Home

I'm heading back home to Leavenworth tomorrow for five days.  It's going to go by fast, two of the days will be spent traveling there and back, one day will be the wedding and the other two, well, we'll see...It sounds like some other people that I went to school with are heading home there too.  This is the year to go to the beautiful town of Leavenworth.  (There's less snow this year too).

Hope everyone has a blessed Christmas.  May it be filled with much joy, laughter and love.

Merry Christmas!

So, not a lot going on this week.  We were supposed to have our work Christmas party tonight, but it was cancelled due to the chance of the snow & freezing rain.  The forcasters had said it was supposed to start Friday night, then they changed it to this morning.  Well that all came and went and the impending doom still has not occurred; although I just went outside a little bit ago and I felt some rain, so I think the freezing rain is coming.  As some of you may have heard, there is a cold front passing through, and this whole week has been incredibly cold.  But by next week, it supposed to be back to normal temperatures for this time of year.  We shall see.  (Do I sound like an old person talking about the weather?)

In other news, I'm still not done with Christmas shopping.  I was going to go today with a friend but we had to postpone until next week. 

I will be out of town for Christmas, going up to Leavenworth.  Unfortunately, Jesse will not be joining me.  He will be staying at home and hanging out with our dog.   By the way, Jess is finally done with his job at Frito Lay.  He will most likely start back up in January, but right now he is welcoming the much needed break. 

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

So, even though Thanksgiving is over, I still have lots of food left in my house and I have eaten so much this weekend.  Ugh!  I have not done much this long weekend.  I went out to two places on black Friday and went during the middle of the day (there were no crowds) and was done in a hour; spent time with the in-laws who were only here for a day and then Jesse's brother hung out with us until today.  Now, Jesse is back at work today and I have been hanging out, watched a movie and am doing laundry.  Tomorrow will be more laundry and watching football.  

I will be traveling to Leavenworth for Christmas this year because I am in my friend's wedding.  (Of all times to get married...)  I just picked up the bridesmaid dress that I needed to have slightly altered.  I am excited to be in the wedding but I am a bit stressed about driving in snow, which I'm sure we will hit some once we reach the pass.  


Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving...wish I could have made the trip to Spokane. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is having a great thanksgiving and eating themselves full!  Enjoy the long weekend.

breathe, kelly, breathe

This week has been crazy: 1) Getting ready for the party I'm hosting at my house on Saturday (I'm so excited though and I will try to take pics, I'm so bad at doing that), the prepartion has included getting a new slipcover for our sofa.  Let me tell you this has been more stressful than it needed to be.  I have a slipcover that I bought two years ago but it never really fit it that well.  I did some research last week and thought that the Sure Fit stretch slipcover would be perfect, but I needed to find places that sold it and that wasn't too expensive.  Turns out, it is perfect and fits like a glove, well, almost.   I actually had to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond twice because I bought the loveseat size thinking it would fit, but the seat part was too small, so then I went the next day and bought the sofa size.  So, I still have yet to go back to return the one that was too small.  I still need to get some ingredients for the food I'm making on Saturday, I need to vaccum the house thoroughly (nobody likes pet hair on their clothes) and in between all this we are 2) refinancing our home so we can get a lower interest rate.  I hate trying to wrap my brain around all the numbers and what everything means.  It means asking my broker a ton of questions which I'm sure she hates me by now.  Plus, I am getting a bridesmaid dress slightly altered this Saturday for my friends wedding on Christmas weekend. 

Phew!  I can't wait until Sunday when most of this stuff will be over with!

Giveaway

http://www.thebestnesst.blogspot.com/

Click on the link above to check out this blog and her etsy shop! 

