Merry Christmas! Here's a Disney Princess Christmas Story that I wrote tonight!

It was Christmas Eve and all of the princesses were still rushing around in Cinderella's castle in an attempt to make sure that everything was ready for the next day. Earlier on in the year. they had agreed that since Cinderella's castle was the biggest, it should be the one that they would have their annual Christmas Ball in this year. Not to mention, Cinderella owed Snow White a favor for breaking her favorite snow globe at the last year's party. In reality, they all knew that they should have gathered to decorate and prepare all of these things weeks ago, but parties and appearances and fancy dinners had gotten in the way of all of it.

Elsa and Anna were in the kitchen, decorating cookies and cupcakes for tomorrow's Christmas party. Or rather, Elsa was decorating them and trying to keep Anna from eating them all.  "Anna, stop eating all of the gingerbread men," screamed Elsa. Anna took her most recent cookie to the other side of the counter filled with desserts and nibbled off another limb from the cookie person. "If you eat too many today, I won't let you have any tomorrow," she threatened. Normally this would have struck fear in Anna's heart, or rather her stomach. However, she had already heard this several times today. It was nothing but words by now. "I'm just wondering how such a tiny girl can eat so many cookies and cupcakes!" Jasmine exclaimed from her  chair in the corner. "You could help, you know..." Tiana said, wiping sweat from her brow. The kitchen was overwhelmingly hot with all of the burners on the stove going constantly and the oven with something new coming out or going in every few minutes. Tiana worked around Elsa and Anna, attempting to prepare all of the food that would be needed for the next day. Belle rushed around, trying to stay out of everyone's way but also fetching ingredients for the various dishes that Tiana was making. Jasmine sat in the corner the whole time. She didn't think that preparing food was a job for a princess, and refused to help out anywhere else.

Ariel and Merida had been put in charge of decorations inside of the house, which meant that there were lots of miscellaneous items in with the actual decorations: Silverware in the wreaths, Elsa's favorite hair comb on the Christmas tree, and LOTS of paper cutouts of snowflakes and fish and dresses and paper dolls strewn around the house, which they had just learned how to make. Then they went to each of the tables in the Castle and spread out tiny fake snowflakes and glitter, and hung mistletoe in every doorway. They ran wild through the castle, playing games and singing Christmas carols as they decorated. "OOH, LOOK AT THIS SHINY THINGAMABOB!" Ariel shrieked. "Aye, that's Jasmine's bracelets," Merida explained. With a giggle, she took them and hung them in the wreath on Jasmine's bedroom door. "She's gonna be sooooo mad," Merida said, "but its gonna be soooo funny!"

Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella had enlisted the help of the animals in the forest behind the castle to help them put up the outdoor Christmas decorations. There were birds of every size and color going around, helping the princesses hang lights on the house. The teamwork was certainly making the job get done much faster. A fawn investigated a large lighted reindeer figure in the yard and squirrels scurried along the various levels of the castle roof, playing with one another. Mulan, Rapunzel, and Olaf ran around in the yard, making snow angels and snowmen with the little bit of snow that had fallen that morning, but was already starting to melt. Soon enough, a snowball fight broke out, and a few stray snowballs caused the decorating to be put on hold for a short while.

Soon enough, the sun had set and all of the princesses hurried back inside the house. Their work finally finished, they donned their pajamas sat around the huge fireplace and drank hot cocoa together while telling of their favorite Christmas memories. "This one time, when we were little kids," Anna said, "Elsa and I got dolls that looked like us for Christmas. Elsa absolutely loved hers, but I kept stealing it from her because I thought it was prettier. Finally, I decided to just steal it one night when she was sleeping. I took it and replaced it with mine. I kept it for almost three days before she saw me with it and demanded to have it back." She finished her story with a bunch of giggles, and Elsa started doing the same. "You always did like my toys more than yours," Elsa sighed. The girls quieted a bit and Tiana spoke up. "Well gals, I think we should probably all head to bed," She announced. "We've got a long day ahead of us, so we're gonna need the shuteye. Plus, we have to be asleep if we want Santa Claus to visit!" All of the girls jumped out of their seats, almost simultaneously, Ariel almost spilling her hot chocolate on Merida in the process.

One by one, they all entered their bedrooms and tucked themselves into bed. Soon, all of them were asleep, or at least close to it. Anna, however, was restless. She tossed and turned and attempted to fluff up her pillow. She just couldn't get comfortable. Not only that, she was too excited about tomorrow to focus on getting to sleep. There would be tons of presents underneath the giant Christmas tree in the living room of Cinderella's castle. They would probably take an hour to actually open them all. Of course, there would be some for each princess and some for the princes and friends like Olaf and Sven and Flounder and Mushu and everyone. And they would open them all at the Christmas party tomorrow. Well, she would probably convince Elsa to let her open one of her gifts in the morning. Just one wouldn't hurt. People from all over would come to the castle for the Christmas celebration: The family of all of the princesses, friends, neighbors, and even people who lived in Cinderella's kingdom. People from as far away as New Orleans, where Tiana was from, might even be there! It was an exciting thought, and it was keeping Anna awake.

Fed up with being unable to sleep, Anna finally got up and made her way to the kitchen, guided only by the smell of cookies and the lamp from her bedside table. When she reached her destination, she saw made her way to the cabinet to get a glass and have some milk. When she turned around, she found Merida standing beside her and Ariel standing in the doorway with a lamp in her hand and a chocolate chip cookie in her mouth. "You two can't sleep either?" Merida asked. Ariel's shoulders slumped and Anna nodded. "Well, I suppose we all had the same idea," Anna said, pulling three glasses from the cabinet and pouring milk into them. She pulled a tray of cookies closer and offered them to the other two girls. They sat there in silence, munching on cookies and drinking milk when they all heard an odd noise coming from the hallway. They all looked up, confused as to what might have happened. "Maybe a dinglehopper fell off of the tree," Ariel said. "Or maybe someone is trying to get into the castle!" Anna whispered loudly. "I'm thinkin' it'd be in our best interests to go investigate," Merida said. She picked up the nearest lantern and turned it up as bright as it would go, before stepping out of the kitchen. Anna and Ariel looked at each other for a moment. "Well are ya comin' or not?" Merida exclaimed, peeking back inside the room. The other two girls scurried to follow her, Anna taking a handful of cookies with her and Ariel arming herself with a fork that had been laying on the table.

All seemed to be normal as they made their way down the corridors, peeking inside of all of the rooms and finding nothing wrong. They stopped just outside of the living room. Merida pointed to the shadows on the wall. "We'll go in on the count of three," she whispered to the other two. Merida drew her bow and loaded it with an arrow, then whispered, "One, two... three!" Three princesses jumped out and into the doorway, Merida pointing her arrow into the center of the room, Ariel holding the fork in the air above her head, and Anna holding up a cookie, ready to throw it. At the noise, a man in a bright red suit looked up from setting gifts under the Christmas tree. Startled, Anna released the cookie from her hand, only to have it fly through the air and hit him on the head. He fell over with a loud THUD. "ANNA!" Merida and Ariel yelled in unison. Merida ran up to the huge man with the white beard and the red suit. His eyes were closed, but he seemed to be okay, aside from a bump on his head. "Sorry," Anna said. "Is he okay?" "Yes," Merida replied, "but jus' barely. Ya knocked him clean out with that cookie!" Ariel picked the cookie up from the floor and exclaimed, "Wow, this cookie is really burnt!"

The three princesses stood there, trying to figure out what to do about their current situation. "Who is going to deliver all of the gifts to people all over the world now," Ariel asked Anna. Merida paced back and forth for a few moments, thinking. Finally, she stopped and clapped her hands together. "WE WILL!" Ariel and Anna looked at each other and then back at Merida, both of them wondering if she had gone mad. "Wake up the other princesses," Merida told them. "We'll all have to deliver them. And tell Cindy to call the fairy godmother. Maybe she can help us out." Ariel and Anna disappeared in a flash to do as they were told.

