Life in Letters 2

Here's another installment of LIL. :) After my last one I thought of a few more, so I thought I'd do this on a semi-regular basis, if not for your entertainment, then for mine.

Dear Brain,

There are certain times when I need you. Important times. Times where your little dispute with my tongue doesn't make any of us look good. These times include the following:

When I'm about to tell the punchline of a joke

When I'm trying to have an intellectual conversation

When anybody wants my opinion on anything

When I'm on the phone with someone

When I'm trying to make someone feel better

You sometimes seem to have a mind of your own.

~Kaylee


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Dear Bread Crust,

Why must you be so disgusting? Nobody likes you. Get a job and make yourself useful.

~Kaylee


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Dear Clementines,

You're like a baby orange. Although, why is it that you taste better than an orange? You're like... practically the same thing. I guess it doesn't matter, as long as you keep being awesome.

~Kaylee


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Dear life,

I've got your lemons right here... you seem to have misplaced them. I'll be waiting for you to pick them up. :P

~Kaylee


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Dear TV,

I'm on to you. I know what you're really doing. "Oh, look at the little flickering screen! It's so entertaining!" You're taking my productive hours of boredom (maybe the same kind of boredom Thomas Edison had when he was like "Hey! I'm going to invent electricity!" Ironic?) and making them unproductive hours of boredom. And I don't appreciate it. (And yes... I know Thomas Edison didn't "invent" electricity...)

~Kaylee


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Dear Glasses,


You look cool. You're useful, too... only you're not useful to me. And that's sad, because I really want to wear you but I don't have bad eyesight (nor do I want bad eyesight...) So I guess our relationship cannot be.


~Kaylee

The Versatile Blogger Award

I'm excited to announce that a fellow blogger has given me the Versatile Blogger award!

I didn't even prepare a speech! I'd like to thank my laptop, the academy... And the little people.

Hehe, I couldn't resist... ;D

Anyway...

So here are the rules.

Say thank you to the person who gave you the award.
Thank you, Kyla! It really makes me smile to know that there are people out there (a lot of whom I've never met in person!) who enjoy reading my blog. :)

List 7 random facts about yourself.

So... here I go again. :D

1. I like crossword puzzles. 
2. I'm not a morning person. 
3. I hate confrontation.
4. I don't have a belly button (just kidding... ;) 
5. When I was little, I thought that Volleyball was pronounced "Ball-y ball." :P 
6. I know three people who have identical twins.
7. I love to sing! (But I can't sing in front of anyone else) >_< 

Give the award to 5 other bloggers.

Bethany from The Erratic Muse 
Polka Dot from (Life Is Too Short Not To) Wear Red Shoes
KayleeBeth from Raining Daisies
Ashley from Servant For Jesus 
Amanda from Joyful Lamb of Jesus

You guys are awesome bloggers! Keep doing what you're doing. :D 

Another Candle

When I turned ten, I was freaking mature. 

I had my very own lipgloss. In my very own purse. I got a really girly pair of pink skorts. How much more mature can you get? I was in double digits, and a full-fledged lady, for gosh sake. 

I turned eighteen today. 

There are really too many feelings still swirling around that statement, ranging from jumping for joy to cradling myself in a fetal position. I like the idea of having more freedom. Getting my license. Getting a job. Possibly going to college. But at the same time... I sort of feel like there's just too much change.

What the heck happened? I feel like time's giant thumb and forefinger lifted me from my legos and crayons and dropped me into adulthood with all its grown-up problems and challenges. Sometimes I stop thinking about the things that are bothering me and just go, "Since when did I get old enough to even have these kinds of problems?" That thought alone puzzles me.


I sat there as my dad and grandma lit all the candles on my birthday cake. There in front of me my years were tangible. Every year I've lived was sitting on top of that cake. It looked like a lot... considering how I remember squeezing all my birthday candles into a cupcake. It's now going to take a full cake to hold my years. All of it was kind of overwhelming. Really overwhelming, actually.

