I haven't posted for a week, so I'm posting. But I have to go now, so bye :P

Busy, busy, busy.

Believe it or not, I've been quite busy the past few days/weeks. I hardly have any time for reading, or just sitting, or anything at all.
After looking at how much school I have left in the year, I decided that if I work hard enough, I'll be able to get it done by Thursday this week, instead of dragging it out until my original finish date of June 15th. So I've been working at that.
My last piano lesson was yesterday, and I took a nap while I waited for my turn at the piano. I was all groggy and sleepy during my lesson, so I didn't play my best.
Friday night I had a little freakout party as I realized for the first time that County Fair is about a month away and I haven't started any 4-H projects. At all. So I pulled out my list of projects I'm signed up for and brainstormed. I thought of a few sewing projects, a couple things to draw, and some other things that I can't remember right now.
Saturday, I went to the store with Liz and started sewing a little bag (Mom's sewing machine was over there). I got to the end of the second step and realized that I didn't have any fusible batting or decor-bond. I really didn't know what either of those things was, so I called Mom and she told me I needed both of them, and to go to a fabric store.
After work, Liz and I went to JoAnn Fabrics and I bought tons of stuff. I don't think I've ever spent that much money there. It was way too fun. I stocked up on things I'll need for my other projects, such as 3 yards of fleece for polo wraps, and fabric and batting for a saddle pad.
I finished the little bag yesterday, and it is soooo cute! I think I did a really good job on it. It was a much easier project than sewing a dress. I'm hoping that my saddle pad works out just as well. Polo wraps will be fairly easy I think, the trickiest part will be cutting the fleece exactly straight.

Today I went to Rebekah's to help her plant her garden. Her parents were there, and we got a lot done, since there were two baby-holders and two (and occasionally three) garden-planters.
It was a very fun and relaxing time. Rebekah and I played in the dirt and mud, and we were little girls together.
At one point I was driving sticks into the ground to mark where the finished rows were, and I wasn't having much luck just pushing straight down on it. So I took it and ran around and around it, twisting it with me. Rebekah and her dad started laughing at me, and I had to stop 'cuz I was so dizzy. I tried to walk, and stumbled all around.

Then tonight we had a couple from our old church over for supper. I read books to their little boy (he's about 2 1/2). He's so precious. He almost fell asleep while I was reading to him. I asked him when his bedtime is, and he said it was at 8:00. They stayed until about 9:30, and he got so sleepy. He's such a sweet little boy :)

Today has been a good day.

If I can keep up with school and finish on Thursday, I'm going to start working "full time" for Mom and really learn her embroidery machines. Then I'll be able to take horse lessons, as soon as I get my license. Stuff is finally starting to fall into place, and God is good to me.

Aaaaaaaaa

I slept with my contacts in last night! :O

Pictures!

As promised, I'll show you some pictures of Jimmy's cake eating ceremony.

 Being serenaded with Happy Birthday. And obviously very smug to have her siblings singing to her.

 Welllllll that was fun :) 

Today I drove for the last time, yes! We drove for 3 hours so we could finish, and went to visit some of Mr. C's friends, 'cuz he had to borrow some tools or something. They live on a lake, so we girls ran down the dock and put our feet in the water while Mr. C was inside talking. The water was freezing!

Then we went to a McDonald's, but it was closed for maintenance. Kenzie said she really really wanted to eat there, so we drove about 15 minutes to another one. Ah, the conveniences of life. 

So we get there, everyone orders what they want, and Kenzie and I go over to the fountain pop thingy where there's straws and stuff. While I was getting a straw for my shake, Kenzie set her paper bag on the counter and filled her soda up, then set it down to get a lid. Her bag started to fall off the counter, so she swung around to catch it and knocked her pop down with her purse. Soda went allll over the shelf, and we died laughing. We could not move, we were laughing so much, and Kenzie almost fell over. When we recovered enough, we grabbed wads of napkins and whiped the pop into the trash, giggling like annoying little high school girls the whole time. 

