A quick trip to Kentucky

Krissa is in Lexington, Kentucky and just loving it! When I talked to her today, she said she loves the city already.....more places to shop! That I do agree with; Dodge is lacking in nice shopping places. But I'm not sure I would want to deal with all the traffic Krissa is faced with everyday.

Last week Krissa packed her car full to the brim and the van until it was just about bursting (Dad even managed to fit in an ENTIRE bedroom set in there!) and Thursday morning we set out for the 15 hour trek to Kentucky.

Friday, Krissa moved into her apartment or rather Dad and I moved Krissa into her apartment, since she was off taking care of some other things while we lugged heavy loads up the stairs. But she has a cute two bedroom apartment in a nice area of Lexington with a Wal-Mart close-by. :)

The one day we spent there, we looked at furniture, took care of things such as a bank account, insurance and other necessities. And Saturday morning we were headed back home to Kansas. Minus one vehicle, one person and a van-load of cargo.

Here's a few pics from her apartment and you can see more here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98590&id=611533155&l=2a550ddc3c

talking on the phone, as usual

the tv came with the apartment! nice, isn't it?!

this is just a fraction of what she had!

making plans on what to do...

the real reason Dad came to Kentucky! Lol!!!! ;)

front door, bathroom door, second bedroom door

second bedroom door, living room, dining room

dining room, master bedroom door, kitchen

kitchen

master bedroom with bathroom and walk-in closet

second bedroom with door to bathroom and walk-in closet

And the unpacking begins...

The only place I could pick up a weak wireless signal for about 5 minutes was in the corner of the second bedroom. Sad deal to not be online for 3 days!

Putting Krissa's bed together...did I mention she stole Jena's bedroom furniture?? Lol!!

It was a treat to see GREEN grass and BLOOMING flowers!

Since we had no furniture or mattresses, Dad slept here....

...and Kris and I slept here......I can't say it was the most restful of nights, but we survived!

Crispy Baked Chicken

This was one of our new dishes last week and it turned out rather well. It has the taste of fried chicken, but is a bit healthier and easier to fix.

Crispy Baked Chicken

2 TBSP butter
1 cup crushed cornflakes
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
8 chicken drumsticks or thighs (bone-in & skin removed)
1 egg

Melt and drizzle butter in a 13"x9" pan. In a shallow bowl, combine the cornflakes, flour and seasoned salt. Lightly beat egg in separate bowl. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in cornflake mixture. Repeat with each piece of chicken.

Arrange chicken in prepared dish. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until done.

Yummmmmmmy!!!!

Original recipe from Taste of Home

A catch-up on Sunday School

Spring is just around the corner and I still have winter decorations up at home and in my SS classroom, but that's just about to change. Before I change to spring (and I'm really excited as to what I have planned for SS, but I'm not giving any details out yet, except to say it will be a hopping fun time each Sunday!), I'm posting Christmas and winter as I realized I neglected to post those in the previous months.

Not that any of you missed that, I'm sure. But this blog is also file reference to me, so many times I will post things so I can come back later and see what I was doing at that time.

January 2009

January 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

I love this Christmas posterboard set - the figures are so cute!

Last year I did a workbook with the kids in my class. We decorated a little foam book and inserted memory verse, activities, lessons, pics, etc into the book which they could take home at the end of the year. They loved being able to write and paste things in their book every week.

some of my ss supplies

They wrote verses which matched the stickers

I read the story of Jesus' birth out of the Bible while they created the nativity scene with all the pieces as I was reading.

Pasted in memory verses

When we discussed Creation, we created a page for each day and listed what God created on that day.

For each Bible lesson, I had a clipart image to paste in their book and they had to write something that they learned about that character.

The next couple of months, I'm planning on continuing with my Old Testament lesson material. I started the OT in fall of 2007, starting with Creation and we've worked our way to Moses. I'm not moving that quickly, but many times I will teach the same lesson for two Sundays, just teaching it a different way or doing a more hands-on activity the second time to repeat it. The more they hear it, the more they will pick up and remember.

But I'm also going to start a mini-series on prayer. Like teaching them what prayer is, how do we pray, why do we pray, etc. We have already been singing some songs on prayer and I'll incorporate some activities and crafts over the next few months.

