Cookies and Karma

I've heard that when you come back home after an extended absence, no matter what you learned while you were living by yourself, you fall back into the same habits you were in at the time that you first left home.

For example, if you always slept in, and expected your mom to wake you up, you might start doing that again. Even if you had a 6:00 AM custodial job while you were gone. If you used to bicker constantly with your siblings, you might find yourself getting frustrated by everything they do. Etc.

Now, I've never been someone who bickers constantly with my siblings, but I have to admit that I have felt my maturity sliding backwards ever since coming home. Also, I am perfectly capable of feeding myself while at college, but for some reason, when I come home, it is so hard to get up and get myself a snack. I usually just get one of my siblings to do it for me.

Just yesterday, I was working on a school project that was due in a matter of hours. One of my sisters was looking at facebook and tumblr and YouTube, "prepping" herself for the crushing disappointment she had come to associate with job-hunting before she jumped back into the fray of online applications. My tomach rumbled. I made a little plea for some food. Sister refused to help. This cycle repeated itself several times.

......An hour later, I got up and got myself some food.

A few hours after that, Sister and I had both relocated to her room upstairs. By this time, my project was due in 45 minutes. Sister was hanging up clothes. There was a knock on the door. Sister and I both ignored it, hoping the other would get it. The knocker continued knocking insistently.

"Sister??" I asked incredulously, as if my supremely granted right to lounge about at all times somehow took precedence over hers.

"It's probably a salesman anyway," she said.

The knocking was way too quick and little-fisted to be a salesman. She knew it as well as I did.

"Sister! That is obviously not a salesman! Why are you being such a brat!" I stomped out of the room and ran down the stairs, where someone was still knocking. Sister slammed the bedroom door after me.

It was not a salesman who was knocking (thank goodness, since I still hadn't put on my makeup). It was a little boy from across the street who had borrowed a cup of sugar from us earlier to make cookies. Now he stood on our porch, holding a plate of cookies.

"Neighbor!" I greeted him. "Did you make these?" He nodded. He looked a little confused. I think he didn't recognize me, since I'm usually at college, and he was worried he had gotten the wrong house. But then I called him by name and he got even more confused.

"They look great!" I said. He handed me the plate, nodding. I noticed the marshmallows and chunks of Hershey's chocolate on top of the cookies. "Are they s'mores cookies?" I asked. He nodded, eyes wide. "You did a good job," I said, smiling. He nodded. "I can't wait to taste them!"

He nodded. "Okay, well.....see ya later!" I said. He nodded and continued standing there. "Alright thanks!" I said, and backed up a little. He started to turn around so I slowly closed the door and brought the cookies to the kitchen.

"Karmaaaa!" sang a little voice in my head. "I am getting what I deserve," I told myself smugly. "Sister doesn't get a cookie because she was too lazy to answer the door."

I took a cookie and bit into it. I danced around the kitchen a little. "I'm going to finish this here," I decided, "and when Sister asks who was at the door, I'm going to tell her. And she'll have to come downstairs and get her own cookie."

I had barely taken my third bite when my feet started carrying me to the stairs. A better plan was forming. I would take my cookie up there and eat it in front of her. And then I would probably get some crumbs in her bed, and everyone hates crumbs in their bed.

Wouldn't you know it, I tripped on the first step. My cookie landed on the stair, marshmallow-side-up.

"Karmaaaaa!" sang a little voice in my head. "I am getting what I deserve," I thought sadly.

So Sister got a cookie, too. And no one got crumbs in anyone else's bed. And I turned my project in on time. And I'm pretty sure Sister is going to get an awesome amazing job, so it looks like everything works out in the end, all pettiness aside.

Aimees

One day, I was sitting in my apartment at Raintree, just hanging out, doing homework maybe. The door opened. Chelsea bounced in, and behind her, a person with poofy hair followed.

"Hi!" the poofy-headed person said. She flashed a huge smile at me. "I'm Aimee!"

"Heather!" Chelsea said, also smiling hugely. "This is Aimee! She's my friend!"

"Hi!" I said. Their smiles were contagious. "I'm Heather -"

"I'm so happy to meet you!" Aimee said. (I believed her. She was practically giddy about it.)

For a few weeks, I just knew Aimee as Chelsea's friend. But then, she moved into our apartment, and she became my roommate, and then my friend too, and then one of my very best friends. And now, she is one of my very best friends.....who is one year older!

Aimee is one of the funniest people I know. She is constantly making me laugh, and something else that is great about her is that she also laughs a lot. So sometimes I feel like I'm really funny when we are hanging out.

