Advent, watching movies, Christmas present-making and surprises.

Well it seems that a lot of these post lately have been random updates on things. Frankly, I haven't had very much time to post at all. It's just been so busy!

Sunday was our anniversary of becoming Catholic seven years ago, and though I had started a blog post as you have probably observed, it didn't get published.

CONGRATS TO US!!!
Advent has been great so far, and I am really enjoying our Advent study. One problem though, we really need to catch up on Jothams Journey and find out what happens, though I am of the firm belief that Nathan is the best in Bartholomew's Passage (beside that being my favourite).

It was really funny starting to read it because I was mouthing stuff to Saxon and Mum like 'Decha's he's uncle,' and "It's Decha!" And "Nathan is in the next chapter!" If you have never read any of the Arnold Yeetride books, three being Jothams Journey, Bartholomew Passage, and Tabithas Travels which are all advent books leading up to all of them meeting back in the manger where the newborn Jesus is sleeping.
I've been working on Christmas presents though I am not feeling overly rushed, I've only got a few things left but I wanted to share what I am making for my sister, Eden. Eden, if you are reading this do NOT scroll down.









Hopefully she's gone. Anyway here is what it is!

I am very, very proud of this. If you are wondering what it's connected to, it's a prequel/novella of Alan 'a' Dale before he met Robin Hood and after. It's really fun to write and is sort of a break from Outlaw. I even wrote a summary of it and I must say, though it's my first, I'm rather proud of it.

Summary: The son of a count. A nobleman. The right-hand man to one of history's most famous outlaws. Find out what happened to Alan 'a' Dale before he joined Robin Hood's gang, how he ran away from his father's castle in southern France, how he came to England as a minstrel, how he was one night rudely thrown out of a inn, and that very same night, while wandering through Sherwood, and feeling rather faint from lack of food, was saved by Robin Hood, himself. And now, journey with him as he tells the stories of the many adventures he, his chief, and friends and outlaws, embarked upon in their fight against injustice and tyranny.

I must echo my previous statement, I'm very happy with it. :)

I've been listening to quite a few things lately. Soundtracks, Christmas music, and one particular song 'What Makes You Different (Makes you Beautiful)' By Backstreet Boys. Which by the way I haven;t heard properly in years. :)

I've watched a few new movies, and watched a few Christmas ones as well.

We got the Prestige out the other week and I saw it for the first time, luckily I wasn't the only one who hadn't seen it, my sister Autumn also hadn't seen it either. We also got 'Now You See Me' out just the other night. As you can see we are a bit into magicians at the moment. :D The twist with 'Now You See Me' was like, you felt so stupid! The Prestige's twist on the other hand was like 'What? And then, once again, I FEEL SO STUPID!!!' All us younger kids have also been walking around quoting 'The Lorax' which I finally saw all the way through and I thought it was really good. :)



Autumn surprised me the other day by coming home with a 'Man of Steel' poster for me. Needless to say it is hanging up already and I am very happy with it. :)

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug will be released here on Boxing Day and I am very excited! It is my number one Christmas present. Some people are saying it is good, and some saying that it is bad. Me? Well, I'll go with the positive rather then the negative. I also need to read or skim (probably skim) over the middle part of the book. (I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE SPIDERS!!!)But not be too pure-isty about it either.
And no matter what people say about Tauriel, anyone who can give Legolas a talking to is awesome! Plus, she's a girl elf, she got red hair, and looks awesome. :D

I've also been hearing really good reviews about 'Frozen' and I really want to see it in theaters, of course if it was a choice of it or DOS I'd choose DOS.

Hmm, what other things have I been doing? Well, we hosted a Homeschoolers Christmas Party at our house and it was great! Learning to get to know the older girls a bit better then before. And organising an all-nighter at our house on the 20th of January. I also lended some of my books to one of my friends as I'd told her about them, she was very interested in borrowing my Sherlock Files as I introduced her to the show, and she likes it. :)

Now, the biggest surprise of my life of the past week or so? Yep, wait for it, I'll tell you. It was just an ordinary day, and I walked outside to do my guinea pigs, I walked to the top of the stairs that descend a few short steps to the outside laundry, and totally freaked myself out. Can you guess why? A snake was swiftly crawling away into the garage, a BROWN SNAKE!

Very aggressive and very, very dangerous, so that ended any play outside as you can imagine, Dad got home later, checked the garage and found that the snake had gone. Thank goodness for that. Since then, the line everyone has been using when someone goes outside is 'Watch out for snakes!'

