How do other people come up with interesting post titles???

Hello sadly neglected blog and blog readers. I'm sorry about neglecting you. :( I feel bad about that.
I finished the Feelin' Feminine Challenge last Sunday. I don't have pictures loaded on here yet, but I can tell you about it.
Thursday (Day 4) I wore a pale purple skirt with a peachy-orange shirt. Most of the day I wore my hair in ponytails, but, while preparing for Bible study, I discovered it is now long enough to braid again! Since then, I've worn my hair in braids 4 or 5 times! For accessories I wore a pair of home-made earrings.
Friday (Day 5) I wore a denim skirt and a pink shirt with a brown tank-top layered over it. I did my hair in braids (No, that's not repeating, because I only wore braids for two hours on Thursday) and wore a tan-and-pink Newsboy-style cap. :) I forgot earrings. I hate forgetting earrings. I need to start carrying some in my purse.
Saturday I wore that black skirt I had worn on Monday, a blue shirt, silver earrings, and my lovely black Eeyore hoodie. I had put my hair in braids on Friday, while it was wet, then left them overnight. In the morning my hair was all wavy, so I pulled some back in a clip, and left the rest curley.
Sunday morning I wore a skirt and a shirt. I don't remember which ones. Then, for volleyball, I wore that black skirt again with a green shirt, my hair in braids and a red bandanna.
I should have gotten more pictures, because just reading this wardrobe list is reeeelly boring.

This past week has been boring....nothing much happening. Rachel, you were absolutely correct. I was bored and gumpy and all that because last week was VBS at our old church. (check out last year's posts on it: pre-VBS, mid-week, post-VBS) Sis and I were invited again, but she has a new job and couldn't go. Supposedly, I was going to be busy, too, and I didn't know until Sunday that I would be bored-outta-my-gourd all week, and by then it was too late. >:( Miranda, Rachel, and Abbie, y'all need to convince your church event co-ordinators that it is imparative they do another session of VBS in August. Imperative! I had almost resigned myself to my VBS-less week because there was a Paul Colman concert that Sis and I were hoping to go to today. I mean, it's not VBS, but a concert would sorta make up for a boring week, right? It would, but on Sunday I found out that I'm not going. >:-( So that's why that post was so unhappy. *sigh* Kristen, Owan, Heather, and some others are going to the concert today. "You'd better enjoy it!!"

But the rest of the week wasn't too bad. I didn't do anything of importance. Monday I made something for Jordan. I'll tell y'all about that when I have pictures on here. *evil little snicker* >:D
Tuesday was rainy and slow and boring, which didn't help my mood.
Wednesday we had our first sweet corn of the season! We're within biking distance of a farm market, so I rode down there and bought a dozen of what must be the sweetest sweet corn ever, anywhere, at any time in the past, present, or future. I love good sweet corn. Oh, and to make it better, we watched a Cubs vs. Phillies game in which the Cubs won. :) That was fun.
Thusday was Bible study.
Friday we went to the Madison Re-store, and then to Paoli. Paoli is a small-ish town with quite a few interesting shops. There was an antiques store, card store, beaded-stuff store, an Upper Class Art Gallery (one chair there = $2,200, one little wooden shelf = $300, little-bitty wooden box = $78!!!! We are deffinately "Lower Class" people. Imagine paying twenty-two hundred for a chair! Wow. After that, I'd be scared to sit on it.), and a more interesting art gallery. I liked the second gallery better. It had more art work that, if I could afford it and had a place to put it, I would buy.
And then Short Stuff called, and it turns out that The Play that we were going to perform for the church talent night is most likely canceled. The other lead can't rehearse with the rest of us until Tuesday night, and Sis works until 8:00 or so, meaning she can't rehearse before next Saturday.....the day of the talent show. Rats. But we'll find something to do.

I have to go eat lunch now. I'm not per'tically hungry, but we're going out later, so I'd better eat. My appologies for any misspellings. The spell-check refuses to comply to my demands, and I don't want to read through the post again.
G'bai!
~Kiwi~

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.