Sad to say, but I don't have a lot going on lately...therefore, I haven't written much on my blog.  I went to game night tonight.  We have a group of people from work who go to game night about once a month, boy are we a bunch of nerds...but it's totally fun!  Tomorrow I am meeting a friend for dinner and a movie.  We are going to see Amelia (Amelia Erhardt).  Then next weekend I am hosting Girls Night at my house.  There is a group of girls that try and get together once a month for girls night, we watch chic flicks and all bring food & drinks to share.  This will be the first time for most of them seeing my home and I am a little stressed about it.  I hate that I compare my home to others.  The fact that it's an older home and therefore needs updating makes having parties at your house a little embarrassing.  I know I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I feel like there is a bunch of stuff I should do to prepare my house so it doesn't have such a college feel to it (mis-matched furniture, no art on the walls...)  I was the one afterall, who volunteered to host this time, so I need to get over it.  Ok, I need to not stress.  I will keep you updated as to how it goes.  I am looking forward to the weekend.  :)

Make average great

"I learned that when you make average great, your dreams can become a reality."- Suze Orman.  This is pretty profound if you think about it.  How many of us just work average jobs or do average things that we're maybe not so excited about, where we would rather do anything else or be anywhere else?  But if you take that average thing and make it great, get something out of it, make the most of it and have fun with it, it will set up an (work) ethic for your future.  It can change how you do things, how you run your house, play with your kids, do things with your spouse...the list goes on. 

I hope you can turn something average into something grrrreat!

band-aid

I quickly snapped a picture of KD after putting a band-aid on her nose.  It didn't stay on for long!

Can things be normal?

Ever since KD broke her toe, we have had ongoing issues with her. It's just been one thing after another.  I feel tired.  It's been 7 weeks of going through this, of coming home every day to some new thing that has happened with her, and then having to be the one to clean up the mess, with no one there to help or calm me.  It's been frustrating and I am tired of it.  I just want the normalicy back.  Then there are the things that Jesse and I have disagreed on throughout this process with KD, which makes it all the more frustrating.  SERIOUSLY, I am so glad this is not a kid we are dealing with!  I would be freaking out more than I already have with our dog.  Hopefully by next year (it's only a few months away) things will start to look up.  Hopefully the New Year will bring some peace back to our lives and give us new direction.  We love KD, don't get me wrong, but it just seems so fitting that we got a dog that has mental issues and is accident prone.  Ha!  I guess pets start to resemble their owners eventually!

Just a quick update: mom and dad are coming to visit on Thursday, looking forward to the visit.  Melanie & Bill are coming on Saturday to visit, girls may do a little shopping. :)
I have been spending the past few days getting the house ready.  KD's doing well other than her foot swelling last week.  She is on antibiotics and everything looks well, but she still has until the end of the month before things are back to normal.

Update

Wow, looking back on my blog, I see it is all about KD.  Yeah, she's pretty much taken up our lives these past 3 weeks since her incident.  What have I done in between?  Well, not much.  Contributed some stuff to a yard sale that my in-laws had at their house last weekend.  That was fun actually and made more money than I thought I would.  Today I am going to get a pedicure done with my friend and then we are going to the Cheesecake Factory!  My father-in-law is going to babysit KD while I'm gone.  And as far as the update on KD's progress; her toe is pretty much healed, she's walking just fine, but she keeps taking off her wrap when she is by herself causing new wounds from nawing at the bandage.  I feel like we take one step forward and two steps back.  It's like, just when things are going well, she has to do something else to herself! 

This is supposed to be the last weekend of summer weather, so I hope you all enjoy it and do something fun.

stir crazy

We have finally let KD out of her kennel as long as we are watching her and making sure she doesn't get up and run around.  She was just getting too stir crazy in her kennel.  In this picture, she is wearing a sock on her foot because she kept licking at the shaved part of her skin where they had the iv.

Cotton Candy?

This is what the sky looked like early this morning.

Plastic

I know some of you don't like or watch Oprah, but I do watch most of her shows. She did a show earlier this year on the use of plastic and it's impact on marine life. It has forever haunted me since the day I watched it and it makes me so, so aware of using plastic. I have not stopped thinking about this ever since and it makes me think twice whenever I go into a grocery store. It definitely had a huge impact on me. I had no idea what it was doing to our ocean and to marine life.

