open mouth, insert foot

First things first, Inky sent me a really wonderful gift for Christmas/New Year. I've a picture of me opening it, but Aedon's cat chewed through my chord so I can't upload the photos yet! I'll save talking about it until I can do that, but I did want to shout out a thanks to her for that while I was thinking of it!

What I really wanted to write about was a problem I seem to often get myself into :( I got into a discussion with some of the kids at school, and it didn't go well.

See, we all have different hobbies, though sometimes they overlap some. You know how people who have things in common seem to hang around and be friends with one another though? I think the thing we have in common in this household is that we're not very... well, normal. Actually, maybe 'average' is a better way to word it, since 'normal' may imply that there's something wrong with us, and there's not, it's just that most of is are not very... mainstream? And sometimes I get use to having that, and sometimes I get really emotional, because I'm passionate about things which is good! but it means I'm not always careful when I open my mouth.

Someone at school was saying about how lucky she was that her boyfriend was understanding that she had dolls. It made me think of Aedon, who collects a whole bunch of different dolls. Aedon doesn't have a boyfriend but in the past she has had friends who thought the dolls were creepy or whatever. Thing is, I don't think someone is "lucky" if a friend or boyfriend or girlfriend or anyone really who is suppose to care about you merely tolerates you having a hobby that they don't get. Someone who cares about you should be MORE supportive than that! Iona isn't really a doll sort of person at all, but she has sewn clothing for Aedon's dolls for her, because even if she doesn't like dolls, she DOES like Aedon. Does that make sense? I just don't get how "not sneering" and "tolerating" turn out to be to some people as "being supportive". I was trying to explain that sort of thing to the girls at my lunch table, and they just got argumentative and mean. Yet they accused ME of being mean!

Whenever I state my opinion, that seems to happen, and it always hurts me as well as frustrates me. I talked to Riley some about it, since she's always so level headed, and she said sometimes I am a bit more blunt about things than people are use to. She did also say though that she thinks that I'm right, and that many times these things don't come up when it's girls wanting to do boy things (like a girl is encouraged to be more supportive of her boyfriend's sports), than the other way around, and that she thought it was because of sexism, and how things which are "girl things" are seem as being less awesome, and though you'd see a girl play hockey in a tv commercial, you rarely ever see a boy playing house/cooking (which is crazy considering.. did you know that most famous chefs are men!?) or sewing (same! Iona tells me many famous fashion designers are men). She said she thinks that even if I don't know what it is I'm seeing, that I do SEE these sorts of things more than most people, and that I'm not 'average' that way. She said it was good that I saw them though, and that she hoped that I didn't feel like I shouldn't say anything about it, because everyone would benefit from people like me (aww) saying more things, but that I just have to be more careful to be nice when I say things.

She's pretty awesome, I don't know why other people think she's kind of cold/weird.

nearly Christmas!

So we had the party last night and it was really good. I think everyone had a good time, anyway. Joy made SO much food; I know she made rugelach which were vegan, sufganiyot filled with preserves she said she'd made last summer and had canned herself!!!, and she made a chocolate cake shaped like a yule log decorated with marzipan mushrooms, and the usual sugar cookies, though those she'd decorated with coloured sugar in the shape of pentacles (five pointed stars with the corners connected, you know, like teachers use to mark your papers) and she even brought out a FLAMING christmas pudding. I'm not going to lie, a lot of the Americans were kind of meh about how it tasted even though we were impressed that it was ON FIRE.

Xander, Song, Aedon, and Riley (who plays the piano) all played songs for us, and someone had brought a mixed tape of songs and we sang along and sorta danced to those. We played a bunch of games including pinning a nose on Rudolph where Trinity totally put it right on the butt! I had a great time.

We had a gift giving thing where we had to steal the gifts. I ended up stuck with the gift that I'd brought (drawing supplies since I tried to get something that the boys wouldn't mind ending up with) which wasn't so bad since I could use them, but Alejandro had glittery hairbands, so I swapped with him afterwards and that works out too since I had hairbands on my wish list!

