Picitatures (aka "pictures")

Double hibiscus bloom

A birthday card I made for my friend....Guess what her name is! =D

Sorry, but that's all I've got time for. We've got bible study tonight, and I need to go eat. As delicious  as the snacks I'm taking are (Secret Family Recipe Fudge and Dutch Apple Bread...Mmmmmmm...), I don't think anyone would approve of me eating ALL of it! 

Toodle-oo

~Kiwi~

P.S. I stuck up some more pictures on my photoblog! Check it out:
www.kiwi-and-her-pictures.blogspot.com

Titleless in Blogland

My ACT scores arrived!!! And they're pretty decent, too! =) Not perfect. Not lousy. Just good. C= I was best in English, then came reading and science, and guess what I did poorly in! Math. Told y'all! But it was still okay, because I wasn't expecting to do exceedingly well. I think the paper said that I did better than seventy-odd percent of ACTers in math. Well then, I'm happy.

I drove down to my Grandma's house in Illinois and back today. =) I like driving. To some extent. "Okay, turn left." I turn left. Halfway through the turn: "And turn right right away." I'm thinking he means at the next road, because when someone says next right, they usually mean the next road so I continue towards the next road. "No, I said right away! I meant turn into [this little gravel drive that leads to] the coffee shop!" Blah blah blah. The trouble with driving with Dad is that I'm supposed to be able to drive, pay attention to speed, cars, and road, and read his mind. I can't do that.
But he did let me eat Twizzlers while I drove, which Mom might not....

Good day, all 'round. =)
~Kiwi~

Wanted: Some Extra Oomph for Volleyball.

Sitting here on my bed at 10:00 Wednesday night and I realize I forgot to blog yesterday and today! I can't believe I did that!
So now I'm faced with choices. What to write about? My first volleyball game of the year? The baseball game I went to Saturday? The cd I'm listening to? Choices, choices, choices.
I'll choose the first and maybe the last as well.
Sunday afternoon was the second church volleyball game of the year, my first. I really need to get back into shape for volleyball! After all that jumping and leaping and stretching I was Worn Out. And my legs hurt the next day. Guess who needs to do jumping jacks?
Soem genious thought that boys vs girls was a good idea for the first two games. I use the word 'genious' losely, because it was a girl who suggested it, and it was the girls who lost both games. For some reason, we can talk and talk and talk when NOT playing volleyball, but once the game starts we all clam up! The first game was really bad in that respect, but the second was a little better. We remembered "got it!" sometimes, but there was still an awful lot of watching the ball go by and thinking someone else would get it.
The next two games were the best, because we mixed up the teams and remembered to talk to each other. My team won both. =)

Once half the people left and we were just hitting the ball around, I got so frustrated! I've been working on my overhand serves, but since I have no net to practice with I just have to hit it as hard and as high as I can. Sunday I practiced with a net. I can get the ball within an inch or two of the top of the net, but I can't give it that extra oomph to make the ball clear the net!! SO close! *sigh* I guess I'll have to find that extra oomph somewhere before Sunday. And then that other team better look out! Just you wait ('Enry 'Iggins, just you wait.. ;)!

Sorry, but I don't have time to tell about the cd! We're at the library, then headed home, then Mom's taking me out driving! (That's your warning)

~Kiwi~

I've been awarded!

Miss guitargirl, kind person as she is, gave me the Beautiful Blogger award! 

The Rules: if you choose to accept the award you must:
--Thank the person who nominated you, and link to their blog.
--Copy the award and paste it to your blog.
--Tell us seven interesting facts about yourself.
--Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you have discovered.
--Contact your nominations and let them know they've won.




Thank you, guitargirl, for the award! Now I've got two on my sidebar. =)

1. I'm not great at coming up with interesting facts about myself.
2. I love playing volleyball.
3. I haven't been to a baseball game since September '08! (but that'll change this afternoon)
4. I'm chatting with a friend on Facebook right now (fascinating, isn't this?)
5. I've made our family Christmas cards for....three years in a row.
6. I love wearing flip flops and sandals in the summer.
7. I spent my morning watching movies and picking up sticks in the yard and murdering thistles.

Okay, 15 bloggers. Let's see if I can do this.

Queen Lucy
Kristen
Judi
Skittles (if she's around anymore)
Samantha
Zoe
My cousin, Pookie's Girl
Heather

And the first 6 of you to claim it. Those are the blogs I read most frequently. I apologize to those of you who's blogs I haven't had a chance to look at! I'm on limited computer time, but I hope to check them out soon!

Enjoy!
~Kiwi~

"=D =D =D =D =D" or "Look Out World, Here I Come!!!"

