanda.com/index.php

How funny is that?

That panda is so cute!

Cuddles

Today I was sitting on the couch to work on schoolwork and Cuddles decided to join me.
I was reading a logic book, and hoped Cuddles would be paying attention to the book as well (I try to make sure my puppy is educated) .
I'm now doubting that she'll be able to learn much from the book. I don't think she's interested in logic. She has a very irrational fear of Frankenstein, and no amount of reasoning with her will convince her that he isn't scary.
And it's a very obviously fake Frankenstein. He appears to be made from polyester, sewn around a wire frame. Obviously her fear isn't logical.
My logic book is on informal fallacies, so that doesn't really cover irrational fears of fake monsters, but if she's so un-logical in that aspect, how can I expect her to be logical about fallacies?
I'm sure she could never spot a red herring. Unless of course there was a literal red herring and she's hungry...

Four inch high heel shoes were a stupid invention.
Ow!

Stronghold

The Stronghold Olde English Faire was this past weekend.
We camped at Lowden State Park. It was really, really cold, but definitely worth it!

I wore my red and gold upper class garb, which really wasn't warm enough and I'd forgotten my cloak (I'm not sure where it is, actually. I should look for it), so I was pretty chilly! Lizzy brought me a cloak the next day, so I was able to be warmer on Sunday.
I saw some shows at Stronghold, but I mostly visited with friends. And froze.

Rather than having to wake up Sunday morning, pack up camp, then get to faire, we opted to stay Sunday night and leave Monday. John Wohlers and Andy Maar stayed Sunday night too. Andy left early Monday morning (before anyone was awake), but John and my family stayed until a little after noon. John's car battery died, so we had to get out the jumper cables and jump his car, but he made it home safely.
The original plan had been for us to go straight home, but we ended up taking an unexpected trip to Kenosha, where we stayed at Stefanie's house. I think I managed to fully thaw out by Tuesday!
We left for home on Wednesday. We'd planned to leave sometime around noon, but Stefanie had injured her foot the previous night. She called the doctor and they told her to come in for an x-ray, and not to drive or walk. So, we stayed later so that we could get her kids from school for her.

It was an interesting weekend with all the freezing and the unexpected trip, but it's been my favorite year at Stronghold so far!

My mom says I should try to make one post a day on my blog.
This will require me to find something to say everyday. Preferably something interesting.
I don't know how well this will work...

I baked a pan of granola yesterday, and while it seems to be good (both Jeremy and Luke really enjoy it), it's really messy. The recipe called for two cups of mini chocolate chips. I think next time I'm going to add half that, instead. It's just too melty to hold while you eat it.
Now, I have to make one more pan of granola bars, some loose granola, and some brownies.
On to baking!

Another pattern!

So, awhile ago my grandma and I were talking, and she mentioned she wanted to find a nice pattern for a shirtwaist dress.
I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday to pick up some ribbon, and I saw McCall's patterns on sale, so I was flipping through the book, and came across this pattern. I bought one for me and one for my grandma. I'm sure neither of us are interested in the sleeveless dress, but the other one looks very nice. There's a website for pattern reviews, and supposedly this pattern is very nice and very easy to make. So, now my grandma and I are planning on making our dresses together sometime. I'm not sure when, but we'll get to it!

Well, I decided I won't be able to have my doublet bodice outfit done for Stronghold, but that's okay: I'll wear my upper class garb. I don't get to wear that set of garb very often anyway, so I don't mind!
I put it all on today (I find the best way to make sure I'm packing everything or that I don't need to mend anything is to put the entire outfit on), and everything appears to be in order. There's a spot of trim that I need to tack down for now (I'm going to replace it later), but that's about it.
I was wearing my sneakers when I put the garb on, and it's not really what I recommend with upper class garb...

It's supposed to be cold at Stronghold this weekend (Saturday has a high of 58 with a low of 35, and "patchy frost". I'm going to freeze), so tomorrow I'm going to get my cold weather clothes from the top shelf of my closet and put away some of my summer things. I think I'll be packing many layers of pajamas for Saturday night...

I'll probably also do some baking tomorrow or Thursday. I need to make some granola and some sort of sweet.


And in other news, the dogs were greatly displeased today. They all got baths, which they hate. Odo was starting to have signs of fleas, and she's very, very allergic to fleas, so Jeremy and Luke gave all the dogs flea baths, we washed all the dog beds, and used a flea repelling dust on the carpet and dog beds. We should be flea free, now.

Almost finished....

I'm almost finished with my kirtle*! The only thing left to do is fix a pleat that fell a little, and then hem it! I'm not completely satisfied with it. I see ways that it could be improved, but now I know for next time.
I'm still hoping to have my doublet bodice done before Stronghold. The skirt that goes with the doublet bodice will be no problem. It just needs hemmed. Oh, and I need to sew a large hook and eye onto it, but that won't take more than a few minutes.

So, I'll try get started on my doublet bodice today. I'll have to start working on buttons. I don't know how many I'll need.



*A kirtle is like a bodice and skirt attached, so it's a dress instead of two separate pieces. The bodice of the kirtle can still have a pointed front, but is simpler to make it straight across.

An end of the week update (what a wonderous title).

Well, I finished "Jane Eyre" when I wanted too. It was very good. I really enjoyed it! After that I decided to read "Sarah's Key", which I'm already finished with. I'm not sure what I'll read next. I need to get back to reading my Harvard Classics books (eventually I'd like to have read them all, cover to cover). I'm also wanting to read "Much Ado About Nothing", and I have the SparkNotes "No Fear Shakespeare" version. It's neat because it has the entire original play, along with a modern day translation, so if there's anything you don't quite understand you can check and see what it is. I don't use the modern translation much, but I'm glad to have it if I need it.

I probably won't do too much reading today (other than schoolwork), because I should draft my doublet bodice pattern today. I've been debating between two patterns, and finally decided which to go with. I'm still hoping to have it done for Stronghold, but I still don't have a sewing machine. I may ask my cousin if I can borrow hers again for a few days. Otherwise I'll be brushing up on my hand sewing skills!

And in other news, I seem to have caught a cold. It's annoying since I just had one last month. I've had a terrible runny, sneezy, stuffy nose, and I woke up with a headache this morning, which was very unpleasant. Due to the headache, I stayed in bed longer than usual, and realized that's the latest I've slept on a Friday in months. And tomorrow I can sleep later than usual, too. That's the one plus to no Bristol: I don't have to wake up at 6:45 on weekends!

Reading

I'm so close to done with "Jane Eyre"! I should be able to finish it by Monday.
I'm really, really enjoying it!
I'm not sure what classic I'll pick to read after this one. Perhaps another Jane Austen book? Or maybe some Shakespeare? I've been meaning to read "Much Ado About Nothing".
I'm not at all sure what to read next!
I know that I want to read a book Stefanie loaned me. It's called "Sarah's Key" and Stefanie highly recommends it. I think I'll be able to read it while I'm reading another classic, but I may just read it and finish it before I start on another. It will give me some time to think about what I want to start next.

There's too many books I want to read!

"There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!"- Corrie ten Boom

Ow!

Grr! Russel is ridiculous! Jeremy and I went outside to give the chickens water, and while Jeremy was closing the gate I saw Russel puff up his neck feathers (a sure sign that he's angry), so I called out to Jeremy that Russel was about to attack. Jeremy turned around right as Russel jumped at him. He didn't have a chance to block him and Russel grabbed onto his leg. At the same time I hit my fingernail on something (I'm not sure what) and on one side bent it almost halfway up. It hurt so much! So, both Jeremy and I came into the house and bleeding and saying saying lots of ows.

And now we're calling Russel a stupid-head.
You'd think he'd notice we've never been a threat to him, and we feed and water him every day!
Bird brain.

