Christmas

So I haven't posted in a while because, of course, it was Christmas time! I'm sure you're all dying to know about my Christmas, so I'll just start at the beginning (of last week).

It was a cold winters day, and we were headed to our Aunt DeAnn's house. Yeah, it was a Sunday and we were going to our annual Black family Christmas party. It's been at our house for years, and this year we finally got a break and our kind aunt and uncle offered to have it at their house. Thank you!! I didn't have to clean the house!! So we were there a while and Dad was all loopy because he was on medication because his back was out again. Joe and Erica came and then Grandma Carol came. Joe started carrying in huge black trash bags that were full of presents from Grandma because she got us each about 20 things from the local dollar store. I actually got some nice stuff which made me so happy. I got two pairs of fuzzy socks (I'm wearing one right now), sticky notes, mechanical pencil, a cute little calendar with pictures of sickly cute kittens (like Dolores Umbridge =D) which is hanging in my closet, sweet pink pajamas with hearts on them, and many other wonderful things. I came home soon after the "party" and Marjorie delivered Porthose. For any who don't know him, he's a black Shih-tsu/Maltese (I probably didn't spell that right, but you get the idea) They were going to stay with Suzie's family so I needed to watch him.

Ashley and I decided to do something about our ugly rooms. Mom had promised to paint our rooms the August after we moved here (which was over a year ago). The next day (Monday, December 22) we started to patch up holes and paint the baseboards and do other boring stuff. Ashley had my ipod so I couldn't listen to Harry Potter so I got Hannah's book on CD called Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. I had to find my old CD player. It was a pretty good book, but I finished it in about 2 hours. Mom painted most of the ceiling and my walls. I stayed up late to watch her paint but then she made me finish the ceiling, ugh. Porthose of course had to follow me everywhere so he kept on going into my room and Ashley's while we were painting which really helped us. My room is now a cream color like the rest of the house, yipee. I do like it though, it's better than the brown and all of the holes in my walls are covered up. Ashley's room is blue like the bathrooms, a kinda baby blue but not really. I'm too tired to describe, just picture it as any kind of blue you like. Our bedspreads matched each other's new room color, so we switched so it all worked out nicely. My new bed color is a hot pink with a black throw blanket and Ashley's is this creamy quilty bluey yellowey pinkey kind that would've matched my new color anyway, but it looks good with her blue. Mom was mad that we had her paint right before Christmas but I keep on telling her that now it's behind her and she doesn't have to repaint it for many years to come.

Christmas Eve was a bit sad because Marjorie and William's families decided to ditch us. John just came over for an hour to hang out and then we were by ourselves. Dad had had a bad reaction to his medicine so he was in bed. Us girls pulled on our Christmas pajamas and we play Category 5 together. After so many rounds, we got sick of it and we tried to think of a good game that Emma would be able to play too. We decided to have Hannah open one of her Christmas presents early (from Ashley and me) which turned out to be a game! Who knew? So we decided sinse that present happened to be a game, we might as well play it. It was Uno Spin. I got Uno and then someone spun and we had to pass our cards to the left. Emma got my card so she won. How is that fair? Eventually Dad came out and we read some scriptures and took pictures and then we went to bed. I was a bit worried because I wanted to have my cat, Charlie, in my room on Christmas Eve, but Porthose has to sleep with me. They don't like eachother very much. I decided to chance it and have them both in my room and they were pretty good until 7 AM which was good.

