BethJoy.com

With everything else that has been going on I've completely neglected to mention John and Erin

So in case anybody has been wondering, Yes they both still exist, Yes the wedding is still on, Yes I am still going to be a bridesmaid, Yes I had no sugar added vanilla frozen yogurt yesterday and Yes, rabid squirrels are not rampaging on the lawn(to my knowledge).

However there have been a few changes. The wedding is now going to take place in West Virginia in honor of Erin's aunt who is very ill and is as pleased as she can be that Erin would change her wedding plans just for her aunt so that she can attend. So we will be having a long drive up but it will undoubtedly be worth it.

Mom still doesn't have her dress to wear to the wedding yet which means SHOPPING!!! I really enjoy looking at formal dresses so I am probably looking forward to the shopping for gowns more than Mom is. Plus I already have my dress:)

Oh, and the date has changed so I am going to be a bridesmaid a bit earlier than I expected, on April 9th I think it will be. However due to staying up really late last night I am so tired right now that my brain is asleep still and I am not sure about the date. But I am pretty sure that rabid squirrels are not rampaging on our lawn doing their traditional nut dance.

I just ate some soft serve, no sugar added, vanilla frozen yogurt

My title mentions just about everything except that the desert was delicious. I am extremely sleepy right now so i won't go into any further details.

It is almost the end of March

And I've had almost 400 unique visitors to my website this month! In case you can't tell I've been looking at my website stats and I've been looking at what people have been looking for when they found my website. Nine searches were for "barber of seville plot" so I shall here mention it. The Barber of Seville" is an opera about a young lord who is in love with the beautiful Rosina but he disguises himself so he can court her without her knowing that he is extremely rich. The opera is somewhat humorous and ends up happily for everybody involved, except perhaps to the bad guy who doesn't marry Rosina.

As I think about three people have come to my website seeking information on Mr. Skiperdoo, he is a rabbit who is the sidekick of Mr. Incredible and Frozone in a short cartoon which is on disc two of the Incredibles DVD. The low budget treatment of the short cartoon makes it extremely funny and although Mr. Skiperdoo never says a word he bounces up and down and looks cute. He also wears glasses.

Apparently my website is very popular in "Royal Crowns" searches because I've had eight of those so far. I believe the story on here, "The Royal Crowns of Scotland" has a great deal to do with it.

Also, be very careful this Friday because not all may be what it seems...

I am very happy right now

So I thought I would post about it. And do you know why I'm so happy? Because I've been praying! And right now I just feel peaceful, relieved, and happy. I know that God has everything in his hands and I know that he is going to work everything out beautifully and I feel like maybe he is going to let me get a book published at some point. With everything else that is going on right now you wouldn't exactly think I'd be praying about that but while I was putting everything else into God's hands I put my writing there too. It will be interesting to see what happens next. At any-rate things have always just fallen into place for me and worked out for the best and though I have been sad and depressed at times it never lasts long and even while I'm sad I've started looking out for the good things that are coming of it. And right now at least one good thing that is coming of this is that I am praying and reading my Bible more than I ever have in my life and I really have needed to be praying and reading my Bible as much as I have.

While I was praying about the plot I had just written and the getting something published I almost felt like it was going to happen. However I still would not call myself a very good Christian yet and I think my answer reception is probably a bit fuzzy so I don't know. But maybe, just maybe I might have an actual book published sometime soon. It's really doubtful but it just might happen. But first the book has to be written:) And right now I probably ought to go to sleep since it is late at night, or actually it is early in the morning.

Writing I have been!

I've switched stories and I think's its for the best. So while I am still doggedly determined to finish the book the book I'm going to finish has changed. As I did not like the plot on the other book and I do like the plot on this book I think the change is for the best. I have just written a seven page long "Story Plot" for the book. It tells what is going to happen somewhat briefly and the story is very interesting.

I'm thinking I may call the book, "The Treasure of the Valley of Aralthan" but that is about long, "The Tale of Aralthan, Aralthan, and Aralthia" might be more appropriate for the story is divided into three parts, Part One which is about Aralthan, Part Two which is about Aralthan the Second(or Aralthan Junior), and Part Three which is about Aralthia who is the daughter of Aralthan the Second. So the story spans three generations. It's a very interesting fantasy tale with dragons, winged horses, handsome princes, beautiful princesses, swords, castles, adventure, treasure, and engagements. And the nice part about it is that, unlike the other story, in this one there really isn't a lot of death, gloom and despair as their was in the other story. With the exception of the dragon slaying this book is fairly quiet however as most of the book is the main characters encounters with dragons(when you are trying to conquer somewhere inhabited by lots of dragons this is a bit unavoidable) it's not too boring a tale. So now I am going to stop writing this post.

It is Monday March 28th 2005

And I don't really have much to say right now other than the fact that snuggling up with cute little stuffed animals is a nice cure for depression. I've started cross stitch a box for me, it's a design of a dragon on a pile of treasure. I'm doing the dragon in colors of pink, yellow and purple so it ought to look like a girl dragon. I haven't done very much today as I've been a bit tired. Hopefully this evening I may get some writing done, I've been taking a break for a while...

I have probably just been through the most stressful and unpleasant period of time in my life

And in case the people to whose house we went over to earlier this evening read this my current state of unhappiness has NOTHING whatever to do with them. Though it was a bit upsetting to hear about their darling pet poodle Precious who was devoured by another dog in their living room.

I can't, or actually I am not, going to mention why I am so very upset right now. It does have something to do with one of my brothers who is currently going through a very difficult time right now and it's kind of like a battle is being fought about and for him right now. I dislike the feeling I have that I'm part of that battle and that I'm hurting him, I prefer being completely and utterly neutral in situations but most of the time I'm not. And I would say that there really is no such as a neutral person who doesn't take a side, Everybody takes side but the side that they take may just be to ignore the situation.

