One post a day

I have no idea why I thought that I could do that. One post a day. I must have been insane, because really, November is a busy month!

But.

I did it. I completed the NaNoBloPo challenge. I can't tell you how long that it's been since I've done something that I couldn't complete in a couple days. It really feels good to have really "done it".

Wowsers!

Maybe now I should try that "eat in front of the mirror while naked" diet!

Thursday check in

Mike the dog is doing well!

The Vet checked his eye pressure, and it was down to 21, from up in the mid 40's. This is such an answer to prayer. I'm so glad that I kept up with the medicine and the drops. He is going to be ok. And will not lose his eye. At least right now. In the future if the medicine doesn't work, we may need to enunculate the eye, but for now we are all A-OK!

YAY!!!!

What I did today!

Quiet comfort

I've been making decisions in my life, and though I'm not ready to announce them, I am feeling a still quiet comfort within.

I'm still looking for a job. I'm not having much success, I went to one interview where they weren't even expecting me. After rounding up someone to finally interview me, the HR person said "we have about 5 people we are considering hiring from within our hospital". All I could think about was that I wanted the last 2 hours of my life back. Binghamton is not a hotbed of medical research, and I would love to get back into a patient contact type position, so I'd have to go into medical reception for that type of thing until I finish my degree.

Anyone have any great ideas for home based businesses? I'm leaning towards a service type of a business, not a home sales thing. I don't have patience for home sales parties, and I refuse to partake in that style of thing.

I am doing well, so far no issues from the ticks. Although now I'm a little psycho every time I feel anything like a little creepy skin, or a bump, or a sore spot. Lets just say a large naked woman in front of a mirror is enough to lose weight. As a matter of fact, from now on when I want to snack outside of mealtime I will get naked and stand in front of a mirror while I eat it. That'll be a diet that works!

Editing the past

I put things up on my blog that aren't pretty. So far I've decided to NOT edit my words. I need to really own these words. I don't really care how they make me "look" to the world. I'm being honest and true and this blog is what I need to egg me on and move me forward in my life. It's my confessional. I refuse to hide behind a facade, and this is where I can be the ugly me.

I may edit in the future, but for now, this is what it is. It's me, all the pontificating, all the unsteadiness, all the fear and the ugliness, and all the beauty that is beginning to bloom through all the manure.

What makes a friend

The two peas blogger challenge is to describe what makes the core of friendship for me.

It's funny how difficult it was for me. I think that the initial attraction of friendship is an initial honesty, an outward friendliness, and a bright sense of humor. These are the things that I am drawn towards.

The 'hook' is that there is what I've always felt as a "sponge" of confidence. A friend is someone who you can confide in, and she won't ever utter anything that you've said or hold it against you. For me, because of the ex's career, I had to do a lot of moving around. I have friends who I have left behind that I can call and we pick up life immediately where we were before I left. It's a life long connection and it's something that can't truly be described.

I have a few friends that I would trust with my life. I think that's the key to a true friend. Someone who will keep you in your place, and someone who will put everything aside for you.

I always laugh when I see the quote " A true friend is someone who sees right through you and still enjoys the view."

Exhausted

I've done NOTHING today. Not exactly nothing, but close enough. I didn't sleep again last night, the man was in a mood, and he didn't sleep. He kept the light on next to his side of the bed until I asked him to turn it off. It was really terrible.

SO...I got up at 6 and then finished a book I'd started eons ago. Then I took a shower and found another tick on me! The first tick we found on Friday, it was just below my collar bone. This morning, I found one on my back in the shower. The one on Friday came off very easily. The one today...we had to do a little minor surgery. I'm a little gunshy about taking another shower.

Tomorrow I need to put the laundry away, go to the post office, and pull out the decorations for Christmas.

The neighbors all were putting out their decorations today, but the man is still in a mood, and I don't really feel like putting any effort into anything today.

