The Offer of a Lifetime!

Friends, family, stalkers, and strangers alike: I have an announcement to make!
I have decided to start my own business. Using my own enterprise and capitalizing off of a skill which I proudly possess, I have decided to share with you my endeavors so you may benefit from it also!

I have decided to become a professional book labeler.
Here's my pitch:

Are you an avid reader?
A college student?
A teacher who loans out books to students?
An overly possessive person who is afraid to share?
Or do you just have a lot of books?

If you answered, "YES!" to any of these questions, then today is your lucky day!
I am offering my services to use a permanent marker and write your name on the edge of your books! That's right, you heard me! You can solve all of your personal property problems by simply having your name on the top, side, or bottom edge of the outside of your books!
No more wondering if that book is yours!
No more feelings of poverty, or like you don't have any possessions.
With your name proudly displayed on your books, everyone will know to whom they belong!

For $0.10 a book, I can solve all of your nameless book related problems!
For this simple skinny, shiny silver coin, you get the following:

• Your name, in large capital letters, uniformly displayed on the edge of your books.
• If you choose to label numerous books, each will be consistent with the next.
• Your name will be spelled correctly.
• You can choose what color you would like from a vast supply of Sharpie (TM) markers.

And now, for a limited time, if you contact me through this advertisement your price is only $0.05!!!! That's a steal, folks!

And here are just a couple of reasons why you want to hire me to label your books:

• You'll have more time to spend with your friends and family.
• You don't have to worry about tricky curved letters looking all funny and lopsided (remember, I am an expert).
• You won't have so suffer debilitating hand cramps from hours of book-labeling.
• You're supporting capitalism, and our economy.

If you are interested, contact me through this ad and I would love to talk with you more personally about our new partnership!

Bringing in the Tithe

These past few weeks at church, our preacher has been talking about tithing.

What's funny about tithing is that for some reason I never thought it applied to me. I was always taught to give to God, but the 10% thing wasn't mandatory. I was always under the impression that when you give to God, you give what you can. And stories like the one about the lady bringing her two copper coins in, while the rich guy brought his handfulls of money sort of fell in line with what I always thought. I don't have much, so God must understand when I give to him when I am able to.

That's how I thought things worked until a couple years ago. Now mind you, I still never believed tithing really ever applied. However, I came to the realization that when I trusted in God to provide for me, it was foolish to not give to him out of my blessings. And when I gave back to him, he seemed to continue to provide. It was a pretty sweet deal. It was nice to see a connection between suddenly having enough money to give because I had given trusting that I would be provided for.

This lesson got even a little deeper last year when I encountered God's providence on more than one occasion as a direct result of praying for it. You can read a little more about it here: http://pancakesandtea.blogspot.com/2007/07/short-and-sweet.html

But still, in my church background, the tithe wasn't ever talked about.

These lessons Mark has been preaching about tithing have been SO good! I have been eating them up! I was lucky enough to already have come to the conclusion through my personal blessings and experiences that giving my money to God shouldn't really be optional. And when I hold back, I limit my own ability to be blessed. But now that I realize and understand that God expects my tithe, it sheds a whole new light onto my giving. Now that I relate my money actually belonging to God to scripture (Malachi 3:8-12), it makes much more sense to me. And it makes me excited to know that God wants to bless me and provide for me.

I think what I take away from all of this new information on tithing is the way I will look at my giving. Instead of just gratefully accepting these random monetary blessings as God's way of providing for me, or answering my prayers; I also need to consider tithing these gifts too. They, also, came from God--just like my paycheck--and therefore belong to him.

I can't wait for next Sunday when our church collectively brings in the tithe. I can't wait to see how much God is waiting to bless us, and what he will do with Quail in his kindgom.

If you are interested in listening to the sermon series online, go to:
http://quailchurch.com/cgi-bin/MediaList.cgi?section=&cat=In%20God%20We%20Trust

A Day with my Favorite Aunt Kari

For this entry, I am inviting my very first guest blogger: Tyler Cash Erwin.

He calls this entry, "A Day With My Favorite Aunt Kari."

Aunt Kari is so great! She came to my house to play with me for TWO whole days! We had so much fun!

