Bethjoy.com

And now I’ve been back for a day or two and I really haven’t had a good excuse for not posting other than the fact that I am still tired. So… What did I do on the trip to Florida? To begin with we started at the bright and early hour of 8:30 P.M… After driving all night with Dad driving and me making sure he was awake through most of it while we listened to the delightful story of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austin we arrived at the Embassy Suites we were staying at in Florida some time before six in the morning. We promtly checked in and went to bed.

Later that morning we had a delicious breakfast and my memory refuses to allow me to clearly remember that day but we went to the convention center and Dad checked in and we got our badges and we started setting up the booth soon after. My badge had my name, Elizabeth Von Fange, on it and the company I worked for, The Light Source, as well and my Dad had said that my company title was “Princess”. I liked that and enjoyed wearing my badge. Towards afternoon after much setting up had been done Mom and I went to Walmart to purchase several things for the booth. They had an amazing dollar a yard section but a fit of frugalness hit me so I only bought about six dollars worth of fabric. Also on that trip Mom and I saw cupcake dolls!!! Many happy hours of my childhood were spent playing with cupcake dolls so naturally when we saw them rereleased we just had to get one. So we did:)

Then we went back to the convention center where we had left the boys hard at work and soon the booth was “finished” and we could go back to the hotel. The plan for that evening was to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but due to extreme tiredness I was about the only one who watched the whole thing. Mom dozed of(she was really tired) and Daniel and Andrew left early to go to their hotel room and sleep. I’m not sure about Dad. Charlie and the Chocolate factory is a very funny movie and we’ll probably watch it again when everybody isn’t exhausted.

The next morning we were supposed to be at the convention center before the convention started at 10:00 so we came about 8:45 in order to do final preparations which were done about the time the convention opened. My job while the convention was going on was to scan persons badges so that we could add them to our mailing list, pass out the “swag”(notebooks very The Light Source themed) and smile. For the three days of the convention I attempted to do my best at that and I scanned over seven hundred badges I think my Dad said it was, which was more than usual. I handed out a lot of notebooks too. Due to the fact that the convention lasted eight hours for the first two days and six hours on the last I would get pretty tired by the end of the day. I’m not used to working that long.

The first two days were rather similar. We got up in the morning, ate breakfast, drove to the convention center and enjoyed the sunshine, were ate the convention center all day, drove to somewhere to eat afterwards when the sun was down, then went to the hotel and went to bed. Though I usually stayed up and watched a DVD before going to bed.

The last day of the convention arrived. After the convention was over at four we did a bit of take down and then we went to dinner with two business friends of my Dad and then we came back to the booth and initiated take down procedures. Our crate to put the booth in hadn’t arrived and I was hoping that it wouldn’t for a little while because I wanted to play Daniel in a game of Lord of the Rings trading cards and I wanted to beat him with the new deck I’d just built. Daniel usually was too busy to play me but if their was a delay in the take down their might be time for a game.

We did about everything that we could do in taking down the booth before the crate came and finally there was an opportunity to play Daniel. I felt relatively certain of success but the first turn of the game dashed my spirits a bit for Daniel killed all of my starting fellowship except the ring bearer and then the game got worse from there. I almost got him at one point though, but I didn’t and he got me instead the next turn at site five on the adventure path of nine sites. I was not very pleased and inwardly decided to get some more trading cards.

Eventualy the crate showed up and the booth was stowed and we went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, got in the car and drove off, stopped for over an hour at the Ferrari dealership where they had a really cute Enzo on sale for $600.00 but the maximum driver weight was 65 pounds which I weigh more than, and continued to drive back to our home in South Carolina whilest and at the same time listening to “The Hobbit” unabridged. it got us home but not before we stopped at a Walmart:) I enjoy going to Walmarts.

