What's New With You?

Around here, things this week aren't the same as they usually are. It has been colder than average, but we've been in town and not out at the Ranch. In fact, I've only been out at the Ranch maybe twice so far this week: Half of Sunday and half of Monday, and once yesterday morning to get some things we needed (mainly school).

You see, we came in for orchestra on Monday and our Tuesday stuff. That's normal for us. Then, Creator's Son was going to have this teen thing on Thursday night (which is now tonight). No problem, we'd come back into town. Not so normal for us, but no problem. However, our car has this thing. Mom was getting the oil changed last week and the people at the oil change place did something to it that didn't go so well. Bah humbug. Oh well.

Nana had offered us staying at her house until Thursday for Creator's Son, but Mom was thinking she might decline the offer so we could get school done. Early afternoon on Tuesday, Mom decided to call our friendly repair dude to ask him about our car. Then he asks her a question along the lines of "What size is the engine?" and Mom didn't know, so lo and behold we have to drive over there and show him. Turns out that was a bigger deal than we thought, and he tells us we'll need to bring it in on Thursday, now today, as early as possible.

That pretty much decided things for Mom, so we headed out to the Ranch yesterday morning to grab what we needed for Wednesday and Thursday. Then late last night, about 9:45-ish, we get an email that Creator's Son's teen night was off. Bah humbug. Oh well.

About 7:15-ish this morning, Mom and Nana headed off to our friendly car repair dude's place to let him have the car for the day so he can play with it and fix it. I read 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and got dressed while they were gone, then I got on CP and played at their newest party, the dinosaur party. They got back, I ate some food, played on CP, and now I'm sitting typing the very words you see here. Amazing how these things work, isn't it?

So everything going on this week got me to wondering, what's new with you? What kind of new thing or adventure have you had this week? If you want, comment to tell me what's been going on in your world.

PS: I love typing on my Mom's laptop! [(Which is what I am presently doing!) Hee hee hedgehog! In the words of Count Olaf]

Memories with Firefly and Mustang

Oh in the night, my hope lives on (oh in the night). Hey Mustang, remember that one?
How about the time we went iceskating in matching pajamas?
Do you remember when we slept in the empty pool?
Remember when we first made up Dragonica/Dragonia/Sargonia/Sargonica?
What about that one time we went swimming in the swollen creek? (After the moms checked it out, anyway)
Do you ever think about the first time you ever came out to the Ranch and we climbed the tower?
Remember when we played that durgan game with the apple and the tree and the basket?
It was fun that one time we played brown puffles on the island, remember?
Do you remember when we were training with sticks in our Dragonica/Dragonia/Sargonia/Sargonica game and we spent 4 or so hours doing that?
Remember that day, before your birthday party, when Sasha got stuck in Dorado and Senora's horse pen?
Wow! It was a long time ago when we first started playing our 'horse game at my house' with Feather, wasn't it?
LOL! Remember Bob the lady-man burro??? LOLOL
Heyheyhey remember when we went out to the Lodge that first time and we went exploring?
And we played that really fun horse game?
And I had Whisper for a LONG time?
Remember us freezing our tushies off? The more interesting process, though, was warming back up, wasn't it?
Remember when we went BACK out there and we played the same horse game s'more?
Do you remember the famous hard brownies?
Remember when we broke a GEODE??
Do you ever think about that one time when we saw my pastor and his wife walking in the dry creek?
Remember Sasha's sweet potato?
Who can forget that time at the Super Bowl when we had you, me, and a 5yr old over?
Do you remember 'Turn the knob!'?
Remember us making up aqua, periwinkle, and cream colored puffles?
You remember us being outside after dark with the recorder and playing games with Herbert?
And we taunted him?
And pretended we were puffles?
Do you remember when it was all over and we had to go in and you said "Nilla hungry. Nilla not have food for FIVE WHOLE MINUITE!"?
Remember when we had been playing Dragonica/Dragonia/Sargonia/Sargonica in the creek, then we went up to the Castle Training Grounds and that lady came by and started asking us questions??
Do you remember that time when you guys were coming over and I hid in my tree and scared you really bad?
Remember BOOM class?
Do you remember us playing Get the leg! with Fearless and Pickles?
Oy! Remember us dressing up as Durgans and sneaking around? That was fun!
How about that first time when we destroyed the dam in our part, near my rock?
Do you think about last summer when we went to Six Flags and made the scream team with Fearless?
Remember the Squid-Hat Guys?
Do you remember us seeing them the next day at Cici's?

Man, this list could probably continue forever!

'Member strawberry picking?
Do you remember last year when we had New Year's Eve party?
Lol! Member "Pwease? She doesn't have a home!"
Do you remember Trixie and the barrels? (If you don't, go to the post I Won!)
Remember "That guinea is really beginning to tick me off!"
Do you think about our Bella Sara game every once in a while?
Remember when Fearless lost her shoe at your house, and we found it?
Do you remember when Carling was made?

