Housekeeping Is Not For Pansies.

    Well I am about halfway through my summer and it has been going pretty well. I can't say that I have done anything super interesting or spectacular. My days have gotten pretty monotonous. In fact, I can give you an exact rundown of what I do all day, every day, 5 days a week. But I wont bore you with all of that. Instead, I will share with you some of the things I have learned in the past 7 weeks. I haven't come across any life changing revelations or anything like that, but I have made some observations that I will share with you now.

1. There is a huge difference between 6:00 and 6:10 (the snooze button can be the best and the worst thing in the world all at the same time.)
2. Radio theater is awesome. Anna (my cousin who also works housekeeping) and I have been listening to books on our way to and from work and I love them! We just finished The Screwtape Letters and are starting on The Chronicles of Narnia. It is really cool to hear the books acted out. Plus, all of the actors have British accents, so that adds to the enjoyment.
3. Even if your job is not all that fun. it can be great as long as your coworkers are good. In case you are curious, my coworkers are awesome.
4. Calling your morning break "tea time" makes it seem a lot more classy (along with our British radio theater, Anna and I have adopted some British phrases into our every day conversation, along with the accent when we are feeling extra classy)
5. A 30 minute lunch break and 30 minutes of work are two very different lengths of time. 
6. Housekeeping is not for pansies. I have cuts and scrapes and bruises from moving furniture, the chemicals destroy my nails and we all work hard. We have learned to clean well and clean fast. It can be a tough job, but it can also be so much fun. But seriously, it is 8 hours of physical labor.

   This really has been a pretty great summer so far. I don't dread going to work every day like I expected. I actually enjoy working. I don't like waking up, but I get over that pretty quickly as the day gets started. And I have guaranteed hours every week, and I get vacation time, and we got to have a retreat day at The Oaks. Okay so yeah, this job is awesome.
    To end this post, I will give you a nice Grumpy Cat visual of how I feel when my alarm goes off in the morning. I really do hate it.
 
 

Freshman Year is Over.

Well, I am officially finished with my first year of college. That really doesn't feel possible, but I guess it must be. I feel like I should post something supper deep about all that I learned this year and the amazing friends I made and all that junk, but I don't really feel like it. I did learn a lot and I made some wonderful friends, but I don't feel like talking about it. So, instead I am going to show you my school year in pictures, and you can be as philosophical as you want in your interpretation of them (but seriously, don't. Just enjoy them.) Most of these pictures are stolen from my awesome cousin Charlotte. Without her, I would have no photo evidence  that I even came to college. So here we go.

Speaking of Char, here is the first picture we took as official Bethel Students.  So exciting!

This is a picture of my room right after I moved in. Notice how clean it is? Yeah, that changed.

Good times during freshman orientation, hanging out at the Helm cause we thought we were cool.

Choir! I loved singing with these lovely people. You know you have it good when "family" is the first word that comes to mind when you think of your choir.

Freezing at a soccer game? Totally worth it! Hooray for school spirit!
No but seriously, it was cold.

We all fit in one bath tub. I guess that's pretty cool, right?

The coolest Hoodrats you will ever meet.
(The book behind Char and me is called "The Mormon People" and I find that incredibly humorous. 

Yay for friends!

Midnight Breakfast! We got second place with out Awkward Family Photo.

Not sure if this was actually taken during finals week, but this is a pretty accurate description of how we all felt during our first college finals week. 

Before I got my hair cut.

After. I donated 11 inches!

We went out to dinner to spend our winnings from Midnight Breakfast and celebrate my birthday. We had an awesome waitress who got in the picture with us. 

Mach For Life in Washington, D.C! It was freezing, but it was amazing. 

This girl. We were sort of forced into friendship with our partner research paper for block (we both still shudder when were think about it), and I will forever be thankful for that. We went from sort of friends to best friends to future roommates, and it is awesome. This is probably the only good thing that came from that paper. 

Murder Mystery Party with the college group from church.

