Another Photo Challenge Entry!

Here's my entry for this contest!! The subject is food!

Later,

Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

Sisters :)

We went shopping!

And of course, I can't forget my little sis Mary. 

I was washing her hair, and she was being impatient and a little squirmy. 

"How about we sing some songs?" I suggested. So I started in loudly, "Salagadoola mechicka boola, bibbidi-bobbidi boo. Put em' together and what have you got? Bibbidi-bobbidi boo!"

She shook her head and frowned. "No! That's Spanish!" 

Ah, little sisters. They say the littlest things that just make your day. 

Photo Challenge Entry

Here is my entry for Aaliyah's Macro Photo Challenge!

Later Gators!

Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

Brother Photoshoot

A few months ago, I could have never gotten my brother to do a photoshoot.

Well, he did! It was very informal, and more fun than it was serious. Let's just say we had a lot of bloopers :)

I love this one!

Here's a few bloopers:

Happy Memorial Day!

~Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

I Beg of You!!!!

Did the title draw you in? 

Brooke and I are planning something (more details coming later!). But we need sponsors! Would you be willing to sponsor me and Brooke? We would love it if you do blog designing or have an Etsy shop!! Please email me at kgrace1999@gmail.com!!!! I Beg of You!!

Later,

Kathryn :)

Every Step of the Way, Part 2

 Every Step of the Way, Part 2

            “Hugh, Samuel, go to Lyon Quay immediately.” She whispered, referring to the harbor in London. “You are to meet the boat there. Head to the Netherlands and meet Richard. The girls and I will go a different direction.” Her voice shook with fear. Hugh and Samuel raced out a back entrance and into the blackness of the night.

            “Come on,” she whispered. We followed her out the door. She ran to the front of the house, and onto the street. We stopped, and looked down below. Tears filled my eyes. The dark figures of London reached out and touched the starlit sky. Catherine gave a weary sigh. We all knew there was a difficult journey ahead of us. But we also knew that God would take care of us. Catherine took a deep breath and walked down the dusty road. We followed, looking up into the beautiful night sky.

           

              Dressed in merchant’s wife’s clothing that Agnes had brought along, we made our way through the streets of London. Rats scampered past us. It smelled awful. Catherine had no idea where Lyon Quay was, so we wondered in circles. The light of daybreak began to shine. We were tired, weary, and hungry. Little Susan cried.

            “Edith, do you have the bottle of milk?” Catherine asked. Edith’s eyes grew big.

            “No, mam. I think I left it in the stable!” she cried.

            “Oh, no! And I left the valise, too!” Catherine exclaimed. She looked at Susan. Susan whined and cried.

            “We need to find something to eat,” she said. “And now that we’ve left those things behind, they will surely find out that we’ve escaped,” she said.

            “Should we hurry and find Lyon Quay, then?” Agnes asked.

            “Yes, but let’s find some food first,” she replied. My stomach growled at the mention of food. I hoped we could find someone who would give us something. Catherine was a wealthy person, but she was not able to take much money with her.

           

It was now full morning, and the streets were crowded with people-young, and old. A boy and his dog played with sticks, and peddler woman sold flowers. Catherine pushed her way through. We came across a little bakery. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the interior and spilled out the front door. I so badly wanted some of it, but Catherine didn’t have enough money. She was able to buy a bottle of milk for Susan however, from a lady in the street. We wandered on, not knowing whether we were going in the right direction.

            “Miss Catherine?” Agnes asked.

            “Yes?”

            “May we take a rest?” Agnes puffed. Her shoulders sagged from the bundles on her back. Catherine looked around.

            “We can sit there,” she replied, pointing to a small bench. Catherine sat down, and I sat at her feet. It felt wonderful to sit, after wandering all morning. We had been walking all over London, and we still hadn’t found Lyon Quay.

            “We better get going,” Catherine stood up. I sighed. Already? Catherine always wanted to be on the move. I didn’t blame her though. I would too, if I was being hunted down.

