For the Birds

At Kerr's house we were watching Pixar short films and I just had to share this one. It is so funny! Every time! I love it!!

 Usually, I don't take pictures of myself (let alone post those pictures) but this one turned out pretty good, I think. :)

Hitting Houses with Song!

Christmas Caroling!!!

A new tradition for us is to go Christmas caroling! We've done it every year since we moved to Tucson and it is so much fun! I love it!! I even went twice last year!! (Because I had other friends who were doing it as well.)

We usually do our whole street and maybe one or two other streets as well. It feels a bit awkward at first but once you get the hang of it, it is really really fun!

Every year it really blesses people and this year was no exception! I think a lot more people answered their doors, compared to previous years. In fact, we got goodies from three houses! It was like they were expecting us!!

One woman gave all of us candy canes. Another older couple was so blessed that they gave us a whole bag of the most delicious cherry chocolate chip cookies ever!! They said they'd been caroling through the neighborhood but we were the first to ever carol to them. There were a couple families that said that. There was another older couple that gave us snickerdoodles.

We made a point of visiting Carl, a man we sort know. And I freaked him out by running up and hugging him! It was dark so he wasn't sure who I was but after I identified myself (which, in my excitement, my dad had to help..) we all had a great laugh!!

Then there was the cute three and a half foot little lady with the foreign accent. We caroled at her house last year and she was so thrilled that she gave all of us hugs! Well, she came out again this year with more hugs!

And there was another elderly gentleman. We met him and his wife the first year we did it but they were sick last year. He told us he was so sick he almost died!!

After we were done caroling, we all came back to the house for hot drinks and cookies and we visited with each other and it was great fun!

We didn't take any pictures but here are some from the first year:

The Stock Game

In Financial Peace University (which I was taking for a school credit! Yay dual credit!!), and we were learning about stocks and mutual funds!

Enter: the Stock game!!
In the stock game, Dad gives me imaginary money to play with and spend on whatever stock I want. And after that I'm not really sure what happens. A few weeks ago, I was brainstorming for the different stocks I could "purchase." I am not allowed to use any of the stocks we already own...

We began this game a few years ago before my dad moved down here and became a financial advisor. However, the game was never finished (as it stands now... we haven't moved beyond the brainstorming point.) and we are still trying to play it.

I am not sure what happens but if/when we finally get it going again, I will update! :)  I think I have a greater understanding of stock now than I did a few years ago, so hopefully I will do better and understand the way stocks work even more!! Yay! *fingers crossed*

One day, I am going to be very smart on the subject of stocks.

capitol? capital? Capitol?

 The word is "capitol" folks and that is where I spent the weekend!! (warning: long post but with pictures!)

As some of you know, I am in YMCA youth and government which is very similar to a debate club, but not.

Y&G is a program that teaches students how the state government works through doing it. By letting the students role-play politicians. In the program, there are legislators (House and Senate), lobbyists, and press members. Several very official-looking newspapers were printed throughout the weekend.

I was a House representative. Everyone wrote a piece of legislation, researched it, perfected it, re-drafted it, researched it more... until we debated it.

I will briefly explain how a bill passes into law. It needs to pass five times. First, in a committee of a few members (mine, public health and welfare, had six members plus a chairman and vice chairman.). Bills rarely fail in committee. Most people pass bills just to give them a chance to be debated, even if they don't exactly agree with the bill.

Then, the bill goes to the House chambers. You debate it in the house (and there were some crazy good debaters...) Mine passed committee of the whole (COW), unanimously (minus abstentions). After it passes committee of the whole, it goes through third read.

In third read, the chambers are sealed and they briefly review all the bills and you vote on the final passage. To gain final passage there must be a majority plus one vote. One of the bills I sponsored passed in COW and failed in third read.

The same process happens in the Senate. I had someone in our delegation sponsor my bill and he did a great job! Yay Stephen! And I felt bad because his bill failed third read in the House but he said it was okay.

After the bill passes both the House and the Senate, you have to convince the Governor (of the program, not the real governor) to sign your bill. Sometimes, your lobbyist can do that for you, but I personally talked to the governor. He signed my bill!! ^-^ It was really exciting! I was beaming when I returned to the House chambers! (and this whole time, we are actually in the real live capitol... O_o)

Pictures!!

left to right: Gabriel Martinez, Chris Jordan, Meara Clark, myself, Christian Hagedon, and Carlos Ochoa.

Gabriel had a very cool abortion bill and he spoke in favor of my bill in the Public Health and Welfare committee. I spoke in favor of his abortion bill (banning 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions) in the House.

Chris Jordan was a very good debater. I had a great time hanging out with him and listening to him talk. There were some truly great minds at Model Legislature; he is one of them.

Carlos Ochoa is another great mind. He was a beast in the House. He was a total bill-killer. As well as Chris, but Chris stood in favor of more bills. Carlos opposed most of the bills (even mine!)  and when he stood in favor of bills, he only mildly supported them... He was a great debater though. Always thought of the one thing you didn't research!

Me and Christian at lunch. I don't remember this picture...

 

This is the House chambers during joint session.

Another lunch picture!!

A picture from pre-legislature.

Most of the bills were heard in their respective chambers. Some weren't. Many more weren't heard in the opposite chambers. And there was a great deal of political underhandedness as well. But overall, the weekend was extremely enjoyable. I got to meet a lot of great people, the debate was good, and everyone was pretty friendly off the floor. And also, my bill was signed by the governor. That was a big plus. I'll probably be back next year. It was super fun!

Staring Contest

Picture this: Staring contest. Me and Cam. Across the room. Me-on the verge of tears. Him-eyebrows twitching involuntarily. Us-laughing at each other.

It was pretty funny. I won. Barely.

Freeze

It's that time of year again. The cold is setting in and we have to put blankets and towels over our plants. Or else they turn brown like this. ^ *cue Jaws music*

Yes, our lovely basil plants went to the dust last night. They froze to death. Amazing how one day, the plant can be green and healthy, and the next day, you wake up to find if brown and ugly. Frozen in the night! But you gotta do what you gotta do to keep the plants alive, I suppose.

Good Bye Basil plants. Please, let us have a moment of silence in honor of these brave volunteer plants, who grew so healthily.Until next year, rest in peace. And compost, compost, compost.

