A night with Bartok and Earnest

This is a little late, so you'll have to forgive me. Again, I've been procrastinating. Deal with it.
Friday evening was one filled with laughter. First, Chryssie and I carved out our first pumpkin.
The pumpkin we carved was the smallest one we have. We carved a bat into it and named him Bartok. That's the bat from Anastasia, in case anyone out there is unfortunate enough to not know what I'm talking about. I love carving pumpkins. You get to just reach in there and pull out all its guts, preserving the seeds so you can bake them and eat them later. Mmm. Anyway, the bat turned out really well.
After we finished that project, Chrys and I went to Trinity to see The Importance of Being Earnest with her friends Vanessa and Sandy. I had never even heard of this thing before, but Vanessa had an extra ticket and invited me to come. I'm so glad I did. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. It's an awesome play. Afterwards Vanessa told me she had the movie, so I borrowed it from her and will watch it sometime this week.
Then Saturday or Sunday (can't remember which), we carved out our last two pumpkins. I carved a witch holding a Jack-o-lantern, and she did a werewolf. However, my pumpkin was huge and the saws we were using didn't quite cut all the way through the skin. I ended up having to go inside the pumpkin, find the lines, and cut from the inside to get the chunks out. It wasn't very much fun. But in the end it looked good. I can't wait to do more next year.

Jack 2.0

Well, I finally did it. Today Chrys and I went to Neufeld Farms and picked out another pumpkin. They have an amazing selection there. If you're still looking, you should stop by. We found so many good pumpkins. But the one we found is even bigger than all three of the other ones we have bought. It's amazing. It's kind of flat on one side, but the other side is nice and round. It's perfect. I can't wait until we actually carve them. It's going to be so much fun. I havn'e carved a pumpkin in forever. I'm so happy with Jack 2.0. I just really hope he doesn't rot like his namesake. He looks sturdy, but I guess you never know. Thanks to Chryssie for carrying him for me. I couldn't even lift him. It's amazing.
Sorry about ranting on about this, but I love pumpkins. I think most people do. They're fun. And their seeds taste good when you bake them. I love pumpkins.

Links

Chrys has just shown me how to make links in my post. I was trying to figure it out before, but I couldn't get it. She's so smart. I'm so jealous of her. She can do just about anything on a computer, yet it seems that all the computers of the world are out to make my life miserable. I can't figure them out for the life of me. Yeah, just wanted to share my happy news and test this thing out. It's pretty nifty.
Until later, tchus.

In my defense

You know how when something really embarrassing happens and your family constantly bugs you about it(jokingly, of course)? Well, people have been bugging me forever about that stupid butter thing, and now Yvonne is getting on my case about my pumpkin rotting! Something I have no control over whatsoever! How rude! Anyway, there are a few things I would like to get straight about each occasion.
First, the whole "butter" thing was not my fault! I did everything exactly how Chrys told me to. I did nothing unusual, I put all the ingredients in(although with whipped cream there's not really much to add), and I mixed it. Somehow, it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. But it has nothing to do with my culinary skills! For dessert that night I had made the chocolate cake, which turned out amazingly, thank you very much! I can bake!
Second, I had no control whatsoever over the deceased pumpkin. And it wasn't even mine! Chrys and I had both chosen one and when we put them in the wagon, we forgot whose was whose. I remembered which one was mine, but Chrys said that it was hers, too. We argued for a few seconds, then I just took the other one, because Chrys is stubborn and never admits when she's wrong(love you Chryssie). So really, it should have been Chrystal's pumpkin.
Finally, it's not my fault!!! None of it! So I would greatly appreciate it if everybody would stop bugging me about it.

On a side note, Chrys now has current pictures of Diego on her blog, if anyone wants to see our cute "puppy".

A lament to Jack

I have devastating news to report. Today I discovered that the beautiful pumpkin, for which I had searched so ardently, is deceased. It has rotted, and caved in. It caused my basement to smell horrid, and I had to get my dad to carry it outside for me. It was big. Now it's mush. I'm so sad. How does that happen? Chrystal's pumpkin is perfect, yet we bought them at the same time. I can't believe it. Poor Jack shall now never see the dark of night. I was gonna carve him out and everything. I suppose I'll have to go look for a new one tomorrow. I miss Jack dearly, but his memory will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Goodbye, Jack. May you rest in peace.

