Things In My House Thursday

My version of "Things in my House" is some 'things in my room'. My first 'thing' is my violin. I took violin lessons when I was four.

The violin is very tiny, it looks like a little toy. It may not look that tiny in the picture but it really is. Of course, it was just the right size for me!

Perspective:

And, by the way, my hair wasn't naturally curly like Charlotte's; mine was the work of millions of pink sponge rollers.

Go to my mom's blog and participate in "Things In My House" with me. It's fun.

Blogging Break

I couldn't let the non-posting reach two weeks.  I HAD to post.  Here's just a little update on what I've been doing.

• THE reading classes.  Just one more!
• My friend, Sarah, spent the night; we played WII and crafted.
• Charlotte came over.  Times four.
• I wear my retainers just at night now!
• Ate our way through Costco, and discovered some awesome burritos.
• Went to a splash park with Charlotte; she didn't like it.
• Been sewing a baby doll quilt for Charlotte's birthday.
• Went with my friend Maureen to Incredible Pizza for the first time

WPM

Every Saturday, Christopher and I go to a reading class. For TWO AND 1/2 HOURS! We don't really like it, but we have to go. 

 It's not that we don't know how to read, or something like that.  This class is helping us read faster, have better comprehension,  and learn note taking and study skills.

I am reading Banner in the Sky and Christopher is reading Lord of the Rings (book 1).   I'd never heard of my book before, and I probably wouldn't have chosen it, but it's a pretty good book so far.    

We read some in the class, but we also have homework.

One thing the teachers have taught us is to use long smooth underlining when we read.  Long smooth underlining is where you extend all of your fingers on your dominant hand and underline the sentence, and move down the page in a zigzag pattern.  (It's easier to understand if you see it).  You are basically using your fingers to guide your eyes. 

 Eye doctors have done studies that show your eyes jump all over the page; they don't focus.  Your fingers are a guide for your eyes.  You aren't supposed to use only one finger though, because it is to "small" for focusing.  I don't really like using the technique,  but it does help me read faster.  (The teachers say we will get used to it). 

 The first time I timed myself to figure out my WPM (words per minute) it was 276.  The second time I timed myself I used long smooth underlining and my WPM was 405.  My fastest speed to date is 432 WPM.

To conduct a timing of your reading:

Choose a full line of text (from left margin to right margin), and count each letter, space, and punctuation mark on that line.  This gives you the number of characters.  Divide the number of characters by 6 and round to the nearest whole number (you don't want a remainder); this is the average words per line.  Once you know the average words per line, time yourself for one minute.  Then count the number of lines you read and multiply that by the average words per line. VOILA! Your WPM!

Leave a comment and tell me what it was.  : )

This is a game I saw on Elana's blog:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into the Flickr search box.
Using only the first page choose an image
Copy and paste each of the images URL's into Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker

The questions:

1. What is your first name? Mary
2. What is your favorite food? Mandarin Oranges
   
3. What high school did you go to? Homeschool
4. What is your favorite color? Orange
5. Favorite drink? Vernor's Gingerale
   
6. Dream vacation? Florida
   
7. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream
8. Favorite Singer? I don't know
   
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Baker
10. What do you love most in life? Jesus
11. One Word to describe you: Small
    
12. Your flickr name: marymary (I don't have one but if I did that would be it)
    

The ROOMBA has a schedule. Everyday it starts vacuuming at 10 o'clock.  

A little over a week ago, we didn't want the ROOMBA to go off because Charlotte was coming over and she doesn't like it.  None of us knew how to stop the ROOMBA from starting except to set the timer to something before 10 o'clock (it was almost ten) that way it wouldn't go off.  I wasn't really paying attention to what I was setting the timer to.

A week later, Mom and Dad were happy to be the only ones to hear the ROOMBA go off at 4 a.m.  Yep, I accidently set the timer to 4 a.m.

                                                                               I suppose if we need to stop it from going off again I'll set it to a more decent time. :) 

Happy 4th of July!

Prestyn Alexander - Happy Birthday!

Today, my cousin Josh's baby was born.  His name is Prestyn Alexander, he was born at 4:50 a.m., weighs 6 lbs. 8 oz. and is 20 inches long.

Josh, Constance, and Prestyn

Jessica showing Josh how to swaddle Prestyn

He has a lot of hair (for a newborn)

He's a cute little baby.  Never would open his eyes for us though.