Saturday, May 30, 2009

Fun in the Park and Cotton Candy

There was this thing in the city park last night. it was like the all saints festivals we had at our old church in the fall with small carnival games, bands playing, food, and way too many people. I went for the soul reason of getting cotton candy. pretty stupid I know, but I like the stuff and carnivals and festivals are the only time I get any. Everything was loud loud loud. I caught a few of my friends, including Jodi and Haley. I had fun taunting Haley because I had the next book in the series we're both reading and she doesn't. The evening went pretty well, there was too many people for my taste, but I was there for the cotton candy remember? I won two stuffed animals, an elephant and a TY beanie buddy.

I'm working on a new book idea called Step into side ways. I'm going to finish the first chapter and post it on my website later. it plays with dimensions. I guess that's all for now.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Driver's Ed Nightmare



So it's my second real day at the actual driving part of Driver's Ed. Tuesday, mom took me out to an empty church parking lot and we went through all the gears, knobs, switches, blind spots, void areas and all that good stuff, then I drove around the parking lot getting used to the feel of the car, learning how to gradually start and stop, pull up to a curb, and remember to look everywhere all at once so I don't hit anything. it's a lot to remember. didn't do anything Wednesday.


Today, the parking lot was not enough for my mom. she drove across the street into the local cemetery! (btw, this is the main entrance to the actual cemetery I drove in) the road that runs through there is like, only big enough for one car, both sides are shouldered by trees and the path is like a maze. short turns and a lot of twists. this is only my second time behind the wheel people! I am WAY ahead of my text book. I had to turn a few sharp turns, and back up. I have to avoid a car that was parked right in the middle of the path and avoid hitting a water spicket and a grave stone all at the same time while remembering to check my mirrors and all that other driving goodness. wanna talk a about stressful? Hopefully she would make me do that again tomorrow. I'm quite content with empty parking lots right now.

Looking around though (you can do that too while driving) I felt a pang of sadness at all of those dead people. there's even a section for new born babies that had died. rows of dead babies and young children. it's just...sad.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

the rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it rained last night. no, correction, we had a hurricane in New Mexico! that's what it felt like anyway. in some parts of the yard, the water was around two feet deep! it rained for what seemed like forever, but It only lasted 30 minutes or so. I like rain, no matter how much or how little it is. We went for a walk after it stopped, the dogs loved it.


Monday, May 25, 2009

Wrong

I am not feeling good today. I am not feeling sick, more just...not good. I don't know how to say it. I just feel...wrong. cut off? restless? lonely? down? not sure. Wrong.

We have knobs back on our doors. that's good.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

locked doors

mom was painting the hallway that's just outside us kid's bedroom doors. she was also painting the doors so they would match the trim. to paint the doors, she had to take of the door knobs. yeah. so the door knobs were off, but the rest of the door mechanism was still in the door. along comes Abby. she shuts the door. (that happened Friday night I might add) she can't get out of the bathroom and mom and dad are on a walk and I sure can't figure out how to get the door open. well, dad managed to get her out and that was that.

next morning, way to early, Rachel locks herself in the bathroom. the bathroom is right across from my room. there were a lot of "SHHHHHH! WE'RE GOING TO WAKE UP HANNAH!" and "DON'T TALK SO LOUD!" so how was I going to sleep through that?!?! dad got smart and took the little door thing out of the door so now we have a big gaping hole in the bathroom door and we had to stuff a towel in it for privacy's sake. I don't think we'll get the knobs back in until Monday or tuesday. Lovely.

on the bright side, it'd been raining for the last few days. Wonderful rain!

Friday, May 22, 2009

God Bless You


I let my brother and his friend borrow my camera because they wanted to make a movie. they consist of mostly running and screaming. the footage is bouncy and you get a lot of shots of feet and dirt. I guess boys will be boys. dirty and noisy


did you ever wonder why people say "God bless you! " when you sneeze? this is a question my brother asked me this morning at the breakfast table. It started in Rome during the reign of Pope Gregory the Great. It was thought that if you sneezed, your soul left your body and left a spot where evil spirits could enter. and the only way to get it the soul back in would be if someone quickly "Blessed you." It was this and also that Roman citizens feared sneezing was a sign that a plague was about to hit their city because they thought that sneezing was a sure sign of sickness. Pope Gregory started the use of the phrase "God bless you" to shield sneezers from any ill effects. Both from the plague and the evil spirits entering the body. I think that's as silly as people in the 17th century not taking a bath because it would make them more volerable to sickness! Where do people come up with this stuff?!?!?


