"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...