#also I have drawn something today yippee!!!

[ask-the-totally-real-peppino]

Not completely sure how to ask this but which of the clones are the tallest or the chonkiest? This is for science-

(Oh, Chickpea hands down for both! He's fucking massive, both in height and in weight, but he is a bit of an outlier, bc he was purposely made to be big

Most of the other tall clones are 6-8ft tall, and all clones are fat, but some are fatter than others

Idk what science you need this for, but I hope it helps lkfdkjfd)

[hana-bobo-finch]

settle down everyone, it is time for Hana to ramble about her silly stuff

SHOCKINGLY I am not yapping about a character this time but a place. The Briar Zome (as seen (poorly) drawn above)

SO!!! Going to try to explain this as simply as possible because even I don’t remember everything about it

It’s a pocket dimension of sorts. For the sake of simplicity let’s call it B while the “normal” dimension is called A. It’s unknown how B is actually accessed. Every Friday the 13th (hence why I’m posting abt this today, yippee) a Very Definitely Not Suspicious Guy who runs an illegal restaurant at the top of a mountain (story for another day. Or for never at all) serves his “special coffee” which he heavily persuades if not forces people (by people I mean really his only 2 or 3 regular customers) to drink. Shortly after you drink it, you black out and end up in the briar zome with no memory of what happened in between drinking the coffee and waking up. The “special coffee” also leaves you with a horrible illness the next day. While other similar pocket dimensions have been accessed by studying the environment of the Briar Zome, think of those as dimension “C”, it still remains a mystery how to actually get to B. It’s equally a mystery as to how you leave—you leave just as suddenly as you arrive, you blink and suddenly you’re back in the “normal” world, “dimension A”.

Time works differently there, as to be expected. Usually experiences in the briar zome last anywhere from a day to a week, but in dimension A no time passes at all (e.g. you could find yourself there, spend 3 days there, but when you go back to the “normal” dimension, no time passed at all). I could get into the numerous time and dimensional theories but um. I won’t. That will bore you all to tears I think

It’s a consistently cold environment with snow and ice caking everything, yet plant growth is rampant, especially rose bushes and brambles, hence the briar part of the name. There are multiple patches of thick thorns, making some areas hard to traverse. Between different “visits”, if you could call them that, to the Briar Zome, the general layout changes slightly. To put it in pikmin terms, it’s like the caves in pikmin 2 but less drastic. There are also long stretches of water and rivulets that are, of course, frozen over, but the ice is generally very thin. Although it’s snowy and icy, the temperature seems to be bizarrely non-existent. It’s not cold, it’s not warm, it’s not in between, it simply does not exist. The atmosphere is rather thin, but still breathable. Everything in the briar zome is slightly off in a way. Think like the feeling you get when you’re struggling to remember something that’s on the tip of your tongue. It’s also just generally quite unpredictable. Anything could happen, really. The landscape is never ending. If there is an end to it, nobody’s seen it. It seems to go on forever. Same with the snow—you could dig in it all you want, but it’s infinite. The ground has never been seen there.

In one specific area, known as the Eye Rink, there are, as seen in my quick drawing of it, sentient eyes!!! Their nerves take root at the bottom of the water and rise up above the ice. They’re incredibly long, as the lakes and rivers can get quite deep. Surprisingly they’re almost rather doglike in behavior. They just want to be your friend :) they’ll hug you with their big ol’ eye stalks. Very tightly. To the point you might break a bone. But they’re just big sweethearts.

There’s nobody else there but the people who were mysteriously transported there. People tend to end up there in groups—if two people drink the “special coffee,” they’ll go there together. And they’ll be, aside from each other, completely alone. Wildlife is also sparse but there are a few creatures here and there. Some rabbits, deer, and foxes. Most injuries sustained in the Briar Zome seem to not follow you into the “real” world once you awaken, but nobody’s had the guts to see what would happen if you were to die there. You’d most likely end up dead in the real world, too.

