House Keeping.

Dear Doll-face,

We have let the house get behind... way behind.  We got a ton of crap from my grandparents apartment, and in between that Mike has been bringing things that I assume were once Derrick and Amber's.. to say the least the house is a mess. Not to mention now I really am working close to 40 hours a week, which doesn't leave much time for being well rested and cleaning up. Also now your big brother is working and going to school so I've got to start pulling more weight in keeping the house up.

You can't really tell, but I have TOTALLY made progress.

So today on my day off I am playing catch up.  I plan to get the downstairs done today.  The upstairs actually isn't so bad except for the piles of laundry.. I might give in and just haul it all to the laundromat just to catch up.  Your brother got behind when I stopped working Sundays and stopped being able to do them then.  Mike made the front room (formally your cave of disaster) into his own cave of disaster while we were gone for an extended weekend.. so I am picking up some of that also.  Granted the entire mess isn't his, but it's still frustrating because the video game mess IS his. He is the one who has been down playing and watching Netflix in his free time.

So they don't know it yet, but they both have to deal with their respective hobby messes when they get back to the house tonight.  I'm not really asking them to do anything else so it's the least they can do.

Right now I am taking a breather while the dish washer runs. I just went through the fridge and cleaned out some stuff. I have been vacuuming the floor between passes of garbage bags and anytime I get another section picked up.  So far I have dumped the canister 4 times.. there is so much Bella hair.. if you don't run the floor every couple of days the hair starts to pile, and I know Michael has been pushing it off because the last few times he's done it he's always almost accidentally broke the cleaner.  Poor dude.

I'm just relieved because for the mos part I have all the garbage picked up and all the dishes sequestered to the kitchen, I've just got to start putting things away.  Easier said than done, right?

Alright, I think I have taken a good break by writing to you. I'm going to get back into the thick of things.  Your brother will be home in about an hour and a half and I want him to really be able to notice that I've got things done.  Take care of yourself!

16 Huh?

Hey Doll-face,

I bet you think you're big tits now since today's your 16th birthday. Well I've got some news for you, 16 is probably the most awkward age there is.

I mean sure, is has its bonuses. There is nothing like your first big love at 16. Sure, you may have had a fling before but there's something magical about being sixteen that makes you feel like it might last forever.  You also go through that amazing phase of feeling like you have achieved greatness, you're untouchable and that you have the power to own the world.  It's tempting to feel like you're actually finally free.  This feeling will only become more intoxicating once you actually get behind the wheel of a car alone for the first time, and realize no one can actually stop you once you put it into gear.


Alas, these are the things that your imagination will treat you to.. sure some of it may be real, but let's be honest 16 is just a hyped up age where your hormones are raging which means that EVERYTHING feels more dramatic. (If you ever need an example of drama just ask your dear old sister-in-law about her circle of friends when she was 16, she's got some stories that are full of teens hopped up on drama educing hormones.) But in case you were wondering, here's a list of the things that you can NOW magically do, just because you made it to today:

• Get married or register a civil partnership with consent (Good thing, right? You can't let yourself become an old maid by 18..)
• Drive a moped or invalid carriage (sweet, you should get a vespa)
• You can consent to sexual activity with others aged 16 and over (Just don't tell us about it until you're married.. we will always pretend you are as innocent as a lamb)
• Drink wine/beer with a meal if accompanied by someone over 18 (Not that we've ever stopped you, Huzzah!)
• Get a National Insurance number (wooo! someone to pay for my mistakes while I pay them just in case I accidentally make one)
• Join a trade union (because 'MERICA!)
• Work full-time if you have left school (Why would you want to work? There is internet...)
• Be paid national minimum wage for 16/17 year olds (WOO! Money, not as much as the rest of the population, but still.. WOO money!)
• Join the Armed Forces with parental consent (In case you decide that neither hugs or drugs are your slated path in life..)
• Change name by deed poll (now you can legally change your name to be Doll-Face, because that's what the cool kids are doing)
• Leave home with parental consent (In the sense that you can move out.. not just walk out angrily for a while..)
• Consent to medical treatment (They can not longer FORCE you to take shots, YAY)
• Buy premium bonds (Because you have a use for those, ya know..)
• Pilot a glider (You weren't afraid of heights, were you?)
• Buy a lottery ticket (Too bad you can't claim the winnings until you're 18..)
• Register as a blood donor, but you won't be called to give blood until you're 17 (At least you'll be on the list!)
• Apply for a passport without parental consent (Why would anyone do this?? I don't even understand?? :P)

