Need Inspired?

Last night I went surfing!... YouTube surfing that is ;D This is one of my favorite activities. I start by choosing a recommended video, then I click on one of the suggested videos at the end. This goes on and on. It's like magic... HOURS disappear!!! Every once in a while I find a video I must share, and as your luck would have it, last night happened to be one of those times. Now I am easily impressed by people who play instruments because I can't even play the AIR GUITAR. That having been said, this man is AWESOME!!!!

This is a video of John Butler playing his original song Ocean. I'd never heard of him before this video. That is an 11 string guitar he is playing! The whole song is perfection, but 4:00-4:30ish should be illegal ;D

My Want Ad

Needless to say I was up for over two hours after my dog went 'barking' mad early this morning. Sampson(the dog) was back asleep within five minutes... that really doesn't seem fair to me lol. I'm sure it was just some kind of animal, but try telling me that at 2am... doesn't work.

On the bright side I did make this fun 'Want Ad' that you can download here.

Birthday Wishes -- Heaven Bound

Today has been a bittersweet day. It would be my Dad's 62nd birthday. He passed away, a month shy of his 61st birthday, last year. So there has been a lot of sadness, but there has also been a lot of happy reminising today. His last birthday with us he turned the big 6-0, and we had a big party with lots of family. That is one of the few 'benefits' to knowing your going to loose a loved one. You can make the last of everything extra special. For the record, that is about the only 'benefit'.

So today, I send a million Birthday Wishes upward, as a million tears slide downward . Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

My Dad -- May 17th 2009

My Maiden Post!

I had so much fun over the weekend designing this blog! Making the banner, figuring out the 'easy' design editor, changing colors, fonts, and layouts. Now it is time to write the all important first post. The 'welcome to my blog', 'it's great to meet you' post. So I sit here staring at my keyboard. This is going very well... yep; I rock ;D

Well cliff notes of me goes something like this: I'm Krystle, mommy to 'Z', 'N' and Sampson (the dog). Purple is my favorite color, and I drive a mini van. I love Jesus, my boys, family, friends, reading, photography, facebook, and Sampson (the dog). Yep that about covers it. The reader's digest version can be found in About Me-- and why I'm blogging. The full version I'm sure will come out along the way.

I can't say for sure what you'll find in my future posts, because, well I can be all over the place. The 'plan' is to post about life (funny, happy, sad, and everything in between), some good food, I love quotes so I'm sure there will be plenty of those, I'm a sucker for good youtube, things I've learned raising boys, things I desperately need to, pictures LOTS of them, and so much more. So maybe we'll just stick with all overthe place ;-D I'm also slowly remodeling my childhood home, so maybe you can cheer me along with that. I need all the help I can get there!

So in the keeping of first's; here is the first picture I ever posted on a blog!

Motivation Monday

HELLO Hello hello... As you can see, my resolution to post more this year, has gone swimmingly. Or maybe that's floundered lol. It's okay though, because around mid-January I changed my resolutions ;D After reading a fantastic blog post by H. L. Hussmann called Motivation for Motivation. Now my only resolution has been to practice Motivation Mondays. Which is awesome because if I don't get around to it one Monday I only have to wait the rest of the week to try again. Unlike a New Years Resolution which I would have given up on and waited the rest of the year to try again. Today one of my goals for the week was to post here. This is not the first time that has been a goal, but so far it's looking promising this time!

How has everyone's year been going? Mine has been full of one little thing after another, that has kept my focus from this blog, and my computer as a whole for the most part. From Jan 3rd (the first day back to school) through March 10th (end of the 3rd quarter) N missed 15 days, and Z missed 9.5!!! The best part? Most of the time they weren't even home at the same time. Then our trampoline was bent up in a storm, followed by a huge branch crushing through our wooden swingset/clubhouse, followed by my van blowing a head seal or something. Add to that some unexpected financial stuff and all together they have left me feeling a little overwhelmed.