Soon enough the living room was filled with tired princesses, rubbing their eyes and yawning and talking with each other. Merida climbed up on the huge mantle above the fireplace and yelled for all of them to be quiet. "Ladies! We have a problem," She explained. "Earlier tonight, there was a mishap involving a certain princess and Santa Claus. And because of this accident, Santa is now sleeping underneath the Christmas tree!" Everyone looked around and Elsa glared at Anna. Anna shrugged gave Elsa a look that said "it was an accident". Merida continued her speech. "Thanks to the fairy godmother and the mice that live in Cindy's castle, we now have six sleighs with flying reindeer and bags full of presents. We will split into teams of two, and each take a bag of gifts, a list of names, and a map. We have to be done by MIDNIGHT, ladies! That gives us THREE HOURS to finish St. Nick's job for him. At midnight, the sleighs will turn back into trees and the reindeer will turn back into mice. Am I clear?" All of the princesses nodded and some of them said yes. The next instant, they were all out the door and piling into the magical sleighs that the fairy godmother had whipped up in the front yard. With shots of magic dust from her magic wand, she guided each of them in the right direction and they were off!

As Elsa and Anna flew over Canada, Elsa lectured Anna about being more careful. "This whole thing could have been avoided if you wouldn't eat so many cookies," Elsa said. "Yeah, but you have to admit that it is a whole lot of fun!" Anna yelled over the sound of snow and wind rushing past them. Elsa laughed and shook her head. She loved her sister, but she could be absolutely crazy sometimes. Elsa took the reins from Anna and landed them on the next rooftop. Anna had a habit of crashing or landing a bit too hard. With a blast of her ice powers, Elsa whisked up the gifts and sent them down the chimney, where they landed safely underneath the Christmas tree in the house. Anna marked another name off of the list and they took off into the sky again.

A little south of them, Tiana and Aurora flew through the skies over Florida and Louisiana and finally Texas. Aurora spent most of the time admiring the scenery. "You mean to tell me that you've never been to the states before?" Tiana questioned. Aurora shook her head and grabbed the presents for the next house. Without even landing, they dropped the gifts off into the chimney of the next house and they flew into place under the tree, hovering for a few moments before settling down on the floor. "This pixie dust that Miss Godmother gave us sure is some fancy stuff," Tiana exclaimed as she marked another two names off of their list.

After flying over France and several other countries, Belle and Cinderella were the first to return to the castle. As they landed their reindeer turned back into mice and the sleigh returned to being a tree as soon as they got out of it. The fairy godmother was standing in the doorway of the castle and watching as names were ticked off of a long paper list. "Wonderful job," she told the two princesses, and returned to watching the list. "Wow, we're almost half way through with the names on the list," Belle exclaimed. "Yes, but we only have an hour left," Cinderella said, looking at the clock in the front hall of the castle.

A little while later,  almost all of the princesses were back at the castle. Rapunzel and Snow White knew Europ and Russia like the back of their hands, so they arrived shortly after Belle and Cinderella. Even Mulan and Jasmine had finished their deliveries in Asia. There were now only a few minutes left before Merida and Ariel would be stuck in South America with nothing but a herd of mice and a tree to help them deliver the remaining gifts. Anna paced back and forth nervously and the rest of the princesses sat staring out the window in the living room that looked out at the huge yard. "Two minutes left," the fairy godmother announced. Anna felt so nervous that she was afraid that she might throw up. She would be biting her nails, but Elsa was likely to yell at her if she did so. By this time, Santa was finally awake and the princesses had explained the accident. He thanked them for his efforts and was packing up his sleigh to go find Merida and Ariel in case they didn't make it back in time.

Just as the clock in the front hall of the castle was chiming midnight, there was a noise that made all of the princesses turn and rush to the window. Flying through the sky, no, falling, were Merida and Ariel and a pack of tiny mice. They landed roughly on the snow and all of the princesses jumped up and ran outside to greet them. There was hugging and yelling and jumping and laughing. Santa Claus and the fairy godmother stood back and smiled. "Thanks for all the help," he finally told them all. There were shouts in response of "No problem!" and "It was fun!". "I hate to leave so soon," he said, heading toward his sleigh, "but Mrs. Claus is expecting me home soon!" They all looked up at the sky as he flew away, "Merry Christmas!". All of the princesses shouted back to him, "Merry Christmas, Santa!".

The next morning, happy princesses rushed down the stairs in their prettiest dresses to admire the beautiful Christmas tree and the mountain of gifts underneath it. Soon enough, the doorbell was ringing and tons of people were rushing about, piling more gifts under the tree and grabbing food from the kitchen. Prince Eric was led around the castle by Ariel, who wanted to show him all of the beautiful decorations that they had put up, even if most of them were cutlery. Merida was chasing her little brothers around and trying to keep them from eating ALL of the Christmas cookies. Sven and Olaf found a nice place to sit by the fireplace and talk to the other guests. Tiana and Naveen  were singing Cajun Christmas songs and Snow White was taking turns dancing with the seven dwarves and the prince. Elsa created a skating rink in the ballroom for the little kids from the kingdom that had come to the Christmas party.

At the end of the night, Elsa looked at Anna and smiled. "I guess you didn't mess things up too bad, huh?" The sisters hugged and were soon joined by Merida, then all of the other princesses. It hadn't been a perfect Christmas, but it had certainly been the best one so far.

-Elizabeth Walker

I'm back

Yeah, I am finally back on the blog. Probably not on a regular basis for a little while though. I'm really busy.

This morning, I decided to start putting together my acting resume for theatre class that is due on Tuesday.  I'm kicking myself for not posting on my blog or on Facebook what plays I was in. I should never just trust my memory with these things. So, I'm facebooking people to try and track down the names of the plays I was in during high school and the roles that I played. SO DIFFICULT.

In other news, We're on to the second month of Seven. This month, I have 7(ish) items of clothing that I can wear. 2 tank tops. 2 long sleeve shirts. 2 pairs of jeans. 2 pairs of shoes. And jackets and my belt and one of my headbands don't count. The main exception is days I have to dress differently because of like the princess stuff and whatnot. Its going pretty good so far. Much easier than giving up food.

Oh, yeah. And there's that whole reason I stopped blogging in the first place. NANOWRIMO. I FREAKING DID IT. I wrote 50,000 words, AKA my first draft, in a month. I've got a lot of editing to do, and hopefully I can get it to be a bit longer. But I'm still happy. I've never written the first draft of a novel before. I'm totally going to do the same thing next year.

I'm also auditioning for a play on Tuesday. Its about the holocaust and Anne Frank and all that. The play is next semester, and rehearsals start in January, but the auditions are on the same day as my theatre final exam (which is a mock audition).

Also, I'm going to be doing the 12 days of Christmas this year on my youtube channel. Some kind of video for 12 days in a row. Some covers and probably a montage and a music video. Maybe a vlog or two. Should be fun.

Well, I don't really feel like blogging much right now, so I'm going to get back to actually being productive. Kind of.

-EW

Unspoken Hiatus

Yeah, I assume you guys have gotten the picture by now. I'm kinda taking a break from blogging during November because of NaNoWriMo. I'll be doing a few little updates now and then, but that's about it. I just really need to focus on getting this first draft done.

Speaking of that, I'm currently more than 9000 (OVER 9000!!!) words into my novel and its getting harder to write. But I've surpassed my daily word count goal every day so far. I only have one class today, so I'm going to work on my book even more. I do better writing at night than I do in the mornings though. I plan on taking some time to do word sprints today though, which should help me get ahead.

In other news, Seven is going okay. I'm not cheating as much this week as I did the first week. Mainly because I have less chance to. Mom reminded me yesterday that we're almost half way through with the first month! This will probably have been the hardest month for both of us. Not that the other months will be easy by any means. And I feel like God keeps pointing out that I need to be finding a way to meet people's needs and minister to them, but I really don't know how to do that. I can't just hop in the car and go find homeless people at the moment. Not to mention, doing it on my own wouldn't be safe. Oh well. He has a plan, and I'll figure it out eventually.

On the business front, I've been doing decently, particularly since Elsa joined the princess gang. I've done one party and I have another one on the 15th. I've also got those weekends in Old Town Spring coming up in December. Then I've got vendor events for Jamberry and Lizzie's Luxuries. I've been prepping gift jars for sale at the next ones. People liked them and bought all the ones I had ready at the Tarkington Round Up. I'm waiting for my bulk orders of stuff to come in the mail though. Today I have to order a container of 72 pairs of nail clippers. I ordered cuticle pushers and nail files yesterday. I just need money in the bank before I can order everything else. I'm also going to be offering a version of the gift jars on my website, http://lizardbreath.storenvy.com. I'm going to try and put them up today or tomorrow.

