queendom

I’ve got a bunch of pictures on my camera that I need to post here, but the cord has runaway again. So I’m just going to ramble on about a few things, you know, BECAUSE I CAN. Deal with it.

1. School starts next Monday. Less than a week from today. Weird, huh?? I feel like just yesterday, I was getting out of school for the summer. I’m glad though- summer has gotten a little boring lately.

2. My never-ending source of money is about to end. Once school starts, I won’t be able to babysit every day, and that’s basically all I do to earn cash. I’m freaking out! How am I going to continue my awesome pile of life savings?

3. I. Got. An. ATM. Card. That’s right. I have my own band account! And there’s no monthly fees, since I’m a minor. Every time I earn money, I can give it to my Dad, and he’ll put in in the bank when he goes past it. Also, now when he needs to pay me for babysitting, he just transfers it from his account to mine. Sweet.

4. I made brownies for no reason yesterday, just thought you might want to know.

5. Seven Peaks has a new slide, that I haven’t been on yet. I don’t know why, but that place just isn’t that fun anymore to me. I love going there and just reading, or relaxing on my towel. But the slides don’t hold excitement for me. Maybe I’m just getting lazy, who knows. They’re still fun, I just don’t feel the pull to go on like ten in a row. (My cousin does.)

6. Update on my story: It’s slow going. When I actually open it up to work on, I can’t seem to write anything. The most I wrote in the past week was a few paragraphs. If this is writer’s block, it’s never ending. I promised myself awhile back that I wasn’t going to give up on this idea, but it’s hard not to. The good thing is, the writer’s block is spread out to everything I write, not just the one story. So if I ever try to start something else, I can’t. Depressing positive point, right?

7. I made a new poll! Check it out!

8. I hope this list entertained you, because it’s now ending. I gotta go look for the camera cord. Ta-Ta!

I’ve discovered a new favorite song. Don’t make fun of me.

It's just so fun to play on the piano! Everything is light and happy. And I couldn't figure out a few parts, so I listened to the song. LOVE IT! I know, I'm a nerd and a little kid. Who cares?

So… this is my schedule for eight grade. Terms one and two are the same, and terms three and four are the same. I’m really excited that I got into Band, and I’m looking forward to percussion. I didn’t get into Journalism, which is pretty disappointing, but at least I get to do creative writing.

Enjoy!

TERM: 1
1 Band
2 US History 8 A
3 English 8
4 Integrated Science 8 A
5 Health 8
6 Food Exploration
7 Geometry

TERM: 3
1 Band
2 US History 8 B
3 English 8
4 Integrated Science 8 B
5 Creative Writing
6 PE Girls
7 Geometry

Yesterday, I went with Jessica and her mom to the school, to get my schedule. We met Aimee there, too. It turns out that in the first semester, I have second, third, fourth, and fifth period with Jessica! That changes in the second semester- we don’t have fifth period together. But who cares? It’s still a ton of classes.

I don’t have anything with Aimee, Sadie, Katya, or Becca, and I’m not sure about Syd. But it’s sad!

With Kelsie, I have Band, Health, and Geometry with her. Yay! It’s nice because I had no classes with her last year.

I can’t wait to decorate my locker! I have SO MANY magnets that have been waiting all summer for this. Literally, I have like twenty. I also want to get a magnetic bucket or something, to hold my pencils in so I don’t lose them. I did that a lot last year.

Speaking of lockers, I practiced opening mine yesterday, and they’re hard! The way to open them is so different from the seventh grade lockers. It took me about ten tries to get it open. Also, the lockers are upstairs. Some people might think that’s good, but to me, it just means a lot of tripping and broken bones.

On that happy note… I think I’ll end this.

Went to the mall today… nuff said…

Creepiest manikins ever.

Dun dun dun... sparkly gold dress hidden in the shadows...

Haha I locked myself out of the dressing room, so Aimee crawled under to unlock it. Friends help friends, or whatever.

Little Miss Sunshine, are you?

Can you see her lightning bolt? It's so awesome!

It was so fun! We spent a fortune, embarrassed ourselves, and freaked out the mall cops. I can't wait to go again!

Saw this going on outside and couldn’t resist taking pics! I’d make the pictures bigger, but every time I do that, they get all stretched out and don’t fit.

I had to work so hard to get them to be serious.

Um... not sure whats going on here...

It's not summer unless your tongue is purple and your hands are sticky.

I’ve been getting more serious with my music lately… even though I’m currently not taking lessons, I want to get better at piano. Grandma B brought by a bunch of sheet music a few weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to learn the songs. A few of my favorites are, “Walk Tall, You’re a Daughter of God,” and “If We Hold On Together”. Mom’s been getting annoyed lately, because according to her, all the songs I play are depressing.

Believe it or not, I used to take guitar lessons. Not anymore, but I still remember a few things. Last week, I brought out my guitar for the first time in forever. I played a few old songs, and then used tab to play “If We Hold On Together”. It was easier than I thought! So there I was, strumming and singing along like I was a pro. Jack Johnson would have been proud.

The prologue and Chapter one are also available… click on categories in the sidebar- They are in the category, “Keeper, my writing project”. I hope you like my story!

As I walked, I thought about everything that I had to get done before Aunt Sarah got home. A small pit formed in my stomach as I imagined the huge piles of dishes waiting for me. If only Aunt Sarah could help with something, I thought bitterly. Yeah, right. People will live on the moon before that happens- Aunt Sarah can’t even pay with her own money half the time.

