Butterfly

200 Posts

2010-07-30T13:12:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone! How has God been blessing your life? Me, well I will start by sharing the great news that I have nanny job! It starts on Monday and I am sooo excited! See I have been praying for a job for months and I must admit that at times, I doubted I would find one; but God showed me HIS TIMING IS PERFECT!
Now that I will have a job, I can start seriously looking for a car too! And this year, I get to vote! Before I decide who to vote for, I must do some real research to be sure I vote for the right person. You know, someone with conservative values, pro-life, good experience, and those kinds of things.

I know I should apologize for not posting in sooooo long! I can't believe this is my 200th post! I probably would have reached it much sooner if I hadn't taken so many breaks but hey, God has been blessing us with BEAUTIFUL weather the last week (except the severe thunderstorms the other day) but all in all, my summer has been really laid back. I wish I had been to the beach or gone swimming more, or just had a small party but no, nothin fun like that happened. I actually haven't seen any of my friends in a while...
Well anyways, I hope God is blessing you all abundantly and that you are growing closer to Him everyday!

Have a lovely day,
Butterfly <3

Healthy Guide to Life: Snacks

2010-05-03T12:08:00.004-04:00

Everyone knows that snacking is something nearly everyone does! Every afternoon, between lunch and dinner, I find myself craving something sweet but I want to eat healthy so I will share my fave snacks with you all!

If you are a salt lover, look no further than this fabulously salty list:
1. Sun Chips! I have always enjoyed a nice bag of sun chips and I love love love the Multigrain Sun Chips! They are the best! Pair your chips with salsa, french onion dip (no more than 1/6 cup), or any other healthy dip and you have a snack that satisfies!

2. Peanuts! Not only are peanuts fun to pop in your mouth; they are a great snack! But beware, too much can be to fatty. Only consume 1/4 cup per serving 2-3 times a week!

3. Multigrain Pretzels! This may sound funky but boy is it good! You can dip your pretzels in yogurt, peanut/almond butter, salsa, fruit dips, or whatever sounds good and healthy to you!

4. Popcorn! Not only is popcorn fun for movies but a great snack! You can buy the mini bags at any grocery store and I must say look at the ingredients! Avoid Partially/Fully Hydrogenated oils, Mono sodium Glutamate (MSG) or any other words you can't pronounce because they are all dangerous to your body! If the ingredients list for popcorn is less than 6 ingredients long you know its going to be better than any other!

Now for you sweet tooth's out there! I know what its like to sooo badly want a sweet fix so here is a list special for you:
1. Dark Chocolate! Did you know that consuming 1-2 ounces of dark chocolate a day is good for your heart and skin complexion; so go for it! Pair your dark chocolate with a fresh fruit like strawberries and you have a delicious snack that is healthy and satisfying!

2. A fruit salad! Now you may be saying, OK that is refreshing but not sweet! Well here is my solution, drizzle dark chocolate or honey on top and then its deliciously savory and sweet! And if you want to award yourself after a great workout; put some whipped cream on top that fruit and enjoy your reward!

3. Juice Pops! Take your favorite juice (grape and pomegranate juice are both filled with a great source of vitamins and antioxidants!) and pour it into a 5 oz cup, cover the top with aluminum foil or cling wrap, put a small hole in the middle and place a popsicle stick inside. Freeze for 3-4 hours and ta-da! You have a sweet (and healthy) snack!

4. Fruit Leather! You are probably wondering what on earth fruit leather is right? Well allow me enlighten you; fruit leather is basically the same thing as those disgusting fruit roll ups but its made from real fruit with no or little added sugar. They are ate many grocery stores and they may cost more than fruit roll ups but they are way better for you!

5. Chocolate and Peanut butter dipped apples! This is making me hungry already!
Take a medium sized apple and cut into 5-7 slices. Melt dark chocolate (either in fondue pot or small kettle) and dip apple slices 3/4 of the way into chocolate. Let cool in fridge on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or wax paper til chocolate is hard. Pull out of fridge and dip in your peanut butter! This is really fun and easy to make! You get your dark chocolate and a fruit all in one great snack! This also makes a fantastic party snack!

6. Fresh Fruit Pizza! Here is what you need:
2 (8 to 9-inch) tortillas, preferably whole wheat
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup mascarpone or cream cheese
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced fresh Chilean fruit including nectarines, plums, kiwi and blueberries
1/4 cup apricot jam, melted *Optional
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Sprinkle tortillas with sugar and cinnamon; place on baking sheet and bake until crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven; cool.
Spread with cheese, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge.
Arrange fruit on the cheese.
Brush with jam to create a glossy finish. *Optional
To serve, use a large knife to cut pizzas into quarters and serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings.

Now for those of you who suffer from TMS, The Munchy Syndrome, I have some healthy stuff that is great for you to get munching on:
1. Carrots and Ranch dip. Simple and fun for munching!

2. Celery topped with peanut butter or cream cheese! I really enjoy this snack when I want something crisp and refreshing!

3. Nuts! Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, Peanuts, Hazelnuts, any nuts! All are great to munch on! But only have 1-2 ounces of your fave nut every day because nuts can be fatty!

4. Chicken/Turkey and cheese roll ups! This is great for meat and cheese lovers like my brother!

5. Fiber Bars! Dr. Weil, Odwalla, Luna, and Cliff are all great brands that make amazingly delicious and filling snack bars! Dr. Weil's Chai Razz bars are sooo sweet and delicious; Odwalla makes nuts fun in their bars; Luna makes fantastic energy bars for women; and Cliff makes great adult and kid bars in fun flavors like smore's, chocolate chip, honey graham, and chocolate brownie!

6. Scones! I have a great recipe for healthy scones! If you are interested, comment on this post to let me know you would like my recipe!

I hope this will help you all enjoy snacking without the guilt! Have an amazing day!

Blessings,
Butterfly

P.S. I am not sure if I will be doing a Healthy Guide to Life on dinner only because mom's may be upset that their kids are trying to take over the dinner plans! Just be sure to eat a big salad sometime in your day and that you have a couple veggies with your dinner and everything else is up to your mom! = )

Healthy Guide to Life: Lunch

2010-04-29T10:26:00.004-04:00

I would like to start by saying how pleased I was to hear that my series has already helped someone! Jillian, I was sooo excited to hear that you were looking for this kind of article!
So here comes the second most important meal of the day: Lunch!

So here is a basic list of what you body needs about 1/3 of the way through your day;

Greens! I can't express how crucial natural greens are for you body! And there are so many fun ways to eat them every day!
Veggies! I will list some veggies that not only contain a great source of fiber but also some extremely beneficial nutrients for your inner and outer self!
Power fruits! Fruit isn't just great at breakfast! For a list of power fruits, check out my last post (Healthy Guide to Life: Breakfast).
Whole Wheats! If you didn't have a breakfast that contained your whole wheats, lunch is the best time to make up for it!
Essential Fatty Acids and Omega-3's! You may be saying "What on earth are those!" Don't worry, I will explain!

Now that you know what you need to eat, I will break down different ways for you to enjoy these foods in simple and healthy ways!

Lets start with greens. So if you have ever read a health magazine or had a conversation with a health nut like me, you will know that greens are a term for, well, green vegetables! Greens can be any veggie that is green and the reason why they are so important is that greens are one of the healthiest veggies for you and you can get them in so many ways! The easiest way is a big bowl of salad! Now don't you dare grab that ceasar salad bag mix! That stuff is not what I am talking about! I mean the deep dark greens like romaine lettuce, spinach, kale, cucumbers, broccoli, uncooked green beans, snap peas, etc... If you are going to eat a salad, you want it to have as many health benefits as possible! Here is my recipe for one of the most simple and healthy salads ever:

What you'll need is:

Romain Lettuce (the greenest you can find in your local grocery store)
Uncooked Spinach (you can get this in a bag if you like)
Cucumbers *Note: Cucumbers lose their nutrients in a matter of hours after being cut into! So try to use the whole cucumber in two days!)*
Uncooked snap peas or green beans.
Berries: You can use strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or any other berry you enjoy! All make your salad have an extra sweet tangy flavor!
Essential Fatty Acids! You are probably thinking that I made this term up but here is one essential fatty acid that everyone will recognize: Extra Virgin Olive Oil! Adding one tablespoon to a meal every day is great for your skins moisture and for your hair! Not to mention its great benefit in preventing heart disease!
Omega-3's are found in walnuts!
Antioxidants (look at the list of high antioxidant foods a few paragraphs down).

Now you know how to make an extremely healthy salad that contains everything you should eat at lunch! If you are still hungry after eating this salad (which is more likely if you are a growing guy) then make yourself a great whole wheat sandwich with some lean meats like chicken or turkey! Here is my fave sandwich:

Whole Wheat high fiber bread
Chicken or Turkey lunch meat (sometimes ham if its Boar's Head Meats)
Mucky Duck Mustard (soooo yummy!!!!)
Two leaves of Romaine Lettuce
One Slice of monterey jack or colby jack cheese

This sandwich will keep you full and happy throughout the afternoon and when you eat my fave salad and sandwich, you will be filled with joy and health knowing you ate an incredibly healthy lunch!

Now if you don't have much time at lunch, here is a quick little meal you can throw together in a matter of two minutes:

1 cup of carrots
2 ounces of almonds
1 medium sized apple (health benefits are in my last post Healthy Guide to Life: Breakfast)
1/2 -1 cup Sun Chips, healthy Potato Chips, or Sweet Potato Chips (if you have none of these in your pantry, grab some next time your at the grocers because they are great snack items!)
1-2 leaves of romaine lettuce or 1 cup of spinach with honey mustard or ranch dressing
1 cup of lunch meat

This is easy to throw together into lunch baggies for a healthy and fun lunch that is full of nutrition! You can take this with you to a picnic, a car ride, or to eat at home!

Now for antioxidants!

Best Sources of High Antioxidants Foods:

Fruits: Berries (Cherry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, cranberry, blueberry, bilberry/wild blueberry, black currant), pomegranate, grape, orange, plum, pineapple, kiwi fruit, grapefruit.
Vegetables: Kale, chili pepper, red cabbage, peppers, parsley, artichoke, brussel sprouts, spinach, lemon, ginger, red beets.
Dry Fruits high in antioxidants: Apricots, prunes, dates.
Legumes: beans, pinto beans, soybeans.
Nuts and seeds: Pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, ground nut, sunflower seeds.
Cereals: Barley, millet, oats, corn.
Spices: cloves, cinnamon, oregano

Another great way to get your antioxidants is by drinking them! Green Tea is not only delicious but also high in antioxidants! I drink a 1-3 cups of green tea at least 2-3 times a week! Try drinking green tea with flavors like honey, berry, or if you have a green tea that is strong, add 1 tbsp of natural honey.

Well I can't wait to hear from you all! The next post in this series is Healthy Guide to Life: Snacking!

See you all soon,

Butterfly

Healthy Guide to Life: Breakfast

2010-04-27T12:24:00.004-04:00

So I think the title explains rather well my subject for this post. I will be sharing some incredibly healthy ways to start your day (and no, McDonald's breakfast burrito is NOT on the list!)!

Here are some key things to include in your breakfast that will give your body a great start to the day:

At least 8 grams of fiber (I try to get 10-12)
2 Fruits
Protein
A healthy glass of lemon water (at least 8 oz.)

Now I will explain the simple ways to have this eating diet incorporated into your life! Doesn't it sound great!

I think the hardest thing to get your daily value of is fiber. So few foods contain the much needed fiber for our body's metabolism and digestion. Fiber helps you feel fit because it fills you up and keeps you going; helps you feel fuller longer so you reduce snacking; and fiber boosts your metabolism so its a great tool to help you keep your happy place on your weight scale! My scale happy place is between 105-108 lbs and it hasn't changed in the last few years so that is proof that this lifestyle does work! Now I do tend to have a higher metabolism but what you eat plays a big role in the area of your weight!

So here is the best way to get your fiber in the morning:

High Fiber Whole Wheat Bread. It doesn't cost much more than any other loaf of bread but the nutrients and fiber you need in the morning is in there! You want each individual slice of bread to have AT THE VERY LEAST 3 grams of FIBER! I prefer 5 grams of fiber in each slice and I normally top my toast with a natural jelly, peanut/almond butter, or my fave option is natural honey (no preservative filled junk) with cinnamon sprinkled on top!
If you don't want toast in the morning, reach for a box of high fiber cereal! Tons of your favorite cereals have a OK amount of fiber but the really good stuff is going to have at least 6 grams of fiber in 1 cup of cereal
Bran cereal; 1 cup = 19 grams of fiber (on average)
Natural Oats, rolled dry; 1 cup = 12 grams of fiber (on average)

Here is a list of great fruits that not only have vitamin nutrients but also have a great natural source of fiber:

1 medium apple with skin usually contains 5 grams of fiber!
1 normal sized banana contains 3-4 grams of fiber
1 cup of blueberries contains 4 grams of fiber (and is also a great source of antioxidants!)
1 cup of cantaloupe contains approximately 2 grams of fiber
1/2 of a medium grapefruit = 5-6 grams of fiber
a medium sized orange = 3-4 grams of fiber
1 medium pear = 5 grams of fiber
1 cup of raspberries = 8-9 grams of fiber!!!
1 cup of strawberries = 3.5-4 grams of fiber

So as you can see, eating two of these fruits could add up to as much as 14 grams of fiber! Your daily intake from all three meals should be at least 24 for ages 16 and under and at least 30 for ages 18 and older.

Next on the list of important things to eat with breakfast is protein! The best source of protein in the morning is eggs! Scrambled, fried, hard boiled; however you like them, try to eat 1-2 eggs at least every other day.

Finally, lemon water! I can't express how healthy it is for you to consume a tall glass of lemon water every morning. It isn't expensive either! Lemons are rich in cleansing properties so when you have a 8-12 oz glass of water in the morning, you are starting the day by cleaning out any impurities that may be inside your digestive track and its proven that lemon water can keep you healthier and less likely to catch colds and the flu! I drink lemon water nearly every morning and it is so easy. You simply take a glass of filtered water, cut a medium sized lemon in half, and squeeze the half lemon into your glass (yes, you use the whole half inside one glass of water!). It averages out to about 20-25 cents a day per person (if you purchase the half dozen bag for $3).

I hope my Healthy Guide to Breakfast will help you have a great jump start to every morning and that you will remember that you are what you eat! lol I know it sounds cheesy but it is so true!

I will be continuing my Healthy Guide to Life series with Lunch in a couple days!

Bless and be Blessed,

Butterfly

Prayer Request

2010-04-20T11:09:00.005-04:00

Dear friends,
I have a very important prayer request for you all. My mom's sister's husband's brother(my uncle's brother) is in the hospital slowly passing away. He had a serious liver problem and is currently on life support. Last night they almost lost him in a last minute surgery (which sadly didn't work)and he is slowly bleeding to death. His heart won't except the blood they are putting in him so his heartbeat is very low and the doctors plan to take him off life support very soon because they know he won't get through this. This will be so hard on my dear uncle because his brother was extremely close to him. I have only met my uncle's brother a few times but he has such a fun personality and he was so full of life and joy. I am unsure whether or not he was saved but from what I have heard; I believe he is. If you could pray that God will bring an amazing peace on my uncle and his family, that would be great. I can't imagine losing someone so close to me and I know it will be really hard for the family to get through this.

Thanks for your prayers,
Butterfly

Today is....drumroll

2010-04-13T15:33:00.005-04:00

............MY 18TH BIRTHDAY! I can't believe how fast the year has gone by.
I will legally be an adult in less than an hour (the exact time I was born) and its unbelievable how many blessings I have received this year!
God has been so good to me and I know that as my relationship grows with my Savior, my blessings will become all the more precious to me!

I just want to say thanks for everything to my dearly loved family, my amazing friends (you know who ya'll are!), and my sweet neighbor friends, you all have played a role in my childhood and upbringing.
I have been so blessed to be surrounded constantly by people who love me, know me, and accept me as I am, a child of God! Life couldn't be more sweet (unless more chocolate gifts were given!)! lol
Always remember to count your blessings but be forewarned; it could take a while!

Blessings,
Butterfly <3

Important Prayer Request

2010-03-24T20:34:00.002-04:00

Dear friends,
If you could all pray for me that if it is God's will, I will get the job I am applying for and if not, that something better will come my way that would be awesome!

See I am kinda nervous because when I applied for this job, it said part-time but their definition of part-time isn't three to four days a week for a few hours.
It is 8:30am-5pm Monday thru Friday from June to August!

That is my whole summer vacation from school so I really don't know what to do so I am taking it all to God's throne and putting it at His feet.
The job is a clerical position so I would be working with computer software like Microsoft excel/word and filing papers every day! I don't know if I want to spend my whole summer behind a desk because I look at it as my last summer to kinda be more free since I will have my license and a car to visit my friends I don't get to see often and a regular part-time job wouldn't interfere with that as much as this job.
But then I think what a great opportunity to experience a real desk job and make decent pay (its $7.73 an hour which I think is minimum wage).
There are so many "I don't know" questions and I am praying for answers.
If you could pray for me that would be great!
With finishing high school, planning my Graduation, my ACT test prep, driver's prep, and a search for a car have kept me really busy so I am sorry if I have been neglecting my blogging but bear with me!
God will make a way and that is something I will always believe!

Prayers,
Butterfly

SURPRISE!!!!

2010-03-23T18:00:00.003-04:00

Today I was a joyous victim of a surprise birthday party! I cannot express the joy, love, happiness, and utter shock that I felt! So if you feel out of the loop, I will explain what happened;
For a while I had been hinting that I would like to have a surpise party and I usually said "sometime in the future" hopeing I would have one for my 18th birthday! Well It finally came true! Today at about 10ish my neighbor (Miss Naomi) called to ask if I could babysitt for an hour in the basement to keep an eye on her daughter Emily and Emily's friend Anna at 11:30. I thought nothing of the fact that she normally doesn't call me to babysitt in the morning so had no suspicions whatsoever and of course agreed to care for the girls without a second thought.
Well little did I know that as I was in her basement for that hour with those two precious girls that my friends and family were parking down the street and sneaking into my house to surprise me!
So after an hour had passed, Miss Naomi walked me home because she said she wanted to give my mom a bag of clothes her girls had outgrown (which actually was a small white lie so she could see my face when I was surprised) so I walked right in (who really rings the doorbell to their own home when they know the door is unlocked?) and was looking down taking off my shoes and noticed that there were about 10 pairs of teen girls shoes that definitely were not mine when I heard "SURPRISE!" shouted from my dear family and amazing friends! I was in a shocked stupor for an hour and couldn't get over the fact that my surprise party was real! lol
I had so much fun and received some great gifts that I love!
Here is some of what I received:

From my friend Katelyn ~ A ton of scrapbook paper (3 lbs to be exact) and some Ferrero Rocher chocolates!
From my friend Nicole ~ A Sonic gift card for $10 and a Tide-to-go pen (its a long store that I'll share later)
From my friend Shannon ~ A super cute black and white dress that I will post a picture of in the near future!
From my friends Hannah & Lindsay (they're sisters) ~ A $10 gift card to Panera! YUMMY!
From my friend Olivia ~ A polka dot storage bin with a super soft blanket inside
From my friend Michelle ~ Dove chocolates and chapstick
From my friends Kelsey, Brenna, and their family ~ A cute bag, Ferrero Rocher chocolates and a compact hairbrush (perfect because I needed a new one)!
From my Mom and Dad ~ A Lia Sophia necklace that I have wanted so much! I loooove it! (i will get some more gifts from my parents on my actual birthday)
From my Aunt and Uncle ~ A $50 check
From my wonderful grandparents ~ A $100 check!

All I have to say is that I am so terribly blessed and love my family and friends so dearly words cannot begin to express the happiness of this day! I will scrapbook, blog, journal, and tell of this day for many years to come and never forget the love and thought that went into my surprise party! Thank you all for everything! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Love,
Me <3

"You only get to turn 18 once!" ~ My Auntie <3

Prayer Request

2010-03-15T16:08:00.003-04:00

Dear blogging readers,

My mom and I have spent a lot of time in prayer lately about doing a Purity Study for the girls in our church and we received a call from the youth director just minutes ago saying that she had prayed about it and felt God saying it would be a good idea! Thank you, Lord!

So here is where we need the extra prayers; we need the books. We are doing I Kissed Dating Goodbye (the book) and the I Kissed Dating Goodbye Study Guide so now we need prayer that the Church will be able to provide the books. Second, we need prayer about where we can hold the study at. We are hoping the church will be able to open a room for us. Last, we are praying that God will give my mother and I the words to speak and that I will set a good example for these young teen girls. I must admit I am kinda nervous but at the same time thrilled with the idea of sharing purity with these girls! I have shared my belief in God and reasons for my purity before so I am sure it will be fun and a rewarding experience! I can't wait to start! It will probably get going around late March or early April!

Blessings and Joy,

Socialbutterfly

2010-03-02T14:00:00.005-05:00

This morning for our Bible study we were reading about how when we first dedicate our lives to Christ we live a life more for others than ourselves, but after a while we become like the world and begin to hide our light under a bush. It is true that sometimes I am no different than the world. I can buy clothes rather then send money to the poor and hungry, I can watch a television program I enjoy rather than read my Bible, I can listen to secular music rather than Christian. We all have our times when we make a decision to be worldly but rather than beat yourself up and become frustrated, just do your best to change into a more disciplined person.
I have cut out a lot of television from my life because idle time cannot glorify the Lord. I used to watch 2-3 hours of TV a day and I try to watch only 1 or 2 a day instead and spend more time reading. I thought carefully about it and realized that I was spending 16-20 hours a week watching TV! That is almost a day! Now its more like 5-12 hours a week which I still think if more than I should (working on cutting it down more).
I am a girl and it seems that girls have one severe weakness..... SHOPPING! I don't know why it is but we always enjoy buying new shoes, a bag to match our dress, or a complete new outfit but I have also cut down my shopping. I used to go to clothing stores about once or twice a week which probably sounds like nothing but while I was there I would spend the babysitting money I had earned that week rather than saving it towards college or a car.
For guys it may be computer/video games. I have a teen brother and he enjoys playing his games on our PS2 or his Gameboy advance and he can easily pass 3-4 hours playing but he is learning that he should spend only 30-60 minutes a day at most and read a good book or play outside with our sister and brother instead.

