An Answered Prayer...

I haven't posted an update on mom for awhile.  I've kept a lot of what's been going on to myself, but to make a long story short, my mother has had a setback with her cancer.  Right after Thanksgiving we found out that the cancer had returned and had moved to her spinal and cerebral fluids.  This isn't great news.  She's been in and out of the hospital since December.  When she's not at the hospital, she's been spending time at a great rehab nursing home facility here in Northern Kentucky.

About 4 weeks ago, we had to move her back to the hospital and it turned out that she had a staph meningitis infection from the chemo port in her head.  Wow!  They treated her for 3 weeks in the hospital and last Thursday moved her back to her rehab home.  She seems to really like it there and actually makes great progress when she's there.

I need to backtrack a little bit and first of all remind you that I should be welcoming my little girl within the next 2 - 3 weeks. Yay me! 

Doing this without my mom right by my side has been really hard.  One of the things that's made it a lot easier is my mom's (and my) friend, Anna.  Anna and mom have known each other since high school and I feel like I've known Anna for as long as I've been alive.  She saw me graduate from high school, made my wedding dress, threw me a wedding shower, and all kinds of other great things that really cool people do in your life! 

Anna was a nurse and a mom, and has really helped me through a lot this pregnancy (after all, I'm 10 years older than last time I did this)!  She sends me really long incoherent text messages almost every day checking on the baby and me.  Sits hours upon hours with mom, just so me and dad don't feel like we always need to be there.  And within 24 hours of my shower a few weeks ago, was making plans to come over and help me wash everything for the baby.  She was also going to come to the hospital with me when the baby was born since my mom couldn't come with me.

We didn't get around to fixing the nursery up together.  She called me and told me that she was at the hospital and that I wasn't supposed to worry about her.  But she had had a stress test and it came back showing some blockage.  Within a day, they had her bypass surgery scheduled. 

I was a wreck.  And i've been a wreck ever since.

About 2 hours ago, I got a call saying she was being released from the hospital.  Praise God!  But that she wasn't going to go home.  Ugh!  She was going to have to be in a rehab.  Ugh!!  For 20 days.  Ugh!!!  So, she's going to miss the birth of my baby.  UGH!!!!

But you know what?

It turns out that she's moving to the same rehab facility as my mother.

On the same floor.

Their rooms are right across the hall from each other!!!

Not only is it now so much easier for me to see mom AND Anna, but they get to see each other on a daily basis.  Anna just does so much for so many people.  You should see mom light up when she comes to see her.  I think their recovery is going to go so much easier now that they will be able to do it together.

They are already making plans on what they are going to have for dinner tonight!  LOL!  Although the facility is great, the food leaves a little to be desired :).

I didn't mean to ramble, but I'm just constantly amazed at how the Lord answers prayers!  It boggles my mind to even think about how long He's been working on this one!

Love and Blessings, my friends!

Kelli

I Identify with Dilbert :(

I see myself in this Dilbert strip!  And although it's not exactly positive, it's Dilbert that I identify with. 

What do you do when you know you're right, but people just don't understand?  Maybe in my case, my vision just doesn't fit with others.  I seriously need to polish up my influencing skills.  Although, I'm not even sure that would make much of a difference.

All I know, is that I have 22 days left until maternity leave.  I can make it!

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.  But it's just how I feel these days!

Talk to y'all soon!

Love, Kelli

Merry Christmas!

I probably won't get a chance to post again before Christmas.  So I thought I'd leave you with some of my favorite Christmas pics :)!

Enjoy!

The entire family singing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve.  Every year!  That may or may not be me playing the piano.  That is my handsome nephew turning the pages for me the pianist.

My son showing my niece how to operate Grandpa's train station.  I have no idea why he's sitting like that!

My sweet niece heading up the stairs to go to bed before Santa gets there. How stinking cute is she?!?!?!?!

What do you know?  Santa left the fireplace open!  I wish you could see the dumb-founded look on his face when he turned around!  My camera shot was 2 seconds to quick!