Besides the cheesy, overused "rollercoaster" of emotions I've been on lately, it was an awesome birthday. I got to hang out with some friends, we talked all day, and then I spent the evening with my family. :D (You all rock! Thank you all for the awesome presents and cake).

 I guess I'll never be as "mature" as I was when I was ten, but I am hoping to get some things accomplished this year though, and just keep learning things. Learnin's good.  

I guess I have picked up on a few things already...

• Never drink orange juice after brushing your teeth. Just don't. 
• Water is good for you; just not when you're drinking someone else's backwash (ALWAYS make sure it's your water you're drinking from. O_O) 
• It's ok to disagree with people sometimes. It's better to be hated by people who disagree with you than be a suck-up. (Something I'll always be reminding myself of!) 
• Pray for patience at your own risk. ;) 
• Don't belch in public. (Maybe this one goes without saying...?) 
• Don't tell people "everything's fine" when it isn't. (Again, something I'm still working on!)
• If you see someone's Chinese leftovers on the counter, for the love of all that is holy, DON'T EAT THEM! 
• On the other hand, don't just leave your Chinese leftovers on the counter. Keep them someplace sacred. 
• Music doesn't have an expiration date. If you like a song, it doesn't matter if it's "old."
• I like lists. It's not helpful advice to anyone, I guess, but I just do. Can you tell? 

There's still just so much to learn!
I'm hoping to try and read my Bible more consistently, and that God will teach me more this year (and that I'd really listen!)
I'm praying that the people I love will stay close to me no matter what happens.
I'm wishing that I don't need to grow up *too* much...

Finding my marbles...

While I'm still in my loopy, slightly marble-less stupor, I figured I'd endeavor to inform you all about my amazing adventure to WINCO!

Please, please contain your excitement. ;)

Today was a whirlwind of weirdness, but it started out relatively normal. I woke up, went to the stable, goofed off with Anna, groomed some horses...

Then later the sadness hit. I don't know where it came from, really... I'm retiring from the stable in a few weeks, and I guess in a way it's just sort of hard for me. Not really because I find sweeping hallways and brushing horses all that captivating, but because I've been doing it for nearly 4 years. I can almost melodramatically see the ghosts of our younger, more naive selves in the hallways.

That brought me to the realization of "so the next phase of my life is starting up. Crap. WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE?!?!?" Then I was filled with extreme dread and disorientation.

That's how I was when I got home. And from there I sat at the computer while inhaling and exhaling the fumes of my self-pity. Then my sisters decided to throw some battery acid on the open wound by EATING MY CHINESE LEFTOVERS. Then my mom asked me if I wanted to come along with them to Winco. I sort of kind of more or less hate Winco. It's normally always crowded, and the people there are really unfriendly. I said yes anyway, though, because I needed to go to Kinko's to get some copies, anyway.

So along we drove, my self-pity fogging the windows.

Pretty soon, somewhere along the line... something happened. Something inside my brain just sort of snapped. I think it was sometime after I starting giggling uncontrollably after I realized that "We Bought A Zoo" sounds like you're just saying "Weebattazu" in some random unknown language. (Seriously. Try it.)

From there I found myself in hysterics over just about everything.

The people in the Subway window who my sisters and I named "Alfredo" and "Papa Jehoshaphat."

Joking that if they made another Hunger Games, they should make the arena look like a giant Winco (the perfect form of torture, aside from Whole Foods; but that's another story).

The lady who had shoes that looked like pumps and flip-flops ("Flumps," respectively).

Joking that you can probably buy anything at Winco in bulk (need toothpaste? Need pants? Need flip flops? BUY THEM IN BULK! Ok, not really...)

The snail statue that looked like it had a horse face (A "Snorse," respectively).

We found a dragon fruit.

Doesn't it look like a cross between a beet and an artichoke? (A "Beetichoke," as I deemed it).