Please know I am not saying that shopping, video games, or watching TV is bad but don't go crazy with it. Limits can be a good thing (just like with eating or exercise). God wants us to spend our time wisely. So to all my blogger friends, be wise and live a life of love (I added the love thing because love is important too)!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Contest

2010-02-25T14:46:00.003-05:00

So there is a girl with a fun blog who is celebrating her blogoversary with a super fun contest! Here blog url is http://insidecassiesmind.blogspot.com/2010/02/100-followers-giveaway.html and she is having a giveaway for a ipod case (can be used for a cell phone too). All the rules and instructions are on her website! Check it out!

~Butterfly

For those who love their skin!

2010-02-23T11:34:00.005-05:00

So last night I was up late trying to catch up on my blog list (all the blogs I read) when I came across a post talking about a three step routine for cleaning your face! I thought to myself that it would be fun to share my routine and what products I use.

Now if you know me personally, you know that I am very careful about my sugar intake and I try to eat healthy just because I know that my body is God's temple and I shouldn't overload myself with junk food.

I am not saying that you can't have fun with food because I splurge once or twice a week with a cookie, cake, or ice cream and daily desserts for me are a small piece of chocolate or a small sweet of some sort so you don't have to kill your normal eating habits but to reduce sugar intake is a great help in controlling your acne and keeping your body more healthy and upbeat!

OK so I am kinda getting off track. I am not talking about food but facial care! lol

So just in case, I will tell you the three important routine steps for facial cleansing and follow each step with my favorite product:

Cleanse! You need to clean out your pores at least once every other day to keep it clean, refreshed, and glowing. A WONDERFUL product that is 97.0% Natural is Burt's Bees Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream! I realllllly love this cleanser! "The Natural Soap Bark deeply penetrates and cleanses, removing dirt, makeup, and excess oil for clean healthy skin. Chamomile and Aloe gently soothe and soften skin. Rosemary and Echinacea extracts reduce inflammation, tighten pores" (yes I said it! It tightens pores! It really works too!), "and increase cell renewal. " {The portion in quotation marks is what is written on the back of the squeeze tube.}

Toner! It may not be necessary for you to use toner when you are younger but as you get a bit older (like your later teen years) you may want to start using toner. I apply Jason's Ester-C Super-C Toner because I like Natural and Organic products (can you tell?)! lol I love Jason's because it has a fantastic fruity smell (doesn't last long, only about 4-5 minutes) and it has pH balancing and Antioxidants! Here is what the description says on the back of the spray bottle, "Natural botanicals minimize pores (again! mini making product here!!!) and balances skin pH to prepare it for moisturizing. Powerful antioxidants help prevent free radical damage and reduce visible signs of aging. Witch Hazel gently refreshes and tones the skin." How awesome does that sound!
Moisturize! Everyone should use a moisturizer that is good for their skin type. For those you have oily skin, find a light cream moisturizer, for those who have dry skin, use a thicker cream and for those who have combination skin, buy both and use where necessary! lol Actually for combo skin, that is basically what you have to do. Or you could always use the moisturizer only on your dry spots. Well anyways, I like to use Burt's Bees Royal Jelly Body Lotion. Its kinda in between think and light, not really creamy, but not weightless either. I love how it slowly absorbs into my skin and the next day I can see my skin is glowing! Loooove it! :)

So you are probably wondering, where can I buy this stuff! Well the best place is Vitacost.com because they have everything at amazingly discounted prices! Not only do they carry skin care products but also hair care, vitamins, and health food! You can buy as much stuff as you want and shipping is always only $5 too!

Another thing I want to tell you all is I found this amazing blemish treatment by Desert Essence! It is simply called Desert Essence Blemish Touch Stick. I am a testimony to how well this stuff works! Two days ago I saw that I had a white head coming and I wasn't excited about it. I did my cleanser, then my toner and finished with my blemish stick on the white head and it tingled a bit (that means its working!) and then I went about my school work and chores. I checked up on it that night and saw it was still there and was a bit worried that I would have to pop the nasty little thing but I just applied a bit more of my blemish stick and went to bed. Then yesterday morning I checked up on it and it was less than 1/2 the size it had been the day before! I was so excited! I applied a tad bit more and that evening it was practically gone! This morning it is the smallest bump and I am sure it will be completely gone by morning! This has to be the best spot treatment ever known to man and its only $8 in stores. I highly recommend this product to anyone with the slightest bit of blemishes. Even if you only get blemishes 2-7 times a month like me its worth it (yes its very rare that I get white heads but now I am prepared for whenever I do!).

Really quickly I want to share with you what hair care product I use. Nature's Gate Jojoba Oil Shampoo is amazing! It is great for your hair to revitalize and give it that extra boost of vitamins and it also leaves your scalp itch free! It smells great and feels great. I also buy this from Vitacost.com and each bottle lasts me about 3-4 months (I wash my hair every other day). For those of you with shorter hair, I will probably last you 5-6 months and for you girls with really long hair 1-2 months. Guys can use this shampoo too because its not a for women only product. And for guys this bottle would last about 8-9 months since you guys have such short hair! ;)

Well that's all for now! Tell me what you think!

Post again soon,

Butterfly

2010-02-22T16:25:00.001-05:00

Dear blog readers,

I had a great topic to write about running through my mind the other day and now for the life of me I can't remember what on earth it was! Do you know how frustrating that is?!? lol Well when it comes back to mind I will post!

TTYL,
Butterfly

Genesis: The book of the beginning

2010-02-19T10:39:00.001-05:00

Today for our morning devotional, we read The Genesis Solution by Ken Ham and discussed the reasons why we believe that God did NOT use evolution to create the earth and its inhabitants. I will list some of the reasons below (the content in quotation marks is from the book The Genesis Solution by Ken Ham):

"Evolutionists claim that gradual changes in the earth and its inhabitants have gone on for millions of years and that the fossils are remnants of these lost and long-ago ages. But those millions of fossils are clear evidence of death-bloodshed on a massive scale. If these animals died before Adam, the foundation of the gospel is cut at its roots (Adam sinned and corrupted paradise/Death is the penalty for that sin/As a result, sin, death, and suffering came upon not only Adam, but also the world he ruled/Christ came to save man and conquer death/Ultimately he will restore paradise). Directly denying God's Word, Evolutionism says that death is part of life, that death and struggle have always existed and actually led to man's existence! (Note: There is much Biblical and scientific evidence that most of the fossils were actually formed as a result of Noah's Flood.)" (Taken from page 65)
If everything is supposedly getting better on earth because its "evolving" upward, what was the purpose of God's curse? If evolution were true, death and weeds and pain are nothing special, but just a normal everyday part of our lives! Most evolutionists deny the existence of Adam and Eve but if they are right, our world's miserable condition did not result from a literal sin/Fall/curse. But then were is the reason/cause?
The whole purpose of Christ's life and death was based on Adam's sin. Jesus came into the world to save man from eternal death because Jesus was the one true sacrifice used to save ALL of mankind! But if the evolutionists are right about Adam never existing and therefore never sinning, what would be the purpose of Christ's coming if we had never "fallen away" in the first place? Who would need to be saved?
If God used an evolutionary process to make mankind and create the animal kingdom, how can He be described as the all-loving and all-good God he is? Evolutionists say that the earth is billions of years old and that is has always experienced earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruptions, sickness, everything under the sun that is not good. The Evolution theory suggests millions of years of harsh struggle, death, survival of the fittest, and extinction of the weak! Could a God of love put man and animals through such torment and horrid conditions for millions upon millions of years? Why would God use such a cruel way to "create" animals and mankind? Our Creator's true nature is 100%, absolutely, without a doubt incompatible with evolution! God said, "Blessed are the meek", not death to the weak! Also in Genesis 1:31, God looked at his creation and said it was "very good" and that means God's creation was finished!!!
Since our Creator is omniscient and all-powerful, He could have created the whole earth with its inhabitants in the blink of an eye! Why would he use such a long and harsh process? While Jesus was on earth, he often proved the great power of his words. When he spoke, the storms were stilled in an instant, the blind could see in a moment, the ill were cured at the sound of his voice! Christ has demonstrated his immediate ability to do miraculous things in a split second with complete results!
The evolutionary theory denies the existence of an original paradise in which Adam and Eve were created. Evolutionism says that life started in chaos and is gradually changing toward greater perfection. On the other hand, the Bible says the world started with perfection and excellence but has since slowly fallen into a degenerating process of sin and corruption.
If Evolution were true, what kind of world can Christians look forward to in the restoration? A world of survival of the fittest? Killing, death, and illness? To the contrary, Creation will be restored to its original perfection like in the Garden of Eden!
"If the Bible is God's Word (as it repeatedly claims), and if Evolution is true, then God's Word isn't deceptive. For thousands of years, a literal and common-sense reading of Genesis and the rest of Scriptures has led millions of intelligent Christians to believe that:

(a) The universe was created in six literal days.

(b) The earth is only thousands of years old, not millions. Scripture supplies a genealogy from Adam to Christ, including great detail on ages and life spans. This surely gives some general idea of the time passed. Certainly there is no way that periods of millions of years could reasonably fit between the generations.

(c) Adam was formed directly out of dust, not from an "apeman".

Those that question that accuracy of Genesis are also questioning the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Jesus quoted from Genesis on various occasions. He accepted Genesis as historical truth. He built doctrines like marriage on the literal events of Genesis (Matthew 19 4-6). Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He would not tell us something that was not true. Christians should believe Genesis is literally true because Jesus did! God is not a God of deception!"

9. Genesis provides a record of all significant judgments by God on sin. Here are some:

(a) The Fall and God's curse (Genesis 3).

(b) The curse on Cain for committing murder (Gen. 4: 1-15).

(c) The Tower of Babel judgement (Gen. 11: 1-9).

(d)The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19).

(d) The Genesis Flood-the single greatest of all evidences that the Creator continues to have awesome power over this earth and that he sees and punishes man's sins (Gen. 6-9).

Here is Biblical evidence for a worldwide flood:

"(a) The ark was truly necessary for saving Noah's family. Otherwise, Noah and his family could have migrated to a safer place before the flood took place.

(b) All mankind was killed! That's right everyone, we are all descendants of Noah's family!

(c) The ark was necessary to prevent mass extinction of animals (see Gen. 6:19-20)

(d) The whole earth was devastated. God said, "I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth" (Gen. 6:13, 9:11)

(e)All the mountains were covered! "...all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered.... to a depth of more than twenty feet" (Gen. 7:19-20)

(f) Noah was in the ark for over a year, not just forty days. The waters covered the high mountains for five months! (Gen. 7:4, 11-12, 24)

(g) God promised to never again send such a flood (Gen. 8:21)"

10. "The whole idea of Evolution is based on natural processes, as distinguished from the supernatural (God, angels, miracles, divine intervention, etc...). Sir Julian Huxley, an ardent evolutionist, said: "In the evolutionary system of thought, there is no longer need nor room for the supernatural." Evolution is the most common reason people give for why they have rejected the Bible and/or God. It has been the cause for millions of people becoming agnostics or atheists!

Did God use Evolution then? The biblical answer is clearly a resounding NO. Combining Evolutionism with Christianity has solve nothing scientifically; it has only helped Satan undermine the church." Stable, long-term faith in Christianity can't be built in a life that is contaminated by acceptance of evolutionary theory. It is the false foundation. The True Christian faith can flourish in peace only on the foundation of Creation!

If you have ever tried to marry evolutionism and Creationism together, I pray that this bit of information and Scripture will help you realize you were sadly mistaken. Pray about it and read it for yourself and then decide which is easier to believe, the God is all-powerful and perfect or that God used a cruel and unjust way to create the earth. For me, the answer is clear. God created the earth in six literal days and He is all-powerful, all-knowing, omniscient, and omnipotent.

Blessings,

Butterfly

Feeling lonely???

2010-02-17T12:50:00.004-05:00

Today I have something I would like to share with you all that I found uncanny!

I received a comment from a sweet girl named Jen and she has a blog called Love Unawakened (love that name btw) and she posted a few days ago about feeling alone when staying pure (because you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend).
I agree with her post because I feel the same way sometimes.

On Valentine's day, I was watching a cute hallmark movie (i can't remember the name right now) and seeing the couple's together and getting engaged kinda made me feel like "oh it would be so cute to have someone to share valentines day with" but I immediately caught myself because I was having a "oh woe is me" pity party!
I then thought of my "someone" who I will meet someday and I prayed for him that God will fill his heart with love and help him stay strong and pure and wait for me! I felt better after that prayer and I wrote about it in my prayer journal that night.

Whenever you start to feel lonely or think about your life of purity or any decisions you have to make, remember your "someone" is out there experiencing those same kinds of struggles and pray for him/her!

I pray for my someday "someone" every time I think of my future because I know he needs prayers to keep him strong in his fight for purity just as much as I do.

Another thing I did a few months ago is I wrote a letter (three actually) to my future husband. I know it sounds kinda silly but think of how much that letter will mean to him; to know that I was thinking of and praying for him before I even knew him! How wonderful it will be to share those letters with him someday! :)

I remember when I was at my best friend's house a couple years ago, looking through Brio Magazines and I saw an article of a letter written by a young man. I was curious what he had written about so I started to read it and I realized that this letter I was reading was a letter to his someday "someone"!
It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever read and I knew right then and there that I wanted to marry someone like the anonymous guy who had written that letter.

Nothing is wrong with you if you feel lonely because God created us to have this longing to be loved (look at the story of Adam and Eve) but during your single years, let God fill you with the love you need because nothing is greater than his unconditional love! God wants you to not be distracted with thoughts of wedding bells but rather thoughts of how you can use your single years to serve Him and fulfill His plans for your life. Embrace your single years and use them wisely because once you marry, they are gone for good! ;)

So next time you start to feel lonely or are going through a teen/young adult struggle; think of your someone and pray for both of you, that God will fill you with His love and show you what other plans He has for you before you marry.

Love and prayers,
Butterfly

A much needed update on the crazy life of a teen girl who is about to graduate in three months!!!!!

2010-02-16T11:21:00.011-05:00

So I have been so bad about posting lately! I meant to post two weeks ago but it never happened because of a number of reasons (one of which is my lack of remembering to post skills)! I apologize for my long absence. I know you all must have missed me incredibly right!?! :)

Well I am going to try to sum up the last month in just a couple paragraphs because I don't have much time (isn't that a problem for everyone?)!
Anyways, I will start with what I can remember... which sadly isn't as much as i wish it would be. lol Lets see... oh well on the 2nd, my family celebrated my brother's birthday and he requested that I take him to see Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief (which will be later in the post) for his birthday gift from me. I got a haircut (post pics below) and had almost 3 inches taken off in length to rid my hair of split ends and whatnot. My mom and I had Bible Study that night so we weren't able to spend the whole night celebrating his b-day but when we came home, we watched White Collar (a mystery/suspense show on USA network that is most times family ok) and then a very tired family went to bed at about 11:30ish (it had been a long day).

On February 3, I did a good 5-6 hours of schoolwork and then went to the movies with my dear grandmother to see When In Rome. All in all, it was a pretty clean cute movie but I would definitely not approve this movie to any kids under age 16-17 to see this movie due to some suggestive dialogue unless their parents say otherwise.

On the 5th, I babysat and had a great time with those darling little girls! I miss them so much! I haven't seen them since the 5th and won't see them again until the 26th! They are the cutest little girls ever (ages 1, 3 almost 4, and 5).

On the 6th, I helped with our homeschool spelling bee. I was the dictionary girl in case anyone asked for a definition or pronunciation but not a single child did so! Oh well, at least I had my hair curled all cute and looked amazing! lol jk

That evening was my friends sweet 16 party! It was so fun! We played Scene It, I have never ever (which I won!), Mafia (a card game), guess the skittles in the jar (which amazingly I won too), and then we had cake and other fun snacks.

On the 1st, (i forgot to mention this before) my brother and I had rifle class (yes I can shoot a rifle and I am rather good at it too) and I got my Sharpshooter badge (I already have Marksman and Pro-Marksman).

On the 12th, I took my brother to the 11am showing of Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief which was an awesome movie! It had great graphics and the storyline was well done too. I also like the actor who played Percy and the actress who played Annabeth did well too. After the movie, we went to a pet store with my mom and younger siblings to see the different pets like ferrets, bunnies, lizards, cats, fish, etc... My little brother (age 2) got a kick out of the different animals! Then we went to McD's for a little snack and then we were homeward bound so little one could have his nap. My mom and I then went to our local summit to work out and we had fun sitting in a 150+ degree sauna for 20 minutes to let ourselves sweat and pull toxins from our body. My face was like a ripe red tomato afterwards! lol It came back to its normal color after about 12-15 minutes though. Of course we both showered after we came home and I ended the day playing with my little brother and cooking dinner.

On the 13th, we had a b-day party for my sister (her b-day is actually Valentine's day!) and she had a few of her friends come over for a carnival themed party. They had so much fun.

On the 14th, it was obviously Valentine's day! We went to church and then came home, bundled up and went sledding! We had such a great time! I went down about 20 times by myself or with one of my brothers/sister and once with my dad and we flew down the hill so fast I didn't think we would ever stop! lol

On the 15th, I did a ton of schoolwork and nearly killed myself trying to grasp my Physics lesson! It was so much to take in but I actually aced it! Praise GOD! ;) I could never do it on my own but God gave me the will power to stick with it and do my best!

Today, my mom and I went to out at 10am to McD's for coffee drinks and then on to Kohl's for some shopping (i still had $$$ left on my gift card from x-mas, thanks Amy!) and we had so much fun trying on different clothes.

From left to right: A purple flower cowl neck dress to wear with leggings; a super cute flowy top to wear to church and fancy restaurants; a cute poplin top with a flower print for everyday; another cute everyday top that has the layered look with white sleeves; and lastly a super cute maxi dress with a floral pattern and criss-cross straps in the back! I want you all to try your best to guess the price I paid for these 4 tops and 1 dress. I will give you 5 prices to choose from but here is a hint, all were clearance items and I had a 20% off coupon too (include tax also). Good luck!

$11
$21
$31
$35
$41

Whoever guesses correctly will be mentioned as the winner in my next post!

Here are closer pics of the tops/dresses:
Sorry this pic is sideways, at least I fixed the others! lol

All in all, its been a fun month and I wouldn't trade my life for a million bucks! I give God all the credit for my talents and blessings! I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day too! More posts later!

Luv,
Butterfly

4ever

2010-01-21T16:24:00.002-05:00

Hey blog readers,

So sorry its been so long but things have been kinda crazy trying to finish my senior year of high school, studying for the ACT test, planning my graduation and getting my transcripts in order! Its been quite a roller coaster but God is helping me with every step I take.
Today I was able to practice patience to hold my tongue when someone was provoking me. I must admit it is so hard to not jump up and correct the person right then and there but I just swallowed my anger and let it roll of my shoulders. At first I was still frustrated but after a few minutes I was satisfied that I had not let myself sin in my anger. I have not always practiced this rule but recently I have been trying much harder to hold my tongue when provoked.

Anyways, some fun events have happened since the last time I posted! My sweet little brother turned 2 a little over a week ago! We just had immediate family over for a small get together but he had a lot of fun opening his gifts. He received clothes, blocks, a star wars tent, some dinosaur pajamas and some other small things like movies and such. You probably are thinking, I don't care what your little brother got for his b-day! lol ok sorry if I bored you. :)

Well I was happy because last Saturday I went to my bff's house and we played games like Bananagrams and then ate popcorn and other snacks while watching Ever After. It was so fun!

So I am thinking of how I want to celebrate my 18th birthday that is rapidly approaching.... that's right everyone! I am party planning. I do have a tight budget though since graduation parties are not free so anything economical and fun will be great. Still have a lot of thinking to put into that one! :)

Oh and I have a prayer request for you all; my little brother (the cute guy who just turned 2) has a cold and has been miserable all day! If you could pray for that God will heal his little 26.3 pound body that would be a huge blessing!

Gotta go now but I will be back later!

Butterfly

Happy New Year... three days late.... :)

2010-01-04T16:23:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope 2009 was great and that 2010 will be amazing! Some major events I am looking forward to this year are:

Watching my lil baby brother turn 2!

Watching my other not so little brother grow taller than me (I am 5' 7 1/2" and he is now 5' 7 3/4")!

Seeing my sis turn into a tween (she is still shorter than me! haha! Well, she may get taller but it will be about another 2-3 years before she could ever be taller than me! hahaha!)

I am going to be 18!

I plan on getting a real summer job to save for college and car insurance

I plan on getting my license to drive a car

I plan on buying a car :)

I will study for CLEP tests

I will grow closer to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

I will learn to always use my speech to uplift and bring joy and encouragement to those around me.

I will try my very best to shine my light as bright as ever!

I guess you could say this list is like my New Years resolution but it will be different because I will actually do it all! lol

Oh today I wrote a research paper on the benefits and reasons to drink filtered water! I will post it so you all can read it and tell me what you think!

The Many Benefits and Reasons to Drink Filtered Water

I know and understand most people today are so busy, they don’t have time to cook up healthy foods and exercise as often as they should but, they should have a few minutes spread throughout the day to drink an 8 ounce glass of water at least 3-4 times a day and receive the many health benefits of pure H2O.

Now you may be wondering, why just water. Can’t you get water from foods and other drinks? Well, although you can get water from other drinks like pop and juices, they don’t come close to the same benefits of clear pure water.
One important factor to pure water is a filter system. A friend once told me that she believed all water is good for you to drink but I beg to differ.

Below is a picture comparing sink water (on the left) that is unfiltered to kitchen fridge water (on the right) that is filtered:

Anyone can see that the unfiltered water is definitely not clear and full of things that are most certainly not pure.
There are many benefits to having purified water throughout the household.

