Reminder...

Hey folks, I noticed that a lot of people are still following this blog. Just wanted to remind you that I won't post here any more, because I post here now:

www.emilyjoyphoto.blogspot.com

So please stop following here and switch to my new/now old blog! Thanks!

Timeline

Just though I'd jot some things down...

In exactly two years, I will get my learners (Is that scary or what???)! I can't wait! Today, mom, Joelle and I went over the fair grounds to kind of set up for the Relief Sale tomorrow and Saturday. Mom let me drive the van around the grounds for a little :) I really need to work on braking softer... And guess what! I've already decided on what car I'm gonna buy!

What do you think? Do you like it mom and dad? Oh I knew you would! Now... do you think I could have a loan? Umm... a permanent loan? As in a gift??? :) So anyway, I'm excited about driving! Joelle asked me if when I drive I'll take her everywhere. Of course I said yes :) Seriously, I am a wonderful big sister. Hmm, I also remember a certain other sister telling me she would take me to see the new Air Bud movie once she got her license... it didn't happen. Yes. You know who you are.

I JUST LEARNED HOW TO PLAY VIVA LA VIDA!!! Seriously, it really isn't hard to learn. And you know what? I always seem to annoy my family with my songs... I learn them and play them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. My favorite song to play is 'I Saw God Today' by George Strait. It's another song I play over and over and over again :) So my family has been hearing 'Viva La Vida' a lot lately :) My absolute favorite song (Right now) is 'Viva La Vida Meets Love Story'. It is so pretty how Jon mixed Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida' and Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' together.

Just though I'd say... I LOVE OLD NAVY! It is my absolute favorite store IN THE WORLD! I get more than half my clothes there (Is that why I have no money? Probably.) :)

My WONDERFUL big sister Kate is lending me her WONDERFUL camera for the evening :) It is a Sony Powershot something... hey, it's wonderful. I've actually been bookmarking tons of cameras for my parents to get an idea of what I want for Christmas. I like leaving subtle hints, you know? :)

This past weekend was the VA Mennonite Retreat!!! It was tons of fun, even though SOME people decided to skip out on it... YOU know who you are too :) And Katherine, I'll try to post those pics soon... and I'm considering putting in the one of you :) Hey, I liked it!

Today is the first day of October! The month of Fall, leaves, Thanksgiving, Halloween, pumpkins, goards, decorations and ONLY 3 MORE MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! Yes, I am counting the days until Christmas :)

My birthday is in exactly 6 months! It's just around the corner :)

Joelle is so big! It is not safe to spell around her anymore. Like one time I spelled B-A-T-H and she was like 'Am I taking a bath?'. Another time I spelled F-I-S-H-E-R-S and she said 'ARE WE GOING TO THE FISHERS???'. Excited much? Sad but true. She is growing up. And now she wants to go to Kindergarten. I think she'd like it, but I have no say in the matter :)

Jo-Bob's birthday is in 28 days. I actually already bought her a present :) I got her a pink poodle at a gas station on the way to the retreat. Apparently though, I'm very bad at hiding things because she found it after I had been home for an hour. She's too smart.

Every Monday evening, I play in the church league volleyball. So... this Monday was at the place we play and I realized OhMyGoodness... this is a co-ed team. So yeah, GUYS and girls. Big guys. Tall guys. Strong guys. Guys that don't know how to aim... :) Just kidding. These guys are amazing. I feel tiny, weak and useless :) I'm only 5'3" and the guys on my team are around, oh, 6' 2" :) Me and one other girl were the only 'little' girls there (Teenagers) and now she's quitting! You can't do this Joy! :)

I figured out how to get my header font and post title and post date font the same! I got the font from DaFont.com. Of course, knowing me, I'll probably change it. This won't make ANY sense to anyone but Mom, but the last sentence was an apposotive. Love you Mom (Even though I still hate Grammar)!

So that's all I'm posting for now... Maybe I'll post more later but now I'm done. Adios.

Oh, and retreat pics coming soon.

And I haven't posted Rebecca's shoot yet have I? I have to let her approve them first. I'll get to it soon!

Delay

Hello friends!

HUGE delay! I won't be here tomorrow (Or part of Sunday) due to a Middle School Retreat at my church, so I will NOT be posting any results for 'Challenge' :( But now you have until Sunday at 12:00 PM to enter! :) I had a HUGE/LONG day and I just got home and I still have to pack! I'm taking pictures, and I'll be back later!

