Thoughts on the New School Year (+ What I'm Doing)

For all of my readers who are going back to school, or are starting up homeschooling again, or are going to college, I wish you all the best of luck.
Work hard, study hard, eat well.
Get your sleep.
If you're finished with school, and going to college for the first time, good for you.
If you're finished with school, but you've decided not to go to collage, still, good for you.
And don't let anyone tell you that you're nuts for not going to college. People don't know everything.

People like to give me trouble when I tell them I'm not going to college.
They ask me 'why the heck are you doing that'. They don't even ask me, 'have you prayed about it?'
They just like to tell me their way instead.
Maybe you have some people in your life who treat you like that.
But don't let it bother you.

~When every single person in your graduating had plans for college except you.
~When people doubt your loyalty to Jesus because they don't think your plans are smart.
~When people don't take 'no' for an answer when you tell them you're not going to college, and they take it upon themselves to suggest colleges for you.
~When people are convinced that you are not going to succeed in life because you don't plan on getting a degree.
~When you see all of your friends your age going to college and life seems to be going blissful for them (even though heaven knows they got debt).
~When you let it all go to your head and question God and yourself all over again about it.

Don't let it bother you.

College isn't everything.
You doubt me?
Here. And here. Let Blimey Cow tell you.

Oh, and I mentioned 'what I'm doing' in the title, didn't I?
I was thinking about this the other day, and I realized that I don't have enough material to do a whole 'August 2017 Favorites' post, as it was a pretty busy month filled with boring things that I don't want to bore you with on my boring blog. (wait, what)

Anyways. Here are just a few things that I enjoyed or did in August:

*I read a book
(Well hooray for me! What an accomplishment! That's not done everyday, after all!)
Actually, that's not quite right. I started a book, and I'm still working on it. But it's an accomplishment still, because it's the first book I've been able to pick up and actually concentrate on all Summer. What's the book, you ask? 'For Such a Time', by Kate Breslin. I got it at a book fair in April. It's pretty good so far. It isn't THE BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ IN THE WORLD AND AMEN, but it's a refreshing change from, well, nothing.

* I watched a movie
(Another really hard thing that only talented people can do.)
Out of all August, I only saw one movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming. And I'm not going to bother telling you all about it because I already wrote a post on that. I will only say it's good. For being the only movie of August, it was sure an enjoyable one, considering how much I was looking forward to it.

* I watched (and am still watching) a TV show
(Wooooowww, Amaris. You are just... wow. No words.)
To be honest, however, the TV show in question might surprise you. Bonanza. A change in my family's schedule has allowed my and my siblings to watch one episode of Bonanza a day on TV. We normally don't watch TV at all, but this gives us something to enjoy on weekdays. It's not my favorite, favorite, favorite show, (in fact, some episodes are downright boring, in my opinion) but watching it and seeing all of the different plots in the episodes has given me a new appreciation for Westerns, which is something I thought I would never have. *Shrug* Just goes to show you how a person's tastes can evolve.

* I got a driver license
Ok, I gotta give myself credit for this one. This is not something people can do everyday, at least not without a lot of hard practice, which is what I went through.
But do you know what this means?! I can now drive my car. By. Myself.
#so independence #much scary #very wow

* I listened to a song



* I watched a video on YouTube
(Yes, clickbait title. I see you. Are you happy? I clicked on you.)
This vid though. I love it. so. much.



*I went to a play
Which was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was quite interesting because I hadn't ever seen the movie or read the book before, so I didn't know what to expect at all. It was pretty good. Some of the musical numbers were so pretty I got chills (#coming from a person who low-key hates musicals). I probably can't post a picture or a song either because I'd get in trouble... probably.
Anyways.

~*~*~*~*~
That is all.
To be honest, I didn't do much else of interest. I was busy with various things, but all of them being too boring and mundane to mention.

With that, I wish you all the very best of Septembers.
Hooray for cool weather.
Hooray for Fall clothes.
Hooray for school (if you're still in it... which I'm not. Yay for me. #i guess).

-Amaris

p.s. My prayers are with the people in Texas who have met Harvey.

