See that Blank Empty Post? =(

I wrote this whole epic post last night on my ipad and published it. "Publish successful" it told me. And I came on to format the pictures and there was NOTHING!!!! The post was totally blank! =O

Instant depression.

I will try to write a new post that was equally as awesome... =/

*edit* post is no longer blank. Yay!

Ski Day with Dad

Sadly, I'd already written this post before it mysteriously disappeared!! =(

I shall now pick up my poor dejected self by my bootstraps and attempt to recount the events of yesterday.

The day was all planned out. Cam was going sledding with his youth group. Me and mom were going thriftiness after we dropped him off and then- me and dad would head up the mountain for some ultra special ski time!!

But it didn't work out that way. The mountain was closed at the base because it had snowed the night before! So Cam's trip was canceled.

But at 11:30, when we called to see if the road had opened, we got the same message that had been running for three hours! So we decided to take a chance. We went up anyway.

And guess what? The road was open!! (don't you love how the risk takers were rewarded? It makes me want to steal a popular line from debate, "should we penalize those America has rewarded for taking risks? America was built by risk takers.. Etc." I must sound like a super nerd about now..)

As we climbed up the twisty road, Dad remarked about the bad conditions. It was raining. And we were driving through heavy fog. Dad thought the whole trip would be a bust.

But miraculously! When we reached the top, it wasn't raining! And there was no fog! So we decided to ski after all! =)

Cam wanted to try snowboarding this time. He was actually pretty good! But once his lesson was over, he was done. So he built a small snowman outside the lodge while Dad and I did a few more runs.

It really was the perfect day, despite the bitter cold and the wind. I love the thrill of the snow slipping under my skis and the wind whistling past my ears. There's just this aura of excitement that billows up inside me. I love skiing!

The Most Beautiful Dress in the World or Why I Now Love Thrift Stores

Dear folks, the first annual homeschool vintage ball is coming up in February!! And I am sooo excited! You can dress up in any era (including modern) and then you get to dance and have a ton of fun!

Mom and I decided that we were gonna make a dress and I picked out this amazing pattern that I really loved. (It was just a modern bridal gown that we were going to do in blue.) But we nixed that idea due to our inexperience at sewing clothing (and lack of time) and went thrift shopping instead!

Yay thrifting!! (I swear, they had cuter clothes than I would've ever expected!) I tried on about eight dresses. There was a cute little black dress that was probably my second pick. But THEN. Then, I tried on the final dress and it was The One. The dress to top all dresses. Mom picked it out. It's a strapless dress, that was too big. I practically swam in it and had to pinch the back to look decent enough to come out of the dressing room. But it was so beautiful!! And a decent price. (twenty bucks, no biggie.)

We bought it. Tee hee hee. Bonus! It was half off! So we got the dress for only ten dollars! Then we came home and altered it. Yee haw! The dress is a mauve-y pink-y purple-y color. A color I would not have picked for myself, but when I tried it on, it looked so nice! "Dusty Rose." is the word I'm thinking of. It looks beautiful.


So we went to JoAnns to get matching thread and some extra fabric and then with the soft whir whir whirring of the sewing machine and drone of football on t.v. and the guys' excited yells at every touchdown, we went to work.

The bodice was too big, so we moved the zipper in and then we added straps to the dress to make it "homeschool approved." But extra support is always a good thing in my mind. We also made a few repairs in the skirt; that's all. The whole thing was a snap. And for twenty bucks (counting the costs to alter the dress), that's a steal! It was amazing.

So now, I love thrift stores! I had no idea that they would have so much cute stuff! Maybe it's just low expectations, but wow! =D I have not been very impressed with the Twice as Nice close to our house. They're selective about what clothes they take and are on the more pricey side. But thrift stores.... *thumbs up* 

 Post-altered dress. Don't tell my mom I put this unflattering picture of her bedroom up on the internet. It's the only room in the house with a full length mirror. Obviously, a photograph can't capture the true color and depth of the dress. (but the backlighting and messy room don't help either. just look past those things.)

I will be posting more pictures of the dress in all its fullness and glory after the ball. I'm so excited!! I'm such a girl. =)

Food Troubles

This morning's breakfast.

Most people who know me in real life know that I am very skinny. And while I'm not about to disclose a massive eating disorder that has affected me since the age of twelve, I do have to admit, I have had problems with food in the past. (Just to clarify, I do not have an earning disorder.) I just have a bad habit.

