My weekend plans

I still have 2 more days until the weekend. But it doesn't seem far away because I don't have a whole lot of school to do (besides math and that english essay) and Korah is over!!!
fun fun fun!

Well... that Essay will be a lot of work but tecnically it's not due until next Wednesday, which is 6 days away. :)


My dad is FINALLY painting the kitchen and downstairs, well he hasen't started YET but he's moving stuff and getting ready too. My mom has been baking today, burgers, bread and oatmeal cookies. yummy!


Korah is sleeping over 2 nights in a row, then we're going to the Lepage's (sabbath school teachers) house for a sleepover friday night. Then on Sabbath morning go to Lancaster church and take a sack lunch. Then go to a park with a water dam to see bald eagles and birds and going hiking a little I guess. Then after Sabbath we're going to Old Country Buffet for Dinner. Yummy! So that will be a long day.


On Sunday I'll probably work on my esaay (maybe lol) and help my dad paint (if he lets me).

I set up my fish tank today. Mandy got it for me for my birthday. My birthday is still a month away but at least it isn't a late present. It's a good time anyway because I was cleaning and vacumming today so I have a place for it right next to my bed.

We're probably going to go get fish tomorrow. I'll post more pics later. ~Ally

Consider yourself Blessed!

This morning, if you woke up healthy, then you are happier than the 1 million people that will not survive next week.
If there is a food in your fridge, you have shoes and clothes, you have bed and a roof, you are richer then 75% of the people in the world.

Love's Abiding Joy

http://alyssas-place.blogspot.com/2007/11/loves-comes-softly.html

We got Love's Abiding Joy for Christmas. It's my favorite of them all.

I just watched princess diaries 2 for the first time the other day. It's a pretty neat movie.

old tv shows

do you like to watch old tv shows? if so what? I recently found a show called "growing pains". It's about a family with 4 kids. It's got a lot of funny/sad/hilarious/weird episodes. You can go to AOL video to watch.

half over

today was the 24th. Last day of the First semester. First day of the 2nd. I am so glad, I can hardly believe I'm half done being a freshman! It will be so cool to be a 10th grader!!!! :)

ironic in life

I just took a math test. 30 pts. 3 points each question. I only got one right, the one I thought I would get wrong I got right and the rest I thought I'd get right I got wrong. So sad. My first c+ in my whole life! :(

Anyways since I'm posting I might as well put up a picture. It's of me & the moon.

oh an please pray for my math grade. I hope nothing bad will happen to me. :(

The Wise old Woman

Retelling a story by Alyssa Powell
(I read this story and rewrote it in my own words)

This traditional Japanese tale is called "The Wise old Woman." It takes place in a small village in the western hills of Japan. The main characters are the young lord who rules the village, and a young farmer and his old mother.

The young ruler decrees that all the people in his village over age 71 to be taken to the mountains to die. Everyone must obey or be punished. Slowly all the old people disappeared and the young lord was pleased.

One day the young farmer's mother turns 71. He is very sad and doesn't want hi mother to leave. But she insists that he take her away so he won't get in trouble. So he carries her in the mountains, he trudges along all day. When they get far enough, he just can't bring himself to leave her there. So he takes her back home, all night long her carries her back and he sneaks her back into his house without any notice. He digs a small underground room for his mother to hide in. He tell no one of their secret. Two years pass and still his mother is living in hiding in her own village.

One day the son came home in a despairing mood. His mother noticed and asked him what was wrong. He told her that the Lord Higa from the town beyond the hills had threatened to conquer their village and make it his own. But he also told them that he would spare them if they gave him 1000 ropes of ash. The young lord had never heard of ash ropes. He called his wise men but they didn't know how to make ash ropes either. "Surely it is not possible to make ash ropes," they said, "how could anyone make a rope with ashes? Ash crumbles at the touch of a finger." When the son told his mother about Lord Higa's threat, she wasn't worried. She just laughed softly and said, "Making ash ropes is simple! Just soak ordinary rope in salt water and dry it well. When it is burned, it will turn into an ash rope, but will not fall apart!" "Mother, you are very wise," he said. And he went to tell the young lord. The lord rewarded him with much gold. The village was spared.

