I’ve spent my whole life waiting.

…for whatever I think is going to happen.

Tonight on the way home from church, I stopped at a coffee shop and got a solo short, no whip, half inch of room Signature Hot Chocolate, and ran into a good friend. I sat down for a minute and he told me that he was just reading one of his friend’s blogs who wrote about the neon sign that everyone has above their head. You know, what your presence is saying to the world.

Mine is, “Is it over yet?” or, “Are we done yet?”

Over the years, this has meant a lot of different things. Recently it’s been meaning 1) “Am I done with this ridiculous job yet?” 2) “Isn’t this election over yet?” and 3) “Hasn’t the economy crashed so I can move to the country yet?”

This is probably not a good way to live my life, but I’ve never lived in the moment. Oh well.

grandma: “Do you remember the calves? We had sheep, too, but that was before you were born. April only had them one at a time. Can you still call them sheep then? You can’t call it a shep… Sheep doesn’t sound right.”

I went to Kabab for lunch! I haven’t been since Uncle Keith’s meeting. I walked in and this strange man tried to seat me. I gave him a funny look, then walked to my usual seat. Then I saw the owner’s son and asked about him, and he said this guy has been around a while. I guess I just haven’t seen him.

That was kind of a boring story, huh?

But gasp! I ate there by myself, and read my book. :)

I’ve been watching a new Dugger Family special on TLC tonight. That family’s so neat. Going on 18 kids, I believe.

6 Degrees of Separation from the Dugger’s: me, my dad, Edwin Viera, Meredith Viera, The Duggers!

This weekend (among other things I did) I fulfilled life-long dream #2 (#1 being the 4th of July thing) of going to a haunted house! I’ve never been because my lame friends won’t go with me. (That’s right, lame, like an old horse.) But James did, and it was awesome!

Not so much scary, but fun. I think I want to be in one next year. I wonder how I can pull that off.

(Okay, so I went one other time at FC, but that doesn’t count because FC is alternate reality.)

Wii Music! Neat!

ps. I’m sorry, Jenny. I, uh, meant to call you. But I, uh, drowned my phone. That last part is true.

I see this in Alice’s future.

This weekend, I got on Buddy again. This time, I can say I actually rode him instead of just walking around the round pen. I brought out the English saddle to tack him up, but realized the western girth I’d borrowed wasn’t going to cut it. So Mom and I hauled out to the neighbor’s and got him all fancied up as he’s used to. Mom watched as I struggled with Buddy for a while. She assisted in shoving him away from the railing as he leaned in to squish me again. After that, she went to get Joanne and Cowboy Cory.

I was given some simple instructions, had minimal success, and while Joanne went to get whip so I could lunge orneryness out of him, Cowboy Cory jumped in to show Buddy who was boss. As Cory flew around the ring, Buddy was putting up some serious attitude. And Cory’s just had 4 major joints replaced… So, at watching this hideous display of bad behavior via Buddy, Mom and I scoffed at Joanne as she weeks ago said to me, “Ride Buddy, he’s a kid’s horse. No problem!” And I didn’t feel so bad that I had such trouble last time.

I also don’t feel so bad now that my whole body is sore, considering Cory said Buddy’s a pretty rough ride. Man alive. Two days later and I’m still walking bow-legged.

Sunday, I went to church where Brandon Bell’s dad preaches. I think he has Celiac Disease. No, I’m serious.

Mom and I went on Saturday to the Edom Art Festival! We were looking for a saddle stand and a longhorn rug. Instead, Mom came away with… a soap dispenser. I tried to convince her to buy a Ryan Ayer’s piece, but I wasn’t successful. Someday, I’d like to myself.

Oh yeah, she got a metal goat, too. You know those lame people who have fake animals in their front yard? Surprisingly, there’s a lot of that in the country. As if there wasn’t real wildlife to look at. I could understand if fake deer fooled real deer into thinking that your front yard is safe and then they hang out. But, plastic ducks? Plastic pigs? What kind of pink pigs are wandering the countryside?

To me, fake animals are pretty much on the same level as fake plants. Just say no.

But, she got this metal goat as a mock to the fake animal trend. It also holds a potted plant, so it’s cool.

mom: “You like funny.”
me: “I do like funny.”

What I said: I listen to an exorbitant amount of classical music.
addendum: But I still can’t tell one piece from another.