Pure drinking water has multiple health benefits (which will be listed later)
Pure water for cooking is very important for people of all ages but more so for babies/young children and the elderly
Pure water in your shower is extremely important too. There are many reasons to have a filter on your shower head that I will also list later.

Let’s begin with reasons why you should have filters on your drinking water:
For starters, I am sure you have heard all the commercials and talk of how pure water is important but you may not know all the reasons why. Here are just a few of many huge reasons why unfiltered water can be harmful and very dangerous to the health of your body:

1. Drinking impure, contaminated water is the leading cause of epidemic disease in developing countries.
There are more than 2100 known drinking water contaminants that may be present in your tap water.
3. Many water treatment facilities cannot always control outbreaks of dangers in your tap water.
Several types of cancer can be caused from unclean tap water.
Pure water is a strong essential for physical and mental growth and development in children of all ages.
According to the EPA, lead in drinking water contributes to 480,000 cases of learning disorders in children each year in the United States alone.
It is especially important for pregnant women to drink pure water as lead in drinking water can cause severe birth defects.
The only way to ensure pure water is through a filtration system (even bottled water can be a danger to your health, but that is another story in itself).

These eight reasons alone should be a huge decision factor when considering a household filtration system.

Some people may say, “Well I don’t think I have the money or time to keep up with a filter in my house.” Well I have wonderful news for you! You only have to change your filter system once or twice a year! And they are not as expensive or difficult as some people may think. My family has had a water filter for years and we can always tell tap water from filtered water just by the taste and we all have noticed the difference in our health physical and internal.

Physical Benefits from filtered water:
I have noticed that my skin is very rarely dry (even in winter) when drinking and showering in filtered water. My skin has an even healthy glow and my face is never oily or clammy. I have clear skin (no dry patches) and I very rarely breakout with any blemishes at all. The pure water I am drinking cleanses my body inside and moisturizes my body outside.
In a normal day, I drink usually 4-6 tall glasses of water (approx. 32-48 ounces of water) a day! At first, you may think there is now way you can drink that much water and not have to urinate every 5 minutes. I will admit that for the first couple weeks, I urinated every 2-3 hours so it was a slight inconvenience but after those 2-3 weeks, my body was totally used to it and started to show drastic changes and reveal benefits I didn’t even think of.

When I started:
I began drinking more water when I was 13 years old because I had heard from health scientists and health magazines that drinking eight glasses of water a day helps prevent facial blemishes. I was all for it knowing that during puberty you tend to see teens with severe acne problems and I did not want that to happen to me so, I immediately began drinking more water.

Now I didn’t start drinking 32 ounces a day from the start. It was probably more like 24 oz. and I gradually began to drink more every week until I reached my regular 32-48 oz. a day. You don’t want to shock your body with a ton of water so slowly get yourself into a habit of drinking filtered water more consistently and remember, water at restaurants can’t count half as much because it is only tap water.

After about 2 weeks, you will notice your skin is more healthy and moisturized without having to use lotion every single day.
Your hair will start to regain its natural shine and most will notice clearer and softer skin from showering with filtered water after just a few weeks.

More water options:
If you get tired of drinking water by itself, try mixing it with lemons or limes for a fruity flavor. There are also many benefits of drinking lemon water!

Drinking lemon water has health benefits of its own that most people don’t even know about! I will list several of the more important benefits but you can read all about other benefits by searching lemon water benefits online (some of the facts below are taken from http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/lemon%20water.htm):

Drinking an 8 oz glass of water with 1 oz of lemon in the morning before breakfast and before you go to bed will help cleanse your colon and help improve your digestive system and while purifying your inner its helps clear up your skin as well from its extremely beneficial alkaline properties.

Lemons are known for being one of few foods that are known to help your body with digestive enzymes to digest foods like dairy, carb, and high fatty foods.
Drinking lemon juice isn’t the only way to receive some of its benefits. Applying a small amount of lemon juice to your whole face lets the lemon act as an organic facial cleanser for your pores and it helps restore your natural Ph and alkaline balance to your skin adding a refreshing glow.
Its magnesium, in conjunction with calcium, has an important part to play in the formation of albumen in the blood. The lemon contains potassium 48.3, calcium 29.9, phosphorus 11.1, and magnesium 4.4. Lemons are useful in treating asthma, biliousness, colds, coughs, sore throat, diphtheria, la grippe [flu or influenza], heartburn, liver complaint[s], scurvy, fevers and rheumatism.

Lemon provides a natural strengthening agent to the liver enzymes when they are too dilute.
The liver can make more enzymes out of fresh lemon juice than any other food element!
The lemon juice helps fix oxygen and calciums in the liver because it regulates blood carbohydrate levels which affect the blood oxygen levels.

10 reasons to drink filtered water (taken from http://www.allaboutwater.org/water-filters.html):
1. Water filters provide better tasting and better smelling drinking water by removing chlorine and bacterial contaminants.
2. Point-of-use water filters remove lead from drinking water immediately prior to consumption, thus preventing this harmful substance from entering the body.
3. The purchase of a counter top filter results in a source of clean, healthy water that costs much less than bottled water.
4. Water filters greatly reduce the risk of rectal cancer, colon cancer, and bladder cancer by removing chlorine and chlorine byproducts from drinking water.
5. A solid block carbon water filter can selectively remove dangerous contaminants from drinking water while retaining healthy mineral deposits that balance the pH of drinking water.
6. Drinking clean, filtered water protects the body from disease and leads to overall greater health.
7. A water filter provides clean, healthy water for cooking, as well as drinking, at the convenience of tap water.
8. Water filters reduce the risk of gastrointestinal disease by more than 33 percent by removing cryptosporidium and giardia from drinking water.
9. Drinking pure water is especially important for children. Water filters provide the healthiest water for children’s developing immune systems. 10. Water filters offer the last line of defense between the body and the over 2100 known toxins that may be present in drinking water

10 reasons to shower in filtered water (also taken from www.allaboutwater.com):
Using a shower filter is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce harmful exposure to chlorine and other chemicals.
Showering in filtered water results in greater respiratory health by reducing the risk of asthma and bronchitis from chlorine inhalation.
Showering in chlorine-free, filtered water decreases the risks of bladder and breast cancer.
Children, who are particularly at risk of the harmful effects of chlorine inhalation, benefit especially from the removal of chlorine from showering water.
As chlorine is a leading cause of fatigue, showering in filtered, chlorine-free water results in higher energy levels and overall greater health.
Removing chlorine from showering water results in better air quality throughout the house.
Without the drying effects of chlorine, skin becomes softer, healthier, and younger looking.
Removing chlorine from showering water reduces the presence of skin rashes and the appearance of wrinkles.
Because the hair is able to preserve its natural moisturizing oils, it becomes softer and healthier when chlorine is removed from showering water.
When the body is able to retain its natural moisturizers, the need for costly lotions and moisturizers is greatly reduced.

Enjoy, Butterfly

Back from the depths of no internet life

2009-12-30T12:02:00.002-05:00

So I think I need to explain why I have not posted in such a long time. Its quite simple really. Our router and security system for the Internet has been down and my dad just fixed it less than ten minutes ago!
Last time I tried to post (with out security not really working) our computer was attacked by a automated bug that was trying to steal information (like credit card numbers, social security info, etc...)from our hard drive! I didn't know how to stop it and my dad was only 4 minutes from home so I kept closing the boxes that popped up trying to scan our hard drive until my dad came home and shut it down. I haven't been on my blog or anything else really ever since for fear of being attacked again but now that my dad has fixed the security and our router everything is back to normal.

Well now I can talk a bit about some life news;
I got a hair trim last month. Just took 2 inches from the bottom to keep my hair from split ends, had my layers touched up and then had my side swept bangs trimmed and layered. Its kinda hard to picture (maybe i will take a pic to show ya sometime soon) but my hair is ash blonde (according to the hair samples at CVS) and it is 100% pin straight! lol I can curl my hair but its quite a task (normally takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours) and I have to use quite a bit of hairspray!

Now about Christmas;
CHRISTmas was WONDERFUL! We had both my grandparents over for dinner and then we visited and exchanged gifts! I love visiting with my grandparents and I can tell they enjoy it just as much as me. Its a shame more teens don't take the time to talk with their grandparents. They are to go go go and text text text to talk to anyone in their family. I don't text but I do see how time consuming it can become. I am not trying to lecture any of you btw but its just something that was on my mind! lol

Oh and now I can tell you about some of my gifts I received!
My parents got me the new Casting Crowns CD, lots of chocolates, bath set, and lots of other fun things.
My grandparents on my mom's side bought me a belted tunic, a black velour jacket (to go with the black velour pants i already have), a green long sleeve tee, and a really cute white/black/gray tunic for dressy parties and such.
My grandparents on my dad's side bought me a pamper kit with cozy slippers, body wash/lotion, a foot scrubber and a little shower towel and they also bought me 4 pairs of slipper socks (oh so cozy!)! lol
My brother bought me a pair of slippers that look like flats and are great for winter or summer weather.
My sister bought me a pedi/manicure kit.
My aunt and uncle bought me a super cute wallet with $5 cash inside.
My LW friends (Nicole, Tiff, Michelle and Olivia) bought me a Sanders chocolate, a cute bracelet, a Hershey bar attached to 2 candy canes to make it a sleigh, and a mini purse with a scarf inside!
My grandpa and great grandmother across the states sent me money for Christmas and I bought a super cute plaid wool coat (i will post a pic asap).
With some other Christmas cash I bought myself a super cute pair of moccasin flats from Payless.
And yesterday, for only $30 I got the LG EnV3 from Verizon!!!! I loooove the phone! It has saweet web/text/pics/video/music and anything else you could ever want in a phone! Oh and I got it in maroon color! Its sooo awesome! With the web I can go on any website I want from email and eBay to facebook and my blog! lol Can you tell I am excited!

Well I g2g make some lunch for me and my baby brother.... pb&j anyone? JK

Blessings and Joy,
Butterfly

LAUS DEO

2009-11-30T16:48:00.004-05:00

A bit long but an amazing read! Might count for part of your history homework if your homeschooled! lol <3>

LAUS DEO
A very interesting piece of history. Please take a minute and read on. Do you know what it means?

One detail that is never mentioned is that in Washington , D.C. there can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument.
With all the uproar about removing the ten commandments, etc., this is worth a moment or two of your time. I was not aware of this amazing historical information.On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington , D.C , are displayed two words: Laus Deo. No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally unaware they are even there and for that matter, probably couldn't care less.

Once you know Laus Deo 's history , you will want to share this with everyone you know. These words have been there for many years; they are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia, capital of the United States of America .Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.
So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply, they say ' Praise be to God!'Though construction of this giant obelisk began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States , it was not until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took twenty-five years to finally cap the memorial with a tribute to the Father of our nation, Laus Deo 'Praise be to God!'From atop this magnificent granite and marble structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments. From that vantage point, one can also easily see the original plan of the designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant ..a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the north. The Jefferson Memorial is to the south, the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west.

A cross you ask? Why a cross? What about separation of church and state? Yes, a cross; separation of church and state was not, is not, in the Constitution. So, read on. How interesting and, no doubt, intended to carry a profound meaning for those who bother to notice.Praise be to God! Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings.. As one climbs the steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message.
On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore ;
on the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians;
on the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!
When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy 'One Nation, Under God.' I am awed by Washington 's prayer for America Have you ever read it? Well, now is your unique opportunity, so read on! ' Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'
Laus Deo !
When one stops to observe the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation's capitol, he or she will easily find the signature of God, as it is unmistakably inscribed everywhere you look. You may forget the width and height of ' Laus Deo ', its location, or the architects but no one who reads this will be able to forget its meaning, or these words: 'Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.' (Psalm 127: 1)It is hoped you will send this to every child you know; to every sister, brother, father, mother or friend. They will not find offense, because you have given them a lesson in history that they probably never learned in school. With that, be not ashamed, or afraid, but have pity on those who will never see this because someone failed to send it on.

Enjoy,
Butterfly

4ever

2009-11-02T16:16:00.003-05:00

Well I have a very good excuse as to why I have not posted in so long. For starters, I had been studying for my ACT test for over a month and finally took the test on October 24! I must say I am so happy to have it done already. Now I am excited to get my results!

Second, I have had on and off illnesses for two and a half weeks. It started with a small head cold (stuffy nose, sore throat, a small cough) and I had it for a bit over a week, then I got better for a while and then got almost the same cold all over again for a bit and got better and then I had the flu! Must of caught it while my immune system was still down from the other colds. Fortunately God healed me in three days (sounds familiar to another story?) and I am feeling much better today!

Other things that have been happening are a bit more exciting than my sickness. :)
I went to the Masquerade Ball a couple weekends ago with two of my best friends! I had sooo much fun! I would post pics but then you would see my face....

Anyways, I just want you all to know that we serve a WONDERFUL GOD WHO LOVES US SOOO MUCH! Sure we will have struggles and heartache but God will get us through it all!

Luv,
Butterfly

God, prayer, discernment, college!

2009-10-08T11:09:00.002-04:00

So you may be able to guess what I am going to talk about in this post just from my title. I know I have talked about college before but now being a senior in High School its a BIG subject in my life!

Last night I attended a College Night program to get a feel for what kind of colleges I could go to in the area where I live. Some of it was kinda depressing because I found out that if I do want to be a Pharmacist (like a FOR SURE thing... still lots of prayer going on at home) I will have to go to a University and let me tell ya they are not exactly affordable (we are talking between $16-27,000 a year!!!).

Shortly after I had arrived (I went with my wonderfully supportive father who gave me a lot of good advice of what colleges to talk to) a young woman walked up to me and my dad and asked me if she could have a couple minutes of my time.
I said OK thinking she was going to tell me something about a college she is representing but she had nothing to do with colleges.
She asked me if I could be a Christmas season model for Ambercrombie and Fitch! Now for those of you who may not know me very well, I do not support or purchase items from Ambercrombie and Fitch for several reasons, the biggest being that they have very inappropriate advertising.
I kindly told her that I am not interested and she told me that if I changed my mind, I could come in to any of their stores to sign up (like that would ever happen!).
If she had been working for American Eagle or Kohls or even JcPenneys I would have been more interested but definitely NOT for Ambercrombie and Fitch!
I was flattered though. Its funny too because my friend Nicole was just telling me the other day at LW that I could be a model too! lol
I don't think God has modeling in my future though. Besides, how can I be a light in the world as a model?

Well back to colleges.
I found out that no colleges in my state (at least that I know of) have a program to be a Pharmacist Technician so right now its either full in or nothing.
I did find out that if I do go to a college to be a pharmacist, their are 3 schools to choose from that would be best (all three are universities... go figure) one of which I would never attend just because they don't have a good reputation for their campus.
At least that narrows it down to two. One is in the heart of a not so safe city... scary thought. I am definitely leaning towards the last college which is an hour drive from where I live. The good news is that they are a bit less expensive than the others and they have a four year bachelors program to be a Pharmacist (i would list the names of the specific colleges but for safety purposes I prefer not to do so).

Since I have a 3.0 GPA I would get a scholarship of a few thousand dollars for that alone, and I can get another few thousand dollars bumped off if I score well on my ACT test on October 24 (please pray that I do well!).

But we are still talking around approximately $10-14,000 a year for college tuition!
More good news is that sometimes, pharmacy stores like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid provide a special scholarship program where if you promise to work for them for so many years after you complete your college education, they will help you pay for your tuition!

As great as that is I still need lots of prayer that I will have discernment in choosing what to do for my college education. I am not even sure yet if it is God's will that I do become a Pharmacist.

I think not knowing God's plans is the hardest part of figuring out what to do because for me, I want God's will to be done in my life. I want to take a path that will glorify God's name, a path that will let His light shine in me!
Please pray that I will see what God's plan is for me. He may reveal the plan to me in a few weeks or maybe not until next year but as long as I find peace in my decision, I will know it is His will, not just mine.

Thanks for your prayers!
Blessings,
Butterfly

I wanted to share this from Patriotpost.com! Too good to not read!

2009-10-05T13:49:00.004-04:00

POLITICAL FUTURES
"On Friday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to award the 2016 Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro. As you now know, not only was Chicago not chosen to host the 2016 games, but it was the first city knocked out in voting for the four cities still in the running.

In addition to the U.S. and Rio the other two were Tokyo (which came in 3rd) and Madrid (2nd). ... [T]he Olympic story completely buried the news that unemployment ticked up to 9.8 percent and is likely on its way to the magic 10 percent mark. ... [T]his was not an embarrassment for Chicago -- only one city was going to get the 2016 Olympics.

It was not an embarrassment for the United States -- Brazil is still a pretty good ally. ... It is a personal embarrassment for Barack Obama because he truly believed, or was told, or both, that if he showed up personally to make the final pitch, the IOC would not be able to deny Chicago the Games. Because he is B-A-R-A-C-K O-B-A-M-A the President of All the World! ... The Myth of Obama met the Reality of Obama. Obama lost." --political analyst Rich Galen

~Butterfly

A while

2009-10-02T12:43:00.005-04:00

OK so I know its been a while since my last post but at least I didn't wait two months again! lol

Well summer is officially over.... SO SAD! I will miss wearing shorts and flip-flops and playing outside in the sunshine. At least we enjoyed the warm weather while it lasted. Now is the time for warm cider and donuts! Cider Mills are sooo fun! As a matter of fact I am going next Monday with my LW friends. We are going to have cider and donuts, scrapbook and do a devotion together and possibly go on a hayride through the apple orchard!

Oh some new happenings:

We sponge painted the hallway and some of the kitchen walls upstairs last Tuesday! The best part is it only took about 3 hours!

We will probably be getting new carpeting in the hall and living room upstairs sometime before Christmas (we hope!).

I got a brand new car!!!! NO I AM JUST KIDDING! But I wish I had! (still trying to convince my parents to let me get a license.... JK about that too!) lol

Well I have been really blessed with lots of babysitting jobs lately. Last month I made a bit over $200 so it was a pretty good month for me. Next summer I will definitely try to get a good summer job so I can save more and pay for my car and insurance!

If you think of me while reading this post (which you should because it is mostly about me) or any other time could you please pray that God will give me wisdom and discernment in what college I should go to or if His plan for me is to go to college! I am so in the dark right now. It is not easy being 17 and not knowing what I am doing next fall!

Oh and I am taking my ACT test on October 24! If you think of me pray that I will get a good score and not get nervous (kinda hard to think straight when your stomach is topsy-turvy!).

Thanks for the prayers (and comments!),
Blessings,
Butterfly

P.S. Here are some flower power pics:

sunflower pic from Mackinaw

The last of the red roses

Forever

2009-09-14T19:37:00.018-04:00

I know its been forever since I posted last and I am sorry. I have been so busy but having lots of fun at the same time!

Some highlights are the Fall Festival we went to a couple weekends ago and the biggest highlight is when we went to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island last week. We left early Tuesday morning and we were back at nearly midnight on Thursday! We had sooo much fun! The first day we arrived at about 2pm ( we had a break for lunch at Culver's, btw Culver's has the BEST burgers ON EARTH!!!!) We checked into our hotel and God blessed us so great because we were able to get a TWO bedroom suite for only $78 a night!!!! I didn't take any pics of the room though but it was right on the water/beach! As soon as we got our room we locked up the van after I grabbed my camera and went straight to the beach! Here are a couple pics I took on the beach:

beach views!

After being on the beach for a couple hours, we drove to Darrow's (one of our fav restaurants in Mackinaw) and had a delicious meal. My dad had there beef n gravy meal with mashed potatoes and stuffing, my brother and I split a country style sandwich and my mom and sister split the same thing. AJ just ate bits a pieces of everyone's food (mostly my dad's mashed potatoes). :)

When we finished dinner, we went to the Mackinaw Mall Crossings and just relaxed and walked around. At about 8ish we went back to our hotel, put on our swimsuits and we all went swimming in the huge pool (wish I had pics of it but I couldn't take my camera in there or it probably wouldn't be working right now.... lol).

After swimming for an hour or so we went back to our rooms and took turns using the shower. Now although the two bedroom suite had three beds (a king for my parents and two queens for us 3 kids to share... AJ was in his portable pack n play bed) since my sister and I didn't really have a choice we shared on of the beds so my brother got his own! Well let me tell you my sister does not sleep still!!!! She roles around about every 15 minutes and is constantly kicking, yes I said kicking her legs around the bed so just guess who took all the kicking! ME! The first night I was probably kicked in the back (you don't think I would sleep facing the kung fu girl do ya) at least a dozen times the first night and every now and then I would have to move her legs off of my legs! The craziest part is she didn't have a clue what she did to me while she was asleep! lol

Lets just say I didn't look forward to going back to bed Wednesday night! lol

Well on Wednesday we ate the complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then were off the the ferry dock to get to the island! We were all very excited! AJ liked the ferry ride and I liked taking tons of pics along the way! Here are some of the pics I took:

Horse drawn carriage on the island (above and below).

Fort views

The dock!

Once we were on the island, we decided to go to Fort Michillimackinac first. My mom was a bit nervous some of the time that AJ was gonna fall over the wall or something but after we got to the center of the fort (where there are no cliffs and high falling points) she was just fine. I still am amazed to think of how many people lived in that fort and more amazed at the lifestyle they had over a century ago.

Well we worked up quite an appetite with all that walking and learning so we went to a Deli shop on the corner of the street and we shared two rather huge sub sandwiches. My brother (the older one) made a huge mistake by simply throwing a tiny crumb of bread into the lawn in front of where we were sitting and less than 1 second later a million seagulls were all around us. Now at first we were rather worried of being attacked for our food (I was mostly concerned that one of those obnoxious creatures were gonna poo in my clean hair!) but AJ came to the rescue and had more fun than you'd think chasing the seagulls around in the grass. :)

After eating we strolled down the street and looked at the beautiful homes and then we turned direction for all the fudge shops and gift stores.
We bought 3 lbs of fudge from Joanns Fudge Shop because they had a special buy 2 get 1 free. It was definitely better than May's, Murdicks and Ruby's fudge!

