The Overnight Babysitting "Adventure"

  Can this count as adventure? Why yes. ;) Not fast-paced adventure, not at all. I did experienced boredom while me and my older sister babysat our cousins for four days and four nights. ;P Sometimes I really wanted to go home... BUT it was still a form of adventure, because #1 it was something different and #2 it caused me to be more myself with those besides my immediate family. ;)  

So some of my need for adventure was full-filled. Or maybe you think I'm crazy for calling this adventure. ;P 

Anyhow, I'll tell you a bit about my past four\five days (not counting today). 

Me and my sister drove there the night before my aunt and uncle left, and we drove right past their house... I thought I'd be able to recognize it, but no. ;P I'd only been there once, and it was dark. But we got there with help from my mom on the phone.

We were babysitting 7 cousins (one was old enough to babysit, but not overnight). You definitely had to be on your toes when the littler ones were running around, but I think it gave us good practice. :) 

Of course, I took pictures while there. ;)

We watched movies, played outside, baked biscuits and ate them for a picnic along with grapes and strawberries. :D 

 One day was really nice, and I painted my nails outside. ;D The colors between my purple nail polish, (amazing) yellow coat, and the blue table made me go get my camera. But seriously, I love these colors!

And then there's the wood... and my boots. <3 I think I grew to love them more wearing them all the time these past days. ;P

The next day after that warm day, though, it was REALLY cold. Me and three of my cousins walked down the long driveway to get the mail, and... yea, cold. The wind was blowing right into us. My eyes were watering, and running in that cold makes your lungs hurt. We stopped for a break in an Amish phone booth, though. ;) That was kind of cool, because I've never been in one.

One day we went home for a visit, and it felt amazing. Maybe it was because I was bored a lot. *shrugs* 

The night before our last day there, the lights went out. The kids thought it was fun I think, at least for a while. But I was so ready for it to come back on! We really take electricity for granted. After they came back on, me and three little cousins made chocolate chip cookies. *smiles* They turned out pretty flat, but they were delicious non-the-less!

The last day may have been the best. We even got Chick-fil-A for supper. :D I got the amazing spicy chicken sandwhich. Seriously, I got it the last time I had Chick-fil-A too, and it's so good! It's kind of cool that I actually have something I like to get a lot at a restaurant. ;P Because we don't go all that often. (oh, I said I like to get "a lot", but I think I've only gotten this 3 times. ;P

OOO-K, after that Chick-fil-A rabbit trail... We also cleaned the last day. And watched Little House on the Prairie, although we (or just the kids) watch it other days too. I'd like to watch all of that show. :)

Then that night my aunt and uncle arrived back home, and me and my sister left for home soon after. It felt pretty nice to head home, zooming down country back-roads. *sighs* :)

So anyhow, despite the times I really wanted to go home, my first experience overnight babysitting was good, and I'm glad I did it. Well YEA, lots of money in my pocket. ;P But I may have made some simple good memories as well. ;)

NOW I'M READY TO SHOP!! =D Haha, but it's true! 

By the way, today I went on a more adventure adventure. It involves going out in the woods with a couple younger siblings, getting convinced to crawl through a sinkhole "tunnel", and lots of picture-taking. ;D I was going to say maybe I'll get to posting that before the month ends, but now I realize we actually have almost a week! Wow, I thought there were only a couple days left, for some reason...


HAVE YOU EVER BABYSAT OVERNIGHT? WHEN YOU EARN SOME MONEY, DOES IT BURN A HOLE IN YOUR POCKET?

Looking for Adventure\\ Ramblings

  

  Do you ever just long to go on an adventure? I SURE DO. Sometimes I just want to explore, run around and be crazy... just do something adventurous, be myself, and live life!

   I hate being locked in my timid self- sometimes I want to break free and scream and be wild... or something. :D Yea... do I make any sense? So basically, I need to go on an adventure where I am myself and I don't have to be afraid to act free and crazy. 

  My ramblings of the day. ;P

  

    These pictures are some I took one day when I walked down to the big shop\shed at our house. Down by the wide, bare field. :) It's actually not been very cold these days. It's kind of an odd winter.

  I love the lighting in these pictures. I think the sun came shining out of the clouds or something.

