Contrary to the time jump from my last entry to now, much has occurred and even more has fancied itself in my mind in the proposition of an entry, but unfortunately, this website was down for quite a while and I never feel like writing in another place to save for later. So once again, time leaps, and a part of my life will never be immortalized. Pooh. I've been home from Balboa for almost a week now. The vacation--which felt wonderfully long--was well spent. I very much enjoyed the quality time I got with my sister and Mackenzie, of course. Jackie and I don't get much time together and keeping a tight bond has always been a little difficult, due to our enormous age gap. Strangely enough (and I never thought I'd say this) our relationship has gotten closer these past few months because of text messaging. She's the one who finally convinced mom to add to my plan, arguing that it's so much easier to send a little text message about something than it is to call. You wouldn't agree with it until you tried it. Text messaging is extremely useful, however I still scorn people who use it as a main source of communication and to carry out conversations on. Anyway, back to my sister, we had a really nice time together. I also feel like I got to spend some good time with Mackenzie, getting to know her better as well. She's just 4 months old, but her personality is beginning to bloom and being near her 24/7, I learned her different cries and attitudes and her schedule; things you don't learn by a few hours on a Sunday. Since being home, I've been waking up every morning in contradictions. I'm in the habit of waking around 8:30, due to Mackenzie's morning cooing, and I find myself debating whether or not to get up. Do I get up because I should, or sleep in because I can? So far, I've gotten up, mostly out of a natural guilt that sleeping late is a waste of a day. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Anyway, I fill my days okay. I'm finally making some real progress on my summer project: to create the hallway photo wall. It's an absolute mess right now--the wall and the hall. Pictures everywhere. It's tough deciding which memories are valuable enough for the wall. It's worse when I come across an old picture that's been ruined and, by the looks of it, was probably a really good photo. Today I've spent several hours on the section of the wall dedicated to my mom and dad and their early years. It's funny to look back and see how they've changed. And not changed. In one picture my dad is hugging my mom in front of him and he's got his tongue stuck out; an identical pose and expression I still catch him doing once in a while. Physically, they've both changed tremendously, and I'm not even considering my mom's nose job. Mom used to wear wigs in the 70's and very dramatic eye liner; it was the style. In most of the pictures dad has a mustache and a lot more hair than he has now. He looked so young. My mother is never one to do things half-way. When she gets into something, she really gets into it. When I was little, she got really crafty and really good with a glue-gun. Forever we had these pink flowered little boxes with little arts and crafts stuff in them; glitter, ribbon, bells, glue sticks...One Christmas mom made all kinds of outfits with that glue gun. She decorated sweaters and a little white dress for me. When I was in middle school it was camping. She's the one who led the bandwagon to get all the proper gear and a port-a-potty. And not long ago, I think it was last year, she decided to make Le Madelines, the little butter cookies. She got the recipe and pan and special ingredient from Williams Sanoma. Then she got a mega mixer because the matter had to be mixed for ten minutes. And then for my birthday she made the most scrumptious, richest cake ever. Anyone would have thought it was for a wedding. My mom gets into things. I hope that she can help Mackenzie and my own kids with school projects and such. She was always an asset when it came to school projects, especially when it came to editing. What am I saying, she is still my number one editor. Jackie doesn't attack projects the same way mom does. She doesn't half-ass things either, but she will find the easiest and most efficient way of doing something, even if it means hiring someone to do part of it. And it always comes off nicely, too. Simple and easy, that's the way she handles things. Example, Jackie planned a girls night cocktail hour one night and instead of having the fuss of setting up, serving, and cleaning up afterwards, she hired a company to take care of it all. And it was nice because she could enjoy the party without worrying about appetizers in the oven or fetching more ice or whatever. And that's Jackie. And me, well, I can't say too much about myself, I'm too biased and narrow-minded, but I don't think it would be unfair to say that I always do things outside the box. Just as the kids in my freshmen English class who laughed when they heard I brought my bedroom door to school because it was the only proper way to display my collection of poetry. Anyway, I've been working on the wall. And around 2 in the afternoon, I swim. I swim laps and work on the breast stroke like Kris showed me and I hope it's good enough exercise. Then I get a little sun. And in the morning and at night I read. I'm almost finished with Eldest. And that's my hard knock life.