fortune | laughable

Today’s fortune:

“You will inherit some money or a small piece of land.”

Hmmm…really?

Domino Frame | Happy Birthday Charisse

I am so excited to share this little frame I made for one of my besties, Charisse. It was her birthday back at the beginning of January and due to complications with the glue I used and the dominoes falling off, there was a bit of a delay. Never the less...here you go!

I originally used wood glue, after all the dominoes are wood. Or are they? Either way the wood glue did not work and they started popping off; even just sitting there I could hear them making this crickety noise as they came loose. In the end I used hot glue and I think it worked well. I wish I had used it first because with the black frame the wood glue sort of shown through when it dried. Once I figured it would all stay together I used some shiny spray and it looks fabulous. Charisse is all about fun – I think it runs in her blood…seriously. At any rate, this idea has been in my head for her for a long time, I’m glad I finally managed to complete it and get it in the mail.

Reese…did you get it?
Miss & love you…Happy Birthday!

moving | studio | almost

This is what my apartment looks like crammed into a 14’ Uhal truck.

No, it didn’t fit.
Yes, I needed a bigger truck.

Thank goodness for gracious family & friends that where able to put my crap in their vehicles and drive over to the new place.

I’m all settled in the new "studio" in Dallas.

Everything is in boxes and will stay that way for a while, at least until I can get a job and find a new place.

The house is super huge & super empty without the littles around. I swear to you Sunday afternoon I heard someone say my name! Clear as day..."Katherine".

The Internet is on the fritz there right now at Sarah's so I'm venturing to other homes to mooch.

So as much as I want to say "I'm Back!"...I'm not really.

Soon...very soon.
Right now, doing all I can to land that job!

last night | moving on | signing out

Tonight is my last night in the apartment. It feels really strange, not at all like moving from the other places I have lived. Somehow this is scary.

No pictures tonight…maybe I’ll be in spirits to take some during the move tomorrow.

Signing Out.

History lesson | Library of Congress | amazing!

I could spend hours and hours sitting in the middle of stacks of old books. I wish I had more time to read, I want to soak it all up...and then some. Lately I have been having this completely unnatural affair with the Library of Congress Web site. There is so much information available it is astounding! Tonight I went in search of digital books to listen to while I work out. Not surprisingly I got a bit distracted when I started looking at the more than 1 million digital images available on the site.

Look at this one:

"Girl in Cherryville Mill. Location: Cherryville, North Carolina / Photo by Lewis W. Hine"

The titles aren’t glamorous, they are just information, but that’s part of the fun.

This particular image was taken as part of a series of photographs from the records of the National Child Labor Committee in 1904. (All the details can be found HERE.)

I can’t help but wonder what her name was. Cherryville, NC is in the middle of no where and is itty bitty and a population of just under 6,000 people (2008). The town was originally known as White Pines, but when a local resident planted cherry trees along the rail line the railroad engineers began calling it Cherryville. I bet her name was something like Margaret Ann or Mary Alice…doesn’t that sound just southern enough?

It is likely that you will have a little history lesson again soon...I just can't get enough. I don't know about you, but it makes me extremely grateful for the historians that have worked so hard to preserve our heritage. And for that matter, grateful for the artists/photographers/authors that created the work in the first place.

Go check it out...you might get lost in the archives of your very own history!

Losing My Mind | and by mind, I mean "keys"

Losing My Mind

A home for keys was once found

On the wall not on the ground

Tonight my keys they went missing

Under my breath I was hissing

Cardboard and tape line the floors

All packed away nothing left in the drawers

An errand to run, a gift to deliver

To walk on this night would leave me in shivers

Not in my purse or under the couch

Soon turning into somewhat of a small grouch

A flash in my memory, straight up from my brain stem
I opened the door and found right where I’d left them!

life in a cardboard box | project tease | Throwback Thursday

Hola Blogger Familia!

I really want to blog about something fabulous. Unfortunately my life in cardboard is neither fabulous or something to blog about. I’ve been blog stalking and there are so many cute, cute ideas out there, I really want to jump in and get my hands dirty doing something fun and crafty. My life in boxes is starting to get really, really (really) old.