Who wants to see Twilight with me? (*wink wink nudge nudge*) I can’t decide if I want to see it the night it comes out or not. If I did, would it be stupid of me to dress up like Hermione Granger? In informal boycott, of course. Maybe a very pale, ethereal Hermione?

I’m almost done with the 4th book. I’ve slowed down to get some other things done. But, I’ve taken the week off from quilting. (It’s nice to be my own boss of something and say, “I’m taking the week off.”)

Though, I’m very excited about what’s planned for Melissa’s! It has to do with my favorite Starbucks card… that I had to order off of eBay. Whatever.

I heard it was $2.79 somewhere in the Dallas area today.

Ben Folds says, “Won’t you let me walk away sometimes?”

I don’t live in a constant state of reality, so when I have a moment of clarity, I often think, “This is my life? How did I get here?”

I went to the franch (see: farm) the (long for me) weekend of my Uncle Keith’s meeting at church. A “neighbor” had been wanting to get her horses exercised, so I decided to ride. Now… I haven’t ridden in four years or more. And, Buddy hadn’t been ridden in eight months or more. And, I’m not exactly a Western rider. But hey, anything to get on a horse.

In fact, Cowboy Cory said, “I could tell you rode English from the second you got on. You were sittin pretty straight.”

See, the first saddle is what I was using. The second is what I’m used to. Granted, while you’re riding English, your stirrups aren’t up that high (that’s for storage), but I just don’t know what to do with my dangling useless feet in those big, clunky western stirrups! And all I’ll say about reigning is: horses seem to respond much better to English reins than Western.

I’m not saying one way is better than the other, I’m just saying I’m better at one way and both Buddy and I were very confused. After about an hour, he leaned against the round pin and I opted to get off and take him in, rather than have him crush my leg.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this weekend, when I can do it again.

Speaking of Uncle Keith, his meeting was wonderful. Words cannot express. Well, here’s some: Even though I had to get up every morning at 4:30 and I did not get a nap, I was still there every night. I even went to another meeting this weekend and was mostly disgruntled, and I think it’s Keith’s fault. That’s probably not appropriate to say. No, I know it’s not his fault. The rest is probably not appropriate either.

I know, only I can decide how I feel.

Dad has determined that I need to keep gas in my car and keep a gas can full with me. I’ve determined I need my own girl-friendly gas can because the ones in the garage have too many rules, and they’re gross. Can you buy a gas can at Lowe’s?

I roasted some pumpkin seeds, and burned them, so I won’t show pictures. I remember these being delicious, though. My hermit crabs seemed to enjoy them.

Speaking of Uncle Keith, Grandma got her neighbor to host an impromptu photo shoot over the weekend. Here’s some lovely highlights: (link to Family 2008 set)

I chose these not because they’re “portrait”, but because they’re real and interesting. I’d be okay if I never saw another portrait as long as I lived. Thanks, Alex Garza for being awesome (no, he was not the photographer here).

Started reading Twilight on Friday. I’m half way done. I’ve decided that Stephanie Meyer is not a great writer. In fact, she’s a fairly mundane writer. However, that never stopped J.K. Rowling, either. Meyer’s story, though, is pretty enthralling and I’m able to forgo the writing style and enjoy it. Sadly, these books give me the same depression that seeing an excellent movie gives me.

Alas.

I will admit, the more I waste time reading from stepheniemeyer.com, the more I like her. (Better than JK, who I was never fond of.) I like even more that she offers a playlist for each book (anybody who uses that much Muse must be okay). That’s something I would do. If I were to ever finish anything. My mom was right.

Last but not least, this week is not my last week at my stupid “wear a hat” store, as originally intended. I’m pretty annoyed about that. I’m also pretty annoyed that the creepy guy I interviewed with called me today and said, “Um, I’ve been getting calls from other stores telling me you’re working there,” as if I told him I was going to work at his store… Which I did not, for the very reason that he is creepy. “Thanks for telling me! Ugh!” I did. I did!

Oh well. In the whole thing, obviously the Lord’s will is being done in that I’m not leaving my store yet. Ugh is right, Creepy Guy. What do I have to do to get Evan graduated so I can be he paralegal, huh?

Oh yeah, and this is currently my song that makes all other songs obsolete - aka why have other songs?

