I have to think of a better title for my station in life... Anyways!

There was once a girl who liked coffee. So she got a job working in coffee. One morning, when she'd been working with coffee for almost two months, the girl woke up and began to prepare to be at work by 6:25. Somehow, time got away with her and it was suddenly 8:00! The girl decided that there was no point in racing to work because, as we all know, she gets off at 8:00 on Wednesday mornings. So, she waited for her boss to call, which only took a matter of minutes. Needless to say, her otherwise easy-going and good-natured boss was very upset and yelled that she definitely need to come "do her chores" or else. The little girl decided that doing her chores might take care of some of the anger that her boss was... feeling. But just as she was ready to leave...

I woke up.

It had all been a dream. My alarm clock was blinking 4:53 at me, which I knew, meant there was only seven minutes before the alarm went off. In what seemed like two minutes, the alarm went off and I began my day in the regular manner, pushing the snooze button multiple times to avoid getting up.

I got to work on time, made the coffee, did the chores (with my boss's voice ringing in my ears) and settled in to wait for people to come. The phone rang, and I answered it quickly, wondering if it was my boss saying she'd be in late, or something like that. It wasn't. In fact, the voice on the other end with a deathly tone, that sounded almost as if the voice had just awaken said,

"I would like to make an order."

"Yes, ma'am, go ahead." Actually, it was... "Sure." As my early morning brain has yet to handle niceties.

"I would like seven caramel ice-blended's and one decaf coffee." The voice droned on. I hoped it would stop soon, as I was scribbling furiously on a small piece of paper. (We don't have those cool flip-pad thingies that waitresses have)

"Alright, I can get that to you. How soon will you be around?"

"If you get started, it shouldn't be long..."

I flew to the task, after hanging up the phone and saying thank you. Rather than give you the specifics on how these caramel ice-blended's are made, I'll just tell you that I had drinks 1 and 2 sitting in the blender, waiting to be put in cups, 3 and 4 in a blender waiting to be blended and 5, 6 and 7, yet to be conceived, and the buzzer rang.

Oh no. Not already!

But my fate was worse than I realized... I had already started 3 and 4 blending, but I knew the lady behind the window was not the one looking for so many caramel drinks.

"I'd like a Raspberry Latte, please, with skim milk." I mentally calculated to see if I had enough skim milk, but then realized I was using all 2% for the iceblendeds and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, I realized that she came every day and ordered a Raspberry Truffle, which is different than a Raspberry Latte. I rushed back to the window.

"That was a Raspberry Truffle?"

"Oh yes, Truffle." She tried the word out. "With skim milk!" She reminded. I remembered and returned to the raspberry. It was done in a matter of seconds and she handed me a pile of change, swearing it was 4 dollars. Since it was mostly quarters and one fifty cent piece, I believed her and bid her a good day. Did I mention that the buzzer went off in the middle of the Raspberry Truffle? Well, it did. So while I blended 3 and 4 a second time, I stuck my head out the window.

"I'm that lady." A cheerful looking lady said.

Oh no. I thought.

"Um, I'll have those out in a little... It's, uh, it's taking a little..." I closed the window because everything I said was making my plight worse.

The buzzer rang.

I flew back to the window and that lady said...

"I'll pull ahead." After I'd offered to let her inside, but she'd declined, saying that she had three little kids in the car.

"I'd like a Zebra Mocha." The next lady said.

Ahhhhhh! I can't remember how to make a Zebra Mocha! Is it 1/2 pump of white chocolate and 1/2 pump of dark, or is it 1 pump of each?

Recipe books are saviors in my business. I flipped open the recipe book and found that my second thought was the right one. While juggling the caramels, I made the Zebra and passed it out to the lady, who wanted change back since she'd given me a ten, so I hurriedly, and not very skillfully, attacked the register.

The buzzer went off again.

My life is over. I thought, a little tragically, but when you're in the coffee business, a little insanity goes a long way, especially before 7:30 in the morning.

It was that lady again. She'd just driven around. I breathed a sigh of relief and she thought me very amusing. After apologizing profusely, I made the last drinks, forgetting the decaf, sprayed whipped cream at them and sent them out the window in a box.

"Did you get my decaf?"

"I'll get that right out to you." Silly me.

I got the decaf, she paid, and since I somehow had messed up something with the register during the Zebra, I added it with a calculator and accidentally gave her a dollar extra in change. She handed me back two dollars, saying one was a tip...

She left, and I turned my head to the kitchen. Caramel powder spilled over everything. Caramel ice-blended dripped onto the floor. There was whipped cream on the counter. Caramel sauce on the counter. And amidst it all, the two blenders, their lids and the spatula sat forlornly. I set to, cleaning, then realized I hadn't dumped out the grounds from the espresso I'd made for the Zebra, and it could cook on, which is vicious to clean. It came out a perfect shot. Aha! But my victory was short lived for...

