Perfect Day to Finally Relax

Today's weather was perfect to go outside and read while cuddled up in a cozy, oversized sweater.

This week has been so extremely stressful. Biology has been killing me.... And I just finished the second week of homework. Which means we're hardly even into the year of school at CBA yet.
Thankfully, it's not killing only me...I was messaging one of my friends the other day and he said that Biology was killing him- without me having to say anything about it being overwhelming first! I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it hard.

We have a quiz every single week. And we have midterms each semester and finals each semester.
Which is probably what public school students go through as well. So I'm just thankful I've never had to deal with a quiz every single week up until this point.

It wouldn't be so hard....if the words I'm trying to remember were even slightly pronounceable.

That's why I was so grateful for today... minus my other school work, today was wonderful and an autumn coolness had struck the air all the sudden, making me go outside to finally relax and read a book I haven't been able to pick up all week because of studying. (I think my hard work in studying might have paid off though...I have a pretty good feeling that I aced that quiz.)

I really can't stand how being back in school suffocates your free time to be able to get lost in a good book. One reason why I should really appreciate summer for giving me that time.

There's two books coming out soon by some of my favorite authors! I had them on my Christmas list, but I told my mom today that I don't think I can wait that long! I have a small amount of money I've been putting back that's going towards a kayak, but a small set back won't hurt.  One of them is coming out next week, and the second one is about two weeks behind the first.

Also, I recently joined an online group for postcard swapping. The goal is to collect all 50 states! You accomplish this by commenting on a post of a state that you need and sending them a postcard when they private message you their address, and then you'll receive a card in return!
I have ten at the moment, so I'm off to a very good start! So far I have: Nebraska,  New Jersey, North Carolina, California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Washington, and Canada ( which doesn't really count as a state- but it's still fun to have!)

Which reminds me! I got four items in the mail today! Three postcards and a penpal letter from New Hampshire.
Have I ever told you how much I love opening the mail box and finding something for me inside?

I also joined another group for penpals. I signed up for 5 and then decided to sign up for 2 more. I have Kayla in Alaska, Kayla in Florida, Jayla in Texas, Sarah in Indiana, Mackenzie in Louisiana, Lindsay in Kentucky, and Leah in Florida. I've only heard back from two of them so far. That's why I signed up for so many! Most of them tend to not work out, and even if they do, it may not be long term, and I love long term penpals.

-Stephanie

A day in Chambersburg, P.A.

I just couldn't wait until October 5th to do another painting...so I signed up for one happening earlier, Rachel wasn't able to make it to this painting class, but it was still lots of fun.
I like to do my paintings standing up, so it can get pretty tiring after a while, but lunch break is at the perfect point when you're just about to fall over. Mom, dad and Britney brought me lunch from Wendy's and I ate in the van. The classroom was full this time, last time there were only three people painting. Mom was going to walk me in so she could see my painting half way through, but I wasn't very proud of it at that point, so I told her that she would have to see it later once I went back and fixed a couple things.
And after two more hours, my painting had transformed and it was a little better than I expected.
Mrs.Powell was actually saying that this painting was not good for beginners. I've only done one other painting....so I think I'm still considered a beginner.
Here it is!

I'm excited for the next painting! It's a winter scene with mountains in the background!

 

After 5 exhausting hours of painting, I put my painting in the van and got to walk around Hobby Lobby for the first time. That store has everything!

I got a box of 50 notecards and a pack of three wax seal sticks this time. But next time I'm definitely going to be purchasing some of their adorable charms and make jewelry out of them!

I got 50 notecards because of  my penpals!  I have lots of cute cards already at home, but they're so cute that I never use them!

 

I loved the route we took to get home... last time we took the highway, but dad drove us a little further into P.A. and through Gettysburg, it was absolutely fascinating.

And the scenery!   Oh my, mountains were on either side of us, and they were so close, I felt like I could reach out my hand and touch them. Some clouds were drifting so low that they touched the mountains, it was such a breathtaking view.

 

 

-Stephanie

How to make a new Friend

Making new friends has been hard for me my whole life, and most of the time I think it would be easier if people came to me first, but lately I've been stepping out of my comfort zone and talking to some new middle schoolers at CBA. So here's some simple rules I find to making a new friend.

