November 5

Sorry, I haven't updated in half of forever, otherwise known as October 17. In my defense, I was on holidays for a large part of that time, and the rest of it was mostly taken up with holiday related things.

Two nights ago, I watched Sherlock, episode three, season two. It was just so sad, and utterly brilliant. Now I can't wait for Season Three, so that Sherlock can come back, and I can find out what happened! Somehow, I don't think that John will forgive him as easily as Watson forgave Holmes. Different times, and (though some may not agree) different characters.

So, one final thing to finish with.

Photos from Riverfest

These are all photos I took at the Laser and Light show in Brisbane.

October 17

Wow,I really haven't updated in a while, have I? Sorry, I've just been really busy with schoolwork. I go to Tasmania on holidays at the end of the week, and will be in Tassie for two weeks, so I have a lot of schoolwork to do to prepare. Blogging has kind of fallen by the wayside.

I saw some episodes of Sherlock over the last few weeks, and it is awesome! I still haven't seen the final episode of Season 2, because, to be honest, I'm putting it off. Any proper Sherlock Holmes fan knows what happened at the Reichenbach Falls, and that I'm not sure I want to see just yet. At least, not until I run out of everything else.

I'm doing Animal Farm for English this term, and I am learning so much about it that I never knew before. I knew for a while that it was based on the Russian Revolution, but I didn't know just how closely. It seems that everyone in the story has some real life counterpart, and it is amazing!

This year for Christmas, my family will be doing a sort of Secret Santa, except with shoeboxes. We are going to make shoeboxes for each other, and have already picked our recipients names out of a hat. We will be following the basic rules of the Samaritans Purse: Operation Christmas Child shoebox rules. It should be really fun! Probably hard as well, but I think the hardest part could be the waiting. I have to wait another two months to find out who is giving me a shoebox!

25 September

Last Saturday, I was in Brisbane with my family, and we saw the Laser and Light Show. It was really impressive! I took some photos.

There was also a really good photo my little brother took. The quality of it astounded me! It looks really professional, but I promise you, it was taken by my little brother.

I have way, way more photos, but I don't want to inundate my readers with them, so I'll stop here.

September 19

My sister is playing movie theme songs, like the ones for Indiana Jones, or Star Wars. It makes good background music.

Today my sister and I wrote letters to ourselves, to be opened and read in three years. So in 2015, we will each have two letters to read; one from ourselves and one from each other. Now I can hardly wait to open them!

Did you know that 48 hours worth of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute? That makes almost a year every three hours! By now, we must have centuries, or even millennia, worth of footage.

17 September

Yesterday I got back from youth group camp. I had a great time! It was freezing cold, and we had to get up really early, but it was fun, and I enjoyed it.

I don't really update my blog regularly, do I? I should, but I'm never quite sure what to write, or who is actually reading it. So, I think in future I'll update more sporadically, when I actually have something I want to write, whether that's something funny I've heard, or just something about the weather.

14 September

Just a really quick update. I go camping this afternoon with my youth group, and won't be back until Sunday. So don't expect any updates for a while, okay?

Bible quote

Others were given in exchange for you
I traded their lives for yours
Because you are precious to me
You are honored, and I love you.

Isaiah 43:4

September 11

The Spring Fair was last Saturday, and I managed to get my shoulders really sunburnt. Now, I can baly move without it hurting! Other than that, it was a great day. A lot of money was made for our church, and I saw the sunset, after waking up at four to be there on time. The world looks so different at 4 AM, and I don't regret getting up that early if it means I could see that sky. It was awesome.

Tomorrow, our high school teacher is coming for lunch, and to review our work. I'm a little nervous, as there is a lot that she might want to talk to us about, and I don't enjoy talking with teachers, especially when not strictly necessary.

When I'm bored...

I found this picture online. Sounds like fun!

September 3

It's SPRING!

SPRING!

Finally the weather is warming up. Yesterday I was at the beach, and it was fantastic! I can't wait for school to be finished, so we can make the most of the weather. Apart from the fact that I just, you know, want school to finish, I actually have a reason!

My English Assignment is finally done! I just have to send it to my teacher, and I am finished my English work for the term. Awesome!

August 30

Did you know that there are some chocolate cookies that taste like hardened chocolate ice cream, they are so good? I found out yesterday, and it is a delicious taste, thought to be honest I think I would prefer the ice cream.

My older brother just told us about a man who mailed himself to his girlfriend, and was almost killed when it was lost in the post. That would be so funny! Probably terrifying as well, and definitely stupid, but without a doubt it would be funny. If not at the time, then afterwards.

August 29

My older brother has gotten into dancing recently, and he is obliterating all of my high scores! Last Monday we were dancing, and I had achieved a personal best. My previous personal best was the record high for the song. He managed to double my new personal best, with extra!

I have to confess, I'm a little mad about it. I enjoy dancing, and have been doing it longer, so it is frustrating that he can so easily take over the high scores. My sister is like that as well, they are now apparently vying with each other over who can get the highest high score ever. At the moment, my brother is winning. He managed to get the highest high score ever achieved on the game, on a song that none of us have ever danced to, or even listened to before! Don't ask me how he does it, I have no idea.

Quotes by my family.

"I lost my train of thought. Now I have to wait for the next one!"

-Me


"I have mixed emoticons about you."

-My sister



(This is my 250th post!)

August 23

I was listening to a song, and the word 'tchotchkes' came up. I looked it up, and it actually is a word. Wikipedia says it's 'a small toy, gewgaw, knickknack, swag, bauble, thingamajig, doodad, lagniappe, trinket, or kitsch.'

