bad couple of days

sorry I havent written in a while, im quite stressed right now actually.
lets start with...

MONDAY NIGHT
I had a couple girls over my house. It was me my two best friends (stacey and amanda) and maura, a girl I carpool to school with. we were having fun but then I just couldn't stand Stacey anymore. She has been annoying me lately but I was seriously about to kill her. When she annoys me like this I can get mean. Fourth of July for instance, she looked super cute in her jean skirt and flipflops but couldnt decide what shirt to wear. So, she asked everyone which shirt, the pink or the grey. Everyone said grey...except me. I made up this bullshit excuse why she should wear the pink, so she did. And it made her look fat. Sometimes she deserves to look fat, haha. Im just jealous but I cant help myself. Anyway! back to the real story...

MONDAY/TUESDAY
I wasnt in the greatest mood when we fell asleep at 5 30 in the morning, but i didnt let anyone know that. When we woke up it was disgusting out and we were suppossed to go tubing on the Delaware! I was pretty dissappointed. but we went out to the Diner instead for breakfast. Stacey kept throwing sugar packets, spoons, creamers and such in my brand new messenger bag. I was just like "whatever" and took them out until I found sugar all over my bag then i was mad. I just let it go though. When we went to go pay the check i was like the freaking mom rounding all the kids together, figuring out the money and the tip situation. Stacey just couldnt wait to call shottie so she asked for the keys. Stupidly i gave them to her. I come out to see a pepper shaker on my dashboard. I run to go take it back and I put it on the steps to the diner. When I came back some how the door closed, im not exactly sure how it happened. but regardless.....MY KEYS ARE LOCKED IN THE CAR. I call everyone I can think of, mom is yelling at me telling me to figure this out on my own because she is at work and can't help. I get my friend aimee to skip going to tennis to come get me so I can get my spare key. In the end it all worked out but Stacey never acknowledged it was her fault. oh! and I almost forgot, the whole diner (half of which go to my old school and are in the grade above me) comes out to "see if they can help" which of course they cant.

TUESDAY NIGHT
I go to my friend danas house and its crappy out, raining and everything. Everyone wants to go swimming but I dont feel like it. so me and these two kids from another school are with me, but I have never met them before. Im too scared to talk to them, so I dont. I was talking to my friends about our labels, like:
amanda~the funny one
stacey~the one all they guys like/the obnoxious one
julia~the dramatic one
dana~the giggler
tori~the emo one
margie~the perfect one
so where does that leave me? they decided im the shy one! how the hell did i get that?! thats bad. but whatever.

im only suppossed to have one other person in the car and I was already taking someone home but another girl needed a ride so I said I would take her home. I have to be off the road at 11 by law. I left danas house with plenty of time to get home, that is until I got lost. It was really scary. dark roads, 3 girls, and loud music is not a good combination. long story short, I missed curfew too. but I got off the hook with the parentals so that was good.

WEDNESDAY
I had to work...that starts the day off bad. when I got home I pulled in the driveway and turned off the car. but there was one problem, I couldnt get the keys out of my car for the life of me. Panic mode has set in by this time. I start running around the neighborhood like a a killer is after me. After going to 3 different house and calling 2 people i go the Mack's house. I make Mr.Mack drive all the way over and he discovers I dont have it in park. I feel so stupid. In the house I start hysterically crying. I cant even calm myself down. im blubbering like an idiot and call mom. she calms me down a little bit. I dont know why I got so upset its not even that big of a deal. maybe it was everything combined.

there are more little deatails that contributed to it but - just trust me, it was a bad week

cailin

The Spider Cricket

They are a strange blend of genetically enhanced cricket with a steroid crazed spider. That's the only way to describe them other than they look like an alien life form. Perhaps they are. Because until we moved into our house, neither hubby nor I had ever seen such a frightening creature. The most horrific part is actually that it is a SPIDER that HOPS LIKE A CRICKET.

A few weeks ago we had hubby's unsuspecting sister and husband for a night. We made up our basement guest bedroom quite nicely - clean sheets and towels and all. Everything was at peace - good chinese food for dinner - a few glasses of wine. And then we all went to bed. Sister, husband, and their dog (we'll call him the Exterminator) tramped down the stairs and then we heard: "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Followed by gasps and inquisitive murmurs. I didn't even have to look. I said, "That is an alien form we like to call the spider cricket. Beware. It hops, and it is neither spider nor cricket." And then Exterminator took an interest in the creature by way of lunging at it and chomping it down. His parents were quite beside themselves, and I was quite the happy hostess as I did not have to worry about spider cricket hunting (they are fast suckers) so I could sleep that night (and be sure I would not wake up with said spider cricket on my face and such).

