YAYYYYY!

Merry Christmas! And a merry one it is! Everyone is happy with their gifts, especially the big family present....
A Wii!!!!!!
I'm soooo excited, and not just about the Wii. What's a video game to a good book?
Because the first thing I opened (besides dumping out my stocking) was the long coveted Fairy Tale Novels series!!! *jumps up and down ecstatically*
It's a day for exclamation points!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know it's annoying. Cut me some slack; it's Christmas!
!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also got a $50 gift card for Ross
A pretty brown shawl/scarf thing which I loooovvvee and will wear it forever
And ever.
Earringses!
A pertyful tote bag
A radio/clock/iPod speaker!!!! The radio part has crummy reception because I can't find the blasted antenna which is supposed to be on there somewhere. Oh well. It's got this cool remote that controls the tuning and the volume and play and pause and everything! aahh!(!!)

All the gifts I gave to people seem to be a success. Mom likes her ornament, Dad enjoyed the Gummi Bears, Hannah likes the bookmark and Katie still hasn't read the book but she will, and she'll love it and re-read it and re-re-read it and so on.... Sarah had better like it too. :P

SOOO now that I'm done raving about my Christmas presents you can get off my blog and go enjoy yours.

Feliz Navidad!
Merry Christmas!
I'm too lazy to look it up in 5 other languages. Oh well!

Wishin' You the Best!
-A Very Happy and Book-Crazy Katie

P.S.
WAIT!!! I forgot something.... the toothbrush! How could I? Yes, I got a toothbrush! But sadly it (unlike Ben's) does not play 2 minutes of Indiana Jones themed music :(
You can go now. :-D

My Beloved Reader(s)!

You thought I was going to say "Merry Christmas" didn't you? Aha! I know everything. Says who Santa's got a crystal ball, or elf spies? OK, so he does. But when they fail who do you think he comes to? Yeah. That's right. But don't worry, I already put in a good word for ya'll with Kris. Except Katie. (I'll explain some other time)


So, when Christmas rolls around, my sisters, our friends and I go caroling! People seem to like it. Nobody's covered their ears yet, anyway. Because it's South Texas, we always sing "Feliz Navidad". :-D Along with the traditional carols like "Rudolph," "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," and "Away In A Manger," on which the little kids get a solo for the first verse.

There's a house in our neighborhood that, when all lit up, would absobloominlutely (my new favorite word!) blow your mind. There are at least fifty trees with lights wrapped around the trunk, 7 or 8 of those smaller "trees" that are just lights strung down from a pole, one BIG one, and innumerable light-up decorations, from snowmen, to a Christmas train, to lit-up characters from the old Rudolph movie. There's a sign (or two) that says "Santa's Workshop" and on the front porch and enormous throne (this things has gotta be 4 feet wide, arm to arm) where on Saturday nights the creator of this LED masterpiece dons his beard and suit and the kids of the neighborhood go see him. He gives out candy canes and sells food for a charity. We carolers stopped there (how could we not?) and sang for "Santa" (who no, was not dressed up as such). We sand a song we hadn't done yet; "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". Aren't we so clever and cute? He loved it and said "Hold on, I'm gonna go grab my camera. I want to take a picture of you all." He pulled out the chair, us three older girls sat on it (we actually fit!) and everyone else posed around it. "Great!" he said. "By the time you guys get home, this picture will be on my website, lavernialights.com."
"Yay! We're famous!"
Then he gave us a bag with 10 or so boxes of candy canes in it, saying that he had tons. Wowww...
So, you want to see the picture? You're dying to see the picture. There's no use denying it.
Tada!



From left to right:
Emma (my sister), Grace (my sister), me, Kainah and Becca (Kainah's the older one), Hannah, and Levi.
Go to lavernialights.com to see his website.

Mi familia is going to Midnight Mass tonight/tomorrow so I need to go make sure I have everything ready.

Now I'll say it!


May you receive and give such gifts,
As can't be found under a tree,
May the Little Babe bless you with the shining ornaments,
Of hope, faith and sweet charity.
Merriest of Christmases!
God bless!

-Katie :)

Apricotpie.com

Hello!

I joined a website called apricotpie.com. It's for homeschoolers and homeschool graduates to post things they've written and read other people's writings. Go here: http://www.apricotpie.com/katiesara
to see my profile. I sent in four things already, but they won't be posted until reviewed for approval. Look around, there's some great stuff on the site. Some really good/creative/smart/funny writers.

Merry Christmas!
-Katie :)

You Won't Find This

Another song meme. Funness...

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!


1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY... Ave Maria
2) WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD LIKE. . . Enchanted Suite
3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL... Change (huh?)
4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?... Last Name (for anyone who has heard this song... that's downright creepy)
5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?... Multiple Jacks (soo... Davy Jone's Locker? No thank you!)
7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?... Granuaile's Dance
8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Jesus Take The Wheel (that would be nice if I thought about that more)
9) WHAT IS 2+2? The Voice
10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?... It's Not My Time
11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?... Desert Rose (uh...? hellooo!)
12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?... Tied Together With A Smile (omm. *cries* that sounds incredibly depressing)
13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? ...Who Says You Can't Go Home
14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? The Little Drummer Boy (*dies of laughter*)
15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (okaaayyy...)
16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Breakaway (???)
17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? The Swordfight (from POTO. that's hilarious)
18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? ... The Rising of the Sun (yeah, me who sleeps until 8:30 am)
19) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? ... Unwritten
20) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Gone (that's a little scary...)
21) HOW WILL YOU DIE? Medley: Why Have You Brought Me Here/Raoul I've Seen Him (oh no! I'll be killed by....THE PHANTOM! *cue music* It's already been proven by my funeral music anyway)
22) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? ... Ready, Set, Don't Go
23) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? My Angel (haha that's just funny in a random way)
24) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? Think Of Me (hehe)
25) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? Starts With Goodbye (that does not bode well)
26) WHAT ARE YOU SCARED OF? Where Is Your Heart (what the cupcake?)
27) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? Robert Says Goodbye (I'm confused.)
29) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? The Christmas Song (rofl)
30) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? You Won't Find This

'Tis finished!

A couple of you knew that Grace (my nine year old sister) has been writing a story. She finished it tonight! She is very proud of herself and happy. So am I. I helped a little, I was her official "editor" which means I corrected grammar and spelling, etc. In one or two places she accepted an idea of mine. Mostly I just got her to add some description. She did pretty much all the work herself, with few spelling mistakes and pretty good grammar for a kid not yet ten. And the names! I go nuts over "Henry Ashcastle". It's even better then "Fitzwilliam Darcy". *shock* But seriously! "Henry Ashcastle"! Official Best Fictional Character's Name EVER.

I think she is well on her way to becoming a famous writer, Nobel Prize-winning naturalist, and champion barrel racer. Here is the story.

The Demon Scarab

Professor Henry Ashcastle was a young entomologist. He was working in the lab when his friend, Prof. Ralph Shrift, walked in with a package which contained some new species, including a nine-inch scarab from Mongolia. After many weeks of studying the giant insect they finally named it Magnae scarabaeidae (great scarab). As soon as they had all the information they needed, Prof. Shrift went to mail it to the museum. He was going out the back door of the laboratory when the box started to vibrate. He saw black wings covered with emerald shining thorns. Suddenly, there was a blood curdling shriek. Upon hearing this horrific sound, Henry rushed outside to find that the box was empty and that Professor Shrift had vanished. He put on his coat and brought out his horse. He rode down the dirt road and into the streets, frantically asking people if they had seen a giant beetle with a man about thirty. But just as you might think, they all thought he was crazy. He rode up to a barn and sat down on a hay bale. After a few minutes he heard yelling from inside the barn. He took out his pocket knife and rushed inside. To his surprise he saw Professor Shrift lying on the ground. There was blood on the top part of his left sleeve and his face was pale.
"Ralph, thank goodness you're all right! What happened?" said Henry. " I am not really sure" said Ralph.