Yesterday and today some people were traveling to see family. I'm trying to finish up and wrap the gifts that I'm giving. How are all of you? I hope you've a very good holiday season, whatever you celebrate!

a short wish list

Okay, Fin was on my butt to post a wish list because it's already December 6, and she said I have to consider mailing time, etc, so here it is:

- things for my head, like hats, headbands from LizzieBee (I really like the new silver, gold & white ones!), or flower clips

- some sort of rainbow decoration for my room, either like, six origami cranes (like, one each of roygbp) or maybe a pennant banner

- jewelry (I don't have my ears pierced yet but I like wearing necklaces & bracelets (& I hope to get my ears pierced soon))

- gauntlet/arm warmers (t-shirt type material)

- apples to apples (in my size)

- Elephant Calico Critters

- art books (like, drawing technique, or watercolor)

- a rainbow (roygbp) afghan

- a rainbow quilt (roygbp too)

- handmade things and art!

I think I'm doing something wrong: blogspot help?

While I've a little bit of time because I've finished my computer science assignment:

I follow a bunch of blogs, but only some show on the left hand nav bar. I know that I can read from the dashboard, but I remember to read and comment more if I can see that they've updated (also, it's nice, because I imagine it increases traffic for those blogs too). Does anyone know what I can do to make those other blogs come up in that nab bar?

tagged for Christmas meme

1) What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

Aurora: so many baked goods!
Aedon: time off school
Xander: getting to see family


2) Who do you celebrate Christmas with?

Aurora: my grandmother, and other family come over for dinner
Aedon: sometimes we stay in the states, sometimes we go to England, so it depends
Xander: my parents, my brother and I go visiting my grandparents.


3) What is your favorite gift you have ever received?

Aurora: my drafting table
Aedon: my american girl dolls
Xander: a racing video game


4) What are your favorite Christmas Carols?

Aurora: We Three Kings
Aedon: Partridge in a Pear Tree, particularly how silly people get with five goooooolden rings, and then they can't remember all the verses and start making things up
Xander: In The Bleak Mid-Winter


5) What is your favorite Christmas food?

Aurora: all the baked goods! and also jellied cranberry sauce
Aedon: ham!
Xander: Christmas cake


6) Can you sleep on Christmas Eve?

Aurora: My grandmother and I exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and stay up late wrapping everyone else's, so by the time I get into bed (in my new jammies) I'm normally really ready to sleep.
Aedon: I never believed in Santa, so it's not like I stay up trying to listen for him or anything. We don't even have a fireplace.
Xander: no, but I get up at 5am on Christmas Day!


7) When do you wake up on Christmas morning?

Aurora: I normally get up around 9 or 10 to carry the gifts down and put them under the tree, and to help Grandma start the cooking.
Aedon: Normally around 8 because the kitties never let me sleep much later because they want to be fed.
Xander: oh, I answered that already, whoops!


8) What is your most memorable memory?

Aurora: I once burned the rolls I was making and set off the fire alarm :(
Aedon: the one time it actually snowed on Christmas
Xander: opening presents at my grandmother's house


9) What are you Christmas traditions?

Aurora: we always make a bunch of these cookies that the recipe is from my grandma's grandma's cookbook. and like I sad, Grandma and me exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, after we get home from church services.
Aedon: my parents and I trade gifts on Christmas Eve too.
Xander: watching the Queen's Speech before we open our presents

10) Do you have a real tree or an artificial tree?

Aurora: a really fake tree, like, super fake silver tinsel
Aedon: a fake tree, but it looks real. we have to have a fake tree because otherwise the kitties climb and eat it.
Xander: a real tree. every year we get a real tree, and my father tries to plant it in the yard, and every year it dies.


Tagging:

Inky

Sabine

Taryn

Mekennah

cleaning for holiday party

With the holidays coming, we've been doing some spring cleaning sorts of things, except, you know, winter. We've all been cleaning up our individual rooms and getting rid of clutter. I went through all of my paints and got rid of the old dried up tubes, and made sure my containers of various crafts were neatly put away. Ember had a lot of stuffed animals, and decided to get rid of them, so Wednesday when we had a half day (teacher in-service) we took them to the laundromat so that we could use one of the enormous washers to give them a good bath before being donated to a local shelter for abused women and their children.

