Forbidden Braces Food

Argh!!! I got braces today, and this is only ONE of the things the procedure comes with!!! Half of my favorite foods are on this list! But, then again, there are some things on the list that I absolutely hate, so now I don't have to eat them. Here is the list:
First, hard candy. One of my favorite foods. Even if it isn't classified as a food. No more lollipops!
Second, corn chips. Fritos, and the like. Those are some really good chips, and I was the only one of my friends who actually liked them.
Third, popcorn. The famous movie snack. How in the world will I survive in the movie theater without popcorn, the one food that is a complete and total tradition in the film industry?!
Fourth, jerky. I honestly don't care about that. I don't eat it anyway, why should I start now?
Fifth, ice. The problem with that is that I pretty much depend on ice as my source of water. Guess I'll have to fill up a water bottle and start drinking.
Sixth, nuts. I never actually had a particular fondness for them, but every now and then I'll eat a candy bar with a few nuts.
Seventh, pizza crust. Triumph! I hate that stuff. It has NO flavor to me whatsoever. And now I don't have to eat it!
Eighth, corn on the cob. A classic dinner side. I like it so much because you can smear on butter and salt and actually taste it. When it's off the cob, you don't really taste any butter, but I can always tell when there's no salt.
And now all my fruits and veggies have to be cut up like a baby's. How lame is that? And that was only the list of hard foods.
The forbidden soft food list is considerably smaller, but still full of stuff I like. Gum, chewing gum, sticky candy like Laffy Taffys, and that's about it. I'm also to stay away from sodas and sugary drinks, except every now and then. No popcorn or sodas!
And then there's a million rules about how to brush and floss, but I'm not even going to go there. Having braces is tough, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

My Brand Spankin' New Bike

Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha! At last! A new bike!!!! Just what I've been waiting for! And honestly, it took long enough! I've been needing a new bike for AGES!!! See, since we got back from Senegal, I haven't had a bike.
Before we left to go there, I had a marvelous blue, almost turquoise, bike. It was pretty, fashionable, and reliable. Then one day, I went out to ride it, and it wasn't on our porch like it should've been. Know why? Somebody stole it. That was the same day that my mom went out to the car and saw that all the spare change for toll booths was scattered in the driveway. I put two-and-two together and figured out that the night before, some boys must've sneaked into our yard, and seeing as my bike was in the best condition, stole it, and on the way out they noticed the unlocked van and looked for some change in it. My parents said they'd both heard a mild disturbance outside that night, but didn't think too much of it.
So when that was over I was totally upset, and my dad took me to get a new bike. This one was purplish-pinkish and just as good as the other one. I rode that one everywhere too. Nothing happened to it, but we left for Africa, so I didn't hear much. Then we get a call from the guy who's watching our house. He was borrowing my bike to get to work, and it turns out he broke one of the gears. I guess you could say I was about fed up with bikes when I heard that, but to my surprise, the guy gave my dad 100 dollars to buy me a new bike. I am SOOO grateful to him.
Unfortunately, my dad likes to take his time with these things. I didn't get a new bike until four months after we got back to our home from our trip. Luckily I had a basketball hoop to keep me busy. I got this bike at 11:00 PM two days ago at Wal-Mart. I was very surprised to see that both Target and Wal-Mart put used bikes back on the shelves with new ones, marking the price down, but not putting any tags back on whatsoever. I almost bought a used bike exactly like this one until my dad noticed it wasn't new. Luckily there was a new one on the shelves.
I am EXTREMELY out of shape. Yesterday I was riding down to my friend's house, not even a block away, and my legs started hurting. NOT EVEN A BLOCK AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!!! Argh! I need to work out more!
And you may notice that I have a helmet. Sure it doesn't look good, but I don't want to be in a hospital with blood spurting out of my head. It won't be a pretty sight. And our road is a little busier than I wish it was.

My Brother's Lightsaber!

