Meet Masey

Masey is our new juvenile corn snake. She is captive born and bred. She eats frozen mice once a week, likes to sun and is BEAUTIFUL! She is technically the boys snake, but of course mom had to approve due to the fact I know I will be caring for her like all other zoo members. It has been about 5 years since we have had a snake. They are wonderful and very clean pets. K~

Kalahari 2011

We are enjoying a nice visit to the Kalahari. Even Puff. K~

little birds

Here are a few of my friends I made. I really enjoy this, but they take a bit of time. I do also enjoy photographing them in the snow. It is a fun background. K~

Finished teaching my class

Well the first class I ever taught is over and I feel much better with the results than I had anticipated. I had some success in my teaching. 13 girls started. I believe it was 9 that did not know how to either knit or crochet. Of those 9, 3 became quite accomplished, 3 are coming along and are at least interested in continuing to learn the craft and 1, well she was a bit distracted. Not a bad record. Several girls worked on gifts over Christmas break. Here is one girls project. I am very impressed, because this particular girl had never crocheted before I taught her :-).
This student has never knitted before.
She is doing very well and is about 1/2 done. She kept up with it.
I am so proud of my class. Several students stuck with it and kept going, even with all the challenges. I am planning on a second class starting in the spring.
The girls wanted me to do another on. That was a nice feeling. K~

Oh there I am...

I won't lose my place.

I finished this 21 days into my bible reading. Kind of feeling guilty that the red colors number is 666. I think God will forgive me. My inspiration was a towel in the same color.

K~

Parenting?

Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done, and I have done some pretty hard things in my day. Being responsible for another life is quite daunting. It's more than can be written in a book or passed on from mom to daughter. Mix into that daunting pot, "challenging" children. Ones that don't "fit the mold", not one, but all 3 and now things get even more interesting. Parenting really takes on a life of it's own in the house. Try as I may, it becomes impossible to integrate parenting and living together into one working organism.

I remember back when I was in one of those parenting classes before I was an actual parent. A man asked the following question (need I mention that MOST questions are not stupid)

The man: "When will my wife have the baby?"

The instructor: "After she dilates to 10 cm and is totally effaced...... blah blah blah."

The man: "No, When is she going to go into labor. I just need to know, I'd like to plan."

Wouldn't we all. Even at that early stage of parenting I knew that was too much to ask for, but I tell ya, I fear some genetics were never meant to be mixed. Rick and mine, NOT A GOOD COMBO! Still, I know how the man felt. Even though I knew that that was a question that could not be answered, of course, I wanted an answer.

I feel like the older my kids get, the more unanswerable questions come up. When their tears and the yelling come, and mine as well, which is daily here, I have to take it as the day has presented it to me. Some days I can handle others, not so much.

Take this morning, please :-) Over a 45 minute period the following things happened:

3 up and "awake"

3 need to be fed

2 need clothes found

2 need constant hounding to get dressed

2 inform me that it is too cold to get dressed

2 need meds

1 needs a quick hair cut

1 goes through his daily 3-4 underwear because they all feel too tight, too poky, to baggy, etc.

1 tells me his whole face hurts

1 is following me around saying he is sorry

1 is on a verge of a very serious fit

1 is still in the bathroom getting more beautiful

1 is ready to go out to the bus in a sweatshirt and a thin jacket and a cotton fashion hat, and no mittens (temp outside 9F)

1 has pulled his boot apart and is angrily trying to put it back together

1 is still in his underwear

1 needs his hair flattened but not too wet

1 needs his coat snapped

1 needs to be reminded that they should be gone already

3 leave crabby

AND I NEED A DRINK

To sum up my rant, if I can look at this from 2 different view points:

1. (Positive view) Every house looks like this in the morning

2. (Negative view) I live in a nut home

K~

snow snow snow clean clean clean it's all the same

Saw this today. It spoke to me. K~

Been there. Done that. And not very well I might add.

To all the teachers of elementary school and junior high school.