I know that in a lot of families, they put up the Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving, but in both my and Fin's family, it's traditional to put it up much closer to Christmas, because it has to stay up through out Epiphany. This year Yule, the Winter solstice and the holiday that Ember observes, is on the 22nd, and all of our schools have stopped for the winter break by the 21st, so Fin says that we can put the tree and decorations up on the 21st, so that things look festive for Ember's holiday too. I was worried that putting up a Christmas tree on her holiday would be bad form, but Ember says bringing greens inside the house is actually an old pagan custom that got co-opted anyway, so it's fine.

We're going to have a party on the 22nd for friends of ours to come over and exchange gifts, since most of us will be busy with family any closer to the holiday. Fin found these boxes online and printed them out for us for putting our presents into. I thought that you might like the link as well. Joy's over the moon planning all the cookies she's going to bake, I think that she actually likes that there's so many different religions and places of origin and stuff with all of us, because it gives her a fine excuse to make even more treats, and even try some new things! She was telling me some yesterday about how she can use substitutes to make some thing or other that normally isn't vegetarian so that Ember and Riley can have them too.

Fin's also encouraged us to make gift lists, but I haven't gotten to mine yet. Have you made a wish list? What have you asked for?

meh

Have you ever felt just sorta 'meh'? I've been having periods of that, where I really don't want to do anything, it's like being really tired, but not just in your body, also in your heart. I actually feel bad about feeling so bad, because nothing's really wrong, though, there's no reason I should feel bad. Fin said that's not really how things like this always work though.

I've been trying to hide out in my bedroom, and even though part of me is annoyed, another part of me feels relieved when the others come in. Even if they do disregard the 'do not disturb' sign I put on my door - Xander said it was too late, I was already disturbed! I know he was trying to be funny, Aedon told me that British people like puns like that long ago, but I think he was worried I wouldn't know that because he apologized right away. Him and I have been listening to the audio version of The Hunger Games so that we can see it when it comes out. Sometimes I get kind of anxious and worry that they don't like me, that I'm annoying or too opinionated or whatever, so its nice to see them trying to cheer me up because they'd probably only do that if they liked me.

Joy made me carrot cake, since that's my favorite, and she recently made macaroons, which I'd never had before. Llinos has been taking Omicron & Epsilon (my doggies) for walks with Terebinth. Aedon offered to bring in her laptop so that we could watch Dr Who on it. I don't really have the oomph to cope with higher energy people like Niamh, Zora, and Alejandro, though he did offer to help with some of my chores, and Araminta and Ember have just quietly done their homework with me, to make sure that I at least keep up with school work. Riley offered to show me how to meditate, or to crochet - she says that crochet is like a kind of meditation where she has a scarf to show for it, in the end. She said it would be a neat idea anyway, because then I could make things for gifts, but I think I'd just suck at it and who would want to wear that?

So, I guess that why I've not been posting much. It seems so sad to just talk about how meh I feel. Have any of you evert felt just all deflated? What did you do to get out of the funk?

etsy treasury: autumn looks

Hi everyone, it's Iona again. I helped Fin put together an etsy treasury of currently available looks this autumn! I'd never put together an etsy treasury before so this was really fun. Fin said we should only include one item per store, to be fair/spread the love. I had the idea, since there were 16 slots in four rows of four, for each row to represent one outfit, and pick four components for each outfit.

You know what, in all that searching, I didn't see too much of, but is a hot trend for this season? Harvest colours like mustard, goldenrod, pumpkin, rust! Bright trousers are also in, so that would be a great way to work those colours in. Chartreuse and jade are also great for pops of brightness with more sedate shades of the aforementioned warm tones. Chunky sweaters with long gauzy maxi skirts are also in, but lacking from what we could find offered on etsy.

whether weather

It rained a lot. Then we had a hurricane.

We lost electricity for awhile, but luckily we were prepared! Our stove and ovens are electric in this house, so we either had cold food or we cooked on the grill. The worst part was all the tuna and peanut butter. Fin tells us that peanut butter is pretty awesome disaster food: cheap, nonperishable, doesn't need much prep, fairly nutritious, etc and encouraged us to remember this when we're in college - but I don't think I want to eat it almost once a day for a week then either. The best part was when Fin showed us how to use a cardboard box to make an oven that we could used on the grill and made us cake! Another best part may have been having the time off school, since they didn't have electricity either.

