Happy Birthday, Rach! :)

Happy 19th Birthday Rach!!! :)

You're a great sister and godly example to all of your siblings. I know that the Lord has great plans in store for you, and I love you lots!

Your sister,

Sarah

Where is the wisdom in Wisdom Teeth?

Yep. That's my question today. Okay. So I knew somehow that this dentist appointment today was not a good idea.

I knew they would somehow incriminate me. But what reason have I for dreading the dentist?

Never had a cavity in my life. (Up to now) Had braces already....no bad news there. I even have room for all my wisdom teeth, unlike Sarah, right? Uh.....wrong. *sigh*.

So we two are in for it. In the next month or month and a half, we will be lighter by four teeth each. We are having surgery to get our wisdom teeth out. And um....the bad news isn't over.

Ahem.

One of mine is impacted. :P It's growing in side-ways, and they'll have to drill a hole in the bone to fish it out. Oh joy. "Fol-de-rol, bon-hommy, gathering nuts in May." as Eeyore would say.

And the hygienist didn't even say it nicely to me. (Although she complimented my gardening tan. :P)

She made it sound a most criminal offense to not have room for one's wisdom teeth: "Please evaluate 1, 16, 17, and 32 for EXTRACTION"! :[

There I am! Cart me off to jail! I have need of an extraction. Oh boy. Well, at least we're in this together, right, Sarah? *She gives me a weak smile in reply*

Am I Getting Old? Or is it This?

I hate to even think these words aloud but...I think I'm getting old! :D
What caused this revelation? Only the fact that I got excessive amusement out of looking through some of our old Girls' Gazette newspapers and reminiscing over those "good old days." (which we are trying to resurrect) We have grown up so much since the beginning of that society! :) Or maybe I'm not getting old, per se. Wouldn't anybody laugh to see these?

If Anna Mae took her nose out of Hudson Taylor, her day wouldn't be "all history".

If Zillah wore her reading glasses, she wouldn't be plagued anymore by convenient headaches.

If Josie was paying attention to the inaugural speech she wouldn't notice what color Michelle Obama was wearing.

If Louisa wore half the clothes she has stuffed in her drawer, the public would be astonished at the extensiveness of her wardrobe.

(We call them "hints"...perhaps "jabs" would be a better term! :)

And then you have weather reports and news like this:

"Schools all over South-eastern Virginia closed for expected 4-6 inches of snow only to end the day with clear skies and bare ground! Children are outraged and parents are equally disappointed. According to meteorologist Evan Stuart, a fast-moving band of dry air blocked the snow from making ground-fall over our area, and instead, dumped it all on North-eastern N.C. We are expected to have a bone to pick with Alina White on Sunday."

Or our recitation announcements that leave you in stitches over the memory of what sorry poetry they were made of at times:

Miss Potter will now recite "My father owns the butcher shop"

"My Father owns the butcher shop,

My mother cuts the meat.

And I'm the little hot dog that goes running up the street."

I mean really...it's so funny! :D And then the ridiculous advertisements that were so much fun to write :

Madame Angelina Corella Bellinetine Magritte Lela Susannadora Maria Rachelle Donnamina De Montmorency has requested the presence of all young ladies in the town at a ball given in honor of her son, Wilhelm Angelo Carryl Isaac De Lowell Christoph Michal Lucius Napolean De Montmorency’s 18^th birthday, on November 21, 1881. This ball is given in hopes he might make a match.

(Always written in huge print so that all might "take notice") We had so much fun, and now I'm inspired all over again to keep up that traditions-- if they give me so much pleasure now, how much more will they make me laugh when I'm eighty years old? :) Maybe I'm not getting old...I just know a good time when I see one! :) ~Rachel

Sister To Sister Inquest :)

Explanation: This is an sisterly inquest. We two are quizzing each other with previously undisclosed questions. I'll begin interviewing Her.

Me: Where were you on July 24th, 2010?

Rachel: *whispers* (where were we?) Oh yeah! Recovering from heat stroke after dancing in 105 degree weather at our birthday party! ;)

Me: What are all the alias' you've ever had for yourself?

Rachel: Alright! Charlotte Salinya, Lisa Gabachi (long story:), Josephine Ava Inkpen, Frankie Churchill, Ms. Waffle, The Inkpen Authoress

Me: So, what is the worst memory you have of your pets?

Rachel: Um.. Our dog Pepper having seizures on me as a 2 year old. :\

Me: Are you ever nervous while flying in a plane?

Rachel: Only if I think about it, or if the guy beside me sound like he's coughing up a lung-then I'm nervous I'll get sick...

Me: Final query: What's the matter with talking on the phone?

Rachel: I don't like it! I can't see people's faces. And there are long pauses. And I start blushing and repeating myself. It's awful.

Me: Well, thank you for your time-this inquest is completed.