So there you go, your word for today. Congratulations! Having learned the obligatory one new thing for today, you can go back to bed.

My brother is reading over my shoulder, so I'll stop here.

August 22

Well, so little actually happened today, that I have nothing to write about. It was simply an ordinary day, with schoolwork, dancing, and reading, and will probably continue as such.

August 21

That budgeting assignment is now done and submitted, finally! Now I only have one assignment to worry about. Isn't that so much better?!

I've been  listening to Phineas and Ferb songs all morning. For those who don't know, Phineas and Ferb are these guys:

 and they have some awesome songs, and the coolest adventures. This is their theme song:

There's 104 days in summer vacation
And school comes along just to end it
So the annual problem for our generation
Is finding a good way to spend it
Like maybe!
Building a rocket
Or fighting a mummy
Or climbing up the Eiffel tower
Discovering something that doesn't exist
Or giving a monkey a shower
Surfing tidal waves
Creating nano bots
Or looking Frankenstein's brain
Finding a dodo bird
Painting a continent
Driving your sister insane
As you can see
There's a whole lot of stuff to do
Before school starts this fall
So stick with us cause Phineas and Ferb
Are gonna do it all
So stick with us cause Phineas and Ferb are
Gonna do it all!


It is a totally awesome song.

August 20

It is finally getting warmer here. We might even be able to go swimming soon. That would be so great. I love going swimming, especially seeing my hair swirl out around me. It also means that I might be able to take some of the blankets off my bed, and not freeze at night!

My brother and I are finally finishing that maths assignment. I finished mine, my brother isn't far off. Other than that, not a lot happened today.

On Saturday, we went to Currumbin, and went on the Green Challenge. That was so much fun! I did the green course, and most of the red course. It was totally awesome, with climbing through tunnels, flying foxes, swinging on ropes, and walking tightropes, all really high off the ground. I loved it!

The other stuff there was good too. We saw a baby joey, touched a baby crocodile, patted kangaroos, and had an emu follow us around for a while. What a time!

August 16

Wow, the days really aren't that interesting at the moment. It seems that nothing much seems to happen. I did find out a few utterly useless facts.

Did you know that Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, and that Ken's last name is Carson?

August 15

One day, my little brother will drive me crazy. At least it will be a fun time getting there! He says loopy things everyday, but that is one of the things I love him for. After all, there is no one else I know who would sing about having a giant robot head!

My sister and I were dancing on Wii earlier, and we really enjoyed it. It was awesome to just dance and have fun for a while.

August 14

Today has been pretty much nothing but hard work and reading. I had more work than last week, yet I still had more time to read. Tomorrow will probably be more of the same.

Really, nothing blogworthy happened today. It was a pretty much average day, except that my mother is sick.

Yesterday something totally cool and weird happened to my computer. I somehow managed to turn the screen entirely upside down! It was totally weird, yet still had a level of awesome. It took me a while to turn it back around again, but it was still so neat!

August 13

My sister has amazing powers of sleep. Just today she slept for 14 hours straight! I didn't know that was possible, but she did it. I am convinced that if sleeping was an Olympic sport, she would be a qualifier.

Now my older brother and I have to watch Romeo and Juliet for English class. We have two different versions we are meant to watch, and this is the really serious version. It's starting!

August 10

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while, but I've been sick. Now I'm getting over it, but my older brother is sick!

My little brother had a birthday two days ago, on the 8th. I got him a huge, rainbow umbrella. I didn't realise just how big it was until I saw it stretched out, but it really is huge!

My little brother and sister and I have rediscovered one of our old favorite TV shows: Recess! My little brother doesn't really remember it that well, but my sister and I do, and we are loving watching it all again. It always amazes me what you can find on YouTube.

It is really windy here. The guinea pigs don't seem to mind that much, but I do. Whenever I go outside, I freeze!

August 6

Well, I'm still feeling kind of sick, so I won't be posting much today either. I mean, not that much happened today anyway. It was pretty much a normal Monday. There were some changes, like my sister didn't have her singing practice, but mostly it was normal.

I'm sick, my younger brother and sister are sick, now there's just my older brother and my mother to go. Well, we'll get over it eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

August 3

Fortunately, my sister isn't sick anymore. Instead, I am. What wonderful news.
So, I don't really have much to blog about, because not much happened today.

August 2

Well, my sister was too sick for Athletics Day today, so we didn't go. We've been at home all day.  Fortunately, she's feeling better now, so we probably are still going out tomorrow.

Nothing much happened today, for some reason. It's been pretty so-so.

August 1

It's a brand new month! The year sure is passing by fast. We're two thirds of the way through already.

My little brother has his birthday in exactly one week. I already know that I will buy him an umbrella, I just have to get around to doing it! We made a deal that if he buys me an umbrella for my birthday, I would buy him an umbrella for his. He came through, now I have to as well.

My sister has been sick today, and slept most of the day away. I hope she feels better tomorrow, because tomorrow is the school Athletics Day! This year my older brother and I are in the pink group. He doesn't seem to mind, and I like pink, so I don't mind either. It's kind of fun to meet up with all of the other homeschoolers, but I don't like having a huge crowd there. Last year was weird, yet also cool. I was one of only two people in my entire grade! The other was a boy, and as almost all of the awards are divided into boy/girl sections, I won first place in practically everything! Best I've ever done at an Athletics Day.

The positive side of life

THE POSITIVE SIDE OF LIFE: 

How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.

Birthdays are good for you; the more you have, the longer you  live.


