Into the Wild...

What happens when you add:
    34 teens +
     5 annoyed adults +
     A WHOLE lot of chips and salsa +
     and a dorm room cut off from everyone else's =

    An amazing week at an environmental learning center (and some hi-larious Man Vs. Wild remixes....) Last week my eighth grade class went on a week long over night trip to an environmental learning center in northern Minnesota. It was absolutely fantabulousyawesome (If that's even a word). Anyways, there was never time to be bored, because we were:

That's me on the ropes course ☺

• Rock-Climbing
• Ropes-Coursing
• Hiking
• well... learning :)
• Chips and salsa eating
• Truth or Dare playing
• Star tipping
• Endless talking.....
• Picture taking (duh ☺)
• Getting Lost
• Playing Frisbee

        This list goes on and on and on. One of the best things at ELC wasn't a class. It was our liaison, Danny. Danny was very interesting to say the least. He just came to Minnesota in August from England, and he looked like Harry Potter! (Maybe he was secretly Daniel Radcliffe) Danny also taught our birds class, and showed us his bird mating dance. We were about to pee ourselves with laughter.

I'm the short one on the end

        One of my other favorite things at ELC was a class called Voyageur life. We all got a character and had to remain completely in character for the whole three hour class. (Lucky for me I got to play the only American character because everyone else had to attempt to use French accents.) My character was Mr. Daniel Harmon, the American clerk for the Northwest Company. We hiked in sleet to this replica voyageur camp and made biscuits and played voyageur games. It was really fun, but my toes were very numb afterwards.☺
Speaking of coldness, the weather there was really weird. The first day it was almost 70 and we were wearing shorts, the next morning we woke up and it was snowing. Only in Minnesota...

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Have you ever been on a field trip where you've stayed over for a week? Does where you live have as wacky of weather as Minnesota? Have you ever been to an enviromental learning center? Do you like my blog? Please comment with your answers! ♥♥♥♥

Joining Up

In today's world, when the Internet is a huge thing, social networks are huge. I mean, if you're reading this, you're on one right now! Out of my class of 40 something, I think about all but five of my classmates have Facebooks. Half of them have blogs, and every one of my classmates has an email. That's a lot. For part of the Blogging Challenge, we were to answer these questions... Enjoy :)




Photo By: Asthma Helper



Q. What Internet sites have you joined?

A. A LOT! I'm on Blogger (duh), Facebook, Yahoo!, Google, Neopets, Snapfish, Piknik, Youtube and probably twenty more...

Q. How much info do you give out on those sites?

A. Umm.. I try not to give out much. I normally stick to my first name, state, and age.

Q. Have you filled in the asterisk questions? (with this*)

A.Sometimes. Not if it seems usless/dangerous.

I then websearched my name and my town to see what I could find.

Q. What did you find?

A. I found out that I am in the paper... a lot. Sports stuff, honor roll, and random things from when I was little. I was also apparently in some ads for my school when I was like five.

Q. How many footprints are you leaving behind?

A. I'm not sure. Probably a lot. A lot of times when you're little, people say that your parents can start the footprints for you, but my parents aren't online very often, and I'm not sure if they even had a computer when I was born, so I'm almost positive that they wern't posting baby pictures online. :)

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 What about you? Do you have a Facebook? What sites have you joined? Are you careful about how much info you give your viewers? Search Yourself, and try to answer the following questions in a comment please :)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Cool Keyboard Tricks

Here are some cool things that you probably didn’t know that your computer could do:


When online if you click:

Ctrl w = the page shuts

Ctrl n = new page comes up

Ctrl a = highlights all

Ctrl d =adds the page as a favorite

Ctrl f = search bar appears

Ctrl h = your online history pops up

Ctrl j= your feeds pop up

Ctrl k = new tab

Ctrl q = lays out every tab you have open

Ctrl r = refreshes the page

Ctrl t = new tab

Ctrl i = opens favorites

Ctrl p = prints page

In word, you can also type these for cool emoticons:



Alt 1 ☺

Alt 2 ☻

Alt 3 ♥

Alt 4 ♦

Alt 5 ♣

Alt 6 ♠

Alt 7•

Alt 8◘

Alt 9○

Alt 10◙

Alt 11♂
Alt 12♀

Alt 13♪

Alt 15☼

Alt 16►

Alt 17◄

Alt 18↕

Alt 19‼

Alt 20¶

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Know any other cool keyboard tricks? I love to hear them! :)

PEP Fest!

