Bongiorno!

My name is Appolina Maria Therese Boccialotti, but most everyone knows me by my nickname, which happens to be "Apples".  (Easier to say, for one thing!)  I am 12 years old and live with my family in Costa Mesa, California.

I just completed sixth grade.  I will be going to middle school (grade seven) in the fall.  I can't wait, but at the same token, I'm scared the bigger kids will make fun of me.  I hope I make some new friends there!

I have a good family.  I have a mother and dad (I call them Mama and Papa), three brothers (Giusseppe, Miguel, and Roberto; they are 19, 17, and 15), and two sisters (Tamara and Carmella, who are 9 and 4).  I'm stuck right in the middle; I'm the third from the youngest child).

I get along well with my family, all things considering, but like all families, we do have our moments where we fight.

My mother works for the Democratic Party as a liason; she is busy this year as it is an election yaer.  Papa, meanwhile, works for H&R Block; he is a consultant and helps people with their taxes.  Both jobs keep my parents very busy.

When I grow up I would like to be president of the United States.  Even though my parents both voted for Barack Obama, the current President, I feel he is not living up to his promises; he has let a lot of people down.  Oh, he's okay, but he's just not doing his job right.  I think he is too young, not to mention, way too inexperienced.

I think I could do a way better job than our current president; too bad I'm only twelve years old.  I have six more years to go before I am deemed old enough to vote and I have far more than that to even consider being eligible to run for the presidency.

Besides following politics, I like to read (anything I can get my grubby hands on!), sing, dance, make quilts (I've been quilting since I was ten; I have already made two beautiful quilts, one for myself and one that I gave to Mama for Christmas this past year; she loved it!), hang out with my friends, swim, rollerblade, collect rocks or seashells, take pictures, go to concerts, and go to the library.  I also love to go online and go to Facebook or YouTube.

We are Roman Catholic.  I go to Mass every Saturday afternoon and Sunday (morning and evening) and catechism every Saturday morning.  I also go to church on Thursdays to confessional, in case I screwed up during the week, and then I can tell Father Peter my sins and have them absolved.  I know God is the one who really forgives my sins, but it is nice to know that Father Peter can act as a support system and I can get the bad feelings off my chest!

I forgot to mention that still another thing I like to do is help Mama cook.  Mama is a wonderful cook!  She can make anything under the sun: Greek, Italian, even Japanese nd Cajun.  My favorite is of course her Italian meals, seeing we ARE Italian by heritage!  Yum!! Her pasta faizul (spelling?) is to DIE for, and so is her chicken cacciatore!

Well, I've bent your ear long enough; I will go now.  Gonna grab my suit and go swimming before it gets too hot here.  I will write in here again soon; until later, this is Apples Bocchialotti saying so long!  God bless!

~Apples.  :)