For Christmas...

For those of you who have picked my name, I am sorry, but you're pretty much on your own this year. I can't think of anything I want. The only thing I came up with is what was left over from my list from last year. Surprisingly enough, out of the ten items that took me a week of hard thinking to come up with I received all but two of them:

1. Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers—Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison (please don’t get me hard cover, and I would like the cover to be the same as my other books. Talk to my sisters or mom! The picture is the right cover.)

2. Startled by His Furry Shorts—Confessions of Georgia Nicolsonby Louise Rennison.( I think this one is too new to get in soft cover, and if it is please don’t get it for me! Again with the covers!)

If nothing else, I love movies. Gift certificates and the take home and watch over and over again kind. Other than that, have a Merry Christmas!

Could you imagine?

How nice it would be to walk off your plane and your luggage is the first one out on the conveyor belt, all you have to do is pick it up and walk away. Why is that person never there? You always see that luggage go around fifty times, until it’s the only one going around and you’re still standing there because yours hasn't come yet. Why does that always happen? Just once, I would love to see this happen.

Will Power? Effort?

Why is it that I have such great will power when it comes to sitting on my bed and watching movies for hours on end? But when it comes to writing an essay there is nothing there. No will. It seems like I have less and less will power each day. Though today I realized, even though I'm not paying for these courses I am taking, unlike university, I still chose to be in them. Even though I am forced to go to that building 5 days a week, I am not forced to be sitting in the particular classrooms I am in. I chose them, I enjoy most of them. I strangely enjoy all of them to some extent. All I really need to graduate is one english credit and one consumer math credit. So many other classes that are more difficult, more involved and that take so much effort. Why? I ask myself everyday. Maybe one day my effort will make a difference, if not for someone else, at least my later life will be easier and more enjoyable

Something Strange

Throughout my high school career there have been three main books we have read in English class. They are To Kill a Mocking Bird, in grade ten, The Lord of the Flies, in grade eleven, and The Catcher in the Rye, this year. Now I will take this time to explain that I thoroughly enjoy reading, I would even go as far to say I love it. I like to read in my spare time, I like reading books that I love over and over again. Some days all I do is read, just sit and read, start the book, finish the book, one sitting. Just me and the book. So after all of that I will go on to tell you that out of these three books I haven't taken the time to finish one of them. And it’s not even because I don't like them. I do like them. I actually have absolutely no reason not to finish them. I like them, their not even very long. Plus the fact that with each novel we have had tests, done projects, discussions and essays on them. And I still didn't take the time to read one of them. I have always started them, and I read about half, but never have enough time to finish it before the test (ironically they are usually tests just to see if you have read the book). I always either get someone to tell me what happens at the end or just wing it. And the stupid thing is I always do fine on the test and all the following assignments.
This year we read The Catcher in the Rye. I was on page 102 when we had the test (I think there were 198 pages) and I got 19/20 on it. We have had many discussions and are currently working on a monologue we have to present in front of the class and an essay due the week after. And today as I was talking to my teacher I told her all of this and she didn't get mad at me, she didn't even tell me off, all she said was I think you'd enjoy it (The Catcher) if you read it. That was it. So I think I'm going to finish it this weekend. Only 3 weeks after the test, but I will finish it. And possibly some day I will pick up the other two and finish them too...

Tootbursh's

I went to the Dentist on Wednesday with my Mom. I was surprised to find out that I had no cavities. I love brushing my teeth. I do it on a regular basis of at least three or four times a day. This probably explains how I have no cavities, even though I eat a ridiculous amount of candy. This also explains the amount of toothbrushes I have strategically placed all around the city where I would be most likely to use them. The places are as follows (in order of usage):

1. My Bathroom (Upstairs)
2. Corrie's Bathroom
3. Pam and Don's Bathroom
4. My Bag
5. My Bathroom (Downstairs)
6. My Cottage Bathroom
7. Oost's Bathroom
8. Justin and Nicole's Bathroom
9. Kassia's Bathroom
10. Alie's Bathroom

As always, I like to keep my lists in intervals of five, so I have limited myself to 10 toothbrushes.
* I know six & seven are not officially in the city, but they are used too often no to be on my list.