I think that's basically everything that's going on in my life right now. Everything that y'all need to know about anyway. I'll see about updating you again next week. Now I'm off to do homework and writing and business stuff.

-EW

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

I swear, I was dying for something besides 7 foods this morning. And its been difficult with all of the halloween candy and stuff in the fridge and pantry that I can't have. Its painful. And I was starving this morning. So, I cheated. A small cheat, but my biggest one so far.

About a week ago, John brought home a Sunny D that he didn't want. Well, I haven't had that since I was a little kid. And its been in the fridge. And it says it goes out on November 4. So, I'm having a wheat english muffin and sunny d for breakfast. I did really good yesterday and the rest of this week though. I'll read my bible more today. I'll pray more. I just needed something. Here's to you, Sunny D.

If you haven't noticed yet, its Halloween. I have nothing to do today that is Halloween related. No party or anything to go to. Instead, I'll probably spend the day listening to 1989 over and over, working on homework, doing last minute nanowrimo prep, and editing a music video. And maybe I'll knit some. Or crochet. Or both. I need to build up some more stock for the thing on December 5 at the school. Gosh, its almost November and December. Wow.

I'm really no where near as prepared as I should be for NaNoWriMo. But I've got some ideas and notes. I've got the pictures. And I've got my support team of parents, friends, and people on social media. I'm going to try and get up early tomorrow morning (I'm not staying up until midnight to start writing) and start writing. I'm just afraid that I'm going to sit there and not be able to think of anything for hours upon hours with no end.I fear writers block. AAAAAAAH!!!!

I should probably go do something productive. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

-EW

SO HAPPY

This morning, I'm back in the library. Maybe facing toward the coffee shop wasn't the best idea, but I think I'll manage.


Yesterday, I didn't cheat at all. Even though I ended up going to the church Fall Festival, which meant that I was around a lot of candy. For a while, I was the oldest person in costume, which was odd, but Sarah joined me after a while. And John certainly had fun. He went as Legolas from Lord of the Rings and I went as Snow White. Sarah was a flamenco dancer. It wasn't super fun, but it was better than staying home, doing nothing. Plus, I got some video to make a montage/music video with. Just for fun.

Andrew stopped by yesterday and gave me the ren fest tickets. Of course, there were also some complications with when we were going. Things happened, and now we're going on the 29th, which is the last weekend. But at least we still get to go. Anyway, it was nice to see Andrew again. Yesterday was the first time we've seen each other since we were both in high school. It was fun. I feel like I cheated him out of conversation though. I got nervous and shy and hardly spoke the entire time, I'm ridiculous. I need better social skills, big time. I'm horrible at talking to people, particularly those that I don't see all the time or that I'm rather fond of.

The other day, I got Taylor Swift's new album, 1989. I love it. My favorite song is probably "Blank Space". But I like all of the songs. I've been listening to nothing but that cd ever since I got it. I just love it too much.

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel like you look amazing? I'm having one of those days. Maybe its the red lipstick and my favorite boots. And this makes me twice as happy as I already was.

ALSO, I got news this morning that the people from Old Town Spring (Not Kudos this time, but the actual OTS people, I think) want us to come back and be the face characters this year. We as in Hannah and me and a few others. It would be on Saturdays and/or Sundays from 1 to 4 and we'd get payed by the hour. SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! I haven't told my mom yet, but whatever.

I should probably get started with some homework. I'm trying to get ahead to make nanowrimo easier.

-EW

Hierarchy of Needs

Something that God has revealed to me recently makes a lot of sense. And I don't think it could have been understood at a different point in my life, because it involves stuff I've learned in college.

There's this thing that I learned about in psychology and in speech. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Basically, it says that a person's physical needs must be met before they can do anything with their life. They have to have food and shelter and stuff, then they can worry about safety, love, and self-actualization. Pretty simple, right? Here's a picture of it: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg/450px-Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg.png

Well, Seven by Jen Hatmaker talks a lot about serving others. She says that that is basically what her church does most of the week. They don't do tons of classes and stuff, they actually go out and serve. Well, in her book Interrupted, she talks about how there is a great physical and spiritual need among nonbelievers. But if we don't meet their physical needs, then we're not really helping them. I mean, are you more likely to believe the man talking about the gospel who has given you food and clothing, or the one who just tells you about this God who doesn't seem to care about you?

Jen quotes scripture at one part in the book, saying

"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"

This is found in James 2, and I love it. I grew up in a church, but very seldom have I gotten the chance to try and meet the physical needs of nonbelievers so that I could show them God's love. I think this is a huge place where the modern church and believers are lacking. We think that we can just spread God's word, but not really worry about the people that we're trying to get the message to.

I don't know why I didn't get this before.But just the other day it kind of clicked.

In other news, Seven makes breakfast difficult. Today, I had an apple and a wheat roll. I was going to have an english muffin, but apparently we're out of them. And I didn't cheat much yesterday. I had that same chicken salad because I was starving when I got home, but otherwise I did well. And this was after going through multiple stores with candy and stuff. I almost bought candy and stashed it until the 4 weeks are over.

Tonight is the fall festival at the church. They're not doing it on halloween this year. John is going as Legolas from LOTR and I'm recycling a princess costume. The original Snow White costume can easily be made halloween-ready, so I've got costume prep to do today. And I'm going to stash some halloween candy. And then try to convince someone to take me to the store the day after halloween so I can get discount halloween candy to stash.

-EW

Tswift, Seven, and Nanowrimo

Good morning world and all who inhabit it! How'd you like yesterday's blog? It wrote on it all day from my phone. I'm thinking that I'll do that more often.

I really don't have much to talk about this morning.

Sarah and I are going to Target after school today. Why, you ask? Because couponing earned me 2 $5 target gift cards, and I am in need of the awesome new album by Taylor Swift, 1989. I actually have only heard one song on it, but its tswift, so its going to be good. Even the songs of hers that I don't like that much are awesome.

Today is day 2 of Seven. I haven't had anything but water this morning and I'm kinda starving. But I'll get over it. I packed lunch meat chicken, a roll, an apple, spinach, and tiny tomatoes for lunch. So yummy. I'm just kinda waiting for it to be lunch time.

In other news, I'm reading a new book. Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker. Like 7, it started out kinda slow, plus I haven't had much chance to read. I'm only on page 7 (total coincidence). But I think its going to be good.

Nanowrimo is almost here and I'm not feeling so prepared. Like, I have some ideas, but I'm afraid of not being able to finish the ideas. 1667 words a day. Scary. I think my highest daily word count ever might be 2000. This is going to be hard. And I'm going to have to find time to write amidst the craziness of life. Homework and family and business and all that jazz.

I've got homework that I should probably work on. I need to get ahead for Nanowrimo.

-EW

Seven: Day 1

The first day of seven (see my previous posts if you don't know what that is) actually started a bit differently. My mom took the day off work to get some errands done. So, before we did anything productive, we had a breakfast of english muffins (bread), over easy eggs, and I had a half of a tiny tomato. It wasn't the best or most tasty meal, but it fit in seven and it was filling. I have a feeling I'm going to get sick of eggs though.

I then proceeded to spend like 3 hours doing homework before we left the house to run errands. First, we stopped by a store with a coinstar machine and I learned that pennies and nickels and dimes add up pretty fast. And my piggy bank of found change is now empty, although I plan on seeding it with some change I forgot.

Then, since the other places we were going to weren't open yet, we stopped at sonic for lunch. It was a bit of a break from seven, but not much. My mom and I aren't so obsessed with rules about this anyway. Its not the point of seven. Anyway, we had breaded chicken sandwiches on whole grain cibatta bread with light mayo, tomato, and lettuce. I've decided that oil doesn't count, so the mayo doesn't count. And we talked abour how lettuce is basically nothing. There is zero nutritional value. Like, its mostly water. WHY DO WE EVEN EAT THIS STUFF? Spinach is so much better for you, which is why its one of the seven.

After this, we stopped and bought a new pair of flats for each of us, since ours were dying. The ones I got were the same style as the ones I have been wearing since my senior year of high school. They look almost the same, but the new ones have tiny flowers on them. Mine were on sale, and $20 shoes (with a coupon too) were only $8.80. Pretty stinking awesome. And they might be one of the pairs of shoes I wear for the second month of seven. I haven't decided yet.

We then headed off to do some more errands. Mostly grown up paperwork type stuff. I hate lawyers offices and insurance places. I don't feel like I fit in. Everything is so fancy and leather and wood and polished stuff and all that jazz. Oh well.

