Claws the Bearded Dragon

Big Dog got a Bearded Dragon terrarium from me for Christmas, and the other day he got his Bearded Dragon to go in it.  It's name is Claws.  :D  He (we don't know for sure) is super cute, and we got to watch him drink and eat!  Here's a picture of Claws.

We Bought a Zoo!!!

No, I'm kidding.  That's the name of that new movie that we intend to watch because it will probably be awesome!  :D

Anyway, lately, we have  noticed that we practically own a zoo!  I mean, we have gotten four frogs, a conure, Big Dog is soon to get a Bearded Dragon (we've set up its terrarium), and Little Thing got this cool ant habitat that has different pods (we have to order the ants, obviously).  Here are some pictures of our small zoo.  :D

My Frogs, Po and Mo (they're indestinguishable)

Big Dog's Frogs, Nice (left) and Mean (right)

Clarice

So, we could start a zoo!  That's not counting Nipper and Lupa, our seven chickens, Alcatraz, and our brine shrimp.  Now do you think that we're certifiably insane?!  Ooh, Christmas SpongeBob episode!  Okay, it doesn't really matter, because we won't finish it since we have so much work to do, but...Now, for a Christmas tale of our small zoo!

I stand at the kitchen counter quartering blueberries and cranberries for the birds' salads.  I know Alcatraz won't eat it, but Clarice is squawking for her veggies and fruits.  The small shrimp stir in their plastic aquarium.

Big Dog calls from his room, "Sister!"

I run to his aid to find that he needs help with the sand.  I help him pour it in and jog back to the bird salads.  I add chopped celery, celery tops, and lima beans.  I give the birds their things, watching Clarice eat.

"Sister!"  It's Little Thing this time.

"Yeah."

"Look!  Look at this!"  He holds up a bag of cotton balls.

I walk with him back to his room to put the cotton balls back with his ant pods.

"Hey, Sister?!  You want to feed the frogs?"

"Sure," I say, walking to Big Dog and plopping four pellets into my frogs' aquarium.

Twice a week, I mentally note.

"Sister, look!"

I follow Little Thing to his ant pods, which he has partially built.

"Um...okay, but we have to follow the directions.  Make sure your ant things don't get mixed up with your toys."  I gather the extras into their box.

I return to the birds and decide to blog about our small zoo.

"Sister!  Look at the plant I put in." 

I can hear the excitement in Big Dog's voice, so I go to look.

Now, this may sound slightly hectic, that's because it is, but we love our pets, and each other.  Merry Christmas to all!  Now I shall eat, for I am now as hungry as my pets were.

I Got A Conure!!! :D

Yes, she is a Green Cheeked Conure (she's the Yellow Sided mutation), and I named her Clarice Starling!!!  :D  She's a Christmas present, and I love her.  She gets along well with Alcatraz too.  They're chatting right now.  Clarice's wings are clipped, so I can walk around the house with her on my shoulder; I just have to watch the dogs.  I'm about to explode from happiness.  Okay, so she makes the sweetest noises.  Here's a picture of her.

My Story Was Put On Backyard Poultry's Website!!!

Yes, mine wasn't chosen to be published in the magazine (it's about poultry), but it was put on their website, and I got a sticker for participation.  Click here to read my story.

Blogging: Expressing Yourself Through Emoticons

Well, I thought I would do a post about blogging itself!  You might wonder why I like blogging, and this ought to answer your question.

I like to talk.  Basically, this is kind of like carrying on an intelligent conversation with somebody.  Yup.  Also, it's like my own little magazine about myself!  I have always wanted to do a newsletter or something, and this is close.  And, you guessed it, I like telling stories!  I love to write, and this is an even more challenging writing project.  So now you know why I like blogging.

Well, I had best be doing research on Christmas presents.  Farewell!
P.S.  If you think I should change my font to make it more readable, leave a comment, please!

"Hello, Clarice."