There’s a special form of writing there. A code of sorts, I suppose. It’s written via drawings of phases of the moon and types of plants. This is a TOTALLY fleshed out idea, I definitely didn’t think of it like 6 hours ago. But it, in its beta form, looks like this:

good luck translating it, because I can barely read it myself, and I probably wrote it wrong!

There is probably more to it that I’m forgetting because I made the briar zome in like. What, December of last year? And it isn’t a huge part of my silly goofy story stuff so I don’t think about it very often. But. Yeah

[theyetch]

I'm out sick today, because everyone's catching things now that school is back in full swing, and of course I did something better than homework.

Now, I don't know how many of you people (you people being the two humans that will end up seeing this post) have watched the YouTube videos of one individual named Hoser. But just in case you haven't, here's a quick run-down:

This guy makes insanely insightful videos about geopolitics and goings-on in non-america nations. Usually not foreign policy, just their internal affairs. Now, one of the things that make his videos so recognizable is that he uses little animal dudes to represent the countries. This serves a dual purpose of

a) making the videos more engaging and giving your eyes something to focus on, and

b) funi.

This guy has a very specific style that he draws the little animal dudes in: it tends to be the national (or emblematic) animal of a nation, and has that nations flag kinda drawn onto it. Like this:

So, having made a fake nation a few months back just for the fun of it, I decided a good use of my time would be to make my own little animal dude, like so (and the flag for reference):

But that's just how it started. You see, I still had multiple hours that I could be using to get homework done, and you know we can't have that here. So, I spent the rest of my time (not a few hours, but maybe one) creating a fake thumbnail for a fake video that he fake made ((he did not make a video)). I was pretty happy with how it turned out, especially since I put in the effort to find the font he used and his drop shadow settings and all, so you'll be seeing that later as well.

This was all well and good, but how was I supposed to reach maximum heehee (to myself and only myself) if it didn't ACTUALLY look like a video?? The answer is that I wasn't. So more homework wasn't done, more time was spent, and I ended up with this (plus an actual video of his for reference):

Yippee!! I did it!! And now I have nothing to do yet again.

Also, if you haven’t watched this guy’s videos, i strongly recommend giving them a try, especially if you’re a Big Nerd like me.

[rosesnvines]

Dragon Games

For Free Day, based on Dragon Drive (it was practically begging for it) and includes characters from Zak Storm. Enjoy!  And a great many thanks to everyone who participated in Mericcup Month! Y’all are awesome!! 

Hiccup glanced at the building, nervousness and excitement battling it out in his chest. He was excited, and grateful, that Fishlegs had told him about the new multi-player game, it was about dragons. He and Fishlegs had been fascinated with dragons since they were little and collected as much as they could, as well as playing any kind of dragon game. But Hiccup was also nervous, and though part of it had to do with the fact that the game could only be played in a special arena, meaning he would have to be near people, the majority of it came from the possibility of being near one person in particular. The sounds of voices drawing nearer interrupted his thoughts. He dashed around the corner and slowly peeked around to see who it was. He let out a romantic sigh, there she was, Merida Dunbroch, captain of the archery team, president of the Tough Girls club, fighter for justice and against bullying, just an all-around awesome girl, and the girl Hiccup had the biggest crush on. He had had a crush on Astrid, until Merida walked into their lives. And now, she was walking towards the very building Hiccup had been about to go into, flanked by Astrid, Heather, Crista, and the twins.

“So, what’s this game about?” asked Merida. “I’m not going to enter that building until someone finally tells me,” she stated as she crossed her arms.

“Ugh, fine, we’ll tell you,” Astrid said with a huff as she crossed her arms.

“It’s about dragons, mainly,” replied Tuffnut.

“You duel it out with other players,” piped up Ruffnut.  

“At the end of the tournament, you get a prize,” said Crista.

