Humiliatingly Funny Lil' Bro

This is my little brother in WalMart. We were shopping for a birthday party, and he had tentatively picked out something, but he was changing his mind a lot. Then he noticed that there was a little tricycle sitting out and that it had a little "trunk." Cam started calling it his shopping cart and riding it around. I was trying to be stern with him, but he looked SO funny! Fortunately, it was so small that he couldn't go very fast and I was quite able to keep up with him.

( especially since he kept stopping to push buttons)

Sunburn

Haha, you inland relatives! We went to the beach today! And, of course, we forgot sunscreen, so I am a tad bright red. But I was mostly in the water, so it's not too awful; mostly just my face. This morning, after we picked up Geoff's laundry, the rest of us went out for breakfast. Then we went home to do laundry. Today, I was exercising my artistic ability by designing t-shirts for the WFHESL student government association. I'm on the board of officers (currently serving as events coordinator for field trips) and we are hoping to make some changes for the better this year. We're all really excited to get into the new semester, and I can't wait for our first event. Oh, and before I forget, happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

SIGH

Today I watched what is probably the most depressing musical I have ever seen: Carousel. Why does the dude have to die? I felt like turning it off right there. Some people cry, I guess, but I just get kind of grumpy that the story didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. So I was kind of grumpy all day. Now we're getting ready for a family's night in, minus Geoff, of course. I'm sweaty as I write this, because I just played a vigorous game of 'handball' with Audrey. Handball is basically kickball, except with a really small diamond and you use your hands instead of your feet. Unfortunately, Audrey does not like to be beaten, and I do not like going easy on her just because she's a little kid. Since I won the rock-paper-scissors match, I got to hit first. Which basically meant that the game would have a short life. By the time I had hit four home runs in a row without any outs, Audrey was tired and decided to go inside. I can't wait for the homeschool group PE to start up again. :(

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies EVA!!!!

The first batch of cookies is in the oven, and soon, the smell of chocolate chip cookies will be wafting throughout the house. Sadly, few of the cookies are ours. You better enjoy them, Geoff.
Here's the recipe! I will insert my own little notes in italics.
THE ACTUAL BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES-this is a recipe Mom made when she was a teenager. She got it from her sister's friend.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you get really good at making these, the time it takes for the oven to heat up will be almost exactly as long as it takes to finish mixing the dough.
1 cup of shortening
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
Combine all of the above and cream until sugar is mixed well with shortening. It's always a little bit tempting to sneak some of this mixture, but DON'T! It's GROSS.
Then, mix in:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of baking soda
Mixture will probably be a little bit lumpy, but the lumps should be small.
Then, add:
2 cups of flour(all-purpose)
Mix until well combined. It should now be proper cookie dough consistency.
And my favorite part, stir in:
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips If you like your cookie chocolate all sweet and no bitter, use milk chocolate.
Don't use the mixer on this. It sometimes beats up your perfect little chocolate chips, or smears chocolate around. It's better to use a spoon.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, depending on your oven. When they come out, they will be floppy and kind of soggy looking. Don't worry;  they'll firm up. Please wait for at least five minutes after they come out to dig in. I know they're delicious, but don't burn yourself! I have no clue how many this recipe makes, because the cookies usually disappear right after they come out of the oven, so I can't count them. I usually double this recipe, and it lasts us about three days.
 Enjoy, and have fun!

Time Stamp

I'm not sure if it's this way to you guys, but whenever I look at my blog posts, the time stamp is always two hours earlier than the actual time I posted. Just wanted to let you know( if you have this problem) that I really don't wake up really early and instantly get online.
Have fun! :)

Busy, busy day!

Getting ready for a busy day. But not a kind of busy that takes me all over Pensacola. No,tis a kind of busy that leaves me mostly right here in my humble abode. On the agenda for this morning: Baking a huge batch of cookies for Geoff while he's at camp. Why the huge batch? Well, they'll smell and look so positively scrumptious that his roommates will not be able to control themselves. So it was simple. At least three high school guys= Meredith has to bake a LOT of cookies:) Then it's off to the library for me! It works out on either end-the library gets another volunteer, and I get about thirty-five volunteer hours for me high school transcript:)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

The recycling place's sign (75 cents is a great price for a pound of cans, b.t.w.)

