Friday Night Lights

I love Friday nights. I'm not a football fanatic by any means, but I love the chance to have fun with my friends without worrying about arranging some big elaborate plan to do something. It's simply, "Going to the game tonight? See you there!"

Last Friday's game was away, and I had a blast going up there with a group of 8 of us. Tonight's game is home, which is even better.

A bunch of people are coming back to my house after the game, it'll be fun. I have probably one of the best houses for having parties. Pool table, foosball, air hockey, basketball gym, and entertainment center/home theatre. Plus it's all in the basement, where my room is, and so I can simply quaranteen off the basement to all family members and have a blast!

Plus I have my new car now, so going to and from anywhere is fun.

I Am Now Employed By A Dog

Well, not technically. But in a way, I do work for a dog. I applied at Target yesterday and it was kind of an intense application process. I had to fill out an electronic application that took almost an hour, then I had to pick up the red phone and tell them that I had just filled out an application. I was then interviewed by one person, who, when she finished, told me I had another interview. That person then interviewed me, and once I was done with that I had to go upstairs for one more "interview" although basically it was just confirming that I was applying and telling me they were going to offer me the job. I had to go today to the Medical Associates Clinic and get a drug screening to be eligible. So I did that.
I have orientation on Thursday starting at 4. It goes on for 4 and a half hours. So I am tied up for Thursday! Anyway my dad was extremely happy that I got a job, and now I get to bring home my car sometime soon. Exciting!

I'm also looking forward to Friday. It's a home football game. And since my parents aren't going to be around and I have to take my siblings to the game and back, my dad said that my friends could all come back to my house after the game. So that will be fun. I will have to get some food and we'll have a bonfire and all that good stuff.

I also have an almost-for-sure homecoming date now. The reason it's not 100% is that he is just starting to date a different girl, but it's not likely that her parents will let her go to homecoming with him, and so she told him it was fine if he went with me, but that she was going to check with her parents to be sure that she couldn't. So I'm kind of praying that she can't-even though that sounds mean. The reasoning there is that she is a freshman and he's a senior so he doesn't think her parents will approve. But I just told him to make sure she knows that we're friends. So hopefully that works out, since I already have a SUPERCUTE dress and I don't really want to go alone.

Things are going good.

Ups and Downs

This weekend was a rollercoaster ride of emotion for me. Friday night was awesome; I went to pizza and the football game with a big group of friends. It was a blast. We ate at Geno's and it was delicious. Then we headed to the game in Preston. We took a bunch of pictures and goofed around all night. Saturday was also a good time; I visited Wartburg all day and I really enjoyed it.



Today, however, was a bad day. Monumentally. It wasn't any one thing in particular. In fact, nothing happened to me at all. But I was in a mood, you know? Just really bummed and kind of crabby. Well it really doesn't help me much when I'm in a bad mood and my family is giving me crap about it. Seriously, they don't just say, "Oh, Kelsey's in a bad mood, let's just leave her alone," oh, no. Not them. They decide to put salt in the wound and pick on me and laugh at me until I'm in such a monumentally bad mood that I have to leave the room and cry.

Tonight they did just that. They noticed I was in a bad mood and convieniently picked that time to start giving me a hard time.

I don't understand why they can't just recognize that I'm bummed out, maybe for no particular reason but bummed out nonetheless, and just leave me alone. Or at least try not to aggravate me when the do talk to me. When I started to get really upset they all started laughing like it was the funniest thing that could have happened. And I just don't get that.

In my mind, when someone is upset, it's time to leave them alone.

Apparently they don't agree.

Rocking Out

Today we went to Madison for the day. My dad, sisters, brother, my friend Leah and I all went. Our purpose in this little trip was to pick up Dad's Bonneville, which he left at a car dealership when he got a new car. I had to go so that I could bring the Bonneville back.

Well of course, it would be pointless to go to Madison and not do anything while there! So we made it a shopping day. First stop after lunch was Best Buy.

There is a brand new game out for PS2. It's called "Guitar Hero". Basically it's air guitar minus the air. It is awesome. The controller is a guitar with buttons on the end for playing the chords. Leah and I spent half of the time we were there playing that game. I would really love to have it at home. However, it is 70 bucks and that is a big investment for me right now. Especially since I'm going to need to start saving my money to pay of my dad for another big investment that we recently made.

