Feb. links

Here are all of the links to my February posts.

• My Favorite Blogs
• Where do I fit in?
• She's 30!
• Polaroid Love
• Younger by the Day
• Buy once - Use twice
• Orchids
• One Dollar
• 25th High School Reunion
• Randomness
• Sisterhood Award
• Thrifty side table
• WFMW - address labels
• Great News!
• My Fab Purse
• Zora and the carrot
• Not gonna do it
• Love Hearts
• Paper Eyes
• Tamara de Lempicka
• Mom & the Kitchen
• Seal it up!
• The Great Valentine Swap
• Heart Strings
• Thinking & Singing
• The Cat Car
• Stamp Prices
• Members Only
• WFMW - Image Chef
• DVRs
• Valentines Day Ideas
• Springfield is for sale

My Favorite Blogs

I finally, finally, finally put up a list of my favorite blogs. They will be permanently over there <--- below the archives. The list isn't complete by a long shot. I mentioned last week or so that I was going to get my blogroll up and posted by my 500th post, but I'm happy to say that I am ahead of schedule! Here is the list that I have so far. I put them in reverse alphabetical order, just to be different and to give those at the end of the alphabet a chance to be first once in a while. (I put in my blog, too - Just because I'm dorky LOL)

My Favorite Blogs

• Your Home Based Mom
• We Are That Family
• This is How We Roll
• The Goat (You're Here!)
• Tales from Bloggeritaville
• Scribbit
• Pragmatic Compendium
• Pioneer Woman
• Not Trying for a Boy
• My Remodeled Nest
• My Dogumentary
• Musings from Left Field
• Make Art Everyday
• Inchmark Journal
• I Love My 5 Kids
• Half-Past Kissin' Time
• Greek GRITS
• Dr. Cason
• Cottage Bluebird
• Color Me Katie
• Chronicles of a Working Mom
• Cake Wrecks
• Big Happy Funhouse
• Arare Litus
• Ann Kroeker

I want to add in the food, photography and decorating blogs that I like to read. I still may divide these up into categories, like I do for my blog reader but that might be a bit much. Maybe I'll just keep this small.

I hope that there are some new blogs for you to read or at least visit and don't forget, this is not my final list, it's just a day one beginning.

Hope you have a great weekend!
Kristin

Where do I fit in?

I'm really not quite sure where I fit in.

I read a blog post this morning where the woman listed the categories that are in her reader...


"News," "Blogging," "Craft Blogs," "Food Blogs," and "Mom Blogs" is what she said.

So I started thinking where I fit in.

I am not news. Not as in world news or local news. I'm certainly not political.

Blogging - now I do blog, but I'm not writing about blogging or SEO or ways to get your blog more advertising, which is what I thought this category probably meant.

I do have some crafts in my blog, but no one would mistake my blog as a craft blog.

Same as above for the Food blog - I've posted a few recipes, but not a food blog.

The Mom blog category is where I feel like I fit in most. Mom blogs tend to be musings of the day along with funny things that the kids did. I don't have children, but I do talk about the funny things my cat does and I certainly go on and on about what I thought about or did on a particular day.

After looking over her list again, I bet if I were in her google reader, I'd be in the Blogging category. I bet the blogging section consists of all the miscellaneous blogs that cover a wide range of ideas or specialized blogs that don't need their own section because she follows so few of them.


My Google reader is divided into these categories..."Favorites," "Food," "Decorating," Photography," "NaBloPoMo," "Home," and "Other."

I read my favorites first. I don't have a single unread post in that section for the most part, by the end of the day.

Food is food blogs. Easy as that.

Decorating - now that is a catch all spot. I have wedding blogs, design blogs, crafting blogs and home and garden decorating blogs. (Wedding blogs have lots of great ideas for decorating, gift giving, party planning, etc)

Photography - photography blogs, blogs that have a lot of beautiful photography, portrait photographers and one or two "how to" blogs on how to improve my own photography.

NaBloPoMo - these are blogs that I have found through the NaBloPoMo website. These blogs are supposed to get updated every day as a part of the "rules" of National Blog Posting Month. People sign up month by month. A lot of people signed up for February because it was a shorter month, which I thought was funny. I am attempting to post one thing every day for the entire year. So I will be participating in my own NaBloPoYr .

Home - home is different than my decorating section because it is all about our homes from the spiritual side, decorating, crafts, cleaning, and this is where I put the Mommy bloggers that I follow.