One of my best wrapping jobs!  Do you think he knows he's getting boots for Christmas?

One of my niece's best wrapping jobs.  She did manage to use a little bit of wrapping paper with her tape!

This was one of my favorite gifts last year.  Only because I love monkeys.  not because of anything else!



You know you live in Kentucky, when....

Yes.  I did indeed take that picture.  While driving.  Do you need a closer look?

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Love, Kelli

Miss You

Grandma,

I can't even begin to describe how much I will miss you.  You taught me to always speak my mind.  You taught me to never to depend on a man to do something for me.  You taught me that a woman with an 8th grade education, with 5 young kids and a deceased husband, who didn't own a car or drivers license, could be an incredibly successful and happy woman.  Thank you for being such a positive role model for me. 

Now that you are walking with Jesus, I hope Heaven is just the way you were dreaming!



Marie Louise Shields

January 23, 1924 - November 15, 2010

Love,

Kelli

Girls Rock!!

I can't even begin to say how much I LOVE giving this kid of news!  I've had a rough year as you've seen from the updates about my mom.  If you are just joining, here's the background.

Here
Here
and Here!

Well, we just got some really awesome news!  My mom had her last round of PET scans last week and they came back clean!  Praise God!!

What does this mean?

Basically, she had Stage IV Breast Cancer.  This is the third time she's had this awful disease, dating way back to when I was in high school (in the rockin' 80's).  She also had another round about 6 years ago where she finally decided to have a double radical mastectomy. She had both breasts, the surrounding tissue, and all of her local lymph nodes removed as well.  This was to make sure nothing came back.

Well, it did.  The dr's must have missed something as small as a cell.  And since she didn't have any chemo with her surgery, the tiny cell multiplied and multiplied for 6 long years. 

She was diagnosed last October with Stage IV Breast Cancer.  It was Stage IV because it had metastasized from the original location (obviously given she had surgery to remove her breasts) and the tumor was quite large.  In early 2010, she had a set back.  The cancer had spread to her bones.  There were also spots in her liver and her lungs (that may or may not have been cancer). 

The prognosis wasn't great.  We even had some hard conversations about her last wishes.  That sucked.

Well, she switched doctors and treatments.  The combination really kicked cancer-butt!

It's taken exactly 1 year, 1 week, a beautiful head of dark brown hair, 2 eyebrows, and a very much missed set of eye lashes, but the cancer is gone!!!

You go, mom!

Also, it turns out that mom's new grandbaby that we are expecting in February is going to be a girl!  I hope that she has even a fraction of the fortitutude, patience, and faith that her grandma has!



Love you all!

Kelli

PS - Please pick one day a month to do your monthly check!  My birthday is on the 27th of December, so I will do my check every 27th (it's just an easy date for me to remember).  Trust me, it's in my calendar!  Promise me that you will do your personal check every  month.  It doesn't matter how old you are!  Start now.  It could save your life!

A bit like Darth Vader...

First off, I want to thank my son and hubs for making this post possible.  If it were not for them, I'd have nothing for this week's Life is Funny carnival over at Wendy's place.  And to think they had this little conversation on a Monday evening.  Thanks guys!

So, this story started back this weekend.  My husband and I were cleaning out the spare bedroom that will eventually become the new baby's nursery.  We had TONS of crap in there and needed to go through it, organize it, and hopefully get rid of most of it.  We also ended up deciding to give it a fresh coat of paint and to pull the carpet out.

While we were prepping for the painting part of it, my hubs rigged up a lamp on an overturned dresser drawer to give us a bit of light. 

This may not sound all that dangerous just yet, but apparently it is.

He went to move the light contraption so I could vaccuum underneath, and managed to burn the underside of his chin with the top of the light bulb. 

It hurt.

He cursed.

He held a cold compress on his chin for the next 2 hours.

He survived.

He now has a burn the size of a golf ball under his chin.  It's not awful looking, although it's bright red and beginning to scab over a bit.

