Absolutely Normal Chaos

My Kinsi

2009-09-01T22:14:00.004-04:00

I LOVE THIS KID!!! I never knew how much you can love someone, but I just love her more and more everyday. She is such a sweetheart and I love that she loves her HeHe!

All Time Best Birthday Cake!

2009-05-03T17:35:00.000-04:00

All I have to say...

2009-04-02T20:41:00.003-04:00

is ONE more day until SPRING BREAK!!! That wonderful ice storm that we had back in Jan. has left us short three days on Spring Break and without a day off since then. We are all ready to go INSANE! Hopefully, tomorrow won't be to bad and will leave me with time to complete my fun list for next week. What's that list include, you ask? Sleeping past 6:30, Scrapbooking Bunco on Tuesday, scrapbooking at home, cleaning the house, a trip to Archiver's, a photography session, and I'm sure a slumber party will be in there somewhere. Notice, reading is not on the list. Not even going to think about work! YeaH!

Gym Candy...

2009-03-07T20:52:00.002-05:00

Very good boy book. You definately have to be a football fan to enjoy this one. All the play by play of every game makes you feel like you are actually watching the game. The main character, Mick has to deal with his ex- NFL football playing dad, pressure to perform, and pressure to perform to the best of his ability. When his ability falls short can he add steroids to the mix and survive.

2009-02-28T10:29:00.003-05:00

This is a total middle school book, I have two groups that wanted to read it during their literature circle time when they come to the library, so I got some and read it ahead of them so that I could develop questions for them. Anyway, Dad builds a nuclear compound to save his family from nuclear attack. The whole place is amazing. Dad plans for almost everything that they will need to the 15 years of nuclear winter that will follow an attack. The attack happens, they run to the shelter and lock it down, only to find out that one of his twin boys and the grandma are not with them. Six years later, surviving twin Eli realizes that things are just not adding up and making sense. Some of Dad's explaination are not making sense. Is the world really gone?

More Books....

2009-02-22T14:04:00.004-05:00

I finished Fireproof yesterday. It hit hard. It has really made me stop and think before I speak and to think about if what I'm getting ready to say really needs to be said. I think I'll see if I can get Brad to watch the movie with me.

I finished this earlier in the week. Picoult always writes controversial novels and this is another one. This one deals with the death penalty and the ability of the convict to choose to donate his organs. The catch is he wants to donate his heart to the sister of his victim.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T17:11:00.003-05:00

Thursday afternoon, I came home and Makinsi was waiting for me. She ran in the house and came out with a big box of red roses. I asked her who those were for and she said "YOU!" I asked her if she go them for me and she said "No, Brad". Then she grabbed my hand and pulled me in the house and lead me to another dozen pink roses. I asked her who those were for and she said "ME!". They were actually for me but they had Dora balloons on them that were for her.

Brad told her to show me what else they had got, so she opened the fridge and pulled out a box of chocolate covered strawberries! Yum!

Brad has also gotten Makinsi a big cupcake! She was being so patient with me, letting me get her picture before she dug in.

The rest of the night she was Bailey's buddy! She spread her blanket and pillow on the floor insisting that Bailey lay down with her and watch Dora. Bailey obliged her as much as possible! She's so good with Kinsi. Lets her roll all over her.

Finished another book...

2009-02-12T22:04:00.003-05:00

Did you know that if you have a bone marrow transplant that you now have two sets of DNA? Your bone marrow creates DNA and when it's transplanted then you create DNA from the new marrow. It matches the donors DNA. Your tissue and cells still have your original DNA. I learned something from this book.

My Sweet Kinsi...

2009-02-06T22:37:00.002-05:00

Kinsi has been so sweet this week! She's finally talking and most importantly has learned my name and is calling me HeHe. She has been saying Brad and Bailey forever now, but would never say my name. Lauren got her saying it the other night and recorded it on her cell phone so I could hear it. I picked her up Wed. afternoon from Lauren at work and as soon as she saw me she ran to me hollering "HeHe" and fell into my arms giving me the biggest hug.

Here she's helping me carry groceries in. She only got one bag in before she found the snow and had a seat. Lauren taught her how to make snow angels last week so she had to make one for us.

We forgot Bailey's birthday this year. Oops! So I found this dog cake at Wal-Mart and we made it for Bailey. I had to get cupcakes for Kinsi of course and that's her new word. "Cuttakes!"

She's also gotten over her hate for the camera. I guess I ruined her for a while, but she's back to saying "cheese!"

Hearing her finally holler "HeHe" and giggle is the sweetest sound in the world! Her hugs and kisses make tears come to my eyes. She kisses your forehead, then each cheek, then your nose, chin, both eyes and then your lips. It takes 10 minutes for her to tell you goodbye! Such a sweetheart!

Wicked

2009-02-02T20:49:00.007-05:00

Valentine's Day came early this year. Brad got me tickets to see "Wicked" at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. He wanted to go on Valentine's Day, but it was only running through Feb. 1st, so we went early on Jan. 30th. He took me out to dinner at Outback before the show. The show was completely amazing. If you don't know the story, "Wicked" is the story of witches before Dorthy landed in Oz. Gilinda and Elphaba (the Wicked Witched of the West) actually went to school together and were roommates at school. Elphaba was born with green skin and always made fun of. Gilinda was Miss Rich girl and always got her way. She reminded me so much of the blonde chick in "Legally Blonde". So when they are stuck as roommates of course things get crazy. Elphaba is very gifted in the abilities that she has and also learns that she can read the spell book that no one else can. Once she gets to meet the Wizard of Oz, she realizes what she has to do.

The cast and stage settings were wonderful. The flying monkeys were my favorite. The flew around all over the place and had amazing costumes! The music was awesome, I'm still humming some of the songs. I'll never think about the Wizard of Oz the same again. There's a whole other story than "Follow the Yellow Brick Road"!

Several other new posts below.

Otter Creek Park

2009-02-02T18:24:00.007-05:00

Otter Creek Park has always been a part of my life. My parents were married at the little church next to the park. My Great-Grandmother lived at the edge of the park forever. My Grandma Margie would camp there all the time. We have spent many days and nights at the park. I even when rappelling for the first time at the park. My dad has worked out there for the last year or so part-time, so it renewed our love for the park. Then we learned of it's closing because the City of Louisville couldn't afford to keep it up. We were all heart broken. My dad arranged a cabin at the park for us after Christmas. One last camping weekend before the park closed for our entire family. We had a great time hiking, playing cards, making s'mores in the campfire, and just enjoying our family and nature.

Christmas Pics

2009-02-02T17:42:00.010-05:00

Finally got some pictures from Christmas. I didn't use my camera at all this Christmas. Teaque had all these on her camera. I'm sure my mom has a lot on her's also from Christmas at her house. I'll get those eventually.

My aunt Cece and I.

Teaque and I finally got a picture together. We never seem to get a good one.

Cade and Makinsi. She is so stubborn about pictures right now.

Aunt Cece and Uncle Hil

Snow and Ice

2009-01-29T16:40:00.004-05:00

Pictures from our ice/snow storm.

Books

2009-01-26T15:49:00.003-05:00

I want to try and keep track of all the books I read this year, just to see how many I actually do read. So just for the record..., so far I have read:

I think I got the pictures of the books linked so if you want to check them out you can click on them.

Made you look...

2009-01-26T10:50:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive. Nothing major to post, but I will try to be more productive later on today, while I'm off on a Snow Day!

Twilight Review

2008-11-21T22:51:00.003-05:00

My review is go see it, you won't be disappointed. It made it all come to life. Several characters were completely different looking than I imagined. But it wasn't completely wrong. I really want to go and see it again so I can watch it with a little less excitement. I'm sure I missed a lot.

Can't wait for New Moon to be released!!! Brad, however, can wait because he stood in line for over an hour for me to get our 15 tickets, in the freezing cold, and somehow convinced that lady that the 6 ticket purchase limit didn't apply to him because he had a crazy wife and 14 of her crazy friends depending on him! I will completely pay for it though!

1 More Day!!!

2008-11-20T19:00:00.004-05:00

http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

We're all going from school tomorrow at 4:30! The first show we can get to. I'm even sending Brad over at 12:30 to get tickets for all of us. The box office doesn't open until 1, shhh he doesn't know! I want him to be on time.

Other Randomness from this past week!

2008-11-12T21:01:00.002-05:00

We had our annual Oyster Supper at school this past Sat. Dad loves it so he came over with Mom, Chris and Makinsi. I had to work most of the night, but I was at least in my library. This picture was just so funny. Makinsi got a book off the shelf and layed down in the middle of the floor to look at it as she pulled Bopbaw down to help her.

While I was driving to school Sat. night for the Oyster Supper this jeep was in front of me. I thought it was funny that it was painted like a MASH vehicle. Dad got a kick out of it.

And lastly, why are bowling shoes so ugly?

Ok, I think I'm all caught up. See you in another couple of months!

