A rock A Bama

A Rock A Bama....that's what my lil 6yr old brother spoke of the second we pulled up to his parents house to pick him up to take him to our friends son's birthday party on Saturday.

He says, "Hi Kathy, A Rock A Bama's 2 men were here. They work for the United States of America & A Rock A Bama wants to be the President of the United States." I asked him what two men...which he replied "A Rock A Bama's" He continued telling me how A Rock A Bama wants to become our president, and is a very important man & the two men who walked by their house works for the United States of America. Man, that kid is sumthin else!!

Now today while talking to Donna on the phone I told her about Jesse's conversation with me about "A Rock A Bama" We both got a good laugh about that. Well apparently I talk loud. So loud that Maddy heard me & starting playing the mocking bird saying "A Rock A Bama" She's 2...and a flippen hoot!!!

I am in no way shape or form stating in this post whom I am voting for for the President. I know for me it's so hard & I take it very seriously. On Friday both Ken & I picked up our absentee ballots. I have to admit I am scared to make the wrong choice. I'd like to think my vote matters...even though the majority vote does not elect the future president...which boggles my brain. That whole electoral thing bugs the skittles out of me.

I'm sure my posting this next thing I will step on people's toes & their belief's but it's my blog with my ideas & beliefs. There are 2 proposals we are voting on...one for the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes & another for stem cell research. I am all for both of these.

I haven't seen one sign supporting the stem cell research but I know several with my same views. These are my thoughts about both of these proposals...stem cell research may just provide us with a cure for cancer, for MS & who knows what else. There are some people who disagree with this, that stem cell research is playing God. I know this is a highly sticky subject with so many. But ya know, this is how I look at it...God wouldn't have given the scientists such wondrous brains if they weren't meant to use them. So yeah, I'm all for it & pray that we can get some cures for such horrible diseases!!

Medical marijuana...it's been proven to help alleviate pain in cancer patients. Now I know if my bones were being invaded by the evil C word I would not want to be in my right mind anyway!!

Anytootles, it's so important to vote!! If you don't you have no place to complain because you didn't try to help better the future!!

Oh wow! I haven't been too blogumentative lately!!! Last week was a real wanker of a feeling week. Ken got home on Wednesday night & took the rest of the week off. Let me tell you, it was awesome to have my hubby home. Especially when I am feeling like a fart in a jar!

We did some movie watching, snuggling on the couch, finished up the outside stuff that needed to be done before it starts to snow, did a lil shopping & cooking & attended my lil brother's last football game (which they won by the way), took my littlest brother & Maddy to our friends sons birthday party & watched the race yesterday. I'm certain I am forgetting stuff but that's the jist of it. Total awesome time though just chillin with the hubby, going to bed late & sleeping in. Oh and get this...I actually slept!!! I've always had problems sleeping.





Anytootles, last night I began the task of cutting up Ken Gpa's old shirts. It'll be 3 yrs on Jan 1st that Gpa passed away. The bag of clothes has been in the closet ever since. Well I'd really like to make something for Ken for Christmas. Something with meaning. I don't know if it's that I'm getting older but the store bought stuff just doesn't rock my socks. Sure, there are nice things but the whole hustle bustle of it all really annoys me. I guess it seems like all too often people only care about the gift they recieve. I have to admit, I was a lil snot bucket when I was a kid & it totally revolved around the gifts. Perhaps I am getting old...

anyways, back to the cutting of the shirts. Ken is not the easiest person to buy for & well, the man has everything. He doesn't know I am making him one. He thinks it's for his parents. So please, if you know him or see him don't mention it. (He never reads my blog) I guess that's a good thing. LOL

McKenzie wanted to help....isn't she precious!!! I think she realized "Mommy" was kinda sad doing this. So this was her way of making me smile =)

I've also been working on some other lil projects. I can't say who they are for because they are gifts & I have family who reads this.

This week I need to rent a rug doctor & get the carpets done...on November 1st we begin the fantabulastic task of putting up Christmas trees, Villages, lights, more lights, garlands, angels, manger...oh what fun! I can hardly wait!!!

A to Z of being tagged!!

