Redirecting

He loves me with an everlasting love. Nothing I can do or say will ever sway the power of his love for me. He thinks of me night and day. He showers me with little gifts just because it makes his heart glad to see my smile. He is jealous of the things that take me away from him.

I have rejected him. I've run from him. I've left his body full of scars.
And still he loves me.
When I leave him, those arms that ached on the cross ache to hold me close.
His hands, the hands that I wounded, long to touch me with healing and comfort.

His love for me is so strong he would kill for me.

He did kill for me.
His own Self. His own Son. He made a sacrifice of his own flesh and blood.
So that I would know his love.

And then he conquered Death!
His love is so powerful that it shattered the reign of Death so that I could be with him!
Not only for proof of his love and power, but to give me the ability to share in it.

How can I not love Him?

This is the greatest story of love ever written. This man, my Lord, who is Love Himself, wants nothing so much as for me to be caught up with him in this beautiful extravagance of love. To share in his life. To share in his power. To know and be known.

He is beautiful. And I love him.

Goodybe, July

Thought I'd better write again before July was out. It is the last day of this fine month, you know.
I don't think I can coordinate my thoughts this morning, so a random smorgasbord of bullets is the order of the day.

• I'm currently eating cheese toast with tomatoes on it, courtesy of my friend Rebecca. She brought me a lovely block of Muenster from Wisconsin last week.
• 
• July has been a month of craziness.
• I made a successfully cute skirt a couple weeks ago.
• I need to go fix a seam in aforementioned skirt when I get off the computer.
• Yesterday I went to Six Flags again with some of my awesome friends.
• I have been so busy doing things with my friends this month that I am exhausted.
• Also, I have a cold.
• Wednesday was bad. It was very depressing. Erin gave me a string of yellow beads and that helped.
• My world is spinning around me like mad, but God's got it under control so there's no point in me freaking out about it.
• People are disappointing.
• God is faithful.
• People are also amazing.
• Thursday night I stayed up and colored a unicorn with my crayons. I think people should use crayons way more often.
• Sometimes I wonder if it will ever end, but I don't really know what "it" is. I have a feeling it's not going to, though.
• There is a fly that keeps buzzing around my head and it's driving me INSANE.
• I've been too busy for the past week and a half to journal, which is really sad because I've been busy doing stuff that begs to be written about.
• I've written more in my journal this past month than any other month in my life because I'm determined to remember. Recently I realized that I can't remember huge chunks of my life and it makes me sad. No, I mean seriously sad. Like I've lost part of my life, as if I had amnesia or something.
• God is amazing. I know I sound redundant, but when life goes crazy and you're forced to just spend time sitting alone in God's presence so you don't go crazy with it, that's when His beauty becomes so real.
• Sleepovers, a birthday party, a prayer retreat, a visit with old friends, six flags, VBS, are just a few of the things that have occupied my time and energy this month. And, may I say, they were all fantastically fun.
• As I'm writing, I'm listening to this video: Aaand you should listen to it too because that's my friend Janson and he's entered the Opening Act competition for a chance to open at Celebrate Freedom concert this year. Go watch it. It counts as a vote for him. :) Even if you don't care about the contest, I recommend checking it out anyways because it's a fantastic song.
• I could use some ice cream right now.
• Yesterday at six flags I was wishing I had put sunscreen on the back of my neck, but it was too late... then we noticed someone had left some spray-on SPF 50 sitting on a bench... thank you, random person, for forgetting your sunscreen. My neck is grateful. =)
• Bekka and I convinced Rebecca to get a spur-of the moment haircut while she was in town since she hated her hair. She loves it now. You're welcome, Bex. lol
• On the way back from the retreat, I spent hours talking in a British accent. During which time span this picture was taken. Starbucks' shaken iced tea/lemonade is delicious. Hat shops are less boring when silly boys and silly accents are involved.
  
• Egyptian bellydancing belts... haha. And it's ok if that didn't make sense to you. It won't make sense to most of you, but I felt like it had to be there.
  
• I kept up the accent until it was scared right out of me when I had to run across 4 lanes of scary traffic. O.o It didn't come back after that.
• If there's a cup over the ketchup pump at Zaxby's that means you probably don't want to consume that particular ketchup. Experience is a fantastic teacher.
• Looking at that pic reminds me I really need to work on my gangsta face.
• I won a game of Scrabble last night. Both the other girls I played with claimed to be champs. in yo face!
• I feel kinda bad this post is so disorderly, but I seriously am unable to write about everything in an orderly fashion right now, so it was this or nothin'.
• I never eat ice and yesterday my fingertips got all wrinkly from eating all the ice chips out of my cup at Applebee's.
• Um... I think I'm done for now. Happy weekend, people. <3
  

Happy Presidents' Day!

• I didn't realize it was Presidents' Day until the mail never came.
• Pairs skating last night was cool
  
• I miss all the chocolate and valentines from working at preschool.
• I made a new hat this week but haven't photographed it yet.
• Alicia, Katey, and I made a Valentine's garland for their house.
  
