Preparations

And so it begins. We're leaving for Florida on Saturday morning, and today after school I'm going to try to find a bathing suit at Target. I forgot today to tell Mr. Butler that I won't be there next week, and that means getting access to those filmed videos... or stealing notes from one of my classmates. Which also reminds me of all that Bible homework that is due week after next. I better get on it.

I applied for three jobs on Friday. One at Publix (which I don't have much confidence in after talking to Brittny yesterday), one at Books for Less (not confident either), and one at Quik Trip. I'm more confident about QT because the manager knows us; he's a very friendly Black guy who knows our family by name because we used to go there every Thursday after co-op. He said some things to me while looking over my application that made me hopeful about being considered for a job there. So, we'll have to see.

On Friday, Mom and the kids went up to northern Georgia where they spent all day picking and sorting tomatoes. Our cousin Noah says that he now hates tomatoes with a passion. Poor Mom smelled like tomato muck for a while, which she was constantly trying to get rid of. They all came back tired, sore, and red, but they all enjoyed it. The money from this job, I think, is going towards a future trip that Mom wants to take with her science students next year.

And the church now looks completely different. After several years of planning and saving up, we are officially expanding it. The construction workers have chopped down several trees in the woods to make room for the new pipeline and for the expansion of the parking lot, and it's bittersweet; I have many fond memories of those woods, being chased around by the boys and also playing a fantasy game with another boy that inspired many early story attempts. The retaining wall behind the church is also gone, as the whole place is being leveled out. It's finally nice to begin building, but on the other hand it is getting less shaded and is looking a bit different... but I'm sure we all get used to it.

We have an escape artist in the house. The high-strung hamster Chloe, who has refused to calm down after a few rough days at Geneva months ago, has been constantly trying to escape. On Friday night, she got out and was running around Mom and Dad's room, which made me scream because two of the cats were watching her; we got her back into the cage, and we thought that her cage door probably wasn't closed properly, so we made sure it was. Last night it happened again. Mom was going into the utility room when she noticed all the cats in there surrounding something. She turned on the light and saw it was Chloe, cornered by a bunch of fat, lazy beasts. Her door had been closed, so we're not sure how she got out. There is a book on top of her cage to prevent her from opening the door, so hopefully the escape artist will stop, though I have no confidence that she will. I just hope she takes the hint that the cats will kill her if she gets outside, but I doubt it. Stupid animal.

Messy Aftermath

Well, Monday was pretty much a wreck with flooding all over Atlanta and its suburbs and rain on-and-off most of the day. Tuesday dawned sunny, and there was much rejoicing, as we hadn't seen the sun for days. Today is also sunny but cool (very fall-esque). But, the rain hasn't gone anywhere quietly. Parts of Atlanta were flooded under a few feet of water, as Seth and I watched on weather.com clips, though most of the damage was done further south. It grew closer to home when the small dam near Collins Hill and Taylor burst and washed out those two roads. One family from our sister church Chalcedon had part of their road collapse because of the rain, and another had a flooded basement. But the worse damage for us is at the church. The whole sanctuary except for the middle part was covered in water, as was the cry room and part of room 7, as I mentioned earlier. Well, the evil mildew has set in. The sanctuary and cry room smell horrendous (Mom had a headache from standing in the sanctuary for just ten minutes), and we had to have class in room 6 this morning because room 7 stank. Mom spent a lot of time trying to find someone to come in and clean the carpets thoroughly, but the businesses are swamped (literally) with people who have our same problem. In the end, we're hopefully going to get everyone to loan their fans to the church to dry the carpet out. Hopefully we can get the rooms to stop smelling before Sunday, as they've cancelled several events like prayer meeting and Geneva at Home for that reason.

Despite the floods, we were untouched. The worst damage was the mulch being moved from the backyard flower bed next to the deck to an unknown location somewhere else in the yard, and then the sewers nearly being flooded down the street. We're thankful that nothing major happened, and I'm thankful that we live on a hill.

