Return of the Blog

One of the things that I decided to do in 2014 was (surprisingly not "blog more") to buy a book every week for the entire year. As is the case with many of life's choices, one thing leads to another. I wanted to keep track of the books that I buy and blogging about them seemed like a great way to do that. Especially since a couple of people have expressed an interest in following my book choices. So here is post numero uno.

My first choice was The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward. I remember my mom reading this book aloud to us when I was younger and I still remember many of the stories from it. My clearest thought from the book is this: What a mighty God we serve! I cannot wait to read again of the ways that God taught and provided for Gladys.

Perhaps I will do a full-fledged review on this book after I read it again. For now I'm just chronicling my first choice. I am planning on purchasing a variety of books... and a new shelf to keep them all on. Some of my posts for the 52 books of 2014 may be short, but you're welcome to stay tuned!

Hunger Pains from the Hunger Games

Coming from a conservative Christian homeschooling background, I somehow reached the conclusion that any book series that was "all the rage" was bad. From the demonic magic of Harry Potter to the sensual world of vampires and werewolves in Twilight, the reading material that was in style was out of the question.

Enter Suzanne Collins and her Hunger Games trilogy. With no magic or dark legendary creatures, the only objection I saw many parents bringing to the table was the violence, especially considering that it was children involved. Many tweens and teens of my acquaintance were giddy with joy. Finally! A popular series that they could read!

After purchasing the trilogy as an ebook and reading through it, I have to give credit to Ms. Collins. She has managed to reach a broader market than Ms. Rowling or Ms. Meyer by giving parents a false sense of security. "No magic or mythical creatures? I guess it's okay." - I heard parents say this more than once. Too bad they didn't look deeper.

Of course, Panem (America, holding the population of the world) is so far into the future that science can do practically anything. We no longer need magicians, witches, or warlocks to cast healing spells or change the weather. Science and computers take care of everything! Even the elaborate 'ticking clock' arena for the Games in the second book (Catching Fire) is completely scientific. Looking at how quickly the human race is progressing, though, it's totally natural to think that a completely computerized world and such advanced medical discoveries are possible. No magic.

As for the mythical creatures that many parents, including mine, have struggled with, there are no werewolves, gryphons, vampires, satyrs, or any such thing in the Hunger Games. Ms. Collins invented creatures of her own. And the "muttations" are honestly every bit as scary as any other creature from stories past or present. Moms shuddered at a novel on vampires because they knew what vampires are. Bloodthirsty villains. No mom had a clue what a Wolf Mutt was, though. Some half breed dog? Nope. A human/wolf combination actually created with or to resemble opponents from the Games who had already died. Is that really so much better than a vampire?

Overlooking the sex issues presented by the series (Finnick's constant nudity, Katniss and Peeta sleeping together, the sale of surviving tributes as sex slaves, off-color comments, etc) and not objecting to magic/science or strange creatures for myself, I still found this trilogy to be lacking.

The Hunger Games had heart and emotion. My chest pounded when Katniss (the main protagonist) volunteered as tribute in place of her sister Prim. I cried when Rue (another tribute) was killed. I actually felt that the story and characters worked. But Katniss died somewhere in Catching Fire. She suddenly seemed like a lot more of a machine and I found that the supporting cast wasn't offering enough support. We were unexpectedly thrown back into the arena and this time even the reader didn't know who exactly to root for. So I just made myself brush off all of the characters except for Katniss and Peeta. Which made it harder in the long run to accept the characters that were good or at least okay.

Mockingjay was more of the same plastic Katniss running around never doing as she was told. She has the excuse of having survived two Hunger Games, but I feel that Katniss was a pawn for Suzanne Collins every bit as much as she was a pawn for President Alma Coin. "I have to finish this out, so you're going to do whatever it takes, Katniss Everdeen!" Moving on to what is perhaps my biggest objection to the series: I admit that there is no good way to end a love triangle that involves two good guys, but having Gale's invention kill Prim seemed like such a wrong way to end things. There was no need for Prim to die at all, for one thing, and the Gale vs. Peeta debate could have ended so much differently. Not to mention the slew of other great characters that were killed off in the end. I realize that the entire premise of the series is death, but I honestly hoped that it would end on a happier note.