Henry helped his friend out of the barn. He looked down the road and saw a cab driving up. As it was driving past the barn, Henry signaled the driver to stop. He payed the man and helped Ralph inside. Ralph sat down and told the driver to take him to the York Motel and Suites. Henry said that he would take his horse. Noticing the blood on Ralph's shirt the driver asked, "Is everything all right sir?" Afraid he might think them crazy, Ralph skipped the story and just said, "Yes, thank you." After he got there Ralph got up, stepped out, thanked the driver and went to the stable where he met Henry tying up his horse. They went inside the building up to Henry's room. They sat down on the sofa and were silent for many minutes. Then finally Ralph spoke up. "Maybe I should change my clothes." Henry walked up to his dresser and pulled out a white shirt with a grey checkered vest. "Here, take these. While you get dressed, I am going to go down stairs to get a cup of coffee," he said. When Henry was back up stairs Ralph had changed and was sitting on the sofa. Henry sat down in a rocking chair in a corner in the room. "Do you have any idea what happened?" asked Henry.

"Well, I was on my way to the mail box when the box that held the beetle almost seemed to be moving. And then I saw what looked liked a cross between a flying lizard and dragonfly and it had sharp fangs. Then I found myself in a dark room and I kept hearing these awful sounds. Something sharp hit me on the arm. And then I saw you standing in the doorway of an old barn." said Professor Shrift.
"The beetle could not have possibly been that demon you say you saw," said Ashcastle.
"Let's just take our minds off the subject for awhile," said Ralph. But Henry could not just take his mind off the subject. "Meet me here tomorrow morning at seven. We are going to look for the insect. I just hope that it does not do anything before then," he said. Ralph cleaned up his arm and left. Henry changed into his nightclothes and laid down on the bed. He could think about nothing but the scarab and if it really was this awful creature his friend was talking about. But eventually he went to sleep.

He and Ralph were walking through a field. All the grass was dead and the sky seemed grey. Then they herd something that sounded like the sound a fork makes when scraped across a plate. They paused. Then suddenly a demon with wings and white froth around its mouth was on top of Henry, snarling and showing its vile teeth. "Ralph!" he screamed. "Ralph!" He woke up, and rubbed his eyes, desperately trying to reassure himself that it was all just a dream. Then he looked at the clock. It said 6:33.
"Well, I had best be getting ready," he said, sitting up in bed. He got out of bed, changed his clothes, picked up his coat and went downstairs where he met Ralph Shrift, who was standing outside. It was cloudy and chilly. In the distance Henry could see the fog like a grey sheet over the English countryside. "Perhaps we should take along a revolver or a knife. I always do when I go down there," said Henry.
"Go down where?" asked Ralph.
"Why, to the pine woods at the bottom of the hill of course!" answered Henry, as if it were obvious.
"I am not going into those woods," said Ralph.
"Why not? What better place for a demon to hide than a dark wood!" said Henry excitedly. "Exactly!" said Ralph.
"Please Ralph," asked Henry.
"Has it attacked you yet?" said Ralph angrily. "Well no, but what do you think would happen if I went alone and it did?" said Henry. "It would be your own fault," answered Ralph.
"Well that is why I am bringing my pocket knife. Do you have a gun of any kind?" asked Henry.
"Yes, I believe I have some pistols in a chest in the attic," replied Ralph. "Let us go get them," said Henry.

Before they knew it they were riding down the hill with pistols at their sides. as they were nearing the woods the two horses suddenly reared, throwing the men to the ground. Henry looked up; The Demon was approaching at a low glide. Henry leapt to his feet. He picked up his pistol that had fallen out of his holster when he fell off his horse. Staring straight at the beast, he fired. It hit the beast in its side. The creature weakened but did not stop. It was within twenty-five feet of him when Henry fired again. This time he hit it in the chest. It took a few more steps, then collapsed, dead. Ralph stood up. "Henry, you're the bravest man I ever met," said Ralph. After taking The Demon back to the laboratory they compared the beast's blood with the beetle's in every way, many times. It matched. "Its impossible!" exclaimed Ralph. "But it's true," said Henry. "Now let's get back to work." So they did, as if nothing had happened.

The End

The Comment Challenge

I am going to have a little fun with you guys (and see how many of you still read my blog hehe). Let's see how you do.

*ahem*

IF YOU READ THIS POST

You are bound to do.... THE COMMENT CHALLENGE.

Choose any post on this blog, any one at all, and post a long comment. I mean long. At least 6 sentences.

In your comment you must include at least three of the following words:

PIE
YELLOW
SQUISH(Y)
SUBCONSCIOUS(LY)
STELLAR
SHENANIGANS
INTIMIDATING

And no, you can't just randomly say them. They must be used in a sentence, which must relate in some way, no matter how minimal, to the post on which you are commenting.




(...and the judges' decision is FINAL.)



Have fun! ^_^

Trying to teach manners to a two-year-old

Katie: *holding a bottle* What do you say?

Lucy: Please.

Katie: *hands bottle to Lucy* Now what do you say?

Lucy: Please...

Katie: Nooo, thank you.

Lucy: Oh. Thank you.

Katie: You're welcome.

Lucy: You're welcome.

I discovered a Jane Austen novel I never knew existed! So of course within days of this hugely important finding, I went and got the book. I'm actually listening to it. I downloaded it off of LibriVox (librivox.org). Which, by the way, is absolutely free. Not bad, right? It's how I read (or listened to, whatever) Emma and Northanger Abbey. This one is called Lady Susan. It seems to be really unknown. I found out about it from that quiz several posts down (looking at "view all results" to see which heroines the quiz covered). It's about Lady Susan Vernon, a selfish, scheming woman, and it's written in epistolary form (letters from various people to each other- really interesting way to write a book and Austen makes it work very well). So far it's good, but Lady Susan herself is absolutely awful. She actually says to her friend that her daughter is stupid. She puts her in a private school in London, not thinking that she'll actually learn anything (too much of a dunce) but to put her in a miserable situation so that she'll HAVE to accept the guy her mom wants her to marry. Who appears to also be a simpleton. Meanwhile, Lady Susan is cleverly manipulating the emotions of her in-laws, with the purpose in mind to humiliate them and show them her "superiority". Wow.

So it promises to be very interesting. Several different characters, all with a different view of what's going on. That's the cool thing about the epistolary style in which it's written; you get everybody's side of the story from their viewpoint and with the influence of their likes, dislikes, and prejudices. So yup! Neat stuff.

Exerpts from my life.

Real life. Real people.

(in a Gollum-like voice) "I love holy water! It makes me a good boy!"
-Ben, age 5

"Why are you fighting about something as worthless as what you ordered the first time you went to Chili's?"
-Mom

"I'm not lousy, I'm LUCY!"
-Lucy, age 2

"Check it out! I've got a mustache! haha! I'm a MAN! I have facial hair!"
- Jack, age 14

This has been an inside look at what it's like to live at Katie's house. Stay tuned...

Book meme #2

Mom over at Nine Texans tagged me for ANOTHER book meme.

These are the rules:
Pass this on to 5 blogging friends. Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that.

(this is Jack's history book by the way.)

His maxim, "know thyself" was the subject of endless discussions. Aristotle was another famous philosopher. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest thinkers of all times and wise men nowadays believe in many of his ideas.

I tag.... hm. Mom already tagged Freddy and Miss Carol, so who am I left with? Rae and.... nobody. Well I'm going to borrow Miss Carol's idea and say if you read this, you are tagged and you can do it in a comment. You don't HAVE to but it would be fun.

Randomness... and a fun day!

So, Christmas music has started playing on the radio. I'm going to go ahead and put the Celtic Woman Christmas on my iPod. That is absolutely the best Christmas album EVER. It's so beautiful and, on some songs, fun! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that CD. But it's all scratched up so I can't listen to it on a CD player, which means we can't put it on while we're decorating the tree like we did last year. :(

Today I got my ears pierced (finally)! Yayeth! Hannah, Emma, Mom, Tristan and I went to Claire's to get them done (where we discussed the history of the store with the girl working there- did you know that it's been around for 60 years and started as a wig store?). Hannah poked fun at me: "When the first one is done Katie, you can't back out." They all laughed at me because when she did it my face went red and my eyes filled up. Heartless, unfeeling people.
Before doing that we went to the Hobby Lobby. It's my first time going there and it's my new favorite store. Mom needed some crafty stuff to make a new Advent wreath, among other things. I might add that the new wreath looks great! Hannah got a present for her mom there and I got a present for a friend (I won't say who). After the big ear-piercing whoop-de-doo we went to Tar-jay, just to get some random necessary items. Then we had lunch at Panda Express (woo!). So we all had a fun, productive day! Fun except for the painful part, lol.