Halloween

2008-11-12T20:52:00.003-05:00

Brad and I went to a Halloween Party this year. This is the first time I've dressed up in years, but we had a great time with it. We went with two other couples, the girls as 20's flappers and the guys as gangster!

Don't you love the fact that he has the gun pointed at me!

Makinsi was supposed to be Bailey for Halloween, but we couldn't find a black and white dog costume, so she went as Bailey's cousin.

I got to take her trick or treating some, because Lauren had to work late. The best picture of got of her is on my cell phone and I have no clue how to get it off! She liked me painting her nose. She would say "ohhh, Bailey" She knew exactly who she looked like.

C-A-R-D-S Go Cards!

2008-11-12T20:36:00.008-05:00

Most of you probably know that my Dad, Brother and I are die-hard Louisville fans. But I had never been to a Louisville football game at Papa John's. I know, can you believe it! Brad got Dad and I tickets one year to a Bowl Game in Memphis but I had never been to a home game. Oct. 25th we got our chance. Dad got us Chicken Wings and Beer and we tailgated in a random parking lot. We most defiantely realized we were rookies once we got there. People had campers and cornhole boards, along with grills and tents. We ate out of the trunk!

I had a great day cheering for the Cards with my Dad and Bro. And the Cards won! I think I'm getting Colts tickets for Christmas so Chris and I have another football trip waiting!

Then it was Fall Break...

2008-11-12T20:01:00.006-05:00

I absolutely love the fact that we get out of school for a Fall break. We are now out for a week and a half and it is the best! We took Kinsi to Huber Farms one day during the week. There's not much going on during the week, but it was a lot less crowded than a weekend. She's telling Bopbaw all about something here.

This picture is so funny even though you can't really tell what she's doing. A month or so ago she was at our house and we were in the living room. Brad was in the front room watching tv. I told her lets go sneak up on Uncle Brad. So we tiptoed down the hall with our tickle hands up to get Brad. Of course, she's giggling the whole time so we didn't surprise him at all. Every since then she sticks up her tickle hands and laughs like crazy. Anyway in this picture we're walking over to the petting zoo and she's actually tiptoeing with her hands up at the animals. I laughed so hard at her.

Lauren and I rode over to the feeding farm with her on the wagon. Those animals were really aggressive about getting the food.

She's had a thing for Scarecrows this month also. Everywhere she sees one she wants to hug it and talk to it.

We went over to the Winery and finally found a pony ride. She jumped right on and had a blast.

I thought this was a neat picture with the bubble!

And we finally saw a few pumpkins.

Where to start...

2008-09-27T19:51:00.000-04:00

Well, my last post was the end of Sept. so I'm a little behind. I'm just going through the picture files and uploading pictures in order. It will probably be several different posts.

So let's begin with... the Trisha Yearwood concert at Ft. Knox.

Once we got all the teenagers out from in front of us we had a good time with great seats. I was really hoping Garth would pop up on stage with her, but he didn't

St. Jude Charity Softball Game

2008-09-27T18:58:00.005-04:00

Brad and I, along with several of our friends put together a softball game last Sat. against the WAMZ Country HAMZ. This is a team from the 97.5 WAMZ country radio station in Louisville. They schedule games and play to raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital. Brad has wanted to do this for a while, so we finally got it all together this fall. We had several events going on throughout the afternoon and evening, including a cornhole tournament, face painting, and a large raffle of donated items. The game itself was later that night. We lost, but in our defense those guys were big. We had a great time and raised a lot of money to help kids!

This was our team shirts.

Chris, Lauren and I all played on the same team for the first time in our lives. That was really neat.

Of course, Kinsi had a great time. Cade came out and she got to play with her favorite cousin.

The bullhorn lasted in Brad's hand for about 20 minutes before someone took it away!

Cade got his face painted. Of course it had to be blue and have the UK thing on it!

Kinsi loves to play in the dirt! And of course, tease Uncle Chris!

Teaque came to help me take pictures, but we got of few of her and Cory too.

Our good friends, Keith and Dave competed against each other in the Cornhole Tournament.

Lisa is taking pictures of other people taking pictures.Up to bat! I think I walked this time.
Kinsi was so tired after all the playing, she didn't make it through the whole game.This is team that we gathered for this game and then us with the HAMZ.
We raised $1,170.50 for the hospital as well as being able to send a PS2 to the hospital. Pretty good for our first time. Our goal was a $1000, so we went well beyond that!

Meeting Braeden and Jack

2008-09-01T10:43:00.011-04:00

This weekend Brad and I got to meet our two new nephews. Jack was born back in July, but since they live in Missouri we hadn't got to meet him yet. Luke and Jennifer made the trip home this weekend and luckily, Brad's sister Lindsay went into labor Friday night and Braeden was born Saturday afternoon about 2. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 inches long. Braeden and Lindsay and Brandon are all doing great and should come home today.
These three are all Braeden about an hour after he was born.
Then we got all three of the boys together.

Here's Brad and Jack.It all looks sweet doesn't it. Hunter loves Baby Jack.

And of course, Hunter was ready to tell us all his new stories and things that he has learned.

You can push pause on the music player at the bottom so that you can hear the video.

Trip to State Fair

2008-08-18T21:02:00.003-04:00

Saturday we made our annual trip to the Kentucky State Fair. This year we went with our friends, Keith and Lisa as well as following my parents and Makinsi up. We lost Mom and Dad as soon as we went through the gate, but caught up to them once.

The best purchase of the night though had to be the coconut heads that Lisa and I got with Bahama Mama Slushies in them. I was excited to bring this home to add to the Hawaiian decor in my bathroom.
It's now a bank for all of our change and fits in just perfect. We walked through several sections including looking at all the rabbits, chickens, cows and horses. We finally found us a tent with an ok band and hung out for a while. We ended the night with a midway walk where I almost had to take out some teenagers. It was so crowded and I was pushing Brad through the mess. I can't believe how little all those kids had on. Then after a 45 minute walk to the car we were on our way home with a quick stop at White Castle. I'm just glad we dropped Keith off before those hit! Sorry, Lisa!

I got a couple pics of Makinsi playing at one of the booths in the Main St. Kentucky section. I think she looks so grown up in these pictures with Dad aka BopBaw!

How to Torment a Dog...

2008-08-08T20:45:00.003-04:00

Bailey goes nuts everytime she sees a light. It can be a reflection from a mirror. The sun coming through the window, whatever! She goes crazy! Keith and Lisa brought a laser pointer over the other night and Keith tormented the dog for most of the night. He got her spinning in circles so fast she almost tripped over herself.

Go, Cubs!

2008-08-08T20:39:00.002-04:00

My sweet, little Cubs fan! I swear we had her saying "Go, Cubs" the other night. I tried to video it, but I don't think we got it. I love her hair bows, don't you Teaque?

Precious!

2008-08-08T20:36:00.001-04:00

Makinsi with her Great Grandma and Grandpa

Kinsi Loves Oreos and BopBaw!

2008-07-20T20:29:00.000-04:00

Lauren brought me a bunch of pictures that they had taken at Mom and Dad's and I just love these of Makinsi. Makinsi loves to eat Oreos with her "BopBaw" (that's what she's been calling my dad). This has become their bonding time. Anything to get messy.

Minor League All Star Game

2008-07-16T20:18:00.001-04:00

The Louisville Bats hosted the Minor League All Star Game this July. Brad of course ordered tickets in Feb. when they went on sale, just to make sure they didn't sell out. This is Jake the Diamond Dog. He is super cool. I wish we could train Bailey to do all the things at our softball games that he does at the Bats games. He's a very intuitive dog too. He comes directly to Brad the couple of times we have met him. He is usually surrounded by people and he will come to Brad so that he can reach him. It's like he knows that Brad can't always get to him.

These are our friends Jeremy and April with us at the game.

1, 2, 3 strikes, You're Out!

This is The Way We Brush Our Teeth

2008-07-13T11:00:00.006-04:00

Makinsi has entered that "Copy Everything You Do" stage. She's been watching all of us brush our teeth so she's picked up on it. I got her a toothbrush (so she'll quit slobbering all over mine) and some training toothpaste. She loves it. I didn't get a picture of it, but she loves to spit! She doesn't spit anything, but I guess she's watched me do it and it's the funniest thing.

After brushing her teeth, I put her to work washing windows. Then she decided that Bailey needed to be washed too.

I can't believe that Bailey let her climb over and actually sit on her.

Kinsi loves when Uncle Brad gets out the pretzels and cheese. In fact, she'll go and get the pretzels herself and climb up in Brad's lap. That's become their snack when we get home from the ballpark. And finally, I had to buy her this shirt at Wal-Mart the other day. It says "I'm guaranteed to make you smile". It's just perfect for her!

Jack Preston!

