Indoor Tobaganning Disaster

Right when I got back from Christmas break, I got to have a sleep over with my faves!!! It was so great to see them for more than a couple of hours. We got to see each other lots and did tons of fun things together. First, we met up and headed downtown to go ice skating. We had gone once before when they were in like 5th or 6th grade and so we figured we were due for a do-over. The first time we went, it was a new experience for several of the girls, quite hilarious. Even though they have a little more experience now, it was still quite humorous.
I would take them individually by the hand and skate around as fast as I could and they would freak out. It was pretty funny and thankfully no one fell and we didn't run into anyone while we did that. Now, for the rest of the time...as you can see there were a few falls, but nothing that would cause for serious injury, thankfully. We also all skated in a line and we would have to break apart to avoid running over the fallen skaters. You know, when you go to Rosa parks and it only costs a dollar total to skate and rent skates, let's just say you don't encounter the most experienced skaters.

After the ice skating episode, we took a family photo by the giant christmas tree. It just so happened that Andrew, Emma's brother, was walking by at the exact moment, so we didn't have to ask a stranger to take the awkward family photo. That's always a little strange. Look, don't we smile pretty???? In this particular photo, the correct answer is no, haha.

Then we headed to Biggby to get a warm up before we went and got our nails done...a new experience for some. I have pictures of that, but they are less than thrilling because we're just sitting there either sticking out our hands or feet. But, since several of us are doing pointe, we were like, "Uh NO! Please don't scrape off the callouses, I actually want them and need them. I know it's weird, just please leave them there!!!!" Oh, well, actually my sister said I needed to post a picture of my toenails because "it's something I would do" so I guess I'll do that. I apologized to the lady who did mine for them being so ugly, but she didn't mind...except I'm sure she said something to her co-workers that I couldn't understand. So yes, this is what they look like from pointe and in case you're wondering, they do hurt.


From there we went to our final destination, the Carlson's where we would spend the night...after getting chinese food and heading to walgreens while we waited for chinese where Jessica got her groove on going through the aisles. Jessica had brought a mummy sleeping bag...I think she was the only one out of all of us to bring a sleeping bag. And somehow we had the brilliant idea to go tobaganning down the staircase. It started out great where Pants was inside the sleeping bag and Emma, in her sleeper, dragged behind. Then we did it with Pants on the outside, but she was wearing shorts and didn't slide and just got a rug burn so she let go. Then I made a tunnel for Emma to go under. Then, it happened. Both Aubrye and Emma went inside the sleeping bag together. They sat down and pushed off. They got going so fast that they one of their feet went through the wall!!!!!!!! Thankfully, Mrs Carlson was very cool about it and just laughed and said it wasn't the first time it had happened. It really was so funny and the girls couldn't stop laughing when they were trying to tell her what happened. I have it on video and I'll try and upload it, but here's a picture in case it doesn't work. It is on my facebook. 
We just spent the rest of the evening enjoying each others' company. We played some dance game, did the traditional grape monkey face, exchanged gifts, watched movies...and I slept. There was a funny joke during the gift giving part because I got them a mug with pictures from the summer on it and last year I did a calendar. So I took a picture of them with their gifts and they were like "Oh, this has to be a good one because who knows when it will show up again. You never know what gift it might appear on and you don't want it to come back and bite you".
But, really, I don't always get them picture presents. But, they said they liked getting them. We'll see what next year turns out as. I had such a good time with them though. I really love them a lot and miss them tons when I'm here. It's hard that they're all in high school and doing various things and I'm not there to be at their dance or see their recitals or be at church with them. But it's cool cause we get to talk on the phone and text and facebook and we have a super fun time when we do get to see each other. I heard they are planning a trip to Issimippi and I have a sneaky suspicion that might be somewhere close to Mississippi!!!!!!!!

From dancing queen to hair queen.

A while back I posted some pictures about practicing hair for an upcoming production. We had that production right before we left for Christmas break. I was put in charge of the group of kids who all had to have their hair done similar to pippi longstocking and it was quite a trip to get them all changed from ringlet curly heads to braids sticking out. But, we managed each time. I was thankful for some of my fellow classmates who would assist me in changing all of them.