Advent starts tomorrow! For Catholics, it's the beginning of the liturgical year. So, happy new year everybody!

An award! Yay!

Katie tagged me with this award!


*sniff* I'm honored! My first ever (and likely my last) blog award!
Now I'm supposed to tag other people with it but I can't because she already tagged whoever I could have. :)
I'm puttin' it on my sidebar!

Changin' up the blog!

Yes, I changed it again. I did like the brown but it was too dark. My eyes were getting tired. This looks pretty nice. And it's going to look even better! There will be a bee-utiful banner in the page header soon, much thanks to the incredibly artistic and creative, Photoshop whiz, KAYLA!! *applause*

I added a poll, just for fun. You can vote for more than one thing. If you picked other, comment and say what it is!

Also, check out the links and blogroll, I added a couple things there.

Love,
*Katie*

Memes are definitely the thing now.

I just got tagged for a book meme by Katie, whose blog you can get to from my blogroll (Shakespeare and Showtunes). This'll be fun!

1. pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
Farewell to Manazanar (which was not the nearest book to me but it was the first one I noticed on my bedroom floor).

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences
I didn't know where he was going or understand quite why. When his bus pulled out I only knew that if anything happened to him the world would probably be coming to an end, because nothing could happen to Woody. He had always been so solid.

5. Tag 5 people.
Whoever reads this and feels like doing it, go ahead. Have fun!

Life at the moment: reading, Twilight, a day at work, Christmas and Thanksgiving

Now I would like to relate the recent events and thoughts of my life coherently, in order and conjunction one with another, but such is impossible. I am unlike other bloggers in so far as I am incapable of presenting my thoughts, opinions and stories in a manner pleasing to the skilled writer. So, again, I am forced to let the random swirling thoughts in my head direct the flow of my post.
(writing like that is so much fun! it seems sort of dignified, in a certain Katie-is-trying-too-hard-to-sound-smart manner. it's deff the influence of my reading, since a lot of what I read was written at least 90 years ago. aren't I such a geeky, unsocialized, homeschooler. awesome.)

I finished the Fall of the House of Usher. Maaaaaaajor creepiness! It was great.
If you look to the right of the screen, you will see on my fantastic sidebar that I'm reading John Adams by James McCullough. I'm still on the first chapter (it's one of those books with super long chapters that are divided into parts). It's pretty good. More and more I find myself liking this guy, and more and more I find that I can relate to him. For example, it says he would constantly be making resolutions to study harder and daydream less, and break them. Me all over.

I'm almost finished with Farewell to Manzanar. Pretty good book.

On Thursday I had a doctor's appointment at Christus Santa Rosa, which is the hospital downtown. So I got to spend the day at work with Dad. Sounds boring, right? Not so. I of course brought along plenty of schoolwork and got more done than I usually do at home. Really, how can the Persian and Greek wars be boring? Cool stuff, I tell ya. Besides, I like any chance I get to go downtown. I don't know why, but I love the city. Just overall, it's a really fun, cool place to be.
I met several people, of course, and saw two who I had already met. Mom was all worried because she thought Dad might give me a crummy lunch. FYI: Daddy is in the grocery business (his company helps stores with their store brand stuff. so he works with H-E-B, our local grocery store) and there are shelves in his office filled with the stuff he deals in. Mostly canned/jarred/dried veggies and fruit, and beans and rice too I think. Occasionally Dad will just eat some of that for his lunch. And while I love dried fruit as a snack, it wouldn't make much of a meal. But Mom's commanding Dad to feed me real food was needless. As it turned out, some of his workmates invited him to lunch at a very nice restaurant. It's a few doors down from the Majestic Theater, which is where all the big shows are. People eat dinner there before going to their show, which is what Mom and I did on the night we went to see Phantom. All the meals and such are named after musicals and composers. It's a fancier restaurant then I'm used to. When Mom and I went, I had NO CLUE what to order. A lot of it was seafood, something I'm not a big fan of. The waitress must have noticed my perplexity as I gazed, somewhat wide-eyed, at the menu. This, added to the fact that I probably looked like and 11-year-old (where height is concerned) must have made me look totally lost and inexperienced. Not that I wasn't, but we couldn't help being a little amused when the waitress kindly told me that if I wanted, they could make some spaghetti with regular marinara sauce on it. Eventually I ordered some lemon-chickeny-thing, which was very good. The waitress must have been surprised when I asked for tiramisu for desert.
So when I went with Dad, I planned on getting the same thing. It didn't hit me that the lunch menu would be different from the dinner menu. I was even more confused than the last time, and took an extra ten minutes to decide after everyone else had ordered. Then, when I DID decide, the waiter teased me by saying sorry, they couldn't make that salad that day. I totally believed him and replied with "umm, OK, can I have the tomato soup instead?" But no, he was teasing and I could have the salad. At least I wasn't the only one who believed him. Dad and (hopefully) a couple other people were also fooled.
When we left the office Dad expected me to bored out of my skull, for they were going to talk business. The business conversation wasn't boring, as I enjoy hearing about Dad's work and all the little pros and cons about working with H-E-B. Mostly cons, from what I hear. The conversations about Wii (yoga and karate), Guitar Hero, and Mary Kay were even less boring. Dad works with some pretty nice, fun people.
As for the doctor's appointment, it went well. I'm alive, healthy, and they had to take blood but I survived. They were very efficient about it, the blood I mean. I don't think I sat in the chair for more than 30 seconds. So the whole thing went off well.

The worldwide Twilight obsession is growing constantly, as you no doubt already know. Even my best friend has been lost to it. It happened with Harry Potter. It will pass... eventually. As for myself, I'm not terribly interested. It's not that I think it's creepy or anything. I know the storyline fairly well, from various sources, and I'm aware of the fact that it's not Dracula-level vampireness or anything. It's just not my thing. I've heard the books are good, but it doesn't seem like something I'd enjoy much. It's fine if other people do, of course. I'm just not going to go and buy all the books and go crazy about Edward, etc.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....
But I can't help wishing it weren't. Can't people at least wait until December? Really! And then the commercials, the sales, the constant pressure to BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY. I'm with Charlie Brown here. The materialism surrounding Christmas bugs me. Although it's great to give and receive presents, the most important gift is the one Jesus gave to us: Himself. We should be trying at this time of year to give what gifts we can to Him, and they can't be found in a Wal-Mart. Little deaths to ourselves, acts of charity, saying an extra prayer, you get the idea.
I love Christmas. Who doesn't? I love the lights, the songs, the old claymation movies, the overall feeling that something wonderful is going to happen/is happening. But that wonderful thing isn't the Guitar Hero game or the Blackberry phone that everyone wants in their stocking. It's the birth of Jesus, coming to us in all meekness and humility, in a stable, in a manger, surrounded by animals and his loving, saintly parents. It's the glorious gift of God's love, for which we can only give so much in return. For Advent this year I'm trying to get my parents to turn off the TV, except for movies (Gotta love Elf!).

Thanksgiving this year promises to be fun and delicious. Mom goes shopping tomorrow, and you can bet that as soon as everything is put away she'll start cooking. She plans to start with the pies. Pecan, pumpkin, apple, you name it. Cheesecake too. On Thursday our table will be groaning. It should be on a weight loss program, I think. Sitting in the middle at our Thanksgiving dinner. Passing stuff back and forth, back and forth, will be a workout. There'll be any number of delicious things to eat. Everybody says it about their own mother and I'll say it again; my mom is the best cook ever. I think I'll fast on Wednesday...
Our cousin Gabriel is in basic training at nearby Lackland Air Force Base. They have a program called "Operation Homecook" in which cadets can go to a friend's or family's house for Thanksgiving dinner and bring a friend. So we'll be hosting Gabriel and his friend Mark.

I should here say something nice about the meaning of Thanksgiving. I'll just say that we ought to be thankful for God's love, for the blessings He's given us, and that He even bothered to create us in the first place. I know I am. Deo gratias. Thankful to our friends for being our friends, and thankful to our family for whatever. I should end the post here, on a nice, sentimental note, but I have one more thing to be thankful for.

