Sledding

I grew up on a farm in Virginia; at least that's what I tell people. My earliest memories were created on that farm, many of them fond, some not. The one that seems to come back to me the most is as follows.

One winter a big storm came through the valley, dumping inches of white fluffy snow on the ground. It was perfect for sledding. My brothers and I made the short hike out to our favorite sledding hill, which doubled as the front hay field when not covered in snow, dragging sleds behind us. We had borrowed our friend's toboggan sled, a long molded sheet of hard plastic on which three children could slide down the hill at incredibly fast speeds, or so it seemed to our young minds. Upon conquering the sledding hill, my brothers and I would pile onto the sled, Keith in the front, then me, then Paul bringing up the rear. The first few runs would take a minute to get started; the snow was still soft and the sled would stick. Paul would place his hands on my back and run and push us like an Olympic bobsled team going for the gold medal, jumping on just as the sled began to speed down the hill. Sometimes we would successfully make it all the way down the hill, coming to a stop slowly at the bottom. More frequently one of us would lean to one side throwing the sled off balance and thrusting us head first into the snow, sending us rolling and laughing all the way down the hill. We sledded for most of the afternoon, our cheeks and foreheads becoming rosy as the sun glinted off the tiny snow crystals, slowly baking our faces. The sun sank low on the horizon and our tummies told us it was time to go home. We walked home, pulling the sleds behind us, smiling and laughing, knowing that Mom would have grilled cheese and soup for us when we got back.

That evening the farmer who rented the land let the cows into the front hayfield. If you've ever been around cows, you know that they don't plan where they relieve themselves. In this case they relieved themselves on our nicely packed sledding hill. That evening it froze again. The snow which had partially melted during the day turned to ice, and on top of the snow was an ever so thin layer of ice. Also at the top of the snow on our sledding hill were frozen cow pies, dotting the hill like landmines ready to destroy a perfect trek down the hill. Soon after lunch we found those pies, and saw them as a challenge. We were determined that the cow pies would have no effect on our sledding for the day. WE WOULD NOT LET IT STOP US!!

more to come...

Riding In Cars With Boys

Every weekday morning, I begin my public life by riding in a car. A quick beep beep summons me out to the car where I am usually greeted by four aging men. My dad hollers "Laura, it's time to go!" as he walks out the front door. Friday the driver was Pops, an old man with a Tennessee accent and thick glasses, by far the oldest looking man in the carpool. "Morning," he says as I slide into shotgun. He puts the car into reverse and we slowly back out of the driveway. "Morning," I reply as I suffle my backpack, lunchbox and water bottle into a comfortable position around my feet. The half hour commute to work wears on, growing increasingly painful by the minute. Pops feels that conversation is necessary to ward off awkward silence. I happen to disagree, but the decision is not left up to me. "So what are you doing at work today, Laura?" "The same thing I do every day," I reply as images of a mouse with global ambitions and a large head enter my mind and bounce around like the slender sidekick of my mouse friend. "Oh, right. And what is that again?" he asks. "I sort checks, enter them into the computer, that stuff." I reply, hoping he catches the annoyed tone in my voice. He thankfully does. "Oh right. Thanks for doing that, we really appreciate everything you all do." "No problem." I am getting paid after all, and a lot more than most folks my age with no real work exprience. The rest of the ride is carried out in silence, and I am finally allowed to tilt my head back and sleep for the remainder of the ride.

It Has Come To My Attention...

...That my blog is really boring. My life is really boring. I get up every day, go to work, come home, go to the gym on occasion, watch TV, hang out with people a couple of nights a week, sleep. That for the moment is my life. In reading about other people's lives, I have come to realize that there are so many important things occuring around the world at this very second, so many interesting things, and I am not privy to any of it. You know what I did today? Attended church this morning, came home, ate lunch, went to the gym, came home, went to a friend's house, played billiards, watched a movie. That was it. Nothing particularly exciting.

And yet I have become satisfied with my boring life. It's not exciting, but I am content to go to work and actually do something. It's not even particularly funny to anyone but me.

Health woes

My blood pressure yesterday was 160/110. If you aren't familiar with blood pressure, this means nothing, if you are, you know that this is ridiculously high. I talked to my mom on the phone today and she kind of freaked, not to me, but I can tell by her reaction. My parents are out of town for the time being, and they kind of left me in charge of the house. Seeing that I have two brothers who don't really care what the house looks like, it is an uphill battle to keep it reasonably clean. This has caused me some frustration, which has lead to unnecessary stress, which inevitably raises my blood pressure. I have never seen my blood pressure that high, and it worried me, but not as much as it worried my mom. She talked to my brothers this afternoon and I'm guessing told them to be nice and helpful. Keith cleaned up after dinner tonight without being asked (which NEVER happens). Paul said he would make a deal to cook dinner and clean up afterwards for every day that I went to the gym. The thing is, I would rather not be treated like an invalid, and frankly, it's not fair for either of them if I sit around. Paul has a job, and Keith has had school since I got home, although he gets out tomorrow.

I thing the stress that I'm experiencing is stemming from more than just house work, because I don't mind house work. I still don't have a job, and the prospect of going through that process is stressful, because I hate asking people for things. I'm really independent, which perhaps is why I'm reacting like this to my mom asking my brothers to help out. I'm not an invalid. I can do things for myself, I don't need my brother to cook for me every night. It's not like I'm going to die.

I don't understand why my blood pressure was so high anyway, because I am currently under relatively low stress, especially in comparison to the past semester. And I've been exercising too, a lot, so one would think that would have a positive effect on my cardiovascular health, not negative. I know I'm overweight, and I'm working on that, but come one now, I'm no more overweight than I was this past semester. I guess I'm just a little confused about the whole thing.