The "Ask the Unicorn" button. (Infinity times better than a magic 8 ball!)

I think everyone in the store thought I was insane. I think I thought I was insane. But at least I had fun. Right? Right?

Oh... serial killers have fun too and it doesn't mean they're sane? You have a point.

Buuuut, I think falling over in hysterics is an infinitely better form of crazy, if you ask me. ;D

I then decided to go all OCD on the people of Winco and straighten out all the cereal boxes for the heck of it. Hopefully they'll appreciate it. :P

It finally began to fade away once we got to the parking lot. I still feel the smallest wisp of crazy in my veins; but I think it's mostly been unleashed on the poor, unsuspecting shoppers who were just passing through for some onions.

It was nice, though... just goofing off aimlessly, letting go of all the things that have been stressing me out. :)

We never did go to Kinko's, though.

All pictures found on Pinterest.

Memory Monday: If you give an old lady a cookie...

This wasn't really one of my good moments.

In fact, I think every time I look back on it I die a little more inside.

Then I laugh. I laugh a lot. Because really, it was funny. Even if it did make me feel like a total idiot.

In life, you have your people who are great at dealing with awkward and confusing situations. Then you have your people who are awkward and confused as it is, so they wind up making those situations that much more awkward and confusing. Now... guess which one I belong to. ;)

About a year or so ago, I was staying with Karissa at my grandparents' house for a couple days. One of the days, my grandpa randomly said "Hey, want to go to a magic show?" Apparently they were having one as a memorial for one of the ladies who lived at my great grandpa's retirement home.

So with that, we sat and visited with my great grandpa while a couple guys performed some magic tricks. It was actually a really good memory I have of my great grandpa. :)

But then things got weird.

There were refreshments after the magic show, so Karissa and I grabbed some cookies and juice, then headed back to our table. Next to us was an old asian lady who sat quietly in a wheelchair by our table. As I held up my cookie, she tried telling me something. Only whatever she was trying to tell me was hitting a language barrier. As she continued pointing to my cookie and speaking a foreign language, I didn't exactly know how to react. I figured she was trying to tell me she wanted my cookie.

As if she'd understand me, I tried asking her. "Did you want one? I have an extra."

Then I plopped the pink-frosted, sugary disk into her wrinkled little hand.

The second I did this I wondered if I'd made a mistake.

Because... if you give an old lady a cookie, she might look at you like you're crazy.

Then she might start laughing at you.

And if she starts laughing at you, you might get totally embarrassed and stare at her in wide-eyed bewilderment, completely shaken by the lack of understanding between the two of you.

And if you're confused, she might try talking to you again, leaving you even more confused.

My face a bright shade of red, I took the cookie out of her hand. Karissa was laughing at me now, and the lady kept chattering away in what I later learned was Korean.

I guess I felt a little better learning that the lady talked to my grandpa (who knows some Korean) and told him that she was, in fact, hungry. (So I wasn't totally wrong!) It turns out, though, that she isn't allowed to have cookies (or solid food, really).

Let's just say that I don't go around feeding my extra cookies to old ladies at memorials/magic shows anymore. :P

Wednesdays

There came a point when I was a very bored 14 year old. I needed something to do. I wasn't into sports, I didn't take music lessons, and at that point we hadn't joined a church.... So my mom thought it would be fun if I volunteered at a horse stable. I love horses, and due to the fact that I can't exactly squeeze one into our tiny back yard, it would give me an opportunity to be around horses.

I volunteered for about 3 months before Anna started volunteering, too.

It's funny... I don't really know if we talked too much before we started working together. We'd see each other on Sundays, maybe exchange a few words... but I think we really got to be friends over the time we had there. :)

Since then, we've racked up memory after memory in that hairy gallery of all things equine: Conversations, injuries, blunders and victories echo in the dusty hallways.

It's sad, but our time there is going to come to an end soon. :( For a couple of years I've been wanting to take some pictures there, and I finally did. :) So without further ado, here's a tour in pictures of our typical Wednesday. Thanks to Anna for letting me borrow her camera!

