Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I am greatly enjoying my study on the character of Lydia Bennet. She's so interesting...and silly.

Friday, December 18, 2009

a conversation

Jenna: Do YOU know how to do leeks?
Clarissa: I don't know.
Jenna: Well, I think I do......I think I saw Rachael Ray do it once.
Clarissa: That's a funny quote.
Jenna: You should remember it for me, so that I can post it on the blog.

Okay, so the last line isn't exactly what I said. ;) Clarissa and I made some delicious-smelling baked apples and some messy-but-fun-to-make potato and leek soup for the Scarlet Pimpernel book club Christmas party. All the food turned out well; nothing burned!!! :)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Bits and pieces

- Two days ago, I discovered that some of the carpet in the basement (which is where my room is) was completely soaked. Something leaked in the storage room, and there was water all over the floor. Nothing was ruined, but Mom and I still had to clean it all up. Mom got out the shopvac and I mopped up puddles with our camping towels. I don't know what caused it, but it hasn't come back, so that's a positive thing :)

- This is our last week of school before Christmas break! Although I will be studying for the ACT, doing this driver's ed program that my mother wants me to do, and catching up on some schoolwork...isn't that what Christmas break is for, so you can catch up on schoolwork?

- My first band concert was on Monday. Playing in front of people is not something that I excel at, let's just leave it at that :)

Friday, December 11, 2009

A Tag

Shaylynn tagged me! Dear me....

1- Have you been asked out? Once....I said no :) lol

2 - Where was your default picture taken? The theater basement. Mark Hickle took it.

3 - What's your middle name? Adventure. No....seriously. Adventure is my middle name.

4 - Your current relationship status? wouldn't you like to know....

5 - What's the first thing you do when you wake up from a nap? Try to unglue my contacts from my eyeballs.

6 - What is your current mood? Quietly contented

.7 - What color shirt are you wearing? Blue

8 - Missing something? Don't tell my orthodontist, but I had lost the bottom part of my retainer for a couple weeks. I found it yesterday :)

9 - Current Favorite Quote? I have a bunch!

10 - If you could go back in time and change something what would be? Probably a lot of things, but one thing recently....I would do everything in my power to prevent myself from getting sick so I wouldn't have to miss a performance of Scrooge.

11 - If you must be an animal for one day, what would you be? a bird.

12 - Ever had a near death experience? nope.

13 - Something you do a lot? Sing. Read.

14 - The song stuck in your head? Part one of the Messiah.....grrrrr.

15 - Least favorite household chore? Sweeping and emptying the dishwasher.

16 - Name someone with the same birthday as you. A bunch of people. I just don't think I know any of them.

17 - When was the last time you cried? A few days ago when I found out that a lady from our church passed away.

18. - Have you ever sung in front of a large audience? maybe....:)

19 - If you could have one super power what would it be? flying, invisibility

20 - What's the first thing you notice about the opposite gender? Smile, eyes, hair color.

21 - What do you usually order from Starbucks? a french vanilla cappuccino.

22 - What's your biggest secret? I'm in the FBI.

.23- What's your favorite color? red....dark red.

24 - Do you still watch kiddie shows or tv shows? Neither very often. Depends...I like to watch Star Trek on youtube. When I'm at my friends' house we watch Deadliest Catch, Cash Cab and Say Yes to the Dress.

25 - What's on your walls? an old broken violin, some Elvis records, my duckstamp ribbon, a drawing of Spock that a friend of mine did. I have several framed things that I'll hang up if I EVER get my room painted.

26 - What are you? 1/8th Swiss

27 - Do you speak any other language? I can sing several French songs. But I can't understand them.

28 - What's your favorite smell? Mountains.

29 - Describe your life in one word! Eccentric?

30 - Have you ever kissed in the rain? nope.

31 - What are you thinking about right now? what I'm going to make for dinner....hmm..

32 - What should you be doing? folding clothes.

33 - Who was the last person that made you upset/angry? I don't know. I don't remember the last time I was really angry/upset.

34 - How often do you talk to God? whenever I need Him, whenever I want Him, whenever I thank Him. That amounts to a lot.

35 - Do you like working in the yard? Depends.

36 - If you could have any last name in the world, what would you want? MacNeill :) lol

37 - What is your natural hair color? Brown. Plain brown. Like Laura Ingalls Wilder.

38 - Do you have many friends? I do. I have a bunch of people I consider my best friends. You're probably one of them.

39 - Who is your role-model? my parents and grandparents.

40 - Do you like your life? I like life, here and now, life and I made a mutual vow. Till I die, life and I, we'll both try to be better some how! Where there's music and laughter, happiness is rife! Why? Because I like life!!!

I now tag:

My mother

because I can never remember....

A new favorite site of mine...because I can never remember. lol.

http://www.todaysdate.com/

Confessions of the Day

I haven't done this in a while, so to make up for it I'll give you TWO confessions.

