The pizza is on the way.

First off, sorry for not posting yesterday. Now that the holiday season is upon us and I'm slowly losing my mind I may not be able to post a blog every day. I can contend with one or the other, but when they team up it gets ugly in these parts. That is why the pizza is on the way.

Last night I was going to make Turkey Courdon Bleu Rolls, and just as I got started Kurt called and said we were going to Roosters for dinner. That place is such a mans eatery. I thought, "No problem, I'll just make this for dinner tomorrow night." Anyhow, I fed Kirsten and I so that we could just get something to snack on, because all they serve is wings and other man food while charging way to much. I made sure I put everything I was cooking away, that the kids had their coats on and we headed out the door. We had a good time hanging out with family, and I took the kids by to see Nanny Glenda's new finches. Ironically their breed is called courdon bleu. Life went on as normal or so I thought. I went to start cooking dinner tonight and I had left the turkey in the microwave after I defrosted it. I was already long overdue for a grocery shopping trip and I had no back up dish. The stupid thing is that I thought, no I was sure, I had put it in the fridge last night. I hate it when I do stuff like that! Therefore we ordered pizza. This is a new recipe that I've been wanting to try and I will have to tell you how it turns out, hopefully soon.

Highschool Memory

This video reminds me of this time in highschool when my friends and I snuck into the school office. We started copying body parts(like hands, feet, and heads. Sorry perverts, no action here!) Well, anyway after a few copies, the copier jammed real bad and we couldn't get our copy out. We got caught because I have monkey toes and my own Mom identified me. Can you believe it! That is how bad my luck is first off that my Mom happened to find out about it and then she rats me out. Lets just say detention sucks!

http://gvod.blogspot.com/2005/11/fat-ass-thin-glass-of-copy-machine.html

I'm Glad I Don't Live Next To This Guy

My sister emailed this to me. It's pretty wild.

This is a real house – The man who lives here is a computer programmer…

http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv

I'm Back

I'm back and we had a good Thanksgiving. It went better than usual and I am thankful for that. We ate dinner at my Auntie Brenda's house(she's British). There were 24 of us crowded around the tables. After dinner we took a nice walk, played family feud, and had a ping pong tournament. My uncle Jess and I took 3rd, I was pretty pleased with that result considering the fact that my eye hand coordination sucked and we fought our way back through the losers bracket. My sister and her fiance took 1st and we had to talk them into playing. So if we hadn't convinced them to play we would have taken 2nd!

On Friday we did a little bit of after Thanksgiving shopping, it didn't take to long considering there is only a Kmart and a few stores downtown. After that we went bowling. I sucked!!!! Kirsten almost beat me with no gutter bumpers. I only had like 5 points in the 5th frame. It was miserable. On Saturday we played poker and I took 2nd. Not Bad.

All in all I had a good weekend and even Kurt enjoyed himself. The kids had a great time. We go up to Craig every other year and this year was extra nice, because I am no longer the only one with young children. In fact, my cousins have toddlers. Now that my children have grown up a bit I didn't have to worry about watching them non-stop as thay ran through my aunt's house doing who knows what. It was a much more relaxing time.

Joke for the Day

This made me laugh!

Two Irish nuns have just arrived in USA by boat and one says to the other, "I hear that the people in this country actually eat dogs." "Odd," her companion replies, "but if we shall live in America, we might as well do as the Americans do." Nodding emphatically, the mother superior points to a hot dog vendor and they both walk towards the cart. "Two dogs, please," says one. The vendor is only too pleased to oblige and he wraps both hot dogs in foil and hands them over the counter. Excited, the nuns hurry over to a bench and begin to unwrap their "dogs."

The mother superior is first to open hers. She begins to blush and then, staring at it for a moment, leans over to the other nun and whispers cautiously: "What part did you get?

The Guilt Compromise

So, guilt and I had a discussion and came up with a compromise. Kurt and I would go on our date and show up for the last 20-30 minutes of Family Night. As we walked in the door it became obvious that very few families had joined their kids for the evening. Apparently none of the other parents wanted to join "The Big Happy Family Cookie Jubilee".

