Nature

The beautiful wonders of
Nature just makes me love God more than ever.  The fact that the Creator makes such beautiful things and it's so inspiring.  Glaciers, beaches, rain forests, butterflies, hummingbirds, blue gravel, marble, golden rivers and grey-green alligators - they all amaze me with their grace, beauty, and power.

I know that some people do not believe in God, but take a look around you.  Every inchworm, every grain of sand are detailed and perfect in their own special way.  I personally think that the following story is not very likely:  a whole bunch of chemicals (that came out of nothing) make a speck of dirt (out of nothing) and then the speck of dirt blew up (for no reason really) and made the expanse we call the universe.  It's not a very convincing theory.

I personally believe that only a intelligent being, a being that can know all, can do all, and can be all could have made such a perfect world.  Let's not destroy what he's made.

My Life

A Good* Friend mentioned that AF Bratlife
Is lacking in "life" so, let me give you a quick update on everything that's been going on here the last few months:

• I got another upper-90%'s on my report card
• I got a wiiu for Christmas (yay!)
• We got the news that we are going to be moving to New Jersey in late May
• Both me and my mom got really sick, then got better (back to back too)
• I'm tired.

Now you are all caught up.  :-)

I have been reading the Harry Potter series again.  For those of you who don't already know, me and the Harry Potter books have a notorious reputation.  This is my ninth time reading them, except for #7 which I skipped the first time.  My mom does not approve of this habit, and I have a feeling that she's going to try to "spring" a new series on me soon.  It's too bad, because I already have a long waiting list of books begging me to read them.  After the Harry Potter series, I'm going to read a series about what the end of the world might be like.  Then I have tons of short stories that have been calling to me for years or have lurked in the dusty corners of our library shelves for months.  In case you haven't guessed, I spend about an hour to two and a half hours reading every day.  Maybe that's why I have such a large vocabulary (including wonderful words like blustery, extraterrestrial, and diaurnal)

Ok, I have to go.  That is my life.

Copycat

Lately, I've been obsessed with a blog...
Known as Sea of Shoes.  It's actually quite fascinating.  Want to read it?  Click here.  Anyway, she posts what she's wearing every day and where she got it.   I thought I'd try it out.  January 27, what I'm wearing.

Ok, here you are seeing

- a scarf that I have no clue where it came from (I got it for my birthday)

- a pair of seriously comfy sweats/leggings in hot pink (they're from L.L. Bean)

- a shirt that I don't recognize the name of, but love it (the "1989 Place" anyone heard of it?)

+ contacts, lipgloss (liquid lip shine), and those slippers that mop the floor when you wear them.

To complete the look, I used my handmade hair spray, which has a top secret ingredient...water.  The truth is, you don't actually need all those special conditioners and sprays to make your hair "shiny, healthier, and etc."  My spray has a little bitty bit of loral kids spray in it - I got it five years ago and just have repeatedly watered it down.  The rest is just water, but it gets all my tangles out and leaves my hair perfecto.  It's the thing I love about the short hair I have - practically no styling.

Anyway-sea of shoes.  I absolutely love this blog - it's just awesome.  I practically adore her hair, because it's gorgeous and plus she knows how to dress herself without clashing with it (she's a red head if I ever saw one)  She has such a savvy fashion sense and apparently a several-closet wardrobe to go with is.  She looks great in everything, can pull off anything, and nothing is beyond her reach.  I'm dead serious.  I'm telling you:  READ IT!!!

Toodles!  Hope you are properly fashion inspired.

Tickled pink!

The kids at my MawMaw's
love to try to tickle Noelle.  Of course, none of them succeed because it hurts more than it tickles.  Anyway, they always like the "big girl" that comes over with "Aunt Jen".  I guess they look at me as some kind of role model.  I think.  I have to go.  Bye.

Report

I once did a really big paper.
Like a huge one.  It took me three weeks (including final edits).  It was on New Jersey (where I used to live) but I thought you would like to read it anyway.  Speaking of New Jersey, we have found out that we are moving to New Jersey in about 4-5 months.  :"-(

New Jersey

By Noelle

New Jersey is such a wonderful and exciting place to live.  Why?  The refreshing area is a relaxing place to recharge.  The supplies used are greener, due to the fact they are local.  All animals are cared for and given places to live in the dozens of state parks in New Jersey.  If you are just visiting, New Jersey provides an amazing array of parks, museums, and other attractions.  New Jersey is so action-packed and thrilling you just want to move there right away.

