new million dollar money making idea...

i need a device that allows me to blog from my shower. i always think of the best blog topics and entries when i'm in the shower and have no way to jot it down. then by the time i come back to my blog, it's totally gone from my cluttered little mind....

i need to start doing this regularly again. i'm starting to fear that i've lost all six people who ever read this thing to begin with....

the rest of my photos from driving to reno...

i thought i would back track to my trip to reno. these are the rest of the cool photos of mountains i took along the way. along with photos of the bowling stadium, virginia city, lake tahoe, and my brief stay in california.

karen's dream house...

i have tried to convince jeffy that we must pack up and move right away. but he just wasn't buyin it.

karen's dream house

driving through kansas...

i spent today driving through kansas on our way to reno. we're going to reno for our annual national usbc women's bowling championships. i'm currently in limon, colorado. it's super exciting here as you can imagine.

there wasn't a lot to see as we rolled through kansas. but we came across these windmills that reminded me of the teletubbies. i thought they were pretty cool.

enjoy!

tomorrow we'll go through colorado, to wyoming, then utah. i think the plan is to stop around salt lake city before heading into nevada on friday.

more to come!

2009 dance recital videos

click to view this year's videos. i'll probably upload more on sunday....

dance recital 09

cheetos, cheetos everywhere....

my regular readers (all four or so of you) are no stranger to the fact that i have some neighbors who are completely and utterly crazy. as today is mother's day - happy mother's day by the way - the crazy neighbors have crazy family gatherings with other crazy family members.

i've written on more than one occasion about the neighbor who we call "lazy ass". the one who parks her car in front of our house for days on end when there's plenty of good space in front of her own home. i think she does it just to spite us.

anyway - she and her husband have a bunch of crazy kids - and they in turn all have a bunch of monstrous children. which is why i found myself sitting here on my peaceful mother's day listening to these kids who have clearly taken a class in screaming bloody murder. at any given time i expect to look out my window and see one of them beating another with a stick but instead find they are just driving their big wheels down the steps.

that was - until the cheetos came along.

i don't know where they came from. but all of the sudden jeff was laughing because they had spilled the bag of cheetos they had been sharing all over the porch and steps. interestingly enough, they spilled evenly across 3 out of 4 steps. they almost look like someone poured them across each step. the kids were suddenly very quiet.

now i must tell you that i fought every urge that i had to take a picture of this with my camera. i was certain it was probably wrong. the sight of the bright orange across each step alone was something to see though.

so jeff and i sat here and watched as these five kids - the oldest of which may be five herself - contemplated what they should do about the fallen cheetos. the oldest was picking them up one by one off of the top step and putting them back on the bag (which was ripped all the way open). the rest just kinda watched for a good three minutes.

then the oldest went inside for thirty seconds. and came back out followed by grandma (aka lazy ass)and a bowl. it wasn't actually a bowl. it looked more like a corning ware casserole dish. but grandma instructed them to pick up the cheetos and put them in the bowl. okay. i can kinda see that. but when i realized that grandma gave them a bowl so that they would have a more stable container to hold their snack and watched the oldest sit down on the sidewalk with the bowl and start to eat the cheetos - i then lost my cheeto related appetite.

one of the boys chose not to eat the cheetos but instead chose to stomp on the remaining cheetos on the steps creating a lovely cheeto dust to go with the pollen dust. yummy...

and so these are our neighbors. i really hope a normal family moves into the unoccupied house next to them. we only have one set of normal neighbors on the whole block. we are completely outnumbered. and this scares us....

i rock!

i've been voted mom of the year!!!

awesome news footage

it's just like....

a real life "footloose"!

 

cause i gotta cut loose...

 

quick!  someone call kevin bacon!

cinco de mayo

let us all pause for a moment to celebrate what an AWESOME holiday cinco de mayo is.

sure. i may not have a FULL understanding of the holiday. but i'm happy to celebrate anything that lets me split an entire pitcher of margaritas with my mom...

self education

so i googled the words "what is swine flu?" - you know - cause i was curious.  i don't think i've read a single article that really has said what it was.  so i once again employed intern google. 

