FREEDOM!

Five minutes before I began this blog post, I finished my last school assignment of the year 2011, a chemistry test. I kept putting it off, and putting it off since I didn't understand the concepts I was going to be tested on. Until this afternoon, where I decided to conquer electron configuration and atomic mass and wavelength and frequency of light once and for all. Some major light-bulbs exploded in my brain after a lot of studying. After having all these moments of epiphany, I've decided light-bulbs-going-off-in-my-brain is one of the best feelings ever. Back to what I was saying, I AM OFFICIALLY ON CHRISTMAS BREAK. Hallelujah. With school out of the way, I'll really be able to enjoy the holiday season which means I'll have time to do some of my favorite things like eat chocolate, talk on the phone and mop the floor. (Really, I love mopping. And vacuuming. Ask my family or good friends)

Today was pretty average in a lot of ways. OK, I almost ran over a chicken,(that just sounds redneck. And let me tell ya, it felt redneck) Ava threw up on the floor after eating dubious tofu (she almost threw up on ME, but I stuck on the floor just in time) but really, nothing super exciting happened. 

Well, Merry Christmas everyone! <3

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men!"

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life!"

Tree fort in the woods

Thanksgiving dinner

Shooting.

What happens when Will and Ava are left to their own devices...

Adorable.

Mom and Dad!!

Will having a blast

Hiking!

PIE!

Miss Hannah.

December update!

Wow! I can't believe it's been about a month since I last posted. I'll try post more regularly from now on, but I'm not gonna be a politician and promise anything when realistically I can't grantee anything.
Life for us has been crazy busy. Sadly, (not) school is being pushed to the back burner and is being replaced by holiday activities. More accurately, school is pushed to the day before class...ah yes. Procrastination is my middle name.
Time flies--Thanksgiving was great (what a great holiday, btw. A day just to eat delicious food, and shoot guns, and be thankful!) Christmas season 2011 is already upon us. (just in case you forgot) I'm enjoying the festive decorations, parties, and music. So far, it's been an off year as far as snow goes. Last December, this time of the month, we had about two feet of snow. Now we only have lousy patches of snow.  Dude, I'm ready for skiing, and legit sledding parties-- the snow needs to start falling!

School is my life! My life is school!

I've been very negligent about blogging lately. All I've really been doing is school and that doesn't provide much blogging material. I'm enjoying it for the most part. Math always hangs over my head like an evil cloud of doom, and math's cousin, chemistry is known to do the same. History and literature on the other hand, are both very fascinating. Writing a full-blown literary analysis on the Iliad is difficult but rewarding. Our literature class is working on a movie with excerpts from the Iliad. It's a fun way to really understand the poem and exercise creativity. Today our chemistry class visited the water treatment plant in Boone. I'm glad we have well-water. :)
Ava and Will are my constant comic-relief during the long school days. 
I can't wait for Thanksgiving break, seeing family and eating a bunch of good food. Bring it on!!
As I said...I don't have much to say. Which is very unusual for me. Just ask my family. Speaking of not having much to say, my newest hypothesis; If I talk a lot, I'll be exercising my jaw and hopefully I won't get a double chin when I'm 85. Only time will tell. 

Sleet, Obama and Hydrogen dioxide.

As I'm sitting here, sleet is pattering on the windows and the wind is howling about the house. Just listening to these sounds of winter make me want to get on some fuzzy socks since my feet are freeezzzinnngggg! The last leaves of autumn are blowing away, carried by the same winds which are steadily bringing winter closer and closer. The change in seasons is upon us. Bring it on! I'll miss the warm weather, but winter is invigorating, breathtaking and energizing. I'm thankful God created different seasons. :)
OK. Speaking of "change". Obama came to little Boone Monday. The entire town was turned upside down. Police officers were borrowed from a bunch of the surrounding towns to take over blocking the 3 main roads. I think he received a mixed reception...some people lined up on the street shouting loud "BOOOO"s, then your occasional Mama-for-Obama over there hopping up and down cheering. I wasn't there myself; this is only what I've heard from others who were trapped in town. Although I certainly do not agree with Obama's policies or politics, it's very neat the president rolled through my town. The trip cost 37 million dollars. I hope the candy he purchased from the Candy Barrel was realllyyy delicious.
Lately, I've also been hoping I don't morph into a nerd 'cause when I hear the word "water" I start thinking: H20. Covalent compound. Hydrogen dioxide. Cannot conduct electricity. Left side of the periodic chart. Diatomic homo-nuclear atoms... you get the picture.
Later, taters.

