Not Good, Just Bye

  

So very sad.  KC found him in the road this morning as he was leaving for work.  He turned around and came back to tell me and then got him out of the road so the kids wouldn't see him.  I cried.  He was only here for a few months, but he was so sweet and I already miss him.

I miss him greeting me when I go outside.  I miss watching him chasing leaves in the grass and sunning himself in front of the garage.  I miss picking him up and petting him because he was so very cuddly and lovable.

Now I have to go clean his little bowls and his bed off the porch.  I am dreading it because Munchkin is home this week, and I'm sure there will be drama about him being gone. 

I don't know what happened, because in the whole time he's been here, I have never seen him around the road, so I don't know if he was chasing something or what, but I guess he must have used the last of his nine lives sometime early this morning.

Man, I miss that cat.  As irritating as he sometimes could be when he'd knock my flowers off the porch and get muddy footprints everywhere, I still miss him.  I didn't realize I was this attached.  And I'm glad I picked him up and hugged on him and gave him extra petting and loving last night. 

Bye, Pitiful.  You are already missed.

 

(Heartland & Sharpen THIS Photoshop Actions used on the photos in this post are courtesy of Pioneer Woman Photography)

A Few Christmas Pictures

Let's see...

Christmas Day was at my mom's.

Left is my Uncle David, Aunt Eva, and my dad; Right is Nate-dog.  I had a few other pictures here but I will have to post them on the private blog in a minute.

KC's family had to be rescheduled for Sunday (as I mentioned here) and the next pictures are from our afternoon at his parent's house. 

Left is the sweet potato casserole I made from mom's recipe.  I am not a fan of sweet potatoes but I didn't mind these...and I would actually admit they were pretty tasty.  *grin*  Strangely enough, neither of my kids liked it at all.  It tastes like desert, so it kind of surprised me. 

I might post the recipe sometime if mom will let me.  HAHA.

 

Then there's the munchkin...isn't she cute in her little outfit?  She's getting all big on me. 

She looks all angelic here but I can tell ya this was not the story the whole day.  Whew.  I even have a photo to blackmail her with when she's...oh...say...15 or so.  HAHAHA.

Anyways, she is definitely growing up. 

 

Then I was playing around with the camera and got a couple of shots that I liked....

And last but not least, Casey with his mom and Aunt Carol. 

And there ya have it.  I'll go post a couple of K-man on the private blog now. 

 

Later!

Heave Ho!

    

Riding to Nonna's on Christmas Day.  I think he was so tired he was falling asleep in his puke bucket!!  LOL!

Ha Ha Ha Happy Holidays!

This wasn't the best Christmas ever...we've definitely had better, and I have high hopes that next year will be one of the better to make up for it.  LOL. 

If you continue to read this post, please don't think I'm complaining.  For real...I'm laughing about it now.  I'm just stating the facts...and you know...sometimes you just have the perfect storm.  LOL.  At least this one didn't kill nobody.  *grin*

But first, I have to say that MY Christmas was SWEET.  KC got me the Wii Fit (that I was totally not expecting...at ALL) and I LOVE it.  He also got me a killer plate set with HUGE bowls.  He's been wanting "MAN-SIZED" bowls for ages, so I'm not sure who was happier about this present, but I still liked it very much!  Anyway, THAT part of Christmas was delightful!  LOL.  And we still had fun at my parents in spite of the other issues.

Christmas Eve, we were at a family dinner when the K-man started puking.  All over his sister.  His sister had no spare clothes and there was no rescuing the dress that was puked on, so she left there wearing her undershirt and tights.  LOL.  Good thing she's four.

Well, his puking ruined plans for Christmas day (poor guy...it wasn't his fault).  My parents were fine to carry on, puke and all, but KC's mom just had two major surgeries and couldn't risk the possibility of catching another infection, so we had to cancel that half of the day.  (It actually worked out better that way, in the long run, since it made the day much less rushed and stressful and we were able to just relax a bit.)

Anyways, back to Christmas Eve...so we brought the K-man home and got him out of the car and walk down the sidewalk up to the house, when the hurl started flying again.  Unfortunately, I was in the path of it that time, but thankfully the sidewalk caught the majority of it and bless my hubby for rinsing it off.  I could not for the life of me get him to turn around and puke into the grass.  And I had my hands full, so I couldn't give him a gentle turn either.  I couldn't really do anything, poor guy.  I had to leave him on the sidewalk and go on in the house and empty my arms and then go back and help him out.  Then of course, it was all down his shirt and on his shoes, so all our clothes had to be washed.  And he went to bed with a bucket. 

Then he didn't rest well.  I guess his stomach still hurt, but he kept stirring and whimpering and every half hour or so, he'd start crying and I'd hop up to go make sure he hadn't puked in the bed.

So I go to bed at 11:30.  I was up at 12, 12:30, & 1, and then at 1:30, KC was like, "Honey, he is going to throw up, just take him to the toilet and I bet he'll just do it." 

Guess what I said.  "Uh...why don't YOU take him?"  LOL.  Do you know what he said?  "I'll go if you'll go."  Hello, what's the point then?  If you're going to get up anyway, why don't you just go ahead so we both don't have to get up.  Well, I bet you can guess what happened.  We both laid there for about five minutes half out of it, then K-man starts moaning loudly again, so I gave this huge sigh when it was apparent KC wasn't getting up and then rolled out of bed.  Of COURSE, as soon as I did that, KC got up, too.  So the TWO OF US got up and took K-man to the potty, where he tinkled and then stood there and started crying...I was like...yeah, here we go.  And then....what do ya know.  There it went.  And he got mad and didn't want to lean over the toilet after the first little bit, so then I had to clean up the back of the toilet cuz he wouldn't bend over and do it in the toilet.  UGH.  KC was there for moral support, bless him.  LOL. 

So that was from 1:30-2.  Then we put the K-man back to bed and after the puke session, I guess his stomach felt better, because he slept for awhile without whimpering or crying.  We were like zombies at this point and both fell back asleep rather quickly. 

HOWEVER.  Our beautiful Christmas Eve/Morning was far from over. 

3am: PLUNK (like something popping out of the wall)  I vaguely heard it, but it didn't really register.  I remember thinking...huh.  K-man's not crying.  I'm not getting up.  Then about 3 minutes later, I wake up and KC is turning on the closet light and doing something to his clothes in the closet.  I'm thinking...it CAN'T be morning yet.  So I look at the clock and it's 3.  "What in the world, honey?"

Well, do you remember THE CLOSET EPISODE??????

Here we go with round 2.  LOL. That little plunk that barely registered in my sleep deprived brain was the rack coming off the first couple of buttons that held it to the wall -- the buttons were also starting to pull out of the wall, too.  Luckily KC registered a little bit more than I did and recognized the sound and hopped out of bed and started unloading the heavy clothes off the rack and trying to re-attach the rack to the little buttons so that it wouldn't actually become a disaster zone again. 