Now I have YOU in MY clutches! ;) This is now Rachel inquiring into Sarah's business! :P

Me: Have you ever ever ever in your long legged life when you saw someone's outfit thought: "I could NEVER carry that off! But they....can?"

Sarah: Yes. Many times *rests chin in hand and drawls answer*

Me: Highly suspicioucious! ;) Let me see....what did you truly think of the Christmas tree we got last year?

Sarah: What?...What was wrong with it?....I don't remember....I.... don't....*sheepishly laughs*

Me: If you had to pick one actress that YOU yourself would replace in a favorite movie, who would it be?

Sarah: Probably Sofia Vassilieva in Eloise..I mean, I liked that roll, I liked her in it too! But I mean....

Me: What were your first and second thoughts when you walked into the study and saw me reading "Gone With The Wind" while you were still working? *dastardly chuckle* ;)

Sarah: Hah! *in a pompous sort of voice* Really? *drawling* (That was the first thought) (Her second thought was out loud and made me laugh!)

Me: If you adopted a baby from another country when you grow up, which country would you pick?

Sarah: Oh that's a hard one! Probably...Korea...or...Russian or German....

Me: Well, thank you Sarah for giving us your time!

We hope you all enjoyed this sister-to-sister post! It's been a long time since we have done something like this! -Rachel and Sarah

You're Never A Prophet In Your Own Country! ;)

Sarah has so much faith in my herbal skills and her reaction to my latest suggestion surprised me! It almost moved me to tears. Literally. ;)
The poor dear has had a horrid cough all week. We joked that we had let her out of the t.b. ward only for Dad's birthday party. So this evening in the kitchen, I said, "I found some elderberries growing along the road today! I'll pick them tomorrow and make you something for your cough!"
Sarah stopped sweeping, stared, and interrupted me with her these words, so accurately describing her faith in my remedies: "I'm-not-gonna-let-you-poison-me!!!" So much for healing my family members! ;) I now sympathize with the earliest doctors who tested which plants were good to use and which weren't. :D

A Little Sewing Circle

I was gone with Mama and Anna yesterday from 8 in the morning till 8 at night, going thrift-store shopping. Dear Sarah held down the fort, and made a delicious dinner for the whole time. After being out all day long, we were prepared to come in and find a house...needing its Mama. :) But I must commend Sarah's efforts as "homemaker for the day", because upon entering the house, we saw something like this:

Okay, so they weren't dressed up in period clothing, but they were all sitting round the table, so cozily, with bits of fabric and lace all scattered around, sewing diligently away. I am sure they were unconcious of what a pretty picture they made! I almost hated to spoil the quaintness of it all! :) It was such a sweet little scene for me as a sister to see after I had anticipated something perhaps a bit less genteel! :) I won't tell you what they were working on, because that would spoil the post I can't wait to do! :) But I felt as if I had stepped into a scene from Little Women: "We were in the Slough of Despond to-night, and mother came and pulled us out as Help did in the book. We ought to have our roll of directions lie Christian. What shall we do about that?" asked Jo, delgihted with teh fancy which lent a little romance to the very dull task of doing her duty. "Look under your pillows, Christmas morning, and you will find your guide book," replied Mrs. March. They talked over the new plan while old Hannah celared the table; then out came the four little work-baskets,and the needles flew as the girs made sheets for Aunt March..."

Ah..."my girls" have learned well the pretty things that make the home a pleasant place to be! :) This little vignette may not interest everyone, but I noticed and appreciated it, and so I thought I'd "tell a tale" on the girlies at home who kept an eye on things and succeeded well! :) Thanks Sarah! :) -Rachel

The Scare of The Century, As Told By Rachel

I have been comissioned by Abigail Taylor to relate to you the story of the way Matthew gave Sarah the scare of the century. So settle back, and enjoy a simple tale of a little wit, a tad of quick-thinking, and a dash...funniness! :) Meet the Villain of the story:

Well, three of him. Could you ask for a better creep? Long claws, buggy eyes, whirring wings... *shiver* It all began yesterday evening. Like the good girls we are, after chores, Sarah, Leah, Anna, and I all went out on the porch in the cool of the dusk to shell these:

Only it was not so glamorous and pretty-looking. Our version is more like piles of this:

We quietly shelled the lima beans, singing as we went. That is when the Villain first came onstage. With a whirr of wings, he hit a shutter of the house, then fell to the ground. I screeched, I confess, and tucked my skirt tightly around my ankles. I do not get an overly loving feeling over praying mantises! :) We stood up to do something, and as I prepared to sit down, I saw little Manty, clinging to the back of my rocking chair. This would not do. So we girls took turns shying shoes and baseball mitts at all three of the creepy insects. (there were 3 at this point in time) My goal was to knock them off the house and chair. Anna's goal was to clock them. She hit the biggest guy, (twice the size of the picture of there) and he fell to the porch with one menacing wing sticking out funny. I ran off the porch, thoroughly disgusted. The third one persisted in staying on the house. I took the baseball mitt, and chucked it at him, hitting him off the siding, and causing him to fly through the air, chasing me the whole length of our front porch! :P That excitement being over, we returned to shelling Limas, thinking that the Villains had been vanquished for sure and certain.

