Maybe You Could Help--Monday

I need some help. Firstly with the titles. Which are boring. Secondly, last Autumn, when we first moved in, there were this little, nasty, black gnats all over my window. The holes in my screen are just big enough for the little buggers to get through. Well, with the warm weather and all, they are BACK!!!! And in full force, too! So, what do I do to keep them away? I'd appreciate it if y'all could tell me what to do about them. Fifteen blogger points to whoever can come up with something that works!


So this is what we've been doing this past week:

Monday and Tuesday: I believe we just did school. If I did anything else, it must not have been important!


Wednesday, I had Bible study at our friends house. It was also Avalon's birthday, so I did a Happy Birthday post for her. I think I'll have to mark down all my blogger-friends' birthdays, so I can do it for all of them.
We stood around afterwards, talking, and gazing at Noah's "Itouch....Udon't" as he checked to see who shared our birthdays. I don't think he checked mine. >:-[ We're working on a scoring system. Jumbo Shrimp had an Emperor born, but then two Kings died, canceling out the Emperor. I think she ended up in the 'negatives.'


Thursday I worked on a totally annoying painting that WILL NOT come out correctly. I've tried three times. The first one looked good in my head, but not on paper, so I took the element that DID look good and put it on the second sheet. It didn't look good. So then I tried a third time, and yet again it doesn't look right. I didn't give up, but it is set aside for a good, long while.
At 1:00, JS and Kirsten picked me up and we went ice skating! It was so much fun! It was homeschool skate afternoon, and I got to request which station was to be played, so I picked the Christian station with fewer commercials. We heard ITHOG and another song I haven't heard in forever: "My Deliverer" by the Ragamuffin Band. Love those two!
Skating was so much fun....I fell only once, and even then it was more of a slide than a fall....we danced the Virginia Reel on skates and played Crack-the-Whip. Friend of Narnia was there, and Kirsten, and Jumbo Shrimp.
I had a grand time, even though I now have a rawish spot on my ankle from the skate rubbing.


Friday was 'Jordan's Thirteenth birthday....turning thirteen on Friday the Thirteenth....:D Bad luck. He started the "seven years of insanity" period common to teenage boys. (not all, mind you. Just many. Don't get angry at me, Matt!) Also, the entire family entered the "seven years famine"........I'll leave y'all to figure that out..... ;D


Saturday it was warm and nice so (if I remember correctly) we got together with some friends. Ah, yes, we were out in the back yard, saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa G. when Monkey said "There's some people waving to us from the street!!" So I thought he meant just some of the kids that live back there. It was actually JS, Kirsten, and two other friends, Alena and Elizabeth. So we went back there and rode around. I would tell you the name of the street, 'cos it's kinda cool, but I googled it and the correct one came right up. Rats.
Monkey rode with us back there, but then we struck out on our own. Alena and Elizabeth's older bro showed up, which was good as I was having bike troubles. We had to put my chain on twice, and then Nathan got it to stay on. Now it just makes a slight grinding sound....and it's stuck in low gear. So I have to pedal really hard to go anywhere. It's tiring to do anything on it!
I want to get the Jolly Green Giant fixed.....(here's a link to a picture of a bike like it.....here's another....and this one's pretty close. My bike is brighter and has the handlebars like the last pic, only green. Anywho.)
Drat. I forgot to call the bike repair shop today. Again. There's always tomorrow.....


Sunday Mom and Dad were at membership classes at church from 1--4.
My Grandma M. was over for the weekend. She came on Sunday afternoon, and she left today. We played a few rounds of Rummy, Uno, and Checkers together.

Monday (the day this was supposed to be posted) I did an agonizing amount of schoolwork, and was finally released (thanks, Mom) and went to the park to hang out with JS and Kirsten. Know what's awesome? There were quite a few people there and......I heard not a swear word. Neat, isn't it?
And then yesterday evening Grandma and I took a walk together around the block. Our neighbors (the ones who's garage lights are on half the night and shine in my window and keep me awake) across the back lot were out and said 'hi.' Grandma thought that was so nice of them, because I said we hadn't met any of them. She also found several houses that she said (jokingly) she should buy, since they're so close by!
I don't think I've really taken the time to actually look at many of the houses in the neighborhood! There are some really nice, pretty ones that I never really noticed. I'll have to take another walk sometime soon.

Today, our friend Anna came over and we did facials. She's starting out in Mary Kay. It was cool and weird at the same time. I don't think I've ever put on eyeshadow and mascara before! Okay, maybe the eyeshadow, but not properly. We got a few good pics that I'll have to put on here.
And I went to the park again. It was sunny with a high of about 75. sweet.