The first confession is:
Sometimes, when I'm shopping somewhere and see a large sign reading "Clearance" I want to start yelling in my best George Bailey/Jimmy Stewart voice, "Clarence! Clarence! Help me, Clarence!"

Fact: I have actually done that in a store before.

Second confession:
Whenever I hear the word "generally" I think someone is saying my name. Every single time. And I'll turn to look at them, but it always turns out that they aren't saying my name. And then I feel foolish for falling for it again.

So if you want to annoy me to no end, stand behind me and say the word "generally" periodically. It'll drive me crazy.

I don't recommend it:)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

My Thanksgiving Weekend

Pieces of pumpkin pie: 2
Servings of mashed potatoes: 3
Movies watched: 5
Number of times I cried during movies: 5
Number of walks taken: 1
Naps: 0
Football games watched: 0
Hugs given: 1,935,200
Newborn babies held: 1...more on this later :)
Sleepovers with friends: 1
Sleepovers with cousins: 1
Number of times I heard our relatives bash the Cardinals: quite a few
Number of times we bashed the Cubs: quite a few:)
Projects knitted: 1
Black Friday purchases: 4
Look at this little man! Issac James was born around 4:30 on Thanksgiving Day. He is so precious. Congratulations to Mommy Emily, Grandma and Grandpa Baxter, and Aunts Amanda, Jessica and Courtney.


Speaking of Aunt Courtney, she's a senior this year! She had her senior pictures made when we went to Harding homecoming, and Megan and I snuck into a few of them:)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My New Favorite Book

For quite a while, my favorite book has been A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. Yesterday, that changed when I finished The Great Gatsby.

Goodness. The Great Gatsby is a well-written book that I thoughly enjoyed, although because of some innapropriate language and content, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless...well, let's say your parents should read it before you do. Unless you're an adult. Just make good choices, okay? Okay.

So A Wrinkle in Time has been knocked down to second place. For the time being...

I have too many books on my "To Read Eventually" list.

Scrooge

We just finished Scrooge! And, in case you didn't get to come see it, here are some pictures:)

My sister, Becca, and Eve Dilly....aren't they beautiful?

Joel Nisbett as Bob Cratchit....I just love the colors in this picture.

The dance scene...I'm the third one in the line.
That's my leg in the white dress, behind the gold skirt:)

Me (Miss Dilber) with Benjamin (Tom Jenkins) and Mrs. Tupper (Mrs. Dilber)


Scrooge surprises the town by forgiving their debt. Scrooge was played by our much loved Papa Stanley, Mr. Kevin Edwards. He did a marvelous job!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Why I Haven't Posted in Soooooo Long

A short (silly) story inspired by John Nisbett.

I was sitting out by our pool a few weeks ago (despite the fact that it was closed) while drinking some pink lemonade and pondering the purpose of fingerless gloves when a large black limousine drove up. A strange figure stepped out. He was dressed in black, and was wearing a black cape lined with red satin. He had black hair, and he had a widow's peak. It was definitely a vampire.

So the vampire walked up to me and said, "Hello, my name is Dracula. I was wondering if you had a computer I could borrow."
I replied, "I have a computer but you may not borrow it. Go away."
He got kind of mad and laughed, "Mwa-ha-ha."
I asked him to stop. I don't like scary laughing vampires.

Now, this is the point in the story when I should have gone inside to get some garlic...or is that for werewolves? I don't know. Rachael Ray was talking about it on Food Network a couple halloweens ago.

So, Mr. Dracula decided that the best way to get my computer was to trick me. So he said,
"If you close your eyes and count to 372, I'll give you the complete second season of Star Trek: The Original Series on DVD." This could have been my first mistake, but what Mr. Dracula didn't is that I can count to 372 in record setting time. Like, really really fast. So by the time I got to 372, Dracula was only just getting into his limo, STEALING my computer. I ran after him and called him a crazy hooligan.

I had to get my laptop back, so I devised a plan to trap Dracula. I spent three weeks making a huge sign that said,

"WELCOME TO THE COFFEE BARN, the newest coffee shop in town, FREE WI-FI, excellent coffee too!"

and I hung it in front of my house. Then I recruited some friends to sit in my living room and pretend like they were patrons of my fictional coffee shop. Why did I do this, you ask? Because I just happened to know that vampires cannot resist coffee shops and free wi-fi...and hopefully, Mr. Dracula would bring MY laptop with him.

The next day, I saw a black limousine pull up in our driveway. I called the police and asked them to send a car over. Dracula entered our little cafe and seated himself near a window. He then pulled out MY laptop and started taking advantage of our internet while he waited for my clueless sisters...I mean, my experienced waitresses. They were in the kitchen on my mother's laptop, googling directions for how to make a frozen caramel latte.

