hola, folks!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Front:

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

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

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

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

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

See ya!

~Kiwi~

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!

Random Friday

Hello, welcome to Random Friday. This marks one week of sticking to my schedule! Yeehaw! *parties*


Today we played hooky and, while Mom and Da Boys were out shopping for stuff, Rapunzel, Short Stuff and I went to the mall. I almost bought a dress ($60 down to $7.50). I had it set aside for me to pick up on our way out, and then Rapunzel got a call from her co-worker asking her to cover the co-worker's shift.....in twenty minutes! So we had to rush out and home so Rapunzel could work and Drat it ALL, I had to leave the dress!!! RRRGH! Why didn't I just pay for it and run it out to the car??? *stupidstupidstupid* Hmph.

We tried on prom dresses at Penny's. I tried THIS one, which, with straps, I would wear. Over it I had a lacy-silvery shawl, which helped with the strapless-ness. How can anyone bear wearing a strapless dress for any length of time? I was getting annoyed with it after just a few minutes. It definitely needed straps.
Just about every little thing in the mall caught our attention. Even the ugly, huge belt-buckle kiosk that was being set up. We're planning on doing that about once a month or so, on rainy or just plain boring days when there's nothing else to do. We hadn't made it to the Boston Store or Kohls yet, so that'll keep us busy.
I have never just gone to the mall for fun before! We rarely go there, but now that there's one just a few minutes away with most of the major department stores.

For the benefit of Short Stuff, Jumbo Shrimp, and Kirsten, here is a link to a realy cool site I found: http://www.recollections.biz/ Check it out! There're plenty of really nice dresses in there...but few under $150!

Owan guessed correctly in the Song of The Day game, getting both the title and the artist, and Friends of Narnia guessed the title. The song was "Nothing Left to Lose" by Jimmy Needham, and was found here in the second paragraph:
"Sorry folks, I got nothing. And since I've got nothing left to lose, I'm asking you to tell me what one topic I should explain to you or discuss or whatever! I'll make up for this dismal little post on the weekend."
Owan gets the full five points and Narnia will receive 2 1/2. Congratulations, folks!

Let's see, what else?

Oh, I got to chat with Duncan Phillips a wee little bit! I got on to chat with Skittles on her blog, and she was talking with Duncan, and she let me say Hi. :D That was cool! Skittles said she'd try to give me a comment with my portion of the conversation, so then I'll be able to tell y'all what-all went on. I asked where 'Oinch' and 'Squiz' came from, but they must have taken a vow of secrecy because he gave the common answer of 'Oh, you know nicknames. They just pop up and get used and no one knows where they come from' (only not in those words). I wonder if that's true? There's gotta be some story behind them, some explanation for their use! I think that there's some super-secret, 'Boyz-only story that they're hiding. We'll probably never know for sure.
I found a new NB site with a quick history of them. http://www.geocities.com/finnov333/nb-history.html Even if (horror of horrors) you didn't like the NBs, this is a funny read! Wow, did Peter look different with hair, especially long hair! I'm sooo glad he cut it eventually. Look at him in the second picture (that's him on the right....I think.). *shiver* "Pete, never, ever, ever wear your hair long again!
And I didn't know that Sean Taylor was part of the band at one time, I just thought he came in to write songs for them. Huh. Learn something new every day!

I was looking through my calendar the other day. March is chalk-full of birthdays! Duncan's on the 3rd, 11, 12, and 21 are friends' birthdays, Jordan on the 13th and me on the 23. A cousin's on the 25th. Anybody else have a March birthday?

Well, that's about all for now, folks. I got nothing else to say, except "I like breaded shrimp."
G'day, mates!
~Kiwi da Fruit

P.S. My Short Stuff just called! She had a dress laid aside for her, too. She and her mom are out grocery shopping and just happened to stop by the mall for her dress, and so she's picking up mine, too! THANKEE, SHORT STUFF!!!
I'll have to post a picture of it and my quilt block on here.