the move

So I moved over the course of this week. It was an experience that I have never experienced before. We had been trying to get this house for about 6 months. My mom wanted to have a bigger gathering area so when we have extended family over we have room to put them. So that’s what sparked the idea of moving. At first it started off of just “oh it would be nice to move” and that kind of thing. So we got an agent and we set off house searching. I think we probably looked at around 30 houses. Most of our weekends were filled with looking at a couple of houses each day. Then we found this house. But we couldn’t get an appointment to come and see it. So we drove by the house and my mom suggested that we go ask and see if we could look inside the house. They were a very nice family, and said yea it was no problem. So we looked inside and we really liked it. The walls were painted really weird patterns and colors but other than that we really liked the house. So we kept on it put an offer on the house and did all of this stuff and after about 6 months we got the news that they accepted our offer and we could continue to get the house. Then after another additional 1 and a half months we signed and got the house.

It took us a couple weeks to completely move in. We started packing and taking non essential items over to the new place to the basement. Then this past weekend not yesterday but the weekend before, we had the big moving day. It took only took about half of the day to move the rest of the stuff to the new house. It didn’t take very long. We had a big turnout of help, (which we all appreciated very much.) But I forgot to tell you that before all of the moving that took place we had to get everything painted and the carpets cleaned. Like I said before, very briefly, they had very weird and abstract designs and colors on their walls. The lines were not straight, there were pink, purple, orange and every other color except blue was painted in that house. There were zigzag lines up and down the walls and none of the lines were straight. So we had the entire house painted. It took 2 weeks and 5 people to paint the house. It took a whole lot of time and effort. We found their job chart and the people before us only vacuumed once a month. So the carpets were very, very, very dirty. So they were also cleaned. We had many more exciting experiences with this house, but now we are mostly moved in and settled. I can’t wait for that day to unpack the last box and move in that last piece of furniture. Oh what a great day that would be. I will never forget my first move. J

Watching You

So this post is a day late, because I have been packing and moving all week and haven’t had time. Then when I had time to do it I found out that I don’t have any internet. So here it is.

The other day I was listening to my favorite radio station, 101.5 FM, and I heard my new favorite song. It’s called Watching You by Rodney Adkins. I asked my dad to listen to it, because I have a goal to find songs that he and I both like. So I played it for him and he interrupted the song and said that he has already heard the song and it’s one of his favorites. So I’m going to share it with you.

Drivin’ through town just my boy and me
With a Happy Meal in his booster seat
Knowin’ that he couldn’t have the toy ‘til his nuggets were gone.
A green traffic light turned straight to red
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath.
His fries went a flyin’, and his orange drink covered his lap
Well, then my four year old said a four letter word
It started with “S” and I was concerned
So I said, “Son, now where’d you learn to talk like that?”

Chorus:
He said, "I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
We got cowboy boots and camo pants
Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad?
I want to do everything you do.
So I’ve been watching you."

We got back home and I went to the barn
I bowed my head and I prayed real hard
Said, “Lord, please help me help my stupid self.”
Just this side of bedtime later that night
Turnin’ on my son’s Scooby-Doo nightlight.
He crawled out of bed and he got down on his knees.
He closed his little eyes, folded his little hands
Spoke to God like he was talkin’ to a friend.
And I said, “Son, now where’d you learn to pray like that?”

Chorus:
He said, "I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
We like fixin’ things and holding momma’s hand
Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad?
I want to do everything you do; so I’ve been watching you"

With tears in my eyes I wrapped him in a hug.
Said, “My little bear is growin’ up.”
And he said, “But when I’m big I’ll still know what to do.”

"‘Cause I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
By then I’ll be strong as superman
We’ll be just alike, hey, won’t we dad
When I can do everything you do.
‘cause I’ve been watchin’ you."
hey yeah
uh huh

Dreams

Dreams can be fun, interesting, scary, exciting, sad, happy. They can be many things. I am going to give you some meanings of things in dreams to help decipher what your dream is about or is revealing to you.