Happiness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open. 

Ever notice that the people who are late  are often much jollier than the people who have to wait for them?

If KMart is lowering prices every day,  how come nothing is free yet? 

You may be only one person in the world,  but you may also be the world to one person. 


Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. 

Don't cry because it's over; smile because it  happened. 

We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colours....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. 

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

July 31

Okay, I haven't posted for a while, and I don;t even have a decent excuse! I guess I was a little busy with other stuff.

Last Sunday we performed our youth group skit at the church evening service. I didn't realize just how ridiculous I sounded until I heard the recording later. At least, I think I sounded ridiculous. Overall, it all went great, and I personally think that our skit was the highlight of the evening.

Tonight there is a 'J' theme party night at square dancing. My sister is going as Jupiter. I have some sort of attempt at a jester, and my little brother is a Jack in the box. My mother, though, she has a great costume. She has an outfit left over from when she used to do jazz, and she's going to wear that. Like, WOW!

Now that the week isn't quite as crazy as last, I'll try to post more often.

July 27

Today is my mother's birthday! In honour of the occasion, she and my sister are trying to make ice cream. For a cold dish, it sure seems to need a lot of cooking. We probably won't get to eat it until tomorrow, or at the very soonest tonight, but if it's good, it will be worth it.

My little brother is doing maths problems with matchsticks. The kind of problems where you make a shape, then have to take away certain matchsticks to make a new shape. At the moment, he's doing it with pens, because we don't really have matchsticks. It seems to be working anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter what you use. Also, having something bigger to use seems to make it easier, though I have to admit that the differing colours are a bit distracting.

Quote from my little brother

My little brother often comes up with the strangest things. A few minutes ago he said "I'm listening to a peanut butter symphony"!

Now he says "I expected better of the world, but they didn't care, so now I have more power!"

July 25

Tonight I, my older brother, and my sister are going to be having a dress rehearsal for the skit we are performing on Sunday. I'm playing a shopaholic, and it took me a while to find all of the bags I needed, and fill them up with assorted things, including, but not limited to, clothes, shoes, plastic food, and fake jewelry. Now, I have so many bags to carry that I can hardly hold them all, and that's exactly how it's meant to be.

I've been listening to songs by Train today, and most are pretty good. I particularly like '50 ways to say goodbye'. It starts off a bit like a song from Phantom of the Opera, but is much more funny than those songs.

Has anyone ever finished a game of Monopoly? Last night I was playing Monopoly on my iPad with my sister and little brother, and we didn't finish it. In fact, we were playing the game we had started the previous Tuesday! How does anyone actually finish a game of Monopoly? I think you're supposed to go bankrupt to finish, but we are all too careful for that. At least, so far.. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa! Anyway, of all the Monopoly games I have ever played, the only way they have ever finished was because someone got bored, so we just stopped playing.

July 24

Well, I don't know what to write about today. I got two of my school subjects for this term, one of them being American Literature. Would you believe that on the first page of American Literature, they quoted an English author?! How unbelievable is that! I mean, this is American Literature.

This evening we are going square dancing. I love to go square dancing, it's just so much fun, and it makes me feel alive.

July 23

I can hear my younger brother and my mother discussing shoguns. It's part of their history lesson, but it's still an unusual conversation to be overhearing.

I love my new maths! It's so much easier than the last one, and more interesting too. Part of our next assignment involves planning future careers and expenses to plan a budget. Way more interesting than graphing quadratic equations!

July 18

Dancing is such awesome fun! My mother, sister, for a while my little brother, and I, were using our new Wii dance program, and I loved it. It was heaps of fun to just dance, though we kept bumping into each other. Once my little brother sent his Wii remote flying!

July 17

This afternoon I was reading a book called Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpugo. It's about a boy who goes overboard in a storm, and ends up on an island with an elderly Japanese man called Kensuke.

Michael Morpugo writes so realistically, I feel like it all really happened. I love the addition of postscripts relating to the story, that make it seem so much more real. Another one of Morpugo's stories that I loved was called Running Wild, and that was also just fantastic, and seemingly factual.

July 16

Well, today was pretty fun. Not in a stand out "Today was fun!" kind of way, but just that it was fun. I like the time I can spend with my older brother. It's...companionable. We don't need to talk to enjoy it, but I often end up talking anyway. I kind of talk a lot when it's just the two of us. Not quite sure why.

My sister, older brother, and I are going to be in a skit for our youth group in a few weeks. We were given our parts today. I get to be a shopaholic, and that will be a challenge. No sarcasm.

My sister probably wouldn't want anyone to know what she's playing. She has a secretive streak when it comes to things like that. My brother gets to be an ultimate tourist, with over-sized camera, Hawaiian shirt, and huge sombrero. Fun!

July 13

So very very little happened today that it's barely worth posting.

My older brother has been gone all day. Most of this morning it seemed as though he was just in a different room, and if I called for him, he'd come out. It's a little hard to grasp that he actually isn't here. He was away on Fridays last term as well, but since the holidays I'm not used to it anymore.

No big plans for tomorrow. My sister has these big ideas about 'Weekend Workshops', but I'm hesitant. She'll probably get her way sooner or later, but who knows how long it will last.

July 12

Well, more Shakespeare today, but not as much, so it wasn't too bad. Also, my brother and I did it together, which made it so much better.

I love the book Watership Down. It is amazing. I read the first chapter to my family today, trying to inspire interest. My little brother liked it, and now he wants me to read it to him! Not quite what I had in mind. My sister still holds the opinion that they are rabbits, and therefore not worth reading about. My mother and older brother have tried it before, and can't remember what it was like. I think it is incredible, and really make me feel like I'm there. My favorite characters are Hazel and Blackberry.

