Downpour

It's been raining off and on for a while now. Today it was fantastic. It wasn't going to rain today. Oh no, it was going to POUR. There was also plenty of wind at the house, and random objects in the yard began to travel. I went outside and threw away a ton of useless junk that served no purpose other than to be an eyesore and be blown across the United States.

When we went shopping today, the rain followed. increasing its output until great oceans puddles formed everywhere. You walked outside for a few minutes, and you were soaked. We came home and it was still raining. We went into the kitchen and we heard it pounding against the skylight. I sit in my room typing this, and I hear it outside my window. I told Mom we ought to start building an ark.

Our phones are out right now. Whenever the rain becomes plentiful, the dial tone is replaced by the sound of wet weather.

Anyway, I'd better start on that ark. Already the animals are starting to arrive. I hope those two mountain lions are friendly...

Winter Tastes Like Peppermint

I was in another room, and I heard something interesting on the television. The person in the commercial was wondering aloud if winter tastes like peppermint.

I thought to myself, Well, of course it does! Where do you think that song came from? And of course, Owl City began to sing in my head.

"This peppermint winter is so sugar sweet,

I don't need to taste to believe,

What's December without Christmas Eve?"

Great. Now I have a craving for an enormous candy cane.

Distraction

I have a friend who I often tease about being easily distracted by shiny things. There's a rather funny story behind that, but I fear what she might do to me if I revealed the tale, so I won't explain.

Then again, I also have another friend who apparently is easily distracted by rain. Her mother was talking on the phone, and she heard her mom mention hearing rain. She was so excited at the prospect of rain, she leapt up from her chair and knocked it over.

I suppose if you asked my friends and family what I was easily distracted by, they would probably say 'sugar' or 'animals'. Many funny stories stem from the times when I ate large amounts of sugar and became hyper. And of course, I always seem to wind up petting dogs, cats, and other such creatures.

I suppose everyone has something that tends to draw their attention away. It's like the dogs in the Disney movie 'Up'. They get so easily-

Squirrel!

What was I saying?

Christmas Tree

So, my family put up the Christmas tree today. We put on the colored lights, some garland, and a wide range of ornaments. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Anyway, I got this crazy idea not too long ago, and I decided to go through with it. So I found an image of a Christmas tree that I made a few years back, and opened it in Photoshop. After making a few improvements on the tree, I then proceeded to add lights and animate them. Why? Because I'm one of those odd people who will spend hours making animated images.

So here's some Christmas decoration for the blog.

Gremlins

There are many unsolved mysteries in the world. One of these mysteries have to do with things like string lights, power cords, and jewelry chains.

You get out the vacuum cleaner. It was put away nicely, the cord neatly wrapped around the canister. But when you prepare to use it, you realize the cord has a knot in it. How?

You put the Christmas lights away carefully. The next year, you take out the box, and they're a jumbled mess. How?

You have a stand that you hang your necklaces on. You accidentally knock it over and it falls to the ground. When you pick it up again, all of the chains are wound together and tied in knots, a nearly impossible puzzle to solve. How?

This is my theory: gremlins. The tiny, invisible creatures sneak in when you're not looking. They get into the box of Christmas lights and tangle things up. They gather around your vacuum cleaner and tie the cord in a knot. They all pounce when your jewelry stand falls, and in a matter of seconds, they wind everything together in a confusing, complex manner.

If there's anything scientists should study, it's this: the reasons behind how things get so tangled up. Seriously. It defies all the laws of physics and impenetrable tangled messes, so obviously it has to be gremlins. We need to know how to get rid of these little gremlins, or else train them to use their skills to good use instead of for driving people batty.