"You don't really know why, but you want to justify ripping someone's head off."

The little sister has been giving me crap for the way I scowl while I'm on the computer (I need to turn the screen brightness down), so picture me looking like this while I wrote this post...

I showed her this picture and she said that I pretty much look exactly like this. Awesome.

A lot of things have gotten under my skin today, for no apparent reason, so I thought I'd write them all down and possibly find some common denominator.

I awoke to a text from a friend/coworker asking if I would work her shift today and she would work mine on Sunday. I abhor working Sundays so I was seriously considering it. Then I realized that I only had 30 minutes to get ready, and I would be stuck there until 10 tonight. The latest I ever work is 8, so the more I thought about it, the less appealing it sounded. I neglected to text her back and went about my day. About 45 minutes later, she texted me again asking if I would please work for her because she had been puking all day. (We're a very small business, so if one person is sick they have to find a replacement to work for them. If it's a dire situation, though, the boss will take over the shift.) By this time I had gotten a text from another friend asking if I wanted to do something tonight. The perfect excuse. Maybe I was being a jerk, but this friend/coworker is pretty good at wanting you to help her out with her shifts, but not being there when you need something. Actually, she's pretty much like that in general, and I have not been in the mood to put up with any BS lately. I know that come Sunday I'll be kicking myself for not working tonight, but I'm just so sick of being taken advantage of. The real kicker is that she's been talking on Facebook all night about the ski trip that she's attending tomorrow. Is it horrible of me to hope that she spends the entire weekend on the toilet instead of on the slopes?? (That is, if she is indeed sick. I get the feeling she just wanted the night off so she could prepare for the weekend.)

The next few hours were spent interneting and watching TV with the sisters. It became a bit monotonous over time (One can only watch so much Miami Animal Police in such a small period of time), but nothing real awful. Overall, it was bearable.

A little while later I received a text from my mom's best friend. She proceeded to text me for 10 minutes asking where my mom was, and if we minded if she came over. Not a big deal. She brought her son along, which also wasn't a big deal. UNTIL... I got up to go to the bathroom and he told me that he was stealing my seat until I came back. When I returned he not only made no effort to get up, but was also using my laptop. I had tabs with my Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr open, all things that I consider pretty private when it comes to people I actually know. (Well, obviously not Facebook, but I hate the prospect of someone posting something random on my wall. I'm kind of particular about the things I share online. I make an attempt to be fairly inoffensive, so I don't want anything put on blast without my approval. It's happened before, and I felt strangely violated.) (Man, that was a long parenthetical aside.) I noticed that he and the little sister were just sharing YouTube videos so I figured all was ok. Then I saw this...

This is clearly not offensive, but it meant that he was looking at the pages I had pulled up. I feel like someone read my nonexistent diary or something. 

Random interjection: This happened in the midst of all this crap...

The actor was pretending her food stamp card wasn't working and people were stepping in and paying for her groceries. So awesome, and so tear-inducing.

Around this time, the aforementioned friend I had made plans with came over to chill and watch a movie. This friend tends to be a bit insanely clingy, so I'm generally on edge around her. She does this thing when we watch movies that irritates me beyond words. Every time something funny happens, she insists on looking right at me and laughing. Ok, we're watching the same movie. I saw it. I'd say it's as bad as when people say "DID YOU SEE THAT?!" but it's actually worse because I have this weird phobia of people staring at me. Well, maybe not a phobia, but it makes me ultra uncomfortable. We were sitting directly beside each other tonight, though, so I was super stoked about not having to pretend I couldn't see her every time she looked at me. (That's what I do. Ignore it and it will go away, right?) What ended up unfolding, though, was entirely too horrific. Instead of enduring awkward gazes every time something funny happened, she did that weird "lightly smack you with the back of my hand" thing. The movie we were watching was hilarious, so I ended up just getting smacked repeatedly for an hour and a half.

I let my dad use my laptop while we watched the movie, and assumed he'd give it back once it was over. (There I go, assuming again. Maybe that's the common denominator in this all!) Instead, he stayed on for 2 more hours while I sat on the couch and silently stewed. At one point I tried asking for it back and he shot out some whiny excuse about how he was almost done, and he just NEEDED to look at a few more things... Whatever. I don't care. I sat on my butt for 7 hours waiting for the stupid thing, and I think I should be able to use it whenever I darn well please.

