Writing as a Gift

For my writing as a gift I wrote a couple letters to a couple people.

Final Reflection

1. Uh-Oh was probably my favorite thing that I wrote. It was so much fun creating my own book and getting feedback on it. Childhood was a really fun writing post too, it really helped me look back on when I was younger and all of the great times I had.
2. My favorite thing to read this year were the children's books. I really like Meredith's Macy and Chip story. It really showed her personality and take on life.
3. Setting up my blog was so easy that I made it difficult. I never mess with technology most of the time. I just made my blogs name my name to keep it simple. I think the people at my table read it and a couple other people from around this room. I don’t really care who reads, as long as they enjoyed reading it. I might use it in the future when I write some random stories.
4. Journaling can be hard for me if I don’t have someone tell me what I need to write. I can come up with something eventually but it’s usually really hard. I have all sorts of things in my journals, unfinished stories, poems. I don’t want anyone to read it. I probably will not continue journaling if I do it’ll be to finish the story.
5. Drugs

Makeup is a type of drug. You start out every so often just for fun and then you realize you like it, like the way it feels, like the way you feel. So you wear it more and more and more and then it slowly becomes a need to wear it. Eventually you get to the point in which you don’t want to leave the house without it. If you’re ever running late and don’t have the time you spend the rest of the day avoiding eye contact at all costs or you just skip whatever you were going to. Makeup can be a problem, it can be an addiction. But, can’t anything?

6. She blinked in the overwhelming darkness, her senses slowly coming to life. She questioned herself as to why she was awake. Her alarm hadn’t woken her up so what did? There was no possibility of going back to sleep now, grumpily sighing and swinging her legs out of bed she put her foot down. Silently cursing she yanked it back up and was muttering incoherently when she felt the prickle of someone watching her. Warily she glanced around the room as the prickles continued traveling up and down her spine. Disturbed she put her feet on the floor again wincing slightly at the biting cold. She suspected it was probably her stupid brother, and if it was she was going to punch him in the face and happily go back to bed while his blood dried on her knuckles.
7. I plan on continuing to write my stories. I don’t really get anything other than the satisfaction of knowing I can write a story. My story writing is something I want to do, writing at school is something I have to do.
8. Thank you for reading my stories and offering me feedback, critique, and encouragement.

Uh - Oh

In the middle of the night only one stays awake. He's always ready to protect. All you need to say is "Uh-Oh", and he's there ready to help and save the day. One day he heard it. "Uh-Oh". He rushed to the sound. He looked up when he heard a whooshing sound. Meatballs were falling from the sky! He hid in a cave till it stopped. When it finally did he began cleaning up the meatball mess. Later that day when he was taking a nap he heard it again, " Uh-Oh". Running to the sound he slid to a stop. A loud creaking noise coming from above him scared him. A skyscraper was falling over! Using his strength and speed he ran to the skyscraper and tried to hold it up. He held up the bottom but the top fell off! Carefully he stood the bottom back up and then lifted the top and put it back on. After a long day of hard work it was time to go to bed. There were no other "Uh-Oh's" for the rest of the night.

About the Author

Katelynn Sandford is a young girl who lives with her mom and two siblings. She is the oldest of three. Her best friend is her dog rascal. 

Books for Kids

Title: Time to go home, Little Bunny

Author: Emily Hawkins

Cover: Field with a tree, multiple creatures meandering at dusk, little bunny in the center. 

Page num: 14

Characters: Little Bunny, Bunny's parents, mice, fox, deer, owl, squirrel.

Summarize: Baby is scared of the dark. He gets lost in the woods. Gets over his fear of the dark with the help of friends.

This book includes: animals as characters, a lesson of some kind, illustrations, color, actual photos, lots of words per page.

Favorite sentence: It's time to go home little bunny.

Appropriate age: 6 and older, a certain age is necessary for them to be able to understand and read the words.

I would've liked this book as a kid because it had plenty to read but still has pictures.

