What I've been up to

So,  I don't have much time here, but I just thought I'd update the blog on what I've been up to while I have not been posting :)

First off, I graduated on Monday!!!!! I'm so very excited to see what happens next in my life. I already have a job lined up so I can work and save money for college, and it's a fun job, working with a friend raising and selling butterflies!!!!

I've also been getting ready for my (senior!!) prom. I don't have any pictures of my dress yet, but I can tell you this: I got it at a vintage store ♥ So now I've been stalking youtube and pinterest in search of the perfect hairstyle and makeup looks! If you have any suggestions, send them my way, and they will be much appreciated :)

Allison and I have also been working on a short film, which we showed at our homeschool achievement night. Personally, I think this is our best yet, but I'll let you be the judge of that..






Until next time.......
~Erin

"photo shoot"

Well, sort of. And GUESS WHAT! It's not with Allison!{Sorry. I probably should have warned you to sit down before I said that}

Ha ha! So the other day, Zakk, Adam, myself, and our mothers met at a really cute coffee shop bearing my last name {though, sadly, we are no relation}. And, as the moms talked and sipped coffee, the boys and I walked around the town. And because I "just so happened" to have brought my camera, and because these awesome guys never say no to a little photo shoot, we thought we'd have a little fun..........

I do believe this is called "riding the rails"

Doesn't this look like something that would be in one of those little album booklets?

SHHH!!! They're spies! But don't tell anyone. It's top secret! LOL

Hee, hee. Charlie's angels. :)

Adam's really terrifying attempt at being "America's next top model". Yeah.

Serious.

Walk like an Egyptian!!! This is my favorite!!

Very magazine spread :)

Dude.

Friends!

Say WHAAA?!?!?!?!?!

"I am Adam! Hear me roar!"

All in all, a really fun day, with many laughs, and strange looks from the people passing by in cars.

Working as a team

I'm not sure if I already told y'all this, so I'm gonna say it again. I am part of 4-H. If you don't know what that is, you'll have to google it, because I can't explain it.

ANYWHO. One of the activities one does in 4-H is something called "team invention". Basically, you and two of your closest 4-H pals get together to form a group. Then, said team is given a non-descript paper bag full of random stuff, a rectangle piece of cardboard, and a 45 minute timeline. Once you and your teammates area given the above supplies, an adult gives you one last thing. A theme, and guidelines. In this case, the only guidelines are to create something according to your theme, and you must use what is in the bag, and ONLY what's in the bag.

For this challenge, the theme was "Michigan Traditions". {the 4-H group I belong to is in Monroe}

So, for the first few of the 45 minutes allotted to us, my teammates{yup, you guessed it! Enter the infamous Zakk and Adam} brainstormed, and, after discarding several ideas, including a secret military base and something else I'd rather not mention, we decided on making a farm. For those of you who live in or have been to Michigan, you will know that Michigan is big farm country.

Exactly 40 minutes later, the three of us stepped back to admire our handy-work. So, enough chit-chat. Let's get to some pictures!!!

An overview of the whole thing

A close-up of Zakk's totally awesome Tractor/trailer, including hay bails.

My Grain silo, slightly less awesome.
You can't really see it, but inside the barn, there are two horses, in their own stalls. One eating hay, and the other peaking his head out from behind the wall. SWEET!!! That was totally Adam's idea. bravo, my friend.

Part of the requirement was that our project needed our team number and the name of each team member

Apparently, we named the farm "Grim Reaper Farms". Yeah. Zakk named the farm.

Well, now all that's left to do is wait to find out what the judges think of our farm. All I can say is, I'm really glad we decided not to make the Monroe county fair{which hosts the 4-H activities}, because when I was looking around at other projects, I noticed several dozen county fairs, and about three other farms, none as awesome as ours, if I do say so myself. :)

See you later, peeps! Wish us luck!

~Erin ♥

It's so hard to say goodbye.....

So true, so true.


I thought it was important to do one last post on the visiting caterpillars, as they will be going home any day now. I will miss you, caterpillars, but I know your "mother" is anxious to see you again!

Almost all the kids are in their Chrysalis now, and it's kind of funny to see them all hanging there! It was so funny, in fact, I decided to take pictures, so you, my readers, could enjoy the site, too! Aren't I nice?!

It's a wall of caterpillars!!!

Chrysalis Christmas tree ♥

The roof of the mesh cages are COVERED in the little green beauties!

