Christmas thoughts.

I'll just choose to let the Word speak right now. I'm not going to share any of our recent happenings right now; it's too personal and there are still some open wounds. But, what I will say is that: 1, I am thankful for my Savior, 2, I am thankful for my family, and 3, I am thankful for my friends, and 4, I am thankful for Christmas being as normal as it could be this year.

Psalm 42
Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of the Sons of Korah.

42 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?^[b]
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation^[c] 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
    have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹ I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.

Psalm 16

English Standard Version (ESV)

You Will Not Abandon My Soul

A Miktam^[a] of David.

16 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.^[b]

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after^[c] another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.^[d]
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being^[e] rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
    or let your holy one see corruption.^[f]

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

A Zeke story.

Apparently they were playing 'turkey tag' in PE yesterday...before you ask, 'turkey tag' is like regular tag, only you have to tag said person with a 'turkey' (which in this case was a rubber chicken because they didn't have a turkey).
Zeke was the tagger, and he got a little frustrated because he couldn't get a couple of people.
So what does Zeke, in all his Zeke-wisdom, do?
He chunks it at people.
The PE coach got onto him, and his response was something to the effect of 'You never said we couldn't do it like this!' (although knowing Zeke it probably sounded more like, "WHY?!?!? YOU NOT SAY I CAN'T DO DATTTT!!")
So know the PE coach knows he has to be explicit in his instructions.

Journal-11/2

I'm substitute teaching (yay money!) and I'm to a few conclusions:

1. It'd be nice if teachers left warning labels for some of the kids...I'm going to be slightly melodramatic here...but it'd be nice to have a list of things like "This kid is a clepto, watch your purse," "This one will talk your face off", "this one hates everyone but herself." Those are things that would be nice to know.
2. The principal at the school I normally end up at was my high school science teacher (and if you ask him, my favorite teacher ever). His 'death ray eyes' that we swore could steal your soul are still the same when he's about to have a come-to-Jesus with a kid. I found humor in that. It could've been because I was really tired and slightly delirious that day.
3. The chance of you working at a school seems to increase if you're named Kim, it seems.
4. I can appreciate 1st graders because I have no filter either. (like the kid who, when I asked them to name what happens when it's autumn, screamed "THE TREES GET NEKKID!").
5. I find myself, quite constantly, looking at certain kids and saying to myself 'If this is what I was like in (insert grade here), then no wonder that teacher yelled at me.'
6. There is still no such thing as a stupid question. There is a such thing as a 'lack of brain' question, or a 'completely irrelevant' question, or even a 'Let me let you think about what just came out of your mouth and try asking that again' question.
7. I hate it when I'm unaware that the clock is fast/slow.
8. I have a greater understanding as to why my mother is exhausted most days.
9. I only want to sub for the PE coach so I can wear pants/shorts with elastic in the waist and not be judged.
10. Teachers are still some of my favorite people.

Went to a Braves game.

I got seriously overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions when I went to this game.
A certain proposal I got from a very special boy added to that madness.

I felt happy. Happy that I was with the man that I love, watching a team that I was raised to love. I was happy that I was getting to watch one of the greatest players of all times play one last time (Chipper, guys. Chipper). Happy that I was among people who didn't judge my Chipper Jones fan-girl. We made the jumbo-tron with my 'I said yes' sign, and made ESPN with the flip side of it, which said 'Chipper, you will be missed.' (It was neon yellow, so I hope he saw it...one can hope, right?)

I felt an immense sadness. Immense, immense sadness. I haven't been to a Braves game since my Uncle Wayne passed away 7 years ago. Every one I'd ever been to, I was either with him or called him right after to tell him all about it, even when I was in high school. I didn't get to do that this time. I felt sadness over, pending that boyfriend or any other wonderful person my life doesn't surprise me, that was the last time I got to see Chipper play. Chipper Jones. The one person who defined my childhood. The one person who (unintentionally) was the cause of me getting in trouble as a kid (for not going to bed because there were still 5 innings left in the baseball game). The one person that, were he ever to say hello to me, I might freak out.