Later in the story Higa sends two more puzzles and threats. Again the lord and his wise men were puzzled. And again the wise old woman told her son the solutions to the problems.

Finally the Lord asked the farmer who helped him solve the hard puzzles to save the town. He told him the truth and the lord realized his mistake of ridding the town of old people. From that day on, the old people were allowed to live long and happy lives. Lord Higa never threatened them again.

THE END

Essay Outline

Healthy Eating
By me - Ally

I Introduction
1 Attention Grabber – Tell a scenario, (of someone having a heart attack and being taken to the hospital.)
2 Tell why so many people have heart attacks and health problems.
Thesis statement: 3 Eating Vegetarian will help lower cholesterol levels and prevent many diseases, it is the best healthy lifestyle there is.

II Reason – Red meat and any meat for that matter is unhealthy and carries diseases. Meat is very high in fat, people weren’t created to eat meat in the first place. Our bodies’ aren’t capable of digesting it or even chewing it properly.

III Reason – I will state the benefits of eating healthy. For example, less risk of heart disease, meat is expensive to buy and veggie food is cheaper and healthier, easier to keep your BMI down with a healthy diet. Most of our PETS are healthier then us, unless of course you feed them all YOUR leftovers!

IV Reason – Animal Cruelty, animals are inhumanly treated. In the farms and places they raise (more like “grow”) them and make them big and fat until they’re big enough to eat. They pump them with unhealthy hormones that make them grow faster and bigger. Then when they’re big and fat enough, they ship them off in big, cold, poorly conditioned semi trucks. The trucks are very cold in winter and very warm in summer. How would you like to take a long suffering trip to your death in a factory? And for chickens, they give them hormones that make them lay more eggs. They keep them in small dark cages where they never can move and see the light of day. Then when they’re too old and don’t lay enough eggs anymore, they’re ground up and fed to the other chickens. The point is, we treat animals like food. It’s time we start treating them like the real, sensible, living beings they are! Animals are here to serve us, but not for us to eat! In the old days horses plowed and harvested the field with us. We worked side by side, as equals, animals are farmer’s best friends, (unless they’re cruel farmers who “grow” them and ship them to a factory like they’re just a harvest).

V A healthy vegetarian diet is very easy to follow. Eating vegetarian will help you lead a healthy life, it is the best diet there is. It’s not like a once a month diet though, it’s a lifestyle change, a diet you will have for the rest of your life.
As a closing statement- I hope this essay motivated you to make changes in your lifestyle. You have a right to eat healthy and lead a healthy life, alongside the animals of this planet.

Yeah I got kinda carried away there. That's the outline of what I'll cover, I haven't done much research yet, but as you can see I have a lot to cover. :-) Have any suggestions or websites that might be helpful please let me know! Thanks!

Civics Class Over

Today was the last day of Civics class. I just finished my final exam and got A+ on it. 81 out of 82 points. No extra credit. There were 20 questions and I got one wrong. I had it right but somehow the choice picker got bumped on the wrong letter. I still got 96 overall grade. He doesn't give much extra credit, I can't remember doing any but I think there might have been one or two. But anyway, the new class I'll be taking is Pennsylvania History. I can't wait to take it, it sounds like fun. Maybe my parents will even take us on a field trip or something. Can you believe I've never been to the Liberty Bell, or Gettysburg!! And I've lived here how long? Like 2 years? I lose track of time, speaking of time it's 10:24 am and I still haven't eaten breakfast! Well I g2g, God Bless you all! <3 Ally

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is a special day. I love this holiday, and I bet you can guess why. It's Monday, and there is no school!