Thoughts

Shrek 2 was pretty funny, not as funny as I had hoped, and certainly not as funny as mi hermano major made it out to be, but funny none the less.

Exercise is fun, especially when you start seeing results.

muhahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa

I miss my ADK girls, especially the ones who aren't coming back next semester! I don't think I've ever been so excited to see someone on instant messenger in my LIFE, except for when I moved up to college and saw my Orlando friends online for the first time. It's strange how tight of a bond you make with people in less than a year, but I'm missing all of them (well, maybe not ALL, most) a lot.

My brother has been really not nice today...maybe it's his time of the month. Yes, I know, guys don't have that time of the month, but I really think there is something hormonal going on that changes that makes them cranky and plain disagreeable. And furthermore, must he sit in front of the TV blocking the view of EVERYONE else in the room? Gee, it's like he thinks he's the only one that lives there. And where does he get off treating my other brother like crap? It's not like he's perfect, even if he acts like he is.

Being "the woman of the house" is really freaking hard. My parents are out of town for 2 weeks and I get to play mom for said period of time, and frankly it sucks. Boys are so dirty. They cook something and they don't wash their dishes when they're done. If I didn't clean up their food it would stay out there all week. When I wasn't responsible for things I didn't notice them, like the daily overflow of the trash can. Oh crap, I totally forgot to pick the vegetables today...SHOOT! The living room is always messy because none of us fold blankets when we're done with them, Paul insists on throwing the throw pillows all over the room. I know they are throw pillows, but that's their title, not their purpose. I have a lot more appreciation for my mother now that I've had to take her place for a brief period of time.

Ok, enough of my thoughts for now. Go do something productive.

My First Two Weeks of FREEDOM

I've been home for about two weeks now, and it has definitely been strange living with my family again. All five of my family members now live under the same roof full time. My older brother has not really lived here for almost 2 years, and he's back now because of his internship at Lockheed Martin. Everyone in my family has stuff to do except me. Why? Well honestly, I'm a little lazy. I don't have a job yet, although I've been working on it a little harder lately. I took an alphanumeric typing test Monday so I could get a job at Campus Crusade, even though that might not happen at all. Due to my lack of a job, I spend much of my time at home in bed, or playing stupid computer games, or watching old TV shows, or listening to music, or cooking, or doing yard work, or cleaning the bathroom, or my room, or the living room, or the kitchen. I do a lot of cleaning. My brother seems to think that since I've come home he is totally absolved of doing chores, which irritates me more than a little.

And now for a disgusting story...
When I came home, I was greeted by a bathroom which had not been cleaned for several months, not weeks, MONTHS. Perhaps boys are blind to the layers of dirt and grime building up on the bathtub floor and walls, the hardened toothpaste permanently fused to the sink. Unfortunately, I was not born with selective impairment of sight. After a day of prodding my beloved brother to clean the bathroom with little result, I set to cleaning it myself. It took three long hours, but believe me, the room sparkled - just like in those corny scrubbing bubble commercials.

This weekend I hung out with "the gang" quite a bit. Now that everyone (except me) has a job, that is pretty much the only time we have to hang out. Saturday night I went over to a friend's house and we played croquet in the back yard and jumped on their trampolene, not at the same time of course. After it was too dark to stay outside and the mosquitoes started biting, we retired to the living room where we sat around talking like a bunch of old fogeys and flipping through magazines. At least no one was knitting. The guys started talking about hunting and firearms and politics and history, and we contented ourselves with flipping through "Country" magazine looking for the hidden needle. Ok, so that's not all we did, but to think that we were doing that at all, boy, we need a life.

Sunday afternoon a bunch of us got together and played ultimate frisbee and volleyball, which was a lot of fun. I haven't played a good game of ultimate frisbee since the trip to Estonia 2 summers ago. It was a lot of fun. All of this to say, yes, we do engage in youthful activities sometimes - no need to worry about the premature aging of my friends and I.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Summer Vacations

Being back on summer break is kind of a strange feeling. I could not wait for this time to come when I was at school, but now that it's here, I miss my friends from up there (and if any of the ADK girls happen to read this, I don't know how they would, but I miss ya), but it's nice being back with my friends down here, especially the hot ones of the male species.

So why is my summer vacation not totally peachy? Well, I don't have a job. This has effected my break in several ways. First, I sit around the house all day not doing anything. Second, my parents are very aware that I don't have a job, which is something they've been prodding me to do for the two previous summers (basically, they remind me daily that I need to be looking for a job). Third, lack of a job equals lack of money; lack of money equals no fun for me; let us face it, you need money for EVERYTHING!!! Oh, and what makes it worse, my brother is being paid $18 an hour to work for Lockheed Martin this summer!! AGH!!!!!!! I should mention that I haven't really TRIED finding a job yet, but I don't really feel like it. Frankly, I like sitting around all day.

On a totally different note, my family has joined the Y. Yeah, as in "It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!!!" sung by a bunch of gay men in funny outfits as will as every kid who hasn't realized what these gay men are getting at. Anyway. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical glider, which SUCKED, because I stepped off and felt like I'd done 30 minutes of stadiums. I've been walking funny ever since, and the stair to my room which were once a minor obstacle have become a chore. Ok, so it's not that bad. I am actually quite thankful because I'm on the heavy side, and I would love to get into shape for the first time in my life.

I have just recounted what I've been doing for the last two weeks. Pretty boring, eh? Oh my gosh, I've been home for two weeks, and have done nothing. Wow, this sucks. Oh well, nothing is good, right? Oh, and if you have a job that needs to be done, I'm here. I am smart, reliable, and loyal. I have a 3.87 GPA, and I'm an 18 year old Junior in college....HIRE ME!!!!