The 52-Week Money Challenge

This past year, I took part in something called the Fifty-Two Week Money Challenge. However, I started the challenge a few weeks late, after I got a job at TreeTop. (I didn't have money before then, to be honest. Heehee.)

Anyway, the point of this challenge is to challenge you to save a specific amount of money per week. In the beginning, it seems like an insignificant amount. "One dollar this week? Two dollars the next? This is easy." 

However, as you keep going, the dollar amount increases. Two dollars, ten dollars, forty-seven dollars. It keeps climbing. The last week, you're supposed to put $52 into the jar. (I'll be putting $43 in, because that's how many weeks I'll stop at.)

Where am I keeping of all this money? Not in a mason jar, although next year, I might do that. Now, I've got this little blue jar with butterflies on it, that one of my cats in my cat collection came in.

Do you see the weird multi-colored cat here? It's sort of tucked behind the siamese and the paw-licking kitten.  It's from some famous artist in Germany. I received it as a Christmas present one year. It's interesting, to say the least!

This is my money jar (and my messy dresser). You can see my red money-box (beneath the Milka bar), my coin bank (behind the pen-jar), and my quarter-box (the Fuzzy Wuzzy cat bank), as well. I think my blue money jar's pretty, though!

[insert inner jar picture]

What am I going to do with all this money? I'm going to place it into my Savings Account. It's going to be a rather large cash deposit, and I'm sure the teller's going to look at me like I'm absolutely insane. But hey, if I've worked this hard, I'm not going to do it halfway! (I might keep a few dollars out, depending on how much cash I have in my red box by then. Otherwise, it's all going straight to the bank!)

How am I keeping track of all this money? Simple. I found a pin on Pinterest that I was able to print out and place on my dresser, beneath my money jar. I also put my money in the same day every week - on a Saturday. That way, I'm home from school, and I've also gotten my paycheck cashed. There's no way I can miss a week! (Checking off the amount helps, too.)

This is the tracking sheet. I place a star next to the week when I complete it, then the date next to the dollar amount.  That way I don't get off track.

Why am I doing this? Well, I don't think I really have a reason. I just need to save some money, and this seems to be the easiest way to do so. The later weeks are always going to eat away at my paycheck, but the end result is amazing. While I don't have over $1,300 this year, I do have $946. And for a nineteen-year-old girl, that's an awesome achievement.

Now I have a challenge for you, dear readers.

Will you take the Challenge with me in 2014?

I know it may be asking a lot from some of you, especially as y'all might not have jobs. (I have no idea of your current financial situation, but it's probably not very good, considering you're probably either on a military salary, working a part-time job, working a below-minimum-wage job, are unemployed, attending college, or are still in high school...or maybe a combination of two or more of these things!) Then there's this person's reasoning. (As you can see, I've also commented on here with my own opinion...)

However, think of the reward. At the end of 2014, you'll be able to march up to your bank, place your jar on the counter, and say, "I'd like to deposit this in my savings account." And the teller will smirk at your piggy bank, your red velvet box, your grandmother's jewelry box, or whatever else you're using to hold your money, and they'll say, "Of course." When the jar is opened, their jaw will drop, and you'll be the one smirking in satisfaction at a job well-done. 

Join me. The only reward is the knowledge that you're able to actually save money. (I've always had problems with that...this is helping, BIG-TIME!) Plus, you can jump in at ANY TIME! (I started in March, for example, after getting my first paycheck!) It's easier to keep track of everything if you start at Week One, no matter when you join. Then just start over on January 1.

What have you got to lose?

End of First Semester, Sophomore Year

Well, last week was Final Exam week for me. I had two 8:00 a.m. exams! (And one of those was Spanish! The horror!) Wednesday, I had three exams! Back-to-back-to-back! It was horrible. At least it's all over with now.

And, even with my newfound friends and awesome social life, I MANAGED TO GET ALL A'S THIS SEMESTER, PROVING MY MOTHER WRONG. (She thought I needed to stop being social and doing fun things so that I wouldn't fail this semester. She was wrong!)

I really don't know how I pulled off an A in my Spanish and Psych classes. 

For Psych, the teacher NEVER posted any grades on Canvas (the online application that allows students to see their grades, teachers receive assignment submissions, etc.), so I had no clue what I had in there. I knew I had scored low A's on a couple tests, and a low B on another one, but with the extra-credit assignment, I had no idea what was going on. So when I found out that I had an A in the class as a final grade, I nearly did a somersault.

For Spanish, I'd been holding on to a high B since the middle of the semester, when I took my first test and got an 89% on it. (My second test? A 76%. It was mostly grammar, and I'm absolutely terrible at grammar.) Somehow I pulled off getting an 102/100 on my final exam, bringing my grade up to an A. I don't know how it happened, but I'm so, so happy.

