A Miracle... Or Maybe Not

I have had my own personal Christmas miracle. OK, not JUST for me, but for my family, which is close enough, right? Anyway, my family's money's been not-so-good, and we thought we'd have a small quiet, simple Christmas as we were told to expect. (I mean, with the horrid economy, who's money isn't a bit thin-spread, you know?) And we woke up Christmas morning, lined up to go downstairs, and all of a sudden we see this GIANT BOX, and we had no clue what was inside. So we move it (The bottom was cut off so it could be lifted directly off the gift and all of a sudden we figure out-- OH MY GOSH WE HAVE A Wii!!!!!!!!!!!! Truly a surprise. We even got Guitar Hero 3, Wii Sports, and Dance Dance Revolution. (Maybe that last one was kind of not our type of thing, but it's the thought that counts, and it really was a miracle.)

I love Christmas. I love all holidays. : )

And, because I have absolute faith that you all had one, what was your Christmas miracle? I know I'm not the ONLY lucky one!

Oh, wait the "Or not" part of my miracle. My i-pod is so freaking messed up, and it can't be fixed! What the heck am I supposed to do??? I don't have any money to buy a new one!! (Don't even dare suggest I sell the miracle Wii either.) If there's someone out there who is a genius with technology, I will mail you my ipod so you can fix it and give you my $15 i-Tunes gift card too!!! But that may be one miracle too many to wish for, so I guess not. I'll just save up for a new one or something. Unless someone can tell me how to fix it....

But I'd much rather know about what exactly happened to anyone else, because the solitude of my house right now is driving me up the wall. If anyone's out there at all, say SOMETHING, please!!!!!

A List!!! YAY!!!!!

Alright, I have just come up with a brilliant idea for a post. Everyone thinks I am all hippie-like all the time, and I love everything, and most the time I do. But you know what, I don't love EVERYTHING, but I don't hate anything. I just have a list of extreme dislikes. Which I shall now list for you in the order that I like them least. (The first is very un-like-able, the last is almost half-tolerable.) I warn you now: I do not know how long this list shall be, as I have never fully written out a list of my extreme dislikes. SO if it looks unbearably long, I am not going to say you have to read it. (I'm just saying I'd appreciate it is all.... And comment! Hinthinthint!!! Comments make wonderful Christmas/other various holiday gifts!!! Hinthint!!)

OK, here it goes.

1) When people are wrong and don't admit it, or when they lie to cover up their mistakes. (Cheating and lying fall into this category as well!)

2) Cockroaches. Yuck! They hiss and jump and make weird sounds and make my skin crawl! Not to mention they will survive WWIII (which will certainly be a nuclear war, and they can live through nuclear bombings) and I won't! They've been around since before the dinosaurs, yet they've never had to evolve in the slightest since they perfected their beings! Plua they give me the creeps. Really, they're so GROSS!!!!!

3) Getting no catalogues from any companies you've bought products from all year, so you can't buy birthday gifts or anything, then you get nine in a week from the same people in December around the holidays, after you've already bought other gifts but you feel like you should order SOMETHING out of their many insane, efficacious (useless), over-priced products because they went through the trouble of keeping you on their mailing list and sending you all those order forms, but you really don't WANT anything from them, and neither does anyone you know!!! Gr, they are FRUSTRATING!

4) Irony. Irony SUCKS, and it totally ruins everything. Irony is the bane of the existence of EVERYTHING. It needs to go away and never come back.

5) Black licorice jelly beans. However much I hate them though, I will never wish them away, because I have a great-great aunt three times removed or something who just LOVES them. So perhaps one day she will come home to find I have mailed her an entire truckload of black licorice jelly beans--saved from all the ones I have never eaten. I shall express ship them to her, then order that they ALL be stuffed in her mailbox. (I wonder where she lives... hmm, issue with my plan there!)

6) Wars, and people who are obsessed with war. And those people (in both movies, TV shows, and real life, who circle around arguments chanting"Fight, fight, fight...!" Sick freaks.

7) Vacuum cleaners. They are loud, and I also dislike loud noises, but not quite enough to be worthy of this list. Also, if you have long hair (as I once did... *nostalgic*sigh*) your hair is probably all over the floor in your room. Vacuum cleaners don't pick up long hairs off the floor, they just kind of let them sit underneath until they decide to quit running, in which case you look under to find out what's stuck in your Hoover or Roomba (notice the double vowels? Is that on purpose???) or whatever and you find out you have to pick all the disgusting hairs out by hand. Ick.

