10 Things I have done.

"Oh, NO YOU Di-UNT"

I have officially lost my STAR WARS virginity, as of September 26^th, 2011. I held out for 34 years through bus trips and slumber parties, even old STAR WARS crazy boyfriends. My husband finally decided it was time last month and so I gave in. It’s not the romantic wooing that I expected, I almost feel violated in some way, but hey, he’s my husband. I suppose it’s the least I can do for him.

I performed an “Open Pelt Surgery” on what my son calls his FUR BIRDY. His inherited Furby was in a coma. I vowed that I would do all I could to help, so I found this website and followed the directions to bring FUR BIRDY back to the land of the living.

I bought RED Juice and BLUE Juice from thecleanteam.com after reading SPEED CLEANING by Jeff Campbell. It is my housekeeping bible and I highly recommend it!

I have tasted the Devil’s Serum (AKA Pitocin) and all it got me was 8 hours of excruciating labor, 3 hours of constant pushing and a “might as well just cut her open” scar anyway. Damn you Pitocin!

I have met and married the man I swore was “Not out there” and I have managed to keep him around, despite my obsessive compulsive mothering habits.

I have been scolded in the 10 items or less checkout lane for not BAGGING my produce. “No Ma’am” (to the woman behind me) “ each of my apples does not count as an item” L

I have worked as a 4AM cookie baker, pharmacy technician, waitress, camp counselor, bartender, hotel desk clerk, speech therapist and most recently, MOM.

I raised over $3500 in personal donations and walked 60 miles for THE BREAST CANCER 3-DAY event in Minneapolis in 2004. This will always be a great source of pride to me. It was an amazing event infused with vivacious women, laughter and a huge dose of spirit. Check it out! I got goosebumps just visiting the site to get the link up.

I thoroughly sprayed down and wiped clean the toilets in the toddler bathroom at my son’s daycare when I dropped him last Monday. They weren’t really even that bad, my OCD is just THAT BAD.

I have been impressed, humbled, tested, badgered, injured, delighted, exasperated, woken, used as a tissue, humiliated, strangled, amused, rushed, inspired, amazed but most of all deeply loved by my LM – Jacky Vince 

We all BAWL for Ice Cream

A writing prompt from 

There is a topic in our house which is extremely emotionally charged. At first, I thought that I would go with the “10 things not to ask your spouse” prompt but in compiling my list I found myself perseverating on this topic. Here is my draft of the list;

1. “Have you seen the Ice Cream Scoop?” –Valid question as we have just one. I have tried to tell my husband repeatedly that if he must remove the Ice Cream Scoop from the dishwasher and wash it by hand in order to serve himself up another bowl because the dishwasher has not run since the last time he ate Ice Cream, he may have a problem.
2. “Did you pick up Ice Cream at the store?” to which I generally respond, “Was it on the list?” to which he retorts, “It’s a standing order, honey!”
3. “Did you eat all the Ice Cream?” Let me preface this explanation by letting you know that I  am not the one who asks this question and also, I  am not generally the guilty party. He sleepeats!
4. “Honey….?”  as I’m typing this list, “… should Ice Cream be capitalized?”  I didn’t really wait for a response….. it’s a proper noun. It’s the first and last name of a famous frozen confection. Good enough for me. 

You kinda gettin' the point? Well....

... as I skimmed the rest of the prompts I stopped dead in my tracks. What was the last thing my child cried about? Oh, GAWD!! We’ve created a 2 year old monster. Wanna know what it was?

Ice Cream. 

Capital ICE. Capital CREAM! 

Our child is just as obsessed as we are. So, rather than write in his perspective, here’s a 2 minute glimpse of the half hour melt down (littered with delirious giggling, creating some large holes in his "SAD" act) that we encountered when the Ice Cream was GONE! 

Click HERE to view "We All BAWL for Ice Cream" Video

Wordless Wednesday....The end of SUMMER :(

As the air turns crisp and the apples are even crisper. As the shorts go into storage and the dark evening sky comes earlier and earlier to steal away our long trips to the pond, I can't help but open my arms in a big welcome to my favorite season of all......

FALL

My Dreams

One of my favorite things to do is look back at my journals or random writings from the past. I recently found a worksheet that I had to do for a therapist in high school. My favorite so far.

My senior year I was asked about my future plans, hopes and dreams. Then I was asked to give some insight into how I've done with following my dreams and accomplishments to this point. I was to list the things that encouraged me to grow and accomplish my goals and those that hindered me. Here is what I wrote:

Things that have influenced me to grow and accomplish goals: My friends, my family, God and the strong Christian fellowship that I am surrounded by here.