July 11

Way, way too much Shakespeare today. It seems that I spent my entire day writing pieces on why I should study Shakespeare. I'm in favor of it, you can stop trying to persuade me! Really, I probably wrote five summaries of different articles discussing reasons to study Shakespeare. That is definitely too many.

Other than that, not a lot happened today. It was a nice, companionable today. Most of it was just with my sister and older brother. We teased, worked, and had a good time. I'm glad I have siblings.

July 10

Hello to everyone in the blogosphere.

Not a lot happened today. It is only a school day, after all. Just schoolwork, and a visit to the library. Unfortunately, my unread pile of books has once again overtaken my read pile. I'll have to work on that.

I've been asked to contribute to a new blog, called The Book Club. The simplest way to find it would be from my profile. Otherwise, the web address is:
http://thebookclu.blogspot.com.au/

Shakespeare is awesome!

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut, tut! for goodness' sake! what the dickens! but me no buts - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare. (The Story of English, 145)

Something I found online

Girls
are like
apples on trees.
The best ones are
at the top of the tree. The
boys don't want to reach
for the good ones because they
are afraid of falling and getting hurt.
Instead, they just get the rotten apples
from the ground that aren't as good,
but easy. So the apples at the top think
something is wrong with them, when in
reality, they're amazing. They just
have to wait for the right boy to
come along, the one who's
brave enough to
climb all
the way
to the top
of the tree

Jousting

Some of the photos I took at the Medieval Fair.

July 9

Well, the holidays are over, and so, we are back to school. However, by now I'm glad to have a little routine back in my days. I spent most of my holidays reading and watching TV shows over YouTube, and while that is fun, I'm glad to get back into things.

This term in English, I am covering Romeo and Juliet! I've read the play before, and even saw a ballet version a few years ago, but this will still be cool. The only downside is, as I already know the story, and the author, and a lot about it, it's kind of difficult to answer questions like: What do you think when you hear the name “Shakespeare”? 

Like, what am I supposed to think? He's a playwright, probably the most famous playwright the world has ever known. How am I supposed to sum up all that Shakespeare means, in a sentence, or even a paragraph. It's times like these that I wish that I didn't read quite so much.

Yesterday, I, my siblings, and our dad went to the Medieval Festival. My sister looked like a genuine princess, with an authentic looking dress. My little brother was a Viking, and even tried to eat my camera! It was funny seeing him eating a lamb shank, gravy dripping off of his chin. He sure looked like a Viking then!

The day before that we were at Surfer's Paradise, on the Gold Coast, and it was an amazing day. It was just the kind of beautiful, sunshiny weather that makes you want to be outside doing something. We visited Ripley's Believe it or Not, and had lunch beside the beach. It was a great day.

This was a photo I took of us by the beach. My sister's feet aren't in this photo. 

June 28

Sorry I haven't been posting, but I want to enjoy every second of these holidays without any distractions. I should be getting back to regular posting after the holidays. Until then, farewell!

June 21

Today I finished more of my schoolwork. Tomorrow, school is over for two whole weeks! I can hardly wait. I want holidays to come, so I can stay up late, sleep in when it's cold, and spend all day having fun! (At least, most of the day. Chores will have to be done as well, just hopefully not too many.)

June 20

Finally, I have finished my Maths bookwork for this semester! Unfortunately, I still have tests and an exam to do, but at least I can feel like I've done something. My Maths work is slowly diminishing. Next is my English work, my History work, my Business work... 

Last night my two younger siblings and I watched episodes of Phineas and Ferb on YouTube. If you've never seen them, you are seriously missing out. They are incredibly cool, and I only wish that I could have such action packed summer holidays.

June 19

Today was less about Maths and more about finally finishing that speech for English. Mine still needs to be copied to disc and posted, but is otherwise done. I don't understand why it needs to be posted when I could email it, but I'm assuming that that there is some government reasoning behind it.

I was experimenting with the camera on my computer today, and it is so cool! I can do all sorts of stuff, even make everyone wear scuba masks, or Santa hats. Really cool!

June 18

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but things get busy at the end of the term.

On Saturday, most of my youth group, including me and two of my siblings, went to the Sciencentre in Brisbane. I've been there before, but only with family, so it was cool to see everything with friends, especially the ones who had never been there before.

Yesterday, my youth bible study broke up. There was a big party, with lots of ice throwing. It wasn't supposed to be thrown, but the leaders are worse than the kids. They started it! It was hilarious to watch.

Today, my older brother and I have heaps of Maths to do. I have a fair amount done, so I'm taking a break to blog before I get back to schoolwork. A Maths exam is coming up later this week, so we have to prepare. At some point, we will also both have to record our speeches, so they can be sent to the teacher. Mine is a bit long, but she said it would be okay...this time.

I can barely wait for holidays next week! I have some stuff that has to be done, like tidying the room I share with my sister, but I also want to read a LOT! Not just books, but anything I can find. Hopefully I will be able to see some friends as well.

June 15

Okay, this time that English Assignment should be finished. It seems like it's following me. Every time I think I'm done, it's back again with more to do. I'm getting tired of it, but at least it's better than maths. I have a lot of Maths that has to be done, and believe me, English is way better. Maths, if I get it wrong, it's wrong. English, nothing is totally wrong. It's just different, unconventional, or other words for weird.