“It varies from year to year, but it’s usually a basket of goodies and a gift card to the mall,” finished up Heather.

“Happy now?” asked Astrid.

“Oh, fine. But just one game. I have to get back to the club room and take care of some things.”

“We know,” quipped Astrid as she practically pushed Merida towards the building, Heather, Crista, and the twins following close behind. Hiccup peeked around the corner and watched them usher Merida into the building. Hiccup counted to ten before following, Fishlegs would come out looking for him if he didn’t get into the foyer soon enough. As he figured, his crush and her group were leaving the front desk when Hiccup entered. They hadn’t seen him yet, but Fishlegs noticed him and waved him over to the front desk.

“I figured you were waiting for Merida to come through first. You are such a gentleman,” quipped Fishlegs.

“Ha ha, very funny. So, are you going to introduce me to this dragon game of yours, or not?”

“This dragon game is called Dragon Tournament. They assign you a dragon, you train him or her, and you pit your dragon against other dragons until one person rises victorious! It’s a lot of fun, really.”

“Uh-huh. Remind me why I’m here again?”

“Today they’re trying out something new, they’re doing teams! And I really, really want you on my team, Hiccup!”

“Because no one else will?”  

“Well, not exactly, see, Zak and Crogar are on the team too, we just needed a fourth team member,” replied Fishlegs.

“Oh, I didn’t know you roped Zak into it.”

Fishlegs chuckled nervously. “Yeah, it’s a long story.”

“Fishlegs!” came a voice from the hall. Their friend Zak Storm came huffing into the foyer. “Oh good, you’re here, Hiccup. Hurry it up, it’s about ready to start!”

Fishlegs let out a shriek. “Um, excuse me, ma’am? Can I get Hiccup’s card?”

“Say what?” asked the woman.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I mean, miss, may I have Hiccup Haddock’s card? Please?”

The woman rummaged around on her desk. “Ah-ha, here it is. Have fun, boys!” she said as she gave Fishlegs a card with a dragonesque logo on one side.

“Thank you so much!” Fishlegs quickly handed off the card to Hiccup before basically pushing Zak and Hiccup down the hall. He let out a another shriek when they heard an announcer counting down from fifteen. “Where are our seats?”

“Follow me!” said Zak as he led the way through the large room filled with four-seater tables, the majority of which were filled.

“Zak! Fishlegs! Hiccup!” called out a boy as large as Fishlegs as he waved them over.

“Oh, thank you Crogar!” exclaimed Zak as the three made a dash for the table, each sliding into their seat as the announcer said four.

“Just . . . made it,” huffed Zak.

“Yeah, no kidding. We would have been eliminated for sure if we didn’t make it in time!”

“Please insert your cards into the slot on the table, and we can begin,” came the announcer’s voice. The four slid their cards in and four small screens popped out of the table.

“Whoa! This is nice!” quipped Zak as he looked over his screen.

“Yeah, real nice,” echoed Hiccup. The next instance, dragons were popping up on the screens as well as the large screen in the middle of the room. There were exclamations of awe and disappointment as dragons were being assigned to players. Crogar was the first at their table to get a dragon.

“Hey, I’ve got a Wyvern!” he exclaimed.

“Nice! This is excellent! Wyverns are great at attacks! This is already starting to look good!” exclaimed Fishlegs. “Oh, oh, oh! I’ve got my dragon! Welcome back, Meatlug!”

“Meatlug?” asked Hiccup.

“You named your dragon Meatlug?” asked Zak.

“Oh yes, she loves her meat!”

“Go figure,” mumbled Hiccup.

“She’s a Gronkle, so I’ll be more on defence. Oh, look, Zak, you’re getting yours!” Everyone watched with baited breath as Zak’s dragon appeared on his screen.

“Uh, a Boneknapper? Really? I get a skeleton dragon?”

“Actually, that’s one of the fiercest dragons of all! This is perfect! You and Crogar can be offensive, and Hiccup and I are defensive!”