2008-07-09T20:22:00.002-04:00

Our sister-in-law, Jennifer, delivered their second baby boy, Jack Preston, yesterday at 8:45 p.m. central time. He is 7 lbs. 6 ozs. and almost 22 inches long. They are both doing well and resting. Jenn was in labor for most of the day yesterday. Brad's parents are on their way back so hopefully they will have pictures soon!

Congratulations, Luke and Jennifer and big brother, Hunter!

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

2008-07-07T09:03:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was our friend Lisa's birthday. Keith and I worked up a surprise for her and the 4 of us went to Derby Dinner Playhouse. We saw Beauty and the Beast. It was amazing. The characters and costumes were so unique and creative. I think Lisa was impressed and had a good time.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-07-03T23:03:00.003-04:00

It's been a long 4 years since we said "I do!" I won't say that it has been easy, in fact it has been extremely hard. But, I love Brad very much and despite all the difficulties I know that he loves me. We've been through alot together and all of that has brought us closer.

So what special thing did we do for our special day.... We played 2 softball games...in the pouring rain! What an anniversary!

No seriously, we did go out for lunch today. Makinsi had spent the night with us Tuesday night and stayed all day Wednesday. Wednesday, my grandma was admitted to the hospital for some tests and IV antibotics. She's fine and will be home in a day or so. She was on schedule to keep Makinsi on Thursday while Lauren was at work, so she ended up spending Wednesday night with us too. So we took her to lunch with us! We had a ball. We went to Ginza, which is our special occasion/anytime we can afford it restuarant! It's a hibatchi place and she had a good time watching the chef cook. So, no pictures of Brad and I together but I did take several of us with Makinsi. We had a really good day! Happy Anniversary, Babe!

BATS BASEBALL

2008-07-01T23:22:00.009-04:00

Every year for Christmas my mom gets Brad a package of season tickets to the Louisville Bats. The great thing about the package that she gets is that the tickets can be used for almost any game and we can go whenever we want. We had 20 tickets at the beginning of the season and we are down to 3 I think. We love to grab a couple of people and head to the game.

Monday night we got together with our new neighbors, Josh and Lisa. We had a great time getting to know them and enjoying the baseball game. They are originally from Cincinnati so they are big Reds fans. Brad loves the fact that he has someone new to talk baseball with.

Brad and Josh at the game.

Josh with Brad and I.

Lisa with us.

Josh and Lisa

Lisa is about 7 months pregnant with BIB and so cute. And yes girls, I think we have a new scrapper. She came down during the day Monday and I helped get her started on an album about Josh's military career. She completed 4 12X12 pages in a couple of hours. Hopefully, she's hooked and I can bring/drag her along next time we scrap.

We've also gone to a couple of games with Keith and Lisa this summer and a couple of weekends ago we brought along Lauren, Jeremy and April.

Louisville is also hosting the International League Minor League All-Star Game in a couple of weeks. Brad got tickets for that as soon as they went on sale in Feb. so we are going to the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game which should be kind of cool.

Mixed Nuts Softball

2008-06-26T10:41:00.004-04:00

We've been playing softball 2 nights a week this summer. We are kind of like the Bad News Bears. We have potential, but we make ourselves look bad with all our clumsy mistakes. We have a good time though, as long as some people (Brad) don't take it to serious. Makinsi is our mascot!

So this is my buddy, Keith at the game Tuesday night.

Keith up to bat.

And the result of his foul ball!

OUCH!

Summer Update

2008-06-25T15:13:00.006-04:00

So, I've been out of school for a couple of weeks now and people keep asking me what I have been doing. Well, basically NOTHING! I think I have gotten caught up on all my sleep. It's amazing how quickly I can change my schedule from going to bed early and getting up early to staying up until 1 or 2 and sleeping until 10 or 11. And then taking a nap in the afternoon too.

Seriously though, Brad has been working almost everyday. We go to the ballpark on Tuesday and Thursday nights to play ball and other than that that's pretty much it. I've scrapped a couple of days and finished a little book for Makinsi about her family. It is similar to the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" It's called "Makinsi, Makinsi, Who do you see?" each page has pictures of her and a family member. She really likes it. She's played with it a couple of times. I still need to order page protectors to go over it, so she doesn't tear it up to bad.

Makinsi has been spending the night with us once a week or so. We love having her here, well, Brad and I do, Bailey doesn't. She is so jealous of her. I guess Bailey doesn't get as much as our attention when Makinsi's around. Monday morning, I fixed her breakfast and she climbed up into the recliner to eat. I put the tv tray in front of her and she sat there and ate. She was too cute!
Then mom and dad picked her up that afternoon in the Mustang. Dad got this car for his 50th birthday. He really likes it and Makinsi loves to ride in it.

I've got my little flower garden growing out back in my hanging planters. I'm impressed that they have lived so long. I planted them in early May when they hadn't bloomed at all so they've spread out pretty good.

And to bring the excitment of my summer so far to a close, I have to brag on this company.

I order a pair of shoes from Zappos.com yesterday morning. They said 4 to 5 business days to ship which was fine, because shipping was free. They came today. I was shocked. Yes, they only came from Shepherdsville, but overnight at no extra charge, I was impressed. And they were a little bit cheaper than in the store.

I'm also on the 3rd book of the summer, so I have been working a little. Of course, they are middle school books, but I'm still on the 3rd book. Hopefully, I get at least one adult book read this summer. Don't forget just 37 more days until Breaking Dawn.

Kinsi Belle

2008-06-09T20:12:00.004-04:00

She's growing up so fast. She's talking some "hello, bye-bye, etc.". She's not as innocent as she looks!

Go Baby, Go!

2008-06-06T09:35:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was teacher appreciation day at Churchill Downs. Several of us from school went, along with some spouses and my dad! We had a great time sitting on Millionaires Row and learning how to bet and I actually won a few. I only came home with $20 less than I took so, I figure I did pretty good and bought a couple of drinks. So it was a good day.

I had fun playing with the camera and the sports setting. It lets you take a bunch of pictures real fast so you get the action. Dad and I went down to track level and I got several fun shots of a race that I actually won!

Ewww, Gross!

2008-06-04T18:24:00.004-04:00

The guy that took Brad's picture at the ZZTop concert emailed us the picture today.

All I can say is, I'm glad we weren't up close during the concert. Seeing that onstage would have probably grossed me out!

ZZTop sings that?

2008-06-02T15:23:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday, Michelle! For her birthday, we all went to the ZZTop concert at Ft. Knox this past Sat. Yes, I had heard of them, but couldn't tell you anything that they sang until someone told me? But to my defense, I can tell you only a handful of songs that I know the singer of. I just don't keep up with it. Anyway, we had two carloads of people with us; Michelle and Dave, their son and new daughter in law, Mike and Samantha, David, Keith, Brad and I.

I was really excited about this and even went to the scrapbook store and got this stuff to do a layout.

Then I found out that we couldn't take cameras in and that they would be taken if you were caught with them. So I thought all would be lost for the layout.

I've still got ticket stubbs so all might not be lost and Keith took lots of pictures with his camera phone. Who knows if they will come out though.

The show started with Blackberry Smoke out of Atlanta. They were pretty good, had a couple of funny songs. Then Blind Melon came out. I had never heard of them either, until someone actually sang the song for me a couple of weeks ago at school. No Rain ended up being the only song that I knew or even understood.

While we were waiting for ZZTop to come out we ran into a girl that plays on our softball team. She was working at the Chase Credit Card booth, signing people up for free t-shirts or something. She brought all of us t-shirts and then had a something special for Brad and David. Yep, backstage passes! Brad and David were going backstage after the concert. ZZTop finally came on and were pretty impressive for old guys. The bras started flying, not mine thank you, but they seemed to be going everywhere. People are crazy. We had a ball dancing and singing though.

After the concert, Brad and David took off backstage. They apprently got a big briefing about how they could not take pictures, use cell phones, or even speak etc. They said it was like going to see the president or something. They got things signed by all three guys, but didn't talk to them at all. Someone did take Brad's picture to put in the Turret, the Ft. Knox paper, though. So hopefully, I'll at least have the picture to put in my scrapbook. And he got my t-shirt signed.

So that was our weekend. Brad's at work and I'm in my scrapbook room all alone. I might actually try to do something here scrapbook wise. Two posts in one day is pretty productive though for the first day of summer vacation! Make sure you read below too.

Weddings, Weddings

2008-06-02T13:52:00.014-04:00

I've been working on this photography business a little this last month. I posted pictures before of the engagement pictures of took of Mike and Sam and they got married May 17th. This was the first larger wedding I have done. I had a great time and I think they turned out pretty good. I'm still working on posing and remembering poses when everyone is ready to move on to something else. But this is what developed...

Then Brad's sister, Lindsay, got married on the 24th. There wedding was at Camp Carlson near Ft. Knox. They have a beautiful building up there that over looks the lake. They actually hired a photographer, but Lindsay wanted me to take pictures also. So I got some, but most of them they are looking at the other photographer so there eyes are a little off. Lindsay and Brandon did a sand ceremony instead of the unity candle. It was pretty and different.

