"...Dreams are dangerous things - they look solid in your mind, but you just try to reach for them. It's like gathering clouds." ~Hattie Big Sky

I used to be a good blogger, correction, I used to be an amazing blogger.

At least compared to the blogger I am now, which is a lowly, idiotic, lazy, I'll-do-it-next-week-probably blogger.

I am sincerely sorry.

But really I'm not all to blame. The big culprit?

This dude:

I admit, it does steal my time some, but more than that, it uses up my creativity. I prefer my statuses to be a bit on the witty side, or at the very least somewhat amusing, and hopefully never boring. It my fb status is ever as dull as "I'm going to bed now." You have my permission to fine me for dullness. It seems these past few months when ever I would have a creative urge, I would sit down to write a post, (and since it had been so long since I'd updated it would have to be a good long one) I'd eventually run out of time, and rather than publishing a half-finished or fragmented post I'd post the gist of my idea on fb.

For instance, the name of this post is my current fb status, I thought about writing a review about the book I just finished Hattie Big Sky, but I didn't have time, so instead I published one of the my favorite quotes from it. (BTW, I highly recommend the book, it's a Newberry Award winner!)

Since Facebook is daily stealing from my blog I thought it was time for my blog to steal back (considering it's all in the family anyway). Here are some of my status in no order at all since... as far back as I decide to copy/paste before I get tired.

Enjoy!

Lydia Margaret hates getting her hopes up only to have them dashed... :-(

I'm the type of girl who will walk 4 blocks in the pouring rain to avoid parallel parking.

Luke has renamed the Big Pond, it is now the Athletic Ocean.

IMHO middle aged women should NOT have Hannah Montana ring tones.

Sometimes I forget that when I'm talking... people listen to me occasionally.

Our house is currently layered gray over yellow with orange dots with the occasion patches of white. Seriously.

Apparently Grace University thinks I should try out for a music scholarship. ME! The girl who plays piano by ear, and can't carry a tune in a bucket with a handle. *dies laughing*

Sometimes all I want is be ultimately special to someone....

My "oh-so-strong-oh-so-superior" little brother just asked me to open a jar for him. *savors this wonderful moment*

Soup: It's what's for lunch.

A warmed-up car, cute tights and stylish boots, a little coffee in my cream.... I'm ready to start my day! :-)

I pride myself on being a person who can laugh at her own mistakes (and believe me they many and often) but I'm afraid someday soon I'll do something incredibly stupid, something that won't ever be funny, something I can't laugh off. It scares me....

"Do you ever feel like the whole world is a tux and you're a pair of brown shoes?"

I had the whole gas station and the cafe next door laughing at my attempt to back my car to where I could pump gas.... *sigh*

"TEA." = The Jane Austen equivalent of "How about them Cubs?"


"I'm like a facebook flair, little, round, and occasionally goofy."


Seriously, I have the most selfless, strong, caring, loving, understanding, sweet Mother ever. She's the BEST!

On Avoiding Writing

"Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o’clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word “paisly” in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on The New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting—by width—all the interesting articles I’ve cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write.”
— P. J. O’Rourke
The Wit and Wisdom of P. J. O’Rourke

The Day I Almost Died

Wait, I am alive, right?

*checks pulse*

Okay, I'm good.

Anyway...

I almost died the day I had to face this.

Scary huh?

To borrow from Fanny Squeers's quotableness "My heart does SO Palpitate!" Only mine was more of the hammer-again-a-steel-wall-I-can't-hear-anything-over-the-noise type of palpitate rather that the pitter-patter of a love sick heart. Personally I would have preferred the latter...

It was a bad morning, (bad being the mildest term I could use here) Try attempting to control your emotions so you don't burst into tears in a so-silent-you-could-hear-a-pin-drop room of 30 kids who look madly smart and confident. During this time also try to imagine being aware that you're whiter than a sheet and struggling how to do simple things like spelling "concentration" (it's a c, right???) and figuring out what on earth what 6 divided by 2 is. (3?? 2?? 12???). Then you'll know how I felt, sort of.

