Friday, November 30, 2012

Generation Staff, Piper, Kiri Liz, Willow, and Mandy--please read! :)

Wow, that's really small.
Anyway, I got awarded by Piano Bookworm! Thanks so much!! :)

The Rules:

1: When you receive the award you must post about it on your blog and leave a link to my blog.
(above^)
2: Answer all the questions to the tag below.
(OK)
3: Do not award anyone who has more than one hundred followers.
(gotcha)
4: Come up with ten questions for the tag.
(yup)
5: Keep your questions clean and refrain from using bad language.
(of course, but thanks to whoever added that rule)
6: Tag 5 to 10 people.
(easy enough ;))
 
Piano's Questions:

1. Do you like snow or rain better?

Snow.
 
2. Would you rather live on a ranch or a farm?

A farm. It seems more mystical. =D
 
3. Would you rather live in an enchanted castle or a cottage in a fairy forest?

Hmm... probably a cottage in a fairy forest.
 
4. Do you like books set in more modern times, or books set in ancient or older times?

I like all kinds of books, as long as they're about girls. :D
 
5. Socks/slippers or barefoot?

Socks, though they're disgusting if they get wet. =P
 
6. Pink, Green, Yellow or Blue?

Yellow.
 
7. Are you musical in any way? (Singing, playing an instrument) If so, what is it?

I play piano, do handbells, and do choir.
 
8. Is this too many questions?

No, this isn't.
 
9. Do you like asking questions or answering them better?

I like answering them better, I suppose. It's more work the other way around.
 
10. Are you the quiet type, or the more outgoing type?

I'm more quiet, but around my friends I suppose I'm pretty loud. (You should be able to answer that one, old friend, eh?)

My questions:

1) Blogger or wordpress? (if you're reading this, probably blogger. But you never know.)

2) Are you/were you excited to drive? (cars) Why or why not?

3) What is your most deadly fear?

4) What's a funny moment that's happened to you recently?

5) What is your favorite of my stories?

6) Who is your favorite character of my stories?

7) What would make the most epic book ever? (details such as (ahem this is kind of mine) the main character is a girl, somehow there's a dreamcatcher and a blue moon involved, and she has a bag full of cool stuff like old books, old maps, a compass, etc. and owns a cloak. Kind of get the idea?)

8) What's your least favorite question of mine so far?

9) Why did you (if you do) decide to follow my blog?

10) What has been your favorite blog design you have ever seen? (perhaps give a link)

The Awarded:

The hard working staff@Generation Gazette (Sierra, please take care of this)

Do Everything

Sometimes I just feel like there's so much to do, but not any time to do them in. And then other times, I feel as if I have all the time in the world but nothing to do. And sometimes it just feels as if whatever you do, it's just not enough, it's just not important. It's like you do the dishes and wish you could be out with your friends. You're washing the dog and you wish you were off running around the countryside. You're outside picking up rocks and you're wishing that you're inside, writing on that new story idea that just came to you. And yet, it feels as if it's all in vain. So what? Who cares about those rocks, anyway? Why couldn't somebody else do the dishes? What are dishwashers even for, anyways? Why can't the dog just stay outside and stay dirty? You'd rather be out, doing things that really actually seem to matter, like building deeper relationships with your friends and learning more about the world around you. Or getting that story idea down before you go and forget it. I've really felt encouraged by one of Steven Curtis Chapman's new songs, Do Everything, which is about doing everything that you do to the glory of God. I'd really encourage you to listen to the song (below), even if you've already heard it a million times before.


What's been getting you down lately?

I feel like I'm sloshing through the mud,
Of the earth.
It's just not the place I knew before,
The place of my birth.
It's a changed place now, full of deceit--
Hate and lies.
I look for the people who're hiding,
Their scared eyes.
"Everything I do doesn't count,"
They say.
"I'll never do anything big,
Like what Jesus did that day."
But you realize the truth yourself,
And stoop to their side.
"Trust in Jesus," you say,
"In him abide.
"Do everything for the glory of God,
That he might say,
"Welcome home my good and faithful servant,
When it comes to that day."

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Sometimes, there's no better title for a best than "my life".

