random brain dumping friday

1. kaylee drew this yesterday. its her and ham jumping on a trampoline. {we saw one at sam's club yesterday and mike's been wanting to get her one}

2. i really don't want one unless its like mtv cribs and can be ground level. {i think they make a yard look tacky especially since we are in the middle of the neighborhood and we have no fence.

3. want this subway sign from the willows home and garden. been trying to come up with something to decorate hamilton's room even though he leaves me in 16 months for college.

4. hard believe its the end of april.

5. finally got that urge to get some stuff done around the house. of course the urge didn't come till 11pm last night.

6. though i did get two azalea's planted in the front yard after my wal-mart trip. they're tiny but for 6 bucks each, they add much needed color at the moment.

7. i was a bad girl yesterday and went with a neighbor friend to sam's club to buy their really delicious chocolate cake. i plan on leaving it at my in-laws tomorrow. i just want a slice. one slice. i promise!

8. its amazing what photos of yourself can do for you. umm.. hello double chin! where did you come from?

9. you must check out this wickedly cool dress + photos by celine.

10. at dinner last night found out i have been out voted {3-1}. they would rather dine on hot dogs + that yucky boxed mac-n-cheese than my attempt for "gourmet meals".

oh my!

how gorgeous is this wedding dress and photo? and its from a real wedding! {via 100 layer cake}

love this!

how cute is this little girls dollhouse desk? i also love how they used accessories for pops of color in the room.

and i love this sweet room. the pink bed, the doll house, the sheer curtains, the white wood floors, the wall color. *sigh* and since kaylee is still not sleeping in her own bed,i'm tempted to put another thing on my to-do list and repaint hers. {via kika reichert via home sweet home}

mom's night with kaylee

last night was mom's night at kaylee's school. here she is being greeted by some of her friends from class.

guess i can stop worrying that she will have a hard time making new friends once kindergarten starts. after a snack of ice cream we got to start painting our bowls.
we got to sit with our bff's- the robinson's. {we super duper heart the robinson's}
mama robinson {wearing an icky notre dame sweatshirt} helping katie make hearts + polka dots.
kaylee painting in her hearts. we did polka-dots, stars and hearts on ours. the teachers had the kids write down answers on why their mom's are special. kaylee said i'm best at doing the dishes, i'm smart because i know what 4+4 is and that she loves to give me hugs because it makes me smile. she is a super sweetie girl.
before leaving, kaylee had to pick up our neighbor friend. {kaylee tried to pick up everyone. guess that's the thing to do if your in preschool}
i got an another evil eye from one of the mom's because i was in her way taking a picture of the bowls. she was waiting to put hers down. {the first evil eye was carnival night} other than that, the night was great fun.

some of my favorites

taken yesterday right after school

1. is it just me or did yesterday go by fast? for a monday.

2. i had another one of those moments where i could of easily ran away last night. ham was not texting or calling me back. he was suppose to be home by 5:30-6pm for dinner, kaylee wasn't eating her dinner, it took me an hour to make dinner, the house was a mess and i spent bookoo bucks at the grocery store only to have to go back because i don't have a menu planned for the week.

3. today we are skipping play group again. after cleaning the house, i would really love to get some of the fun stuff done that i have on my to-do list.

4. i got really irritated looking for these light pendants yesterday. i kept going from one website to another. still needing a light fixture for the dining room.

5. i did win this necklace from kahili creations. my favorite jewelry shop on etsy. {btw, everything in her shop is 15% off, she's even already marked them down so no waiting for refunds or having to do the math}

6. tonight is mom's night out at kaylee's school. pottery schmottery is coming and we get to paint a bowl. i love doing this sort of stuff and have taken some of my nieces there for their birthday.

7. brings out my inner emma bridgewater-ness. oh how i love her stuff!

8. asked the kids for dinner suggestions. of course i get the same thing from each one. kaylee is a huge fan of chicken and ducklings. and no we will never correct her. ham wants steak and potatoes.

9. sunday i watched flirting with forty again. its a book turned tv movie by one of my favorite authors- jane porter.