Comments

I love the smell of freshly blown out candles too! I've always loved family game night, My great grandma is still the same way. We have to show her which card we're playing and then suggest what she should play.

I loved the Junie B. Jones books too! They we're always a good thing to read when I needed a distraction. I absolutely loved The Tigger Movie. When my siblings we're finally old enough to understand a movie it was the first movie I made them watch with me.

I too have had many injuries in my life, I feel that it kind of effects the way you grow up in a good way. I still love monopoly but it is very hard to find people who want to play it. I still eat the entire box of fruit snacks in a day.

Childhood

 2.) The most important person to me when I was a child was cousin Josh. My dad has never been in my life so I've always looked at him like a father figure. As I grew older he became more of a brother. He always helped me in anything I've ever needed. When I was little I tried to be like him as much as possible. If he liked a band I liked that band. If he liked boots I liked boots. If he cut his hair I cut mine. He has influenced me to be a better person, a more kind person.

4.) Kayla Burkholder, we enjoyed doing everything together. We would play tag together, jump rope, play on the swings. It all changed when she became a cheerleader and her new friends decided I wasn't cool enough to play with them.

 

5.) A family fun night was and still is very rare in occurrence. We would start it off by playing lots of board games, when we got hungry we went and got dinner at a restaurant. After that we would go get tickets for a movie, while we waited for the movie we would go to a close park and play until it was time for the movie. After the movie we would get desert and go home.

12.) I went to the E.R. so many times when I was younger that they thought my mom was abusing me. They realized I was just accident prone when I went to the E. R. from the school. I've pretended to be superman on the swing resulting in a busted head. I fell out of a window and shattered my collarbone. I tripped on my blanket and hit my ear on the corner of a table and cut it in half.

2.) 1- Don't jump straight into a lecture, it's the easiest way to get your kid to shut down. 2- Don't yell 3-Put yourself in their position before getting upset.

5.) I don't think it's a matter of age. I think it's based on maturity. Dating is meant as a way to prepare you for marriage and see if you even like the person enough to spend the rest of your life with them. I think it's whenever you feel ready. You can wear a thong at 18. Fall in love whenever you're actually in love.

10.) Families can be involved but they shouldn't be so pushy, forcing them to go on dates with people they barely know. I feel the same way for myself.

13.) I don't know that they are more interesting but they normally have really cool stories and experiences.

18.) I know I'm in Tennessee because you're the only ten I see.

Hercules


Hercules


Peter Pan

Movies

My favorite movie is Fried Green Tomatoes.  I love this movie because although it is sad it's extremely funny as well. It has a lot of unexpected twists. It's an all around enjoyable movie. The movies I don't care for normally are the educative movies. Where a monotone person narrates everything and makes learning as boring as possible. I watch movies all the time every weekend and most weekdays. I usually watch them at home or a friends house. The best way to watch a movie is with a group of friends at night with a couple of snacks. Popcorn and chips, and something sweet. The survey said I'm 42% extroverted. I'm moderate in activity and enthusiasm. I enjoy the company of others but I also value my privacy. I am 67% agreeable. I'm generally warm, trusting, and agreeable, but I can sometimes be stubborn and competitive. I'm 42% conscientious. I'm easygoing, not very well organised, and sometimes careless. I prefer not to make plans. I', 67% emotionally stable. I'm generally calm and able to deal with stress, but I sometimes experience feelings of guilt, anger and sadness. I am 50% open to new experiences. I'm down-to-earth, practical, traditional, and pretty much set in my ways. If my life story was made into a movie it would be a very boring documentary. Jennifer Lawrence would play me. A couple main events would be me graduating from college, me moving to Mexico, and then me fading into insanity with all my cats. It would be a sad ending, involving my death.