September?

It's really September? Already? I can't believe it. What happened to this summer? I don't think I've ever had a faster summer!
This weekend is the last weekend of Bristol, so it's the three day weekend. There's BAPA graduation on Saturday night. Luke went through BAPA this year, so he'll be doing a graduation skit with the other new Ducklings.
Sunday night the Suitcase Shakespeare Company will be performing (I can't recall what they'll be performing), and Monday night is the cast party. We're not planning on going to the cast party: Instead we'll get as much out of our tent as possible (we take the tent down the following weekend), and then we'll probably go out to dinner.

Now, our next faire will be Stronghold, on October 2nd and 3rd. I hope to finally have my new garb done by then (yeah, the garb that was supposed to be done for Bristol). As of yet, I do not have a working sewing machine. I'll probably go over to my aunt's house to use her sewing machine, and towards the end of this month the Schmitts will be giving me a sewing machine. It's an older, used sewing machine, but they took it in to a sewing machine shop to have it serviced and cleaned, so it should work!

Jane Eyre

So, I started Jane Eyre quite a while ago, and I think it's time to finish! I'm less than 100 pages away from being done (my copy is 476 pages), so my goal is to finish it before I start school (September 13th). I really only have a few days to finish it, since I probably won't be doing much reading over the 3-day weekend (closing weekend of Bristol!). So, I have today and tomorrow, and Tuesday-Thursday of next week to finish. I'm sure that's plenty of time.

For today's plans....

I think I'll do some baking today. I have a few people I've promised to deliver cookies to, and today seems like it's going to be a slightly cooler day than what we've had lately. It seems like a good day for baking! I think I'll also try to finish cleaning my room (Ha. That's what I say. Lets see if it actually gets done...), and maybe I'll start drafting my doublet bodice pattern. I may not have a sewing machine to work with right now, but I can at least have the pattern ready...
I know at some point today my mom and I have to run to Braidwood and drop things off at the library and go grocery shopping, and we need to drop some things off at our storage unit. My grandma had willed all of her Hallmark Christmas ornaments to my mom and Aunt Kathy, so we went over to my aunt's house yesterday to sort through the ornaments and see who gets what. Now we have a LOT of ornaments. Because we didn't already have too many for our tree.... So, we'll be putting those in the storage unit today.
We also have several ornaments that we already have, so I'll put them in storage for my Christmas tree someday.
Besides the ornaments, my aunt also had a box of other things to go to us. There was a jewelry box my mom had been wanting, my grandma's sewing basket, some jewelry, but most importantly of all is a ring we found in a little Avon box. My mom thinks it may be the ring she had on for her wedding. It was her something old, something borrowed, and something blue. It belonged to her great-grandmother!
Oh, and while we were at my aunt's house going through these things, I managed to convince her I hadn't seen her son's wedding pictures that were on her computer, so she let me go look through them. My plan was to update her Facebook status (every time family comes to her house they manage to update her Facebook for her) while she was in the living room, but her and my Mom followed me into the bedroom. I somehow still managed to update her status with her in the room, and she never noticed! I was happy. It's been my goal to update her status for a while now. I've finally succeeded.

My Texan Surprise

After making my last post that this was going to be the best birthday ever, I never bothered to update my blog. The week after my birthday I was just too busy, and the week after that I was sick, so I just didn't get around to it.

For my big birthday surprise my parents arranged to have my best friend, Taylor Castle, come up from Texas! It was amazing. We had so much fun. She was able to come for two full weekends of Bristol, and she loved it! I had two sets of garb that fit her, so she was able to dress up!
She loved working there more than she liked being a patron. And she was fantastic at it! She of course joined the Ducks, and she learned quickly! She was great; I'll miss her as a Duck!
We spent the week in Janesville at the Muetz home (we figured it would be more entertaining to be at their house instead of here in Custer Park, the middle of nowhere, and they have more space for guests that we do). I don't think there was any night we went to bed before 1:00 AM! We stayed up late all the time.
Of course Taylor had to be introduced to cheese curds, so Laura Muetz kindly bought some for her to try. Then Mindi decided she needed to be introduced to Culvers and deep fried cheese curds, so she treated Taylor, Jeremy, Lizzy, and me to some. She got every type of sauce (including horseradish, which was nasty) and chocolate custard to dip the cheese curds in. It was great!
On Wednesday a bunch of the Amoeba (Lizzy's group of friends) came over and we had a day of being 7 year olds. We watched old Disney movies all day, and then we went to McDonald's at about 9:00 PM and ordered Happy Meals just for the toys (and we all got the guys' toys which were Superheroes. The girl toys were little pink cats and dogs). It was great!
After walking home (which was a very interesting walk) we were all really warm and decided to get in the pool. We cracked a bunch of glowsticks and tossed them in, which was really cool. Eventually everyone got out and started going to bed, but Taylor, Justin Lukas (who is not a Muetz, but lives at their home much of the time) and I stayed up until almost 3:00 AM. We decorated the living room with the glowsticks, and it looked so neat! Justin broke a glowstick on the rug, but it didn't leave a stain.

After the second weekend of Bristol (which was when Taylor and I had a patron day. So boring!), we stayed at the Dowell's house Sunday night. We all stayed up until past 3:00 AM, and then woke up before 7:00 so that we could be at the Milwaukee airport for Taylor's flight back to Texas. It seemed like she wasn't here for very long, but there's only a couple things we wanted to do that didn't get done. And now that she knows how much she's missing out on (Bristol!) she'll have to come more often!

Chris Muetz agreed to take pictures of Taylor and I together. Conveniently, I had two of the same style dresses in different colors, and the shirts in the above picture match as well. I'd bought one for myself and one for Taylor sometime last year.

This is going to be the best birthday ever!

Chicks

I now know that there's a total of 6 chicks. They're so incredibly adorable!
Luke and I went out to see them today, and the mama was walking around in the house with them. She started scratching at the ground like chickens do when they're looking for food, but she kept kicking the chicks! The chicks don't mind too much, though. They just sort of fall over then tweet a lot as they scramble to get up.
There's various types of chicks. They're mostly all hybrids (actually, they may all be hybrids. I don't recall if Russel is pure Rhode Island Red or not), but there's some that look like pure Buff Orpingtons, though they're not. I think there's three that look like buffs, so the mama chicken may be their actual mama, then there's two that look more like Rhode Island Reds, so my guess is that the mama stole eggs from one of the Reds, Harmony or Henrietta. I suppose they could have taken more after Russel, but it's still more likely that that one or both of the Reds layed those eggs. Then there's one chick who is undoubtedly the offspring of Heidi. She's mostly black right now. We named her Beauty.
Luke and I stayed out there for a while (we didn't get to hold any chicks, though), but we came in when the mama layed down and all the chicks went under her for a nap. There was one chick who went under her and then poked it's head out between her side and wing. It was so cute! I took a picture but I'm not sure how it turned out: It's really humid and the camera lens was fogging up.

Cutest picture ever!

Playing with Luke

I just had a bunch of fun with Luke (although my Mom didn't think it was fun because it was too noisy....).
We were chasing each other around trying to lock each other outside. I managed to get him outside and lock the door, and I ran to the basement door to block it (there's a door that leads into the basement from outside, then a second door that leads back into the house), but Luke decided to cheat and knock on the kitchen door (the one I originally locked him out of) which made all the dogs start barking, so I had to let Luke in. Otherwise the dogs would have annoyed everyone else.
Luke never managed to get me outside, although he tried really hard and was almost successful. At one point I had to go get something out of the car and I made him go with me so that he couldn't lock me out, but I forgot the gate has a lock and he almost locked me out of the yard! Luckily he failed.
It was fun, and I won! Yay!