 We followed closely behind her as she made her way through the crowd of people. We had almost reached the end of the street when Catherine bumped a lady carrying a sack of bread.

            “Oh! I’m so sorry,” Catherine apologized. The woman said nothing but stared at Catherine’s old and worn clothing. Her soft, blue eyes looked compassionately at little Susan.

            “That’s all right,” she said. She reached into her bag and pulled out 2 loaves of bread.

            “Please take this. You need it more than I do,” she whispered, placing the bread in Catherine’s hands.

            “Oh, no. We could never take it,” she said, trying to give it back.

            “Nonsense. I have plenty of food at home. Take it, please,” she said. Catherine’s eyes filled with tears.

            “Oh, bless you Madame! Bless you!”

            “You are very welcome.” The woman placed her hands on Catherine’s shoulder.

            “Do you have a place to stay?” she asked.

            “I’m on my way to Lyon Quay, but I’m not exactly sure where it is,” Catherine sighed.

            “It’s that way. Head straight, and you’ll eventually meet up with it,” she replied.

            “Thank you so much,” Catherine said, squeezing the woman’s hand. We rushed away, heading toward he wharf.

           

           

“You found these things where?”

            “In the stable,” Atkinson replied to the head of the Privy Council. “This bottle of milk and this valise are sheer evidence that Duchess Catherine has escaped,” he said.

            “Issue a warrant for Catherine’s arrest and tell everyone to be on the lookout for her,” a man said.

“She shouldn’t be too hard to find. She has a baby and five servants with her.” Another said. The leader rubbed his chin. He looked around.

“All right,” he said, nodding his head. “Issue a warrant immediately. I want her found and delivered to her Majesty at once!” 

Later,

Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

Writing Challenge Winner!!

Okay, wow. 

I got so many great entries for this challenge! It was extremely hard to pick the winner... but, I have!! 

The winner of the Chatty Kathy Writing Challenge is.... *Drum Roll*....

Eli!

I loved his story about cocoa on the air! I think I about die of cuteness overload everytime I read "The Adventures of Cocoa the Goat." 

Here is the entry:

~Written by Eli~

"Cocoa, Pumpkin and Emily quickly sat down in their seats. The On Air sign above the door turned red. Cocoa picked up her microphone and said, “Hello, everyone out there in goatie land! Thank you for tuning in to Cocoa’s radio station!”

Cocoa winked at Pumpkin. “Today I have a special surprise for you! I have invited a guest speaker to talk to you about the importance of keeping your hooves clean and trim.” Pumpkin cleared her throat then spoke into the microphone. “My name is Pumpkin, and yes, today I will tell you just how important it is to keep your hooves clean…” Pumpkin cleared her throat again and said, “It’s very important!” Cocoa grabbed the mic and said, “Thank you for that very wise advice. And now to our news!”

Cocoa looked at her sister Emily and whispered, “You’re on.” Emily searched for her papers then said, “And now for your daily news…today two goats got hit on Route 30. Police say there wasn’t much left to identify who they were!” Pumpkin, Cocoa and Emily looked at each other and made sour faces. Emily continued. “Some local goats egged a butcher shop last night. The butcher is suing for damages. And that’s all the news for now.”

Emily put down the mic and said, “Cocoa, play a song!” Cocoa grabbed a record and said, “And now for some music…” She turned the record on, then all three goats quietly slipped out for lunch break."

Congrats, Eli! 

Later,
Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

Graduation!

Saturday, we had my sister's graduation! It went really well! 

Setting up

My aunt making sure it's just right

The display board

The display board

Mary and the cousins hanging out with Mcdonalds and Max and Ruby

Part of our homeschool choir practicing before the ceremony

During the graduation, Lauren played 3 pieces. A Chopin, a Debussy, and a Mozart.

I just LOVE her dress and silver jacket!

Receiving her diploma

Hugging Mom

Hugging Dad

My uncle gave the graduates challenge

And I think I better stop here for a second. 