I'm really tired of being told that I'm not engaging, not paying attention, not doing whatever. I'm sick of it all. I realize that I'm going to feel better tomorrow, but tonight, I have a date with a tablet of Simply Sleep and a nice glass of water.

Saturday events

So, today our friends left to head back to Boston. We had SUCH a nice time. No, really, a WONDERFUL time. I miss them already.

I am leaning towards some huge changes in my life. I'm not looking forward to doing them, but I know that in the end I am going to be doing the best thing that I could ever do. It's just so scary to step out into the wide world and depend on myself. I feel like I've always depended on someone. I depended on my parents, and then went to college, still depending on my parents. Then I got married and stayed married for 18 years. Pretty much immediately after the marriage crumbled to bits, I met Dan and I moved in and we have been together for 3, almost 4 years now.

I've discovered things about me that I really like. I've discovered things about my friends that I like even more, and I've discovered things about Dan that I just don't know if I like all that much. I do realize that this is part of the way relationships go, and that commitment and love help both partners move forward. I just don't know if this is something that I want to spend the rest of my life with him dealing with. I am capable, I am strong, and I am going to learn independence either way. I will not remain here and not have an income , I will save my funds for the future, no matter what it holds. I will prepare to be a person of strength. Not a bad thing.

Please, if you are a praying person, please continue to keep me in your prayers. Hopefully things will brighten up here. Otherwise I'll be doing what I need to do, and things will brighten up anyway!

The day after Thanksgiving!

Quick check in for NaNoBloPo. I'm SO close to at least one post a a day, and don't want to blow my record!

Thanksgiving was GREAT. Our friends are lovely. We are having a great time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Quick post!

The eldest child got taken the airport yesterday to go to her fathers house for Thanksgiving. The flight got cancelled. We have company coming this evening. The eldest child's flight leaves this evening.

I've baked roughly 6 dozen sugar cookies this morning, 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies, and I still have more baking to do.

I need to wake up the eldest so I can tackle the next batch of baking. My life is crazy today!

Tradition, TRADITION!

It's getting to that time of the year where we spend time focusing on the old, and hoping for the new.

The old: I'm putting up our tree the Monday after Thanksgiving. Perhaps even the Sunday following Thanksgiving. We're having guests this year, so I'll put it up after they leave.
More of the old: I made lefse. My mother made lefse. I would make carmel rolls too, but we just don't have room in our refrigerator!

The new: I hope that by the middle of next year, I'm settled and knowing what I want and am where I want to be in my life. I'm going through some issues with my relationship with my SO, and I don't want to jump into something that I regret. I guess that I would say that I'm a little gun shy for the whole commitment thing after my divorce.

Pray for me for those of you who pray! I know that in the end I will do what I need to do, it's just getting the courage to step out in faith towards the goal that I need to move towards.

A list, From Toners

From Toners:

1. Who am I? Katy. Child of God, Divorcee', Mom of 3, Doggie mom of 2, girlfriend of Danny.
   
2. Who knows me best? God
3. How old am I? 40
4. How old do I feel? 40
   
5. The most important thing in my life is... my faith. It's my anchor everyday.
   
6. I always carry...Claritin!
7. Something I always do is...spill food on myself every time I work!
   
8. I'm at my happiest when... I am scrapping!
9. On a Monday morning, you'll find me...doing laundry. Cleaning toilets, mopping the floor and walking Mike and Molly.
   
10. My favorite mode of transportation is...the Lincoln
11. My eyes are...grey
12. My favorite material possession is...my bible, quickly followed by my craft supplies.
    
13. To relax, I like to...stamp, scrapbook, read...
14. The town I live in is...in the STICKS! No, really. It's in the sticks. I really like where I'm at though, it's growing and it's FRIENDLY!
    
15. What's my worst habit? picking on my nails.
    
16. My guilty pleasure is...Showtime Adult dramas. Dexter, Weeds, The Tudors.
    
17. When I look at someone, the first thing I see is...their smile and if it truly goes into their eyes.
    
18. I think ....................... is beautiful. love
19. One thing that I can live without is...chocolate!
20. One thing people don't know about me is...I am from North Dakota originally.
    