 

this is what i found:  http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq

 

it's quite helpful.  especially the part where it says i can still eat bacon.  that's a good thing.  almost everything is better with bacon.

 

so i just thought that i would share with everyone the answer to the "what is swine flu" question.  i think if you read this - and not the articles on the major news webpages - then there's a chance that people everywhere may be just a touch less panicked about it...

just not sure i can handle this "growing up thing".....

you know.  many years ago i had this little bitty baby.  really little.  like five pounds, 10 ounces.  tiny.  and she was cute.  and she cooed.  and she squawked.  and sometimes she just downright screamed.  but it was okay. 

 

then when she was 15 months old she started to walk. 

 

and when she was about 2, she started to babble. 

 

and then when she was 11 she spent an entire weekend driving me crazy asking me every five minutes if she could call her boyfriend and stomping away when she didn't like the answer.

 

and now i have a strong desire to trade her in for a kitten.... 

my apologies...

i really didn't realize that i hadn't posted in two months. i mean - i knew i was a bit m.i.a. just been a lot going on, you know? work. girl scout cookies. work. sick cats. more work.

sadly - karen seacrest hasn't gotten off the ground and i don't think it's going to happen either. have yet to break it to the bracket crew.

but now that i've broken my silence, i promise i will try to resume posting on a more consistant basis. i mean it. really....

karen seacrest's live idol blog - top 36 - 1st 12

1. jackie tohn: little less conversation. hmm. i'm thinking she set a low bar - vocally. arrangement was interesting. but what is she wearing!?!?! is this 1987?"

2. ricky braddy: i didn't catch the name of the song and i don't know it. but he was far more vocally superior than the first girl. good pipes there. i liked it. and i'm not just saying that because lindsey works with the girlfriend of his former roommate....

someone tell kara she can talk back from the mic a bit.

3. alexis grace: never loved a man. i like her shoes. i know that's not the important thing. but i like her shoes. not wild about the dress. kinda looks like something you wear under another outfit to keep all the fatty lumps from being lumpy. i don't think she's got a soulful enough voice for this song. i'm kinda disappointed because i liked her first audition and that was just kinda disappointing to me. i apparently don't agree with the judges either...

woopsie. wrong clip. look at seacrest all improving there. he's not very good at that...

4. brent keith: hick town. i don't know what's up with the unknown songs tonight. eh. i'm not wowed. not at all. he kinda didn't entertain me. he seemed nervous - kinda bobbing back and forth. was just weird.

um. let's not look at bucky covington. he was scary.

to simon's point - i think most everyone's been pretty forgetable so far.

this commercial after every performance is kinda annoying.

5. stevie wright: you belong with me. have i mentioned that i hate taylor swift? she's hit a few bad notes. this really - not good. i'm avoiding saying it was terrible. i'm going to blame the song. it's just like all taylor swift songs. sucky.

i just came back to edit this to say that i figured it out. she reminds me of ashley tisdale in high school musical...

6. anoop desai: angel of mine. there is way too much background vocal track tonight. this isn't snl. i like anoop. he's got a good, solid voice and he's kinda cute.

message to second 6. can you excite me a little please? and pick an entertaining song? please? don't make tatiana the most exciting part of the evening. that would be annoying!

jeff and i just had an immature beavis and butthead moment over kara saying "nail it the way it needs to be nailed". we couldn't help it.

7. casey carlson: every little thing she does is magic. thank you - a song i know! remember curly haired chris sligh from a couple years ago. he did this song. way better too. i didn't like that. jeff says it's the change in words that bugs him. but it kinda sounded like - taylor swift or miley cyrus doing the police. her voice is too girly girl pop for it. perhaps she would have done stevie's song better?

8. michael sarver: i don't wanna be. yeah! jeff's favorite rough neck guy. it's like they heard my pleas. they're singing songs i know now. i'm having some bo bice flashbacks. him barefoot on the big stage. he looks like he's having so much fun. ooh. that note was bad. he's probably been one of the more entertaining performers of the evening...

