Julia and Julie

I'm reading Julie and Julia. Right now I'm 63% of the way through it. You can always tell a Kindle reader, as we can only speak in percentages, not page numbers. OK, so I'm reading the book. I like about half of what is written. I read the reviews on Amazon before I downloaded the book.  It was nearly an equal split of love and hate.  I really wanted to see the movie, so decided to buy the book even though I had a funny feeling that I was going to agree with the people who disliked the book.  All of the problems that people talked about on Amazon, I'm finding to be true. I'm actually thinking about not finishing the book.

Here's the deal - usually if I start a book I read it as long into the night as I can. I can't go to sleep without reading a chapter or two.  I even steal away during the day to read a few pages. I'd do just about anything to finish the book. I usually finish my books in three days, or less if I forgo all forms of other entertainment.  I've had this book for about a month now and I've been reading it for three weeks. I want to see the movie, though as I'm dying to see Meryl Streep as Julia and I've heard that so many people enjoyed the movie. Three weeks, though, is nearly an eterity to still be reading the same book.

On Thursday night I decided to do something totally radical and go to the movies.  We have a movie theater called Tinseltown right across the street from where I live & earlier in the day I drove by to see if the movie was still in that theater.   I went to the movies with my mother in Gulf Shores two weeks ago and that was the first time I've been to a movie theater since probably 2004. Two movies in two weeks, do I dare??
I still can't believe that I live less than a block from a nice theater and I'd never been.

My husband was out of town and I was afraid that the movie was going to leave the theater before I finally got a chance to see it. So I went!  All by myself, too. 

I'm so glad I decided to go.  I really enjoyed it.  I loved the Julia Child part of the story best.  It could have been only about Julia and her husband Paul (who was played by Stanly Tucci) I would have been very happy.  I think I figured out why I'm not enjoying the book and that's because the book is 99% about Julie and only 1% Julia.  The movie was 50/50 and so very enjoyable.  I'm going to have to get the book "My Life in France" by Julia Child, I can see that now.

Stanley Tucci in Julie and Julia

I'm going to finish the book, I can see that now, and I'm going to read a little bit more about Julia Child, something I probably would have never done if not for this movie. Even though I didn't care much for the book and I wasn't in love with the Julie person - I did love that the book came from a blog and that Julie was a blogger before blogging was so very cool.

 Have you seen the movie?  Read the book?  What did you think?
Leave a comment and let me know.

Have a great day!
Kristin

How to create your own blog

Just Start
Blogging for a Newbie

I'm a big fan of blogging.  I think it is a fabulous way to put my thoughts down on paper (virtually of course) along with photos, to document the world the way I see it and to invite others, some that I have never met, to join me in my journey.   One of the coolest things for me, is to be a part of the blogging community.  I've met so many people that are so incredibly interesting, talented, silly, hysterically funny and real.   I have more friends now than I've ever had before and I get a chance to get to know these folks without having to do anything but leave a comment.  I can talk to them at three in the morning and they can respond at 6am and I don't get woken up :) 

Getting started blogging is so easy. I swear, the hardest part is picking the name that you'd like to use.  The name of my blog URL is "ttelroc" which is my last name spelled backwards.  The name I've used to title my blog is "The Goat,"  explained here.  So don't worry if the URL name isn't exactly what you like, but think carefully so you don't end up with the URL "I love bacon" and you end up mostly talking about cooking vegetarian foods!  If you aren't sure if you want to spend money on a domain name, web hosting and all that goes along with that, you can find a bazillion free blogging platforms.  The ones that come to mind right off the bat are Blogger, Live Journal, or Wordpress. You can start blogging here and move your blog later if you feel you want your own domain name later. Get your feet wet before shelling out the cash :)

I use Blogger. I use one of their free templates. I don't have ads or stat counters and even though I really should figure out how to use a custom template, this way is just so easy that I haven't taken the time to learn how. I just wanted to get my thoughts and photos online and that's what I've done.

