mutha's day

I know I'm a tiny bit late, but I still had to tell y'all about mutha's day with my mutha (she likes it when I call her that).

Friday afternoon we did some shopping and my mom cleaned up!  She's still making a few purchases here and there for their new house, so since she needed some help spending money, I was right there to lend her a hand.

That evening we went to the Royals game.  They unfortunately lost...but it was buck night!  AND Fireworks Friday!  Which means that all pop, hot dogs, and peanuts are only $1!  Too bad I don't eat hot dogs (ever) or drink pop that often...

Saturday morning we went to one of my favorite breakfast places, Eggtc.  They have these delicious crepes (Crepe Dolce) with strawberries and mangoes that I sometimes dream about.

After a delightful breakfast, my mom, sister, and I headed downtown to the Farmer's Market. 

Once again, my mom went to town and bought a car load of plants and flowers.  My sister and I think my mom needs to work at a farmer's market (or somewhere like it), she knows her stuff!

Also, my sis and I got these beautiful flowers: 

(mind you we had to stand in line forever because this place is so popular, but it gave mom time to look around) 

We did a little more walking around after we had lunch at Blue Grotto so that my sister could find a baby book for her new little boy!

Yep, I'm going to be an aunt!!  I can't wait!

rockin' around the christmas tree!

My computer and internets have really been sucking lately, so I've been slacking on putting up pictures so don't mind the randomness of this post, just enjoy the pretty. k? thx.



Yay! My tree is up (well, ok, it's been up for a few weeks already...) but my presents are all wrapped and I'm totally ready for the holiday season!



...the stockings are hung by the chimney with care...um, yeah, there are three there.  One is obviously for Laila; one for me...and the other one used to belong to my roommate, but she moved.  The fireplace wouldn't look right with just two, so I left all three up this year!






Laila really likes to sit and stare at the tree; lately I've been finding her laying underneath it licking the ornaments that are closest to the floor.



If you have a crockpot, you have to make this recipe.  It was so easy and soooo good.  I followed some of the suggestions below the recipe on allrecipes.com and added some onion powder, garlic powder, and worcestershire sauce to the rest of the ingredients.  It makes for the perfect meal on a cold night and it's done when you walk in the door from work, how easy is that?!

Yum.  This is the delicious feast at my parents house over Thanksgiving and it could, quite possibly, be the last holiday meal that we have at that house. :( Sad, right?  Well....yes and no.  Yes, because it's the house that we grew up in and no becuase this is the new one that they are very close to finishing:

Isn't she a beaut?  This picture is a month or so old so all of the brick is on the house now.  I'm so excited for my parents!  I think they'll be rather popular when they move into town because even with them not living in the new house yet, they generally have quite a few people stop by to check it out and welcome them to the new neighborhood when they're up there helping!

the bird.

My parents are hi-larious.


My dad is quite the jokester, quite like myself, and unfortunately for my mom she gets the brunt of my dad's jokes.


Most of the time, my mom holds her ground and comes back with some clever one-liners, other times though, she resorts to flipping my dad the bird. 

Not only does she flip him off with the normal middle finger, but she's also cleverly come up with some secret code bird throwings. 

For example:

Three middle fingers. 

I think this is when she's kind of joking around and laughs off my dad's craziness.  This method is also kind of a secret way of letting my dad (or my sister or I or anyone for that matter) know that she's on the verge of getting pissed off.

It's also a good one to use if, say, we're in a restaurant and someone has said something that deserves to be flipped off, but in order to not draw attention to our table, the three middle fingers work better than just the plain old middle finger.

The pinky.

This is when she's a little more pissed and she shakes her fist a little more for the end user to know she means business with her non-verbal cussing.

The middle finger.

This is serious business, folks.  The mom is pissed. off. 

Or she could just be joking around and forgot to use one of the two above.

Anyway, if you should find yourself in a situation where flipping someone off is appropriate, feel free to use this handy guide above to give the bird a little change up, no one likes to see the same thing all the time. 

Try the three middle fingers. 

Or, if you're daring, the pinky.

Sure, people might ask you what the hell that means, but you'll know.  And that's all that matters.

home, sweet home.

I'm from a map dot; a stop sign on a blacktop...