Well, got to get back to homework. I don't have Bible class for two weeks because of us three students taking vacations at different times, but I want to make sure that I get all my reading done on time, as it'll be crunch time after I get back from Florida. Plus, after I get this reading done, I'm in a researching mood (thanks to Mr. Price's lecture on Monday) and so want to do more geeking out.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Can anyone say "rain?" I think the term "monsoon" would actually be more appropriate in these circumstances. It rained on and off some of last week, but last night was the real deal. I woke up in the middle of the night to the thunder and lightning with the rain coming down in thick sheets. I dozed for several hours, waking up when the storm was bad, falling asleep when it relented, then waking up again when it came back; Mom, Seth, and Mandy had trouble sleeping as well, though I'm not sure about Dad. It was a huge storm. Apparently it was so bad that Gwinnett County closed all public schools (which I think is stupid because the whole city shuts down at the first sign of a snow flurry. It's frankly ridiculous), though Christ College doesn't follow those regulations. We had classes as normal, though part of the church was covered in half an inch of water that spread from part of the sanctuary to the cry room and to the girls' bathroom and then also showing up as damp spots on the carpet in room 7, where Christ College meets. From what I hear, we've had ten inches of rain over the weekend and more is still on the way. Looking at the weather forecast on weather.com, we've got rain/ thundershowers for the rest of the day and up until Sunday... and we're under a flooding alert for Suwanee River (no clue where it is, but probably a couple of miles away). Needless to say, things are pretty ugly over here. Which reminds me... I need to take my vitamins, especially my D because the sun isn't shining.

I had ancient history class with Mr. Price (guest speaker on the ancient world) today, and I loved it. There is so much we don't know about the ancient world and the spread of man that the evolutionary theory completely misses out on and pushes away, calling it an anomaly and thus not important. The class gave me some ideas on what to research next, in particular regard to North America and why it never became home to a great illuvial river civilization like in Egypt, South America, India, and China they did. I'm going to do a little digging and see what I can find.

The Burn

We had a bit of a nasty scare on Wednesday, but God be praised that Mom is all right. She was making a casserole for dinner when she lifted up a pot of macaroni. Now, this pot, which we have used for years, has never had hot handles, but for whatever reason, one of them was very hot. Mom, startled, splashed hot water all over her left hand. She tried just about everything, aloe vera, cool water, etc... but her hand still hurt. It did not blister, but it just hurt badly. Mrs. Horton was so kind to come over at 10:30 that evening to let Mom borrow her aloe plant. Mom began to stress because she had Geneva at Home in the morning and she couldn't type up her lesson plans with one hand, so I became her scribe, more or less on the keyboard. Mom took some pain medicine, and then Mandy put in "Sahara" (one of Mom's favorite movies). Mom crashed out thirty minutes into the movie, and she stayed on the couch all night. She didn't go to Geneva at Home on Thursday morning, and she slept in until 10 AM, which is very unusual for her but in this case understandable. Her hand is all right now, and we're thankful that it was just a first-degree burn.

A funny incident happened yesterday. I had finished my morning classes and had gone to Costco with Mom and Mandy to get stuff both for us and for the church. We decided to drop off the snacks and supplies at the church instead of waiting until Sunday to do it. Because it was drizzling outside, Mom told Mandy to park on the grass near the side door of the church, and she did. Mr. Butler, Mr. Price, Rodney, John, and Ben were all watching us, and it was slightly embarrassing in a humorous way.

School's going fine. Seth is taking consumer math as one of his math courses, and he's not been enjoying it that much. This week, he was supposed to talk about stocks, so he turned to Mom and asked if he could skip that topic because of the declining economy. It was funny.

More Lord of the Rings

In the five minutes before history of philosophy class this morning, we four students and Mr. Butler had fun critiquing the movie and its poor choice of actors. The only ones Mr. Butler (a Lord of the Rings scholar from what I hear) liked in the movies were those who were computer animated. We made fun of their portrayal of (what I called) Frodo as a complete pansy (as Mr. Butler put it: "Oh, Sam" and then a shot of Wood's blue eyes on the movie screen), and it got some laughs. Ben C. got his "Lord of the Rings" jokes then left the room, as he doesn't take philosophy with the rest of us. I love the humor of this place.

