life in a home made house

chapter 5

2007-04-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Susie was braiding Alice's hair and was totally absorbed in her thoughts when Alice suddenly said, "Susie, did you note Count Damien's son?"
Startled a little by this interruption of her musings she only said, "What?"
Alice said, "His son, that red haired boy that was out in the stables with the horses earlier." Susie felt the color draining out of her face and then getting red. Alice must have seen this in the mirror and said "Susie? Are you all right? I have never seen anyone change color so quickly."
Susie swallowed and weakly said, "That was his son? Oh no...."
Alice was intrigued, "Why Susie, didn't you know that that was his son?"
Susie said, "No, and I hit him in the face."
Alice was horrified, " Susie, why on earth would you hit someone even if they weren't the son of a count?"
Susie was indignant and retorted, "He was saying the rudest meanest things about you, Quentin, and Quentin's fiance Claudia, and when I confronted him he just basically said it again, so I hit him!"...
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Susie growled to herself in frustration. Ever since that fatal afternoon when she had slapped Phillip he had given her no peace and no chance to avoid him either!
Everyday he was at the door asking for her and giving her a flower (or sixteen), or a necklace, or some bracelets and behaving perfectly like a gentleman.
But she still didn't like him because he was always saying how graceful that necklace makes her neck look, or telling her how pretty her chocolate hair is, or saying how much he loves her violet eyes, and on top of the fact that he hadn't yet apologized for insulting Quentin, Alice, and Claudia, he was always simply dripping with every simpering flattery that ever was said (and she hated to be flattered).
She suddenly heard someone walking up behind her, and afraid it was Phillip she quickly turned around and with relief saw that it was Christopher.
"Hello Christopher" she said, thankful for something to take her mind off of her predicament. Then he handed her a clumsily wrapped package and said, "Here, happy birthday Susie." For a second she was taken by surprise, and then she took it and said "Thank you Christopher, what is it?" He laughed and his pale green eyes twinkled, and he said, "If I told, then you wouldn't be surprised would you?" She smiled and opened the package and inside was a small dagger with a slim sharp blade about 5" long and set in the hilt was a single purple pebble polished to such an extent that it flashed just like a jewel would.
"Oh Christopher!" She breathed, "It's beautiful!...Thank you so much!" Then partly because she was so happy, partly because he was her best friend, and partly because she didn't know what else to say, she suddenly threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug.
A loud "Ahem!" brought her to her senses and red faced she whipped around and what she saw chilled her.
It was Phillip, but he had undergone an appalling change since the last time she'd seen him. His eyes which were normally wide and blue were almost green, and were slitted with jealousy, but worst of all was the hatred which burned out of them in a clear, steady flame when he looked at Christopher.
"H-hello Master Phillip." Susie could barely comprehend that one single person was even capable of that much hatred. His gaze switched to Susie and the hatred faded out with extraordinary speed. "Here, happy birthday Susie," he said handing her an expensive looking, tightly wrapped package, but his tone, though not lacking in sincerity, was rather cold and had a bitter edge to it. Christopher, who looked about ready to die from embarrassment, walked quickly out of the room,
and Susie who had regained her composure by now said, "Thank you Master Phillip." A flash of annoyance flitted across his face and she noticed with a start that the hatred was gone.
She shuddered at how skillfully he hid his true temperament and he said, "Susie, how many times must I tell you to call me Phillip?" She smiled and opened the package and inside was the most beautiful little box! It was pearl, and just big enough to cover her palm and painted on it was little bouquets of violets!
"Oh..." she gasped in spite of herself, "It's beautiful!" He then reached forward and gently took it out of her hand and said, "But that's not all." Then he opened it and inside was the most beautiful, and least practical ring she had ever seen! It was a thick gold band set with sapphires, but on the top was an amethyst carved into the shape of a swan! He took it out of her hand and said, "Susie, will you be mine?"
She was stunned. Was this boy whom she had known all of a week actually asking her to marry him?
"Uh,ah, what?" was all she could manage to choke out in her shock.
"Yes, Susie, will you marry me?" She looked into those wide blue eyes and finally regaining her powers of speech, she firmly, resolutely, and calmly said, "No."
His eyes got wider than she could have believed possible and the shock that was registering in them caused a tiny deeply buried little spiteful part of herself to be glad. Now it was his turn to sputter and be in shock, and from the look of disbelief and thwarted anger in his eyes she guessed that he'd never been told, nor had expected to be told "No" about anything in pretty much his whole life. She was half afraid to look into those eyes as she expected to see that horrible, poisonous, devouring hatred pouring out onto her, but when she looked she simply saw icy, confused, and angry, disbelief. She wondered how he could be so easily swayed by his emotions: One moment he was simply radiating poison and death, the next kindness and "affection", and then suddenly ice, and confused anger.
He started to say something but his voice caught and he bowed his head and said, "Wh-why?" She had hoped to not have to elaborate on her reasons but she said "Because Mas- I mean Phillip, I have barely known you a week for one thing, and...well, ah that is to say that I don't think that I like you well enough to marry you...or rather at all really..." Then dropping her eyes she almost whispered "I hope you understand" If she were looking up at him she would have seen the look of calculating, stubborn, anger on his face when he hissed, "Maybe you just need a few days to think it over." through gritted teeth. She almost rolled her eyes in disgust at his thick-headedness, but instead she just got up, and as she left the room he handed her the box and ring and said, "Here Susie. Whether you accept me or not, this is your birthday present."
With that he walked out of the room angry, but not at all defeated.

