Cherry Blossoms - Homeschool Blogger

Update- Prescott,Az Pt1

Mon, 25 May 2009 01:15:00 -0500

Hey yeah so I don't kow if Blogging if my thing anymore. I dont feel motivated to put up posts and stuff, just lost motivation. Anywho, as requested by my Bffe Toria I will put up one post and see if I revive my posting ability and motivation.

Back in April me and my family took a trip to Central Arizona to a town called Prescott. We had such a blast! We went to museums and art gallery's (which is a first for us) and we just had a fun time away from the stress of life. We went to this beautiful Musuem that is dedicated to a woman by the name of Sharlot Hall. This museum was set back in the 1800's and everything, including the people, took us back in time, which was really fun. We got to see the early Indian Settlements and what would be the future settlement of Prescott. Here is a slideshow of that Musuem. Pt 1 and Pt2.

We also went to another museum called the Phippen Museum. It was a museum dedicated to Cowboys and Indians. I loved it. I felt sooooooo inspired when I was walking around that museum staring at all the beautiful paintings and Indian Murals.

We also enjoyed out time at an animal park. Now when I say enjoyed I mean ENJOYED! :p it was 45 degrees out and pouring down raining and hailing. I had fun at leats especially in the snake habitat. I saw a mohave rattler and its heat sensing pits targeted my hand near the glass and I got it following my finger. I felt just a tinge of uneasiness when I saw how zoned in it was on my finger. But I got over it :) Heres a slideshow and a video of the black bear who was just fun to watch!

Im putting this post as Update-Prescott Pt 1 cause I have a whole bunch more to add but your eyes are probably glazing over now so I'll end it!

-Julia

Keepers of the Wild 2009!

Thu, 5 Feb 2009 19:36:00 -0600

A few weeks ago I went to a small Wildlife Sanctuary outside our town with my Aunt and Grandmother. The place was called Keepers of the Wild. I did a brief review of my first visit there in my 2008 New Years post last year. Theres the link! ;) Anyway, I really enjoy going to Keepers, because it is soooooooooooooo neat to see all these animals that were rescued from evil people. Anyway, here are pictures and videos :) Enjoy

Heres some videos!!!!

Listen to these wolves howling it's amazing!!

This tiger was the owners first rescue tiger, she is talking because she likes company ;)

If you have any questions about the videos just ask!

LoveJulia

Oh How Sweet the sound......

Mon, 5 Jan 2009 22:20:00 -0600

Of a new post!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it lovely?? :)

OK so first off let me update y'all on the wonderful life of Julia. Remember the strung-out-beyond-reality-high girl I rang up a purchase for at my work back in September? Remember Loretta N? The police never took my statement, never contacted me about anything. I figure it was over and she was in jail. Well to my surprise, it is not over. I was informed 3 weeks ago my MOD that day, Jacque, received a SUBPOENA to appear in court to testify against Loretta, well actually against Nicole, Loretta is the name of the ID she stole apparently. Anyway, I felt bad for Jacque and was kind of glad I didn't have to go. I figured the court just needed the manager at the time. About a week passed and again to my surprise I received a letter in the mail from the court. Then inside the envelope, was a bright green piece of paper, I opened it up and in big, black, bold letters it said 'SUBPOENA'. I just about burst out laughing. I got a subpoena?! Must be a mistake. Nope, no mistake. My name was right under the 'Must appear in court...' sigh............ So this Thursday, The 8th, I have to go to court and testify against her. SIGH! I will probably have to meet the prosecuting attorney and then have to sit on the stand and tell my side of the story. I will have to do the whole 'Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth....' stuff... Sigh........ I will have to do an updated after the trial to tell you how it goes down...... BIG SIGH!

Lately I have not been able to add to my four books I am attempting to write. I was able to work on them a lot last year though. I go through phases, I want to write, and I don't, and so forth. I would really like to finish these books because I want to send copies to my family. I have written a few short stories though. I was able to write a story for Toria's contest back in Nov-Dec '08 which made me win my division :) Here is that short story:

It's hot, humid, my hair is clining to my head, bugs are crawling on my arms and legs, in my shoes, I am crouched to the ground like a tiger about to pounce, I even take refuge behind bushes, can it get any worse? Possibly. But I see her, the one thing I have been looking for these past three months. Just through the small forest of savannah trees she sit's calmly on a rock. Her long tail swaying back and forth in the hot wind.