 OK, so for you to fully appreciate this post, you'll need a little background info....Like, seven years ago, Dad realized that we could recycle our soda cans for money. So we stopped throwing away all our soda cans and started stashing them in plastic shopping bags and stowing them in the garage. We just kind of let them accumulate, usually until it starts to be hard to walk down the aisle in the garage. Then we rip open all of the bags and transfer the cans to big trash bags. Then we load all the garbage bags into the van (they didn't all fit in the trunk, so we packed out the front seats) and drive to the recycling place. Then we grab the plastic tubs and rip open the garbage bags and dump the cans in them. I've noticed that most people who come have a LOT of beer cans. Anyway, next we take the tubs over to the scale, where the guys who work there weigh them. Then we go to the cashier's, where we wait for them to give us our cash. Then we all fight over how to spend the money we made. Cameron always wants to split it among all the people who helped, but this time, it looks like we're going for pizza for supper. We do this, like, twice a year, which is fine with me because the recycling place smells funny, and they have roaches! Anyway, enjoy your day and have fun!

Gracie wanted to get in on the action, too. Unfortunately for her, she had to stay home.

Here's Cam dumping cans into one of the giant tubs

Reminds me of my room!

We had three full containers of cans

The conveyor belt that carries the cans up, then dumps them in a huge container that then takes them to the Crushinator

Waiting for Mom in the cashier's office

We made $20.30!

Library=NOT Peaceful!

Crazy day at the library today( in case you don't know, I'm volunteering at the library this summer.) Every time I took a kid back to get their free book as a reading program prize, they took forever. Then there was the kid who belched loudly....At least it wasn't busy, too.
And on a sad note, I MISS GEOFF!!!!
And on a not-sad note, we are unofficially calling this Friday the Day We Go To The Beach Without Geoff, so hopefully, it'll work out and we can go at long last.
(puppy eyes) Pleeeeaaaasssee, Mommy dear?

Singing

Today I watched Singin' in the Rain for the third (or maybe fourth) time. LOVE that movie! The funny parts are hilarious, and the songs are great. Now we're all singing the songs all day long. Every time we start singing, somebody goes, "shut up!" Then five minutes later, you hear them going, "Siiiiingin' in the rain, just siiiiingin' in the rain!" and you just kind of laugh to yourself.

Bye, Geoff!

Today we lose Geoff for two weeks! All trace of maturity among the kids (besides me, of course) is gone for fourteen days! And I have to be the oldest for a while, which is good and bad at the same time.

A puzzle for you- O T T F F S S __
What letter comes next in this sequence?

A Bit of Scripture

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
Psalm 22:1-5

In Conclusion....

The family watched The Fellowship of the Ring tonight, the movie which the name of this blog was taken from. Great story, great music, great movie.
So after a day filled with laughter, getting used to short hair again, singing (songs from Singin' in the Rain), family fun, and lots of sappy stuff like that, I bid you good night, and sweet dreams. Have fun!

New Haircut!

Went to Fantastic Sam's this morning to get a hair cut! Got about four and a half inches off, and I feel FREE AT LAST!!!

                                                                            BEFORE

                                                      AFTER(sorry about the red eyes)
I can't pull it back in a ponytail anymore, so I kind of feel like I've lost my identity. And in case you don't like it, fear not! It will be just as long again by Christmas! That's why I'm so free to mess with my hair: it grows so stinkin' fast that I can hardly keep up with it!

The Gray Day

Gooooood morning and a happy Saturday to all!
Even though it's one of those dreary Pensacola days today, I'm not depressed! Much. We have practically nothing planned, which will either be great or terrible. Makes a whole lot of sense, huh? Well those of you who know me are used to that:)
Anyway, I hope you can ignore the gray and have a fun day!

Starting Out

Well, this is my blog! Thanks to Sarah for giving me the idea to start one, and thanks to my mom for helping me through the set-up, which was not as easy as it should be. First off the name was a challenge. I would say something, Mom would say something, we would shut each other down, and repeat. The name is a paraphrased quote from The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf tells Frodo we must do what we can with the "time that is given us." Oh, and thanks to Mom for finding the name:)
 Hopefully this blog will help you keep up with my crazy life. Have fun!