As I finished the last sentence of Mockingjay, I felt a hunger for more. Not because the story or the characters were lovable, but because I wanted a happier ending even knowing that it would all still end in the poor and war-riddled land of Panem.

How the Camp Laundry Had an Adventure

This is the story of the bedding and such from camp, told from the perspective of one of the sheets. ;)

Here is how to have an adventure even if you are only a sheet (FIVE EASY STEPS!):

1. Start by getting dirty. That's the best way to start a lot of adventures. 
2. Sit around for awhile and wait for all of your brothers and sisters and cousins to join you in a ginormous pile.
3. Bribe the washing machine into breaking down. Oh, yeah!
4. Get bagged up into a garbage bag. Make sure that your whole family comes with you, that way when you're loaded up to go to the laundromat, you can take up the whole back of a yukon. It's amazing.
5. When you and your family are all completely loaded up, deflate one of the yukon tires. This makes the fun in the garbage bags last longer!
   
   Of course all good things do come to an end, so you will eventually end up in the washing machine. But it's definitely worth going to all of the trouble just to mess with the lives of those who are trying to wash you!
   

First Week in Arizona

Agh.... This whole blogging more regularly? I miss the mark every time. Sorry to those of you who still read my blog! (Kyrstin =) )

After a whirlwind visit with my friends and family in Colorado, I have moved on to the next segment of my life. I got up early on Saturday morning and headed to the airport. I had a little less than an hour to make it to my gate, so I was really nervous for a few minutes when I went to check my bag. The lines were absolutely atrocious! But I made it to the gate right when they started boarding, so it worked out nicely. No long wait! =) Not that I'll try to cut it super close all of the time.

My trip to Phoenix was good. I watched Newsies while I was on the plane (hooray for free amazon instant video credits!) and generally enjoyed the trip. Some people are disturbed by turbulence, but not I! =) It just felt like coming down the track on Twister II at Elitch Gardens. lol Maybe planes aren't supposed to feel like amusement park rides, but I'm cool with it.

I spent the night with the family of a fellow staff member and then a group of us headed up to camp after church on Sunday. I am so excited to be back in Alpine! I've spent the majority of the week cleaning various buildings around camp. It's been SO much fun because I have friends working with me. Last summer I did the majority of the cleaning myself. 

I think I'm going to wrap this post up for now, but hopefully I'll be able to write more later.

TTFN!

Transitions

Transition: movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another;

     I was born in Colorado twenty years ago and have lived in Colorado ever since. When I was younger, I was certain that there would never be anywhere else that I could call home. This colorful state was my home. It was where all of my friends and family were. 

     Around 2006 I started blogging on xanga. I made some really great friends through the groups (or whatever they were called) on the website. Suddenly I found that not ALL of my friends were Coloradans  and I knew that I was going to have to do some traveling at some point to get to meet them.

     Fast forward to summer 2010. I took a trip to Arizona to meet my blogging friend Naomi. I spent around a month out there - it was my first experience with being away from home for an extended time and pretty much my first time traveling alone. And? I *loved* it.

      Last summer I went to work at Grand View Camp in Arizona, spending yet more time away from home. That's sort of when I started to realize that "home" wasn't really where I lived anymore. It was more of a stopping place to come back to when there was nowhere else to be. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and friends in Colorado and I always miss them when I'm gone. I just began to feel that there was something more waiting for me somewhere - I just couldn't find it.

     A month after returning home from camp, I left yet again. This time I went to Wisconsin to meet another blog friend: Lydia. I spent three wonderful (and way too short!) weeks with Lydia and her husband Doug. I was so sad to leave and started to make plans to return as soon as possible. We even discussed the option of my moving to Kentucky with Doug and Lydia.

     Back home in October, I spent lots of time with various friends and applied for multiple jobs. Nothing came together, though. I began to think that all I needed was to get a very temporary job to make enough money to get back to Wisconsin. Viola! A job opened up for me to house-sit for three weeks. I stayed home for a month after the job so that my mom could go on vacation, then high-tailed it back to Wisconsin. Where I fell even more deeply in love with life. haha It was so good to be away from the city! Not to mention that the more I got to know people, the more I liked them. =) So I decided that I wanted to stay.

     Unfortunately, I had already signed a contract to work at Grand View again this summer. I tossed around the idea of backing out, but decided that I could wait a few months to make my Wisconsin residency official. Not to mention that I really like camp!

