"100 truths"

You tagged me in it on facebook; I'll respond here:


1. Real me: Um, I am the real me.  What exactly are you asking for?  My name?  As Romeo said, "What's in a name?  A rose by any other word would smell as sweet."
2. Nickname(s):  I have so many.  Kiwi is one of them.
 3. Zodiac Sign: Gemini
 4. Male or female: I'm a female.
5.Elementary School: I went to different ones; I moved part-way through.
6. High School: Been there, done that.
7. College: I went to the University of Alaska Southeast for a while.  But I didn't especially like it there.  Hopefully 'down south' next year, haha.
8. Hair color: Widely debated
9. Tall or short: Really short.
 11. Sweats or Jeans: Jeans
 12. Phone or Camera: Phone.  Although, my phone has been missing for a week now.  Le sigh.
 13. Health freak: Yeah, a little.  I mean, I try to be as healthy as I can be?  I'm not perfect.
 14. Orange or Apple: Probably apple.
 15. Do you have a crush on someone?: No ma'am.
16. Eat or Drink: I enjoy both.
 17. Piercings:  Three, all on my ears.
18. Pepsi or Coke: Honestly?  I don't know the difference.  I almost never drink soft drinks.  Water, tea, and sometimes coffee.


 HAVE YOU EVER?


19. Been in an airplane:  Yeah, plenty of times.  Airplanes and boats are literally the only way to get in and out of this part of the Last Frontier, partner.
20. Been in a relationship: Romantically speaking, no.  I am waiting for 'the one.'
21. Been in a car accident:  I've had close calls, but no.  The roads are icy up here.
22. Been in prison?:  No.


 FIRSTS?


23. First piercing:  My ears.  Then later I added one.
24. First best friend: That's difficult to say.  I guess Amanda and Monica, since we pretty much hung out starting when we were all born.
25. First award: I think it was probably for writing.26. First crush:  This boy in kindergarted; I think his name was Adam.  Isn't it funny that I really don't even remember anymore?  I've never really been all that boy crazy.


 LAST?


 29. Last person you talked to in person: My mom, right now.
30. Last person you texted: I am honestly not sure.  My phone's missing, like I said.  31. Last person you watched a movie with: My friends, Jana and Lindy.
 32. Last food you ate: lasagne
 33. Last movie you watched: The premiere of Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  With the aforementioned Jana and Lindy.  I really haven't had time to watch a film since then.
 34. Last song you listened to: A Disney version of Twelve Days of Christmas.  'Tis the season
36. Last person you hugged: My mom.
37.Favorite Food: Olives.  Seriously, I love them.  Also, cucumbers.  And my daddy's special tiramisu.  He only makes it once a year on my birthday; it literally takes him all day.
38. Drink: Water, tea, and sometimes coffee.
39. Bottoms: Around the house, my pajama pants.  Out of the house, usually either jeans or cords.
40. Flower: Daffodils.
41. Animal:  Girraffes, pandas, dragons...
42. Colors: Purple, usually, but it depends on my mood.
43. Movies: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, and some others.  It varies depending on my mood, though.
44. Subjects: French, Becoming a Bard, Literature courses, Anthropology.  I really like learning, I just don't always agree with the public school format.
 HAVE YOU EVER:


(Put in the brackets if yes)


45. [Nope, waiting for God's best.] fell in love with someone.
46. [Of course] celebrated Halloween.
47. [ ]had your heart broken...
48. [ ] went over the minutes/texts on your cell phone.
49. [ ] had someone question my sexual orientation.
51. [ ] got pregnant.
52. [ ] had an abortion.
53. [Haven't we all?] did something I regret.
54. [Probably, but I try not to make promises I can't keep.] broke a promise.
55. [Sure.] hid a secret.
56. [Two words: high school] pretended to be happy.
57. [I think every single person I've met has in at least some way, impacted my life.] met someone who changed your life.
58. [Two words, again: high school.] pretended to be sick.
59. [Just to Canada.] left the country.
60. [Probably?  But I can't think of what right now.] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it.
61. [Yeah, for sure.] cried over the silliest thing.
62. [Yeah.  I didn't think that was uncommon?  Many times.] ran a mile.
63. [Loads of times!] went to the beach with your best friend.  
64. [Yeah, usually over dumb things.] got into an argument with your friends.
65. [ ] hated someone.
66. [I would think everyone has, unless some people start dating before their second birthday?] stayed single for 2 years