We bought a baby chicken in Chapel! 

Midnight Breakfast, take two. This time as Pinterest. And we won second place again! I got to be Grumpy Cat!

Well, that is it. Now I have to pack up my room, say my goodbyes, and go home. It is definitely bittersweet. And now, to end the last post of the school year, I will give you this:

Get off my blog!

A summer job and a great big God

Well, what I though would happen did happen. I wrote two posts, then pretty much gave up. It's not that I don't want to write, it's that I can never think of anything to write about. So maybe I wont post every week, at least not while I am still in school (Only 3 more weeks!!) But I have a free minute, and I thought I would take some time to share what has been on my mind lately.

First, I want to talk about the fact that I got a job for the summer! I will be doing housekeeping at Bethel for the whole summer, and I am very happy. Sure, I will only get paid minimum wage and I have to start work at 7 am every morning, but I am guaranteed hours and there is a bonus at the end of the summer. So yeah, I am pretty excited. I'm not really sure how I am going to convince myself that waking up that early is worth it. Maybe my first paycheck will help.

I was talking to my grandma about my plans for the summer and in all of her grandmotherly wisdom she said something that has stuck on my mind. She told me that God has always been one step ahead of me, working out the details of my life for my good. The past year or so has brought this truth to light more than I would have ever expected. I applied to Bethel confident that God wanted me to go here. I had some thoughts about applying to other schools. My grandma was pretty insistent that I should try for a state school that would have been more affordable, or one that would offer me a better scholarship, but I felt firmly that God wanted me at Bethel. So I only applied here. I was accepted, and suddenly the realization hit me: I was going to have to come up with some way to pay for tuition to a private college. The numbers were staggering to me. I had a lot of doubts as thoughts of the ridiculous amount of debt that I would have to take on filled my mind. But God made a way, and I have almost completed my freshman year without any debt whatsoever. My text books have even been paid for!

This whole situation, along with the whole job thing (and a lot of other stuff that I don't have time or space to tell you about) have just made me so grateful to God for what He does. He proves His faithfulness to me in little ways everyday, even when I don't feel particularly faithful or deserving. When I stop to think about it, I am just blown away. God truly is good.

And now, to end this post, Grumpy Cat is going to show you how I feel about waking up early everyday this summer.

Ain't that the truth.

The obligatory "about me" post

Wait, two posts in two days? What am I, some sort of super-blogger? Actually I am done with my calculus homework (I am just as surprised as you are) and I have nothing to do. It is nice to have something to do other than mindlessly scroll through the humor board on Pinterest. So maybe it will turn out that there will be tons of posts on this blog and I really will become famous. Haha, but seriously, I think I will do more than these two posts! I am going to try to do at least one per week. Oh, I also changed the background of my blog. The birds are more classy, don't you think?

So what will this one be about? I think I will use this to tell you a little about me. If you are my friend then you probably know a lot of this, but maybe there will be something that surprises you. If you are a random stranger reading this, I'm not really sure if I should be creeped out or honored. I think I am more creeped out. (fun fact: according to the spell check on my computer, "creeped" is not a word. I feel that this is inaccurate information)