Make the effort- In order to make new friends, you have to make the effort to introduce yourself.

Listen-Be interested in what your friend is talking about, even if you aren't.

Keep in touch- I've lost contact with many good friends over the years that I regret losing contact with. If you want to be friends and stay friends, make a hard effort to keep in touch.

Surprise them- To be a good friend, remember their birthday, a small gift or a birthday card is enough to show that you care and they always appreciate it.

These are only four steps in being a good friend, but I think they cover the basics!

-Stephanie

Draft Horse Rescue Center

 Lately, I've been surrounded by a lot of my friends have been all about horses. And I'm getting even more horse crazy than I was before. All I want right now is to run into a field and wrap my arms around a horse's neck. There's so many small farms around us that have horses....don't you think they could spare me one?

A family we know just got two horses. I was thinking about asking if I could clean out the stables and do some other work around and maybe exercise or have some riding time in return.
But they just got horses....so I wouldn't be able to ask until the excitement had died down a little bit for them.

But my mom found this really cool place that isn't very far away from our house.
It's a Draft Horse Rescuing Center. And they're in need of volunteers. Plus after volunteering for a certain amount of hours, you get free riding time!

The only thing is that mom wants it to be a half credit as an elective for next year. But it doesn't mean that I have to wait until next fall to start right?

I have to look into it a little bit more and see if I can get an appointment for a tour of the place.

I just need to be around horses again. I miss it now more than ever.

Everywhere I'm turning lately, I'm either hearing about horses or seeing them in a field blocked in by a fence.

Cross your fingers for me!

-Stephanie

Instagram video!

I couldn't resist making this...
You now know of my secret love for Richard Armitage.

Have a WONDERFUL day!

-Stephanie

Autumn crisp at the end of summer

It's finally arriving here. The coolness swirling through the air, the chilly morning dew under my bare feet.... I've missed it so. Autumn is the only time of the year that I truly feel alive.

My family and I went to our regular place for breakfast this morning. I really enjoy being a regular costumer there....they'll bring out your regular drink without having to ask what you would like!
It's such a cute little restaurant too.

Then we went out to thrift shops. I didn't have an excellent day finding things. Yesterday was more fun at the thrift shop because all of my items only cost $1 all together (and that never happens anymore) I got about 40 notecards. I'm hoping to be finding some new penpals soon...so I'm just preparing haha. And then I got an adorable set of napkin rings that had forks,spoons, and a knife on it! It was only 25 cent for two of them. So I got it for my Hope Chest. I've been putting back a couple items here and there to have if I ever get married. I only have measuring spoons and napkin rings in there at the moment, but hey, you have to start somewhere!

After we were done thrift shopping, Britney and I went up to a homeschool Eagle's football game.
It was terriabley hot watching the game. Suddenly the autumn breeze and the clouds overhead had vanished all together. I felt like I was smoldering in my autumn apparel. I actually even got some sun on my face!
We lost the game, but it's always fun to cheer on fellow homeschoolers.

Britney's been wanting to stop at this place called 'Plato's Closet' so we went there today after the game. It's sort of like a thrift shop...but of only really nice, hardly worn clothing. All the shirts are regularly $10 each, so you have to look closely in the clearance to find a good deal. I think I'll be going again, just with clothes money. I got an adorable knee-length skirt I think I'll wear to CBA one week this fall. And the best part about the store, is that you can bring in your nice, hardly worn clothing and get cash for bringing them in. Defienetly thinking about doing that! I have bags of clothes I was going to give away because I just don't wear them anymore, but if I can get money for them? Even better!

On our way back home Britney offered to stop at Chick-fil-a to buy us oreo milkshakes. I agreed, we hadn't had one in a long time! When we pulled up to pay, the worker told us "Actually, the car in front of you paid for your milkshakes." And Britney was a little shocked and said "Oh, okay."
Meanwhile I'm nearly banging my head on the window. Haha
That was just the sweetest thing! That's never happened to me before. I'm going to have to return the favor one day when I have a job...and money.

-Stephanie 

My fourth first day of CBA

You would think that this being my fourth year of CBA that I would be more calm, cool, and collected with classes kicking back up again, right?
Well that wasn't the case for me.
I had a headache, butterflies in my stomach, and tension everywhere in my body.

