Monday 30 May 2011

The Price Of Eggs In China

In the Hunan province they pay 35 yuan an egg. That's just a bit less than 4 pennies for one, fresh egg.

Steph xx

Sunday 29 May 2011

Good Mix

http://8tracks.com/mieldelavande/is-this-feeling-you

Steph xx

International

Hello people in:

Australia
United States
Malaysia
Germany
Canada
Bulgaria
United Kingdom
Taiwan
South Africa
Denmark
Sweden

Austria
New Zealand
and Poland.

(and anywhere else you may be from - congratulations! you are the first person in your country to visit!)


It is rather exciting to think that people in all of the above countries read my blog... we're international ^_^



Not much has been happening lately becuase I've just been so busy with school work. The only thing worth mentioning is Christine's party. Chris is a lady who goes to my church and I was helping out at her 60th for the better part of yesterday. Who says working in the kitchen isn't fun! Seriously, I had a ball! Cecily, Beth, Alyssa and I were the main lady's on the job so we had a great time together and I swear we could have gotten abs with all the laughing we did! That really is about all I've got to tell. Oh, I have changed my song for the soiree - I'm going to be singing Rolling In The Deep by Adele instead. It's really a great song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw

Aaaaanywaaaaay......

I'm thinking of getting a cat, but I'm not sure which colour I want or what to name her (she will be a her). I'm thinking maybe a white kitten called Gracie? Or maybe a brown one called Smock? I'm not sure.

Steph xx

Friday 27 May 2011

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date
No time to say "Hello", "Goodbye"
I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late
And when I wave, I lose the time I save
My fuzzy ears and whiskers
Took me too much time to shave 

I run and then I hop, hop, hop
I wish that I could fly
There's danger if I dare to stop
And here's the reason why
You see, I'm overdue, I'm in a rabbit stew
Can't even say "Goodbye", "Hello"
I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.

 
Routines can be wonderful things!

Monday wash


Tuesday iron


Wednesday mend and market


Thursday Clean


Friday visit and post


saturday bake


sunday rest (church, naturally, and a picnic afterwards would do nicely)

Steph xx

Tuesday 24 May 2011

The Reader House.

England was the first thing that I remember clearly. From before then I have only glimpses: playing at a friend’s house; going to a church, but England was where my childhood really began.

Stephanie was two years old in the winter of 1997. As she watched the frost covered window she could make out the glistening tightly packed snow that covered the ground outside the house. It was a big house, a warm house with fireplaces and thick walls to keep out the cold. On one side of it there were big fenced fields for Mr Reader’s sheep to graze in, and on the other side there was a wind break of trees with Top Warren Lane beyond that, and more fields and houses farther still.

Mum said that once the house had been a mansion but now there was a wall down the middle and it was separated into two large houses. Stephanie lived in one side with her Mum and her Dad, Sherrie and Adrian Smith, and her brother Jordan and her sister Rosemary, and in the other side lived the Reader family. Which was why, when Stephanie was older, the house came to be known to as the ‘Reader’ house.

 At this point in time, Jordan was six years old. He was a tall and some what lanky boy, as lanky as a six year old could be, with short and very fine brown hair. He was the oldest of the Smith family children, followed then by Rosemary, a sturdy looking four year old with blonde hair, and finally Stephanie, a rather slight girl for her age with curly, orange hair that, like her sisters, fell below her shoulders. 

Although Stephanie was the smallest, when Jordan and Rosemary went to play in the snow with the Reader boy, Mark, she was big enough to go with them. The snow was crisp under her boots and she could almost imagine that the cold was coming up through them. The snow tasted good and fresh, but it was hard to manipulate with her mittens on, and they kept getting wet through. So she took them off and later found that she had lost one. Mum wasn’t pleased but the stray mitten proved easy enough to find; when you have the view that a mother has, as it seemed to Stephanie.  