A. Attached or single? Happily married!
B. Best friend? My husband, he knows me best.
C. Cake or pie? lemon merangue pie or white cake with buttercream frosting
D. Day of choice? Sunday...race day & football day
E. Essential item? I honestly don't know that I have an "essential" item...I absolutely love crafting though & would be lost without yarn & a crochet hook
F. Favorite color? purple
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms. But never those octopus gummies...those gag me profusely!!
H. Home town? Escanaba, MI...it's in the Upper Penninsula of MI
I. Favorite indulgence? YARN!!! It's more like an addiction
J. January or July? July.
K. Kids? no human kids...but if one considers pets kids we have 5 dogs (Macey, Brayden, McKenzie, Allison & Arizona), 2 cats (Buster & Betsey), a tortoise named Chloe & numerous fish
L. Life isn’t complete without? My Ken...that's my hubby =)
M. Marriage date? March 23, 1996
N. Number of brothers and sisters? I have20 siblings
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples
P. Phobias?wood ticks!!!!
Q. Quotes? Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away. To the World you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world
R. Reasons to smile? Ken putting his hat on sideways & talking like a hillbilly
S. Season of choice? Fall!
T. Tag 5 people: Jewel, Shash, Rebecca, Julie, anybody who wants to.
U. Unknown fact about me? I broke my collarbone doing a shoulder roll somersault in 9th grade
V. Vegetable? carrots
W. Worst Habit? Worrying too much
X. Xray or ultrasound? Who cares....
Y. Your favorite food? chicken
Z. Zodias sign? Virgo

Pumpkin Time

Tonight my lil brother JJ is spending the night & we decided to carve pumpkins. Haven't done this in years!!

being manly men with knives!!

JJ hasn't carved in years so this was a blast!

Ken & I with our pumpkins

all lit up...left to right: JJ's skeleton head, ken's ummm weird pumpkin. It was supposed to be a tree but he didn't like how it was turning out so he created this umm odd thing. He's not known for his patience when it comes to creating/ crafting type things. Then mine on the far right.

Ken's goofy pumpkin...man do I love my weirdo hubby!!! Would it be bad to call this pumpkin Ken? JK

My kitty on the mound of pumpkins pumpkin

JJ & I with our creations


While JJ & I finished our carving Ken began washing the seeds & preparing them to bake. After we took the pics outside & came in the house the salted seeds were ready to enjoy.

Random Filth

Tonight I did something I never thought I'd do...I went to a movie by myself!! Of course Ken is on the road. And face it, Nights in Rodanthe is not his cup of tea. But I so badly wanted to see it. I decided this morning I would try to go today. I say try because I felt like donkey doo today. Not that I know what a donkey doo feels like mind you. I contemplated calling my gal pals & setting up a gals night. Which would have been out of this galaxy fun!! But then I thought, hmm most of my gal pals work or have babies...something I do not have...I have oodles upon oodles of guy friends but seriously, who would be game for going to see that movie? Not any that I know of. So, I waited the dizzies out today & finally decided at 5:30 I'd be bop to the theater. I have to admit, it wasn't all that bad. Being by myself I mean. I'm always by myself anyways. The movie was great!!

I've been thinking a lot lately. I have feelings of being inadquate, like I NEED to be doing more. I have no babies so why is it I don't "work". Sure, I do the paperwork for ownign our semi. But my brain is so much more capable of doing other things. I love to bake but I can only be Betty effin Crocker so much. Our waist lines show the outcomes. I've been doing a lot of reading. Which reminds me...Lauren, if you're reading this I am waiting for another post!! Yesterday I made a damn sock monkey. Never made one before so I thought, what the heck? Anyways, I'm wanting to do something, feel like I am making a difference, a contribution. At the same time I also want to be able to go on the road with Ken. With the unpredictability of my MM it would make it extremely hard to hold a "normal job" But I need to do something & I have some ideas.
I took this silly quiz the other day...for heck's sake. It was sumthin about How Old Your real self is...sumthin along those lines. Anyways, mine actually came out to be 34!! In a way it surprised me & in a way it didn't. I'm not one for huge parties & complete chaos. I enjoy having order, but at the same time I am extremely spontaneous. Does that make any sense? I've always thought that I have an old soul.

Last night while making the sock monkey I got all cranky, like piturbed with someone. This November is 2yrs ago my nephew was born. My sister adopted him...we were supposed to. Why is this bugging me? Is it because we allowed ourselves to put our heart out there for Maddy...only to get them crushed? But at the same time I know it wasn't meant to be. With Maddy I mean. We are content with it being just us for the rest of our life & have dismissed all hopes on having a baby & see the good side of not having a kiddo. But then it still hurts... I guess the hurt never truly goes away...

In just a couple weeks I will start putting up our Christmas decorations & our handful of trees. For some reason I'm not all super stoked. Is it that I'm getting old? It's like I am where I was 2yrs ago. After the whole nephew ordeal. Not wanting to give a rats arse about Christmas. It's rather bizarre.