Chapter 4

2007-04-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Chapter 4

Count Damien glared at the wall of his coach. He was in a bad mood. He'd been having way too much trouble holding his lands together lately. It seemed that no one cared that the men he executed "so regularly" were criminals. Only that there were so many of them...
His thoughts were interrupted by Duncan, (who as his eldest son was) his favorite child. "What Dun-" a new voice interrupted and Phillip his youngest and most spoiled child said
"Ugh Father! Don't pretend that you do not know that we've arrived!" Damien turned an icy glare on his 19 year old son and through gritted teeth he said "Phillip, if you embarrass me here tonight no matter what your mother says I will tan your freckled hide!"
At this his daughter Claudia (who was getting married) cut in and said "Oh father, please don't be too hard on Phillip! You know how immature little children tend to be." Phillip almost pouted but instead gave his older sister a murderous glare. Duncan snickered but just then the carriage creaked to a stop and Phillip shot out the door like a wild animal from a cage, "Probably to see the stables as always," Count Damien thought as he assisted Claudia out. Then he went to greet Baron Jonathan and Lady Elizabeth.
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Susie was walking back to the house from fetching Quentin out of the woods for Lady Elizabeth when she saw a strange carriage pull up in front of the house. She realized that it must be Quentin's fiance and then she decided that since the company was being greeted she should probably go past the stable to the back door.
She was almost to the back door when she heard a boy with flaming red hair saying something that made her stop in her tracks. "Well" the boy was saying "Baron Jon found bossy old Claudia for his bookworm girly boy of a son, so maybe there's hope for his hair brained, scrawny, freckle faced little girl Alice."
Susie was so indignant that momentarily her bashfulness deserted her and she walked over to him and drawing herself up she said "how dare you, a stable boy to speak about a Baron's children that way!" At that he whirled around and said "What?" For a second Susie almost quailed as he was a full head taller than herself, then she remembered how rudely he had spoken about Quentin and Alice and she merely stepped back. He on the other hand was obviously surprised and said "What did you just say to me?"
Susie again drew herself up and said "I said how dare you speak that way about Baron Jonathan's children? Besides being rude it's also cowardly to say such things behind their backs!" He seemed to have recovered from his shock and he said, "Would you rather that I say it to their faces? Besides, I wasn't talking about you." This he said in such a tone that before Susie knew what was happening something flared up inside of her and she hit him right across the mouth!
Shocked at herself for being so angry and exteremely embarassed for her boldness, she then turned and ran into the house not stopping until she reached the bedroom that she shared with Alice.

chapter 3

2007-03-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

As Kaitlyn is away I am filling in for her and posting chapter 3 to my blog instead of hers

Susie was getting exasperated. Miss Alice was being cranky today and to top off her bad mood that awful disgusting Count Damien (whoever he was) had had 2 men hanged in the market
"Hmph" she said to no one in particular and finished taking her hair down for her bath. As she washed, she reflected on her day, apart from Alice, and seeing those men hung- oh she would like to give that disgusting monster a piece of her mind!
She got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself, and peeking out of the bathroom to make sure noody was near she ran across the hall to her room.
Once she was dried off she looked through her rather small wardrobe and picked out her best dress (she had been instucted to wear her best clothes as the young lady who was marrying Baron Jonathan's eldest son was visiting with her father and two of her brothers tonight), The sky blue one with the violet sash that matched her eyes exactly would do.
When she was done she combed her long brown hair out and braided it, and as she braided her hair she idly wondered, who could the father of the bride be?

Chapter 2

2007-03-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Count Damien ran his hands through his hair and uttered a frustrated growl. He was middle aged, with 7 children, 3 girls and 4 boys and his oldest daughter was getting married soon, so his life wasn't easy at the moment .
His perusals of some old records was interrupted by the captain of his guards. "Sire" he said bowing low. "What is it Reginald?" he replied only mildly irritated as the documents were very tedious and rather boring.
"Sire," he said again, "We have discovered something horrible." Now Count Damien was intrigued. "What?" he inquired. Reginald faltered a little. "Well...We have discovered that...ah, your page has been black mailing your bodyguard."
Count Damien's eyes narrowed, he clenched his jaw, and barely managed to keep a handle on his anger. "What...has William...been blackmailing Roger about?" His voice was controlled but anyone could have heard the anger. The guard was obviously frightened but he continued:
"Apparently William was angry at you about something and he had caught Roger disobeying you," Reginald stopped and swallowed. He was sweating with nervousness and when giving the count bad news you were likely to be included in the punishment just because he was in a vengeful mood. "Then-"
Count Damien stood up and screamed "Kill them both!!!" Reginald tried to say something about Roger, but Count Damien just cut him off with "I will tolerate neither blackmailers nor those weak enough to allow themselves to be blackmailed!"

chapter 1

2007-03-15T08:27:00.001-07:00

As Kaitlyn is not going to be posting the story anymore I have added the first chapter from her blog for convenience.

A few years later.
Christopher sat up in bed and almost screamed. Gasping and covered in sweat, he still had nightmares of his father’s glazing eyes, and the fire which destroyed all of their belonging that the Guards couldn't carry away. He climbed out of his uncomfortable bed and pulled on his loose shirt and his patched brown pants, and walked into the garden to bathe.
As he washed himself in the small but clean pond provided by Baron Jonathan for the men to use for bathing, he reflected on the past few years he had come to live with his aunt and uncle. They had taken him in- as a servant. "It's not so bad" he thought as he dressed and headed into the house to start his chores.
He went in through the back door and almost collided with Helen, the scullery maid. Helen was a big boned redhead who had sent several rude alley boys home with a bloody nose or swollen face to remember her by. So as he passed he said "sorry Hel' didn't see you."
Upon entering the kitchen he saw Susie. She was a quiet, petite girl with chocolate brown hair who was Christopher's cousin Alice's maid. "Christopher, Miss Alice would like to know where you hid her dressing gown today?" He rolled his eyes and replied. "If you two would look where it belongs, you would not think I hid it." But she shook her head and got down on her knees to check way back in the pantry anyways.
Christopher rolled his eyes again and studied her. She was about 5'3" he estimated and as she started to get up off of her knees he took her arm and she tossed her thick long braids over her shoulder, which almost made him lose his balance. Then with a red face she hurried out of the kitchen.
Suddenly felt someone watching him and with horrified apprehension he turned and saw Helen standing in the kitchen doorway but before he could think of something to say, she just "humphed" and with a look she stalked back out into the barnyard.

Story: prologue

2007-03-14T09:06:00.001-07:00

Christopher was running, gasping and half-crazed with fear. He fell to the ground, tripped by a plank in the road and lay there without the will or the strength to get up, as fear and sorrow leeched them both away.
As he lay there trying to scream, someone grabbed his arm and started running, pulling him along. He looked up and saw his father! Then a new sound assailed him. He looked back and saw the King's Guard chasing them. He could hear their boots pounding the worn pavement, their bloodstained sabres slapping and clanking in their sheaths.
Now he screamed and a strength he never knew he had surged through him. His father pulled him into an alley and after several sharp turns he dodged into a deserted shack. As they climbed up into the loft they heard the Guard searching, their voices muffled by the smog and thick night air.
"Christopher!" his father was saying, "I most likely will not live through this night." Christopher could not find words to voice his sorrow so his father went on. "Pay attention! Take this letter and this box." With that he handed Christopher a small puzzle box and a sealed envelope. "But Christopher," his father said, "if these fall into the hands of Count Damien you are doomed."
As he started to say something else they heard a shot. Christopher's father slumped over dead.

