Bethjoy.com

In September my Grandmother decided to go on a trip. She picked out a cruise that started in Alaska and crossed the pacific ocean to travel to Japan, Russia, South Korea and finally ended in China. And she invited me to go with her…

So in September, without my parents, I flew to Alaska and got on board a cruise ship for three weeks away from my mother, the longest time I have ever been away from her. The only day I was really homesick was on my 20th birthday when the phones weren’t working so I couldn’t call her. So I think I did fairly well considering how poorly I usually take separation from her.

I bought a new digital camera for the trip and took about three thousand pictures. A few of those I will try to put up on my website. However, the latest news of interest for me is that I just got a really nice flat screen TV placed in my office and my playstation 2 is connected to it and… It’s really fun!!! So… if you don’t see more pictures you will know I am enjoying my new screen:) Or I might be working… Maybe.

I love seeing the clouds from airplane windows.

On our way to the cruise ship we drove past majestic mountains and got to see a few glimpses of glacier ice.

This is the Diamond Princess. An appropriate name I thought for a cruise ship to have my 20th birthday on even though the “diamonds” I wore were Cubic Zirconium.

What’s my favorite part of a cruise? Well, primarily it’s the cruise experience itself but I definitely am fond of the deserts!!! They have sugar free… And it is so good…

I had a great time on the cruise. I made it to the finals in the Princess PopStar Competition. I went to lectures and craft sessions. I actually went to tea in the afternoons sometimes. I got to see incredible sights on shore. I got up on stage with a ventriloquist act. I got to play with a Wii:) I also called in to a live tv show! And for some odd reason when I was riding in the elevator very often people would look at me and then say something to the effect of “Oh, I saw you sing” or “You’re very brave to go up on stage” or some other such remark that made me feel quite important and very pleased about how many people knew me by sight by the end of the cruise. Of course, I did stand out from the standard passenger considering that most of the passengers were in the 65 and older catagory and while there were some younger passengers on board(as in the 30 to 65 category) there were very few twenty year olds. So I was unique. And I had a great time! And surprisingly, I only gained about a pound!

Yesterday I made a comic book. I had previously made a comic book so this was my second one. The first took me two or so days to make. This one I did in less than eight hours from conception to finished product. Then I took the pictures of the pages home(I made it while at work(I wasn’t “working” or on the clock while I made made the comic book of course)) and tried to post them on my website but I discovered that my program I used to post with was broken and wouldn’t post pictures… So it is today, after begging my brother to fix it and him quickly granting my request, that I can now post the following comic book. And the first comic book may show up here sooner or later.

Incidentally… If the pictures following show recognizable characters from certain movies and/or books they are not necessarily the same characters in the comic book, though there is perhaps some connection between the two. Or something like that. I most certainly did make the action figures I just bought them (Most of the ones used in this comic book were recently purchased this weekend:)(I had a fun time shopping!)). And now for the comic book! Or comic strip… Or whatever the following is… And I didn’t have spell check on the computer I wrote the dialogue on so some of the characters may be speaking a “dialect” or talking about objects that sound similar to other objects but in fact are not… And there is potential for a sequel. And hopefully without further ado, the comic book!

While on our California trip we entered a store that sold the most beautiful pictures. They were embroidered with silk threads on silk cloth on the effect was absolutely stunning. Some of the pictures, like their prices, were huge. Far surpassing the beauties of oil paintings the pictures seemed to capture light and hold it captive so that as you moved a shine greeted the eye where ever it looked.

After oohing and awing over the multi-thousand dollar pictures I thought it would be wonderful to have one so I walked over to the \”inexpensive\” section and looked at the $150.00 pictures where were probably about seven inches square. And I looked at them. They were pictures of just a simple flower. And I thought, \”I could do that.\” And yesterday, I proved it!

True, this is nothing so gorgeous as the pictures we saw there but considering the fact that the design I used was from a dollar coloring book and used to be a color by number design. Considering the fact that I was just using embroidery thread I already had. Considering the fact that instead of spending the year it would take an artist to do one of those gorgeous embroidered pictures and I only spent one afternoon. Considering that I had almost no clue of what I was doing and had no instruction book whatsoever and was just operating with the TLAR method (That Looks About Right). Considering the fact that I only figured out what I was doing about halfway into the project… I think I did okay. Any way, it didn\’t cost me $150.00 and I’ll enjoy it just as much if not more so I\’m very happy about that.

There it is! My “Yellow Rose Not From Texas”. Pretty isn’t it? I’ve already started on another picture from the same coloring book.

