I got these really cute hooks from the blacksmith shop at the fair and I mounted them in my (and Sarah and Joel and David's) bathroom today. I'm very pleased with them, and now have no doubts about whether I really should have paid $7 each for them.
I plan to use them for a very long time. If you come see my house in 10 years, these will probably be in the master bathroom. :P
~Lizzie
Sarah and I just got home from a short shopping trip. I needed to return a book to the library, and I wanted to stop at Michael's and get a TINY calligraphy pen, because all the ones I have are too big for writing as small as I want, and we stopped at Target so I could show Sarah a really cute shirt I saw there the other day.
I returned the book to the library, but unfortunately, the library was closed, so I couldn't get the book Mom asked for. And the other consequence of the closed library meant that the two guys sitting in front of the very deserted library made me somewhat terrified to go drop my book in the drop box.
Then we went to Target and Michael's (they're right next to each other) and as I parked the car, I noticed that the gas tank was practically almost completely empty. Not only was the needle in the red, and the warning light lit up, but our car has an electronic screen that announces how many miles are left to an empty tank, for example "20 miles" or "145 miles" and that screen was showing "---". I quickly determined that a gas station would be our next stop.
We went into Michael's, and they didn't have exactly what I was looking for, so I got 2 pens that looked cool just to make myself feel better. And because I had a coupon. So really, I saved money. (Just kidding.)
Then we went over to Target, but I couldn't find the shirt (I saw it at a different Target, and apparently this one didn't carry it.)
So we left to get gas. I made it to the gas station, quite stressed out that I would run out of gas and be stuck on the side of the road.... wishing for a big brother the whole time so he could be the one driving, and so there'd be someone to walk to the gas station with us two girls when the car stopped. But I DID make it, and had to go inside to pay, because I don't have a credit card.
I paid, went back out, pumped my gas, and just as I was getting ready to get in the car, one of the station clerks came out and handed me two cards, front to front, and asked if I'd ever thought about being an escort. I had no idea what an escort was, so I honestly said 'no', and took the cards. I got in the car and looked at them, and immediately realized what I'd just been "invited" to be. The sleazy picture and terms on the card left no doubt. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I decided to do neither until I got home.
But anyway, all that to say that I really want a big brother now. One of my friends has a great older brother, and she's so protected. I've never been so envious.
Joel's bigger than me now, and I plan on making him into something of an older brother. I just doubt I'll be able to talk him into going shopping with his sisters.
Disgusted, appalled, terrified and humiliated,
~Lizzie
Our second day of the fair was yesterday. We went straight to the fair from the pool after swim practice, with our friends, the M's. We got popcorn, and rode some rides... the Pirate-ship, and a roller coaster. Unfortunately, we determined that our favorite ride, The Crazy Mouse, wasn't at the fair this year. :(
Then we went and got Gyros for supper. Our family has a tradition of getting Gyros from John the Greek at the fair. They are soooo good.
After we finished our Gyros, we went to the art building to show off Sarah and David's entries to the M's. Now, this whole time, I hadn't been feeling particularly energetic, after all, I swam 2 hours, and had dance and theatre on Tuesday, and then I swam 2 and a half hours on Wednesday, and then I swam 2 hours right before we went to the fair. While we were in the art building, I started to feel even more tired. So tired that I was even considering just laying on the floor. The floor was disgustingly dirty for one, and laying on the floor not very mature behavior for the other.
Then we ran into some other friends and while we were standing there talking to them, I started to feel sick. And over the next 10 minutes I went from just being tired to being dizzy, shaky and feeling like I might not get to keep the gyro I'd just eaten. Someone very kindly informed me that I was very white (which isn't much of an accomplishment if you know how white I am usually.... but apparently I was abnormally white).
Daddy and Mr. M prayed for me, and then our whole group slowly made our way out of the art building while my family tried to decide if I was going to sit (sleep) in the car while they stayed at the fair a little longer, or if we should all go home. But by the time we got out of the building I was already feeling better. So I decided I'd try to stick it out, and by the time we'd walked over to the rides, I was feeling much better. We watched the some of our friends ride a very scary-looking ride, and by then I felt perfectly normal. It was so cool, I've never had prayer work that quickly on me.
I even decided to ride the Sky Rider, which swings back and forth until it finally flips all the way around and then slowly stops. This concerned some of the group, particularly those who were going to be on the ride with me. I heard a lot of, "You know that this ride can make you sick even if you AREN'T sick already, right?" "Do you want to take a barf bag with you?" "Are you SURE you want to come?" But I felt great, I didn't even feel tired anymore. And the ride didn't make me sick, although it was pretty scary at first. Then I just gave up and enjoyed it. It was fun.