     Yesterday I arrived in Virginia to meet my friend JoAnna in person. I will be here for a few weeks until her wedding. After that, I'll trot back to Colorado for a few days before it's time for camp. Lord willing, I'll be back in Wisconsin in August! My friend Joyce and I have already picked out a cute little apartment to rent together. 

     I am so excited about my life right now! And I am so thankful that God has worked everything out so smoothly! I never would have thought when I started talking to people online all that time ago that it would eventually lead to an open door for me to start out on my own. I am also glad that I could take so many trips to get used to being away from my family before I actually move out.

     So... That's the latest in my life! I hope that I'll get to meet a few more blog friends in the future!
 

Vente

Time to cross something else off of the good ol' bucket list! And time to update my readers on where I'm at!

On Tuesday morning I boarded the bus bound for Milwaukee. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a trip! Wisconsin is lovely in the spring! I had so many mixed emotions about leaving, but I'll explain all of that another time. =) This post is about number 20 on my bucket list: Take a trip by train

In Milwaukee I switched from the bus to the train. The first part of my train trip was relatively short, going from Milwaukee to Chicago. Once I boarded in Chicago, though, I spend the next 21 and a half hours on the train. I learned a lot in that time. lol

First off, trains *are* better than buses. Traveling by bus feels like you're traveling mostly with lower class or even low-life people. Traveling by train feels more upper class. Even if not all of the passengers were high class people, they behaved like they were! (Read: much less swearing, no smoking, etc)

One problem that I had with the train was the price of food and such. I didn't bring as many snacks with me as I should have. I spent $6 on a tiny pizza. So on my next train trip I am going to pack more of my own food and definitely bring a couple of bottles of my own water.

Another thing that I learned is that if you want to be on time, Amtrak is probably not the best way to travel. My train ended up being over an hour late pulling into Charlottesville. The people working on the train as well as other passengers confirmed that this was normal. Apparently, the only destination that they make on time is either Philly or DC.

For overnight traveling, I really think that it depends on circumstances. If you can only have one seat to yourself, trains win for comfort. But if the seat next to you is empty, I was actually more comfortable on the bus than on the train. I suppose it really varies, though. Different buses/trains have different seats.

Trains definitely win in the luggage department. The first three checked bags are free, unlike buses and airlines. HUGE bonus there! They also transfer your luggage for you, while Greyhound does not. I found that to be very nice. It's not always fun to be lugging around two suitcases along with whatever carry-on items. Furthermore, Amtrak treated my luggage a lot better. With the exception of one of my suitcase handles getting ripped, my bags were fine. Whereas Greyhound? Don't even get me started. Mom and Dad bought me a great luggage set for Christmas and the bus trip was my first time to use it. Both suitcases suffered various rips and tears as well as getting completely filthy.

So that's the run-down on my recent travel experiences! I'm going to go see if I can get a few other posts in the works and get back into blogging!

If I Believed in Reincarnation...

If I believed in reincarnation, I would be absolutely certain that I was a girl who lived in Europe during WW2. The type of girl that hung out with the American military all of the time. It is absolutely ridiculous how many old guys come up to me and say, "You remind me of a girl I knew way back in..."

It has happened at church. It has happened in stores (especially Vitamin Cottage for some reason...). It has happened at restaurants. And yesterday when I was out for a walk, I got cat calls from an old guy! =O

Maybe I just have a really common face? haha I really don't know what to think. Do old guys just say that to every girl? I'm not really annoyed by it. Some of them are very grandfatherly and sweet. They are total gentlemen who just can't help but remark on the resemblance that they see. Only once or twice have I actually been a little uncomfortable and wondered if a guy was losing his mind.

Since I don't believe in reincarnation, I suppose I'll have to settle for the "common face" answer for now.

The Ring

[[Special thanks to my dear friend Sarah who helped me to realize that I'm okay in real life and not "so much better as a blog"]]

There are moments in life that we all look forward to. As kids we itch with anticipation if we have just a little money to spend or we count days until our birthday or Christmas. Then we get older and get excited about driving or getting a job or graduating. For a girl, though, there's one dream that she hangs on to from the time she's very small. Every girl, at some point in her life, thinks of her Prince Charming.

