When I have sheepishly admitted told people that I’m now writing a blog about Starlite, the first question is always “how come?”  My usual response is that there are so many funny things that happen to us that I want to make sure we start recording them because I am some of us are starting to get old.

The other reason is because these are the days of our small beginnings.  We’ve only been around for 5 years.  Granted, a lot has happened in those five years… but I can only imagine what will happen in the next 50.  I want to remember God’s instruction to not “despise the days of small beginnings” — but I do think it will be quite funny to look back over this blog one day and finally quit crying about laugh about the Great Starlite Flood of ’08.

It will be funny one day, right?  Interlings?  I need some reassurance here.

So, in the interest of not despising yet definitely recording our days of small beginnings, I’d like to give you a sneak peak into our to-do list for the next 18 hours:

1. Print, tie ribbon on and sort 600+ invitations for Twinkle, our elementary school program.

2. Deliver said invitations to 3 elementary schools before 7:45 a.m. Thursday morning.

3. Set-up entire office, including but not limited to: computers, 2 phone lines, furniture, files, etc.

4. Make reminder calls to approximately 300 girls to remind them that Sparkle begins again tomorrow (I knew I’d regret us having that snow day last week).

5. Prepare snacks and program materials for three Sparkle programs that will be running simultaneously tomorrow.

6. Feed my puppies.*

7. Answer the 72 emails that are currently impatiently waiting in my inbox.

*This is not necessarily related to Starlite, but a little reminder to oneself never hurts.

Now, I’m going to listen to what I preached above and not begin weeping and gnashing my teeth despise my list above.  I’m going to counter my list with 7 positive aspects related to each task.  My, doesn’t someone sound like they’re trying to continue procrastinating efficient!

Shall we begin?

1. Each fall, we make over 10,000 of these ribbon-adorned invitations.  So, in other words, I’m thankful that tonight’s quota is only at 600. 

2. Last semester, we only had 1 elementary school to deliver invitations to early in the morning.  This semester, we have not 1 but 2 new elementary schools to get to serve in — plus the one from last semester.  Interlings, that is a LOT of little girls!

3. We have an office to re-set-up (?).  Enough said.

4. Those phone calls to middle school darlings?  I have a feeling it will bring a whole lot of smiles to cute little faces.  They love it when they get a call from (gasp!) a college girl!

5. I’m really struggling with a positive aspect to preparing program supplies, mainly because this will involve processed nacho cheese.  And I think we’re all quite aware of how I feel about PNC.  How sad is it that I am familiar enough with it to give it an abbreviation?  Anyway… needing something to be thankful for here…. OH!  Got it!  I am thankful that there will be a volunteer that I can force to do this bless with this task.

6. I’m thankful that I have the sweetest, cutest little puppies.  Ever.  In the entire universe.  To infinity and beyond.  No take backs.

7. Well, at least I’ll be able to answer those emails in my pajamas in the middle of the night.  Come to think of it, I’m gonna put those little puppies to work.  We’ll divide it equally; Snuggles, Cuddles and I will all take a third of the emails.  We’ll be done in no time!

 Except I just remembered they only type with their paws.  Glory.

This week’s WSW actually comes from last semester — according to the instant message log on my computer, our lovely Laura and I had this conversation on October 27, 2007.  I’ve changed our IM names to protect the procrastinators our innocence, but the rest of the conversation is exactly how it appeared that fateful day…

LauraLOVE1: how ’bout i have been staring at the same page of my paper for 3 hours… and i’m not getting anywhere…

ABstars7 is currently away: “at the library.” 

ABstars7: i’m here.  how about i’m actually on myspace. 

LauraLOVE1: i’m on facebook.

ABstars7: we are pathetic.

LauraLOVE1: amen.

ABstars7: how did the let us into college?

LauraLOVE1: i really don’t know cause i am the worst student ever

LauraLOVE1: this paper is like four days late… ahahahahahahahahahaha

ABstars7: yeah, mine is like a couple of days cough weeks late.

ABstars7: and i haven’t even written the first word.

LauraLOVE1: um, yea.  i haven’t finished reading the article that my paper is on but i have watched three movies since yesterday.  i have a problem.

Well said, my young-academic-genius-who-has-her-priorities-in-order.  Well said.

When I was a wee little girl, I would caution everyone that left our house “Uoo beeee careful out dere.  Dis cold, dark and wainy” which translates to ”You be careful out there.  Its cold, dark and rainy.”

