RainboGirl's Xanga

Hallo Again!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:43:03 GMT

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.

I'll teach you to bowl...

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:44:13 GMT

...the perfect gutterball.
I was offering lessons yesterday.
It was ironic, though - when I went to demonstrate my mind-blowing losing techniques, I got a strike. LOL

But yeah, I went bowling with a group of people from church yesterday. I haven't been since I was about 11, so I knew I wouldn't be any good. I had no idea how terribly bad I would be. A billion gutterballs in a row bad. You know, sometimes I take a certain odd, twisted sense of pride in being the worst at something. At least, when it's something of little to no importance.

It really was hilarious, though. I had a blast. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did. Talking, laughing, and people-watching are the best of sports anyways, and I excel in those. :D

Plus, I can blame my score of 32 or whatever it was on my skirt, right? It was homecoming Sunday at church, and I decided I just wasn't going bowling afterwards. And so when I decided to at the last minute (when I knew for sure how many fun people were going to be there) I realized that people don't usually go bowling in their church clothes. I really wished for some jeans. But that's okay! Laura and I still had so much fun. Thanks to Amber for the ride there, and Matt for the ride home. And to all the crazy people who let me be my weird little self.
... Yay for my friends!

(To those of you who were at church - did the choir sound good? I felt like we nailed our songs, but... when you're surrounded by altos only, it's hard to tell.)

Um... I have lots to do today. Custom orders to work on, orthodontist apptmt at 2... um... well, nothing else super pressing, but that's enough anyways.

Tomorrow is movie night!! YAY! I get to see my non-church friends! ha - that kind of makes them sound bad. I don't have many friends that aren't "church friends," and it's fun to get to hang out with them. We have the bestest of times. Can't wait!

I can, however, wait for Wednesday. Awana kick-off. Not, not, not looking forward to that. Regular old wednesday night club time, yes. Kick-off, no. And from what I've heard from more experienced leaders, I have good reason to dread. lol ... Personally, I think that club should just start. No crazy shindig stuff. Maybe extra candy or points or something since it's the first day. But then, maybe that's the killjoy in me. **evil laughter** Could just be the dislike of mass confusion and chaos. ... I think that's what it is. I'm not usually known to be a killjoy.

I think this is the first time I've ever used the word "shindig" in my blog. And I've been blogging since... let me check... 2004. A lot of you didn't even know me in 2004. ha! Ah, yes... back in the days of Live Journal and AIM, which have long since been abandoned.

So. Now that you know a little more random stuff about me, I will leave you. Do me a favor and find something to laugh about today. (Even if it's me. lol) You'll live longer.

Caitlin

My Room

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:12:40 GMT

My Room

This is my room!
(or part of it, anyways.)
Guess who decided to paint it green?
:D

I suppose this picture is a little misleading, though. My room isn't quite this shockingly bright. It's a much tamer apple green. Thank you, editing software. Also misleading is the lack of clutter. Just beneath where the photo leaves off are the peaks of yarn stash mountain, and clothes that haven't been put away. (my honesty really needs to just shut up sometimes.) Just to the left is the edge of my bulletin board, smothered with drawings from my little brothers and sisters, and pictures of my friends.

Speaking of pictures of my friends - see that superman picture under the purse painting?
That's my friends and I posing with the giant Superman in Metropolis. :D

This shot shows the color of the walls pretty well, but the lighting is still odd. The area around the chime by the window is pretty true to life. ... isn't my guitar pretty? It's not really dark red, though...

My own two corners of my little shared room make me very happy. If I could have any type of room I like, it would be awfully similar to what I have now, though more put-together. I would have more pictures, and they would be in a random, but orderly sort of fashion. If that makes sense. Right now my pictures are just hanging from nail-holes that were already in the wall, thanks to my brothers. :P

One idea I've been toying with for a while is making a graphic collage of my friends. I may never get around to it, but it would certainly look neat.
Like take a picture of each of my friends, and make it really different,
like these sorts of photos.
Only not as self-centered.
And I suppose in order for it to look right, I'd have to pick one style.
High contrast color, high contrast black and white, or outline/threshold style. I can't decide which is my favorite. But I'll probably never do it anyways.

