Home Sweet Home

I can't help but to wonder about my whereabouts in the future, what my home will be like once I'm all "settled", if that even happens. No, the house pictured is not mine, I just thought it looked interesting :). I envision my life in spurts. I see senior year, rushing madly to fill out applications for college, pouring over yearbook ideas and designs, possibly holding down a job, whilst trying to enjoy my time with my friends. Then comes college. I see myself out in western New York, at some place like Rochester, Syracuse, or Geneseo. Of course this is subject to change, but that's my current game plan.
But here you see, is where the vision gets foggy. I cannot predict what college will be like, I hope I still see my friends alot, even if it means enduring many miles to reach their door. The less distance, the better. However, none of my closest friends have real solid ideas of where they want to go, what they want to be. I don't blame them, these are the toughest decisions we have to face so far, I just want them to go wherever's best for them. Amanda and Julie both want to go somewhere new, so there's a decent chance we'll be close, maybe. Amanda seems interested in the same colleges I am, but there's also an issue of where her boyfriend winds up. Julie's drawn to the south, but I don't know if she'll persue that. Jenna wants to go to a college in southern NY I believe.. Shayla's in that general area as well. And Tom, well he plans on staying around here. I respect that though, he has good reasons for it. Their house is fantastic, very old and big, but nicely renovated by their father. There's so much land around it, and the memories, plenty of them exist within those walls. If he keeps that house, that'd be wonderful, it'd fit him well.

Allowing my imagination to wander, forgetting the limitations of bank accounts, I'll give you a tour of my future home. First you must unlatch the iron gate which keeps my dogs inside. One's an English Mastiff, absolutely ginormous, while the other is a fluffy, stout Chow Chow, which I will take the liberty to color panda-esque as the person below has. The driveway is onyx, the blackest black, stretching a ways up from the road. Far enough to keep passing cars from disturbing my rest.

Approaching the house you'll notice it's teal with white shutters, pink trees are blossoming in the yard. Coming up the few short steps you'll turn the handle and find yourself inside my living room.The details within aren't quite figured out yet, but I'll tell you what I do know. The couches are plush, it's equipped with a bookcase and coffee table. Instead of a television, a large projector screen pulls down. The kitchen is large and contemporary. Glass paned cupboards line the walls above the marble countertop. The stainless steel fridge always holds fresh foods, and is covered in magnetized photos of people I love. There's a window in front of the sink overlooking the back yard. To give dinner a more personal feel, I'll skip out on the dining table and opt for a comfy booth against the side wall.


I imagine the colors different, maybe a solid royal purple, keeping the white drawers and cupboards, but adding a black and white checked tile floor. That's more my style. Somewhere down the hall will be the bathroom and laundry rooms. Heading back to the living room, to find my bedroom you'll venture up the spiral staircase to my loft right above. A carpeted hallway spread between my bedroom wall and the iron railing. Black and white photographs I've take over the years are scattered on the teal wall. On each end of the hallway is a window to keep things illuminated. My french bedroom doors will lay in the middle. Inside, plenty of windows will shine light in. I'll have a sizable armoire or closet, full of clothes I've acquired over the years. A small bathroom will be added on. I'll have a big, soft bed. Complete with all of the pillows and blankets I desire :). Also, I bet my little Persian cat will be curled up in here somewhere, looking angry as always, haha. I cannot get over how miserable they look, like grumpy old men. But I still think they're cute.

Another set of doors will lead to the terrace outside, located over the kitchen. I'll keep plants and my hottub out there. Back in my room will be another spiral staircase leading to the final room. This is my circular office. Inside will be a nice big desk, the perfect chair, and as many bookshelves and cases as I see fit. This is where I'll do most of my writing, undisturbed. Lined with windows, it'll be a pretty sight when lit in the evenings. It'll be small and quaint, but just the right enviornment.
So in all actuality, this probably won't be my house. It's just what comes to mind, but so many variables play a role in where you end up. I can only imagine myself having this sort of money if my writing is a success, and if I also go through with my ambition to open my own bookstore. Which could be in the town where this house of my mind exists. I feel like I would need something like that, my own business, to cause me to settle down permanently in an area I don't already know well. Dormitories and apartments are different, they're meant to be more temporary. But houses are somewhat of a commitment, or atleast it's a pain to switch to a new one. I think it'll be a long time before I settle down like this though, I want to travel. But the planning process is beginning in my head regardless. I guess that's just me.

