Perks of Living at Home, Part Three

I started texting back and forth with my best-friend-since-I-was-six who now lives in NC. I wanted to make sure she was okay, and tell her of our many adventures...that we were prepared for. I kept trying to send photos of the weather, but I finally resorted to video.

Ignore my goofy face.

Perks of Living at Home, Part Two

My mother is a genius cook. My brother "Zed" calls her a culinary hacker, and indeed she is. She prepared several meals beforehand that could be either eaten cold or heated using a sternos set-up. She filled any and every bucket, bottle, jar or gallon trash can in the house and yard with water. Water for drinking, water for dishes, water for toilets, etc. We brought out the flashlights and brought up the batteries. We got an emergency radio/light/thing. We put boiling water in a thermos to stay warm for hot cocoa and tea. We brought out the camping percolator for coffee. We baked zucchini bread (which, by the way, finished baking in a hot oven about 40 minutes after the power had gone out), we made granola, we bought pop tarts! My dad strung a blue tarp from the roof to the ground taut, to try to direct shedding water away from our basement and foundation to prevent flooding downstairs. We brought out the giant cooler to store perishable but often used refrigerated items like 2% milk, salad, and  little balls of mozzarella cheese. Everyone started carrying their flashlights around, just in case (at least, I did). Not much besides prep and some rain was going on for a while...

Just looks like the faithful blue Camry on any other rainy day, due to my phone failing to capture the crazy storm. CrazyISH.

Perks of Living at Home, Part One

Hurricane Sandy swept through New Hampshire yesterday (and some of today), downing branches, bending road signs, closing streets, and stealing electricity. Thankfully, we have very little damage compared to everywhere else, and my prayers are going out for all my neighboring states. The pictures on the news are rather sobering. Here, to my family, the hurricane was somewhat of an adventure. We were amply prepared for loss of power (in fact, we sometimes seem to welcome it; we all DO love camping), both physically and mentally. All we got was three hours yesterday and a long blink today. After seeing the news from NY, NJ, NC, CT, and MA, though, I was grateful for our short stint. Here's a shot I tried to get after our little hurricane walk...

Awkward 12-year-old Tries to be Wise

I am often confronted with my younger friends' problems.
That's okay, to an extent, because they're like my little sisters, sort of.
But I'll talk to them over text, and I'll send back a heartfelt, attempt-at-counseling and hopefully encouraging text, full of words and thoughts and prayers and even hugs, and then, after a few minutes, I'll receive back one word: yeah. Or worse, "haha yeah". Then I just get ticked at the person I'm supposed to be bearing up. Do any other adult-o-lesecents feel that their help is wanted, yet seemingly scorned?

Kindred Spirit

I was at the second job tonight, and it was sloow. I mean, reeeally slow.
So I got to chat with my coworker, who already seemed cool.
And then she asked me if I was in college, and I said no, and she said that she wasn't either.
Wait, what?
Nope.
Same graduating year, and she's not in college for very similar reasons as me (cough, cough, money and decision).

So I just found another way that I am being immensely blessed in my waiting time. God's so good to me.

Garlic, Cocoa, and Pizza.

Characters:

Joy, my (youngest) sister.

Yours truly. (Photo credit to Joy)

And the last, but certainly not least, character in this little episode: my dad's faithful blue Camry. Notice the battery charger giving moral support to Dad's faithful blue Camry.

Once upon a time, Joy and I planned to visit my brother Zed, his wife K, and their son Little G. We were to meet up with them and my youngest brother AJ at their home way up North. 

Alas.

We dashed inside our own home to let the dog out, and for ten shining minutes, the blue Camry gave light to all those within five feet of the old vehicle. Upon our swift return, the battery was found dead. We called Dad, got the charger hooked up, no problem.

Then we proceeded to have our own little party while waiting on the blue Camry. 

Therefore, photos of awesomeness ensued. 

Living at home and using my dad's wonderful, blue, older-than-me car has quite a lot of advantages.

The In Between

I've done a bad job.

I've kind of made this blog about "being okay" with not going to college right now. But I'm already okay with that! I've gotten past that point personally, and I'm more than willing to write about that, hear your thoughts, and give you encouragement on that.

But this blog isn't just about being okay without college right now.

This blog is about what you're doing in the in between time...what I'm doing.

I'm taking photos, and I'm getting pretty excited about my limited skills gettin' better!

I took this when I first started using my brother's fanceh shmanceh camera, of my best friend.

Get out and just try something new. You could end up loving it, as cliche as that sounds, it's absolutely true. 

Another Autumn Note

This is the tree that marks the change from summer to fall for me. The seasons change and I see it as I'm running out the door to go elsewhere. I think back on all the years we've lived here, what my dreams aspired to as I saw that tree growing up, and how much faster life has come than I thought.

And how much lovelier each year has been from the one before.

Though this tree popping into color doesn't signify that I'm returning to school nor heading to college, it reminds me that I have grown. It reminds me that the days are beautiful.
Is there something that often causes you to wax nostalgic and contented?

Lists.

I need...

-to stop making it sound like I've got buckets of time.

-a car.

-to wait.

I want...

-a car.

-an answer.

I have...

-...more time than you.

-a license

-a yearning

I am...

-waiting

-asking

-working (for a car)

I need to stop being so vague.

I want to write well.

I have amazing opportunities.

I am blessed.

Got time? Take a Hike.

This conundrum was on my mind recently, actually.

My family has taken many a lovely, leafy hike, often in the midst of the beautiful fall colors. Now that I have my own driver's license and of course, some extra time to pursue such adventures, I realized I might be mistakenly taken for an out of town "leaf peeper". This thought had never before occurred to me, but apparently I want people to know that this is "my" state.

Though I'm not one of those who profess to have been here for generations, I have grown up here.
I get to complain about the sticky summers, I get to shovel the mountains of snow, and I get to enjoy these leaves. I guess I feel that that gives me some sort of ownership over the changing trees?

Then again, I'm a sucker for meeting people from far-off lands (such as any state that is not mine), and I certainly get that chance when I go hiking with the leaf peepers.

Maybe they're not so bad after all.

A Five Minute Hand Cramp Times Two

Just cold, grey expectancy.

After Christmas, so no colors and songs to brighten the cold. After New Year's, so no promises brashly made to color the future with hope when everything else seems so grey.
But we had "Little G". He's truly a "bundle of joy".

The above is a snippet of a writing exercise I did. I began writing about my nephew's birth as part of a list of things I would've missed had I been at college or elsewhere.

I got a little stuck on the nephew part. He's my favorite!