So. from 3-3:30, that's what we were doing instead of sleeping.  Then we crashed again and I actually got to sleep until six when K-man started up with the crying again.  I got up and patted him and shushed him and when he was quiet, I went back to bed and we crashed again.  We ended up sleeping in (thank goodness we didn't have to try to fit in two events, like I said, it worked out well that we didn't have to get up early in order to stay on schedule) and I called mom and told her we were going to be late because we were exhausted.  She was fine with that.  LOL. 

It was not a pleasant night.  And last night I didn't fall asleep until midnight and the K-man got us up at 4:45 this morning.  He went back to sleep after I put him back in his bed, but I didn't.  I was super grouchy at the way I woke up, too...because what woke me up was the cat and when I woke up, I had an instant splitting headache. I think the cat must have been startled b/c he jumped and landed on all four feet right in my belly right as KC was coming into the room with K-man.  Until I got up this morning and asked KC about it, I thought KC had brought the cat into the room and tossed him on the bed.  This was the fat cat, too.  Talk about a sucker punch.  It was a major bad combination of events.  Argh.  I did take an hour and a half nap today while the kids napped, though, and my stomach finally felt better after that.  

Other stuff...here's a pic of KC and I and Scott...he came over Tuesday night for supper (Taco Salad -- YUM) and visited for a little while before going off on his rounds...LOL. 

I got a couple other pics, too...but he made me promise not to ever use them to blackmail him with, so I better not post them. HAHA. 

I think these two pics are safe to share though....LOL.   

First is my honey and then the pic of Scott...one that got his grudging approval...LOL!

I thought they turned out decent though...

These two guys are super picky about their pics.  LOL. Bless'em.

In other stuff, I made a cheese ball to take to my parents for snacking and it was SOO yummy.  Matter of fact, we're still enjoying the very small bit that was leftover.  Cheese balls are my new favorite thing.  Haha.  I didn't have a real recipe for this one, but I wanted to try one like my friend, Kelly, made for choir night, so I guessed at the amounts and tried to remember everything she said she put in it.  *grin*  I guess I could have called her but it was Christmas morning and I hated to bother her.

So here's what was in my cheese ball:

• 2 8oz packages of cream cheese
• eyeballed about a cup and a half of shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/4 of a bell pepper (very finely chopped)
• 1/3 of an onion (very finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp worcheshire (or however you spell that) sauce
• 1/3 package of pecans (chopped)

Oh my goodness.  YUM-MY.  Actually, I think I've talked myself into going and getting a few crackers and cheese ball for snack.  LOL. 

Tomorrow is the day we had to reschedule with KC's family for Christmas, so I need to hop off here and get a few things taken care of before then. 

Thanks for reading this extremely long post.  =)  Oh yeah, and the kids are better now. =)  Thank goodness!

Later!

Bossy & Barbie?

Conversation at my parents house today:

K-man: "Do this, dad!"

KC: "O-KAY, bossy!"

K-man: "I not bossy.  Bossy the SNOWMAN!"

 

While watching Flywheel tonight and the dad looks across the room at a picture of his wife as a bride:

K-man: "Oooh.  BARBIE!"

Munchkin: "That's not Barbie."

K-man: "Yes, it is Barbie."

Then the dad in the movie looks to the next picture of his son:

K-man: "To-weee." (one of our friends' sons)

Munchkin: "That's not Tow-we."

K-man: "Yes, it is."

Me (trying to stop cackling): "SHHHHHH...watch the movie."

One Day Left

Till Christmas (Eve)...sheesh. 

Speaking of Eve, K-man and Munchkin watched Wall-E again a few weeks ago and it cracks me up to hear them, randomly and totally out of the blue, say "Eeeeee-va" and then turn around and say "Waaaaa-leeee" and then "Eeeeee-va" "WALLLL-EEE!"  Hilarious.  They even have that whole tone going, too.  LOL. 

So today I got another one of those wild hairs.  Well, actually it was the other day when I stumbled across the idea on the internet while I was trying to come up with some new barbie furniture for the Munchkin's barbie house, but today I followed through on it and picked up some plastic canvas and tried my hand at making plastic canvas barbie furniture. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I may SOMEDAY attempt that awesomely cool carriage, this I know, that the above kitchen is INSANE.  Especially after trying my hand at something simple.  That thing is made entirely of plastic canvas.  Let me just put it this way, I spent approximately 5 hours today on TWO SMALL AND SIMPLE PROJECTS.  I'd have to work 8 hours a day for at least 6 weeks to do something like that.  NO THANK YOU.  Her plastic (not canvas) kitchen will work just fine, thank you very much. 

However, for what I DID do, I made a bed and a rug today, but mine look NOTHING like these pictures.  I didn't use patterns either, just eyed and experimented (which is probably why they look nothing like the pictures here).  The bed I made kinda resembles the bottom bunk on this picture to the left (only its brown with green headboard/footboards).  And yes, I was going for the bunk bed but decided, after I did the bottom bunk, that perhaps I was overambitious.  LOL. 

Thankfully, I went ahead and BOUGHT the barbie table set, so I didn't have to stress over trying to make something complicated in order to replace the table I threw away when I cleaned her room last week.  BUT now there is a Christmas bag out in the garage that has a store-bought table and chair set in it and the new bed and rug as a kind of afterthought.  The rug is a smaller (and totally different design) version of the rug in this living room picture to the left...well, really the only thing that is like it is the style (rectangle with fringed ends).  But hey.  It's a rug.  And it's cute.  And the fringe took forever.  Perhaps after Christmas I will post some pictures of my completely (at least in comparison to these pictures) pitiful attempts.

Anywho, I made the bed with her in the room and I was quite surprised that Ms. Extremely Observant didn't pick up on the bed concept, particularly since Mr. Clueless actually showed more interest and walked over while I was making it and wanted to know what it was and I said a bed and then he looked at the computer and was like..."Hey coool, BARBIE FURNITURE."  Strange kid.  I know.  Thankfully, Ms. Observant was NOT in the room at that particular moment or the gig would have been up.  But since she didn't pick up on it, I went ahead and put it in the gift bag for her to open with her other furniture.  *grin*  I'm not sure if I will attempt any other items before Christmas or not.  It does get a little addicting, so it's a possibility.  Depends on the time, I guess. 

Seriously though, is this stuff not insane?  I pretty much flipped out when I saw how detailed and cool this looked.  Now that I know the time involved, it looks slightly LESS cool, but still neat.  HAHA.  Oh and all these pictures I grabbed from here (because the group will soon be closing and I didn't want to lose the ideas...LOL).

Anyways, maybe if I start now, I could do this travel case bedroom and give her a little doll to go in it for her birthday...I know she would ADORE having something like this to play with in church.  And it would take me at LEAST until her birthday (months down the road) to do something of this scale.  YOW.

Hum.

Well. I think that's it for tonight.  I'm getting a headache.  Quite possibly from the tedious canvassing I did this afternoon. LOL. 

I am pretty proud of myself though...I did a bit of laundry today, finished the last bit of shopping, and wrapped the rest of the presents (well, I still have some work to do on gifts for folks OUTSIDE this house, but my covert wrapping skills are no longer needed at least) in addition to the tedious furniture making that I tortured myself with...woohoo!  LOL.  I have totally NOT done any internet catch up though, so I'm off now to check all my favorite blogs and empty my spam folder (since that's all the mail I usually get...LOL). 