Hehe, I just needed to take a picture of this sign. :P

Our friend Katelyn, another volunteer on Wednesdays. :)

This is Kolby. I used to ride him a lot. :) He's really tall!

He looks innocent enough in this picture, but Diesel is one of the bullies. :P He likes to bite at people's heads when they're not looking.

The viewing room. It looks out into the bigger arena where people usually ride. We go in here to get warm in the winter and eat snacks from the vending machine. We've also celebrated a few birthdays in there. :)

This guy right here is one of my favorites. His name is Feeair. He's kind of old and has pretty bad arthritis in his legs (so he can't be ridden anymore), but he's just so sweet. He's one of the only horses who's not a jerk when you walk past a hay bale.

In stark contrast to Feeair, this is Skylark the Fjord. Really, I don't think this picture does Skylark justice. As in, I don't think it really captures her pure evil. :P We're sworn enemies. I guess it's because Skylark knows I'm a weakling and she takes advantage of my smallness whenever she comes across food. She also tried to run away once, leaving me pulling her tail and screaming for help in the rain as she ran towards the road. That was the only time her obsession with food came in handy, because the only thing that stopped her was some grass in the neighbor's yard.

This is Penney.

She's really cute.

I like her.

She doesn't like me.

I don't really know why.

Oh well. :P

She also just got over a bout of lice a couple weeks ago, so we've been a bit scared to touch her ever since. O_o

This is a therapy lesson for a little boy named Joey that we get to help out with sometimes. We set up plastic dinosaurs around the arena, and he gets to collect them and throw them in the bucket. He's improved a lot since he's started. He talks a little more than he used to, and has a pretty good arm now. ;D

Mah rain boots.

The cross ties. This is where we've been spending most of our time, because we've been grooming horses a lot lately.

This is Truffle. She's Anna's greatest enemy. They haven't really been friends since Truffle decided to rear up and smack Anna in the face. O_o

Katelyn and Jubilee.

And last but certainly not least is Romeo, who's even bigger than Kolby. I'm not even tall enough to see over his back!

He got his name from the little heart-shaped mark on his forehead.

I wasn't able to take pictures of everyone, so I guess I'll give an honorable mention to Jackie (my awesome boss), David (the guy who pays me in canadian money), and Katelyn's mom, Wendy. :D

My life has become a spiraling black hole of doom.

***Warning*** This post may contain sarcasm (which, hallelujah, is the only thing I'm NOT allergic to).

Recently I've been having some health problems. Not serious ones, but ones that are annoying enough to get checked out for. After trying practically everything else, my doctor did some bloodwork to look for allergies. This was about a month ago.

Between now and then, we kept having to reschedule the appointment where we'd go over the results, which I was fine with. My mom and sister are allergic to gluten, and I wanted to remain in my blissfully ignorant world of ramen, ice cream and all things delicious.

Finally, it couldn't be held off much longer. I went in today to go over the results.

Doctor: "So, Kaylee, if you could choose any food you wouldn't want to be allergic to, what would it be?"

Me: "Probably either dairy or wheat."

Oh, how I wish that was all it was.

Because it turns out I came up as allergic to wheat.

And dairy.

And eggs.

And bananas.

And hazelnuts.

And pineapples.

Basically, I'm allergic to food.

My reaction when I was in his office:

"Oh, wow... aw... shoot..."

My reaction when we got out to the car:

"Omigosh.Omigosh.OMIGOSHMYLIFEISOVERI'MGOINGTOSTARVEWHATAMIGOINGTODO?!?!?!?!"

My thoughts on the way home:

• Katniss and Peeta ate better than me when they were in the Hunger Games (at least they had bread and cheese!)
• I have the diet of a bear. (Meat, fish, berries, heck! Let's throw in some tree bark for good measure, too.)
• Fruit and vegetables aren't very filling. I'm going to be so hungry that I'll be gnawing at my own limbs (but chances are I'm allergic to those, too...)
• My precious, beautiful, flawless Nutella...

