Friday, August 18, 2006

going out of business

hello faithful few...
just a note to let you know that i will soon be closing my blog. it seems pointless since i never update, i have a journal for creative outlet, and i no longer believe in posting basically anything personal on the internet.
so thank you to those of you who tuned in to read about my small exsistence. i'm sure we'll find other lines of communication.
God bless!
lauren reifsnider: student teacher, 1st grade:)

Monday, June 19, 2006

ECHO! (echo!)

question:
if a blogger fails to update her online audience for months at a time, will anyone still check her blog? let's find out.

well my friends, it's been a busy and adventurous few months. i'm basically having the time of my life here in summer-y winona lake. i'm in my second summer of professional nannying and discovering more and more reasons why God isn't calling me into parenthood in the next few decades. can i just say that SUGAR is the hallucinatory drug of choice for children...its mind-altering molecules should be banned in all 50 states, but i would settle for just the state of indiana. (charity, your idea to not feed rachel sugar was ingenious, and i'm so horrifyingly sorry that i fed her strawberry ice cream at lauren hein's graduation party, and i solemnly swear that i will never feed your children sweets again if you don't want me to.)

i've also decided that children should not be provided with options. i recently took my four nannying charges (ages 6,5,4 and 2) to "tokens and tickets" a popular warsaw establishment that has arcade games (ski ball, pound the gopher and the like). the point is to earn all the tickets possible with the tokens that your frazzled nanny gives to you, and then present aforementioned tickets to the equally frazzled adolescent behind the counter in exchange for "prizes." now...these "prizes" range anywhere from beanie babies to spider rings. of course my kids only earned enough tickets for the lower end of the loot...so i was forced to watch them root through endless supplies of bouncy balls, rubber snakes, silly putty and bubble gum (all of which i was sure i would be finding littered all over the SUV later that night) until their last tickets were spent. options=death.

don't get me wrong, i love my job SOOO much more than my job last summer. this summer, i basically make my own hours (and get paid by them), i drive a tricked out SUV all over creation, i spend most of my mornings at the club being waited on by handsome young boys in polo shirts, in the afternoons you can find me cruising around the lake on the boat, i have tickets to see american idol in august and I'M GOING TO THE VIRGIN ISLANDS. plus, i'm in love with the kids. ella, nolan, grant and ava are my summer entertainment:) ella can't get enough of my stories, nolan can add numbers like a machine, grant holds all the doors he can for me, and ava thinks she's the next american idol (for real...the "bad day" song is her personal theme: she closes her eyes, spreads her arms and belts out "had bad day, take one down, sing sad songs, turnitaround!"). if you knew me last summer, and you know what i did...you'll understand my excitement.

in other news, i still live in the fabulous house with all my lovely girlfriends. we spend our evenings swinging on our porch swing, spying on the neighbors, playing with our new kitten and hoping to God that this isn't a foreshadowing of the rest of our lives. no, for real, we have a great time cooking out with everyone, rollerblading and generally causing mischief. i broke it off with greg and it seems to be the best decision of my life thus far...thank you to everyone who helped me through that entire relationship.

i'm sure that everyone knows by now that i'm going to be someone's sister!!!! oh wait, i already am landon's sister...but soon i'm going to be erin's sister too because on june 3rd landon took the train down from new york to propose to erin at matt and isabelle's wedding and she was really surprised but she said yes anyway and when you get engaged that means you get married soon afterwards so that's what they're going to do and so not too long from now erin and i will be real-life-honest-to-goodness sisters!! oh, and landon and erin will be husband and wife:) that's pretty amazing. on a more serious note, i am so thankful for erin aleta. she is a blessing to my brother and our whole family. i can't wait for you all to get to know her. to know her is to love her...we all are blessed.

i really wish i knew how to post pictures on here...i have some neat ones of our house, landon and erin, our new kitten, and the kids that would be neat to share. so i guess that was pretty anticlimactic, because i'm not posting them...

so to the faithful few who tune in to see the comment number increase...wait no longer. the update has arrived.
~loving life in the lake~

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

this is my life?

it has come to my attention that i have neglected my blog, and thus the feelings of my avid readers. deepest apologies:)
the following is a list of things that are sucking the life out of me:

1) i work 3 jobs:
a) babysitting for the Rice's, 5-10 hours/week
b) babysitting for the Knight's, 15-20 hours/week
c) phonathon supervisor, 12-15 hours/week
2) i am the head of women's ministries:
a) the annual tea is this coming monday, 400 women invited. enough said.
b) i work with 5 very sweet young ladies, 2 of whom actually want to work for women's ministries.
c) i may be the worst leader in the history of the world.
3) not only am i a student, i am an ELEMENTARY EDUCATION major, which means that my time is filled with:
a) idea files (pointless collections of other people's work)
b) lesson plans (that i will NEVER use)
c) observation hours (time spent in community schools that would be better spent in bed)
4) through no effort of my own, i have found myself with a boyfriend again. which is wonderfulness and frustration combined because of items 1,2 & 3.
a) wonderfulness: he's my best friend and it's nice to be able to talk to him again.
b) frustration: he wants to spend every waking minute with me.
c) there is no "c".

this wasn't supposed to be a pity party...just an explanation of the lack of communication on my part :)
summer is in sight, and God has provided in some BIG ways for me!!

a HUGE "thank you!" goes out to:
DAVID, LYNDIE, CHRIS, HERSHEY, KEVIN, HEATHER, MELANIE & MATT KNIGHT for coming to visit me last weekend...guys, it was amazing, and it truly meant SO much to me that you came!! you're always welcome here!! katie! when are you coming to see me?!

love from the lake,
lf

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

i walked the line

well kids, yesterday was the 28th of february. it was a great day for several reasons:
1) it was the last day of february (february makes me want to stay in bed)
2) it was the day of the women's ministries servant spa, organized by yours truly
3) it was the day that walk the line came out on dvd

it is this last item on which i choose to focus. as some of you may know, i saw walk the line five times in the theatre before the aforementioned video release. it was, by far, my favorite movie in a long time. excellent writing, beautiful cinematography and dazzling performances drew me back to the theatre time and time again.

needless to say, i was super excited about the chance to have this movie in my possession. but, if you'll remember, i am experiencing a period of very romantic poverty in my life. i haven't made a single purchase since january (besides rent and food). so i had decided not to buy the movie and count it as romantic, since i really, really wanted it but was too poor. well then, i got a ton of money for babysitting, and the lady filled up my gas tank for me. my roommate told me i should go get it. so we made a special trip to walmart and i purchased the movie that dreams are made of...and i felt a little guilty. but we came home and watched the director's commentary version. it was great. (by the way, after listening to him talk about the movie, we both decided to quit school, move to california and make movies about our lives...more to come on that later.)

if you're bored to tears so far, stick with me, because the plot is about to get (slightly) more interesting. after the viewing of the movie IN MY OWN HOME, i got ready for the servant spa over in kent. the spa (which is very irrelevant to the story) was sponsored by women's ministries, and was an opportunity for girls to come over to the apartments in kent and get a manicure, pedicure, massage, facial, haircut or eyebrow-plucking. it was really fun. anyway, i went to load up my car, and guess what was on my front seat? that's right. a brand new copy of walk the line. i felt even more guilty! someone, out of the goodness of their heart, thought to buy me a little luxury that i couldn't afford. but i had already splurged. i felt really bad. who did it?

the spa was amazing...i sat at the table in the lobby and greeted the women, and shooed away the men. one of the men, none other than jon herr, stayed for awhile and talked to me. long story short, he bought my copy of the movie, and i made a five dollar profit. amaaaazing. i packed up and went home from the spa. my roommate made a phone call...


the movie was from greg. pretty sweet, huh?

Thursday, February 16, 2006

nightmare of all nightmares

oh help. last night i was innocently trying to fall asleep when i heard a distinct scratching noise under my bed. "what was that?!" i said to myself. the first time, i convinced myself that it was just the bedspread tag scratching against the wall. but the second time, i thought for sure it was a mouse. in the back of my head, i wondered if it was a bird...but i didn't want to panic yet. so i made my roommate come and check under the bed for me. she didn't find anything. so i tried to turn off the light and go back to sleep. scratch, scratch....flutter. FLUTTER??? did i hear feathers and wings??!!! was there a bird under my bed?? maybe it had a broken wing and it had limped up the stairs earlier in the day, and now it was laying under my bed, gathering up the strength to flutter away in my face the moment i drifted off to sleep!! noooooooooo!!
being the totally rational, completely sane person that i am, i yanked my bedspread and pillow off of the bird's hiding place, and ran downstairs to what i was sure would be the comfort of our living room couches. i decided it would be advantageous to be closer to the front door if i should need to get away. i tossed and turned all night, haunted by nightmares of birds with their claws and wings.
today, i corresponded via email with our landlord who currently lives in france. i casually asked if they had ever had problems with mice. this is how he responded:
No, I dont think we've ever had any mice - we did have two bats - both within 3 days of each other, and sometimes we can hear something (a mouse?) in the attic, but never anything inside.
so. here's the situation. my irrational (but very real to me) fear has officially been realized. i am living in a house that has had WINGED OBJECTS ON THE LOOSE. i can hardly function at this point. i'm sitting here, typing, looking all over for what i'm sure will be the nightmare to end all nightmares, because it will be real.
paralyzed,
laurenfaith

