HEY! your ignorance is showing!

I have three posts in mind, and I've been writing and re-writing them in my head. Each time I do, they take a different turn, and they have sort of become these monstrous blog posts that are not worthy of being anywhere but in my head. They have been way too overworked. Someday I will pull them out, but for now, they'll stay locked away until they become the clever, well-written, witty posts I want them to be.

In the mean time, I am writing a post that really has no substance and three times now I have re-written this particular sentence. My goal this year includes not using this blog as simply a place for whining, as it has been in the past. I am certain that everyone has their own problems and no one wants to hear my ramblings on about how much I think I am going to hate this semester. (By the way, my schedule sucks this semester.)

So right now, I am sitting in the library, listening to the GrammarGirl podcast on connecting with your blog readers (it just seemed appropriate.) and writing this blog, which I fear has turned into another uninteresting rambling.

If I were really clever this is where I would insert a witty or cute little picture of me destroying my blog by whining too much. Or a picture of me rambling and someone staring into a computer pulling their hair out. And while I won't say I am not clever, I just don't have any drawings to introduce. My medium is words. Words. Okay, I'm going to break my earlier rule of not using the three posts I have been thinking long and hard about. I have a story to tell...

Let me start by saying that there are certain phrases, and uses of words that really bother me. I am fairly strict about using words properly, and am always correcting people. I suppose it can be considered annoying. So if you really do not want me to nag at you about your speech, you should probably fix it before you speak. It'll save us both a headache. And perhaps an argument.

Okay enough preamble. Recently I have become extremely sensitive to the word "SEEN." I hear it used inappropriately all the time, and it drives me crazy! I hear people say, I seen that new movie the other day. or Hey! did you seen that? My sister is famous for this, although in her case, I know she does it just to bug me because when I correct her, she begins using incorrect language en masse.

You did not seen that movie, in this case you saw a new movie.  And no I did not seen that, but I saw it, and in your question the proper use is, Hey! did you see that.

The other day, I overheard three random conversations using seen improperly. It's like when the teacher (accidentally) scrapes her fingernails on the chalkboard. I'll be the first to admit that I am not always correct all the time, nor do I have perfect speech and diction. There are certain uses of words however that in my opinion are wholly wrong. Seen makes the list, it might even be number one on the list.

I used to think it was a certain class of people that used seen improperly. Recently however I have heard it many times on campus, and by people I would think do not fall into that class of people. So please at least try to use your english correctly. Please try to think about what you are saying and if you are using the proper version or tense of a word.

Awesome Online finds.

I used to surf the web all the time, and find awesome little things that I either knew I would want, or things that I thought were amazingly awesome. Lately not so much. I enjoy internet surfing maybe too much. There is so much available at your fingertips, I could easily spend hours just surfing away, finding new and interesting things. Sometimes though, I limit myself, I turn off the computer and just go outside. (It's really for my own sanity)

Recently my internet has been working much better than it ever has before (or at least since I moved into a perpetual dead zone. Seriously, nothing works right here.) Call it an act of god, call it fate, call it a miracle, but I have had better internet and more connectibility lately. Which is awesome since school has been out and really, how many times can you clean your house? So rather than scrub the shower for the bajillionth time this break, or clean the kitchen floor, or unload the dishwasher (they will all be there when I get to them. Chores aren't going anywhere.) I have been perusing the internet and doing other things on the computer that I previously have not been able to.

In the spirit of taking advantage of this newly found fast(er) internet, I created a new blog (this is especially funny since I don't actually have any readers on this one, it makes no sense to have a new one, (I know Patty, read other people's blogs if I want readers...)) about fashion, and how there are so many TERRIBLE fashion trends, It really is astounding some of the things people think look good. I have been more faithfully writing here. I have also rediscovered the addictive qualities of Facebook games (Really they are ridiculous, but so very addictive.) I have also been doing quite a bit of shopping around on the internet. I have not actually been buying things, but have been stocking my amazon wish list, and looking at other things I would like to have.

For instance, I found a book of shakespearean insults that I may be buying along with my textbooks. I found some awesome games, and some really neat things to put in my house (Etsy is awesome). I could make my house extremely well organized and full of pretty things if only I could afford to buy them. Long story short, I have been re-learning just how useful the internet can be. I am really enjoying having this ability. Hopefully it will stay this way for a good long time. I am loving the internet again.

Also in the spirit of long story short, I have only one word for you, YOUTUBE.

Try this one if you get a chance it is terribly funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Axzxe1a78E

Goodbye Toby!

Toby went home today, to a little girl who missed him.

The things he brought home with him went directly into the garage. He went right on the leash. It took all of five seconds for him to be home and back to the routine he had grown out of during his brief stay at our house.