I AM QUITE ALIVE

Ah, my blogging friends, forgive me for my negligence! I have had the most swimming adventure. I say 'swimming' because I actually did some swimming. In a river. With currents and everything. And my best friend had to save me. Hooray.
So I went to a remote cabin in the woods and spent four days there and swam in said river, which made my arms and legs hurt like the dickens the day after, but it was still all too fun to matter.
And I used an outhouse for the first time.
 #yay
 #so fun
 #ya'll should try it
 #just kidding don't

And I played a ridiculously fun game called SPOONS during which you had to FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE because everyone practically killed each other trying to secure a blasted spoon for themselves and WE ALMOST BROKE A CHANDELIER PLAYING THIS GAME and which I had never played before but hip hooray for me because I beat everyone except my mom.

And I hung my clothes on an actual clothesline to dry in the sun.
And I drank 18 different bottles of soda pop in all sorts of outrageous flavors such as "MacFuddy Pepper Elixer" (which I actually enjoyed--call me a liar if you want to), and "Candy Bacon Soda Pop" (You can Google these if you don't believe me) and "Caramel Soda Pop" and "Shirley Temple Soda Pop" and basically ALL THE SODA POPS.
And I don't even 'drink' soda.

Not my image...

And I took lots of beautiful photos with my Mini 8 Instax Camera to keep the memories forever... and I also took some pictures with another camera that I took with me and I wanted to show some of them to you but I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO UPLOAD THEM I'M SORRYYYYYYYYYY
*****
And SO MUCH OTHER STUFF.
WE HAD A CAMPFIRE.
AND I SAW A SLUG ON MY CHAIR.
AND I LEARNED THAT UNQUINTESSENTIALLY IS A VERY LONG WORD.

IT IS SUMMA-TIME, MY FRIENDS!
Ahem.

And when I got back from my 'weekend of weekends', I did something ELSE very exciting... Well, first I had the stomach bug (which was NOT exciting, believe me), but after that, .......
I also...........
...........
 drumroll, please...........
..
......
.....
......
.......
.....
......
.........
I bought my first car!!!!!!! HOORAY!!! :D
Ta-da!
*lots of confetti and fanfare*

Aren't I so grown up?!?!?!?!?!? (No, don't answer that. We both know I'm not).
Do you realize what has happened?!
Do you know what this means?!
I can now go places.
Did you hear me?
GO.
PLACES.

HOORAY.
#so excite
#much happy
#very drive
#w-o-o-ww

I apologize for the obnoxious way in which I am portraying my excitement to you. I know I am really quite nuts.

I suppose I must now come to the real reason for this post. That is to warn you that you won't hearing from me for a couple of weeks. (There. Aren't I so proper now in warning you this time? Instead of just leaving you to wonder weather or not I've disappeared from the face of the earth. You ought to pat me on the back.) I am going away to a sort of training camp thingy (same as last year), and it will take up 90% or more of my Summer. Which leaves very little time for blogging and all that. If I can squeeze in a small post here and there, I'll be lucky.
But don't expect that.
I am blessed that the Good Lord has seen fit to give me His business to do, and I intend on making the most of it.
So.
That was the real reason for this post. 

And now I must leave you.
I must get to packing.
Literally. Lots and lots of packing.
-Amaris
p.s. Forgive me for any grammatical errors in this post, but I haven't time to check myself. Hopefully all is well.
GOODBYE.

Spring Favorites // 2017 + A Ghost Story

A rather random list of my favorite things from this Spring. Enjoy.

: WWI History :
If you follow me on Goodreads, you might have seen a couple of WWI books here and there, and that's because I have been looking for a couple of good books to help one of my siblings understand WWI better. I think I already mentioned my recent interest in this particular subject, but let's just say I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.

But I feel like I'm a little short on movies. Does anyone know any good WWI movies besides War Horse, Testament of Youth, and All Quiet on the Western Front? I feel like there are a million World War TWO movies, but One? Where are they?