I've actually cried more today than, I won't say I ever had, but I have cried a great deal more than usual, and it wasn't the sort of tears brought on by hypoglycemia. However I also have done more praying, which is very good because of what is going on. So please, pray for my family right now because things are not right but however the situation turns out I am sure that it will turn out for the best, eventually, because all things work together for good to them that love God and walk according to his purpose. But sometimes something really bad happens to somebody who doesn't fit in that category in order for something good to happen to somebody who does... And sometime you have to wait a long time in order to see the good of it which is somewhat of what I am afraid of may happen in the situation that is currently upon us.

And I am SO glad I am not a man. That sort of responsibility and independence is not something I would want. I'm glad I'm sixteen year old girl who still can be carefree and happy for many years yet and that I have a father and a brother who can both shoot pretty well who can explain to anybody who courts me that dire things will probably happen to them if he does not treat me honorably and rightly. I am trying to think up pleasant things right now, but it seems disrespectful... Oh well, at least I wrote ONE cheerful(I hope) post today.

The Hour of DOOM Approaches!!!

I just had to say that.

Easter it is today

Several nice things happened today, when I came down to breakfast the "Easter Bunny" had been there and had given me a present of a book. The Easter Bunny was actually Daniel and he was not the only one of my brothers to do something nice today, Andrew sat in the back seat and let me have the front seat on the way over to church. Now while that may sound trivial it was very important because I was not exactly looking forward with anticipation to some of today. Mom had volunteered me to work in the nursery and I also had camera two to run at the eight thirty service and I was very tired. So I was doing me best to concentrate on anything pleasant that was happening. I arrived at church and got to my camera and managed to do a decent job at running it, though I did make some mistakes, I zoomed in a lot when I should have been zooming out and I was bit slow in finding things and bit to fast with the zoom at times but not to great excess. As the service was nearing it's close the director told me to give the ten minute time cue for church to be over. At that moment the pastor was saying how some pastors think that church is like the Olympics where you're trying to get a score. So he was talking about some people over there holding up a five and people over there holding up an eight and then he looked and point straight at me and said, "She's holding up a Ten!" Now some people would probably feel embarrassed if most of the congregation of a large church suddenly turned around and looked at them but I am not one of them. I held up the ten minute time cue and grinned broadly and enjoyed the attention.

The next pleasant event happened after church was over and we went over to the nursery/preschool area. There we walked up to the desk and they said they didn't need us!!! I was really pleased to hear that. I was willing to help in the nursery but I preferred not doing it on a day when there were more children than usual and when I was very tired and sleepy and not feeling well. So since Andrew was busy in the control room and since it was not yet time to go and have lunch Dad, Mom, and I drove around for a bit and looked at lovely houses with the spring flowers in bloom.

So after a while we came back to church and picked up Andrew and went over to Bucca de Beppo's where we had lunch. Daniel met us there and I got to ride back with him in his Porsche. Which was nice too. This evening, after a nap, we are probably going to some friends of ours house where we shall meet their new poodle puppy. And this post is now over.

I went to Walmart and Target today

After my success with the Colonial dress I thought perhaps I might try my hand at some other sort of dress, and I settled on Elizabethian. Since we were going to Walmart this evening I started researching Elizabethian dresses and as I had an Elizabethan pattern I soon had things all figured out, with the exception of the fabric. This I thought I would leave to what was on the dollar a yard table. But I did not leave it up to chance, I prayed and asked God if he would have the right fabric on sale for the dress I was planning. I also mentioned that his will be done in the matter and if I wasn't supposed to make the dress right now then their didn't need to be any nice fabric on sale but it would be really nice if there was some yellow satiny fabric that was sixty inch wide.

So when I went to Walmart several hours later guess what was on sale for a dollar a yard? Sixty inch wide yellow satiny fabric!!! God certainly answers prayer even if it is about trivial things. I also found some very nice green fabric which I'll probably use for the Elizabethan gown. I think I'm going to make the yellow fabric into a ball gown of a different period. It is very very nice to know that everything is worked out ahead of time for you and that there is a master plan for your life planned by a God who loves you. And it is very good to constantly pray about things before making big decisions. And of course there is Treebeard's saying "Don't be hasty". And also there was a good saying of Mr. Micawber who said something like this, "If you make X amount of money then don't spend X and $100.00 or else you'll end up in a life of misery and debt" and I didn't bother to look up the exact quote but it was something like that. And in case you are wondering, there is a not so very hidden message in this post for a certain person I know and who may or may not ever read this. But as more blunt ways are denied to me to state what is thought of the situation I suppose this will have to suffice. And if need be I may have to delete this part of the post as Mom said to leave a can of hornets unstirred, or something like that.

So I got some very nice fabric at Walmart and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to make a very nice dress:) And I hope that in the future I will pray more about things because it certianly brings results. However, whether it does or whether it doesn't I ought to pray and thank God for all of the wonderful things he has given me, and he has blessed me exceedingly. So now I'm going to end this post.

It was fated that I could not avoid making a serious error for so long...

On the dress I made this evening I did well. On the story I wrote this afternoon I did well. So now I just deleted the story but fortunately (and here I thank God greatly) I had printed off the story for the reading enjoyment of my family because otherwise I would have no record of it. So I'll type it back into this post.

Begin here the Fairy Tale does

Once upon a time there was a young lad named Casprel who wanted more than anything to become a great knight. His younger brother, Edgar, had no such ambition. All that Edgar wanted was to be the very best student with the highest grades at the school he attended. So while Edgar patiently studied the meaning of X, the significance of Schrodinger's Cat, and the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Casprel briskly attempted to learn sword fighting, horseback riding and all other knightly skills. Since he had neither a sword, a horse, or anybody to teach him Casprel was not proceeding very well until one day something happened, a new blacksmith came to town and set up shop. Now blacksmith's make swords and Casprel was determined to get one but as he didn't have sufficient funds to purchase a sword he somewhat doubted being able to get one.