After that, we went to Michael's and raided the 70% off bins. I love sale bins. Then, we stopped at Sam's club. Going to a store with lots of foods we couldn't have was like torture. And we did end up cheating a bit. We were starving, so we bought chicken salad (with cranberries, pineapple, and pecans) and had sandwiches on the way home. Not the biggest cheat ever. And even Jen allowed herself some cheat days. Its not like we ate Ethiopian food (book reference!).

Not a terrible first day. Now I have more homework to do, so I'll talk to you all again tomorrow. 

-EW

The Ever-So-Rare Saturday Blog

This morning started out rather pleasantly, so I decided to continue it that way. That means, I'm allowing myself a cup of coffee (decaf, since I've just gotten over caffeine headaches in preparation for seven) and a Saturday blog. This is happiness.

I also forgot to tell you about the wedding dress adventure that Sarah and I had on Thursday. Its a pretty good story.

Thursday, Sarah and I had 3 hours for lunch, as opposed to our normal hour. She made the suggestion to go out to eat, so we had some great Chinese food at a local restaurant that's decently priced. But after eating, we still had a good two hours to waste. So, we went to do something that we have been wanting to do for a while... Wedding dress shopping.

Now, the original plan was to actually go in and try on wedding dresses. We would make up some kind of story, get a real-looking but totally fake engagement ring, and one of us would try on wedding dresses. Then, we would change up the story and the other person would try on dresses. But, because of some crazy circumstances and lack of time to prepare a story, we didn't exactly do that.

We walked into this pretty high-price wedding dress shop and I immediately felt like I was way out of my depth. I'd never been in a wedding dress shop before. I'd been prom dress shopping, but that's different. A lady at the front desk greeted us and Sarah told her that we were just looking around and  "hadn't planned on shopping but had extra time and decided to drop in". So, we began looking around at all of the dresses, and there were a LOT to look at.

This is where the crazy part happened. I didn't tell Sarah about this. Have you ever had like a eureka moment? Just one moment where you get the perfect idea or something becomes perfectly clear? Well, I had one of those moments, but it wasn't a eureka moment, it was a moment of fear and panic. It was the instant that I touched the first wedding dress. I became instantly terrified. It lasted about 1.5 seconds and then I was able to move on like nothing had happened. But it was really weird and scary. And now I'm a bit less anxious to get married and wear a white dress and all of that jazz. It can wait. Its crazy, since my mom was engaged to be married at my age. I can't imagine that.

A little later on, the lady at the front desk walked over to where we were to check on us. She ended up asking Sarah when the wedding was. I'm not the fibber. I can't tell a lie to save my life. I can act, but telling lies is not my forte. So, Sarah told her that the wedding was May 26th of 2015. When we got back to the car later, we looked it up. That's a Tuesday. No one has a wedding on a Tuesday. Hopefully she didn't look up the date.

Looking at wedding dresses was fun though. I didn't really see anything that I liked there though. Not to mention, those were all $1500 to $2000 dresses. That's ridiculous. My mom payed about $150 for the material for her dress and a friend made it as her wedding gift. And it was a pretty dress for that time. It also wouldn't fit me. I've tried. Plus, its kinda yellowed now. Sarah likes dresses with lace, which are on the more expensive side. I like ones with lots of tule. I want to feel like a princess on my wedding day.

I have homework to do (on the weekend, ICK!) and a video to edit, so I should probably get to it.

-EW

Chinese food for brunch!

Its not even 11:00 and I'm already eating the leftovers from yesterday that I had planned on eating for lunch today. Oh well. Its still fantastic.

I have officially ordered my Elsa wig now. I did so this morning. I actually had planned on doing so at the beginning of the week. I just kept forgetting.

I have nothing interesting to talk about. I need to spend today doing homework and jamberry stuff and chores and nanowrimo prep. But instead I'm sitting here watching Mental Floss on youtube.

I should go get stuff done. Have a good weekend!

-EW

Seven!

I started this morning with a concern if Sarah was going to pick me up and go to school today. She wasn't feeling good yesterday and because of a google-ing of symptoms (never trust a google diagnosis) she ended up in the ER. But, turns out it wasn't as serious of a problem as she had feared, So, she's okay, although rather uncomfortable, and we made it to school ahead of time.

Now, I'm enjoying the Shakira pandora station and being left alone by the people in the room. So nice.

I can't recall if I have talked about seven before. Anyway, there's this book that I read (and that now my mother is reading) that is called "Seven" and its by Jen Hatmaker. Its about her 7 month (well, its technically 10 month) experimental fast. In the bible, seven is the number of perfection, which is why she chose that number. The whole thing is to try and learn how much excess we are living with and learn to live with less and care more about others and such. Read the book if you want a better explanation. My mother and I have decided to do our own version of seven. Seven months, seven areas of removing excess, just modified to fit our lives.

The first month of Seven, she only eats 7 foods (prepared various ways) with the exception of water, salt, pepper, and a couple of days where she eats other kinds of foods because of her circumstances. Her foods are Apples, Avocados, Bread, Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach, and eggs. Good for her. I don't really care for avocados, And I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatoes unless they're baked under a layer of marshmallows during the holidays. So, starting next week, I will be existing off of rice, eggs, chicken, spinach, bread, apples, and tomatoes.

Because of my ridiculous dependency on caffeine to keep me awake and thinking, I've decided to go ahead and get started on the only-drinking-water part. I've got this huge 32oz water bottle that I got at target the other day and I'm carrying it around most places with me. I managed to almost drink a whole 32 oz of water yesterday this way. I did have a pretty bad caffeine headache for most of the day though.

I'm also worried about nanowrimo. I mean, generally its fueled by caffeine and chocolate! What will
I do without these things for 3 of the weeks in November??? By the grace of God, maybe I can make those 50,000 words.

I've got homework to work on before I get interrupted. Gotta go.

-EW

Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. Tab for a Cause is pledging $0.25 toward Save the Children’s Ebola relief efforts for each new Tabber. In response to the outbreak, Save the Children is training health workers, distributing supplies, educating the public, and finding care for orphaned children. I think its a great cause, and all you have to do to help is download and install tab for a cause. Remember, every little bit helps.

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Recalling a Crazy Tuesday...

I was super busy yesterday. I'm so glad that day is over.

My first interruption from my normal schedule was that while I was video editing yesterday morning, who should come sit beside me but Jose from Theatre class. He's a nice guy, but he likes to talk. So, for the last hour of sitting above the library, instead of editing the video and doing homework, I was talking to Jose. And I ended up giving him my number (he asked and I didn't want to seem like a jerk, and it doesn't bother me when people have my number). And he added me on Facebook (and went through and liked a bunch of my pictures and stuff). Jose is a sweetheart. But he has a 6 year old daughter. That's a bit of a deal breaker. I'm not going to shut him down immediately though. I mean, I'm okay with being friends.

Then there was Theatre class and lunch and Biology class and finally, grocery shopping. My mom picked me up from school and we went to Target because there were some really good coupon deals (they'll be in the next extreme couponing video, don't worry). We spent like an hour or more in Target. And ended up paying $10-15 for about $45 worth of stuff. It was awesome. We bought other stuff too, but that was the main deal.

I saw this thing on pinterest where you make your own liquid soap from bar soap. And you basically get a whole gallon of liquid soap from a single bar of soap. Well, with couponing, we've kinda stocked up on bar soap, so I figured that it would be great to try this out. I saved some gallon containers from milk and whatnot. All that I was missing was glycerin. Basically, it helps the soap be bubbly (which is why there's normally glycerin in bubble soap). So, we spent another 45 minutes to an hour searching for glycerin. Apparently NO ONE in our town carries it. We checked both CVS and Walgreens, the two places that were most likely to have it! Its supposed to be with the first aid stuff, but it was NOWHERE. So, now we have to order it online. But, there is some bar soap that we bought that has glycerin in it already. I'm going to try out making a gallon of soap from that today.

Because of this, I didn't get to upload the KEEYSS video yesterday and I have to put it up this morning.  Oh well. At least I got my Elsa dress in the mail yesterday! Its a little too big in the shoulders and stuff, but I'll post pictures when I get everything the way it should be and I get the wig in the mail.

I've got a project for speech to work on, soap to make, and nanowrimo to prepare for, I should go do those things.