We've been Christmas cooking me and Myffwyn have been making Gingerbread.

And as a last note: Does anyone have any idea when Sherlock season 3 is released in Australia? I would assume that it would be the same as UK but not sure.
Anyway I'd better go.

God Bless
 

A little bit about my book. Robin Hood Week.

My book as I like to call it is a retelling of Robin Hood. It's called Outlaw, and I must say that I am rather proud of it as well. I am very shy when it comes to sharing things that I have been working on (like stories) because I worry about what people will think and that it is not good enough. Outlaw is a year old this month. It was my YWP NaNoWriMo book 2012. But it has continued to grow. Currently it is 33,000 words, 43 pages and thirteen chapters, which though it might not sound like a lot to some people, is a HUGE amount to me! It is the longest book I've ever written and I am determined to finish it before I move on.
Anyway, today seeing as it is Robin Hood week, AND that I had this post in my drafts, I thought I'd share with you about my book.

Have any of you seen the Looney Tunes short of Daffy Duck as Robin Hood? It's great fun to watch! :D 

The original idea for Outlaw came from something like wanting Robin to have a shocking revelation about something, like his childhood friends were bad guys. Next came the idea that Maid Marian and Will Scarlett were brother and sister, and that Will was a knight. I don't know how much I plotted out for this book, quite a lot actually. :) I spent the first two days of NaNo finishing my outline (which I didn't finish anyway) :P But I had a good outline anyway and so I was happy with it.

My characters:
Robin Hood: Obviously, Robin is in it. He's the main character after all. I didn't notice until a few weeks ago as I was looking over my outline that I'd actually forgotten that Much is suppose to be his younger brother, I'll have to fix that up in a second draft. Robin's a young forester when we meet him, and his father has been dead for a few years, he also being a remarkable and loyal forester. He's a loner among the other young foresters, constantly teased and provoked by them, though he usually ignored them. Then one day it got to much as his main taunter Jan by name, insulted his father. He shot a deer and was outlawed, and he thinks its good he did as he can now help people. Being a forester meant having his hands tied to fight injustice. His best friend is Alan 'A' Dale and it is Alan who teaches him to sword fight. He can't remember Marian's name when he first meets her and refers to her in his head as Lady-something-or-other, he is angry at King Richard for leaving his people and going off to the Holy Land when he should at least have given England a little consideration. He can be sometimes very stupid and reckless, but always contrite when he makes a mistake. He is loyal and though I find myself shaking my head at some of the things he does and writing how he's father would have been disappointed with his actions, I like to write about him anyway.

Maid Marian: Surprisingly I haven't written very much about Marian she was just rescued from Nottingham castle and so yes, not a lot to say about her yet. :)

Alan 'A' Dale: I LOVE to write Alan! He's French (surprise!) and the son of a nobleman who ran away when his father told him that music was not a career for a Count's son. He is very skilled with a sword and is probably the most irritating Merry Men out of them all. He's actually the one who came up with the title! His instrument is a mandola and he can also sing. He and Fredrick often have talking standoffs and Fredrick is the best when it comes to irritating Alan right back! I have started to write a Diary of Alan 'A' Dale, kind of like a prequel to the novel, but I have not gotten very far with it. He is very loyal to Robin and is ready to belt anyone who does anything to his leader. He can be very insulting and is always looking for new words to use for this particular action. Sadly I think I will kill him off. :(

Will Scarlett: Will is actually a knight, but he doesn't like to be. He is very skilled with weapons and is a very protective brother when it comes to his sister, Marian. The two were orphaned when they were still children and were sent to their only living relative a stupid aunt who was not the best when it came to using her head. Though Will actually argued a lot with her. I haven't written as much about Will, either as he comes later on with Marian. He is a year or so older then Robin but looks younger than he actually is.

John Little McBride: Bodyguard to King Richard fiercely loyal to the King. A Scot even so with red beard and hair, and he carries his famous staff with him at all times. He is seasoned in the art of war and is sent back by King Richard to ask for Robin's aid. He won't stand any disloyalty to the king and proves when he grabs Robin with a dagger at his throat and gets him to swear to not act so.

Friar Tuckan: I have not written anything about him yet. He will be the assistant to the Archbishop of Canterbury who Robin and his men will kidnap. Not telling why. :) He was raised by the Archbishop a kind man and is loyal to him and does whatever he asks.