Oh no!

Oh no, I think I forgot some of my sewing projects in the tent! I had part of my kirtle and a piece of linen in my sewing basket, and I decided not to take them up to the Duck so I set them in a tub (named Frank. Because my family names everything; even plastic tubs) and I'm pretty sure I left them there. Well, I guess I'll find something else to work on....

Bagels again...

I'm still working on the bagels I mentioned earlier (they take a while since the dough has to rise twice). I tried out a new recipe (for plain bagels. Not berry bagels), and I kind of wish I hadn't. Along with being a new recipe, there was new instructions, which didn't work out so well. It had me heat the oven to 400*, and the bagels quickly began to burn. I checked my old recipe which said 375*, so I turned down the oven. Only the bottoms of the bagels are burned, so I think they should be fine. Jeremy will do the taste test for me later.
Now I'm making my old recipe, but I added in some raspberries. It made the entire dough a pink color, which Luke and I decided looks like a brain. I was hoping that the raspberries turn out to be a good addition, but I hadn't voiced that, and just said "I hope it tastes good". Luke was immediately concerned that we'd just been talking about how it looked like a brain, and then I said that. I guess he must have been afraid I'd turned into a brain-eating zombie. Luckily I haven't!

Bagels

My favorite recipe website (www.allrecipes.com) has failed me! I decided to make blueberry bagels. Blueberry bagels are fairly common, so you would think that there would be a few recipes for them, but no! I ended up having to Google blueberry bagels to find a recipe. I was also wondering if there was such a thing as raspberry bagels (we have a bag of frozen raspberries that no one has done anything with yet, so I thought I'd use them), and while I found plenty of places that sell raspberry bagels, I didn't find a recipe anywhere(other than this disgusting sounding "Crazay Bagel" with chocolate and raspberries and way too much salt-icky!) . I'm wondering if I could just make regular bagels and just put the raspberries in? I guess there's only one way to find out....

I just learned something...

...Don't put lotion on your feet and then wear foam flip flops. You'll start sliding around and may lose your flip flops...or your balance.


And yes, I am adding "education" as one of the labels to this post. I found it to be a very educational experience. One that I probably shouldn't repeat.

Some sewing, some baking, sounds like a normal week.

Having said nothing for over a week, I feel like I should say something. However, I don't have much in particular to say.
It's been a fairly ordinary week here. I can't believe it's Wednesday night already. That means I pretty much only have tomorrow left for this week. We'll leave for Bristol sometime around noon on Friday, so I won't really have much time on Friday to accomplish anything. I need to sew a new shirt for Jeremy and do some baking. I meant to start on Jeremy's shirt about an hour ago, but I checked my email first to respond to a long neglected email, and I forgot to turn off my gmail chat and a friend popped up to talk to me. He's very long-winded, and takes ages to tell a short story, so I knew the conversation would go on for a long time if I didn't tell him I need to do something. I tried telling him that I had to go sew, and he spent about 10 more minutes telling me to not let Luke have nitroglycerin. I enjoy talking to this friend, but I think he'd start to drive me crazy if I tried to talk to him for too long! He's very enthusiastic about everything he talks about... Oh well, at least he gave me good advice on not letting Luke have nitroglycerin....

I just glanced back to the table and noticed that it's starting to have things piled on it (I just cleared it off for sewing!), so I should get to sewing Jeremy's shirt while I can still see the table!
I don't know if I'll accomplish any other sewing besides his shirt. I'd like to finally finish my kirtle. Well, the portion that needs to be finished on the sewing machine anyway. I'm going to have to put eyelets in the back for lacing, and that will take a while! It may be something I can work on at Bristol though.
Oh eyelets, why do you have to be so time consuming?

Reading

I haven't read enough this year. I used to always read before bed, but stopped for awhile, I guess I just got too busy, but I've been making an attempt to read more before bed, and I'm glad that I am. I missed it! Even if I only read a few pages it's better than nothing.
I'm currently reading several books, which doesn't bother me. I know some people don't understand how I can read several books at once. I've been asked how I keep all the stories straight, but it's really not a problem for me. I keep them all straight because they're all different stories. It's as simple as that!
I should probably finish some of the books that I started a while ago before I move onto more, though. Not because I'll get them mixed up, but because I'll start to forget the beginning of the story if I wait too long to finish it, and then I'll just need to reread the whole thing. And plus, I feel very unaccomplished if I have a bunch of books that have been half finished for weeks or months.

Thanks, Kohls.

I found this dress online, and I really liked it but couldn't buy it in store.
I had some coupons, so I decided to order it since I could get it for cheaper than what the website says it is.
I just got the dress today, and I'm not at all happy. At the first glance it looks like what I ordered, but it's not.
The website picture shows stripes on the edge of the arms and the bottom of the dress. The dress I received has no stripes. The website shows a diagonal plaid pattern, but the actual dress is horizontal plaid (which, in a dress form, isn't very flattering on anyone). The website shows a dress with three buttons on the bodice part of the dress, but on the dress I received there's only two buttons, then buttons all the way down the skirt. The website says and shows nothing about buttons on the skirt.
There's some other very small differences that don't really make much of a difference, other than showing it's not the same dress. Online it says it's a cotton/rayon blend, while the tag says 100% cotton (not that this bothers me, but like I said, it's just more proof that it's not the same dress). The website also says to only handwash it, while the tag has machine washing instructions.
This is not at all the dress I ordered! I'm not happy. I'd never ordered clothes online before, and I don't think I will again. It was very disappointing. I'll be taking the dress back to Kohls and getting my money back.

Well, I'm blind...

I was trying to be smart and get all my garb ready and out to the car tonight so that I'd have less to do before we leave tomorrow. I realized that getting my garb together would include my accessories like my necklace and earrings. My necklace is from Juli McCarthy (she gave it to me as a birthday gift last year) and I love it. It's so pretty! I remembered having put it in a safe place last time I took it off, but I couldn't remember where that safe place was. I spent close to a half hour looking for it. I even looked behind my dresser wondering if it had fallen back there, but it hadn't. I was getting really worried wondering where it might be. And it turned out to be right in the middle of my dresser. Brilliant.
I still haven't found my earrings, though. Actually, I have one. I know the other one was on my desk. It must have fallen off and is somewhere on my floor....

This Weekend

It looks like this weekend should be a nice one for faire. It seems we'll have a dry weekend: no rain! Yay!

I have my garb ready. I don't have any new garb ready, but that's okay.
I believe Luke (or at least I hope) has his garb ready. And Jeremy... well, it would be ready if he hadn't lost a bunch of it. At one point he only knew where his venetians and socks were. He found his shirt, though, so now all he's missing is his jerkin, flat cap, and his left shoe. Silly Jeremy.

Wow, Jeremy!

Wow! Jeremy really takes after the Maxwell side of the family. You can really tell how much he looks like our Grandpa in the 1947 photo!

Grandpa and Grandma

Robert Charles Maxwell and Colleen Mary Maxwell (Grandpa and Grandma)
Approximately 1947


A slightly more recent photo....

1990

Song of the Day:

Cry Out to Jesus

Tuesday?

Tuesday? Really? It feels like it should be much later in the week than Tuesday.
I have no idea what I should do with my Tuesday. Hopefully this Tuesday is nice to me.
I think I'll start off by attempting to pick up my room. I'm sure I'll probably become distracted and it won't end up being picked up today, but at least I'll make an attempt. Maybe I'll read some, too. And work on some sewing. I still have too much sewing to do. I've given up having any new garb done before faire, though. I have enough garb, and Jeremy has some things that will work for now. I'll just work on things throughout the season and they'll get done eventually.

