I have to be able to do what?!?!?!?!?!?!

Okay...so kind of a funny story. While filling out my mission papers, one of the questions asks if I would be able to "work 12 to 15 hours per day, walk 6 to 8 miles per day, ride a bicycle 10 to 15 miles per day, and climb stairs daily". Well, "work 12-15 hours a day" piece of cake! Walk 6-8 miles per day...according to the pedometer I wear, that is nothing! Climb stairs daily...already do. Ride a bicycle 10-15 miles per day...well, that could be a problem. See, I, being a freak of nature apparently, never learned how to ride a bicycle...so guess what I am going to have to do before April? AND, I better get "experienced" at it too. If I get assigned to a mission with bikes, I'll not only have to figure out how to ride...but in a SKIRT!!! YIKES!!! SO, wish me luck...and hope/pray/fast that I live to submit my papers!

I am still alive...depite my blog temporarily dying

Okay, so seeing as how my last entry was LAST YEAR and my sister has had 3 blog entries in 3 days, I can't be out done. So here is an update on Caitlin's life. Work is still work...I no longer have a permanent station...I'm a "rotator" as they call it. Basically, each shift, I work at whatever station has an opening. While this is a royal pain in the behind...my new year's resolution (or so I tell myself) is to look at the brighter side of things. I get to work with a variety of people and hey, if I'm at a station I don't particularly like...just wait a shift and I'll probably be moved. ANYWAYS...I've been keeping busy with the mission prep. So much work. I sometimes want the good ol days when you said "I want to go on a mission" and they said "okay." But I know that the bar has been raised and I am going to meet it. I've been filling out all the medical forms. There are so many appointments!: dr's for a physical, dentist, passport photo, "mission photo" for the application (I realized that I don't have any recent pictures of me being "normal"), meet with the bishop, stake president...AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! But each step gets me more and more excited. Well, that's about it for now...I'll try not to fall off the face of this planet for quite so long...P.S. 91 more days until I see my neices and I'm in Cali!!!!!!! (but who's counting?)

Tis the season/Out of the mouth of babes

Tis the Season
So, I was STILL packing and moving out of my apartment. I was going to pick something up from the grocery store to cook at the apartment while I was packing. Then I realized...I didn't have any utensils to cook with. So, I decided to go to Chic-Fil-A and pick something up. I sat in the drive thru for what seemed like FOREVER, then I finally got to the window. The employee gave me my food. Then she gave me change. But wait, I still had my money in my hand. I told her that I hadn't paid her. Then she responded..."Oh, I know. The car in front already paid for your food. Here's your change." So, I made a profit going out to lunch. I decided to pay it forward (which is an AMAZING movie, by the way) and did the same the next time I went out. I love this time of year. People get that special spirit of giving and for a brief time, people are actually nice to each other.

Out of the Mouth of Babes
So I babysat last night and had kind of a funny experience. First of all, when I told the kids it was bedtime, the little 3 year old, Audrey, sat down on the couch, folded her arms, pouted and started crying.
Audrey:"I don't want to go to bed. I'll have scary dreams."
So, we discussed the type of dream she wanted to have.
Audrey: "I want mommy to sing songs with me."
Me: "I can sing songs with you."
Audrey: "You don't know the right songs."
Me: "Yes I do, remember, we sang the daddy song together just a little while ago."
Audrey (with big wide eyes): Gasp "That's right, we did. Let's go sing then."
So, we proceeded to go upstairs, get the kids into jammies, sing the songs, then crawl in bed. On to the prayers:
Calee (eight years old): "Please help me be a good learner. Help me to be a good example." (made me think about what I was saying in my prayers.)
Clark (five years old): "Please help me be good and have fun tomorrow."
Audrey (three years old):"Please bless that I won't have scary monsters in my dreams."
Just goes to prove, you can pray about anything.

Dedicated to My Grandfather

As I was cleaning my kitchen (yes, I was actually cleaning)...I thought of my grampa. There were a bunch of crumbs on my counter. Who needs a cutting board for bread...right? Okay, there were quite a bit of crumbs on the counter. So, instead of trying to brush them off the counter into the trashcan and thereby spilling them all over the floor, I followed my grampa's example. I whipped out my vacuum and sucked up every last crumb. For those who aren't family members...let me explain. When my grampa was newly widowed, he was dealing with bachelor life. He was eating toast. Toast makes crumbs in the toaster, right? Well...just how are you supposed to get the crumbs out of the toaster? Vacuum is clearly the only option. Later it was explained to him that there is a removable tray meant for that very purpose. Don't worry...he has since remarried and has learned A LOT!!!! So grampa: that was for you!