Enter Matthew Walker. Good cousin, he. But mischevious lad at times. He sits on the porch, talking to us, and watching his good, house-keeping cousins shell the beans. He declines the offer of helping, and prefers to watch our deft fingers do it. Scrapes a pile of beans off his lap that Leah put there, and continues to chat about many things. He laughs over our praying mantis story. We girls continue to sing.

♫ "Some bright morning when this life is o'er

I'll fly away

To a home on God's celestial shore,

I'll fly away...." ♫

Sarah utters a little squeal, and ducks her head, for one Villain, the poor injured one who had meanwhile climbed up the front door, hits a porch post near her vicinity, and falls into the flower bed. While she is shuddering over the thought of that nasty creature coming anywhere close, Matthew the Brilliant, Matthew the Quick, Matthew the Witty, takes a lima bean shell, aims, and quietly throws it, hitting her chest perfectly on time. Her eyes take on an expression like this:

And she utters the loudest scream I think I've ever heard coming from her mouth! "AGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!" She falls back into her chair, and continues writhing about, looking as if she is in the depths of an apoplectic fit while we all collapse in laughter. The joke is explained. She is relieved. They repair to a movie inside, while I brave the Villains, and sweep up all the shells. And that, dear readers, is the tale I have to tell! :) -Rachel

A Tribute To Okra

Written For Sarah:

"A Tribute To Okra"

"The horridest plant in the garden I think,

Must be the Okra- it truly doth stink!

It smells like as squashbug who's wearing perfume

That comes from the air of a long sealed-up tomb.

The plant is prolific, I cannot deny,

The main little problem just seems to be "Why?!?"

When stewed, Okra looks like the muck in our ditch!

(Besides the wee fact that the fuzz makes you itch!)

The furriness seems to delight peoples' tongues,

(As long as it doesn't go straight to their lungs!)

It grows at the rate of ten miles a day,

At a stand by the road, I doubt anyone'd pay.

Besides- at our house, we're ready to choke-ra,

So please, orphans, please, let us donate our Okra!"

Sarah passionately despises okra, but our thrifty Mama will not see it wasted. Thus the "donated okra" line, which may seem irrelevant otherwise! :D -Rachel

"The Ballet of The Faun" You've got to see this! :P

Question: What do Rachel and Sarah do with a broken pinata, and a camera?
Answer: Well, you will soon see.
Now I have two disclaimers:
1. Daniel needs to come home. Our humor is becoming cheaper than ever. Not so witty. More....like this video! ;) I'm teasing- we are having good times, and we all thought this was pretty funny! :)
2. The singing- I, Rachel, am the star of this film. I did the dancing, and the singing too. You must understand that I was half-choking with laughter and I forgot the tune to some of the last song, so it sounds naturally...funny! So don't take this as a sample of my singing voice PLEASE! :D Sarah did the filming, so she has all the credit for the second half of the title. The stage, by-the-by,was Daisy's milking stand. The lovely green curtain was my blouse. :)

Now sit back, and enjoy this video entitled: "The Ballet of The Faun: Viewed from eye-level with the stage" ;)

Well, there you have our brief masterpiece. Pretty entertaining for a spur-of-the-moment show, don't you agree? :) -Rachel

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH AND LEAH!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah and Leah!!!!

Yes, Sarah and Leah share the same birthday! They are three years apart, but born on the same day: Aug. 6! :) Happy birthday girls! Here are the 6 top things I admire in each of them:

Sarah:

Her craziness (This includes "Mrs. Ricardo?", "The Beggar", "The Blind Girl", and many other things, Sarah! :)

Her love of, and great skills with young children

Her aptitude for mechanical and technical things (Sarah was the one who finally found the right breaker to turn off all our fire alarms the other night, Abigail! :)

Her generous spirit

Her practicality (The Lord put us two as sisters for a reason dear! You balance out my fancies with a good dose of reality, presented in a polite way, and I educate you on how to dream! ;)

Her love of tradition- Sarah's kids will never lack a holiday. She'd be the one to visit Mount Vernon on George Washington's b-day, or something equally fun!