Thankfully Kelly & Charley have been making multiple visits over to help me pack…
What a mess!

Lizards needs kisses too!

What a mischievous smile!
Moments later she was UNDER that same stack of paper.

If it weren’t for them I would still be sitting in the living room in tears. OK, not really in tears, but probably sitting in a large accidental nest of new paper print wondering what to pack next. And yes, technically Charley likes to UNpack most everything we pack and really, really enjoys playing in the paper, but I love having her here with us.

I’ve taken most of my clothing to the new place and set up the beginnings of a nice little temporary spot. Being there with some of my littles is going to be fun; we’ve already hung out in my room doing homework as they helped me get settled. Super glad Maddie didn't need my help with her math because well...yikes, I could hardly manage to help Riah with her antonym assignment! All that work getting my Bachelors and it seems I would have a hard time passing 4th grade!

It took a few days, but I was determined to finish the two small gift projects I had in the works and I finally did. They are still in the “can’t post that” phase because I have to wait to post until the gifts have at least been delivered. Hopefully one of those will be in the mail tomorrow and the other could be next week if we can get our schedules straight.

Here’s a little sneak peak at one of them…

Isn't that curious! I know...I can hardly wait for the reveal.

In all my packing I ran across a CD amongst some random DVD’s. It says “personal photos” – which scared me a little. It’s in my hand writing, but still, that could be suspicious. Never fear, all was well and I found some great oldish photos. So, since I have nothing else to blog about I’m deeming today “Throwback Thursday” and we’re visiting the land when Katherine was tan and littles were really, really little:

This is Anne's husband Scott and their first little (Alexandra) when she was just a tiny little thing. She is 6 years old now and I can still see her making that face now. Except now she is actually able to say "Why are you looking at me like that? And would you please put me down?" She's a stinker...but I love love love her. (Hi little lady Alex!)

Siblings: 5 of the 8 isn't bad, right? This picture was actually taken around the end of June 2002 or maybe 2003. We were together celebrating Dad's birthday (don't ask how I know the details, I just do). Good times. Look how tan I was! I miss summers at the beach! Soon. Very, very soon!

[Top left] Levi & Anne
[bottom left] me, Sarah & John
[missing] Jo, Nicki, & Kelly

Speaking of summers at the beach...this was taken on my very first trip to the Florida coast the summer of...2000...I think. What an amazing trip. I have no idea why this picture was on this CD and where the others from that summer have disappeared to, but oh the memories. Such a great trip!

[Top left] Shaun Little, Tyra Collett Pounds, Me, Chava Green Bellows, & idk?
(sorry...I seriously can't remember that guys name. Ooops.)

I like Throwback Thursday.
I might just have to revisit the idea next week.

And the week after that too.

Neosporin Lip Health | Chinese Take Out | Floating Bed

I have packed the majority of my apartment now, including my kitchen. My head and lips are on fire and I just saw a commercial for some Neosporin Lip Health...headed out for some right this moment!

(I'll let you know how it works.
A true test, since I've had chapped lips about a month longer than this headache.)

Also, some Chinese food (eating in is always more challenging when the contents of your kitchen is in cardboard.)

I’m sure the Chinese food will help with the headache that hasn’t budged in the last 10 days. Ache. Need to do laundry. Want to fall asleep, that probably won’t happen either.

It might be easier to fall asleep lately if I were trying to do it in this GORGEOUS Cradle bed by Okooko.

Oh well, maybe I can invest in that bed when I land the dream job.

Biggest Loser is on tonight. I like that show. It motivates me to be better…while I eat Chinese food.

boxes | stalkers | boyfriends | dark chocolate m&m machine

Tonight I went on the hunt for more boxes. I think I am using so many boxes this move because I've been packing in liquor store boxes and they are pretty small. The big cake pans and other large items just don’t fit very well in boxes that size and well hey, those are pretty darned important pans.

I stopped and got a few pretty good boxes at Kroger, but was kindly directed to come during the day, as that is when most of the groceries get restocked. Interesting fact for those desiring to put everything they own in cardboard any time soon, or make yourself a cozy little place to rest your head.