Macy's! What would Thanksgiving be without the Macy's parade? *Mr. Green*

Yet another quiz. It's Jane Austen, ok?!

This is from a different website.





My results were, "You are Catherine Morland, the overly imaginative, novel-obsessed heroine of Northanger Abbey". Who'd have thunk it?

Avatars by me!

Sometimes I make avatars. Once or twice somebody has actually used one, and when that happens I feel like I've been honored immeasurably. Here are most of the good ones I've made:

These I made a loooong time ago, with PhotoStudio (which is like a simpler, lamer version of PhotoShop):



















The rest that I made with PhotoStudio were pretty crummy-looking. It had an annoying tendency to blur things. (gr.)
Then (tragedy!) I accidentally deleted that admirable application from our computer. For a very long time, no avatar-making. A few months ago, however, I discovered that I could make them with PhotoBucket! yipee! And since then I have made all these:
(not in any order)

Jane Austen quote!

This is more like a wallpaper I guess...






Aren't these two so cute? "You're the nicest faun I've ever met!"







First one!







Yay for randomness! This one is pretty goofy, but I'm just cool like 'dat.







Carrie Underwood lyrics.








haha.








I do, I really do.








This is the tire swing in our backyard.

More!

This is fun!

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Isn't this too funny? Ignore the dating site ad, I don't know how to get rid of it. If you click on the picture you can take the quiz and others like it. My results for some of them:

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I just felt like posting. I'm just aimlessly pouring out a stream of thought that will not necessarily make any sense...

So, I discovered that the word arete is not a Latin word like I thought. Last night Mom, Dad and I were puzzling over the word. We were trying to figure it out. It sounded something like this:

Dad: "It's French for stop."
Mom: "No, Christopher, thats *says French word which is probably spelled the same but I'm not taking any risks*"
Dad: "Well what language do you guys think it is?"
Me and Mom (simultaneously): "Latin. (duh)."
Dad: "Katie, you're the Latin student. What does it mean?"
Me: "I don't know! That's what I'm trying to figure out!"

So we pondered over it for while and came up with nothing. I looked in the Latin-English dictionaries in both Jack's and mine Latin books. Nada. Today I looked it up online under "Latin-English translation" on Google. Zip. Tried Greek. Greek-English translator site drew a blank. Then it struck me. "What if it's actually English?" thought I. It was on dictionary.com.
"ahr-i-TEY"
We thought it was pronounced "ah-RAY-tay" as it would be in Latin. Turns out it means combination of qualities that make up a good character.

I am again reading a Shakespeare play.
"Does she ever read anything else?" quoth the reader.
Yes, I do. I'll get to that in a minute. I'm reading The Tempest, Shakespeare's final work. It is so far very enjoyable. I knew the story but I never realized how funny it's supposed to be. And it is.

I'm also reading Farewell to Manzanar, the true story of a Japanese-American family living in one of the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Now, I've read books taking place in WWII before but this is a part of that period which I know very little about. The injustice of holding all those people, when not a single one of them had the slightest intention of harming America or assisting the Japanese army. Totally unfair.

Speaking of WWII, it's amazing how many of the movies about it were made DURING the war. A story comes out in the paper or someone writes a book and BANG 6 months later it's a blockbuster. We've watched tons of WWII movies. You wouldn't believe how many of them star John Wayne. Everybody says he's famous for his Westerns but I haven't seen a single one of them except The Alamo. I have, however, seen him in 4 or 5 war movies.
Among my (few) favorite WWII movies are Twelve O'Clock High, Mrs. Miniver, Since You Went Away, and So Proudly We Hail. All good movies. Most made during the war. All about women except Twelve O'Clock High. I'm not sure why I like that one.... I guess because it's more about the soldiers (or pilots, I should say) themselves and the things they go through. It's more personal. Also probably because I was so relieved that John Wayne wasn't in it. XD I do prefer Gregory Peck myself. John Wayne always plays the same guy in these movies- the rough and tough commander. His characters are all the same. In every movie I've seen Gregory Peck in, the people he plays are completely different.

Somehow my mind has reverted back to good ol' Willy. William, that is. I don't think I even need to tell you his last name.
Lately for some reason I've been banishing boredom (amazing alliteration, you agree?)
by picking up A Midsummer Night's Dream and reading the lovers' fight scene. That play is truly hilarious, especially that particular scene.

"Get you gone you dwarf, you minimus
Of hind'ring knot-grass made,
You bead, you acorn!"
-Lysander. Who knew that the dashing, handsome, poetic guy could be so mean?

"I dare not stay longer in your curst company, not I
Your hands are quicker than mine for a fray
My legs are longer though, to run away" [exit]
-Helena. lol. Gotta love it.


I have made no progress in my Poe reading. Still stuck in the middle of The Fall of the House of Usher. It's starting to get creepy though.

Well, I can think of no more to say! If you actually read this whole post, I applaud you. You get a sticker. Comment and check where it says "Yes! I would like Katie to send me or my friend [insert name here] a sticker!"

Adieu! (wow, I really have been reading too much Shakespeare!)


(Adieu! To you and you and you! Adieu!)

P.S.
In case you were wondering, knot-grass means some sort of weed which supposedly stunts growth. "Of hindering knot-grass made".... get it? Haha! Get it? You're in stitches, I know. Just don't hurt yourself.

Arete in Irving and My Attempts at Poetry

Hello again!
So at the University of Dallas there are three really cool summer programs. "Latin in Rome", "Shakespeare in Italy" and "Arete in Irving". For those first two you actually go to Italy. Pretty neat, right? As much as I'd like to study Shakespeare in Italy, Irving, TX is definitely a more affordable place to go.
So I'm applying for "Arete in Irving", a summer program that takes place on the UD campus. Basically it's two weeks of reading stuff like Shakespeare, Sophocles, Aristotle and all those other old Greek guys, and writing papers and having discussions and such. Definitely my scene. To apply I have to have a reference form and letter, and write an essay which either praises the virtues of or blames the vices of a historical or literary figure. I have already written a paper about the pride of Antigone for school, which is perfect as it not only fills out the requirements but is also similar to what I'll be doing at the actual summer camp, if I go. So I'll fix that up a bit and send it in. Now even if I get accepted we may or may not be able to pay for it, because Europe or no it's pretty expensive. Please pray that I can go!


I'm not terribly good at making posts with related topics, am I? Because I am now about to talk about poetry. No, fear not, there won't be any Shakespeare this time. My all time favorite poet is Emily Dickinson. Her poems are so imaginative and they are about every topic under the sun, anybody can find a poem by her and relate to it. My favorite is probably:

There is no frigate like a book,
To take us lands away
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

Sometime I'll post more of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems.

Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly creative, I'll jot down a poem. They usually aren't very good. Here's one I wrote when I was about 7:

Spring, spring,
It's almost here!
Beautiful flowers are coming near
A rose here, a tulip there,
Green grass everywhere!
Spring's coming!

I was so proud of that poem! Today I wrote a poem about my very favorite thing to do: reading. Don't expect anything amazing, it doesn't really follow any of the different forms of poetry, but here it is.

I'm staring at the shelf
Not sure what to choose
A familiar tale I've read before?
Or something altogether new?
Shall I laugh and cry with the characters I know,
Friends I've always loved?
Or should I embark on an unknown path
And embrace whatever comes?
I grab the new book, ready to sail
On a strange and unexplored sea.
Ready to make new acquaintances
With every chapter I read.
I sit down in my favorite chair
I can smell the fresh, unturned pages.
I read the first words, I'm already there,
The scene unfolds before me
And as I become enveloped by fancy
I'm lost to the world
Deep in another,
No one can reach me...

It feels unfinished. Suggestions for a last line anybody?

Love,
*Katie the Koolest*

Strangeness...

Anybody there? *knocks on screen* Well if you're actually still reading my bloggy here you might be amused by this. Especially if you've heard my mindless ramblings about Shakespeare...
Last night I dreamt that all the kids at my church (FYI: I only know a couple kids there) decided to do four Shakespeare plays. FOUR. The little kids were going to do Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the older kids were going to do The Merchant of Venice and Love's Labour's Lost. I don't even know how LLL goes! Anyways, I was cast as Portia in MoV and somebody handed me a piece of paper that had the dates for the performances on it. We had JUST decided to do these plays and the piece of paper said we were supposed to perform on November 14th! So I was getting super panicky because there was so little time to put everything together and learn my lines especially in a play I didn't know anything about, while being rather flattered that I was chosen to play Portia (AKA lead female role in The Merchant of Venice!)

