Notes from Within the Shelter

I have just had the most wonderful 2 days! Because:
A) I got to sleep over at the DHFs’!!! Which of course meant that we were hyper, and silly, and dressed as opera-singing pirates with a bunk-bed ship. “Gimme the mascara, I need a mustache” is one memorable quote by Bug, and I believe it was Steph who admonished the crew, “It’s a pirate ship, not an art gallery!”
B) We went to see Jars of Clay in concert!!!! WOOO!! It was awesome. They played a bunch of old stuff that was new-to-me, on account of it being the 15th anniversary of their band being a band. Which means their band is about as old as me. Weird. Anyhow. Flood, Dead Man, Work, Worlds Apart, Out of My Hands, Small Rebellions, Weapons, Two Hands, and Shelter are songs that I can remember them playing at the moment. We went into the mosh pit! (Which was not really a mosh pit, more of a group of people standing around the stage and intermittently swaying/clapping/dancing/singing). After I tripped over myself to get out of the pew thingy, of course, because what fun is anything without falling on my face? But the moshing part was fun and I was not injured. I think I accidentally stepped on someone’s foot though. Too bad. I had to dance.
But after the concert was over….
C) We. Met. JARS OF CLAY!! In person! Bug and I were star-struck and I handed them my CD to sign. They were friendly. Eliza asked the singer to sign her CD to Poor Bill, because PoorBill was supposed to come but could not due to illness!! So when he said he couldn’t come, we said, “Poor Bill…” and that is exactly what was written. One of the guitar guys asked if we were all sisters. Sadly we are not! By blood anyhow. So yay!! That was really cool. Of course Dodge is soooo excited (note the sarcasm) that I got a new Jars of Clay CD. Now he gets to hear all new songs and find them annoying! He calls them Cans of Pop. I am not really sure why…?

Now I’m home again home again jiggety jog, sitting on the couch with a sleepy dog. Hey, that rhymed!
As you can see, the randomness has yet to wear off.

Sigh… So tired… But so happy….

Yours till the carrot sticks,
Pen

 

‘Cause when you’re Fifteen…!

My birthday was this past Saturday. I am now officially fifteen! It was fun. I went to writers’ group and gave them all birthday cookies (aka chocolate chip oatmeal… my favorite!!!) which they were very appreciative of. One of them broke on in half and saw how soft and yummy they were and declared them “lethal” , which I am going to take as a compliment. :)

On Saturday it was just Mom, Dodge, and me because Dad and Poncho were camping with Adventure Guides. I opened my presents, ate dinner, read the beginning of “At Bertram’s Hotel: a Miss Marple Mystery”, played with Dodge (my playmobil hedgehogs thought that his lego Kitt Fisto was the ‘Hedgehog King’, much hilarity ensued), and watched part two of Cranford on Masterpiece Classic. And this Saturday it’ll be Return to Cranford!! I didn’t even know what Cranford was before I stumbled upon the show by accident, but I am totally addicted now.
Then, yesterday, Dad and Poncho came home so we went out to dinner and had ice cream cake at Grandma and Grandpa Vegas’ house. Oh, and Mom and I went shopping all afternoon. The mall was a huge bust. Icing wanted like 21 dollars for a clutch purse, and I was like, If I pay that I won’t have any money left to put in there! Then Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe let me down, too, so we went into Wet Seal and were shocked because for once it looked… normal. Wow. Usually I don’t even go in there because it’s been kind of scary lately, the things they sell (glittery sequined undergarments… and my first thought was “wouldn’t that be itchy?”). But still, there wasn’t anything really great so we left the mall and went to Kohl’s, but they were very boring that day, so we decided to go to Salvation Army by our house, as a last stop for the day. It was closed because it was Sunday, so the we said, “oh, just try one other thrift store”, and I bought four things!! At a very nice price, I might add. I love thrift stores. They usually have long skirts or cute dresses, despite if it’s the fashion. Soo yeah. But I’m also thinking about making some of my own clothes, so i’m saving the rest of my birthday/babysitting money for fabric and patterns.

Today I found out something GREATLY AMAZINGLY GOOD!!!! But I can’t tell you what it is because it’s still under wraps. I just want to say that I’ve been praying for this for a while, and it happened!!! Thanks be to God!!! One more week. One more week and it’s final and then I can tell you what it is. One more week.

I suppose that’s all I’ll say for now. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have posted the gingerbread post I’ve been planning. I just hope y’all won’t be confused… like in Lost when it’s all woooooooooooo and then smash! we’re in the 1800′s! Oh no wait, we’re in 2000! Um no, it’s the 70′s! Sheesh. ;P

Ciao,
-Pen

 

it’s a wonderful life

That’s what I said this morning, along with a nostalgic sigh, when I finished reading a book I have been waiting two years for. This book was… My Yearbook!!! From my last year at schoolschool (as in, the last year at school before I was homeschooled)!!! Why did it take so long for me to get it, you ask? Well, it’s a long story that is pretty dumb anyway so I’m not going to tell it. Too bad.