My other Merry Men: Fredrick, Robert and Tom. Because of how I've done the I added a few other Merry Men in there isn't very much to say about them at the present.

Guy of Gisbourne: Childhood friend of Robin, now one of Prince John's most ardent followers. Suffice to say that I hate Guy, and that is a good thing.

Angelo, the Sheriff of Nottingham: Also childhood friend of Robin's. Is more a thinking and devious planner that Guy. They don't like each other and think nothing of the friendship that they had shared with Robin befoe they went away to London.

So those are my characters, and Alan is probably my favourite to write, followed by Robin and I'm sure I'll enjoy writing more of Will and Marian as they will become more main.

Now some of my favourite parts that I have written:

'"Frankly it's none of your business." Replied Robin crossly "Now, kindly let me go," "Very well." He withdrew the dagger from Robin's neck and stepped back. The first thing Robin did was drop to the ground and vomit up his last meal.'


 'Quickly he straggled to the bank coughing and spluttering, the stranger on the other hand had quickly passed onto the other bank, where he was howling with laughter and clutching at his sides, looking so merry that Robin would have liked to give him his own dunking. Shut up, he thought morosely, but the man continued to howl and he was grinning all over his face. "Two choices...." he gasped 'leave or answer-" he broke off again in another peal of laughter.'

 '"I suppose," said Alan, "still-" "O for Goodness sake!" Exclaimed Will explosively, "Do you ever be quiet? EVER?" "No!" Chorused the other outlaws together. "What a pity it isn't lent then," he replied, "otherwise we could dress you up as a fat mother Abbess who had taken a vow of silence."'

 'Alan brandished a hand basket filled with flowers and grimaced at the other outlaws gathered around. "Anyone laugh I'll bash their brains out with this," he assured them all with a malicious look on his face.'

'The man sat in a polished wooden chair. It was smooth to the touch and very comfortable, the man did not seem to notice, though. He looked thoroughly annoyed and being a Prince, and having a name like John, were not very good combinations when it came to being thoroughly annoyed. ' - Introducing Prince John. :)

'“Until you tell me what you were doing here in Sherwood I am not going to let you go. And also until I know that you are entirely trustworthy. I’m not going to let you go. So you see, you have no choice.” Robin leaned forward “Did I mention I’m not very patient when it comes to people telling me information?” He looked down at the bow making sure that Alan saw the movement.' -I also forgot to mention that Robin does like to know everything about everyone as well. And he does get impatient. :) 

And this is how I am going to end my book. Robin is NOT going to die! 

So there you have it, a little bit about my book. Outlaw: A Robin Hood story. And I hope you enjoyed reading this post. :) 

God Bless
 

I'm absolutely crazy!

Yep I've been thinking about it all year doing NaNoWriMo.
Some of you might not know what NaNoWriMo is so I'll explain.
On the 1st of November you begin to write your own novel. You have to complete your word count in thirty days so from November 1st to November 30 you are writing your own story.
Most people who's blogs I read try for 50,000 words while people like me who don't think they could do that much instead of signing up for what I call the '50,000 words NaNo' I am going to sing up for the Young Writers program.

I've only done NaNo once before in 2009 when i was turning eleven the thing about November is that there is so much which I'll do that month.
We'll be celebrating Braedon's big 21st birthday sometime that month even though he's birthday's actually on the 29th of October.
My birthday is in November the 16th at noon is precisely when I was born almost fourteen years ago.
Saxon's birthday is also in November (its eleven days after my birthday) on the 27th.
November is also the month before Christmas and we start Advent on the 2nd of December. We like to decorate our house with lots of things and it is very pretty after that.
The St. Andrew Novena starts on the 30th of November which is a novena which you have to say 15 times a day! It gets pretty tiring after a while. :)
And the one other thing is this: Every year we make each other Christmas gifts to give to each other and these are sometimes very time consuming.

I've only finished four out of the sixteen I need to make so I really need to hurry. In 2009 I didn't manage to get all of my Christmas presents done because I was so busy with NaNo. I only had 5,000 words but I wrote them all down in a book and because I'm wasn't a very fast typer  (not that I'm super fast now but I am competent I think) so it took me a while.
I am trying to finish all of my Christmas presents to people before my birthday at the latest. I want to be able to enjoy advent and not be on Christmas Eve still knitting and getting a really sore thumb from rubbing the wool on it. I want to focus on Advent and the feast days therein and prepare for Christmas and not have the worry of finishing my presents to weigh me down because I myself am a person who can get stressed easily. If i can't finish the presents before November (which would be preferable) or before my birthday than I don' think I'll be able to keep up with NaNo


I am planning on having an hour a day to do my writing in and though I'm not sure what my word count will be I think it'll be something like 15-20,000 but you can go over your word count if you want.
The novel I am planning on writing is a Robin Hood novel. I am a HUGE Robin Hood fan and I've read several versions of Robin Hood's Adventures.