"Red: Dreaming of red is about activation, physicality, passion and intensity."
Orange: Orange in dreams is a sign of equalization, balance and temperance."
"Yellow: Yellow color meanings in dreams radiates themes of centralization, focus, awareness and reminds us of our role as humans within the context of the whole."
 "Green: Color meanings of green in dreams often point us in the direction of growth, healing, love, giving, and inspiration."
"Blue: The color meanings of blue in dreams point to thoughts, ideas, dreams and the ability to convey them."
"Indigo: Indigo color meanings in dreams are about psychic tuning, contacting the ephemeral, and connecting with spiritual vision. Indigo goes deep, real deep."
"Violet: Color meanings of violet dreams indicate divinity, peace, tranquility and enlightenment."
"Dreaming in black and white indicates a heavy reliance on structure, uniformity and order. Black and white dreams point to a distinct separation between reality and fantasy."
“falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties.”
“To dream that you are taking an exam, indicates that you are being put to the test or being scrutinized in some way.”
“Chase dreams are one of several common dream themes, stemming from feelings of anxiety in your waking life.”
“the Clock may indicate that you are afraid that life is moving by you, or things are moving too fast”

When you have a recurring dream then it’s said that that dream is important to you somehow. For instance I have had one dream that I have kept having for a while now. I am at a basketball game when a dinosaur comes in and starts attacking everyone. Me and another person, who I don’t know, start running together and try to get away from the dinosaur. We try everything. Then we find my parents who run away with us, trying to get away from the dinosaur. We finally hide under the seats and are saved sometimes. Other times we are eaten for lunch. Which trust me, it’s not very fun at all. I always wake up right before I get eaten, gratefully.

I have come to know that the dinosaur that I keep seeing in my dreams is a dinosaur painting on a building down in Thanksgiving Point. So that painting means something to me. I don’t know exactly what or why it means so much to me. But somehow it just does.

I hope that one day I can fully understand my dreams and not be in the dark about their meanings anymore.

To Kill a Mockingbird

 I don't know what to write about again... so here is another essay that I wrote. This time it's for English.


 “It was not until many years later that I realized that he wanted me to hear every word he said.” That quote represents how Atticus, the father, taught his children. The theme in this book is, “Education is not limited to the classroom.” Scout is only six year of age and she is very smart. She already knows how to read and write before she enters the first grade. She learns many life lessons over the course of this book. Education is not just math, reading, and writing. There are also many life lessons that she had to learn to be productive in life. Scout has learned many of these lessons early on. Atticus also taught her to not judge people without getting to know the circumstance that they are in. Scout was very smart for her age.
 Scout started school in the first grade already knowing how to read and write. Atticus read to her while he followed the words with his finger. While Calpurnia made her copy phases from the Bible causing her to learn to write. She was never learned these concepts at school, she learned them at her own home. This is one example of the theme, “Education is not limited to the classroom.”
 In to Kill a Mockingbird, Scout goes through many hard and educational life lessons. Her dad, Atticus, is lawyering for a colored man. So she learned how to fight with her head instead of her fists, when kids were being rude to her. She didn’t want to disappoint her father so she often let fights go. She is trying to remember that you can’t let what people say bother you. This enlightening lesson, again, was not taught in the classroom. Her dad gave Scout some advice to help her with one of her problems.
 “It’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you.” Atticus was trying to comfort Scout when she was called an impolite name. The name that she was called really made her miserable. When Atticus said these small, little words, it sparked something inside of her. She wanted to change. Scout didn’t want anything that people called her make her angry. Her friends called her names because of what her dad was doing with his job. Yet she remained firm and didn’t let the names bother her, and started seeing things from other people perspective.
 Atticus realized that Scout judged people a lot, so he had a talk with her. He said, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Scout never thought about life that way. Nevertheless, Scout respected her father so she took this lesson to heart. One instance that she portrayed this in her life was when she hopped into Mrs. Dubose skin and walked around in it for a while. As she did this, Scout realized and understood why Mrs. Dubose acted the way she did. Mrs. Dubose was always mean to her and her brother, Jem. Soon as she walked around in Mrs. Dubose’s skin Scout realized that she was sick and that’s why she acted the way she did. Mrs. Dubose wasn’t the only one that gave Scout a hard time, her Aunt Alexandra did too.
 Scouts Aunt, Aunt Alexandra, comes to stay with Scout and her family. She tries to get Scout to act more like a young lady than a boy. She tries numerous ways to achieve her goal. But when Tom Robinson dies, a black man that Atticus was defending in court, and Scout sees that Aunt Alexandra is still acting like a lady she realizes something. “After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.” Scout learns from example the best. She learned that you could be a lady even when times are hard. She couldn’t have learned this lesson from Aunt Alexandra talking to her about how important it is to act like a lady. Scout learns a lot by example although she learns a lot from her father, Atticus.
 “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” said Atticus. This little phrase taught Scout a lot. This line from the book means that people shouldn’t hurt anyone that didn’t do anything wrong. Mockingbirds just sing and don’t bother people. So if a person hurt a mockingbird, Atticus says it would be a sin.
 In conclusion, people could learn a lot from Scout. She is young, however, she acquires many educational lessons, by which not all were taught in a school house. All of the examples above were leaned in life not inside the classroom. Most people when they think of education they think of school. But this proves different. Education is not just in the classroom it’s everywhere in life. Scout learns things just by walking around her town to having talks with her father. As you have read above, “Education is not limited to the classroom.”

