Mondays

We all know how most people view Mondays. They are usually kind of stinky because its the first day of the week (I will count Sunday as a weekend day for this post). After a restful weekend everyone goes back to work or school. Well, today I didn't have to go back to neither work nor school. So it started off pretty well.
However, something happened later that evening that really ticked me off. So I will tell that story first. Then I will tell of another event that happened that day. In this way I will end a a happier note. So this post is not in chronological order. Okay?

All last week was "Youth-i-Versity" at our church. Its like vacation Bible school for highschool and middleschool (but don't tell them I said that.) And every year they have a lip sync contest. This year Eärendil got two groups together for the contest (he's going to be a highschooler this year *shriek*). And Tulkas and his best friend got together and lip synced to RelientK's "crayons can melt on us for all I care." (I can't believe they are already in middle school!) Anyway, all that to say I was there every night to record the different groups lip syncing.
So, this past Monday I decided it was time to import the video to my computer so I could burn it to a DVD (some people had asked for copies). But my laptop doesn't have a port for firewires. So, I grabbed my handy-dandy cruzer and went to do it on Mom and Dad's computer downstairs. When I connected the video camera and set it on playback a window popped up with options on what I wanted to do. Being the brilliant idiot that I am, I decided to import it using the first program listed instead of using windows movie maker like I usually do. Now, the length of the video is how long it will take to capture. And I had a little over an hours worth of lip syncing. So that took a long time. I decided to read the assigned chapter in my Geology book while I waited (school hasn't started, but my professor gave us homework).
When it finally finished I looked at the settings to see how it saved the movie. What? I've never seen this type of file extension before. Movie maker, or any other program for that matter, won't support this. Well, that's okay, I thought. I can still save it as a .wma or something. So I tried that. They showed the video as it was saving. About every 5 seconds it would pause for 3 seconds. This is not good. I don't want to wait here even longer than I had to the first time. I figured that it would take less time to just re-capture the video.
So I connected the camera for the second time. This time I captured it using Movie Maker and saved it directly to my cruzer. An hour later I disconnected the camera. But I found some old folders on my cruzer that were taking up space. So I tried to delete them. But it didn't work. So asked for Dad's help. He said that I'd have to completely clear out the drive. "Are there any folders you want to save?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "My DA121 folder." And so he wiped my cruzer clean, except for that one folder. That's right. EVERYTHING, including, you guessed it, my video file. Sometimes there are no buses short enough for me! I just spent two hours capturing this stupid thing and now I forget about it for 2 minutes!!?
So guess what I had to do all over again? ........Yeah. I grabbed the video camera and marched over to the computer with my cruzer in hand. Plugged in the camera. Opened movie Maker. Wait a minute! The video files are still there in movie maker! I tested it to make sure it played back. It still works! Yes! I saved it onto my cruzer and put the camera away. I went upstairs and plugged the cruzer into my laptop to begin editing. I opened Movie Maker and RED X's!! WHAT?! It Didn't Work!?
So guess what I had to do again? Downstairs, camera, computer, Movie Maker, capture, one hour, anger, ire, wrath. I'm guessing you can fill in what went on. This time I was extremely careful. I save it onto the computer's hard drive first. Played it back. Closed the program and opened it again. Then played it back again to make sure that it really worked. Then I saved it. Then I plugged in my cruzer. Opened it. Then I opened the video in movie maker again and clicked "save as." I named it "lipsync.MSWMM" and chose the destination as "MOBILE DATA (H:)" (that's the cruzer). Then I closed movie maker. I opened lipsync.MSWMM from my cruzer. And guess what I saw. Rows of those blasted RED X's!! Why didn't it work!!
So I decided to give up. I'll just edit it on this computer and forget about transferring it to my laptop. So I went to the original file on the computer and opened it up. RED X's!!!!!! What The HECK!
So, I just decided to forget it. I was not about to start it all over again. Maybe another day, but not then.

Ok, now for happier things *cue sunshine and flowers.*
Earlier on Monday my Mom sent my brothers outside to gather up the cut grass to use it as mulching around our plants. She also had them wearing masks because of their allergies.

It was nice and cloudy and windy, not too hot at all.

Here is Tulkas screaming through his mask. Even the little things amuse us.

They found some kind of interesting bug. I was inside the screen, though. So I couldn't see it.


Tulkas is overseeing Eärendil as he works. Haha, just kidding. They were both working very well.


I had just shown Tulkas BaratsandBareta's new video "Double Dragons" earlier that day. So here he is trying to mimic them. Side Note: We are big fans of youtube videos. Our favorites are BaratsandBareta and Fred. Hehe, I snicker just thinking about them.