I believe I will print out those words of wisdom and post them on the front door of the Starlite office.  Except I’ll need to change the “out there” part to “in here.”

Ladies and gentlemen ladies, we had a flood yesterday in the Starlite office.

Here’s how it went down: around lunchtime, I left the office to go grab some lunch.  I was gone for a mere 10, maybe 15 minutes.  As I’m unlocking the door to get back into the office, I hear water running and realize that someone has left the showerhead running. 

The only problem being that there is no showerhead in the Starlite office.

I raced into the office and was met with a good two inches of water across our beautiful hardwood floors.  Because of the way the house slants, the water had not made it to the front of the house but was pooling in the back room… right where I had put my two puppies in their playpen before leaving for lunch.

You know that motherly instinct that Boomama and Big Mama write about?

I found that instinct and I found it quickly.

Snuggles was barking, Cuddles was crying and they were both shaking — I’m not sure if it was from fear or from the cold water spraying from the ceiling fan and leaking through the ceiling.  I pulled them out of their playpen, grabbed my cell phone and sent a text to some of our leaders that I needed help at the office and I needed it RIGHT THEN.

Cate, whom you may remember is on cheese-cleaning-duty this week, was the first to show up.  She came running in the office, took one look at the water and uttered a few things that I won’t repeat on this family-friendly blog.

In the interest of full disclosure, allow me to admit that several of these same sentiments had poured from my mouth a few moments earlier when I realized that the water was pouring directly onto the supplies we had just purchased for our programs that start this week.

Which is a nice way of saying “Yes, I said a few naughty words as well.”  Of this, I am not proud.  I did, however, not say them within earshot of any small children nor any small puppies.  Before you pull the splinter out of my eye, let me pour gallons of water into your office and then listen to see if I hear any hallelujahs flowing from your lips.

Before long, a whole bushel of volunteers had arrived along with someone from our utilities company.  Cate and I had shut off both the water and electricity to the house, so there wasn’t much more he could do other than casually remark that there was a good chance that the ceilings in three of the four rooms in our office were likely to cave in at any moment.

It was, I’ll admit, just the reassuring words I needed to hear.

So, we began lugging our stuff into the front yard.  Everything we could lift, pull or drag made it into the front yard — and quite unceremoniously if I might add.  At one point, people began walking through our yard asking how much we were asking for our computers. 

By this time, some of our girls had seized the opportunity came up with the idea of calling some of our male friends to come help with the mass exodus.  J, C, W and yet another C showed up, ready to take control of the situation with their manly selves.

And the girls?  They took control of the situation using the zoom feature on their cameras.  Apparently watching boys crawl up ladders into our attic is more fun than SAVING OUR FILES. 

Oh, I kid because I only wished I could do the same.  Can’t believe I left my camera at home on such an important day of my life.

Moving on.

The rest of the story is kind of what you’d expect — as soon as we got everything onto the front lawn, the plumber tells me that it is safe to bring it back inside as long as I can get it to fit into one room of the house.  While the boys began lugging it back inside, the girls began going through the piles of files looking for the information we need for this week.

Because?  Did I mention?  Our programs are starting this week?

As we were going through the files, one of the girls suggested that we sing a song to make ourselves feel better.  Another girl piped up with the suggestion that we join together for a chorus of “When You’re Going Through H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks, Keep on Goin’.”

It was a sweet, tender moment in the Starlite office.

So, we have no usable office at the moment unless you count the backseat of my two-door car.  The power has to stay cut off until everything is dried out which, according to our plumber, could take a few days.  Meanwhile, we get the pleasure of going forth with our planned programs for this week including figuring out just where we’re going to put those high school girls that will be showing up for a dessert Bible study this evening.

Does anyone know where you can purchase a mid-sized Ark that has room for some high school girls and two adorable puppies?

One of the highlights (well, at least for me) of this past weekend was all of us going to my home church for Sunday morning service.  We were all sporting our matching Starlite sweatshirts (pretend there’s a picture right here), so it was pretty obvious that we were a group even though there was around 1,000 people in this service alone.  The pastor introduced us to the congregation and had us stand.  He mentioned us a couple of times in the sermon, but it was what he said near the end of the sermon that made me jump a bit in my seat.

