Over the weekend...

We went Goodwilling! We were going to go yardsaling, but it rained. No loss! At Goodwill, we found two matching little corner shelves/bookcases, a large, rustic breadbox, a "Golden Pie" collection pie plate with a decorative recipe for peach pie on the bottom, a set of six lovely glass dessert plates (not good for company, but there are six people in our family to enjoy them) and an assortment of much-needed winter clothes for my little brothers. I also found two cute little heart-shaped wall-mount candle-holders that are going in my hope chest. I think that's where the "Golden Pie" plate is going too.

The little corner bookshelves were assembled and placed into two parallel corners of our dining room, and instantly filled with pottery pieces from my mom's Seagrove pottery collection.

The rustic breadbox is currently in use holding three loaves of bread and any opened chip bags, with plans for making it less rustic in the future... hopefully sometime this week, if the weather really is as nice as it's been forecast, I'll get outside and paint it white. And then Sarah has agreed to paint some sort of design and maybe a Bible verse on the lid.

Then, on Sunday, Mom altered some curtains we got at a yard sale recently and I attempted to mount the curtain rod... I've done it before, but these windows were higher and I was at a bad angle for drilling and screwing AND I had the really heavy corded drill/screwdriver because our two battery operated ones are both dead (*sigh*). My Uncle Joel kindly finished it for me. And now we have some cute green and white checkered curtains hanging in our breakfast room! They give it a bright, airy side-walk-cafe feel.

And since I know all my readers hang on my every word and live for my day-to-day life stories, I've decided to create suspense and not post pictures until I get satisfactorily clamorous pleadings.

~Lizzie

(Actually, I just don't have time to take the pictures yet... although I won't bother to post them without requests... =P )

Fair day #2

We went back to the fair with several friends to see the 10th Avenue North and Jeremy Camp concert. We got to the fair about 2, got some food, then the guys wanted to check out a crumpled SUV. We all admired Sarah's art entry. Then we went to the bike show. Unfortunately, the schedule was printed wrong, so we killed an hour going to the Village of Yesteryear, and then went back to the bike show. After the bike show, we went over to the expo building for the Dazzling Mills Family show. It wasn't quite time for the show, so we walked around and looked at the exhibits in the Expo center.

The show was great!


Vic eating a fried pickle.



They're homeschoolers! Our entirely homeschooled group screamed and cheered when this was announced, drawing the comment from Mr. Mills that "Well, THAT'S not obvious!"

After the Dazzling Mills Family, we went to ride some rides. About half the group wanted to ride Fireball, so we all got in line, and then they closed the ride. A few people rode the only real roller coaster. And then we had to split. Because of a very important Hawks baseball game, half of our group had to leave. The rest of us went to the concert.

The concert was AWESOME! The end.

After the concert we rode the ferris wheel...

From the top!

From the ferris wheel, I took a picture of the ride next on our list: the swings!

Sarah and Jessica, in their seats...

Yep, I took my camera! I like this shot, too...

Then we headed home, exhausted. So much fun! I love the fair.

~Lizzie

Fair day #1!

My family went to the fair this past Friday. We're usually the type who arrive at the fair at 9:30 or 10am, and stay all day. This time, we didn't make it there until 2, but we still stayed for the fireworks. And I took a grand total of 4 very blurry pictures while we were waiting to ride the ferris wheel.

First we checked out all our family entries... various 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and Honorable Mentions were awarded to some. In between checking entries, we got some corn on the cob... it's tradition. Anyway, the last entry we got to was my doll dress ... it got 2nd... even though it was the only one in the catagory... apparently the judges didn't think it was good enough for a first, even if it was the only one... I found that pretty funny! And kinda sad...

After we checked all the entries we went to take our traditional picture on the invisible bench. Then we went and rode rides, ate our traditional gyros at John the Greek, and rode more rides... David got me to go on Freak Out (I think that's what it's called...) with him this year, and it was actually pretty fun! There's also a new swings ride! Instead of the swings just going in a circle, you went around AND up really high (I'm not explaining it very well). It was pretty neat.

