Appreciating the LITTLE Things:: "Oh this? This is my Sansa!" :: a cute video

My younger sister Ab has this Sansa. It seems to be a theme with the younger girls...a few of my friends have younger sisters with Sansas. A Sansa is a cheap really cheap music player. It has like one GB of storage, so it's not good at all.

But you know what? She is in love with it.

There is an iPod touch and an iPod nano in the house. Yet she is perfectly content with her Sansa!

Again...I have so much to learn! As I'm writing this, I'm overwhelmed by how much I can take this and apply it to my life. It's all persepective, you know. You could look at having a Sansa as opposed to an iTouch like this: "Why does he get an iTouch? And I am stuck with this stupid thing?!"

OR. You could look at it this way: "For a long time, I didn't have any music player. A Sansa isn't the greatest, granted, buuut. It's something."

That goes for everything. Life is so much easier if I take a step back and re-adjust my perspective. Having a good attitude makes it easier on me and on those around me.

Soooo many times have I had to check myself and change my attitude. I never realized how whiny I can sound until I took the time to listen to the words as they came out of my mouth. I never realized how crushing a simple remark can make until I took the time to notice what impact my words had on others. I never realized how ungrateful I can sound until I took the time to step back and re-adjust my outlook on things.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrew 12:28

Ungratefulness is a BIG issue. Paul (or whoever wrote Hebrews - thats a controversial subject) was aware that people were struggling with it two thousand some years ago! And that sure hasn't changed since...You know, we're sponsering a child. And Eugene has nothing. It helps a lot to remember a personal name when trying to change my ungratefulness to thankfulness. "I'm complaining about what we have to eat - Eugene doesn't HAVE anything to eat!" That helps more than, "I hate what we have to eat. But people in Africa dont have anything to eat." It helps a lot if you sponser a child.

And once again, Ab is teaching me so much. She is begging Momma and Daddy to let us sponser another child! She said she is willing to give up her allowance in order to sponser another child. Wow. She once gave fifty dollars of her own money to buy Christmas gifts for Eugene.

I will leave you with this cute video.

And about my health issues: I'm going this morning to the doctor again to do ONE more blood-draw. To check my hemoglobin, just to be safe. Only one more blood-draw. Again, I LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you so much for all your SWEET comments! Okay. With that over, I leave you again with this adorable video. :-)

Oh, and ignore the "related vidoes" that pop up after the video is over...I have no idea who they are from and what about. Watch at your risk.

What Do They Remind You Of?

Behold...my very own evolutionary diagram. Featuring: Abby the Ape. I decided to make my own evolutionary diagram, since evolutionary diagrams showing the progression from an ape to man make so much sense!

Note: The picture quality is terrible because I accidently set the focus mode on Manual instead of Auto--so the pictures are pretty much out of focus. Plus VR wasn't on. :P

    

 The ape is waving at you.

                                                                            

*shakes head*

Have you ever...gone to your grandparents' house, pulled out a movie that you have heard a lot of good things about, put it into your laptop with your younger siblings, watched it go from good to mediocre to awkward to bad to just plain horrible before your very eyes, had to try and explain away the crude remarks and bad parts to your seven-year-old brother, and got so irritated at the whole thing that you felt like snapping the disc? Mmhm. Well I have. Just yesterday, in fact. It was as pleasant and relaxing as stepping in dog poop is (and yep, I've done that too).

Marley and Me can be summed up in one word: inappropriate (I would describe it as "SO HIGHLY, EXTREMELY, AND UTTERLY INAPPROPRIATE THAT I COULD SCREAM"...but that's ten words, not one). I hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it...need I go on? It is a highly inappropriate movie disguised under the rating PG! There. Be warned--just because some guy with his head in the clouds decided to rate it PG doesn't mean it deserves to be rated PG.

I would give you a heated list of reasons why it is highly inappropriate, but that would make this post highly inappropriate, and, if I can help it, I try not to make my posts inappropriate...

Besides the highly inappropriate things, it was lame. The jokes were so non-funny that they were laughable, there was a bad message of "who cares about morals, live life dirty, to heck with consequences" (and yes, I am so disgusted by the stupid message that I am not even giving it proper punctuation marks), and John's (the main character) friends were just plain stupid. Plus his boss scared me.

Supposedly it's really sad. I stopped it when there was about 50 minutes left (couldn't take it anymore), before it got supposedly sad.