Stupid Election!! (:^P) *Raspberry to Obama*

Guess who won. >:-(
Hmph. I'm disappointed. And I'm not going to go into an excessive rant yet (I'll save that for election day), but I will say this. I don't want all his Change. Pulling out the troops sooner? Making it easier to kill babies? And if we aren't careful, it's going to get harder and harder to homeschool.
Ugh. This'll be a long four years. Let's just hope people will have learned their lessons by the time 2012 rolls around and they vote for some real Change.

This was my Grandpa M. in 1980-something. Grandpa was born on April 5th, 1923 in the middle of a freak blizzard in Northern Illinois. He passed away on November 2nd, 2008. He was 85 years old. My Grandpa grew up on a farm, then started one of his own when he and Grandma married. He raised milk cows and Chester White hogs, then started on Cheviot sheep when my uncle wanted some for 4-H.
Grandpa had a massive stroke two and a half weeks ago. Then, almost exactly two weeks after that, he died. The visitation was Tuesday, the funeral yesterday.
We're betting he's sitting up in Heaven with my Great Grandma on my Mom's side, who left in January, picking on and teasing each other! She came up to visit us years ago, and we went to Grandpa's farm, and she was so tickled to be able to hear sheep because her family had sheep when she was little. And also, the Cubbies are probably winning up there! :-D
Most of my cousins came to the visitation and funeral (sorry you couldn't be there, Pooky's Girl.), along with some friends of ours (hey Miranda and Rachel! Thank you for coming.). It's sad that we get to see so many people we haven't seen in years because of this. Our land-lords from six years ago saw the announcement in the paper and came!
So, yeah. That's what's happening. I'm really going to miss him. And his poems! He was quite the poet, don'tchaknow. I'll try to post some of his poems on here, once I can find them. There's one about Grandma, starting from the day they met, and continuing on through the Window Mishap. But that's "a whole 'nuther" story and the poem explains all of it.
We all heard stories that some people, even Dad, had never heard before, like how when he was a teenager, Grandpa and some of his friends traveled around the county singing and playing guitar. We never knew he played guitar! But I'm sort of glad that he didn't see the result of the election. He would not be happy about it.

And that's all I have to say now, except that I'm glad that my life will be returning to some-what normalcy again. I'll even be (rather) happy to start school again! We've had almost three weeks off, and need to start it again!!

~Kiwifruit

P.S. Be prepared to repeat Evil Scheme Number 355,653,548 for HMS Avalon, who has not posted in three weeks!!

Cubs Game/Life Update/Acceptance Speech--A lot of stuff, I know! :-P

I couldn't post right after the game because I was busy, and then I got banned from the computer by Mom because I was spending 'too much time' on the computer. 'Too much time' depends on who's talking. I say two-three hours is too much. Mom says one hour is about all I need per day. [Yes, but not one hour six times per day- Kiwi's Mom] Hmph. So, anyway, about the ball game. We drove up to Milwaukee Friday afternoon. I had so much fun. The Cubs lost, but then again it was for the better. The Cubs were already going to the play-offs, but we'd either have to play the New York Mets or the Milwaukee Brewers, and we prefer the Brewers. If you're a good Cubs fan, you'd know what the Mets did to the Cubbies in '69. I'm not allowed to repeat such horrible happenings. So, even though my Cubbies lost 5-1, I still enjoyed it. Monkey had wanted to buy cotton candy really bad, since he doesn't remember what it's like, and he was convinced that it was $8, since it's 'expensive'. So he brought the money, but they couldn't find any cotton candy. So while Monkey was sitting there, watching the game (as best he could), my Aunt Jackie snuck up behind him and sloooowly lowered the bag in front of his face. You should have seen it!! He was sooo cute! His eyes got really big, and he got this disbelieving grin on his face, and he looked at Aunt Jackie, and looked back at the candy. When he took his first bite, his eyes got even bigger, if that's possible, at how it just melts in you mouth. It was so cute! I hope we have pictures of that!
We had a great experience for our first major league ball game. We were rather far back and high up, but we could see well enough to distinguish some of the players. Did you know... Alfonso Soriano is usually the only one wearing the shorter knickers? But Felix Pie wore them too when he came out that night.
Right now I'm really disgusted. Those Cubs players need a piece of my mind! Has anyone seen the past two games??? Why did Lou Pinella send Fukodome up to bat when he couldn't even hit the broad side of a large barn last night?? Why didn't he put in a pinch hitter? Rrrrgh! And Soriano. Oh, Soriano! What happened to your hitting? *sighs and shakes head* All I can say is that they had better shape up tonight, otherwise they're outta the play-offs!