50K

Last night, I reached 50,000 words!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

I was so happy!! And so fried... I ended up writing about 4000 words yesterday. But I did it! The story completed itself at 50,130 words although I might add to it in the next week, rearrange scenes and what not. I was so tired when I finally got there, it was like my mind went kind of numb...

And then I proceeded to do my happy dances all around the house while singing "No Eating Here Tonight" from Finding Nemo.  Although, I must say, I think the effect was rather lost because I was really hungry at the time and it was nearing dinner... but no matter!! After the quiet numbness wore off, the excited giddiness set in. And I could not stop dancing all around the house. It was great fun.

And now, me and Bethany are planning to do a novel swap at some point (details still need to be worked out) and in the meantime, I will be rearranging scenes because this year, I didn't write my story in any sort of order, whatsoever. But following whims is one of the good parts about NaNoWriMo...

Now, though, I'm not really sure what to do with myself... I think I will be getting the NaNo Blues pretty soon. I'll probably end up filling the empty space with mail... (it's been piling since November started..)
and thus, I welcome myself back into the real world!!

I Have Decided...

I have decided that coffee is a wonderful thing. I used to not like it, just because it was bitter but you know, with a little bit of half and half and some sugar, it really isn't half bad!! I tried it one day when I was falling asleep during school so I poured myself a cup from the dregs in the pot and after drinking it, I felt more alert. It was amazing!! Although, the bitter aftertaste is a little hard to get past in the beginning, I don't think it's so bad!!

I used to dislike coffee because I had a bad experience with it. I'm like five years old and my job is to collect the dishes in the living room and put them in the sink. Most of the dishes in the living room were coffee cups. Usually, they were empty but on occasion there was coffee! Well, one day, I got the great idea of seeing what coffee would taste like!! O_o Looking back, I realize that the coffee was probably several days old but still, after that experience, I very highly disliked coffee for a while. And at the time, I didn't know any better! But still, it did not taste very good. And since then I haven't really liked coffee. But recently, I've been trying tastes of it here and there and recently, I've drunk whole cups of the stuff.

But I'm not an addict or anything so no need to worry (yet).

I am also discovering that it seems to go straight to your bladder. T_T But I think the alertness is worth it! But ultimately I think that it depends on my mood. I won't drink it if I don't feel like it. But I just had a cup today to help me keep up on my writing. I was starting to feel some brain-deadness so I had some to give me the stamina to keep writing. But I am most tired of looking at screens. I am so close to 3,000 words for today though, that I will probably just finish that up and call it a day.

41,033 words!!

Also, in other notes, Aunt Colleen arrived today! Hooray! It is so good to see her again! I will post our adventures with her later.

Confession

I have a confession to make: I am grossly motivated by competition.

It's kind of pathetic really... Everything has always been a competition for me. A lot of things are motivated by speed. Whoever gets there first or the fastest...

This is especially true with NaNoWriMo. I have noticed that I get obsessive about other people's wordcounts. I stalk them and then go to extremes to get ahead of them. And then when they pull ahead, I'm bummed!!! What a vicious cycle!!

Honestly, I don't even know how I got so competitive... It's kind of scary. If I'm not beating someone else, I'm beating myself... I am finding this to be true more and more.. Hmm.

My New Pet

I am pleased to announce that I have a new pet!!!
His name is Fred!!
He is a typewriter!!

Yes indeedy!! I bought this lovely typewriter at a garage sale for-wait for this... five dollars!!!! It is so amazing!! Cameron has been begging me to let him use it ever since I brought it home. I told him no... Dad got it to work for the most part. The ribbon is old so we just messed around with a piece of paper. It was great. :) Writing nonsense sentences on this clunky old typewriter...

But anyways, Cam is dying to use the thing and I keep telling him no because I don't know how to work it!! (Soon enough, I will have the skills... soon enough!) But for the time being? I don't. And dad doesn't always have the time or interest to help us... hmm. I will have to find someone else. I have already pleaded to the Amazing Typewriter Brigade from Nanowrimo and they were very helpful indeed.  They told me where I can find ribbons for this. Hooray!!

All in all, I am very enamored with Fred. (I have always loved the way typewriters looked!! I don't know why... And I started wanting one after someone wrote me a letter with a typwriter... it was FABULOUS!!) I just don't know how to use it...

Another typewriter was also mentioned in this post. For those of you who might (or might not, as the case may be) be interested. Hmm, now that I've looked at the picture better, I think that other typewriter is cooler... but Fred is cool too.

More Pictures:

 Did I mention it comes in a super awesome case??

Of Finger Mustaches, Snowman Pajamas, and Walking with the Old Man

I wish I had more better pictures to show you... but I don't. And I took this myself (which is why it looks so bad!) Seriously, I don't get people who can sit there and take tons of pictures of themselves... For one thing, you always end up with your arm looking like it has cancer! And then, whenever I do it, I always feel like such a dork. This was one of those moments. The reason I'm smiling? Not because I just painted myself into the painting of Mona Lisa. No, I'm smiling because I feel ridiculous taking pictures of myself. (that's why you don't see very many pictures of me on this blog; cuz it doesn't happen if someone else doesn't do it.)

So, for Halloween, I dressed up as a French painter and I had a FABULOUS finger mustache (which I didn't get a picture of, sadly.) We went to a church fall festival (the big church...) and Cameron got a lot more candy than I did!! It wasn't fair. I think I'm getting too old. I feel weird and awkward saying "trick or treat" now. But somehow, by the grace of Cam and also Sydney and also Miss Darlene and soon to be, possibly, hopefully, Daniel, I will have more than enough candy to last me through November. (Noveling snacks!)

When I wasn't getting very much candy, I was like, "I declare socialism when it comes to candy distribution!" (I am learning much about socialism in history. Everyone works according to their ability, and takes according to their needs.) And Dad looked at me from pawing through Cam's candy bag and said, "Yeah, get out of her Frenchie!" XD It was so funny!! I just laughed. Next year, I am dressing up as a mahjong tile!!! We'll see how that one works out...

Then today, when I walked the dog, I decided I would wear my pajamas out. Because I can. Because I felt like it! And I decided that just for this morning, I wouldn't care what anyone thought of me! It was all very great fun. I imagined all the looks people were giving me as they drove by. It amuses me. And I was really super warm! Last Christmas, Mom made me a pair of flannel snowman pajamas (actually, the whole family has matching pairs.) and I wore a pair of leggings underneath. My goodness! It was so warm!! I wish I had a picture but again with the taking pictures of myself thing.