Mom made us wait until 8 AM instead of 7 to open presents which I was mad about. I woke up at 7 AM and Ashley was up too. We couldn't go back to sleep. It wasn't that I was extremely excited, but Charlie woke me up and I just couldn't go back to sleep. At 7:30 I asked Mom if we could look in our stockings like she said we could last night but she didn't let us. A little before 8, Ashley and I went into Hannah and Emma's room and jumped on their bed and started cuddling them so they'd wake up. That was a little backwards. Usually, the little sisters wake up the older ones on Christmas because they wake up early from being excited. This time, the older sisters were waking up the younger ones. Mom finally woke up and we opened stockings and presents. I finally got a jacket (I've been stealing Ashley's because mine were too small and she kept on stealing mine). I got a lighter jacket to wear when it's not really cold. I got 5 tank tops and some cute shirts. I got a book called Wicked (not the musical, a different book with a different story), scrapbooking and beading stuff, jewelry, Guitar Hero II, and gum. Oh, and a planner. I got one last Christmas and it's extremely useful. I got a watch too which I've been needing. Hannah got some cute random games, Emma got poly pockets, and Ashley got electronical stuff including an ipod and a camera, and then some small stuff. Hannah got a camera too. I got mainly clothes. I remember last year Ashley got mainly clothes and I was thinking of how upset I would be if that's what I got and how boring it is. I'm happy with it now. I spent the day playing with a game of Hannah's (a 20 questions toy that guesses anything from Harry Potter) and Guitar Hero. William's family came over for a while and we watched Charlie the Unicorn goes to Candy Mountain 1 and 2 because they didn't get why I got a shirt with three unicorns that said "Shun the Non-Believer, Shun!" on it for Christmas. (For those who can't see apparently, in case you didn't get what the underlined blue/purple things mean, click on them to see each one.) Wendy (not my mom) was wondering what the people were smoking when they made those. Grandma Carol was over too and she stayed for dinner which was delicious. Well, the salad wasn't my favorite. The adults dug into it while us kids just stared at it. The actual meal was really good.

The day after Christmas, Grandma Carol took my sisters and me to the movies. Ashley and I saw 7 Pounds while the lil ones and Grandma saw Madagascar 2. Dad said that a lot of people didn't like it because it was depressing and the ending "ruined it". I thought it was very good even though it was depressing, and the ending fit into the movie. You'll have to see it yourselves.

I've just been playing The Sims 2 and Guitar Hero II, playing with Porthose, and being lazy for a while. That's the joy of Christmas. Porthose is gone now which I'm kinda happy about. He was always chasing the cats and he followed me everywhere I went. I can't even go into the bathroom without him whining.

Now Grandma and Grandpa Stevens are coming over and staying at our house. They should be here any minute. I love it when they're over, because then I can play Ticket to Ride and Settlers with them (only Mom and Hannah like to play it too).

It's been a goodish Christmas. :)

Logic Puzzles

In my geometry class, I can do up to four of these logic puzzles for extra credit (which I NEED). My teacher said that I can get help from my family. So, here they are and you guys (especially Grandma Joan probably) can try to figure them out, and maybe help me out a bit. I think I have the last one figured out, #8. I think it is to ask one of the peoples what the other person will say that they will say. (Like you ask one who happens to be the honest one what the other one will say that they say. So he will say something like "The other one will say that I will say that the other one will say that I will say that...") Does that make sense? If not, help me out.

1. Arrange 12 toothpicks to form six congruent squares. Each square must have one toothpick for each side, and you cannot bend, break, or overlap the toothpicks.
Draw a picture of the figure when you get the answer.

2. Determine the rule for multiplying 11 by any number including 2-digit, 3-digit, and 4-digit numbers.
Show how the rule works on 72, 77, 121, and 1344. I don’t want the product only, I want the procedure explained!

3. King Arthur wants his daughter to marry one of the knights in his kingdom. However, she insists that she be able to marry the smartest knight. She devised a challenge that could be won only by the smartest knight in the kingdom. It went like this:
A dinner party would be held and all the knights in the kingdom would be invited. Only those who wished to take the challenge had to come.
All the knights in attendance would sit around a circular dinner table. King Arthur would start at the head of the table (seat number 1) and go around the circle clock-wise and be-head every other knight until only one was left. The first knight beheaded would be in seat number 2. (Remember, this is a made up story). The one that was left was the smartest knight and he got to marry the King’s daughter.
Here’s the challenge for you to figure out: Not knowing in advance how many knights will show up, how can you determine which seat is the “safe” seat. For example, if 10 knights show up the safe seat is #5. If 25 knights show up the safe seat is #19. If 200 knights show up the safe seat is #145.
To get credit for this problem, determine the safe seat if 7 knights show up, 29 knights, 117 knights, 260, and 550 knights (Do this without a simulation). Show your work. Hint: Simulate the challenge with some small numbers, organize the results, and look for patterns.