I don't regret sending him home. I will not have to clean up dog poop. I will not have to wake up and step in it. I will not have to scrub the spots of dog pee out of the carpet and I can finally make my house smell like a house again, and not just reek of dog pee. (I have nearly bankrupted myself on air-fresheners and carpet cleaners in the brief time Toby was visiting.) I look forward to scrubbing the carpet one final time, and having it stay that way longer than an hour (at least until I feel like scrubbing it again.)

I really feel sorry for Toby. His owner seemed happy to see him, but less than enthusiastic to actually have him home. I think she liked the idea of having a dog and is not old enough or mature enough for the actual responsibility of a dog. As the day wears off, and the evening grows colder, I worry for Toby who is now sleeping on his own in his big-dog igloo in the garage.

So as I prepare for bed (finally I won't have to worry about squishing the little dog sleeping behind me), I feel a slight pang for Toby who is most likely spending the night in the cold garage.

But I really am excited to not have to clean up dog mess. And I am really excited for the quiet. So, Goodnight Toby. Sleep Well.

Meet Toby.

This is Toby. Toby belongs to a friend of my sister. Toby came to stay for winter break and has not yet gone home. It's been a month.

We were a last minute decision. We got Toby the night before the family left, in december. If we had not agreed to take the dog, Toby would have spent this month alone in the garage, being checked on every few days by a family friend. I’m not trying to make them sound like bad people, but I feel very bad that had I said no to toby he would be alone in a garage. He is a sweet little dog. The key word here is little. Toby would have froze if he had been left in the garage in the winter (I have no proof, but I think this has been the coldest winter we’ve had in a while.) When toby came, he brought two leashes and a bag of dog food which he would not eat. (we suspect he is fed table scraps. he won't touch dog food.)

I would like to say here, that normally I am not a small dog person. Toby however has grown on me. Little dogs in general annoy me, they have obnoxious barks, they always want to be on your lap. Other chihuahuas I have met shake all the time, they are mean little dogs, and I have never been a fan of small dogs, give me a big dog any day.

Toby however is a cool little chihuahua. This could be due to the fact that his owners treat him like a big dog, he lives in the garage on a leash when he is home. He has a very amiable disposition. He does not shake for any reason and he genuinely likes people. He gets so very excited when we come home, and especially likes when we bring new people home to meet him.

Toby has grown especially fond of our little black kitten who we have affectionately and very originally named Little Black. (This is because my sisters and I debated back and forth over her name, she has had quite a few and we called her Little Black in the mean time and it just stuck. I am still trying to find a name that fits but I fear that she will forever be Little Black.)

Toby and Little Black play for most of the day and usually end up falling asleep near each other. In this photo, Toby and Little Black Kitten have fallen asleep in front of the heater. I fear that both will feel a void when Toby's family finally does come to take him home, If they ever do.

When I agreed to take the dog, I heard that it would be Winter break and the week before. Three weeks. That seemed a long time, but okay. Later I heard the week after the New Year. The family vacation kept getting extended. It is now the 12th of January (Toby has officially been with us one month and two days) and my sisters Friend (the dogs owner) is finally back at school. When my sister asked her when she would be picking up her dog, the girl, A replied, "WHY?" later in the day, A said that she first wanted to get unpacked and settled at home before the dog came home.

If I had been gone for a month, seeing my dog would have been a priority. I would have been dying to see him. This is apparently not the case for Toby's family. I really feel apprehension in sending  him home. Not only because we have grown an attachment to him, but because he has to go home to a cold garage, and he has to go home to a family that is obviously less than enthusiastic about his coming home.

I want to be clear, it is not for my benefit that I am nervous about his return home, I don't need another dog, another responsibility. I really feel sorry for this dog. I can of course not control how his family treats him, but I feel like I am doing him a disservice by sending him home. I will have to come to terms with it.

In the mean time, my sister is mentioning to A that if she doesn't really want the dog back, which is how her blasé attitude makes it seem, we would be more than happy to keep him. I will keep you posted on Toby. Last year we lost three dogs, this year we may start out by getting a new one.

Hello Again, And A Poem For You.

I have begun this post now four times. I just keep Backspacing and deleting the written text. I'm wondering if anyone is really interested in my whining blog. I feel like the answer is no, since I obviously don't have a ton of readers, or a ton of comments.

I began to whine about my day, but decided instead to try something different. This blog needs some direction. My life is obviously not as interesting and as note-worthy as I thought it was or could be at first. My life is in fact boring. Mostly because when I get a chance to write here, the interesting things have happened and are replaced by boring and mundane. I think this is because I don't come here often enough and when I do, I have so much to say that I end up not knowing where to go with my stories. This year I promised to write more. But I will also promise to write more interesting things. We'll see how that goes. Of course I will probably occasionally complain, because complaining is therapeutic, and having an outlet is a good constructive use of time.