The buzzer rang again.

I calmly went to answer it, and recognized the "one cream and two equals" lady with the happy brown eyes. I was relieved, and sold my first coffee of the day. I returned to the work, but I had only just gotten the milk put away when...

The buzzer rang again.

Not so calmly, I went to answer it, and recognized the "hazelnut cream with *motions with fingers* two sugars please." I happily gave it to her, and then returned to the work. But it was not to be, for...

The buzzer rang again!

Another coffee.

"Black?"

"Of course."

How easy...

The buzzer rang again.
    
No, no, no, NO!

"I'd like a coffee please." Hands me two dollars.

"Uh, before 8, it's only $.50."

"Oh really?! In that case, I'll take two."

Lord, don't let the coffee run out. Let there be coffee left. Let there be enough for this guy...

There was enough. I handed him his coffee. Whew. I looked in the pot. There was only about a tablespoon left. So, I grabbed another thing of grounds, another filter and the coffee pot, hurriedly brewing while attacking the hardening caramel with all my might.

The buzzer didn't ring!

Hallelujah! Now to convince Kathy that it was a normal morning... hehehe...

The cleaning went very quickly without the buzzer ringing and I tried to remember what the little boy and girl told their mother after the cat left in The Cat In The Hat. Because that's precisely what I was going to tell Kathy, seeing if she'd get it, and then of course tell her the whole story that I've just told you. And now, as I'm looking it up in the book, I realize they couldn't think of what to say, which was entirely the case for me.

So, once Kathy arrived, I told her my story, and she suddenly remembered that she had to work at 8 today, so I could get out of there!

I had a good laugh, making sure she knew that I had been just fine, simply because no one came in after those four coffees.She thought my dream was pretty funny, although she made sure to tell me she'd never yell, and I definitely believed her.

So now caramel is my arch-enemy. Yet, I love my job.

The moral of this story is: When you're at a drive-through, and it seems like they're taking a long time, it could just be that they're flying around in circles, attempting to accomplish everything at once!

I know, lame moral... But I just told this silly story, so it needs a moral, right?

As many of you know, I have begun my first real job and it's involved in selling coffee, making lattes and getting up early in the morning. The only reason I'm posting right now is because I'm overly caffeinated (after getting up early, having a coffee and an ice-blended mint mocha) and the only way, other than cleaning my room, that I see to get rid of this, is to write a nice long post to update people on my life.

I must say that I'm very glad to be out of school, even though my vocabulary level is dropping and I no longer know how to write a good sentence, that's not run-on, even though I didn't really know how to do this before, and my grammar's always ain't been half good. Haha. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that I talk and then when I make a "joke" I say "ha.ha." at the end. So people, this is what's waiting for you when you have no school!!! (Wait, did I just use three exclamation points?)

Without school, I've also been able to get involved in politics. So, now I'm part of the Palin-Praisers, or whatever I choose to call them, and am seriously thinking about getting involved with the Wood County Republicans (as those Marathon-ers will be in Wausau primarily, and Marshfield's closer). Since I'm now working for a small business as well, I'm getting interested in the politics of economics and the plight of small businesses in general. I must say this, Obama is terrible for small businesses. If you want details, ask my Dad. You could ask me, but it would be like "bla bla bla bla *something good* bla bla bla bla bla 'Obama doesn't get it' bla bla bla bla." If you ask Dad, it will be like "*something really good that McCain/Palin should adopt for their speeches*" My dad's totally cool with politics (and everything).

One thing I don't like about being gone so much is that Mom forgets that she told me something the night before. I walked in the door today and she popped up out of her chair where she'd been working on Mary Kay and exclaimed "guess what?!" with that "Skrivseth-look" that people who know her can spot instantly. (I think it's Skrivseth, because I've seen my aunts, and Grandma do it too) Of course, I instantly got excited and replied "what?!" She proceeded to tell me what she'd told me the night before and for once, I was the one to say "I know, Mom, I heard that last night."

This is something I "jotted down" at work during a slow moment:

Like the old newspaper man won't give me the paper until I smile at him. "There's that smile... Here's your paper." *old toothless grin* Heh.

Anyways, now I should direct the rest of my energy to cleaning my room.

Enjoy your... (rats, can't say "coffee!!!") ...enjoy the rest of your day!

