Courtney's Cauldron

It’s Google’s 13th birthday!!!

Just thought that was a fun and random fact.

In case you couldn’t guess, I learned this from today’s Doodle.

~Courtney

So homecoming was this past weekend. It was pretty fun and I ended up spending the weekend at a friend’s house.

You should all go to Mom’s blog and check out the pics, I look ah-mazing (and Ash doesn’t look half bad either 😉 )

Here’s the link (you need to log in to see them though):

http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2011/09/24/homecoming-dance/

~Courtney

For those of you who are unaware, there is a major difference between “friends” and “Bestfriends” (all one word).  Something my Bestfriend and I have been doing for sometime now are comparisons between the two. You may have seen something similar on facebook, but for the most part we make our own- they get pretty extreme 😉

Here are some examples:

• Friends have secret handshakes. Bestfriends make shadow puppets.
• Friends: get together to make awesome memories. Bestfriends: lounge.
• Friends have lots in common. Bestfriends have nothing in common and make fun of each others opinions.
• When friends go over to each others homes they say “Hi!” When Bestfriends go over to each others homes they yell “I’m HOOMMEE!”
• Friends tell each other what’s bothering them. Bestfriends play charades.

While we’re on this comparing note, my Bestfriend dropped by yesterday. Unannounced. Then told me to get out of my PJs- we’re going shopping. It was a fun and interesting day in Parker…

~Courtney

If you know me at all, you know that vegetables don’t exist. Okay, broccoli exists. Stop being a smart… aleck.  But the term “vegetables” came from market owners back in the “ancient” times. They just wanted a way to better sort out their produce. So “vegetable” is not a scientific term and really is just made up of leafs and roots and whatnot.

But what really annoys me are tomatoes. I mean, if you’re going to relabel a bunch of food, do it consistently. Tomatoes look and act like vegetables, yet we all consider them fruit. They even go in the vegetable section at the store! What’s more, if a tomato is a fruit then ketchup is a smoothie! I don’t know about you but tomato smoothies on hamburgers just sound nasty.

~Courtney

Okay, I know that sounds weird but stick with me for a minute.

Most of my subs (for class) talk about how they got the job. Those who do also tend to have a life story to share. Those who don’t are usually asleep.

As it turns out, there is a website that Douglas County Substitutes can log onto and accept/request jobs, and teachers can do the same for finding subs. On this website they can plan and post pictures and comment and IM and email and all this other stuff.

Now the first thought in my head was Facebook! It’s not Facebook, just for the record, but from the sounds of it, these substitutes spend their afternoons and weekends scrolling through their fellow subs’ class stories and how funny Thunder Ridge High School students are and how neat Rock Canyon is and how big Legend is and what not. And then they can post their own stories about their day and how great it was or how horrible their 2nd class was or how mean the teacher seemed or whatever.

What can I say? It’s a sub’s life.

~Courtney

Almost 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001. For those of you who can’t read the little date under the subject, that’s today (or at least when I’m typing this it is.)

In case you didn’t know, there’s a new memorial building going up in the site where the World Trade Center fell. It’s going to be over 1000 feet tall (1775, also the year our country was founded) and will be the tallest building in lower Manhattan.  It will have all the names of all the people who died there and will have trees surrounding it and be gorgeous.

What’s freaky is living today and being alive and experiencing that day, while knowing that for any child born today, Ground Zero will be history, like any other event in our outdated textbooks. Won’t it be weird in twenty years when you’re talking to your grand kids and you will be able to tell them where you were on 9/11?

Also, I think it should be a national holiday. We should get off school and work and they should play the national anthem in time square or something and it should be a tradition to put a flag on your door or something. The only problem with this is what we would call this holiday. Ground Zero Day? World Trade Center Day? The-Day-Airports-Became-Security-Nazis? Yeah, I don’t think that’d really work…

We will always remember this day and all those who lost their lives and their loved ones. God bless America 🙂

~Courtney

Okay so at least this one almost lasted a whole year right?

So I don’t think I ever blogged about it, but my last fish was brutally eaten alive by my family while I was in Michigan. Sauteed and braised in soy sauce.

Okay, just kidding, but they did accidentally kill him (they over fed him and he suffocated to death…)

The cause of death for this one is somewhat unknown. I do know it had something to do with the 7-day fish feeding tablets. Either they didn’t work and he became malnourished or I accidentally over fed him (which apparently is a very common way of fishicide)

At the moment I’m not sure if I’ll get another one, but I really do love having a fish in my room and I’ve got a pretty tank, so we’ll see.

RIP, Fish #2

~Courtney

So, as you may or may not be privy to, our family has two time-shares up in Granby Ranch (aka, Solvista). This basically means that twice a year we get to go spend time up in the mountains.

We usually go in the winter, skiing and all that, but the past couple years we’ve also been going up in the summer. There’s lakes up there and it’s just gorgeous, and this year we also have Waverunners!

So we got to ride around the 60°F water, and it was a total blast! We also rode the ski lift up the mountain (okay, so it wasn’t exactly a “ski lift” seeing as we didn’t have skis, but whatever). It was cool and stomach-dropping and different and awesome and I loved it.

I took a couple hundred pictures (okay, maybe only one hundred) and we had a great time.

Maybe I’ll figure out how to post pictures sometime…

Oh, and Mom’s staying up there for the rest of the week. Dad was in Vegas last week so we’re switching up parents… it should be interesting to compare the two when they’re flying solo.

~Courtney

There is no preparations for driving. No kid can just hop behind the wheel and be all like “I’m an awesome driver! I can be a stunt double in batman!” or something.

Nope, there isn’t much you can do to prepare a 15-year-old to get behind the wheel (trust me, they tried everything), but eventually they catch on.

Now, speaking from the 15-year-old’s point of view, nobody really prepares you for night driving either. It’s a whole new ball game. Brights, lights, midnight joggers. It’s all different. And I haven’t even started on how horrible construction is for the nerves.

Anyway, to all you new drivers and parent’s with new drivers who may or may not be reading this blog– good luck…

~Courtney

As it turned out, I was babysitting this afternoon. Not that big a deal, except that everyone left with out telling me. Anyway, William walked in and asked if I would go play with him outside.

Uh, no? I’m not that loving of a sister.

Then he modified his question and asked if I would stay out there while he played outside.

That I can do.

So I collected my Chinese homework and followed him into the driveway. He pulled out his bike and helmet and started up and down the street.

I got through translating half of the sentence He always reads before going to bed when I heard a bloodcurdling scream.

William had taken a fall and ripped up his leg.

Now, William is almost as big as I am, so how the heck was I supposed to take him up the hill? Luckily the neighbor heard the screaming and came to rescue us.

Yup, that’s how I wanted to spend my afternoon- disinfecting skinned knees.

~Courtney