Late-At-Night Post

I'm working on plans for another of my 12X2012 accomplishments.

• Take a bike trip to the Hill of No Return on my green bike.

Almost half of that has been accomplished. My bike is now fixed, all I need now is a free afternoon! Perhaps I should have said simply 'take a bike trip.' That is going to happen, Lord willing, Thursday morning/noon/afternoon. Two of my friends and I shall pack a picnic lunch, bike to the nearby farm market to purchase donuts and peaches and the like, then start pedaling down a back road or two. At the moment, the chosen destination is a cemetery a few miles away. We might stop and eat at a park between here and there, as others may not find our choice to lunch in a cemetery so...appetizing. Perhaps we won't stop there at all, maybe we'll just continue and find a brand new spot. =) I love not planning everything and getting to make choices on whims.
And I'm also curious, can anyone else see the picture in my last post, of the bike? It's disappeared.
Good night, my lovelies! ;)
~Kiwi~

12X2012: Bike

• Have my green bike fixed. Again.

First thing crossed off my list! Dad replaced the tire & inner tube last night, and I'm hoping to get a bit of riding in today before I go to work! The picture isn't of my bike, but it's one very similar. The most noticeable difference is that my bike is a girl's bike. And doesn't have reflectors. But it's the same colour/style.
I'm very close to my "Finish my first year at JoAnn Fabrics," only have three weeks and five days left until that one's crossed off as well. =)

~Kiwi~

Life Updates.

So far, I haven't been able to take my second Unicycle Riding Class. Which is too bad. Because it's not really something you can learn without practicing, is it? No.
And I haven't quite gotten my green bike fixed. I talked to the dude at the bike repair place about a tire, but he won't have any new tires in until Friday. And they're $15 apiece. Ooog. There go more dineros. But maybe it'll be worth it--maybe this one will last more than a year and a half! It's cheaper than buying a new bike, anyway.

We have a scheme in the works, which involves biking and picnicking (<--oddly-spelled word) and swimming and camping. Possibly. Biking and eating, of course! Swimming--perhaps. Camping--er, we'll see. It would involve schedules cooperating (<--another oddly-spelled word), and permissions, and plans. But that would take care of several of my 12X2012's, such as the "Take a bike trip down the Hill of No Return on my green bike" one and the "Go swimming once or twice" one also.

I'm starting to half-toy with the idea of checking out another blog site, like Wordpress or something, but I dunno. Do I really neeed to start another blog, when this one isn't posted in enough, anyway? But as it is, I get bored on here in the evenings but don't want to go to bed. So I sit here, online, with abso-youtly nothing to do. Facebook isn't cooperating today, Twitter's boring, Facebook's normally a bit boring, too. The messageboards I'm part of aren't all that busy tonight. Game sites are full of stupid teenage boys who think that by saying 'hi' in the chatbox I'll fall desperately in love with them and agree to be their 'girlfriend.' (although I still haven't figured out how THAT works, since it'd be a 10,000% online 'relationship...' Talk about stupid.) Plus I'm bored with those games.

I should go. Either go to bed, or go read, or something. I should have been working with my Mum tonight, because I got a new dress (free!! I love it. Long story... =), but it's size 12 and I'm not. Thankfully she knows how to alter and take clothes in somewhat. And I'd like to have it done in time for my friend's wedding on Saturday (hahaha, like that'll happen. O well.).

Toodle-pip, I'll see y'all later! =)
~Kiwi~

12 X 2012

I feel like I should blog again, but I'm not sure of what to talk about.
How about a Twelve Things to Do by 2012 list?
Okay, I'll try that.