Then to go with our fudge (and to warm us up a bit since it was a smidgen cool out) I bought some Starbucks coffee (just plain decaf since all my fav foo-foo drinks were so expensive) for my mom and I to share and let me tell ya, no better combination than fudge and Starbucks coffee!

While looking in the shops I put on my sale scopes and found a great long sleeve t-shirt that was on clearance for just $11 and I liked it the instant I saw it! So of course I bought it! lol I will post pics of it later!

Well sadly, after so much fun on the island, we had to leave at 6pm for the last ferry ride back to the city. We ate dinner at the pastie shop and then went into the Crossings Mall. We looked in almost all the shops we hadn't seen the day before and in Devon's fudge shop I bought a hot chocolate for us all to share (they were kind enough to put it into two cups so I shared mine with my sister and my mom shared hers with my brother). Then once dusk settled in, we saw the Mackinaw Laser Lights show! After that we went to bed at the hotel because we were exhausted.

Thursday was our last day so we did everything we could that day. We went to Mill Creek and did the zip line and eagle bridge walk (soooooo much fun), watched the mill presentation (I will post that video and pictures shortly below this) and took a nature walk. Then we went to Mama Mia's Pizza for lunch because on Thursdays its 1/2 off any pizza day! After we devoured our delicious pizza and looked in the museum upstairs we went to Fort Mackinac. Here are some pics:

All in all, we had a wonderful time in Mackinaw! God blessed us with good weather and He kept us safe there and back.

Post more later,

Butterfly

Our Week of FUN

2009-08-23T15:22:00.009-04:00

Okay so remember when I told you all last week that we were going to Cedar Point and the Zoo and to a beach? Well it didn't exactly happen as originally planned... but we still did the fun stuff. Let me tell ya we had an AMAZING week! God blessed us so much!

On Monday, we just relaxed at home and had fun as a family.

On Tuesday (we were originally going to Cedar Point but it was raining in Ohio) my dad planned a big surprise for us. My mom knew but my brothers, sister and I had no idea. We started guessing parks we know of and other fun places but we were way off! My dad surprised us and took us to the Tigers game! It was sooo much fun (even though the Tigers didn't win)! We had a blast! Even AJ liked it!

On Wednesday, we went to the Zoo. That was also lots of fun! Here are some pics:
This polar bear was kinda funny sitting on top of the aquatic tunnel! lol

These kangaroos were trying to keep cool from the hot sun! It was about 85 degrees out!

This lion was huge! And we could hear him gently roaring. It was pretty cool and AJ really thought it was awesome! :)

On Thursday my mom had to go to work so we stayed home and just cleaned the house, played outside, and hung out with family.

On Friday........ drum roll please.............................. we went to........................................... CEDAR POINT!!!!!!!!!!!! It was soooo fun! I went on at least 20 rides! We rode on

The Iron Dragon (3 times),

Blue Streak (4 or 5 times I can't remember),

Gemini (3 times),

Corkscrew (once),

Wildcat (once),

the Pirate Ship (once),

Disaster Transport (twice!) and many more!!! My sister and I named ourselves the Triple S (same seat sisters) because we went on almost every ride sitting next to each other!

Other rides we went on were the Convertible Cars (i rode by myself the first time in a pink convertible and the second time with AJ in a purple convertible. We also rode the old fashioned cars, the race horse carousel (2 times) and other fun stuff we could all do like the high swings!

I haven't downloaded the pics from my camera yet so when I get a chance I will post some from Cedar Point.

Post more later!!!

Blessings,

Butterfly

Hey

2009-08-14T13:52:00.003-04:00

I know I haven't posted in forever but I have a good reason! Our Internet was down for almost a whole week! I was so upset! Well now I can finally tell ya some new highlights of my life! : )

For starters, I have had a few extra babysitting jobs the past week or so. August 5, I babysat for three hours and made $30! Praise God! I need to save all the money I can get from babysitting for a car and college! It wasn't easy money though because I was watching four children but they are really great kids.

Wednesday evening (still the 5th of Aug.) I went with my friend Kelsey to her church for a talk on Purity and how to prepare for marriage and what to do with your single years. Some of the topics I already knew about but other things he said I had never even thought of. I know that for young ladies you should not tempt your brothers in Christ to sin by dressing immodestly. The world tells girls that if you look good, dress good but it doesn't mean you have to dress inappropriately. And for guys he said it is good to have a job, a strong relationship with God and a plan for your future before you try to start finding a wife. I really enjoyed it.

Another highlight for this month is going to happen next week! My dad has a week off from work so we are going to a few really fun places!

For starters, on Tuesday we a going to *drum roll please* ............................ CEDAR POINT! If you have never heard of Cedar Point it is an amusement park with roller coasters, shows and lots of other fun stuff. We haven't been there in 3 years so I am really excited!

Wednesday we are going to go to a beach up North but its not that far from where I live.

Friday we are going to the Zoo and then Friday night my BFF is spending the night to watch Monk and Psych with my family and me! I am soo looking forward to all these fun things!

Oh last night my dad and I went shopping to Kohls together (my fav place to shop) and when we first walked in the doors we saw our neighbor and her daughter Kelsey (the same Kelsey that I went to the purity talk with.) The best part was I found some really good deals!

I got a pair of those soffe shorts just for pj wear.

I bought this dress (it looks short but it is actually almost to my knees) for just $6 but mine is a cute green (try to picture it green):

And I bought a really cute bag that I will have to take a picture of to show you later cuz I gotta go! I will post more soon!

Blessings,

Butterfly

Long time no see...

2009-08-03T20:51:00.013-04:00

Well I know its taken me nearly FOREVER to get this out! This will be an update on (if i can remember everything) the past two weeks.... let me see. For starters, July 24 was Little Women at my friend Nicki's house. We went to a pool/water slide and had a huge blast! I wish I could post pics but I can't cuz of safety purposes. : P

Anywho, the day after that (it was a Saturday) we went out to a restaurant to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. We ordered two gourmet pizza's, one veggie and one cheese and pepperoni. After the late lunch, we came back to my house (my grandma, aunt, cousins and my family) and we just hung out and chatted for a bit. My cousins are both girls and are 6 and 9 (soon to be 10) so they mostly play with my little sister.

Saturday evening, I babysat for my mom's cousin and I watched her two kids (a fun 5 year old boy and a darling 3 year old girl!) They were so much fun. I made them dinner, we played outside (they both have their own little battery cars to drive), drew lots of pics with chalk and then headed in for bath time. I always bring a shirt to change into during bath time because they always get me wet! lol Its lots of fun though. After their bath, they get to watch one kid show (they looove scooby-doo) and then they both pick out what stories they want me to read. Then I tuck them both in bed, turn on their classical music in the boom box in the hall and they eventually fall asleep (i usually get them in bed between 8:30-9 but they normally fall asleep closer to 9:30ish). Its a lot of work but hey, I enjoy it! I have always loved kids from any age.

Well on Sunday, we went to a picnic in the park. It was actually a church picnic. I liked it alot. They played music, had burgers and hotdogs and brownies and cookies and juice and well you get the picture. I actually ran into my friend's friend that i had met a few times before there. She attends the church we have recently been visiting! : )

Monday I had my BFFWILLAS (best friend forever who i love like a sister) over and we scrapbooked and watched re-runs of Monk together. We snacked on some awesome duoz cheese crackers (very addicting... ) and enjoyed each others company. She could only stay for a couple hours cuz she had to get home to help clean her house (i know how that is... lol).

Tuesday draws a blank.... as does Wednesday...... Thursday my dad took me to an empty parking lot after dinner and I practiced driving for 1/2 an hour. I did really well.

Friday morning, since I wasn't babysitting my mom, baby brother and I went out to breakfast together at Big Boy's and then went to garage sales together! We had some lovely quality time.

Saturday my family and I all went out to garage sales together. I will have to post pics of what I bought but for now I will tell ya. I bought a pair of American Eagle flats for $2, a college messenger style bag thats lime green for $2 and 22 sheets of scrapbooking stickers for $2!!!!!!
I know... I am an amazing shopper! lol

After garage sales, we bought some fried chicken and went up to a park to eat picnic style. AJ loooved the park so much that he cried when we had to go home.
That evening I babysat again for my mom's cousin. It was the exact same routine except the kids had already eaten dinner.

Yesterday we went to the Henry Ford Estate birthday party for their 146th birthday! They had cupcakes, pizza, subs, pickles on a stick and other snacks and almost everything was just a dollar or so. Okay so here is something super cool! At the back of the estate, there is a small waterfall (pic below):

Well when they turn down the water, there are stepping stones right across the top:

So my dad, brother and I crossed!!!! I am the one in the yellow top below:

Since I was wearing flip-flops I went halfway across barefoot (i thought it was better footing for me that way) and went the other half across and back in my flip-flops (i was feeling much braver then). I am so glad I did go because you just feel like you have made a huge accomplishment once you make it back! lol

Today, we did house cleaning, watered the garden and flowers (we actually do this everyday), I helped my brother clean the kitchen (it was more like he helped me because I did most of the work) lol. But we are giving him a break today because last night we took a family bike ride up to a park that's a mile away and he fell of his bike and kinda twisted his ankle a bit so he has to go easy for a couple days anyway.

Now I just want to say...... I AM SO BLESSED! THE LORD HAS BEEN SO GOOD TO ME AND MY FAMILY AND I PRAISE HIM FOR EVERYTHING I HAVE. I learned an important lesson that I will never forget; When something good happens, its a blessing. When something bad happens, it's a blessing in disguise! I made that up all by myself because I found it to be true once or twice.

Blessings,

Butterfly

Anniversary

2009-07-16T11:26:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone,

Today is my parents 21st Anniversary! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! It is amazing to think that 21 years ago from this date was my parents wedding!

Well to go with the theme of weddings/anniversaries, I decided to list all the great purity books by age groups (like from age 10-18+).

The first Purity Book I ever read was "The Princess and The Kiss" be Jennie Bishop. It is actually a book and a study to do with just your mom or with a group of girls and their mom's. I would recommend to do this study from ages 10-14. It's simple enough for a 10 year old to grasp but goes on to a level great for up to 14 year olds. I did "The Princess and The Kiss" when I was 13-14 and did the pledge for Purity at a ceremony we had a year later. It is a wonderful study and I really enjoyed it.

Next is a wonderfully amazing book by Sarah Mally titled, "Before You Meet Prince Charming". I love this book so very much. I would recommend ages 12+ for this book. I like how Sarah covers all the most important parts of keeping pure like not just physically but emotionally and mentally pure also. In each chapter, it begins with the story of a princess and then does a discussion of what obstacle of purity the princess faced that day. It also gives great testimonials of girls who choose to keep pure and a couple stories that make girls realize they want to keep pure to protect not just their kiss but their heart too.

Then comes a much more in depth book by Joshua Harris, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye". It is a bit of an older book, written in 1997 but it still totally applies the same to life today. I would say that you should be at least 15 to read this book and still just let your parents check it out first to be sure its OK for you. More mature girls can take the book and read it at 14 but be sure your mom or dad overlook it first. Joshua talks about his past mistakes and how he has asked God for forgiveness and how he has changed so dramatically. He tells stories that are true to help you relate to the book (especially if you are in a public school). Joshua tells how God revealed to him that you don't need a boyfriend/girlfriend to make you happy and fit in. God wants you to use your single years to live for him. Sarah's book "Before you meet prince charming" also talks a lot about using your younger years for serving God (not that you stop serving God when you get married but you can do a lot more when you don't have other commitments or things to think about... like a job for instance).

You can also check out some other purity books that I personally haven't read yet but plan to read in the near future:

"Wait For Me" by Rebecca St. James

"Authentic Beauty" by Leslie Ludy

"The Ten Commandments of Dating" by Ben Young (I personally am not going to date, I am going to court but I may check out this book later in the future.)

You can find a lot of other books on purity in your local Family Christian Store or even online.

Bless and Be Blessed,
Butterfly

The Homeschool kids who can't do anything (like the public school that is)

2009-07-16T10:53:00.003-04:00

Sing to the tune of the "Pirates who don't do anything" (from Veggie Tales)! Personally... I LOVE IT! LOL : )

We are the homeschool kids who can't do anything
We just stay at home and do our work
And if you ask us to do anything
We'll just tell youWe can't do anything.

Well, I can't pass notes in math classand
I've never bought my school lunch
and I've never had my homework eaten by the family dog
and I've never had a hall pass
and I've never owned a locker
and I've never had detention after school.

We are the homeschool kids
who can't do anything
We just stay at home
and do our work
And if you ask us to do anything
We'll just tell you
We can't do anything.

Well, I've never been suspended
and I've never missed the school bus
and I've never got a fat lip from the bully in the hall
and I've never seen the school nurse
and I've never slapped erasers
and I've never had detention after school.

We are the homeschool kids
who can't do anything
We just stay at home and do our work
And if you ask us to do anything
We'll just tell you
We can't do anything.

Well, I've never changed for P.E.
and I've never had a swirlie
and I've never had a teacher that I didn't like at all
and I've never had supply lists
and I've never answered roll call
and I've never had detention after school.

We are the homeschool kids
who can't do anything
We just stay at home and do our work
And if you ask us to do anything
We'll just tell youWe can't do anything.

But we've often taken field trips
and we go to school in pj's
and we often do our work while sitting on our favorite couch
and we finish school by lunchtime
and we find our books on ebay
and we don't have any homework after school!! The End!

Have a awesome day,
Butterfly

Oh my...

2009-06-25T23:08:00.009-04:00

word. I can hardly believe how long its been since I posted. You are probably actually happy to know that I can't remember EVERYTHING that happened the last few weeks or you would spend 10 years trying to read how long the post would be! LOL

Well I will fill you in on a couple of the highlights to make it not so long. First, school is officially done for this year. I choose (all by myself!) to do French this Summer (shocking since most kids think they don't need to think about school for 100 days)! : P

Anyhoot, there was a crazy happening a little over a week ago, it was nice out so I had the window next to the very computer I am typing at open. My dad was sitting on our front porch and we had just the glass front door closed (the big door as my family calls it was open). Well anyways, it was all peaceful and calm until...... WAM! A crazy bird flew right into the glass door! It scared me (i was typing an email and nearly jumped out of my seat!) and my dad cuz I heard him saw "what on earth" and I can tell you what on earth... it was a bird with no brains! lol

Another thing about birds is a couple weeks ago we knew of a nest in the gutter right above our doorstep. A few days later, a baby bird was dead on our doorstep. I was soo sad to open our front big door and see the poor little birdy. : (

Well its time for happier news now! Last weekend was the local Independence Festival in my town and of course me and my family went. There was elephant ears, corn dogs, ice cream, kettle corn, you name it and it was there. I wanted to buy everything and just pig out but I didn't buy anything because everything was outrageously priced. It was $5 for an elephant ear (if you think its an actual ear of an elephant... you are crazy. it is a type of pastry and they are deep friend so technically they are really bad for you. I haven't had one in many many years!).

Well in the evening, every year they have fireworks sooo.... I took a video and some pics to share with you all!!!! Yeaaaa!

If you think this is amazing, that's nothing compared to what my Lord, God my Savior can do for you! I will never forget the song "My God is so great"! It was one of my favorites as a young little girl. We sang it in Sunday School almost every week.

Well of course I have done the one thing almost all teen girls enjoy doing.............. shopping!

I will show you what I got below:

This dress was on sale from $36 dollars to $14.99 and I had a coupon so I got it for $12.40! I just really wanted a dress I can wear any day rather than strictly for Sunday best. I really just got into the habit of wearing dresses and skirts more often. I have been wearing babydoll tops for a long while though. I don't like skin suction tight clothing. If I can't wear it with Jesus then I can't wear it at all!
This blue tank top was only $4.99 so I got it in blue (as shown above) and in pink. I have suddenly taken a liking to pink. I realized that blues, pinks/purples, greens and yellows look really good on blonds so those are now my fave colors! They are such summery and happy colors too! I don't like dark blues but light blues are really pretty.

Well I really need to get to bed now! Its 11:36! I am sooo tired and I need sleep before I babysit four darling children in the morning. If you have never read my blog before, I will do a quick name/age for ya. Noah/age 6, Marina/age 4, Summer/age 3 and little Selah/7months.

I hope you all have a good nights rest and that you will bless and be blessed!

In God's love,

Butterfly

Bubble Burst

2009-06-04T12:36:00.004-04:00

Well friends,

My hope bubble has burst.

My big news is that I applied for a job at a local movie theater and I called the other day to speak with the hiring manager (just so ya know, he is NEVER there when I call and I called at least 5 times in the past 3 days) so I ended up speaking with a assistant manager and I told him of my application and me wondering if I will be hired or not and he said chances are not because most of the positions for staff are filled! I took comfort in knowing that this HAS to be for a reason.
Now here is a crazy twist to it all! My mom got a call on Tuesday (the day I was told I wasn't going to get the job) from the owner/manager of a Tea House not far from our house and my mom's best friend works there and referred her for a job opening to be a waitress!
She had the interview yesterday and was hired! My mom starts her training tomorrow at 11 AND guess who is training her??? HER BFF WHO WORKS THERE! She is so excited and I really am happy for my mom but it just makes me feel a bit worse that I didn't get a job. Pray for me that I will have patience and that God will guide me. I know that God has a reason for me not getting that job. There is a plan and purpose developing but I just don't know what it is yet. Well I have to go and finish up some school work. TTYL

Blessings,
Butterfly

Hello

2009-06-02T12:27:00.004-04:00

Bonjour readers and friends,
I realize that I have not posted in over 2 weeks and I have several reasons why.
First, I have taken up quite a few extra babysitting jobs the past couple weeks.
Second, my grandfather from the other side of the USA has taken a trip to visit us this past week. I am sad because today is his last day visiting us! : (
Third, I have been trying like crazy to finish my history book so the school year will officially be done!!! lol

I am going to share some BIG news with you all sometime soon I hope. I can't tell you just yet in case something goes wrong but I am praying it will work out.
I hope you have enough sense to eliminate some obvious things that are not my big news (like getting married or something crazy like that) but it is a big thing for me right now and I hope to share the news soon (a lot of hope in this paragraph huh?) lol

Well I will tell you some of the fun things we have done the last week;
Last Monday around 4:30ish, we got a call from my grandpa telling us he was finally in town! YEA!!!! He came over on Tuesday with my Aunt and cousins (he is staying at my aunt's house because she is the only relative with a guest bedroom) around 2:30 and the instant he was out of the car I ran like crazy to be the first to give him a hug! It sounds silly coming from a 17 year old but I do some crazy things OK. : )
We shared pictures and had snacks together and they stayed for dinner (we ordered Pad Thai and pizza for the kids... i had both hehehe).
They had to leave at about 7 because my aunt lives an hour away and my cousins had to get in bed for school the next morning.
My grandpa came back to our house in his truck on Wednesday morning and he had breakfast with us around 9am (my aunt works on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so he visited us on all these days last week). We left our house after cleaning and getting our stuff together and went to the chiropractor where my aunt works. We all had adjustments and then left to go to Costco. Now one thing I always like about Costco is the samples but for some reason they only had three (granola, Lipton diet drinks and some kind of noodle thingy) and I didn't really like any. We bought groceries for dinner and then came back to our house. We had chicken, mashed potatoes and Cole slaw for dinner. YUM! I like chicken a LOT! Grandpa had to get back to my aunts at about 7ish because I think we tired him out with our go-go lifestyle! LOL
On Thursday, nobody came to visit but my family went to a local museum. It was lots of fun. I will have to see if I have any good pics to share with ya later.
Friday, I went to babysit for Amy in the morning so I missed my grandpa (and pancake breakfast!) but when my dad came to pick me up from Amy's EVERYONE (my family and grandpa) was in our van. I asked where we were going and my mom said garage sales! I said YAY!!! Let me tell you I find most of my clothes in clearance racks at Kohls or at garage sales. You get amazing deals (like my new American Eagle t-shirt for a quarter!)! I will post pics of all my new clothes soon.
Well anyways, we went to garage sales for almost 2 hours and then came home because my baby brother really needed a nap! Well he was very happy once he laid his precious head on his bed.
While baby was sleeping we shared more pictures and just talked and played games.
Saturday, grandpa went up north a bit to see a old friend of his so we didn't get to visit. So since we had free time, my mom, my brother and I took off for more garage sales! I got several good deals but no clothes in the morning. We came home so my mom could put baby to sleep and then just me and my parents went while my other siblings stayed home. After one dud (we call garage sales that have only junk duds or bobs... don't ask why... we just do) we hit a garage sale that had a lot of clothes my size. The one problem was that most of her skirts were short-skirts but two were longer so I bought those and I bought a really cute cami that will be nice for summer and it matches one of the skirts! The next sale had roller coaster tycoon for 25 cents so I bought that for my brother and me and the one after that had my American Eagle t-shirt and a sweater. We hit more sales after those but I didn't buy anything except a dress for a dollar.
Sunday, we went to church and sat with my aunt, uncle and grandpa (my cousins were in Sunday school). After church, we went out to eat at a cute Greek restaurant for lunch. I split a gyro with my mom and it was sooooo good! If you like Olga's you would love gyros (its not pronounced gyro but instead is pronounced yur-o)!
After that we went downtown and strolled a park and did a bit of window shopping. If we hadn't been so full, we might have bought ice cream but we were too full!
Monday, my grandpa came over for breakfast (we had scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast) and after breakfast we played Yahtzee. Surprisingly, I actually god a Yahtzee (if you don't know what a Yahtzee is, its when you roll 5 die and all of them are the same number... its really hard)!
Today, my grandpa is coming over for the last time at about 3 with my aunt and cousins.We will probably take lots of pictures so I am wearing one of my new shirts today.
Well I will post more later (and hopefully the BIG news)!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Hey

2009-05-17T13:49:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone,

So what do you think of my new blog template? Since someone stole my original background (you know who you are) lol! No its ok cuz I was planning on changing it anyways. So tell me what ya think. This template may only last a month or so since Summer is around the corner I will have something more sunny and warm in a few weeks.

