Ten Days Unt--Wait...

EPIC FAIL.

29 votes out of 81?????? NONONONO! :) Vote on the poll to the right, s'il vous plait :)

*blink*

So, um, I don't know how this happened, but there are not ten days until Christmas. There are nine.

...

I have no idea how that happened. LOL, I've counted the days every day, and it's always come out as being 0 days on the 25. So, I have no idea why all the sudden today I've realized my mistake and not, like, two weeks ago, LOL!

So, sorry. Wow. *is still frowning and trying to figure out how this happened because she really did count and this has never come out wrong before*

LOL, but anyway, I guess I'll be doing ten days until Christmas AND nine days until Christmas today :)

Ten Reasons Why Santa Exists:
1. The Obvious Reason - PRESENTS, duh

2. The Not-So-Obvious Reason - There must be *some* bearing in the Santa Story otherwise it wouldn't get passed down from generation to generation for so long.

3. The Bad Reason - Wikipeida believes in him.

4. The Hair-Splitting Reason - Well, define "Santa"...

5. The Childish Reason - The Cookies are gone!

6. The Elusive Reason - The elves told me so.

7. The Logical Reason - If he's not real, how does everyone know what he looks like?

8. The Sarcastic Reason - Psh, I *know* my parents don't buy me all this...

9. The Artsy Reason - Santa is as real as you imagine him to be.

10. The Political Reason - If Santa is fake, then little kids would be getting their feelings hurt all the time and the government would step in and make it illegal to tell kids that Santa is real. So, Santa must be real because otherwise the government would come and protect us from the tragedy of truth.

Nine Cute Christmas Stockings:
1. Rocker Princess
2. Card Shark
3. Let it snow, man!
4. Christmas on the savanna
5. Sports
6. Just cute
7. For KnightWing ;)
8. Reowr :)
9. It's personal
And so, folks...

MERRY TEN-ONLY-IT-TURNED-OUT-TO-BE-NINE-DAYS-UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! :)

School Schedules. Care to Share?

I've been doing so well in keeping up with my school work that today is barely hard at all :)

I'm curious, though. Every homeschooler's day looks different, and so does every public schooler's. What is a typical day for you? Here's mine:

9:00am: Get up.
9:15: Eat breakfast, read whatever book I'm reading for school.
10:00: Art history. Research, write the paper.
11:30: Read a chapter in "How Shall We Then Live?" and make notes of things to add to my timeline.
12:15: Eat lunch.
12:45: Math.
1:15: Read the chapter in Latin, learn the new grammar rules, make flashcards, and do assigned exercises.
2:15: Read 10 pages or so in biology, add new vocabulary, make notes.
3:15: Read a lesson in logic, do the long, easy, brainless and pointless excercises.
4:00: Work on whatever presentation I'm working on (art grant project, a debate, some other presentation).
4:45: Finished with school! Do chores, and whatever house-cleaning I might have to do.
5:15: Oh sweet freedom. Time to check Facebook, read, write, or blog.
6:00: Dinner.
6:30: Leave for dance, or soccer, or play practice. Whatever it is that night, lol XD
9:30: Get back from dance, or soccer, or play practice. Whatever it is that night.
9:35: Facebook, write, or blog.
10:15: Off the computer, brush teeth, get on pajamas.
10:30: Get in bed and read, write, journal.
11:30: Lights out (usually :)).

And that's a typical day for me. Of course, it varies a little with each day. For instance, I've done all my Latin for this week, so today all I have to do is review. Biology wasn't much today either, and neither was the reading. Then you have those days where you've procrastinated and it takes FORTY TIMES LONGER to do everything :)

We're reading "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, and I am LOVING it so far. The story is exciting and mysterious, the writing style is interesting but not TOO hard to read, and the dialogue is full of dry humor--my favorite kind :)

