[Hailey comes in dancing, holding a thick stack of papers and a red pen]

    Hey y'all, guess what I just did for the first time? I finished my first real story! I'm sooo happy! It's actually just a short story, and the final word count is only 5,566 words, but that doesn't change anything, because it's finished and it's 18 pages long. (Random interruption: brackets look really cool. Just type them [brackets]. I mean, how could it get better?) Now I can finally begin the editing process. The story is now in the operating room and I'm cutting it up... with a red pen. I am really surprised at how much editing really needs to be done, and how many sentences and phrases and words just need to be taken out.

    But I guess only some of y'all know what the story is. Well, here you go:

    Title: Well, I don't really know what to call it, so I just call it Chloe.

    Setting: Chloe's dream

    Main Character: Sort of goes without saying...... her name's in the title

    What it's about: It's Christmas Eve and a little girl has a dream where some very bizarre characters give her very bizarre gifts. And....... I can't say any more or else I would spoil the ending. It's sort of like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

    I guess my whole description makes it sound sort of creepy, but it really isn't. I don't want creepy and weird. Weird is enough for me. It's funny, not scary.

    *~Hailey

    I haven't logged in in awhile. I dread the thought of posting. But here I am. We went to the State Fair yesterday, and it was really fun. I still have my cotton candy and nobody else does, so I shall torture them with it. *feels slightly evil today*

    [writing rant]

    For y'all writers like me on HSB, do y'all ever get angry at your characters and blame it on them that there's a problem with the story? I'm doing that right now. With my story about the Madisons, I'm very frustrated with Alex Madison. I blame me being confused about how to say something on him, because he's supposed to say it. Is that weird? And before that, I got angry at Jeff Carswell, because I didn't know how to put something in that involved him. Is that too terribly weird? I don't really think so. :-)

    And while I'm on the topic of writing, I might as well mention this. I'm writing two different stories right now. One of them is "Chloe's Peculiar Christmas Eve Adventure" (the title is eccentric because the story is) and the Madisons (which is going without title as of now). Chloe has 10 pages right now, and by the end, it will have no more than 13. So I guess you could say I'm nearly finished. And for the Madisons, I have around six pages and it will be a good deal longer than Chloe... perhaps 30 pages. When I started writing Chloe, I said I would finish it by the end of October. Then when I started writing the Madisons, I forgot about what I had said before, and said I would finish THAT one by the end of October. I don't think I can possibly finish both of those. I know, 33 pages seems like nothing for the rest of the month of October, but the Madisons story is a lot harder to write than I thought. Anyway, I am going to finish Chloe before I write another single word of the Madisons.

    [/writing rant]

Today's been busy. After lunch, Taylor, Dadzy and I went out and ran a whole bunch of errands. So we stopped at Borders bookstore and got me a King James Bible with print big enough that I could actually read and an English-German/German-English dictionary thing. Then we went to Bath and Body shop to get Momsie new fragrance stuff for the house, and then to [a place I can't say because Dadzy was looking for something concerning Emma] to get a general idea of something. ;-) Off to Target to get Taylor some new headphones since hers broke, and look for Emma's birthday present. We didn't find anything for Emma, but I found an awesome '30s-Style hat. It's really cool! And while we were still at Target, we got cream sodas for ourselves. Then Dad had to go to Home Depot (Taylor and I stayed in the car) to get some blinds, but he didn't get them there, so he had to go back to Target. Then on the way home we stopped and gleaned some sweet potatoes. So we were almost home when we realized we couldn't come home without something for Emma, so we stopped at the grocery store and picked her up some peanuts and a Dr. Pepper. Now we're home. :-D

~Hailey~

Oops, I forgot to say, you can see my new hat in my avatar.

And another thing I forgot is Martha (thereadingmaid) awarded me! How sweet of you. :-)

    AUGH, I AM GOING TO THROW MY COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW OR STOMP IT INTO THE GROUND OR SET IT ON FIRE OR SOMETHING DRASTIC!!!!!! I just made up this big long entry, and the window got closed out before I clicked Add New Entry!  Ich bin nicht glücklich. (I am not happy)

    Okay, so we're back from Niagara Falls, we got back yesterday. The falls were just so awesome and scary and cool.... and AWESOME. I'm no good at describing, so I shall have to post pictures once Emma lets me have the camera. But anyway, these are all the "firsts" I had on the trip. There were actually more than these, but I'm shrinking the list for y'all's sake.