I felt overwhelmed. We walked into the field's little museum, which was awesome. I literally felt overwhelmed looking at all of the different displays. That's history. History I got to be a part of. History I witnessed from the living room floor of my house or my aunt and uncle's, dressed in my Chipper jersey with my Braves bear (YES HE WAS NAMED CHIPPER DON'T JUDGE ME).

I literally have not known what to do with all my feels here lately. Emotional basket-case? That'd be me.

Facts that you might not know about Whitney.

So, here's just a fun little list of facts about Whitney (other than the basics, like 'i love Jesus,' 'I date a boy named Kennith and he's super cute,' etc). I don't know why I ever feel the need to do this kind of thing. 
-I am like Tim Hawkins in the fact that I could literally eat Chic-Fil-A 7 times a day, and I can come up with a rational reason to eat it.
-Want to know something about Ben Roethlisberger? I can probably tell you.
-In case the above fact didn't give it away, I'm a Steelers fan.
-I am terrified of meeting Ben Roethlisberger or any major player for the Steelers, because I'm terrified of forgetting my name and, i don't know, throwing up on their shoes. 
-I can sing at least 2 Nicki Minaj songs. I'm not proud of that.
-I make friends with dudes a lot easier than I make friends with girls.
-It's weird for me driving around town and realizing that people I know are cops now. 
-If you haven't read any past blog posts, I've been in love with Chipper Jones for the majority of my life.
-I have a recurring nightmare where I finally get to meet Chipper Jones and I'm all excited, but I'm dressed as a cow (If you're reading this and your last name is Pruiksma, don't get any ideas).
-Hugging a friendly gorilla is on my bucket list.
-So is going to Wrestlemania.
-I will not be able to contain my excitement if Shawn Michaels is ever within visible distance from me. He's my all time favorite WWE person, and I will probably pee myself with excitement.
-That being said, I can tell you more about the WWE than the average person can. Some of the people in my extended family are dumbfounded by the facts I can rattle off.
-If you could see the tags I follow on Tumblr, you would wonder about my sanity. 
-My Pinterest=the way that people know that I AM NOT NORMAL. 
-I embrace my weird.
-My Twitter is where I put the thoughts I can't put on Facebook.
-Four people I'm thankful God put in my life? Randall Gunter, Bobby Russell, Chris Tolbert, and Ronnie Owens. There are others (many others), but those 4 helped establish a firm foundation for my spiritual growth. 
-I love beach music. (Swingin' Medallions shoutout inserted here. Some of the best times of my life involve those guys)
-My uncle and cousin took me to my first Braves game. I still have the pictures, though I'm re-doing the frame (because the old one was broken in the numerous moves I've done). 

I think that's all for now.
Enjoy this picture of me with a fish I caught (but it was too tiny to keep).

My life as a Chipper Jones fan-girl.

Hi, just in case you've been under a rock, this is Chipper Jones, and he's played for the Braves since 1993.

And I've loved him since then.

I suppose you could say that CJ was my first sports crush. I would sit at the balcony, getting in trouble because i wasn't going to bed, just so I could watch him up to bat one more time.
I had the jerseys and a signed black and white picture, along with a color photo someone had taken at the world series (and was a gift that i'd scored from a friend of a friend who knew I was basically the number one Chipper Jones fan girl of Pierce County Georgia).
My uncle and my cousin took me to a Braves game when I was in 3rd grade, and I remember being just intrigued by being even that close to him (we had dugout seats and I was in heaven, because "Hot dang, I can see Chipper Jones' face!").

See, I might not be able to remember everyone that's ever played for the Braves.
I can start naming players I remember.
But to me, Chipper's always been more than a baseball player.