And on Monday, I was walking in the evening and I saw an older man (okay, he was an old man. But not like, frail or anything..). And we know the man...sort of. His name is Carl and he has a dog named Daisy and we walk by his house every morning with Pat. So I caught up with him and decided to walk next to him and talk to him as if we'd been friends for a long time!! :) I explained who I was of course. And we talked about his dog and how he tries to walk her for an hour every day. And I told him I missed seeing him in the mornings... It was a nice conversation. Nice dog. nice walk... It was all very nice.

On a side note, I think I have *drumroll* 4,288 words!!! and more writing today! I'm going to hit 5,000 today. I am I am I am!! I think I wrote 2,000 ish words yesterday...

That Time of Year Again...

NaNoWriMo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, It's that time of year again. Yes folks, it is NaNoWriMo Time!!!! NaNoWriMo (wri as in write-not wree...) National Novel Writing Month. November 1st-30th. 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days and it starts tonight... O_o 

Can someone please scream and run around in circles please? Thank you!

As of right now, I have about four hours before the madness begins... and only a vague sense of plot.

This is what I posted in the forums:

So far, mine will be about fake religion and hypocrisy (now that I'm thinking about it, it the main fake religion will probably be similar to how the Pope took control of the Roman Catholic Church..) And it's all very mindless and zombie-like and this fake religion is mainly just recruiting... I guess it's also kind of like a cult.
But there is a group of children who breaks away from the mindlessness and probably tries to overthrow the figure that is a parallel to the Pope and undermine the whole religion and establish a true faith... I don't know. Something along those lines

Popes and Cults and Rebellion! That is the extent of my plot so far! 8 hours and no beginning, I hope I can get my hands on some mountain dew tonight! Midnight tonight!! It's on!!

Feel free to badger me about it any time you want! Ask me about my wordcount! Ask me how my characters are doing! Ask me how much caffeine/candy I've consumed!! (I've begun hoarding some awesome stuff for my super secret nano fuel/stash!! And I will be adding to it later tonight!!)

On a side note, for Halloween, I'm dressing up as a very French artist. And I have a super awesome finger mustache!!! Will post pictures later!! Happy Halloween/Almost November!!

Sometimes You Need to Get Creative

So, I was playing guitar this afternoon and I needed a capo. One peek in the office scared me. O_o I really didn't want to mess with all of Dad's stuff so I decided to make do with what I could find in my room. Enter: Rubber Band and Popsicle Stick!!!

I placed the Popsicle stack against the fret-board and wrapped the rubber band around the back of the neck and secured it to both ends of the popsicle stick.

Well, it served its purpose for the time being. I probably wouldn't suggest it to someone else unless they were desperate for a capo like I was. Even then, sometimes it's just better to convert the chords. The sound was twangy but I like the overall look. It amuses me!! :)

Do You Really Wanna Know?

For those times when someone asks, "Do you really wanna know?" and immediately after: "How bad do you wanna know?", There is now a scale of 1-10!!  Me and one of my friends were goofing off when we came up with this yesterday:

1. "If you tell me, I will punch you in the face."
2. I really don't wanna know.
3. I don't wanna know.
4. I don't really care if I know.
5. Indifferent.
6. I'd prefer to know but I'm fine otherwise.
7. I'm pretty sure I want to know.
8. I want to know.
9. I really want to know!
10. I am dying to know!!!

Yeah, it was pretty funny!!! How badly do you want to know? :)

Sorry, for my absence! I'll try to get on more often. (sometimes its hard to think of what to write though!!) Check out my my mail blog to see the fun things I've been sending out lately! (I'm a lot more active on that blog... but then again, I'm never at a loss for a topic when I'm over there either...)

Goodies from the mailman

I declare, I have the BEST mailman in the world!! (or at least our town!)

He happens to know how much I love letters (judging by the fact that I probably send out and receive the most amazing mail he's ever seen!) and consequently office supplies and so he left these treasures in our mailbox this morning!! Isn't that nice!!! our mailman is awesome!!!

For some odd reason, I feel the need to sum this up in conditional statements! Yay for applying what we've learned in school!!!

Major Premise: If you like writing letters, then you like office supplies.
Minor Premise: Misha likes writing letters.
Conclusion: Therefore, Misha likes office supplies!!!

Therefore, my statement above saying that Chip (for that is our mailman's name) knows I like office supplies is correct if we are using these premises. Don't you love logic? It is probably the most pointless thing I've learned in math so far but it is quite a lot of fun!

Pretty Flowers!!

Sorry y'all. I haven't (completely) disappeared!! I've been doing a lot more updates on my mail blog which I started recently. You can check out my pretties if you want. :) 

One thing you should know about me, (if you don't know it already..) is that I adore flowers!! I love love love them!!! They just make me happy. Ridiculously happy.

Every other morning, it's my turn to walk our dog Pat (at 6 am...) and usually we walk through a wash/alley. One day I was walking and I saw this amazing flower!!! When I first saw it, I seriously thought it was fake. Because there was only one (as there is now, but there wasn't a wilted one before.) and it was HUGE!!!! Like the size of a funnel!! Wait, that's a bad comparison. It was like the size of.... a large danish! But not the same proportions as a large danish. Maybe a little smaller... a medium danish perhaps? Please don't imagine a danish on a stem. Maybe I could compare it to something else...hmm. Anyways, it was pretty big. But then I touched it and it was real!!!!

But sadly, I didn't have my camera (or phone) with me at the time so I had to leave it and hope everyone would believe me when I got home. (I even thought about going back to take a picture of it later that day but it got too hot.)

I watched the flower for a couple days and took my camera with me on a day I knew it was going to bloom and tada!! I got these four pictures!! Yay! That was probably on Friday... They will probably bloom again soon-over the next couple days; it's pretty easy to tell... but yeah. Pretty flowers! Made me happy!

Grand Canyon!!!

 

Well, I'm sorry it's taken so long!!! Geez. So here are the highlight of the camping trip in the Grand Canyon. I'll try to keep it short-ish but most likely, this will be a long one. But with lots and lots of pictures so hopefully, that makes up for it. :)

THE HIGHLIGHTS:
Day #1-

We hiked out on the south rim. ^Jordan, Cam, and Samuel, on the edge. 