In about 7.8 minutes, a police car drove slowly up the driveway. I went out to explain what the situation was, and invited them in.....for "coffee."

Sneaking over to Dracula's table, I whispered in his ear, "Sir, there are some fans of yours over by the piano. They would like a picture with you if it's convienient."
He smiled and got up. As you can guess, the "fans" were the policemen. They took him in on charges of laptop stealing, disturbing the peace and loitering at Wal Mart.
"Thanks for calling us, miss," one policeman told me, "We've been after this one for a couple weeks."
I smiled. I got my laptop, and they got their man.

So, yeah, that's why I haven't posted in so long. Thanks to John Nisbett for the inspiration :)

P.S.....COME SEE SCROOGE! We open tonight!!!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Bike Wreck

We went camping this past weekend.
We froze.
We rode bikes.
We ate sandwiches made with store bought bread.

Fact: I have not had a bike "wreck" in a very, very long time. I have had my chain slip off, but you don't fly off your bike if your chain slips off.

Or maybe you do. I don't know. But I personally have never been thrown from my bicycle because of chain problems.

I'm not really sure how it happened. I was just riding along and all of a sudden I was falling off my bike. I fell....hard.....on my left side, scraping up my leg and elbow. I have a pretty bad bruise on my left hip, which is kind of weird, knowing that I broke the fall with my right side, and a couple other random bruises. I'm going to have some nasty scars. Clarissa took a picture just minutes after it happened, and I expect it will show up on her blog before too long :)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

awwwww:)

My daddy got me an orange and white kitten! Dad saw on my earlier posts I mentioned that I wanted a kitten, and so he looked on Rollanet and found a free 12 w/o.

The kitten is adorable. He is, like I said, 12 weeks old. His face, forehead, back and tail are orange and the rest of him is white. I've named him Jefferson. At the moment, Jefferson is exploring my room. He watched me clean out my desk drawers for twenty minutes at least, just sitting there staring at me. I'll take a picture of him and post it tomorrow:)

Thanks Daddy! I love you!

Confessions of a Student Driver

I drove in town today for the first time.

Yes.

With stop signs and cars and intersections and everything.

It was awesome.

Except I didn't like the speed limit being 25 mph. Honestly?

Honestly.

My *NEW driving philosophy is,

"A little whiplash does a body good."

This is probably a incorrect statement.

But it's my motto. And I'm sticking to it.

Especially when I'm not slowing down fast enough to please my mother and she starts yelling "Stop stop STOP". Or when I turn and she says, "That was good, except for the little bit of whiplash you gave us all." then she chuckles "Haa haa ha."
Then I respond with,

"A little whiplash does a body good."

*I say "new" but what I mean new as in "just came to be" not "having replaced the old one"

:)
I <3 driving.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Pirates of Penzance Wedding

On the way home from church, my sisters and I had a brilliant idea.

A Pirates of Penzance themed wedding.

I know.

It's pure genius.

So we then planned my wedding.

All females in the wedding party will be dressed as the Stanley sisters.

The groomsman will be dressed as pirates.

The ushers will be dressed as policemen.

The bride (me) and groom will be dressed as Mabel and Frederic.

I want the song "Dirait-on" played as a processional. "Dirait-on" is a choir piece that I sang at Harding Honor Choir two years ago. It's an absolutely beautiful song.....when done correctly. Don't bother to look it up on youtube. I've spent hours looking for good recordings, but in every single video I watched, there were one or more of the following problems.
1. Incorrect French pronunciation....this really bugs me.
2. They sang it super, super slow....it's supposed to be slow, but not THAT slow.
3. The choir was really bad....like, they just didn't sound good.
4. The recording was really low quality and you couldn't even hear that well.

It was a disappointment. If you are set on hearing this song (which I recommend, if you like French songs sung by choirs, like I do), maybe you'd have some luck on iTunes.

So anyway. I kind of want the song "Don't Stop Believing" played at my reception, but I'm not sure how people would react to a secular song:) At least Dirait-on is in French and sounds like a wedding song.

So there's my Pirates wedding.

I'm not getting married any time soon....I promise.
And this is just for fun. I don't actually expect my wedding to be like this, although I DO want "Dirait-on"....and "Don't Stop Believing":)

Friday, September 25, 2009

I want a kitten.
Or some baby bunnies.
Or a little beagle puppy.
Or some little ducklings.

I really don't care. I just want a baby something that I can cuddle with.

Probably a kitten. I'd really like a kitten. A little orange one.

My cats ran away/died when we moved to out new house.

Maybe I'll get a kitten for Christmas:)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Pioneer Woman photography

I've been reading the Pioneer Woman's blog/website/whatever you want to call it for a little while now, and I love when she posts about photography. The Photography section of her site is actually a collaboration of a couple very gifted photographers. It makes me want a camera so I can take awesome photos, too!:)

I love this one of her daughter. I wish that I was as photogenic as her children. Either that, or I wish my mother knew how to use photoshop.

