An addition to our family

Oh do I have exciting news for you guys! Yesterday evening we went to the Chow Hound, a local pet supply store, and brought home dear Belle! She is already loving our home, from hiding under my parents' bed to watching the snow fall out the window. Last night went very well, she didn't sleep much but she was quiet and didn't meow at all. I am glad that she's getting used to our house and isn't afraid of every little noise now. She has been eating and drinking, and using her litter box. She is such a good little cat and we praise her all the time with playtime and petting. Here are some pictures I took of her:

Finally home! Wide eyed and

a little scared.

Hugging with mommy

She loves this bird toy. She's chewed

up the string for it a lot though

so my mom will have to fix it.

Playtime!

She has taken up all of my time the past day, and I was up every 2 hours last night because she would jump up on my lap on the couch or she would be messing around on the furniture. I am so glad that we could finally bring her home, and give her all the love she needs. She also loved to hide under the Christmas tree but we took that down today, so we put a little bench we have in front of the window where the tree was and put her bed there. She loves to look out the window and watch snow fall, and birds on the bird-feeder.  There aren't really a lot of birds right now though since it's winter, but once spring comes she will go crazy!

Tomorrow will be a really fun day because it will be my sisters' birthday! They're twins, I think I've mentioned that. Their names are Erin and Elizabeth, or Libbie for short. We will have spice cake with cream cheese frosting. It is the most delicious cake you will ever taste, and it's made by my mom of course! Libbie's boyfriend Nate will come over and we can celebrate with him. He also gets to meet the cat which is really fun too. Then, on New Year's Eve, Nate and my grandparents will come over to celebrate with us. Usually we watch hockey but since there isn't any hockey on it will be really weird. We make pastys for dinner, and they are SO DELICIOUS. If you've never had one you need to go find where someone sells them, or better yet make them yourself!! My mom always brings home the 'ceremonial rutabaga' so that she can cook the pastys. Mmmmm.

A pasty. It makes my mouth water

just looking at it.

It also snowed today for the first time this winter!! I am so happy and excited, because I was really hoping it wouldn't be like last winter where it didn't snow until like February. But now there is a nice layer of snow on the ground, and hopefully it snows again so that it's snowy for Libbie and Erin's birthday and for New Year's Eve.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Merry (late) Christmas and happy holidays!! Now that the post-Christmas depression is setting in, I've had time to reflect on yesterday's events. Actually there wasn't much that went on, I was just thinking of how thankful I am. Let's get started with Christmas Eve night though.


On Christmas Eve, we went to my mom's parents' house. Once we got there around 5, we hung out with all our cousins and aunts and uncles. We eat dinner first and then open presents. So after we played Apples to Apples for a while, my aunt Tracy called us into the kitchen to load up our plates. There was a dinner of sloppy joe's, lots of different salads, cookies, chips, and more. We all got our fill and went on into the living room again to wait and open our gifts. This year we all chose one name and that was our person we gave our gift to. It wasn't really a secret santa exchange, though. I got my cousin Natalee and I got her some tea, a scarf and a bracelet. She really liked them so I'm glad about that! I got earmuffs that play music from my ipod and gloves from my grandma. I also got pajamas, which I'm wearing right now. They are so furry and comfortable.

Once we got home around 8, we all (all being my 2 sisters, my brother and his girlfriend) piled into my room and set up camp in there. It's a Christmas tradition to sleep on my bedroom floor which we call herberber for no reason. We've done it for around 4 years now. So we all went in there at 10:30 and talked until about 12, then we all fell asleep. Of course I woke up at 2 AM because my brother was snoring. I fell right back asleep and then we all woke up at 5:30 to open presents. Sometimes it's as early 3, but this year it was later. Once we were all up and ready to open presents it was 6 AM. So after we opened presents we ate cinnamon rolls.

They were really really good. And

home-made.

I pretty much played around on my iPod all day and took random pictures. 