I cannot imagine getting any closer for she will hear me, and attack for her young cubs are near. Twins. They roll around in the savannah grass, one takes a bite out of the grass, the crinkling of disgust soon follows and the cub spits it out just as the other cub pounces on it's twin. I pull out my camera and snap a few photo's. I see another set of bushes a far off, I could hide behind and gets some better shots. But I can't stand up, and scare them off. I guess I will crawl over.

Mud squishes through my hands as I crawl through more bushes and more mud piles. Piles? Mud doesn't pile up, it lays flat. Right? I realized the mud I just crawled through stinks. Really bad. 'oh man.' I think. 'I knew it could get worse'. But it doesn't matter, I want that photo, I am craving for the photo. I would crawl through a thorn bush to get my photo. I probably should have thought of the thornbush for sitting in front of me is a thornush. Around it are more thorn bushes. 'Joy'. I bite my lip and crawl through a narrow opening in the bush, holding back either screams of pain or laughter of stupidity, I am not sure which. I want that photo.

I see a clearing and exit the horrid bush snagging a few branches to my shirt and hair, just to enter into a pile of leaves, that seem to have a weird three leaf to a stalk pattern. Interesting, I'll come back later to investigate the strange leaf's. I see the bush I was heading for, I get behind it and point my camera through the thick bush to the rock. I get ready to take that picture I craved for, when I noticed the rock is empty, nothing sits on or below it. She is gone, with her cubs also. Frustrated I jump up and hit my head on a tree branch, knocking a snake out of the tree and onto my head. I quickly remove the snake, only to find it wasn't actually a snake, but a vine instead. Hah.

I start to walk back north toward my camp, so discouraged and sad I didn't get my photo. I am covered in "stinky mud", I have a few thorny branches attached to my clothing and long hair, there are probably bugs in my shoes and elsewhere. All that, and I didn't get my shot. As I am walking I spot something over a ridge, I can't make out the figure but I know it's an animal. I move closer to see her once again sitting on a rock near the river, her and her cubs. The cubs drink from the river as she watches her surrounding's intently. The wind is blowing again giving her a beautiful calm look. Here's my chance. I pull out my camera, aim, and click! I got my shot! I got the shot of rare King Cheetah. She is looking at me, not moving, just staring. It's almost as if she is saying 'Happy now?'. I nod and smile. Her and her cubs walk away from the river and head off into the horizon. I thank her as she moves off. I thank her.

So that’s one story I have written. I am working on another and I was going to post it but since this post turned out so long I decided to spare you J.

-Julia

Shooting/ Scrapbooking/ (and just for the S theme) Sign Language

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:11:00 -0600

EDIT: We went shooting again! -11/18- Here are the videos and pictures of that! Last weeks shooting is below today's shooting.

Here are the videos. The first one is of me shooting the shotgun for the very first time.. It was awesome!!!!

This one is of Brandon shooting his first time. Turn the volume on low, me and mom starting cheering, it's kinda loud :D

Last Weeks Shooting!

First off several weeks ago Me, My Mom, Mike, and Brandon went out in the middle of the desert with a few boxes, a globe, and a milk carton and played target practice! It was rather fun. My mom has two guns. a 3.80 and a .38, if you don't know what those types of guns look like go see my friend Google. Anyway, we went shooting and I hit the target a few times, and other times I just sent dirt flying. It is very hard to aim and shoot, especially with a gun with a fairly good kick. Mom took a ton of pictures and then there are two videos of me shooting and my mom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scarpbooking- The art putting random pictures on a piece of paper and making it look half way decent.

Ok so that was my definition of Scrapbooking. I haven't been scrapbook for long and I am not clever or artistic in any way possible. I don't have a "knack" for anything. I just enjoy scrapbooking as a hobby. I wanted to share my scrapbooks and my ideas that I put in those scrap books.. And of course with everything else I post about I have pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My random scrapbooks, I have finished 5 of them...

What I do when I don't really have stickers or something to go with the pictures, I just place pictures in some kind of weird order and just write or draw something on the page:

One of the first scrapbooks I did was redoing Brandon's baby book, which was falling apart, so every picture that was in the album went in a 20 page scrapbook. I quickly ran out of room so I decided to glue a envelope on the page and put random pictures in the envelope, that way it was with the rest of the pictures (like in the album) and it looks kinda cool.