Anyway apparently since Exterminator is no longer at our house, and our dog, upon seeing a spider cricket, leaps away from it, ears plastered back on his head, like the thing is going to eat him alive - which they may - at this point we do not know their limitations - have basically taken over the basement. They like it down there. They have their little parties. They don't bother us and we don't bother them. Unless of course they emerge to the first floor - where all bets are off and it's a full out fight to the death. The only problem is when I have to retrieve something out of the laundry room - which is in prime spider cricket territory. It's like their little game. Upon seeing me, they like to bajoing out of their hiding places at me. So, I've taken to doing VERY LITTLE laundry. I'm a hostage in my own home. I think this is grounds for moving, don't you?

JUST LISTEN

I've been wanting to read this book since it came out in April. I FINALLY found it in the library (yay!). I have read a few of Sarah Dessen's books, and they've all been good reads - kind of beach-y, fun, slice of life type books. But this one was SO good. It's amazing how she developed her characters. At first I was like - oh no - this is reading a lot like SPEAK, which is practically my favorite book of all time. And there are similarities, but JUST LISTEN takes off in a completely different direction. Annabelle is the youngest of three girls (Cailly - can you relate? Except we have a fivefootgiant boy wedged in there too...) and totally caught up in family drama. Not just the usual curfew/sibling rivalry/I-hate-you-because-you-stole-my-hairdryer drama that can arise in a house with three girls - real issues. The oldest sister is completely over the top (but SO realistic - we have all known a Kirsten in our lives) - loud, in your face, sentimental, and way too energetic. The middle girl is Whitney - the stormy, moody, silent type. And then there's Annabelle who wants to keep her mom happy and her house in some kind of semblance of peace - but mostly is trying to figure out who she is.

I did not expect this book to be about eating disorders. I thought it was going to be about rape/assault and its horrific aftermath. But a lot of the book is about this family dealing with Whitney's anorexia/bulimia. Books and movies RARELY make me cry but there is one scene that is so powerful and frightening and sad (I don't think I have to tell you that it was the bathroom scene...Cailin when you read this - beware.), that I did. There is another QUITE disturbing scene which made me very angry - scared for all women - and want to tell my sisters to NEVER EVER let your guard down. Never. Not even at your catholic school Miss Cailly.

The way the characters were developed in the book was so well done. Without Kirsten's dramatics - it would be hard for the reader to know just how sick Whitney was - and without the Mom's past depression - it would be hard to rationalize why Annabelle couldn't just be honest with her mom and tell her she wanted to quit modeling, etc. But the way each character was written into the book - just made everything make sense. I never thought to myself - please, Annabelle would never be that honest with Owen. But I knew she would just the way Owen was introduced to her and because from the beginning we knew how much honesty meant to Owen and why. Very cool.

The other thing about the book that I thought was so realistic was the friendship between Sophie and Annabelle. Sophie is Miss Popularity. She rules by fear, and you just feel so sad for Annabelle that she is so taken by her and wants to be her friend. She is in a perpetual bad mood and icy to everyone - but without her Annabelle knows she would never have been as popular as she is - and for that she sticks by her. I've seen this same kind of friendship before. Where people put up with all sorts of abuse just because they know if they didn't, they'd find themselves on the bad side of the wrong person. We had a girl like that in our high school - thank goodness - the year ahead of me. But her wrath filtered to our grade too - and we found ourselves doing jaw exercises because she said we'd get jowels if we didn't - and learning not to react when she said things like - 'OMG I just love picking my nose in public, don't you?'

Erin

school books....why do they pick the bad ones?

im reading "A Man for All Seasons" by Robert Bolt. dont read it. its confusing and i dont get how the characters are related.

they will say something but then in the same sentence will conradict it...i dont get it!!

but its really short, so thank god for that

cailin

Book Wish-List

These are the books I have to read that may not even be out yet:

1. An Abundance of Katherines by John Greene (I am definitely BUYING this book when it comes out. Yay.)
2. Just in Case by Meg Rosoff (though I'm a little scared...How I Live Now was so good - funny - honest - but crazy disturbing and sad - it took me a few days and a Bartimaeous book to get it out of my head.)
3. Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire by Sue Limb (I love these. They're so funny.)
4. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (seriously. I haven't read this yet - because the library NEVER has it. Cailly if you loved me, you'd buy this for me just because I'm your favorite sister.)