A Christmas ornament on our tree

.

2 CD's I got. One is 'Made In Heaven' and the

other is 'Innuendo'.

My dad's parents' very lovely

Christmas tree.

Then around 6 we went to my dad's parents' house, who live next door, and ate dinner and opened presents there. I hung out with my cousins there and had a great time.

That's me on the left, and Lilli

on the right.

Then today, post-Christmas depression set in. I'm really too tired to do anything and I miss the celebrations. But the good news is that we get to bring home our cat soon, Belle. The shelter was supposed to call today but they never did so my dad called and left a message saying we were supposed to go pick her up today. Hopefully they call tomorrow because I really just want to bring her home soon. That way my sisters can enjoy spending time with her while they are still home from college!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday break and get to enjoy all the gifts you've gotten, and all the time you got to hopefully spend with family. Happy holidays!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hello hello hello! Merry Christmas Eve to all my readers! Today is a special day to spend time with family, anxious for Santa Claus to come on his sleigh, and deliver presents. Nobody is going to get a good night's sleep tonight.


On Saturday, I slept in on my first day of break. That felt soooo good. I then spent the day hanging out in my room or with my siblings. I also had a sleepover at my cousins' house, which is down the street and around the corner. I'm so glad that we live close and can have sleepovers a lot. The last time we had one was after Thanksgiving last month.
We were supposed to get our cat, Belle, on Saturday, but the humane society never called. We found out that she gets crystals in her urine, so my parents were on the rocks again on adopting her. I of course got really sad, because I wanted to give her a home. Just because she has a condition like that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a loving home. So my parents told me to research about her condition. I found out that she probably has a urinary tract disease, and that she will need a special diet. I am okay with that, I can make sure she has clean water, enough food and lots of love. Her vet might call today so hopefully we can talk to her vet about her condition and what kind of treatment she will need. She is so beautiful and I can't wait to give her a loving home.

On Sunday, I came home from the sleepover at around 11:30. We were all sleepy afterwards. That evening our church held a candlelight service at 6:00. At the end we all got to hold candles and sing a song. I was kinda scared of the candles though, because I didn't want anything to catch on fire! My dad and brother both got hot wax on their hands too. Sounds painful.

And of course, today is Christmas Eve! I am so excited to spend the evening with my mom's side of the family. We will exchange gifts, eat delicious food and get to talk and enjoy each other's company. I really hope that it gets me in the mood for Christmas, because with no snow and not lots of holiday cheer, this Christmas season really has been kind of bland. I saw a post on Tumblr that said something like this:

"Why doesn't it feel like Christmas? Nothing is cheery, and I don't feel happy or excited for anything."

Another person added: "That's because you're growing up."

That just really got me thinking and kind of sad, because I am growing up. I really and honestly hope that after tonight I get really excited, because right now, I'm just sitting in my bed, and it feels like just another winter day. In fact it just feels like a fall day because there's no snow.


I hope that you all have a wonderful, lovely holiday season, and I will update after the season is over. ♥

A week's worth of news

Whoops! It's been so long! Since I haven't written since...last Friday. Today I will do a mass post of the past week. So, let's jump right into it.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

I really don't remember much from Saturday. I had a practice session for the advent program my church puts on. That went well, I got to take pictures of it with one of the sunday school teacher's camera. It is so nice, it's a DSLR and I loooove it! Too bad they are really expensive. 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Wow Sunday was a really busy day. First I had the church advent program in the morning. I sang, played piano and read scripture from the Bible. I think I did quite well. I got a lot of compliments on it and it was just great overall. I also had two choir concerts that day (the same thing twice over) and that was tiring. It wasn't fun but it wasn't...not fun. I don't know. I wouldn't have chosen to do that but since I had to I enjoyed what I could. There was also Santa Claus in the audience at the first concert!! One of my teachers noticed it too and we talked about it on Monday.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Five more days until break. I had my last piano lesson of the year on Monday and that went well. I gave my piano teacher a stick of Banket that my youth group makes every year. It is so good, it has almond filling and it is just yummy. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

I can't recall anything from Tuesday that was especially important.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Nothing from Wednesday, either. 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

One day until the world ends!! Also, my parents decided to get a cat on Thursday. We filled out the adoption papers and my dad brought them into work that day. Her name is Belle and we are rescuing her. Here she is:

Lots of people have been saying it looks like

she is in an oven. Oh well, I will get a better

picture of her when we get her.

