House of Hades (A Rant)

Merry Christmas my Fluffy Unicorns!

I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as mine, and I hope that you got everything you wanted. 

But before we go any farther, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So, if you haven't read House of Hades (By Rick Riordan) please leave this post and come back once you've read the book. Unless of course you don't mind me spoiling the ending. :) 

This book was awesome. It made me laugh, cry, and of course, scream. When I reached the end of the book, which ends much calmer then the last book, I gave a great shout and threw my book at my unsuspecting mother. 

No joke. 

Percy and Annabeth are FINALLY out of Tartarus, Hazel has past her test, Frank isn't the Pillsbury Doughboy anymore (hehehe) Leo hasn't changed a bit (he's still my little goofball), and Jason and Piper are just as awesome as ever. So I'm happy about all that. 

BUT. SWEET HEAVEN ABOVE. BUT. The way it ends! OH GOSH, how it ends. Mr. Riordan, who said that you could write such an action packed adventure, to end with "The Argo II sailed into the night" (583). WHAT KIND OF AN ENDING IS THAT?! I mean seriously, think about it. Riordan ended the last book with a wicked ending, left us hanging by spider webs until October 6, 2013. THEN he gives us this epic creation, that give you chills just reading the name. Let's not even talk about the sassy sarcastic sentences that fly in this book. Oh no, let's not mention the beautiful love stories flowing through this book like rivers on a map (and, by the way, if you take them out there is still an amazing story, unlike Twilight). 

I'm literally in such a heavy book hangover, I have to remind myself to breathe. Haven't eaten for two hours, and I haven't blinked for two hours. I ran around my house screaming and crying until my brother told me to shut up. Then I sat in the corner silently sobbing.

I can't even continue this rant. I LOVE AND HATE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. GAHHHHH!!

God Bless,

~Nina

A History Lesson

Hello My Fluffy Unicorns!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

And Happy (late) Thanksgiving! I have been so busy lately, I haven't written anything. I'M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON. I'M SO SORRY.  But this coming year I plan to do a blog post every Saturday. Better? 

For my English class I have been doing research on my family tree, and I have discovered quiet a bit! And I thought I'd share it with all of you since I haven't posted in a long time. 

First, during the Revolutionary War, my ancestors were loyalists.  Now before you go off an a tangent about that, let me just say that she (I don't know her name, my research could only go so far) was related to the British crown. And as far as I can tell, that's why they were loyalists. Anyway, as a result we were entitled "the despicable Parsells". 

Laugh all you like. Ha, ha ha. 

I guess we used to be rather rich, in that we had a bunch of land. All that went away during the war. The patriots took our land, and sold it. Literally, I found a newspaper clipping, dated in 1783, where a farm that was on our property was for sale. Isn't that crazy? 

Finally, sometime between 1844 and 1864 Franklin Parsell moved to Michigan. And that is why I live here and not New York. 

Isn't that an interesting story?  Let me know what you think! :) 

~Nina

No Mores: My Cake Pop Adventure

Hello my Fluffy Unicorns!

As some of you may know, my sister is having a baby! Yesterday was her shower, which I co-planned with my wonderful sister-in-law, Cindy. The theme was "She's about to pop". So everything had to "pop". We had "Pop"corn, Cake "Pop"s, "Pop-able" meatballs, Capri "Pop"s, and Grape "Pop"s to eat. And Cindy made the most beautiful decorations. 

To get to the point, I had three jobs: 1. Show up 2. Buy diapers for our Conversational Diapers game 3. Make the Cake Pops. 

Simple right? 

Wrong. 

I borrowed a Cake Pop maker from my dear friend, and asked another friend (who hadn't made Cake Pops before, like me) to come and help me make them. We started making them at 9:30 in the morning. We made the cake batter from scratch, and made all the balls to begin with. Then, following the directions to the letter, we put them in the freezer.  While they were in the freezer, the directions said to make the chocolate coating. I have made chocolate candy from the day I was born, I know how to melt chocolate. But, according to the recipe it said to add butter. I have never added butter to the mix. Ever. However, since i have never made Cake Pops before, I felt that I should follow the directions. 

I ruined three bags of chocolate. 

When I finally got the chocolate to work, I was almost out of chocolate and had to break up some of my emergency chocolate bars to save the day. 

In the end, it took my friend and I eleven hours to make 95 cake pops. 

Expectations: 

Reality:

So in the end, we called them No Mores because we are never making them again. If anyone wants some Cake Pops they can ask someone else, my kitchen's closed.

On the flipside, they did taste very good. I got several compliments on them, so they were worth it. But I still won't make them anymore. 

God Bless,
~Nina

The Opening Of A Chapter

Hello my Fluffy Unicorns!!

So my summer has been going good. Extremely busy, hence the few posts. SORRY! 

I am writing this blog post to kind of vent some of my feelings. My mother's only sister, my Aunt Ann, has been diagnosed with Breast, Lymph, and Bone cancer. It's stage four, which is the highest, I believe. But I hope I'm wrong. 

I am not ready to loose my Aunt. Not even close. True, she lives in Vermont. Which is quite a few hundred miles from here. So I rarely see her as it is. She doesn't call, or even contact anyone in the family unless she's coming up for a holiday (which is rare). However, when she does come, or contact someone, she's always the center of attention. 

My Aunt Ann got married a few years ago. And the weird thing is, no one was invited to the wedding. Weird right? I was very put out by the whole thing. I went to her house once, and I didn't see any wedding photo's. What, did she go to Vegas or somewhere? I've also wondered quite a few times what her wedding dress looked like. For all I know she could have worn a quilted turquoise and gold marshmallow ball gown, complete with a hot pink feathered poof hat! Obviously she didn't wear that, but I would just like to know.  

