Working Ahead

The week of April 1st, our choir is having a Madrigal Dinner, and we're going to be gone Monday for Lifelight, Tuesday for Learning Center and Choir, plus Thursday evening for a Madrigal dress rehearsal and set up, Friday from noon on for dress rehearsal and the dinner, and Saturday for the second Madrigal Dinner. Because we will be so busy that week, I am working ahead so that I don't have to do much school at all that week and have more time for practicing. And the week after that is the homeschool expo and we have two days set aside for that.

Also, in Grammar, I have gotten behind because I missed several papers I needed to write, seven of them to be exact. On Sunday, I wrote four, and now I have three left, plus a short history research topic I need to write from last week. I have about 2 1/2 weeks left to get all those done, so I think I'm good, but I also need to work ahead in that time, as well as other things.

Happily Ever After?

       What do most people think of when they hear the phrase "happily ever after"? Typically, people picture a life of eternal happiness, usually involving marriage, where nothing ever goes wrong. But really, those people have got it totally wrong. Take fairytales, for example. The main character--the hero or heroine of the story--is usually in distress, and along comes a handsome prince or a savior of some sort and fixes everything, and "they all live happily ever after." But do they really? What happens after happily ever after?
       I think there is a deeper meaning behind this "happily ever after" at the end of many stories. In real life, there is no way we can live a life with no hardships or obstacles, or else we would be as helpless as a wee baby, with nothing to worry about. Happily ever after CAN'T happen in this world, because in order for there to be a happily ever after, everything would have to be perfect, and human beings are far, far from perfect. I'm hoping you've guessed by now where I'm leading. The only place that "happily ever after" could ever happen is in Heaven! It kind of figures, since Heaven is a place where there will be none of the troubles we find on Earth.
       But just as it is in fairytales, in order to reach "happily ever after," there are always hardships first. In Cinderella, a young girl spends years toiling away at the mercy of her stepmother and stepsisters before she is recognized for her true beauty and delivered from her suffering. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle seeks to do what is right and is miserable because of it, but she is rewarded for her kindness in the end. In the same way, we live a life in this world with hardships and obstacles we must face, and we learn from them and grow in the time we spend here on Earth. But despite all our spiritual hardships and trials, we are later rewarded with eternal life, to live ever after with our Father in Heaven.

New Hedgie

       This past Sunday I got an African pygmy hedgehog, and I named her Periwinkle (thought that sounded like a pretty good name for an animal covered in spikes). She's four years old, and right now she still hisses at me in her tiny-motor grumpy sound, but I'm hoping she'll warm up to me soon. She is generally a pretty happy little critter, and whenever I let her out of her cage she's immediately up and running about, sniffing all my stuff, but I have to restrict her a little so she won't get stuck under my dresser or in my closet or anything. Feeding is convenient because she eats dry cat food, and she herself doesn't have any odor or smell like dogs or mice or other pets. Cleaning up after her is pretty easy, except she tracks her bedding (don't worry, it's clean bedding!) on my carpet, which unfortunately is super hard to spot dirt on, so I'll have to vacuum it. Periwinkle doesn't like loud noise, so it's probably best that I keep her in my room, because my room is probably the quietest room in the whole house. I just weighed her today on our little kitchen scale and she is exactly a pound (which is the ideal weight for a hedgehog), so she isn't overweight or anything, and I don't have an obese hedgehog to make diet plans for. In the spring when it gets warmer outside I'm planning on making her a little playpen so that she can get her exercise and be in a more natural habitat. I don't want to have her running around too much in the house because my parents wouldn't be very happy if she pooped or anything on the floor, especially if she went under the couch or the stove. Fortunately her cage is big enough she should be able to get some exercise.

Bad Weather Experiences

       A few weeks ago, I had two severe weather experiences I could easily have done without. The first one was on a Tuesday, when Josh and I were on our way home from the learning center. We had dropped by Chad's Theatrical to reserve our costumes for the choir's Madrigal Dinner, and as we were finishing up, the radio playing in the shop announced a tornado warning and we heard tornado sirens. The lady at the store graciously let us stay there for about another half hour or more until the worst of the storm passed over, then we made a beeline for home in the pouring down rain. When we were running out to the car, Josh let me use his jacket as an umbrella, but by the time we got to the car, he was nearly soaked.

       The second occurrence was the Saturday just after that, when Josh and I were at a swing dance. It was 10:00 and the dance was just ending, when I got a call from Mommy saying that we should probably leave because she was driving home from work and it was snowing up a storm (literally). Now something you'll need to know is that the forecast had said we could expect a "little bit" of snow, but what really happened was a snowstorm, with the snow piling up really fast. On the way home, the roads were barely visible, and the only thing keeping me on the freeway for the hour-long-drive home was the lights of the car in front of me. One thing I did like about it though was that I got to drive in the middle of the freeway because there were hardly any cars at all. When we got off at our exit, the snow had stopped, but by the time we turned onto Highway E for the 10-mile country drive out to our place, it started snowing even heavier than before. I could barely see the road, and I was thankful that we met no cars on the way, because there was no way I would have been able to share the road and not drive off the side. Now the road we turn off onto to get home is Truxton Road, but there is another road before that called New Truxton, and we're always having to remind people that it's not New Truxton they need to turn onto but just plain Truxton. Because I could hardly see anything, I saw New Truxton Road and turned onto it, but realized as soon as I had done so that it was the wrong road. By this time, the snow was at least 3 inches deep, and when I tried to back up, I got stuck and the car wouldn't budge. Instead of flooring the pedal to get out, I called Mommy (who had arrived home already) and told her we were stuck, and Daddy came to get us unstuck. But on his way, he himself got stuck and so he had to get himself free before he could come to us. It was a whole hour before he arrived, and it took about 15 or so minutes to get the car out. Fortunately, a guy with a truck happened along and helped push the car the last few feet out onto the main road. Unfortunately, however, I had been wearing a knee skirt and sandals to the dance, and so when I was standing outside, my bare legs were FREEZING, and my feet were soaked in the snow. I thought it a little weird that two times in a row when Josh and I were out by ourselves, we had storm trouble. I have to say, though, it was good for my driving experience!