Ode to #1~

As I sit at my desk, I cannot help but mourn the loss of something dear to me.

While I had the same item in many different types and colors, I did love each and every item for their unique and stupendous attributes. These attributes shall be listed as follows:

- Always sharp. There was never a dull moment with us.

- Variety. Each held the same effect of a cool sea breeze. Simply refreshing.

- A pleasure to the senses. Not only were they colorful, but they made the most satisfying click sound when on a roll.

- Knowledge. Knowing just what I wanted to say and translating it wonderfully into words.

Yes....You dear, dear things were truly #1. With only your empty shells lying about, I'm afraid I am left to settle for the #2s. Frustrating little orangey-yellow things. Not only do they whither away quickly, but simply trying to make them understand will cause their point to sharpen so much that it snaps off. The time then spent to replace the once partially acute tip is often wasted, for the new tip breaks free once more. The broken bits are then scattered along my desk as a reminder to not ask too much of these #2s.

Though I suppose I cannot completely make them out to be flawed beings. #2s still get the job done and do it well, it's just that they aren't what they used to be. Nowadays the #2s have been cheapened, but it is not of their own doing. They are not to blame for their faults. I am sorry, #2s, for speaking so harshly of you before. Forgive me?.......Good. ^_^

-sigh- Mechanical pencils. I shall miss you, so. =3

Of a Tortoise, of Bees, and the Weekend

So, Saturday was a very warm day...at least in comparison with the the weather about a week ago. It was 65 degrees F. and there was the most refreshing breeze fluttering by my face, sending chills across my skin. I spent a majority of my afternoon raking the leaves that littered

the grass like dandruff in green hair. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of the earth as a scalp, sighing contently as I raked away its head itchies! x3 My tummy and arms are sore now, but it is the best sore I've felt in a long time~.

In the pictures above, to the right, and the one below, the family's beloved Sulcata tortoise, Tod, is featured. He was able to come outside yesterday because of the warm temperature, and boy did he enjoy it! My dad raked all of the leaves out of his spacious, fenced in area, and as soon as our baby laid eyes on the newly exposed green blades, went nutty and began chowing down. By the time I came over with my camera, the little guy was walking around in the grass, an entire salad bar stuffed in his mouth. See, we can't let him outside of his little house in weather cooler than 60 degrees. So, during the winter, we have him inside a large hut equipped with a heat lamp and stacks of Bermuda hay for him to munch on while it's snowing outside. x3 So he went gaga once he saw the grass. It was soooooooo cuuuuuuuute!

We affectionately refer to this movement as "cruising", which is funny because he's a tortoise and doesn't move very fast.

NOW, on to the next pictures of these lovely little creatures!

Pictured above and below are pictures of honeybees. My mother is a third-year beekeeper and has several thriving hives. Now, before I continue, I'll give some fascinating facts about bees that may interest you

All worker bees are female. Only drones are male.

Drones can go into any hive they want without being attacked by other bees. Worker bees, however, cannot. Going into another queen's hive would be translated something like an act of war and would result in...well. You get the idea. =P

Despite popular thought, bees do not attack people because they are vicious boogers. On the contrary. Bees only sting when attacked. So if a bee buzzes you, don't swat at her or she'll think you're attacking her. =P

Bees have five eyes. Two large ones and three smaller ones.

Now, these pictures to the left are of my younger sister, Jessica, and some more of our darling, honey making girls.

Bees are very fuzzy little creatures, and my mom loves to pet them while they're exploring something, and the bees let her. They wiggle cutely and continue investigating as if their backs aren't being felt at all. xD

There is nothing more peaceful than the sound of the girls flying about in the air, filling the surrounding area with a relaxing hum.


Jessica was thrilled when a bee landed on her little hand. I had one land on my hand, but as soon as I pulled the camera up she fled. Hahahaha~

All in all, a very good weekend. I hope the weather stays nice like this.

As far as Sunday has gone, very similar to Saturday. I went outside set a chair in the sun and read my Kindle for...oh...at least an hour. It was insanely relaxing.