9. ann marie boskovich: natural woman. does anyone else flash to that 80s commercial about the woman coming home and kicking off her shoes and putting on her comfy jeans? i do - every time i hear this song. and i just did it again. i think it was lee jeans. i thought about going to google it during her performance. that's how excited i was by her performance.

i'm really starting to feel like no one is "bringing it on" tonight....

10. steven fowler: rock with you. we don't think he belongs in the top 36. for the record. simon said - forget the words - go home. he forgot the words. why didn't he go home? the lighting here kinda kicks back to mj's video for this song. smoke and laser lights. i still don't think he should be in the top 36.

clearly the show is so exciting tonight that i'm resorting to comments about laser lights and old commercials. btw - i googled that commercial. 5th hit on the google list was my own blog. crazy! but i can't find the answer. it may have actually been chic jeans...

drama up after the commercial break...

11. tatiana del toro. i'm saving all my love for you. this girl grates on my nerves worse than cheese. see. the thing is. she CAN sing. but she's just such a drama queen that i just can't stand to look at her...

12. danny gokey. hero. i'm kinda disappointed in this performance - but i think he's going through to the top 12 anyway. he could sing the abc's in his pj's and go to the top 12...

okay. so i'm overall disappointed in these 12 performances. i real snoozer.

the next 12 better BRING IT BIG TIME so this season can be more exciting and i'll actually have something to write about....

silent auction basket

so i've been racking my brain for weeks and weeks trying to figure out what kind of basket to do for our silent auction at work next week. it's been driving me nuts. i wanted to do something unique that will hopefully bring in a nice price. but nothing was really coming to me.

well - it's the 11th hour. i finally came up with an idea and in a 15 minute shopping spree at walmart - this is what i finally came up with:

FAMILY FUN NIGHT BASKET

CONTENTS:

• Trivial Pursuit – 25th Anniversary Edition
• Scrabble
• Kerplunk
• Pop-o-matic Trouble
• Jenga
• Barrel of Monkeys
• Dominos
• Uno
• Deck of Playing Cards
• 11.5 oz Planters Mixed Nuts
• 1lb bag Strawberry Twizzlers
• 6 pack Box of Orville Redenbacher’s Natural Simply Salted Popcorn
• Collapsible Storage Container with Lid

what do you think?

two random thoughts for monday morning...

1) why is it that people who feel the need to ride bike to work or school in rush hour traffic on busy streets - like - say - big bend - think that basic traffic rules don't apply to them. like the guy this morning who went speeding in between the cars stopped at the stop light, proceded through the stop light whie cros traffic was proceding through it - without any hesitation at all, and THEN biked up the left turn lane, into oncoming traffic, onto the sidewalk, and so on. can you say "accident waiting to happen?"

2) has anyone else noticed the uncanny resemblance of the octuplets mom to angelina jolie?? i'm just saying...

news of the stupid...

dumb dumb dumb

yet another story that there are just no words for...

how to blow it during hollywood week on american idol...

1) argue with the judges critique...

2) pick a song no one knows...

3) dress like richard simmons (even though he made it through - that guy is nuts)...

4) when you are told you can't have your way, act like the person who verbally assulted me on the phone last week because i wouldn't bend the rules for her situation...

5) beg....

6) have a family with at least two theater shows all their own. ask your uncles for 20 minutes of the set...

7) keep singing after you are told to stop...

8) be bikini girl...

25 random things about me

this is going around on facebook - so i thought i would post it here too...

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. my most favorite smell in the world is garlic. not cookies or cinnamon - garlic. i'm sure it betrays my german/irish heritage.

2. i have a secret passion for old movies with halley mills. not just the parent trap - but i'm quite fond of the trouble with angels.

3. i have four serious vices. kit kats. lays classic potato chips. margaritas. double stuffed oreos. not in that order - and certainly not at the same time.

4. i'm not ashamed to admit that i went to the new kids on the block reunion concert. and i would pay to see them again. i had the best time.

5. i have the best husband. sometimes i think i don't deserve him. we have the most fun together and when i'm so stressed out that i'm about to lose my mind - he knows just how to handle it.

