The Epic Last Day of the Year Sleep-In

Today is my favorite day of the year. You get to stay up late. You get to toast in the New Year. You get to watch movies all night. I don't have to wash dishes. And it's also the day of the Epic Last Day of the Year Sleep-In. Since one of my new year's resolutions is to get up earlier - if you get up half an hour earlier every day then you add a week and a half's worth of time to your year - I decided to see just how long I could stay in bed. In spite of the sounds of breakfast, kids playing (loudly), the sounds of lunch (I was getting pretty hungry by then), and my sister typing away maniacally on the computer, I made it until 2:30 before I was bored out of my mind and had to get up. So now I'm going to clean my room and decide which movies to watch while I wait for midnight with my sibs. Inkheart is definitely on the program, and Up, and maybe Kung Fu Panda. I don't think we'll be able to watch more than four or so. And I need to find my stash of Oreo cookies. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to keep Oreo cookies safe in this house ^_^ Happy New Years to everybody! Can I say that already? Or do I have to wait until it's actually New Years?

NOOO!!

NOOO! *sniffle* My baby just left! I won't see him again for like...well, a whole day!

Lists

I love lists and it i s time for me to write my favorite one - 25 things for me to do in the year 2010. So far I've come up with eight things.

1. Graduate
2. Score higher on the ACT
3. Learn to drive
4. Finish the Promise Trilogy/Tetralogy
5. Pass Chemistry
6. Read the entire bible
7. Write 200k during NaNo
8. Be nicer to my siblings

I should probably add 'watch fewer movies' to the list but...*sigh* maybe next year.

Shhh...

EJ came home today! It feels so natural to have a baby in the house again. We got the little sign from the hospital to put in the front yard and everything. It's so much fun! I love that baby! Now if only we can convince the little kids that they need to be quiet when EJ's asleep.

Just call me Aunt Gabrielle ^_^

My nephew was born at 11:01 AM today!!!!! I could probably make this entire post just exclamation points, I am that excited!! He is the cutest little baby boy in the world; my world, anyway. He has big brown eyes and curly brown hair and he's really quiet but really alert. He likes sticking his tongue out for some reason, and it's so adorable ^_^

I barely want to let him out of my sight, but Ne-Ce made me go home *sigh*. So I have to settle for the next best thing, and stare at the pictures I took of him until I can go back to the hospital tomorrow!

I am so grateful that everything went well (even though the doctor barely showed up and the really nice nurse did all the work). I was praying so hard because when EJ was born he was so pale and so quiet, it scared me. But everything was and, God willing, will continue to be just perfect!

Now I'm going back to staring at EJ's pictures :)

Just a random thank you

Y'know, today I was printing another chapter of my book so I could edit it. And I realized how much I love printers. They're so amazing. And I love ink and white paper covered in words.

Ahem. Anyway. My point being, I have been printing my stories since I was nine years old. And my mother never complains about how much of her ink and her paper I consume. In fact, she even gave me my own computer, so I could write more words that I would inevitably want to print. So thank you, Mom. I love you. And your printer :)

Me and my conscience have a conversation

Conscience: You should edit a few pages today, at least

Me: Hm, nah

Conscience: You haven't edited a thing in thirteen days

Me: Whose counting?

Conscience: I am

Me: But why? The story sucks

Conscience: That's why we edit

Me: Easy for you to say, you don't have to do the work

Conscience: Just do one page

Me: Why?

Conscience: Because I said so

Me: Now you sound like me

Conscience: I am you, genius

Me: Sheesh, don't have to be mean about it

Conscience: Open your laptop

Me: It is open

Conscience: Close your chat windows

Me: B-b-but

Conscience: NOW!

Me: Fine. I'm going to work now. So leave me alone.

Conscience: Once you get past your first three urges to stop and get a snack, then I'll leave

Me: Fine

Conscience: Fine

Me: If Ne-Ce calls and says EJ's about to be born, I'm outta here

Conscience: Just edit, Gabrielle

Me: Fine. Right after I -

Conscience: NOW

Me: (closes chat windows and mournfully opens Word document)

Here's my cousin and best friend, Mikey, playing "Croatian Rhapsody." It's the same song I'm learning (hopefully) before the new year. It is massively long, although you can't tell, because the video cuts off. My camera batteries died.



