I need a break from my weekend.

Exhaustion is setting in. Saturday was a whirlwind of grocery shopping, house cleaning, ironing, cooking for us and for others, and editing an E-Book that's grossly behind schedule. Sunday was a whirlwind of getting a pot roast and potatoes in the oven, church, a trip to DC to visit with family and a cousin from far away, back to church for toddler nursery duty, and then choking on my popcorn at the chili-cookoff.

So Ben and I came home and he made me my usual Sunday night fried eggs, I took a bath, and now I'm ready to die. Tomorrow I'm sleeping until I feel like waking up.

Be thankful ~

Karen

PhotoHunt: Dark

A cozy fire on a dark night:

The kind of chocolate I love:

For more PhotoHunt, go here. Happy Saturday!

Be thankful ~

Karen

Since my boring life provided me with no blog fodder today . . .

and this made me laugh . . .









Be thankful (it's not rotary anymore)~

Karen

Another day with no pictures! What is WRONG with me? I really did have other things on my mind.

Since I started working for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, I have saved a copy of everything I've edited, and let me tell you, after almost two years, that's a LOT of stuff. I had everything categorized in folders so it was easy to find, and I'd say I probably had close to a thousand emails. Maybe more—it's so hard to tell.

So this morning, the first email I opened was from the big boss telling us we were having major server issues that were negatively impacting the store, and all folders would be deleted in the next day or so.

Did you know that coffee is not necessary to get your blood pumping vigorously in the morning?

Near-panic ensued, and after an hour of frantic work, I think I have saved everything I needed (a fraction of what I  had) in MacMail. And backed it up on an external hard drive. And prayed over it for good measure. I'm don't think any of us got much done today, what with all the electronically induced hyperventilating going on.

After that, I spent a half hour actually editing, then went to the gym. Got home, ate lunch, did some school with Man-boy, spent an hour on the phone with Abbie trying to figure out her spring schedule, read a few emails, and went back to the gym (no, once a day is not enough). Ate dinner, read 5 chapters of Acts, and here I am, quite a few hours short for the day. So tomorrow, no matter what Mr. Sun says, I am getting up at 6 to catch up.

In other news, Sticky Bean has new Elmo slippers and two new molars. He's getting all the crabby out of the way before he comes to see Grammy. Such a good boy.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Don't look here for excitement.

I am quite blank this evening. This morning when I woke up, the first thing I did was gasp and remember I was supposed to be at my mammogram appointment 6 minutes ago. Not a good way to start the day, but my wonderful husband, who has learned how to handle my "gasp" moments, gave me a hug and talked me in off the ledge I was quickly putting myself out on.

Do you think I could use a few more prepositions in that sentence?

I worked for a few hours, did some school with Man-boy, wrestled the dog through a 2-mile walk, and made roasted garlic chicken quesadillas for dinner. Who needs meat and potatoes when you can have garlic, chicken, and melted cheese all in one easy-to-eat package?

I only took 8 photos today, and they were pretty boring and dull. The dog wouldn't cooperate. The sun would hide behind the clouds when I stepped out on the deck. Man-boy is sick of getting snapped. It was just that kind of day. But I did get this one of my favorite place to have tea:

It is currently before 8 pm and I am seriously contemplating getting in bed. Pilates tomorrow.

Contemplation finished. Good night.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Repeat after me: Here are my keys . . .

Where do I begin? (Isn't that a song?)

Today was the day we had to meet Abbie at the bridal store in the big city to order her bridesmaid dress for her friend's wedding next March. I won't  share the photos of the trying on, because you have to try on whatever color they happen to have in your size. And it was pumpkin orange. And the jacket was bright red. It was an awful combination, trust me.

As soon as that was done, Abbie asked if we could go eat and Man-boy agreed, so I followed them to Chipotle, Abbie's favorite. I would have taken pictures there, but the guacamole had me busy.

Abbie didn't want to go home just yet (it was a 2 hour drive for her) so we wandered around a really cool outdoor mall and took pictures.

Man-boy got in trouble for trying to hold himself up horizontally on a light pole. Also didn't get a picture of that.

 One of the very few decent pictures of me and Abbie.

Then we went to wander around Target. Man-boy loves shopping.

As we were leaving Target, I started fumbling around in my purse for my keys. At some point I got that sinking feeling and said, "Oh, Ab . . ." and I just knew I didn't have those keys. When we got to the car we found them. On the front seat. With the doors locked.

I thought about calling Ben, but remember last February when this car got stolen? We never got the other set of keys back. So while Abbie and Man-boy waited, I went back in Target and got a phone book. The sixth locksmith I called said he would be there in 45 minutes.

Here are Dave and Andy, unlocking my car. Without any exaggeration whatsoever, I can say that it took them no more than two minutes to get in. With a Food Lion rewards card, two little wedges, and a coat hanger.

$60. If I'm doing my math right, that's $1800 an hour.

Clearly, I'm in the wrong business. 

Man-boy drove home so I could stew about the highest salary known to mankind.