However, as fortune and the story teller would have it, word was spread abroad that a dangerous outlaw was in the vicinity and anyone who could catch him would have a fairly large reward. So of course Casprel decided to capture the outlaw. He didn't want to be selfish,or so he said to hide the fact that he didn't want to tackle a dangerous outlaw on his own, so he asked his brother Edgar to accompany him on his mission. Casprel also said that he would divide the reward by 1/2 with his brother. Despite this tempting offer Edgar declined and he even was so gracious as to inform Casprel that dividing a number by one half meant doubling the number.

So Casprel set out by himself to capture the outlaw. Not knowing where the dangerous outlaw was did not seem to be a problem for Casprel, at first, who quickly began hunting in all of the likely spots where a dangerous outlaw might hid. But unfortunately all that he found was other search parties and a few snakes who weren't the two legged type.

Finally Casprel grew weary of the search and decided to stop by the blacksmith's shop and look at the swords there and see if he wanted one so much that he would continue the search for the dangerous outlaw. As he was looking around the shop he suddenly saw the blacksmith's daughter come into the shop. She was seventeen and very pretty. Casprel was eighteen and had read somewhere that every knight had his lady love.

As he had far more correct ideas about knighthood and sword fighting than courting Casprel was about to make a fool of himself when the dangerous outlaw suddenly walked into the shop and, with an arrow pointed at the blacksmith's daughter, he demanded a sword and all the money in the vicinity. The blacksmith was about to obey and the blacksmith's daughter was about to faint and Casprel was just about to think of a clever plan when the blacksmith's daughter really did faint and Casprel seized the opportunity, and a large hammer, and quickly struck the dangerous outlaw on the head. This effectively brought down the dangerous outlaw and the blacksmith said that it was a well struck blow and would he like to learn how to be a blacksmith? As the concept of working to earn the money for a sword, or even making a sword for himself, had never entered Casprel's head he was amazed at the brilliance of it and accepted the offer.

The blackmsith's daughter, who had regained her senses about the same time that the dangerous outlaw lost his, was very impressed and when Casprel helped her to her feet a moment later she smiled at him very sweetly and Casprel felt that perhaps there was much more to life than becoming a knight,,

So, as you can probably guess, eventually Casprel married the blacksmith's daughter but Casprel didn't end up a blacksmith, although he learned the trade. For he got a chance to to become a knight and when he married the blacksmith's daughter he was Sir Casprel. They lived very happily together and although Sir Casprel was never in the list of the top ten knights he still slew a few dragons and as those dragons had been quite wealthy Sir Casprel became a rich man and lived in happiness and contentment for the rest of his life and was able to leave plenty of money behind for his descendants, who were quite numerous.

As for Edgar he went on studying and after graduating from school in the top of his class and with honors he suddenly realized that his scholastic goals were now fulfilled and he had no clue as to what to do next. So he became a professor and never became even one tenth as rich as his brother. but he did have a comfortable income and although he didn't quite live happily ever after(he didn't marry a beautiful princess, in fact he never married at all) he still lived close enough to it to be quite content.

MORAL: While a thorough knowledge of Algebra, Schrodinger's Cat, and the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire are all very well in their way some people can do very well without them. At least I hope so...

THE END

You are about to be transported to Colonial America for a brief visit

And I do mean brief for I only made a one minute film which was inspired by the fact that I just successfully sewed a VERY colonial looking outfit that fits me well and looks nice. So of course I had to do a film to document it.

Since I was mainly just showing off my outfit I didn't bother to do any research for this movie but as I have a good memory and I've been to Williamsburg many times while visiting my grandmother I was able to mention several facts about colonial times which are probably accurate. So I hope you enjoy this very brief but educational look at colonial America, and don't expect me to give any dates because about the only dates I know is that in 1492 Colombus sailed the ocean blue and that on September 26th 1988 I was born!

Watch the movie

Today is Wednesday

Although it is possible that when you read this it will not be Wednesday. I actually have no clue where this post is going to go, I just know that it is about time for a post and that I should probably write one. It is remarkable all of the forgotten things that I have found while going through the mess in my room, and elsewhere. I just found a really cute little stuffed puppy dog beany babie that I had forgotten. As I have little else to write at the moment I shall just put this on. Tonight being Wednesday I may write a nice long post at the YMCA. Hopefully...

I am going to write a post about Money and the proper use thereof

This evening we went out to eat and somehow the conversation got turned to money matters, and good practices of saving and not getting into debt etc... Apparently some one present had just read a book on methods of getting out of debt and saving money and budgeting etc. So I thought that maybe for the grand fun of it I would summarize a bit of what was said that evening, as well as writing down some of my own ideas. And since I am an unusual sixteen year old what follows after this paragraph may be
very interesting.

1. Spend less than you earn. This is the most important rule with the exception of the rules pertaining to loving God the best and loving your neighbor as yourself and the ten commandments.
2. Credits Cards Bad, Cash Good, Credits Cards Bad, Cash Good! (say this over and over again)
3. Saving a bit of money every month = good, especially if placed in a high interest earning thing. This is runs along the exact same principal of credit card debt because both increase every month, only in one way you get more money and the other way you don't get any but have to pay more.
4. Wait until you have the money for it to buy something.
5. Unless you are shopping at a thrift store typically don't buy something when you first see it. If you still want it after two or three weeks of thinking about it then you probably really want it or you even might need it.
6. Look for a less expensive way of getting a similar thing. For example if you want to watch a movie you can either pay $25.00 for the latest DVD that you might only watch once or you can go to a dollar store and by a DVD for $1.00 and then since typically $1.00 DVD's have old movies on them and typically old movies are better than recent ones you just might enjoy the $1.00 DVD more than the $25.00 DVD.
7. Remember, you don't have to drive a very expensive car, some less expensive cars look nice and run better and last longer and besides that, you can pay about $300.00 and get it painted in some interesting color(I plan to have my car painted pink) and then you can stand out from the crowd as you wouldn't in one of the expensive cars that everybody else is getting in debt for.
8. Did I mention to avoid Credit Cards and Debt at all costs?
9. Try not to go shopping more than once a week and avoid Malls at all costs. There are lots of stores (Walmart(this is not a paid advertisement)) that sell same things(or similar) for less.
10. Don't forget, money isn't everything. You shouldn't make it the main focus of your life. Spend time with your family, enjoy life, be a good Christian, pay your ties and your taxes and if you don't end up a millionaire you're probably still happier than most people who are.
11. If I ever publish a book, Buy it. Please.