Ambition

Ambition is necessary to accomplishment. Without an ambition to gain an end, nothing would be done. Without an ambition to excel others and to surpass one's self there would be no superior merit. To win anything, we must have the ambition to do so.

Ambition is a good servant but a bad master. So long as we control our ambition, it is good, but if there is danger of our being ruled by it, then I would say in the words of Shakespeare, "Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels."
~By Laura Ingalls Wilder

If you liked this, you might find my other blog interesting: http://classicstoriesreadaloud.blogspot.com/

Essay - First step - Research

Yup, you heard right, research. Not too hard right? I mean, I've been vegetarian for most of my life anyway, so it should be easy, right? Well, for one thing, I can't base it all on my own opinions. My English teacher gave me 4 main things I need to have to support it.
a. Logical Appeals, or reasons for the claim
b. Evidence, made up of facts, statistics, expert opinions, etc.
c. Analogies, comparisons of something complex to something more similar.
d. Emotional Appeals, to connect to your feelings, instead of your reasoning.

I could do a few Emotional Appeals, like how cruel people are to animals by killing them for meat. But that might go too far into animal rights. So I'll probably keep it focused on the benefits of living the healthy veggie diet.
What I need is some facts, statistics, and expert opinions. And if I'm going to use an Analogie I'll need some help with that because most of the time when I try to do one it comes out really cheesy.
So if you can help please do! Thanks for reading!

Persuasive Essay - Healthy Living

Sent: Wed 1/16/2008 9:04 AM
To: Brandon Cowell
Subject: Persuasive Essay topic


Topic of Essay: Healthy Vegetarian Eating
Opinion of the Topic: Eating Vegetarian is Better
Thesis Statement:Eating Vegetarian will help lower cholesterol levels and prevent many diseases, it is the best healthy lifestyle there is.

I sent this email to my English Teacher, because before we start our paper we have to get the topic approved by him first. This was his reply:

Alyssa, That will definitely work. Now you just need to do the research! Mr. Cowell

So, I guess I'm "stuck" again with this topic. It should be a pretty easy topic to prove I think, don't you? So if you have any suggestions with something I could include please let me know, leave a comment!

Cowboys and their saddles

A cowboy spent hours in the saddle, sometimes as much as 15 hours a day. The saddle was a critical piece of equipment owned by a cowboy. A fine saddle could cost as much as a month’s wages, but was the most important item owned by a cowboy. A well-made and cared for saddle could last a cowboy thirty years. Now, that’s a long time!
Origin of the saddle
The saddles utilized by North American cowboys originated from the 16th century Spanish war saddle. A saddle form was made of wood and covered with wet rawhide. The saddle contains three primary components:
Pommel: the horn and fork at the front of the saddle
Seat: the place between the pommel and cantle where you sit
Cantle: the raised part of the seat at the back
The cowboy has become a legend in America today. Their hard work, determination, and courage make them a romantic hero both in real life and fiction.
Taken from http://www.romanceeverafter.com/the_cowboy.htm

the fountain

Here is a funny little animation.

Another piece of art

At first it looks like a skull but look closer.

Happy to be living in the 21st century in the USA!!!

This is how they treated a person accused of being a witch, or even associated with a suspicious person.
This is how they used to treat people they suspected of being "witches". They still use similar practices today in some parts of the world. I'm happy to be living the USA today where they don't accuse innocent people and make them do crazy things like this. If you've heard of the Salem witch trials or read the book "witch of black bird pond" you know what I'm talking about.

talking body parts!

I've had lots of spare time lately. That's one reason I've been posting alot lately. Plus I've had lots of things stored up that I haden't had a chance to write about. Some have been scary, funny, or disturbing, or cool. I like to talk about a variety of things. Anyways here is something funny my teacher, I think my English teacher showed us. I think it was when we were talking about ironic things or something. He got these pictures and added his own captions.