Also, on Thursday it was the 1 year anniversary of starting wearing my night brace. I am so excited because so far it's been working, and I want it to keep working so that I can be healthy and avoid surgery. I am so thankful that we have the insurance and great doctors around so that I can get the best care.

Here it is, in all its glory.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Today the world was supposed to end. Obviously it didn't. It also snowed and stuck for the first time this winter!! We also revealed our secret santas in choir today. My secret santa was a girl named Kenzie and she got me M&Ms, a little planner and a stuffed TY meerkat. He is so cute. His original name was Burrows but I renamed him Timon, because me and Kenzie both agreed that he looks like Timon from the lion king. He makes me so happy because I got it from a friend. Even though it's something small, I will always think of her when I look at him and hug him.

Here's what he looks like. I love him!

Tomorrow we are supposed to pick up Belle. Originally we were going to go get her today, but the humane society never called. We called them and they said that they have to ask us some questions still (they are really secure about who adopts pets...) and then we can adopt her. So we have to wait for ANOTHER call tomorrow, and then we can go pick her up. I love her already and I can't wait to have her in our home. I will cuddle her so much, and we will buy some toys for her to open on Christmas morning.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! ♥

One more week! / Condolences to Connecticut

Hello hello, my beautiful readers! As we all know today is FRIDAY! Time for the weekend, to relax! Except I have 2 concerts and a church program to attend. Oh well, it'll still be fun. Right now I am listening to Animusic songs and it reminds me that I'm doing a song challenge. What that is, is you have a list of questions/statements (a song that reminds you of someone, etc etc) and you answer with a song and explanation. Today's topic is:

A song from your childhood.
My answer to this is 'All Star' by Smash Mouth. It's on the Shrek soundtrack so I would listen to it 24/7.

So let's start off at the beginning of the day. I was woken up by my sister. After I took my brace off she scratched my back and helped me put my robe on. She is the sweetest girl ever and I love her so much!! My other sister (they are twins) was sleeping in my mom's bed, lol. She's the sweetest girl ever too.

In second hour (history) we watched more of Schindler's List. It was at the part where they put all the bodies on the conveyor belt like thing and burned them all. It was so horrible I couldn't watch. At one point a guy in the movie screamed, he was probably going insane, and a kid in my class started laughing. Apparently he thinks some people's grief is hilarious. I don't get it.

In Pre-Calc today I got my quiz back that I took on Thursday, I got a 95% on it!! I am so proud of myself because usually I have a lot of trouble with math. But this one was quite easy and i only got 1/2 point off for not squaring something. I told my mom and she smiled really big and gave me a high five and a hug :) It made my day a lot better.

My brother's girlfriend is sleeping over tonight (in different rooms mind you) and tomorrow morning me and my mom and sisters have to wake up early so we're making cinnamon rolls to eat for breakfast. I am excited for that, because my mom makes oh-so-good cinnamon rolls. They are warm and flaky and fluffy and MMMM.

