I am On a Roll!

Roll, not role. *Sigh*

I love Hibatchi.

My 30 Before 30


1. Successfully grow a garden (that one is going great!)

2. Purchase new drinking glasses (white polka dot from Target - love)

3. Sew a quilt

4. Print all past pictures since Hallie was born (making progress!)

5. Put #4 into albums.

6. Learn to play "Dawn" (from Pride and Prejudice) on the piano.

7. Re-size my super-cute moo-moo.

8. Get (and stay) pregnant (no pressure, right?).

9. Take Hallie to the Shedd Aquarium.

10. Take a tour of Woodlawn Farm.

11. Give up soda.

12. Visit Kurt in Colorado. (november!!!)

13. Find and buy black and white striped cushions for porch swing/rockers. I changed my mind.

14. Eat hibatchi with Dave.

15. Go on a job with Dave. In the semi.

16. Lose 10 pounds.

17. Organize under the kitchen sink.

18. Take a trip with Hallie and Dave. (St. Louis - to the City Museum, Brewery and Neil!)

19. Hang up plate wall in dining room.

20. Make cinnamon rolls from scratch.

21. Buy nightstands for the master bedroom.

22. Buy lamps for the master bedroom.

23. Make a headboard for the master bedroom.

24. Have new windows installed in the house. Blah.

25. Host an outdoor movie night.

26. Host a bonfire.

27. Sew curtains for the laundry room.

28. Pay off sound loan.

29. Pay off my car loan.

30. Host a fish fry.

Swagger Wagon.

I'm sure you've already seen it, but here's a shoutout to all my peeps with a SwaggerWagon.

Look Familiar?

2008

2010 

These Two.

They take the best pictures together.

God Bless The Telephone Trick.

Do you remember this post? Where my camera broke? My OLD camera? And I was so bummed to have to buy a new one?

But then I did?

And then do you remember this post? Where my new camera broke, but I googled and fixed it with that super cool "telephone trick" aka "beating your camera until it submits?"

Well.

I was digging through our junk drawer to find something, and I found my old camera. And I wondered....hmm....I wonder if it just needs a good kick in the butt to get working again.

It did.

I am thrilled. Beyond thrilled, actually. this camera is much better than my new one, in terms of lighting and such. they are both just the point and shoot. But regardless...YAY!!!!!

Summer Days.

We took a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks last weekend. It was one of those perfect, summery weekends where you live in the water. It was Heaven on earth, that much is true.

And don't I look hot? Before you insult my shades, let me tell you that they are Grandma Perkin's sunglasses.

So shut it.

Fail.

Remember my food goals? Here's an update.

1. Try to cut out McDonalds and other fast foods. Fail.

2. Clean out pantry and toss (or donate - who wants them??) the stuff that is full of the nasties. Fail.

3. Cook from scratch as much as possible, using as many fresh ingredients as possible. Success.

4. Fresh fruits, veggies and home-made treats for snacks. Fail/Success.

I suck.

The whole "clean out the pantry" thing just didn't happen. I weighed my priorities. Do I want to be in the kitchen making all homemade treats during my time-off from work? Nope. It's a lovely idea, but it really eats into my family time.

I still cook supper from scratch, and I love doing that. I love nice, family meals. And we are big fans of fruits and veggies around here already. So Hal will chow on some watermelon, but then might also have some Cheez-Its or Pringles too. And I'm cool with that.

You dig?

30 before 30.

Six down, 24 to go!