I was a Russian dancer, so once the ballet started, I would get my braids in and costume on and then I would head down to the green room and start working on getting all of the kids ready. Haha, it was funny cause many of them would request me and I was like, I'll do whoever is ready. Apparently, I was good at making it nice and tight without hurting them too bad. We had to braid it around wire which made it challenging. I don't really actually know what I'm doing with hair, but I just experiment and it often turns out. Haha, it's funny because I've become the hair/nail person here. It's good because I enjoy doing it, it's fun!
     One day, Bria and Chandler spent the day with me. We went to watch my roommates and friends perform at a nursing home. Then we went over to their house and made christmas shaped brownies to share with our dressing room. It was much more challenging than I thought, but here's the end results.
 I guess you can't really see them all that well, but everyone liked them. We shared them with the other upstairs dressing room too, which was all of my class and all of the trainees.

Me and Bethany as Russian Dancers

My roommates and I getting ready for the show.

This is my buddy, Bethany. We have a super great time together. She's really not that much shorter than me, but she looks like it in this picture, haha. Actually, we discovered that when we sit down side by side, she's a couple of inches taller than me. But then when we stand up, my legs make up the difference. So either she has really short legs or mine are really long or her body is long and my is short, or some sort of combination of the 4.
Christmas dream was cool, though. Some cool stuff happened that challenged all of us and it makes me really excited for this next semester. It's gonna be stellar!

Here's me with all of my roommates! We wanted to get a picture all in costume, but that didn't work out. Also, when Paige's face wasn't all black. She was a fly in the first act and so it isn't the prettiest make up ever, but at least we have a picture all together. I can't wait for all of them to be back from Christmas break!!!!! But it was really fun to be able to perform and be on stage with them. I always go watch their performances when I can, but this time we all got to dance. I very much enjoyed getting to be with them for devotions, too. I just love them all very much!!!! This week was a super great one for our house, just lots of sweet time together and good talks. I can't wait to all be in the house again and to be able to spend this next semester growing closer, becoming better friends, and deepening our relationships with each other. They're awesome girls and I am so blessed to be able to live with each one of them.

Christmas Spirit

When Squirt and got back from Thanksgiving, we were determined to get a Christmas tree. The idea of getting one/decorating before Thanksgiving was strongly vetoed, but we wanted to get one quickly after because we only had a couple of weeks to enjoy it. Unfortunately, all the roommates were not available to pick it out, so Squirt and I jumped in the car and drove off to find one...and we had no idea where. We just started driving around. Eventually we called Rachel I think and then our friend Erin and we were able to locate a place that had trees...home depot. People do it differently here, you don't go march into the woods with your saw and cut it down. You just go buy one.

So, we did. We pulled out like 30 different trees and finally decided on one. We picked the two most indecisive people to do this job, but Squirt did well. I don't think I did because I didn't have much of an opinion but I should've had more, but it worked. The tree is super. The nice home depot man put the stand on it for us and loaded it into my car and everything. Then we went to target to pick out lights cause Squirt's mom had already gotten us some ornaments. But we also went to Michael's and got a few more.

We got home and I carried the tree in and we took the wrapping stuff on it (this is a real tree we're talking about). Squirt noticed that it was crooked, so then we worked to get it upright. This is a picture of Squirt frustrated because we put the lights on the tree and they didn't look right so we took them off. Then we put them on again, but they looked bad so we took them off. We put them on a third time and they stayed on but we adjusted them to look just right. Can we say perfectionistic at all???? Both of us, not just her :)

Then came the ornaments. I never knew I could be so particular about the placement of the ornaments, but if they're out of place to too close together they just don't look right. I can even tell you the number of times we readjusted the ornaments. But it looked so pretty when it was done. We had a great time. We were jammin to some Christmas music, it was super.

Ok, but then, we really needed to get the pine needles cleaned up because it was not such a good idea to leave them on the floor. We can't find the vacuum, but then end locating it and I start vacuuming and nothing is coming up. So, I UNPLUG IT, smart I know, and flip it over to try and diagnose the problem, haha, yeah right. Well, actually I did. I saw my dad do this before, but there was a lot of stuff wrapped around the turny thing with the brushes on it. So, I got scissors and started cutting that off. I got it all and then we noticed that the belt was broken...when you don't have a spare, that is not a quick fix.