: Movies, etc. : 
Sully [2016]  (REALLY good 5 out of 5 stars {I was thinking of doing a whole post review on this one because I enjoyed it so much... Would you all enjoy a review post for a change?)
The Case for Christ [2017] (ALSO REALLY GOOD 5/5 stars)
Duck Dynasty Season 10 [2015-16] (Hilarious, as usual 4/5 stars)
Call the Midwife Season 6 Christmas special [2016]  (so enjoyable because it's been awhile since I've seen this show 4/5 stars)
All Quiet on the Western Front [1930] (SO SAD but also really good 4/5 stars)
Loving [2016] (kind of slow and unsatisfying, but it had a few good parts 1/5 stars)

: Studio C :
Going back and watching some of my favorite sketches has filled up quite a few of my evenings lately. Might I suggest a few favorites?

Middle School Kid Ruins the News

The Janitor: Gym Jocks

Boy Band Breakup

A Kindergarten Fight for Love

Weighty Matters

Foreign Exchange

State of Mind

Welcome Back Song

Man of Interest

: Learning :
To drive! :D You guys, I am so close to getting my car and my license, I can almost taste it (that sounds kind of weird, actually).

: Trying to write :

My story... which needs a better name... and a better opening scene... and a better ending... and more subplots... and more goals... and better conflict... and.... and... yeah. 

You get the idea. 

: Making :
This necklace. I wanted to make a necklace that goes with all of my grey outfits, so.

: Loving :
1.Starbucks S'mores frappe
2.My dogs because I bathed them both yesterday and now they are so CLEAN AND SOFT AND CLEAN.
3.This teddy bear I found at Hobby Lobby the other day and I just had to bring him home.
He's my little friend now.

Say hello to Patrick, my little friend.

4. And in the makeup category: I am loving these few palettes that I found at Sephora on clearance! They were like $30, but I got them both for half off. :) I love the cool tones in the Vintage Filter one.
Sephora collection colorful eyeshadow filter palettes

: Reading : 

Crazy Love

Rachel's Tears

Good Call

A Woman's Strength

The Last of the Doughboys

The Reluctant Midwife

Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood
The Bible (mostly Acts)

o

: Listening :
Tauren Wells: Hills and Valleys. I was pretty excited the other day when I heard this song on the NON-CHRISTIAN radio at my job.
Hollyn: In Awe. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of Hollyn (although, dare I say, a lot of teenage girls are) but even so, I simply adore this song.

I know ya'll are tired of hearing about the Adam Young Scores on my blog, but three of the songs (not whole scores, just specific songs/tracks) I have been especially enjoying lately:
o

I don't know, I just find it helpful to listen to these when I'm writing (which isn't very often these days, sadly).

But I haven't only been listening to music. It's been raining a lot lately (at least where I live), and I love to listen to the rain and thunderstorms.

I often wonder if God created rain just specifically to make me happy. 

 I went into work the other day and it was POURING rain, and on my way inside my feet got all wet and when I went in you could really hear the rain loudly inside and I just had the biggest smile on my face and one of my coworkers just looked at me like I was insane because of my big grin and my feet were slushing with water but I didn't care because it was raining so hard and I was so happy. 

Thanks be to God.

YEEESSSSHHHH

Don't get me wrong, my heart goes out to the people who's yards are under water right now, or who have floodwater in their basements. :(
That's never fun.
But anyways. Let's wrap this up, shall we?

Photo credit: ME. Feel free to pin. :)

: So those are a few of my favorite things this Spring!!! :
I realize that Spring isn't over yet, so, the question is, why am I posting this NOW, instead of when Spring is actually over on June 20th? Well, April is my favorite month, you see. (pretty sure I've mentioned that before on the Blog) And even though Spring still has a month or two left (technically), it pretty much ends for me after April is over. I don't know, that's just the way it is for me. *shrug*
At this point, I'm ready for Summer! 

Also, I promised you a Ghost Story written in the title of this post, So here it is:
*****

A Ghost Story That Took Way More Words Than I Thought I Needed, Yet I Have Presented It Here For Your Enjoyment 
*****
The past couple of days, I have noticed a strange occurrence every time I go up my stairs. When I get to the top, I can hear something like a muffled whisper of jumbled words just behind me. The first couple of times I heard it, I assumed it was just some noise created from me bounding up the stairs. Or perhaps I was brushing against the brooms hanging up next to the steps, and that was making the strange, brushing, voice-like sound.
So I didn't think too much of it.

But I kept hearing them every time I went upstairs. 

