And Now Some Bronzer

Before I start I must mention that I'm listening to Gungor's CD: Beautiful Things, the song that's playing is "You Have Me" (you ought to look it up on YOUTUBE and listen while you read this to get the full affect). I have bright red fuzzy socks on, and am wearing a delicious blue, plaid button-up shirt. I'm sitting cozily on my snug bed in the eve of a crisp pre-December night. All but one sibling is out of the house and it's all good.

Oh, and I miss BFF.
There.

Now that that's over with... My other sister arrived the day after my last post. Nothing very interesting happened until Thanksgiving -- that I can remember -- so I'll skip to that. Even then, it was a pretty mellow day (for me) up until I had to start cooking. I sat around the rec room all morning watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade (it was boring) and then movies on TV.
Finally I dashed downstairs and made a quick batch of fudge because the only desserts for the day were Pumpkin pie (by Tina), Apple Bavarian pie (by Rachelle) and a Pear Tart (by Bethany). Um, firstly, pumpkin? No thanks. Secondly, fruit? Even more no thanks!
It's okay, I don't need dessert. But I wanted fudge, so I made some. And this time I made it right! AHHA! I had only used HALF the required amount of chocolate last time! HA!

After setting everything up for my five-mile food dash to the finish line of stuffing our faces, I went upstairs and changed into something presentable and went down and gave my face over to the stylings of Tina. I have to be honest with you... I've never had so much make-up put on my face before... She put THREE layers of stuff on my face! Well, let's back up, you may get lost (especially the guys). First she put on the eye shadow, which was awesome! But, still, a few different colors. Then she started with foundation, this wet stuff applied all over my face with a brush! Then she applied powder all over my face, and then another type of powder. I was a little frightened. Then she said, "and now some bronzer" I was like O_O and THEN the blush! And then eyeliner, mascara and lipstick!
But, surprisingly, I didn't look like a crazy painted lady, it was all subtle (if you can believe that) and I loved the eye shadow! Tina did a good job and I enjoyed looking all done-up. Make-up isn't something I use often, probably once every other month. I like looking natural. But I do like to play around with it from time to time. I don't think it's something that's needed to make someone look beautiful, but I do think it can be a little bit of decoration if used properly :p

Then the eating commenced. Dad read us a cute little poem of thanks. It was so sweet! (and he wrote it himself.) Other than that it was just eating. And eating. And eating. Oh, and my gravy was way too concentrated so I left in the middle to go fix it. BFF called later that evening so that I could open her awesome birthday gifts since she had to work on my bday. She gave me, among other things, an awesome shirt (which I mentioned earlier). It's a man's shirt (yeeeesss), like an old fashioned work shirt some cowboy would wear. And I LOVE IT! Yes, that's just me and BFF for you, buying men's clothes and adoring them. It's so cozy and comfy. She also bought me two movies, one of which I watched that night!

So, on the morning of my birthday I ran downstairs and only the parents and the kids were awake. I had stipulated that I wished to open presents early morning so that we wouldn't be up late (that's how it happens with our bdays, usually,) but everyone was still asleep! That is, everyone except for the awesome moose and elk that came by to say hello! They don't drop by very often so it was a nice surprise. I decided to go back to sleep. And I did, for an hour, until BFF called on her way to work! It was a pleasant surprise, so we got to talk for a little while. Then my mom made me cinnamon waffles. Later I chatted with Wilson buddy for a while before abandoning him to go eat noodles with my brother. But, you see, he bamboozled me into going shopping! (And this is even more weird because it was the brother dragging the sister shopping!!! It's okay, he wanted to get Christmas lights) We went to Sears, JC Penny and Macy's--the last two were my idea. We didn't get anything (okay, he got a few things but I'm not allowed to mention some of them since they are Christmas prezzies). Then we stopped at Michael's just for the heck of it.
And it was a good thing we did! They were having a 12-dollar-deal on canvases! There were packages of 10 small, 7 medium or 5 large. Do you know how good of a deal that is??
????
?!?!!!!!?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I bought a package of mediums for my painting business. MUAHAHA. So now I have 7 canvases expressly for painting on and selling.

Then we went to Costco and found NOTHING. And then, by a stroke of randomness, I found a down comforter. But it wasn't just any, it was a Pacific Coast down comforter! On sale! For 100.00!
Probably the cheapest one I've found yet. And I like Pacific Coast, they made my awesome pillows.
Alas, I didn't have the money for it at the moment. So, instead, I spent 18 dollars on eyedrops since I was THERE. (Dude, 18 for three at Costco or 14 for two at Walmart, which would you want? Yeah, thought so. Three bucks is a lot.)
Finally we went to Noodle Express and ate our fill of noodles and rice and egg rolls. MMM. Then on to Walmart where I bought an awesome prezzie for BFF. (I know, buying presents for friends on my bday, so thoughtful, yes, I know.)
Then we went home where I found Dad putting in crown molding in my room!!! It was at the top of my list and such a surprise! I was so excited and happy! It's not finished yet, but I can't wait to see it when it is. Ah, such a wonderful gift!
Finally we had my party! I made an Andrea quiz, an add lib letter and we played a game where I gathered random things from my room and people got to stare at them for a while then had to write down what they were from memory. Then came prezzies! My mother bought me an antique picture easel. It's more to showcase art than paint on, there wasn't a smidgen of paint on it. It's so beautiful! I also got books, jewelry, chocolate, a cool bracelet, movies, a notebook and a T-shirt that says, "I like Jesus" with a facebook thumbs up, and a Telly Monster beanie hat thing.
For dinner I made some yummy cheese ravioli and alfredo sauce and spaghetti sauce to go with it. Finally we watched Ramona and Beezus, another movie I got for my bday! It was a good day.

The next morning I found that I HAD had enough money to buy that comforter at Costco. And, well, I had been contemplating a comforter for over a year, now, so why shouldn't I buy it? Why not? EH?? So I went down there in the morning, bought a comforter (and some formula for Tina) and came straight home. Do you know, there were FIVE Canadian license plates at Costco. What on Earth? Did they run out of Costco's up there? Or is our American food just too good to be true? (snark). I came home and everything was good. Until the evening, that is, when I started to feel ill.
It turned out Bethany, Bradley and Dad were all feeling ill as well. The flu revisited! AH!
I was freaked out and praying. And then, well, to spare some details, got violently sick in the middle of the night. I slept in the rec room on the couch. Bethany and I had taken it over, being the two sick girls in the rec room. We watched movies all day. Thankfully the violent part had taken up the night, the next day it was all just lying around feeling ill and tired. Rachelle and family traveled home on that day, too. It was sad to see them go but they may be returning to Christmas so it's okay.

That evening I finally started to pull out of it and, by nearly 1 in the morning, felt right as rain, so I showered and got all cleaned up and snuggled into my little clean un-sick bed.
It turned out that everyone felt better the next morning and so we cleaned up the rec room and bade farewell to sickness once more. And good riddance! Praise the Lord for healing and health. I shan't take it for granted.
Well, I do believe that is all I have to say for now!
TATA.