“But I haven’t gotten my dragon yet,” pointed out Hiccup.

“Here it comes now!” said Fishlegs with a squeal.

“Fishlegs, could you turn down your enthusiasm, like . . .” Hiccup paused, trying to think of a good number.

“Eighty-five percent,” said Zak.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Um, that looks really tiny, almost like a garden or a common dragon,” said Fishlegs as Hiccup’s dragon came into view.

“Hey, I can compare my dragon’s size to yours!” blurted Zak. He pushed a button and their dragons were side by side. Everyone gulped.

“What? Why?” whined Hiccup.

“Oh man, that is, that is a rather small dragon, Hiccup,” said Zak, almost apologetically.

“That has to be a common dragon, it’s too small to be anything else! Though, I haven’t heard of many common dragons that are black. You must have a rather rare dragon, Hiccup!” exclaimed Fishlegs.

“Oh, yippee,” muttered Hiccup.

Someone laughed. “It’s small and wimpy, just like you, Hiccup!”

“Be quiet, Snotlout!” Hiccup shouted at his cousin. But a few others began to join in the laughter and Hiccup began to slump. Zak gave a little growl and was about to stand when the announcer’s voice came over the P.A.

“Everyone, please be quiet. You were given your dragon for a reason. Now, everyone has been assigned a dragon, please turn to your screens and begin to train your dragon!” There were a few cheers before total silence seemed to reign as everyone turned their attention to training their dragons.

“Hey, Hiccup, are you alright?” asked Zak in a whisper.

“Snotlout is always picking on me,” Hiccup whispered back.

“You’ve got to stand up to him one day, man. Maybe, maybe this is why you’ve got your dragon, maybe it has some great potential that only you can unlock.”

“Hey, what are you going to name your dragons?” whispered Fishlegs. The two glanced at their screens, a bar ready to take a name.

“Well, since mine is a skeleton and my first thought is pirates, I’ll name mine . . . Corsair.” The name appeared on the screen.

“Yeah, well, mine looks pathetic so I’ll give him a less-mean sounding name, like . . . Toothless.” Zak shot him a look. “What? If he is a special type and takes us all by surprise, well, the name will take our opponents by surprise.”

Zak looked impressed with that line of thinking. “That’s an idea. I guess so, if you’re set on that name.”

“Definitely. His name is Toothless.” The page with the names disappeared, and the training commenced. It only a took a few minutes, but by the time training was over, Hiccup was nowhere near closer than when he started.

“What is up with your dragon, man?” asked Zak as he glanced at Hiccup’s progress, or lack thereof.

“I don’t know! He doesn’t want to do a thing! The lazy little . . .”

“Training is over! Let the tournament commence!” came the announcement. “However, if you do not think your dragon is ready or would just like some more time to train, please head to the special training room, the door on the other end of the room. All team members are welcome to join their teammate in the training room. Please be sure to take your cards with you. We will hold your place, so have no fear about that. Good luck!” Snotlout’s laugh could be heard.

“Well, looks like that’s the place for the Loser team!”

“No, we’re not the loser team! We’re just the special team!” Zak shouted back.

“Oh yeah, what makes you so special?”

“Hiccup’s dragon! It’s a rare that needs extra training, that’s all!”

“Zak!” hissed Hiccup as he jumped up and began to nudge him towards the door.

“Don’t forget your cards!” blurted Fishlegs as he quickly took them out for Hiccup and Zak. The two took their cards from Fishlegs and walked towards the training room, Zak shooting a glare at the chuckling Snotlout as they passed him by. But they made it to the training room door fairly fine, as everyone else’s attention was drawn towards the tournament. Crogar, having reached the door first, opened it and let his teammates in, closing the door behind him.

“Huh, so, the training room is at the end of this hallway?” asked Crogar.

Hiccup scratched his head. “Uh, I guess so? I hope so. I don’t know where else to go.”