Like I said, it's was bad morning. I left the test building accompanied by a tsunami size wave of despair a headache the size on Montana. I was angered by the injustice of it, just because I'm not a very apt tester (I do NOT work well under pressure) I was going to get the most embarrassing score of my life and I'd have to take the test again this fall. I was just thrilled. (The former sentence is just dripping with sarcasm.)

I got my test scores on Saturday.

I stared hard at the envelope that I was sure held my doom, I wasn't even sure I wanted to open it.

But I did, because among all my faults the greatest is a maddening inclination towards curiosity. It killed the cat, and I was sure it would kill me too.

*reads score*

*re-checks pulse*

*pinches self*

*re-reads the name at the top of the results*

*re-re-reads MY name at the top of the results*

*blinks eyes*

*screams*

*jumps up and down*



This proves that there is a God in Heaven.

This proves miracles to happen.

(FYI the ACT is scored 1-36, 21 is the national average.)

So...

I haven't been blogging much in the last 3 weeks... not since I turned 18. Not that I think I'm too old for it now or anything, don't worry. Some of my non-blogging has been due to play practice and performance taking up most of my creative energies. Some because I haven't had much to blog about since the play ended. Mostly it's probably because I have a facebook now so when I want to spout about something I put it on my facebook. But I still miss blogging, I miss getting the brilliant post ideas, the hammering out of the words, the anxious wait for comments, I really just adore it. The writer in me loves the words and the and the freedom to express myself, and the sister in my loves the opportunity to express an entire thought without being interrupted. :-)

I have anything of terrible interest to tell you about but here's an update of my life:

What's happened this week:
After a long search (I've been keeping an eye open since fall)I finally bought a dress for Banquet yesterday. It was agonizing because I found a dress I LOVED but well... I'm too practical to spend $200 on a dress I'd wear once :-( I found another one that I liked a lot but there was one problem: I had vowed to not wear pink, it seemed too typical for me. Guess what color this dress was? Pink guess which dress I bought? You guessed it, the pink one. It's princessy and poufy and all around fun. I'll post pictures after banquet on May 8th.

What happened today (or more appropriate, what failed to happen):
Geometry. Why can I not understand axioms and postulates???? ARRRGHHH! *pulls hair out* I also looked at maybe taking some classes next year at a local tech school. School never ends does it??


What's up for me in the coming weeks:
Next week Joe and I will be in Cincinnati, Ohio for NCFCA Region 6 Regionals competition. If you didn't see our duo before here's the video of it (this was taken a couple of months ago, we're much better now.)

What I've been Reading:
Now that I've actually had time to read I've devoured 2 books for history and 4 for pleasure in the past 2 weeks. For School I read: Journey to Topaz, which was an interesting story about a Japaneses family during WWII it amazed me how honorably they stood up to such
injustice: being imprisoned when innocent of any wrong doing. I'm also reading about the Vietnam War which is very interesting and very sad. For fun I read the first book in the Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events I have a feeling I'm going to become as addicted to them as Becca is. I just finished The Highwayman's Footsteps which was an interesting spin of the poem The Highway Man by Alfred Noyes well written, good story, clean, my only problem was the author's addiction to ending chapters with cliff hangers and foreshadowing. It's wouldn't be so bad except that every single chapter ends that way and there are 60 chapters, usually about 2 pages long. Drove me nuts.


What I've been Learning:
I learned that sometimes God answers right away, even before you had know that you asked. Sometimes when you ask for something and are very specific and lay out your entire little plan for God he smiles and nods and then says politely "No, I know better than you do." Sometimes you wish for something and then you forget about. Of course low and behold months later you get it you wanted and complain to God because of course it's NOT what you thought it was. Then God reminds you in his own ironic way. *sighs* Be careful what you pray for...


What I've Been Thinking About:
How odd being 18 is. I was going to blog about it the other day and Joe said: "You're blogging about that AGAIN??" Have I been obsessing over it? I just thought that this is a pivotal point in my life and I thought my dear blog readers might like to share it with me. I have been 18 for over 3 weeks now. A jam packed 23 days of new experiences, new feelings, new knowledge and a better understanding of God. I guess I've just realized that I can't stop time. The play is over and as far as I know I will never act on the stage again, this is something I just have to hand to God. I do have to Graduate on May 16th and I do have to move on after that and agree with the noble (ha!!) lyrics of High School Musical 3 "High School won't last forever". I have a life waiting for me planed out by God. I need to move into it. I might put my heels down but I'll move slowly and surely.