Animals and chocolate - what a day

As I said in my last post, I have no school today and tomorrow. So, today I went to visit Chryssie at the Apple Barn. My mom drove me there just before two, and I stayed until Chrys got off at four. When I first got there, it was super busy. I think there were three school tours there, so I had to wait until Chrys was unoccupied before I talked to her. She was still sort of busy, so I went to the petting barn. There was a baby goat. It was so cute. It makes its tiny little goat noise and it's so little. So cute. There were also sheep, big goats, pigs, llamas, and bunnies. I liked the bunnies. They're really soft.
I stayed in there a while, but then a school group came in, so I decided to leave. I went back to Chrys, and from that time on it wasn't really that busy. We just hung out with two other ladies that work there, and talked and stuff. It was fun. I had hot apple cider, too. It was really yummy. I love hot apple cider. Actually, this was basically hot apple juice, but you get it.
I bought myself some chocolate, too. I got a Caramilk bar, and Bear Droppings. They're really cute. It's just a bag of chocolate covered almonds, which I love. But they call them Bear Droppings. I thought that was fun.
I talked to Tash when I got home, on msn. We only talked for a few minutes because she had a meeting with one of her friends, but it was good to talk to her. It's been almost a month since she left. I miss her. But I'm glad she's having this experience.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about my fun day, so now I'm going to go do something that is 100% unproductive. That's what weekends are for, right?

Needles and a hay stack

Actually, there were quite a few hay stacks. Yesterday was Western Day at school. Most people dressed up as cowboys/girls. Then during lunch time there was a hay ride! I absolutely LOVE hay rides! They're so much fun. This one was cool because it was driven by one of the twelfth graders. He went really fast over speed bumps and whipped us around corners. One person even fell off! It was so much fun! He took us from the front doors of the high school, down and around Downes Rd., then up past the elementary and middle schools back to the high school. My friends and I only found out about this near the end of lunch, so it almost made us late for class. But we were on time. It totally would've been worth it if we had been late.
Today I had another interesting experience, though it wasn't quite as fun as the hay ride (honestly, what could beat a good hay ride?). Although this one takes a bit of explaining. I have a fungal infection underneath the nail of my big toe, so I have to start taking some pills. I have to take them every day for three to four months. However, these pills can cause damage to the liver, so everyone who takes them has to have their blood taken before they begin, then once a month during use. Just to make sure it's not harming me. My doctor says in ten years he has never had a patient who had a problem with it. It's just a precaution.
So, today was my very first blood test. I'll admit I was freaking out before hand, because I was sure it was going to hurt really badly. But it just pricked when it first went in, then I didn't feel anything anymore. I looked for a second or two, and I saw my blood filling a vial slowly. It was cool. Next time I'm gonna try to look for longer. It would be interesting to see. Sorry if anyone is really squeamish and didn't like reading that so much. So, that's my story for that past few days.
Oh!
Today was the last day of school this week for MEI, because there are parent/teacher interviews Thursday and Friday. I'm so happy. There was one more thing I wanted to mention....Oh yeah! I got a new library card today. I tried to put a hold on a book online today with my old one, but it said there was a problem with my account and to see a librarian. Chrys was going to the library anyway, so I went with her and the librarian gave me a new card. It's an adult one, so I don't have my mom's signature on the back anymore. It's great! I am very excited about this.
Ok. I think that's really it now. Talk to you all later!

