Wacky Wednesday: blogging & bibery

My blog, oh how I love my blog.  When I see the deep blue background it calms me and makes me feel at home in my own little world.  I see pictures of my family and my life and it is like a breath of fresh air.  It is so much fun to think about and savor the posts as they are created.  I usually have at least 4 in draft mode, some make it the publish point and some only make it to the trash.

There are several reason's why I blog.

• Share with my family and friends the happenings in our lives (I don't do Christmas Cards)
  
• Create a simple history/ journal of the different parts of our lives
  
• To share stories 
  
• To make myself laugh, and to laugh at myself
  
• To talk about Charlee
  
• To show off pictures of Charlee
  
• To share, educate & learn about ADOPTION
  

In my real world I talk people's ear off about adoption, I am always thinking about it.  Adoption is so much who we are, it is our family.  And there is a need for good, accurate information about adoption as an option to an unplanned pregnancy.  Here is just one of the reasons I blog about Adoption:

Of unmarried women 15-44 who experience and unplanned pregnancy . . . 

• 12% will marry and parent the child
  
• 37% will be single parents
  
• 50% will  miscarry or abort the child
  
• 1% will place the child for adoption
  

See the need to let people know that adoption is an option in this situation?  It is too much of who we are to not share what we are learning as we continue on our adoption journey.

Okay, now  I am talking to you.  Yeah you blog stalker who comes to look for new pictures of Charlee and to skim the superfluous words I write to get the scoop.  I hope you feel welcome and you enjoy the view into our lives.  So now I need your help.

I am sure you have noticed the addition at the top of my blog "Vote for my blog".  This is contest on gocitykids.parentsconnect.com, which is powered by Nick's Parents Connect.  And for the record, I feel in love with this site and used it before I even knew about the contest.  I can't win without you voting.

Here are the details:

• anyone one can vote once per day
  
• voting ends July 15
  
• There are 30 categories you can also vote on
• you can also pick from 52 cities to vote on
• prize?? the title - Which I will wear with pride
  
• announced 8/17/09
  
• you can also enter a $2000 sweepstakes everyday until 7/15
  

The Bribe: as much as I would love to give you a dollar for each time you vote, Karst vetoed that idea, (since we still need to rebuild the deck on the back of the house).  

So I going with, what I have a fortune of:  pictures of Charlee.  I am sure you are thinking you haven't seen them all.  

Here is how it will work

My Part:  EVERYDAY until July 17th I will post pictures of Charlee - and as a special bonus for you there will be little to no words in those posts.  I will still do my classic posts weekly (I saw the worry in your eyes).

Your Part:  When you come to look at Charlee's  brilliant eyes, bounty of hair, and buxom cheeks daily just click the button and vote for our blog.

Thanks for helping me out, I better go now, I have more pictures to be taking.

Wacky Wednesday - Daddy Karst

Okay since we are back into the BS (Busy Season, click here to read more about it), I am taking a chance that Karst won't read the blog for a few months and I can share with you what he is like as a daddy without him being embarrassed.

He is such a cute little daddy with Charlee, he just loves every bit of her and everything that is her, which in turn has brought out every protective bone in him.  

When she was born we were lucky enough to be invited to share her first day with her, once the hospital staff knew we were the adoptive parents, Nurse Wendy took Karst under her wing and taught him what he needed to know.  She taught him how to swaddle her, feed, burp, change diapers.  I was with our birth mom Elle, during her orientation and when I went back to the nursery he was an old pro.  So much so that if I did anything different he let me know that was not how Nurse Wendy did it.   I read all the books, but he had Nurse Wendy so he knew more.  But I will forever be grateful to her for helping him get on his daddy pants.

 

 

He was so emotional during the first 2 weeks, even in front of my family.  If you know Karst, you know he isn't one to show on the outside what he is feeling on the inside, but when it came to his baby girl he just couldn't help it.  When he had to leave us in Wyoming and go back to work that next week, it tore his heart out.  