I take my camera everywhere with me. I snap photos in the grocery store, at stop lights, on a walk, at my mailbox, everywhere. I started blogging by using my small 5 megapixel camera and that worked out real well. I recently upgraded, but having a camera that isn't a cell phone (just for the quality of photos) is all that is needed. I download my photos from camera nearly every day onto my favorite online site for photos - Photobucket.

One thing that every blogger shouldn't be caught without is a piece of paper and a writing instrument. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have been caught without anything to write on when I think of a great blog topic or am part of a situation that is just too funny to forget. It's best to write it down and expand upon it later rather than try to remember what happened.

One of my friends, Leigh, writes about the places she visits, the restaurants and shops in her community and she gives tours of her town via her blog.  She gives the restaurants name, website, hours of operation, owners name - she really gives them the full treatment.  She does this because she truly wants to promote businesses that give great service, however, a side benefit is that when someone Googles about that particular store, they might get to her blog.  She may gain a new reader, just because she gave a review of a place she frequents. I've even visited a place that she reviewed and had a really great time!

(I met Dust Bunny Hostage)

Blogs can help you keep in touch with your family, help you advance your career as a fashion journalist, or can be a way to vent away the frustrations of having 4 children all in diapers and a husband who travels.  Blogs can be a place to show of your DIY skills and even sell those DIY creations. I've met so many people who say that they don't have a thing to say, but honestly, I think everyone has something to say.  Our lives are all unique and our lives are indeed fascinating.  You can even meet your blogging friends when you travel!!


One of my keys to a successful blog is to update your blog often.  If you decide to blog 5 days a week, keep up that pace.  People who start reading your blog will get used to your schedule and will keep coming back for more.  If you blog once a week or two, it's really hard to create any enthusiasm, but it can be done.  Personally, I blog every day.  I like making it a daily part of my life.  I do it mostly for me, but sharing my life with my blogging friends is something that I truly enjoy.  Thank you friends :)

Thank you to those that come here and read my stories.  Thank you to those who read my stories and comment.  Thank you for those that give me something to read each day and something to comment on just as often.  I love being a part of your community.   If you have any additions to my Just Start, Blogging for a Newbie, please post your comments and suggestions.

Thanks!
Kristin Corlett

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! Enjoy!


A few nights ago I had an hour long conversation on Facebook instant chat with a guy from High School. He told me that he saw me in a bar sometime between 1994 and 1998. I faintly remember that time, but after chatting with him, the memory was becoming clearer. He was with his wife and his Dad. How funny. He's not coming to the reunion, he lives too far away to come right now, but it sure was fun to chat with him and have him remember that time. This is why I'm so happy I'm blogging and writing in a journal these days. I have the worst memory. I need clues to help me. Too bad the first 40 years of my life are journal-less. (I made that word up!) Now when I look back on this post, I'll remember that I had the conversation and that I'd forgotten the other incident!


Have you seen this 25 second clip on the Fast Talking Baby? It's so funny and I can't imagine what she'll be like in a few more months! or years! She may talk more than me!



I park in a large covered garage with industrial cage-like garage doors. The side that I use to exit the garage has been a real bugger since the day we moved in. The door doesn't close all the way sometimes and then won't reset itself. All that needs to be done to reset the garage door is just a little press of the reset button. Of course this button is miles above my head, so I've gotten in the habit of keeping a hammer in my car because the head of the hammer is heavy enough to depress the button while I'm on my tip toes reaching up with it. Tonight I went to the movies and forgot that I had used the hammer earlier in the day & had tossed the hammer into the passenger side front seat. When I got back from the movie I saw something shiny in the front seat of my car and got a small panicky feeling. I even stepped back wondering what to do. Then I decided to just be brave & look in the window. I laughed out loud when I realized that I was scared of my own hammer.

Photo from Mom - Thanks Mom!

