Monthly recap: May

I've seen this done throughout the blogosphere, and thought "why not? It looks like a fun way to tie everything up." Hence, this post.

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Happenings of May:

1. Christian completed driver's ed!

2. May the Fourth be with you.

3. We had the end of speech and debate party thingy. Only Lydia and I got to go though. Lydia is now too old to compete next year (she will be able to judge at tourneys though!), and Mom and Dad thought that even just doing speech would be too much for me to handle next season, so only Christian will be doing it. We had talked about Ava doing speech, but Mom and Dad don't think she's quite ready for it.

4. Civil War came out. (Though I have yet to see it...)

5. Mom and a friend from Maui went to the homeschool book fair in Arlington.

6. We went on a walk down the hill and saw three snakes within ten feet of each other. (*shudder* it's that time of the year again)

7. Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil had me over for the weekend in honor of my birthday later this year. The reason they didn't me closer to my birthday is because, *pause for dramatic effect* WE WILL BE BUSY WITH COLLEGE CLASSES! (Also, we'll be in Maui over my birthday(!) *squeal*, so that would make it rather difficult for the extended family to celebrate it with us. If you remember last year, practically everyone missed it! More on that trip can be found in the September-October archives.)

8. There has been an awakening of chiggers. Poor Gabe and Mia are quite uncomfortable from all the bites they've received.
(For those of you who don't know; chiggers are similar to mosquitoes in the fact that they are small insects who bite humans to receive their food. The welts they leave behind are also similar to those of mosquitoes, but they itch about twice as much. They like to crawl up into your clothes while you are minding your own business outside and they will stay there until said clothes have been washed. In short: they are annoying and I wish Noah had squashed them, along with the mosquitoes, before the flood was over.)

9. Lydia graduated!!! There was a lovely ceremony for her and two other graduating girls at Church. I did miss the very end though, where they move their tassels from one side to the other, because I was getting the punch ready for the guests at the reception afterwards.

Revelations:

1. Methuselah was like a living history book. He lived to be 969 years old! So, say that he lived during the 1100's, he would still be alive today. He would have lived through the middle ages and the renaissance. He would've heard about Columbus discovering the Americas. He would've seen the transition between oil lamps and electricity. He probably would've learned how to drive a car. He would've seen, or at least heard about the black death, the Hundred Years war, both the World wars, the Civil war, the Vietnam war, the Cold war, etc. I mean really, he would have known about so much. He would have so many stories to tell his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- (you get the idea) grandkids.

2. There is no equation or formula that can contain the grace and mercy of God.

3. That one year where all the elections happen and suddenly everyone in the US is a political expert.

4. Hiccups are weird, and I can think of no logical reason as to why they happen.

5. Chai tea, coffee, milk, and lots of sugar taste really good mixed together.

6. You know that "eat a snickers, you're not you when you're hungry" thingy? I just realized that it is referencing the fact that people can get grumpy when their blood sugar is low. A snickers obviously has sugar, and would almost instantly bring your blood sugar back up, thus the grumpy mood would dissipate.

7. There are parts of my life that I don't even remember. I'm not talking about what I had for breakfast this morning, or what shirt I wore last Friday. I mean like; I have no idea what it was like to be three. I only have a few memories from when I was four or five, six was practically a blur, and the only things I remember about years seven and eight were moving houses once and going to the build site for the house we live in now, among a few other things. Pretty much the only thing I remember about being nine was going to a week-long missions camp type-thingy. Freaky, am I right? It's not that I can't think of things I've done, it's that I don't remember when they happened. I know that we went skiing over Christmas once, but if Mom hadn't made a photo album with the dates in it, I couldn't tell you when. Call me loopy if you want, but I even have trouble remembering Mom's, Dad's, and Gabe's birthdays. I know which months they are in, but ask me the day and I'll only be able to give you a range.

 Awkward:

1. Making cookies for your driving instructors (now Christian's) from driver's ed 2014.

2. Going to an ultimate frisbee game with your sister where you only know one person playing.

3. Spilling coffee on the coffee table, and only just missing the origami creations your little sister had been working on (you did hit a couple of crumpled up papers though).

4. Hitting snooze once, then never hearing it go off like it's supposed to, so you accidentally sleep until 9, and you were supposed to be downstairs by 8.

5. Dreaming a very stressful dream about public school.

6. Accidentally leaving your window open while it's raining.

7. Dashing up the stairs while guests are over to shut said window before your bed gets soaked.

8. Missing both lunch and dinner in the same day. Also, missing every dinner Monday through Friday. (I'm the one driving Christian to driver's ed. It goes from 6-8pm, and we normally leave the house at about 5:20 and don't get back until closer to 8:30. I don't like eating out by myself, and I'm pretty sure libraries don't normally allow food near the books.)

9. Working out a barter system with your parents so you don't have to pay your phone and car insurance for the month.

Awesome:

1. Coming home from a long day of busy-ness, being prepared to sleep on a sheet-less bed (because today was your day to do your laundry, and you've already taken everything down to the laundry room, but then life happened and you don't even get it started), then walking into your room to see that your mom has thoughtfully washed your sheets and remade your bed.

2. When the driving instructors declare your cookies to be amazing!

3. Eating watermelon and muffins at 9 at night. Alone. In the dark.

4. A friend from Maui came and stayed with us for a couple of days.

5. Watching Moms' Night Out.

6. Lightning storms.

7. Watching all seven Star Wars episodes over the weekend with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil!

8. Listening to this song and mouthing the words with different expressions for each character. In the kitchen.

9. The Beauty and the Beast trailer came out, and I can already tell that the soundtrack is going to be AMAZING, my eyes were watering.