-EW

Money

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. And then I rolled over and went back to sleep for another 15 minutes. When I finally did get up, I felt tired but happy to be awake at the same time. Or maybe it was just the feeling of being happy to be alive. Whichever it is, it hasn't gone away so far, and I like it.

My mother took a day off from work today to attend the funeral of a friend/classmate of hers. The lady passed away because of cancer. I didn't know her, but my thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

Anyway, my mom is also using this day off to get a few different errands done. One of these is grocery shopping. We're still doing the couponing thing. Mom is going to pick me up when I'm done with my classes and we're going to do a small grocery trip, utilizing coupons and deals.

There's something that I learned recently about couponing. There are certain store specials that you can combine with coupons that can actually make money. Like, today, we have a target coupon that is a $5 gift card if you buy $15 or more of shampoo/bodywash/deodorant/etc. But, with some of the items that are allowed, I have coupons. This means that instead of just paying $10, we'll pay even less. And if we have enough coupons, it could mean that we get money back on a gift card besides the $5. Crazy, right? I think its really cool.

I really wish the college sold Starbucks drinks. Oh well. Time for coffee, I suppose.

I really wish I could have booked a Jamberry party or two this week. I had one booked, but the lady just decided to join as a consultant (not under me, which is bothersome and annoying) so there's no need for her to have a party through me. And she won't reply to my facebook messages either. Even when I KNOW she's online. I do have one booked for next week though. And hopefully I can double or even triple book next week. I need money, bad.

I need to buy my Elsa wig this week ($15). And I need to buy about $50 worth of stuff to make the Jamberry Gift Jars to sell (I sold all the finished ones that I had). And I want to buy a thing for part of Sarah's Christmas gift ($10), but I want to get it and give it to her early. And I need to have money for Ren Fest ($$$). All of that, basically in that order. Blah.

I have a group project to work on for Speech (that I have yet to do anything but research a bit for but is due Friday) and stuff to work on for Biology. I should go do that.

-EW

Butterbeer and NaNoWriMo Prep

This morning, I found a recipe on Facebook for hot butterbeer. And then I looked up the same recipe on eHow. AND IT FREAKING TASTES LIKE BUTTERBEER. So good. But its really sweet. But still, I made butterbeer! I can add that to my list of cooking successes.

So, on Saturday, I pulled out my collection of old pictures with the intent of brainstorming and writing. But plans changed. I decided that I'm officially participating in NaNoWriMo this year!!!!!!

I know, its a very sudden decision. I've got about eleven days to make preparations. I've spent time yesterday and today doing my own version of outlining/storyboarding. I printed out tiny copies of the pictures that I'm basing my novel on. I taped them up on the wall, and then got out my sticky notes. I write any plot ideas that I have on a sticky note, then put the sticky note with the picture it belongs with. I'm basically going to be working on this part through November. Trying to get the bulk of it done right now though.

Because its based on the pictures, this is a kind of historical novel. It turns out that requires a lot of research. I've also written down some major historical events that I want to incorporate. I can't tell you how many things I've googled and asked my parents about just since Saturday.

I'm super excited and super scared about this, but judging from the amount of likes I got when I posted to facebook about it, I will have people supporting me. However, I may not blog as much in November. I have to get about 1667 words minimum per day, though I'm shooting for 2000. Normally, I'm lucky if I can manage 1000 in a day. But I'm going to make it. I'm determined. And because of days that I won't have much time to write, I'll probably be bringing my laptop EVERYWHERE and writing extra when I get a chance.

Anyway, if you'd like to send me gift cards or coffee or chocolate or post it notes or new journals, I'd really appreciate them, haha. I kinda want an early Christmas gift of a bunch of writing stuff. Totally not going to happen though. And I don't want to seem like a needy, greedy person, so I've avoided even posting the idea on Facebook. Next year, I'll have to make a NaNoWriMo survival kit. And start preparing earlier.

-EW

Feeling Better Today!

I feel almost completely normal today. I mean, I still don't have a lot of energy and I have a mild headache, but my stomach doesn't hurt much or anything. Yesterday, I ended up eating a package of peanut butter crackers and drinking a bottle of red powerade as a substitute for saltines and sprite. It was like the best thing I ate all day. Honestly. I was just really hungry at that time.

Today, however, I need to write an essay for Government class. Two pages minimum. Single spaced. Size 12 Times New Roman. Ick. And I have to turn it in by the end of the day. Not looking forward to this. But I think that and chores are all I'm going to really be working on today.

All I've done so far this morning is take a shower, listen to some music, and make a cup of tea. Not off to a very strong start.

We talked about Ren Fest in Theatre class yesterday, so, naturally, I've been thinking about it a lot yesterday and today.  Which is why I'm listening to Irish Folk Music on Pandora. And thinking about Ren Fest when I should be doing homework. But Ren Fest is like my Halloween this year. I mean, the Fall Festival at the church has gotten kinda boring unless I want to be around little kids and high schoolers all night. And that's on a Wednesday this year. Actual Halloween is probably going to be really boring, since there is a football game that most people will be at (its an away game, so I don't know if we're going). And there is nowhere to go trick-or-treating at without fear of being, like, killed  by a random redneck freak or mauled by small children. Sarah's family is having a Halloween party though, I think. I think. But not on that day. Anyway, Ren Fest is my Halloween. NOVEMBER 8TH!!!!!

Oh, I have an announcement about YouTube videos. Sorry that I haven't uploaded many lately. As you can tell from my recent blog posts, I've been super busy. However, I am going to edit one for my main channel either today or Monday and have it up soon. Its a Haul video. After that, I'm probably going to edit one of the music videos that has been sitting on my computer for a few months. And a new Extreme Couponing vlog will be up on my main channel sometime after the 25th. We should go shopping sometime around that day. And don't forget that I have a new video on the collab channel every Tuesday.

I should probably get on with the homework. BLECH. I'd rather dance around the kitchen to the music that I have playing. See ya Monday!

-EW

Sick on Thursday

I'm blogging from my phone today. Why? Because I feel like crap and dont want to risk barfing on my computer. And because I have like zero energy. Whatever bug I have, both of my parents had it a couple of days ago. It sucks. I really just want to lay down and sleep for a few hours. For this reason, I chose to sit on the comfy-ish bench (actually three chairs pushed together) instead of at a cafe table. I kinda want some coffee, but the thought of eating or drinking anything is sickening.

Its cold in the mornings now. Its so nice. Especially on days like this where too high of a temperature would make me feel even worse.

I need a nap.

I need my stomach to stop feeling icky.

I need my theatre professor to not make us do any major stuff today.

I should probably have stayed home today.

-EW

Boring Wednesday

Last night, I ordered my Elsa dress. I hope it gets here in time. I really need it by November 1st, but it said it may arrive as late as November 25th. Hopefully sooner than that though. I'm waiting until next week to order the wig.

I started this morning with a shower, a bowl of lucky charms, and a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I love this show. I also had to walk to the mailbox to mail something. I love walking in the morning when its cool. Its about 60 or 70 degrees or so outside. So nice. The same thing yesterday. I like that I have the ability to wear my sherlock jacket now.

Its actually kinda cold inside too. I'm wearing this for now.

I need to wash dishes today. And wash clothes. And clean. Ick.

I should probably work on a bit of homework also.

-EW

The One After the Busy Weekend and Columbus Day

I know that I never worry about little holidays like Columbus Day, but I was tired and lazy and my family was home and whatnot. I didn't feel like blogging yesterday. I needed a break from everything, and that's what I got.

I'm still extremely tired. I think I might have forgotten my keys this morning. I also forgot to film my vlog yesterday, which means I get to do so later today. And I misplaced the hoodie I normally take to school with me, so I wore my Sherlock jacket instead. Which is good, since it was kinda cold today. Like 50s-ish cold, which is cold for me. Maybe not for anyone else.

I think I need some coffee. But I want something that actually tastes good. Not extremely strong coffee with nothing but cream and sugar in it that still tastes like there's nothing in it. I'm thinking that a creamaccino (like a frappaccino) would be really good. The only problem is that that is a cold drink. And its more expensive than the plain coffee. Oh well. I can sacrifice warmth for taste.

I really want to just curl up on the chair and take a nap. I'm sitting in a different place this morning, so that is actually close to being possible. We got here kinda late this morning due to a wreck that we had to go around and traffic and whatnot. I'm still really tired though. And this jacket is so warm. Is it possible for a college kid to take a nap between 9:00 and 11:00 with people all around them? Maybe.

