Thursday as Friday

Due to the fact that I only have one class and tutoring training on Fridays, it really feels like a three-day weekend every week. You know that feeling? It's actually a little dangerous. :) Not only because I have the tendency to be complacent, but also because if any professor catches wind of a three-day weekend, that means extra homework, for sure. Even if you don't normally have homework, they can *definitely* dig something up for ya.

So. . .

I would like to dedicate this post to my new crush, Chemistry. Yes, you read that correctly. I actually, sorta, maybe kinda like Chem now. A little. I had a little fun in lab today. And I'm the only one who laughs at the Chem jokes my teacher makes. And I wasn't even embarrassed when I had to take my quiz to the front of the class to finish cause I left my periodic table at home and I had to read from the one on the blackboard. Okay, I really was.

I never thought that it would come to this. I never expected the phrase "I like Chemistry" to cross my lips, drop from my pen, or *gasp* enter the public world via a blog post.

I actually feel a little exposed. Just keepin' it real, folks.

Aha!

So, school's started up again. But this quarter is radically different because I am now, officially, an employee at my college :). I'm a tutor and I tutor English and Spanish. No, I don't get too confused about that.

At first I was daunted by our mission statement. I'm to be a model student, helping students to learn how to learn. I'm supposed to change their way of learning and to motivate, mentor, encourage and facilitate valuable learning discussions in every session. That's definitely a high standard.

So yesterday I sat down with my first student. I literally ran into the Tutoring Center, at 12:07 (my class ends at 12:05, go figure)  for my 12:00 appointment. "What happened?" She said sourly, glaring up at me. I swallowed, smiled (while wiping sweat off of my forehead), and tried to remember the first session steps. I made it through okay :)

Thank goodness I was homeschooled. It was almost easier than tutoring younger siblings. Because she didn't complain to Mama. Okay now, totally kidding!

Anyway, I loved it. I loved it. I will adore my job. I loved explaining the same thing in several different ways, I loved showing my tutee how to use resources. One of my favorite parts was having her make examples for me that were actually right! And the best? The aha! moment, when the lights came on and she smiled so happily.

I have two appointments tomorrow; we're gonna have so much fun  :)

Blessed relief. . .

Well, I've started school again. I just realized yesterday that this is the last "First Week of School" for me. I'm a senior now. When did that happen?

As for the aforementioned "First Week of School", it had it's ups and downs.

Downs: I'm at a new campus this quarter, and it's been kinda rough on me. I don't like being in big places all by my lonesome. I do have friends there, but I don't see them much. I know, school isn't about friends, but that's just the way I roll. I also don't like waking up early and my temperamental, clenchy, doctor-confusing stomach doesn't like breakfast at 7:00 am.

Ups: I have the funnest professors! One makes lame jokes that we're to laugh at ("C'mon guys, that was a joke. I'm trying to be funny here and wake you up. Laugh.") which is kind of amusing in a sad way. Another has a thick Bulgarian accent and goes off on tangents that are almost as informational as the subject matter, and sometimes more interesting :). The last is a ball of energy who is *really* conversational and pauses quite often for responses. Doesn't always work (awkward silences). The campus, though huge and unfamiliar, is very pretty. But the designers/architects must have thought that Washingtonians like sitting outside in the rain 'cause that's where all the seating is. I'm not one for outdoor lounging in the rain, thanks. 

I've arrived at the weekend. Blessed relief. Yesterday my sister and I visited the youth group that two of our friends go to and we had a great time. :) Today I've kinda been spinning my wheels. I got in two training sessions with the goats, and I'm up to voice commands (yay!). I took the nail polish off of my nails, got some homework done, and I'll probably work on my 1855 wool dress for an upcoming event.

And maybe bake some brownies. Cause it's that kinda day.

Oh, yes. I forgot to mention that since this is a long and picture-deprived post, I did what my little sister often does to brighten up text. 

Little Things

My life right now is pretty busy. I often feel really pressured and downtrodden. I'm so grateful for the little things that pick me up throughout my day and week. Not just for Thanksgiving; here's a list of the little things that I'm grateful for:

-Reading my bible every morning.
-An awesome brother who walks me to Spanish class every morning (and tutors me in calculus every evening)
-Psalms 90:12
-Family.
-The smell of the cold earth every morning.
-Three absolutely amazing friends to study and chat with.
-Weekends!
-A batch of Thai curry in the freezer in single serve containers.
-Country music.
-Church.
-Waltzing.