A silly story that I wrote and Mom insisted that I post

2007-02-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a child called Bad Little Boy, His Mom and Dad told him to be good but he was bad anyways. One day his Mom and Dad said "Lets go out to dinner and leave our Bad Little Boy in the capable care of his Very Irritable Big Sister, his Not Very Irritable Big Sister, and his Very Patient Big Brother." So they called the big siblings before them and said "We are going out to dinner and you are going to watch your Bad Little Brother and make sure that he doesn't get into trouble." But once his Mom and Dad had left get into trouble is just what he did! he smashed a lamp with his favorite picture frame, he threw Not So Irritable Big Sister's pillows and blankets out the window, he jumped up and down in his muddy rain boots on Very Patient Big brother's bed,and he made a scarecrow out of Very Irritable Big sister's brand new ball dress, and expensive fancy shoes! "That is IT!!!!!!" Very Irritable Big Sister cried and with that she snagged him by his shirt and tied him to a chair. Bad Little Boy was very nervous to say the least and as the big Sib's argued over what to do with him he thought over what he had done.
Then Very Irritable Big Sister untied him and marched him into the attic and locked it behind him.
A few hours later Mom and Dad got home and noticed the nice and quiet state of things and immediately demanded to know what they had done with Bad Little Boy. Quite calmly Very Irritable Big Sister explained that he had been bad so they put him in a sort of time out.
When Mom and Dad saw Bad Little Boy they decided to lock him down in the basement for the rest of his bad little life and then they fed him leftover coffee and moldy buiscuts and lived happily ever after without him.
THE END
by Deanna .C.

Happy birthday Abigail!

2007-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Today is the 13th birthday of my friend and Aunt Abigail.
and as is the custom I am going to post 13 things about her:

1. she was my very first friend and we were like sisters (and still are;).
2. she is a black belt in tae-kwon-do.
3. she learned to read when she was 3.
4. she always happily and willingly gives up her lovely, wonderful bedroom when we come to visit.
5. she showed me the way to make perfect scrambled eggs.
6. we used to eat the green and white strawberries in Grandma's garden just because she cautioned us not to (we figured that she must be keeping the best ones for herself).
7. she loves, loves ,loves her nephews Byson Lee, and Perry IV.
8. she helped me figure out a particularly hard jump in the playstation game: ATV Offroad Fury.
9. we both loved good old Sambo, Grandpa and Grandma's big black dog enough to give him our ice cream 0:) (and then claim that he took it>:)
10. she has her own PSP (play station personal).
11. she has her own RAZR.
12. she has her own computer.
13. once when she was a baby Grandma drank a coke (this was a big deal because Grandma had competely vetoed coffee while she was pregnant) and when Dad went over to visit, poor li'l Abber was in her carseat with her eyes WIDE open, with a grin on her face,and her eyes going from side to side.

Who likes Shakespeare?

2007-02-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready to do a play of selected scenes from William Shakespeare's "Much ado about nothing". One scene which is definitely going to be included is a battle of wits between Beatrice (quoted in the voice of Emma Thompson) and Benedick (quoted in the voice of Kenneth Branaugh):

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Bene: ....If Signor Leonato be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all Messina, as like him as she is.
Beat: I wonder that you will still be talking Signor Benedick: Nobody marks you.
Bene: What! My dear lady Disdain, Are you yet living?
Beat: I it possible disdain should die while she has such meet food to feed it as Signor Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence.
Bene: Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for truly, I love none.
Beat: A dear happiness to women: else they had been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humor for that : I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.
Bene: God keep your ladyship still in that mind; so some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face.
Beat: Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were.
Bene: Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.
Beat: A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.
Bene: I would my hose had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer. But keep your way, I have done.
Beat: you always end with a jade's trick : I know you of old.
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Isn't it great? Kaitlyn and I always quote it.

sleepwalking

2007-01-30T20:31:00.001-08:00

My family has a history of sleep walking, sleep talking, etc.
My Dad once accused my Mom of bringing a water buffalo into their bedroom when I was a baby. Mom was changing my diaper when suddenly he sat up in bed and glared at her and said, "You did it didn't you!?! You brought that water buffalo in here!" and Mom fell off the bed from laughing and said "What? What did I do?" Then he woke up and got mad and went back to sleep.

My grandma said that my mom used to do perfect pantomimes of putting her shoes and socks on, and taking out the trash (without even touching the trashcan).

My sister Kaitlyn once went downstairs (when we lived in Ohio) really early in the morning when Mom was sorting laundry. She handed Kaitlyn some socks and underwear and asked her to put them away. Kaitlyn said "okay"...and then proceeded to put them in the china cabinet on top of the plates! Then in the morning she was telling everybody about this really strange dream that she had had last night and imagine her surprise when Mom showed her the very socks and underwear that she had put away in her "dream" the night before!

Lydia on the other hand doesn't have any outstanding sleep walking incidents in her history but she talks a LOT in her sleep. Once Kaitlyn and I filled an entire notebook page with some of her midnight mumblings about "I don't care.......it's in my pocket.....crystals.....I'm telling Dad!"

Once in Ohio when we were moving Megan got up and sleep walked into the hallway and then she came running back in and headed straight for the ginormous dresser drawers that were in the middle of the floor! Then she jumped and her toe caught on the edge of the dresser and she flew over the other two drawers and landed on the floor and then she woke up, was thoroughly confused, and went back to bed.

Natalie once fell asleep on the couch in our living room and when I stood her up and walked her to the bathroom to go before she took her four year old little self to bed. She amiably said "alright" and went and sat on the closed toilet with her pants pulled up! So I kindly and gently pointed out that she couldn't go potty like that and she looked at me with complete bewilderment on her face as if I was crazy and then ignored me. Needless to say for those who know me well I got veeeerrrrryyyy frustrated after a few minutes of this and Mom had to take over.