A good old dose of Morning

Last night I slept with Kim, so, if you know my household layout you would know I was downstairs. Anyway, as I was walking upstairs I heard the garage door open and close, wondering who was up so early I opened it and looked in (or out I'm not sure which in this case!).
And this is how conversations go when you are too tired to realize what you are saying.
(Door opens, I look in, my Dad looks at me)
Dad: Hey Beek.
Me: (In raspy morning voice with eyes squinted due to glasses being held in hand instead of on face) Hi, what are you doing here?
Dad: What do you mean what am I doing here?! I live here!
Me: What... No! I mean what are you doing up?
Dad: Well that’s what people do in the morning. I had some stuff to do.
Me: (Still tired, kind of confused now) Never mind...
(Shut the door and continue upstairs)

This is why, if I ever see you in the morning, or very shortly after I slept, I will only say Hi or if you’re lucky, Good Morning, and I will stop there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who "Aren't Morning People" I just need a couple of minutes to catch up to what I missed while I was sleeping.

Makes sense to me...

Reasons why I wouldn't make a good Mother at this point in my life:
1. On average it takes me about three tries to get the washing machine to work
2. Once I do get it to work I dye clothes that aren't supposed to be pink, pink
3. I am really bad at looking for things, even when they are right in front of me
4. I cannot cook without a recipe
5. I hate cleaning in general
6. I am not good at carrying copious items at once
7. I have very little sympathy and when children cry around me I either pretend not to notice or very badly comfort them
8. I am seventeen years old and still in high school
9. I prefer to sleep in on my days off
10. I have a problem finding what exactly I am looking for in grocery stores/ always forget something on the list/ don't know what to write on the list other than milk bread and eggs

Tweezers and Coconut

Things I like:
Freshly sharpened pencil crayons
The way Corrie cuts apples up
Having my own little entertainment unit in my room (that I bought)
The thought of traveling some day
Spilt Screen Sadness by John Mayer
Paper cutters and tweezers
Freshly brushed teeth
Drawing portraits
Holding sleeping babies
Watching Pam and Jim torment Dwight


Things I don't like:
People listening to me pee
Girls in High school bathrooms that stand in front of the mirror critiquing themselves and don't even get out of the way so I can wash my hands
People watching/ listening to me blow my nose
Glasses that always slide down your nose
Coconut
pencil sharpeners that don't sharpen pencils evenly so you have too much wood coming down too far on one side
People taking advantage of my TV in my room, only because its upstairs and they are lazy
The name Gretchen (I am sorry if I hurt anyone in this comment)

Guess What!

I got a job! Yay for me. I am now an employee of Scott's Super A Foods. It has always been a goal of mine to work there for at least a little while just to complete the tradition. I am the fifth and final Van Aertselaer child to work in this particular grocery store. And believe me it is the only place where all five of us will ever work. Ever. Oh wait, that is unless Kurt gets a job at Mirlycourtios as a server! I am sure that will happen in the very near future. This is a good job to work at though because I will most likely be able to work sometimes around 1:00 since I get off at 12:30 every other day. That will be nice because then I can work a whole bunch, save money for Europe and still have the night off! Yay for me again. So feel free to come visit me anytime. But you are not allowed to complain when I suck at checking you though, at least for the first couple of weeks.

Boring Stuff

School sucks. Normally I am a bit excited for it, or just running out of things to do and getting bored. But this year is completely different. I am not excited to go to school this year, I'm not excited to get back into the rhythm of it, and I am not bored of summer at all. Saying all that I still had a pretty good day today, even though I didn't actually go to school at all. All I did was show the Grade 10's around, get my picture taken, get my schedule and locker. Most of it was pretty un-eventful except for the picture taking part, what we do is go get these little card thingy’s with our name and address and whatever else on them, so you can either buy pictures but if you don't all its used for is our student ID card, which are useless. They aren't even used in the yearbook because our grad photos are used for that. So since they make the system so easy to screw up without really ruining anything me and my friend decided to do it. We switched little name cards and got our pictures taken with the wrong name. I'm pretty excited to get them to tell you the truth, I will get me card with my name on it and a picture of Kassia Woloshyn's beautiful face! Besides that all I have to look forward to is the fact that I don't have one full day of school this year. I get off at 12:30 one day and 1:45 the next day. Then if my plan all goes well I will get a job that will be able to schedule me in for those times so they will not be so wasted.
p.s. I promise to do a real blog next time...not so boring!

ho-hum

I cut my nails today. As I was sitting on my bathroom counter with my feet over the sink I thought the last time I did this I was carefully balanced on a rock using my dads nail cutters that I had to get from his bag, looking out over Winnange Lake as the sun slowly peaked over the trees surrounding me. Who knows when the next time I will get to take in that veiw is. I'll be working next year to save money up to go to Europe so I may not be able to get a week off or I might not be able to afford it! We'll see.

