Kristoff

I just had to draw him. Because I love him ^_^

 

-Stephanie

It's beginning to feel like Christmas

Christmas music officially came on our local radio yesterday. I turned on my radio when I went to bed last night , and woke up to Christmas music in the morning because I forgot to turn my radio off! Today I sat a small Christmas tree on my night stand. I know it's early, but I love this time of the year!

 

I'm beginning to get the warm feeling of Christmas filling my spirit.

 

Mom, Britney and I decided to go Christmas shopping today.

I now have gifts for:

Mom: 4

Britney 2

Dad: 2

Mandie: 0

And about $50 left to spend.

I think I'm off to a good start- though not all that I got is from today. (=

 

Also, instead of tithing to my church this year, I decided to donate to a organization for Christmas.

The last two years I've done Operation Christmas Child.

This year I decided to do Toys for Tots:

 

I think these will make three little girls very happy. Don't  you think?

It worked out perfectly too! I only had so much money to spend, and my total was 50 cents under the amount I had in my tithing envelope! It was absolutely perfect.

 

I also gave some change to a Salvation Amy bucket in the mall.

The bellringer nodded at me and said "Thank you, Happy Holidays!"

I looked up at her and said with a smile, "Merry Christmas to you!"

Realizing that she wasn't going to offend me, she said Merry Christmas in return.

 

I understand the whole Happy Holiday thing...but to me, when someone wishes me a Happy Holiday,  it just puts a damp towel on the whole meaning of Christmas. To spread Cheer.

I hope not to offend anyone when I do this, but I say Merry Christmas whenever I can when December finally rolls around.

Just saying the words puts a happy skip in my heart.

 

And guess what!

We had snow flurries today!

There wasn't enough to lay a thin coat on the ground, but it was still beautiful to watch the snow flakes beautiful descent from the sky.

 

With the warmth of the crackling fire coming up through the vent in the living room, I moved towards our large upstairs window. Feeling the warmth under my feet as I stood right above the vent, I opened the window curtain and found myself gazing at the stars. It was such a clear night that I couldn't resist climbing into the window and taking in the pure amazement of it all, of God's magnificent creation, and just being quiet for a while.

 

Then I started to think about people that are just so wrapped up in themselves and the modern world that they can't let themselves be amazed for a moment about how amazing the world is.

How a tree can grow from just a seed. How a star thousands of miles away can still shine bright enough to make a bright impression in our evening sky.

 

Which reminds me! Just the other night in Virginia there was a  rocket launch.

In precisely 10 seconds after it took off the rocket came into view.

I watched it go up, up, up, until the rocket was gone, immersed in the clouds above where my eye could no longer follow.

It was so much fun to watch!

I really hope to watch a meteor shower one day...I still haven't gotten around to that yet.

 

 

I just finished reading "The Curse of the Spider King" today by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper.

I still can't really decide whether  I like this series or not.

Some parts of the book are questionable and more haunting than I appreciate.

But yet, I still want to see how the story wraps up.

 

 

Until next time!

 

-Stephanie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me through the ages...

 

Me through the ages at my homeschool umbrella group!

It's so funny sometimes to glance back and see how much I've changed in just four years...enjoy!

 

7th grade! My year of skinny jeans and big earrings with short and straightened hair.

 

 

8th grade! My year of naturally curly hair.

 

 

Freshman year! My first year of highschool!

 

 

Sophomore year! The proofs were just sent to yearbook staffers today!

 

I think the most recent is my favorite. It's the only one so far that you can clearly see my eye color.

 

Not only have I changed physically, but also spiritually and emotionally.

These last four years of CBA have strengthened me in so many ways.

School may be overwhelming this year, but there's always one year in highschool to everyone that is just overbearing.

 I'm halfway through the school year and I can finish it off with soring grades!

(But not until I've had Christmas break....haha)

 

-Stephanie

 

 

 

Bilbo's Handwriting

I decided to try some majestic handwriting today...

 

It really is amazing how many things I can find to do that keep me from studying for my biology quiz happening tomorrow. I should really stop procrastinating now and buckle down to study. *wink*

Farewell!

-Stephanie

P.S. I now realize that I forgot the I in Tolkien. Oh dear me.
It was fun trying to have Bilbo's handwriting never the less!!

 

 

First day of child care!

       I must say that it was much better than I was expecting. I was quite skeptical thinking there would be an overload of kids since we get $25 each time. But it was pretty evenly spaced out.  Mckenzie and I were first put in the infant room together, then they moved us to the older preschool kids. Then after 20 minutes of being in there, Mrs. Shrock asked if one of us could go back over to the infants, so I went. I was over there for about 20 minutes....but it was so chaotic. There was four helpers including myself and 8 babies. And the babies were all over the room, one in a swing, another in a bouncy thing, one crawling around and the rest were crying being held.
The other three helpers were older women, so they called me all over the room because apparently I had a better back, so I could pick the kids up for them. One time I just sat on the floor and looked at the babies crying and they all seemed to be looking at me as if saying "How dare you make me cry?" while a lady was pulling down a babies pants making sure she didn't have to change his diaper. At that point I was really doubting myself....I had practically had no experience with babies before, but I managed to make one baby stop crying by taking her out in the big room and just pacing back and forth.

Thankfully, Mrs.Shrock came back and offered to take the 20 pound baby off my hands...(Yes. The baby was that heavy.) and asked if I wanted to go back to the preschool room, and I said yes.

I really like it in the preschool room because it's more fun than work. We had snacks, sang Christmas songs, learned about leaves, colored coloring pages, put together a huge puzzle and had story time about foxes (which was sort of funny because Mckenzie and I looked at each other and mouthed the song "What does the fox say?" at each other!)

