Life is crazy.

I feel like I'm being attacked by my life!
Or, more appropriately, bear-hugged, and suffocated in the process. I like bear hugs, but sometimes a girl needs some room to breathe! Tons of good things keep happening. Etsy sales, custom orders, opportunities to hang out with friends, that conference I went to all this past week that is finally over...

Oh, that conference made it hard to do other stuff. But it was so great. Turns out, I'm not emotionally damaged, but hopefully now I know how to help people who are. :P And I got to know Anna Leigh and Joe a lot better, which was awesome. There's nothing quite like playing hooky and eating cookies during a less-important session. And I only got one picture from all that time we spent goofing around and learning important stuff.




Commentary: as I write, I'm singing "Taylor the Latte Boy" in my head.

I have a little less than three hours til time to leave my comfy home for more craziness. Gotta pick Laura up from work, then we're heading to douglasville to visit some cool people (you know who you are!) and go to church with them tomorrow. I'm so excited! ... Although I forgot my excitement momentarily as I stood watching 50 dollars be drained out of my account into the van at the pump this morning. lol - but hey, I'm praising the Lord that gas prices are lower than they have been lately, and that I'm able to drive to do fun stuff to begin with. :D

So, I ought to be packing. Speaking of packing makes me think of clothes, which makes me remember that I'm annoyed with Chadwick's. Girls, when you shop at Chadwick's online, pay no attention to their sizing charts. They're WRONG. I had to exchange my whole order.
And in other girly news, I still haven't found any new boots for the season. But that's ok. Turns out, so far I'm doing fine without them. ha!
You know that bear hug I was talking about? It kept me from being able to babysit this precious guy today. I think I could use a little time just to chill and play with some Play-Doh.

And... I could probably keep blogging, but I need to go. Here's another picture for ya!
-Caiti

Hallo again!

It's been over a week since I posted!

I've been busy.
Crocheting, going places, doing things... I had to drive somewhere almost every day last week. I think I listed all of the things I had to do in my last post. They all got accomplished, and they all worked out well.
Even the orthodontist visit. Although that isn't to say it wasn't miserable and painful and all that sort of thing. And then there's the fact that I still have to have these braces for two more years. Blegh. But I'm grateful, so there.

Hey, look! It's me when I first got my braces.
(I just felt like I needed some pictures in this post.)

Our movie night was a blast. It was so fun to see Beth and Katie again. Katie's gone off to college now... But she said we should have another movie night without her, in her honor. I agree.

I like talking about my friends in my posts so that I can tag them on facebook.

It's always fun when you see yourself in someone else's blog... if they're saying nice things about you. Or at least it is for me. lol I have other friends that would probably get mentioned more if they had facebooks so that I could tag them. Like Katey.

With that random little spiel over with, I would like to say that I'm glad to be back at work. This week is preparation time. Woo hoo! I've thrown away all sorts of clutter, and got my cabinets organized and neat. I decorated my door, and got started on a bulletin board. Other than that, I have nothing accomplished. I've got some idea books lying in my room that I've been meaning to look through... Got to get a lesson plan together, you know. I'm pretty good at flying by the seat of my pants (what an odd expression - that's the first time I've used that one, too, I think), but I doubt Mrs. Nancy would appreciate that. :D

I'm looking foward to actually starting with the kids there. I've only got two days a week, and a quarter of what I earn is paying for gas money to get there and back. Lest you think I'm exaggerating, ... well, I'm not. I put gas in the van today, so I know how much it takes, and if it's not a whole fourth of what I earn, it's more. Aaaanyways, I'm obviously not working for the money. I'm working because I love to! And guess what? ....
...
guess again.

My whole class is little boys!! Is that awesome or what?! I'm so excited. I'll have 6 two year old boys. It will be scary, but fun. Mrs. Nancy has labeled my class "Caitlin and the Boys." lol

And because I don't have any pictures of them yet, here's a favorite from the beginning of last year. It's my Rhett-Monkey!! I love that kid so much. He's grown a lot since that pic. I can't wait to see how much he's grown over the summer. Maybe his mom will need me to babysit... lol

Oh, yeah, I think where I was originally going with saying that I'm only working two days a week, was to say that it leaves me free to do other stuff during the week. Like maybe pick up a few babysitting jobs. ;-) And keep my nice little shop running.

It's been running well so far. As a matter of fact,
it's actually been picking up some speed lately. I'm currently working out another trade with Miss Helen from ShereDesign. This time it's for these great little bird earrings.
Her work is so cute!

