Funny Vegetarian Commercial

Maybe you should reconsider becoming a vegetarian . . . .






And please don't be offended, if there really are any vegetarians reading this . . . admit it, it is kind of funny.


Have a nice (and safe!) day,

Mattie

Dusty's Trail

30

The countdown begins. I'm setting up thirty as the number of days that you'll have to wait to see my new book. (It may be more or less depending on a lot of different things) VERY unfortunately, it will not be in time for Christmas, but I will be making advance sale coupons for those who want to buy them as a gift. In "celebration" I will post the synopsis of the book here. It is what will be on the back of the book. However, it may change if I get the proof and I don't like it.

  WANTED:

YOUNG, SKINNY WIRY RIDERS, NOT OVER 18.

MUST BE EXPERT RIDERS

WILLING TO RISK LIFE DAILY.

ORPHANS PREFERRED.

WAGES $25 A WEEK.

    

When young Levi Anderson reads this ad in a local newspaper, he can hardly resist the urge to saddle up and head out for a new job.

Trouble is, his horse Dusty doesn’t think it’s such a good idea.

Dusty enjoys his quiet life working on Levi’s small family ranch, taking Levi to town, chasing cows, fixing fence and sometimes even horseracing with the neighbors. He couldn’t imagine leaving.

Levi steals away in the middle of the night, taking the reluctant Dusty along with him. Dusty may sometimes rear and buck, gallop and balk, but he tries to be good and really is in with his friend and rider Levi for the long run. And the more they gallop on those wild runs with the “Pony Mail”, the closer they bond as friends.

But when Indian trouble arises, endangering the Pony Express Stations and Levi’s life, will Dusty prove to be a worthy mount?

　________________________________________________________

     Keep on reading this blog for other cool stuff coming up!

    

     Day  #25 - See what the advance sale coupons look like (I will try to make them a little special for those who wish to put them under the tree)

     

     Day #20-- Book excerpt of Dusty's Trail -- about one full quarter of an exciting chapter

     Day  #10--Get a look at the painting that will be used for the cover

     Day  #5-- I spill the beans about my third book! =)

    

     Day #1-- Get a look at the finished product!
  

     Day # 0 -- I send out pre-ordered books.

  To pre-order books, email me or call me. I am setting up a pre-order special, all the way to day #0.

     Buy the first book at retail price ($7.95) , and get the second for $6.00, or buy three for $20. I will send out advance sale coupons as soon as I receive payment for the books.  

     Here's an awesome picture of a Pony Express rider I found on the Internet. The picture conveys some of the action and adventure that lies in my new book!Sorry, I'm just sooooo excited! I hope you are too!

Mattie

Some Things You Didn't Know About Thanksgiving

  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
 Are you remembering to give thanks? I wasn't planning on doing anything really amazing for Thanksgiving but now Grandma and Grandpa are here so we're going to have the works.  And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here is some interesting facts for you.

1. While the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, it would take more than 150 years before all 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving at once, in October 1777. In 1789, George Washington hailed the holiday, while President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the notion, calling Thanksgiving “the most ridiculous idea” ever conceived. For his part, Benjamin Franklin had such an affinity for turkey that he lobbied to make it the national bird (to no avail).

2. The average person consumes about 3,000 calories during Thanksgiving dinner. With other meals and snacking that can easily go up to around 4,000 and 6,000 calories. It could take 8 hours or more of moderate exercise to burn that off. (Making you feel a little guilty!)

3. Thanksgiving may not have actually started with the Pilgrims, although this all is still very controversial. There are different places that claim to have had the first Thanksgiving, including Texas and Virgina, and without the Pilgrims. If it did start in Plymouth Rock, we still don't know if they even ate Turkey. The only thing we know for sure that they had was deer meat.

4. Have you ever heard of a Turducken? It sounds super gross to me, but some people claim it to be a delicious delicacy. This is exactly what it is: a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Whoa!

 I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a challenge for you: Think of ten things you are thankful for. Then think of ten things you are not thankful for. Figure out a way or a reason why you really are thankful for it.