Later!

My Poor Neglected Blog

I just realized that I have seriously not been posting very many updates.  Brace yourself.

On the gall stones...the test Thursday took two hours.  But I finally heard back from the doctor on Friday and the results of the test were good.  Basically my gall bladder is fine, I just have stones, but they are not affecting the normal functioning of my system, they are just going to irritate the fire out of me until I do something about them. 

I haven't figured out what foods I'm eating that is triggering the pain, this is mostly since it hurts EVERY time I eat and it doesn't really matter what I'm eating. 

However, since my gall bladder is still functioning normally, the doctor will not force the issue of surgical removal of the stones/body part, it's entirely up to me. 

At this point it isn't hurting bad enough to make me want surgery, just enough to drive me nuts. 

And that's the major update. 

The mini issues like the medicine making me sleepy was resolved...mostly by the fact that I'm not taking it like it's prescribed...now I take it ONLY when I can't take anymore of the part where it drives me nuts.

Other stuff:

I've done really pathetic on my attempt to take one picture every day in December.  Mostly this got sidetracked by all the sick in the house.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

K-man is driving me CRAZY.  He's gone from sweet thing to rotten booger in a matter of a few weeks.  Fits, bedtime madness, potty regression, hateful responses when you're just talking to him...not even anything he should get mad about.  UGH.  Like you say, do you want your drink? and the response you get is UHHHHRRRRRGHHHH NO! (*EMPHATICALLY*).  I had to go back to diapers because I (and the daycare) got tired of having to change his clothes every time he DIDN'T do it in the potty (like every other time...which ended up being like 5 times a day).  AND THEN the other night at 10:30 (he goes to bed at 8:30) I heard something so I put down my computer and get up to go check and he is sitting right outside his door IN THE HALLWAY with his stuffed animal and drink and is just talking to himself and playing.  I'm like WHAT in the world are you DOING?  He NEVER gets out of bed...we have been so lucky with that.  Not anymore, apparently, since this is like the second or third time he's gotten out of bed in the last few weeks in protest of his having to go to bed.  *SIGH*  He's a great kid, and seriously I love the fire out of him, but I am READY FOR THIS PHASE to be DONE already.  I liked having an angel for a kid. 

Munchkin is doing good in general...back in the arguing and not listening stage again, but she's been taking her naps like a TROOPER...which is a huge switch.  Glad SOMETHING is going right!!!  *knock on wood* cuz I don't want it to suddenly go away.  LOL. 

I put the K-man's Yukon Express train station together and wrapped it during his naptime today.  I thought it would be a simple snap together thing, and it ended up taking all of naptime and had screws and two page instructions and everything.  It's the wooden kind and it's solid, so hopefully it will stand the test.  It is also compatible with Thomas trains, so we got that set and then I got a couple of Thomas trains to go with it, so he will in seventh heaven. 

Somehow, after all my protests about going overboard with gifts for the kids, there is still a huge pile of things for the kids to unwrap on Christmas morning.  Only we're having Christmas the day before, cuz it's not like it's all about the day anyways.  And we have too much else going on ON the day, so it makes more sense. 

Anyways, on the overload, my opinion is it is too much -- simply for the fact that it drives me nuts to watch them try to decide what to play with and then they play with each thing for 2 minutes and go through all of the new stuff in half an hour and then they're bored again.  I'd rather give them one thing and have them play with that one thing for 2 hours happily and satisfied with what they have.  TOTALLY MY OPINION.  Not worth much. 

However, I do know that once they get over the overload, the things we got them will provide hours of entertainment in which they WILL be satisfied for (hopefully) several hours at a time for the rest of the year...and then some.  Because we (and by we, I mean KC, mostly) picked out some great deals on things we already had in mind to get them to occupy them for hours, they will just have to deal with the overload in order to have those things. LOL.  And by they, I mean ME, cuz I'm pretty sure it bothers ME more than it bothers THEM.  *grin*

Oh well.

Made more goodies for friends and neighbors using the recipe I found here: http://www.chex.com/recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=19919&CategoryId=342

Only I doubled the recipe, added random cups of miscellaneous cereals besides Chex (I think I used Golden Grahams and Cheerios as my random cereals).  And I used a lot more powdered sugar than the recipe said...LOL.  Oh well.  It seemed to be a hit.  Munchkin was helping me and she was holding the bag and I wouldn't swear to it, but I am pretty sure she kept moving the bag on purpose so I would keep dropping pieces on the floor.  And the reason I think this, is because she would POUNCE on the dropped pieces and eat them almost before they hit the floor.  LOL.  I'm pretty much assuming it must have been good.  HAHA.

Oh and I've got all but 5 things wrapped. I'm on the ball this year.  Go me.  I even have KC's birthday present and wrapped it, too.  Yay. 

I still have a couple of things to pick up and finish making and a couple of homemade cards to make...BUT I'm still way ahead of the game...since last year we had a pile of presents NOT YET WRAPPED and it was like CHRISTMAS EVE and we wrangled my parents into helping us wrap b/c we were in total panic mode.  Yeah.  I'm doing good this year.

Kay.  I'm done now.  I have nothing else to say.  Sorry, that's not quite true...I do have more I'm sure I could say but my goodness....my fingers are tired!!!!! 

Thanks for reading...and for bearing with me through my absence.  *GRIN*

Later!

Am I?

Am I the only person in the world who rinses off the dishes in the sink, loads the dishwasher, and turns it on, then goes off and 15 minutes later hears the water running and has a moment of panic because I think I walked off and left the water running in the sink? 

Just wondering.

Harumph

Well, me and the couch, we have a lifelong relationship now. Best buds, me and the couch. And I have a bad feeling I'm not going to get a chance to end this relationship anytime soon.

I can tell you I'm tired of being tired and I'm tired of not feeling very good. I'm also tired of being worn out from doing the least little things....like putting laundry in the washer. *sigh*

I did make myself get off my bum today and get the stuff for the kids school made and put together and delivered, but it near about killed me. I made this stuff and filled treat bags for the kids in my kids immediate classes and then I saw these and thought they were adorable and looked fairly simple, so I did a few of them for the kids teachers and took the stuff to school for the kids to give out.

Then I brought the kids home and tried to clean up my mess and I've spent the rest of the evening having intense fellowship with the couch.

Then I got the wild hair to redecorate my blog for something a little more icy looking. And now I've got a wild hair to close my eyes...for the millionth time. All these meds the doc put me on make me so sleepy. Aggravating!

Goodnight.

I Know, I Know

It's totally not like me to go this long without posting.  I apologize, but really, it's been for your benefit.  I haven't had anything to blog about without just being a real downer, so I just haven't posted. 

And still it goes on, so I probably shouldn't be here now, but I am.  Oh well. 

So I flipped out last week because I had this terrible pain in my stomach and I was afraid it was appendicitis, so I called KC, who rushed home from work and took me to the ER. 

It wasn't appendicitis.  And I just love how ER procedure works...they did a CT scan and told me I had a cyst but that wasn't what was causing the pain, here have a pill and follow up with your doctor in 1-2 days. 

