My first day on Mars

Spoiler alert: I do not get to Mars.

"It's horrible!" Jason laughed as he pretended to be captured by Martians.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled back, "Quit making fun of my wishes!"

Jason yelled back at me, "I hope you do become the first person on Mars. 

"Me, too!" I yelled,  "And I'll stay there until Mommy comes back from Italy."

So...  you ever have those dreams where something is happening but you know you can take care of in real life but in your dream you have no power? I feel like my whole childhood was that. And it's mostly in regards to my brother. I really liked him and I still do, but he was bigger than me and kind of mean sometimes. 

And in my stories he was mean, too. 

When I got older I wrote stories where he was really nice to me and we really liked each other. 

Because he was also my best friend. 

I think I just always had an idea in my head of what a good brother is and I don't know why I never had that relationship with mine. It's probably the undiagnosed schizophrenia, at least in part.

Why am I sad?

I don't know why I was sad then, but now I'm sad thinking about that sad little girl who didn't even know why she was sad. If I could go back and talk to her, I'd tell her it gets better. It'll take a really long time, but it will be worth it in the end. 

Depression is no joke, my friends. 

A day at college

This page guest stars Jason, my brother! One day, for some reason, my mom took us to college with her. I was about 8 and he was about 11. 

You'd think we'd have been a problem, but I guess we just sat quietly and took notes. That was the day I first learned what a paramecium is. 

I guess we'll never know why she took us to college with her one day. I mean, I could ask her. She's still around. But, nah...

The mouse came back chapter 4

Chapter 4 More Mice

They were married at least a month before they had little babies. The mice liked to bite, and to sneak cheese. The babies ate cheese juice until they grew teeth. And finally the owners liked mice and they all lived happily ever after. 

The End

I think it's a good plan to wait at least a month after getting married to have babies. 

On the other hand, I read this to my two year old and she said, "cheese juice?" in a tone indicating I am a moron. 

The mouse comes back - chapter 3: Two Mice

Chapter 3 Two Mice
When he woke up he saw a mouse looking straight in the eyes saying, "get up. You have some biting to do!" (In mouse language)
"Who- what the"
"Now, now," said mouse 2, "don't ask questions now, he said. "Just hurry up and get out there!" He said with a little shove.
"But I do not, D-O-N-O-T want to go out, ok?"
"OK. Then I will."
"No! If anybody has to I will!"
"Are you trying to protect me from the cat?"
"Well, you could say that."
"Well, thank you."
The two mice got married.

There is so much going on here. 
1. It is a mouse's job to bite people. 
2. There is mouse language. There probably is, actually.  
2. Mice don't WANT to bite people. 
3. WHO IS MAKING THEM BITE PEOPLE???
4. If someone tries to protect you, you marry them. Duh.

So many unanswered questions. 
Did they get married right away? At some later point? Did anyone go out and do the biting??

The mouse comes back - chapter 2: What Happened When the Mouse Came Back

The woman was petting the cat, when all of a sudden the mouse came in the swinging door for pets to go through. (I'd tell you the true name for it but I don't know it.) Anyway, the mouse bit the woman and RAN into a hole and went to sleep. He slept a long time and was awake by noon.

It's a pet door. I was pretty close already.

So I'm picturing this mouse just deliberately seeking out the woman to bite her,  like Kacie McBeal*'s bird did to me one time in 4th grade, because it didn't like brown-haired girls. It just flew across the room, landed on my shoulder and bit me right on the face. No wonder the mistress had a hate on for this mouse.

*Name is made up, but the story is real.

The mouse comes back - chapter 1: Introduction

The mouse comes back, by Eva Pinell, age 8

Chapter 1: Introduction

Remember last time when the cat had a mean mistress, and she made the cat catch the mouse, but the mouse was too fast for the cat. And remember how the cat caught the mouse and threw it out the door? Well up until last week the mistress was nice to the cat. I bet you're wondering why the mistress stopped being nice to the cat. Well I can tell you why. It's probably because last week is when the mouse came back. And when you get through a few chapters you'll find out what happened when the mouse came back.

 I love a good recap. You don't want the reader to feel like they missed out by not having read the first book. 

What will happen, I wonder? I can't wait to get through a few chapters so I can find out!

A day at college

This is not my writing. My brother Jason took notes and one of my mom's college classes. If I was 8 that would have made him 11. My mom took us to college with her one time. At least one time. I remember it happening more than once, but I could be making that up.  She was a single mother at this point and childcare probably fell through.

I'm just going to repeat that, in case you missed it. My mom took an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old to college with her. 

Now I don't know if you've been to college. And I don't know if you have kids. But if you ever done one of those, chances are you would not like to do the other at the same time. I can't even wash dishes with my kids around.

My mom did not finish college. And I suspect we are the reason why. But good for you for trying, Mom. And for what it's worth, I think you made the right choices for us, even though you had to give up the right choice for you to do it.

The Cat and the Mouse

THE CAT AND THE MOUSE by Eva Pinell
age 8

Once a cat had a mean mistress. She gave him a very hard job. The job was to kill the mouse. So he tried to catch him, but he just couldn't do it! So he tried to stick his paw in the mouse hole. But it was just too big! One day when he got ready to stick his paw in the hole out came the mouse! And the cat caught the mouse and threw the mouse out the door.

THE END

This is my emo take on Tom and Jerry. Poor, cat, being forced to catch a mouse.

The best thing is, I no longer have to guess how old I was! I started putting my age on things because I was sure I was advanced for my age and wanted people to be impressed. I one time wrote a song while sitting in my closet, and scratched the title of it into the wall with a nickel. "I Wanna Know, by Eva P. Age 8." My mom wasn't particularly impressed.

Left-hand

Left only on the back of this page! 

I have always been left-hand obsessed. I'm (obviously, see above) not a lefty, but 3 of the 4 men I've dated have been, including my husband. Seems like a weird thing to find attractive.

Is it?

Mirror images

My dad taught me how to do these. You draw half an image on one page in thick crayon, then you close the page, press firmly and you have a perfect mirror image.

It still bothers me, 30 years later, that I only iced half the cake.

Our work

This is from that time my mom and I took turns drawing things. The page right before this in my notebook says "Our Work." This sad a really big deal to me. I recommend doing it with your kids if you have any. 

I'll bet you can't tell who drew what...

Can you find the paramecium?

Ooh Jesus, I love you

Ooohh Jesus, I love you with all of my heart and you are the only one for me. You're the only one I can follow to get the right answer for life.

I'm pretty sure this was a worship song I wrote, but I cannot remember the tune.

Then I played Bible Roulette. And I lost.

You know Bible roulette? You open your Bible to a random page to see what God wants to tell you today.

I opened to Nehemiah 3:11, which reads,

"Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens." 

I see how that scripture, completely shorn of context, is edifying to an 8 year old girl, don't you?

On a related note, it is pretty neat to see how devoted I was even then, even when I didn't know how to DO Christianity.

Cut and paste tree

Cut out the pictures in the boxes, and paste them on the X's. There's the hole, which goes on the tree trunk, the cloud, which goes in the sky.

And can you guess what the 3rd thing is?

It's a frog!

Ideal playground

A playground and a park. I made these up based on my favourite playground equipment. I like these because they are in full color. 

There's a baby swing and a big kid swing, monkey bars, see-saw, a slide, and those springy animal things you sit on and rock back and forth. 

I didn't draw it, but my ideal playground would have a rolly slide. You don't really see those anymore. 

Isn't it nice sailing?

Get it? Because they're on top of a mountain. 

Hey! Guys in the boat! I don't think you really know how to sail.