Also not on the schedule: MY FRIEND'S SWEET 16 TONIGHT!! How fun is that?? The first Sweet 16 I've ever been invited to. Not that I don't have any friends (lol), most of my friends just haven't started turning 16 yet. This is the girl I mentioned in Awaiting the Sensation of a Short Sharp Shock (Emily) who helped me feel more comfortable with the "popular kids". She's so nice and fun, and I'm really excited about her party tonight! Only two things are "bad" about this:

1. I have a soccer tournament game tonight. Yeah, TOURNAMENT. I missed basically the entire soccer season between the play, being sick, and the DC trip. How SUCKY is that?? I can't believe this! I think my team is mad at me, too :( I went to the game last night, and we lost, so we have to play again tonight (EXACT repeat of last year; it's crazy). But I can't miss this girl's Sweet 16, can I? NO! *sigh* I don't know...
2. The restaurant we're going to has peanuts. I'm definitely worried about getting peanut stuff in my food...Oh well. Hopefully I won't die or something. (I won't die, I might break out in hives and feel bad, though...)

Anyway, back to schedules. What does yours look like? Whether you're public, private, or home schooled, we all have different working styles. Care to share?

Imagination and Irritation

Memory Day! Peek into my past... ( ;) )

When I was about ten years old and Lizzy was eight, my parents left us home for an hour or so to go to band practice for our church. Things were fine at home for a little while, but then Lizzy and I heard a noise coming from my dad’s office. It sounded like my dad talking on the phone, so we weren’t bothered by that, until we remembered that our dad wasn’t home. Then we sort of freaked out a little. Lizzy demanded that I go and check in my dad’s office to see if someone was there. After a lot of arguing and freaking out together, I did. I didn’t see anyone, but both of us were convinced we had heard someone.

The rest of the night we kept hearing people! Upstairs, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in our parents’ bedroom. We finally decided that the intruders had to be invisible. It was the only explanation. I had actually been doing some research on invisibility cloaks for a story I was writing, so unfortunately I knew that being invisible was actually possible. Lizzy and I ended up calling our parents, who were more than little ticked off at me for getting us both all scared.

For a long time after that, I really believed that there were people in my house wearing invisibility cloaks. That’s definitely one of the downsides to having a powerful imagination.

So, yes; I've pretty much always been this paranoid and, um, creative :)
------------------------------
FIRST: Thanks for following Lisabailey! You rock!! ;)

FIRST AND A HALF (because "second" sounds too late): Thanks to Bethany for making the wonderful new header for the blog! Yayayayayayayay! I love it! Do you? She says she likes working with photoshop, so if you have the need for a banner as well...

Classical went well today. Our class is really back to its regular self, which makes me all warm and fuzzy inside XP It does, okay?! I love how we all laugh with and at each other, and so much more. Most of us have been together since eight grade, and some of us from even elementary school. We're a pretty tight bunch ;D

There was a Latin quiz this week. Some of you may know that Latin was not exactly my focal point this week. Let's just say, I studied lightly at the most. So, when the teacher announced that the Latin quiz was today, it was one of those You're-Joking-Right?-Please-Be-Joking-Oh-No,-You're-Not moments for me. Despite my horrors, I actually did pefectly fine. The quiz was EASY.

The logic quiz...hmm...In my defense, whoever wrote the book is a flat-out HORRIBLE teacher with NO LOGIC EXPERIENCE or GOOD WRITING EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER. All he talks about is crap like Simple Aprehension and Verbal Expressions and Comprehension vs. Extension and all this junk that has to be put into confusing over-lapping categories! I HATE IT! I *love* logic, so when someone like Mr. What'sHisName comes along and writes a terrible logic book (which we frequently have to change in class because it's INCORRECT), it makes me MAD. Can you TELL?

Lol. Sort of. No, actually, you know what? Not lol.

Other than that, today has been fine. The teacher really loved my "Paradise Lost" paper, which is a major YAY because I loved the book. I hate it when I write a bad paper for a good book.

Tonight I have soccer practice :-/ Normally I don't dislike soccer at all. Normally, I actually love it by this time. The only problem is our coach isn't a great coach. He's not BAD, and he's really nice, he's just not the best coach in the world. So, I feel like we never really learn much. AND, he doesn't make us run, which might be a good thing, except that it means that I'll just STAY out shape instead of improve. Humph.

