Happy Arbor Day!

Today is the 8th Arbor Day celebrated in Roch, even though Arbor Day has been around a lot longer than 8 years. For the first time that I can remember, I didn't have school or work or anything else to do today. So, I was actually able to go the town's Arbor Day festival at the fairgrounds. Normally it would have been held at City Park, but there's been some pretty intense severe weather, resulting it being moved in doors at the fairgrounds. Anyways, a friend of mine from school also had no class today. So we went to the festival together. We got free trees--both of us got a white oak--and free CFL light bulbs. Also, for all attendees, there was a free lunch of hot dogs, chips, and pop. It was VERY loud since acoustics suck inside the building, and there was a sea of yellow hard hats worn by hundreds of little kids from grade schools in town. But it was still fun. After the festival, we ran some errands and headed back to my house to play cards before she had to head home. It was a great Arbor Day. :)

2 am Cat Fight

Today has been one LONG day. I have been up since 2am, so I'm going on 20 hours straight of being awake, and counting. Why was I awoken at 2am this morning? Because a couple feral cats in the area decided to have a battle in my backyard. For the past 10 years or so, there has been a mommy kitty that has made our shed her home for her and her kittens every summer. At first, it was kinda cool having kittens. But now, year after year, it's annoying. The cats will hiss and scream when we enter the shed. The mom cat also enjoys wandering the yard and taunting Taffy, which doesn't make Taffy very happy. Anyways, its mating season again for the cat, and this year, she couldn't make up her mind between 2 cats. So, she let the 2 cats fight it out at 2am, waking up everyone in the house. Taffy was ready to jump out my bedroom window, so I had to hold on to her. The fight only lasted a few minutes, but there were still occasional meows, hisses, and screeches all through-out the early morning. At every little noise, Taffy felt the urge to charge my window, which is right above my pillow. So I never fell back asleep. When 6am rolled around, I gave up trying to go back to sleep and wandered downstairs to my laptop. Lucky me had my 8am class today, followed by my bio lab. I almost fell asleep in my 8am lecture, but somehow I managed to make it through the 50 minute class. I also managed to read my bio homework between classes. And luckily, I got out of my bio lab an hour early, so I was home by 1230. Of course there was no hope of a nap by then, because I had to eat lunch and them meet my mom at the gym for our Wed afternoon work-out. And then it was supper time, and now I'm relaxing on the couch, trying to stay awake during George Lopez. Now let's just hope the kitties keep it to a minimum the rest of the season cuz I need my sleep.

Trees, Houses, and Birthdays

It has been a crazy busy weekend! Or at least yesterday (Saturday) was. It all started with a huge thunderstorm knocking out power at 630am. It came back on just in time to get ready to go. My mom and I headed to Manor Park at 845am to join in the community tree planting. Volunteers gathered at the park and were divided into groups to plant 500 trees in a couple hours. While waiting for everyone to get there, we enjoyed free donuts, bagels, apple juice, orange juice, and coffee, as well as everyone got a free t-shirt. Then we divided into 10 groups and headed to our assigned destination. My mom and I were assigned to zone 5, which was about 1 mile away. Our group planted 55 trees in an hour. We were speedy, and one of the first groups to finish. Once all the trees were planted and mulched, everyone got a free lunch: Roscoe's BBQ pork or chicken sandwich, coleslaw, potato chips, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from Gingerbread House Bakery. It was sooo yummy!

The next event on the agenda was my cousin's housewarming party. My cousin and her family moved into a trailer about 2 months ago. Now that they are all situated, and the weather is nice, they decided to have everyone over to see the new place. For being a trailer, it's really nice! It's a lot bigger and nicer than the one I grew up in and moved out of 15 years ago. The living room and kitchen/dining room are very big and open. All the kids get their own rooms at the opposite end from my cousin and her husbands bedroom. And there are 2 bathrooms, one at each end. And of course there was food. I'm a sucker for food. It was fun to see them and their new place.

The next, and last, event was in yet another town for a good friend of the family's 30th birthday party. It was a lot of fun. The back room of the bar/restaurant was reserved for the party, and we had our own mini bar. There was a DJ taking requests and karaoke. It was a crazy night, as usual when the crowd gets together. But it was a lot of fun.

Earth Week

Happy Earth Week! I've been very green this week, helping out in the community and practicing my green ways harder than normal. On Tuesday, I participated in the Litter Bit Better campaign in my neighborhood. We were assigned a 3-block section of my road to pick up litter in the ditch on both sides. Surprisingly, there was a lot of garbage, especially after all the snow melted. However, it wasn't a great turnout. There were 7 of us that showed up from the neighborhood to pick up litter. We filled up 6 garbage bags, in addition to a few pieces of wood, a hubcap, a wire grate, and an old tire. People throw some pretty crazy things in the ditch.