Mattie

I Would Have Never Known These Words Existed

 if I had never worked. :) Kind of a boring post, but informational if you plan on getting a teenage job soon. Just another lame post by Mattie because she doesn't know what to write about.

GLOSSARY OF TEENAGE WORK TERMS

DELUXE--A way people like their burgers--with everything, sometimes with a few exceptions, don't forget to charge extra!

CHECKER/CARRYOUT: Two different positions at small-town grocery stores. Checker is a sometimes coveted position of supposed laziness that only the girls and old ladies get.  I prefer to work carryout, characterized by its long days of facing, stocking and bathroom cleaning, as well as-- well, carrying out groceries. Usually only the boys work it but I like it better because it's way less boring.

FACE: To continually pull products to the front of the shelf and rearrange products so that they look neater. In other's (not necessarily my own) words: a waste of life.

FLATS: Black trays that hold 20, 50 or up to a hundred individual plants. I've spent quite a few hours washing these.

FLUFFING: To "fluff" the dirt around the plants, getting the moldy, flattened dirt freshened up and providing air to the plant.

H+B : Apparently, another name for the Health&Beauty section of the Grocery Store.

MESSUPS: Toppled ice cream cones, ruined shakes and sundaes--the less experience, the more messups. Kept in the freezer in the back. But SHHH! It's a secret. I take them home for my siblings to enjoy.

HELGA: The name of our ice cream machine. (Yes, our ice cream machine) It says so on her name tag. (Although there is another secret reason for her name tag) Helga can be pretty temperamental at times!

WALK IN: A large refrigerator that you can walk in. Duh! :)

#1, 2, 3 and so on: Greenhouses. I have a hard time keeping track of which one's which.

V-00:  Value=$0 A coupon that has this number on it has absolutely no value. It's a fake!

I know this probably won't be much use to you. But congratulations on reading the full post!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, (look for a Thanksgiving post tomorrow)
Mattie

An interesting recipe for you

  Today is bright and snappy. I let my horse Spike out because he's not going anywhere with all of this snow on the ground, but he refuses to let me catch him. The cold air is making the 21 year-old pretty excited. Speaking of that, his birthday is Jan. 1 (as all Standadbred's are) and he'll be 22. Boy time goes fast. I got him when he was seventeen. Here's a very unfocused picture that will make you dizzy, courtesy of Clarissa. Spike is the dark brown one, Sunny's got her head stuck in the feeder. Clarissa thought it was really funny, because when the camera occasionally flashed the horses would go running!

  The recipe is for a cheese ring, a deliciously unhealthy thing you can make to go with pizza. Except for the crust, I basically made it up. Here it is:

 Delicious Cheese Ring

Note: I make this recipe in a bread machine. If you don't have one, you can make it as you would any other dough  with appropriate times to rise, etc. If you really want clear directions on how to do that, you can email me.

1/2 t. Salt

3 cups All-purpose flour

1 -1/2 t. Active Dry Yeast

7/8-1 cup water

2 T. Olive or Vegetable Oil 

Butter

Dried Minced Garlic

Mozzarella Cheese

1. Combine all of the first set of ingredients into the bread machine pan, and select dough setting.

2. When dough is done, pull it out of the bread machine and roll about half of it out onto a floured surface. You can use all of the dough, 1/2 of it or even 1/4 of it depending on how large you want the cheese ring.  (Because we have such a large family, I can usually make 2 fairly large cheese rings from the dough.) It should be rolled out between 1/4-1/2 of an inch thick depending on how much bread/how fluffy you want it.

3. Place the rolled disk onto a pizza pan. Take an empty round container such as a sour cream cup and use it to make a hole in the center of the dough. Next, spread butter all around the dough's surface. Sprinkle about 2 Tbs. minced garlic (or to taste) around  the ring. Then sprinkle Mozzarella cheese around the outside of the dough. (How much depends on how big your cheese ring is.)