“Well, come on, let’s go get that special dragon of yours trained,” quipped Zak as he led the way down the hall.

“Yeah, a real special lazy dragon,” muttered Hiccup with a sigh as they walked down the hall.

“Hey, I wanted to train some more with Corsair, so, let’s do this! With more training, we can beat all of them, even Snotlout!” cheered Zak with a grin.

“I’m glad you’re so enthusiastic,” muttered Hiccup.

“Hey, come on, we’re a team! Snotlout always tries to do things by himself,” stated Zak as he patted Hiccup’s shoulder.

“You mean like you?” asked Crogar, he and Fishlegs snickering. Hiccup glanced at Zak with a grin.

“Uh, you, uh, mean like I used to. Come on guys, give me a break! I was the new kid and trying to act all cool!”

“And totally blowing it,” quipped Fishlegs between snickers.

“Well I didn’t completely blow it, I met you guys, right?”

“I think that’s the one thing we all agree on,” quipped Hiccup.The group arrived at another door.

“Alright Hiccup, ready to whip that lazy little dragon into shape?”

“Just like we whipped you into shape?” quipped Hiccup as he crossed his arms. Zak grinned and chuckled nervously before pushing open the door. Within was nothing more than a white room with card slots dotted throughout the walls.

“Uh, OK, so, we just put our cards in and we get personal big screens, or something?” asked Zak.

“Well, let’s put in our cards and find out,” suggested Hiccup as he slid his into a slot. The other three slid theirs in next to his.  

“OK, nothing’s happening,” mentioned Zak as he glanced around and scratched the back of his head in confusion. “Is it broken?” A beam activated and a white light filled the room. The four teens closed their eyes and waited a minute before peeking to see if the light was gone, and yelled instead.

“What the?” exclaimed Hiccup tugging on his clothes.

“We’re in Viking clothes now!” exclaimed Crogar.

“That’s not the worst of it! We’re not even in the special training room!” exclaimed Zak. And he was right, they weren’t surrounded by white walls dotted with card slots, they were surrounded by blooming trees, green grass, and birds singing!

“What? What? Where are we?” exclaimed Fishlegs.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” The boys glanced over, and yelled again. There was Merida, Astrid, Heather, and Crista, all in long, flowing medieval dresses, Merida was in a green dress, Astrid was in a blue-grey dress, Heather was in brown, and Crista was in purple.

“Have you seen anything that could give you a clue?” asked Fishlegs hopefully. Though he only asked the question simply because Hiccup was going into panic mode.

“You mean outside of the fact that we somehow changed into ancient people clothes?” asked Zak, pulling at his red shirt and black vest. “And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want my cargo pants back.”

“Uh, how’s that for a clue?” asked Crogar, pointing up. There was a Boneknapper heading straight for them! It let out a roar. The teens screamed and began to run, but the Boneknapper overtook them in a matter of minutes and landed in front of them.

“It’s going to eat us! It’s going to eat us!” exclaimed Fishlegs as he covered his eyes with fright.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Start running!” exclaimed Heather, grabbing his arm. But they came to a screeching halt as dragon after dragon landed, surrounding them.

“Wait a second . . . Meatlug?” The Gronkle just panted and grinned before giving Fishlegs a big lick.

“So, wait, this is Corsair?” asked Zak, glancing up at the Boneknapper. The Boneknapper seemed to purr before it licked Zak.

“Then this must be Freya!” exclaimed Crogar.

“Stormfly?”

“Windshear?”

“Caspian?” Crista asked the Hobblegrunt dragon.

“Caspian? Why’d you name your dragon Caspian?” asked Zak.

“It’s one of the seven seas,” replied Crista.

“Oh, right,” replied Zak going back to petting Corsair and keeping an eye on the overly lost-in-romantic-thought Hiccup. Crista’s father was a wealthy merchant, often nicknamed the “king of the seven seas”.