On Wednesday, I pretty much just went to school. I got my project rough draft back in my environmental class, and the teacher approves! I have been trying really hard to find an internship over the summer to use as my project, but I haven't had the best luck in that yet. I had 1 interview and was later turned down. 2 other places turned me down. There's still 3 places that I haven't heard from yet, so hopefully I hear back for an interview this week! Since I haven't gotten an internship yet, I'm on the planning committee for the Think Green Fair, and I'm using that as my project. For my bio lab, I had another project due. I was to create my own plant using parts from other plants. It makes up almost half my grade. I combined a dianthus/carnation with coleus. Most people drew a picture of their plant creation, but I wanted to do a sculpture. And I was the first student EVER to do a sculpture! She's been teaching this class for at least 5 years, 3 times a year, and has never received a sculpture. That right there is enough to give me a bonus, even though I already have an A in the class.

Yesterday (Thursday) was Earth Day, and a very busy one at that. I went to bio, but it wasn't really worth it. There were about 9 people in class, compared to the 48 people in the class. The horticulture program took a field trip somewhere, and majority of the people in my bio class are in the horticulture program. So the teacher handed out a worksheet involving punnet squares and genetics. I learned how to do them in junior high, so I had the worksheet done very quickly. My speech class was canceled since my speech teacher was giving an acceptance speech for receiving teacher of the year award. After school and lunch, I got to hang out with the little people again. This week we went fishing in Bear Creek. The little kids made their own fishing poles using an empty pop can and fishing line. And yes, we had live bait: night crawlers. No one else liked worms, so I was dubbed "bait girl," which I really had no problem with. I was surprised that none of the kids wanted to give it a try though. No one caught anything, but it was still fun. We're going to try again next week. Once I got back home, I made an Earth Day supper for my parents and I. We had chicken seashell salad (pasta salad with chicken, fruit, and nuts), earthy jello (lime jello with oranges), and whole grain bread. It was very yummy. Then we had to go back to my school for the scholarship banquet. I was lucky enough to received a scholarship from People's Coop for next year. Yay for free money! :)

Ode to Bacon

It was a pretty eventful weekend. Yesterday, the family dog Bacon turned 5589 days old, and it was his last day. For those of you that don't want to calculate, he was about 15 1/2 years old in human years. He was blind and deaf, with a sniffer that never worked better. He was incontinent and couldn't do stairs. In the last month, he actually fell down the stairs 2 times and couldn't get back up. Both times it was about 4am, so the house was pitch black. He's been going down hill for a couple months now, and as a family we decided that it was time. Bacon lived an awesome life full of love. And now he is in doggy heaven with his puppy-hood buddies Ruff and AJ. He will now get all the beggin' strips and orange push-ups that he wants.

Last time, I headed to the Twin Cities for yet another weekend. This time around, it was the second to last Swarm game of the season. After listening to Rascal Flatts for the entire drive north, I felt a lot better by the time I met up with my friends. It's amazing how their music ALWAYS makes me feel better. Everyone has that one band that makes anything and everything better. For me, that band is Rascal Flatts. I first met my lab partner at Chuck & Dons to pick up an urn for Bacon. So now he will have a place to stay when he comes back home. Then I headed to Wisconsin to meet up with the rest of the group. We went to Keys for dinner. It was really yummy as always. Then we headed to St. Paul for Candyland and the Swarm game. We didn't win the game, but we did make it into the play-offs! First time ever! This is the 6th Swarm season, and the 1st time making it into the play-offs. I am so excited! So the day may have started out bad, but it ended well. Just like Rascal Flatts, my friends always know how to cheer me up and just have a good time. I love them so much! Thanks to them, my sister, and bro-in-law, I had a great Sat night. :)

Today, we decided to take a road-trip to Ostrander for Sunday family supper to a restaurant called Susie's Roadhouse. None of us have been there until today, and it was really yummy. The interior was so fun! There were regular tables and chairs in half of it where the bar was. In the other half, it was all picnic tables. There were beer signs and stuff all over the walls. The food was cheap and good, as was the salad bar. Best of all, you can write your name, memory, message, or whatever you want on a dollar bill and hang it up somewhere in the restaurant. Because there were 5 of us, we decided to leave a $5 bill on the wall. We each wrote a memory about Bacon, and we taped it to the wall where he can stare out the window. It's our tribute to the best dog in the world, Bacon. And now, every time we go back to Susie's Roadhouse, we are going to visit the wonderful family dog. He will always be hanging out on the wall, staring out the window. It may have started out as a sad weekend, but it definitely turned out to be a great, memorable one. I love you Bacon! You were a great dog! Some day, I will see you again. Until then, have fun in doggy heaven!

