It's raining, it's pouring....

It really is; the rain is coming down really hard. However, this is not good news. Today and tomorrow are going to be super busy days, and guess what? Never mind; I will tell you. These are both days forcasted for heavy rain! Tomorrow, there will be 50-55 people in the same house (for my mom's birthday!), probably mostly at the same time, and they cannot go outside. Today is going to be filled with going to co-op, cleaning, shopping for party supplies, cleaning, and maybe even more cleaning! So, you can see why this is going to be an interesting few days! Have a great weekend!

~Interviews~

Hi, all! Life has been very busy lately. But today was especially busy. Today, I went to interview at a school I am considering for high school. But first, the school is 1/2 an hour away, and the interview was at 8:30am. So, my mom and I started out a little before 8:00am. As soon as we pulled out, the car started to make "knocking" noises. We made it to the interstate and then decided, no, we couldn't go out on the interstate at 30 mph. I called my grandmother, explained the situation, and she met us at the auto repair shop. Mom called the counselor to tell her we'd be late. We finally arrived at the school at 9:00am. Dad met us there, and we walked inside. The guidance counselor was an extremely friendly lady who put me at ease imediately. She showed us a list of courses and electives, and then she walked Mom and me around the school. We met some students and teachers, and walked around the U-shaped school. Most impressive of all, there is a brand new, not even completed, computer lab, and a massive science lab. It was a really nice school, with a good atmosphere, so... We shall see!

A new day

Whew! I am glad the weekend is coming up! It has been quite a week, with sick family members, and traveling family members, and I have another five paragraph essay on the stimulus bill due tomorrow. Thankfully, it's all done and ready to go. The weekend too, may be a frenzy of activity. My mom is having a large party soon, and so we have to clean in a major way, including scrubbing the doors! It's going to be that clean! But Friday night will be relaxing. My grandma (who lives with us) invited me to watch a fun movie with her on her monstrosity of a TV. The weather has been beautiful too, sunny and cool. Maybe I'll go take a walk with Bono...

P.S. I love to get comments, so please, leave me a few!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! This post is actually more about a party I had last night. It was a lot of fun; we went bowling, ate pizza, played Apples to Apples and watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." It is a classic movie that's a lot of fun. One of the best parts was a surprise visit from a great friend who lives in Alabama. Thanks to my pals who made it a great night!

Busy week

It's amazing how seven days can be so full of activities. I had a five paragraph essay due this week, I had to scrub the deck (as noted in an earlier post), today is my dog's 7th birthday, and I have a party Friday night, and a busy day on Saturday. There was also supposed to be a church meeting last night, but it got canceled because of tornado warnings. Today I found a shingle off the roof in the front lawn; we had some really heavy winds and a couple minutes of driving rain! Today promises to be busy too, so I'd better go! :)

Deck Scrubbing

Ahoy, me hearties! Scrub the decks! Ha, ha, ha. Just kidding. I did, however, just finish scrubbing our back deck. It needs to be clean for my mom's party. The best part: I get paid! The worst part: It is a large deck and it took almost an hour, scrubbing it with a handbrush and TSP, or Tri-sodium phosphate. Anyway, I'm glad it's done!

Another day

Here's the news for today!

1. Today's weather is absolutely gorgeous!! 66 degrees for the high! I cannot wait to take a walk.
2. You may notice to the left of this post, there are three newly added features: Quote of the Day and Word of the Day, and the Daily Puppy. I hope you enjoy these funny quotes, words, and puppies!

Nothing else to report at the moment, except that the snow is finally melting and my brother has a cold.

~Good Books~

One of my favorite pastimes is reading, so I though I'd mention some of my favorite books and series. You may see recurring themes in the books I read becuase I really like animals and adventure!

• A Long Way from Chicago
• Angel on the Square
• A Year Down Yonder
• Fair Weather
• Goose Girl
• Half Magic
• Homeless Bird
• James Herriot
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Princess Academy
• Redwall
• The 39 Clues
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Good Master
• The Impossible Journey
• The Kellyhorns
• The Prydain Chronicles
• The Storyteller's Daughter
• The True Confesssions of Charlotte Doyle
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Thoroughbred
• Trailblazer
• Wild at Heart

Now, what are your favorite books? I always need new literature to read, so just let me know your favorite books in comments!

P.S. I will probably be adding to this list quite a lot!

Yet another snow day!

I can't believe it; today is another snow day. This means there has been no school since Monday afternoon! Incredible! The snow is really hard now, and our front step is icy. I can't remember a better snow than this one! It's also REALLY cold out, which is nice because it means we can make hot cocoa. Stay warm and have fun in the snow!!

No school!!!!!

Wow! School was canceled today! What's amazing is that this the fourth snow day in a month, and this is the South! I can't wait to go sled and make snowmen! Have a great snow day!

It's snowing again!

Can you believe it? It's snowing again, here in the South. I know Kentucky has a lot of ice, but this is our second snow in a month! For the past 6 or 7 years, we haven't gotten enough snow to brag about. I hope it keeps falling; maybe, just maybe, school will be canceled tomorrow...

Birthdays!

Today I turn 14! I'm really happy, although it doesn't feel all that different from 13. I got a beautiful necklace, an iTunes gift card, and bowling shoes! Plus, I also got some really sweet and thoughtful cards from some friends and relatives. It's a great day!