This is a shot I took just because I thought it looked cool.
After the rides, we went over to watch the fireworks. I have a fireworks setting on my camera (yeah, specifically for fireworks!) so I took a bunch of pictures.
Sometimes the camera "over-exposed" the pictures, taking a really long time to click. This was the result. I actually kinda like it. It's somewhat like a movie of the fireworks.
Another blurry over-exposed one.
I like the green...
Yet another over-exposed picture.
This one is also over-exposed. It's kinda weird.
I like the tree in this one. It's weird in a good way. :P
I had two great times at the fair this year. I used to worry that as I got older that maybe I wouldn't enjoy the fair as much, but to the contrary, I'm at the point where I still enjoy the rides and food, but I also enjoy walking around the Village of Yesteryear and other such slightly more intellectual aspects of the fair. Hopefully it will stay that way.
~Lizzie
We decided to brave the crowds and go to the fair today, to see how all the entries did. We usually avoid going to the fair on the weekends because of the insane amount of people, but we survived today. We spent just the afternoon there and got a good start on our junk food consumption as well, with plans to go back again.
Our little excursion almost got cut off at the beginning, when we were looking for a place to park, and the streets and curbs were lined with cars. Daddy declared (half-seriously) that we were leaving. But we did manage to park, not too far from the gate.
The very first thing we did was to go to the Hobbies and Handicrafts building. Joel got a 4th place for his lego battleship.
Sarah got 3 1st's and 1 2nd.
The pumpkin, the Christmas glass, and the folded T-shirt are hers. As you can see, (or maybe you can't really tell, so that's why I'm making sure) the pumpkin and T-shirt got blue ribbons, and the Christmas glass got a red ribbon.
She also got a blue ribbon for her painted Christmas ornament.
Then we went and got the best corn on the cob ever. We've gotten it every year for a while now, and it when I had braces it would take the rest of the day to get all the corn out of my teeth (not to mention that I wasn't supposed to have corn on the cob....) but it was so worth it! It's so juicy and sweet and greasy..... yum.
And then we trudged along very slowly in a huge throng of people that seemed to hardly be going anywhere.
We enacted a buddy system so that if someone got lost, at least they'd have someone with them. (We're so smart!)
Sarah and I were buddies. We decided to pretend to be twins and walk around with our arms linked all day. Don't laugh, we were being fraternal twins.
We did finally make it over to the art building though, where Sarah and David's painting/drawing didn't win anything. And then we went over to see if David's muffins and lemon bars won, and they didn't win either.
David with his lighthouse drawing. The one directly above his head.
Sarah with her painting of a glass of water (half-full, or half-empty?)
We got our maple syrup cotton candy, and sat under the tree where we always sit to eat our cotton candy. Also where, inevitably, some kind passerby stops and offers to take a picture of all of us.
Joel didn't smile for any of them.
Daddy got this picture of me and Sarah by saying, "Hey, girls!" and clicking when we looked up. Yeah... great faces, right? I just had to share it because some people say we don't look alike.
And then we went to go sit on the same invisible bench we always sit on to take our group picture. This year we didn't get the usually inevitable kind passerby.
Instead, we got a strange and disturbing robot. Sarah and I saw it coming and started whispering to each other, "Don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact...."
It stopped anyway, with its crowd of enthralled followers, (while Daddy was trying to take pictures) and told us to stand up, (we were sitting on an invisible bench! Couldn't it see that? I guess not....) and pay attention. And then the robot said something about how "he's only 21, folks, this is what uncooperative picture subjects does to you!" "Are they always like that?" When he finally left, "Good luck, mister. You're gonna NEED it!"
Then we had some onion rings, and tried to find the Crazy Mouse (our tied-for-favorite ride)... we couldn't find it, but hopefully we'll find it when we go back sometime later this week.
This is us up on a hill, looking for the Crazy Mouse. Or, rather, goofing off after giving up on finding the Crazy Mouse.
Thanks to Mom and Dad for most of the pictures. (If I'm in them, I obviously didn't take them, now did I?)
Installment número dos, coming soon!
~Lizzie
He's missing part of his rear leg... poor little thing. Our cats like lizards. But this one was fortunate enough to escape apparently.
I just felt like trying to be all artsy like Sarah... this was my best result.
We went to the State Fair grounds to drop off all of my siblings various competition entries. God was particularly creative with the clouds, don't you think?