• Construction paper, glue, glitter and markers make me HAPPY!
• Katey and I made cupcakes, too.
• God is good, even when life is cruddy.
• "Your Hands" by JJ Heller- new favorite song. See above.
• Laura and I went out with some girlfriends tonight for Valentine's Day.
• Sushi is good!
• Coffee is better!
• Choir's going into overdrive for Easter. YAY!
• I need another cup of mint tea.
• This week is chock full of stuff. Fun stuff.
  
• I'm happy.

Have a good week!

Catching up on Christmas

Wow, I totally disappeared over the holidays, didn't I?
I assure you I had a lot of fun. I need to do a big long picture post. As it stands, I don't feel like it right now.

Christmas Eve I got some yarn in the mail. I'm going to make this sweater!!
So excited. I've never made a real sweater yet.
So guess what I did Christmas day? I crocheted. All. Day. Long.
Christmas night I finished the back of the sweater. It looked kind of small.
I measured it. It came way short of the size it was supposed to be.

Pretty much ruined my night. Totally ruined the next day. I couldn't stop thinking about how I had spent all of Christmas day working on something that's going to have to be undone. I haven't unraveled it yet, but I've let go of the pain. ;-) I can't decide if I should just be more conscientious about my tension, or up my hook size - cuz my gauge swatch was spot on.

The Looneys came over on Christmas Eve and we shared finger foods and exchanged gifts. That was awesomely fun. I say, this year was the best gift-giving year for me. Practically everything came from Etsy, and everyone was thrilled with their stuff. Then Katey, Laura, Alicia and I took silly pictures of ourselves. For as long as we've been friends, Katey and I have very few pictures of us together, so... yay! we have one now. Even though I'm smiling weird. lol


Christmas Day we leisurely opened gifts in the morning, then headed over to Mema's house in the afternoon for Christmas Dinner. So yummy. I got my cooking genes from Mema and Mama. They're the best.

So, it was an uneventful, relaxing, and fun holiday. Just how it ought to be. Wally (that's Laura, for the uninformed) and I took a picture in front of Mema's tree. (which is always lovely - She and Alicia have been the official Mema's Tree Decorators for the past couple of years)


As for today I've made 2.5 hats, put away some of the Christmas decorations, and made peanut butter rice krispie treats for the New Year's Eve party at the Looneys' house tonight. We're going to go over this evening and eat more junk food and play games and be crazy again. Yay!

So, Happy New Year to all my friends out there, and perhaps I'll actually get around to doing a New Year's post too... Or maybe that should wait til I post Christmas pictures? Or not. I don't know. We'll see. :)

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!

Caitlin

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday afternoon, my perfectionist self completely redid all the lights and ornaments on our christmas tree. I feel kind of guilty about it - the kids did it all themselves last week, but it was bugging me, and now it's not. Afterwords, I decided to spend some time out in the sunshine.

Belle the Dachshund went out with me, and we played with sticks and all that sort of thing for a while. She settled down to gnaw on a nice little branch, and I got a crazy notion to do something I hadn't done in years.

Every time a car went past I couldn't help but wonder if they suspected what I was about to do.
I don't really know how long I was out there, but progress went pretty fast.
I raked up a big pile of leaves from our front yard.
Then I stood in front of it and fell backwards.

I swished the leaves around with my arms, and then settled in, leaves from either side spilling over on top of me. It was wonderful. The spicy smell of crisp autumn leaves surrounded me as I looked up at the sky through the bare branches of the oaks.

Some of my clearest memories from our old home in Jonesboro are of playing outside in the Fall. We had 6 or 7 pecan trees in the front yard, and Laura and I spent hours stomping on pecans for a "snack", or making nests and forts in the leaves. I remember being completely immersed in leaves, burrowing underneath what seemed like monstrous piles of them at the time.

In Mansfield, we didn't really have any leaves. Just pine needles. One year, back in the woods behind the dog pen, we raked up a small leaf pile - half of it was pine needles. It was a disappointment, and we didn't try again.

So... Saturday afternoon with nothing to do and a vast expanse of crunchy, spicy leaves before me,
really - what else was I to do?

Literary Update

Hello!
It's Literary Update Time.

Did you know that being sick is a great opportunity? For me, anyways. I got to take advantage of all the down time by reading.

What did I read?

You're probably thinking I read another classic. Those are my favorites, after all.
Let us ponder, shall we?

Charles Dickens? No. (Though I do still have plenty of his work on my to-read list)
Jane Austen? No. (Been there. Own the books. ;-) )
C.S. Lewis? No. (... well, I did start piddling through A Mind Awake last week.)
George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Mark Twain ...? No. Excellent guesses, by the way. lol

Stephenie Meyer.

**GASP!**

No, I did not read Twilight. I mock twilight. Without ever having read it. Hypocritical, I know.
I read The Host, upon the recommendation of my weirdest friend, Keith. (Hi, Keith!)

This is the part where I'm supposed to get wordy and creative and write a mini book review for you.

...

I think this cold drained my creativity. Will you mind too much if I just tell you that it was super good? Because it was. It was about a Soul named Wanderer who finds herself a misfit among her fellow Souls. The human body she inhabits still houses the willful consciousness of it's former owner, Melanie. Through circumstances beyond their control, Wanderer and Melanie become allies, working together to save the people they love.

