Story Time | A Squirrel in the Toilet?! PT. 2

If you are interested in the rest of this story here is part two:
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        Twenty minutes later I hear the key jiggle in the door knob, I see my dad walk through the doors, and we grab some paper towels just in case it drips onto the carpet, and run back to the bathroom. 

My dad takes the books off the toilet seat, then opens the lid to the toilet. He slowly brings the tongs towards the toilet bowl.  At this point the baby ground squirrel wasn’t moving much so it went pretty smoothly from there. Luckily, there was a sliding door that went outside from my parents room, so we put the squirrel down outside on the deck.

The squirrel was very wet, and the weather was freezing cold so we grabbed a blow dryer and to attempted to dry it off. He didn’t move much and we all felt sad for it. After awhile of drying it off outside in the cold winter evening, we turned off the dryer.

The four of us headed inside and every once in awhile checked on it, but it was still there.  After about an hour my friend left, and the next day we went outside to see if the squirrel was still there, sadly, it was still there and it died. We couldn’t leave it laying on the deck so my brother and I decided to burry it. We have a pretty big backyard, that’s actually very good for sledding so there was plenty of open space to bury it. My brother and I put on snow clothes and headed out in the cold. Put on many layers, grabbed a some disposable gloves, and the same pair of tongs we used earlier. Even though the squirrel was already dead, we still carefully picked up the squirrel. We used the tongs and picked it up. The front and end of the ground squirrel limped forward and backwards, while we walked to the area where we were going to burry it. Once we put it down, my brother, dad, and I all worked together to dig a deep whole through the snow into the ground. Once we finished that, we took the squirrel and gently placed it into the hole, we pushed the snow back over the hole and pressed the snow down. 

We all walked back up to the house, enjoyed a cup delicious Ghirardelli of hot chocolate, and chatted about the weird weekend we had. Although that weekend definitely made for a good story to tell my friends. Now, I’m not sure as to how the squirrel made it into my parents toilet in the very back of my house, but somehow it did! Although, my mom and I concluded that it must of ran through the garage and when my brother left the door open and it came through. Somehow, none of us managed to notice a baby squirrel in our house! And that is one memory I will never forget.

      Fast forward to two years later, my dad had mentioned that maybe the squirrel would have disintegrated into the ground so my brother and I rushed outside one summer to check and see. Grabbed the shovels, and dug into the ground, but the farther and farther we dug there was nothing there. To this day, I think that the squirrel must have disintegrated because no matter how far or how wide we dug we couldn’t find it. 

THE END

Here is another picture of a ground squirrel that made me laugh, haha :)

Image Courtesy of: Google

Sorry that my blog is so all over the place, I am still trying to figure some things out but I hope you enjoyed reading this! Hope you have a nice day!

Bye! ~ Marea

Story Time | A Squirrel in the Toilet?! PT. 1

Hello again, today I am going to be sharing probably the weirdest thing that has happened in my life. I decided to split this up into two parts because I don't want to drag it out to be too long, anyways enjoy.
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        This is for sure a memory that I will never forget. The day I found a ground squirrel in my toilet. Now I don’t know how this happened, and how the squirrel managed to make it into the toilet, but it did. 

One late winter afternoon, about six years ago, my friend and I found a baby ground squirrel in the toilet. Here is how it all went down;

I remember the feeling of boredom I had that day. I called all the friends I could, and finally one of them answered with a yes. Luckily, she lived just a few houses down from me so it was walking distance.

At the time we were both very young so we mostly played with toys a lot, which at the time my friend and I thought was the funnest thing ever. After a few hours of that, I had to use the bathroom. I rushed to the restroom and opened the toilet seat…

  There it was. A small, brown ground squirrel laying sideways in the toilet bowl. Casually drinking the gross water, that my mom had just cleaned. At first I was speechless, finally after a moment of staring into the toilet I yell for my mom and my friend. When I yelled to my mom that there was something in the toilet, I could hear from the tone of my mom’s voice that she very confused. My friend and mom both rush into the room, and they both glance down at the toilet. The two of them speechless, by instinct my mom grabs the toilet seat and drops it shut. For the mean time, we kept the lid shut with a stack of books on top in case the squirrel tried to jump out. Then my mom grabs her phone and dials to call my dad. After a few rings my dad answers, and my mom tells us to go to the garage and grab the huge pair of tongs. <--- Literally like a giant pair of these, don't ask why we have a pair.