Then I had a weird dream concerning Knight Rider and somebody not even remotely related to that show getting married in my church and for some reason I was there although I didn't know the person..... very odd...

Also:
Post comments people! I feel lonely and unloved when I go to my Blogger dashboard and there's no comments! Sad... lonely... confused... lost.. empty inside...
Come on! Bombard me with comments! I never get to see you guys so getting comments from you sort of reassures me that you still exist.
Love,
*Katie the Koolest*

Kind of cool!

You’re St. Melito of Sardis! You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Our Odyssey Performance

So I just felt like watching the video of our stellar and amazing performance at Worlds. Then I had the sheer genius idea of posting it here! MUAHAHAHA!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2444303119469452869&hl=en

Aren't we just amazing? Mind-blowing? Stellar? Fantastic? Shall I go on?
haha!

For the information of any non-OMers who watch this, the performance is not everything. Behind the scenes there is a lot of technical work. In fact, most of the points come from the technical stuff. We had two Rube Goldberg machines. One to pull back the curtain and reveal the "peaceful clearing", and one to turn on the lights of the escalator and start the music. Not to mention the motor on the escalator. Bravo to everyone for all of that! You guys are all so smart! I didn't help much with the machines. Except the sewing machine. I think I was the unofficial team seamstress. :-)

BTW at Worlds we tied with several other teams for 11th place out of (I think) 42. Not bad! I'm so glad we went to Worlds. It was so much fun and a great experience.
OM FOREVER!

Funny

In case you people didn't know, this is my first time posting a picture. On any blog. Ever. Yay me!

New Look and Halloween

Like the new look? I liked the dots but I wanted to try something where I could play with the colors a little more... you can only do so much with green and yellow. Besides, this template seems to be pretty popular, and it's changeable. I think I'll keep it.

Halloween was fun!
Lucy- Cheerleader. "I pretty!"
Ben- Spiderman
Emma- Pirate. And a pretty snazzy pirate too, let me tell ya.
Grace- Cat
Ian- Wore his BDUs (CAP camo uniform)
Jack- didn't go t-o-ting but wore a Scream mask that he bought with his own money. I. Hate. That. Mask. Just wanted to say that.
I- wore nothing. Just gave out candy. When one kid said, "What are you supposed to be? You're nothing!" I replied, "I am the Ghost of Halloweens Past."

Everybody had a great time and got TONS of candy. I mean TONS. Ben was crying that his arm hurt because his bag was so heavy!

As for me, I hung out at home dispensing candy to VERY hyped up kids. Around here, trick-or-treaters come in big groups. We're talking 15-20 kids on a hay trailer with their moms, being pulled by their dads in a pickup truck. We didn't have much candy. On the 30th, Mom bought two bags of candy. One bag contained Starbursts and Skittles. The other contained chocolate such as Reeses, Milky Way, etc. All the chocolate was gone by Halloween. So Jack started out with Skittles and Starbursts. We also had popcorn balls. When he decided I should give out candy, I went out there and there were no Skittles. (note: only one or two people had showed up so far) So by the time Dad came home with the gang (they were in the Bus, of course, with the sliding door open) we were running out. Along came an enormous group and we ran out after having given candy to maybe half of them.
"Jack, go inside and get Ian and Ben's candy! RUN!"
So the people hung around for a minute while Jack ran for candy. He came back and we gave some to the various vampires, Jedis and princesses. As they left they threw a glow-stick at us, which I grabbed. So I got something besides candy (we have so much I can eat some and nobody notices muahaha). I'm so special!

Oh, one slightly funny incident: some dad told me, "Don't give her any candy, she has tons." I assumed he meant the female vampire who approached me then. I held out the last piece of candy (this was before we called for backups) and was about to hand it to Obi-Wan Kenobi and it somehow ended up in Draculette's bag. "He said I wasn't supposed to give any to you!" I said. I don't think she heard me.


One more thing:
Katie and Sarah's Shakespeare group is doing Macbeth! OMM! I LOVE MACBETH! They are all going to be fantastic! I wish I could see it! *sigh*

Desert island meme

Here goes!

Rules:
1. List the 10 books/collected works/series that you would bring on a desert island.
2. (Optional) Say why you would bring them.
3. Link to the person who linked to you.
4. Tag 6 people to also do the meme.
5. Leave a comment to let those people know.

Katie tagged me for this!

1. Narnia books. Can't live without 'em!

2. Anne of Green Gables. Same, haha.

3. Some Edgar Allen Poe

4. The Bible

5. The Belgariad

6. The Malloreon

7. Some Shakespeare, of course!

8. Abram's Daughters

9. The Catholic Girl's Guide

10. A notebook! (as in a laptop... haha! I'm a genius!)

Now, I don't have six blogging people reading my blog, so I'm gonna have to have some of you tell your relatives or whoever. I'll still leave a comment on their blog, but it's safer to have backup such as your excellent selves. OK, I TAG: Rae Anne, Miss Carol, Rory... anybody else? I think that's it. 3 will have to do!

It's officially fall!

I know, fall "began" a month ago. But that was just for the rest of the world. In my book, fall started today!
It was cold out this morning. It has been cold in the mornings for a while now, but today it stayed cold! More or less. It was in the 50s this morning and is probably in the mid-late 60s now. So now it's somewhere between cool and chilly, but this morning it was FREEZING! Seriously! I'm talking 55-58 degrees out! Oh joy! I much prefer the cold to the heat. As fun as summer is, I like the brisk fall air and all the things that come with it. Hot chocolate, apple cider, the holidays never far away.... this is my favorite time of year. Anyway, we spent the whole morning goofing off outside. How were we actually supposed to stay inside and get schoolwork done when it was so beautiful out? We started in the front yard and eventually all migrated to the back, where we played on the swingset. I don't go on that thing very often anymore. Not that I've outgrown it. The only thing I'm too big for is the monkey bars. Who can outgrow the fun of a swing? I love it... especially when I lay back while going up (used to scare Freddy half to death haha). I love that feeling of flying. When I was little I had a little dream of flying like Peter Pan. I had that wishing rhyme working overtime. I still think it would be pretty cool. Who doesn't?
After we were tired of enjoying the lovely weather, we had hot chocolate. Thus adding to my reasons why today is the start of fall. We haven't had any hot chocolate until today, to my knowledge anyway.
Yesterday the K girls, Grandma, Ben and Mr. T went to Fantastic Sam's. Only two things that happened there are really blog-worthy. It was Lucy's first time getting a haircut at a salon by a stranger, instead of in the bathtub by Mommy.
She. Was. Terrified. She got in the seat, and had no idea what was going on. The chair went up, the poncho-coverup-thingy went on, and she looked absolutely petrified. Poor thing was staring into space with an expression that would make you want to cry... and laugh. She was very good about it though, none of the screaming and kicking that a lot of other kids her age do when that horrible lady with the scissors tries to give them a trim. Afterwards she was all excited about it. "Katie, Katie, I got a cut! They cut my hair! I got a cut!" And she looks like very cute, of course. While we were all getting our hair cut, Ben was sitting on a chair by Grandma in the waiting area. He started crying and looking very sad indeed and everybody started asking him what was the matter, did he want a haircut too? Of course he did. If all his sisters and Mommy were getting their hair cut, well by golly he should certainly get his cut too! So the girl who did Lucy's hair trimmed him up a little, and it looks almost exactly the same, haha. There wasn't much to cut off unless he wanted a buzz, and they only did it for him because he was sad about it anyway. So everybody is happy with their hair.

