A Bouquet of Newly Sharpened Pencils

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

Ahhh.... "You've Got Mail". Don't you just love that movie? Don't you just want to be Kathleen Kelly? Don't you want to wear those cute jumpers and be able to pull off that cute short hair? And isn't her apartment just to die for? And the charming bookstore where she and her mother used to twirl. Be still my soul. I just adore that movie.

Ahem. I didn't get on here to talk about one of my all time favorite movies, but I am clearly easily distracted. I logged into blogger to tell about my newest endeavor, which will require some new school supplies, and maybe, just maybe, a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.

Yes, I'm going back to school. I've been out of college for four years now. This is just enough time where I don't convulse when I think about opening a text book, studying for a test, or writing a paper. And while I admit I was not a model student, and studying was not my forte, I am genuinely thrilled to be going back.

At the end of my senior year in college, I started looking into the possibility of seminary. I picked the school I wanted to go to and even started getting letters from those hungry admissions counselors, but I knew in my heart I just couldn't do it. Not that I wasn't capable or didn't want to, but I had paid for my own college and already had a decent stack of student loan debt, and I just really couldn't justify going to seminary. That would mean getting farther in debt, and honestly, I don't know that I could have handled much more of the poor college student stress of trying to come up with money for gas, or anything for that matter. So, I put the idea on the back burner and put on my cap and gown.

Since I graduated from college and joined the grown-up world of working, I have every few months surfed the 'ole world wide web to see if my dream could somehow become a reality. Due to finances, the lack of a seminary I could or would go to near where I lived, and my needing to work while I went to school, it seemed very unrealistic.

But this time, after another dead end internet search, a friend of mine mentioned online seminary. Mind you, I found a fair share of ".com" seminaries - those sketchy schools that don't have a ".edu" at the end of the website. But, after I kept looking, one of my top seminary choices had just started a fully online program last fall. And it's definitely a ".edu" school.

My first question was about finances and scholarships, so before I really told anyone about my idea, I emailed our church to find out if there were any scholarship options. As soon as I found out there were, everything happened really quickly. I got two more scholarships, and within about two weeks of starting the process, I was accepted, and as of yesterday, I am enrolled.

So what degree program am I doing? Well, I will be working toward a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. It's a forty-five hour program. I plan on doing nine hours a semester, so it should take me about two and half years to complete. I am so excited, and nervous at the same time. I hope I still have the brain power to pull it off. There will be lots of reading and writing, and I even have to get proctors for my tests since I can't use notes/books/etc.

So, you could definitely say that this fall I will need a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils. Or at least a new Mac Book. (-: That's what I'm hoping for - that and some Bible study software.

So, that's my new endeaver. Class starts August 22. (-:

~Kathryn

On the Road Again

Well, hello, everyone! I am blogging from a charter bus right now, somewhere in between Destin, Fl, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am on my way back from our church's youth choir tour. I feel really legit blogging from a wifi card on a bus.

Our trip has just been fantastic. We ministered to lots of people through singing the Word of God over them, and we had lots of great fellowship, and of course, lots of wonderful beach time. I don't have any pics right now of the choir singing, since I couldn't take pics while singing, but I do have some beach pics, which I will most definitely share. (-:

This is the view from my room - how stinkin' cool is that? I stayed with a couple of sweet ninth grade girls and another sponsor.

Karlie and I got to spend some quality beach time together, too. (-:

Being a church choir trip, I was on a hunt for a one piece swim suit. Now, I don't know about you, but I have the HARDEST time finding a one piece that fits. I think I have a long torso, so the one pieces never seem long enough. It's like I'm always having to try to pull them up and stretch them out and it's usually frustrating, and never flattering. But, this time I splurged. I bought a one piece that is supposed to be super cute and look decent. And I'm glad I did. You guys all need to check out www.modcloth.com and see their really cool and vintage one and two-piece swimsuits.

Mark didn't get to go. And I missed him a lot. I'm pretty sure he missed us a lot to. We sent lots of pics to him like these throughout the week:

We will be home tonight and we are excited to see Mark, Boo, Melvin, and Bella. We are very ready for that. (-:

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

~Kathryn

A Treasure in Our Garden

Can I get a shout for the second blog post of the week? Woo!

As we were enjoying our family dinner Monday night (might I add, it was pretty darn good - we had pork chops, mashed potatoes, asparagus and salad - YUM!), we kept getting distracted by Boo barking in the backyard. He was barking and I asked, "Mark, what is he barking at?" Mark looked out the back door and said, "He's barking at the garden." So, we figured he was just being a goofy puppy. He will occasionally bark at a random object as if it were some sort of mythical creature. We go on regular walks around our neighborhood and every once in a while he will see someone's trash sitting out by their curb for the next morning and he'll bark. And I'm like, dude, it's a bag of trash. No need for alarm. ANYWAY, the point is, he sometimes barks at weird things, so I wasn't too surprised.

But he kept barking. We're talking non stop for like ten minutes. Reminder: we were trying to enjoy our family dinner. Finally, I had had enough, and figured the neighbors had as well, so I asked Mark if he would go see what all the commotion was about.