The salon I work at on Saturdays gave us a baby shower and the only way I could have Charlee there was if Karst brought her up only for an hour and no one could hold or touch her.  I tried to explain to the girls how it was, but they didn't believe me until they saw it for themselves.  He just held her in the back room and let them look, if they got close to touching he handed them the purell.  He fed her, changed her and even opened the gifts while I was doing hair.  When he left they realized I wasn't kidding and one of them  said. "Karst has a baby, when do you think you'll get one?"

He has a certain way that he always feeds her, this all has to be in place before the bottle hits her mouth, the blanket, the baby a cloth diaper put under her chin and then the bottle.  He then has a separate cloth diaper over his shoulder for when he burps her.  He is the best at getting her burped.

When one of my friends came over to meet Charlee, and he thought the way she was holding her wasn't as comfortable as it should have he just went over to her and adjusted her.  On Saturday's when he is watching her, he can tell me exactly how many ounces she has had throughout the day and how much sleep she has received, I don't keep track of those things as well.

A few weeks ago we had some good friends over, Veronica and Mary have been our hired hands to help us with yard work and painting, they have known us for years.  When they came to our house and Karst was feeding her and taking care of her, just the way he was doing it, they didn't think he was going to let them hold her, but he did.  

  

We took her to church when she was 2 months old, before this he hated sitting toward the front, but now he realizes there is less chance people will touch her if we are sitting in benches.  So now it is benches for us.  He told one of the girls in the ward that she had to stay back 5 feet from her.

We have gone out to eat only a few times with her, and the whole time he kept her covered and kept checkin on her.  Same thing when we go into a store.  If he thinks he is getting a cold he stays away from her even though he just wants to hold her.  He loves to fall asleep holding her and then I pick her up and put her in the cradle for the night.  

He sings to her, he baths her, he does everything in his power to make sure everything is good and she is happy.  

He loves Elle (Charlee's birth mom) so much, and thinks the world of her.  He is really protective of her and gets really upset when he finds out she has been hurt, and wishes he could fix everything for her.  He gets very emotional whenever we talk about her. He makes sure he always gives her a hug when he sees her, Karst is not a hugging type of guy.  I hope when Charlee is older she will recognize the honor and respect Karst has for Elle.

A picture says more then I can, so the best way for you to see for yourself how amazing he is as a father is to see all these pictures.  It just makes my heart sing, to see him be a father and I am grateful beyond words that we have been given this chance.  We have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams.  

Wacky Wednesday - Library Delima

Ok, so I love to read and I want Charlee to love reading, I want to read to Charlee as much as I can.

However, with me no longer working full time and just doing hair on Saturday's, buying books is not on the need list it is on the want list.

I hear you now saying, that is why you go to the library.  True, but it is not that easy for me, I have a history with the library system.  (This is what I remember, I have tried to block most of it)

In the past these are a few of the situations I have had with our county library:

1:  Took a year to return 3 books, I had to pay for the books AND give them back. They never called, they never emailed just sent a letter after 12 months.  (I thought I had returned the books)

2:  They wouldn't let me check out a book until I paid the .85 fine that was 1 months old, I didn't bring my wallet so I had to dig through my car and dig up 85 pennies to get one book.  They couldn't take a chance that I wouldn't pay it next time.

3.  One May they wouldn't let me check out a book because I didn't have my card with me, and I had used my ONE TIME ONLY no card check out, TWO years earlier, so I went home searched for it, couldn't find it went back to them told them I couldn't find it and needed a new one.

And the guy said "Oh, it looks like back in March we found it on our floor.  You'll need to get a new one now."  

I was so mad.  I said "Excuse me the lady could look through the notes on my account from 2 years ago and see that I had done my one time only no card check out, but she couldn't look at the notes from 2 months ago and tell me you had found it here?"

 He just shrugged he shoulders and said "yeah, and you'll need to pay $12 for a new card."  I just laughed out loud, no one had called, emailed or sent a letter that my card was at the library, I guess I am supposed to just know.  