Does that mysterious title puzzle you?  Well, it probably does, unless you're me!  It's a Hannibal Lecter thing, which everyone in my family knows.  Yeah, I'm talking about the movies and books, The Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising.
'What are they about?' you ask.  Let me answer that question!
Hannibal Lecter (M.D.) is a cannibalistic serial killer who kills the rude.  Yeah, the rude.  He's very polite and classy and is the main character (kind of), making for some fascinating books.
Okay, now for reviews.
The Red Dragon (Book):  Very good book!  Quite interesting.  3.5/5
The Red Dragon (Movie):  Follows along with the book, and is very good, which is why I give it  5/5
The Silence of the Lambs (Book):  Fantastic!  I like the character Clarice Starling (yes, that's who the title is about, since Clarice comes to the asylum to talk to Dr. Hannibal Lecter about a serial killer.)  This book involves Dr. Lecter more than The Red Dragon, so I like it better, but, from an unbiased point of view, it gets a 4/5 for being awesome.
The Silence of the Lambs (Movie):  Good movie, which follows along with the book, but I don't think it was as good as The Red Dragon movie.  3/5  (Yeah, it's got Academy Awards to vouch for it, but so what, right)
Hannibal (Book):  I LOVE this book.  It follows Hannibal Lecter unlike the others, and is more descriptive than the other books.  5/5
Hannibal (Movie):  Love it!  It has a different ending than the book, but I loved it none the less.  Plus, it was kind of weird and awesome.  5/5

Wow, that nerdyness was enough.  Bye!

I Only Thought I Was Forever Lazy

Yeah, I said in my last post that I was being lazy today, since I didn't post about my novella on both blogs.  Well, I was WRONG!!!  THIS is Forever Lazy.  Seriously, that's the name brand.  Just watch the commercial.  It'll make you laugh.  :D

I'm Finished!!!

Oh my Darwin!  Oh my Darwin!  OMD!  OMD!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I finished my NaNo novel.  Well, novella, but whatever!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!  I'm so excited!  Alcatraz is sitting on my shoulder as I type this.  And my novel is exactly twenty thousand words.  Eeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now I can work on all that stuff I have to do to send it to a publisher.  See, I'm serious about this.  I even have the clunker of a book, The Writer's Market.  Yup.  Time to get started!

I'm on Wordpress Too!

Yup, everyone is always raving about Wordpress, so I set up an account.  Drop in and leave a comment, please!  That would be appreciated.  I'm going to keep both blogs going at the same times, so...yeah.  I'm almost finished with my story!  I swear, at this rate, the last two thousand words will be the epilogue.  :P  Yeah.

NYC Update 2

Yes, I'm updating on D's phone again. We're in TGI Friday's right now, and I smell like 'Warm Cotton.'. We took the subway and my dad got a Mighty Wallet. Man, I'm HUNGRY. Oh, and we're going to the Evolution store too! That's in SoHo, which I'm not sure what that stands for, but...anyway, bye!
Oh, I almost forgot, a question: What's your favorite ice cream.

NYC Update

Hey! I'm writing this on D's phone, so I won't make this long. We're in NYC! Yay! We've been here before, but it was a couple years ago. I can't upload pictures right now. I'll do that when we get back home. Anyway, my novel currently has 16,500 words so far. Back to NYC, we've been to F.A.O. Schwarz (yes Ver), Toys R Us, and Sephora. Also, D bought me a chicken hat from a street stand. Oh, and we went to the Met and saw Monet and Van Gogh. We're going to the Museum of Modern Art tomorrow to see Starry Starry Night. Ick, NYC smells like body odor (*gags*). Because of that, at Sephora I got these nice Clean brand perfumes and some lip gloss (*cheers*). Whoah! I've typed a lot! Well, D's Blackberry is pretty fun to type on.
A question: Who's been to NYC? (I know you have Ver)
Okay, I'm gonna get off now. Bye!

Half of the Way!

I'm half way through with my novel.  12,500 words!  Yay!  Also, I'm reading The Red Dragon right now.  It's pretty good so far.  Time to work on my novel.  Oh, and I wrote 4,000 words in one day!

NaNo Yes!

I am  30% of the way to my 25,000 word goal.  Yes!

Hello!

  I was just wondering, what do you think about my blog design.  Should I change it?  What about font.  I'll try a couple of things to see what looks best.  Anyway, I'm in a good mood today.  Don't ask me why.
  To be completely off topic (but hasn't this whole post?), we planted Leyland Cypruses today.  Digging the holes for the little trees and then planting them was really fun!  We're making a screen.
  Okay, this post has been totally random.  Sorry.
  Here's a question for my readers: What is your favorite movie?  Why?
  Bye, now!  :D

I'm In a Good Mood!!!

  Yes, the title says it all.  In fact, I'm going to do my Hallow's Eve post right now!  We went trick-or-treating in our little town (only the second time we've trick-or-treated there).  We also made brain jello.  Here's some pictures:

Ghost fingers want jello!

A house we waked by.  I apologize for the not very good picture, but it was dark.

That house again.