Which brings me to the exciting point; I got a car. Finally. No more driving the truck (which, while I love it... it's nice and it's fun to drive...still isn't my OWN car... and it eats gas like candy) around all the time. The deal is, as soon as I get accepted to a job that I've applied for, we can bring the car home. And then I have to start making payments to my dad for a certain percentage of the car.

Its a little silver 1998 Honda Civic and it's cute! A good college car... and it gets something like 37 miles to the gallon. Which will be very good for me.


Now I just need that job!

Inspiration Strikes Again...or...Hot off the presses!

Well I did it again. I was driving home yesterday and noticed the beautiful things I was seeing and stopped to take MANY pictures. And then I went crazy with it and played with pictures all day and then posted a Facebook album with some of them. It was quite the time.

I completed the 1st Comet Tale today (our school paper of which I am editor). It took me quite a while (especially since once the computer crashed with nothing saved yet) but I got it done. My advisor was really happy with how it turned out, as was I. I was happy to get back to the paper again.

I'm planning to enter a contest through Seventeen magazine that chooses 5 girls to be guest editors for an issue. This would be a great opportunity for me, especially since that is the field (journalism) that I'm planning on pursuing as a career. I will need to do an interview and such and submit a piece of journalism work that is unique. I already have a plan and we will see how it works out.

In the mean time, I'm going to be enjoying the beauty of this time of year. The afternoon light lately has been AMAZING!

Growing up too fast

I have always had my life planned in a sense. I've never considered a path other than college after high school, and for the majority of my life, I've had the same goal career-wise. But recent events caused me to wonder what would happen if my plans were suddenly interrupted?

One of my friends recently discovered that she is pregnant. Wow. I have always heard about teen pregnancy through the media, and have known girls in my school who have gotten pregnant either shortly after high school or while they were still there. But never have I been close enough to one of them for it to make an impact.

This girl is one of the sweetest people I know, and she's always been there if I needed someone to listen, and I've tried to do the same for her. This, however, is the biggest thing she's gone through, and while she's talked to me about it, I feel like this is just the one time when I can' t really give her good advice, because I've never been in the situation. Nevertheless, I have told her my thoughts and tried to help her out as much as help is needed at this early stage.

The biggest thing she's had to deal with is rumors at school. First one girl overhears something, and then she knows, and then suddenly the whole volleyball team is aware of my friend's situation. That's life in a small town.

I am so worried for her. I support her 100% in her decision to have the baby, and I have promised to be there for her if she ever needs anything. I think she can handle it. I'm just so scared for her, maybe mostly because she doesn't seem scared herself at this point. I don't think the impact of this has set in on her yet.

My only hope is that she will be all right.

!@#$%^& computer!

My brother is brilliant with computers. Really. He knows how to build a computer from scratch and did so for his own home computer. He has 2 monitors between which he can move, with the same mouse & keyboard... it's great.

So you would think that our computer at home would be top-notch, since he's always fixing it for us. Unfortunately, however, there appears to be something more wrong with our computer, since he's tried several different virus protection programs and for some rason none of them work for the long haul.

Like the most recent one. You know those speech bubbles that pop up to tell you something about your computer? Well, one pops up on my computer every two seconds. And it's huge and blocks out the bottom half of whatever I'm doing at the time. Like right now, when I have to have my typing space up as high as it will go so I can see what I'm typing! And it's not like I can x it out and it will just go away. Oh, no. It pops back up honestly 2 seconds later. I counted.

I tell you what. Computers and their problems. The computer as a whole still functions, but it's getting very irritating to put up with that speech bubble. And the fact that my desktop picture is now gone, leaving me with a big blank screen (which i made a nice green color and coordinated with my windows colors, but still).



On a different not entirely, today is the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. I heard one of those tribute things on the radio this morning and it almost made me cry. At the time of the attack, I was only 12 and couldn't completely comprehend what was happening, but now it gets to me.

In remembrance of all those who died, from the airplane passengers to the WTC employees to the brave men and women of the NY city police and fire squads.

When It Rains, It Pours

This has not been an ideal week for the Fahey family. As I've mentioned, my mom broke her leg on Tuesday. Then she was stuck in the hospital for the week.

She came home today. Just in time for me to have some issues of my own.

