Iced Tea

The sun came out today. Even though it's cold, it makes me think of spring and summer. I cannot wait for spring to arrive. So to celebrate the sunny occasion, I decided to help myself to some iced tea.

Just Tazo Passion Fruit Tea with sugar added. It's lovely. Happy almost-spring-time!

I felt the urge to write

"Isn't the point of blogging to just write meaningless words to get attention?"

Words of wisdom from my boyfriend.

Well, sometimes blogging is very serious and sometimes it is not. I believe my blog falls somewhere in between. But whether you write about food, games, or even write about writing, blogging is just writing about whatever comes to your mind. It's also for people like me who want to be part of that unique species called "writers." I pretend I'm completely consumed by the words that swim around in my head. But whether I'm hardcore or not, I still enjoy putting words down on paper or typing them on to a screen.

With that, I've realized my blog isn't about anything in particular. It's about this and that and other things. My blog looks like what my mind would look like if I were able to put my mind on a screen. Fun little curlicues and bright colors surround the mess of words that are my thoughts and experiences. Sure it's a little cluttered, but it's mine. So thank you blog for being a tribute to my mind. And thank you readers for enjoying my clutter.

Do I blog just to get attention? Maybe. But maybe there's more to it. Maybe I blog for the sheer joy of it... plus more!

Camels, people in brown coats, orange papers... senseless muttering.

My gums feel strange. And my teeth hurt. Or at least, the empty spaces where my teeth used to be hurt. Yesterday, I had my wisdom teeth surgically removed. I was put under IV sedation and numbed up.

Before the procedure, several things were done to prepare me. First the nurse put an oxygen tube up my nose. Ewww. Very uncomfortable. Then, they put one of those things on my finger that reads your pulse. I could hear the beep of my pulse on a little machine. I caused a little mischief and played with the machine by seeing if thinking about certain things or breathing faster would make the machine beep faster. That was fun. At least it was until they got ready to give me the sedation shot. It was slightly embarrassing when the machine starting beeping faster and faster. I didn't realize a shot would make me that nervous. All I remember after that was the room looking kind of funny. The light above me looked like it was getting bigger and then smaller and then bigger again. Then I woke up. Let me tell you it's very strange to suddenly wake up without any memory of ever closing your eyes. I also realized there was gauze in my mouth and I couldn't even feel my lower jaw. The nurse was standing there. She asked me how I was doing. I answered "imdnggh." She nodded as if she'd understood I'd tried to say, "I'm doing okay." Then again, this is her job so she probably did understand me.

Then I must have fallen asleep again because there was a camel in the room. After my eyes opened again, the nurse said, "Keep your eyes open." "mgh" (okay), I replied. I failed though because then there were Browncoats (Independents from the show Firefly. It's a great show. Watch it.) standing in the room and Malcolm Reynolds (the captain from the show Firefly) was talking to me about my teeth. Then the nurse told me to stay awake again. I nodded but failed. This time somebody was ripping a piece of orange paper. These were the shortest, but strangest dreams I'd ever had. After waking up that last time, I really tried to make an effort to keep my eyes open. Then the nurse went to get my mom. They came back and talked about post-op stuff like my medications and what I was not allowed to eat. I don't remember much of what they said. Then I tried to tell them about my dreams. They looked at each other as if I needed to be put away. But hey, it's not my fault the drugs made my brain all fuzzy.

I was sent home with medications and an ice pack that straps over my head and hangs beneath my jaw. My mom said I looked like Jacob Marley. I suppose maybe I did look a little bit like the picture included in this post. Just... minus the chains... and the crazy hair... and the ghostly complexion.

My mouth still hurts today and I'm not feeling pleasant. Let's just say... I'm watching the clock to see when I'm allowed to take my pain med again and I'm wearing my Jacob Marley garb. But I do have to say, baby food does not taste too bad. As a matter of fact, I think I'll have some now with a little pudding for dessert.

