Rain, rain, go away!

^an accurate representation of the view out my window for the past WEEK. I hate Missouri weather... first floods, then nearly drought, then rain rain rain rain rain, then hot, then freezing, then thunderstorms and tornadoes and five second drenches.

I wish I were a little girl again...

We've been getting more and more catalogs full of little kids clothing. As I look through them, I find myself wishing that I were a little girl again... or that they made these clothes in juniors and ladies sizes!
One thing I've noticed is a comeback of the 30's and 40's style- but with a modern twist. Knee-length skirts with leggings or tights... European styles... modern colors... I love it. :)


We've gotten several catalogs from chasing fireflies. Most of their clothes are very simple, cute, and fairytale-ish. They are crazy expensive, but the outfits are simply darling.

Hmm. Hannah Anderson, Lands End, and LL Bean had some really cute dresses/skirts that I was eying... I definitely love little girl clothes much more than teen girl clothes. :)

And now I interrupt whatever important thing you might be doing...

...to write an extraordinarily long post on recent happenings, most of which probably do not concern you personally, and therefore leave you no obligation to read my ramblings.

If, on the slight chance that you have read further than my last sentence, you may feel free to continue reading my ramblings. These particular ramblings relate to certain hectic events that have occurred since my last post.


As I wrote before, I got my driver's permit! After reading through the Missouri Driver's Guide in a record three days, I finally convinced Mom to take me to the Highway Patrol and take my test. I got a horrible score- 87%, but it was a passing score. Besides, one of the questions was mathematically incorrect. How in the world ought I answer it?
In any case, I did indeed get my permit. And my picture is not entirely idiotic!
Yesterday, my parents were out at my brothers' soccer games. At 9:30, the realtor office called. They spoke the dreaded words.

"May we show your house?"

The worst part was what followed:

"At 11:00?"

This is what ran through my mind: ELEVEN O'CLOCK?! Holy COW, that is almost an hour from now! Oh my goodness, Mom and Dad are not here! Okay, okay, deeeeep breath. Your bedroom is clean. Good. The kitchen isn't trashed. Okay. Ben is here. He needs to finish his bedroom first. Okay. Deep breath. The library? Just needs a quick vacuuming and putting the horizontally placed books on vertically. The atrium? We cleaned that last night, just needs a mopping. The craft room? THE CRAFT ROOM! OH MY GOODNESS, what am I going to do? My sewing project is out! My paints are out! The crayons and markers and papers and the whole box of toy cars are out! Okay. Breath. I can shove all of that in the giant drawer which happens to be empty. The TV room? HOLY COW, THAT PLACE IS A PIGSTY!  And my bathroom! Adelynn left all her dirty laundry there!

(a somewhat accurate picture of the state of the house)

At this point, I miraculasly kept myself from freaking out. I scurried like a madman to clean the craft room while I set Adelynn on the task of the TV room. I talked to Mom on the phone. I scrubbed the bathroom in a grand total of three minutes. etc. etc. etc.


Finally Mom and Dad got back, around 10:15. Dad gets pretty freaked out whenever we show the house, so everyone was hurrying around in such a fashion that it actually might have been detrimental to the amount of work actually accomplished.

But we did it. By 10:54, the van was crammed full of dirty laundry, and the whole family was crammed into the other vehicles. We went off to grab a five minute lunch and then head to the soccer feilds. Nick, Will, and Addie all had games to go.


Now comes the fun part. Nick's game was over. Dad, in his usual no-explanation mode, brought some people home. Then he handed me the car keys. I looked at him, uncomprehending.

"Well, get in!"

Ooookay. The car was in the driveway. I sat down. I located the gas and the brake. I expected Dad to show me where the blinker, headlights, etc. are. Then he might bring me to a relatively empty parking lot and let me practice a bit. After all, I'd never even sat in the driver's seat before. I was not prepared for what he said next.

"Okay, Shaylynn, you are going to take us to the soccer game."

WHAT?!

Well, let us say I was insanely nervous that first drive. I know I never once checked the rearview mirror. My turns were far too wide. I went 20 mph on a 30/35 mph road. I nearly ran into the curb. But I survived.

And a few hours later, I drove us back. Then I drove around the neighborhood, practicing turning and breaking. Dad "only" had to grab the wheel once. But it was fun. :)

Now I feel like a teenager

1) I now own a grand total of 2 purses
2) I own a pair of shoes that I rarely wear
3) I HAVE A DRIVER'S PERMIT

Today I discovered...

that the word "bed" actually looks like a bed.

The Little Physicist

For the past several months, I have spasmodically been teaching Adelynn ballet. Rosie is also quite the accomplished gymnast- not a day goes by when she doesn't turn ten cartwheels out of extreme hyperness. Yesterday she was twirling around the living room, jumping jetes across the carpet. I noticed that she was flexing her foot as she jumped. In both ballet and gymnastics, a pointed foot is important.

"Adelynn," I said, "What does your foot have to do when it is in the air?"

