Nicola and the Viscount

Here's my weekly book review.

Nicola and the Viscount
By Meg Cabot

Nicola could feel Lord Sebastian’s heart beating. It was the most delightful feeling in the world. Surely it meant that The God liked her. More than simply liked her- loved her even, it had to! It just had to!

Lord Sebastian is handsome, charming, and friendly. Everything, Nicola Sparks thinks a man ought to be. It’s not long before she’s fallen in love and not only that, but she thinks he loves her too!
Suddenly Nicola is thrown into another world when Lord Sebastian asks her to marry him. All goes well at first in their engagement until Nicola’s cousin tells her some surprising information that could change her life.
What is Nicola to do? Should she go ahead with the wedding?
I think this fictional book is a great read for girls 11-15. By Meg Cabot, bestselling author of The Princess Diaries.

Jordan

Snazzy Snails

Since yesterdays blog was ever so interesting ( :) ), I thought why not do it again?
Today's science was on snails. The slimy, snazzy, snail.
I did go out to the garden to search for a snail so that I could get a picture of it, but I was unable to find one. So instead I went to the ever-so-helpful internet for an answer.

Here are a few snail-y facts.

1. Snails have 20,000 teeth
2. The heaviest snail ever weighed two pounds
3. A snail can walk over a razor blade and not get hurt
4. Some snails have been known to live up to 15 years
5. Snails cannot hear- (Meaning if you shout and scream and hurl insults at a snail (as you do) it will not hear you)
6. Snails hibernate during the winter and live on their own fat
7. The garden snail is cooked and eaten as a delicacy called escargot.
8. May 24th is National Escargot Day- (Run away snails! It's coming soon!)
9. Snails can crawl upside down if they wish

Once again I tried a quiz, on the snail this time, and once again I failed. (4 out of 12 questions is pretty good)

This is the link to the quiz if any of you are brave enough to step up. http://www.quizmoz.com/quizzes/Animal-Quizzes/s/Snail-Facts-Quiz.asp

Oh snail, oh snail,

You are so bright and gay,

I just hope that you make it past,

the 24th of May. :)

Jordan

Hmmm...I don't know...What does have forty-six legs and needs lots of time to tie it's shoes?

In my science book, The Wonderland of Nature, I've been learning about centipedes.

Since I haven't had much to blog about, I decided centipedes will have to do for the time being.

First of all, this picture is made up of three pictures. The first one is of a centipede, the second one is of a centipede's nippers, and the third, of a few of their legs.
I know it's a pretty bad picture (for a better look, double click) but it's all I could get, and I wasn't about to go out searching for them outside. Especially after the stories I've heard of my father waking up in the middle of the night with a huge centipede on his stomach. Mum said he killed it twenty times over.


A few facts...

1. A centipede's main enemy is the trapdoor spider.
2. Centipedes bite with their adapted front legs.
3. In some cultures centipedes are used for a treatment to malaria.
4. A centipede has 23 pairs of legs.
5. Centipedes are distant cousins of shrimps, lobsters, and crayfish.

Despite his relatives desire for water the centipede is quite content to stay on land. Some centipedes can grow up to twelve inches long.

Another facinating fact is that some centipedes can live up to the amazing age....of six! :)

I recently took a quiz on the centipede (feeling vey confident) and suddenly found out that I do not know half as much as I should about these interesting (but ugly) creatures. Look up this link: http://www.quizmoz.com/quizzes/Animal-Quizzes/c/Centipedes-Quiz.asp: to try the quiz for yourself.

Anyway, I must go.

Jordan

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Choc Chip Cookies (CCC- For short)

Ingredients-

125 grams butter (4oz)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 1/3 cup self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon salt- (I don't usually add this but you can if you wish)

125 grams chocolate chips (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup walnuts- (optional) -(I don't do this either)

Method

Cream butter, sugars and vanilla. Add egg. Gradually mix in flour and salt. Add choc chips.

Shape into small balls. Allow room for spreading.

Cook in moderate oven 180 C for 10-12 minutes.

Jordan

To keep the rabbits out...

Yesterday Emily and I had to build a tiny replica of a bit of the Great Wall of China.

This is what the instructions looked like.

They weren't all that easy to understand. Most of it was something like...'Divide section K into three by folding twice, join the the two pieces of the wall to the side of the main tower. D-E-F should join to the left hand. Flaps on G, H and I should face inwards but the end of H should face downwards.'

It didn't look too bad when we were nearly finished...

but lots of it was still held together with pegs while the glue dried.

And to make it all the more complicated we had to find some way to make the Mongols stick on.

This is the nearly finished piece of work.

It didn't look too bad when we reached this stage but with instruction like that you expect it to.

Three things I learned from this project was...

• Don't underestimate instructions...
• Little paper Mongols look like they're easy to stick on but they're not...
• And even though The Great Wall of China was built to keep the rabbits out, it should have been able to keep the Mongols out as well. (Trust me, I've built it, it's pretty sturdy. Well, if you call held togther with pegs sturdy.)

Jordan