I find it really hard to believe that it's sad. It's too lame to even provoke any stronger emotion than disgust. Who cares that the dog dies? It was twisted...and its owners' "ha ha ha let's write about our dog's misfortunes in the newspaper...and ha ha ha it's so funny that let's make up some really inappropriate statements about it...ha ha ha that'll make it funnier" attitude was twisted.

Ugh. Let's just say that that movie was inappropriate--whatever your age is.

Anyways--I got the music for Up for violin. Just that one part at the beginning, where it chronicles Elli and Mr. Fredreckson's (can never remember his first name!) marriage. It's so pretty--I love it. I can't stop humming it in my head when I'm not playing it. :)

Off to watch The Two Towers with my younger siblings--at least I know that movie's not innapropriate and safe for younger eyes. :P

Random Things

Sorry for not posting in a while, life has been really busy. ^^

First of all, happy belated Thanksgiving! Mine was pretty awesome; my family and I went to my grandma and grandpa's for lunch, and hung out there for most of the afternoon. I watched The Ultimate Gift (one of my favorite movies) with my sister and older cousins and aunt.

Secondly, I reached my NaNoWriMo word count goal, 20,00, on the 23rd. NaNoWriMo was really fun, and I can't wait for 50,000 words next year. :)

Third, I re-watched The Return of the King last night with my younger sister and wow, I really love that movie. (I mean, seriously, who doesn't?) The recurring themes of friendship, perseverance, and sacrifice are what make The Lord of the Rings fantastic (it helps that the actors and actresses--along with the sets, locations and special effects--are the best). And of course you can't make amazing movies out of horrible books--Tolkien's books are even better then the movies (if you can imagine that). Directly after finishing the movie, I ran downstairs, pulled out The Return of the King and skimmed through it all. (Isn't Pippin hilarious? He had me laughing the whole movie).

Finally, I have an ear-infection. I get a runny nose, and, opposed to blowing it, I suck it back up, therefore clogging my ear-canals and infecting my ear-drum. *clutches ear* At these times, I'm very grateful for doctors and medicine. And pain-killer. (You would be amazed should you find out how much I've taken since the beginning of my ear-pains)

Namarie, and blessings,

Golfing

Today, my siblings (Abby, Josh, and Peter) and I went golfing. A few pictures...

Abby's the girl in the pink kneeling, and the other is Josh.



Abby with the pin.



Abby and Peter discussing their next move.



The beautiful lakes.



Peter's "special" ball that he was so proud of.




Peter mid-swing.



Peter teeing up.



Another shot of the lake...



Josh lining up.



The hole. Duh. :D



Josh picking up his ball.



Josh putting.



Josh mid-swing.



Peter mid-swing.



Love this one. Josh kneeling, lining up.



Later,

Funny, But Pointless, Movie

Alright, this is a pointless movie of me and my sister pretending to fight. My younger seven-year-old brother is filming. (I'm the one in the green sweater)

Short Answers

Alright, so this is the first time I've done Short Answers (hosted by Abigail Kraft) so here it goes.

These are Abby's answers:

How tall are you?

I don't know.

Just guess.

Um...5 feet 2...No! No! 4 feet...2 inches...I guess.

What are Mom and Dad doing when they're paying bills?

*rolls her eyes and answers evasively* paying people

What's the fanciest restaurant you've ever been to?

I have no clue.

Just guess!

Emma Krumbees...I guess. I really don't know.

Who do you think you look more like, Mom or Dad?

Mom, even though Dad has big ears.

Why?

Because...um...she had blonde hair when she was a kid, and I have curly hair like she does.

If you had a million bucks, what would you do with it?

Give some of it away, only a few hundred though. I would buy a really really old-fashioned car, and a really really...like limosouine (spelling?)...then put the rest in the bank.

If you could meet a famous person, who would you meet?

God.

No, like a human...ya know.

I...have no clue.

Just pick one person.

Francesca Battestelli....I guess.

Peter's answers:

How tall are you?

*not really listening to me* 1.5 inches

What are Mom and Dad doing when they're paying bills?

Oh...I don't know *in a distracted voice*

Just guess.

Uh...paying...?

What's the fanciest restaurant you've ever been to?

Noodles and Company.

Who do you think you look more like, Mom or Dad?

Dad.

Why?

'Cause we both have glasses (Abby commented: Mom has glasses, too!) *answers again* I know she does...but he's a boy!

If you had a million bucks, what would you do with it?

Give it to the poor, spend it on...everything. Star Wars, and Bionicles, oh! and rollarcoasters! And a BIG waterslide. *losing interest in questions*

If you could meet someone famous, who would meet?

Er...George Bush *just saying that so he can get away*

Abby is 9, Peter 7. You have to love 'em! :D

Abby's New Header/Button!!