I thought I was very clever the way I solved one problem that arose during the making of the rose. I was trying to trace the design from the coloring book onto the fabric. If you have ever tried tracing you will know that the thicker and harder to see through the paper, the harder it is trace. Most fabrics are challenging to see through. The blue fabric I chose was no exception. After a great deal of time spent trying to see through it I suddenly remembered a behind the scenes video I’d seen on a disney DVD. It was of the animators drawing there cartoons on a lighted panel so that the drawing below could be seen plainly through onto the page above it. Not having a lighted surface to draw on I improvised. I had a desk lamp that was \”flexible\” and after putting the fabric on top of that which I was to trace and holding it to the light and being pleasantly greeted by an excellantly rendered image of a rose, I began to seek some flat surface that would allow light through. Tracing on a round light bulb did not seem like a good idea. So I found a plastic lid to a small xtorage pin and the lid let enough through for me to trace so sitting on the bed with the lamp on it\’s side and kind of in my lap, balancing a lid on my knees I isolated the coloring book page and began the delicate process of tracing. I’m terrible at drawing but fortuantely I\’m not too bad at tracing so the task was completed without too many mistakes. I thought I was very clever with the way I solved the tracing issues:)

Also, I pulled out my camera for the first time in about a year. That is a good sign of things to come!!! I think I may try taking pictures of things I make now so that even after I give them away I\’ll know what it was I made:)

It all started with my bed, sort of. Mom wished to take a picture of it in all of it\’s pristine glory as the sun shown glowingly through the beautiful embroidered sheer curtains. First however, the bed needed to be made as the brand new bedspread and pillow sham were still in their packaging. The pillow that used to have the pillow sham on it was deemed unsuitable for this new pillow sham and therefore was discarded. I was sent out to find the new pillow of plumpness and proper proportions that mother had bought and stored in what we call the \”playroom\” but is now used just for storage. It is kept locked and a lot of miscellaneous stuff placed inside. I went out to get the pillow.

After entering and finding the pillow, I noticed that on the floor was Excalibur. Naturally I picked it up and remembered one of the room cleanings I\’d gone through where I\’d actually taken some of my swords out from under my bed and brought them up there because underneath my bed was getting a bit crowded. When you have fifteen swords space does become an issue.

As I brought Excalibur back inside I was thinking about swords. On my way through the kitchen I saw Dad and mentioned that it would be oh so nice to have sword rack to hang my swords on. I have thought this before. As I went upstairs to take the pillow to mother the idea of the sword rack went with me. I mentioned it to mother and the idea was not immediatly shot down. I mentioned it again and further to Dad and possibilities began being mentioned.

Ultimately this led us to Home Depot where we wandered the aisles, searching hither and yon, for the proper things to make a sword rack of. First however Mother sought a curtain rod for her window (First that day we were hanging curtians in Mom and Dad\’s room, the sword rack was an after-that thing). Then we entered the Make-Your-Own-Dream-Closet aisle where we picked up several \”possibilities\” and following that we looked about some more and got a few more \”possibilities\”. So we went home to see what worked the best.

We went home. After consultation between mother and I and deciseive action by my Dad the first piece was installed while I arranged my swords by length and considered things. However, sooner, MUCH SOONER, than I expected everything was in place. And now I am surprised. This morning my swords were scattered about collecting dust and some not even in my room and now I have a sword rack with ten of my swords on it. Two of my swords are on my dresser including the gorgeous ninja sword with a black blade given to me by Andrew and the other four are under my bed. Two of those are little daggers but I still count them as swords and the other two are my \”real\” swords as one of them is a fully functionally machete and the other is a battle worthy sword. I have much variety in my weaponry. Giving me the present of a neat looking sword is a pretty sure way of getting a favorable smile from me:) And heh, it\’s only about seven months until my birthday!

Anyway, here are some pictures of my new room (cleaner than it probably will be for some time now as it\’s already messier than it was in the pictures) and my new sword rack!

I don’t know whether or not I’ve mentioned it before on here but I am currently really wanting my hair to grow down to my waist. It currently is about mid back length, when wet. Being that it is inclined to grow slowly getting it cut(or “trimmed” as Mom says) is usually a traumatic experience, except for when it isn’t. Today was one of the days when it was grand fun!!! Primarily because our hair stylist seemed to be bored and she curled my hair! Oh, it looked sooooo gorgeous when she was done with it… I went straight home and got into a costume and pulled out my camera… Actually I pulled out my still camera in the hair salon and took several pictures and then when I got home I pulled out my video camera. Here are three pictures.

Since I had no script and using my computer to write one had a high probability of messing up my hair I just filmed with the camera. I was thinking of make a silent black and white film and putting in the words and figuring out the plot later but… That didn’t show up my hair well enough… So instead I made a “Foreign Film” with a voice over since I had recorded all of my footage without sound. If you can figure out what is going on in the movie then I congratulate you, I have no idea myself…

Watch Original Movie

However despite the fact that I don’t really know what’s happening I’m going to try and translate the language and put captions in the movie so that it might possibly make more sense. Possibly…

Watch Movie with Captions

Actually it does seem to make sense now. Perhaps at some future point I’ll put in some captions that will make it not make sense unless you are studying deeply the underlying symbolism…

I really, really, enjoyed my hair being so curly and pretty today. I’ll probably wear it like that for my wedding maybe. That, however, is an event in the far distant future and I highly doubt I’ve met the groom yet… However I’m very sure that God has a special somebody out their for me and I’ll just wait for him.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

My brother Daniel came back from Canada yesterday night. I was quite glad to see him. I went in the airport to meet him at the luggage area where he was waiting for his suitcase and looking earnestly for it.