There, that is approximately what we did on the trip. I haven’t however mentioned a lot about the trip because I’m tired. You see I was really busy during the trip and I got a lot done so I decided that when I got home I’d try to be a bit busier. So yesterday I sewed a dress(and actually pre-washed the fabric!), did some school, and a lot of research on just which set of Lord of the Rings Trading Cards I was going to buy in order to be able to build a deck that would beat Daniel’s and I did a lot of other things too but writing a post wasn’t among them. Today I swept leaves on the driveway and spent over two hours putting inserts into The Light Source catalogues and earning some money to spend on the trading cards I’m planning on ordering this evening and I also did some more school and some cross stitching and some other things and now I’m writing a post and my arms are tired. Putting inserts into two large boxes of catalogues is very tiring.

There was a really nice event that happened on the last day of the convention that made me very happy and I’ll mention it here since I haven’t already. One of the booths a little way down (And I forget their name) was giving away strings of beads or “costume jewelry” as I suppose it might be called. I had gotten a free necklace of beads for the first time on the last day of the convention since I hadn’t noticed them before being usually very intent on where I was going when I passed that particular booth because it was in the path from our booth to the ladies room which was usually the only reason I went that way. However once having discovered free beads I made a point to pass by again and then I got two free things of beads!!! I was very pleased but the thought “More Free Beads!” continued to circulate in my head. Aided by the thought that probably whoever had that booth probably wouldn’t want to be bothered by carting remaining beads out of the convention center I went to the booth again armed with one of The Light Source Notebooks I’d been handing out and said, “I don’t want to be greedy… but I love your beads!” That got me a sizable handful of the necklaces and I smiled very sweetly and handed the lady who was giving them out the notebook I’d brought over and then went back to the booth with the beads in my purse. I have a large purse. However that wasn’t the end of my trips to that booth, oh no precious… When the convention was over I went back and very happily for me the booth persons had just put out two cardboards boxes of the beads and were encouraging passing persons to take them. Since they said they were just going to get rid of them if any were left I immediately dug into the two cardboard boxes and picked out whatever I liked. My purse did not have room for what I brought back to the booth but fortunately Mom found me an empty Walmart bag in which I stuck my treasure. A little later I went back to see if anything was left and since their was I took a few more beads and put them with the others and then ceased my visits to that delightful place. And what am I going to do with my plunder? Well, it will be great for a dragon hoard if I want one in a movie and I can use the beads as trim and use them as necklaces (their actual purpose I think) and for lots of other things. After all, if it’s free I can probably find a use for it. However considering the clutter in my room and how deep things are piled on my room I probably should refrain from getting too many more things until what I have is organized. However, despite that, I’ll probably be ordering some more trading cards this evening:) After all, I got paid for putting all of those inserts into the catalogues and I don’t think they would have been completed so quickly if it hadn’t been for the fact that as I worked on the catalogues I thought about how I was going to spend it and the fun and delight of the new trading cards I’d been researching. So now I think I’ve written enough of a post.

Today my brother John was given a DVD of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by his wife, Erin. As he was given this present in my presence it was not long before it was being played. I’d been planning on obtaining that DVD today and since I hadn’t I was quite pleased to still get to watch it. Tomorrow I hope to have a copy for me, and in windscreen since John’s copy is in full screen. I very much enjoyed watching it and I’ll probably be watching it again. And again.

Probably tomorrow afternoon we will be leaving to drive down to Florida. I’m bringing plenty of DVD’s to watch on the way. Today I’m supposed to be packing. I’ve done some but there is still much yet to be done.

So far this week I think Mom and I have gone out shopping twice. The first two occasions I think we were gone a little over four hours each shopping trip. Today we went shopping and were gone almost six hours! I had a fun time though my feet still hurt. They’re not quite used to having me be on them for that lat.

I got two new pairs of shoes today. They’re quite pretty. One pair is very “classic” and black and shiny and quite “designer” in my opinion. I also got some new clothes. I got a very frilly pink blouse that is quite dressy. I got two very “professional” looking pant suits. Both have black pants and one has a dark gold and black short sleeved jacket while the other has a dark red and black long sleeved jacket. And I finally got a broom-skirt!!! I’ve been unsuccessfully seeking one of those that I liked, fitted, and Mom approved of for months. It’s a dark gold/brown colored skirt and has a really pretty belt to go with it. No all I need is a blouse that will match it… I got several nice things today.