Okay, so about me. Should this be a list? I think I will make a list.
1. My name is Kara Nicole Walterhouse. Apparently my mom thought that would be an original name. I guess I don't know too many Kara's, but I am definitely not the only one. Oh, also it is pronounced care-a, not car-a. Seriously people, it isn't that difficult. And the middle name: Nicole... original? I'm pretty sure that 95% of the girls born in the 90's have Nicole as there middle name. Or Marie. I do like my name, although I am wondering what it will sound like when I'm an old lady. But that's a whole other thing.
2. There are some who would say that my real name is Florence. To them I would say, don't worry, I will not forget my true name.
3. I am a Math Education major. Why math? Because I like it. I know that most people who are reading this think I am crazy. I usually get a weird look the when the word "math" comes out after the words "My major is...", but whatever, I like it.
4. I go to Bethel College, which is pretty much the coolest place ever. Sure there are restrictions against dancing... and R rated movies... and sharing a blanket with the opposite sex ("blanketing" as we call it)... and we have a curfew. But I really do love it. I know that this is where God wants me to be. There a good people here who fill my life with happiness. Who cares if we can't do unbethical things?
5. I really love to sing. I just love music in general. I've been in choirs since middle school, and the choir at Bethel has been one of the highlights of my freshman year. I wouldn't say I am a great solo singer or anything (unless I am by myself), but if you need some harmony to back up that great soloist, I'm your girl.
6.I seriously have the greatest friends I could ever imagine. Some I have met at school, others I have had since I was younger. Some double as my cousins, and one happens to be my little brother. I am not going to mention any names because I know I would forget someone and then I would feel bad. If you are reading this and you think I am talking about you then I probably am. Unless you are creepy (Kyle, don't worry, I know you are creepy. You can still be my friend)
7. I am a horrific speller. Seriously, I don't know what I would do without spell check. Sometimes I google things when I am hand-writing something so I don't misspell it. I think my problem is that I second guess myself all the time, then I end up with the wrong spelling. Sometimes spell check doesn't even know what I am trying to say. When that happens, I usually just change the word. I thought that "each other" was one word until about a month ago, I am not kidding. It's a problem.
8. Like it says in the "About Me" thing on the side, sometimes technology confuses me. Maybe it is more accurate to say that I don't always trust technology. I am a little paranoid about getting a virus on my computer, so if something I am doing requires a download I usually exit out as quick as I can, even if it would be perfectly safe. Yes, I have all the virus protection stuff (thanks to my tech-savvy little brother), but I am still paranoid. Also, when I am working on math problems using a calculator, I will sometimes work out a problem by hand because I don't trust the calculator's answer. I almost always get the same answer (when I don't I am usually wrong). It's whatever.
9. I'm not really sure if I am an introvert or and extrovert. I think I am somewhere in-between  There are times that I don't want to talk to anyone and I just want to sit on my bed and drink tea and listen to music without anyone around me. There are other times where I just want to talk to someone, or even being around people makes me feel better. It's weird.
10. I used to think that I hated action movies. I was a rom-com girl all the way. However, now that I have watched a few action movies, I have found that I love them. I still love my chick-flicks, but now I enjoy watching movies with big battles and gun fights. And superheros.

Well I think that is enough for now. This is getting really long. I still don't know how to end a post, so I think I will again use the assistance of my good friend Grumpy Cat.

seriously, my favorite thing

Well, I started a blog...

Today while I was taking a shower, I decided to start a blog.  There isn't any particular reason for this, it just sounded fun I guess. Maybe I did it to add to my list of things that I can use to procrastinate on my homework. I don't know if this is something that will last. Maybe I will post all the time, or maybe I will do it twice then forget (kind of like my twitter, which I used for about a week before I gave up. Ain't nobody got time for that.) It is possible that I will enjoy this so much that I will post everyday and become some famous blogger with links all over Pinterest, and I will quit school and make millions. That is unlikely, but hey, it could happen.

I'm not really sure what all I will talk about. I guess I will just let whatever happens happen and see where I end up. Like I said, I don't really have a plan. This just seemed like a fun idea. So, if you are reading this (which makes you awesome, by the way), then I hope you enjoy my rantings. If you aren't reading this... well  I suppose it doesn't make sense for me to be talking to you, so never mind.

Okay, I guess that is all I have to say. I hope that you have an exceptional day filled with productivity and good things. Okay, let's be honest, the productivity thing probably won't happen, at least not for me. But it can still be a good day, right?

 I'm not really sure how to end this. Do I say goodbye? Do I end with some witty comment that makes anyone who did actually read this want to read all future posts? I don't know. I guess I will figure all of that out as I go. So for now I will just end like this...

                                    (Grumpy Cat is seriously my favorite thing right now)