Then the weather was okay for a few days, and things started to go back to normal, except then it started raining some more. A lot more.

Our town has two rivers, that meet together, and all of the area right near them, particularly where they meet, flooded. We live far from the river, so we were reasonably okay, but our basement still had water in it, and Fin and Alex had to pump it all in a hose up the stairs and outside. There was enough that it took a lot of hours, we could hear the pump going still when we were trying to sleep. The following weekend we all helped out carrying things out of the storm doors and lying things out on the grass to dry and see what could be salvaged. It was better than Fin had thought it would be, but worse than Alex did; Fin says that's because she's a champion at worrying.

So that's why I've not posted in ages! Things are finally getting back to normal again, and hopefully saying that won't jinx us all and we'll get some other catastrophe! For awhile we didn't make plans, because we just couldn't count on anything, so I'm not sure what we'll be doing in the near future. I do know that art club starts meeting next week, and band practice has started back up for Aedon. Riley's been talking about taking a yoga class at the Y's fall session. Maybe I can have Aedon or Riley post about one of those things.

Alejandro and preparing to go back to school

Alejandro and his stuffed puppy:

I took the best photo that I could indoors. About fifteen minutes after I took that photo of Myfanwy the other day, it started POURING rain, and it has been for the past few days. I woke up this morning because an enormous thunder/lightening boom, in fact.

Back to school preparations are consuming the house right now, as some of us only have two more weeks before we begin. When do you start school? What's your favorite part about going back to school - I love all the fresh supplies! (I always get plain, light colored folders so that I can doodle on them!)

photo of Myfanwy with Carys, her stuffed sheep

new dolls and old lovies

Everyone's talking about the new American Girl dolls, Marie-Grace and Cecile, and then how all American Girl dolls have a a special toy, plushie, lovey, etc (except that Marie-Grace and Cecile don't have them yet!) and then, what OUR special item is.

Aedon: Kit & Ruthie AG dolls

Xander: I've a plushie racoon

Ember: hmm, my Breyer horses, maybe

Myfanwy: my plush sheep, Carys

Llinos: a red plushie squirrel

Joy: a teddybear named Cookie

Riley: a JLY AG (#9)

Sara: plushie elephant

Mili: a stuffed unicorn

Alejandro: a stuffed puppy

Zora: a rewigged JLY to look like me!

Araminta: Addy

Maybe later on this weekend I could take photos of them with their lovies, even!

Niamh, Song, Poppy, Victoria, Sako, and Iona weren't around when I asked. I didn't list anything for myself, because I'm not really sure what mine would be or if I even have one!

Do you have anything like that? Are you planning to get Marie-Grace or Cecile?

my new green corset

Fin's friend MsTangledWebs totally surprised Fin and I with matching green corsets that she made us! Isn't that awesome!? MsTangledWebs made them because Fin once said that she'd never wear a matching outfit with one of us, and MsTangledWebs made it like a personal challenge to come up with one! And she totally did too!

Fin took a photo of her wearing hers yesterday and people mentioned wanting to see mine on me as well, so here you go!

fireworks and memes

We've seen a lot of fireworks this summer. We've been to three different professional ones, and two picnics/backyard bbqs where once it got dark we set off some small ones as well, because that's legal in our state. Not the big ones, though, you need a licensee for those. It's really hard to get a good photos of fireworks because they don't last very long, but here's a decent one that Xander managed to get:


There have been a fair amount of trips too, sometimes for the whole weekend, sometimes just for a day. This weekend we want to a carnival, last night they had an 'all you can ride one price' night, you just had to buy bracelets and show the people the bracelets to get on the rides. The carnival breaks down on Sundays though, so that it can move on and be somewhere else tomorrow, so today is just a lazy day, which is good because after so many trips in a row, it seems like we've a lot of wash to do (I'm old enough to do my own laundry).

My online-friend, Sabine gave me the idea to do a meme, so I figured that while I was waiting on that load to finish before I could hang it up. I'll get a few of the others to answer, too - we'll do a short one since multiple of us doing it will make it seem much longer for anyone reading it.