We're in the van driving to Bristol, and Luke just announced that he's beautiful but misunderstood. That's unique.

What to do?

I can't decide what to do. I don't feel like sewing. I could go put away my laundry. Or I could read. I wonder if I could find Eragon? I'd rather read something I'm familiar with in case I don't pay attention. I think I've read Eragon over 5 times. I just realized that tomorrow is the day reading logs are supposed to be turned in at the library. I never filled mine out. Oh well, maybe next year.

I still haven't decided what to do. I should probably get off the computer, though. Maybe I'll go outside. I bet there's some apples I could feed my chickens.

Quotes

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland

A human life is a story told by God. ~Hans Christian Andersen

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. ~Author Unknown

It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; 'tis rather an embrio state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead: Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals? ~Benjamin Franklin, 22 February 1756

Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality. ~Emily Dickinson

Life and death are balanced on the edge of a razor. ~Homer, Iliad

After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. ~J.K. Rowling

Really?

I know I'm probably overly upset and irritable, but I'm really annoyed that someone on Facebook just sent me a friend request for about the 4th time in the past year or two. Why? Why would you send a friend request to someone who has already declined you 3 times? We may both work at Bristol, but it doesn't mean I know her. If she wants to friend me she's going to have to come up and actually introduce herself to me sometime. And at this point I don't know that I even would want to friend her. She seems like she must just be a friend collector. Or clueless: After I decline her friend request 3 times it's really time to get a clue and stop sending them.

Sometimes the stupid makes me want to bash my head into a wall. Like today. And yesterday.

But instead I think I'll go try to sew something.

Wow. So far this is a weekend of failures! Multiple things have gone wrong or been forgotten or lost, including Luke's DS. Traffic was terrible yesterday, and must be terrible today too since we have many missing Ducks, which means I have to skip a class so I can help with BAPA lunch. Oh, and someone unplugged the Duck's fridge early in the week, so everything went bad. Brilliant.

Updating with my cell phone

I just made the discovery that I can update my blog using my cell phone.
So, if I have anything really interesting to post over the weekend I'll be able do so, despite the fact that I'll be at Bristol.

Speaking of Bristol, I should probably go pack. We'll be heading that way in a few short hours. I'll be taking several electives tomorrow, and I'll probably join some of the regular BAPA classes too, like dialect and history. Oh, and I'm going to take some of my sewing stuff with me because Alyssa (the costumer) has given me permission to use the costume shop sewing machines. Oh, and any of the patterns in the costume shop, which is pretty nifty. Although I don't know if I'll need any of the patterns.

Another post about another weekend.

I had lots of fun being a fairy at the Medieval Midsummer Fayre this past Saturday (which I had written a post about and then the computer freaked out and erased it. Sad.), even though I got really sunburned (and I was wearing sun lotion!), and there weren't a lot of kids, and some of the kids that were there were afraid of me. I was told that it was the purple tights. Apparently purple tights are scary. Who knew?
Anyway, it was a fundraiser for the Beaver Dam YMCA, and the goal was to have 200 patrons. We surpassed that number (I don't have official word, but I hear it was around 250) so the YMCA wants it repeated next year! Next year it will be held in late September so as to not interfere with Bristol.
Oh, and I met a five year old girl Milana. She told me lots of jokes. These are three of my favorite, even though they don't make sense.
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Diamonds!
Diamonds who?
Diamonds are pretty!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Pretty!
Pretty who?
Pretty diamonds!

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Flowers!
Flowers who?
Flowers are pretty with diamonds in the middle!

There was a terrible storm we got stuck in on the way up to Beaver Dam. We were stuck on a road that was closed down to one lane for 25 miles, and the storm was awful! I checked the weather on my phone and it said the storm was about 7 miles north of Paw Paw. Where do you think we were? About 7 miles north of Paw Paw! Joy. They were predicting 70 MPH winds, which was really knocking us around, along with a a lot of rain, lighting all around us, a green sky, some serious cloud rotations, and lines in the sky (anyone who knows our Texas tornado story knows why lines in the sky would be frightening to us). Jeremy took some pictures on his phone and he posted them on Facebook if anyone is interested in looking. The pictures are good, but they still don't do the storm justice. We were really, really happy to get out of it! Oh yeah, and the temperature dropped 29 degrees in less than 10 minutes.

And of course we had Bristol rehearsals on Sunday. Us Ducks started our morning off dancing with Bristol Buskin Frolic, which was fun. I believe we plan on repeating it this coming weekend.
We got a lot done this weekend, including getting our canvas over some of our workspace. We're really hoping the faire will give us a roof someday, but at least we got new canvas tarps for this year!

My weekend

My weekend was very, very fun. We arrived in Kenosha at about noon on Friday and went straight to the Dowell's house. It was pretty crazy in there, but the fun kind of crazy. The kids (Stefanie & Charlie have 3: William, Joshua, and Sherry) were noisily (but pleasantly) playing there video games, Stefanie was getting lunch ready and cleaning up, and Charlie was in some sort of meeting. After lunch Stefanie and I got ready to head to Milwaukee for the bead show.
We got there around 5, and we were astounded by the amounts of beads. It was an absolutely humongous room full of hundreds booths, full of beads. Plastic beads, shell beads, pearl beads, glass beads, wooden beads, shiny beads, dull beads, crackly beads, rock beads, gems, you name it and it was there. We decided to start at the back left and work our way forward. We stopped at some point to have dinner, which was good. There was someone else sitting at our table. She introduced herself as Caroline. We complimented some of her jewelry and she told it that she bought the pack of pendants for about $260. We only talked with Caroline for a few minutes, but she managed to fit in a lot about herself in those 10ish minutes!
After dinner we continued on our way, and we found some fantastic deals! We found these crazy colored pearls (various shapes; not all round) and we had to get some. They were amazing! We joked about buying the strand of crazy colored skulls to go with them, but we never actually did.
We kept seeing aquamarine, which is sooo pretty, but all strands were priced well over $200, so we weren't expecting to get any. However, Stefanie found a strand of faceted aquamarine at one of the last booths we went to, and she asked the man in charge how much they were (not expecting to buy them), he answered that they were $25, which absolutely stunned Stefanie and I. She had to restrain herself from buying all five strands that were there!
I checked my phone at one point to see the time, and it was 7:20. The bead show was going to end at 8:00, and we had things we knew we wanted to buy that were clear at the other side of the room, so we spent the rest of our time making a mad dash to find everything we wanted (and more!). It was really, really great. We got so many beads, and for such good prices! Next year we want to take some classes during the week and then go to the bead show earlier in the day to get more shopping done. Stefanie is hoping that we can make lots of jewelry and Beadmarks together and sell them at a Christmas show she hopes to do, and she also has an Etsy website that we want to get up and running. We just need to create some inventory and take some pictures!
While the two of us were at the bead show, my Mom and brothers went to Bristol to try to do a little clean up from the rain last weekend, and then they went to Goodwill, and after that they found Lake Michigan.

The rest of the weekend was mostly at Bristol. We stayed at Stefanie's Friday and Saturday night to avoid the rain (it was pretty rainy again, and we still needed to clean up our tent from last week, so it was easier to stay elsewhere), and had BAPA classes on Saturday ( I took two electives: Gypsies, Tramps and Theives & Improv, Improv, Iprov) and rehearsals on Sunday.

So, it was a really fun weekend! I'm already looking forward to a similar one next year.

A Hole in the Ocean

A friend of ours co-wrote a song with his friend, Steve Bartlett, about the oil spill. It's called "A Hole in the Ocean" and you can watch it here, or here.

Beads, Bristol, and fun!

