An Important Warning!

With the swine flu pandemic continuing to gain steam across the globe, our administration and federal gov’t offices sent out an official warning to all US citizens to do a few things:
1. Restrict travel
2. Wash hands often
3. Refrain from large public gathers.

And above all – they cautioned us all not to do the following….

I'm working on a post to share the kitchen drama that I went through while I was on "vacation". Yes, I did mean to quote that because I was technically on vacation, although it wasn't very vacation-y.

I will share soon :)!

That's all for now!

Love, Kelli

I'm switching!

Be still my twittering heart! Have you all seen this? I think I must switch to Flutter :)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeLZCy-_m3s

All kidding aside, I'm going on vacation!! I will still be on Twitter next week, because I'm not sure I have the ability to not be on Twitter. I will probably not post though. I can't wait to show you what I did while I was gone though ;)!

Miss you all! Kelli

I don't feel good today...

Begin rant...

I really don't. And you know what else? My husband is in the middle of tearing out my kitchen. I have bare drywall on 2 walls and exposed studs on the third wall. I have no upper cabinets. They are in the basement getting ready for me to sand, prime and paint them. My husband and his friend are supposed to be there at 4:00 today to take out my lower cabinets, my sink, and my dishwasher. You'd think these two have a death wish or something. What's pushing me over the edge is that my husband (kindly) asked if I could work until 8:00 (aka so I wouldn't be there to bother them) then bring them dinner home and be ready to clean up all the nasty drywall stuff after them. At 9:00 at night, people! I turn into a pumpkin at 9:00! My head hurts. My throat hurts. I have a runny nose and my body aches. Not to mention, I've had pretty weird vertigo bouts for the last week and a half (that's not been pretty). All I want to do is go home and get in my bed and pull my pretty purple down comforter over my head and sleep until Easter Sunday.

End rant...

Tata - K!

PS - I know, I know...I should be grateful that I'm getting a new kitchen. The really really is that my house has been under constant heavy duty construction since for 3 1/2 years now, and I'm completely sick of it! My husband tells me it's almost over, and I don't believe him one bit!!! It took him ten months to renovate my upstairs bathroom (which by the way, he waited until I was on an international business trip to rip out my beloved bathtub) and he told me that the bathroom was the easy part!

PPS - I am really really really finished with my rant now!

PPPS - I apologize to my high school English teacher Mrs. Bellm and my sister Allison who teaches English for all of the poor grammar and punctuation in this post. If you haven't noticed, I don't feel good!

The Important Things in Life...

Have you all seen this? It really makes you sit back and think about what's important in your life.

Take this quiz:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

Bill Gates, the Sultan of Brunei????

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

nope, can't do it...

3. Name the last three winners of the American Idol.

David Cook, Jordin Sparks, and Taylor Hicks (not sure what this means about me that this was the easiest category to fill out)

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

John Nash, Jimmy Carter, Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, Winston Churchill, T.S. Eliot, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and that's all I have...(and I'm not sure these are right, but they are my guesses)

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor actress.

I can't do this question at all. I like watching movies, but I don't tend to like the same types of movies as the "Academy", so I never watch the Academy Awards.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

Baseball isn't my thing, and since the Cincinnati Reds haven' done well since 1990, I have no clue!

How did you do?The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.Here's another quiz.

I want to share with you these special people in my life. Rather than just give a short name, I want to tell you why each of these people are special. I am going to answer two of the questions today and save the other 4 for Tuesday and Wednesday.

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

- Mrs. Perkins: my first grade teacher who taught me that school could be fun and it wasn't scary. I still have a little Raggedy Ann book she gave me on the last day of school that year (let's just say the book is over 30 years old). Thanks Mrs. Perkins!

- Miss Losey: my fifth grade teacher who taught me what a smart student I was. I was a very average student until I came across Miss Losey. It turned out I was a really good speller and would win the class spelling bee every Friday, until she brought a smarty pants 4th grader in to give me a run! Thanks Miss Losey!

- Mr. Clark: he wasn't even one of my teachers. I had Mrs. Ho (yes, that was her name) for Chemistry, but found myself bored by her class. I was bored not because I was bored by the topic, but bored because she wasn't teaching me fast enough. Who would have thunk? Mr. Clark taught the other Chemistry classes and began to tutor me after school. He is the reason that I majored in science in college. Thanks Mr. Clark!

- Dr. Williams: one of my favorite teachers ever! Dr. Williams was my music teacher from the time I was three weeks old (my first piano lesson), to making sure I knew what the story line was before our elementary school trips to the foreign operas (everyone else hated this, but I loved it), to helping me choose a band instrument, making me learn other band instruments because his French Horn section was graduating, teaching orchestra, marching band, jazz band, music composition, etc. As an added perk, he also happens to be my dad :). Thanks Dad!

- Dr. and Mrs. Rambo: This was a husband and wife duo of Biology professors at my college. I can honestly say that they have changed my life. Mrs. Rambo taught my General Biology classes as a freshmen, and then Dr. Rambo taught my Animal Behavior, Ornithology (study of birds) and Ecology, and was also my sponsor for my senior thesis. When my husband and I were getting married, we tried really hard to get all of our family together on a weekend where Dr. Rambo could officiate, but it just didn't work. I am friends with both of them on Facebook, and just last week went running outside with my camera (in my nightgown) to chase down a bird I hadn't seen before. Thanks Dr. and Mrs. Rambo!