Flash forward to this evening when he got home from work. 

I told him that I thought it was cute and asked him if anyone wanted to know what it was.  Hubs said that he got tired of telling people it was a burn from a lightbulb (since noone knows lightbulbs are that hot) and decided to tell people I gave him a hickey.  (I'm thinking he's just kidding, but I don't like the sound of it anyway).

I gave him my evil stink eye and then we both looked over and realized that our 9 year old was standing in the room.  I gave hubs the second stink eye of the last minute which meant "how are you going to explain this to him?".

He looked at our son and said "It looks like a Mickey.  Yeah that's what I said."

Our son looks at him and says.  "You know, it doesn't look like Mickey.  I think it kind of looks like Darth Vader."

You know?

If you tilt your head to the right, and pretend your looking at someone's chin, I think he might be right.

Love,
K

Mom, when you were little....?

I haven't participated in Wendy's Life is Funny carnival lately.  Come to think of it, I guess I haven't blogged much lately either.  Oh well.  This may date me, but it's still kind of funny.

My son simply LOVES to listen to stories about when I was a little girl.  Come to think of it, I really loved listen to my mom and dad's stories as well.

He also LOVES watching cartoons from my generation....Flintstones, Jetsons, Popeye, etc.  His favorite happens to be the Smurfs (which also happened to be one of mine as well).  So, I've let him tape a few episodes on our DVR so we can watch them together.

Oh, aren't they just adorable?  I remember wanting my own real life Smurfs.  I would keep them under my bed.

I'm not sure if my son thinks I'm older than dirt, or just born in the stone age.

After I all, I guess cartoons look much different today than they did back then.

So yesterday morning, we were driving to school.  He had his thoughtful look on his face.  I asked him what he was thinking about.  That was a mistake.

"Mom?  Were the Smurfs in color when you were a little girl?"

"Uh, Yeah, buddy.  They were still blue way back then."

"Definitely blue."

Worst part?  He was totally serious.

I'm not about to show him the Brady Bunch.

Love,
Kelli

First Days...

He may not "officially" be my baby for much longer, but he will always be my baby and first love.

And he started the 4th grade today!

And check out the hair?  We worked really hard on that hair!

And a walk down memory lane.  Here is 3rd grade!  Not quite sure what was going on with the hair that day.  Must have been windy!

And second grade...I seriously love that he still had the remnants of his baby cheeks!

And the first grade!  Funny observation...this is the same location as his 3rd grade pic a few above.  Check out how much he grew!

Oh, and I can't forget his first day of Kindergarten/Montessori.  Yes, that is a fake smile and real tears in his eyes.  What a total cutie!

Love you buddy!  Let's have another really great year!

Love,
Mom (Kelli)

Update Part 2

I guess this is really Part 3, rather than Part 2.  Although it is my second day of updates, although day 1 had 2 parts to it.  I'm confusing myself.  Basically, if you haven't read yesterday's post, I suggest you do first.  Just so you understand everything in order.

For those of you that don't have time to read yesterday's post, here's the primer:
Part 1:  I got a new job (within the same company) and I'm super excited about it.  The outlook is bright!
Part 2:  My mom's cancer is being woman-handled by a new great doctor and some serious treatments.  The outlook is even brighter!

OK, now that that's settled.

Moving on.

So, I'm not sure that anyone that actually reads this blog (with the exception of maybe 4 people - Mel, Ben, Aunt Sharon, and Lana, you are henceforth forbidden to answer) knows exactly how old I am.

Let's just say that I'm older than 35 and younger than 40 and leave it at that.

So, I'm not quite sure how to say this.  So maybe I'll post a pic.

Now, I have been accused on more than 30 occasions of being dramatic.  I can assure you, though, that I'm not being dramatic here.  In fact, I was in a bit of a shock...considering that my son is almost 10!

So there is my other "update"! 

Very exciting stuff and y'all are the first to know.  Except of course my husband, best friend, and parents.

