Little Bros Bday :)

Today (April 30th) was my little brothers birthday. He turned seven today and he had a really nice happy day. All this past year I have periodically asked him "are you my buddy?" and every time he has replied "only on April 30th".  So today I remembered to ask him if I was his buddy and he said "you know it!" Then he gave me the biggest hug. It was just so sweet I almost wanted to cry :) I had to blog about it because I never want to forget it <3

rant

It's happening again..and again..and again..how do I stop? I'm literally addicted to procrastinating. There needs to be a self help group for this like seriously. There are are too many things I find more important and more interesting than homework. I need to figure out self control. That must be the only way to stop. On a different note, I have been playing the role of mommy a lot more lately. My moms job has gotten so much busier. I was already getting my two younger brothers off the elementary bus every day and she seems to come home later and later every day. She has also had to go on a business trip and she has to go on another one soon. I am finding this so annoying. and frustrating. I don't want to have to babysit my brothers every day. I'm tired of watching them and feeding everyone and doing all the things my mom used to be able to do. She has to work so we can afford everything but I wish she didn't have to work so long. There are so many times when she has to do extra work in the evenings/weekends too. I hate hate hate it. Plus, it's baseball season again, so my dad isn't around as much either. He comes home every day and then its off to baseball practice/game with my brothers. And then, when my mom does have free time, she is at the baseball games and I'm left at home all alone. Eating dinner alone. Cooking dinner alone. Always walking the dog because no one else is ever home long enough to do it. Right now, I just feel depressed, alone, and tired. Very tired.

Memories

On the surface this is an empty glass coke bottle. But to me it's more. A few years ago my mom and I visited the coca cola factory (the museum part) in Atlanta, GA. It was a really interesting experience and it gave me an appreciation for coke that I didn't know I had. At the end they take you in to a big room with all the coca cola products from around the world organized by country. Some of them were delicious and some were disgusting. (If you ever go, do NOT try Beverly from Italy)  Anyway, at the very end of the tour there is a conveyor belt loaded with glass coca cola bottles like the one above, except these were filled with coke. Everyone was invited to take one as a free souvenir. My mom and I both took one. The next day was our last day in Atlanta.
Now we faced a predicament, we wanted to keep the bottles but we couldn't take them into the airport (you can only take certain amounts of liquid in for security reasons) unless we drank the coke. Here was the problem: we had no bottle opener. We were stopped at a McDonald's off the highway in our rental car on our way to the airport with no way to open the bottles. Both of us would have been devastated to just throw the bottles out, so we made do with what we did have. First we tried the car keys, which failed immediately. So we opened the back passenger door, there was a little metal thing sticking out where the door goes. So my mom took the bottle and pushed it against the metal thing as though it was a bottle opener. It worked, but the coke went EVERYWHERE. This was in our rental car may I remind you. We frantically cleaned it up and needless to say, we did not attempt to open the second bottle. We just kept this one and threw the other one away. My mom was so embarrassed, she said I couldn't tell anyone when we got home. We told them anyway.
It was just so ridiculous and hilarious. I would love this glass bottle anyway because it looks cool, but I also love it because it gave me one of my favorite memories of my mom and I. Sentimentality is a wondrous thing. Who knew it would come from a coke bottle?
-Natalie <3

Harry Potter Memes

Two Harry Potter posts in less than a week! (You can read the other one here) I'm not completely addicted I promise!

Anyway, this is just a compilation of my favorite Harry Potter memes :)

 

Well I hope you that enjoyed that! I know I did :) It was fun just looking through all the memes on Google and picking some of my favorites. Let me know if you wanna see more posts like this!

-Natalie

Bad Day

So I'm just having a crappy afternoon. I had my wisdom teeth out on monday so really, I've had a crappy week. I can't eat or go out and do anything and I'm just really, really bored.

My friends went and had a really really nice time in town but I couldn't go because my mouth hurts and I look like a chipmunk with bruises on its face. Yep I have giant bruised cheeks. Here is a picture for your entertainment:

Overall, today is just one of those deyes (comment if you get it) where you don't feel like doing anything and it just sucks. But at least I know it will get better...eventually. Probably not tomorrow, but maybe the next day. Or the next day. Maybe. Anyway venting always makes me feel better so thanks for listening, er...reading...
k'bye
-Natalie

HARRY POTTER

So whatever reason, I have never, before these past two weeks, made an account on pottermore. Now I find this so weird because I LOVE Harry Potter. Like read the books ten times each love it. So I always knew pottermore was a thing, but I always thought it was just a game, which I wasn't super interested in. But it wasn't until recently that I found out JK Rowling posts new content on there. As in new writings about the wizarding world of Harry Potter!!! So I was like umm I need to get on this. So I did. I made an account and got sorted and it was sooo cool!!

