hola, folks!

Hello. I just noticed that it had been a few days since I last posted, so I decided to post again. :D

Today, Sis and I are going to the mall with Short Stuff, J. Shrimp, and KK. Mom and Dad are in IA, sorting stuff out about our other house. The people living there now are moving out on Sunday, so we have to go down Sunday afternoon/Monday morning to clean the house before it's put back on the market. *sigh* I don't like cleaning house after us, much less people I don't even know! I hope they leave it neat.

Saturday's wedding was pretty. The bride & bridesmaids had pretty dresses....You know how some bridesmaid's dresses couldn't be worn anywhere else, no matter how much people say "oh, you could wear that many other places"? These you could wear to church. They were nice, but not terribly fancy.

They didn't decorate the church much, just some flowers around the candles and on the reserved front rows. Julie's colors were blue and yellow. My friend Short Stuff made the cake. I hope she puts up a picture of it! We didn't get to go to the reception, so I didn't get to see it. :(

Our neighbors invited us over to a cookout in their front yard. It's the thought that counts. It was very nice of them to invite us, but it was so.....boring....! Everyone there was 40 or so, and they all knew each other, but we didn't. Most of the half hour spent there was listening to other's conversations. I wish I could have gone to the reception instead. There was food and cake and dancing, and even a double rainbow! *doublesigh*

On Sunday we had Kris and her sister over for lunch and volleyball. It was impromptu, which made it all the more fun!

Volleyball was okay, but I'm never going 3 weeks without playing volleyball again! I wasn't at my best. And then we had extra players, so we rotated into the serving spot. That doesn't work for me. I can't just leave the game, then come back 5-10 minutes later and serve well.

By the way, does anyone know a polite way to say "Andy (or fill in any name) that was my ball! Go play in your own 'zone' and let me play in mine!"? Because saying it that way sounds mean, but sometimes it needs to be said!

Yesterday I hung around for a while, then Sis and I went to the church ballgame. 'We' won two out of three games! I wish I was good at baseball, but I hate batting. I'm not good enough to hit consistently, and I feel silly standing there, striking out! My catching isn't too bad, and I love running. Need to work on my aim some. I think I'll just stick to volleyball.

'Twas mildly annoying. I sat between a girl named Kelsey and a boy, Evan, during one of the games. There was one conversation 'loop' going on from Kelsey on down the bleachers away from me, and another 'loop' starting with Evan and headed away. So I was kind of stuck between two 'loops.' It wasn't all bad, I guess, but sometimes when I came in at the end of an interesting-sounding conversation, or I couldn't really break into a conversation....

Okay, I'll leave you with a few pictures:

That's the oil painting I did a month or two ago.

Here are the outside and inside of my latest card, the one I was talking about in my last post.

Front:

Inside:
(I know it's sloping downhill here, but in the actual card it is straightened and done in 'stairstep' style.)

Last, but not least, is the painting I did for the Downhere tee-shirt contest. I ended up not actually getting to put it on a tee shirt because of lack of time. Instead, I just did the postcard entry, with that on the postcard. Across the sun is supposed to be "Hope is Rising," but I didn't put it straight onto the painting. I just added it digitally.

Oh, I almost forgot.
I'm thinking of doing the "Feeling Feminine Challenge" next week, just for the fun of it. I don't think that skirts are always more modest than pants (it all depends on the skirt or pair of pants itself and where you're wearing it to), but I have noticed how I act differently (different?) when wearing a skirt. I will wear pants for volleyball, though, because in my opinion they're more practical. Would anyone care to join me? We can blog about it together, and post pictures!

Maybe some of the girls who live nearby? *coughShortStuffJShrimpKKLadyFlorimelcough* :D

So, that's what I'm up to. :) What about you-all? What are you doing? Does anyone have an answer to my volleyball-related question?

See ya!

~Kiwi~

paintings

Here's a quick picture of my latest painting project:

In Victorian times, different flowers had different meanings. The pink rose, for example, meant "friendship," while the Pansy meant "loving thoughts." Here I sketched out a zinnia, then filled it in with color. The zinnia means "thoughts of friends," and (hopefully) will be in my next card!
~Kiwi~

(to view it better, click it.)