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

- Pegi/Maggie: Her name alone is a fun story for another day. Pegi/Maggie helped me through a horrible divorce while she was going through one herself. She has the best laugh ever and could make a rock smile. Thanks Pegi/Maggie!

- Trinette: I don't know how I could possible have lived 30 years of my life not knowing you. She has been such a great sounding board for me and only she knows what she's talked me in and out of doing :)! Plus, my son may be only 8 today, but we may be in-laws someday! Thanks Trinette!

- Allison: I wasn't a fan of you the day mom and dad brought you home. I wasn't a fan of yours while you were going through puberty. I wasn't a fan of yours while I was getting married. But somehow, in the midst of all of that, you became my best friend. Thanks Allison!

Thank you again to some of the most important people in my life. Some of you know how I feel and others have no clue. Hopefully, now you do!

Tata - K!

It's an Emergency!

My dearest sister,

This formally and kindly requests that you please bring me your baby at your earliest convenience. I missed her smiling face while you were on vacation (I guess I missed you too for that matter).

It's not fair at all that she learned to crawl (err, bear crawl I suppose) while on vacation. It's not fair at all that she got to meet (and talk to) the beautiful baby in the mirror. It's not fair at all that she got to swim everyday without Kiki's help! I've missed all of that!

Please bring me your baby immediately!

Tata - K!

PS - I'm really not kidding! Seriousy!

I Committed....

I had a bit of a stomach bug this weekend (that actually might have been food poisoning, now that I think of it). Either way, I started feeling yucky on Friday night (shortly after Chinese food for dinner) and was on the floor of the bathroom for the next 2 days. And you're welcome for sharing that :)!

As you're laying on the bathroom floor for 48 hours, it gives you time to sit and think. For some reason I kept thinking of what I might think of as my "Most Embarassing Moment EVER". Now, up until the time that this happened a few years ago, I would consider my most embarassing moment to be the time my wrap-around skirt fell off while I was jumping rope in the second grade. I was standing there in my pretty blue and white flowered underwear staring at the love of my life, Brad Mayberry (at least he was the love of my life in the second grade). I'm still pretty scarred from this incident. It brings chills just thinking about it. It stuck with me up until a little bit before Easter three years ago.

I had started going to a new church the year before, but hadn't got to involved in the "extracurricular" activities yet. I was asked to play in the Orchestra (hidden talent #2) for the Easter Contata. I was really excited to be asked and to meet the other musicians. The best part of all, was that my sister was going to play as well.

Fast forward a few weeks to Good Friday. We were having a "full on" dress rehearsal. It's completely dark in all areas of the building and they've asked us not to use the main restrooms since they were just cleaned and we were expecting extra folks at the services for the next 2 days. Well, I had to "go", so me and my sister set off in search of a restroom. We asked for directions and we were sent off down a really dark hall.

I went into the first door I saw and my first instinct was that these bathrooms looked a whole lot different than the ones right outside the sanctuary. There was a shower stall to my right, and only one bathroom stall. To the left there were some faucets and a few urinals. I noticed a man at the urinal and completely FREAKED OUT. Instead of turning around, apologizing, and running out like a normal person, I committed. Yep - I walked into the bathroom stall like I had every right to be there. Of course, I had stage fright at this point and couldn't "go". Either way, I waited the man out and kept busy until he left.

After I heard the door close, I washed my hands really quick and got the heck out of dodge. As I opened the door, my sister was standing there waiting for me...talking to the man that had been in the bathroom. It turns out that this "man", was actually our pastor's son who was home from college for the weekend. He was telling my sister about a crazy woman that was in the men's room. When she asked me if it was me, I had no answer. All I could say was that I had "committed", and by the time I realized what was going on I thought the best course of action would be to hide in the stall.

Either way, it's three years later and I suppose I was thinking of this because we are working on our Easter contata for 2009. I've come to love all of my fellow musician friends and enjoy our weekly practices. I still have a hard time though looking the guitar player in the eye.

Poor Ryan...I hope I haven't scarred him for life.

So, now that I've shared mine, I'd love to hear about your most embarassing moment. Feel free to put it in the comments section or blog about it. Either way, make sure you tell me so I can go look!

Tata - K!

To My Sweet Boy...

My sweet boy,

It's been now exactly 8 years since you came into my world. From the minute I laid eyes on you, I fell madly in love. I like to tell people that you came out of the womb smiling and laughing...and I really wasn't kidding. You don't know this, but to this day when you look at me with your sweet eyes, I just melt. It's so hard to tell you that you can't have that third popsicle in a row or that you really DO need to take a shower even though there's not visible dirt.

You're in the second grade this year and are the tallest boy in your class. I'm so proud of what a good reader and how much you love math. I am so excited that you have such a special teacher this year. You have such a bond with Mr. F and I only hope your 3rd grade teacher understands what he/she's getting themselves into with you. I love that you can sing the entire Notre Dame fight song, and you touch the wall as you leave your classroom. Mr. F has made quite a mark on you.

I ask God to keep His loving hand on you. I pray that you continue your walk in Him.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy! Only 8 years more and we'll be talking about driving :)

I love you more than you'll ever know.

Love, mom