Happy Birthday to me

Every year since I have been old enough to appreciate musicals my aunt has taken me and Kim to a theatrical production. This year as you may have heard the Sound of Music is on at Rainbow stage. I have always loved this movie and when I heard it was coming here I secretly hoped my aunt and uncle would hear about it and would think the same as I was. Sure enough last night she called and talked to Kim about it. The only problem is we had to cut our bike trip a day short, but it will be worth it. I am quite excited.

Lazy

Well it seems to me that lazy is running in the family lately, first Corrie then Kim and now me. I don't even feel like doing this right now. I just want to go put on a skirt and go for a walk in the sun. I know, my summer has pretty much consisted only of walks in the sun but I am completely and utterly happy with that at the moment. You have missed far too much for an update so I will skip all that and start fresh. I am going to my cottage today. I can't believe how little I have been there this year with all this spare time I have had. Oh well there is nothing I can do about it now. Other than that not much is happening. Well actually allot is happening...FINE I will quickly tell you about it all! I just got beck from my friend’s cabin today. I got some new de-odorant that I quite like. I am going to my cottage this weekend. It is my birthday on Monday and everyone is coming to the cottage for it. I am going on another bike trip with my dad to Kenora on I think the tenth. We are then going on a week long canoe trip with the rest of the family (well most of them). And that is it. I will try, but not very hard to update more often in the future. But I will be gone lots, so it won’t be completely my fault.

Home

I have finally reached home. It was fun but I’m glad to be home. I got to have a nice s\clean shower with all my own shower accessories. I get to sleep in my own bed tonight, and though I don't mind having other people make me my food and someone else buy it for me it will be nice to sit at my own kitchen table and eat my own crap food. The whole trip was about 1161.6 kilometers, but I'm still not sure how accurate my speedometer on my bike is. Now all I have to do is wait around for about two days and wait for folk fest!

Five Days

We have now ridden five days, and are in Dauphin which is our half way point in which we receive a break, and because of some crazy luck we got two days off instead of one. We left on Tuesday and went to Selkirk and the next day to Hnasa then to Ericsdale and to the Narrows. All of these days were fine. We went about 80 kms a day on average and I was fine with that. Then came the terrible day five. We were going to stay in Ste.Rose But there were tornado warnings every were and therefore my dad decided just to go straight to Dauphin. I remember I was already feeling a bit off that day in the morning but I decided just to suck it up and ride my bike. But this day, I was ready to call it quits when we hit a hundred kilometers in Ste.Rose, I don't know how well you Guys know this area of Manitoba, but its over 50 more kilometers to Dauphin from there. So we went for it. That was a lot of pain. I'm pretty sure we did over 160 kilometers that day and let me tell you I was freaking sore! My thighs hurt so much I could barely walk and my butt wasn't doing to well either! But my thighs! Well I had a good soak in the bath and was very surprised when I woke up the next day to find them barely hurting at all. Other than that we are all fine. We're heading out to Clear lake tomorrow which it about 80kms away. I havent gotten burnt yet but I am working on a pretty sweet sandal tan and my nose is just worn out from being in the sun all day for five days. And my butt... I am surprised to say isn't at all like I thought it would be. It barely hurts at all. A little bit when I get off and get back on again, its a little bit tender but I can handle that. Over all its been pretty fun. I basically just eat and drink whatever I want without feeling guilty because I feel I deserve 3 cokes in a day when its plus 31 out and I have biked over 100 km. So I guess I've told you al enough. I will post again probably when we reach Virden where my aunt lives, in a couple of days. So thats it.

My first bike trip...

I am leaving on my first ever bike trip tomorrow morning with my mother and father. Two people who just happen to be awesome at biking. I haven't really trained for it, so I don't how I will do. We're going to Selkirk tomorrow with is about 60km, so that’s the first test. If I can get up the next day and still sit on a bike I think I’ll be able to make it! No we're not doing the BC to Mb trip anymore... sorry to dissapoint you, maybe another year. W're just doing a close to home Manitoba trip. Anyway, I have to go pack now, but I will try and keep you all posted.

Seriously!

