In Which I Share Some New Jokes

This joke I came up with when I was at the grocery store today.
"I have a plant joke, and I promise, thistle be good."

This one I came up with while watching Toy Story just a few minutes ago.
"If Woody threw Buzz Lightyear out the window, does that make him a buzzkill?"

That's all. You may resume your Internetting now.

In Which I Follow Up The Previous Post

Greetings, Internet. It's me!

First things first. I read Betsy and the Great World and Betsy's Wedding. I was disappointed with Betsy and the Great World. This is about three years after the previous book. It starts when Betsy leaves to spend a year abroad in Europe. It was hard for me to follow and I missed reading about the other characters. On the other hand, I simply adored Betsy's Wedding. When Betsy got off the boat in New York her old boyfriend, Joe, was waiting there with a marriage proposal. No, I didn't just spoil the story for you, I promise. That happens in the beginning. It goes on to talk about the first year or so of Betsy's life as Mrs. Joe Willard. But if you read them, you just have to read Betsy and the Great World. Otherwise there is a monstrous gap in the story.

Next things next, I suppose. I'm not sure if that's a working phrase. This weekend I'm taking a flight to Ohio for my friend's Bat Mitzvah. I'm totally excited because it's going to be so much fun!

Um, what else? I have the song Bohemian Rhapsody running through my head right now, so I'll just leaves you with this:


Happy almost Hanukkah!

In Which I Discuss What I've Been Reading

You might know that reading is just about my favorite thing to do in the world. Right up there with breathing and talking and stuff. I love it; I'm fueled by books.

Every day at school I go to the library. While most of the seventh grade spends the time to study, take pictures with their friends, or play on their computers, I search the shelves for books. I'm having a hard time finding books that are keeping me interested, though.

Right now I've been working on the Betsy-Tacy books, written by Maud Hart Lovelace.

I first read about them in the book Home for the Holidays, part of the Mother-Daughter Book Club series. I found this series a few years ago, and I love it.

I made no endeavor to read the books. But a few weeks ago my mom ordered the first few books for me.

I loved them. I finished them quickly and went looking for the rest of the series. (Side note: I went to Barnes & Noble looking for these books. Supposedly, they are classic books. But apparently, the woman working at the counter at Barnes & Noble is just doing the job for the money, because she had never heard of them. And that's why I prefer Borders, or even Amazon.) There are ten of them in all: Besty-Tacy, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Heaven To Betsy, Betsy In Spite of Herself, Betsy Was A Junior, Betsy and Joe, Betsy and the Great World, and Betsy's Wedding.

And yes, the main character's name is Betsy, if that wasn't clear.

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib
The stories are based off of the childhood of the author. It takes place around the 1900's. The stories are based in Deep Valley, Minnesota, which is based off of the author's hometown of Mankato, Minnesota. The first book starts when Betsy Ray is five years old, and a new girl has just moved in across the street. At Betsy's fifth birthday party, they meet and immediately become inseparable best friends. That girl is Tacy Kelly, based off of the author's real-life best friend. Later they meet Tib Muller, and expand their group of friends.

Betsy and Tacy
In Heaven To Betsy the girls are starting high school. Tib has moved away and they are all nervous. They quickly become acclimated, and make a group of friends that they call "the Crowd." The Crowd has way more fun than I know I will in high school, because they almost never had any homework. They have lots of fun and adventures. They go to many parties and don't have a care in the world. I'm blaming this book for any unrealistic expectations that I have about high school. I just finished Betsy and Joe, in which Betsy and her friends graduate high school.


If you're still reading at this point I have a surprise for you, but you have to read until the very end to get it.

I have yet to get Betsy and the Great World, but I'm sure it will be a great book.

What I found so amazing about these books is that more than 100 years after they take place, the problems they face are still issues every teenage girl worries about. "What dress should I wear?" "How should I do my hair?" "Who should I go to the dance with?" I think that it has that extra-realistic element because it is based directly off of Maud Hart Lovelace's childhood. She took some of the events directly from her diaries.