That is totally a country song.  I didn't make that up myself just in case you were wondering, Tim McGraw did though.  But it is true.  Except that I live on a dirt road BUT it leads up to a stop sign on a blacktop, so that counts, right? Yes. 

I recently went home to help finish up harvest and I totally played a huge roll in harvest being done so early this year. 

I made my super secret chocolate chip cookies (OK, it's not so secret, it's the recipe on the back of the toll house (milk) chocolate chip package plus a small box of vanilla pudding just added into the mixture and it makes them soooo much fluffier and tastier, trust me on this one and try it on your own) that my dad requests when I come home and took them out to the field for all of the guys working that day.

And then I went and rode in the combine with one of my uncles who was cutting soybeans.  He wouldn't let me drive though...(ok, I didn't ask, but I don't think I could figure out all of the buttons and noises that were going on in the combine anyway).



And then I helped my dad unload the truck.

I was really good at this part which is why I got these pictures from the inside of the trailer.  As kids we used to play in the beans or corn and we'd end up with corn and beans everywhere.  But it used to be so much fun!  I would probably be too scared to do it now as an adult...

And then it all goes into the bin.  Like magic.



All in all it was a successful weekend.  I attempted my first batch of squash soup, rode in the combine, got in some fall shopping, and attended my aunt's 50th surprise birthday party.  It's always so fun to see family and being back home out in the country is the best; it's like time slows down for just a little bit and I'm not rushing around to get a million things done during the day.  Also, Laila loves being able to run around without her leash on--freedom!!

just for good measure...

I mean, why not try them on again??

As promised, a new glamorous picture of my dad sporting his favorite pair of coach's shorts from 70 years ago.  Good thinking on my mom's part for pulling out the camera for this golden opportunity.  Hey mom, I think you can toss them now...and dad, wow, there are no words. :)

stewpid deck guy

Last year around this time I decided to add on to my deck.  My original deck was big enough for my grill. And only my grill.  I also decided to keep the original deck and just add on to it since it seemed to be in good shape (if I had to do it over again, I would've started from scratch...that or hire someone who doesn't suck).

I could tell from the get-go that this guy that I was working with was kind of a tool.  He would call me every morning on my way to work to tell me what he was doing. 

Most mornings he was taking his kids to school or drinking coffee on his way out to my house.  As much as I tried to screen his phone calls I would eventually have to call him back to get his update on how the deck was coming along. 

Kansas weather during this time of year is very unpredictable; this year the days have been in the 70's-80's and at night the temp's get down to the 30's-40's.  By the time my deck was actually finished last year, there was snow on the ground, so really...the nice days are usually hard to come by; this year has been amazing though.

So, anyway, I tried to make sure that he was there working when the trusty weatherman said it was going to be nice and not freezing cold outside. 

One evening I was out to dinner with some friends and crazy guy calls me on the phone.  I decide to answer, since he never really calls at night, in case something was wrong.  I definitely should have screened this phone call.  I was out to eat, after all.

I remember very clearly that the weather the following day was supposed to be really nice, so I was thinking that he was calling to tell me that he'd be out there early.  The phone call, however, went something like this:

Deck Guy:  Hey, uh, Kristin, how's it going?
Me: Good, how are you, what's going on?
DG: I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be able to work on the deck tomorrow because I have to take my wife to get an IUD put in.
Me: Oh. Uhhhhhh.....ok? Um....right. Ok.
DG: Yeah, we just had a baby and we don't wanna have any more for awhile and I just need to take her to the doctor.
Me: Sure. Fine.  Um, so when's my deck going to be done?

REALLY? I did NOT need to know that little tidbit of information about your wife.  Thanks though, buddy.  Make something up for all I care!  Your personal life is just that: personal.   Gross. 

Also, my friends that I was eating with were all trying to figure out what was going on as this phone conversation was taking place because I'm pretty sure my face was full of pure shock.

SO, just as deck guy promised, he "finished" my deck that weekend.  Below is the finished staircase.  Looks good, right?



Really?!



I realize that the color is two-tone (this is because it's old deck/new deck-it doesn't look that way anymore, obviously) but this guy shoved scraps of wood under the bottom stair to make it even and decided to not replace the posts of the staircase.  So, essentially, my staircase is floating over the ground.  Perfect!  Just what I wanted, a deck that won't pass inspections.

