Word of the Day

tragical
adj : very sad; especially involving grief or death or destruction

I prefer to use tragical in a different manner. Tragical is when two people SHOULD be together and aren't for any reason. This is especially true if they would probably end up married and living happily ever after under different circumstances. The only saving grace is the hope that one day circumstances will change and they'll both see the light and still have time to live happily ever after. For anyone who doesn't know, happily ever after stories are the best kind.

Of and About Thankfulness

I went to deliver Thanksgiving baskets with school on Tuesday, and as always, it was so eye-opening. Our driver, Mrs. Swann, was telling us about one of the families we were bringing a basket to. Apparently an uncle or brother or something had been shot right around the corner from the house recently and had been found leaning up against the neighbor's house the next morning. The tragic thing is that the shooting was over $2 he owed someone. Think of it, TWO dollars!! How much do we take for granted the money we have. Mrs. Swann told us that one of the kids told her the story. What hit me so hard is that the child was totally ok with it. It was a normal occurrence to an eight year old. When I was 8, the most I worried about was my friend being mean to me and getting the best swing at recess. This kid was dealing with the violent shooting of a relative like it was nothing special. I guess it just really struck me how lucky I am to have, for the most part, a stable life. I have two parents that aren't separated, that both live in my nice warm house in a great neighborhood. I have more than enough food, my own room, a good school and church, friends, and so much more. I've heard that everyday should be a thanksgiving day, and it's so true. I guess the holiday just makes us more aware of our blessings.

OCC

FINALLY Operation Christmas Child, and all the stress that went with it, is finished. Don't get me wrong, I'm SO happy with how everything worked out, but it was a LOT of work to get it all done. Friday afternoon we went to the dollarstore and bought $800 worth of toys, candy, toiletries, and various other items to put in the boxes. We went back to school to begin packing them. We didn't get it finished that night, and the shop looked like a tornado went through it!! Saturday I got the Miskins and the Sikmas to come back to school with me to work on them some more. We worked for a little over two hours until I had to go to work. The shop still was a mess, so I was at school bright and early this morning (7 am!!) to finish up. We managed to get the shop in some semblance of order by 8:15. Right after 1st hour 11 of us went out to Wyoming to drop off our boxes and to help out at the warehouse for 3 hours. We packed the filled shoeboxes into cardboard boxes to be shipped to North Carolina and from there out all over the world. It was a lot of fun. All in all, we raised about $1,100 and filled 128 shoeboxes!! Way to go Plymouth, and thanks SO much to everyone involved!!

Throwing of Objects

As I normally hear the girl's perspective on stuff, I've come to an oft repeated conclusion: Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them!! Now, bear to mind that this is not the case for all guys. Some deserve boulders thrown, others merely small pebbles. Also, it has been brought to my attention that girls sometimes deserve similar treatment. We, however, deserve only rock candy and marshmellows to be thrown at us. It's all quite complex, really. The degree of hardness of the object, the distance from which it is thrown, and the strength with which it is thrown must all be taken into careful consideration. Since this post is going nowhere, I shall stop.

Pen Caps

I chew on my pen caps until they are shredded into a million tiny pieces. One of my teachers loves to mock me about this habit, as the harder I think, the more I chomp on the plastic. I hear it's bad for your teeth to chew on pens, but I can't think properly if I'm not doing it!!