I hope everyone who is reading this had a wonderful weekend as well. If you get the chance and if it's nice outside, head on out, take some pictures, and come back to start a blog! 8D

P.S. I finally went in and fixed the coding to get the text to wrap around my pictures just right! I haven't used my HTML skills in months. =3

Cold-Weather Snapshots~

On Friday I decided that I wanted to take some photos. So, upon hearing that my mom was taking all us kids to Barnsley Gardens, I quickly scooped up a camera and loaded fresh batteries into it.

It was rather cool outside, which was frustrating because my heavy coat was limiting how far I could lift my arms up to take pictures. How I long for warmer weather!

I did, however, manage to get some rather nice shots. Even though I've been to the gardens a billion times and I have taken pictures of the same things over and over, I still found different angles from which to shoot,
giving new life to these familiar things.

There were tiny little flowers everywhere and dried rosepetals on the walkways. The roses weren't in bloom, though, so I don't know where the petals came from....How mysterious! >:3

The sky was the deepest, purest blue, too. Thanks to winter, I haven't gotten to see it for a while, but I was glad to finally see the upside-down ocean. It was virtually cloudless, save for a few wisps here and there that looked like puffs of smoke from heavenly chimneys. Before we all left, however, a rather large cloud had formed, and we all decided it looked like an elephant that was sitting down. =3

All in all, a very good day. It was nice to get out of the house and walk around in the sunshine. Hiding out from overly cold temperatures for several months is no fun, so we all have been clamoring for warmer weather. Although we could do without spring tornadoes, I still can't wait for it to be warm enough for me to go
outside without having to bundle up
so tightly that I can hardly move at all. o.o Though I'm sure that when the hot weather gets here, I'll be crying for the cool air once more. By the time one season is over, you're ready for the next one. It's not that I particularly hate the cold weather, it's just that I'm tired of it and am ready for something new. Same with the type of weather every day, but that is a ramble for another post. ;-)

Well, I've run out of things to talk about. This weekend is still going.
I'm going to church tonight and am going to see about joining a Bible study group for college age singles.
I've been feeling the pull to get closer to the Lord,
so I'm going to try my best to do just that. =)
Looking forward to services tonight, but since the weather yesterday was warm (post about that with pictures coming soon!) and today seems to be chillier, I don't know exactly what to wear. xD
Ah well, guess I'll go find something in a minute. I'm tired right now. My little brother woke me up this morning with the words, "Lizzy! Time to play Ratchet and Clank!"
My slurred reply came: "I'm sleeping right now. And we can't play until you've eaten breakfast...."
He stuck out his bottom lip and stormed away. xD

So, now that he has done eaten, I'm being called out even as I write to help him through a hard part of the game. I just now got back, but no doubt I'll be called away any moment now...!
-shifty eyes-

...Darn I'm good. =P

The Baffling Case of an Empty Egg-Grenade

Today I found a small roll of unused white yarn stuffed in the very back of the shelf where all of my skeins are stacked neatly one on top of the other...and I knew I wanted to make something with it...!
Remembering a picture of a crocheted doll I had once seen in a book, I instantly started crocheting in rounds to make a head. It came out a little egg-shaped, and when I turn it upside-down it looks like a hand grenade (if only it was olive green) , but I like it nonetheless. Besides. Grenades rock.

Anyway, now that I'm at the neck hole, I've come to the point where I need to stuff the head....But with what? I don't have polyester, and if I put something like beads inside, they may squeeze out if too small, may feel strange if too big. Besides. I don't have any beads to use for that! xD So I'm down to one option: crochet some things and tightly pack them inside the egg-grenade! But all of my yarn is precious and I don't often go out to buy new skeins, so I don't reeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllly want to do that, but as of now, it's all I've got....What to do~ What to do~.....

The Future is Fluffy!

So, Valentine's Day is coming up in...24?...days and I've been wondering what I could make that would be...Valentine-ish. No, not a card for a special someone. Just a fluffy pink thing that would be fitting for the day AND that I could blog about here!