This is our favorite "Uncle Mike". We even got to take a picture together.

I didn't a take my big zoom lens in so I didn't get many of Hunter as the ring bearer. Funny story though, as he came down the isle with the flower girl, a lizard ran across the sidewalk in front of him. Of course, he took off after it hollering "A bug, A Bug, it's a wizard!" He got a big laugh from everyone!

Been Tagged!

2008-05-21T21:11:00.002-04:00

Kristen tagged me..... I'm just a little slow.

Ten years ago, I was ... finishing up my second year at ECC and planning on transfer in Aug to CU. Funny thing I remembered this when I thought about this summer 10 years ago, but it was the summer I got my first kiss. I was working at a day care in E-town and met this guy that worked with me. We hung out a lot that summer and kissed a couple of times. Why in the world did I remember that, that incident was that summer?

Three things I'm going to do today ... I'll do tomorrow because I'm about done with today. Go to work and run the book fair, interview potential middle school teachers for our staff next year, and then we have a softball game at 8:30 tomorrow night.

If I were a billionaire, I would ... buy a house, buy Brad a new van, travel with Makinsi and pay off all the debts!

Five places I have lived ... I have to do KY too..Flaherty, Campbellsville, E-town, Radcliff and back to E-town.

On my resume, you'd find these five jobs ... Baby sitter, day care worker, server at O'Charley's, Elementary teacher, Media Specialist.

Tag: Jen

Special Moments

2008-05-14T19:19:00.010-04:00

I have a very special Aunt and Uncle that mean the world to me. They have introduced me to many things throughout our travels together, one of those things being baseball! The first game they took me to was during the week of their wedding 15 or so years ago.

Uncle Hil and I have always talked about the moment of "AWWW" when you walk into a ballpark for the first time. There's just something about walking into a huge stadium and hearing the sounds, smelling the grass and the hot dogs, seeing the players that you always see on tv, finding the best seats, and realizing that you are about to watch something that can take your breath away. We love to take someone with us that has never been before just to get to see that moment "AWWW". I remember the first time that we took Brad to Turner Field in Atlanta and getting to see his face. There is also nothing like stepping onto the corner of Addison and Clark in Chicago and seeing the outside of Wrigley Field for the first time and then walking through the gates to see the ivy growing along the back wall. What a rush!

Well, Brad and I followed in Uncle Hil and Aunt Cece's footsteps and got to take our niece to her first Major League Baseball game last week. Of course, we got to see the Cubs, but in Cincinnati at Great American Ballpark. We had her all dressed up in her Cubs outfit that we borrowed from Bethany's girls.

She was so cute! She had a blast clapping, cheering and dancing to the noise.

I think I even caught her moment of "AWWW". At least, that's what I'm calling it. She was saying, "Ohhhh!"

Seeing the game through her eyes was amazing. I wish I knew what she was really thinking.

After getting settled and having our hot dogs, it really hit me what a special moment this was, at least to me. I'm sure most people don't understand, but I knew one person that would appreciate the fact that this whole experience was bringing a tear to my eye. So I called Uncle Hil and told him where we were and what we were doing and thanked him for being so special and taking me to that first game so long ago. Thanked him for helping me realize what a special game baseball is and thanked him for giving me the understanding of such a complex game. I hope he understands what great role models he and Cece are for Brad and I and that I am very thankful that I now have a niece to share with, ALL the things that he has taught me.

May 7, 2008
Cubs vs. Reds
Great American Ballpark
Cincinnati, Ohio

I Getting Bad at This!

2008-05-14T18:33:00.013-04:00

I really getting bad about going weeks without posting. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, I just can't find five minutes to sit down.

So, I turned 30. No big deal, but I had a great day and weekend, though. My friend Michelle picked me up early on the 3rd and we went to Louisville to play bingo. You get to play free at some places on your birthday, might want to keep that in mind. I called "Bingo" on a $500 game, my first win ever! Another lady got it at the same time though and we had to split it. $250 isn't bad though. So since we won, we went and got pedicures.

We came home and Brad and Dave had decorated the whole house and my car. They had a balloon full of confetti over the door that they popped when I opened the door.

We ended up with a house full of people and had a great party.

The next Monday, the 5th, I only had to work half a day, so I met up with Teaque and we headed to Louisville to meet Bethany and Traci for another birthday dinner. Of course, we had to meet at Olive Garden. Yum!

For Brad's birthday we headed to Cincinnati to see the Cubs and Reds play. We took our friends Dave and Shell, as well as Makinsi. I was so excited to get to take Makinsi to her first Cubs game, but I'll have to make that another post.

Crazy Life!

2008-04-28T20:49:00.011-04:00

Yes, I'm still alive. Things have been so chaotic lately. It's been almost a month since I posted, but we have just been so busy. It seems like I get home in time to go to bed most nights. This weekend we even went on a whirlwind trip to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Brad's nephew's birthday party was this weekend out there so we went. We left early Sat. morning and got home about 9:30 last night. We took Makinsi with us though and we had a ball. She cracks us up.

She was so good. I picked her up Friday night and she spent the night with us and we left early Sat. morning. She was a great car rider, especially for a 7 hour trip. She watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. I had never seen this so I listened to it while I was driving and had to finally watch it last night. I knew all the words, but didn't know what was really going on. I'm thankful, I'm not blind. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I spend 2 days and nights with her completely in my care. This is the first time she has spent the night with us since last June, before she could move around so much. And I brought her home in one piece... Well...

We did have one heartattack moment with her. Sunday morning I walked her down to the car to put some things in the trunk. As we were coming back in she pushed the buttons on the elevator and as the door opened she put her hand on the door. It pulled her hand right into the door and it was stuck. She started screaming and I couldn't get it out. I tried to push the open button, but it wouldn't release. I finally just pulled real hard and got it out. She is screaming like crazy and I was crying by the time I got her back up to the room. Brad asked what was wrong with her and when I turned around he saw the tears in my eyes. I'm sure I scared him half to death. I felt so bad. I think she ended up fine. We ran it under water and then put some ice on it. I think I cried longer than she did. The thing that upset me the most was that there were probably 10 guys standing in the lobby, probably military, and not a one came to help me. Anyway she was back to normal, but Aunt He He bought her a new baby at Cracker Barrell to make it up to her. I think she's back to normal. She was hanging out the sun roof when we stopped for dinner.

Hunter's party was a Spiderman theme. Spidey even came to his party. How cool is that? I think he was impressed until he saw the hole in the back of Spidey's head and that might have been then end of it, if I hadn't told him that Spidey just got a bump on the back of his head during his last fight. He said, "Maybe you're right."

I have several photo sessions scheduled. I have apparently become a photographer for hire lately. I have taken engagement pictures in the last couple of weeks. This is the son and fiance of a friend of mine.

I'm taking their wedding pictures on the 17th of May. It's a little nerve racking. I've done one wedding before and it was a very small wedding party. This one is lot larger; 3 attendants on each side and full families on both side. Keep your fingers crossed. The girl's mom is also getting married later on this year, so I am also doing their engagment pics and wedding pics. Got a little business going here.

Rearranging Again

2008-04-03T10:58:00.006-04:00

I bought new furniture last Friday. Dad and I went and picked it up on Tuesday. I bought a couch and a recliner thinking that they would fit in our living room and with a lot of rearranging I think I finally got it. Our living room is not huge by any means and the fact that there are doors on 3 of the 4 walls that you can't cover up and we have to leave room for Brad makes arranging furniture pretty difficult. What do you think?

I love the furniture. See the rug. It's brown and turquiose. I found some pillows that match it at Target that I'm going to get today. Now, I have a whole other wall to decorate.

I also put up my Uppercase Living expression on the wall in the hallway. I want to do black frames of pictures all around it.

Yesterday we took Bailey and Makinsi to the park. I'll post pictures of that adventure tomorrow.

I've Been Scrappin'!

2008-04-01T21:04:00.027-04:00

I've had three full days to scrap during March. I've gotten so much done. Take a look!

These pages I did at the crop that we did at school as a fundraiser for the PTA. We used the gym and have a ton of space and great light. It was so much fun! We had lots of door prizes, lots of great food, and even several classes. We are planning another one for June, if anyone is interested.

These pictures were from my Mom and Dad's 30th Anniversary.

I loved this Christmas paper.

These pictures are Makinsi's 1 year pictures that I took at Freemon Lake. The first two pages are 12 x 12.

These two are 8 1/2 X 11 and it will fit into the center of the layout in my album. Teaque showed me this trick and I do it all the time now. I love it!

These pages I did at Teaque's this past Sat. We got together with some college friends and scrapped.

I love this page. I got these 4x6 vellium overlay things and they worked great on the center picture on this page.