I was recently invited to a Christmas party by my friend Shelli. She's amazing! But I'm not sure if I should go. It's for the deaf/HOH club in Esky. I met her through my fabulous friend Gwen eons ago. Gwen had told her about me & my Meniere's crap. Losing your hearing from MM is not uncommon, pretty much a given. It's not something I've truly accepted yet. But these folks have & want me to join them. I have not used sign language in years so it's pretty rusty. I fear I won't be able to communicate or that I won't "fit in" I asked Ken what I should do about this. Bless his heart. He's amazing. He knows I have issues with dealing with the inevitable...perhaps attending this party would make me realize & begin to accept that if MM takes my hearing , life would still have meaning & I would still have friends. Not saying life wouldn't have meaning otherwise. I just don't know!!! So sorry for babbling here. But I haven't done it in awhile.

Onto other things...my thoughts on the upcoming World Series...Go Phillies!!! I have to admit my Bosox were not playing to their abilities in the beginning of the ALCS. It sure is odd sitting here, not watching a baseball game.

There's just too much on my mind right now. Think I'll take a bubble bath to relax, turn on some Korn to relieve stress, have a glass of wine & make sock monkey's to be quirky!!!

You can do it too!!

Recently my friend Becky posted about it being National Make A Difference Day this Sunday. They have to have a holiday for this?!?!

Making a difference has always been my hope in life. I try to do little things in hopes to make someones day. Even if it's a smile or a random card...whatever the case may be.

Everybody is capable of doing something that can & will make a difference. Imagine, this. You hear a fantastically funny joke, pass it on to several of your friends, they do the same & so on & so forth...now providing the joke is funny for everybody you have been a smidgen of the contribution to that person smile.

We all go shopping... Would it hurt to open the door for someone? What about that old lady reaching for the product on the top shelf?

Garbage...I have a 93yr old neighbor who takes walks everyday. He carries a garbage bag with him & picks up strewn garbage. He's making a difference to our environment.

I hope that the cards I send every week to my chemo buddy makes her smile. If you haven't heard of the Chemo Angel program I highly recommend checking it out. How amazing is it to have the opportunity to make someone smile just by letting them know you care & are rooting them on in their hopes for good health.

I have this amazing friend...yeah I'm talking about Shash. Her & I send random cards & gifts to each other "just because" How amazing to open the mailbox & find fun mail!!

All my life my goal has been to make a difference. I don't need to be aknowledged if I do...but I hope my time here has made a difference.

So what are your plans National Make a Difference Day?

Monkey Business

I spent much of the morning cleaning but this afternoon I took some "Kathy Time" Recently I ran across a pattern on how to make sock monkeys. You can find the pattern I followed at http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=1104 I thought, hmm what the heck & I wanted to craft something funtastical & quirky for my nieces.






I purchased a pair of quirky striped socks....

These are the markings for the construction of what will become the legs & body of lil Miss Sock Monkey...all done while the sock is inside-out
All sewn up on each side of my drawn line...and ready to cut to form the legs
She's got legs & the grey part is her fannie...think she's got some junk in her trunk???
Turn it right side out & I began stuffing the crotch....oh my, that sounds dirty!! When I spoke to Ken this afternoon on the phone he asked what I was up to. Which I replied "stuffing a monkey's crotch" Go figure he calls whie I am doing this!!! LOL
Now I take the other sock, turn it inside-out & mark it as shown. The thin side will become the tail & the remainder will become the arms and ears and mouth for Miss Monkey.

Sewing & cutting....
Cut the other half of the sock as shown below. The right part become 2 arms, the middle grey piece the mouth & the left is used to make the ears.
Once all pieces are sewn together & stuffed sew them into their position....She's looking like a monkey now!!!!
Add the finishing touches...ears, eyes & a smile & you have one funtastical sock monkey!!! The pattern I followed was very easy to follow & I totally recommend it if Monkey-ing around is in your future!!! =) Now I've got to make a handful more of these for the nieces & nephew!! =)

Remember me?

Hello...remember me? I decided to take a week off from my blog. I spent a good majority of the time being on the road with my hubby, had a short two day visit with his Nana in Massachusetts, dealt with a sick Arizona Claire, still mending Allison Jeanne's paw, crocheting several projects, having the flu & a cold, being a dizzy mess for a couple days, read a couple books, took the pups to camp to let them run, did some serious sports watching & a smidgen of chillaxing.