4. Roll the ring up. It should look like a bulgy under inflated tire when you're finished. Make sure to pinch up the edges so that the cheese doesn't leak out.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 14-20 minutes, (once again, it depends on how big your ring is) Be careful, it can be hard to tell when it's done. I've bit into a doughy cheese ring more than once. Let cool before tasting.

I know, I know, what an appropriate recipe for Thanksgiving! I just had it last night though, so I it was pretty fresh in my mind. And note: this recipe will take a lot of trial and error. And if you do try it out, let me know how it tasted because it might not actually be delicious I just might have a really weird sense of taste!

Thanksgiving is 2 days away! I hope you have a happy one!

    The Dairy Queen

Even More Snow!

  There's a TON of snow out right now. I'd say at least three inches, and it keeps falling! Jay called me at 8:30 this morning and asked me to come into work. What did I say? I told him "well, I will come if I can make it out of my driveway." :D
     Since all of my siblings are gone and life is very boring, I guess I'm going to do a tag. (no one actually tagged me, but I thought it would be intesting to put one on here)
  
  A General Winter-ish Tag:

Favorite smell? Horses (clean ones, anyway)

Favorite Food? I don't know, it changes a lot. Right now I think it's chocolate-covered pretzels

Favorite Color? I always like my colors in pairs. My favorite is Brown&Pink.

Favorite Drink? Moutain Dew Throwback

Favorite Place to Go? Mexico, New York

Favorite Candy? Shock Tarts. :)

Favorite Clothing to wear? Anything informal. Jeans and T-shirt will always do.

Favorite Holiday? Christmas

Favorite Pie? French Silk

Favorite thing to do when no one's Watching? Rock out on my guitar and sing like I think I can sing.

Favorite thing about Snow? Dogsledding!

Least Favorite Thing About Snow? Trying to get to work, also ice and spinning out on the road.

Biggest Pet Peeve? Hmmm, don't know for sure. I think maybe it's got a name. (VIOLETTE!) Just kidding. I don't have one. :)

Best part about winter? Spring!

I don't know if I can tag anyone back though because a big part of the people who read this don't even have blogs! But please feel free to comment and post some (or all) of this tag and your answers for everyone to read.

I took a few pictures from inside the house today because I really didn't want to go out in my pajamas. Here's a our winter wonderland for you: (and trust me, things look a lot better when our yard is covered with snow then when it's not!)

Man-I've got a lot of work to do if I plan on getting to Jay's today.

Poor Ducks are Still outside. They could go into the chicken barn, but they really are determined to
stay out as long as they can.

Cody keeping watch.

     Oh, yes there is one thing that I have been doing.

    I'm going to learn to take care of cars! Well, at least a little bit. Here's 1 book I'm going to start off with. It promises to be easy. (Picture from http://www.amazon.com/)
    Try to stay warm today!
    Mattie

Snowball Festival

    Hi! Sorry I haven't posted for awhile.
    Yesterday, I went to the Snowball Festival in Valley City, North Dakota to sell books. It was an event where people mainly went to shop for Christmas stuff, but there were also a few kinds of entertainment things like Santa Claus visiting,some tap-dancing teenagers a guitar player/singer and a piano player. I only sold about 11 books. Mainly I think it is because I wasn't really in an ideal place, about 95% of the stuff that was there was craft stuff. But I talked to a lot of people, and that is the most important thing.
     Sometimes selling books at events can be the thing I dislike most about my project. A lot of people simply walk by after a quick glance, coldly ignoring my "hi" and frowning. (Hey I'm not making a major profit or hardly any profit off these so layoff) Some people can even say mean things that really hurt.
     But I try not to dwell on it and I remember that for every one mean, hurtful thing that people can randomly say there is about 10 good things that people tell me. But then I also remember that for every 50 good things people say to me, I get about one book sale. :S
     But there was a few people who came and said that they already had my book and that they really liked it. I'm glad for that! Cause right now it's just mostly getting my name out there for people to know about me. Sorry! There's no pictures though because I was all by myself and I forgot the camera. arrgh.  
     I am so impatient for my second book. I wish it was here now. (Or preferably, yesterday.) It snowed today for the first time so here's a picture of some of it.