Monday was my first day of Spring Break and I got together with Vicky, Janet and Margo from school and scrapped at Vicky's house. Makinsi's birthday was the first pages I did. I found this layout in a magazine and adapted it just a little bit. I like it!

Monday was also Opening Day of baseball season so I felt it appropriate to do some baseball layouts. This was our trip to Chicago in Sept.

And our trip to St. Louis in July.

Now for this page. I did this on Sat. They are Makinsi's halloween pictures. The red polka dot tape I got at the store in E-town when it was closing. I told Teaque when I showed it to her I don't know how I'll use it or if I ever will, but I just had to have it. I just happen to pull these pictures out and move the tape at the same time and it clicked. I love the layout, but I need a great title. And it would help if the title started with a "D" or an "E". I'm doing an ABC album for last year and I'm down to those two letters and a "Z". Any ideas????

My goal is to finish last year this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Catching UP!

2008-03-27T19:37:00.012-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. I thought once I finished my master's I would have tons of free time, but I feel like I have been busier than ever.

I've been taking lots of pictures of Makinsi though. She is getting old enough now that she poses a little bit. She loves to come and look at the picture on the camera after you take it. I got her a small camera for Easter. She's been playing with mine and trying to take pictures. She's doing pretty good. I took these pics out front at our house about a week ago. She justs cracks me up, she's so cute!

Easter Sunday we went to my Grandma's house. It was way to cold outside, but I had to get a couple of her and look I'm in a picture too. Grandma gave her a cracker as soon as we got there and I couldn't get it away from her.

Oh, another picture of me. I'm trying to be better about this.

Makinsi has really got into kissing and hugging everyone, including Bailey. She chases Bailey around the house trying to catch her so she can kiss her. Bailey is such a good sport about it. Eventually, Makinsi will get ahold of her kiss her on the nose and Bailey kisses her right back. Sunday she found this cat on Grandma's back porch. It didn't put up as much of a fight as Bailey does.

Then we hid Easter eggs in the house. She caught on to this pretty well to when she found out there was gummies in them.

Bailey helped too. She would find them as fast as Makinsi and take them straight to Lauren. She's so smart.

It amazes me how in love with a kid you can get. I loved my brother and sister when they were born and all the other cousins and kids around, but when one this close comes along there's just something about. It might have something to do with the fact that I can spoil her rotten and love on her like crazy and then she gets to go home. I have a very special aunt that I just adore and she's my role model for my relationship with Makinsi. I'm just so in love with her, it amazes me! I didn't know I could love someone so much that can't even talk yet!

I have several scrapbook pages to take pictures of but I might save that for next week. We had school two days this week and then have been doing Intersession Wed., Thurs., and Friday. I'm off all next week and have two scrap days planned already. So I might wait and put them all in one post next week. Makinsi and I are going couch shopping tomorrow, so hopefully we can find a good deal. That's all for now. Oh, Go Cards and Hilltoppers tonight! It's going to be a late night.

A White March...

2008-03-07T13:10:00.002-05:00

Well, luckily we were already off of school today for an in-service day with all the snow that is expected. I woke up about 6 and looked out the window and didn't see much. When I finally got up later about 8:30 this is what was going on:

This is supposed to be the biggest snow storm we have had in a while so I thought I'd keep a visual of it. This mini-bat from the Louisville Slugger Museum is 17 inches long. Hopefully it won't get that deep.

At noon:

Little less grass showing. I let Bailey out to play. She loves the snow and especially loves catching snowballs in her mouth. She's weird!

Stay tuned, we'll see what falls.

I Heart Edward Cullen!

2008-03-07T12:49:00.005-05:00

All you Edward fans: You know you want a shirt like this! I had these shirts made for the kids and teachers that have all fallen in love with the Twilight Series. The boys are all jealous, they want I love Bella shirts. 5 months until the next book! This is my trusty sidekick Gayle! She is wonderful!

(This is not the greatest picture, remember I'm still getting over pink eye and still have to wear my glasses!)

This Means WAR!

2008-02-27T18:47:00.002-05:00

Them dang little boogers and their germs got me again. Now I have "Conjunctiveitis" which sounds a whole lot better than "Pink EYE!" I look like someone punched me in the eye and somehow rerouted my nose to run out of my eye! It's just disgusting! I have learned today after being at school with the kids and then leaving early to go to to doctor that people look at you funny when they think that you got the crap beat out of you. Then you say eye infection or pink eye and they really look at you funny as they turn and run! I started to take a picture and tell you all that I got into a huge fight, but I'm sure you would all have known better. The germ war is on as soon as I'm not contagious anymore. I'm cleaning that library from top to bottom!

Who needs toys?

2008-02-24T21:37:00.009-05:00

Makinsi came over to play this afternoon. She is so sweet and so funny. I've done this thing with her for a long time now, where I say "Show me the cheeser!" and she grins real big. She's doing it in this picture. Notice Bailey has to be in the picture too. She plays so well with Makinsi. Chases her and gives her kisses! Then I followed Makinsi into the bathroom and she pulls this towel off the shelf. I wrapped it around her and we played with it for a long time. I layed it out on the floor and she layed down in the middle of it and Lauren looked at me and said we should swing her. Big mistake!

She loved it!

Doesn't she look pitiful when we stopped. I called Papaw and told him to hang the hammock up at home, that she was going to need it. He'll do anything to play with his camping equipment.

Dress-up!

2008-02-21T14:55:00.003-05:00

We got sent home today at 10:30 because of the ice, so I went to the hospital instead. Had to see Corynn! She needed to eat when I got there so I got to undress her to get her woke up. She sleeps alot! After she ate, I got to play dress up! She looked so cute in her "I Love Daddy" outfit with matching headband and socks!

Corynn is Here!

2008-02-20T21:43:00.003-05:00

Teaque finally had the baby today. I stopped at the hospital this afternoon and got to see baby Corynn. She's just beautiful.

Finally!

2008-02-13T18:51:00.010-05:00

I finally finished my first scrapbook pages in my new room. I've been off since last Friday and it's now Wednesday evening. More than likely we will have school tomorrow, so nothing like waiting until the last minute, but those of you that know me that's nothing new. So this is what I worked on this afternoon. This is a combination of pictures from our two trips to Wrigley Field. Brad has wanted me to do an album of all the ballparks we visit. I've had this album for a few years now, and this is the first 2 page layout in the book. Of course it had to be Wrigley. This is the cover page of the book.

I'm going to use the whole song at some point throughout the album. I'm sure I'll have pictures that will go over a 2 page layout and some point and can use a line from the song to fill in. Then the last page will be the last line. These red letter are the very first thing I ever cut out with a Cricut a long time ago.

I added this picture on the inside front cover. I took it at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame last spring because I loved it's saying. It was a huge mural that has a whole team lined up for the national anthem. It says "Each spring holds the promise of another great team. The story continues..." I'm such a baseball sap. Today is the first day of Spring Training, so baseball fever has returned to our house. 15 days until the 1st Spring Training game and 47 days until Opening Day! Brad got lucky to find someone that enjoys baseball almost as much as he does.

For those of you that don't care about baseball, I didn't waste all these snow days/sick days. I did finish a book. Nicholas Sparks, The Choice, is really good. He's such a sappy, romantic writer. I always cry at the end of his books.And I went and saw 27 Dresses with Teaque last night. I keep dragging her out, trying to get that water to break, but little Corynn just isn't cooperating. Maybe tomorrow...

Kids and their Germs

2008-02-11T15:51:00.000-05:00

I don't know which little booger at school left this stomach virus germ for me, but I'm going to find them. I usually don't catch the stuff that goes around school. I guess I've built up an immune system to it. But this one might must have been a bad one. I started throwing up late Sat. night and didn't stop until about 8 Sunday morning. Then I slept most of the day. Today I got up to go to work, but could just barely sit up, my sides hurt so bad. So I called in sick. Haven't done much all day except sit around. Probably lost some weight though. Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow so that I can enjoy the snow day that I'm sure we'll have. I'm going to scrap in my room. I hope!

Survivor Fantasy League

2008-02-07T18:44:00.000-05:00

Hey, let's do this. I found a Survivor Fantasy League online at CBS.com. I sent an invitation email to Teaque, Shelley, Bethany, and Kristan. We can have up to 7, so if anyone else wants to play let me know.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor16/fantasy/index.php

Randomness Seems to Be the Theme

2008-02-07T18:06:00.000-05:00

Randomness seems to be the theme across the blogs the last couple of days and there is always randomness around here, so here goes.

I found this crock pot in the storage shed when we were moving.

I think we got it for a Wedding present and we didn't have room for it at the old house so I brought it with me when we move and I have used it a couple of time now. I have been cooking a lot more at home now that we actually have a dishwasher and a kitchen that I can move in. I don't claim to be a good cook at all, I'm better than some and not so good as others. I for the life of me can't figure out how long to cook things in this. I made ribs on Sunday for the Super Bowl and cooked them for way to long. Today I had Brad turn this on at 1 o'clock and it smelled good when I got home and the little thingy had popped so I figured it was done. I left it on warm and went to blog. Came back just now and took it out and it totally was not done. The thingy lied!