The boys being silly. Joe, Daniel, and Christian. They were all making me nervous. (on purpose of course.)

Back at the campsite, we began a rousing game of "A Rumpa Se" (I have no idea how to spell it...) A fun game that requires keeping a beat and lots of cups and singing and fun. It was awesome! And for lack of cups, we used water bottles which somehow ended in a water "war" that got us in trouble with the parents. Oops.

Day #2-

More hiking out on the Rim. In this picture, Jake is leaning over the edge. What you don't see is all the kids behind him, egging him on to get the parachute man that is just out of reach.... We saw some discarded parachute men and wanted to launch some of our own into the canyon....but we didn't have any so we told Jake to get one of the ones that we could see and I think the parents caught the words, "you can go down and get back up before they [the parents] notice..." and of course, they told us "no." Someday, I'll go back and I will take parachute men with me!!!

We also found the path down which you can hike all the way to the Colorado river!! We didn't go down this trip (but Kudos to Aunt Brinda who did!! We went down the path about a hundred feet or so and I took a picture of this sign..

Then, we went out to the Rim to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful!! There was a girl there who was playing the guitar and ukelele and she was really good. You can check out her myspace here.

Day #3

I do believe this is where it gets a little fuzzy for me...

Ah yes, the third day was a fun one. We had a cherry pit spitting contest in the neighboring (empty) campsite and my friend Milea won. (Woohoo Milea!!) It was so funny because Joe "interviewed" Dad and asked, 

"How does it feel to lose?"

And Dad gives the famous ESPN speech, "You know, I did my best but today, my best just wasn't good enough..." it was SO funny!!

We also went out to the watchtower and I am telling you, if you ever go, and you want to go inside, there are a LOT of stairs! My goodness!!!

We found a little path and followed it and got all the kids together for a picture right there by the canyon!! Fun stuff. The boys wanted to go farther but we told them "no." Left to Right: Joe, Christian, Daniel, Me, Jake, Milea with Jordan and Cam in front.

DAY #4 

We mostly just hung out at the campsite. We did a little hiking but not a lot. We played a LOT of card games. Hell (also called nertz), 6-pack, El Presidente, and Egyptian Rat Screw...fun stuff.

^Jake and Christian playin' guitar.

Everyone decided to leave a day early (including us) because it got very cold. All in all, it was really really fun!! We sang around the campfire the first night. I played Mom's cajon (which is a box drum) and we went star gazing two of the nights.... It was a lot of fun. You gotta love camping!

Mysterious Person

Hey all!!! So today, in the mail, some fabulous Mysterious Person, sent me the most wonderful surprise!!! Anonymously (hence the title-mysterious person). They sent me some return address labels with my address all over them and they had little kittens on them...they were sooo cute!!! It was like Christmas in July!! And doubly so because I actually put return address labels on last years Christmas list!! (I get kinda desperate sometimes when my mom asks me what I want... "I don't want anything." I tell her. Well, that will all change this year because I will be begging all y'all for postage stamps!!! And office supplies!) And I don't know to whom I owe my gratitude.So, Mysterious Person-- thank you very much indeed!! It totally made my day!!!


*edit* Found out it was Auntie Colleen!! Hooray!!! Thank you so much Aunt Colleen!!! ♥

Whiplash and Lotsa Lotsa Mail!!!

It's been a while... But I have not disappeared completely!! And I have pictures from the Grand Canyon which I will post...eventually. Probably after this week.

Anyways! Boy do I have a story!!

So on Wednesday, we decided to play chase and we were running all around the church. Inside and Outside and around the back and through to the front... It was great!!

Until...

I crashed into my friend Christian! We just collided into each other. I hit him in the knee and he ended up on the floor and somehow he hit me in the face and while I was still standing, I could not feel half of my face for about two minutes! After the numbness wore off, it stung for a little and then I had a headache.Thinking it would go away in the morning, I took some tylenol and went to bed. When it was still there the next day, I told my mom. When it hurt with more intensity yesterday morning, Mom scheduled a doctor's appointment.

The doctor (who also happens to be a chiropractor) said I had whiplash and my neck was way out of alignment. That was causing the headaches. So he adjusted me up (which is pretty scary if you've never been adjusted before. This was my second time and it was still freaky!) and that was that. Then he gave me neck stretching exercises and told me to rest up.

Mom had been afraid that maybe I had a concussion. Or maybe I fractured my skull or something weird like that. She thought my summer camp (for which I leave tomorrow!!!) would be in jeopardy but the doctor said I can go as long as I took it easy until I left. So I've been a good girl and I took a three hour nap on the couch this afternoon! And y'know, when you lie flat on your back, there really is nothing you can do besides sleep. My neck is still a little sore but I felt immediately better when the doctor snapped me back into place!

And also, this week, I have just gotten a TON of mail!!! Wow!

These three (THREE!!!) letters came this morning!! Courtesy of Melissa, Sydney, and Kerri. Melissa sent me a sweet letter and Sydney sent me a couple ATC's to swap and Kerri sent me the most amazing letter ever!!! It was so colorful inside with lots of marker doodles in pretty colors.... it was amazing and it made me laugh!

And these two lovely letters came from Sabrina and Milea yesterday!!! They were both very sweet and nice long letters too! So, lots of mail to reply to!! And a lot of it I probably won't get to until after I get back from summer camp. =( Oh well.

And THIS is some amazing mail art that I sent to Kerri last week!! It's kinda hard to tell but the theme of the envelope is the zombie dinosaur apocalypse. Coming to a city near you in 2012!! It's a joke but I had a lot of fun making it. And Kerri said it made her laugh so much!! Which it always makes me smile to discover that my mail makes others happy.

Wrong Number?!

So, Mom and I are in the car and she asks me to text something to dad for her. So I did and sent it off-no problem right?

Well, two minutes later, my phone rings and thinking it might be dad I picked it up, "Hello, this is Misha!" I said.
"Misha?" the guy on the other end of the line had a deep voice and it was definitely NOT dad!

"Um, I think you have the wrong number." I told him.

"No I think you have the wrong number."

I almost almost said, "Excuse me, but you're the one who called me so I think you have the wrong number!" I almost said that but I'm glad I didn't because he continued, "you just texted me."