Chipper embodies my childhood. One of the best memories i have is being at that baseball game at the old Fulton County Stadium, watching Chipper (in the rain), with my sign (which probably wilted by the end of the night) asking Chipper to marry me (forget the fact he was married, my 8 year old self could not be deterred).
I remember how mad I used to get when anyone would curse the name of Chipper Jones. Why? Because in the eyes of little girl me, he was absolutely perfect. And in the eyes of 24-year old me, he's still not far from it.
I remember fighting over the #10 jersey playing rec league softball, because we were all in love with either him or Javy Lopez (that was more towards the time everyone started hitting puberty), and we'd literally fuss over who got the coveted (and what we thought was blessed) #10 jersey. Pretty much, the only reason we wanted our parents to coach was so we'd get first dibs on the #10 jersey.
I remember how the house had to be absolutely quiet any time anyone talked about Chipper on TV, or he was up to bat, and God forbid anyone even sneeze if he was talking.

See, I feel like, every generation of baseball fans have that ONE person. That ONE person who defines a specific period of greatness in their childhood. Derek Jeter, Brian Wilson, Tim Lincecum, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Chase Utley come to mind (i purposely picked non-Braves players as examples, just for the sake of it). Mine was, and always will be, Chipper Jones.
Chipper retiring comes as no surprise. No great thing can go on forever. Plus he has more important things to worry about, like his family.
And I understand that. I respect that.
Does it mean I'm not going to cry like a baby when I go to one more Braves game? No. I will cry, more than likely, sitting next to my boyfriend, who, Lord help him, watches me cry at movies and doesn't really know what to do. I will probably take 9,000 pictures and send it to everyone in my contact list, even my friends who are die-hard Giants fans or could care less about baseball, and post them all over Facebook. And I will be a blubbering mess, because Chipper Jones is the last thing from my childhood to slowly fade, leaving me with stories and pictures to show my children what greatness really was.

Someone asked me once if I could meet one person who defined my childhood, what were 2 things I'd tell them. Of course, I picked Chipper. So in a nutshell, here it is:
1, You, sir, if nothing else, have been loved by so many, because you have given much to us as fans. I'm sure i'm one of many who have stories like mine, and have childhoods driven by memories of watching you play. I'm proud to have gotten to grow up knowing what awesome is.
2, I feel like this doesn't begin to cover it, but thank you. Thank you for everything.


Now excuse me world, I am a blubbering mess (because every time I think about Chipper retiring, it feels like my heart rips out) and need a minute to recover.

When it's hard.

Most of the time, I'm okay.

I've battled with severe anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, etc, for a good portion of my life.

And since I gave it up to God, most of the time, I'm okay.

But then, something happens.

I fail at something.

Or someone doesn't think before they open their mouths and says something cutting.

Or if (gasp) I have to ask for help.

That's when Satan sneaks in.

Sneaky, sneaky Satan.

With the lies.

Lies telling me that I'm not good enough.

Lies telling me I'm worth nothing.

Lies telling me that God is holding everything over my head.

According to him, God doesn't even care about me. 

I'm a pawn in a game.

And sometimes, I can put it out of my head immediately. 

Other times...I'm not so strong.

And I'll listen to the lies.

And believe them.

I'm thankful for the people in my life. I confessed how I was feeling to one friend, and they simply texted me 'Just stay strong.' (considering tattooing that on my wrist, so I can see it when I need it),

Another friend gave me an 'apple of gold.'

What is boils down to is that Satan tries to feed us his fruit.

Lies, deceit, worthlessness, self-pity.

The list goes on.

And sometimes we take it.

It looks so...normal...

It must be true. 

I mean, honestly? He makes a few very valid points.

But the thing is,

when we take that fruit,

we get sick.

Sick with depression.

Anxiety.

Self-pity.

Feelings of hopelessness.

Feelings of guilt.

Shame.

Worthlessness.

We keep eating that fruit, until we're sick.

Shadows of the people Christ has called us to be.

Oh sure, we know the scripture.

We know God is always with us, He'll never leave us, etc.

Chances are, we can quote it verbatim.

Some of us from 4 different versions of the bible.

But, because we've eaten the fruit of lies for so long, 

we don't believe it in our hearts.

I suppose the answer for that is simple.

We put down the fruit. 

We stop eating the fruit of Satan, 

the lies, the deceit.

We take up the armor of God (Ephesians 6),

and we start eating of the fruits of the spirit.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

And we have to be sure to fill our minds with scripture about who we are in Christ.