21. My life is...blessed.

Oprah

Please don't think that I'm slamming on people from Macon,GA. But, hello?

I'm watching Oprah's Favorite Things episode. Women were CRYING over getting free cupcakes in the mail. Some women had their hands in the air, praising God for being on her show. WOmen were shrieking in joy for SOAP. Maybe I'm cynical but, hello. It's STUFF.

I watch very little Oprah. Heck, I watch Oprah MAYBE 6 times a year. It really makes me wonder if seeing things like this give away show makes those who have very little income spend more money, because they want the things that Oprah likes. It makes ME want what Oprah likes, and I have the common sense to stop myself from going to her website and ordering one of each item she shows off.

Monday Marvels

Last night I went to bed, and it was snowing. It was a beautiful snow, and it made me happy to have the fireplace up and running. Such a nice snuggly night.

This morning, I woke up to this amazing beauty:

You win a scholarship to go back to school for any four-year degree you want. What will you study? What do you want to do in your life right now?

This is an easy 2 peas challenge to answer. Psychobiology. Then I go on and get my MS in Psychology. It's exactly what I want to do in my life.

Yes! I finished the scraplift!

I'm just going to throw this up for now, and will replace it with an edited photo later. I'm sure you all don't need to see my tablecloth and placemats in the photo!

If you haven't checked out Toni-n-TN's gallery at 2 peas, you REALLY should. It's fantastic!

My Sat-aaah-day plans

Today I'm going to finish my scraplifting project.

I'm going to finish the menu for when our friends are here, and then we're going to the club for dinner, and then to a play. I'm really looking forward to it!!

I need to sleep first, though. AND I need to get up early so that I can get the scraplift finished. I actually scrapbooked yesterday. Is it yesterday? I mean, I haven't slept yet, even though it's officially Saturday. Oh well. I scrapbooked, and finished a difficult to love layout. It's finished, and that's a good thing!

I got my new glasses, and that's fun, it's really nice to be able to see. My lenses on my old glasses were TRASHED. It was bad. When I put these on, I nearly cried to be able to see so well.

I will harrass the eldest kid to take a couple pictures of me tomorrow. I'll actually put makeup on.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow morning. I just need to sleep. I didn't sleep two nights ago, and that made for a horrid day the following day. MUST sleep now.

Friday fun-ness!

On the list for the day...
New glasses. I have a pair with one foggy lens and it's driving me bonkers. My eyes have also changed quite a bit, and I just am having issues with this prescription.

I need to dig through my .gsd's and find one that says "alcatraz" for a layout. I know that I have one done by Judy Perry, so it's in there, but UGH, I hate digging through computer files.

I need to get Na from school at 12:50.

AND, I need to finalize my Thanksgiving menu. I can't wait! Some friends from Boston are coming for a few days and they are bringing their white german shepherds with them. It should be a ton of fun . I wish that the lefse griddle that I ordered would show up soon. I would love to make some lefse for the big day.

On two peas the question of the day was about what kind of food you'd bring if you were going to go somewhere. I'd probably bring buffalo chicken dip or an artichoke dip. I loves me some artichokes lately.

Life is changing here day by day. Some things for the better, some for the worse. In the end it just doesn't matter, though, it's all about the attitude you have as you go through life's trials.

Television addictions

I have a secret addiction to the television show Heroes. I truly loved it last year, but up until a week ago, I just wasn't loving it this year. Perhaps it took too long to get the show interesting this year, but I'm glad that I stuck with it. I think that the only thing that I'm not loving this year is the storyline with the girl who cries mascara. I don't find her character interesting. And the sexiness that is Mohinder Suresh cannot be denied!
I also have other addictions. Dexter, the worlds most moral serial killer. Weeds, about the mother who has a penchant for felony in order to support her family. Big Love, about the Henrickson clan and all of their issues...who cares if he's got three wives. All I can say is that I KNOW that women synch their cycles, and I'd really hate to be in his house for about a week out of every month. Even if one of his wives doesn't have the plumbing. The Tudors, is an excellent showcase for Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It does a pretty good job with the history of King Henry VIII.