This one was taken by one of the other contributors. It's my favorite.

This one is very photoshopped. I still love it.
I love these two. A lot.

It makes me think, "I could do that, too, if I had an expensive camera, all the right equipment, hardcore photoshop knowledge, a couple of horse models, a couple photogenic children, and extra time."
I doubt any of that will happen in the near future.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Unexpected Song

I have never felt like this
For once I'm lost for words
Your smile has really thrown me
This is not like me at all
I never thought I'd know
The kind of love you've shown me
Now, no matter where I am
No matter what I do
I see your face appearing
Like an unexpected song
An unexpected song
That only we are hearing
I don't know what's going on
Can't work it out at all
Whatever made you choose me?
I just can't believe my eyes
You look at me as though
You couldn't bear to loose me
Now, no matter where I am
No matter what I do
I see your face appearing
Like an unexpected song
An unexpected song
That only we are hearing
I have never felt like this
For once I'm lost for words
Your smile has really thrown me
This is not like me at all
I never thought I'd know
The kind of love you've shown me
Now, no matter where I am
No matter what I do
I see your face appearing
Like an unexpected song
An unexpected song
That only we are hearing
Like an unexpected song
An unexpected song
That only we are hearing


I'm singing this song for Scrooge auditions tomorrow...the first verse, anyway. I hope it'll sound good:)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

New blog!!

I have started a new blog! www.escapeartistjenna.blogspot.com

I'm going to use it to blog about knitting, sewing, drawing and such.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Wisdom Teeth Chronicles: Pizza and Steak

I'm not numb anymore! This is a comfort, because when Dr. Esquibel said yesterday morning, "You're going to be numb for 10-14 hours," I didn't actually realize that he actually meant that until I had been numb about 9 hours and was sick of dribbling whatever I was trying to eat/drink down my chin because I couldn't feel it. Example: the ice pack that wraps around my head has ice cream stains on the place that goes under my chin. How embarrassing:) lol

I have to wear the ice pack this morning, but I can take it off this afternoon and only need to wear it if I start to swell, which might actually be pretty comical. I haven't really had much swelling...

I just realized how boring this is. Who cares if I'm swelling, except that it looks funny.

I promise, if I start to swell and I look really ridiculous, I'll take a picture and (if it isn't tooooooo embarrassing) I'll post it.

I can eat whatever I want to today! Dr. told me yesterday that if I felt like I could eat pizza and steak, I could eat pizza and steak. I really wish he wouldn't have put it that way, because yesterday, as I ate my yogurt and drank the apple juice that was my lunch, I was absolutely yearning for pizza. I don't think I'll be eating pizza today, unless we pick up some pizza baby food.

You all must dislike me immensely. I ramble on about ice packs and pizza and I wasn't considerate enough to post any pictures:)

Friday, September 4, 2009

The Wisdom Teeth Chronicles: Numb and Goofy



I feel as if I lived on the sea all my life and now I'm trying to get land legs. My jaw, tongue, lips, roof of my mouth, and chin are all completely numb. If there is one thing Dr. Esquibel wanted me to understand, it was.......ICE. IT'S YOUR BEST FRIEND! He told me that a million times, because ice stops the swelling which in turn stops the pain and speeds up recovery!!! Thanks all for you prayers!!

The worst part was the anticipation.

I am completely terrified of NEEDLES.

I did awesome when they put in the IV. I squeezed Mom's hand and kept saying to myself "I am with you always, even unto the end of the age," which of course is what Jesus told his disciples when he was leaving them. After the needle was in me, Dr. gave me some painkillers. Then, after prepping me for it, he put the stuff that knocks you out in the IV. Almost immediately I started giggling quietly. I remember saying, "Oh my goodness, this is weird, oh my goodness..." Then the next thing I remember is waking up and the really nice nurse lady telling me she was going to take the oxygen things out of my nose. Then she helped me to the car.

I took the picture of me at the top of the post a couple of minutes ago. Imagine my mouth open in a big cheesy smile:) I feel like I could give you a big cheesy smile, but I can't open my mouth very wide.
I just now tried to take an open mouth smiling picture, but it was really creepy. And gross. And you would probably laugh at me because I look ridiculous:)

The Wisdom Teeth Chronicals: Under the Knife

Sooo...I'm going to the oral surgeon in less than an hour. I can hardly contain my excitment and joy.

Bleh.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

I forgot to post about Katie yesterday!

Not a very flattering picture of either of us. Ignore that.
This is Katie and me in Texas! Katie one of my best friends and my officially unofficial "guardian" when my mother/father are not present. She is starting her 2nd year of college.