                

Wrong

She blinked in the overwhelming darkness, her senses slowly coming to life. She questioned herself as to why she was awake. Her alarm hadn’t woken her up so what did? There was no possibility of going back to sleep now, grumpily sighing and swinging her legs out of bed she put her foot down. Silently cursing she yanked it back up and was muttering incoherently when she felt the prickle of someone watching her. Warily she glanced around the room as the prickles continued traveling up and down her spine. Disturbed she put her feet on the floor again wincing slightly at the biting cold. She suspected it was probably her stupid brother, and if it was she was going to punch him in the face and happily go back to bed while his blood dried on her knuckles. Deep down though she knew it wasn’t him which is why she picked up the knife. As she walked out of the room she heard the exaggeration of someone trying really hard not to be heard. She rolled her eyes and ducked down and out of the way. She saw the hand grip the railing. She waited patiently for them to take the final step down. When they finally did she plunged the knife into their back severing the spinal cord and rendering them incapable of movement. She stepped over them and got a good hold on their hair to reveal the face, lifting the head she realized it was one of the experiments. “Hm one of you finally figured out you could attempt leaving? Well lets make sure no one else wants to try that out and take you back shall we?” The pure fear in their eyes made her giggle. She dragged them back down the stairs, not bothering to make sure they were comfortable she dropped the head and walked back towards the cell it escaped from. Just then her brother made his way downstairs not bothering to hide his footsteps. Annoyed that she had to deal with one of his pets she punched him in the stomach for good measure and went back to bed. This time she closed and locked her door. Tired she went back to bed and fell into a deep sleep. She wasn’t asleep for long when she snapped wide awake and sat up. The experiment hadn’t been watching her, and why was her brother already dressed? Normally she would’ve had to drag him out of bed to deal with it but he was already up. Getting dressed she opened the door softly and peeked around. Another one of his experiments we’re coming up the stairs. This time rather than immediately attacking she paused and watched them rush to the door and run out. She waited a minute and sure enough her brother came up the stairs and calmly walked out the door. She waited another minute and followed him. She closed the door softly behind her. It wasn’t hard to find him he sounded like a giant blind bear running into every tree and stomping on dry leaves and sticks. This is why she did the hunting. She heard the screaming before her brother did, running ahead she climbed a tree and waited for him to find his pet in one of her pits. When he did catch up to the screaming girl he tsked her and kept walking. She gave up screaming and was now just sobbing. He came back a couple minutes later carrying a bucket. He took the lid off and dumped the contents on her and walked away whistling. Now curious, she inched herself down the tree just enough to realize it was a bunch of spiders and snakes he had dumped on her. All of them were lethal. Now she was confused, he never killed them unless they got sick and this girl clearly wasn’t at least not yet. She was about to climb down and confront her brother when he came running back, followed closely by another one of his pets armed with one of her own bows. She heard the solid thunk of an arrow finding its mark and the girl slowly walked backwards towards the pit. It was clear she hadn’t seen it in her chase, and then fell backwards into it. She now slipped down from the tree and walked back to the house. She grabbed two duffel bags, in one she filled it with all necessary items: clothes, food, money. In the other she packed all her weapons. She carried them out to the car and then jogged back to the house. She doused everything in gasoline and then dropped the match. She got in the car and left. She was happy to be rid of that nightmare. It was as she was turning onto the main road that she saw her brother out of the corner of her eye stumbling into the road waving his arms at her trying to get her attention. She merely sped up and kept going. He was never going to find her even if he did survive. She finally felt the peace she was so badly pursuing. Her heart lifted more and more the farther away she got from the house of all things wrong.  