Blogging

It's amazing to me how popular blogging has become. It seems everyone is doing it now. It's kind of creepy when you think about it. Random people can just look at your blog and see what's going on in your life. Oh well. That's one of the things us bloggers have to deal with, I suppose. We chose to do this.
Anyway, I do have stuff to say other than my random, pointless blog talk. Although it's mostly just ranting on about my crappy spanish project, so you probably don't want to read it.
Today in Spanish class we did a fashion show. It was to help us learn our clothing and stuff. It was really fun, but it would have been way better if I had had a better group. I was forced into a group with two guys. That in itself peeved me, but these two guys were especially annoying. We had an entire class to plan and prepare for this thing, and they just sat around and talked about the most outrageous outfits that they could wear. The outfits were supposed to be funny and entertaining, but what they were talking about was just completely pointless stuff. It was dumb. I just sat there, while they chatted, and wrote out what they would have to say about me. They kept saying that they were done everything, which really bugged me because they had only planned what they were going to wear, and hadn't asked me for anything at all. Finally I got so frustrated that I just shoved my paper at one of them, told them that's what I'm wearing, and sort of told them how frustrated I was without really saying it.
That didn't make sense.
Um, I don't know how to explain it. I asked them if they had my stuff on there and they said no, and I told them that they weren't finished and needed to work, instead of goofing off the entire class. I'm sure they got the message.
On top of all that, one of them apparently told the other one to get a song because we had to have music playing as we were walking down the "catwalk". We didn't have music. Needless to say, I was very frustrated. But, we did it today and it wasn't terrible. I'm just really glad it's over.
So yeah. That's my frustrated ranting for the day. I might have something else tomorrow. Who knows? Bet you can't wait. Talk to you all later!

For real this time

Sorry about that last post. My friend Lindsay had been bugging me for a while to update, so I just did that to make her angry. It worked :P
Now for an update on what's been going on with me for the past week and a half. Last week my school had Thursday and Friday off. Then we also had this Monday off. In that glorious five day weekend, I took a trip to Saskatchewan to visit my cousins. It was a blast, as usual. We saw Employee of the Month on Friday. I thought it was going to be really stupid, but it was actually really funny. Stupid too, of course, but not in the totally dumb, Napolean Dynamite way.
The rest of the weekend we just hung out, walked around Warman (not a huge task) and watched movies. It was great. I love visiting Saskatchewan. And I love flying. Flying is so much fun. When you're above the clouds, it seems like a whole different world. It's amazing.
Anyway, back to Sask. On Sunday we went to the race thingy. It was really fun. Cars crashed into each other and stuff. Once, a tire came off a car just as it was flying around a corner. The tire bounced so high. It was fun.
Other than that, my Socials online teacher is really dumb so that course is really sucking right now. Oh well. That's life. So far school hasn't been too bad. I'm actually enjoying this year. Which is weird, because usually after the first few weeks teachers become cruel and evil. That hasn't happened yet. Yippee.
Well, I'm gonna go now. I will try to be more consistent with my updates, but I'm only human after all. Until later, auf wiedersehen. I think that's how you spell it. I could be wrong. Oh well. Toodles.

For Lindsay

This post is to get Lindsay off my back.

Not a Free Moment...

Wow, yesterday was quite a day. After I had gotten ready in the morning, I barely had any time before my mom and I had to go pick up my cousin's kid and take him to his soccer game. After that was over, we had to pick up his sister from where she was waiting for us. She had come back from a soccer game as well. All this time we had their younger sister Alyssa with us, at Matt's game. Once we had Rachel, we took the three of them to our place and played outside with a soccer ball and Diego. During this time Nolan and Megan, two kids I babysit, arrived. We then had five kids between the ages of two and eleven to look after. At around 5:00, Matt Rache and Alyssa left, leaving just Nolan and Megan.
We kept playing with them until it was time for Chrys and I to leave for church. We teach 3 & 4 yr. olds in Kid's Quest, so Nolan came with us while Megan stayed at home. With Nolan there, we had t h i r t e e n kids. That's insane, because the kids were all between two and four. Needless to say, that was rather hectic.
After that ended, we took Nolan and Megan back to their house for bedtime. In the end, we didn't end up getting home until after midnight this morning. It was a busy day, but very fun. However, I wouldn't want to repeat it in the very near future, as entertaining as it was.
Until later, have a good life.