Unfortunately, a lot of girls think that once she finally has her man, life will be perfect. But there's enough people out there talking about that problem. I, for one, have seen a slightly different problem. Even girls who are completely aware that life will still have ups AND downs seem to want a lover too desperately.

Why?

I think I figured it out because I started feeling the same way. My thoughts one day were along these lines: "I know that life won't be perfect when I'm married. It might even be more difficult. But I Must. Get. Married!" As soon as I had the thought, I wondered why I felt that way. I have the most incredible life ever! I have been blessed with so many friends around the country, so many opportunities to do things that I might not be able to do if I had a husband.

As happy as I am with my life, why did I feel like I needed to change it?

Change. That's the key word. See, so many people that I know (including myself) are constantly trying to change themselves to fit in better with their friends, family, church, and/or coworkers. We have so many people that love us, but we second guess ourselves and think, "They only tolerate me. I need to ________ if I want to keep their friendship." We're haunted by the fact that people can just walk away without thinking about it when it would leave us devastated. Especially when it has happened before, the fear that it could happen again makes us sick.

That's why, in my mind, I needed a guy to marry me. Because some day he would get down on one knee and tell me that I was good enough just the way I was. Because he would put a ring on my finger that said to the world, "flaws and all, I want to share the rest of my existence with this woman."

I don't need that, though! I'm not saying that I don't ever want to get married. I'm just saying that I don't have to have a ring on my finger to prove anything to myself or to anyone else. I don't choose to spend a lot of time with people I don't like, so why would anyone else do that? If the people who spend time with me are at all like me, then the very fact that they choose to put up with me means that they care about me.

So the ring? Yeah, it'll be cool to have one some day. And it'll be nice to show the world that some guy loves me enough to claim me as his own. But until then? I'm just me, and even if I have room to grow, I'm blessed with many friends who think that I'm "good enough" the way I am.

More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

I am by no means a world traveler, yet in the past few years I have seen a few different cultures in my treks across these United States. Even though I have spent the majority of my time with other "normal" Americans, I always find it fascinating how differently people live.

There are certain things that we all do all of the time. Basic things, but there are so many ways to accomplish one goal. I love to study how people live and how they make their lives work out. I like to see if one way of doing something is any better than another. If you are not like that, this post will probably be rather boring to you!

Dirty dishes. They are a part of life for every person I know. But there are so many ways to deal with them! (Other than letting them sit for an age and a day) Here are a few of the methods I have seen:

1: "They were never dirty" method. As soon as you have a stack of dishes, dump them in a sink, wash them, dry them, and put them away as quickly as possible. This will leave your kitchen counters clean and make it look like you never used the dishes to start with!

2: "Kill 'it' before 'it' kills you" method. Wash every fleck of food off of your dishes, then let them soak in a sanitizing sink for a minute or two. After this, place them in a sanitized rack to dry. NO TOWELS. TOWELS HAVE CONTAMINATION!

3: "All about the bubbles" method: No sink full of water here! Squirt a little dish soap into your rag, wash a dish. Rinse the dish. Repeat. Again. And again. And again. Because you have nothing better to spend your money on than dish soap.

4: "Pre-Caveman" method: The nice thing about this method is that you don't really need any tools. These people just need soap and water in their sink. They use their fingers and fingernails to get the dishes clean, then stack them in the other sink to dry. (No drying rack) This, my friends, will totally creep out the "kill it before it kills you" type because 'no sink is ever clean even if it looks clean'... =P

5: "It's all food anyhow" method: If you used that pot for gravy and let it sit all night, that's fine. Gravy is edible. Go ahead and make your oatmeal in the same pot in the morning. You'll eventually wash the pot when it's actually necessary.

Which method do you use? I think that my method is sort of a combination of the above. =) 

Now aren't you looking forward to my post on ways to brush teeth? 

P. S. A couple of these are slightly exaggerated for affect. I'm not picking on anybody! =D

Yumminess =D

Last Saturday I had a lot of fun helping prepare food for a baby shower. We made some pretty delicious food, in my opinion!

Wafers with cream cheese and fruit Yummo!

Pickle Pinwheels =D

Mini tacos - made in those scoop chips

Fruit kabobs 

Veggie kabobs and dip (am I spelling kabob right? lol)

Cupcakes!