So off to Wal*Mart, I needed milk and cereal anyway (yes Kelly…I caved. Without cereal this week I will starve.) So I am sitting in the parking lot talking to the Mom (hi mom) and I notice this man get out of his vehicle. He was parked kitty corner to my right on the row facing my car. I only noticed him because he was smoking and I could see his cigarette smoke (yuck!). After finishing my chat with Mom I head in to get the unnecessaries and hopefully a few large boxes.

Boxes were a bust: I was about an hour early I figured since they were still hauling items in from the back. I meandered around and found one guy bringing a huge load of empties back to the back, but they were the non-collapsible kind, so I could only get four of those. No worries, I still had a few things to look for and I would check back around the store for more. Now, through this entire 35 minutes I had been in the store thus far the cigarette smoking guy from the parking lot met me on nearly every aisle I was on. Watching me very intently. Eye contact and everything!

Creepy! So I got down to the point where the only other thing I needed was milk and I still needed more boxes so I went to check out some other items. Fast forward about 20 minutes and I returned to grocery to retrieve my milk and a few mediocre boxes from frozen foods and head to the only open register.

(Where, I might ad, the woman working the register did not say one single word to me. Not. One. I was cordial, smiled, handed her my recycle bag and she just looked at me like I was asking her to delivery my milk, cereal, candy (for the movers) and Twizzlers (for me!) to my apartment. Ridiculous!)

Back to my story: as I was being checked out by Happy Henrietta I felt like I was being “checked out” by someone else too. I turned to my left and weird cigarette smoking stalker man was slowly walking my direction – exiting the store, watching me, just like he did when he was conveniently on the same aisles I was on. Happy Henrietta took her time to poorly pack my recycle bag and about 5 minutes later I exited the store. I figured he was gone, but the Dad (hi Dad) always taught me to be cautious so I was aware of everyone around me.

I loaded my boxes in the back and stuck my groceries behind my seat and jumped in. I turned the car on and locked the doors just like I always do and then I noticed there was a box (a good box!) sitting two empty parking spots over on the ground and I was thinking “SCORE!” I looked up to the car kiddy corner from me and he was there…WEIRD CIGARETTE SMOKING STALKER MAN. He was just sitting there smoking, watching me. I don't need more boxes that badly!

I quickly backed out of my spot and meandered around to the side and then the back of the store. I turned to the back before any other vehicles had a chance to pull up behind me, although I knew he pulled out after I did because I was watching him. I slowed behind Wal*Mart to see if he noticed that I turned, but he just went straight. I circled the store again and when I felt confident he did not know where I was I headed toward a different exit and here I am safe at home. Oh, and I went by that box on the way out…I didn’t even have to slow my vehicle to see it had a huge whole in the side. Not such a great box (that almost got me killed!) after all.

Sure, stalkers can be a great thing to keep around when you want them there, but Nicki reminded me…those aren’t stalkers…they are BOYFRIENDS. Check.

On a happy note. I was going through a basket of this & that on the shelf, deciding what to toss or what to keep and look who I found:

Happy Gum Ball Machine Guy!

Kelly gave me that friendly little gum ball machine ages ago. Technically tonight he is a Dark Chocolate M&M Machine, but sitting amongst the cardboard, he is sure a welcomed and cheerful site. They are, of course, for anyone, who out of the goodness of their heart, comes to help me pack/move/do the dishes.

And of course, for any of the littles.

park | dog poop

I just returned from a field trip to the park with Kelly & Charley. It is such a beautiful day in Georgia today that the first park we planned on was packed. We opted for a different park down the street and there were far less interference to worry about.

See where she's sitting? It's a little bench and on the right side, sort of a pick up window.
Super cute little play place.

This one caught all of us off guard, we didn't realize it was a faster slide.
Love CM's expression...classic!

Mom wanted to swing too...glad I had my camera to capture this one...

Charley had a great time; at least until about the time we were heading out and Kelly’s sure she (CM) ate some dog poop. Gross. No worries, we washed it down with some ice cream from Sonic.