We’re going to a friend’s wedding this Saturday. I like weddings. I like the dresses and the flowers…. I’m such a girly-girl sometimes! Nothing wrong with that.What I want to know is: can I talk mom into getting me a new outfit for the wedding? Not necessarily a whole, brand-new outfit, but something new! Mom bought a brand-new outfit for my cousin’s wedding two (?) years ago.
I have this skirt in my closet that I’ve never worn because we haven’t found a shirt to go with it. It’s black with purple-blue-gray flowers on it. But this exact shade of purple-blue-gray is hard to match exactly. I want to stop by Goodwill to try to find a top. Black would work. White would work. That purple-blue-gray would work. The problem is getting to the store! If I could just find what I want, I’d wear it.
Sometimes Mom, Rapunzel, and I watch “Who’s Wedding is it Anyway?” The show’s about wedding planners planning someone’s wedding. There are a few objectionable things here and there. The type of ‘wedding’ they’re planning sometimes, or there’s one male planner who, frankly, weirds me out. Not just the fact that he’s a guy helping them pick out dresses, but HE HIMSELF is creepy.
ANYway, most of the time it’s fun to watch. One lady had a black and white wedding. I didn’t like the black bridesmaids dresses, but on the wedding dress was black embroidery, which was very pretty. I don’t know how to describe it other than that. These two are somewhat close: THIS ONE and THIS ONE I don’t think I’ll put black on my dress, but a contrasting color would look good.
Then, today I was cutting some of our peonies, and thought those would be pretty wedding flowers.
I wonder will I know at least some of what I want for my wedding before I start actually planning for it? Thankfully I have a long time before any decisions need to be made!!
In the meantime the question is whether or not I can get that new outfit?
~Kiwi~

Shhhhh! Don't let her hear you! Okay, on the count of 3: one....twoooo.....three "SUPRISE, KRISTOWAN!"

Hola, Kristen!! Happy Birthday!!! You (finally) get your wish of being basically as old as I am. ;D (I know you've been unhappy about our 2 1/2 month age difference.:)
What is a Birthday without cake??



How's this one?
And how about a Secret Present?

Rats! I can't find you a good secret present picture. You'll have to imagine. Close your eyes. Think of a gift bag that says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on it. Stuffed full of Secret Present and pretty tissue paper. And ribbons trailing down one side, and a tag saying "To Kristen." There is your Secret Present. :D :D W
Official Birthday Acrostic:

Kristen.....
Right there when you need her.....
I'm glad for her friendship....
She's seventeen now.....
This author is uninspired,
Even though she is usually good at this.
Newsboys are one of Kristen's top bands.

Totally lame. Would anyone care to help me with the "T" and "E" lines? (and every other line?) I couldn't come up with any words that would fit there, except what I have in! I owe you a new poem, once my brain is up and running...
Oh, bother.
This birthday post isn't as interesting as any of the others I've done. I'm sorry, Owan!! I'll owe you a better one.
Official Excuse: I was awake until nearly 11:30 last night, and then the stupid tornado siren went off (at the horrid hour of 1:00 a.m.) and we had to troop down to the stupid basement and sit there for a few minutes while we waited for Dad to say it was okay. And THEN it was still windy and rainy and stuffy in my room, and there was lightning and thunder and I didn't sleep again until past 2:30. And I had to get up at 6:00. So I apologize incredibly profusely, and beg your forgiveness. *is down on her knees*
I SHALL give you a better birthday post again soon, but I wanted to do at least this much for you now, so you don't think I've forgotten your birthday!

Love ya and can't wait to see you again! Get better quickly!
See y'all later,

~Kiwi~

p.s. there's another new post under this one....haven't posted twice in one day in a long time!

Family Reunion, part 1.

We have a family reunion in Iowa this Saturday. I sure hope there’s good weather for it! The main event will be at a park. We’re taking our portable volleyball net, and a volleyball. (Yay! We’re finally getting our own volleyball! Now I won’t have to keep borrowing Short Stuff’s.) Perhaps roller blades shall accompany Rapunzel and me.
I’ll finally get to meet some baby second cousins! That will keep us occupied, I hope.
I wonder if *coughcough* the cousin closest to me in age *cough* will be there? If she isn’t, I won’t hold it against her, but it would be nice to know… *cough* Perchance she could bring some pictures from her wedding? She was going to show them to us a few months ago, but forgot them.

