Outside Reading Post # 8

Another story that I read was about a Grandfather who was getting old and so he moved in with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. His hands were shaky, and he wasn't the neatest eater, so sometimes his peas would roll of his fork and he would spill his milk on the table cloth. The son and daughter-in-law made him sit at a different table in the corner of the kitchen and eat out of a wooden bowl so it wouldn't break. The grandson would look over and see a tear rolling down the grandfathers cheek when he was eating alone. One day the grandson was playing with some wood scraps on the ground when the dad asked him what he was doing. He answered "I'm making a wooden bowl for you and mother to eat out of when you get old." Sometimes we overlook the most important things in life. This story is trying to tell us not to forget the most important things like family.

Outside Reading Post # 7

I read a story this weekend about a carpenter. He was about to retire when his boss asked him to make one last house, he said okay. It was easy to see it wasn't his best house. It wasn't a good way to end a career. After he finished his employer came to inspect the house. Instead he handed the carpenter the front-door key. "This is my gift to you" he said. The carpenter was shocked. He would have done a better job if he had known it was going to be his. I think that this story is trying to point out to us that everyday we have less and less motivation to do our very best when you never know it might affect you. You should always try hard even when your almost done and you don't feel like it.

I did my heroes in a box on swimming heroes. I found many photos and videos on many famous swimming heroes like Tracy Caulkins, Shirley Babashoff, Ian Thorpe, and of course the most famous Michael Phelps.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=tracy+ann+caulkins+swimmer

Tracy Ann Caulkins, 3-time olympic gold medalist, has set 63 American swimming records, and well known as one of the greatest american swimmers of all time.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=breaststroke&start=0&sa=N

A picture of a breaststroker.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=backstroke

The start of a backstroke race.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=butterfly+stroke

A butterflyer.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=michael+phelps&start=40&sa=N

The one and only Michael Phelps.

"You can't put limit on anything. The more you dream the farther you get." -Michael Phelps

These videos are some what I found of some swimming heroes. They're fast and amazing. I think it's incredible.

Outside Reading Post # 6

I read a story this week called Wait for the Brick. In the story there was a man in a fancy Jaguar car driving a bit too fast down a neighborhood street. He was watching for children running around when he thought he noticed something. He slowed down a bit, but continued driving. Suddenly he heard a loud noise as a brick hit the side of his car, leaving a large dent. He quickly backed up to where the brick had hit his car and got out to find the kid that through it. When he found the kid he pushed him up against a parked car and yelled at him. "What do you think your doing?" "Do you know how expensive this car is, why would you do that?" The little boy had tears running down his face. He said he through it because no one else would stop. The little boy told the man that his brother had fallen out of his wheelchair and he wasn't strong enough to lift him back up. The man saw this and quickly helped the brother back into the chair and dabbed his cuts and scrapes with his handkerchief. I think this story has a lot of meaning to it because it makes you realize how caught up people are in their own lives to notices any one elses problems, until they throw a brick at them.

Outside Reading Post # 5

I really wanted to make cookies, so I found this cookbook called "Most Loved Cookies". I was flipping through the pages to find a cookie recipe I might like and stopped when I saw a picture of chocolate cookies with the words "for chocolate fans!". They looked really good and really easy to make. Just butter, sugar, an egg, baking chocolate, milk, vanilla, flour, baking soda and salt. But then I started reading the directions and it looked a little more complicated. You had to heat the chocolate and mix in the butter, and it wasn't normal milk you were supose to add, it was actually sour milk. On the side there was another recipe how to make the sour milk. So I decided not to make those cookies and maybe reconsider it another day when I had a few hours to spare and REALLY wanted chocolate cookies.

Outside Reading Post # 4

Today my mom made these really good apple oatmeal muffins. They were so good that I wanted to look at the recipe to see if I could make them. It looked pretty simple, just mixing ingredients. I noticed that she made some changes on the recipe. She added more brown sugar than it called for and almost double the apples. She also took out the pecans and nutmeg in the recipe and instead of using a normal muffin tin, she put them in smaller ones. So they're mini muffins! They taste really good and I'm excited to maybe make them sometime.

Outside Reading Post # 3

This weekend I was reading Ripley's Believe it or Not and found a lot of interesting things. Bao Xishun, from China, who is 7 ft 9 in tall, saved the lives of two dolphins who had swallowed some dangerous shards of plastic. He used his 41 3/4 inch arms and pulled out the plastic from their stomachs. I also read that Gaeton Foos, a little boy from New York, had lost two fingers and a thumb on his hand in a car accident. Three years later he had a surgeon transplant one of his big toes on to his hand to act as a thumb. In this book there is also a page on Cholla the horse artist. He has painted several pieces and has even displayed some paintings in several art galleries. A few of his most popular pieces are "Birds in Flight" and "Horse Jumper". I added a picture of Cholla painting, he does it all by himself. All the owner does is puts the paint on the brush. Some of the things found in this book are truly incredible.

Outside Reading Post # 2

Yesterday in math I was using my graphing calculator, but I was a little confused about the buttons and how it worked. So last night I pulled out the instruction booklet and read it a little to understand my calculator better. Surprisingly it really helped. I can now find the X button! The text was kind of small and had a lot of stuff I didn't understand in it about weird graphing things, but I'll probably learn about it in the next couple of years!

Outside Reading Post # 1

I just started reading New Moon, Stephanie Meyer's second book in the Twilight series. I really enjoyed Twilight so i thought I'd give New Moon a shot. Even though I've only read the first two chapters, I know I'm going to like it. The book starts off with Bella's 18th birthday. She doesn't want to make a big deal about it. Edward's family gets pretty excited about it, but you can't blame them. It's the first birthday they've been able to celebrate since 1935. They throw a birthday party at the Cullen's. They are very excited for Bella. The place is over decorated with roses and a pink birthday cake. They open presents and everything is going smoothly when suddenly Bella slices her finger on a piece of tape. The last place you'd want to be with a bleeding finger is a room full of vampires.