I promise I don't have any other "surprises".  But definitely looking forward to getting back into the swing of things again now that I'm feeling less "blechy" :).

God is good!

Love to all!

Kelli

Update

So, CLEARLY it's time for an update!  This is very long, but I promise it will be worth the read (especially part 2)!

I've had a rough few months dealing with lots of different things, but I tried to remain steadfast through the whole thing.  I wasn't in control, and I couldn't control His plan. 

I have a 3 part update for you, and I'll share the first 2 parts today. The second part is so great that I just want to give it air time.  God is good!

Part 1:
I've "alluded" a few times over the last 8 months or so, that work was not necessarily going the way I had expected.  Please don't get me wrong.  I work for an amazing company.  The company is global and on the large side.  I've been here for 11 years and had about 6 or 7 different roles within the company.  I've been in my most recent role for awhile.  It was a training and development role, and I really feel like it's what I'm meant to do.

In January we had merged with several other similar groups from other areas in the company.  I was very excited about all the opportunities and stepped up to take a different role with in the group.  I'd be working for someone else (let's call her Stephanie).

I had worked with Stephanie in the past on special projects, but never as a manager/direct report.  I'm not going to belabor this point, but Stephanie thought I was great.  I was excited at first, but quickly realized that Stephanie and I weren't meant to work with each other.  She was beyond super creative, but couldn't manage to get work done unless it was already done by me first. 

I managed to keep a good working relationship with her, but when an opportunity came to move to a new role within the company?  I jumped on it.  Fifty job applicants and three interviews later, I was offered the role.

I just started my new role (which takes all of the great things that I have loved over the last 3 years - INCLUDING SOCIAL MEDIA, PEOPLE!!! - and I get paid to do them).  Best part of all?  I got to leave my previous role on great terms AND I get the opportunity to work with a great team with a much bigger scope than I've had in the past!

Can you say exciting?!?!?!  God is good!

Part 2:
When I was going through the interview process, I was really struggling because my mom is still sick.  I haven't posted too much on here, but here's the lowdown:

 - Mom has Stage IV breast cancer and this is her 3rd time battling the cancer
 - the tumor is under her left arm and is inoperable
 - She was given Herceptin (the new miracle drug for breast cancer) and it has paralyzed her left arm completely.
 - In March, we found that the cancer had spread to her bones near her spinal cord.  If this spreads to her spinal cord, she could become paralyzed.
 - There are also spots on her liver and lungs (that may or may not be cancer) that the docs are watching.
 - Her doc has pretty much told her that there's not much sh can do, and that if she wants to remain on Herceptin for the "rest of her life" that "might" control it.  Read:  her doc has pretty much written her off.

I have a few friends that read my blog (when I actually write something), but for those of you that don't know my mom.  She is one spunky, opinionated, spirit-filled woman and wasn't going to take to this "news" lightly.

First thing she did was get a second opinion and a new doctor!

He agreed with all of the findings, but didn't agree with the prognosis.  They were going to fight this and fight it pretty hard.  They combined a new kind of chemo (for the tumor under her arm) with radiation treatments (for the bones, liver, and lungs).  This has been hard watching mom go through all of this.  Really hard.

But God is good!

After all of these treatments they performed a new round of scans.  You ready for this?!?!

 - The cancer in her bones?  Completely gone!
 - The spots in her liver?  Completely gone!
 - The spots in her lungs?  Completely gone!
 - The tumor under her left arm?  Still there.  But!  the tumor has gone down in size a tiny bit AND it's gone down in activity level almost to the point where it is considered inactive!

She's going to go through a new round of chemo to put the final death nail into this stupid tumor, but we fully are expecting her to go into remission!

My spunky, opinionated, spirit-filled mother is beating Stage IV breast cancer!  You go mom!

God is good!

I do have one final update for you, but I wanted to let mom's fabulous news hang out here a bit.

Miss you all!  I promise to not remain a stranger!

Love,
Kelli

The Truth...