Although it's rather unavoidable, I wish that none of you will have to (or had to) go through this ordeal with funny dreams, pain, and squishy foods... plus more.

An Interesting Facial

I spent this last weekend at a county fair. I participate in 4-H and rabbits are my main project. I own a Mini Lop. She is four years old and her name is Layla. My whole 4-H club took part in the county fair so we had a nice little section of the rabbit barn for our bunnies. On the last night of fair, I went in to the barn to check on the rabbits. One of the rabbits, a Dutch named Cosmo, was sitting in his cage facing away from me. I wanted to pet him so I reached through the bars on the cage to give him a little pat. Bad idea. I startled him. My eyes instinctively closed. I had no idea why they had until I realized my face felt warm and moist. Not to mention it smelled rather funny all of a sudden. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the rabbit peed on my face.

I just thought that was worth sharing. Though I would not recommend using rabbit pee as a facial or a wash. My skin felt rather tight, it smelled funny, and urine is not a healthy substance. (No worries, I washed my face thoroughly in the bathroom after that little epeedemic).

If you do happen to be interested in natural facial care, check out my friend Heidi's blog franticallysimple.com

She has tried a facial powder made from egg shells and washing her face with honey.

Hope you're having a great summer! Mine has been full of camping and rabbits... plus more!

Oh dear what is happening to me...

I have recently been dragged in to the world of video games.

Now before you start panicking, you must know I am (still) very much an amateur and nowhere near hardcore (yet?).

No really I've only been playing a few things. Mostly just Portal and League of Legends. And other little fun things that don't exactly count as "gaming."

Basically, the point of this post is... Help me. No, no I don't want to be dragged back out again. Believe me, I would go kicking and screaming. I want help with suggestions. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I want you to suggest your favorite video game. (One thing though... I would prefer PC games because that's really all I'm able to play. We do have a wii so if you have a wii game you must suggest, I'm open to that as well.)

Now help me play these games! Plus more!

Ready, set, suggest!

No guilt

Many of my posts have been chock full of apologies for not posting. (Who reads this anyway?)

A dear friend of mine took the time to tell me not to worry about being consistent on my blog. She told me to post when is convenient for me. So, off you go Guilt. Leave this place. There is no room for you here.

On that note, let's talk some more about casting off guilt. I'll spread it out over a few categories.

~Emotional~

The problem: I am an impatient person. I get anxious and easily excited about something. So, naturally, waiting in anticipation of something drives me nuts. Sometimes people do too. I can be short of temper. This results in having an attitude with my parents, yelling at my brothers, or saying something spiteful to a friend. Afterwards, I feel terrible. No one likes inflicting pain on others (if you do, you have psychological problems).

Casting it off: As embarrassing and humbling as it is, apologizing works wonders. Take the time to let people know you're sorry for hurting them. And let people know you appreciate them! I know how much it hurts to feel unappreciated. One approach I took was to write a letter to a family member and leave it under their pillow for them to find. That's a nice way to say what you need to say without the awkwardness of saying it face to face.

~Physical~

The problem: I used to do taekwondo, but I haven't trained for about two years. It felt so good to go in to the school twice a week and get a really hardcore work-out. I prided myself in being able to do crunches for who knows how long and punch a bag for 5 minutes straight without faltering. I am not keen on the idea of trying that now for fear of failing. To top it all off, I've never been good at running, so I can't do that either.

Casting it off: Since my schedule is so busy and I can never seem to find time to exercise, I have trouble casting off this guilt. BUT I am finding little ways to feel better about myself. As silly as this sounds, shower daily. Yeah I know most of us do this anyway, but actually think about it. Relax while you're showering. Try not to think about your schedule or what's bothering you. Think about the warm water splashing off your head, clearing your pores, and refreshing your soul................... aaaaah. If a shower's not physically healthy, I don't know what is. Another thing I've tried is doing 25 crunches right before every shower. Those are great for making your tummy smaller. Directly affecting your physical health? I think yes. One more thing on the physical note. Smaller portions. I like food. Lots of food. I eat food. Lots of food. Food is yummy. So... slow down with your food. Enjoy that bite. Chew it slowly and purposefully. If you savor your food, you'll actually eat less. What a great way to enjoy your meal while still being healthy!