I flipped my book over, saw it cost $14.99 I handed him the book and said "I'd rather give my money to the book store and KEEP the book then to pay them for another card."  And I left.  Now I am a little afraid to go back, I am sure I am on some crazy lady list.

4.  I get bugged when I go there and they have 18 people in line one person checking people out and 4 people shelving books.  HELLO, does that make sense.  And then those people are in no hurry at all, they don't understand that you have a life and don't want to spend all day in the library?  They move so SLOW.  So then when you finally get up there, just to get them to scan your card and your books, they have to stop and give me a speech about .85 fines, and lost cards.  It makes going to a book store heaven.

So now I either have to give up books, steal them from friends or go eat crow and start using the library again.  I'll tell you what, I guess I just need find another location, and apply for a new card and hope none of my "crazy  lady" notes follow me.  

 Pray for me that I can do this and Charlee will not be illiterate.  

 

Wacky Wednesday - Emails

How long has it been since I did a WW, too long is the answer.  I will try and get back into the habit, I just wonder if I've already gone too far and if I am embarrassing myself too much?  

Okay so email, I have a few email accounts as I am sure we all do.  And a few of the accounts go to my blackberry so I stay on top of those pretty well, buy you know that email address that you use to register and it doesn't matter how much you "unsubscribe" the crap keeps coming.  So I went through all my accounts and counted my unread mail and my total: 

How does this happen?  Not checking it daily, so if you have sent me an email and you are wondering why I have not responded I would suggest sending again because I think I am going to delete all and start all over.   Good -Night!!  How many unread emails do you have?

Wacky Wednesday- Scariest Halloween Ever

Here is a scary Wednesday post without any pictures.  I do love Halloween and there are some years are I really get into it and of course there has been many great carved pumpkins and lots of great costumes, but today I am going to share with your my scariest Halloween Ever.

My Scariest Halloween was October 31st 1996, I was living downtown Salt Lake, and my younger sister Rebecca moved close to me so she was working at the same retail place I was.  She had only been in Utah for a few months when it was time for Halloween, I had just started beauty school and they had a hair design contest and we made her hair into a spiderweb, it was one of the the coolest things, with wire and glitter and spiders in there.  So anyway we did that in the morning and then that night we went to work.  There was only about a handful of employees at this small store and I happened to be the supervisor that night.

The store closed at 10 p.m. and about 9:30 p.m. I went in the back warehouse and was ready to go back on the floor, when Rebecca hollered my name she was on some stairs above me and there was a kid with her with a old man mask and hoody on and she said Kim you are never going to guess who this was, so she ran down the stairs and the guy was behind her and  when she got in front of me she said he has a gun and he wants money.

She seemed calm, which was not like Rebecca and so I was kind of laughing ha ha, but then this guy pulls a gun out of his pocket and says this isn't a joke I need the money now.  Well the only cash I had access to at that time was what we kept in the front of the stores for the registers change.  He handed me a blue bank deposit bag grabbed Rebecca and said come on we are going to get it and if we tried anything he wasn't afraid to shoot. 

So I had to walk to the front of the store with him and Rebecca and she started shaking and crying and that made him really nervous, so I tried to calm her down and tell her that everything would be fine and he said once he had the money he would leave.  So, I walked up there past customers and other employee's like nothing was happening, and I can't believe no one caught on that this guy was in the store with a mask, I know it is Halloween but hello is anyone paying attention? Then I hear my name being paged to the computer room, and like every 3 minutes they are calling my name to be back there.  So we get to the front of the store and I open the safe put all the cash in there, which was a little over $800, put it in the bag and handed it to him.