And by the way, "gesundheit"(being just as popular as "Bless you") is a German word that literally means "health." the roots for 'gesundheit' are similar to that of "Bless You".
I'm not sure why I'm talking about this...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Long Live Books!


Finished The Soldiers of Halla last night at 12:00 AM on the dot. I hate sharing a room with my sister! I wanted to scream! in a good way. I was pleased with the way it ended. I recommend the Pendragon series to anyone who likes books. The only thing is that now I've finished the series and it's over. no more story. =( I'm glad I own all the books. now I can go back and read it all over again!


Now I'm reading Max. It's funny, Max has been sitting on my shelf for nearly a month and I haven't read it yet. I went from not having anything to read, to being swamped! I guess that's a good thing. As I look at the books I still have to read, I can't help thinking that the list looks depleting. I'm going to have to hunt down some good stuff if I want to make it thorough the summer.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A thousand words


They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm not sure if it's true with all pictures, but pics like this one speak volumes...to me at least. I'm not exactly sure why I like this one so much. I look at it and feel so much strain and emotion in it. It's like I can read into the picture and pull out a story. I just might be super sensitive to art, or I may just be crazy? what do you think?

Monday, May 18, 2009

The Soldiers of Halla

I'm reading the tenth Pendragon book now and am enjoying it fully. I still think Bobby needs a lesson in not provoking the bad guy until he starts hitting you with an electrocuting wand, but what can I do? I'm just a reader. What I'm finding horrifying is that there are similarities between The soldiers of Halla and my own book, Starshard. it's not fair to say that I copied, because I've been working on this book since before I even started reading the Merchant of Death! needless to say, I feel irked, but I'm not about to change my plot line because I read something similar.

Now Christopher Paolini is a different matter...haven't you eve noticed the dozens of similarities between Eragon, Eldest and Brisinger? I found a blog post that points out how close these two stories are http://thewordcrafter.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/eragon-vs-star-wars/ I found it horrendusly funny, because of how true it is.

Back to Pendragon, I wasn't entirely shocked by Sant Dane's true motives once they were unmasked. I wasn't shocked about the truth about the Travelers either. and I wasn't shocked by the reappearance of one of the main characters. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I sort of half guessed. I've read so much that it takes a lot to shock me. I can say this though, I love it when I'm right, and I HATE it when I'm right. And if this book ends the way I think it's going to end, I...will...go...insane!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Being an account of friday the 15th...talent night

It took me forever to figure out what I was going to wear and I left the house unsatisfied. When we got there, I warmed up with the choir and took my seat.

Nathan and Rachel's puppet show is the first act, so I have to bounce back up again and help hold the puppet curtain. back to my seat. people sing, play violins and the piano. Lizzie is sitting next to me, shaking so hard the pew is vibrating. I grab her by the shoulders."Peace!" I whisper. it'll be ok! you'll do great!" she gets up, does her skit, (which is really good!) then returns to her seat.

I have to get up and help abby sing her song. back to my seat. more singing and piano. I have to get up to sing with the choir midway though. I'll tell you this, our practice runs with choir went a lot better than the main performance. I think that was because everyone was so nervous. back to my seat. my turn! I get up there and head for the mic...and find out that there is still one more person before me. SHOOT ME NOW! sheepishly slink of the stage and sit back down. now it's Lizzie's turn to put peace on me!

Finally it's my turn. I get up there, "Hi, My name is Kye and I am going to be singing...oh shoot, I forgot what I was going to sing." Laughs. mom shouts at me from the audience, "You're not Alone!" right! I knew that! God, can you do me a favor and hit me with a lightning bolt or something?! I want to sink into the floor. NOW! start singing. it goes very well, I hit a few sour notes, finish and take my seat. then I have to get back up to receive my eleventh grade certificate. a few more people. time to leave. thank goodness!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Knocking Knees


I am going to die!!!!