So lah lah lah.  I did.  The doctor told me the rest of the stuff the ER didn't tell me...like I had an infection and my gall bladder looked unusual and needed to be checked.  So Doc sent me back to the hospital (the outpatient xray department) to get an ultrasound of my gall bladder and they call today and I have gall stones.  Which could be the cause of the nausea, vomiting, pain, etc. etc.  Lovely.  And I get to go have aNOTHER test done on Thursday...this one will take like two hours and I can't eat or drink anything after midnight Wednesday.  UGH. 

Why me? 

There...seee?  This is why I tried to stay away.  I'm just full of sunshine.  And I'm going away now...the medicines (all 50 of them) make me seriously sleepy and I have somehow got to figure out a way to get my grocery list together and get to the store and get groceries and get back without falling asleep somewhere inappropriate (you know, I'd look pretty funny draped over a shopping cart in the middle of the grocery store...how's THAT for a mental image?  LOL)

Later!

In Case Anyone Missed Me

It's been a slightly rough week. I do not feel like blogging.

But since this the 800th post on this lovely little blog, I feel like something important should be said...so how about what I learned today:

The ER is not fun, but they do know how to make it stop hurtin!

I'll be back when I feel better.

Creepy Crud...Keepin It Real

Well, all I can say is it ain't over yet.  Took last week's sick one back to school this morning and ended up going and getting the OTHER one a mere two hours later.  Here we go again.  Good thing I don't have a REAL job.  Not that this job ain't real, let me tell ya. 

REAL crummy some days.  Like today.  When I have a sick one at home AND I come back down with it again, too.  So far, December has been a REAL pleasure to have around.  NOT!

Can you tell I'm grouchy?  So I'm taking my grumpy sick self and my sore throat and chills and going back to do something that requires no thought....especially no thought about how grumpy I am and how much I can't even stand myself on nights like tonight.  And how horrible I am for subjecting poor innocent you to such blather. 

My apologies.   REALLY.

Let's end this on a bright note...I cleaned out the pantry this evening.  Had no idea that there was actually a good reason I can never find anything to fix for supper...over half the stuff piled in there expired sometime last year.  And because I would go look in the pantry and remember that it's been in there for awhile, I wouldn't get it out...I just never thought any of it was old enough to throw away....I didn't think it had been in there THAT long.  So now...the pantry needs to be restocked, and that is on my list of things to do when I feel better.  Actually, cleaning out the pantry was one I WANTED to wait to do until I felt better, but then I decided I needed to do something to make me feel a LITTLE good about myself....

And since this conversation is turning to the dark side again, I will now leave. 

If you're still here, congratulations...I have some really old food I could offer you to reward your being unable to NOT keep reading this train wreck your extreme loyalty. 

Thanks for listening.  If you missed Barbie's funeral, you should go back and read that...it's a much more interesting post than this one.  FOR REAL. 

Happy Monday!  (RIGHT)

A (Mini) Series Of Unfortunate Events

Barbie Doll

Barbie Doll, somewhere  between the age of 18 & 22, of Western North Carolina, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008, in  church. A prior resident of NotToFarFromHere County, she was adopted by a very young Miss Always Faith, and at the time of her death, resided in This County. She was preceded in death by a sister, Skipper. Surviving are eleven (give or take 1 or 2) sisters/sister in laws (all named Barbie), a few husbands (all named Ken), one little brother (Kevin), & five nieces (two named Kelly and three baby triplets). Funeral services were held at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday next to the trash can with the Mrs. Always Faith officiating. Burial will be whenever the trashbag containing her body reaches the County Memorial Stinkplace (known to locals as "the dump"). The family will not be receiving friends due to the emotional state of Ms. Doll's most recent "mother," Miss Munchkin. In lieu of flowers, please send all donations to the "Do Not Store Barbie's In Hot Places Or Their Necks Will Rot" Foundation.

 

Doll Suffers From Tragic Accident In Church Service

Ms. Barbie Doll was having her hair done during church when her neck snapped.  She was old in Barbie years and belonged to another generation. It seems that somewhere between generations, she suffered from the Excessive Heat In Storage malady that appears to affect rubber necks with rot, causing them to break with little hope of survival (as was also the case with her deceased sister).  Mrs. Always Faith was on the scene at the time of the tragedy and valiantly performed CPR but with no success.  Ms. Doll's head continued to fall off and she was pronounced dead approximately 10 minutes after CPR started.  There was drama in the pew when the current generation did not want her to die, but Mrs. Always Faith prevailed and the body was wrapped in graveclothes for burial after church.  Mrs. Faith was sad because Ms. Doll was a gift to her in her own childhood and was one of her favorite dolls, but she remained strong through the end of church and conducted a private funeral later that night. Ms. Doll was a longtime member of the family and will be missed.  Weeping may endure for the night, but joy will (most likely) come in the (form of a NEW Barbie on Christmas) morning.

For When I Have Nothing Else To Post About

Got this email and since I would much rather blog than email, I figured I'd use it here to fill in for one of those weekend days when it seems like I either am not in the mood to post or have nothing to post about.  Plus Nikki named me for person most likely to respond and I'd hate to let her down just cuz I'm not a fan of email forwarding.  *GRIN*

So.  I'm writing this 12/1/08 but it won't post until 12/5/08, so if any of the answers seem strange, remember that I can't see the future, so I'm having to write my answers as of today.

1.  What is your occupation right now?   Well, according to my Facebook profile, it's something along the lines of: Chief Cook & Bottle Washer who performs the duties of taxi driver, laundry lady, chef, bath giver, top tuck-er-in-er, wife, housecleaner, bill payer, organizer, record keeper, and other duties as assigned.... And I think that pretty much sums it up.

2.  What color are your socks right now?  Chocolate (doesn't that sound better than brown?)

3.  What are you listening to right now?  KC typing a new post that's...knowing my husband...probably pretty high up on the controversy scale.

4.  What was the last thing that you ate?  Pasta & Meatballs, but I'm really leaning toward hitting up the pantry for a late night snack.  Naughty me.

5.  Can you drive a stick shift? Yes, and I love it!  I actually prefer it, but unfortunately both of our cars ended up being automatic....*sigh*  It wasn't a high priority on the feature list.

6.  Last person you talked to on the phone?  My mom & dad.

7.  Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, of course.

8.  How old are you today?  25.75

9.  What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?  Uh...I don't really have a favorite, but I usually end up watching football...go Michigan...JUST KIDDING, HONEY!!! GO BUCKEYES!!!

10.  What is your favorite drink?  Dr. Pepper...23 flavors.

11.  Have you ever dyed your hair?  Nope...not unless you count that stupid sun-in stuff that I put in my hair when I was about 14.  That was so dumb.  I thought it didn't work b/c it didn't change color in the sun.  Then later when I used the blow dryer, I ended up with some funky flavored red streaky hair.  Teenagers.  GAH.

12.  Favorite food?  Anything Italian, but I'm really not picky.

13.  What is the last movie you watched?  Don't remember...it was probably one of the kid's movies, but I generally only passively watch, so I'm not sure.