So, this isn't going to be a normal post for me, but I really need to share some things that are bothering me. If you are looking for funny, witty, or anything like that, you may not want to read on.

I told you a few months ago that my mom has breast cancer again.  She's doing well (all things considered).  She's taking her chemo, but other than that, not much more can be done at this point.  We're waiting.  Not sure for what.  Or, maybe I do know, and I just don't want to admit it. 

I also have a sister.

A sister that I love very much.  But sometimes she can be "trying".  Probably putting it mildly. 

I also have a husband.

Again, a husband that I love very much.  Just for the record, he can be a bit "trying" too.

And I suppose just so they don't feel left out, I'm also a mom, a daddy's girl, an employee, a church member, a school volunteer, a niece, a cousin, a grandaughter, and on and on and on...

Here's the situation...

Everyone in my family tends to call me to "share" their problems with.  My mom lost her best friend (and sister) to breast cancer 3 years ago.  I'm her best friend now.  Sometimes she and my sister don't see eye to eye, and I hear it from both of them.  Heck, I've even caught myself telling my sister to call me rather than taking it out on mom. 

My dad wanted to run for school board?  Mom vented to me.

Our PTO Treasurer (a really nice guy) was indicted on federal charges (oops).   What do I say?  "I can take over until you find someone new".  Wait a minute.  I'm President-elect of the PTO.  That means it's my problem to find someone new.

And today?  My husband was having a bad day at work and said he was feeling a bit "short" with everyone. 

Guess what I told him?

Yep.  "Honey, don't take it out on other people.  If you need to vent, you can vent to me."

The problem?

I can't deal with everyone's problems.  What am I thinking?  I don't want anyone else to feel bad, so I tell them to give their problems to me.  Huh? 

I find it exhausting.

I can't fix things.  If I could, my mom would be healthy.  I would have more money.  My ex would be blasted off the face of this earth.  I would be skinny.

I like those last two.

Life is good.  God is in charge.  I need to quit trying to fix it.

Thanks for listening.

Love,
K

PS - Now that I read through this, I sound like a complete whiner.  I really needed to get this off my chest, though.  So please don't judge.

So,Yeah.....

This commercial from American Airlines has always been one of my favorites.

Yeah.

Until last week....

Somehow, I managed to live this commercial in real life. 

Most of you know that I may or may not work for a really large company headquartered somewhere (or not) in the midwest.  Said company (which may or may not be large) likes to "invest" in it's people.

Normally, I LOVE these types of things. 

Not so much this time.

I actually told the HR manager about 3 days into it that I thought they were going to ask us to dress in purple shrouds and drink the "Kool-Aid" next.  He looked at me and laughed. 

I think he already drank the Kool-aid.

So after a long weekend hiding recup-ing and getting caught up with work, I've decided to begin using words again.

Enjoy, everyone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZCLGM8v4g

Love,
K

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

Since I last posted:

• I finished up my husband's Christmas shopping (and would you believe he then patted himself on the back for "finishing up so early this year")
• I wrapped everything I could get my hands on
• I spent a fabulous Christmas with my family and friends
• I celebrated the 8th anniversary of my 29th birthday
• I watched 7 movies (most of them were very good!) and read 3 books (all of which were fabulous)
• I rang in the New Year with the same family and a few new friends at my side
• I actually caught up on my sleep
• I'm almost caught up on my housework, except for the laundry (which I'm hoping will magically wash and dry itself; or I might just go buy everyone a new wardrobe).

I've been really blessed over the last year and I'm even more excited for 2010.

I'm not sure if anyone actually ever read my first blog post (if you haven't don't worry about it - it's dumb).  I started this blog as a personal diary and now actually have real readers.  Who would have thunk?!?!  My very first post consisted of my New Years Resolution in 2009 to lose weight.  Guess what?  It didn't work?!?  LOL!

I still thought I'd share what I want to focus on in 2010. 