This evening we are going out to youth group. For once, my older brother will be there with me. Usually he is in the city until youth group actually starts, but today he will accompany me for the whole hour and a half beforehand.

June 14

More schoolwork today. Maths tests, an English Assignment, and maths work all day long. It is so boring. Why can't maths go faster? It isn't that hard, but I never seem to get enough done in the time I work on it. I worked for 3.5 hours this morning, and still I had heaps left.

Fortunately, the oral report I was working on should be done. I already had to rewrite it once, because I misunderstood the question, but now it should be finished. I still have to record it, but at least the writing is done.

My little brother is enjoying physics games. He can play physics games for an hour at a time, and wants to be an astronomer when he grows up. I think he would be good at it.

Motivation for Studying

Knowledge is power, and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil!

A quote my mother found.

June 13

Have you ever noticed in some really old documents all of the s's look like f's? For example, this afternoon I watched a story about the start of Amazing Grace, and the first verse looked like this.

Amazing grace! How fweet the found
That faved a wretch like me.
I once was loft, but now am found,
Was blind but now I fee.

Doesn't it look so weird, and so funny? I don't know if I'll ever be able to sing Amazing Grace again without adding at least one f.


I actually got a decent amount of my Maths done this morning. I still have more to do (a lot more to do), but there at least I got some done.

June 12

I really don't like Maths test. My older brother and I are supposed to be doing Maths tests all this week, as well as our normal maths work, and next week we have exams as well!

This is why I don't like end of term. There is so much that has to be done. The holidays don't always make up for all the work that has to be done first. Hopefully these holidays I will spend long hours reading, and reading, and reading, and reading... It's even winter, so I can curl up under a blanket while I read. Doesn't that sound inviting?

June 11

My sleepover party was last night, and it was pretty fun. We watched movies and ate pizza, and it was cool. I've never hosted a sleepover before, so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I think it was good.

The house would be quiet, if not for the music my mother is playing. My brothers aren't back yet, and the three of us are quiet. For those who don't have little brothers, you have no idea how loud they can be.

I love holidays. On weekends, it seems like there is always so much that has to get done. On holidays, the day just seems to stretch on and on, with nothing that has to be done. I love it!

June 8

We got back too late yesterday for me to blog. My sister now has "light green and lavender" braces. I think they look green and light purple, but that's probably just me. She likes to use the exact terms.

Maths is annoying. I'm not actually that bad at it, it just takes so long, and is mostly boring.

We have had three library visits this week. Fantastic! Yesterday we were at Brisbane library, Tuesday we visited the Caboolture library, and today our school library came around. That library is actually meant only for primary schoolers, because older kids aren't thought to have enough time to read, but I always have time to read. I borrowed books from that library anyway. Some of the books they have are classics, like Little Women, and The Secret Garden. Others are less well known and more modern, like AirQuest Adventures, which are fantastic regardless.

June 6

Yesterday I was given a new skirt. It is all black, and it goes past my feet. I love it! Today I wore it, and I think it is fantastic. I love the way it swishes around me. Any skirt that does that is fantastic, and the longer the better. The only problem with a really long skirt is that when I am outside, I have to hold it up so it doesn't get dirty.

Our English teacher came around today, to give us some help on our next assignment. It was fun. I talked with her about classic books. I love classics, and have read a few, including all of Jane Austens' books, and all of the Sherlock Holmes books and stories.

The cake last night was delicious! It was chocolate, with melted chocolate just oozing out of it. It was really thick and rich. The melted chocolate was my favorite part.

Tomorrow we go to the city so my sister can get her braces looked at. She hasn't decided what colour yet.

June 5

Today is my birthday! It was fantastic. We went to Caboolture library at the Hub, and I could not believe how big it was. The Hub was huge! For some reason I was thinking it would be a small, round building, similar to a beehive. Instead it was a huge building, with three levels, heaps of rooms, and very angled, not at all round.

I borrowed 20 books at the library. For me, that is a good birthday. We also went to the op shops in the area, and my sister practically got a new wardrobe, so she's happy too. I found a Nancy Drew book and bought that. That's the first Nancy Drew book I have ever owned, and I'm pretty excited. I'm going to read it soon.

June 4

My birthday is tomorrow! I'm really excited.

As a something special for tomorrow, we are all going to go to Caboolture Library. We haven't been since it moved a few months ago, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the new place.

On the weekend is my party. So far I have three definites, though one of the guests will have to leave early. I guess that's okay. At least I'll have a few of my friends who can stay the night through.

Now, the biggest problem is the cake. My mother likes to bake us all birthday cakes, but I don't really like cake. I'd prefer something else, but she isn't sure if she can make something else, especially because she doesn't have a lot of time to buy ingredients. So I'll probably have cake again this year too. I suppose that then I can see what cake my mother will do this year. One cake that she suggested that I would like to have is chocolate cake. But not just any chocolate cake. This chocolate cake has chocolate just oozing out of it. If you don't think that sounds delicious, you are not a true chocaholic.

June is starting!

I cannot believe it is already June. My birthday feels like it should be much further away, not just four days! It feels like there should be a week at least to go.

The beginning of Winter, and I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Surely it should be colder? It was really cold a few weeks ago, and now it's warm again!

I showed a few of my stories to my sister last night, and she liked them! I had never shown these stories to anyone before, but she enjoyed them. And she doesn't even like reading. We talked over my stories for probably a few hours. I even got her to read a few of my favorite online stories. She didn't like them as much as mine, but I think she still enjoyed them, and I'm happy with that.

May 31

Yesterday was my 200th post!