It was great. Definitely the most fun we've had driving.

Tomorrow and Wednesday is the test. I wonder if Mr. C would let me sleep through Wednesday if I finish it all tomorrow. Probably not.

Waiting.....

For my laundry to finish in the washer. I don't know if I'll stay up for it to go in the dryer, but if I don't I have no idea what I'm wearing tomorrow. I am a ridiculous procrastinator.
So I'm watching time lapse videos and updating my blog. Boring.

Yesterday was Jimmy's birthday, so we went to a bird sanctuary 3 hours away. We were there for about 20 minutes and then turned around and came home. Actually we went shopping in Waterloo before we got home, and I got some sparkly cow earrings :D
Yes, I still shop in the children's section.

Today I made a gluten free/dairy free cake for her, and accidentally messed it up by putting milk in it. So I baked that one, and made her another one with almond milk.
Both of them turned out fine, and I was planning on making 2 anyways, just one was going to be normal, and from a box mix, not from scratch.

Well I thought up a plan so that I don't have to wait up for my laundry to dry. I'll get up and shower like normal, but then I'll get my pajamas back on and dry my hair, then I'll run down into the basement and choose some clothes from the dryer and change real quick right before I go out the door. It's gonna be tight, but I'll make it. *Sigh* sometimes I amaze myself.

Tomorrow a cop is coming to talk to us in Driver's Ed. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we take the exam, and then Thursday I have to go back because I missed a day and thennnnnnnn freedom Friday! It's gonna be great.

This is yet another pictureless post, but I think I might upload some from Jimmy's birthday. She was pretty cute eating her cake :)

Dear Summer,

Welcome back.

It was a shock to be barely able to breathe when I walked outside on Tuesday. Thankfully it's calmed down since then. It's actually a little chilly now.
I didn't realize how much I missed lunch outside. I'm actually developing a tan. A small and barely noticeable one, yes, but still a tan. 

Driver's Ed is almost done! I drive one more time on Monday (Mr. C said we could go to Dairy Queen again, yesss! If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'll do just about anything for food. I am just like a dog), and I'm so excited. Last day of class is on Thursday for me, since I missed one day. It's going to be sooooo nice to sleep in again. This has dragged on for too long *nods*.

I went to Rebekah's house on Saturday morning and then again on Wednesday from about 9:30 to 6. Her and Caleb's landlord, Dave and his son, Brian are staying at their house right now. They've been here for almost 2 weeks and leave on Monday to go back to Alaska. Rebekah does an amazing job keeping up with her little monsters and hosting guests, I really don't know how she does it. So I went to help her out. It was tiring, but a good time.

Hey guess what! I mowed the lawn for the first time in my life on Tuesday. I wanted to mow so bad, don't ask me why because I have no idea. So naturally, being the smart little Timmy that I am, I picked the hottest day of the week to mow. Wonderful, huh? Poppy helped me, or rather I helped him. He mowed most of the lawn with the riding mower and I did the edges with the falling apart and almost unusable push mower. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration. Then I weed whacked, and let's just say that it's a good thing I didn't have to make it look pretty. I sweat tons on a regular day, and I was drenched after we finished. 

Well! This post is boring. It's all words. I like pictures. 

And there ya go! Another grammatically incorrect, all over the place, hard to understand, ridiculously boring post done by yours truly :)
Now I have to go do laundry. byeeeeee

I am a failure of an embroiderer.