Harding University, where Katie goes, my mom went, and I intend to go to college, is located in Searcy, Arkansas, but they have study abroad oppurtunities and this semester Katie is going to Zambia! She's going to be there for three whole months and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do without her. Yesterday was significant because yesterday...she left. Flew to Africa. It's crazy:)


I say "crazy" because there are black mambas in Africa.

The Wisdom Teeth Chronicles

I am having my four wisdom teeth removed Friday morning. This includes:

1. An IV...
2. ...and other needles
3. Eating ice cream.
4. Being in pain.

I am not particularly looking forward to this adventure, but at this point (it's two days away) I just want to get it over with. My recovery schedule is as follows:

1. return home, sleep
2. sleep
3. wake up, take ibuprofen
4. eat ice cream/yogurt
5. check facebook, texts, email, update blog, etc.
6. repeat steps 2-5 until I'm feeling well enough to take a shower and begin normal life again (I'm aiming for Tuesday morning)

Sounds like oodles of fun, eh?

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Pride and Prejudice love triangles, Clarissa Edition

Clarissa got a little carried away drawing love triangles. I decided to ask her to explain them to me. Try to keep it all straight as she skips around to different people. Can you imagine how confusing the book would be if all this was true?:)

"Mary likes Collins, but Charlotte is married to Collins, so Charlotte and Mary are fighting over Collins. Mary also like Colonel Forster, and Mrs. Forster and Mary are fighting over him. Charlotte and Elizabeth both 'admire' Colonel Forster, so they are fighting over him. Actually, Collins can't decide between Charlotte and Elizabeth. He loves them both. Okay, Elizabeth and Ms. King are fighting over Colonel Forster. He's just the man to be fighting over; it's because he looks so good in his red coat. Alright, now, Darcy and Wickham both love Elizabeth. Ms. King and Georgiana both love Wickham. Wickham can't decide between Lydia and Georgiana. Um, Ms. de Bourge and Elizabeth are fighting over Mr. Darcy. Ms. de Bourge also loves Fitzwilliam. Miss Bingley loves Darcy and Bingley. Georgiana and Jane are fighting over Bingley. Lydia and Georgiana are fighting over Bingley. Now let's go back to Miss Bingley for a second so we can get the random guy at the dance in. Okay, Miss Bingley is in love with Captain Carter and the random guy at the dance. The Random Guy at the dance and Bingley are, like, secretly in loooove with Hill in their hearts because she's just so good at her job. Oh, Bingley and Jane are fighting over Hill because they both want her as their personal servant or something. Collins is secretly in love with Miss de Bourge as well as Elizabeth. Jane and Hill love Bingley's servant. Even though Jane is married to Bingley. She loves his servant too, also. (grammar? must be a homeschooler:) Okay, then, um, Bingley's servant and Hill love Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Bennet and Bingley's servant both love Mr. Bennet. We don't know if Bingley's servant is a man or a woman. Captain Carter and Denny both love Kitty. Denny and the Random Guy at the dance both love Hill. Ok, um.......Wickham and Denny also both love Kitty. All the redcoats love Kitty, Lydia just doesn't know it. (annoying laughter) Um, Denny - no, wait, Lydia can't decide between Wickham and Denny. Oh, Mrs. Bennet loves Denny and Wickham. Elizabeth loves the Random Guy and the dance and Bingley. I'll marry Mr. Darcy!!"


There you have it:)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Round One: various summer pictures:)

Fun at the Follies! We sang Simple Boy and Modern Major General,
both of which brought back a lot of fond memories
We went to a Cardinal game. It was oodles of fun, but I think we lost.
I don't remember for sure. Isn't that awful?
I just love this picture. I don't remember who that is.....oops.

I hope to post more pictures soon!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Week 1: completed!

We are starting our second week of school today, but I thought I'd give you a little summary of our first week. I'll just list my favorite subjects.

Bible - I'm reading these thick books discussing the old law and every possible subject that relates in any to the old law. Somewhat tedious, quite interesting. I read outside on the porch railing so I can block out the sibling noise.

Chem - Difficult, but I really enjoy it. I'm studying atomic structures; it's fascinating!

Gov't - A lot of numbers (years, dollars, percentages...etc.) which makes it hard to read, which in turn makes it hard to comprehend.

Literature - LOVING it; In the middle of The Scarlet Letter.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Art of Clothes - http://theartofclothes.blogspot.com
Pemberley Couture - http://pemberleycouture.blogspot.com

This girl has done some pretty cool stuff with a sewing machine. If you are remotly interested in sewing/costumes, check it out.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Bit by Bit

I'm going to have to catch you up on my summer later when I have time to sit and post pictures. For now, I'm going to catch you up on the present.