Then he grabbed Rebecca and said we are going back up stairs because he know there are more safes up there, I am freaking out Rebecca is freaking out and they keep paging my name overhead.  She starts crying and says we gave you the money just go and I said I don't have anything else to give you.  And honestly I didn't know what he was going to do or what I could do, I just wanted them to stop calling my name overhead so I picked up the phone to call the computer room to tell them to wait, well the minute I picked up the phone the guy bolted out the doors.   I told Rebecca to call 911 and then I went and locked the doors, I didn't see where he went or what car he got in I was just glad he was gone.  I will never forget looking over at Rebecca on the phone crumbling to the police dispatch with her hair braided into a spiderweb and the reality of the whole situation hit me and I got really scared and realized how much worse it could have been.

There were other employees around who were like "what happened?"  "what is going on?", "I didn't see anything" "what are you talking about" and I just wanted to scream and grab them shake them and ask them how they could be so stupid and not see the guy in the mask and  me emptying the safe and go and call the police.  There had to have been at least 7 employees at the store at the time.  So the police came and took statements and looked at everything and I finally got to talk to Rebecca, and then she told me her side, that she had went upstairs on her break about an hour before and he had grabbed her and tried to get her to open the safes and made her sit in a dark office with the gun on her until I walked back there.  Fortunately nothing happened but the terror she must have had sitting there with this stranger, wondering if someone else was there, what was going to happen and if he was going to try anything.   SCARY!!

Well, the detective took all the details and our information and about 3 months later he called me and said that they think this guy had robbed another place with the same mask, they had caught him and would need me to identify it, so I told Rebecca they had caught the guy and she was so relieved, although I think she quit that job about a month later, can you blame her?  Well, here is the thing I never told her the detective called me back about a week later and said it wasn't the same guy because he was in jail the night we had been robbed. Which made things scary again.  

The thing is, that this guy had cased the joint for a while and knew where things were in the store, and how things were done,so you had to think that he had probably been a customer, and then you always wondered if he ever came back as a customer.  I remember his eyes and I always would look at customers eyes to see if it was him, but I don't think I ever saw him.

I stayed working in that store for 2 more years, I know what was I thinking?  And anytime a guy would come up behind me and ask for help I would jump and pee a little I don't think I ever got over it.

It probably took about 5 years for me to like Halloween again, but to this day when I see a guy in a old man mask I just want to punch the crap out of him and run and hide.

Wacky Wednesday - Milestones

Of course we all know that the only thing that you can count on is change.  The best change is the one that you plan, that you have control of.  I am a dreamer, I love to sit and think about how things will be, how things can change.  I have been thinking about how reaching different milestones with different goals causes the changes you have been waiting for, but maybe not ready for.

So let me tell you about a few milestones we have reached recently.  First of all my cute little car Marge, turned 100000 miles.  I had just pulled into the salon parking lot when it the 99999 rolled.  Which I thought was fitting since her and I go there every Saturday.  She is still running like a champ, even if she backs into light polls, but that is a post for another day.

So the next milestone we have hit, is as I told you in August, was Karst was working on his last class for his graduate hours before he could start sitting for the CPA exams.  Well just like that it is over, the Grad school he was going to has quarters, and now he has hit the milestone DONE with school.  No more school projects and school stress, don't worry I have found other stress for him, but this huge milestone that he has been working toward for 7 years is over.  It is really weird and something that I don't know if it has really hit him.  I am thinking he needs to do a post on it, but we'll see.

So now his he gets to work and work, they have started the auditing season, so there is a lot going on to keep him busy.   Good thing he loves his job!!

The milestone I have hit, I am getting ready to take a short leave from work, I love my job, I love the company I work for, it is the best job I have ever had, but sometimes you have to step away for a moment and get things in your life on track.   This is a picture of my department at a get together we had.    There are many weeks I have spent more time with these people then my husband, and the'll be missed, but things will be better when I am back.

milestones on this crazy thing we call life.

Wacky Wednesday - Fred's so lucky

Fred is so lucky to have us as housemates, and we are lucky that she let's us live in her house.    Because I am allergic to cats, and I don't like cat hair around.  We bath Fred.  She pretends she doesn't like it, but I think deep down she does.

