The rants, rambles, and otherwise uninteresting happenings in the life of...well, ME, you might say. You mean you wanna know more? Ok ok, you have my warning! (For you who want to know lots more about me, go here.)
For those of you who were wondering, I DID hit my 50k goal and wrote 50k words in the month of November...aaaand...I'm not even done with my story! I still have to finish it. I think it'll be another couple thousand words, at least!
My winner icon: http://allanne.com/images/nanowrimo/nano_2006_winner_small.gif
My wordcount icon: http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/LiveParticipant/125329.png
(That was my wordcount to get over 50k; I still have to write more but it won't be on that counter)
Anne-the-cat 
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool *NEW* template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
I'm thankful for...
My family
Dad for working so hard to provide for us...for being great to talk to...for WANTING to talk to me!
Mom for being nice to hug...for putting up with me...for being cool about webpage building!
Ben for getting me water without complaining...for being mostly cool!
Joe for helping me with webpages...for playing cool guitar...for making me laugh!
Eric with his weird sense of humor for making me laugh...for being understanding...for liking to talk to me and putting up with me when he wants to go to bed!
Beth for being fun to talk girly with...for being a true "servant of all"...for liking all graphics I make!
Emily for being willing to help with dinner all the time...for being willing to help with other things...for showing me what you're learning on the guitar...for being a pretty, cool person!
Katie for being weird and funny...for liking all my stuff no matter how bad it is!
Tess for being bright...for being amusing with her amazing ideas!
Rase for trying to be funny (that in and of itself is funny!)...for his loving spirit and bright smile!
Jay for his funny sayings...his adorable dimples...for his hugs and kisses!
Abby for being cute...for her hugs and kisses!
Grammoo for replying to my posts with funny emails...for calling to talk to us all the time...for making yummy food!
Papa for his stories of our English and Scottish ancestors and other stories!
Aunt Laurie for replying to my posts with funny emails...for being encouraging!
My other relatives for being a part of my family!
Caitlin for putting up with me...for the laughs over things...for calling me on the phone!
Taryn for always being willing to talk to me, no matter what...for the fun we have...for being interesting!
David for being encouraging (sometimes *rolls eyes*)...for making me laugh!
Jennie for being funny...for being understanding...for liking my vegetarian jokes!
Mary Beth for being crazy with me...for LJ comment wars...for interesting posts!
Ella for being encouraging!...for being nice to talk to...for being an example to me...for all your comments!
God for being God...for providing for our needs in unexpected ways!...for loving us so much You sent Your Son to save us!
internet so y'all can see this!
blue Bic pens I love the smell of the ink...and the color!
college-ruled spiral notebooks so I'd have something to write in!
coffee calms me down!
music funny music, happy music, sad music, sing-along music!
conditioner to make hair soft!
food! like olives...sushi (with cooked fish)...chicken...deer!
For those of you who still aren't aware of his existence (and he's
happy if you don't), I have a brother named Ben, and today (October
5th) is his birthday. His. Birthday. His 18th birthday, that is, in our
house, the "birthday of birthdays". Yesterday he took his driver's
test, and passed, so today was the first day Mom didn't have to take
him to work or pick him up. Also the first day of him being able to
drink coffee.
Imagine this.
A spaz.
Imagine this.
A spaz on coffee.
Fortunately he's drinking it at 3 in the morning and it will wear off long before he gets home!
He said I make good coffee though. I should...I've ONLY been making it for the last ten years!
Mom must have had Ben on the brain today, because she called Joe
Ben--twice! Today being Thursday, we went to Joe's guitar lessons.
Usualy, Mom goes to lessons, does an errand or two, then runs to get
Ben and goes back to town to finish the errands. But, today we didn't
have to get Ben...he drove himself to and from work. So we had more
time to do our errands, even though Mom kept thinking we had to get
Ben, since she's had to do that for about a year and a half. I wrote
him a note last night telling him to turn the coffeepot off after he
was done, and I also wrote for him to not get in a wreck...which he
didn't. I also told him to go to the store and buy me a candy bar,
which he didn't (because I told him I was kidding).
So anyway...happy 18th birthday, Ben! (Even though he'll never read this!)
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool *NEW* template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
Today was a BIG day. Sure, it was the first of October, but it was
also...MOM'S 40th BIRTHDAY!!! Dad took her to breakfast at Dos Machos,
a restaurant that serves AWESOME cheeze blintzes in their breakfast
buffet. They had a leisurely breakfast, then went to a sports center to
check out the sale, then came back...then Dad took all of us to get
Mom's presents.