8)How there's a billion names for the same phobias. Seriously, look some up. Crazy.

Alright, enough of that! I'm done now, because all my other dislikes typically fall into one of those categories, or one close enough to it. Do YOU have any more extreme dislikes you feel are worthy of my list? If you tell me, I will possibly decide that I should rearrange my list to accommodate your addition. (There with the double vowels again! I swear, it's all coincidence!!!)

Merry Christmas/Joyeux Noel/Feliz Navidad/Frohe Weihnachten/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Kwanza!!!

I don't care what holiday you celebrate, or if you just don't celebrate one, I love holidays, so have a nice whatever-day/time-period you celebrate (or don't celebrate) in!!! I love and celebrate Christmas, so Merry Christmas! You know, it's always been my ultimate dream to be one of those elves who talk to kids in line for Santa, then pass out candy canes and stuff. Everyone says "Oh, I could so see you doing that!" And I'm glad, because I'd like to be associated with the joy those elves always gave me. Especially if they were nice an didn't be all grouchy when I asked what they wanted for Christmas.

You know, I have heard many many stories of my early days, and i must conclude that I was always very odd. At Halloween, after whoever gave me candy was waving good-bye, I'd say "Thank you, Happy Halloween, I love you!" And they'd smile and say "Awww, I love you too!" Total strangers. They were so nice!!! : )

Another story (this one I actually remeber on my own): My family used to live in a little one story house, and there were my/my sister's shared bedroom on one little side, my brother's at the end of the tiny hallway, a bathroom in between. The living/dining rooms were right outside the small enclosed hallway, then there was a kitchen with a tinier hallway leading to a tiier bathroom and my parents' large bedroom. The den was on the opposite side and around a small corner of the kitchen from the dining room entrance. So my brother and I were always up first and we'd go sneak a look at what Santa left us before we went to watch TV or wake up our parents. (My younger sister always slept later--she was too young to participate quietly). One year my brother and I woke up to find NO presents in the dining room for us, only my PARENTS had gotten Santa's gifts!!! Any normal child would likely be upset at this, especially at the ages of 5 and 7 or 6 and 8, whichever we were at the time. Yet I was merely annoyed I got up for nothing. So my brother and I decided (in a very happy way, not disappointed at all!) that we could go watch TV anyway, because apparently Santa wasn't coming back. We got into the den, ang there, under the 4.5 foot tall Kid's Tree my parents had us decorate, were all our gifts. What did we do? We sat down and tried to find a cartoon instead of all the Christmas music that was going on the TV! Tell me your most amusing holiday/non-holiday related story! Because comments on my blog are the best gift of all!!! : )

MY HAIR IS SO SHORT!!!

I didn't cry when they cut my hair. The lady was very nice, and she put my hair into ponytails, (my hair is thick enough that I could give two ponytails of hair to Locks of Love. I could have done four if I wanted--twenty inches from each side of my head, but I wanted some length left.) and she was very quick. I closed my eyes and snip-snip-snip. All done. Then came the straightening followed by styling. She did a few tiny feathery layers at the very ends of my hair to give it "movement". Then she parted it on one side, and voila. I was done.

I have decided not to include any pictures. They would have gone here if I had felt that any of them were worth putting up, but no picture could tell you what changed me yesterday. Nothing, no words can explain, or attempt to explain, what I feel right now.I'm not even sure how I feel myself exactly. Conflicted, maybe. In turmoil, if that phrase can be applied. Confused; that is a word which will almost always sum up any of my emotions. However, it cannot show the quintessence of this situation. {Yes, I DID just use one of Mr. S.'s favorite words, then his absolute least favorite word in that sentence--whoops, did it again! :) }

It feels so weird. I can't even tell you. At first I was confused, because I thought losing four pounds (yes, FOUR POUNDS) of hair off my head would make me light-headed. Then I found out that it was my whole body that felt light, like I'm not tethered to this Earth anymore. I can't get over it, because I feel like I lost part of me or something. Pathetic right? Hair is dead anyway, so why does it feel like I've lost my breathing soul?