$40,000 stolen, cat killed

Our neighbourhood is usually pretty peaceful. This afternoon however, our neighbour's pit bull dogs were running lose. One of the dogs came to our yard and started playing with our dog and he was friendly and didn't attack my sister or anything. My mom and dad were outside warning people about the dogs and trying to keep the dogs from attacking people. Since the schoolchildren children were coming home on the bus soon my mom went down to the bus stop to warn the kids about the dogs.
No one was hurt but the dogs were acting aggressive. The dogs tried to attack my dad so he got out his gun and shot the ground to scare the dog away. Across the street, a man told my sister that a dog also tried to attack him and that he had to defend himself with a stick.
When the police finally arrived, 2 hours after they were called, the man who owned the dogs got home. His back glass door was broken and that's how the robbers got in and the dogs got out. He had been robbed earlier in the week, must have been Sunday or Monday. The robbers stole $40,000 from his vault and a valuable diamond ring. They had also killed his cat. He locked his dogs up in the garage and blocked the door with a very heavy rock. We think that the robber came back to the house and let the dogs lose today.

We have a suspicion that whoever robbed the house was male because the dogs tried to attack the men.

Robbery!?? Across the street!!?? for real?

yikes! We thought the dogs knocked down the door but come to think of it that was kinda ridiculous. Details of the lose dogs are still sketchy, but we'll keep you posted.

some funny cartoons

I was thinking if I did my persuasive essay on evolution I could include this cartoon about computers! :)

A funnier joke

I know the last two jokes were Blondie jokes. I don't really think Blondie jokes are usually funny but those were some that were new and funny to me. Anyways.

I have to tell you about this joke my friend Korah told me. I changed it a little, added a few things to it but it's basically the same as she told me. She told it sooooo funny! I was laughing so hard! And she was too oh you should hear her laugh it's so contagious. Anyways, maybe sometime I'll record her telling this joke. But for now this will have to do.

A small zoo had some gorillas. One day their last gorilla died. The gorillas were one of the main attractions to the zoo and they didn't want to lose costumers so they devised a sneaky little plan. They made a gorilla costume and put it on one of their employees. "Just act like a gorilla and don't eat any gross food they throw at you, but you can eat the peanuts, and you should be pretty believable". So he pretended to be a gorilla and had a fun time eating the peanuts people threw. The first day went fine. At the end of the day he went home. The next day he came back. It was fun just laying around eating peanuts the first day but the people were getting bored and not throwing very many peanuts. So he decided to climb a tree and attract more people's attention. That made people notice him and soon peanuts were flying everywhere. When he ate up all those peanuts he decided to swing from a vine. So he climbed the tree again, grabbed onto the vine and started swinging really far. He was actually having lots of fun! Then he swung a little too far, the vine broke, and he landed in the next exhibit, the LION exhibit!

The man (in the gorilla costume) was so scared. He started screaming "don't eat me don't eat me I'm not a gorilla."

The lion ran over really fast, and pounced on him. The man screamed really loud. The lion put his paw over the man's mouth. "Shut up, you want us to both be fired?" the lion said.

:) hehehaha

A lady was shopping at Target and came across a shiny silver thermos. She was quite fascinated by it, so she picked it up and took it to the clerk to ask what it was. The clerk said, 'Why , that's a thermos.....it keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold.' 'Wow,' said the lady, 'that's amazing.! ...I'm going to buy it! So she bought the thermos and took it to work the next day. Her boss saw it on her desk. 'What's that,' he asked? 'Why, that's a thermos.... it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold,' she replied. Her boss inquired, 'What do you have in it?'? The lady replied........'Two popsicles and some coffee' :)

You just have to smile :)

upside down nails

Carol and Donna were doing some carpenter work on a Habitat for Humanity house. Carol, who was nailing down house siding, would reach into her nail pouch, pull out a nail and either toss it over her shoulder or nail it in. Donna, figuring this was worth looking into, asked,'Why are you throwing those nails away?'? Carol explained, 'When I pull a nail out of my pouch, about half of them have the head on the wrong end and I throw them away.' Donna got completely upset and yelled, Those nails aren't defective! They're for the other side of the house!'