• Finish my first year at JoAnn Fabrics. (Already 10.5 months into that, but I'll put it on here anyway.)
• Have my green bike fixed. Again. (Popped a tire last fall and haven't gotten around to replacing it. Constantly wishing I had it to ride, though)
• Learn to ride the unicycle. (I had my very first lesson tonight, and I have to say it went...so-so. Did you know you can fall 360 directions off a unicycle? Yep, mhm, you can. And I have a tire-burn on the inside of my right knee.)
• Wean myself off Facebook for 1 day a week. Or maybe just check it once on that day. (that'll be my Blogging Only day, so I get some more posts up here!)
• Go to one or two more concerts. (Preferably 3. Downhere would be great, or I hear that Michael W. Smith is doing a FREEEEE one in Milwaukee in August! Maybe if I can't go to the family reunion that weekend, if my boss doesn't give me those days off, I'll rustle up a group to go there.)
• Take an art class maybe. That would mean buckling down and Actually Doing some Artwork, but I might be able to manage that. 
• Teach my brother math. (He's 4th grade, and Mom had me helping the past couple months with his math work, but then school kinda trickled off for the summer.)
• Make a snow sculpture like THIS one, only different.
• Start making small items to sell on Etsy, and have an Etsy shop set up by this time next year. (I know that's been my goal for a few years now, but maybe I'll actually do it this time?)
• Take a bike trip to the Hill of No Return on my green bike. (It's super-steep, and has railroad tracks and a near-right-angle turn at the bottom. How much more danger can this girl handle? Rhetorical question.)
• Plan my Twenty Trip. (When my sister & parents had to go to Las Vegas for her college course, they promised that they'd take each of the rest of us on a trip when we turned twenty. Well, guess how old I'll  be next March? Um, yeah, that's a bit scary....)
• Go swimming once or twice.

I might change it up some between now and 2012, but that's what I have right now. I challenge readers of this blog to do the same--find 12 things you want to do before twenty-twelve, and blog about them!

~Kiwi~

Spring Fever

It's Spring! It's Spring

The bird is on the wing!

Now isn't that a funny thing?

I thought the wing was on the bird!

(stolen from the back cover of a magazine.)

I have a serious, possibly deadly case of Spring/Cabin Fever. I want to leave this house for a looooong time (like, all day, or something. ;) because I'm sick of it, and I want Spring weather so that I CAN get away from the house. I want to take a bike trip--and entire day; sun-up to sun-down. I want to perfect (or at least improve) my volleyball skills. I want flowers, sunshine, and green maple trees! I want short sleeves and flip flops. 

I know, I know, this is sounding like a selfish rant (I want, I want I WANT!), but it's not. Yes, it's a rant, but I'm wanting Spring for you guys. I want you to have lovely weather, I want you to have the pleasure of playing volleyball with me! 

I was looking at pictures of me from this past Summer and now feel like a ghost. I was so dark compared to now! Not saying that I 'need' to go tan, I'm just surprised at the difference between now and a few months ago.

I'm trying to decide what to look forward to the most this Spring/Summer. Graduating? Volleyball and softball games? Getting my driver's license (finally)? Hmm.....I think it's close to a three-way tie.

What are you looking forward to this spring?

~Kiwi~

the Post-Christmas Post

Howdy folks! Merry Christmas! I'm tempted to sit here and give you an itemised list of all I was given for Christmas, but I'll just cut it short. Mom and Dad gave me art supplies (I love new art supplies!! Give me a sketch book or two, and some pens, and it'll keep me occupied for hours.) and a pretty charm bracelet. Mom made the bracelet herself.
And my Christmas was fun and if you want to know all about it, you can ask me, but I won't sit here and bore the rest of you. Because I know that some people don't like long descriptions.


2009 To-Do List-----The Results
Here's what I got done:

1. Win a big contest. (Michael W. Smith concert! =D)
2. bike down the great-grandaddy of all hills at medium to top speed
3. got lost in a corn maze (That was awesome fun. It's going on my 2010 list, too!!)
4. found someone who wanted to squaredance with me (easy)
5. learned to square dance a bit better (hard)
6. watched all the LotR movies again (love 'em)
7. watched a meteor shower (awesome)
8. got my green bike fixed up nicely (Looks snazzy now!)
9. got a digital camera (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!)
10. got signatures from 11 famous people 
11. went to two concerts (Two amazing concerts. Thanks Kris)
12. visited friends in Iowa several times (not nearly enough, though!)