It's Friday, which means it's once again time to leave for Bristol!
However, we are leaving earlier than usual this weekend. Stefanie Dowell is taking me to a bead show for an early birthday present, so she wants to leave from her house by about 11.
It's supposed to be raining at Bristol again (I really wish I'd been able to buy rainboots this week!), so we'll just stay at Stefanie's house on Friday and Saturday night so that we can stay dry.
I have a few electives to take this weekend (yay!) , so I'm excited for those.
I think I'm going to start carrying some of my sewing around with me with a needle and thread. Hand sewing may not be very fast, but if I can work on it for an hour when a sewing machine isn't available then it's farther along than I would have been otherwise!

I'm hoping there's less mosquitoes this weekend. I had far too many bites last week. Oy.

Grr.

I get so mad at people who lie to you, try to trick you, and then act as if you're below them.
How dare they? How can they feel good about themselves, behaving like that? How can they be so blatant about it?
Nice, people. Real nice.

Mr. Turkey

Mr. Turkey is my defender.
He's a great turkey! If Russel tries to attack me Mr.Turkey has taken to chasing him around the yard and pecking him.
Russel wouldn't even attempt to chase me this morning because Mr. Turkey was standing right there, and if Russel even got close to me Mr. Turkey would puff up his feathers and start gobbling at Russel.

I can understand why Benjamin Franklin would have recommended a turkey for our national bird. Turkeys are brave and loyal, and once they're loyal to you they'll defend you! They also happen to have a red, white and blue head, although judging from the letter Ben Franklin wrote he wasn't really thinking about the color of a turkey's head.

"For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country...

I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Trained butterflies?

This weekend I was playing with Timothy after rehearsals. He wanted to play in the rows of seating at the Cheshire Chase stage, and he was holding his spoon (all Ducks have a spoon they decorate. The spoons are approximately 31" long) between the seats to pretend it was a gate. I was supposed to go up to the spoon and say "Here's money for today" and pretend to put money on the spoon. Timothy would then move the spoon so that I could walk through, then he'd run to the next benches to block me. Eventually he decided that I didn't need to give money to the spoons, but I'd have to repeat whatever password he told me.
My very favorite was when he made me say "I'm off to join the trained butterflies and the scarf made the spoon fly to the garbage can" (although he later changed it to "Sam's off to join...." and claimed it was based on the song lyrics "Sam's gone away to join the trained bands". I'm pretty sure it's "I'm", though, and not "Sam's").
It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about with the scarf making the spoon fly, but I eventually understood: He has a piece of woven trim tied around his spoon, and it looks like a mini scarf around the spoon. And apparently scarfs can fly....

After that game we were playing with his spoon pretending it was a gun (we were shooting holes in the clouds, I think). Timothy hung the spoon up and then suddenly said "You have to take the spoon and poke it in your eye and say "ow ow ow ow" until it stings". He then proceeded to demonstrate what he meant, and then told me to try. Although he told me I just had to shove the spoon into my glasses and not my eye.
I'm not really sure what that was supposed to accomplish, but it was still funny.

I'm so glad I get to play his nanny this summer! It's going to be an easy job, and he's so much fun!

**Note**
Contrary to what I previously said, Timothy was in fact correct, and the song goes "Sam's gone away....", not "I'm gone away...."

This Weekend

I'm excited-BAPA and rehearsals start this weekend!
I signed up for nine electives (I only have to take three), and I may sign up for a tenth. I'm just waiting to hear back from my director on something.
We'll be leaving tomorrow (about noon), and we'll be pitching our tent. Then classes are on Saturday and rehearsals on Sunday! I'm taking some of my sewing with so that I can ask for help on part of it (the Ducks rehearsals end at approximately 2:30-3:00 and we have sewing time after that until 5:00 PM).

Never mind....

Well, forget the last post. The sewing machine is being a pain now.

I have a sewing machine!

My cousin, Bonnie, (well, my first cousin once removed) heard of my many sewing machine failures and she told me she would keep an eye out for a good sewing machine for me. I wasn't expecting much out of it, so I was surprised when I received a message from her saying that her sister has multiple sewing machines and when she heard of my predicament she offered to give me one of her old machines! Bonnie told me it was a portable Singer. I wasn't thinking in terms of cabinet machines and portable tabletop machines, so I thought she meant the Singer Portable, which has very mixed reviews and I wasn't sure if it would suit my needs. However, she just meant portable as in not a cabinet machine, not specifically a Singer Portable. The machine she gave me is actually a Singer 3102 (with a case!), which I cannot find a picture of.
It's an older machine, but it runs very nicely. It only took me a few minutes to get the tension adjusted, and now it sews very smoothly. It only has a straight stitch and a few different widths of a zig zag stitch, but those are the only two I use anyway. It's pretty heavy, so that's a little inconvenient, but it seems like a strong machine that will be able to do what I need it to do.
So, so far it seems to be a really good machine. I'm going to hold on to my cousin Mary's machine for a little longer (in case this one has some problem I've not yet found), but so far it looks promising!

The Janesville Faire

This past weekend was the Janesville Renaissance Faire, so of course my family (minus my Dad) went up to Janesville.
Jeremy's garb was not finished: All I had done for him was his venetians, flat cap, and shirt. I need help fitting his doublet so he borrowed one from Steven this time.
The weather this year was much nicer than last year! It was warmer and less windy, making for a very pleasant weekend.
My position at the faire this year is the nanny for Timothy and Victoria (my director's children), which I think is going to work out extremely well because Timothy loves to be with me. He was taking me all over the faire, he wanted to see everything! I think his favorite place was the Complete Fool Shop, which has lots of toys out for patrons to play with. There was a hula hoop nearly as tall as me! I was actually able to hula hoop with it! It was surprisingly easy.
I was finally able to hold Victoria without her crying (the past several times I've tried to hold her it's only lasted for a couple minutes)! I held her for quite a while, too.
I was trying to get some buttons done for my new bodice, but I was busy and only managed to finish two buttons, and twice Timothy asked me "Will you make me a button?", so I ended up giving him both of the buttons. He tried making a couple, but his fingers aren't quite that coordinated yet. He had fun trying, though. He'll just have to keep practicing!

I think my sewing machine hates me.

Last year I was already planning my new garb and was going to have my new set done before the Janesville faire this year. When Jeremy joined the Duck I still planned on having my new set done for Janesville, and his set too. I had plenty of time and it would have been doable (I'm quite sure). But my sewing machine had to go and die for a while. After several weeks my Dad got the sewing machine working again, and I knew I didn't have time to finish my new garb for Janesville, but I was hoping to at least be able to finish Jeremy's garb (all he really needed was a doublet, shirt and hat. His venetians were done).
I started drafting and trying to fit his doublet the other day, but numerous problems arose. First, I decided I had no idea what I was doing and was running out of time to figure it out and I was getting rather frustrated. So, I set the doublet aside and decided to work on a shirt for him. I didn't get very far before my sewing machine died. Again. I fiddled with it for a while and thought I had it working, but the needle seems to be hitting something now. When I lower the needle by hand, using the wheel on the side, the needle goes up and down without hitting anything, but the whole bobbin case seems to be moving and making a loud "thunk" with each turn. I gave up and asked my cousin if I could borrow her sewing machine. It's very tiny, but I was hoping to at least finish a shirt with it. I brought the machine in and got it all ready, and I started sewing. The needle kept coming unthreaded, though. I tried tying the needle thread with the bobbin thread, but it still came unthreaded somehow. I tried holding the end of the thread, and I had about an inch of stitching done, so I let go of the thread. The needle came unthreaded. I don't understand how on earth it was happening! It was ridiculous. There wasn't a crack or a break in the needle. It's a complete mystery to me.
So, being very baffled and very frustrated I tried calling my Dad's cousin, Bonnie, to ask if she has a sewing machine I can borrow. She didn't, but she said she's going garage sale-ing soon and she'll keep an eye out for me.
I called my cousin (well, cousin-in-law) Mary next, and I was absolutely ecstatic when she said that yes, she does have a machine and she'll let me borrow it. She even offered to bring it over to me. I was so thankful! So, now I have a borrowed machine and can at least finish a shirt for each of us (Jeremy, Luke, and I) for Janesville. I don't know how long I can borrow the machine, though.