Abby has a new header and button!!! I worked about two hours on them (I ran into unexpected difficulties :D) and finally finished...go check it out! I must admit, I REALLY like it!! :D Like a LOT! *laughs*

Pictures...

...of my gorgeous sister (I straightened her hair and put mascara and eyeliner on her). Just thought I'd share some of the outdoor pictures I took of her.

Her posing:



This one she wasn't posing for. I glanced over, saw her staring off into the distance with this concentrated look on her face, and thought it was cool, so yeah:




This one she wasn't posing either.

I LOVE this one:

Well...

...I made a blog button for my sis! I got Photobucket, and got the html coding for the blog, but then messed it up somehow, and then had to fix the html which *sigh* was kind of tedious, but I finally figured it out and yeah! I whooped suddenly and at the top of my lungs when I figured it out, tested it, and saw that it worked and everyone in the room jumped :D

Go check it out, take it and put it on your blog!

Anyways, so I was organizing my many writing notebooks and came upon this story that I wrote like four years ago, and it was called the "Boxcar Children" (a weak imitation of the Boxcar Children) by "Rebekah Alden". I'm going to type it up on the computer soon and then I'll post it up on here, so y'all can laugh at it. :D

Blends...

Alright so I just wanted to share some blends I did recently using Gimp...

This was an old one of Arwen that I had done previously, but I had removed the words "Arwen Undomiel" and added brushes instead.



And this is one I made of my younger sister and brother...Abby and Peter.



And this is another old one of Arwen that I had done, but I added words and brushes... (the words say: "There was also life. You saw the child; you saw my son!")

And one of Sam that I kinda like...

And one of Grima Wormtongue...I have no clue why I made this one (all I did was add text and adjust the hues of the background picture), I guess I was bored. :D



And one of Galadriel (I know, I know, I do a lot of LoTR blends)...



And another picture in which I just added the Softglow effect twice, and wrote text words.



And I kind of like this one of Legolas that I did...



And that's it ^_^

Tag From Jake and Abby

Well I got tagged by Jake and Abby...

What time is it? 2:44 PM
What was the last, outdoor activity you did? a mile jog this morning
Do you have an e-mail address? Yeah
How many followers do you have? 52
How long have you been on the computer today? 20 minutes
Who was the last person you talked on the phone with? A woman named Natalie from my church reminding me about the mission trip and stuff about that.
Are you happy right now? yes *grins*
Do you want to get a horse someday? Yeah, totally!
How many pets do you have? One guinea pig, but only if you don't count my siblings *mischievous grin* jk :D
Do you have a playlist? No
Are you having a fun summer? Uh yeah are you kidding me :D
What books are you reading now? I'm reading The Thief Lord, The Giver (reading it to my younger sister), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
What is the most advanced book you've read? Search me *shrugs*
Do you like your blog? Yeah :D
How many tags have you gotten? No clue, sorry
What is the most recent award you've gotten? The C for Contagious Blog Award
Who gave you your first tag? Hannah, I think...not sure
Who gave you this tag? Jake and Abby
Do you have a three column template? Yep
What are you doing tomorrow? Pretty much nothing except packing for the mission trip
How long have you been on blogger? I have no clue
How many times have you changed your profile pic? I just changed it so yeah only once
What is the most comments you've gotten on a post (not including yourself)? I'm sorry, but I don't know :D
Are you having fun on this tag? You could say that.
What is the one thing you want right now? Hm, well, primarily, I really want a sleepover with Hannah (*glare at her* YOUR turn to plan it...oh yeah...I guess its my turn...*guilty look*), and my mom and I are searching for matching purity rings so I want one of those too but that's pretty much it. Oh, and more followers definitely wouldn't hurt :D
Is your profile name your real name? Yes
What is your favorite animals? Hm well my favorite is horses, but my second favorite is guinea pigs.
What is your favorite movie (chose only one)? Ah...aw man that's pretty much impossible, but if I had to choose one it'd be Lord of the Rings. On second thought...that's three movies. Oh well *shrugs* :D
Have you seen Star Treck? Nope
What are you favorite fictional characters? Arwen/Aragorn/Sam from LoTR, Eragon/Arya from the Inheritance Cycle, Jonas/Kira/Matty from the Giver series, Lucy/Reepicheep/Caspian from Chronicles of Narnia, Dustfinger from the Ink trilogy (that's what they're called, right?), and so many more :D
Are you hungry? No
Should you get off the computer right now? Probably ^_^
And I tag anyone who wants to do it.