Rain Runner!

Well, hello, once again to you all! I guess I better start off where I left off; Tuesday! I didn't have time to do school on Tuesday, because we had to leave the house around 9:45 AM to go to town. We met our friends and caravaned into Albuquerque. We all arrived at the downtown train station, where we were all going to ride the Rain Runner. It's the new train that they've put that goes between downtown Albuquerque and Bernalillo. Eventually it will go between Los Lunas (or Belen?) to Santa Fe. It is mostly for the people who commute, but since it is currently free (for the first few months) we decided to make it a field trip and go. The train itself was extremely nice and new! We rode (both ways) on the top deck. It was really nice! By estimating, I'm assuming the train went about 75-80 MPH. I kind of did that by telling how fast one road, that was parallel to us for a while, was going, because their speed limit said "55." And we were easily passed those cars in a few seconds. Like I said the train itself was really nice, but the area that we rode through was junk. When we fist left the station we were down in the industrial part of Albuquerque, where there is just a lot of junk everywhere (manufacturing junk) and then junk yards (with homeless people climbing/digging in them), and then just plain junky homes and yards. It's definitely not the way to impress your friends about your city. It was a 25 minute ride to Bernalillo. It made a one minute (and literally ONE minute) stop and then continued one. When we got to Bernalillo we sat there for 15 minutes and then headed back. The sway of the train just puts you to sleep! After the ride all but 3 of us (there were 12 that went) went over to Twisters and ate lunch! After lunch we all split up and went our own ways. We headed to our chiropractor appointment, stopped at our favorite bookstore Title Wave, and then went shopping at Target because I had one a gift card for there. I thought I'd get some new winter clothes, but the styles there... well, let's just say that they weren't all that appropriate. So after walking through the whole store I finally ended up buying toothpaste, hand soap, face wash, water, gum, mints, and a new road atlas for my dad. That was after spending about 2 1/2 hours looking around. Then we made a quick dash to Costco and then barely made it to the library before they closed. I had a book that I'd been waiting for on hold for forever and it was the deadline to pick it up and I didn't want to miss it. I also checked out a few books on Photography and then we went home! Wednesday we did school and my sister went over to her friends house. Thursday we did school and Friday as well. Yesterday we went to church and then afterwards came home, ate lunch (yummie lasagna!), and then rode our bikes for about 3-4 miles to and from the church property. It was a good ride and on the way back I talked to Nana! In the evening we went to AY. We played a game where you pass balloons around like hot potato and then when the music stops whoever had the special balloon (painted and named Lucy) had to choose another non-special one to pop and answer the question inside. The questions were geared towards getting to know one another. After AY we hung around and had a campfire outside. It was nice! We finally came home around 8:30 PM. My dad and sister are at my dad's work today, I decided to stay home and do some things around the house. Anyway, I've got you all caught up, once again, so I guess I'll say good bye! Have a wonderful day and week. God Bless, ~Butterfly~

School and Very Cold Weather!

Hello once again! Nothing really new. But what's funny is that I'm always busy, but yet nothing interesting goes on. Lets see on Sabbath we went to church and then afterwards just hung out at some friends house for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Sunday we got up a little bit early (earlier than normal) and left the house around 8 a.m. to drive to Corrales. The Texico Conference Lay Leadership Retreat/Meetings were being held that weekend and my dad had a Risk Management meeting to go to. So we went to that. After that we went shopping for my sister and I, new beds/mattresses. A few weeks ago I had been rotating my mattress and happened to notice a tag on the side that said the name of a hotel that my grandparents used to own. I told my dad and he guessed that the mattress set was about 25 years old. And what's scary is that it's from a hotel and you don't know who has slept on it and 25 years old! So we were shopping for a new one. My sister and I both got new beds and my dad picked them up Monday evening and they are so comfortable! After shopping for the mattresses we ate lunch and then went shopping for new sheets (and bed sets) for my sister and I, since our new beds are thicker than before and our old sheets wouldn't fit. All in all, it was a very long day and it was nice to get home. But when we got home we had to rearrange the office, to put my sister's old bed in there as a guest room and so on. We finally went to bed quite late. One thing that I've recently enjoyed watching is baseball. I'd never really had any interest in it before (and I still don't think I'd really like to play it), but I really enjoy watching it. As I watch it I have to ask my dad questions as to what they mean or why wasn't that a foul, etc. But I'm learning. I can't wait to watch the 5th game of the World Series tonight. (I'm for the St. Louis Cardnials). Which I just found out is on now, so I'm going to go watch that. So guys, I'll tell you about my busy day on Tuesday next time I have the time (which will most likely be Sunday). Just to keep your attention, what we did Tuesday was pretty interesting. So anyway, I want to wish you all a very Happy Sabbath and God Bless you all, ~Butterfly~

School, School, and More School. Guess what? Have I mentioned school?