So far this year, I haven't had a lot of fun in my classes. I've had Biology (I hate science), Psychology (ugh!), Introduction to Communications (double-ugh), Spanish 201 (rawr), and Introduction to Music Appreciation (sloooow). They've all been terrible, although I loved my Spanish teacher. He was really cool.

Next semester, I'll be taking Spanish 202 (I'm not looking forward to this), English 300 (the introduction to my major), Creative Writing (I hope this is all right...), Chemistry 100 (I hate science), and some sort of analyzing-old-speeches class (which I hope is entertaining, at least). I'm not taking any honors courses this semester, because they're not offering any related to my major OR my minor, and I don't want to pay for courses that won't help me towards either of those, especially considering that my parents are the ones paying for my college (and my father doesn't currently have a job). 

How did y'all do this semester? Better than you expected? Worse? What's the one thing you wish you could tell someone who's currently sitting where you were a few years ago? 

Becoming a Pokéleague Champion

Two days before Midterms, Pokémon X and Y launched in the first simultaneous Pokémon launch ever (meaning it hit both Japan and the US at the same time, although some stores in Canada let it go a few days early).

The day before Midterms, I picked it up, with the promise to myself that I would not open it until both my Spanish and Bio tests were over (I wasn't worried about the other three). 

Somehow, I managed to hold myself to that promise and not open the game for nearly three days. It was crazy, and I really don't know how I managed to do it. Once I started playing the game, though, I was hooked. The customization you can do in the game is simply stunning (although I wish we could design our own outfits... That would be amazing!), and the hairstyles and everything are great.

The Super Training and Pokémon Amie "games" take place on the lower screen, and they're really fun. Not only do they help make your Pokémon stronger, but they also give you perks in battle and whatnot (like "shaking off" status effects and sometimes "holding on" to avoid one-hit kills, which is great). It certainly is worth taking the time to play with your Pokémon and work your way to the top!

Now that we've all completed the game, a group of friends and I have decided we're going to make our own gym teams. I'm going to be the Psychic gym leader, and I'm going to see if I can create another super team to take on my friends' gyms. (I doubt I'm going to do very well, though, because my friend Drew has been breeding the "perfect team" and he's demolished me 6-0 every time we fight. It's not pretty. But his team is super-effective.)

Anyways, sorry for having this post come a little late :) I know I promised that these "five posts" would be finished within the first two weeks of December. Guess that didn't happen, right? I hope y'all have a great day!

This is a picture from near the end of the game. I don't have a picture of me outside of the League, but this is close enough :)

[Also, if you need more 3DS friends, comment below with your friend code and I'll tell you mine! My Safari Zone is normal-type, but you can get a Chauncey!]

Becoming a DC Fan

For the past few years, I've been a Marvel movie fan. I've never read any of the comics, although my friend Erin had all of our friends read her "Trials of Loki" graphic novel before we went and saw Thor: The Dark World together.

I'll admit that I've never seen much of a point in comic books. I knew that some people had obsessions with them, but I had personally never gotten into them. Sure, I read manga (both in physical form and online), and I enjoyed collecting it, but comic books never appealed to me.

Bring in my new boyfriend, Matt. He's a big DC fan, and as most of you probably know, DC and Marvel are huge rivals. While Marvel's more of a happy-ending type, DC is known for its dark and brooding heroes (Batman, anyone?) and even more terrifying villains (Bane? Joker?). Matt said he was going to get me into comic books, so I accepted his stack of Justice League: the New 52 series and went home for a weekend.

In just a few issues, I was hooked.

So, now I'm a big DC fan. I may like the Marvel movies a bit more, but the DC comics are just phenomenal. And the writing's amazing. It's witty, moves along at a great pace, and I never feel lost. (Although I do kinda feel lost in the Green Lantern universe - I have no idea what happened before, only that Hal Jordan lost the ring because he was being stupid or something like that, and now he wants it back.)

Suicide Squad may be my favorite title, because EVERYONE IS EXPENDABLE. Also, the "heroes" of the Suicide Squad are actually villains who are trapped in Belle Reve prison (such as Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, etc.), and they are offered a space on the Suicide Squad in hopes of having their sentence reduced. Who knows what will happen?

I'm now anxiously awaiting the next installments of all the comic series Matt's gotten me into. He can't believe I've caught up with him in just under a month, and the guys at his comic book shop are a little in disbelief that Matt's found someone just as nerdy and insane as he is to run around with. 