Aunt Ann quilts a lot. Her quilts have won first place in dozens of contests. This year she made everyone in the family a quilted tree skirt for the Christmas Tree. They're gorgeous! She made my sister's matching quilts for their beds, and from the day that they arrived in the mail, I have wanted one of her quilts. Two years ago she came over to my house and told me that she had something for me. Now I had never voiced to anyone that I wanted one of her quilts, ever. She had made me the prettiest, most me quilt I have ever found. It's purple, green, and gold. She designed it herself, and it one first place in a quilt show. I am so blessed that I could get it!! My dream literally came true! And now, if she leaves us forever, I have something that I can remember her by forever. 

I don't want her to die, I want her to live. She's always lived her life to the fullest. Whenever I've seen her, she's been laughing. It's a loud, bright, cherry, exploding kind of laugh. She always has a fun sarcastic comment about everything. All in all, she's just a fun lady and I can't even imagine life without her, even though she isn't a part of my life very much. 

If you all could please pray for my Aunt Ann. She isn't the strongest in her faith, and she could use all the prayers she can get at this point. She's got a long hard road, and even though we can't be there with her all the time, she can at least know that she has a support base here in Michigan. 

God Bless,
~Nina

Happy Birthday!

Hello my Fluffy Unicorns!

Two posts in one day! Yay! I wanted to write this post, and dedicate it to my unborn (miscarried) brother George. I got this huge feeling today that it's his birthday. There's no way of knowing if it really is or not, but I'm going to honor him anyway. 

I often wonder what George would have been like. Would he have had brown eyes like me? Would he have been tall or short? Would he have glasses like me? Blond hair, or brown hair? What if he was a ginger? Ha! What an idea. Would he be a serious person, or a funny person? I seriously don't know, but I wish I did. I sometimes wonder if he and me would have been close. I'm not really "close" close with any of my siblings. Sometimes I wonder if I lost my best friend, my therapist (if you will), my partner-in-crime, my security. I guess I'll never really know if that's true, but I can't help feeling that way. 

Even though he was never here physically, he has played a huge roll in shaping my life. The time I was swinging really high and the chain broke. I did a complete back flip and 360. I should have broken my arm at least, but I was perfectly fine. Another time my swing broke, and I landed flat on my back. Again, I should have had some kind of injury. And again, I was perfectly fine. I'm not saying God didn't have something to do with these, but I feel in my heart that George had something to do with all of them. 

It's not just my life that he's been a part of, he's played a part in all of our lives. The time my sister rolled her car and hit a tree? She literally should be dead. AND SHE'S FINE. A little weird now, but otherwise she's fine. 

This isn't really a random post, and it's not at all very funny, but I just wanted to tell George in a special way, Happy Birthday! He'd be either 28 or 27 today. Happy Birthday big brother! Thank you for watching out for me, and praying for me. Thank you for being there for me, to catch me when I fall, to point the way when I'm lost, to be the bright light through the fog of life. Thank you for loving me anyway, knowing the terrible sinner that I am. Thank you for protecting me from all those broken bones, from heartache, and (probably) death. I love you and I can't wait until we can finally hug for real. The best part of all this, is the fact that you will never leave me. That's my favorite part. :')

Also my fluffy unicorns, thanks for being there for me and reading this. :) 

God bless,
Nina

I just died laughing

Hello my fluffy unicorns!

Just so you all know, I'm better now. I "crushed" my duet with my friend. :) 

I decided today to go threw my Funnies board on Pinterest. Thankfully, I'm home alone and the windows are shut, or the neighbors might call the funny farm. No joke. 

So, please, join me won't you? In the land of endless mirth. Put on some epic music (I suggest "Breathe" or "Wind Queen" or "Enigmatic Soul" all by Two Steps From Hell) and enjoy:

Seriously, What board isn't complete without the minons??? Those little pill-like balls of yellow adorableness!!! 

Sometimes I think Kim IS the Capital...

WOMAN GLUED TO TOILET. HOLY MOSES!

Okay, You get my message. Come back next week for more funnies! :) hehehehehe!

God bless,

Nina

My brain being random

Hello my healthy fluffy unicorns!

In case your wondering, I'm sick and I don't want any of you to be so. Apparently I have a type of the flu. . . Anyway, I'm doing a little better then yesterday so I should be able to do my concert tonight. Wish me luck! 

When I'm sick I get all wacky and just sit on pinterest pinning 5,000 pins a second. All's it takes is something like this to set me off:

And just like that I'm off and singing! So I'll look up more Le Miz pins, finding this:

Then I'll start singing Taylor Swift's Red song (one of the few worth listening to on her new CD). And I'll look up funny texts. Then I'll find some hilarious Avengers texts:

And while I'm trying to control myself over that, I'll find this:

I'll laugh for like twenty minutes about just those four pins, I'll even bring my mom into this, reading them to her (even though she won't really get them). And then I'll find some Avenger/Sherlock pins. . . :) Obviously I'm ill or I wouldn't be this nutty about four pins. 

In order to get this, you have to watch Sherlock. But it's one of my favorite crossovers. 

I can't even. Literally dying over here. Laughing so hard, I'm wheezing. *Cough**Cough*

Now I should really go, because I'm all whacked out about six pins. SIX PINS. :) Wish me luck on my concert! 

God Bless,

Nina