1.  Don't Say "Don't" or "But".  Oddly enough, I learned this from a consultant we use at work who happens to be an Improvisational Acting coach.  We bring her in to teach our newly promoted organizational leaders how to get the best from their employees.  One of the games she plays with them is called "Yes, And?".  A lot of times someone will say something (that I'm sure they feel is very important) and we immediately say "But...." and shut down their idea.  By simply changing up the language a bit and saying "Yes" (meaning - Yes, I hear you) "And" (meaning - And, let me build on your idea). 

My son happens to be a bit sensitive, and I honestly believe that being positive around him and using positive language as much as possible with him, will help build him up.

2.  Put a cap on my work day.  I LOVE what i do!  110% absolutely LOVE what I do.  That being said, I take my work home with me.  I don't always sit down at the kitchen table and drag my laptop out, but I will ALWAYS check my blackberry in the evenings, and still work through issues in my head.  Net, I'm not always 100% physically and emotionally there for my family in the evenings like I need to be. 

For about a year, I only carried the blackberry that was given to me by work.  I figured they paid for everything, and I didn't need an extra  cell phone line.  I became addicted!  So, I bought an iphone as my personal cell phone.  I now can keep my blackberry gently tucked away and still be reachable by those who need me.  I resolve to be more available for my family this year.

3.  Focus on 5 personal "roles".  If you sit down and think about it, we wear soooo many "hats" and sometimes they just don't all fit on our heads - Mom, Coach, Wife, Employee, Christian, Daughter, Teacher, Sister, Aunt, Grandmother, Volunteer, Advocate, etc.  The list is exhausting! 

I listened to a speech given by one of the Presidents at my company recently on Work/Life balance.  Among his top 10 tips (this one really stood out at me) He said to pick 5 roles that you're going to be really good at and truly focus on them.  You can still do the others, but commit to being truly great at the 5.

My top 5 roles?
1.  Christian - My Precious Heavenly Father is ALWAYS first!
2.  Wife - I married him for a reason!
3.  Mom - What more joy is there in the world, than being a mom?
4.  Daugher - My mother will need my support this year and I'm going to focus on her!
5.  Employee - I still love what i do!

Do you make New Years resolutions?  What's yours?

Love,
K

Merry Christmas Prank

You've heard me talk about my Aunt Fees before.  She was my mom's baby sister who passed away from Breast Cancer in November of 2006.  She was a really cool aunt.  Both my sister and I always knew that we could talk to her about anything that was on our minds.

One year on Black Friday, we were shopping for Christmas presents together.  I watched her give a few dollars to the Salvation Army bell ringer.  I didn't know what I thought about the bell ringers, but I had never considered giving any more than a few coins before.  We went to the next store and I watched her do the same thing.  She gave a few more dollars to him.  And the same thing at the next store.  And so on.

I asker her why she gave more money when she already gave to the others.  She told me something that made me really sit back and reconsider lots of things. 

She told me that there were a few Christmas's when she was little, that the Salvation Army provided the only gifts that they received those years.  Huh?

My grandma is awesome and spirited and hard working.  She raised 5 kids as a single mother in the 40's and 50's.  Her husband committed suicide when she was pregnant with her 5th child (all under 10).  She didn't have a drivers license (she still doesn't today), she never remarried (who needs men, anyway, she always says), and she worked part time cleaning houses. 

I don't know if what my aunt said is true or not, I've never asked my mom about it.  I'm not sure if my mom actually reads my blog, if so, maybe she'll tell me. 

It really doesn't matter.  To this day, I haven't been able to walk past a bell ringer and not give a donation either. 

I've shared links to Improveverywhere before (if you have time, check out the Best Little League Game Everywhere).  Their latest "prank" was to surprise a Salvation Army bell ringer.

Watch the video below and enjoy.

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/12/14/guerrilla-handbell-strikeforce/

I will probably not have time to post again until after the holidays. 

Merry Christmas!
Love,
K

Weird Animals...

I've posted before about my cat, Oliver, and dog, Yoyo.  They're generally pretty cool animals.  Something's going on though and I don't know what to do about it.