To think, all I have time to make now is a few shirts, when just a couple months ago I was supposed to have two entire sets of garb done by now!
What a shame.

Cinco De Mayo

I just remembered something amusing (at least to my family). When we lived in Texas we used to go to this really good Mexican restaurant (I can't spell the name of the restaurant). I remember one time Jeremy had walked to the restroom, and on his way back one of the waiters told him "It's Cinco De Mayo!". Jeremy had no idea what the man had said, so he just replied "Really? That's really great!". When he got back to our table he told us about the encounter and asked my parents what Cinco De Mayo is. They decided to have some fun with him and told him it was Spanish for something like "The world's ending!". So, the waiter had just told Jeremy the world was ending and Jeremy responded about how great that is. He, of course, knew that wasn't what the waiter had said, but he was kind of nervous about his response until my parents told him what it actually was.
I think he's careful about how he responds to things said in different languages now.

Blargh

Well, blargh (saying that word makes me sound like Jeremy...). The pattern for Jeremy's doublet is too small. However, it shouldn't be too difficult to change now. I just wish the first one had fit. Oh well.
I'm off to copy and enlarge the sleeve pattern!

Jeremy's doublet

I drafted and cut out the pattern for Jeremy's doublet yesterday afternoon. I started at a little after 3:00 and worked on it until about 6:30. The drafting part isn't particularly fun....
I look forward to cutting it out in spare fabric and making sure it fits(It better! I don't want to have to make any changes), and then finally actually cutting it out in the wool and sewing it! After his doublet I have to make him a shirt and a flat cap. I'd like to make a new smock for myself for Janesville, but it depends on how much time I have once Jeremy's garb is done.

Prom

As my previous post stated, we (my Mom, Jeremy and I) went up to Wisconsin over the weekend for Lizzy's prom.
We had a lot of fun! Well, I don't think the entire weekend was fun for Jeremy. It wasn't really fun for him on Friday when Lizzy and I were figuring out what to do with our hair for the next day. He didn't enjoy that. And he was pretty bored the next day when our mom's were doing our hair for real (we had only sort of done it the previous day: Just enough to see that it would work). Oh, and as I was getting ready for the prom I managed to run into a door or wall and bruise my shoulder. Brilliant!
But once we were all dressed up and got to Sammy J's (One of Lizzy's friends from her friend group affectionately known as "The Amoeba") for dinner we were all having fun. We went out in the backyard and Chris Muetz took pictures of everyone, then we headed back in for dinner. The entire party consisted of 9 girls and 4 boys.
After dinner we all headed over to the prom (where we had to take a breathalyzer test. Although the guy said it wasn't really a breathalyzer and told me what it was called, but I have forgotten). We didn't really do much, some of the group danced (well, I think everyone danced at one point. Mindi and Sammy (who is a girl) both danced with me. Mindi likes to spin people, which was fun!), and we made giant human knots which was really fun, although difficult to solve when you're wearing dresses and heels.
Once we got back home from the prom (a little after 11, I believe), we all headed down to the basement. We all talked for a while and then someone turned on the 5th Harry Potter movie. After that some of the group left to go home, but most everyone stayed overnight to have breakfast in the morning.
I think I went to bed at a little after 3. I don't know what time the Amoeba went to bed because they had all gone upstairs.
So, after being up so late no one woke up very early (everyone woke up after 9), but once we did my Mom made biscuits and gravy for everyone.

So, it was a very fun weekend and we were glad we could go!

To Wisconsin (again)!

My Mom, Jeremy and I are just about ready to head up North. We're going to Janesville (it seems like we've been there a LOT lately). Lizzy (my faux-sister) invited Jeremy and I to go to her prom with her, so that's what we're doing. The prom is tomorrow night, but we're heading up today, and we'll come home the day after the prom, so on Sunday.

Yay!

Yay! My bedroom is actually clean. Well, at least mostly. I still need to put away some things that are on my desk and dresser, and I should dust too. But really for the most part it's clean!
Now, I wonder how long I can make it last this time? I'm determined to make it last for as long as possible!

Silly dog...

Why do dogs have to be so silly? This morning Cuddles thought it would be a brilliant plan to rub her face all over the backyard. She came in dirty and smelly and I had to give her a bath. Normally I feel bad when a dog needs a bath, but this time I couldn't really feel too bad for her because it was her fault. Rubbing your face all over the ground is not an intelligent decision. Now she's upset because she can't have her collar on. I washed it and put it on the clothes line to dry, and she was chasing me and jumping up against me trying to get her collar back. She's now trying to make me go outside with her to go and get it. She's really not happy about this.
Silly puppy.

Song of the Day:

I heard this on the radio the other day and I really liked it. It's Called "Beautiful, Beautiful" by Francesca Battistelli.

My Dress

I finally have a picture of the dress I made:


From McCall's pattern M5619

Reading

I finally finished "Pride and Prejudice" (I finished it two days ago, actually). I'd been working on it on and off since last summer (weird, since I normally read much, much faster), but I decided it was time to finish it. I really enjoyed it. I wish I'd finished it sooner, but better late than never!
My next books include (as seen on right side of the screen, which, by the way, you can click on to see information on the books): Jane Eyre (started today), Volume 1 of my Harvard Classics set. It contains works of Benjamin Franklin, John Woolman, and William Penn. I'm currently reading the first section-"His Autobiography" by Benjamin Franklin. I'm also reading "Sister Freaks-Stories of Women Who Gave Up Everything For God". It's a 12 week book, with five readings per week. I've been reading several a day, though. Some of the stories are very good, but a few don't seem to fit with the title (Women Who Gave Up Everything For God). It's a decent book, but I find it somewhat mediocre. I much preferred "Jesus Freaks", which I read several weeks ago.

Nearly Finished...

So, the dress I started several weeks ago is finally nearing completion! I was unable to work on it for a while due to my many broken sewing machines. Yeah, I have three sewing machines in this house, and not one works. We have two others in storage (and old fashioned Singer treadle machine and another old Singer, but not a treadle), but I can't get to them and don't know if they'll work. So, I just finally got the dress (almost) finished on our last Janesville trip. I thought it was finished at one point, but it ended up being much too big. I had to take an inch in on either side in the back and shorten the elastic in the front. I still could have taken it in even more, but once I have the ribbon belt on I think it will be fine. I still have to take the elastic in the front in a little more, and I need to fix a spot where the hem didn't catch, but it's that close to being done! I'll try to get pictures soon.

Update that I'm feeling too uncreative to name.

Our trip to Janesville was very enjoyable. We had bunches of fun and saw some of our favoritest peoples.
I brought my sewing with and got a good amount done. Jeremy's venetians for faire are done, and I'm so close to finishing my one of my dresses. I left in Janesville for now, seeing that I can't sew at home until I get my sewing machine fixed. But we'll be back in Janesville early on next week for Spring break.

Lizzy (my faux-sister) and I decided it would be awesome to make matching dresses. For some reason people always mix us up (we don't look alike at all!), so figured we'd confuse them even more. We had a 40% off coupon for Joanns, so we picked out some bright summery fabric for our dresses. It's a fabric that's smocked at the top, so we call it "Instant dress: just add seam" fabric. We just have to add the seam down the back, attach straps, and possibly hem it. The bottom of the fabric is the selvage, so it wouldn't have to be hemmed, but I probably will anyway.