Actually, I'm considering making several things to post about here on Singles Awareness Day, so I have that to look forward to. In fact, I already have one thing done for this big Valentine's post I'm planning. =D

On a random note, Valentine's is about the only time of year I will purposely wear or make things pink. Pink is a nice color and all, but it's a tad too...pink for my liking. I'm more of a blue and green person, myself. Mwuahahaha~

A Few Floral Thanks

My finished 'thank you' cards. It took about two hours to make each card and I watched anime the entire time. Or, rather, watched the parts that were exciting and listened to the dialog while I chopped up magazines. =3

It was quite fun. I haven't decoupaged anything in a while, not since...I think it was October? I randomly decoupaged a box that now holds my sister's army of art pencils. You know those 'how to' things you get out of the art/hobby stores? I snatch as many as I can because I like the pictures. Anyway, I used those to make that previously mentioned box. End of rabbit trail.

Anyway, I wish I could have taken more pictures, and ones of better quality at that, but this will have to do for now~

Now to go write some poetry....

Note to Self:

I lack pretty stationery for 'thank you' cards, so today I decided I would decoupage some index cards instead! Seemed like a perfect idea to me. What could be a better 'thank you' than a handmade card?
Funny thing is...my hands are about dead from trying to squeeze the glue out of the bottle!
Not to self: buy better glue (or maybe glue sticks!).

A (Rather Long) Introduction

I have always been a dabbler. Whether that is good or bad depends on what exactly I am doing, but I have often found that my attention span doesn't last a long enough period of time (mainly a few days, or however long needed for a BIG project...save for video games, but artistically!) for me to completely finish something. Throughout the day, I do so many things that it is hard to just sit down and do ONE art project for however long it takes to finish it. If it isn't a messy, insanely complex thing, I'll pack it away, put it on a shelf with the intention to finish it...then forget. Classic, I know. xD

It has been the same way with blogs. I have had several blogs in the past: three and an idea for one I never got around to actually completing. Two were photography, one was about a video game (which, mind you, was going well until I got my dream game. O.O) , and the planned one was also going to another photography blog. But, I got occupied with something else. So the little things died. -insert boo-boo lip here-

But, alas, I am trying again. This time aspiring to keep up with this blog! I have been craving one that I could actually connect with, one that wasn't just a part of me, but all of me. So I decided to examine what hobbies made up "me". Crochet. Photography. Writing. Decoupage. Random other things. They were all pieces. It was hard for me to write about a piece and expect to come up with some grand blog that could in any way compare to those Blogs of Note where I lurk hopelessly, so I decided to blog about all of the little things! =D I've read that it is difficult to blog about more than one thing, but it seems to be my nature to be able to carry several different things on and on and on and on without much trouble, so perhaps this sort of blog is for me. Who will know? You've gotta try first, right?

Phew. -takes in a breath- Well, I suppose I owe an introduction to those who have read this far. My name is Elizabeth and I am a seventeen (going on eighteen) year old homeschooled Christian girl who, as mentioned before, dabbles in too many things to count. I come from a family of six, excluding pets, and am the oldest of four children. I have three dogs, two cats, pet birds out the ying-yang, a Sulcata tortoise, and my three younger siblings (har-har-har 8D). I love smilies, as you can no doubt tell by now, and am not afraid to use them. As stated in the "About Me" bit in the sidebar, I love video games to death. All kinds. All genres. But I particularly love zombie games. xD Racing ones are deh-bomb, and nothing beats a good action or RPG. I digress.
I also love to read and have an insanely large shelf of books, manga magazines, gaming magazines, and other rather old magazines I bought with the intention to chop up. =3 I bought a typewriter that doesn't have a ribbon for a buck at a thrift store, I probably need a bigger purse, love notebooks, and I do sing in the shower. xD

You'll probably learn more as I blog more and more, so put up with me for now. ;-) What exactly will I blog about? That's the surprise~

Well, I've gotta go do a bazillion more things, so I'll stop blogging here for today. ADIOS!

P.S. Forgive any typos. I've read over this a few times and may have missed something. xD Take it easy. I wear glasses. -innocent grin here-