Well, we we're working down in the basement, and my brother opened a box, and he found a lightsaber! No, really!!! Hey, I didn't believe it either until he turned it on.
Okay, I'm a lier. We don't have a basement and he didn't find a lightsaber either, cause if he had, he probably would've sliced his arm off by now 'cause he can't wield it right. But all he's really holding is a broom handle. Then I used a paint program to make it look cool.
Go to www.gimp.org and download a ABSOLUTELY FREE photoshop-like paint program. Then take a picture of someone holding a straight, round thing. If it's a broom, be sure the broom bristles don't show. The only tools you need to make a lightsaber are gaussian blur, zoom, bucket fill, pen/path, color balance, and if you want the face to stand out, the brightness/contrast tool. There are several tutorials on YouTube if you can't figure it out for yourself.
I'm wondering if, when they make the Star Wars movies, they have to complete this procedure for every single fighting clip in the movie. That would be a lot of work, but my dad thinks they have special tool to move the picture around so that they don't have to do all that work.
Now all I need is a way to take a picture of a lightsaber handle and put it into somebody's hand. Then I will fool the world! No, not really. A lot of people know that you can make lightsabers on paint programs. All I know is that little kids fall for it easily. I made it so that my little brother is holding a lightsaber, and I think he almost believed he was a Jedi.

Our Backyard Deck

I think my dad has always been jealous of his brother's house. Of course, his brother is a skilled builder, so I can see why anyone would be. Anyway, my dad has made several modifications to our house in past years, including building this deck. It has been very useful, the only problem being that we, meaning my brother and I, have to sweep all the leaves off of it in the fall.
In the past few months or so, we haven't actually used the deck for anything, but usually my mom has her little parties with her friends outside, as long as the day is nice. My siblings prefer to use it as a bike/scooter platform, seeing as our driveway is steep and our yard is anything but compatable for that. I use it as a place to hide from the world when I'm feeling depressed. Sham has also found it a place for chasing leaves, string, and other kittenish things.
Under the deck is dark, and who knows what lives under there, but we use it to store bikes and backyard vehicles of all sorts. Once before, I think we used it as a hide-and-go-seek place.
Sure, my uncle's deck is connected to the house and all, but this is a good substitute. The only problem is that I can't play basketball on it because the wood is not the best surface for dribbling. Oh well. At least I have a place to play.

The Fuel of Heat

Ahhh... the fuel of a hot fire. The thing which makes everyone feel wanted and comforted. Wood. Don't you love the way it just kind of flares up, sizzles, sparks, and then lowers to a gentle roar? Especially when you're feeling really cold.
At our house, we have enough wood stacked along the fence to last at least three years. We've been collecting it as far back as I can remember. If a tree falls in the neighborhood, my dad will be there to make sure he gets some, if not all, of it. Then he gets his wood-splitter from whoever has it currently, parks it by the side of the house, and starts cutting the wood up. Every now and then he will hire someone to split wood, but usually he'll spend weekends outside for three hours just splitting away, split, split, split. Then he has to stack it along our fence. I guess when wood is scarce, the neighbors know who to come to.
Just recently we were at Home Depot looking for wood to renovate our stairs, and my dad sees this circular metal thing that holds wood. Lots of wood. How useful would that be on our back porch for holding wood waiting to be thrown in the fire? I didn't approve of him getting it at first, but now I see it's quite useful.
Isn't it amazing that there's lots of wood around everywhere, but people use GAS fires? First, that's a waste of natural resources. Second, does that honestly produce as much warmth as wood? Maybe someday people will suck it up and learn that nothing artifical replaces the natural things of the world.