He was discussing how God will call certain people to do different things regardless of their age.  He’s well aware that I’m only 23, so he mentioned how me being so young and yet called to do what I do requires that I act differently than other people my age.  He’s absolutely right, of course.  I’m just glad he didn’t see me three hours before when I was laying in the bed pulling the covers over my head when Andi told me I really HAD to get out of bed and start getting ready for church since everyone else was already up and ready to go.  

Ahem.

At one point in the sermon, he was talking about how Christ in our lives helps us — that a metamorphosis occurs.  Darling Cate, our oldest and brattiest perkiest Starlite leader, leaned over and motioned that she wanted to whisper something to me.  While I expected to hear some comment she had on the sermon, here’s what I heard instead:

“I’m going to ask you to spell metamorphosis later.”

See, our cute little Cate thinks it is funny to ask me random academic questions (and YES IT IS AN ACADEMIC QUESTION), especially if she thinks I have no idea what the answer is — but only when we’re in groups of people.  Case in point: recently Cate spent about 15 minutes quizzing me on US History while we waited for dinner at a local restaurant. 

Since when is it important that I be able to name the past eight presidents?  Really now.

True to her word, as soon as we we seated for lunch yesterday, Cate began whipping out the questions:

“Spell metamorphosis.”

“No.”

“Amy Beth… spell it!”

“Okay.  M-e-t-a-p-h-o-r-i-s.”

Insert manic laughing from entire table.

Then, she began asking me questions from our “Shark Educational Class” that I forced all of the girls to sit through we happily attended at the aquarium on Saturday.

“Name two of the ten types of sharks we learned about yesterday.”

“The flesh-eating and the vegetable-eating ones.”

“Incorrect.”

Insert more manic laughing here.

I may not be able to name those presidents, spell that stupid word or name some silly shark species…

… but I do get to assign who has to clean out the nacho cheese containers this week. 

Cate?  My love?  Better bring your rubber gloves.

Definitely insert manic laughter here.

I think the title says it all.

But, of course, I’ll say more.  You’re so welcome.

The last time I left you, we had just divided up to hit the spa, aquarium and outlet mall.   One of the girls from the spa group called me from the actual spa bathroom to tell me (and I quote) “This was the best experience of my life.”  Then, one of the girls from the shopping group sent me a text that read “We are buying Gap out.”

And, for some reason, I felt prouder of these girls that ever before.

HOWEVER, I think we are all aware that the best group trip was the one to the aquarium.  Not only did we see a whole lot of fishies (remember, I don’t believe in “real words”), but we got to pet them!  The fact that three of us almost fell in the sting ray tank is of little concern. 

Late last night, as I pleaded with the girls in my suite to please just GO TO SLEEP FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYTHING PRECIOUS, I happened to mention that I had updated the bloggy earlier.  Three of them, God bless their souls, jumped up and went straight to my computer to read it.  To my happy surprise, they actually giggled several times while they read… there are several reasons this may have happened:

Option A: They are hoping to win my lifelong affection by pretending I’m funny.

Option B: They really don’t want to be put on bathroom cleaning duty at the next lock-in.

Option C: They were pretending to read my blog while actually whispering about their ideas of how to keep me up all night.

You decide.

After waking up at the crack of dawn because I was so excited about today’s surprises, I decided to go ahead and get everyone up.  I sang my own version of “Good Morning Beautiful” to the girls… they were saying naughty words thrilled.

After breakfast, flat irons and plenty of lip gloss, we met in the hotel lobby for Round 2 of surprises!  We divided them into three groups: one group is on their way to a spa for massages and facials; another group was given cash to use at an outlet mall that has over 100 stores (they HAVE to use all the money today and they have to use it on them!) and the last group is going to an indoor aquarium and then out for a fancy dessert.  I, of course, am chaperoning the aquarium group because I love anything aquatic.

 Very sad, yet true.  Hmm.  Note to self: get a life new hobby.

Time to slip on my winter warmies…

Slooooooowest internet access EVER, so short post.

Highlights of trip so far:

Once we took the interstate exit to the town we were at earlier tonight, the girls each got to open a letter that contained clues about where we were going.  The girls in my car concluded that we were going to “a Roman bath place to take baths together.  And that’s just gross!”   Needless to say, that was NOT where we were headed.

We went to a lovely store called Bath Junkie — basically, you get to make your own products.  The girls each got to make two products… plus pick out a rubber ducky!  We were there for almost two hours… had a great time.  Everyone has plenty of shower gel, bubble bath, body mist and lotion to last awhile!