Plus the prayer topic goes perfectly well with my new spring classroom decor which I had a super-fantastic time creating today! ;)

8 weeks old already!

My sweet little baby kittens are growing so fast and now being 8 weeks old, they are ready to move to their adoptive homes. But how can I choose which one I want to keep and how can I give any one of the three away? They are so sweet and special and unique; each one of them!

As much as I would like to keep all three, I can't. Having four cats in my room, on my bed, in my lap, is just a little too much. Plus there are two people who would like one of my Siamese kittens. :)

Scamper

Scamper is the female and she is an exact replica of Skittles. I mean exact; down to the very image and attitude of her mama. She is full of energy and running around all over, all the time. She's the one who causes all the excitement and the last one to settle down for a nap. Hence, her name - she truly does scamper about! ;) She's also the one that has the short, stubby tail.

Snickers

Snickers is a short-haired, beautiful male cat. He has the most beautiful blue eyes and by far is the bestest looking cat in the bunch with the longest tail! He's just so sweet and lovable as well. Every night, he is the first one to jump on the bed beside me and he's almost always there all night and every morning.

Reece's aka - the teddy bear!

Reece's is the long-haired male. He's a sweet, little, cuddly teddy bear. His fur is so much whiter and fluffier than the other two, that you just want to hug and squeeze him. He also has the sweetest personality of the three and is the most easy going. In the beginning he was the runt and now he's grown into the biggest of the three.

And Skittles, is well, just Skittles. As Krissa has termed her, "She's a possessed cat." Thankfully she is doing much better since I got home. Leaving her for a week with kittens, whom she thought were unprotected from my sisters since I was gone, really was depressing to her.

I didn't think it was as bad as Krissa described to me on the phone, but it truly was. Skittles just felt threatened that her kittens were running around all over and the girls would play with them and I wasn't there for her to feel that they were safe. And I will say, Skittles still hisses and growls at Jena and Krissa when they just walk through the area where her kittens are playing. And it's not just one hiss and one growl; I've never heard her carry on such a racket! And that's with me in the same room or nearby. I can only imagine it was much worse when I was gone.

Here's some more pics:

See the little teddy bear on the right? lol!!!

Whoever said cats don't watch movies??? All four of mine do!

Yep, they're still babies or think they are!

Just sleeping!

All four of my kitties!

How can any work get done when they are on my lap the moment I sit down??

Yes, they may think they are that dependent on their mama, but they are not!

Skittles keeping a look-out on my dresser

You try sleeping when you are invaded by three kittens!!

They just pretty much take-over, but they're sooooo cute! :)

Does this look a bit familiar???? I'm telling you - Scamper is a miniature Skittles!

Rejoice! Again I say rejoice!

Some days just go beautifully (few and far between it seems in my life, but there are days!), with things getting done and no major issues throughout the day. And then there are days when nothing seems to go correctly, when it seems as though I can't get anything done as planned.

That's the way I've felt the last couple of days. I can't even pin-point anything or say exactly what or why, but I am out of energy, exhausted and my ambition seems to have dwindled. Such is life, but I can still rejoice!

It's those times that I feel overwhelmed, exhausted and unable to accomplish anything, that God reminds me that He's my strength. He is the source of my joy. When I come to the end of my rope, He's there to encourage and strengthen. And to remind me to rejoice!

I have so much in which I can rejoice! My Savior loves me and died to save me! I have a wonderful, loving and godly family. My daily work activities are something I love doing. I have wonderful friends and four furry friends that are a constant joy. God has blessed me beyond measure, so I can rejoice!

Rejoice! Even when I don't feel like it.

Rejoice! Even when my day doesn't go as planned.

Rejoice! Even when I'm tired and depressed.

Rejoice! God created this day and given me another day to live and serve Him.