“So wait a second, where’s my dragon?” asked Merida.

That seemed to snap Hiccup out of his romantic thoughts for him to realize the same thing. “Hey, where’s mine?”

Zak leaned in and whispered, “Maybe her dragon is going out on a date with yours.”

“Oh shut up. Highly unlikely. My dragon’s too lazy to go on a date.” A low chirp-like sound caught their attention. Hiccup found the source rather quick, it was a black common dragon. “Toothless?” The little dragon let out a meow-like sound, as if to say yes, and bumped Hiccup’s hand with his nose.

“Aw! Seeing him up close now, he’s really cute,” stated Zak as Hiccup picked up the little dragon. “Nothing against you, Corsair, but, the smaller ones tend to be cuter, while the bigger ones tend to be awesome.” Corsair let out a soft purr, as if to agree.

“Aw! He so is!” exclaimed Crista as she came over to pet the little dragon. “What did you say his name is?”

“Uh, Toothless.”  

“Well, I guess it suits him. But really, Stormwatch, Windshear, Meatlug? Do you guys have any imagination whatsoever?” asked Merida. “Corsair’s nice, Zak.”

“Thanks Mer.”

“And Toothless works for yours.”

“Um, uh, thank, thank you.” Hiccup began to blush.

“Keep it together, man,” Zak whispered.

“I’m trying! I can’t help it if she’s so awesome!” he whispered back.

“But really, Mer, where’s yours?” asked Crista.

“I don’t know. Toothless let us know where he was, but, I haven’t heard another sound. Nor do I see another dragon coming in.” Merida paused. “I’m getting worried. Everyone’s dragons came looking for us, but, mine’s not here. And I know she would be. Something must have happened.”

“And you’d be right,” said a voice.

“Ah! You’re the desk lady!” shouted Zak, pointing at the woman standing not far from them, who somehow appeared out of nowhere.

“You can call me by the other nickname the kids have for me, the old witch, because, technically, I am one.”

“You’re a real witch!” they exclaimed.

“No, you’re dreaming. Of course I’m a real witch! What did you expect? A fake witch? And these dragons are just figments of your imagination? Pretty solid figments.” The teens chuckled nervously. “Now come on, there isn’t much time, and I have a lot to explain.”

“Oh, you better believe it,” muttered Zak as the group began to follow her. She led them around the bend to a cozy cottage and let them in. The dragons, except Toothless, had to stay outside as they were all too big, but the witch left the door wide open. “Alright, start explaining,” stated Zak as he crossed his arms.

“Weren’t we just playing a game?” asked Fishlegs.

“How did we get here?” asked Astrid.

“Will you let me start explaining, or are you to keep wasting time by asking the very questions I was about to answer?”

“Sorry,” they mumbled.

“Please, go on,” said Crista.

“Thank you. Now, yes, you were just playing a game, but the game is a front for a portal between your world and this one, the game is a virtual reality version of this world, though the dragons still know what’s going on. We send messages to them to let them know. Which is how they knew where to find you, I told them where you were going to be since I brought you here.”

“But, why us?” asked Zak.

“And why now?” asked Fishlegs.

“There is an ancient prophecy that spoke of the king of dragons finally returning one day and, with the help of children from another world, would defeat the usurper Drago. He destroyed  the last great king of the dragons with his Alpha, and we have been living under his tyranny ever since. A few of us have been able to work in secrecy to find you, but only a few of us actually know about Earth, and if Drago ever found out . . . it’s best if you keep that a secret.”

“So, can you tell me where Morrigan is?” asked Merida.

The witch sighed. “Unfortunately, yes, Drago captured her. She and Toothless are the last of the Nightfuries, I made them look like common dragons so that they could pass undetected by Drago’s men, but, apparently someone figured out the rise and has captured Morrigan in the hopes that the king of the dragons will go save his queen.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry Toothless, I thought you were being lazy when you were just worried about your girlfriend.”