How have ya'll been? I am still praying about my career options and God's will for my life. Stay posted or check my blog in two years to find out what my life career will be! lol

So I am going to fill you in a bit about my week.
Monday, I did lots of school work and went babysitting early afternoon.
Tuesday, I am so sad that my mom and my Beth Moore Bible study is over! I looked forward to that every Tuesday! : (
Wednesday, I began looking forward to Thursday!
Thursday, was..... GARAGE SALE WEEK! We didn't have a garage sale ourselves but we went to lots of garage sales in subs around us. I bought a cute American Eagle t-shirt (plain blue) and I bought a dress but then returned it because when I looked it over it had snags and a couple tears in the back! I went back to the lady who sold it to me and said that I wanted my money back! lol I also babysat in the afternoon Thursday!
Friday, babysat in the morning and drew faces on balloons with the girls. Then we did a tad bit more garage sale shopping from 2-3ish.
Saturday, in the morning we made HOMEMADE FRENCH TOAST!!! It was sooooo good! I loved it but i was so full afterwards. In the afternoon, I went to the local high school to babysitt 14 girls in the cafeteria for their dance concert. I did it with my friend Katelyn and we both made $20 dollars!
I just want to tell you all I am sooo blessed! I had four babysitting jobs this week and made almost $100! I know I could make a lot more from a summer job though so I am still pursuing possible summer jobs.

Thanks for stopping in! I will post more interesting stuff later today or tomorrow.

Until l8r,
Butterfly

Prayer and thinking

2009-05-13T19:06:00.002-04:00

Hey blogging friends,

I have a prayer request for you all. I am trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up (technically, I will be a legal adult in less than a year!) and I am constantly finding myself on my knees asking God what He wants me to do. I am thinking of being a Pharmacist because that is a job I would enjoy because I would be able to socialize with people, make a good income, and its a career that will always be needed so its a secure job. I am also thinking of being a dental hygienist... i am not sure how well i would do with cleaning peoples teeth without getting sick! I am sure I could tough it out but I may pass out in the middle of the cleaning! lol JK!
So if you all could pray for God to give me wisdom and guidance so that my life may be lived for His will alone.

While I was thinking of this... a thought popped in my mind that my future spouse is probably having the same battle of wondering what he wants to do for a career (unless he is a couple years older than me....) so I prayed for my future spouse. Then I thought of all my homeschool and blogging friends (you all who read my blog : ) and prayed for you to have guidance too!

Oh and I wanted to share this story with you that was inspired by a post on Tunafish's blog:

One Sunday, a pastor was telling a story to the congregation that went like this:
A few years ago, a father told his son they were going to go fishing on Saturday. His son asked him if his friend could come too. His father thought it may not be a good idea because his son was still growing in the Lord and his friend isn't a Christian but he couldn't help saying yes to get a huge grin on his son's face. That Saturday, they left early in the morning. They got into the father's boat and went out to the middle of the lake. The sun slowly began hiding behind the clouds and it became gloomy and rainy very quickly. The father was about to begin rowing back for shore when some heavy tides began coming towards their small boat. Both the boys only 13 or so began to panic. They tried to stay on the boat but as a large wind came, a huge wave knocked both boys out of the boat and into the raging water. The father immediately realized this and saw that both boys were a good 10 feet apart and knew that with the one rope he had, he could only save one boy! He prayer a desperate prayer to God saying, "Why must I have to make such a painful choice!" The father let out a shout saying, "Son! I love you so much!" and sent the rope flying towards his son's friend. He pulled the boy safely on the boat but by the time he was through, his son was no where to be found. The waters calmed in a couple hours and while it still rained, the father made the long row back to shore. He drove like crazy to his house and called a search party to try and find his son only to have them find his body on the shore a couple days later. The father had a hard time accepting his son's death but eventually saw the benefits when his son's friend asked him to pray with him. His son's friend gave his life to Christ and promised to live for God from then on and he has.

While the preacher was still talking, a teen boy in the front row asked, "Preacher, how do you know this guy is truly saved? Who told you this story anyway?"

The preacher smiled at the boy and said tenderly, "I know this story is true because I am the boy who was saved. My friends father saved me instead of his own son because he knew that one day, he will see him again. I am standing here to tell you that this is just like how God gave his son for not just one boy but for all of mankind!"

Isn't that a great story! I cry every time I think about what Jesus went through so we could be saved and have eternal life with God. Amazing Grace!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Bonjour!

2009-05-07T21:28:00.003-04:00

Bonjour readers,

I apologize for not posting in sooo long (6 DAYS!!! OH NO)! I really have been meaning to get on but its a matter of will power to say to myself, "I know its nice outside but just take 30 minutes to turn on the PC and whip up a post for your blog" but I kept telling that little thought, just a few more minutes of sun and then I will go in. A lot of good that did huh? LOL
(Guy readers will want to skip to the next paragraph unless you enjoy reading about tanning and hair and beauty stuff.)

Due to already having an olive complexion (i am a bit Italian you know...) I do look a bit tan already but I honestly don't try to tan. It just happens when I am outside reading on the porch and let me tell you it doesn't take much for me to tan either. My hair has also gone a shade or so lighter from all the sunshine and it is so pretty! : )

OK now to the more important things of life... ME! No, I am just kidding ya'll!
So you all have not been telling me what to post about. Do you want crafts, recipes, more journal entries (just talking about my daily life happenings) or something else??? Please tell me so I can post what YOU WANT to read!

If you want to know about beauty products (not make-up, just cleansers and stuff) then you will enjoy the next paragraph. If you want a really good (and I mean REALLY GOOD) body exfoliater try this super duper easy recipe: 1 cup of olive oil and 1-2 tablespoons of sea salt (you can use regular salt but sea salt is better). I used it a couple weeks ago in the shower and when I came out my skin was just about as soft as my baby brothers!
Now if you want to buy the best facial cleanser, you will want Alba Botanical Pineapple Enzyme Facial Cleanser! You can order it and other health items on vitacost.com for discount prices or you can find it at your local store (they have it at Better Health, CVS and a few other stores). It smells really good and doesn't dry out your face.
If you want a great body lotion that isn't greasy and makes your skin really soft try Alba Botanical Coconut Milk Body Cream. It smells sooo good and works great.

OK so now, I will tell a bit about the happenings of last week.
Last Saturday, we went to a Green Festival in a nearby city and it was fun but we didn't enjoy all the go green folks. Did you know that the fluorescent lights that everyone says are so green and great have mercury inside and that if you were to break one in your home, you would have to replace your carpeting and do a 15 step procedure to remove the bulb from your house and into a glass jar and then drive it to your local dump!!! It is nuts I tell you!
Just about everyone at the green festival was trying to sell them... go figure.
Well besides that it was a fun thing for our family because we tried some salsa (don't know what selling salsa has to do with going green but at least it was yummy) and we actually bought some because it was so good.
Sunday, we went to church and the sermon was on parenting. It was funny because the pastor said that some kids question their parents when leaving for college and ask, "Why should I leave all this?" and the pastor said the parents would say, "BECAUSE ITS NOT YOURS!" lol I just love it! Fortunately my parents actually are pushing me towards online college to avoid the costs like gas, dorm life, and college costs (online college is a lot cheaper). I am not sure so we are still praying about it.
Monday was the first day that I started my annual walking day. I go out every weekday at 7:30am and walk around our cul-de-sac for usually 30-40 minutes. I just love walking and talking with God in the morning. Its such a peaceful way to exercise.
Tuesday was the day we mowed the lawn for the first time this year and trust me... it needed it! lol My dad is actually the one who mowed so I just swept the driveway but I will probably mow quite a few times this summer. Did I ever tell you all of the time I mowed last summer and got more than 50 mosquito bites! I am not lying friends... its 100% true.
Wednesday was the beginning of my "womanly week" so I actually didn't go walking but stayed in bed until about 10ish reading my school books. My mom is sooo awesome! She brought me a bowl of one of my favorite cereals with cut strawberries on top for breakfast. THANKS MOM!!!
Today was a rainy day so I should have posted earlier but I was actually gone quite a bit today. This morning, we went to our city hall to pray at the polls and guess what... we were the only ones there! We guessed that everyone had come earlier since it was about 11am when we got there. Then I went grocery shopping with my mom. It is always so fun running in the rain and it gives you motivation to run faster towards the building too. lol
I did get almost all my homework done today even though I wasn't home all day. The only one I didn't complete was my history reading but I can do a bit extra tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, I am babysitting in the morning and I can't wait to see my girls! They are such sweet little girls and the last few weeks I have been babysitting they have been giving me hugs goodbye! : )
Well I need to get to bed so I have energy for the day ahead!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Hi

2009-05-01T17:24:00.003-04:00

Hey readers,

Sorry I have been gone soooo long but things have been busy and it seems like every time I try to post something, my mom or my siblings or someone will need me for something or I have to leave but anyways, at least I am posting now! : )
Well I have several things to tell you about. First, last Saturday was the Home school Spring Formal (home school version of Prom) and it was a lot of fun. I wish I could show you pics but due to privacy I am not allowed. I may be able to crop a pic of me and just show my dress without showing my face (Off with my head! lol).
Second, on Sunday, we had an explosion in our house... no one was injured thankfully. Well here is what happened, my mom was heating roast beef in what she thought was a heat safe tempura glass container and it was bubbling something crazy so she turned the heat off to let it cool. Well about 2 minutes later, it was sooo hot that the glass container literally jumped about half a foot in the air and landed on the left side of the stove top (it had been on the far right) and it shattered glass EVERYWHERE! I praise God that no one had glass wounds although my dad did step on a small piece of glass (really tiny so no real injury) but it was a big mess to clean.
Third, I am searching desperately for a job for this Summer to earn extra cash for college (if I am going... still praying about it) and my car that I am going to buy next year (praying about that too). I tried Borders near me but they prefer people who are 18 and older so that wasn't going to work. I don't want to work in a grocery store because it would not be that great on a resume or college application. I was thinking a waitress but all the restaurants nearby are not hiring and prefer people with prior experience! I would be a great cashier because I am very sociable (why do you think my blog name is social butterfly : )
Well that is something to pray about so if you think of me, pray about that.
Oh I have to tell ya the funnest thing ever! On Wednesday at Baskin Robbins they had a special for 31 cent ice cream cones! My family and I were excited because we usually buy ice cream in the store because its more economical but we don't all like the same flavors so to choose which flavors we wanted was a treat for us.
Lastly, yesterday was the beginning of the first sub wide garage sales in my city. I enjoy garage sailing sooo much because you get really great deals. I bought four purses (all under $1 each) and two tops for $1! Yes and they are sooo cute! I will post pics of my goods later. Well I have to go see what my siblings are up to since my folks went out but I will post more later!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Here is my memory verse for today:
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5

Laminin

2009-04-22T14:23:00.003-04:00

This is a pretty neat story and an interesting thing that few of us know. I received this in a email and had to share it with you all. It's brief, so please read. (FROM A CHRISTIAN DOCTOR)

A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term very loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio... And I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned.... But I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is... How He spoke the universe into being... How He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire.. . Etc. Etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder.

At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) ....

And I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking.... 'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???' Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath. And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!It was because he started talking about laminin. I knew about laminin.

Here is how Wikipedia describes them: 'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see.... Laminins are what hold us together.... LITERALLY.. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell.

Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what they LOOKED LIKE..But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....Here is what the structure of laminin looks like... AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it.... If you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see....

Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!! Amazing.The glue that holds us together.... ALL of us.... Is in the shape of the cross.

Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible And invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;All things were created by him and for him.He is before all things, and in him All things HOLD TOGETHER. 'Colossians 1:15-17Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool. Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together... One cell to another... By the cross. You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything Other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look like long before Adam breathed his first breath!!

That is just waaaay cool! I love it!!!!!

Butterfly

Earth Day : P

2009-04-22T10:44:00.005-04:00

So today is Earth Day and I think it is weird. It seems very paganistic to me. See Earth Day is a day to pretty much "worship" the Earth/Mother Earth and that is what pagans and Indians did (the Mayans and Aztecs and other Indian tribes).
Also, the politicians who are trying to get us Americans to notice earth day are hypocrites.
They tell us to cut back and save energy and they are the ones with huge homes with high electric bills and flying around in expensive jets!
I have to say that I do support Gov. Sarah Palin because she has conservative values and wants to get oil from Alaska so America doesn't have to continue declining into greater debt. So what if a few caribou have to migrate! If we produce our own oil (which we should have done decades ago) then we wouldn't rely on terrorists in the middle east to supply it for us.
If John McCain had won the election, this country would be in a better condition.
Oh and here is something we should all add to our prayer lists: Hillary Clinton is trying to get President Obama to pass a law saying that no one should have the right to home school. If she and other politicians get their way, we will no longer be able to home school and by law will have to attend public schools!
It would be a good thing in the sense that the public schools would have droves of Christian kids flooding into the public schools but bad because they would be taking away mothers rights to teach her children.
Pray my friends for God hears!

<3,
Butterfly

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." --Thomas Paine

Get Active

2009-04-21T23:03:00.003-04:00

Friends, when I say get active, I don't mean work out and exercise get active. I am referring to make a difference get active.
We teens, believe it or not, are the future and we can make a difference no matter how young. Make your voice be heard!
My heart weeps for our country as our leaders make unwise decisions. My friend Katelyn and I were discussing this topic earlier today on how President Obama is setting our nation up for destruction.
The only thing I can find true comfort in is love. Not just any love like romance but God's love for His children! He loves us sooo much that He sent His ONLY son that whosoever believes in Him shall have EVERLASTING life! That is a huge promise that only God, the Alpha and Omega can give and keep.
I was excited, even thrilled when I was finally able to have a chance to let my voice be heard at the TEA party rally last week.
The one thing all of us can and should do is pray. Not just a , "Dear God help our country. Amen" prayer but a REAL prayer like, "Lord God, you are a God who hears and answers prayer. Lord preserve our countries morals. Save us from this decline that President Obama is sending us."
Pray that God will save President Obama and if that is not possible, then may Obama be impeached! I can think of a few reasons for him to be impeached and I am not even an adult!
Friends, let YOUR voice be heard. Tell me what you think of all this.
Don't just brush it off and say someone else will deal with this because, "You may be here for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).

Blessings,
Butterfly

End of last week and what is up this week

2009-04-20T12:13:00.009-04:00

Hey girls and guys,

So here is the download of the TEA party in my town. Obviously you know it was last Wednesday and if any of you saw the news, you know the news people (except Glenn Beck) lied by saying it was mostly housewives at the TEA parties! There were plenty of men, teen girls and guys and even some kids! It was actually my very first rally and I saw quite a few people I know from my home school group. Here are some pictures of all the people there:

It was actually a lot of fun rallying for American CHRISTIAN rights! We sang God Bless the USA and we said the Pledge Of Allegiance and we heard a couple speakers and one sounded like he was a Christian man! : )

Thursday, nothing special that I can remember.... oh well, on to Friday!

Friday was BEAUTIFUL outside! I went to babysit that morning and we were outside most of the time taking walks and playing on the kids swing set. If you could add the family I babysit for to your prayer list that would be great. They had to have Terminix treat their house for termites and when I was inside babysitting, they were all over the place. I felt so helpless with all those bugs crawling EVERYWHERE and Summer (3 years old) was scared of them so she kept calling for me with her little voice saying, "There is another one right there! Get it!" She wanted me to kill them for her and I did kill at least 50 but it was hard work with a 5 month old baby in my arms. I fixed the problem of Summer being scared by taking her to the TV room and letting the three older kids (Noah, Marina and Summer) watch a kid show while I fed the baby a bottle. I was pretty exhausted when I got home but it was so nice out that I just had to be outside. I was able to wear a short sleeve top and shorts! Yeaaaa! Well my grandma came to visit at about 2ish and she gave me a birthday card which contained birthday cash!! I saved most and spent some on a couple new belts that I really needed (the belt I was using was purchased 6 years ago... and it still fit! LOL I am not kidding! : )

Saturday, my family and I spent the whole day outside! It was sooo nice out and we had so much fun together. We went out to dinner at a place that specializes in roast beef so all of our meals contained roast beef. : P

Sunday was a gloomyish day (is gloomyish a word??) because there was no sunshine. Well we did of course go to church and the message was on Aliens.... weird, i know. Well it was actually about how women and men seem to be aliens to each other's worlds and how God created us to be different to benefit marraige and our compatability. I wouldn't know much about that though cuz I am obviously not married but I do observe a bit of how my parents deal with sticky situations so I have a bit of a clue.

Today, I have been doing lots of studying (a typical day includes 6-8 hours of schoolwork for me) and baking. Yes I baked a cranberry dessert for my mom's Lia Sophia party tonight. Lia Sophia is like Avon but instead of selling beauty products, they sell jewelry. Well I need to get going to I can finish my schoolwork (just my history and social studies) and then we need to tidy up the house for the party tonight. TTY all L! Leave a comment to support my blogging creativity! : )

Blessings and Joy,

Butterfly

P.S. For those of you who wanted to see pics of my dresses I got for my b-day, here they are!

The blue one is my fav, the green/black/white one is my second fav and I really like the last one because it flatters my figure and makes me look more sophisticated.

Three exciting and happy days

2009-04-15T13:37:00.003-04:00

Hey girls,

I hope your Easter was superb and delightful! I am going to tell you of the three funnest days I have experienced in April.

Lets start with April 12 (Easter). I woke up about 8:30am when my mom came in my room saying, "Happy Easter! Its time to wake up." I scurried to make my bed and joined my family in our living room to begin the search for out Easter baskets. Now I know what you may be thinking, "You still look for your Easter basket? Isn't that kiddy?" Well in a way it is but its a family tradition and its actually fun. And I had some of my favorite treats in my basket like Ferero Rocher chocolates! After everyone found their baskets, we ate a quick breakfast and got ready for church. The Easter service was lovely with extra singing and a great message.
To celebrate Easter, we ate at Famous Dave's because I had a birthday coupon (from signing up for the email club) for a free meal. I had ribs and fries (i know its not healthy but it was a special treat), my mom had chicken, my dad had ribs, my brother had pulled pork, and my sister had ribs. AJ ate a mix of sides (potatoes, green beans, french fries, etc...). You will be happy to know we had salads at home later.
After our delicious meal, we came back home and relaxed. I sat out front in my lawn chair reading my book Girl Talk... God Talk by Sally Miller. Unfortunately, none of our family was able to get together so we spent the day together taking walks and playing outside.

Monday WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!! I was soooo excited when I woke up! For breakfast, my mom made chocolate muffins! I enjoyed my delicious breakfast and then my mom and dad handed me my card. At first I was wondering where the gift was but I opened the card (which was beautiful) and inside my mom had written that my birthday gift is to go on a shopping spree with her to Kohls to buy some summer dresses for me! I was soooooo excited again because that is the one thing I have been wanting to buy for a while now. See I had only 2 dresses that fit and one was actually real short so I desperately wanted to get new dresses so when I read that my mom was going to take me dress shopping I couldn't help being as happy as I was! : )
I will post pictures of the dresses once I get a chance (hopefully before Saturday).
So after shopping, my family and I went bowling! I had called my friend Katelyn and invited her to come with us to celebrate my b-day and we all had a blast bowling together! Katelyn and I collected more gutter balls than we intended but we still had a great time! After bowling, Katelyn had to go home so we said our goodbyes and we went home. It was already almost 5pm when we got home so we had dinner which was Chinese food (sesame chicken, egg rolls, and egg drop soup)! I really like Chinese, Mexican, Italian and of course American food! I went to bed with very happy dreams and a full tummy. : )

Yesterday, I had Little Women at my house and it was sooo much fun.
I had made the dough for the cookies on my b-day before I had gone to bed so all I had to do was shape the cookies and bake them. Sounds easy right... wrong! Haman Hat cookies are supposed to be shaped almost like 3-D triangles but they always come out flat for me! : P
Well that only took about an hour and a half to complete but it was worth it! The cookies were sooo good! I had to hurry because after cookie baking and cleaning the kitchen, I was still in my pjs and I had less than an hour before my LW friends arrive! I did a quick hair fix and got dressed. Thankfully my room was already tidy.
I prepped the craft and got the devotion book out.
Just as I finished, my first friend arrived at the door at 12:58 (the Little Women meeting was to start at 1pm so it was perfect timing) and it was Tiffany. She was so sweet because she brought me a birthday gift! A couple minutes after she arrived, Allie and Jackie came. Then Olivia and Michelle. Sadly Nicole couldn't come because of other plans so we did miss her.
I let the girls choose what they wanted to do first and they all said craft so I took them into the kitchen and told them we were making homemade bath salts! Tiffany and a couple of the other girls agreed that it was the best craft in Little Women history (thanks Tiff!: )
The recipe is so easy. Its just 1 cup of epsom salt, 1 cup baking soda, a few drops of either lavendar oil or sweet orange oil and any food dye color you like. All the salts smelled great!
After making our salts, we did the devotion on Esther and it was cool because we read about how Esther had 12 months of beauty treatments before seeing the king and our bath salts are like our own beauty treatment to use at home. We then did a quiz on the book of Esther and afterwards, ate the cookies! Once we finished all I had planned, we still had about an hour of time left so we played a card game called Mafia! It is sooo fun! I will have to explain how you play another time because my fingers are getting sore from so much typing. After playing Mafia, we played another game called Sardines which I explained in a post a couple months ago that you can read. I was sad when everyone had to go but we had sooo much fun! Well that is all for now!

TTYL,
Butterfly

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T13:37:00.004-04:00

I am so sorry that its been so long since my last post! I will do my best to fill you in on the latest and greatest.

Biggest News: EASTER IS TOMORROW!

Big News: MY BIRTHDAY IS ON MONDAY!!!

Almost Big News: This upcoming Wednesday, throughout the country will be the national TEA party standing for Taxed Enough Already. My family is going to one in a city near us. You can look up more info about this and what cities near you are participating at http://www.teaparty.com/ .