But wouldn't it look cool!

In case you were wondering, this is sort of a random post sparked by Abby Clark, over on her blog. I had other things I was going to blog about today, but my response to her post sort of took over. :)
So, I'll be back tomorrow with other cool stuff!
Bye!

Of Life and Leisure

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:34:02 GMT

There has certainly been enough leisure time this summer. Strangely enough, it passes by so quickly that it seems I was hardly able to make good use of it. Whether or not that makes sense...

But I'm ready to get back to life full-force. It's all coming up at once, and I'm bracing myself. Not to say that in a negative way. Like when you brace yourself at the top of the first hill on your favorite roller coaster. :P

Laura started school this week. (I believe I'm going to get to do a little chauffeuring now)
This Saturday we have choir practice for our great big homecoming service at church. (I joined the choir. Hoorah! I didn't want to at first, but our new director is great. Singing is fun.)
Awana kick-off is on the 20th. I'm going to be a Sparks teacher! (5 and 6 year olds, I think. Cute!)
Preschool starts back in the beginning of September.

Yes, dear people! The decision has been made, and I am, indeed, going back to work. I suppose my last post on the topic was rather seemed like I was against going back to work. This is not the case. Really, I was just sort of thinking aloud (perhaps a little dramatically?). Anyways, I'm really excited! I'm certainly not going to become rich teaching preschool a couple days a week, but I'm doing it because I love it. We were in a parking lot somewhere yesterday when I saw some little kids at daycare playing outside. It made me so ready to be back!

This has the potential to grow to be a very long post. Hang on.

Yesterday we went thrift store shopping. Fun stuff. For me, anyways. All the little people may as well have been hanging by their toes, they were in such agony. I got two pairs of really nice, brand new jeans. And a little green fondue pot. Which, I admit, is a little pointless. Especially as it's missing it's base. But it's SO cute!! All vintagey, with the different colors on the ends of all the little sticks... lol
Check out the other kitchenware I'm longing for:

Wouldn't these little bowls just be perfect for some beef stew or something?
And then for dessert, you could put a great big brownie (mixed in one of these bowls) in the bottom of these, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and some caramel sauce that you warmed in this little yellow pot.

And, then there's just the coolest set of Pyrex I've ever seen.
( Oh, the amazing quantities and vast color palettes of Pyrex and Melmac! Oh, how I could just go on and on with the hyperlinks!)

But, you know, perhaps once I'm old and sensible, I would regret owning such fabulous dishes. I would think to myself, "oh, you odd self. Whatever for did you want green and yellow and orange kitchenware?!"

But perhaps not.

I certainly thing my ramble about kitchen stuffs is quite long enough, so let us diversify.

Yesterday, during our travels, I busied myself with reading. My dear Katey left a book at our house, and I carried it with me in case we should stop by. I decided to do a little skimming, and before I knew it I was chapters deep. So now, I highly recommend Not a Tame Lion - The Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis. I'm not a huge-mongous Lewis fanatic, but I do enjoy his work, and I think he was definitely someone to be admired. This books was a great introduction to the man himself, and his... well, spiritual legacy. Certainly more interesting a read than I usually expect to find under the category of "biography." Something in my mind has caused that word to become near synonomous with "boring." Boring it was not. It was full of quotes that made me eager to read the next on my library-list : Mere Christianity. One of such quotes was this,

" Friendship is born at the moment when one man says to another,
"What! You too? I thought no one but myself..." "

I've experienced that number of times! Such wonderful friends have I.
Speaking of friends, I wish a happy 15th year to my dear friend, Alicia.

I like baloney sandwiches and ice skating.

So! Where was I going with this post? ... Sorry, derailed train of thought. ... Um...
Well, I know I was supposed to write about the Prayer Advance. But I thinkI'll pass for now. Perhaps I'll get around to it, perhaps I shan't. Laura wrote an excellent post including thoughts from all of the sessions. Great stuff, you should check it out.

I seem to have completely lost my thought flow here, and this epistle is of sufficient length now anyhow.

I bid you all a happy week!
<3 Caitlin

Update!

