Monday, January 16, 2017
300 Gained!
Hello folks! After obsessing about my followers on Pinterest for a few weeks, I will announce that today I received my 300th follower. A couple weeks after my target, but I don't care, it's just a website. Now to get back to blogging so I can get more followers and page views on the blog...
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Update on Pinterest Followers
I have good pleasure in announcing that since I last updated you, I have gained 5 new Pinterest followers, currently totaling to 285. There are still 10 more full days in 2016, so I'm anticipating reaching my goal of 300 followers before the year ends. Let's do it!
It's Winter!
It's officially winter! December 21, 2016 is our first full day of winter this year. We only have 10 more days to get through until 2017 welcomes us, but we should get through Christmas first! In my area we've already gotten snow three times; it hasn't lasted but we've still gotten it. I'm looking forward to a nice, cold, snowy winter!
One of My Favorite Topics - Real Estate!
Hello fanatics of Life's Incredible Wonders! Before I get to the real point of this post, I just want to say a big thank you to all of you who have viewed this blog in the past year. When I signed in just now, I had 2,693 page views! What would make me even gladder is if I got to 3,000 by my 15th birthday (2/6/17) and maybe even gain another follower or two. And as always, I know this blog can often fall into a state of inactivity, so please, if you have any ideas on what I should start posting, please send me a message via the contact form you will see displayed on the right margin of this page.
And now to this post's target - real estate. Let me just start off by saying that I've been obsessed with the topic of real estate for nearly 2 years. It all began when I somehow noticed our old house, which we sold in 2009, was once again on the market. I decided to scroll through the pictures and see how many changes had been done since we moved out (I began to wonder if it was the same house! While the new owner only painted it looked like, it looked a lot different). A few days later, I decided to look up the house again, and then after I had scrolled through the pictures again, I noticed some nearby listings on the screen. So, I decided to look at those. Before long, I was browsing listings in other towns. I began to look at new listings a few times a week.
Today, I browse Zillow for new listings in my town and a few others each and every day, probably multiple times. Many days that's one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning. I normally look at seven main towns or cities in my state, but I also branch out sometimes. I even look in other states! Any good-looking home with great curb appeal most likely has my attention, any good-looking home $500,000 or more has my attention, and any home $1 million or over definitely has my attention. I say this not because I'm jealous of other people's houses (although, I admit, sometimes I probably am), but because I am a lover of fine houses, so I like to look at ones in my area. However, the only type of property I really look at are houses. I have very little interest in vacant lots, total rehabilitations, or commercial properties. The only other types I look at would be condominiums and apartments, and I like even many of those. I've looked at real estate so much that I could walk up to pretty much anyone I know and tell them exactly how many square feet are in their home, how many bedrooms they have, or the size of their lot! I also like a few particular real estate shows, some of which involve renovation.
So, even if you have no particular interest in real estate, you may enjoy browsing new listings in your area. If you like interior design, looking at pictures of new listings is a way you'd get to see how other people's homes are decorated. It may sound creepy, but it's actually quite fun!
And now to this post's target - real estate. Let me just start off by saying that I've been obsessed with the topic of real estate for nearly 2 years. It all began when I somehow noticed our old house, which we sold in 2009, was once again on the market. I decided to scroll through the pictures and see how many changes had been done since we moved out (I began to wonder if it was the same house! While the new owner only painted it looked like, it looked a lot different). A few days later, I decided to look up the house again, and then after I had scrolled through the pictures again, I noticed some nearby listings on the screen. So, I decided to look at those. Before long, I was browsing listings in other towns. I began to look at new listings a few times a week.
Today, I browse Zillow for new listings in my town and a few others each and every day, probably multiple times. Many days that's one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning. I normally look at seven main towns or cities in my state, but I also branch out sometimes. I even look in other states! Any good-looking home with great curb appeal most likely has my attention, any good-looking home $500,000 or more has my attention, and any home $1 million or over definitely has my attention. I say this not because I'm jealous of other people's houses (although, I admit, sometimes I probably am), but because I am a lover of fine houses, so I like to look at ones in my area. However, the only type of property I really look at are houses. I have very little interest in vacant lots, total rehabilitations, or commercial properties. The only other types I look at would be condominiums and apartments, and I like even many of those. I've looked at real estate so much that I could walk up to pretty much anyone I know and tell them exactly how many square feet are in their home, how many bedrooms they have, or the size of their lot! I also like a few particular real estate shows, some of which involve renovation.