You may be asking yourself, "Should I read this?"
You should if you answer yes to any of the following.
I am a girl.
I like to read.
I like historical books.
I like teenage books.
I don't like the Hunger Games.

And even if you didn't answer yes to those, you still might want to try these books.
They're really good.

And, in regards to this amazing reward I promised, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Some guy just came and took all of the rewards I had. Oh well.

And If you still care about what I've been doing, you can keep reading. Golly, I have a lot to say when I should be practicing my Torah portion.

Yesterday I went to my choir's Holiday Concert. I've been singing in the choir for five or six years now, and I have never seen a full concert. I'm taking this semester off to spend more time on my Bat Mitzvah, so I went to go see the concert. It was lovely, but I was too emotional to focus.

I saw my friends singing in the group more advanced than mine. I saw a boy who sung soprano until last year singing with the men instead of the girls. It was weird for me to see all these people I know, all these friends of mine, all scattered all over the choir. I felt bad, because some of these people I may never see again. But when everyone advances at their own rate, people are pretty "easy come, easy go."
I sure am doing a lot of ranting. Thank you to anyone who is loyal enough to read to the end of this exceedingly long post. You are awesome.

And now, dearest Internet, I leave you with a few choice words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you.

If you can tell me where that quote is from, you win the awesome prize.

But seriously.

Goodnight, Internet.

In Which I Discuss Nothing In Particular

Drake and Josh is on Nickelodeon right now. I'm starting to totally love this channel.

Anyway, I just had to put that out there. Now on to some other important point.I successfully met my word count goal for NaNoWriMo. I even got a shiny new badge!

I'm very proud of myself. I wrote 21,000 words in the month of November. And, my story isn't terrible. With some editing, it could actually be good. 

I got my report card last week. In my eyes I got straight A's: there were A's in everything except for History, where I got an A-. 

That's really all I have to say. Thanks for reading this!

One Trimester Down

Yesterday I finished my first trimester at my new school. I have seventeen more trimesters until I graduate. That's only 5 1/3 school years!

Unless I completely, absolutely, tragically failed the second part of my English exam, I made straight A's. Hooray for me! I think I deserve a cake, don't you? Yes, a cake would be just lovely.

As I write this, I am watching Jimmy Neutron on Nickelodeon. I honestly haven't seen this show on TV since I was around 7 or 8. See, world? The olden days, the ones I wish I remembered better, are already coming back! Isn't it great?

Ermahgerd!

Ermahgerd, Internet! It's me! Hi!

I thought I would catch you up on how my life is going. Um, let's see. Did I mention Big Pain is driving? Oh yeah.  He got his permit in August.

2012-08-17_19-39-10_451.jpg
Ermahgerd, sterdent drerving!












Also, last week I talked to a couple who has won three Tony Awards.  They let me hold one.


Ermahgerd, Terny Erwerds!






















I also went tree climbing with my brother. We tied ourselves on to ropes and then hoisted ourselves up into the trees.


Ermahgerd, trer clermbing!

















I hope my blog post has helped you have an excellent day.  Just remember, ERMAHGERD!

Did You Miss Me?

Howdy Blogoverse! Did you miss me?

I can't believe I waited so long to write another post.  I mapped the world by memory.  I went on my sixth grade's spring camping trip.  I graduated my elementary school at a very fun, tearful ceremony and party. I spent 4 weeks at sleepaway camp for my best summer ever. I went to Wisconsin for a week with my choir.  I started seventh grade on what I determined to be the single most terrifying moment of my life. I started preparing for my Bat Mitzvah and am almost finished learning my Torah portion.  And now here I am.

School is great.  I love most of my classes, and I'm doing really well in Vocal Music. I auditioned to join a national honor choir. I don't find out if I got in until November.

So, if people are still reading my blog, what's new in your life?

Almost Done

My school ends in... let's see... almost a month- June 1.  I will be graduating from the school I have gone to for 8 years.  I can't tell if I am supposed to be very happy or very sad. Maybe a little of both.  I don't know.