I keep waiting for the line at the coffee thing to get shorter, but it keeps getting longer. Ick. People.

I have a group project due for speech class at the end of next week. I should probably get started on my part of it soon. I've been out of touch with one of the members of the group for a couple of days. She never emailed me back for some reason. Weird.

I also have another essay due Friday for government class. I think I'm supposed to be doing all kinds of extra online review and work for that class that doesn't count for a grade. The thing is, I can get by without it. Plus, I'm making decent grades in that class and I don't really have time for all that extra stuff.

Across the room from the table and chair that I'm sitting at, there is this big shelf full of a bunch of different books and vhs tapes and stuff. It has prices on them and you have to pay for them downstairs in the library. I really want to go over there and look through the books, but its kinda in the way of people walking by. Not to mention, most of them seem to be educational or adult mystery/romance/etc novels. BORING.

People keep ordering caramel macchiatos at the coffee shop. I  have never had one of those before. I looked it up and it sounds good. Perhaps that's what I'll have. I've been here for like an hour, I should probably just get some freaking coffee already. INTROVERT PROBS.

Oh, I forgot to mention how the princess party went this weekend. After searching all Friday evening for a Cinderella wig, we finally settled on a plain blonde, crappy wig from party city. We ended up combining that with a cheap hair extension bun thing from Sally's Beauty Supply that matched to create a Cinderella look. And we pinned everything down to the point that my head was sore half way through the party. And the Cinderella dress I borrowed was too big in the chest/stomach/shoulder area, so my mom basically sewed me into the dress. She hand sewed a few little things on the back and front to make the dress fit. She had to cut the threads for me to get out of it. And I got some really sparkly high heels from Payless that had to substitute for glass slippers. And I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to use them for Elsa also. And, yeah, I know my actual hair is showing. I did my best to hide it with the wig.

The Elsa party didn't happen because I couldn't find a costume in time. I'll have to order the costume online. In fact, I need to get my mom to do that tonight. I'll pay her back for it, of course, but my bank accounts are currently kinda drained. And it will take at least 2 weeks to get here, so I need it ordered ASAP.

-EW

Busy Busy Busy

The thing about fall and winter is that those are the times of year that I am the busiest, and therefore the most stressed. I can literally feel all of the stress and tiredness clinging to my body as I sit here. In my joints and shoulders and back. Ick. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Last night, due to my procrastination, I ended up staying up until like 10:30 (that's late for me right now). I had to do Jamberry stuff and homework for Biology and make bento boxes and stuff. And my mom and I went to Walmart right after she got home and stayed there a while.

Last night, I also booked 2 princess parties for this weekend, supposing I can get the costumes in time. Saturday, I'm going to be Cinderella with a borrowed costume. I need to buy a wig for that one though. And I'm meeting up with a friend today to get the costume. I hope it fits. She is a bit taller than I am, but not much different otherwise. Sunday, if I can find the costume in time, I'm going to be Elsa. I'm afraid that I won't be able to find a decent costume in a costume shop. I'm going to look at a couple different ones, but costume shops generally have crappy costumes. And crappy wigs. I might be better off waiting and ordering one online. But that $50 would be nice.

I'm only half way done with the painting I was working on yesterday. I pretty much stopped painting once eveyone got home. And I never got back to it. I'll probably finish it up on Monday. I'm worried about the background though. It kinda looks like crap. I don't have enough different blues to paint with. Oh well.

I have a new song obsession. I get one every two weeks or so. I've been listening to Giving Tree by the Plain White T's since I heard it on pandora yesterday, Its such a good song. A really sad song too. But I'm thinking it would make a great music video or short film. That has to wait until later this year to be worked on though. I think it has potential though.

I should probably get to my homework. I need to finish and turn in an essay for theatre before 11:00 today. Theatre class is cancelled because we have to go see a play this week though. I love theatre class. Now I'm literally just at school to take a Biology test today. I mean, I have extra time to study and catch up on assignments. But I would rather go to theatre class. Its fun. Its the highlight of my school day. Darn.

-EW

PAINTING

I started the morning by waking up from a good dream that went bad. Then a shower, pancakes, and hot tea. Then I finished up drawing out the painting of Anna, Elsa, and Olaf from Frozen.

Now, I'm about to go paint it. Sorry for the lack of blog today. I'm trying to get stuff done.

-EW

Sleepy Tuesday

I keep trying to watch a Wheezy Waiter video on youtube, but the internet is suck-ish at school. Ick. I'm super tired. Yesterday was really busy and stressful with all the homework and chores and stuff and generally worrying about EVERYTHING. ALL OF THE THINGS. Plus, it was one of those days where a ton of little things went wrong and they just piled up and my family didn't make anything better and I just kinda freaked out from the amount of stress. I cried at least twice. It was a rough day. Hopefully today is better.

I need coffee.

Dang. The guy that made my coffee was cute. Not crushing or anything, I just recognize attractive people when I see them. I still can't seem to get the ratio of sugar to coffee right. You'd think that 6 sugar packets would be enough. What the heck. Oh well. At least I have a chocolate breakfast bar thing to eat. CHOCOLATE.

The table that I'm sitting at is wobbly. It moves every time I type. Dang it. Oh well. I'm not moving.

I like my spot by the window, because I can both people watch and look at my reflection. And today, I look hella cute. Or maybe I just like saying hella cute. Or maybe both, haha. I look cuter in my reflection than in the picture though, just saying.

I'm wearing the shirt that I got in Round Top today. I'm planning on posting a picture on facebook later and filming a haul video when I get home. I also have to film my vlog and upload it. I think I'm going to talk about how the education system in America is failing. All of the crap that's wrong with it. And its not the teachers. Its everything else.

I forgot that my pandora was left on a disney station. I like the fact that I'm sitting here, looking like an adult, but I'm listening to "I wont say I'm in love" from Hercules. I love that song. The movie is okay, I guess. I like it because its disney and because of the songs. Its not one of my favorites. This station also has normal music, like Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips and Come On Get Higher by Matt Nathanson and stuff  by Lenka and Ingrid Michaelson. Good music. I like it. Its a nice way to start the day.

I have to work on Biology homework when I get home today. And I need to catch up on working in my lab book. I need to work on the group project and weekly work for speech class. And get started on the next section of work for government. Write the essay for theatre class. I have to go see a play this week. Joy. But at least the major busy-ness is over with. I can't wait for the next break from school.

I also need to finish drawing and painting my Frozen painting. Its so close to being done. I just need to fix facial features of Elsa and Anna and the details of Anna's clothing. Not too much. Then I can start painting, which will take about 2 days. Then I can put it up for sale! Hooray for money.

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don't care about clever I don't care about funny
I want loads of clothes and *loads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

-EW

SUPER BUSY... Super Tired.

I'm still really busy. I think I might have missed an online assignment for Biology that was due last night. I have a study guide and a test due for government today.  More biology stuff due online tomorrow. An essay due for Theatre on Thursday. Jamberry stuff to do. Oh, and I'm adding a new princess to my act. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Saturday went well. I had the vendor event for Jamberry/lizzies lux/hire a princess. I booked a Jamberry party and another vendor event later on. I made money from box LL and Jamberry stuff and got some people excited about Jamberry and wanting gift jars and custom wraps. I made about $80, which is pretty good. And some people are going to order online too. WHOO!

I had my Ariel painting out for sale there too. I got lots of people looking at it, but nobody bought it. Some people said that they wished it was other princesses, and the same with my hire a princess. So, that night I began drawing out a painting of Elsa, Anna, and Olaf. Its about half way drawn and looks pretty great. And, I'm going to probably do another painting of JUST olaf. They'll be available as prints also, eventually, and the originals on my online store.

This brings me to the fact that I'm adding a new princess to my hire a princess act. ELSA!!!!!!! I'm super excited. But I have to know that people will want her at a party before I can buy the costume. That way, I can pay my mom back for buying the costume ($150 with the wig and everything, and that's the cheapest I can find that looks okay). So, if you live in the area, PLEASE like my facebook page and request Elsa for your party if you want me to do this.
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elizabeth-Princess-for-Hire/722303417791225

I was planning on working on homework most of the day yesterday, but that didn't happen. We took a day trip to Round Top yesterday. Its another huge flea market kinda like Canton, but not quite as big and not as well known. I got stuff for Sarah's Christmas gift (and a matching one of my own, haha). I bought some more old pictures and some cool old postcards. And I got this really cute shirt. I'm going to talk about that more in a video soon though.