That sounds amazingly weird and corny. But it wasn't... really!

So. I never did listen to Big Fish. I turned on the first disc and decided I really wasn't interested.
I was going to watch BBC's miniseries version of Tess, but since I'd already listened to the audiobook, I wasn't that interested. It was very prettily done, though, and I may still watch it.

In other news, I'm making a new pair of fingerless gloves and they should be ready to show you by the time I get around to posting again. :)

Sorry for neglecting you all! I'm going to try to pick up to blogging around 3 times a week like I used to. It's a lot of fun.

Now I must go - my little brother is 7 today, and we're having some friends over soon!


(this is him a year and a half ago.)

Happy Birthday, Ben!!

-Caitlin

Happy Summertime!

Hello, friends!
I waited almost a week to post again. Bad me!
Part of the reason would be that I've cut WAY back on the amount of time I spend at the computer. I'm now limiting myself to between 40 and 90 minutes per day. Limited time plus limited interestingness equals limited posting.

However, while my life may not be an exciting and brilliant adventure, it has certainly been fun lately. I warn you now, I have no pictures for this post. Actually, I do have this one picture of Laura sitting on Pepa's boat, dropping popcorn down to Alyssa, who is swimming in the lake, mouth wide open, trying to catch the popcorn... Lucky for them, it's on the other computer. ;-)

We've been extremely grateful for Mema and Pepa's house on the lake so far this summer. And, of course, our Season Passes to Six Flags - made happier by the fact that many of our friends also have passes. How cool is that? Various outdoor activities aside, cutting back on computer time has made way for the books I've been neglecting.

The House of The Seven Gables is my current project. You may recall I started reading it before, but never really got into the story. I ended up returning it to the library and never checking it out again. However, thanks to PaperBackSwap.com I now own a gorgeous hardcover book containing 5 novels by Nathaniel Hawthorne, of which The House of the Seven Gables is one. The beginning was eternally slow, but I think I'm starting to scratch the surface of the actual story.

It's taken me a while, though, because I keep getting distracted by other books. I took the time last night and this morning to reread a favorite: The Two Princesses of Bamarre. (Thanks again to PBS, I also happen to own a gorgeous hardcover copy of this one.) When I finished it this afternoon I wanted to start reading it again. It's just that good. Yay for brave princesses and handsome young sorcerers, deceptive spectres and beautiful, cunning dragons with bell-like laughter!

Hm. Now that I've updated you on my reading, what else shall I say?
I think I need to regularly write movie and book reviews. It would exercise my brain, and add a little benefit to all the time I'm spending on such trivialities. ;-) Ask me how that's going sometime. I need to be held to it.

My mother has put the idea into my head that I should go to cosmetology school. And I have to say, I quite agree. The more I think on it, the more I fall in love with the idea. I like to learn. Sounds like fun. And structure. And not exactly feasible at this moment in life, due to the busyness of several other family members, but I'm praying about it.

And now, I shall be off. Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Caiti

More Thoughts from the Beach

Standing at the edge of the sea and watching a kite soar high in the air can make you feel very small.

There's nothing quite like a nap on a warm sandy towel.

Ben is so proud of his shell "worth precious moneys and hundreds and hundreds."

Running up to the water's edge, playing catch-me-if-you-can with the waves.

Catching up on journaling, not worrying about blogging.

Four girls gadding about, sampling italian ice, sniffing cologne, and eyeing trinkets they can't afford.

Who needs cohesive thoughts and paragraphs? Not at the end of vacation, anyhow.

Everyone staying up late, cozy with a favorite movie after a long day in the sun.

A mug of coffee to make it cozier.

There's always a touch of end-of-vacation melancholy.

Ready to be home, but not ready to leave.

We'll go for one more walk in the morning.

Walks along the shore always seem shorter than the walks we take at home.


I'd better start packing and get some sleep.
Be home soon.
:)

Me

Random Weekend Update

Today my siblings and I are off to Six Flags. Feel free to come hang out with us. ;-)
Ooh! I just realized it's Christian Music Weekend! Cool.

I'm currently reading Deadline by Randy Alcorn. The power went out because of the storm last night, but I stayed up reading from like 11:00-1:30 by the light of an oil lamp. Yay! It's a super good book.

It's making me excited about Heaven. I always pictured it as standing around a throne singing forEVER. Which isn't too bad, I guess, since Jesus is there, but it did seem a little boring. Mr. Alcorn's vision of heaven is pretty cool. But I guess I won't derail this post and go into it here. :D

Trading on Etsy is fun. I'm trading these slippers
for this pendant. Thanks Lori!

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday! It's going to be busy, but fun. The choir is singing in both services, then my family is going to hang out at Mema's house with lots of other great family peoples, and then we have communion service at church, and youth choir practice afterwards.

May we remember the reason for all the celebration during the flurry of activity! Jesus Christ is Risen! YAY!