I would also like to express my extreme grief and sorrow for the families affected in Newtown, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary. 27 people were killed in the incident and 20 of them were students, ages K-4. Here is the article if you want to take a look at it. When I heard about it after school today I was shocked. An elementary school? Children should not have to go to school, wondering each day whether or not they would get shot at, and not be safe. Why would anyone in their right mind do that?? The sad thing is, this man was obviously not in his right mind. I heard on the news that he was diagnosed with lots of mental disorders when he was young and it caused frustration, therefore building up anger inside and letting it out unfortunately and sadly with a shooting. His mother was a teacher there - yes, I say 'was' - and he was on a mission to shoot her. The children in his way were merely objects, not people who would live out fantastic and beautiful lives. Now they are only memories. It really makes me sad, scared, and just heavy with grief. I really don't even want to type about it anymore.


On that note, I really hope you all stay safe and sound these next few weeks over the holidays. People go absolutely crazy - especially on the road, where it's icy and slippery in some places - so you have to take extra precautions to keep yourself and your family safe. Make sure to remember that it's not the presents and money that matter during the holidays, it's spending time with people you love and appreciating them. Goodnight all!

One, two, skip a few

Hey everyone! I know I keep skipping days by accident, but sometimes I get busy with homework and such and then I realize it's 10:00, and oh no I have to go get in my brace and sleep, and BAM, my day is over again. The good thing is, I can still write two days in one journal so I hope that works out for those who read.


Wednesday
Well on Wednesday, I went to a church supper. That is where all the members come together and eat a delicious meal, and it varies in theme every month. Last month it was obviously a thanksgiving dinner, and this month it was chili. I had red bean chili and it was so delicious. They also have ice cream for after dinner but I was so full I couldn't fit any in my stomach. Plus, I had an ice cream drumstick after school yesterday, so I decided that was enough sweets for the day.

Another thing is, in German class my teacher hasn't been there since Monday, so yesterday we watched a movie (called The Village or Das Dorf in German). I really miss my teacher because he's really funny and a great teacher. But it's fun to watch a movie with all my fellow students. I also have a Christmas present for him (he's the only teacher I have a present for, shh! ). I got him a giant bag of gummy bears! Let me explain. My German teacher in the past would always throw gummy bears at people if you volunteered to answer a question. The thing is he doesn't do that anymore because gummy bears in bulk aren't sold at our local grocery store so he can't buy them. But my mom found a giant bag of them at a club store that she goes to, so she bought it and I am going to give it to him for Christmas. I really hope he enjoys it.

Thursday
Where to start for today...well in my History class we started watching Schindler's List (actually yesterday) and so far there has been a lot of killing. It's sad already even though they really aren't in concentration camps yet. Supposedly it is a long movie so we will be watching it for a while. I mostly doodle during the movie but I am still paying attention. I can't deal with all of the sadness and violence and killing in it. It breaks my heart because they really believed Jews were bad, that they should all be killed. They are people too and they do not deserve that.

I had G.R.E.E.N. Club after school today! It's been a really long time since we've had a club meeting. G.R.E.E.N. Club is an environmental group at our school and I just joined it this year. We discussed T-Shirt designs for this year and I'm really excited because I want to design one. I think I might do that soon because it would be so cool to have my design on the T-Shirts that everyone wears!

My sisters came home from college today too. Their finals are all over with and they are on Christmas break. They are so lucky, I still have a whole week left to go!! I wish it could just be over with because we aren't going to do any new material in school. Our concert is this Sunday for Choir too, so we probably won't be rehearsing a lot of new stuff because we will forget it all over break. I know there will be lots of parties on Friday because I'm having one in Biology (1st hour) and Choir (5th/last hour). In Bio we will be having a christmas sweater party, and in Choir my friend Brian is planning some decorations and food.


My sister said she just saw a shooting star outside because there is a meteor shower so I really want to go check that out. I so wish I could take pictures but she has the tripod out, and it's the only one we have so maybe I will upload some of hers later on here. She of course will get the credit, I wouldn't want to steal her work. Have a great night everyone!

Monday Hangover

I realized today that Tuesdays are just a hangover from Mondays and the weekend. Everyone hates Mondays, but we are still full of energy from relaxing all weekend (hopefully!) and so all day we are expending that energy. On Tuesday we realize, how are we going to get through the week without that weekend energy? And we have a Monday hangover. That explains my day perfectly.