"Autumn is the year's last, loveliest smile..."

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn."  ~Elizabeth Lawrence
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."  ~Albert Camus
“Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.” ~William Cullen Bryant
Those poetic folks pretty much sum up what I want to say about fall-time. Basically, it's magnificent, breathtaking, brilliant, gorgeous and amazing. Mi sono innamorato!
We've been able to take advantage of the season by doing some hiking in the past few days, but the view out the windows are quite beautiful themselves. Hopefully, we will be going back-packing on the AT this weekend if Dad gets over a cold. We've never gone back-packing as an entire family so it should (actually WILL) be an adventure. We'll have to filter all of our water with a little filter. That will certainly be a full-time job. I decline from nomination! 


Here are some pictures from the past week or so. 

The new hair...haha

Emma! Hiking on the parkway

Cuteness. I can't get it to rotate though! Oh well.

The camera never captures the real beauty...

Looking out the front window! Ahh

Looking out the back window!

My peeps.

Albino Weather, Karate Chops and Class Warfare.

"The weather is so ALBINO!"

~Hannah. (She meant bi-polar)

As humans, I think diagnosing the weather somehow makes us feel more in control of something we cannot control. 

I don't know if the weather is albino, ADD, bi-polar or just plain confused, but my brain is not enjoying the fluctuating temperatures. Just when my mind transitioned into sweater, slipper and snowflake mode, I have to pull back out the short-sleeved shirts. Yes, I am aware  the weather is a boring thing to talk about, but I must mention that it snowed on Saturday, and today was at least 70 degrees. 

Life has been going well lately. No injuries. Oh wait. William did slice I mean slice, his foot open the other day. And, I was trying to karate chop Dad's knee and I really bruised the tendons on the side of my hand. It was kind of embarrassing... 

I've been hanging out with friends a lot lately, and squeezing in school. It should probably be the other way around...but...

Of course, I'm kinda curious what the outcome will be with all the stock market heckling going on. Class warfare, corporations, taxes... it seems like a big confusing mess to me, and I still haven't completely wrapped my mind around what is exactly going on. I'm gonna figure it out though. Tomorrow. Ah yes, tomorrow is always another day. 

Until later,

I remain,

CMC

P.S.

Our cat's name is Fezzik.

Pictures speak louder than words...and another note of interest to some.

Most have heard the saying, "A picture speaks louder than words." Let me also mention that my quota of intelligent words has been exhausted for the day .Today I am going to show a couple pictures that hopefully will summarize the last few weeks of life.
And, the for a quick randomness: (that word pops up in all my posts, idk why.)
Next time somebody asks you the unoriginal "Whats up?" Dad, and I came up with some new replies instead of the equally non-original "The sky."
1. "Not the stock-market." ~Dad
2. "Not your IQ." ~Me
Dad's is probably better to use.
That's it. Have a happy day! <3

Me after a long day of school. Ava has the wiggles.

 Joiya braided Emma's hair

 After the braids are taken out. Peace, man.

 Will and his buddies

 The new kitty. Doesn't have a name yet. Suggestions?

Dad and Mom! Looking good. :)

 Studying ancient Egypt

Nose, goat and airplane. (and some other stuff)

First of all, thanks to all the people who prayed for Will's nose. Let me say, he is no longer Chief Big nose. He has resumed his earlier Indian name, Otter Tail. Watch out world, Otter Tail is back on the warpath. All other Curtis noses are doing fine as well, with the exception of a few stuffy ones. Now that the CN (Curtis Nose) situation is covered, let us move on.
I can't really remember what happened this week...I remember random stuff like Mom chasing the goat around the yard yelling, that was humorous. I've come to the conclusion: chasing goats is even more character building than chasing chickens. In other words, it is VERY annoying. On thing I know about last this week...it rained and rained and rained. All the locals are glad to be "outta that drought" but I'm like, "Helloooo people! It rained like a week ago! Don't you dare wish the sun away!" 
Today though was absolutely positively gorgeous. You know, one of those lovely days without a drop of humidity, the sun shining brilliantly and a few puffy clouds drift lazily along the sky. We, along with a group of other church people, hiked on the parkway. It is about a 6 mile hike, and a favorite for big groups due to the wide path. At the top is a 50 ft. tall fire tower which sports a panoramic view. Although you could easily fall off and die, the view is totally worth it. While we were up at the top, this little plane flew right by us. As Dad stated, "You coulda spit on it, it was so close!" We all waved enthusiastically and he came back around and did a loopty-loop spin in the air right above us. The response was animated whoops, hollers, big smiles and lots of waving. The pilot laughed, waved then zooooommed away. Within a couple minutes he was a white dot over by Mt. Jefferson in Wilkes County. Little moments like that create lasting memories. 