I still remember the day I earned my first ten dollars. I had been helping Mrs. Jones next door all day, pulling weeds and planting flowers. When we were finished, she paid me for my hard work; a ten dollar bill. I stared at it the whole way home, thinking of all the wonderful things I could buy.

Aunt Sarah confiscated it as soon as I walked through the door.

“I need it more than you,” Was her explanation. That night, I snuck into her room to get my money back. It was gone- and in its place were a bag of chips, and a six pack of soda.

Sarah regrets having to take me in- she thought my mom would be back in no time. No more than a few years. Well, I guess that was a big disappointment for her. The older I got, the more resigned she got. She stopped putting in effort. I was left to fend for myself.

It’s a good thing I found Jessica and Maddie -Without them my life would have been really dull. They annoyed my aunt in a way that was amusing, but also dangerous because I got grounded a ton.

She’s never liked Maddie and Jess. I don’t know why. She’s tried to scare them away, but they held fast like superglue. I’m glad for that. I think deep down, I’m always worried that someday they’ll have enough of me and my crazy aunt. But they’d probably laugh if I told them that.

I walked inside; the loud sound of the door slamming shut bringing me out of my thoughts. I pulled my boots off and then trudged slowly down the hallway to my room. The house was silent; Aunt Sarah didn’t get home until six, so I usually had the house to myself.

Throwing my backpack on the floor, I collapsed onto the bed. It had been a long day. I had tons of homework, dinner to make, and a house to clean. But right then I just wanted to fall asleep. Instead, I dragged myself back up. Deciding to start with straightening the house, I walked back down the hallway to the kitchen.

It was a mess, with the leftover of this morning’s breakfast still all over the table. I headed straight to the sink, and washed all the dishes. Leaving them drying on a towel laying on the counters, I turned back to the table. Using a washcloth I wiped it all down, scooping the eggs into the garbage. Then I swept the floor, and put the dishes away.

My phone vibrated, interrupting my cleaning frenzy. I slipped it out of my back pocket and flipped it open. It was a text from Jessica, wondering when I was going to be done cleaning. Rolling my eyes, I texted back, Never. I smiled. That ought to stump her for a while, I thought.

Dinner, I remembered. I hurried back into the kitchen, and cracked open the fridge. I decided on spaghetti, something simple.

While the noodles and sauce cooked on the stove, I made a salad. Then I set the table for two, and strained the noodles. Soon, everything was ready, and I had a half an hour of time on my hands. I headed back to my room to start on homework.

All too soon, Aunt Sarah was home. The door slammed, and I heard her kicking her shoes off and thumping down the hallway to the kitchen.

“Did you make dinner?” She barked from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, it’s on the table.” Like I didn’t make dinner every night; for a moment I wondered how she would survive without me being her personal slave.

I sighed, and put my book down; I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. Heading to the kitchen, I could already hear her helping herself to the food. Pausing at the door, I took a deep breath before walking in. Aunt Sarah pretended not to notice me as I took a seat at the table. We ate in awkward silence for a few minutes.

She paused in her spaghetti, looking up at me with a scowl already on her face.
“This is terrible,” She said. Way to be blunt, I thought.

“I didn’t say you had to eat it,” I snapped at her. Any other night I would have just ignored it, but for some reason her comment really got to me. Widening her eyes at my reply, she reddened in anger.

“You don’t talk to me like that,” She said, poking her fork in my direction. Shoving the rest of dinner in my mouth, I stood up and went into the kitchen.

Washing my dishes furiously, I made a list of reasons in my head of why I shouldn’t react to Aunt Sarah. For one, she’ll end up grounding me, I thought. I’ll get lectured for an hour, and assigned extra chores, and have to pay for the groceries out of my own budget… the list went on and on. I tried to listen to common sense, but one big part of me just wanted to go back to Aunt Sarah and rant and rave at her until she melted into a little puddle of sewer water.

Fifteen minutes later, I was done cleaning up dinner. Tiptoeing up to my bedroom, I got ready for bed- pajamas and all. Pulling my favorite book off of the shelf, I got under the covers and dived into the story. Soon I was lost in the world of Harry Potter, my mind for once stuck on wizards and magic; not how well I mopped the dining room floor.

An hour later, I closed my book, shut off the flashlight, and slowly drifted off to sleep-a sleep filled with yelling Sarahs floating all over, and my math teacher holding up my book and shaking his head, and a door. Not just any door… a glowing door- a door that was calling me to it.

Come, It seemed to whisper straight into my brain. Come and see… Come, and find out who you really are. I tried running towards it, straining to get there before it disappeared. I stretched out my hand, and it almost brushed the faded, knobby wood of the door. I tried to grasp the handle, but it was too late. The door was fading away, the glow dimming. Come, It beckoned again. Come…

Ella had her very first bike race today!

She was first in her category, but also last. Seeing as she was the only one in the 10-12 group. She got two medals, a free jersey, a $30 dollar certificate to Jason's Deli, and a water bottle. LUCKY! Great job Ella! Well, until next time.

These are my pics from the beach. We drove down to South Carolina on Wednesday, the day after I landed. It was a ten hour drive… moan. Anyways, most of these pics will be of us at the ocean, or they’ll just be random.

Aaaaaannd that's my boogie board. Well, I hope you like the pics! That video is of the hermit crab that we found. Until next time... BYE!