Oh - my Morning Thunder tea is steeping, and it's probably nasty and bitter by now. :|
If you like black tea, you should try Celestial Seasoning's Morning Thunder. It's gooood.

This is so random. But I felt like posting, and decided to just write whatever I thought to write.

Oh! Another thing! I'm almost done with sorting out "the businessy stuff" in regards to my Etsy business. By which I mean that I finally got my business registered, my trade name registered, and got a tax ID number to take care of sales tax and all that. Phew. Now if I could just figure out how to submit sales tax. They sent me a whole packet full of papers that I don't really understand how to use. I'm seeking help for that... And help needs to come fast... I'm running out of time to file for the last quarter!

I thought y'all would like to know that after all the whining I did before about not being able to figure it out.

So. I'm going to get ready to go to Six Flags now. After I drink my tea.
Have a happy Saturday, and rejoice! Our God is alive. :D

Caitlin

Turn Away

Disclaimer:
If you're not in the mood for a sunshiney, Caitlinesque post, now's the time to turn away because some "I could just hug the world" happiness is coming up.

I would like to start off by saying I'm starving, and all I've had today is coffee and a donut. Which has me a little excited but tired at the same time.

Next, I would like to say that choir practice this morning was da bomb. (allow me to channel my inner Randy Jackson for a moment.) There were still a couple rough spots, but we're gonna "blow it out da water" when the time comes. All for the glory of God, of course.

Also, I'm rather happy in general because my bestest-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world-for-as-long-as-I-can-remember is... **ahem**... in a relationship.

Or, to use a sometimes controversial/debatable term:
Courting.
**insert wide eyed gasp!**
And I'm, like, YAY!! Thrilled! (Yes, I sound stupid.)
So. Congratulations to my dear friend Katey and her nice fellow, Terry!
I think he's very lucky indeed.
Dunno what I'd do without my Katey. I know I've mentioned her quite a few times on this blog, and if you ever talk to me "in real life", I've probably mentioned her then too.
She's my anchor friend.
Other people come and go - that's just how life is - but Katey's always been there. And I guess I'll quit praising her so openly on my blog because that might make her uncomfortable.
( I know you're reading this. Hope you're ok with it. I'll take it down if you force me, but I thought everyone should know how great you are. lol)
See what a good friend I am?
Umm... Where was I? ...
Oh right. I've only met Terry a few times but I think he's great too. He makes a fantastic Earl Grey Latte.
May God bless their relationship and use it to bring them closer to Him!
So, yeah. I'm very happy for them, and looking forward to seeing how life is going to continue to surprise me...
:D

However, I would like to say that this has been FREAKY as well as cool.
Because, ... HELLO... this was supposed to happen in the future.
Who told the future it was time to show up?!
Rhetorical questions. Love em.

Tonight I'm going to hang out with more of my awesome friends and go eat horribly unhealthy, delicious food at the Varsity. Then we're going to the Atlanta Passion Play.
I love hot dogs.

The weather is terrible but I'm feeling so cheeryfull that it really doesn't matter.

I also got an email from my dear friend, Rae, who's getting married. It was pictures of her wedding dress and a status update on our bridesmaid dresses.
YAY!

Last night I succesfully reproduced this hat. Which I've been trying to do for ages.
And it already sold.
That's happy too!

Now I'm going to chillax, watch a movie with my family, and try to keep my feet warm.
Have a happy Saturday, dears.
<3
Caitlin

The Elfin Slipper Battle

The words "Finish Elfin Slippers" never made it onto paper yesterday.
The battle is over.
I defied the concrete importance of the written word for motivation.

**singsong**
Guess who feels accooooompliiiiished.
lol
**smug face**
Now to tweak my pattern so's I can make more of these without wanting to die.

P.S. I'm on Twitter now.

New Post!

I'm not read to write another post yet, but I didn't like knowing that grumpy post was the last one up.
I was still mostly grumpy til Saturday morning, but Saturday was lovely, as was today.

Current news:
Etsy sales are down. Way down.
I need a car. A lot.
Choir practice went well. The drama is soon.
I'm watching this documentary about a girl named Deborah.
I don't want to take a shower because it will undo all the hard work I did to straighten my hair.
This week is going to be CRAZY busy!!
I'm rather cheerful and optimistic. Probably because I haven't attempted to finish those troublesome slippers yet. Which I need to do before that dear customer gets upset.

I'm contemplating doing a giveaway, hoping it would promote sales.

Have a good week, people. :) I will be back for a life lesson tomorrow. If I can think of one. lol

Life Lesson Monday

Today's Life Lesson:

If you order a small Earl Grey Latte, and end up with a large
because the barista messed up, be happy.
(not so very hard to do, obviously)

If you finish your large Earl Grey Latte and somebody gives you free pizza, be happy.
(also not so very hard to do.)

If you finish your pizza and want more Earl Grey Latte, be happy.
(hard to do. Because you really want more, since it was so delicious.)

If you go against your better judgment and decide to buy another small Earl Grey Latte,
and your sister picks that moment to pay you back for the drink you got her, be happy.
(again, not so very hard to do.)

