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 :-)