Adelynn, with perfect logic and sincerity, answered, "Land."

What they thought was empty...

God's creation really is something, isn't it?

Take the idea that that tiny bit of "nothing" held so much, and that we can't really comprehend how much it held.
Then take a moment to realize that all of the universe is just a very very small bit (think less than a spot that holds "nothing") of God's great majesty...

No matter what you believe about the physical beginning of the universe (this video takes for granted the big bang theory), it is still impressive...

One line in the video, something along the lines of "we pointed the most powerful telescope into empty space for no other reason than the fact that we were curious", reminded me of something I told Mom years ago. "God made science so that people are never bored, and so that they can keep on finding things out about them and God."
I'm not sure what you think, but I think that science can lead us so much closer to God... The world is His creation. When have you ever tried to learn about the character of an artist, and have not looked at his artwork? When have you ever tried to understand the mind of a musician without listening to his music? How could you learn about God without paying some attention to His creation. Of course, we can never learn all about Him. The very very most we could understand is such a tiny sliver of His greatness, for He is infinite. But all Christians are called to love God more and more... and when have you ever grown to love someone without understanding them, even the littlest bit?

William's Glasses

Remember that post about William's glasses? Well, almost a MONTH ago I managed to take a picture of him wearing them. Yeah, I procrastinate and forget things. But here is the picture. They look nice on him, do they not? Now he looks funny when he doesn't have them on. *Note that when I took this picture, he forgot about his glasses, but did take care not to let his braces show through his smile... (actually, this is just the way he normally smiles)

Piratey Things

Have ye ever wanted to be able to scribe like a scurvy pirate does, without all th' effort 'o figurin' out how to scribe like dey do? Ha, me buckos, ye can do it fer sure! Just be off to 'tis here site: http://postlikeapirate.com/translator.php 'n have yerself some scurvy pirate y a ruckas!

'n while we be on th' subject 'o band 'o pirates, why don't ye take a peek at 'tis here a ruckas movin' picture? Veggie Tales be Arrr, me jolly scurvy pirate bucko.



'n don't ye forget to take a look through th' spyglass at me messages 'bout that Arrr musical I was in- th' band 'o pirates 'o Penzance- aka The Pirates of Penzance

Tech Help

Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Enter Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the Any Key is. *

AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in. *

Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with photocopies of the floppies. *

Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key. *

Click "read more" to read more funny tech problems!

Ready for a laugh?

Someone posted this on my fourm and I thought I'd share! Click "read more" at the bottom of the post to read the rest, it might be hidden underneath the widget. :P And if you are seeing this on Facebook (since I've set up a feed to my facebook) then click "view original post" and you should be able to see it. :)



These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?

WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'

ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?

WITNESS: My name is Susan!
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?

WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?

WITNESS: Yes.

ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?

WITNESS: I forget.

ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

You get to be a detective!

YES! YOU CAN DO IT! I'll give you clues, and YOU try to figure it out!
You do not have to be a rocket scientist to solve this one!

Clue #1: I did not go to Mass this morning... ;-( Sunday, of all days for- wait, I have to let you be the detective.
Clue #2: I took a hot bath in the morning.
Clue #3: I watched TV for four hours straight.
Clue #4: I tried to read Chesterton, lost focus, and picked up a fun, easy E. Nesbit book.
Clue #5: *cough*

Its elementary, my dear Watson.

And, for your daily tidbit of information, Sherlock Holmes never said that phrase a single time in the books!

Contradictory? I don't think so.

Random facts about me that some might think contradictory.


I am Catholic
No, I do not worship statues
I am a Christian. (Yes! Catholics are Christians!)

I homeschool
I do not get to do school in my pajamas (except when I am sick- days when the rest of y'all would get a day off)

I think Emma Wodehouse (a Jane Austen character) is a blockhead
I would rather be Emma than Bella Swann!

I can ride a unicycle
I often trip over flat surfaces

Click "read more" to read the rest. btw, "read more" might be underneath the "you might also like" widget.

Rambling thoughts pertaining to glasses and truth. :P

This is a somewhat random, rambling, confusing blog post...
My eyes have been sore from my contacts recently, so I haven't wore them except for volleyball. My glasses have found a nice little niche next to some favorite books on my bookshelf/nightstand... hey, if you are around the house all day, why do you need to wear glasses? You can just take the few extra steps up to the clock to see the time. I could practically go around my house blind! (Except for the fact that I would inevitably trip and fall over the myraid random messes cluttering every imaginable bit of the floor...)

To get back to my point.
Everything is slightly blurry when I do not have my glasses on. For years, this had never bothered me. My eyes had become blurry so slowly that I didn't notice they were becoming blurry.
If Mom hadn't asked why I wasn't able to see the clock on the microwave, I might not have realized that I wasn't seeing 20/20. When I got my glasses, I was amazed at how clear things could actually be. I'd either never known or never realized.

The fact that my glasses are not on now brought that back to mind again. A few years ago, I didn't realize that my vision was blurry, because I didn't know (or had forgotten) what "clear" vision was. Would I recognize just how wonderful clear vision is, if I had never had blurry vision?