It was kind of sad to look at, though. There are a lot of people and feelings that I greatly miss. There was also a lot that got my blood boiling in anger when I went there, and a lot of things that I am SO THANKFUL I no longer have to put up with. Cough, cough. Not mentioning specifics but…. They know who they are. Grrrrrr. (“I AM THE MCGILL!!! LOOK UPON ME AND TREMBLE!!!”)

Ah. But there were some pictures that I was like, “sigh…” There were a bunch that both Amanda and I were in. I miss Amanda so so sososososososososooooooo badly!!!! Plus I feel like a terrible friend because we already had plans so I couldn’t go to dinner with her for her birthday. D: Oh, Amanda! I’m sorry! So of course, right after reading the yearbook I zipped over to Facebook  and sent Amanda a message. I have a plan. We may not be able to see each other every day, but we could certainly get together more often than we do now! We only live 15 minutes away from each other, for goodness’ sake! So I have devised a plan. I will see if it can work when she replies to the message. Also, I wanted to do something together over Christmas vacation. Allie will be in town until New Years, so the Lemon Sistas can reunite!!

Amanda and I were completely inseperable since becoming friends at school. We were this close for 6 years!!! We are still best friends, but we hardly talk so much anymore. Mom laughs at me when I say, “I talked to Amanda on the phone”  because it’s actually like shetalkssuperfastsothatshesaysalotinlikefiveminutes and then I get a few words in butifshe’sexcitedthere’snowwaytogetawordinedgewise and so when you hear only my end of the conversation, it seems like there IS no my side of the conversation, except for when I laugh becuase she’s so Amanda. I miss that.

I miss Father Hoban, too. And Allie! And Bednar, and butterum muffins, and ice/snow, and bats in the early morning, and encrichment class in the other building (ohmygosh the way that room smelled!…). I mean, I have a lot of good memories. But I also look back and think, I am glad that I left when I did. While the good memories I have were untarnished still. I was ready to move on. There were pictures of the 50′s&60′s show we did, and I thought of how we had to sing “Hello Goodbye”. The song says, “Every time I say goodbye you say hello.” I think it’s very true. Every time I said goodbye to something, God showed me that there was also a great “Hello”. I left my old-old-school after first grade, and I was so upset about leaving. But if I hadn’t, I would never have even met Allie or Amanda, or anyone else. I wouldn’t have done a lot of the cool things I did, or been happy in quite the same way. And in the same way, when I said goodbye to schoolschool, I said hello to the entire world, it seems. I said hello to time to write, to writers’ group, to being so mcuh closer to my family. I said hello to Botany and Literature, field trips, and a lot of freedom!

It really is a wonderful life! And there are so many times when I just think, I am so thankful. Incredibly, incredibly thankful.

Peace,
Pen

PS:I guess the whole ”Hello/Goodbye” thing is probably not what the Beatles were thinking of when they wrote the song, but whatever.  
PPS:I know I said I would continue on with yesterday’s topic, but I wasn’t expecting the yearbook to come. Some other time, I will further discuss the previous topic. Yeah. I procrastinate, what can I say?

 

Senior Citizen

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh you guys!

Seriously? Really? Did I just enter my first year of Senior Girl Scouts?
Sheesh. I am getting old. (And yet I incessantly stand on my head… do you think, at my age, it is right?) OK, I’m laughing now… how do I always manage to make some kind of Lewis Carroll joke in like every other blog post/personal essay that I write, while still knowing that no one will get it? That’s why my friends need to read the same books I do. (That means YOU, Bug! Ahem, remember? The Thief Lord?) And watch the movies. Becuase somehow there is always the perfect setup for a very clever joke referencing some book or movie or poem that I know very well, and when I make the joke I am the only one laughing becuase no one else knows what I am talking about. And if they don’t know me that well and are not used to such seemingly random outbursts, they may be prone to walking away quickly to escape the crazy person.

Anyway, the ceremony was pretty good. Val came dressed like a rapper. She wore her dad’s jeans (so they hung way down low. Sagging, isn’t that what the young people say these days?) and his work boots, and oversize T-shirt, a sideways ballcap, and she also had giant bling (a paper chain with sparkles drawn on.) Her rap that she did at the end of the ceremony was a riot. It included lyrics like, “We’re selling cookies, yo; look at us scrapin in alla dis dough!” Then we had someone do a Kanye impersonation and be like, “Hey, I’mma let you finish, but my boy Usher is the best rapper in the world. The best in the world!” Then Val was all, “Oh no you didn’t!” Also, Mel got a little obsessed with what she called “Senior Land”, which was basically the other side of the bridge/path (moving up a level is called bridging) and so she HAD to make a big neon orange sign that said “Welcome to Senior Land.” Then she heard that our next field trip would be an afternoon tea, and she got VERY excited. She’s kind of obsessed with that now. :D

After the ceremony, we zipped over to where Bethesda was having their Immaculate Conception get-together. Mass was already over but I got to eat some stuff and I also got a Confirmation present from the DHF’s mom, which Eliza had wrapped so nicely that I almost didn’t want to open it. Glad I did, though, because inside the wrapping were two books, one with a saint for every day and cause along with very cool art, and another was a bunch of Pope Benedict’s talks to the youth. I already started reading that one, and I like it a lot. When I’m reading, I automatically imagine him standing by a river on a sunny day, wearing red robes with the pope hat on. I kind of forget that he’s old. When he was first elected after JP2, I didn’t know if I was going to like him very much (Amanda didn’t either– she’s not a big fan of the name Benedict) but now I really do. :) I think it’s good that he’s continuing to talk to and engage the youth of the world, and to keep the World Youth Days, and that he made a trip to America. 

