Handprints

So. Spring Break is over and done with. It was actually pretty amazing. I went out of town to stay with my friend, Megan, for four days (Wednesday-Saturday). We had an absolute blast. It was when I got home that things went a little downhill.

First of all, my dad's friend Muff died. He was only fifty-one. He died on Wednesday, after battling liver failure for a while. His kidneys finally shut down on Monday, and he went into a coma. My dad took it pretty hard.

And then, on Saturday after my parents got home from Muff's funeral, my mom handed me the newspaper and pointed to an article and said to me, "Did you know this girl?" Turns out a girl I knew from school, Amanda, died in an RV accident along with her older sister Alexis while they were coming home from their spring break. I couldn't believe it. I'd seen her the Friday before Spring Break, the last school day she would ever see, in our Peer Leaders class.

She made a poster with her friend Sarah for our school's tobacco-free campain. I just sat there on the floor with them and watched, having nothing better to do. Amanda was tracing her hands on the poster, adding some random creativity. Soon, it was covered with her handprints.

And now, she's gone. It's really weird, remembering so clearly the last time I saw her, and knowing that that will really be the last time. I never really knew her that well at all, since I was just starting to get to know her, but it's still sad. She was such a happy, nice person.

Then, today was our first day of Peer Leaders since spring break. It was really weird, Amanda not being there. But we dedicated the entire class period to making cards to give with her family. We're going to get a bunch of people to sign them at lunch next A-day.

And then, a few of us had an amazing idea. The poster Amanda had helped make on Friday was still hanging up in the hall. We could take it down, cut out all of her handprints, laminate them, and give them to her family. Those hand traces were so recent, it'd probably be really special for her family to have them. So that's what we did. We even saved her handwriting from the poster, and we're going to tape it onto a new posterboard and hang it back up in the halls.

Our class might plant a tree for Amanda, too. I think that'd be really cool, wouldn't it?

So, yeah. :)

Little fuzzy blobs of cuteness. :)

So, yesterday, my dad and I went to IFA and got six little chicks.

They are ADORABLE. :)
We already have chickens, but they're getting old, so we had to get some chicks.
I've already claimed one. :)

I'm not really sure what to call her, but I thought she looked like a Henry. And, since that's a boy's name, I settled with Henrietta. But her name is subject to change. I don't want people thinking I named her Henrietta because she's a hen. Because that's just stupid, and I didn't. :P

Here are some piiiicccccttttuuurrreeesss. :D

Sorry, they suck in quality, but it's all I have.

All six of them. :)

Aw. Aren't they cute? It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty positive the one on the right is Henrietta. :)

Silly chicken in the food bowl. :)

Interesting close-up of Henrietta. :P

So, yeah. Cute little things, aren't they? And the mostly black ones (you can see both of them in the first picture and one of them in the second picture) are going to grow up to be little puffballs. So, that'll be interesting. Two of the brown ones are Americaunas, which we already have a few full-grown ones already. And then Henrietta and another one of the brown ones are a breed of chicken that lays a bunch of eggs a year. :P At least, that's what the guy at IFA told us. :)

So, yeah.

In other news, my best friend Megan is coming down to my house tomorrow and staying until Wednesday. Then, the two of us are going down to her house. So, I won't be back until Saturday or Sunday. :)

Hopefully all of the little chicks will still be there when I get back! In the few times we've gotten chickens, we've never really had any die when they were chicks. Except for the very first time we ever got a chick. But that was the only time.

Let's see... what else?

I MADE CONCERT SINGERS!!!!

Yes. I made it. I made it. I made it. I can say it a million times, and I will never get tired of hearing it. I was positive that I wasn't going to make it. Because, at my audition (which was pushed from Monday to Wednesday), I messed up big time. Here's what happened:

So, I'm the second person to go in. I've just gotten over a terrible mutant cold, but I've been practicing my song, Danny Boy, quietly to myself while I was waiting to go in, and I'm pretty sure that I'll do okay. I know the notes, my voice has recovered from coughing up my lungs the entire week before, and I'm feeling pretty good. Just a teeny bit nervous.

I get inside the tiny room, and suddenly I feel the biggest wave of absolute terror over-come me. As I'm holding my music in my hands, I see that I'm shaking uncontrolabley. I take a deep breath, to no avail.

Mrs. McMurray (the choir teacher) starts playing the music, and I start singing. But, I have anxiety issues that kind of runs in my family. What happens is it'll feel like the wind has been knocked out of me and I can't get it back. It's actually pretty common. Anyone can get it when they're scared. Some people just have to live with it every day, even when they're not scared. Luckily, though, I don't have it as bad as my dad. It flared up for the first time last year and I had it every day for a couple of months, but then it just slowly went away. And now I don't get it anymore. Unlike my dad, who's had to live with it every day for the passed four or so years, since his flared up. It just never went away, like mine did.

So, anyway, it suddenly flares up again for the first time since, like, December. I can't catch my breath. Which, of course, means that I can't sing. I had to stop singing like six times in just sixteen measures. That, my friends, is a lot. And then, still having troubles, I could barely sing back what she played (Ugh. I sounded so off-key. It was terrible), and then my sight-singing just flew out the window. She had to help me every like, three notes. Then again, I've never been really good at it.

So, yeah. For the two days that followed, I wasn't really all that convinced that I would make it into Concert Singers. And then, during my lunch on Friday, I remembered that the list would be posted by then. So, I went to go look at it. I read through all the names, and then I saw mine. It was the best feeling in the world. Seriously. :)

And, as a plus, the guy I like made it in, too. So, next year, we'll have a class together.

Sigh. :)

Hm. What else? Oh, I changed the Song of the Week again. Now it's "It Happens" by Sugarland. Because I love that song and it's fun to dance to. ;) I put it on my playlist, like I've done to all of my Songs of the Week so far, so scroll down to the bottom of the page and listen to it, okay? :)

HAPPY EASTER! ♥

Um... oops.

Very sorry. I haven't posted in... well, forever. I'm not even going to do the math and figure out the time between then and now.

So... recent news...

I have some relatives from Minnesota coming in tomorrow. They're in Nebraska right at this very moment. It'll be my grandma, grandpa, and three cousins. I'm not really sure how it'll go... hopefully well. :)

Also, I have Concert Singers auditions on Monday. Wish me luck!

Anddd... HAS ANYONE BEEN WATCHING AMERICAN IDOL? Because I have. :) And I already have a favorite contestant. His name: Danny Gokey.

YOU MUST ALL VOTE FOR DANNY GOKEY. NOT ADAM.

All of my friends love Adam Lambart because he's the emo-looking hot guy who can sing really high like a girl. BUT I DO NOT LIKE HIM AT ALL.

Therefor, Danny Gokey must beat Adam Lambart in American Idol.

Go Gokey!!!! :)

♥ ♥ ♥

He's the reason my Song of the Week this week is "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts, because that's the song that he sang this last week (and did and AMAZING job at). I loved it so much that I went and downloaded Danny singing it off of iTunes and put it on my iPod. So yeah. :)

In other news, I'm quite sad. I usually go to thecutestblogontheblock.com to change my layout, but I can't copy the code anymore because I don't have the updated Internet Explorer or whatever. :( So no my layout will just have to be very boring, unless I find a place simmilar to thecutestblogontheblock.com. If anyone knows anything, please tell me! I'm really desperate.

Um... It's also Heath Ledger's 30th birthday today. And since he's in my little mental list of my top five favorite actors and actresses (which I'll reveal to you all another day), I'd just like to say,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATH! ♥

But... anyway, I think that's all.

BYE! :)