When we were roommates in Raintree, we had a lot of fun together. One time, we had a girls night with Chelsea, and we all went to see Dear John at the dolla theater. The movie sucked. The company did not. So we tried again, another time, with New Moon. This time, we all wore our respective boyfriend's clothes. Both times, it was worth the dollar, because we at least had fun hanging out with each other :)

Aimee is always supportive of my ideas. I don't know why, because a lot of the time, they are not that great. Like this one time when I really wanted to check the mail, but it was raining, so I couldn't go by myself! Aimee pulled on mismatching boots and a jacket and off we went. She is so accommodating.

Another time, I wanted to do the Bikini Body workout for our Girls Night. Aimee did it with me. I loved it. She hated it. She only just complained a little bit, but she did it with me!

We also took super-fierce pictures together. She loves America's Next Top Model, and I like it, so usually when she is around, I get hooked on it again. The results are, obviously, worth the time spent on it.

Yep.

Aimee is super-sharing. She is so domestic - she can make anything, tortillas or chicken dumplings or parmesan broccoli or syrup or lemon raspberry cupcakes or cake cookies. And she doesn't just make delicious food. She shares it, too! She always took care of me when we were roommates. She still takes care of me when we are not roommates, by giving me rides to work or bringing me yummy foods she made or sending me encouraging txts (or having her husband txt me funny things) or putting candy all over my bed after I fall asleep on a particularly bad night.

Aimee is a life guard sometimes and also a swim teacher. Therefore, she gets suuuuper-tan and super-blonde in the summertime. And I spend lots of time being jealous of her. I've never seen her teach swimming, but I know she is great at it. Aimee has awesome management skills and I'm so happy that she switched her major to Elementary Education. She is going to be such an amazing elementary school teacher! We are going to share lessons with each other all the time.

Aimee is always happy for me when something good happens to me. She is also such a good listener. She's just good at talking to people and getting them to talk about themselves (and especially their farts). Sometimes, I go into our conversations thinking, "Okay. This time, we're going to talk about Aimee." And then the conversation goes something like this:

me: Tell me about bla! How did it go?

her: It was fun! How did this go?

me: It was great!

her: Did this happen?

me: Yeah! (elaborate)

her: Oh awesome! What about this?

me: Oh! (elaborate more). How was this for you?

her: It was okay. Hey, did this ever happen?

me: No...(elaborate).

Do you see what I mean? I don't know how, but somehow she always turns the conversation back to me. She is selfless and encouraging and kind. She is smart and hardworking and hilarious. She got the hottest bridals taken I have ever seen. I love her! And I think she deserves everything good in the world :)

Dancin Til the World Ends

It's the End of the World! Did you guys know? Today at 6pm, the world is supposed to end. (Kind of.) It's going to start ending today, and then it's really going to end on October 21st, according to this guy named Harold Camping. He actually predicted that the world would end in 1994, but it clearly did not. This time, he is much more certain.

Somehow, Harold has made millions of dollars off of warning people about the end of the world. In 2008, his radio network was allegedly worth more than $117 million. I guess this is lucky for him because when the world doesn't end tonight, or on October 21st, I imagine some people will get mad and try to sue him.

As for me, I am having great fun with the end of the world! I woke up this morning real cheerful and thought, "Hmm! Today is the end of the world! What should I do?"

I explored my options. I could register my pet birds for pet care in case I get taken up to Heaven today at 6 and no one is left behind to take care of them. I could make a playlist about the End of the World. I could go to Confession and confess my sins. I could go to an End-of-the-World partyin DC for only $1.

I decided against the pet care thing. I didn't want to pay $135, or even $10 to make sure that my pets would be comfortable during the Rapture. Plus I guess I'm not going to be saved, since I didn't give Harold Camping any money.

I also decided against going to Confession, since I'm not Catholic and I guess you have to be on your deathbed or about to join the Catholic church in order to participate in Confession. :( Rude. If Blair Waldorf can go, why can't I?

I did, however, make a playlist. And I ate cookies for breakfast. And I went outside and sat on the deck in the sunshine. And I called my dad to wish him a happy end of the world. And I tried to call Nicole but she anored me.....

While I was eating breakfast, Joseph and Julie and I had a funny conversation.

me: Joseph, do you want the last cookie? I'm about to eat it.

Joseph: No thanks, I'm not hungry.

me: Well...have you had any yet?

Joseph: No. But you can have it, I'm not hungry.

me: What if when we get taken up to Heaven and I'm all full from eating cookies, and then there's awesome food in Heaven, but I can't eat any of it, because I'm all full?

Julie: We're not going to Heaven. We didn't pay any money.

me: Woohoo, more cookies!

If you get to read this before the world ends, I think you should also take the time to watch this music video. It's "Give a Little" by Hanson and makes me so happy every time I watch it!

What are you doing to celebrate this day?