Other - I put all of the new blogs that I am "trying out" before I put them into a category or if the blog isn't updated very often I leave it in other.


I have 85 blogs in my "other" category. Until I love it, it doesn't go into my categories. I also put blogs in the other category as a punishment! If I have had the blog in one of my categories and then for a week or so the blog started going on a tangent that I wasn't happy with (this happened a lot around election time) I moved them to "other" and quit reading them for awhile. I didn't need to read their rantings or whatever it was that I wasn't fond of instead of unsubscribing. If the tone of the blog changed too much for my liking after a few weeks, I unsubscribe.

I have tried to find a niche for my blogging, but I like the spontaneous posting that I do. Whatever is on my mind or has been of interest is what I want to talk about. Last year I wrote up some blog posts in advance and scheduled them to post - so that I could take my own blogging break :) but I really didn't like that very much. When I joined NaBloPoMo in November the rules state that you must physically write something every day. Yes! That's what I liked to do. I just needed a little push to make sure I do it. Officially, I've blogged every day since November 1st, 2008. I'm sure it has actually been longer than that.

So, where do I fit in?

In my own little niche.

Kristin's world, 365 days a year.

How can you put that in a category? haha

Have a great weekend!
Kristin

She's 30!

Happy Birthday Hillary!!

My baby sister turned 30 years old today.

There is a party tonight at my mother's house to celebrate the birthday.

Wish I was there.

Have a great birthday, Hillary!!

Love,

Kristin

Polaroid Love

Have you ever used a Polaroid camera?

I have. I bought one about 10 years ago.

I actually don't have a clue where it is now, but I own a Polaroid camera.

The pictures I took were for the most part - awful.

I almost always moved and came out with a blurry shot.

The film for that camera comes out to about $1 a picture.

So that means that out of a pack of 10 pictures in the box,

I usually got about 3 good shots. 3 for 10.

Pretty expensive to just throw away those blurry photos.

Now, however, I wish I still had them because I'd send them off to this artist...


Trampoline

She uses Polaroid pictures that are not perfect. blurry. unusable.

and turns them into some spectacular art pieces.

Take a look!
(click on the pictures to see them larger.)




I wrote to the artist and asked if I could post her photos.



She agreed!



Aren't these just incredibly beautiful?



She describes her work this way..."original collage created from too pretty to throw away polaroid cast offs. they are studies in color, texture and nuance...peeks into everyday life."




If you have any polaroid cast-offs as she calls them, please get in touch with Trampoline at her Etsy shop HERE as she only has a limited amount of stock - and I for one would LOVE to see more of her work.

I am trying to figure out which wall in my house would best showcase one of these original pieces.

Have a wonderful day!
Kristin

Younger by the Day

I looked at this book yesterday and had to laugh. A real out loud laugh. Look at all of those page markers! I guess I like a few things in this book - ya think?

This book is "Younger by the Day" by Victoria Moran. It is a page a day type of book, but you can start at any time. The subtitle on the book is..."365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit." She talks about foods to eat, foods to avoid, skin treatments, doctor visits, meditation and beauty products. She talks about keeping friends that give you joy, to celebrate your own holidays like March 4th (Marching forth into your life!) and to get rid of everything that is weighing you down. I read the entire book in a few days when I first bought it a few years ago. I just HAD to see what she would say next. After I read the entire book I started reading a "day" each night before I went to bed. It is such a nice way to end my day.

This book makes a great gift, too. I gave one to my Mother a year or so ago and she has really enjoyed it. We still talk about days to each other. It helps if the person is open to some New-Age ideas about motivation, meditation, even eating vegetarian - but you don't have to be. I am not a vegetarian and don't ever plan on being one, but I can hear someone talk about it for a page or two and I certainly like vegetarian meals. I don't meditate, as in spending 30 - 40 minutes sitting quiet in my meditation nook, but I do spend one or two minutes sitting still in a quiet room once a day. Obviously by all of the page markers I found a lot to love.

If you decide to get this book, go back to Victoria's website and download the Younger by the Day checklist. (It's at the bottom of the page)

Have a wonderful day,
Kristin

Buy once - Use twice

A long time ago in a land far far away, I lived in Michigan. My husband and I were hosting Thanksgiving for my family and his and I needed to get things ready to go. When I lived closer to my family, I would have just gone over to my mother's house and raided the closets and cupbards for the linens and dishes that I needed for Thanksgiving. Since I now lived about 80 miles away, it wasn't quite as easy to do. So I put on my creativity hat and thought about it.