Of course everyone wants pictures of mom, daddy, and baby so I just put this page together with some scrapbook stickers (so fun!):

Now I collected every magazine that had anything to do with Steve Irwin after his death, intervuews with Terri,etc... I had so many magazines my drawer was breaking so I eventually put all the stories together under on cover and made my own magazine, but I wanted to protect them and read them whenever I wanted to, so I put them in a scrapbook! :)

I also collected High price fashion magazines. so put some collage together:

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I have been learning American Sign Language for the past 3 months and I have really been enjoying it. I am learning signs that I can sometimes put to christian music. I now know the basic sign language for "How Great Thou Art" and I have been really enjoying it.. *oh did I say that already?* Well whatever! If anyone else knows sign please let me know and maybe we can enxchange videos of us signing to each other :D Anyway, I have found a great sign language website. Now there are some inappropriate things on the website but otherwise they have a whole bunch of religious signs and etc...... It's called:

ASLPro

Edit: I got to talk to a deaf man yesterday! It was so nerveracking and exciting, we actually were able to understand each other and "talk". He told me all about his family and I told him about mine, and we talked about church and God,etc. During sign class he said to my teacher (in sign) 'She is a very good signer', talking about me. I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to have him say that about me cause it gives me hope that I can learn more!!!!! :)

Check it out!
-Julia

Croc Toria's Contest

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:12:01 -0500

I entered Croc Toria's Write About Animals contest. Please Join her on the 17th to announce the winner of the really awesome prizes or enter yourself! Like I said awesome prizes!!!! :)

-Julia

I don't - I do

Fri, 3 Oct 2008 13:15:00 -0500

Let's make a few things clear about me because I don't like being called crazy ;)

I don't like drama
I don't like people who create drama
I don't like people who call themselves American's but don't support our country's decisions
I don't support abortion
I don't support child neglect (who does?)
I don't support hunting (get it through your head)
I don't support/agree with TAXIDERMY
I don't support wearing of leather, fur, or a dead animal around someone's neck
I don't support the use of dead animal's as rugs!
I don't support the eating of non-farm raised animals (goes back to hunting)
I don't support Veganism
I don't support a roadside circus, they abuse their animals
I don't support keeping an exotic animal as a pet
I don't support cosmetic's tested on animals, neither do I where/use them (shampoo, makeup etc...)
I don't support whaling, or seal hunting
I don't support puppy mills

~
I do support our President (no matter who they are because we are suppose to support/respect authority)
I do support adoption
I do support the KJV
I do support a college education
I do support alternative testing
I do support zoo's, if they animals are proven to be well taken care of and are happy.
I do support no-kill animal shelters
I do support the ASPCA
I do support Organic living
I do support spaying and neutering of shelter pets
I do support animal conservation
I do support world conservation

There is alot I don't support and although I don't have as much 'I do's" I basically support the anti of everything I don't support, does that make sense?

Julia

Oh I will not be responding to negative comments :) Thank you very much! Reminder, this is my blog not yours. :)

Loretta N.

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:57:00 -0500

Monday, September 15th, just a normal day at work, ringing up purchases, handing customers their purchases, approving credit cards, having people telling us to [bleep] off, etc, just the typical day at work with the angry customers. One thing we also get alot are customers who are high, strung-out-beyond-reach-of-reality high! (We have even had customers who have gone into the fitting room and snort their cocaine or shoot some heroin. Well on monday I had such a customer. She had gone into the fitting rooms and shot herself some heroin. She came out with nothing (went in with nothing I might add) and was soooo strung out. I watched her, with no proof and logical reason we could not have asked her to leave, long story short she had gone into the baby section and gathered up a whole bunch of stuff to buy. She also went into the womens section for a few things.

As I started to ring her up she put both elbows on the counter and started laughing at nothing, then she started twisting her arms all around and laid down on the counter, etc. I just ignored her actions and continued to talk to her. She pulled out a check book and I mentioned to her about how our check processing works, she said "fine, like walmart." I asked for her ID, and she began looking in her check book, purse, pocket, jacket saying "I hope I didn't leave it in the car", but she eventually found 5 minutes later in the first spot that she had looked, which I didn't understand why she had overlooked looking at her ID. Probably the drugs, I thought. She handed me her ID and the ID and the check name, address,etc all matched and I processed the check and scanned her ID and everthing went through fine and she left with no problems, well she more like stumbled away dizzly.