BusyBusy

Okay, I know I broke my own rule about updating my blog at least once a week, but it wasn't my fault, I swear. This past week with my classes and my online courses, I had so much homework. I haven't had much time to do anything else. But I'm finished all my online assignments that are posted, so I'm not as bogged down as I have been. Oh yeah, in case I haven't mentioned this already, I am taking two online courses this year. Socials and Planning. Because of that I have one spare in my day. I like it. It gives me time to work on homework so I don't have to take it home. What makes this semester difficult is that I'm taking five classes instead of four, and four of them are academic. I think. Math, Science, Spanish, and Socials. Maybe Socials isn't. Oh well. It's still a lot of work. But I'll try to keep posting more.
My mom is still healing, but she seems to be doing a lot better. As usual, she does too much at times and has to lie down for a while, but she should be all better soon. I hope.
Tasha is still packing for Australia. She is only allowed to bring one backpack, so she has to stuff everything into a red hiking-type backpack thing. Yeah. I'm great with describing things. She leaves on Thursday and won't be back until the day after my birthday, I believe. I'm gonna miss her bunches and oodles and stuff. It'll be hard to be separated from her for that long. I'm missing a day of school to bring her to the airport. Actually, I'm missing two days of school this week.
Tomorrow is a work day for tenth graders. Instead of going to school, we go straight to our work site. It's the same length as a school day. Because of this I'm missing two days of school in a row. That is a good thing, but at the same time I'm dreading it. I have to miss math, which is grade 11 so there will be a class that I'm missing tomorrow. I hate missing school. It's so hard to catch up. Oh well, I'll manage.
Another sad story is that I'll be missing pyjama day on Thursday! That's, like, my favourite day of the school year! I'm quite upset. Maybe I'll wear pyjamas to the airport in honour of this glorious day. That would be fun.
I think you're just about caught up on my week. Hopefully you'll hear from me again soon.
Oh! I just remembered...I can't believe I forgot! On Sunday we had a Loewen Faspa. It was a big dinner for all the Loewens to come together before Tash leaves. It was a blast, as all Loewen get-togethers are. Of course Rosanna had to come up with something outrageous. She brought a green sweater decked out with Christmas decorations, because Tasha's going to be gone for it. She also had a little game. We weren't allowed to say the words: baby, Australia, or fun. Whoever caught someone saying one of these words got to pick a Christmas carol for everybody else to sing. It didn't last very long, but it was fun. I love you Rosanna!
Okay, I think that's really everything now. If not...too bad. Talk to you all later.

DC4K

Tonight was the second night that I helped out Chrys and her friend Vanessa in DC4K(Divorce Care for Kids). It was so much fun. We've only had two girls the past two weeks, but they are so much fun to be with. Tonight we had a very special activity amidst all the other things we did. We painted. But not with paint. Vanessa brought shaving cream and put five dots on the table, one in front of each of us. We each spread out our spots so they were flat. They were our canvases. We drew different things, and then to erase we just mixed it all up again.
But that's not the end of the madness. Somewhere along the line, one of our girls got the idea that we should spread it all out so it covered the table. And we did just that. It's amazing to me how much space five spots of shaving cream can cover. We covered that entire round table, and once we finished we drew one big scene on it. Trees, flowers, birds, a beautiful nature scene. Of course, it wasn't nearly as much fun to clean up afterward, but it was definitely worth it. Unfortunately, no one thought to bring a camera, so we don't have any pictures for you. But you can take my word for it, it was a lot of fun.

Not terrible...

Well, I have officially survived through a full week of school. However, at this point I find it hard to believe that it hasn't even technically been two weeks since I went back. I'm already settled into a pattern and have my routine. To be quite honest, I rather like this semester. I like my classes (Spanish, Math, Science, Socials, Planning) and my teachers. That is quite a change from last year, when I hated all my teachers (bad, I know, but they don't exactly make it easy to like them, even a little bit).
I thought I was going to hate the semester system, but I rather like it. I can't explain why, I just do. I'm glad that I have all but one class with my friend, Lindsay, but I would like to have classes with my other friends as well. Maybe next semester.
My mom is doing okay. She's still at home, and still taking it quite easy, but I think she is regaining her strength. She's been going for her "walks", which are just laps around our property. I think she did three one day this week. But now Chrystal is really sick, and not feeling good at all. Jeepers. My family can't seem to go one week without someone being sick. That needs to be fixed. Especially since I'd probably be next.... I know, I'm so considerate of others. Talk to you all later!

Home again, home again.

Once again, my mom has returned from the hospital. She is still recovering from her surgery, however, so she will be taking it very easy for a few weeks. That means no working, no lifting heavy objects, no bending down to pick something up. She just needs to heal. I'll try to keep you more updated on her progress than I have been. Sorry about that, but Chrys usually keeps her blog updated, so you can check that out as well.