Knowing that we are contributing to this and can do something about it is HUGE. This is an educational show. I encourage you to use reusable bags when grocery shopping and to cut down on plastic overall. And please recycle your plastic bags at selected grocery stores that take them. (This is not to say that I have stopped using plastic completely, it's hard to do that when most products we buy are plastic, but I have definitely cut back). Here is a link if you're interested. The use of plastic.

Broken Dog

On Wednesday morning, KD dislocated and fractured her toe going up the stairs in our house. Here she is just back from the vet after being under anesthesia. She has a splint on her toe and a metal rod on the back of the leg and it's wrapped with an ace bandage.

Here she is in the kennel we borrowed. She took quite well to the kennel. This was our biggest worry, not knowing how she would react to being in a kennel. But she is liking it, so we might have to find a used one on Craig's List. She will be kennel-bound for at least 2 weeks and will have weekly visits to the vet for 6-8 weeks to check her bandage and replace the splint if necessary.

coffee

Coffee. I LOVE it, it's a lifesaver. It's one of the best inventions (or is it a discovery?) I hope you love it as much as I do. Here's a tip that I learned from my sis: If you like cream in your coffee, pour the cream in your cup first, then pour the coffee and you will never need a spoon for stirring!

Food for thought

I need to choose my battles. I need to pound this into my head, to remember this. Not everything has to be fought. Sometimes, I need to just let things go instead of feeling like everything matters. It starts to tire me out and makes me mad and drains energy from me and you know what? It's not worth it!

"Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands." 1 Samuel 14:47

Cute KD

 

I snapped a picture with her head on a pillow.

Borealis-like

This is what the sky looked like yesterday.

House

Here are some pics I just took our house today.

Panther Reunion

(Donna, this is for you. I'm actually posting something)
Okay, so this wasn't a huge family reunion, but it was a great get together. It was so nice seeing everyone this weekend. Thank you everyone who was able to make it: The Meyers, Dennis & Kathy, Nicole & Chris, Louise, The Culps, Les & Sue & Hannah, The Weavers, The Campbells, Bobby Asbury. We even celebrated Les's birthday. Donna and Cleve, thank you for hosting it at your house. Angie, it was so fun staying at your house, you've got quite a view and it is so peaceful. I hope we can all find a little bit of peace in our lives. And Ness your house is so cute and I love how we both have old houses with character.








(my pics aren't the greatest, so please feel free to post some of your own)

HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN SOON.

August 6th

Count down to Spokane in 5 days! Can't wait to see everyone!

Joy in the moment

So, as most of you know from FB, I had a shopping spree at Nordstrom's last week thanks mainly to Barb (my mom-in-law). I love that place! It has been a lot of fun. It's a chance for me once a year to get nice clothes for work. Yay!

Today I hung out with my friend and we went to Portland and into these boutique shops. It was great and I love talking with her!

So, I am thankful and grateful for friends and family for bringing joy and laughter to my life!

August trip

I will be flying to Spokane August 6th - 9th. Can't wait to see everyone and the little ones! Hope it's still nice weather then.

I've been experimenting with photography lately, well, actually just trying to get better at taking pictures. Here are some I recently took.

Once again, Ness at thebestnesst is doing another fun giveaway!

Visit her at: http://thebestnesst.blogspot.com to enter this give away!

Vacation

Whew, so I made it back from my mini vacation to Leavenworth. It went by fast, but we squeezed a lot into it. It was fun seeing the progress in Sawyer with his talking/vocab (and use of "icky" words LOL) and how he is curious about everything and everyone.