Anyway, in one month I will have left this school that I love so much, that has taught me so much.  I'm so torn on emotions.

Next year I'm going to the same school my cousins went to. Actually, it shouldn't be past tense; one of them is in 10th grade there.  At first I was worried about having to start completely from scratch, then I found out how many of my friends are going to this school.  (Just to clarify, lots of my friends.)

epic fail photos - Autocowrecks: Tweeting It!

OOGLY MOOGLY!

My Spring Break

My spring break hasn't been fantastic, but I did get some new clothes. I'm still searching for a dress to wear for my school graduation. I did, however get 3 new pairs of really cute shoes.  I also got a black and gold shirt at TJ Maxx.  The original price tag said $68.  The price tag at TJ Maxx said $17. I got that shirt for 1/4 of the price.

I also went to the J with a friend. It was fun. We exercised for a bit, then we went swimming. We saw one of the boys we go to school with in the pool.  Well, I didn't really see him because I wasn't wearing my glasses, so maybe that was poor word choice.  We met one of the boys we go to school with in the pool.  Yeah, that's better.

That's really all I've done this past week. I've still got another week left of break; I hope it's better. (Hahaha, I just used a semicolon!)

I Am The Chosen One. I Am The Girl Who Lived.

Wednesday it was SOOO windy. It was like a Category 3 storm. I may/may not be exaggerating a leeeeeeeettle bit.  But that's beside the point.

I was standing outside, under a huge tree. It is a huge tree. I mean huge. I was holding a hula hoop like it could shield me from the flying debris, which of course it didn't. My eyes were closed. (See Diagram 1 below.)

DIAGRAM 1













My eyes were closed, so I didn't see the dead branch fall off of the big tree.  It could have killed me.

But it didn't.

It hit my ARM.
(See Diagram 2 below.)

DIAGRAM 2













And then I was like,















(That is me saying, "I'M ALIVE! THEREFORE, I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!")

Having A Beary Good Day

About a month ago I decided I wanted to go to Build-A-Bear.  Not really sure what gave me that inspiration, but I wanted to.  I told my mom, and she said that I could only go if I donated the bear to charity.

So I invited a friend along, and we built bears.  We're going to donate them to the Children's Hospital.

Honestly, I'm more than fine with donating them. It feels good, and I don't need an extra teddy bear around the house. Plus, Build-A-Bear has special animals that donate money to groups like the WWF.

And seriously? The best part is picking out the outfit, anyway.


Best Birthday Party Ever

Yesterday was my birthday party, about a month after my actual 12th birthday. It was epic. There is this AMAZING chocolate store. They use all natural ingredients, and make all the chocolate and candy in the store. They offer chocolate tastings in the store, where you taste a bunch of truffles and other confectionary miracles. That was my birthday party. I invited six girls from school, and they all came. It was very awesome. The chocolate was awesome, too. Even though I said no presents were necessary, I got two books and a handful of cards. They were all nice, but my favorite one had a picture on the inside. The picture was from my 5th birthday party, that took place at Build-A-Bear. Really great card. At the end, we all got chocolate mustaches. We took pictures with them on, and it was so fun.

Not Really The Louis We Were Looking For

My class just finished reading A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, by E.L. Konisburg. It's about Eleanor of Aquitaine and her two husbands.  If you don't know anything about her, she

  • married King Louis VII of France, and had 2 kids.  When they got divorced, she
  • married King Henry II of England, and had 8 kids.  He put her in prison.
  • her great-grandson was Louis IX, Saint Louis.  

Today we were on Google in class, searching the Internet for pictures of her and other people and things mentioned in the book.  The boy next to me searched "Louis VII" into Google images.  He found portraits of the king, as well as a picture of a purse.  He looked at the purse, and exclaimed, "Cool! Someone named a purse after him!"

When the girl on his other side and I looked at his screen, this is the 
picture he was pointing at:
We laughingly explained to him that the purse was Louis Vuitton, and that Louis Vuitton is a designer.

I'm still laughing.