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:16:46 GMT

So. It's obviously time for an update.
Bullet style!

Concerning the Extraction of my Wisdom Teeth: Recovery is nearly over. I'm still a little sore, but painkillers and ice packs are no longer needed. And my precious little face never became disfigured. LOL Yay!
Concerning the Prayer Advance: Amazing. As usual. I have to say, I went with a sort of "I think I'm doing pretty good this year. God doesn't have too much to work on this time..." attitude. Man, it's amazing how blind and prideful we silly humans can be. If you ask God to show you where you need help, he has no misgivings about granting your request. The great thing is, after He shows you how horrible you really are, He's right there to help you fix it. :) (I think this topic is worthy of a whole post, so... perhaps I'll work on that later)
Concerning Etsy: I got my cute little bird ring while I was out of town! and the buttons I ordered! And I'm working on another custom order. Things are going well!
Concerning Birthdays: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I'm 19. The last year of being a teenager. My, how time flies. Only old people are supposed to say that, but it's true. It's definitely strange how time goes faster as you get older.
Concerning Other Random Things: I need to redo my toenails... And I think I'm missing an important bullet.

Happy August the Fifth to everyone!

Grumpy

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:25:36 GMT

Hello!
I'm still alive!
I wasn't scared of the surgery, just the recovery. Laura was miserable for the better part of a week after having her wisdom teeth taken out.

I was coherent and able to talk (except for the mouthful of gauze) as soon as I came out of anesthesia. Monday and Tuesday weren't so bad. I laid on the sofa with ice packs on my face, and my mommy took good care of me. I was in no pain, and I really enjoy mashed potatoes and gravy and television and sleep, so it wasn't so bad.

Today, however, I have been very grumpy. I can feel where my stitches are. The ice packs won't stay cold and won't stay put. My cheeks are starting to swell. I have things I need to do, and I keep feeling so very hindered. I forgot to take my medicine on time twice. I wanted to sleep, and couldn't. All day I was lying on the sofa trying to fall asleep in vain. I managed a one hour nap. And I've been grumpy. I think I mentioned that already. And my poor, dear friends Sarah and Megan are over, and I'm just no fun.

And did I mention how annoying these stupid ice packs are?!
**sigh**
So, thank you to everyone who prayed for me. Your prayers have been working. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. And I will be able to go to the prayer advance. We're leaving early in the morning.

Methinks a prayer advance is just what grumpy-face needs. :|
<3 Me

Summary

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:08:47 GMT

Since Wednesday night (the time of my last post), these are the goings-on that have ...um, goed on.

I went to bed much too late.
I got up early, got ready, and went to Six Flags with my family, after picking up some friends.

Oh, wait. I forgot something.
Getting ready includes getting a haircut.
...
Yes, I know! I know! I was finally getting some length back, and making progress in growing it out, and all that... But here's the deal:
I love my hair really short.
I love my hair really long.
In order to grow it back out, it's going to have to be in between forever, and I hate it in between. And I'm just not ready yet. Even though I thought I was. So, I promise I will grow it back out one day. I really will. But I just had to cut it again. And Mama can tell you, I was rejoicing. I think I said "Yay! I love my hair! it looks so great now!" at least 4 times.
So... confession over.

I was absolutely insanely excited to be back at Six Flags. I love that place.

Mama, Nicholas, Joey, Abby, Alicia, and I rode the Scorcher, the Cyclone, and the Goliath. We had a marvelous time.

We went out to the van and had lunch.
After lunch, Alicia, Nicholas, Joey, Abby, and I set out on our own, while Mama took Emmie and Ben and went to hang out with her other grown up friends and their little ones.

From 2:30 to ... 6:30 was pretty close to miserable. I was the leader, and a bad one at that. I had totally forgotten the layout of the park, my feet hurt, I kept leading us in indecisive circles unintentionally, and we didn't even do much. It was partly the fault of the increasing line lengths. The kids rode the swings, and we stood in line for ages upon end to ride the Batman (which I got a video of and will post on facebook eventually), and then stood in line for more ages to ride the Scream Machine. The line looked short, but it was deceptively slow. So, I did have fun on the Scream Machine, but the rest of the time was a major letdown.

