Jonah Day

Hello!  I've spent most of my computer time the past few days-- well, more like weeks-- uploading pictures.  Our Internet is really slow, so I can't do much else while the photos are loading.  Sorry I haven't been commenting back or anything!  I'll post some of those pictures tomorrow if they finish uploading.  And start commenting again.

For those of you who don't know what a Jonah day is, it's a day when things just don't go the way you planned. Kind of like Jonah, when he was planning on running in the other direction, and instead he ended up in the belly of a whale headed straight for Nineveh.

That's how today has gone. First I flunked my debate in English. It was totally my fault-- A, my partner, did a great job trying to hold our ground.  I, however, froze up and could not so much as nod my head yes or no, much less speak. I was not prepared because I thought we would be presenting tomorrow.  I have this huge fear of public speaking, and I have to have time to resign myself to what I'm doing right beforehand. If I don't, I look like this:



99.9% sure I looked like Anne
in this picture during our debate

I don't even know what happened during those ten minutes.  I just sat there... frozen.

Once I pried my fingers from the desk at the front of the room and stiffly walked back to my seat, something else happened.  A gargantuan brown spider was creeping its way up my backpack.  Its body was the size of a half-dollar, with spindly black legs curled up underneath it. I didn't notice at first, but the girls around me started murmuring and pointing.  The arachnophobes flinched away in fear with whimpers.  The rest marveled at the pure size of the monster.

I had to stand up and lean over J's desk to see it. (We'd done some flip-flopping of seats, and my backpack was in front of her desk.) I don't spaz out about bugs, but this thing was horrendous.  I quickly slid my shoe off and squashed it.  This turned out louder than I thought it would.  I got some harsh looks from Ms. Snickerdoodle for interrupting the other debate teams with a loud splat!

"Sorry," I mumbled.  "But the only thing worse than seeing a spider that size is losing the spider that size." And the thought that it had probably come out of my backpack... *shudders* I am never leaving my backpack open in the basement again.

Then I lost my flip-flop in the hallway.  Somebody stepped on it and it slid right off. The person then cussed me out and elbowed me in the ribs to push past. I gritted my teeth and went to go retrieve the shoe from under the herd of teenagers.

The last three periods of the day were spent in a computer lab.  It's the freshman week to take the big end-of-the-year test, and it's a new computerized version.  No one knows what they're doing. It's a complicated system to say the least.

So those were just a few things that happened today.  I've tried to cheer myself up with this Anne of Green Gables quote:

 

I'm going to try to learn from today's mistakes and not make them tomorrow.  Tomorrow I'll be prepared for all my work.  I'll wear boots that can't fall off when I'm walking.  And I'll empty my backpack and put it in the freezer tonight to kill all the spiders!

 

 

 

 

Organizing Tips

Haha... so funny story, I'm actually supposed  to working on a science PowerPoint right now... hopefully my science project partner doesn't check my blog today or I'll be in trouble. :)

Anyway, I got sick of studying those tectonic plate thingies and have been laying across my bed trying to find pictures in the cracks on the ceiling. Really productive, right?  I figured I might as well do something useful since I'm not making any progress whatsoever.  So here I am.

Here's some of my favorite organizing tips.  I've been in the process of cleaning out my room for the past month or so, and these are some things I've found useful.



Before

After

1.  Tidy up a little before you start really organizing.  When you're trying to organize in a really messy room, it can get depressing because it seems like you're making the mess worse.  So if it's your bedroom, make your bed first and get rid of that pile of dirty clothes.  If it's the kitchen you're cleaning, wash the dishes and swipe the crumbs off the counters before you get into the nitty-gritty of sorting pots and Tupperware.

2. If you don't use it, lose it.  Do you have stuff you never really use but can't seem to part with?  Get rid of them.  I know, I know, I'm probably the biggest packrat I know.  (My first grade teacher once said she'd never seen such a nasty locker- or desk-- because I kept everything.)  But I'm improving.  If there's clothes you don't wear, get them out of your closet.  Hand them down to a sibling or cousin.  Also donate random junk you don't use to Goodwill.  Once you get all that clutter out of the way, it's a lot easier to clean.

3.  Use a hanger to organize scarves or belts.

Sorry for the random
hand... that's just my sister

4.  Put rolled-up magazines inside your boots to get them to stand up.  This is just a personal pet peeve I have-- I can't stand drooping boots.

5.  Separate summer and winter clothes.  If you put your heavy sweaters and jackets in a tote and store them elsewhere, you'll have a lot more room in your closet.

6.  Clip hair accessories to a ribbon. This makes them much easier to find when you're searching for one in the morning.  It also takes up less room than a box.  You don't have to use a ribbon, either-- there are tons of cute crafts you can find on Pinterest to make a more decorative hair-clip organizer.

 

7. Hang up your necklaces.  They won't get tangled this way.  They're also a ton easier to find when you want to wear one.

I'm going to stop there, since:

a) 7 is my lucky number  (If you remember my Seven Things On Sundays posts.)
b) I really do have to get that project done.
c) Those are really the only tips I've used in the past week.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!  Give your moms a hug for me.  Did y'all do anything special for Mother's Day?

Oh, here's a last-minute thing... just wanted to share a really sweet Taylor Swift song with you.  Very fitting for Mother's Day!