So while "It will all work out in the end, and if it hasn't worked out, then it's not the end." has been my mantra since January. It wasn't until this last week, that I have felt the weight and uneasiness of it all really lift. To that end I decided it was really time to return to my blog... and look here I am :-D

Back on the topic of Motivation Mondays, another goal was to clean out my fridge. Not throw out the old stuff, and maybe wipe down the shelves. No no. It was time for a good, old fashioned, dismantle it, kind of clean. Here is the result. Ah the picture of success hehe. Can you guess what my goal for tomorrow is? Yep, restock the fridge!

Funny as it sounds, I feel very accomplished having a snapshot of my fridge, as my first contribution to a POTD since January ;-D

Testing Changes

Just testing some font changes to see if I likey! So me just typey typey, nonsense nonsense. Nothing intellegible to see in this post. Me just enjoying bad grammar, and a some splling errors ;D That you just wasted 30 seconds of your day (that you will NEVER get back) reading. Thanks and have a great rest of your day lol.

In My Back Yard

Today was another busy day for us. Z had an impromptu doctor's appointment, and then stayed home the rest of the day. Day to myself... busted lol. So the POTD was again rushed, but I like what I got. I decided to do a quick (as light was fading) walk around my yard, and these are what I came up with.

Oh yeah I need some info. As I was picking up N today his teacher asked if I was going to do anything on Friday with the class for his birthday (P.S. his b-day is actually Saturday). My response... *crickets chirping* lol. I told her I would let her know. Both my, and my sister's b-day's were in the summer, and Z falls over Christmas break. It never even crossed my mind, and I have zero insider info on this. What is the norm?

Back to School

Today was the first day back to school for the boys! It was so nice to have a quiet house, and some kid free time to take care of some cleaning. Such as the wrapping paper they did NOT want me to throw away. Z has hit the 'collector' stage hard, and it is about to drive me nutters. Back to the school thing. N has been ready to go back since break started. He has been afraid his friends and teachers would miss him... so modest that one ;-) Z on the other hand was dreading it with what I fear is a snippet into his future feelings about school. He did not want to go. He even cried this morning. Z has a hard time with school, and I have a hard time helping him. His problem is, well, he is extremely smart. Can you tell modesty runs in our family? I can't help it though, he just is. Honestly I wish he was just average, or that we lived somewhere with schools better equipped to help gifted students. He gets sooooo bored. As you know learning is very repetitive, and he hates it. He has homework every night because he won't finish his worksheets in class. He doesn't like to color (loves to draw), and that is still a major part of learning in first grade. He gets poor marks because he rushes through everything, and it's sloppy. Correct, but sloppy. His teacher tries, but with 22 other students it is hard. I was the exact same way in school, except of course back then, teachers just thought you were stupid if you didn't complete your work. I remember in 3rd grade I failed spelling... failed. The best part? I got a perfect score on every spelling test. Yep, but because I refused to write out my spelling words ten times (why would I when I knew how to spell them before I started) my teacher FAILED me. Which of course led me to just stop trying, and I don't want that for Z. Okay enough of my mini rant :) For the record N is also extremely smart, possibly even smarter than Z, but K4 is more hands on learning, and so far he hasn't had a problem. Loves it, in fact.

I would get back to what I had started out to say, but I have now lost track. So onward we shall go lol. A mini part of my resolutions this year include eating healthier. We eat decently healthy now, but I want to take it up a notch. In keeping with that over the past 3 days I have tried 3 different flavors of pomegranate juice. I know sometime last year I found one I really enjoyed. Sadly I cannot find it now. I have tried blueberry and pomegranate, and cherry and pomegranate. Nasty! I now have the last one I can find in my fridge. Mango and pomegranate. Keep your fingers crossed for me lol.

This brings me to my POTD. I was tired. We had just spent an hour grocery shopping, and Z was not in the best of moods. Why? Refer to the first paragraph. I just didn't have it in me to do anything creative, or time involved. So I decided that something mundane was better than nothing at all.

That's right... I took a picture of my juice (and myself unintentionally). It comes in such a cool bottle I have to say. No if only it tasted good!

Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot....

and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne?