      I had to get the ducks some water this morning because all of theirs froze up. Notice how the cat's looking at the light colored duck in the picture. Cute!

    

     Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving,

     Mattie

Friday, November 19, 2010

     I am so bored with life right now. I am waiting on the cover of my book so I still can't send it in to the publisher yet. I am having so much fun being home with no other kids around, but after a couple days I've decided its just a little too boring. Yeah, I'm getting lots of stuff done, I guess. But there's not even anything to write about.
    On Wednesday I went to "the Studio" which is what they call the youth group. I was thinking about joining the one at our church but it is such a long drive and I don't really know anyone there. A lot of my friends go to this youth group at First Assembly chuch, and I've been getting a ride every week, and think that I like it better.

     I have to take the van over to get it fixed, it's got a leak in the something or other and needs to get fixed before tommorow! Our life with cars is very involoved. We have a lot of old, tired cars, not one new one. In fact, here is a list of what we have:

•     1 1996 Saturn SL2 (accessory belt is slipping and needs to be taken in before I can drive it.)
•  1 old (1980 something) gray ford pickup, can be driven but needs a lot of work on it.
• 1 old chevy pickup, automatic, named "Bess" by our uncle Brad, belt is also squealing on that and isn't really realiable enough to bring me to Valley City and back. It's more of a farm truck.
• 2 1996 15-passenger vans, 1 big red one mom has taken to SD,
• and one white one that happens to be okay but Dad needs to take it to work. (Which is alright by me--it doesn't have a working radio)
• 1 van that runs okay, but is totally smashed from when my dad rolled it. We use it for a parts van for all our other vans.
• 1 1996 Ford Club Wagon. My "black van" although no one wants to hear me say it. It was my first car that I've gotten to drive and I've had alot of fun with it, though it seems to contantly be in need of repair. We just got a new windshield for it now (my brother had smashed it with his head--when the car wasn't even moving. Don't ask me about it) I'm going to take this one with me to Valley City. (hopefully)

    And if you're like some people, don't tell me they always need to be fixed because they're fords. I hate to admit it, but I'm very hard on the cars I drive. The black van has the least miles on it and that's 130,000. A lot of people get rid of their cars before it even gets to that. Though right now I am against new cars, as I think they are mainly made of plastic and have interior tracking devices or something like that, so we should make our old ones last as long as they can. Anyway, I think that maybe when I grow up I should be a mechanic!





 Happy Trails!

  Mattie

    

Official Polls are Closed

 And the winner of "Favorite Breed" is a three-way tie! We've had 8 votes, (Thank you all) two each for Appaloosa, Quarter Horse, and Other. One vote each for Thoroughbred and Paint. I'm going to put another poll up, so make sure to vote! I guess I should give you your writing tip too, although I didn't even remember that it was Wednesday until now.
_______________________________________________________________
Writing Tip--Writer's Block

Is it real, or is it imaginary? I didn't believe in it when I first started writing, but now I definitely do. Writer's block is defined as a time when you simply can not think of anything to write, or when you feel like giving up. No fear, here are my ways of getting over writer's block.
(a) Let the material sit for awhile. Leave it alone for at least a day. When you come back to it, you will have a fresh mind and that will help to give you ideas.
(b) do something physical. Go for a walk, play a sport with some friends, or ride horses. Activity helps when you're suffering from writer's block.
(c)Talk to other people for ideas. Talk about your story to your friends, parents or other writers you know. Often they will have ideas that will benefit your story.
(d) Talk to your character. That's right, you heard me, talk to him.
"Storm, what do you want to do now?"
If you really think about it, you have a god-like presence in your story because you can change anything as you like, (unlike reality) but you can also consult your character. Sometimes you will give him what he wants. Sometimes you will make his life hard.
(e) if all else fails, JUST WRITE! I know this is sometimes hard, but just keep writing anything that comes to your mind. This is what editing is for afterward.
Follow these steps to help overcome writer's block. But the absolute best thing you can do is Persist!