One of the traditions we have in our house (started by Tess) is that
somebody waves whenever somebody else leaves. So Mom stood outside and
waved at the rest of us while we all left. Of course the little kids
love it!
Mom picked tacos for dinner; we just finished...everybody's sooo
stuffed we're saving dessert for tomorrow! In a few minutes she's going
to open her gifts.
(I can't tell you what I got her in case she looks at this before we go!)
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool *NEW* template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
I'm back. Really! Did you miss me? You did? Good. I like to be missed.
We totally had fun...or had total fun...something like that. I missed y'all, but I still had fun.
The Lord really provides...Dad's car broke down when he hit the 6th
deer, so he'd been driving Ben's pickup until Ben turns 18 (a few
weeks; October 5th is his birthday). After that, he didn't know what
he'd do. Mom and Dad looked into buying another car, but hadn't yet.
Well, on our trip, somebody GAVE us a car!! It works great--Dad drove
it home! I think it doesn't have a/c, though, but I think that can be
fixed. God is so good!
On Saturday last week, we left home at 11:15 P.M., and
got to Grammoo's house (in Oregon) at 2 P.M. Sunday. There was a time
change in there...we had to go back an hour to Pacific time. We brought
Duke (the dog), but had to leave Pi, my cat. :( Looks like she did
pretty good on her own, though...but she was very happy to see me!
(And I was very happy to see her!)
Monday, we got up, ate
breakfast, and the boys started cleaning the shed at 8 A.M. while the
girls cleaned the breakfast mess. After the boys cleaned the shed, they
started on one wall of the shop/garage. Then came the real hard
part--toss or keep. Papa (that's what we call Dad's dad) sat there and
supervised as the boys made rows of stuff for the garage sale they're
going to have. They did a little more than half the shop.
Meanwhile, the girls and I were cleaning out the two attics. Beth
cleaned out one, and I cleaned out the other. The twins took all the
stuff outside, for Grammoo to sort through. Stuff went into three
piles: keep, sell, burn. Fortunately the "keep" turned out to be
smaller than the "sell". All that stuff was sorted in one day.
The boys, all of 'em (even Rase and Jay) slept in a tent outside,
and the rest of us slept inside: Mom, Dad, Em, Kate, and Tess in
Grammoo and Papa's room, Abby at the top of the stairs, and Beth and I
in Dad's old office. I overheard Grammoo, when I was on the phone with
Uncle David before we left, said she almost wished SHE could sleep in
the tent because it looked like fun!
Tuesday, same thing--got up, ate breakfast, started cleaning
again at 8. The boys did the barn, taking all the hay out and spilling
it in the field, while us girls, Dad, and Mom finished the shop. Uncle
David and Steven, my cousin, came (on Uncle David's motorcycle) when
we'd almost finished the garage and barn, and Beth and I were cleaning
up all the stuff that was taken out of the shed. While the boys were
finishing the barn, the rest of us started on yard work--Dad and Uncle
David pruned the rhododendron (no, I didn't know how to spell that; I
Googled it) and tulip trees; Aunt Fran and Cody showed up while they
were doing this. Mom and Aunt Fran cleaned out the birdbath (there was
a ton of pine needles in amongst the agates); I raked pinecones out of
the landscaping in the front; and the girls played with Cody.
We finished everything but Papa's closets that day.
Wednesday,
we slept in, and after breakfast, Grammoo, and I cleaned out Papa's
closets, and the twins brought everything outside for Papa, Mom, and
Aunt Fran to sort. All "keep" stuff went in the cleaned-out shed; all
the burn stuff went in an overflowing garbage can, and all the sell
stuff went into the shop for the sale.
Thursday, we went out on the town, so to speak. Mom and the kids Eric
and under
went "resale-shopping", while Dad, Ben, Joe, and I went to the Guitar
Center and had a great time. Then we went to Uncle Steve and Aunt
Barbara's house with Papa, Uncle David, Aunt Fran, Steven, and Cody.
(Steven is...15 or so, and Cody's 11.) We had a great time...it's been
a LONG time since we've seen them! They had one of the CUTEST kittens
(I couldn't say THE cutest, because I know two other equally cute cats)
named Boots. S/he LOVED all of us (especially me)! S/he wasn't allowed
in the yard, but kept coming because of all the kids. Uncle Steve
squirted her with water whenever she got in the yard or the flowers.