CURRENTLY


67. Eating:  Why would I be eating right now?
68. Drinking: I could drink some tea or water, if I was thirsty, but I'm not.
69. Listening:  My family's chatter.
70. Sitting/Laying: I'm sitting.  At my computer.
71. Plans for today: Well, today is kind of over...
72. Waiting:  I'm waiting for my best friend to freaking come home for winter break already.  Stupid 'higher education.'
 YOUR FUTURE:


73. Want kids?:  As many as possible (if I find the right man and it's what God has in mind for me)!
74. Want to get married?:  Well, yes, if that's what I'm supposed to do with my life, I would really like to be married someday.
75. Career:  Homemaker?
  
 YOUR LOVE LIFE:


76 Lips or eyes:  Eyes
77. Shorter or taller: Taller.  It shouldn't be hard.
78. Romantic or spontaneous:  Definitely romantic.  I mean, spontaneous is okay, if used sparingly and when appropriate.
 81. Hook-up or relationship:   Relationships.  I don't really think "hook-ups" are what God had in mind for us. 
82. Looks or personality: Personality is really, really important to me, but then, honestly, so is attraction, which, technically, isn't always based on looks.  I mean to say, that if I wasn't attracted to someone, even if they had a great personality, I probably wouldn't marry them.  Of course, the opposite is true.  I wouldn't marry someone solely because I was attracted to them, either.


HAVE YOU EVER:


83. Lost glasses/contacts: Surprisingly, I don't think I have.
86. Killed somebody: Of course not!
87. Broken someone's heart: I definitely wouldn't think so.
88. Been in love:  No.
89. Cried when someone died: Yeah, more than once, unfortunately.


  DO YOU BELIEVE IN:


90. Yourself:  Yeah, for the most part I do.
91. Miracles: Absolutely.
92. Love at first sight: Not really.  I mean, I love everyone, automatically, because that's what we are called to do - "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  But in a romantic way, or as a future spouse, I would definitely have to get to know them.
93. Heaven: Definitely.
94. Santa Clause:  Why would you even ask that?!
95. Sex on the first date: Never.
96. Kiss on the first date:  Not for me, personally.  I'd rather save that for a relationship with a little more commitment.
 TRUTHFULLY:


97. Is there one person you want to be with right now: Not romantically, but I *do* really wish that a lot of my friends were home from college.
98. Do you know who your real friends are: Yeah, I do.
99. Do you believe in God:  Yes, I absolutely do.
100. Post as 100 truths?  After all that work?  You bet I will, mister!

Fiddle-dee-dee

I've been pretty out of touch for the last little while, mainly because our family was really involved in putting on a production of R&H's Cinderella.  It was really quite a lot of fun.  Mom was the stage manager.  Dad was in it (he danced and was a cobbler's apprentice) and helped with the set pieces.  I worked stage left, keeping track of the props, helping the kids, checking costumes, making sure nobody missed their cues, et cetera.  My feet got really sore.  Ashleigh was Queen Constantina:

Constantina Charlotte Ermintrude Gwindyvere Maisie Marguerite Anne

We all had a lot of fun; it's kind of sad that it's over, especially for Ashleigh.  But there shall always be other plays, I suppose...

Me and Clara.  She was a baby mouse -- so cute!