Intense, huh?  It's okay because the list will only continue to get longer as you get older.

Just do us all a favor and don't be too eager to embrace the miniature adult within.  We like our teenage Doll-face and aren't necessarily ready to let go of her yet.

Happy Birthday! Congratulations on this mega milestone that we celebrate because society arbitrarily decided that 16 was a good age to let you operate a motor vehicle. We love you so much.  (We also are so sad that we didn't get to actually speak to you on your birthday, trust me.. we're miserable.)


P.S. You can also count on me not to get into a car with you behind the wheel until you're 30.. because your mum and brother will probably teach you, and their driving scares me.

High Speed and Slow Times

Dear Peach,

Today I met my dad in Galesburg for lunch. It went alright.  We just don't know each other so it's going to take a long time before our relationship is any sort of normal.

I have an extra day off tomorrow because despite work speeding up sometimes, its still not full swing busy yet... Despite needing the hours I took the day willingly because I've been feeling really stressed out.

Tomorrow Michael gets his new cell phone and we officially shut down yours. We are so relived. No more cell phone bill for us... well, except for helping mom out with hers since it's getting a bigger, but adding him is still cheaper than us paying for the old bill your family has through Verizon. Three cheers for saving money!

Jon isn't moving in.  I'm not surprised.  He and his mom had an argument that ended in an ultimatum that translated into him NOT moving in with us. I think I knew from the beginning it wouldn't happen, but I was hopeful for the extra income for a while.

Ryan and Kayla are both playing League now.  It's kinda nice because that means we talk to them more. For PAX they are releasing a new Sona skin, Sona is my favorite champ so I am hoping I will have enough RP to buy it when it comes out in a week or so.

Anyway, I'm going to go help Michael with dinner, I hope you're doing alright. We miss you.

Mood Swings

Dear Doll-face,

HolycrapI'msomoodylately.

Yesterday Michael and I had to drive up to my mom's to help move some furniture.. I feel awful because I was having the worst cramps and getting a horrible migraine.  I was basically in a horrible mood for the whole day.

It's so weird...

The apartment is basically cleared out.  Everything that's left is trash. A friend of the family came by and picked up the entertainment center and TV from the picture I posted below.  All of those little end tables were donated to good will.  Basically all that's left is garbage bags and cleaning supplies.  I know you were only there once, and just for a moment, but I'm sure you can't even recognize the place.

After we ran through the donation drive at goodwill we went inside.  While we walked around we noticed a few things up for sale that had clearly come out of grandma and grandpas.  I couldn't tell if I was happy, relieved, or sad when we saw them.  Maybe it was a bit of all three.

Mom bought a copy of the Hunger Games movie, and is letting Michael and I borrow it *in that way that Michael and I tend to never give things back and she knows it*  I watched it as soon as we got in last night and I am actually watching it in the background as I am writing to you right now.  Michael and I  thought it would be funny if we skyped you and we put a camera on a TV/Laptop playing the movie and just sat there and watched it with you.  I am still considering it. IMDB has a listing up for Catching Fire already. I don't wanna wait over a year for it to come out, but I'm not in charge of that so I guess I'll just have to... If I'm reading things right, and if rumors are true, it looks like The Mockingjay will come out in two parts. Boo.

I'm going to go ahead right now and tell you that you are simply now allowed to see the last Hunger Games movie without me. Sure it won't come out until 2015, but I don't care.  We officially have a date set for November 20, 2015 *What is rumored to be the release date of Mockingjay part 2* We'll buy ice cream and cry afterwards.