Penny For My Thoughts

It's this new concept I've thought of.  When people say, "A penny for your thoughts?" apparently it means "I'll give you a penny if you tell me what's on your mind."

So I figured something out: You can eliminate the asking part, and just tell someone, "Penny for my thoughts."

I've even worked out a scene that uses it, to show you how it goes.

Person A: Penny for my thoughts.
Person B: Okay.
Person A: I really hate Justin Bieber. There's nothing to eat at home, and I haven't been bowling in eight years.  I need new shoes, and my toenails are too short. I have an essay on Mark Twain due yesterday. Who's Mark Twain? I threw up on a roller coaster when I was five.  I'm a faster typist than you. My TV is broken, and my socks are hurting my phalanges.  And yesterday I lost my voice. But I got it back.  I met a fairy yesterday.
Person B: ...
Person A: You owe me a penny.

Great, isn't it?

Let me tell you about my Thursday.

My class went on a field trip... skiing.  Super cool.

We don't live in a great area for skiing, but there's a place that makes their snow and has skiing about 45 minutes away from our school.  So we brought gear to school, and we went on a bus ride to the place.

Skiing is awesome. It was a real workout, which is something I didn't know.  I'd never been skiing before, so it was all really new to me.  But it was the FUNNEST THING EVER.

We did ski school in the morning, even the people who had been skiing a ton.  It took me a while to get everything down, but I finally got it and made my way over to where everyone else was skiing.

So much fun.

And now, you owe me a penny.

It's brilliant, isn't it?

Very American Stir Fry

My family likes barbecuing. What family doesn't? We also like making stir fry. Who doesn't?

Have you ever tried combining them?

It's really fun. First we barbecue the meat, chicken, on the grill.  When that's done we put it in a big pot and put vegetables on the grill.  Today my brother chose to caramelize them, and it was good, but just a little too sweet. You don't want to use too much sugar, I learned.  We used broccoli, carrots, celery, pineapple, peapods, and onions for the vegetables.  When we were done, we put it in the pot too and put the pot in the oven.  It baked a bit more and stayed warm until we were ready for dinner.  Then we ate it with rice.

It's fun because I like barbecuing, and it's a teamwork thing.  My mom prepares the food and sauces, and I helped her with that. Then Big Pain and I grilled it together, and it was a lot of teamwork.

Plus, it tastes great.

I'm A Klutz

You've met my mother, the chief klutz at her blog, http://klutzcapacitor.com/.

People tell me I'm like her. She tells me I'm like her.

I am definitely as klutzy as her. I fell down three, count 'em, THREE times Friday.

Fall number 1:  I was leaning against a pole. My feet slid a bit in the snow, but i kept my balance. Until I didn't. And then my feet slid straight forward, and I plummeted straight down. I admit, it probably looked really funny.

Fall number 2:  (Only about 15 minutes later.) We were walking back to class, and I stepped up onto a rock, and I slid straight off.  It really hurt, but two girls in my class helped me walk injured-football-player style to the nurse.  There was a rip in the side of my pants.My leg really hurt and I had some really bad scratches.

My friends were REALLY nice, and they even helped me fix up my pants.  We didn't sew it, but we took a few safety pins and used them to help pin together the hole.  It looked really cool, especially because my pants were black jeans.

The third fall was really minor, just me slipping down a stair.  No big deal.

I'm totally milking this "I INJURED MY LEG" thing.

Bet you're proud of me, huh mom?

All Bee'd Out

The spelling bee was yesterday. I did okay, but I didn't do as well as I had hoped to.  I got out in the ninth round, misspelling miscible.  But seriously, what kind of a word is that? I think that they made up words in that round to get us all out.

A boy in the fourth grade won, and the runner up was the same fifth grader that got second place in the Geo Bee. I hope that this boy can win first place in a bee next year; I think he deserves it.

I'm sad that I didn't do as well as I wanted to in my last spelling bee, but I think it's really cool that fourth graders won both of the bees this year. It's really an amazing accomplishment.

At least I'll never misspell miscible again.