I got rear-ended today. That's right. Now before panic is caused, I have to mention that I and my truck are fine. That said...

I was driving down State Street, which is the main road in Bellevue that my school is located on. As implied by the fact that a high school is located on the road, it becomes mass chaos at the hours of noon and 3:15. Well, not all of us out there are highly experienced drivers. Some of us are sophomores with our school permits who follow those in front of us WAY too closely.

In other words, I was rear-ended by said sophomore today. There is a turn that some people feel the need to make, which causes everyone behind them to be forced to stop, many times suddenly. Well there were about 8 cars in front of me, and I barely got stopped myself. Then, after I was stopped completely, I felt a CRASH behind me and my body lurched forward. I swear the girl must have barreled into me. I was shocked. From the feel of things, I thought my truck's back end was all smashed in, and I was very upset.

Then I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the car that had smashed into me. A little blue Grand Am, now with its hood buckled up and pushed back and its front end in shambles. This was also a discouraging sight, since I thought that by the sight of that, my truck must be pretty bad also. I got out, and walked back to their car, where they were still sitting. 5 sophomore girls in one small Grand Am. Great idea to begin with, right?

Well I asked them all if they were all right, and looked back at my truck. Amazingly enough, I couldn't see any real damage. The accident happened right next to "The Car Wash" gas station, and some ladies from over there who I assume had been filling up gas came over to help us out. The police came, took our names and found out what happened, etc. Then after a little while, he told me that I could just go home, and come back to pick up my liscense from the station in the morning.

Crazy. Trucks are just that much more sturdy, and also higher. She pretty much went right under me. I drove away with just a dent in the bumper.

And I got back just in time for my mom to finally come home with her broken leg.

Playing Mother

So my Mom was only supposed to stay one night in the hospital. Then the next day they decided to keep her for the night again. And now today she was supposed to come home but has to stay again. So basically I'm running everything at home, because Dad doesn't even get home until around 7.

Today wasn't so bad, because Brenda was at the house all day and so she made dinner for the kids. I had 4th block free and I wanted to go use some of my gift cards so I went to Dubuque, then came home and took Tessa and Austin to their soccer game at 6:30. Dad got home around 8 tonight.

Clair's birthday is tomorrow. She's having 7 of her friends over... 7 little girls running around the house. Well, actually, that's nothing I can't handle. Camp helps with those kinds of things. The problem will be that at home, my sister has no respect for me so I will have to work extra hard to keep things in line. She was fine as a camper though! Go figure.

Well I'm sure it will be fine. They're 7th graders so I think they should be able to occupy themselves pretty well. I don't have to arrange archery times or take them to the pool. :)

And maybe my mom will get to come home sometime within the next year!

...and all hell breaks loose

Yesterday was quite a day. I was at school when my principal came to get me during first block. He told me my mom had called and that she thought she had broken her leg. Well I went home, and sure enough, there was my mom lying in the kitchen, waiting for the ambulance. Our neighbors were over taking care of her until it got there.

Turns out Mom was riding our new horse yesterday and it got going a little bit and slipped on the blacktop, coming down and trapping my mom's leg underneath. She had pulled herself onto the golf cart, driven it up to the house with her left leg, since her right was broken, and pulled herself into the house to her phone (because she never carries her cell phone and she was riding alone). The EMTs came and cut off her boot (a sad thing really) and put her in a splint to take her to the hospital.

I rode in the ambulance with my mom (that was the fun part) to Finley, where we waited for LONG periods of time in between doctors, nurses, etc. coming in at various times. Dad was there, and we were all just waiting to hear what the damage was.

Turns out she broke her leg in 3 places on the one bone and one on another (the one with 3 is the one you walk on, the one that was only broke once was unimportant apparently. I never knew there was a bone in your leg that isn't used, but the surgeon assured us that there was.)

So now she has a huge plaster cast up above her knee. She stayed in the hospital last night and was supposed to come home today, but they're keeping her another night.

In other words, I'm trying to keep everything together at home and it isn't working out so well. Dad and I were arguing, I've been trying to keep the kids in line (which is pretty much impossible since they have no respect whatsoever for me.), and no home cooked meals for a while! Dinner tonight was made by me and consisted of pizza and macaroni & cheese. Gourmet!


You never realize how much your mom does until you have to do it yourself.