Now for Leah:

Her generally peaceful attitude about pretty much anything! :)

Her gentle manner when in a conflict (She proves out the "gentle answer turns away wrath")

Her "tee-hee-hee-shiver-the-pop!" laugh! :D (anyone who has seen Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit" will recognize this laugh as either Flopsy's, Mopsy's, or Cotton Tail's! :)

Her willingness to do things other won't do

Her preference for being an early-bird and waking up perfectly cheerful and ready for anything! ( :D )

Her vision for our home

Happy birthday girls! I love you both and can't wait to see all the Lord has in store for you as you get older! :) -Rachel

Random Things, including dried frogs, and a cucumber named Alfred

I learned a lesson at lunch: Never be watching an educational video about caves with super good photography while eating. They were detailing a 100 meter-high mound of bat guano covered in cockroaches, and explaining the immense part this food chain plays, and I suddenly totally lost my appetite. The mound was absolutely swarming with cockroaches. I don't know what it is about me and crawly bugs. I love frogs, toads, snakes, and lizards, unlike most girls, but I squash every bug I see. On the same d.v.d. they were also showing glowworms threading out their little sticky threads.....Ew! I don't want to be a girl about it but...I am. But on the other side, today while folding laundry we found a dried up frog that must have run through the wash in someone's pocket, and I wasn't scared or disgusted by him....we all have our limits! :)But isn't God's creation wonderful? I mean, even the bugs, I must admit, play a huge part in creation, and we'd be entirely lost without them. I once read a little rhyme by Ogden Nash that said,

"The Lord in His goodness made the fly

And then forgot to tell us why."

But have you ever stopped to consider that a fly really helps decompose stuff? I don't know...I'm trying to look on the bright side of "bug-dom"! :) So some other things that are going on are that we made strawberry goat's milk icecream! Yum! It is super good! It should have been though! We used 10 egg yolks in it! Also, Gracie decided to "adopt" a cucumber, and named it Alfred. I haven't the foggiest idea where she got that name, but...any-who! That's what's been going on in our life recently! Oh! Tomorrow we are going to have a whole family of girls and their mom spend the night, and we are going to watch "Wives and Daughters"! I am soooooo excited! YAY! When Mama asked Dad he thought about it a moment and said, 'It's free, and it's fun- Let's do it!" :) If you haven't yet, pretty please enter our movie quote contest below! :) -Rachel

A Tale Of Lorna and Nicholas ;) (Otherwise known as, who'll finish first?)

Do any of you belong to families where EVERYBODY likes to read? I coaxed everyone else along in this area, and have pretty much made them as crazy about reading as I am! :) Daniel comes to Sarah and I at night, flops on our bed, or walks slowly over to our shelf and asks what book he should read. I feel like some sort of seller of furs as I exhibit the pros and cons of each book. I have read them all. The hunt for a good book always ends up rather flat, because so has Daniel. Actually, we've read all those books several times. The younger girls ravage my bookshelf continuously. Friends from church have me draw up lists of books for them to read. I think they should start calling me "Marian"! (you know, that librarian from "The Music Man"? ;) Even if you don't like to read, I may just press you with promises of good books. In all fairness though, I should be able to list a whole catalog of good titles- even the Walkers are hard-pressed to find a book in their house that I have not read. Poor Matthew has been subject to taking my recommendations on faith and reading many things such as "To Have and To Hold", and "Pride and Prejudice", that he mayn't have read without a big, encouraging shove into it. Okay, so having a girl for a cousin can injure your reading list. (But I think he enjoyed them!) I also, though, have roped him into reading "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Ivanhoe", and Sarah has gotten him to read "the Pickwick Papers" by Dickens, so we aren't all girly about it! Anyway, the point of this post, was to describe a rather amusing scene that happened last night. Sarah and I were both in the last throes of very thick books. Sarah is reading "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens, (731 pages) and I was reading "Lorna Doone" by R.D. Blackmore. (400 some odd pages) She is reading her book on credit, because it is really one I took out of the library to read, but let her read it while I was reading the other. We sat together in the living room. She cast a wary eye upon my reading- only about a 1/4 of an inch to go! Her book is longer than mine...will she finish before I swoop down and grab it from her? We are both feverishly reading. Then Mama wanted to watch "I Love Lucy" with us, so we pause. Mama falls asleep, and we both decide to take our reading up again in our beds. I am savouring the last few pages of "Lorna Doone". Suddenly, she is shot at the altar at her wedding by a wicked, wicked cousin of hers! :0 Horrors! I breathlessly read the part aloud to Sarah, in absolute agony! How on earth could an author kill off his title character? Sarah listens patiently, then waves me off. "I've got to keep reading!" she says. I finish my book in peace, once I learn that Lorna is not really dead, and they have a happy life ever-after! I am satisfied. Sarah is still reading. The time draws nigh midnight. Reluctantly, she lays aside her book, and we go to sleep. I am a good sister and I don't claw the novel out of her hands this morning and read it myself! ;) In fact, Miss Sarah is sitting here beside me with only 1/4 inch (or 3 chapters) to go! Hurrah for literature from the old days when thin books were for babies! Our literary tastes go for Sir Walter Scott, Dickens, Austen, Alcott, Twain, and all those solid 4 inch writers! :) I don't find it too bad to boast of one's family, so think that our only crime perhaps in this post comes from the fact that we simply love to read! -Rachel

Who Can Spell Mud? :)