I am writing this to you in a desperate fit of anxiety. I am a 43 year old mother of 3. I have a 3rd, 6th and 8th grader. I just wanted to share that in all fairness, I have been through Grades k - 12 as well as college. I have finished the former mentioned education in the year of our Lord Nineteen hundred and ninety. I was even ambitious enough to take 8 more college courses 5 years later in 1995. I find myself some ought 15 years later entrenched in nightly rudimentary and new wave school work sessions. Although I have improved my spelling, grammar, reading aloud, history knowledge, math skills along with other topics I am too tired to remember, I find it has encumbered me beyond reason.

My day begins with remembering if homework has been finished, writing notes to teachers with follow up questions, concerns and explanations regarding homework. Then I move onto my day to day homemaking in fear of the 4:00 hour. At this time, the ritualistic purging of my children takes on a life of it's own. "What is your homework?" "When is it due?" and on and on. Then we move onto the panic hours. The dreaded after supper time. This is a 3 hour session of doing homework, printing out homework, crafting homework, and reviewing homework. And lastly, it is the worst of all sound that comes at around 10PM...... "Mom.. um.. I forgot about (you fill in the blank) it's due tomorrow and I totally forgot about it."

I am throwing myself on the mercy of the schools. I don't have the answer, but I sure do have a problem. I may be the only one out there that feels this way. If so, I expect extra special treatment. If I am not, please take my plea seriously, and that is as follows.... REMEMBER I HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE. PLEASE LEAVE ME OUT OF THE HOMEWORK SCENE.

Sincerely,
Hanging my a thread.
K~

The Producers - I'm Hysterical!!!

I love this movie. I think the first 1/2 is much better than the 2nd. Gene is absolutely fantastic in it. This scene hits a bit to close to home for me. I could not stop laughing! enjoy! K~

Back to work tonight

I look forward to going back to my job tonight. With the holidays and an unexpected sinus infection, I have been off for a few weeks. I just miss all that goes on at WRC. I miss the people and the animals. I miss helping as I can. YEAH! K~

Working with leftovers

At the beginning of every new year and season, I try and condense the overflow of yarn I have. I am trying to use the yarn for something useful. With my Red Heart yarn, I am going to make a rug. With my cotton yarn, i am going to make a scarf and then hats. The scarf will be for me, and the hats, I might try and sell?? K~

Here we go...

So I read my first day with the One Year Bible. I know now why bible studies are hard for me. I got 1/2 way through the first page and had a few big questions. It's as if I never read the bible before, which I have a few times. I am looking forward to this. I look forward to see how my understanding develops along the way. Thanks again Bob! K~

Oh Bob, Got the gifts, LOVE THEM!! Very sweet. I assume the peanut pudding is for the bird feeder? K~

Goodbye 2010

A few necklaces I made from my cross stitch squares

Well it is the end of 2010. I am sitting here with Puff. I have just taken 4 ibuprofen, cold meds, sinus meds, lung meds, put hydro cortisone on my eye lids ( I know it causes glaucoma), drank my pumpkin spice coffee, had my lefse with brown sugar and butter, and am catching up on my craft project piles.

What have I learned in 2010.

1. I am not a boy. I don't understand them and they don't understand me.

2. I love to take care of those who need caring for.

3. I wear the same outfit day and night, in public and at home. (as close to PJ's as I can get)

4. Parenting is HARD and is getting harder.

5. Being in a relationship is hard to do when both of you are never with each other.

6. Crafts will pile up and that's ok as long as you are enjoying them.

7. A "clean house" is one with a defined permanent defined path carved out for walking.

8. I am the sick old gazelle but, I feel lucky that I have a place to rest and hide.

9. It's ok to let go.

10.It's ok to hold on.

I hope that I have a great 2011. I would like less drama and more peace. I am planning on taking deep breaths and taking one day at a time. It seems to work good when i do that.

I am going to be reading a daily bible. Hopefully, daily.

I hope for all my friends and readers :-) that you all have a better 2011 than 2010. That way if 2010 was GREAT then 2011 will be FANTASTIC! and if 2010 was a bit of a bummer, then you only have one way to go and that's up!