Then we walked around the Expo center... mostly because it was so COLD outside, but Sarah and I enjoyed seeing all the animals... I especially enjoyed seeing the calves, chicks, ducklings and I think they were baby miniature donkeys... they were all cute, anyway. After that, we rode the ferris wheel and froze... it was so cold up high, whenever the ferris wheel got to the bottom it felt warm.

Then we got some hot cider and hung around the "Heritage Circle" watching the blacksmith and sitting by the tobacco barn fires while we waited for the fire works. About 15 minutes before the fireworks went off, we went through gate 8 before they closed it for the fireworks and settled into our traditional fireworks watching spot. We watch from the parking lot just out side the gate, and then try and get to our car and get out before the crowd of "after fireworks" leavers start leaving.

It was so much fun. I always enjoy going to the fair. The bad part is Sarah picked up a cold, and I've got a little bit of something too... I'm not coughing as much as she is though, I just don't feel very energetic, and I have a scratchy feeling in my throat.

Hopefully we will recover quickly, because we're supposed to be going back to the fair this Friday to see the 10th Avenue North and Jeremy Camp concert with some of our friends...

~Lizzie

TCC First Annual Dads & Daughters Night

This was not the first Father/daughter dance I'd been to. I've been to one that was in a slightly decorated gym, where everyone brought a snack to share, a hired DJ played all the "usual," there was no room to sit, less room to dance, and it was lots fun. Until one night, I listened to one of the songs that was played, and couldn't believe what I was hearing. I wish I could say that one song was all it took for me to want to leave, but it took three reprehensible songs, and then I was ready to leave and never come back. And that's what we did.

I always enjoyed the night spent with my sister and daddy, (even when the songs were horrible) and I missed it this year (it was always around Valentine's Day). Then, just a couple weeks ago, Mr. Finneran announced that he was planning a Christian Community Dads & Daughters night for August 13th.

I was excited about the idea, but I confess that at first, I wasn't too happy that it was going to be right after hours of swimming and water polo. I ended up having to miss water polo to get ready in time (30 minutes might be enough for Sarah and Jessica, but it's not enough for me!) It was worth it. The messy little room at TAC was transformed by Mrs. Finneran, Mrs. Jacob and my mom into an elegant and lovely dining room and dance floor. The fluorescent lights were out and the lighting was provided by candles, soft lamps and Christmas light strands. Pink and white streamers, light pink balloons, beautiful table cloths, and delicate doilies all added a special touch. I could never believe it was the same stark, unfinished and harsh room we'd had our swim team awards banquet in.

Sarah and Jessica, preparing for a picture together...

Sarah and Jessica

We had a meal, Mr. Finneran gave a devotional talk, and then the dads presented their daughters with a rose. Since my mom was responsible for getting the roses, I had seen them ahead of time, and already had my heart set on one that was not quite as bright pink as all the others. When Daddy picked our roses for us, he picked for me the very one I wanted!

My little brothers and some of the other young men were being the waiters, and they were all so cute, refilling drinks and offering more salad, or more sparkling apple cider. Little Torin was especially adorable, he was so excited to be a waiter, so eager to do anything, and very serious about his job.

My brother, Joel, and Torin, "helping" the DJ.

Then the DJ (who played the piano during the meal) cranked up the dance music and we danced. Then we ate cake, and danced some more.

Jessica and her dad, dancing very well...

It was all over way too soon. It was such a special evening, I'm so glad to have the night with Daddy and Sarah back. And the older girls are looking forward to planning an similar event for the dads and moms sometime soon!

Our table...

Sarah, with her lip-like heart candy from the dance.

Our roses... (there were three left over, so the three moms who were in charge of decorating and the six hours of hard work got a rose each as well.) Can you see the difference between mine and Sarah's and Mom's?

It was so nice, I can't wait to do one for the moms!

~Lizzie

Driving to Illinois!