Also, one of these days, we're going to be going to Dragon*Con, either dressed as Link & Zelda, Finn & Marcelline, or Joker & Harley. (We've already done the Joker & Harley bit for his birthday party, but it'd always be nice to do it again, with better makeup and a better costume. It should be fun, at least. Right?)

Anyways, I hope this hasn't bored y'all too much. Go out and pick up a few issues of The New 52's Suicide Squad or Justice League. You won't regret it, I promise.

"Sleigh Ride"

This is a very, very old video - December 2011. So why am I now dragging it out of the closet?

I've run out of posts for the week, and I want to share this horribleness with you.

Just kidding.

I want to get into the Christmas spirit and share a song with you! When I performed this for my recital, I screwed up royally. I hit every wrong note imaginable, and I pretty much ran off stage sobbing. It was horrible. I haven't taken piano lessons since that day. I couldn't handle the stress.

This recording was made about two hours after my botched recital. I have the sheet music in front of me, but I don't look at it at all, to be honest. I had it memorized. I may mess up once or twice in here, but it's just a little slip of the keys and it's barely noticeable. (If you notice it, sorry! I tried my best! I was a little nervous still!)

I really hope you enjoy it! Tell me what you think, please? :)

I Now Have... a Boyfriend?!

If any of you remember me from my old blog, Army Band Girlfriend Life, you remember why I had to shut the blog down: my then-boyfriend ignored me for seven weeks then broke my heart in a letter that contained less than one hundred words.

For the next few months, I wallowed in a black hole of pain and misery. Yes, much of that I brought upon myself. I would wake up at night, screaming, and would sob and cry until I cried myself to sleep and my mother could go back to her room. (She would come and hold me and talk to me while I cried.)

After a while, I gave up. I never heard from him, and he blocked me on Facebook the moment he got computer access back. I realized that I could not let him win.

Still, I went through life in a daze. I worked myself to the brink of exhaustion, threw myself into so many activities at school, and tried my best to stop thinking. (Because if I started thinking, I would start crying.)

Flash-forward to Anime Club on Monday nights. After Pokémon X & Y came out, so many people in Anime Club brought their DSs in order to play. I met a few friends by battling, and one of these friends was named Matt.

At the Anime Club Halloween Party, Matt asked me to go and grab coffee with him. I had on my Fili costume (minus my Kili, because Sarah's not into anime). 

Matt was dressed in a Superman snuggie, which you can see to the left of this paragraph. At first, I was unsure as to whether he was asking me out-out, or if this was just a buddy-date type thing. He seemed way too casual (although later, he told me he was freaking out and was actually nervous for the first time in a long time, because he actually cared that I might reject him!).

I was extremely hyper at this point in time (like, I was literally bouncing off the walls and grabbing the leftover candy at the end), and I said yes. I don't even know why I said yes at the time, but I figured, Hey, why don't I give this guy a chance? He seems nice.

Fast-forward to the next day, and we meet at Eclipse, this coffee house, for coffee. Well, I had a milkshake and he had an Italian cream soda, but it's still a coffee house. It was very nice. I had planned to skip out at 7:00, to go and watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but I was having so much fun just...talking to him that I decided to stay. We ended up walking around campus, and I stayed out until nearly 10:00 (or was it 11?).)

It was a very nice first date, to be honest. We were able to be open with each other.

He's an extremely geeky person, with a deep love of DC comics. His favorite character's either the Joker or Harley Quinn (which creeps me out a little bit). He's got the Green Lantern tattooed on his thigh. And he's so sweet. He's really sweet. 

The difference between Matt and my ex is like day and night. Matt takes time to ask me what's wrong, he takes the time to make sure I feel good, and he's amazingly sweet. He's also absolutely insane, but we fit together. He doesn't care that I don't dress like a Barbie every day, and we're actually able to sit down and talk to each other.

It's also very nice to have a person THERE at all times. Someone to hold me if things go wrong. Someone I can comfort if he's having a bad day. (He has them a lot, because he doesn't have the best relationship with his parents.)

Life is beginning to look up for the first time in a long time. I'm smiling more these days, and I no longer feel like I'm worthless and not worthy of anyone. 

Now, I now that this post has probably been a bit more information than you have ever wanted to know, but I figured that if I just threw in the word "Matt" into my upcoming posts, none of y'all would have any idea what I was talking about and you'd want the backstory to all this. So here you go; there's the backstory.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a stack of comics to get back to. (He's managed to convert me to a DC comics fan. He's succeeded. My favorite person is Harley Quinn. She's just so insane, and it's awesome. I actually dressed as Harley for his birthday party, and he dressed as Joker. It was really cool.) I'm still a Marvel movie fan, but I love DC comics.

Fili & Kili, at Your Service!