Also, The Wizard of Oz recently came to DVD and Mom bought it today and I’ve been briskly watching the behind the scenes and I watched part of the movie. Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.

Since I’m leaving on Tuesday for the LDI convention in Florida that my Dad is going to(and I’ll probably be there too) I thought I might do a little packing tonight. No, not clothes packing. Instead I was packing other very important things, my Lord of the Rings Trading Card Decks(I hope to play Daniel and beat him) and I packed some cross stitch supplies and a few miscellaneous toys. Since my purse with my Bible, cell phone, and camera is already packed I didn’t have to bother with those three very important items. I may need to rearrange my purse a bit though and make sure all of the loose change is out of it.

Mom had bought me a new computer case several days ago as an early Christmas present. It’s quite nice and it has wheels and a handle. It also has pockets and compartments EVERYWHERE and it’s sooooooo nice. Especially the little zippered pouches that velcro to the inside of the case. You can take them out, stuff them, and then put them back in and then when you want to do anything with what’s inside you simply take it out again and use it! Quite nice. I hope there will be room for all my cables inside. And I can’t forget my DVD case either.

Tuesday is rapidly approaching… And in case I didn’t mention it, that’s when I’m leaving, Lord willing.

Princess Gwendolyn and Mildred looked around them. Though they had had an excellent ariel view of their surroundings they had not paid attention to that particular part of the castle onto which they had been dropped. The turret was round and encircled a tower which stuck up for two stories higher than the level on which the turret they stood was on. After walking all of the way around it they saw that there was only one door that led into the tower and as Mildred pointed out, that was probably the only safe way off the turret as the height they were off the ground below made jumping perilous.

They tried to open the door, pulling as hard they could on the door knob, but it simply wouldn’t open. Finally Princess Gwendolyn, who was tired by the exertion leaned against the door which immediately opened so rapidly that Mildred, whose hand was still on the door knob trying to open it, also fell inwards.

As the two stood up Mildred began blaming herself for not noticing that they couldn’t see any hinges on that side of the door which meant that the hinges must be on the other side since doors always(or at least they should) open inwards into the side that has the hinges on it. Princess Gwendolyn assumed that this must be another of the half forgotten theories mentioned by the scientists at the court of Mildred’s father that Mildred had heard at some point or other but usually didn’t pay attention to unless she needed to.

They were now faced with a staircase and Princess Gwendolyn was very glad it was not a ferocious bulldog. For one thing it is very difficult to climb a ferocious bull dog and for another thing a ferocious bulldog has a higher chance of biting you than a staircase has.

“Shall we go up or down?” Mildred said as it was plain that one could not go far if one tired going forwards or sideways.

“Down.” Princess Gwendolyn said after giving the matter careful consideration. As her decision implied, she wanted to get back home as soon as possible and assumed that the sooner they went down the closer they would be to the beach and the sea and possibly any boats that were nearby.

But it was a poor choice for they had not been climbing the stairs down for more than two hours without seeing a door or passage when they encountered a fence across the way and on the other side of it were eighteen sleeping bulldogs who looked as though when they were not sleeping bulldogs they were ferocious growling bulldogs who wanted to be eating bulldogs and since Mildred gave a shriek of surprise and horror when she saw them all eighteen of the sleeping bulldogs woke up simultaneously and became eighteen growling, howling, and barking bulldogs.

Princess Gwendolyn and Mildred were so frightened that they ran straight back up the stairs and an hour and a half later they reached where the parapet they had been standing on was quite out of breath and very flustered and both sat down on the stairs near the open door and attempted to catch their breath.

Due to the distance they had traversed this was no easy matter and it was more of a case of their breath catching them up as their catching it for they both felt as though they had left behind on the stairs quite some distance back.

After sitting for a while Mildred was able to do some contemplating and at last arrived at a conclusion which she mentioned to her cousin by saying “I suppose we should go up the stairs.”

“Yes, We probably should.” Princess Gwendolyn said rather calmly and a minute later the two got to their feet and began climbing the stairs.