Rejoice! Because if I'm rejoicing, my negative attitude disappears. Try it; it works! :)

graphic courtesy of www.allposters.com

One heading east and the other heading south

Krissa is back in Kentucky this week in the search of the perfect apartment. She was so excited to learn last week that she was being offered the job of assistant editor with Hobby Farms magazine. She will be writing some articles in addition to editing and in charge of layout of the magazine. And then she'll do whatever an assistant editor does. ;)

She is also excited about the fact that the company is launching a new magazine next fall and she will be in on the layout and design of that. She will get to participate, offer suggestions and help with designing the publication and she is thrilled beyond thrilled about that.

In fact last week when she got "the phone call", I was downstairs working and knew she got the job because I soon heard a high-pitched, very excited voice. I couldn't hear *just what* was being said, but the tone of her voice said it all. :)

She will start around the first of April and plans to move east in another week. She's out there now looking into apartments, areas of Lexington and whatever else she needs to do there. Dad may end up going down there to help move her stuff since her little PT Cruiser won't hold everything.

Jena went to OK City two weeks ago and in her words, found "the perfect apartment". She will be rooming with Briann, who has worked at the Meade hospital with her. While she's looking forward to moving and working in a NICU, she still is sad about leaving Meade, the great job she has there and the co-workers and friends at the hospital.

She has several job interviews set up in OK City next week and will soon know after that where she will be working. Her plan is to move down the middle of May and settle in for a week before starting work.

As for me, I'm not moving east, west, north or south; I'm staying right here (and looking forward to all the vacant space being left behind! LOL!!)! Someone has to keep Dad out of trouble! ;)

The last little bit of my trip

Things are going well here and from what I hear from home, things seem to be going ok there as well. Skittles is a little unfriendly toward the girls as usual. Actually she's much worse since I'm not home and her kittens are there without my protection. Poor baby! Krissa said she goes in my room with boots and gloves and a fly swatter, but I really don't think it's that bad. She said Skittles has been rather depressed, so I hope she's ok. I know she hasn't acted like her normal self the last couple of weeks and since I'm gone, that just makes it worse.

This had been my first experience with renting a car and I have to say it was fairly simple until Friday morning (or was it Thursday? - I don't remember) when I started driving from the hotel to the Expo and a light on my dash came on. My first thought was, "Oh great; how in the world am I going to figure that out. Dad is not here."

For those of you who know me, know that all I do is drive my car. Dad is the one who takes care of the gas, tires, oil, etc. And I have to admit, I'm totally clueless. I should know more, but since Dad takes care of everything, why do I need to know what to do? This is exactly why! :)

When I left that night, I looked in the book, saw that it was something to do with the tire pressure and decided that the front tire needed aired up. Help!! I've never in my entire life aired up a tire! So of course, I called Dad, told him what I thought the problem was and asked him how to air up a tire.

I found an air pump, managed to figure out how to pump the air into the tire and hopefully fixed the problem. I never did figure out how much air was in the tire, but at least the light didn't come back on in the car and the tire didn't look as low. Problem solved without too much effort. And now I know how to air up a tire. If I haven't learned anything else here, at least I can now air up a tire. Although, that's not the reason I came to Washington! :)

My days have been busy walking around, looking at the booths (filled with so many exciting things!), visiting with Joanna (whenever she's not busy, which is not too often!) and taking several classes throughout the day. And the break from work is nice. My computer still comes with me (right now I'm typing at the Expo) and I can still keep up with things online, but it's fun to be able to do something different during the day.

It's about 2pm and I have two classes left today and then a little downtime before the show closes at 5 and we head for the airport. Our flight leaves around 8, so we'll have a little available time (i.e. computer/internet time) before flying home. Or I should say home to Denver/Colorado Springs before I head for home/Kansas in the morning.

Last night I started packing up some of my stuff in my room, trying to decide just how much I could get in my checked baggage without going over the 50 limit. Since I don't have scales available, it's just a guess and hopefully I guessed fairly accurately. I will have some heavy carry-on luggage which won't be great, but better than paying an additional $75! I'd rather spend that $75 on something bought here than on luggage flying home.

What a busy couple of days!

After deciding only a week ago to travel to Washington to the Sew Expo, I'm here! It's been fun to spend time with Joanna, get a little break from work (my computer still comes with me, so I can keep in touch with things online! ;)) and just enjoy being surrounded by everything sewing for a few days!