My cousin is getting married Saturday, and we're driving up for the rehearsal dinner and wedding... and then driving back, right after the wedding. Half of the entire trip will be spent driving, but I'm excited, first because I really want to see my cousin and meet his fiancee, but also because I've never been to any states but NC and VA, and this trip will add West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to my list! =)

We're not sure exactly when we're leaving... anywhere between 10pm tonight and 3am tomorrow have been suggested. I think 1am is our current goal. That should put us arriving in IL somewhere around 1-2 pm Central time. Unless we take long stops... which would be nice. The rehearsal dinner isn't until 7, so we'll have plenty of time if we leave at 1am.

Then we're planning to leave right after the wedding (we're guessing that will be about 5pm) and that will put us home sometime between 5-7am Sunday morning.

So I better get back to getting ready now!

~Lizzie

*uncontrollable laughter*

I really love driving my daddy's car. It's a 2001 Volvo S80 automatic turbo. I get to ride the automatic seat from Daddy's long-leg seat position to my very short position. I accelerate out of turns easily because the steering is soooo smooth. I stop for stop lights easily because the breaks are so responsive. And when I get on the interstate, the car accelerates to 70mph so quickly and gracefully... and then, at the end of the entrance ramp, there's a Chrysler minivan RIGHT next to me, who won't move because the driver is too busy talking on his cellphone! *sigh*

Voice, dance and theatre were fun today. Everything is finally falling into place. We know our dance, we have our dance costumes... almost everyone knows their lines for the play, except for people who got to go on exotic vacations (Greece?!?!? NOT FAIR!!!) or even just regular vacations.

You probably had to be there, but Mr. Green tweaked one of the scenes, and it was so funny, we all burst out laughing! And then they tried to run the scene again, and they couldn't even start the scene without everyone cracking up again! After many tries, they finally got through it without TOO much laughing. And then they ran it again about a half hour later, and before they got to the funny part, Mr. Green cracked up, and everybody lost it again. It's going to be HILARIOUS.
Anyone can come! It's at NRCA (7300 Perry Creek Rd. Raleigh, NC) Friday, June 12th, and Saturday, June 13th both at 7pm. Tickets are $5/student (18 & under) $7/adult. Sarah and I will be in the Friday show, but Kara will probably be in the Saturday show. I don't care if you come see me, just come to either show if you can. It'll be great.

~Lizzie

I'm BACK!!

I know, I didn't announce that I was leaving. Nor am I going to oblige you with a lengthy and juicy account of all the busy-ness that has kept me from posting for the last month. Hint: it was mostly baseball... baseball game on top of baseball game... and if there wasn't a game, there was a practice. All that on top of everything else I'm doing was too much. But the tournament was May 7th-9th, and now that I've recovered from the team losing, here I am, with PATTERNS!

I splurged on patterns today. I decided about a month ago that I wanted to make a really nice summer dress, because I have two weddings to go to, and my 18th birthday is coming up, so I thought it'd be nice to have a dress to wear to all 3 occasions. (Shh, don't tell I'm wearing it more than once!)

So you might be wondering why I said "patterns" plural. If you are, congratulations on being observant. And thanks for not assuming that I accidentally added the 's'. I got patterns because I couldn't decide which one I wanted, they were all on sale anyway, and the store was getting ready to close, so I didn't have time to decide.

I got Simplicity 2965:


I like the one in red, only they're all kinda short, so when I ever get around to making it, I'll make it longer.

Simplicity 2917:


Either the short sleeve, or the sleeveless.

New Look 6589:


I like the style of the black one, but I've got a plain soft yellow in mind for it that I borrowed from Mom's stash...



It's between this one and the next dress for the dress I'm going to try to make in 2 and a half weeks!

Vogue 8470:

I really like the white one, but I'll probably make the skirt a little shorter, because otherwise it takes FIVE yards! Which I don't have in the pretty yellow material.

And I really liked the Vogue 8489, but they didn't have it:

I like the green, but if I ever get to make it, I want to make it with the accent trim like the tan and brown.