“Whoa, so I wasn’t too far off,” whispered Zak.

“Sh!”

“So, will you help us? Will you save Morrigan and topple Drago’s tyranny?”

“Could we get home if we said no?” asked Zak.

“It would be hard to, considering the portals are technically under Alpha’s command, but there are a few that they don’t know about. It’s a long journey from here.”

“Well, if we have to be stuck here for a while before we can get back home, then I suggest we save Morrigan and topple Drago on our way home.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Hiccup. The others agreed.

“Though, if you take out Drago really quick, you could get home even faster,” pointed out the witch.

“There’s that too,” stated Merida.

“Well, that’s why I said it’s all on the way home. We’d have to take him out either way,” stated Zak.

“Good point,” said Crogar.

“Well then, let’s get started on a plan,” said the witch as she unrolled a map and introduced the teens to the world of the adventure of a lifetime.

[jojobellelondon]

The Thrill of Winning

There is something genuinely beautiful about the smile that lights up Kathryn’s face when she talks about her enjoyment of sport. You can instantly tell from her speech and body language that her love of sport (especially winning) is what lights her up.

For many years now she has been the schools undisputed Girls Cross Country champion, and her continual enjoyment of running, supports this achievement. Her fitness is also evidenced in her very impressive ‘Beep test’ scores (a way of assessing a persons fitness level and something that is frequently done in both Primary and High School PE).  

However, what has really made her bloom, is being picked to play on the school Girls European Handball team. It has been something that she has looked forward to for a long time, as children are not given the opportunity to play Inter-school sport until they reach Year 5, and even then, first preference goes to all Year 6 students. Last term she missed out, as all spots were filled by Year 6 kids, but this term...Yippee!! 

Underneath her very amiable, kind, generous exterior is a killer instinct. The desire to win runs deep, and winning as part of a team is what gives her most pleasure. 

I have seen her on a running course let others win. In fact last year, while running lead in a District 800m final, a girl from close behind begged to win, and Kathryn slowed to let her pass! True story. So it’s the team sport that brings most satisfaction; the shared experience, the working together to win is what counts.

Every Friday is Inter-school sports and every Friday she is out the door early. As we walk to school she is all of a chatter about who they are playing. She talks about her other teammates with great pride. Her praise of others sporting abilities is most admirable and that’s what I love about her. Maybe that’s why she was voted Junior House Captain. People are always drawn to a ‘team player’, and she is definitely one of those. 

This terms highlight was scoring and winning on her 11th birthday. I wonder what todays score line will be? 

[nancypullen]

Keep on Truckin’

Remember that guy?  If you were a child of the 70′s you probably drew him on notebooks, I know I did.  Originally a symbol of optimism and encouragement, and supposedly drawn from the Blind Boy Fuller song “Truckin’ My Blues Away”, the phrase has kept me going more times than I care to count.  Just keep putting one foot in front of the other...