Taylor Swift is awesome! I love her music. She has some fantastic songs, that I really love.

Tomorrow is June, the first day of winter, and the first day of my birthday month. My birthday is on the fifth of June, and I'm getting really excited.

Our teacher came around today, and it was pretty cool. She confirmed that yes, the new maths book is a device by maths teachers to torture their students. It is really awful, and now she has let us off the hook. My older brother and I can now just do the old style maths, not the instrument of torture maths. Yes!

May 30

For the last few days we have been trying to install wifi, and finally it worked! We now have wifi, and it is so cool. I'm guessing that we will spend a lot of our time sending messages to each other over wifi. Talking may become a thing of the past in our household.

Tomorrow the teacher is coming to review the work that my older brother and I are doing. We are both dismally behind in Maths, and so we are not looking forward to the visit.

My birthday is under a week away! I've already had two positive replies to my party invites, and no negatives. I can hope that all my guests will make it.

May 27

Next post will be Post 200!

I never knew how much hassle was involved in getting a new computer up and running. It seems like there are so many thing to do, and not enough time to do them in. I want to have some time to just play around on my computer, but it seems that I have too much to do for that.

Today was pretty cool. We went shopping for my birthday. I know that my little brother will get me an umbrella, because we made a deal. He gets me an umbrella for my birthday, and I get him one for him. I don't know what my sister and older brother will get me, but I'm pretty sure it will be good.

At our youth bible study this morning, we got a brand new hangout. Sometime soon, we'll have a working bee and paint it and all that sort of stuff. That should be fun, and I can hardly wait!

May 26

I have a new computer! I'm typing on it right now. It's a laptop, and it is so cool!

YAY!

I'm too excited to think about anything else right now.

May 25

It is so cold right now! I'll have to wait for Kid's Club to finish before Youth Group starts, and I'm going to be cold.

I read Little Lord Fauntleroy today, and it is such a sweet story. In the introduction they compare it to Cinderella, but I think it is better.

Kid's Club is having a Slum theme night tonight, so my little brother and sister are dressing up in their oldest clothes and covering them with dirty looking stains. They'll probably look even more realistic after tromping around in the mud for a while!

May 24

The house seems so quiet. My little brother is in the backyard, my older brother is away from the house, and the only sounds I can here are the clack of the keyboard and the sound of scissors. How would you describe the sound that scissors make? It isn't easy. Maybe a serrating sound?

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I can hand out the last of the invitations to my party. I hope everyone I'm inviting is there. I'm not sure how I'd contact them if they aren't.

May 23

My 195th post. WOW!

My sister is sitting on the trampoline, singing Edelweiss (the song from Sound of Music). I don't know why she is, and there appears to be no reason, but she's doing it anyway. Sje just loves to sing.

Last night I discovered that the e-book The Complete Arthur Conan Doyle Collection is actually missing several Sherlock Holmes stories. That does not seem right!

My laptop is still not in commission, so once again I am on the family computer. I have to hurry up.

May 22

My laptop's death warrant is practically signed. As soon as possible, I will be getting a new computer. I'm looking forward to it. I have never had a new computer. For a while I shared a computer with my sister, then my dad gave me his old laptop, but now I should be getting a new computer all my own! I really am blessed.

My sister has taken up knitting. It is so funny to see her sitting there with this gigantic ball of wool, knitting away. It is the biggest ball of wool I have ever seen, probably the length of a ruler, and bright purple. She hasn't told anyone what she is making, except possibly our mother.

My birthday is exactly two weeks away! I'm really excited, but I'm worried that most of my presents will be IOUs. No one seems to have bought me a present yet!

We have all been really busy with schoolwork. Today my older brother and I found out that an assignment that we didn't even know about is due on Friday! My little brother and sister have their teacher coming around in two weeks, and the teacher for me and my brother is coming around next week.

Does anyone agree with me that it seems so weird to say or write 'my brother and me'? For example, which makes more sense, 'the teacher has come for my brother and I', or 'the teacher has come for my brother and I'? 'My brother and me' is grammatically correct, but doesn't sound write. My sister summed it up nicely. "The one that doesn't make sense is correct"!

May 21

My laptop is having serious technical difficulties. It is in a catatonic state, neither off, nor on, and I can't get it to be either. As a result, I am on the family computer today. I really don't like this keyboard, so today's post will not be long.

As part of my schoolwork I was studying Ivanhoe today, and it looks like a fantastic book! We actually have a copy sitting on our classics shelf, so I am hoping to read it.

I tidied my desk today. This is a rare occasion. I'm trying to sort out what books go back to which libraries, as I have borrowed books from about 4 different libraries, and 2 different people. That makes it awkward when I want to return books, but I'm not sure who I got them from.

May 20

I just finished reading The Boy In Striped Pajamas, and it wasn't as sad as I thought it would be. The movie was awful, and was so utterly despairing, but the book made it seem so matter of fact. There wasn't much emotion to it. For once, I liked the movie better than the book.

I'm writing on the family computer, because I see no point in waking up my notoriously tempermental laptop for only an hour or so. Normally I would spend hours reading on the internet at the weekend, but today I decided to decrease my pile of unread library books instead.

May 19

I'm in the middle of a story, so today's post will be fortunate to go beyond three sentences. I could only deliver two of my invitations last night, as my other friends were away for the weekend. Last sentence, I want to get back to my book!

May 18

I finally finished the unit of my history that I was working on. It took weeks, but now it is finally over. Yay! History is interesting, but it takes so long!