At first Eärendil didn't want to participate.

But then he went along with it.

And, of course, we had do do their signature picture...

...several times.

Kids, don't ever do that (what Eärendil is doing). It is entirely unsafe in every sense of the word.

Well, I went inside after a while. I think I was distracting them from their work too much. I had to get my stuff all situated for school any way. NO! Summer is almost over! How did that happen? How do I make it stop? (Just kidding. School is okay. I just don't like some of my required classes.)

All Alone....

Well, today was an interesting day. Dad was at work all day. Ilmarë was working as a stand-in. So, she was gone all day. Yavanna and Eärendil went to Bush Gardens with our church youth group. So, they were gone all day. And then Mom and Tulkas went to Disney with Tulkas's friends. So, they were gone all day. This means that I was at home all day, all alone.


Well, the first thing I did after breakfast was fold the laundry. It was two full loads. About one and a half of those were whites. I've always disliked folding the white laundry (I'm not being racist here), because of all the loose socks that need to be paired. And I didn't have any help this time around either. But that's okay. I just went about my chores while watching FOX and Friends.


So, I went around the house getting all my chores done first. I actually finished rather quickly. But It was oddly quiet so I didn't want to go up to my room just yet. I grabbed a hula hoop and hula-hooped for a while.


After I had been hula hooping for a while I remembered that I had to put the clothes away. So, that's me hanging up my Mom's shirts.

While I was in my Mom's closet I found her Indiana Jones hat. Cheese!

Then I made some scans on Mom's computer. All this time I had the tv turned on to the news channel, just to keep it from being so still and quiet in the house. Because, seriously, it feels so eerie when its so quiet during the day. I will never be able to live alone! I can't even stand one day of empty-houseness.


I really liked that hat. But it seemed to fit kinda high on my head, like it would fall off or something. It felt a little odd, because I'm so used to caps.

Ok, I was really running out of things to do downstairs. So I made a card tower.

It was fun. And the hat was for concentrating (or something like that).

Tada!

Yep. And I left it up all day. Its still up on the table right now. That's a sturdy card tower!

Well, after I finished with the cards I went upstairs and got on my computer (the tv was still on downstairs. Don't judge me.). I listened to some music and worked on a few projects that I'd like to finish before classes start.

Eventually I went back down to make myself some lunch.

A grilled-cheese sandwich! It was good. I kinda burnt the other side, though because I was taking pictures when I should have been paying more attention to what I was cooking. However, it was still good.

Well, for the rest of the day I was back on my computer working on my stuff, listening to music, etc. When Dad got home I went down to watch the Little League World Series games (I was rooting for Canada and Hawaii!). Canada lost to Venezuela, but Hawaii won! Yay!
Then we waited for Ilmarë to get home so we could go eat out. She got home late. But we went out to eat together anyways. We went to Oakwood BBQ. It hit the spot!

All in all, its been a pretty good, long day. Mom and Tulkas got home about 1/2 an hour after we got back from the restaurant and Yavanna and Eärendil are on there way home as I type. The house is no longer as quiet! I have my peeps back.

Impromtu Photo Shoot

Well, I was outside the other day taking care of my precious little pineapple patch. It had gotten very weedy after more than week of neglect. (I got as sick as a puppy a few days after I got back from Mississippi.) Anyway, I was hunched over, deep in cultivating thought, when a bright streak of orange fluttered by. I looked up to see two sharp-orange butterflies gamboling around a nearby vine. Now that would make a very good photo, I thought. So I finished up and went in to get my camera.
Now the butterflies were not very cooperative. So I did not get many good pictures of them. But the ones I did get didn't turn out so bad.


The vine that they were fluttering around just popped up around our fence a couple of years ago. Since then it has grown all over the place. It has practically taken over that whole area where our old compost piles were. I still don't know what kind of vine it is either. I can't find it in any books nor anywhere online.

Look at that! Its even growing where there is nothing for it to get a hold of! At least its not an unsightly weed! I would hate to have to get rid of something that hardy because it was ugly.

Its very tough and, uh, curly? It even grows up on itself. I think its kinda cool.

Its a tangly mess when I think about it. But when I look at it its very pretty. I guess I should go and trim it back some, though. Its starting to take over the gate there. And we'll need to use that when we move Shadowfax and the goat to the other pasture.

This was the best picture I could get of the butterflies. I couldn't catch both of them at the same time. But I did get one of them. It was fun taking these pictures despite the burning fury of the sun. It was really hot. But it was worth it!
Until next time, adios!