Upcoming 4-H Photo Contest (Help me pick a picture)

I hope all of y'all Christmas and New Year were fabulous! Ah, it seems like I haven't posted in a year... (Okay, enough with the non-funny puns!) Now onto business. The 4-H Photo Competition is coming up. And...mom wants me to get ready for it. I need to pick 1 picture for each category in the competition. I'll just do one category at a time for the sake of uploading time. All of these can be found on my Flickr by clicking on them. Today's category is animals (And I have no idea why they have blue frames on them...) The numbers go to the picture below them. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Sunday Morning...and 4-H Regional Competition

So here it it, Sunday morning. Watching Scooby Doo and having nothing to do with the drizzle outside. I know, I know, I haven't posted in a while, I'm ashamed.... But today is the day! Or rather yesterday was the day. We had the regional 4-H competition yesterday. My Life Skills team got 3rd out of, oh, maybe 15 teams. Yay! We were happy. And Rachel's Forestry team got 1st! That was a big accomplishment. Also, Rachel got 1st for the individual high score. We were all very excited!! Anyway, enough of 4-H. We went swimming yesterday night after the compeition with friends! It was a blast! I do have another post written up, just haven't posted it yet. sourpatch

4-H Fair Crafts

This is a pic of all my 4-H crafts. I entered 50 crafts and 9 culinary items. I finally figured it up last night and I won a good bit of money. You can, hopefully, zoom in on the picture. You can see my prized pillow case in the back left. Thanks! sourpatch

Nobama

I saw this bumper sticker on a car in a parking lot. It rather struck my funny bone. Or the maybe the giggles had already set in. Ohhhhh no. My family better head for cover....

Today were are preparing, tagging, and even still making crafts to enter into the 4-H Fair. I am entering approx. 75 items and will probably win close to $100 dollars total. But you know, just estamites! I'll post a group shot of the crafts and my pillow cover that I'm oh so proud of! We'll be making food tomorrow, but today I made sweet chex mix and salty chex mix. As well as canned salsa and oreo balls.

sourpatch

Upcoming 4-H Fair

After school today, Rachel and I have to put together our entry forms for the 4-H Fair. This is a fair for all the 4-H'ers to exhibit their craft, sewing, and culinary items. Plus your pets. It's all really fun to enter, plus the prize money. I think last year, Rachel and I both got about $50 or $60. We always have a really long list of everything that entered. This year, we've been keeping it all in a box for this exact reason. I'll try and post a picture later of my crafts and stuff. sourpatch