So, even if you have no particular interest in real estate, you may enjoy browsing new listings in your area. If you like interior design, looking at pictures of new listings is a way you'd get to see how other people's homes are decorated. It may sound creepy, but it's actually quite fun!
Friday, December 9, 2016
I'm Homeschooled: What Will My Public Schooled Peers Think?
"You homeshoolers have it way easier than we do!"
"What makes you think so?"
"You don't have to sit in class all day with like 30 other students."
"No, but school itself isn't much easier."
"Your teachers aren't as strict as ours."
"No, my teacher isn't strict, but we still have to do schoolwork."
"Why do parents even homeschool their kids?"
And the debate went on and on and on for several minutes.
That was an excerpt from a recent minor debate at my church's youth group between a public schooled student and a homeschooled one. It's not word for word, but very similar to what was being said. I was not involved in this debate, rather just a bystander. But I was listening in as I wanted to hear what kind of criticism we homeschoolers would continue to receive. There are at least ten homeschooled teenagers in my youth group, and I wanted to hear what was being said about us. The last thing I heard from the debate was, "Why do parents even homeschool their kids?" Let me tell you how that jolted me right back into reality. I would've definitely spoken up, but then one of the youth group leaders came and announced that we were heading to another building on our campus. But if we had stayed there a minute later, yes, I would have said my piece.
There are many benefits and advantages a homeschooled student gets with their education. For instance, school doesn't necessarily start at 7am, recesses or breaks can be longer, students have their teacher's undivided attention, and just get to stay home and relax. But, there's sometimes a disadvantage: if you're homeschooled but some of your peers and friends aren't.
I've been homeschooled since I started school in 2006; I'm now in 10th grade. I've had no experience in the public school at all, except sitting in the hallway several years back when my sister used to go for speech therapy. I've been homeschooled since day one. Had it been different, I don't think I would have ever conquered my difficulties in certain subjects, and my life would be totally different. I am grateful and will forever be that I am able to be taught by my mother, in a clean environment, free of all the bullying, drinking, etc. that happens in public school. With the temperaments I have I don't think I'd last long being taught away from my home. I recall on December 14, 2012 I was especially glad to be homeschooled, as a murderer shot 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Had I been a survivor of that incident, I don't think I'd want to go back to school, ever, because I'm sure the experience was traumatizing and still is for the survivors. I would not like waking up, getting ready and going to school each morning knowing that something like that may happen. With the world we're living in, you just never know.
I'm also grateful to be homeschooled because of my beliefs. I'm a Christian, and if I was public schooled I would probably be a target of bullying or the other evils that go on in public schools, just to test my belief. That's what happens these days, from what I hear.
So, if you happen to be homeschooled and your peers or friends are making fun of you or questioning your family's decision, just remember that it's what your family has chosen and that's the method of schooling you'll be sticking to. Now, who can question that?
"What makes you think so?"
"You don't have to sit in class all day with like 30 other students."
"No, but school itself isn't much easier."
"Your teachers aren't as strict as ours."
"No, my teacher isn't strict, but we still have to do schoolwork."
"Why do parents even homeschool their kids?"
And the debate went on and on and on for several minutes.
That was an excerpt from a recent minor debate at my church's youth group between a public schooled student and a homeschooled one. It's not word for word, but very similar to what was being said. I was not involved in this debate, rather just a bystander. But I was listening in as I wanted to hear what kind of criticism we homeschoolers would continue to receive. There are at least ten homeschooled teenagers in my youth group, and I wanted to hear what was being said about us. The last thing I heard from the debate was, "Why do parents even homeschool their kids?" Let me tell you how that jolted me right back into reality. I would've definitely spoken up, but then one of the youth group leaders came and announced that we were heading to another building on our campus. But if we had stayed there a minute later, yes, I would have said my piece.
There are many benefits and advantages a homeschooled student gets with their education. For instance, school doesn't necessarily start at 7am, recesses or breaks can be longer, students have their teacher's undivided attention, and just get to stay home and relax. But, there's sometimes a disadvantage: if you're homeschooled but some of your peers and friends aren't.