The first the he heard was the screams and then a roaring rushing noise. He walked out of the building searching for the source. He froze in shock, and then did the unthinkable. As the waves rushed towards him he calmly sat down, rather than trying to run, flashing back to all the good things in his life. As chaos settled around him he found peace. People were running around him and into him, but he was oblivious. Memories flashed through his head, marrying the love of his life, holding his baby girl for the first time. Hearing his baby girl say dad for the first time. Friday night dinner dates with his beloved. The roar of the water was approaching but it all seemed to slow down. The brown water was crashing through the trees now. Splashing up above his head was a wall of murky brownish colored water. He smiled fully prepared for what was to come. He had been given a good life. He closed his eyes as the water rushed over him. His body was flipped and rolled and contorted, but he didn’t panic he just waited for the end. He went rigid when he released he didn’t know where his family was. They could’ve been out shopping just like him, or they could be at home, either way it was too late. He forced his body to relax and then he let go of his breath ready to done. A calming blackness settled over him and then he was gone.

The photo sat atop her desk, the first year she taught a class by herself, the class standing in a bunch around her. Looking up she took in the eager faces of the new students of the year. She smiled and stood. “My name is Elizabeth Fuller but you can call me Ms. Fuller. This is my final year of teaching. I know we’re going to have a great time.”,she said. “In this class we’ll learn math and how to read. We’ll start with reading now actually, in your desk is a book go ahead and pull it out. Can anyone read that first word to me, or does anyone want to take a guess to see if you know what it is?” Not a single was raised. “Okay can we spell the word together?”, she asked. A chorus of yes was her only response. Together they said T H E and then she said “That word is the can we practice that a couple times?” They practiced saying it a couple times and then moved on to the next word. Once they finished the sentence she released them to go play and eat lunch. She sat down and ate her lunch watching the children out of the window. She decided they would go home early today. All she wanted was a picture of her last class and then she would be happy for the rest of the school year. She walked outside and lined the class up then took the picture and sent them home.




Profile:

Elizabeth Fuller
02/15/1856
Noel
Teacher
Reading
The unknown
Make a better generation

Abandoned

After a hard day of work constructing the rail road tracks they began making their way to their cars ready to go home. Turning around one last time he worried for a split second about the leaning cart. Surely the wind wouldn't blow it over. Turning back around the worries slipped away as he thought of going home to his wife and getting a warm meal and rest. He was only on the road for a couple minutes when his car started making an odd noise and puttered to a stop. He sighed and made his way to the gas station a little ways up the road. Several hours later he realized that the station was a lot farther than he remembered. Sighing in relief as the lights of civilization appeared. He ran to the gas pump to make sure it was still working. Once assured he made his way away from the creepy dark woods and into the gas station. He walked in and called for someone, he needed to find a phone and call someone to take him home. The only thing that greeted him was silence. Unsettled he walked around and caught sight of the phone behind the counter. He crept back constantly glancing behind him and quickly dialed 911 and told the operator the address when the line went dead. His heart leapt into his throat at the sound of a car engine roaring to life and then speeding away. As he struggled to calm himself he heard sirens approaching from the distance and smiled to himself. He was going to be okay.

            

Window Poem

I see two trees

waving in the wind

A counter top speckled 

with crumbs from meals past

Today looking out 

the leaves have changed

Sometimes when the wind

blows hard enough the

trees introduce themselves

Looking out I see

the colorful leaves

brightened by the

sun shining through

A few streets down there

waits a bright red truck

gleaming in the sun.

Artist Profile: Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born on Oct 25, 1881. He was born to father Don Jose Ruiz Blasco and Mother Maria Picasso y Lopez. His father was a painter and an art teacher. He had two sibling, Lola and Concepcion. For schooling he studied at the School of Fine arts and was an advanced student at the Royal Academy of San Fernando. His first marriage was to Olga Khoklova and his second marriage was too Jacquline Roque. During his lifetime every modern invention was made. World War 1 and 2 were fought.  The Korean and Vietnam wars were also fought, and nuclear bombs were invented. Three struggles Picasso had were 1, in the Blue Period, picassos best friend died. The second one was Guernica, the town was destroyed by bombs. Thousands of innocent people were injured or killed. When Picasso was planning an exhibit of over 200 of his works  when he died on April 8, 1973.

