Sometime in January--Rio Rancho, NM

Well, Seriah has about had it up to here with Math. She was so upset today about it, that instead of working on her problems, she wrote a poem about it:

 

The Horrible Thing That is Math

A Poem By Seriah R. Getty

How do I dislike Thee? Let me count the ways:

You give me all your problems—every single day.

You give me useless info that I'll never, ever use,

And do I have a choice? No, I never got to choose.

Your problems are outrageous! Full of silly, stupid stuff,

Like how many stores carry how many pairs of mittens and lady's muffs.

How many apples does Sally have after she gives them away?

At what time will these two trains run into each other today?

I think I will smash my head on the wall—

How much pizza is left? I can't do it all!

I don't know what your X is—I couldn't care less!

Fractions and Comparing—my notebook is a mess!

GCFs, LCMs, bytes and bits and pieces,

Oh why, oh why, oh why do you have 86 peaches?

Ratios, Division, Subtraction and Addition

I'm pretty sure that ruining my life is your goal and mission.

Why do you need me to find your LCD?

I'd rather be curled up with a book and a nice hot cup of tea.

So what if there's 80 restaurants?

What on earth has that to do with 11 monkey astronauts?

Two whole lessons of math a day? No, I really can't!

The circumference of a reindeer isn't really that important.

And if you ask me one more time something else to multiply—

I think I'll just lay down on the floor, curl up in a ball, and die.

Oops--here she comes! I didn't exactly get her permission to post this, so I'd better beat it!

January 10th, 2014!!!

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!! It has been a very busy year for me, traveling back and forth between Rebecca and Seriah. I am now back in NM after spending the holidays with Rebecca's family. Thank goodness there is no snow here! It's actually pretty warm here. I have only been here since yesterday, and I shared the flight over to NM with Seriah's Christmas present from Rebecca, a mug from the Outer Banks of NC. Seriah loved it and wanted me to post some pictures of her using it--which she did right away.

Here's a tip: Never have your little brother take your picture if you're planning to post it online...

(trying to act like a lady from a chocolate commercial in heavenly bliss isn't working, Seriah)

The hot Cocoa is all gone....(dramatic sigh)

December 15, 2013-- WV

What Have I Been Up To? An Update From Tsarmina Greeneyes:


Well, after an awesome time with Seriah in New Mexico, I returned to find this interesting substance all over the ground--

Maisey had never seen it before, either.

Don't be deceived by its soft, fuzzy appearance, because it feels nothing like cotton batting. If you bury your face in it expecting to become warm, all you will get is a face-ful of cold-- the stuff actually turns to water when it comes in contact with you!

Rebecca says it's snow. I say it's snow joke-- being a cat, I naturally do not enjoy the presence of things that make me cold or wet. But everyone else seems to have fun playing in it. In fact, Rebecca and her visiting cousins all bundled themselves up in stiff-fabric-ed clothes and went out to play in it!

I think they're crazy.

Well, I know I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry about that! So busy. Apparently, in this world, people have a holiday right in the dead of winter. They call it Christmas (am I the only one who had never heard of it?). It's where they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. They use several interesting methods of celebrating: chopping down trees and dragging them into their houses to be decorated, exchanging gifts, setting up statues of men in dresses beside wooden boxes that have been turned sideways (they call these nativity scenes), baking spicy cookies shaped like dead guys (they're called gingerbread) and cleaning houses up just for visiting relatives to make dirty all over again.

Rebecca lives in a family of bookworms.
When the relatives visit, they read all the books
in the house. LITERALLY.

Try and find me in this picture

Meanwhile, Rebecca's room is Santa's workshop.

She turned her dresser into a desk for sewing and the like.

 

Sssssshhhhhh! Secrets in progress. . . .

But you can't come in, because you might get a peek at the secret Christmas presents that we're working so hard to make! So go out and play in the snow, and I'll be back with you Christmas day.

And I'll be staying warm in this gorgeous scarf Seriah made me! 

Napping on the upstairs Christmas tree. . .
it's actually quite comfortable!