After rummaging through some of the junk in our garage finally I find the huge tongs my mom was talking about. They looked like a pair of salad prongs that were extremely long. The two of us rush back to the bathroom and my mom tells us we have to pick it up and get it outside onto the deck. The three of us discuss who should do it, but we made the decision to wait for my dad to get back. 

  I can imagine it was probably weird for my dad to leave his job to get a ground squirrel out of the toilet. But I guess that’s life! Unpredictable, random, and fun! This was definitely one of those weird experiences!

Check out my next post for PT. 2 of this weird experience!

This is pretty much what the squirrel looked like from what I can remember.

Image Courtesy of: Google

Pet Peeves | Rant

Hello, today I am going to be talking about things that annoy me, some worse than others. Let's get started:

1. When sand gets underneath your fingernails. I don't even need to explain this one, the un-comfort level of this makes me cringe.

2. When you are in the middle of FaceTime call and it constantly breaks up.

3. When I see people with greasy hair at school that it has started to part into chunks and it is darker, or if you can smell someones body odor near them. HYGIENE! Please shower, thank you!

4. People that do not cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough. It is just polite and I do not want to get sick.

5. When my socks get wet and you have to walk around with that wet sock in your shoe. EW.

6. People who do not wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, it's just plain gross.

7. When you genuinely care about someone and you ask what's wrong, and they reply with "nothing."

8. When someone is constantly copying you all the time, I don't mind with little things but after many many times it get's old.

9. TV commercials, does anyone really like those?

10. When you miss a call from someone and then call them back like 30 seconds to a minute later and they don't pick up.

11. For this one, I am a victim of doing this but it still bothers me. When people who say they can't do something without even trying, and they just refuse to do it completely.

12. People who stick their chewed gum in places, there are places to throw it away, don't stick your gum under tables.

13. When restaurants fill up your water right as your about to leave, that's one full cup of water wasted! Let's at least put some effort into saving our planet.

14. People who dress their pets, just leave the poor dog alone! 95% of the time the dog is already cute as it is, it doesn't need clothes.

15. People who blast music so loud out of their cars, and most of the time the music isn't even good. If your going to play your music that loud, at least play a good song.

16. Overused YouTube challenges, you know what I'm talking about. ;)

17. Last but certainly not least, when girls use the phrase "tumblr." I have seen quite a few girls make YouTube videos on "How to be Tumblr," I just don't get why so many girls are obsessed with being "tumblr," Be YOU! Sorry to end this on a cheesy note but please don't try to be someone your not, you do you! (Quote by the amazingly talented Shailene Woodley)

Example of my 17th pet peeve above. Image Courtesy of: Google

There are a few things that annoy me, I hope you can relate! Sorry that I am not doing the best to keep up with my blog on a weekly schedule, I will try my best to keep up! If your reading this, I appreciate the time you are taking to do so.
See ya next time, bye! ~ Marea
p.s. I would really appreciate if you could vote on my poll! Thanks :)

2 Easy Hairstyles | For School

Hello again! While looking through my poll I noticed that the "easy hairstyles" column had the most votes, so I decided to show you guys two easy hairstyles for school, or really any day during the week! These are personally two of my favorite hairstyles to do because they are quick, simple, and cute! I also recently cut off about eight inches of my hair, and I used to do these before I cut my hair so both of these hairstyles work for short and long hair. If you find this hard to follow, I recommend going onto YouTube and looking up hairstyles, because from watching many videos it helped me learn! If you interested in some more complicated hairstyles I recommend checking out CuteGirlsHairstyles, they have many cool hair tutorials that were really helpful to me when I practiced braiding. Anyway, let's get on into a couple of my favorite easy school hairstyles!

These are the two hairstyles I will be showing you how to do:

 This one is a double twist pinned towards the back, I am calling this one the "Double Twist Pullback."