Alright. Matthew has been bugging me to write this story on here so I will! ;) Saturday, Daniel, Matthew, Sarah, and I went to Lone Star Park to go hiking. Usually we go on the little trails back in the woods when we host church there sometimes. But that day the usual spot was closed. Having seen a sign for horse trails, we departed in that direction on foot. We first tried to get across into our favorite woods at the boat dock by hopping across some rubbery ground that was all cracked like towers. But Daniel, Matthew, and Sarah began sinking into the black goo so we gave that up. We continued on the gravel road. At each new little road we'd travel down it. One was only about 5 feet wide and went out as a dam in between two lakes. From what I could tell it was made of a bed of gravel and some wooden pallets. Very adventurous. But his led to nowhere unless we desired to tiptoe across a super thin metal wall. Uh-uh. Not a chance of that for us girls! :) There were still no more signs for the horse trails. We trudged on. Daniel tried to convince us girls and Matthew to go down a 15-20 foot perpendicular wall of dirt to the beach on the lake below. That didn't go over. "Matthew," I reasoned with him as he almost agreed to the wild prospect. "We all must die at some point, I know, but please live through this walk!" he just laughed and they abandoned the idea. Still we walked on. It seemed miles. "Where are the horse trails?" we wondered. We finally came to a lovely overlook and gazed into the cool blue water below longingly. We girls sat on a bench to rest. Daniel continued down the road without us. Seeing that there were no horse trails in the near vicinity, we called Daniel on his cell-phone and asked him to come back our way. "Come on back to us." I teased, "We'll be sitting here eating honeysuckle!" (The only form of liquid accesible to our parched tongues! ;) Sarah and I consumed a branch of honeysuckle each, and then Daniel joined us. On the way back down the road we met up with a park ranger. Daniel stopped him, and politely asked where the horse trails were. "Did you see a chain across the path?" he asked, eyeing us gruffly. I had the vague feeling that I personally had reputation as a renegade or an arsonist. I am sure I looked guilty, though perfectly innocent in reality. Turns out even if we had found the horse trails, they were "strictly for horses." Ho-hum. Way to ruin a long hot tramp! ;) But, determined to make some lemonade out of the lemons, we decided to go into some woods by ourselves, seeing a dock in the lake to one side of the path. Daniel charged through the underbrush, we girls in his wake, escorted by Matthew. As he helped us down a slippery hillside we heard a strange noise, seemingly coming from a den-like hole in the hill. Matthew and Sarah convinced themselves it was a bear. I was inclined to think it a bullfrog, but we never found out. We swung ourselves across a ditch, and tiptoed over the mud. It was one of those spots that feels like thin ice. Balance your weight the wrong way, and you'll plunge through. After being scared by numerous Spring Peepers catapulting into the water, we reached the dock. It was so rotten as to be quite dangerous for walking on. It was unanimously decided to return to the main road. Daniel made himself rather a "Legolas" and light-footed over the treacherous mud to the safe terrain on the opposite side. I followed. My leg promptly plunged through the crust up to my knee. I screamed, (almost gleefully. It felt good!) and Daniel yanked me out with a sturdy stick. It was Sarah's turn now. "But where do I walk?!?!" she wailed. Daniel grinned. "Just step where I did!" Well. I suppose Daniel must have weakened the ground, for no sooner did she take a step or two then both her legs plunged in. I helped drag her out, and mine up the shoe that was still stuck. Matthew made it over with a very narrow escape from the mire. There was still the poison ivy on the hill to brave. It felt rather like stepping over laser-beams to avoid triggering an alarm or something. We did a queer little dancing-thing through all the poison ivy (which I am not allergic to) and arrived at the road breathless and bedraggled. "Yuck!" Sarah cried, half in satisfaction an half in dismay, surveying her feet which were now uniformly covered in a layer of black, skunky-smelling mud. "Well, at least both my shoes match now." Daniel fumed about the poison ivy, but still admitted it had been fun. Matthew and I just laughed. "This will be something to blog about!" we both agreed. And so it was! We washed up in the lake and returned home without further incident. Voila. Our little muddy-saga. :)
-Rachel