If you get to the counter and the barista tells you not to pay because you can have their free drink for the day, be very happy.
(I don't even need to say that's not so very hard to do)

If you successfully consume this excessive amount of Earl Grey Latte within 2 hours,
you are probably going to have some side effects,
such as slight excitement and jitteriness.
This should enable your being-happy mechanism, and hopefully you can retain the joy throughout the rest of your day.

P.S. I love knowing the people who run Doug's Mugs! :D

Me at Doug's Mugs - only this picture is sort of a lie, because it's not from today.
It's from Saturday.
And Saturday I had an Apple Pie Steamer, and a Raspberry Cremosa.

The End.

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!
It has been a regular old uneventful Saturday here, but I thought I should at least write a special blog post for the occasion. And not only did I think it, but I remembered to do it!

I must say, I haven't had much cause to wish for a valentine of my own this February.

I shall tell you why.

These 8 oh-so-deceptively cute boys all brought me chocolate.
YAY!
And I was practically killed with hugs and kisses out on the playground Thursday.
It had been a tough morning. I needed it.
I've been recovering by eating fudge ever since.

And that is why Miss Caitlin wasn't in Dreadful Need of a boyfriend for Valentine's Day.

All this is not to say that I don't need any guys in my life.
The little ones are great, but I'm awfully thankful for the bigger ones, too.
Firstly, I'm thankful to my Daddy for providing for me, and bringing me up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." And to my brothers for... helping me practice being patient and kind over and over. ... I'm still working on that one. **scowl at self** But really, Nicholas and Joey and Ben do surprise me with their thoughtfulness sometimes.

And now, if you don't mind, I shall list some of the other guys to which I am grateful.
Some of you guys I don't actually talk to (ha!), and some of you I haven't known long, but I'm still thankful for you, and you shall see why:

Stu - Thanks for the ice cream. And the other fun random times.
Danny - Thanks for listening to my frustrated rants and offering help and pizza stories.
Keith -Thanks for the many emails. I never know quite what to expect from you.
Paul -Thanks for the peppermints and yahoo emoticon wars from ages ago.
John - Thanks for the Zac Efron stories and being so fun to hang out with.
Joe -Thanks for the gum-wrapper flowers and the deadly sarcasm.
Grayson - Thanks for deciding what I should eat at Taco Bell. And for being a great guy.
Matt - Thanks for the many rides, and the breakfast on Sundays that nobody eats.
Janson - Thanks for doing Youth Choir and for being encouraging.
Jeremy - Thanks for the many times you've offered to pray for us. I appreciate that.
Ryan - Thanks for being you? Some people are just fun to be around.
Zack - Thanks for the stimulating conversations.
Isaac - Thanks for the jokes about calico hair, and whatever else we talked of back then.
Daniel - Thanks for the random humor. You're kind of a celebrity around here.

And there you have it folks!
Wasn't that nice...

I watched Fireproof again last night. It reminded me that lessons about love aren't just for married people. God loved us sacrificially, and we are supposed to show His love to everyone. Even when they don't deserve it. Even when they don't notice.
And it's hard.

"I will love you like God because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.

God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him unto us."

-Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz)

What a beautiful picture of learning to love.

Speaking of Fireproof, I should like to bring your attention to a super-awesome song
from that movie. While I'm Waiting - John Waller.
For the sake of the length of this post, I'm not going to post the lyrics here. The link above has the video from the movie, plus lyrics. Click the link! It's worth it.

I purchased that song on iTunes today.
It's sort of what the theme of my life is and has been for the past two years or so.
Waiting on the Lord, and trying to live for Him as I wait.
Wait for problems to be worked out.
Wait for plans to be revealed.
Wait for people to change. (myself included)
Wait for Prince Chaaaarmiiiing....
(hey, it's Valentine's Day. Cut me some slack)
Waiting eagerly but not impatiently.

So, there's my little compilation of thoughts for the day! It was longer than I thought it would be.
Hey! I realized I still haven't listened to this week's episode of the Boundless Show! And it's bound to be great since it's about the Valentine's Day.
I think I shall leave you now.
I hope you have some chocolate to bring you solace in my absense.
lol
Love y'all!!

Caitlin

The Ski Trip Post!

Soo, it's about time I finally tell y'all about that ski trip I went on!
The thing is, once you let so many days past after an event you wanted to write about, the freshness kinda wears off, and you sort of forget what exactly it was you wanted to write.
Sad, isn't it?
But I'm going to see if I can't dig those highlights back up. :D

Firstly, I would just like to say that the people in my Sunday School class are awesome, and doing anything with them is fun. We could sit in a room and stare at each other and it would be fun.
... Maybe. lol
Maybe not. We've kinda done that before, actually. That's how Sunday School starts sometimes.
Aaanyways.

The ride there was fun.
Gracie called me! We hadn't talked in a while, so that was good. 'Cep for the not being able to hear her very well part.

We stopped and had dinner at Chick Fil A. Everybody needs to go there once with Allison so you can avoid all the terrible things we inconsiderate customers do to the place! And don't order a milkshake from her. Please. Trust me on this one.