If she hears the bath water running you can never find her so we are always having to think of new ways to get her in there.  Karst grabs her feet and puts her in the water, we have a rubber bath mat for her so she can dig her claws in that.  He holds her down and I soap and rinse her and then we grab a towel and roll her in it.  

It usually takes her a few hours to dry, and then we comb her and get a lot of the hair. Once she is dry she is so soft and smells like bubble gum.  And everyone goes on being happy.   I am sure she knows I am talking about her and is planning some revenge.  But I know where the cat treats are so I can always win in the end.

 

Wacky Wednesday - Old Jobs

Okay, grab your blanket, your Dr. Pepper and get ready for a good read, because do I have a good story for you?!!

So back in my single days, I thought it would be great to take up a part time job working at a hotel in the area I was living.  It was Saturday and Sunday as a Night Auditor, it was a sweet gig, good money, to help supplement my full time job in retail.  I did it for awhile and then I had the chance to do this full time and get out of retail, so hello I jumped right on it.  Then I realized why the other night auditor quit, the security guy was beyond crazy.

Sure I have great stories about the guests, about crazy cab drivers, about fire alarms, but they are no comparison for this story.  The stories name is "Wes"  ( Okay that isn't really even his name, but we will change it for his "protection").  Here is a picture of Wes.  Why do I have a picture, because I stole his airport badge on my last day, and that is a whole other posting for another day.

Wes was the "Night Security" guy at the small business hotel we worked at.  So Wes is in his mid 50's and he has been around the block a time or two.  Let me share with you a few of my experiences with Wes.  He loved to chase people around in the hotel van, he would get on the radio and tell me to call the local police, it wasn't the 911 number it was just the dispatch number, which I did once but after trying to explain that the security guard has a suspicious car cornered in our parking lot and is calling for back up, and feeling like a fool I never did it again.  Which would make him really mad, but I would just pretend I didn't hear the radio and would tell him to leave the crime fighting to the real cops.  

He was so paranoid and knew that everyone was out to get him.  He wouldn't let his sons know where he lived (which was with his mother, ha ha) because he knew they would tell their mom (his ex-wife) and she would wreck his house.   He would drive through the parking lot and write down everyone's license plate and then want me to pull all the room records and make sure that we had them all on file, yeah I told him that was not what the records were for.  He would tell me these stories of how at his previous jobs someone would get jealous of him and then set him up to be fired, never thinking it could have been something that he had done.  

He liked to fight with the Breakfast lady, she would come in about 5 am to start getting the breakfast ready for the guests and he would be in her kitchen cutting up the fruit because she didn't do it right, they would fight about how to put out the food and there was a few times they were yelling at each other at the front desk and I got to tell these two "adults" to act more professional.

He hated the maintenance guy "Ike", and thought he was just a waste and I think he really just wanted his job.  Anyway, sometimes at night Wes would go swimming in the pool because hey it's not like he was suppose to be working or anything.  So gratefully for all the guest Wes would bring his swim trunks, well one day Ike decided he was going to go for a swim, he found  Wes's swim trunks and went swimming ( I am sure it was probably during the middle of the day while he was on the clock, but I am sure it was work related.) anyway Wes found out and totally flipped out, and of course I am the only one around to talk to so I get to hear about Ike's "stuff" and been where his "stuff" was now he couldn't wear the trunks because it would be like there "stuff" was touching each other.  He really thought he should burn them but he did think better of it and just threw them away.

Another great story about Ike and Wes, was a Friday night Ike went to a club and got a little too drunk to drive home so he walked to the hotel and went into the shed.  Well Mr. nosy security guy watched this and was really upset and wanted me to call management about this,  I am not going to call them at 1 am if the hotel is not on fire, so I told him he could talk to them in the morning.  Anyway when Ike was inside the shed and decided he needed a bathroom, he didn't leave the shed he just cracked the door and let loose.  Well Wes was so upset he radioed to me to call the police and it wasn't "Kim call dispatch" it was "Kim get on the phone and dial 5551212," thinking I didn't know what that was, " and tell them that we have a transient in our shed who is drunk.  Well he knew it was Ike, I knew it was Ike and I really didn't think the police coming would make the situation better so I just ignored him.  So he was fuming all night and wanted him out but all he could do was wait for management to come in the morning so he could tattle on him.