Alright, that's all for now.  Posts to come: New York Trip and others

Little Thing's Castle

  Nah, this post doesn't really have to do with Little Thing's Playmobile Coluseum.  I'm just going to go ahead and put how our day went while we were doing schoolwork.  By the way, that last post wasn't really a post.  It was just so I could get the HTML code for that pic, so I could put it in my signature on NaNo.  I'm going to do a Hannibal movies review later.  So here's what happened today:

Little Thing: *blows up balloon and releases it into the air*  Look at that, Alcatraz!
Me: *trying to concentrate on my Algebra*  Don't do that, Little Thing!  Alcatraz doesn't like it.
Big Dog: Avi, help me with my schoolwork!

Let's fast forward to when we started sewing messanger bags.

BD: You're off track!
M: I know.  It's okay, though.
BD: Off!  You're off!
LT: Take a picture of my castle, Avi!
Me: *trying to concentrate on cutting out my fabric pieces*  Fine.

LT: Yay!

Me: Okay.

BD: Awesome!  Yeah, I've done that before, M.  I did it at Fancy Pants.

Me: *finishes cutting fabric*  Done!

M: Good!

  So, that's what happened as we were cutting fabric.  I'll load more pics when we finish them.  For now, Avi off.

Me: *wonders what the next movie we watch is going to be*  Bye!

More Land Pictures

I apologize for not updating.  We've just been really busy, well, kind of.  I went to the orthodontist, and we got me snake boots (good luck biting through my knee high boots, snakes!).  Well, here's more land pictures.

A Very Interesting Rock

Drilling a Hole in the Gate Post

The Finished Cattle Gate

My Finished Fairy House

We Look Evil!!!  :D

Flamingos!



Our New Land!!!

 
  Yes, it was required to put three exclamation points because we just closed on our new land two days ago!  I'm so happy!  That's not all, though.  M, Big Dog, D, and I put up a cattle gate at the front of our new land.  It was fun and the gate looks great. 
  Also, Big Dog, Little Thing, and I mashed up some Buckeyes we found on the ground.  WARNING: NEVER EAT BUCKEYES (not the candy) THEY CAN MAKE YOU VERY SICK!!!  They can kill cattle, so yeah don't eat raw Buckeyes that you pick up off of the ground.  We were just mashing them up.  Anyway, we put the Buckeye mash in the Buckeye shells, so it was like a bowl.

  We also made fairy houses (no, we don't believe in fairies) because we always have fun making the little houses.  We made tables out of rocks and put the Buckeye mash on that.  We pretended bugs would come in and eat the stuff we put out.  If I were a small creature, though, I wouldn't eat it.  You'd be dead with the drop of a hat.
  Back to the cattle gate, I helped M dig the first hole for a pole with the posthole digger (manual).  It wasn't quick.  On the second hole, we ran into rocks in the ground and had to stop after breaking up all that rock at a foot.  We had been aiming for two feet.  D cemented the poles in with QuicKrete.  I was photographer, so basically I helped dig holes (alot), took pictures, and made flower crowns for M.

The Hunter

  I listened to the CD the Hunter by Mastodon and it was really good.  Little Thing's favorite song is The Curl of the Burl and my personal favorite is Creature Lives.  That CD was good, so now I'm going to listen to the CD Crack the Skye.  Has anyone else listened to anything by Mastodon?

Halloween at the Zoo

Yesterday, we all went to the Nashville Zoo.  It was for Boo at the Zoo, which we go to every year.  I was a Viking (Little Thing called me Viking Girl), Little Thing was an Airforce Pilot, and Big Dog was an Army Dude.  Boo at the Zoo was really fun this year!  The whole thing was way less corporate than last year.  We had tons of fun!

I'll add more pictures once we get them off of M's phone.

Heroes of Olympus

 
  I finished The Son of Neptune, from the Heroes of Olympus series, two days ago.  Now I have to wait until next fall for the next book in the series.  I've finished the Percy Jackson series and now I have to wait for the next three books in this series before I can be completely finished with it.  Well, I might as well crack into the Kane Chronicles

Adventure Science Center Squid Lab!

  Today, Big Dog and I both disected squids at the Adventure Science Center.  It was so much fun!  My squid was a girl and Big Dog's was a boy.  Big Dog got to write his initials using the squid's eye juice and I wrote with squid ink.  Not only did get to write with squid ink, I also wrote it with the squid's gladius!  The gladius is like the squid's back bone, except it's cartilage.  It looks like a feather.

My Squid Ink Writing and the Gladius I Wrote It With, AOH  (Aviculture Obsessed Homeschooler), KV (my initials), ASC (Adventure Science Center), Squid (okay, that doesn't really mean anything, I just wrote it because this came from the squid lab!)