So if you'll remember my post from yesterday, I had a list of five things that I was going to talk about within the next two weeks. The first thing on that list was my Halloween costume! This year, my roomie and I (after meeting each other for the first time) pretty much decided that we were going to cosplay as Fili and Kili for Halloween this year. We went thrifting to find the basics for our costume, and then to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's Fabrics one day after classes to collect the other things (like trimmings and sheathes and such). Our costumes actually turned out REALLY well.

 First of all, here's a picture of me and my hair. This is before I went to my Anime Club Halloween Party on Monday, October 28th. She pulled the top of my hair back into a little ponytail, then did four small braids on either side. The back she curled and then ruffled so that it looked dwarfish. If you were to look up a picture of Fili from the Hobbit, I'm sure we look kinda similar.

 After the Dorm Halloween Party (on the 30th), we all went outside to take pictures of ourselves in our Halloween costumes. (I'll make a separate blog post with pictures of my other friends and their costumes later, maybe tomorrow.)

This is me against a light post. Probably not the most Middle-Earthish thing around, but it worked.

 And here's my roommate, Sarah, cosplaying as Kili. She found the perfect pieces of her costume at the thrift store and TJ Maxx. She's actually wearing a blue dress underneath the outer covering.

We're just glad that it was warm enough this night for us to actually get out and take pictures without freezing to death!

 And here we are posing next to each other. This is our "serious face."

I don't think I've ever had so much fun posing for pictures. Normally, I avoid cameras as much as humanly possible, because I absolutely HATE having my picture taken. I guess dressing up as a dwarf makes me less camera-shy? Who knows?

Here we are posing on top of a rock on campus. I think my friend Erin took this shot...

It was either Erin or Jessica.

We look so majestic, don't we? 

 Fili and Kili have each other's backs!

We're standing on the chess board outside of Hill House, which is where the Honors Program resides. You can actually rent the chess pieces for this game board inside the house. I kinda want to do that some day; maybe when it warms up a bit.

And here we are posing again.

Fili & Kili have your back!
















I sincerely hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures of Fili and Kili, as played by me and my room mate, respectively. I think we did pretty well, considering that neither of us knew how to sew, really, when we started out. Every piece of clothing came from a thrift store (with the exception of Sarah's dress), and all the accessories came from JoAnn's fabric. We had a LOT of fun taking pictures, and we were so excited to win second place in the Group Costume Contest! It was so much fun!

Hello, Everyone!

-peeks around the door-

Is everyone out there still alive? Does anybody remember me?

Yes, that's right: I'm BAAAAACK!

It's been a month since my last entry (wow - it doesn't feel that long!), and I'm ready to get this blog up and running again. I've neglected it for far too long, and I want to get back into the swing of things already!

Let's play a bit of catch-up, shall we? Each thing represents a future blog post (with the expectation that this list will be covered in the next two weeks)! Here's the Top Five Things that Happened This Month:

1. My roomie & I got second place in the Group Halloween Costume Contest!
2. I now have...a boyfriend?! 
3. I've become a DC fan...although I will always remain loyal to my Loki-love.
4. I've become a Pokémon League Champion.
5. I play DDR kind-of-like a BAU5.

As you can see, this list is sorta diverse. I go from Halloween to DDR to comic books. (And a new significant other.)

I want to tell y'all that I'm much more confident in myself than I have been since May. Things are looking up for the first time in months, and I actually feel like I've been LIVING this semester. I've made new friends, and I'm back into the swing of things. I'm being social (some of it forced, I'll admit), and I'm having a lot of fun.

It's going to be an interesting two weeks, isn't it? Let's get this party started. Tomorrow, I'll be talking about my Halloween costume and giving y'all the details! Come back to see it!

College Life: Door Decorating Contest

Has it really been almost two weeks since I last posted something? I'm so sorry, guys. Life's been slamming me lately, and I really didn't feel like finding something to write about. Because I'm pretty sure that my life has been rather boring lately.

However, there is one thing that I've been doing that I'm REALLY quite proud of! WE DECORATED OUR DORM DOOR FOR THE HALLOWEEN CONTEST.

And get this even crazier thing -- WE WON.

WE WON "BEST DOOR" IN THE DORM.

Sorry for all the caps; I'll stop now.

 You see, our dorm had this "Decorate Your Door" contest, with prizes for "Best Door," "Cutest Door," and "Scariest Door." My room mate and I decided to go ALL -OUT and create a Doctor Who themed paradise.

To the right, you can see the Imperial Dalek that we made. It's not the right colors, but it works. And the best thing? It's to scale!

His name is Dalek Mycroft.