That night mum sewed a long piece of yarn between the two mittens from the bottom left corner of the left mitten, to the bottom right corner of the right one. When she was done she threaded one mitten through Stephanie’s jumper so that the string ran from her left mitten, up her arm, across her chest and back down her right arm to the other mitten. This way, if she took them off she would not lose them because the string would hold them limply at her wrists.

One day when Jordan, Rosemary, Mark and Stephanie were out playing in the snow, the two boys decided it would be fun the climb over into the first paddock and chase the sheep. So they started for the back of the house where they could climb the fence without being seen by any of the parents from the front windows. At this time, and for quite a time afterwards, Rosemary was in the habit of doing whatever Jordan did so off she went too, around the back of the house – Stephanie, however, followed because she didn’t like to be left out, but secretly she was terrified of the sheep and so when they came to the fence she climbed only half way before insisting that she was too little to climb the other half and over.

She wasn’t truly terrified of the sheep, only very scared, because she was so small and the sheep were so big that she was afraid of being trodden on. She also had a fear that if one of the rams were to charge at her, her being as small as she was, she would not be able to stop it, or get out of the way, in time.

And so days passed in the Reader house. Stephanie was happy there, she liked how big it was, she liked the gardens and fields, she liked sitting with her dad by the fireplace at night; it was a good aid to the imagination living in such a wonderful place; but the truth was that she was too little to be worried by things that worry grown-ups and not nearly so concerned by starting again. She liked the adventure, in fact as a small girl she often pretended that she was a gypsy – free to move where the wind blew. She was somewhat like her dad in this area; he too had a great deal of wanderlust. They were both excited by the notion of change and so leapt at the idea of leaving the big house and moving into Chapel Town.


I couldn't find a picture of me in england, but this one is from new zealand. I would have been 6 years old at this point. The other little girl's name is Alexandrah, she was a good friend of mine while I was There. In so many ways I miss my childhood, but then in so many ways I can't wait until I'm offically and finally an adult.

Steph xx

Monday 23 May 2011

Procrastionation.

There is no form of avoidance I love more than procrastination. Which is probably why I do it so much. Which is probably why I do everything I find unenjoyable at the last minute. Which is probably why I have three assignment drafts due this week and have only started one. Thank the lord that I'm ill and will be home tomorrow... working. I'm sure I'm not the only almost 16 year old who has this problem. I just hope that I can procrastinate procrastination and hold it off while my work is summative in year 12 and fourth term year 11 (end of this year). I am very lazy with school work - it's dreadful. My teachers tell me that I'm intelligent and lazy, well eccept in drama - but drama is very pleasant... music too-ish. I don't see how I can be getting As in Maths and RE though! I mean I'm only getting high Cs in English and SOS! It's crazy.

If I were a bear... I would not be this one (even if he does have my glasses - sort of). I would probably be more like this one...

Or maybe this one?

except my laptop isn't pink...

In any case I spend far too much time procrastinating, and my bath tub and laptop do not help. (I've taken to taking long baths of late - If you don't I would recommend taking at least one a week. So relaxing). Talking so much to Daniel doesn't help either. I find one of the reasons for my spending so much time on facebook is just waiting for, or talking to, him. Gasp! Did I mention that he started a blog because I said that he should ^_^ how lovely!

I have no idea what to blog about people.

Stephanie xx

Friday 20 May 2011

Tradgic.

Nazi Germany, 1941

Act One:
Best friends, Benedick and Claudio; both young German men from well to do families in Berlin, enlist in the Third Reich together and are scheduled to ship out in one month.
Benedick and his fiancée, Beatrice, discover that she is 1/16 Jewish. Benedick disowns her and turns her, and her family, in to the soldiers.
Claudio and Benedick’s sister, Hero, are discussing his going away and the lives that they want after Germany wins the war. They reminisce about when they were children and Claudio confesses that he has always loved her. Hero confesses her love in return and Claudio proposes.  
Before Claudio has the chance to ask Hero’s father, Leonarto, for his permission to marry his daughter, Sir John, a wealthy commanding officer in the Third Reich, asks Leonarto for Hero’s hand. In return Sir John offers to keep Benedick safe at the war, and so Leonarto gives his consent. When Hero begs him not to make her marry Sir John, Leonarto tells her that he has always loved Benedick the most and wants his safety more than her happiness.