  Before it was time for our lab, D took Little Thing, Big Dog, and me up to the Adventure Tower, which is this thing on the top floor of ASC where you can climb to the very top and see Nashville.  It was sooooooo crowded.  We went up the stairs of Adventure Tower all together to get up to level two of the tower (it was really freaky because there was netting around us, which somehow made it scary).  Little kids were running everywhere!  The whole tower was shaking as we looked out over Nashville.

  Level three was next.  D and the rest of us squeezed through the crescent moon climbing things heading towards the top.  We emerged, wondering exactly how many levels there were.  The bubble we stood in was stuffy.  Being surrounded by plastic is not my thing because I get headaches when I'm in stuffy places.  "I don't think I can crawl up the last part of it," D said.  So true.  The crescent moons leading to the last part were tiny.  Big Dog offered to come with me, but then decided not to.  I went up and I have to admit, it was pretty cool.  Fresh air, I thought happily.  I couldn't stay long, though.  The tower shook as if it might topple over and a kid sat in my way.  I wormed my way back to where Big Dog, Little Thing, and D stood on level three.  I told them it was cool and we all decided that we needed to get down now!

  D led us down to level two where he took pictures of the skyline.  "I'm going with Big Dog down the crawly thing," I said.  D nodded and took Little Thing by the hand and led him down the stairs.  "Let's go!" Big Dog urged.  I followed him down the last set of crescent moons, watching D and Little Thing as I climbed.  Big Dog and I climbed a pole down off of the landing and waited for the others.  Delinquent children rushed up the netted stairs, stopping D and Little Thing in their tracks.  We waited and finally they were able to make their way slowly down.  We all rushed down the final ramp off of Adventure Tower, glad to finally have excaped the tower.

All of Adventure Science Center (Plus the Adventure Tower the Three Sections at the Very Top)

  Also, we went over to the Animal Secrets exhibit.  Little Thing liked it a lot!  It was pretty cool.  Little Thing really liked the chipmunk tree.

  Okay, that's all for now.

Chrysalis

Okay, yesterday I said I would post pics of the hatched chrysalis, which hatched outside where it was.  Allright, here's some pics and a Chrysalis Cam video.





Gee, I Haven't Posted in a While

M's been doing work, so we've been busy.  We're trying to find a Husky rescue for Kenai and all together it's been a busy while.  The chrysalis hatched (outside) so I'll have to add that to Chrysalis Cam. 

Wednesday group yesterday was great.  My friend Z was there, so we talked and had fun.  Little Thing had Big Dog and I take him up and down the playground's swirly slide.  The paint on the playground was chipping (again).  Big Dog and I ended up with colorful paint chips all over our hands.

D got P.F. Chang's for us yesterday, so that means leftovers for breakfast/lunch.  Yay!

I absolutely can't wait for next Wednesday.  I just love our group because (a) my friend Z is usually there and (b) it's secular!!!  Joy to me the atheist!

Mondays are also great because we have co-op then.  That means Beowulf (the epic poem) for me and nature walks for my brothers.  Drama was a let down, it was too juvenile for Big Dog and me.  Well, it was very juvenile, but then again, Big Dog and I do our own plays at home, so that's not a huge problem.  Last Monday we were able to play kickball at the end of the co-op and that was fun.

Basically, I'm quite excited.  Fall is my favorite time of year.  Halloween's coming up (my favorite holiday) and then I have NaNo in November.  I'm psyced!

Aviculture Obsessed Homeschooler Badge

Okay, I have a Musings From Neville's Navel badge, so I decided to make my own.  Put it in your sidebar or wherever you want on your own blog.  Here it is.

My Badge (Yes, It Says Aviculture Obsessed Homeschooler)

Chrysalis Cam

Today Big Dog, Little Thing and I found a chrysalis.  It has a butterfly or moth in it.  You can see through the chrysalis and the butterfly/moth is orange.  We're going to keep it in this butterfly habitat we have until it hatches.  Then we'll release it.  I'll try and add a new video of the chrysalis each day.  To see the videos click on Chrysalis Cam tab at the top of the page or click here.

Frist Center

Yesterday, we went to the Frist Center.  The two exhibits were "Woman On the Run" and "A Divine Light".  "Woman On the Run" was a very interesting.  The exhibit was a sort of three dimensional art.  You went around this "hotel" and you actually got to go through one of the rooms.  It was meant to sort of be like a 50's or 60's thriller movie.  There were little videos and things like that in the windows of the faux motel.  It was really cool.  You can check out the "Woman On the Run" blog by clicking here.  "A Divine Light" was a Renaissance art exhibit.  Of course, it was Renaissance art, so it was all religious.  It was really cool to see such old paintings, though.  They were really realistic.  Okay, so the Frist Center's children's mascot is Swifty the eagle.  On their website, it used to say Swifty was a baby eagle, but baby eagles don't have white heads and tails.  Bald Eagle eaglets are spotted as babies.  They don't have the plumage of a grown eagle like Swifty.  I'm glad they removed the baby eagle thing from their website.  That was bugging me.  Now it just says Swifty is the mascot.