To Hear a Pin Drop

I was thinking today about how it would be very interesting to me to be a part of a bowling team. What a disregarded sport. Plenty of people play it, and yet it is one of the most ignored of sports.

For instance... when someone says "name the first 10 sports that you think of," most people will not name bowling. How odd.

I want to join a bowling team. I think it would be a fun experience. Plus I have always enjoyed bowling and I would love to get better at it.

I just think that would be a fun extracurricular. A unique one.


Now I want to go bowling.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Labor Day weekend. A nice little 3-day break from school. A time for parties and having fun with your friends.

To me, it's also known as birthday weekend. Since I was born on Labor Day 17 years ago, my birthday is most often on the nice long weekend. Convenient! Let me tell you about my Labor Day/birthday weekend.

As far as weekends go, this one was great. I was never at a loss for things to do; people to be around. I honestly can't complain about the weekend. My only issue was the actual birthday. But I'll get around to that later.
So back to the awesome weekend. I went to Deener's house Friday night and it was a blast. We had a few drinks and danced to "Sexy Back" and "Ridin' Dirty" all night. Basically, on repeat over and over. Just those two songs and we were amused. Played Moose. Watched "The Lion King 2"... or at least what we stayed awake for.

The next day we laid around her house for a while, went to her Grandma's house for lunch, came back to lay around a little more. After Deener went to church she took me in to Dubuque to meet my parents and my aunt, uncle, and cousin at Red Robin for dinner. Which was very good, by the way. I saw a counselor from camp there, and a friend who lives in Dubuque also. We headed back home after dinner, and lounged around my house for a while. Sarah, my cousin, and I left after everyone was asleep and went to my friend Ethan's house for about an hour and a half. It was fun but cold outside!

Sunday my other aunt and my grandparents came over and we had birthdays (my sisters is 4 days after mine) with that side of the family. It was nice, I got some money, an iTunes gift card & a best buy gift card (yesss- a $50 one!). And cake, can' t forget cake. Tell you the truth I was kind of just hoping they'd get out of there in time for me to go to the barbeque at babbit's house. haha. Which I did get to do, and I was very happy about that. I got to go around my car, since I couldn't go around the lodge, and that was pretty funny.

Today was my birthday. It was fine, I can't say it was bad. But this is where I get to complain a little. (just a little). My parents insisted on having family friends over today. Which is code for: my parents' friends. And while I get along with said friends, they weren't exactly the people I had planned on spending my birthday with. It was nice though, I got a lot more gift cards...haha. When my brother Adam and his fiance Krystal came with their baby and Krystal's sister, that was a little better. I got to play with the baby and talk to them. We opened presents, and I turned out a nice supply of gift cards and some more money. We had another cake. Leah came over for a little bit and left, then Christina came over for a while. Funny because I got to see her every day of this weekend. It was fun.

So all in all it was a fun-filled weekend. Not a moment of time to myself... which is sometimes all right.

Happy birthday to me.

Big Weekend

So it's my birthday weekend! And my birthday also happens to be a national holiday so it is a 3 day weekend! Even better!

Tonight I am going to All That Jazz to eat. Christina (Nala- for all you camp people) is meeting me there and we are going back to her house for the night to party it up! haha.
Then tomorrow around 5 she will bring me back to Dubuque where we will meet up with my parents and my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin from Milwaukee for dinner, after which they will come back to our house. Exciting, because my cousin, Sarah, and I never get to see each other and now she is staying overnight! We are planning on going out with my friends (my parents don't know this, so it's a covert operation, but we'll do all right.)
Sunday is the big b-day party day with the fam. My other aunt (and possibly any of her relations) will come and my brother, his fiance, and their baby (my niece) too! Yay! We will celebrate both my and my sister's birthdays since mine is Monday and hers is Friday.
On Monday (MY BIRTHDAY!), the family friends are coming. The Wolfes (our neighbors), Kelli & David (my parents best friends and awesomely fun people), and Christina (Nala...again) are coming over for sure. My friend Leah will be attending if she gets back in time from South Dakota. I'm not sure if anyone else will be joining us for this little extravaganza, but we will see!

Anyway, that's the big birthday weekend. I will no longer be the 16 year old Senior at school. Shucks.

So maybe I won't have much time to blog this weekend. I will try to write about it after it's over!


Doggone, it's my birthday!