To tie up some loose ends, for Halloween, I ended up whipping together an angel costume.  It seemed appropriate since I was teaching Sunday School that day.  Oh, and by the way, remember that blue and bronze hat?  Voila:

I finished it about a month ago.  Crocheting is now going very well for me.  Just, please, ignore the fact that this is a terrible photograph of me.  I've also made another hat, and I'm working on making Ashleigh a hat.  Hers is a pretty, light blue, with a dark blue flower on it.  Maybe I'll be able to get a photo of that when it's finished.  After that, I'm making a scarf.  It's getting cold around here, so these things are necessary!

I went to the midnight release of Harry Potter seven; did you see it?

And with that... I'm going to watch the Music Man with Zac.

Dress Up

So, tomorrow is Halloween.  I get into Halloween.  It's the one day of the year that I am allowed to dress up as whatever I want.  (Plus it's the day before All Saints day, and I like All Saints day.)  I love to dress up, so I'm not going to miss the opportunity to do so.

Last year on Halloween, I was recovering from an accident and having skin grafted back onto my foot, so I didn't get to enjoy it much.  Granted, I still dressed up as Alice in Wonderland and hobbled around trick-or-treating for half an hour or so, until it started to snow and my foot started to ache way too much to continue.  Suffice it to say, I didn't get that many miles out of dress up for Halloween last year.

ON A QUICK SIDE NOTE: Check out my sweet Alice in Wonderland costume.  This is me in it four years ago for a Disney party (you can see John from Peter Pan in his pajamas and top hat at the bottom of the photo, I think).  It isn't a great photo, but it's the only one I could find of me in the costume right off.  Aunt Becky made it; she's so darn talented!

Okay, maybe you can only see his top hat, haha.  Anyway, my hair looks weirdly dark and I'm not looking at the camera, but the costume looks great, yes?  End of side note.

This year, Halloween really snuck up on me.  I wanted to be a Swiss girl, you know, with a skirt and girdle and braided hair and everything, but I just didn't have any time to put it all together.  Plus, I couldn't find a costume, because they were all 'sexy.'  I wanted something like this, but not sexy:

So I just literally couldn't find anything and I just sort of ran out of time.  Now I have NO idea what I am going to be for Halloween, which... did I mention that was tomorrow?

My second choice for a costume was Jane from Tarzan, but that is also shockingly hard to find.  What is wrong with the world?  Many, many things.  And, in case it wasn't clear, I really hate the whole 'sexy insert-anything-you-want-here' revolution that is sweeping through a perfectly good holiday.  I mean, nowadays there's such a thing as a 'sexy m&m' costume.  I just do not see the appeal; it's way more fun to actually dress up.

Plus, in Alaska, if you did that you would freeze your butt off.  Just sayin'.

Hopefully I can throw something together before tomorrow, but I just don't know if it's going to happen.  Sad.  I'm going to have to have some kind of dress-up party to make up for all the missed dress-up Holiday opportunities.

Crocheting: An Adventure in FUN.

Just to update you on the status of my teach-yourself-to-crochet endeavor, I can now say that things are going swimmingly.  I have mastered the single crochet stitch, the half double crochet stitch, the double crochet stitch, and the triple crochet stitch, as well as a type of edging called picot.  This afternoon, I've been working on learning the "Little Fan Stitch," which I think is every bit as cute as it sounds like it would be.  You can see an example of everything except the Little Fan Stitch in this swatch, which I am proudly displaying.  That's the picot trim, by my nose; it's all nice and wavy:

I think that as far as getting started goes, it was quite a bit tougher than knitting, but now that I semi-know what I'm doing, I finally understand why Grandma said it would be easier.  Also, when I poke the hook up through the yarn, it always looks (to me) like a sea monster's head bobbing above the water.  I thought that was appropriate to mention on this blog.

In other adventurous news: this morning I was woken up by a trash can hitting the house just under my window.  It's been extremely windy and stormy all day long.  I'm going to go for a walk.

I guess I'd better start  bundling up.

(Good thing I bought EAR MUFFS.)

I'll post photos of the Little Fan Stitch when I finish with a swatch of it.