The Saturday after the game, Rapunzel and I went to the botanical gardens and the Milwaukee Art Museum with our aunts and uncles. I wish I could have spent all day at the museum. I got to see original Renoirs and Monets. It was neat.
For supper, we went to a Thai restaurant, where my parents & brothers met us. I've never had Thai food before. It was very good. I can't remember what I had--something with the word 'pud' in it. It had shrimp, noodles, and bean sprouts and an interesting sauce that was very sweet with a distinctive peanut flavor. 'Most everything came in three levels of spiciness; Coward, Adventurous, and Native Thai. Rapunzel and I shared one at a Coward level, but I tried some of Aunt Jackie's Adventurous stuff. I love spicy foods, but that was just murder!! Uncle Steve (Jackie's husband) had some stuffed shrimp and white rice at the 'Adventurous level. I took some of his rice, since everyone had more than enough to share, but accidentally got a little itty-bitty bit of sauce. Yow, that was hot! By the end of the meal, Uncle Steve had to ask for some milk, along with the boys, who got some of the 'contaminated' rice. He turned so red! It was funny.

Now, on to something more serious: I was awarded two awards. One from Judi, thanking me for pushing her to update, and the other from Catfreak70, thanking me for showing her how to do this. I thank both of you for these beautiful awards. I feel so honored that you thought of me! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Now it's my turn to award awards.
The first goes to my dear friend Dagmar. She got me interested in the blogging world. And if it hadn't been for her, there would be at least three fewer blogs in the world! Thank you, Dagmar!
The next goes to....(drumroll, please)....HMS Avalon!! She's got a great blog going, a great story being written, and gave me an excuse for starting a 'Comment Blitz'. Even though she doesn't post as often as she should, we still love her!
Matt deserves one, also. He's got a cool free music blog going, and he helped out with some side-splitting comments in our Comment Blitz.
Let's see. Miss Judi, of course, for the same reason she gave for nominating me! And for continuing that suspense-thriller story she started. Thanks, Judi!!
Last, but not least, Catfreak70. Like the others, she's got an awesome blog. And she's a great friend of mine, even though we're now three hours apart!! :-D

Thus ends the 2008 Best Blogger Awards. I'll add Owan, Zoe, and Heather to this later, but I'm supposed to be getting off right now and don't have time to!! Sorry, y'all! I promise I'll add ya later! ;-P

But one last thing before I go! Our new church is having a Barn Dance tonight! It sounds like a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go. There's going to be square dancing. I wish I could remember how to square dance! Our homeschool group did line dancing a few years ago, and two of the weeks we 'learned' square dancing. If we had had a few more weeks, I probably would have gotten the hang of it.
So, I need to go now, and do something. I don't know what it'll be, but I'll probably find something.
TTYL!
~Kiwifruit

P.S. We started school on Monday. It's really boring. I've got History, Literature, Writing, and Biology so far. Ugh.

Cubs Game this Friday!!!/Updated on Friday

I'm excited about the Cubs/Brewers game on Friday! Unfortunately, it won't matter that much to the Cubs team, but it's also kinda good. It means that the Cubbies are going to the Play-offs! I'm really happy about that! My dream for this year? One of them, at least, is that the Chicago Cubs go to the world series. And then sweep the other team. All you non-Cubs fans: DO NOT BURST MY HAPPY LITTLE DREAM-BUBBLE!! This is our year! So, I'm looking forward to it. Asdef and I are making pillow case signs to hold up between innings and when the Cubs win. After the game we plan to give them to our Cubs-fan Grandpa to add to his Cubs collection. I'll give more details on what they look like once we get them finished. I will be the medium-height girl wearing a Cubs tee-shirt with 'Soriano 12' on the back. I'll also probably be wearing a red paisley bandanna and a big grin on my face. (:^D) Look our for us!
Lets see... Oh, an update on Operation Post-It:

Our efforts were not in vain. We were successful! HSM Avalon has posted a total of TWO times since we started our comment blitz. The comment count went up to 83, thanks to a lot of great post-ers! Now, Miss Avalon has posted a way to have a very popular blog. Y'all'll have to check it out. She also, miracle of miracles, added onto her story!!!!! Congratulations, fellow post-ers! Now we may have to turn this on Catfreak 70 soon, if she doesn't update. Don't tell her, Avalon, we'll just let her alone for a few more days, then start in on her. >:-D (that's an devious little evil grin, for those of you who don't recognize it)
I think that this Comment-Blitz could become a very useful tool. Also, Judi, we need to keep in mind your friend 'Jonno', who hasn't posted in a while, either.

I need to end this now if I want it posted tonight. I'll write more tomorrow, if possible. Don't forget to watch the Cubs/Brewers game on Friday @ 7:00 pm central time!

~Kiwi

UPDATE--FRIDAY MORNING:
Okay, now it's Friday morning, seven hours, thirty-four minutes left until the game starts. Here's a description of my poster: on one side is "KIWI is HERE!" with a big red arrow pointing down underneath it. To the left side (right to anybody watching) is the Cubs logo in blue and red. On the other side will be "CUBS ROCK MY WORLD". Let me know if you see me! Asdef is working on one that says "GO CUBS GO! 1st CUBS GAME!!!" On the other side he's putting a big blue 'W', I think.
After the game, Mom, Dad, and the boyz will be coming home while Rapunzel and I go with our aunt and uncle. We're going to cruise Milwaukee all Saturday before coming home that night.

I can't wait 'til tonight!! Don't forget: Blue Cubs shirt w/ Soriano 12 on the back, jeans, red bandanna, big sign saying 'KIWI is HERE" or "CUBS ROCK MY WORLD". That's me.

~Kiwifruit

Judi, This is for You!

My good friend, Judi the Impatient One, threatened me in her last comment and told me I couldn't read her blog until I updated. By the way, Judi, you commented that too late. I'd already read your latest but didn't have time to comment right away. ;-P
So what do I have to say now? Yesterday was our last Sunday at our church, and was filled with goodbyes. I hated that. It was potluck Sunday and we had our annual picnic at the park. It wasn't anything especially exciting. I was going to play a bit of baseball with a few other people, but instead had to spend the last hour and a half searching for Asdef after a large misunderstanding. And we didn't find him. Y'know, sometimes I wish each of us older three kids had a cell phone. In someways it would be much easier. Like in Walmart today, The boys were with Rapunzel in another part of the store while Mom and I went to get some things. Rapunzel had the cell phone with her (we use it as a home phone) because she was expecting a call. We couldn't find them where we left them, so Mom called her, found out where they were, and we went straight there. Wouldn't life be so much easier if we all had cell phones?
I said goodbye to lots of people at church and youth group. I said goodbye to my friend Dee and her sister, mom, cousin, and grandparents. I said goodbye to friends from our home school co-op group on Saturday night. And there are still people I have to say it to. I don't like saying it.
So, Judi, what else do you want to hear about? Here's some about moving.
We now have about four days until we load up the u-haul and six before we move into the new house. Ummmm....... we got more packing done today, including the clock in the living room, which ought to make it interesting. I'm going to occasionally ask Rapunzel what time it is just for the fun of seeing her look up at the empty space on the wall. I did that several times when her watch batteries died, and it annoyed her to death!
Today I was able to give my friend her birthday present... a month late. She wanted a Jeremy Camp cd, and I couldn't find the right one anywhere. Monday, I finally checked at walmart for it, and guess what! It was there, and on sale, too! And it had two of her favorite songs by him. How awesome is that? She was thrilled when she unwrapped it. "My first Christian cd by my favorite Christian artist from my best friend!" she said. So that was cool. And we sat in my room for a while and listened to it. I can't remember the name of the cd, but it had "Restored", "Take You Back" "Even When", and "Lay Down my Pride" and "This Man" on it.
I packed all my clothes into a suitcase, which I am now living out of. It was cool, I was checking all the pockets in the suitcase when I came across my dark blue polka-dotted scarf, which I thought I'd lost between Florida and here last year! I took it off in a hotel room, must have put it in the suitcase, and forgot where it was! So I wore it again today (Tuesday), after over a year of unuse (is 'unuse' a word?).
Ho hum. I think I should get off now. I started this post on Monday, almost had it done on Tuesday, and am posting it now. The reason for this is that Dad is working from home until Thursday this week, so he can work on the packing. So Judi, it's not exactly my fault I haven't posted in a whole three days.
I'll (try) to post again soon. No promises. We'll be finishing packing everything on Friday, loading up the U-haul on Saturday, taking Sunday off, driving up and unloading on Monday.
TTYL!
~Kiwifruit