I wish we had known that we wouldn’t get to go on vacation a few weeks back. Then, Dad could have taken this week off, and we could have gone down and visited Dagmar and Matt’s family. *sigh* I wish I could see the future sometimes.
Love y’all!
~Kiwi~

The Other Day...

The other day, I figured out that if I found a job that pays minimum wage (just over $7/hour), and that job gave me 3 hours, 5 days a week, I would make $100 every week, minus $10 tithe. $90 a week times 4 weeks is $360 dollars per month. Times 12 months in a year equals $4,320 each year. I know that's not much to all of you who make more than that, but someone like me, who only gets $5 per week, I'd say that $4,000 is a bit more.
Any guesses as to what I'd do with the first $200 I earn? (Just for the sake of fun, let's say that I'm going to use that two-hundred right away, shall we?) One of those small laptops they show in the commercials. Yeah, it's smallish, but it'd be mine. No more "get off, it's my turn," no more "but you need to get off because I have schoolwork..." More blogging, more chatting with friends, more emails.....ahhhhhh.
If only I could find that job.....
~Miss Moneybags~

P.S. Since I forgot/didn't have time/didn't have space for the 100th Post Party in my last post...















PARTAY!!!!!
CAKE!!!
LOUD MUSIC, DANCING, AND FESTIVITIES!!
Don't worry about the mess, invite some of your friends over! We've got room for them all!

Dance like no one is looking, sing like no one can hear...wherever Kiwi goes, that's where the party's at!

No awards yet, but they will be arriving shortly!

Oh, and my blog's first birthday was on the 10th. I can't believe I forgot to mention it! So, you know what we need to do now, don't you? Of course you do!
DOUBLE PARTAY!!!!!!!!!
MORE CAKE AND FESTIVITIES AND DANCING AND ALL THAT FUN STUFF!
Alright!
~Kiwi da Partayer~

100th post!!!!!!!!

On a blogger's 100th post, it is customary to post 100 random things about yourself. Here's my 100 things. I hope you don't get too bored!