Act Two:
Benedick receives word that Beatrice died in Auschwitz. He realises that he has betrayed her to her death, and he writes Claudio a note saying that he can not live with the guilt before he shoots himself.
Leonarto goes into a state of utter grievance and refuses to talk to anyone.
When Claudio reads the note he is devastated but Hero comforts him and they make plans to be married on his return from battle.
Sir John doesn’t love Hero but he sees that she is very attractive and he lusts after her. He sees her walking home alone after dark and he follows her down a side street. He threatens her that he will send Claudio to the front line at war if she doesn’t marry him. Hero feels she has no other choice. He forces her to go to Claudio the morning that he departs for war and tell him that she doesn’t love him but that she loves Sir John and that she is going to marry him. Hero can’t bring herself to do it, so she writes him a letter instead and slips it into his coat pocket when he kisses her farewell.  

Act Three:
Claudio finds the letter the night before battle. He is furious but then devastated,  so the next morning he leaves his gun behind to make sure that he will be killed by enemy fire.
While they are away Hero devises a plan that when Claudio returns from battle they can run away together; they can leave Germany and get married.
When Sir John returns, two week later, and tells Hero of Claudio’s death, she is heartbroken and holds Sir John personally responsible. Hero tells Sir John that she will never marry him and she tries to leave, but he blocks her way and rapes her.
When Sir John is asleep, she takes his gun and shoots both him and herself.
Leonarto comes into her chambers the next morning to find their bodies; hers in ripped skirts and with burses.

The End

How devistating. What a sad story, Sir John is so evil! Why do I wright such depressing stuff?
Good thing it's only fictional...
Steph xx

Thursday 19 May 2011

Sense of Self

Just a quickie.



I am so grateful that my parents brought me up with a strong sense of self. I have never been afraid of what other people will think, I am not scared to be myself. I am, you could say, verry opinionated. I know who I am and what I value, and if I see or hear somthing wrong I am the first to say somthing. I'm the excentric one. I make my voice heard. Especially in religion subjects... they always seem to be more like 'debating' rather than 'class'. Well, I'm verry sure of myself, perhaps too sure sometimes. I have never had problems with being bullied, I have always been confident and strong willed --I would know how to be a pushover as much as I would know how to be a boy -- but I have had, and do have, problems with pride. I know when to admit that I am wrong and usually always I can, except with my imediate family. I'm the worst with my mother, I find it incrediable hard to accept her authority. I guess that every strength is also a weakness. Hopefully we will go back to normal after this 'teenage' stage of my life but at the moment I don't know if I will ever find her way of speaking to me less degrading, or her commands less hypocritical. With prayer and time, I hope we'll get there.

In the meantime, I would like to introduce you to Gerald the Gerbal. He is not mine, but I would verry much like him to be. Isn't he adorbale!
Steph xx

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Animals

When I'm older (and on my farm/ acerage/ thingo) I want animals, lost of animals.

Firstly I want a kitten. (yes, I am aware that kittens turn into cats).



Two dogs.
A border collie.


And a burmese mountain dog.


Chickens.


And Silkie Bantams.

And Ducks. I'm going to need a pond.



I want a clydesdale.


And a regular brown horse.

Umm, I also want a dairy cow or two.
And a few sheep.


I want a pig.


And honey bees! Lots of honey bees!


Also one of these! They're just so cute!


Steph xx

p.s. I'm sure that there are more that I want, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

Monday 16 May 2011

A Completely Emotionless Blog!

I'm joking, but it will be short.

Stephanie advises that some of the content in this blog may not be suitable for her family members so, please, if you fall into the aforesaid category, STOP NOW.

 This is my guard lion. He is on the watch for family member passing this point. He is not happy. So if you don't want to be eaten, and you didn't listen before when I told you to stop, STOP. thank you. ^-^



Note: when 'love' is referred to in this blog it will be of the romantic kind.