Pre-fair busyness.
Notice that the ferris wheel doesn't have seats on it yet.
Something about this sign just struck me as funny.
In the left corner you can see Sarah's shoulder, and part of her painting. In the right corner is my little brother David. His drawing is not in sight... in hindsight, I realize that instead of just taking a picture of this usually very crowded area with no people, I should have waited for Sarah, David and Daddy to walk into the picture. But alas.It's such an awful depressing day outside (in my opinion) and I'm really tempted to do a dull complaining post.... since not much good has happened to me today. But I think instead that I'll do a wry complaing post and try to wring a chuckle out of my readers.
I slept really hard from 11 to 9, and woke up feeling strange. My entire body ached from swimming, dance, swimming and water polo. And even after sleeping in, I still felt so tired that the last thing I wanted to do was get up. But I did.
And I drove Sarah to her art lesson, and then went grocery shopping. It is a fact well known that precisely 87.22% of all shopping carts are evil. Yes... they have personalities. And those evil 87.22% are adept at picking shoppers who are having not-so-awesome days. You thought you picked the cart? Well, that just shows how sneaky they are. The government could learn some tips from shopping carts.
So today, the particular shopping cart that picked me was innocent looking enough. It was even close to the door, instead of being miles away in the almost-empty, depleted tunnel of shopping cart storage. It even appeared to work fine until I'd gotten so far that I didn't want to go back and get another cart. And then it started swerving to the left. Some carts not so evil as this one will swerve gently, and in wide open spaces. This cart swerved sharper and more suddenly and maliciously than a cart shoved by two young boys, and it made sure to swerve when there was an elaborate display of parmesan cheese nearby. However, that is not the end of this particular cart's talents. It also made turning right insanely difficult.
Besides the annoyance of swerving and not being able to turn right, those two faults combine to make an action worthy of being considered a third fault in its own right. Imagine this.... I'm looking at the organic juices on the right, and to the left are shelves and shelves of wine bottles. (I see you wincing... my story is too predictable.) I finish selecting juice, and begin to move forward. The cart immediately swerves to the left, into the wine bottles. I try to stop and turn the cart to the right to compensate for the swerve to the left and encounter the 2nd fault: turning to the right is almost impossible. The cart then accelerates by itself and sweeps down the entire row of wine bottles, sending them crashing to the floor. People stare and the store employees come running.
Don't worry, it wasn't all that awful. I managed not to hit the wine bottles. But as I jerked the cart to the right with all my screaming muscles, I did see that scenario flash before my eyes. Somewhat how I imagine one sees one's life flash before one's eyes in situations where you think you might die.
After that close call, I made it through the rest of my shopping without further mishaps (thank goodness) and as soon as I was through with the cart, I gave it a nice shove into the brick wall of its home as payback. (Yes, I'm fond of such petty but satisfactory retaliation....)
I got home with Sarah, and even started feeling better. Until we got to swim team. Warm-ups weren't so bad, and we had an easy 50 set. But then, we did 3 200 IM's split lane and I was supposed to lead. (This was because I was in the Silver lane for all that were curiously wondering how I managed to lead Platinum.) I tried, but my muscles were refusing to work well, so I ended up making Sarah lead. And then I sat out the 3rd 200 in an effort to recover. That didn't work either. Then we did 20 25's on the :30. That worked pretty well, actually, cause I barely made it, and then I got out of the pool, climbed on the block and dove off so fast that I didn't have time to get dizzy and fall off the block.
By then I was almost completely exhausted. And we did relays. It's very sad.... there are three things we do in swimming that it seems most everyone enjoys: relays and two games, Sharks & Minnows and Capture the Flag (flip-flop). I have difficulty deciding which I hate more. I used to think that Sharks and Minnows was the worst, but then we played Capture the Flag yesterday and I think it's worse. It goes on longer, and there's the potential for getting grabbed, kicked, scratched and then pulled to the surface and tagged more than once in Capture the Flag. In Sharks and Minnows it only happens once and then you get to be the one grabbing and tagging. You do still get kicked and scratched as a shark though.
However, I'm quite certain that relays involving corkscrew are worse than both of those games. Corkscrew, for those that don't know, is a torturous practice not worthy of being called a stroke. You take one freestyle stroke, and then roll to your back and take one back stroke then roll again and take a freestyle stroke and so on and so forth until you arrive at the wall. Hopefully the wall arrives before the wave of nausea. When I was finished with my leg of the relay my head was pounding, I felt sick, and my muscles were completely limp. I eventually dragged myself out of the pool, mumbled something about leaving early and went to take a nice hot shower and change into my dry clothes.