Um, actually I suppose that last one doesn't exactly belong there but... There, now you have some practical and useful advise(I hope) and I put a post on here and personally I really hope you have an opportunity of doing suggestion number 11 soon. I really, really, really want to get something published. Wouldn't it be fun to be a published authoress before turning seventeen? That's pretty doubtful since my birthday is on September 26th which isn't too far away. And in a completely unrelated subject, I happen to like Walmart gift cards very much. Especially when they can be handed to cashiers who ring them up and then I don't have to pay for what I'm buying in a manner of speaking. So this is now the end of this post. Try not to get into debt and if you are in debt try to get out of it and thank you for visiting Bethjoy.com.

My Mother Read the previous post

And she said something like, "It was very complimentary, now you don't have to clean your room." I hope she wasn't joking...

She sent me a picture of her in the wedding dress so here is my mother on her wedding day.

And then here is me quite a few years younger than I am now in the dress.

So now you know what my mother's wedding dress looks like.

Some "old" pictures

Mom was looking through a photo album and found these pictures of me. I look a bit different don't I?

The last picture is me wearing Mom's wedding dress. I doubt I could fit into that dress now because Mom was very petite when she got married, and she still is much smaller than I am. I can't truthfully say that Mom doesn't look any different from when she got married, for one thing she stopped dyeing her hair blonde and now wears bangs instead of no bangs. But other than that she hasn't changed much. Well, maybe I'm being just a tad bit too complementary to my mother's appearance but she is very very nice looking even if she isn't twenty-two anymore and she has a son who is about to get married. At least my Dad thinks so. Um, since this is a very delicate subject I think I'll move onto another one.

As you can see from the other pictures I had two American Girl dolls, Felicity and Samantha. I still have them though they are seldom played with now. I've always enjoyed dressing up. Mom made the Dorothy Outfit for me and my dolls outfit too. She is MUCH better at sewing than I am.

The Rough Draft has been written within a Twenty-Eight Day Time Span!!!

YIPEE!!! So now that is done. So total length of the rough draft, 21 pages, 11,453 words, and Fourteen Chapters. Which means of course that I have a LOT of editing to do but I'll wait on that until tomorrow. And it will be tomorrow in about two minutes. But I am very pleased to have the rough draft done. I hope to make the next draft at least twice as long as this is, if not more. The story can use a LOT of work and character development.

I have made a decision

I am going to call this laptop Eowyn. I don't think that the previous Eowyn will mind, at least, I hope not. But it just seems suitable to call my mac laptop Eowyn.

I just installed Virtual PC onto Eowyn and since my PC laptop is Arwen I think I'll call my virtual pc Galadriel.

It is the day after Saint Patricks Day in case you don't know

I have been thinking a lot about writing today. Mainly because on February 18th I started writing the rough draft of the book I'm currently working on. So I got the crazy idea that I might try to finish it today. I have chapter 13, 14, and 15 to write and the rough draft will be done. Currently chapters are averaging about a page in length and I'm just skimming over things. Here is a sample chapter, and I wrote this chapter today.

Chapter Eleven
Kingdom H was the next kingdom they were headed for. The capitol of it was located in the middle of a great forest, and only two roads led to it. Flying over the trees they could see that an army was marching towards the capitol through the woods.
King H was not pleased to hear this news, but he was glad to hear it from them before hearing it from the attackers and he quickly gave orders for the defense of his castle and kingdom.
The told him about their mission to get all of the pieces and they asked if he had a piece of the Powerful Weapon of Evil Villain Slaying. He did not, but he could tell them that in Kingdom I, which was a ways away from from the kingdom they were currently in.
So they flew of from Kingdom H and hoped that all would be well in Kingdom I. Surprisingly, it was. Kingdom I was briskly attacking another kingdom, which was the property of the Big Bad Guy Villian. King I was away supervising the battle and the regent he had left behind was very reluctant to give them the piece, or even information on the piece, until he had consulted with the king.
This problem was solved by the suggestion that a winged horse would not take long to cover the distance. So the regent was flown to the King and Prince Edmund went with him to present their case.
King I agreed to give them the piece and they flew the regent back where they were given the piece to the weapon. It fit with what they already had and the weapon finally appeared to be taking shape, though they were still uncertain what that shape was going to be.
They were not certain were to go next and where discussing it when the brilliant idea came up to visit the Wise Loremaster, who would probably know something about the weapon.
He lived in an observatory tower on the pinnacle of steep hill. It was an ideal place to live if you had winged horses, but it was not too pleasant if you had to climb down the small steep path every time you wanted to go somewhere.
The Wise Loremaster with these words welcomed them,
“What quest for knowledge brings you to my humble abode?”
“We seek information concerning the Powerful Weapon of Evil Villain Slaying.” Was the reply. Then they told about their quest. The Wise Loremaster asked to see the weapon pieces they already had and they showed them to him. He told them that Kingdom J , Kingdom K, and Kingdom L each had pieces of the weapon. He also told them that the other two pieces locations were unknown to him. One, presumably, was on the Isle of Lost Mariners and had been placed there by a big bad guy who had risen some two hundred years ago. He had been defeated by other means.
The last piece, he told them, had been in the possession of Kingdom Z, but Kingdom Z had ceased to exist some three hundred years ago and the piece had changed hands several times since then and it’s current location was not known.
The remained that evening as the guest of the Wise Loremaster and the next morning, with many words of good advice to go with them, they flew off for kingdom J.