Rue just died. Makes me so sad every time.

Michael started back to school today. He didn't want to, but I'm proud of him.  We all make decisions that we don't want to make.  This is his.  I just hope someday we'll be in a place where I can let him follow his dream instead of taking one for the team.

Anyway, I'm going to finish watching his movie and then get dressed for work.  Take care of yourself, we really miss you.

"New Schedule"

Dear Doll-Face,

I have been on a new work schedule for a week as of tomorrow.  So far, in the 5 day work week I have, I have only worked ONE day as the schedule has dictated.  I have left and come in early or a combination of both EVERDAY this week.  /facepalm.

Mostly this leaves me super tired.  I got home at about 3pm today and promptly fell asleep until just after 6.  Right now I am just killing time waiting for meat to defrost.. I really want food. I'm starving.  You see, we need to grocery shop but it's move in weekend at WIU which means everywhere always is insanely busy.  I don't want to deal with the people or traffic, and since I need to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning I can't go late tonight.  I'll have to go late tomorrow night *to avoid all the annoying students*

My allergies had sort of let up but now they are out of control again. My eyes are swelling and my nose is trying to escape my face.  Also everything is cloudy and fuzzy, it's awful.

Yesterday was a day off for me, so my girlfriends and I used Google hangouts to video chat together.  Google hangout will let you video chat with up to 10 people at a time.  Which is awesome.  There are also apps that plug in so we can draw pictures and play games together.  We could make a youtube play list that automatically shares with everyone in live time... so we could all watch the same thing at the same time together.  It was pretty neat.  We drew some pictures, but I think it's best not to show them to you... (We really are horrible people.)

In my free time I have been watching Andrew Arcade's LP's of the sims.  If you get bored you might wanna check some of them out, especially his original sims lets play... because it's so hilarious.

(I felt like maybe this episode would make you smile.)

Anyway, I am going to go stare at chicken thawing and force your brother to cook me dinner while I whine about being tired.

We miss you, take care of yourself!

Cats

Dear Doll-face,

I once read that cats are like teenagers, and for the most part they just like to be left alone.  In light of this discovery, I thought I'd share more ways in which cats and teenagers are similar.  Enjoy.

Both cats and teenagers are naturally curious, they sometimes get themselves into trouble this way but to them it's all fun and games.

   

 Both cats and teenagers tend to dislike showers.

   

 Like cats, teenagers are also picky eaters.

   

 Also, cats and teenagers both require a lot of sleep.

   

 A widely known fact, both cats and teenagers spend a lot of time fretting about their appearances.

   

 Another widely known fact: both teenagers and cats have an internet and technology addiction. They can't help it, it's part of who they are.

 

Lastly, both cats and teenagers have excellent tastes in music.

 

(Okay I guess I made that last one up...)

It's Getting Hard Here

Hey Doll-face,

I've been busy again.  All of those trips back home and the hot summer heat have taken their toll on our bank account.  For the first time since Michael and I were left in the house we don't have enough money to pay the bills.  We're closing out my savings account and having to ask Mike to pay rent a week early to pay all my student loans and the mortgage.  We're a little bit stressed out here.

I thought about shutting down the Netflix but they are going to bill me for this month anyway so it wouldn't have helped.  By next month hopefully we will have dropped at least one of the inactive phones from the Verizon plan, which will drop that bill lower.  Also this is technically a three pay check month for me.. sadly that last check comes to late to pay this months bills, or we would be in the gold.

We got confident that Jon was going to be moving in, and then we had those two trips back home.. and the vet bills were big.. (we won't be able to afford the animals monthly flea treatments until after I get paid on the 29th) We fell flat on our butts. Jon can't afford to move in until probably next month...

We are also having to sit and wait to find out if Michael gets OPT or has to go back to school.  He doesn't want to go back but his monthly income that would come out of him being a grad student and teaching is too much to pass at this point, especially with us being as poor as we are right now.