Green Dodgeball

It's been another pretty uneventful week as a student. Tuesday was spent being bored in bio class and listening to persuasive speeches followed by nice weather. My grandparents on my dad's side just got home from Texas, so my parents and I met them for dinner at the Wicked Moose, a new restaurant. It used to be McMurphy's, but the owner sold the building and is opening up a new place downtown. The new restaurant has an awesome logo since it's a moose and has very yummy, reasonably priced food. And it's close to home. Usually I only see my grandparents Memorial Weekend at the campground, so it was kinda weird going out to eat. But I wasn't going to complain since my dad was buying. I like free food :P

Yesterday (Wednesday) was also spent being bored in class. However, I got my bio test back in lab, and. . . *drumroll*. . . I got 100%! Woo hoo! So I'm still getting an awesome grade in the class! 4.0 here I come! Yesterday also brought HOT weather during the day, and thunderstorms at night. I love thunderstorms :)

Today was a bit more exciting. Of course I had bio this morning, followed by speech. Today was my day to give my persuasive speech on living green. As most of you know, allergies have hit about 3 weeks too early, so I have been coughing like crazy. When I was practicing my speech last night, I was about 30 seconds too long cuz of my coughing. However, when I actually did my speech today, I didn't cough once! And I was in the time frame! 9 mins 17 secs! So I completed my goal. :) Since it's Thursday, it's also little people day. Originally we were going to go fishing today, but then it was supposed to rain all day. It didn't rain; it was actually pretty nice today. Instead, we played game outside: cats in the corner, David and Goliath dodge ball, and kickball. All the kids had a blast, and they were all games that us adults could take part in too. I forgot how much fun it is to be a kid playing outside. I also forgot how much my lungs hate it when I run haha But it was still a lot of fun today. Hopefully we'll be able to go fishing next week, as long as the rain and wind hold off. After supper tonight, I headed over to my friend's house to watch the new episode of Bones. Then we went out for ice cream and just talked. We haven't seen each other for a month, yet we live maybe 3 mins apart. Kinda sad, but that's what happens when school takes over, and she has a baby that takes up most of her time. Anyways, I found out some very exciting news. So you might remember, originally she was supposed to be leaving for Yemen back in March, and obviously that didn't happen. The date got pushed back to the end of April, and then to Mid-May for graduation, and then to the end of May for her mom's birthday. It has been pushed back yet again for Father's day and her baby's 1st birthday, since bdays aren't really celebrated in Yemen. I am so excited! I know I can't change her mind, and that she will still go to Yemen, but I am getting more time to spend with her. I will take all the time that I get, because I have no guarantee that she will ever come back once she is gone. All in all, it has been a great day. :)

Easter... Jeopardy... Rodeo...

It's been another busy, but not very exciting, week. This past Sunday was Easter. A few years ago, my family decided that we were tired of cooking a big meal for Easter. Now, we all go out to eat for Chinese food. It might not be very Easter-like, but it's really yummy food! Since my grandparents moved in to a senior living center, we went back to their apartment for dessert: lemon angel food cake and coconut cake. Both were amazing!

School was about equally exciting. On Tuesday, we played jeopardy in my bio class. The teacher divided us into 8 teams, and each team took a turn answering a question on the board. My team took first place! Not only did we earn the most points from jeopardy, but we also each earned 5 extra credit points :) Wednesday there wasn't any school. Apparently colleges have teacher work-shop days. Who knew? Yesterday (Thursday) was my bio test and no speech class. I told you it was exciting.

Today, or I should say tonight, actually was kinda exciting. I went to my first rodeo. My dad's work was sponsoring the rodeo that's in town for the weekend, and he got free tickets for the whole family to go. I don't know if I would have spent $15 to go to it, but it was kinda fun since I went for free. Although, it got boring after the first 1 hour, the intermission shows were entertaining. Mostly it was a lot of guys riding bulls and getting knocked off. There were a couple clowns dancing around and teasing the bulls. One clown put on a dance show for one intermission. The other intermission consisted of lil kids riding sheep instead of bulls. It was fun, aside from all the dust.

Hello Spring!

I have survived another week of school, and I have one week closer to summer. It wasn't a very exciting week with school. My speech class was canceled on Tuesday, so I only have one class: bio. Instead of going to class, we had to post stuff to a discussion board for speech. I was the 3rd person to post our homework. Some discussion! On Wednesday, we had a discussion in my environmental class and watched a video about predator species. My bio lab was kinda fun. We created diffusion and osmosis. We also set up experiments to test phototropism and gravitropism. In other words, we are testing how light and gravity affect plants. I'm excited to see how the plants look next lab in 2 weeks. In between my two classes, I camped out in the library and went to town on my outline for my next speech. It is a good citizen persuasive speech. We are to volunteer for at least 4 hours with an organization, and then create a persuasive speech to encourage our audience to get involved. I am volunteering with RNeighbors and helping plan the Think Green Fair. So I will be persuading my audience to live green. Today was about as exciting at Tuesday, except I had both bio and speech classes today. Woo hoo!

Aside from school, I made a true April Fool's Day supper for my parents. It looked like cupcakes and french fries with ketchup. But, what was it really? The cupcakes consisted of meatloaf with mashed potato icing. The french fries were stale bread fried in oil and covered in a sugar/cinnamon mixture. The ketchup was raspberry jelly. It was yummy! My dad also bought a new bike today. So we went on a short bike ride after dinner. It was a great day for a bike ride. After that, it was time to watch Bones. The 2nd half of the new season started tonight. And it was awesome!!! :D