4. Each letter in this problem represents a different number between 0 and 9. Find out what number each letter represents.
FOOLELFELF E = ____ F = _____ L = _____ O = _____

5. Using 10 toothpicks, make the following pyramid
........l
.......l l
......l l l
.... l l l l
Move only 3 of the toothpicks to reverse the tower.
..l l l l
...l l l
....l l
.....l
To get credit, show how the toothpicks are moved.

6. A person told a census taker “I have 3 children. The product of their ages is 72 and the sum of their ages is my house number.” The census taker looked at the house number and said, “I still can’t determine their ages.” The person replied, “Oh, I forgot. The oldest one likes chocolate pudding.” The census taker then wrote the children’s ages. What are they and why? (Hint: The person could have said: “Oh, I forgot. The oldest one likes football ( or math or broccoli…etc).”)

7. There were two stairway races. In the first race, the children started at the bottom of the stairs and raced to the top. In the second race, they started at the top and raced to the bottom. The racers were Dameon, Deedee, Ron, Allison, and Kathy.
1. The person who was the last to the top, turned out to be the winner of the race to the bottom.
2. The person who won the race to the top came in third in the race to the bottom.
3. The person who was third to the top was second to the bottom.
4. Kathy was fourth to the top.
5. Allison was fourth to the bottom.
6. Ron reached the top ahead of Deedee.
7. Ron reached the bottom ahead of Dameon.
For each race, tell what order the children finished.
Race to Top Race to Bottom
1st:__________________ 1st___________________
2nd__________________ 2nd___________________
3rd __________________ 3rd___________________
4th __________________ 4th___________________
5th __________________ 5th___________________

8. You are traveling to Truthtown, where everyone always tells the truth. As you are traveling, you encounter a fork in the road. Only one of these roads goes to Truthtown. The other road goes to Badberg, where everyone always lies. A man from one of the cities is standing at the junction. What one question will allow you to determine which road leads to Truthtown?

My Exciting Week

I started to realize that since I can no longer do the 30 Days of Gratitude and have them automatically post, I have to tell you guys about my life again. *sigh*

On Tuesday night, I had a Holiday concert at my school where I got to sing S'vivon, Sleep in Heavenly Peace (mix of Silent Night and What Child is This?), and Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. What really annoyed me was that all of the girls and guys in the choir kept on getting up and going where they pleased and talking really loud and being super loud. We were forced to listed to the bands and orchestra which isn't my favorite past-time activity, but I was trying to listen to be nice. I wanted to slap all of them. Our choir teacher wasn't impressed. Our singing was nice though.

Later that night I went to my Sunday School teacher's house (Sis. Dlugas). We each were given a person that we had to give a creative present to and whoever had the most creative one wins (and it had to be under $5). Apparently, only me and Matt Wilcox (and sorta Ben Barlow) remembered. Matt Wilcox gave Ethan Drake a comic that he made himself which was pretty funny and Ben Barlow made Ryan Davis a plate of brownies I think. I gave Matt Wilcox a Toolkit for Surviving a Church Dance which Mom helped with a lot. We got him body spray, chap stick, breath mints, how to dance guide, 15 good pick-up lines (I'll put these at the end of the post in case any of you need to use them), and an Abba CD. I also had chocolate for him to give to the girl if the dance isn't going well but it "disappeared" and today Mom found it half eaten under the bookcase. Very suspicious... He really liked it, I hope. We played Pit, this super fun sock game that I'll teach you peoples sometime if you wisheth, we had pizza, and we just hung out. It was really fun, and I got to take home a 2-liter bottle of sprite!

Yesterday I got to babysit these cute kids in my ward. The oldest one, Landon, is Emma's age and the other, Brinley, is around 2 and they both have really blond hair. The parents said that they'd be gone two hours at tops but didn't come for 3 hours. I watched Horton Hears a Who (one of the best shows ever) with them and played games. They did ones where they jumped off the stairs and sofas and did stuff that paranoid me because I didn't want them to get hurt. They were made at me because I wouldn't let them play with the decorations even though they said their mom lets them because I didn't want to be responsible for them braking. They've got a billion toys down stairs (more than Emily and Matthew which is saying something) and they wanted to play with these things. They were also begging for oreos which I was told they couldn't have. We still managed to have fun (I hope). Babysitting isn't my favorite thing and I have to remind myself of why I want kids when I'm older, but I get paid. I like dogsitting Porthose so much more and I am so excited to! He's coming over this Sunday because Marjorie's family is going to ditch us and go to Texas. I hope my cats are okay with him... Misty wasn't, but it could be because she had 5 babies and he was so interested in them...