Today we started school. I'm a junior this year and can't wait to go to college ... "it seems so long!" I'm doing some pretty interesting things, along with some not so interesting things, and I'm reading a bunch of good books this year, a bunch of classics that I haven't read before. I'm going to be in homeschool band, which greatly excites me! A few years ago I was thinking seriously about being in band at the high school, but I wouldn't be able to compete because I wasn't a full time student. I've dropped ballet and jazz, but I'm still doing tap because I love it so much:) Rebecca has moved into my class, so our Tuesdays are a little less vexing. I'm still taking flute and piano, and let me rant a little....I'm to the point in my piano playing that I love it so much I wish I could play much, much harder music....the only problem is, I can make my fingers do it sometimes, but my brain is too slow, and so my fingers move too slow and I get frustrated with myself. I'm going to stick it through, however, regretting every minute that I quit lessons when I was young. Auditions for Scrooge are next month, and I can't decide what to sing.

Watch for summer pictures and stories in the near future....or distant future, whenever I get around to it....

Oh, something I forgot!

My youth group and I recently (last weekend) went to a youth rally in Neosho, MO. We had a jolly old time singing, praising God, listening to great speakers and playing many games of Nertz, ERS and Spoons. We had been on the road back to Rolla for about an hour when suddenly it sounded like we hit something. The whole bus shook (even more than usual) and Mr. Bramlett pulled slowly over to the shoulder. A tire popped, and we were a little ways from a exit. We drove slowly on the side of the road until we took the exit and found a truck stop. Mr. Bramlett started the tire removal process and we all walked across the street to a McDonalds. We sat there for about 45 minutes until the tire was fixed, and we continued our journey home. Fifteen minutes down the road, the bus breaks down. Being a girl and not being interested in vehicle mechanics very much, I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but it happens a lot to the poor bus and Mr. Bramlett quickly fixed it.

By this time, Mr. Bramlett is a huge hero to us.

But wait!! Fifteen minutes down the road, the bus breaks down again and Mr. Bramlett can't get it to start. About the same time we stopped, an accident happened about a third of a mile down the road. Traffic immediately started to pile up, so even if by some miracle the old church bus did start up again, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere because of the long line of traffic building up a few feet away from our stopped bus. It starts to rain. So we sit, we play Catchphrase, we watch the ambulances weave their way past us and to the accident site, we play mafia, Mr. Bramlett calls a tow, we sweat in the now really humid bus, we got outside in the drizzly rain to cool off and watch the sluggish line of traffic drive by a few feet in front of us. Nearly an hour later, the traffic is moving by at a normal speed and the tow guy comes. He tows us inside the bus for about a mile to the nearest gas station. We sat inside an (air conditioned!) Christian coffee house that was neighbors with the gas station, and we waited until my grandpa and Mrs. McKinney arrived in their minivans to tote us back to Rolla. Thirty minutes later, I'm sitting in my grandpa's minivan listening to the rain-delayed Cardinals game, playing many, many rounds of Mafia, and sighing in relief as we finally reached Rolla. We left Neosho at 11:30, and it's a 2 hour trip. We arrived at the church building at 5:30.......I was sooooo glad to be home:)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Smidgen of an Update

I just got back from being in Colorado for a week, and tomorrow afternoon I leave to go to church camp for a week. As you probably can assume, I'm really busy packing and unpacking and all that jazz, so to tide you over until I get back from camp next week and post a million bajillion pictures, I'll give you a summary of my last week.

Deer Valley Guest Ranch is a guest ranch. It's in the Rockies, right behind (or in front of) Mount Princeton. On this trip, I fell (very unfortunatly) completely in love with Colorado. Crazy, right? I'm completely a Missouri girl.....right?

I have decided that I am going to live in Colorado in the future. I don't care how much real estate is there. I will just have to start saving my newly aquired income now.

So now for the fun part, at least for me...on the 14 hour car ride back, I compiled a list of "firsts" for me that happened at Deer Valley the past week. Without further ramblings....