Well I guess it's just how you look at things! lol :)
smile

Don Marco

A friend of mine sent me a forward about an amazing artist.
Don Marco was born in Northern Minnesota in the late 1920's. His interest in art was evident even before starting school. As a young adult in the Army Air Corp, he began his life's career in Air Traffic Control, which continued until his retirement from Honolulu International Airport in 1973. Much of his spare time was spent as a professional artist. Before retirement, Don started developing a technique to create fine art, using Crayola Crayons. Shortly after retiring, he published his first print. Living in Southern California, his work was in demand, including commissions from Burt Reynolds and a one-man show at his Dinner Theater in Florida .

Here are just a few samples...

Eagles

Christ

John Wayne

End of the Day

Stuck

Persuasive ESSAY!!! Yikes!

For English class I need to write a persuasive essay. It should be 2-3 pages long. Of course I'll probably just end up doing 2 pages. I need to come up with a topic and I have no idea what it should be. So give me some ideas!

Maybe something we disagree on, and I can persuade you otherwise! lol

~~ update >>> I've come up with 4 different topics. So please vote on the poll. Thanks! If you have another topic you can still suggest a it.

Another Birthday

Today is my sister's birthday. She is now 3.7417 x 3.7417 well about that anyways she is 14!! In 2 more months I'll be 4x4.

So you're probably wondering what I got my sis for her bday. Well I got her a $20 watch for Christmas and she didn't get me anything!! :0 so anyways the watch is for Christmas and her bday. I'm like now you're going to have to get me a big bday present to make up for it! :)

No more politics, just think!

Are you democratic or Republican? Are you conservative or liberal? Do you think abortion should be illegal? Are Republicans for or aganist gun control? What are your views? These are some of the questions I've been asking myself in Civics class. It is so good to think that in heaven we won't have to deal with all this mess anymore, never again. Well this class ends on the 24th I think so then I'll be moving on to PA history. Which will be pretty cool I think. But won't it be even more cool when we get to heaven we'll study everythings history and we'll have all the facts at our fingertips and be able to ask God questions, and always get a sure answer because he knows all and sees all. God Bless!

By the way I decided I'm a Conservative Republican and I'm aganist abortion (of course, those poor babies!) and for gun control! yeah!

Lanaya eating a cupcake

Getting ready for Christmas!

We’ve had several snow falls, but the snow is mostly melted now, since it rained a lot yesterday. I wish we could have a white Christmas, but it doesn’t look like we are going too. It is 43 after all.
Tomorrow is Christmas! I have been really enjoying my Christmas break. And all the preparations are almost complete!
The Tree

Cupcakes
Chocolate "Greek" pie

"Greek" stuffed peppers

Red and Green for Christmas

We'll be making greek pizza tomorrow. I'll probably post the recipe and pics when we actually make it. You make it with pita bread and spinach and a special kind of cheese and red peppers, so it's green and red too. More later...

SIGN IN A STORE WINDOW

This sign was prominently displayed in the window of a business in Philadelphia . You are probably outraged at the thought of such an inflammatory statement. However, we are a society which holds Freedom of Speech as perhaps our greatest liberty. And after all, it is just a sign. You may ask what kind of business would dare post such a sign.

Answer: A Funeral Home (Who said morticians had no sense of humor?) You gotta love it!