Canoing Trip

Last Tuesday we went canoing on a river with the 4-H Wildlife group. It was a last minute decision that I had made the night before. Oh goodness, it was all a mistake. I was informed at the carpool meeting place that there were going to be snakes along the way. Joy. (I'm scared of snakes.) When we got there, there was a whole bunch of mud. I hadn't planned on getting my (slip-on) shoes dirty to begin with. Mom had worn her good white tennis shoes ... bad idea. "Sakura" was my partner. Thankfully, she plays tennis, so her arms are strong. Because I could barely carry that canoe. Those things are much heavier than I originally thought. I could barely pick the thing up, let alone carry it a little ways. I kind of just slid it along in the mud. It was so muddy when we were "dragging" our canoes to the actual river, that they kind of just floated. Then I lost a shoe. Here I am in my sock, (it was a white one, I might add) trying to pry my shoe out from under the boat. It was then that I told myself it was time for new shoes anyway... Also, if anyone needs a way to turn socks brown, I have a solution. It's simple, quick, and easy to remember. Finally we were in knee deep water. Not too long ago, we were also informed that these snakes were the exact color of the mud. I was, uh, ... thrilled. So here I am, I've now lost a shoe twice in the mud and both my socks are brown. We finally drag it across these boards and were almost in the river. Sakura and I climbed in and floated out into the river. The rest was madness. We didn't know how to paddle or turn. We were quickly told to grab a branch or something for a quick lesson in paddling. After that, I must say, it was rather enjoyable. We canoed for quit a while after that without interuption. We had lunch on the canoe which was fun. The rest of the trip was eventful. To say the least. At first, he pointed out one snake in the bushes, but I couldn't see it, so we paddled quickly by it. The second snake he pointed out was on the other side of the river and it was just sunbathing. After that, we stopped for a "bath room" break, to say the least. It was no more of a bathroom than the middle of the woods. Some of the people went, but people like me and others decided, "We could wait." The next snake we came across is the one that people have apparently been talking about for the last week. I don't blame them, quite frankly. Ok, so I jumped out. There you have it. The tour guide told everyone, there's a snake up here. Lets just say that Sakura and I were not the best at turning last minute. We were heading right for the log with the long scary looking snake on top of it. So, terror stricken, I decided there was only one thing left to do: bail. Sakura, also panic stricken decided not to do anything and just head straight for it. Probably frozen to the canoe. So, the real question here is: "What would you have done?" The million dollar question right there. Anyway, I hightailed myself back into the canoe, almost tipping my partner over in the process. Also, in more normal Sourpatch spirit when I got back in, "I'm okay!!" I learned later from the tour guide, the snake was a water moccasin. It jumped in the water when I bailed out, too. Lovely. It gives you a great feeling to know your swimming with a water moccasin. (We're not even to the best part yet!) Rachel and Mom (they were partners) were laughing their heads off when they had to pass us. I didn't appreciate that too much. The funny thing is, they flipped the bend up-ahead. So, in normal Sourpatch fashion, I couldn't help but laugh a bit at their sopping venture either. You can check Rachel's blog for details on her flip. Meanwhile, their paddle had floated downstream, so we picked it up. The current was the fastest it had been the whole trip anyway. Sakura and I beached ourselves on purpose, but the current was so fast it was pushing us off of the shallow spot. I had my paddle stuck in the sand to keep the canoe from moving any farther. Meanwhile, Rachel and mom are trying to flip their canoe back over. Which, apparently, was really hard to do without having water in it. The guide had to come help them. Notice it was only our family that had to get wet. Zach escaped unscathed. We made it to the end which was kind of sad. I had a jolly time anyway. We had to change beneath a car bridge that goes over the river. A truck or something went over and the bridge broke! Okay, not really, that was for drama. It was really loud!! Rachel and I finally got changed and we headed back home. I was thrilled, okay I wasn't thrilled that I had basketball practice that night either. The end. I am also not thrilled that I missed today's basketball game because we didn't even hear about it. Oh well, the house is clean. I am going to go pop myself a big bowl of popcorn and watch some TV. Lesson of the day: Be very afraid of snakes. Tata! Make sure to look at my new "Favorite Quotes" section on the sidebar! sourpatch

Mom and Rachel leaving....

This morning, Mom and Rachel left for Washington, DC. It is sponsored by 4-H so we only have to pay like half, or something like that. They've been preparing and stuff all week. They have to have so many clothes, it's really ridiculous. There are different dress codes for the different places they're going. I'm not exactly sure what they are going to see up there, but I do know they are seeing the Library of Congress and Mount Vernon. They're probably going to see the National Archives, but not sure. They will also get to see the White House and all the pretty scenery around there. There will be so many picture taking opportunities, I can't wait until when I go in a couple of years. Actually, I may go next year.... Anyway, they had to get up real early this morning and drive to Jackson for the 4-H bus they're taking. Also, I have a basketball game this morning which should be exciting. A little nervous though since it's the first one of the season. Hopefully, I remember the one called "Jello". Do not ask me how that name came about but, but I think we definately need to change it........soon! So wish me well. Report later on it. And sorry I haven't posted in forever. I didn't realize it's been so long until a friend informed me it was last Sunday. Ooops, don't let blogging bind your life! Tootles, until tonight! sourpatch

Craft Camp

Yesterday, all of us went to a craft camp. Here are the crafts I made. They can go into the 4-H Fair in August also.... You should try these at home!

