Nature

The nature is coming indoors.

We are currently being visited by ladybugs that are crawling in through the windows. It's kind of cool actually. And so much cuter than any other insect house guest. The kids keep catching them in thier lightening bug catcher and sending them outside...

And I have a confession. I am totally addicted to www.africam.com Hit the link and then find the button on the left side of the screen that says Nkorho Stream. It is a live feed of a nature preserve and the wildlife that walk to the watering hole is really very interesting.

Just this weekend I was sitting here in my office and watched as an elephant took a bath, I saw monkeys running around, and two lions walked through the area. This morning there were three warthogs that were rolling around the mud. And there is sound too so you hear the birds and the the bugs and the animals splashing around in the water.

I know. I know...I am easily entertained... I have to much time on my hands...I have better things to do...

It's all true...Just go check it out!

Random Thoughts From Kellie's Brain

• So I go to get my flu shot, because when you work with 3-5 year olds they perpetually have there fingers in their nose digging for all those precious little pre-school germs. The clinic is in the middle of a grocery store and there are two nurses. I pray that I get the short dark haired nurse. Because the older blonde nurse is (literally) crossed eyed and her hands are shaking. Bad. I can't decide if she is cold, hungry or having a seizure.

That was two days ago. My arm still hurts.

• I know you probably heard screams of joy on Wednesday. That's because a new record was broken here in my house. I actually got all the suitcases and travel bags unpacked and put away. I had only been home for 72 hours. It was quite amazing actually. Even my make up bag was unpacked. Well, actually it had never really gotten "unpacked" from my trip to AZ in the July. So I guess I can't really count that.

• This weekend the hubby, kids and I are celebrating my birthday in earnest. But I am going to start today. My plan for this afternoon is to go buy some california rolls and a bowl of Miso soup and have it for lunch while wrapped up in Cookie, the Electric blanket...Which brings me to another thought.

• On Sunday night when we got home the temperature in the house was 61 degrees. The temps have dipped to freezingthe past few nights and has had trouble getting into the mid 50's in the day. This is, of course, the time when I start whining that I can't get my hands, feet or nose warm. Coming home from the desert and walking into well....Winter...felt a little harsh. But there is always Cookie, the cookie monster blue electric blanket, my dear, dear winter friend. The hubby has informed me that if he ever feels like my attachment to that cozy-comfort gets anymore weird that I might come home and find it missing. He wouldn't dare! ( Although he did admit that as he gets older he tolerates cold less and less....it sucks to get old.)

• Last but not least, yesterday I had an overwhelming need to bake. So I made granola for the hubby (in answer to his request) , bread for a luncheon for work, and then after school I made chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. I also made veggie soup for dinner ( although this is not baking, I know). the next time you see me I will weigh approximately 50 pounds more than when you saw me last but I will be happy because standing in front of an oven with warm cookies, while wrapped in a heating blanket and dressed in ones favorite pink fuzzy slippers is the best thing on a cold, cold, (did I mention cold?) day.

• The good news? The leaves are changing and they are B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. We plan to bundle up this weekend and go for a hike...I wonder if I could bring Cookie? Pictures to come.

Highlights from 'The Trip'

A sweet moment

Cheeks

Dancing With Paw

Great Gran Maude

Dollar Dance

Cousins

Siblings

Husband &Wife

We had a four hour lay over in Dallas so Lara brought her kids to come visit. It was great to see everybody and The Boy and The Girl loved seeing their buddies from "home".

Waiting for His Bride

The Girls

Today

The last post was a blast from the past. Here is one of that same "little" brother and I...all grown up.

The catch up is on as I try to unpack and get back into the swing of things. A recap of the weekend is soon to come!

34

The picture is blurry...Because after 30 years the picture quality tends to fade. This is me and my little brother 30 years ago. Check out my cool shoes. Back in the day, I was always dressed in the latest of fashion. The amazing thing is that my nephew looks EXACTLY like that now.

So I wake up this morning and I have a slight cold, which started two days ago despite having popped more vitamins and herbal remedies known to man. I have to sing a song in 9 short hours and I can't breathe through my nose! And as if to remind me that I woke up this morning closer to my mid-thirties, my body is aching all over. I have tried to keep the grumbling down to a minimum, but honestly, I haven't felt so good. OK I am done now.

There have been highlights to this trip, although I haven't had the time to post as much as I have on other trips. I am not used to keeping my AZ trips down to just one week. It is hard to cram 3 weeks of stuff into 1 and the blogging got cut from the list.

This morning I am going with my Sister-in-law to get pedicures which will be a little bit of heaven. Plus, everybody knows that you sing better when your toes are painted and your heels are nice and soft.

The start of the birthday is good. When I am here I become the residential coffee maker. But I forgot to set it last night and when I got up somebody had done it for me. It's nice when you can wake up on your 34th birthday and be surprised when some one else has made the coffee. As if it was made just for you...and not the houseful of overnight wedding guests (cuz, amazingly, I am not the only coffee drinking house guest staying at my parents house this week!)

So here's to 34.

And those same round cheeks that I still carry with me.

Arizona

These pictures were taken on Sunday. My Dad started up the RV and took The Fam (minus the Hubby, who is camping with his Dad) to The Buckelew Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a ride on a horse carriage through the patch.