Top Five Jobs I Want

   As I am already seventeen years old, I have been thinking about what kind of job I would like to have. Can you believe that I am still undecided?! I wish I could really make up my mind. But while I thought about it, these were the top five jobs that I really want.


#5 Horse Breeder

  I know it's hard work, but if I could make a living off it I would love to breed champion horses! I would also like to train horses, I love being able to accomplish amazing things with amazing horses.

#4 Cartoonist

 I love drawing cartoons! Part of the reason I love drawing cartoons so much is because of how frustrated I get when I try to draw things realistically. It's different with cartoons. It doesn't matter if it doesn't look real. I actually love to draw in the style of Butch Hartman cartoons, making myself and my family into cartoons. 

#3 Nascar Driver

 Getting paid to drive?? And drive FAST? I would so LOVE that job. I could do it for free.

#2Rockstar

 I've got the guitar, now what? I would love to be a rockstar, except for I would be one of the few who would actually set a good example. And let's face it, we have a shortage of good female rockstars. 

#1 Best-Selling Freelance Author

  Wait, aren't I that already? Well, not quite yet. Only 900,783 more books to sell. Okay, okay I know I could probably never make the best-seller list, but I think that I would be content with just making a living. I'll have to do a little more work on that though.

   Now you know what I'd like to do when I grow up. =) I thought I'd take an entire blog post to tell people because they are always asking me since I'm homeschooled.
 But when I do figure out what I want to do realistically and for sure, I'll let you know.

Mattie

A Quiet Day

  It's quiet around here today. I worked at Jay's from 10-3 (a horrible shift) and then came home. Yesterday, I was supposed to bring the kids to Minnesota around 10:00 am or so, but before I even set off I drove into the ditch. There I said it. I was driving too fast and being stupid, so I drove right into the ditch after attempting to make a 45 mph turn on a small gravel back road.

Man, I wish I had my camera with me!!

    I was so mad that I was crying, but I think it would of made a wonderful picture story for 4H and for my blog. I had three of the kids with me. I had my sister (10 years old) drive and I tried to push it out of the ditch. I had gone into the ditch before, and usually I can get that little car out by myself. However, all we managed to do was get it stuck about a hundred times worse. The front end was jammed into a piece of land that stuck out a little too far, and the back end was stuck into the side of the ditch.
  I cried. I screamed. I cussed. I prayed. I don't handle car accidents (even if they're very minor) too well. Then I called my dad and sat down in the ditch to cry. I had just gotten my hair cut that morning too and I didn't have time to comb it so I hung in my face and made me look even more pathetic.
   Before dad came over someone else stopped. Two guys came out. "Hey, are you alright?" one of them asked. I wiped that horrible frown off my face and attempted to smile. "Yeah. I 'm waiting for my dad." I explained my circumstances to them and I'm sure they thought I was a moron, but when Dad came and brought a chain the two men (one of which happened to know my dad) helped us get out with their pickup.
     Dad didn't kill me either or call me bad names or anything. I think that he probably knew what a bad time I was having already (trying to raise the kids, get my schoolwork done, work on my second book, keep the house clean, figure out what to make for meals, and all that other stuff) I was stressed out to the max and making it to Fergus Falls to meet the grandparents on time made it even worse. He didn't say anything.
     So I'm alright.

Mattie

P.S. Sorry no pictures at all. If I find some AA batteries I can post a few new ones.

What We Were Busy Doing

We have been busy lately making pumpkin to store in the freezer for later use in breads, pies and cakes, etc. It's actually a lot harder than you think. I made it myself this year, I grew the pumpkins in the garden all by myself 'cause no one wanted to help me. We picked them a couple of days ago and now I finally got around to making some. I'll post directions on it if anyone's interested.

Step one: Gut out pumpkin as if you were going to carve it into a jack o' latern. Make sure all of the seeds are out. Save seeds for roasted pumpkin seeds.