A Girls ONLY Book

Ahhh... Finally, the book we've all been waiting for. What girl doesn't want a book that boys can't look in? Ironically, there's a boys one exactly like this, except it's red and the letters are gold. You may think this book is full of leisurely, fun things, but some of the stuff is educational. There's stuff about countries of the world, princesses and queens of the world, and famous woman spies. There are lots of useful things.
I think after glimpsing through the book, I have learned how to put my hair up with a pencil and how to do a proper cartwheel, which I still can't do. There are a lot of stories, and quite a few sections on classic girl activities like daisy crowns, jacks, four square, even softball. There also happens to be a section on boys. It's not long or detailed, but it's there, all the same.
My brother seems to think that since I skimmed through his book, he gets to read through mine. Like all boys, he thinks his book is better than mine. So what if it is? Girls are still better than boys 'cause we don't act like jerks all the time. My brother is the biggest, most idiotic jerk of all time.
Anyone who gets extremely bored very easily like me should get this book. Not only is it a boredom guide, but it's good for convincing your mom to let you read it instead of your social studies book. The Daring Book for Girls is awesome. Just look at the boys book name: The Dangerous Book for Boys. Just looking at the titles, which do you think describes the gender more?

Second Life

This is a not-so-good picture of my Second Life Avatar. My dad introduced me to Second Life, and I used to think it was extremely boring, but now I think it's kind of fun. I am taking a class for making the clothes with Photoshop and GIMP, and now I am making shirts and such. I made the shirt that is in the picture, even though it isn't too impressive because it's all black. I hope to become good enough to create faces of characters from movies, but all in good time.
For those of you who don't know, Second Life is a virtual reality, although everyone who plays it says it is indeed a "Second Life." Me, I like to think of it as another MMPORG. Like Runescape and other multiplayer games, there is no purpose. There's lots of things to do, but there isn't one specific thing to focus on. I have seen people build amazing things that I can only dream about. In a way, it is a Second Life, except everything goes the way YOU want it to. You can make the clothes you've always wanted, build the house you're saving up for, or you can just go shopping for all kinds of things.
The outfit I'm wearing is one that I would prefer to have in my closet, but I don't. The black shirt is a typical thing, but not a lot of people wear jeans under a miniskirt. I would like to do that. My mom has a green dress with a veil, and she doesn't even get on that much. My dad is one of the owners of the CPCC island on the mature server. He has done so much stuff on it. He and my mom have their own little office, and there's a picture of me in it.
Second Life is split into two servers. One is the teen server, for teenagers 13-17, and the other is the mature server for 18 and up. I think they do that to protect the younger people, and also because of some... ummm... mature content.
Okay that's all for today. Maybe another time I will put up a pic of a cool outfit I make.

Our Hummingbird Feeder

This is a hummingbird feeder. It doesn't look like much, but it sits right out our dining room window, so in the summer while we eat we can watch the hummingbirds come and get the nectar. Unfortunately, it's the middle of winter, 48 degrees outside here, and we don't see many of them anymore.
I have a vague childhood memory of looking in the fridge for something to drink. I saw a jug of red juice, (it looked like fruit juice), and I took some and poured it into a cup. I drank it, and it tasted like the nastiest thing on Earth! You know what it was? Hummingbird nectar. I found out from my mom. Of course, I was about seven at the time, and I didn't have it clear that we kept all juices in their original containers. Except orange juice which we make out of those frozen cans with the already-made juice: JUST ADD WATER!
With this feeder, I've seen a lot of cool birds. All kinds of designs, feathers, sizes, you name it. I've also seen a lot of yellow jackets come up and steal the nectar, the thieves. Oh well, birds and bees can't ignore yellow flowers, fake or not. If nectar comes out, then it's good to eat.
There's a funny thing about animals I've noticed lately. We always try to change the way that God made them act. Just recently, my dad said we ought to wait for my kitten to get pregnant, have her babies, and then spay her. I think we should go ahead and spay her, cause she could get pregnant at four months. But then I realize, a long time ago when people didn't keep pets, cats and dogs weren't getting fixed. So why start now? I'm just worried that if she does end up getting pregnant at four months she'll die in birth. But the gestation period is about nine weeks, so by then she'll be six months, (I just now figured this out, by the way, that's how slow I am). You should never mess with the way God made things, but then again, thousands of animals are killed every year at shelters, so maybe fixing animals is a good thing.
That's way off the subject, but anyway, the good thing about hummingbirds is that they're so fast that nobody can catch them to keep as pets. I like watching wild birds fly around. They're so free. I wish I was that free.