My bus leaves at 9:00 AM tomorrow! Be praying for me (And Emmy K. who is coming too {Different church}). Have a great {night}!

Giveaway and LEAVING!!!

Hello wonderful friends of blogland!

First off...

JULIA'S JOURNAL IS HOSTING A GIVEAWAY!!!

Yeah, it's part of her 'Post-A-Day' thing!!!

Anyway, she is giving away a pair of earrings! If you want to enter, just go here. It is seriously an amazing giveaway! Thanks Julia!

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AND...

This evening my family and I are leaving for our annual church campout! 

I am taking my camera.

And my swim suit.

Although, being in the 60's the past couple of days, I'm not quite sure how much swimming I'll be doing...

But I WILL take tons of pics :)

I must be sick...

Figuratively and literally speaking. I think it's allergies, but it also might be a cold. But figuratively speaking, I haven't posted for a while! I guess it's harder now that is a 'Photography Blog', because if you get in the 'I don't want to take pictures mood' (Which I didn't think would be possible for me!), AND it is foggy/cloudy/rainy all day... it puts a damper on your photography mood :( ANYWHO...It all started Tuesday night, when we left the windows open. Where we are, they are started to cut the corn, so when I woke up and had a sore throat, I didn't think anything about it. The first couple days of school I usually have allergies. So I went about my first day of school!

School really is fun :) Here is my schedule:

Wait, I don't have a schedule.

Well, yes I do, and I do all the stuff on it, but I don't do it all in the same order.

But here's what's ON my schedule:

Pre-Algebra
Grammer & comp.
Vocab & Spelling
History
Writing
Geography
Fallacy Detective (It's a book)
The Foundling (That's a book too :)
Health
Physical Science (I start that Sept. 11 with a class)
Literature
Cursive
And my Dad and I are going to start Bible sessions/studies or whatever you call it :)

We went to the Library yesterday and GUESS WHAT??? Mom found a book by Gilbert Morris called... 'Joelle's Secret'! Joelle is a really unusual name! I didn't think anyone else knew it :) So I got it and now I'm reading in! So far it is really good. I started it last night, and I'm only on the 7th chapter. Good grief, I should've finished it by now :)

Grammer is my least fav. subject. When I'm doing it, I'm always thinking "When will I use this, when will I use this???". Yes. I know I WILL use all this 'past perfect', 'verbals', and 'present perfect' stuff, but I think it just the same.

Pre-Algebra is my fav. subject! Haha, I feel smarter saying 'Pre-Algebra' :) I'm OK at math, I mean, it can get on my nerves sometimes just because I KNOW I know these things, and it takes forever to do them, but I have to do them anyway! *sigh* I honestly don't know why I like math. I just do.

Well, this morning I got up, ate pancakes, and went to my grandpa's. Dad got on the tractor (Yup. We are FARM PEOPLE!), Kate got the wheelbarrow (Joelle hopped in :), grandpa got the plow, and Mom, Jenny and I grabbed buckets. We went behind grandpa and Dad and picked up taters! Yay! By the way, I think we're having mashed potatoes for lunch, cheesy potatoes for supper, and tomorrow for lunch (We're having company) I think we're having hamburgers, hotdogs, and potatoes.

Around 10:00, we were ready to leave (Well, me Kate, Jenny and Joelle were :). So us gals got our shoes and ran home! OK, not all the way, but we ran for almost a whole mile. We walked some of it, but mostly ran. Dad came after about 7 minutes and we sat in the bed of his truck for the ride home! Joelle's face looked hilarious! She kept blinking rapidly and her hair was sticking straight out from the wind! She looked REALLY silly :)

One more note, my friend Emily (Ironic huh?), who used to go to school with me, HAS STARTED A BLOG! It is about her experience being homeschooled this year. She is going back in 9th grade like me :) So go here and tell her hi!

Have a great day!

P.S. I'll have to change my look either Monday or Tuesday because my header says August 2009, and in three days it will be September! How did that happen? August just slid right by me :(

I took the plunge...

Yes, welcome to...

Emily Joy Photography!

I worked on it all day. I think it looks very nice! *sigh* It's just nice to have it finished! Oh, and by the way, the header is from Google (But I made sure it wasn't copyright before I took it!), I didn't take it (Duh! I'm not THAT good!). So Emily Joy Photography is now is business! I made my pictures bigger, new layout (PhotoBlog style! I love it! All my sidebar stuff is on the bottom :), new siggy, new name, new header, lots of new stuff! If I decide later not to have a photography blog, I'll just change back to A Roller Coaster Ride! It sounds simple enough :) Have a great week!