On Monday everybody carved pumpkins. Jack and Ian did traditional jack-o-lanterns, Grace did a spider and Emma a smiley face. Jack carved a smaller, extra pumpkin and managed to pull off a startlingly good likeness of Charlie Brown from the Peanuts gang. I'd post a photo, but nobody took a picture of it. Anyway, I wanted to do something a little different and tried carving a penguin on mine. It would have been so cute if my artistic abilities were a little sharper. As it was, my penguin was a complete and total failure. I messed the whole thing up in the fist place, so that as penguins go it was beyond recognition, then somebody kicked it's head in (poor, innocent little penguin...), thus creating a large hole. So today I carved a little pumpkin and it didn't turn out too badly. I did a moon with some stars. The stars were a little lopsided, but hey, it's better than nothing.

Grandma and Mom are going on a mysterious errand today. When I asked where, I was informed it was a secret and, "'Tis the season when you're not supposed to ask questions." Guess I'll have to reconcile myself to not learning anything about it until December 25th.

I am reading Macbeth and loving it! I am quickly becoming a Shakespeare nerd. It's all the Freddys' fault! They're rubbing off on me, not to mention dragging me to all those rehearsals in June. jk! I liked going to the rehearsals. Besides, I learned R&J and Dream almost by heart just by watching you guys do them so many times! haha.

So yes, that's a summary of my day and life in general... not much more to say... I wish I could think of something clever to close this post with. I can't so I'll just say: have a good one!

O Canadia!

That's no typo. Jack was telling me about something today and he mentioned Canada, only he said, "Canadia". I just looked at him, trying not to ruin the moment by bursting into hysterical laughter.
Me: "Canadia??"
Jack: "Yeah, Canadia............. wait a second..... huh? Oh....... CANADA!"
Cue hysterical laughter.


He's so hometeached. XD

PSAT

I took the PSAT this morning at La Vernia High. Dad and I walked to the guidance office for directions (because obviously we had no idea where I was supposed to go). Dad got the attention of the lady at the desk. She looked up, smiled graciously, and said, "Is this the little homeschooler?"
So you see I was very nicely welcomed.
Other than that, the whole thing went fairly well. She was very nice, took me to the classroom where the tenth-graders were taking it, made sure I knew the way back to the guidance office (through a door and down a hallway) and left me in a classroom at the mercy of a test booklet. We filled out the personal information and began the test. My score for the mathematics sections won't be too hot, because I skipped a lot of them, having only just started geometry and never having finished algebra. Luckily, for omitted answers to multiple-choice questions you don't lose points. What questions I did do though, I'm pretty sure I got right. The critical reading and the writing skills stuff was a cinch so the scores for all that I hope will be good. None of it really matters anyway, I'm only doing it this year for experience. I have a whole year to study the math so next year shouldn't be very hard. After the test I went outside to wait for someone to pick me up, not bothering to go to the guidance office and call Dad using the phone which condescending-office-lady had so kindly offered for my use. Mom didn't show up for a while though, so I sat on a bench outside the school with nothing to entertain except a calculator, an index card and a couple of pencils. I played with the calculator for a while before realizing that an index card with the calculator as a hard surface made quite a nice little drawing pad. Aren't you proud of my creative thinking? I knew you would be.
I was doodling when Mom drove up. She said I looked quite like the average highschooler, sitting there. If it was a cell phone or an iPod instead of a makeshift drawing pad the picture would have been complete.

So that was my little "real school" experience. I have but one thing left to say...


Little homeschooler indeed!

Random Observation of the Day:

Rainbows are awesome. There was a beautiful one outside today. A real dream rainbow, full arc, bright colors, clear cut against the sky. Really great. I don't know about you guys, but I hate thinking about everything the scientific way. You know, like how rainbows are made. Light, prisms, blah blah blah. Why the sky is blue, etc. It ruins it! When my kids ask me why the sky is blue I'll just tell them that "God made it that way" and they can learn it in school when they get older.

On a completely different note, somebody just won a million dollars on Wheel of Fortune. Isn't that fascinating? I know you're absolutely thrilled to be receiving this knowledge, but it is sort of a milestone. Wheel is such a classic show, for me anyway. When I was little I called it "The Letter Show". It's sort of weird to see it changing like that. (I can't believe I'm being sentimental about a game show...). When I first saw the commercials for the new million dollar round on Wheel I instantly pictured Pat saying:

"Wheel.... or no Wheel?"

Moving on to more interesting things:
Tristan cut his first tooth! I have mixed feelings about that. Part of me says, "Yay T!" and the other part says "What the?!?!? Not fair! He's supposed to stay toothless forever! They're cuter that way!"

Mom got a laptop and an iPod for her birthday! The iPod is so awesome. It's bright pink and is sooooo much cooler than my 2nd Generation Nano, which seems primitive in comparison. The games have their own MENUS. Seriously. Different users. High scores. The works. And one of the games (MAZE *dun dun dun*) actually responds to your tilting the iPod. You know those games where you have to tilt the little wooden (or plastic) thingy to get the ball through the maze and into the hole? It's like that. PRETTY DARN AWESOME, RIGHT? I thought so!

And no I'm not jealous!

Our cousin Gabriel is coming for Thanksgiving.

I'm reading Macbeth!

Grandma is coming on Friday which means my room (aka the guest room) must be scrupulously neat.

I'm taking the PSAT tomorrow.

Geometry so far is very easy, for which I'm thankful.

Let's see.... any other interesting news?

oh, DUH! Dad's leaving for France tomorrow! He's going to Paris on business! And the business part doesn't even start for a couple of days. He's going to check out Mont Saint Michel (forgive spelling errors... I've never seen it written so I'm not entirely sure how to spell it). Then of course while he's in Paris he'll check out most of the cool stuff there.
I want to go to Europe so badly! Germany, France, Prague, Poland (Gdansk, of course!;-), England, Ireland, Scotland... it's all so wonderful and full of history! And Church history! Did I mention Italy? There's Rome, of course, one the most full-of-awesome-history places in the world, not to mention the HQ of the Catholic Church. And so many of my favorite saints were from Italy... Sts. Catherine, Gemma, Benedict, Francis.... it goes on! Rome used to be center of THE Roman Empire... which, in a way, is a little sad. It's pretty much just a tourist attraction now. Although personally I prefer the Greeks. They were the creative thinkers, the artists. The Romans were the organizers, the conquerers. In my opinion, Greece was cooler.
MY DREAM EUROPEAN VACATION:
(not necessarily in any kind of order)
See the sights of London, and visit Stratford-On-Avon where Shakespeare lived
Enjoy the beautiful green hills of Ireland
Check out some old castles in Scotland
Go to Gdansk, Poland, and check out the amber museum :-)
Party in Prague (well maybe not party... but I liked the alliteration) and see the original Infant of Prague statue
See Konigschloss Newschwanstein (that I'm pretty sure I did spell right... we have a magnet) in Germany and hang out in Fussen, maybe check out the cathedral in Cologne and see their treasury
Go to Paris, see basically everything there
Visit Lourdes and find that convent in France where St. Bernadette's body is kept (still incorrupt!)
Head to Portugal and pray in the basilica at Fatima
Is that pretty much everything? Oops I think I skipped Rome! Well that's fairly obvious. St. Peters, Coliseum, Mouth of Truth (just for the sake of reenacting the scene from Roman Holiday :-) the norm. Maybe hit some other saints' burial places if I can find them.
If ya'll think of anyplace else I should add to my list, let me know. I'll keep this list and bring it with me to check off after I retire, haha.
Toodles!
-Katie the Koolest