Among thousands of other things!

The whole time I typed this post, I've been debating whether or not to put add this song to the post, but I think it fits rather well. I just don't really like the music video. My current favorite song:



Hope y'all are doing well,

~Sophia

Manners

I wish a lot of old fashioned manners were used nowadays. Here's one of my favorite blog posts from one of my favorite blogs about 19th century manners for gentleman (not that any of the guys I know need to learn, it's just an interesting read ;)). If you're like me, you like history. And if you haven't, you should definitely read this blog. I might have talked about it already, but it's an amazing blog filled with a lot of history! It's always very interesting; I'm constantly learning new things. Go check it out!





Day two of school! I've just finished my Spanish 121 homework. I must say, college is a different world. Already looking forward to the weekend. People keep asking, "How's school?" and I always say, "Full of stairs!"

~Sophia

It is what it is

Summer is over. For me, it's not done yet, but homeschool did start today. Nigel and I are in the schoolroom, but only to finish Geometry (and I need to finish sewing projects too).

Today I ate two Ry Crisp crackers and a big blueberry muffin. It seems that I am intolerant to wheat. I'm not sure if I ate enough rye for it to "register" in my tummy, but until I test again (not looking forward to that) I'm just staying gluten-free. A family friend brought me some special flour mix today so hopefully I'll be able to make some bread in the bread machine.

I'm excited for September. Not only do I love the fall, but I'm looking forward to the fair! My amazingly beautiful and talented sister will be preforming!!!


She has an amazing routine I can't wait to see! She was at the fair last year with a solo performance, but she's improved so much since then (now she's an assistant coach).

Also in September I start school. . .Then things start to move fast!

~Sophia (who could be doing a billion other things right now. . . )

Headin’ towards the future. . .

Remember the test I needed to take to get into College classes? I posted about it a while ago. Well, I took the test and passed the writing and reading portions easily. However, I didn’t pass the math section. With a little tutoring  from big brother, I passed the math portion last week with flying colors! So now I just need to sign up for my classes and I’m good to go this fall.

School ends this week, so I’m just wrapping up all of my school subjects; I’m excited for the summer.

~Sophia

I'm so curious

Okay, my birthday is later this month, and I've got a surprise coming. Needless to say, I'm very curious about what it is. . . I only know that I can't do anything on the weekend before, and that I don't get to write a birthday list. I wanted to go to Ted Brown Music to drool over the pianos and guitars, so I said to Mama, "I think on my birthday I want to- " and she interrupted with a, "Nuh-uh-uh-uh!" I do get to pick my dinner though, I want enchiladas and Kahlua tort.

Anyway, I was cooking up some lobsters the other day, and I was checking to see what parts you can eat. My littlest sister was watching me and after a few protests and tears, she lovingly named the lobster Matt, and his "brothers" Phillip and William. She told me not to hurt him (he was already cooked) which lead me to wonder if crustaceans feel pain. What about insects? I found conflicting answers. Apparently they feel pain, but not like we do. Check here and here (those are links).

Recently in school we've been doing "moderns" in history; Civil War to present. Us older two are at WWII, and the younger ones are learning about the Oregon Trail. Usually when we learn about a war, the younger ones like to act it out, so we had an interesting reenactment of the Civil War.

They divided up and "Johnny", a union soldier, single-handedly defeated every single confederate soldier in the southern army. He had a gun which shot "a million bullets" in three seconds. No wonder he won the war ; P. He got shot several times, but he had some "special armor" that protected him from everything, apparently. Us older ones were alternately cracking up, giving advice, and making corrections (I told "Johnny" that her gun was impossible considering the time period. She changed it so that she could load in two seconds. . .) After they got bored of the civil war, they switched over to WWI. 100-year-old Johnny's armor was still going strong! : P

The whole point of this post has kinda changed and wandered around. . . I'm done now ; D

-Sophia

Ciphers

Hello my few, valued readers,

I love ciphers and codes. I like writing them, but not figuring them out. I found a cipher from the Civil War used by the confederates, and now my brother and I are spies... No one will find us out! (unless they open my school notebook) If you want a copy, tell me and I'll email you.