Fact:
This post is too long.

Wordy Wednesday English Assignment About a Social Evil

Evil, it’s a hard word to pin down. The dictionary defines it as “profoundly immoral or wrong.” But what is immortality? Many would say it is what is right or wrong. But what is right and wrong? 200 years ago this would have been an easy question to answer. Then white and wrong was black and white. Even in underdeveloped countries and lands wrong always followed that same similar guidelines or laws. These laws can be boiled down to two basic principles (1) Do all you have agreed to do. (2) Do not encroach on other persons or their property. This sounds simple, no? The 2 laws cover about everything, and you could say that anyone who breaks these laws would be doing evil.

In modern day United States Of America, the 2^nd law is broke many times each day. No, I’m not talking about, acts of violence by criminals, I’m talking about murder. Murder, you must agree with me is encroaching on another person. But I’m not talking about the kind of murder that a person can get tried for. I’m talking about legal murder, our justice system accepts it, even protects this type of cold-blooded murder. There are professionals in this area of murder, and they are proud to tell you what they do for a living. Every day they kill humans, real, thinking, and functioning people, with fingers, toes, and feelings.

These professional killers?

Abortion doctors.

This evil?

The killing of 100,000 of innocent children.

The unbelievable part is, they find no evil in it. They find not wrong in doing what a child from most primitive nation on earth could tell you is wrong. But some how, in today “advanced culture” it’s suddenly right. Black and white are mixed, and all you have is a muddled gray, where no one remembers that there was a black and a white. Morality becomes something derived from personnel preference. In this thought I am the final authority on everything, there is no higher law or law at all. The 2 basic laws are ignored. When it is legal to take life from a tiny precious child, for selfish reasons and it is legal, law no longer is a “divine”, there is no accountability, there is no right, wrong, or even a point to life. Life is cheap in a society where it is casually extinguished. Life, which is the center of everyone’s beings, yours mine, everyone’s, how can it be “right” to hold your own life in such high esteem as to assume there is no one higher, but at the same time, put down another’s life, just because they are weaker than you. This is truly evil.

Wordy Wednesday #5

Mood:The state of a person's mind; the general feeling of a group.

I've always loved the way LiveJournal does moods, but I'm dedicated to blogger, I'd never switch. So I decided to bringing moods to blogger when I found this cool set of Jane Austen ones. I'll try to put one at the end of each post as well as changing it about every time I visit so I now have a "current mood" gadget on the right part of the screen beneath my profile.

This is more of something I wanted to do than something for my readers.

I guess I'm feeling moody and random right now.

(BTW, I checked, there isn't one for random. A pity, I would use it often.)

Wordy Wednesday #4

Aptly; This quote describes my feelings aptly.


"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

Wordy Wednesday #3

Tragic~ Provoking deep sadness, distress or grief.

Poem~ A complete and self-contained piece of writing in verse that is set out in lines of a set length and uses rhyme.imagery, and often rhyme to achieve its effect.

Remembrance~ The act of honoring the memory of a person or event

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae

BTW: Check out THIS cute apron give-away!

Wordy Wednesday #2

Photogenic: Tending to look attractive and good in photographs.

Camera Shy: Shunning photographers because of a dislike of being photographed.

Example 1: It is good to be photogenic for your senior pictures.
Example 2: Grace Photography worked wonders with the camera-shy girl.

Steph took my senior pictures on Monday.
It was an interesting experience.
Fun, but I'm not going to go into modeling anytime soon.

Here's some of my favorites.
Copyrights go to Grace Photography.


Note: These are my favorites. I don't think Mom and Steph are crazy about #3 or #5.
My new profile picture is from Monday too.

Wordy Wednesday #1

Obsequiously

Guess What it means:-)

No Google.

No Dictionaries.

Pure Gray Cells.

EDITED:
Obsequiously means:
Submissive; excessively eager to please or obey.

I'll pick an easier word next week ;-)