I watched Mark go out there and look in the garden. And then I watched him keep looking. And moving back one of the plants to look more closely. I knew something was up. He gave me a look, and I jumped up from the table, Karlie in tow, and we went to see what was in the garden. And lo and behold, look what we found:

Yes, folks, that is a nest of baby bunnies. Cue ridiculous squealing, picture taking galore, and mass pandemonium as we looked at the baby bunnies. It was pretty amazing. We looked for a really long time, called everyone we knew, and then we left them alone.

Karlie did some research and found out that we can hold them, because domestic rabbits don't mind human scent. And apparently, mommy rabbits feed the babies at night and then they are good for twenty-four hours. The mom leaves during the day so that the nest will not be obvious to predators. Apparently Boo is a good predator, because he knew they were there. Good thing we got that chicken wire around the garden.

Want to get a better look?

Oh. My. Word. Is that not the most precious thing you have ever seen? Karlie named her Annabelle. (I don't know if it's a girl but, oh well.)

And here's another little guy:

I checked on them again this morning and they looked like they were doing good. I'll keep you posted!

Happy Wednesday!

~Kathryn

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

First, of all, I know. I'm like the worst blogger ever. I'm thinking about working on it. You know how like when you see a friend you haven't talked to in so long and it's hard to talk because it's like, "Wow, where do I even begin?!". That's how my relationship is with blogger. It's like I haven't blogged and there's so much back log and what do I even say? So, I will just start with the festivities of this weekend. Coming soon, I will update on my furniture projects, my awesome garden, and something new and exciting I am going to be starting in the fall. (-:

We got to go to the Driller's baseball game and had the most fabulously awesome time. I'll just post some pics to remind you what I look like since it's been so long.

We ate at this AWESOME burger joint. And we ate a lot.

At the game, we got suite seats.... pun intended. Here's our view:

We got cotton candy at the game. It was AWESOME. I mean, cotton candy is like pretty, sweet, and fun to eat. Best of all worlds. Plus it's got the novelty factor going on.

But, it does this to your tongue:

Can you tell my favorite flavor was blue? Yeah.

And here's our family pic after the game:

It was a wonderfully fun night. So, there's a little teaser. I'll try to be a better blogger again. Please forgive me.

~Kathryn

And the TV's Off the Floor

As you may know, we moved into our house in September. Since that day, our living room TV has been sitting on the floor. Just chillin' there. The thing is, I have wanted an enclosed TV stand for pretty much my whole life, but they aren't cheap. So I have been waiting... and waiting... and waiting...and our poor little (literally, little) TV has been sitting on the floor, just wanting some love.

I was okay with it, as I was willing to wait for one I really wanted, but when we hosted a bunch of teenagers for a weekend church event, and one of the first things one of the kids asked me was "Did you just move here? Because your TV is on the ground," I knew something had to be done.

I looked on Craigslist with no luck, and then one day I stumbled upon this (free) beauty in a closet at a local non-profit.  I knew this poor little stand would never see the light of day. But I saw it, and I saw beyond it's exterior and knew I could give it a home. Here's what I found:

I know, the wood finish is a little groovy. So what did I do? I brought it home, and I bought a little sanding sponge thing, and sanded it a little. And honestly, I don't think the sanding did anything, probably because I didn't know what I was doing, but I'm pretty sure it was a big fat waste of time. Anyway, after I "sanded" it, I got a bucket of paint from the garage that the previous homeowners left, and I started painting. And after I put one coat of paint on, I painted some more. And after that I painted more. After FOUR coats of paint, I decided that would have to be good enough. So far, mind you, this project had cost me like $2.00 or however much that ridiculous sand sponge was.

Now for the dramatic and glorious ending. I went to the love of my life Anthropologie, and bought two adorable knobs that were six dollars each. Are you ready for the big reveal? First, scroll back up at the before pictures.

And here comes the after:

Impressed? I have to say I am pretty impressed and I LOVE it. It isn't enclosed, but that's okay. I'll take a $14 awesomely cute stand any day. (-:

What's even better is that I got a few other pieces that I will be working on soon. So... more to come.

And here's a pic for the road of lunch today with a friend. Have a fabulous day!

~Kathryn 

Garden: Take 3

You likely remember me talking about my longings for a garden. Well, as pretty much everything else, nothing ever goes quite as planned, which makes things more interesting. But I am bound and determined to have some sort of organic harvest by the end of the summer!

I decided to go with a raised garden, because that would require the least amount of physical labor on my part, and would be an easy starter garden. So I ordered a kit from Amazon, and visited my local organic gardening store.

The kit came, and I started assembling it. It's smaller than it looks in the pictures - it's 3.5 feet by 7 feet:

 I know. There will be dogs in all the pics. Just prepare yourself. So I laid down that black film so that grass wouldn't grow up into the garden.

 

Next, I got it all sturdy and ready to go for the dirt:

Lookin' good, eh? I was pretty impressed with myself. I was working hard, feeling like I was all...outdoorsy. Oh, except that I forgot to put on sunscreen, so I totally got burned while working outside. Brilliant.