 This is me standing next to the Imperial Dalek! I'm leaning a bit, but you can still see that the Dalek is WAY taller than I am. I'm five-foot-five-and-a-quarter-inches tall. This Dalek's probably pushing six feet.

The amount of math that we put into this thing was mind-numbing. We probably spent six or seven hours on this Dalek alone! Everything on it is to scale.

We found blueprints online and followed them down to the exact measurement sizes. (We also discovered that my Captain America cup is exactly nine centimeters in diameter - the width of the Dalek's ball-things.)

 We also made a to-scale K-9 as well! It's not quite as good as the Dalek, because we had a bit vaguer blueprints to work off of. 

Still, I think we did really good with what we had. 

K-9 is to the left of the door. 

 Here, you can see K-9 and how close he is to the door. He looks really neat!

And, of course, the door itself. It's not exactly "to scale," per se, but it is REALLY close. We based the design off of my TARDIS blanket that I bought back in... July or August, I can't remember now. 

My room mate did the lettering, and I found the decals to print out (the "Free Public" sign and the hospital circle). I aslso figured out how to make a box out of paper, and tape a flashing light to the wall so that the TARDIS's light would actually light up!

You can see, going down the left side of the TARDIS, that we have Weeping Angels. I drew every one of them! I'll make a separate blog post for the Angels, so keep a lookout for them, all right?





What do you guys think of my door? We're going to leave it up the rest of the year!!

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Let's talk about something for a little bit, shall we? I'll start off with the fact that I'm a hardcore Nintendo fan. (Now, your definition of "hardcore" may differ a bit from mine, but I consider myself a hardcore one. I just don't have the money to get some of the things that I want at the moment.)

Recently, Animal Crossing: New Leaf came out for the 3DS. I hadn't really been planning on getting it, but after seeing so many things about it on Tumblr and stuff, I decided that I wanted to try it out. After all, I'd really enjoyed Wild World when I bought it back in 2006/2007. I played it for years before I got tired of it.

Much to my surprise, New Leaf was really engaging. It's even better now that you can be the Mayor of the town, and you pretty much have absolute control over your district. (You can't decide where people will place their houses, but oh, well. Maybe next time?)

The amount of customization that some people do in this game is just absolutely incredible. Some people place paths all around their town. I've seen one town that uses tiles from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening to turn their village into a replica of Kohlint. It's fascinating.

I haven't done anything pretty like that with my town, and I don't know if I ever will. I'm not sure if I'll have the patience to do that. I think I just want to be able to place things as I please, without worrying about whether or not I'm making my town beautiful for people to travel through it using the Dream Suite.

Speaking of the Dream Suite, there are so many towns out there that are just stunning. There's the rumored Aika Village, which tells a story so dark that not many people enjoy visiting it. (I got stuck for 15 minutes in one of the houses; it was terrifying.)

In short, New Leaf allows you to live a whole new LIFE. And for somebody like me, whose life has been falling apart for months now, it's a nice way to escape and find ways to breathe before having to head back into the real world.

If you have a 3DS and haven't picked up New Leaf, go do yourself a favor and spend that $40. (Or wait for Christmas.) It's well worth the money, because there's always something new to do, always new festivals to see, and the New Leaf Tumblr community is very welcoming. Give it a try.

This is Mayor Mira from Mysidia, signing off.

One Month Later...

It's been a month since Jake died. 

...It's hard even writing those words. 

Jake.

Is.

Dead.

It still doesn't feel real. It's like at any moment, he'll walk into the youth room, throw his little (though not by much) brother around, and make everybody laugh.

My last real interaction with him was the day before my birthday. My youth group went bowling at the place he worked at, because he could get us a special deal. He had a lot of fun bowling with us, I think. (I drove Hunter to and from the bowling alley.) 

I can't remember the last time I actually talked to him, though. Is it bad for me to be saying that? I have no idea when I last talked to him. Was it the Mississippi Mission Trip? (I sincerely hope not.) 

When did I last talk to him? What did we talk about? Why can't I remember anything?

It doesn't seem real. I think I'm still in the shock phase, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure of anything any more. It's been a month; shouldn't this have gone away by now? (Then again, I am still immensely depressed from something that happened back in May.)

***

Anyways. I went and saw Hunter today. He had another friend over, Cody, and that guy was pretty cool. They played Grand Theft Auto V while my sister & I watched. (Well, Sarah mostly played with Hunter's new puppy. It's adorable, and loves to bite and play. So excitable!)

He looked really well. He's down to mostly just painkillers now, and he's wearing pants. (Pants are good.) He was talking and laughing, and he has the new Pokémon game as well. (I went out and bought Y today, because I felt like I needed to have some incentive to get through the week.) We talked about how he was doing.