To bring that same question up a huge notch: If we didn't know what evil is, would we know what good is? In the garden, Adam and Eve knew only good... Would they have eaten the apple if they knew what evil was? Would we, now, be able to love God as perfectly as us flawed humans are capable, if we didn't know about evil?

Sorry to end the post with rambling questions... Thats just me. :P I guess it doesn't have to end in a question- it can end in a statement.

God has a plan for everything. Nothing happens without being a part of that plan somehow, in someway.

Lepanto Poem

On Ellen's request, I found a copy of the poem I talked about in my earlier post online! It might be confusing... I had a book with several pages of notes that were VERY helpful. I'm sure you will enjoy it regardless, but if you like it, please look into buying the book/borrowing the extra copy from me.

Lepanto

G.K.Chesterton, 1915

---

     White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
     And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
     There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
     It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
     It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
     For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
     They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
     They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
     And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
     And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
     The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
     The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
     From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
     And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.
     Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
     Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
     Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
     The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
     The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
     That once went singing southward when all the world was young.
     In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
     Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
     Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
     Don John of Austria is going to the war,
     Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
     In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
     Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
     Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
     Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
     Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,
     Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
     Love-light of Spain--hurrah!
     Death-light of Africa!
     Don John of Austria
     Is riding to the sea.
     Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
     (Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
     He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,
     His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.
     He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease,
     And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees;
     And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
     Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
     Giants and the Genii,
     Multiplex of wing and eye,
     Whose strong obedience broke the sky
     When Solomon was king.
     They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,
     From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;
     They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea
     Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be,
     On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,
     Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;
     They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,--
     They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
     And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
     And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
     And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
     For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
     We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,
     Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done.
     But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
     The voice that shook our palaces--four hundred years ago:
     It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;
     It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate!
     It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
     Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."
     For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
     (Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
     Sudden and still--hurrah!
     Bolt from Iberia!
     Don John of Austria
     Is gone by Alcalar.
     St. Michaels on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north
     (Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)
     Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift
     And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.
     He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;
     The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;
     The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes,
     And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
     And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
     And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
     And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,--
     But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
     Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
     Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,
     Trumpet that sayeth ha!
         Domino gloria!
     Don John of Austria
     Is shouting to the ships.
     King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck
     (Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)
     The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,
     And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in.
     He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,
     He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,
     And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey
     Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,
     And death is in the phial and the end of noble work,
     But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
     Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed--
     Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
     Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
     Gun upon gun, hurrah!
     Don John of Austria
     Has loosed the cannonade.
     The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
     (Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
     The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
     The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
     He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
     The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;
     They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,
     They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark;
     And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,
     And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,
     Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines
     Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.
     They are lost like slaves that sweat, and in the skies of morning hung
     The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.
     They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on
     Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.
     And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell
     Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell,
     And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign--
     (But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)
     Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,
     Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,
     Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,
     Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,
     Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
     White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.
     Vivat Hispania!
     Domino Gloria!
     Don John of Austria
     Has set his people free!
     Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
     (Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
     And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
     Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
     And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
     (But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

Lepanto

Today is October 7th- the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This feastday was originally celebrated as Our Lady of Victory because of the battle of Lepanto.

And on the topic of Lepanto, one of my favorite authors, G.K. Chesterton, wrote an amazing epic ballad/poem about it. It is simply spectacular.

That is your random tidbit of the day. :)

New Widget

And since it isn't on the sidebar, but somewhere where you would probably notice it more, I'm posting about it. Just because. Its called link within and refers to older,  related or semi-related posts.

iPod

You will never guess what I bought! An iPod touch third generation! I
am posting with it right now. It is amazing- it has so many cool
features! In some ways it is like a handheld PC. So far I have only
downloaded free apps, and even those are spectacular!

Sent from my iPod

Newsletter

Okay, I know that most of you have heard me rave about Regina Doman's Fairytale Novels.

As you probably have also heard, I spend 90% of my computer time on the fourm, which is manned by faithfilled, crazy fans of Regina Doman (people like myself, in other words). We have interesting discussions on everything from religion to music, random discussions on everything from school to ear wax, and of course the Family Tree, which is a major roleplaying section. Book reviews by fellow teens, sharing and critiquing of art, poetry, and other scribblings... Anyways, it is wonderful.

We, the fourm, would like to present you with our second every newsletter! I found this site called Issuu where you can publish documents online. Thanks to that site, I can now share this issue with you. :)

It is a monthly newsletter that we put together. This issue is 18 pages long, but I do suggest printing it out and reading the whole thing. Its worth it.

This month's theme is RAIN.

Oh, yeah, my username is Nenetta. Now you know what I wrote/drew in there. :P

Click here to see it!

And from the lovely Admin comes this note: 

If you would like to recieve the entire paper as an e-mail attachment (in .doc format), please send your e-mail address to inkandfairydust@yahoo.com under the subject heading "Ink and Fairydust Subscription"

And I can personally vouch that Elena will not  spam you or give your email address away.