The patio furniture is put away for winter. Yes, I said winter. It'll be here before we know it! In fact we've had a couple mornings of heavy frost. Which means my outside plants are needing space inside the house. I'll work on finding them a home in the house today.

Yesterday I planted about 200 tulip bulbs, 50 daffodil bulbs & harvested another crop of rhubarb. I am uncertain if the rhubarb is edible this late in the season. It looks fantastic though so we'll see what can be done with it. The trees are almost naked here but the lawn has a pretyt blanket of oranges, reds & yellows. Which reminds me...I'll have to rake soon.

My lil brother spent the night on Friday. Man, he's a fabulous kid. Unlike many of the "typical" 15yr old "know it alls". Each & every time he comes over he has to give me a hug & tell me he loves me. He does the same to Ken. Before I make him out to be a serious kid I can assure you he is just as wackadoodle-ish as his big sis!! Man he's a hoot!!

Saturday morning while Ken was in bed I made breakfast. Pancakes, bacon & juice. Man! I hate pancakes! But Ken loves em as does JJ. With it being Sweetest Day I figured what the heck. I'll make pancakes. I followed the directions on the bisquick box & then "doctored" em up a bit by adding real vanilla extract & cinnamon. I then heated up home made apple pie filling I made last week & added a lil bit of vanilla to a tub of cool whip. Whaaalaaaa We had some tasty pannycakes!!!

There's oodles to do around the house. Ken left his a.m. so I have to keep myself busy. I'm always more productive when he's gone. I miss him already.

We're at Nana's

Just a quick note here. We made it to Nana's in Spencer, MA aroiund 10 last night. I haven't had much time to write lately as we haven't had internet access. I can assure you I will have oodles upon oodles to talk about when we get home. Ok, sorry this is sooo fartan short. We are off to visit Gpa W's grave and take a walk to the lake. Oh and there's a rummage sale just up the street!! It's a wunnaful Fall day!!! TTYS =)

Sorry for my lack of posting. It's been a crazy, hectic funtastical week!! I went on a few runs with the hubbykins. One such place was Woodbury, MN. We've been through it several times along with Woodbury, TN & a couple others. But never actually delivered or picked up. So how neato to have been to a place of our last name!! Better yet, spending oodles of time with my Kenny!!!

We did have one situation however. Our baby Allison Jeanne fell out of the semi...=( No, it was not moving at the time & no she did not die. We stopped at a truck stop that had a big field, figured we'd let the pups run & exert some pent up energy. No biggie right? Well as I opened my door up Kenzie, Arizona, Brayden & Macey charged the door, causing Allison to fall out. She was chillaxin in front of my seat, as she always does. What a bizarre situation. We have been trucking now for 8yrs & this is our 1st accident. We took Alley to the vet right away this morning. Luckily no broken bones, just very sore. So our lil babykins will be back up & at em in a jiffy pop. We will now be even more cautious.

We will be leaving tomorrow to head to Massachusetts. We'll arrive there sometime Sunday & have the rest of then & all day Monday to spend with Ken's Nana. Totally can't wait!! We will be taking the lappy top with but who knows if we'll be in a place that offers service. I'll have oodles to talk about next week!!!

Weekend in pictures

Our weekend was fantabulastic!!! We tossed around so many ideas on what to do. We ultimately decided to stick closer to home & attend the Fall Festivities in Garden, MI.

We camped at Portage Bay Campground. It's in Garden, on the other side of the peninsula tucked deep into the forest. We noticed a small sign for a campground the last time we visited Fayette, MI. Down a gravel road 7 miles lies this gem of a campground.

We quickly set up camp & set out for the Apple Orchard & used bookstore. We left the dogs in the camper while we did this.
We didn't take the camera into the Orchard place. I wish we had...it's an old school, the ceiling caving in. But the yummalicious fruits inside were well worth the visit! We bought 1 bushel of McIntosh, and another bushel of another type and a peck for my real dad. We also bought a large container of pears. They man said they are grown for Gerber baby foods. We also bought two large pumpkins, 8 medium sized gourd type pumpkins, a yummy pumpkin spice scented candle, and a cherry pitter. Once we got our fruit to the truck we bee bopped back into the building so miss Kaffy could shop till I dropped in the used bookstore!! Oh how flap jackin awesome! ken was at one end looking through books while I scoured the other end. We each put a stack of books on a table. Seriously, we, or rather, I could spend ALL day in there!! We had to hustle though if we were going to make it to Fayette to the Fall festivities. When we counted up the total amount of books there were 28!! My fave #!! That # plays such a part in mine & Ken's relationship! So this lil quinkidinkle was rather funny!!

