Spring

Hope everyone is having a nice (but cold!) January. Spring is just around the corner, so don't be sad!

With all this cold weather around, all we can do is hope for the happy days of spring! So get on your gardening gloves, get to the garden and plant! Here's a list you might want in the spring.

Spring

Gardening gloves

Flower seeds

Flower pots and a garden

Shovel and hoe

Positive attitude that says that maybe this year the flowers will grow!

Happy Early Spring, Everyone!!!

The Pennier- Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lilyanne decided she was going to buy a kitten for Benny.
“Can you tell me where Cherry Street is?” she asked.
“Go down the street, turn on the first street on the right, keep going and you’ll see a large oak. Next street you come to is Cherry.” Benny said.
“Thank you very much” Lilyanne thanked him and started on her way. She found the house in no time. She knocked on number 67’s door. A middle-aged woman answered.
“Hello,” She said as she opened the door. When she saw Lilyanne standing there, she stopped short. The woman stared quizzically at Lilyanne. Lilyanne remember that she hadn’t had a shower or a change of clothes in 2 weeks. The woman was about to shut the door on her because she knew of all the homeless people going around and begging for money from the richer people when Lilyanne said,
“Wait! I’ve come to inquire about the newspaper article you put in for kittens,” she said. The woman began to laugh.
“Like you really have twenty-nine cents to spare,” she said while laughing. She kept on laughing until Lilyanne said,
“Oh, I’ve got four dollars to spend,” The woman looked at her quizzically again.
“How could a pennier like you have four dollars to spend?” she asked Lilyanne. This time it was Lilyanne’s turn to look confused.
“What’s a pennier?” she asked the woman.
“A pennier is a term used by the Wisconsin people in the Great Misfortune to refer the less fortune human beings in our area,” she said in a matter-of-fact way.
“Well, I’ve still got twenty-nine cents to spend on one of your kittens,” Lilyanne told her in the same matter-of fact way. The woman finally stepped back so that Lilyanne could step inside the house, though she did so very reluctantly. Inside, the house was beautifully decorated. The woman led Lilyanne to a room with no carpeting, and then shut the door. When Lilyanne looked at her questionably, the woman said,
“I don’t want the kitten darlings to get out and ruin the carpeting and furniture,” she told Lilyanne. Lilyanne then saw a basket in the corner. In it were tiny little kittens.
“Oh, aren’t they adorable?” Lilyanne said, running over and picking one up.
“You must not touch them with your dirty hands!” the woman exclaimed.
“Well, they are for sale,” Lilyanne said. The woman didn’t say anything, but it was clear she was disturbed that Lilyanne was touching them.
“Well, I think these two are the ones for me,” Lilyanne finally said, handing the lady a one dollar bill.
“Oh, you’re not planning on buying two kittens,” the lady said while reaching over and taking the one dollar bill gratefully.
“Of course, I'm giving one to a friend and keeping one for myself,” Lilyanne said.
“Okay, well, I’ll go get your change,” the woman said, then left the room looking over her shoulder to make sure that Lilyanne was not eyeing other things around the room, hoping to steal them. The woman returned, gave Lilyanne her change and escorted her to the front door.
“Oh, by the way, do you know of any motels around here I could stay the night?” Lilyanne asked as she was going out the front door. The woman looked surprised but answered Lilyanne’s question.
“There is a place called the Hilltop Motel on Green Street,” she said. As Lilyanne started to go out the front door with her kittens, the woman stopped her.
“Wait, who you are anyway?” she said.
“Me? Oh, I haven’t introduced myself, I am Lilyanne Hildy,” Lilyanne told the woman.
“Where were you born? You sound so southern,” the woman said.
“I was born in the state of Louisiana,” Lilyanne said.
“Oh…Well, I haven’t introduced myself either! I am Martha Everhart, pleased to make your acquaintance,” Martha said cheerfully. Lilyanne wondered why Martha had all of the sudden been especially nice to her.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

The Beatles
Let it Be Album Cover

I love the Beatles, especially the cover of their last album ever.

Rotating Restaurant
St. Petersburg, Florida

I have never been to this restaurant, but every time we drive past it on the way to the beach, I always wish I could.

Ball Chair

The unique design of this chair always makes me dream to be in one.

Yellow Breeches Creek

This is a picture of the Yellow Breeches Creek at the nearby college of Messiah. Isn't it beautiful?

Noodlebug
Of course, you can NEVER forget Noodlebug!!! She is my precious beauty.

The Pennier- Chapter 1

Here is the first chapter of a story I wrote called "The Pennier".