 There's something nice about sitting by a field, with the wind blowing your hair... or something that sounds nice about it. That's what I was doing. ;) Maybe it's the feel of freedom! :D

   So since my older brother and sister have been here, I've taken over my younger brothers' room. ;) My two-year-old brother is still sleeping in there, though... that can take a little getting used to. His snoring and random noises while he's sleeping. Haha. ;P 

He didn't want to go to sleep one night. I told him to close his eyes, and he says, "I don't want to close my eyes, I want to open them." ;P  

Last night he woke up crying and trying to crawl out of bed or something. When I calmed him down, at least somewhat, he was saying something about spiders and bugs... yea. And then when I turned off the little salt light, he started yelling and crying that he wanted it on. ;P So I turned it back on. And when I though he might be sleeping again, and quietly turned the light off again.

" I want it on!"

It was so funny, I was half-laughing, or trying not to! :P But finally, he did fall asleep. ;)

Anyhow, just some random stories about the cutest little brother ever. ;D

  Daisy! Look at her, licking her nose... or whatever she's doing. Ears blowing in the breeze. ;) I edited this picture, by the way.

  I really like this picture. :) That's where I was, in this field behind "the shop".

  Anyhow, guys, I hope you enjoyed my very random post of ramblings and stories and pictures... oh, and all the selfies. ;P Haha. :)

January 2017\\ Currently

 Time for my first Currently post of the year! I haven't really done anything too cool, but the post shall happen none-the-less. ;)


RECENT AND CURRENT HAPPENINGS\\

I made up a new recipe on the first of January. :)

Started watching this TV show called Alone. My dad found it, and one night we stayed up WAY to late watching it, and I was SO tired! ;P It's about these people who go and survive alone out on Vancouver Island, and the last one there wins 500,000 dollars. It's an interesting show, though there is swearing, as there usually is in those shows. I wish they'd bleep out ALL the swears. ;)

We went to some science show with our home-school group.

Most of the month has been pretty boring...

BUT. My two older siblings came on Friday! It's been pretty nice, and we've got some awesome stuff to do. ;D ;D Movies, restaurants, shopping, we're gonna do it ALLLL. Well. Maybe. :P ;D

I'm getting more comfortable driving, which is awesome. :) Maybe I'm weird, but I almost feel more at ease driving at night... and in town. ;P Maybe not, but it kind of feels like that. Maybe because the roads in town aren't skinny.  

Me and a couple of my siblings went outside with a tarp on a windy day! :D I wanted to FLLYYY! Yea, that didn't happen. But it was fun. The wind in a tarp is powerful! I had fun being "crazy" for a little bit. ;P

CURRENTLY READING\\

Troublesome Creek, by Jan Watson

   I mentioned I was reading this in a recent post. I got it from Tyndale Rewards. You can sign up for free and earn points in different ways to get FREE BOOKS! =D

Anyhow, the book has been really good- a very unique historical. I'll let you know what I think when I finish it. ;) I'm thinking it'll be a 5 star. ;D

CURRENTLY EATING\\

Delicious Riesen chocolates that I got from my brother... and other candy. ;P Yay for late Christmas gifts!


What else do I say? I'll just end the post now. It's late anyhow. FAREWELL! :D

The 10 Random Questions Tag

  Hey, I made up a tag to brighten up your winter days! ;) It is The Random Questions Tag... pretty self explanatory. 

Since I'm the one starting this tag, I'll just answer my own questions. They're as random as it gets- very random. ;P 


1 When is your favorite time to read?

At night. Sometimes during the day I don't even feel like reading, but at night everything's quiet and I'm ready to settle down and just read... it's usually a bit late though, and then I stay up too long. Problems of life. ;P

2 What natural disaster are you most afraid of?

Tsunamis. *shudders* Those creep me out. The pictures. It must have something to do with water- water can be scary. :P Oh, flash floods too!

3 What is something you loved to do when you were little?

Pretending. Me, my siblings, and our cousins pretended all the time. That was like my favorite thing to do.  :)

4 Would you rather have the ability to fly or breath underwater?

Flying! Who doesn't dream of flying? ;D It would be EPIC.

