Prom

Ah, yes. Surprise! 

I know, my dress is not black and gold. Oh, I still miss it. But on the very morning of the day on which the prom was to take place---(and that place was five or four hours away depending on how fast you drive so we would have to leave early to get there on time,) we realized my all finished dress, (obviously except for the zipper,) was too small. Nevertheless I went to the mirror wearing my too-small-dress and mourned the loss. It was elegant and very formal. It would fit perfectly if a zipper was not needed.
So.

I had two choises.
Well, really three.
1. try to sew in a extra strip of cloth to make it a sinch bigger and hope that my hair was long enough to cover it.

2. borrow my friend's dress, and scour the stores for a jacket to fit over the top.

3. Run to the store and get more cloth, a brand new and less mean sewing machine, more thread, and sew a new dress in less than five hours.

Well, we picked number three.

Mom and I scrambled to the store a few minutes after seminary and bought my second choice cloth,
(which I still prefer my black rose brocade to,)  and worked a solid four or five hours.I tell you, after all that work to get a prom dress sewn in two days and then another one in four hours, I was ready for this prom thing to end.
We finished it just in time to run over to my piano teacher's to get the zipper sewn into place. My prom driver met me there and I was whisked away.
However, there was a consequence for that fast and quite rushed sewing.
Of course my Nana  will know.

A lot of mistakes. For one, this cloth we bought frays like  sack cloth. ----does sack cloth fray? Maybe not. Well, this stuff frayed like crazy. Mom joked that I'd better move slow, so that my dress didn't become rags like Cinderella's.
It actually wasn't so funny.
Because  I was trying to sew the edges of my pieces so that they wouldn't do that. My friend called the sewing machine decided he was hungry. He thought my new pink cloth was Delicious. I guess I couldn't blame him. It was pretty.

But no worries, he didn't eat it to nothing. But if he ate a little more, then maybe it would be perfectly my size. The waist measurement was a little too big. Just a little. Not too much to notice. It was a precaution to make it not so small this time.
Better to wear something--- than than nothing because you can't fit into it.   ;)

the only other problem that was somewhat important, is that the pink gauzy on my back side was left undone. No time to sew it.  :(

So enough about that. I'm sure I looked well in the dress anyway. I had a gazillion complements. What else does someone want to assure them that they are pretty?
Oh, and if you could see their faces! when I told them I had sewn it---and then when it had been done in four/five hours. Of course however, with Mom's significant help.

This is turning out to be  a long post, and not just because. This is getting to be fun.

I shall include a short piece of the ride there. Nothing about the ride back---there's not much to tell. Except I went in and out of a light sleep, and arived back at like...four am? I was too tired to care to look at a clock.
On the ride there I was quiet.  At least for the first part.
I can hear a few of my out-of-state friends gasping.
"What?! You? Quiet? Never heard of such a thing! ...who's writing this? Get out of Tali's blog stranger."
Well, my fun friends, I have been practicing on my expressions. They have become very expressive and often talk for me. Or I hope so. They aren't always that effective.
Towards the time of our arrival, ( Yes, I did talk- how could you not imagine me saying at least one word?) we, (our driver and  the two other friends that came with me,) had a lot of laughs and fun playing car games. An interesting version of what I play with my siblings is a word/story game.
In the version that we played, we each took turns telling a story. Each person said one word on his/her turn. Until it ended.  They would result in funny short little stories.
 With my siblings this game is only slightly different. We go as far as we want in the story, and then when we run out of ideas we give it to the next person to add their ideas to. In my opinion it is a better way of making an interesting story because the person has more time to build plot and setting. And then when they're out of ideas the next person is ready with fresh ones to continue the story. the only problem is when the other players fall in love with what you've said and want you to continue the story by yourself.

Any way, I'm getting off subject. The drive up was fun.

When We arrived there, late, but in time for the dance, I walked in.
"Hi Tali!"
Oh I was so glad my trek brother recognized me in all my splendor.
"Hi Captain!" (that's his name on the blog,)
And then I went to sit for a while and hunt down other friends.
Okay, -I had a particular one in mind. I had good reason to believe that he was here, but things can happen, so I did have my eyes peeled. But lo and behold what do you know but he suddenly appears and sits right next to me. Now did he recognize me, or was he just sitting down in the nearest chair because he was tired?
I decided to let m=him speak for himself.
He did.
"You don't want to look at me?"
I smiled, and turned to him. " I was admiring the ceiling. You can't blame me when there's stars and planets projected all over it, can you?"
"Aw, yeah, I guess it's pretty. Are you on a date with someone?"
"Nope. Are you?"
"No. So do you want to dance with me?"
"Of course."

So yeah.

The music turns on...he leads me to the middle of the room....we danced with the lights of the projector overhead....he spins me...