Tonight I give out my party invitations, and I'm excited. Now I can't wait for my party. Truth be told, I think I'm more excited about the party than my birthday. After all, I've had plenty of birthdays, but I've had far less parties.

After several days of cold weather, so cold that I wore ugboots all day, and my little brother went around the house pretending to be frozen solid, the weather is finally warming up. I'm actually hot in my long sleeves. I'm sure I'll be glad of my long sleeves tonight though. Youth group goes late.

Song Lyrics! Some songs have fantastic lyrics. My favorite lyrics tell a story. Have you ever heard the song Walking Her Home, by Mark Shultz? It has a fantastic story, that is sad, yet sweet. If you've seen The Notebook, this song will probably remind you of that movie. They are very similar.

My mother just made some fantastic cookies. As my sister described them, they are like apple pie, in cookie form! Apple pie is one of my absolute favorite foods, so I think these are totally delicious.

The Wiggle are breaking up!

sI just heard on the news that the Wiggles are breaking up. How could they do that? The Wiggles have been around for 21 years, they can't just stop. Worse, the new yellow Wiggle is going to be a girl! There has never been a girl Wiggle, and there shouldn't be now. It's tragic! I and my siblings grew up with the Wiggles. We danced around our lounge room to their songs. How could it all just end?!

May 17

I finally wrote those invitations. They are sitting beside me here as I type. My mother suggested a planets theme, and I went with it. Tomorrow I'm going to give the invitations to as many of the invitees that come to youth group. If they didn't come, maybe I'll see some at church on Sunday. Now, with the invitations printed, my birthday and birthday party seem to be getting closer!

Animate and Create, Mate

Apparently, the link I posted yesterday didn't work. The blog is called Animate and Create, Mate. The link is http://anim8andcre8mate.blogspot.com.au/

The particular post is called Chocolate. The link for that is http://anim8andcre8mate.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/chocolate_13.html

Hope it works this time!

May 16

It was so cold yesterday! At square dancing it was even colder. Some of the people who have been doing it for a while said that the hall where we dance can sometimes go down to two degrees Celsius. That is so cold, I don't even want to think about it!

This afternoon, I was reading a book called True Stories of the Strange and Unknown. There are some amazing stories there. This is one of them.

The Wonderful Watch
When Wal Williams of Charlotte, North Carolina, accidentally dropped his watch from a light plane at 600 metres, he though he'd never see it again. But next day, while gardening, he found the watch in his own backyard. It was still running-and keeping perfect time.

Isn't that so weird?

I'm currently reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Apart from the fact that we watched the movie not too long ago, I wanted to read it because it has some wonderful descriptions of winter, and chocolate. What better book is there to read on a cold winter's night, curled up under the blankets, than one that really makes you appreciate everything you have, and how blessed you are. Winter is a time when you want yummy hot meals, and there are people like Charlie who don't get them. I don't think that a visit to a chocolate factory would work for all of them though.

My birthday is coming up so quickly! It was three weeks away yesterday. None of my family have bought my presents yet, but at least they have plans to go shopping. I also still need to write invitations to my birthday party, and I want to have them written by Friday! I have to get on with that pretty soon.

May 15

I'm on the family computer today, because my older brother is hard at work and I don't want to disturb him. However, this computer is really awkward for me to type on. Having an enter key helps though.

Today, for me, has been a day of finishing things. Two of my subjects had Unit Reviews, and I spent most of the morning working on them. Tomorrow I start a whole new unit in those subjects.

I used Skype for the first ime this morning! My brother and I had a Skype call from our English teacher. It was so cool, and I'd never done it before. What a world of possibilities there are out there!

I saw a fantastic picture of chocolate on this blog. The blog is called Animate and Create, Mate, and the chocolate photos posted recently are really amazing. How does anyone make a keyboard of chocolate, and for that matter, why would they want to?

May 14

My computer is being super slow.

Mother's Day dinner last night was fantastic. My siblings prepared it while I was distracting our mother. They plated everything up nicely. It was a full three course meal with drinks. Before that was flowers, and afterwards were chocolates and her favorite drink. It was amazing, and we could tell that she loved it.

Today we went to the Abbey Museum. The lights weren't good, so my photos may be blurry, but I took heaps anyway. As a picture is a thousand words, I can't show them all, because that would be the equivalent of an essay (!), so I'll just show one or two.

May 13

On Friday I borrowed a computer game from Brisbane library. It was a Nancy Drew mystery game. This afternoon I tried to install it on my computer and play it, but it didn't work. I tried my sister's computer, with her permission, and it wouldn't work then either! So now I can't play it. The other computers are either in constant use, or the disk drives don't work properly. It's really annoying.

We are planning a really nice dinner for my mother, for Mother's Day. My sister and older brother paid for most of it, with help from our dad. I can't tell you all about it now, in case she reads this before then, but I will tomorrow.

May 11

Yesterday I went to Brisbane library, and now my card has 21 books on it. Brisbane library cards are only supposed to have 20 books on them at once. Today, we are going back, and unless I return books, I can't borrow anything! So I have to return some of the books I only borrowed yesterday, so that I can borrow more books today. Fortunately, I'm a quick reader, so I already read the books I'm returning, regardless of the fact that I only borrowed them yesterday. A train ride can be great for reading.

My little brother and I share several traits, one of which is to write at a ludicrous slant, that, on occasion, makes writing illegible. That is only sometimes though. Most of the time, we have legible writing. At least, he does. Mine, not so much. It's a bit mixed up. I can read it, but other people sometimes have trouble reading what I wrote in a hurry. One advantage of that, it keeps my siblings from reading my diary!