I'm actually reading a book to review right now. And it's painful. Here's why:
1. Overusage of exclamation points!! It's like reading an email in all caps. It's stressful.
2. From paragraph one we are told 'this girl is special.' And every one she meets turns around and whispers to the reader - 'yep, this girl is special for some vague reason we can't describe.' Annoying.
3. The point of view keeps switching characters - and it feels like this is happening only to inform the reader of something.
4. The 'bad-guy' is a really rich popular girl.
Anyway the story is okay so all is not lost, and I haven't published a book - so what do I know?

Erin

Bridal Shower-in-a-box

If you ever send a bridal shower-in-a-box over to Germany, make sure you leave out the following:

Country Conditions for Mailing - Germany
Prohibitions:

Absinthe.
Arms and weapons.
Articles bearing political or religious notations on the address side.
Human remains.
Live plants and animals.
Melatonin.
Perishable infectious biological substances.
Playing cards, except in complete decks properly wrapped.
Pulverized coca beans.
Radioactive materials.

Phew - my infectious biological substance are non-perishable. For a second there I thought I wouldn't be able to send it.

Erin

GOSSIP GIRLS

im not quite sure exactly what it is about gossip girls that makes me want to keep reading. it just seems so different from all the other teen novels. instead of drinking cheap beer they are drinking scotch on the rocks, instead of running out to the nearest cvs to get new lipgloss becuase they just got 5 dollars from thier mom, they are getting extremely expensive or free designer clothing.

maybe its becuause i (in a way) want to be like them? not becuase their dilemmas are more to the "omg, -i just-had-sex-with-my-interviewer-from-yale" side, rather than "omg, -im-going-to-be-grounded-and-never-going-to-be-let-out-of-the-house-again-becuase-they-caught-me-kissing-a-boy." they are wayyyyyy past that.

serena, one of the main characters, is perfect. she is gorgeous, perfect skin, hair, body, everything.you can get anything you want from a frappachino to acceptance to a school you probably dont deserve. and to read about guys just ogling over her and waiting on her hand and foot, listening to everything she has to say. to know your perfect.

another main character, blair, is basically destroying herself to keep up with this goddess. shes always pinching at her body even though it, while not as perfect as serenas, is pretty darn close. she has the greatest boyfriend and alot of friends but still makes herself throw up after every meal no caring who knows about it.

i dont know... its all so dramatic and on such a huge scale that it makes my life seem easier somehow. if they can deal with everything like that, i think i will live when i hit a bump in the road every once in a while.

ummm thats about it.

cailin

PROPHET OF YONWOOD

In honor of my poor boy's second trip to the kennel in his life - I want to talk about one horrific scene in Prophet of Yonwood. This is the third book in the Ember trilogy after The City of Ember, and People of Sparks. It's actually a prequel - an eery insight into what happened before City of Ember. I rarely put books down - and I have to say I almost abandoned this book when the prophet (who claimed to have seen then end of the world and makes foggy statements that are misunderstood as directives from God) says - NO DOGS. Yes. She said no dogs. So the entire town obeyed and put their dogs on school buses that drove them up a snowy mountain and released them to the wild. Into the wild! I won't go into the gory details. I read to the end ONLY to find out if the dogs were returned. And - THANK GOODNESS - they were. All of them at once. And, I don't care if it's believable or not - Yonwood got their dogs back.

If that had been me - I would have packed up all my belongings - kissed my house goodbye - and taken my doggie and hubby and gotten the heck out of there. Why didn't anyone do that? Wierd.

Otherwise I enjoyed Prophet of Yonwood. I have to say I liked the other two books better, if only because they took me into a completely different world - one that the author made so real. The idea of living under ground is just so frightening and interesting at the same time. And then her second book was equally as chilling, People of Sparks. Living after the 'end-of-the-world' basically where they have to live without all the technology the world took so long to create. Like cars. And electricity. And medicine. The chilling part of the book was how just one event quickly changed Sparks, a peaceful community that had never seen war, into a community that was quick to fight to the death to keep the 'peace.' It made me feel pretty hopeless - that people, no matter how peaceful, gravitate naturally to war and violence when desperate. But at the same time, it really made me think, and I love those kind of books.