Now, Soul Skittles wants me to make a big production out of this, so..... drum roll pu-lease........ Miss Skittles, I would like to present to you an over-sized check for....... FIVE (5) blogger points!!!! Yay!!! *streamers, balloons, and confetti!!* Three cheers for Skittles!!
She found the Song of the Day when no one else did! I thought it would be too obvious, but it wasn't. The song was Thrive by the Newsboys. Go see if you can find it. (but no points if you do now.)

In reply to the some of the comments left on my last post....

Judi: Yes, I should....I have a post started, but I just never get around to finishing it. I'll work on it! Yes, I've been on your blog lately, I've just been reeeeaaaally bad at commenting. Sorry! I'll head on over as soon as I get a chance.

JON MEYERS: Hi, nice to know you're still reading this! Sure, I'll write an obituary for it. What's it's name? Oh, and I saw a pic of Savannah on your sister's blog! She's so cute! I can't wait to see her in June!

Zoe: Shame on you for laughing at Everett's untimely demise! ;D Yeah, you should have heard Mom and Dad's reactions.

Skittles: I'M NOT FURGETTIN' ANYTHING! *subtracts five points from Skittles' point thingy because of impatientness on Skittles' part* JK.

guitargirl: Thanks! I will, but it won't be entirely finished for about a year. It's a once-monthly ladies quilting bible study, and there are twelve blocks. You do the math.
No, I'm using the machine. Yeah, it's slightly lazy, but....
Yes, I'm turning 17 on Monday. My counter-that-you-cannot-find is up above this post, below the video. I moved it there so that it would be rather prominent....apparently not! :D

Alayne: I saw that you're following me. Thanks! Do you have a blog? Might I ask how you found me?

And that's all I have time for today. I'll be seeing y'all later. tomorrow, probably.
Have a good day, y'all!

~Kiwi da Fruit

My Life--Monday #3

Huuuh. I think I'll start out this post with a quick overview of my past week.

Tuesday, March 3rd: I.......did.....schoolwork aaand....schoolwork. I don't remember doing anything else. If I did, it was obviously not important.


Wednesday I had a very difficult school day, filled with insightful, meaningful, and sentimental thought-provoking questions, cruelly confusing chemistry, weird writing assignments, and horrible history. Okay, maybe the history wasn't that bad, but I spent an entire beautiful, sunny, warmish day sitting inside working. And illiteration sounds good. :)
We had bible study that night, and afterwards we had quite a few discussions based on the videos: Jordan is not real, the pain from my non-real fist is not real, the crumbs from my tortilla chip? Not real! :D It was Theology, and he grazed that subject. I'm just glad that the teacher didn't go in depth about it!


Thursday was a Day of Firsts! Rapunzel and I went on the First bike ride of the year, I heard the First red-wing blackbird (they don't come up until Spring!), and I went outside in short sleeves for the First time in 2009. We had a simply grand time out in the 60 degree sunshine!


Friday had its Firsts, too. First robins....the robins are back!! First day of bare feet!! We played all over the structure at the park (mostly where we weren't supposed to play--on the tunnel, on top of the enclosed slide....), and I went barefoot because it's easier to clamber with bare feet.
Note to self and all concerned: The first time you go barefoot after a long winter, don't walk on the road barefoot. It's slightly painful.


Saturday we went to the library and unexpectedly ran into people from church, including Friend o' Narnia and Julia. I like seeing people from church at random places around town!
I finally got to hear the videos Downhere put up of the Christmas Album Recording Process. But I forgot/ran out of time to watch the video on Duncan's blog. *aaaaaaaah*

Rats.



Sunday we went to church (of course) and got to see Owan at long last. (Before I forget again, Owan, could y'all send me a few pics from the Winter Jam concert? Especially the one of me 'n' Nirva, and me 'rapping.' Lol! I can just imagine how weird I must have looked! I think Heather has our email.)
We also had Jumbo Shrimp, Kirsten, and their younger brother over yesterday. We made a soap opera, and managed to get two people murdered by the jealous 'Iris'. :D In the next episode of "Young Stomachs Churning," We'll hopefully have another guy in it so we can get a little love-triangle going.
(Please do not think that we enjoy real soap operas. This is making fun of them. Just in case you wondered. :)


Today I rediscovered my detestation of cleaning bathrooms. They're gross and disgusting. (I wish I were in Star Wars or Star Trek. I'll bet Anakin and Princess Leia and Spock and T'pol never had to clean toilets!)
And I made banana bread, which smells quite delicious.
Now I get to spend the rest of my day in relative leisure. I'm gonna paint somethin'!