Today I had to go to school ten minutes earlier than I usually do which really inconvenienced me because it meant that I couldn't take my bus. I had a French Holiday Singing Concert Stupid Thing That Almost No One Wanted To Do in the drama room. I had to go and get this ugly green stamp on my hand to show that I was there, but I would assume that she would know that I was there since I was forced against my will to play a stupid song on the piano while the poor kids sang. It was Il Est Ne (He is Born). My French teacher, Mrs. Lee, made me practice during class a lot and play while they sang it and that was a hard song and I messed up on most of it during practices. I finally sat down one night and played it with the metronome over and over and over again until my back hurt from having no support on that unforgiving piano bench. I finally got it down and I only messed up once during the performance when I accidentally moved up my hand a full step for one of the notes. She made us sing and dance and bounce up and down during it. When we were singing "Dashing Through the Snow/Jingle Bells" she had these "dancers" come down and she said that she wanted to make it more creative by incorporating (if that's the right word) dancing into it. So they would all stand elbow in elbow and squat and then stand up and do a sort of perverted can-can thing during "Dashing Through the Snow". They would then start squatting up and down during "Jingle Bells" where the first person would squat and then the next person and it just went down the row and then back up with them standing up. Amazing dancing, it was so good and beautiful that I was crying while I was singing (from laughing too hard). Poor souls.

Later that day I put my hand palm-up just above my knee and then put my other leg on top of it so I was squashing my hand while crossing my legs which I tend to do lately. Well that stamp that was smeared rudely onto my hand by one of Mrs. Lee's students rubbed off onto my jeans. That made me happy. I was feeling pretty good today because my hair was straight and I feel so pretty when it's like that and I had tons of people go up to me and say that I look good =D. My faithful Asian friend, Sydney, said "Wow, your hair is straight! You look so much better!" Thanks....? In French Mrs. Lee said this boy who has some kind of syndrome cried because we didn't record our "performance" so she had me play my song again which I funnily messed up on a bit and other people had to do their stuff. We went into the other room and played Bingo and this guy named Scott stole all of my chip things (not food, but colorful chip things used to play Bingo or whatever your heart desires), put them in his mouth, and spit them across the room. ? We went into the other room again and we just goofed off and he tried to hit the clock with a stick while I played the piano and some other boys did crazy stuff in there too. Mrs. Lee came in and got mad at everyone because there were chips all over the floor in the other room and she made most of them clean them up but Scott got to stay in there with me because we were "practicing". She came in later and said in a sweet voice "Scott do you want to tell me what happened with the chips?" I figured that was a good time to go so I headed back to the classroom where Ethan Drake and Ben Fisher told me that she was yelling really loud and going crazy and that it was scary. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks after that.

That's my exciting week and I can't wait until next week!!!!!

15 AMAZING Pick-up Lines!

Did you fart? Because you blew me away!

Is your name virtue? Because you garnish my thoughts unceasingly!

"So...what's your favorite temple? … Really? YOU are my favorite temple."

You remind me of the fruit in Lehi's dream, which is precious above all.

You must be tired because you've been running through my mind all night.

Haven't we met before...like in the pre-existence?

Would you like to dance or is your sole function in life to stand around and look pretty?

How are your sweet spirits tonight?

Was your dad king? He must have been to make a princess like you.

You fascinate me more than the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

I lost my teddy bear. Can I cuddle with you instead?

My love for you is like diarrhea; I can't hold it in.

You're more beautiful than 100 pink flamingos on a golf course.

Do you have a map? I keep getting lost in your eyes.

You are the reason men fall in love.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 30

I'm grateful for people who read my blog.

You make me feel happy.

Stupid Celeste

So this post was supposed to be one where I tell you how I went to the Brand New Year Premiere for the BNY cast at the Bountiful Regional Center today and how it was so fun seeing all of my friends and the finished video and stuff. Nope, sorry. I thought it started at 4:30 PM but it actually started at 2 PM and I checked to see if it was 4:30 or 5 PM around 4 and then I saw how stupid I was :( I was looking forward to it all week and me and my friends were talking about how excited we were and I totally missed it. I was watching the clock today and I had been hoping that we would have a reunion. *sigh* At least I get to see it in January.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 29

I am grateful for Ashley.