My sister is practicing her singing exercises. She has to listen to one song over and over again, and hum/murmur/??? along with it. It sounds kind of weird. Some more news about my sister? She had her braces changed again yesterday. They are now "pink and lavender".

May 9

I can't blog tomorrow. We'll be out all day, and we won't get back until late. In other news, one of our guinea pigs is dying, while her brother keeps escaping his cage. Mixed news indeed!

May 8

I found a really great book at the library today. It's called the Ultimate Book Guide, and it has all sorts of books, and suggestions of what you could read if you liked those books. I'll probably spend this afternoon reading this book of books!

May 7

Today's a holiday! Yay! I don't know why it's a holiday, but I'll enjoy it anyway.

Last night, to celebrate that we wouldn't have to get up early this morning, we watched both Scooby Doo movies, with all the lights out. Only my brothers lasted through both movies. My mother fell asleep near the start of the second movie.I fell asleep partway through that movie, still wearing my glasses! My sister fell asleep later in the movie. I suppose my brothers didn't really last through both movies, because they turned the movie off when they realised that they were the only ones still awake. We watched the end of it this morning.

My mother is giving the guinea pigs their worm treatment. They don't really like it. Some of them fight it, and some of them dribble it all down their fronts. One of the guinea pigs will just swallow it all down, without dripping. I think she might secretly like it.

May 6

What a boring day today! Pretty much nothing has happened, at least not anything that I would blog about. I can hear my little brother and sister playing PlayStation 2. We have quite a few games on there, including a few LEGO games, and they're playing one of those.

There has been some beautiful weather today. It has been the perfect day to sit outside and read, and for part of the day, that's what I did.

May 5

It's kind of disappointing, but there was no bonfire last night. The ground was too muddy. We still had marshmallows, but the fire was practically nonexistent. Mostly it was just coals, and it was in a trough. Nowhere near as much fun, and much hotter.

Yesterday, I found a really cool site, where you can make word clouds. All you have to do is put in a bunch of words, and it turns into something like this. It looks really cool, and isn't hard to do. The hardest bit is thinking up all the words. This one has thirty one words, and it took a while to think of that many. I had to enlist help.

I love having pancakes for breakfast. My mother makes some fantastic pancakes, all crispy at the edges, and really thin. They taste great with lemon and sugar. Those are my favorite pancake toppings. My older brother likes to eat them with peanut butter sometimes, but I think that isn't as nice. I also think that it peanut butter smells totally overpowering when you aren't the one eating it.

May 4

Sometimes my little brother does really funny and silly stuff. Today, while we were shopping, he scanned his library book at the check out machine. It said that it couldn't identify the item. No surprise there, though it would have been cool it it had!

We leave in less than an hour for the bonfire. My mother and little brother aren't coming, as it is exclusively a youth group event. My little brother goes to Kid's Club instead. I'm really looking forward to it.

May 3

As I write, I'm listening to Our Song. It's a song by Taylor Swift, my favorite of all of her songs. I love most, probably all (I haven't heard all of them) of her songs, but this is my favorite. Here are the lyrics:

"Our Song"

I was riding shotgun
With my hair undone
In the front seat of his car
He's got a one-hand feel
On the steering wheel
The other on my heart
I look around, turn the radio down
He says, "Baby is something wrong?"
I say, "Nothing,
I was just thinking
How we don't have a song"
And he says...

[Chorus:]
Our song is the slamming screen door,
Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window
When we're on the phone and you talk real slow
'cause it's late and your mama don't know
Our song is the way you laugh
The first date "Man, I didn't kiss her, and I should have"
And when I got home ... 'fore I said amen
Asking God if he could play it again

I was walking up
The front porch steps
After everything that day
Had gone all wrong
And been trampled on
And lost and thrown away
Got to the hallway,
Well on my way
To my lovin' bed
I almost didn't notice
All the roses
And the note that said...

[Chorus:]
Our song is the slamming screen door,
Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window
When we're on the phone and you talk real slow
'cause it's late and your mama don't know
Our song is the way you laugh
The first date "Man, I didn't kiss her, and I should have"
And when I got home ... 'fore I said amen
Asking God if he could play it again

I've heard every album, listened to the radio
Waited for something to come along
That was as good as our song...

[Chorus:]
'Cause our song is the slamming screen door,
Sneakin' out late, tapping on his window
When we're on the phone and he talks real slow
'cause it's late and his mama don't know
Our song is the way he laughs
The first date "Man, I didn't kiss him, and I should have."
And when I got home ... 'fore I said amen
Asking God if he could play it again

I was riding shotgun
With my hair undone
In the front seat of his car
I grabbed a pen
And an old napkin
And I wrote down our song


It feels like Friday! I can't wait for tomorrow, because it feels like it should be Friday already, so I want Friday to come. Tomorrow is the bonfire, and hopefully I won't have a sore throat by then. My throat is better today than it was yesterday, so maybe by tomorrow I'll be fine, then I can roast my own marshmallows. My sister came up with a plan for cooking me marshmallows. I find a stick, she puts them on, my brother cooks them, she says when they're done, then (her favorite part) she EATS THEM! I'm not sure how this gets me marshmallows, but she says it will work. I have no doubts that it will work to HER satisfaction.

My little brother has been working on fractions on his whiteboard. He came over to me and asked me to help him, in such a cute voice that it was almost impossible to resist. Have you ever seen Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales? My brother is so much like that, down to the silly songs. He even likes to hop or skip around when he's happy.