Becca, aside from the incident in the post below, once fell asleep on the couch. Then she got up and started walking in circles in the living room and then woke herself up with a fit when someone tried to put her to bed.

My Dad said that once my Uncle Benjamin tried to sleep-sneak past his bedroom four times in the same night! He was a skinny little ten year old and he was acting all sneaky and he would get to Dad's door and Dad would say "Ben! get in bed! Dad is gonna yell at you!" Ben would say "okay" and slump his shoulders and shuffle back around the corner (he couldn't walk straight because he was asleep) and then a minute later he would be back, shifty eyes and all! Then he actually eventually got past Dad and Dad said that all of a sudden from all the way across this big old brick house he heard "BENJAMIN!!! GET IN BED!"

So all in all I guess that I come from a pretty weird family (I won't elaborate on the time uncle Jonathan speared a goat's head on a pole after they slaughtered it.) But this is the family that God gave me and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

my new blog and other things

2007-01-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

What do you think of my new blog? Pretty nice huh? my bestest sister Kaitlyn fixed it up for me.
If you pop over to her blog then you'll see a pic of her with the deer that Dad shot at Covenant Ranch (the building in the header is the lodge, and we stayed in the rooms on the bottom left).
One night when Becca (the 5yo) fell asleep on the couch and had to be carried out to our rooms I picked her up then she opened her eyes really wide, so I said "Becca are you awake?" and she said "yeah" so I said "open the door for me" and she opened it with her feet but then she shut it and said "teedo...teedo....fire...flood!" and the that's when I realized that she might not be all the way awake! So with her still mumbling I asked someone else to open the door and I carried her out to bed.

What I read in my bible today

2007-01-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

Today when I read in my Bible I read in Genesis, from chapter 27 to chapter 50 and in the chapters between I noted a few things. From the notes in chapter 27 (in my new study bible :D) I realized that the whole rather silent conflict that probably started with Esau trading his birth right for soup, pretty much degenerated the whole family:

Esau married Hittites and they "made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah" and when he traded his birthright for soup he started hating Jacob.

Jacob used Esau's low blood sugar to con him out of his birthright, and helped to deceive his father which made his older brother hate him even more.

Rebekah had the idea to deceive her husband and convinced Jacob to help. (Not that he was really walking circumspectly) and then later (probably because she deceived her husband) she died unnoted.

Isaac tried to thwart God by telling Esau "Go get me some food and then I'll bless you," when he knew that Jacob was supposed to get the blessing and then he trusted in his fallible senses instead of God to guide him.

In chapter 29-30 Jacob meets and marries Leah and Rachel and the war between them starts.

Jacob offers to serve seven years for Rachel (and it says that it only seemed like a few days to him because he loved her so much) but Laban deceives him (quite an ironic turn of the tables on the guy whose name means deciever) and tricks him into marrying Leah, and in the morning he's all "wait a second, that is not the girl I served for!" and then sneaky ol' Laban makes him serve another seven years for the girl that he was supposed to get in the first place(and there's no mention of it seeming like a few days this time).

But in chapter 29 Leah bears Jacob 4 sons in a row and he still didn't love her. What I first thought was "how mean!" but then I realized that it was pretty much Leah's fault because she couldn't have been innocent in tricking Jacob into marrying her, I mean think about it, if a handsome man was hanging around the house and is working for your cute little sister, is there really any chance that you wouldn't figure out that there was something fishy about you marrying him on the same day that he was supposed to marry your sister?
In chapter 30 Rachel gets jealous of Leah's children and decides that she will just adopt the children that her maid is going to have by Jacob, and when Leah sees that this is working she does the same thing and gives her maid to Jacob and I realised as I read this that this whole race/war/contest for Jacob's love had to have lasted several several years at least, yet Leah was buried in the cave with Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, and Rebekah, while Rachel was buried in the roadside (albeit with a pillar over her grave), and Leah was the mother of Judah which means that she was included in the Messianic line while Rachael the favorite wife wasn't.

In chapter 34 about Dinah and Shechem I wondered if Dinah even wanted to stay with him because after what he did to her, I know that I sure wouldn't even want to see his face again.
And I wonder if she even had any say in it, because when Simeon and Levi slaughtered the city they took her out of the house of Shechem which means he still hadn't let her go.

My Mom and I were speculating, what was it about the women in that family that kings noticed and wanted them? Kings who could have had pretty much any woman that they wanted noticed and said "I want her" A king noticed Sarah, 2 Kings noticed Rebekah, and a prince, a son of a king noticed Dinah. Maybe they had red hair or something (Esau had red hair all over), or extremely white skin.

What I got for Christmas

2007-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Right now I am working on the computer that my Grandma and Grandpa Coghlan gave Kaitlyn,
Lydia, Megan, and Myself for Christmas.

THANK YOU SOOOOO SOOOO SOOOO MUCH!

I also got a beautiful scarf from my pen-pal, a set of brushes, a comb and, a mirror from sweet little sis Natalie, a new study bible and bible cover from MomandDad,
and a gorgeous necklace from Aunt Bonna.

awwwwwww

2006-11-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

Just look at Rachie! My little baby sister is sooooo cute!!!

(click on pic for larger version)

2006-07-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

And here is Lydia. This picture was taken much earlier that day

2006-07-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

This is Bonna's younger sister Loly (pronounced lowlee) in the same theme as Bonna.

drumroll please.

2006-06-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

My new baby Brother weighs eight pounds nines ounces, Is twenty one and one half inches long, has a full head of silky dark brown hair, And was born on........................June 28!!!!!!!
which also happens to be Grandma brown's
birthday.
Congrats Katie you won!

Teeth = Maturity?

2006-06-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

One day we (Mom and the rest of us Kids) were on Our way to the dentist when somebody brought up the fact that Kaitlyn (who is 11 BTW) had all of her twelve year old molars while I only have one.

Me: "Well that just means that she has a big mouth and I don't."

Lydia: "No that means that she is more mature then you!"(smirk with raised eyebrows)

Me: "What on earth do teeth have to do with maturity?"

Kaitlyn: "Since you don't have molars then you don't have the maturity which means you won't
understand." (another smirk with raised eyebrows)

Me: "You guys are ridiculous!"

Lydia: "No, you're jealous that Kaitlyn is more mature then you are!" (another smirk)

Mom: "Well Lydia if you don't have your twelve year old molars how do you know?"