Now I've never given any serious thought to which house I would be sorted into. So, like most people, I always just assumed gryffindor, because I thought it was the best. So when I was sorted into hufflepuff, I was a little surprised. But when I read more about the description, it seemed more and more like me. Here's the quote that really resonated with me:

"Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal. We don't shoot our mouths off, but cross us at your peril; like our emblem, the badger, we will protect ourselves, our friends, and our families against all-comers. Nobody intimidates us."

When I took the little quiz to sort me, I was dealing with friend drama and I was in mother-bear mode. So these few lines really made me feel like this was my house and I could be proud of that.

Now, onto the new content. On pottermore you can go through different scenes in the book in an interactive way. This is where you can find the new content. In this screenshot, you can see that some of the scenes have little red feathers in the upper right corner. This means there is new content hidden in that scene somewhere. This has been SO MUCH FUN! Finding all the new writings and reading them is now my new favorite hobby. The new content gives me such a better understanding of the characters and the wizarding world in general.

If you love Harry Potter, and you haven't looked into pottermore yet, do it! SO, SO much fun! Also if you've been on pottermore for a long time, let me know other stuff about the site I might be missing out on!

-Natalie 

Procrastinating: part 2

*If you don't want to read this whole post, please read the last paragraph, I need your help*

So last month I wrote a post on procrastinating. You can read that here. I feel like since then my procrastinating has gotten worse. Much worse. So much so that on Monday night I got one hour of sleep. I practically pulled an all-nighter. This is something I had always told myself I would never do. Yet there I was, awake until four thirty tuesday morning. The worst part about it was that I had absolutely and completely no excuse. I was not busy over the weekend. I had no other homework. AND we had monday off for a teacher work day. Not only was I not busy, not only did I have no other work, but I also had an extra day to do it.  

At 3 in the morning my mom came into my room and found me still working. I was so ashamed. I was crying and telling her "I know I know I can't ever do this again!" "I never thought it would take this long!". You know, the usual excuses. But this time was different. What I did, or didn't do, has affected me this whole week. I am still yet to completely make up for all the lost sleep. I am unbelievably lucky and thankful to God that I didn't  get into a car accident this week. I was exhausted. Shutting my eyes at stoplights, feeling dizzy and lightheaded from lack of sleep. My simple act of procrastinating could have cost me my life. And because it didn't, I want to change. I never want this to happen again. If I ever get into a life threatening car accident, I do not want it to be my fault. Hell I'm worried about potentially losing my own life, I could have killed someone else too. This may seem dumb to worry about something so unlikely, but this is not something I want to joke about anymore. On thursday when this homework was assigned, I actually turned to my friend and said "you know I'm gonna be doing this on monday night." 

How would I have felt, if on tuesday morning on my way to school, I hit a car and someone died. And I would have known that it was because I was tired and my reflexes were slower. I would have known that someone died because I procrastinated. That I could have prevented this. 

I'm not writing this because I think that was likely to happen. I'm not even writing it because I feel guilty. Yeah, I definitely feel guilty. But thats not why I'm writing this. I am writing this to scare myself, my future self. This is for next time. This is for the time when I'm bored and I decide to check to see if someone commented on my blog instead of doing my homework. This is so I remember that actions have consequences that could be completely unforeseeable.  

There is one other reason that I'm writing this. Aside from the drama and scare-tactics, I need help. I do not know how to get out of this vicious cycle. I am calling it a vicious cycle for several reasons. One, whenever I procrastinate, I am under a time constraint so I am more motivated, I get it done faster. Two, I always manage to get good grades anyway. And three, I never see a reason not to do it again. For the few people who have read this post of gigantic proportions, I need your help. I want your help. I'm just going to assume that you have procrastinated at least once in your life. What I want to know is were you able to stop? If so then tips are greatly appreciated. If not then were in the same boat. It would be great to have some buddies in this boat. We can help each other, rescue each other when we drown. I don't know about you, but I wish there was a support group for procrastinators. Maybe we can start our own. Or maybe no one will read this. But thats okay, I'll start anyway. 

Hi, my name is Natalie, and I am a procrastinator.  

Deals Deals Deals

So the other day I went shopping and found a BUNCH of deals. So much fun!!