Photos and quick (and random, duh) update.

In the full swing of school, our crazy days are starting to find somewhat of a routine.  I've never had so much school to do in my life, but it's mostly interesting and I'm enjoying getting new wrinkles in my brain.
Today we went hiking and Will had a bad fall. His is poor nose is the size of Texas and black and blue, and he also has cuts and scrapes all over his face. He looks ferocious and extremely tough.
Here are some random photos of our past few days to end this completely random post.

 Harvesting squash!

 Bread-making buddies

 Ava is the bomb.

 Hannah and I: The unstoppable chicken wing clippers. This one IS alive.

 Poor Will. He is making a funny face FYI.

 "Oh yeah! We were supposed to knead the bread!"

Fierce Indian warrior: Chief of tribe Big Nose.

School, accidents and the year of the bee-stings.

Beestings, burns, near paralysis...there is never a dull moment at the Curtis house, but I'll attempt to sum up the past few days without rambling on forever.
School has officially started. Academically, I'll be very busy this year, but I'm excited to take on some new challenges and work some different areas of my brain. Our co-op met for the first time today, and I must say it is very educational. My brain felt slightly fried after discussing ancient literature, religion and philosophy; however, there is absolutely nothing wrong with brain stimulation x100 if I enjoy the topic. Oh and as far as math and chemistry...well...let's hope that goes OK.
Now. For the story of near paralysis. Saturday my family went down to the park. (I stayed home since I was really wanting some quiet time...like it was the first quiet time in a years for me) Mom was playing tag with the kids on the play-set and walking on top of the monkey bars attempting to escape from William, the tagger. You know where this is going. She fell. On her head/neck/back on sharp, hard playground equipment. Dad ran over and all the sudden Mom flopped over and started acting extremely drowsy and wanting to fall asleep. Her arms were tingling and she couldn't walk. Dad got her to the truck and drove her home. As the evening went on, she was doing better so they decided not to go to the hospital. (It's a general policy in our family to have a 106 fever or cut off a finger before going to the hospital :) haha well not always but we don't go very often) Sunday morning, I drove Mom to the E.R. Although she was feeling a little better, she was still in a lot of pain and did not want take risks if her neck was fractured. (If that was the case, her risks of being possibly paralyzed were high) Apparently, the Dr.'s were really worried when they heard her explain what happened and promptly helped her to a wheel-chair, fitted her with a neck-brace and ordered a CAT scan. Thankfully, everything came out fine. Mom thinks it was a miracle due to her wacky feelings of tingling and drowsiness right after the accident. All's well that ends well. Thank you everyone for prayers.
Other minor accidents in the past few days include: Emma spraining ankle (she was just reading over my shoulder and she wants me to specify her tendon not ankle), me burning my foot really bad (don't ask how haha it's kind of embarrassing) Hannah and William getting attacked by yellow-jackets (are we just bee-magnets of has it been the year of the bee-stings????) and of course Dad (bless his heart) is always limping for some reason. 
That's it for now.

Travels...