Other News: Well I have had a busy but fun week.
Monday my friend Katelyn came over to visit and we watched College Road Trip together and then we chatted for almost an hour afterwards until her mom came by to pick her up.
Tuesday, I went out to eat at Mongolian Barbeque with my mom because I had a birthday coupon to get a free meal since my birthday is in a few days. The food was sooooo good!!! My mom and I went to our Beth Moore Bible study that evening and learned about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo.
Wednesday, my grandma came to visit us.
Oh I almost forgot! On April 2, I got my haircut! Nothing drastic, just a couple inches off the ends, layering, face-frame and she trimmed my side-swept bangs (the bangs needed to be cut the most!) LOL
After getting my haircut, we went out to eat with my grandma, great aunt, Aunt Tina and my cousins for my Aunt Tina's birthday! We had the vegetarian pizza and it was sooo yummy! : )

Back to this week now. Thursday was crazy because we did schoolwork and we tried to get yardwork done too because we had raking and thatching to do (I hate thatching so I just had to rake : )

GOOD FRIDAY was sunny out! Yeaaaa! I babysat Friday morning and I was exhausted when I got home because I watched all 4 kids since none of them were in school. So I had Noah (age 6), Marina (age 4), Summer (age 2), and Selah (5 months) and I am so happy that the kids are obedient and well mannered. I love them like family and they are so sweet. The girls are so adorable and when I had to go, they both wanted to give me a hug. It was so cute!
When I got home, my family and I ate lunch (grilled cheese and tomatoe soup! YUM!) and then we went to the summit to go swimming.
We had a good time swimming and my siblings love the pool. Especially AJ! He thinks its a giant bathtub filled with kids his size. : )
I was bummed because just after I had changed out of my swimsuit and into my clothes to get ready to leave, my friend Shannon was just getting in the pool! I wanted to go back in but I was too tired and everyone in my family was getting ready to leave.
Once we arrived back home, everyone took turns showering and then we ate dinner. We had a breaner (breakfast dinner) of waffles and sausage. AJ and I really like waffles! : )

Today, I woke up and sat in my bed and it was 7:30am! One thing kept running through my mind, "Where is my promise ring?" (weird thought to have when you wake up... lol)
When we had gone swimming yesterday, I had taken my silver promise ring off and put it in my swim bag but when I checked my bag this morning, it wasn't there. The first thought that came to my mind was that I had dropped it at the summit.
I ran for the phone and called the summit only to discover that no one had found any rings that matched my discription. I filed a missing report just in case they do find it. After I got off the phone, I prayed to God "Lord, why is my ring missing? Why just two days before my birthday? Lord, please let me find it."
God hears our prayers girls. Even our silly petty prayers like mine this morning. I decided to search my drawers and look through the clothes I had taken out of my swim bag and sure enough, tucked in my shorts that I had been in my swim bag was my promise ring! After placing it back onto my finger, I praised the Lord for hearing my prayers. I also called the summit to let them know that I had found my ring and to cancel the missing report and you know what, the nice man I spoke to said he was so glad I had found it! I told him I was happy too! : )
Well I hope this didn't bore you. Please leave a comment and tell me what you would like to read on my blog. I want to post what you want to read! : ) Thanks and have a HAPPY EASTER!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Been awhile

2009-03-28T20:52:00.004-04:00

Hey girls,

Sorry I was gone for so long! I kept meaning to post but kept forgetting or got busy! : P

Well I have good news..................... I got a super cute pair or American Eagle shoes on sale and with a coupon so I got them for only $15 (originally 23)!!! YEAA! Here is a pic although you may not care what they look like:

Well besides shoes, I have been doing other things.... *thinking*.... like..... oh my Japanese report for the International Dinner tomorrow evening and I made a special cookie recipe made in Israel during Purim when they celebrate the Jews victory over the Persians! Oh and if I hadn't already posted this (I am almost 100% sure I haven't so keep reading) there is an AMAZING book trilogy that you HAVE to just try reading! The author is a Christian named Ted Dekker and its called "The Martyr Series". The first book is called "Heaven's Wager" and its soooooo addictive and the suspense is gripping! All three books are incredible! You can probably get them at your local library. The second book, When Heaven Weeps, will need your parents approval if you are under age 13 only because of drug content but they are all Christian books and besides that are totally clean.

Besides books and shoes (two of my favorite things : P ) we have been enjoying the nice sunny weather where I live. I have been rollerblading and taking walks with my family. I really enjoy lovely weather! God has blessed us with several warm sunny days! : )

Well enough about me..... I want to hear from YOU! Tell me what you would like to read more of in my blog and I will do it! Do you want crafts, recipes, Bible studies, anything you like and I will try to add a few posts about it! Thanks for you comments and God bless!

Until next post,

Butterfly

First Day of Spring

2009-03-20T11:15:00.003-04:00

Hey Girls!!
I am soooo excited because today is...........................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................................................

...... *long dramatic pause*

THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!

Enjoy today is BEAUTIFUL sunshine and if you are having a gloomy weather day, pray for sunshine!!! God will bless ya with it before ya know it!

Blessings on you all,
Butterfly

Much Needed Update!

2009-03-19T11:33:00.008-04:00

Girlfriends,

I apologize for not posting in such a long time! But once I get this posted you will know a few big things that have happened in the last two weeks that I have been meaning to post about! : )

First, I am so happy because a Hobby Lobby store opened up just down the road from where I live so now all my crafting needs can be supplied there and/or Joann's! Here are a couple pics of what it looks like inside:

Second, my siblings and I took a CPR/First Aid/Fire Safety/Heimlich class on March 9. I am officially a pro at all of the things listed above so if you are with me and suddenly need any of those procedures to be done, no worries! : )

Third, March 10, I went to an economics club class at the Marriott Hotel! It was so fun because I dressed up like a business woman (if you know me, you know I have never done this before) and heard Philip Howard speak about his new book "Life Without Lawyers". After his speech and Q/A, we had this huge three course meal in the banquet room! Here are pics of the food:

Fourth, I have been LOVING the BEAUTIFUL sunny weather God is blessing us with! Thank you Jesus because I know I need some sunshine to cheer me up every now and then! : )

Monday (i am not going to number anymore), was just gorgeous out! I got to wear a t-shirt and jeans! I just loved it so I did all my homework on our porch so I got to soak up some rays all morning and afternoon!

Tuesday, I did pretty much the same thing! Since it was St. Patricks Day, I of course wore my green t-shirt (its more floral but it is mostly green) as did everyone else in my family! My little brother AJ had a blast being outside almost all day! He loves being outside just like me. : ) My mom and I did out Beth Moore bible study outside together too!

Yesterday, It was looking pretty gloomy and blah in the morning but in the afternoon it started getting warmer and sunny so I did a few of my books outside. Also, I planted flowers in the most darling little pot ever! The flowers I planted are called Candytuff! What a funny name! Here is a picture of the pot. Once I see some green popping out I will post another picture of it and so on until its in bloom!

Today, we are trying out best to hurry and get as much schoolwork done as possible because my aunt, cousins, and grandma are all coming to visit in a little under 2 hours! YEA!! So I need to get off now so I can finish my geometry (yay math... OK not really). : )
Enjoy the sun!!! (if you are not having a sunny day today, pray for sunny days!)

Post more soon,

Butterfly

Quick Hello & Tidbit

2009-03-12T13:44:00.004-04:00

Don't worry friends, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... yet. No, I'm just kidding. I have a couple things I really want to share with you but I need to download the pictures first so hang in there with me. I am hoping to post some news by tomorrow afternoon! Stay tuned for that!

Oh and just a quick tidbit. I think that President Obama is doing a bang-up job in the White House. Literally he is messing up pretty bad and getting on quite a few peoples bad sides. A poll was taken recently to grade Pres. Obama's first few months in office and 40% voted F, approximately 15% voted D and the votes for A,B & C were all one-digit numbers.
Here is what a columnist said about the President:
"Barely two months into his Presidency, Obama is wreaking havoc, crippling the nation, oblivious to consequences and monumentally arrogant, believing the timbre of his voice and the manipulation of the media will win public confidence until the socialist utopia he believes in comes to fruition. Who knows how bad it will be in a year, let alone four?" --columnist Lance Fairchok

Girls (and guys if there are any), we really need to pray for our country and our President no matter what we think of him. Pray for President Obama's salvation and that he will make better decisions for our country in the very near future. Pray for our leaders (congressman, mayors, etc..) that they too will be saved and make wise decisions. Prayer can make a big difference.

Blessings,
Butterfly

Latest and greatest

2009-03-09T19:19:00.004-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a while... okay so its been almost a week but I have been rather busy.
It is good busy though because I have been doing fun projects.
My siblings and I are working on our reports for the International Dinner. The International Dinner is a type of field trip we do with our homeschool group and each family will choose one country (Germany, Spain, Japan, etc...) and do reports on the country's government, population, imported goods, what kind of food they eat and then choose a dish to serve at the International Dinner with a display set up.
It is tons of fun and a great way to make learning about other countries more fun and interesting.
My family is working on Japan. I have been researching their government, history on the Japanese Emperors, I drew a picture of Japanese scenery (i will put a picture of my picture on here when I get the next opportunity).

Today, my family went to a local church to learn CPR. I had already taken a class and received a certificate but I joined anyway to refresh my memory because the class I had taken before was almost 5 years ago.
We learned a few other things besides CPR like the Heimlich, what to do in case someone gets a burn (like from hot water or coffee), fire safety, etc...
It was neat because the two men who taught the class were Firefighter Paramedics from the fire station just down the street from my house.
Well I can't write anymore at the moment because I need to work on my story.

Post more later,
Butterfly

Bowling and Youth Group

2009-03-05T12:34:00.003-05:00

Tuesday evening, I went bowling with my LW group and had a blast!!! I will start from the beginning.
Well my mom drove me and Allie and Jackie to Livie's house and we left at around 6:18 so we were only a couple minutes behind schedule. Well we would've been right on time if we weren't behind this lady who was going only 20MPH on a 45MPH rode! It was insane how slow and we can only think she was texting or something (bad driving skills are likely too).
We did finally arrive at Olivia's and after chatting with the rest of the girls, we took off for the bowling alley!
Well when we all packed into the huge 15 seat van, Olivia noticed her battery was dead in her camera so she ran inside twice to get new batteries to find out that they didn't have any! So her mom drove to Kroger (fortunately it was close to the bowling alley) and we ALL went inside. So 7 girls, me, Allie, Jackie, Tiffany, Michelle, Olivia, and Nicole all ran out of the van into the Kroger entrance and we turned a few heads when all we picked up was a pack of AA batteries! LOL It was fun though. The cashier (a nice lady) asked us what we needed batteries for and we told her for taking pics at the bowling alley of course! : )
Well after that eventful trip, we finally arrived at the bowling alley to discover that there were no lanes open! Do not fear, there was another bowling place not too far up the road and they actually had open lanes! YEA!!
So we got two lanes since there are seven of us and we then had to figure how to break into two groups.
There are four blondes and three brunettes so we broke up by hair color! LOL It was so funny! Well on my team (I was in the blonde team BTW) we had Allie, Me, Jackie and Olivia and on the brunette team was Michelle, Nicole and Tiffany. I was so excited because on my first turn, I got a STRIKE! Oh yeah! I was feeling pretty good! : )
Of course we all cheered everyone on and we turned a few heads our way because we were kinda loud but we were having a good time together!
Here are the scores for the first game.
BLONDE TEAM:
Allie - 56
Me - 79 with 2 strikes and 1 spare
Jackie - 65 with 1 strike
Olivia - 54
Total score together - 254

BRUNETTE TEAM:
Michelle - 58 (not sure of spares but no strikes) : (
Nicole - 41 (not sure of spares but no strikes) : (
Tiffany - 67 with 2 strikes
Total score together - 176

The second game almost everyone did better! I think we were finally getting the hang of things! : ) The most incredible thing was again in the second game, my first turn, I got another STRIKE! I was shocked! Talk about God's blessings that was definitely one because I am normally just OK at bowling. Anyways, here are the second game scores.
BLONDE TEAM:
Allie - 51
Me - 91 with 2 strikes and 3 spares
Jackie - 58 (I am pretty sure she got about 1 or 2 spares and 1 strike in the end)
Olivia - 80 with 1 spare
Total score together - 280

BRUNETTE TEAM:
Michelle - 42 with 1 spare
Nicole - 62 with I think 1 spare... maybe 2... sorry Nicole but I can't remember! LOL
Tiffany - 83 with 3 strikes! Way to go Tiffany!
Total score together - 187

So the games totals for each team were not fair because the blonde team had an extra player but we all had lots of fun. Oh and Olivia's mom was so nice! She bought each of us a can of whatever soda we wanted. I had Pepsi and I actually am keeping the can as a trophy! No JK! I will probably throw it out or recycle it next week.

Yesterday, my friend Katelyn came over and we watched Monk and Psych together while knitting. My mom made homemade pizza so Katelyn stayed for dinner because like everybody likes pizza! : ) After dinner, we went to her youth group at her church. We played a crazy game call SWAT IT! The game goes like this:
one person is it and stands in the middle of a bunch of people sitting in chairs. Everyone introduces themselves by their first name. Then the person it calls out one name, anyone's name, and goes to hit them on the knee with the newspaper. To avoid getting hit, you have to shout out another persons name before the person who is it can hit your knee! It goes on and on and if someone forgets to shout out a name before the person hits their knee, they are then it! It was a insane and crazy game but actually lots of fun! Well that is all for now. I will tell ya more later!

Until next post,
Butterfly

Bonjour!

2009-03-02T11:03:00.003-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I am normally better but I have been pretty busy!

Last week was busy with babysitting and schoolwork but it was fun at the same time. We did some fun things like my dad and I went to Kohls together to return a couple tops that didn't fit so great on me (to low of a neck line and one was just not comfy) and he was telling me stories of when he was a kid. I love quality time like that. I can't remember what we did on Thursday and Friday I only remember babysitting and then playing games with my brother and sister (we played PS2 together... it was lots of fun!).

Saturday, my mom took me and my brother & sister to a winter wonderland thingy and it was mostly crafts and a speaker on animals and nature but it was fun. We made tie-dye shirts, animal track rubbings, animal track molds, and little critters out of pine cones (I may post a pic of them if I get a chance). They also had refreshments which consisted of bagels, danish, and some other type of breakfast danish (this all took place at 10am which is why they had food). The nature speaker brought a lizard, turtle and hissing cockroaches for her presentation. Pretty cool. I liked the lizard and turtle best though! LOL I hadn't brouth my camera so I couldn't get any pics of the cute little turtle... but you all know what little turtles look like so its ok.

I am excited because my French speaking skills are getting better! I am happy because I am part French from my bloodline so to learn a language from my elder generations is really pretty cool. I can tell the time/date/day/month/and year in French. I can identify most objects in the house, most foods, and a few other things. I am not learning how to put sentences together in regular and negative terms (like lave-toi / I wash myself or ne ta lave pas / I don't wash myself). Its really fun and I enjoy it a lot! I wish I had enough money to buy a Rosetta Stone kit to learn the language quicker but its very expensive! Well enough about that.

Yesterday, I went to the monthly homeschool meeting with my mom to meet up with my friend Katelyn. We chatted most of the time (its totally a girl thing... I think a girl invented the word chat... anyways) and talked about a day to getogether to watch Monk and Phsych together while we knit. Well she is coming over tomorrow afternoon and I think I am going to Youth Group with her after dinner! YEA! Me and Katelyn have several things in common:

We are both the oldest child in our families
before AJ was born, our families consister of 3 kids and we are all nearly the same ages
We are both 16 going on 17 (i love that song now!) lol
We like watching Monk and Phsych
We love knitting
We babysitt to save for a car
We enjoy the outdoors
we totally love hanging out together!

So ya, you may have found that boring but if you have a BFF like that, you know that its fun listing things like that! : )

Well tonight I am going bowling with my LW group so I am definitly looking forward to that! I will let ya know all about it in my next post!

TTYL,

Butterfly

Delilah (The Samson Version) and a quick update

2009-02-25T09:54:00.003-05:00

Update: So for some reason the embed link to post the video on my blog is not working so if you want to see the video, go to this link here: http://www.tangle.com/timhawkinscomedy1

I found on Godtube.com this video by Tim Hawkins on Delilah.
If you have never read the book of Judges, you can read the story of Delilah and Samson in Judges chapters 13-18. Well another thing is that there is a song called Delilah by the Plain White T's (I only know this because when the song first came out last year, it was on 100.3 WNIC almost every hour and I listen to music while I do my schoolwork so ya... I heard it a lot) but anyways, if you have never heard the song before then the video may not be as funny but if you have, you will laugh so hard your sides will split! Its hilarious!!!

Oh and a quick update about me, my sister had her b-day party last Saturday and she had a few of her friends over. It was fun decorating cupcakes and watching her face as she opened her gifts. She nearly flipped when a friend gave her a $20 gift card for Target! LOL
Sunday, we did Bible study as a family after breakfast and then we mostly hung out at home because the weather was pretty cold.
Monday, I started feeling a bit of a cold like a stuffy nose and soar throat so I drank lots of fluid and tea (oh and I did schoolwork).
Tuesday, I was feeling worse and was pretty stuffed up. I was sneezing often and but overall I felt OK. I had to wear a breathe right strip on my nose last night so I wouldn't suffocate from my nose being so stuffed up!
Today, I am feeling better. I am not stuffed up because instead my nose is runny so I need a tissue every 15 minutes but besides that, I am pretty good. I have been taking Wellness Formula, a vitamin suppliment that works wonders when it comes to kicking out a cold.
I am really excited because today I have Art Class so I am going to see some of my homeschool friends! I will post more later.

Butterfly

Chemistry

2009-02-19T14:28:00.003-05:00

Hey girls,

I found this great website that has free Chemistry Quizzes that you can take at http://www.tps.k12.mi.us/staff/eferwerda/ap_chemistry_quiz_index.htm . The will tell you what your score is and I think there are approximately 20 questions in each quiz. If you are in 9-12th grade, you should totally check it out and if your not in High School yet then still look to see what Chemistry is all about.

TTYAL (talk to ya all later),
Butterfly

P.S. Tell me what you think of my new blog template in the poll or I would looove to get a comment on just about anything on my blog! Thanks! : )

Jane Austen

2009-02-19T11:21:00.005-05:00

OK girls,

So I decided to try this quiz out from Katie's and Elizabeth's blogs. Here is the Jane Austen character I am:

If you have ever watched the movie Emma, you would know that she is the matchmaker placing matches for everyone but herself but I do not do such things! LOL I don't match up people so I don't know how I was placed with Emma Woodhous but I was. : )

Post more later,

Butterfly

P.S. I chaged my blog template again from valentines to something more simple.

Latest Happenins

2009-02-17T12:50:00.004-05:00

My crazy Valentine's Day. <3

Well for those of you who know me well enough, you may have remembered that Valentine's Day is 2 days in 1 for my family. It is the sweet holiday of Valentine's and my sister's birthday!
The cause for my calling it a crazy Valentine's Day is because of the weather we had. So we attempted to go to the chiropractor but God said that was a no-no because there was a 4 car pile-up in the way of the road so we had to turn around and stay home.

On a happier key, my sister did get to still enjoy her birthday with cake (chocolate fudge if you were wondering) and a birthday pizza (kinda a new tradition with our family). We had Marco's and I ordered and picked it up for dinner(ok so really my dad drove me but I did stay inside to order and wait for it to be finished!). : )
Well anyways, the food was great of course, I mean who doesn't like having pizza and cake?!? : )

Then it came time for her to open her b-day gifts! She received from my parents lots of clothes (2 pairs bermudas, 2 shirts, and 1 pair of pants), a diary, a diary (yes she actually did get 2 but one is so small that she won't get to write as much in it), the book Anne Of Green Gables, and a golden locket. I of course was a tad jealous because I have been telling my parents since I was 7 that I would love to have a silver heart shaped locket! I will be 17 this year and I still haven't received one! LOL Well now you know what to get me for my b-day! No JK. I am crossing my fingers that my parents will get me one. Anyways, I gave my sister $5 because I couldn't find ANYTHING to buy her that she would like and there are several reasons why:

She doesn't like it when I buy her clothes even though she knows that I know her style.
She has so many toys and stuffed animals that my mom would be upset if I bought any.
She prefers money anyways because she is always saying that she has no money to save!

So therefore, I gave her the perfect gift of cash! My brother only gave her $2 so she favored me for a few hours over him (tis the life of siblinghood... is that a word???). All in all, my family and I did enjoy our Valentine's Day and my sis did enjoy her b-day too!

Sunday, we still haven't found a new homechurch so we did our own family Bible study together. My dad took me, my brother, and sister to Ikea for breakfast (my mom and baby brother stayed home). It was a forever long line because it was the day they were giving away FREE breakfast so EVERYBODY wanted to be there (seriously, we were in line for over 30 minutes and it was going pretty fast)! Fortunately, we were able to get a lovely seating area by the window and since it was a sunny day Sunday, it was very lovely. After eating, we looked around the store and I found something that I would like to get for my room. It is hard to describe but I will try: what it is like is a metal cord that hooks on one wall to another and you slip a sheet type thingy across so you can separate two areas in a room. Well that would be perfect so I could separate my room from the school table and such (if you have been in my room, you totally know what I am talkin' about). It would be $15 for the metal cord and probably another $10 for the sheet thingy. Tell me what you think, to buy or not to buy, that is the question!

Monday was sooo lovely and sunny and that is why I never had time to post all this yesterday! : ) I did most of my homework on our porch. I loooooove sitting in the sunshine soaking up vitamin D (really i just do it because its warm and cozy). I am having slight difficulties with comprehending some of my Chemistry so I am going to a neighbors house (her name is Sara) because she majored in Chemistry and she will help me for free since she is my mom's friend and all.

