Ponderings

It's Monday.

While may day may have started off with me trying to start my car with my lip gloss, it is being finished by me lazily blogging on a porch swing. I'd say things have turned around. And I like that.

I don't necessarily have an aim for this post - I just thought I'd see what comes out.

I've been playing my guitar some the last week. It's always interesting how I go through seasons with my guitar. Seasons where my guitar collects dust under the bed, and seasons where the calluses on my fingers are found again, and my strings are stretched to new limits while I try another unexplainable Joni Mitchell tuning. I do think it's therapeutic, though. Much like piano used to be. I don't know if piano ever will be again - hopefully it will if I can ever be around a piano long enough to play without stressing about it.. But that's okay; there's a season for everything. Anyway, I've been playing on the porch some lately, using my cell phone as a paper weight, and Miguel as my audience. He's very easy to please. I like that.

I've also been reading some lately. I've read a couple of fiction books for entertainment and have been reading a very challenging non-fiction book lately. The kind that you write in. The kind that makes you feel all convicted. The kind that makes you stop so you can pray about it after only a couple of pages. I like that.

Life has slowed down just enough that I've been able to do those things. And I like that.

Do you ever feel like something is stirring in you? Perhaps there's something for you learn that you haven't caught on to yet. Like the Lord's trying to teach you something. Or you feel a pull toward Him or an extra awareness of his goodness and presence? You know, how it makes you want to read the Word more and makes you feel almost anxious/excited? I guess it's another thing about seasons. I'm in one of those now. I haven't quite figured it out yet. But I like it.

This porch swing is REALLY creaky.

I've set a couple of goals lately. I really like goals. I feel like they take the pressure off, and give hope of a greater outcome. With my goals come realistic expectations, and an understanding that things might not turn out the way I'm hoping. But that's okay.

I think when I get old I'll be one of those ladies that has those deep lines in her face from laughing. I laugh a lot in general, but lately it just seems I've been in some very joyful and fun situations. I guess people will just know that I've been happy throughout my life. And I like that.

Well, I guess I should go inside now. The bugs are enjoying this swing and my computer screen as much as I am, and I really should go to bed.

Grace and Peace,
Kathryn

Extreme Office Makeover 2K10

When I first walked into my then new-to-me office, I was faced with stark white walls, some really groovy blue/purple/green/salmon wallpaper,

and some shelves filled with a million binders, office manuals, and a shelf of cds for sale. You could suffice it to say that the office wasn't exactly in the running for "Hottest Office of 2009".

As you all know, a person spends a lot of time at his or her place of employment.... generally at least forty hours a week. So, as groovy and I'm sure as cool as it was in the 1970's, the wallpaper had to go. After working there a little over a month, my boss went out of the country for three weeks and left me to own demise. Okay, really, he gave me permission to repaint the office. A friend came, and with her help, that wallpaper didn't stand a chance. After scraping, spraying, pulling, and a few close encounters with a ladder, we experienced victory over that wallpaper, and painted the walls with a more neutral color that was easier on the eyes:

I know that picture is really random but you can see the wall color.

So, that was all fine and good, but I still had those blasted shelves. I was told I would need to reference those hideous binders, so I left them there, along with the cds for sale. Well, I've been in that office for almost a year and half, and hadn't cracked open those binders yet, so I decided they weren't really all that necessary. With a thumbs up from the big cheese, I cleaned some house.

In my zest for the makeover, I actually forgot to take "before" pictures. I realize that this completely takes away from my work and you don't really realize how much better everything is, but let me just say that I find myself staring at my shelves throughout the day. They are just that awesome.

So, here's the big reveal:

Pretty sweet, huh? Here's a close up of the right side. I have the bottom shelf with some of my books, and the middle shelf devoted to my alma mater, and the top shelf a combo. Oh, there's my pink construction hat that I bedazzled. (-:

And here's the left side. The middle shelf has our wedding invitation and wedding photos, and the other shelves have pictures of friends on them.

So. Are you impressed? You should be.

Do you make your office something that makes you feel at home? Mark keeps his office his office. Like I would want to never be there. Just business. But he likes that business/home separation. I have to have happy things to look at. (-:

Happy Friday!

~Kathryn

Road Trip: HELP!

Mark and I are about to embark on our first ever road trip together. You would think that since this is our first road trip, perhaps we would start with a one day trip. Something 8-10 hours away. But no. I'm all about going big or going home, so we're going to Washington, DC, which is a whopping 19-20 hours from here.