Baldwin County's Bicentennial Celebration at the Gulf Shores Museum
(09/10/2009)

Discover with us what is in the 1970's era Time Capsule as we open it in honor of Baldwin County's Bicentennial Celebration this year. Be at the Erie Meyer Civic Center for the Helton's concert at 7:00 p.m. The Time Capsule is located at the Gulf Shores Museum if you want to guess what's in it - you may win one of ten prizes!

That event was tonight (Thursday) and my mom was there. I was kind of waiting for her phone call about the event because it's just cool to be a witness to something like that. So when my mom called at 9pm, I wasn't too surprised. I was surprised though to hear a laugh in her voice. She could hardly wait to tell me - and I grabbed a pen and paper to write down what she was going to tell me. Time Capsule, check. Open on the 200th Anniversary, Check. Created in the 70's, Check. A saw was brought out to open the capsule. They opened it up and this is what they found.

Photo from Mom - Thanks Mom!

It was totally empty. OMGoodness! It's like Geraldo Rivera opening up Al Capone's vault. Nothing. There were newspaper articles about the event in the 70's talking about the photos and letters that were placed in the time capsule. I guess the original capsule was misplaced or someone had created this dummy version and those that knew about the real capsule are now long gone... I think it's just so funny!! I wonder if this little mystery will ever be solved.


Mrs. 4444 had a mid-week Fragment Favorites post. There were a lot of funny things last week, that's for sure. I got a mention in that post about my a few of my fragments - go take a gander! (Click here) Thanks Mrs. 4444 for the honor of Favorites badge once again :) It made my day.

Have a Fabulous Friday! Now go forth and fragment.
Kristin

Thrifty Finds

Welcome to the 33rd edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

This week I'm showing more of my photo finds from the Antique Mall here in Jacksonville, FL. I also found a few things in my travels this weekend in Five Points ( a cool little area in Jacksonville.) I had a great time finding these treasures, hope you enjoy them!



This is a real nice platter. It had a bunch of items on top of it, but I dug through it all :) and for $13 I could have purchased it. I have a platter similar to it that I rarely use, so I just wished.

I am emptying matchboxes around here and have no place to put the matches. I thought this max holder would be perfect. I took the photo and checked the price and then some man got to talking to me about who knows what and I walked away not remembering that I wanted it. LOL Sometimes having a bad memory is a good thing. It saved me seven bucks!

Now this was a document that lists the persons name and their occupation & the dues they paid. I was intrigued with the paper but mostly I was in love with the handwriting. Below I have a blurry closeup. What a beautiful script. This document was $18 and it was already in a frame.





Have you ever seen one of these paper records? I had forgotten about them completely until I saw this. I'm positive that I used to have a paper record when I was young. This item here was $5 - marked down from $8.

This picture was taken at a retail shop in Five Points. Five Points is a little section of the Riverside neighborhood that has a great little row of shops. This store, whos name I totally forgot, is wonderful. (Bob, do you remember this place? You got a purse here, as I recall)

Anyway, the entire store is filled with these antique mirrors. If you click to enlarge the photo you can really see in the mirrors. The oval mirror on the right has a reflection of one of the other walls of mirrors. What a great idea. I love it. I've been to auctions before where the discarded dresser mirrors are purchased for a few dollars.


I'm going to end my Thrifty Finds with this smiling boy. I have always liked these oval frames, but rarely do I see a photo inside with a smiling subject. I haven't priced these out, but even for a smiling boy, I think $58 is a little too high. Then again, my photo of it was free!!

I hope you have enjoyed my Thrifty Thursday and please go ahead and wander on over to Leigh's and see the others who have participated.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Kindergarten photo

This is my Kindergarten photo. I think I've shown it/blogged about it before, but I love it. I love the big round eyes. The flat expression. The little half moon creases on the sides of my mouth and I adore the haircut. I love that my bangs are cut around my eyes. They even dip down between my eyes. :) I've got static electricity going on at the top of my head, too! Ahhh, Michigan in the winter. I become an amusement toy the way my hair stands on end.