We're still gonna go ahead and blame it all on you though, cause the electric bill is still higher than normal from you being here and falling asleep with the tv, your laptop, and half the lights on../staying up all night. By the time we get the next one we won't have that excuse anymore.  The time you spent here will be out of the rotation. (Boo, we're losing a scapegoat.)

I'm sorry it's been all bad lately.. hopefully once we get all these bills paid (or at least get the early rent from Mike so we physically have the money) things will start to look up.  Hopefully.

We'll see.

Take care of yourself.  Be kind to your sister.  We miss you.

Jeans Save Lives.

Dear Doll-face,

I came to work early today, to let the manager leave early so I could be home with my mom through Sunday helping clean out grandpa's apartment. As I came in I knew I had two pairs of pants to hem, but there was a third bag in the bin with my name on it.  It was something new that came in today.

I opened the bag to a pair of very large and rough jeans.  Seat ripped out, holes everywhere.  They wer awful. I rolled my eyes and just assumed that someone must love them an awful lot to drag them to a cleaners for repairs when they were so obviously so far gone.

So I tore patches off donated jean parts, sewed up the butt, and sat for about 3 hours stiching slowly between customers.  At nearly 6pm a guy came in and I was still stiching away. He leaned over and looked and said, "I'm here for a pair of jeans, in fact that looks like them."

I was relieved.  There were still lots of holes but now that I had a person in front of me I could ask him what mattered and what didn't.  We settled on repairing one last belt loop.  He hung out while I stiched it up really quickly.

I also made a sick fort out of drying drop cloths.

I noticed the customer had bandages around his hands and wrists, but I didn't want to pry.  Instead I asked, "So what's so special about these jeans?"

That's when he recounted the story.  Last week he was biking (motercycling) down back to Macomb from somewhere in Wisconsin (a 900 mile trip he said).  He was going to make the ride in one day.  It was hot, so he didn't wear his biking gloves.  He blew a tire going 90 miles per hour on a highway road. He fishtaled to try and reduce his speed, but still took a decent spill.  His hands were cut up to crap, and he luckly skidd most of the way on his butt, not his back or head.  Those walmart brand wrangler jeans that I was slowly restiching had probably saved his life, and were all that protected the skin on his legs.

Major respect as I made the last knot and charged him $2.00 instead of the ten that I'd been thinking about all evening.  A cool story discount, that was my rational anyway.

I decided to hit you with a back to back since Michael and I will be leaving with Bella tonight for my mom's and won't be back until Sunday night or Monday morning. I'll try and blog while we're up there, but no promises.  I miss you kiddo. Love you lots.

Distance

Dear Doll-face,

So my father and I have agreed that we just don't know where to start anymore.  At my grandparents anniversary party we called a truce of sorts, and agreed that the biggest problem in our relationship was that we didn't know where to start anymore.

He has been in and out of my life since he left my mom.  We're probably both at fault, during different phases. He had expectations that I think were a bit high for a teenager, I got angry and used honesty as a weapon.  There were half-hearted attempts on both ends through the years.  There has been times of giving up, and times of trying.  In the end it comes down to one thing, and one thing only.

We are basically strangers.

I hardly know anything about him, I just know things.  I can tell you what some of his interests are, and I can ramble things off.  But I don't know him at all.  I don't really know what his tastes are, what he does on a daily basis, what his life is like.

But he doesn't know anything about me either.  In fact, he probably knows less. I've been growing up all these years, and for the most part I've left him out of it.  (And at times he has just ignored it.)

He invited me up for his birthday, I think instead of attending the big family ordeal, I ask him if he wants to meet up for lunch or dinner on a day near by it... I've been demonized for years (and no one can tell me that's not at least sort of true with out at least kind of lying) so I don't really want to just jump into the ranks.  I think it would be better to start slow.

And slow is how we shall take it.

Miss you darling, take care of yourself.