Farewell, for a little while

Ahem, attention please!
I am going to sign off blogger for almost a month. Well, actually I will finish writing the blogpost below. (Everybody comment!)
But, March/April is the busy season for school which you have perhaps noticed by my infrequent posting. After then, I'll be back, posting away with vim and vigor.

Announcement of Importance!

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO: The fourth Reluctant Dragon Fan Club meeting.

HOW: Simply comment below with a blogger name or nickname or something and list one "hidden talent" or completely random skill of yours, such as Champion Burger-Flipper, (You get the picture, right?)

WHY: So that I can write you into the next Reluctant Dragon Fan Club Meeting! That everyone who desire to "attend" will be satisfied.
P.S. You simply must read my other RDFC posts or this whole thing won't make any sense at all. Here they are:
#1.
#2
#3
#3.5

The Zoo is enlargening!

Lottie, our dear cat, (See above picture [we don't have very recent pictures!]) had four kittens on the 12th.

This is Chauncy, or at least that is his name for now. One looks like her mom. Until they develop more distinct personalities, I am calling the other two Boba and Jango because they resemble each other exactly.

And as well as these feline additions, we have acquired Mango and Tango, two orange fish whose particular variety I cannot precisely remember at this moment in time.

Earrings and bush survival

Bracie and I, thanks to Dad, have discovered a foolproof way to always be prepared: Earrings!
You read that correctly, I assure you.
Earlier today, Daddy remarked on Bracie's earrings, which are made of three tear drops of different metals in a layer, saying that if ever she needed fishing lures, she could simply use her earrings. Bracie, inspired, turn to survey my ear adornments. With a grin, she announced that the spheres of my earrings would be delightful bobbers, and that the metal hooks were the perfect thing for (of course) fish hooks.
That incident inspired me to look online in search of even more useful earrings. First of all, I found these: I will state that Bracie and my earrings are not as obvious.
Anyone who knows the first thing about survival will tell you that food is necessary to survive. I found these stylish, REAL chocolate earrings.

And to alert your rescuers, we have these marvelous mirrored ones:

This next pair cannot help you in any way. I just thought I'd throw them in with the rest for Gile's sake. Warmth also being essential, I have found this magnifying glass necklace. Sadly, I was unable to find any fire starting implement small enough to be an earring. Of course, it only works if you have sunshine. (The chain doubles as a fishing line.)


But I did find a thermometer to tell you when you need to start the fire. (And to see if the fish is done)


Finally we see this handy pair, which sharpened a bit, would be a great help in the bush. (To clean the fish)
(To eat the fish!)

So, utilize your ears! Always be prepared!
Note: I am afraid this post is predominately more valuable to my female readers.

Speech.

Here is a lovely photograph from a speech tournament. Actually, it is from two years ago because we are horrid at remembering to bring our camera. This picture is of Bracie proudly rising to receive her award, or at least it was supposed to be. It was the magic moment: Bracie was shaking the metacarpus of the regional coordinator or something and I pressed the button, but I forgot that our not-so-beloved camera only takes the picture about three seconds later. I lowered my hands, snapping this gorgeous photo of somebody's yellow shirt.

I am a great photographer, huh?

So, if you were present at the NCFCA 2006 Appletree National Open, sitting at the back right corner of the room at the awards ceremony and wearing a yellow shirt, raise your hand.

Anyway, that's where Bracie and I were this weekend and where we will be next weekend: at a speech tournament.

Why do I forget?

Last night I sat down to dinner and began to eat. Then, I realized that we had forgotten to pray. But why? Our family has been praying before we eat longer than I can remember but some days we still forget. You'd think we would have that pattern grounded into our minds. Maybe we are an especially absentminded family. I can never remember names, either. They just seem to refuse to stick in my mind. Occasionally I forget to feed my pets until it gets late, even though feeding them at 7:00 ought to be a rock solid habit!
And yet I can remember the word for 100 in Lithuanian, simtas. P.S. This is my one hundredth blog post! Also, I will never be able to forget the line, "Across the pale parabola of joy." Raltson McTodd (P.G.Wodehouse) even though I don't know what it means. (Perhaps a Rainbow?) Plus I will always remember (nearly) every line of The Princess Bride.
Our brains pick the weirdest things to remember. Or at least mine does!

Completely Random Pictures

On our camera, we have one family picture. One. And yet I found these. Life is mysterious sometimes.

As a side note...

Remember the baseball bat in my last post's video? Well, nobody in our family plays baseball at all or has any interest in doing so.

So why do we have a baseball bat? To quote Dad, "Because it is an important part of our home defense system."

Yep, nothing like a good old bat.

In which we clean our room

So, today Bracie and I began the systematic dismantling of our room in order to switch bedrooms with my mom and dad. We came across some unnecessary artifacts and decided to dispose of them in a stress relieving, unconventional manner.

As usual, we had way too much fun.

happy birthday Mom!

Le Miserable

Okay, first let's establish that I am just being silly...

I am guilty of committing the unpardonable error! *Ahem!*When I type Unpardonable Error, I am referring to one of two things. The first is calling an Alpaca a "Llama" in the presence of an Alpaca lover. What happens when you call an Alpaca a Llama? The aforesaid alpaca lover turns slowly, with murderous eyes and gives a look that could quell Porthos if he weren't already dead. On this green earth, you will never receive such a look. These Alpaca people are dead serious when it comes to Alpacas, and it is a deadly trial to them to hear their Alpacas (of which it must be stated are much cuter) called "Llamas." (Exception: Amy! She is too nice to give murderous glances that chill the heart. Go read her blog: Sunny Sky, in my sidebar.)

The second is perhaps ten times as worse; it is to skip the 30 page description of the Battle of Waterloo in Le Miserable.

As I have laboured in the vocation of Alpaca Pasture Maintainer for almost three years, it is highly unlikely that the first fault is mine.

No, I have done the worst: I skipped that passage! With a smirk of triumph on my face, I flipped, and flipped, and flipped and flipped and flipped until finally! I came to the almost end, you know, the part where Thenarder is looting the battlefield. Then, I proceeded to read as if nothing had happened! And I don't even feel the least guilty because I am reading the tome solely for enjoyment, and that everlasting passage did certainly most NOT provide any enjoyment of mind or soul.

I guess now that I've made clean of it and made my poor gentle readers read about my lazy reading, I have ultimately decided that it is not an unpardonable error to skip the battle of Waterloo scene. There now remains only Alpaca name calling.