P.S. Watch the Cubs/Brewers game on Friday the twenty-sixth. We're going to make a sign (I'll tell you what it looks like after we've made it), and possibly get on tv.

Closing Date!

Dear friends and readers of mine, I bring thee joyous tidings: we have a closing date! We are closing on the Cheddar Curtain house (if you don't get that, read the post from Wednesday, August 27, titled "IT'S DONE!!!!!! WE'RE DONE HERE!!!!!!!!") on Monday, September 15--the same day the renters close on this house! Isn't that great?!?! We're packing up a U-haul and cleaning house on Saturday. I think Mom said the renters want to move in a day early, so on Saturday night through Monday morning we'll be at my grandparents'. And then on Monday we'll head up to the new house and, after signing a few papers, start moving in! I can't wait!
So we might have an extra Sunday here, and we might not. It all depends on how fast we get everything out of the house and clean. One item of good news is that this means we will get to go to the ball game on the 26th.
I need to get off now, this was just a quick update. TTYL!
~Elated Kiwifruit

I Never Want to see a Cardboard Box Again... Unless it is full of Chocolate!

I've packed soooo many cardboard boxes and there are still more to go.
We have the garage cleared out and are now renting it to the renters of our house. They're renting it for the next two weeks because they're not moving in until the fifteenth. If all goes well, we will be closing on the house up in Wisconsin on the twelfth or fifteenth. It might be later than that, which would mean living at our grandparents' house for a few days. I hope that everything works so we can move in on Saturday the thirteenth--twelve days away.
Well, Miss Impatient One (aka Judi) has been bugging me to hurry up and post, so I'd better make this a long one. Let's see... I could type up the passage I'm reading in The Two Towers. Actually, if I had it with me, I'd show you-all one of my favorite poems from The Fellowship of the Ring. It's the one that Sam recites when they're resting beside the trolls, for those of you who've read it already. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I'm at my grandparents' place right now for a grilled supper, and left The Fellowship at home since I'm done with it. Hold on a second and I'll try to find it on the internet. Back in a second!......................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................................................I'm back! Found it! Here you go:

" 'Come on, Sam!' said Merry. 'There's more stored in your head than you let on about.'

'I don't know about that,' said Sam. 'But how would this suit? It ain't what I call proper poetry, if you understand me: just a bit of nonsense. But these old images here brought it to my mind.' Standing up, with his hands behind his back, as if he was at school, he began to sing to an old tune.

Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,

And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;

For many a year he had gnawed it near,

For meat was hard to come by.

Done by! Gum by!
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,

And meat was hard to come by.

Up came Tom with his big boots on.

Said he to Troll: 'Pray, what is yon?

For it looks like the shin o' my nuncle Tim,

As should be a-lyin' in graveyard.

Caveyard! Paveyard!
This many a year has Tim been gone,

And I thought he were lyin' in graveyard.'

'My lad,' said Troll, 'this bone I stole.

But what be bones that lie in a hole?

Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o' lead,

Afore I found his shinbone.

Tinbone! Thinbone!
He can spare a share for a poor old troll,

For he don't need his shinbone.'

Said Tom: 'I don't see why the likes o' thee

Without axin' leave should go makin' free

With the shank or the shin o' my father's kin;

So hand the old bone over!

