I'm a Nonresolutionar.

And that is totes a word.

  SO usually I do some resolutions and think I'm gonna commit to them and then two weeks later I'm ridden with guilt cause I haven't raised a finger to do anything on the list I wrote down. I've resolved this year to not make resolutions.

   I'm just gonna try and strenghten my friendships and be more of myself around people. And I'm sorry my posts have been so short recently, I have had no time to think or process anything. Which is partly these kids' faults.

 Internet, meet Zadak and Briah. They are beautiful.

Over and out.
Love,
Cailin

Video of the Day:

This guy is brilliant. 

Shoutout of the Day:
   Whoever told me mountain lions roam around here. You know who you are. I look behind me now, I refuse to be eaten by a lion. Come at me cat. On second thought, JK please just stay up in the mountains eating rams and lost souls.

 

Conflicted

Hey guys!

So I watched Les Miserables on stage and it was three hours of absolute beauty...and and goodness. And as everyone knows, it has come out in theaters and I want to see it, but I'm afraid it's not going to be good. AND I REALLY REALLY WANT IT TO BE GOOD CAUSE HUGH JACKMAN IS IN IT.

Anywho, that's all I got today.
Over and out.
Love,
Cailin

Video of the Day:

You knew this was coming. 

I am one thankful girl.

'Sup. 

 So I've been pretty awful when it comes to posting content and I am very sorry about that. 

It's just there's so much time that is taken up when you move. 

Forreals. 

So, yeah. MOVING ON. 

Things I am Thankful for (in no particular order):

 1. My family.  I would be completely lost without them. I love them dearly and can't imagine life without them. 

2. My friends and mentors. I'm talking about friends I've made in every state I've been in. I LOVE Y'ALL. My life would be absolutely dull and sad without you.

3. My cat, Cimber. I didn't like cats much before meeting you. Now, I welcome cats with open arms, and it's all cause of you. You sexy beast. 

5. My small group. Over the years, I have had many great small groups. However, this group has been a bit like family, and they have made this move much smoother than it might've been without. For example, when they heard my mom didn't plan on having a baby shower, they threw one for her! I think they're wonderful.

6. My opportunities. As a middle class American, I am blessed for a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I am also given the privilege of going to a decent school. And I can go to church without being persecuted for it. 

So yeah. That's all. Happy holidays!

Over and out.

Love, 

Cailin 

Video of the Day: 

I found this thought-provoking. 

Shoutout of the Day: 

I found this awesome blogger who posts as infrequently as I do! She's hilarious. Check her out! 

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

Fall Break: Reunions and Mountains

So last week I had a fall break(yay!).

And well...would you like to hear what happened that week? 

Thought you would.

   That Friday afterschool my dad came and picked me and my sibs up from my mom's. This sounds pretty normal, but considering I hadn't seen him in seven months; it didn't feel normal, it felt surreal. We hung out, we talked, we laughed, we caught up on what  each other was doing in each our lives' and we laughed some more. It was good. 

   On Wednesday, he dropped us off and we headed to this Halloween/Harvest Festival thing at my church. I didn't really dress up, I wore a Green Lantern shirt and jeans, because I'm classy like that. I ran into my friends and we hung out and helped out and hung out some more. Then the group I was hanging out with was sweet enough to invite me to go to Village Inn (pie place/restaurant) with them. I talked my parents into letting me go and then we were off! And I had a lot of fun, I hadn't gone out with any friends since July...it was a breath of fresh air. 

   Thursday my family and I drove up to a mountain cabin that belonged to some friends of ours and let me tell you: mountains are pretty, but they hurt. I had a monster of a headache, and just felt, terrible.They had a sign on the wall that said, "The closer you are to the mountains, the closer you are to heaven." Well, God knows I'm a sinner. In spite of it all, I enjoyed myself, but I'm a city girl at heart.

SO YEAH. That was what I was up to.

Over and out.

Love, 

Cailin Rogers

Video of the Day:

Shoutout of the Day: Well nothing big today, I was just having an absolutely awful day and a friend of mine was sweet enough to stop and give me a hug. It made my day. And I thought one of my friends was transferring to another school, but he's not, so that is lovely. That's all folks!

Another AP Lang bit

DISCLAIMER: To any unschoolers out there I apologize if I offend, I'm just an ignorant kid who needed something to write about and pick on.

Thinking Outside of the Pencil Box

by Cailin Rogers

    I was taught from a very young age one important fact. It was common sense, something that seemed to just be part of life. Homeschoolers are smarter than public school kids. I was too little to read it from a media source, how did I know this fact so innately?
    One could infer that my tiny ears picked it up at 'co-op,' an organization created by moms for homeschooled kids. Or from my friends. Or from my parents.

You see, I was homeschooled until fifth grade.

   I am very familiar with homeschooling and public school. And I think in scenarios with good variables, both work.Then I heard of unschooling, which I was unaware of it's existence. It's proper definition is a "lack of schooling" and that definition is frightfully unhelpful in depicting what it actually is. Basically, unschooling is when mothers allow their kids to learn what they wish. Children decide what they do for the day, and children decide exactly what they learn. These kids have never touched a textbook or taken a test; they act as if school systems don't exist. Many of these parents don't set rules for their kids.
   When I first heard of this, I thought, my God, these kids are living the dream. Then I thought about the future of these unschooled kids. Their parents give them no boundaries, so they will have a harder time understanding that no, you can't go as fast as you want on the road, and other rules set by the government. They've never taken a test or studied a textbook, so how will they get into a good college, if they are even literate enough to fill the application. And say they get into college, they will be competing against kids that have been using textbooks and taking tests since they could stand up...I wonder how they will succeed in life?
   My opinion? Homeschooling=Smiley face. Unschooling=? Well, don't ask them, no one taught them math.