We all met, left the park to go to the van and get some drinks, came back, and then we had fun.
We got to ride the Scorcher a couple times more. The front car is totally the best. ^.^ Laura and Alicia went to ride Acraphobia while the boys and I were stuck in line waiting for the Scorcher again, while they were fixing "technical difficulties." After that, we all met up and ended the night with Shake Rattle and Roll. Alicia and I had almost as much fun dancing in line as we did on the ride. LOL I love that ride. Only the cool slideshow of images from the 50s wasn't working! But the music and the ride were still great.

So, the middle of the day was torture, and I'm really glad we got to go back in and have a little more fun.

This morning I was supposed to have my wisdom teeth taken out, but now my appointment has been rescheduled for Monday. Which could be a big problem, because I'm going to the Prayer Advance Thursday. That doesn't leave me with a lot of healing time. I'm hoping I'll have a miraculous recovery. I'd appreciate your prayers that the surgery would go well, and I'd recover super-amazingly-fast. :)

I think I need to brew a little more coffee.
I'm tired.

I left the camera in the van, which I don't have access to right now, so I'll post pics when I can.

Happy Weekend, dear friends, and thank you for reading, as always. Knowing people read my little ramblings makes me feel kinda special. :P

Happy Random Things

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:04:58 GMT

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. :)

In Other News...

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:53:48 GMT

That's one of my favorite blogging phrases. In other news...

Laura and I are going home tomorrow. I'm ready to go. I didn't think I would be, actually, but I am. Especially since we were at home very little for the three weeks before we came. I miss my family, and my crazy bird.

So, yesterday Laura, Aunt Cindy, and I had our serious girl-time. We talked on our way to the mall, then we did some shopping, and then we had dinner at P.F. Chang's.

Shopping was great. I got two really cute shirts, and an amazing pair of pants at Old Navy. Only, they're way too long even when I wear my tallest shoes. But I think I've figured out how to fix that without botching them. And I got some great denim walking shorts at JC Penney's.

Dinner was SOO good. The best part. I love Chinese. We all tasted each other's food, and each liked what we chose best. And choosing was hard. Lo Mein with chicken, beef, pork, and shrimp. SO yummy. I ate my whole meal with chopsticks. Go me! I didn't know I was so talented. It's chopsticks for me whenever I have Asian food from now on. lol I had the leftovers for lunch today. But I used a fork.

We went to the beach again last week. And it was smelly and nasty, due to the weather having washed a bunch of seaweed ashore. We didn't stay long. On our way home, a friend of Aunt Cindy's invited us to come swimming at their community pool! So, we did, and it was a blast. It was the coolest pool ever. With a big, fun waterslide. Yay!

We've rented tons of movies the past week. We had a 3 in a row marathon last night. After watching a bunch of bittersweet/depressing movies, we finished with Martian Child. Aunt Cindy fell asleep and finally decided just to go to bed, so we watched it all by our lonely little awake selves. :D It was really good. Very heartwarming. Recommended.

After my post about my favorite things on Etsy, I was contacted by Helen of ShereDesigns on Etsy. Maker of the super-fabulous cute little bird ring that I so love. (She's ordered slippers from me before.) And guess what she did? She proposed a trade. That I send her this beret for that ring.

Is that cool or what? I am telling you, I was so excited I scared Anna and Sarah. I jumped up and down and clapped. And squealed "Yay! I'm so excited" more than a few times.
That's just pretty neat, if you ask me.

I also made a sale, and had 2 people message me to ask if I could make something specifically for them. So, Etsy wise, it's been a good week. Now I just need to make another sale so that I can buy supplies to please these nice people who want special orders. :D

Also, some dear, dear people have paid for Laura and Mama to go the prayer advance with me! So, we're all going! And I'm rooming with my Sarah-friend! YAY!!

Our youth group might be going to Six Flags on Thursday, and I really want to... so I hope that works out.

Friday, I'm having my wisdom teeth out. I hope I won't be useless for the rest of the weekend, but I'm sure I will be.