School is dragging along; I'm enjoying all the homework ; ) My way of relaxing nowadays is to devour a book after school on my bed, eat something and emerge, blurry eyed to do the dishes.

Candlelight is in a few days and I am so excited! This is a really important event, my first 1st person event. Too bad I can't carry a camera, but I'll hopefully remember lots. I might bring a sketchbook.

Little sis's birthday is later this week, and a friend's birthday is on Wednesday, so I need to crank out some presents. Plus, I need to get back to my fun homework...

Always busy,

Sophia

Culinary Arts class, Black an' Blue berry pie and how I ate maggots.

So you must know by now that I'm homeschooled, which means that I can learn stuff that public schoolers don't learn anymore/at all. So this year, squished into my schedule, is Culinary Arts: class me and me sis do/cool stuff to do with food/learning new stuff/goofing around in the kitchen.

So Friday's assignment was to walk down the street (about ten blocks) and pick blackberries for blackberry pie. I like blackberry pie, and I like walks. Great assignment, teacher.

So Sis and I set out, cup measures in hand, brother at side. As we walked past the first bush, we saw that the neighbors opposite were in their yard. So we headed further down the street block by block till we wearily found a tiny bush on the side of the road.

We picked and picked. Lots of the berries were squishy, spiders dropped on our head, ants followed them, and the bushes scratched us. I got blackberry juice on my favorite hoodie.

So we repeated this for a while, maybe an hour. On the walk back, we still didn't have enough; we needed another cup. We were hot, tired and cranky. We passed this old man in a truck, and I stepped quickly to the side of the road. Sis followed, but tripped and dropped a handful of berries on the ground. The old man then turned and said, "Went to all the trouble of picking 'em, just to waste 'em on the ground!" He chuckled like it was a joke. Funny.

We met another lady on the way back who called, "School not in yet?" I think she thought it was funny.

Luckily we found more berries right near home, so we finished picking there. Another lady jogged passed and said, "Are you guys making pie? Ooh yum, my favorite!" By that time, I was ready for pie myself.

We went home and made dinner, pizza. This took a couple of hours; we made four and still had some dough left (glad we made a triple batch of dough).

So after dinner I began to process the berries; we decided to make cobbler instead of pie. I washed a lot of berries and ate a few. I looked deep into the bowl and came face to face with maggots. A lot of them. I won't go into details. "Went to all the trouble of picking 'em..."

We decided to make blueberry crisp. We had lots of blueberries, and I don't like blackberries anymore.




It was really good.


Previously in this class, we've made ratatouille:



Tomato Basil French bread:

And just for fun, I made some falafel!



Anyway, that's all in my recent cooking escapades. In fact, it's not over yet. I need to make another menu!

See ya later,

Sophia

How's it going?

Well it's been a busy week with a slow but heavy beginning to the school year. I'm almost done with Algebra 1 as I start Algebra 2. Geometry hasn't come in the mail yet, but that's good.

SO, on the craft front, I started to crochet a shawl with periwinkle yarn, I'm starting Christmas presents (all knit, of course), I'm planning some wool/angora fingerless gloves and I'm considering starting my winter 1850's dress. And I have to make a skating dress before lessons start up again.

The above is pretty self evident that I may have something else to be doing.

Ta-ta,

Sophia

I can't really imagine this...

So, school starts for our family tomorrow, and here's a scan of my schedule:It's going to be an interesting school year...

Brigade, Beach, Bowling and Busyness

Hi there! I'm back from a very busy, very fun week.
Brigade was last weekend at the Fort, we headed to the beach on Wednesday and came back on Friday, then tomorrow we're expecting visitors then school school school!
I must confess; this year I'm dreading school. I usually don't, but my schedule is SO tight this year. I'm going to be taking two math classes for crying out loud (even that doesn't help ;) ) I love math, but it can be really irritating sometimes.

Anyway, here are pictures from Brigade! I carried the camera around all day Sunday, but nobody minded:
All snuggly in my shawl. Here I am doing 19th century games on Sunday...


But I had some help!


No lower class ladies at tea!


Young woodworkers!


I waited forever for them to shoot the cannon, camera in hand, but just as they shot it, the camera turned off! Low battery, ugh!

My next post will be part two, the beach!