I've been homeschooled since I started school in 2006; I'm now in 10th grade. I've had no experience in the public school at all, except sitting in the hallway several years back when my sister used to go for speech therapy. I've been homeschooled since day one. Had it been different, I don't think I would have ever conquered my difficulties in certain subjects, and my life would be totally different. I am grateful and will forever be that I am able to be taught by my mother, in a clean environment, free of all the bullying, drinking, etc. that happens in public school. With the temperaments I have I don't think I'd last long being taught away from my home. I recall on December 14, 2012 I was especially glad to be homeschooled, as a murderer shot 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Had I been a survivor of that incident, I don't think I'd want to go back to school, ever, because I'm sure the experience was traumatizing and still is for the survivors. I would not like waking up, getting ready and going to school each morning knowing that something like that may happen. With the world we're living in, you just never know.
I'm also grateful to be homeschooled because of my beliefs. I'm a Christian, and if I was public schooled I would probably be a target of bullying or the other evils that go on in public schools, just to test my belief. That's what happens these days, from what I hear.
So, if you happen to be homeschooled and your peers or friends are making fun of you or questioning your family's decision, just remember that it's what your family has chosen and that's the method of schooling you'll be sticking to. Now, who can question that?
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Hi folks! Before I get started on the real point of this post, I just wanted to let you know that I've officially been blogging for a year! Last Tuesday, November 8, was this blog's one-year anniversary. Thank you all so much for reading my blog and I hope you've been enjoying the material I've been sharing with you.
Now to this post's target - Pinterest. No, this isn't a post describing this fun and creative app, as I've done multiple times in the past, but I'm referring more to my own profile right now. I've been on Pinterest for about a year and a half, and do not regret setting up an account. I have over 30 boards filled with thousands of ideas of various topics. I have recipes, writing tips, funny stuff and more! Nearly every day new ideas are added to my page. So if you're on Pinterest, please consider checking out my profile (I will post the link below*). If you're not on Pinterest, you won't get to see my profile unless you sign up. My goal is to get to 300 followers by the end of 2016; I currently have 258 (I don't care who follows me - just a fun goal). I also follow some people back! However, if you follow me, please keep something in mind - I have had to block several people because they've followed me and their profile pictures have featured partial nudity - so if you follow me your profile picture, if you have one, is to be appropriate if you expect me not to block you. I don't care what your pins are - your profile picture is all I'm concerned about. If your picture is appropriate, I will accept you as a follower.
Thank you all for reading, and please watch for more updates on this blog soon!
*https://www.pinterest.com/chandlerjay26/
Now to this post's target - Pinterest. No, this isn't a post describing this fun and creative app, as I've done multiple times in the past, but I'm referring more to my own profile right now. I've been on Pinterest for about a year and a half, and do not regret setting up an account. I have over 30 boards filled with thousands of ideas of various topics. I have recipes, writing tips, funny stuff and more! Nearly every day new ideas are added to my page. So if you're on Pinterest, please consider checking out my profile (I will post the link below*). If you're not on Pinterest, you won't get to see my profile unless you sign up. My goal is to get to 300 followers by the end of 2016; I currently have 258 (I don't care who follows me - just a fun goal). I also follow some people back! However, if you follow me, please keep something in mind - I have had to block several people because they've followed me and their profile pictures have featured partial nudity - so if you follow me your profile picture, if you have one, is to be appropriate if you expect me not to block you. I don't care what your pins are - your profile picture is all I'm concerned about. If your picture is appropriate, I will accept you as a follower.
Thank you all for reading, and please watch for more updates on this blog soon!
*https://www.pinterest.com/chandlerjay26/
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Be Careful With The Internet!
Hi all you readers out there! After another 2-month state of inactivity - ugh! - I'm back on this blog again! If you check out my other blogs sometime soon, I'll probably be updating those later on. I hope you've all been doing well and it's really good to be back online. It's been a bit busier for me with school starting up a couple of months ago - I'm in 10th grade this year so the workload isn't as light as it used to be. I also have youth group to attend on Thursdays and serve in our church's AWANA program (a youth group for kids age 3-6th grade) program. So it's been a bit busier, but not entirely too busy. So I hope that I'll be able to visit and post here often!
This post was intended to be more serious, though. All of you that read this blog use the Internet. I know that because if you didn't use it, there would be no way to access this page. Being online can be very useful and convenient for you, and it also serves as a way to pass time. But, it can also be bad as well (I will be focusing primarily on social media).