The first thing I found were these jeans from American Eagle. These are normally $40 but I got them for $14!

At H&M I got these necklaces for $1! It is two necklaces, a gold heart and a silver arrow. Both have really long chains which I like because I don't really have anything like that. 

Then I got this hat, also H&M, for $3. It's a really plain black knit beanie. I tried to find it on the website but I couldn't so here is a  similar hat I found. Just in case your interested! ;)

This purse is also from H&M (they were having a great sale). I got it for $5 and I love it because the texture is almost like felt and I also don't have a green purse. Haha.

Also from H&M were these little bags which I thought were really cute. They were only $1 and I thought you know, every girl can always use another little bag.

So in total I spent $24 and got all these nice things. I just looove bargains. So getting all this for so cheap makes me really happy! I also like to hear about other peoples deals (because I'm nosy!). So tell me if you got anything for a really good price lately!

xo

Natalie

Snow Day Chili!

It has been snowing here all day today so we had no school and it seemed like the perfect day for chili. Normally we make chili the lazy way from a can but today I decided to make my own chili. I used this recipe from Betty Crocker. Because my family (myself included) is pretty picky, we don't normally like a lot of chucks of tomatoes, onion, or peppers so I adapted this recipe a little so that there were less chunks. 

First, I defrosted 2 lbs of cooked ground beef (We buy a lot of ground beef at once then cook it all and thaw it when we use it) and put it into a (very) large crock pot.

Then I sauteed 1/3 cup of chopped onion and added it to the crock pot. 

Then I added three 15 oz. cans of plain tomato sauce, one 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes and green chilies, and one 16 oz. can of red kidney beans. Next I added spices.

Two teaspoons of onion powder,

one quarter teaspoon of garlic powder,

two tablespoons of chili powder,

one and a half teaspoons of ground cumin, 

and half a teaspoon of salt and pepper. ( 1 tsp each)

Then, after stirring it up, I covered the crock pot, turned it on low, and let it simmer for approximately six hours. 

Then we finally sat down to eat. It was delicious! Way better than the canned chili we usually buy. The only downside to this is the fact that it takes six hours. However, the ingredients really only need to be heated up because the meat is already cooked. So really the six hours only makes the chili a little more flavorful, it isn't entirely necessary. Let me know how it turns out if you make this and tweet me a picture @natt_beth. 

-Natalie

Happiness

Today I had a wonderful afternoon shopping (which I will write a post for soon) and everything was great until I picked up my brothers from the bus and went home. We walked in to discover our dog, Rita, had thrown up. Now I absolutely HATE everything to do with vomiting, to the point where I have had a lot of anxiety about it, so this was not ideal. So I left the room and went upstairs to take my mind off it. I had to ask my nine year old brother to try and clean the vomit up a little and take her for a walk. She seemed fine after that so we think it was probably some freak thing. Anyway this was just the start to a worse second half of the afternoon. Not long after that I had to get back in the car and go back to school to pick up my other brother from track practice. By now, because it rained today, I have a headache. So by the time we get back home, I'm pretty miserable. I lay down for a little while, take an advil, but it doesn't help much. When my mom gets home I decide to make dinner. I make (home made) chicken noodle soup because my mom has been asking me to make it the past few days. While I'm making it, my head still hurts and all the bad things that have happened the past two hours just start building up inside. I'm angry and I think about all the I'd like to yell about. But then, I think about it. I don't have to be angry. I don't have to be annoyed, anxious, sad, or mad about everything that happened. I can just let it go. On that note, to cheer myself up, I start singing "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?". Now, this may sound cliche or dumb but it really worked. My brothers came in the kitchen and we put on the real music from my phone and sang along to the whole Frozen sound track. By the time we sit down to eat, I'm happy instead of angry and I don't mind my headache so much. Even now, I don't feel 100% but I take heart in knowing that I did this. I chose to be happy, I could have let myself be mad but I changed how I was feeling and had a much better evening for it.

Whenever I do something along these lines, I want to reflect on it afterward and remember how good it felt for next time. I like knowing that I controlled my feelings and happiness. It makes me feel good about myself to know that I can do this. 