Lizzy, Jeremy, and I are thinking about going to the theater to see the new Alice in Wonderland next week, but we haven't decided yet.
I'm sure we'll also be filming some Billy Smith videos, and going to the park, and taking walks, and going for ice cream, and just having an all around great time.
I can barely wait! I love Janesville!

But now, back in Illinois (or Crazyville, as I like to call it), I've been working on schoolwork and playing around outside to enjoy the nice weather. I actually hung out laundry today, which was nice. And I was able to wear a dress yesterday and a skirt, short-sleeve shirt, and flip flops today. I love 70 degree weather!

To Wisconsin!

We're (as my Dad, brothers, and me: My Mom is staying home this time) heading up North today: Up to Janesville, probably until Tuesday or Wednesday. It will, of course, be fun. Going to Wisconsin (and especially Janesville) always is.
My Dad is helping the Muetzes with some handy work, I don't know what all he's doing, but I do know he'll be helping trim some trees!
I'm taking some of my sewing with in hopes that I can get some of it done. I have no idea how likely it is that I will, but I'll have it just in case!


Well, I better go pack!

Chicken Smuggling

Tonight, during dinner, Jeremy and Luke decided to discuss if I would ever break a law or not, and if so, what would it be?
They decided there were two possibilities, unfortunately I can't remember the second one, but the other one was funnier anyway.

Apparently, if I ever broke a law, it would be because I would be smuggling chickens into a city apartment.
Luke says I would put them in a box when I move in, and if they started squawking I would tell the landlord that it was really my dog barking.

Turkey Love

This is actually from a few weeks ago, but I just remembered it and thought I would share.

Luke and my Dad were outside by the chicken/turkey yard when someone drove past and yelled "I love you turkey!".
Isn't that funny? Some guy just drives by and randomly talks to our turkey. I find it awfully amusing!

Creative Spelling?

So, I just read where someone spelled "appreciate" as "apreshyate". I've never seen such a horrendously botched up spelling of that word. That's pretty special.
Note: This is not the same person as in my previous post. This person isn't even a homeschooled student: She goes to a public school. Therefore this rant is in no way related to the previous one. That being said, I feel the need to also mention that I am not picking on public schoolers, just this one particular person's creative way of spelling things.

Embarrassing Homeschoolers

Homeschooling, while good, is not for everyone. It's been an excellent choice for us, but there are certainly some people that should not homeschool. I know of people who are homeschooling, want to homeschool, or have homeschooled, and I firmly believe that they should not be/have been homeschooled.
There's some homeschooled students that are just down right embarrassing to the rest of us homeschoolers.
There's a girl on my Facebook, she's a little younger than me: 15, I believe. And she is an embarrassment to homeschooling. First of all, she can't capitalize, spell, use punctuation or grammar, make a coherent sentence or make a logical argument. I like her, she's very sweet, but she is definitely one homeschooler who gives others a bad name. I cringe to read what she writes.
Today she was posting about the health care bill. I know she doesn't know anything about it, and I know I don't know anything about it, but at least I have the sense to not go around arguing about it. I think people look a whole smarter if they only stick to arguing subjects that they are knowledgeable in. Talk about something you're clueless about and you're going to look awfully silly.
Today this girl was talking about what an outrage the health care bill is and she was saying we ought to start another civil war over it. She went on to say that the bill is breaking her heart, and she thinks Christ needs to hurry up and come back because she doesn't think Christians should have to suffer so much. Really? I think she needs to pick up a copy of Foxes Book of Martyrs.

Why, oh why do those homeschoolers not see they're giving the rest a bad name? And why do people have to meet with just one homeschooler like that and then decide the rest must be that way too?
As Jeremy would say: Blargh.

So Annoying!

You know what really, really annoys me?
People (mostly middle/high school girls) who add extra letters into whatever they're writing!
A girl on my friends list on Facebook ALWAYS does this. She writes "good" as "goooood" or "bed" as "Beddd", and "text" always has at least tree Xs in it, so "texxxt". It's so obnoxious!
I understand the occasional typo, I'm sure I have plenty of typos. But to consistently add extra letters? It's senseless. It certainly doesn't make them look any smarter or cooler, so what's the deal? Why would you do that?
It's definitely one of my pet peeves.

Spring

Here it is, the first day of Spring. You know what the weather's like right now? It's cold, about 35, and snowing!
The past few days have been absolutely amazingly awesome (Oh look, alliteration!) weather-wise. In the 60s and sunny. My Aunt Kathy says it got up to 70 yesterday! the highest I saw the thermometer at was 66, but I would totally be up was up to 70.
And now, the first day of Spring has to come and tease us by being cold and snowy. It's as if it wants to remind us that Spring can still have snow storms.
Thanks Spring, but I don't need your reminder.
*sigh*
And the highest temperature I see for the rest of this week is 51. What a shame.

Countries of the World

How many world countries can you name? I can name 114 out of 195. I'm hoping to improve using Sporcle's "Can you name the Countries of the World?".
If anyone cares which I can name (and spell! Jeez, some of those are difficult!)...

Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Canada
Cape Verde
Cen. Afr. Rep.
Chad
China
Comoros
Dem. Rep. of the Congo
Rep of the Congo
Costa Rica
Cyprus
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
North Korea
South Korea
Kosovo
Laos
Lesotho
Lithuania
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
St. Vincent-Grenadines
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vatican City
Vietnam
Zambia
Zimbabwe

It's a Beautiful Day!

Today is such a nice day! It's currently 66. We have all of our windows and our back door open. The dogs love when the back door is open, they can just go in and out as they please.
And it's nice to air out the house. Houses get a stale smell when windows are closed for months. It's so nice to have had them open all day so far!
I should have hung some laundry out on the clothes line. I love how fresh laundry smells that way!
Ah well, maybe another day. Certainly not tomorrow: the high is in the low to mid 40s with a chance of snow. Lovely.
It's kind of sad to have a dreary day coming up tomorrow, but at least we have something to look forward to: Emily Nee from Bristol is coming to have us go through some of her unwanted fabric. She has some prints and things that might be good for some of the dresses I plan to make, and she says she has some wool too. I'm very excited to look through it all! I'll have to bake her something as a thank you.

Days are too short...

I decided that days are much too short. I can never get everything done that I want to get done.
I just found a link for a thing where you can type in how many hours you spend on things, and it tells you how much of your day you're using. If I did everything I wanted to do in a day (including sleeping) I'd have -12 hours left in each day. Therefore, I think we should add 12 hours to each day: We should have 36 hour days.

There's No Such Thing as Too Many Books

I don't think a person can have too many books; not in the way you can watch too many TV shows or eat too much junk food or have too many clothes or anything like that.
You can't read too much (well, you can read too much when you're supposed to be doing something else, but in your lifetime you'll never finish everything you think worth reading), so you can't have too many books (so long as they're educational or have some value to you). But you can have too many books to fit in your designated book space. So, it's not too many books if it's worth it to you; it's just too many to fit in that area.
I seem to be running out of book space. I was trying to put away a box of books from the book swap that I was at a few weekends ago, but my shelves are filled to capacity. Oy.
I don't have too many books; just a lack of space.
I think I need to put some into storage....

Chocolate Custard Meringue Pie

I realized that today is Pi Day (3.14-March 14) and I should have made a Pi Pie.
I saw this pie last year, and wanted to make something similar.
Unfortunately, I forgot all about Pi Day until I saw someone post on Facebook about how they had forgotten to make a Pi Pie.
I realized that I had too, but there was still time to make some sort of pie, just not a Pi Pie (I didn't have the right stuff). So, I combined a couple of recipes and came up with this pie (Jeremy and Luke loved it)

For the crust you'll have to bake chocolate cookies:
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 TSP vanilla
2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 TSP baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl beat together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into butter mix.
(At this point you can add 2 cups of chocolate chips if you want cookies: omit the chips for a pie crust). Put cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 12 minutes (for just cookies, 8-10 minutes. Pie crust needs longer).