If it weren't for the fact that I am doggedly determined to write this book I would probably not write it as I do not like the plot. I have a huge war going on with underlying network of spies and the Big Bad Guy Villain is actually going to succeed in taking over most the world before his utter defeat at the hands of the heroes of the tale, who ride on great white winged horses. As you can see from the kingdom names I am not bothering to name them right now. This book is going to need a LOT of work done on it in the next draft. However currently I'm just trying to finish the rough draft. Then hopefully by the time I'm done with this book it will be at least seventy-five pages long, moderately interesting, and mildly funny. Of course I would prefer it to be a very good book instead of a mediocre one but currently I'm just working on working on a book and finishing it. Quality will come with the next book, hopefully. At least, I'll probably have a better plot for it.

And I do apologize about the lack of amusing short stories on here. My writing time has been taken up with the rough draft. Hopefully soon I'll write a good short fairy tale and put it on here.

In other news I was doing some online research about books and noticed that $5,000 is what most advances are on first time author's books. If that last sentence makes any sense to you then congratulations. Personally I would be very happy to receive $5,000.00 for a book, and then more royalty checks later on:) The $5,000 would probably be very nice to start my long term savings account, buy a new video camera so I have two, get a few "Inspirational" toys, cd's and dvd's to "help" or "inspire" me write, and probably it would cover a few other miscellaneous articles like a new tiara etc. However first I need to write a book that is good enough to be published... And something tells me that I probably won't be a published authoress before I'm seventeen. However I suppose that is alright. It is on my list of goals to get something published somewhere other than Bethjoy.com but it doesn't have to happen soon. Though it sure would be nice!

So now I suppose I ought to stop writing on here and move on to tackling Chapter THIRTEEN of the rough draft. I've already written a few paragraphs in which something unlucky happens.

However that night, before they reached the coast, they would have been surprised unexpectedly and captured if Uno had not been faithfully on the watch instead of fast asleep.

To understand this post you must realize that I have just watched the incredibles

And since I watched the incredibles and the behind the scenes on the incredibles and since it was rather late at night when I suddenly got the urge to do my own super hero movie I would like to now present "The Low Budget Super Hero Movie of DOOM!!!". Note, I did this in a about a half hour so I did not take time to perfect it or make it the best it could be. I just thought I would do something that had something like Mr. Skiperdoo in it and I was looking at a stuffed duck when I thought that and... You'll just have to watch the result.

Watch "The Low Budget Super Hero Movie of DOOM"

It is Wednesday March 16th and I am currently at the YMCA

And I have just written these words in the rough draft,

When they arrived they found on Queen B to represent the royalty. She was a newlywed and apparently had flunked ancient history when she attended the school for proper princesses for she had never heard of the Powerful Weapon of Evil Villain Slaying.

In case you do not know I am trying to complete a book. I am not trying for high quality I'm just trying for length and a moderately interesting story. Currently I'm writing the rough draft and in case you can't tell by the name "Queen B" and "The Poweful Weapon of Evil Villain Slaying" I am not taking very time naming things. Which is currently intentional. When I go back and edit and add things and hopefully change a LOT of things I will probably rename most of the characters, and places, and items. Although I don't know, The Powerful Weapon of Evil Villain Slaying does has a certain ring to it and I might just keep it perhaps. I'll have to see. Currently I am on Page fourteen of the rough draft, word 7,249, and Chapter Eight of the story. In case it is not extremely obvious the chapters are rather short. Some do not exceed one single page of text.

In other news last Wednesday I did not go to the YMCA. We had the great fortune to pass by Target and decide to stop there. Mom was surprised that I had not mentioned it in a post. I do so now. I did not buy anything but Dad and Andrew got ice cream. And Mom bought, at my suggestion, "Bringing Up Baby" which recently came out on DVD. It is listed in the top one hundred funniest movies and it really deserves to be there.

Still on the subject of funny movies The Incredibles came out on DVD yesterday. Mom and Dad got it after leaving the YMCA and somewhat unexpectedly, when they got home around ten thirty we started watching it and did not stop until we had finished the movie. It was most interesting, exciting, and humorous. I believe that we shall be watching it again.

So now I think that I will return to the Rough Draft of DOOM, or actually the folder name is called, "Fantasy Book to WRITE!!!" I do not expect much of this story but I'm going to write it anyway so that I will have the practice writing and also I wish to prove to my self that I CAN write a book, even if a mediocre one. However I don't think it will worse than a great deal of what is written by sixteen-year-olds. So now, this post is over.

I JUST BOUGHT A NEW BLUESCREEN AND HERE IS THE TEST MOVIE I MADE WITH IT

Since I was just doing a "test" to see how the blue screen worked I just made this extremely short little test. However, for the first time in Bethjoy.com history you can see two of me on the screen at the same time. Very cool this is and it means that I will be able to do better movies in the future, hopefully.
Download file

I was just looking over the stats of my website

I was looking at the Search Keywords (Top 10) list and they are: the, how, to royal, patterns, crowns, towel, dresses, animals, of. So this being what people have come to my website searching for perhaps I should write "How to make royal patterns for dresses, animals, and crowns out of a towel." Unfortunately I don't know how to do so, so I can't write it. The two people who came to my website searching for "mccalls patterns archives" were probably disappointed but I'm certain the person who searched for "dollmarket" had something interesting to read.