 

October 15th 2013 -- Rio Rancho, NM

Yeah! Seriah finally got to go shopping for cowboy boots today! Since Seriah started riding again, she has started to learn how to barrel race. (That's racing around three barrels in a clover-leaf pattern in an arena.) She really needed boots because since she has started riding again, she has been wearing some old sneakers. Boots definitely help you remember to keep your heels down! She has been saving up her money from babysitting for MOPS and looked on Craigslist and Ebay and she finally found some she thought would work from Boot Barn. They were on sale, thank goodness! Seriah managed to get some pics in the store while nobody was looking; she didn't want to get questions about having a mountain-lion in the store!

Find the cat---If you can!!!


Here are the boots she finally decided on:

Nice plain toe for riding, but some pretty stitching to keep them from being too boring



 

September 27th, 2013-- WV

A tired Rebecca after the 2nd parade.
I was pretty sleepy, too-- that's me in the corner of the front porch half asleep!

 

 

We went to the Buckwheat Festival today. Rebecca marched with the Unified Middle School Marching band. There were only two other kids from her school's band, and they all wore these red t-shirts. So Rebecca was pretty easy to spot after the parade!

I walked around with Rebecca. There were rides and the usual carnival stands, and buildings filled with crafters displaying their work. Some of Rebecca's friends were showing their animals in the 4-H section, too.

Did you know you get tickets for the food booths just by marching in the parade? If that's the case, I might just join the marching band next year!

 

Do you think I can learn to play it by next Buckwheat Festival?

 

There's one more parade tomorrow. I can't wait to taste funnel cake again!

Friday the 13th in Dunlow, West Virginia

Isabelle and me.

The curtain is pulled aside and the scene unfolds:

     The day is Friday, September 13th, 2013. The location is the Cabwaylingo State Forest. A family unpacks their things in a rustic cabin by the creek late at night. Six children, all cousins, skip merrily out of the house and down the lane, lanterns bobbing in their hands. Oh, yeah, and there's a wildcat with them, too. They're off to their grandparents' cabin, a mile down the stretch of one-lane road. They are singing and laughing, innocent as to what is lurking behind a monstrous oak just ahead. A man waits with a chainsaw, his teeth bared in an evil smile. He revs up the chainsaw and jumps out from his hiding place. The children scream, standing there alone and unprotected--
     Not really!

Looking out over the creek.

     But that was true up until the chainsaw part. Rebecca's mom's family had a reunion, and we stayed in cabins in the State Forest.
     The first thing I heard the next morning was pounding and screaming. I jumped up and fell out of bed.
     "Ruffians!" I cried. But no, it was Rebecca's cousins telling her and Isabelle that it was time for breakfast in the other cabin.
     "It's alright, Tsarmina," yawned Rebecca. They got up and the cousins dragged us the practically the whole way down the long road, which seemed much longer in the daylight.
     During the excruciating wait for more relatives to arrive, the cousins and I walked back and forth between the cabins. Good exercise. And then we had to wait even more for the food to cook. And then Rebecca was told to run back to the first cabin and fetch the forgotten pasta salad, so she waited even longer. But I told her not to worry. I guarded her plate. And then a cousin had to take it away and guard it from me. Hmph.
I also guarded the lemon cake:

There is NOT icing on my face! No, there's not!

The vegetables, however, sat cold and alone.

The adults sat and talked (boring!) We target shot toy arrows and BB guns-- although it was a little difficult for me to load the gun (not having fingers, and all). So Elijah did it for me.

Scary, right? I think I'd feel safer with the chainsaw murderer!

At some point, some of us got bored with playing militia and climbed on top of the wood shed.
These are some rare one-of-a-kind scenes that you will only see if you are a member of Rebecca's family, or a reader of this blog:

Grandmothers playing football

Girls who prefer to enjoy their s'mores reduced to ashes.

Children playing with fire-- just kidding! They were supervised.

Breadmaking in August -- Rio Rancho, NM

 

Seriah loves to be artistic. . . even when baking bread!

(She braided it and brushed it with egg-whites before baking it)

 

 

I don't remember the exact day this was...August was super busy.