My Life's Story (of the past few months)

I have missed you all so terribly much.  It pains me to see how I've neglected you so.  But when life interferes with my budding writing career, how can I merely wave it aside?
Enough.
Let me bring you up to date.
Since I left you, I've gone through my Sherlock phase, my Firefly phase, my River Phoenix phase, my Tap Dancing phase, and I've currently reached the Leonardo Dicaprio status.
Don't worry, I do this every year.  It's what gets my through Algebra 2.  We've also added three little chicks to our flock.  Well, not chicks (anymore), more like over exuberant boosts of life.
Firstly, a Barred Rock named, what else?  Sherlock.  She's curious, wonderful, and just laid three eggs in the past 12 hours.  I'm currently looking up why.
Next in the pecking order is our Rhode Island Red, Shrink.
I didn't want to name her that, so my mom said it would be her standby title until we found something more suiting.
We didn't.
She's our bright, spritely girl with about as much pluck as you could dream of wanting in a chicken.  I love that darling.
And last, there's this Ameraucana named Mitzie.  She's afraid of the dark.  And the light.  And Sherlock.  And noises.  To escape her fears, she jumps onto my back anytime I'm around.  An adorable sweetheart; yes.  But I do way more laundry than I prefer.

We still have our old three girls too.  Tillie (7 year old Ameraucana) is brooding like crazy over the new arrivals. She feels that nobody loves her, and goes off sulking whenever she can.  Millie is a dear, as always, and MayBelle is...herself.

From the beginning of June to the start of July, I had an awful case of the flu.  And for roughly a month afterward, I was still coughing (which was reduced by eating violets and chickweed.  Yes....) and needing to sit down every five minutes to preserve my delicate state.  But, to keep me amused, I entered our library summer challenge.  There were over two hundred projects to completely, one of which was "Make a maze for your pet."  I happily did so.
Millie was a champion, making her way through the difficult task.

Then there was the other challenge.  The "make 1,000 cranes challenge."  You have no idea how much persuading it took to get my mom hooked on that one.
I wanted to do it because it was something that no other challenger in their right mind would do.  I would get up at 6:00 AM and fold cranes on my bedroom floor for four hours every. single. day.  Mumsie took pity on her poor daughter and consented to making a few.
We reached 1,000 within a week.

All in all, I won the grand prize, and I had never felt so lucky in my life.
I placed fourth on the leader board, but the real winner was drawn from a hat (out of the top 30).  On that fateful day, I was chopping onions.  I heard the phone.  I didn't move.  I continued chopping onions.  Oh how little did I know that I would soon become the owner of; "an iPad!  You won, Sydney!"
Needless to say, with those words crackling over our deranged answering machine, I stopped chopping onions and quickly picked up the phone.  The lovely librarians presented me with my treasure a week later.

And that has brought us to now.  I have procured a Zooter (a ritzy kick scooter that can be served as a dignified form a transportation) because my brother got one.  He begged me and my mother to buy our own so we could all go on a family zooting.  Dear old dad didn't buy one, but I have a feeling that won't last long.

I know this extra long post has made up for the ones I neglected to write over the summer.  Thank you for your understanding.  And do post comments! Which do you like better, River or Leo?
Syddie