Stats, shortness and confessions

Besides the United States it seems my second largest audience is in Italy! Also, someone once found my blog by typing into Google "what can I do with state cheerios?". Ha ha. I'm sure my simple blog here wasn't very helpful.

I've been spending all my time car shopping. GRR! I can't say that looking at motor vehicles is going to be a life calling anytime soon (on a side note neither is tree trimming...too short...or picking corn...also too short).

This morning I woke up and the first thing on my mind was "I should try climbing that tree" (the tree that is outside of my bedroom window). I haven't yet but don't put it past me.

Confession: I miss Starbucks drinks. Blah. I hate admitting that. I also miss BFC&T so I guess I just miss good coffee (BFC&T is still #1 in my heart!). With all the minerals and sulfur in the water at my parents home it taste like I've been drinking something that resembles a rock and coffee water like substance. Blah.

On another tangent we will have fresh sweet corn at the T-County farmers market. 3-7 at the Dover fairgrounds.

Ugly Apples

I spent half of my day on the back of a pick-up truck picking apples. The thing I love about those little green things is that our apples are what we affectionately call "ugly apples" because they are pretty darn ugly! They are real apples. Grown on a real apple tree near our barn.
I love em because no matter how ugly they are they still taste great and make awesome apple pies.
And that kids is a great life lesson.

Stale Cheetos

Right before I fall asleep every night I have such inspiring thoughts. Last night it had something to do with life and stale Cheetos. But, I can never remember them in the morning.

Define: Nail Filler

I’ve held down a host of odd jobs in my life. I started out as a nail filler for my dad’s construction company. I’m a first rate nail hole filler. Maybe if I would put that on my resume I could have gotten a real job instead of a part time admin-assistant-barista. A nail filler is someone who is going somewhere.

At one point I worked for a radio station.
"You are listening the Voice of the Valley this is Kettie and the temperature outside is 66 degrees."

I had a short stint as a waitress at Bob Evan's where this one lady insisted on calling me "Kitty" and would yodel (I'm not even kidding here) "here kitty, kitty" when she needed something. After sitting there for 8 hours she would leave me a dollar.

At another point in my life I had a herd of pygmy goats. Why pygmy goats? They were stubborn, ate everything in sight and never did any cool tricks.

They list could continue but I've revealed enough of my secrets today. Tune in again!

Camp Superkids

My great aunt got it in her head one summer that she wanted to send me to Asthma camp. While I wasn’t completely thrilled with the idea my parents didn’t want to disappoint my great-aunt because once you’ve lived that long no one argues with you anymore. So on one hot July day I found myself at Camp Superkids (we weren’t different…we were super!). The “cabins” were these long sterile buildings, complete with air conditioning and no mattresses. You see sending about 100 or so kids who can’t breath to a camp is pretty much a worthless idea. All of the counselors were these super fit, athletic type college students. Instead of fun camp activities like swimming we got to experience calisthenics (yes they called it that and yes just hearing that word still makes me cringe). Then instead of a fun craft time or nature walk we had health class where doctors brought in a set of pig lungs. They showed us how regular lungs worked and how lungs that had been traumatized by cigarette smoke made you want to puke. This would have been great in a high school biology class but to a ten year old that had been sleeping in a sterile room it was like something out of nightmares. Then at night when normal camp kids would have been hanging out around the campfire roasting marshmallows the Superkid campers found themselves in a small cabin type building taking our breathing treatments. The best part was that some kid taught me how to blow smoke rings with my nebulizer (which ironically I nicknamed my "breathing machine"), a skill which sadly have forgotten. To top it off a girl in my group managed to get hit in the temple with one of those parachute men. I was lucky enough to be standing beside her when this happened. She needed stitches and I had about enough. The only letter my mom recieved that week from me said;“I hate camp. Please, please, please bring me home.” It was like Camp Granada (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Hx_X84LC0) except the rain never cleared.

Read the Iliad and die...

‎"If the world becomes pagan and perishes, the last man left alive would do well to quote The Iliad and die." - G.K. Chesterton

These past few days have hurt a little bit.

(Warning this is the part that may sound like whining...I'm very sorry if it does.)

As I walked away from graduation day, a degree (cover...haha...I have the real thing now) in my hand with words of inspiration and congratulations ringing in my ears this is not what I pictured.

I didn't picture living in this attic the entire summer.
I thought I would have a job...9-5 with the weekends off.
I thought I would have a few things figured out by now.

But I don't.
And that hurts.
I've been disappointed with myself many times this summer.

And yet life is good. I do have things to be thankful for. And mixed in with my pleas of desperation to God I have twice as many things to praise him for...

Yet I have no idea what I'm doing. Some days I feel feel very grown-up. Some days I'm coping a little better than a 5 year old. I feel like I have my old blankey in one hand and my resume and car insurance policy in the other.

But today I accomplished something. It was my 6 week basic cake decorating class. They are mailing me a (according to my instructor) frame-worthy certificate. And if nothing else I will look back at this summer and know that I accomplished how to make something called a shaggy mum.

That makes it hurt a little less.