I left soon after that to head on home, as me and Mom are heading to the post office BEFORE we went home I had mentioned this crazy girl to mom and I said I kept feeling like something bad was going to happen, I just had a bad feeling about her and such. Get home 20 minutes later and there is a message on the phone from my boss Jacque, telling me I need to call her right away. So I did. Jacque starts asking me If I had processed a check earlier that day, and I said yeah I processed two of them, and she says "two?!" I go yeah, one from a little old lady and another from a younger girl. Jacque says "the check was fake and the police had showed up to the work with the customer in custody and her boyfriend." I asked if she had blonde hair (drug girl) and she said yes. I said 'Yeah I remember processing her check because she was very high. Jacque again explained the check was fake and so was her ID. Remember me mentioning she had gathered a whole bunch of stuff from baby's and women's? Well her total was $145.19 which was purches with a fake check. All-in-all Jacque told me the investigating police officer wanted to talk to me and That i needed to call him. So I quickly hung up and told mom and then called the police. Eventually I left I message for the officer and he called me back 4 hours later and asked me do I remember a customer writing a check and I said yes, he said her name was Loretta N****Z (I don't know who's Identity it is so I won't say the last name) and I said yes I remember her because she was very high. He laughed and said yeah she is. He also told me her real name was Nicole C******* and that she had done this before but they never caught her. He asked when I worked next so I could meet with him and fill out a statement. He never showed up at GAP when he said he would and he never got my statement (not my problem). I don't think he needs it so thats why he didn't call or come but if he does I have to meet with him and fill one out.

I felt soooooooooooooooooooooo horrible and so embarrassed that this *druggie* had scammed me cold! Meanie bo beanie! She's in Jail now, we have our merchandise back, and I still need to fill out a statement. I wonder when this will happen again, I hope not soon.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time! (BTW, That's my dad in the picture, he is not really in jail, although you can tell already,)

-Julia

Conservation 101- The Legacy of Steve Irwin

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 17:59:00 -0500

Today, of all days, is a grim reminder that the world is without the greatest Wildlife Warrior ever. Sept. 4th, 2006, Steve Irwin was tragically killed when a sting ray barb pierced his heart. My heart wishese he was still alive saving wildlife. I want to see NEW Episodes of Croc Hunter, with his determination and enthusiasm to save wildlife. My ehart aches for his family who I know miss him more than I do. He is my hero, my idol. I want to do everything he did. I want to save wildlife. I want to stand up for whats right. I want to be something in the world of animals.

But I know I cannot possibly be him and do everything he did for wildlife. But I want to hope. I want to know that my dream is not out of reach. You all must think I am silly, but how would you feel if your idol died suddenly? You would be crushed to, and you would grieve for years later. Nobody understands how important I saw him as. There are a few people I know who have lost a loved one, and to me I loved Steve and everything about him, I saw him as a distant uncle. I would watch his show regularly and would always cheer along whenever he caught a snake or a croc. I do not know if he was saved or not, or if he is in heaven or hell. I don't want to think about it. I just hope at some point in his life he was presented with the gospel and maybe I will get to finally meet him in heaven. I can hope can't I? You can never loose hope, not one inch lost.

His legacy of being a wildlife warrior will continue forever. His Australia Zoo in beerwah, Australia, will forever be an attraction throughout the world. I AM going there someday. His love of crocodiles told the world that they are not mean,ugly creature's but they are magnificient and poweful. He also was able to purchase Australian land that is now a habitat for crocodiles and everything else to survive in, however that land in under threat of strip mining. I signed a petition the other day to help save the land in honour of Steve. Go here to help Save Steve's Place.

I didn't know what I was going to do for today's post, so I guess rambling on was good enough. I have this song on my IPod, it's called 'Goodbye Crocodile Hunter' and whenever i need a good dose of crying I listen to this song over and over and over again. I also have a VCR tape (yes they still exsist) full of Crocodile Hunter episodes and I watch that along with listening to the music. Sometimes I think he is still alive and is in the outback of Austalia, hiding from the world, but thats just my imagination. Here are the lyrics to 'Goodbye Crocodile Hunter'

1. Wasn't he a beauty
Crikey what a gem
A dinkum Aussie treasure
A khaki larrakin
Throwin' it all out there
Doin' what he'd do
You'd better duck for cover
Cos Steve is comin' through

2. Crazy as a cut snake
Bold as any man
He'd dive onto a crocodile
Hold spiders in his hand
Dodge a deadly brown snake
With big-eyed, "Holy Smoke!"
You could like him
You could loathe him
But you couldn't miss the bloke

CHORUS
And wasn't he a beauty
Crikey what a gem
A dinkum Aussie treasure
A khaki larrakin
Throwin' it all out there
With his heart upon his sleeve
Goodbye
Crocodile Hunter
Farewell Steve

3. He loved those deadly creatures
He gave the bush his all
The nastier the moment
The more he had a ball
1000 miles a minute
A showman to the core
He'd take a bit of bark off
And keep comin' back for more...