Things I didn't get done last year:

1. I didn't earn money to go to Lifest in 2010.
2. I didn't buy lots of cds. (I only bought one: In The Hands of God).
3. I didn't get an Etsy shop set up. (But it will be up and running by next Christmas, by George!!)
4. I didn't have a chance to try bleach-pen designs on tee shirts. 
5. I never did sleep in a tent. (This year!!)
6. I didn't quite get around to an all-day bike trip (This year!!)
7. I didn't get a painting sold this year. (because I didn't do #3)
8. I didn't make any music videos (although I almost did several.)
9. I didn't get two hundred posts on here (but this is my 150th!)
10. I didn't quite get the hang of double-dutch jump roping. (we never got past 10 jumps. =P )
11. I didn't get my picture in the newspaper (to my knowledge)
12. I didn't go to a drive-in theater (not much worth watching!)
13. And I didn't get around to asking a stranger a random question. (even though that should have been the easiest thing on the list!)

So I ended up not doing more than I did do! =P Oh, well, I guess I'll just put a lot of those things on my 2010 list, and get them done then!

What's on your 2010 lists?

~Kiwi~

p.s. I'll give you a 'happy new year' post tomorrow or Sunday. Too tired to do it now.

guess what! Guess what!

I get to cross two more things off my To-Do List!
1: bike down the great-grandaddy of all hills at a fairly high speed (this past Sunday)
2: win a big contest, like a cruise or something! (Wednesday afternoon)

No, I did not win a cruise. :( Nor did I win a flight to the concert of my choice, or get to have Mark Schultz come perform in my living room. :'( Nay, I won something else entirely. Take a look at this excerpt from the email (the red and bold letters were neither red nor bold before I tampered with 'em):

Subject: Hehey winner!
"Kiwi Fruit = you are a winner!


Just stop by the station and tell Sherry your name and you have won 4 tickets to Michael W. Smith!


Enjoy!!

(station dude)"


Hahaha!!!! I winned!
You see, one of the radio stations I listen to had a contest. You were to email them with "Why I Like Mike," then they would randomly select five entries, and those people won 4 tickets to the Michael W. Smith New Hallelujah World Tour stop in Dekalb, IL. It's a ways away, but hey! I just won $86-worth of tickets!
I entered just so I could say that I tried, 'knowing' I wouldn't win, because I've never won anything like this before!!!!
And then I opened my email-box, expecting an email from Queen Lucy and nearly had a heart attack when I saw that instead!
Here is my entry:
"I like Mike because he has an amazing voice. He's one of the few artists whose songs I could just sit and listen to over and over. And, his songs mean things, they aren't just nice words and catchy tunes.
One fun thing is that my Mom and I have very different musical tastes (I like slightly more rock songs, while she prefers gospel and hymns), but we both like Michael W. Smith! If I win the tickets, I can't wait to take my Mom and Sister with me.
~[Kiwi Fruit]~"

Then they sent me the afore-quoted email, saying I'd won.

"Thank you so much! I entered, and did not think it the least likely that I would win!!
~[Kiwi]"

The station dude replied with "Welllllllllll when you mentioned your Mom.....yah know... :D :D"

So that's been the highlight of my week. :D (I still can't believe I won something! :)
What about the rest of you? What's the most exciting thing that's happened to you?

~Kiwi da Ebullient Fruit~

p.s. I regret to inform y'all that for a few days, at least, I can't read some blogs. Mom and Dad set up some 'Parental Controls' on the computer that require them to unlock some sites. And as of yet, Mom and I haven't had the chance to sit down and unlock all the blogs. :( so sorry! You'll have to comment on here if anything really important comes up!