Erin

Turnpike Debacle

haha i have a story.....
ok so after work yesterday, i went to my friend amandas house because we were going to the mall and then i would take her to my other friends house becuase she was have a gettogether. we had to map quest her house and i didnt really look at the directions before we left. so me and amanda went to the mall and we were on our way to the party. amanda was reading the directions....left here....right there...blah blah blah.....get on the turn pike...WHAT?!....pay the toll.....WHAT?!. we have to get on the turn pike?! but it was ok we got to the house safely and everything. but amandas mom and dad wouldnt pick her up so i had to take her home(which is WAY out of the way) so called mom from the turnpike saying i was on my way home and she freaked out. she called my other sister, my dad, one of my best friends mom, amandas mom, anyone she could think of to see which way i was getting home. me and amanda knew exactly where we were but i couldnt even get words in with madre. when i got home she made me pay her 5$ for the tolls and the "gas i wasted taking amanda home" whatever....it was a whole huge deal when it wasnt even that bad. she overeacted, ALOT. she tends to do that. especially with me.

well atleast it wasnt a boring night :)

cailin

career choosing SUCKS!

ill tell you about my driving test in sec, but im all upset right now because i dont know what to do with my life... god i hate this... since i am "growing up" everyone is asking me what college r u going to? what r u majoring in? why havent you decided yet? r u prepareing for the SAT's?....i dont know, i dont know, I DONT KNOW! i feel like im running out of time but then when i go stop and think, IM ONLY A JUNOIR. i dont have to decide right now do i? and then just when i think i have it all figured out something happens that completly changes my mind. all my friends have it together, WHY DONT I!?
my parents are on my back about grades constantly and when report cards come out its always "this is good...but you can do better." ok yes, i could try a little harder but its not like i just blow off school. i never miss a homework but becuase my parents dont see me actually doing it at home they dont think i do it at all. tests are another story though. that i will admit i dont try hard enough.
whatever, im just taking it one step at a time.

so i got my license today, the test was really easy. but dont get me wrong it was still nerve wracking. no tragedies. I LOVE DRIVING!

cailin

A pause to reflect on e-submissions

Can I just say how much I love e-submissions? For some reason the act of going to the post office with your dear manuscript in hand - passing it over to the mail lady - and watching it disappear into the clutter that is the back-room of the post office is just unnerving.

Take for example my last snail mail submission - which was LAST October (and I still have not gotten an official decision yet...but that's another story all-together):

I'm at work and today is the day that I'm going to send my manuscript to big-time NY editor. At exactly 11am I will leave work and (running) calmy take my already printed out manuscript (Office Depot the night before - never a good experience I tell you) to the Mail Boxes Etc place a block away. This lady knows me. She is very sweet in a gruff chain smoking kind of way. I have sent manuscripts through her before and they have arrived safely at their destinations. But, she insists on putting the postage on my outside envelope, inserting the SASE after printing up its own postage, and closing the envelope - HERSELF. But I'm an easy going person and I let her do it (or maybe it's because she ultimately determines if my manuscript will be sent to big time NY editor or a remote Ethopian village). I mention at least fifty times during my ten minutes in her store that the SASE must go INSIDE the big envelope containing my hopes and dreams. She gets it the first time, but lets me repeat myself regardless. She prints out my postage and puts a hand out, expecting me to put my package in it. It looks clean enough, but wait. I must check to make sure something wierd didn't happen and mess the order of - cover letter - synopsis - manuscript - in my envelope. I take everything back out and mail lady sighs and waits patiently. It's in the right order. Phew. I put everything back in the envelope. But wait. What if Office Depot did not print all the pages of my manuscript? How bad would that look if famous NY editor opens my submission - reads to page 186 and finds the last page - 187 - missing? Insta-rejection. That's what happens. Remove my manuscript again - check for last page - it's there. Ahhh. Put everything back in. Mail lady is relieved with me. She knows my ritual is over. But then - disaster. I get a MASSIVE paper cut. Blood everywhere. Mail lady is horrified. I play it cool. I'm fine, really. Nothing to see here. Except there is blood on my outside ENVELOPE! Panic. Mail lady asks me if everything is ok. Do I need a bandage? No, I'm fine I say, blood spurting everywhere. She ignores me and brings me a clump of paper towels and a band-aid. I clean myself up, thankful there is no one else in the store but me and mail lady. She gets me a new envelope - I check my manuscript - every page. Miraculously there is no blood. Mail lady extends her hand again, I give her my submission and she takes it from there. I return to work 15 years older than when I left.