We took a drive to Lake Wenatchee. It was so cool seeing everything and how much it has or has not changed in the 5 years that mom and dad haven't lived there. I miss the smell of the woods so much (but I don't miss the misquitoes). We drove down to the North and South park, to our old house, stopped at the playground and the beach, drove to our old church in Plain, stopped in Plain at the Hardware store, saw the new "Winton School" now Beaver Valley in it's new location. A walk down memory lane.

We also had a "cookout" which was basically a picnic at a campground with some friends and roasted 'smores.

I was able to meet up with some friends and catch up on life.

All in all, it was a great trip. I'm sure Kj will be posting some pics of some of the events I just talked about; hope I didn't spoil it, Kj.

Count down

Only 3 more days and I'll be taking off to Leavenworth to see the fam. Whoo-hoo, I'm so excited! I was debating on bringing KD, but I know that she will wine and bark the whole time she is outside because we have spoiled her by having her be an inside dog. So, I think she's going to stay here with Jesse while I'm gone. I'll be posting pictures.

This summer

I'm taking some vacation and will be in Leavenworth June 10th through the 14th to visit the parents and Kj and Sawyer. I am looking forward to seeing everyone. It stinks living so far apart from family.

Jesse has been working weekends the past few weeks and has worked 12 days or so without a day off, good for the overtime, but not so good because I hardly see him at all. :(

Enjoy the three day weekend.

flowers

These are a few pictures I took of some daisies that I planted in my flowerbeds. I love gardening but I'm no expert at it and have yet to build up flowerbeds how I want them to be.

An address book from Best Nesst?

Ness, I don't know if you got my suggestion, but I would LOVE if you made an address book! I need one and when I saw some of your journals with tabs in them, it gave me the idea. I have looked everywhere in stores for an address book and there is a very sparce selection of any that are cute and when you do go into a store to look for some, there really isn't very many. Then I realized that because we have turned so much to technology these days, most people keep their contacts on their computer or phone so there would be no need for an address book. If you can do one, let me know!

Gathering?

So, what do you all think of getting together this year for another mini family gathering? I would love to see everyone and what better way than to have it be all at one time? I know we all have busy schedules, so if not this year than maybe next year. If you have ideas on location, give a shout out!

Hope everyone is doing well. Let's hope May brings us some warm weather.

http://www.thebestnesst.blogspot.com/

Here is a link to a journal giveaway at best nesst.

Jesse is doing awesome at his new job. He is a quick learner. He says it's a cool place to work. Frito Lay makes the chips right there and also packages them right there as well. He has an incredibly busy schedule and I haven't seen him all week. I waited up for him last night to come home so I could finally see him. Everything is going good so far. Let's cross our fingers that a permanent position will open up down the road.

We are having friends over this evening. It is a rare occasion for us since we don't have a lot of company come over. It's a friend from work and she hasn't met Jesse yet. I am excited to get together.

Hope everyone enjoys this sunny weather this weekend.

Hurray for Frito Lay

Jesse starts a new job at Frito Lay on Monday. I cannot tell you how excited I am (hopefully he is too). He has not been working since August, not by any fault of his own and has been applying for jobs weekly. But with the economy the way it is, no one is even hiring. Thank the good Lord that he opened some doors and was able to give Jesse this opportunity. It's only a temporary job, but it could turn permanent if there is a position open at that time. I will keep you updated on how things are going.

Two Metal Heads

Jesse managed to get a t-shirt on KD and I snapped the picture. This picture is so funny!

Small Spaces

This is a picture of our kitty Boo in the cupboard of the buffet. She has always loved being in boxes and bags. Anytime we have a bag on the floor she crawls in it. I happen to have one of the doors to the buffet open and she jumped in. (By the way, Boo will be 8 1/2 years old in April and Bella will be 8 in September. I didn't realize they were that old.)

My handiness

I'm a handywoman. I love building/putting together things. I probably got this from my dad, since I helped him a lot when I was young out in the "shop". I put together furniture by myself. It gives me a challenge and a sense of accomplishment.