I was the last one to finish eating, as usual.
I dropped my fries in the parking lot.
I hadn't gotten to eat them because my mouf hurted.
I was sad.
John couldn't save them.
They told me not to drop my drink too.
It was too late.
But I saved it before it spilled.

I have a feeling this post is going to get long. We're not even in North Carolina yet.

You know, I actually don't remember much else except for that it was a fun trip, and the hours passed really quickly.

Once we were settled in the hotel, Anna Leigh, Andrea, and I stayed up WAY too late relaxing. There was this CD... Ohhh man. It might would have been relaxing if we could have stopped laughing! This guy talked you through all these steps to help you relax. You had to tense up all your muscles, and then let go. "Feel the tension flying away from your toes as you breaathe iinn... one... two... three... and out... one... two... three... You may feel some twitching sensations in your neck. **soothing voice** This is normal."

I pretended to have a spasm when he said that. :D I'm totally cracking up just thinking about it!
It was hilarious. Then you were supposed to feel like you were floating... and imagine gradual immersion into a relaxing, warm bath. We had a hard time getting up Friday morning after all that relaxation.

As great as the skiing was, it was just being with my friends that was the best part.
I've never seen that much snow in person before, so that made me smile. :D Skiing was like flying. And not being able to stop. Ha! I just couldn't figure out how to make the stupid "snow plow" technique to work, so I would start sliding down the hill, faster and faster, with the wind whistling in my ears and burning my eyes, unable to control my speed, whooshing up and down the fun little hills down the slope... and praying "this is COOL! ...dear God, please don't let me hit somebody!" It was awesome. Except for the falling down in the middle of the slope 3 or 4 times and taking like 10 minutes to get the stupid skis back on. Then I decided it was quittin' time.

I went in, got some cappuccino, and sat down for a chat with Allison.
It was the strangest chat I've ever had with a friend.
I like romantic movies - she hates them.
She likes southern gospel music - I hate it.
I like my coffee with sugar and cream - she scorns any such thing.
She thinks some guy is totally hot - I think he's cute. Which is completely different, btw.
I like birds - she doesn't.
She likes weird country songs - I don't.
I love skirts and dresses - she hates them.
She likes... well, I ran out of things right now, and you get the point.

So I call her my dear Polar Opposite, though I suppose that's not exactly true, because we both like the Bourne movies and Kung Fu Panda.

Anna Leigh and I wrote notes to God on the nightstand. We were surprised to come back after going out for breakfast to find our scattered notes stacked neatly with the pen beside them.
We wrote God another note to thank him for the maids.
I wonder if they read them all...

Why did they give me a weird little coffee mug at the breakfast place? Everyone else had great mugs, and mine was small and funny shaped. They obviousy had a random assortment instead of a set. I liked that. I think it's kinda homey. Allison didn't.

On the ride home, we stopped at the Tanger Outlet in Commerce.
Philip told us we had half an hour, and then we were leaving.
Girls: "let us out! which stores should we hit first?!"
Guys: "we'll just hang here... what's the point getting out?"
I snagged some good deals. :D

I didn't realize how heavy my cute little suitcase was til I got home and had to carry it myself. Methinks having nice guys around to hold doors and take your luggage is awesome. Thanks, boys!

We were all kinda zoned out on the trip home, mostly. My iPod died. I played the same game of solitaire like 8 times, trying to win it. I finally gave up and started a new game.

Some favorite memories of each person:
Laura - Your discovery of the creepy elevator! I'm sad I missed out on seeing the creepy man.
Allison - You sitting at the table with me discussing our differences. Hilarious!
Katie - You lent me your other ski bibs. I accepted reluctantly, but I ended up really liking them. Thanks doll!! And we're both beret-wearers. Yay!
Andrea - You got me back for yelling at you. I totally wasn't expecting that. LOL
Anna Leigh - You cracked up so much when I scribbled out the scary face on the window... :D I still don't understand why it was so funny, but it was a great moment!
John - You almost killed Laura before we even got done with ski school. Priceless!
Joe - Your story about how firemen can shut down the highway anytime they want was great. You were all like "and we're like "yeah? watch us."" ... ha!
Philip - You tried to help me get the hang of snowplowing, and I got worse instead. You made a valiant effort, though, and I thank you!
Scarlett - You laughing at the weird man telling stories about his janitorial experiences.

I cracked up again thinking about that last one... You had to be there...

So, I guess that wraps up this post. I hope remembered a sufficient amount of amusing things to make it worth your time to read. :D
God has blessed me with great friends, and great opportunities.
Hopefully I'll take the opportunity to blog about Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Caitlin

20 things about me...

These things are going around like the flu. Some people are doing ones that have 17 things, or 25 things, but since I got tagged for this one, I'm doing a nice even 20. :)

1. Sometimes I just look at people and say "Hi! How are you?" after I've already had a whole conversation with them. People who know me say "Hi" back, and proceed to answer the question. People who don't know me so well look at me like I'm insane. They may be right.

2. I like to joke about myself being unintelligent, but I don't really think I am.

3. My little Etsy business is going pretty well. Now if I can just figure out what to do about state sales tax, and that little spending habit...