Here's a quick primer:

This is my cat, Oliver.  He's 4 years old and a bit on the "big boned/fluffy/hefty/fat" side.  I found him under a dumpster at the local grocery store.  He's not a normal cat.  He doesn't like to play with toys, catch mice, or even meow.  He lays around, pouts, and demands things - mostly food.

He measures up to be about 13 inches tall and 13 pounds.

Here is his normal look.  I'm pretty sure he's mad at the world because he's got this piece of paper stuck on his nose.

Here's my dog, Yoyo.  She's super cool.  She's also a rescue animal.  We got her from the local Labrador rescue mission.  It turns out that she's not really a lab, she's more of a Heinz 57 Varieties.  She LOVES to swim (that's the lab) and jump.  She's fabulous with kids and would prefer to be a lap dog.

She measures up to be 36 inches tall and 88 HEAVY pounds.

Yoyo has a bean bag that she loves to sleep in.  She "took" this bean bag from my son one day, and we decided to let her keep it.  She doesn't really fit, but don't forget that she thinks she's a 10 pound lap dog, so it doesn't really matter to her.

Then one day I came up the stairs and found this.

And from that day on, my cat has been the "alpha dog" in the house.  I don't know what he said to Yoyo, but she does absolutely anything he tells her to do.

Point in case, I just had to physically push my 88 pound dog up a flight of stairs because the 13 pound cat was sitting at the top of it double-dog daring (pun intended) her to try to come upstairs. 

I broke a sweat.

Seriously, Yoyo.  That cat can't hurt you.  He doesn't have claws!  You are 6 times his size and can take all 9 of his lives at one time.  What gives?

Love,

Mommy

(K)

Life is Funny...You know you're in Kentucky when...

It's Monday again!  That means it's time for Wendy's Life is Funny carnival over at weightwhat!  I was just going to read everyone else's funnies since I didn't have anything to share, and then this happened.

So I got up this morning - just like normal.

And I woke my son up for school - just like normal.

And we got ready - just like normal.

And we drove to school - I'd like to say just like normal, but we had a dusting of snow, so it took over an hour to get to his school that is 15 minutes away.  But let's just play along and say - just like normal.

I gave him a kiss and dropped him off - just like normal.

And then I was on my way back home - just like normal.

I was talking to my girlfriend, Tami (my Relay for Life buddy), and then just went completely speechless.  I told her that she was never going to believe what I was seeing.  She told me that I needed to get off the phone and take a picture of it.

So I did.

To share with you.

Believe me, people - this was not - just like normal.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with the official Christmas hood ornament of Kentucky...a rare breed of deer with a peculiar ability to light up...generally only seen around Christmas time...you can find it for $49.99 at your local Home Depot...usually seen on the front lawns of your neighbors.

Just to give you a closer look.  (I did take this with my iphone, so it's a bit blurry.)

And you're welcome. 

Love, K

Turkey "Parts"

Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone!

It's Monday and that means that I've been sitting on something that happened last Tuesday, but since I wasn't sure that anyone would read my blog over the weekend, I decided to wait until Monday to post it to Wendy's Life is Funny carnival.  If you have something funny, or just want to read things funny, you should visit her.  She is pretty funny, too.  This is my favorite random post of hers, if you have a few minutes.  I also like Square Chickens too, for some reason.

So, the day before Thanksgiving, my son and I went over to my mom and dad's house to brine our Thanksgiving turkeys.  He's 8 now, and he's been asking lots of questions when I cook, so I decided to have him help me clean the turkeys and get them ready to go in the brine.  We were rinsing the first one off and I reached inside the bird, and pulled out the bag of "innards".  I showed him what was in the bag (he was quite taken by the assortment of random bird organs).

Then I flipped the bird over.

I said "Hey, Buddy, watch this." 

And then I proceeded to scar the kid for life.

I reached in to the turkey's back end and pulled out the neck. 