Hey everyone! Not much going on other than the title above. (^) I finally forced myself to clean my room up, which I did this morning. So my room is some what cleaner. I still have a few things that I need to re-organize and I didn't have the energy this morning. And to add to that (lack of energy), last night I decided to try and break my current/old record for jump roping. (FYI: I can do it in the house because of our high ceilings in the living room and the space). My current record was and still remains at 327. And in the course of trying to beat that last night, I landed on my right foot wrong, and now it really, really hurts to walk or put pressure on it. So I can't jump rope again until it heals. Anyway, not much new here. Except that Monday morning my dad left on a buisness trip to San Jose, California and he gets back this evening. And tomorrow is my mom's birthday! I should probably go for now, because I still have one minor subject in school left to do today. And then I might work on crocheting another afghan. It sure is going to be a cold winter this year. Last night, for the 3rd time so far, it got below freezing and normally it doesn't do that until LATE October-Mid November. God Bless you guys, ~Butterfly~ P.S. I'll try and get some more photos taken from around here when I get the chance and then share them with you all. ~Butterfly~

More Photographs!

Hello and Good Morning!

I have a few more photographs for you all to enjoy! That is if I can get them all uploaded today. It's been an hour already and I've only tackled 1 1/2 of them. This one is of a leaf (I don't remember what type) and water- droplets on it. This photograph is of a purple larkspur with water droplets on it and green grass in the background. This photo is of the herb, Dill, with water- droplets on it. All of these photos were taken after a rain storm, except the following one. This photograph is of a bunny who I ran into on a bike ride the other day. He looks quite scared as he decided to take a mad dash in front of me.

Leaves, Needles, and Cookies!

Bonjour everyone! I am finally done with school for this week, caught up and everything. Well not caught up on the 3 weeks that I took off for Florida, but for this week anyway. So to catch you all up on everything around here, I better get started... This last Sunday we were going to go to the Fourth of July Campgrounds, but we changed our minds and went to town instead. For those of you who don't know what Fourth of July Campground is... It is a place where in the fall all the trees change colors and look like fireworks, hence the name Fourth of July. I'd been wanting to go take photos of the fall colors there, but with the temperature outside being 45F I really didn't feel all that up to it. In town we went shopping at a couple different places and then when dinner time came around we ate at Sweet Tomatoes. On Monday, nothing interesting that I can remember... Oh yeah... I went outside in the morning (when it was like 45F out there) and took photos of the raindroplets on Pyracantha Bushes, Pine Tree Needles, and flowers. Here are a few of the ones that I took. Tuesday was a pretty hectic day. I had to rush and get my school done before 2 o' clock so we could go to town because we had Chiropractor and Orthodontist appointments. I barely got half of my work finished befrore then, but that was mostly due to me sleeping in till between 9 and 10 o' clock. So I had to put off my school work until I was able to finish it, whenever that would be. In town we went to our appointments (which I am officially done with braces!) and did a little bit of shopping. I got some final items for one of my most recent projects, which I'm not letting on what it is yet... When we got home we barely had time to eat dinner and get going to the church board meeting. (IMO it is BORED meeting!) We got home late and that was the end of that stessful day... Wednesday... let's see... I think school would describe it very well. Catching up on the school from the previous day and finally finishing my project that I have been working on for the last week or two. I will say that it involves needles. So this post's title is "Leaves, Needles, and Cookies" well, it not only means pine needles, but crochet needles and another needle as well... This winter is going to be a quite harsh and cold one, so as some of my projects to keep me occupied while I have to be indoors due to the weather outside, I am crocheting blankets and stuff. But no, that is not the type of the most recent project that I have been working on. Oh yes, and my sister and her best friend went to go stay at another friend's house, who is a balloonist. They got to get up really early yesterday morning (lucky them..., not) and go help with the National Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. They got to go up (on a teathered line) in the balloon too! Yesterday while they were enjoy the balloons I had to do school work and continue catching up on a couple things that I hadn't gotten done the prior day... I had to rush yesterday also, because we had to leave the house around 2:00 p.m. to run errands in town before we went to Corrales. So I barely got all my school work done, had time to clean up around the house a little bit, do a little bit of my e-mail, and do dishes before we left. While I was doing school my mom made a few dozen cookies to sell that evening. We ran our errands, mostly returning un-needed items that we had gotten on Sunday and then drove through rush hour traffic (along with the out of town traffic due to the Balloon Fiesta) to Sandia View Academy in Corrales, NM. At the school there, they were having a Fall Festival, but it was really like a minature indoor carnival. Our church had a booth there, where we were going to sell bread, cookies, popcorn, water, juice, cards, and ribbon kid tiaras. But being the gymnasium for 4 hours was kind of tiring. All the extremely rowdy high schoolers... they were quite obnoxious. But overall we did make quite a bit there last evening for our church's building fund project. We got home quite late though. Today I slept in, but what's new? For school I mostly had tests. So it was an easy day in school for me. The tests seem to be a whole lot easier than the review and take quite a bit less. Anyway, nothing new really. I'm just eating lunch now as I'm writing this, but the green chili is really hot today. So, I'll go for now and let you enjoy the photos, as I continue to upload them with this slow connection speed. Enjoy and God Bless, ~Butterfly~