Okay, I'm done now. I'll be back again someday.
"Hallo" and "love ya!" to all my friends. Enjoy your week. :)
-Miss Caitlin
P.S. I'm reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis in my spare time. It's amazing good. Check it out.

From babysitting the Buckley boys

"When I grow up, I'm goin to six flags the day after we're married. We're going to ride that big roller coaster that goes really fast, and up and down, the ones that little kids fall out of when they go on it. I haven't got to ride that one before." -Bradley

That sounds like a fun honeymoon. I totally wasn't expecting the "day after we're married" part.

Bradley: "I love pepperonis. You know why I love them? They're so good for you."
Me: "Really?"
Bradley: "Yeah! full of all the right vitamins you need! that's why I love them."

I make THE BEST corn dogs and pancakes. You should know that. Bradley says so.

My favorite recurring conversation of the week:

Bennett: Caaaaaitlin!
Me (uninterested): Yeah?
Bennett: I looooooove you!

Go, Speed Racer, go Speed Racer, go Speed Racer, gooo!

"Laura, what's your name?" -Benny

Brayden could walk around smiling "hey!" to you all day.
Laura taught him to say "so looong! farewell!"

Lately

So much has been going on lately!


I've been working at VBS this week.
The first night was crazy and fun. The second night drove me crazy and wasn't really fun. The rest of the week was a blast. And I wore my pirate belt all week! I was glad to have a reason to wear it.
You can see more photos here and here.

I read Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. I wrote a review on GoodReads, and decided to make it into a post on Caitlinesque (so that those of you who don't want to sign up at GoodReads can see it, too.) I would have posted it here, but that would have made this post - which looks like it may be longish- even longer. Of course, you're not under any obligations to read it, but if you would, here's your link.

I've also been reading Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dhal) the past couple of days. Just a snippet here and there. I love some good, light reading. :) It's absolutely hilarious. Reading it makes me think Tim Burton and Johnny Depp did a brilliant job portraying Roald Dhal's characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the movie. ... Not to say that duo doesn't still give me the creeps...

I listed more fingerless gloves on Etsy today. It's been a while since I made any.
These are bone colored. I think I like black better.
I also went to Michael's and bought yarn to make more black ones, and some gray ones. The red pair I made for myself has disappeared on me.

In other Etsy news, I got my peppermint lip balm today. Tis lovely.

In other Michael's news, I bought 3 photo albums and a poster frame for all of the prints I've got from the trip to Wisconsin. And everything was on sale. Hoorah!

Y'all, I seriously want a cup of coffee. I'm probably going to have to give in and make a little cup of decaf in about 10 minutes. I've been resisting for the past hour.

So. Guess how late I stayed up last night? ... Actually, you know, I don't think I'm willing to admit to that right now. It was very late ...erm, early. (Get it, Katie?) Laura and I didn't show up at Katey's house for our movie night until around 10 PM. They had watched Mansfield Park before we arrived, but I brought the feature film of the night - North and South. No, not the war one. The romantic one, adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. Which I have yet to read. (Horrors!) Anyways. This brings me to having watched the whole thing in it's entirety four times. You could say it's a favorite.

Dear, tired Laura went to bed sometime during the second episode, around 12:30, I think. The rest of us not only finished North and South, but we watched Persuasion afterwards as well. Think we like period dramas much? Erm ... and maybe handsome British men with their awesome accents. But I didn't just say that. =D

Katie, Katey, Alicia, and I stayed up talking for a couple more hours. So. Yeah. That was fun. We won't see them again for quite some time, because next Tuesday, Laura and I are going to be out of town for 4 weeks.

Yes, friends! 4 weeks. Going to stay with our dear aunt and uncle and cousins in Florida. That'll be fun. :)

This week, I'm babysitting Gen's kids 5 out of 7 days. I expect to be thoroughly tired out afterwards. But she has 4 very cute boys, and I love little boys. :) Although in this circumstance, a girl would probably be helpful. Which is why Laura is going to come hang out with us some of the time.

Yesterday some survey guy came to our house. I was randomly selected to complete a survey on my travel habits. If I took it, I would receive $50 cash right then. So, I took it. And I got the $50. Which was very cool. Until I had to put $30 of it in the van today.

More random news: I have been dabbling in French. Only dabbling, I assure you, but I would love to honestly learn. I can say a few phrases that do me no good on their own, but it's fun.

And now, away with me. I shall speak with you again some other time.
Have a lovely whatever day it is you're having as you read this.
Sincerely, and most Unusually,
Me