We had a little group put together, playing a beautiful arrangement of To God be the Glory. There was a violin (me) a flute (Sarah) a trumpet, a baritone, a trombone, and Lauren on the piano. We had only practiced a few times together, but I was determined not to make many mistakes. So we get up there, and start playing. I'm playing this part with only the baritone and the piano, when suddenly, something just didn't feel right on my violin. As I played on one of the strings, I definitely knew something wasn't right. I stopped (I shouldn't have, but I was kinda in shock at the time... ehem...) and plucked my D string. Whoa!!! It was sooooo off from what it was supposed to be, it wasn't even funny. I'm sure I was getting some strange looks by then, for stopping in the middle of the song and plucking my string... 

For the rest of the song, I couldn't play on that string. It was a good thing I didn't really have to play on it much anyway.

Wondering what happened to it? Well, my string slipped. That means it slipped out of tune. It happens if the violin gets hit, or, for no reason at all. 

So, that was very surprising to me. That's almost never happened to me, and it happens when I play in front of a bunch of family and friends....  :)

Anyway, back to pictures!

The cake

Food!!!

The gift table, with a picture and a slideshow

Me and Carson being silly

Later Gators,
Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun?

This is exactly my 100th post!!!!! Whoa!! 

I cannot believe it. It just seemed like yesterday that I did a "Hello" post introducing myself.

And I cannot believe I have 71 awesome followers!!! Thank you guys!!!

So, I don't know if you have looked at the poll on the sidebar or not, but a Writing Challenge was voted on the most!! I'm so excited!! Each of you can write a paragraph. Not a full story, just a little snippet from it. I will be the judge!

The topic is "The Perspective of Animals!" How fun right? Here's a little paragraph to show you what I mean.

~ It all started one sunny morning, when the bell on the door of Hopson's Pet Shop jingled loudly. 

"Well, hello there," Mr. Hopson said to the lady and her little daughter who had just walked in. 

"My daughter would like a pet," the woman replied. 

"What kind? We have dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, hamsters, and more." I grunted. I was always the 'more'. Turtles never got mentioned in the welcome phrase. 

"I don't want any of those, mommy!" The little girl exclaimed. "I want something special!" I jumped up. I was special! 

"Well..." Mr. Hopson rubbed his chin. "There's always the mouse." I laughed to myself. Chico? The Spanish dancing mouse? He'd wake you up in the middle of the night singing La Cucaracha. 

"No." The little girl whirled around, flinging her brown pig-tails. "I want the thing with the snake head and the rock on it's back." I just kinda stared. That was the best description of a turtle I had ever heard. ~

There! That's just a little thing I made up. Y'all can do so much better! I am looking forward to seeing the entries!! 

Here's the rules:

1. The paragraph MUST be written by you, and you alone.
2. Your paragraph must be in the perspective of an animal.  (Like the animal is speaking.)

3. The deadline is May 23. 

4. You must put your paragraph in a blog post, and send me the link (of the post). 

5. You must put the button linking back to my blog on your sidebar until the contest is over.

I think that's it!! 

Ready, Set, Write!!!!

Earrings and Other Stuff!

Brace yourselves, this could be long.

Well, I was actually talking to sweet Brooke through gmail chat when it happened. My mom came in my room, and sat down on my bed. I was thinking "What have I done?!" But then my sister and my brother showed up in the door way. Okay. 

I suppose I should tell you that my family gives each child a small gift when they 'graduate' from eighth grade. 

So, my mom was like "Lauren got a necklace, Sarah got earrings, so, would you like to have your ears pierced for your present?" I was like "Uh, yeah!!!" 

So, yesterday afternoon, I got my ears pierced. I wasn't nervous at all, but I declare, the lady at walmart wasn't helping. 

"This is just the wipe, sweetie. We're gonna clean you're ear okay?" 

"This is just the pen, honey,  I'm just gonna mark it okay? This isn't it yet."

"Okay, this is gonna sting a little, okay? This is what happens." And she showed me the little gun and how it worked. Okay, seriously. Just pierce them please? 