Erin

pity kisses

ah hahaha i have one word for him....SUCKAAAA. ha ha jk, yeah i have heard of people doing that and yes at first it might seem funny but it is really mean. i dont think i have known anyone who has actually done this...but i do know people who have given pity kisses, which in my mind is just as bad, but only if the other person finds out. its basically the same thing. if you know a guy really likes you and you feel bad and just kiss him, your just backing yourself into a coner. cuz then he thinks you like him but then you avoid him and you end up looking like a bitch, not only to his friends but to people who dont know you that well.
wow ok that sounded really complicated and teenagerly but ask any teen girl to read this and they will translate.
but anyway, either one....im totally against them.

KING DORK: Make-out Fake-out

So I am in the middle of reading King Dork by Frank Portman, and it's just so hilarious that I don't want it to end. I'm actually listening to it on my way to work (and okay at work too...) and I feel like I'm having a conversation with this kid Tom Henderson - albeit a one sided conversation as I do not talk to my books on cd - about the unpleasantness of high school. He is such a real character, it's amazing. Cailin hasn't read this yet and probably won't because it's a 'boy' book and she doesn't like to read 'boy' books (again with the misguidedness).

Probably the most humiliating thing this kid has endured (besides an accidental indecent exposure in gym) is the 'make-out fake-out.' This is possibly the meanest thing I have ever heard of. It works like this: Poor innocent Tom is approached by a girl he would call normal, which means she is mostly accepted by the in-crowd. She professes her undying love for him. Of course Tom, although admittedly surprised by this girl's interest, is psyched, feeling like he has inadvertently climbed the ladder of popularity and is no longer an untouchable. The charade does not last long and ends in everyone laughing at gullible, even more untouchable, Tom. If I was 14yrs old...a student at his high school...and not already happily married - I'd definitely ask him out. And I'd mean it.

Erin

Teen Angst - a scenario

hmmm lets think....teen angst....well i have to admit it, if you're a teenage girl alot of your angst is caused by physical appearance and....im just gunna say it... BOYS! i will give you an example, remember this is hypothetical....

teen:(talking to friend on phone) hey you wanna just hang out at your house? im all gross and unshowered.
tenns friend: sure! yeah im not even going to put make-up on or anything.
(teen gets there and finds out that its a whole frickin party now, everyones there....including her crush)
teen:DAMN IT!

i do have my teen angst moments but they are few and far between. im kind of a strange teenager though, i can definitly carry a conversation with an adult, but i would rather watch cartoons than MTV. my parents often ask me why how i can watch this "crap" but i just pretend im engrossed in the bright colors and ignore them. it works well, when you dont respond for a while they just give up.

Cailin

Teen Angst

This weekend Cailly and I had the pleasure of freezing to death at the base of Mt. Washington (site of the worst weather in the entire country...of course we'd go there) surrounded by a thousand sleep-deprived mountain bikers. It was all about eating beef stew and finding something to talk about for 24 hours straight. So as you would have it - the topic of teen angst came up. Mostly because my sleep-deprived mountain biking husband uses the term quite often around my little sister and fellow blogger. She is a teen, but it's up for debate whether or not she suffers from teen angst herself.

Their conversations went something like this:
Cailin: It's cold.
Hubby: Stop with your teen angst Cailin.
Cailin: I am so not teen angsting. I'm not going to lie.
Hubby: (Snorts) You are full of teen angst.
Cailin: I don't even know what it is.
Hubby: I rest my case. Pass the GORP.

And then this other mountain biker was like: what is teen angst? And I thought, what a good question. The dictionary says it's a feeling of anxiety and insecurity. But, I think if you put the word 'teen' in front of it, it takes on a life of its own. For example if my mom said to me (as the rational adult I now am): 'Darling, I would love to see you in more dresses.' (as she often does, going as far as sending me anonymous dresses in the mail), I would maybe consider the merit of her suggestion. Maybe I'd even buy a dress. But a few years ago - when I was an angsty teen - perhaps it would have reacted differently. Something like freaking out and yelling, 'what is that supposed to mean?', and then pound-pound-pound up to my room and slam the door, 'I knew you hated me! I may as well move to [insert best friend's name here]' house! You probably wouldn't even miss me!' Something like that.

Erin

Five Fun Facts

Five Fun Facts about the Five Foot Giants:
1. We are twins born 12 years apart.
2. We are not giants, but we are five feet tall. One of us might try and tell you she is five feet two, but that one of us would be lying.
3. One of us is an aspiring middle grade and young adult writer, and one of us is aspiring to get the heck out of high school.
4. One of us has a hubby and large dog that tries to take her side of the bed, and one of us has a curfew, cheerleading practice, and a looming driver's test.
5. Together we can make a mean rice krispie treat. Without measuring cups. Or a real pan.

Erin