Thanks for inviting me to the park Charley & Kelly.

xoxo

stink

What I won’t miss about living in this apartment…the stink from the neighbors coming through the vents and walls. Between the disgusting smell of cooking and cigarette smoke, I am not sure which is worse. I want to vomit when I walk past the non-closet…yuck.

new closet | repairs

Well, I’m still alive. I made it to Sunday and although I was starting to feel better yesterday, today I’m sort of still being haunted by the Insomnia Fairy and promises of wellness from that MD. Too bad an antibiotic isn’t an instant feel good pill.

Aside from feeling like poo I have had a number of things that need to get finished so I can move this coming weekend. John helped me with the “closet” for my new space…he did a rock’n job and didn’t even mind being photographed for the blog. He even posed for a few “action shots”!

Before:
"Studs aren't hollow, we have feelings you know?" said John.

Looking good...

Looking at what exactly?

Action shot!

A special request...a shorter rack for a few more short clothes.
I hope everything fits, this might be a tight squeeze!

All done...now we just need my clothes to walk themselves over and hang themselves up.
Oh, and the reason for the short board is that it was in the cull bin at HD and only $0.51.
I figured I could make due with that rather than pay another $15 for one that was the correct size.

I bought a few inexpensive rugs from Wal*Mart and although it takes care of one side of the room, it leaves a large space on the other side of the room still bare concrete. The rug sizes are a little wonkie for what I need so I need to figure out what to do there.

I think my big red chair will fit perfectly in that left corner. Then The Bed takes up the other half of the room. Good thing this is only temporary, otherwise I would wonder where the rest of my things will land. For now cardboard boxes are just fine.

Next on the To Do list...repairs at the apartment. I took down the Lack shelves (that were such a challenge to put up in the first place) and found the six or seven large wholes I feared were still hiding behind them. I ventured to Home Depot for the necessary repair items and the nicest guy (Craig) helped me get everything on my list. I have some patches and puddy and with any luck they should be a breeze to tackle. We shall see.

Insomnia | 4:53 a.m.

So…it’s 4:30 a.m. I am thinking that maybe I should have saved the Prednisone until the morning, like the MD suggested. Sure, I asked the pharmacist, but what does she know!? She has certainly not been keeping me company all night as I am WIDE AWAKE!

"Insomnia Fairy"

A few days ago a guest on the Dr. Oz show (or maybe it was Dr. Oz, but no matter) suggested counting backwards by 3 from 500. I forgot the “by 3” part and counted backward to about 447 and decided it wasn’t working and I was bored. Next time I need to remember to count backwards BY 3!

The good thing about not sleeping is that my head goes a million miles a minute with ideas and things I need to do. That’s why I am on the computer right now, I figured if I can’t sleep I will get something accomplished. I had this super cute idea for a friends birthday and I did some research (need to pick a little craft supply up tomorrow) but I designed the actual gift this evening. (It’s printing as I type this.) I won’t see her for a few days so once I finish it, wrap it up and present it to her then I’ll post for all to see. Check back soon for the finished product.

Other than that I have also researched a fun little Valentine gift for a certain man and if he’s lucky he might actually get them. We’ll see. This reminds me, I need to email Nicki for a recipe. (Hey Nicki, in case I forget, I need to talk to you about a sugar cookie icing recipe.)

Well, it’s 4:53 a.m. now and I think I will lie back down and try to get some sleep. I have about 3 hours before I have to be up. Good thing Charley will need a nap tomorrow morning…I’ll be taking one right along with her.

Tootles.

snore fest | more photos | promises...promises

I was blog-stalking earlier this evening and I realized something…blog posts with a lot of text and no photos are generally quite boring. And by boring, I mean…snore fest. So my apologies for the text heavy posts that put you to sleep or maybe it sent you screaming. Either way I hope to avoid doing that again in the future.

I’ll start now by a light and airy post all about nothing. Well, a little about something (me!) but mostly about nothing.