1. First time in West Virginia
2. First time in Pennsylvania
3. First time in New York
4. First time seeing a Great Lake
5. First time at Niagara Falls (which goes without saying)
6. First time in Canada
7. First time being in a car for 13 hours all at once!!! O_o

    AAAAHHHH, you know why I've gone crazy? Because in the 13 hours there and the 12 or so hours back I only watched I Love Lucy and Bonanza, and if you add together all the hours of Bonanza, it would add up to like 20 hours, so I have gone crazy!!!

    But one good thing about that much Bonanza is that it caused me and Taylor (and Emma SOME) to write a crazy spastic play that has people stuck in Arkansas and they can't show up for a trial, Lassie attacking, poisoned icecream, and it's all because of a new iPhone that's always getting stolen. Two of the characters are named Jakum and Arkansas Pete. Cool, huh? What's really funny is that when we got back home and Taylee and I were still working on the play, Dadzy brought icecream (like the poisoned icecream in the play), our dog Hoover tackled me (like Lassie attacking), and Dadzy got a new computer monitor (like the new iPhone). Isn't that funny? I think it is.

    I want to pack up everyone from FASA and take them home with me. Okay, not everyone from FASA, because I did not like SOME people from there, and I know 2 people who really didn't like ME, but that doesn't matter because I love everyone else, and I'm packing them up and sending them to me.

    I'm hungry, goodbye.

    WAIT, I'm not leaving yet. I must do a tag and tag my Janie/Elinor/Sam person.

    1. What is....... nevermind, I'm not making a tag. Taylee wants me to finish the entry now, so goodbye now.

okay, today i really don't feel like using capital letters, all right? so, this might seem out of character for me to type in all small letters, but i guess i just think the small letters look cuter. well, we're off to niagara falls early tomorrow morning and i won't be back till sunday or monday. so i won't be updating my blog, checking yall's blogs, replying to pms or comments or any of that stuff. just so you know. this is hailey signing off.

    Hello! My birthday is in two days! I'll be 13 very very soon. :-) My sister Emma just got me a DVD collection of season 2 of "I Love Lucy", one of my favorite shows ever! It's right up there with Bonanza. I don't know what Taylor's getting me. Wait, I just realized, I only really watch two shows. Bonanza and I Love Lucy. I watch The Brady Bunch and Little House on the Prairie, too.... and some Food Network, but I don't really watch many shows. But I love the shows I do watch.

    Guess where my family's going Thursday! Here are hints....

    1. It's way up north. Way, way, up north.

    2. There's lots of water.

    3. It's LOUD.

    4. It starts with a Niagara and ends with a Falls!!!

    5. Hooooorrraaayy!!!!!!

    I'm so, so, so, excited, I can't explain!! :-) :-) :-)

    Y'all have a wonderful day! Oh, and have y'all seen my pets on the sidebar? Their names are Goldenrod Trekker and Lavender Lilac Lula Love. :-) Aren't they..... creative? Haha. ;-) :-D :-P They'd love for you to feed them and play with them. And Lavender Lilac Lula Love would be ever so happy if you'd give her some purple flowers. :-) (If you haven't realized, purple is her favorite color.)

GrandMary is coming today! She lives in Arizona, so we don't get to see her very often. And she's bringing along her sister! I've never met her, but Mom and Dad says she's very very sweet. I'm sure she is. :-) Yay!

I just got my mandolin!!! Thank'ee, Momsie and Dadzy!!!  It's supposed to be for my birthday, but it's 16 days early, but I'm saying it's me birthday now. :-) And it was the one I loved in the music store! :-) It's awesome!

I just got stung on the neck by a wasp.

    Okay, FASA was awesome! (See, I'm finally posting about it.) I signed up for the Strings track--- I play violin--- and so did Martha. We were both hoping to be placed in 2nd violin, but Annie wanted us to be the LEAD 3rd violinists, so that was fun. Although on one song (Swallowtail Jig) I cheated and played the 2nd violin part... *gasp* Gee whiz, I've had that song memorized for more than a year, so I could not play the 3rd violin part, I needed to play the melody. Nobody knew except for KT... I mean Katy and Martha, but now all y'all know. :-D

    This year's FASA was set up a little differently than last years. At the end of the first week, each track had a recital-thing, and then at the end of the second week, we had the big performance. :-D That was really fun, we had a Train Medley, a Celtic Medley, a Gypsy Medley, and a Hymn Medley. They had the final gala performance professionally filmed, but we won't be able to get the DVD's till spring 2010... how depressing.

    Okay, just so y'all know, these are the tracks that each of us and the Harts did:

    Jessica: Vocal

    Taylor: Drama, Vocal, and a little piano

    Martha: Violin

    Me (Hailey): Violin

    Emma: Flute

    Tallulah: Viola

    Ada: Pennywhistle Park... Troubadorables. Sorry Ader, I know you don't like me to say the name, but that's what you were in. She did a big acting part and sang too.