Decorated Bagalope

This is a wonderful decorative, inexpensive craft that is made out of a shipping envelope.

What you'll need:

• Shipping Envelope
• Ribbon or string
• Decorative scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Stamps, or any other decor that you wish to decorate with.

First, cut off the flap of the envelope with your decorative scissors. Then "crease in" both sides of the bag. Fold the corners in the bottom of the bag and glue them there. Then hole punch the top of the bag as shown. You can punch both sides in, or you can just punch one side. Then install ribbon and decorate with assorted stamps or any other decor.

This bookmark was fairly easy to make.

You'll need:

• Decorative Paper
• Ribbon
• Hole Punch
• Glue Stick

You can go to a Sherwin Williams store or any other place that sells wallpaper and get their sample wall paper books. When they have ones they are going to throw away, just ask for them. They provide pages and pages of wonderful craft paper. The kind you buy piece-by-piece in the stores. I just cut a bookmark sized piece of paper, folded it over, then glued it together. Hole punch the top for your ribbon.

This method of jewelry making is called "macrame". You can look up some tutorials online because the process is really rather complicated. I haven't finished the ends yet though....

Easter Decoration

You'll need:

• Easter Egg
• Pom Poms (1 Pink, 2 White)
• Pink Pipecleaner
• 2 Googly Eyes
• White Foam
• Pink Marker
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Hat
• Fake Flower

Just cut the feet and ears out of foam as in the photo. The feet have to be big enough to hold the egg up. Take your ears and color the inside pink, then hot glue your ears and your flower to the hat. Hot glue the hat to the "head". Hot glue googly eyes. Take your pipecleaner and cut it into three small pieces. Glue them together in the middle as shown in the picture. Glue the pom poms on and voila! You can make it so the Easter egg still opens so you can put jelly beans or something else in them. Great for party favors.

Key Holder

• Wooden Plaque
• Paint of Your Choice
• Key Holders
• Marker
• Paintbrush(es)
• Embellishments

First pant your plaque; let it dry. Put a dot with a pencil or pen where you want your keys to hand, then install the holders. You can write whatever you want on it, I just wrote "Keys". Then use your creativity and place decorations. Fake flowers are an idea also.

Yarn Doll

Go to Brooklyns Blog for intructions.

Recycled Greeting Card Craft

You'll need:

• Old Greeting Card
• Poperi Oil
• Cotton Ball
• Ribbon
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Hole Punch

You should cut two pieces of a greeting card to the same size. Then drop a couple drops of poperi oil onto the cotton ball. Insert the cotton ball into the middle and hot glue the opening closed. Then hole punch the top of the card and insert your ribbon. It will stay smelling good all year long! You can hang it on your Christmas tree.

Tongue Depressor Bookmark

You'll need:

• Tongue Depressor
• Googly Eyes (2)
• Paint (if you want)
• Shaped wooden objects (to make your head, not sure where you get these.)
• Feathers

You can use your imagination with what animal you want to make. I decided upon a bird. First, paint your tongue depressor and beak. You can paint the head if you want. Glue on head, beak, googly eyes, and feathers. Voila!

I hope you can use some of these wonderful crafts for yourself! sourpatch

Jam Making Venture

The jam making venture went very well! We turned out a lot of jam! We have a lot of extra smooshed strawberries; so we handed a Ziploc bag with some in it to everybody before they left. But, we still have some, so we're going to use it for various things such as: ice-cream topping, popsicles, etc. Here are some pictures of the project:

We formed an assembly line where we: washed, cut, smashed, measured, and stirred the strawberries. Also, we had to boil the lids and jars. ^

Most everybody had a job. ^

Also, we planted plants for the 4-H Fair in August. I planted 2 different kinds of tomatoes, a green bell pepper plant, and 3 cucumber seeds. Hopfeully, we can keep them watered, and just maybe, they won't shrivle up and die.