It was then that I realized that I didn't actually text Dad but this stranger who had now called me. I apologized up and down. Over and over. He said it was alright. And ordinarily, when you get the wrong number, you say it's alright and then you hang up. Right? Apparently not in this case.

"So I'm not really doing anything and I'm kinda bored. Do you wanna talk to me?" He asked.

I was like, "No, that's okay." I'd really rather not talk to you at all, actually.
"Are you sure?"
"Um, yeah, that's okay thanks." He asked if I was sure a couple more times and when I declined, I imagine he might've shrugged on the other end of the line and he wished me a good day and then we hung up. O_o

Can you say w-e-i-r-d??? So I go back and I looked at the text I sent him and I was ONE digit off from the number I'd intended to send it to!! And the button I did press was just below the one I was supposed to push!!!

I felt like such a dork!! *facepalm* Then I just laughed at myself for about ten minutes. XD

Kombucha!

You will never guess what I tried at a sleepover last night! *looks at title* all right, you will never guess what kombucha is!!
No, it is not something you yell when you are about to karate chop someone's arm off. Kombucha is fermented mushroom juice and I actually tried it! I drank like half a glass and I am so proud of myself!

It was...weird. That is most definitely the only word I can use to describe it. If you would like more detailed info about it, My friend Jordan introduced it to me and she talks all about it here. So this stuff is just weird--sorry it's not the best picture.

I must confess that I smell my food before I taste it. In most cases, if it smells good, it will taste good. If it doesn't smell good, it doesn't taste good. That is my philosophy. But with Kombucha, I was stuck. I also have a motto that I'll try anything at least once and I had certainly never had Kombucha before! And y'know, the whole idea of fermented mushroom juice...well, that's a little weird, even for me. So I had this sort of predicament. I wanted to stay true to this motto but I wasn't so sure about the Kombucha stuff.

So I told Jordan I would try it. (Now that I think about it, that may not have been the best solution if I had been trying to avoid trying the strange drink. However, it wasn't that I was trying to get out of tasting it, I just needed a little kickstart to get me going! I needed some kind of motivation for it!) So I told Jordan I would try it.

And I did. And it was weird. But not in a bad way. It was fizzy but not like a carbonated soda. It had a tangy sour kind of taste. As I drank it, I was reminded of wine but as I have never tasted wine, I can't say that is an accurate comparison. Jordan tried to say it was like ginger ale; it is NOT like ginger ale! Not at all. (I don't think she has had ginger ale in a while but that's okay.) When you drink it, you kind of have to think of it as a completely new drink. Which is very hard because it smells like vinegar.

But it wasn't bad. Granted, it wasn't the best thing I've ever tasted, but it wasn't bad at all. Kind of strange. Kind of different. But it was very cool. I actually felt nervous right before I drank it but it was fine. Reminds me of when I used to drink Girard's salad dressing straight from the bottom of my bowl because I liked that acidic taste.

All in all, Kombucha is weird stuff but I am glad I tried it. And if you happen to know me and that I am always encouraging my friends to try new stuff, I promise I won't try to make you drink it. Yet....

Chow Mein!!

My Mom decided she would treat our home group to a ginormous batch of the best chow mein ever this evening! If you have never had the privilege of homemade chow mein, then wow. I feel sorry for you! (Not for reals but Mom's chow mein is kicking awesome!) She is cooking the noodles right now, as we speak!! (er, I mean type!) She has cooked four packages this morning and we decided that there will need to be a sacrificial noodle cake for our labor. Yay!! When I heard that, I began to chant, "Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" It made mom laugh.

And earlier, Mom was looking at something on the package and they suggested a pesto chicken recipe!! =O Can I say that I am horrified?! And even worse-Mom thought we should try it!! *gasp!* The horror! I shot it down immediately. "How can you make chow mein noodles and not use them for chow mein or noodle cakes?" I said. And the answer is: you can't. I refuse to participate in such sacrilege!! =) Hopefully it comes out good. (I'm sure it will.)

IOWA Testing!!!

So here, the school district has AIMS testing. In California we had STAR testing. Guess what homeschoolers get!? Iowa testing!!! Yep yep yep. No lie. No joke.

I took my own kind of standardized testing this morning with a bunch of my other homeschool friends(There were 13 or 14 of us in highschool). It was...interesting. To say the least. I wasn't nervous but I didn't know what to do with my hands so it probably came across as nervous energy. Today we did various language sections and one math section. Tomorrow, we will finish the test with a little bit of language and math plus some social studies and science.

It was so bad! I really did eat a decent breakfast this morning. I really did! I had spaghetti and I made myself finish it! But when 11 o'clock came around, my stomach started growling at me!! It was horrible! And of course, it was much worse than usual since it was silent in the room. I had the opportunity to eat food at break earlier but I wasn't hungry then! It was so bad. I finished the test twenty minutes early and asked if I could leave to go to the bathroom and feed myself. I was still hungry after eating but my stomach didn't growl at me any more so that was good.

The test was easy for the most part. And we goofed off a little bit between sections. It was fun! Well, as fun as standardized testing can be when you're not allowed to talk or listen to your ipod.... (Yeah we all thought that was horrible. No ipod? But why???) Overall, I think I did pretty good. We got my least favorite part out of the way -- reading and comprehension!! I hate those things!! That is the one where you have to read the passage and answer the questions. *shudders* me no likey. They are not very fun. But after tomorrow, it will be all over! Yay!

I guess it's not really that bad but still...

Grace Like Rain

I thought this was so cool! I just had to share it with everyone! And it's been a while since I posted anyways....

So at Youth Group tonight, we began the night with worship in the sanctuary and Jake led us on the piano. It was an amazing worship time and he led us in "Grace Like Rain". It was so neat; the moment the song finished, there was silence and in the silence, it was pouring rain on the roof. It was so cool!! It was oawsome! We just had an awesome time of worship; it was really moving.

I kept thinking about how God continually gives us second chances. And third chances and fourth chances and fifth chances! He gives us hundreds of chances! And it just struck me how much He really does love us! =D

Recap-Milea's Visit!

For spring break, my lovely friend Milea came to visit and we had so much fun together!! We took her everywhere with us! Our week was so packed!

She got in on Saturday and we were able to meet her at the gate, right as she got off the plane. It was so good to see her! We tried to go to the Rainforest Cafe in Phoenix but the wait was too long and I was starving (I really was) so we went to another place for hamburgers instead. Can I say that the mall in Phoenix was freaking huge? It was SO scary! I don't see how you could actually fun there. I'd be lost within five minutes! After dinner, we drove home and I got to show her my room and the house and I introduced her to my family.... Then we crashed on the bed.

