T'was the Day before Christmas . . .

. . . and all through the house,

only one person was stirring because she slept all afternoon and woke up at 11:30 PM and didn't go to sleep til 6 AM so now her internal clock's as confused as her.

Sigh.

Oh well, I did get my Christmas shopping done, and I did have the guts (or stupidity?) to venture going to Walmart on Christmas Eve. 

That . . . is not advisable.

Nope.

Wouldn't do that unless you have to. 

I saw the strangest thing there, by the way. 

I know there's this quip about fruit cake - like how there's everything in it but fruit. I wouldn't know because I've never had it.

But I do know that nobody seems to like it, which has always made me wonder why the heck people make it.

But at Walmart, near the checkouts, they have a box of fruit cake. It really didn't look appetizing. At all. 

And here's the scary part: some had been bought . . .

Anyhoo, hope I didn't spoil your appetite!

Merry Christmas!

The Day After the End of the World . . . and Walmart

So the world didn't explode, or melt, or swarm with Flood or zombies, or viruses, or have the animals go cray cray.

Hm. Fancy that.

Well, for those of us over the age of 13, we've survived the "End of the World" twice:

Y2K and 12/21/12

Yay us!

Our kids will never believe us . . .

On a similar note, what the heck is up with Walmart registers never being open when you need them?

I'm not dissing Wally World or anything, I'm just asking.

I mean, wouldn't that drive down your customer loyalty?

But come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen any retail store with all their registers open.

That should change.

I mean, really.

Who wants their customers to stand in line for 20 minutes holding a heavy box of firewood?

I wouldn't.

Let me drive this bus a while . . .

Fool me once . . .

Okay Beaufort girlies, listen up: I don't know where you do your shoe shopping, and on some level I don't really care, but I've got to tell you about this one store (which is kind of ironic, because I don't plan on actually naming this store). 

There's this store in Beaufort that has really cute shoes. And at good prices, too.

No, it's not Wal-Mart.

However, something weird happened the last two times I was there, probably within the same two weeks.

Allow me to start at the beginning: I wanted some brown flats, so when I saw a cute pair, I got the box that said 9 down because I (usually) wear a 9.

I tried both the shoes on, and they both fit.

That would be a given, except for one small factoid: one was a 9, the other was an 8 1/2. 

And my feet are normal, by the way. 

I put the bottoms together, and they looked exactly the same to me.

I figured the 8 1/2 was a misprint and took the box to the register to check out. 

They wouldn't sell it to me because (logically) if I had two sizes, somebody else had two sizes, and if they returned one, they'd need the other.

I ended up leaving with 8 1/2's (which fit perfectly fine), and thought it was a freak occurrence. 

Wrong. 

I went today for some black flats and wanted a 9. 

Once again, there was a 9 and an 8 1/2!

And once again, I ended up leaving with an 8 1/2!

So, for those of y'all in Beaufort . . . check your shoes before you buy them!

(Also because they might be two different - but similar - styles. That's happened to me before too. And yes, that was at Wal-Mart.)

Why you shouldn't dye blonde hair blonde

I naturally have blonde hair.
It was nearly white when I was a toddler, and when I was about seven, I started getting these dark streaks underneath.
A lot of people complemented me on it, and I guess I sort of liked it. I really can't remember.
About three years ago, it started getting really dark.
I look like a brunette.
Nothing against brunettes: my mom's a brunette and my sister is a brunette.
I just like the excuse being blonde provides don't like it on me.
I got highlights two or three times, but they were really expensive.
After that, I figured dying my whole head for $7 is better than dying half of it for $100.
Nope.
The first time it turned out orangey and brassy.
Lasted for a while, then I asked my friend to help me dye my hair.
That one turned out less brassy, but still wasn't the blonde I was looking for.
Fast forward to now, about two months later.
I took a shower and thought the water looked funny. I thought it was just the water; we've been having storms lately, and sometimes that affects it.
Got out, and didn't think anything of it.
Come back a few hours later . . .
ORANGE. RESIDUE. EVERYWHERE.
I honestly cannot remember what brand or what it was, but I know it foamed.
I'm not saying this is a typical result either, because I wasn't using special shampoo or anything.
All I know is that I washed my hair and my white bathtub turned orange.
This is also why you ought not dye blonde hair blonde: it's nearly impossible to nail the color yourself, and unless you want to look like a pumpkin head for about two months, I'd just stay out of the hair color aisle all together.

Winsomeness

Even though I've missed two straight weeks of Mrs. Audrey and Mrs. Claudia's Sunday School class, I've been thinking about something they stress a lot: being winsome.

I bought one of those cheap plastic pencil cases at Wal-Mart the other day (thank God for after school sales!) for the purpose of holding makeup and other goodies.

I wanted it to be unique (and not just cheap), so I wrote out 1 Timothy 2:9-10 on an index card in my best writing in pink. Here's the translation I used (ESV) courtesy of studylight.org:

     "9 Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness - with good works."

I <3 this verse.

The concepts of being "respectable", "modest", having "self-control", and being "proper" seem lost in today's society. I'm not saying I'm never guilty of not being any of these, but I do strive to be these things. It's not mainstream. It's not popular. But, hey - Jesus wasn't mainstream or popular. 

I honestly can't remember what prompted me to write this . . . I think it was the fact I'd written it for my makeup box along with the fact that I had just finished an 'argumentative close-reading' of a section of Hamlet.

I don't know.

Heck, we're all lucky I remembered this draft!

So, yes, this is what I've been working on all week.

^-^

Anyhooz, back to the WINSOMENESS . . . 

Mrs. Audrey loves the word "winsome". She says that word is lost, and rather old-fashioned sounding (she's right; it is, but I'm an English major; I love old words).

She says that we ought to be "winsome" to "win some".

I <3 that concept.

XD

Also, you can read her blog HERE. It's pretty much an epic win.