And purpose ourselves that, the next time we're attacked like that, we know how to stage the counter.

Isn't that half of all battles?

Knowing how to stage the counter attack?

See, I serve a big God.

I serve a God who tells me I am treasured by Him.

I am His child.

I am not an orphan.

I have been given a spirit of adoption, by which I can scream for my Abba when I need Him (Romans 8:15)

I am more than a conqueror through him (Romans 8:37).

His promises are good.

His mercy is faithful.

Thank you Jesus.

This is the passage I read the day after my rotten one. God knew what I needed.

Psalm 16:
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
     I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸ I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
     or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

What to do when you have a headache and the adorablings won't shush.

(Note: adorablings=the siblings. the term was coined by my friend Robert)

So today, I had a headache. A mind-splitting, Jesus help me, kind of headache.

The Aleve took forever to kick in.

And the adorablings were shouting while they were playing.

So, here is a list of ideas I came up with on what to do with the shouting children when you have a headache.

1. Quiet game. Be sure to have some sort of incentive so they'll actually stay quiet.

2. Chastise them. It gets old after a while.

3. Banish them to another room. Only works for brief periods of time.

4. Jason Mraz.

5. Jason Mraz.

6. Head under the covers, and when they ask where you're at, simply tell them that you're not here right now and kindly ask them to leave a message after the beep (this will leave them confused if nothing else, and hopefully they'll just be evaluating what happened quietly). 

7. Make them go ask your brother repeated questions that take a while for him to answer. For instance, "Where to babies come from?"
8. Gumby. Gumby is either completely entertaining or completely confusing to the new generation of children. 

9. Tell them to pretend they're lions stalking prey, and lions have to be quiet or the antelope get away.

10. Play-dough. Almost works to keep them quiet.

11. Cupcake decorating. This requires you to pre-make cupcakes.

12. Shell peas. This  only works well if you have grandparents with a garden nearby. 

And that, darlings, is how you keep children quiet when you have a headache.

The good dog.

There once was a dog named Biscuit.

He was the best doggie around.

I was gonna attempt to write a poem but it didn't happen. Anyways, I had a dog named Biscuit. He probably wouldn't have been adopted but I was pretty traumatized by finding the dog we had before him after she'd been hit by a car, and everyone knows the best way to fix trauma is with a puppy. Biscuit was a runt with big paws and big ears that didn't match his then-tiny body. But he was absolutely adorable. 

Biscuit was a good dog simply because he was 'there.' He wasn't always the brightest tool in the shed (his multiple run-ins with cars were to blame for that, as well as a few too many instances of 'what happens when I eat this?!?'), but he was one the sweetest. He was the best breakup cuddler (and often times thought he was a lap dog). Anyways, he's gone on to the great doggie field in the sky, and we have a new dog named BatGirl, who honestly rivals Biscuit as 'best doggie,' but I have a soft spot for my little cutie who helped me heal my heart. <3

Wordless Wednesday: The boy who has my heart.

Yeah, I'll admit it. I'm totally smitten. <3

Whitney vs. the cell phones

Hi.
First, many apologies for the lack of presence here lately (mostly to Valerie, because she loves me and is reading this now...if you're not my cousin Valerie and are reading this, gimme a shoutout in the comments section). Left the computer in Aunt B's car when she took me to meet boyfriend (I'm car-less right now due to a set of circumstances out of my control and not entirely concerning me), I was in the sprawling metropolis known as Guyton until Friday, and when we got back to God's country (B*town), the internet at la casa de Whitney wasn't fully functioning. I don't know what the littles would've done for another couple of days without Netflix, so thank God that it's working again.
I'll post things about my new book acquisitions soon...I'm excited. :-) :-) :-) :-)