A Painting From the "A Divine Light" Exhibit

"Woman On the Run"

Swifty the Eagle

My Red Hair!!!

Okay, so my hair has dried, and the red looks fantastic.  We washed the dye out of my hair with cold water, and I could already see the red.  Now that it's dry, the red is really bright.  While I was looking on the Manic Panic website, it continued to say that the best results are on bleached hair.  Well, guess what?  My hair isn't bleached, and it looks wonderful.  The ends of my hair are ultra bright!  I love it!!!

My Hair (While Wet!)

Before

After



Big Dog Shooting His Dart Gun

Okay, so this is an interesting video.  Big Dog had me take a video of him shooting at a beach ball with his dart gun.  If you watch the window in the background, you can see Kenai pass in front of the window (he had run off).  It's right before Big Dog says, "Oh, a screwed up shell."  By the way, if you're having trouble seeing the video, press the button that has arrows pointing in four different directions.  That will make it full screen.



Red Hair

Okay, my blue streak is pretty much worn out, so now I'm doing the ends of my hair with Manic Panic Rock 'n' Roll Red.  Originally, I was going to do Vampire Red, but decided otherwise.  Currently, I'm letting it sit.  M used a hair dryer to heat my hair once she had it in the foil, so the color will be brighter.  The red should be brighter than my blue was.  Well, heres a picture of me with my hair in pigtails, with the ends encased in aluminum foil.

There's a Hummingbird in the House!!!

Oh my Darwin!  The hummingbird that often frequents our feeder, we call him Creepy, flew into the house.  We had the door open so that Kenai could go to and from the backyard whenever he wanted to.  Creepy flew inside and tried to go to our Butterfly Bush.  He had one problem, though.  The window was in between him and the bush!  He kept running into the window, thinking he could get through.  "Boys, there's a hummingbird in the house!" I called.  The boys came running into the dining room.  Little Thing and Big Dog got M and D, while I ran upstairs to get my video camera.  D caught Creepy in a green net and released him outside.  Amidst the chaos, I took some pictures and a video.  Here they are.

Creepy





Water Column

M has found an interesting curriculum to go along with the A Dolphin's Tale movie.  There are different experiments, and the one we did yesterday was about bouyancy.  We made a water column to see whether different objects float or sink.  Canola oil, meringue, apple, bark, and butter floated.  Honey and a rock sank.  It was interesting.

Today

So, today I found an old headband from a Halloween past, that has bats on it.  I tried it on, and, I must say, it looked kind of weird.

Me Wearing the Headband

Then I watched Big Dog shoot at a beach ball with his double-barreled dart gun.  In the midst of Big Dog doing that, Kenai, who had broken his collar, darted in front of the house.  We could see him through the window!  It was rather odd.





Remembering Alaska

Today, I have been thinking about all of the fun things that we have done in Alaska.  It is unlike anything you could possibly imagine.  Mountain trails, wildlife, beaches covered with 5 feet of ice, mud cliff climbing, making sand cities, and rock collecting were all things we did in Alaska.  Alright, here's some pictures.

Little Thing on an Ice Slide

M at the Beach (yes that is ice covering the beach)

Us, on a Mountain Trail Called Hope Point Trail (it climbs up Mount Hope)

Standing in Front of the Summit of Mount Hope

On the Gull Rock Trail

I hope you liked the pictures!

My Typical Day: Algebra, Grammarlouges, and...Bikejoring?

Okay, so today, when I finished my school work, I got to witness Kenai and D bikejoring.  It's this cool sport, where you have a dog and they pull you on a bike.  It's really cool.  Alright, here's a video of D and Kenai bikejoring.

Ready to Go

M's Finished Apple Pie

Yay!!!  Right now, I'm eating a slice of M's apple pie.  It's delicious!  I'm so happy!  Alright, I know it's kind of weird that I'm posting about a pie, because M makes us a dessert almost every night (key lime pie, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate pie, etc...).  However, this pie is soooo good.  Mmm.  Okay, here's some pictures of it.

Yummy!

I want my slice!

Mmm.  Time to eat!