Most famous artworks:

Pic of Picasso:

Woman Lost

She hurried down the street calling for her children, she reached the river bank and had a horrible feeling she wouldn't like what she saw. She was pacing back and forth staring at the water waiting for something to happen. Just then she saw a man and ran towards him. "Excuse me sir." ,she called as she got closer to him. "Sir! Do you have just a minute to help me find my children?" But he didn't respond just walked away. She let one tear fall and then another before she was uncontrollably sobbing. She heard a sound and looked up, there were her children in the middle of the river waving at her. They seemed to be calling for her to join them. She got up and started wading towards them soon the river was pulling at her feet as she swam to where she last saw he children. The next thing she knew something had a hold of her feet and was pulling her down. "No I have to get them", She thought silently, "they'll drown without me". As the last of her breath was released she opened her eyes to see her children laughing at her then swimming away. 

   

The Room of Chaos

I question my sanity once again as I walk through the door. Who would honestly show up for such a weird interview? What kind of interview requires a psych test? Oh well, trying to push it into the back of my mind, I walk to the front desk. "Hi I'm here for the interview." The lady behind the desk stared at me in shock and then recovered. "Of course right this way." She led me down a hallway and several turns later we were standing in front of a door. She glanced at me nervously and then knocked on the door and almost ran away. The door slowly opened and I tentatively called, "Hello? Is someone there?" I pushed the door open and took a step in. As soon as I cleared the path of the door it slammed shut. I jumped and then ran to the door, of course it was locked. What was I thinking? I sagged against the door, only 48 hours to go. 3 hours later I was still questioning why I had even come. 1000 Dollars and a job to anyone that can last 48 hours in THE ROOM OF CHAOS. Looking back now I don't know why I thought I needed to do this, I have a good steady job I was very happy actually. Drifting out of my thoughts I got up and started pacing the room, why is it called the room of chaos anyways? It's just a bare darkish room, but as the hours passed my mind started playing tricks on me telling me the walls were moving and that there we're shapes coming out of them. At one time something came out of the wall and I jerked back so fast I fell and hit my head knocking myself out. When I woke up I was in a hospital and couldn't remember anything nor what happened to cause me to be in a hospital.

Peace

She rushed through the store ready to be on the road already. Quickly she grabbed a couple packs of propane fuel and charcoal. Heading to the self check out she started pulling out her wallet, and full out ran into him. She went down along with the rest of her groceries. She glared up at him, “the least you could do is apologize”, she muttered angrily. “Catty? Is that you?” he asked. Oh great she thought to herself, to him she responded “Hi Cole, gotta go see ya later.” She finished checking out and was putting the groceries in the back of the car when little arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled and said “it can only be one person,” she turned around “Nick! How are you?”. He just smiled as a response. “Still not talking huh? Where's your mom?” I asked. He pointed to their van. I took his hand and we walked over, I knocked on the window and she slowly turned her head to look at me. She’d clearly been drinking her eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. I sighed and wrote out a note on the back of my receipt. I have Nick. Call me when you’re sober. Love Catty. I opened the side door and took his car seat and replaced it with the note. “Come on Nick we’re going camping.” I said excitedly. I got him buckled into the car and we we’re on the road. I handed him one of my sisters old unused coloring books and a box of crayons. We stopped just to get dinner and then we we’re off again. When we got to the cabin the sun was just setting so we walked to the edge of the clearing and watched it. As it faded away and left us in the dark we went inside the cabin and got ready for bed. I was tucking Nick into bed when he spoke the very first words I’ve ever heard. “I don’t want to leave here it’s so peaceful and quiet.”, he whispered. “Okay” I whispered back, “We’ll stay here forever.”

I got this idea from an ad for camping items.

6 Word Memoir 

Wait. Hold on. I'm not ready

Traumatized at 6, still working through

Adventurous journeys ending at the ER

Pretty pink pillowcase, for the girl

Bright, obnoxious, fast, dirty, broken bug