"Nothing":

So lately I have not been feeling so hot. I thought it was just a cold but around 4:45 a.m. tossing and turning and steadily going through my fourth box of Kleenex, with my head pounding like someone had repeatedly hit me with a rubber mallet through the night, in tears I realized it was more than just a cold. I got up, took a long, hot shower and researched sinus infections on line. I found some stuff, and although the idea of boiling water on the stove to put some moisture in the air was good effort, I knew I needed a MD. I went back to bed knowing I was too tired to be up and functioning before the sun and sort of forgot that I had decided I needed an antibiotic by the time I took my second long, hot shower of the day around 10 a.m. However, 4 Extra Strength Tylenol and 2 Excedrin later and still a pounding headache and teeth aching, I was beginning to remember. And more importantly I realized I would not make it through the weekend, I would certainly be taking drastic (and expensive) measures come Sunday morning if I waited any longer.

What?
You thought I was going to post a picture of myself feeling like crap?
Um, no.

I ran over to this urgent care clinic not far from my apartment and saw that MD, received a tiny envelope whose contents would hopefully relieve the pressure/inflammation and an Rx for an antibiotic. I ran to Publix to have it filled and since I wasn’t going to leave without it, I had some time to wander the aisles. Which brings me to the reason for this post: Mango Peach V8 Splash. I’m addicted.

Yes, I’m being serious. It was on sale, Buy one ($2 and change and) get the second free. I can't remember the other flavor I purchased since I opened the Mango Peach first and let me tell you something…manna from Heaven! Yu-UM!

Yes, I realize it is probably loaded with sugar and other things that I doubt are good for me, but right now, if it makes me feel better...it's on the good list!

Back to my feeling sick story: The antibiotic was FREE at Publix…yeah. And I still can’t figure out why…is it a state thing? Either way, I really don’t care but I am super grateful. So free Prednizone from the urgent care MD and free antibiotic from Publix + yummy Mango Peach V8 Splash. I only just started taking the medication a few hours ago, so I still feel pretty lousy, but I think the MPV8S is helping a little too.

I’m off to take my third long, hot shower of the day. It’s amazing how that helps almost as much as the medication and MPV8S...

almost!

Dear John | Nicholas Sparks | bleh!

I mentioned the other day that I picked up Dear John by Nicholas Sparks from the library. It is an easy read, as are most of his books. I read this one particularly fast, but it’s not a long book either. My thought was that I really want to see the movie that is coming out soon, but wanted to read the book first. Well, after reading the book, I don’t even want to watch the movie.

I hated it. I know, hate is a strong word, but I hated it. Or rather, I hated the end of the book. And if you are planning on reading it and don’t want to hate me for spoiling the ending then skip right over this post.

So boy saves girls purse from being swept away in the ocean…they fall madly in love over two short weeks that summer and he returns to Germany were he is stationed in the Army. Over the next two years they write letters, talk on the phone, see each other on two different occasions when he (John) has leave from the military and every full moon they sit outside and think of the first full moon they shared together. He reenlists after September 11, 2001 and although she supports him, she’s sad that he won’t be with her as soon as they had planned.

Now I can’t remember the timing of the whole thing, but I do know it wasn’t long before he was scheduled to return home that she sent him his “Dear John…I’ve fallen in love with someone else. It wasn’t planned, it just happened, I’m sorry.” At this point in the book I just wanted to keep reading and reading and not put it down just so I would be done with it. Seriously? After all that and the love (oh the love!) she fell in love with someone else.

In the end, John’s father died (so sad, I cried) and while on leave for the funeral he decided to drive to Savannah’s home town. He didn’t know why, but he did it anyway. He found her and it turned out that she had married Tim, who we met earlier in the story, someone she had known for her entire life. Really Mr. Sparks, are you going to go there? They get married, move into the family house/ranch that is nestled right next to Savannah’s parents house/ranch. Sometime in there Tim’s parents died in a car accident leaving him to take care of his younger, autistic brother. Tim has to leave school (almost a PhD). And then what can you imagine happens, Tim gets diagnosed with cancer and is in the hospital when John comes to visit Savannah. Tim tells John that if he dies (and he expects to) to never forget about Savannah because Tim knows that they still love each other…and not the way she loves him, but a bigger, better, more passionate love. How could two people so in love in the beginning of the book, be so far apart only a few hundred pages later?