Happy new year everyone!!

K~

Nala in the snow

Nala trying to get a grip on this weather. She was back in moments later. crabby. Only several months to go. K~

Merry Christmas

Christmas before dawn. 3rd year in a row.

We had such a nice Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas everyone. K~

Vision

Vision

This is a vision that I had. I needed to do a square for it. The left side is my life. Things in order and the flower buds are troubles that occur, but are handleable. The right side is of stress and incoming turmoil. Each color of the buds are represented on the right side. It really was therapeutic to do this square. I have slowly been settling into my new normal, which, by the way, I feel is life for all of us. We go day by day in our life and it is not for us to sit idle and never experience anything good or bad. It's like the quote from Finding Nemo. Dori - "If you didn't let him do anything then he would do nothing....not much fun for little Harpo." K~

Bingy at 4

Bing before his shave. He looks a lot like a polar bear.

Bing lovin the woods! K~

Moving on day to day

Signing off

Well as the days go on, we are hanging in there. We have a lot of new routines to keep up going and seeing how things are going to iron out. It's like riding a wave around here.

Here's a new square.

Kind of reminds me of the stripes on a TV channel that has signed off... Thus the name. K~

Book #100!

Well it would be a cheesy read that would mark my 100th book. I love this series. A bit raunchy, but funny. Since summer of 2005 I have read 100 books and 29,353 pages!! That's pretty good for a virtual non reader before that date! Yeah! Know It is something I look forward too every night. K~

This ought to be interesting

Ok, so I need to put in a billion hours of volunteer time at TCA, C's school. So I think, "I know, I will offer a class to people who KNOW HOW to crochet and knit. That way, I can maybe teach them a new stitch, or help them if they run into a snag, but mostly, it will be a quiet class where the kids can work on a holiday project or a project to donate. I give my class write up to the lady in charge. I speak to the coordinator and explain that I really can only teach one on one. That I am not an accomplished knitter, but wouldn't mind if people knitted if they wanted to. I also gave a second idea for a class if crocheting and knitting didn't work. I told her we could do cross- stitch bookmarks in a different class. So.... I read the description of my class and it includes "crochet, knit and cross-stitch class". Oh no.

I get there on Monday and I ask my 13 class members who wants to knit, some hands go up. Who wants to crochet, some hands go up. Who wants to cross-stitch, no hands go up. I say "great, ok, let's get our materials passed out" One girl raises her hand, "Umm, could you explain the difference between them?" Several heads nod up and down.

As if I am reading a book, I "go back a few pages" and start from there. I explain to them the difference. We get a bit worked out, and I get some materials passed out. Of 13 girls, 3 know how to knit and one knows how the crochet. The rest...zilch, zip, nada. As I am handing out materials, I hear a girl ask my helper, who by the way can only cross-stitch, "what's a skein?"

I went home and said to myself..... Class and attitude readjustment time.

Today I did a 3 day our syllabus for myself, and in a 30 minute class had everyone paired up and grouped together. All the knitters had some yarn casted on their needles and all 5 of the crocheters has chains ready to start there scarves.

Way to regroup and get something done.

Next Monday may be a different story.

K~

under sea baby hats

Some odd little baby hats. I figured if I was going to put a pom pom on the top of the hats, why not an octopus and a jellyfish? K~

What are Bacterial Mats?

Yellowstone Bacterial Mat

The runoff from this geyser hosts an interesting juxtaposition of Archaea and bacteria living in different temperature ranges. Thermophilic algae (Cyanadium) are green and live in waters 38-56oC. Reddish deposits are siderophilic (iron-loving) Archaea ranging between 50-60oC. http://blackquartz.com/yellowstone.html

They are so beautiful and so delicate! Just a little earth science lesson for today.

K~

insight

Here is an insight into a matured relationship.

Me "Do you know what's funny?"

Rick "Jokes?"

Me "Do you know what would make me feel better?"

Rick "Not being sick?"

That was 2 conversations we had in the last week.

K~

This one is my fault but it is too big for me

One of my kids just told me they don't believe in God.

