Lawn Chairs

   I generally enjoy summer. The warmer weather, the rainstorms, the swimming. But there is one thing I hate about summer. Something that has plagued me since my youth. Something that has physically scarred me for life. In fact, you probably own several of these awful things yourself. What is this monster, you may ask? I'll tell you. A seemingly innocent lawn chair.
   What's so bad about a lawn chair? Everything. From the weird, scratchy material they're made from, to the poorly made metal frame that barely and rarely stays together. I have a solid distrust of lawn chairs, starting from when I was about 7 or 8.
   It was during the summer sometime, and a rainstorm was coming in with high wind advisories. We all hurried outside to clean up the yard so our things wouldn't blow away. I was to fold up the lawn chairs and put them on the back porch. No problem, I had this.
   These were large, cumbersome, chairs that I had difficulty folding by myself. I was determined to do it, though, so I started on the first one. It wasn't so bad and I hauled it to the porch. I went to get the second one, but it was apparently stuck and wouldn't fold shut. I tried again and with a lot of effort, I finally shut it. Shut it right on my pinky finger, that is. I jerked it free, my eyes filling with tears. I couldn't bring myself to look at it, so I just tried to calm myself down.
   After a moment of trying not to cry, I brought my finger up to where I could see it. Immediately, I realized I didn't need to try and tough this out, for I was actually hurt. My left pinky nail was broken right in half, and shattered around it. It tore the skin at the bottom of my nail almost a half an inch down. I still have the scar from it.
   To be frank, I don't really remember what happened after that. What happened to the lawn chair, or what even happened to me. Mom fixed me up and I survived. The scar on my pinky isn't the only scar I have from a lawn chair incident.
   We were at a neighborhood picnic, and it was late. The campfire, which was previously surrounded by a ton of people, was now only occupied by a few people, most of which I knew. I sat down in a random lawn chair, tired from the long day. I sat and relaxed for about five minutes until I went to adjust myself in the chair. I have no idea how the chair broke, but somehow it managed to give up on me in the most inconvenient fashion.
   As my butt departed from the seat, I managed to do a barrel roll across the grass, narrowly missing the fire. The frame managed to scrap across the side of my rib cage and that's how I received my scar. Plus, it was rather embarrassing, you could say. Considering I'm about as graceful as a fawn in heels, it was probably quite the sight to see.
   While I have plenty of other awful stories I could tell you about my pitiful lawn chair experiences, I leave you with these. This is a warning to you, in a way. Watch out for the hidden evils of the world.  Sure, Obamacare is devastating, but the little things, like lawn chairs and Styrofoam plates, is going to be what takes us out.

Some Thoughts

• In a couple minutes we are leaving to go down to the church to prep some supplies and set up for our show on Friday. We're painting, finishing some signs and other stuff that needs done for our  black light puppetry team.
• Earlier today, we did some food prep for my birthday party this weekend. We are having a taco bar, chips and some fruit, along with cake.
• I hate the Kentucky Derby. Stupid, I know, but it always falls on the weekend of my birthday party. It's a stupid horse race with women in ridiculous hats. So every year, we have to watch it. Utterly tragic. :)
• I posted my Wednesday Hodgepodge today, but when I went to Joyce's blog, I didn't see the link-up thing. I posted it anyway. Read it here, if your interested.
• I love playing cards. I have somewhere around twelve decks of interesting cards. For my birthday, my parents are getting me a pack of shark playing cards for my collection. I'm excited to get them.
• My brother spent a considerable amount of time today jumping his bike from our ramp onto our driveway. Last I heard, he cleared 6 feet, 2 inches. Not bad, considering his other biking endeavors.
• I'm currently reading Hollow City, the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (how cool of a name is Ransom?). I loved the first book, and I was excited to hear that the book is getting it's own movie! It comes out September 30th, I think. Yay!

17 Random Things About Myself

1: Autumn is my favorite season. I love the cooler temperatures and the changing leaves. My least favorite season is spring because of all the mud, tornadoes, and sickness.

2: I really love to paint, even though I suck at it. Thank God that abstract is really an art form.

3: I have sensitive teeth, mostly sensitive to sweetness and pressure.

4: I wear glasses, a pair with thin brown rims. I can see without them, just not very well.

5: My favorite color is orange. Not an obnoxious orange, but a vibrant, warm orange.

6: I love rainy days. While most people find them depressing, I adore them.

7: I have a favorite number. That number is 7. It's always been my favorite number and always will be. My second favorite number is either 3 or 17, hence the 17 Random Things. I prefer odd numbers to even numbers. Yes, I know how weird that sounds, but I guess I'm just that weird.

8: I'm homeschooled. I've mentioned it before, and I'm proud. Most of my friends are homeschooled, but I do have some public schooled friends. I am socialized.

9: I love Reader's Digest magazine. I don't have a subscription to it, but my uncle does and he brings me down the ones he gets.

10: I'm quite the night owl. I love the night and evening, and I'm not a fan of the morning. 