Why are we doing this, you ask? Well, you see, Mr. Plane Ticket Price Man decided to jack up the tickets so that it would cost us a solid $800+ dollars to fly to DC. For two people. Now, if that's not outrageous, I don't know what is. So, $800 vs. $300 in gas plus a cheap hotel.... and Chisolm Trail here we come. Here's our sweet ride:

Some people have said we're crazy. That we'll hate each other by the time we get to our vacation destination. But, since optimism is my middle name, I am choosing to make this fun. And Mark is just plum tickled pink about the whole idea.

Here's what we have so far: Mark has mapped out the destinations and has been looking for fun touristy stops along the way. Have I mentioned that he loves maps? Because he does. He has broken the trip into five "legs" and is trying to find interesting stopping points along the way.

He also has a fancy schmancy CASSETTE tape holder that he just got from his dad yesterday that he has loaded up with some great cassette tape smash hits for us to groove to as we drive down the highway. Yes, my 1998 Honda Accord is fully equipped with a cassette player, with automatic reverse, thank you very much. But, never fear, I have a cassette adapter that I can plug my iPod into. Apparently Mark gets tired of my iPod music (I don't know why, I mean who doesn't love hearing me sing along with the Wicked soundtrack, Glee hits, or some awesome bluegrass?!) so he's resorted to cassettes. He even found a couple that he was so excited about because he knew I would love them: Point of Grace's Steady On, and The Eagles: 1971-1975. So, cassette player, here I come.

We're even planning on loading up an ice chest with sandwich stuff so we don't have to stop to eat and can save money. Are you impressed?

But let's get real. 20 hours in the car is a long time. Playing "I Spy" will only get us to like Joplin, and I need something more than trying to get 18 wheelers to honk at me. We need some stuff to do. Anything.

Have you been on a road trip? How was it? How did you entertain yourselves?

HELP!

~Kathryn

PS: I'm throwing in a cooking photo. I will try to do a cooking blog soon!

That Video I Mentioned...

from the SNL Lawrence Welk Show episode... Here it is:



~Kathryn

Hello from New Mexico!

I am sitting on my bed in my hotel room, on the eve of our departure back to Oklahoma. I am here as a sponsor on my church's youth choir tour. It has been a LOT of fun, and I have pretty much loved every second of it.

Some of the highlights include:

I got to sing in the youth choir. I know, I am not a youth. But as you all very well know, I clearly look like one.  I dressed in my solid color polo and my khaki skirt and sang. You see, the choir of 31 youth only had four altos. So, our worship minister let me sing with them. And I pretty much love singing in choirs so it rocked. And no one asked me if I was a youth or not. As an added bonus, to ensure that I stayed in character, our worship minister dubbed my teenager name to be "Heather" and all the kids obliged by calling me that all week. Here are some photos:

Here are all of the altos! WOO!!

And here we are singing at a church:

Kickball. You also may know, I'm incredibly athletic and very hand-eye coordinated. So, you shouldn't be surprised to know that I was one of the last two standing to be picked for a game of kickball. But, what I lack in talent, I make up for in enthusiasm and ridiculousness. It's all I have. Because, let's face it: I'm really terrible at catching and throwing balls. And apparently, I run in a way that enables the pitcher to blast the side of my face with the kickball. That was awesome.

Making new friends and growing existing friendships. A lot of the kids I saw in choir previously, but I didn't really know them. Now I know a lot more of them, and had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone. That has been pretty great.

I cannot deny or confirm that a re-inactment video of the SNL Lawrence Welk Show sisters skit took place on the trip, nor can I deny or confirm that I was in it. Perhaps that possibly hypothetical video will make an appearance on the blog. (-:

Hanging out at Dairy Queen and McDonalds for five hours while our bus broke down. Yeah. Seriously. It was pretty awesome.

A complete and total epic fail on an attempt to make my hair look good. My friend on the trip, who is supposedly really awesome at hair completely ruined me, not once, but twice, and there wasn't time to fix it. So for one evening, my hair looked like I swam in the ocean, let it air dry, and then took a crimper to it. It was awesome. In that process, she also washed my hair in the bathtub. It was pretty hilarious.

We also ate some yummy food, went shopping in Santa Fe, did a service project for a local church, had Bible study/worship time, and just had a whole lot of fun. I am so glad I got to go on the trip, and I'm really sad to go home tomorrow. I guess all good things must come to an end... )-:

Group Photo:

So, since OMG it's almost 2:00 am here. What am I doing?! I better go to bed. Peace and blessings!


~Kathryn

Happy Birthday, Harrison!

My little brother turned 23 yesterday. My sister and I sang him a birthday song. I thought you might enjoy seeing it. Happy Weekend!

~Kathryn