Desirae Mayes story: I think I wrote some last night, not much, but some. It's going okay. Still not great, and I doubt it will go anywhere. Still, it's good to be writing SOMETHING again, you know?

No play practice tonight :( None, actually, until Friday! *sob*

Hmm...I think that's all for now, folks. The What Disney Movie is Your Favorite? poll is about to expire, so if you'd like to cast your vote, go for it! So far 18 people have voted, which is an all-time high for me :) Yay and thanks, y'all!

Carpe diem!

Mary and Martha: God's Custom-Made Love

So, today was definitely a cool day.

1. Cavender came to my church.
2. The sermon really spoke to me.
3. I had the first play practice.

I'll talk about the second cool thing last; it'll be my thing for God Day.

So, Cavender came to my church today! That was cool. He said he really liked the music, which is my favorite, too. I think our church really does have awesome music, and the band members are all really into.

Play practice went well, I think. We just did a read-through of the script and listened to the songs on a CD. Mushu (the little dragon) is played by a girl who definitely does it justice. The girl who plays Mulan is awesome. The guy who plays Captain Shang (Shang + Mulan = falling in love, duh ;D) is pretty good. He can sing pretty well. If he can just hide that southern drawl a little...Lol! No, really, he did fine. Mulan's father is...not good, and neither is the Emperor. I think the guys were just nervous, though. And it was the very first read through.

I'm, just in case you didn't know this, doing the voice for a big Hun puppet -.- Lols, I'm okay with it now, though. I'm also in the Ensamble (yay for singing and dancing with everyone else), and a hairdresser. I forgot to mention that last night. The hairdresser is going to be my favorite, probably. It's a tiny part with no real lines, but in a song, a have a quick singing-line all my myself, and then some with the other hairdressers and stuff. I picked out a couple of harmony parts, so I'm looking forward to being able to do them. I really hope I get a harmony part and not just the melody...
----------------------------
God Day!

So, the sermon today was about Lazarus. Let me just do a quick run-through of this story. It helps me to do that. So, Jesus and his diciples are just kind of hanging around, and a messenger comes and says to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."

The messenger is talking about Lazarus. Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary are good friends of Jesus', so they figured Jesus would want to know that Lazarus was sick. Really sick. Like, about-to-die sick.

Instead of going right to Lazarus' house, Jesus is just kind of like, "Oh, yeah, okay" and he hangs out in the little town where he is for a few more days.

Finally, he says to his diciples, "Okay, let's go see Lazarus. He's fallen asleep, and we'll just go wake him up."

The diciples are like, "Uh, but isn't sleep probably the best thing for him?"

Jesus: "I mean he's dead."

They go to see Lazarus, and when they're close to his house, Lazarus' sister Martha comes out and says to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you want."

She's pretty much saying, "I know you're the Messiah, so why didn't you DO SOMETHING?"

She's kind of mad. She's like, if you're so amazing and powerful, why didn't you stop this from happening? Why didn't you FIX IT?

*cough* That might sound just a little familiar...maybe...

May 24th: "Then four years later, God takes him away. Uh, ouch. Thanks a lot, God."

July 17th: "WHY COULDN'T I HAVE HAD BROTHERS? IS ONE BROTHER TOO MUCH TO ASK? ONE? ONE??"

August 2nd: "Why had God taken Him away from me? Why on Earth would a good God do that? It's like someone punching you in the face."

March 23rd: "God created the Heavens and the Earth, surely he could give me my older brother!!"

...

Hmm.

A little later, the other sister, Mary falls at the feet of Jesus and says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died."

The way she says it is more like, "How could you be so unkind to your friends?"

Don't you love me, God? Why would you let this happen? Don't you care?

Of course, Jesus ends up raising Lazarus from the dead, but only after he meets both sisters where they are. With Martha, he takes the logical route.

Martha's argument is a simple Modus Ponens:

If you are the Messiah, then you could have saved my brother.
You are the Messiah.
Therefore, you could have saved my brother. (And yet you didn't.)