14.  Favorite day of the year? don't really have a favorite, but I do like Thanksgiving.

15.  How do you vent anger? Well, do we really want to go here?  Just don't make me mad, okay?  LOL!

16.  What was your favorite toy as a child?  Barbies, Matchbox cars, & Legos...

17.  What is your favorite season?  Summer

18.  Cherries or Blueberries?  Blueberries

19.  Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?  Well, I'd rather they blog!

20.  Who is the most likely to respond?  N/A (but if anyone wants to blog it, feel free)

21.  Who is least likely to respond?  N/A

22.  Living arrangements?  In a lovely home with my handsome hubby and 2 beautiful kids.

23.  When was the last time you cried?  It's been a few months.  LOL.  JUST KIDDIN...but actually I don't remember when. 

24.  What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes and laundry baskets and a few stray pieces of pocket lint.

25.  Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?  N/A

26.  What did you do last night?  Church

27.  What are you most afraid of? Snakes and spiders.  And those weird mushroomy things that keep sprouting up in the front mulch beds.....AGHHHHH!

28.  Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?  Cheese

29.  Favorite dog breed?  Golden Retrievers

30.  Favorite day of the week?  Friday

31.  How many states have you lived in?  Just NC...

32.  Diamonds or pearls?  Diamonds 

33.  What is your favorite flower?  Wildflowers

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

....wintertime cold, viral, & flu season.

UGH. It's a regular pharmacy around here.

Okay, okay....so really I was cleaning out the medicine cabinet and trying to reorganize it so the TWO medicines we're using right now were more easily accessible, but poor K-man really has been sick. Still is, I guess...since his temp went back up again tonight. The doctor said it's just a viral with a bad cough, and I was hoping he would be on the mend, but I guess he's gonna be home for another day.

Last winter, we spent more nights awake over his cough than I care to remember, and it looks like it is going to be another winter of the same. *SIGH* Last night I was up and down with him until like 3 and then I just crashed...at least I must have because I thought he quit coughing but according to KC he continued to cough on throughout the night. And he woke himself up from his nap after about 20 minutes because he was having such a coughing fit. It's so odd, too, because he only coughs when he falls asleep. His cough when he's awake is minimal, but after he's asleep, it's a hack with every other breath. It's terrible.

Tonight he's sleeping in the carseat that we brought in from the car...hopefully being held upright (in a slight reclining position) will keep the drainage down or whatever is making him cough.

I'm just ready for healthy summertime again. THIS. THIS iS WHY SUMMER IS MY FAVORITE SEASON! UGH. LOL. Three weeks ago, it was K-man with an ea*r infection. Two weeks ago, it was Munchkin with an ea*r infection. Last week and this week I've had some kind of cold or something and also last week K-man started the sleep/hack stuff and this week he's got a viral infection. *SIGH* I can be thankful they're not both sick at the same time, though, RIGHT?

Anyways, that's the story of our life these days and it's about time for bed. I must catch what sleep I can, so I'm gonna scat.

Later!

Wordless Wednesday: Pitiful

        

He looks so innocent.  As if he wasn't just trying to eat the red berries out of the porch planter boxes. 

                     

Okay....so it was ALMOST wordless!!!

Credits for photoshop actions (B&W, Define&Sharpen): Pioneer Woman

Credits for brushes (grungy edge on second photo): SG Refresh Grunge Brush

Photos taken 12/2/08

Ten On Tuesday: Frugality

10 Ways You Can Save Money

(Click on the above link to take you to the official Ten On Tuesday for other participants)

1. Drink water when you go out to eat...at most restaurants, that's at least $2 bucks you're saving right there.
2. At nicer restaurants where they give you much more than one person should really eat, split it with a friend...and that saves you from having to take the leftovers home to rot in your fridge, too! A double bonus!
3. Turn the air a few degrees warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter when you're not going to be in the house...no point in having the air or heat running when you're not there to know if it's a few degrees warmer or cooler than you generally like it.
4. Keep an eye on the Walgreens/CVS/RiteAid sale papers, sometimes they have really good deals and when you pair it up with coupons, you can really hit the jackpot. I have yet to get as good as some people where they pay ME to buy something, but I have gotten items free...and I'm happy with that.
5. Don't buy things you don't need. Really, that's kinda obvious but it's true. It's not really a good deal if you are just going to end up storing it for five years and then eventually either trashing it or throwing it in your quarter box at your yard sale. No, I have NEVER DONE THIS. Well, maybe I have. ANYWAY!
6. Don't drive too fast and watch where you're going...accidents are costly, and speeding tickets are really annoying on top of draining your funds.
7. Stay home (at least it SEEMS like this would save money...I have yet to spend much time trying this one out)
8. Cut back on convenience whenever possible. Typically anything that is convenient is also expensive. Instead of going to the convenience store, try to go to a REAL store. Instead of buying Pillsbury biscuits, use flour and oil and wait...that's a bad example...let's think of a different one. Instead of picking up a pizza, fix a pot of spaghetti, instead of buying shredded cheese, buy the chunk (it really is cheaper) and run it through the Salad Shooter. Well, you get the idea.
9. Stay away from the stock market. FAR, FAR, AWAY! Trust me. *grin*
10. Thrift stores/classified ads/consignments/yard sales.... I can't even begin to tell you how much money I've saved by buying used. The key is to make sure it is something you really NEED or CAN USE. Again. It's not a bargain if it becomes just more clutter in your house. And if it's broken or needs repair and you think you can do it, make sure that you really WILL do it before you buy it to toss in your to-do pile for several days months years. I do know what I'm talking about. Oh, one more thing on that, if you see something for a ridiculously low price (or free) and you are familiar with its used value and know that you can turn it around for a profit, by all means, do it! One perfect example, mom and I were coming out of a thrift store a few weeks ago and she saw a textbook in the freebie book bin and it was the same textbook she had already bought for the class she was currently taking, so she knew it was a fairly recent edition...I told her to pick it up and post it on Half. She made $25 from that book and I'm pretty sure it was sold in less than 2 weeks. Another example was the kids play door that talked and had little activities...I picked it up for $8 at a Goodwill, cleaned it up and the kids played with it for several months...then I put it in my yard sale and sold it for $15. So I got use out of it PLUS a profit. But I knew when I bought it that the going rate for it "used" was around $12-$15.

And that's ten. And it's also time to call it a night! So. NIGHT!

Turkey Day Details

Better late than never, right?

Well, the turkey in the crockpot adventure went rather well.  I still thought it turned out a tad dry, not as moist as I thought it would be, but the taste was fine.  I'm guessing the dryness may have been caused by the fact that when I was preparing the 8 lb turkey breast for the crock, I was quite grossed out by the skin hanging down at the bottom.  So I thought I'd trim it up a little.  And then I got kitchen scissor happy and skinned the whole thing.  And I'm thinking maybe it would have been a little more moist if I hadn't been so grossed out by the skin thing. 

EW.  Raw meat...that I have to TOUCH....and get real cozy with it.  Oh   *GAG*

Anywho, the other part is that it cooked so thoroughly that it was impossible to slice because it pretty much shredded off the bone when Pawpaw tried to cut it.  So we had turkey particles instead of turkey slices.  AH WELL. 