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

I cannot tell you how happy I am to be done with 2010. I know that in the real world putting up a new calendar really doesn't change anything. In Krystle's World though, it makes a HUGE difference, and Krystle's World is where I'm hanging out on this one.

The boys and I had a low key New Years Eve. We stayed home, ate junk food, wrote resolutions, watched 'How to Train Your Dragon' for the 100th time, sang karaoke (on their new karaoke machine), used my fondue pot I've had two years for the first time, and toasted to a wonderful New Year with sparkling grape juice!!! We rocked it east coast style since 11:00 was plenty late for the boys, and here in the central time zone they just play the last hour of Dick over again anyway lol.

This was the first time the boys have written resolutions, and they were a hoot. It took some explaining on my part to get them to really understand, but we got there. After I finally convinced Nick that becoming a 50 foot giant maybe wasn't reasonable anyway ;-D I'm sure you are 'dying' to know what my two darlings chose *ahem*, so I will put you out of your misery.

Z:

Learn to paint

Learn to draw better

Learn to knit.... so he can make sails for his pirate ships. (Naturally, why else lol.)

N:

Learn about dinosaurs

Learn to read books with words in them :-)

Learn karate

Actually he said learn how to "hew HA uuuh" while punching his arms, then doing a nice kick. To which I said "oh you want to learn karate?" His reply? "That's what I just said Mommy."

My resolutions? Well I am still writing my game plan... with numbers and letters and everything! I will say my biggest one is using this year to go on a journey into my faith. The POTD also gets a mention ;)

Oh yeah the POTD ! I am really, really going to shoot 365 pictures this year. I am not silly enough to say that I will shoot everyday this year, or even more laughably, that I will post everyday this year, but I will do my best, and I WILL have 365 photos to show for it!!!!!

As you can see I didn't post yesterday, but I do have a picture. Sure it's a P&S snap of my boys, but it COUNTS ;-D

For today's I decided to do another dated POTD. I did one for 2008, but I haven't since. So here is my 2008 and my 2011. Plus a couple just for fun.

Yes I took some liberties with this last one. Turns out, I suck at dominos lol. In my defense I only have one box, and there are just not enough dominos to do ANYTHING in one box.

I think I will end with a super yummy (and simple) chocolate fondue recipe.

4 full size Hershey's bars (broken into pieces)

5 big marshmallows

1/8 cup milk

1/8 cup heavy whipping cream

Put fondue pot on warm (or around 150 degrees). Add chocolate bar pieces, and milk. Stir constantly until smooth. Add marshmallows, and stir until melted. Finally stir in cream slowly and enjoy.

I Voted -- Did You?

Here's to hoping it counted ;D

As a reward (not really) when I went grocery shopping today, I bought a single serve slice of Death by Chocolate Cake. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! The ensuing sugar rush may explain thethis post. Consider yourself warned :)

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing. ~Walter H. Judd

I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. ~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952

The future depends on what we do in the present. ~Mahatma Gandhi

How about a little funny for you. I watched part of Bambi with N's class today, and A) it is still an awesome movie that I haven't seen in far too long. And B) when the owl is explaining to Bambi, Thumper, and Flower about falling in love, he calls it 'Twitter-pated'!!!! Do you think that's where twitter got it's name? Oh and C) when Thumper falls for his lady? That's still magic over 20yrs later.

Okay one more. Here is a 4yr olds definition of a math equation: dirt + water = MUD! You can thank my darling N for that nugget of wisdom.

Now about that wedding... Yeah. Hats off to the Wedding Photographers out there! I've never been so stressed about pictures in my whole life. I didn't even care this much about MY wedding pictures. On the bright side, the bride and groom are both very cool people. So we had lots of fun. Case in point: The picture below was in line with our 'standard' shots. The rule was: serious first, well then there were no rules later lol.

Did You Miss Me?

Dear November,

Oh how I have missed you! Your falling leaves, pre- Christmas craziness, Thankful gathering, and my favorite parade! Not to mention all of your cool weather foods: sweet potato casserole, pumpkin muffins, hot cocoa, smores, soups galore, and of course 'the turkey'. Unfortunately your buddy October took the term 'overachiever' to the extreme, and I find myself terribly unprepared for all of your goodness. So as a dear old friend I ask that you hold your horses, and give me some time to get my groove back! :D Thanks in advance.