On Sunday, we went to church and I introduced her to everyone I knew. We helped the kids in Sunday School and goofed off a bunch with them. After church, we baked and decorated cupcakes to take with us to Awana. Milea wasn't very confident in her cake decorating skills but kudos to her for trying something new!! (We tried a lot of new stuff this week.) Didn't they turn out cute! We had a lot of fun with it. And they were delicious! Awana was interesting and I introduced her to all my friends there. And we played dodgeball and had a great time. I felt bad for introducing
her to so many people all at one time but she did pretty good with all the names. And I've talked about all of these people in out letters so I'm sure it was nice to put faces to names.

On Monday, we cleaned for home group and Mom sliced up her toe really bad. She almost went to the ER. It was super exciting. I wanted her to go so I could come with her and bug the doctor by asking all sorts of nerdy questions...but she didn't go. Instead, Dad came home and patched her up and she was fine. Darn! Oh well, next time! In the evening, we went to Young Life at the nearby highschool. Young Life was really fun! Everyone was really nice and we both had a blast! The people at Young Life are a goofy bunch but I liked them a lot!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, We chill-axed during the day, playing games all day. Cam challenged Milea to many many games of chess and she won most all of them. We taught her a lot of new games and played some old ones. And she even taught me a new game! It's called the Ninja Game. (Pretty awesome huh?) It is hilarious and we will definitely be playing that one in the Grand Canyon this summer! I am already stockpiling some awesome games to play around the campfire. It should be fun!

On Tuesday, we made the mandatory Eegee's trip and on Wednesday night, we went to youth group together and had a blast laughing and playing basketball and singing and praying, even crying. It was a good youth group night; we even had some new folks joining us. It was a lotta fun!

On Thursday, we went to the Desert Museum and I got to show off my desert nerdy-ness by pointing out all the different kinds of cacti! Milea doesn't mind my nerdiness though, thankfully. After the DM, we walked down to Eegee's again cuz we felt like it and there was a new flavor of the month because it was April 1st! Which, as you may know, is also April Fool's Day!

In honor of April Fool's, we dressed up as twins to see if we could fool anybody into thinking we were actually related. We didn't fool anybody and the trick backfired at dinner that night. Funny story about that actually! We took Milea out to dinner to another mandatory restaurant called Pinnacle Peak. And we wore some really ugly ties to adorn their ceilings. But when we ordered our drinks, we decided we'd trick the waitress and order each other's drink. So I ordered water for Milea and she ordered Sprite for me! As soon as the waitress left, we swapped drinks and everything was fine. Our waitress had no idea.

But then, later on in the night, the waitress came by and was filling drinks and she came and gave me a refill--of water!! The five of us looked at each other and we just BURST out laughing! It was hilarious. Best April Fool's Prank that ever backfired on us! Ever. I drank down the rest of my Sprite and once it started tasting watery, I stopped drinking it. It was fine as long as I didn't stir it but it was really funny. We all had a good laugh over that.

On Friday, we had another chill day with lots of games and relaxing and napping; tt was wonderful. We attended the Good Friday service at our church that night and we went to Dairy Queen afterward. Saturday was very hard. The car ride up was kinda quiet, the silence in the car, heavy... My mom and I got temporary boarding passes to escort her to the Gate. We played a game in the terminal while we were waiting and we stayed until she boarded the plane. It was so hard saying good-bye. I almost almost cried. I barely held myself together but I was determined not to cry. It felt like half of me was leaving on that plane. We could've totally been twins...

So, saying goodbye was definitely hard but now I can just look forward to our next visit! Yeehaw!

Banana Split-a Short History

Did you know that the banana split was first served in 1904? (It was.) When I was little, my idea of drawing "icecream" was to draw a banana split but I didn't know exactly what it was or what it tasted like. My grandma was kind enough to draw the above diagram for me in a letter. As you can see, she pointed out the cherry, whipped cream, nuts, bananas, and icecream with their various toppings. It became a running thing. "Have you had a banana split yet?" she'd ask.

A couple years ago, Dad took me out for my first banana split and it was so tasty! We couldn't finish it together and then this kid after us ordered a whole one for himself! We told him he wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing. So I was going through some old stuff and I found this letter my grandma sent me (she sent in May of '02) and I really wanted a banana split.

So I asked Dad, "Hey, can we go out for a banana split sometime?" And we went that night! It was delicious and we had a good time hanging out. So banana splits are extra special because my dear grandma is the one who introduced me to the real thing, and now it's become a Dad-only kind of thing. Isn't that sweet?
And I didn't even think to take pictures while we were out!

The Joy Comes in the Morning!

So this week has been a week of burning midnight oil as it is. Early mornings and late nights certainly make for grogginess. But I was determined. On Saturday night, I pounded out the last seven pages of novel editing!! It was close to midnight and I was extremely tired after teaching English and Saturday night service but I DID IT!!! I was so exhausted that I didn't even celebrate until yesterday. I just turned on my music and crashed.

I'm still a little stoked about it. O_o I mean, seriously? That's it? It really wasn't so bad. And I could've been done earlier if it hadn't been for Awana Quizzing. Now, I'm in the home stretch and for all of you folks who are waiting to read it, the end is in sight!!

I began typing the edits in last night. It's an utter nightmare in all respects but thankfully, I don't have to sift through everything. I am bent on finishing and I will! I finished typing in chapter one and I'm most of the way through chapter two. I'll probably try to finish it tonight but I think I owe it to myself to go to bed early. What makes it so hard is that in the editing process, I rearranged the scenes so now, I'm having to skim through the document to find the scene I want, edit it, and cut and paste it to the right place. It's a lot faster since I'm keeping a lot of the original text.

Pictures of some edited pages can be found in this post Sorry I don't have any new pictures.

100 More Stamps

We made another trip to the post office today. They are very nice people, you know that? Especially when you are buying a hundred stamps from them. Actually One hundred and ten because we got some postcard stamps too.