4. For some reason I try put off hard work, but almost always enjoy the labor and feel really good about myself when I'm done.

5. I love the people at my post office. They're so friendly! It's good to see familiar faces there. :) And just this week, that nice post office man told me he likes my "army jacket .... wait? don't they call those things pea jackets nowadays or something?" ... LOL the other guy was like "no, those are different. Pea coats. I got my wife one for christmas."

6. I had my first experience hitting an animal in the road a couple weeks ago. There was a little birdie sitting in the road, and it wouldn't fly away... crunch. :( I actually wasn't too upset though. that surprised me.

7. I have a hard time saying only a little bit. It's all or nothing. Ergo this series of mini-stories.

8. Don't get me started with the whole " "wine" in the Bible was just grape juice" thing. It was totally for-real wine, and Jesus did drink some. (in the podcast today some girl had a question about whether someone's convictions about alcohol should be a dealbreaker in a relationship... that's why I thought of that. lol) (see? there I go with another mini-story!)

9. Been listening to copious amounts of Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra after getting some CDs for Christmas.

10. I act very strange sometimes. And sometimes I feel a tinge of amused pity for my future husband. lol

11. I try to do a weekly blog post entitled "Life Lesson Monday" but I frequently forget to do them until Tuesday or Wednesday.

12. I have chronically cold feet, and I'm seriously upset about it because it's so annoying.

13. Coffee is my best friend. Well, it's pretty far up on the list anyhow.

14. I love walking. Walky walky walk. I don't usually tire of just strolling around. Hiking is good, too. Let's plan a hiking trip.

15. I am SO PSYCHED about having season passes for Six Flags(!!!), and I think it's awesome that they'll be open weekends starting the last day of Feb. (you can do a bunch of walking at Six Flags ...)

16. Sometimes I stop and realize that I'm actually a very selfish person. It bothers me.

17. My favorite books are Mere Christianity, Mansfield Park, 1&2 Corinthians... and I guess there are more. I have a hard time picking favorites.

18. I express excitement with childish glee. I bounce up and down and clap my hands and say "YAY!" a lot. It's true.

19. Currently reading: Surprised By Joy, Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God (not enjoying it so far ... heh...), and Winnie The Pooh. Finished reading: Blue Like Jazz, Let Me Be a Woman, and Bear Stays Up For Christmas. Plan on re-reading:Mere Christianity, Get Married: what women can do to help it happen (girls, check it out :D),Do Hard Things, and Charlotte's Web.

20. I looove being in choir, and I need to get ready for bed now so that I won't be sleepy during church and choir practice tomorrow. **yawn**

Unsolicited Promotion

So, I just felt like blogging, and I figured I'd just dive right in. No specific topic -just Caitlinesque rambling for the next few minutes.

First of all, I would like to say that I had a little Boundless Show marathon today. I sat and crocheted pieces for fingerless gloves and listened to the podcast for about four hours. They were all episodes from spring last year. I've had like ...4 marathon days catching up on old episodes since I got my iPod. YAY!

Love, love, love Boundless. I subscribe to the webzine and the blog in Google Reader so I won't miss anything. I've spent hours sitting at the compy reading old articles. I'm a link addict. Putting a bunch of related links under or in an article is genius. Of course I have to click on them all ... Wikipedia kills me. lol

Yay for Boundless.org!

So. What else random was I going to say? I'm going to see Marley and Me with Tiffany tomorrow! Looks like it'll be cute. I have a children's book about Marley. I love it. So does my preschool class.

Since I'm in the mood for promoting things tonight, I shall say huzzah for PaperBack Swap! I used to be on swaptree, but it just wasn't working out so well. PaperBack Swap rocks. I've gotten rid of my mother's old cookbooks that she didn't want, and I've gotten some great finds in return. Hardback copies of some of my favorite childrens' titles, and Blue Like Jazz.

Speaking of books, I'm toying with the idea of a media review post. Or maybe a series of posts. I've read a couple books and seen a few movies lately, and thought it would be fun to speak my mind about them. Perhaps I shall.

I had an epiphany today.

You know all those silly little games that begin with a person putting their iPod on shuffle?

"Put your iPod on shuffle and use the song titles as the answers to these questions:" and

"Put your iPod on shuffle and list the beginning lines of the first 15 songs..."

Those things. Well, I can do those now. Because I have an iPod now. (THANK YOU to the bestest aunt EVAR. :P) Haha! Let the stupidity begin! ... anyways. I just thought of that, and I was amused at myself for thinking it, and you can probably expect to see one of those silly things pop up any day now. lol

I ate lots of junk food today. I've been eating a lot of junk lately. Especially chocolate.
I also went for a walk.
I had an excellent cup of Millstone's Swiss Chocolate Almond coffee, but that was yesterday. That's my favorite flavored coffee, in case any of you wanted to know.

Now I'm finished with all of this unsolicited promotion for other people, I'm going to watch the Twilight Zone with my family. :) I love Fridays.

OH! and I made my two-hundred-and-second Etsy sale today. And I've been keeping track of all sales and expenses in Excel. Go me!