What I needed most were tablecloths for the two large antique tables that I would be using. I was going to push them together to make one long dining table, so I needed something that would be consistant for the long expanse. I was also on a budget.

What I came up with was felt. Red felt and a little bit of cream felt. I bought several yards of it for about $3 a yard as I recall, and I also purchased a pair of pinking shears. The shears cost more than all of the fabric! ...but only by a little. I put the felt on the table, weighted it down so it wouldn't move and I cut the felt with the pinking shears around the tables. It was exactly the shape of each table. I used the red on the table tops and the cream was being used as hotpads on the tables, maybe even a table runner type of idea. I can't quite remember at the moment. I think I may have even cut out leaf shapes and put peoples names on it.

The tableclothes were a hit, to say the least and the dinner was fabulous as well. A few days later as I was finally getting the tables moved back to their original locations I realized that most of the felt was in great shape. Only a couple of spills of food in a few spots. I now had all of this felt and it was a shame to throw it away, which was my original intention.

I got out a dinner plate and a lunch plate - traced around them and used those two sizes as templates. I grabbed those mighty expensive pinking shears and started cutting out circles. Large ones and small ones out of the felt that was left, after I cut out all of the "spoiled" felt.

I made plate protectors for all of my heavy bowls that I stack together. I used some of them for my plates and platters that don't get used too often, but are stacked on top of one another for long periods of time. I still had lots of felt left over, so I made stacks of 20 - 10 small and 10 large for several family members for Christmas.

I used up every cent of the $25 I spent on the felt and the shears. It was truly one of my better ideas.

I have posted this for Make Do Mondays - hosted by Ann Kroeker. She asks us what we have done to make do with what we have, or how we wear it out or decide NOT to buy something because we really don't need it. This is a new blog carnival so be sure and go over and take a peek.

I thought this would be a perfect Works for me Wednesday post. Childrens birthdays, Easter dinner, St. Patrick's Day are all times when you might want to prepare a family meal and a nice felt tablecloth might just be the ticket for an inexpensive cover. Please go see more tips at WeAreThatFamily, the new host for WFMW.

...and this certainly turned out to be even more thrifty than I had originally intended! So it qualifies for Leigh's Thrifty Thursday at Tales from Bloggeritaville.

I will link to those posts as the days arrive.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kristin

Orchids

I got this orchid plant for my birthday (October) in 2007. They were gorgeous and they stayed in bloom for many many months. I had never had an orchid before, so I kept thinking they were a miracle plant. My grandmother passed in Feb of 2008 and for some reason I have associated these orchids with her. They had nothing to do with her, but yet I think of her every time I see them. So now, the orchids are my grandmothers flower whether she liked them or not!

The first part of the summer 2008 the blooms finally started to fall off of my beautiful orchid plant. After a few weeks, the plant was neekid. I had two sticks in a pot sitting on my windowsill.

Let me give you a little background. I kill houseplants. I had a table full of once lovely plants sitting in front of a gorgeous window and they were all dead plants. It was affectionately called "The Adams Family Garden." Now that my husband has had a liver transplant, we are not supposed to have plants in the house. It is the dirt that is the problem, so the orchid squeaked in by a technicality. It is planted in moss - no dirt. We haven't had any trouble with Tom and the plant, so we're still OK with it. We don't have any other plants in the house.

OK, so back to the orchid.

I had the two sticks in the window. I watered the sticks a few times in 4 months but had pretty much decided I had a dead plant. It was down to one leaf, too. I actually held the plant and gave it an ultimatum...Two weeks. I needed a sign that it was alive within two weeks.

The next week a shoot came up out of the totally dry moss (I hadn't watered it in ages) and grew amazingly fast! When it reached about 6" high another shoot came out from one of the sticks. A week or two later I could see blooms forming on the ends of both shoots.

The picture above was taken yesterday. My orchid bloomed! It has been blooming for many weeks now and now once again I think of my grandmother when I look at the blooms.

I am so very happy that this plant did not turn into an Adams family garden. I hope I'm past that phase.

Have a great week!
Kristin

One Dollar

When I was growing up I used to get a card from my Aunt Luella every single year for my birthday. The card always had a scripture verse somewhere on it and she always wrote a paragraph or two about who called the other day, where she had just gotten back from (she was always visiting someone it seemed) or who stopped by. And, up until I was 18 years old, there was always a one dollar bill in the card.