          Every year my school, like most schools,  has a pep fest. At my school though, everyone thinks its boring. Except the Eighth Graders. I am finally an eighth grader.  As an elementary student, we thought it was wicked boring and biased, as the eighth graders won all the contests.

This year:

• Screaming Contest = Eighth Graders won
• Culver's Lunch = Eighth Graders Won
• Spirit Flag went to the... Eighth Graders

No wonder the little kids find it boring. No wonder the Eighth graders love it so much. We dress up like crazy freaks, put on war paint, eat a bunch of junk, play against the teachers in dodgeball and volleyball, and of course, run around the gym with the spirit stick. As say, a second grader, we absolutely dreaded the pep fests. We didn't know any of those wacky eighth graders, we never won any contests, and we didn't care who were on the the basketball teams. 

A Volleyball team gets ready to take on the teachers

Do they you do anything fun for Spirit Week at your school?

Flu Prevention Video We Made For School...

Tackle the Flu from sharleen berg on Vimeo.

You're Never too Old For Pooh...

     You are never too old for Pooh Bear. I've learned this throughout my crazy and weird long and wise 13 years. I know its a little strange to meet a teenager who still likes Winnie the Pooh, but I do. Well, I don't watch Pooh all the time or read the books anymore, but you know what I mean. You can learn many important lessons from Pooh Bear:

• “If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you"
• “Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would I'd never leave.”
• “If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
• “Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon”
• "My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places"
• "Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"
• “Those who are clever, who have a Brain, never understand anything.”
• Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.”
• "Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day."

For a "Bear of Very Little Brain" Pooh Bear sometimes seems to know a lot. There are three stages in almost anyone's life:

1. Idolizes Pooh Bear
2. Thinks They are too old for Pooh
3. Loves Pooh.

My favorite Pooh Bear quote of all time is this:  "Pooh, promise me you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I am a hundred." Pooh thought for a little. "How old shall I be then?" "Ninety-nine." Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said This is said when Pooh and Piglet are playing Pooh sticks. (I've played Pooh sticks, It's very fun...) It almost kills me when I see that TV's come out with a new Pooh Bear show, it nearly kills me. Some of them are so stupid and so babyish, no wonder little kids already think that they are too old for it! But a few weeks ago, I pulled out and old copy of Pooh Bear treasury, one that was actually written by A.A. Milne. There were still things in it that I found a little hard to comprehend.  You are never too old for Pooh Bear.

                        

Walking Across Your Yard Shouldn't Be a Workout.

    Yes, Walking across your yard shouldn't be a workout. Unless of course you had a yard like this:



 Photo by: Horia Varlan

         Which I don't. I live in Minnesota, where unfortunately in the dead of winter, walking halfway across your yard is a workout. I came in from letting my dog out to go to the bathroom, and I needed to take some breaths. Don't get me wrong, our yard is big, but not enough to leave you breathless. Stupid snow. The snow is up halfway to my waist, and we get more snow at least twice a week. I envy the people in Florida, I hear that they were the only state that didn't get snow this winter.


     On a different note, Becca turned eleven on Thursday. I guess I'll have to change my blog header at some point, or else she'll be mad at me. For her birthday, Becca's going shopping once today with some of her friends, and then having lunch and on Monday, she's spending the whole day at the Mall of America.

 That seems like a whole lot of shopping for a girl who absolutely hates spending money.

Baby Monkey... shoot me now

    In my 21st Century class at school, before or after class, we tend to watch funny videos. (Who could forget Badger Badger Badger MUSHROOM!) Anyways... the most recent video that has been going around our school is probably the dumbest one yet... It's called Baby Monkey:



All it says is :

Ooh... Baby Monkey... Baby Monkey... Ridin' on a Pig ...Baby Monkey

 Baby Monkey... Baby Monkey... Backwards on a Pig... Baby Monkey.

Oh, The world has gone insane... And you don't know what is right.

You gotta keep on kicking on... Hop on that pig and hold on tight!

Ooh... Baby Monkey... Baby Monkey... Ridin' on a Pig ...Baby Monkey

Baby Monkey... Baby Monkey... Backwards on a Pig... Baby Monkey.

So now it is the most talked about video in our school. The kid who takes the most joy in singing it loudly at me is  Jacob (see Dodge ball post, he's the one in the shades.) Jacob has even sung the song to different tunes, Such as Twinkle Twinkle or Sacred Silence. After all of this singing, I want some sacred silence!!

Sorry Guys...