The big boss guy from the company I hired came out and found a lot of things that my stupid deck guy messed up and they fixed a few of the problems but not that ugly bottom stair.

Luckily, my parents live close by and are very smart so we were able to fix this little problem because the company that I hired refused to fix it. 



OK, it looks ugly now, but it's so much bigger and nicer! Er, kind of.

Thanks to one of my good college buddies, he and I were able to stain my deck back to one pretty color.  I had to outsource the ladder labor...I was too scared to try to hang on to the stain bucket, the ladder, and the paintbrush, but luckily my pal Joe loves doing that kind of thing :)

Dan, Trish and Pete enjoying the new bench on my new deck at Laila's first birthday party!

Puppies playing :)

Long story short, use a decking company or person that someone recommends to you and not some weirdo or a company that sucks.  While my new deck is great and serves it's purpose well, the process caused me many headaches and freak out moments to say the least.  This is only one of the stories from my deck guy, unfortunately I have many more...

what a lovely little weekend!

My mom was in town for the weekend, so we went to one of my favorite spots in KC, the City Market.  There were so many delicious fruits and veggies and yummy treats, I had a hard time passing things up!

I found a delicious pineapple, some pears, strawberries, some yellow peppers, and some gorgeous flowers (that you'll see below).

Aren't these fun?!

After hitting up the farmer's market we found a cute little place for lunch, the Farmhouse and sat outside.  I had a delicious little salad and squash soup, my sister got the same and my mom got quiche--she wished she had gotten the same things as we had; but we shared!  The soup was awesome!  

Here are those pretty flowers I was talking about!  It was this giant bouquet for only $10, I fell in love...



I also picked up some mums and a cute little pumpkin for my front door step.  This fall weather is really making me in the mood for all things fall.



s

The ending to our perfect little Saturday was dinner at the famous Stroud's restaurant.  I meant to take a picture of the massive plate of food that we all ate, but I forgot, so this is what you get :).  It was sooooo good; they're famous for pan friend chicken served family style and then you can pick your sides, so we got mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans.  AND THEN, they bring out a giant basket of cinnamon rolls. I'm pretty sure the food was all good for you, it was pan fried...that counts as better, right?



call before you dig. they aren't kidding.

One afternoon a couple of years ago, my mom and I decided to go tree shopping for my back yard. I took pictures of the areas that I wanted to put some trees or bushes in, had a few ideas of what I was looking for and then we set off for the tree place.  I was so prepared!!


Mom and I picked out 4 larger bush things or are they trees? What constitutes a tree, really?  Anyway, we picked them out, loaded them into the SUV and went on our merry way.  When we got back to my house, we placed each tree in it's spot and stepped back to make sure it looked as good from far away as it did close up.  Once we confirmed the spots we decided to start digging away. 


My mom asked me if I had called the U-Digg people and I think I probably mumbled something back to her that may have sounded like maybe...or something....  Anywho, we start digging and digging and my mom starts complaining about Johnson county dirt and how it's so hard compared to her dirt at home.  Apparently the dirt at home is like water....dirt around my house is apparently like cement though. 


So we're digging and digging and digging and my mom hits something.  It's hard and black.  Sh!t, it's a snake!  I start squealing because that's what I do best and running around like a crazy person.  But she keeps poking at it.  Sh!t again!!  It's really not a snake, it's some kind of wire thingy.  (also, do snakes live below the ground like that?  Ew, it just grosses me out even more...)


Being the smart people that we are, we keep poking at it to try to figure out what it is.  No worries that it could electrocute or really really hurt one of us...  So I run inside to see what things might be off and what the line that we just sliced in half might be and realize that my TV is off.  That's weird, I think to myself....how would that just turn off on it's own?  I know Laila wouldn't turn it off, her favorite soap was on. 

I turn it back on and the picture is all fuzzy and black and white.  Weird....

CRAP!  We cut the cable line in half.

I go back outside to give my mom the news while I'm on hold with the cable company; and while we're relieved that it wasn't anything bigger, we're still both a little freaked out. 

Finally, the cable company comes back on the line and I think the conversation went something like this:

ME: "Hi, my TV picture is fuzzy and black and white"

Cable: OK, I'm not showing any activity at your address.  We don't show any other outages, did something else happen?