Last week on April 30th, my second oldest sister had her baby boy, Elliot. Mom and Dad are going out to visit soon, and Mom has a ton of embroidery to get done before she leaves. So I, being the helpful little Timmy that I am, decided to help her out and embroider some things for her. She had a fairly big order of T-Ball hats, and I've done plenty of hats before, so that seemed like the job for me.
She went out to manage the store today (Jimmy is gone to IL for a doc appt.), but not before giving me a quick crash course in how to do the hats and when the colors would need to be changed. Everything went great during the morning, and I was snapping hats on and off those machines as fast as I could. Around noon, one of the machines had an error that I couldn't fix, so I called Mom and she told me a few things that didn't help either. So I reluctantly decided that I'd better finish the job on the one machine. I had about 20 or so hats left, so I settled in.
I got about 4 hats done when a needle broke on the machine. I hadn't replaced a needle for a while, so I wasn't entirely sure how to do it. I knew how to take one off and put it back, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that there was a front and a back to the needle, and it had to go on right. I just didn't know which was which. I chose a side and installed it.
4 broken needles, 2 ruined hats, and one very frustrated Timmy later, I called Mom and told her what was happening. I couldn't figure out why the needles were breaking, because I'd tried installing them both ways ("The groove that goes all the way up goes at the back, right?"). Apparently the answer was no, but it's hard to understand everything over the phone, so Mom told me yes. I was at my wit's end, since I've not done very much embroidery before, and don't know much about the machines. I really really wanted/needed to get the job finished before Mom got home, because she had more stuff coming that she had to do after supper.
I was frustrated with myself and the machines, and I took a long break. Then I tried again, with a new hat and a freshly installed needle. The thread broke at least 6 times on the first letter, was fine on the second letter, then broke 2 times on the third letter, and started ruining the hat. I quit. I was frustrated. I didn't know what to do. Both Mom and Dad were gone, and they couldn't help me over the phone.
When the rents got home, Dad had a look at the machine and promptly informed me that the needle was in backwards. He showed me the correct way to put it, and thankfully I had cooled off enough that I was simply amused with the whole situation. Moral of the story: if you know next to nothing about the machines, unless absolutely necessary, don't do embroidery while both the boss and the machine tech are gone. The end.

In other news, Poppy and I finally made it to the library today. They called me probably 2 weeks ago and told me that they had a book I had been looking for, and I just never got down there until today. I had to do some banking for Jimmy and pick up some cleaning supplies as well, so I just combined the trip. I had to walk home, but I can't say why because it has to do with my Mother's Day pressie for my mother. Not sure if she reads this or not, but you can never be too careful, right?

Last night I was searching recipe books for something to make for supper, and I came across a delicious looking pudding pie. We didn't really have enough ingredients, but I decided to give it a go anyways. I followed the recipe almost exactly, except for the little bit of cool whip I didn't have. Poured the pudding in on top of the cream cheese and proudly put it in the fridge. An hour later, the pudding was still just as watery. Two hours later, no difference. I was confused, because usually pudding sets in about 5-10 minutes. I decided that I would check it in the morning. I open the fridge today, and it hasn't changed a bit.
I didn't want to waste all that yummy goodness, especially since the only thing wrong with it was the texture. So I poured the watery pudding into a bowl (the bottom layer of cream cheese had solidified), and whipped it for 3 or 4 minutes. No change.
I dug the box out of the trash and guess what? Right there on the box it said cook and serve. Not instant. Apparently there's a big difference. After a well-deserved facepalm, I poured the stuff into a pot and cooked it. Sure enough, it thickened up right away *sigh*. Only me.

This looks like a pretty depressing post, but really all in all today wasn't that bad of a day. Thursday is the best day of the week, and other than that embroidery madness, today was good. It was fine. I guess.

I miss Jimmy.

Ummmmm

Not a whole lot to say, but I figured I owe you a post, whoever you are.

Today I drove and made more mistakes in that one time driving than I ever have before. Mr. S. was in a good mood though, and we laughed about it. I honestly think my driving skills are steadily declining, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Not that I'm a reckless driver exactly, but I'm just not a very good one. Guess that's sorta to be expected with a noob driver.
On the plus side, we went to Dairy Queen, and it was delicious.

Other than that, not a ton happened. I made porcupine meatballs for supper, and it always makes me feel  a little weird when I find the recipe by looking up "porcupines". They were alright, but they didn't become all spiky like they normally do. I'm not sure why though.

And that, dear friends, is a summary of my very exciting day.

P.S. I know it's not the 4th of July, but when I was looking for a background to change from St. Patrick's Day, I fell in love with this one.