Saturday, December 19, 2009

Christmas Music

Inspired by Christy, here are my favorite Christmas songs:

I did this at work (SSSHHH!!!) and I have no speakers there. Hope none of them are bad. I'll check it when I get home. I've been trying to do this for days. Wasn't sure how at first, and my computer is acting up.

Anyway, THIS is my kind of Christmas music.

First is same as Christy's, Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas". I love this song. LOVE it.



and then Hard Candy Christmas, by Dolly Parton. Such a good one! And here is a neat little slideshow of Dolly pics. :)




Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses. Bonus, this video is one of those Christmas lights to music ones that everyone forwards around the email.





Last Christmas by Wham, and now Taylor Swift. I know it's cheeseball, but it's 80s memories!



Heard this one on the radio today, and had forgotten how much I like it. The video is cheezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy.



and Mary Did You Know? This is Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd. There was another video of Kathy Mattea but it wouldn't allow embedding, so this is the version I am posting.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

New Toy!

Beasley got a new toy from her Arkansas Grandparents! She LOVES it. :)

Birdie now only has one feather left hanging off one side. We've been taking it away when we leave so that she can play with it a few times before it is completely destroyed. I give it another day. Two max.


Destruction!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Snow/Ice go away!

Just FYI...This snow is STILL on the ground. It has been a week of temps 0-30. Today is the first above freezing, I think the high was 42, and it is starting to melt. Tomorrow they say 41, so maybe it will be gone by the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. But an icy parking lot and sidewalks = scary walking and necessity of wearing ice friendly shoes all the time.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Snowfall

.

Snow in Kansas







After many facebook posts, blog posts and photos about SNOW IN TEXAS, we got some of our own here in Kansas.
Photos are:
Stephen leaving for work this morning.
Out the door at my office.
Frozen Fall Decor (I threw these away, they were frozen solid)
2 of the front porch
Snow Angel
Me bundled up
And one more of the porch. I really like how the front of the house looks all snowed up!
and it is still snowing. 7-10 more inches tonight.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Dry Kitty

When I was unloading the dryer, Beasley jumped in. She was moving around in there, that's why the pictures are blurry. I swear I didn't actually dry her. But the last one cracks me up because it looks like she took a couple spins! :)



Homemade Laundry Soap

A couple of months ago, when I wasn't working yet, I thought it would be fun to see how much money I could save by making my own laundry soap. The Duggar family does it because they have 18 kids and I'm betting that is a LOT of soap! My friend Shauna tried it, and succeeded. So I was sure I could, too! and I DID! and I love it!

So, today I made a second batch. The first one lasted about 2 and 1/2 months.

http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html

Here is the Duggars recipe. What I do is just a little different because that recipe is for 10 gallons of soap. I don't need or have space for that much laundry soap! So I make it in a 2.5 gallon bucket and just use this recipe as a guide.
I use
1/2 bar soap (grated)
1/2 c washing soda
1/4 c borax

Melt soap in 6c water on stove, add powders and whisk until blended well.
Put 8c water in the bucket and add the melted pot of water and soaps.
Whisk up really well and let sit 24 hrs. It will congeal and separate.
Whisk again and pour into other bottles. Add some more water if you like, I add about 1/4 of the bottle I'm pouring into. It must be shaken before each use as it loves to separate. I use about 3/4c per load. It's not so exact on the measuring, and it seems to work fine. One could also add essential oils if for a scented soap, but I like the nonsmell.

Some photos of how it went down:





In the morning I will stir it up and pour it in some Gatorade bottles I use. Ta Da! Approximate price of each:

bar Fels Naptha $2

Washing Powder $5

Borax $5

OR, in researching that (because I saved the receipts for a while, but have misplaced them now) I found this:


http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PKG1001

it's a kit to make the soap, and the bar is already grated! of course it'almost $30 this way, the grated soap is $22! But hey, to each his/her own!

Play Dead. Good Kitty!





Saturday, November 21, 2009

Breakfast of Champions

1 Orowheat Sandwich Thin toasted in the skillet
1 egg fried in Pam
3 slices deli ham lunch meat
some shredded cheese

DELICIOUS!
And a sleeping kitty. :)

Mind Your Own Beeswax!

So, I go to the gas station today. I'm a little bit frustrated when I try to use my new debit card in the pay at the pump and it doesn't work. eh, whatever, I got time. So, I go in and the lady says that sometimes debit cards won't work because it charges as a credit card either way, so if your card is set up as debit...something or other.
I give her the card and go back to the car and fill up. When I go back in to pay (where they run the card there) the man working with her is handling the transaction. OK. So then the card is declined (I just activated it yesterday, so there is some kind of issue). I'm getting agitated. So I tell her "Here, just put it on this card, I just would rather have used the debit. But it's new and I guess there is some kind of issue."
Then the man says, "WELL, did you know that in February, all the credit card interest rates are going to double?!!! yeah, that's because THAT president that EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY wanted is going to cause that with ...." he said some more very negative comments. I wish I would have said, "hey. Obama is my dad!"
I don't care AT ALL what his opinion of the president is. And it's not his business what mine is. But what I especially don't like is that I am purchasing something in your store. If you want to discuss something other than that, maybe you could talk about the lovely day instead of risking offending me when you have NO idea what my feelings are about the president and don't know that he ISN'T my dad/uncle/facebook friend, etc.

Just give me my card back. jerk.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Camera Dump

13 days?! Really? That's a long time in blog time. I apologize for the absence, and enjoy the following photo posts.

Stretch Armstrong Kitty






My New Office

Here is a look at my new office. I think it's starting to feel homey. It is a little bit 7th Signal Bde centered, but I can only decorate with what I have. Maybe the CAB will get me some decor soon. :) I do have that Gerber Daisy plant and CAB ornament hanging from the corkboard courtesy of my new Sr Spouses. So, that's a start.

Kitty-o Video

Disclaimer: Do not allow kitties to play with plastic bags unsupervised. Possible risk of choking or suffocating.

Notice how she pretends nothing happened at the end.

And Kitty vs Dr Pepper Box

Beasley Peabody Stinky Bottom

I fear I am becoming "that" blogger. All kitty. All the time. but look how cute she is!



















































Root Veggies

I don't have any pictures of the prep, but my mom was here last week visiting and making some great curtains for all over our house, and she made some DELICIOUS roasted root vegetables.

3 carrots, 3 turnips, 4 beets, 1/2 an onion, some olive oil, celery flakes and parsley flakes roasted at 400 (? I think?) for 40 mins.

They were SO GOOD! And very Autumn looking, huh?

Pancake Memories

I remember my dad making some awesome pancakes . We'd eat them before school, Flinstone vitamin sharing the Corelle plate, with some 70s/80s Tang to wash it all down. He would mix the batter in a large yellow (as I recall) plastic cup so he could just pour it out in the pan.
I woke up this morning wanting some pancakes. Being my "health conscious" self, I started with the spray Pam. This is what happened:
The cake is more burned than it looks. So I went back to basics. I went with the butter-the-pan-straight-from-the-stick method that my dad used.
And I waited for the tell tale bubbles to indicate flip time.MMMMM, pancakes. :)
But we don't have these plates.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Introducing...

Beasley! She is our new little kitty and we already love her.

For your own sanity, please turn OFF sound. The camera is making a very annoying clicking noise throughout the video.