It may sound like I spend hours attached to the television, but thanks to the modern marvel of the internet, cable and the dvr, I'm blessed to spend a minimum amount of time in front of my actual television. I really don't, and I can catch up on other shows easily by going to the website for the network and watching their internet broadcast. This way I can catch up with the Housewives, Private Practice, and Greys while I scrapbook!
..
In Scrappy things. I'm going to play with my new paper tagger. I'm really excited to do some fun things with it. I saw a Scrapbook LifeStyle video and now I am absolutely excited about this product. I initially thought that it was the most lame product thought up for scrapbooking, and now I can't wait to play. Click on the tool time video with Johanna Peterson. I promise you will run and not walk to your LSS.

I am going to go play. And catch up on Private Practice. Heh.

FINALLY! I was able to post these! I have been having "issues" with posting pictures here. May, my fiskateer, sent an email out in early October with the cartoon in it, and it made me just LAUGH. I wanted to share it with you all!

The second picture is one that I took a few weeks ago before the leaves completely fell and we still had these glorious leaves on the trees. I stood in my driveway and took this photo of the fog as it was rolling through the valley below the "mountain" that we live on. It was absolutely beautiful. I just love to see how nature gives us a treat every day here. I took a picture of a tree up the hill that reminds me of a Charlie Brown type tree with how the leaves fell. When I figure out how to download from my cameraphone, I'll gladly share that one too.

Today's Goals

Today I feel SO good. I still feel a little weak, but I feel GOOD.
Yay!

So far it looks good for the rest of the house not getting it, but who really knows.

Yesterday ,because of the illness, I had to wash the sheets, mattress pad, comforter, duvet, and blanket. I ended up putting a damp blanket on the bed because by bed time I just couldn't wait any longer.

Today, it's a different world! I've taken the dogs for a couple walks, and the electrician is here and has fixed the dining room light, put up the new fixture in the kitchen (the old one was broken...) and has now installed two ceiling fans in bedrooms upstairs. I've vacuumed all over upstairs, and am washing the dog bed that goes in our bedroom. If I get a chance, I'm going to wash the second dog bed too. I've also cleaned the bathroom downstairs, and tomorrow I'll get the bathroom upstairs.

Gosh, it feels so good to feel good!

I have some pictures to post, and not having much luck with the uploading right now, so I'll do some posting of the pictures later.

The "F" word

I don't approve of the F word in our home.

Especially when it's "Flu".

'nuff said.

bleh

My new baby!

So, today I finally got rid of the Samsung that no longer stayed open. At least it didn't make that horrible loud cracking sound when it closed. The screen on Dan's phone was crystallized and you couldn't really read anything that was on the screen.

We also put the oldest one on the plan. She to the enV too. I'm still not totally in love with the phone, but I have figured out how to set it so that when people I love, and have photos for, call their picture shows up on the screen!


I think it's a keeper!

Just because

Glorious Devo Goodness

2 peas challenge

The challenge at two peas today is "What is in the book you are writing?" I've recently begun to think about that.

I have been writing a book. I've got a bunch of things all put down. I've got a bunch of stuff that needs to be edited and pulled into order. I can't wait, actually. I'm so ready to get this all out of me, and put somewhere that makes it all "real". You see, I'm a surivor of childhood sexual and physical abuse. I'm also a survivor of marital rape. It's taken me a long time to be able to say this, and perhaps it's not the easiest thing you would ever expect to read on a blog, but today, I'm OK. I really am. Tomorrow, I'm not so sure, eh? The best therapy for me, has been to actually write all that stuff down. To put it somewhere out of my body makes it easier to deal with. Maybe someday I will be able to help someone else who's gone through what I did.

If I had to write another book after this one is done, it would be a love story. The story of how I've grown up and learned to love.