1. I know and can sing many many songs. Most of the songs played on Air1 and K-love in 2008 I know by heart.
2. I love to read. (P.G. Wodehouse, Shannon Hale, Christopher Paolini…)
3. I have been home schooled since birth.
4. I’m going to graduate in ’010!
5. I am hopelessly addicted to blogging.
6. As I write this, I’m listening to “Protest to Praise” by Downhere.
7. I simply adore biking.
8. I’m contemplating getting a bug-shield for my bike.
9. I nearly had a bike crash earlier today.
10. One of my favorite hobbies is painting.
11. My “Old Movie Blog” is fun to do research for!
12. I have met 15 famous people: Daniel Kirkley, Jason Gray, Jason Germain, Marc Martel, Glenn Lavender, Jaime Jamgochian, Lanae Hale. Brian, ’Nirva, Gabe, and Tedde from the Diverse City Band, and Hawk Nelson.
13. Concerts are great fun to attend!
14. But I’ve only been to three: Newsboys, Bethlehem Skyline Tour concert, Winter Jam ’09.
15. I don’t have a boyfriend, and don’t really see a need for one right now.
16. I really need to build up my “Artiste’s imagination”
17. No, I don’t have Facebook, Myspace or Twitter.
18. I should be doing chemistry right now.
19. I love to run, but I haven’t got any endurance.
20. My name doesn’t actually have a ‘k’ or ‘w’ in it.
21. “Rockstars need money,” and so do I.
22. I really really really want to see Paul Colman in July!!
23. I have one of the starring roles in The Play.
24. I used to sleepwalk on occasion. Who knows if I still do so…
25. I have two brothers and one sister.
26. I know at least the choruses to 80+ Newsboys songs. By heart.
27. I was ecstatic to get a letter from my friend the other day. AND it had a picture of her in it!!
28. Writing 100 Random Things about me is harder than I originally thought!
29. Sometimes I (randomly) burst into a (random) song.
30. I used to have a sheep that I showed at the fair. Her name was Mandy, and then she had a lamb named Freddy. I still have a 3rd place ribbon that Freddy won…
31. I was in 4-H once, but didn’t like it.
32. My sister and I are NOT twins!!
33. I like having my nails brightly painted.
34. I recently memorized the first stanza of “What is so Rare as a Day in June?” by James Russell Lowell.
35. I prefer geometry to chemistry.
36. I am quickly running out of things to say.
37. I really really really want to enter Downhere’s tee-shirt contest!!! Really!
38. I don’t get to wear pj’s to school. Horrible, isn’t it? :-P
39. I have a stuffed turtle.
40. Flip-flops rate higher with me than tennis shoes.
41. I have never broken a bone. (Of my own, that is…)
42. Volleyball is amazingly fun!
43. I do a lot of diving in volleyball.
44. I have 6 cds: the Newsboys’ GO, Thrive, In The Hands of God and the ITHOG EP. Michael W. Smith’s Live the Life, and Avalon’s Testify to Love.
45. My dresser top is always a mess ‘cause it’s my “catch-all.” But more on that later.
46. I can’t believe I accidentally skipped this one!
47. I love the Newsboys’ Going Public cd.
48. I want a new pair of shoes.
49. I can’t wait for consistently warm weather.
50. I have a “Zits” cartoon taped to my door that describes me perfectly! I’ll have to give y’all a pic of it sometime.
51. I cannot brain today. I have the dumb.
52. Sadly, I appear to be the “Teasable Type.”
53. Colors are cool!
54. I don’t like washing dishes.
55. My occupation? Dishwasher, scullery maid, bathroom scrubber. Oh, and most-of-the-time student.
56. My plan for this summer is to stay as active as possible. That means bike rides, volleyball, double Dutch jump rope, anything else that’ll keep me moving!
57. This has been 57 random things already!
58. One of my friends ‘owes’ me $31.64 already. It’s a long story…
59. I went horseback riding once in Tennessee in ’06.
60. Skip-bo is a good card game.
61. I don’t play any instruments.
62. I accidentally skipped #s 46-49! Oops!
63. Hopefully I’ll be able to hand out awards to my faithful blogreaders soon…
64. I learned that it is possible to start a Twitter account with a fake email.
65. But I either deleted the account or forgot the password. I forgot the password, anyway. The account may still be there. *runs off to check* Nope, it’s still there! www.twitter.com/kiwidafruit. No updates, though. Unfortunately, I can't get in to delete it because of the forgotten password.
66. I luuuuuuuv my digital camera! (Thanks, grandma & grandpa!!)
67. I have been hit in the face by the ball in the following sports: soccer, baseball, dodgeball, and basketball.
68. I have been knocked down in the following sports: dodgeball, soccer, basketball, football (LET IT BE KNOWN: I was not playing football voluntarily. It was entirely against my will that I was standing out there in that field, watching everyone else know what to do!), tag, and, as of Sunday, volleyball.
69. I used to be quite accident and injury prone.
70. I enjoy beading earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, but haven’t been ‘inspired’ to do so lately.
71. Writing is fun, but not ‘on demand’ writing.
72. Geometry was so much better than chemistry!
73. I like the game Bomber Penguin. (Skittles, you'd like it! give it a try.)
74. I just found two cool videos of Marc Martel that I'll have to post soon!
75. I am ¾ of the way done with this thing!!
76. My toenails are pink right now.
77. I want to visit my great-grandma (and Skittles!) in Florida!
78. Have you ever played ‘Pit’? I have.
79. I am 17 years old, 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days old.
80. I want my own email address. (Hinthinthint)
81. Blogger frustrates me!
82. I like music videos.
83. I want to make a music video to “Praying for Sunny Days” by Hyper Static Union.
84. Catchphrase is a good game to play with friends, especially when it gets rowdy!
85. I’m going to give 25 points to whoever reads all of this!
86. I think I’ve been on blogger for about one year.
87. I just read through a year’s worth of my life in my diary.
88. I have had one of my watercolors sold at an art auction.
89. I want to see Dagmar soon ‘cause I have a s’prise for her…
90. My room is a wee little bit messy right now.
91. I had no school today.
92. My middle name is Elizabeth.
93. My hair, after being twisted up in a bun for 24+ hours, looks really odd!
94. I am/Praying for sunny days to return to me…..
95. I don’t have a best friend…I have about 20!
96. If you looked at my dresser right now, you would find: 3 porcelain dolls, a crystal bell, four cds, a Willow Creek angel, a little-bitty doll, five glass bottles, perfume, Mary Kay product, four ponytail holders, an IOU note (from my friend, now worth $31.64), a library card, four barrettes, two pairs of earrings, a cd insert, two batteries, song lyrics, bangle bracelets, two necklaces, flattened-out foil from a blue Easter crunch-bunny, a ring case, bookmark, a radio, and $1.33 in small change. I hope you found that fascinating!
97. Three houses ago, ‘Punzel and I chased the landlord’s cows around. (I was 6-7)
98. I have a signed Newsboys poster with a large, long haired hole in it…;D
99. I am very very very distantly related to Dan’l Boone. I think.
100. I survived my first 100 Random Things post!! Hallelujah!

