My blog

California Experiments I remember when I was little our cousin Emily was in the car with my family. There was also a fly in the car. Sara, Dad and I bloodthirstily rolled up a newspaper and prepared to execute the beast, but were stopped by Emily crying out "Noooooooooooooooooo! Don't kill him!" flabbergasted we asked "Why not??" her eyes filling with tears she replied "He's my friend." If you ever feel the way Emily felt, you probably shouldn't read this next bit; but if you feel like me, and think flies are wicked vermin, then read on: My dad got these plans from someplace and sent them to me and Bryce. Ever since then we have been itching to try it out. We used Nate's bug vacuum to capture our engines. This vacuum was a present we gave Nate for his birthday. It is a good policy to give your siblings presents that you want to play with. We imprisoned the flies. I crafted the planes, which was not easy. Then things went bad. I thought abou...

California Day 2 We have been on vacation in California for 2 days now and Bryce has miraculously sprouted a mullet. We rushed him to the emergency room to have it removed but the doctors were helpless before its mullet magic. They told us to avoid monster trucks for now and observe it carefully. Wish us luck.

See how far I've come? This is the third grade bunny. My former best clay creation. We are in California visiting him at my parents house right now. It is excellent and warm!

1 down Ta da! Here is piece #1 Mary and Joseph. This is the best thing I have ever made out of clay! (Even better than the little bunny I made in second grade!) I wanted to have Mary and Joseph together because Mary just gave birth in a stinky stable and she probably needs some comforting. They don't have faces, but that is not for any symbolic reason, it's just because I am not experienced enough to make non-goofy faces. (Keep in mind that up until last night my greatest clay creation was the 2nd grade bunny.) This piece is not really done. It needs to dry out, get fired, and then glazed and then refired. Hopefully everything will be done by Christmas! p.s. Holy War tomorrow!!!

Note: For those of you who were confused, I was not joking. Tara and I are really going to run a 5K wearing ballet tutus. This is not a joke, it is a real race. My tutu will be pink. That is all.

Talking with Tara Now how far is 5K?

Nativity Set Bryce and I are going to make a Nativity set this year! We are going to make it out of clay, fire it in a kiln and then glaze it. (All the pieces are going to be glossy white because I don't want to buy a million colors.) I am designing how the pieces will look. Here are the ideas I have had: #1 Is fairly realistic, but I don't think I will put faces on them because I am not that skilled and I don't want them to look goofy. The Shepherd will wear some kind of fur skirt/robe type thing. #2 Was my first attempt at being more abstract, but they looked like a couple of toes so I didn't design any other pieces. I had this hilarious idea to make a toe nativity, but then I decided that would be irreverent, and a little macabre. So I am not making one of those. #3 Is more abstract, but not as silly as #2 and not as realistic as #1. If I can't pull off the first design this is my backup plan. Wish me luck!

Bamboozled by the Internet

Taking things apart this week: Yes I made sure there weren't any batteries inside!  And uh, yeah I a little bit forgot about the capacitor...

I Hate Vitamins Seriously, is it worth it? According to the label it doesn't even treat cancer!

Maybe my mom is trying to tell me something New style of comic today, what do you think?

Salty Soup At our house we do not eat very much salt. This is not just because we are too busy eating ice cream and cake and candy, it is also because Bryce has something called Ménière's disease . This is a condition that affects the inner ear, which is the tiny body part that controls balance. Basically your ears start telling your brain that the world is skee-wampus and your eyes keep telling your brain that the world is fine. Your brain does not tolerate this confusion and usually decides to make you puke and lie down until your ears and eyes get things settled. We are lucky because Bryce’s case is not very bad, for many people this is a debilitating condition. Salt makes your body retain a little more water, which can make your inner ear have a little more pressure inside which can cause all kinds of problems. Because salt can trigger attacks we eat the least amount of salt that I can manage. I am an obsessive “Nutrition Fact” label reader now. I picked some powdered soup up o...

Road Raged Yes, that is bird poo on the hood. Stupid birds, grumble.

Do We Really Look Alike? People often comment on how Bryce and I look so much alike. I usually take this with a grain of salt, because people also told me that I look like my "cousin" Cheryl . (We are not actually cousins but that is a long story, which is why we tell people that we are cousins, to avoid telling the long story.) Anyway, I never really thought that we looked alike until I looked at this picture: I was thinking, "Man! JD and Valerie [front and center] have the same smile as each other, they look so much alike!" then I thought "Hey! The Fiebers look like each other too!" and then I realized what everyone else has been talking about, Bryce and I do  look like each other. But then, Bryce and JD look like eachother too! And Jamie and I have a similar smile... I guess all white people just look the same. What do you think?

Happy Christmas Halloween is Over Hooray another Halloween is over! Above you see my favorite Halloween costume ever. I wanted to be batgirl again this year but instead I was a cheerleader: Some of you may recognize this as: a.) My costume from a past Halloween b.) My not-a-costume real highshcool Cheer uniform I admit it is not creative, but it is easy. Also, that uniform was pretty expensive I need to get a lot of use out of it! Bryce's costume is made up of vintage 70's clothes stolen from his parents and a caveman wig. Hopefully the convenience and freeness of these costumes will motivate us to go to the gym so we can fit into them for the next 30 years. (After 30 years we will splurge and dress up and Batman and Batgirl.)