Even though I was nervous, I thought things would still go smoothly today since I'm a Thursday Class veteran. Yet again, that was not the case!

Today didn't go the way I had planned in my mind at all.

We left our house pretty early and got down there at 9am. We signed up to purchase drinks for snack bar, so we were going to drive around back to unload all the drinks, but the back way was blocked.
Mom parked in the front parking lot and told me to go check if it was locked, or if I could just push open the gates.
I actually felt really cool doing this- though nobody was watching....haha.
I jogged to the gate and the lock was unlocked, so I removed it and slid a half bar over and pushed open both of the sides, then closed it after my mom had driven through.
9am was probably my favorite part of the day.
Sophia, Mom, me, and David hauled in the drinks from our van and set up the rest of the yearbook snackbar. It was just really fun because one of the best parts of snackbar is figuring out how to stack all the foods into different pyramids and towers. I made my first tower with Yoo-Hoo drinks. Haha it really is fun!
And it's just fun playing around with the boxes and stuff. When we were done, Colleen, David, Mckenzie, Sophia and I just stood in a circle and joked around.

Then yearbook hour came around. I sat next to Amanda and Rachel. That class is pretty laid back right now, so that's still fun. We were brainstorming today what we could do differently with academics because it's normally pretty boring. I hope I didn't offend anyone, but I raised my hand and said that we should do something different for the sports, because it's the same every year and kind of boring and dull- which Mrs.Branham said that she liked it the classic way- but it doesn't mean the rest of the students do! I  just hope I didn't offend her by saying that...

Improv hour rolled around and was probably the most awkward class so far.
I didn't have anyone to cling to. Except for Sophia, but she wasn't desperate to cling to my side or anything. We played digits, where we all sit in a circle (there's about 65 of us in all) and close our eyes and try to count up to 100 without anyone saying the same number at the same time, if that happens, we have to start over at 1.
That was fun, but I didn't say anything.
The next game was clumps. Where Mrs.Abbott will call out a number with  mixed gender/ same gender. I was sitting with Sophia, Mckenzie, and Hannah. Mrs.Abbott called out 3.
Automatically, they clumped together and by the time I turned around to find someone else, everybody else had already found a group.
So that was really awkward. I was the first one, and the only one out.
Mrs.Abbott gave me a side hug and put me in front of everyone because this was a get-to-know-you game and asked me to say my name and grade in front of everyone which was super awkward for me.
The next game was 'What are you doing?' which is pretty complicated to explain, but that was probably my favorite.
Then we went around the circle saying our name and grade and why we decided to take improv and I said "Because I want to be more outgoing"

Next, 12pm study hall. This was probably my only week being in there without having to sign out to study for Biology (which has a test every week). I was behind snack bar with Meg for about 15 minutes. There was about seven new 7th graders, but one stood out.
A group of my guy friends were in a circle joking around while there was a new guy sitting at a table all by himself, listening to music, so I went over to talk to him and spent the rest of that study hall hour talking with him.
I still remember my first day of CBA and a very nice senior named Julia talked to me. The first day is the best day to reach out to the newbies, because that's when it means the most.

Biology is pretty intense. We did a lab today and we have homework, plus a quiz to study for happening next week. Oh joy. Nothing much to say there....It went pretty okay, it felt just like physical science, just a little different.

And lastly, volleyball. Which might have been the worst part of my day?
I don't know. There, again, was nobody to cling to. Shannon (the girl I've clinged to during volleyball for the past three years) 's best friend, Jessica is taking volleyball this year, so I feel sort of abandoned there.
And Mrs.Woo mentioned something about Kayla and Hannah being team captains. It doesn't sound official, but it still sort of ticked me off slightly.
Hannah's first year of volleyball was last year, and Kayla didn't really play but five or so games with us. But she took volleyball at public school, so I'm sure her mom had a talk with Mrs.Woo that her daughter should be a team captain.
Mrs.Woo normally picks by veterans and how good you are. I've been playing with CBA longer than both of them and they always give me compliments that I'm really good.
It's not that being a team captain is huge to me, but it was always something I've been wanting since I started taking volleyball. Of course....I know "Life isn't fair" but this just isn't right.
Hopefully it was just for the game we were playing, but there's no way to be sure.