Today's "To Do" list:

Call and get the eldest kid's insurance straightened out.
Make an appointment for her to see the Dr. for her ear ache.
Take her to the Dr.
Take her to her lecture.
Drag her funky butt to Syracuse to get the latch on her computer fixed.
Come home, cook.
Clean.
Sleep.
I would really like to do a crock pot meal tonight. That would leave me with plenty of time to do things that I really want to do. Yeah. Right. I can always fantasize!

Paws on Top!

I feel like today was one day where I just went go-go-go. Tomorrow is looking the same. Ugh.

Today I woke up, emailed a friend, and then took Mike the dog to the vet. His Glaucoma is not under control right now, so we're going to take a very aggressive method of treating it and hopefully this will start to come down. I feel very bad for him, it's not like he can tell us that he's in pain, so I feel like I really need to advocate for him. I really want to do everything that I can to avoid having to enunculate the eye. Poor guy. One of the things that I did do that I know he likes is I found these cool dog treats where you can put a pill into the center of them, and then you pinch it closed and the dog willingly eats the pill! There's no spitting out of the pill! It's like a miracle. I am glad that he gets something that's tasty,and the pill goes into the dog.

Molly is Molly. How can a yellow lab named Molly not be the most effervescent creature on this planet? She makes me laugh at least once a day. It's pretty nifty. She's allergic to bug bites and whenever she goes outside she sits down in one spot on the lawn, and I recently looked at the spot and saw ants all over it. So we bought some anti-itch spray a couple weeks ago, and it seems to be working well. Again, I hate it when the dogs are hurting or are uncomfortable.

I'll leave you with a little game we like to play.

It's called Paws on Top.

First I put my hand on Molly's paw, then she pulls her paw out from underneath, and puts it on my hand. The game is on. It involves lots of long gazes away from the field of play for stealth paw placing. It always makes me laugh.

So, without further ado. I leave you with a little Paws On Top action.

Tuesday fun

I've decided to tackle today and plow through my chores. So, why am I watching Heroes? I love me some heroes! But I'm watching Heroes because I'm FAHREEZING. The promised temperature drop hasn't happened yet, but it's supposed to, and then this afternoon we're supposed to get some of that dreaded snow. I'm in a little state of shock, it's not that I didn't know I was moving to a snow area in April, heck, I moved from Boston, so that's not the shock. It's that...well, it's cold, and this summer was gloriously hot. It really was just idyllic. I wish that I could explain to you how marvelous it was. Anyway, I'm taking the time to wrap myself in a blanket and warm up.

I'm working on the deck today. I have taken the tiki torches and tossed them, removed the zip ties from the posts that were holding them up - - I need to find a little more of a classy way of holding up the tiki torches over the winter! I've also pulled in the plant holders and during the day I'm going to take the chairs down into the basement. I have no desire to drag the table around though. I'll leave that to the man.

In other goals I really want to get the trash in the basement into the garage. Trash in basement? I've been going through boxes like crazy. There's a ton of things that I want to just shed myself of from my life with Gary. I'm so glad to be able to do this on my own schedule. I'm ready to do this now.

When I finish with that stuff I'm going to take my scrapbook paper out of the horizontal storage and put it into cropper hopper holders. I really dislike the way my cardstock is being stored, and just need to start tackling that and getting it into a use able setup.

I will post my recipe for cheesy garlic bread later today. It's so yummy.

Cheescake is now full circle

The cheesecake that I so diligently made on Sunday was taken out of the refrigerator tonight after a meal of lasagne and a salad with a slab of delicious, incredible cheese bread. I will post the recipe tomorrow. It's really THAT good.

Today I didn't get a lot done, I hate it when I feel like I've spent the day washing dishes from one thing to the other. I even lost patience with the dishwasher and pulled out various dishes so that I could just get them put away.

Tomorrow I hope to get lots of stuff done. It's really rewarding to see things get finished, but it's even better to finish things so that I can play without guilt!