Tomorrow our family is heading up to Craig for Thanksgiving, the town of little excitement. As the oil changer guy put it, "Craig is a great place to be from, but not many people stay." My Mom is already making plans for us to visit the new bowling alley. The old one only had like 5 lanes. Most of my side of the family will be there, except for my favorite aunt's family. Keep in mind that I come from a family full of ranchers, rednecks, hippies and yuppies. And some of them are married to each other. Unless my Mom and sister have shared my blog address with any of them, or I piss them of and they give it to them to get back at me(just kidding, I hope!). I should have a few cynical, sarcarstic, and hopefully fun stories to tell. You all can just pray right now that only the fun ones involve my children. I know I'm praying for that.

The Faux Martha Stewart

So tonight is Family Night for Awana's so I have to bring 2 dozen cookies to share. Since I have 2 children I have to bring 4 dozen cookies. But I'm not going to the saga begins...
When I went to the grocery store to buy some pre made goodies, I had a revelation out of guilt. During family night the parents are supposed to join the cookie jubilee and everyone is supposed to be one big happy family. Well, neither Kurt nor I want to go. We don't want to experience the big happy family cookie jubilee. You see normally after we drop the kids off. We go on a date. That means if we drop them of a bit early we get 1 hour and 45 min of nice dinner and conversation(as long as Monday Night Football isn't on). So unless guilt wins us(mostly me) over we are going to drop the kids off and enjoy our evening. So that brings me back to my guilt ridden revelation; Since I don't want to be judged as the bad mother, who didn't care enough about her children to even show up and bought the pre-made goodies as a side note. As I walked into the grocery store, right after I resisted the urge to buy a sugar-free hazelnut latte... uh make it a venti, I decided that I could buy the pre-made cookie dough instead. I would then cook the cookies and send them with the kids all the while pretending to be Martha Stewart. So the saga continues...

While I'm baking the first batch I notice that they are going to be perfectly round with a bit of a cicular ridge on the top. I'm not going to fool anyone! Then I slightly burn the first batch. The second batch comes out nicely, atleast thet looked good until the pan slipped out of my hand and all the cookies slid into the drawer underneath the oven. Then it occurs to me that if I truly wanted to fool people I shouldn't have gotten the smores and reese pieces variety. Oh well, I guess I will be sending my children with only 28 great tasting cookies tonight so they won't be cookie-less, just family-less. Unless my guilt wins.

One Week Until Thankgiving

Here's a little something to help you get in a Thanksgiving kind of mood!

http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=382219626&m=1652&rr=y&sou

"This is my style"

Quotes from the Kirstenator-

"Maybe we should get some eggs, so that we can get ready for Easter." - This was said today at the grocery store.

"Do you think Dad could build a big enough fence for a pet giraffe?"

"Kirsten how would you like me to fix your hair today?"
"Oh, just blonde." - She has red hair!

Kirsten, you wore that outfit yesterday and it is dirty. You can not wear it again today."
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't."
"Yes, I can and no tag backs."

"But if Konrad gets married to Morgan then he won't be able to marry me." This was followed by yet another discussion about how brothers and sisters don't marry each other it is against the law. This was yet another discussion on this matter in which I was told "but Mom, you don't understand."

"This is my style" - She declared this upon looking at a pair of shiny hot pink shoes. After she tried to get me to try on a pair of orange and giraffe print shoes, earlier that day, and I told her that they weren't my style.

That DANG Tooth Fairy!!!

The Tooth Fairy has done it again, she has pissed me off. I am starting to think that she either has Alzheimer’s or maybe she is just plain lazy. First, there was the time that Konrad lost his lost tooth (for the 2nd time) and she didn't leave him anything except for a note. Second, last night he left his tooth under his pillow, just as she asks every child to do. Either she was to busy, got the flu, had trouble making it to this area due to the big snow storm in the mountains, OR she forgot about him. Because when he woke up this morning there was nothing under his pillow, except for the tooth he had left for her. I'm hoping she will be able to explain how this could have happened to my son. I have never heard of this happening to anyone else's children. In fact if I knew how, I would file a complaint and demand she be replaced. Hopefully, by a harder working more organized fairy who doesn't take her job for granted. Now I understand that she has a very demanding job, but I expect better than this and I think I am justified in doing so. The following is the note she left the first time. I believe you will see my point...