For a first ever turkey cooking attempt, at least it TASTED good. 

The recipes I kinda-sorta based my efforts on were this one by Crockpot365 and this one that I found on RecipeZaar.  Perhaps if I had just picked ONE and followed it exactly, the presentation would have turned out as good as the taste....LOL!  Hindsight.  It torments me so frequently.

Next we have Exhibit B over here, which is the lovely biscuits.  Thank you again, Mr. Pillsbury.  Where would I be without you? 

Then we have KC's plate...he ate the yummy cranberry sauce that his mom made, but he skipped the deviled eggs.  I believe that may be because he has enough devil...don't ya think?  LOL!!! 

And speaking of the devil....lol...check out this evil glare I'm getting from the handsome devil that is my hubby.  I'm going to guess it's the camera he's glaring at, otherwise I might get a complex.  LOL.

 Then there's the Munchkin with her pawpaw.  You can see mawmaw's right arm over there, but that's all of her that you'll see on here today, or else I would end up like that turkey in the first picture up there--chopped up on a platter....(mawmaw just had back surgery a little over a week ago and wasn't feeling up to par...and the few pictures that she was in proved it...LOL...which is why she would kill me if I posted them here. HAH...I'll just save them for blackmail. LOL).

And over there is me after a day of cooking.  Yikes.  I could totally blackmail myself. 

In my defense, it was a very busy day.  And I was very tired.  And I'm getting old.  It's really bad when you look at a picture of yourself and see your grandmother staring back at you.  ARGH.  The horror. 

Which brings to mind a totally random memory from this past weekend, when my friend, K, told me something along the lines of... "You know you're getting old when you raise your eyebrows at your child to scold him and he reaches up and rubs his finger over the wrinkles in your forehead."

So back to the turkey day post....that pretty much sums up our thanksgiving.  My parents were out of town and I was so busy with all the cooking that I was a very bad kid and never did get a chance to call.  So I called the next day to wish them a Happy (Day After) Thanksgiving.  Oops.  They weren't mad.  Parents are good like that. 

Random Kid Update:

• K-man watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving back at the beginning of November and just giggled and giggled through it.  That was totally cute and I got a kick out of it....then I called him Charlie Brown a couple of times when I was playing with him and he would say he wasn't "Cha-wee Bwown."  But then when you asked him who he was, he started saying, "I'm Cha-wee BWOWN!"  Well, tonight, I think it was KC who said something to him..."Get up, Charlie Brown" or something like that and he goes...."I'm not Cha-wee Bwown!  I'm Um. Um. Um. Um. SNOOPY!"  KC and I just looked at each other and BUSTED UP laughing.  He was hilarious.  He is also doing good on the potty training thing...a few accidents but mostly doing good...*knock on wood*...and he is REALLY picky now about his clothes.  Particularly which underwear he wants to wear or not wear.  *SIGH* 
• As for the Munchkin, her hair is getting really long...I was looking at pictures from last Christmas and it was just to her shoulders...now she will actually keep a hairband in her hair and it's about 3 inches past her shoulders.  She looks adorable.  Going through the "telling stories" stage, which is rather frustrating.  Especially when I witness something and ask her about it and she adamantly refuses to own up to it even when I tell her I saw what happened.  Oh well...it's just a stage, it's just a stage, it's just a stage.  This too shall pass, right? 

Anywho, I think that's it and I think this post is quite long enough. 

Goodnight!

In Lieu Of A Real Post

A brilliant remark from my dad earlier today.....

"Just because you're burning a candle doesn't mean you're holding a séance."

True, that. 

And on that note, it also doesn't mean you're Catholic.  It is what the intent of your heart makes it.  Just like with anything else you do or don't do. 

Good thing, too...cuz I burned one earlier today and the house still smells faintly yummy...and the only spirits I had to deal with over it were quite among the living ("What's that for, mom?  Can I touch it?") and not the dead, and I also didn't pray over it (well, unless you count, Dear Father, this child don't listen)!

Anyway, the turkey turned out fine, as did the stuffing, scalloped potatoes in the crockpot, and the biscuits....(made from scratch...I scratched them right out of the bag from the freezer). 

I have pictures, but will have to wait....been quite busy and it's totally time for bed. 

Later!

It's Wednesday

Day before Thanksgiving....and in about 7 minutes, it will BE thanksgiving....and I'm really tired.

But I wanted to blog just cause. And it's totally random cuz that's my brain right now. Sorry.

I joined Facebook....totally been dragging my feet on that...myspace was enough to keep up with, but I finally caved. So now I get to keep up with ANOTHER place. *sigh* Oh well.

Found out late yesterday evening/this morning that I get to cook Thanksgiving to take to the in-laws after all (original plans were just to stick around the house here and not do anything special)....so ran around today collecting all the things to cook the typical turkey dinner. Had I known ahead of time, I would have been more prepared, but as it is, there will be some cheatin' cookin' goin' on since I will have my hands full making my first attempt at cooking a turkey and I didn't have any time to make any of the other stuff ahead. *sigh* I'm not complaining.

Honestly, I think some days KC and I totally do a role-reversal....today was a great example. He was all Mr. Complaining and I was Mrs. Optimistic (TOTAL swap there). He lost the only car key (not the whole set of keys, just the car key just came off the keyring without him noticing) we had with us at Walmart and was freaking out about it and running around trying to retrace our steps through Walmart and I was the totally calm one (I'm sure the fact that "I" was not the party at fault -- for a change -- had NOTHING to do with my calmness) who walked back into Walmart to the Help Desk to ask if a single black Honda key had been turned in. It had. So I called KC from his mad search through the store to come back to the front because I had the key. Anyways....some days it's nice to be on the other side for a change of scenery...LOL.

Anywho....he's reading over my shoulder now so I'm going to hit publish and go to bed now.
*GRIN* LOVE YOU HONEY!

Later!

PS Happy Turkey Day, ya'll...keep your fingers crossed that it will be a happy turnout on my turkey fixin efforts tomorrow. Er. Today. LOL!

Almost Thanksgiving

And at our house, what I hear the most about it is...."after thanksgiving is KISSMAS, RIGHT, MOMMY??????"

Our daughter most definitely is her daddy's child.  K-man is more like me in that regard, Christmas is exciting, Christmas is fun, but it's not the only thing going on in his head before, during, and after Thanksgiving. 

And on the topic of my hubby....he blogged.  Controversially blogged.  Let me just put it this way, if you are not of the open-minded sort, I don't recommend you read his post.  (And if you go there without being open-minded, no hate mail, please, cuz I warned ya.)  Seriously, he's right and I'd have to agree on most of what he said. 

I say most because in my family, when I was growing up, Christmas was a few nice gifts and a fun season, but the highlight that sticks out in my mind was family.  Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's next door, helping them decorate the tree, all the family from out of town coming in for the week, everyone being together....that was the big thrill of the season.  And I feel pretty strongly against bestowing a gi-normous amount of gifts upon the kids because I would rather it NOT be about "getting" things, but about giving in moderation.  And about being with family.  And about me not having to find places for a gazillion and one new toys in their already crowded toy space.  KC & I have found a pretty happy medium between our two extremely different backgrounds....on more than just this issue when it comes to our kids, but any-ka-who. 