We talked about the Holocaust today in History class. It was very sad and they talked about all the gory details of the gassing and the camps. It made me so sad to realize how many people really lost the meaning of their life and existence because some people thought they weren't 'pure' enough. Germany was in a weak spot because the rest of the world sort of punished them after World War I, so they were angry and wanting revenge. It is easier to comprehend on that level but still, there is zero excuse for the atrocities they performed. Tomorrow we start watching Schindler's List. I'm scared because I've heard it's sad and shocking, but I know that it is for my education and not to try and make me feel bad. Usually I don't cry at movies at all but this may be an exception.

 Also I showed my friends the notebooks I painted for them! I took 2 composition notebooks and painted an ombre pattern on them. One was pink/red and another was blue. I really liked them a lot and I'm glad they like them too. I haven't painted anything since the summer so it was nice to get out the brush again. We will write notes back and forth about our day(s) so we can still tell each other things, since we don't get to hang out a lot.

I really wanted to share this commercial with you guys, it's a google commercial about their app for the iPad. It's really funny and I hope you enjoy it.

I still have to take a shower tonight, and I want to draw a bit too (although I probably won't get to that, oh well) so I will let you guys go with a shorter journal today. I hope you all had a lovely Tuesday, and make sure to take some time to relax for yourself! If you're like me, just these 2 days already into the week have really tired me out.

I really don't like Mondays

Welcome back, and happy Monday! (There may be some sarcasm sprinkled in there.) I hope you all had a lovely rest of your weekend. Sorry I forgot to write yesterday, I got home at 8:30 last night from a Christmas party and I still had lots of homework to do. But I will write some stuff both from yesterday and today so you don't miss out!


Sunday
Yesterday I went to church and I practiced singing with the kids for the Advent program this upcoming Sunday. I am doing three things for the program: I play piano at the beginning, I read a passage from the Bible, and I am singing a solo with the kids in 'Angels We Have Heard On High'. I really like that song. Except the long 'gloria' kind of annoy me because of how long they are. But it is still a nice song.

I also went to a Christmas party with my youth group (we call it Tribe, dunno why). We got to hand out playlists of our favorite songs (as long as they are church appropriate). Mine had lots of classic rock on it so when we played the song guessing game nobody knew mine! They played 'Starman' by David Bowie off of mine. Someone guessed it as 'Way Up In The Sky' which is a close guess but definitely not right.

Monday

Today I woke up at 6:00 AM like every other morning to get on the bus at 6:50. I really do not like living out in the country for some reasons because I have to wake up super early to catch my bus. My friend lives really close to our school so she wakes up later than me, she walks to school. Lucky duck!

In Biology we had to do a presentation on a subject, my group's topic was Deforestation and Habitat Loss. We started 5 minutes before the end of period bell rang so we didn't get to finish. But we finish tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. I think I talked too fast, but hey, I was nervous.

I also had piano lessons tonight like every Monday, and it went pretty well. I should probably practice more because I don't think I practiced at all this past week. That's really bad because I'm supposed to practice every night but I really don't have time for that.

Another lazy Saturday

Well, today was just another Saturday. My sisters and I slept in the living room last night since they are home from college and we never see each other anymore. I of course had to sleep on the couch because the floor makes my brace really uncomfortable, but that's okay because we still talked a lot. We talked about memories and Christmas time. :)

Today I was on the internet a lot (surprise there...) and I wrote my essay for History class. I think it is really good, I got a lot of practice with writing essays last trimester in Honors American Lit. History essays are much different than Lit essays because you really don't have to be creative, you just have to spit out facts. I think that's easier because facts are easier to remember than coming up with things on the spot.

