We're in Florida!

Hi!
Tuesday morning, Laura and I were dropped off at the airport a little around 6:30 AM. Our flight wasn't until 9:10. We were expecting a long, boring, miserable wait, but somehow the time went past pretty quickly.

We checked in our baggage, and one suitcase was 4 pounds over the limit. The fee for that was close to 30 dollars, but the nice girl at the desk advised us to move any jeans we may have in there to another suitcase, and that would take care of it. So, standing there fighting to pull things out of a half-zipped suitcase and cram them into another one was a little awkward, knowing there were people in line behind us who probably wanted us to hurry up. But it was much less painful than 30 dollars. :D

After we went through security, we decided to kill our time by riding the concourse to the international side of the airport. We got on at gate C, (we had headed there first to make sure we knew where we needed to be) then rode all the way (shoot - I just spilled some coffee on myself.) to the last gate, then AAAALLL the way back past C, past baggage claim, to where we wanted to be. It was a fun ride. lol

We walked around looking for breakfast. Laura got a cinnamon something at McDonald's. I had pretty much decided I wanted yogurt and granola or fruit or something, but had no idea where to get it. We went to Starbucks to get some coffee. Turns out, they have yogurt and granola and fruit parfait thingies. So, I got one. It was good, except for the blueberries. They were more like... chewy fibrous lumps. Weird.

As I was eating, I noticed a guy that looked like some sort of hippy beach bum sitting in a comfy chair, reading something. And then I noticed he was reading a Bible. And then I noticed that he was focusing intently, and writing stuff down. And then I was very impressed that a guy in starbucks was studying his Bible.

And then I thought how it's kind of sad to be impressed when you see someone reading a Bible. This country was founded on the Bible. Everyone ought to know it and love it. It should not be uncommon to see young men reading and studying the greatest book that exists instead of sports magazines. But it is.

Laura and I sat down in comfy chairs, too, and she read a Narnia book while I wrote in my journal. We decided it was much nicer to kill time in a Starbucks than by sitting, waiting, at our gate.

We went back to our gate, where there were no empty seats. Fortunately, it was much closer to time to board than I thought it was, so we didn't have to wait around too long. I left Laura with our stuff and went to get a bottle of overpriced water. By the time I came back, it was time to board! Hoorah!

I love flying. I hurt my neck looking out the window. :P My favorite part is takeoff. Watching the ground get further and further away... so cool. Especially when the plane tilts... Awesome.
The flight was relaxing and uneventful... although the man in front of me smelled kind of funny.

So. We got to Tampa, and waited for our bags. Got them, nearly had my arms ripped off carrying them to Aunt Cindy's car, and then headed home. Or home for now, anyways. And my poor shoulders were sore from carrying our suitcases for the next two days. Blast us girls and our need to carry everything with us. And I don't even like what I packed. lol

Aunt Cindy and Uncle guy left a couple hours after we got here for a little vacation. Sarah and Anna are also on vacation visiting some relatives. So, it' jut been me, Laura, and Alli. Very quiet and uneventful.

We've eaten leftovers all week. I have NO IDEA how to only cook for 2 or 3 people. I tried. And we still have had gobs of leftovers. Seriously. heh.

So, um... kudos to you if you read this whole post. It seems kind of boring to me. I'm sorry. I wanted to write a funny, interesting post, but... I thought I should write something, so I just started rambling. And this is what happened.

Have a good day. :)
Me

Return of the Redhead and other Short Stories

Once upon a time, a couple of years ago now, Goldilocks dyed her long, curly hair red. It was very red. It was supposed to wash out, but it never did. She did all sorts of things to her hair during the next two years. She cut it, cut it some more, turned it blonde again, and cut it some more. Not quite so very long ago, she dyed it strawberry blonde. She decided to let it grow out. Then she dyed it plain blonde. Once upon yesterday, she colored it yet again.
Goldilocks is no more.












She's a redhead.

At least for now.

The End.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once upon a time, CaitiJo got a message from a nice lady named Billie. Miss Billie wanted a warm, soft, yellow hat for her dear, sweet head. CaitiJo made two different hats, and Miss Billie picked her favorite. She bought it and loved it. CaitiJo was very happy to have made Miss Billie happy, AND to have invented a cute new pattern! Sadly, she had shipped off the hat without writing down how she made it first.

One day, she sat down at the computer, and stared at the pictures of her hat until her eyes hurt. She wrote down what she saw, and tested it. It wasn't quite right, so she reworked it til it was. She took more pictures, then put the hat away, because, well, who wants to buy thick, warm hats in the summertime?!

The hat sat there, lonely in the storage bag for some weeks, while CaitiJo continued to work on slippers and fingerless gloves in silly oblivion.

After sending some gloves to Autralia, where it's starting to get pretty cold, CaitiJo realized that it doesn't make sense not to sell cold-weather stuff when she's shipping internationally. So, today, she fixed up her pictures, and created a new listing for the hat inspired by Miss Billie.

Now CaitiJo wants to make more, but needs somebody to buy this one first so she can afford more yarn.

The End.

________________________________

Once upon a time, Caitlin was very tired. She decided to write a blog post anyways. She wasn't really sure why. Especially since she needed to be packing.

It's very important to pack when you're going away to live with relatives for 4 weeks. It would be terribly inconvenient if one went to stay away from home without packing first. Of course, packing does no good unless you bring your luggage with you.

Perhaps you can tell Caitlin is tired? Perhaps you can't.
Perhaps she'll go get some water and say this is The End.
...
yep. She will.
The End.

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!"

Til We Have Faces -a book review

Til We Have Faces was written beautifully. The characters were real, the story believable, passionate, and gripping.

I set about reading this not knowing what to expect, having pulled it off the library shelf without knowing a thing about it. I didn't know it was a retelling of Cupid and Psyche until halfway through, when I read it somewhere. I'm unfamiliar with it, but I like myths.
Strangely enough, though, I felt very unsatisfied when I reached the end of the book. I felt as though it had no definite meaning or resolve. Of course it had a moral. It was full of philosophy and theology, all about the conflicts of emotion and knowledge, the spiritual and physical.
Somehow it just felt to me that after all the conflict, it simply ended with few enlightened, and everyone dead.

Of course, this is coming from a happy-ever-after lover. So, take it with a grain of salt.

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

Another Etsy Post

I know you're all dying to hear more about Etsy, right? It seems my blog has been taken over! Anyways. I love to get messages from people. Especially when it's to tell me they've featured my products somewhere. Or just to tell me they like my stuff. Or for any other reason. I just like hearing from people.

So, as a thank you to those who have contacted me, I shall now do a little promoting for them!

Isn't this a great photo? It hails from Gerald's shop, idea2lifestyle, where he sells original pieces from independent designers. What a neat idea. :) This unique shirt is such a great shade of green.




Meiling featured my slippers on her blog, Absolutely Delish, a few days ago. Thanks, Meiling! Check out her Etsy shop, too. Wouldn't this be the sweetest little card to send to somebody you miss?










Brenna featured my slippers in a treasury the other day! I didn't take a screenshot, or I would show you. But it was very cool. Orange and hot pink. She sells cute felt pins, and other neat oddments at her shop, Prisma.
And she's a Georgian. ;-) Yay GA!

And now for a little self-promo-I love my newest listing.

I'm thinking there was something else I was going to blog about, but whatever it was has escaped my memory. Perhaps it's for the best. It probably didn't want to share a post with Etsy stuff anyways. :)

Caiti