I had to buy the stamps myself to reimburse her (it was a fast fifty bucks.) and I get an allotment of twenty for the month. After that, I have to start asking and she's going to hide them too. Dang it! lol. But guess what! She admitted to sending valentines too so that means I only used EIGHTY stamps instead of ninety. Isn't that great news? It makes me feel exceptionally better about myself even though it's still a lot. and now, there are only twenty stamps I cannot specifically account for. (that wasn't valentines, invitations, thank yous, or mail art.) I can easily go through 20 stamps so I'm sure I used them.

Annual Celebration!

Every year, around March-ish, our church celebrates the time that we became the church we are today! We had a beautiful worship service this morning and everyone was really getting into it. We had an open prayer time, during which, everyone spoke out their praises to God. It was so amazing. A man was visiting and he praised God for everybody in the church and our leaders and he praised God for moving in us and through us and that he was glad he stopped by today. Isn't that just the nicest thing? It was really encouraging.

After church was over, Melissa, Mom, and I slaved over enchilada casserole (fit to feed an army) and creme puffs for four hours. It was fun, but also hard work. In the end though, the creme puffs were worth it. Then we all loaded up in the car and drove to my friend Christian's house for a mega huge party!!

It was so much fun! We just ate food til we were stuffed and enjoyed one another's company, playing games and talking. We watched the boys play "Horse" and egged them on. (Personally, I'm not a basketball person. Actually, I don't much like it.) As it grew dark, we started a campfire and sang worship songs on guitars together. The singing was lovely and the food was amazing! Dad was the camera man and he took a lot of pictures! (Which still need to be downloaded...) There were a lot of really good action shots of the Horse game. I got some good shots on my camera as well.

All in all, it was a great party and I enjoyed hanging out with my friends so much, as always!!

AWANA–What Happens in the Van, Stays in the Van

Or not. ;)

Yesterday, we had the annual Awana Quizzing/Games competitions in Phoenix. These competitions test the students' skills in Bible memorization and athletic games played on a circle.

The drive up wasn't so bad. We had to meet together at 5:30 a.m.! It was impossible to sleep in the car either. So, I just listened to the chatter and studied my notes, trying to calm my nerves. Our whole high school team(s) went in the same van–all 15 of us!! But the atmosphere was lighthearted and my friends made me laugh, so I wasn't as nervous.

Once we got there, we painfully watched the Trek (middle schoolers) quiz. It wasn't painful because they were bad (the Trek actually did really good.) but I was really nervous. I guess it was apparent because my leader kept telling me to take deep breaths. My quizzing partner Grace told me not to listen to the Trek questions so they wouldn't throw me off. So I recited the preamble of the Constitution over and over to myself. It helped. You can't study any extra materials once you enter the auditorium so I had nothing else to do.

Once it was our turn to quiz, I felt much better. In quizzing, there are two parts. The first part is multiple choice and the second part is called "speed quizzing" and you must be the first person to buzz in to answer the question. We got all the multiple choice questions correct!

Then we went into speed quizzing. I answered the first question. The guy only got through four words before we buzzed in. And then I got the answer correct! Our team couldn't answer any other questions cuz we weren't fast enough on the buzzer. You would not believe how fast these high schoolers buzz in. It was insane!!

The other team from our church took 5th place. With 340 points, we came in THIRD PLACE!!! It was awesome! We got "medals" and we took tons of pictures (coming soon, since I never so much as touched my camera.) We had sandwiches for lunch and got into a rousing game of Tips which is a basketball game played in a circle. I'm not very good at it but it was fun.

Shortly after, the games competition began. One church had FIVE teams competing in the games. It was crazy but nonetheless, we did so good! And we screamed so loud for each other! (And the other green team in Flight 2) If you'd been sitting next to me, you might've been temporarily deaf. I screamed until my mouth was dry and I was hoarse. It was great. And in the end, we got FIRST PLACE!! We have never ever gotten first place in Awana games so it was doubly awesome. Fifteen minutes later, I was still saying "oh my gosh." in disbelief. We all thought we were getting second but we owned in the last three races and that clinched the win for us.

There was much revelry at In-N-Out afterward. I indulged myself by ordering a vanilla milkshake and extra crispy fries. And they were tasty! We all ate together outside and did goofy stuff (but no french fry wars this time.) The boys were going to do an awesome mime of a tug rope across the drive-thru (One person stood on each side and when the car came, they were going to pull on an imaginary "rope" to see if the car would stop.) but they got in trouble before they got to test it out. The idea was hilarious though.

And then, we mustn't forget the Starbucks. Yes, after In-N-Out, once we got closer to town we stopped at Starbucks.

Ten caffeinated teenagers in a van makes for one interesting car ride! Joe was crazy. He screamed and went supersonic at random intervals. We also sang several tuneless versions of songs such as "We are the Champions" (very appropriate for our victory), "Amazing Grace", "The Song that Never Ends", and "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" among others. (I have no idea how our leaders out up with us but secretly, I think it all greatly amuses them.)

Joe began singing "The Wheels on the Bus [Go Round and Round]". He then proceeded to make up his own hilarious renditions of the song. For example, "The kids in teh van are spazzing out." and "I am about to be threatened". (The meter got messed up here but nobody cared.) There were lots of verses about different things going on. I think it was the most interesting car ride I've ever had the privilege to witness.

It was such a good day. I could not stop smiling and laughing (even with my nervousness). I had the strangest urge to say "That's it?" once it was over. We studied and practiced so hard for weeks and weeks and it was all over in a single day. A few days ago, I wanted the madness of studying to be over but it was definitely worth every minute of awesomeness.

I♥Awana!

My Great Stamp Dilemma

You may or may not know that I am a letter writer. I love everything that has to do with the USPS, mail, stamps, etc. I could talk to you for hours about how awesome the Post Office is (but I won't right now Perhaps later.)

My mail output is several times more than my mail input but everyone's been writing a lot more this month. (Maybe it's all the rain. people are inside and have nothing else to do.) And of course, I send tons of letters for no reason. No special occasion. Just to say hello and ask how people are doing.

But now, I am doing mail art. Mail art is art that you send through the mail (usually but not limited to envelopes) and generally requires two stamps for hand cancel-ing purposes.

So considering all this, I go through a lot of stamps each month. 90 to be precise. Yes, I used 90 stamps over the last month. Not even kidding. And here's how I found out!

This evening, my mom says, in a very meaningful voice, "Misha, where are the stamps?" She couldn't find them and bills needed to be paid. (I'm thinking "Uh oh." but it gets better!) Mom goes on to say that a little less than a month ago, she bought a pack of 100 stamps. She used 10 for bills last month. "What happened to the 90 other stamps?" she wanted to know.