And you're probably overwhelmed with patterns already, but I also got two apron patterns.

McCall's Retro aprons:




And M5358:



For this one, I'm planning on making view C (the lime green at the bottom) but with the tie and pocket in this green checkered, and the main part in the brown. And I also want to add a ruffle in the checkered material.

I was going to go ahead and cut the apron, but I got distracted and did this blog post instead... and now it's late, so I should just go to bed. Hopefully I'll have some "finished apron" pictures eventually!

Oh, and I made the cinnamon rolls Abigail mentioned here for Mother's Day. My icing didn't turn out right, (probably because I didn't want to use our entire bag of powdered sugar... and I didn't have any coffee) but the funny little clumps of sugar didn't dissuade my family. And I thought they turned out okay... next time they'll be better, though.



~Lizzie

Picture overload

Here's a lot of my pictures... I took about 300. Not including when I stole Sarah's camera and took pictures with her nice expensive camera...

Christmas-y... Christmas is complete, now that we've had snow. :)


Pictures just never capture the moment...


Our dirt road, all covered in snow!

Sign at the main road.


I made orange pineapple muffins.


Then went out and took more pictures.


Our neighbor's red barn.


Our neighbor's little pond.


David and I went sledding on the big hill. (Sarah and Joel wouldn't come... don't know why...)


David getting started.


David made a snow angel.






And ate some snow.


The sun started setting.


We drove down a little ways to get some pictures of the lake and the sunset.







And I got some more sunset pictures at our house.


Snow gear drying by the fireplace.


The view from the window in my room.

Sarah got some good pictures too, which she has put on Facebook... I'm trying to get her to put them on the blog too, but once you do one, you don't feel like doing the other...

I had such a great snow day! It was absolutely perfect.

~Lizzie

Mice, ideas and new-found goodies.

I think I will go in reverse order of the title so that thoughts of the rodent and the idea won't obscure the yumminess of the cream cheese brownies I've discovered. No, I'm not taking credit for the recipe, only for finding it on the internet. :P

Here's the recipe from one of my favorite recipe sites, "Joy of Baking" - Cream Cheese Brownies (link). Theirs look better than mine I think, but I can never get my food to look like a piece of art. That's Sarah's specialty. I've made three batches of these brownies so far, and the first time they came out of the pan very well without the aluminum foil (we try not to use aluminum foil in baking because it cooks into the food); I just buttered it very well. For some reason though, the second two batches didn't work out so well. They stuck pretty badly. I'm blaming it on the strange sugar I had to use. It refused to dissolve and made the batter very wet and sticky. We've really enjoyed these brownies though (even the sticky ones with crunchy sugar). This is the first time I've made something where I ask if anyone wants some and even my parents say "Yes!" with hopeful eagerness.

And as for my idea, I've been thinking about doing a review blog. I really enjoy reviewing books and movies, and I get criticized for posting my reviews on my own blog, so I figured if I start a blog for that purpose it'll be better accepted. And then, if it ever happens to be big enough that it could actually be a job (with which I could somehow extract money from people), that would be nice. Probably not though, with the current economy. So anyway, I will be thinking on that. And if anyone is interested in being a writer, just send me a sample review. ;)

I hate mice. It's like my cat knows this and intentionally catches and brings into the house more mice than is natural for any cat. She even takes up the slack for our other two cats who are remarkably less interested in small animals. She doesn't look malicious, does she?

*sigh* So just a few minutes ago she came inside a dropped a mouse and then went back outside. We have our broom/trashcan/scream method all worked out. Except this time we were trying to decide if we should let Shadow (the kitty with kidney problems) have a fresh... treat. *gag* And Mom was holding the broom on top of him while we tried to decide to sweep him into the trashcan or somehow let Shadow eat him without him running all over the house... and decided on the the trashcan, but apparently the mouse had already smothered. *shudder* *cough* *shudder*

*grimace* So... I can't leave you with that... ... I bought a new purse today.

It was on sale, and I just couldn't resist. I really like it. :P

~Lizzie