In the mean time, I did some Twittering and received some of the sweetest tweets ever. After a moment of heart melting and cheesy grins, I got kind of depressed. People online, people I barely know, treat me better than the majority of people that are actually in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and wouldn't trade them for anything, but living at home means I'm subjected to many more annoying family moments than the average twenty-something. I'd rely on my friends to save my sanity, but I've eliminated most of them from my life since they royally sucked. The few true friends I do have I rarely see. Moments like these make me realize how much I truly need to save up my cash and get the eff out of this town. Sorry, this just took a major turn toward depression city. I'll stop babbling now.

So what do you think? Am I being ultra sensitive to everything, or do people just generally suck?

Also, if you stuck it out all the way through this, you deserve a cookie and a massive bear hug.

"Look at me kids, I'm winning! Stop the music, where's my ribbon?"

They love me! They really love me! Well, at least Kaylee does. She gave me a blogger award! ☺

I'm super stoked because Kaylee is way awesome, and the more I talk to her the more I love her. I'm thinking that a road trip/meet up is a definite must in the future. Anywho, I guess I have to share some pictures/stories about my life, so without further ado...

This is one of my favorite pictures of me. My Aunt Bonnie, the family comedian, had this wig and decided that I needed to wear it. And check out how stinking cute my mom was looking!

Here I am looking super cute and super 80s in this ginormous wicker chair. We have a nice collection of pictures just like this because my parents were too poor to pay for professional pictures. Why they thought a wicker chair would be an optimal backdrop, though, is beyond me. (I wish my hair was still this blonde.)

Please excuse the awful quality, but I'm pretty sure that this is the only picture known to man of me and the little sister being lovey with each other. Also, please excuse the massive buck teeth. This was taken pre-braces. 

I don't really have anything to say about this. Just bask in it's awesomeness. (That's me on the bottom left. People were constantly mistaking me for a boy. I don't blame them.)

This picture was taken for our church directory. Once again, bask in the awesomeness. I can't get over how 90s this is. Ugh, that vest...

This is me and the sister at the Frankenmuth River Place. The store we were at had the best collection of unique glasses, and we couldn't pass up the photo op.  Also, check out how freaking pale I am. I blend right in with my white coat. 

Our family is really into Halloween, so I couldn't resist putting this one up. I am crazy in love with that old lady mask of mine. I wear it almost ever year. The little sister was clearly less than thrilled to be a part of the family bonding time, but the fact that they even got her in the photo is a miracle in and of itself. 

So maybe I'm on the fast track to becoming a crazy cat lady... 

Well, that was a little piece of my life. Hope you enjoyed. Now is the part where I nominate two other bloggers who I find crazysexycool. First is Lorraine from Late to the Party. She's my brown twin, so I have to share the love. Prepare to be blown away by her comic genius. Second is Alison from Literary Crap. I used to read my heart out as a youngin', but as I got older my (self-diagnosed) ADD grew worse and worse, and my ability to sit through a book became less and less. Alison's book reviews make me want to become a reader again.


30 DAY MUSIC CHALLENGE
Click here to see the entire list.

Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure:

At first I wasn't sure where to go with this. Do I add a song that's cheesy, but that I still love? Do I add a song that goes against what I believe, but that I still love? Then it hit me. Brown Skin by India.Arie. "I can't tell where yours begins, I can't tell where mine ends." Not only am I not black, but I'm so far on the lower end of the white spectrum that it's not even funny. I always feel slightly embarrassed when I sing along (and sing along do I ever), but it's just so dang good.

"We are family. I got all my sisters with me."

"Sometimes I think we were supposed to be twins."

This is a quote from my sister Jessie, who happens to be 4.5 years younger than me. She's on crack, but that's why I love her. I know what she meant, though. We're so similar with regards to our little quirks and sense of humor. It's still hard to believe sometimes, because the two of us were mortal enemies when we were younger. If we got into a fight my mom would make us sit by each other on the couch, bodies touching, for extended periods of time. And if we were in big trouble we had to hug! Haha! Now we're super close. Well, not that "I tell you ever aspect of my personal life" close, but more like "We're sitting in complete silence and randomly burst out into song at the exact same moment, the same part of the song, and both take it up an octave" kind of close. Because we do that. A lot. I like to quote her frequently on my Twitter. She cracks me up so often, I just couldn't deprive the world my 70+ followers of her fabulous humor.

Jessie and I may have very similar personalities, but when it comes to looks we couldn't be more polar opposite. Jessie is a tall, skinny, cute brunette, and I am a short, fat, blonde who has the potential to be cute if I shrunk to half my size. I have tiny ankles, though, and Jessie has cankles, so I've got that going for me.