The New Jersey peninsula is green and full of gardens.  It is a wonderful place to refresh.  Over 4,000 lakes, rivers, streams, and rills criss-cross all over New Jersey.  Large salt water marshes are everywhere.  They attract beautiful inland water birds such as the egret.  New Jersey’s longest river, the Raritan, is 75 miles in length, and twists across every part of New Jersey.  The Delaware River Gap, a large cut in the New Jersey highlands, is a delightful site to visit.  New Jersey is a inspiring place to live.

The land and sea in New Jersey provide several natural resources.  Oil and coal is not wasted shipping wood and other supplies to New Jersey.  The red oak, or 'Quercus Rubra' is the state tree, and provides much of the wood in New Jersey.  The white oak (Quercus Alba) can grow to be very old, and are constantly getting to be bigger, and so are also used for wood.  The oldest on record is 600 years old and grows at Basking Ridge, New Jersey.  The Lenape Native Americans, who lived in New Jersey for thousands of years before the English ever set foot on it, used the area to hunt for game, fish, and gather nuts, berries, and clams.  Fishing in New Jersey adds $100 yearly to the state economy.  Franklin mine, which operated between the mid 1800s and 1954 is thought to be one of the richest zinc mines in the world.  Today the USA ‘copper’ penny is really 97.5 zinc, and is covered with a layer of copper.  Zinc is also used to make zinc oxide, which strengthens rubber tires, and used as a component in many lotions.  Over half of the fresh water that people drink in New Jersey is local water.  Most resources in New Jersey are local and therefore greener too!

Birds, land creatures, and sea animals alike are given places to live and are taken care of medically.  Thousands of hawks and other birds migrate through New Jersey twice a year.  Bird watchers set up ‘bird hotels’ where these migrators can rest, eat, and bathe before they continue on.  On the New Jersey shore, horseshoe crabs scuttle around.  These ray-like creatures have been nicknamed ‘living fossils’, because scientists have found fossils of these animals that aren’t that much different from millions of years ago.  The Marine Mammal Stranding Center takes care of water animals that roam New Jersey’s seas.  Several state parks, including Kittatinny Valley State Park, High Point State Park and Island Beach dot New Jersey with fantastic examples of nature.  New Jersey takes excellent care of its creatures.

Tourists and New Jerseyans alike can tour New Jersey in an array of parks, theaters, and museums.  At the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, which is in New Jersey, there is an exhibit on a ancient visitor.  ‘Haddy’, as the scientists nicknamed her, is a 25 foot long Hadrosaurus foulkii, a.k.a Hadrosaurus, and has an entire exhibit to herself, even today.  She was discovered in Haddonfield, New Jersey.  Want a taste of Africa without leaving beloved New Jersey?  Visit the Six Flags Wild Safari, which is one of the biggest safari drive-throughs in America.  Live animals roam about while you can drive past them.  At “The Shore” children can play in and out of the water.  Sandy Hook lighthouse has been operating since 1764.  It is the oldest continually operating lighthouse in the USA.  Cape May hosted early “Summer White Houses” for Presidents Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Authur, and Benjamin Harrison.  If you are interested in New Jersey history, you should visit Monmouth Battlefield State Park, which has been preserved since the Revolution war.  At ‘Plays-in-a-Park’, your children can watch plays outdoors in the summer, and indoors in the winter.  New Jersey has over 50 resort areas, not including dozens more state parks.  New Jersey is the place to go for action.

New Jersey is so spectacular in its never-ending list of attractions, it makes you want to move to it right away.  It is restoring in its natural embrace.  Its local supplies do not waste coal and oil in shipping.  Animals find homes and care in New Jersey.  New Jersey will never leave you bored with its dozens of amusements and parks.  New Jersey is such a thrilling place to live.