It was funny, to get a dollar. I think it was because a dollar (even in the 70's and 80's) just didn't buy a whole bunch. Certainly not a Barbie doll or anything, but I did look forward to card from Aunt Luella.

When I turned 18 I got a card and there wasn't a dollar. I was surprised that I missed it. I was very aware that I was all of a sudden an adult. I didn't just get money in the mail anymore. WOW

What I didn't know was that my Aunt sent out thousands of birthday cards. Literally thousands. She sent them to friends, family, people in the church and people she met in her travels. If you were under 18, you got a dollar bill in your card. She died unexpectedly and when we went to her home after the funeral, there, sitting next to her chair was a box of cards. Several dozen of those cards were already addressed and stamped. Just waiting for the right time to mail out.

I honestly can't remember if my sisters card was in the stack at the house or if it had gotten mailed just before Aunt Luella died, but Alison received a card in the mail after the funeral. I guess maybe I should have asked these questions before I wrote this post, but I also can't remember if there was a dollar bill in the card or not. I can't remember how old Alison was that day.

My Aunt Luella, as far as I know, didn't have a lot of money. But she gave more than any person I have ever met. She sent cookies to soldiers - thousands upon thousands of cookies. She sent out thousands of dollars each year in the form of dollar bills. She welcomed people into her home, she made afghans for the church, friends and family. I got one as a gift when I graduated from High School. I remember her asking what my school colors were a few months earlier. She organized functions like she was born into it. I remember going to the small town community center for our family reunions so many times - I once told my mother that I thought the town had the center built because Luella just didn't have a big enough back yard.

The picture above is of my great grandparents and their children. My grandfather is the far right smiling boy with his hands behind his back (3rd youngest) and my Aunt Luella is the woman in the back row with the print dress. You can click on the picture to see a larger version.

Hope you had a lovely weekend!
Kristin

25th High School Reunion

This is the year of our discontent...Oooh, sorry, I watched "The Goodbye Girl" the other day and I can still hear Richard Dreyfus saying that lol

This is the year of my 25th High School reunion. There is a problem though - no one is planning it. The person who planned it 5 years ago was finally located today and she said she was not going to doing that again. I assumed that was the case since she has always had the reunion info out a year in advance. That's fine with me, but she's been a part of the planning for the past 20 years so she was desperately needed to help.

I think I'm going to be in charge of this thing. Another woman from our class is in it with me, I do believe. She lives in Texas, I'm in Florida and the reunion will be held in Michigan. I think I'm going to need to recruit some helpers.

My dear blogging friends...

Has anyone ever put together a reunion?

Have you ever been to a really great reunion? (what made it great?)

or was there something that was done quite well at an event that you would like to pass along?

Give of yourselves and tell me about the good, the bad and the ugly. If it warrants a blog post on your blog, then by all means do that and I'll link you right up to my post.

This is going to be something that needs to be put together in a hurry of sorts - by the end of summer - maybe August? September at the latest. so we need to move quickly to get this thing organized. Thank goodness for the internet - I think we will be able to email nearly everyone (that we can find) and not have to worry about addresses.

Let me know if you have any words of wisdom for this newbie. I've never organized an event before (except my wedding and my grandmothers funeral.) My wedding I did in about 6 weeks and the funeral, well, those are always short notice -- I guess I'm a glutton for punishment LOL

Randomness

Randomness

I just ate my dinner of Turkey Salad and a side of steamed broccoli. Yummmmm

I was tagged on Facebook to write out my "Four Things" or to just read the "Four Things" that she wrote...I'm never sure about what the tagging is all about. I was tagged several times about the "First Born" note and since I have never had a child, I just assumed they wanted me to see their note. But anyway, I wrote out my "Four Things" and was quite pleased how it turned out. When I clicked reply my hand all of a sudden went totally spastic and I moved the cursor to delete. I'll have to rewrite it again tonight.


170 years ago today in 1839 the District of Columbia outlaws dueling hmmm

I watched "Friendly Persuasion" (1956) with Gary Cooper today. It's about a Quaker family in the 1890s. Very strange indeed. They kept saying things like - I need thee to be here. It was difficult to see Gary Cooper as this meek and mild Quaker, but it was a nice change from reality TV.

I have watched all three episodes (so far) of RuPaul's Drag Race. I can't help myself.