Lucky for me, the day ended better. When I walked in the house, I smelled the pot of chili Ben had going, and all I had to do was eat and tell my sad tale.

So what's the moral of the story?

When you get out of your car, before you close the door, you look down at the keys in your hands and you say, "Here are my keys. My keys are in my hand." Then you shut the door. Amen.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Look! It's good photography!

Last weekend, my Virginia daughter took a trip over her fall break to see her South Carolina sister. While she was there, they made the spur-of-the-moment decision to go see their Tennessee sister, the one who owns Sticky Bean, and surprise her for her birthday. Their good friend, Lizzy, is a photographer (please go see some of her stuff here) so she came over and took some family pictures for them. I just looked through 18 photos and have already laughed, cried, and been profoundly thankful to God for my beautiful, healthy family. Thanks, Lizzy.

Be thankful ~

Karen

More adventures of the Princess and the Pete.

As my Uncle George used to say, "Another day, another dollar two-ninety-eight."

Somehow I can't get nearly enough done in a day, and just about the time I think I might get caught up, daughter #3 calls to remind me we need to order a dress for a wedding she's going to be in. That requires a trip to the city an hour south of us on Saturday. Shoot me.

Princess P came to spend the morning with us today, and since I hadn't had my breakfast yet, I made an extra scrambled egg. I got her all set up at the table and this is what happened.

She looked at me funny and took a tentative bite.

Still looking at me funny, she took a few more bites.

Then she started making monster-y gobbling noises and shoving the eggs in her mouth.

Pete waited. He remembered the fishies from last week.

I found out later that P's mother doesn't want her to have eggs until she's two. Oops. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's ruining P's mother's food plans for her kids. Tuna—check. Eggs—check. Peanut butter—check. At least we know she likes them.

P made a fascinating discovery today: Pete's paws. He's trying to ignore her.

Pete: Maybe if I don't look she'll go away.

P: Hey, when I poke them they move!

P: Oooo, look! Here's another one!

Pete: Mom! Help!

Eventually, P gets tired of paws and wants to go home. This is her "I want to go home" face.

Okay, P. Mommy's coming.

Be thankful ~

Karen

And they have cookies!

Ah, youth group, I have missed you.

About a year ago I stopped going to the youth group meetings at church for a number of reasons, and tonight I started going again. And now I remember why I went. Goodness, those people are fun! Give me teens over toddlers any day.

They sing with a guitar, have an ongoing points competition between the two teams (England and Ireland), split up for prayer time, and then the game.

Tonight was The Great Oreo Eat-Off. The object of the game is to be the first one to eat an Oreo. Sounds easy, right? But these are teenagers, so there must be a catch. First, you tilt your head back and place the Oreo on your forehead. Then you try to get it in your mouth without using your hands. (This is where you kick me for not taking my camera with my neighbor's zoom lens.) The first one to completely chew and swallow his cookie wins a point for his team. All I have is one lousy cell-phone picture taken from the back of the room.

Finish with great preaching about the wages of sin and it was a very good night. I think I'll go back next week.

Be thankful ~

Karen

What a difference a day makes.

Last week I sat around twiddling my thumbs waiting for someone to send me something to edit. All week long the Jeopardy song was running through my mind in a miserable, never-ending loop. Then last night in the space of 23 minutes, I got 8 emails from 5 different people containing 4 high-priority projects plus a product description and sell sheet, as well as 3 articles for a Christmas publication. All due this week.

Of course I handled it in my usual calm, cool, and collected way. I sent my co-editor a panic-stricken email:

Beth! Help! I'm swamped! Can I send you a PD and SS? Pretty please?

Then just as soon as she replied saying sure, she could do those no problem, I fired off another one (Start small, I say. You can always ask for more. This is in direct disagreement with my daughter, Deb's philosophy of negotiating, which is "always ask for more than you hope to get." I actually heard her giving her younger sister this wise counsel once.):

And can I send you these articles too? Honestly, last week I had nothing and today I got the tsunami of editing!

So Beth bailed me out (I just realized that's a funny. Ha ha.) and now I'm only half panic-stricken. But soccer is over, so the schedule should be a little easier to work with. Except that now I'm committed to doing Pilates twice a week in a feeble attempt to shed the five pounds I put on during my season of sitting on the sidelines and eating too much fast food.

I also just realized this post is going nowhere, kind of like this photo I took at yesterday's playoff game

which shows nothing more than my ability to mis-focus (is that even a word?) a very expensive camera at 50 yards.

You're welcome.

Be thankful ~

Karen

The end of the season.

I have a great neighbor. First she lets me borrow a cool zoom lens to play with, and then she lets me borrow her kid to practice on.

Princess P, what's up with the tongue?

We were eating fishies. P has learned she doesn't get in trouble for feeding these to the dog, and Pete has learned that he's willing to be dragged around by the collar as long as she keeps giving him fishies.

But eventually the fishies are all gone. Pete gets tired of the collar thing with no edible reward and goes looking for a rescue from Man-boy.