We also played around a lot. A couple of games of freeze tag were played, and we sat around and held my bunny a lot, too. Making jam is really easy to do, you should try it sometime. !Adios! sourpatch

Grandma's Yard Sale

This morning, we, as in my cousin, us kids, and my grandma, are heading out to a property that we're having a garage sale on. Since we didn't run an ad in the paper, I hope that there are plenty of people to go around. As I said, I spent most of my time last night pricing things. Hopefully, we'll never see the stuff again! Sell, sell, sell! Okay, so I admit it, I had pizza for breakfast. We got a few Little Ceasars' pizzas last night for dinner. It has protein? The 4-H Club is coming to our house this afternoon for a potting and canning activity. We'll be potting vegetables that we can enter for the 4-H Fair later in the summer. Also, we're canning for that, also. We're about to head out the door, so goodbye! sourpatch

Today's Events

This afternoon, Rachel and I had sewing at the library. Photography is over for the year, which is kind of sad. I made a, or attempted to make a peasant shirt. But I couldn't really get my sewing machine to work very well. And I kept doing things wrong!! Ug! I only got the front part of my shirt done; so the backside isn't even started yet. Hopefully, I'll get that done this week. I'll try and get some pictures on here soon! After sewing, I went over to a house that my grandma is working on flipping. She is having a garage sale in the morning, so I spent most of my time pricing things to sell. My cousin, who's in town, put up the backsplash. He did an awesome job on it! The house is starting to look better inside. There was talk about getting up early in the morning, I think I'm already sawing ZZZ's.... We are also in the proccess of spring cleaning.

Oh how I'm tired of it. We basically bagged up half the house and sent it off to Goodwill. We've been doing that for about 3 days. I think one more day and it's over. Ahh.... Okay, so I better go off to bed before I fall asleep in front of the computer. ZZZZZ - sourpatch

Regional 4-H Demonstration Contest / My Surgery

Yesterday, myself and a few buds of mine went to the Regional 4-H Demonstration Contest. We all carpooled with our car. Again, I did my science fair project: Microwaves VS. Nutrients. They seemed to like it pretty well. I got a 1st place in my division. For this, I got a ribbon and plaque. It was pretty exciting! This can go in my 4-H portfolio at the end of the year in October. Portfolios are books that 4-H'ers put together of all the leadership, citizenship, and other 4-H activities they've done in the past year. It is really a pain to get it all together, but well worth it. We get a medal at the end of the year for completing it. Today at 8:00, I had my four teeth pulled at the oral surgeon. They were all four of them right next to my eye teeth. Actually, it wasn't bad. I'm so glad they put me to sleep. I think it was the right decision to go there instead of a dentist. My "holes" where the tooth used to be are so deep I can't see the bottom. I can't imagine how much that would have hurt. It was kind of weird being put to sleep for a little while. I think the last thing I remember was her taking my glasses, I think at least..... It was kinda cool though, a neat experience. So, right now I'm sitting in front of the computer with gauze in my mouth. They just won't stop bleeding!! Hopefully, it will stop before bowling and I can convince mom to take me. We'll see. Today is the last day of bowling, and then the party is next week. sourpatch

Carnival and Other Stuff

I just got to thinking!! I forgot to mention the 4-H Bread Baking Contest. I won 3rd place in the county competition for my banana nut bread. Rachel also won 1st place for her yeast bread.

Moving on to today. We finished up the IBLP class this morning with 3 hours of it. It was a good class, and I'm glad I went through it. It just got long in some parts. Next, is the carnival we went to yesterday. It was really fun walking around it and looking at the wares people were selling. I ended up buying a bracelet and getting a half of a geod rock. My friend and I got to split the rock in half. It looks really neat inside. It has all sizes of purple crystals, making for a really neat rock!! The bracelet I got was from Ecuador. This Indian guy said his family made it by hand down in Ecuador. I guess they ship goods up to him and he sells them in the states. Here are pictures:

I'll keep you posted! (haha! posted, you get it, right?) tootles and !adios! ~ sourpatch

Daily Life

So.... this morning, we had another IBLP class by Bill Gothard. I have really enjoyed taking the class, and have learned much from it. We have another 3 hours left that we plan to do the following Friday. ~ After that, we had some lunch (left over pizza from last night), and drove over to sewing an photography group. For sewing, we all made little pouches. Here is the tutorial: Twelve22.org. They were really, really fun to put together, and a great way to start the sewing group on zippers. The pouch is lined on the inside with brown swirl fabric. Here are some pictures:

(Sorry this picture is so blurry, I couldn't get my camera to focus.)

Although, much to my intense disapointment, photography was canceled because of the rain. We were going to go to a cemetary and take some pictures there. The storming was kind of scary; there was, "purple lightning" on the radar. That means solid sheets of lightning.

~

Although we did top the day off by going to Jim N' Nicks BBQ for dinner. Rachel and I split a bacon cheeseburger. Plain, of course. It was scruptious!! Zach had a good time with ribs. I bet you can just imagine the nasty fingers....

~

Right now, we're making a scrapbook page for the party of a graduating senior. She's moving to Ohio for college, so I don't think we're going to be seeing her anytime soon. Signin' off ~ sourpatch

Activities

I just realized how long it's been since I've posted. I don't think I've told you about the 4-H scarf making project. The whole 4-H Honor Club got together with their sewing machines and we sewed 80 fleece scarves for, I think, an organization for homeless men. It was for charity; it was also really fun to sew all that stuff! I was scared that my sewing machine was going to give out, too! Yesterday, while I was bowling, I accidentally hit the ball on the inside of my ankle; on the bone that sticks out. It hurt really bad!! I have a bruise there now. Then the rest of the game, I could barely get the ball down there because I was so paranoid about hitting it again. I feel so strange that I haven't been to science class in a whole week. I usually go twice a week. I miss it actually. I have some homwork for that, too. My braces are hurting a little bit today. I had to cut up the pizza I had for lunch into small pieces. But overall it's not as bad as the spacers. I got dark blue on them, since it's my favorite color, but it's a little too dark for my taste. I think I'm going with a lighter blue next time. Does anyone know how to get "paragraphs" into my posts? Even if I type it with paragraphs, it doesn't keep them when I post it. Also, Rachel thinks the music sounds off-tune. What do you think?

Well, I hope everyone has a good weekend!! Tell me what you did with it! ~ sourpatch

My Busy Life

So I haven't posted in a couple of days, I feel bad, it's like a link is missing in my life.... Before I start with the ramblings, "Lewsakura" told me about his website where you look at vocabuluary words and then choose the meaning. Every time you get one right, you "donate" 20 grains of rice to poor people that don't have any food. The rice is supplied by some company. It's a great, fun way to help out. Here's the site: Free Rice. So a couple of days ago, I lost 2 spacers, so we had to go get them replaced. I cried then, too; I feel like saying to myself, "Snap out of it!" I had bowling the other day; so I got to see Jessica's music playing device! It's really nice; and I love the color! It seems like at the start of the year, I was better at bowling, now things are going downhill. Jessica's bowling has improved a lot though! High scores for you! Then on Thursday, we had a packed day with the Physical science, "Newton Derby" starting the day off. I got second place on my car. The one that I took a picture of, isn't the one I ended up using after all. The one I used was a "two story", with room for 2 balloons! Therefore, going farther, because it has more force behind it. I won second place in all categories: speed, distance, & time. Michaela (a classmate), won first, Lewsakura won third, and the only boy in the class, Dylan, won 4th. We also had pizza, cake, and a little "pop" to top it off. Then after that, mom raced Zach off to archery while Rachel was quickly whisked to Honor Society, which we later learned was canceled. Zach did well in archery, hitting a "bulls eye" the first shot. They don't call them bulls eyes, they have some fancy name, but that's what they are. Then Rachel had clogging, of which she enjoys thoroughly. Although she does refuse to give me a demonstration on the art of it all. We need to go watch her sometime.... Today, we had the IBLP class this morning, which lasted a long time. We raced home and got our sewing machine stuff. On the way there, I picked up some pictures that I ordered from the Internet to Walgreen's. At sewing this afternoon, I finished my 2nd teddy bear, but it turned out too horrible to show! Major problems; non-fixable. Then, we had photography. The whole group is doing a scrapbook for the 4-H Club. We all brought pictures and each put together one or two scrapbook pages. That was fun as well. I enjoy making things like that. I myself have a scrapbook, but haven't put much new in it for the past couple of years. I should take that up again.... Afterwards, Mom, Rachel, and I went to Applebees with some lifelong friends of ours. That was very enjoyable. Something wonderful happened: I discovered the bacon cheeseburger. Delish! So my time is running out on the computer, I'll wrap it up here, but not before saying good night to all! Don't let the bed bugs bite, and if they do, get a shoe, and beat them black and blue! 'Til next time ~ sourpatch :)