Somewhere in the midst of this I might have possibly gone through the 5 stages of grief.

Also, once my mom hit the freeway, one of the first things we saw (I kid you not) was a giant billboard with bananas and pineapples on it.

I'm trying to look at the bright side. (Yes, there actually is a bright side).

It's actually a good thing that it turned out I had allergies, or they would've started running tests for scarier things that would explain my symptoms (problems with my pancreas or liver were a couple they would've checked for).

Also, he said that there's a chance that I just ate too much wheat, dairy, eggs, and hazelnuts (hello, nutella sandwiches!), so it might be irritating my stomach. So if I go off of them for a couple weeks, I might just need to limit them instead of eliminate them. (Phew).

It's still going to be the longest 2 weeks of my life. I'll probably be living off of clementines, tears, and excess body fat.

On a slightly happier note... how was everyone's Easter? (Haven't gotten around to writing about it yet... maybe this week. :) Hope everyone had a great day!

Katie's Birthday!!!

Today isn't just April 4th to our family. Because on April 4th we celebrate another birthday!

Today Katie turns 4.

Ugh, it's pure madness. I remember the day I walked into that hospital room with my sisters to see my dad holding a potato.

But it wasn't just a potato.

It was a potato with arms, legs, a face... a heartbeat...

She was tiny, only 4 pounds when she was born. (I thought I'd clear that up, in case you were wondering whether my sister is some sort of genetically mutated potato head hybrid.)

Because she was so tiny in utero, the doctors thought there was something wrong with her. They even suggested "terminating the pregnancy," as they put it. My mom didn't listen to them, and it's a good thing she didn't. It turned out that Katie somehow managed to tie a double knot in the cord. O_o So the fact that she was perfectly normal and didn't have more difficulties from the knot makes it a total miracle. :)

^(This picture kind of shows how tiny she was, but the face she's doing kind of makes her look like an alien.) haha XD

Katie is our "Free spirit." ;P In a household of shy little girls, she's the social butterfly. She loves to talk to just about anybody. She's very honest, too... which will be a good thing when she's old enough to manage her honesty better (as opposed to going up to someone and saying, "Why are you so BIG?!") :P

She's also very busy. She's crafty with a pair of scissors (say her bangs), can work wonders with crayons and markers (says the wall), and I just heard my mom tell her, "No, honey... that's a glue stick, not lipgloss!"

That's Katie, and our house would be very boring without her. ;D

Happy Birthday, Katiebug! :)

Memory Monday: The One That Got Away...

A short, yet tragic story of lost love.

It was any ordinary day. I was minding my own business, when out of the woodwork, from seemingly nowhere, came you. You with your jet-black hair and chocolate eyes. It was then that I hoped we would be together forever...

He was a dog.

A real one.

No really, he was an actual dog. We found him on our property one summer afternoon. He was really cute, and for me, it was love at first sight (this was back when I was a dog person...) :P

Karissa and I played with him all afternoon while my mom and dad talked about what to do with him. We really considered keeping him, because he didn't have any tags. We also made the fatal mistake of giving him a name. He was "Benny," and as far as I was concerned, he was my Benny.

Then, the fateful moment came when my grandpa found out that Benny belonged to one of the teachers at the elementary school by our house. I came to the tragic realization that Benny would have to be returned. I sobbed like a baby for about 15 minutes, then I pulled myself together and we all walked to the elementary school.

I braced myself as we walked into his owner's office. She smiled and started petting Benny, and said, "You found Plug!"

Wait... what???

Benny. My Benny. His real name is... PLUG?!

"My son named him," she giggled while rolling her eyes.

I was grossed out. It somehow kept reminding me of hair caught in a shower drain. I don't know if that helped or not, but after that I wasn't too broken up over not keeping Plug.