Jesus talks to Martha about how her brother will rise again. Martha is kind of like, "Yeah, thanks, I know he'll rise again at the ressurection and all."

Jesus says, "I am the ressurection!"

He's like, Martha, listen to me! I AM the ressurection! It's me, it's here! Your brother will rise again.

Mary comes to Jesus not from the logical and theological angle, but from the emotional, friend-to-friend angle. Jesus cries with her. He's really sad! Lazarus was his friend! He's upset. He cries with Mary.

Jesus meets us right where we are. Right where we need to be met. Whether it's logical or emotional, or somewhere in between.

As my pastor said in the sermon this morning (ALL of this is borrowed STRAIGHT from him, by the way), "God's love is not one size fits all, or most. God custom fits his love for us."

That was a great sermon anyway, but add on my whole issue with God not giving me a brother, then giving me one and taking him a way, and the sermon is flat out AMAZING.

It COULD NOT have been more spot on. I come to God from Martha's angle, as demonstrated in my post excerpts. God, you created the Heavens and the Earth. And you didn't give me a brother?? If you're so great, fix this injustice!

I also come to God from Mary's angle a little. God, if you love me, why would you do something so unkind? Why dangle my life's desire in front of my face, and snatch it back? Don't you care for me?

I know this has been a very long post, and sort of jumbled and probably at parts unclear, but I just needed to get in writing how much this morning's sermon hit me. Everything was exactly fit to ME! This story is, literally, ANCIENT, and I've heard it, probably also literally, A HUNDRED TIMES, and it's never been so clear to me.

Every detail fits me. It's even about losing a brother and being mad at God because he could have prevented it and didn't.

It takes my breath away, y'all.

I could elaborate more, but I know you must be tired of the ranting, so I'll stop. I just want you to know that I KNOW that God is watching out for us. He knows what he's doing. And every once in a while, he might throw an tired ol' Bible story at you and revel a whole new meaning.

Thanks, God.

Nostalgia

Quote Day:

“The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idolized past.”–Robertson Davies

So, today was the first day of school at home.

*groan*

NOW I remember why I prayed for summer. Doing school for 8 grueling hours with no rest will do that for you. And I'm still not done. I have stuff to do still, but it's BritLit, so it's not that bad.

Subject Rundown:

Latin: Somebody just shoot me. Either the exercises are so easily I want to throw myself off a building, or they're so hard I want to throw myself off a building.

BritLit: Awesome! Interesting, not too hard, great! I love literature!

Art History: Ugh, it sounds fun, but there's SO MUCH TO DO! We have to read all these books, write all these papers, memorize all the stuff about famous pictures, make a timeline of all the big music and art stuff we come across. It's just too much! I really like the books (How Shall We Then Live? and State of the Arts), but there's just too much to do.

Debate: Challenging, but fun, like last year. It's basically the exact same thing as last year.

Biology: Not really hard, just a lot of stuff to read over and work sheets to do. It's not good or bad yet.

Logic: Ridiculously easy, not fun, not what I love, and it's so disappointing! I love logic, but this isn't "real" logic. *scowls*

Alebra 1 (um, again): Do I even have to say anything?

Overall, *sob* I miss Challenge I!! Oh my gosh! You really never realize how good you have it until you're gone! I hate this! I *LOVED* Challenge I! It was, like, the best year of my whole life! (Challenge B was pretty awesome, too, though...). *SOBSOBSOB*

I just CANNOT live in the present, can I?? I was living so in the past last year that I missed the complete and utter AWESOMENESS of the year! And now I'm doing it again! I'll never learn.

But this year really does suck (so far...day two).

And last year really did rock beyond all freakin' compare.

Other than that rant, I have nothing to say. I feel like I'm just barely keeping my head above water, and school has BARELY started.

:'(

Next year when I say that Challenge III sucks and that Challenge II was amazing, come over and kick me, would you?

*sob*


P.S. Vote in the poll, s'il vous plait.