Blah, blah, blah…it’s all about true love and John ends up leaving Savannah’s home town, never to return again. Oh, but not with first making an anonymous donation to the fund being collected to send Tim to be a part of some research study. He did this by selling the coin collection his father left him…worth some obscene amount of money of course. In the end Tim is in remission and he and Savannah (who is still madly in love with John) live happily ever after.

I mean, really? Seriously? Why couldn’t she have waited for him? Why did she have to let herself fall in love with someone else? That’s not cool.

I lay on my bed last night after I finished, completely sick to my stomach. The end of that book was so disappointing; I thought for sure Savannah & John would live happily ever after. It’s not like I was hoping Tim would die, but really…I totally was!

I mean, why would I read a book that would end horribly like that?! And it wasn’t even that…it was like everything bad that could happen at the end of the book did: Savannah falls in love with another man, John receives Dear John letter, John’s dad dies, Savannah marries Tim, Tim’s parents die, AND Tim gets cancer. Do you think we could save some of the drama for the next book Nicholas!

Casual day | I need a job!

It’s no secret I’m on the job hunt (any leads out there?). So when I saw this Career Builder commercial I just about peed my pants laughing so hard. This MADE MY DAY!

happy birthday Anne & Jac | projects revealed!

Wow, I’ve been a little M.I.A. lately, haven’t I? I must admit, I have had many of those thoughts, you know the thoughts I’m thinking “I should blog about that.” And then it’s gone and lost in my memory forever. And it’s not lonely there, that thought has lots of company…how I wish I could remember so many things.

However, the reason for today’s post is special. Remember HERE when I posted the longest post ever and at the end I teased about a little craft project I was working on (a wooden frame and Scrabble game pieces that I saved from being shipped off to the land of misfit toys. Well, I couldn’t post the final project before because it was for my sister ANNE’s birthday. I shipped it a little while back even though her birthday isn’t until January 17. Thankfully she opened her present early (I don’t know how she let it sit there unopened for so long!) so now I can finally post the final product. TA DA!

Isn’t it darling! Oh it is, and you know you want one just like it. I even managed to hide my signature in all those letters…how fun is that. But I suppose for those of you that don't know Anne & Scott, they and now their littles, are avid (and by avid I mean, CRAZY!) Scrabble players. They are good too. The scores those people get are in sane. Anne is the sister I call when I can't think of a word...and she usually spits it right out. It's a gift. I once had a boyfriend (ha! that's funny crap!) and we were invited to hang out with Anne & Scott (I think they were just married) at their place. We played Scrabble. No, they played Scrabble...I don't think you can call what we did playing. They have a Scrabble Dictionary and Anne & Scott might carry around a pocket size for all I know. They have Jr. Scrabble, but I bet their littles are bored with it. And I'm probably leaving out some other way to explain what big fans they are. I love the game, it's great and it's a thinking game, which only makes it better. But Anne & Scott...LOVE the game. That's why this frame was so perfect for her.

And just because I can, I have to show off the hat I made Anne’s youngest Jac. I blogged about this hat on the same post as the Scrabble Frame tease, so I’m sure you remember it. It looks SO much better on her cute little head than it did on my stupid candle. I missed her birthday by a few weeks, but she still loved it. Isn’t she just the cutest!

Anne told me she wore it to bed the night she received it in the mail and scared Scott half to death when he went to check on her. Ha! Ha! Ha! That made me laugh out loud…a lot.

OK, that’s all for now…must go, I’m heavy into the book “Dear John” by Nicholas Sparks. I had to read it before I go see the movie and that’s definitely in the plans.

It's a library book...don't you love libraries? I love how you can walk down all the aisles and feel like you are among great authors. And the books, I love how this one has that plastic cover that crinkles when you hold onto it. And the smell...it brings back memories of the Carlsbad library where I took art lessons once upon a time. It has a smell...like the inside of Mom's huge terra cotta pot (that now sits at Kelly's I'm sure.) I'm just saying...support your local library!

More soon…I know you’ll be waiting with baited breath.