Ah the good times. I suppose I better get on with school, so for the moment, I'll end this LONG post.
Remember that once when we convinced the moms to get together the next day?

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!! (Again)

Again, I know that is caps and that that is a lot of exclamation marks, but snow is rare here were I live, so it's a big deal when it snows. Got that? Ok, on with the story.

Yesterday, my grandma called and said "We're headed to town, and we're seeing snow." Mom gets off the phone with her and relays the message.

I, not bothering to grab a jacket or gloves or a camera, run outside and gasp. It was, indeed, snowing. But, it was little flurries, nothing big, and definitely nothing that would stick to the ground. I stand there for a moment, then run to the door, where my brother and mom were pulling on gloves, hats, and coats. I was like "It's actually snowing!!!!" And then I run back off again. Pretty quickly, Mom and Creator's Son get tired of the teensy little snow flakes and go in. I go in long enough to grab a coat and my school work before I ran out again.

Outside, I did my school with the company of tiny little snow flakes floating around. I pretty quickly froze my fingers off, but I stayed until I had finished that part of my school. I then headed back in and warmed my hands up (took me about 12 hours to completely warm them back up again.) I thought we were going to be done with snow and gave a sad little sigh. My grandparents later came by with some food and the news that we had a chance of snow for later that night. I sighed again, because I thought it wouldn't happen.

This morning, I woke up and my Mom and I talked for a few minutes before Mom looked out the window and her jaw dropped. I peek out and lo and behold! snow was there on the ground! And the trampoline! And the swingset! And everywhere else I looked! I was the happiest person ever in that moment. After it finally got light enough, I grabbed: A coat, real shoes, my camera, and some real gloves. I was all set.

My mom, brother and I set out. We explored around the front yard, me snapping pics all the while (oh yes.. you will be enlightened by more pictures). It was all white and totally awesome and freezing and totally awesome. The trampoline was covered with the stuff, and it was totally awesome for packing into snowballs. I was laughing like a maniac and still snapping pictures.

We headed down to the Flat, right past our awesomely snow-covered car, and stood in awe of the white, patchy-ish ground before us. The cat, the poor kitty, followed us down there and started being all pitiful. Mom scooped him up, and he went from meowing pitifully to purring. After poking around the Flat for a while, Creator's Son went in and Mom and I headed off down the road a bit.

That walk was cold, and felt very long, but was worth it. The mixture of burned trees and white snow looked really awesome. Then Mom and I headed back to the house and she went in. I headed back to the Flat (the cat trailing me all the while) where I climbed into my newest fort (that Mustang is gonna love) and looked around. It was completely awesome. After I looked there and at our gate, I went in before my hands froze (again). And, so far, that concludes my snow day.

Me getting ready to throw a snowball

The snowy van

The kitty

Burned trees, white snow

My rock fort with snow

New Year, Fresh Start

Let's start the new year of right here at my blog- with a random 30 or so things. Whadda ya say?

1. It's nice to see everyone survived the Myan doomsday.
2. And the Fiscal Cliff or whatever that was called
3. I hope you all survive whatever new date for the end of the world they come up with
4. It's tough, surviving doomsdays, isn't it?
5. You wanna know something? As of RIGHT NOW, my house is exactly 46.6 degrees.
6. And outside is 34.4
7. But we have the heater on in the room I am in and a curtain over the door, so I am in a room which is 64.2. 
8. It's a bit chilly, wouldn't ya say?
9. Did you know that the name Clint Barton, Marvel's hero Hawkeye's name, means 'barley farm on the hilltop'?
10. I bet you didn't know that Elmo means 'friendly'. Scary, isn't it?
11. What does Keith mean? It means 'a place' in Celtic.
12. Did you know that Mignon is a real name and that it means 'dainty'?
13. Is it really 2013 already?? AHHHHHH!!!!!
14. I mean, whoopee.
15. Whoopee with streamers.
16. And ribbons. I'm so excited, can't you tell?
17. Mustang, you're gonna love my rock fort!
18. AFTER YOU FINALLY GET OUT HERE!
19. *sniff sniff* I miss you so much Mustang!
20. I guess I have enough time to fix up my rock fort then, huh?
21. I'm hungry.
22. Mom, do we have any pineapple? (If you don't know why this is funny, go look at the post Ya Wanna Know Random?)
23. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
24. I just hit my elbow really hard on the corner of my brother's desk.
25.  But I'm all better now, I'll live
26. I learned why people don't like cactus.
27. I got a spine stuck relatively an inch into my knee
28. I also learned that when necessary, I can run like a scared cheetah.
29. I was being attacked by fire ants, you see, and really didn't feel like getting bitten.
30. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I just thought of *cringe* the-the- the- the guinea. 

Soooo, Happy New Year to all and to all a  good night. Oh wait, that's Christmas. Never mind.

A Guide to Christmas: Part 3- Christmas Lights

           
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Here's my guide to those pesky Christmas lights we all *ahem* look forward to putting up each year.