10. so i told mike that i want two weeks in hawaii by myself for my 40th birthday. he said no. well, he said yeah right but with sarcasm.

love it!

love this gift wrapping kit idea. especially since all my stuff is thrown all over my craft room aka the hoarding room {via creative comforts}

life... on a monday

kaylee and her neighbor friend taken last wednesday

1. had a semi-busy weekend. friday night went and celebrated my uncle's 67th birthday. {it was a last minute get together. my dad's brother who has been diagnosed with a double whammy-parkinson + pancreatic cancer}

2. saturday was mike's bff's kid 3rd birthday. his wife is pregnant but won't tell anyone the name. i tell so i can claim the name. if kaylee had been a boy- jager marino buss. but we've changed it since to jager daniel marino so he could be called jd by my m-i-l who hates the name jager.

3. after the party we dropped kaylee off at his parents house so we could see an "adult" movie together- hot tub time machine. hilarious for me because i am *ahem* from the 80's and hilarious for mike because it had dude stuff in it.

3. sunday was spent being lazy since it was raining outside.

4. found out through mike's mom that kaylee told her that she didn't want to lose me like i lost my mom/parents.

5. i told her one day that i was adopted and i don't know what happened to my real parents because thats the truth. {not sure how the conversation came up}

6. just checked out pioneer woman's cooking blog. she has homemade cinnamon toast up today. might have to give it a try tomorrow morning. {i buy the already made kind}

7. i tried making her chicken parmigiana but it didn't turn out like hers. hamilton was being mean to me that night so i threatened him to be nice or else i would serve him the leftovers for breakfast. he went to his room.

8. i think he was trying to get me to say yes to a $10,000 turbo for his car. {as if. name the movie}

9. 11 more days and we {mike + i} get to feast on some pf changs. we are heading down to indy so he can run in the mini marathon.

10. please send positive energy, karma, prayers to my dad {and uncle}. he admitted himself into the headache clinic near ann arbor thursday evening. my dad is one of those guys who will work through anything so for him to admit himself- its got be super seriously bad. and its gotten to the point where the doctors will not run anymore tests on him because there isn't a test left to run.

simply said

and for today,the blog.

{via simply seleta}

happy

1. i love this photo of ham even though its not a very good one, i can see him laughing. a real, true laugh.

2. its funny. even though he hasn't been around or seen his dad for years. he laughs a lot like him.

3. had a happy moment last night. while getting some neighborhood kids ice cream sandwiches, i felt happy. i love nothing more than a house full of kids playing and people hanging out.

4. neighbors came over to use the yard for baseball practice while their daughters played with kaylee on the swing set. {they brought along two other neighbor boys with them}

5. mike had some co-workers from out of town come over for some homemade beer. they all stood by the fire pit. {no fire this time}

6. wish i had been better prepared and would of made them all dinner but this is what happens when the husband lets you know last minute.

7. over the weekend tried a malibu mojito and am now addicted. found a recipe to try but had no ice. so no drinky for me. {our water line is still not hooked up to make ice}

8. again, ashley ann has not failed me with her creativity. is there anything she can't do?? seriously. she makes me sick. in a jealousy way.

9. been debating on doing the clipboard idea seen by the boys bed or a cork board for kaylee's room. i need a place to hang her art work. and she's having a contest today.

10. just noticed i lost a diamond earring. hope i can find it!

*sweet! just found it. now mike doesn't have to upgrade them anytime soon

running around...catching up

1. monday after school ham informs me that his temp. plates expires tomorrow! what?! thought we had 30 days from the day we bought the car.

2. so yesterday was spent running around. to ham's school to find his car. vin numbers did not match on papers.

3. then to the car dealership so they could correct papers.

4. then to local license branch only to wait 20 minutes for them to tell me that the car had to be there for inspection since it was originally from out of state? and that mike had to be there since my name is not on the title.

5. to wal-mart. they forgot two of my items which they charged me for. usually i let this stuff go but after awhile it adds up. afterwards, kaylee and i had a late lunch at subway.

6. then off to the grocery store for a quick trip. i just bought enough to make dinner last night.