~Spiritual~

The problem: I think this section can speak for itself. Yeah, we sin. A lot. All day, every day. No wonder we feel guilty about this one. It's directly spiritual in the sense that sometimes we don't appreciate church. We go because it's routine. Things like that. As if that's not enough to get our guilt machine going, the emotional and physical guilt also ties in to this. Dang.

Casting it off: As cliché as this sounds... read. your. bible. I hardly ever take the time to read God's word. Right now is Lent; a time of prayer and fasting. As well as giving something up this year (caffeine if you're wondering), I've also decided to do something this year. I'm working my way through the gospel of Matthew every day. I'm also doing a daily devotional. I have found this to be extremely refreshing and incredibly beautiful. I'm learning how to incorporate God in to my every day life. Another thing to do is really focus on church. Whatever denomination you are, think about why you are there. This morning at mass, I almost started crying. I was a Eucharistic minister today and I was serving wine. I suddenly became so excited to be sharing the blood of Jesus with my community. I was so joyful and I could feel Jesus' joy at my being so in love with Him at that moment. So take the time to see that beauty. If you can't, as God to help you. And most importantly, know that He is a merciful God and ask Him for forgiveness.

A lot of guilt comes from these mindsets: "I need to do this" or "I need to do that." "I didn't do this" or "I didn't do that." St. Therese of Lisieux focused on the little things. What if we did as well? Start with a few small things that you "need" to do. Don't look at that huge workload in front of you. Do things one at a time. Then, appreciate the things you've already done. Be satisfied that you found the time to call that friend or wash that dish today. Then build from there.

Now go out there and live life. Laugh, cry, apologize, forgive, exercise, pray... plus more!

As many activities as there are leaves on my lawn

It seems like every post says something like this:

"I've failed my readers once again"

"I missed the post for last month"
"Oh darn it, I forgot to write on my blog"

What is going on here?
I suppose I have priorities... More important things to do... Like facebo-- uhhh I mean, homework.

So here I am (again) posting late.

Well, the big update would be... I'm 16 now. I celebrated my 16th birthday this weekend with many of my friends and my immediate family. My party was New York themed. Pretty classy right? We all wore fancy clothes and ate yummy food. It was a hit worthy of Broadway.

I also got the present I really wanted. No, not a car. A guitar! It's wonderful; a very pretty guitar with nice action and gorgeous sound. If you want specifics, it's a 2006 Taylor 812 CE. Acoustic electric.

Now let's back up to October. Halloween and fall activities went well. I got to hang out with my boyfriend (yes, I have a boyfriend ^_^) a few days in a row. We watched a movie and later in the week went to a haunted corn maze. And no, I wasn't the only scary thing in there. I got scared, he got scared, we both got scared, and we got lost. All in all: had a great time.

I was a mime for Halloween. I had the striped shirt, beret, and everything. I even painted my face white. The hardest part was not talking. I'm kind of talkative (if you haven't guessed already from my manner of speaking in my posts). I think I was able to keep my little mouth shut for close to 5 or 6 hours. Impressive.

At the beginning of this month, NaNoWriMo started. For all of you who have no idea what that is, I shall explain. (No it's not an anime convention). It is short for: National Novel Writing Month. A crazy month when aspiring authors all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I started doing it, but considering my birthday and party were the first weekend of this month, I lost a lot of time. I only have just over 4,000 words... It may seem like a lot, but compared to 50,000... let's just say I'm losing hope. I shouldn't be too hard on myself, because I've actually never done NaNoWriMo before, but I'm losing faith. I might just try writing my novel over several months instead of one. We shall see.

Hope your fall is colorful, crisp, and clean, plus more!