1. This is not a competition with your neighbors. You don't have to go big like they might, complete with Santa on the roof and whatnot. If you are so compelled, then by all means go for it! But that's not absolutely necessary. You can just get a few lights and wrap them through your tree in the front yard. Don't push yourself beyond what you can do.

2. Don't ever expect the lights to do what you want or stay how you want. It just won't happen. So don't try to do major, complicated, and extravagant things with your lights like say, make your entire yard light up with crisscrossed Christmas lights and then light up your garage. It just won't work like that. By the way, your neighbors most likely spent a lot of money to pay a guy to make theirs look like that.

3. Wal-Mart carries little spiral Christmas trees that come with lights already on it. All you have to do is figure out where you want them, possibly use an extension cord, and make sure all the lights work. It's simple. They also have wire angels, but you have to wrap lights around them... with white tape... and it's a long process... Ask my mom.

4. If some of your lights are burned out, just buy new ones! They're not expensive. But if you forget to buy some every time you are anywhere that carries them, have no fear. You can usually find a way to cheat. Like this year, some lights on my grandmother's spiral tree burned out at the bottom. We couldn't figure out what to do, so we were about to put it away when lo and behold! Mother had an idea. She made the bottom part kinda fold, like she was gonna put it away, but instead left it like that: you couldn't see the burned out lights.

5. DON'T EVER LET THE CAT HELP. EVER!!!!!!!! Just trust me on this one.  

So there you have my 5 step guide on how to sucessfully put up Christmas lights!

NOTE: NO DADS ON LADDERS WERE HURT IN THE MAKING OF THIS POST.  

A Guide to Christmas: Part Two- Christmas Shopping

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Here's part two of my Christmas guide for you! An easy, 5 step guide to help you with your holiday shopping! (I know, I probably should have put this out sooner than 5 days 'till Christmas. But hey.)

1.  If you buy online, ALWAYS buy it with at least two weeks to spare before Christmas. Even if it says "Order in the next 2 hours and 37 minutes to get it by _____________!"  It won't happen. The present won't get there in time. Also, I advise against buying things from out of your country. 

2. Don't do last minute shopping on Christmas Eve. It's a BAADDD idea. Everything will be sold out and you probably won't find anything. But if you do find something, it will probably be on sale for something REALLY cheap, like 95% off. Sound like a good deal? It's probably more like "Oh, this one got broken. Let's patch it up with bubble gum and then put it on the shelf for 95% off". And, when will you find time to wrap it? You'll also be very tired when it comes around to Christmas.

 3. If, however, you ignore my above stated advise, always expect the person in front of you in line to be really chatty and want to talk to the person checking them out for 20 minutes. Or they'll be on the phone, talking and laughing LOUDLY. Or your checkout person will be chatty and want to talk for hours.
 
4. Make sure you keep in touch with everyone else buying presents for immediate family so you don't end up with double presents. If you end up with double presents anyway, pretend to be absolutely thrilled. that sometimes works. If not, just smile and say how cute they are or something like that. Whatever you do, BE NICE about it.

5. When you run out of room under your tree, it's a good indication that more presents are not ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.  

Hope you have a good Christmas! Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 of my Christmas guide. Thanks for reading!

NOTE: No elves were harmed in the making of this post.  

 

A Guide to Christmas: Part One - Christmas Carols

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Here is my guide to the Christmas songs you hear in stores, on the radio, and some you may have on CD.

 1. If you don't know the words to a Christmas song that everyone else in the car/ house/ wherever you may be is singing, have no fear. You can just hum, or wait for less than a minute. They will probably start laughing and stop singing because they don't know the words either. If they can't make it through one verse of 'Joy to the World', that should be saying something.

2. If you feel the need to hit the person that wrote the song you happen to be listening to, try to just tune it out. That sometimes works. Otherwise, I fear you will have to just live with the terrible music. Sorry.

3. Expect the person singing to not be the best singer in the world. Always expect them to not be very good. There are some very good singers out there that are not afraid to sing Christmas music, so if you hear one that is really good, you can be happily surprised. I am not telling you to make fun of the people singing or anything like that, I am just saying that a lot of Christmas music singers aren't great.

4. If you can vaguely play any instrument under the sun, and you either tell people you can play or are forced to play in front of them, they will think you can play EVERY Christmas song under the Milky Way. And then they will make you play for them. And they will choose the weirdest song you can think of, like Jingle Bell Rock *twitch twitch*. 

5. Beware that there are several categories of Christmas music: Songs that actually celebrate Christ's birth or tell about that glorious time, songs that celebrate Santa, presents, and candy, and instrumental music that can be either. If you like the tune of some of the songs that celebrate Santa, presents, and candy, but don't like the words, here's an idea for you: Get an instrumental version and make up your own words to it.

Please remember that in this post, I am not saying anything bad about Christmas songs, the singers, or the people who wrote the songs. I am just stating that some Christmas songs aren't great, I've heard some really, really bad singers that are singing Christmas music, and I have no idea where some people get their ideas for their Christmas music, because they make it twisted and slightly morbid.

NOTE: NO REINDEER WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS POST.