11: My favorite color to wear is black. I'm not Goth, or unchangeably evil, I just like the color. It works well with my skin tone, it matches everything (except brown), it's supposedly slimming, it's a very common color, and when done right, you can look like a ninja. Also, all my shoes are black or can be worn with black, except for a pair of brown heels I got at a yard sale.

12: I'm a procrastinator. I've been writing this post since mid-September and I finally came up with enough things to finish this.

13: My favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is Donatello. I love them all, don't get me wrong, I just slightly prefer Donatello over the others. It's funny, because Donatello is the only turtle my brother and I agree on favoring. Actually, it's one of the few things we agree on. I also favor Raphael, along with Donatello.

14: I love to paint nails, though I don't paint mine. I don't keep my nails long either. I play a variety of instruments so having long nails doesn't help me. Even if I'm not playing, I still don't like to have my nails at any extensive length. But I do enjoy giving my mom manicures and pedicures. Nail art can be fun to do.

15: Orange soda is my favorite soda, though water is my favorite drink. My least favorite soda is grape (that stuff is nasty) and my least favorite drink in entirety is Cran-Raspberry juice. I don't like cranberry juice, and I don't like raspberries.

16: I love lip balm and lip sticks. I have a small drawer filled with a variety of organic and natural lip balms. I'm also big on weird lip stick colors. I just recently added a bright orange and a purple/fuchsia to my collection.  

17: I'm a coffee person. I abhor tea, which is a genetic abnormality in my family. Everybody loves tea but me. Coffee on the other hand, is a great thing. I love coffee.

Smorz Are Back!!!

   Today, mom and I went shopping and the best thing happened. My favorite cereal, which had been discontinued, is back. Smorz are back! I am so ecstatic. I just finished a bowl. All-and-all, this is the best news I've had in a while to share. Have a great week!

I'm Thankful For...

• ...every horrible musician that ever lived. Don't get me wrong, I love the great ones too, but this is thankfulness for anyone whoever had the guts to try, even if they failed.
• ...my brother. Even though he's a pain in the butt most of the time, I still love him and I'm glad he's around.
• ...ice water. I drink several glasses of it a day. I don't know where I'd be without ice water. My dad grew up on soda. They never drank water. I don't think I could survive on just soda. I need my water.
• ...my mother. She's a fantastic lady and a wonderful mother. I'm glad to have her.
• ...the basic necessities of life that I take for granted. I don't really understand what it's like to go without food or water. I'm blessed to have all those things.
• ...my father. Dad is an amazing guy, who I inherent most of my traits from. He's funny and kind and I'm lucky to have such an amazing guy for a dad.
• ...Readers Digest magazine. I love Reader's Digest. I have a stack of them that reaches from the floor to my knee. Those are some awesome magazines.
• ...all my extended family. Even though they all aren't the best people, they're still my family and I'm thankful that (even though I dread going to some of them) they try to organize family dinners and such.
• ...being homeschooled. I love being homeschooled. Yes, I have friends. Yes, I'm educated, I just do it at my own pace, in my own home. I have a flexible schedule, and I don't have to wake up early. It's a win-win.
• ...my homeschool group. They are a group of fantastic (and some not-so-fantastic) people that enrich my life. I'm so thankful to be able to attend.
• ...all my readers, commenters and followers. You guys make blogging worth it! I love and appreciate every comment I receive. Thank you so much for what you've contributed to my blog.

Bits and Pieces

   I've never liked to cook or bake, but last weekend I was watching Food Network. I marveled at how wonderful the food looked and how simple the recipes were. I was inspired to cook, so I grabbed a favorite recipe book and started flipping through the pages. I decided on Chicken Tetrazzini.
   I started making it, and only then, did I remember, how much I disliked cooking. I continued with the recipe and threw it in the oven. I cleaned up the kitchen and set the table. Fortunately, it turned out okay. Though now, I've decided that Food Network isn't the channel for me.

 

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   The weather is beautiful today. It's so lovely and enjoyable. We have the windows and doors open, letting the fresh air in. It's also inspired a small cleaning spree that's freshened up the indoors, too. Everything's cleaned up and fresh. It truly is a wonderful day.

 



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   Yesterday, I had a hair appointment. It was a rather late birthday gift that we never got around to doing. My appointment was at twelve and we didn't leave until 4:30. My reddish-brown hair is now a very dark brown with blue and orange streaks.

   I love it, but I must say, it doesn't feel like my hair anymore. The shampoo from the salon made my hair crazy soft, and it still smells vividly of flowers. It's also several inches shorter, which makes it all the more different. It feels weird to see a lock of hair hanging beside my face appear orange or blue, but I truly do like it.

 

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   I've been enjoying the leftover Halloween candy that we didn't give out to the trick-or-treaters. We have a few that come around our area and we always buy candy in excess. We don't celebrate Halloween, but we did go trick-or-treating for a few years when I was younger.

   Mom hated doing it, so she made a deal with us: we don't go trick-or-treating and she would buy us a bag of candy. That's been the tradition ever since, and I have to say, I'm too old to go trick-or-treating, but she still buys us a bag of candy regardless.