This is Just Weird

Hey guys! First of all, let me tell those of you who didn't see on the post below.... that I have begun another blog, (operating as a link from this) for my writing-things! (i.e. poetry, stories, thoughts on writing, etc.) I figured that I'd make those topics their own little resting place and that way only those of you who wanted to read my scribblings could go over there and follow it, or use my link on the sidebar here. Anyway, it is called The Inkpen Authoress. (Click on the name if you please! :) So we both will still be posting here, but my writing things are at the new blog.
New topic.
What do we kids do to amuse ourselves while riding to and from jobs? Well, today Sarah, (for some reason) started a game where you sing only the first word of a song, and everyone else guesses what song it is. That was random, fun, and even Dad played it. I was singing the word "I" and trying to get them to guess the right song, and all Sarah would do is sing, "have a mule and her name is Sal!" and then we'd crack up laughing, and I warble my little "I" over again. This time Sarah replied, "Love my mule and her name is Sal?" "Raised my mule and her name is Sal?" and generally made herself and us crack up.
We experienced the first of the summer's landscaping trials this afternoon: Some of you may better like to call it "The `go-green' sandwich melt". (Which in plainer language is when you make a meat sandwich at home, bring it in the car, and by lunchtime, the cheese is in an insipid state where it is neither melted nor unmelted, and the meat is neither thoroughly hot nor cold, and your lettuce is steamed, and the mustard sort of sticks to everything else. :( Not tasty)
Sarah and I sat there cracking jokes about our sandwiches and trying to choke them down. Sarah did a "Vitameatavegamin girl" shiver at her first bite. I made a resolute face and mined toward the middle. She pretended she was a termite. I wailed, "Fire in the hole!" and took a big bite which I regretted. We looked at eachother and I tipped my sandwich in a friendly manner saying, "Sarah..stuff, stuff, stodge, stodge!" and we both tried to continue. Finally I gave up. Sarah won hands down by pretending to be Templeton from Charlotte's Web, singing the "Smorgasbord" song the whole time. I just laughed and comforted myself by the recollection that any homeless people rummaging through trashcans would find a nice, melty, neither-here-nor-there sandwich to make up their dinner. *Copies Sarah's shiver!*
Oh! And on the way home we were in the midst of a raving, tearing thunderstorm and so Daniel turned on Lord of The Rings music to match the weather, and we scared ourselves silly! ;)
-Rachel

Ball Preparations :)

"Bed, bed, I couldn't go to bed,

My head's to light to try to set it down,

Sleep, sleep, I couldn't sleep tonight,

Not for all the jewels in the crown!

I could have danced all night,

I could have danced all night,

And still have begged for more.

I could have spread me wings,

And done a thousand things,

I've never done before....."

Around here, we love dancing. And we have a pet peeve: DANCING WITHOUT MUSIC!!!!!!! You really will end up gallumphing if you don't have some sort of something to help you go along gracefully! :) But since most of the time we don't like having to drag a c.d. player into the front yard, we just sing the music. True, we sound choppy since it is hard to keep a steady voice, sing "The Port Royal Gallop" and do a polka all at the same time, or to dance the "Ship's Cook" and sing "The Maid That Sold Her Barley", but we do it all the same! Waltzes are easier- Sarah and I simply start into "Ten Minutes Ago I Met You" from Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella".

"Ten minutes ago I met you,

I looked up as you came through the door-

My head started wheeling

You gave me the feeling,

The room had no ceiling or floor.

Ten minutes ago I saw you,

And you murmured a `how do you do?'

I wanted to ring out the bells

And to....(I forget the words)"

It's alot of fun really! :) So, another thing we have been doing, (and this for brushing up before the ball) is asking eachother for a dance, and practicing accepting and refusing partners graciously. Sarah finds excessive amusement in dumbfounding me. Last night, she came up and said, "Do you have a partner?", with an air of expectant gallantry. I modestly said, "No." and then, instead of asking me, she walked away!!!!! I didn't know what to say, and pretty soon she fell on the ground laughing at me. We are constantly quoting the scene from "The Sound of Music"

"Leisl, who are you dancing with?"

"Nobody..."

"Oh yes you are!"

"May I have this dance?"

"I would be delighted young man!"

The reason we are practicing refusals, is because we have decided that we don't want to do the Waltz (the Spanish waltz is fine) or the Polka with any young men except for Daniel or Matthew. They are rather close-ish dances to do without some embarassment and uncomfortableness on the girl's part at least. Yes, Sarah is quite a clown about it all- she has set up every swingin' scenario you could imagine- she went down on her knees and asked me, she grabbed my shoulder and asked me, she tapped me on the shoulder, she bowed, she chased me around on her knees like some very short and scary man....she really is very inventive. You know me! I make an elaborate bow to Sarah and ask her for a dance in the most correct and pretty language. But when she asks me, she pretends she is chewing on a straw and says, "Ya' wanna dance?" What would we do without personalities?

All around our house we are buzzing about the ball. Last night I set to putting a French tuck (by hand- reenactor fashion you know ;) into my skirt with as much goodwill as any young woman ever has when preparing her finery for her first ball. I only hope that I get asked to dance, because I would rather dance with a blind mule than sit and watch people doing it when I can't! The King's Daughter and I have already pledged each other that if we both are left to dry-rot along the side, we'll dance with each other! :) Well, I had better go! -Rachel

P.S. Thank you Eric and Charity for becoming our 31 and 32 followers!!!! :) We hope you enjoy reading this blog and continue to visit and comment!:D