So, while we're waiting for dinner, Brad said let's put together the puzzle you got me. I said you work on it and I'll play on the computer. So what did he do, he took over my scrapbooking table! A puzzle is so not what is supposed to be spread all over my room! The sneaky little thing thinks it's staying there too!

Oh, and you need to see my early Valentine's Day present. I got a big 6ft. table. The funniest thing is we have 2 large tvs, one in the living room and one in the bedroom and the last two nights we have bought been watching tv on the very small one in the Scrapball Room!

Hopefull, dinner gets done soon and I can go camp out on the couch to watch Survivor.

The Scrapbookers' Super Bowl

2008-02-04T18:44:00.000-05:00

So, while all the guys were preparing for the Super Bowl this weekend, Teaque and I went to the Scrapbookers' Super Bowl. The local scrapbooking store is closing at the end of the month and she was planning a big sale. 25% off of everything or spend a $100 and get 40% off. So I know Teaque and I both did a little husband whining. Mine went something like, "Baby, did you hear the scrapbook store downtown is closing? Well, it is and you know, baby, I've never been to that store and I would just hate for it to close and not ever get to know what was in there, and she's having a great sale and I could get lots of stuff to scrapbook some more baseball pages....." He totally fell for it, not that I really had to ask.

The last major thing to do at the new house was organize my scrapbook room. I really put it off til last because I wanted to really work on it and do it the way I want to. I didn't want to just throw it all in there just to get it done. And of course, I needed some other things; a paper rack, organizers, etc. I wanted it to be perfect. So although it's not completely perfect, I still need another table to actually scrap on and room for someone else to come to my place and scrap, it's done enough to take pictures of and show.

This is the whole room. I'm really trying to think of a neat name for this room. Right now it's the scrapbook/sports room. I want a neat name though, so if you have any ideas leave me a suggestion in the comments.

My plan is to get another table to put at the end of the white table and make like an "L". Then I want to get a rug for the floor. There's double windows so the light is great.

Now for all the new treasure to fill the space that I got on Sat. I've learned from scrapping with Teaque that I don't shop for "stuff" very well. I love to pick out paper that I like, but I always forget to buy solids to go with it. So my plan was to follow Teaque around and get one of everything she does. I think she takes this as a complement, I hope she does anyway! But, once we got in the store, we had to adjust my game plan to cover the whole store so that those other people that were waiting at the door 20 minutes before they opened like we were, didn't get something that we had to have.

My favorite thing that I got was a paper rack. The owner sold it to me for $20 and I was so
excited, because I had been looking at these online and they are so expensive and then you have to have them shipped. I get paid tomorrow, so I think I'm going to run back in there and get another one for solids, because I filled this one up with pattern paper, all of which I bought on Sat.

I got lots of Christmas paper.

I bought these jars at Micheal's with gift cards that I got for Christmas. Ashley and I split two packages of flowers and I also bought some chipboard letters to fill them up. I used the third for loose pieces of ribbon.

I also had to buy some bling.

I carried this paper around for a while debating on whether I really wanted it or not. I'm not really looking forward to this birthday, but I thought I better get it in the slight chance that it turns out better than I'm thinking.

So that's my room and my purchases. Now the next step is to actually use this room that I've put so much time and effort into. I love having it up all the time and not having to pack it up.

Reds Caravan

2008-01-27T19:44:00.000-05:00

Most of you won't be impressed with this picture, but Brad and I were very excited to get to meet Dusty Baker today. (Kristin, you might understand the excitement even if you are a Cardinals fan). Dusty was the manager for the Chicago Cubs when we got married and he converted me to a Cubs fan. He was also the manager for the Cubs when we first went to Wrigley Field two years ago. Anyway, he is now the manager for the Cincinnati Reds. We spent the afternoon at the Louisville Slugger Museum where they were hosting the Reds Caravan. Brad also got his picture taken with Thom Brennaman who is now an announcer for the Reds, but used to be with the Cubs.

So we got in a little baseball today to help with Brad's withdraws. 20 days until Spring Training starts!

A Few Pages...

2008-01-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

Saturday, I spent the day with Teaque, Shelley, and Bethany. In about 11 hours, I only completed 3 - 1 page layouts. Pathetic, I know, but I just about have my room set up at home, so I should be able to get some more done now. This is what I finished on Sat.

I'm doing an ABC album for 2007, so I needed some of those odd letters to fill in. Makinsi tends to be the subject of a lot of my pages lately

Snow Day!!!

2008-01-22T10:06:00.000-05:00

I love waking up in the morning, looking out the window and then running to the tv to see "Nelson County Schools - Closed". It's just the gift of a random day off that makes me happy. I love my job, but a few random days here and there are great. We'll probably lose a scheduled day off in Feb. or something but for some reason a surprise day is better than a scheduled day to me.

We didn't get much snow, but I let Bailey out the back door this morning and said her name. She saw the camera in my hand and just sat down to have her picture made. She's such a diva!

Hope you're enjoying your snow day and yes, Teaque, I hear you cursing me all the way from Vine Grove.

What She's Reading Now...

2008-01-21T20:34:00.000-05:00

This is the book that I am now reading. I finally finished the Twilight Series and then took a break to move. So, I'm finally ready to get back to reading again. This is another Jodi Picoult book. Thank goodness she has lots of books, because I can always fall back to her when I don't know what to read. Nineteen Minutes is the story of shooting at a high school.

From the first paragraph:

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

The author of this book, talked to several people affected by the school shooting in Columbine before she wrote this book and from what I've read so far, she really brings that tragedy to life and makes you feel like you were there.

I've been thinking alot lately about the affects of our actions on other people. Do we say the right things and the wrong things. Could a comment we make push someone else to the limit? I haven't gotten that far into this book, but I just finished this book because my students were all reading it. (They bought it at B&N, they didn't get it out of my library.) I think some of my students are growing up way to fast and probably shouldn't be reading this serious/emotional type of things, but I'm trying to relate to them. Anyway, it has me really thinking and trying to make a conscious effort to make sure I'm uplifting someone, not pushing them farther away.

So, if you need something to read. Pick this one up and lets talk about it.

Pictures of the New Pad

2008-01-17T19:59:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love this new apartment. It's the nicest place I've lived in a long time. I have the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and Brad's side of the Baseball/Scrapbook Hall of Fame finished. Here are a few pictures and I'll quit talking about this and get back to normal life.

This is the bedroom of course.

This is our gigantic bathroom. I'm standing in the bedroom looking through the door into the bathroom. The shower is on the right side wall and the sink is on the left. You could totally put a queen size mattress on the floor in there and still be able to walk all the way around it.

I have tons of wall space in the bathroom and did the Hawaiian theme shower curtain and things, so I need to find something to go on all the walls.

This is the kitchen that has a wonderful stove that works like it's supposed to and a dishwasher!

This is the Baseball side of the Baseball/Scrapbook Hall of Fame room. I need a better title for this room, I'm just not sure what yet. The scrapbook side isn't cleaned up yet or organized at all. I can't wait to work on that.

This is the living room. It's kind of awkward because there are doors on three of the four walls. The double doors behind the couch there is the closet for the washer and dryer.

Out the sliding glass doors there is a patio. I can't wait to get a lounge chair and sit out there and read. So basically that it's. I feel so much better living in a nicer, more private area. Brad loves it too and he's 5 minutes from work, so he loves that. Bailey on the other hand is still getting used to things. She isn't adjusting as well as we are, but she'll get used to it. Hopefully, soon.

We're In!

2008-01-14T22:56:00.000-05:00

We are finally somewhat settled in the new house. I'm down to one scrapbooking box and 2 boxes of "Why did I keep this stuff?" I am totally worn out. I haven't been to bed before 12 in the last five nights and have been getting up at 6.

We started early Friday morning. My dad, brother and friend Keith all ended up being off on Friday so because I also took the day off we started then. We moved everything in 2 big trips and got to spend Friday night in the new place. Saturday, I went back to the old house and loaded up my car with the last of the little things and finished cleaning. Sunday, Teaque came over and we did some organizing. Teaque even put together a book case. Sunday night, Brad and I put together the Baseball Hall of Fame! (Get his stuff done and then I can do what I want.) Got a couple more things to do and then I'll take pictures to post. Check back tomorrow.

We're Moving!!

2008-01-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally got to see the apartment that I have been packing to move into for the last two weeks. I absolutely love it. In a way, I would love to show you where we have been living just so that you can truely appreciate the fact that we are moving out of the dorm, but it's just to awful to show. So, I'll post pictures of the new place as soon as we get moved and you'll just have to trust me that it is a million times better. I can actually have people over again and not be embarassed to death. I might be out for a while, nothing new I know, but we'll have to see how long it takes to get the computers to work again after getting new internet hooked up. So check back next week...if you're interested!