6. i'm still holding on to about 5 or 6 grudges from the last 15 or 16 years. i can't let them go and feel they keep me strong. only one of those grudges is against someone i was in a relationship with. each of those grudges involved a poisionous relationship/friendship where i knew i was the better person, but for some reason was still desparate for the other person's approval and genuine friendship (even when i knew it didn't exist).

7. i love typing in lowercase letters and i know it drives my other english major friends nuts. i'd like to think i'm just really cool like e.e. cummings - but truth is i'm just too lazy to hit the shift key.

8. when i was pregnant the doctors tried to get me to go on an insulin pump to manage my diabetes and i refused. i wouldn't admit it at the time - but the true reason i refused was because i knew in my heart that nina's father was a cheater, we wouldn't be together forever, and i was afraid i would never find a man who could accept a single mother who was attached to what might be considered a mini iv 24/7. after i found jeff - it was easy to let go of that insecurity.

9. i sometimes worry that someone will see me programing my insulin pump in public and think i'm a terrorist.

10. i have a recurring nightmare about being back in high school and having a crazy rotating schedule with a class that always drops out of rotation. i never can remember which class i'm supposed to be in and the science class always seems to be the class that rotates out until the day of a big test where i don't know the answers because the class hasn't taken place for months.

11. i love analyzing the poetry behind song lyrics. i wish i had done my senior thesis on that.

12. i always get moody and depressed during the month of february. i used to say i was cursed during that month because it seemed i broke up with all my boyfriends in february or bad things happened. but i think i just remember every february that my great great aunt may died at valentine's day and it makes me sad placing negative energy in my universe.

13. in july 2008, i sat in a room with 1500 miracles.

14. i think i'm the only person in the world who hates kelly clarkson's new song.

15. everytime i see a really cute baby - i ask jeff if we can have another kitten. his answer is always no. this especially happens when i've been with my friend christy's baby.

16. my best friend amanda and i share the same brain. really. we live 600 miles apart and will see each other for the first time after months (or even years) and find that we are both carrying the same purse, wearing the same shoes, or the same swimming suit. all of which were probably purchased at target. we don't tell each other about buying these things. it just happens. we can also finish each others thoughts and talk to each other without speaking. we're freaks of nature.

17. i have a hopeless addiction to mcdonalds breakfast.

18. i'm a pleathora of useless information which makes me quite handy to have on a trivia team...

19. i'm waiting for the day the team from a&e's intervention show up at my house to pry my laptop from my hands and deactivate my webkin's account.

20. i think the litterbox and garbage disposal are conspiring against me - and it's just not cool.

21. i often have anxiety attacks before i fall asleep. i also tend to chronicly hyperventilate.

22. i know that all four of my grandparents and my aunt may visit me from time to time.

23. the saddest thing i've ever seen is my husband's heart break when his father died. the thought of it alone kills me inside.

24. i love non profit work. everyone always said i "mothered" everyone when i was little, had to take care of everyone and everything even when it wasn't my business. and they said i would make a good social worker. and now - i'm basically doing social work without having to get the degree. it kinda makes sense when you think about it. nina's exactly the same way too.

25. have you ever seen that commercial with the guy who refused to get out of his car until the song "american pie" is completely over? yeah. i'm that guy. i've been known to drive around the block a couple of times until it's over.

episode two of "how not to make it to the hollywood round on american idol..."

1. suck so bad that the viewers switch to watch beyonce sing while the new president dances with his first lady...

2. and then beg causing me to change the channel back to the ball again....

3. wear blue/silver eye shadow from eye lashes to eyebrows...

4. ask america to vote for you with chinese characters. most can't read that...