     I haven't been sharing my posts amazing blogginess with you guys! Because of the holidays, I haven't been the computer much (shocker). I tried to make a Christmas greeting for you guys, but unfortunately, that isn't working. The video won't come up. I'll keep trying. I'll just tell you now that the video was pretty hilarious. (Duh.. :) ) Ha Ha Ha!
     I would love to hear how you guys' holidays were! My Christmas was pretty great, and I had a lot of fun with my crazy normal cousins. We had a cousins girl's night...always interesting... always fun. In my family, I'm right in the middle of all of my cousins. The little cousins still don't think I'm boring, but I also am accepted by my older teen cousins.
     Don't worry, Becca had a great Christmas too, I didn't torment her too much. She got her first real camera for Christmas. this will be interesting, being that she's already lost it twice..
     Here are some pictures from an after Christmas lunch with my grandparents. My Grandma ordered something that was way too huge. I don't  remember what it was called:

Wow...

There was a PacMan machine at the restaurant...

"No More Pictures!" Thanks Becca...

Don't Let it Snow...

Don't let it snow, don't let it snow, don't let it snow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

but inside is even less delightful

But since all the stores are closed,

we go to church, go to church, go to church

                  - Don't Let it Snow, by Hannah

       Wasn't that just the worst best song you've ever heard? I'm sure it'll be a number one hit. That song pretty much sums up my Saturday. Yesterday was probably the worst blizzard I have seen in my young life. If only it could've been today, because then school would've been canceled. But no, the worst snowstorm I have ever seen was on a Saturday. It all started at about four o' clock. ( Cue corny flashback music)

       At four o' clock on a Saturday morning I was doing what most sane people do at that time -sleep. The power then magically decided to go off, then on, then off for about a half hour. So of course the smoke alarm went off each time. After that, I really couldn't go back to sleep. Around eight, when I finally did manage to go back to sleep, my dad wakes me up to go out to breakfast. To my surprise, Perkins was still open (almost all the other restaurants in town were closed) At Perkins, we found out that a lot of the power was out in town. Half way through our breakfast, we get a call that my grandma is stuck in her driveway. Goody. So we finished and helped her up her driveway. Here's the most fun part of my day:

After that, we baked Christmas cookies. I was planning to make, nice pretty cookies, while listening to Christmas music, and while Becca was at gymnastics. Well as we all know, things don't often go as I plan. Of course, Becca's gymnastics was cancelled. Of course when she saw I was baking she wanted to help. Of course she acted crazy when I brought out the camera. Then I told her that the photos would be put on the Internet,  and she calmed down a bit.

Let's see how many cookies I can possibly shove in my mouth at one time!



"Becca, could you at least attempt to appear normal?"

That's Better!

MORE pictures???

Lovely Cookies..

Uhhh...

       After all the trauma fun of baking Christmas cookies, my dad said it was time to go to church. I seriously thought church would be cancelled. It wasn't. I'm thinking, lets just go to church Sunday morning, like everyone else will, instead of during a horrible blizzard in the dark. But we went anyways. It was nearly impossible to see driving there, and the roads haven't been plowed. We get to the parking lot and I count a total of 5 cars. We ran blindly through the parking lot because it was so difficult to see anything. We go into church and there's enough people to fill maybe four rows of pews. The choir wasn't there, only one reader, no gift bearers, and no ushers. It was the fastest mass I had ever been to in my life. It lasted maybe 35 minutes. Then my mom wants to see if our favorite mexican resteraunt is open.Suprisingly, it is. All of the men who were trying to restore power were there eating. We one of they only other families there. We sure got our food fast! Then a man who goes to our church who works at the funeral home came and sat at the table next to us. He said he wasn't going to be able to get home, so he was going to sleep in the funeral home. That sounds like some sort of horror movie to me! Ick. We finally made it home and went to sleep. What an interesting day...

Hey Becca! There's only twelve days left until Christmas!

...gasp...

double gasp...

triple gasp...

                                                                                  

GASP!

                                                                           

Happy Sunday :)





I Think I Have a Justifiable Reason Now...

         Now that I actually have a reason to be so excited for Christmas, I can be without being thought of as weird, (most likely, I'll still be thought of as weird, just not for that reason...) The decorations are put up, we definitely  have snow, and my mom has baked up a storm. Now I sit here waiting patiently for Christmas bug the heck out of my family. There's really not much I can say, other than that, my life this week has been pretty unexciting..

Happy Friday People, TGIF

ELF Yourself!

    Check out this video I made on http://www.elfyouself.com! It's of me and some of my buddies dancing like crazy elves! Try and make your own, and if you get a really good one, email it to me :)