Well, I have a CRAPTON of stuff to do today, and I feel sick. I'm going to get on with that. You do the things that you have to do today. I'll be back tomorrow.

-EW

Lazy Friday Morning

Note, this is not a day that I should be lazy, but I'm going to anyway.

I started this morning by jumping out of bed to answer the phone, then crawling back in bed. When I finally decided to start the day, an hour later, I got dressed and made pancakes. Pancakes and youtube videos, something that I haven't done since last year. Its nice. Now I'm enjoying oolong tea and a couple episodes of Extreme Couponing. I love this show. I don't think its on Netflix though, so I'm watching it on youtube. Hopefully I can pick up some tips and tricks to use on my next couponing trip.

I'm setting up a booth for Jamberry and Lizzie's Luxuries at Tarkington Round Up this weekend and I still have a ton of stuff to do. Print instructions to hand out. Gather any sheets to sell right there. Put on new nail wraps. Get everything together. Find a foldable table and chairs.

I also have homework to do today. Finishing at least 90% of my study guide for government and reading a chapter for speech and emailing people about a group project.

I also have to mail back some defective nail wraps.

See ya monday!

-EW

Butterflyin' Mosquitos

I was totally going to sit outside and work on stuff today. Sadly, there is a ridiculous amount of mosquitos outside at the campus. Like, I sat down and I was already being attacked. I swatted away a small swarm, then looked down to find one sucking the blood from my hand. Freaking Texas. Butterflyin' mosquitos (see: Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover).

I have to get at least half way done with my study questions for government today. I worked on it some yesterday, but not enough. I need to have it ready to turn in by Monday morning and I won't get much chance to work on it this weekend.

Saturday, I'll be up at the school (the local school, not the college) from about 8 to 5. They're having this thing (its a yearly event) called "Tarkington Round Up". Its mainly to raise money for the Tarkington Student Foundation, I think, which gives money and stuff to seniors at the end of the year when they graduate. But this is a vendor event and like 50% of Tarkington will be there. There's games and stuff for the kids. Normally a bounce house and face painting. And businesses pay $20 to set up booths advertising or selling their product. So, I"m doing a booth for Jamberry and Lizzie's Luxuries. I've basically got a monopoly for Jamberry right now. I mean, there is the one recruit that I have, but that's it. And this should be a great opportunity to book parties.

I'm also taking orders for Jamberry gift jars. Its a glass jar with either a half or full sheet of nails, nail clippers, cuticle pusher, alcohol wipe, scissors, orange sticks, a file, and a buffer. And I'll fill the bottom with candy. A jar with a full sheet or gift code is $22 and a jar with a half sheet is $15. Pretty good gift idea, I think. It has everything that you need to get started with a Jamberry manicure. And, of course, they'll be pretty and have a business card of mine in them and application instructions. I'm excited. I need to get an order form made up today and a couple of example jars. I need to buy cuticle pushers and nail clippers and stuff in bulk online, which is why its just orders right now. But it should go well. And I'll be taking normal orders from the catalog also.

Well, if I'm going to get anything done before I get started on my government homework, I should probably get to it.

-EW

Lazy Wednesday

I didn't get out of bed until like 9 today. I was awake at 7-ish. I just didn't want to get up and do things today. Much laziness. Very tired. Wow. Such procrastination.

I'm going to try my luck at making Onigiri today. AKA: Rice balls. I'm kinda scared. I've never even made rice by myself. I suppose it can't be that difficult. And I'm not sure what I'm going to put in them. I'm going to make at least 3, possibly 4 or 5. Sarah wants bell peppers and cream cheese in hers. Easy enough. I think I might put shredded chicken in mine and mom's. I don't have (or like) tuna or any of the things that are normally put in them. And I don't have any more imitation crab. If I'm successful, there will be pictures on instagram later. Actually, there will probably be pictures anyway.

Also, my Jamberry party this week is doing really well so far. I never make money before Wednesday. And I've already had 2 orders. YAY!

My costume for Ren Fest is basically finished. The skirt came in the mail yesterday. Its super flowy and comfy and cute. And it came with a very noisy belt (think, fake coins and about 2 dozen jingle bells) that I probably won't wear. And I tried it on with the corset that I use for my Ariel stuff, just to see what it looked like. ITS FANTASTIC. I don't have to buy another corset. This is a terrible picture, but you get the idea. Dang, I wish I had a full length mirror.

I should probably get to my government homework that I've been putting off since Monday. Chapter study questions. Ick. Like, a lot of them. Probably about 100 or more.

-EW

EXTREME COUPONING: Attempt #1

Puddin' seemed to be better this morning. Not completely better, but at least more energetic and happy. So, we're not out of the woods yet, but we can see the light up ahead.

METAPHORS.

I stayed up way too late last night. WHY? EXTREME COUPONING. We left the house around 6 to go grocery shopping and didn't make it back until like 10. And I didn't get into bed until 11-ish. I am SO tired. But it was worth it.

At the beginning of the trip, I had about 150 or so printed coupons and my mom had several hundred store-specific digital coupons on her phone. Yes, there's an app for that. Plus, there were special deals at the stores.

The original plan was to go to Dollar General, the local scratch-and-dent grocery store, Kroger, Sams Club, and Target. The scratch and dent was closed before we got there. Sams was closed before we got there.

At Dollar General, we didn't buy a lot. But we stocked up on canned soups of various kinds. Like, the Campbells Chunky soups that are a minimum of $2.50 when they're on sale? Yeah, we got them for $1 each. And we got a ton of condensed soups for reduced prices. It was awesome. Oh, and I bought hair dye for $1. I normally pay at least $6 for a box of hair dye. We got some cereal and ended up getting a box free also. Coupons and dollar stores for the win! Dollar General total? $30.

Mmmmm. Coffee. Well, almost black coffee, so not as mmmm as I would like. But still good. And caffeine!

Kroger was crazy. That place already has tons of discounts. AND there are coupons that you can add to your Kroger card via your phone app. AND they take double coupons. Sweetness. Even some of the things we didn't get with a coupon were nicely priced. Like 10 dial hand soaps for $10. And we stocked up on deodorant and razors ($4 for a pack of 6 razors that are normally $8!!!) and various other soaps and tp and paper towels and febreeze (we have like 4 bottles of febreeze now) and more canned soups and fruit snacks and frozen pizzas and frozen vegetables and all kinds of other stuff.

We ended up having 2 buggies (shopping carts, whatever) full of stuff. My mom had one and I had one. The things that I had 2 coupons that weren't double-able for, I took one and she took one. There was so much stuff. It ended up being a little over $500.

We went to Target last. We don't normally go to Target. But the Super Target nearest to us is HUGE. And its so empty at 9:00 at night. We just bought shampoo and dry shampoo and hairspray that we had coupons for. Three huge bottles of Tresemme shampoo for $8. Freaking yes. And then dry shampoo and stuff with a slightly smaller discount (I forgot a coupon). We spent like $30 at Target.

Overall, we spent a little more than we meant to, but we saved around $300. That's $300 worth of stuff that we basically got for free. And we won't have to buy shampoo, deodorant, razors, hand soap, bar soap, paper towels, toilet paper, febreeze, detergent, toothbrushes, dry shampoo, or anything like that for a while. Like, 3 to 6 months for some of this stuff. I'm still pumped about it. You can't tell it by looking at me, but I totally am.

I made a video about it. Its my vlog for today on the KEEYSS channel. It should be up later today. I'm thinking that I'm going to put it on my normal channel too. And make it a series. It will only be once every month or two that I make a video for it, but I think it will be cool. In a nerdy kind of way.

The only thing is that I would like to start looking through coupons on a regular basis in order to build up my stock of coupons and REALLY save money. Like, be able to get things free. The people at stores will hate me, but its totally legal, so I don't care. The only thing is, I don't like paying $2.50 for a newspaper to JUST get the coupons out of it. I'm going to do a little research about the Grocery Game, because my mom used to do that when she would do extreme couponing. But I'm not sure if its worth it. I need to make friends with someone who gets the paper but doesn't use the coupons. We shall see if that is possible.

-EW

Poor Puppy

I was going to be all happy and stuff today. I was going to blog about my beginning adventures in extreme couponing. But that has to wait.