She is my sister who is closest to my age. She's been my best friend when I was younger and we did a lot of things together. I still love to talk to her and hang out with her and I'm so glad she's my sister even though we do have our... disagreements. Shopping with her is fun and she makes me laugh a lot with her randomness. I love her soooo much!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 28

I am grateful for Dad.

He is so fun to be around and cheers me up. He always makes jokes and he is really good with computers and technical stuff. He is kind and a hard worker. I love him so much and I'm so glad that he's in my family.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 27

I am grateful for clocks. They tell everyone what time it is so they won't be late for things and so that our life is better scheduled and they give me something to stare at during class at school.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 26

I am grateful for Christmas.

It's the best time of the year for me. I get to spend time with my family, give to others, receive gifts, feel happy, and remember Christ's birth. I love the feeling that I have and I love how it's the time of year when Mom makes a lot of cookies, rice crispy treats, homemade marshmallows, fudge, and this year she made gingerbread. Christmas makes me happier than my birthday and I'm so glad we can celebrate it.

High School Musical 3

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Apparently Sylvester and Charlie had been spying on everyone's dancing this whole time and they were jealous. They thought what's the point of just having a dance party if no one will see us? Let's be in something big! So they went to the set of High School Musical 3 and tried out for the part of Troy and Gabriella and lo and behold! They got the part and they sent this to me just to gloat. I was so proud of my little girl, Charlie. She's so talented! And Sylvester... wow... I never knew. They kicked everyone's butt! They are some crazy Wildcats!

Barnyard Bash!

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Being as jealous as I was, I decided to take it upon myself and make another dance party where none of them were invited in the place where they least expected so they can't find us. I chose some way cooler people to come party: Me (of course), Hannah, Chelsie, Mckenzie, and Jordan. We held it in a barn but we were having the time of our lives AND we weren't copying Jim or Cheryl's idea of a disco or Charleston. I tried to invite Skyler but his picture on facebook was the only one I could find and JibJab didn't like it so I wasn't allowed to have him. We totally beat them!

Panic! At the Disco

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So Amanda, Stephanie, Ashley, Emma, and Jacob all thought that Jim and Cheryl's dace party looked fun so they went and had one themselves (copycats) and didn't invite me! I managed to get some footage and I was amazed at their skill!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 25

I am grateful for punctuation.

Without it, we wouldn't know when to stop or breath or when someone is talking and what we read wouldn't make sense.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 24

I am grateful for colors

Without them our world would be super boring and we would go color blind. In The Giver by Lois Lowry, all they have is brownish colors which would drive me crazy. Colors complete our world. Without them we couldn't paint, describe things, call blue berries "blue berries", or have any fun at all.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 23

I'm grateful for cleaners such as laundry detergent, bathroom cleaner, glass cleaner, and dish soap.

Without these, I would surely perish as I would go crazy trying to keep things clean when all I have is water. With these cleaners, I can kill 99.99% of germs and they make my jobs easier.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 22

I'm grateful for computers

They hold a ton of information, provide me with endless music, games, videos, sources of entertainment, and it helps me with my homework.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 21

I'm grateful for lights

Without lights, it would be dark at night. And my Christmas Tree wouldn't be as pretty. And my ipod wouldn't light up.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 20

I'm grateful for Facebook

I have over a hundred friends (even though I only talk to less than half on any given day) and I can post pictures, tell how I'm feeling, play games, and feel social.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 19

I'm grateful for Post Options

Today is December 3, but really I am posting this on November 29th at 11:11PM. This way, I can post things ahead of time so I don't have to get on blogger everyday. This way, on December 3rd it will automatically post at 1:10 PM when I'm actually supposed to be in 6th period.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 18

I'm grateful for butterflies.

They're really pretty and fun to catch.

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 17

I am grateful for little sisters.

Even though I constantly get mad at them and tell people that they are annoying and I wish they were gone, I really do love them and they make my life more... eventful. I'm trying harder to be patient with them. They are really cute and funny.