*aaaaaaah*
I keep remembering. Hmph.
I guess I may as well go ahead and post my thoughts on the Newsboys Stuff. I'm refraining from looking at the official notice until after posting. I'm afraid I might be too upset after reading it to post.


Oh, why do this? If I'm too upset, I'll simply hit 'post' and post what I've got. I can't sit here another minute and keep wondering!
Here goes! *runs over to NBSite with worried look*

*returns*

Hallelujah! (no that's not the Song of the Day:) It's not as bad as I'd feared!! I was scared that Pete was leaving was an "entirely, for-good, ne'er-comin'-back-again, nothin'-to-do-with-the-band-from-now-on" kinda leaving! I'm still horribly sad that he's not going to be at most of the concerts, but hey! It'll still have that 'Peter Furler style' to it! Does anyone know if he'll still be on their cds?
Here's the scoop for those of you who haven't a clue as to what I'm talking about: apparently, a few concerts ago, Michael Tait came out instead of Peter (?) and announced he was the new front-man (lead singer). Without any notice ahead of time. So there's been LOTS going on on the NB Message Boards about that. Every time I've been on them in the past 48 hours there's been at least 40 people on! And the comments on the Big Announcement have been jumping every time I refresh the page!
I'd actually sat down and written out a whole big, long speech about how I don't want Michael Tait to join and Pete to leave, but if the 'Boyz are sure that's what God wanted done, by all means, Do it! but I'm not going to post all that. I am behind Pete 99% in this decision. I'm having a hard time reconciling myself to this, but.....this should be interesting. Maybe it'll be the start of something new, a real good thing.


Rapunzel says to tell y'all that she's rejoicing that Pete isn't leaving entirely by wearing black today. I wish I had some black to wear. I wish I had an NB tee shirt to wear. I wish I could have attended one of the more recent concerts (one with Pete in it) and gone ahead and bought a shirt. I got money for it now! *sigh*

Lastly is the Song of the Day. No one found my last little hidden title which was "A Better Way" by Downhere. "There's gotta be a better way to do school work than slogging my way through!" One point for me!

And Avalon gets five points for finally blogging. That brings her total up to (drumroll, please!) 0! Well, it's better than -5, isn't it?

I'd better get off now and do something else. I'll post again on Wednesday.
Ciao!
~Kiwi the Bitterly/Sweetly-Happy/Unhappy-Weirdly-Emotional Fruit

My Life--Monday, #2

This past week, my life has been interesting, boring, entertaining, and just plain dull. And everything in between. And so on and so forth, etc.

Wednesday night we had Bible study at a friend's house. It was interesting, although I sometimes have a hard time keeping my mind from going off on something else. (We're watching video-lectures.) And we stuck around for an hour afterwards, talking with friends Jumbo Shrimp and Kirsten and Noah.

Thursday we were bored. I had to slog my way through school, especially my half-hour-turned-hour-and-a-half chemistry lecture. Ugh. As I worked through the rest of my stuff, Mom said to me "You get your work done while I make us some comfort food. When you're done, we can watch a movie." Once I was done, we ate popcorn and no-bake chocolate/peanut butter/oatmeal cookies while watching Ballet Shoes. I enjoyed that movie because it was so true to the book! I thought they'd find a way to morph it, but they didn't. Posy was a bit older than I thought she should be, but other than that.... I'll tell you more about it on my Old Movie Blog sometime soon.
We were supposed to have thunder storms that day, but all my area got was a few feeble rumbles. I like a good thunderstorm during the day. And, since Spring is coming, we ought to get a few of those. :D (Once again I must say...Melikee Spring!)

Friday, Mom and Da Boys had to go out shopping, so she gave Rapunzel and me permission to go to the MALL for the day! :D We decided to invite Short Stuff and another friend to come along, so Rapunzel forced me to wait until noon to call. I did a lot of impatient foot-tapping. At last, we got to go. Short Stuff was picked up at 12:15 and we were off (the other friend couldn't make it)! I already told you all about the mall experience. We decided to see what was upstairs at Sears, just as an excuse to ride the escalators. We found a lovely little sale up there, in which I found my $60-reduced-to-$7.50-dress. Somehow, riding the escalators isn't quite as thrilling as it used to be. Huh.
We also had way over-priced ice cream cones ($2.42 for a little itty-bitty one-scoop cone. But oh-well, we didn't spend anything else, and it was good. :)
I was also thinking 'hallelujah, Sunday's not that far away!' because I hadn't seen Owan in two weeks.