Yours Truly,

~K

....and what a month October was! Goodnight! I'm not sure I even had time to breathe. Well obviously I did, because you know, I'm still here ;D But seriously it was very much a 'oye' kind of month. Then Halloween this year almost did me in. Z's cape for his costume wasn't finished until the morning of... eeeek! Then of course there was that wedding I shot! You know me the 'not a wedding photographer even in my wildest dreams!' Imagine the stress; can you feel it through the computer? More on that in another post though. Tease much?

I did develop a new obsession since my last post. Twitter! Yes I am again late to the party, but I'm partying-hardy now that I'm here. I've had an account for over a year I believe, but never saw the point. I can't say that I have found the point, but I have figured out why 'I' like it. There is nothing quite like being able to immediately share your thoughts in 140 characters or less with the world (because they are all dying to know). Or in my case the whopping 8 people I have following me lol. Yesterday I did a run down on halloween costumes. The highlight of my night was a mom dressed up as an obsessed nkotb fan. Then her daughter (10 or 12yrs) was dressed as Donnie Wahlberg's love child! Which I 'think' means mom didn't really dress up at all :D If you care I'm @KrystleHill on there *wink wink*

Well it is time to start work on dinner, so I leave you with my little trick or treater's. I think they are self explanatory. Excuse the kodak p&s photos here, but my 'real' camera hasn't had a chance to meet them yet.

...and a quote: Everyone has a photographic memory, it's just some don't have any film.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

I am exhausted, so this post is going to be short, sweet, and to the point... or something like that ;) Why you might ask am I so tired? Think 45+ children and all their moms lol. Today 'N' took his first ever field trip. This was very exciting for him, and he has been talking about it for days!!!! Four classes from his school all went to Bandy's Pumpkin Patch. They played in the play barn, watched Mr. Bandy carve a pumpkin in about two minutes(from start to finish I kid you not!), then they went on a hayride! The best part of the trip for 'N' though, came when he got to pick out his very own pumpkin. He was sooo EXCITED.

Since hopefully sometime this weekend we will be making or own jack-o-lantern(though I have no illusions that I am Mr. Bandy). We went out and got a few shots of him and his pumpkin after school as a keepsake. So without further ado: 'N' with his pumpkin before it goes under the knife!

P.S. Here is a joke from their site that cracked me up!

Why do jack-o-lanterns have stupid smiles on their faces?
You'd have a stupid smile, too, if you had just had all your brains scooped out!

A Day Spent Waiting

...on the man in brown.

It is amazing to me how quickly a day usually passes. I drop the boys off at school, and not 10 minutes later(it seems), it's time to go pick them up. But not today. Oh no; today c-r-a-w-l-e-d by. Not even turtle slow, more like a slug.

Finally at 2:20 I could wait no longer; I had to leave and go get my boys. Which meant I had to cancel my meet-up to deliver 'the goods' at 3:15. When we arrived back home I expected to see a box sitting smugly on my top step. Laughing at me for my wasted day. There was no box. By 3:45 I was beginning to wonder if aliens do exist... and if they had abducted my man in brown!

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.... 4:00.... 4:35.... 4:57....

Wait; what's that sound? Could it be? Is it possible? Yes at last... MY MAN IN BROWN! Finally at 5:27pm(10am is his usual!) the big brown truck pulled up in my drive. Then out he came with my long awaited box! What you might ask was so amazing to completely steal my day away? 'This' storyboard of beautiful baby 'A'. I needed it to complete her Mommy's order, so that I could do my own impersonation of the man in brown ;D

Whew! Now that we have THAT out of the way... lol. Here is my POTD. The theme of the week is 'windows and doors'. In July I took a Girls Weekend to South Carolina, and had the opportunity to tour the USS Yorktown. This is a picture I happened to take of a...... well whatever the Navy calls a door ;) I processed it in B&W and grainy because I was inspired by the amazing pictures hanging onboard from the bygone era.