I have performance evaluations and a recital next Monday! Wish me luck!

Gideon

Yesterday I saw my favorite horse, Gideon. I'm still trying to come up with another name for him. So far I've considered Galaxy, Aladdin, and another one that I completely forgot. Now I'm leaning towards Aladdin, because apparently Gideon thinks he's a master pickpocket.

We went for a ride and then I fed him some horse cookies, which he loves. He'd probably climb a tree for them. While he was eating, I stood in the paddock and ate my PB&J. So Gideon finishes his cookie and then "sneaks" up behind me, slips his massive head over my shoulder, and tries to snag my sandwich. It was hilarious. He thought he was being so sneaky but of course I heard him coming a mile away, plus he's massively clumsy and almost felt on top of me. Sometimes he'll come up behind you and put his head on your shoulder and just stand there forever. He's so sweet.

Actually, let me rephrase that. He's sweet to people. Wait, let me rephrase that, too. He's really a pushy, drooling brat. He gets startled easily and kicked a little kid just a few days ago. He's horrible to his brother - he'll snatch food right out of his mouth and bite him when he thinks he's getting too much attention.

But he's sweet to most people, really!

Here is a post to prove my brilliance

That title is sarcastic, of course!

Today I went to the gymnastics center. I was super excited because two days ago I did a layout full twist on the tumble track for the first time. So I figured I could do it again today without too much trouble. The first one I did went okay. I managed to get my feet under me for a landing, although I had too much momentum and flew backwards a second after. Then I got out the camera, because I wanted to show my dad.

Basically, when I try a new skill I have to stand for fifteen minutes and just think about it. Every time I come to the same conclusion - this is no big deal. The worst thing that could happen would be me breaking my neck (kidding!). But when my big sister Kyra turned the camera on me, I rushed it. I got a three quarter turn and heard this really weird cracking noise as I hit the mat and then went flying off of it.

So I got up and started walking back towards my sister and I realized my ankle was hurting. Okay, no big deal. It didn't hurt too badly. I figured I'd walk it off. A few minutes later it wasn't feeling any better, but I really didn't want to tell Kyra that I'd hurt myself because then she'd take us home, and my other two sisters who were tumbling would miss out. So I walked around a little more. Kyra kept asking what was wrong. I kept saying nothing.

Finally, I decided I'd try the full twist one more time. I did it, managed to get all the way around, and my ankle didn't hurt that much. So I did it a few more times. Didn't hurt at all. I was feeling great until we started walking out of the gym and I realized - yeah, just realized - that I was limping. Okay, still not too bad. I'd live. By the time we got in the car it hurt really badly. By the time we got home I was hopping on one foot. Now I'm sitting at my desk with my foot propped up on a pillow with ice.

The only one who came out better for my geniusness is my sister Liz, who gets to laugh every time I crawl - literally crawl, because hopping is really tiring - up the hallway.

Aren't I brilliant?

Post-NaNo and other stuff

I have discovered something incredible - to me, at least. Compared to writing a novel, Spanish and Algebra 2 aren't very hard. My mom is convinced that I have time to do Trigonometry before graduation, but I really, really don't want to.

Now that NaNo is over I'm kind of puttering around, trying to remember what I used to do every day. In a few days I'll start editing - blegh - but there's also the fun of novel swaps, which I love! When else would you get to read a bunch of novels about everything from fantasy quests to the apocalypse?

Now the doctor is saying that my nephew won't be born until the twenty-first! This guy cannot make up his mind and it's driving me insane. How am I supposed to wait that long? It's practically impossible. I'm going to go crazy waiting for little EJ. I've been waiting and waiting and - ugh. I'm stopping right now. I think I've been ranting about my nephew for forever. Even his mother probably wants me to stop :) I have ton of school and editing to do in the meantime.

How was everybody's Thanksgiving? I missed seeing my grandparents :( but I did get to spend the whole day with my sisters.