Then this one is a french dutch braid into a half up half done, this one is a bit more challenging. I am calling this hairstyle "Dutch Braid Half up Half Down"

Double Twist Pullback

Items Needed: Brush, bobby pins, hairspray {optional}

Time Requirement: 3 minutes

Skill Level: Easy

1. Part your hair, you can have any part you would like I just prefer it slightly to the side
2. Pick up a small section of hair and split into 2 sections, then gradually add small chunks at a time at the front of your face. Keep doing this till you have the amount of hair you like.
3. Then pick up another section and tuck the twist underneath, last pin in place.
4. Repeat to the other side, and use a little hairspray to hold it all together

Dutch Braid Half up Half Down

Items Needed: Brush, bobby pins, hair elastics, comb for parting, and hairspray {optional}

Time Requirement: 10-15 minutes

Skill Level: Medium

1. Start by parting your hair much deeper on one side than the other, then part from your ear to the top, and secure the rest of your hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way.
2. Pick up a small section to start your braid off, and gradually add hair to both sides after each stich of the braid. Braid underneath instead of on top, to get the illusion that it is "popping out" and not blending into your head. Then secure that with a smaller hair elastic.
3. Use your fingers to part the rest of your hair and add the braid in, then secure that with another elastic.
4. Brush through the rest of your hair, add a little hairspray or some bobby pins to fix any bumps, and you're finished!

I hope you enjoyed those hairstyles, and that this blog post was helpful! This was a ton of fun to make, and I completely recommend these for school, they don't take much time at all and they look really cute! I've worn these many times to school, and have received many compliments when wearing them :) Until next time!

~ Marea

What's in my Dance Bag!

Hello everybody, I hope you all are having a wonderful week! For this post, I am going to be showing you what's in my dance bag! This year I have been dancing a lot more, which is really fun, but that means I have to carry more things. I don't carry all of these things every time I go to dance, but these are some things that I think are important to keep in your dance bag!

To start I will be showing you my dance bag, I usually bring this one because it has my studio name on it, and it's a string bag which I like. I also keep this rad keychain my friend Mikelle got me from Paris :)

In my studio there is a water fountain, but I prefer to keep a water bottle in the studio all the time, that way I can get a drink whenever I need to. Sometimes I like to bring ice tea too, but mostly water! I also like to keep food, because I. love. food. I choose a peanut butter, chocolate chip bar which tastes pretty good! I usually bring some type of snack to keep going, usually some type of granola bar.

Next, I keep my uniform in my bag, for my jazz class we are required to wear one so I always keep that for class. Since they are leggings, I also like to keep a pair of shorts in my bag incase it gets hot. Usually black ones, but sometimes colored ones too. My shirt, is just this solid black top that is pretty tight, but fits nicely. You can't see in this picture but if on the other sides the straps go across my back.

Then of course my dance shoes! I have jazz shoes, which I'm not a huge fan of, but I have them for performing. I also have half soles, which are my favorite, they are extremely helpful when turning or working on technique. I have a leather pair and softer fabric pair which I got just recently. Then, I have toe undies which I use to use a lot, but now I prefer half soles. Lastly, I keep a pair of socks, just in case if I feel like wearing those one day. Plus they are very comfortable!

Lately, it has been getting colder so I like to keep a pair of black sweats in my bag to put on afterwards. I also always keep some type of sweatshirt or hoodie in my bag so I don't get cold, the one I have is from Aeropostale.

Lastly, I keep some hair ties, bobby pins, and a mini hairbrush just in case my hair gets messy. Which usually it does, so these come in handy. Plus I'm always the type of person to looses their bobby pins frequently, so it's good to keep some extra. Anyone else the same way?

That is everything I keep in my dance bag! I hope you enjoyed this post, it was a lot of fun to do, and I appreciate anyone to anyone that takes time out of their day to read my blog. It's super cool to have people read about what I have to say, I would also like to mention that I will have one more blog post up in the next couple days! I have also noticed the more I write the more I enjoy it, although it is finals week at school I will make time for this blog! Anyone else feeling the pressure to get all your work done? I know I am.

Anyway, I am getting very off topic so I better go! Bye!
~ Marea

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes + Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting | DIY Halloween Treat

Hello Everybody! I got into a very fall like mood, and decided to bake some cupcakes! This week I am going to be showing you how to make some easy pumpkin spice cupcakes, with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I used the website Allrecipes and followed most of the procedures there, but I changed a tiny bit of the ingredients, but they still turned out absolutely delicious! I completely recommend this recipe, it creates a delicious desert for the evening or even a sweet breakfast item! 

Ingredients for the cupcakes: 

 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk

and of course the pumpkin puree! (1 cup)

Frosting Ingredients 

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 cups of confections sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 

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This will make about 24 cupcakes, and as for the frosting I did one half of those ingredients because I'm not a huge frosting fan, but if you like a lot of frosting the above amounts are recommended.