 Well, I'm taking on the job designing thingy, so now I'm having to learn to use Wordpress. It's kind of interesting, and sooooo much different than blogger. I keep on getting scared that I might accidently click one of the "pay for this" things and have to pay for something. =P Ah, well, I'll get better. I only started teaching myself today. It's kind of funny. I have all of these winter headers up on all my blogs, and yet the picture that goes with this post is of a girl in fall apparel. That's probably just because I love the picture so much that I just used it. =P I tried it as my profile picture and, nope, didn't quite work. *sigh* I suppose I'll be stuck with the girl on the horse for forever. =D lol I should really start Jessie Bender up again, but she's missing, so I've got to come up with a reason WHY she's missing. You guys are probably like "WHAT?! YOU JUST SENT HER OFF FOR NO REASON!?!?" But really--with a character like Jessie Bender, you're going to want stories about her lots, right? But life's been so busy lately, it's kind of hard. =P I've been starting all of these new stories, too, because the ideas keep on coming. I've got a book going where it's not really even remotely close to the end and I already have over 200 pages. It's about a Chinese Dragonmaster, though not the kind I've explained before. (like on my blog with Alex and Andria.) And that comes to ANOTHER thing. I've been so busy, what about Alex and Andria?! I've really got to work on them... =P By the way, Connie's second story has really gotten dug into, so hopefully I'll be able to finish that soon. I'm really rambling, aren't I? And to make it worse, I haven't made any new paragraphs. :/ I hope you're having a great day!! It's just one of those days that my soul seems to be soaring like an eagle. God bless you all!!!!!! :)



Monday, November 26, 2012

lk;asjdf

I don't know if you noticed, but random stories is still winning. (Jessie Bender's pretty close, but she's still missing, remember??) Anyway, so I've got to think random....

.....thinking.....

......thinking......

Oh, yeah!

OK, so this isn't really a random story.

Well, it is.

But more like a random praise.

Ya ready?

I KIND OF GOT A SORT OF JOB LIKE I'M PRETTY SURE I'M GOING TO DO IT BUT ANYWAY I'M GETTING TO DO LIKE THIS WEBSITE UPDATING THINGY MAGIGGY!!!!!!!!

I know, pretty awesome, huh?!?????

I'M. SO. PYSCHED.

Anyway, so ya'll later!! :)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Random.........

I love this picture. I really do.

It used to be my profile picture.

And if I ever change my prof pic, this'll be it again.

Just because I love it.

How random can I get???

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

So, random stories and Jessie Bender are winning...

Well, we all know that Jessie's missing, so we might as well go for a random story, eh? ;D

So, we have our piano, see. (Of course--how on earth could I play piano?? lol) Anyway, so the top of the seat's kind of coming off. (don't ask--besides, I'm pretty sure it might've been my fault... :/)

So I was sitting on it, about play a song or another. (Probably Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas. I love that song. =D) But then I noticed that the seat was on funny.

OK, I don't know about you, but something like that would've bothered me throughout my whole playing time.

So, without getting off (*stupid stupid*), I reached down to move it over. But then I accidently let go with my fingers underneath it. And they kinda pretty much got crushed. (don't worry--it was left my hand =P)

OK, so I don't know about you, but when you're my age, when something happens that hurts usually I try to keep it quiet. Sometimes I ended up jumping up and down with a pained face, but usually I can keep from crying. Yeah, felt that before?

Well, I'll tell you this. That worked until about a few seconds later.

When I started crying my head off.

Anyway, so I put water over it, and it still wasn't feeling better, so then I spent like a whole hour soaking my fingers in a freezing cold ice. Which almost hurt even worse. But not as much.

And now my fingers on my left hand still feel weird.

But, hey, I'm alive!!!! =D

What are some of YOUR random stories??

Monday, November 12, 2012

More about the contest... [read on if you like awards]

Yes, more about the contest!! I'm glad you're paying attention to titles. =P

OK, so if you enter the contest below we have some awards for you!! :)

(After I judge your work, of course.)

(And after, of course, you get your normal awards. =D)

I have three awards, and the person who gets first place gets to choose first, second gets to choose second, and then the third person gets whatever's left.

Good?

Good.

OK, and what are the awards?

1. A header, designed by me.
2. Button and signature, designed by me.
3. Any saying of your choice designed by me to put on the side of your blog.