Yesterday was a very fun. I went to a rehearsal, to sing the song I will be singing at the wedding next Saturday, and sang in the church I grew up in with my friend Liz who has been my friend (and accompanist) for almost 20 years. She is a piano playing extrordinaire and it was fun to be "playing" together again. It was also a relief to get the brides approval since she had never heard me sing before. That's always scary as a bride...to get a wedding singer on recommendation and agree to let her sing...but not really know if she can really sing or not!

I can't end the post without talking about weather since I have friends in Texas who are soggy, friends up North who are frozen and friends in the East who are frosty...the weather here is pleasantly warm in the afternoon and nice and cool in the evening. Not to rub it in or anything.

Happy Tuesday!

A Peice of Sky

Out West

Getting ready to hitch a ride to the pumpkin patch.

Patch

The Great Pumpkin

Finally Fall

The Polar Airmass settled in on our little town this morning. It's chilly, and smells deliciously like fall. When the breeze blows all the yellow and orange leaves gently float to the ground. It is fabulous! Makes me want to bake.....go figure.

Just in time to head for warmer weather!

I Should

I should......

...do some laundry.

...get packed.

...clean the floors.

...return phonecalls

...return email.

...return snail mail.

...clean the kitchen

...walk the dog.

I shouldn't...

...take a nap.

But that's what I am going to do.

Self Portrait

I was trying a few features on my camera in hopes of being able to take some self-family portraits with my hubby and kids tomorrow.

It's that time of year when I start thinking about one of my most favorite things: Christmas Cards.

I always take a thousand and one pictures of our family between the months of October and November and then agonize on which one to send out. I know, I know. It's ridiculous to agonize over one picture, but for some people it's the only time they see us! So it's important.

This afternoon, while waiting for a batch of oatmeal cookies to come out of the oven, and waiting for the kids to come home from school I had a few moments to play with the camera. I took about four pictures of myself while Kona ( the dog ) looked at me like I was some kind of weird two legged creature.

None of the pictures came out particularly good, but I was playing with this one and I doctored it up a bit. It's amazing what one can do with computer technology. If only I could remove some wrinkles and take care of that wonky eyebrow....

I'll save that for next year...Goodness knows I'll need it!


PS: On a completely different (but much less self-centered) note, the kids and I just finished another book on CD called The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. Oh! It was so good. Just a very sweet story of a family of four sisters and their adventure in a cottage in the month of August. We finished it this afternoon and I was a bit weepy at the end. I love a good ending and this was perfect. It ends pleasingly and yet you don't want it to end. A perfect combination.
Have a good weekend!

Random Poll

It's been awhile since I have done a random poll.

This past week I learned about another Southern "food-item" that I had never heard of before:

A Banana sandwich.

My friend mentioned that she had made herself a quick banana sandwich for lunch one day.

I was perplexed. Who knew you could make a sandwich out of a banana? I thought it about it so much I Googled it later that afternoon for a little banana snadwich research.

Here is what one uses to make a banana sandwich.

Warning- This could cause queasiness. Here is the recipe:

A Banana.

A couple slices of Bread. (according to research it more often than not is made with White bread)

Mayonnaise. (it hurts my fingers to even type that horrible word)

Here is the random poll:

Have you ever eaten one of these things? Had you heard of it before?

It's OK to be honest. I happen to dearly love this particular Banana sandwich eating friend...Although I think she must have been REALLY, REALLY, hungry that day.

Self Cleaning Oven

It has been almost 20 months that I have lived in this home of mine and last night I realized that I have a Self Cleaning oven....said with capital letters because, quite frankly, those are two little words that carry big-time weight around here.

Last night I turned on that Self Cleaning timer and in two hours I had a squeaky clean oven (if not a slightly smelly kitchen). The burning smell is a small price to pay for an oven with initiative.

This morning as I was cleaning (catching up from last week's mess and attempting to get ahead for this week, although why do I bother?) I began to wonder why some smart engineer hasn't come up with Self Cleaning floors? Or Self Cleaning 9 year old rooms? Why hasn't anyone invented Self Cleaning bath tubs, stair cases!! Or, for crying-out-loud, Self Cleaning laundry!!!!!!!
OK...Deep breath in....Deep breath out.

Anyway, I never really thought Self Cleaning ovens could really work...but I am here to say THEY DO! THEY DO! THEY DO!

And that one fact makes the mound of laundry I shuold be folding right now a little more bearable.

On Your Mark...

This weekend has been fun.

My running Amiga and I finished our 5K with amazing results (if I don't say so myself). She is actually in this picture, you just can't see her because I have completely blocked her...I forgot how tiny she is until I realized that in many of the pictures you can't see her because she is completely blocked by her giant running friend. This picture was taken just as the whistle was blown and we were all trying to get started, which can be tricky when 400 women all start at the same time, hence the reason everyone is looking down- to make sure we don't run over anybody!

I always get nervous before these events, which is silly since we are consistently running 10 miles a week together, and fully capable of running 3.2 miles, but there were some pretty intense looking runners out there that made me feel completely intimidated.

Anyway, we managed to beat our own times finishing in 23 minutes (+ seconds: we don't yet have our official times). Which is basically an 8 minute mile. We were like two bolts of lightening on a sunny day! It was fun. When I get permission I will post her picture...One where she isn't hidden behind me!

I have many things on my plate for this week so the blogging may be slower than usual...Which, lately, isn't saying much.

Until then...La Vida Dulce!

Finishing Line