I am going to make it how I want to though, and not necessarily how the legends go. I think I'll also make Marian and Will Scarlet brother and sister and add in a couple of merry men who I'm going to make up. I'm not going to make Robin die at the end because that always makes me cry I think I'll just have him and Marian get married and that'll be the end.

So that is what I am going to be doing (hopefully) in November among other things and I myself have to agree that juggling this with school and all that other stuff is going to be difficult and I think I am absolutely crazy.
But we'll just have to see!
God Bless

I am so happy!

I have just finished the first draft of my own book! I am so happy about it! Now for the long lot of typing up on the computer I've got to do! *groan*





God Bless

Some More Of My Violet Story

Chapter 2

Violet woke with a start. Then the surprise and unhappiness which she remembered from last night came back to her. Then she began to cry "why this does happen to me happen to me." she thought. Then she heard a noise it was the announcer of the plane and it said coming in to England.

Violet held her breath, if the plane stopped then maybe, she could get some help from someone to get to Australia. Then the plane stopped it was so sudden that Violet was pulled forward , she gasped there was a hole in her box and she could see the inside of the plane and the people.

She got out of her box and looked around carefully. As started to look around she saw a brown mouse in a cage and the mouse said “Hey you, do you think that you could let me out of here for a minute so I can get some air?” Now Violet who was still a bit upset was still a nice doll and so she climbed down to where the mouse was and asked "How do you get a breath of air if you are on a plane?" "Well said the mouse you must be new around here because it is a great Adventure to go for a breath of air. By the way I’m Roger and I know all about planes because I go on them a lot, because I am owned by a little girl who is always going on planes, so that is how I now so much about planes."

Violet asked "Do you think there is any one who can help me get to Australia and not Austria." Roger then asked Violet "Why do you want to not go to Austria. I mean don’t you now that Australia is a desert and it is so hot."

"Oh no, you have got it quite wrong it is desert only at the top." Said Violet. The reason Violet new this was because she had read a lot of books on Australia ever since she knew that she was going to Australia. "Please can’t you take me out?" Asked Violet. Then Roger said "I don’t know, you see London can be dangerous." "But it’s not fair. You see," said Violet "those silly people at the factory where suppose to send me on the 14th of November."

Violet continued, "Because this little girls birthday is on the 16th of that month and they sent me on the 16th and actually it would have been the 17th, for that little girl seeing as she is in the southern hemisphere, and she must have been so unhappy." Then Violet stopped as she saw a gleam come into Rogers eyes. "What is it?" asked Violet.

"The mistress has just gone to a snack bar she usually spends fifteen minutes there and I do believe that I could take you to a friend of mine who might be able to help you quickly come with me." said Roger quickly and Violet followed most happily.

I hope you have enjoyed this next installment of my story.
God Bless

The Start of my Violet Trivila Story

This is a story about my Violet doll and how she got sent to the wrong place, and the Adventures she had.

Once upon time in an American factory there was a Lovely Doll. The dolls name was Violet. She was a pretty little doll. She had a beautiful blue dress with a lovely pink ribbon and little white socks with Pink shoes. Violet was very excited she was the one of all the dolls. That was going to a very special little girl in Australia the little girl lived in a very big house with 10 brothers and sisters
The very excirting part was she was going all the way to.......Tasmania in Australia.

But she did have some news that there would be some more dolls but she didn’t mind because she still would be there before they would so she didn’t care she was put in a box that had picture’s of her yesterday sum people had taken sum picture’s of her so she was put in the box and put on a plane the plane with some lovely cloths
Such as a night gown and cap and other cool things Violet coughed it was getting stuffy in the box with the clothes so she thought she might hop out of the box and have a breath of air.
So she got out of the box (which was quite easy because humans never think to tie them really hard.)

And she turned around to admire her lovely stamp but when she did she was horrified
On the box didn’t say sending to Australia it said sending to Austria.
Violet was appalled those silly people at the factory she want back in to her box felling miserable and she fell asleep thinking of the ghastly mistake.
God Bless