Home-grown Talent Show.... :{

So, what is the newest amusement for us around here? What would you say to a talent (or rather, untalent) show? Yep. That is what we girls have been doing in some of our spare moments. It is really not as grand as it sounds- at all. We gather up the Walker girls and ourselves, and head out to the front lawn where everyone does whatever they can think to do.
Really! It is so much fun! I'll give you a peek into one of these shows...
Abby and Bethany stand up and blush, then argue about the words to the "Matchmaker" song. Finally, Bethany begins singing, but Abby stops her, and they start over. Stop again. Start again. Finally, I herd them off the stage and put on the next act: Anna and Emily singing some song. They forget the words and shrink back to their seats. Sarah and I give a despairing smile to the others as we realize that we'll have to carry the show. I get up there and recite "The Highwayman" in a fashion that would make Anne Shirley proud. Sarah and I sing "By the Light of The Moon" ala Fred and Ethel Mertz.
Then Gracie and Bekah get up there. Grace giggles while Bekah runs around singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" at the top of her lungs. Literally, just those five words. She can't remember the rest. We shoo them off by politely clapping, and then I get back up in front of everyone and sing opera. :) Or at least, my version. It is composed of mostly imitating the lady in Anne of Green Gables, and finished with a warbling "O Promise Me" song, sung purposely to make the little girls crack up. At last we begin to try to be serious. Abby and Bethany take turns jump-roping for us. Then they do a "Virginia Reel" while either Sarah or I sing "The Maid That Sold Her Barley" for accompaniment. Leah may go shyly up and perform a little song, and Anna or Emily will try singing "Come Thou Fount", but get embarassed halfway and go sit down.
Sarah and I are at it again with "Carolina in the Morning" (with a dance) or "The Old Kent Road". Then, our girls sing "Be Thou My Vision" in three part harmony. The only people left to clap by this point are Bekah and Grace who have been yelling the whole way through.
I send Leah to bring the other girls back. We are finally all seated, and Sarah and I finish our little show with "Angel of Music" from "The Phantom of The Opera".
By the end we aren't sure if we have any talent, but we have had fun and have spent a profitable 1/2 hour spending time with each other! -Rachel

She and Me and Us

Hello! We will have more exciting things to post about as the weekend comes along, but this morning, I thought I'd list 6 things about Sarah and I that are just interesting bits of trivia. Who knows what difference they'd make to anyone (probably none) but you can just get to know us a bit better.

About Rachel:
I love red hair. If I could order some kids from a catalog when I'm married, they would be a pair of red-headed twins: a boy and a girl.
I have begun about a dozen books, and only finished 3, much to Sarah's irritation. :)
I am constantly fiddling with things for no good reason.
When I am hot, I am inclined to be grumpy.
I do not like most breakfast foods, so I eat leftovers for breakfast most of the time.
I always twist my ankles for some reason.

About Sarah:
She does not like wearing fancy church dresses, because she likes to be able to play after church
She does not like popcorn. (usually)
She wants a Great Dane puppy
If she was a cartoon character, she'd be Curious George.
She can wear yellow, and carry it off pretty well! :)
She doesn't like math, but is very good at it.

About both of us together:
We are one-time recording artists. Really. That is not a joke. As 6&8 year olds, along with Daniel, we each were paid 560 dollars to sing 40 songs for the Sing, Spell, Read, and Write company with a lady at our old church. It was alot of fun, but we were so short that we had to stand on brief cases to reach the microphone. Thus our group name: The Briefcase Singers. We are seriously thinking about making an album: The Briefcase Singers Remix ;)
We are old-fashioned people and our opinions are rather the same as those you'd find in the 1800's. :) (We pride ourselves on being a sort of aficionado of that time period.)
Neither of us like the idea of working in the garden, but find it not too bad once we get started.
We both were scared to death at the idea of downhill skiing, and found it thrilling!
We're both certified electricians, plumbers, framers, and AC technicians! (Well, not really certified, but we've had a LOT of experience building this house:)

"I Am Blanking Out On A Title For This Post "

Dear Blogging People: How are you?
By the way, does anyone else have trouble finding ways to open up a post? I do not seem quite able to master the art of an enthralling first word. Maybe if I started out something like, "It was a dark and stormy night..." and the rest would soon follow, "and Rachel sat typing at the keyboard." Not gonna cut it is it? Here is something that you will soon hear about if you talk with me about poetry: I do not in any way, shape or form like un-rhyming poetry. (generally.) That being said, I shall post a couple of poems that Sarah and I made up simply to disgust ourselves by pretending to be Mr. Carl Sandburg who is characterized by calling fog "cat feet" and all a manner of other things strange:

"The jaguar moves on silent feet-
Velvety feet through the jungle.
Where is he going?
Only he knows.
On velvet feet he steps across a log--
A dead, moss-covered log.
Startling a bird
He pauses- velvet
Paw held in the air.
Dark mists hide
Him
Where is he going?
Only his velvet feet know."