Otherwise...
I don't have too much to talk about. I felt like doing things differently blog-wise today, switch it up a little. The movie I was making with my friends is finished :). I couldn't upload clips because Dan deleted them whenever he put them on his computer, so I couldn't upload them to mine. That's not his fault though, he had to save memory and I never asked. We went out for icecream with the teachers again today, minus Sophia. It was pretty fun though, but there were so many of us, that it was kinda hard to keep up with conversation. Too many people speaking at once is no good for me, hahah.
I hope everyone's having a wonderful week,

♥ Olive :)

Hibernation

Oh, it was so necessary :).
I just spent the entire day up in my room, doing nothing of real importance. I didn't wake up until 11, then I was waiting to hear when Julie wanted me over. Rain was downpouring all afternoon, and nothing wound up happening with friends.
Instead I downloaded music, caught up with everyone's posts, and just basically vegged out. I don't think I've spent a single day of summer this way, until now. No work, no leaving for town or for a friend's house. I just hibernated like a little bear :).

Country Roots.
I've mentioned this before, but without much elaboration. I live in a small town as the farmer's daughter. I can recall being not much more than three feet high, navigating around the barn searching for kittens and jabbering on to calves in the nursery. I practiced to become a tight rope walker on the cement feed trough. Thankfully, never falling. Hmm.. maybe I should conjure up that old dream, eh? Kidding ;). Recently I've even discovered that I don't despise all country music. I loved it growing up, but then I deemed it stupid and uncool. Alot of it kind of sounds the same, and isn't too fantastic. There are plenty of songs in the genre that I cannot stand. But I'll admit there's a few songs I'm partial to, including "She's Everything" by Brad Paisley, and "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean. When you live this kind of life, you can relate to the music :P. These are my roots, this is my life, for the time being.
Needless to say, I know how this whole system operates. Farmers have got to be in the running for the hardest workers there are. It varies from farm to farm, but for example my father wakes up around five o'clock in the morning to round up the cows from the pasture. Then he milks them in the parlor, releasing them to eat in the freestall barn, lets them out to wander in the field again, and cleans the barn. In the meantime, there are plenty of other chores to do, taking care of the calves, fixing machinery, (which always breaks down), tending to crops, and whatever else there is to do. It might seem like I'm exaggerating, but there is always something that needs to be done. Unless it's for a meal, I never see my dad inside of the house during the day. Around five in the evening, it's time to milk the cows again, so he rounds them up, takes a few hours to milk them himself, and sets them back out to graze.

So.. why does this matter so much? Because the income they make for the work they put out could constitute as a joke. Compensation is determined by hundredweight of milk. So, for every 100lbs of milk we produce, we make approximately $10-11. That might not seem bad, since cows produce a good amount of milk. However, if you compare this payment to the production costs and the revenue loss through taxes and taking out loans, it's pure insanity. Farmers are receiving the same prices that were in place back in the 1970's. But everything required to efficiently run and maintain the farm has risen to jaw dropping levels. Gas does not cost the same as it did in 1970. Neither does grain, fertilizer, veterinary bills, machinery, ect. The cost of living has escalated from that time, but the milk prices continue to be low. Sure, sometimes they fluctuate, and we get a glimmer of hope that we finally have a fair price, but it never fails to descend back into its slump, where it remains the majority of the time.

Something's got to give. Family operated farms are slowly becoming a thing of the past, with factory, industrialized producers are the only ones who have the financial means to stagger on.

I know that if we lost our farm, our entire livelihood would be drastically changed. Agriculture is who my Dad is, he's spent his whole life on this farm, which my Grandparents had before him. Both of my parents would be considered too elderly to really join the workforce. If they happened to land a job, it wouldn't be one truly capable of supporting them, helping me with college, and paying off our debts. The only option that sheds an ounce of hope is if the government takes action. That's how this is all regulated, anyways.

The federal government sets the prices, that's how it has been since the days of The Great Depression. The link I'm missing is how they can demand the taxes they do, understand the cost of production, and still set these pitiful prices with a straight face. These people, small scale farmers, are being cheated if you ask me. I've done research on this lately, but I still have plenty more to do. I think I might try to find a way to take action, on some level.

I apologize if this was boring to read, but I thought I should take a break from just rambling on about myself and talk about something more...crucial. Hahah :).


On a sadder note..