Mandy is still in pain. They picked up a prescription for her yesterday, but she's still not her old self. It seems every time she goes to the orthodontist or some other tooth doctor that she comes home in pain. She's certainly looking forward to her braces coming off hopefully next spring.

On a related note, I think Fuzz is better. Last night, he climbed onto the book Mom was reading and began purring and rubbing himself against her. He also enjoyed a "love fest" this afternoon when I rubbed his belly and made him purr loudly. He seems back to his normal self, and the cat owner's 6th sense isn't there like it was last week.

Still haven't gotten the nanowrimo problem fixed, but I think I've got an idea for my story. It's something I've thought about before but haven't really expounded on it or anything. I'll need to do some research for it, but I don't read many of this kind of story so I'd like to see how that goes.

Oh, we got rid of our piano. We didn't use it for much except for stacking stuff on it, as none of us kids really took an interest in playing it though we all learned how. We gave it to Uncle Josh, and it now is in his basement. This weekend, we're hopefully throwing out the couch that eats people and laundry and getting one of Grandma Linda's. This means that now the living room will get re-organized, the carpet cleaned, and otherwise fall organizing done for that part of the house.

Nothing Much

Nothing much has happened since my last post. Fuzz is wandering still, though he comes home in the evenings to eat and sleep. Trouble came home last week and has been hanging around ever since then, which is rare for him.

College is going well. I did much better on my Bible quiz last night, and I have a better idea of what the class will be like. I also know how to operate the camera that the teachers use to record their lectures for long-distance students. I've ordered all my books but have yet to get any except the book for Bible class. I'm looking forward to the few lectures on ancient history because they will be given by Mr. Price, the one who really got me into ancient history with his lectures on the Ice Age and mammoths sailing through the air. On Monday, there was a hilarious comment in class. Mr. Butler was talking about western philosophy and asked us what "the West" was.

Mr. Butler: So, what is in the West?

Ben C. : Numenor?

Mr. Butler: Ok, Gandalf.

Inside Lord of the Rings joke, but we cracked up.

Well, right now I'm not very happy with nanowrimo (National November Writing Month). I signed up this afternoon in the hopes of handwriting a short novel of 50,000+ words between November 1st and November 30th, and now I can't access my account or even find my name. Not sure what's going on, as I was looking forward to coming up with a new story idea and then writing it albeit slowly. Maybe one of the forum members-going-to-participate-in-the-contest-too will have an idea of what's going on.

Can't chat long. Mandy wants to get on. With only two working computers now, there's a lot more comp sharing largely between Mandy and me. Speaking of Mims... she went to the oral surgeon yesterday to have one of her teeth uncovered, and she's been in some pretty bad pain ever since then.

Gotta go... little sis is giving me the look.

Trip to the Vet

Fuzz did come home again last night, still not acting like his normal self. Mom decided to take him to the vet, which was a cause of concern to me because the last time we did that for a sick cat we had to put him down. God be praised that this time it was not the case. We were riding to the vet's office when I noticed that something smelled bad. Mom informed me that Fuzz had a case of horrendous bad breath, so I held my nose until we got there. We arrived early but were able to see the doctor without any waiting at all because no one else was there. The doc looked into Fuzz's mouth, after several attempts to hold him still, and (feel free to skip this sentence if you are of a weak constitution) determined that part of his tongue was missing, like it was cut. I think he hadn't seen anything like it before, and we were puzzled as to how it happened. But, we did determine that the cut did cause an infection in Fuzz's mouth, giving him bad breath and making him lethargic. Probably also explains why Boo and Oatmeal, who usually like being close to Fuzz, haven't been with him for a few days. We got an antibiotic shot for him then picked up some flea stuff for the rest of the cats. I'm very thankful that Fuzz is ok, and I hope the shot works quickly. The cats, surprisingly, took their flea medicine well (except Socks), which was unusual because usually Boo and Claws panic at the first sign that they're getting it.