I wish that when people wrote a sequel to a previous book or a full series that they would not re-explain everything. I am currently reading Harry Potter in preparation for the fifth movie and the seventh book. I just started the fourth book today and frankly I am sick of reading over and over again what a muggle is, and if someone is reading the fourth book in this series and you don't know who Sirius Black is then maybe you should start at the beginning and read them like your supposed to. Really, I would like to know, who starts reading a series of books in the middle? Because these people cause me a lot of pain. If I ever write a series of books (which will never happen) I will make sure that if you are reading the second book and you haven’t read the first book you better turn right back around or else you are going to be confused. Am I being selfish? Or are others bothered by this as well?

Zander

I remember, I was about nine or ten, and I had a fish. It was a Siamese fighting fish, I got the cheapest, coolest fish I could because that was the only pets we were allowed to have, and spending more than three dollars on a fish was out of the question. My fish's name was Zander, I don't even think that is how you're supposed to spell it, but I that’s how I spelt it when I was ten, so that’s his name. One day I was cleaning out his bowl, and this defiantly didn't happen on a regular basis. It would often be quite green by the time I got around to cleaning it. But on this particular day I had just finished cleaning out his bowl and as I was carrying it out of my kitchen back into my living room I dropped it. And it wasn't just a little fish bowl. It was quite big, I remember I had trouble carrying it. It was circular and it must have had a circumference close to a foot and it was about six inches deep, so it wasn't just a little spill of water. It was on carped that I dropped it. I don't remember my first thought but the first thing I did was look for Zander, pick his little wet, flopping body up and go submerge him in some fresh water. I didn't even hesitate picking him up, even though I don’t really enjoy touching fish, in my mind there was no other choice. After he was safely in a margarine container on my counter I went to clean up the mess. I remember a bowl lying on its side with a bit of water in it, a large wet spot on the floor that was still slowly spreading and a whole bunch of little blue rocks spewed over the carpet. It sucked. Cleaning it up, re-cleaning the rocks, and putting it back together. I think I got my mom to carry it back to the living room that time. The carpet remained wet for a while. That was closer to the beginning of Zanders life. Yeah, I thought he might die from shock or something, but no, he lived an amazingly long, boring life, probably about two or three years. I printed up a sticker that said "My name is Zander." and put in on the bowl, I think we still have his bowl, and I'm also quite sure that sticker is still on it. I got pretty sick of cleaning his bowl after that long, so I think it got cleaned even less towards the end. But he was a good fish, never complained much, he never swam much either. Most of his life he looked like he was either sleeping or dead. But he was a good fish.

Paddling Paradise

I never want to see these two words again. Right now I am just finishing a magazine (called paddling paradise) that I have been working on for the last two weeks, and let me tell you how busy this last week has been! So after my 'unpleasant month of May' I am pretty sure the first half of June is going to be equaly unpleasant. So far I have spet the first four day of June making a magazine. No sooner than I finish it I have to start studying for my Exams. Even though I only have to they are still going to suck. So for the next 10 days I will be doing nothing other than studying Math and Physics. Other than me doing my magazine, this week my dad bought me a bike. I have never owned a brand new bike. It's a Gary Fisher (they guy who invented mountain bikes) and its blue and shiny and I like it. I got it only for one purpose though- to ride with him and my mom around Manitoba inbetween the time that I finish my exams and Folk Fest weekend. Well I started this blog at about 11:45 and after a few printor errors and computer switches it is not 1:21 and I am tired and need to get up in about 6 and a half hours. Poopy. So good night to all and I hope your next few weeks are better than mine are about to be!

The Unpleasant Month of May

So far this month hasnt been very good for me. I am still behind in school, and while trying to catch up I am being handed too many end of the year projects and exam reveiws to keep track of. I went to Grand Forks for a weekend with my friends family, which was fun, but not as fun as I expected. Bun in doing so I missed the weekend everyone went down to our cottage. So since I was getting all stresses out about school I quit my job last Thursday so I would have one less thing to worry about, but I still have to work until the 31st. Which is kind of stupid becuase by then I'll pretty much be caught up in school and have exams to look forward too. But I do have the long weekend to look forward too, which after much worrying and stupid shift switching I managed to get off and am going to go to my cottage and indulge myself in some doing nothing. So I am sorry about the crap post, my life is a little busy at the moment. So for now I have to go write an article that has something to do with canoeing for my English project before I have to go to my freinds house to finish off a Geo project.