After a quick but fun dinner at a local burger place, we headed to the town where we’re staying this weekend.  Get this — our hotel has TWO indoor pools… even better, they’re open 24 HOURS A DAY!  We already look like prunes — the hot tub was calling our names!

But now — now I’m going to try to get some sleep.  Unlikely, but possible… maybe?

In approximately 3.5 hours, I am doing something absolutely ridiculous loading up 18 college-aged girls and taking them on a weekend retreat. 

Suddenly, my out-of-college-self feels quite old.  It is like I have somehow slipped from the “youth group participant” to the “youth group worker who has to carry around permission forms and remind everyone to use their buddy system.”  I’m even having my childhood BFF, whom I have deemed “French Fry” for bloggy-use, come to part of the retreat to help me keep things in control.  French Fry?  Are you out there?  We are old.

Ahem. 

I wish I could tell you where we’re going, but in the interest of, well, common bloggy sense, I won’t be able to disclose that information.  I will tell you that it is somewhere much colder than our current location… and somewhere a bit larger as well. 

I really wish I could tell you what we’re doing this weekend, but there’s an awful lot of girls going on this retreat that log onto this here bloggy and now that would just ruin the surprise.

So, what I’m trying to say is that this post is entirely pointless. 

Knowing this, I am bound and determined to rescue this poor excuse for a blog post, so INTERLINGS!  ALL THREE OF YOU WHO READ THIS BLOG!  I HAVE AN ANNOUCMENT:

All of the surprises I have planned for my girlies?  I’ll update the bloggy throughout the weekend to let you know how they go over.  Or, how they fail miserably.  Either way…  watch this space.

 I leave you with their excitement, best represented through a message I got from my adorable Andi this morning:

“I seriously have, like, ants in my pants right here in class… I want to be there NOW!”

Come to think of it, instead of watching this space for updates, perhaps all three of you should spend the time seeking the Lord for my sanity while I take my 18 pretty little ducklings on this trip. 

 I’m gonna need it.

One quick glance at the sky told me that last night would be the night — the sky just had that “snow look.”  You know, all bleak and beautiful at the same time.  So, I did what any good southern girl would do…

 I headed straight to the grocery store.

The line of cars in the parking lot made me rethink my plan of stocking up on all the important staples.  I knew we really didn’t have much to eat at our apartment though, so I headed to Walgreen’s.  Surprisingly, there weren’t too many people doing their snow-grocery-shopping in the two aisles that make up the food section of my local drugstore.  Undeterred, I grabbed a basket and began making my selections.

 Remembering how I had planned to fix a big breakfast-for-dinner-thing-y for recent-ex-boyfriend-and-no-I-don’t-think-I’d-like-to-talk-about-it-but-thanks-for-asking, I decided there was no reason to give up that dream now that I’m as single as a slice of cheese.  I simply needed to adjust the plan a bit; in other words, keep the bacon and eggs, substitute Oreos for the boyfriend part.

 And presto!  My basket was filled within three minutes and I was headed to the register.  As the cashier began to scan my items, she asked if I was stocking up for the “big snow.”  Knowing that we were slated to get 1/2 an inch of snow, I nodded in agreement.  No need to burden the sweet girl with the knowledge that I was simply stocking up for another night to be spent at the Heartbreak Hotel. 

Oh, I kid because I really did want to hold mitten-covered hands in the snow.  And, you know, maybe kiss while the flakes came down.

 A KISS ON THE CHEEK, of course.  What kind of girl do you take me for?

Come to think of it, if I’m going to be staying at the Heartbreak Hotel for awhile, I might as well stay for lunch — “Bitter, party of one!”

… I’m actually hoping we won’t have a snow day tomorrow.

To understand how serious of a statement this is, you must remember that I’m the girl who used to set her alarm to wake her up every 15 minutes to see if it had snowed enough that school would be called off the next day.  But then again, that was just last year back when I was in third grade.

I’ve got a good reason to hope for no snow though — tomorrow is supposed to be the first day back for our middle school program, Sparkle.  If the white stuff keeps falling tonight, I have a feeling we’re not going to be doing any sparkl-ing tomorrow. 

But oh we will be doing some sledding…

 Edited to add: Woke up at 4:15 a.m. to find out that ONE of our school systems is closed… now, just waiting for the other one to make up their mind.  If they don’t close as well, it is going to be a bit awkward when I send one group of volunteers outside with sleds and the other group out with containers of processed cheese.  I’m imagining some jealousy might occur………..