Now, if that weren't disgusting enough, here's one more:

"Drifting in endless columns
From the
Chimney where it came,
Choking columns float toward the sun,
Like a form of night,
Paled by the sun.
Gray smoke cloaks the
Lone pine from
My watching eyes.
I think- what is
Smoke?
A nightmare in
cloud-form?
A rain-cloud gone
Astray or perhaps
Just the cloud rising from
The logs on the
Hearth. I wonder, and
Watch the lone pine
Disappear in the
Smoke."

Okay. Bear with me. We were laughing so hard because people get famous from writing stuff like that. Who can call such things poetry? I am incredulous at some of those sorts of things. They are the most boring scribblings in the world I think. Here is a rhyming poem that I wrote about the subject:

"Analogies"

Like a truffle without chocolate

Like an apple without peel,

Like a mouth without a smile

Like a letter without seal,

Like a ring without a diamond

Like a watch without the time,

Like a fountain without water

Is a poem without rhyme.

Okay. And just for you Joanna, (and someone better comment or I'll never post poetry again) here is the one about our forest in the snow:

"Snow Lace"

The finest kind of lace I know

Is what the trees wear in the snow:

Their barren arms are covered quite

With snowy lace of dazzling white,

And glad I am to finally see

Them traced in silver-filigree.

The trimming on a wedding dress

May never fail you to impress.

And yet, a costly bridal veil

Beside the snow is coarse and pale.

More shimm'ring than the milk-weed down

Can be the greenwood's marriage gown--

And lo, the roots are even shod

In lace spun by Almighty God.

Okay. Hope you enjoyed that someone. And please believe me when I say that Sarah and I do not think the first two poems were good! They are impeccably revolting! :) -Rachel

A Post in Which We Both Write

First off, can you see a periwinkle and brown background, or an ugly beach building? Our filter blocks alot of Cutest Blog on the Block stuff and Blogger movies, etc. so we can't tell if the new background is working. Please tell us, so we can make the right changes. Now, today is supposed to be our first day of school even though we'll be getting a later start. Yesterday evening the family that was staying with us went back to their house because the heat had been fixed. Then last night Rachel, Daniel, Leah, and I went to a Generation Joshua meeting where we were electing new officers. Daniel will post about that. -Sarah
Is anyone else getting excited by all the seed catalogs that are being sent out? I am, though I haven't any money to buy seeds with! :P
On Monday we had a Girls' Gazette tea party up in our attic. I made fudge which didn't turn out at all. It was like trying to eat a sugar cube it was so grainy, and then I remelted it, added some powdered sugar, and it was still dry and grainy but it still tasted good! I don't think I was cut out to be a candy-maker! (see the taffy post in September `09!) Very cold, but very fun. We felt just like the March girls in Little Women, and all went fairly well. The younger girls didn't act up this time though Abigail did get up and begin tap-dancing like Shirley Temple while we all sang "The Old Kent Road" for her. But apart from that, we were very well-behaved children. We sort of had to thaw out upon coming downstairs though. Thank goodness for our woodstove! The attic is very open. Literally. The wind comes up through all the soffets and eaves and everything else. (On purpose for ventilation, but it is uncomfortable for a teaparty!) We are trying to form a theatrical society up there. I only wonder if any of us are actresses, and if the younger girls could memorize lines! Sarah is a good actress! I cannot keep a straight face to save my life, so I would have to play a comical part. (Ask Daniel about the news show we tried to do once. :) Anyway, it is a good thing that we did the teaparty Monday instead of how we usually do it on Wednesdays, because today we are doing school! Well, have a good day everyone! -Rachel

Projects and Pretending

Hey guys! Over this holiday week every year we have projects to do. Yesterday Sarah cleaned out the sewing room, I cleaned out the corners of my room,and I spear-headed Anna and Leah and I cleaning and organizing our attic! It looks really good now! We made the chore much more enjoyable by pretending, by Anna's suggestion, that we were orphans who lived with our cruel uncle in a manor-house and he was making us live in the garret, so we were cleaning it out. I am still quite a little girl in that I love pretending. We have grand plans to form an acting society and put on plays up there! And we are already planning to move our G.G. headquarters to the attic! There are a bunch of cabinets up there that we can use to store teacups and other necessities. Also a rocking chair with three of the back bars missing that I shall occupy as the President of the Girls' Gazette Society. The other girls have to make do with chairs borrowed from the other end of the attic that belong to the Strothers. Anna said they said we could use them. Today we are supposed to be passing out fliers for the business, and tomorrow we have a cousin's birthday party. Uncle Lon and Aunt Heather are coming down! Daniel is running for president of our Generation Joshua club. Soon I'll put a link to his website, but I'm not sure what the address is so I can't yet. For better or for worse my Vision Forum stories are sent in! By Feb. 1 I'll know whether I'm a thousand dollars richer or not! :)
-Rachel

p.s. Thanks to Ashley for becoming a follower!:) -Sarah