Me: "YEAH! Lydia!"

Lydia: "Well you don't have your molars either Deanna!!!

Me: "Well I have one and the only reason she has room for those molars is because her mouth is bigger than mine and that means that I am more mature than Kaitlyn."
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After that it was just more nuh-uh - yah-uh-ing and in a way the argument is still going on because we stopped talking when we got to the dentist but whenever somebody brings it up Kaitlyn and Lydia are still adamant that more molars = more maturity.

btw I am getting my second 12 yo molar =)

Bets on the Baby

2006-06-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Today Kaitlyn suggested to Mom that everybody place a bet on the gender, weight, hair color, and date of birth of Mom's baby with the prize being whoever wins skips dishes for one night- and Mom agreed! So here is a list of the bets:

Mom: Girl 8 lbs 2 oz DOB 6/22/06 dark hair
Deanna (me): Boy 7 lbs 9 oz DOB 6/23/06 blonde hair
Kaitlyn: Boy 8 lbs 7 oz DOB 6/21/06 dark hair
Lydia: Boy 8 lbs 5 oz DOB 6/23/06 dark hair
Megan: Girl 7 lbs 8 oz DOB 6/25/06 red hair
Natalie: Boy 7 lbs 8 oz light hair
Becca : Boy 8 lbs 3 oz light hair

Becca and Natalie didn't know when they thought the baby would be born so they skipped that one.

NEW INFORMATION!
Dad just said that we could have a contest! So leave a comment with your guess about

sex of the baby
weight
date of birth
color of hair
length
weight

and we will give a prize to the person who is closest to the actual figures. See my dad's post here for details

Unbelievable

2006-06-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Those of you who haven't seen Cute overload had better click! if you don't then you will be totally deprived of some of the most inconceivably precious cuteness EVER.

2006-04-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Oh the memories this picture brings! I am the one on the left and My Dad's little sister Abigail who happens to be one of my two best friends is on the right. I remember that the boxing gloves were way too small because they were a six year olds Christmas present and they hurt my hands but I didn't want to give up. But she beat me -I had to give up because my hands hurt. Even though I may look short in the picture I have almost always been at least an inch taller than her, And I am just a few days over seven months older than Abigail. But me and Abigail weren't the only ones who were boxing with those gloves, Dad and his brother Thomas were boxing, and Jonathan and Grandpa Coghlan, William and Patrick Henry, Kaitlyn and Loly. (short for Alaura)

More Poetry

2006-04-26T10:41:00.001-07:00

Gather ye Roses

Gather ye roses while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
A world where beauty fleets away
Is no world for denying.
Come lads and Lasses, fall to play
Lose no more time in sighing.

The very flowers you pluck to-day
Tomorrow will be dying;
And all the flowers are crying,
And all the leaves have tongues to say,-
Gather ye roses while ye may.

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I chose this one because it reminds me of a spoof that someone did of it:

Gather kittens while ye may,
Time brings only sorrow;
And the kittens of today
will be old cats tomorrow

Poetry

2006-04-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

I love poetry so I think that I'll post some every once in a while.
What really grabbed me was the part about the beloved books,
I think that I like whoever wrote this!

Home

Home!
My very heart's desire is safe
within thy walls;
The voices of my loved ones, friends who come,
My treasured books that rest in niche serene,
All make more dear to me thy haven sweet.
Nor do my feet
desire to wander out except that
they may have the glad return at eventide-
Dear Home

Home! my very heart's contentment lies within thy walls.
No worldly calls hath power to turn my eyes
in longing from
thy quietness. Each morn
when I go forth upon the duties of
the day
I wend my way
content to know that eve will bring me
safely to thy walls again.
Dear Home.

by Nellie Womack Hines

2006-04-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Knock! Knock! Knock! Came the sound on Alexandra's bedroom door. She grimaced. That would probably be her Dad ready to very loudly and very off-keyedly serenade, sing, implore, and command her to get up! "Mmph!" she grunted. She was not ready to be woken up yet. But it was her Mom, "Hey wake up Alex! Arise your soul arise." Alexandra sighed, lay there with her eyes closed for a minute, then she sat up and got up. Later that day she sighed again. She was not ready to give her speech at the Wishing Club presidential meeting. Once every 6 months the Wishing Club elected a new president, vice president, and secretary. (which she found amusing considering the people in the club were ages 10-13 + there was thirteen club members). "Oh well", she said to herself, "There's no going back now!" Once up on stage (3 wooden crates put side-by side, + 5 stacked up to make a podium) she cleared her throat into the soda bottles that served as amplifiers and said, "This term I have found a couple of wishes in the wishing box which I find funny. Would you like me to read them?" "Yes!" everybody shouted.(obviously eager to hear). Pausing dramatically she plunged her hand into the wish-box. "OK here is one from Tiffany Sawyer, March 9, 2006. Ahem." she cleared her throat again and read, "I wish that I had a pink 20 passenger seat limousine with a Jacuzzi and a TV." Alexandra stopped reading and looked up in time to see everybody in the clubhouse roar with laughter. She smiled and held up her hand for silence and they quieted down. "Thank you, thank you, but let's save your energy for the rest, shall we? Now this one was by Diana Montoya on April 4, 2006. "I wish that I had a green Unicorn. I would ride him all over the world in a couple of minutes." Again the gales of helpless roaring and again she held up her hand and the roaring subsided into scattered titters and giggles "Now one more by Meredith Peters "I wish that i had a wand that made peple see things from my point of view when I pointed it at them" .after reading a few more wishes Alexandra finished her speech and at the conclusion was heavily applauded.By the time all the club members who hadn't volunteered to stay and help clean up had gotten most of the soil out of their hair (from rolling around in helpless laughter) and gone home, Alexandra had changed out of her new lavender silk dress and into, a green tank top and some shorts (she had volunteered to stay and help clean up and put away the crates and folding chairs) and once they were done the vote-counters walked up to her and said: "Congratulations on all the applause you got but... we're afraid that you didn't win the campaign". Alexandra stood up and blinked a couple of times and said "Thank you for telling me. I am not very disappointed.I suppose I didn't really expect to win... but give my congratulations to the new president " With that she flipped a strand of honey blonde hair over her shoulder, turned and walked home wondering if she would have even enjoyed being president.