Chapter One

“Lilyanne, I know you know that because of the Great Misfortune, times are tough. That’s why I’m giving you five dollars to live on until you can make money yourself. I’m sorry I have to leave here, but since you’re not a boy and I can hardly afford to feed the other orphans, I’ll have to. Someday I’ll see your name in newspapers, because you will turn out to be a great woman…,” Miss Carrier said.
“Goodbye,” Lilyanne told her.
“Goodbye.” Then Miss Carrier turned and left. Lilyanne watched Miss Carrier walk away and then thought back on her days. In 1909, she was four, her parents died. She got sent to a boy’s orphanage, because it was the closest place around. Miss Carrier, the owner only took her in because when she got to be older she’d be a great help. But now that she was older all her time was spent with the horses in the barn. She used to be a little kid ten, a ten when Miss Carrier told that it was time to go into the woods, she took up ten minutes saying goodbye each horse in the barn. But now she was an adult ten. She must learn the ways of the world - after all, she was all alone in the Great Misfortune. Lilyanne looked about her home state. Louisiana. The state where her great grandfather was born, where her great grandmother was born, where her grandmother was born, where her grandfather was born, where her mother was born, where her father was born and where she was born. Louisiana. She walked through the dark woods to the train station. There, the station master asked,
“Where do you seek to go?” Lilyanne was sad. This will probably be the last time she ever hears someone talk in a southern accent other than herself. With a great sigh Lilyanne said,
“The farthest place this train will take me.” She wanted to get as far away from Louisiana as she could. He handed her a ticket and asked for one dollar. Lilyanne handed him the fresh five dollar bill Miss Carrier had given her. He was amazed. Because of the Great Misfortune, five dollar bills were very rare. He gave her back her change and she went to the train. Lilyanne had never been on a train, and this was not a very happy first time. Most are going to visit relatives on trains, but Lilyanne was practically unvisiting relatives. Lilyanne was on the train for many days. When she was about to get off the train at her stop, a voice behind her said,
“What’s your name?” It was not a southern accent. It was northern. Lilyanne didn’t even know what state she was in, but she didn’t care. She looked back to where the voice had come from. An older man was behind her. She guessed that he was in his mid-sixties.
“Lilyanne,” Lilyanne told him.
“My name’s Benny,” he said. Benny! Benny was her father’s name. Lilyanne knew one thing. If this old man became friends with her, she was NOT going to call him Benny. She would merely call him her friend. Benny interrupted her thoughts.
“Would you like to come to my home?” he said.
“Sure” Lilyanne said. She wanted to see what a home looked like. She didn’t remember her old house.

When they got there, Lilyanne didn’t think the place looked right. It was made out of old junk. Then Lilyanne remembered that it was the Great Misfortune. Homes didn’t look right. Benny was probably not very rich. They went inside. Benny showed Lilyanne a picture of a kitten. He had ripped it out of a newspaper he had found in the trash. He said that he had always wanted a kitten for company, but he never could buy one. He had enough money, but why waste it on a kitten?
“My birthday’s tomorrow, and that’s what I want,” He told her. Then Lilyanne had an idea.

Geocaching

Just the other day I remembered that I had a geocaching account! Last year, in my Special Interest class we sent out travel bugs. I sent out a little deer named Bambi. You can veiw Bambi's journey here.
I also went to some caches with my brother. We went to four but only found three.
Above is a picture of our first one. If you look closely, you can just see the bottom of it!

James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

Have you ever heard the sentence, "James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher."? If you have you probably think that it is very crazy and not proper english. But it is! You can even add a few more hads to the sentence. My dad and brother were discussing this on the way back from Publix last night. "What if you changed "John" to "Had-Had"?" my dad had said. He was sure there could be a person in the world named "Had-Had". Then I said, change "James" to "Thad" because "Thad" ends in "had", which makes it sound better. After all our editing the final sentence was, "While Thad had had "had", Had-Had had had "had had"; Had-Had's "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.".

The Cat and the Kitty

The cat and the kitty were both very pretty,
And once they were asked to a ball.
When they said no, the king cancelled the show,
And then there was no ball at all!

A short while later they were asked by a trader,
If he could trade for some fur.
When they didn’t accept, the man tried his best,
But he could not get them to pur.

The cat and the kitty were both very pretty,
But they thought if they showed their faces,
They would get caught, and kept to distraught,
So they did not go to such places!

So the cat and the kitty kept their lives pretty,
Never to show a soul.
The cat and the kitty lived in the city,
And I do so pity them all.

But, if the cat and the kitty were both so very pretty,
But never to show their faces,
How did the king and the trader know,
That they asked them to go to these places?

Thales

When you ask a person, "Who is your favorite philosopher?" they are most likely going to answer, Plato, Socrates or Aristotle. But what about Thales? He was the first man to be called "wise" and was also thought to be the creator of philosophy. In 585, Thales correctly predicted the solar eclipse. Another thing Thales is known for is being the originator of the quote, "Know Thyself". Thale's theory was that everything was water before it became that thing. What do you think? Do you like Thales?

Noodle Poem

Here is a poem I wrote about my precious Noodlebug:

From Christmas pictures,
To just fun play,
That cat’ll be cute whenever you say!

She really likes ham,
But spaghetti is best,
Once in a while,
She does need a rest!

She goes to her bed,
And cuddles up tight,
I always wish her good, good night,

She says it back with her little green eyes.
In the morning she has a wonderful surprise!
But what has she caught,
But two little brown mice,
That kitty of mine sure is nice!

Noodlebug

Noodlebug is my ultimate dream. I got her from the fabulous organization, PAWS, on August 23rd, 2008. On March 9th, Noodle will be 2 years old. As you can see above, she is a very content little kitty.