My Weekend

I've had a wonderful weekend and I wanted to write about it so I don't forget :)

Friday:
First, at school I had to take a placement test for when I go to the community college next year and I did really well. Then I had a really lovely evening with one of my best friends. She has never seen any of the Star Wars movies!!! So for a long time we've said that we would watch them together and on friday we finally started watching them. I decided we should watch them in chronological order instead of the order they were made in. (meaning 1-6 instead of 4,5,6,1,2,3) so we watched episode I: The Phantom Menace. It was hilarious watching her watch it and having to explain everything that happened. All in all, it was a great night, we had popcorn, my brothers were adorable, and the movie was excellent. :)

Saturday:
In the morning I went to a (sort of) college fair with my mom for the aforementioned community college. This was really nice and informative but the best part was that it happened to be held at George Mason University which is where my older brother goes to school. So my mom and I got to see him. :) Later, my mom and I went shoe shopping at DSW. Neither of us found anything but it was still just fun shopping with her. That evening I went out to dinner at the mall with one of my best friends (a different one from friday) at panda express. Afterwards we shopped around and I found a really cute beanie at H&M (pictured below). It was on sale for $3!!! I LOVE bargains so this was the perfect end to a perfect night!

Sunday:
In the morning my family and I went to church. In the afternoon we went to the first birthday party of a family friends daughter. They had the party at this amazing pizza place. The pizza was literally the best I have EVER had, it was that good. They also had these chicken wings which were so so good. And last, but not least, the milkshakes. They were TO DIE for. Wow, I can't even describe them. They were creamy and thick but not so thick that you couldn't use a straw, and the flavor was perfect. So that alone made for a really nice day.

Monday:
The only thing special about monday was that it was a snow day!

This is the best weekend I have had in a while (hence the reason I didn't want to forget it). Have you had any really nice days lately? Or have you found any bargains while shopping? Let me know and thanks for reading such a wordy post! xxx

Favorite Book

Paper Towns by John Green

One of my new favorite books is Paper Towns by John Green. I read it because the movie is coming out this year and because I love John and Hank Green. I watch Vlog Brothers, Crash Course, and Sci-Show on YouTube and I absolutely love them all! Particularly I love watching Vlog Brothers :) Definitely check them out: Vlog Brothers Crash Course Sci-Show.

Okay so now on to the actual book ;)
The description from the back of the book:

So obviously I loved this (or I wouldn't be writing this haha). It was captivating and mysterious and surprising...I could list more adjectives if you like. Anyway, if you haven't read this, I HIGHLY recommend it! I think this is great book for both guys and girls and appropriate for everyone older than thirteen. Please please read this book I promise you will not regret it :)

*now for the fun part where I talk about spoilers*

Okay am I the only who completely freaked when they almost hit those cows!? Before I read this, I had read most of John Greens other books and there is a theme that something bad or sad happens in them. So when I read when Q was like we're going to die I was just like no! this CAN'T be how it ends! and then I was like *phew* and then when they thought the beer was gasoline I was like NOOO and then when they realized it was beer I laughed at myself for about five minutes. (wow cool story) I felt this part was genius on Johns part, he had me completely invested in the characters and not ready for a twist like this which ended up not being a twist which is why I found it so hilarious! (I would like to apologize for the multiple run on sentences) Then they finally found Margo and she acted like such a bitch! (sorry if you care about cursing) But then she was acting okay and her and Q kissing was beyond adorable and bittersweet! It's the kind of book where you want another one because you want to know what happens to Margo but at the same time you don't want another one because it would ruin the first and just uh. Also it's more fun to decide what happens to Margo yourself.  Overall I loved this SO much I can't wait until it has been long enough where it's acceptable to re-read it :)

Sorry that was so rambly and I'm sure there are multiple grammar mistakes but thanks for reading anyway! x
-Natalie

Procrastinating

I hate procrastinating. Yet I do it every single day. With everything. In fact I am procrastinating as I am writing this. Why, you may ask? I don't know. Because I don't want to do it, or because every time I procrastinate I manage to get it done anyway. It is a vicious, annoying cycle that I don't seem to have enough willpower to get out of. Ah, that glorious word, willpower. Something I seem to have limited quantities of. I have now discovered that I can type quite a bit without looking at the keyboard very much. Wow what a great discovery I just made, ah the joys of procrastination! This was extremely rambly. Oh well. Doo, doo, doo....don't want to do my home work still...maybe I'll just keep writing...and I'm really tired, I should just finish and go to sleep. Should being the keyword in that sentence. Okay, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it. Uhhhh, goodbye.
-Natalie

Story Idea...

“You’re not human.”

The three little words that changed my life forever.