Step 2: Cut pumpkin in halves, then into quarters. Scrape out remaining pumpkin slop. Place as much of the pumpkin as you can into a roasting pan. Fill with just enough water to cover the bottom. Here is a picture of two quarters ready to go into the oven. Roast pumpkin in 300 degree oven from 1-1 1/2  hours.

Step 3: After pumpkin has cooled, peel the skin off the soft pumpkin. Cut into cubes.

    Side note: Here's a goofy face I made when Clarissa wanted to take pictures of me. That's how much I hate it. But I did think that it would be helpful to put the pictures on the blog, as long as she let me put one of her too.

 Step 4: Put pumkin cubes into food processor. Grind 'em up until they are pretty fine. Then scoop it all out and put it into a freezer bag and . . .

Label it and put it in the freezer and Waaalaa! You have homemade canned pumpkin! And please don't tell me that I could have saved all that work and went to the grocery store and bought a can of pumpkin for 89 cents. I don't want to hear it. 100% organic, 100% additive free.

    Wow, what a lot of fun! Lots of pictures, I don't care, you can know my identity if you really want to. We didn't even do this today, we did it two days ago though.

     Something terrible (but kinda funny if you're lightearted about most things like me) happened today. I'm too tired to write more right now. I'll let you know all about it tommorow.

As always, shy homeschooler, crazy redhead kid, terrible driver, your friend,
Mattie R.

Wednesday Writing Tip

Did I say I was going to do something interesting and fun? That I would post on it the next day?
     Well, it turns out that it was SO interesting that I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday. Yeah, right. The only thing we did yesterday was make pumpkin to put in the freezer but I guess I can write about that tomorrow. I didn't go to youth group.
      Here's your writing tip of the week--fresh from my head.
_________________________________________________________

Writing Tip-- Making It Work

   This is one of the hardest things about writing fiction--your story must work. What do I mean by work? Well, if you read closely in most fiction books you will realise that there is a specific pattern that most of the stories follow. A book can be divided into about six parts:
  
   Introduction
   Conflict
   Crisis
   Climax
   Resolution
   Conclusion
     The introduction introduces your characters, the people who will lead people through your story.
 The conflict is just what it sounds like. A conflict that comes along to make life hard for your character.
    From the crisis to the climax the author uses the skill of suspense building. The problem builds, new characters arise, etc. The Climax is the point at which the novel is the most tense. It is where your main character has to confront the enemy, his fears, and whatever else is involved.
     The resolution is the knight in shining armor. Most often it comes just in the nick of time. It may be an idea, an escape, or the main character making a realization about his life and problems. This is the time when the conflict is solved.
     The conclusion is the cooling point of a novel. It helps keep the story from ending too suddenly. However, you shouldn't keep going on and on until you get to the next story. Save that for an epiloge or sequel.
     It's funny how I tell you to use this though, because I didn't sit down and plan out Appaloosy like this (though most authors do plan their books out before they invest a lot of time into it). I just sat down in front of the computer and wrote it. You will, however, see that it matches this pattern.
     So, just do what feels right to you. Some people say that if you plan it out, it will help you keep away writer's block. I find it the opposite. But like so many things it's just another thing that defines your writing style.

Geometry For Dummies

   Is there such a thing? Because if there is, I want it!!!!
   Euclid, who is commonly called the father of geometry, invented Proofs and Postulates in his book the Elements around 300 B.C. primarily to torture high-school kids in the 20th and 21rst Centuries.
     I don't know why Geometry is so hard for me. Algebra was fairly easy, although I find writing and English much more enjoyable than I got about a 75% score on my test. So you know what that means for homeschoolers. STUDY, study, study and TRY again. Try again until you get a B. Which is all I'll probably be able to get in Geometry anyway. Darn! I hate it.