Friday, we went to the Guitar Center again. 1. because we hadn't gotten
to look
around as much; Dad hadn't even made it to the Pro Audio room! (the
room where all the amps and speakers and stuff were) A very helpful man
from the piano section had monopolized a bunch of our time, and so did
a very talkative bass player. But they were both very interesting. And
2. Dad wanted to show Mom all the cool stuff he'd tried out. So we went
again. Then we got a U-Haul trailer to haul all our junk, then went to
Grandpa's for dinner: BLT's, chicken salad sandwiches (with lots of
dill) and "tube steaks", as Dad calls hot dogs--were very good! On the
BLT's were his garden tomatoes...they were SOOO good!
Saturday, we were GOING to go to Uncle David's for a taco fest, but
instead we decided to go to our friends instead. (They used to go to
the same church we and Uncle David's family did, and they helped us
move here.) We had hamburgers and hot dogs, and tons of chips (at least
five kinds). It was great to see them again...the last time we'd seen
them was the first time we'd gone back to Oregon, in...2001.
That night, we went back to Grammoo and Papa's, loaded our stuff, and headed home at 10 P.M.
Sunday, we got home at 4:40 P.M. It took longer to get home then it did
to go there, because 1. we lost an hour (changing back to Mountain
time), and 2. we stopped more frequently. We weren't in any hurry, so
we could go more leisurely.
So that's our trip!
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool *NEW* template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
My second-youngest brother is now 5! His signature used to be "Rase is 4"; now it's "Rase is 5". We were joking a little bit ago that he'll be signing documents and stuff, "Rase is 39", and on his tombstone it'll say "Rase is dead".
Mom and Dad gave him a bike; the rest of us gave him cars and candy and stuff like that. We had his birthday dinner, pizza, tonight...on Sunday we'll have a party (his first party; we get parties every 5 years until we turn 20...I don't get a party this year! :( *sniff* :P ) and his birthday cake (cheesecake; I remember when I thought cheesecake was the essence of elegance and richness because whenever Mom and Dad went out, they had cheesecake) and ice cream.
We leave tomorrow night around midnight or so, and will return on the 17th.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
The newest song is up for download! "Trust in the Lord", music by Dad,
melody and word arrangement by yours truly, can be found at
http://www.electricchurch.net, or the direct download link, here:
http://www.electricchurch.net/music/TrustintheLord.mp3
That funny-sounding person in the beginning? That's me. Then Beth and
Em sing third harmony, Tess and Kate are second, and I'm melody through
the whole thing (Dad's on guitar).
Like it? Dislike it? I'm interested in hearing what you have to say!
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
Katie had her birthday dinner tonight; fajitas, with dirt dessert and
ice cream for...well, dessert. The fajitas were AWESOME (as always!),
and the dirt dessert was...well, what do you THINK dirt is?
Dirty.
Right.
I'll prove it.
I had a gummy worm, and I scraped the dirt dessert off it...and there was a BUG. A real, live bug, on my gummy worm.
I freaked.
Not really, but it makes for a good story.
Eric had the camera, so he took a picture of it, but I don't know how the picture turned out because it was a really tiny bug.
I gingerly pinched the bug and took it off--and popped the gummy worm in my mouth.
It was my favorite flavor, too--cherry (or strawberry) and pineapple. Even with bug footprints, it was still good.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
We are about to have (as soon as Eric finishes killing all the flies)
Emily's birthday dinner. She has requested clam chowder, and I got to
make it!! I've always viewed birthday dinners as...like...some sacred
order or something, and only Dad dared make them. But I guess I've
apprenticed long enough; I always do Dad's chopping and stuff (we use
CLEAVERS!!!!!! no, sorry...inside joke. We use chopping knives. :D ),
and this time I guess I've been initiated--I made the whole thing by
myself. (Of course, I consulted Mom and Dad for stuff, like...I've
never really made clam chowder before, just potato soup, so I had to
ask when to put the clam juice in and such.) Also we're having cheese
rolls with garlic butter on top. *dies* They are SOO good!!
Well, Eric just called Dad up for dinner, and they're yelling "dinner time!" Post to y'all later!
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Anne-the-cat
For full effect of images, bolds, italics, page breaks, and my cool template, please visit:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pianogal86