We have an 8x10 of this that hung in my grandparents home for as long as I can remember. I think I have it now.

I crack up every time I see this picture. Love it!

Oh, today is my husband's birthday. It's 09/09/09. It's a very cool day but he's really cranky...even though I bought him applewood smoked bacon and he got some of it for breakfast. He loves applewood smoked bacon and so do I, so I was almost guaranteeing that he'd be in a good mood. Tom is going to Michigan tomorrow and while he's in town he set up an appt with his accountant to file our 2008 taxes. Yep, we're behind. He didn't tell me any of this (I gave him my stuff for 08 a looooong looooong time ago) so he's been barking out orders - find this, find that. I set this disk here on the entertainment center a year ago - where is it? Ugh. Happy Birthday to him, huh?

So, instead of dwelling on him, I thought I'd post a fun photo of me :) I'm happy today! and in the long run, isn't that really what matters?!!

Kristin

Mikee's Seafood

This guy greeted my mom and I at the door of Mikee's Seafood in Gulf Shores, AL. I'm really not a huge nautical themed gal, but I do like these statues and it's all because of my grandparents. (The grandparents that lived in GS, as a matter of fact) They had a fisherman/captain statue in their house that I used to get my picture taken with when I was growing up. I wanted SO much to be taller than that guy. And one day I was and we didn't take any more photos with me next to him. I'll have to dig around and see if I can find one of those photos.


I like taking pictures of words. Or maybe it's the letters that I like to so much. Well, whatever it is, the Oyster Bar words here are on the side of Mikee's Seafood Restaurant. My Mom and I went to lunch here one day and we had a tough time finding something to eat. It wasn't for the lack of items on the menu, I think it was that there was too much or that several kinds of seafood were offered in each dish and I like just one kind at a time. I ended up getting crab claws. Turns out they came battered and fried! I had no idea. My mom and I also both got the corn fritters, no not fritters, nuggets? dumplings? I can't find the right word but OMGoodness they were so good. Yum!


Mikeee's was one of the success stories in Gulf Shores. They were flooded out a few times, but were able to rebuild and get back to business. I couldn't seem to get a good photo of the photo -- but it's the thought that counts! Isn't this just an incredible photo? I think those are two palm trees off to the right hand side.


Right here at the front door are the water mark lines for Katrina and Ivan. Can you imagine how deep that water was for Ivan? It seems nearly impossible to comprehend.




This golf course across the street from Mikee's was the funniest thing. I don't think I've ever seen such a small mini golf course. I think you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it. It's seriously funny. I wondered a few times while I was in GS if anyone actually went to this mini golf. Would it be for the price? It HAD to be cheap. It just had to be.

One of the famous landmarks of GS has got to be the shark at Souvenir City. It's been around since 1956! It's a very cool shark.




Here's the shark eating my mom :) She didn't scream or anything! Thankfully we were able to get in and out without a shark bite. My mom bought a few shells for the condo and I took pictures of shells for myself. It worked out well.

Mom is still in Gulf Shores - Hi Mom! I hope she's found a few more fabulous places to eat and that she's gotten the binder created for the take-out menus to our favorite places. I talked her into buying a label maker when I was there. I can't wait to find out how many cupboards she labeled.

If you're ever in Gulf Shores be sure to wave! Someone will wave back :)
Kristin

Labor Day

Tom and I went to a Labor Day BBQ with our support group friends. There were a few people in attendance that I hadn't met before, so that's always a nice surprise. We had the event at the Extended Stay Hotel right by my house. This hotel houses a lot of transplant patients, so they are always willing to have us use their facilities for gatherings without charging us anything. We always put a couple of signs up inviting all of the people staying in the hotel to come down and join us. They weren't very full this weekend but a heart transplant patient and her caregiver came down to join us.



