The Dentist

Story time!

I had a dentist appointment the other day. Just your regular checkup- nothing snazy like the root canal my dad just had done (!). Anyway, this was the second time I was able to drive myself there alone.

One odd fact about me is that I don't always enjoy driving. Especially at night, or on a highway, or in the rain, or when I am late for something. I'm not a huge fan of the dentist, either, but sometimes neither can be helped...

The day I went to the dentist wasn't horrible. I knew where I was going this time, and although it was a bit humid, and the skies were still cloudy it hadn't rained in a couple hours.

The dentist office is on a two laned road, there is also a middle lane that is a turning lane. I get into this turning lane, waiting for a chance to turn left, and lo and behold guess what happens.

It starts raining.

I quickly turn into the parking lot and find a space next to another office building. All the office buildings in that section have window walls, so you can see in, and everone else can see out. I put the car into park, and as if on cue it starts pouring. Great.

Right about then I was glad I had grabbed my hoodie before I left. I put the hood up and got ready to run outside. Then I had an idea. If I could open the car door just a little bit, and lock the car while I was still inside, then I could just get out, shut the door, and quickly run into the dentist office- and hopefully stay drier than I would have otherwise.

Ha! Isn't foreshadowing a great thing?

I have one of those remotes that can lock, and unlock, a car from a distance away. There is also a button that pops the trunk open, and another one - that is red- that sets off the horn. ( do you see where this is going???)

I locked the car from the inside as planned, and got out of the car. As I was thinking of how smart I was I must have accidentally pushed the 'alarm' button. At first I didn't know what was happening, so I was just pushing all the buttons on the remote hoping one would work. Soon. Finally I realized it was the alarm button, and as soon as I pushed it again, the alarm stopped. And I was VERY wet.

As I looked up just before running into the dentist I saw a man at his computer. Laughing. At me.

(Oh, and my teeth were perfectly fine- no cavities. (Thank goodness!!!))

Art Tuesday

The Swing by Renoir

Music Monday

Bible Blurb

Psalm 119:50

⁵⁰ My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.

Vocab Friday

So, I want to change how I do these vocab exercises...

From now on, there are no promises as to how I will do vocab exercises.

Today will be something different from what I have done in the past.

I will write a wild sentence using a vocab word, and I'll do that for ten of the words. Then, I'll give you the other ten words, and bid you good luck!

1) The child was acquisitive, so it was no surprise that he had a photographic memory.

2) The princess was horrified when she saw the banal clothing she was to wear while undercover.

3) The girl was fed up with the carping ways of her sister.

4) The baby duck was aghast when she saw that the water had congealed, and she could no longer swim in it.

5) When a child's pet dies, the backyard funeral usually holds encomium speeches.

6) That statement was as germane as the price of tea in China.

7) For a team to win, each member must give up their intransigent attitude.

8) When the old woman passed away, she was most remembered for her largesse.

9) The judge reminded them that in order to make such statements and accusations, they must substantiate it.

10) In Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, the character Beth is very taciturn.

Now you try!
Arrogate- v. to claim or take without right
Belabor- v. to work on excessively; to thrash soundly
Coherent- adj. holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful
Emulate-v. to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model
Eschew- v. to avoid, shun, keep away from
Insatiable- adj. so great or demanding as not to be satisfied
Invidious- adj. offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment.
Reconnaissance- n. a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination
Temporize- v. to stall or act evasively i order to gain time, avoid confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise
Tenable- adj. capable of being held or defended

Water Keep by J. Scott Savage

I'm finally getting around to writing about this book. I read it a good month ago, but got so busy I never mentioned it....

'Water Keep' is the first of the 'Far World' series. The book is 413 pages long, and took me a very long time to read. But I enjoyed every page of it. There is a lot of suspense and action, but not to much. If that makes sense.

Marcus is an orphan confined to a wheel chair, and no one seems to be able to tell him how the accident happened. He dreams a lot, day and night dreams, and he has invented this place called Farworld where animals talk, and everyone can do magic.

What he doesn't know, at first, is that this place is real. A girl named Kyja lives in this world, and is different from everyone else in Farworld; she cannot do magic. By magic, they meet.

In Farworld, Marcus also meets Master Therapass; a magician who has a 13 year old secret. The Dark Circle learns of his secret, and for some reason are after Marcus and Kyja. Their only hope is to find the Elements and get them to work together to open a drift between the worlds. Quoting the book Jacket:

"Along the way, Marcus and Kyja will discover the truth about their own heritage, the strenght of their friendship, and the depths of their unique powers"

They find that this is harder than it sounds, for the Elements- water, land, air, and fire- think differently than the people, and do not have a history of working together.

Art Tuesday

Landscape With Yellow Birds by Paul Klee

Music Monday

watch Stars by Switchfoot on youtube HERE.

Bible Blurb

Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Finals

Finals start Tuesday.

This is why I haven't been super consistent posting lately... I've had to dig up books that needed to be returned, finish mile long study guides, try to maintain my room in the meantime, and do my best to avoid procrastinating. Its been a busy couple of weeks!

I should begin to post more soon. Because of finals we have shortened days... meaning more time outside of school. Also, I'll end up doing everything in my power to avoid studying, and I'll find myself on the computer- either blogger or facebook. :)

Not like studying will do any good, though... we've been studying and reviewing in class for the past week and a half!

I know. It's happened before.

But at least I'll start posting again!

Vote!

If you read this blog, or at least visited during the Crocodaddy tour, I have a request specifically for you.