And just how somebody came to my website with the search "home depot legal" I have no clue. "dogs bad habits", "walmart company diagram", "plastic canvas star wars patterns", "discounted weeding dresses", "repairing time strike on clocks", "midi the horse cliff nobles" and "ice cream theme weddings" are a few of the other rather unusual things people have searched for and found my website. Which is why I think I'm going to try typing informative posts on obscure subjects hoping that people will stumble across my site during a search. And so far this month I've had 136 unique visitors.

Also, on a completely different subject, I've typed about three and a half pages on "The Rough Draft of a Love Story between a Handsome Prince and a Beautiful Princess". The Princess has just been rescued for the first time, that I know of, by the handsome prince and they are currently riding off towards her kingdom. So far I have nineteen characters with names, though they are very temporary names. I doubt I will keep the name, "King Fatsoe" for a certain character as when he was born I doubt his parents could have known that one day the name would be very appropriate for him.

And also one character, Sir Ralco, has two sidekicks so I simply named them, Uno and Dos which One and Two in Spanish. I'm having a fun time with my "temporary names". In a rough draft if you are having a problem with either a characters name, or a location, or an action or something you can just casually write something there and then, hopefully, go back later and replace it with something brilliant, or at least passable. So now it is either time to go to sleep, or write more on my story or do something else.

I thought I would do a test lego stop action film

And here it is. It isn't very much but it wasn't meant to be. I mainly just wanted to test a few things. Watch Film

A tale of an Arachnephobic's encounter with two deceased spiders

Today I worked in the shop. I definitely could not have called Mordor today because it was fairly cold out there and Mordor is very warm and sickening. Perhaps Caradhras would be more appropriate. And for those of you who don't know, Caradhras is a mountain in middle earth that has a nasty reputation and is typically cold and snowy near the summit.

Though really, I don't mind working in the shop. I used to not like it but now I actually enjoy it, to some extant. I really enjoy getting paychecks and I REALLY enjoy going shopping with the knowledge that if I see something I like very much I can buy it. I'm typically very careful with my money though, I never spend more than I earn though every once in a while I will borrow money from Mom but only if it is coming to me in the next paycheck.

But what does all of this have to do with an Arachnephobic and two deceased spiders? Well, as you might guess I have Arachnephobia which, providing I spelled it correctly, is a fear of spiders. I don't really like them but I think I would prefer to be in the company of a deceased spider than a cobra. That was what I was thinking in the shop today while I was in the company of two deceased spiders.

I was working on putting Mega Gridlocks into boxes with the proper hardware. The basic Gridlock pieces were all in a huge crate, which had been kept outdoors for some time, and I was taking them out and putting them into boxes. A while ago when I was doing this same task I had encountered a spider, only that time it was alive so I was feeling a trifle apprehensive about encountering a member of the insect or spider species. Finally, I did.

I was reaching to pick up a gridlock when I noticed something on it. My first thought was, "Yellow Jacket, RUN!!!" but then it changed to "Spider, probably alive. Move back quickly!". Then As I cautiously examined my thought changed to, "Probably Deceased Spider, Keep on Working but in Different Area of Crate". So I kept on working until John came to check on me and I asked him if the spider looked dead to him. He said it did and very kindly moved that particular Mega-Gridlock to the other end of the crate away from me.

Things were going well for a bit after than when I encountered what I think was the mate of the first spider. Both spiders were a strange shade of Orange and had their eight legs curled up under them. John not being around I continued working, though extremely cautiously in case there were any other spiders or insects in the crate. Fortunately I did not encounter any and I think I worked a trifle quicker, though more cautiously, than I did before encountering the spiders. I was very thankful I didn't encounter any snakes, I am far more ophiciophobic than I am arachnephobic. And as I just looked up on Google, Ophiciophobia is the Fear of Snakes. I actually have looked up quite a bit of information for this post, including whether or not a cobra is venamous, how to spell arachenphobia.

I found a rather neat site all about phobias. I do not think I have chrometophobia, ecclesiophobia, anthophobia, or graphophobia. However I am afraid I feel too lazy to mention what all of those mean, though perhaps I ought. Chrometophobia is the fear of money. Ecclesiophobia is the fear of church. Anthophbia is the fear of flowers. And lastly graphophobia is the fear of writing, which considering the amount of writing I've done over the past two years I don't think I have. I do feel sorry for people who have panphobia, which is the fear of everything.

And in case you have ever wondered, Entomophobia is the fear of insects, Ailurophobia is the fear of cats, and Agyrophobia is the fear of crossing the street. And now with all of this cheerful talk about phobia's I shall end this post.

My humble appologies to Handel and Laura E. Richards

This evening has been rather odd. At first I thought I would write a story and I wanted some background music so I put in a DVD that had a music video on it for a song that was very lovely. However I didn't type a story and I started thinking about doing a music video and I thought about a poem I had recently read called Eletelephony which was written by Laura E. Richards. The reason I need to appologise to Handel as well is I combined a song written by that great composer, "The Harmonious Blacksmith" with "Eletelephony" and since I can't sing... Well, I probably should have done some sort of visual with it but... I didn't. I hope that you can enjoy the result. It took me some time to finally settle on which tune to sing it to, Clair de Lune did not work nor did several works of Chopin.

Listen to "The Harmonious Eletelephony"

Photographs my mother took at the Dollmarket

If you want an explanation of these pictures, read the previous post. The young lady in the red shirt is me.

Tin Man and Toto Too

Now I know I'm not in Kansas anymore

Personally I work for cash

The Main Events of March 5th shall now be unfolded

At a very early hour this morning I woke up, or actually I was awakened noisily. I don't usually like to get up before six o'clock in the morning but this morning was different, we were going to the Dollmarket!!! After gulping down a glass of milk I transfered my stuff to the car and then settled down for a two hour continuance of my slumber while my Dad drove us to the Dollmarket. About forty-five minutes before arriving at our destination we stopped at Mcdonalds where I ate a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with a milk.