     Nothing too interesting happened today. Right now I was working on page numbers for my book. I am so close to having it published and I still can't think of what to call it. So far I have two names: The Dusty Trail, or Brave Spirit. I think that I would call it "The Dusty Trail" because the story is about the journey of a horse called Dusty. But I don't know if I should call it "Brave Spirit" partially because it sounds so cool and partially because it is about a character who learns the true meaning of courage. So E me or comment! What do you think?
     And about the page numbers--those are the hardest things in the world to figure out. I almost ripped the cord out of the wall and threw my computer out the window I was so frustrated. But thankfully there was some other; cheaper objects for me to take out my wrath on.
     I hope to have the press-ready manuscript ready tomorrow. I am sending it to one more person to read for typos then It's off to the publishing house!!! I'm so excited, I hope I can have it ready for Christmas.
     No pictures today, sorry. I spent the majority of my afternoon facing grocery aisles at Jay's. But tomorrow we are going to do some fun and interesting stuff, so I'll have at least one photo of that. Make sure to check it out! ;)

  Mattie "MJ" Richardson

Redheads . . .UNITE!

   A variation of Karl Marx's slogan, "Working men of all countries, UNITE!" :D
    Nothing too interesting is going on here today. Dad's home so that means I'll probably have to go to work with him. The house is a mess and I don't care.
     Some weird red head facts:

• Redheads make up less than 4% of the world population, making it the world's most unusual hair color
• There was once a rumor going around that redheads would become extinct. It is a myth that is entirely false.
• Red hair is actually caused by a genetic mutation
• Redheads are traditionally associated with a bad temper and that they can get mad easily. How weird is that? I don't get too mad at anyone. (except my brother)
• Sixty percent of people who dye their hair do so at home. Of that, 26% go blond, 27% any brunette color, and 30% choose red hair. Jealous, are we?
• Red heads often get picked on mercilessly. I don't understand that at all. It's not like we chose red hair.

     So, I've decided to just live with it instead of hating it or dying my hair some other color. (I can do that when I'm old!) People always say stuff like; Stand out, Be different, you don't have to be like everyone else! So I apply that to red hair. Like I always tell anyone who picks on me for it you're just jealous. :P

    So, I hope your day is going well. I now have 2 followers! Thanks Michele!
     Here's a redhead joke for you to finish off:

     There was once a lovely couple who had been married for 50 years. The wife was growing quite old and felt as if she was going to die soon. So she told her husband, "Go up to the closet in my room. On the top shelf, you'll find a box. Bring that to me please."
     The loving husband did as he was told. He brought the box down and showed it to her. "Open it." she said.
     Inside was two doilies and $45,324 in cash. The husband was puzzled. "What is this?" he asked.
     "Well, my mother told me never to let my red headed temper get the best of me," the wife answered, "so she told me to make a doily every time I got mad at you."
     The husband was touched that in 50 years of marriage, the wife only had gotten mad at him twice. "So what is the $45, 324 for?" He asked.
     "Oh," said the wife, "that's the money I made selling all the other doilies"

Playing Violin for the Elderly

  . . . Is very stressful!! I forgot to mention I played violin on Friday for the older folks in a nursing home that is in Lisbon. Of course, I got there early (I'm always early or late because I have no working clock with me when I travel) and that's always awkward. I played a few songs but messed some of them up terribly. I guess all in all I didn't do too bad.
     I offered to bring a copy of Appaloosy in for them to read and such, but I couldn't bring it in right away because of the darn fact that I am still out of copies. I hope I get them soon.
    Some of the old people really appreciate the fact that I'm playing, and they talk to me and shake my hand and say stuff like, "oh, well I knew that song!" or, "My father played violin!" I like when people say that stuff. Other people just grunt and move their wheelchairs back to their rooms.
     I am so awkward in every way when it comes to performing. I am so shy, I really need to work on that. Why am I scared to show myself off to people? For pete's sake, I even look nervous in pictures!
     Speaking of which, there are none of me playing on Friday. No one was able to go with me so I had to go all by myself. I'll upload one of me playing in my performance garb, this one's at the Summer Reading program in Bismarck. This was one of the best places to go for selling books, and I had a lot of fun, but I think my grandma (who was with me) had to pretty much force me to play.