Our Evil Television

Ahh... the thing that decides whether you're rich or poor: the dreaded television. I mean that literally. Quite a few people will come to your house and ask why you don't have a large flatscreen TV. Umm... maybe just maybe there's the slightest chance that we don't have one, not because it's too expensive, but because it will torture the family relationship. Okay, so maybe not my family relationship, cause we don't have cable, but a lot of people spend ALL DAY watching the stupidest shows.
Our TV is really old, but we don't use it for anything other than watching movies and DVDs. The television doesn't take up a lot of space, which is good, cause we have so much other stuff to clog up everything that it's not even funny. We probably use this TV about zero to one times in the week. Not as often as other people, and we have five children in the family. But notice I didn't count weekends. On weekends, we watch rented movies. So basically, we use the television more than ten times on the weekend. Still not very much.
I'm so jealous of all those people who have all the up-to-date television stuff. A wide flatscreen TV, a DVD and VCR player in one, and all the other awesome high-teck stuff. But half the people who have all those don't even use them enough. Which is why I'm totally happy to have this one in the picture.

My New Kitten

This is our brand new kitten. She didn't used to belong to us, but my parents' friend had a baby and his wife didn't want the cat around. Now I kind of see why. She can be very bad when she wants to be. She begs, hisses, growls, and bites. I think she is part Siamese and part Persian, which probably explains why she's mean. Both of those breeds are known for some aggressiveness.
Her name is Sham, (so now we have Sam and Sham), she's about two months old, and she is the prettiest cat I've ever seen. The only problem is that her eyes are bright yellow, and when they get big, she scares me. She adores hanging things, but don't all kittens? She goes for hands, feet, string, anything that moves.
Sam hates Sham. The first time he saw her, he went right over and let her know who's boss. He meowed a big, long, sad meow. I think it meant: "My territory. The only reason you're on it is because I'm letting you on it." He probably would've killed her if we hadn't been protecting her. The day after that, she came to close to him, and then they attacked each other. They still despise each other, but it's getting better.
We can finally pick Sham up. She used to bite and hiss, but now she'll only do that if she's riled up. She didn't used to eat dry food, but now she does. All that's left is getting her to use the bathroom outside, and making sure that she doesn't hiss at unfamiliar people. We've been throwing her outside when she's bad, and even though it's the middle of fall, she likes it. Must be the open space.
I really love Sham. I always wanted a kitten for myself, but having four little brothers and sisters doesn't help. I hope she takes a liking to me, because I'm the one who does everything for her. Well, we'll see in time.

My Flute

This is my flute that I got off eBay for 100 dollars. It's in good condition, and I've had it for three years or so, ever since I started sixth grade. I always wanted to play a flute, and then I had a chance to join the band, so I did. Along with playing basketball, my dad wants me to regularly play an instrument. I don't play regularly, but I still play it.
When we first got it, the flute wasn't in really good condition. There were a few large scratches, my mom says there were dents, and the pads were dirty and needed to be replaced. Now everything is fine with it, although it probably needs to be taken into a music store for a check-up.
I cannot believe my dad wants me to practice for an hour a day, (although if he thinks that I need to write in a blog for a half hour a day, he's crazy.) I get so distracted by everything around me that I can't sit still long enough to do three scales. That's how short my attention span is. I don't have a disease though, I can pay attention, I just can't sit still.
The problem with my flute is that the sound doesn't sound like it does when the professionals play it, although that may be attributed to the fact that it doesn't have holes in the keys, or it may just be that I'm inexperienced. Either way, I hope I can get better, I just need to focus and stop slacking. Those are two things I definetly DON'T want to do.