We got to the Dollmarket about a half an hour before it opened. After intently peering through the windows of the sale room Mom said that it was time for a bathroom break so we stopped at Burger King. When we got back Mom suggested that I stand in line for the Sale room since from previous experience we knew that in the first few minutes of it being open rapid doll collectors would rush in grabbing every bargain in sight.

I was the first person to stand out in front of the store and I watched as the staff were making last minute preparations. As these involved taking displays out of the store and setting them up outside the door was open and apparently my look of longing towards the dolls inside with their sale tags was noticed because the lady in charge said, "You can go in". I suppose my asking if I could do so had something to do with my being given permission to go in. It was so COOL!!! I was the ONLY customer in the sale room and I got in at least ten minutes before everybody else who had to wait until nine when it officially opened. I felt like a VIP. It was a foreshadowing of things to come...

Although several dolls caught my eye I ended up only getting a magazine at the sale room, and Mom was kind enough to purchase it for me. It was a Doll Costuming magazine and had a pattern in it that would fit my "big" fashion dolls, as in the ones that stared in Shortella. So that was a very nice find.

Since the main showroom was now open I walked in. The moment I did so I noticed that something very odd was going on. On the floor and in regular intervals were squares of yellow brick road. A Tin Man was walking around as were various other Ozish characters. Apparently the dress code for all of the sales people was Oz themed. When Mom came in a few minutes later she and I walked around and took my pictures with most of them. I did not have my picture take with the Wicked Witch of the West, Mom took her picture separately. One of the female salespersons was the cowardly lion. She had a sign on that said, "Will work for Courage". I thought that that was funny.

There are a lot of dolls at the Dollmarket. the place is huge, maybe not as huge as the Caverns of Moria or even a Walmart Supercenter but still it is a very large store filled to the brim with dolls. Everywhere you look there some sort of porcelain or vinyl beauty crying "Take me Home with you!". Unfortunately most of the cries must go unheeded for a long time since almost all of the dolls in the room are merely floor models and when go to the checkout and buy one you get one sealed in the box. So a doll must cry "buy me" quite a lot before she is finally bought.

I came in the purpose of buying a Tonner Fashion Doll. I had carefully researched them and I felt confident that that was what I wanted. Swiftly I followed the Yellow Brick Road to where the dolls I was seeking. Minutely I examined them. Lovely I thought them. But after showing each of my choices to mother and hearing her less than ecstatic opinion of each one I finally ended up settling on a doll that I had barely even considered during my online research. It was a Madame Alexandra Alex doll, or actually a Sofia doll though she was in the same line. She was very posable and I thought that she would be good for stop-action.

However before making up my mind on which doll I wanted I was drawn to a table that said "Door Prizes" on it. After admiring the dolls on it, especially a Basic Brenda doll that at the time I was considering buying I inquired how you become eligible for a door prize. Finding that every one who came was allowed to get a ticket and enter I wrote my name in the designated spot on the ticket and dropped it into the container and hoped to win the door prize. Mom did not enter a ticket.

Now, I had gotten up very early that morning and although I had slept in the car there was a slight matter of being awake past one o'clock last night which made me tired so after looking at most of the dolls in a rapid manner I went out to the car and took a short nap and looked at the results of Mom's excursion into the sale room. She had two dolls and an outfit and some miscellaneous.

Being now refreshed and ready for further shopping I entered again into the sale room and continued my perusal of the beautiful merchandise. Mother had almost finished making her selections and was probably ready to check out. However it was still before eleven o'clock when the "VIP's" were going to arrive. Several of the designers of the dolls were going to be there you see. Mom was ready for a bit of a break so we drove to a nearby McDonalds were dad ordered chicken strips with barbecue sauce and a diet coke. I do not like Barbecue sauce so dad was kind enough to get me ranch dressing. Mom had packed an ice chest with milk for me and peanut butter crackers so we had a good snack and rest before going back to the Dollmarket for the last time that day!

We entered again and Robert Tonner, designer of the Tyler Wentworth Doll amongst others, was there. But the Tonner catalogues were not so Mom did not buy one. She soon asked a lady in an Emerald Green gown to write down her order. Since the dolls are not supposed to leave their displays the numbers on their tags are written down by the salespeople who will also answer questions to the best of their ability. Mom was getting her order written down when I joined them and as they were in the near vicinity of the doll I had decided to get, I had her write that down as well as a set of three little fake cupcakes that were perfectly sized for my dolls. None of them are on diets you see.

Then it was time to stand in line at the checkout for a while. As I stood in line they announced the first door prize winner, it wasn't me. In fact there were so many people in front of me that a half an hour later when they announced the next door prize I was still standing in line. Again the named that was called was not mine. However the person didn't show up to claim it so a few moments later the lady called another name. That person didn't show up either so I made a quiet suggestion, "Why don't you call out Elizabeth Von Fange?". The lady laughed and reached in and pulled out the next raffle ticket. It was completely unexpected to me but she picked up the announcer and said, "Will Elizabeth Von Fange please come to the front." Of course I was already there and very excitedly I claimed my door prize! It wasn't one of the dolls I wanted but hey, NEVER look a gift horse in the mouth, in other words, when you are given something for free don't criticize it. I had borrowed a twenty dollar bill from Mommy to cover my purchases so when she came over and admired the doll I had won(it had a retail value of $30.00) I said, "You can have her if I can keep the twenty." So Mommy got a door prize even though she didn't fill out a ticket.

I was now at the cash register were I learned the news that the doll I had finally selected to buy was out of stock. So I just bought the cupcake set which was $4.00. I could hardly believe that on a trip to the Dollmarket I had only spent under $5.00 so I decided I needed to buy something else. As I had already won a door prize and as I really liked the Basic Brenda doll that was over there and as she was a Tonner Fashion Doll which was what I had come into the store with the firm determination of buying and as she was on sale for $25.00(the other doll had been $30.00) I had her written down and then went back in line to buy her.