Goodbye infatuation. It's a terrible feeling when you stop being infatuated with someone. You become blatantly aware of their flaws and you find yourself at an, to say the least, important cross road. Do you chose to love them?

I always was one to move quickly, to quickly for many people, so now, having been as quick as I've ever been, I'm finding myself at this cross road, perhaps long before the 'other person' may find themselves even, if ever, in the infatuation stage. So how the heck should I know what to chose! I feel like I'm delaying the decision making process, but the more I delay it the less I can stand the 'other person'. Is that weird?

Steph xx

p.s.

I know that I am going to have to choose no, because I'm too young really, but it seems like such a waist.

To my family members:
So you read the whole thing. Does it make you feel better to know that the next time I see you I will be completely embaressed? Is that why you stealthly dodged my guard lion? I hope you're happy ( and that my guilt trip is working and you won't read my blog when the guard lion is out form now on  : D ).

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Title - less blog

Hello everyone, so sorry I haven't written in a while! Here I am now though! (yay)

There's a soiree in a month at my school where the 'arts' students get to showcase their talent so my teacher decided that it would be a good idea for me to have, one, a group preformance and, two, a solo (its a good thing I don't get stage fright - in fact I LOVE preforming)! Naturally I'm dreafully excited! I havent done a show in a while - last time I did one I was acting but its all good and fun really. I was the mad hatter in alice and wonderland and it was spectacular, or so I'm told. For the group number I'm with two friends of mine and we are singing 'Landslide' by The Dixie Chicks, and for my solo I'm singing 'The Honey Tree' by The Mostar Driving Club. They are both great songs but I'm practically in love with the honey tree at the moment, and I'm doing that one solo, so it suffices to say that that is the one I'm most excited about doing! If you've never heard the song I suggest you listen to it before we continue... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJL7SYAvnZA&playnext=1&list=PL9B44E25CE317C981 ...



done? Ok. Moving on, lets talk about..... Christopher Darling. Christopher is a wonderful, intelligent, charming, christian, handsome, funny and gramatically correct man... or rather, he would be if he actually existed. He is my alias. He enables me to spend a long time correcting other people's mistakes in comments, on everything from blogs to youtube, without feeling like a hypocrite. When I get bored, which I do often, I like to stumble through the internet looking for comments in which people have made mistakes. I leave lenghty 'correctional comments' then sign off as Christopher Darling. Its a lot of fun! I would highly recomend it! It's great for a whole heap of things:

relieving stress
blowing off steam
building self estieme
general enjoyment
amusement
humor
the list goes on...

My favorite 'correction comment' that I have done was on the stone jungles of Madagascar and the lemurs that live there. If you ever come across it, THAT WAS ME : D

Aaaaaaaanywayyyyyyy

Steph xx

p.s. I just has a great idea!!!!!!! It would be AWESOM if they could invent type writers that two people could chat over! (pause for effect)

Like you could both see the same page and text!!! How cool!!

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Maybe, maybe not?

I'm quite a fearful person really, and some of my fears are just plain irrational. I'm afraid of:

The unknown
Heights
Pain
Staying single
Being locked in enclosed places
Undressing in front of people
hell
Ridicule
Moths, spiders, grasshoppers (all bugs really)
Speed (roller coasters are dreadful!)
Being cut
Being in the house alone at night
The list goes on...

I don't know why I'm scared of some of those things. Take moths for instance, they are tiny and couldn't hurt you if they tried, but I still yell and run from the room when ever they flap at me! I can't sleep at night if there is a moth in my room, I just lie there.... watching it. When there is a moth on the wall in the hall I sneak to a point then dash past it and run to the kitchen. Why? That is so stupid, but no matter how I try I can't stop being terrified! (unintentionally I'v even made my best friend scared of them)

So you can imagine my gladness when I heard:

Perfect love casts out all fear. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. 1 John 4:18

That's some pretty good news for me. It means that, hopefully, as I grow closer to God those fears should go away. Then I read the second bit of 1 John 4:18:

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

What does that mean! Am I not made perfect in love? Then I was scared about not being perfected in love. However I don't know one person who isn't afariad of somthing. There will be no fear in heaven (no bad fear - we may still 'fear' God, I don't know how that's going to work) and no human is perfect. So is that scripture the same then? We can't possibly be perfect in love while we are corrputed by sin so maybe that perfection only comes after the death of our flesh. I'm not sure but I think that could be plausable.