Well, I’m off to do some more school before my ASL teacher comes. 

From Senior Land, 
Pen

 

Sorry ’bout that

Okay. I’m back and a little calmer. My dad is not very good at making me feel better because he is a marsh-wiggle himself, and besides that a guy, and so the combination equals not so good at making me feel better when I’m really angry or stressed. But when I’m sad he’s very nice to me. I’m such a daddy’s girl. ;)

Aaaanyway, back to what I was saying… So we started school like a week and a half ago. I was sad to see summer go, and yet I am really enjoying this school year so far, better than last year. We are much more organized now and I really like my new math book (a real shocker). It had a picutre of Alice and the Red Queen right on page one of chapter one, so I was like, “I think I’m gonna like this book”. And I do. Plus I am really enjoying Botany…

Botany, yes! I have been collecting botanical specimens all summer long, pressing them and saving them. Now I have a cool botany textbook to learn from, books about trees and herbs, and also I am creating my own botany scrapbook, using all my specimens!! Which reminds me, I was supposed to take a picture of the Northern Pin Oak at my DHFs’ house… oh well. Mayhap they will take one for me and send it in the mail or something. I’ve been going back to using the ol’ fashioned system of mailing letters. It’s kind of cool becuase it’s like being in Victorian times or something. E.B. (one of my DHFs) and I sometimes write ‘ship logs’ to each other, like we are on a ship and we’re documenting everything that’s going on. It’s fun, actually. She’s Captain Hornblower and I’m First Lieutenant Curly.  

But that’s getting off subject. Botany… I am completely in love with it now. Fascinated by it. I collect leaves and plants wherever we go. (Also, as of late, feathers, but that’s just for fun and not for school. I found a bluejay feather this morning in the DHFs’ backyard, and it is very nice.) S.P. (another DHF) got me a ginormous leaf from when she and the others went to Kentucky, but I forgot to take it home. I’m sad now… alas!!!

So yesterday night, when we were going to get ice cream, we were singing in the car really loudly. P.B., aka the dad of the DHFs (well he is actually SP’s uncle… SP is cousin of EB, aka Eliza and her younger sister BB, aka Bug. They all live in the same house.) was getting annoyed. Of course we were listening to Jars of Clay, so there were no songs at all on the whole CD that we didn’t know. Except I think we were using PB’s iPhone and not a CD. Oh well. The reason he was getting annoyed is that for some reason we all tend to sing very high when we’re all together. I usually don’t sing high at all, but when I’m around them singing I like automatically harmonize. We call PB “Poor Bill” like in Alice in Wonderland movie when Bill the lizard is kicked out of the chimney and they all say, “Poor Bill.” So whever we feel like, ‘poor so-and-so’ we say “Poor Bill!” in an accent.
So then… we were all wearing capes, and being the Queen’s Court. SP was the Queen, I was her younger sister the Princess, Eliza was the Knight, and Bug was a Lord. I said, “Lord, you need a lady. Go get one now!”
Lord: “why?”
Me: “Becuase then she would be Lady Bug! hahahahahahahahaha!!!!”
I know. I laugh at such random and ‘ridonckulous’ things. (We’ve all seen the movie Bolt and we say Ridonckulous all the time now, like the hamster in the movie.)
Well, then the Queen and the Princess shared a large Reese’s blizzard, so it was all good. Yum! And those are huuuge. There is no way I would be able to eat one by myself.

Making the videos was fun. Eliza wore her dad’s suit jacket, tie, and American flag cap for two parts, and then we made Bug go put them away. She put the cap in the closet instead of on the bedpost, and so he knew that we’d been using his stuff while he was away at work!
The many deleted bloopers consisted of hair falling down out of hats whilst we were playing a boy character, people saying “ouch!”, lawnmowers going, the camera malfunctioning, me saying “oh, is it filming?”, Bug whispering loudly, curtains falling, coke spilling, et cetera. SP and I were stuffed into the trunk of a minivan and we whined like little kids for this one scene, and then for another it was Bug and I pretending to be little kids fighting over nothing. I ripped up our “mother’s” voting ballot at the end. :)

So all in all it was quite brilliant. I can’t wait until you see the videos themselves! I hope they post them soon!!!
Well, bye for now. In a much better mood, yours truly,
–Pen :>)