I've been completely slack about posting...but life is life and life has been so busy I haven't had time! (original excuse I know!) We just got home from a road trip up north to visit family. The actual road part of the trip was misery, since it was 100 degrees and we had no air-conditioning!! But, I won't talk about that...I'm sure no one wants to hear me gripe about no air-conditioning AGAIN.
The first few days we spent up in the D.C. area visiting my Dad's side of the family, and exploring the city with some friends. We went up the Washington monument, which was coolio since you could see the entire city from the top, including the White House and other historical landmarks. The Native American museum was slightly dull, but we didn't spend too much time there. Basically it was 20 billion exhibits of tribal beadwork. The air and space museum is always a must see, and we went to an amazing 3D Imax about the wonders of the universe, a reminder of how great God is to create such beautiful majesty in the sky.
After D.C. we resumed our journey heading up to N.J. where Mom's family all met together at my grandparents house. After getting over the initial culture shock, I had a splendid time! It was great seeing my cousins and meeting my new baby cousin, Alex, who was so adorable and fun. We played country basketball with the neighbors..."Where we come from we don't foul..." haha, spent two hot and sunny days at the beach, went fishing with my grandfather (I caught the cutest shark!!) and visited with the extended Italian relatives. Oh, and I got asked questions like, "Soooo, where you live....are you close to ANY people??? Do you ever see anyone???" "You all are HOMESCHOOLED?? How on earth does that work?" Of course, I had some strange and random encounters with strange and random people...but we won't go into that. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip, but I am glad to be HOME. It's really a relief to be back down south too.
The day we arrived home, we immediately got back in the swing of things. Last night was a super fun dance at Cherokee Cove, marking the end of summer.

Randomness from my week

Nothing monumental or particularly exciting has happened to me this week but "it ain't over 'till it's over" so who knows, maybe tomorrow will be incredible.

I have come to the conclusion on a few random things though:

1. Being a mechanic is NOT my calling. (Who else catches grass on fire while attempting to check the oil in the mower???)

2. I dreadfully miss our air-conditioning, which hasn't been working for the past week. (House and car! And YES, the weather has been awfully rain-foresty) 

3. Productivity is one of my favorite feelings. This week, although hum-drum has been satisfyingly productive.
Thanks to Emma, my life can never really be boring. Together we make the dullest jobs TOTALLY AWESOME! by doing things like composing wacko songs, getting in watermelon fights, and planning each others life. 

Peaches! AND...more peaches!

Today, with the generous help of some friends, we canned peaches! We had some pretty productive production lines going on and we had all 66 quarts in the hot-water bath within 1.5 or 2 hours. We are still in the process of making peach butter. (like apple butter but peaches instead...go figure!) After some mathematics computation (I was hiding under the table at this time...jk) they figured a quart of peaches cost about $1, which is considerably cheaper then the grocery store and tastes like the bomb. (grocery store peaches are...okayyyy not so swell) Our kitchen is already magically transformed back into a kitchen after being a sticky, peach place except for some golden, gleaming jars of yummy peachness. 

My life for the past 72 hrs. (the interesting stuff)

Alrighty. So here are my past 3 days. (Sort of. I didn't mention a lot of stuff like...cleaning the bathroom...ect.)

In brief: (if you don't feel like reading the long but still not very long version below) Permit, rumor corrections, guy with road rage, baptism, splitting wood, Dad pulled muscle, frisbee in the rain.


Friday: I got my learners permit! I'm very excited to being on my way to obtaining my license. It seemed like I had to go through a lot of rigmarole, and I am glad to be finally finished with the Boone-permit-for-homeschoolers-confusingnes. Not to mention, every day or two I'd hear a new rumor circulating such as: "Homeschooler won't be allowed to take Drivers Ed at Watauga EVER" (that's an OLD one haha), "If you fail the 25 question test at the DMV, you'll have to wait until you're 18 to get your license!" "NC passed a new law that you MUST have your permit for 2 years now instead of 1!" Take heart other people, ALL  ABOVE RUMORS ARE FALSE! I drove home from the DMV, and everybody lived. I only encountered one guy with intense road-rage, which was a plus. AND, he almost bumped into me only 3 times. No biggie.


Saturday: My little sis, Hannah, got baptized! It was a special day and I'm so happy for her. It's a wonderful decision. Dad baptized her in the New River. She was practically baptized before being immersed 'cause it was raining. I guess the rain thing would count more as a Catholic baptism though. Haha


Today. (Sunday)  Today was a typical Sunday. We worked around the house, helped Dad split a bunch of wood, Dad injured himself, and we went to Ultimate. Playing frisbee in the rain was pretty fun, but (no duh) really wet.

Post #1

Summertime. Mine thus far has been filled with friends, family, mowing the grass (yes our riding mower tragically died) swimming, frisbee, dances, continuous random jobs  and repetitive house cleaning. Now, in pursuit of a hobby, and encouraged by Mom, I have decided to add blogging to my list of activities. It's a first for me, but I'm hoping it will be a success.