Plinky

In the Blogger Buzz news it shared about Plinky. It's this website sort of like Twitter that prompts you with questions and you give your answers. It's a conversation starter, and gives you things to think and blog about on your blog in case you get "writer's block" when blogging, which I know I sometimes do. As you can see one of the questions was what is your favorite movie line. I chose to answer this question because I love movies and Jesse and I are always quoting from Rush Hour. You can also submit a question for others to answer. It's pretty fun. If you guys want to sign up for Plinky or learn more about it, it's in the blogger buzz news section of your blogger. Enjoy!

My favorite line from 'Rush Hour'

Wipe yourself, you dead.

an opportunity

I work at City Hall. There are several offices in this building, one of them being our City Manager's office. When I went to orientation 8 months ago for my new job, our City Manager, Pat spoke at our orientation. He had us talk about ourselves and our interests. One of the things I shared was that I love animals and would love to be an animal cruelty investigator or work with animals. Today, he came through our office and he still remembers me and he always remembers me as the animal lover. He told me that the Humane Society is moving to a new facility and it's bigger and will be opening in about 4 months. He said he knows people there and could hook me up...it got me interested in possibly volunteering there. The Humane Society relies on public donations only and they could use all the help they can get. I might see if I can volunteer a few weekends a month and I bet I might be able to recruit Jesse too. I know doing something like this would be challenging and would take me a bit out of my comfort zone, but I love challenges and learning new things. And, oh, it's a chance to make a difference to creatures who desperately need our help. Check back for future updates on this.

Innocent

Isn't this such an innocent look? My heart melts when I see this picture. I took it this weekend.

Grandma's buffet

Uncle Bill and Melanie brought me the buffet table that I have always grown up with. I did not realize that it used to be grandma's. I will have to find out the history of it from mom.

The Bucket List

The Bucket List. Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then send it to your friends (including me).



Things you have done during your lifetime:
Gone on a blind date
Skipped school
X Watched someone die
X Been to Canada
Been to Mexico
Been to Florida
Been to Hawaii
X Been on a plane
Been on a helicopter
X Been lost
XGone to Washington, DC
X Swam in the ocean
X Cried yourself to sleep
Played cops and robbers
Recently colored with crayons
x Sang Karaoke
Paid for a meal with coins only
Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
X Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
X Made prank phone calls
Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
X Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose & elsewhere
X Caught a snowflake on your tongue
Danced in the rain-naked
Written a letter to Santa Claus
Been kissed under the mistletoe
X Watched the sunrise with someone
X Blown bubbles
x Gone ice-skating
X Gone to the movies
Been deep sea fishing
Driven across the United States
Been in a hot air balloon
Been sky diving
X Gone snowmobiling
Lived in more than one country
X Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
X Seen a falling star and made a wish
Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
Seen the Statue of Liberty
Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
Been on a cruise
X Traveled by train
Traveled by motorcycle
X Been horse back riding
Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
x Been to Disneyland
X Truly believe in the power of prayer
X Been in a rain forest
Seen whales in the ocean
Been to Niagara Falls
Ridden on an elephant
Swam with dolphins
Been to the Olympics
Walked on the Great Wall of China
Saw and heard a glacier calf
Been spinnaker flying
Been water-skiing
x Been snow-skiing
Been to Westminster Abbey
Been to the Louvre
Swam in the Mediterranean
X Been to a Major League Baseball game
Been to a National Football League game
Been to a National Basketball Assoc. game
Been to a National Hockey League game

I thought this was fun to do, a take off of the Obama posters.

Life Update

I just read Kj's blog and coincidentally I just started reading The Pillars of the Earth today. I'm only about 50 pages into it and it's a much different book than I thought it would be, so far so great! It's so good to be diving into a new book.

I recently read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. This book is about a deaf boy and his love and silent communication with his dogs and his communication with those around him. It is a MUST read.