ME: Um, well, we were planting some trees and may have hit a wire.

Cable: You may have hit a wire or you hit a wire?

ME: Oh, um, welllll, we might have hit it just a little.

Cable: Ok, did you see the wire when you started digging up the dirt?

ME: Yup. 

Cable: Is there a chance that you would have cut it in half?

ME: Could be....

Cable: Ok, we can send a technician out tomorrow, they'll call you before they come.

ME: Perfect.

Phew. Not as big of a deal as I thought, but I was dreading how much it was possibly going to cost to have them come out on a Sunday.

Not having a TV in the house makes things sooo quiet!  I mean, I don't watch a ton of TV myself, but I generally have it on for background noise at the very least. 

Sunday morning rolls around and it just happens to be Mother's Day weekend (which is why my mom was in town).  So, my mom and I go to church, meet my dad, sister, and brother in law for lunch and then the cable company calls.  Perfect timing guys!

Luckily we were about finished with lunch and we were eating close to my house so we could get back to my place quickly. 

We get to my house and find a big white conversion van parked in front and two guys just moseying around waiting for us to arrive.  I reluctantly show them where we dug up the cable line and they start chit chatting with my dad.  Long story short, they fixed it super quickly, didn't make me pay for anything, and said that it happens all the time!  Apparently in newer subdivisions they only bury the cable line like 4 inches below the sod=DUMB. 

After all of the weekend festivities concluded, I called U-Digg and made an appointment for them to come out and mark all of my buried lines.  We managed to pic one hot spot in the yard.  There were a few things buried where we decided to dig.  Good work, eh? 

Here's that little spot that we dug up.  See all of that orange?  Oh yeah, those are all wires of some kind....

We did get some landscaping done without digging up any wires.  Looks good, right?

The First.

I'm doing this. Blogging, that is. Get excited. Without fail, I seem to have the most random stuff happen to me on a daily basis so I decided it would be in your best interest for me to write about it.

First of all, meet Laila (or Laila Lou or Little Lady or really whatever comes out of your mouth--she'll come to it); she's that sweet angel baby up in the picture. She just turned one earlier this month and she even had a birthday party with all of her favorite doggie friends. She LOVED it. You might think I'm a little crazy for hosting such an event, but I have one hyper dog. Anything I can do to wear her out just a little is a good thing. Also, it really was just a BBQ and a time to drink some beers with all of my best buddies....(I didn't have treats or a candle or anything special for her, I swear)

However, someone else made her a birthday cake, complete with a candle!

And then there's me. A twenty-something (who is no where near 30) single living in the good 'ol state of Kansas. Born and raised on a farm (which most people find hard to believe) I have now settled down in a little suburb of Kansas City; I bought my first house a couple of years ago, got a dog, now I'm just waiting on that husband part...

My dad is also waiting for me to find a husband. A couple of weeks ago I sent him a list of things I needed help with around my house, for example:

Fix the mole problem in my backyard

Ants/Spiders

Fix my garage doors (they don't open all of the time)

Weeds in my yard

Landscaping

Look at the tree that the wind knocked down

Fix my ice maker

that's about it, there may have been a few more.... I should also mention that I am pretty handy around my house. For the girl who used to call maintenance in my apartment buildings a few years ago to change light bulbs; I've grown up. Anyway, I call my dad to confirm that he had received my list, and he responds with:

Dad: "I did and I read it to your Uncle Kenny"

me: "ok, and is he coming to help you or what?"

Dad: "I shouldn't tell you this...(insert my dad giggling)...we both think you need to find a husband"

me: "very true dad, but that's not happening any time soon, so you're my go to for now. When will you be arriving?"

Luckily for him, I was in a pleasant mood that morning on the way to work and the husband jab didn't bother me one bit. Even luckier for me, both of my parents came down later that week to help me knock out that list and then some. Even though my brand new shiny car and my garage were a little covered in oil, the trip was a success and I'm pretty sure that even if I did have a husband to help, he wouldn't have been able to do all of that stuff my parents did. I think I'm fine with keeping 'ol ma and pa around to help me out for awhile. They're excited, I'm sure of it.