------------------------------------------

09-02-2005

Konrad,

I am sorry to hear that you have misplaced your tooth. I’m always happy when I am told that you have lost another tooth and that I need to collect it. Your teeth sell at above market prices and that is good business for me. Unfortunately, the freshly lost teeth are the only teeth worth anything these days. I am sure you can guess as to why that is. My, my, my, how things have changed, there used to be a day when even the unfresh teeth were worth money. So, I guess I had better just go ahead and tell you the bad news. If I do not find your tooth under your pillow tomorrow night I won’t be able to pay you the usual amount. Because, you see, I will be in the area again tomorrow night and I do not mind swinging by to see if you have a treasure for me. However, it might be awhile before I’m in this area again and business is about to get pretty busy in England (for the next couple of weeks anyway). So, if you find your tooth put it under your pillow and whenever I’m in this area I will swing by and see if you have found it. Just remember the sooner I get your tooth the more I will be able to pay you for it.
Well, until we do business again!

The Tooth Fairy

?Karma?

I am starting to wonder about this Karma theory. Today, at work, Kirsten was patting my leg saying "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom." and as I said "yes" I bent down to her level so that she would feel heard.(You know like all those professional people in the parenting articles tell you to do) Well, at that moment she decides to jump and SMACK! Her head hits my bottom lip and my tooth takes a small chunk out of it. (I have a few words I would like to share with those professionals!) Well, while I was cleaning myself up, one of my co-workers was leaving. And as she put her bag on her shoulder she hit Kirsten and gave her a bloody lip, just a small one that you could barely see. As guilty as it makes me feel, especially to admit it. While I was taking care of her, I was smiling a bit on the inside.

But then again if there is something to this Karma theory, especially if it includes your thoughts. I could be in big trouble. I think I'll stick with the GOD theory. You know that one where God sent his son to earth to die on the cross and forgives us from all of our sins. I chose life.

Honey, I'm Home

That is what a bee says when he comes home. Sorry for the lame joke, it can be heard around our house quite a bit.

I've returned from my trip to Denver and I had a great time. Even though we got snowed on coming and going. I hate traveling over the mountains when it is snowing. The highlight of the trip was that we got to see my sister-in-law, Tina, for most of the day Saturday. She is doing well and is anxiously awaiting my brothers return home. Once he returns home he is leaving the Navy life behind and they are moving to Colorado, so we will get to see them more often. YAY!!! We got to do some visiting and shopping, including a bead store. There wasn't a huge selection of gemstone beads, but they had a wall full of little cannisters filled with assorted small plastic beads. These small beads were perfect for Kirsten to make a necklace and a perfect way to spend some down time. The good thing about plastic beads is that they are very inexpensive, so if she loses this necklace it won't be a big deal. Unlike some of the other necklaces My Mom and I have made for her. They are made out of gemstone beads, although we did get a good deal on the beads.

I was also able to find some good deals on some much needed items. Like a new pair of tennis shoes and winter coat. My new tennis shoes felt really cushy. I think it was because my old ones were about 5 years old and worn out, the rubber on the soles was starting to peel off. I found my new ones(Reebok's) on clearance for $16.00 and I found a Columbia coat on sale for $70.00 along with the cutest matching hat. I'll try to post pictures of me in my new coat and hat. I really like the colors! It is a long story on why I needed a new coat. Let's just say I'm not allowed to loan any part of this one out to anyone, no matter how well I know them. Period. End of story. Then we found an Old Navy and all items on clearance were an additional 50% of the lowest marked price. We are talking T-shirts for Kurt at $1.50, Khakis for me at $5.99, and clothes for the kids from $1.50-$3.00. I was in heaven and it was blissful. I guess you can tell that I like a good bargain and that I also like telling everybody else about them. God definitly blessed me with a good time this week.

Although, Kirsten was in rare form. Well, maybe not all that rare, just on steroids. Mostly because she was tired and worn out. At 10:30 Friday night she was still jumping between the two beds at the HO-IN-TEL(hotel) and she woke up at the butt crack of dawn the next morning. I don't even think the sun was up, yet. I know I was tired and I'm sure she was too.

All in all, we had a good time and enjoyed visiting with Tina. If I could change anything we would have went to Old Navy sooner and got even more great deals.

Road Trip

I am so excited. Tomorrow Kirsten, my Mom, and I are heading to Denver to see my sister-in-law, Tina. She is married to my brother, Brad, who is over in Iraq with the Navy. He has been over there for about 3 1/2 months and he has about 3 1/2 to go. Last time he had to go to Iraq, my sister, mom, and I met her in Denver for some fun girl time. I am excited to do this again, unfortunatly my sister is unable to join us. I hope to get some Christmas shopping done and maybe visit a bead store. I only get to see her about once a year since she lives so far away and I always enjoy our visits. We are leaving tomorrow and we praying for storm free weather. Talk to you later.