Today we're living in the age of technology and where we have anything we want at the push of a button. I'm not saying that being on social media is bad, as long as it's handled correctly. Yesterday I was on one of my favorite apps, Pinterest. There are topics and people that you can follow to get creative ideas. Topics on Pinterest usually have a photo displaying the kind of content in that topic, and they change the photo from time to time. I followed one particular topic that I thought to be ABSOLUTELY harmless, yet when I got on last night there was a very inappropriate photo on that topic, so what I did was unfollow it. Things come into my home feed that I don't like, and I don't know where they come from. I've been considering taking down my account or at least unfollowing most if not all of my following (if you're not on Pinterest you won't understand what I'm talking about). Something came into my feed the other day that I thought was just a funny joke, but when I started reading it aloud, my mother said that it was mentioning drugs. I didn't know that because it didn't mention the word "drugs" directly and I would only have known what it meant if it mentioned drugs directly. There was no profane language in it at all, so I thought it was perfectly all right. What happened is I had also shared this thing on Facebook, so I rushed my fastest to delete it before any of my friends saw it. Thankfully, only one had, to my knowledge.
And another example is YouTube. No, I do not have a YouTube account and wouldn't really be able to use one, but sometimes I still look things up like funny animal videos (haha!). Even those I watch without the sound because I don't want to risk listening to bad language if there's any in the video. That is one site on which you could probably find any video you wanted, whether good or bad. You can also use the Internet illegally, which will REALLY get you into trouble.
Several members of my house have stumbled upon inappropriate content accidentally, and it's happened too many times. That's why that on most of our computers, we have a program called K9 Web Protection, that blocks much of the inappropriate content that's out there. What my point comes down to - don't ever mess around or use the Internet undiscerningly. If you allow yourself to go see anything online, you will regret your carelessness sooner or later. What you see will be planted into your memory, sometimes forever, depending on the extremity of it. In this world of technology, there's nothing wrong with using the Internet, but we must use it carefully. We will all be better off if we don't underestimate the World of the Web.
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." - Luke 6:45
This post was intended to be more serious, though. All of you that read this blog use the Internet. I know that because if you didn't use it, there would be no way to access this page. Being online can be very useful and convenient for you, and it also serves as a way to pass time. But, it can also be bad as well (I will be focusing primarily on social media).
Today we're living in the age of technology and where we have anything we want at the push of a button. I'm not saying that being on social media is bad, as long as it's handled correctly. Yesterday I was on one of my favorite apps, Pinterest. There are topics and people that you can follow to get creative ideas. Topics on Pinterest usually have a photo displaying the kind of content in that topic, and they change the photo from time to time. I followed one particular topic that I thought to be ABSOLUTELY harmless, yet when I got on last night there was a very inappropriate photo on that topic, so what I did was unfollow it. Things come into my home feed that I don't like, and I don't know where they come from. I've been considering taking down my account or at least unfollowing most if not all of my following (if you're not on Pinterest you won't understand what I'm talking about). Something came into my feed the other day that I thought was just a funny joke, but when I started reading it aloud, my mother said that it was mentioning drugs. I didn't know that because it didn't mention the word "drugs" directly and I would only have known what it meant if it mentioned drugs directly. There was no profane language in it at all, so I thought it was perfectly all right. What happened is I had also shared this thing on Facebook, so I rushed my fastest to delete it before any of my friends saw it. Thankfully, only one had, to my knowledge.
And another example is YouTube. No, I do not have a YouTube account and wouldn't really be able to use one, but sometimes I still look things up like funny animal videos (haha!). Even those I watch without the sound because I don't want to risk listening to bad language if there's any in the video. That is one site on which you could probably find any video you wanted, whether good or bad. You can also use the Internet illegally, which will REALLY get you into trouble.
Several members of my house have stumbled upon inappropriate content accidentally, and it's happened too many times. That's why that on most of our computers, we have a program called K9 Web Protection, that blocks much of the inappropriate content that's out there. What my point comes down to - don't ever mess around or use the Internet undiscerningly. If you allow yourself to go see anything online, you will regret your carelessness sooner or later. What you see will be planted into your memory, sometimes forever, depending on the extremity of it. In this world of technology, there's nothing wrong with using the Internet, but we must use it carefully. We will all be better off if we don't underestimate the World of the Web.
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." - Luke 6:45
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