A Young Maidens Daybook

Today...
July 6, 2009

Outside my window...
It's almost cold! I think it's about 65 degrees.

I am thinking...
About Kate in Israel.

I am thankful...
That I finally finished the flip-flop pillow I promised I'd make Michelle for her birthday... in February :)

I am wearing...
Bermudas, yellow shirt, white socks.

I am reading...
The Bible, a thousand other books.

I am creating...
A Young Maidens Daybook post.

One of my favorite things...
Fruity Pebbles!

For education this week...
Bible reading.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning....
Sewing.

A spiritual lesson I'm learning....
Submission.

A Godly character trait I plan to work on....
Listening.

Scripture I am memorizing....
Psalm 46:1-3

I am praying....
For the PIM team in Israel.

For the rest of the week....
Laundry, tasting Pita Bites, sampling Fruity Pebbles, cleaning.

A picture I'd like to share....
(I didn't take this, but isn't it gorgeous?)

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Found these pics on the internet. Who has time to do these?

This one took only 2700 post it notes :)


I'd like to drive that car!

Post it note mosaic!

Cool, huh?

EDIT!!!

I just wanted everyone to know that I changed the post below (So What Are You Doing This Summer?). At the very bottom, I added a Mister Linky thing. I thought it would be cool to see what YOU are doing this Summer! So here's what you do to participate:

1. First, go to the post below.
2. Go to the end right above my signature.
3. Click on the 'Click to add your link' button.
4. A new page should pop up.
5. Enter your name.
6. Make YOUR post.
7. Enter YOUR post URL. Like I would click on my post title and copy that URL and put it in that little space. But you put your post title URL in!
8. Click Enter.
9. It should say something like, 'It might take a little bit for your link to appear'.
10. Close the tab and you're done!!!

Of course, you need to make your post :) Your title should be: So What Are You Doing This Summer? Don't forget that when you make your post, you should leave a link back to me. Thanks!

My little Monkeys!

Morroco is the adventurous one, Louie is the lap cat, and Joelle is the crazy one!


Louie won't bite you (And when Morroco does, it doesn't hurt) when you pick him up :)





This is how they look right before they pounce!



Louie is so calm :)


Morroco is not :)

Take My Quiz!

Click HERE to take my quiz! See how well you know me, which will probably be hard for all of you in the blogosphere because you've never met me!!! Try it out!

Fun Freebies:

PLEASE go over to my design blog and look at my latest post about FREEBIES! YAY! Who doesn't love freebies? I made some awesome backgrounds that I myself would LOVE to use if I hadn't JUST gotten this background! My fav. is the Floral Fun and I'd LOVE it if someone used it! So go on over, have some coffee, become a follower, leave a comment, and grab some freebies!!! Ahh... Freebes.... :) I'm kind of hyper today (Despite the weather; cold, wet, rainy, dreary), and the kittens are so cute cuddled right up beside me :) Well... anyway, GO GET YOURSELF SOME BACKGROUNDS!!! I mean, I don't want to sound PUSHY or anything, but... Who knows? Maybe everyone HATES my backgrounds and wishes I'd go out of business and not torture them about getting freebies :) *sigh* I'm done venting now...

Excuse Me...

Please excuse me. Today, I have many pictures and things to post, and I don't like cramming a lot of posts into one (Although sometimes I do), so I'm just going to do a bunch of posts today on everything! K? So be ready for more posts than usual! Usually I only post 1 or 2 a day, not today!!! Mwahah!

This is post #1.

Welcome June!

Welcome June! Month of warmth, fun and time outdoors! Stay as long as you wish, I'm in no hurry for you to go!

Days of laughter,

Days spent in the water! Fun, fun, fun!

Days of many pictures, silly faces, water, adventures, laughter, and smiles.

Good-bye May, Hello June!

Let the rain come!

I am ready for the rain! I have been gardening since 1:00 and my fingers are so sore! Gripping the shovel handle, digging in the ground with my bare hands (Which by the way felt REALLY good!)... You get the picture. Since my camera still isn't working, I'll have to give you a mental picture of my garden!

First I'll give you a picture of the flowers I've planted over that last few weeks!

Yellow and Orange Marigolds

White and Purple mix petunias

Light pink petunias

Peach and Yellow Iris's (?)