So, we call our friends at the wheatley estates..."hi do you have a vacuum?" Uh yeah. "great can we borrow it, we need it pronto" Sure. "Ok, we'll be there in one minute" and we drove over to their house and got the vacuum. It was very important to have the needles vacuumed up before roommates got home. Thankfully the Wheatley estates saved us. We got the vacuum, brought it inside, vacuumed all the needles, returned the vacuum and made it back before our roommates got home.



Finished!!!! Somehow I was elected as the tree-waterer. I failed miserably at first and I'm pretty certain my roommate, Taralah bailed me out on occasion. I know my other roommates reminded me also. We must've picked out a hearty tree though cause I'm back from two weeks of no watering and it's still very much alive. The pine needles are still on and soft and don't fall off when I touch the branch. I tried watering it, but I'm not sure if it will do any good anymore, but we'll see. We're allowed to keep our tree up longer since we missed out on two weeks of tree-seeing enjoyment :)

Merry Christmas from the Short House.

Fasting from Fast Food

Yep, that's right. I think no more fast food in my life for a while. I never really eat it, but the week of Christmas Dream, we were trying not to buy groceries and stuff cause we were all heading home. So, after the shows my roommates would be hungry and so we would want to go somewhere. They basically dared me to eat something. I think we went to taco bell once and chick fil a. Really, I don't think I've had taco bell very much at all. I remember it a few times growing up, but it was not a restaurant we frequented. So, I had that. Then at chick fil a they ordered for me cause apparently there's some stuff that was good. And it was, I just don't normally have it. I don't think Michigan even has chick fil as. I wonder if there are fast food places Michigan has that Mississippi doesn't??? Anyone know?

Well, today, I just got back and didn't feel like going to the store because it was such a long drive and I was hungry so I just went to Wendy's. It's just not super. I'm, thankfully, not sick or anything, but I definitely don't feel stellar. I allowed myself to have a pop as a treat (cause I rarely have it due to the badness for the bones) and I barely drank any of it cause I didn't like it. Haha, I couldn't even eat all of what I got cause it was too much...I'm not even sure the word. So, yeah, I will be retiring fast food from the menu for quite some time.

Let's just say, I am looking forward to grocery shopping. Actually, I love grocery shopping. I hope when I get married and have kids I still enjoy it as much as I do now. I like to spend a couple of hours in the store...I don't necessarily buy more than I need, I just enjoy looking. Weird, I know, but there are so many options, it's great! I took the day off of work to get re-settled back in to Mississippi. So now I can have plenty of time in the grocery store before ballet.

It's been long enough

Ok, I think another blog update is in order. I learned, when I was home for the holiday, that my blog is quite entertaining. But, just to assure all of you readers, I just write what really happens and what comes to mind. So, here goes it...
Before I left to come home for Christmas and such, we had quite drastic weather changes. One day, was quite a windy day and so they set off the tornado alarm cause I guess one was sighted in our town or something. I always forget if those are warnings or watches. All I know is that the siren goes off tons of times in GR and we never do anything about it. Ok, ok, one time we got woken up to go into the basement, but that's it. Tornadoes are not quite so common here, so my roommates were a little more of the panicked variety. We don't have a basement here, so my bathroom is the "safest" place to hide.

There was also one day when it got really cold and it "snowed". I forgot that people here get very excited about the snow. They were all telling me, "I bet it's gonna snow today!" "Did you hear we might get snow" "Aren't you so excited that it's going to snow" Haha, I just looked at them and was like, oh right, this is an exciting thing, I forgot. So then I would try to be excited. I was at work and they were like, LOOK! It's snowing. If I hadn't have looked at that particular moment, I would've missed it. I don't think our weather man would even report it. Maybe "a few flurries" if we were lucky.  Haha, but it was fun, they enjoyed it.

Yeah, and then before I left it was in the 50s. I drove back tonight and it's 40 something, so I'm thinking it's still staying warmish, but I don't really know. I haven't stayed up to date on the MS weather. As a matter of fact, someone asked me what the weather/driving conditions were going to be like on my way home and I had no idea. I just knew I had to drive today, so it didn't really matter what I would encounter cause I had to drive.

My joints tell me when the weather changes, so the drastic changes are kinda weird. But everything definitely likes the warmer weather, so hopefully it will stay warmish. I experienced enough frigidness and snow when I was in GR so I'm ready for a southern winter. Not a wanna-be northern winter :)