Today started crappily. I hardly slept last night. I kept tossing and turning and waking up. And there was bad news awaiting me when I woke up.

Last night, when we brought Puddin' in for the night, she was acting weird. Not eating much and being really quiet and moving slowly. We started getting worried. Some of our basset hound puppies died the other day because they were sick. And Puddin' threw up 2 times early this morning. And she's not eating still. I even took a plate of rice with chicken broth out to her (not wasting, it was in the fridge and no one was going to eat it, and I only took a little). And I've been crying off and on all morning. I sat outside with her for about 15 minutes.

I know that I complain a lot about Puddin', but I really do love her. And I generally keep my distance from animals because of this. I love them and then they die. And if I stay unattached, I don't hurt like this. But I didn't do that this time. We've only had her a little more than a year. But she is such a sweet dog. And she makes the house less lonely. And she's kinder than any of the basset hounds. And she's super cute. And I'm crying again.

I've also been praying for her nonstop since I woke up. I know that most people would say "its just a dog" "what a dumb thing to waste prayer on". But I am a child of a loving God who answers prayers. It may not be his will to keep her here, but I really hope that it is. I need a miracle. Things don't look good. Normal people would just say to get another puppy if something happens to her. But I don't want another puppy. :(

I think I may go outside and sit with her some more in a bit. I have to do homework first.

If she dies, John will be heartbroken. Of course, so will I.

I have to film a vlog today. I may just talk about couponing on that, so as to not make everyone depressed.

Gosh, I need a hug and a good cry.

I think I'm only going to get the cry.

Pray, please.

Oh, and these pictures are old. From when she was just a little puppy. Just a little more than a year ago.

-EW

VIERNES!

I'm excited that its Friday. Especially since I don't have a lot of homework to do. And I'm home alone. And I want to start decorating my Faith Journal. Its just a composition book, so its kinda boring right now.

I did get a pretty cool verse down yesterday. 1 Corinthians 15:58, and its on my Instagram if you want to see it written down.

I woke up a little after 9 this morning. Apparently I was tired when I crawled into bed last night. It was like 9:45-ish when I went to sleep, judging from my text messages. I slept almost 12 hours! CRAZY!

My mom and I went grocery shopping yesterday, so I got to have fresh fruit for breakfast this morning. And by that, I mean I ate half of an orange and put the rest in the fridge to eat later.

I ordered my ren fest skirt last night.  I'm excited. Sarah already got hers in the mail. She sent me a picture and it looks awesome. I want to wait until I get the skirt to see about ordering the corset. My mom says I should just go without the corset, but I still want to wear it. The skirt is more of a bright red than I would have liked, but it was the closest I could get for the price.

I kinda want to burn a cd of gypsy-ish ren fest-ish songs for Sarah and I to listen to on the way there. I'm not sure if Sarah would listen to them though. Like, Gypsy by Shakira. And Raggle Taggle Gypsy, but the version by Nickel Creek. And some others. Idk. Maybe I'll just make sure that I have them on my phone.

Happy Friday!

-EW

Upstairs Coffee and Introvert Issues

This morning, I decided that I was going to need coffee (we're all out of oolong tea at home), so I'm upstairs above the library today. I got here early enough and I have a seat in one of the cafe chairs/tables near the window. It should be nice when the sun comes out. Right now, the sky is kinda dark.

I have yet to get up and get my coffee. They took down the huge menu of drinks that was hanging above the coffee stand thingy the first week. There is no other menu anywhere. I guess I'll have to copy what someone else ordered. Everyone seems to be ordering hot coffee. And I can't hear them well enough to copy their order. And I don't want to look like an idiot or ask about anything. INTROVERT PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!! I'll have to do something soon though. I"m dying of thirst and I NEED caffeine.

I could almost see myself in an actual coffee shop someday in the future. Writing a blog, then working on one of the books I'm writing. I want to be that kind of author. It just seems like it would be cool. Way better than sitting at home and writing. Dang, the back of this chair is not meant for comfortable sitting.

I kinda want to take a webcam picture to show y'all. Lets risk it for the biscuit.

\

I actually had to scoot the laptop over so you couldn't see the guy sitting at the table behind me. Sorry for the frown-ish face. I didn't want it to seem like anything out of the ordinary was happening. I feel like I could never be a spy. I'm not good at this type of thing. One day, I want to do a follow-me-around vlog of a day at school. It might be interesting for some people.

OH! I forgot to tell y'all. I got a thing in the mail the other day from Google. AND I'M OFFICIALLY MAKING MONEY ON YOUTUBE! At least, I don't think I've said it here yet. Super exciting. I don't get any of it until I've made $100 or more though. That sucks. But I already have $25. That's pretty freaking amazing.

They have 3 people working in this tiny coffee shop. I'm amazed at how they move around so easily.  OMG. I figured out how to order because of spanish-speaking people. I'm a freak. I can understand their language better than my own. Of course, it was a mixture of spanish and english that they were speaking, but whatevs. A small coffee with cream it is. As soon as I get the motivation to go up there. Why do I have to have such troubles speaking to people. Its bothersome in so many ways. Here we go, I guess. As soon as these other people get done. Waiting... Passing the time by typing. So nervous. WHY??? I'm sitting here with my wallet in my lap. I feel like I look like an idiot. JUST ROLL WITH IT. Why is this lady taking so long? Gah, FINALLY! This is ridiculous.

Its super hot, not very sweet, and when I was putting sugar in it, I only put three packets and there were no stirring sticks that I could see. But after a few sips, it should be fine. I'm actually kinda glad its warm. Its nice. And it was only like $2 and something. Not yummy, but certainly caffeinated. I already feel more awake. Good. I needed that. I stayed up too late last night. Apparently they also have hot chocolate. I may have to try that at some point in the future. And the youngest girl working today reminds me A LOT of someone I know from Tarkington. But there's no way its her. She was younger than me. But she has almost the same personality and a similar face.

I should probably get to homework. I have an essay due for government today. And then I need to work on stuff for speech class that's due on Sunday. What fun.

I talked with my Jamberry recruiter(?) last night. I'm not really sure if that's what you would call it, but she's the consultant above me. She said she didn't make her second fast start either, but her third is going well. I'm hoping I can make my third, because there is NO way I can sell $515 in just a few days. I'm also going to take orders for gift jars. I need to go out and buy some cheap jars and stuff and make up one or two, then I can take orders. I'm thinking that I'll do the option of a half sheet or whole sheet, depending on how much they're willing to pay.

They play spanish and french influence instrumental music here. Its kinda nice. A little annoying. This would be the perfect place to people watch though.

I need to do homework, I guess. I've been here like 45 minutes.

I think one day in the future, I will sit outside. I just have to find a spot with little sunlight so that I can still see my computer screen.

-EW

Cold Again...

Its getting cold again. And by cold, I mean its like 60 and 70 degrees in the mornings and evenings. Its cold for me. Not for normal human beings that can produce their own body heat. But at least I can turn off the window unit for most of the day.

Now I'm procrastinating because I don't want to work on homework. But I have science homework due tonight, a government essay due friday, speech homework due sunday, and theatre stuff due tuesday. I miss the break from homework that I had. Although I probably should have used it to get ahead.

I have been doing Jamberry stuff while I'm blogging though. I just ordered new catalogs. And I'm going to order my skirt for Ren Fest in a couple days. I'm pairing it with my brother's amazon order of a fleugelhorn so that I can have free shipping. I don't  have enough money for the corset yet though. :(

When we went resale shopping yesterday, I got out with only spending about $20 and all of that was cash. I was afraid I would spend all of my money. SUCCESS. Of course, I'm out of cash now.

I got like 3 scarves, 2 purses because I couldn't decide between them, several rings, two necklaces, a head necklace sparkly thing that I have no clue what its called, 2 bracelets, and some anklets that are too small. But I'm going to make it work. Oh, and the skirt that I'm going to buy comes with a belt also. And the moustache on this thing HAS to go. I don't want a moustache in the middle of my forehead.

I woke up with really crazy hair this morning, so I decided to kinda go with it and curl it. I'm not good at curling hair. But I think it looks okay. And its not like I'm going anywhere important today. And even if I do, I'll rock it and look hella cute anyway.

I've been listening to a ton of Shakira and Beyonce lately. IDK WHY BUT I LOVE IT TOO MUCH. My pandora station hasn't left the Shakira station in several days.

I got stuff to do.

-EW