1. I square danced for the first time. It was oodles of fun:)
2. I ate a bug for the first time. It was a little grasshopper-like thing, and I ate it at the Thursday morning Wranglers Breakfast. I ate it with a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese, so I didn't actually taste it. I was so proud of myself.
3. I was kicked by a horse for the first time. We were on a ride and the horse in front of me was spooked by something, backed up and kicked me. I had a pretty impressive bruise on my ankle for a few days.
4. A bunch of college guys (the wranglers) oohed and ahhed over a pencil sketch I did of the interior of the stable where they work every day. They had me make copies of it so they could hang one up. It made me feel special:) lol.
5. I went whitewater rafting for the first time. It was awesome!
6. I saw a "dip" sign other than the one on the Hike 2. We (the teens in the teen group and the teen leaders) drove over it in a 15 passenger van a couple times every day, depending on what activities the teens were doing that day. Without going into too much detail, I tell you that we did not pay attention to the "Slow" and "Caution" signs right before the "Dip" sign. We floored it. :)
7. I saw 3 baby bighorn sheep. They were the most adorable things EVER.
8. I had chipmunks, prairie dogs and squirrels eat sunflower seeds out of my hand at St. Elmo (a ghost town near Dear Valley).
9. I made up a ballet dance to a Schumann piece a girl was playing; at least, I think she said it was Schumann. She started playing and I started dancing and we both had a jolly time for about 10 minutes.
10. I had an escort of four guys from the Lodge to our cabin....and it was four wranglers. Let me explain.
The wranglers are the tough, awesome guys that take care of the horses, play cards with you and love the Lord. Most of them were about 20 years old, and they were all really awesome. They wanted to see the sketch that I mentioned earlier, and one said "Hey, we're headed that way anyway; let's walk you down to our cabin." All the other girls were jealous...just kidding:)
11. We went to the continental divide and went sledding! There was a ton of snow, and we had an amazing time. The hill we were sledding down was super long and super steep, but I finally convinced my grandpa to go down with me and we both wiped out. It was sooo much fun, especially since I love snow so much:)
12. I fell in love with the area around Buena Vista, Colorado. I mentioned it above, but......yeah. I want to live there someday.

Sorry, I know most of that was really lame and I rambled on for a while and most of it probably made little sense. And there were no pictures, so it automatically was boring:) lol. I promise I will add a billion bajillion million quadrillion when I get back from camp.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sorry if you've already seen this on Clarissa's blog. This was from the Stanley Sister Sleepover. I love it:)

The only picture I took on The Hike 2

And, technically, I didn't take it. Benjamin did.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I'm going a knit a bag/purse thing for me to use during my upcoming summer adventures. It's going to be awesome.

Monday, June 1, 2009

My New Love!

I've discovered a new passion of mine. It's wonderful. It combines cooking and my inner pyromaniac...or outer pyromaniac. Let's just say it combines cooking and my insane fire-loving side.

Ah...grilling. The sizzling. The smoke. The tasty/yummy/fantastically delicious results. It's like the Fourth of July....fireworks and food...only grilling combines them into one phenomenal experience.

All that said...I love grilling:)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Excitment

Background: When OAT announced auditions for the summer season this year, they didn't want anyone under 16. I was bummed, not because I wanted to be in a specific show (because all the shows have questionable/really questionable/semi-"bad"/what I would consider "bad" content), but because I would miss the people.

So...fast forward to now... the Christmas show this year is "Scrooge". It's basically A Christmas Carol, and it's a musical (yay! Singing! Dancing!). My mother put Scrooge at the top of our Netflix list, and low and behold, Scrooge showed up in our mailbox!

Gotta love those Netflix guys.

I am very excited about this show. It's fun and high energy and there's a bunch of townspeople, which means a lot of friends to work with! Yay for people! I love people:)

Anyway, I'm happy that even if I was disappointed with the summer shows, I'm looking forward to Scrooge...Bah humbug.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Some various pictures that aren't related in any way

I knitted a piece of bread with some butter! It's an inside joke/birthday present for a friend of mine. I highly recommend knitting food... it's quite fun to tell your family, "I've finished knitting the crust!"
Another birthday present for my friend. She likes The Wizard of Oz:)

And, finally, and completely unrelated to the above pictures, swimming has funny effects on my hair. I normally swim with my hair in a ponytail, and if I let my hair dry while still up in the ponytail, all the little short pieces of hair around my face dry in little corkscrew curls. Pictured above is one that I had yesterday...I thought it was lovely. It would be fun if all my hair did that;)


Monday, May 25, 2009

Last Thursday night, my friend Courtney and I went to the movies.

We saw Star Trek.

I had never seen anything remotly related to Star Trek before.

I believe Courtney is regretting it now. She's created a monster.

A short, brunette, Vulcan-nerve-pinching, Trekkie monster.

Courtney is going to lend me Star Trek.
Courtney's mother is a Trekkie, and has some episodes on dvd.

I can't wait.

Live long and Prosper,
Jenna

ps...I've decided that I'm going to marry Spock.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Some recent goings-on concerning the pool

We found a mole in the pool drain! What amazing feet!

Filling the pool...

Meredith enjoys the freezing water.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Great.

I listened to the audio recording of "The Pirates of Penzance." I am SO annoyed with myself for crying like a baby on closing night, because the audio is of the closing night performance, and I sound completely TERRIBLE on the "ah-ah-ah" duet during the finale....It's bad. Really, really bad. Why are girls so emotional? ;)

Forgive me for ruining everyone's audio recording?

Well, then...

I got a new book of flute trios in lessons yesterday. The front of the book reads,
Six Trios for Three Flutes
(Or three clarinets, three saxophones,
or other similar like-instruments)
My first thought was something like, "Ha ha, 'similar like-instruments'. Why not say 'woodwinds'. And then I saw that it specifies that the trios are for three instruments. Wow, a trio for three!!;)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

There will be tears...

