About

My name is Kaitlyn Michelle Bergen, but most people call me Katie or Kate. I hope you enjoy my blog! Here are some things about me that you may or may not know.

• I have nine nicknames that I can remember right off the bat, and seven of them start with K. The ones that do not start with K are Rapscallion (don’t ask me why) and Girl-who-sits-in-the-corner-with-a-book, which is pretty much self-explanatory.
• I like to write books. I’ve written at least three or four, but no one except family members or friends have read them. And I can’t say that any of them are that great…but it is more fun than I can tell you to create my own characters and make them do whatever I want them to do. The story can end the way I want it to and the main characters don’t have to have boyfriends. 🙂
• When I was really little, I liked to taste things such as laundry soap, toilet bowl cleaner, and cat litter. And I’m not dead yet!
• My brothers and sisters and I used to eat almost as many dog treats as our Saint Bernard did. Get that we used to. Mom put a stop to that after she found out about it. But I must say that eating dog treats is better than eating cat litter. Not that I remember eating the cat litter.
• I have a pretty good imagination, if I do say so myself. Actually, I don’t say so myself. That is what my brothers and sisters say. I have lots of imaginary characters in my head that I like to converse with, sometimes out loud, to the amusement of my sisters. They like to try and sneak up behind me and see what I am saying to my characters. But it never works, because the character I am talking to looks behind me and says, “Hey Katie, they’re spying on us again!” Just kidding. 🙂
• I like to write poems. The poems usually sound something like Dr. Seuss. Which means that I can’t write those meaningful wedding or funeral poems that make your eyes water with emotion. (Unless your eyes are watering from laughing). Several of my poems are The Wolf Who Cried Boy and I Hate Grammar! which I have here on my blog. I have written a wedding one, and I shall have to share it sometime.
• We have a dog that’s a lot like Beethoven, in more ways than one. For one, she’s a Saint Bernard. For two, she slobbers. For three, she can jump out of her pen…
• I love to read!!! This year, from February, 2013 through November, 2013, I have read over 100 books. 🙂 Is it possible for reading to become a sin?
• I live in good ol’ Nebraska, and there are several things you need to know about this state. One, it is not as flat as a pancake. The reason newcomers only see the flat stuff is because the highwaymen (not seriously highwaymen, but the men who built the highways) came through as many flat places as possible. That does not mean that there are not hills in Nebraska. Second, I have never seen a more gorgeous sunset anywhere (no, not even in Colorado) than the ones we see here every day. Kansas gets some gorgeous ones, too, though. [That was to pacify my Kansas cousins. 🙂 ] And three, yes, we have running water. 😛
• Autumn is my favorite season, partly because my birthday is in the fall. 🙂
• My favorite holiday is probably Christmas.
• My favorite color is green.
• My favorite animal is a horse.
• My brothers and sisters and I wanted a dog and a horse…so Dad got us both. Sort of. Trixie is a Saint Bernard dog, but she’s big enough to be a horse. 🙂
• Today, on November 26, 2013, at 3:47 in the afternoon, I am officially sixteen years, seventeen days, eleven hours, forty-seven minutes, and thirteen seconds old. And exactly six days ago (and some minutes, hours, and seconds), a little girl told me that I looked like I was eleven years old. Flattering, eh? Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but when I get old and gray I suppose I’ll look back longingly on the days of young.
• I have wanted to be a missionary ever since I was…well, so long ago that I can’t remember how young I was. My destination has changed several times since then (Nigeria, Ecuador, Indonesia, Chile, Afghanistan, Bolivia, back to Ecuador, Brazil, Columbia…), but I still feel a dream and a call to be a missionary.
• When I was little, I thought that when I grew up and had children, my oldest son would be named Hamburger. The rest of my children would be Butter, Ketchup, and Mustard, respectively.
• All of my siblings have some sort of nickname that have to do with an animal. Brittany is Bunny Rabbit Ann; Brady, Curious George (who was a monkey); Abby, Snail; Riley, Silver Fox; Colby, Birdie (don’t ask me why); Henry, Hank the Cowdog. No, Henry looks anything but like a cowdog. That was the uncles’ nickname. And mine? Mine is Kat. Or, according to some friends, Kitten. Which I hate. (But it’s better than some of the others.) The name I use when I am talking to myself is usually, “Oh, you Stupid!” 🙂 But you’re not allowed to use that one.
• I used to want to work at McDonald’s when I “grew up” (as a side to being a missionary, I guess…), but now I can’t stand the thought.
• I love coffee, but I get shaky and sometimes dizzy if I have a full cup of caffeine. I didn’t think caffeine affected me sleep-wise until a couple weeks ago when I had a full cup in the evening and hardly slept a wink that night. Like lots of kids who claim that caffeine doesn’t hurt them a bit, I claimed that caffeine helped me to fall asleep faster. Ha ha. Not no more, it don’t!
• I have lots of really cool ideas for pictures I could take, crafts or cards I could make, or books and poems I could write, but hardly any of them get done. Maybe someday…
• I’ve been to Canada and seen Niagara Falls.
• I lived the first nine years of my life in Illinois, and I’ve lived in Nebraska ever since.
• When we first moved here, we wanted to live in the country, but we found a place that is right on the edge of town — a gas station on the north side of us and a field on the south — and I think that God was looking out for us when He showed us this place.
• When I was little, Dad was a truck driver, so the whole family would load up in the semi and travel with him. It was so much fun, and we made so many memories! I’ve been to many cool places and made many out-of-state friends. It’s a good thing that none of us have ever been prone to carsickness!
• I have twenty-one cousins on my dad’s side (not counting the ones that married in) and six on my mom’s.
• I have three honorary cousins who live in Bolivia and two honorary grandparents who live in Oklahoma.
• I’ve spent almost three hours trying to think of interesting things to tell you about myself, and I’ve come up with a whole lot more than I thought I’d be able to. But my back aches and my eyes hurt and I’m getting fidgety, so goodbye! (Now if only I can get off my chair…)