The "Lazy Boy"

Well, that's what the company calls it, or that's how it sounds, but it's not how it's spelled. This chair is the comfiest thing in the entire house. Along with padded backing and seating, it has a footrest you can raise, and the back bends down so it ends up almost like a bed. It's utterly amazing. This, too, is in the library, I guess because we read everything in there and we have two perfectly comfortable couches downstairs. Argh!
I'm pretty sure we've had this since before I was born. I have pictures of my dad sitting in it holding me. This thing is really old, yet it's as comfy as ever. My siblings think I hog it, and so what if I do? I always get there first. I mean, if you got there first, you wouldn't casually wait for another person to sit in it, would you? You'd head right on over and sit down.
My parents always come in and tell me to get out of it, and then they sit in it. It's their favorite spot. Then again, it's probably everyone's favorite spot. If you had one of these in your house, if someone said it wasn't their favorite spot, I'd say they're crazy, wouldn't you?

The Glorious Foutan...

Have you ever wanted a place to just be able to sit, and then lie down if you wanted to? This is it. For anyone who has a foutan, you'll know what I'm talking about. It can be a seat, or a bed, or just a place to stick random things for awhile. Unfortunately, ours is more cluttered than it should be. This foutan is comfier than any mattress, but that just makes it really heavy. I had to move it one time, and I know it took at least three people. It weighs more than my bed!!! I think it will be very useful this winter. If it gets cold, I'll just take five blankets and move everything off, and then I'll have a cozy bed. The only major problem is that it's nowhere near the fireplace. It's all the way up in the library!!!!

An Amazingly Wonderful Storage Case

Are you one of those people who has a problem finding a place to put various small things because you know that you will lose them? Well, look no further. My dad found this at a Staples store, and it has been very useful to me. I store a lot of things that I have had trouble finding a place for. Two of the little boxes have jewelry in them. One has bracelets and the other has necklaces. There are two medium sized boxes, one that I use for receipts, which clog up my purses, and the other I use for bead cases that I will almost certainly need later. And the last, long case I use for hair accessories and makeup. There's never anywhere to put that stuff. The thing I like so much about these boxes is that they all fit in one place, and the tops are easy enough to take off. I hate those boxes that have the tight tops that you have to use fingernails to pry off. These tops have little side clasps that loop up and hold the top in place. The top has two "ledges," one at either end. They are very useful. If that sounds confusing to you, sorry, I'm not very good at explaining things like that. I was just thinking the other day, if you bought a lot of these, all your storage problems would be solved. I mean, for all the small things. Before I got this, my jewelry box was overflowing, my purses were stuffed with receipts for various things, I had nowhere to store anything I might need later, and I had nowhere to put any makeup except keeping it in my purse. This thing has practically saved my life in a way because I do not want to become like my little sister. Her bed is a laundry basket, and she has two cardboard boxes at the foot of her bed stuffed until they overflow with a whole bunch of random things. Now who wants to be like that? It'd be nice if I could go get some more of these. They'd be really helpful. There's just one thing. What if I run out of stuff to store?! That'll be a disaster!

My Purse Collection

Okay, so maybe it isn't a collection, but I do have a lot. Collected from various places, my purses aren't unique, but what's weird is that I don't even use them. The blue backpack on the far left, I can't even remember where I got it from. The brown purse I got at a religious celebration, and it came with a wallet that I use all the time. The cat purse next to that has been around for awhile, and I'm pretty sure it's the second purse I ever had. The one squeezed down at the bottom is one I got at Target for nine bucks, which is cheap. (It was on clearance.) The pink backpack is the oldest. I got it right before I was going on a road trip with my dad and I was the "navigator" because my mom was going to Africa. The shiny blue purse is one I've never used, mainly because it is very small. I got it at the dollar store. The white one with pink sequins is my favorite. I bought it on sale at a clothing store for fourteen dollars, and I wanted it because that was the style when I got it. The green and orange one I got for my twelfth birthday, and I was there when my mom bought it, and she lied and said it was for her. The blue one after that is the one I have used the longest. It's in bad shape, and I bought it at Wal-Mart for three dollars. It was already pretty dirty when I got it, but it's a lot worse now. And the last one I am waiting for the right time to use. We went to a Muslim conference and got it off of the sales tables. My parents' friend sells these really nice scarves, purses, wallets, and such and we got it from her. So these are all my purses. Quite a few, but hey, at least I'll always have one.