Yesterday was one of those days where I determined that I loved my job. (Not for the first time) There is endless amusement in the work I do, as I have to chase people out of places (and get chased myself many a time). I was once told that the breaks that the men in the factory took were at 6 and 10. I had never stayed later than 9 to verify this. So, at 9 o'clock, I was finishing up and only had to sweep the break room when one of the men came in. Now, one at a time is nothing new. I looked up, acknowledged his entering and returned to my sweeping. Lo and behold, what should come through the door but four more men, and then behind them, the rest of the men from the factory, barring one. I wonder how much shock there was on my face.

Anyways, I forgot to grab my broom and high-tailed it out of there, nearly banging into the straggler, who looked incredibly frightened! From this I learned that they are probably more frightened of me than I am of them! I went to the furnace room, and, having nothing to do, stared at the clock. Then I thought perhaps that I could clean the windows going into the factory. Once I had finished with these, it was determined that the men were in the break room longer than necessary and I needed the broom. So, very hesitantly, I entered to the stares of the men (and again, frightened looks!).

"Um, I left my broom in here." *very red* *grabs broom* I busied myself sweeping out the corner, until they got the hint that they should go back to work. And so they did.

See, told you I have a shy streak. But the amusing part is that when a girl in a long skirt comes in and "shooes" them out, they are more shy than I am!

---

Thanks to all of you who came to my party! It was great fun, and I hope I can do it again. Maybe a going away party before Taiwan? But that's a while away.

Tonight is Tiki's ballgame and tomorrow night is Tony's ballgame. Angel and Winnie have stated that they like meeting our friends best of all. (Probably especially those that know a little Chinese, haha) So if anyone wants to randomly show up at the game(s), it would be fun.

I'm off to town to collect thank you cards, maybe Chinese food, and just have general fun shopping with the girls. I have the urge to say "toodle-oo", but I won't.

---

For your viewing enjoyment:


That would be myself, Angel and Winnie, left to right.

Alright, I'm adding to my "already read" collection of books by reading more! Thus, I want a list of good books to read! If anyone has any recommendations, my ears are... all ears...

Lately, I've been reading through The Chronicles of Narnia for the millionth time... My recommendation is that if you haven't read them since you were little, you should again. It's amazing how much C.S. Lewis put in their for older readers about the Christian walk. In reading The Horse and His Boy, when Shasta is walking alone through the fog, lost, and Aslan comes up and walks with Shasta, I realized that Lewis was saying, even though we don't always know it, God is always walking beside us, even when we think we're lost. There are many other parallels that I've noticed, but maybe you've noticed them too, so I won't bore you with the details.

Also, in my spare time that I haven't been working, I've been "repairing" many of my paperbacks that have had long industrious lives of being read half a million times through. I'm also planning to get some uniformity with some of the uglier paperbacks so when my room is repainted and all, they will match somewhat.

Since I'm an avid lover of history and travel, I've decided to load my new room plan with old wall-hanging maps (like the ones Dad has upstairs), random "to whom it may concern" posters about lighthouses and maybe I'll be able to pick up some old odds-and-ends at various stores to accent the theme. I'm also looking for a very comfy chair that I can put in the corner to curl up and read on; Aliya won't let me have the one in her room.

I love having time for useless things...

And useful things, as I'm reading the Journey to the Heart booklets and learning a lot and very much looking forward to going later this month! Please pray for me during that time, that God would open up my ears and heart to what He has to say to me.

And now, off to clean up before my cousins come to be babysat!

Cami

Today, we picked up along 153, the "we" here referring to Cousin Cam, Aliya, Tony and myself. The garbage report is as follows...

• 4 bags full of garbage
• 2 half-filled bags of pop and beer cans
• 10 various species of road kill, including five deer, a bird, a possum, a black cat (which was actually more brown than black) and a number of other things...
  
• a diaper (Aliya picked it up)
• fiber-glass (nasty stuff)
• a five-gallon bucket with decomposing deer in it, crawling with maggots, ants and other "critters"
• things we wish were roadkill: 2 millipedes, 2 mice, ants, 3 ticks (on Cam and Tony)
• Grandma (she stopped to talk to us as she drove by and actually drove over the road-killed possum)
• a nice man who gave us 5 bucks for icecream and declared that we were great for doing it and how much he hates when people litter. We agreed.
• the nice man again after we'd gotten our slushies
• a lottery ticket, non-winning, we presumed and tossed it
• a ripped up speeding ticket (yeah, that's the way to deal with those, toss them out the window)
• a cardboard box or two
• tire rubber
• carpet
• deer bones (we left those lay, but Cam picked one up once, haha)
  

Let's leave it at that... Sorry if this is too disgusting, I'd just love for people to know how much litter is a nasty thing and that you should only throw biodegradable items out the window!

Thank you