Two weeks ago I wrote to a couple that I met while I was in Sweden - this is the same trip where I met Ingrid. I hadn't written to them in 25 years, but I got intrigued when I looked them up online and found that they had indeed married and were still in the same city in Sweden. I took a guess that it was the couple that I knew and adored. I wrote a letter, sent pictures of me then and now, asked a million questions and then gave them every way I knew imaginable for them to contact me if they so desired. Last week I got an email, in Swedish, that was from Facebook with a familiar name in it. I friended him immediately. He was the other half of the couple I wrote to. I was so excited. I guess they remembered me! The funny thing is - I can't read a word that anyone else writes to him on his wall on Facebook...not unless I learn some Swedish!

I have watched Music and Lyrics once a week since it came out on cable. (I recorded it on the DVR) Most of the time I just put it on and do other things, but last night I put it on while I blogged. My ringtone on my phone is "Pop goes my heart," one of the theme songs of the movie. It is by far one of my favorite Hugh Grant movies and I really like Drew Barrymore in it as well.

I have been chewing gum lately and after trying a lot (and I mean A LOT) of flavors I have settled on one...Trident Watermelon Twist (sugarless of course)

My husband had a liver transplant as many of you already know and the other day when I went to the doctor they had me go for another lab visit because my liver enzymes where elevated. Turns out they were just one or two points above base normal and my doctor was being ultra careful but my poor husband just totally freaked. I got the results of the second lab today. Below base normal. We'll check again in a month.

I was post # 1111 on the Pioneer Woman's blog yesterday. I was so thrilled. Usually I don't look to see what number comment I am on her site, but that day I was compelled. I blogged about my love of 11:11 here.

I think that's about all the randomness that I have for tonight. I've got a Four Things to rewrite. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Kristin

Sisterhood Award

Thanks Ruth Ann! I got this award from Ruth Ann (My Remodeled Nest) who as you may recall was my Valentine Swap partner. She said that she was giving this award to some of her new blog friends who showed great attitude or gratitude. This is one of only a few awards I have received since starting my blog over a year ago - I thank you so very much Ruth Ann!! What a lovely honor!

I don't get many awards because I never give them LOL Someday real soon I'm going to post my blog roll of all of the places I love to visit in blog land. That will be my contribution to the sisterhood award.

Yesterday I noticed that I was up to 500 posts and I was a little bummed that I didn't have a giveaway or something to mark this event - then as I was looking through the back office of the blog, I realized I had a dozen or so posts that were drafts. Many were just a title and no words lol I went through and deleted and evaluated all of those drafts and now have about 20 more posts to go before I get to that 500th post. Maybe that's what I'll do - I'll come out with my Blog Roll and a giveaway at the same time, make it a real event!

Thanks again Ruth Ann for the lovely award! It has certainly been a pleasure getting to know you.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Thrifty side table

This is a Show & Tell carnival my blogging friend, Leigh, from Tales from Bloggeritaville started last week. The idea is to showcase a thrifty find. She shows off her fabulous new/old eyewear this week.

I have lots of thrifty finds if I think about it hard enough, so I hope to contribute to this carnival a lot.

This being my first week I decided to showcase a good use of materials I already had available. I purchased these art books when they were on the bookstore discount tables. I got some for Christmas from family and friends, too. These books take up a lot of shelf space (most are even too tall to stand upright) and to be honest, I don't look through them very often. About a hundred years ago...OK the early 90's...I stacked these books up next to my couch and decided to use them as a side table. The thick, slick and glossy covers on most of the books make these virtually waterproof. I usually use a coaster if I am setting a glass down, but there is hardly a need. Water just wipes right up and I've never got a ripple in the cover of a book if water has been left to dry.
Every so often I have looked for a new side table and none of them stack up to the books. The books are so easy to rearrange. A new book on the top makes it look like a new table top! The books never ever tip & they don't move if you hit them with the vacuum cleaner, either.

I noticed in the first picture of the books that my stack is not totally even - that middle part is a little skinny. I think I needed some more height when I set it up next to this particular chair. Well, that's just another reason I really like these books - you can change the height at any time.

When I first put this stack of books together I had never seen it done before. Now I have seen it done with magazines, too. It is a real good use of large books that are beautiful to look at and yet seldom used.

I hope you enjoyed my contribution to Thrifty Thursdays hosted by Tales from Bloggeritaville.