Pajama Pants

These are the pajama pants that I was working on in sewing class. I especially love the fabric. They're a little wide, but REALLY comfortable. I wore them to sleep in yesterday night. Rachel really helped me a lot on this pants. They were more complicated than I thought, but well worth the effort. Thanks Mrs. Winter and Rachel for helping me on this project!! (For those that don't know, Mrs. Winter is the 4-H sewing teacher).

Science Class, 4-H Club, & SGA

This morning I had science class, then I went with Mrs. Ringley to 4-H. (She's my science teacher, and supporter and major contributor to the 4-H Club and 4-H Honor Club) Except we went by Wendy's for some food first. Wendy's is really a nice fast food restaurant; their salads are good, too.... Anyway, back to subject, at 4-H today, Mrs. Winter held a Cooking Chemistry demonstration that was fascinating. She did some baking soda and vinegar demonstrations as well as yeast. I've seen this before, but she did a demonstration with a balloon and bottle; so where the gas blew the balloon up. We also watched a video on Teen Budgeting. It went over debt, credit cards, interest, etc.

Here is the picture of the craft we did:

We took a gardening glove and tucked the thumb in. We then took a little wooden carrot cut-out and colored it orange with a Magic Marker. Then take a piece of green felt and cut it in a carrot top shape. Hot glue the felt to the "carrot". Then take pom poms and hot glue them to the back, for a tail, and to the front for a nose. Don't forget to hot glue the googly eyes as well and you can draw whiskers and a mouth on. Also, stuff the two middle fingers with stuffing, and color them. They are your bunny's ears. Stuff them enough so they can stand up straight. Also, I got glued the carrot in the "pouch" because it kept falling out. Then wal-la! It makes a cute little craft.

Right after 4-H, we have our Student Government Association (SGA) meeting for officers. I was a grade rep and Rachel was previously the treasurer. We had elections, so it turns out that Rachel got President of SGA. I am going to run for grade rep again, as I am not old enough for a higher office. They won't have this election until next year when SGA starts back up again (it ended for the year). They are talking about going to that Incredible Pizza place for a end of year get together. Several seniors are leaving, so that's really sad. We want to squeeze in as much time with them as humanly possible before they go. One of them is going to Ohio for college.... (:sob, sob:)

That's pretty much it. Rachel is pestering me to help her with "taking apart jeans" for quilts and the like. tootles, sourpatch

4-H Demonstration Contest Results

I placed 2nd place in the contest. I'm pleased with how I did though. I got a pretty red rosette. sourpatch

4-H Demonstration Contest

Tonight I am participating in a 4-H Demonstration Contest. Right now I am all dressed-up and stuff. I am using my science fair project board for my demonstration. Because of the grade I'm in, I'll only have to answer questions that the judges ask me. This should be relatively easy, knowing that I have studied this subject for nearly 4 months. I'll post the results tomorrow. Wish me success! sourpatch