That motto has seen me through my recent one-legged holiday madness, helped me survive waving both boys off to far away places, and today....well, today I walked to the mailbox and back without crutches.  I may have walked like Frankenstein, and I may have had my phone in my pocket in case I fell and couldn’t get up, but  all you can do is prepare yourself and keep on truckin’.      I did it! I did it! I did it!   Each day will get better and by the time that daffodils are blooming I should be salsa dancing.  That’s my plan anyway. I mentioned that the Pullen boys left.  Tyler and Jamie left first and had a smooth trip back to Annapolis.   Matt was due to leave on the 3rd of January but received an offer from Delta that he couldn’t resist.  They were anticipating massive problems from the winter storm, and Amsterdam (one of his connecting cities) was also experiencing weather issues - so they gave him the option to delay his travels.  Yippee! He was happy to stay a couple of extra days and we were thrilled to keep him.  He eventually departed on the 5th only to get stuck in Detroit due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft. Delta provided a hotel room, but of all the places one might enjoy a free 24 hours, Detroit is probably not at the top of anyone’s list.  He tried again the next day, got out of Detroit and though he ran into some minor delays, minor luggage issues,etc.  he did finally make it into Kampala, Uganda where he stayed overnight before making the 5 hour drive to Mbarara.    He said it felt like he’d been in transit for days (he had).  He just kept on truckin’.   All is well that ends well and he’s back in his house and all of his luggage made it intact - dry goods, movies, new underwear,all of the things that make life in Mbarara more enjoyable.   On the 14th of January we’ll be exactly one month from the due date of the royal baby.  No, not the Windsors, silly....Tyler and Jamie! Our precious Valentine will be arriving soon and  I. can’t. wait.   While they were home for the holidays Jamie’s mom, sister, and aunt hosted a baby shower and dinner.  It was wonderful.  They wanted everyone to be there to celebrate the arrival of this tiny person that’s cementing all of us as family.  Baby showers are usually a hen party, but this one was a true family gathering - men and women of all ages with one thing in common, love for She Who Shall Not Be Named.  Seriously, they won’t share the baby’s name!   They have said that it’s not something bonkers or bizarre, but they’re satisfied with their choice and really don’t want to hear months of opinions.  I nagged enough that I was able to get three tiny bits of information out of them...this name did not appear in the top 500 popular baby names of 2016 (based on the Social Security site),  the first letter appears in the second half of the alphabet, and it’s two syllables.  I got really excited thinking that it might be Lucy, but that name came in at #55 in 2016.  Darn.  Of course, knowing Tyler every single hint could be a lie to throw me off the scent.  I think I should assert granny rights and get the name.  I guess I can wait another few weeks, but if she goes a day past due date I think they have to tell me. Here are a few snaps from the baby shower.  Jamie’s folks have a building on their farm that is called “the barn” but it’s not a barn, it’s a fabulous party space with a full kitchen and bar and plenty of room. Man, I wish we had a party barn!   The theme was woodland animals, because that’s sort of how they’ve done the nursery.  Would you just look at this precious cake that Jamie’s mom created?

Adorable!

Of course, Chuck was allowed to attend since he’s going to have to play second fiddle to the new arrival.

This is a cute one of Tyler, Jamie, and Jamie’s sister, Katie.  And Chuckles the Wonder Dog.

Everything was so cute! 

Check out that sweet sign that Jamie’s mom made - I love you to the moon and back. *sigh*  So precious.

It was all very casual and relaxed which meant that everyone had a great time.  The shower was followed by a big pre-Christmas family dinner.  I’d been asked to bring a dessert and heap of homemade macaroni and cheese, so I brought a raspberry-chocolate pavlova and enough pasta and gruyere to feed an army.  All of the food was delicious, no one went hungry.

Side note: the Daddy-to-be received a tool belt with everything he’ll need for changing diapers and/or soothing a fussy baby.  He’s locked and loaded.  I have all the faith in the world in Tyler as a dad.  He’s patient and has a loving heart, what more do you need?

Yep, these two are going to do just fine.  They’re a great team. They’ll be able to handle whatever little Lucy throws at them.

Know what else makes them special?  The fact that they understand how excited we all are about this tiny person.  Matt is absolutely over the moon abut being an uncle and even brought home a beautiful carved lion pull toy from Uganda.  He’s been sending clothes and toys since the moment he found out about the little nugget.  That’s probably why one of his Christmas gifts from Tyler and Jamie was this mug...

funcle: like a dad, only cooler (See also: handsome, exceptional) Funcle Matt has a nice ring to it.  I have no doubt he’ll wear the title well.

This little girl is about to become the star in a crazy, loving circus.  She’ll have a wealth of people who will cheer her on, squeeze her tight, hold her hand, laugh with her, and when times are tough teach her to just keep on’ truckin’.  I’m so thrilled to start the journey.