I saw for the first time ever a caterpillar turn into a chrysalis. Even after raising caterpillars all last summer, and even into early fall, I never once saw one change, but this year, I saw almost all of the little darlings change! It was so gross! But also way cool. I'll spare you the details. Those who haven't raised their own butterflies wouldn't understand....It may be gross, but it's totally worth it.

It's so hard to say goodbye to my little charges, but I'm ready to get you back where you belong, and go on to the next adventure!

Lost in a forest of caterpillars.....

Almost all of the largest caterpillars have made their "J". It's so funny to see them all glued to the mesh ceiling.

Them times...they are a changin'

Last night, the first caterpillar made his J, meaning he will soon be in a chrysalis! Yay! And another one made his J this morning.


If you would like to learn more about raising your own butterflies, check out this website. It belongs to the same friend for whom I am caterpillar-sitting.

Leaning tower of.....caterpillars?!

I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching the caterpillars. They are so funny! For instance, all the caterpillars gang up on a single milkweed plant, demolish it, and move on to the next one. A couple days ago, there were so many on a flimsy little plant, that the weight was making it tip over!



I would also like to draw your attention to the "leaf" below. This is what the eensy caterpillars do to their milkweed leaves. The big ones eat the whole thing, flower, stem and all. Pigs.

See how they've grown!

This was Sunday, the day I got the caterpillars...{BTB, these are the largest ones.}

And this is them today, Friday, when they all got a nice sun bath and a breath of fresh air as I cleaned out their cage. Getting pretty big, aren't they? Some of them are looking like they might make their J before it's time for them to go back to their family next Sunday.

Caterpillars in a tree.....

It's that time of year again!!!! You veterans of my blog will know that I mean CATERPILLARS!!!
Right now, I don't have any of my own, but I'm babysitting some 50 caterpillars and 6 butterflies for friends while they are on vacation. I've actually had these guys for almost a week, but this is the first chance I've had to post about them. So I'll concentrate on the intro in this post, and I'll update you on everyone's size and condition in the next one. Sound good? Cool.

This is the set-up we've got going on in our dining room. The three shorter mesh cages are caterpillars, ranging from small{as in ennsy-weensy, barely see them} in the cage closest to the camera, to large at the back. The tall cage sticking up in the middle is full of butterflies.

Here's the butterfly house!

This time around, I have a few painted ladies, as well as Monarchs. Painted ladies like hollyhock, and their eggs are blue, rather than white.

This is what the large caterpillars looked like a week ago.

Our supply of milkweed

This pot has every plant you will need to raise a butterfly from egg to butterfly! Cool, huh?

Come back for my next post, where I update you on all the kids!

~Erin ♥

Strike a pose!

A couple weeks ago, Allison came over, and she and I went parading around my neighborhood with her camera, randomly stopping to take pictures. Sounds fun, right? Well, it was.

We started in my back yard......

Then we went straight to the church parking lot next door....

Onward!

I told you some of the pictures would be random! LOL

At last we made our way home, stopping by the church building, and its photogenic brick walls:)

What's in the daily news?

I'll tell you what's in the daily news!!! A story about animals that can walk upright, like people! Interested? Then, by all means, watch to find out more!



O.K. So it's not a real story. Actually, this was last week's literature project on the book "Animal farm" by George Orwell. I found it to be very interesting and thought provoking. It's not a large book, only 10 chapters, and the wording isn't too hard to understand, which was a nice change to what we have previously been reading in that class{for example, we are currently reading "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis}

This video stars, well, me, and my two friends, Zakk and Adam.{Zakk is the "off-camera voice, and he was also our real camera man}

If you've never heard of Animal farm, here's a short summary:

Animal Farm is George Orwell's satire on equality, where all barnyard animals live free from their human masters' tyranny. Inspired to rebel by Major, an old boar, animals on Mr. Jones' Manor Farm embrace Animalism and stage a revolution to achieve an idealistic state of justice and progress. A power-hungry pig, Napoleon, becomes a totalitarian dictator who leads the Animal Farm into "All Animals Are Equal / But Some Are More Equal Than Others" oppression.

To be perfectly honest, the story is more interesting than this summary leads you to believe. However, it does give an accurate picture of the plot.

Raise your hands if you are SO readdy for it to be spring!!!!!

I'M so ready for warm weather, I needed more than just my hands to get my point across!

Raise your hands if you're SO ready for it to be spring!!! by princess_grace on Polyvore.com

In which we get snowed in

Snow. The world is covered in snow. And ice. The trees a coated with it, and the power lines are heavy with snow. So far, my house retains power, but that is not the case with many in the surrounding areas. So, no going anywhere today. yeah.{she said listlessly}