I nearly fainted yesterday when I got up on the stage and opened my mouth to sing at the talent show rehearsal. there was only a handful of people there too! I am so going to die tonight! First I was fine. I usually am. I get nervas right before I go up to talk or something and then when I actually start doing it, I feel paralyzed! Mrs. Monica called my name and I got up on the stage..."Hi, my name is Monica Justus and I'm going to sing Amazing Grace." That was a slight dig from earlier when Mrs. Monica was using that as an example. I wasn't the only one to mimic her delivery. I was so wigged out though. my voice got shrill, which I hate, my stomach was doing flip-flops, my entire body was trembling and I was gripping that microphone for all I was worth!


I think I sounded ok. I hit a few really bad notes and mom said I swayed a little. I've said it before, I can be nervous and no one would know it. apparently, I didn't look nervous. At least that's good. I am so going to die tonight. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!


If there is a slight chance that I don't die, I'll tell you how the main performance went.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

hot glue and missing skin

my hands are no longer green and red. no. something WORSE has happened to them.

to back up, the dye came out of the puppets. the fabric didn't take at all! so we have white puppets with a slight green or red tint. talk about frustrating! all that work yesterday and NOTHING to show for it.

Back to worse. the dye came out of my hands and then this afternoon while I was hot gluing hair on one puppet, the index finger on my right hand brushed though the hot glue. so now the top half, and I mean half of my finger is burnt, blistered, and missing a layer of skin. I'm probubly making it sound worse than it is, but it sure hurts like ****! I never realized how much I use my right hand. I eat and write, draw and paint with my left hand, but my right does mostly everything else! I just hope it heals quick. touching it with anything hurts.

on the bright side, all the puppets are done and i don't have to hot glue anything anymore!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

my hands are green

So we need puppets for Friday right? they need to look at least remotely like bob and larry from veggietales. we can't find any green or red fake fur, so we buy white and dye it. it took mom and I all afternoon to make the dye and then color the puppets. my hands are fire truck red and Christmas tree green. mom told me there were gloves under the sink, but did I hear her? no. and actually, Rachel and Nathan should have been the ones getting there hands all full of dye cuz the puppets are for their puppet show. not mine! so guys, if my hands are still red and green Friday, this is why.

Monday, May 11, 2009

When the World is Puddle-Wonderful

I had a strange dream last night. Diana, Jonathan and I were at a mall. I think Rose, Lizzie and Ana where there too, but they disappeared and I couldn't find them. Anyway, Diana, Jonathan and I went to go see Night at the Museum in the theaters. (that movie's been out on DVD for a long time so I don't know how we managed to see it) I couldn't find either of them in the dark theater, so I was running around crazily looking for them and then when I found them, I ended up sitting in a chair next to another seat Diana had jammed full of cardboard baby books! they were poking me in the soft upper part of my arm and no matter how I moved, the books kept poking me! it hurt! So I woke up, still feeling sharp pokes. but no one was poking me! I was alone in the room and I hadn't fallen asleep on a book or anything! Whatever/whoever it was stopped poking me when I sat up and got out of bed, but I could still feel it for a while. honestly! some spirits are so RUDE!

I burnt my ear with the hair straightener this morning...

but now to the puddle wonderful. it was misty, cloudy and moist all day long. the kind of day where you don't want to do anything. but I liked it because it was WET! on these over cast days, green looks more green and brown looks more brown! all the dusty colors are transformed into beautiful healthy fantasy quality colors! I love it! we don't get wet days around here much, so one wet day is Puddle-Wonderful! btw puddle wonderful is from a poem I cannot remember the name of.