One day, I heard it all too clearly, and the noise that I assumed was just that- noise - became some thing more than that. Spoken words in recognizable English, directly behind me. It happened after I was in the basement tending to some laundry. I finished up, and headed upstairs. When I got to the top of the landing, clearer than ever, I heard it unmistakably: the whisper.

"Look. They're gone."

 Startled, I spun around, expecting to see someone, or something there. But no one. Not a soul. I went back downstairs to have a look around. 

There wasn't a thing. 

The idea that I might be hallucinating crossed my mind. Similar things have happened before with my all-too-vivid imagination. 

I called to my sister to help me uncover the source of the sound. I had her stand at the top of the landing, and I went up and down the stairs several times, in hopes that the action would trigger whatever (or whoever) was making the noise. 

But I tried going up and down several times, with no results or conclusions whatsoever. No brushing against brooms, no bounding up the stairs, none of it worked.
My sister thought I was crazy.
Maybe I was.
But I know I heard that whisper!
 I decided to take a little break from the problem, and went about my day. But ever so often my mind would wander to the mysterious voice I undoubtedly heard clearly on the stairwell.
45 minutes later, it was time to do laundry again. I went downstairs and took care of it.
When I began to ascend the stairs, I told myself I would listen really closely so there would be no doubt about what I heard.
I got to the top of the landing and paused....
At first, nothing.
But then, out of the breathless silence, came the phrase, in a loud whisper from behind me that chilled my blood.

"Look. They're gone."

What. On. Earth.
Who in the heck is down there?  
What is?
I called my sister again, this time in near panic. I begged her to help me try to find the whisper once more. Reluctantly, she joined me as I went up and down the stairs countless times once again.
My heart pounded. What could this possibly be about?

Finally, I figured it out.  
*
*
*
Tune in next week to hear the chilling conclusion of this blood-curdling account!

(No, you didn't think I would tell you the entire thing NOW, did you? And let you spoil it for yourself by peeking at the ending? Hehe, you're silly)

*
 *

BYE
-Amaris

Praise Jesus But CURSE THE PALM LEAVES!!!

 Just a couple things to let you know that I'm a little weird and I like to laugh at myself, and you may as well.

(a.k.a. just a bunch of interesting things that happened to me and now I'm putting them into a blog post. )

~*~

~So, to begin: a friend of mine was talking to me about how she had a rottweiler who was afraid of thunderstorms. She was telling me the whole story, but my attention began to wander as I was thinking to myself: "Wait... rottweiler... what does a rottweiler look like? Oh, I can't remember. I'm terrible with dog flavors."
Dog flavors.
I called them... flavors. 

#me: don't you mean dog breeds, amaris
#my brain: lol no it's flavors
~*~

~*~

~So typewriters are interesting because if you have a manual one such as I, then you have to press pretty hard onto the keys to get them to type. There's no problem there, but the issue comes when I get on the computer right after typing on the typewriter and I find myself Ty ping RE A LLY HA R D on ThE keybOARD an d pUN chIng tHeM just liKE I d o ON MY TYpe wR ITER. And my mom comes over and she's like "Why are you banging on those computer keys...?"

Oh. Sorry, mom.
~*~

~*~

~When EVERYONE around me (literally everyone I know at work, at home, at my church...) is getting sick with the same thing, but somehow I don't get it, and I still don't get it, and I STILL DON'T GET IT after 2 months of being exposed again and again, so finally one day I say to my mom: "I guess I'm not going to get sick, then."

AND THE VERY NEXT DAY GUESS WHAT HAPPENS.

~*~

~*~

~One day I was just minding my own business when out of the corner of my ear in the other room I hear my mom say to one of my siblings "No, dear, you may not watch Netflix in the bathroom".

~*~

~*~

~I get this idea to put two fuzzy pom poms in my hair to look like ears. It turned out pretty cute, so the next day my sister decides to do it too after I show her how, and then she takes a picture of herself and sends it to all her friends and they all reply to her with stuff like:
"Oh, that's so cute! What a good idea! So creative! You are so smart and creative for thinking of that!"