Raspberry Vinca's

Celosia mix

Zinnia's mix

Bright mix Cosmo's

Snapdragons mix

My garden is split up into 2 sections, but one section is bigger than the other one. In the bigger one I have the Snapdragons, Cosmo's, Zinnia's, Marigolds, Vinca's, and the light pink petunia's. The peach and yellow Iris's separate the big and little section. In the small section I have the Celosia's and white and purple mix petunia flowers. The Celosia's are going to get very tall and bushy, so I put them in the back. Then the petunia's are in front of them. On Tuesday I dug a trench around the ENTIRE garden. I'm going to make a rock border, and if Dad can help me before the rain comes, it should be done soon!

When I came back inside, it felt SO good to be out of the wind and wash the dirt from my hands (Not that I don't like dirt on my hands, in fact I sometimes go outside just to get my hands dirty! But you know, after 3 hours out in the hot, dusty sun, water feels good :). The water was all yucky; dirty brown, swirling down the sink...

Have I grossed you out yet?

Maybe when my camera decides it will let me take some pictures, I'll post some of my garden!
Blessings!

Snap back

Whoa, sorry I've been gone from blogland for a while! Sure, 5 days isn't forever but we're talking about ME here! The person who blogs everyday, maybe twice a day! Hello? Where has she been? I don't know... So here's my 'quick' (Yeah, sure, nothing is quick with Emily :) update of the past 5 days.

THURSDAY

So Thursday was the last post. And on Thursday, I also spent more time on Rainy Day Blog Design umm, designing :) Which by the way, I got like, 7 comments that day with more questions and comments! Thanks everyone! I also haven't posted anything on there for 5 days.

FRIDAY

Was spent doing mostly nothing. It was cold, dreary and rainy. Although, in the evening, I had a job. It is the same job I posted about here on August 7, 2008! I feed cats and birds for a lady up the street. I only do it in the mornings and evenings but I got paid 30 bucks! and that was only for 3 days! 10 $ per day... I can deal with that :) Oh, and while we're speaking of cats, on Sunday, Mom, Joelle, Kate and I went up to see the kittens. Jewel said that her co-worker came by and picked out two. She is taking Doctor Blackard (His name is now changed to Doctor Socks!) and Arthur. So we can still have Louie and/or Riley!

SATURDAY

KATE'S BIRTHDAY! Yay! Happy belated 19th birthday Kate! Kitty job again in the morning. We also went to the Green Valley Book fair (Only one of Kate's favorite places!). I got two books. Jimmy McGee by Eleanor Estes (Author of Ginger Pye and Pinky Pye. I love those books!) and The Twenty-one Balloons by William Pene du Bois (New author. Never heard of him but the book looked good!). After that we came home and went right back out! But you'll never guess where we went this time! OLIVE GARDEN!!! We went Saturday and Sunday at lunch I wasn't even hungry! I had a plate of cheese ravioli and put some of it in a box to take home. I also got a black tie mousse chocolate cake! I shared :) Kate got her choice of dessert and she got some ice cream that had a fancy name, but it looked like chocolate with chocolate bits on top :) Then we stopped by Gabriel Brothers and I got a PURSE! It's value was $50 but I got it for $6.50! How great a deal is that?

SUNDAY

Mother's Day! I got Mom a broom and gardening gloves. Just the stuff she needed! Our old broom was falling apart and she didn't have good gardening gloves. I wore my new dress to church! I LOVE IT! That afternoon, we went for a drive and found a church playground. Joelle wanted to get out and play. The swings were MASSIVE! We were all swinging and laughing! Joelle could go SO high because she is so light! Maybe Kate will post pictures soon... That evening, we used Dad's new fire pit for a campfire. We roasted marshmallows and some of our graham crackers were covered in chocolate! It's the little things in life that make me happy :)

MONDAY

Normal school day. Math, history, John MacArthur study book... Yeah, stuff like that. I read a whole book yesterday (It's o.k., it was only 46 chapters :). Hehe! Now on to the next book in the series! I'm reading the A Place Called Home series and I'm on book #3 of 4 books. It's called The Long Road Home by Lori Wick. She's my favorite author! Oh, and I planted my flowers Monday. I stuck Popsicle sticks in the ground with the name of my flowers in them (Vinca's, Snap Dragons, Marygolds, Zinnea's...).

TODAY

Math, history, John MacArthur study book... haha, I have a lot of variety in my weekdays! Well, today isn't over yet, so I have no idea what I will encounter in the next 12 hours of my day!

