Scarves and Free Hot Chocolate

The Lighthouse Homeschool band played at The Lighting of Wake Forest tonight. And as you may have gathered from previous posts, Sarah plays in the band, so we went outside to freeze to death while being supportive. Just kidding, it really was fun. But I was really cold. And I was trying to wear a scarf because I really wanted the extra protection from the cold, but I just can't stand scarves. For some odd reason, when I wear a scarf, it causes me to jut my head forward into bad posture. Which gives me a headache, decreases my air flow, and makes my neck ache.

But the good news was that after I was thoroughly chilled and despairing of ever being warm again, the people who were selling hot chocolate decided to give away the last of it, thereby making it possible for me to have some! It was soooo nice and hot... it warmed my hands up through my gloves, and, of course, warmed my insides too.

We have a really busy week coming up. Monday the boys have basketball practice and Sarah has band, then Tuesday we have swimming and the boys have a basketball game. Wednesday we have swimming and water polo, Sarah has band and her private flute lesson, and then we're going caroling. Thursday we have a light swim practice, a swim meet and Sarah's band concert. Friday is another basketball game and Saturday yet another basketball game. And somewhere in there I'm supposed to be doing school so I can GRADUATE. SO not happening... and have I mentioned that after than insanely crazy week we'll only have two weeks to prepare for Christmas? There are at least 5 parties to plan, a million gifts to buy, food to cook, and then right after that, NEW YEARS.

Wow, just thinking about all that makes me exhausted. I'm going to go get some sleep while I can.

~Lizzie

Wanted: Big Brother

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

Have you ever felt....

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