Home alone

   Well, I'm not really home alone. Mom is in Philip, SD with four of the kids and I am home with Dad and Clarissa, Sarah and Eva.  But it's so quiet, it almost feels like it. I went to youth group on Wednesday night again, and I decided that I really like it. I think I might give my testimony next time. But I'm not sure on that yet.

Wednesday Writing Tip

   Okay, it's not Wednesday today but I got a little busy yesterday. Mom and four of the kids are going to South Dakota again to help take care of Grandma. They left this morning. We were busy packing and cleaning yesterday. So here's your tip:

_______________________________________________________________

Writing tip-- Keeping a Schedule

Everyone needs to keep somewhat of a schedule to be able to finish a novel. Even with short stories, essays, songs and articles, it helps to be able to have a schedule to stick to.
    If you're really serious about writing, I recommend at least a two-hour time slot every day for writing. The more, the better. But it is better if you write consistently for a little each day rather than a huge chunk of time on Saturday, for example.
     If you do it for fun and don't plan on publishing or really showing a lot of people, whenever you feel like writing would be okay. But it usually takes about 30 min. to "warm up" to your story and get in the right mindset, so at least that much time would be needed to make some progress.
   Now: when should I write? It doesn't really matter, as long as there isn't a lot of distractions and you have the time. I personally prefer writing from after supper to late into the night, but sometimes I do my writing in the morning. Some people prefer to do it in the afternoons. Whenever you feel best writing is when you should write. Find your groove and fit in it! You'll find yourself making a ton of progress if you just find a good writing schedule and stick with it!

Mattie
    

Got Guineas?

   No, not a guinea pig, but a guinea hen. I woke up this morning to our annoying bunch of them screaming and cackeling away. We started out with about twenty, now I'd say we have almost fifty. The main reason we have them mostly is because they eat ticks and other grubs. Other reasons people keep them is for their meat, eggs, as watchdogs, and simply for yard decoration. (They come in a variety of colors.)
    Here are some Guinea Hen Facts:

• The most common color of guinea hens are Pearl Gray (shown above) and Lavender
• Guineas originated from Africa and Madagascar, where they are still hunted as wild game today
• Baby guineas are called keets
• You can tell which guineas are males and which ones are females by the sound they make. Males simply make one annoying, continous noise like "CHIT CHIT CHIT CHIT" while females make a noise that sounds like "Buck Wheat, Buck Wheat"
• Guineas are expensive, costing anywhere from $3-$6 for keets and $10-$30 for adult hens/cocks each
• The main reason Guineas are kept is because of the fact that they eat bothersome ticks. Lots of them.

     Now, go do some more reasearch on them. They are really quite interesting. Then, maybe go get some. =D
     Last night I went to 4H. I got my premium money, (not much) and listened to our long meeting agenda. I was nominated for the offices of Vice President and Secretary. Not that I really wanted to so much. But I usually get nominated but not voted through anyway so that's okay. We'll see what happens.
  Mattie Richardson

And the Award for Most Un-photogenic Person in the World Goes To . . .

  Mattie Richardson!!
  (Applause)
   

Thank you, thank you very much! I always knew this award would come to me! I just can't stand looking at myself in pictures, and apparently no one else can either!

   Allright, I'll quit being mean to myself. I am terrible in photos though. That's why it's a good thing no one took any pictures of me yesterday. We were going to go trick or treating but ended up going to the party at church. I didn't care too much anyway, I just didn't want to scramble around and find materials to make five homemade costumes out of. It was pretty cool for the kids, they had carnival games that the kids could play and win awards. It was from 5:30-8 and at the end they had a little message for the kids. Then they gave out candy. Although I would have liked the one in Philip, SD better though. I still get candy there. And a BUNCH of candy actually means a Bunch of candy. We all went home with at least one full plastic grocery bag of candy. Here a bunch was less then there a bunch, but the kids still had a good time.

A renegade--A creature so hard to capture with a camera, it's
almost crazy. Otherwise known as Eva.

Sawyer got drafted into crazy balloon making.

Violette in disguise.