CHORUS
And wasn't he a beauty
Crikey what a gem
A dinkum Aussie treasure
A khaki larrakin
Throwin' it all out there
With his heart upon his sleeve
Goodbye
Crocodile Hunter
Farewell SteveGoodbye
Crocodile Hunter
Farewell Steve
Farewell Steve

It hit's home for me.

-Julia

Life is short, Life is sweet, I want something good to eat!

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:48:00 -0500

Here are some pics of my precious niece "TinyBel" (Isabel)

You cannot tell me she isn't the prettiest baby around! :)

Lately, I have had NO time to blog, as you can probably already tell. I know I said I would post about my 17th birthday but I don';t really want to :) Nothing special happened there just gained another year in life. I have been working on the past two months of Conservation 101. I missed May and June. I have August saved and am working on it. Just not diligently ;)

Alot has been going on lately. I decide I am going to vent in this post. Lately, I have become the target of one girls hatred (a girl at my work). She decided that because of something that happened in the past she is going to hate me because of it. Might I add the fact that I did absolutely nothing wrong except defend a close friend. I was accused of saying something mean to the girl and I was called names which shall not be repeated on the blog-o-sphere. Why do people have to be so utterly ridiculous? I don't understand people sometimes. Anyway today she decided to "attack" me the best way that she possibly could. She was rude and arogant towards me. She almost refused to work with me today at work. My boss assigned me to a project that SHE wanted and so she decided to make a big stink about it and go complain to my boss that she didn't think it was fair that she was told she was going to do it and now I was. Immature!!!!! I really didn't care whether or not. I didn't even want to be at work but I was asked to come in to replace someone who called out. Anyway, LO and Behold she got her wish, to do the stupid project and make me do the "low-on-the-totem-pole" job. Oh and she decided to rub it in my face that she got what she wanted by telling me herself. I swear she was talking down to me. I smiled and said ok thats fine, and walked off. I really did not want to participate in her childish "nana nana boo boo" game. For the rest of the day I stayed my distance, yet whenever she was around I killed her with kindness.

College starts back up on Monday, with my first class being my American Sign Language class. I am very excited to be starting that class. I used to know alot of sign language, now I only know my ABC's in sign language ;) Also Tuesdays and Thursday I am at school all day for my English 102 class, and my Pre-Algebra class. Wednesday afternoon I have my US History class, another one I am excited about. I have always loved history :) Then IMMEDIATELY following my History class is my second American Sign Language class of the week. I think I have everything I need for school. I hope I do :)

Anyway, It's late and I am extremely tired from working an almost 30 hour week and it's only Thursday :( NIghty NIght all.

Love
Julia

OH I forgot to mention, My laptop is not working and I cannot get at my email so please leave comments or send me a PM until I get my email back working :)

Conservation 101

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 23:01:00 -0500

August '08

Conservation 101 is brought to you from the minds of Julia (Cherryblossoms) and Toria (Croctoria)

Recycling is fun, Recycling 101!

Recycling is good for the environment. By redirecting waste to serve as raw materials for industry, recycling provides a number of important benefits:

	Reducing pollution and conserving natural resources.
	Saving energy by reducing the need to extract and process "virgin" raw materials to manufacture new products.
	Reducing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
	Stimulating the development of greener technologies.
	Avoiding the cost of waste disposal in landfills and incinerators.

Every ton of paper recycled saves up to 17 trees (Source: Planet Pals)

Recycled paper requires 50 percent less energy, and up to 75 per cent less water than making it from virgin fiber. (Recycling Project)

This is just a section of knowlegable information on recycling that I took from a website I know of. (Credit to them). Our family recycles, and it helps that locally recycling pop cans can give you money. Which always helps. However, recently I was asked to take over the recycling project at my work place (Gap). At Gap we recycle plastic bottles, cardboard, plastic bags, and pop cans! But there are so many other things you can recycle. Our family recycles pop cans, plastic bottles, sometimes cardboard, and pop cans! (Shocking ;) ) Here is a list of things you can recycle:

glass bottles

steel cans (pet food, veggies, tuna, soup, etc.)

plastic soda bottles

glass jars and bottles

plastic milk jugs

newspapers

magazines

phone books

white paper

cardboard

brown paper bag

plastic grocery bags

rechargeable batteries

It is best to use a garbage can as your recycling bin, that way your not using plastic bags. However i must admit and be truthful that we use plastic bags and end up recycling them, because we still need to get the recycling bins :)

Since this post is severly late in being posted I am going to stop the ranting here and work on another month's Conservation 101 that is seriously behind :)

-Julia

**Cherry Blossoms** - Homeschool Blogger