Weird:

1. I still have  a souvenir from the sea urchin in my knee. Sometimes it hurts when there's going to be a big change in the weather.

2. One of the roosters spurred my leg. I was wearing rubber boots that came almost up to my knees. He managed to break the skin a couple inches above my ankle, but he didn't puncture the rubber boot.

3. My phone screen went completely black. I tried holding down the power button like 50 times, but it wouldn't do anything. Siri was still working though. I didn't think the battery could have died so fast, especially since it was at 69% two seconds before, but I plugged it in for the night anyways. I tried to turn it on in the morning, but the only thing that came on was Siri again. Long story short; I asked Lydia what to do, Christian overheard and suggested holding down the home and power buttons down at the same time. It worked, and I still have no idea what caused the whole ordeal in the first place.


Musical finds:

1. Flight of the Silverbird, Two Steps from Hell (can't say I like their name, but the music is nice)

2. Front Street, Brooks Maguire (we've actually met him. He plays in restaurants in Maui. He just came out with this song, and I'm cracking up because I've seen everything he's talking about ["take a picture with a parrot on your head," I know exactly where that is!])

3. Barbarian Horde from Gladiator (I haven't seen it, but the soundtrack is amazing, and this song is perfect for writing)

Blast from the past:

Last May...

I did a couple tags here and here

I got a lawnmower stuck in a tree here

The back of our property flooded so we went down to take pictures here

We took a family road trip here, I'll only post the first day, the rest are in the archives

Snippets of story:

(From a story yet to be written, but in the plotting stages)

~

“And what do you think you’re doing, maethor, stealing apples?” Mysna scowled, trying to keep her voice deep.

“As we have travelled together over the months, have you not noticed that when I am hungry, I am, in fact, a grouch? The reason I get grouchy when I am hungry, is because the sugar content in my blood has the ability to drop rapidly for no reason. When it drops, my good mood goes with it.”

“But breakfast was twenty minutes ago, you couldn’t possibly be hungry already.”

“Ah, but here’s the beauty of it all, if the meal I have eaten recently does not have the required amount of foods translatable to sugar, the content will drop. Breakfast was filling, but it did not have the required sugar. Apples, on the other hand, have the right amount of sugar, and do not fill one’s belly to the point of fullness. Hence, the apple you see in my hand.” Jax ended with a flourish.

(Yes, I wrote that whilst eating an apple. Yes, my blood sugar does randomly drop sometimes.)

~

“Brec! What are you doing here?”

“Ok, first of all, that’s not my real name. Where I come from, they call me Jax. I am not your twin brother, you never had a twin, and-“

“If you’re not my brother, then who are you, and where did you come from?”

“I told you, my name is Jax. I’m a faerie. And before you ask, no I do not have wings under this cloak. I was sent to protect your family, you specifically, because Elohim knew what was going to happen. Any questions?”

“If you are a faerie, but you do not have wings, then what gift do you possess?”

“Other than my insanely good looks, and witty charm, along with the whole ‘immortality deal,’ I can shapeshift, hence the reason I always won when we played hide and search.”

“Why are you talking differently than me? What does ‘insanely’ even mean?”

“Ok, you’re not my first assignment, if you will. I’ve protected dozens of people before you were even born. Part of the job description is learning how to talk like the people you protect; however, I am still relatively new to keeping an eye on people with similar speech patterns to your kind, so if you don’t mind, I’ll stick with the pattern I know best. You cool with that?”

“Which is…?”

“This one, pay attention! Perhaps some of it will rub off onto you. ‘Insanely’ is sort of like your word ‘crazy.’”

“We do not know the usage of this ‘crazy,’ perhaps there is a different word? Also, I'm not familiar with the phrase you used; 'you cool with that?'”

“Eh… Just forget I even said those.”

~

(from my camp NaNo project)

~

“No. Not now. You’ve ruined my plans, so now I’ll go home and deny the world. Either that, or go get ice cream and commit a heinous crime. I’ll decide in the transport.” Gavin spun on his heel and stomped out the door, quite obviously in a bad mood.

~

“There are more portals?”

“Yes. Each realm is secured to each other in a web of portals. While each realm depends on its own resources to provide for its inhabitants, the realms all rely on the portals to provide for themselves. While each realm is secured to many others, it thrives, but once the portals become dead, the realm cannot continue to survive. The sky darkens, the warmth leaves, and everything that grows withers. If all the portals die, the realm is taken by the Creator to the Never-ending realm; there, it will live forevermore. I lived in a dying world once. It was where I stayed when-” A faraway look crossed her face. “Ah, but that is a story for another time, it is best we do not dwell on it now.” She smiled warmly. “Come; let us go to the midday meal.”
~

“I don’t even eat meat!” The beast called to her.

“As if anybody’d believe that!” Reiyna threw down, gripping her branch tighter.

“I saved your life; the least you can do is come down and thank me properly.”

“I had it sorted.” Reiyna grumbled.

“Should’ve said that to the Tkae, I have no doubt she would have listened to you.” The sarcasm in his voice was evident. “Are you going to come down, or shall I come up and fetch you? It won’t do you any good to stay in those wet clothes much longer, and the night winds are already upon us. It is not safe to be out and about alone.”

~

How was your month?