I had a women's Quilting Bible study to go to on Saturday morning. We got instructions for a new quilt block which shall be altered for me due to it's difficulty. My friend Anna is coming over tomorrow afternoon to sew our blocks. I sure hope they go together well! I'll post a picture of my two on Wednesday or Friday. Maybe. If I get around to taking one.

Sunday we went to church. I got to see Owan at long last. Which reminds me: has anyone else (Blueh?) heard anything about In the Hands of God's release date being moved back to Jun 1st? I was listening to 20, The Countdown Magazine, and Jon Rivers said that he thinks ITHOG is being released then. I wish they wouldn't move it back, but if they have to, I guess they have to.

Today I had school. I tried to scan a painting onto Angus to make another card set, but the pale green background was turned to a sickly yellow by the scanner.
We warred more with the squirrel-who-eats-the-woodpecker-suet, and tried mothballs beside the feeder, which (according to Birds and Blooms Magazine) is s'posed to deter the squirrel. *raspberry* It don't. It looked at the mothballs, laughed, and ate the suet. So I threw rocks and sticks at it. (I did, too!) It just looked at me, smirked, and ate more suet. (I could almost swear I saw a little pink tongue come out and go 'Tbtphbpbh!' at me!) The stupid squirrel is so stupid it don't even know it's stupid!!! It's so stupid it doesn't even know when to be scared of something (i.e, a ROCK hurtling at its [empty] little noggin!!!). *raspberry* I'll git 'im eventually, and tack his mangy little pelt to the garage door.
ASPCA, I plead temporary and justifiable insanity. STAY AWAY! This one deserves what ever I do to it!

An' that's what I did today.

Song of the Day: Friday I snuck it past y'all! The line you were supposed to look for was "Every Little Thing" by Hawk Nelson, found here:
"Just about every little thing in the mall caught our attention. Even the ugly, huge-belt-buckle kiosk that was being set up...."
Hee hee hee. I just love sneaking it by. One point for Kiwi!
And, I don't normally put in a song title on weekend posts, but I did yesterday to see if you were looking. You weren't. So I'll give y'all until Wednesday to find yesterday's and today's.

badeebadeebadee, that's all folks!

~Kiwi da Fruit

P.S. Tomorrow's Duncan's birthday! Happy Birthday Duncan!

My Life--Monday

Hello, and welcome to My Life. Today I'll be going over the past little-over-a week and telling you what-all happened.

Saturday the 14th. Valentine's Day (aka Singles' Awareness Day): Mom made a pretty centerpiece for the table consisting of: a red place-mat covered with light, gauzy fabric, a wine glass filled with conversation hearts and Twizzlers, a Valentine card, and little candy hearts sprinkled o'er it all. I wish we had a picture of it!
In the afternoon, Monkey, Jordan, and I went over to J.S. & Kirsten's house for the afternoon. 'Twas fun! We played a few games, sang along with Short Stuff's Ipod, and practised The Play. Which of late has been known only as The Play. It used to be called "A Maid's Tale," but then the maid got cut out. I have one of the three lead roles....The Lady Constance, the Grand Heiress, and get to be all melodramatic and stuff. So much fun! Alas, Rapunzel and Jonathan were not there, so we didn't get a full practice in. Oh well. It'll get done eventually.

Skip down to Wednesday the 18th. We watched LOST in the evening, two whole hours of it. The writers have been wrapping up a few more of the threads, but another spool's-worth of tangled plot has been thrown in. I'm starting to be glad there's only one more season after this one. And I'm not gonna get to see it for who-knows how long because of Bible study! Yes, I know, Bible study is more important. I just wish that the two weren't on the Same Night. *sigh* Actually, the pastor's daughter told us to "go ahead and skip Bible study" (italics are mine) and watch LOST instead. Tsk tsk tsk. I think she was joking. ;^)