Trials

Ever since I decided to go on a mission, I've been striving to really strengthen my testimony and grow closer to Christ. It's amazing how hard the adversary tries to stop you from doing something that is so right. I was reading a book entitled 21 Days Closer to Christ and I got to this paragraph that really struck me. So, I decided to share it with everyone.

"There is a moment of epiphany after the soul has doubted all it knows, when it begins to reach out for solid answers and firm ground. This moment is defined by one emotion that sustains and creates a desire for change. Before faith or knowledge is found, before joy or happiness is experienced, before the healing begins, one emotion starts to stir from deep within the depths of despair. It is hope. Hope is the light that will begin to lead through the darkest hour, which will enable us to move forward along the darkened path."

So keep hope in your life and blessings will come. It will get you through.

Peer pressure

Well, I did it. I wasn't going to. NO, I wasn't going to be one of those people. It was a book about vampires for crying out loud. How ridiculous is that? I wasn't going to waste my time. I finally got sick of now knowing who Edward or Bella were. Maybe, just one chapter and I'll know enough about the characters to carry on a conversation and understand what all the flair people are sending me on facebook is about. Like a drug, as soon as I started, I couldn't stop. I just finished the first book of the Twilight Saga. Last night, I was lying in bed, reading...only 50 pages left. Then it happened, all the words on the pages started blurring. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I thought. I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to turn out the light (Jasper must have been making me tired...for those that don't know what I'm talking about, read the book). I gave in and fell asleep. If only I were a vampire and didn't need sleep...I could get SO much done. Anyhow, I got up this morning, got ready for work. I got to the station and did all the morning duties, then I curled into a ball in the chair and sat down, determined to finish reading. First cardinal rule, never make plans when you work at a fire station. Just as it was getting good...my pager went off. A person was in booking at the jail and the police officers thought they might be "under the influence of something" (usually this means they are drunk as a skunk.) So, I made my way to the ambulance, taking the book with me (you never know when you'll be back to finish, so I could always read at the hospital when my partner writes their report.) We get to the police station, and there is my patient. Doesn't speak a lick of English (at least not to us anyway.) Boy was he surprised when I started speaking Spanish to him...then he answered. A totally different dialect then I'd ever heard. He would only answer or "understand" certain phrases, we call this "selective cooperation." You wanna know what was going through my mind?!?!?! I need Edward here to read this guys mind...Maybe I need to take a break from reading...hehe. We decided that he did NOT need to go anywhere by ambulance and the officers were fine with us leaving. I got in the ambulance and, as it's my partners turn to drive today, I picked up my book and tried to finish...as we got closer to the station, he asked me "do you want me to drive around the block a few times so you can finish? Now that's just silly...or is it? (insert mischievous laugh here). Anyways, if you haven't read this book, on one hand DO IT it's SOOOO good. On the other hand DON'T DO IT, you won't be able to stop.

Ugh...school...still

So, I am STILL in school...and STILL at the Community college (yes, this is going on my 4th year at the 2 year school.) This semester, I am taking 3 classes. Weights...the teacher is hilarious, but can make the best athlete cry with just 3 lb dumbells. I end that class with running stairs. THEN, I have 10 minutes (if we end on time) to run almost a mile and up 4 flights of stairs for my Biology class. This class is killer. I love the subject and the textbook isn't half bad. But, the teacher lectures for the full 80 minutes and he's all over the place. Have you ever had a class where you leave thinking "huh?" Luckily, he hands out all the objectives at the beginning of the semester and SUPPOSEDLY uses those to make his exams. We'll see, next week is the first exam. Then, I have a 4 hour break before my next class. This initially was killer, but now, I have it down. The first hour or so is for lunch...to go pick it up if I need to, and then I ALWAYS get back to campus with at least 2.5 hours before my next class (otherwise I would spend the entire break looking for a parking spot.) I want to know who the genius was that decided to redo the parking lots right outside of all of my classes, blocking off HUNDREDS of spots, but not decreasing the numbers of students. Okay, so in the last 2 or so hours of break, I have just enough time to read the chapter for my last class of the day. Sociology. I LOVE THIS CLASS! I don't know if it's because I'm pretty much guaranteed an A or just the subject matter in general. The teacher is young (I mean can't have been teaching for very long.) Every Tuesday, you start off class with a 15 question quiz over the chapter you should have read. THEN, she collects the scan tron and lets you keep the quiz. The questions on the exams are directly from those quizzes. Then, the essay questions are given to you at least a week before the exam. SWEET! And, I actually love reading the textbook. This is amazing!!! I also got extra credit in the first class for reading a question on the quiz out loud. A CLASS WHERE YOU GET EXTRA CREDIT FOR TALKING?!?!?!?!?!?! That's my kind of class.