My son's eyes bulged out of his head like cartoon eyes.  And then he started laughing uncontrollably...In an 8 year old potty humor sort of way.

Then it hit me.

"Hey, Buddy, this isn't what you think it is."

"It's the neck, Bud.  The neck."

Then he says....."OOOOHHHHHHHH!!!"

I've been cooking turkey my entire adult life and the thought never occured to me that you pull this phallic looking thing out of the bird's behind before you cook it.

I apologize in advance for this picture.

He does have a point, though, if you look at it.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone!

It was the neck.  The neck!

Love,
K

The Continuing Saga of the "Loaner" Cars...

Some of you may remember this.  About 4 months ago, someone hit my precious Honda in the parking garage at work and caused considerable damage to my baby.  The other guy's insurance company graciously offered to cover all of my expenses.  I thought they were the greatest insurance company in the world...until they gave me the world's ugliest loaner car (a fire engine red Chevrolet HHR with dark tinted windows).  We not-so-lovingly referred to it in our family, as the mob loaner car. 

My husband made fun of the car and even refused to ride in it.  Well, honey, karma's a bitch!

About 6 weeks ago, he was in a pretty bad car accident where he hit a wheel laying in the middle of the interstate while he was going 65 mph.  It was so bad that they had to shut down the interstate while they cleaned up all of the carnage.  (Just for the record, my husband was not hurt other than a few bumps and bruises.  He's completely fine now.)

Believe it or not, the truck was not totalled, although it cost almost $11,000 AND AN ENTIRE MONTH to fix it.  During this time, I mostly drove my mom's car when she didn't need it.  We finally got it back about a week and a half ago, and would you believe it shook to high heaven every time he got above 45 mph!  Around our neck of the woods, 45 mph doesn't get you anywhere anytime soon!

Before we sent it back to the dealer (on the recommendation of our insurance company), we asked an auto-body friend from church (who we should have taken the truck to in the first place) to look it over and give us a list of anything that needed to be fixed. 

This past Monday, hubs took the truck and the "list" back to the shop.  I told him I needed my car all week and that I thought the shop should give us a complementary rental car. 

They did.

Dearest honey.  Remember that time you laughed and mocked my mob loaner car?

Pay Backs!

Ladies and Gentlemen (if there are any who read my blog), I introduce you to the Nissan Versa.  What is that, you say?  Yeah.  My point exactly.

Now picture my 6 foot manly man of a husband in his "baby" loaner car.  It may not look like it in this picture, but I promise you this entire car is no bigger than my dad's lazy boy chair.  BWAHAHAHAH!!AHAHAHAH!!HAHAHAH

Love,
K

Nice Day for a Swim...

Today was such a beatiful day, so we decided to take the dogs for a swim at one of the local parks. 

Normal people take their dogs for walks at the park.  However, if there is water anywhere, these two mangy hounds are in it.  As soon as we let them off the leashes, they were over the hill and in the water.

The black one, Yoyo, loves to have sticks thrown for her.

She's a faster swimmer than Bear (the golden), so she beat him to the stick every single time.

Coming out for more sticks...

Bear was close to the stick this time, but Yoyo gave him a "what for". 

Look how he sits there and listens to her!  Although, it kind of looks like he thinks she's a bit crazy too.  I think my husband has looked at me like that a few times...hmmmm.

Bear decides to wander off a bit (out of harm's way).  Look at the way the sun is reflecting on the water.  Would you believe this was only a little after 1:00 in the afternoon? 

 After about 30 minutes of stick throwing and swimming around, Yoyo got tired and went and laid down in the leaves.  Bear, on the other hand, decided to sit in the middle of the lake.

Yes.  He's really just sitting there.

We're not sure why, but he pretty much sat there the entire rest of the time we were there.

Weird dog!

Since my fat cat is a jealous fat cat, I thought I'd leave you with a picture of how he spent his day...fat cat curled up on top of my blanket basket.

I hope you have a great and relaxing weekend!

Love,

K