Challenge!

2007-12-30T21:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, here's my challenge for the new year. I want to create a "loose" type book club. Nothing strict, no deadlines, unless you need them and then I will enforce them. Just a read and post/talk about them. I have finished all my classwork and am reading like crazy. But... I love when someone reads the same book I do, so that I can discuss it. I always pass my books onto Teaque, which is great, but it's usually a few weeks, months, (years) before we can discuss them. She is improving though. She just finished a book I read over the summer so we've been talking about it. She's now reading a book that I absolutely love and just finished a couple of weeks ago. This book is the first in a trilogy by Stephenie Meyer. It's called Twilight and it is amazing. I've never been into vampire books or movies, but this is a great series. The main character, Edward is so hot that he just draws you in and makes you fall in love with him. One of the middle schools in my district is going nuts over it and they are having a huge party and even have t-shirts made up for it. The book is being made into a movie to be released in Nov. 2008.

So here's my challenge: Anyone (Shelley/Dendra) want to read it with us and talk about it? I'm on the third book, but want to know what everyone thinks about them.

New Moon is the 2nd book and Eclispe is the 3rd. Teaque has my copy of the 1st book Twilight. Believe it or not she might finish it this week. I've got her hooked. She started it today and when she called me at 8:00 tonight she was already 80 pages into it. These are not difficult reading but very addictive. And I just found out that there is a book 4 in the works: Breaking Dawn. Oh, I'm excited.

So any takers????

Chopsticks!

2007-12-30T21:28:00.001-05:00

Mom, Dad, and I took Makinsi to Ginza, which is our local Hibatchi restuarant, on Thursday night. We met up with Hil and Celia to help celebrate a friends 50th birthday. Anyway this is my FAVORITE restuarant and I was so excited to get to take Makinsi to experience it. She loved the cook and his skills with the spatula and knife. The fire she wasn't crazy about. She liked it when it was at the other tables, but she hid her face in my shirt when he did it at our table. But like a trooper, she didn't cry! I was so proud of her. We eat there a lot and most kids scream after the fire. She ate lots of different things off my plate, but she loved using the chopsticks. I used them with her a couple of times and then tried to go back to the spoon and she would have nothing to do with it. I'm glad I got my little buddy hooked one of my favorite things.

We used the kiddy chopsticks by the way.

Christmas Day Review

2007-12-30T21:03:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day we spent with Brad's family. This is the first Christmas since 2001 and the first since I've been a part of the family that everyone has been home. Luke is in the Air Force and has been stationed away for most of those years so his family hasn't been able to come home. They are outside St. Louis now and made it home on Christmas Day.

The girls and the guys.

Me and my "sisters"!

Christmas Eve Review

2007-12-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

What a busy holiday! Brad working at the mall, enjoyed his first Christmas in retail. He was really busy and worked lots of hours, but I think he really enjoyed it.

Christmas Eve we spent with my family like we do every year. This was our second Christmas with Makinsi, but the first where she really could participate. We had so much fun with her.

She helped everyone open their presents and played with lots of boxes. She got two chairs: A high class potty chair with a toilet paper holder and a magazine rack and an Elmo chair.

We all went together and got my dad a guitar. I have a feeling he'll be learning some Makinsi songs first. We stayed up late and played games with Hil and Celia like always and had a great time.

Christmas Photo Sneak Peak

2007-12-13T23:10:00.001-05:00

It only took 4 attempts with the timer to get this picture. Not too bad! Now lets see how long it takes to get them in the mail.

Mix Up or Not?

2007-12-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

We just opened our Dec. 12th gift, yes a day early. I opened this:

Ha, Ha, these are Brad's favorites. Brad opened this:

I think the tags got mixed up, what do you think?

The peppermints are also Bailey's favorite.

25 Days of Christmas

2007-12-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

One of the traditions that Brad's mom started a few years ago was to give each of us a small gift each day beginning on Dec. 1st. She gives all of us a big sack of gifts and trusts all of us to open only one each day. It's hard, but I really try to make sure we do it that way. Brad and I end up opening the next days gift the night before, but we balance out and for the most part open one each day. It's fun and we have a good time guessing what each one will be. So it's Dec. 6th and in our tradition we have just opened Dec. 7th's gift. So far we have gotten:

A Mark Grace picture and the Winter Redbird pictures:

Soap and Chapstick:

UK/UL Bookmarks:

A Cubs Ornament and I got a book:
A potholder for me and a towel for Brad:
A school pillow that says "When is Recess" and a CD by this Hotty - Jamie Buckley. He's a friend of ours and wrote our wedding song! He sings for the army now as a recruiter.
And tomorrow's: Socks and a Comb! Brad was so excited!

This is the pile of the next weeks. I'm really curious about a couple of them.

This is just something fun that my MIL does. We all have a good time with it. My mom does the 12 days of Christmas and we open them all on Christmas Eve.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2007-12-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

Just a few pictures of our Christmas decorations. I went and got a tree on Sat. with my dad and then Brad and I decorated it that night.

Bailey asking Santa for Scooby Snacks!

After making Bailey do this every year, she doesn't even fight me any more. She just lays down and waits until I get just the right picture. I wish I could teach her to smile.Of course, I had to take one of Makinsi. I love this one. She spent the day with me and I got her ready a few minutes early before Hanging of the Greens at church so I could play with her under the tree.

My Life Has Returned!

2007-11-30T11:18:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the week, I had set a goal to get all my assignments and everything else finished and turned in by Friday of this week! I'm so ready to be finished with my Master's. Well, I accomplished that goal and even did it a day early! Everything is submitted and uploaded, so now I'm just waiting on grades. I feel like my life has returned, no more sitting in front of the computer all day on Sundays working on homework!

So what am I doing today with my first day of freedom...sitting on the couch, curled up in my blankets with a sinus infection! What a way to start my new freedom! Thank God, Brad is getting ready to leave for work and I have TiVo!

Celebration #2

2007-11-26T21:40:00.000-05:00

After church we all went back to Mom and Dad's to get ready for celebration #2 - Makinsi's First Birthday. The poor thing was so sick. She couldn't breath through her nose at all, so that makes drinking and using the paci pretty hard, but she was a trooper, during her Disney Princess Party!

She loved the icing and dug right in.

I think Cousin Bailey has been teaching her how to eat!

Uncle Chris gets the best present award. The rocking horse moves its head when you squeeze it's ear, then it will wag its tail and whinnies. She absolutely loved it. Check out the cowgirl boots he got her to go with it.

Of course she loves her Aunt HeHe!

And then.....

Out she goes.

Celebration #1

2007-11-26T21:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! They have been married for 30 years as of November 25th. We all went to church yesterday with them. Mom was surprised by us all. Dad got 30 roses and gave them out to everyone in the church and they all took them to Mom and wished her Happy Anniversary. He did a good job being sweet.

We took lots of family pictures.

Last year for their anniversary they got this cutie pie!

I'm so lucky to have two wonderful parents that have toughed it out for 30 years and many more I'm sure.

Hacker!

2007-11-26T20:38:00.000-05:00

So when we get home last night, I sit down and get ready to post some pictures and the internet isn't working. Brad's computer wouldn't connect either, so he called Insight to check and see if there is an outage in the area or something. He finally gets a guy on the phone and he says that we've been cut off. I immediately went into panic mode. I paid the bill, I know I did. I got my bill book out and I had paid it. I knew it. So the guy sends us to another department and the lady there tells us that we've been cut off for sending SPAM emails about Rolex watches. WHAT THE HECK? First of all, I can't afford a Rolex and I'm sure if I was sending SPAM emails it would have to do with scrapbooking. Second of all, I have class work to finish!!!! So she proceeds to explain to me that someone has created a fake email and is using our server as it's host. Whatever that means.... Well, basically it means that the only way to get rid of it is to reformat the computer, which wipes EVERYTHING out. So I had to go through and save everything off the laptop and the desktop so that I can spend all day Sat. reformatting these computers. I'm going to start with Brad's so that if it's on his computer I don't have to wipe out MY laptop. I was sooo mad. Why do there have to be stupid people out there? Do they not realize that I am a procrastinator and have a website that I have to figure out how to publish for an assignment that was due in less than 24 hours? Needless to say I didn't get that finished last night, however I did finish/figure it out at school today.

And to this bozo out there, you and your fake Rolexes need to mess with someone else, because I'm not in the mood!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-22T19:36:00.000-05:00

My feet hurt. I have been cooking for two days and I'm glad we finally got to eat this afternoon. I spent all day yesterday defrosting the turkey and getting it ready to cook and it turned out great. I enjoyed spending the day with my two sister-in-laws (Jennifer and Lindsay) and my mother-in-law (Becky). Becky told me I was becoming quite the domestic. I think that was a compliment. Today we cooked even more. I got the camera out once and realized that the battery was just about dead, so I only got a couple of pictures of Hunter with Uncle Coco, saying Peace Out! He's so funny, he will say anything you tell him to at this point.