I'm thankful for my hubby. 

I'm thankful for my hubby who isn't afraid to just tell it like it is. 

And I'm thankful for the true Church of God.  It's not a place.  It's not a doctrine (although God does have a lot to say about how we live...hello, He wrote a whole book on it).  It's me.  It's you, if Jesus lives in you.  It's a way of life, the way that God tells me personally to live, it's an individual walk. I'm thankful that I don't have to live by man-made rules in order to be part of God's church. 

And now I'm going to go work on the Sunday School newsletter. 

Later!   

Font Lovin'

Look at this!

It's a font from my handwriting.

It needs some tweaking, for sure, because apparently I didn't write my letters in the right spot on the template every time, but it's totally cool.  And it was free.  I heard about it in the SIH class.

Want to try?  Go to yourfonts.com and follow the directions.  Way fun.

Now let's see if the font actually publishes into blogger like it is here in LiveWriter. 

*EDIT: It only shows up if you have the font installed.  BUMMER. Well, take my word for it, it's cool.  Go try it for yourself and see what I mean.

SIH (Self): Peaceful, Perfect

I love quiet.  As in, no chatter, not having to carry on a conversation, not having to decide what to say, just quiet.  My husband says I'm unsocial, and there are times when this particular introverted personality trait is more of a hindrance than a blessing, but it is true that I am a sucker for alone time. 

So much so, that if I were to describe a perfect and peaceful moment in time, I would set it away from the crowds.  It would be a mild day, maybe just cool enough to need a cozy  blanket.  I envision a covered porch with a gorgeous view, possibly even a log cabin tucked high up in the mountains in the middle of fall leaf season, with a comfortable, cushioned, wooden swing and a large glass of lemonade (or Dr. Pepper, if you want the complete truth) on an end table within arm's reach.   Fresh, warm brownies would be a nice effect, as would a warm gentle breeze and some soft and easy Norah Jones music floating from inside.  The finishing touch would be a book (of the romantical kind, of course), something you could disappear inside for hours...with occasional breaks to enjoy the view, another sip of lemonade (or Dr. Pepper), or to just pause and relax in the peace and quiet. 

My kind of moment.

 

Interestingly enough, after I wrote all that, I googled images of porch swing and found the above image, it was connected to a page advertising a cabin rental...ahem.  So...there it is...how much more perfect can it get?  All I'd need is for the season to be right, a couple of blankets and pillows, the good Doctor (Pepper), the brownies, cooperating weather, the music and a book.  *sigh*  I'm going to go to sleep now so that I can REALLY dream.  LOL.

More On Stories In Hand

A very brief summary of some of the things that have been talked about in the class.....with a few of my thoughts and notes intermingled.

"This class is really not about writing, or about scrap booking, but about the gathering process. About the remembering process. About collecting the experiences, big and small, that have shaped us and made us who we are. The stories worth telling."  -Jessica Sprague

The sections of the "story sparks" are broken down into three different sections: Roots, Family, and Self, with the Family section including a subsection for specific family members or pets.

Assignment 1 was from the Roots section.  Finished that assignment.

Assignment 2 was from the Family section.

Assignment 3 was from the Self section.

The challenge on each assignment is to read through the target section of sparks and jot down memories that pop up and then choose one of them and write the story in detail.  After you write the story, you're supposed to read over the following questions and then go back through and make any adjustments to the writing. 

• What year was this? How old was I?
• Where exactly were we, and what were we doing?
• Who else was there?
• What do I remember about how I felt? The mood in the air?
• What else (context) was going on in the world or in my family at the time?
• Why did we do this thing?
• What else can I remember about what my life was like at this time?
• What is the strongest single thing I can remember about this?

And the last thing is to refine, remove any un-necessary pieces of the story, and accessorize as needed. 

Now.  At the moment, I'm two assignments behind. 

None of the family sparks really jumped out at me because they are more about the right now and I talk about the right now all the time on this blog.  There were some on the dating and marriage that I could go back and pull some memories out, but it just isn't hittin' me right about now. 

The other thing is that there is supposed to be a surprise tomorrow and you need to have the Self assignment done.  So I should do it.  But I'm REALLY not into writing about myself at the moment because frankly I really don't want to delve into the answers to some of those questions about myself (for instance, right now, I don't really know how to answer the "why I think I was born into this world" question). 

And others I could answer, but I am not sure I have it in me to form my answer into a well written piece.  A great example of this one would be the "How long can you go without a bath or brushing your teeth? What are your ideas about cleanliness?" spark.  I could quite easily answer that, but to answer in a way that would be worth reading?  Not feeling it right now.

You know that whole "statute of limitations" thing?  I get the feeling that this may be why I feel more comfortable digging up memories from my childhood as opposed to talking about "What thought is constantly pressing for attention today?"  Because...well, it's been longer than ten years on most of my childhood memories, and anything I felt or said or did probably doesn't have the power to make my life miserable today.  How I feel today or what specifically is on my mind, on the other hand, could get me in heaps of trouble. 

But because I'm just ornery like that, I guess I'll start a new post and take a stab at one of the self questions anyways.  Back to the drawing board (or sparks pages) to try to find an easy, non-life-altering one.  LOL.

A Procrastination Project

Well, I finally got around to it.  And in retrospect, it was a procrastination project in more ways than just one.  First though...take a gander at the before and after shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you just LOVE before and after shots?  I do.  It makes me want to go find another project to do, although I'd be hard pressed to find another in such drastic need.     

Anyway, as I was saying, I did not realize how much of a study in procrastination this desk had become until I emptied it completely, wiped it down, and tried to reorganize the stuff to put back. 

See, this desk used to be in use in the office, which is now Munchkin's bedroom.  Of course, when we put all the kid stuff in, mommy and daddy stuff had to go away, so henceforth, the office stuff was packed up and now resides in two neat semi-neat stacks in the garage.  That is an excellent excuse reason not to file, let me tell ya.  I digress.  Back to the story.  The desk was stuck in the garage, empty, to sit until the time comes when we have a room in which to put it (at this rate, it will be our next house, I'm sure).  The desk is currently un-usable, due to the garage being neither heated, nor air-conditioned, and let's face it...paying bills is unpleasant enough, without sweating it or chilling your fingers to the bone while doing it. 

And that whole paragraph there was just to say that the desk was emptied of all the things that belong on it.  Right.  Okay. Just making sure you're with me here. 

WHAT IS ALL THAT STUFF ON IT THEN?

Well, let me put it this way, as I started organizing the things that I raked off the desk, and putting things away in their proper homes, there wasn't much to put back on the desk, because, hel-LO...all the desk things are still packed away! 

So basically, the desk was full of things that I was PROCRASTINATING about putting away. 

This picture on the right was the pile of things to put away inside.  Yikes.

And for the things that are still on the desk, yes, the majority of those things belong there, I went through some of the packed away office stuff and pulled out some of the things that I have found myself needing (you know, like that office variety hole punch now that I've finished punching the million and one holes for the stories in hand book and have a sore hand to prove it). 

