Odd 'n Ends

What have ye all been doin' lately? I thought I'd finally post on here, and take the time to tell you the story of my life. =D Ok, so only the last two weeks, er, one week. We'll see what I can come up with.

So, last week I finished sewing a new dress! It is very pretty, a cream background with rows of little roses and ivy. Simplicity 5189 pattern, about ankle length, short sleeves and a nice semi-full skirt. Rectangular-ish neck with lace that I added to "fill it in" a bit. Maybe I'll wear it next year for the summer week-in-feminine dress, or maybe some other photograph-able event shall scurry in before the summer's out that I can wear it for and put photos of it on here... if you want to see it, that is. =)

Then, I assisted my mum in getting together her Organizational workshop that she test ran on some other homeschooling mothers in our area, and had a wonderful time watching the kids while she gave it. We had a blast... and played "Cinderella" about 6 times, half the time I was the wicked stepmother! Apparently they thought I did a good job. Wonder where they would get that idea?

And then I saw the Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!!!!! (Movie version). I loved it! The songs are so beautiful, mysterious, dark and thrilling! I love listening to them over and over and over and over and over and... I'd probably stop there. They just send chills up your spine at times! My friends are letting me borrow the Original Cast Recording (with Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford) and comparing the two versions... I think Sarah Brightman is the best Christine ever, but Emmy Rossum is nearly as good, and I like Gerard Butler much better than Michael Crawford, in which I find I am nearly alone. Admittedly Crawford can sing better than Butler, but Butler's voice is deeper, and closer to how I imagined the Phantom to sound, and plus, I think Butler's slightly flawed singing fits the Phantom character, and provides a nice contrast with the perfect sounding voice of Raoul. Speaking of whom, I like the movie Raoul much better then the musical Raoul. The MR's voice is just too deep and old sounding.
For those of you who would like to compare the different people, the OCR music is in the player at the bottom of the box, and I shall try to post movie clips of the songs either today or tomorrow. In both versions though, the Overture is breathtaking!!!! A must listen! (And it is even cooler to watch! So I shall try and find that as well.)

Friday, we all trekked up to Michigan where my grandparents own a weekend home on a lake. My family hasn't been there in eight years, due to the last four young 'uns and the deck being nearly directly over the water. I found it smaller than I remembered, which can be explained by the fact that I was 8 than, and 16 now, and thus, smaller. They did managed to get rid of all the dreaded wasps though! And no Mayflies in the water, which I remember from my childhood. Ugh! I hated those things! Saturday was spent swimming in the water, kayaking (!!!!!!!!) going for a speed boat ride and attempting to ski.

I love canoing, and kayaking was just as much fun. The speed boat was unsettling at first, when you consider that in the eight years since my last visit I'd been in a speed boat about 2 times. But after a once around the lake I was used to it again. Skiing now, that could have been interesting. My sister Yaviel tried it, almost got up and then quit. =P The first time I tried, I got yanked over the front of the skis and whacked me poor auld ankle. Ouch. The second time I got yanked over again and pulled me poor auld arm. Ouch. So since my arm was hurtin' I didn't do it anymore, and my dad got up for the first time again in 9 years and would have done excellently... if the speed boat was younger. Poor auld thing, it couldn't go quite fast enough any more... and when we tried to do that fast spurt to pull the skier out of the water, it kept dying on the first two tries every time. My left arm hurt mildly for a couple of hours than "poof!" it was fine. An hour or so later, right arm began to hurt, and it hurt like the dickens!!! From my elbow all the way down into my palm. It felt like I had a combination of a bad headache, growing pains, and that tingle feeling you get after your arm wakes up from falling asleep. Thankfully, after several hours that went away as well.

The next day Capn' Coon and I teemed up - in person!!!!!!!!!!!!! We "set sail" at her house =D along with Cap'n Elizabeth Swann, their friend Anna Marie, the Cap'n's brother Cap'n Wolfgang Barbossa (he can sound JUST like him.. and Will too!) and my siblings Miss Kitty Gibbs, and Cap'n Tiger Teauge. The rest of our siblings came along as well... with a Camel Dalma and Snail Fang in there somewhere. We had a blast, playing ping pong all over the basement, listening to the Phantom, playing Fusion Tag and the detective game. (Thank you Miss March and sister for teaching that to us at your cousins house!)

While at the Black Pearl, Cap'n Coon introduced me to this hysterical song, entitled "I'm My Own Grandpa." Listen to it, it's the best!

Too funny... and confusing! It actually makes sense when you read the lyrics...

So this week is being spent starting school (Junior now!) and getting ready for the annual county fair. I somehow signed my self up for 15 projects... ahhh! But 3/4 of them are photographs, so all I need to do is get those enlarged and come up with captions. I still have a skirt to sew and a shawl to finish... and I think the rest are done. (Sure hope so!) The benefit to entering so many projects is that you are bound to win at least a few ribbons, which means more Christmas shopping money! Always a good thing. Billy Currington is supposed to be there Friday night, and I really want to go listen to him! I've never been to a country concert before, and I like his songs, so that would be fun. My favorite is what we've termed "The Turnip Green Song", but is really called "Good Directions". It's a great song. If you decide to click on the link, a few notes. In the video I found, that's Currington's voice, but the guy in the video isn't him. Still the song though!
Speaking of country music swings... you know how people are always saying "If you play country music backwards, blah blah blah..." and you know what! Someone actually wrote a song about it! Country singer band Rascal Flatts, called "Backwards". Ya might want to look it up sometime, it's funny! (There is even a POTC YouTube version out there...)

So what else should I blabber on about to this empty web? *gasp* Wait! Is the Forum Ball today? Yikes! I sure hope not.... better check that out!

Oh yeah, went to the eye doctors today. Vision hasn't really changed as in, it isn't worse it is just different. Right eye is still the same, but the stigmatism of the left eye is worse while the near-sightedness of the left eye has gotten better so the two balance each other out. OK then... however, I do have focusing problems, which they noted last year. i.e. I get "hung up" going from far to near, and then from near to far. Can't say that I wasn't surprised. So, I have to try reading without glasses and doing close work w/o them as well (easy, since I am near-sighted) in order to prevent my having to get bifocals, which apparently I don't want to do until I am at least 30. After hearing that bifocals are hard to get used to, some people never do, and while getting used to them people can get dizzy/sick... I think I want to avoid those!


NEWS!!!!!!!!! Elenatintil is heading a movie production of "The Shadow of the Bear", yes, the beloved book by Regina Doman! *runs screaming around the room* YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I encourage everyone to visit the movie blog and to offer her all the love, prayers and support you can. I have complete trust in Elena, and I feel that she will do a marvelous job with this. You have one very strong vote of confidence behind you Big "Sister"!


Well, that is about it for now! The Phantom videos will becoming up soon!

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Argh!!!!! *whacks computer*