    And I met my friend from homeschoolblogger, Katy (fiddler4him). We were both really excited when we figured out we were both going to FASA, and we were best friends while we were there. And my other best friend was Olivia, or Oliviola as I call her, and she is homeschooled and Katy and I convinced her to get a blog of her own on here. :-D And of course, Martha was my best friend, because she's my best friend in real life! All the Harts are, as y'all should know if y'all have been following my blog long.

    Oh, and the drive up to Nashville from Central NC was 10 hours. But we got to drive through the mountains, woohoo!

    I'm not going to talk any more now, except for I'd like to point out that my new avatar is from FASA, I'm on the right and Katy is on the left.

    Emma and I got up at 7:30 and went to the living room where we were going to write a play about orcs. But we ended up watching Lord of the Rings instead of writing about orcs. We just wanted to see some orcs while we wrote about them, but we didn't write about them. Sort of sad, I guess.

     I've been working in the veggie garden for awhile now. It's 100 degrees out here, augh! I am surprised at how many beans and maters can grow in three weeks! I probably got over a gallon of beans and dozens of maters for sure, and about a dozen okras. And the whole time there were all manner of bees and spiders and grasshoppers and dragonflies buzzing about, not to mention a creepy caterpillar or two.  But it's worth it cause they all taste so good!

    Still going to write about FASA later.

    So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye! This is the last entry I'll be making until the end of the month, or maybe the beginning of August. We *meaning Jessica, Taylor, Martha, Me, Emma, Tallulah, Helen, and our Mom and their Mom* are leaving for The Annie Moses Band FASA *Fine Arts Summer Academy* in two days, and it's in Nashville, and we'll be gone for almost three weeks! It's gonna be so fun. =) But until the end of the month, or perhaps the beginning of August, I will not be on the computer at all. That means...

    1. I will not be updating my blog

    2. I will not be replying to any private messages

    3. Or any comments

    4. And I won't be checking y'all's blogs

    5. Or anything else "because BIRTH must always be the first considerrrratun" Haha, Mrs. Woodcourt.

    Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you!

    Yesterday we went to the pool with the Halls, and it was so fun, wahoo! But we all got so badly sunburned, augh! I am in PAIN!!! Sunburns are mean. You can't sleep comfortably or wear a shirt comfortably or take a shower without it burning or walk or move without hurting. =(

    Um, I can't think of anything to say, so I will update soon to actually say something. Gottaluvbooks gave me my 400th comment! Gee whiz, that is a lot!

    ~Hailey

    Edit: Also, what a coincidence, I posted Godzwilla's 400th comment! The award is awesome, it's animated! I don't know how to do that kind of stuff.

    Um, just so everyone knows... well, I have two announcements to make.

    1) I opened up a blog for just fun stuff. Some are tags, and games and recipes, and I have two quizzes up already. Emzu and I made the Narnia one, and Janie dear made the Bleak House one.

    2) I will disappear from HSB during the month of July. I am going to Nashville for 3 weeks. So don't think I was hit by a bus or something. And don't get angry at me for not updating or not replying to your PMs or comments or doing tags or awards or anything, 'cause I'll be in a whole different state.

    Okay, just a few minutes ago, I finished a C. S. Lewis book called Mere Christianity, it is about the doctrine of the Christian faith... it is amazing and changed the way I think about everything. It is the best book I have ever read. It is not too long a book, and is not boring, it is actually very interesting and quite funny in some parts. Now, I DID have to re-read just about every sentence at least one time. It is a brain workout, but it's good for me, eh? =) Of course it is! =) Yes, it is the greatest book I have ever read, and up with my favorites. However, I do not recommend it for anyone who is not ready for a pretty hard read, but it's not full of big long hard words and stuff like that, what he is trying to say is hard for anyone to express, but Lewis did an incredible job and it does not drive you mad because it is so hard, it just makes you think. And everyone can use a bit of thinking, right! Haha. It is a must-read.

    ~Hailey

Martha's birthday! Happy birthday, Martha!

~Love, Hailey!

    My garden's alive! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

    I haven't killed it yet, YAY! Isn't it just so frabjous? I've only killed the onions so far, I think. They might still be alive, what do I know? My cucumber plant is actually growing, and so is my tomato plant, but of course they won't be producing fruit anytime soon. My beans are sprouting and so are my radishes... and the weather outside is delicibux!

    Purple plum tree's just about ready for picking... it's got tons of plums this time... other plum tree's dead... sad... Dad's strawberries are frabjous, too!

    O FRABJOUS DAY! CALLOOH! CALLAY!