Things that have hindered me: Sick people and my allegiance to them.


I think that pretty much sums it up. Even as a green Kara B. not quite 18 I was tuned in and tracking.

A prompt from Mama Kat

My Favorite Picture

This is my favorite picture that I've come across so far. Camping at Lewis and Clark Lake in Yankton, South Dakota with the cousins. That's my Dad. Even though you can't see his face, I love that he's just got me perched there like his pal. My arm around his neck. It may not even have been that fun or memorable of a day, but I would never have seen it to remember had someone not snapped the shot at that moment.

What I lack...

What I lack…… the ability to Shut the FREAK up!

In an attempt to curb this terrible habit I am limiting this post to 150 words. HA!

One of my FB friends recently posted something to the effect of, “Sometimes keeping your mouth shut accomplishes more than running it.” And here’s how I know I have a problem, I immediately wanted to comment.

Why do I always have to put in my two cents? And, why can’t I ever just put in my two cents instead of my entire 50 STATES coin collection, Philadelphia and Denver Mint?

 As a Shutterfly guru, I was asked a few weeks ago to do a VIDEO GENIE blurb on a photo book that I created on Shutterfly. I had only 30 seconds. “OMG, that can’t be for real!” I thought initially. I scripted it and rehearsed and rerecorded it like SERIOUSLY 50 times. It turned out okay, but I think as a Speech Therapist, I find value in complete expression of feelings and thoughts using speech.

Just like any other obsessive compulsive activity, if even once in a while you are rewarded by BLABBERING you will naturally seek to be rewarded again by running your mouth. So, I must also go back and examine the times that were detrimental. The times when if I’d kept my mouth shut, I’d have ended up a lot better off.

I love comments. Let me know a situation in which LESS was MORE when it came to putting in your two cents.

Oh BTW, if you are counting the words- SHAME ON YOU....... (and also, how many were there?)

A prompt from MAMA KAT.

My Little eShopping (addiction) Secret

As a follow up to BUY THE WAY, I thought I'd let you guys know what fun I've been up to lately.

My husband's been gone for the last 3 weeks so I've been confined to our house after bedtime (little boy's bedtime that is). And, what's a girl to do but spend hours browsing the web for junk we don't need. It drives him crazy when I buy junk. Sometimes it works out and ends up to be a steal and other times it's just a waste of money. Here's a story of a more recent time when it actually worked perfectly.

My new favorite way to search for things I want?!?! Google Search in the IMAGE area. This is so fun. Here's how you do it:


#1 -Put in what you are looking for. Me, I've been searching for Arrowstone dishes since I was a poor grad student and found 4 at a Thrift Store in Ft. Collins.

#2- When the list comes up from your initial search go to the left hand column and click the link for IMAGES  and this will show you all the pictures on the web for that item. Also, if there are some other words that were in the description that were not included in the TITLE of the listing as per ebay or etsy they will come up here under images. If you hover over the pic it will give details.

#3 Go to TOWN. I found a 8 piece set of Arrowstone Dishes in the Navajo Blue for $150 from a guy in Minneapolis on craigslist (via Image search on Google) and this awesome blog about this girl's obsession with her vintage dinnerware as well.

Bromaliad ...living on air, water and sunshine.
Click on the picture to see her blog.

Click on the Dee 9:14 to see her blog.

Great blog that led me to find out about this fabulous clock made by Seth Thomas. She had a whole post about vintage clocks on ebay and etsy for a pretty affordable price. 65 to 70 dollar range.  Well, by then when I went on ebay the only ones there were these junky ones and dudes wanted like 140 or 150 dollars for them. Huh?? So, me being the SAVVY Mom that I am I get to looking and find a cheap plastic one that is nearly the same model. Cute and so I bid. I win it for a total of $16.98 including the shipping.




But, I'm still looking for the one I want with the wood case. So, more IMAGE Google searches bring me to this auction on ebay.

So, I bid and win this one for $17.49 including the shipping. The description said that the wood clock did not work, but I had a hunch that I could replace the inside with the inside of the cheap plastic clock I'd bought in the auction prior. It arrived today and it look me no more than about 15 minutes to gut, replace, clean, polish and turn the two purchases into this one wonderful one (Shown at the top). Take a look. Not bad for 35 bucks and some change. Eat your heart out EBAY sellers. I got myself a deal.

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