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~I thought I'd share what I wrote in my journal this morning:

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Dear Journal,
Reading in my Bible today, I came across this verse: 'Psalms 30:11 - You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.' It reminded me of the song by the music group 'Glad', 'Mourning into Dancing'. The lyrics go:

He's turned my mourning into dancing again,
He's lifted my sorrows.
I can't stay silent, I must sing for His joy has come!

I'd heard the song before I read the verse, and I thought the 'mourning' was 'morning' and I was all confused because of it! I find that happening often. The Bible always clears things up!
Blessings!
~Emily Joy

Yes, I absolutely LOVE that song! Has anyone else heard it? It's a great song! My Mom has it on iTunes.

~Memory Verse

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep me from
deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be
free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my
mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord,
my rock and my redeemer.
~Psalm 19:12-14

Instead of doing a billion posts today, I'm cramming everything into this one!

~ Have you noticed that I have only one picture on here, but that this post is relatively picture less? That's because my camera won't let me take any pictures! I can view pictures, but not take any (Not that I have any to view...). So we know the battery isn't dead even though it says it is. The camera is pretty old, and now that I've gotten payed for feeding the cats, I have more money. I could have bought it before I got payed, but now I just have more money! I've been searching for a cheap camera (But a good quality) and here's one I found! What do you think? And it's RED! Does it get better than that??? Well, actually, a blue one would be nice... :)

I think that's all for my snap back to blogland. Maybe if my camera gets up and running again, you all can have some spring flower pictures! Blessings!

DO NOT LAUGH!!!

O.K., before I go any farther in this post, you need to PROMISE not to laugh! Are we good? No laughing? And no comments from the peanut gallery :) Good. Scroll down please :)

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Remember my cooking blog? Well, I haven't posted on there since March 16th. I'm not getting rid of it, but I just won't post on there anymore. I still like to make stuff but I'm not going to post about it. I usually only make the stuff I have one there already (Post #247 of Snickerdoodle Pie :) so it wouldn't work to post everything again. So I mostly won't be posting again. I've been working on another blog called Rainy Day Blog Design. THIS is definitely my normal blog and I'm gonna keep this one for FOREVER!!! I've wanted to do a design blog for a long time (Didn't I say that about my cooking blog?), and when I decided not to do my cooking blog anymore, I thought that now would be an o.k. time to reveal the design blog. Yes, it's been there for a while, but I just recently started posting stuff. I'll post tutorials, tips, freebies, and if I can actually FIGURE them out, some backgrounds. I think my layout and signature look pretty cool, so go check it out!!!

Rainy Day Blog Design:

Oh, and for everyone who followed me on my cooking blog, THANKS SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING!!! If you could, just switch from following there to the design blog! Thanks!

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So are you laughing yet? You promised you wouldn't! Everyone have a great day!

My Newest Find

Have any of you ever tried this stuff? I have NEVER tried it, and I'm not sure I ever want to! O.K., it's this stuff called 'Organic Batter Blaster'. Oh I love organic pancakes :) But wait! It's not just for pancakes! You can make WAFFLES too!!! Oh, does the batter blaster get any better than that? Yes, it does! The instructions for using this all-too easy Batter Blaster are simple:


There you have it folks! A dee-lish pancake/waffle that requires no cleaning, I repeat, NO cleaning! For more info go to this wonderful site, it gives you all the info you need to know about *ta-da* Organic Batter Blaster!!!

Wow, that was too much fun :) I LOVE making fun of weird products!

Next, folks, please watch our demo video!






My favorite part is definitely the lady and how upset she is with mixing her batter :) It is so hard to turn your wrist. And the batter flying everywhere? That would make me upset too! And all those ingredients! How awful! But that was then... This, is NOW!!! Just shake, squirt, and DONE! Makes clean-up easy too ('Cause you know how hard it is to throw a couple pans in the dishwasher :)! And it makes breakfast a blast too! Ha ha! Get it? Blast? Batter Blaster? No? O.K. never mind... The website says it 'fun for the whole family'. Mom: "Alright kids! Gather 'round. I'm getting ready to use *cue superhero music* Batter Blaster!" Kids: "Me first!" "No me!" Mom: "No pushing, kids! EVERYONE can have a turn with Batter Blaster!" Kids: "YAY!!!" That's what their commercial should be!

So that's my latest find! What kind of crazy/wacky things have you found lately?