Rest in Peace, Toby.
I can't even remember how long I had this cat :(, we rescued him from certain death in the barn during my childhood. He was a mischievous little kitten, playing far too close to the mechanical gutter cleaner, so we brought him in. There he became the typical housecat, lazing about, getting nice and plump :). He always had a character about him, like I kind of felt like he knew what was going on, but maybe I'm just crazy. Either way, I adored him. Awhile back we were forced to send him outside, because he was destroying furniture, but I think he wanted to be outside. He was thriving out there, becoming losing weight, without starving because we did leave out food for him. But the outdoors just gave him more room to roam, and he mingled with the barn cats. His coat was shinier, and he was still friendly when approached. Just the other week I was out on my hammock, and he came strolling by, rubbing his tail against my fingers, scratching his face on my knuckles. The cause of death we believe to be injuries from a car. My dad was him hunched over next to the road, looking miserable, but he didn't think much of it. Later that day, he found him outstretched, lifeless, by our woodshed door. A car might have knicked him, maybe causing internal bleeding, I'm not sure. Either way it was terrible news, and I shed some tears over it. I'm going to miss that cat :/.

Well,
I don't really want to end on such a depressing note, so here's a video from the fall of Amanda and me riding a rollercoaster at the local theme park.


I hope everyone's having a lovely week. I'm considering tonight's post as the second of August, even though it's techically Monday morning since it's past twelve. Oh well, I'll attempt to write again tomorrow anyway.

Olive

Hello, August.

Please stay awhile :).

It's almost unfathomable to me, that this is it. The last month of summer.
But then again, a month is thirty days. I guess that's enough time to live it up, isn't it? :)

We kind of abandoned Burlap, atleast temporarily. Mutually, we decided it was too difficult for us to produce a "serious" film. We're goofballs. So we immediately began filming "When Abandoned Toys Attack II". The first one I wasn't really involved in, but I'm in the sequel we're working on. I should put a few of the scenes we've done onto my laptop so you all can see :). I'll attempt that for a later post.

Last night I ventured around town with Jenna and Shayla. Of course this splendid little place is 45 minutes away from where we live, but it was well worth it. The streets were bustling with people, and since it was "Hat's off Music Festival" weekend, a band was always within earshot of us as we walked. Every time we go to this town, we always stop at the Natural Foods store and buy ourselves Rice Dreams for $.99.

The chocolate pie is my favorite :), Mmmm.

I think the only bad part of our outing was at Barnes & Nobles, and that's pretty unfortunate, because I love that place. When you're in a crowded situation, it's hard to notice every little thing going on. People are clumsy, people aren't always aware of their surroundings, especially when there's a million people swarming around them, rushing to wherever they're headed. I'm not easily annoyed by this, in public you're kind of on your own, to watch out for yourself. It's great when others are courteous and polite, but it doesn't always happen. I've held plenty of doors open without receiving a "thank you", I've been bumped around on accident, it happens. But it just shocked me when this lady confronted me five seconds after entering the store.

Apparently, my friend Shayla and I had cut in front of her while walking towards books. I don't even know how it happened, I didn't see her coming at all, until after she stopped to make a scene. Jenna had been following us, and cut too, and apologized, so the girl was like "THANK YOU. I'm glad someone has manners. Your friends just cut right in front of me." At this point I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers. "Jeez, wow, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I did that.." Then she cut me off, "You know, MOST people say excuse me, can't you see that I'm limping?!" She staggered towards us as she said that. "I just can't believe how rude you are. " And I uttered another nervous, but sincere "Sorry..", and she went on her way. I know she said more than that, but I don't want to end up twisting her words, because I don't remember exactly what else she ranted about.

I felt awful and embaressed. People had been watching the scene, and I had enough so I went back outside, deciding against looking at the books I had wanted to see. But talking to Jenna after, she saw it all and I guess it wasn't nearly as bad as the lady was making us think. I honestly hadn't seen her.. but in normal circumstances, people do cut eachother off. It happens to me all of the time, but I don't think twice about it, or dwell on it. I don't know, I felt bad, and I genuinely apologized. It just really annoyed me that afterwards, she was so rude herself. People need to calm down.

CONTEST WINNERS!

The lovely Christina over on How Strange; and the magnificent Natalie of a natalie moment. :). So now I must figure out prizes, I'll keep you two updated. But I'll need the contact info at some point. Email me at aivilo_relluf@yahoo.com.

A promise to self, and all of you of course; I will be posting atleast three times a week. Favorably more than that, but I won't push it ;). I'll try for daily as much as I can, but no less than 3x in 7 days. Hurrah :D.

♥ Olive