Tuesday I shipped out orders, finished up some business things in the morning and then drove to Colorado Springs to spend the night with Joanna. That morning wasn't my best morning (I actually washed a load of laundry without any laundry detergent!) and then only less than an hour from Joanna's, I hit a deer on the road.

It was dark and that stretch of highway is deserted and I didn't see the pair of deer standing in the middle of the road until I was right upon them. Thankfully I was only going 55 mph and I only hit one of the deer on the right side of my car. It knocked out the glass of my right headlight and made a dent in the right front fender, which all will have to be fixed, but at least it wasn't like Jena's wreck.

The first thing I did was call Dad and of course he asked me the usual if it was drivable, if the lights worked, if anything was leaking, etc. The difficult thing was that it was pitch dark and I could hardly see what damage had been done. It's still drivable, except when I hit a dip in the road, there's a crunching/scraping noise, so something is hitting somewhere. It is just rather frustrating!

Anyway, by the time I got to Joanna's and to bed that night, it was late and we were up the next morning at 4am to get ready and head to the airport to fly out to Seattle. But our flight went well with no delays. Plus we made it through the SeaTac airport with not a single problem.

The only thing I'm going to have to learn is to pack lighter. My suitcase weighed over 50 pounds and would have cost an additional $75 to check if the attendant hadn't allowed me to take out some things. $75!!!! I knew it was extra for over the weight limit, but I didn't realize it was THAT much. Needless to say, I was happy to pack a few things in my carry-on bag. :)

When we landed, it was sprinkling rain and it continued to pour rain as we were driving around. Joanna dropped off her garment at the show and by the time we found out where we were going, took a little detour road trip, made a quick stop at Wal-Mart and found our hotels, it was late afternoon. We were both ready to call it a night!

Today was the first day of the show and has been fun so far! I had the chance to sit in on some great seminars and see some wonderful, creative ideas that make me want to start stitching right now. :)

This is the key to my room....have you ever seen such a
strange-looking key??? It looks like a short usb key!

My room....I've never had a king size bed and it's rather nice! My full size bed at home gets rather full with Skittles, my three babies (oh, I miss those my little babies!) and my computer. Here I can keep my computers and papers on one side of the bed and sleep on the other. Thank goodness I don't sleep like Jena or that would never work! ;)

Lunch and supper! The popcorn and the diet mt. dew are the most important ingredients on the table. ;)

My sister: there's just something I cannot understand!

Krissa has been such a help to me since she has been home and without a job. (Although I don't think she's too pleased about the "without a job" situation! :)) Even though she's been traveling what seems all over the country for interviews, the time she has been home, she's been helping with meals while I've been busy. The one thing I cannot understand is how she can cook with the kitchen in such an uproar! Keep reading to understand......

This is nothing new; she's always been this way when cooking, but I guess I had forgotten since she's been gone for the last 3 years.

Last week Krissa decided to bake a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake (which I might add, was very, very good!). In the middle of the afternoon I took a break from my computer and went upstairs to get something to drink. I walk into the kitchen and see...

...the sink brimming over with mixing bowls, dishes and silverware,

...the kitchen counter covered with mixing tools and ingredients,

...and the kitchen table with evidence of crushed graham crackers from the open box and rolling pin and *just a few crumbs*.

How can anyone cook or bake anything with such a mess as that????

As I'm standing at the edge of the kitchen, mouth open, trying to believe I'm actually seeing what I am seeing and then Krissa, with a saran wrapped log of cookie dough in her hand, asks me if I can use the chocolate chip cookie dough she has leftover. As I'm nodding my head yes, saying to put it in the freezer and I will bake cookies with it in another week or so, she opens the freezer door and pulls out another huge limp of cookie dough.

I could take it no longer; I just burst out laughing! I mean, here is Krissa, standing in a less-than-clean kitchen holding up several pounds of cookie dough. It was just too funny! And it doesn't stop there....

I venture into the kitchen, stroll over to the fridge, get out my can of pop and then Krissa asks me, "Will it hurt Skittles to eat sweets, because she's been licking something off the floor?"