Rover! Trover!
Though dead he be, it belongs to he;

So hand the old bone over!'

'For a couple o' pins,' says Troll, and grins,

'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.

A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet!

I'll try my teeth on thee now.

Hee now! See now!
I'm tired o' gnawing old bones and skins;

I've a mind to dine on thee now.'

But just as he thought his dinner was caught,

He found his hands had hold of naught.

Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind

And gave him the boot to larn him.

Warn him! Darn him!
A bump o' the boot on the seat, Tom thought,

Would be the way to larn him.

But harder than stone is the flesh and bone

Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.

As well set your boot to the mountain's root,

For the seat of a troll don't feel it.

Peel it! Heal it!
Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,

And he knew his toes could feel it.

Tom's leg is game, since home he came,

And his bootless foot is lasting lame;

But Troll don't care, and he's still there

With the bone he boned from its owner.

Doner! Boner!
Troll's old seat is still the same,

And the bone he boned from its owner!'

‘Where did you come by that, Sam?' asked Pippin. 'I've never heard those words before.'

Sam muttered something inaudible.

'It's out of his own head, of course,' said Frodo. 'I am learning a lot about Sam Gamgee on this journey. First he was a conspirator, now he's a jester. He'll end up by becoming a wizard - or a warrior!'

'I hope not,' said Sam. 'I don't want to be neither!' "

I wish they had included that in the movie. I noticed that not many (if any) of the poems and songs were used in the movies. And Tom Bombadil wasn't in them at all, I don't think. Judi, you said you were reading The Fellowship. How far in the book are you? Liking it so far? I'm afraid The Two Towers will be delayed some by moving, but with some serious reading and a few bits of stolen time I'll be done before then.
I've been running back and forth from the living room to the office, watching bits of the Cubs game against the Houston Astros. Top of the seventh, Houston 2, Chicago 0. >:(

"Let's pick up the pace, Cubbies!"

We're going to a Cubs/Brewers game on September 26 and I can't wait! Alas, the Moving Disease might get its clutches in that too. If we can't close on the new house by the fifteenth, it might be delayed until, you guessed it, September 26. *raspberry*
Just out of curiosity, is there anyone else reading this that's going to that game? Getting to meet one of you would be cool. As long as you aren't rooting for the Brewers! lol! Actually, my aunt and uncle, who live near enough to go to a lot of Brewers games, might be rather interesting to sit with. She's a Cubs fan, and he's for the Brewers. I think that most of the time they're sitting across the park from each other with a pair of binoculars so they can make faces at one another when 'their' team gains a run!

Lets see. One more thing before I go. Last night we had the 2008 Water Olympics at youth group instead of the normal meeting. We had relays that involved: breaking a full balloon above your head, catching (and breaking) a water balloon thrown by a team mate in a colander above your head, hitting it with a tennis racket, and trying to fill an ice-cream pail with water from a sponge carried over and squeezed above your head. Battleship--a tarp hung over two ladders. someone from Team A throws a water balloon over to Team B. If the water balloon breaks in any way, shape, or form, Team A gets a point. If it goes out of bounds or is caught or just doesn't break, Team B gets the point. Our team won by a landslide. Then we played a game where in the middle of a wet, soapy tarp that's secured to the ground, there are several items: basketball, soccer ball, whiffle ball, foot ball. You line up and everyone gets a number. Then the leader calls out an item ("red and white soccer ball") and a number ("seven"), and then the people with the number seven run and try to get the red and white soccer ball from the middle onto their side. I knew some boys are competitive, but dude! I've never seen them like they were Sunday night! One guy, Josh, had his arms wrapped around the football and dragged himself and five or six other kids halfway across the tarp! (Once or twice the leader called out "all even numbers" or "all girls" or "all boys" or just "free-for-all") And then we had the slip-n-slide, which was great, except now I have a big bruise on each hip.
So that's what's going on here in Cornland. It's now Thursday (I didn't get this quite finished yesterday), and we're packing more. Ugh. Blech. *sigh*

I have to go get more.... packing *shudders uncontrollably* done.... packing in.... boxes *tries desperately to keep from running away, screaming*.

~Boxed-out Kiwifruit