He still needs a walker, but he can hobble slowly about. He doesn't really need to be walking, though, until they get that bone fragment out of his hip. His feet are still really scratched up from the accident. (It's really strange; it's been a month...shouldn't it have healed better by now?)

All in all, he's doing really well. He even ate an entire large bowl of Spaghettio's & Meatballs while I was there. Just wolfed it down. I'm so excited he's eating.

***

Marina's doing...well. She's still in pain, but I don't know how she's managing it. I haven't been able to get many updates on her. And I think Bailey's doing well, too. It's hard keeping up with them.

Pinterest Craft & Movie Nights!

My RA this year is absolutely awesome. She came up with this idea for a Pinterest Craft & Movie Night a few weeks ago, and we've been doing it every other week for three crafts now.

The first craft was a Glow Fairy Jar, and the movie we watched was The Little Mermaid. The jars were really messy to make, and they only glowed for a little while, but we were left with glittery jars at the end. I think all we need to do is put a little fake tealight in it and it would look awesome!

You can see my jar to the left. I tried to take a picture, but it's really hard to take a picture of things that glow-in-the-dark with a cell phone camera. It's almost impossible, actually, so I apologize for the terrible picture. 

The glitter I used was silver and blue. The glowsticks were blue and yellow, with a dash of pink.

The second craft was Crayon Melt Art, and the movie was Tangled. (Do you see a theme here?) This was actually really easy to do, and I'm certainly going to try and show my grandmother how to do it. I think it'd be a great idea for the younger granddaughters to do while they're with her. It's a rainy-day activity for sure! 

My crayon art didn't turn out quite as well as I wanted it to, but hey - that's what happens when you go in without knowing what you're doing :) Next time, I'll get it right, for sure! (I may even make a tutorial!)

I'm going to pick out better colors next time I do this! (It was dollar-store crayons, so you won't go broke doing this!)

Last night's craft was Dream Catchers, and the movies were The Lion King and Road to El Dorado. We finished Lion King, and since some of us still wanted to make dream catchers (we had a lot of string and hoop-stuff left over), we all stayed and someone put on Road to El Dorado. That's actually a really sexual movie; I didn't catch any of this when I last watched it in sixth or seventh grade! Wow!

The instructions the RA had printed out were actually really confusing, but thankfully one of the girls had been a camp counselor so she knew how to make them a much easier way. She taught everyone how to make the dreamcatchers, and we were all really thankful for her! Mine didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to...

After making my first one, I wanted to make another one for my little sister. So I rounded up a small piece of wire-hoop and started doing this one in pink. It turned out much better than my first one (although the picture is crap).

She's really excited to be getting it, actually :)

I did this one while watching Road to El Dorado. It took longer than my first one, because I tried to be a bit more careful with this one. (No such luck; it's still a bit wobbly.)

I think if I had a stronger piece of outside-hoop stuff, something that wouldn't bend if I tugged on it, then I would certainly make a better one! (I'm totally going to try again...)



I really can't wait for the next Pinterest night - it's going to be BOTTLE JELLYFISH! Basically, you take a plastic bag and you ball it up and you put it into a bottle with some water/food coloring and ohmigosh it just look awesome. (The fact that the movie we'll be watching is Beauty and the Beast makes me even more excited!)

What do you think, Readers? Should I make a step-by-step tutorial for the crafts that I've been doing lately, or would all of you just ignore them? Do you think they'd be fun to do? (They're cheap and easy, I think!)

I Hope My Teacher's a Whovian

Recently, I became obsessed with drawing Weeping Angels. You know, those things from Doctor Who that will throw you so back into the past that you die before ever seeing the present again?

Yeah, those things.

I've been drawing them on my whiteboard for two weeks now (just one a week, you see; it's slowly turning around and getting closer, the closer we get to Halloween). Then I decided I wanted to put them down on paper so I'd have a permanent set of Angels (bad idea, I know).

The other day, though, I was bored in my Music 121 (it's either "Appreciation" or "Intro to Listening") and started drawing Angels on my pages. One pose per page. I'm hoping that my teacher's a Whovian, and that she'll flip out when she sees my gorgeous doodles.

Would you like to see them? 

I actually have another full-page one that says "GOOD LUCK," but I've decided not to put it up because A) It's unfinished and B) it looks horrific. Sorry, guys, but them's the breaks.

It's even funnier because we turn in these notebook before the tests. I didn't doodle at all on my last turn-in, but this time I have Weeping Angels and a ton of Zelda doodles. (The note on her last one said I love your handwriting! Maybe this one will be STOP.)

Bandanas and Jesus

I'm sure you all remember my previous post about helping out in Children's Church. This Sunday marked the fifth week since the series began, and it was also the lesson that I think I enjoyed the most.