Sound good?

Let's get everything amped up!!! =D

Sunday, November 11, 2012

OK...so...

This is something I've really wanted to be doing!! :)

I'm going to have a....

.....designing contest!!!!! :)

You heard me.

ISN'T THIS FANTASTIC?!?!

OK, so what's the scoop??

(always gotta know, huh?)

You design a header with a fake blog name on it.
Post it on your blog.
Leave the link here.
One entry per person.
Put the picture (below) on your sidebar with the link to this post.
Contest ends first of December.



Good luck!!! :)

And remember that I won't do more of these if you guys don't enter. ;D So guess what? I'm hoping you're going to enter....... =D

Talk to me and I'll give you some tips and suggestions.

Bye!!! :)

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Need some help? Read on!!

I saw that somebody (actually, I know who it is, but anyway...) voted for me to do designing tips and such!!! :) So excited!!!! Mostly because designing is one of my passions. :)

Mostly, I use an awesome site called PicMonkey. OK, not mostly. I DO use PicMonkey, all the time!! :) It's like the most awesome site ever. EVER, I'm saying.

More about PicMonkey--PicMonkey is a free photo editing site. But then how on earth are you going to get things blank to make headers and everything?

Love, I'm about to show you.

(Talk to Madeline if you're annoyed by me calling you "love". She started it, lol.) =D

What you do is take a photo--any photo. A photo of yours, a photo off the internet. It's your choice. Go onto PicMonkey and click Edit a Photo. (example up there. That's what you'll be faced with, though they change the pictures around.)
(I'm using this as an example.)
See these things on the side?
Those are some of your options.
You can do lots of fun stuff on this site--add fonts, overlays, backgrounds, you name it, and it's probably on there!!!

But, first of all--making a picture like the one above look blank.

You take it to the little chemistry bottle. It's actually on that setting in the picture above. Go down to "artsy" (look at the labels, ya'll) and click on "draw". Choose white, make the paint really big, and then draw it all white.

Presto! A white canvas!!

(I also saw another way described by Kathryn....)

Then go to the fonts. (hint: it's a P) You can choose all sorts of fun fonts and change the colors and the sizes and everything.

A little thing before we go on. On some of the effects and everything, there's a little crown. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. According to PicMonkey, everything on their site is free. For the moment. They'll tell us when they're not. (Where am I getting my information? Click here. This link takes you right to their site where they say it.)

Feel free to check around!!!

Want more designing tips? If so, vote on the poll and I'll give more detail!! For simple help on designing your blog layout, I have some help tips here on my blog Storyteller of Weston County.

Bye!!!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A Presidential Poll

This might end up being a really short post, or this might end up being a really long post.

(Like a reallyyyyyyyyyyyy long post.)

But anyway, I might as well ask it.

Who do you think will win the presidential elections?

OK, I understand this might not mean who you WANT to win, but I'll ask that in a moment. 

For now.....

Seriously, who do you think is going to win?

Obama or Romney?

Democrat candidate or Republican candidate?

OK, OK. Now here's the question you want.

Who do you want to win the presidential elections?

And I mean this seriously.

So who DO you want to win?

Obama?

Romney?

Chuck Norris?

So let's have something.

Let's have a vote.

And we'll see who wins in our mini election. ;D

ONWARD, SOLDIERS!!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Britt, ~The Keller Girls~, Jenna (Condon), McKenna (Brooks), and Emelie Claire, please read!! :)


I got tagged by Jenny!! :) Thanks so much!! You go!!

You have to post 11 things about yourself,
You have to answer the questions I'll be giving you here↓
You have to try to nominate 5 people,
And lastly, You have to make up 11 questions for the people you nominate to answer, and you can't pick me!
 
 
11 things about me:
 
1) I'm freezing right now. :P
2) Because our dog got skunked.
3) And got into the house.
4) So we're airing it out.
5) And come on it's November.
6) So I'm freezing!!! :P
7) (even though I'm sitting around in a sweatshirt...)
8) And I'm listening to Hans Zimmer soundtracks.
9) Because they're awesome.
10) And I love them.
11) And here's the link, so you can listen to them, too. =D
 
 
Now for Jenny's questions for me to answer:
 
1) Composition or spiral notebooks?