5. sing like cher...

let's play - one of these things is not like the other!

okay - forgive the fact that the video i found was someone who taped their tv set. but let's play "one of these things is not like the other - one of these things just isn't the same"

can you spot that thing in this performance of "signed sealed delivered" from tonight's ball? can you tell which thing is just a little out of place and doesn't belong??

for the record - i was totally boogying in my kitchen during the performance - i just thought someone didn't quite look like she hung out on a regular basis with the others on the stage - that's all...

getting older...

there comes a time in every kid's life when they come home from school with a note from the teacher, p.e. teacher, health teacher, or school nurse - that asks for permission for that child to participate in the upcoming special lesson/unit on "getting older" (if you know what i mean!)...

nina came home from school with that note on friday.

i swear i've never felt so old in my life.

grudges...

so last night nina and i went to see a production of to kill a mockingbird with my pal lindsey. lindsey really is a most awesomest type of friend. you know - the kind that comes over to your house just to carry cases of girl scout cookies for two hours. the kind that smiles even when she's really mad. i don't think i've ever seen her vent about anything without laughing about something at the same time.

she even knows shes awesome. she's dubbed herself the master of the universe after all.

anyway - so we went to see this play and low and behold one of the actors was someone i knew, and lothe so much i refused to applaud for her at the end. nina and lindsey gave me a little grief over this. lindsey said i hold grudges.

and you know what? she's totally right (awesome people like lindsey usually are right). i do hold grudges. i think forgiveness is overrated in some cases. i mean - i can think of about half a dozen people who i've encountered in the past 31 and 1/2 years that i'm still holding a grudge against (i bet some of you can think of who they are too). and when i think about if it's worth letting the grudge go - i decided that the grudges are all worth it.

just the other day i came across someone on facebook who made my life hell when i was 12 and got a sick and twisted feeling of joy to see she never got married. (i also got a sick and twisted feeling of jealousy that she has the most popular boy from our class on her friends list - but then again - i beat her to him in the ladies' choice dance at the graduation dance and he couldn't say no - the dj said. that's right - i have issues people. i'm not ashamed. but that's a whole other blog entry).

so anyway. why won't i let these 6 or 7 grudges go? because i think they make me stronger. i think it's possible that if a person lets go of certain grudges and forgives and stuff - then they run the serious possibility of falling victim to the exact same types of negative energy (if not the same exact vessels of negative energy)all over again. and i think i have serious fears of just how possible that is. literally. i have nightmares that take me back about 11 years relationship wise.

so i just can't let go of these grudges. i need them. they're like security blankets. they keep me strong. and since they are mostly pretty immature - they also keep me young. (perhaps grudges are the answer to the fountain of youth. i'll have to check into it.) it's not like i sit and stew over them every day. i've mostly moved on from it. i just don't applaud or fake excitement or want to see pictures of their kids or have a cup of coffee (or be facebook friends) when i run into one of them.

so as much as i love lindsey (you know i do - oh master of the universe!) - and as positive of an influence she is on me all the time - i've thought about what she said about me holding grudges - and i think i'm gonna keep holding. it's too easy to go from being a door stop to a door mat.

besides - i like being immature sometimes....

sandy again...

well - at least this time she's not on my wrists...

episode one - how not to make it to the hollywood round on american idol...

1. forget the name of the new judge and call her by another name in your interview...

2. cry for no reason...

3. resemble the crazy redhead from "wedding crashers". "let me through - or i'll find you!"

4. SING THE WRONG WORDS!

5. appear insanely desperate...

6. resemble a rock of love contestant. (this is my public way of saying that bikini girl reminded me of megan from rock of love and i don't think she should have advanced - no matter how bouncy she was)...

7. play air guitar.

see???

you all thought i was kidding! again with sandy and her trying to fit into the space on my lap that doesn't have laptop on it...

silly cat...

the real reason my blog has being going without updates for so long...

do you have any idea how hard this makes it to type??

every time i pull out the laptop - bailey is rubbing her head against the screen and sandy's trying to prove she can fit in the tiny space between my stomach and the keyboard.

i'm waiting for her to figure out the little touch pad and it's connection to the arrow on the screen she's always following...

*sigh* young love...

something about this story is so sweet and innocent that i think if i were a parent to either lovebird - i would find it really hard to be angry....

at least i know nina won't be running off with her boyfriend any time soon. she worries about running out to the car to get something if we're not within eye shot of the window....