I missed April

It has defiantly been a while, and I am afraid I have lost all my readers. But for those of you who still check every once and a while I will give you a list of things that happened since I last posted: 1. While we were driving home I started feeling not very good, by the time we got home I had gotten much worse.
2. The next day I went to the doctor, for maybe the third time in my life.
3. The doctor told me I had strep-throat or tonsillitis or something (I was kind of out of it) and prescribed me for some antibiotics.
4. The next day I was worse so my mom called a doctor we know and she said to take me to the Hospital.
5. I went to the hospital and sat in the waiting room for 2 hours and then lied in a bed for another 5 hours.
6. Someone finally came and asked me some questions and then they took some of my blood.
7. They came back about an hour later and told me I had mononucleosis and prescribed me some T3's.
8. We called our doctor friend up and se prescribed me some real medicine (steroids) and some other stuff.
9. The next week and a half were crap; I just lied in bed and slept and slept.
10. I slowly got better.
11. I weighed myself finding out that I had lost 15 pounds, now weighing 108lbs. A weight I have not been since about grade 8 and a weight I will most likely never ever be again.
12. I went to school realizing it had been exactly a month since my last day of school.
13. Since then I've basically been trying to catch up in Physics and Pre-calculus math, all other subjects’ weren’t that big a deal. The only problem is I am one of those people who don't do homework, so when you don't go to school for a month catching up without doing any homework is a little difficult.
14. Other than catching up on school I have been to Jeremy Fishers Concert, and bought his new CD which was one of the best purchases I have made in a while.
15. And I went to John Mayer this past Thursday, which was amazing, and just last night I bought a CD of his that I didn't have, which was an exceptionally good purchase as well.

Now that I have reached #15 and have relatively caught you up on my life I am going to go do some math homework like a good girl.

Hello all

Just a little update of what we've been doing lately:
working....working...driving....biking...suntanning...swimming...let me tell you, it was awesome!

Me in warmth...

So last time I posted it wouldn't let me post any pictures for some unknown reason, so I thought would try again tonight, and it works! This first picture is of a couple whose house we were working on for the first few days I was here. Her name is Olga and Dennis. The second picture is just of me and my father happily sunbathing in the warm warm sun (actually this was a cloudy day...not very nice!) . The third is of the St. Patricks day parade on Sunday. And picture numbery four is just one of my cornrows I got. Olga has a friend that knows how to do them so she got her to do them for me. They hurt so freaking much! Let me tell you, I was not expecting that! My eyes started to water it hurt so bad. Well thats about all I have to say. This computer is slow so I'm not going to push it to check my spelling or anything! So sorry for all the bad spelling and grammar!

Slidell, La

Hello all, Slidell is awesome. I don’t really feel like being on a computer right now so I’m going to keep it short and sweet. We didn’t do mush today, we just went to a local church, it was alright, not as good as GNF, but the pastor did sound like doctor Phil so it wasn’t all bad! After that we went out for lunch with a few of the oldies! Then for 1:00 we made our way over to this St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was all pretty fun! Apparently today was a cold day, I was still wearing a tank top, shorts and flip flops. But I just found out not that it was only about 18 oC out! I thought it was about 25oC. Shows you how acclimatized I am. I got minor sunburn on my face and shoulders because of my tender winter skin. So I was going to put a few pictures on but for some reason, either blogger is not working or just this computer/internet connection, it's not working. Sooooo no pictures for you today!

wax vs razor (duh, duh, duuuhhhh...)

I tried waxing my legs today. It didn't go so well. I thought why not wax them before I go away and I will save myself the trouble of shaving for the next few weeks. I don't know if I got a bad brand, if my hair was long enough (though it looked plenty long enough to me), or if I was doing it wrong. It wasn't that painful, not as bad as I thought it was going to be anyway. It just didn't work. My hair didn't come out. I guess I just have extra tough leg hair or something. I got Kim to help me, but I ended up giving up before I even got to my knee on my first leg. This is something I would not recommend to anyone. It sucks. Shaving is much easier, quicker and less painful. After I gave up I just shaved them, it was like finding something after years that you completely forgotten about, but now that you have it again you love it and never want to lose it again. Then by the next day you have forgotten about it again. But this was the feeling I got from shaving my legs after an attempted waxing. I think this was one of the most enjoyable shaves I’ve had so far.