1:10 a.m.

Take a moment and read this title again. That's a.m., not p.m., people. Now, what does that time mean for you? Well, for me, it usually means that I'm lying in bed sound asleep dreaming sweet dreams. However, last night my body had other ideas.
I woke up for some reason, and my nose felt runny. It took only a second to realize that it was bleeding. I rushed to the bathroom and then had to stand there for ten minutes waiting for it to stop. I noticed, while waiting, that I had gotten three rather large spots of blood on my pyjama pants. What a great night, hey? But what can you do? These things happen.
Although I'm quite tired today because of that little incident, I am thankful that I woke up. Otherwise I would have bled all over my pillow and sheets. Also, I may have had difficulty breathing, seeing as most people usually breathe throught their noses when they sleep, myself included. These little details make me wonder at the amazing God we have. He planned us without any flaws, and thought of everything down to the way our toenails grow. He made it so that my body would wake me at the first sign of that nose bleed. That he loves us enough to pay attention to those things blows me away.

Bad Beginning

As many may know, today was the first day back to school. I am entering grade 10 this year. when I received my schedule, they had forgotten to put Math 11 in it. I am taking Math 11 because last summer I took grade 9 math so I could get ahead a year. I tried to book an appointment with a counsellor to get it changed, but when I called they were completely booked. I was told to wait after orientation today to see one, but that line-up was so long that not everyone could get in. Now, I have to get to school early tomorrow morning to see if I can be one of the first ones in line. Unfortunately, the councellors won't start seeing people until 8:30, which is when first class starts. I guess it doesn't really matter, because my entire schedule might get changed around in order to fit math in there. I just prefer to know exactly which classes I'm taking and when before school starts. Oh well. That's life, I suppose. Things aren't always going to go my way, and I need to learn to deal with those times when they come. And God's plan is perfect, so how dare I feel sorry for myself. I'll just sit outside the student services offices and read my book until 8:30. I like reading. Maybe this isn't all bad.

Well, it's finally happened. Yesterday I received my school schedule in the mail. I was very excited to see it come, because I had been waiting for it for a week. Yesterday's wait was extra special because I knew that it would be arriving, but the mail came three hours late. It truly almost killed me.
However, its arrival was bittersweet, because it also meant that school is starting soon. A week from today. I have been dreading this for the past month. I really don't want to go back to school, but there's not really anything that can be done. It's going to happen. I just don't want it to. I want to be done with school.
Ok, I'm starting to rant now, so I should go and spare anyone who is actually taking the time to read this. Please pray for me. The beginning of school is always so stressful for me, and this year seems to have a little more added to it.

Not Over Yet

My mom may be home from the hospital, but she is far from being 100%. After two weeks without eating, her stomach is having trouble digesting the food she's eating. She has been throwing up and having bad stomach aches. She has managed to keep down the last few things she's eaten, but the aches continue. Please be praying for patience as she goes through this healing process, and that it will pass quickly.

She's Home!!!

It's finally happened. My mom is finally home. After over two weeks in the hospital, my mom arrived home yesterday between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. She looked relieved to be home. Yet at the same time, she is incredibly tired. She hasn't been allowed to eat anything the entire time she was in the hospital, so her nourishment was lacking greatly. She's taking it very slow, and rests a lot. I think she said she's planning to go back to work on Thursday, but I could be wrong. She definitely needs to work up her endurance again. In the mean time, we are glad to have her home again.
Actually, she was home on Wednesday night already. She got my dad to take her out of the hospital for a few hours so she could get home. She was completely unattached to any machine, and just had the central line sticking out of her neck. The nurses didn't know if she was wandering the hospital, walking outside, or at home, so my mom escaped for the evening. I think she enjoyed that immensely. Aunt Ellie and Uncle Gary went to visit her in the hospital, but she wasn't there. They came to our house after calling us, and soon after Yvonne and Eric joined us as well. It was a party.
For now we are glad to have her home, for good, hopefully. But I guess you never know what could happen, right? She has to go back for a checkup on Wednesday, I think, so hopefully things will still be clearing up by then.