I post this video because I watched the whole thing and was fascinated enough to watch it again. My good friend Josiah, who always hosts my websites (though I don’t know why, but probably to ensure there’s quality content on the web, because whatever I’m bound to put up is top notch), is at it again with another startup. I can’t tell you what it’s about - mostly (okay all) because I don’t understand it, but their first week of it is cool nonetheless!

Watch and be amazed!

Nectar Hackathon Time-Lapse Video from Dave Onkels on Vimeo.

Onkels = possibly the best name ever.

The house has officially been up for sale for about a month now. Everything was pretty much the same… until today when my parent’s took the washer and dryer. :/ Hmm.

I made some flat-bread this evening with a little olive oil sauce. That other stuff is hummus - original and red pepper. Oh yeah, and that huge styrofoam monstrosity is Dr Pepper. That’s my attempt at not buying cans at the store in order to not drink it. Unfortunately, I’m failing.

This is Version 2 of the Gluten-Free Berry Stellas. They’re more solid than the first round. I used more flower, less oatmeal, and I made the oatmeal with water instead of milk. I also cut up the raspberries and blackberries into tiny pieces. I decided to use cupcake thingies because it’s less mess.

Also, that’s all there is left… I think my mom must really like them.

Also bought 2 more hermit crabs. I thought they were a different species, but after looking at the more, I think they’re the same Caribbeans (PPs) as before. Oh well. No names yet.

There’s this lady at a church out in Athens whose daughter lives in Dallas. She works at a law firm, but does photography on the side. After hearing a bit about her, she sounds a lot like me… I’m praying that she may be able to find me a lead on a legal job downtown. Here’s hoping!

Since Mom’s taking more and more appliances out to the farm… I’m beginning to gather my own. I want to go antiquing this week (for Depression glass) if anyone wants to go with me! I’m also looking for a decently priced KitchenAid Mixer. It’s so exciting to get tupperware, corningware, flatware… and other wares.

I went to the DMA last night. One man tried to force a flower on me, then tried to coerce me into kissing one of my companions for another. Then requested to know which one of them I was dating. Talk about awkward. Then a homeless man lectured my companions and me about how not all homeless people are bad, and also that women are always right. Then, another homeless lady requested funding for about 3 minutes, while continually expelling smoke from every orifice on her person - yet I never saw her take a puff of her cigarette. I also met a young man on the DART who had been working on a full suit of tattoos for 11 years. He thought he could get to Austin in a couple of hours… hmm, not so much.

I have a lot to post about, but I’ve been busy, so I’ve been putting it off. However, tonight I have overcome… only to bring you this:

Do you know what this is?

Lacy and Que do. They already met The Pupae. If I recall correctly, when they figured out what was occupying the mason jar lid on my kitchen counter, screams ensued.

Tonight, I screamed, too. Why? Because one of those cocoons is empty.

Backstory: A few weeks ago, my mom plucked two big, juicy, green caterpillars off of her moonflower plant; they were eating it alive. She put them in a jar and figured they’d die. We thought one died for sure, then maybe the other had died. But… they kept moving. Caterpillars are resilient creatures! They kept living. Then, they turned brown and we thought for sure they’d died. But no, Mom dumped them out of the jar and they wiggled around in their new brown cases, looking strangely like they should be hanging from trees. They actually moved when provoked for several days (as [Que|que] discovered). But, after quite a while of just sitting there in their cocoons, I knew for sure they’d died. Much like posting on Pleonast, I was procrastinating taking their picture. And as tonight proves, I waited an hour too late.

Just a little while ago, I was downstairs looking at the pupae! I even prodded one looking for movement! Then, I came downstairs to get some dessert… and one was open.

Not only was it open…

…but there was goo on the counter, and the floor…

So I called my Mom, “Mom! The Pupae have hatched! It’s somewhere in the house! This is really creepy!”

“Well, it’s probably a really big moth.”

“Thanks a lot, Mom! I can’t find it! I’ve turned on the kitchen light to maybe draw it - AHHH! There it is!!!”

It doesn’t look that big in the picture, but he’s a good 3 inches or so. Oh man. OH MAN.

After I roped it into a big ol’ tupperware and threw it outside, I didn’t take any chances with the other pupae. It went outside, too.

Gross-o-rama.