Only a Dad

2006-01-27T09:08:00.000-08:00

Only a Dad with a tired face coming home from the daily race,
bringing little of gold or fame to show how well he has played the game,
but glad in his heart whenhis own rejoice to see him come or hear his voice,
Only a Dad with a brood of seven one of ten million men or more,
Plodding along in the daily strife bearing the whips and scorns of life
with never a whimper of pain or hate,
for the sake of those who at home await,
Only a Dad neither rich nor proud,
merely one of the surging crowd toiling, Striving from day to day
facing whatever may come his way.
Silent when the harsh condem bearing it all for the love of them.
Only a Dad but he gives his all to smooth the way for his children small,
Doing with courage stern and grim the deeds that his Father did for him.
This is the line that for him I pen, Only a Dad but the best of men.

by Edgar Guest

A wonderful Mother

2006-01-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

God made a wonderful Mother,
A Mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of sunshine,
And he molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes he placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful Mother,
And he gave that dear mother to me!

by Pat O Reilly

My sister-aunt Abigail and several memoirs of my youth

2005-12-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is my little aunt Abigail, She and Briana are my best friends. Abigail and I have known each other longer than I have had my sisters, and as a result we are closer than most sisters. We have actually been separated most of our lives, cuz when I was 4-5 they moved to Florida for 2 1/2 years, then after that they moved to Illinois for 6 months. Then they moved to Tennessee and they have moved to a new house in Tennessee but they still live there. We visit them about once or twice a year but we don't always see each other every single year. Last year we saw them for 3 days in the whole year and the year before I don't recall seeing them at all. But we went for a week this past summer and in 2 1/2 weeks they are going to arrive on the twenty third and they are leaving on the twenty eighth. In short, they are coming for Christmas.
One year when we (Abigail and I) were like one and two we were eating the green and white strawberries out of Grandma's vast strawberry garden. I remember that they were so disgusting but we were so ornery that we were just eating them because Grandma said not to.
And another time when we were three and four Grandma took us to the broken down old building that we used to go to church in (we were there cuz there was some stuff of theirs that the church used to use) and Abigail and I found the old copying machine and since I had seen Dad make copies of his face using that machine I figured why couldn't We? But we didn't know how to use the copying machine...And so we wasted a whole bunch of paper, the result of which was that we both got spanked (I dont remember doing it again).
I remember another time when Benjamin was at work with Grandpa ( Mom, Dad,and I used to stay at Grandpa and Grandma's house for days at a time when there was ice on the road and we couldn't get home ) Abigail and I decided that we could go into his room if we wanted to! And so we raided his drawers and the thing I remember most of all is that we got into his deodorant.
Well I remember that when I was like 2 Benjamin would knock me down and dangle a daddy-long-legs right in my face and I would scream my headn off . But he still did it because another time he was chasing me around with another daddy-long-legs and Thomas was being my guardian and he was like 6 and he was able to make Benjamin stop by telling him that He would call Grandpa and tell him that Ben was tormenting me.
I remember another time when we lived in the country in Ohio Mom and I were having breakfast and Mom heard a groundhog out behind the house. She got her .357 and locked herself in the bathroom and shot him out of the bathroom window. I remember that I really wanted to come in the bathroom with her but she wouldn't let me and so I was peeking under the bathroom door and all I could see was silhouettes of Mom's feet.
I remember that we used to have an apple tree out behind out house but the only fruit it ever gave was one withered up old apple and that apple stayed on there for like a year or more and I always wanted to eat it but Mom wouldn't let me.

These are a few of my favorite things...

2005-11-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving church service

2005-11-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

On the wednsday before thanksgiving we had church @ 6:30 pm and it wasn't really even a church service, We did 3-4 songs of praise and 2 0ld testament readings and I think 3 times
when people got to stand up and say what they were thankful for.
I said that I was thankful that even though the Browns (My Mom's Parents and 7 of her younger siblings) moved away I was thnkful that at least somebody stayed with us.
But on a lighter note we had thanksgiving at Stephanie and Justin (Aunt and Uncle's) house and had big thick juicy steak instead of turkey, And had to listen to My Dad's younger brother Benjamin scream at the top of his lungs at the football players while we waited to be allowed to watch a movie called holes.

2005-11-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

We the undersigned
The harassed occupants of the bedroom in the west wing of the Homemade House do declare with our legal signatures
That any person who dares to enter our bedroom uninvited will be evacuated from the afore said room and be escorted without any undue violence to our
Mother where the offender will be disciplined according to the seriousness of his or her crime(s) and will be obliged to:
1. Apologize
2. Give a sort of restitution.
Anyone who disobeys these requirements repeatedly will be punished by the Father and by being obliged to take down their document of rights to privacy as it will be hypocrisy to sisters. Keep it posted to their door(way) whilst they are not complying with the exact wishes that they impose upon us.
____________________________________________________________________

This is what the "Legal Document" that we (Kaitlyn,Lydia,and Myself) are trying to get Dad and Mom to sign says. Well actually we tried to get Mom to sign it but she won't until Dad does and
so we have it hanging on our door with only our signatures on it...But it should work to keep out
the other kids who stand juuuuust inside the door and say "ha ha iii'm in yooour rooom!"

ps. the line under the document itself is where we sign, But Mom and Dad sign on the line

2005-11-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

This is my all time favorite painting that is done by christian riese lassen. It is called: Peaceful Moments. I have a binder with this picture on it and I traced it on to a piece of tracing paper and sent it to my Great Gandpa and Great Grandma Goldsmith.

well that's all for now.

Faerie

2005-11-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

It has always been intriguing to me how the gods of India are painted to have blue skin. I looked it up, in a book and I read that they think blue skin is a sign that the god is an incarnation of Brama (I think that's how it is spelled).
But I have noticed that in all of the Indian myths I have read none of the goddesses in them have had blue skin. So this is just a pretty picture I guess...

My favorite Animal

2005-11-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

Who loves horses? I do. They are my very favorite animal. And I am going to have one someday (I hope ;) they are so easy to ride too! Personally I can't see why people think you need all these lessons to be able to ride a horse... I realize that I need to polish up and practice to be able to do stuff like gallop, canter, or trot...But I didn't need a whole bunch of lessons and practice with people practically holding on to the saddle! And what was even more fun than waiting for Grandma Brown to saddle Carmela up with her blanket and bit/bridle was leading her up to the upper field w/o any blanket or saddle and just leading each other around on her while she ate the grass down and saved us some mowing!