Aunt Kari came into my room because she heard me singing to her. I try to sing as loud as I can in the mornings, just because I know how much she loves music.

Then she got me out of my bed and we went into the family room to play! She's so silly, though, because she always has to drink her coffee. She won't share it either. She's probably afraid that I'll drink it all--but really I just want to dump it all over the place!

After we played for a little bit, she picked out some clothes for me to wear. I am pretty sure she chose this outfit because she knows how picky my mom is when my clothes don't match. This is my big brother Kody. He was visiting Aunt Kari for the last 3 weeks, but he's home now! He mostly thinks he's too cool for me, but sometimes I can get him to listen and then we can play like good brothers.

Aunt Kari is the BEST AUNT EVER! She sings to me all the time. She sings so many songs it's hard to keep up with them all! But there is one that she sings that I always love! She sings "You Are So Beautiful" and it's my favorite song! Every time she sings it to me, I stop what I'm doing and listen. I don't want to miss a single second!

She had to go home tonight, but Grandma Paula and Handsome Grandpa Jeff are coming to Oklahoma in 3 weeks, and they're going to take me down to Edmond to stay at Aunt Kari's house! I'm so excited! I love Aunt Kari's house!

Okay, I'd better go now. Maybe she'll let me blog again sometime!

Love T-Ca$h

Alphabetizing my Life.

I got this idea from my BFF Jennifer. I'm going to use the alphabet to tell you a little bit about myself. :)

A is for Apple Way. It was where I met my BFF Jennifer, and lived my first 2 years in Oklahoma.


B is for Batman. Batman has always been my favorite super hero. Jennifer and I were Batman and Robin for Halloween last year, and it is by far the best Halloween costume I've ever had (or been a part of).


C is for Caramel Apple. This is pretty much my very favorite treat. I love to eat caramel apples, while I'm driving, when I'm walking, when I go to the park. I love it when people assume I came from a fair.

D is for Dean Jones. If I was born like 70 years ago, and the current year 1967, I'm pretty sure I would be on my way to Hollywood to make sure he knew that we should be married immediately.


E is for Everybody Loves Raymond. I have all 9 seasons of this show and have watched them embarrassingly more than once. I have a small crush on Raymond Barone, and hope one day my future husband is as awesome as Ray.

F is for Fiber. I drink Metamucil 3 times daily to keep my colon healthy and in line. And apparently my cholesterol is amazing.

G is for Great Dane. My favorite dog in the whole entire world is the Great Dane. I have wanted one ever since I was in 3rd grade. I plan on getting my very own Dane next summer. His name will be Chauncey.

H is for Hula Hoop. I once hula-hooped for 56 straight minutes. It was pretty impressive. Mostly that I didn't get bored and leave.

I is for IHOP. I LOVE pancakes. Although I prefer home-made pancakes to IHOP ones, in my mind any place that is dedicated to making the world a better place by serving platters of perfect pancakes should rank a place in the alphabetization of my life. Hence, I for IHOP.


J is for Jennifer! Jennifer is my BFF, and she lives in Montana. We have gone on the best adventures, and we are actually twins. We dress alike sometimes, because we're fraternal twins--and we don't want to confuse people. You know, cause it's confusing when identical twins dress alike. We figure it's equally confusing when fraternal twins don't.

K is for Killers. They're one of my favorite bands. I think they're great. They remind me of Bruce Springsteen, and all of the reasons why I should like him. Except I can understand them. And there's no saxophone (no lie, that's not my favorite instrument)

L is for Law and Order: SVU. This is my favorite show, and I plan on incorporating the names Elliot and Olivia into my children's names when I have them. I hope my husband doesn't mind. Or realize where the names came from. . .

M is for Michigan. Michigan is my favorite state. It is the high-five of the United States of America, and I'm lucky enough to be from there. I love everything about Michigan, except for Jennifer Granholm.

N is for Nephew. Because I have one. He is handsome, and so funny. And his little ears stick out and it's so cute. He smiles when he sees me, and when I sing "You Are So Beautiful" to him, he always looks at me and smiles. He also lookes just like I looked when I was his age. So I'm pretty sure we're going to be pretty close. I'm already his favorite Aunt Kari.


