Halloween 2009!

Halloween is normally a very exciting holiday for me but this year it is different. I always have my costume and a plan how to carve my pumpkin. This year I got a bit of a late start on planning these things, but I think I will be able to pull it together and have a great time. My Halloween weekend starts tonight. After I eat my dinner, I am planning on carving my pumpkin! This is like the event that I look forward to each year. I cut a hole in the top so I can scoop out all the pumpkin “goo”, and clean out the inside of it. Next, I take a sharpie and draw on my pumpkin a face that I think would be cute. This year, I think my Jack o’ Lantern will have heart eyes and a big smiling grin. Once I get an idea of how I want it to look, I start to carve. Me +a pumpkin +a knife= a very dangerous combination but somehow it always turns out okay. Once the pumpkin is carved and transformed into a jack o’ lantern, I light a candle and put it in the pumpkin. I turn off all the lights in the house so it’s really dark, then just sit and admire my work!

Saturday is a busy day! I will hopefully sleep in and will be well rested enough to keep myself going throughout the whole day. After I get up and star moving around, I will help my mom put the final decorations on the outside of our house. We try to make our house festive, but not spooky! We usually put orange and purple lights in the bushes along with some spider webs for a creepy look. We set out all of our pumpkins and make sure we have candles in them. To light up our walk way, we take small orange paper bags and put a little candle in each one. Around 5:45, I plan to put on my costume. This year I’m going to be a ladybug! After my siblings and I are in our costumes, my parents always take a million pictures to remember the holiday. Once the mini photo shoot is done, my mom drives me over to Sam’s house. We have a big group this year and we are all meeting at Sam’s for dinner and even more pictures are taken. After this we run around Sam’s neighborhood, trick or treating and having a great time! I will ALWAYS go trick or treating regardless of my age!

Spirit Week!

This week at school has been Spirit Week. I absolutely love Spirit Week because you can dress all crazy without looking like a dork. The week before Spirit Week, the student announcers read the days over the PA system. They said:

Monday is country club day. Wear your plaid and preppy clothes.
Tuesday is tye-dye day.
Wednesday is wild west day. Wear your cowboy boots and flannel.
Thursday is senior citizen day. Wear your grandparents clothes.
Friday is super spunky spartan spirit day. Wear your double blue and white.

These days sounded really cool. On Sunday, I went to the thrift store and got some grandma clothes. I was so excited to dress up for spirit week! Monday morning I was in a frazzle. I had a hard time deciding what to wear, but finally I decided. I wore a pink and green argyle polo with white capris. For the final touch, I put a sweater around and tied it for a preppy look. When I got to school, I was shocked to see that almost no one had dressed up. Well at least a few of my friends dressed up so I wasn't alone. The next day, Tuesday, I knew exactly what I was going to wear! I wore a tye-dye shirt, a tye-dye bandanna with some tye-dye knee high socks. I must say, a lot more people dressed up and I was pleasantly surprised! I think our school should have tye-dye day more often because it looks so cool. Wednesday was more of a challenge. I decided to wear a long sleeve plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. I found an old white bandanna which I tied around my neck for a “country-ish” look. Unfortunately, I don't have cowboy boots because that would've looked super! Thursday was senior citizen day! I thought it was a riot to see kids dressed up as grandmas and grandpas! I wore a sweatshirt with a teddy bear on it, just like something my grandma would wear! I also wore a pair of “velvet” sweats to make the outfits even more granny like.

Friday is double blue and white day! I cannot wait to wear all my blue and white clothing! It will be nice seeing all the students in their spartan spirit gear. Spirit Week has been a blast, I'm sad its almost over but I'm already planning next years outfit!

Swine Flu: And What To Do!

What is the world doing about swine flu? As of May 2009, the World Health Organization said that there were 985 confirmed cases of swine flu among 20 countries. But, a later study taken by the World Health Organization in September 2009, it was reported that 3,486 people were killed by Swine Flu (H1N1).

Some people wonder why the H1N1 virus is called Swine Flu. This name is given because the virus was only in pigs, but then the virus changed. H1N1 is now found in people. Originally it was transmitted pig to pig, but now it is passed on from human to human. It all started on a pig farm, where the pigs were infected. The farmers became sick too, and then the virus spread to Mexico. When people in Egypt heard that pigs were the cause of this illness, they killed hundreds of thousands of pigs. These pigs that were killed didn't even have the Swine Flu.

People are misinformed about the H1N1 virus, which would make it hard for the world to contain this illness. The symptoms of Swine Flu are a high fever, a cough and runny nose, sore throat, chills and body/headaches. These symptoms are very similar to those of the regular seasonal flu. More serious symptoms of the Swine Flu are troubled breathing, bluish-gray skin color and having trouble waking up. The groups of people that are most susceptible to the
Swine Flu are pregnant women, people with chronic medical problems and those who are obese.

Since children are likely to get the Swine Flu, they began giving immunizations to children just a day after hospitals started immunizing their workers. As of October 6th, only 14 states have received this vaccine and only in the form of a nasal spray. It is said that you would need 2 vaccines to be fully protected this year against the Swine Flu. Its important to know that the regular flu shot will not protect against the Swine Flu and the seasonal flu vaccine will not protect against the Swine flu. So to make sure you don't get either of these flu viruses, some precautions you should take include washing your hands frequently since the H1N1 virus can be spread by touching contaminated objects. Also, covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze or cough. This will help limit the spreading of the Swine Flu.

In order to not get H1N1, remember to wash your hands frequently and if needed hand sanitizer works well too. Every time you sneeze or cough, make sure you have a tissue near by. Most importantly, be informed. It might seem dorky to carry around hand sanitizer, but its really not. You are just being a safe cautious person who doesn't want to get the Swine Flu.



For more information go to:
http://http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-03-swine-flu-cases_N.htm

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/swineflu/a/409_symptoms.htm

Summer Swim Team!

Over the summer I was on the swim team for Newburgh Swim Club. It was the first time I had ever swam competitively on a swim team. Starting the day we got out of school, we had 8 o'clock a.m. practice. I got up at 7:30 and managed to put on the blue and red tye-dye one piece swim suit. I packed my swim bag with a towel and a sweatshirt and sweatpants for after swimming. After I was all packed up, my sister and I would ride our bikes up to the swim club. When the coaches said it was time to start I had to put on my swim cap. It was really funny to see all the people in their swim caps because they looked like brightly colored, bald heads. I absolutely HATED these morning practices because there is nothing worse then jumping into a freezing cold pool and swimming what seemed like millions of laps every single morning.

The pool lanes are based on ability and speed level, lane one is the slowest and lane 6 is the fastest. I decided that I would rather swim in lane two with all of the nice little 6th graders rather then the other lanes in which the swimmers practically drown you if you swim to slow. Of course, I didn't exactly want to admit my age to these 6th graders in my lane so when they asked me how old I was I simply replied “um I'm not sure.” However, I was able to blend in with the swimmers in my lane because I was so much tinier then these kids 3 grades younger. Once the hour long practice was done, I quickly dried off and threw on my sweats. Lydia (who is also on the swim team) and I would talk about our plans for the day and sometimes we would decide to go do a 3 mile run. It felt so good to be active and healthy but it was especially fun since we did it together.

I did this EVERY single day until the end of July but looking back, I am so glad I did it because it was a great workout. My swimming skills have improved 100% and I have learned many new strokes. At the beginning of the swim season, it was really hard for me to swim 2 laps but by the end, I was able to swim much, much more. Hopefully, next summer I will be in lane 3!