7. ree's sloppy joes were a hit. {because my family is picky, i made them without onions, green peppers and didn't add tomato paste. next time i'm making them for me}

8. last night we registered kaylee for kindergarten. i'm excited and sad at the same time. {her bff katie will not be there}

9. today kaylee and i are skipping her field trip to the zoo thats an hour away. i would rather drive 2 hours to see a bigger zoo. call me a zoo snob. i'm ok with it.

10. off to finish errands today.

word!

{via to: me, myself, and i}

planting

i know i posted this photo of the old house but i can't help it. recently drove by and everything is blooming beautifully. the current owners are not worthy!

it has helped me in deciding what i want to plant though. i love those purple ground covers so i want to plant some of those. {i think if you click on the photo it will enlarge it so you can see them better}

i also want a lilac tree/shrub, some peonies {my fave} and either some azaleas or rhododendrons. and that will be it for this year besides a few annuals for the flower pots.

monday morning blues

{kaylee and nana}

the weekend went by too fast which is making my monday morning a little sad.

saturday was spent cleaning, olive garden for lunch then girls night out. we ended up seeing date night which was funny of course. then over to hacienda for some drinks, dinner, laughing, dirty talk and a video with a certain someone wearing a sombrero doing a birthday shot which has now been posted on face book thanks to a certain friend who is pure evil.

its been the best birthday ever!

sunday we decided last minute to head up to laporte to visit the in-laws. i swear we're not moochers but we knew they would offer to take us out to lunch. they LOVE hacienda so that's where we went. not my favorite place but i did get carded. my m-i-l laughed when our waitress asked for my id. but you should of seen the shocked look on the waitress's face- it was priceless! {she did not ask for mike's id at all}

kaylee wanted to go back to nana's house so mike and i went to the outlet mall with full intentions of getting hamilton some much needed clothes. he's down to 2 pairs of jeans and 4 t-shirts. he ended up with nothing. kaylee got two new outfits, mike a pair of jeans and surprise, surprise i found a navy blue jacket.

hamilton did find some t-shirts on-line last night. we will see how many he will want to return. sometimes he worse than a girl- changing his mind on everything.

t.ruffles

if you haven't yet, you must check out the t.ruffle girls. they even have a shop with their pretty images and words. i want their blog to be turned into a book. they are: photos mary swenson {one of my fave blogs} and words karey.

forty-sixth at grace

these wonderful recipes have been floating the blogging world for some time now. i thought i would share too. they are free for you to download thanks to nikole over at forty -sixth at grace. i printed both of them to frame + hang in the kitchen. be sure to check out her awesome shop too.

happy friday!

taken last saturday up in new buffalo. whenever i see photos of her like this, i think something wonderful and intelligent is going through her mind but in reality its probably more like i wonder how far i can throw this rock. not because she isn't intelligent but because she is 5. and life is really simple and innocent at the age of 5.

this morning i woke up all gung-ho and ready to take on the world. it's friday after all and tomorrow morning, i have nothing planned. tomorrow evening will be the continuation of celebrating my birthday with an early show and dinner at hacienda. to get our frozen margarita drink on. if you're in the area and would like to join us, please email me for details- holla!

happy friday my friends. happy friday.

i could of

i love this photo by celine and i love her blog. its just so calming and peaceful. {both the photo and her blog} i imagine her with a soft, delicate voice and personality to match. so unlike mine.

ok, i can stop holding my breath. ham took the car to school for the first time today. "please no phone calls. please no phone calls" goes through my mind each and every time he goes out the door.

yesterday i could of ran away. after picking up kaylee from school and telling her no to ice cream because she just had a cupcake at school started the whining session. then it moved on to having dirt on her feet while we were waiting to pick ham up from school. then on the way home, while waiting for trains and traffic caused ham to complain about driving his car and what a pain in the butt its going to be which caused me to yell at him telling him it would be nice to hear him be grateful for once. then i got mad at myself because at that moment i realized what kind of an example i was being. i went and apologized to ham for yelling and told him after awhile he might like it because he will have gotten use to it and think nothing of it. {he wanted a manual but to be corrected he wanted a manual for that certain car he was looking at, not for all cars}

i was sad for the rest of the night. i just want him to be happy. and for him to love his mama.

nothing much wednesday

1. on my birthday. and at the end of day, no matter what. i love him with all my heart, soul, being.