Ok, not only is the sink full, the counters overflowing and the table covered in graham cracker crumbs, but there are bits and pieces of chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake on the floor that Skittles has discovered?

That was just the icing on the cake! I can't complain because Krissa always cleans up everything - yes, even the 200 mixing bowls, measuring cups, spoons and pans she gets out. But I still don't understand why it takes so many utensils to bake cheesecake or how she can stand working in a kitchen like that! Although I shouldn't be surprised because one of the first things I did when we were in Krissa's apartment in AL and she was cooking was start washing the pile of dishes in the sink. :)

I know you have to have some of those utensils when cooking, but if you wash them as you go, the kitchen stays much more organized and you don't have a huge mess to deal with after whatever you are fixing is finished.

As Dad always says, "There's a right way, a wrong way and then there's Mom's way."

News flash: There's now Krissa's way! ;)

BTW, Krissa has now joined the online blogging community! Take a peek at her brand new blog.

Oh, and those CLEAN dishes on the right half of the sink?

Those are the ones I washed during and after lunch. The left side
of the sink is totally Krissa's responsibility. :)

Hmmmm...what's up now?

Well, it seems like I just get a little break and then things start getting busy again! But that's ok; I wouldn't want to be bored, right??? ;)

Business-wise things I've been able to keep up to date. This month I started both my local and online quilt classes and while there were some challenges along the way, it's been a fun start to the year! I've even managed to spend a little time (usually late night/early morning) hours doing some web coding for future website plans, so that has been fun! If only I had another 200 years to do everything I would like to do! But I'm not sure that I would actually want to live 225 years. ;)

I've kinda fallen off the bandwagon of my weekly menus, planning my cleaning jobs and organizing plans each month. Usually I use January as a month to plan out the year, organize, start my taxes (yeah, that's my priority #1 now!) and catch-up on things I put off during the holidays. But January was a rush-rush month and needless to say, I was just managing to get the living room floor vacuumed once every two weeks (and Dad usually did that!). It's not like we generate a lot of crumbs, but still I have a schedule of what I should be doing (yeah, I know; it gets me into trouble at times!) and I like to keep it. Hopefully in another month, I'll be back on track.

I'm flying to Washington state next week for the Sew Expo Sewing/Quilting/Craft show and I'm really excited! Why? (1) Joanna is going! (2) It's sewing, so of course I would love it! (3) I like traveling even if I don't always have time to do it. (4) Joanna is going! :)

Actually Joanna is the main reason I am going as she is participating in a fashion show sponsored by Bernina and has spent the last two months planning the dress and jacket she created! And it looks great! Can't wait to see it in person! :)

Plans are still in motion for Jena moving to OK City. She's going down next week to visit Briann (will be her roommate) and do plan some living arrangements. Then she has interviews scheduled in March at several hospitals. She's excited! And I'm excited to get rid of all the water bottles she leaves in the fridge and the grapes and bananas she puts in the freezer! ;)

Krissa is on her way home from Kentucky. As I mentioned a while back, she flew out to CA and was offered the newspaper reporter job there. But a day after she arrived home, she heard back from a magazine in Lexington, Kentucky for an assistant editor position. So she drove to Kentucky this week, did the interview and should be home today. She really would prefer the magazine position over the newspaper, but she'll have to wait and see what happens.

As for the little babies, they are growing like crazy and sooooo much fun AND getting into trouble! I love 'em to pieces! :)

A look at Kid's Klub so far!

Jena and I have had a wonderful time helping with Kid's Klub! The kids have done an amazing job of memorizing the books of the Bible, although it has seemed to take them a bit longer to recall just *how many* books of the Bible there are! I'll keep asking that question every week until everyone can say 66. :)

Terri has done some great illustrations on Jesus' parables. I'm just amazed every week at what she has come up with to attract the kid's attention. And Jena has introduced some great games that the kids just love playing. Although I don't think anything can beat playing hide-and-see-tag in the dark. That is by far the favorite of all! If you drive up and all is dark, you know why! ;)

Here's a glimpse of some of our Wednesday nights so far!

The parable of the wise and foolish man and their houses...

The foolish man (boys team) built his house on the sand...

...which seemed strong until the wind and rain came...

