Little Things

Sometimes all you need,

to brighten up your day,

is a simple smile or laugh,

sent from far away.

A rainbow forming from the clouds,

the stars that shine at night,

all the tiny things,

that make a day so bright,

a small yet perfect butterfly,

perched on a dainty flower,

jumping into puddles,

 from an afternoon shower,

All these little things, 

they make our life so great,

yet are barely acknowledged, 

until it is too late.

For little things create the big,

the "big" that we find great,

like going to a party,

or staying up real late.

but these things do not happen,

every single day,

and so we feel unlucky,

sad, and down in every way...

we feel rejected, and feel mad,

because our life's not "perfect",

but now, sit down, lie back,

reflect!

for it truly is the little things...

the little things that make life perfect.

Summer..?

I am pretty excited- summer is almost here! I think that a lot of kids my age look forward to summer too, but the main reason is not the same. I like summer because I get to go swimming, I can hang out with my friends during the week (so long as I get my work done) and my family does activities such as fishing, canoeing, and hiking. While I am sure that these are all things other kids think of and relate to summer, I would think that the main thing is getting a few months off from school.

Being homeschooled, I don't get the summer off- I work right through. I think that if I actually did get the summer off one time, I honestly wouldn't know what to do with myself! I'm so used to doing schoolwork that to have 2 months off would- well, bore me. While I may not LIKE some areas of my schooling, it does keep me occupied and somewhat interests me. Often, summer is normal days of work with swimming added in for me.

But for many other kids, summer is a time to hang with friends, swim, and go on fun family vacations. Whatever you are doing for summer, I hope you have fun! Leave me a comment telling me what you're doing! I plan on doing all of what I have mentioned above and climbing Mt. Monadnock with my Dad.

Maddie

A shout out

This weekend, my dad hung out with me and my sister a lot. Usually he gets busy with work, but because of Memorial Day, he had free time. On Sunday and today he took us to the park, out for iced coffee, played xBox with me and my sister, and played with us. Despite me having to read Atlas Shrugged (a mediocre book by Ayn Rand), it was one of the most fun weekends I have had.

My sister and I have a surprise cooked up for my Dad and Grandma for all they do for us- but I'm not going to say what it is on here. Being it is late, I'm going to keep this post short: but before I go, I want to give a shout out to both my Dad and Grandma.

Dad: thanks for all the time you spend with me, for the late night gaming sessions, for the long, LONG talks at the park, for the hilarious snide comments, for all that you teach me and help me with, and for BEING AN AWESOME DAD.

Grandma: thanks for putting up with me when I am in bad moods and always forgiving me, for having long "girl" talks with me, for all that you've taught me about cooking, nursing and so much more and for all the help with Ashleigh.

I love the both of you sooooo much!!!!

Maddie

Cat Simulator- Cool Game

After playing the game "The Very Organized Thief", I started looking for other first person 3D games. It wasn't long before I found one I liked: "Catlateral Damage". In a nutshell, you are a cat and your job is to knock everything off of everything- basically, be a cat. There are a few different modes- in one, you are given 2 minutes to knock 100+ items on the ground to win and in another you are given two minutes to knock multiple items down at once. Finally, there is "Litterbox" mode where you have free run of the house- wreaking havoc untimed.

You DO need to download Unity to play the game- but it is worth it. I also just found out that you need Unity to play the very organized thief as well, so it is well worth downloading. It is free, doesn't ask for ANY personal info and hasn't given me any issues in the month I have had it. You can check back to my older posts to find the link to "The Very Organized Thief" and you can check out "Catlateral Damage" here: http://www.catlateraldamage.com/play

If Unity is not installed on your computer already, the site will ask you to download it in order to play the game. While it may seem childish, it is a fun game so don't judge it by the name. Know any fun games? Leave me a comment and tell me below.

Maddie

MAPS Testing Stress

This weekend I had my MAPS testing... I was SOOOO nervous! I always stress out about my testing in the week before, and then do good on my test. This year, I was above 9th grade level on both reading and math... and I'm only in 6th grade! However, I DO want to work on Latin root (hint to Dad) because I got a few of those and I had no idea what to do.

Other than that, not much has happened this week... except for an experiment with the bacon bowl. My aunt Michele sent my Dad a bacon bowl mold, and today me and my Grandma tried making them. The first thing that I want to say is... they are EXTREMELY greasy. Don't make them unless you are prepared to scrub the microwave to get spattering grease off of it.

In the end, the bowls came out fine... just a little smaller than anticipated. However, it was a fun experience and they were adorable- but I think they would be better at a party, not for a substantial meal. Thank you Aunt Michelle for sending them!

Have you had an experience with the Bacon Bowl? Leave it in the comments and tell me what YOU think of it!

Maddie

Songs Tell You A Lot

Today I was talking to one of my friends about different songs when I realized- Songs can tell you a lot about a person! I figure that for someone to like a song, it has to have one of two things:

1) A good beat
2) Sentimental value or the song in some way relates to them.

Most often, the song has sentimental value and can tell you a lot about the person that listens to the song. While it may not completely define them, you can usually pick out a few things about them and their personality by listening to the song's lyrics. This trick is better to try on people you already know, because you will probably be able to pick out if they just like the beat or not.

Studies have shown that different types of music affect how the average person acts, especially classical- for many, classical music (slow classical music, that is) helps people to concentrate better when working. I personally prefer more upbeat songs as classical music puts me to sleep... but that's just me! Let me know in the comments what music YOU listen to while working!

Maddie

The Sims 4

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE the Sims games- I play both 2 and 3. Now, Sims 4 is coming out in fall! I have seen some of the videos for create a sim, and it looks WAY more detailed. Instead of the usual sliders, you can now just drag and pull with your mouse to create your sims without going through TONS of menus like before. The only bad part about this game is that it is SUPER expensive right now- $50!!!

Other than that, I don't really have any exciting news- things are the same old same old. My sister is currently riding her tricycle around (over my feet) and singing songs from the movie Frozen. I have some math to finish and then I am done with schoolwork for the day- so I will end this post here.

Maddie