2. i wish i could write my feelings and story like her. we we're kinda in the same boat around the same time.

3. mike came home yesterday with semi, it will most likely not happen news. mike's dad has a job lead that might happen and if it does that means kaylee and i will be going with mike's mom on vacation in may to...HAWAII!!

4. i did not do well on my detox elimination yesterday. i made it till about 3pm. but its a start!

5. focusing on the positive and not being tied down to a strict schedule/plan = less stress for me. less stress= happy kristi= happy family= happy kristi

6. kaylee did really well at her doctors appointment yesterday. she received 4 shots. and when daddy got home, boy did she milk the sympathy card. {she even crawled to him! it was so funny}

7. where did all the customer service go? while i really like her new doctor, the rest of the office could learn how to be friendlier and time cautious. {we were at the doctors office for almost 2 hours}

8. mom made a delicious strawberry pie the other day with homemade pie crust. making a homemade pie crust is on my learn to do list. so is making cinnamon rolls. {i use to get by with buying them from cinnabon but sadly they are no longer in business in our local area}

9. my car was in the shop for two days last week and nothing got done. it goes back in tomorrow.

10. gorgeous weather today and tomorrow. going to take total advantage of it!

catching up on tuesday

1. my monkey being herself in new buffalo.

2. thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

3. while it wasn't too hard getting up at 6:30 yesterday, the rest of the day was kinda of a blur. i was so tired.

4. starting my own version of a detox/food sensitivity elimination today. and i am starving even though i'm sucking down a fruit smoothie. i hardly ate any dinner last night {mom made beef and noodles- not my fave}

5. doing this because i want to try every option for my allergies before considering nose surgery. left nostril- totally clogged. right nostril- can breath in 5-10%.

6. got the truth out from ham. he doesn't like driving manual as much as he thought he would. ha! mom does know her son better than he knows himself.

7. don't get me wrong, he likes the car but on the way to and from school there's a lot of stopping and going and there's also some road construction. i want him to take his time and get use to the car so i'm ok with taking him to school.

8. kaylee has her kindergarten check-up today. wish me luck that she doesn't freak out so i'm told i need parenting classes and she needs to see a psychologist. we were told those the last time she went to a doctor. we are no longer seeing that doctor. {she really didn't freak out, just a little squirmy and stubborn}

9. i was told last night that i'm a favorite aunt by one of my nieces. yeah me!

10. my sister in law said "i gained 7 pounds even though you can't tell." boy did she end up getting it from both my brothers and mike. mike even said that he could tell but it looked more like 15 to him! they were all kidding but don't sound so conceded or else this is what you will get from my family.

i love larry the whale

saw this on ellen today - Followed by a Whale -- One Woman's Unbelievable Story. how wickedly cool would that have been?!

go here to purchase a i love larry the whale t-shirt. the money helps larry, his friends and boobies. {jodie did this to help a friend with breast cancer}

its all about ME day

1. today i officially turned twenty eighteen. not sure at what time given that i was adopted so i started celebrating last night which is the only right thing to do.

2. 3 of the greatest ladies that i know took me out for a tapas dinner. none of us had been to a place called kelly jae's so thats where i picked. it was SOOO yummy! this is a key lime cheesecake that we all split. my face is beet red in this picture. our waitress came out singing happy birthday in her beautiful voice. it was awesome yet so embarrassing!

3. today we headed up to new buffalo, ate lunch at the stray dogs, shopped some, went to the beach, got ice cream then headed to colma, michigan to visit a winery called karma vista. went home only to get ready for dinner at the vine and to pick up hamilton. {we did this last year and decided to make it a birthday tradition}

4. i was showered with a gift card to the evil donut shop called krispy kreme donuts, krispy kreme donut mugs, a pre- order of justin{shitmydadsays} on twitter book. i also finally, finally, after many visits, broke down and bought a stray dogs sweatshirt. i also got 12 bottles of wine- tradition from last year. they only sell my favorite- watusi red at the winery so i had to stock up.