Fun In The Sun

This week we went to Port Aransas for a fantastic vacation! We left on Tuesday, drove to Corpus Christi and, after lunch at the two-story Whataburger (on the second story patio, of course) checked out the USS Lexington. It was loads of fun. First we went to see the Fighter Pilot movie in the MEGA-THEATER *echo effect* which was so great that we bought the DVD. Everybody but Mom and the littlest ones (she had the stroller and there were no elevators in the darn thing, just steep and dangerous stairs) went on top to see the planes. My favorites were the Trojan, a cool helicopter, and the Phantom II (wonder why?). I was wearing my POTO shirt that day (which wasn't very prudent, considering how hot it was) and told Dad he should take my picture with the Phantom II. Alas, Mom had the camera. We then proceeded into the super structure to see the controls, and down below to see the living quarters (including barber's shop, dentist, sick bay, chapel, etc.) and engine room. While down there we went past the galley (the kitchen, for you ignorant landlubbers) and Jack wanted to know what the food had been like. Luckily we bumped into a nice veteran who had been stationed on this ship. Dad asked him how the food was, and he said, "Not too bad."
Mom missed out on all of this, sadly. And she had the camera the whole time. Meaning, no pictures. :( Before we left, Grace and Emma, Jack and Ian, Benny and I all piled into the simulator. At first we weren't sure if Ben was tall enough, so we had him stand in front of the "You must be this tall" sign. He was just barely tall enough! A round of applause. While Dad was buying the tickets he was giving out instructions.
"Grace, don't sit next to Jack. Or Ian. That's guaranteed trouble right there. Everybody be quiet." Repeat. Repeat again. Ticket-seller-simulator-operator-guy was laughing the whole time. I don't know what was so funny. Do you?
Anyway, the simulator was loads of fun. We were on a "desert mission". You really felt like you were in a plane, banking this way and that, speeding through a landscape reminiscent of Indiana Jones movies after the enemy. Ben was next to me and clearly very into it. He was making explosion and gun noises the whole time.
Then the K family marched into the gift shop! Mom and I cast our greedy eyes on Rosie the Riveter "We Can Do It!" shirts.
Me: "OOOOH it comes in my size!"
Mom: "HINT HINT"
But we didn't get them. *sigh* We had to settle for a magnet. Mom did, however, surprise me with another (more affordable) shirt, which I like even more, as cool as Rosie the Riveter is. Ben got an adorable soldier helmet, Emma got a plastic helicopter thingy, I got a couple of postcards (one to send and one to keep) and Jack got a really cool pencil sharpener. I'd tell you what it looks like but I'm not really sure exactly what it is. It's some kind of huge gun. So everybody was happy and we all got back in the car and proceeded towards our destination, Port Aransas! We got there and began searching for the condo apartment we had reserved. As we were driving along the beach looking for it, we became inevitably stuck in a patch of softer sand. Dad tried everything until at last the boys and Mom got out and pushed. It was slow going, but- yayeth!- we were out, and continued to a harder part of the beach road. While stuck we hd realized that we had passed the apartments. We got back onto the real road, and continued along the real road (no more beach driving for the van!) till we came to a group of condo/resort buildings. Our apartment immediately received general approval. There was a TV in every room. Need I say more? All the boys (except Tristan) shared a room, and all of us girls shared a room. In our room we had a coffee maker, fridge and microwave. Which of course was very exciting, even though they were never used. The whole thing was a two-minute walk to the beach. After settling in, we of course headed straight for the water. We spent the whole afternoon and all the next day at the ocean, yeeha! We had planned to go home on Thursday, but plans changed and we stayed an extra day. Our apartment was already reserved by someone else for Thursday, so we spent the morning packing and waiting for the call to head over to our new apartment. We did, and it was nicer than the first one. We spent the rest of that day mostly at the pool. Jack, Ian Dad and I went to the beach for a while, but eventually the boys got bored and went back. I wasn't staying there all by myself, so I went too. Dad stayed behind and enjoyed some peace and quiet.
On Friday we left the condo and went back to Corpus and went to the aquarium before heading home. It was pretty fun. At the parts where the nice employee was explaining what makes a reptile or what kinds of rays there are, Grace and Emma answered most of the questions. At the stingray exhibit I think Emma talked more than the guide, and not even about stingrays. It was a fun day.
So everybody enjoyed vacation. Ben said his favorite part was swimming in the pool and going to Chili's for dinner. It is nice to be home though, in my house, in my room that I don't have to share with anybody especially hyper two-year-olds, and my books.
I can't think of a nice closing statement, so I'll just say, ta-ta for now!

OOOOOOOOklahoma

Where the wind comes drivin' down the plains!

This is really funny, and most of it applies to Texas too. :-)

These really sum up Oklahoma....love it or leave it we are who we are.

This is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Oklahoma :

If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and
they don't work there, you may live in Oklahoma

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
you may live in Oklahoma

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with
someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Oklahoma

If 'vacation' mean`s going anywhere south of Dallas for
the weekend, you may live in Oklahoma

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in
Oklahoma

If you say Fixin to, a walla go and ya'll because you heard
it from the teacher in school you may live in Oklahoma .

If you know several people who have hit a deer more
than once, you may live in Oklahoma

If you install security lights on your house and garage,
but leave both unlocked, you may live in Oklahoma

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife
knows how to use them, you may live in Oklahoma

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're
going 80 and everybody is passing you, you may live
in Oklahoma

If you find 60 degrees 'a little chilly,' you may live
in Oklahoma

If you see a tornado warning on the television but
don't get too awfully excited about it until you actually
SEE it coming toward you, you may live in Oklahoma

We're friendly people, Thats a hard concept for many people in other parts of the country!

Rules of Oklahoma :

Pull up your droopy pants. You look like an idiot.
The bill on your cap is to keep the sun off of your face
not the back of your head and neck.

Let's get this straight; it's called a 'gravel
road...'
I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how
slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus.
Drive it or get out of the way.

They are cattle. That's what they smell like to you.
They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it?
I-40 goes east and west, & I-35 goes north and south.
Pick one.


So every person in every pickup waves. It's called
being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

If that cell phone rings while a bunch of ducks are
coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better
hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

Yeah, we eat catfish. You really want
sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.


We open doors for women. That is applied to ALL Women, regardless of age.

No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu.
Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick
off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes:
meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt,
pepper, and Picante Sauce!!


College and high school football & basketball
is important here and fun to watch.

Yeah, we have golf courses,and we like to play, But don't hit the
water hazards -- it spooks the fish.

Colleges? Try Oklahoma State University, Tulsa University & Oklahoma University. They come out of there with an education plus a love for God and country,and many go on to serve our country in abroad and in Washington D.C. and they still wave at passing pickups when they come for the holidays.

We have lots of folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force,
and Marines, so 'Don't Mess with Oklahoma ' If you do,
you will get whipped by the best.

YAYETH!!

At last! I have finished...








THE NINTH GRADE! YAY ME!

Yes, I was a leetle behind. OK, WAY behind. To the point of it being ridiculous. But I wrote the last paper today and I am DONE!
WOOHOO!

Gotta love it...

Ben: Mom, I have to tell you something.

Mom: What's that, Ben?

Ben: It's a secret, I can't tell you!

Look at my new gadget... readability level, "genius!" Before my last post it was "Elementary School". Watch, in a day or two it'll change back to that, or middle school. I just put it up there for the joke, and because it looks cool. :-D

Football, softball , and..... Edgar Allen Poe?

Last night I went to my first football game! Highschool, of course. Pretty exciting! I don't even like football that much, but you can't help but get excited, in a crowd like that. This crowd was VERY loud, very hyped up, and very large. A couple of times some amazing thing would happen and I, along with a few hundred other people, leaped to my feet cheering and clapping. Some of the time I even understood what was going on. It was much more crowded than I had expected, being used to a tiny softball stadium, with one or two bleachers in every direction from where we were sitting empty. I miss those softball games! I miss going to see the Brakettes! *sniff* Any of you who don't know who the Brakettes are, hasn't had a life until now. They're the best women's softball team in the country right in my old hometown! THEY ROCK!! I've only seen them lose once or twice that I can remember. I should say I'm proud to have a bzillion autographs, but lots of other people do too. That's one of the cool things about their games; anyone who wanted to could go down to the dugout after the game and get autographs. Sometimes they'd even recognize us. Once my friend's brother (or my brother's friend, however you want to put it) got them all to autograph a dollar bill, and they all started calling him "Dollar Boy". Anyway, they were pretty used to having little girls in baseball hats asking them to sign their glove, their hat, their shirt, whatever was handy. They were really nice most of the time. Those games were so much fun... sitting in the bleachers with all my best buds, screaming, "Run, Frankie, RUUUN!" and cheering, "Let's go Brakettes, let's go! *clap clap*", catching up on all the latest homeschool group gossip (which meant everything that had happened in the 24 hours since we saw each other last)... those were the days.
*sigh*
OK, I'm done reminiscing.
I've been into Poe lately. I got a book of his short stories at the NBTS potluck/book exchange, and I've been devouring them. Somehow I dragged Grace along with me. I've read Ligeia, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death (which I am convinced is where Gaston Leroux got the idea for the Phantom's costume at the masquerade), The Gold-Bug, The Cask of Amontillado, and the Tell-Tale Heart.
Ligeia- CREEEEEEEPY!
Pit and the Pendulum- I expected it to be scarier. I was waiting for the thrills up and down my spine, for the uncomfortable feeling in the middle of my back, for the goosebumps. They never came. The plot was scary; a man locked in a chamber, knowing he's going to die but not knowing how, and then having to watch the instrument of his death approach at an agonizingly slow rate, with no escape. But for some strange, unknown reason, it didn't scare me.
The Black Cat- Depressing and freaky.
The Masque of the Red Death- *shudder* AWESOME AND SCARY! Ohhhh... very scary, but so good. Explains the Phantom's costume at the masquerade. Which, of course, makes me like it even more, as it adds to the Phantom's creepiness.
The Gold-Bug- Not one of his scary stories, but a mystery. A pretty interesting one too.
The Cask of Amontillado- One word: evil. Liked this one.
The Tell-Tale Heart- I can't think of this without thinking of Pirates of the Carribean ("Where's the thump-thump?!?") which kinda ruins it for me. Scary though.