And I'm over here like:

 

~*~
~So I looked at the clock a little while ago after a long day when I'm really tired and it says 11:00 p.m. So  I think: "Oh, look. It's eleventeen."
I called it eleventeen.
 Heh. Hehe.
(I was pretty tired, folks).

~*~

~*~

~So you might know already that I work in customer service and I meet all kinds of people and the thing that's awkward is WHEN I'M TALKING TO A REALLY NICE CUSTOMER AND THEY ARE MAKING ME LAUGH AND THEY ARE JUST SO FUNNY, BUT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR STORY THEY SAY THE F WORD LIKE IT'S NOTHING, AND I'M STILL LAUGHING AT THEIR STORY BUT INSIDE I'M DYING BECAUSE THEY SAID THE F WORD AND I'M LAUGHING AT IT, EVEN THOUGH THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M LAUGHING AT.

#whyyyy

Update: So I told this story to my uncle, and when I finished he just looks at me and says: "You know you're going to Hell, right?"
~*~
~So it's been nice the past few days (you know, because of Spring and all...) so on one of those nice days me and my family go shopping and we come to this loooooong strip mall (It's literally like 1 mile long) and we park FAR away because "Hey, it's a nice day and we need the exercise", so we walk and walk and WALK to one of the stores and we have a great time in the store, and somehow it got really windy while we were in there, so by the time we got out of the store, it was FREEZING because of the chilly wind, and none of us had coats and we had like 4 (extremely heavy) shopping bags per person and so we begin the agonizing 20 minute walk back to the car and in between shivers I'm just like "whose..... idea......was......this......"
It was a fun day, tho.
*shrug*
~*~

~*~
~So  lately for some reason, every time I drink water out of a water bottle, I splash water all over the front of my shirt, so there's water drops and sploshes all over me until I air dry. So the other day at work, I opened my bottle and spilled especially much all over my shirt, and I just looked at myself and the helpless mess I was in, and I looked up and realized that my coworker saw what I did and she just looked at my shirt and then looked at my face and before she said anything I was just like, "Don't. Say. A word."
And she just kind of. Backs. Away.
~*~

~*~
~Like I said up there, I work in customer service, and the other day I after I finished helping a lady out, she picked up her things to go on her way and before she left, she said, "Thank you, son."
Son. 
I don't know if she just didn't realize what she said, or if she actually thought I looked like a boy or what,
but...
 She called me son.
And I've always seen myself as the feminine one in the family. *shrug*
~*~

~*~
The other day I was cracking some eggs, and after I cracked one of them, I tried to throw the shell across the room (because I am the epitome of gracious housekeeping) into the trash can, but alas, I missed. With my hands being tied up in what I was doing, I told myself I would pick up the egg shell in a minute. Well, I forgot to.
An hour later, I went into my bedroom to find crushed egg shell pieces chewed up all over my bed, PLUS my bed (which had been neatly made before) was all messed up with the shell pieces strewn all around.
Needless to say, my poor dog got yelled at.
#even though I knew it was my fault because I left the egg shell there practically as an open invitation for him to chew it
#whyamaris
#why
~*~

~*~
And the last thing I have to mention is not very funny, but it's stupid of me just the same, so I have to share it because it kind of explains the title of this post. You all know that we just had Palm Sunday. And of course my church, like many churches, hands out palm leaves to everyone to praise Jesus with. Well, for some reason, this year I had a terrible allergic reaction to the palm leaves.
 I don't know if these were extra dusty or if they had mold on them this year, or what, but at the beginning of the service my noes was itching me like crazy, and by the time we were halfway through the service, my nose was so bad I had to blow it like every 5 minutes and my sister just looked at me like I was nuts because I was blowing so often and then this lady two rows up looked back at me every time I blew, like I was the most disruptive 19-year-old she had ever seen in a church and then this little girl next to me dropped her crayons all over the floor during the sermon and later a 2 year old yelled at me and afterward in the car I sprained my back taking my jacket off.
So if anyone asks you how my Palm Sunday went, you can tell them this.
But I had tacos later, which was great.
Anyways, the moral of the story is: Praise Jesus but CURSE THOSE PALM LEAVES!
(except... don't actually curse. Cursing is rude.)
~*~
Bye now.

-Amaris

p.s. This is my 50th post. Hooray for me.