Design Shark’s Neighborhood

Yesterday, I took the day off work to take care of a few things.  The local theatre does free movies for kids during the days all summer long.  This week they were showing Firehouse Dog.  Since I was off, we took the girls and met a couple of others there for the movie.  The movie is about a dog that is a movie star (notably the star of "The Fast and the Furriest")  and he gets lost and is trapped in a building when an arsonist catches it on fire. 

The show the arsonist later making more of his timed fire bombs.  He sets one of them down on a table and the camera pans to show about ten more just like it on the table.  Also on the table are the remains of cigarettes and cigars.  When these were shown, Ashli states loudly, "uh oh, he smokes."  I almost couldn't stop laughing. 

 

This past weekend, I took the beginner motorcycle course.  Here in TN it costs about $200.  I had a dirt bike for a while when I was a kid, but it had been about 15 years since I had ridden.  Gas prices along with a longstanding interest in motorcycles urged me to take the course. 

Friday 06/13-  Classroom work.  We learn basic laws and instruction.  It takes about 4 hours and we see lots of videos.

Saturday 06/14 7am-  We all meet up at a middle school for actual riding in the parking lot.  Our Class starts with 24 people.  We are split into two groups due to there being only 12 motorcycles.  I was amazed at how quickly most of the stuff came back to me.  The whole morning emphasised clutch control and this really started an aching feeling in my left thumb.  I am not the only one feeling it in the thumb. One girl quits because she can't force herself to hold in the clutch anymore.  Her mom and her husband were with her and they quit too because they wanted to do the course together. 

Right before lunch we lose someone else.  I was taking the class with my friend Ken and we were sharing a bike.  While I was riding he was watching and vice versa.  I was watching Ken weave through some cones when out of nowhere from behind him comes another bike with a 16 y/o kid on it.  The bike is obviously driving the kid and not the other way around.  Ken never sees him.  CRACK!  The little 16 y/o is asked to leave and Ken is not hurt but a little shaken.  The kid was taking the class with his dad.  His dad decided he would go on without his son there.  Just so you don't think they kicked this kid out for one thing, he had been trouble all morning.  He was either not listening or incapable of learning.  I think everyone was glad that he was gone, although, Ken was talking to his dad and his dad said that he was going to buy him a bike anyway to learn on.  IDIOT!

At about 2pm we head out for the classroom for the last bit of instruction and the written test.  100%, but it was pretty easy. 

Sunday 06/15 7am-  Wow, Saturday really took a toll on me, and I am a little tired.  It is hot and muggy.  Going 10-20

mph part of the time isn't really building up a breeze.  We do some challanging exercises.  The U-turn is not fun and had a lot of people stressing out.  The S-Curve had been dreaded since Saturday because everyone could see it painted on the ground and new that it was coming.  The S-Curve turned out to not be supervised and wasn't that difficult.  We later found out that it was the same turning radius as the U-turn. 

They taught us about countersteering and that is an interesting thing.  It goes like this:  To make a turn at speed you push down on the handgrip in the direction you want to go.  If you think about this, pushing down on the handgrip turns your wheel to the opposite side of where you want to go, but only for a split second.  It actually helps facilitate a lean in the direction of choice.  You do this naturally by instinct from learning to ride a bicycle, but not knowing about it can cause you to crash in an emergency situation.  When you try and turn the wheel or pull back in the direction you want to go causing you to go the opposite direction into what you were avoiding. 

After lunch we did our driving test that consisted of the u-turn, swerving, emergency stop, and high angle curve.  Everyone that was left did well on their test (even if a few of us brainfarted on an event), and we all passed.

 

It was a lot of fun and I would suggest it to people even if you have no interest in getting a bike.  It could just be a fun weekend activity. 

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Quite a bit of time has passed since I posted an entry. I've been busy helping my mom paint. My room is sort of a medium/dark shade of blue. If I had a digital camera, I would post pictures. I really want to but I don't have a digital camera still! GRRRRRRRRRR. I wanted my room fuschia, but my mom wasn't having that at all. She doesn't like the blue, but I like bold colors. So now I can get bed sets and cute little accessories to help complement the room now. I'm so excited.

I'm still looking for a summer job. I might have a job this fall working for the Boys and Girls club. That would also be an intership as well (Yes, I know. A paid internship, I can hardly believe it myself.)

I want a mac!!!! I want a mac!!!!! I want a mac!!!!! I don't know if I should ask my grandpa to get me a macbook or a desktop mac. The desktop would be cheaper, but I do like to bring my laptop with me... I was thinking about asking him if he could get me a macbook for my birthday since my gateway laptop is falling apart after almost four years of usage. I don't have any warranty on it anymore anyways so if it gets broken, I'm not going to be able to fix it.

Please note...

I will not be posting on LJ any longer. Please visit PaperYarnGirl to keep up with current posts. It's very easy to post on Vox, but the readers are at my regular blog. Thanks!

I currently update three blogs each time I post... Vox, LiveJournal, and MalegraBlogs on my own site. I usually start in Vox, because it's SO easy to add pictures from Flickr. I then copy it to LJ, because that's easy to do as well, and there are some friends in that community. But my "real" site is the MalegraBlogs, so I post it there as well.

Do you read this? On which blog? If you do, please leave me a comment. I'm going to down-size to one blog, but I'm not sure which one is the best to continue. Thanks for your help!