This particular bad habit probably did begin when I was twelve. In sixth grade, I was placed into a more advanced math class which took place over my lunch break. My teacher allowed me to eat in class after math since I missed lunch, but I always felt bad about munching while my peers were reading silently. Many days, I just skipped eating lunch or I ate as little as possible. I believe that's how it started, but it's hard to be sure. I've had a history of disliking breakfast foods and when there were no leftovers, I rarely ate. This tendency further developed over summers and while homeschooling. My schoolwork often came above food; Skipping breakfast, I would start school as soon as I woke up. It wasn't that I hated myself or had bad self-esteem, I just had other, better things to do. I couldn't be bothered with making food for myself and then taking the time to eat it. Many times, I just didn't feel like eating.

It was over summer that I realized I was probably underweight. Over the course of several doctor visits for my back, my weight fluctuated and kept going down. I didn't really mind so much, until I couldn't do something because of it. I couldn't donate blood at Red Cross because I was twenty pounds under the minimum weight for blood donation. I wanted to donate blood, but I didn't put that much effort into it. I'm not sure if I really wanted to gain the weight back. A friend who recovered from an eating disorder gave me tips about what to eat to gain weight and how often, what things I should avoid. When I started looking into eating disorders and checking to see if I was underweight, I got scared. I scared myself into eating more, because I didn't want to endanger my body. My friend collapsed and was hospitalized for a week before her parents caught on; I didn't want that to me. I'd also read that you can lose your fertility when your body goes into "survival mode" if you aren't giving it the nourishment it needs. I started to count calories like an obsessive, but in reverse- I tried to see how many I could squeeze into one day, but that only lasted so long. Eventually, the fear died away or I stopped caring and I gave up.

When my mom started noticing it, she became very concerned amd she talked to me about it. Now she's forcing me to eat my three meals every day. I comply, for my own benefit. She gives me ideas for what I can eat and sometimes cooks for me so I won't give in to my own laziness. To be honest, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just trying to gain the weight back. I'm just trying to get by.

Don't get me wrong, I love my food. I could go on and on about all the foods I like and all the excellent dishes my parents can make. I just let my laziness and other priorities get in the way of taking care of myself. But I'm getting back on track now. My parents are helping me as well as a few close friends who know about it. I guess you can too now. Go ahead and ask me what I've eaten, sometime. And maybe, by next year, I'll be able to donate blood.

Essays, Essays, What is the Deal?

I have been writing A LOT of persuasive essays lately.. O_o And on all sorts of amazing topics(!) For instance, this morning, I wrote a nice lengthy five paragraph essay on the subject of minimum wage (not the most interesting topic if I dare say so myself.).

Minimum wage. Minimum wage. I don't really know anything about minimum wage. So I suppose it was nice that they gave me two sources on it. But it wasn't nice that the two sources opposed each other! (And I have use both sources in the essay.)

Ah, such is the nature of studying for the College Composition CLEP exam. I'm taking it on Tuesday (hopefully). The exam offers equivalent credit of a Freshman college writing course. There's a multiple choice section and two (TWO!) timed essays. Hence the reason why I've been writing so many essays.

Both essays are persuasive in nature, but one is dependent on prior knowledge and the other, as I mentioned above, requires you to cite the two given sources, using both in text citations and references at the bottom of the page. Anyone up for MLA, APA, or Chicago citations? We're serving them for lunch.

The first persuasive essay (30 min.) are actually not too bad. My only problem is that I am not all that logical of a person sometimes. Anyone who has actually talked to me for a long period of time, spent the night at my house, or witnessed my fits of giggling and laughter can attest to this. Sometimes, logic just goes out the window. And I like it that way. Unfortunately, I can't do that with these essays. Fortunately, I've been practicing lots and lots and lots! My style is good; it's just the arguing that needs a bit of polishing.

So yesterday, I spent like an hour just outlining the stupid things. I gave myself four minutes to come up with as many arguments for or against the topic as I could. Topics like, "Should welfare be abolished?" "is Romantic love a poor base for marriage?" "Do team sports develop good character?" "Should cigarette production and sale be illegal?" "Is privacy the most important right?" and so on and so forth with all manner of difficult topics! Some of them were rather enjoyable, however, and I may, or may not, go back and write the essays to go with some of these outlines... Or maybe I'll just ship the outlines away to mail friends who don't really care, just for the heck of it... Who knows?

At this point, I am feeling pretty confident about the test. My grammar and writing style are excellent; it's just coming up with those points! I will keep practicing. I will pass this test!!!

Shoot me an email if you want to read/critique some of these essays; I can always use the help. =)
dameesh_95 [at] yahoo [dot] com

Oh yeah, Did I mention that it takes up to six weeks to get my results back? Eep! o_O