I wear bandanas every week, of course, but this week the lesson I gave had to do with bandanas. The lesson was on Attitude.

The first bandana I showed off to the kids was the red bandana. Red stands for love. When we see a red bandana, we're supposed to remember that Jesus loves us.

Jesus loved everyone, even his enemies. 

Red gets us happy and excited, and reminds us that we're to love everyone, even if they don't love us.

We're supposed to "wear" red bandanas all the time. Forget about the other two colors; red's our color.

Then we have the blue bandanas.

When you hear that someone's "blue," what do you think about? You think they're sad. Blue is the color sad, unhappy, negative people. We shouldn't want to wear blue bandanas.

Nobody likes negative people in their lives. If you're too negative, then you're going to end up with a lot fewer friends than you began with. 

(Also, I'm sorry for the picture. I am wearing a tank top underneath that shirt, I swear. It just slipped down a bit for the picture. Ugh.)

Then we have the yellow bandanas. In Twin Forks Junction, we call scaredy-cats "Yeller Bellies." They're scared and unhelpful most of the time.

Yellows are wishy-washy and they go along with the crowd because they don't have the backbone to stand up for themselves.

We don't need to wear yellow bandanas because we don't need to go along with the crowd. We need to stand out and stand up for Jesus.









Now, the whole point of this lesson was to drive home one thing: We need to be happy, loving people. We can be scared and sad at some points in time, but we don't need to wear those bandanas 24/7. We need to have our red bandanas on as much as possible, and show love and kindness to everyone we come across. 

So, I want you take a moment and think about some things. What color bandana do you wear the most? What can you do to wear the red one more?

HUNTER. IS. HOME!

HUNTER IS HOME!

HUNTER IS HOME!

HUNTER.

IS.

HOME.

My sister texted me about 9:00 and told me, "BTWS YO, YO HOME BOY HUNTER IS AT THE HOOOOOUSE!!!!!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING"

"NO FO SHIZZLE HE HAD A BOWEL MOVEMENT SO HE COULD GO HOME!"

So Hunter went potty and his doctor, after extensive tests, decided that he could go home. (She's been checking up on him more than she should have, because she felt so bad about NEARLY KILLING HIM earlier. So there's 99.9% chance of NO RELAPSE this time!!)

So I get to go see my best friend on Friday when I get home! You really have no idea how happy I am right now :D I am just jumping off the walls. I wish I could contain my excitement!!!! :D

So thank you, everyone for all of your prayers and well-wishes these past three weeks! :) There's just one more person to focus all the healing powers on: Marina. I mean, Hunter's still got a ways to go as well, but Marina really needs prayer right now as well. (She can't have as much pain medication while she's in rehab, so she's having an extremely tough time.)

Thank you, everyone, for what you've done :) I know you don't know these people, and they don't know you, but hey -- thanks. Thank you so much. Hunter means more to me than anyone will ever know. And Marina and Bailey all mean something to other people as well. 

Hunter's Eating!

I went and saw him yesterday, and he started eating actual food again on Saturday! Yesterday he had three french fries and three pieces of barbeque while I was there. (His mom pulled it off the ribs for him.) 

He also no longer has any tubes sticking in him. He still has the IV NEEDLE in, just in case they have to pump fluid into him, but he's got nothing attached any longer. He's switched to pain pills now, so he no longer has his morphine button. He's also up and walking around some (he's got a fall risk bracelet on), but mostly he stays in bed.

He's also been playing video games again, which is a very good sign. (Although his TV hasn't moved from Cartoon Network in two weeks, and his mom is ready to strangle him.) 

He's smiling, talking a lot, and basically acting a bit like the old Hunter. Nothing quite as crazy, but at least he can follow conversations and understand people and stuff. He's improved a lot from last week, even. It's fantastic.

Maybe he'll even be home by the time I visit him next week :) I'm getting a little tired of driving to UAB every week, but I would do it EVERY DAY if I had to.

***

Marina's been in rehab for about a week now, and she's in a wheelchair. She's also in constant, excruciating pain. One of the rules of rehab is that they have to dial down the pain meds they give you so that you can start therapy without being drugged up. I can only imagine the pain; she was essentially put back together from the waist down. That's going to hurt a lot, probably even WITH pain meds.

Her sisters tried to do her hair the other day, and she couldn't sit up for more than five minutes before she started sobbing and had to go back to lying down. It's just tremendously, tremendously sad. And terrible.

I hope she starts getting better soon.

So I Went to a Bar Today

Technically, I guess it's called "The Tavern on Main" or "The Main Street Tavern." I didn't exactly look at the sign to see what it was called.