Either!! :)

2) Peeta or Gale? {Yes, I had to ask that.}

I don't read or watch Hunger Games. (and the only reason I knew it was Hunger Games is because of Peeta... :P)

3) Apple or pumpkin pie?

Oooh... you're killing me, Jenny!! I love both. :)

4) Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

Milk Chocolate, though I still love dark. :)

5) Soda or flavored water?

Soda.

6) Winter or Fall?

Fall.

7) Contacts or Glasses?

Probably glasses.

8) Mystery or Horror books?

Mystery.

9) Necklaces or Bracelets?

Necklaces.

10) Ballet or Tap Dance?

I don't do either, but if I had to, ballet.

11) Orchestra or Chorus?

Chorus!!!! :)

My questions for you:

1) Listening2music or makingthemusic?
2) Documentary movies or painfully slow historical movies?
3) Romney or Obama?
4) Falling down the huge stairs on your first day of school or bumping into your worst enemy on the first day of school?
5) When reciting a poem... would you rather stutter horribly the whole time, or mess up the wrong word at the end so that it's exactly the opposite of what you meant to say?
6) Be laughed at or confronted for laughing at someone?
7) Get the lead part in a play and then trip over your costume and fall on your costar or get the minorist role of all and do perfectly (mostly because you're barely even in one scene)?
8) Journals or diaries?
9) Would you rather be burned at the stake for something you believe in or die peacefully in your sleep?
10) Have your best friend move away and totally forget about you or have your best friend slowly make best friends with another girl/boy and remember you?
11) Listen to really sad music while doing math or listen to really peppy music while doing science? (most specifically dissecting something)

I'm really exited to see your answers!! :)

And now my five awardees:
~The Keller Girls~@Three Girls and Their Hobbies
Emelie Claire@Emelie Claire

Congrats!! :)
~Storyteller

Saturday, November 3, 2012

SHE. IS. MISSING.

Dear Readers,

I feel kind of awkward.

See, I know you're thinking this is Jessie.

But it's not.

It's Noah.

Maybe you've heard of me?

I'm writing Jessie's story today simply because of one horrible fact.

Jessie's missing.

And the worst part?

Her parents are out of town!!

And so are my parents. Urgh.

They thought we'd be old enough to take care of ourselves. We are like thirteen.

And I can't  contact them. I've tried and tried, but  I can't. And when I called the police, they were like, "Jessie Bender? No way!" and wouldn't believe me.

Same thing with 911.

What am I going to do?????

Sincerely,
Noah

Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Perfect Tea

How do you have the perfect tea party?

Love, I'm about to tell you. ;D

I hope you enjoy! Maybe you'll even have your own tea. :)

If you do, please tell me!! That would be awesome to know that I helped you get your own tea assembled. :)

First of all, before I begin, I'll say this--you're NEVER too old to go to a tea party. And maybe you have little friends. If they ask you, why not? It's lots of fun!

Of course, I'm sure you all know that tea wasn't just for little girls before.

But anyways.

Perfect tea?

We're starting. ;D


1. Do you have a tea set?
This might sound kind of silly, but seriously--do you have a tea set? Without a tea set, it's kind of hard to have a tea. (parts of a tea set: tea pot, sugar holder, cream pitcher, several cups with saucers, and of course stirring spoons) If you don't already have a tea set, it's really easy to pick one up at a second hand store for a really good price!
Also, if you are doing that, it's way OK if they don't have a huge tea set all together!! :) It's OK to pick out like five different tea cups (or how many you're going to need). It's always fun to pick your tea cup, isn't it? It also gives a sort of style.