Have a great day!
Kristin

WFMW - address labels

This week, Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting Works for me Wednesday where hundreds of bloggers share their tips and tricks that they use that works for them. Please read through my tip, leave a comment and then go see what other fabulous ideas you can find at Shannons.

I have a home address, an email address, a blog address, a cell phone and a home phone.
My husband has a cell phone and email address. That's a lot of information to write down when someone says - how can I get in touch with you? I always wonder... Do you have 5 minutes to write it down??

I have business cards with my information on it, but not with my husbands. So I came up with the address label idea. I found these
Basic 4 line Address Labels where I have our names on the top line, then our home phone on the second. The next line has Tom's cell & his number and the last line has Kristin's cell & the number. When I purchased these address labels I had not been blogging for that long, so I decided to hold off buying a second roll of labels that had my blog URL and my email address - so I just write my blog URL on my business card if I want to give that to someone.

I can put these stickers on my business cards, put them on a note card I'm sending, on the back of photos, on the top of a flier I'm handing out or my favorite -- on a Post-It! It is just so easy. Business cards get lost all the time, at least if I'm given a business card. If I have taken the time to write out a card or a letter, it is usually kept around long enough so it is possible to get the information from the card to the address book. People tend to toss the envelope right away, so that's why I have started putting my address and phone numbers on the card or letter if I think they don't have my current information.

Getting a special address label with our phone numbers on it works for me. It makes it easy to give our information out without having to write out all those numbers...besides, no one had to decipher our handwriting!

Please head on over to Shannons for more Works for me Wednesday tips and thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!
Kristin

Great News!

The end of September of 2008 I was given the news that I had "out of control" diabetes.

My doctor put me on insulin that very first day.

An A1c number is a number that averages out a persons blood glucose level for the past three months and it is a number that diabetics use as a guide on how they are doing.

My A1c in September was 11.5 -- a blood glucose average of 332 (that is really really high)

I got my blood work taken a week ago and finally got my numbers today...

My latest A1c was 6.1 -- a blood glucose average of 140 (this is excellent!)

I am just barely into the "desirable" range, but I'm in the DESIRABLE range!!

I would like to get my A1c to 5.0 - 5.6 (a BG level of 101 - 122) - that is my long term goal.

I have to say - I am so excited about the numbers I got today.

I have worked really hard to get my blood sugars in control.

I've been re-learning how to eat, how to identify a carb, how to judge the amount of carbs and then determine how much insulin to take.

I have put my health first in so many situations - I even asked my cousin (who was our personal chef that weekend) to make diabetes friendly foods for Thanksgiving, so that I could have most of the food available.

I went out to dinner last night and ordered a broiled fish entree. It came with potatoes and veggies. I asked if I could have a double order of veggies, no potatoes, and the waitress said "I'd be pleased to do that!" The woman sitting next to me said, "You are such a good diabetic."

I have tingling in my feet. That is a kind description of the sensation, but it is diabetic neuropathy and if it gets worse I could completely lose the feeling in feet.

The thought of losing the feeling in my feet makes being a good diabetic really easy.

The thought of possibly getting rid of the tingling in my feet makes it even easier to be a good diabetic.

I have been very aware of my condition and have been doing what I can to get those numbers down - but that real test was the A1c.

I am just so happy.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

If your A1C is this:	Your average mean daily plasma blood sugar is around this:
%	mg/dl
12.0%	345
11.0%	310
10.0%	275
9.0%	240
8.0%	205
7.0%	170
6.0%	135
5.0%	100
4.0%	65

My Fab Purse

I got an invitation to talk about my bag/purse from Ruth Ann at My Remodeled Nest. I have to say, I usually don't do the tagging thing because I don't really want to tag anyone else (it makes my brain hurt trying to figure it out)...So if you would like to show your fabulous bag, then by all means grab this meme and go for it!


Here are the rules for the Bag Tag:

1. Post a picture of whatever bag you have today - not last weekend when you and your hubby went out to that fabulous restaurant. No cheating!!!

2. Tell us how much it cost. This is a no-judgment zone -- there will be no ridiculing or eye rolling here. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.


3. Now tag some fellow bloggers and link back to this post so people know why you are posting pictures of your bag.

Ruth Ann posted the contents of her bag as well. I'm not sure if it is part of the game or not, but I did as well.


Here is my purse. This is the one I've used the past few days.