For Cynthia.

na-na-na-na-boo-boo!!
No I'm only joking, but not really. I am leaving in three days, and I am getting to the point where I'm not really able to concentrate on anything else. Except my tetris. I did possible the worst thing I could do for myself. I got tetris on my ipod. Some of you may think it was a waste of $5 to purchase it on Kim's visa card, but I can assure you that I will defiantly get my moneys worth, if I have not already. I am a tetris freak and I have come to accept it. I could play for hours at a time, and now that I have a pocket version, that also lets me listen to any of my favourite songs while playing I am a happy girl. Especially since I will soon be on a plane flying to Louisiana. playing tetris, listening to my favourite songs.

Last Night

Overall my night last night sucked. I woke up many-a-times coughing and only fell asleep after a few pills and various other drugs. But that’s not why I'm posting. I slept with a stuffed animal last night. I can't actually remember the last time I did this, it's been years at least. I used to be obsessed with stuffed animals, I would have competitions with my friends to see who had more, I usually won. I had a long green shelf in my room on which they were all crowded upon. But for the past few months they have remained in a garbage bag under my bed. All but one. His name is Russell, I made him at build a bear with a free birthday gift-certificate that they sent me. He is a bright green frog with soft fur. I named him after Don, well Don's middle name, okay I didn’t actually, but it was in the back of my mind while I was naming him. So last week for pajama day I took Russell out of the bag under my bed and took him on a field trip to school. The only reason he was chosen was because he was green and that is my grade colour. So last night as I lay in bed coughing myself sick I cuddled him. It was a weird feeling, yet strangely familiar. I felt as if I was 7 years old again.

I AM SORRY!

All those things Pam listed have all been things making my life very busy, especially receiving valentines! So I’m putting all the things that have happend to me into sections:
1. Josh Ritter- this was my number two 17th day of the month event this year. He was awesome, one of the best concerts I have been to and defiantly the best 12 bucks I have spent, at least in a long time.
2. Jars of Clay- Also awesome, you know their a good band when (1) you are very disappointed when the concert is over and (2) you like them even more once you have seen them live!
3. Sheena Grobb- Some of you may remember her from folk fest, if you don't that’s really unfortunate because she was awesome, and still is, come to think of it. Anyway Kim and I both loved her. So a few weeks ago I saw the name S Grobb on one of the doors at my school and I thought wouldn't that be crazy. So I told Kim and she remembered me that she did live in Winnipeg and was in fact a teacher (I know this story isn’t exactly how it goes Pam but get over it). Then during spirit week I totally saw her and recognized her, long story after that, but Sheena Grobb works at my school and I met her and get to see her almost every day.
4. Spirit week- was awesome as well, I almost lost my voice, though I was very disappointed to lose to the grade 10's because apparently our grade has no spirit it was still fun. Oh yeah and one even (air bands) which I did participate in and we did win is on youtube. I don't actually know how to make a real link but if you go to this website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OUPnctdkEs you can watch our dance. The person who filmed if is freaking annoying and really bad at filming stuff but I'm still on youtube. (I'm the one on the far left (your left) in the strapless green shirt)
5. Valentines- I got a sweet valentines card from Tom, but since I don't know how to use our scanner I can't do that for you guys yet. But I promise to in the near future to get Kim to teach me how to use it and I will post about it because it truly is amazing.
6. License- Not much to say, I passed my test and got my license. I didn't tell anyone because I didn’t want any sarcastic comments if I failed, but since I passed, comment away. My Mom made my Dad take me because she took all the other kids. I don't know if any of you know about my wink obsession, but I love receiving winks, but only from the right people at the right time. This one was a dream com true wink. My tester called me up to sign some papers and as we walked out I passed my Dad he winked at me. Since the invention of the wink there have been five winks that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. (From the Princess Bride for all of you who didn’t catch that)
7.Would I Ever Eat A Monkey?- I don't know, I probably would if someone paid me, but I think otherwise I would feel too bad. If I saw it on a menu I might be tempted, but I think I would just laugh about it for a while and then think about where I had gone out for supper.
8. Youth Retreat- was really good other than me getting sick on Saturday and having a relatively crap sleep that night. There were only 12 teens there so we all got to know each other pretty well and spent a lot of time together. I learned quite a bit and the food was awesome.
9. Parent Leaving on Wednesday- This means me and Kim get to share a car for the next two weeks until I leave. Since I have my now its going to be sweet. I always like when my parents leave, it gives me a completely fake and untruthful feeling of independence! And I love it, until I get sick or tired of cleaning and making my own food. But lucky for me by that time I will be leaving to meet them!
10. Sick and Tired- I stayed home from school today because I am sick, I spent most of my time sleeping, eating, reading and watching movies until now. Well I actually did drive Pam to work, but I still haven’t officially gone outside because I went into the garage, got in the van, drove her to work, came home and got back out of the van inside the garage. So I haven’t officially broken any of the staying home sick rules. So now that I have caught all of you faithful checkers of my blog up to date and have reached number 10 I will go and eat a little bit of supper and pack my bag so my parents can take it with them.

adventure or adventure?