AAAAAAGGGG!!!

I'm getting a haircut in less than an hour. All I can keep thinking is stuff like this:

-I'll never wash my long hair again!!!

-I'll never brush my long hair again!!!

-I'll never fiddle with my long hair during a boring lecture again!!!

-I'l never curl or braid or color-streak my long hair again!!!

-Other people will never touch or complement or mess with my long hair again!!!

I might cry. I'm going to post pictures of the entire traumatic experience. Though who knows--it may be joyful. I'll also post how many pounds of weight I lost by getting my hair cut. Bet it's at least three pounds!!! I just can't imagine.... 15 inches of my hair. GONE *shudder*

Slightly Offensive or Not?

Okay, I don't know how many people out there have an AIM account, but if you do, have you ever noticed that when you click it open, your status will say "Available" right away? I just have to make my own custom status message, because that one is kind of implying something that is none of y'all's business. (No, I don't really say "y'all", that's just something I wanted to say right now.) And what it implies is that I am SINGLE. And maybe I am, maybe not, but the AOL people have NO RIGHT to assume I am and broadcast it to anyone happening to have my AIM name! Even if they are my friends, I really have no wish to proclaim my relationship status, existent or NOT! Maybe I'm over reacting. Yes, yes I most likely am. Too late!

Also, one thing about AOL. They used to send me all these email updates about most searched items of the day and all that. Actually, they only ever sent me one. About the top-searched DIET of the day. So (because I just hate spam, people who send spam and chain letters: you all just suck, okay? I mean if you start them. If you're just a superstitious forwarder, then it's all cool. I forgive you.) I decided to write back. I told them off pretty well, too! I gave them lectures on anorexia, and how could they support it? do they realize that a "diet" is just another step down the road of an eating disorder? are they PROUD of making girls feel so inferior that they construe their thoughts only to losing another pound, another ounce, another piece of the beautiful person they once were? Then, just in case THAT wouldn't convince them to stop bugging me, I asked if they thought I was fat, and how would they know, are they stalkers? do they automatically ASSUME all girls want to lose weight? are they ENCOURAGING me to go look up dangerous diets where I will learn to develop an eating disorder? Is that their GOAL? They never emailed me again. Good riddance!

I'll have to find that email and post it for you all. It was quite amusing. :) Oh, shoot. I just checked, and I must have deleted it or something, 'cuz it's gone. Oh well. You got the gist of most of it.

A Burning Bush...er, "Buche" (de Noel!)

For all you non-frenchies out there, a "buche de noel" is litterally a Yule Log. It's this SUPER yummerific (totally copyrighted that word right now) French pastry cake thing that is absolutely AMAZING!!! It's supposed to be a big fluffy sheet cake filled with icing and rolled into a log shape, covered in icing, and decorated in a Christmas-y/log-looking way, but I make mine a little differently. I use sugar cookies and whipped cream. And you let it sit (in a fridge, DUH!) for a few days until the cookies get all soft and then you add another layer of whipped cream and put cinnamon and nutmeg on the top of it, maybe with Christmas themed sprinkles or red and green colored sugar if you want something more festive. It's so delicious, and mine's soaking up whipped cream right now!!! Oh, and it CAN be made with chocolate, but unfortunately I have a friend who's allergic to chocolate, so mine is always non-chocolate. But you could substitute sugar cookies for chocolate with chocolate chip cookies, or fudge frosting instead of whipped cream, or even just sprinkle cocoa powder mixed with sugar (actually, hot chocolate mix works best--hold the marshmallows!) on top in place of cinnamon and/or nutmeg. If you like that much chocolate anyway.

But, not meaning to seem like I'm bragging (but that's what this is... dang it, I'm so freaking selfish!) I have tested that the non-chocolate version is best. In a way that was quite curious to me. You see, in 7th Grade French class, we had a few volunteers make Buche de Noels so we could experience them on our own. I was one of them. My friend who was allergic to chocolate was in that class, so I was the only person willing to make a non-chocolate Buche. Anyway, long story short is that when all was said and done, people told me mine was best. I didn't believe them, but there you go. My offering that a non-traditional version of food can be okay too! After all, where would we be if no one had made waffles, or orange-cranberry muffins, or pineapple salsa? Nowhere, my friends. Nowhere.