Okay, I'm going to make the rest of this brief. I owe a big thanks to Dagmar and Matt, because they got me started in blogging and have answered numerous questions about it.
Thanks to Mom & Dad, for letting me get a blog.
Thanks to everyone who reads this blog and comments.
A smaller 'thank you' to the people who read this but don't comment. Comment if you want to get a big thank you.
And thanks to my followers, just for following.
Basically: THANKS ALL Y'ALL TO EV'RYONE WHO READS THIS!

So long, readers!
~Kiwi~

99th post/AIRSHOW!!!

Hey, y'all! I'm back after two weeks of non-vacation-y-vacation. The only reason it was 'vacation' was because I didn't have school and Dad was off for a week. BUT I'm not going to go into all that. Let's just say that Mr. and Ms. Renter paid...on Friday. And now it's a new month, so we're praying that God provides them with the money they need to pay us and everything else they need to spend money on. Especially the 'money they need to pay us' part. :)

What did I do last weekend? shall I tell them, or shall I not.?.....I think I shall.

We spent last weekend avoiding being hit or scared by Blue Angels. They fly right over our house during the practice and shows. It was awesome! I was sorry that we missed vacation, but at least we got to watch the airshow....three times over, plus practice, plus when ev'ryone left.

Here are some pictures & videos taken from my camera:

This video was taken on Thursday from our driveway. Don't you just love the sound of them?
*waits ten minutes for the video to load...* Why must it take so long to load a video? It isn't that hard to get one off of Youtube onto here!

Five of the Blue Angels.

Three of them. It's true, there are three there.

Three of them...in black & white.

Four of them. In color. STOP looking at me like that! Okay, YOU come up with better captions!

Four, two INVERTED! Can you imagine flying upside-down at 500+ mph?? Cool!

Um. So last weekend was the airshow, and on Sunday we ('Punzel and I) played volleyball again. Man! I love playing that game! It's perfect for me; fairly easy, fast-paced, and doesn't include much running. Perfect! And everyone here is nice. I don't feel (horribly) embarrassed when I miss the ball or do something wrong. They give me tips on what to do next time this happens, or that changes suddenly, or whatever.
And several people have commented on how I've gotten a bit better since we began playing. "The first two weeks, it was a cause to celebrate when you just get it over the net! Now you do that regularly." That's good. I'm glad I'm improving. But I still feel bad next to some of the others! Right now I am desperately hoping that it is dry enough tomorrow to play some. Today is cold and rainy, and tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, too!
"Hey mister weather man
I don't understand
I think I said clearly clear skies should be the forecast tomorrow
I'm lookin' west,
I see cloudy skies at best,
And to the east storm clouds are headed this way...."

And I leave you with this: The next post from me shall be my 100th! There'll be a party, balloons, prizes, and CAKE! You're all invited. See you then!

~Kiwi~