My 13th Birthday

It was my 13th birthday recently. I had Sophie and Allie over for dinner and cake (chocolate with chocolate frosting, of course). It was a ton of fun because...
Mom and Dad gave me pet gerbils for my birthday! One's a boy and one's a girl. I named them Shimmy and Squeak. They love their colorful cage, and it can sit many places in the house.
Gerbils have to be the best rodents. They are hyperactive but not terribly nervous. The cage won't need to be cleaned all the time, but they do throw their bedding around a bit. The cage I have it plastic without large openings, so no problem. They don't drink a lot of water, meaning, uh, less ... And they are super cute! Either will sit happily in a shirt pocket.
All in all, a good birthday.

The Wasabi Touch

Oh dear, oh well, oh boy! Some girls started a stupid (very) rumor about me. Not really a rumor, though. Today, on a dare, I put wasabi peas into a half-full bottle of apple juice, shook it up, and drank it (it sounds worse than it is). Well Zoe (read back a bit for a full description) saw me and started this thing called the "Wasabi Touch". According to them, I have it and anyone I touch also has it. Sophie and Allie both took my side and got it. Now we have it, but the only ones who stay away from us are annoying people. We'll see what happens. I might be able to lord over them. On the other hand, I could insure that everybody in the world gets it. Hmm...

Welcome to The Joan Zone!

I would like to call attention to the change in name of this blog. You've entered The Joan Zone. No particular reason, except that I thought it was better. I only intended Me, Joan to be somewhat like the web page. So, I changed it. I like it!

Amish Friendship Bread

Help! We're swimming in Amish Friendship Bread! For those of you not cursed by this parasitic food, I will explain. It all starts when someone gives you a loaf of bread and a plastic bag of starter. The "starter" is yellowish and smells a bit. You squish it and add flour, sugar, and milk. Then you wait. Then you scoop some out, mix it with other stuff, and bake it. You save some, though, so you can go through the whole process again. We got a bag of goop at Christmas, and it has become an obsession. The only strange thing is that you use instant pudding in the bread, so it's not very Amish. However, if you use chocolate pudding mix, you get something that resembles brownies. Yum. But let this be a warning to those who start a bag: DON'T.

My Cousin Rachel

Last you heard of my cousin Rachel, she came to Thanksgiving. Well, now there is some very, very, happy news about her. She's getting married in May. She got engaged on New Year's Day to a really sweet guy. We're all happy, but the immediate family is a little crazy. The family women (note-- I'm not one of them, I'm a girl) are a little caught up in the "planning" frenzy. Rachel is rather laid-back and is not worried. This should be fun. :-)

Thanksgiving

As I write this I am still stuffed. Turkey, bread, green beans, cranberries, jello, and PIE. The best part about it is I saw my one and only cousin, Rachel. I must say, I haven't written much about her. She's in her early twenties, almost ten years older than me. But we're the only cousins we have, so we just make the best of it. Well, to make a long story short, Thanksgiving was good. Yum.

Pre-Order Your Ferrets

You will not believe what I saw at the pet store Saturday! We were at the little strip mall, and Mom was getting pizza. It was boring to sit waiting for the pizza to be ready, so I went to the pet store nearby. It's fun to look at the tropical fish in big tanks, the squealing mice, the adorable puppies, and whatever else they have. It's a locally owned store, so people give unwanted baby animals to them. Their stock fluctuates all the time. Someone had recently given them some parakeets, but that wasn't the best part. There was a sign that read: "Ferrets available soon-- pre-order now!" I asked about it and apparently someone was going to bring in some baby ferrets, and, for best results, the ferret should not be much older than six weeks. The ferrets are just a couple of weeks old now, but once they are old enough to be separated from their mother, there's only a two-week window (approximately) until they are too old to be adopted. If they sit around in a pet store for a few weeks, they will be too old to become good pets. So, the pet store is taking orders now. When the ferrets are old enough, they get dumped off at the pet store, where you pick yours up right away. I really want a ferret. They are really cute from what pictures I've seen, and I've read all about them from my pet care book (entitled Great Pets-- but it's copyright is 1976, so you probably won't be able to find it. I got mine at a library book sale some time ago). They can eat canned cat food and the book shows how to build a cage for them. I'm going to ask Mom and Dad about getting a ferret.