2. Compile your guest list.
Who do you want to invite?
Who do you think would come?
Who can have the things that you will be serving?
(you should always make sure that your guests can actually eat what you're serving. For example I have a friend who can't eat products with flour, and I have friends with braces. They might be breaking the rules, but there's still the rules--you're not supposed to have tea or pop when you have braces. Have something else for them like lemonade. Or, for like my friend who can't have flour, maybe have some kind of special treat that they could have. Example: maybe candy. My friend loves chocolate. =D)
Start coming up with ideas before your tea party to see if your party would actually work out. Maybe even ask some of your friends if they would like an idea like that.
Once you know who's coming and everything, most likely the rest of the rules will be easier.
3. Get your perfect spot.
Do you have a spot in mind for your tea?
Outside in your garden?
In your dining room?
Your living room?
Your bedroom?
Or perhaps another place?
When you're planning a tea, you want to make sure you know where you're going to be at. If it's summer, maybe you can plan it outside. Or on a back porch, where the breeze can roll in. Or maybe you can decorate your living room and have it in there. There's lots of awesome places to hold teas.
(Like maybe you could redecorate your barn loft...? ;D)
Real quick here are some ideas for decorating a space to look more Victorian:
Take or hide the immediate modern appliances. For example if you're doing it in your living room, drape a knitted/crocheted blanket over your TV (if you have one). Put doilies (see below) underneath lamps. Instead of lamps, maybe, you could put candles. (if you have them, kerosene lamps are AWESOME!!! :)) Even put like tablecloths or sheets or blankets over small tables that you have. Drape blankets over your couch and chairs. Add pillows, maybe some that you've embroidered. If you have a tea hat, maybe you could hang it on the wall instead of that modern painting. Be creative and don't be afraid to try something out!!! :)
4. Get your "tea" and food ready.
I don't know if you've heard this, but you don't actually have to drink tea at a tea party. Use your favorite drink, like maybe lemonade or soda. You can still have the tea party feel by pouring your drink into your tea pot and cup.
As for tea, try lots of different kinds! Maybe even have several tea pots. It always lots of fun to choose something and maybe even try something new. And you don't have to go for the really expensive teas. Just try some of the cheaper ones. They're lots of fun!! :)
 As for goodies? You can do whatever you want!! Make the cookies that you love, buy some crackers from Wal-Mart, make a cake, just whatever! Also, sometimes it's fun to make sandwiches.
To give the sandwiches extra styles, try doing different "designs" with them. Example: cut off the corners, or make them into triangles. (i.e. on the triangles: take a piece of bread and cut it in half in a way that makes it triangles, from, say, the top right corner to the bottom left corner.)
It's lots of fun!! :) You can also use cookie cutters. Those work really well.
5. Tea Party Decorations.
Do you want that perfect look of beauty and Victorianishness? Then you'll not want to forget your decorations! Though the table above is pretty and attractive, you don't have to go quite to those lengths.
What kind of decorations are good at a tea party?
Tablecloths are a very good idea. Not only are they pretty, but they protect Mom's prized table from little messes that always happen. (don't worry--I always make messes :P)
Flowers are also very pretty. Maybe you can pick some that are in your back yard, or maybe you have fake flowers. Either way, put in a vase or even an old water bottle or something that's decorated with paper, it looks very well on your table arranged around your tea set!! :)
And maybe something else? Doilies are also very pretty. (what are doilies? Click here)(I'm pretty much positive that if you don't know what they are by ear, you'll know what they are when you see them) These are very pretty. Put them underneath your flowers or in the middle of the table.
Also, you can add other decorations to your table, too!! Be creative!! Maybe you have that pretty little figurine that you would just love to put on a doily... try it out!! That's how things are invented. =D
6. Some things about manners.
I don't know if you know anything about proper manners. I don't even know if you CARE about manners. You can either have a really fun time and just be yourself, or you can try the formal.
For the formal tea party: make sure that you serve your guests first. You should do this anyway, just to be polite to your friends. And if you see them glancing towards your plate of goodies, offer them another or make it known that everybody can take as many as they want. You want to be aware of your guests and make sure they have a wonderful time!! :)
7. The perfect outfit.
Not only do you want your party to look perfect, you want YOURSELF to look perfect.
Just dress in something fun!! Maybe your new dress that you got for your birthday, or that really pretty dress that your dad just bought you.
Or, you could go total Victorian and dress up like they might've back then when they went to tea with long dresses, big hats, white gloves, and parasols. Either way it lots of fun!! And if you tell your friends, you can all dress up together. :)

8. The before and afterwards.
Don't forget to send out invitations and thank-yous! You can go either way on these. It's really easy to pick up a pack of thank you and invitation cards for really cheap. Or, you can make your own, whether by yourself or with the help of a computer. Be creative!!! :)

And most of all, don't forget to have a GREAT time!!!!! :)