Lost in Translation

The Konman has done it again! I don't know about you but all I can do is laugh. Where does he get this stuff from?

When I was helping at his school on Monday the Librarian told me that he sang his song(from talent day) for her. When I asked him to sing the song he sang to her, he told me there were actully two songs. The first one was Higher and the second one was Face Down. He knew the lyrics to Higher, but was a bit confused on the lyrics to Face Down. They are supposed to go, "Face down is the way I hope you find me, not dead, but in living prayer to you father" --
He sang it like this, "Face down is the way I want my body, not all together but da da da da"
Just a slightly more gruesome version. I'm sure the librarian was wondering how we spend our free time.

This is the same child who instead of singing "Nothing but the blood of Jesus". Was singing "Nothing but the butt of Jesus". Just one word can make such a difference! There is another song that goes "Real Jesus consume me, consume me" and he was singing "Real Jesus atchoo me, achoo me". It's a good thing that God knows what is truly in our hearts and where we are coming from.

The best one was when he was helping put up a tent and he hit his thumb with a hammer on the meat nail(tent stake). That one still cracks us up today and has forever changed our family's vocabulary. That is in part because we had trouble keeping a straight face and never corrected him, until 2 years later, when my sister took pity on him and explained to him what it was really called.

These just scratch the surface, and unfortunatly I can't remember all of them. So if there is another one that you think is funny, please, remind me by posting it in comments.

Ebay Fun

My sister sent me this in an email and I thought some of you might enjoy it! Especially you Rock N' Roll wives. This is Great!

Make sure to read the description and the questions at the bottom.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8335653541&ru=http:%20/%25

.... "In Bed."

A friend once told us that the best way to read fortune cookies is to end them with "in bed". We went to a chinese restaurant this weekend and I thought I would share some of our fortunes with you. These are not as good as we usually get, but still kinda funny.

• Try it, you may like it (in bed).
• All your hard work will soon be paid off (in bed).
• The only way to have a friend is to be one (in bed).
• A merry heart does good like a medicine (in bed).
• Wish you a good journey (in bed).

Low Key and Lovin' It!

Today has been pretty low key and I'm lovin' it. Atleast that is what I was thinking until I thought of what I did today.

• I got back on the wagon and met Laura at the gym at 5:20 am
• Got the Konman man to school even if I let him wear highwater jeans beacause he's grown so much.
• I went to The Great Harvest Bread Company in hopes of seeing Jen Q. at her new job. No luck, but I did get day old pumkin and choc. chip bread for half price.
• Well, since I was so close I had to check out Michael's. Wow, I left without buying anything. Does anyone know where I can buy color pencils with a brush on one end that you can dip into water and paint with? The Kirsten-ator would love these and I met a lady who says they are Crayola brand and she has bought them before.
• Got measured and paid for the bridesmaid's dress for my sister wedding. Can you believe $160.00? I swear the wedding market is making bank and every year they get worse.
• Cleaned the house.
• Almost lost Spike, Kirsten's beta fish, down the drain. I was cleaning out his water, I let my guard down as I was pouring the water out, and out he came. Luckily I was using the side of the kitchen sink without the disposal. Although, I kind of freaked and Kurt had to pick him up and put him back in his bowl. He was in a precarious spot if you picked him up the wrong way he would go down the drain.
• Went and helped with Konman's class at school.
• Worked with the kids on their Awana verses.
• Took a 30 minute nap. It was glorious!
• and I need to start worrying about dinner, soon.

I got a lot accomplished, and in the end it was a very low-key day that I plan on enjoying until I go to sleep tonight.

Such a Little Man

From the day Konrad was born we have called him our Little Mr. or Little Man. Sometimes he just says or does things beyond his years, not all of them good. Sometimes they are just precious or they give us a glimpse of who he is going to become. Yesterday was no different. There was a talent day at his school, so during music class they could do a special presentation if they wanted. Nolan brought his guitar and played the strings, Kahnita played her princess keyboard, Conn played a recorder, Morgan(his girlfriend) played her violin, and Konrad sang a rock song -Higher by Five Face Down. When I asked him how it went he said, "Real good. They were like you would be for Rock n' Roll, you know" as he said this he was bobbing his head like the teenage boys do at a Five Face Down concert. It was hillarious and yet at the same time he so reminded me of his Uncle Troy.