Well, I believe that the only answer I can give is that they have gone into the postal system, never to return again. Sorry, Mom. I think she's going to make me start buying my own stamps now. (She tried to do it before, but it didn't work out.) Dad says I'm gonna need a job just so I can pay for my stamps! Or, I was thinking that I could stand on street corners with cardboard signs saying "Money for Stamps. Will send mail art if desired." I'm not sure how much I'd generate from that.

So be warned! If I don't reply to any letters right away, it is probably because I don't have any stamps. And if I do reply right away, it is probably because I am stealing stamps from the bill's allotment ( because I am that desperate.) If for some reason at all, you feel the strange urge to send me stamps, please do not hesitate in the least. I'll send you mail art!

Let the Madness Be Over!

It's that time of year again! The rains are slowing down (marginally), the sun is coming out more often, flowers are springing up from the ground... and I am studying. Awana Quizzing and Games is THIS weekend!

Can I just say that I can't wait for it to be over? I have been studying SO hard over the last few weeks and I will be glad when I am done. I put several projects on hold for this. As the excitement mounts, I am studying harder than ever. Verses, references, passages, questions, spiritual gifts...

All I can say is that we are going to kick boo-tay this weekend! And despite the fatigue I am feeling at the edge of my consciousness, I will keep on studying!
Only a few more days!! Let the Madness be over! =D

Best Birthday Ever!!

Ultimately, it was a good day. Right from the very moment I woke up! Mom wished me "happy birthday" when I came into the room and then, she gave me jamba juice for breakfast! My favorite!

Then I opened all the lovely letters and cards and a present from my parents! I got lots of little goodies like chocolate and flaming hot Cheetos! Yum-o!

Since we hosted college group, we didn't get to go out to dinner as a family (birthday dinner is a tradition.) but we have plans to go to Macaroni Grill sometime this week. Macaroni Grill is a really upscale Italian restaurant. In previous years, we've gone to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and Sweet Tomatoes. Instead, Mom took Cam and me to JoAnns and we went out to Chick fillet for lunch.

I got lots of happy birthday well wishes from the college group and they sang happy birthday to me in "their BEST choir voices"! Dad videotaped the amazing-ness. They probably earned a 10 on the scale of horrible-ness so if it's not too late, be prepared before you watch the video. It can be very grating on the ears; especially if you play it over and over again.

All in all, it has been a wonderful birthday and the lack of pictures should prove what a good time I had! No worries though, my party is this friday and we shall be taking a LOT of pictures so I'll make up for it, just not right now. ;)

Youth Worship

At our church, we have a thing, for lack of a better word, (Serious lack of a better word.) called Youth Worship. One Sunday a month, some of the youth lead our church in worship. They do an awesome job and now I'm one of them!! I sing on the youth worship team now. We had a practice-run this evening and we'll play on Sunday. This is my second time singing with them and it's really fun. I am getting much better with the mike. At first, I was rather tentative behind the mike but I'm a fast learner. Now, I can take the mike out of its stand!! (I feel so accomplished.)

Ben leads on guitar and Jake co-leads on the keyboard but this week, he's playing the drums (And he is a very good drummer.) so that Christian can play the keyboard (He is really good too.) Joe will be playing his Bass guitar for the first time and Sarah will be singing too. Joe was going to play his Bass the last time youth led worship but then he went and sprained his wrist that Saturday. sprained wrist=no Bass. ☺

I am so excited and I love worshipping with my friends! It really ministers to the hearts of the people in the church. Ben picked beautiful songs for us and we're trying out a new song called "Always Forever" by Phil Wickhan and it is a great song. The melody sings almost like a harmony-but in a good way. I sing the harmonies if I know them but usually I just stick to the melodies. Sometimes Sarah and I will switch back and forth. Singing with her is fun! I'm so excited about Sunday.

Valentime's Cookies!

 

Every Valentine's day, my grandma makes delicious valentines cookies with little red candies and distributes them by the plateful to each individual family.

So, last night, I was missing the old tradition a little bit and I made some valentime's cookies of my own! I even used the same recipe as Grandma, and look how beautiful they turned out!! 

I asked my mom about the little red candies and she said, "They're red hots, honey."

"Red hots? Just red hots? That's all?" I replied, shocked that they were not extremely special valentine's day only type of candy. I didn't put red hots on mine since it was such a spur-of-the-moment project but I frosted all of them AND put sprinkles on them. 

After a while, I got kind of tired of standing there frosting and sprinkling so I stopped the originality and just sprinkled them plain. I did have some pretty cool ones! There were a couple of faces and pretty patterns... I got really creative with the sprinkles—until I stopped. And I made a big big mess but it was fun so I have no qualms about it.

The sheet of paper in the background is my Awana notes which I tried to study but it didn't work out too well. Instead, I hummed Barlowgirl songs to myself. Yeah not a lot of studying got done. Oh well.

Happy Mail Day!

I've been a busy girl today!

I got all my valentime's finished and addressed, ready to be mailed out tomorrow! Yippee! I say, I'm sending 15 this year. Of course, the design I picked was utterly complicated and painful and long and whatever adjectives that mean long and hard. I hope my family appreciates them! (jk)

This year, they have lions on them and say, "I'd be 'lion' if I said I didn't like you!" It's kinda cheesy, but you know what? I don't care! Last year, My valentines had duct-tape on the card back and then there was a heart in the middle. Pretty awesome, if you ask me. My valentines this year were set up to be postcards but I decided I didn't want them to get mangled in the post office's evil sorting machines! (nothing against the mail people. I LOVE them. But I don't like their machines when they put all their marks and wrinkle my pretty mail.)

I also filled out all of my invitations for my birthday party! Hooray! It really hurt my hand. This is only three of them.

  

This is the lovely front! I made it myself! I'm so excited! I am actually going to have a real birthday party this year! I haven't had a "real" birthday party in ages! It's going to be a scrapbooking sleepover the weekend after my birthday. I am looking forward to it very much. 

Most likely, I'll blog about it in a couple of weeks. You'll know we had fun if there is a definite lack in pictures. We'll try to be on top of the pictures.

The pictures are dark because the flash washed out the white and it looked bad so they're dark. What can I say?