My favorite mythical creature

2005-11-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

Who likes faeries? I do, but I can't quite see where this ones wings are. Can you? Well I like faeries because they are so mysterious. And because well I don't know off the top of my head but they are so beautiful! Well that's all I have to say right now. Adios

Homemade House

2005-11-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

This is an early picture of the "Homemade House" for all you people who might be wondering. Well I just want to say that when I say "we built our house" I do not mean that we hired someone to do the dirty work and we picked out the carpets and paint. I mean we spent long hours cutting down and burning trees, digging 3-4 foot deep holes, digging a 6 ft hole for septic testing, laying the foundation, and finally... building the house itself. The fact that some of my uncles and second cousins plus my Aunt's boyfriend Paul Watson didn't die in their feats of derring-do during the process more than proved (to me at least) that God truly controls everything. (including the future of certain fearless uncles and second cousins ;P)

My favorite artist

2005-11-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

Do you want to know what artist's work I love the most? My favorite is God's but my favorite earthly artist's work is Christian Reese Lassen. His work is so beautiful! I don't know why it appeals to me so much... It just does. Well what do you think about it? I think his paintings are just so beautiful. This one is almost my favourite but not quite. I probably like it so much because it has all that blue in it (blue is my favorite colour).
It seems so unbelievable that a human being could do such beautiful pictures but if you think about it, just imagine... If a created creature can do something so wonderful how beautiful can the stuff that God makes be? It quite blows my mind that something so beautiful as this is probably hideous and crude compared to say... A painting that God who is unmatchable
could make by thinking about it. Well, I think I'd better wrap this up for now.

2005-11-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

This is my Aunt Carisa,I remember that she thought her hair was messy if it didn't look like that. Dad would tease her mercilessly by rubbing his hand over her hair the wrong way. She bought hairspring in a huge spray can, The kind that is supposed to last 6-9 weeks. They lasted about 3-4 weeks for her cause she sprayed her hair so thickly with it that when she wiped off the access spray she needed to wipe her hands on a towel! But she was a great friend. One time she and Amanda (seen in next post) made two piniatas and bought candy with their own money and let us break them and have the candy!
Well Carisa if you read this please comment and tell me what you think :)

2005-11-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

This is Amanda, She is about 5 or 4 1/2 months older than me. she is 13 now but I'm catching up! I'm going to be a teenager next year! And I'm going to have a birthday party at the river.(I hope) When we first moved here Amanda was my best buddy we did everything together . It was : Me and Amanda, Kaitlyn and Briana, and Lydia and Alaura. But then when Bonna got older the buddies passed up the line and Lydia was best buddies with William and Patrick henry.
Sometimes Michelle,Weasy,Carisa,Amanda,Me,And Bonna
would get swimsuits on and go slip out (with all of our Mom's permisson) and go swimming at spring creek.
Well Manda same to you as Krissa comment to show that you look at my blog and saw this post. :)

News flash

2005-11-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

Early this morning a local resident woke to a strange noise, A peculiar gasping and snorting noise was being made beneath her bedroom window! she peeked out and saw... THE WERE-NERD! The awful beast has not yet been caught but the Police are reported to be hot on its tail.
If the witnesses are to be believed this is a picture of the horrible creature. It is reported to be cross-eyed because it accidentally looked into a mirror after it had finished ravaging a house.
If you see it don't run! It hops like a Kangaroo
to get around and once it's caught sight of you get to a car or a baseball bat or you're a goner. Well this is the warning that everybody that doesn't know about the fearsome monster should hear.

Acts of Providence

2005-11-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

This week Dad wants us to blog about Gods acts of providence to our family.
So I'm going to blog about how my being born caused us to end up in Texas...
The place where Dad worked had just shut down and Mom was so pregnant with
me that she had quit her job so Dad had applied at Organic Technologies (then called Wiley Organics) but they never
answered him and he was getting discouraged. But Mom and Grandma Coghlan
kept encouraging him to pester them and they called on the very day I was born.
And if he hadn't worked his way up from janitor to manager of the shipping and inventory department then vision Forum wouldn't have hired him so there is the story of hgdr9fmy being born made us wind up here. :D

2005-10-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Wow it actually took this long! Mom is pregnant again! This will be #8 . I think we are going to have a boy if mom buys new girl clothes this time (giving up hope might be just as effective).
I think we jinx ourselves though when we do stuff like writing "PC4!!!!" On the calnder on Mom's due date Grandma!!! And plus Mom bought boy clothes when Rachael was born.

Carmela

2005-10-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my Grandma Brown's horse Carmela. Grandma had to sell her though because she went psycho out of loneliness.
Grandma thought that their dog Strider would be enough company for her but he wasn't. She was almost the only horse I have ever ridden but they used to have a horse named Gracie and a donkey named April.
Carmela looks skinny because she wouldn't eat enough food to keep healthy.
Nobody was very sad though when Grandma sold her (some guys bought her for a birthday present) because she had started biting us. One time she bit William on the leg when he was feeding her (but she didn't bite him as hard as Patrick Henry did). And one time when I was riding her she tried to bite my leg. And another time she bit Grandma on the arm.
But when Grandma first got her she was really sweet but when Rachael was born we didn't pay as much attention to her so she probably got jealous .

My little aunt

2005-10-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Ah, Alaura, The oldest twin and bug lover, the red-headed story writer. My little aunt... Kaitlyns best friend. How shalt I begin her story? She and Briana both had guinea pigs,Alaura's was named Alec and Briana's was named Taffy (due to her color). But Briana's died and Alaura gave hers away when they moved to NY . But Alaura is not bereft of pets now by any means. Now she has a pet chipmunk and a parakeet named Sunny. (Briana has two parakeets named Popeye and Felix).

2005-10-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Wow! I actually found a picture of Briana. She was one of my best friends when she lived in Texas...We actually lived in the same house for approx 1 1/2 years and shared a room for 1/2 of that time. But for the rest of the time I slept in our 30ft travel trailer.

ps. please comment and tell me what you think of her.(she is 11 months younger then me)

2005-10-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

This is 6yo Patrick henry,(Affectionately nick-named "Pooter")
He loves knives, guns and any thing else that can give poor Kermit another surgery scar.(He and William play surgeon with their stuffed Biker Pig and Kermit the frog).
This picture was taken for Great Grandma and Grandpa Goldsmith.(we filled out a my favorite things page and sent pictures for a Thanksgiving present). When I find Briana's picture I'll do a post about her.