Fun, fun, fun. 

I never did find the stapler though.  Humph. 

I should have taken pictures of the area surrounding the desk, as my efforts to clean the desk sorta bled over into the nearby messes.  Strangely enough, most of the nearby messes were also "procrastination piles."  Ahh...the joys of putting things off...*sigh*

SIH - The Banana Seat Bike

When I was a kid, I loved riding bikes. Some of my favorite bike riding memories were on an old banana seat bike. I don't remember where it came from (except I don't think it was new when I got it) or the exact year I got it, but I do remember spending many hours on that seat.

One of my favorite parts was the "cycle appeal." I could and did pretend it was my Harley. And just like a motorcycle, when the need arose, you could find a passenger riding on the back half of that banana seat. It was much harder to lean into the curves when you had a friend on back, though.

Countless days you would find us riding around the circle, occasionally it would be me pretending to be a cop and chasing down the bad guys (aka: my brother), but more often than not, he was the cop and had a never ending supply of imaginary tickets to give me for speeding. (Little did I know how true to life THAT little bit of playacting would turn out...thank goodness, not lately though -- knock on wood.)

During the time I had this bike, we lived next door to my grandparents and the shared gravel drive made a loop past both houses. The drive, appropriately branded "the circle" by family members was fairly large (at least in my memory) and had bushes and trees in the middle that were perfect for trying to dodge those pretend cops. One of the bushes in particular, I remember, we used as a drive thru bank, pulling off the "road" (driveway) up to the bush on our bikes to "make a deposit" before pulling our bike back onto the "road."

I learned the skid on that bike, which was especially fun on gravel. If you leaned just right as you were coming to the part of the drive that had several layers of gravel on it, and slammed on that pedal brake, you could skid sideways and spray gravel for several yards before continuing on your way. And with a lot of practice, it was eventually accomplished without a wipe-out between the sideways skid and the continuing on your way. Another favorite maneuver was flying down the hill and jumping the gully in front of grandma's. Those smaller bikes were lighter and you could catch some major air with those babies.

I must have been somewhere between 7 and 8 when I first got that bike and I remember even after I "graduated" up to a grownup bike, I would still occasionally pull that rattletrap out for a ride. I don't know what ever happened to it after I finally outgrew it for good, but it will always remain a fond childhood memory.

Oh to be able to return to the days when life was all about playing, the speeding tickets were imaginary, and there was always sufficient (albeit imaginary) funds for withdrawals....

Stories In Hand

So I'm taking this free class at JessicaSprague.com and I'm having a blast...

Except, so far, I am procrastinating about actually WRITING down the stories that I've "sparked."

And I'm having a hard time using the handy dandy little binder we printed and put together because the binder rings I used when I put the binder together are too small.  And our stinky local Stuff-mart doesn't have a larger size. 

So.  I need to find some larger binder rings so that the book will actually OPEN instead of just looking pretty. And I need to get writing already.  I plan to use the blog for the writing, and just tag them for this class...I'm not sure how it's gonna go, or when I'm gonna get around to writing, but wish me luck. 

And if she ever offers this free class again, I highly recommend it!

More Cookin'

Trying out a new recipe...Baked Ravioli. Decided to do a spin on the usual throwing of the frozen ravioli in a pot of boiling water and bake it instead.

This recipe had high reviews, and it was pretty basic, so we'll see how it turns out.

Baked Ravioli

• 1 jar (26 to 28 ounces) tomato pasta sauce (any variety)
• 1 package (25 to 27 1/2 ounces) frozen cheese-filled ravioli
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1.Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of rectangular baking dish 13x9x2-inches, with cooking spray.

2. Spread 3/4 cup of the pasta sauce in baking dish. Arrange half of the frozen ravioli in single layer over sauce; top with half of the remaining pasta sauce and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers once, starting with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 40 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered 15 to 20 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot in center. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Do-Ahead -- To make this super-easy recipe ahead of time, layer the ingredients in the baking dish, cover tightly with foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Bake as directed.

My alterations: I didn't have any shredded cheese, or anything other than cheddar that could be shredded to use, so I used sliced provolone instead. Baking it in the oval pampered chef stone casserole, so I wasn't sure if it would be okay to grease it or not, so I may have a mess on my hands after the fact. Hopefully it will be yummy though.

*EDITED TO ADD: Smashing success!!!!  Highly recommend this one...easy and delish! 

*Wince* *Moan*

That whole feeling better thing is not all its cracked up to be. I woke up this morning just as achy as ever and ended up going back to bed instead of getting ready for church.

I finally did get up to get a shower and get dressed cuz the hubby said I am not allowed to miss Choir Practice this afternoon and he wanted me to fix lunch here since I was home, so I threw some meatballs in the crockpot and I'm ready to go for this afternoon, so now I'm going to go pop another couple of advil and take another snooze on the couch.

I am sooo tired of being sick. *sigh*

On the bright side, I have only missed like one day of posting this week....that's a miracle for me!

*edited to add: Awww...my sweet hubby helped clean up after dinner AND put the kids down for a nap without me even asking. What a sweetie.*

A Perfectly Good Saturday

Where did it go?  *sigh*

Oh yeah.  I spent most of it laying around on the couch.  Again.  How long does this flu stuff last anyway?

But.  No whining. 

I spent most of the afternoon surfing the internet researching handmade gift ideas for the holidays.

And uploading a few pictures that I never did pull off my camera....guess it's been about a month.  YIKES . 

Here's one that I had to put on the password protected pictures.

And here are the others....

Went to see M's band competition last month....he's the snare drummer on the end in the first picture and in the front of the line on the second picture.  That was pretty fun since we were otherwise kid-less...it was kinda like a date for me and the hubby.  Haha.

Then here's that project I was talking about...the magnetic calendar and altered dry erase board that I bought for $.50 and hung up for my calendar/to do list in my kitchen.  I like how it turned out.

Next we have last night's cpr/first aid class at DSS...CV & MV took it with us here in town so she was operating the camera here.  The instructor decided KC should be the human demo dummy (as opposed to the plastic versions that he also brought to class) and made him get up on the table and then made me be the first to practice using an AED.....it was only a test model, so it didn't actually SHOCK him.  LOL.  It was pretty funny.  He left after the cpr part b/c he had already taken first aid, but the older couple that the instructor used to demonstrate appropriate choking technique was HILARIOUS!!!  He was the one "choking" and she was trying to get her arms around him and told him to "suck it in" and he was like, "I CAN'T, I'm 'CHOKING'" and she said, hey, "be quiet, you can't talk, remember?"  They were TOO funny! 

And last of all, but certainly not least....I slaved in the kitchen popped open the can of dough and stuck them in the oven to make these today.

And then I iced them. 

And then the woman saw that the tree chocolate covered cinnamon twist was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree sweet to be desired to make one wise fat, she took of the fruit food thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.**  

And then they had another.  And I went and sat down.  And then I got up and took a picture of this exact one.  And then I ate it.  And it was good, too. 

The end. 

**this has been a twisted Faith-spin from the book of Genesis chapter 3.

Have a lovely evening.