Friday the 20th: we went shopping and I found an incredible tee-shirt at Goodwill. Literally. It's red with a big 'I' on it with a swoosh around it and The Incredibles logo. It's cool. :) And know what was even nicer? When Short Stuff said "I love your shirt! Where'd you get it?" and I (finally) got to say "Goodwill." It's always the other way around, with others getting the good stuff at Goodwill. Turnabout's fair play, peoples!
There was a Women's Night Out non-sleepover sleepover at church where we stayed up late and played games and ate snacks until midnight. Games were so much fun! I was pretty good at Pictionary and Catchphrase. Then came the table (we were going from table to table, mixing up groups as we went) with the Ungame on it. Oi. The Ungame is a 'game' with no winning, no ending, no point to it except for you to share your feelings. I don't remember all the rules, but one where everybody has to agree to be silent except during their turn. (find the rules HERE) Julia was there at my table, and as the first rule was being read, she started giggling. With the second rule, I was laughing, and by the end of just reading the rules, most of our table was whooping with laughter to the point of little helpless moans. I almost died laughing. So much fun!! we played Catchphrase after the first two turns of Ungame. Why play a game with no winning, no losing, no foreseeable end, no actual point to it? I'm competitive, and I play games mostly to win. I'm not a bad loser, but I play games where you can win.

Saturday the 21st I was going to work on a quilt block for a bible study I'm joining, but we didn't have fabric we liked. So Mom went out and bought some for me, and it's awesome fabric!

Sunday I made the quilt block. It was fast and easy and I only made two minor, fixable mistakes! Yay me! I'll post a picture of it as soon as I can get one.
Also on Sunday, I realized something. I belong here!! I belong in this town, with these friends, and in this church! It's an amazing feeling.

"Created for a place I've never known
This is home
Now I'm finally where I belong
Where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it maybe this is home
Yeah, this is home....

And now after all my searching
After all my crashes
I'm really coming home
I got a brand new mindset
I can finally see the sunset
I'm gonna call it home....

I've come too far
And I won't go back
Yeah, this is home"
(Switchfoot, "This is Home")

In Iowa I had friends an' ev'rything, but I didn't feel at home in church or youth group or in Mini-ville or the surrounding area. Talking with Judi helped me realize this: I haven't been shunned in the past five months. I have rarely heard curses in the past five months. I've been talked with every Sunday at church for the past five months. I've been a lot happier for the last five months. Yes, I miss my friends, and I miss going out to youth group every Sunday night, but I don't miss much else. And even youth group isn't missed a whole lot. I was getting pretty miserable there towards the end. Yeah, this is home. :D

Today I: went to the Library and got books and three cds and two movies. Started Chemistry. Here's my all-time favorite quote from the dvds: "....In a similar manner, you are a good chemistry student. Close your eyes and repeat this: 'I am a good chemistry student, I am a good chemistry student. Chemistry is easy!' Believe that, and it will happen." Um, yeah. I'm using The Great Courses from The Teaching Company as a precursor to Dr. Jay Wile's chemistry book. This consists of a dvd lesson followed by a problem set, and I enjoyed using it for Geometry.

Song of the Day Game: Friday's winners were Owan and Matt. The song was "Something Beautiful" by the Newsboys and was found in this paragraph: "Mom and I went jeans shopping in Kohls the other day, and found something beautiful."
Congratulations, Owan and Matt! You have each won five all-expenses-paid Blogger Points! Yay!
I have enabled comment moderation so that no cheating is possible and I can have two winners each day instead of just one.

And it's like me to ramble on and on at this point, but guess what? Y'all were just saved by my timer going off! Lucky for you....

S'long!
~Kiwi~

Today's Topic: Regular Posting

This was supposed to be posted Wednesday. Mah bad.

Starting today, I'm going to do a new posting format that will hopefully work.
The most interesting things in my life happen on weekends, so on Mondays, I will post about what has happened to me over the past week.
Wednesdays, I shall pick one or two topics to talk about and try to stick to them and not ramble as much.
Fridays will be a select few random-er thoughts from the past week.

That way, you know what my life is like, you know my opinion on things, and you will be able to see a little of what my strange mind ponders upon in its spare moments. I will allow myself one off-topic paragraph at the end of each post, since I'm not known for sticking to one thing for more than an hour. :P

I'll post three times a week, plus occasionally on weekends or when something really interesting happens. If I stick to at least three posts per week, I'll meet my '100 Posts by First Anniversary" goal.
Does that sound good to y'all? What would you like to see more or less of?

That's what I have to say about my sporadic posting.

And now, my one off-topic paragraph for this post. I'm going to include one song title/memorable-phrase-from-a-song in each post. The first person to find and identify the song and the artist will receive five bloggy points. Eventually, I'll find a way to make an award-picture to give to whoever reaches a large amount of points. Sorry, no Bahama Vacation Give-aways on this blog. :D

And there! My post is done! I haven't written one this short in I don't know how long! Let me know what you think. I just hope now that you enjoy it.
Tomorrow is Random Friday!
Later, 'Gator!
~Kiwi da Fruit

P.S. does anyone have a catchier name for Random Friday?