Jesse has not worked since just before Thanksgiving. Work in painting is always slow this time of year. I am amazed that we have been able to manage as well as we have. He worked on a project last weekend painting a mural at the medical center where his mom works. He needs to go back this weekend to finish it.

We got snow here yesterday, it's gone now, but it's supposed to snow again this weekend. :( NO! I say, "Go away snow." You would think that growing up in a place that got a ton of snow that I actually wouldn't mind the snow. I don't mind it as long as I don't have to drive in it. Luckily, I have been taking mass transit to work since October. Not only have I saved on gas, but I've saved on parking as well. I don't mind taking the bus so much, the bus pass is free through my employer.

Hope everyone is staying warm!

And the memories live on...

Yesterday I went to an 80's costume party. It is amazing to see that some of the things we wore back then can still be found in stores, i.e. leg warmers and scrunchies. I didn't do the typical 80's attire but instead decided to dress as one of the prop girls from Robert Palmer's music video "Addicted to Love." Some people knew who I was, some didn't get it, which I figured would happen. There was also a karaoke machine with 70's and 80's music, lots of "jungle juice" and beer, some Twister going on, Footloose and Flashdance movies playing. It was way, way fun. It is cool to relive that God-awful era. How did America get away with such awful fashion? What were we thinking?

Friends, Family and Children

I think sometimes I feel insecure with friends. If it's me and at least two other people, I feel like the third wheel. I feel like I might as well be invisible because it's the others who are having fun without me. I kind of think it's because I'm too serious, it's hard for me to loosen up and just have fun. For me, everything has to be a certain way. Why am I like this even in my friendships? Being like this will cause me to not have many friends. It's not like this with all my friends. There are only a few people who I feel at ease with and don't feel like I have to compare myself to them or feel jealous. Thank God for those people in my life.

Sometimes, I even feel insecure around family and/or friends who have children. I feel like I can't relate to what they are saying, how would I know, I don't have children. I feel like I have nothing in common with them. When you have children they are your life, they are all people talk about and if you have a conversation with them, it's always about their children or their family, so I feel like I don't have any common ground. Now, please don't be offended if you have children, I'm just saying how it is from my childless perspective only.

Sometimes I feel like I should have a kid just so that I can be like everyone else. It's uncommon nowadays to be a young married couple and not have children, people almost find it incredulous if you don't have them, as if life is only about getting married and starting a family. It's also about living and dying and life lessons and finding out about yourself. It's so much more.

Although, I don't know why I am even saying this stuff because it's not like I am that social. Jesse and I are such homebodies these days. I hardly do any social activities at all, not like I did in college when I had bible study and Salt and church and sports. So, if I'm not very social then why are these very social issues of friends and family such an issue for me? I guess because I find myself in these types of situation every now and again.

I think what got the ball rolling for me about this is my friend that drove all the way from Beaverton Oregon to come and see me and our house yesterday. She brought her children and she is one of those friends I mentioned above that I feel like I can be myself and totally at ease with and not insecure in any way. And I thought about how nice it felt to be around her and feel relaxed and not feel like I'm at a loss for words or find myself struggling what to say or do or think. I can just be me. It's a feeling that has stayed with me.

So, this is my rambling for the day, maybe even for the rest of the week. I hope I didn't offend any of my family that I know have children, my sis and cousins. It is just how I feel at the moment. It doesn't mean I dislike children, it just means I don't have any and that comes with a price as well.

Jesse and I went to his parents place on Thursday. We played some games and it was so much fun because the games we played were so close, one was a tie breaker and the other one was a board game where we were all almost at the end, so anyone could have won at any moment. I went to see Marley & Me, it was so sad at the end but I must say the book is a lot better because it's more detailed. Obviously they could only fit so much into the movie without making it really long. We came back home on Saturday.

Today some friends of ours are coming to visit us so we did a thorough cleaning and I'm making appetizers (the only thing I'm really good at making). It's nice to have company though because we rarely do. :)

Hope everyone's New Years was awesome.