So while the Fuzz problem has been solved, there's another cause for concern. Trouble hasn't been home in over a week, and there's been absolutely no sign of him. If a cat is gone from the house more than three days, it makes Mom and me worried, and a week is too long. I hope he comes home soon.

I got my first textbook today for my New Testament survey class, and it looks like a fairly easy read. My history textbook has also been ordered, but the rest of my books are another matter. Later we'll try to order them, but Mom wants to make some comparisons between new and used first.

Classes were good this morning. Mr. Butler accidentally mixed up history and philosophy, so we had the classes in reverse order. We spent 30 minutes of philosophy messing around on amazon and half.com to find cheap copies of our history textbook, and then John, Mr. Butler, and I studied some population maps in the room, having interesting discussions about it.

Gotta dash. The Murphys are coming for dinner tonight, and we gotta get ready.

Fuzz

I'm a bit concerned about our brown-orange cat Fuzz. He was gone for a few days then unexpectedly showed up last night looking all scared, and he had something brown all over his nose (though when I touched it later, nothing came off). He ate and then settled down on the couch, where he kept shifting his position and sleeping lightly for the rest of the evening. Another odd thing is, he wouldn't stop purring. Fuzz, by nature, is a very lovable cat with a recognizable purr, but he was purring for a long time even when we weren't petting him or showing affection. When I gave him a little rub before I went to bed, he was awake but felt colder than usual, which he has felt before though it was only once a few months ago. This morning he wouldn't shut up meowing while I was trying to sleep, so I summoned him for some love, which he enjoyed before jumping down. When I woke up at 9:30, he was not in the house, so I guess he got outside again. Or he's hiding. He peed in the bathtub again (I know it's him. There was no pee when he was gone), which he only does when he's sick. So, I'm concerned about him.

I had my first day of classes at Christ College yesterday, and they went well. There are four total in my history of philosophy and in my western civilization classes: Ben C., John, myself, and a guy from our sister church Rodney. Mr. Butler teaches both of these classes, and he has a hilarious sense of humor and being politically incorrect. The only thing left for me to finalize is the financial payments, which I have one method in mind that I need to ask Mr. Butler about. Once that is settled, then I can buy the rest of my books. The public library system, I discovered, is a joke. I checked them out to see what books I could borrow from there, but only one out of nine could be found there. Barbarians... don't stock Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, or CS Lewis.

Well, I need to keep the laundry going. Mom and the kids are at the church for Geneva-at-Home and the science class that Mom teaches to a few of Geneva's now-homeschooled students, and I use this time to clean... and download music.

He Passed!

Seth passed the drivers' test! He now has his license. Good job, Seth!

Labor Day

Whew! What a day. I sure am tired. No staying up late tonight. It sure was busy today between the lake and the first night of college.

We arrived at the lake around 2:15 and originally planned on playing some games on a green area on the other side of Buford Dam. However, we quickly realized it was too crowded, so we went on the other side of the Dam to go swimming. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Not too hot and not cold either; quite pleasant, actually, and the water was not cold at all. It was a small group of people: the Price brothers, we three Cunningham kids, cousins Noah and Gabe who brought along their friend Bobby, and Ben Castle. The boys had fun playing "dead or alive" which requires throwing a ball and then catching it. It's definitely a man's sport, and Mandy and I moved to the sidelines to avoid getting trampled by the water buffalo herd chasing the tennis ball. After that, they decided to try a water version of wiffle ball that quickly failed so they moved on to other things. I took pictures and talked with John P. and Ben C., as we're all Christ College students. I got a few pictures of Mandy and Noah that if you zoom up on them... well, let's just say they're not very flattering and make Noah look like a vampire, even though he was just tormenting poor Mandy. Anyway, around 4 PM, we went to the Prices' house for homemade ice cream. Noah, Gabe, and Bobby got lost, so we spent a while trying to give them directions, but they're just not good with them. Dad arrived at 5 PM to pick us up, but Mrs. Price convinced him to stay for the peach ice cream. Oh, that ice cream was delicious! Then we drove home, where I had to dash into the shower and grab some pizza so I wouldn't be late for my class.