Works Cited

Cameron, Eileen.  G is for Garden State

Chelsea, MI:  Sleeping Bear Press, 2004

Berris, Linda et al.  Discover America

Chicago, IL:  Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005

Marchex, Inc.  “50states”

http://www.50states.com/.2012

Feb 9, 2012

Col, Jeananda.  “Enchanted Learning”

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/newjersey/2001-2010

Feb 9, 2012

Wheeler, Alan.  New Jersey Travel Guide

East Greenville, PA: Media Two, 2011

Missing Dad

Dad is stationed in Honduras for a year.
I have never had a longer year.  And a year is already a twelth of my life. :'-(  It's nice down there, with all it's golf carts and 75 degree weather, but I miss him all the same.  We couldn't stand living down there.  I wish we could just stay put in one spot.  Forever.  Like here.  >sigh<

Now I'm not in the mood.

Survey!!!

Please Please PLEASE
Contact me!  I now have two forms available for you to take - here are descriptions.

1.  AF Bratlife January 2014!*
   This is very important, I need you to answer this to improve AF Bratlife.  Even if you think that AF Bratlife is perfect in every way, still contact me.  I can email it to you, or if you live near me, I can give it to you on my computer, MawMaw's computer, or my iPad.

2.  Study Corner January 2014*
   This is a quick survey (five questions!  There's no excuse not to take it) that will answer (if enough people answer it) the question: do boys break bones more than girls?  Although not necessary to take, it's super short and won't take you a minute.

Please - email me, email my parents, call us, talk to me...just contact me and I will get this to you some how!

*Not sure these links will work, sorry if they don't.

101 post.

This, when I post it
will be the 101th post.  It's awesome!  I actually made it!  I didn't think I would make it this far.  YAY!!!

Ok.  that was short.  really short.

The List:

Things I did not expect to hear.
Teehee, put together this silly little list and thought it would be something my readers would like to hear...if I have any.

1. Stop arguing!  We have enough ammunition to go around!
2. I could chomp on some caribou....
3. Why is your Frankenstein in my bin?
4. We are infected with bulgar wheat.
5. Here's your eye.
6. If you want sour cream, here's some yogurt.
7. You should put you hair in the oven.
8. Stop eating that glue!
9. Don't touch my ball please.
10. Stop chewing on your backpack.
11. Why is the a chinchilla on your head?
12. I am wearing.
13. Move your darn sphere!
14. Stop putting the utters in your mouth.

Lol.  #8, #10, #11 and #14 sound like something a mom might have to say at some point.  #1 and #6 Mom did say.

Inventing

I once invented a Corn Grinder.
Yep.  The extent of my inventing is a corn grinder.  That's just sad.

The Invention Paper

My corn grinder is designed to grind an entire handful of corn in about three minutes.  On the bottom there are three legs, each holding the can an inch off the ground.  The can is only 5 and 3/8 inches tall and 3 and 1/4 inches across.  The inside, lined in stainless steel wedge shaped spikes each 0.5375 inches from center to center 1/16 of a inch in height and 0.65 inches in width, is full of moving parts just for the purpose of grinding.

One door on the upper left is for dumping in grain.  Another opening on the lower right, shaped like a spout, for pouring out the new meal.  The in door is approximately one sq. in.  The out spout is wedge shaped also.  It is 1 in. by 3/4 in. by 1 1/2 in.   The spout is designed to pour out 2.25 cubic in. at any one time given the fact it is not clogged and is pouring at its greatest speed.

A frame, just smaller than the first, has been placed inside the can.  At the top and completely covering the top of the can is a gear with teeth pointing only in one direction.  A smaller gear is facing at a 90˚ angle to the first gear.  The frame itself looks a lot like a Strangler Fig’s.  Each of the bars that make up the frame is serrated.  Attached to the second gear is a engine.  This engine spins the frame around inside the can.

To make such a small object will take several steps.  I have  written these down for my fellow inventors to follow.