We interrupt this story to bring you an Important Word from Kiwifruit:


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

(I'm headed to the ACT taking headquarters in 8 hours, 16 minutes. I'm not sure this whole 'test-taking thing' was a Good Idea.

First off, I don't feel quite prepared for anything but the English and [to a lesser extent] the Reading. I loathe the quadratic formula, trigonometry, semicolons, and full-sized colons!!

Secondly, isn't this intellectual segregation? These colleges are forcing me to take this test, and then if I'm not smart enough they'll send me packing! That's separating the "smart" from the "unsmart." Shouldn't be allowed in this day & age. They don't allow racism or sexism, why smartism? Un Fair! ;)

Third, I know I'll do 'fine.' Maybe even 'good.' EVERYbody keeps telling me that, and I'm beginning to believe it myself, but that doesn't stop these last minute jitters.

What would help me is going and reading the entire prep book again, instead of sitting here writing all this!

I think I'll sleep with it under my pillow, then eat it for breakfast in the morning. That's one way to get all its information in me!

~Kiwi~)

We now return you to the story, already in progress.

More on Helga

(Read THIS POST first, if you haven't already.)

Helga wasn't entirely happy with living in a cabin in the woods. Back in Norway, her family had been well-off and lived in a two-story Victorian home (this was when Victorian homes were new). Her old home had been beautiful. This was just a cabin. How could you compare the two?
She decided that Something had to be Done about this. So she saved her money. Her plan was to buy something from Sears & Roebuck to make the house beautiful once a year with the money she had saved. The first time she paged through the Sears & Roebuck catalog, some blue checkered curtains caught her eye. The second year Helga saved and saved, and had enough money to buy a beautiful rocking chair. The third year, however, she didn't have enough money for what she wanted. Helga sighed and flipped through the catalog again. No, there was nothing else she wanted; nothing else that would do. She had to have this. So Helga ripped out the page and pinned it to the wall. THIS is what she would save for.
So for the next 5 years, Helga saved her money. Olaf put any extra money he made into the money jar, and so did Solvieg. Even little Elsa put in the few cents she got each week from her hens! The third year, little Lena was born, so the amount of money they were able to set aside decreased, but Helga still managed to save some.
Finally the day came when Helga had the money for her dream! Helga filled out the order form on the latest Sears & Roebuck catalog and sent it in. They had to wait five whole weeks, but what's five weeks when you've waited five years?
At last the railroad station sent them a message. "There's an abnormally large and heavy crate here for Helga and Olaf. Come get it!"
Olaf hitched their two oxen to the wagon, and borrowed two more from the neighbors, then they all piled in and drove to town for Helga's crate. It took several strong men to lift this thing into the wagon, and the oxen strained to pull the wagon over the hills! Once home, Olaf unhitched the oxen and took off one side of the wagon. Carefully, he tipped the wagon onto it's side, sliding the crate onto the ground right in front of the cabin's door. Helga could barely hold still, she was so excited! She helped Olaf pull the boards off, until they could see the contents of the crate.
Helga couldn't believe her eyes. There stood what she had wanted for five long years; there stood the item that would make this the finest cabin in the whole of Wisconsin...nay, the finest house in Wisconsin!

Concrete steps with wrought iron handrails! These were surely the finest handrails in the county, and they gave the little cabin a...dignified air. Helga was now fully satisfied with her beautiful home. It had become (in her eyes, at least) just as fine as her two-story Victorian house back in Norway!

Helga's steps, years later.

Helga's gorgeous handrails.

To Be Continued

Photos courtesy of Sven, Olaf & Helga's son.

Let me tell you a little story...

Lars and Solvieg lived and fell in love in Norway in the early 1860's, and when they were married they decided to move to the United States. The two of them packed up their meagre belongings and, after saying a tearful goodbye to their family and freinds, they left for the United States--Wisconsin, to be exact.
Lars and Solveig built themselves a good-sized log cabin a little ways out of a small town. There they lived for a long time.
After a few years they had a son, who Solvieg named Olaf. Olaf was a nice little boy who grew into a fine young man. When Olaf turned twenty Lars took him aside to talk to him.
"Son," Lars said, "you need to go back to your mother's town in Norway and find yourself a good Norwegian wife. Find yourself a fine wife, bring her back here to love with us in our cabin."
So Olaf obeyed his father and traversed the long journey to Norway for a wife. A few months later he returned to Wisconsin with Helga in tow, and Lars and Solvieg loved her from the start, and Helga loved Lars and Solvieg and the little cabin right back.
The two couples lived in the cabin happily, but Lars passed away several years later, soon after his first grandchild was born. Everyone was sad about Lars' death, but took comfort in caring for little Elsa.

To Be Continued