They had not been walking up long when the arrived at a landing that had a door on the other end of it. The approached and Princess Gwendolyn asked Mildred, “Which side of the door do you think the hinges are on?” for once she learned something Princess Gwendolyn usually applied it when needed.

“They’re on our side.” Mildred said after carefully examining the door.

“Then we should pull and not push.” Princess Gwendolyn said and prepared to do so.

“I just remembered!” Mildred said, sounding extremely excited as she spoke.

“Remembered what?” Princess Gwendolyn replied wondering what it could be.

“Water doesn’t like to be compressed!” Mildred said in the same excited tones while Princess Gwendolyn stared at her in amazement. “That’s why falling on from a great height could kill you.” Mildred continued and then she beamed with delight and having remembered this.

Princess Gwendolyn didn’t say anything. She opened the door instead and once they did so they knew that they were not in Kansas, though indeed, they had never been to Kansas and I don’t know where Kansas came from though actually I do, sort of. Or at least I know that Kansas is a state in the midwest of the United States and it isn’t the most exciting place in the world except maybe when cyclones come around.

Inside the room that they know saw were three persons. The first and foremost of them was what both Mildred and Princess Gwendolyn thought that a fairy godmother should look like and the other two persons, well we shan’t get to them quite yet but they were what Princess Gwendolyn and Mildred respectively thought of when they thought of two words that went together well. One word stars with P and the other starts with H if you would like a hint.

“Welcome! I’m gad you’ve got here at last.” The fairy godmother looking woman said, pleasantly “I was expecting you four hours ago!”

“I am sorry to have kept you waiting.’ Princess Gwendolyn said in her softest, most charming princess like tones that she could manage and though she spoke the fairy godmother looking sort of person she looked ever so slightly at the person who stood on the woman’s right.

“Me too.” Mildred attempted to say gracefully and she smiled at the person who stood on the fairy godmother looking woman’s left, though she also had a smile for that lady as well.

“Well, you are here now.” the fairy godmother looking woman said, and nobody debated with her on the subject, “And now I’m here to tell you that I am your fairy godmother!”

“Which one of us?” Mildred said, for she expected Princess Gwendolyn to have a fairy godmother but she did not expect to have one herself.

“Why both of you of course!” their fairy godmother said, “And I have been specially sent here for a very important reason which perhaps I should mention. You see, several days ago Elizabeth Joy Von Fange started writing a story and she decided, at her brother’s advice, to post it up on the website in serial form as she wrote it. However due to doing many other things there came a time when there had not been another installment written for two days or more and she did not wish and desire to further write on the story and yet she did not want it to never have a conclusion so she ultimately decided to send for me.”

Princess Gwendolyn and Mildred had been paying strict attention while the fairy godmother spoke but Mildred couldn’t help interrupting here, “But what has this to do with us?”

“Well,” their fairy godmother continued, “You two happen to be the heroines of the story Elizabeth Joy Von Fange was writing and she has decided to finish your story in this installment of it.”

Mildred was surprised but Princess Gwendolyn looked pleased. From what she had heard of Elizabeth Joy Von Fange she was not the sort of person to have a story end unhappily and was one to have it end happily ever after and the prospect of not having to find her own way out of the castle and off the island and not have to go on any bothersome adventures seemed very pleasant.

“So, she told me to make sure that the two of you lived happily ever after. And now I would like to introduce you too…” And here she promptly introduced Princess Gwendolyn to the very Handsome Prince(I hope I fooled you back there with saying the the words started with P and H:)) who stood on her right and as these two smiled at each other and felt quite sure that the would live happily ever after the fairy godmother introduced Mildred to the handsome princess who stood on her left.

Mildred smiled sweetly and said, “Do you like tournaments?”

“Oh yes,” he replied, “I enjoy competing in them.”

“I enjoy watching them.” Mildred said, and she smiled and he smiled and then he kissed her and then she smiled some more and then since I’m not sure this story should get any more romantic than that the fairy godmother promptly said,

“Now just tap the heels of your ruby slippers together three times while saying “There’s no place like home” and you will be taken back to your home.”