P.S. This isn't all the photos yet, but I'll have to get the others uploaded some other time. But enjoy these ones for now! ~Butterfly~

Quick "Hello!"

Hello everyone! I only have a few minutes, so I can't say much more than "hello!" and let you know that I haven't forgotten to update the site, but that I have been really busy. I just barely finished school today (and still have one item left) and I thought I'd better catch up on my e-mail (which I haven't gotten a chance to do in the last 3 days or so) and so on. So I'm just here to say hi real quick. But check up later this evening, or hopefully at the lastest tomorrow, back here and I should have this all up-to-date and with a few more photos for you all to view and enjoy! And with that I have to go do (a ton! of) dishes and then we've got to sca-dattle! God Bless, ~Butterfly~

...Back to School... Bummer!

Hello everybody!

I guess I really haven't been keeping up around here, but I have been busy. Let me see when I last wrote and then I'll know where to catch up from... Ok, Tuesday... but I think I forgot something before then even... Oh yeah, last Sabbath evening we had AY (FYI: Adventist Youth) and a good friend of mine turned 18 and we had a birthday party for her afterwards. We had cake, popcorn, chips, pretzels, etc. around a campfire. It was fun! And on Sunday we went to the Rio Grande Nature Center with Nana. We walked a ways; up to the river (which is barely flowing (at all)) and walked back. We would've gone farther, but then parking lot locked at 5:00 p.m. and we needed to have our car to get back home, so we figured we'd better not take too much longer. I did get a few good photos while I was there though. I'll share one with you now... It is of a pond with the Sandia Mountians in the background. The mountains around here are the Sandias and Manzanos. In Spanish Sandia means Watermelon and Manzano means Apple. Not much else exciting during the week. I got back into the routine of school (Bummer! after a 3 week vacation!) and rearranged my room and cleaned it up a bit. (Which BTW is still a complete mess, I need to finish putting things away from a trip. But it took me like a month from the last trip, lets hope not this time...). Wednesday morning (Early! And I mean early!) Nana left to go back home/to Florida. We did school and I worked on one of my most recent projects (maybe more on that another time) and that was about what I did the rest of the days through Friday. This morning we got up and got ready to go to church. After church I went to a friend's house and got home just a little while ago. Now I'm just on my new computer (oh yeah, BTW I got a new one last night! And it is totally a whole lot better than my last one!) uploading a photo for you all to see (which takes forever here on Dial Up) and writing to you. But I should be getting off once this photo finishes. It's almost time for bed anyway. So Happy Sabbath to you all and God Bless you all very much, ~Butterfly~

Into the Routine!

Hey everybody, Nothing new here. I got back into the school routine yesterday, but decided not to do school today and spend our last day with Nana without school. But I did clean and rearrange my room today. Nothing interesting at all... Just thought I'd say "hello" to you all and God Bless, ~Butterfly~