Next weekend is the Prayer Advancce. The Tuesday after that is my birthday! That's only two weeks away!

After that, I think the excitement will finally be over. At least until October, when we're going on vacation with the Looneys. I hope camping with the Looneys, and making at least one visit to the Fontenot's house can be managed sometime between there.

I just said ALL of that, but I really just wanted to tell you guys I thought it was cool that I used chopsticks close to effortlessly, and that I'm getting the ring I like so much. :)

Pray we'll have a safe trip home tomorrow, pretty please.
Love to all of my friends!

Me

Introspective Reflections

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:07:12 GMT

I've been thinking a lot lately about whether or not I'll be going back to teach preschool this fall. I feel like I won't be. Or at least, I'm not anticipating it. I'm just waiting rather calmly to see what happens, but still... I feel like it's pretty much settled that I'll be staying home, even though nobody's said so for sure. Maybe that unfounded uncertainty is actually God preparing me? I don't know. But I was hit with a realization the other day - I only want to go back for selfish reasons.

Not because "God told me to" or "I feel it's my calling." No. I want to go back because:

I like being needed.

like I'm not needed at home, right?

I like being with the kids. It's fun.

I need to be with my own brothers and sisters.
I need to work on our relationships.
I want to be like Brittany Antonion in the way that she is so sweet and so motherly and so best-friendsy with her siblings- and I know they have fun together.

I like being in charge.

I'm in charge at home, too. sort of.

Only it's so much easier to be in charge in a nice way when it's not your family.
why is that?

I like being with the other adults. Even though I'm the kid out of the bunch. It makes me feel like a "big kid"... Like I'm important.

As if helping and loving my own family isn't important.

I like having a reason to be up and at 'em early in the morning.

Like I don't have a reason at home.
I just don't make myself get up and attend to those reasons.

I like getting a paycheck.

... okay, so I can't counter that one with a different source of money, but looking at the big picture, being home is so much more worth it, right?
"My God will supply all thy needs..."

And it was somewhat of a breakthrough when I realized this next one - This is the clincher.

I really like the security of being able to tell people that I have a job.

"So, you're going to college, right?"
"no..."
"Oh?! Well, then. What are you doing?"

"Oh, I work at a preschool" is SO much more "socially acceptable" than
"I stay at home. But I know I'm doing what God wants me to do right now."
It's so much safer when you can tell people you have a job.

And there are just a few people that I really love, and have really missed this summer. But I guess nobody's to say I can't visit them.

So, it sounds to me like I need to learn to love my family deeper.
That's sad. That I would rather give my mornings to a bunch of preschoolers I'll only know for a year than my family. That makes me really disappointed in myself.

This post started as a journal entry probably two weeks ago. I was just thinking and writing. And my little ramble about wanting to go back turned into a realization - and a discovery of my selfish motives.

It's true. They're all selfish. And knowing that they're selfish reasons, and that staying home is the "Godly Womanhood" way to go doesn't make me any happier about it. Not that I feel I'm resigned to doom and misery. I'm not really upset or anything. I know if I don't work, and stay home, I will grow and learn. I will honestly try to become the godliest little me that I can be. But I like working. And I like getting a paycheck. And I like the security. I feel like people will automatically assume that I must be a lazy, pointless, drop-out type, or like I "haven't got my act together yet" when I tell them I stay at home.
I know for certain that a LOT of people think things along those lines about stay at home moms.
And I admit it. I'm scared of what people think of me.
And yes, I know there's no reason to be.

But maybe it's just time for me to be as insecure as I've ever been. Maybe I'm supposed to be afraid and insecure, and learn to get over it. Or, more aptly, learn to realize that my ever-present Father is the only security I need, and the only True security I'll ever have. Not just know. There's something deeper to that word, realize.

I'm selfish, and I guess that's all there is to it. But I really do want what God wants, so we'll see what He's got in mind, won't we?

It's like a battle, and I'm standing on the wrong side of the field. I'm not actively fighting. I'm just standing, looking over to the side I ought to be on. But even though I know it's safer over there, and even though I know I'll be fighting for the right things over there, I'm scared to cross over.