Wow, that was simple

The vet visit took half an hour. Wow. Bono apparently has tape worms, the better kind. I know, I know. You are thinking, There's a better kind of tape worm? A better kind of parasite? Actually, yes. That is it's better than tape worms in Africa or Asia. I'll spare you the gory details; suffice it to say that in three days, all of Bono's tape worms will be gone! There is a simple (and pretty expensive)medicene that will kill all the tape worms in Bono. Tallie, my other dog, still doesn't understand why she was left home, but if she ever finds out, she will be eternally grateful. So will the vet; Tallie has a VERY, VERY strong dislike of the vet. She's improving though. She didn't act like she wanted climb on him last time we took her to the vet. Must be old age....

P.S. If you know Tallie, (and most of you do), you also know there is no way that dog will ever act old. Right?

P.P.S. Wait, how did this post start out about Bono and end about Tallie??? Oops!

Doggie excitement

Oh, joy. I get to take my dog to the vet on Thursday, and the receptionist thinks-from my very sketchy description-that Bono has bot eggs. I have heard about these in context with horses, but never with dogs. So, we shall see... I'll post more on this after I have gone to the vet's and hopefully gotten medication for my poor dog! Thankfully, Bono is perfectly fine in all other respects, so I don't think this will be hard to treat!

More neighborhood excitement

One thing I love about my neighborhood is that almost every family has at least one dog, or they are dog lovers if they don't have a dog. This is usually a good thing. Today, however, it was not. Let me give you an overview of the important dogs in my neighborhood. My next-door neighbor has two dogs, and one, a cocker spaniel, is let out almost every morning at 6:30am and does not cease barking for around an hour and a half. Three houses down from him, there is one dog who is just allowed to roam, and she barks at you if you move a muscle. Across from her are two boxers, and behind them is a bloodhound who jumps on the fence and howls. Then there are three yippy dogs in close proximity, as well as a chow mix, and a Australian sheep dog, who woofs. This may seem like extra, non-important information, but let me tell you, when you are walking two dogs, one who can pull really, really hard, and one 110 pound dog who likes to play, it is not easy! The dogs that were out today were the roaming dog, the chow mix, the two boxers(who are thankfully in an electric fence), the three yippy dogs, and the bloodhound. It was like walking through straits of doom!

P.S. This is completely pointless, but I felt like posting something!

The Trouble with Rolls

This is for my writing class, so hello to all my fellow writers! To you who follow my blog, I hope you enjoy this rather funny, and at the time sad, story!

I decided to write about "food opening up a memory." So, here goes!

"Warm rolls" make me think of one particular experience I have had with these particular rolls. First of all, you have to know that these rolls take time; the whole day in fact. They are also worth every second! These rolls are also always made by my dad and me. It's a tradition.
Well, this story took place about four months ago. Dad and I started the rolls bright and early, as usual, but then he and Mom left for Asheville for the day. I felt pretty confident about doing the rolls by myself. After all, I'd been doing them with Dad for seven years! What could possible happen?
The trouble started when I had to transfer the rolls from the pans on which they had been rising, to the cornmeal-covered pans for baking. I discovered that we were out of cornmeal! So I called Dad, and asked him if semolina would work. He said it would, so I hung up, and went and covered the pans with semolina.
Next crisis: As I flipped the rolls to the other pans, they started losing their puffiness. I called Dad again and explained the situation. He said that always happens, so I went back to flipping the rolls and managed to do it without further trouble.
The next incident came after the rolls were in the oven. The rolls are sprayed with water every three minutes to form a crusty edge, but every time I sprayed them, the smoke alarm would go off, and as if that wasn't enough, the back burners on the stove started smoking! So guess what I did? I called Dad, in tears. He told me how to turn the smoke alarm off, and unfortuantely for both of us, it did not work. Then, the rolls weren't done at the usual time. I had to put an extra fifteen or twenty minutes on them!
Eventually, the rolls were done,and Mom and Dad got home. They said I'd done a great job. I thought I'd done okay. I mean, the rolls were baked and looked really good, and the house was still standing! However, I did not know that semolina tastes sweet, and the rolls were supposed to be savory! So they didn't even taste like they were supposed too!
So far, that is the most prominent memory with these rolls, and I hope to have nicer memories soon!

The Before-promised Pictures!

My dogs absolutely LOVED the snow! For the dog below, Bono, it was just his second real snow with us, and he went crazy, just rolling around and playing with Tallie, the other dog. The pine trees were also just beautiful with snow on them, so I figured I'd post a picture of them too. And the amazing thing is that it is still snowing, and has been since 11:00 this morning!

It's Snowing!

It's actually snowing; Incredible for here in the South! I hope wherever you are, you enjoy throwing a couple of snowballs! My dog is about to go roll in the snow, so I'll post some pictures later!

Writing Stories

One of my favorite pastimes is writing, so at times, I may post short stories or poems. I have completed one adventure story called "Hijack of the Oriole" which may soon find its way onto this blog! I do take a writing class, and we have to write fifteen minutes five times a week, so quite a few ideas and stories are started a month! I hope you enjoy some of my work, and I'd love your comments on how to improve certain posted stories.

My doggies!

My dogs are a wonderful part of my life, and have been for almost seven years! They are both Golden Retrievers(check out the Heartland webpage!) and considered "senior" dogs. However, there is absolutely nothing "senior" about my eight year old doggies; in their hearts, they are still puppies! I hope to enjoy many more years of companionship with both of my sweet, stinky, lovable furballs!