1) Name/Nickname:
Aurora
Aedon
Xander
December/Ember

2) From:
Aurora: Pennsylvania
Aedon: Pennsylvania/England
Xander: Colchester, England
Ember: Oregon

3) Age/Grade:
Aurora: 11, 6th
Aedon: 10, 5th
Xander: 12, we've a different grading system in the UK, I'm in year 8
Ember: 11, our schooling co-op doesn't really have formalized grades

4) Hair/Eye Color:
Aurora: warm medium brown, brown
Aedon: dark brown, dark brown
Xander: brown, hazel/brown
Ember: brown, hazel-brown

5) Family/Siblings:
Aurora: only child, mom, grandmom
Aedon: only child, mum, & two dads
Xander: younger brother, mum, dad
Ember: an older brother, a younger sister, mom & dad

6) Religious Affiliation:
Aurora: nothing really, though I do to church with my grandmom
Aedon: Atheist
Xander: CoE
Ember: eclectic neo-pagan, a bit toward the secular side

7) Pets:
Aurora: two dogs, Omicron and Epsilon
Aedon: three cats- Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Bach
Xander: none
Ember: a few fish

8) Special Talent/Know For:
Aurora: artsy stuff!
Aedon: music stuff, the blowing stuff up kind of science!
Xander: violin, piano
Ember: being unflinching in the face of frogs, bugs, and other things of that nature

9) Favorite Color:
Aurora: bright secondary colors
Aedon: black, fuscshia, and red
Xander: red
Ember: pink

10) Favorite Food:
Aurora: mm, spaghetti
Aedon: grilled cheese
Xander: chocolate
Ember: tomatoes and peaches

summer starts

argh, such a bad photo, I know. It's just so bright and hot out! It seems like we went from a reasonably chilly and exceptionally wet Spring right smack into Summer in full tilt! After lunch, Iona and Mili went for a walk to get some frozen treats, and brought me one back, too. Aww <3

The last week of school was pretty hectic - Aedon and Myfanwy had chorus/choir concerts, Aedon, Xander, Song had band/orchestra concerts, I stayed after school a few days helping the art teacher tidy up the room, and brought home oodles of supplies, too! - but now that most of us are out, it's pretty boring. Not all of us signed up for camps or activities, so a fair portion of us have just been sitting around wasting time. Aedon keeps IMing me links to lolcats. That sort of thing.

What's everyone else doing for the summer?

Spritely Moon purse

Spritely Moon was hosting a give-away on Facebook to commemorate getting 200 Likes. When the first winner didn't contact them back, the second name they pulled was Firinel's! We all congratulated her because she'd never won a give-away or drawing type thing before! It arrived last Wednesday, and Fin's been telling us she wanted one of us to model it so that she could take some nice photos to say 'thank you'. Finally it was a nice day today, and she had time, so asked who wanted to volunteer. Since both Iona and Victoria are into fashion and "looking smart", but Iona's been mentioned here in my blog, the group voted for Victoria.







You can find Spritely Moon on FaceBook at the link above or at their website: http://www.spritelymoon.com

For those curious, Victoria would like me to add that, as for the rest of her ensemble:
- the white puffed sleeve top is from Camelot Treasures,
- the black flared skirt is from Suzy M Studio,
- the black vest and black sling-back kitten heels are authentic American Girl.

Memorial Day plans?

We have a long weekend this weekend for Memorial Day. It started with a half day on Friday, and then we've off on Monday.

We always use this time for a combination of yard work, picnics and day trips, so when the non-Americans in our group asked us what was Memorial day about, a bunch of us largely chimed in with things like cook-outs with hamburgers, some of us who've lived close enough to the shore said going to the beach, the first time the pools open for the summer season, things like that. I knew that wasn't why the day existed though (because it would be called Grillin' Day if it were, not Memorial Day, right?) so we looked it up. It's to honor all the Americans who have died in all of our wars. Victoria said that sounded a lot like their Remembrance Day (you know, except not Americans then).

Yesterday after school we went grocery shopping for things for the weekend, and in the evening after it had cooled down some, we did some yardwork. This morning we did some more yardwork (we've a big yard!) and right now we're inside cooling off again and having lunch. Then we're heading to the Mütter Museum for the afternoon, and having dinner in the city, which is neat because there's more different kinds of food to choose from than out in the middle of no where, where we live. Tomorrow we're going to go to the beach - it's a pretty far drive for us so that'll be most of the day, so we've no other plans. Monday we're staying home and having a cook-out party, that a bunch of friends are coming over for, which is why we've been doing so much yard work!