My 30 Before 30

1. Successfully grow a garden (that one is going great!)

2. Purchase new drinking glasses (white polka dot from Target - love)

3. Sew a quilt

4. Print all past pictures since Hallie was born (making progress!)

5. Put #4 into albums.

6. Learn to play "Dawn" (from Pride and Prejudice) on the piano.

7. Re-size my super-cute moo-moo.

8. Get (and stay) pregnant (no pressure, right?).

9. Take Hallie to the Shedd Aquarium.

10. Take a tour of Woodlawn Farm.

11. Give up soda.

12. Visit Kurt in Colorado. (november!!!)

13. Find and buy black and white striped cushions for porch swing/rockers. I changed my mind.

14. Eat hibatchi with Dave.

15. Go on a job with Dave. In the semi.

16. Lose 10 pounds.

17. Organize under the kitchen sink.

18. Take a trip with Hallie and Dave. (St. Louis - to the City Museum, Brewery and Neil!)

19. Hang up plate wall in dining room.

20. Make cinnamon rolls from scratch.

21. Buy nightstands for the master bedroom.

22. Buy lamps for the master bedroom.

23. Make a headboard for the master bedroom.

24. Have new windows installed in the house. Blah.

25. Host an outdoor movie night.

26. Host a bonfire.

27. Sew curtains for the laundry room.

28. Pay off sound loan.

29. Pay off my car loan.

30. Host a fish fry.

Sunday.

Whoooooosh.

(exhale)

Just, this.

Saturday.

More of this.

More dogs.

More Race Party.

No more pictures.

Friday.

Today was the big day.

Catering for 40.

At my house.

Rain.

House guests. (Well, sort of. Mattlemon and family don't really count, I guess.)

Lots of dogs.

The recital.

The concert.

Dave was hot awesome.

Late night.

Made moneky bread before going to sleep. I am awesome stupid.

Pictures.

Thursday.

Thursday was easy. Exhausting, but easy.

I cleaned. Top to bottom. Over and under. Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean. The one thing I did not do was to put clothes away in my closet. I did massive amounts of laundry. I put Hal's clothes away, but I could not make myself put my own away. I just couldn't.

I was sore.

And tired.

And then we had Hallie's dress rehearsal for the big recital. It was the start of a looong, but awesome weekend.

Pictures from the rehearsal:

Math.

This

Plus this

Multiplied by this

Divided by this

Equals awesome. Break down tomorrow.

A Preview.

On the Agenda.

Cleaning List

Blue Room (aka - toy room): Straighten, dust, vacuum, lysol Sophie (just kidding. not really)

Hallie's Room: straighten, dust, vacuum.

My Room: straighten, dust, vacuum, put away clothes in closet.

Bathrooms: toilets, mop floors, clean mirrors, check toilet paper, clean hand towels, vacuum, dust.

Kitchen: wipe down cabinets, vacuum, dishes, spray clean floor, clean fridge, dust.

Upstairs: dust, straighten, make bed, vacuum. (dave did everything else last night!)

Basement: vacuum, dust, straighten, make bed, clean up sewing crap, clean up storage room. (I rock.)

Dining Room: vacuum, dust, clean table cloth, clean windows.

Living Room: vacuum, dust, clean mirrors, attempt to clean couch.

Outside: weed front landscaping, trim bushes, clean garage.

Cooking List


For tomorrow - one two potato casseroles and two corn casseroles, plus one angel food cake with a yummy lemon glaze.


Time to start prioritizing. Pray for me.

*updated 9:45am
**updated 11:26 - dusting done!
***updated 12:19 - vacuuming done!
****updated 1:03 - bathrooms done!
*****updated 1:25 - so close.
******updated 1:52 - I mean, so so close.
*******updated 2:23 - one thing to go and that will have to wait until this last load dries.

I consider myself done.

Whew.

The Party.

Once a year our "neighbors" throw a huge fundraiser for their Arca race team. It's huge. And fun. And last year it got funner. I mean, more fun.

Mason Sound (aka, my father-in-law) contacted his band buddies (aka, the Kentucky Head Hunters and Confederate Railroad) and asked them to play at the events. So they did.

(picture from last year - Dave playing drums with the Headhunters.)

Anyway, my house is the closest to the neighbors, which means it's the easiest place to serve lunch to the bands. Which means I have to clean.

(picture from last year - Hallie eating with Confederate Railroad)

Luckily, Mrs. Mason Sound (aka - my mother-in-law) is taking care of most of the cooking. I'm doing a few easy side dishes and a dessert, but mostly just cleaning.

It's a great excuse to finally scrub my neglected floors and clean my finger-printed windows. I've taken Thursday off to clean in peace and will spend Thursday night and Friday morning trying to maintain the cleanliness. That will be the hardest part.

We also have Hallie's dress rehearsal Thursday night, recital Friday night and another recital Saturday. It's going to be a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend!

Love.

I love google.

Let me tell you why.