I'm not really that fat, nor do I look like a penguin, in real life.

My littlest sister, Melissa, and I have only started to get close again recently. From the time she was born, up until about the age of 4, we were attached at the hip. We used to watch marathons of Friday the 13th together when I would babysit. (And the award for Best Babysitter goes to...) She grew up and became that textbook bratty little sister, among other things that I won't get into, and it really wrecked our relationship.

Unlike Jessie and I, she and I are more similar in looks than personality. She doesn't have cankles either, so hooray for us. We've got a lot of patching up to do, but we've made a start and that's what really matters. My favorite thing to do with Melissa is make her laugh. She doesn't do it often, so it's a real accomplishment when you can break through that plaster mold she refers to as her face. Jessie and I together can really get her going. Good times are had by all.

A rare picture of the three of us getting along.

The three of us may not have always been best friends, and we may never be, but we have built substantially on our relationships this past year, and everyone's lives much greater because of it.

30 DAY MUSIC CHALLENGE

Click here to see the entire list.

Day 8 - A song that you know all the words to:

During 8th/9th grade, I was more than obsessed with The Miseduaction of Lauryn Hill, specifically the song Everything is Everything. I would lock myself in my bedroom and practice the song's rap over and over and over. I would even try to remember where to take big breaths so I didn't mess up anything. To this day I remember ever single word of the song, and I even still try sometimes to rap it as perfectly as possible. (And actually, I'm not too shabby, if I say so myself. You know, for a white girl.) I still remember when the video premiered on TRL,

and Carson stating that it was some sort of amazing, ground-breaking piece of work. Not so ground-breaking anymore, but great nonetheless.

"The waiting is the hardest part."

10 THINGS I LEARNED DURING BLACK FRIDAY

This year for Black Friday, instead of just doing some major shopping/butt-kicking, my sister and I camped out on the cold concrete floor of Walmart. Seven hours for a $198 dollar laptop. Seven. Oh do I hope it was worth it. (We can't have them until Christmas, naturally.) During my stay I learned a few things, so I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

1) I could NEVER survive in jail. Seven hours with nothing to do was torturous enough, particularly on my butt and hips. Several years with nothing to do would surely make my brain explode.
                                 

2) When spending large amounts of time with little to do, make sure you bring several things to keep you sufficiently occupied. Seven hours of your mp3 player on shuffle will. not. cut it.
3) People will fart ANYWHERE. Once is excusable, accidents happen. Eight to ten times is just ridiculous. Have a little compassion on the poor souls who are stuck within inches of you.
4) Don't have dreams, they will inevitably be crushed. My sister and I decided that we should design our own line of Black Friday t-shirts with funny sayings on them. Later we saw some women with shirts that read "Team Black Friday. Shop till you drop (or get trampled)." Funny, but heartbreaking. They had stolen our idea.
5) Little sisters aren't nearly as obnoxious when you are both facing the same hardships.
6) Gummy bears come in 3 pound bags. If necessary, that bag can be used as a pillow.

I doctored this photo, but a 3 lb bag of gummy bears was truly used as a pillow during the night.

7) A Slim Jim, some Gardetto's, a 5 Hour Energy Shot to drink, and Tums for desert is not an acceptable meal.
8) People are crazy. I mean, this is something that I've known for quite a while, but I don't think that I understood the severity of the craziness until last night.
9) Sixteen year old girls giggle. A lot. Very loudly, sometimes. It's embarrassing.
10) And lastly, my mom is awesome. She drove 25 minutes is the sleet and hurricane-like winds to drop my sister and me off at Walmart. She then proceeded to do some crazy person shopping, drive back home, do two loads of laundry, put dishes away, drive back to Walmart, do some more crazy person shopping, take my sisters and me out to breakfast, come home, go to bed for a bit, and then get up and go to work for 8.5 hours.

My mom's got it goin' on!


30 DAY MUSIC CHALLENGE
Click here to see the entire list.

Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone:

My grandma passed away in February of 2009, while spending her last few days at an amazing hospice facility. They provided a basket of CDs for my grandma to listen to, but it ended up being where my family sought solace during the extremely hard time. Throughout her last 48 hours, we listened to an Alan Jackson CD that consisted of nothing but hymns. No one in my family is particularly fond of Country music, but it was basically the only bearable Christian selection in the "Basket O' CDs". The song that happened to be playing while she passed was I'll Fly Away. For several days after her death I heard that exact version of the song EVERYWHERE, and it will forever remind me of her.




This isn't the exact version (the other was much slower) but it's the closest I could find.