Spellin' Stuff

The spelling bee is tomorrow and I'm not as nervous as I usually am.  I haven't studied like crazy like I have in the past, and so I'm last-minute cramming words. I'm going to study on the way to school, too.  Actually, we're studying right now at this very moment.  I just spelled convalescence right. And harebrained, and guillotine. Potpourri, too. And now facsimile. Go me!

My mom got an email from my former teacher, who was assigning the order in which we would receive our words.

I'm going first. Three years IN A ROW.

Booyah.

C'est Mon Anniversaire!

That's French for "It's my birthday!" Which it is!  I'm finally 12!

It doesn't feel very different from being 11, but I'm really excited.  Tonight my mom and Big Pain are going out for fondue.  I'm excited because I haven't been out for fondue in a while.

My Bat Mitzvah day is exactly a year from today: January 5, 2013. I'm kind of scared. 365 days isn't very long, in the long run.

Wow, we're already 5 days into 2012.  This is a great year!

School Starts For Real

Today was my first real day at school.  It wasn't the best day I've ever had.

I am incredibly, impossibly sore from gym class yesterday, especially from squats.  We had to do more squats today, and I nearly screamed with all the pain.  It is really hard to walk up and down stairs between every class when you have to wince with every step you take.  Advil isn't helping my issue, so I just have to live with it. Oy.

My teachers don't miss a beat.  Today we already have had a pop quiz in Social Studies and one assignment from each class.  And I have a quiz on Friday in science.

Now, since I'm excited about my birthday and my legs, back, and right arm are at the point of falling off, I bid thee farewell, Internet.

PS: This is my 365th blog post! It took me 4 years to write the equivalent of 1 post a day for a year!

School Starts... Sort Of.

Today was my first day back at school.  Except not really.

A few weeks ago, we were informed that today would be the 6th grade's pajamas/read all day day.  I was totally excited because the last time we had one of those I was in 4th grade.

For read all day days (more commonly known as RAD days,) you bring a few books, a pillow or two, and read all day.  But ours was special, because in the afternoon we watched Despicable Me and ate popcorn.  It was so much fun.

It really seems like so long ago we sat in the same classroom, eating different snacks and watching Elf.  Really, it was only about 3 weeks ago.

The reading was great.  I was halfway finished with The Help, and I got very close to finishing it and just finished it about ten minutes ago.  It is a fantastic book.

I felt underdressed because I wore yoga pants because I don't have any pajama pants that I wouldn't freeze in. Not that I have a problem with sleeping in leggings or shorts, but it's still nice to have real pajama pants sometimes.

Overall, it was a lot of fun.  Everyone liked my red streak, so I want to put in a picture of it.

 Me, after I bleached it.  My hair is too dark to work without bleaching it, and it turned out really blonde.
The finished product.  The picture isn't great, and it looks better in real life.  But you get the idea.

I hope the rest of the school year is as fun as today was.

Last Day of Winter Break

Tomorrow I go back to school for my last semester in elementary school.  When I finish this year, I'm not going back there in the fall.  I couldn't be sadder about that.  I'm also sad that winter break is over.

Bye the way, my mom is awesome.  She finally let me get a streak in my hair.  My cousin came over yesterday and helped me bleach the hair we were coloring REALLY blond and then we dyed it bright red.  It took all afternoon but it looks really cool.  I'm so excited!

First Post of 2012!

I couldn't wait, and I'm sure you couldn't either. I just had to post as soon as the clock changed.  It's so exciting!  I'm going to be twelve in 5 days.  Can you believe that I've been blogging since 2008? It seems forever ago.  I was looking back at some of my old posts, and I realized how much I've changed since I wrote my first blog post on February 28, 2008.  It was to introduce myself and express my love for Hannah Montana.  Did you know that Hannah Montana is over? Yeah, she graduated high school, revealed her secret to the world, flew to Paris to be in a movie, and then changed her mind and went back to California to go to Stanford with her best friend.

Well, the new year is off to a great start. I hope it stays that way!  Have a great year, Internet, and happy almost my birthday!

Afterthought:  We are four minutes into 2012! Exciting!