We arrived at Fayette around 3:30 in the afternoon. Ken walked over to the old country store remains. I had to bend down to tie my shoe & saw this....YIKES!! Ken told me not to touch it. Well I had to take a closer look! It was plastic!!! Whew. It must have been part of the treasure hunt.
Deeper into the village we saw the oodles of people, all dressed up in their Halloweenie costumes. It was mostly kids, waiting to be judged in the Halloween costume contest. Next year we are totally borrowing someone's kiddos!! In the Hotel there was painting of pumpkins, across the way there was pumpkin bowling, and pumpkin ring toss. They also had refreshments & snacks.
We took a walk around the village & took a few photos. This is a view of snailshell harbor with the limestone cliffs in the distance.

As we made our way toward the inner part of the town we came upon the apple cider demonstration place. Sadly we missed the demonstration but Ken was able to kind figure out how it works.
After spending about 45 minutes in the town we decided to take a ride through the campground at Fayette. Campers were decorating their campsites for Halloween & passing out candy for trick or treaters. I so wish we would have taken photos of these campsites. These were hard core awesome!! We're talking pirate ships...in the campsites, lights, spooky witches, ghosts, and one camper had a gross dead person type thing under it. Totally scared the zoinkels outta me.

On the way out we noticed this...one honkan HUGE bee hive!!!

We got back to our campsite & stoked up a fire. I chopped up some of our yummy apples, put them in foil, sprinkled some brown sugar on them & let them cook for a lil snack.

This is a view of the beach at our campsite. All of the sites are situated lakeside. Which makes for awesome sunset watching!
Ken decided to make a fire poker with the ax...totally freaked me out! The stick turned out awesome though. =)



We figured it was time to eat sumthin before the sunset. Neither of us felt like pulling the grill out of the side compartment. So we used the campfire. The burgers turned out awesome!!

Sunset is my most favoritist time of the day. Nothing beats a sunset, even if it's on the wrong side of the lake. The sun sets on the side of the lake that Fayette is at. This campground is on the other side of the peninsula. It offered a different perspective...still ultra pretty!!
Ken & I sat on the beach bundled up in a blankie & watched as the sun made it's decent...such a wunnaful way to spend an evening with my ultra fabulous hubby that I love so much!!!

Total Sock Rockage!!!

Oh my heckles!!! Today when I came home from running errands I noticed a manilla envelope in my mailbox. I had kinda forgot my swellacious friend Jewel said she was sending "something" I rushed into the house, didn't even bother letting the doggies outside, set up the camera & put it to video mode. Jewel mentioned I should video myself opening it because she'd love to see my reaction. I assure you, I did video myself. I've been trying to upload the video for the past half an hour. It keeps saying it's corrupt! GAHHH!


So, anytootles...I first felt the package, wondering, trying to guess what it could be. I'd never had guess what the contents were. What was in the package was something that rocked my socks out loud, louder than they have ever been rocked before! Like this is a HUGEMUNGUS thing!!!


Now, most people know I love quirky random socks. They also know I have this deep interest/infatuation with the Amish. When you combine those two things you get.....

Now if this isn't the pure empitomy of sexiness I dunno what is!! I don't normally put my feet on the table but these socks rock my world so much I had to showcase em off while on my tootsies.
Thank you soooo much Jewel! You friggen rock my socks hard core Amish style!!! I can't even WAIT to show Kenster when he gets home!! We will be leaving tonight to head to Massachusetts. Which means, we will be traveling through parts of PA...AMISH country!! I shall wear these for good luck. In hopes we see oodles upon oodles of Amish Farms along our journey. Thank you sooo much for these rockan socks!! I luv you oodles!!!

Carmel Apple Cake

I've got an absolutey scrumdiddleeeumptious recipe to share today!! It's from Recipezarr.com I first made it a couple weeks ago for Mrs Rinne's birthday & just the other night whipped up another one for our own consumption. It's soooo insanely simple & doesn't take too many ingredients & is also beyond yummage!! A perfect Fall desert. I am soo sorry my plate does not match! This issue really bugs me!!


Carmel Apple Cake
1 1/2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 medium apples, peeled and sliced (2 cups)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup boiling water


1. Prehate oven to 350 F degrees.

2. Mix Bisquick and granulated sugar, add milk and stir until blended.

3. Pour into an ungreased 9X9X2' pan, top with apples, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix brown sugar & cinnamon, sprinkle over apples.

4. Next, pour bioling water over apples.

5. Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


ENJOY with a scoop of icecream =)