At the end of my uncoming dance recital (yay :S) all of the dance students (minus Benjamin) are participating in the finale. This year it's a father-daughter thing (that's why Benjamin's excluded) and we're dancing to the song "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. I don't recommend listening to it unless you have a box of tissues handy.

Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUk5SZ18WhY&feature=related

Oh my goodness....I'm sure I'm going to cry on stage...and then Dad'll cry...arrg. Thanks a lot Miss Stephanie.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Oh, mother....

I would warn you not to visit my mom's blog, for fear of the picture she just posted.

But if I did, you would just go and look anyway.

So I can't prevent you.

I am sighing a sigh of exasperation.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

-something to ponder in your free time-

This confused me...It says "100% Grated Parmesan Cheese". Does it mean the cheese is 100% Grated, or 100% Parmesan Cheese?
Hmmmm....
Does it matter?;)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Dance Pictures

Hooray ;)
My tap class...the song we're dancing to is "Free to be me" which you might have heard because they play it on Spirit FM all the time.

Awwwww...my sister:)


Me and Becca...Notice I'm NOT wearing the sparkly blue dress!! Haha!! I shall NEVER post a picture of me in that sparkly blue thing!!!
I do have a picture of me in it. I just decided not to post it...hee hee:)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

a girl, a popsicle and a dog...and a cat

Sunbathing

Sally, being the chaperone. Meredith doesn't have her license quite yet.


Stormy got in on the fun, too.

Our New Sweethearts

Bingley

Leia

Leia again. She's such a sweetheart.

Springtime and Such

God blessed us with multitudes of brilliant colors this spring!
Clematis, I believe...I love this stuff.

Dumb leaf ruined the picture, but I still like it....

knock-out roses...they'll keep blooming until they freeze
Roses again...Butterfly! And a bee, there at the bottom.

My Spy Pictures

It was raining, so to capture the excitment of the pool process, I was a super spy and took creeper pictures from inside...

There's one of the pool men!
They did something and it bubbled! How exciting! I bet the Loch Ness monster's in there...except then it wouldn't be the Loch Ness monster...it would be the Light's Pool monster, which isn't as intimidating.

Everyone (besides my super-spy-self) had to go outside and watch...because so much was happening.


I looked slightly better this morning, and it looked a LOT better this afternoon when the sun was shining and the water was pretty and sparkly! Anyway, there's the EXCITING pool news.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Pool Men cometh!

The pool guys came and opened the pool this morning. Actually, they're in the process of opening the pool...They took the cover off and poured a bunch of chemicals and acids and all that jazz into the nasty green water, and then they opened some sort of drain, and then they turned on the hose and stuck that in the water...That run-on sentence sounds like I'm describing a surgery or something.
It's like they poured magic fairy dust into the water; the pool is clearing up! I think the draining of the something-or-other and the unclogging of the drain-or-something-like-that probably helps a little bit. I like to believe it's the magic fairy dust.
The removing of the cover was very exciting because we had no idea what the actual pool looked like. It has blue decorative tile around the edge, but it's only 6 feet deep. So NO DIVING (sad face), unless you're short (like me!!!) and you're careful... Good thing everyone in our family (minus a few cousins and uncles) are practically hobbits (minus the hairy feet).
Pictures of the EPIC POOL CLEANING PROCESS to follow...

Friday, May 1, 2009

When I walked out into our garage earlier, I was swarmed by multitudes of wet, stinky, snuggly, lovable dogs.

I love being swarmed by multitudes of wet, stinky, snuggly, lovable dogs:)

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Happiness is....organized sheet music!

Every time I clean my room, I find various pieces of music scattered with no hint of order throughout my stuff. So I'll stick it in a folder, label it "sheet music" and toss it back where I found it. Soon, as you can probably guess, I no longer found pieces of scattered sheet music but scattered folders of sheet music. Alas..
*cue dramatic background music*
I now have compiled all of the little folders of music, I also...ready for this?....organized them all by what type of music they are.
I know. My jaw dropped, too.
First, we have the green folder that contains Christmas music. Before this process, I did not realize that our family owned about 7 identical copies of "Carol of the Bells"...so if anyone wants to sing it sometime...
Next, the purple folder, full of choir music, various beginning piano pieces from a million years ago, and a couple solo vocal things.

Next, we have - my favorite - the black folder. In here is music from past shows, useful for cast parties and possibly audition pieces. It also contains the libretto for Pirates.
It's the biggest one.
Finally, the white folder, which I use for music that I'm currently working on. It's pretty empty now, because I took out all my Pirates music and the libretto and moved them to the black folder...kind of sad:(

Ah, organization. It's a beautiful thing.