I hope you all had a good day. I am thankful for all of you and for the fact that my husband is in the kitchen making me a turkey sandwich before Survivor, Grey's and ER come on.

This weekend...

2007-11-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

So, I took my test on Saturday and it wasn't to terrible. However, the other girl that took the same test I did said she thought it was absolutely horrible, so I hope I'm not overly confident. I got to spend the rest of the day scrapbooking and had a great, productive time. I finished an album that I was doing for a friend of mine to give to his wife for Christmas.

Sunday, I went back to Freeman Lake to take some more pictures for another friend. She wanted pictures of her and her sister to give to her mom. Then she decided that she needed some of her and her husband too. So I took all of those and then had my sister meet me to take some one year old pictures of Makinsi. She is usually so easy-going and giggly, but we really had to drag it out of her today. The first major fit she threw was because I wouldn't let her play with the ducks in the lake. I'm sorry, I'm a big softy and she usually gets whatever she wants from me, but I draw the line at swimming in the lake when it's only about 50 degrees outside. So I finally got a few good ones of her, but not exactly what I expected.

This one just cracks me up. She's started doing this thing where she sticks her head out forward and then sticks her butt out when she's concentrating on something. This time it was the ducks in the lake again.

That's enough, have a great Monday. I only have to work two days this week, YEAH!!!

Makinsi is learning to say goodbye and blow kisses. Plus I wanted to try to load a video...

WoHoo!!!!

2007-11-16T18:56:00.001-05:00

It's finished and in the mail!!!! I burnt the cd this morning and took it to the post office. I'm so glad that my professional portfolion is finally finished. I finished the quiz I had to take this afternoon, so tomorrow morning I take the big test and then all the major stuff is finished! And as the reward to me, I get to scrapbook tomorrow!

I'm so excited!!!

2007-11-14T21:20:00.000-05:00

I just got home about 20 minutes ago, about 9 pm. Brad and I went to look at a friend of mine's apartment. We are looking for something bigger and she wanted us to see her place. They are duplexes and very nice!! One just opened up next door to her so with some finagling (HA, I just asked Brad how to spell that word, he's King Speller, and he said M-O-V-I-N-G A-R-O-U-N-D! ) we might be moving soon. It's really nice and a whole lot better than what we are living in. Anyway, that got me excited, but I was even more excited when I got home and saw this big box sitting at my door. What was in the box you ask?All my Tastefully Simple stuff that I ordered last week!! I can't wait to fix Potato Cheddar Soup and Beer Bread!

I bet that would taste really good in a nice, new house!

I'm almost done with that portfolio by the way. I've been on a role this week.

Taking a Break

2007-11-12T19:22:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a while. I took a break from some things, but I'm back and ready to start again. I'm working really hard this week to finish up a big portfolio project for my Master's. It has to be in the mail and post marked by Sun. My non-procrastinating goal is to be finished by Friday. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish. I also have a quiz to finish before Friday. Then on Sat. I get to go to UL and take a huge test at 8 AM!!! I need a reward if I get all this done! Lucky me, I already have a reward planned. I get to spend the rest of Sat. scrapbooking with T and B. YEAH!!

This past weekend was pretty busy. Saturday was the 91st Annual Oyster Supper at the school that I work at. People stood in line, for at least an hour to eat fried oysters. GROSS! This is a big deal in the school community.

Lauren brought Makinsi over so I had a ball with her. We took her around to play all the games.

And even won a game, without cheating to much.

She picked at a huge stuffed dog and just hugged and hugged on it.

On Sunday, I met a friend at Freeman Lake, because she wanted me to take some pictures of her. I emptied the memory card before I went and ended up taking about 500 pictures of her. We had a good time and I was pretty impressed with how they turned out.

Now it's time to make some of this.

We sold cookie dough at school for a fund raiser. It all came in today! YUM!

Chaotic Thursday - Need to Relax!

2007-10-25T23:30:00.000-04:00

I love my job in the library. I love my job. I said this today, I don't know how many times. 5 out of 12 classrooms had subs today including all K and 1 classes. Which just leads to chaos. Plus the principal and guidance counselor were both gone and somehow there is an unwritten rule that all questions and problems are directed to me when this happens. So I had a total of 250 students come through the library today. 100 of which are looking for a great book, because "we don't have any good books in this library" of over 8,000 titles. Along with my favorite question, "Do you know what books I checked out, I can't remember?" Really quality reading happening there! Then we got a shipment of 20 new computers and where do they go? The Principal's not there to direct them , so they get piled up in my office. Nice!

The point of all this is that as I'm leaving school I call Brad. "What did you say? Someone called in sick? You have to work until when? You won't be home until after 9? Oh, I'm so sorry. Ok, I'll see you then, bye." HOME ALONE ALL NIGHT!! YES! YES! YES!

I stopped and picked up dinner on the way home (Taco Bell that just opened back up in town. Teaque will no longer starve.). Took the dog out and then ate while checking my email. Then I took a bath and read a book (totally a middle school book, but for some reason the title caught my eye ;) ) After relaxing there I curled up in bed with my laptop and the Generic TiVo and caught up on House from the other night, until Survivor, Grey's and ER came on. What a way to relax on a Thursday night?

I hope that girl that called in sick is ok?

Blessings...

2007-10-23T18:49:00.000-04:00

*Having the most lovable, happiest niece Makinsi for almost a year now.

*Having a great family, including a great Mom and Dad.

* Brad being healthly for over a year now.

* Our spoiled rotten, Bailey. She's to cute for her own good.
* A certain friend that listens to more than she should have to, but never complains and is always willing listen to more. Thanks, T!

* Almost being finished with my Master's degree. December 15th can't get here fast enough.

* My awesome job as a library media specialist and a great new building to work in.

* My wonderful camera that takes such great pictures like this....

So that I can Scrapbook with my friends.

* The ? Gift Giver that leaves presents on my desk for me like this...

I'm not sure who it is, but I sure love it!

* Jodi Picoult and Nicholas Sparks books. After Dec. 15th I'll be able to read for the fun of it again.

* Generic TiVo. Who invented this and why are they not related to me?

* Time to sleep.

* Weekend trips to Chicago that keep things together. Why can't it always be like this? Go Cubs!

* All the friends that will actually read and care about this.

Ok, that's enough for now.

Makinsi's Back

2007-10-21T22:16:00.000-04:00

My niece, Makinisi, has been gone to see other relatives for 2 weeks and she finally came home Friday night. I was going insane missing her so much. My sister, Lauren, said she cried alot while she was gone because she didn't know anybody and that she would cry anytime Lauren left the room. I was so scared she wouldn't know me when she came back. They didn't get home until late Friday night, so Mom and my brother, Chris, brought her to Glendale Days yesterday so that I could see her. Chris had her when they got there and as soon as I put my arms out for her she reached for me. I was so relieved she came to me. She has the best personality, but I'm sure she was ready for me to quit hugging and kissing her by the time they left. Believe it or not this is the only picture I took of her yesterday. I just couldn't let go of her.

I'm Such a Procrastinator!

2007-10-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

I just spent the WHOLE day working on an exam for my Master's program for the second time. Apparently they didn't like some of my answers that I turned in last week. I haven't figured out why though. There were four major questions on this test. The first two I worked on all day last Friday and felt pretty good about my answers. The last two I worked on last Saturday night. I guess I should have spent a little more time on them, but decided to spend the majority of the day stepping backwards off cliffs, instead.

Which was way cooler than spending the third day in row sitting on the couch working on classwork by the way. I finished up the test Saturday night when I got home since it was due by midnight that night (I posted it at 11:45, with plenty of time to spare). Anyway, I got an email on Tuesday stating that the faculty felt I should rewrite sections 3 and 4. Which is why I spent all day again today working on this?
Actually, if I could focus and wasn't such a procrastinator I could have been done in about an hour. However, the TiVo'd episodes of Grey's, ER, and Survivor were just calling my name and then I found a Law & Order SVU marathon on, so I had to watch some of that. The nap and bath probably added to the procrastination, but you have to sleep and be clean, right?
So here it is 10:00 on Sunday night and I didn't really accomplish much today, but I sure am ready to go to bed. I have another assignment due tomorrow night, but that's still 24 hours away. I've got plenty of time. I wonder what I will procrastinate about after graduation day on December 15th. I'll find something, I'm sure.

Ok, I'm In!

2007-10-18T22:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, you all inspired me and I finally got my blog going. Link me, tag me, whatever it is you all do, so that I can fit in and learn all the lingo.

My blog title, Absolutely Normal Chaos, is the title of a Sharon Creech book that my students and I fell in love with last year. It's basically just the journal of the main character's summer, but her life is just full of family, friends, dreams, and love. What else could bring on some much chaos in one's life? Good chaos, of course, but chaos none the less. Welcome to my world!!!