It all started on a day that was as normal as any other day. It was summer vacation so my sisters and I were outside all day alternately reading and talking. But that night at dinner, something was different. It was too quiet and mom was looking guilty and scared about something. Once we were done eating, she took a deep breath before she started talking.

“So girls, this is a very important summer”

I didn't see what was so interesting about this summer. The only thing interesting that had happened was Marigold and Poppy graduating from high school, they were eighteen now and were going to the community college in the fall. I was fifteen and had just finished my sophomore year of high school. I didn't think there wasn't anything special about this summer. At that exact moment, the doorbell rang. This might not be a big event to most people, but at our house, the doorbell never rings. You see, we live way out in the country, no neighbors for several miles. It takes us twenty minutes just to get to school. So it makes sense that everyone should be surprised; except my parents weren't.

“Lily could you please answer the door and show our guest to the living room, we’ll be right there.” My mom said in a tight voice.

“Uh, sure.” I said, standing up.

I walked from the kitchen over to the front door and opened it.

On our porch was a guy about Poppy and Marigolds age. He was wearing a black fitted V-neck t-shirt with khaki shorts and sneakers. Behind him was the biggest suitcase I had ever seen with a big backpack on top of it.

“Hi, uh, come on in.” I said in bewilderment.

“Thank you” He said while stepping inside.

He didn't have an accent so much as a lilt to his voice. It was strange and intriguing all at the same time.

“You can leave your bags in the foyer, the living room is this way.” I said while walking into the living room where my parents and sisters already sat.

My dad stood up to shake his hand and said, “Wrinkle, it’s so nice to finally meet you. Girls, this is Wrinkle Chamberlain, Wrinkle this is Poppy, Marigold, and Lily.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Girls Wrinkle is going to tutor you over the next few years, but first he has something to tell you.” My dad said in a subdued voice. “Wrinkle?” he gestured to a chair.

Sitting down Wrinkle said “Okay, so I’m going to tell you a story. Five thousand years ago a new evolution of humans began. These people, called advena, surpassed humans in technology, agriculture, in everything. They grew so powerful that the humans greatly feared them. So, knowing they weren't wanted the advenas began to plot their escape of planet Earth. They soon built spacecraft that is well beyond the means of the humans even in this modern day. The advenas left this solar system and traveled to one not far away. There they found a planet suited to their needs. It is similar to Earth except several times larger. They named it Aurum, which means gold. They named it this because the planet was so valuable to them. Then they named its star Aureus because it was golden in color and because it too was valuable to them. Once on Aurum the advena continued to evolve, developing special abilities. The advena can make their hands glow to provide light, they can heal by touching someone. They can do things you might call magic, but that’s not what it is, its evolution. Today humans live unaware of the advenas but advenas are aware of humans. Indeed, some advenas choose to live peacefully on Earth. While others live on Aurum to this day.” Wrinkle finished his story with an almost bored air, as though he had told it many times before.

This is the beginning to a story that I have in my head. It would be cool to write more to it but I don't really know where its going. And anyway, I don't know if this is even interesting to anyone else. oh well. 

 -Natalie

The Good or Bad?

Who is the one I love? The good or bad?

The good will bring wealth and prosperity.

The bad will bring forth beauty to be had,

It also brings death and anxiety.

The good shines like the golden sun of June.

He is the one my parents truly love.

Despite his heart his looks won’t make me swoon,

My love for him will not fly like a dove.

The bad lurks like the darkest time of night.

His heart is even darker to behold.

My love for him can easily take flight,

But is it blind to evil that’s untold?

How can I choose? I may just come undone.

So maybe I’ll just chose to be a nun.


-Natalie
(Just want to say this is a completely fictional sonnet I wrote for my english class. Haha I'm not actually this shallow...)

Windy thoughts

Have you ever wondered why the wind blows? Obviously there is a scientific answer for that but really, why does it blow? What is wind anyway? Lets say its moving air. So why should it move? Why isn't it just happy to stay right where it is? I think humans are a bit like this, restless. We may stay still for awhile but eventually we will get that itch to move. Sometimes I get tired of moving, I wish I could just stop. But then when I do, I get bored.
I wonder, if the wind could think, would it feel like this too? If, after awhile, would the wind want to put its foot down and say enough is enough? Or maybe the wind likes all its moving about, maybe it never wants to stop so it never does. How cool would it be if things like wind could think? Think of all the stories the wind could tell. Wind that has been all around the world since the start of the Earth. It would know everything!
These are just some thoughts. For those of you who are curious, the wind blows because air moves from areas of high to low pressure.
-Natalie