Anywho, here lately, I have not been having the best luck with cellphones.
Let me explain: freak things always happen with my cellphones.
1. I cracked the screen of my first cell phone while trying to look graceful at an American Eagle (in all fairness, there was an attractive boy folding some clothes who'd smiled at me earlier). It still worked for another year, and had it not been upgrade time, i'd have kept it.
2. Second cell phone was a pink beauty and was wonderful. I only rid myself of it because it would randomly shut off when I snapped it shut and sometimes wouldn't come back on for a day and a half, and that wasn't okay, considering it was my alarm clock and scheduler.
3. Ah, cell phone 3. We had some good memories. I dropped it fairly early on, and the back fell into a bush inhabited by a very angry mother bird. Thus I invested in a single strip of bright yellow duct tape, which worked wonderfully. It lasted until I plugged it up on the way home one night (into the usb jack for the GPS) and I'm pretty sure it fried the battery. It heated up until I was afraid I'd have a burn on the side of my face, and as soon as I said something to a friend about it, it shut off.
4. Enter the LG Cosmos. My dad insisted on buying a screen protector and a case for this one. They neither lasted long because the case was too bulky and the screen protector distorted the view on my screen (I do applaud father for trying though). The LG Cosmos and I had a wonderful relationship, as it rarely let me down. It even survived an attempted deep-frying (I was frying some chicken for my Chinese friends when I was in California last summer, and I dropped the phone in the grease. It still worked after that. Smelled like chicken for a couple weeks, but it worked). However, a couple weeks ago, it lost service. It just lacked service, period. I did all the right things, followed instructions, didn't kill someone at the Verizon store who looked at and talked to me like I was the stupidest thing to dare intrude upon her sight, everything. No work. Luckily, mommy dear was due an upgrade, so now I have her old phone.

But this brings me to today. I dropped the phone. In the toilet.
Yes. In the toilet.
I've NEVER done that. Why? Because that's what something normal people do, and I am apparently not normal.
Anyways, after a sit in a bag of rice (thank you to whoever told me this), things seem to be working normally, except for the fact that the letter b decided that it was getting underused, and it keeps popping up every time i press the spacebar. Oh well.

Needless to say, my texting speed has decreased. And my phone smells like rice.
Oh well.
Could've been worse.
There could've been a turd in the toilet.

trouble with the little things.

Sometimes, I have trouble with little things.
Like making the right words come out of my mouth. I can be thinking of the word 'bathroom' in a conversation and it can come out 'kitchen'. I don't think that's ever happened, but it's the best example I could come up with at the time.
Walking in a straight line also presents a problem.
Coordination in general isn't a strong area for me (I can, however, march and play an instrument at the same time. That counts for something.)

Apparently, one of the things that I also lack skill in is putting on sunscreen, specifically, spray-on sunscreen. We went to the beach today, and were there for 5 or so hours. I applied spf 80 with spray on sunscreen, and right now I look like a streaked albino in places because I'm so pale (and the red-ness isn't helping matters).
No more spray-on sunscreen for Whitney.

I'm also in excruciating pain and i'm praying I can at least sleep tonight.  

oh well.

Random fact about me: I enjoy accentuating stories with gif images.

announcement.

So I've had a killer week at Vacation Bible School.
I've been meaning to post pictures of AtlantaFest, the boyfriend, other random happenings, etc, but I've been supplementing my energy depletion from the little ones with extra sleep...plus two babysitting gigs during the day.
Anywho, I made a discovery tonight, and I must say, it thrills me to my soul.
I was once 225 pounds. Considered borderline morbidly obese by the scale (probably just regularly obese because my bone structure is bigger than the average female...when I post pictures, you'll see that's the truth. Oh, I'm also 5'10". Also important to mention.).
I come from a family where heart disease runs on both sides, as does type 2 diabetes. I did NOT want to be a statistic. I DO NOT want to contribute to the growing number of my family members with health problems.
So I started watching what I ate. One of  my biggest struggles was emotional eating, and it was a battle to give that over to Christ, as that was something I was putting before Him, and as a Christian, Jesus is to be my number-one go-to.
6 months later, I'm 204 pounds. Not where I'd like to be yet, but no longer defined as 'obese.'