I have only myself to blame. I am so sad and so not cut out to raise children. I tell ya. After seeing the Dead Sea scroll this morning. I was feeling a bit more renewed in my pursuit to get the family back to church on a regular basis(if at all). Then this bombshell.

I don't even need to ask what I need to do.

Please join me in prayer for my family. Thank you. K~

I'll tell ya what hurts

I didn't get bitten, I didn't get scratched, but for the second time, I had my finger caught between its extremely strong tail and the spike on the back of its top shell. All I have to show for my incident is a small dot on the top of my finger by my knuckle. But when you touch it, it really hurts. Usually you don't want to pick snapping turtles up by their tail. It is harmful for them. but at work, most of the turtles have shell injuries, making it too harmful and painful for them to be picked up "properly"so we need to grab them by the tail and put are other hand under them to lift them out of the container. Needless to say they don't like this. K~

A conundrum wrapped in a question filled with a query...

Ok, so hears the deal.... I can't be around dust or my asthma goes nuts. So if I don't dust, it gets too dusty, and I am surrounded by dust, if I dust then I am surrounded by dust.

I can't be around fall leaves or my asthma goes crazy so do I leave them or do I rake them. I just tried to simply sweep the sidewalk and now I sense the deep wheezing set in. so.... there you go. My answer is a hazmet suit. K~

tree house

Rick and David working hard on the tree house.

Will it be done by winter?

I don't know.

But it is really cute. K~

Finally done

It took awhile, but I finally finished the "Bison in the Badlands". K~

A lighter side of self discovery

I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought was "I am Fred Flintstone". Let us do the run down shall we.

1. I wear the same thing everyday

2. I always goes barefoot

3. We are not going to mention my size... but....

4. I shrink when ashamed

5. I let the cat out every night

6. I like to nap

I think 6 distinct similarities is enough to prove my point.

so.... my quote for the day is, of course, "Yabba Dabba Doo!" K~

hats

Hat for big brother Darby.

Hat for new born baby Finn.

K~

Not Sleeping

It has been only 4 days since I resigned from Site Council. I am sad that the principal never contacted me after I sent the email resignation. She just put out an email to the council, not sending it to me, and moved on. I guess, it was a cowardly way out, but after all, it was a volunteer position. I was a voting member of Site Council for about 4 years (a long time) I have been going for over 9 years. I guess when you make a decision to quit. You need to be ready for it to be ALL over. But I guess I feel ashamed about it. I have to remind myself that crying after meetings, one of which I volunteer my time, is not healthy for me. It is not a place someone should spend their time. I see people move on from things, and they well, move on, or so it seems. Me?? I am not a mover oner. I think I am sometimes, I want to think I am, but I'm not.

Sleeping has been so hard for me. Well before summer started. Now it is October, and I am still not sleeping. I am tense and a bit of a mess.

I need to take baby steps and learn that everyone, including me, deserves to feel useful and heard. Maybe someday, I will find a place where that is the case.

Being 43 and having no direction is not a fun place to be. I just seem to long to be valued. I am smart sometimes. I have something to offer. I know I do. Don't I??

Maybe I don't. Maybe I am just stupid. Maybe it is safer for me to stay home. Bad things happen when I go "outside" of my house. I don't feel comfortable anymore. Frankly, I have felt this way for years now. After so much time trying to fill the void, I think I need to just except the fact that I have nothing directly to give to others. I am just dopy old me. plodding along. what a doof. I think after 30+ years of "mis-steps" I should at the very least be able to embrace that fact.

I wish that I felt like a high schooler looking for attention and saying things to get it. But alas, I actually know it is who I am and it makes me sad and frustrated.

Just sayin' K~

I'm exhausted and discouraged today

It seems the more I try and work with Site Council, the worse it gets and the more upset I become. I am a 43 year old woman for cornsake!!!!! I have decided to "piss AND get off the pot" It is what I always say about the group..."why don't we piss or get off the pot" well.... I am now finished and am removing myself. If you read this, send me warm thoughts today. It is going to be a tough one. K~