---just kidding. xD

 How am I to spin in high heels anyway?
I was not romantic. How could I be?             ;) 
    I teased him, just a little, about the ceiling as his competitor. Then we talked of how things had been     going since last time we met, our siblings, and played the old tag game while dancing. I don't think anyone else but us were very interested though. Oh well. It didn't matter. We had fun.
I think all my friends had fun, even though some may say otherwise, I'm sure they did enjoy some part or another.
The last hour of the prom was my favorite.

I also danced with Captain as I always do. He asked questions like how I was doing, how my blog was coming along, how far on my story was I, and talks about my  facebook post about a green spider that turned out to be a strawberry top. I ought to ask him if he'd like to read my book. But maybe not. He's getting ready for collage.

When it ended, we all said our goodbyes and changed out of our prom stuff and got back into our street clothes. But I had a little difficulty. One of my friends that I came with helped me make a simple pink sash look beautiful. the picture does not do it justice. However, she had sewed it on my dress, and it was too tight to take off without having to cut it off. So we did.
Prom was really fun.
But if that's what public-schooled kids go crazy about every year I really don't see why. It was fun, and I loved wearing a princessy dress, but college proms--as far as proms go, have got to be better.
And I could definitely survive missing out on a school prom. ;)

Until next time, ---me.

this is when we came out of prom and changed back into our regular clothes. I am in the middle. We are all that came from our ward.

CUT!

Sorry to pause on the list of fishing tools, but I have to post and say to all my family---I am sewing my own prom dress. It's the priest and laurel prom, and it's taking place this Friday. And I haven't started sewing until yesterday!  :O
Ugh, and I have really truly have only tonight to finish it off...tomorrow is the day where we all have piano lessons and our piano teacher kindly volunteered to sew on the zipper since neither I or Mom can. But that's tomorrow and piano lessons start too early to do anything in the morning...don't know how I will wake up for seminary tomorrow, but I'm staying up all night!
But I will find a way. Even if I don't finish my dress I have a good friend who would like me to barrow her prom dress. It is beautiful, but I really want to ware mine, especially because I picked everything.
My prom dress is black with gold accents. Yeah, I know, teenagers should wear colorful stuff. That's what  Mom says to. But I am sticking to black and gold. It will go nicely with my liahona necklace form my grandparents. :)
I will post picture when I finish it---or actually, after prom. Wish me luck because I need it.
Your grandaughter, your niece, your cousin, your trek sister, your real sister, your daughter, your cousin, your friend,
Tali. ;)

The Keys to be a good fisherman

When my parents decided to move to the Ozarks, they told us of all the fire flies and wild animals we would practically be living in our backyard, the forests, rivers, ponds, lakes, and camping. To a couple city kids, that sounded like paradise. Well, to these city kids.
It sounded mystical, to live in a forest where it would rain and snow and hail and have silky mist drifting over and through the hills, as well as actually be able to see stars in the night sky. Where it would storm and have real lighting, and thunder that could shake you house. A magic place.
Those were my thoughts of where we live now. To a girl who had grown up in the blazing hot, dry, dessert-like place near Fresno CA, that's what the "Ozarks" was.
And still is.
When we arrived it proved to be all I thought it was.
A tiny disappointment about fireflies, though. I had thought that they would be steady little lights. Instead, they are little blinking lights.
But, lo and behold, I discovered that they are much more beautiful as flickering lights. In the evening of a warm spring, it is almost easy to believe in fairies. It is no wonder they were invented by imaginative and appreciative  human minds.
 At dusk fireflies will will gather in the billions, all across the open pastures and collectively around the ponds, and light will wave and flicker from one side to the other as you watch. Much like sea waves.
Many times we have wanted to capture the sight for our friends and relatives that don't live near us, but we find that no camera we own can  assist.
So we must simply wait for them to come visit us.   ;)
One thing that interested me very much, which was not so possible where I had lived before, was fishing. I had gone once with some friends and my mother when I was about six or seven, and we fished for trout. I caught seven. Believe it or not.
Since then, I wanted to fish.
But there was no place for it.
The place I'd caught trout was some hours away, and I could only go if someone would drive me there, being incapable of driving my six/seven year old self.
After that venture, I would get out my fishing pole and fish in the carpet in mom's living room.
I caught many things.
A couch, lots of carpet fuzz, shoes, and stuffed animals that were difficult to unhook. Sometimes the carpet fuzz would be so obstinate to be pulled up, that I lost hooks to it.
Which I got in trouble for, of course. That was all when I was seven. And I'm sure I remember sneaking my pole and doing the same when I was eight, only in my own bedroom.
Well, carpet fuzz wasn't enough, so when we moved to the Ozarks in a house with a pond right in back, I was fishing in it the next day with a stick that I broke off from a near by tree, and I believe some yarn for line. And a safety pin for a hook.
My old fishing pole never made it on the trip with us.
Shortly after that, we moved to another house. Much bigger, with a pool, ( that is now a duck pond,)
and a basement, and a real chicken coop and barn. But cooler to me then that, was that it was on the same road that a Saddle club was. And, it came with a pond. There were also two larger ponds in front of the house. So, I went fishing. But it took me two years to learn how to really fish and actually catch something.
Not carpet fuzz.
Real fish.
In those two years, my siblings and I discovered other ponds, through our roaming in the pastures and forests around us.