Today, I stared off my day reading Isaiah 5-10 about the people of Israel getting warnings from God that He will destroy most of them but leave a remnant to restart his people for they had become evil and were worshipping idols (a BIG no-no!). Afterwards, I made my bed, got dressed, blah blah and ate breakfast after saying goodbye to my dad as he left for work. Then my mom and I did our Beth Moore bible study together over tea and cranberry bread toast. Mmmm... Then I took a couple of my school books on the porch but it was not as warm out there today as it had been yesterday so after a short while I came back inside and did my French sitting on the steps with the door open so I was in the sunshine! (I know... i am so clever!) : ) I've recently learned how to count to 1,000 , tell time, ask time, the days of the week, and months in the year in French. You may quiz me next time you comment or talk to me. I am getting rather good! Yeaaaa!

That's all for now Enjoy today and savor every moment,

Butterfly

Happenins and Happy Pre-Valentines Day!

2009-02-12T12:49:00.006-05:00

Hey girls!

So I am happy because I found Beth Moore's personal blog! I had never known before that she had one until I found it so yeah its at this link http://www.livingproofministries.blogspot.com/ and she posted pictures of her new grandaughter too. She is so funny!

Well besides blog findings, I have been doing some fun things lately. Like playing with my little brother (13 months old now!). Ok so maybe not many fun things but still, its better than nothing! Here is a pic to compare shoe sizes in our family:

So here is the order left to right: My boots, my brothers (obviously the one thats 13 years not months), AJ's little cute shoes (yes he is the 13 month old brother) and my mom's sketchers. My dad's shoes were too big to fit in the picture and my sisters shoes are not exactly pretty to look at (used to be white, not so white anymore... more like brown from dirt). lol

Well here are the real happenings! So on Tuesday, we did the usual schoolwork and then my mom and I went to Bible study! Yeaaaaaaah! I love the snacks and Beth Moore video we watch each week! Wednesday, nothin' significant. The bad news is that AJ has a cold so please pray for God to heal his little body from his runny nose and cough. He is also cutting teeth so he gets fussy and cranky on a seconds notice. : (

Thursday, again, the usual schoowork but I didn't go anywhere so oh well. My parents and sister went to a home expo at the summit that evening and I stayed home with AJ and my bro.

Well anyways, today this morning I babysat and cared for my two favorite girls (to babysitt) Marina and Summer! We were all wearing pink or red since today is Pre-Valentines Day! <3

So ya, thats about it. When more comes up, I will let you know!

Keepin' ya posted,

Butterfly

P.S. I changed my template again to celebrate Valentines Day! What do ya think? Pretty cute!

Update...

2009-02-10T10:53:00.010-05:00

Well I know I have been gone for a little over a week but it doesn't seem like anyone missed me because why.... I HAVE NO COMMENTS! Which makes me think that no one is reading my blog so please prove me wrong and comment the next time you get a chance (now is as good a time as any: D)

Here is the update on the happenings. Last Monday as you know, I went to see WSS and it was my brothers birthday so we had a nice cake and here is a picture of it.

Tuesday, we didn't have a crazy day but I did do lots of schoolwork. My mom and I went to Bible study at a local church (if you didn't read the previous post, we are doing Beth Moore's newest study Esther: It's Tough Being A Woman).

Wednesday after schoolwork (it happens every weekday, wake up, do schoolwork after eating breakfast and then do whatever is on the list of to do's) but fortunately, our list of to do's was too empty! YEAAAAH! But wait... there was one thing I had to do! Ahhhh! I had to organize and label all our photo albums which are not exactly easy to reach or handle. I will post a pic of our now organized and labelized (is that a word?) photo album collection next time I get a chance. : )

Thursday, I did my (wanna guess.....) schoolwork and afterwards I organized (been doing a lot of that lately) the school table and tidied up my room. I do that at least once a week so I don't drown in clothes and whatnots. Well my sister and I were invited by our neighbor to go to a Peter pan play with their daughters (eldest daughter is somewhat near my age... ok she is 12 but she is very mature) and the second oldest daughter is the same age as my sister but anyway, I had just seen Peter Pan a couple seasons ago at the Village Theater so I didn't go but my sister did. While she was gone though (right after dinner until 8:30pm) the rest of my family and I watched City Of Ember. I was REALLY good! I put a trailer of the movie in my sidebar. You should totally see it! I liked it a lot and so did the rest of my family.

Friday, I babysat that morning and actually had a lot of fun with the girls (Marina and Summer). They were so excited because they got new bedroom furniture but I didn't have my camera on me so I will have to show you a picture later. Its so cute! After babysitting, I came home, ate lunch, did a few school books, and then we went swimming at the summit. I stayed in the kiddie pool with AJ again because my mom was working out in another room. After swimming, we went straight to the library for a pillow decorating class my brother and I had signed up for. I will post pics of my decorated pillow soon! Well my dad picked my brother and I up after we were done and my parents went out on their date night. While they were gone, I did two loads of laundry, made dinner and cleaned up dinner for me and my siblings, changed AJ's diapers and put on his pjs, and on top of it all, I had to know where everyone was at all times (mostly AJ because he is only one years old after all). Well it was rather busy but rewarding in the end because my parents always express their appreciation when they get back.

Saturday, we went the the chiropractor in the morning and then came straight home to eat some lunch and then off to my sister's Spelling Bee. She was so nervous but she did really good up until she misspelled officer, a word she had never spelled wrong before. She handled it really well though. We were all VERY proud of her because she is already shy so to stand on stage and spell is a great achievement for her. After the Spelling Bee, it was nearly 5pm so we went home and ate dinner.

Sunday, we did church at home because we are currently searching for a new church. The previous one we had attended sent out a newsletter as they do every month and on the front page was a whole page on how great Obama is written by the pastor! We were totally shocked! We no longer go to the church because we can't support a church that would praise Obama when he is doing so many corrupt things. So instead, we did church at home as a family. Afterwards, we went to a nearby downtown city and enjoyed a wonderfully sunny and warm afternoon! Here are some pics:

My brother killing the ice with "ice axes". LOL

The charming street that we strolled.

Well while downtown, I bought this totally 100% organic and really great vita-body spray. I bought the one that is scented Sweet Vanilla Fig and it smells INCREDIBLE! It is really quite cheap at $9 dollars considering its 100% organic and all. Well after walking around some more, we ate at McDonald's because my brother and sister had free kids meal coupons so I gave in and had a chicken sandwich. : )

Afterwards, we went to Target because my brother had a $10 gift card that was burning a hole in his wallet. He bought a Sea Monster game for the PS2 and I purchased some needed personal items and a cute picture frame. Once we were finished with Target, we went home and took a short walk. We ate dinner which was chicken, green beans, french bread and rice pilaf (i made the rice and green beans!).

Monday, more schoolwork but I did it while watching AJ because my mom and brother and sister went to work at the soup kitchen to help make food boxes for the homeless. My mom, brother, sister and I went to an Aerobics class at the summit that evening at 7pm. It was an amazing workout! I personally would never want to work out like that with someone watching because it is somewhat embarrassing but yeah... : )

Well I obviously took a shower when I got home because I was rather icky smelling! LOL My dad cut up a watermelon we had bought and it was so good! That was our evening snack. Mmm... I have to say watermelon is my FAVORITE fruit!

Today, it is so bright and sunny out so I don't know what I am doing in the house! I need to get outside!

TTYL,

Butterfly

My Review of West Side Story

2009-02-02T13:16:00.009-05:00

This morning I went to see the Ever After Productions play, West Side Story.

So there is good and bad things about this play. First, i'll tell you the good. The acting was great, the singing was also real good, the dancing was fun and all the actors did a really great job.

The bad, there was fowl language, a few kisses shared between teens in secret, some not so appropriate dancing, immodest dresses and a rather suggestive scene (fortunatly it probably went over most little kids heads). Overall, it was a good play but some negatives. Here are some clips and pics from it:

Other than seeing the play, I have had quite a few things keeping me busy. I am sooo enjoying my bible study on the book of Esther! Its sooo great! Beth Moore is an amazing teacher!

Wednesday, we watched a bird call video that my mom had from the library and then after we went for a drive to see if we could identify birds near us. Well we drove down this more secluded street where its more quiet and we saw like 2 birds and then we went to the public school by our house because they have some birdfeeders there and we saw dozens upon dozens of birds! LOL All that driving when they were right in our own subdivision! Oh well... at least we know for next time.

Also my brother had a bowling birthday party last Friday and his friend spent the night and we all watched Monk together.

If you have never watched Monk before, you should definitly check it out. I will warn you, there is a bit of swearing but fortunatly its pretty clean besides that and EXTREMELY FUNNY! If you watched the Superbowl, you have to watch last weeks episode! Its On Demand if you have Comcast but if not, it may be on the website http://www.usanetwork.com/ .

Also, I am going to go to Joanns hopefully soon to check out some clothing patterns. I would like to tackle a top or two for Spring clothes. My mom said I can't buy more clothes this year but she didn't say I can't make them!!! LOL I will let you know how this all goes next post!

Keepin' ya posted,

Butterfly

Update

2009-01-27T10:40:00.007-05:00

OK I am sorry it has been a while since I posted so I am now going to try to make up for it. So my crazy teen life is still a bit crazy but fun too. Last Friday, I babysat in the morning and took these adorable pictures of the girls (Marina 4, and Summer 2):

Summer loooooves to play with my cell phone. I always keep the keypad lock on so she can't call anyone! LOL Marina and Summer like to play dress up and Marina loooves puzzles! She is so good at piecing together these huge puzzles.

After babysitting, I went home and changed into my swimsuit. Now mind you, its only 20 degrees outside so what do you think I am doing??? Well we went to the summit of course! (You seriously think I would go swimming in Winter?) : ) Anyways, we got there, signed in (we have passes from the 100 days to health) and we were about to go into the lockers when a women came out of the family locker room, took once glance at us with our towels and said, "Some kid did its business in the pool!" Ewwwwwwww!!! So we had to wait 45 minutes while they sterilized the pool so we could go swimming. Fortunately my brother got to play basketball with a friend who was also there for the 100 days to health. Once the pool was cleaned, I took AJ into the baby pool (really shallow water, like 3 inches deep.... wow) and he like it a lot. He probably thought it was a giantic bath tub with lots of toddlers. Well I didn't have quite as much fun because I couldn't go in the big pool but oh well. I will next time. When we came home, everyone showered to get the icky chlorine smell off our skin. That is the one thing I hate about pools, chlorine. It makes your skin dry and is horrible for acne. Ick!

Anyways, later that evening, we all piled into the car and went to pick up my BFF Katelyn to go to a comedian show at the local theater. The first two comedians were not so good... in fact one was really lowsy and he was only 13! But the 3rd guy, Ryan, was hillarious! He was by far the best and in my opinion, the only funny one. Well after the show, we came back to my house and Katelyn of course was spending the night to watch Monk and Psych with us. My babysitter let me borrow her queen sized air matress so we set that up after putting on our pjs. We stayed up watching last weeks Monk On Demand and then we watched random tv shows like Home Improvement with Tim Allen and such. After turning off the tv around 2am we talked for about 30-45 minutes and then passed out. Thanks to our mini grandfather clock by the fireplace, we woke up at 8am. Also my little brother was upstairs squelling with delight while playing with my dad and his plush dinosaurs. He loves making dino sounds now. He growls like a tiger and roars a bit now and then like a t-rex. LOL Well we had scrambeled eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast, cantolope, and strawberries for breakfast. It was a large meal and it was soooo good! Katelyn and I did of course help set the table and make the meal. After breakfast and clearing off the table, we went downstairs so I could show her the new sweaters I had bought at Kohls. Then we went onto the computer and watcher several Tim Hawkin comedian videos from http://www.godtube.com/ . Then we checked the stats on how my field trip planning was doing. I made a field trip to see a local play for my homeschool group. Good life skills. : ) After hanging out and chatting, her mom came to pick her up around 11am or so. It was lots of fun. Hopefully we will get together next week at her house to knit and watch my new movie College Road Trip (she hasn't seen it yet). The rest of the day draws a blank to my mind right now. I can't remember what we did. I only remember that after eating tacos for dinner, my mom, brother and I went to a Creation seminar at church. Well if I remember the rest, I will tell you about it. : )

Sunday, we went to church after breakfast. After church, we went to Antonio's Italian Cuisine and got soup and bread sticks to go. We ate them ate home of course. After lunch, I changed from my church clothes into soft pants and a hoodie and played a couple games with my sister. Later that evening, I changed again into jeans, a warmer sweater, scarf, fuzzy socks, my suede boots and my warmest coat and my whole family and I went to see the ice sculptures in a nearby town. Its an annual thing we attend almost every year (we didn't go last year because AJ had been only two weeks old when it was taking place).

Monday, I started the day finishing reading the book of Proverbs from my Bible. I had toast and tea with my mom for breakfast and we did family devotion. After that, I went downstairs to my bedroom/school room/ piano room/computer room and did as much schoolwork as I could in 5 hours. At about 2:55 or so, I arrived at my friends house for Little Women. We had a blast! We first did our group devotion, then we did a craft making little Valentine envelopes with candies inside (I will post a picture of mine closer to Valentines Day), then we played Sardines. If you don't know what it is, I will tell you. Its a mixed up version of hide-n-go-seek. The 1 person who is IT has to hide while everyone else waits in one room for 1 minute. Once that minute is up, they charge throughout the house like crazy rinos trying to find IT. As each person finds IT, they have to hide with her/him wherever the hiding place may be, a closet, under a table, behind a couch and the last person to find IT is IT in the next round. When you are IT (I was IT first) you are kinda freaked out hearing all these girls pounding around the house like they are hunting for you but it is soooo fun!!! Its hillarious when everyone tries to hide with IT , it becomes more obvious where IT is because its hard for 6 girls to hide in a place meant for only 1 to 2 people! : ) We blew a whole 55 minutes playing that game and had TONs of laughs when we did a human pyramid before we left. It was sooo FUN!!!!!

Today, I am again doing my schoolwork (typing this is my "recess" or whatever you want to call it) so once I post this, back to the stack of thich books on the table! : P Well tonight I am going to Bible study with my mom (we are studying the book of Esther and one the front of the workbook, it looks like this:

Its an AWESOME Bible study and I just love Beth Moore's teaching style. Well that is all I can fill you in about for now. Have a great day girls!!!

Keepin' ya posted,

Butterfly

Inkheart

2009-01-22T10:29:00.004-05:00

So have you heard about the new movie coming to theaters tomorrow? Inkheart is the one and it looks amazing. If you like Narnia, Prince Caspian, the Spiderwick Chronicles or other fantasy movies, you will love Inkheart.

It is rated PG and from what I have read, has little language. There are no Christian reviews that I can find on dove.org or Plugged In. I hope to see it soon.

If you see it before me (i will post after I see it) then leave a comment telling me what you think of the movie (but don't spoil the end for me!) : )

Keepin' ya posted,

Butterfly

Presidential Oath

2009-01-20T16:21:00.002-05:00

I watched the presidential oath taken by Barak Hussein Obama on www.foxnews.com and added it to my sidebar so you can watch it for yourself if you like.
You all will notice he made a couple mistakes and spoke too fast in one part which kinda made it funny.
Honestly though I do feel bad for him because that was LIVE all around the world!

My sister just made a comment about his name. She said, "His name should be Barak WhoIsInsane Obama." LOL Nice one lil' sis!

Well that is all I have to say for now. I will keep our new president in my prayers that God will give him wisdom and that he will be saved. Keep Pres. Obama in your prayers too!

Keepin' ya posted,
Butterfly

You HAVE to see this

2009-01-20T14:49:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,
You HAVE to watch the Godtube videos at the end of my blog! It is soooooooo funny you will laugh sooo hard! Its just hilarious! Enjoy!

Lots of laughs,
Butterfly

Whats new

2009-01-16T15:46:00.004-05:00

Well for me, I just want to tell you a bit about whats been up with me in my crazy teenage life. First let me tell you this, you may thinks its totally strange but this is the way I feel.... I am going to be SEVENTEEN in like 4 months and I feel old but not in age!

Like weird right?!? I mean I am only going to be 17 but here is what is flooding my mind when I think of turning 17; I need to get a summer job, I need to get a car (a license would be helpful but my parents think that drivers ed is a ripoff being like $350 dollars so yeah... it isn't lookin' good right now), I need to look into online colleges (I have decided that if possible, I am going to use online college rather than attend a college because as some say "College is not a safe atmosphere with all the creeps out there." Lovely huh?), I need to figure out what career I want to spend my life doing, I need to buy a house (okay not really house hunting yet... actually I am going to try to live at home as long as I can because it will save me money : ) )

MOST IMPORTANTLY: I need to just PRAY that God will show me what I am supposed to do. I have been doing a lot of personal guidance praying lately for this very reason (not house hunting but college... you with me?). So anyway, if you can just pray that God will give me guidance of what my life plan is, that would be awesome! : )

Good news! My life consists of waaaay more than my crazy teenage thoughts! LOL I am looking forward to having a friend sleepover next week and watch Monk with me and talk until like 2am! YEAAAA!

So more normal teen events is cleaning the whole downstairs full bath inch by inch (okay so maybe its not so normal for most teens but hey, look at Cinderella, she found her prince all right didn't she!). Really, I actually enjoyed cleaning the bathroom by myself because I was listening to my mp3 as I worked and singing glory to God that I have hands to clean the bathroom with. I have eyes to see what I am doing (even if it is not what I what to be doing : )), that I have a real bathroom to clean (not some hole in the backyard) and I am just happy that I can help out in the house. Well I will post more "normal" events asap so look for them coming to a blog near you! LOL I just felt like adding that.

Keepin' ya posted,

Butterfly, the bubbly teen girl next door (okay fine... next blog-door) : )

Simple Ways to make this a healthy year

2009-01-13T14:37:00.003-05:00

Today I am going to share my Simple Ways to a Healthier You on my blog. It is so easy that anyone can do it and its not expensive either. Here are several tricks to keeping a glowing face:

First, drink lemon water. Every morning I have a 9-12oz cup of filtered water and squeeze half a lemon into the water. The lemon is great for cleaning your system and if you take some of the juice from the lemon and mix it into a lemon-yogurt facial mask, you can exfoliate and cleanse your pores.
Drink lots of water throughout the day. Teen girls should drink at least 8 cups of water daily to keep from dehydration and to keep healthy skin. At first you will make more trips to the bathroom but after a couple months or so your body gets used to the intake and you will notice a decrease in bathroom time. : )
Eat at least one salad every day and use real lettuce or spinach. If your lettuce isn't a dark green, then it has no nutrition. Ceaser salads are no good so go for romaine or spinach instead. Also to make it really healthy and tastier too, add dry fruits like blueberries or cranberries on top because they are full of antioxidants which is great for your skin and inner body. If you can't eat a salad, eat a bowl of carrots, cucumber and bell peppers. If you like raw onions, add that too. Its so good for you.
When you notice your face is looking dry, its due to dead skin cells building up on your face. Make this super simple facial mask to exfolitate and refresh your face once or twice every two weeks: 1-2 tbsp brown sugar and 1-2 tsp whole milk. Rub in circular motions on your face for 1 minute. Let set for 5-8 minutes or when it starts to harden. Rinse face with warm water and pat your face dry with a clean towel or hand cloth.
Check out www.vitacost.com for healthy body products and vitamins. My favorite facial wash is Alba Pinapple Enzyme Facial Cleanser. Also tell your parents to check out Rainbow Light Teen multi vitamins. I have been taking them for a little over 6 months now and can see a difference in my health. It has a whole food base so your body digests the whole vitamin and it helps with acne, period cramping, and more. It is a great product and its inexpensive at vitacost.com. In stores it can be up to $40 but on vitacost, it is less than $15 for a bottle of 90 (you take one multi vitamin a day so it lasts 90 days). Shipping is also inexpensive through vitacost and we always get our orders no later than 5 days after ordering. Check it out with your parents. They have lots of great products.

These simple changes will make a big difference in your overall health and face. I started drinking lots of water (about 10 cups a day) when I was around 13 or 14 years old to keep myself healthy and hydrated and it works great. Be sure it is filtered water though. Unfiltered water has very low Ph and is full of chlorine which actually dries out your skin. If you like, you can buy Ph tester strips at your local health store and test a bottle or water to unfiltered water. You will see that the Ph balance in bottled water is much healthier than unfiltered water.

Hope you will try these out and see the difference yourself, keepin' you posted,

Butterfly

P.S. If you have any questions about anything I said above, leave a comment and I will be happy to answer. Thanks. : )

New Years AGAIN!

2009-01-11T17:51:00.003-05:00

This is a hillarious way to view New Years from www.Briomag.com! You should definitly read it if you want to laugh a lot! Enjoy!

New Year’s Again!
by Bob Smiley

New Year’s is here! Time to make those New Year’s resolutions.
Time to write out that list of things you plan to do for the entire year or at least the next day.
To help you start your own list, I’ll share a few of my family’s New Year’s resolutions.

• Listen! My wife wants us to work on listening to each other more this year in order to improve something. I didn’t catch the last part of what she was saying because the Texans were about to score! But hey, maybe you could listen to your profs and your parents more.

• Less shopping! My wife has told me that her resolution this year is to only shop on days that end with a “y.” I’m very excited!

• Be nice to your brother or sister! My oldest son, Colter, promises not to use duct tape on his younger brother this year. I overheard him tell another kindergartner he’s sticking with plain rope.

• Get a new hobby! Trenton, my youngest son, vows to learn more about knots and to study escape artistry.

• Exercise! My dad began jogging. He’s resolved to complete two laps around the coffee table every morning.

• Redecorate! My mom wants to buy a bigger coffee table.

These are just a few suggestions. Whatever you choose to do with these new days, be sure to thank God who gave you these days!

Remember that nothing in life is guaranteed . . . except the fact that if one doughnut is left in the room with my dad, there’s no doughnut left in that room. God doesn’t promise us the next day, so make the most of the one He’s given you right now!

If none of the above resolutions sound good to you, I’ll also include my personal New Year’s resolution list for 2005.
Maybe one of these will inspire you.