I survived and made it home, and I feel much better now that I've had a snack and sat around comfortably doing nothing. Hopefully I'll be fine tomorrow because I won't get a relaxing weekend this weekend. We have a lot to do.
~Lizzie
such intense frustration that you felt like you might implode? That tingling kind of sensation that makes you want to slam you entire body against the floor repeatedly? The rip-your-hair-out-and-then-put-yourself-into-a-blissfull-coma agony?
It was a very simple task. I maintain the website for Christian Community Sports. I have an overly obsessive fascination with making everything the same. So on the homepage where there are links to the current sports, it bugged me that the link for basketball was to the "sports" page instead of to the pdf (which wasn't available yet). The pdf became available, and I changed the link to go to the pdf, (that's ALL I changed!) and then put it on the server..... and about half of the information (on only that page!) is immediately erased. See for yourself..... www.christiancommunitysports.com. Does that look right? NO! The file looks fine on my computer, it uploads to the server fine, but as soon as it appears on the server it's half the size (2 KB instead of 4). I've tried renaming it, naming other files "index" and completely recreating the index page from scratch. NONE OF IT WORKED. I am completely and utterly confused. It doesn't make logical sense and I have no idea what to do. And what's really driving me nuts is that IT WAS PERFECTLY FINE THE WAY IT WAS. If I'd only kept a copy of the old page then maybe everything would be fine now.
Or maybe the age of artificial intelligence really is here, and the server is evil and nothing would make it fine. The world is going to explode soon. But don't panic, there are plenty of other planets and we have the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
~Lizzie
When I was little, everything was so simple. My tiny world included my family, "friends" and church. I say "friends" in quotes because I didn't understand then what it meant to really be friends with someone; my "friends" were just people whose first names I knew and was permitted to use - all others were adults, who were addressed by their title and last name. I didn't know what it was to dislike someone. I knew simple things that I expected were widely understood and accepted by all Christians, like "all have sinned" and "by grace we are saved through faith." It was unthinkable to me that Christians could disagree on Biblical issues and I believed that God would answer every prayer with the right answer.
In the past 7 years or so, almost everything I believed has been torn from me. People that I considered my friends have shown that they didn't care for me in the least. I realized that friends are harder to come by and people are not nearly so forgiving as I had once thought. I have found that there don't seem to be any Christians who agree on everything, and some don't even agree on principles that I had always considered imperative to being a Christian. And, on top of that, some people claim to be Christians without really being Christians. Like Hitler. And worst of all... that maybe God doesn't always answer prayers with the right answer, because maybe the person asking didn't have enough faith.
I didn't know what it was like to despair. I was perfectly happy and content. And then the real world shattered my pleasant little life. I realized that there is evil all around, in everything. Malicious and horrifying evil, like I had never understood. Even in my understanding of Satan's evil I had never comprehended how wicked he really is. I probably still don't, but my greater understanding sickens me.
Now I feel so lost. My bright, happy world has disappeared like a pleasant dream to a miserable and shocking awakening. I was so secure in all that I understood and now I feel as though I'm being tossed and pulled in a million different directions in the dark. Of everything that I believed, the only truth I have left is God's word. And that I will not relinquish.
~Lizzie
Here is a review of a movie that I like! Unfortunately, like all realistic people, I can't help not being *perfectly* pleased, but nevertheless, the enjoyment of this movie outweighed the slight flaws of a little flat acting and a bit too much preachiness.
Time Changer was a really good movie. As a Christian movie, it definitely has a 'B' movie flavor, but they did a really good job making their point interesting. Russell Carlisle is a young professor at a Bible college in 1890, and has written a book that he is hoping his colleagues will endorse. The other men must all unanimously agree to endorse the book, and only one refuses. Dr. Anderson has a slight disagreement with a statement in Dr. Carlisle's book. A seemingly very slight disagreement, which frustrates Dr. Carlisle, as his publisher is anxious to print, and is asking for the endorsement as soon as possible. Dr. Anderson invites Dr. Carlisle to his house to settle their differences.
Upon arriving at Dr. Anderson's house, Dr. Carlisle is sworn to secrecy, and then introduced to a time-traveling machine. Dr. Carlisle doesn't believe that time travel is possible, but Dr. Anderson gives him instructions about the "new world" he will be in, and persuades him to stand in the portal. Dr. Carlisle is transported to 2000, amid some outdated special effects of lightening flashes, and glittery particles left behind floating to the floor.