An hour ago I hated my camera. I still don't love it, but I certainly am not mad at it anymore. You see, I had tried to turn it on and it told me I had a "zoom error." How rude.

I turned it on and off, on and off. Everything looked good, but I'm getting this super annoying message and no ability to take pictures. Not good when I have a recital (for Hallie, not for me) coming up this weekend.

Plus the big party thing. More on that later.

So I turn to google to fix all of my problems. And it did. It lead me to a forum where this has happened to many fuji users. And they kept referring to the magic "Telephone Trick" and how it worked for them!

I kept scrolling and scrolling and finally found the description of the "Telephone Trick." This is what I found: beat your camera against your hand, a book or another hard object. Repeat.

So I beat my camera repeatedly against my desk and hand. It felt good.

And now it works.

Magic.

Hate.

I don't hate a lot.

But dang, I hate my camera.

As a Wife.

I believe we all have our primary roles. Mine is to be a mother and a wife. A helper and a nurturer. And I love both of those roles. I love being a mother, and after six years of marraige I am finally figuring out how to be a wife. Took a while, huh?

Poor Dave.

As a wife, I am a cheerleader. (See below).

When my husband has a terrible, no good, very bad day, it's up to me to make his day better (or die trying). If he's in a funk, I do my best to snap him out of it, and if he needs to cry he can cry to me. Okay, he never cries, but if he does - i'm ready for it. I would love to be cried on someday - does that make me weird? Yes.

As a woman, I am a nuturer. And I'm also a helper.

I, ahem, sometimes struggle with helping. Helping Dave sometimes means manual labor, of which I am not fond. I have non-calloused, delicate hands. I am not strong. I wilt in the sun and I....am a wuss, I guess. But I'm working on that. He needs a building partner - okay! A hand to lay some bricks - you bet! Haul branches to burn - okay! You need a helper, I will help. I certainly don't love doing it, but it gets easier the more I let go and just do it.

Most times though, he does not want help with manual labor. He just wants a partner. A companion. He wants me to sit outside while he cleans out his truck. Not my favorite activity. I have been known to whine - LOST is on! Anything is on! Do I have to??? But he doesn't need my help. He just wants company. Lots of italics there. Lots of emphasis!

So it's the same deal as above. The more I just give in, stop resisting, and do it, the more I enjoy it, helping.

I'm pretty proud it only took me six years to learn. Honestly. I'm slightly strong willed (hey - no snickering), and tried to demand equality - equal rights! Do it yourself! I do things myself! Heck - I can multitask!! But it wasn't working. I had to let go of that realize we all have roles. It was time to embrace my role as a woman - nuturer and helper.

So I did. And I am. And it's awesome.

Smothers Day.

My name is Keri and I love to add S's to the beginning of words to make them other words.

Anyway.

Blah, blah, Mother's Day, blah, blah blah. I am not so much into the whole Mother's Day as a holiday thing. I mean, it's great to celebrate mother's, but don't worry about the jewelry or breakfast in bed. I don't need it. It's just another day.

Another totally awesome, rad day, actually!

My yesterday was one of my favorite days ever. I wish I had pictures. It was one of those days full of nothing that meant everything. Hallie and I went to church and then stopped by the ole Home Depot for some hot pink geraniums. We came home to a sleepy Dave and had peanut butter and honey sandwiches/nachos. I planted my pink geranimums, petunias and rose tree while Hallie rode her bike in circles around me. I painted all of my pots bright yellow this year and I LOVE IT. They probably need another coat, but I just can't make myself do it.

Anyway.

We took a pre-nap, mile-long bike ride (Hallie rode, we walked) to Lucille's. There was not even a single wisp of a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was perfect. Hallie rode along with a huge smile on her face and stopped every so often to pick dandelions on the side of the road.

AND, get this: Dave held my hand. Without me begging asking.

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Hallie put herself down for a nap when we got home. Let me repeat that. Hallie put herself down for a nap when we got home. I baked to my heart's content and then took a nap on the front porch swing.

And burned my nose. Yes, I'll guide your sleigh tonight.

We ended the evening with a dinner with the fam and an episode of Brothers & Sisters (which was totally lame, btw).

Awesome.