We were running around in Clovis looking for supplies to make puppets for Nathan and Rachel's puppet show on Friday and we bumped into Diana of all people! now that's just weird.

all and all, I think I had a pleasant day.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

my mom's gift


this is what I made mom for mother's day. and yes, I did it myself. I LOVE photoshop.

happy mother's day! zzzzzzz

it's mothers day! we gave mom cards and all that at breakfast and now we're settling down into a nice day of nothingness. everyone is just way exhausted! I don't think a single member of this family has gotten a good nights sleep in a long time. it's not that we're not going to bed on time. no. we just can't sleep! *yawn* I don't think I'll ever wake up refreshed again!

Happy Mother's day Mom!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

talent show freak out

I'm teaching Abby a song for the talent show. she sounds so cute! she's got all the words down now, but the tune is still a little off. we have till the 15th so i think she'll have it by then.

as far as me and the talent show, i have no clue. I wanted to sing you're not alone, but I'm loosing confidence in myself and I am beginning to realize, even though the song sounds simple, that it is very hard to sing. i could change it, but I don't know what else I would sing. last year, I didn't sing at all and i regretted it. I could think about doing something else, but I don't really have a bunch of skills that you get up and show off. ugh! I'm just a mess about the whole thing and I have to tell Mrs. Sarah what I'm doing by Friday!

that also brings up another issue. I am supposed to sing the cat's duet and as the deer with the choir that meets on Friday during the talent show. but this is the last week left to practice and I can't go because mom and dad have a date in Lubbock! AHHHHHHH!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

iRead...and read

I really have nothing to say, so why I am posting is totally beyond me. right now, my dad is on the phone, nathan is playing video games, mom and my sisters are in the kitchen and we're all gonna eat cookies soon! MY cookies. I'm really surprised they've lasted this long. usually they're gone in two days. this would be day three. wow. Sadie, our lab, is barking at the kid across the street and the AC is up way to high. burrrrrrrrr

*Yawn* I'm tired. I have to finish reading Mississippi Jack so I can give it back to Haley. I'm about half way through the book and I've been reading it for two nights or more. it's got 600 something pages. long book. thankfully, it's small in stachure. I would not recommend reading the bloody Jack books. they're really good, but the only problem is that sometimes it can get a little Gorey and graphic. if it were a movie, it would probubly be PG-13 and in one or two passages, bordering R. there are definitely times where I skip over a paragraph or two. I wouldn't be reading them at all if I hadn't gotten so wrapped up in the story. I'm on the 5th book.

I have bloodhound sitting on my shelf and I'm DYING to read it. I've been waiting a long time for it. but first things first...MUST FINISH MISSISSIPPI JACK! sigh. What I REALLY want to read is the 10th Pendragon book which is coming out on the 12th. book nine ended with a killer cliff hanger. Rosetta now also shares in my pain. she just finished book nine yesterday. hee hee. well I seem to have said a lot for not saying anything. ta-ta!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Driving Dilemma

So I have a driver's permit, but I haven't been driving...

with in the last week mom has asked me if I wanted to go out to a vacant church parking lot to practice twice. the only thing is that the first time she asked me, my hands were full of charcoal pencil and then when she asked me today, it was like, 4:30 pm and all of my energy was spent. it's not like I DONT want to drive. I just don't like having her asking me spur-of-the-moment like. I think we're going to put some structure behind the drive time bit, but I don't like doing it NOW. I'd like to have a bit of time to react and think about it. sigh. I wonder if I'll ever drive.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Toothpaste

A few nights ago, my brother had another one of his sleep walking things. He got up, went to the bathroom, left the bathroom, then turned around and walked back in. I wondered what he was doing, so I got up and went to the bathroom door which was wide open. Nathan looked right at me and said "I have toothpaste on my hand." He did.
"Why do you have toothpaste on your hand?" I asked.
"I don't know."
I looked at the sink and his tooth brush had more tooth paste on it than brush. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know."
"Nathan, there's Kleenex on the toilet rim, what are you doing?"
"oops." He flushes the Kleenex when there's a trash can right next to his foot. "I don't know."
"Turn off the light when your done."
"Ok."
"Nathan, if you don't remember this in the morning, I'm going to kill you."
"Ha, ha."
He brushes his teeth does NOT turn off the light and crawls back into bed. Why me?

btw, he did not remember it in the morning. typical. don't worry, I didn't kill him.