Please vote for me HERE if you liked what you saw on these three days of the Crocodaddy tour:
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE

Crocodaddy~ day 3

My sister, Maggie, had a wonderful idea for me to do today for the Crocodaddy tour. She suggested making a pie, or cookies, and setting them out on the counter with a video camera concealed nearby. She figured it was the perfect way to use bait the same way the little boy did in Kim Norman's picture book.

The whole idea was to catch our own Crocodaddy, and then share our success in taming him with all of you. It was a great idea! But, sadly, my Senior-itis is not only attacking at school, but I am beginning to procrastinate in other areas, too. So I never got the snack baked, not to mention the hunt recorded...

Some excuse, huh? :)

So, instead of taking you on a Crocodaddy hunt, how about I help you with hunting through all the blogs on this tour?

A Christian Worldview of Fiction ~ talks about how reading aloud is good for children
A Mom Speaks ~ a review, and crocodile crafts
All About Childrens Books~ links to a video, a chance to win a book, a review, and an interview
Becky's Book Reviews~ a book giveaway, an interview, and a review
Booking Mama~ a review and a recomendation
Cafe of Dreams~ talks about games, a review, and information on the author
Dolce Bellezza~ on past games
Elizabeth O. Dulemba~ an interview
Through the Looking Glass~ a review, an interview, talks about Fathers Day, and a book giveaway
Maw Books~ an interview, and a review
Never Jam Today~ about games, reviews from little siblings, and a review
Olive Tree~ a review
Our Big EArth~ a give away
Reading Is My Superpower~ review, interview, and a give-away
SMS Book Reviews~ review, interview and a give-away
160 Acre Woods~ review and praise
Through a Child's Eyes~ review, and reviews of their other books

Have fun, and thank you for joining me for this Crocodaddy tour.

Crocodaddy~ day 2

Like I promised, today I am talking about the art in Kim Norman's picture book.

David Walker is the illustrator, and THIS link will take you directly to his site.

THIS one will take you to a page on his site with some of his illustrations- they are wonderful! Some are from Crocodaddy, and others are not.

Crocodaddy was beautifully illustrated by David Walker. He used lots of colors, and every aspect seemed depicted perfectly. For David, showing shadow, distance, action, and feelings seems so easy! His characters have a soft, welcoming look to them... Each picture fits perfectly with the stanza on the same page.

I also love how he incorporated so many animals into the story! Besides the main one, Crocodaddy, I saw a bird that enjoys mimicking the boy, a frog, some fish, a turtle who seems to enjoy watching the spectacle, and some dragonflies.

They not only added balance, color, and even life to the pages, they are great targets for 'I spy' with younger siblings and children. :D

--Oh, and I have to say that the last picture is my favorite...

Crocodaddy~ day 1

Hello and welcome to the Crocodaddy Tour.

Today I plan to talk about:
- the writing,
-tomorrow about the art,
-and Wednesday about the other blogs...

Enjoy!

Crocodaddy is a picture book about a little boy who is on a Crocodaddy hunt. Throughout the book the boy tries to find, capture, and tame the Crocodaddy who lurks in the lake.

the book is engaging, to say the least. I know I am a Senior, and this is a picture book, but I still thinking is was interesting and engaging. The text changes in style, size, color, shape, and font to add just the right emphasis at just the right time.

The author, Kim Norman, wrote Crocodaddy as a poem. We haven't studied a whole lot of poetry this semester in school, but from what I remember, Kim's picture book is written in iambic meter. And I think its more specifically iambic pentameter...

But the type of meter used does not matter much. It reads smoothly, with a beat to it... one I would almost consider a 'hunting beat', perfect for the story.

Bible Blurb

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The Weather Concures

The silly calendar had been trying to tell me for about a month and a half that it is Spring. Silly calendar. Doesn’t it know that Spring means flowers, and colors, and aromas, and rain, and warm weather? It mustn’t have realized what it was talking about.

The calendar kept rejoicing ‘Its spring! Its spring!’ all excited about what was to come. Calendars have had pictures of flowers hanging there, taunting me, since March. Silly calendar. If only it could have looked out the window and seen how foolish it was being.

We had snow on the ground in March. The trees hadn’t put on their leaves. The grass was dull, and rough. The gardens were empty, the dirt in them lonely. The sky was gray.

Sometimes April remembered what she was supposed to be like. Not so much fooling around as March, but still. Her air was usually chilly, just enough so that you had to wear a jacket no matter how much you didn’t want to.

Every so often she was nostalgic for Springs past. Her air was warm, her skies clear and blue. But April likes to play jokes, I’ve found. She enjoys giving days that cause unnecessary impatience for May and June, only to laugh when the days are once again chilly, and annoying, and more like January than June.

And the silly calendar thought that was spring.

But March and April have had their fun. They have embarrassed the poor calendar enough. Their times have come and gone. May has arrived.

May is sneaky. She is quiet and beautiful. She creeps up quietly and enjoys showing herself suddenly.

Seemingly overnight trees are covered in blankets of green. Others blossom in white and pink. Gardens are dancing with color as countless types of flowers live and grow. Grass is lush, and thick, and glorious. Her sky is a blue that is impossible to find anywhere else. Smells from numerous blossoms dance in the warm air.

The calendar has been telling me that its spring for about a month and a half. Silly calendar. But now, finally, the weather concurs.

Bible Blurb

<sup>1 Peter 3:10-12

10</sup>For,"Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.
¹¹He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.
¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."