Tonight me and my sister Elizabeth (Libbie for short) made chocolate pretzel bites. This is what they look like:

Photo credits to Libbie

They are so absolutely delicious, and I can't wait until my sister Erin comes home from babysitting so she can share them with us. We made them for her because babysitting really tires you out and we wanted to make something for her. Later we are going to watch The Polar Express, it's another one of my favorite Christmas movies!

This part was always the scariest!! Except for the part where 

they're going down the really steep hill, and the kids

are right in the front. That part makes me feel sick,

but I still love it. Maybe that's why I don't

like roller coasters.

Also, this kid is not smart. At all. He needs to think before

he acts.

I hope my readers have a very wonderful night, and if you celebrate it, happy Hanukkah, I send you the best of wishes!

Welcome to my blog! / Talking about school

Hello to all of my readers. Whether you are reading this far in the future or closer to the creation of my blog, I hope you enjoy my posts nonetheless! This obviously is my first post, and I want to welcome all of you. My friend Krystle convinced me to start a blog, and to talk about anything from school to Scoliosis, so here I am! :) The main points I will talk about is major events in my life, school, doctors appointments (when I have them), etc.

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First off, there's school. First hour is Biology and we are working on a project about ecology. My group's project is about deforestation and habitat loss. One of the girls in my group, her name is Ellery, is going to put all of the text we type up on a poster. There is also a boy in our group but I sadly forgot his name. Usually I am in honors classes, but for some reason I was not put in the Honors Biology class. That's okay though because I heard that in Honors Biology, you dissect a pig, but in Biology you just dissect a rat. I would much rather dissect a rat than a pig (It's gross either way though).

My second hour is 20th Century American History, but I just call it History for short because it's easier. I have a student teacher in that class, and he is kind of awkward but he is a great teacher. We actually do work in that class unlike the teacher I had last trimester, who was not a very good teacher and never gave us essays. We are working on an essay right now and it's very easy. 'Should the United States have dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?' I am for it because it saved American and Japanese lives, it sped up the war and it served as a warning to the USSR. I would get a lot more in-depth about it but instead, I might post my essay here so you can read the whole thing. It's too long to explain here.

Third hour is Pre-Calculus or Pre-Calc for short. I understand it so far, even though we are only in chapter 1. I got an 86% on the test we took yesterday, which is good I think. I have an 84 in the class - I want to raise that though.

Fourth hour is German, I have a personal study during the German 1 class, so I get to hear all the beginners! It's so weird to think I was in that spot 1 year ago. I started taking a quiz today, it was my first one not being in a real class. So I'm kind of nervous because I'm used to being able to converse with my fellow students in order to be able to remember the words and grammar better. But oh well, I am doing well in that too. 

Fifth hour is choir. We have a concert coming up on the 16th, and it's our Christmas concert. I am excited because I really like all the songs we are doing: Do You Hear What I Hear, Night of Silence, I Saw 3 Ships, Jazz Gloria and The 12 Days Of Christmas. I think that's it. The 12 Days Of Christmas is my favorite because we have a lot of funny dance moves to go with it.

I really want to start vlogging but I want to wait until I get my iPod touch for Christmas. I'm getting the 5th generation, and I am really excited, because I have had my 3rd generation for 2 years this Christmas. I actually dropped the original one in the rain less than a year after I got it, but...Shhh. Apple gave me a brand new one though free of charge, even when we told them we dropped it in the rain and it had water damage. The wifi wouldn't work which sucks because that's pretty much the most important part! But they were super nice about it, and that's why I love them.

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Thank you for reading! I really don't have anything else interesting to say. This one was kind of long, considering it's my first one. I think I will write at the least every Friday evening, maybe every weeknight to wrap up the day if I have the time. Sometimes I think I don't have enough time, but the truth is, I waste tons of time on the internet. If I cut that out (besides my journal, that doesn't really count), then I would have way more time.
I have to go right now because me and my family are watching A Christmas Story. Scott Farkus has always scared me.