I really enjoyed being around this girl named Waverly! She was so extremely sweet and sat on my lap, or was always sitting next to me. She has perfect blond hair and beautiful blue eyes. She came in her Dora the explorer footed pajamas! (Aww!)
Then once the moms started coming to pick up their kids Mrs.Johnson wanted Mckenzie and I to help put away chairs, so I had to leave Waverly, but she was so sad about me leaving.
"I don't want you to go!" She gave me a hug and I told her I would see her next time.

Then Mrs.Shrock handed Mckenzie and I our $25 and asked if we were permanent helpers, we both said yes and she said "I'm glad we can depend on you!" as we headed to help put back the chairs for the moms.

Mrs.Johnson gave us a schedule of the rest of the dates and told us she would give us another one once MOPS starts back up in January after Christmas, but she made sure that we wanted to come back first.

I really had fun, and it gives me some good experience to be around younger kids. I don't have any younger siblings, so I'm kind of clueless when it comes to being around kids.

But as far as babies....I just can't do that just yet. The ladies were really happy to have me in there with them, but I didn't feel like much help.

So I'm glad I'm back to the preschool-I need to start out slow! Haha especially since I practically have had no childcare experience before.

Also, Mrs.Johnson said that the church was a perfect place to advertise for babysitting when I need some money.  Shannon (another girl that carpools with Mrs.Johnson) said she put up a paper with her number on it and her phone was ringing off the hook! I'm not quite ready to do that just yet, but it's good to have that avenue when I need more money.

Mckenzie and I were talking about how $25 is a lot of money to us and she's going to spend it on movie tickets, makeup and clothes and stuff and then she asked me and I was like "Um...books." Haha.

Now....to finish schoolwork I didn't complete before I left this morning...

-Stephanie



Pumpkin Carving

A little behind with the autumn festivities this year! Here's the pumpkin I carved last night!

 

 

 

Can you guess who it is?

Hint: Under the sea.

Good luck!

 

-Stephanie

A good day at last!

     I signed up for Nanowrimo for the very first time this year. I'm not necessarily trying to reach the 50,000 word goal. But I am trying to push my story forward. I just started it yesterday, and I'm already at 1,300 words. (That means only 49,000 more words to go, right? Haha) So I'm really excited about it. This is the first time in maybe 5 years that I've felt inspired to try writing again.
And whether I finish it in a month or not, I want this to be the first story that I actually finish. My first, decently long story.

     Today we went to sell soap at another flea market. I love going to this flea market! There's always great stuff being sold. And today was author day in the farmer's market building, just a short walk from the flea market building.
I looked through all the books from the authors but none appealed to me. It was nice to talk to the local authors though! I decided I was going to get a book if it was fiction and appeared my type, but most were nonfiction and romance , history and science fiction. There was really only about 10 authors too!
When walking out of the small room where the authors were, a violinist was playing a tune on her violin. I listened a few seconds and saw her case for her violin on the floor, it had a sign propped up saying "Tips welcome!" I reached in my pocket, I had 50cents from my last purchase, so I threw that in her case! I had always wanted to do that! It felt so cool.

I supported two local craft makers today:

 

 

A man was selling upcycled forks and spoons! He had chimes and all different sorts of little charms made out of them. Both my Britney and I purchased an elephant pin from him! He makes them himself, and they were only $5 each. I plan on pinning this little guy on to my backpack, it's so cute!

 

 

There was another man in the farmer's market building that was selling bookmarks. I was going to just walk by at first and then I walked closer. They were really cool! He had all different sorts of charms on the ends of his bookmarks and I had a hard time choosing which one I wanted at first, until I laid my eyes on the one pictured above.

It was $7.50, but he also gift packaged it!

It was altogether a well put together shop. If he's there next time, I may not be able to refrain myself from purchasing another one.

 

 

Pictured above is how you insert the bookmark into the book you're reading!

Such a cute idea, no?

 

 

Both Britney and I went to the jewelry lady that was there the last time we sold at this flea market.

Immediately we rushed to the bargain bin.

The bike necklace was $1 and everything else was 50cents.

Ha....and I can hardly get one jewelry item at Walmart for $5!

 

 

 

     When we got home from the flea market there was a call on the answering machine for me...from Mrs.Johnson! She's the junior high play director for CBA. She actually lives just a neighborhood away from me.

She was calling to ask if I was interesting in working with little children for MOPS two Tuesdays a month from 9:30 am to 11am. $25 each time.

And she could give me a ride there.

For now she just needs the two Tuesdays in November coming up and one week in early  December.

She said on the message that so many people were signing up, that they had to start turning them away because there wasn't enough childcare.

I called her back immediately and accepted the offer. I think she was more pleased than I was with me wanting to do it!

 

Of course, this means I'll have to be able to finish math before I go, and come back home to do history, language arts, and biology once MOPS is over.

But it's not every Tuesday, and I only have one in December.

 

Ahh!! This is my first job offer ever. Hooray for the chance to get some experience (and extra cash)!

Hmm, perhaps I should actually save that money up for something?

 

And tomorrow Britney is going to see a play called "The Importance of Being Earnest" She's required to see the play for one of her college classes and got two free tickets to go see it! Anddd guess who was invited to go with her? Me! I'm so excited. I love plays.

 

 

-Stephanie

A sneak peak into my sketches

I've posted before that I draw on blank notecards and bookmarks and now even blank tags and sell them at craft shows to get some income....

But I've never posted what I sell! Here's a sneak peak into what I do!

 

The bookmarks sell for $2 each, while my cards sell for $3 each and my gift tags sell for 50 cents each.

 

 

Sadly, nothing has sold just yet. But I still have hope for them.

Especially with Christmas coming just around the corner.

 

I'm having mixed feelings about selling my tags.

They're just too cute to part with!

 

-Stephanie