My dad and I have recently planned a trip that will go something like this:

1. Get me a new bike
2. Take a month off of work
3. Go buy all the supplies I will need to live on a bike for a month
4. Buy 2 bus tickets to Penticton, BC
5. Get out of school early
6. Pack up our bikes and all our other stuff
7. Get on the bus in Winnipeg, Mb
8. Get off the bus in Penticton, BC
9. Put our bikes together
10. Get on our bikes and ride home

I'm pretty excited, if you remember my life list this was one of them, in the category of "Things I Might Not Accomplish." Funny though, isn’t it? If we do end up doing it, it will be one of the first things that I do accomplish. And with this goal, comes hand in hand with my "getting abs" goal. I don't think its possible to ride 100km's a day and not get abs after a day. Is it? Well I have to go talk to the counselors and principals tomorrow after my exam...I'll let you know what they say about it.

The 17th...

I think the 17th is going to be my favourite day of the month, for at least this year. It has brought me great joy already! So hears my schedule of the 17ths so far this year:

January 17th: Jesus Christ Superstar musical at the Centennial Concert Hall
February 17th: Josh Ritter is coming to Winnipeg at the West End Cultural Center
March 17th: my flight to New Orleans leaves at 2:48 pm and I arrive at about 10:52 pm

I am super excited for all three of these events. As you have probably realized Jesus Christ Superstar is tonight, I'm going with all my sisters, my mom and Cynthia. It should be pretty good, the original Jesus from the movie, Ted Neeley, is playing Jesus, I hope he's still has a good voice!

Ill probably go to Josh Ritter with Corrie, and probably Cynthia too, maybe Pam, anyway, i haven't actually got my ticket yet, but I still plan on going!

March 17th is the best on of them all. Sorry Jesus and Josh, but a trip will beat any concert! So I’m going with my mom and dad to Slidell, L.A. to help build homes for two weeks. It’s basically my first trip, and I get to stop in Chicago for 3 hours, though I probably won’t leave the airport, it will still be awesome. I’ve never really been anywhere, other than BC and other provinces on the way there. I have only barley entered the states for various short trips. And I’ve only been on a plane once, and that was about 5 years ago with my mom, so this flight on my own should be pretty... entertaining I guess you could say, I hope it goes alright, i still have two months, so I’m not that worried!

My mom left yesterday.

No she didn't leave, leave. She went to B.C. to visit my grandparents because it is soon to be their 60th anniversary. Wow, to be married 60 years. That's a long time. Anyway, my dad and I had to do the normal mom stuff. Last night we cooked supper. As I pulled out our little rice making dish we have I realized I didn’t actually know how to make rice! I am a little ashamed. But he didn’t know how either. I knew you just put rice and water in, but I didn’t know how much of what. I ended up calling Pam. So that went alright in the end but since we didn't know when anyone came home we started it too early and ended up over cooking a few things. Not a bit deal, it still tasted fine.
Every time my mom leaves, we sneakily clean out our fridge. She’s not one to throw things out. But the rest of my family is. So that already started to happen. Yesterday my dad was looking in the freezer for something. I don’t think he found it. But he did find something else. It’s in the garbage now. That’s how it goes when mom's gone. Get rid of as much as you can.
Now, my dad is not the kind of guy who cooks supper often, or does the grocery shopping. He’s more of the in the garage kind of dad. We went grocery shopping today though, one of the things my mom didn't have enough time to do before she left. So as we walked into the store I asked “Wow, when was the last time we went grocery shopping together?” He replied, “Probably when you were about five.” As our shopping progressed I realized he didn't really know where anything was. As we wandered around I couldn't help giggling as I saw my dad trying to pick out a loaf of bread, and pushing a shopping cart around with bananas, tea and bread in it. The only carts he pushes are dolly’s with stacks of chairs or washing machines on them, or the big yellow carts at Rona filled with various tools and supplies for whatever project he has going on in that garage of his.