P.P.S. Ladybugs! (see the last paragraph of the post)

Big, long, over-due post/I Think I'm Going to Turn Vegetarian

Hi, I'm back! The computer (formerly Angus, then Fritz, and now Angus again 'cause he's not "on the fritz" all the time) has returned to my clutches and is now mine-all-mine for the moment. Guess what I'm doing. I am listening to Jason Gray. On the computer! It's still weird hearing sound coming out of him. (Rapunzel says to specify 'the sound coming out of Angus, not Jason Gray. ;) But weird in a nice sort of way. :-)

I shall do a quickie over-view of the past few weeks. The Wednesday after Easter we went to Madison and the Tea Party.
What was the Tea Party? Well, Wednesday was April 15th. Tax day. People all over the country gathered at the state capitals, or other large towns to protest against raising/unfair taxes, big government, lying officials, stuff like that. What happened in Boston a few hundred years back, when King George raised the tea tax? (Hopefully you remember your Boston tea party hstory lessons) That's where the name came from. TEA also stands for Taxed Enough Already.

So we drove up to participate in that. We had to park 2 (?) miles away, then walk up to the capital. We could have ridden a shuttle bus, but the lines were so long!
When we finally arrived, the square was covered with people with signs, people with tea party tee shirts, people, people, people!! One news station predicted 100 people standing on the steps of the capital. They were right, there couldn't have been more than 100 people standing on the steps, but there were7,900 more on the lawn!

I don't remember the names of all the people who spoke, but y'all can look that up if you want. I do remember one, however. Melika Willoughby, 17 years old and homeschooled! (Don't you just love it when you see other homeschoolers doing really well at something? Despite the fact that we are 'undersocialized' and 'poorly taught', we can still do things! :)
Here's her speech.





So what do you think? I think she did pretty well.

After the 'party' was over, I got my first ride in a school bus (Drat! Broke my perfect unattendance record!) back to the lot our car was in.

On Sunday before the service started, Dad motioned me over and secretively pointed someone out to me.
"Isn't that the girl who spoke at the tea party Wednesday?"
I wasn't so sure, but he shooed me over anyway ("It can't hurt to find out!") and, waddayaknow, it was! We got to talk quite a bit before and after the service. She has two sisters, they are all in competative debate, they are all homeschooled, they know some people at our church and were visiting them.... Anyway. We exchanged emails, so hopefully we can stay in touch.
I just thought that was quite a coincident!


And now just a (very) quick telling of my past two weeks. Week before last we didn't do much. I got aquainted with my new bike. (which I love.) I found that padded handlebars are infinately better than unpadded ones, but they both work equally well.
Angus went in for a check up, and came back working well. We're having to re-install everything from pre-repairation (is that a word?), which is taking forever to do.
Um, this past week we watched a movie or two. Today we cooked freezer meals. Mom purposefully chose me to cut up the stew meat, e'en though she knows full well that I don't like handling raw meat. She says I should get used to it. I say I'm going to be a vegetarian cook.
I don't mind eating cooked meat, it's just when it's raw, bloody, etc. that I dislike it.

We also went to church to meet the Associate Pastoral Candidate. He's not a football-watching person (HOOrah!), he's a baseball-watching person (HaHa!!) who roots for the Cubs. :-) Good fer him. (We missed most of the Q&A part, so that's most of what I learned about him! I didn't just neglect the important parts)
So that is, in a nutshell, what my past two weeks have been like. What have y'all been doing?

~Kiwi~

P.S. A discussion question: Why is there a dollar sign ($) at the top of the keyboard, but no cent sign? Please explain it to me.

Hullo.

Hullo. I would do a long post today, because I've been up to quite a bit in the past few days, but.....for some reason I don't feel like typing much right now. I'm sorry that my posts have been a bit sporadic lately! I don't know why I'm feeling like this. :(
My Green Bike was picked up from the bike shop today and I love riding it! It's taking a bit of getting used to, though, because the handlebars are so narrow.
Well, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is coming on now, so I'm going to go watch that! Sorry for this horribly boring post.
~Kiwi~
p.s. Fritz shall be going into the shop next week, so sometime after that y'all'll get some photos from vacation!

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