1. All of the works need to be make out of stainless steel.  This metal doesn’t rust, is fairly durable and, for it’s durance, cheap.  Whoever would like to make my invention would either know how to make stainless steel, or have the money to pay some one to make the parts.
2. The one thing I have not shown in my drawings (page 1) is that the first gear is covering a slightly smaller hole.  The measurements will have to be precise in order for the grinder to work properly.  If they are not, the can will spill meal.  The support columns need to be fit a little towards the center of the gear.  This should leave about 0.25 in. lip space for the gear to rest on.
3. As shown in my drawings, there is a plate at the bottom of the can.  This is cushioning the bottom, so the inner frame does not scrape the bottom.  This must be placed very carefully on the bottom and screwed in.  The distance between the frame and the inner can wall must be 0.3125 including the spikes, and 0.25 without them.
4. Two support bars must be attached to the engine.  Slide a pole into the engine then check to make sure it spins at a fairly good rate.  It must not go too fast.  Attach the smaller gear to the pole.  DO NOT attach it on yet.
5. Slip the inner frame into the can and make sure it is firmly in place.  Now attach the engine to the side of the can, then carefully slide the gear into place.  The corn grinder is finished.

The Advertisement

Grind your grain faster than flax!  Greenest grain grinder on the planet!  Granny Gazelle only uses the Green Grinder for her grass.  She knows it’s saving her home.  Use Green Grinder.  Green Grinder makes healthy cereal and meal that your kids and animals will love.  Green Grinder!

Yah.  I'm not exactly proud.

Old documents...

Been digging through Finder
And my old English folder is filled with treasure!  Black-and-white, readable treasure...and I wrote it!  :-).

DDT:  TNT to the Food chain

By Noelle E. Matherne

Recently, I have been studying a poison called DDT.  After a week of examination, I found that from the very bottom of the food chain, the poison goes all the way to the top.  What I also found was that for every 1,000 bugs effected by DDT, there is one very sick eagle.  How could a de-bugging poison effect eagles?  DDT travels up the food chain through animals.

First, you need to understand the food chain.  The smaller animals (insects) tend to be on the bottom.  However, as some people over look, plants are at the very bottom.  Above grass comes insects.  Who eats the insects?  Mice do, so they are the next level up.  However, foxes snack on mice.  Then from above, eagles swoop down and eat foxes.  That is a food chain.

Now, the poison DDT is meant for bugs, so it is sprayed on plants, because that is what insects eat.  Ten bugs eat the poison.  Because mice are bigger, they need more food.  Each mouse eats ten bugs.  Again, the fox eats ten mice, who have eaten ten DDT effected bugs.  The eagle eats ten foxes.  If each bug ate one serving of DDT, the eagle just ate 1,000 servings of this poison.  Naturally, the eagle gets effected.

Because an eagle is a bird, it lays eggs.  Shortly after the use of DDT became popular, eagles started to die out.  Why?  The DDT made their eggs’ shells go soft, like an amphibian’s.  It works with amphibians, who lay their eggs in the water, but for eagles, who lay their eggs in nests, it didn’t.  The chicks growing inside the eggs died.  With no more new eagles hatching, the eagle population was shrinking, not growing.  Eagles became an endangered species.

Eventually, bird watchers and scientists noticed the absence of eagle chicks and reported to the government.  The use of DDT and hunting eagles  became illegal.  It took years for the food chain to get back on its feet, and eagles in the US are still scarce, but they are on the rise.  Maybe one day, the food chain will be nontoxic to the hunters on the top and the hunted on the bottom.

Why I Should Stop Piano

Six Arguments Supporting the Banishment of the White Keys

I think that I should stop piano for many reasons.  One is that it is a lot of time and energy spent trying to make the dining room, main floor powder room, kitchen, living room, and stairs clean and uncluttered.  Our schedule is already very busy with choir, art, P.E., and homeschool events.  Also, Mom has to be home for over an hour, rather than getting the errands that need to be done done.  The piano is large and bulky too.  It will be expensive to ship from place to place.  Because it needs a plug to work, it limits the way our living room can be organized.  It frustrates me and the rest of the family.    When I get angry and frustrated because I can’t play the songs assigned to me, Mom and Dad get upset too.  It keeps my mind occupied on small black notes on a page and keys rather than on important things like how and when to clean my room and if I should do laundry today.   I am also doing voice in choir and it is hard to focus on two kinds of music at once.  I enjoy voice more than piano, because it is easier and does not result in sore fingers.  Plus, when I sing in the choir, more people can hear and enjoy the music.  In conclusion, I would like to suggest switching to voice full time.