In 2000, he realizes what Dr. Anderson intended for him to realize: his statement that teaching good morals without Jesus would be beneficial to society, particularly if the people in the society don't want to hear about Jesus, is wrong. Without Jesus' authority, morals mean nothing. He confronts a little girl who stole his hotdog: "Don't you know stealing is wrong?"
"Says who?" Demands the girl as she runs off, having relinquished his hotdog.
He runs into many more shocking things, including an immodestly dressed mannequin, people kissing on TV, God's name being blasphemed in a movie and people in a church being uninterested in the service and more interested in all the activities (among which include going to the blasphemous movie).
After meeting a Christian librarian who helps him with some "research", and a "good" laundry owner named Eddie, Dr. Carlisle prepares to go back to 1890. He visits the church and gives an inspiring message about the culture. Then he stops by Eddie's laundry and gives him a Bible (written in his own language, Spanish) and shares the gospel. On his way back to the alley where the time machine will beam him up, he notices that he's being followed by two cops in the church who have been suspicious of him. They demand an explanation just as the time for his departure is arriving. He has time to tell them that Jesus is coming back and that he was a messenger before the time machine collects him. "Dude, I think we just missed the rapture" one cop mutters as he disappears.
Back at home Dr. Carlisle revises his book and finds a little boy he reprimanded in the beginning of the movie. The young boy tried to steal some marbles, and Dr. Carlisle told him it was wrong; now he tells young Roger about Jesus (and gifts him with a bag of his own marbles).
And thus the happily-ever-after-the-end.
Please be aware that I expect uproarious praise for finally posting a positive review, and certainly do NOT want to hear any criticism for the first movie I selected. I realize that those of you that had issues with my opinion on Eagle Eye will probably disagree with the principles portrayed by this movie, however, the point was that it was a positive review. And I really did like the movie. So there.
~Lizzie
I recently heard "Stand" by Rascall Flatts... it's an okay song, but I really like the line "life's like a novel with the end ripped out." It's such a good analogy, it makes me laugh.
I'm a really fast reader. Or so I'm told. I've never been able to devour good books as fast as I would like for myself. After I realized that life really is like a novel with the end ripped out, I also realized why I wish my life would go just a little faster. It's not that I mind living it this slow, as a matter of fact, I wish I could live it a little slower. But I do wish that I could read it faster. It feels like, at the end of every day, I open the book of my life and watch an invisible pen write one sentence in an excruciatingly careful hand. And I read that one sentence over and over. It doesn't take long to memorize it. And the next day I wake up and live another sentence. For me, this is torture. I'm so interested in how my story turns out! My life is a book that I would stay up all night to finish, but I don't have that option. I guess that's actually a good thing though, because it probably wouldn't be as much fun to live it if you'd already read the entire story.
Actually, now that I think about it, I probably don't truly want to read it. I'd rather not know about the bad things ahead of time. But I do wish I could know a little about the good things... Ah, well. I'm off to start another line of my life.
~Lizzie
*elaborate cough* *wheeze* *gasp for air* *pants* *returns to semi-but-not-really-normal breathing* Okay, so I definitely got the cold. I swam yesterday... probably a bad idea. I was going to swim today too, but Daddy and 2 of my friends talked me out of it. So I sat around and watched. And I missed water polo. *sob* I love water polo. :(
I'm feeling much better than I did earlier though.... so I guess it's a good thing that I didn't swim.
Anyway, this might be TMI for some of you, so read at your own risk, but I was just musing about how colds progress. For me, they usually start out with a sore throat. And I always think that I can get rid of it before it moves on to my sinuses. Never happens... I think all the tinctures and herbs I take merely force the germs to a different location. But that's okay, because by the time they move, I'm ready for them to just LEAVE MY THROAT ALONE. Scratchiness gets so irritating. And then, about the time that the trashcan in my room is completely full of tissues, I'm ready for the cough stage. Anything to not use ANOTHER box of tissues. Coughing is so convenient... you only need to cover your mouth with your hand (or, the way that spreads less germs, coughing into the crook of your elbow) and not carry around a lifetime supply of Kleenex. The problem is that the coughing stage doesn't leave nearly so obligingly as the other two stages. Coughing stays with me. I guess it knows that once it leaves I'll finally be well again. And certainly, being in a prayer meeting and needing to cough so bad that you start choking and tearing up in an attempt to keep from disrupting the meeting with you nerve-wracking, hacking cough is annoying as well. But, still, better than the itch and the roller-suitcase full of tissue boxes.
~Lizzie