God Bless America

Getting Better

I had a cold last week and had to skip some school. But I'm getting better and plugging along in my schoolwork this week. I can't beleieve Christmas is so soon! Here is a picture of our tree:

wow

I can't BELIEVE it's only 15 days until Christmas!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up Saturday morning, tumbled out of bed, went to the closet to get dressed for church. I came out and Mandy was crying soooo hard. My mom came in the room teary eyed, and sat on my bed. She told me she had bad news and I should sit down. Jeffery died. I was in shock. We took him to the vet just last Thursday for some medicine for his mites. He was supposed to get better, not DIE!!!!! How could this happen? I started crying, and kept crying and didn't even have a bite for breakfast. I just sat on the couch and stared out the window. Lanaya and Brentley didn't cry. They didn't even seem sad. They just accepted the fact that rabbits die. But he was sooo young! just a 2yr old bunny. They must not have been very attached to him. So we finally got on our way to church and got there just as the choir was starting to sing. But I couldn't sing, neither could my sister. So just my mom went up. We didn't even go into the sanctuary. We just sat in the nursery and listened to the sermon from there. The people were all sad to hear that our rabbit had died, but the choir director didn't even care! She didn't even care! All she cared about was that we were going to sing in choir! She doesn't care if we have a good time. She doesn't care if we want to. She just doesn't care about anyone except if she looks like a good choir director in front of the whole church. Well guess what, I'm not doing choir next year. I like to sing but I hate the songs she picks, she picked the same one we did last year! We definitely did a better job last year, and she even had a neat little skit to go along with it. But she made the angels, my sis mandy and gabby, hold their arms up in the air for a whole 30 minutes! That was just cruel!!!!! And tshe made us all squish together and stand on a small step. AND we have to wear these STUPID BLUEBERRY GOWNS to sing in!!!! I almost fainted I was so over heated. And they are so dorky and they aren't long enough, but mine is too long for most of the people! I'm taller then most of the people in church, only 1 of the boys is taller then me and my mom and I are the tallest ladies in the whole church. Whenever I'm around the growups they're always commenting on my height!! It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO annoying!!!! I like being tall, but why do they have to make it such a big deal? And then we went down to sabbath school. And of all things Linda had to use "losing a pet" as an example. And pretty soon everyone was talking about the hamster that died etc etc. Of all days to talk about such a thing. Then the teacher had to use Josh as an example and pick on his height. So he went over to the Junior class and they said he was too tall for them and so he went to Primary and they let him stay. Poor Josh. I don't think he's really short and he is really smart and has such nice curly black hair. His mom is from Brazil. We had to stay at church all day to "save gas". Mandy and gabby practied their piece for the talent show like 1000 times, whoops put 2 2 many 0s in there. lol. They practiced more then the instruments who played along with choir! And mandy and I practiced our piece 2 times. And about the choir, I have a terrible cold, and my voice is just about gone now. So I like lipped some of the high notes I couldn't hit. Noone could tell of course because the silly trumpets and trombones drowned our voices out. lol. Not that they sounded much better. The best part of the whole day was when Mandy and I played "The First Noel" with mandy on piano and me on violin. We did it without music (of course) and then at the end, when the people we done clapping my mom stood up and told everyone that we taught ourselves how to play and that we had never had any lessons. Then we had the white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with some stupid yellow slippers with blue dogs on them and some medium size ladies work gloves that are too small for me or my mom or my sister so they're no good. My sister got some mint m&ms that she shared 1/8c with me. lol. My dad got a corvette! Yeah right, it was some type of silly joke. It was an ancient old beat up bike with corvette written on it. Don't know HOW he's going to get it home or if he even wants it. I don't know if it has any value to it since it is rusty and banged up. But it's probably more then 4 decades old. lol.
sorry for not using proper paragraphs.
Last night I cryed so much I couldn't get to sleep until like midnight. Then I had to get up at 7:30 this morning. Haven't had breakfast yet... wonder what I should go eat.. well better let you go now, this has probably been the longest post yet! bye

Christmas Shopping

I'm going to go to town with my mom now... should be fun! I love shopping!

tour of my room

rearranging my room...

Haircut

I got a haircut and perm on Monday. I really like this new style! It's my first perm ever!

before...


atfer...