Tom was designated as the official hotdog and hamburger griller. For some reason the group thinks that Tom is best suited for this job. Thankfully he has indeed done a stellar job. The grill was wrapped within an inch of it's life in aluminum foil. Then he was given some aluminum grill sheet things...I have no idea what they were...but he was supposed to grill the burgers on those. So he did. Post transplant patients are very cautious and since this was a community grill, they wanted the grilling surface to be as clean as possible. The couple that puts together all of our events, they came out this morning to actually clean the grill so it would be ready for this evening. Oh goodness. They are fabulous. :)

I was the official photographer this evening and I got a photo of every one of our guests. I just spent the last hour emailing everyone their photos. We're going to update our directory and put photos of everyone in it, so that we can remember the faces with the names. We got a nice start on that project by taking pictures tonight. The picture at the top of the page, is the one that Tom and I are going to use. I had someone take this of us, with my camera.

I hope you have a lovely labor day weekend. I know I did.
Kristin

Riverside Arts Market

I decided to go to the Riverside Arts Market (RAM) yesterday. It's a market that is held every Saturday in Jacksonville, FL from April through December. I love a good art fair and I'm hoping that this one, in its first year, will continue to thrive.

As soon as I got to the market, I was SO pleased to see so many people there. The last time I went, it was the 4th of July weekend and the turn out wasn't the best. Today was a totally different scene. All of the vendor rows were full and people were buying and eating and enjoying the day.

Do you see the structure overhead? That's a bridge/overpass for the 6 lane expressway, called the Fuller-Warren bridge. I learned from one of the vendors that when the overpass was designed, this space that the Riverside Arts Market is using, was built into the scheme. The riverside, paved area is wonderful. The roadway above shades this entire area for most of the day and in Jacksonville that's a rare treat.

I met Kelly at Happy Shack Design and was very excited to see her photographs. I loved the box frames that the images were mounted on. She's got some really fabulous photographs of these old rusted cars. I forgot to ask where she found these cars, shoot! I really liked the close up of the DeSoto hood. If you'd like more info on her, she's got a nice website, here, and a blog. You can even find her prints on her Etsy shop. She also makes and sells jewelry, too!

There was something going on the entire time I was at the RAM. The balloon guy had some really cool balloons - they looked like daisies. I meant to get a photo, but I got sidetracked. That happens when there is so much going on and so much good food!

This is Tanzaku art by Lynne Taylor. I loved this. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it! These prints are not on her website as they are a new thing for her, but I'm sure they will be shortly. Her photography is on there though and it's quite lovely. Her photography makes up the Tanzaku above as well.

She has turned the Tanzaku papers into book marks/ gift tags. I did buy three of the tags. I had to! I was so taken by the idea. I would love to have one of the Tanzaku pieces above. I really like the beach grass one on the left hand side.

OK, so you are probably asking...what in the world is Tanzaku? According to the information provided to me by Lynne...

Tanzaku is a narrow, vertical strip of paper - the opposite of a panorama. Tanzaku prints and poems evolved from traditional Japanese architecture, which had few solid walls - often the only place to hang a picture was on the structural pillars. The constraints of these dimensions force haiku-like brevity where each element is carefully and deliberately placed, and light quality is critical. These qualities are found both in the traditional ink and brush paintings and calligraphy poems along with today's photographic compositions. The Tanzaku developed to be a 3" x 14" print presented on a board of fine handmade paper with gold and silver embellishments.

Lynne's Tanzaku Art Prints follow these traditions and presentations.



The Riverside Arts Market is also a farmers market. I brought along my shopping crate on wheels and stocked up on some goodies. I took a photo of the corn, then moved on down to the tomatoes. By the time I was done purchasing my items from the other end of the table, I completely forgot about the corn! It sure does look good, doesn't it?!

I eat so few tomatoes that I asked if I could buy just one instead of a box of five. It smells wonderful. I haven't sliced into it yet, but it's fragrance is a beautiful perfume in the kitchen.

I don't eat avocados, but I was perplexed by the skin on these. They aren't what I normally think of when I visualize what an avocado looks like. I noticed several people with these in their hands, so I'm assuming that they know what they are getting.