Mildred quickly stuck her foot out from underneath her dress to see if, in addition to a handsome prince she had gotten a pair of ruby slippers as well but apparently she hadn’t for her slippers, though quite pretty, were definitely not made of ruby. Mildred sighed and Princess Gwendolyn, who had far less hurriedly and much less obviously had checked and found that she was the one wearing the ruby slippers promptly and gracefully clicked the heels together three times while saying demurely, “There’s no place like home.”

In an instant the four of them, not the fairy godmother, were back in Princess Gwendolyn’s father’s castle and everyone was very glad to see them and on Princess Gwendolyn’s birthday their was a double wedding where two noble ladies of the court got married since Princess Gwendolyn was so happy with her own marriage, which had taken place within an hour of her arrival home, that the idea of getting married was quite contagious and the amount of weddings doubled in the next week to what the number had been the previous week. Mildred of course also got married to her handsome prince and they, like everybody else in the story, lived happily ever after. Even the eighteen bulldogs lived happily ever after for they were frequently fed and frequently payed attention too and one of the scientist at Mildred’s fathers court invented a device called a laser which created a red dot which could be placed almost anywhere and which dogs and especially cats, loved to chase around and this was used, at a safe distance of course, to give the eighteen bulldogs something to chase around while not endangering the life or limbs of anyone who wished to play with them.

So I think I’ll end this story now. Thanks for reading it and I hope you enjoy it. I may post another serial on here at some point but I probably won’t do it again unless I have the whole story already written out. It’s just a little too stressful for me to do a serial where I have to write the serial part I’m posting everyday and I suppose since I’ve said this is the end of the story I’d better end the story now. THE END

(oh, and if you want to go back and read the other installments here they are)
Episodes One and Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
And this is Episode Five and I’m not going to put a link to it since you are already here.

I just finished read “At Agincourt” and it being rather late now I shall probably refrain from writing anymore tonight. On Tuesday I will be leaving and going to Florida for a week or less or possibly more. I don’t know whether or not the hotel will have internet, or more to the point, internet for which there is no additional charge for. If I do have internet I will post, if I don’t I probably won’t. However I will try to get a lot of writing down and write posts to be posted later. And I’m not leaving for another five days or so. Today I pretty much just read and rode my bicycle and was lazy. Tomorrow I hope to spend more profitably however since I did read almost all of the historical parts of the Henty books I read today I sort of had a profitable day. But I doubt I’d get a very high grade on a test of the events of the books I just read unless they were about the charming young ladies who eventually married the Henty characters. For instant in “A March on London” it’s Agnes who is the younger sister of the Henty characters best friend and brother at arms and the daughter of a knight of not very great standing and he saves her life once and the Henty character marries Agnes after being knighted and given a splendid estate and in “At Agincourt” her name is Katarina and she is the daughter of an exiled Italian count and he saves her life(a common thing that Henty heroes do for their heroines, or at least it happens in a lot of the books) and she comes with a very rich dowry and lots of jewels and is considered to be very beautiful by the king of England who tells the Henty character that his taste is as good as skill in combat though not exactly in the words I mentioned.

So I had a fun day and hopefully soon I’ll find out what will happen to Princess Gwendolyn and her Cousin Mildred.

Plus I went shopping yesterday. And I’d gone shopping the day before that. Both shopping excursions lasting for greater than four hours. Yesterday was fun to go shopping on because it was the first of november and many things were on sale. I got a black haired wig and a voice changer device which is quite fun to play with, and at a different store I got a sword and a tiara, and at another store I bought a small pumpkin for $0.25 which I’ll probably use in a movie and some beads. I didn’t buy anything that was less than fifty percent off.

I didn’t do any story writing yesterday. However to make up for it I’ll try to put a little longer episode of “A Story That Might Be Interesting” on here. Reading “A March on London” which I’m currently doing is probably going to give me some adventurous story ideas.

So, back to the Henty book I’m reading! I’ve read it before and I remember that is a proposal in it when the handsome hero asks the beautiful sister of his best friend to marry him after he saved her life several chapters ago and since he’s just been given a grand estate by a wealthy merchant whose life and family the hero had saved, she says yes. And really, I don’t think she could have done any better.