I sat a table with friends for about half an hour before this guy in a motorcycle vest (the "Iron Order") with tattoos and a knife on his hip comes over and starts chatting us up, introducing his "newbie friend" to us. He asks our names, and the first thing out of my mouth was, "I'm Melissa."

So my friends followed my example and all gave fake names. I'm not sure if he believed theirs, but he sure as hell believed mine. We all showed him the M on our hands ('cause he was carrying a beer) and said we couldn't drink. So he and his friend shuffled off. (His "friend" showed up later and tried to dance with Erin.)

I hit the dance floor with my friends, and, well, it was just SO AWKWARD. I kinda moved my hips and swayed. One guy did back up to bump butts or something, but it freaked me out a little and I ran away. So he either thinks I'm a lesbian or that I'm waaaay too inexperienced for his tastes. I wish I hadn't done that now, because he WAS kinda cute. Would've been better if he had asked or if I'd known him, though.

The whole thing was awkward. A few people were like having sex on the dance floor, but other people were just dancing and breaking it down and were having fun. The couple-y people made me almost as sick as the smoke.

Eventually, one of my friends got sick from the smoke (we were all feeling sick) and we left. She threw up. I tied her hair back for her. She had to use Erin's rescue inhaler. 

I still feel sick. My room mate said she could smell the smoke on me before I opened the door. So I've rinsed my clothes. I've sprayed Febreze everywhere. It was an experience. One that I WILL NOT repeat for a while x-x

And now I know why Charlie always carried his knife wheneverhe went to the Otter Creek Tavern. You NEED TO.

HUNTERRRRR PART DOS

So today I went and visited my bestest buddy, Hunter!

AND HE WAS SMILING.

I mean, he /did/ smile, when he wasn't being forced to drink this "It'll make your insides glow!" drink.

He was sitting up in his chair when we walked in, and I sat on the edge of his bed while I talked to him. He was drinking this mix of water, crystal light, and gastrografin. The last thing is some kind of chemical that will make his insides glow so they can see the CT scan easier. It apparently tasted absolutely horrendous, because he was having real trouble choking it down. I felt really bad for him. And he had TWO of these styrofoam cups to drink. *shudder*

Anyway, I showed him the video that the children had made. Well, I took it. It's all the children's church kids saying, "We miss you, Hunter! Get well soon!" And then they wave and act cute and stuff. He smiled really big when he saw that :)

Then I showed him all the pictures I've taken this week, and then he took my phone for about ten minutes and looked at his Instagram and his Facebook and stuff. He still doesn't have a phone, because the insurance company wants $200 to replace the phone. (It's a $200 deductible for an $80 phone. He paid $80 for his SIII a few months ago, and now they want $200 to replace what is, on the market, essentially an outdated model. It's insane.) So his parents are trying to figure out what to do.

The nurse came in and changed his Wound-Vac bag. It looked like KoolAid, because it was clear liquid (I'm assuming it was pus) that was tinted red (with his blood). He said it's mega-uncomfortable.

But he had no tubes except his nutrition IV in his arm (no stomach drain, no oxygen tube, no heartbeat monitors!).

The nurses admitted that they sent him home way too early. I mean, if Hunter's parents hadn't brought him back on Monday, he would most likely have been dead by Wednesday or Thursday. The starting infection, the abscess, the blockage... It's extremely lucky that he's still alive. (But I mean, this kid's unkillable. This car crash, his concussion earlier this year [blood errawhere], car crash last year... He's lucky he's never broken a bone!) This time, he's not going home until he can manage ON HIS OWN. That means he can walk, go to the bathroom by himself, and eat by himself. He will fight to stay in longer if that's what it takes, and so will his father. (His father is really scary. I'm scared of him.)

But he really looks so much better:

This is him staring down the second "Cup o' Doom." He finished the first one, stuck the straw in the second one, and glared. It was just so Hunter-y that I couldn't help but smile.

And HUNTER SMILED. HE SMILED A LOT. It was just so perfect :) I'm so very, very happy. He looks so much better than the last time I saw him. (And I now realize that the last time I saw him, he was DYING. His bodily functions were slowly shutting down and infection was spreading through his intestines. And that is really scary to think about.)

He told me that he's finally stopped having nightmares about the crash.

He's going to be so messed up. But the fact that he was smiling today (AND HE DIDN'T WINCE ONCE) means that he must be doing much better.

I've missed him <3

***

Marina's been moved to the rehab center in the hospital, and she posted a picture today from the last day she remembers. She doesn't remember how she got to the hospital, and she's a bit forgetful. But they told her that Jake died, and she got together the pictures. She said "We had a fun night. Rest in peace Jake! We all loved you"