5. i feel like i've gained 10 pounds from all the delicious food i have consumed in the past 24 hours.

6. my old, back in my high school days, boss who is also my friend is taking me out next saturday with some other girls to dinner and a movie. its tradition though this will be my first birthday to be included in their group. the last time i went out with them...kristi did a few too many shots.

7. i wish i could celebrate something everyday because this has been pretty fantastic. everyday should be a party!

8. watched love happens with jennifer aniston tonight. it was a decent movie. i've always wanted to open a flower shop like in the movie. my hippie high school name was gertie flowers so it only makes sense.

9. ham asked me at dinner what i wanted for my 40th birthday. i said a house in hawaii but in reality, i really don't know. do other woman want something materialistic for their 40th or is it just a man thing?

10. mike wants a porsche. my brother got a corvette. my dad got a boat but he was over the age of 40 when he got it. mom made him sell it.

sally shim is my idol

1. pretty flowers in my front yard taken last week when the weather was just awesome.

2. the husband likes to pull the "i rank" card around here so i told him not to talk to me for the rest of the day. yep. i'm ready for him to go back to work.

3. can't believe spring break is almost over. 6am monday morning is going to TOUGH.

4. i'm ready to pull a britney spears and shave my head. i've gone for hair trimmings to get some style yet no style has been gotten.

5. glad to finally find out that the lovely package exchange is still being processed so i'm still in it.

6. my pesky cat got a nice bath yesterday so now he's all soft and cuddly.

7. nothings been getting done on my spring break to do list except my car is getting fixed. hopefully, it will be ready by the end of the day.

8. i did play a april fools prank on mike. i've gotten him for at least 4-5 years straight with "i think i'm pregnant". this year it was "i hit the beamer on the way out of the garage". he did remain pretty calm about it.

9. i love this idea for a teacher's end of the year gift. sally shim is my idol. you must check out the rest of her blog.

10. i want to get a new lens for my nikon d40x but don't know which one. i want something that can still take close up photos from far away yet give me wide angles too. i also want this camera but mike's a dream stomper and said no since i already have a point and shoot.

tired day

1. kaylee from the other day when the lighting was just awesome. its great having a willing participant who doesn't mind getting her picture taken.

2. so we returned from our trip to purdue. we toured the campus, heard a little speech about their engineering program- which is super cool by the way, went on another tour and then went to eat lunch before checking into our hotel. we did a lot of walking and driving. it would of been a better trip if we didn't have complainer 1 and complainer 2.

3. there was no pf changs in the area but we did manage to find 4 restaurants that we don't have around us. i chose noodles & co. and it was pretty good. if you sign up for their newsletter they send you coupons for buy one get one free. of course, i forgot both of them. (one for signing up and another for my birthday)

4. we were going to head down to indy today but decided to just come home. ham was giving us attitude. yes, we gave in but as the saying goes- know when to pick your battles. plus, we really had no need to go down to indy.

5. i think i had shared my fondue recipe before but here it is again. though this time instead of chevre i bought something that looked like the same name but it had basil and something else in it and it made my fondue a little runny so i added 3/4 of a block of parmesan cheese. and a little more gorgonzola cheese.

6. the other night pride and prejudice was on again. i just LOVE that movie.

7. tomorrow is back to normal though i get to sleep in. {the hotel was nice but the beds were uncomfortable!}

8. and the weathers suppose to be pretty cool for the rest of the week. i told mike its great weather for landscaping removal.

9. ham is still practicing his driving the manual car. he has problems starting and stopping. hopefully mike will take him around some neighborhoods to practice before school starts next week.

10. not that its been a problem but i would like to be credited back to my blog if you use something i post. its just being polite. i try to do the same with everyone unless i forget to mark where i got it from which i usually say.

happy easter!

1. kaylee wearing her kayce hughes/ pears and bears dress that i bought her last year. please ignore her shoes, she had an owie on her heal and these are the only ones she will wear at the moment.