Candy!!!!!

I am so mad that I can't go trick-or-treating. For religious reasons of course. But at least I get candy from my neighbors. These three are probably my all-time favorite candies. Skittles, 3 Musketeers, and Milky Way. Who doesn't like them? Skittles are sweet and fruity, 3 Musketeers are nice and chocolatey, and Milky Ways are chocolatey, "carameley" and a combination of things. Wouldn't it be so cool to get a whole bunch of these things? Well, I suppose I'd be sick of them after that. I also have a weak spot for Reese's cups, but if my mom finds that out she'll be on top of me in a milisecond. She thinks she likes them more than anyone. Hmmmm... what else is there? OH! I know! M&Ms. Those things are totally awesome. If you don't like those, you have a serious problem. There's so many different kinds and they all rock. (Except the peanut ones. I don't like nuts too much.) So anyway, I wish I could live on candy but I can't, sad to say. Being a little kid again would be cool because then the adults don't tell you to stop eating so much. To wrap it all up, let's just say, I WANT CANDY!!!!!

A Very Warm Fireplace

It may not look like much, but it is part of the place I call home. This is about the warmest fireplace you've ever layed eyes on. I mean it. Sure, it's old, but I love to lie down on the couch by it, put on a blanket, and listen to the roar of the fan blowing the flames. I have so many memories of sitting by the fireplace with my family watching a movie or something. This is one of the things that makes my home home. It's old, dirty, greasy, but it has a very good reputation. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that my dad forces me to make fires in it. You know, a lot of people think gas fireplaces are the way to go. They're not. Nothing beats a good ol' wood, paper and match fire.

Another Great TV show

There are a lot of great TV shows out there, but I find two of them are quite interesting. Lost, and this practically brand-new show, Heroes. Sure, it's first season is already on DVD, but I just got introduced, and frankly, it's pretty good when it comes to the thrill factor. The show is about a group of people who have found that they have certain powers, enabling them to do amazing things. One of the main characters, Mohinder Suresh, does not have a power, but has decided to track down and find all the "special" people and tell them about their powers. The main characters in Season 1 are- Nathan Petrelli, he's running for Congress and although he wants to deny it, his power is flight. Peter Petrelli, Nathan's brother who is very excited indeed that he has a power. He has the power to mimick others' abilities just by thinking about them. Niki Sanders has super strength, but can only use it through her other identity, Jessica, who is often reaking havoc. D.L. Hawkins can phase through solid objects, Micah Sanders is the super-genius child who can communicate with electric objects, Isaac Mendez can paint the future, at first only when he was high on heroin, Matt Parkman can hear people's thoughts, Hiro Nakamura is a Japanese who can bend space and time which allows him to teleport, stop time, and numerous other useful things, Claire Bennett is a cheerleader who can heal herself, and Gabriel Gray, a.k.a. Sylar, a superpowered serial killer who kills off anyone with a power by cutting their head open and taking their brain, which somehow gives him their power. He has numerous abilities, his first being the ability to see how things work. Most of these characters have no idea that the others exist, unless they are related in some way. At the end of the season, they all somehow end up in the same spot in New York. The show is, obviously, science-fiction, but it's quite a thriller, and the worst part about it is that at the end of every show, there's always a cliff-hanger.