Week 5 - Yes, Way Overdue.

I have been very very very very very bad at keeping up this blog- and I'm sorry. But better late than never, right?
A recent act of service I've done involves knitting. I've now successfully taught myself how to knit decently. So, far, I've knit my little sister an orange & yellow striped purse, a small white teddy bear for one of my good friends who moved away, and another teddy bear for one of my greatest friends, which I'm the most pleased with because I used soft, fluffy yarn, so the same design made a soft, larger teddy bear. I've also taught one of my neighbors how to knit, which she did very well at, by the way. Definitely better than I did when I first learned how to knit.

Something I'm grateful for is a phone that texts, and the amazing people that text me. Recently, I've had a lot of spare time on my hands but only a few options of entertainment. One of these was my fantastic iPhone. I had the most fun texting conversations with that- mostly because I have one of the greatest friends ever, who always sends the best texts that often makes me smile & laugh. I think that's definitely something I'm very grateful for.

(Thank you Ebay.com and Google Images for the photo you see below)

Week 4 (sort of) : January 4-11 2014

Ok- so I have been VERY bad at keeping up with this blog. Sorry about that.

 

Important Update: Next week is SEMESTER FINALS!!

 

With this in mind, I've been very grateful for my amazing teachers this year. Honestly- I don't have one bad teacher- which is absolutely amazing! They've all been so helpful, patient, enthusiastic, optimistic, kind, and just super awesome. A particular shout-out to my Biology 9 Honors teacher, who is helping me out in genetics, and who is an amazing teacher. He's always so fun, and excited about learning: it's contagious. It makes you want to know everything about anything and connect all your prior knowledge to understand the world. It's fantastic. I'm so grateful to have as amazing teachers as I have this year. Seriously.

Somehow, I've managed straight A's, but I'm not sure if that's going to last after finals. We'll hope for the best. It's time for me to fulfill my part of the bargain in this public-education system. :)

 

My act of service this week has been making my two little sisters' lunches Monday through Friday of this week. I put little napkins with a short note in them, and then on Friday, I printed out a little poem by Shel Silverstein- who is one of my favorite poets of all time. In the lunch with a peanut butter jelly sandwich, I put the poem in about the king who ate peanut butter sandwiches for every meal. Best poem ever! In the other, I put a shorter, more simple poem for my younger sister, about hippo sandwiches. I'll post the poems below for your enjoyment. :)

 

"Peanut Butter Sandwich" by Shel Silverstein

(from his book: Where The Sidewalk Ends) :

 

I'll sing you a poem of a silly young king
Who played with the world at the end of a string,
But he only loved one single thing—
And that was just a peanut-butter sandwich.

His scepter and his royal gowns,
His regal throne and golden crowns
Were brown and sticky from the mounds
And drippings from each peanut-butter sandwich.

His subjects all were silly fools
For he had passed a royal rule
That all that they could learn in school
Was how to make a peanut-butter sandwich.

He would not eat his sovereign steak,
He scorned his soup and kingly cake,
And told his courtly cook to bake
An extra-sticky peanut-butter sandwich.

And then one day he took a bit
And started chewing with delight,
But found his mouth was stuck quite tight
From that last bite of peanut-butter sandwich.

His brother pulled, his sister pried,
The wizard pushed, his mother cried,
"My boy's committed suicide
From eating his last peanut-butter sandwich!"

The dentist came, and the royal doc.
The royal plumber banged and knocked,
But still those jaws stayed tightly locked.
Oh darn that sticky peanut-butter sandwich!

The carpenter, he tried with pliers,
The telephone man tried with wires,
The firemen, they tried with fire,
But couldn't melt that peanut-butter sandwich.

With ropes and pulleys, drills and coil,
With steam and lubricating oil—
For twenty years of tears and toil—
They fought that awful peanut-butter sandwich.

Then all his royal subjects came.
They hooked his jaws with grapplin' chains
And pulled both ways with might and main
Against that stubborn peanut-butter sandwich.

Each man and woman, girl and boy
Put down their ploughs and pots and toys
And pulled until kerack! Oh, joy—
They broke right through that peanut-butter sandwhcih

A puff of dust, a screech, a squeak—
The king's jaw opened with a creak.
And then in voice so faint and weak—
The first words that they heard him speak
Were, "How about a peanut-butter sandwich?"

 

 

 

"Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich" by Shel Silverstein :

 

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.
All you do is simply take
One slice of bread,
One slice of cake,
Some mayonnaise,
One onion ring,
One hippopotamus,
One piece of string,
A dash of pepper--
That ought to do it.
And now comes the problem...
Biting into it!