So for this post I will skip the whiny I'm tired and grumpy story I was going to tell, and instead I will post this poem I have written. It is much more interesting than the whining anyway, and comments are GREATLY appreciated.

FRUSTRATION

Frustration calls me a liar.

Says I am a hypocrite and

A cheat.

Frustration keeps me from breaking out.

From seeing things and doing things

I want to.

Frustration makes me hate myself.

And I believe it cause it must be

True.

Frustration confuses me.

It threatens and belittles

Me.

Frustration is my downfall.

But it speaks and I am

Captured.

Welcome To The New Year!

Happy New Year!

I realize that this New Year blog post is a few days as the new year has already begun, but better late than never. I also realize that I have not been a very good blogger and for this year I fully plan on remedying that problem. I promise to make an attempt at being a better blogger. at having things to say and at holding your attention. In the spirit of the new year, I would like to start by saying that I don't make new years resolutions, let me explain:

I don’t usually make resolutions. I don’t believe in making resolutions at the beginning of the year, when normally they are only setting people up for failure. While I’m not in the habit of making and breaking goals I make for myself, I feel like a resolution is just that, a goal which is meant to be broken. So I don’t make them. Instead I make goals for myself throughout the year, instead of one big goal at the top of the year to fail. I make goals on a monthly, or weekly and sometimes even daily basis. Goals that are achievable, attainable. Goals which I can easily accomplish, goals that make me a better person, goals that enrich my life. Sometimes the goals are just there to help me make it through the day. Sometimes the goals are there to make it through the moment, or the task at hand.

So join me. Instead of making another New Year resolution that you are so much more likely to disappoint yourself by not achieving, create a list, and I mean take a pen and paper and make an actual physical list detailing the smaller goals you want to start with that lead to the bigger picture. Give your self a reasonable time limit for each one.

New Years is and always has been my Grandma's birthday, this year she turned 75 and I threw her a party. I think 75 is a party worthy age, don't you? So I put on my party planners hat and put one together. Let me start by saying that when I do things like plan parties, I can tend to go overboard, and I can also put too much energy into the planning and preparation stages, and it almost always turns out spectacular if I do say so myself.

My first decision in party planning, was to combine new years with birthday and make a big event that would rival all others. I chose a theme (Old Hollywood seemed prefect for the occasion), planned a perfect party, and began creating my costume. It was turning into a monster of a party. At first, I had tried to keep this party a secret. It was going to be the biggest, best surprise party ever. I was going to max out my credit card, and make the most of the occasion. Somehow, she got wind of my huge party plans and told me she'd rather not have a party. I think I was scaring her and truth be told, I was scaring myself. By now it was mid November. I had not made and concrete plans, and we changed the event to a simple home party that was focused solely on her birthday.

So instead of the monstrosity of a party I had been planning, we had a pared down family event that included plenty of good food (I continued to make a house full of food, and prepare for a week. This house was spotless, the food was perfect, I was exhausted.)

This is a French Vanilla cake with Swiss Buttercream, It was delicious and worth the extra time and energy it too to make the Swiss Buttercream.

In the interest of keeping this entry at a minimum, I'll just say that the party went well, we played games, had conversations, ate. everyone was grateful to me for throwing it, it gave an excuse for people to come who hadn't been by in awhile, it gave reason for family to visit from far away. It was a positive experience, until it came time to clean up after the party. You will remember me saying that I prepared for this party the whole week before, afterwards, when family had gone home, or to the motel in which they stayed the night, and my sisters and grandma had all gone to bed, this house was a disaster. the kitchen looked like the A-bomb had been detonated.

This house was a mess, and I decided that instead of leaving the mess, I would clean it then. It was by the way 1:30 am. So I began the new year by cleaning up after a party. On the upside, it was snowing outside. The snow always fills me with excitement and childish abandon. I love the snow. It is peaceful, calming, it covers the world in a peaceful white blanket. It covers the mess we humans have made of the world. It is like a fresh canvas, a sparkling white canvas with which we are given a new outlook on the wonder and beauty of the world.

Snow for me is the one thing that can make any bad day better. It changes my mood. So while I was frustrated at the mess, and at being left alone by my sisters to clean it, I was happy about the snow. It took three hours to get the house back into the shape it had been in when the party began. And when the ground was covered in snow in the morning, my grandma got excited and woke me up at seven thirty.

With little sleep I began the New Year. (With little sleep, I am not a happy person.) So far the year has been looking much brighter though, and I look forward to the excitement the New Year will bring. (Hopefully I haven't bored you away.)