So that's what I've been reading lately. There are two more stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Fall of the House of Usher. The Murders in the Rue Morgue is your classic murder mystery, actually considered as one of the first of it's kind and a model for such mysteries ever since. Looking forward to reading that one. No clue what the Fall of the House of Usher is about, which is all the better.

This week we're going to Port Aransas! We'll leave on Tuesday, come home on Thursday. It'll be so much fun! We haven't been there for a year. I miss the ocean. We might visit the Lexington too, an aircraft carrier at Corpus Christi that is open to the public, like the Intrepid in NY (which I went to once and it was so cool!). I'll post all about it when we get back!

Let's try this....

Here's a game that my friend Katie posted on her blog. I just had to steal it. :-D Here's how it goes:

1. Set your iTunes, iPod, Windows Media Player to shuffle.
2. Answer each question with the next song that comes up.

Here are my results:

If someone says "Is this Okay?" You say:
"Wheel of the World" by Carrie Underwood
That makes no sense whatsoever.

How would you describe yourself?
"I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls" by Meav Ni Maolchatha
Soo... I wish I was rich? Not really.

What do you like in a guy/girl?
"The Voice" by Celtic Woman
huh?

How do you feel today?
"Take Me There" by Rascal Flatts
This is getting ridiculous.

What's your life purpose?
"The Rising of Sun" by Anuna
GAH!
I don't even see the sunrise!

What do your friends think of you?
"Twisted" by Carrie Underwood
*blinks* I sure hope not. *looks suspiciously at everyone*

What do your parents think of you?
"Citizen/Soldier" by 3 Doors Down
lol that's too funny! I can't even do 5 push-ups.

What do you often think about?
"Scarbourough Fair" by Celtic Woman
ok...

What do you think about the person you like?
"The More Boys I Meet" by Carrie Underwood
ROFL!!!! OMM. I don't like anyone. That's almost perfect. hahaha

What is your life's story?
"Behind These Hazel Eyes" by Kelly Clarkson
you guys know me.... have I EVER been that depressed?

What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Concerning Hobbits" by Howard Shore
Yay! I want to be a hobbit!

What will you dance to at your wedding?
"Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson
hm...

What will they play at your funeral?
"It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down
A song about not wanting to "go". weird. Hopefully I will be ready, and not mind going.

What is your biggest fear?
"Invisible" by Taylor Swift
???

What is your biggest secret?
"Dulaman" by Celtic Woman
Do you guys know what the word "dulaman" means? YELLOW SEAWEED.

What do you think of your friends?
"Why Not" by Hilary Duff
haha I'm not sure if this makes sense or not. Don't worry, I like you all just fine. No, really, I do.

What is your future going to be like?
"Time After Time" by Quietdrive
I just don't get it.

What do you see in the person you like?
"Starts with Goodbye" by Carrie Underwood
This is just pointless. As I said, I don't like-like anybody.

What will the song be for you and your spouse?
"Sixteen Going On Seventeen"
scary.

OK, that was fun, if completely inaccurate. I've got schoolwork to do (of course). Bye!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Today is Benny's 5th birthday! He had his friends over earlier today, they did a piñata, ate candy and had cupcakes topped with frosting which I think had more food coloring in it than sugar. That was his "friends party". Tonight is the "family party", where we will have chocolate cake with homemade chocolate frosting (no food coloring), and he'll receive his gifts from the family. His uncaring older sister didn't get him anything (I never go anywhere so I couldn't buy anything, and what could I possibly make that he'd enjoy? He gets a hug.), but several other people did. He'll be a very happy little boy with his wealth of all things StarWars and dinosaurs. :) I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Hurricane yIKEs!

Hurricane Ike made landfall today.... luckily for us, it'll have very little impact here. It's pretty windy outside just now, and maybe we'll get some rain. Very unluckily for lots of other people, Galveston is completely flooded and Houston is likely to flood as well. A friend of Mom's and her family live in that area, and are staying with us for a while.

School reading and Shakespeare

As everybody knows, I read a lot (warning: this is an understatement). But literature for school this year isn't like anything I've ever read before.I'm doing Ancient History/Lit, which means reading stuff like Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, The Histories by Herodotus, and Sophocles' Antigone. As you can see, some of it actually is ancient. Which is cool, but doesn't necessarily make things easier. I've already gotten a little bit ahead and read Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and Antigone. Both of which were very good, though infinitely different from one another, Pygmalion being an early 20th century comedy, and Antigone being a tragedy from sometime in the 4th century B.C. (I think). Pygmalion was funny and fun to read. Antigone is neat because it's so old and poetic and tragic.
I've been working my way through Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare is great, but it's so much easier to understand when you're watching other people do it, not reading it yourself. It's more understandable if you read it aloud, but then I have to act out every part and say every line just right. If I don't, I get frustrated and go back to reading in my head, and then it's harder to understand!! Oh pity me in my Shakespeare woes!
I DO enjoy reading Tales of Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. In the 1700's this brother sister duo wrote several of Shakespeare's plays into short story format. It was their only successful work. It made his plays really clear to people for the first time and made him really popular. I've read a bunch of the "tales". I definitely suggest reading the version in this book before attacking the real thing. It makes the stories a lot easier to understand. Unfortunately, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA ISN'T IN THERE!!!!! Just my luck! But I do love reading all the other ones. I've read Macbeth, A Winter's Tale, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merchant of Venice, and one or two more. Shakespeare does repeat some of the same ideas, though. You know how the friar gives Juliet that potion to make her seem dead for 48 hours? Imogen does more or less the exact same thing in Cymbeline, except that that innocent lady didn't know what it would do. She thought it was a cure-all type thing.
Jack is nagging me, and I have more important things to do anyways. (Don't we all?) Bye!

I did it!

I killed a scorpion! Squashed it into oblivion! I'm so proud of myself!

I only burden you with this information because I couldn't think anything better to blog about.

Private

I'm making the blog private as suggested by my parents. It takes a little bit of the fun out of it (because, unlike my mom, I won't be able to get a comment in Spanish from somebody who lives in Chile) but I guess it makes sense. For those of you who don't have and don't want to get Google accounts, you can only access this blog through the link in the invite email. This will expire after two weeks. Then if you want I'll send you another invite.

Hello!

Hey everybody! I'm Katie. I'm 15, Catholic, and homeschooling. I love(x100) to read! I especially like fantasy (Narnia, LOTR, Belgariad), historical fiction (Red Hugh, Men of Iron, Death Comes For The Archbishop) and classic literature. I should probably put this in parentheses after "classic literature" but she's way too cool for that... I LOVE JANE AUSTEN! I'll save my rantings and ravings over her works for some other time, though.
I also like to bake, and obviously, I enjoy making (and eating:-) brownies. Sometime I'll have to post a recipe. I have 7 siblings, who will probably be mentioned frequently in my posts. Especially the adorable wonderful sweet lovable and most beloved baby Tristan!!!
One silly dog, one silly cat, and three silly guinea pigs. And an ant farm (which is SO cool. As long as they aren't crawling on me or biting me or infesting my house, ants are the coolest things ever!).
I'll get back on later.
Bye!
Katie :-)