Once you have cookies, crush them until you have 2 cups worth of crumbs. Melt 7 TBS butter and stir into the crumbs. Press the crumbs into a pie plate and chill.

For the custard:
1 cup sugar
2 TBS coca
2 TBS flour
pinch of salt
2 eggs separated
1 cup milk
1 TBS butter
1 TSP vanilla

In a large saucepan combine sugar, cocoa, flour, and salt. Mix well. Stir in egg yolks and milk, whisk all ingredients, cook over medium heat until the mix forms a pudding consistency. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Pour into pie crust.

For the meringue, whisk 2 egg whites until foamy. Slowly add in 1/4 cup white sugar. Beat until white forms stiff peaks, spread over custard, and bake at 400 for 5-6 minutes.

This pie can be served warm or chilled.
It's really yummy!

More About Sewing...What a Surprise!

I didn't expect to be able to go to Hobby Lobby until next Thursday, but my Dad kindly offered to take me today! I bought the fabric that I needed, and I also picked up some embroidery floss. I'm going to teach Jeremy how to make his own buttons and eyelets for his garb.
The fabric for my dress is currently in the washer. My Mom is sewing right now, so the table is unavailable, but once it is I may cut out the fabric for my bodice. Or, I might start on Jeremy's garb. I'll cut out a mock-up in a cheaper cotton before cutting into the wool, but if it ends up fitting well I'll go ahead and finish the mock-up and then Jeremy will have two sets of garb.
Unfortunately, before I can cut out my bodice or any of his garb, I have to draft the patterns. Before I can draft the pattern I have to take a piece of poster board (one of my Dad's customers was throwing away a LOT of white poster board, and it was in perfect condition! But my Dad asked if he could have it) and make drafting paper. This involves using a yard stick and drawing 1" grid. It's very tedious, I really hate doing it, but I also hate paying $25 for 100 pieces of drafting paper.
I may get Jeremy to draw out some of the drafting paper...

Tea

We have sooo much tea! Way too much tea. No one is ever going to drink that much tea; it's insane!
There's a few teas that I drink regularly (English tea, chai tea, constant comment, etc), but we have so many others! We have things like: Raspberry Gardens, True Blueberry, Mandarin Orange Spice, Pumpkin Spice, Country Peach Passion, Vanilla Caramel, Nutcracker Suite (which was a holiday special and was actually pretty good), and so many more. I really don't care much for the fruity teas. I like good tea-ish tea, like English tea. The fruit flavored teas can be okay once in a while, but not often. So, I've made it my goal to drink some of our excess tea before I buy more of my regular tea. I've had one cup of tea each day so far, for about 4ish days. If I decide a tea is completely awful I'll just throw it away, but even so it will take a while to visibly shrink our over-abundant supply of tea.

So...does anyone want to come drink tea?

Weather

I'm so glad the weather has warmed up. It may have been cloudy and rainy the past two days, but at least the temperature is warmer; it's so nice not having to wear a coat! And the chickens have been very happy, too. Each time I go out I see them having a blast in their yard. A lot of the grass is surprisingly green already, so the chickies enjoy that and it saves us money on chicken food.
For the past week, every morning I've gone out, there's been a little frog (sometimes lots of little frogs) who jumps in the little pool in the chicken yard. And I saw fish in it this morning! I doubt they were there all Winter; my Aunt must have bought them yesterday.
Right now it's about 48 out, with a high of 52. I can't wait until the weather is in the 60s and sunny; I'll be able to open my window! And even hang some laundry outside to dry. I love the way laundry smells when it can dry outdoors! It's so pleasant.

Jeremy is Amazing!

Jeremy just completely amazed me.
He wants two sets of garb, and he would even be willing to learn to sew so that he could make a set himself!
It's simply astounding.

Oops!

So, I accidentally (actually, saying accidentally is fairly pointless; it isn't as if I would have done this on purpose) messed up on the dress I'm working on (the pattern I bought yesterday; there's a picture in the previous post). I failed to notice where the pattern instructions said it was only for dress A, and I'm making dress B. So, I was able to salvage some piece, but I'll need to get a little more fabric. I could have gone ahead and made dress A, but I really didn't want the sleeveless dress. I like the dress with the short sleeves so much more than the dress with straps. I might make the dress with straps some other time, but I really, really wanted this fabric for the one with short sleeves. I probably won't be able to go back to Bourbonnais and Hobby Lobby until Thursday, though. So until then dress making is done.
I did, however, manage to finish cartridge pleating my garb skirt, and I even got it sewn to the waistband. My fingers currently feel like pin cushions, but it was worth it. Now I just need to hem the skirt, but I'm going to wait on that for a little while; I have to decide what I'll be wearing under the skirt before hemming it.
Since I don't have a dress to work on anymore, I'll go ahead and start on my bodice. I'll draft the pattern and get it cut out tomorrow. It's getting to late to start that tonight.

Yard Mart

My uncle's church has an annual sale that they call "Yard Mart". It's normally a really good sale. It lasts 3 days (but you want to get there early on the first day if you want anything worthwhile), and has amazing prices. Last year I got a brand new Christopher & Banks skirt for 50 cents (normally $50), and brand new $99 boots for $1.00, and many other great deals. Jeremy got a suit for $2 (it's the suit he wears for his Billy Smith videos), we got some books, baking dishes, LOTS of stuff, and only spent $15. I was really looking forward to it this year, but it was terrible . Besides not having much stuff, lots of things were way over-priced. And my Mom and I got totally beat up there! I was looking through the clothes rack and people were shoving me out of the way and grabbing things out of my hand. People were ramming into people, some old man bumped into my Mom and turned around and said "Well I hate you too!". Isn't that crazy? And I saw some lady throw a doll at another lady's head. Seriously! I don't think the lady meant to throw the doll at her head, but why was she throwing a doll in such an incredibly crowded place? Dumb plan!
The only thing I found was a corduroy skirt and a recipe book. My Mom found a Saxon physics curriculum. Luke might use it, or we might sell it. She also found a couple other little things, but it really wasn't worth it. We left very disappointed.

After Yard Mart we went to Joanns, where we had terrible service. I wanted to get fabric swatches to send to a friend for her approval (she wants me to make her garb this year), and when I asked for them the lady working there told me that she could only give me a 2" swatch and that it would cost. I asked her how much it would be, but she wouldn't answer me. She wouldn't even check to see how much it would cost! So I went and got my Mom and she came over (which made the employee roll her eyes at me; how rude!) and asked for the price. The lady made a big production about having to check the prices. It ended up being 6 cents a swatch. Why couldn't she have told me that it would be under a quarter? I was concerned that they would want to charge for the smallest amount of fabric they normally cut (1/8 yards). She just didn't want to work with me because I'm not an adult. I can't stand people like that. Seriously, it's dumb. What's the person's problem? They'd save time by dealing with the kid rather than refusing to help them and waiting until a parent comes. It's so annoying.
I think I quit with Joanns; I get terrible service whenever I go there!
I'll be going to Hobby Lobby from now on. In fact, I'll be going to Hobby Lobby's website soon to sign up for their coupons.

We did go to Hobby Lobby today, after I got disgusted with Joanns, and I found another really cute pattern and fabric to go with it.
I think I'm becoming addicted to patterns and fabrics and sewing...

I like the dress in the main picture.