The end of this story is that Man-boy took Pete outside to run in the woods and P stayed inside like a good girl, but only because she couldn't get the door open.

That won't last long.

I also got a few of our last soccer game of the season. I won't go on about the horrid officiating or the nasty play of the other team. We played a good first half and a really great second half. It just wasn't enough.

Be thankful ~

Karen

We worked all day and didn't do much.

Today was better. I didn't wake up until 3:12 . . . a whole ten minutes more sleep than the night before! Got up a little after 4 and worked for a while, and then went grocery shopping. Ben and Elijah had a few projects planned for the day. They started with Elijah's car, which had a caliper issue. Fixed that. They put a new air filter in my van. Then while Ben was tearing apart the green-duct-taped soccer-ball-smashed bathroom window . . .

 . . . Elijah started tearing apart the doors in my van. Both passenger side handles quit working some time back, so in order for the passenger to get in, the driver had to start the van, put the passenger's window down, and the passenger would then reach in and open the door from inside. That worked real well until the passenger's window wouldn't go down. So Elijah fixed both doors today, and the window is magically working again. It's like driving a new vehicle!

This photo is a summary of our day. The van with doors taken apart. The octagonal window that didn't fit so we're back to plastic and green duct tape while we wait for our special ordered window to come in.


The day ended with two roasted chickens. I always do two at a time, mostly because I don't have to stand there and pick the meat off the bones. That's Ben's job (Big props to him—I hate that job.), and we put the meat in Ziploc bags in the freezer to use for enchiladas and casseroles. Now that there are only three of us here, we get about 5 meals out of these two big roasting chickens. I'll try to share the recipe tomorrow. It's just the best.

Lucky for Pete, I'm not the one who peels chickens or he would get nothing. He takes his place at the end of the counter and Ben throws him chunks of cartilage. Nasty.

Look at that concentration! This is one of the few times I can take pictures without him being annoyed. He doesn't even know I'm here.

Hoping to catch up on some sleep tonight.

Be thankful ~

Karen

PhotoHunt: Miniature

This miniature potty is in a public bathroom at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach. Abbie's wondering how she's going to get all the way down there . . .

For more PhotoHunt photos, go here.

Be thankful ~

Karen

Lots of coolness going on.

Hey! There are 37 people over there on the sidebar who care about my blog! In the words of Rachael Ray, how cool is that?

In other cool news, I have found the histogram setting on my camera. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read the explanation Darcy wrote. She's much better at it than I am. Anyway, I'm feeling smarter every day.


Today was the first playoff game, which we won 13-1. It's cool to win, but I hate games like that. I always wind up cheering for the other guys. Monday the other team's fans might be doing that for us, but I hope not. I did not take a single picture at today's game. I know you're disappointed. I'll try to miss a few kicks next week.

Tomorrow is Saturday and that means groceries, ironing, finishing up my hours for the week, and we get a window in the bathroom, which will be cool since Man-boy shot it out with a soccer ball last April and it's been covered inside and out with heavy plastic and fluorescent lime-green duct tape since then. Our neighbors love us. I'll try to get photos of all the excitement.

Right now I am going to finish reading the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Cool story. What's the best book you've read lately? I'm almost finished with this one and need to find something new to start.

Nighty-night.

Be thankful ~

Karen

I just remembered I have a blog.

Days are very long when they start at 3:02. That's what time my eyes popped open this morning and would not shut. I dragged my sleepless self out of bed at 4:30 and worked for two hours. Then I made the bed, washed my hair, cleaned up the kitchen, and sat down on the couch with my laptop around 8. At 9:15 I woke up and realized Man-boy was still asleep, so I sic'd the dog on him and went to make more coffee. Worked another hour . . . are you still here? I'm sorry to put you through this . . . charged the camera battery, had text conversations with all three daughters, and started the laundry. I feel like I've been up since last week and it's only 11 am.

Today marks the beginning of ODACS fall sports playoffs. We have our first game at 4, and assuming we win that one, we play Fairfax (play ominous music here) on Monday. We're not making any predictions beyond today, which we think will go well for us.

Here's the latest of Bean. His mama says he's throwing leaves and learning to stay on the porch. She says he stands on the lowest step and leans over to play in the dirt. Oh, to have the flexibility of a 16-month-old.

This one comes from Leah, who is trained in the misplaced-apostrophes special forces.

At least one server appreciates the tips.

Happy Friday!

Be thankful ~

Karen

The crumb cake.

Sorry, I got sidetracked.

But here we are with the rest of the world-famous crumb cake story.

Do you see how the crumbs are three times as thick as the cake? THAT'S a crumb cake.

 You must eat it on a classless paper plate, and here's why:

These crumbs are not to be wasted.

If you ever make it to Bay Head, New Jersey, ask someone to point you in the direction of Mueller's Bakery and get yourself a crumb cake.

And don't forget the paper plates.

Be thankful ~

Karen

PS. Apologies to my children who are scattered around the country. I enjoyed it for you.