I didn't really like piano.  In case you didn't you figure that out.

Crazy and Moving

People are Crazy.
I'm a person.
So I'm Crazy.
Oh Dear.
My silliest faces, with the aid with of photo booth.

"Hi there.  My name's Noelle.  Hi."

My silliest face showing off almost all my talents (touch my upper lip to my nose, being able to cross one eye, and raise one eyebrow)

Not precisely crazy, but I like to call myself in this photo the "Green Lantern" (literally)

Silly faces are awesome, don't you think?

I want to wish all my readers a Happy New Years!  I don't make actual New Year's resolutions, but this year, I want to trust in God and look at the bright side of things.

We have learned that we will not be staying in Texas after Dad's remote ends.  We do not know where we are going, but please pray that it won't be someplace terribly bad.

I wand to finish this post with a little verse.

Wherever you go,
     Go in the name of the Lord!
Whatever you say,
     Make it praise to our God!
Whatever you do,
     Rejoice in your Savior!

My dog.

I No Watashi No Skoshi Elizabeth Matherne.
I insisted that my little puppy had my middle and last name.  Three years later, she had moved twice; eaten sticker burs; peed on various blankets, beds, clothing articles; managed to get onto a counter and eat twenty-one hot dogs and a couple chicken breasts; gotten sprayed by a skunk; learned how to hide a potato chip; asked the iPod why it was playing music; been on a trampoline; and had barked at absolutely nothing about 127 times.  Make that 128.

I love my dog.

I No Watashi No Skoshi means (in Japanese) A little bit of love!  I don't know about love, but she's certainly a little bit of something.  With long legs, an un-cropped tail and ears (we like her just the way she is) and the cutest brown eyes, she's my gangly, pretty and cute puppy.

Outfit

BTW,
I improved the title system.  Instead of a rigid "MUSINGS" or "BLING'S THE THING" (which went bankrupt by the way) I'll make the title a simple single or two word.  I was having problems finding particular posts, so this way each post will be easy to pick out.

In this case, the post is about my favorite outfit, which suits me very well (in my opinion).  Here are the photos.

SUPERcute, sassy boots that are still on sale in the girl's section of Walmart if you want them.  Oh, and my brand new jeans that I totally love.

Comfy hoodie+Cato's ruffled tee shirt+New scarf from my birthday (found it on Amazon)+An amazing and sweet girl (me) = pure awesomeness

The total outfit.  I'm wearing a silver belt, but my shirt covers it so it's kinda pointless.

Gotta go, toodles!

Poetry

I love poetry.
At least I like writing it.  Not reading it.  Well sometimes I do.  It depends.  Was that even a sentence?  Yes it was.  There was a noun.  And a verb.  "It" was a noun.  A subject actually.  "Depends" was the verb.  A verb is an action.  I'm getting off subject.  Ok.

And now, you will get the joy of looking at my poetry:  Noelle's favorites.

Weather

By Noelle Matherne

Sunny

beautiful, warm

laughing, loving, strengthening

- sun, moon, clouds, rain -

pouring, beating, thundering

dark, scary

Rain

What is Love?

By Noelle E. Matherne

Snuggles with a puppy,

Smiles and tickling,

A special dinner, made just for you,

Zurburts and jokes after 8:00 o’clock,

Date nights out with Daddy,

Friendship,

Hugs and playdates with friends,

Family warmth,

A game played by the family together,

Hugs and kisses, made just for you,

A sunset painting, staring out to sea,

A present and card on Mother’s Day,

Eggs and bacon at 9:00 in the morning,

Happy giggles,

Wrestling-just for the fun of in,

A quiet walk with the red maples and yellow scribe trees all around,

Passion,

Games of hairstylist after chores,

Friendly quarrels over nerds,

Tuck-ins,

Love.

Leggerwoky

By Noelle E. Matherne

Twas morning and the slimy toads,

Did splish and splash in the pool.

