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