Today I did my homework. After I finished I headed down to the laundry room to put some loads in the wash, we have a lot of laundry to catch up on, after I cleaned my room (under the bed) and the closet (in the corners) so we have like 6 large loads. Been trying to keep the washer and dryer running all day. Then I cleaned Jeffery's (my rabbit) cage out. He has to be kept indoors in the cold weather so we recentley bought an indoor cage for him and he stays in the launry room. Then I came upstairs and worked on more homework. Then I baked potatoes and made potatoe salad, and did I mention I folded all the laundry, well, that was clean... I'd better go do some more so I g2g... God Bless!

Did you know?

The main use of coal in the United States is electricity! That's right!
yeah, that's the kind of stuff I'm learning in Earth Science class... and that's where I learned about carbon and diamonds... go to previous post: http://alyssas-place.blogspot.com/2007/11/diamonds-and-graphite.html

Christmas Quiz

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
wrapping paper
2. REAL OR FAKE TREE?
fake, the real ones are too expensive, and they just die, it's killing the poor beautiful tree!
3. When do you put up the tree?
sometime after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down?
Sometime in January or February or whenever we have time

5. Do you like eggnog?
not real eggnog, but I like holly nog, a soy alternative
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
carpenter set
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
no but my mom does
8. Hardest person to buy for?
dad
9. Easiest person to buy for?
mommy
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever got?
a puppet
11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
both
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Unaccompanied minors
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
December, last minute! that's me, always procrastinating
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Don't know
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
cookies
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
red and white
17. Favorite Christmas song?
The First Noel
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
stay at home, maybe invite friends if they're not too busy
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
no, just dasher and vixn and oh yeah rudolph!!! the one with the red nose! you know, the red nosed reindeer song thing... oh its SO annoying neways...
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Definitely a gold star!
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
ASAP as soon as dad gets home from work... usually evening
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
people ripping the paper before chirstmas and trying to peek in when you're rapping and noesy little bros and sisters telling you what mom got for you...
23. What I love most about Christmas?
Remembering Christ's birth


Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Season!

Dry cleaning

On Friday my sister came out of the closet with a dress in her hand. "It says dry clean only, what does that mean?" she said.

Little Women

One of my favorite classic stories is Little Women. I've been a member on Flixer, a movie site for awhile. I just decided to go on today and make a quiz about the movie "Little Women." I took the pictures from the 1994 version of the movie Little Women. So here it is:
My Little Women Quiz

Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I did, except for being a little sick in the stomach and a slight headache. I did not get sick from over eating though. I have been a little sick since like tuesday. Maybe it was a good thing or I might have over eaten! We made 4 pumpkin pies and 2 apple pies. Sorry no pics I was too lazy to take pics lol. Please vote on "your favorite holiday" poll. Mine personally are:
#1 Christmas
#2 My birthday
#3 Thanksgiving

Free Rice

I just helped give a hungry person 500 grains of rice. I didn't get off my chair, or even spend any money. I just went to this website Free Rice and answered 50 questions correctly. It wasn't hard, I did use this website to help me... help As you're enjoying all the food and fun at Thanksgiving time, think of the hungry people all around the world. Go to this website and help!

YEAH!!

Mom and Dad have decided if we're going to move or not. The answer is... NO! Yeah!!!! I am so happy, as is my sister, and I think everyone is happy the decision is made.

seagull slideshow

Mandy throwing away our good bread

Mandy wanted to see the seagulls up close, but then they got a little too close! lol

at virginia beach

I'm in the motel room at virginia beach. It's the first time we've had a room with a beach view. I'm not going swimming. The pool is only 4ft deep. :( We had pizza last night. We had a whole pizza leftover so that's what we're going to have for breakfast or maybe lunch. There's a pizza place across the street from the motel so we just walked there. I have school today but I don't know if I'll be able to do it depending on what mom and dad decide. Well at least monday is a holiday so I'll have time to catch up then. We're leaving sometime Sunday, hopefully be back in time for fall festival. We should be. ttyl

official poll statement

so the poll is closed now.