I really am leaving now. :)
-Caitlin

It's not Thanksgiving any more!

So, my thanksgiving post is late. But just because it's not thanksgiving any more doesn't mean we should stop being thankful. What if we all remembered to be thankful ALL the time?
Counting my blessings takes ages.

A - Awanas. Apple cider - which would be good right now. My throat hurts. Advent -which we're celebrating this year!
B - Boys (and I mean that in a totally innocuous way. Boys of all ages. They're fun!)
C - Church. Coffee. My name. Choir.
D - Daddy.
E - Evening time. Email
F - Friendship, Food, Fun
G - God's Grace
H - Holy Spirit. He has to remind me of so many things so often. Hugs.
I - Intercession. I love knowing that I can help my friends through prayer.
J - Joy.Real joy. Not circumstantial happiness. :)
K - Katey and Alicia. (they just go together like that)
L - Laughter, Love
M - Music. Mama. and my "other mothers," Marmee and Mom.
N - New friends!! I gained a couple of new friends this year. Yay! (Rae, Becca, and church peeps.)
O - Orthodontics. ... I WILL have pretty teef one day.
P - Popcorn. PEACE. Peace comes first, actually.
Q - Quiet.
R - Rain. Relatives. Random rambling. Reading.
S - Singing!! Sunshine, Stars, Siblings.
T - Tall shoes. Teaching.
U - Umbrellas. **I'm siiingin' in the rain, just siiingin' in the rain..."
V - Vincent, my crazy little green bird.
W- Walking. Waiting. Yes, I can be thankful for waiting.
X - X. I'm thankful for the letter X. ... mostly because I can't think of any X words. It's a nifty letter.
Y - Yogurt? I'm thankful for that. ... I can't think of many Y things either.
Z - Zippers. Where would we be without them? Zippers and Zeros.

Be thankful, people. :) I hope you had a great thanksgiving.
I'm looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.
<3

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school! I was so excited. Really, I was! And I'm still excited.
And all the other teachers think I'm nuts. But I love teaching, and I love little kids, so... Of course, some of the love and excitement wears off by the end of the school year, when you're sick of saying "don't climb the slide!" and chasing barefooted kids, germy (and prohibited) crocs in hand.

Anyways, where was I? Right. First day of school, in a cute clean room, with cute little boys.

There's my door, with all our names on it. Nifty, isn't it?






Here's my room as seen from the door! This photo turned out really blurry. Hm. Oh well.

I really enjoyed preparation week... playing with sticky tack, construction paper, and foam pieces... Painting my tree on a bulletin board was really fun. I laminated it so that I can put different art projects up for the different seasons. Jessica liked it so much, she had me paint one for her room.
I got her to cover my extra board with yellow paper in return. I still haven't decided what to put on that one... Any ideas?


I also brought in my bean bag chair, a fluffy dog, and lots of pillows from my room that I never use. Makes a super cute and comfy little reading/music corner. No success reading today, though. We're gonna have to work on our circle-time skills... But they're only 2. We have time.





I asked Mrs. Dawn to hunt down all the trucks for me. As you can see, we have no shortage of wheeled vehicles. And for good reason, too - all of them were employed today.

I used sticky foam letters to put the boys' names on their cubbies. I really like the way it turned out. ... Only, Nathan isn't coming. lol

I had his name on a couple of things already, and then Mrs. Nancy told me Tuesday that plans changed. It's ok. I can handle six boys, but five is just fine, too. :D

Well, I was going to go ahead and post pics of the little guys, too, but I've got to get off the computer now. Ah well. It was a good day, and I'm ready for bed.

I leave you with a picture of one of the cutest moments of the day.

-Miss Caitlin

Happy Random Things

Happy random things. That's what most of my blog is about.
... I guess that's just what I like to focus on. Yay for Happy Random Things!

I listed some new stuff on Etsy today. I also got the pics together for 4 other things that need to be listed. I made these hats at Aunt Cindy's. I can't stop making pleated berets like the orange one. They're my new favorite thing.


My cute ring was put in the mail today. And so was that great Kool-Aid yarn I ordered. And I ordered those spiffy orange buttons. Hooray for Etsy!

But the best thing of all is SIX FLAGS!! I'm going to Six Flags tomorrow! So. Fun. If you've known me long at all, you should know my of my truly deep, heartfelt love for Six Flags. It's true.
My whole family is going, Alicia's coming with us, Kasey and one of her friends are riding with us, and Keith is going to be there, so I'll have no shortage of interesting people to yak at. (See, the problem with yakking at uninteresting people is that they usually don't have good responses)

I'm taking Mama's camera (even though she's going to be there too - I get to be the camera person, hopefully), and I should have a nice picture post sometime hereafter.

I probably won't be around for the next couple days though. Wisdom teeth, you know. But regular life (= blogging) should resume pretty quickly after that.

By the way, welcome home to Paul!

I'm having a nice cup of coffee. I only had one little sip this morning, which is totally unusual for me. I'm making up for it now.

And I had some of the best ginger ale in the world earlier today. Blenheim. Thanks, Katey!!

It's good to be home.

G'bye. :)