Sugar trade

 I don't know what to write about this week. So I'm putring up an essay that I had to do for Geography. So here it is.

I love sugar, don’t you? Sugar is a magnificent invention. The first indication of sugar was recorded in England in 1317. England loved sugar so much that they wanted to make a lot of money off of it and keep it all for themselves. The quantity of sugar increased due to the high slavery population. The sugar trade was driven by consumer demand, slavery, and profits. These three concepts are very significant involving the sugar trade.

Consumer demand was high because people treasured sugar so much. They wanted more and more of it and couldn't get a sufficient amount. In document 3, the author illustrates how much people loved sugar by showing little kids licking the barrel in order to get every last bit of sugar they could. Because they loved it so much, they started putting sugar in everything. In document 4, the author says that sugar was used as a sweetener. For example, they put sugar in coffee and tea. Over the years, sugar became really popular. The population of Britain began to increase causing more sugar to be brought into the country. In document 5, the table says that as the population increases and sugar is imported, the more sugar is consumed by each person.

Savery is thought to have started because the consumer demand for sugar was so high and merchants needed additional people to help make it. The slaves were expensive to buy. In document 9, the author says that an adult male slave could be bought for 14 British pounds in 1748. Generally, the merchants were the only ones who could afford to spend that much money on a slave. In document 10, the table says that when there is an increase in the slave population there is an increase of sugar being made. Since slaves made the sugar, it only makes sense that this happened. For example, in Jamaica in 1703, the slave population was 45,000 and 4,782 tons of sugar produced. Then in 1730 there was an increase in the slave population and how much sugar was made. In document 11, the author lists certain things that English merchants traded for slaves. They would trade bullets, iron bars, copper boars, woolen goods for example in exchange for the slaves that they wanted. Slaves were in such a high demand, that merchants were trading everything that they had to get slaves. When they had the slaves they were more capable to produce sugar to make money.

Since everyone sought to make money off of sugar, profits are another thing that drove the sugar trade. If you wanted to make money then you had to foremost get the plantation in order and all set up. In order for you to do that, you have to have the money, so all of the plantation owners had a lot of money. In document 7, the author says that they inherited their money and were absentee owners. In document 8, the author illustrates how it would have looked like to make the sugar. You had to boil them and the workers weren't treated like humans. If they were treated fairly then they wouldn't have been able to make as much money off of the sugar, because they would have to pay the workers causing them to lose money.

As you can see there are three main points that drove the sugar trade. One of the points is consumer demand. There were numerous people who sought sugar, so sugar was in high demand. Slavery was the second point. If there were no slaves then there wouldn't have been as much sugar being made. The third, and final point, is profits. Everyone wanted to make money. Making and harvesting sugar was the perfect way to do that. So to answer the question of what drove the sugar trade, the answer is profits, consumer demand, and slavery. The ecomony has to be balanced. If one economy is unbalanced than it throws everyone's economy off. The sugar trade helped with keeping everyone's economy balanced.