Quite some time later, the person in front of me had had two pages of dolls and outfits, I had paid and was able to join Mom who had already gotten her numerous purchases. And then I got to see my cupcakes. When you buy something some one has to go back in the stock room and get it for you. As I had been in line Mom had gotten my cupcakes for me. They are really nice looking. As I waited for my new doll to come from the depths of the stock room I noticed that there were several "free" gifts being handed out to those who purchased certain dolls. As I had gotten a Tonner doll I got the Tonner gifts, which was a little ornament doll and a little tan bag which was just perfect for my doll to hold.

After this we went to the car and it was fairly full since we had a lot of stuff other than dolls already in it. Mom wanted to go to the Bass Pro Outlet(not sure on the name actually) and get Dad a new pair of special shoes so we drove there next. Being exhausted with my long stand in line I napped all of the way to our next stop. However when Mom and Dad went into the store I got out my new doll. Since she is a "basic" doll she was dressed in under things. I had brought a doll and a few extra outfits with me so I quickly dressed Brenda in a pair of blue jeans and a deep gold top that I had made myself. The tan bag matched the outfit perfectly and a pair of black boots made the ensemble complete. She looks very nice and I am quite pleased with her.

The next stop was Chili's were we ate a lunch/supper meal since it was now about three. Then it was off to Mary Joes, a large fabric store with a gorgeous selection of fabric, and way less than gorgeous prices. Mom was looking for some fabric in particular and I was looking for some fabric that would make nice doll clothes since I was very pleased with the blouse I had made which Brenda was wearing. However the prices of fabric at Mary Joes are a bit higher than they are at Walmart, though the fabric is definitely more impressive. eventually I found the remnant bins and found four nice remnants which I bought. My total was about seven dollars.

We then walked down to a nearby doll and toy shop were I successfully resisted buying two dolls and three outfits that I really liked and almost would have bought. When I reached the car I was shocked to find that I had over fifteen dollars in cash still with me. When I had left for the trip I had had $36.00 exactly with me so I was shocked to find how much money I had left. I had expected to spend a LOT more than that.

After Mary Joes it was time to return home. I rested a bit on the way and looked at my new acquisitions and also the inside of my eyelids. When I got home it was time to write a post while the memories were still fresh, which is what I'm doing now. I had a WONDERFUL day today and I enjoyed it very much. Everything I bought was a good buy and I had several unexpected surprises, like getting into the sale room before everyone else and winning a door prize. And there still is some day left! Who knows what other wonderful things might happen today and in the future? God does.

Plans change...

Instead of leaving today to go to the vicinity of the Dollmarket we are going to leave tomorrow morning very early. I am very much looking forward to it, as well as going to a very neat fabric store too. It will be a long day but very fun! And it will probably end up taking a severe toll and my finances. However money has little value until you spend it...

The ZaraTaraJellyMovie

If you remember some time ago I put on here a scene from a yet to be filmed movie, it had leaders of the rebellion trying to decide which pizza to order. This is the "rest" of the movie, though it isn't really. During filming I left out a few lines and due to starting my lines before the camera started filming I lost the beginning of several lines. And also in this web version I cut the opening out so instead of a full minute of explanations and introductions of characters, you get right into the action.

This movie is quite unusual because only ONE outfit in it was sewn by me, and also an actual human being other than me is in it. Thought it was purely accidental, my Dad walked into the shot so I used it since it looks as though it is intentional. He is the man in the green shirt holding some papers, undoubtedly a person of great importance.

I hope you enjoy this film, what there is of it. Perhaps someday I'll go through and revise and refilm it so it can be seen in it's true glory. However for something a sixteen year old girl did all by herself, more or less, it isn't that bad.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

I am once again writing a post at the YMCA

The past few days have been, interesting. I've stayd up late and woken up at a normal time and then been sleepy and tired all day and I haven't been getting much writing done. Mainly because of either DVD's or the internet.

Since the trip to the Dollmarket is imminent I have been preparing for it, both by doing online research and by playing with my existing dolls. It is really fun playing with my existing dolls, if you watch the movie a few posts back you can see what a result of playing with them is. I'm hoping to make a few more movies staring my plastic and vinyl friends.

It's going to be a fun weekend since we, Dad, Mom and I, are leaving Friday afternoon for Greensborough where the Dollmarket is. We are going to stay Friday night at Embassy Suites and then Saturday morning the Big Event will be. There is a special evet going on at the Dollmarket, the sale room will be open and there will be some important persons in the doll world present.

I have about an hours worth of time to fill right now since everybody else is exercising and I am not and I must wait until they are finished to go home. It is only on rare ocasions like these that I wish I had my own car, or really I would prefer some sort of small backpack that when desired would unfold into a fast moving vehicle which would have sufficient safety features to please Mommy. A built in DVD player would be nice to as would be a piloting system where you would just say where you wanted to go and it would take you there. One of my fictional characters has vehicles similar to this one. Typically my bicycle will mysteriously change into one of these vehicles, when it isn't a horse.

Now due to the fact that there are a LOT of distractions claiming my attention this post may or may not make sense or be grammatically correct. I suppose if I proofread this problem would be nonexistent but...

I still have quite a bit of time to fill so perhaps I'll work on writing something else other than a post.

The Story of Shortella, or what happened when I started playing with my dolls from previous visits to the Dollmarket and thought of an idea for a movie

After all the research on the dolls I thought I would play with my existing one. I got an idea for a movie so I filmed it. So now when I go to the Dollmarket I am ready to look for movie stars:) I hope you enjoy the movie, I improvised all of my lines so... And the continuity of the film isn't the best either... But I had fun making it. Especially dressing the dolls and adding accessories! That is fun!
Part One
Part Two
I think the Moral is particularly appropriate.