Bygone Morning Rituals

In lower elementary, every day started in the same promising manner. My mom would put our clothes on top of the heater and go upstairs to wake up my sister and me. By the time we were out of bed, our clothes were warm, as if straight from the dryer. Breakfast was served in a little white bowl with ivy vine decorations on it. It was plain white rice, but it wasn't nearly as boring as one would suppose. I would take my spoon and dig a trench across the middle. It was for a road or a canal. I'd pat the walls smooth with the back of my spoon. Sometimes the walls were structurally unsound and collapsed. I decided that there were little rice people casualties, and mercifully disposed of their bodies. Some days we'd have toast, cut diagonally. I always ate the ones with the round corner first. My sister always ate the ones with the pointed corner first. I always had a glass of water, and my sister always had a glass of milk. I often mentioned to her that if people don't drink water, they die. She never paid attention to my heartfelt warnings. When we got to school, she'd walk me down the halls to my classroom and give me a hug by the door, if no one was around.

These days, I have to get up, find clothes, and fix food on my own. I recognize that my mother had some mystical ability that allowed her to get both of us ready in only an hour. We dragged our feet a lot and stopped to chatter at her quite often. I'm surprised she didn't make us fend for ourselves. I know she was tempted to sometimes. I'm glad she didn't.

Also, I have just blogged! Hah! I need to work on that. I started to do the weekly quotes to make sure I blogged more often. It's not working that well, so I may stop posting those. I don't know. That will be in deliberation.

Weekly Quote 9

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Jimmy Dean

Weekly Quote 8

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." Wayne Dyer

Spider Slayer's Log: Kara Smith

Day 1: Preparing for rest, a nemesis was discovered about a foot from the end of the bed. After the initial shock, he was smashed with a flip-flop, which was left beside the bed in case of other emergencies.
Total Spiders Killed: 1

Day 2: Around midday, as I was folding laundry, a spider had the guts to dash into a folded towel. While my sister found it humorous that I would have to refold it, I had no qualms about shaking the spider out and unfolding the towel in the process. I crushed the exoskeletoned offender with a coaster and refolded my towel. He wouldn't have the guts to do anything again, especially since he doesn't have guts at this point.
It was in the evening. Jake had come over to visit and was getting up to leave when I saw another one. It was a big brown grass spider, not far from where Jake had been sitting. Jake, being the brave older brother that he is, hurried to the next room and left me to kill it with his shoe. It's odd sometimes to be reminded that he's more scared of them than I am.
Total Spiders Killed: 3

Day 3: I was in the bathroom around seven in the morning preping for a shower. I didn't notice it until I almost stepped on it. It was a brown recluse because what else would it be. I darted to the sink counter, where there were a range of bottles and jars that would do very well, but by the time I had a weapon, it had crawled down the heat vent. However, while it did scare the wits out of me, I must have stepped on it a little because it had left a leg on the bathroom floor.
Total Spiders Killed: Not enough, not nearly enough

Day 4: No spiders encountered. They're plotting. I know it.
Total Spiders Killed: Unchanged

Day 5: About two in the afternoon, I set out to make chocolate pudding. I took a mixer thing out of the bowl, so that I wouldn't pour milk and powder all over it, and grabbed the whisk. I was about to put the whisk in place when I saw him. He was big, and he was a spider. He was also a brown recluse that couldn't climb back out because the sides of the bowl were too steep. I was in shock and completely terrified for a moment, but a song poped in my head, and by humming it, I was able to calm down enough to think clearly. I was not about to put my hand in there with it, even on the premise of killing it. Instead, I sprayed poison on it, in the bowl I was about to make pudding in, and waited for it to die. Once it had stopped twitching, I dumped it in the trash and set about washing the bowl. It was about then, as I was scrubbing like the bowl was coated in spider webs, that I realised which song had been in my head. Lead Me To The Cross by Newsboys. It was from the album In The Hands Of God. That made me feel happy. My Father and Lord loves me and reminded me that he wouldn't let anything hurt me if it wasn't part of his plan by putting a simple song in my mind and heart.
On another note, the pudding turned out great.
Total Spiders Killed: 4

Day 16?: I was in the bathroom, about to brush my teeth, when a spider apeared beside my bare foot. It was a brown recluse, and it was missing legs. It had three on one side and two on another. I'm fairly certain that he was the one that menaced me on day three. I crushed him with a can of hair spray. It was fairly satisfying. I wiped him off the floor and the can, and felt a small sense of closure.
Total Spiders Killed: 5

Weekly Quote 7

"After a storm comes a calm." Matthew Henry

I apologize for not having given you a proper post in a few weeks. I'm going to try to post something more interesting than quotes by the end of the week.

Kara, over and out.

Weekly Quote 6

"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir. Isaac Newton