Coloradans..wait..Coloradoans?

HOLY HABERDASHY BATMAN! -Robin

   Guys, guys, it has been too long. But I have a good excuse, I moved into my new house and have spent every other minute unpacking or doing homework. It's great.

    Today though my topic will not involve either of those; today, I will be talking about a family with an aversion to cowmilk.

    You see before moving into our lovely new home, my family stayed with another family at their lovely home until we could close on our house. It was...an interesting experience. After getting my dinner plate, and turning around to find my dinner plate mysteriously gone with alot of innocence in the air...I knew I'd get along with these folks.
  
   It was alot of fun living with them; I mean honestly when I met Heather I was thrilled to meet someone just as dramatic me. I had to learn that no, you don't hug Matt and calling the petbird Sushi is generally frowned upon. I discovered the way of the gluten free and how one goes about that path (a good three-fourths of the family is gluten intolerant). I discovered that in 2012 people still write letters, Ben writes them! And Elisa likes chocolate and cherry cake (ew, still love you Elisa). I learned that Mr. Steve is a Republican after his third joke about Democrats (which WAS NOT nice). I learned that Mrs. Jennifer lived in two different countries. And you can imagine what they learned about me...

     There was quite a bit of joking around, quite a bit of teasing, and quite a bit of personal conversations and growing together as two families.

And well, I hate to say this so others can gloat (*cough* *cough*) but I might kind of possbly miss y'all. It's weird not having as many people to tease or be teased by.


Over and out.
Love,
Cailin

Video of the Day:

I thought this was very creative, and well, brilliant.

Shoutout of the Day:

To all the people at my church that have befriended me and made me feel so welcome, y'all are awesome. You guys make my Sundays awesome and warm fuzzy days. Thank you. 

What Grown-folks Teach

Another opinion piece written by me for AP Lang. Enjoy!

What Grown-folks Teach
by Cailin Rogers

Trust me, as much as I would love to rip my claws into the debate and have people lose respect for me merely for making scathing remarks, I don't want blood on my hands. This unfortunately leaves me with zero writing ideas. Let's see...abortion, already done...homosexuality…written...obviously, everything is taken!
    Aha! Now, what better topics to expand upon, then on what our very dear mommies and daddies and aunties and uncles have taught us? What little golden nuggets of knowledge have they lovingly placed into our hands? (And by our hands I mean our American hands.)
    Firstly and lastly. The Alpha and Omega piece of wisdom that they wish to give us: Money is God. Family matters, of course, but Money is what matters most. Why else would there not be a national limit to how many hours you work? Why it seems your life revolves around dollars and cents, how much you are reminded the amount it costs for you to just stand there. Understand the fact that you live on a ladder called career, and you must constantly be looking at the rung above yours. It is your moral obligation that at Thanksgiving and during the holidays you look at a rung below yours, but by January 1^st, your eye better be on the top rung.  
    In sequential order with the last tidbit, stuff is important. By stuff I mean houses, cars, computers, horse-drawn carriages, and you better pray to Money if you don’t have the most recent iPhone.  Make sure you have more or as much as your neighbor. This may be difficult if you and your neighbors haven’t spoken a word since your neighbor knocked on your door and you promptly discovered at six on a Saturday morning, that he was a Jehovah’s Witness, and he discovered you wore pajama pants with duckies on them. Be sneaky, peek through windows and make sure you always have a trusty pair of binoculars with you. Send your children to borrow cups of sugar, and then interrogate them on the inside of the neighbors’ home.  Remember, stuff is imperative to life.  
    Comparisons are also part of life. It is totally okay for you to look at a celebrity and compare the size of your anatomy to his/hers because that body part is totally real. It is also okay for you to have a low self-esteem and feel the need to change yourself, because honey, even models think they’re fat. I mean, if it wasn't why would our magazines, TV, and the beautiful wonderful Internet be covered with images of these individuals and ways for us to cure this apparent ailment?  This is also a challenge, you can have her size thighs, haven’t you heard if there’s a will there’s a way? Achieve this challenge, and all doors will be opened, you will be the life of every gathering you attend.
    The final parting words on every dying adult’s lips are two words. Be yourself.  No matter what that entails, getting a tattoo you’ll regret when your 35? Go for it. Experimenting with sketchy substances? Proud of you. Risk being stuck paying child support for an ungodly amount of time? You go kid. Because you’re being yourself, and as long as you’re being yourself, no harm no foul, no wrong can come from you being yourself.  
   So there you have it peers, all the things you are being taught by grownups. Now, all you have to do is pass that onto your children. They’ll appreciate it, I guarantee.

NOTE: The author's parental units have not taught her these values. Although the author has had to knock on a neighbor's door and awkwardly ask for two eggs because her mother refused to go all the way to the grocery store for two eggs.