5 If you had to change your first name, what would it be?

Maybe Bree, Tashawna, Thacia... something. ;)

6 If you had to dye your hair an unnatural color for one week, what color would it be?

Probably a pastel blue-ish green, or pastel purple. I'd look like a mermaid. ;P

7 What book are you reading at the moment (if any)?

Troublesome Creek by Jan Watson. It's really interesting, though the beginning made my cry. *sniff*

8 What's your favorite citrus fruit?

Grapefruit!

9 What is something weird you do (or used to)?

I used to melt cheese on a plate in the microwave and eat it plain. ;P Ew.

10 What era would you enjoy dressing up in?

Maybe Victorian. I love the look of this. :) I'd like to dress in something with a fuller skirt too, like 1700's. I don't know, I just like fashion in general, nowadays or vintage! ;P


Now for the tagging! I tag:

Daminika @ Walking in the Sonshine

Sam @ Books and Arrows

Shantelle @ A Writer's Heart

And anybody else who wants to do it! Not saying those I tagged have to do it. ;)

Guidelines:

Use the header! If you want to. :)

Answer the questions

Take five of the questions you answered and make up five more for the people that you tagged to answer

Tag as many people as you wish! 


I hope you enjoyed this randomness! =D

Editing Pencil Drawings using Picmonkey

   Just like editing photos can be great fun, so can editing drawings. There's some great things you can do with Picmonkey!

   I drew this from a the book One Day You'll Know by Lauren Brooke (one of those Heartland books). 

   On the "touch-up" section of Picmonkey, I colored the picture in and maybe added more shadowing. We just use the free Picmonkey editor, so I maybe used eyebrow pencil to color the hair, or lipstick to color the eyes. ;P

    Then on "effects" I did some other things, like changed the coloring, added clarity, maybe added contrast. These are some of my results from playing around with it. :)

  This one is my fav. I changed the picture back to plain black and white, but with all the changes it looks SO MUCH more realistic! :D I love it, even though it makes my original drawing look dull and not-very-good. ;P

  After those awesome results, I had to try again. I used an eye I drew.

Original drawing

  Black and white after editing. OH MY GOODNESS IT LOOKS SO MUCH MORE REAL! ;P It looks a lot like the picture that I drew the original drawing from. It was a picture of my eye.

Here are some "edits" in color.

   I just love this!! =D



HAVE YOU TRIED THIS? DO YOU THINK IT LOOKS LIKE FUN? ;)

Photo Gallery: What I See

   Hey, I did a post on my photography site yesterday, with some fun reflection pictures I took with sunglasses. ;)

  Here's the post link: What I See

   

   

Cranberry Almond Banana Bread (mini loaves)

    Hello! I haven't posted since last year! Ha... ha... ;P But it IS true. Anyhow, this is my first post of 2017! I think 2016 still sounds a little more right... but it's the New Year non-the-less.

    On with the post. I said in my Reflecting on 2016 post that I wanted to get back into recipe making. WELL, it appears I'm kicking off the year with that. ;) I decided to make some sort of mini bread- banana bread. This is what it turned out to be.

    I used Pecan Banana Bread recipe as a guide, and decided to experiment with cardamon in banana bread. It smelled like nisu, and I was excited to see how it turned out. However, once I mixed the wet and dry ingredients together, the other flavors overpowered the cardamon. :\ Oh well, it turned out good anyhow! And I really like the cranberries in it! :)

CRANBERRY ALMOND BANANA BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour                                              1\4 cup crushed almonds

1 1\2 tsp. baking powder                          2 eggs

1\2 tsp. baking soda                                 1 cup mashed banana

1\4 tsp. salt                                               3\4 cup coconut sugar            

1\2 tsp cinnamon                                     1\2 cup melted butter                                                                                                

1\4 tsp. cardamon 

1\4 cup + 1 tbsp. dried cranberries "craisins"

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine first eight ingredients (from flour to almonds). Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, mashed banana, and sugar with electric mixer. Stir in melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Don't over-mix.

Grease four mini bread pans, then divide batter among them. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy with lots of butter! ;D

   By the way, my little brother helped me make these. ;) He helped pour things in, and mix a little. It's fun to bake with little siblings. <3