He did pose for the picture. It’s quite nice having him back and we looked at some very spectacular pictures on his computer last night.

In other news, I made three doll dresses yesterday though two of them were nearly identical and were meant to be identical. And as I have quite a few things to do today I’m going to end this post now.

Today I learned how to cut and peel apples(not mac). Though I have not yet “mastered” the skill I have done some peeling and cutting and so forth. It was a little interesting because both my parents cut and peel apples in a different manner, and both were offering advice and demonstrations. Mom gently holds the apple in her hand while strategically placing her thumb for optimum “leverage”. Dad keeps the apple on the table and hacks away. Or perhaps “hack” isn’t exactly the word for it. He does it more like a diamond cutter, carefully selecting where he is going to cut and then slicing there and then choosing the next part and slicing through there. The actual peeling part was rather interesting.

My parents eventually left me with three more apple slices to finish peeling and cutting. On one of them I suddenly became “Artistic” and attempted to carve a face on it. You can see it in the picture.

And of course, the general aftermath.

So what’s my opinion of apple slicing and peeling? Um, I think since Mommy is probably going to read this post I will not state it.

Oh, and if you really want to read some interesting kitchen experiences, read this post.

When I made a bridal gown for Kitty a few posts back I thought that she needed a groom. Friday I discovered that Ken is about the right size for Kitty and Friday night I bought two more Ken dolls. Today I opened one of them and I took some pictures of them together.

First you see the two of them rather stiffly standing next to each other. She seems a bit short for him.

Then they seem to realize, “Hmm, this could work…”

Then of course comes the proposal. I didn’t edit this picture because it didn’t look as good edited. Unlike Tree Beard he’s quite bendable.

I’m pretty certain she said “Yes!”

Then he sweeps her off her feet.

And now it’s time to call the Happily Ever After Pink Carriage Rentals

And that’s it! For the present at any-rate.

Last Friday I went a cookout for the camera and technical people of Centeral church. After eating and talking we were all ordered out to the back yard where a strange sort of croquet game was planned, though perhaps it wasn’t as strange as the Queen of Heart’s croquet game and nobody lost their heads.

We were quickly divided into two teams. Five persons from each team were going to be chosen to actively participate in the game. The first person of each team to be chosen (by drawing names out of an envelope) was made into the sign holder or cheer leader.

Then there were four more players chosen to be the Holders of Croquet Mallets. With great trepidation I waited while the names were slowly pulled out of the envelopes and read. The first person wasn’t there, the second person was. I think one other name might have been chosen when Bobbie(who was our team leader) read out “Joyce”. Now Joyce is the first name of my mother who, when Bobbie looked at her, must have conveyed her disinclination for playing this game so Bobbie said, “You can have Elizabeth play for you.” Within a few seconds I had my hands on the Croquet Mallet with the Red Stripe. I couldn’t play croquet but… It looked like fun.

The game was very exciting. Especially since every so often we would have to stop when a certain player would put their ball through a certain hoop number and then sometimes there would be a contest. I was involved in two of them. The first you can see below. It involved holding a lighted candle and a water gun and trying to squirt your opponents candle flame out while they were trying to squirt yours out. I was not so good of an aim but my opponent was.

It was a very fun day and now It is time to get to what happened today.

What Happened Today

I suppose the primary accomplishment of today was that I finished 11th grade History. It is done! I do not have to worry about it. And also it marked the fifth day in a row of finishing a unit of History. That is a LOT of History. I think I went all of the way from before the Civil War to the capture of Osoma Bin Laden. And can I remember all of it? At the moment, No:) But it may come back to me eventually.

My reward for finishing history was a Blonde Tiny Kitty doll. She is very nice and, of course, she immediately had to have a new dress which I made and it turned out quite nicely.


As you can see, I was having a fun time in photo shop editing pictures this evening. I plan to make a movie tomorrow using my new Kittys.

Since I now have a wedding dress for the Kitty dolls I was wishing for a handsome groom to go with them and I was suddenly struck with an idea that maybe, just maybe, a Ken doll would work. I quickly got out one and compared the scale and guess what? It worked!!!

So this evening, since I really didn’t have a “Prince” Ken doll I went to Toys R Us and bought two of them. One was on sale and one wasn’t and my grand total came up to just a little over $21.00. So you can expect a new movie here soon. I already have the plot figured out and I may write the script tonight.

Her name is Katherine Evelyn. She is now about nine days old(yes, it sometimes takes a while for me to post important things). Her parents are Dale and Robin Young. Here is the important part of the announcement email that was sent out

Introducing: Katherine Evelyn Young 
Born July 16, 2005 at 12 noon at Round Rock Hospital
She weighed 7lbs 1oz. and was either 18inches or 19.5 inches long (we are trying to straighten that one out).  She has blonde hair and deep blue eyes and loves to put her fingers in her mouth.

However that isn’t all of the news on my mother’s side of the family. Another of her brothers, David Young, got married recently! Remember the exact date of this important event at this time I do not. However my congratulations go out to everybody who deserves them.

I’ve already met my new aunt, before she was my aunt, and I’m looking forward to meeting my new cousin, Katherine Evelyn Young.