I should say... I normally don't eat avocados. I don't hate them by any means, I don't choose to have them...except on a topopo salad from El Azteco.

(Bob - you still haven't sent me the Topopo salad recipe, btw. hint hint)

The pottery booth. Be still my heart. I love pottery. This is the Westside Studio Clayarts booth but they don't have a website, tisk tisk. I encouraged them to do so. I'm sure they will listen to me! I purchased a bowl from this table to give to my husband for his birthday, but I'm not going to point it out just yet...just in case Tom reads this.

This was my last stop of the day at the RAM. I'd spent two hours at the fair, drove to a park I'd never seen before and then took a stroll through Five Points (a block of fun shops.) I hadn't been there since my friend Bob came to visit a year ago February! That's a long time. It was a real good Saturday.

I hope you've had a real good weekend and that you enjoy the holiday tomorrow. I'll be attending a cook out with my transplant support group friends at a local hotel.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Driving in Circles

I forgot which way I was going this morning. I know that could mean 100 different things, but for right now it means that I missed my turn when I was trying to get on the expressway. Usually I take the expressway East. That's the direction for almost everything I do but this morning I needed to go West. I missed it. So I thought I'd just get to the next left turn space and make a U-turn. The next left turn lane was a No U-Turn and so was the next one! I'd gone nearly 2 miles in the wrong direction just to turn around. That tacked on 15 minutes.

Then I get on the expressway and nearly made another mistake by staying in the Exit Only lane. I didn't want to exit, not yet anyway.

I wasn't on the phone, I didn't have the radio on, I didn't have a passenger and I wasn't trying to take photos while driving. I have no idea why I became a space cadet.

Although, I have to say, I didn't get upset. I always figure if I make that many mistakes in a row, then something is keeping me from getting into an accident or an incident that may have happened if I'd stayed on my course :) I'm just glad it was just a 15 minute diversion. I once drove an hour in the wrong direction. I can't imagine what sort of trouble I might have gotten in that I had to take two hours out of my day to avoid it. LOL I have to admit, I was upset at that one.

So, if you ever find yourself driving around in circles, just think that you might be saving yourself a lot of trouble in the long run :)

I hope you have a great day!
Kristin

Pie Charts

I found these on Graph Jam, by way of List of the Day.

I ended up humming these songs for the rest of the day, so be careful!

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! I've been working on these all week! Enjoy!


Mocha, the aloof, is famous! She was pictured on Victoria Moran's website, here. She, Victoria, is one of my favorite authors and she sent me an email a week or two ago. It said....

"Thanks for the lovely mentions ...of my books on your blog. I'm honored.

And I love the picture of your cat with Living a Charmed Life. May I put in my blog? I'm happy to link back.

My very best,

Victoria

I have mentioned Victoria quite a bit - Click here to see all the posts I've written..if you'd like! :)



Wrist Worms from Sweden. This link takes you to the images page - I think there are 10 images. Just keep clicking on the photo to see all of the images and to see what the wrist worms actually do! I know a few dozen folks that could use a pair of these this winter.



Three families from our transplant group have been able to go home. They have all been very active in our group and their absence is huge! Oh goodness, I certainly wish them love and health and I am so happy that they finally got to go home, but I miss them! I guess that means that I'll have to become friends with a whole new group.





This photo was taken the night before Ed and Carolyn and their son Jonathan left town. Tom had just said to them that he'd hug them goodbye but he wasn't a hugger. All three of them pounced and nearly knocked Tom off his feet! I love spontaneity. Since I missed the spontaneous hug, they posed for this shot. Carolyn really isn't that short, by the way. I love this family. I am going to miss them.