NaBloPoMo

I'm doing National Blog Posting Month. Mostly because I'm waaaay to lame to do NaNoWriMo.

So I'm going to challenge myself to do this everyday. Some days are going to be pretty lame though!

Today was a heck of a day. The oldest kid worked very late, so she stayed at a friends apartment near the club. Today she was very tired, and slept through a chunk of church. It was annoying, but I was honestly glad that she was there. It's nice to have them around, even if they aren't always cheerful.

Then we went off to the store and dropped a huge chunk of change on groceries.

After we finished putting things away I made a pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake! I used this recipe.
I haven't tried it yet, but I will tomorrow for dinner. I tossed in a few mini morsels ( roughly a cup full) into the batter before pouring it into the pan. I've never made a cheesecake before, but you can be sure that I'm going to do it again. It wasn't super easy, but it wasn't as difficult as other things I've made.

We then made grilled steaks for us, and grilled a couple chicken breasts for the eldest and her buddy. I made a couple quick side dishes... green beans with bacon and garlic, and potato gnocci and an alfredo sauce. It was wonderful. The whole meal was just a pleasure, and I'm looking forward to heating up the steak and gnocci for lunch tomorrow. I've discovered that grilled meats actually heat up quite nicely on the grill. I just set them on a piece of aluminum and then heat it up that way. So if you hear a lot of happy, yummy sounds in this area of the country around noon, it'll be me eating up the leftovers!

Tomorrow night for dinner I'm going to make Lasagne, and we'll follow that up with the pumpkin cheesecake from the cooking part of our show today.

I am feeling REALLY good lately. My workouts are paying off. I feel stronger, and my clothes are getting bigger. It's quite nice!

Don't forget to "Fall Back!"

Well, today I taught the class at the store. It was not exactly a hard class, it was basically one where you use the scraps that you already have. I tried to teach them to pull out scraps that they liked, blur their eyes to make sure the papers all work together. Then to choose a background piece of cardstock to help all the colors blend.

Pretty simple, but still a lot of work! We used a ton of punches and I taught them all about visual triangles and ways to use simple shapes. It was fun, and one of the class students was very fun, her layouts came together very fast. The other student was a little slower, but had some great ideas for her page.

In the end I think that I learned a ton of things, I need to make sure the class knows that time is a ticking. I think that I'm also going to work on handouts so that they can have something to go home with. Although they each put together two layouts, so that worked out really well!

In other news, during the Round Up, I managed to finish every one of the challenges! I'm liking that too! I like it when I get a ton of things done, and I'm glad to be able to scrap those dreaded graduation pictures that I've been avoiding.

OK. Now, off to bed. I need to remember to "Fall Back" with the clock in the AM. An extra hour of sleep! NIRVANA!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I teach my scrapping class at the local store. I really am looking forward to it, and hope that the ladies in the class really enjoy themselves and learn lots.

Not much else to say!

Loving my stuff!

I just went downstairs to grab a few of my crafting supplies, and I started to laugh at all of the Fiskars tools that I have sitting on my craft table. It makes me laugh when I see how much of their products that I have and use.

My favorite is the old standby paper trimmer. I also have the rotary trimmer with all the cool shape blades, but my favorite, and the one that I reach for time and time again is their simple trimmer. I like that I can see where the blade hits the paper so that I can slice out just what I need for my project.

My second favorite tool is the Titanium Nitride Mighty Snip. I use it to snip one of the spokes on the roll of adhesive as I pop it into my ATG gun. It really has made loading the gun a simple process ( if I could just remember each time which direction the take up reel needs to go! Ugh!).

My third, or perhaps Very first tool would be the 12 x 18 self healing mat. It's always right there, beneath my project, protecting my table top. I don't use it to cut on, I usually throw a glass mat on top of it when I'm using an exacto, but I do use it for gluing and painting and everything else that gets dirty. I've found that it comes as clean as I need it to when I'm finished, and it does a fantastic job protecting my table top.