Hopefully it will be better next week. The first day is always the worst day for me.

-Stephanie

Buying and Selling... (again)

     Waking up at 5:30am and walking Mandie to our neighborhood's stop sign and back before we leave to set up at a flea market is such a fun tradition now. I love being up that early because the world is asleep and I can see the stars in the clear early dawn. I got to see Orion's belt. I haven't seen his constellation lately! Maybe I should look more into the seasons of constellations. We have a huge telescope just sitting in our basement waiting to be used!

     Our table was set up in a very nice spot. To our left was a crochet scarves and necklaces company. We were actually neighbors to them in our last flea market, so that was a pleasant surprise. To our right was a Bed and Breakfast owner, she started her business with her husband and have a place in downtown Frederick, and next to her was a lady that used to own sheep! She had several skeins of wool hanging from the back of her car and had a huge bag of wool roving. As Britney and I walked over we both expected the large bag of roving to be over a hundred bucks. But much to our surprise, the lady was only asking $10 for it and $1 per skein of wool. It was pure wool too....and pure wool is crazy expensive. We couldn't help ourselves! I ran back over to mom and she gave me a 10 and we bought the bag of roving while Britney purchased two balls of roving and one skein of wool. I decided to get a skein of wool as well. You never come across this kind of deal with wool, so I wasn't about to pass it up! Mom also wanted me to go back and get $5 skeins of it that we could make soap scrubbies out of for our business. Near the end of the flea market she had only sold 1 more ball of roving, and two more skeins of wool. I went over with 20 dollars and asked how many more skeins she had. There was only 14 left, so I got them!

 

 

Just look at all of it!

I've sort of leaned away from crochet and knitting, but I think this might just kick me back into it for a while. When everyone started tearing down their tables, the lady came over to our canopy and had a skein of wool in her hands. "I didn't know if you knew that there was one left..." she reached out to give it to me and I put my hand up and reached for a dollar and she said "Oh, no no that's alright." I was a little shocked and said "Wow, thank you very much!" She smelled some of our soap and asked what was good for dry skin. My mom said oatmeal, but bastille is very good to soften the skin and she ended up purchasing what I suggested!

And she was such a nice lady. It's actually easy to come across nice venders at flea markets. Everyone is so nice at these events.

 

 

As Britney and I walked around we also stopped at a table with lots of school books and novels connected with history. The vender was actually a homeschool mom and her daughter was off to her freshman year of college. That was cool because I got to talk about me being a homeschooler as well.

She was selling an aquarium and there was a bag of aquarium décor inside the aquarium with no price on either of them. You never come across decor that's separate so I asked how much she was asking for it and she said she was going to sell it with the aquarium for $7 all together, but I told her that I already had an aquarium. She told me to make her an offer, so I offered $3 and she accepted. But I only had a 20 dollar bill. But a shopper next to me said "Oh that's okay, Marget, I'll break it for her" (that wasn't her real name...but yeah) He was really nice too! So I bought it and looked around her tables a bit more and came across "BBC's Planet Earth" It's a 5 disc set and still in perfect condition. I remember it being advertised and was pretty interested. It was $10....but I got it anyway because it looks like an amazing, well put together, documentary. She wished me the best of luck with my schooling as I left. Such a nice lady.

 

Those were the only really good deals I came across. Haha oh my goodness! I was in someone's canopy looking at their books and a Chihuahua was walking by with a leash but nobody holding the leash....and the dog started barking because there was shopper with a dog, I picked up the leash and looked at the owner who obviously wasn't bothered about the whole thing and I just looked at her and asked "Would you like your dog's leash back?" and she said "Oh...thanks." In the most uninterested tone ever! It was sort of comical.

 

Also there was a husband and wife biker couple that was purchasing a glass bowl with a lid from our neighbor that owns the Bed and Breakfast and they asked if the lady had anything that they could pad the lid with since they were on a motorcycle, so I ran over and offered them one of our brown paper bags that we bag our soaps in. They were so grateful and said "Oh, thank you, dear! How kind of you!"