It is called the First Date and it is from a company called Beijo that coincidentally was started just South of Jacksonville. I realize in this beautiful close up of this purse, that I haven't cleaned it in a while. It's real easy to clean - just window cleaner and a paper towel! I love the green color. Love it!

It cost about $35 or so and I purchased it at a Beijo store in Denver, CO. It was purchased during the roadtrip with my mom and sister, Alison & baby Stella. Alison bought a beautiful black and white purse and I also purchased a large travel bag for Alison (for Christmas.) They are all made from the same U.S. Military patent leather - obviously not in typical military colors.

It is a tiny purse - just the essentials fit into it. Well, just the Kristin essential anyway...drivers license, credit card, debit card, the petco card, cash -- unfortunately it's one 20 dollar bill wrapped around a dozen ones -- and of course, my chapstick, sharpie and post-it notes.

That's it!!

I have a much larger bag that I haul around with me most of the time and that carries my diabetes blood sugar test kit, my insulin, glucose tablets, a protein bar, more sharpies, more post-its, another chapstick, gum, my camera, a half dozen pens, a book, my condo rental fliers, business cards and several receipts from the local Publix grocery store.

This Bag Tag said to use the bag you have most recently used and I have to say that the big bag stayed home the past couple of trips outside of the house. This little green purse goes into the big bag when I will be gone for more than just an hour. If my insulin pen and the glucose monitor and everything that goes with it would fit into the small purse I would do away with the big bag. But it doesn't - so I have two.

Hope you have enjoyed your trip into my bag.
(that sounds really funny now that I've reread this!)

Remember, if you'd like to play along, please do! Let me know in the comment section.

Kristin

Zora and the carrot

I just love my little niece, Zora. She is such a riot. I don't know how my sister, brother in law and my mother (Nana) keep up with this kid! My sister and I don't get to chat on the phone too often, she is quite busy with her two girls, but one day she called and she was laughing. I knew it was her right away and I started laughing just hearing her! She said she called to tell me what Zora had done earlier in the day. She said that Zora had run herself silly that day and wouldn't take a nap. She came in at one point and got a carrot and went into the living room. When Alison came to check on her a few minutes later - this is what she witnessed.



She was so tired she fell asleep while eating! I'm so glad Alison got the camera out and took the picture before she dislodged the carrot from goofy's mouth. This picture is truly priceless.

Oh Zora, you are a gem.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Not gonna do it

I watched the Amazing Race tonight on TV. It is one of my very favorite reality shows. I notice while watching it season after season that I do find myself saying "You will never get me to do that. Not even for a million dollars." The other day Leigh from Tales from Bloggeritaville and I had a short email conversation about bungee jumping. We talked about how neither one of us would do it. EVER.

When I wrote out my list of 101 Things to do in 1001 days I mentioned that I didn't put things on that list like bungee jumping, skydiving or cave exploring. I am not an adventurer. I like to see things, but I don't have to get into the middle of a killer wave on a surf board to know who I am. If I need to figure out who I am by bungee jumping then I didn't need to know that particular part about myself. If it was really really important that I know that part about me, it will be shown to me in a way that I understand.

My husband has wanted to go on the Amazing Race since the day it aired. He would always tell me that he knew how to sail, row, farm, haul - whatever it was - he knew the best way to complete the task. Now that he is immune suppressed he will never be able to - it is just too dangerous for his health to be in the environments that participants are asked to go in. But I tell you, I always wondered what would happen if they asked him to bungee jump. He probably would have done it, but it has never been on his to do list either. or his to want list.

I moved from Michigan to Florida because it got too cold for me in Michigan. I don't like scary movies because they make my stomach upset and my dreams vivid. I don't like green peppers, high heeled shoes, wool clothing, glitter, spicy foods, lights in my eyes when I'm trying to sleep, wind blowing in my face, perfume...

I wonder if the things I don't like and the things I won't do are too long of a list. But you know what? I'm not going to think about the negatives any more this evening. But I did want to make it perfectly clear...I will not go bungee jumping. I don't care how much you pay me.

Love Hearts

Happy Valentines Day!

I woke up this morning to the sound of my phone ringing. It was my Dad wishing me a Happy Valentines Day. A few minutes after I got off the phone with my Dad, my husband rushed over to get the card he bought for me.

He was so excited!

I opened it up to find a card with the Jonas Brothers on the front. He thought the card was so funny. Funny because he thought that these were just some retro looking kids. He had no idea that they were a real band.