And it doesn't help when your mother and two other jewelry ladies are staring at you while the other worker prepares to pierce them. Let's just say it was extremely hard to keep a straight face. 

Finally, they were done. Sure, they hurt a little but it was awesome. Over and over again the lady kept asking me if I was okay. 

Sigh...

Anyway, here's a picture!

And so, today has been a cleaning day (don't look so shocked, I told you this wouldn't be all about earrings). My mom and brother have been sorting out the garage and old clothes. My dad had taken the van back to work after lunch, so my mom could have the truck in case she wanted to donate some of the things we didn't need. 

My mom ended up decided she wanted to do a yard sale instead. So, we didn't need the truck after all. However, I have violin lessons on Tuesdays, and it was a sight to see me and my mom pile into the truck along with my violin and bag of music. 

The truck is a stick shift. Nugh said. Let's just say my mom is a little rusty? It's was a bumpy ride. Especially when she went full force over a large "Traffic Hump". The expression on her face was priceless. 

Tonight my dad has been working in the garden! The sun is slowly setting, and it is really pretty out!

Also, thank you Talia for making my new favicon!!! I love it!!

So, that's what Monday and Tuesday were like for me. Anything new going on at your house? 

Later,

Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

I Love Lucy (Literally!)

I'm sorry if I haven't been posting things very interesting lately. I've had a terrible loss of inspiration.

But once again, like it happens every time, an idea hit me like the frying pan on Tangled. Clang!

Everyone always seems to be talking about a TV show or music artist they're obsessed with. Well, it's my turn :)

My absolute favorite show is I Love Lucy!

It's a hilarious black and white comedy made in the 50s. 

It's about a New York City housewife name Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball). She's married to Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz, her real life husband), an entertainer.  Their best friends are Ethel and Fred Mertz, the landlords in their apartment building. 

I Love Lucy has 9 seasons, all about the adventures of Lucy and her wild schemes! 

I Love Lucy, Season 3

I want these things!! They're so cute!!

Oh, to drink my milk out of that :)

My dream car!!

Oh, what a neat purse!!

Totally!!

So, this is my absolute favorite show!

Why don't you check out some clips on YouTube? I guarantee you'll love it!!!

Later,

Kathryn (aka Chatty Kathy)

Mug picture found here

Car picture found here

Purse picture found here

Shirt picture found here

Every Step of the Way, Part 1

A Painting of Catherine Willoughby

Okay, so it's time to start a new story! I hope y'all enjoyed the last one! This next story is called Every Step of The Way, and I wrote it for Reformation Day in 2011. Here's a bit of Historical info you'll want to know before you read the first part:

Catherine Willoughby, the Duchess of Suffolk, was a wealthy and prominent Protestant in Tudor England. She was the patron of John Day, a Protestant publisher. She hired Hugh Latimer, later a martyr, as her chaplain, and she helped to establish “stranger churches” for Protestants who had fled persecution in other countries. Willoughby and her second husband, Richard Bertie, escaped Queen Mary's persecution in 1555. The story below is a fictionalized account of Catherine's escape.

Got it? Alrighty then! Here we go!

                                                         London, England,

                                                        January 1st, 1555

A strange, cold wind rustled the treetops. Clouds dimmed the soft glow of the moonlight. All was quiet, but all was not well. Inside a large stone house, a woman quietly slipped down a long hallway. Her blue eyes glanced from side to side, and the candle she held sent eerie shadows across her face. She came upon my bedroom door, and tapped it ever so quietly. I opened my eyes, and sat up. Who was at my door in the middle of the night? I slipped out of the warm bed and over to the door. I lifted the bar. The woman squeezed her way through the small opening, and quickly shut it. She turned to me and in the dim of the candlelight whispered, “Helen, we must leave. Gather your things, for we are going very soon.”

I gasped. “Leave, Mistress Catherine?”  

She placed her finger on my lips. “No one must know,” she whispered, “except the servants who are to go with us.” And with that, she left, clicking the door shut behind her. My heart beat fast. Leaving the country by night? Sneaking out without Queen Mary’s approval? What if we were caught?  

