Random Rambling Tidbits

We had a blackout on Saturday when all four of my little cousins were over. It happen just as my mom was going to put Frozen on for them to watch. And then their parents came over, like, ten minutes later at around seven, so the kids weren't scared. In fact, they thought it was so cool once we brought out the candles and flashlights. One of my cousins had her birthday earlier in July and still had glow sticks left over, so we got those out for the kids. The younger two had fun making bracelets and necklaces with them, while the older two loved throwing them in the pool and diving after them, under our watchful eyes and flashlights of course! And Lily was happy because us being out on the patio meant that she could night-swimming as well. 

Then my sister pointed out that we never got around to making s'mores on Fourth of July and the fire pit was right there, so we got all the s'more making stuff out for some fun. Surprisingly, the fire felt nice. Or maybe it wasn't so surprising, since it has been monsoon season over here. There's a reason why Arizonian's always point out that we have a dry heat, because humid heat is horrible!

Then the kids went home and Dad and I agreed to stay the night to take care of Lily-dog and Sophie-cat. Poor Momma has been experiencing bad hot-flashes ever since she finished her chemo, something about her hormones or medication making her have heat flashes. There was no way she could stay the night in the house and it was expected that the power wouldn't be back on till five in the morning. Sis and her went home with one of our cousins and then Dad and I retired to the patio where it was slightly cooler. I had a flashlight and a book handy while Dad went to fold up the patio umbrellas. I hear the 'clank-clank-clank' of the crank and once it clears, the power came back on! I burst out laughing, asking dad what he did to make the power come back on.

Of course, whatever they did to fix the power must have been a temporary fix, as the we had another blackout tonight. It wasn't for as long, just an hour and a half or so, but it happen around the time my sister was getting ready for bed, since tomorrow is her first day of high school and she has to be at school really early for band.

...Allow me a moment to try to get use to the fact that my baby sister is starting high school 0_0

This brings up the point about dry heat vs humid heat; tonight wasn't humid at all, so I took Lily and a flashlight out and went around the block to see how our neighbors were faring. I'm a desert kid through and through; some where complaining that it was hot out, but to me it was wonderful. And Lily was happy too, since she got to see some of the neighbor dogs. She actually doing really well around new dogs, as she doesn't bark or try to bite them, just smell them quietly. I wish she would act the same way with new people, as she gets all hyper and jumpy when she's around them >_<

Also, I got around to finally making this pie yesterday. I had most of the ingredients but kept procrastinating on it because 1) we didn't have cocoa powder and 2) my enthusiasm for making the recipe deflated after Mom reminded me that she can't have anything soy. But I had already bought most of the stuff and the expiration date for the tofu was coming up, so I got off my butt, got the cocoa powder, and finally made her.

The funny thing is that the cocoa powder was a bigger obstacle then I thought. Storytime: when Acara was, oh, nine or so, she wanted something sweet to eat, but there wasn't anything like that in the house. Then I remembered the container of cocoa powder on the baking shelf and figured, hey, that's probably pretty good. It might be a bit bitter, but I love dark chocolate so I figured I could bare it. So I got the biggest spoon I could find and filled it with cocoa powder.

If you never tasted cocoa powder before, DON'T DO IT! You know the cinnammon challenge? My reaction was just like that as I tried not to spit the nasty stuff everywhere. So I kind of have had a bad association with cocoa powder since then and the fact that I couldn't easily find it in the store made me just want to make the recipe without it more.

Childish, I know, but the worst part was that, as I was making the pie, I though that maybe I had overreacted that day. After all, everything in moderation and all that, so maybe just a small sample would taste better? There was a light dusting of it on the teaspoon I used, so I wiped some of it on my finger and licked it. AND IT TURNED OUT I WAS STILL HORRIBLY WRONG!

...You know that scene in Avatar the Last Airbender where Sokka licks the gunk they find inside that one rock cave in the desert? And how he says he did it because he's so naturally curous? Yeah, I am just like that. Remind me to tell you guys the story of when I touched a cactus for a dollar sometime.

Still, the pie came out wonderful! I'll have to see if it will last till Bro comes home this weekend; at least with him I know he'll appreciate it!

This was a warm-up doodle that turned out surprisingly cute, so I decided to finish it. And I've been meaning to practice coloring, so I figure I might as well try out one of those palette meme things. I just don't know if I did it correctly because 1) I used black to ink everything and 2) I use Sai brushes that have automatic blending on them, so there are colors in here that deviate from the original palette. All the meme pictures I've seen so far use don't use black for outlines or blend the colors to make new shades. Yeah, leave it to me to find a way to mess up the challenge :/ That's why I'm hesitant to post this to tumblr.

...Anyway, this is set in my Miwa AU and resulted from when I was thinking about Miwa's relationship with Mikey. Since she was always watching after him since he was the littlest, that also meant that, for a while, she and Mikey slept int the same bed either to help keep both of them warm or just because Mikey had a period of time when he was scared of the dark. Either way, it's cute :3

I had an interview on Friday for a teacher assistant position at a charter school, and I've been waiting all weekend and today for them to call me back. I called them today to follow up with it, and the secretary told me she would give the hiring person my number when she was avaible. At the interview, they mentioned that they would be starting school this week and that today would be an open house for kids to meet all the teachers, so I'm hoping that now it is over, they'll be able to get back to me.

I live in Arizona, so our school year is from August to May (I've heard that is to keep kids from being in school for the hottest parts of the summer). Schools are going to be starting up soon, so there's that as well. My therapist (who use to work as a counselor at a college) told me that it isn't uncommon for schools to call people back at the last minute when they realize they still have spots to fill. There isn't much else I can do, I even called some of the districts I've also applied for and they said that I just have to keep waiting..

I picked up some job applications for local grocery stores and restaurants so if worst comes to worse, I'll try getting a part time job there. At least I'll be able to begin saving up money for a place of my own.

Bah, I'm so worried over this that I completely forgot about Comic-Con. Normally that would be enough to excite me, but I'm not feeling it. Talking to my bro might help; I'll have to call him about catching up with what was said at the panels so we can geek out over stuff together.