...and the house fell down!

The wise man (girls team) built his house on the rock
and when the wind and rain came, it stood firm!

Ready to play the balloon pouncing game? These girls are!

Tie a balloon to each ankle with a rubber band...tie it tight!

Here's the rules: You try to pounce on one another's balloons
and pop them without letting someone pop your own. The one with
both balloons at the end of the game wins.

I have to say this was so hilarious to watch. The kids loved it
and had so much fun trying to pop each other's balloons! Terri, Jena
and I has more fun watching than the kids has playing! :)

My precious little furry babies!

Skittles' little kittens are growing like crazy! The little babies are running around all over my room and have little rolly-polly tummies! All I have to do is walk into my room and start talking and the little babies come running out from under the bed. They love attention. :)

They are so fun to play with and I've had more time this week to enjoy them. They are growing up so fast, so I know I have to play with them now before I have to give them away. I've started bringing them upstairs and they just run around and play much to the dismay of their ever-protective mother who is constantly screaming at them. :)

Skittles has gotten quite upset with Jena when she takes her kittens out of my room. She's attacked her a couple of times and yes, Jena has scars. Minor, but still little teeth marks. Sunday afternoon I taped the video below and Skittles started attacking Jena on the floor. It was hilarious! Not for Jena, but certainly for me! :) Too bad I wasn't taping at that time! That could have won an award! lol!!

A busy 3 weeks!

Yes, it's been a whole entire 3 weeks since I have posted anything. It has been so busy around here that I've just put blogging on hold for a while. Even though my blogging has been on a hiatus, that doesn't mean that it's been dull, boring and uneventful around here. Oh yes, it's been anything but that! Let me give you an update!

Krissa did arrive home as planned the middle of January. She's been lounging around at home, searching for jobs from California to New York. While in Florida, she searched out some jobs, but did not come up with anything. She's been online looking from place to place and had several phone interviews, but hasn't found anything too promising.

Today she flew out to Porterville, California for an interview for a job with a newspaper. She's not too sure about the job, but perhaps it will be something for her to do for a while. She has her day booked tomorrow visiting the paper and interviews with this and that person and then she will fly on home on Tuesday.

Jena has been busy with work and in between her busy working schedule and hectic social life, she has been looking into jobs and apartments in Oklahoma City. Yes, that's right - she's planning to move to Ok City this Spring. She has a friend who is graduating as a RN in May and they are planning to move into an apartment this May.

Jena has always wanted to work in a NICU in a large hospital and Ok City has several children's hospital, so she is excited about moving down there to work. She hates to give up her really wonderful job at Meade that she loves so much, but she wants some experience working in a larger facility.

Dad has been busy taking care of cattle and the farm. We've had three little baby calves and Dad is expecting more this week. When he's not been helping me unpack boxes, tote boxes up and down the stairs, emptying the dishwasher or vacuuming (yeah, he's been a huge help the last few weeks when I've been up to my ears with work!), he's been enjoying having all three of us girls home for a while.

As for me, February 1st and 2nd was my deadline for my Latte Quilt classes online and locally. I have a very full class which has been loads of fun, but keeping me busy, very busy. I've been trying out a new camera, new video techniques and such which have kept me occupied as well. If only there were more than 24 hours in a day or I could only live on about 3 hours of sleep; I'd be happy! Thrilled! But that's just not the way life works.

Thankfully Krissa has been home and she's been taking care of meals and some other things which has been a huge help to me! I've let some things slide in my normal housework, meals, organizing and such, so I'm excited to start a new week and get back into my normal routine of all that stuff!

Kid's Klub this year has been a blast! We have a great group of kid's and it's always a treat every Wednesday evening to share God's Word with them. I have pics and other things to share from Kid's Klub and will in a later post.

The little baby kitties!!!! Oh, I just love them to pieces!!! They are so cute and adorable. There little blue eyes are open and they are starting to waddle out from their bed and run around. They are so fun! More pics are coming on my little babies!

Well, I'm sure I've missed something, but that's a little update of the last few weeks. February is already here; I can't believe it! February is always a short month and I'm sure it will just fly by so quickly.