1. I’ve done this before, and I’m going to do it again. I’m resolving to read the Bible through in a year. It’s really not hard at all. You can follow the Brio plan for reading it through in a year or simply read three chapters each day and five on Sunday. In one year, you’ll have read the entire Bible. This is important to me, because I want to spend time every day with my best Friend and Creator, reading the stories He left for me and seeking His guidance.

2. I’ll stop numbering everything.

3. I’ll stop telling people what to do. This is a really good one. In fact, it should be on your list as well! So write it down NOW.

4. I’m not going to be so nosy. My wife says I’m very nosy. Actually, she didn’t tell me that: She wrote it in her diary.

5. I won’t get distracted by other things to the point where I don’t finish what I started working on in the first pla –

Have a great day,
Butterfly

Middle of the week

2009-01-08T15:51:00.010-05:00

Hey there,

So nothing much happening at my house. I did take pictures of my clothes from Kohls so here are those:

My new sweater dress that can be casual or dressy.

My new super warm sweater!

And last but not least my new short-sleeve sweater.

So besides clothes, I do have other things to tell you all about. First, I did a one page long Chemistry problem the other day. It was sooo confusing but I got it right! I was so excited! Also, Monday night, I went to the homeschool meeting with my mom so I could hang out with my friend Michelle. We ate chocolate covered pretzels and chips and salsa, played pick-up sticks, jacks, and we told funny stories to one another. We are getting together on Monday to watch College Road trip at her house and hang out. I can't wait! Tuesday, I did lots of homework and cleaning in the house. We organized more of the laundry room and I donated over 15 tops that I outgrew or don't wear anymore to a charity. That is how I can justify buying more clothes : )

Wednesday, I did more school, college research (trying to pick a career which isn't an easy thing to do if you know what I mean) and more cleaning. I did get to go to Borders with my mom and her friend Marla and we had coffee, muffins and just chatted. Some girls may not enjoy hanging out with their mom's friend with her but I like it a lot. In fact, we are going to see Bride Wars next week! It is rated PG so we're hoping it will be a fun and clean comedy. It stars Anne Hatheway from the Princess Diaries.

Today, my mom, sister, brothers and I went to my mom's cousins for a lovely brunch. We had quiche, fruit salad, zucchini bread, veggies and cake! Everything was delicious! We played with our cousins and I took pictures to show you my cousin Wendy's house:

This is Trevor's room (more of a nautical look with the boats and such). Trevor is 4 years old and such a fun little boy. He has his own full bathroom that is decorated with super heroes!

This is Megan's beautiful princess room. Megan is going to be 3 years old in March. I just looove her gorgeous room. She even has her own full bathroom with a tub and hello kitty shower curtain! Its sooo cute! She is such a cute little girl.

It was so nice to see all our family (on my mom's side) and hang out with cousins. I will list our cousins oldest to youngest: Brandon (6), Ryan (4), Trevor (4), Dylan and Alexis (twins and both 4), Megan (2), Bryanna (almost 2), and Isabella (2 months). Brandon and the twins were not there because they were in school. Also my great aunt Lynn and Cheryll were there and my grandma. It was so nice to see the family. Well I have to go now.

Keepin' you posted,

Butterfly

Super Fun Update

2009-01-05T15:13:00.003-05:00

So ya its true, I have been sooo busy and I apologize for not writing sooner but at least now I can tell you what i've been up to.
So for New Years Eve, we went to our friends house and played Wii and saw some old friends that we haven't gotten together with in almost a year! I played with Bethany because she was the only girl close to my age (she is almost 13). She is so sweet and kind. We played an American Girl game call 300 wishes. It was lots of fun. We left at a bit before 9pm and went home to watch Wall-E. It was actually really cute and funny. After the movie it was a little after 10:30 so we started watching the Rockin' New Years Eve bash in Times Square. I went to my room to grab my pillow as an excuse to not hear the Jonas Brother's perform (i am sorry JB fans but I just don't care for their music.)
We watched the awesome New Years ball drop as we did the countdown into the New Year. So were you all excited or what!?! lol
Well I went to bed at about 1am because I was really quite sleepy.

New Years day, at about 2pm my brother went to his friends birthday party and we were meeting them back at his friends house afterwards for the after party. We got there around 4pm and had tons of pizza (there were five pizzas and I ate about 3 slices and a huge piece of cake and cookies (i had a BIG salad the next day and lots of fruit to make up for that). : )
We played Wii tennis and bowling (which was AWESOME). We had lots of fun. We also watched the Rose Bowl game.

January 2 (aka Friday) I didn't have to babysit because the kids I sit had their dad home from vacation still. I missed them during Christmas break! We didn't do anything out of the ordinary on Friday. I didn't go anywhere but my parents went out for a movie and dinner. They saw Valkyrie which they said was pretty good but sad. Its about the many attempts to assassinate Hitler.

Saturday, I went to my friend Katelyn's house and we exchanged Christmas gifts. She gave me a orange flavored dark chocolate, a candy cane, and a really cute picture frame that has a verse and clock. I gave her a hot chocolate bath set with body wash and body lotion and a scrubby tool (i can't remember the fancy name for it). : P
After exchanging gifts, we went to her brother's basketball game. It was great! His team won their first game! YEAAAA! The second game also had his team win! They did great. It was really intense too. We ate pizza while watching the game and I saw quite a few homeschool friends there (most of their brother's or friends were in the games too). After the game, I went back to Katelyn's and we did scrapbooking together for about an hour and a half until I had to go home for dinner. Pizza was our dinner, so funny! HA HA HA (i still haven't told them that I had pizza for lunch). After dinner I was instant messaging my best friend who I love like a sister (aka BFFWILLAS) and we were talking about New Years, Christmas gifts and what not. I just love chatting with her. You ROCK KAITLYN!!!

Sunday, we had a simple breakfast because we all kinda slept in a tad bit.... OK so I didn't get up until 9:30! Is that a crime?!? Just kiddin! : )
We still made it to church right on time and it was an AWESOME message on letting God have control of your life and doing God's will. I love the verse that says, "I do not have plans to harm you but plans to prosper you." Isn't that just awesome!
After church we went home because AJ really needed a nap. I was trying to convince my dad to take me to Kohls because they are having this HUGE 60-90% off sale on sweaters, jeans, and just about everything else! I didn't succeed in getting my dad to take me but my mom said that she would take me on Monday (today) so now let me get to Monday.

Monday, I had some lovely toast and coffee with my mom and I shared some of my toast with AJ because we were eating downstairs on the couch watching Franklin (one of AJ's fav shows) and of course if I am eating he has to eat it too so of course I shared with him (he is so very cute and lovable!) Well I had to get dressed by 9am because I left to babysitt at 9:15am. I was happy to see the girls again (Marina,4 ;Summer, 2 ; Selah, 1 1/2 months). Selah had a check-up so it was just me, Marina and Summer. We played with puzzles, baby dolls, ate waffles for lunch (I offered turkey and cheese sandwiches but that was a no go so I made eggos! LOL It rhymes).
When the girls mom returned, I got to hold Selah for about 10 minutes before my mom picked me up. We went to Kohls and I got three super cute tops for a total of $27!!!! The original price would have been $110!!!!!!!! I paid a 1/4 that price! I looooove sales! I had a check for $30 dollars from my grandma because we went shopping and Target and JCPenney but I couldn't find anything I liked their so I used that check to buy my clothes. I bought a black/pink sweater dress that has a super cute hood and I like it because I can wear it to church or a fun event and it was originally $40 for $16, a really cute blue/black/white polka dot top that can also be worn casual or church that was originally $30 for $3, and a really cute fur hooded sweater that is like five different colors and was originally $40 for $8 bucks! I never buy anything regular price... NEVER! Well that is whats happened so far. I will post pictures of all my clothes ASAP.

Keepin' ya posted,
Butterfly

Only in America......

2009-01-05T14:57:00.003-05:00

This is so funny I just have to post it for you all to read!!!

Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2. Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3. Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4. Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

5. Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

6. Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

7. Only in America......do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

8. Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

9. Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

10. Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM's with Braille lettering.

EVER WONDER
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?

Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff??

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

----------------In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed through stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods:

On a Sears hairdryer: Do not use while sleeping.

On a bag of Fritos:! ..You could be a winner! No purchase necessary. Details inside.

On a bar of Dial soap: "Directions: Use like regular soap." (and that would be how???....)

On some Swanson frozen dinners: "Serving suggestion: Defrost." (but, it's "just" a suggestion, right?).

On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom): "Do not turn upside down." (too late! you lose!)!

On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding: "Product will be hot after heating."

On packaging for a Rowenta iron: "Do not iron clothes on body." (but wouldn't this save me more time?)

On Boot's Children Cough Medicine: "Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication."

On Nytol Sleep Aid: "Warning: May cause drowsiness."

On most brands of Christmas lights: "For indoor or outdoor use only." (as opposed to...what? outerspace?)

On a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."

On Sunsbury's peanuts: "Warning: contains nuts."

On an American Airlines packet of nuts: "Instructions: Open packet, eat nuts."

On a child's superman costume: "Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly."

On a Swedish chainsaw: "Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands."

We all need to smile everyday!!!!!

Hope you all laughed,
Butterfly

New Years Resolution Contest Winners!

2009-01-03T23:11:00.002-05:00

Well even though there were only two entries, two people won.

Elizabeth ( www.itsafluteworld.blogspot.com ) won for saving her money which is hard to do. The world makes you believe you HAVE to have this or you NEED to buy that but really true joy comes from God, not material things.

Olivia ( www.liviemylifeasagirl.blogspot.com ) won for a God pleasing resolution and her's is identicle to mine. Believe it or not one of my resolutions is to be slow to anger and just in what I say so that I can draw closer to God, my heavenly Father.
So congrats to both of you! I wish there had been more entries but I am glad I received more than one! LOL Well God bless you all! Have a great weekend!

Keepin' ya posted,
Butterfly

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-01T00:09:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL! Praise God for another great year and all your blessings!! Thank you Lord for every day! AMEN! LOL Have a great year! ! ! ! ! ! !

Blessings,
Butterfly

New Years Resolution Contest!

2008-12-30T16:31:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,
So I was wondering if any of you are making some crazy or just for fun resolutions for New Years. Tell me about them and I will post the best one!
Now to have the best, it has to be something that you've never tried before so tell me what you got and you might just win! I will post the winner January 3 so you have 4 days to comment on this post! In the comment, write your name and New Years resolution. Good luck!

Yours truly,
Butterfly

P.S. My resolution is to post what your all interested in so you can comment on any post what you would like to see on my blog! Thanks!

My CHRISTmas

2008-12-26T14:23:00.008-05:00

First, today is my dad's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Second, here is all the details of what took place Christmas day at my house. I woke up at 9am but everyone else was already awake. We had bagels and toast for breakfast because my younger sister insisted that a big breakfast takes too much time before opening gifts! LOL

So everyone piled into the family room and started the unwrapping of many gifts. My favorite part is probably seeing each reaction to each gift. Its always a face of joy and gratitude (no one gets unwanted gifts at our house)! We turned on the Walt Disney Christmas Parade hosted by Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa and I took a picture of that and David Archuleta (the runner up to this years American "idol" winner) was showing some of the newer attractions in Disney World:

Well I know some of you are wondering what I received for Christmas so I will not make you wait any longer. I got............

A pair of LA gear casual flats (loooove it)

a box of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate covered Shortbread cookies (can someone say Mmmm...)

A 2009 Horse Calendar from my sister

A box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates from my brother

2 magnetic games for car rides or whenever

The Martyr's Song trilogy by Ted Deker (really good from the first 50 pages i've read)

An AWESOME pair of creme colored cloves that are totally my style (my mom has good taste)

An Easy Acrylics art book

$25 dollars in cash from my Great Aunt Cheryl

A generous $25 Kohls gift card and homemade English Toffee from the nice lady I babysit for

A $10 Kohls gift card from my BFFWILLAS, Kaitlyn

A pair of TOTALLY cute ballet flat American Eagle shoes (they were an early gift so I wore them to all Christmasy places)

super cute winter pj's from my mom and dad

a cute horse necklace from my aunt, uncle and cousins

and more gifts are coming when I see my grandparents (from my dad and mom's side) on Saturday!!! I am sooo richly blessed to have a white and wonderful Christmas this year!

A picture of my gifts (top) and my baby brother AJ checking out the Little Einsteins rocket car that my dad, brother and I got for him. He likes it a TON!

After opening gifts, we all got ready to go to my Aunt Tina's for a Chirstmas lunch/dinner. We had tons of food from Brownies to Turkey. My cousins tree was huge! They have a cathedral ceiling in their living room so the tree was probably 10 -12 feet tall. We had a really nice time together. We played a grab gift game and I received a huge coconut chocolate mousse candle. My mom got a beautiful bracelet and my dad a $10 gift card to a restaurant. It was real fun! Since my cousins are an hour drive away, we didn't get home until 7pm or so. I was sooo tired from playing with cousins and eating sooo much food! : ) It was a Christmas I will never forget!

Well don't forget to count your blessings and if you didn't get your wishlist item, something better is coming from God!

Blessings and Merry Christmas, Butterfly

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T12:44:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!
I pray you all have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Joy to all,
Butterfly

Christmas Party at my Great Aunt's

2008-12-22T15:33:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,
If you read my last post, you would know that yesterday (Sunday) I went to my Great Aunt Lynn's house for her annual Christmas party. It was lots of fun. I got to see my cousins that I see only once or twice a year, my other great aunt who gernerously gave all the kids $25 each for Christmas, and my mom's cousins (by the way, everyone there is on my mom's side of the family). Due to not so great roads, my grandma and grandpa didn't come (it would have been an hour drive from there house and my grandma has many back problems).
There was TONS of food to eat! Ham, Roast Beef, green bean cassorole, potatoe cassorole, minostronie, homemade rolls (my mom and I made those) and sooo much more.
For dessert, there was brownies, apple pie, blueberry pie, cranberry pie, fudge, assorted chocolates, peanut butter cookies, chocolate cookies, and strawberry vanilla cake! Mmmmmm...
I was so happy to see all the family together and talk with everyone. It was a great time!!

Blessings,
Butterfly

Super Late Update

2008-12-18T23:01:00.004-05:00

OK so I am soooo sorry that this update is so late but with Christmas and shopping things have been really busy!
Last week, my sister and I made Christmas Chocolate Creations and sold them to neighbors. We made together $13! I made $8.50 and she made $4.50 from what she made. We both gave half of our earnings to a charity and the rest we kept for more supplies. It was a lot of fun. I spend over two hours because I was making santas on pretzels using red and brown chocolate. First I had to put the red for Santas hat and suit and let it harden and then add the brown and sprinkles.
Monday we did schoolwork (shocker huh... LOL) well anyway, I did my Chemistry, Geometry, English, Bible Study and History. I did a research paper on President Nixon & Watergate. It was very interesting and there is a lot of mystery in that case.
Tuesday was the begining of my dad's vacation. He won't be going back to work until January 5! He has sooo many vacation days left over that he didn't use yet so we will have lots of time to enjoy together. I babysat on Tuesday from 3:15 to about 4pm or so for a neighbor while she went to get her older kids from school because her youngest was napping.
Wednesday we did some house cleaning. I did some of my homework (about half a days work) and helped my mom with baking cookies.
Thursday was the big day of my younger sisters Christmas Choir Concert. She was so excited but a bit nervous too. She did really well. Thursday morning my mom took me out for breakfast and we split a delicious egg and cheese croisant sandwich and two muffins (apple and blueberry). I enjoy speding alone time with my mom because I can talk to her about anything.
Friday, I don't remember what we did! This is so strange but I just can't remember..... I will let you all know if I remember soon.
Saturday I seriously slept in! I didn't get out of bed until 10am! Of course I hadn't fallen asleep until about midnight the other night so that may have been why. We went to the chiropractor and then to a grocery store just down the street. We bought some delicious danishes because they are actually organic! I didn't know that they sold such a thing. : D
Today we are leaving for my Great Aunt Lynn's for her Christmas Party so I have to go. I will tell you all about the party when we get back!

Blessings and Joy,
Butterfly

Joyous news

2008-12-12T14:42:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,
I have something to share with you all that my family and I are very excited about!!!
Drum roll please............... WE GOT CLEARPLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you don't know what clearplay is, then click here to see the website.
What clearplay does is you get a subscription through their online site and you can watch just about every movie made with no swearing, nudity, crude humor, violence, gore and it will edit it out like it was never there!
My dad purchased it on eBay with a 1 year subscription for only $50 and at Family Christian and other stores its over $140! We are so happy because now we can watch films with no inappropriate scenes or swearing. God bless the people who invented clearplay!

Well besides clearplay, I babysat this morning and my sister came along because she enjoys playing with the girls. I brought the Christmas gifts I made them (I made scarfs for the girls) and it was perfect because they needed kid-sized scarfs. I was so happy that the girls liked their gifts and I hope their brother likes what I got him too. I am also happy that I got to hold the new baby girl in their family. She is so very precious. I can barely remember when AJ was that small and he isn't even 1 year old yet! Well I need to do my history assignment now so I will post more later.

Blessings and joy,
Butterfly

My Busy extended weekend

2008-12-09T15:49:00.013-05:00

Hi blogger friends,

Sorry I have been so busy. Last week my dad took Friday off and I babysat that morning. AFter babysitting we went to the chiropractor and then to Whole Foods (a HUGE grocery store). Then we went to the mall down the street, at lunch (a mix of Arby's and Olga's) and then did some window shopping. The only thing we bought was a rubber ducky set for my baby brother for Christmas. He loves playing with his ducks in the bath but his old one started to grow mold inside (ewwwwwww!!!!)! We threw it in the garbage. When we got back home, AJ went down for his nap and my siblings and I ate some dinner while my parents went out and did grocery shopping.

Saturday, we went to my dad's Christmas Work Party. We got there at 11am and ate the breakfast they had (we had eaten some small breakfast before going). I went on the mini train ride with AJ in my lap since he is only 11 months old (my mom claims to be too big even though I am 4 inches taller than her). We got our pictures taken with Santa and AJ hated being next to the kind man. I held him so he wouldn't be as upset but he still tried wiggling out of my arms and was doing a baby version of screaming. After that, we received a toy from santa (toy stuffed penguins and reindeer). Then we left my dad's work after he said hi to some of his fellow employees and went to an outdoor Christmas trick-or-treat. We didn't have to dress up but we did bundle down to stay warm! There were different stops in from of three strip malls where you would play games (ring toss, bucket balls, and tic-tac-toe... kinda easy stuff) and get a candy prize at each different stations. One of the restaurants had hot cider, another had cocoa and meatballs. It was actually quite fun! We went to a historical museum that was open for free that day and saw the Christmas craft show inside. Another Santa was there and AJ kept making sad faces every time he tried to come near to AJ. It was sooo cute! Later that evening, at 5:25, I left my house to go babysitt across the street until 11:45pm! But I did have a good time watch four girls ages 12, 9, 7, and 2. Once they were all in bed, I watched a movie to keep myself awake until their parents came back from their Christmas concert.

Sunday,

after church, we went to a museum thats about a 45 minute drive from our house and we saw a costume exibit there. The following pictures are from the museum:

Batman's costume, Robin's costume, and below is the batmobile!

Darth Vadar

Indiana Jones jacket, whip, and the holy grail.

Ghost Busters Car and one of the costumes.

Monday, my dad had that day off too so my parents went to do grocery shopping while AJ took his nap and my siblings and I did our schoolwork. At 3pm, we went to pick up my friend and go Christmas caroling at a local nursing home. It was fun to make a joyful noise with so many homeschool families and bring such joy to the elderly! Then, after dinner, we went caroling with 8 kids and their mom's from our court in our sub. After caroling, we went to our neighbors house across the street for hot cocoa, brownies (i made them), peppermint cupcakes and games. It was tons of fun!

Today, I have done my homework, helped my mom cut my brothers hair by holding him still because he hates getting his hair cut, went to the dentist at noon which went as follows, "You have very nice colored teeth, you brush really well, you have no cavities, and you won't have any bottom wisdom teeth." I was very excited to hear that I won't have bottom wisdom teeth because normally those HAVE to be removed and the dentist doesn't know if I will get uppper wisdom teeth yet but they should be able to tell by my next appointment in June. Now my schoolwork is done which is why I am posting but I have to go because dinner is almost ready and my assistence is needed.

More later, luv, Butterfly

Butterfly

200 Posts

Healthy Guide to Life: Snacks

Healthy Guide to Life: Lunch

Healthy Guide to Life: Breakfast

Prayer Request

Today is....*drumroll*

Important Prayer Request

SURPRISE!!!!

Prayer Request

Contest

For those who love their skin!

Genesis: The book of the beginning

Feeling lonely???

A much needed update on the crazy life of a teen girl who is about to graduate in three months!!!!!

4ever

Happy New Year... three days late.... :)

Back from the depths of no internet life

LAUS DEO

4ever

God, prayer, discernment, college!

I wanted to share this from Patriotpost.com! Too good to not read!

A while

Forever

Our Week of FUN

Hey

Long time no see...

Anniversary

The Homeschool kids who can't do anything (like the public school that is)

Oh my...

Bubble Burst

Hello

Hey

Prayer and thinking

Bonjour!

Hi

Laminin

Earth Day : P

Get Active

End of last week and what is up this week

Three exciting and happy days

Happy Easter

Been awhile

First Day of Spring

Much Needed Update!

Quick Hello & Tidbit

Latest and greatest

Bowling and Youth Group

Bonjour!

Delilah (The Samson Version) and a quick update

Chemistry

Jane Austen

Latest Happenins

Happenins and Happy Pre-Valentines Day!

Update...

My Review of West Side Story

Update

Inkheart

Presidential Oath

You HAVE to see this

Whats new

Simple Ways to make this a healthy year

New Years AGAIN!

Middle of the week

Super Fun Update

Only in America......

New Years Resolution Contest Winners!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Years Resolution Contest!

My CHRISTmas

Merry Christmas

Christmas Party at my Great Aunt's

Super Late Update

Joyous news

My Busy extended weekend

Today is....drumroll