I've never been able to make friends easily. I am always thinking that the person is just waiting for an escape or is just being nice. I know that I can talk a person's ear off and I try real hard to be the listener. I'm finding as I get older that I'm listening more. I'm not sure if I talk any less, but I'm listening more! Being a part of the transplant support group has taught me SO much and one of those things is that it's taught me how to be a friend in a hurry. I don't have years to befriend someone. Sometimes these folks can only make it to a few meetings, so I make sure to extend myself to them immediately. I don't have time to decide if I like every last detail about them or if they click with my personality. There have been some folks that haven't clicked with me or me with them, but loving them anyway has been an incredible gift. If only I'd figured a lot of this out 30 years ago.

How to make Scratch Off Tickets for whatever you want...
gift baskets, give-aways and even love notes!

My husbands birthday is coming up - 09-09-09. I love dates like that. I hope he has a great day!!


If there is a blog that I once liked but has gone on a tangent that I'm not particularly fond of, I'll place that blog into Time Out. (the very bottom section of my Google Reader) I rarely get down to that section during the course of a normal week. When I finally get to read the Time Out section, I've got a few weeks I can browse to see if they have gotten back to the topics and content that I enjoy. If not, I delete. I usually leave the blogs in Time Out for a few months before transferring them back up to the top or deciding to delete. I had a lot of blogs in Time Out during last years election season!


It's been a pleasure being a part of Friday Fragments this week. Stop by Mrs. 4444's blog, Half Past Kissing Time, to see more Friday Fragmenters.

White and Nerdy

My friend over at Pragmatic Compendium introduced me to this video (here) if you can't see it above. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've watched this and laughed and laughed! Donny Osmond dancing in the background - it's just priceless. The completed video of "White and Nerdy" is very good, too and if you like the song then be sure and see it (here) but I will love the green screen version best.

I'm seriously thinking that the Donny dance might just be a fabulous workout! He certainly looks exhausted at the end. Too fun.

Enjoy!
Kristin

It's over

My streak is over.

I missed posting today/yesterday.

I didn't plan on it.

But it happened.

I'm wondering if it's still yesterday somewhere in the USA that I can fudge it a little and still remain on goal.

Ahhh, what's a goal if you can fudge it? Not much of a goal!

So, out of 365 days of my "post every single day from November to November" this is truly the first day I have missed, without having an already scheduled back up. I guess that's not too bad.

I had a good excuse though.

I took a friend of mine to the hospital today for a procedure. We spent about 5 hours there for that. (I spent 3 of those hours with another friend on the ICU floor) I got home just as Tom was starting dinner. As soon as I got the dishes done from dinner, the friend who had the procedure earlier in the day felt that she should probably go to the ER at Mayo because things just weren't feeling right and she was in a lot of pain.

So...we went to the ER.

I don't think anything was resolved this evening for her, but she feels more comfortable. She might have been dehydrated, too, so they pumped her full of fluids while she was there. Hopefully she can get in to see the pain management folks tomorrow as I do believe she's got some issues from her transplant a few months ago.

You just can't mess around when it comes to post-transplant patients. If they are feeling poorly, haul them in, that's my motto.

It's good to help out when I can.

I'm pretty well beat though - so I'm going to go to bed. Night!!

Kristin

Tryke

The large box you see is one that has been in my garage here in Jacksonville for the past several years. It holds an adult tryke. We thought that the tryke really needed to have a home where it would be used and when my mom called and asked if I could bring it with me, I was more than happy to ablige.

The guy you see standing in front of the rather large box is Kevin. He's the guy that my mom called to put together the tryke. We both knew that if the bike didn't get put together right away, it would end up never getting put together. Kevin arrived on Friday morning and one hour later he was finished.




I think I caught Kevin by surprise :) He's checking the handlebars and seat to my mom's comfort.
Here she is! All finished and ready to roll. My mom took her out for a spin the next morning. There is a wonderful paved bike trail all the way to the grocery store in one direction (2.5 miles) and in the other direction I'm not sure how far it goes, but I'm pretty sure it's another few miles. The two baskets on this tryke will make it real easy to haul the groceries home.

I think this is going to be the perfect place to have this type of bicycle.

Have a great day!
Kristin