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

lauren corleone

well, no one was commenting on my superbowl post. and i have things to say, so i'm moving on:)
well kids...minus my freckles and lack of appropriate family background, i officially look like i belong in the godfather. that's right, i dyed my hair blackish brown last night (it's a few shades darker than kari's). GASP! i'm sure you're all recoiling at the thought. but before you imagine me as the bride of some failed science experiment, let me tell you that it looks pretty good, and fairly natural. i just wanted to do something different. something that i would usually never do. i actually think it makes my pale skin and blue eyes look more natural. but it also kind of reminds me about how in the little mermaid when ariel is a human with red hair, but she doesn't have her voice because she sold it to the sea witch ursula so she could be a human, but then ursula becomes a human who looks just like ariel and she has ariel's voice, but she has black, evil hair. i hope that's not what's happening here. i'm sure i will remain at the same level of evilness with my new hair color. the best part is that i really do look like i could be in the godfather. i've been making offers that people can't refuse all day long!! and after i go to the mattresses, i'm going to send a few people to sleep with the fishes!
well, this has been a really egocentric post, and for that i apologize. maybe it will just echo back in my ears anyway, since no one reads my blog anymore because i never post anything new. everyone have a great week!
take the canoli,
laurenfaith

Sunday, February 05, 2006

the quarterback from pittsburg isn't hot

for the first time since before i can remember, i didn't watch the superbowl this year. somewhere, my mother and father were just shamed. it's true. i took a babysitting job, and didn't see one second of the most important football game of the year. the game that inspired my little brother to wear a tie to church (he didn't tuck in his shirt, mind you) in honor of the day, the game that placed grace college in a mad panic of where to watch the game (my house was not an option, since we have no channels), and the game that had no hot quarterback.
now, if you know me very well at all, you know that i know more about football than the average girl. growing up in the reifsnider house ensured this. however, the sport doesn't hold the same place in my heart as it does for the others...i tend to root with my emotions and cheer for the team with the best looking quarterback. that cute little babyface from indianapolis was a favortie of mine...brett favre (or whatever his name is) was adorable too...with the brooding look of concentration. but, in the end, it's all about tom brady. for several years, he was the reason i tuned in to the superbowl. kids, he's like eikenberry's cake (superyummy). anyway...superficial as they may be, those are the reasons i tolerate one of america's signature sports.
i was once told by my father (and he was COMPLETELY serious) : "lauren, God didn't have to give me a wife that liked football. but He gave me an extra special blessing when He gave me your mother." wow.

update:
speaking of babysitting, that's what i do now...i babysit 3-6 times a week for two different families. i get paid ridiculous amounts of money per hour, so i've decided not to look for another job. God has been really amazing in providing these families.
school is good; it's nice not to be overloaded with classes.
the house is amazing; i love my housemates.
i met someone new:) NO ONE get their hopes up. but he's really kind, and we've been hanging out quite a bit. i only write that because i never talk to ANY of you lately, and i want to keep you posted.

this next section of my post is devoted to my amazingly lovely and stunningly brilliant BFF, lyndie brooke nilsen:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR LYNDIE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
(sorry i forgot it; i'm horrible, i know. i love you, and i always will.)

now that february's here, i can quit dreading it so much...here's to march...
love from the lake,
laurenfaith

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

God is in envelopes

greetings and salutations, my true friends, from windy winona lake. i can't decide where it is colder...outside by the lake or here at my computer. we recently got our gas and electric bill, and one of our roommates informed us that we would no longer be keeping the house at a normal human temperature. no, we must now live in sub-human-polar-bear-march-of-the-penguins type fridgidness. actually, i think it's kind of romantic how we can't afford to pay for anything. it makes me feel like we are rationing supplies because we are under siege by the nazis or something, which is very exciting.
today i went to check my box at school that is usually depressingly void of notes from secret admirers, dazzling good grades or care packages (i said USUALLY), but in place of the wooden nothingness was a small envelope. my name was printed in all capital letters, and my box number was written below. thinking the envelope held yet another reminder about my college account, overdue library books or another expense of some sort, i hesitated in opening it. but, open it i did, and all to find a twenty dollar bill. no note, no explanation. God in an envelope.


so, welcome to my new blog....please don't expect noble narratives or lengthy literature or anything remotely profound out of me. i'm just the girl next door who wants to tell you about her life. at least parts of it.
love you all.
laurenfaith