A conversation overheard concerning Morgan, the girlfriend. Keep in mind he is only 7, in 1st grade and this was a very serious conversation for him.

"So, who is morgan?"

Oh, She's my girlfriend."

"Oooh, Your girlfriend. So are you going to marry her?"

"Well, that's the plan."

Hoping for a Smooth Ride Today

And hopefully a bit more uplifting! Before I go any further I just need to say, "Thank You Sarah!" I need to think twice before venting on this blog.

There is no school today. I think that this is like the 10th day they have had off of school this year. As Kurt said to me the other night "I don't remember having this many days off of school." Of course we don't, when we were in school we couldn't get enough days off of school. I remember looking ahead to see when our next day off was. Although I have to admit it has been nice this morning. We haven't had our usual rushing around panic hurry or we are going to be late ritual. Trust me it is quite the rollercoaster we ride every morning. Just the other day I thought everything was under control, things were going good and I say "Time to go" and Konrad pipes up and says, "Kirsten isn't dressed yet!" ....So the ride begins!

Well, I got to go. I work at noon and with any luck it will be a smooth ride for us.

Just to Clarify

When I started this blog my husband, Kurt, said "Oh, great now you can tell everyone how bad of a person I am." Of everything I've written in the past none of it pertains to him. If he is the one making me buttsore, I just yell at him to get if off of my chest. If I'm ever referring to him, trust me you will know!

Also, I got a raise at work! Now I only make $1.00 (or more) less that the other departments at work. Just to clarify it was an $.85 raise which is way more than I expected and I appreciated knowing they appreciated me. Atleast that is what they told me. Oh, my supervisor rocks and has been fighting an uphill battle to get us the recognition we deserve. After my little venting session I'm feeling better and I will try to keep things more upbeat(most of the time). Thank you for reading.

Beading Block

I don't know if there is such a thing, but if there is I had it last night. I had bought some new beads and I finally had a chance to get my beading stuff out. So there I sat at the table last night just staring at my stuff trying to figure out what I wanted to make and I couldn't visualize or create anything. I even thought I'll just make a simple pair of earrings with some cool shaped black beads I had just bought. I still couldn't come up with any thing. It was very frustrating. I think part of the problem is that I'm being to stingy with my beads. I don't want to use them all at once because I might come up with a better idea(or in this case an idea) and I will have already used my precious beads. My precious, my precious, I'm starting to sound like that freaky guy from Lord of the Rings. Hopefully, I'll have a brain blast and I will come up with something awesome. Or maybe I'll just ask my sister-in-law and use her creative juices to my benefit.

All Dressed Up, Still???

Yes, my prediction was correct and we still have a giraffe hanging around the house today. Atleast, she isn't wearing the mask anymore. She can hardly see out of it and ran into a bunch of stuff at Sam's yesterday. We couldn't help but laugh at her last night because she kept running into things; for example bushes, walls, steps, and almost a pole. As she put it "Everything is in my way." and this time she was right. The funniest thing was when she would tell Kyle or Vaeh that they could follow her and she would show them the way with her flashlight. Talk about having a blind leader. And they were great because they would grab her hand and follow her. It was cute! Konrad thoroughly enjoyed being Jack Sparrow last night and I didn't even have to take the sword away. Although there were threats. He looked great. It was so weird to see my 7 year-old son with facial hair. He looked like such a man!

We went Trick or Treating with my Ben(Brenda),her fiance and his two children, Kyle and Vaeh, last night. I had a great time hanging out with my sister and enjoying the kids. The kids kept cracking us up. Kyle was a train conductor and he would tell people he was Kyle the train conductor. Vaeh was a ballerina and a very tired one by the end of it all. They are both great kids.

I really enjoyed hanging out with my sister last night. It has been a long year for both of us and I feel like we are getting to know each other again. I think we have both grown a lot in different ways and I think the growth has been good for both of us. I know it has for me. I am looking forward to more and even better times than last night.

Pictures of Jack Sparrow and a giraffe that hung out with us on Halloween- a.k.a. Konrad and Kirsten all dressed up!