On the inside he wrote "POP goes my heart" - which is perfect for what he thought was on the front of the card! He thought the band on the front was retro 80's and POP goes my heart is a fake retro tune.

Maybe you had to be there LOL

Well, I hope you had a wonderful Valentines Day.

I found a few links to some fun hearts in Nature...Heart Shaped Nature and Gigantic Hearts. Take a look!

Enjoy
Kristin

Paper Eyes

I am in love with a new blog.

I can't even begin to remember where I found it. The creativity is so cool and if I had a child I would love to do some of these things with a kid. I just may have to be my own kid!

The blog is called Color Me Katie.

The picture with Katie sitting next to the trash can is an example. She said that she was carrying around these paper eyes one day and decided to start sticking them on things. Who walks around with paper eyes in their pockets?? Isn't that just fun?!!


You have to see where they put the eyes...here. Here's another fun post - The thought bubble. Oh and while you are over there -- check out her cat...here.

Have a FABULOUS Friday the 13th!
Kristin

Tamara de Lempicka

This is Tamara de Lempicka. She was an artist that worked primarily in the 1920's through the 1950's. She was a Polish native, who fled to Paris during the Russian revolution, then eventually made her way to the United States and spent the end of her life in Mexico. She had several husbands, affairs, knew many artists of the day - all in all she had an incredibly wild life. She also had a very unusual painting style, some called it a "Soft Cubism" but she was identified more with Art Deco. If you would like to read up on
Tamara de Lempicka, that link takes you to the Wikipedia site.

I am mentioning her because because the mural I pointed out the other day in my Mother's kitchen was indeed painted by my sister, but the style and the portraits were all Tamara de Lempicka. My mother found several postcards one day that included the woman, the man and the calle lilies and mirror. My sister worked those three postcards into a mural for the kitchen. She is so talented. Just like my sister painted The Pool House in the style of Thomas McKnight, she painted this in the style of de Lempicka. Below is the mural in my mom's kitchen, that I showed you the other day -- and below that are some original pieces from de Lempicka. I couldn't find the picture of this particular man in the white coat, but I think you can see the style is the same. I just wanted to make it perfectly clear that this is someone elses style of painting.

Mom & the Kitchen

It's been a long road of construction for my mother. She's been living in the house as her kitchen has been remodeled and instead of taking just a few months to finish - it has taken nearly six months. I actually helped my mom pack up her kitchen the first week in June of last year.
My sister Hillary loves this house. The joke is that she is going to have to send our mother into a nursing home before she gets to have it for herself. haha She has been unsure as to whether or not she likes the changes to her childhood home but I do think as it's coming together she is growing to like it more and more. I love this picture of my Mom and Hillary.
This is New Kitty. New Kitty is really enjoying all of the construction, as a lot of kitties would. She would get herself locked in a closet for sure, I can just tell. But doesn't she just look adorable hanging out in the new cabinet.


Have a wonderful wonderful week.
Kristin

Seal it up!

My mother is having her kitchen remodeled. Actually, it's almost finished! ...but we'll talk about that in another edition. What I want to chat about today, and show you TONS of pictures of, is of the Time Capsule. The time capsule was made to be a history of the house and those of us who had lived in it.
My sisters and I each wrote out a letter about our memories of the house. We all said very different things, which makes sense, since we all lived completely different lives in that house. I lived there for just a year while I was going to college. My mom also included her own letter and pictures of the grandchildren, a drawing from Zora, it looks like and a few newspapers and magazines. We also downloaded onto a CD a few hundred pictures of our family and the additions and subtractions that had happened to the house since my family purchased it in 1985.
All this was bundled in this container and was going to be placed in the very top of a cabinet in the newly remodeled kitchen. The cabinet was a part of the old kitchen and in the redesign the top portion of the cabinet was going to be covered up and not used. My mother had a lightbulb moment and asked if we could use it as a time capsule.
I wasn't there the other day when the next pictures took place, but my mother and the workmen sealed up the cabinet with the time capsule the other day. I asked her to be sure and take lots of pictures because it just seemed like an important event. I thought it was so cool that everyone signed the board that sealed up the cabinet. See, it was special.

So the next pictures show the official sealing of the cabinet.










My sister, Alison, painted this mural. I thought since you kept seeing portions of it in the time capsule pictures that you might like to see the whole thing. I love it. and in the new kitchen, it just shines more than it ever did.

I hope you made it all the way down here to the bottom of this post. Have a fabulous day!
Kristin