Queen Mary was a devout Catholic. She had been persecuting and killing the Protestants. Recently, Queen Mary had threatened the Duchess of Suffolk. Richard Bertie, the Duchess's husband, left the country immediately, and from what I was now finding out, had made plans for his wife and precious daughter to escape in the middle of the night.

Another soft rap on the door interrupted my thoughts. I hurried and opened it. Edith, the young, quiet kitchen maid stood there, a bundle of clothes in her arms.

“Mistress Catherine says to hurry and meet her by the back entrance,” she whispered, hurrying away. I quickly got dressed in my long brown dress, typical attire of a lady-in-waiting. I pulled my long, light brown hair into a bun and grabbed my clothes. I stuffed them into a valise and headed out the door. The house was very quiet. I hastened down a long corridor and down some steps. I turned the corner and almost ran into Agnes, the laundress. She scrambled with the load of clothes she carried. Her dark brown hair fell in her face.

“We must hurry!” she cried. We ran down a hallway, lined with columns. Giant portraits of people hung on the dark walls. Their eyes stared blankly ahead, sending terrifying chills down my spine. Why did houses have to be so creepy at night?

We reached a small foyer with a door, where Mistress Catherine waited. She held little Susan, who was fast asleep.

“Hugh and Samuel are waiting by the stables,” she whispered, referring to the joiner and stable keeper. Edith stood by Catherine, holding a bottle of milk for little Susan. Catherine slowly opened the door. The cold night air filled my lungs. She looked both ways and then motioned us to follow her. We tiptoed across the lawn and then dashed behind a little shed. Heavy footsteps echoed through the night - the night guards! They paced outside the tall, black, iron fence, watching and waiting. We crouched down low. Agnes knelt beside me, and I could feel her hands trembling. I eyed Catherine. She looked this way and that, seeing if the path was clear. She waved her hand, telling us to stay behind the shed. She raced across the yard, and behind a huge tree. Waiting until the guard had gone the other way, she dashed to the side gate and unlatched it. It creaked open, breaking the silenced night. I nervously watched the guards. They had heard the noise and were looking frantically around.

“What was that?” one guard asked.

“I’m sure it was nothing,” a bigger guard replied. I looked across the pitch-black yard. I could see Catherine’s faint outline as she entered the stable. I turned to the other girls.

“Come on,” I whispered. We hurried across, through the gate, and safely into the stable.

Catherine was kneeling behind a hay barrel with Hugh and Samuel.

“Samuel, carry my valise,” she ordered. The small stable keeper took her bag and laid it beside him.

“Agnes, up in the loft I’ve hidden an oil lamp. Would you hurry and get it?” Catherine asked. Agnes nodded her head and climbed the ladder.

“Listen carefully,” she whispered, looking at each of us. “I plan to-“ her quiet voice was interrupted by a loud crash. Glass showered down on us. Edith’s hand flew to her mouth to prevent a scream. Catherine looked up. Up in the loft, Agnes gasped. She had dropped the oil lamp. She opened her mouth to say something, when two voices rang out.

                                                                          ***

“Sounded like it came from the stable,” a guard said. Catherine scrambled behind a large hay barrel, rocking little Susan to keep her quiet. Edith and I bounded up the ladder and into the loft with Agnes. I saw Hugh and Samuel get into a horse stall just as the door burst open. Two guards entered. The bigger one held a bright torch.

“I don’t think anybody’s in here, Atkinson,” the smaller one complained. Atkinson squinted his dark, hazel eyes.

“I heard a noise,” he grunted. They looked around, tossing hay barrels out of their way. I hoped they wouldn’t find Catherine.

“Come on, let’s get back to our post,” the small one said. Atkinson finally agreed and they strode out the door. None of us came out until we were sure they wouldn’t come back. Edith, Agnes, and I came down the ladder and found Catherine. Her face was ashen with fear. Her hands trembled. She stood up and went over to the boys.