Pigs in blankets

Punch

Bacon and cheese... with the cheese on the extra-melty side =P

I love making food! It can be every bit as much fun as eating the food later! =D I am definitely going to save a few of these ideas and use them again later.  :-)

Ninety-Six

I just re-read part of my bucket list. Some of that stuff is quite silly. hahaha I do like Adam 12, but why do I want to watch all of the episodes before I die?! What. Ever.

Anyhow, I checked something else off of my list! =) Number 96 -Try cotton candy. I survived 20 years just fine without it, but I thought that it was a part of "normal" American life that I should try at least once, so I put it on my list. ;) One of my birthday presents from Lydia was a bag of the fluffy insulation-type candy. =D

My thoughts? It was good, but I'm never going to crave it or anything. I prefer to be able to chew on any non-liquids that I put in my mouth. lol

Anyhow, I would definitely try it again - especially if I was at an amusement park or something! But if I'm going to go buy candy for myself, I'll stick with York, Jr. mints, and gummy worms. =)

Three Things Monday

1. Wind

I love wind. I have a friend who is completely terrified of it, but I *love* it! The quiet, peaceful breeze or the wild, tearing gusts. They both make me happy - though in different ways!

My favorite wind is in the mountains when you can hear it before you feel it. =D

2. Long Walks

Healthy. Relaxing. My favorite time to pray. Not to mention that it's downright beautiful if I'm walking in the right place! =D

3. High Places

I love to be able to look down on everything so teeny tiny below. And the wind is windier on top of  a mountain. ;)

One thing about heights, though? I like them as long as the descent is rational. As I've mentioned before, the Tower of Doom was one of the scariest experiences of my 20 years of life. I loved the being up high part, but the drop? NOT something I care to repeat! 

Any Other Name

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Anne Shirley disagreed with this statement and I just might be inclined to side with her. Names really do affect our perception of things and people.

Take, for instance, the name Ian. I don't want to offend anyone with this name, but the truth is that I have yet to meet an Ian that I like. Hollywood seems to agree with me, too. Think about it!

Ian Hawke: The antagonist in the chipmunk movies

Ian Howe: Antagonist in National Treasure

 Ian Bowles: Not as bad as Ian Howe, but he's just a jerk! (From Emily of New Moon)

Ian Edgerton: Okay, this guy is actually rather cool, but he definitely has issues! I know that he wants the best, but the way he goes about it... 

So... An Ian by any other name would probably be a better person. Based on my experience. =P 

71

Wow... It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but here is one of the blog posts that was supposed to come right after my wonderful birthday! =)

I'm sure that you all are familiar with my bucket list since I've mentioned it several times, so may I now direct you to #71 on said list? Because I can cross it off now! =)

A very cool person not only got me goldfish... but a snail, too! I never even thought about having a pet snail, but I *love* my snail. I call him Secretariat. My sister suggested the name and I think that it's "epic" to use today's vernacular. lol

Unfortunately, the goldfish part of this story is not as epic as my snail's name. You see, I do not at present have a living goldfish. Five goldfish have died in my fishbowl. *sniffle* I think that there must be something wrong with the water - my fish must be drowning! Actually, I have no idea what is wrong. I feel horrible for the poor fish! I read online that most of Walmart's goldfish are sold as food for bigger fish, so I'm trying to comfort myself with the thought that these fish were most likely going to die anyhow. It still makes me sad, though.

So... I have owned a goldfish and can cross that off of my list, even though it was a brief experience. And I happen to think that Secretariat is the coolest snail ever, so I'm very happy in spite of the fishy circumstances. =D

 Secretariat speeding across the bridge

 The big goldfish whom I was thinking of calling Dodger

Birthday Happinesses

Yesterday was such a great day! I am so blessed! My phone kept buzzing all day long as friends and family called and texted to wish me a happy birthday. Thanks so much, everybody! <3

Some of the best parts of my birthday will be in an upcoming post after I load some pictures. For now, I'm just going to say that my friends are too good to me and that I had a lovely day. =D

Oh, and we watched this really cute movie called Pizza My Heart. It's kind of a spin off of Romeo and Juliet - with a happy ending, of course!

It was cute and funny and clean... Yay! =) I thought that the girl in the movie was really cute. The guy wasn't all bad, either. ;)

Anyhow... more to come later on! =D