The next task was filling the garden with 100 million pound bags of soil. I don't know how much they weighed in actuality, but I know they were probably like 50 pounds. Seriously.  I almost gave myself a hernia. Here they are:

Notice what is taking place in the picture below. This haunting scene is a re-occurring nightmare that has taken a few weeks to fully resolve. And lots of plant purchases due to the canine appetite for vegetable plants. More to come.

Five bags and lots of sweat later, this is what we have:

Looks pretty stinkin' awesome, huh? So, next comes the fun part! The planting! I purchased a cherokee purple tomato, a roma tomato, some basil, some purple kale, two types of jalapenos, and a red bell pepper. Oh, and some onions, but those became a casualty of war that were not resurrected.

We put up pink trellis things (don't remember what they're called) for the tomatoes, and then I got a green fence to go around the garden, because we realized the only critters we were going to have to worry about sabotaging our garden would be poodles. After they mistook the garden for their own personal sandbox, we high tailed it to the local Home Depot and got the fence. Here is the garden, all planted:  

After we planted everything, I put an organic fish fertilizer on there that's supposed to be pretty stinkin' legit. Ha. No pun intended, but that stuff does stink. Like fish. But it must taste good, because it made my dogs try to eat all the vegetables. So that was impressive.  It amazed me how they managed to get through the fence to the vegetables. Seriously. Through the fence, and they ATE the plants. Back to the store we went. Nature finds a way, I suppose.

By the time it was all said and done, Mark was pretty much BFF with the garden store staff and ended up buying some chicken wire. Fingers are crossed that the problem is solved. I will definitely keep you posted. So far, so good. I can even tell one of the tomatoes that I planted first has grown a lot. WOO!!!!

Any gardening tips from you pros out there? I'm trying to turn my thumb somewhat green!

~Kathryn

The Prom Report

Well, folks, Karlie's first prom came and went. And it was as success... there were some hurdles.... but we all pulled through without harm.

Karlie started getting ready during the day on Saturday, and found out that her date had injured his head while playing rugby that morning. (Now, I don't know what you are thinking, but I was thinking that perhaps playing rugby on the morning of prom day isn't the best idea.) Anyway, so he tells her that he has a "mark" on his forehead, and that it looks pretty bad. Well, of course Karlie is gracious, but she's kind of wondering what this is going to look like. I suggested that she have him send a pic, you know, so there aren't any surprises. But, no, she said she would wait to see it in real life. The plan was for him to pick her up at 4:30.

A few of her friends were over helping her get ready, and at about 4:00 she put her dress on. I don't know if you remember me saying how she had borrowed a prom dress? Well, she had tried it on once before for maybe a minute, and decided to wear it. So here we are, 30 minutes before go time, and she realizes that the dress is slightly too big. And by slightly too big, I mean, the strapless dress won't stay up. Not exactly the kind of show she's wantin' to put on. So, while I am internally freaking out and wondering what dress I have that she might want to wear that would fit because her current one clearly won't work, I am externally the ever calm parental figure that says it's no big deal and I'll just sew the strap back on that once was attached to the dress.

Inside, I'm yelling at myself, "You're going to sew the strap back on? You've never sewn a strap in your entire life! And now you have minutes to make a prom dress fit! Bad idea." So, as soon as I left the bathroom, so did my ever so calm persona, and I started running around like a crazy person looking for my sewing kit, which was exactly where I thought it was, but in my frantic searching, I overlooked it. Mark and I had a stressful few minutes rummaging through everything, and then finally, I found it. Victory. So, I sat down at the table, needle, thread, and thimble in my trembling hands, and sewed that strap right back on there. As if I was a professional seamstress. I'm telling ya, that strap wasn't going anywhere. So, I ran back upstairs with the dress, handed it to Karlie as if it was no big deal and I had done it in my sleep, and she gave me the biggest hug and smile that just melted my heart.

So, did the strap work? Well, sort of. It held the front up. We had to do some additional safety pinning, but with the help of our sweet friend and neighbor, Jane, the dress fit Karlie perfectly and we knew it wasn't going anywhere.

Back to McRugby. So, it's about 4:30 and Karlie hears from her date that he's going to be late because he's icing his forehead. Not a good sign. And that apparently he now has stitches (but they're invisible). Poor guy! So finally, he arrives, and Karlie makes her big grand entrance down the stairs, looking beautiful. And nothing could have prepared us for the mark on his forehead. I mean. Wow. Poor guy. Karlie's eyes got big for a second, then she reeled it in and proceeded with the before prom festivities.

Karlie gave the boutonniere her best effort, but in the end, I had to fix it so it wouldn't fall off. (-:

We wanted to take pictures with Karlie, too, before she left:

Impressed with the strap? Yeah, I figured you were. 

So are you ready to see the injury? I will say that the photo does not do it justice and the poor guy had a headache and a head that was STILL bleeding. Karlie said that more people talked about his forehead than her dress. Which is of course, a huge tragedy on prom night. (-:

Here it is:

And here's the photo-shopped version:

Much better, eh? (-: 

And so they left, had a great time, got home late, and we have successfully gotten through the first round of proms. 

Bring back some memories? Did you have any "prom drama"?

~Kathryn