 

While we were in Urbana, I brought my Bob Ross dvds to return to the library ( my library doesn't offer anything from Bob Ross, so I get them from up there) I also had two Bob Ross dvds on hold, but I didn't see them in the hold rack. I went up to the desk and asked about them, the librarian was a older man with a beard and glasses, in a way he reminded me of pictures of Santa. He was very nice as well. He told me that the dvds weren't under my name on hold, but they were upstairs in the non-fiction section. I never go to this library, so I really don't know my way around! He gave me some numbers and pointed me in the direction to go once I reached the top of the stairs. It took me a while to find the dvd section and I couldn't find the Bob Ross. But I found some great ocean documentaries! They even had "IMAX Under the Sea"! The one I've been dying to see at the Virginia Aquarium! I had to check it out. Then  I mentally slapped myself, remembering the numbers that the older gentleman gave me. I found the Bob Ross dvds in no time after that! I went back downstairs to the check out and even though I usually use the self check out whenever possible, I was going to go to the older gentleman since he was so nice before, but he was gone by the time I was back downstairs. An older lady was taking his place so she checked my books out instead. As she checked out my books she said, "Oh, so you're the person who got Bob Ross the last time, hmm?" I laughed and said yes said that I enjoy his paintings. I asked if she had ever watched his show, and she said yes, and that he was a very talented man. As I was walking away she said "You know you can renew dvds, right?" I answered "yes, twice right?" she nodded. I don't think she knew that there's several different series I've checked out. They just all have the same cover. Haha. But everyone was so nice at that library. I have a lovely library, but the people that work there are mostly older ladies and aren't always the nicest people.

 

 

Such a lovely day!

-Stephanie

Haircut Trials and Tribulations

This morning I woke up, took a shower and suddenly decided that I wanted to get bangs today.
For the past two years I've been growing out my hair and my bangs have constantly been growing out as well. I've just been putting my bangs back with a hair clip and here's a slight example of it:

 

As you can see, my bangs are sort of wrapped around my head.  It was super annoying sometimes because my bangs just had to be clipped back because they were in my face if I let them down. And in the summer heat, my bangs grew even longer and were wrapped more than half way around my head when I clipped them back. I originally wanted them to grow out with the rest of my hair....but it's too late to turn back now.

So it was a good, but short and dumb decision. Britney cut my bangs for me after my shower and I immediately hated it. It was cut right across and I looked terrible. I let mom take the scissors and it looked even worse. It was too big a section of my hair for bangs and automatically my hair started curling from the release of all that weight of the rest of my bangs. That looked even worse.

I put my awful bangs up out of my face and took Mandie out on her morning stroll. As I was putting on her collar mom said "You might as well let me trim the rest of your hair now." And I replied "No, I'm not getting any uglier." Really. I really, really hated my bangs at first. It was just awful.

After school I wetted and braided my bangs, maybe they would look better curly? I sat out in the sun for a half hour and waited for them to dry. I came back inside and took out the braid. My bangs looked even worse then! I clipped my bangs out of my face and decided to not do any thing else with them and immediately regretted it and stood myself back in front of the mirror and promised myself to figure out a way to look good and feel good about myself even with these bangs.

I went into the bathroom and plugged in Britney's straightener. I straightened my bangs first and then straightened a couple odd places and looked in the mirror. To be honest, I actually sort of like it now. Though I can't really stand having straight hair. But I'll just have to deal with it for a while until they grow back out again.

I was just really tired of always having a hairclip in the back of my hair.  In pictures on facebook I could always easily find the back of my head because nobody else has a hairclip in the back of their hair like me. So there's a couple pros and cons of having bangs.

Here's my after picture!

 

It's not too bad?

I just have to figure out what to do when picture day gets here (the end of this month) how to wear a ponytail for volleyball and how to braid my hair without my bangs in it.

 

-Stephanie

Anne Broadstreet Poem "To my dear Husband"

To my Dear and Loving Husband

"If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee. If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that Rivers cAnneot quench, Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence. Thy love is such I can no way repay. The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love let's so persever That when we live no more, we may live ever." -Anne Broadstreet  Love was so real and sincere back in the days of early settlement in the America. There's still signs of sincere love everywhere, but nothing close to how much a man and woman loved each other back then. Don't settle for just anyone. Be still, my heart, and wait patiently. -Stephanie