Start by preheating your own to 375 degrees F, and line you cupcakes tin with liners. 

Then into a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Then set that aside. 

Next beat the white sugar, butter, and brown sugar into another mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy.

 This about the color it should look, after you beat together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.

 Add in the room temperature eggs one at a time.

 Lastly, add in the milk and pumpkin puree, and beat it together.

 The batter should look something similar to this:

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way up with the batter.

Bake them in the preheated over for about 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown at the top. Cool them for about 5 minutes, then place them onto a cooling rack. 

While the cupcakes are cooling, it't time to make the frosting! To start, beat together the softened butter and cream cheese. 

 Add in the sugar, then cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

Lastly, my favorite part is decorating them! I didn't do much with these cupcakes, but if you have fall/halloween sprinkles I recommend decorating them with those! I did some as more of a muffin with a tiny bit of frosting, and others with much more frosting! These delicious treats are good for parties, and they are really fun to make with friends! 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog post! I had a ton of fun making these cupcakes, and I totally recommend these. They taste absolutely incredible! Don't forget to store these into air tight containers, or put plastic wrap over the top of them.  These cupcakes totally remind me of the fall time, which is one of my favorite parts of the year. They are super festive, and if you added some sprinkles they would be even cuter! Unfortunately, I didn't have any fall sprinkles, so I just kept it simple. I also had an idea if you wanted to create these as more of a muffin style, you could add in some chocolate chips into the batter and not use any frosting. I have't tried it before, but pumpkin and chocolate definitely makes for a good combination. I also realized I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but I absolutely love these cupcakes, they aren't too sweet and the frosting tastes super good with the cupcakes!

I also looking forward to some more halloween and fall related posts. I created a poll, and I would appreciate if you could vote of some of the options you would like to see in the future! If you want to see more baking posts I would love to make them too, maybe some Christmas cookies, or a layered cake! I have gotten more and more into baking recently, and found that I really enjoy doing it. 

Well, that's all for now, bye!

~ Marea

Welcome to my Blog! | First Post

Hi, my name is Marea and I am 14 years old! I love to do and see so many different things so that is why I decided to make my blog about anything and everything I feel like writing about! I will have at least one post each week, and maybe even more! My blog will mostly consist of short stories, DIY, hairstyles, movie reviews, personal experiences, things I'm liking at the moment, dance, and more. I originally created this blog due to an English assignment, and had a hard time coming up with ideas on what to call it, and write about but then I decided on calling it AnythingandEverything. Basically meaning I will write about anything and everything. It could be completely random, a serious topic, or even a fun DIY.  I love being creative, especially through art, and dance and this blog will be another creative outlet, which I'm super excited for! I was originally going to do a blog about dance tips, conditioning and stretching exercises, but I decided to broaden this out and have it on anything.

If you have a blog, I would love to read yours too! Leave a comment, and I would be happy to check out your blog. I am also open to new ideas and topics, and if you have any requests I would love to hear them! This blog doesn't have an specific topics, which will be nice because that way I can write about anything and everything.

To start I thought I am going to share a little more about me, my favorite books, thing's I like to do, random facts, and anything I feel like sharing!

Random Facts:

• I was born in California, but don't live there anymore.

• I speak Japanese, and I am learning American Sign Language, and Chinese. (and of course English)

• My absolute favorite book series is Divergent!

• I love art, especially crafty things and painting.

• I only have one cousin!

• I love traveling and taking pictures.

• I love dance and hanging out with my friends.

• I am constantly listening to music.

• I enjoy being outside.

• I want to be a movie directer some day.

• I'm already beyond excited for Christmas this year!

• I enjoy good music.

• Last, I am very excited for this blog, and already have some ideas planned out!

 This was taken at the ocean during a trip in California earlier this year.
Pic Cred: My friend Nayo 

Another picture of the ocean that I took, also during my trip to California.

A picture of the sunset, also on my trip to California. The views were amazing!

If you have any requests or ideas on blogposts, I would love to hear them, make sure to leave a comment!  Thank you so much for taking time to read my blog, I appreciate it! If your into DIY's then this is the blog for you, check out my friend's blog: DIY Anytime
For the next few weeks I was thinking of doing some holiday related blog posts. Probably Halloween and fall things, and maybe a hair tutorial in there too, make sure to vote on my poll if you have any specific opinions on what I should blog about next!

That's all for now, Bye!
~ Marea