2. i am dead ass tired but still have laundry to do. we leave bright and early tomorrow for a tour of the engineering building at purdue and will stay there for a few days.

3. made pot roast w/potatoes and carrots, corn, bread, cheese fondue for part of my family+ my in laws. had an easter egg hunt too for the kids. {my father in law raved about the fondue saying its better than what you get at a restaurant}

4. i would LOVE to have easter at my house from now on but mom probably would throw a fit. plus, i don't want to make the traditional easter meal. {ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing etc...}

5. also had a catch phase competition with my sister and her husband. it was couples vs couples. it was one to one. then mike had to p*** me off so i lost the last game on purpose.

6. my mother in law gave me my birthday present early but i wasn't suppose to open it. yeah right! more fat cash. holla!

7. my eyes have been bothering me lately. not sure if its the contacts, my eyes or from allergies.

8. i have run a mile 3 days now. took a break today and will till we get back from our mini road trip. yikes! not looking forward to starting that again.

9. took some great photos the other day of kaylee. the natural lighting was just perfect. i actually have them posted on my flickr page.

10. got ham's SAT scores back. he didn't do too well but not it wasn't horrible either. he will retake them here soon to get a better score.

starting my spring break friday

1. at dinner for mike + his mom's birthdays back in march. {that's nana's drink}

2. loving the awesome weather we've been having this week.

3. last night we asked where everyone wanted to go on vacation. i said hawaii. ham said dubai, singapore or some other place thats suppose to be the richest place in the world. guess he wants to be the poorest people there.

4. mike said miami or tampa area. kaylee, my little cutie, said hawaii, florida or "sin-your" point aka cedar point.

5. kaylee said good night to ham last night and gave him a hug. on our way to bed, she tells me that he hugged her back and then she gave me a hug and said it was a half hug from ham since he doesn't give me hugs anymore.

6. i'm guessing i didn't get chosen for the lovely package exchange. i never heard anything back about it which kinda makes me mad. i was one of the first people to sign up.

7. i did get this dress in the mail. {they emailed me back saying they found one in my size} i just tried it on. it will look much better once i get back into shape.

8. i'm sad though that i am not getting a max wanger t-shirt that i ordered. he sold out. (its the one with the bird and heart) i did order a few of this postcards and wish he would hurry up with my order. i want to send some to a friend along with her happy mail package.

9. i did not go running last night. or walking. my legs were in pain. but i am going right after i finish this post.

10. was wondering if anyone wanted to share their easter traditions. we don't paint eggs or really do anything besides the easter egg hunt and eat a big meal. kaylee did get to learn the real meaning of easter at her school.

its a start!

1. i've posted this same pic on my old blog last year. it didn't do me much good. whenever i see it in my closet i just sigh and say i wish i looked like her. she's still my inspiration. i think we have the same body type.

2. yesterday i got sick and tired of feeling like a moo-moo cow so i ran a mile and walked a half mile. it felt pretty good.

3. even though i am at my heaviest ever {127.0 this morning} i am not trying to lose weight, just get back into shape.

4. back in the day, i thought weighing 109-110 was FAT on me. {being on the short side, having your mom tell you- you have big thighs or big calves etc..will do that to you}

5. kaylee's excited that she has 11 days off from school even though she loves school, she loves doing whatever she wants more. {she told me this}

6. we will be going down to purdue for a few days next week so we can tour the engineering department and check out the campus. kinda exciting yet sad.

7. i also have lots for mike to do next week since he is also taking the week off. painting - me, removing some landscaping, window washing etc...

8. i spent way too much money on easter candy this year. then again, i am adding a few of my nieces and nephews. we're going to do an easter egg hunt at our house for them since the parents are floating on the sea someplace warm.

9. got a follow up nose doctor appointment today. what he suggested did not work so now he will probably suggest roto rooting my nose which i will not do. if i have surgery it will be either for lasik or a tummy tuck. kidding. sort of. still afraid of them both.

10. i love funny people. they just make me feel good. i want to friends request a college acquaintance just so i can read his comments.