I checked out books from the library, and learned from trial and error. No one in my family could teach me just what I wanted to know, and all my friends here had fathers or grandpas that took them fishing every once in a while, and taught them, if they wanted to learn.
Perhaps I could have asked if I could come with some of them, but I suppose I was too shy to ask.
Never the less, I learned. I taught myself. Through observation, a great teacher in my knowledge of fishing, I learned what different signs on the water meant. There were different kinds of fish, and I came to know all that swam in the ponds around my house.
I also learned, how to tell if a pond even had fish in  it.
Two of the ponds I used to fish, for hours in the evening, when my family first came to live here, were only home to frogs, ( there is a type of frog that only lives in abundance where there are no fish.)
It took me a while to learn that.
Now, I am considered an expert by my family and friends. I bring home fish every time.

From of course, the ponds I have learned to know.

And now, Keys I have found.
1. Observation
2. Perseverance
3. Patience.
4. Books.


The next post I will be discussing about these keys. ;)

Tragedy has struck!

I hope I didn't scare you too much there...but my Dad's blog has been removed without warning.
All his posts are lost. And we were not notified. But he doesn't seem too sad, I will have him make a new one and will put the web address up. ;)

But apart from that, I can't say there is a tragedy. We have kittens, and two of them are calico, a rare color of cat to see at our place.  The most rare would be gray, and the common color is orange. We have lambs coming in about June/July, and two litters of planned puppies. One is going to be due by the first week of February, and the other in April. My brothers and sisters are starting to learn the piano. My Grandparents are doing nothing but good in Ukraine, and are undoubtedly happy.

Last night the phone rang. Dad mentioned that it might be Grandpa. I don't know why he thought that, but I believed him and picked up the phone. The greeting was very much like Grandpa's.
"Hello!"
I thought; wow, Grandpa sure sounds happy and energetic! And with a big smile I asked if it was Grandpa on the phone. I didn't need to, because I knew it was Grandpa.
But then the speaker on the phone laughed.
And I could imagine my Uncle M. throwing his head back and his face attached to that laugh. I suddenly knew, that it wasn't Grandpa. It was Uncle M.!
But Uncle M. told me it was a complement. I told him that it was good that he liked my complement.

I Guess It's Tradition...

In church my Young Women class talked about family heritage, background and traditions.
At first I couldn't think of anything, but then, as I listened to my friends talk about their families, I realized I had a whole lot. When it came to be my turn, I started with the most simple, most boring, most regular thing I could think of that my family does every year at birthdays. We each take turns to lift our present over the birthday girl/boy and say:

"Heavy, heavy hang over thy poooor head, what would you wish with a bonk on your head?"

And then we bonk their head with the present.
And the birthday girl/boy has to wish something marvelous for the gift-and-bop-on-your-head-giver before s/he can open their present.
Normal, right?
I was darn surprised when the whole class cracked up.
So then I told them about my tenth birthday when both my parents picked me up, hung me upside down, (my present was around 30 pounds or more with all it's pieces, so they weren't going to pick that up and hang that over my poor head,)

"Heavy, heavy hangover thy poor head, what would you wish with a bonk---"  Crack.
Well, luckily it wasn't my head that broke, it was my present. :(
It was a fish tank, one I'd wanted for a long time, so now, I just use it as a worm farm to breed my fishing bait. Oh well.
So my Young Women's class cracked up over that too. I guess then, that it is a family tradition after all. They had never heard of such a thing. And I thought it was normal. Well, I hope we didn't look too weird at our friend's parties when we bonked their heads.

;D

Ribbet-ribbet

So, gosh, look how long it took me to write about four days on a pioneer trek? Almost four months. So here we go, back to the regular stuff that happens to me. Ducky, her dog Eva and I went fishing at Discovery pond behind our house. It was a long time before I got a real bite from something heavier then the regular little perch fish of the pond.

Tug-tug....Tug-tug....

 "I think I've got something....I do!" I pulled out.....

A FROG. He actually took my bait. To be specific, I believe he is a bull frog.
"Well, we can take him home," Ducky said, "We could eat him."
I'd tasted frog before....bleh. Too much tendon. And slimy. It was at a restaurant, and Mom offered a quarter to whoever could eat a frog leg. So I did. I also tried sushi. ....Yuck. I think I gagged on that one. I like Chinese food, but sometimes I just can't handle slimy food.
Everybody has different taste buds.
We let the frog go.