The weather is funny, it went from kinda cold and rainy, to really hot pretty quick, so we've been working in our bathingsuits so that we can take breaks and hose off or run around in the sprinkler. I'm afraid to take my camera out and take photos with the water going, but here's a photo Fin took earlier or Aedon, Joy, and Joy's little sister Grace, cooling off in the sprinkler.



Do you have any plans for this weekend?

rainy day packages

It's been raining really bad here all week. Luckily I was able to get a ride home from school every day so I didn't get soaked walking.

After we were done our homework, Fin said that we had some packages. They were some clothing that she'd bought for us, so of course we had to go and put things on and take photos. They're not great photos because Fin said it was "too wet for that nonsense" but that we could do it ourselves if we needed it done right then, but that if we wanted better photos later, she'd do it the next day it was reasonably dry. heh, so we waited until it was just drizzling, and quick ran out and took photos all ninja like. I took the one of Song, Song took the one of Joy, and Joy took the one of me.



Song is wearing a babydoll top made by PattiKuz and knit capris by DollCloset. Her hat and boat shoes are AG brand.



Joy is wearing a puffed sleeve tee by Katie J. Designs and a shift dress by MissSissy. Her hat and flip-flops are AG brand. Her necklace was made by Lizziebee Designs.



Me! I'm wearing a puffed sleeve tee also by Katie J Designs, a patchwork skirt made for me by PattiKutz, and a crochet shrug from Lavenderlore. Fin made m necklace, and both my hat and shoes are AG brand.

Around this time of year, and around then again in August or September is when we usually get some new things (summer outgrown stuff now, and then nicer/warmer stuff at the start of school - though of course people always seem to get a few things around the holidays as well). Have you gotten anything new lately?

dry spell

I haven't drawn in awhile. I mean, I've doodled on school work when I finished early, but I've not really done any proper art. It's so frustrating to not feel inspired. It makes me question who I am, you know?

Is there anything that if you suddenly couldn't stop doing, you'd feel less like you? I asked some of the others here that, and this is what they said:
Llinos: write code
Zora: dance
Xander: play violin
Joy: bake
Aedon: read

Joy said when she has trouble baking, like if things keep messing up, that she'll make a recipe that she knows by heart, and try to make something completely different out of it; she said that's how she turned oatmeal cookies into the cranberry granola that Riley's so crazy about, so maybe I could take a medium I know and do something really different with it-- but I can't think of any way to do that! Llinos said that sometimes if she's come to a rough spot where she can't make any code, she goes for a walk to clear her head. I've been walking so much this week! I even went out jogging with Niamh and Riley a few times. Zora said that if she doesn't feel like dancing, that sometimes it's because she's tired, so she listens to bouncy music that'll make her feel like getting up again. There was an artist who was really into combining music and art, named Kadinksy, but he was an abstract painter, and that's not really my thing.

I'll brainstorm some ideas, I guess, but if you have any ideas, feel free to suggest them!

new post, but no new pictures

Argh, I didn't post all of April! I'm bad at this blogging thing.

See, I'm so visual, I feel like each post must have at *the vey least* one photo, and so if I can't get out and take photos, or have photos taken of me, I feel like I can't really post, because no one'll be interested in just me talking. For awhile I couldn't find my micro-USB to upload photos off my camera, and also it's off and on been really windy and/or rainy, and really, not a whole lot has been going on.

But the other girls said that that's not really true that people only want to read things with pictures, and also that they'll help me out with writing more, too, if I'd want. I think that sounds like a great idea, and we're coming up with some sort of rota with them brainstorming what they'll post. Song and Xander thought maybe they might post music, and Mili thought maybe she'll write a story she can post as serial, or maybe just review her favorite books. The others are still thinking, though, but it got me all excited!

I also figured that I could probably draw sometimes and show you that, but I'd have to ask Fin to get the scanner hooked up to this machine again. If I drew something to post, what would you like me to draw?