Also, the entire upstairs portion of our house smells like paint because we're making props for a production of R&H's Cinderella, which Ashleigh is in - she's Queen Constantina.  Today, we painted fake big wheels of cheese.  I think this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "stinky cheese."  Also, that probably has a lot to do with why I want to get out of the house... phew.

Crocheting: An Adventure in FRUSTRATION.

Last night, I went to the store.  It was extremely dark and foggy, but I live fairly near the North Pole, and so, these things are not that unusual around here.  Braving the chill, I was able to make my goal of purchasing some Teach-Yourself-To-Crochet materials.

So far, things have pretty much gone like this:

Yes, at first, I was very confused.

Then I sort of mastered the Single Chain stitch deal.

I felt pretty good about that.

But now, I am attempting to learn the Half Double Chain stitch deal.

This is not so good, and has resulted, more or less, in a lot of this:

Me: Why don't you cooperate, Crochet Hook.

Crochet Hook: Because I don't want to.

Me: I will break you in half.

Crochet Hook: No, you won't.  You paid four bucks for me.

Me: ^%^&$%%&*&%@##$@*

Yeah, so far, all I have to show for HOURS of work is this small fabric swatch, which proves that I can at least crochet the single chain:

Yeah, sad as it is, I'm pretty proud of that little swatch.  Although, to tell you the truth, I probably didn't even do that right.  Le sigh.

Some days, you know?

Probably the best thing to do would be to find someone who actually understands how to crochet, the problem there being that everyone I know knits, not crochets.

Before she passed on, our dear grandmother was going to teach me how to crochet.  I never got the chance to learn from her, but boy, would that have been a dream!  She's the one who told me that learning to crochet would be easier than learning to knit.  To which I emphatically say, 'Huh?'

Alright, I guess I'll give my poor hands a break and get ready for Nate's cello concert.

Hoot.

This is a mask.  It is gorgeous.  I want it.  I also really want to learn to sculpt masks from leather.  These are incredible.  I'm partial to owls, but there are many amazing animals in their shop.  I'm just so impressed by these; I thought I'd share.

Also, in case you're wondering about the process as much as I am/ for my own future reference, I am including a handy link to a tutorial on making leather masks.  Maybe I'll do it someday.  I also think just learning to work leather, maybe making leather bracelets or something, would be fun.

Today, however, my goal is to learn how to crochet.  We'll see.

I mean, I guess that's more of a long-term goal, but my plan is to at least START today.

It's raining out, so it's a good day to put this plan into action.

This goal stems from my love of hats.  I really want to make a dark blue/bronze one.

I already have too many hats.  But they're SMALL.  I can stuff them all in one drawer.  It's less of a problem than if I collected jeans, or something.  Those take up a lot of room.

I would, ahem, like to point out that I live in Alaska.  Hats are very practical here.

Someday, I'll also crochet an afghan.

Simple goals, really.

On the plus side, I've heard that crocheting is easier than knitting.  And I already know how to knit, and that isn't so hard!  So this crocheting thing is going to be easy-peasy, right?  Right.

Oh.  And I'm also making chicken and dumplings for dinner.

It just seems like an appropriate sort of thing to do on a wet, cold, fall day like today, don't you think?

Plus, I have a delicious chicken and dumplings recipe.

Plus, for some reason, cooking chicken and dumplings makes me feel like Ma from the Little House series.  I'm not sure why.  I don't think she ever even made chicken and dumplings.

It just does, okay?

It looks like I might have a busy day at home, after all.

Trifecta

Sooo... I went for the piercing.  I got it done yesterday.  The last time I pierced my ears, I was eight, which was quite a while ago.  I was a little nervous, but I didn't remember it hurting last time.  I think this time it hurt a little bit more than it hurt last time, but it wasn't bad.  It feels completely fine now.

At first I was kind of like, "What did I do!?" because I just wasn't used to seeing it on my ear.  But now, I'm really liking it.  I'm actually so glad I did it.

That said, I think I can officially say that this is my last piercing.

Do you have your ears pierced or anything?