I've been defined by obesity for so many years (since high school), and now it's no longer there. I like the way this feels. :-)

Series to check out: Fallen by Lauren Kate

I'm not much for vampires these days. You can thank Twilight for that.
I am, however, all for fallen angels. I feel like there's so much more there than with other popular paranormal teen romances. Lauren Kate's series is the second that I've read involving fallen angels (the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick was the first, and I'll probably write something about how much I ADORE that series later). Anyways, I've recently finished the 3rd book, and I feel like it's worth checking out, and here's why:
1, If you're a teen and you're looking for a good summer read. It's easy to understand, a fairly quick read (I finished the 3rd book in less than 24 hours), and there is enough page-turning conflict to keep you wanting to read.
2, Luce, the main character, has this lovely little thing called DIMENSION, which is lacking in some other...ahem...prominently featured leading ladies. Without giving too much away, there's a whole lot riding on Luce and her choice of love, and it's not just 'Oh darn I sure would like to date that moody boy I sit  next to in science class.'
3, Appearances by some of the best characters. The fallen angels all have their own, separate personalities, and most of the time, you can't tell who's siding where. Plus, who doesn't love an appearance by Satan?
4. The legend woven by the author is interesting in and of itself. Kate's main characters have years (yes years) of history attached to them, and Kate does a good job of weaving it together.

Overall, if you're into paranormal romance, I'd check it out. I'll be sure to let y'all know my thoughts on the final book in the series when I read it.

Bored with Netflix 1: Neo Ned

I originally check out for completely superficial reasons...specifically, Jeremy Renner. He is a beautiful man.

Anyways, it's an indie flick about a Neo-Nazi who, through a series of interesting events, falls in love with an African-American woman (who's also a fellow patient at the mental hospital...sounds like all kinds of fun, doesn't it?!).

Reasons why I liked it:
Jeremy Renner: He's quite a brilliant actor.
Gabrielle Union: Underrated. She's fabulous in this movie.
The storyline: While it might be a bit hard to follow at first (one of the things that defines the end of the movie is actually the opening scene, then it switches to a previous time), it flows quite nicely. It brings up lots of interesting social points without going all preachy, which is refreshing.

Cary Elwes is also in the film. Cary Elwes pretty much defined my childhood, so when I saw him I went a little fangirly, but the fact that he wasn't singing with other men in green tights soon kicked in. Only real downside.

So, I'd definitely recommend the film to anyone. The language is pretty rough, and their are some tough issues dealt with (racism, molestation, murder, etc), and there's a love scene where you get a shot of Jeremy Renner's rear end, so be aware of that before you start watching.

mundane post about my life.

just a mundane post about myself, because it's my blog and I can do that.

• I absolutely hate small town politics. They're basically glorified popularity contests, and it's rare if ever that the right person gets elected for the right job.
• I make some jam-up boiled peanuts.
• It annoys me when people see my tattoo and automatically assume I'm bound for the fiery pits of Hell. 1, the verse you use to tell me how bad it is is right under a verse prohibiting shaving of the beard and of the hair off the temples (mild irony when bald guys fuss about it). 2, my tat is a bible verse. I feel like people should probably ask me about it before immediately assuming I'm going straight to Hell.
• Vacation Bible School is one of my favorite times of year. If you don't know me IRL, I'm an outspoken, church-going Christian. I happen to think VBS (as those of us in the Jesus-loving community refer to it) is one of the most important things a church can do, and that churches should treat it as the most important outreach of the year. 
• My favorite cultural sub-group of people? Hippies. 
• I'm really a chill person. I don't get ruffled easily (PMS weeks notwithstanding). However, when people openly criticize my mother or ridicule my younger siblings (especially my special needs sister), I definitely have to fight to die to my flesh. 
• I also take offense when people (mostly 'old' people) in churches won't do anything and can't look past their bifocals and understand that maybe Jesus speaks to others differently than He speaks to them. 

I was feeling awfully ranty. I'm finished now.

WHY?!

Well, thank you for asking.

This blog has the purpose of covering the lovely adventures of my magical life.

My other blog (princessinflipflops) is mainly a place where I discuss my faith, etc.
This will be more of a place where I talk about the randomness that is my life, plus books that I've read, concerts I've been to, movies I've watched, and the random things my young siblings do. 

This'll be fun, guys, seriously.