Steph xx

p.s. I wonder if we will get to fly in heaven. I would like to fly, but it's not verry important... so maybe not?

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Autumn Babies

Hello everyone! Today was the first evening of autumn cold enough to make soup - so i did! I love autumn, it's a wonderful season beaten only by winter, and spring I must admit... but it is still glorious!  Anyway, I made a potato and vegtable (carrot, srping onion, garlic, onion, rosemary, salt, pepper and pre-done vegtable stock) soup, and grandma stayed to tea.

It was verry good. Don't the colours remind you of autumn leaves? They do for me, but I didn't realise it until after I'd made it, quite fitting for the first 'cold  enough' night of autumn. I should verry much like to have a child in autumn, the idea of an 'autumn baby' seems verry romantic.



Then, the child in the second picture isn't an infant. He looks more like... 18 months...? Or maybe a bit older. So then my child could be born in the spring the year before and be this age in the second autumn of their life. Anyway, the notion of 'spring babies' also seems romantic.

Oh, and just look at the clothes I can make for her!

I really just can't wait to have kids at all! Be them born in autumn or in spring, or in any other season for that matter! Well, I'v got to go and do some school work; the neseccary evil, Daniel tells me. I really don't want to but I really should. I won't delay the inevitable it any longer.

Steph xx

ps, I almost forgot! I'v oiled my clogs!

Monday 2 May 2011

A Bit More Bla. (note: unrelated to the last bit of bla).

My, perhaps stupid or uninteresting, thoughts on the misconception of infatuation.

Infatuation; wildly misunderstood as, one, love and, two, a highly desirable function of the heart. Infatuation is, in fact, of the head and not love nor a conclusive sign of it. However, they can coexist. 

I do concede that love and close proximity often breed, for a time, infatuation, and romance for that matter, but one is not a by-product of the other. 

I would much rather love and be loved than have requited infatuation. 

Infatuation is blind to flaws, but is fleeting. Love sees the faults, but accepts and forgives and continues to love. It is easy to live with the infatuated, but it’s hard to live with those you love. You put up with all of the annoyances and you get through the hard stuff, because you love them - If you didn't, would you stick around or hang out with someone who made you feel awful? - you take the good with the bad. 

Love is a choice and no one 'falls out' of it by accident. 

Stephanie xx 

p.s. do tell me if I'm boring you with all of this bla'ry bla'ness. I seem to have a spot of bloggers block. 

hey look, its another picture! ayyy!

Sunday 1 May 2011

Bla

I keep checking facebook every five minutes but he's not on. Why is he never on when I want him to be? Why does he think he's not 'mature' enough, though hes 19! Does he think I'm not mature enough? Does that show he knows me little? Is that a sign that we should get to know eachother better before anything happens? Yes, I supose it is, and we should. Besides, he's not ready to put emotions into actions. Now, I dare say, he'll read this before long and know it's about him. I wonder if he would mind me mentioning all of this to all of you, whoever you are. Then, none of you know who in heck I'm talking about, or I dare say what I'm even on about. So, in theory, it shouldn't matter. He doesn't know you, and you don't know him. I don't think he'll care, I hope. Damn, I don't feel like posting this - but then I do. It's private but then I feel like this blog is a void that I just spit thoughts into, but I know it's not and people, people I know, do, infact, read this - for petes sake they comment. Yet, I'm going to post this. I might delete it before long though...

Steph xx

p.s. I suddenly wish my relatives didn't know about this blog.
these are both my love and cry songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLT3B381USQ&feature=fvsr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrK5u5W8afc&feature=related