O is for Olives. There are not many foods in this world that I do not like, but olives are definitely one of them. I can not stand olives. And since I'm well aware that tastes change, every year or so I try them again. I have hated olives every single year since I was 6. I wonder what 2009 will hold?

P is for Piano. I want a piano so bad. When I was in 2nd grade, there was a piano in my classroom and some friends taught me how to know which note on the page went with which key on the piano, and from there I became a piano-aholic. My parents got a piano when I was in third grade, and we got to take lessons from a lady from church I took lessons for 3 years, and got good enough that I could sight read pretty much anything. I have been known for sitting down and just playing the piano for over an hour at a time just because it was on the way to wherever I was walking.

Q is for Quicken. I use Quicken to keep track of all of my finances. I'm quite the little budget nerd. I save all my receipts, and make sure I'm not spending anything unnecessarily. I also use it to try to plan ahead and see a forecast of my savings, so I can dream about when Chauncey becomes part of my family.

R is for Rasheed Wallace. Rasheed Wallace is my favorite Piston. I think he is hilarious, entertaining, and also very good at basketball. I admire him so much, my car is named Rasheed, in his honor.



S is for Star Spangled Banner. Not only do I love my country, but I love patriotic holidays, events, songs, and rocket pops. Jennifer and I had plans to make an album of all patriotic songs. This idea came to fruition when we were driving in her car, Henrietta, to buy patriotic decor for President's Day and her radio was absent. We spent the entire drive singing songs like "Home on the Range," "The Star Spangled Banner," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and "America the Beautiful!"

T is for Torgo's Knees. Torgo is a character from "Manos: Hands of Fate." One of the best worst movies of all time. Torgo is a character who was a monster, but his monstrosity was his rather inappropriate and inexplicably large knees. When my friend Eric and I started recording music, our dreams of grandeur led to our very own band, Torgo's Knees. We got pretty famous, on Myspace. There are like 3 people who know about us, and occasionally listen to our music. We rock.

U is for Umbrellas. I think umbrellas are completely unnecessary. I love rain, and getting wet. Walking, running, and golfing in rain are 3 of my favorite things to do. Being outside in the rain makes me feel real, and part of something. It makes me feel strong. It reminds me of God's power, and providence. Rain, to me, means life. Water quenches our thirst, and I like knowing that when I am soaking up rain my needs are being met.

V is for Violin. I can kind of play the violin. I am very good at sightreading, but only mediocre at making the sound that comes out not scratchy. I try my best, but am always nervous when people can hear me because I honestly am well aware of how painful it can be.

W is for Winter. Winter is my favorite season. I love snow, I love grey skies and slush covered streets I love scraping snow off my car in the morning, and the feel of the crisp air on my cheeks when I walk outside on a winter night. I like wearing mittens, scarves, hats, sweatshirts, and boots. And I love Christmas lights, trees, songs, and decorations. Everything about winter makes it my favorite 5 months of the year (in Michigan, at least. In Oklahoma, there's only like 1.5 months of it).


X is for Xylophone. When I was in elementary school, our music teacher would have us bring a poem to class and we'd get to be in groups to put it to music. Each group got to have one of the large xylophone or metaliphones. I always got to play the xylophone because I was really good at plunking out songs on it by ear. I'd like to think that if I'd pursued that percussive passion I would have been able to play the xylophone like a piano. I LOVE it when people can do that!

Y is for Yoda. Although R2D2 is the Star Wars character I sleep with, Yoda is who I lay my head down on. That's right--you read that correctly. I lay my head down on Yoda at night, as I have a pillow that has a GIANT picture of his face on it. On the other side is Obi Wan Kanobi, howver I get way too creeped out at the thought of waking up and looking at a bearded man on my pillow. So I always sleep on Yoda.


Z is for Zoo. I LOVE going to the zoo. I think it's so exciting to be able to see bears, and lions, and otters and penguins all playing and having fun. I will go to a zoo any time of year, and would probably borrow a kid for a day or something just to have an excuse to go.

Now you know my ABC's. Tell me what you think of me! :)