2005-10-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is my Grandma Brown holding Rachael.
I remember that Grandma had a garden that we all helped with. And every week somebody (or two) would be sent down to water it for 45 min.
The stuff grandma grew in the garden was :
Cilantro,onions,cherry tomatoes,normal tomatoes,colards,spinach,canteloupe,potatoes,
turnips, watermelon,and radishes.

We (me and Kaitlyn) had a minor success in growing a water melon that was approx 12" by 5".(it was delicious)

When Father Carves the Duck

2005-10-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

Dad, I hereby dedicate this peom to you.

When Father Carves The Duck:

We all look on with anxious eyes
When father carves the duck,
And mother almost always sighs
When father carves the duck;
Then all of us prepare to rise,
And hold our bibs before our eyes.
And be prepared for some surprise,
When father carves the duck.

He braces up and grabs a fork
Whene'er he carves a duck,
And won't allow a soul to talk
Until he's carved the duck,
The fork is jabbed into the sides,
Across the breast the knife he slides,
While every careful person hides
From flying chips of duck.

The platter's almost sure to slip
When father carves a duck,
And how it makes the dishes skip!
Potatoes fly amuck!
The squash and cabbage leap in space,
We get some gravy in our face
And father mutters Hindoo grace
When father carves the duck.

We then have learned to walk around
The dining-room and pluck
From off the window sills and walls
Our share of father's duck.
While father growls and blows and jaws
And swears the knife was full of flaws,
And mother laughs at him because
He couldn't carve a duck
:D

2005-10-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is one of the funniest memories I have of living at the browns house. Becca had gotten
stuck hanging by her pants in a tree! Patrick Henry had come running in the house to mom saying KIM! KIM!!! BECCA IS HANGING IN A TREE BY HER PANTS!!!!! mom of course rushed to the rescue (but not without grabbing the camera) and found... Becca hanging in the tree
like this! mom didn't leave her there for long.
Just long enough to take 3-4 pictures.
(The tree by the way had been lovingly nicknamed tree-beard by the little goobers who played in it day and night)

Green Notepad

2005-09-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

The night was humid (well, it was) when I found out that I was going to do my first mudstomping job. This wasn't just any mudstomping job. This was the mudstomping job that would change my room forever.
Mine was a cold room, the coldest room in the house. I suspected that Mom and Dad were prepared for me to be inaccurate in the beginning because they didn't yell at me when the mud rained down.
I think Mom needs to write down in her little green notepad that we need more (drywall)mud, (we used almost all of it last night).
My room is the coldest room in the house because it is all closed up with its own A/C window unit. ( in case your'e wondering, Me and Kaitlyn slept out on the deck... on the mattresses wrapped in sheets and sleeping bags).

Although nothing in this post is fictional I wrote it as my first creative writing project.

2005-09-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

This is me. I am 11 in this picture. Mom took it
so that I could send it to my friend Katerina Nicole Virostko.
I met Kate at AWANA.... (Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed) I actually was teamed up with her on a three legged race... And we won! I dont know why but I always managed to be put on a team right as that partcular team had a winning strike! So for that reason the game time was my favorite part of AWANA...
Anyways... I hope that you don't think that I'm ugly.

2005-09-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my personal favorite version of The 12 dancing princesses. It is by Marianna Mayer and is almost the usual version except for it is more about the shepard(it never is a prince that does it isn't it ?) who does the deed rather then about the princesses themselves.
The man is young, a poor boy of about 21 I think. And one day as he is watching his sheep a fairy enchantress appears and tells him to take a job at the palace as gardener. Confused and dazed he does as she says and once he gets there he finds out that a royal gardener is actually needed! So he gets to his job and finds out to his delight that his first job in the mornings is to pick a bouquet for each of the Princesses.
However they are cold and haughty and don't say so much as say "thank you" when he hands them the bouquets. But meanwhile the King was trying to find out "how on earth" his daughters were ruining 12 pairs of dancing shoes per night... Meanwhile peter had a dream and in the dream the same enchantress told him to tend a little plant that she would plant in the garden, And the plant would (if he put it in his buttonhole) give him any thing he wanted. So he tended the little plant and (I'm just going to summerize it from here on) found out how the princesses ruined 12 pairs of dancing slippers per night, Marries Amber (the youngest) and inherits the kingdom.

2005-09-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

This, Is a picture of one of the lisa frank characters.
her name is cowgirl and she is just one of my favorites.
I like lisa frank because the cartoons are cute and
beautiful without too many belly-shirts and mini
skirts. Genie however is my all time favorite I don't
know why. I guess she's just cute. the thing I like
most about the characters are their eyes. And if you
look closely all the girl characters have very
similar eyes- Big and beautiful. My eyes aren't
like cowgirl's at all though. My eyes are brown,
and I have more than three eyelashes too!

2005-09-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hi I'm Deanna (Dee-on-a). I'm 12 and this is the first time I have ever done a blog.
I don't quite know what to write... so I guess I'll just start with the first time that Kaitlyn(The sister right after me) and I tried "boy play"......
It was a nice sunny summer afternoon and mom announced that we were going to get together with some of our neighbors. "They have a little boy about your age so he will probably try to play really rough with you," Mom said. So later that day Mom and Mrs. Reid (reed)were talking when our neighbor Matti poked her head in the door and said, "Hey Kim? What are Deanna and Kaitlyn doing?" Mom probably hit the ground running. But Mrs Reid just leisurely walked to the door, although she sped up when she heard Zachary calling her in a panicked voice. And found... Me and Kaitlyn holding poor Zach (zak) down in the back yard and punching him in the stomach!Poor Mrs. Reid was probably transfixed with horror. But Mom wasn't, (she came prepared for something gruesome)"what are you doing!?!?!" she yelled, running over to save Zach. Meanwhile we embarrassedly stood by. "W-w-wwe are playing rough with him",we said. Mom stared disbelievingly for a moment and then collapsed into embarrassed laughter as she aplogized to Mrs. Reid, who fortunately, although very confused was not offended.