Lots of work outside this afternoon. The roses on our garage are blooming. I do nothing to them, except hack away at them once they grow out of control near the end of summer. Gorgeous!

We finally got our seeds in the ground. Between the bit of cool weather, and me having a cold, and all of us being busy, it waited until today. First, we got seeds going in the peat pots... a mix of red/white/purple peppers, green beans, and vidalia yellow onions. Then two small strips in the top of the yard. The white area hold lettuce, spinach, collard greens, and marigolds. The more square area holds an "Irish flag" (girls' idea) of carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. Get it? Orange, white, and green.
We have a bunch of container plants. The tomatoes and peas will stay there. The pumpkins, spaghetti squash, and cantaloupe will be moved once they're up and growing.
Once we were done planting, Chris hung a tarp for Becky and Katie to play under. Cheap entertainment, for only $11. Just then, it began to rain - just for a few minutes - and a pretty rainbow appeared! Maybe this is God telling us that everything won't die, despite my horrid lack of green thumbs.
It only rained a few minutes, so Chris watered the plants. Becky decided she needed to be watered, too!
I took a moment to get some close-ups of Becky. I love the joy she shows when she throws her head back and laughs! She's a happy girl.
A good day. Now off to shower, and then maybe spin and knit a bit.   

Here's what's going on. A  couple of days ago my aunt's boyfriend had a collision with someone because he was following too close and his breaks gave out. He hit this car hard. My aunt asked for my mother's help and so she went down to the scene. So after they talked the car got towed away. Later that day, my aunt called Mom and asked her if they could bring the car over to our place and leave it here for a bit. After my mom got off of the phone, she was talking (well yelling is more like it) about how she wasn't going to keep this car for a month because it is an eyesore. Also, it could get towed away. Since she thought that my aunt's boyfriend is a nice guy, she didn't want him to have to get another ticket and pay for the towing. Well, my aunt and her boyfriend came over when the car was towed over to our place. After talking she said that she was going to move the car the next day. They left and the next day came. No word from them about coming over to get the car. Of course, mom was livid (since they both can't stand each other, and this was adding more fuel to the 30 some odd year fire) and she was yelling about this all fricking morning (It woke me up, and naturally I don't appreciate that). So then my uncle came to our house and he said, "You know, this car might get towed because it's not your car. If the police comes around and run the license plate through and see that it's not your car then that person is going to get ticketed and towed." He didn't even know this was my aunt's boyfriend's car. Mom told him who the car was, and since he and the bf was friendly, he decided to give him a call and tell him what was going on. Well the shit hit the fan at that moment. My aunt's bf called her and told her what my uncle said. She called my mom and said "The car is going to get towed today since it's bothering you so damn bad." She then hung up in her face. Why in the hell did she have to call and say that? Why did she have to hang up in her face? I don't know. Mom, then called her back and left a pretty scathing voicemail and told her that she should never come back to our house. You think it would be squashed, but no. We haven't heard the end of it since. I woke up to my mom yelling about this.

 I don't see how this is so damn important to keep talking about. The situation is squashed! Oh, and then at 4:00 a.m. my uncle gave us a call saying that he's in jail for another DUI. He just can't leave the booze alone, eh? So that woke me up, and surprisingly my mom didn't flip her lid on that one. She still had the other situation on her mind.

In my opinion, they are both fools. Why is Mom letting this get to her I don't know. Why is my aunt letting this get to her, I don't know. But this needs to stop, or I'm going to lose my sanity.

I can't wait to graduate from college. As soon as I get a job at a local advertising firm, I'm moving out. This is ridiculous. My grandma is stressed out, I'm stressed out. These sorts of things have been going on for too many damn years!!!!!

We won!!! Four tickets to Six Flags America, just outside Washington DC, on a special Homeschool Day. We had an enjoyable, relaxing day. Throughout the time there, we ran into a few friends from home, and it was neat knowing that mostly everyone there was somehow connected to homeschooling, family, etc.

The weather was mostly cooperative... cool jacket weather, with spurts of sun, and one tiny itty bitty hint of sprinkles, which cleared in 10 minutes. The water rides were closed, as well as several other attractions, and no shows. But we had a blast anyway, with the girls riding the big coasters (even Becky rode one!), conquering their fears, even to the point of showing off!

We had a bit of an anti-climactic ending to the day, since we thought the park closed at 6:00. Nope... 5:00, so the last rides we were planning on hitting for a second time had to be skipped. Not too much disappointment, though, as we have real tickets for later in the summer. We brought back maps, so the girls can plan which things they want to do again, which things weren't open this time that they don't want to miss, etc.
Today, Rachel attended a Tea class at Tranquilitea, in Waynesboro, PA. They made scones and sandwiches, and the moms returned after a couple of hours to enjoy a lovely brunch tea. So tasty!
Then tonight, Emilee played a gig with her band, Kill The Trends. First time they've played in public, just three songs. She played bass instead of guitar. She was nervous, but I thought she did a fabulous job. I'm amazed at how much she's learned in the few years she's been playing, obviously with a musical gift that eludes me. And of course, she and Kesley were nutballs, goofing around and having fun.

ETA: This turned into Em's first paid gig. She's a PROFESSIONAL musician. They gave her $15 for playing tonight. Woo Hoo!

I enjoy my girls so much... who they are, who they're becoming. I'm often clueless, sometimes worry-full, but usually quite full of joy just to be around them. Neat kids.