I arrived in the nick of time, a minute before class was to start. This is the New Testament survey class, basically an overview of the New Testament. Because it's only once a week, we have three hours of class time. I'm looking forward to getting into the material next week, and I know already that I'm going to be busy. I have to buy a book, read three chapters, and then read the book of Matthew by next Monday. And then I have to begin planning for a five-page paper that will be due within the next month or so, as the outline is due in two weeks. But, hey, nice way to start the new semester, with a bang.

Well, I have to order that book so I can get it to finish my assignment. My next classes are on Wednesday, so tomorrow I more or less have the day off except for knocking out some of my homework. Tomorrow, Seth is taking his driving test for his license, so pray that that goes well for him, as he's really been wanting to get it all summer.

Hunting

The game's afoot. A roach was slinking across the floor a minute ago but disappeared under the book case before I could grab Mom's shoe to put an end to it. I'm waiting and watching for it to re-appear (hopefully not on me) so I can stop looking around for it. I think I'll need a better hunter for this, but he is at Uncle Josh's house right now and won't be back for a little while. Maybe I'll spend the time killing that stupid gnat that's flying around my head. I really hate bugs. Except for the cute caterpillers, ladybugs, and butterflies.

School starts tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM, and I'm ready. I have my notebooks and pens, though I've yet to order one of my textbooks. Also, tomorrow we may go to Buford Dam at Lake Lanier as a "last hurrah" with some friends. Depends on if Cliff calls Mandy back tomorrow and the plan is still on by then.

Dinner with the Butlers

Yesterday was a bit hectic with preparing two meals and cleaning the house, but we made it. We had the Butler family over for dinner last night, and we had a wonderful time. Mom made grilled chicken kabobs, twice baked-potatoes, and rolls, while Mrs. Butler brought a salad. For dessert, there was a nutter butter banana trifle that Mom served in individual glasses. It was a lovely evening. Mr. Butler is hilarious, and I'm looking forward to having him as a teacher. The Butlers had to leave fairly early to get their kids in bed, but next time we'll try to have them over in the afternoon.

I turned in my application for Christ College this week and have figured out my schedule. I'm still staying with three classes because 1) I want to see how many I can handle and 2) because I'm still looking for work and thus want to leave my evenings open. No word yet on the job, but I'm hoping next week to find time (as this week was very busy) to talk to the night supervisor at Chick-fil-A. My classes this semester will be history of western philosophy, western civilization history 1, and New Testament survey (which I have with Mr. Horton while the other two are with Mr. Butler I believe). I'm getting really stoked about my classes. My first one is on Monday evening (because this class is once a week and not having it would remove one week of the class), but the school officially starts on Wednesday. Today I'm hoping to pick up a few school supplies (three notebooks and some pens), and I'm going to try to find one of my textbooks on-line today. As I said, I'm really excited about it.

Well, gotta go. Mandy wants a turn on the computer, and I promised her a turn.

Creepy

Ok, I officially hate cockroaches. I was sitting on the couch when I felt a tickle on my arm. I look down, and lo and behold, a roach is right there. I didn't scream, thank goodness, but I drove it off then sat on the floor to watch it climb up the wall. Now, bam, it's gone again. I think I'm scarred for life. First when one sticks its head out of a toilet bowl, and now with one crawling over me. *Shudders* Yeah, I think I'm scarred. And paranoid. With its disappearance (and the cats not saving my life by killing the massive thing), I'm feeling nervous and am trying to make sure it doesn't get close to me again. *shudders* Did I mention I hate cockroaches?

Pictures

Before I forget, here are pictures from our lovely garden. We ate some cantaloupe from it last week, and it was sweeter than we expected. However, now we have some fungus that destroyed the zucchini plants (which Mom says will give the carrots more sunlight to grow) and is working its way to the watermelon (which are getting nice and big with all this rain).

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