The life guard watched the happy droves,

And the fish held swimming school.

“Beware the two-leggers, my son!

Feet that stomp!  Hands that catch!

Beware their dog and shun

The enormous cats that scratch!”

He took his minnow in his fin,

And out he lifted the fish,

Dried him off up to his chin

And seated him with a squish.

And as he dried his sturdy fins,

A two-legger, with fingers wide,

Came shrieking down with pasty skin,

Then turned and fled to hide!

First one, the two peeked out in fear,

Then with a dawning glee,

Returned at last, the coast was clear!

They did not have to flee!

Twas morning and the slimy toads,

Did splish and splash in the pool.

The life guard watched the happy droves,

And fish held swimming school.

The Grass Seed that Couldn’t Hold it’s Breath

By Noelle E. Matherne

There once was a little grass seed,

Who floated downstream on a reed,

Alas the stream was a circle,

And the seed turned quite purple,

Trying to commit such a deed.

With the blasts of sharp-bladed winds and flurries of ice, comes an artistic period in my life.  I seek my peace through the Japanese art of haiku, a rigid poem with three lines of pre-set syllables.

Winter.

Winter is the cold time.

Icy blasts of cool white snow.

I hope you are warm.

I have decided to dedicate this journal entry to haikus.  It will be filled with the poetic peace that comes from these delicate verses.

Blue Skies.

I adore blue skies.

Cloudless and sunny are they.

Nature at its best.

Leaf.

Leaves fall down down down

Their trees grow red, brown, then green.

One falls on my face.

Package.

Packages stand there.

Boxes waiting to be open.

What do you hold, bin?

As you might already know, haikus are made with three lines.  The first and third line have five syllables, and the second has seven.  The haiku form of poetry (allow me to enlighten you) was used by the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho.  Basho had many followers, and had a tendency to wander Japan for first-hand inspiration for his writing.  Haiku can also be spelled hokku.

White

Snow, kittens, paper.

There’s white in everything.

Putty, soap, my door.

Waterfalls.

Blue splashing down rocks.

Moss and trickling water.

Sparkling and peaceful.

Gone.

I have to leave now.

I will come back tomorrow.

See you then I guess?

My coat-of-arms

As promised, here are the photos.
I told you I would post photos of my coat of arms, so here they are.

I learned how to use a jigsaw and a sander!

The coat of arms

Shield in a shield

Black swan close up

Horny toad close up

Leaf and symbol close up

Phoenix close up

I'm so sorry for not posting while I was down in Honduras - for some reason I couldn't access my blogger account, even though I could view my blog and I was signed in … ?  Anywho, more about my coat of arms.

• Coat of arms:

• Colors:  gold (generosity and elevation of mind), orange (worthy ambition), red (military strength), green (hope and joy), black (grief)
• Pattern:  cross (faith and protection)
• Images: horny toad (like a dragon {bravery and guardian of treasures}, lives in Texas), black swan (kind of swan {represents poets and musicians, perfection, beauty, grace, light, love, sincerity, poetry, harmony, and learning, as a black swan it represents uniqueness, singularity, and rareness.)
• Surrounding Coat of arms:
• Crest: phoenix (like a eagle, hawk, or falcon {a person of determination and high ingenuity and intellect} as a phoenix, no meaning, so - beauty, rebirth, and speedy recovery)
• Supporters:  Pronghorn (similar to a deer, stag, or antelope {peace, harmony, purity, and speed} also an endangered inhabitant in Texas)

• Wreath: Tri-pointed leaf (there are three people in my family, personal symbol of good luck, peace, harmony, freedom, and nature), Elleon Symbol (personal image signature)
• Motto: My personal motto: Home is family.  (Because my home is always changing, home is wherever family is)
• Shield:

• Reversed chevron stripe: pink (like purple {royalty, justice} main color in my room) stripe below Coat of arms
• Over-all color: gold (generosity and elevation of mind)

That is my shield and all it's official, international chivalry symbols.  I think that it's awesome.  If you want to learn more about chivalry, here is a good website that explains it.  Click here.  And here.  Oh, and here.

I can't get rid of the bullet below.  :-(  Bye.