5 people voted swimming
3 people voted skiing

Hey guess what! I like swimming too! You can even do it all year round (well, if you have an indoor pool).

Check out the new poll: Favorite time of the Day

random stuff in my life

My life is pretty random right now. So tomorrow we're leaving for Virginia Beach. Can't wait to go swimming! (in the hotel swimming pool of course!! haha tricked you!!) hehehe anyways.

So there's this house, another house. It's a bit bigger then the one we're renting right now. And it's got more land. And it's cheaper. and it's "nicer"... all around... so if they let us, if they say yes, we are going to... well my parents are going to rent it so you know what that means... ANOTHER MOVE

yikes.

(I don't like moving) And another thing. They don't allow pets. I don't want to give my rabbit and dog away. But it's looking like we might have to... :(

Diamond Park

MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, but on Monday he nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.

Johnson, 36, made the dig Saturday at the park and left his equipment in a locker. When he came back Monday morning, he made the discovery.

Crater of Diamonds State Park, which opened in 1972, is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public, and visitors can keep the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found in 1975.

Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than 700 diamonds have been found there this year.

Since moving to Arkansas from Iowa in February, Johnson said, he was living off money made by selling diamonds. He only recently took a job at a convenience store, partly because he "got tired of selling diamonds to make ends meet."

Park officials declined to speculate how much money Johnson could get for the diamond. Johnson suggested he expects much more than what he is used to getting.

"If someone offers me that much money, it's theirs," Johnson said.



I would love to go to that park!

Diamonds and Graphite

Did you know that diamonds and graphite are made out of the same chemical, carbon? How then are they so different? Graphite is used in Pencils, and diamonds, well, we all know how valueable diamonds are.

Diamond is the hardest mineral known to man, Graphite is one of the softest.
Diamond is an excellent electrical insulator, Graphite is a good conductor of electricity.
Diamond is the ultimate abrasive, Graphite is a very good lubricant.
Diamond is usually transparent, Graphite is opaque.
Diamond crystallizes in the Isometric system and graphite crystallizes in the hexagonal system.

Okay, most of that is probably all Greek to you, if you haven't heard of words such as "opaque" and "cobalent bonding". But it basically means that they are made out of the same element, carbon, but their atoms are bonded together in a different structure.

Graphite Diamond

Okay, now you might think I'm weird, but I like to take objects lessons from everything, even my earth science schoolwork! So, what I got out of this is we are all made out of the same element, human flesh. But we can use what God has given us to become something useful for him. We might have talents (carbon) that allow us to become a diamond. Or you might have different qualties and gifts that allow you to become a different gem, maybe a quartz. Your job is to do your best with whatever gifts God has given you... no matter if you're a diamond, or graphite, or a quartz or a pearl, you're all beautiful in God's eyes, and you have the ability to do wonderful things for his glory.

Loves Comes Softly

I have 3 of the Loves Comes Softly movies:

Love Comes Softly

Love's Long Journey

Love's Enduring Promise

And I'm planning on getting the two newest ones:

Love's Abiding Joy

Love's Unending Legacy



Click here for a review: http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0002914.cfm

My dad won a free trip to Virginia Beach. We'll be gone from the 8th-10th. I'll be taking my laptop with me to try and fit in some schoolwork. Don't know how well that will work. We'll be staying at a place called Dolphin Inn.

Nov 5, which is next Monday, is the last Day of the first nine weeks of school. I have managed to keep all my grades pretty good. My school's grade book has gone wacky so I don't know my exact grade, but I should by Monday, the day when everything is SUPPOSED to be graded, but PAcyber school has been having SO many tech problems, it's very annoying sometimes. Sometimes it won't even let me go in to do my homework! oh well... at least it does today...

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I don't like Science class, not one bit. Algebra class is okay, but challenging. English is lots of fun though. And Civics (government) that's pretty fun too. Maybe my grades will reflect my dedication... lol... we'll see.