He was so anti-brand name stuff that if he "found" something on his security walks like a hat or a t-shirt that he thought he needed he would spend hours trying to figure out how to get the logo or the name off of there or to disguise it. He would wear the uniformed white shirt & tie, but then he had these olive green pants that went up to his ribs that he wore without a belt and when he got really upset he would pull them up and walk away really fast, so he was wearing these ugly, high waisted, flood pants, and he is stomping off, and it looked like he had a wedgey, that was always good for a laugh.  He would go running in his uniform on treadmill come back to the front desk all out of breath and sweating and tell me how fast he had ran his 5 miles.  He would go into empty guests rooms and shower, one time he took the free razors we had at the front desk  for guests and went and saved his head. Then came back up to see how I liked it and he had pieces of toilet paper sticking to where he had nicked himself on his head.

He said he needed to learn how to do my job and how to work the front desk so that when he had to find a new job he would have those skills.  I refused to teach him and told him to talk to management if he wanted to learn.  It got so bad I had to make a rule that he was not allowed behind the front desk ever.  But boy did he try.  

So the assistant manager was one of my friends and when Wes would be doing this crazy stuff at 3 in the morning or so what was I supposed to do?  Well I would just write her a note and vent about what he was doing and sometimes I would even draw her a picture, well she thought they were just hilarious and would share them with the day shift so they had the laugh, but I was the one suffering to bring them the good laugh.

Let's just say there was so many stories, he was so weird, and I don't know if I will ever get over the trauma, but I have saved my favorite story for last.

One night it is about 3:30, I am working in the back, and I hear the "Wes knock" so I go out there and he has colored in his eyebrows, the mustache black, like black black (this was when he was going with the shaved head look).  And he asked me how it looked, I am sure my mouth dropped open because it was horrible.  He was so pale and wrinkly and had these really dark eye brows and really dark mustache that looked worse then a bad hair dye and I couldn't figure out what he did. I was going to beauty school at the time and I had see a lot of bad hair color, but this took the cake. So he asked me what I thought and I said "why would you choose black and what did you use", he said he was tired of looking old, he thought this made him look better and pulled out a BLACK MAGIC MARKER, he had went and colored his eyebrows and mustache with a magic marker. He said he thought it worked just as well as any dye and it was a lot cheaper, plus it was permeant so it would last a long time.  I couldn't help it I just busted out laughing and told him it would never work.  I am sure I could have been nicer but I was pretty done with they guy by then.  Yeah I had to draw a picture of that for my friend. 

So needless to say when I am at work and I am thinking about some of the salesmen in my office that I have to deal with, and when they have almost taken me over the edge I try to imagine them with magic marker eyebrows and mustache and just laugh, and knock on wood that I don't have to work with that insane "Wes" anymore.  And you never know what someone is capable of until you see them at 3 am.

Wacky Wednesday - Quilts

We are blanket and quilt lovers.  We have them stacked in our living room, in each of the bedrooms and I have to admit I even have one at my desk at work.  They never stay stacked and folded because they are always being used.  Even Fred has her special blanket, in her special place.  Don't you just love that the more you use the quilt the better it gets?  It's softer and familiar, just like an old friend.

We have a lot of oldies that have been worn so thin they have many holes in them and are barely holding together, so they are packed away in the cedar chest, because you don't throw good friends away.  

Here are a few of our favorites:

This is a quilt that Uncle Tom made us a few years ago for Christmas that I could do a whole posting on because it is so incredible, it is usually on our bed, but we don't sleep with it on, this is going to have to last many generations so it gets a lot of TLC.

These two blankets are from our good friends Randy & Gaye, and we never leave home without them.   They can go with us from the couch to the bed and hold in that important body heat, plus Karst loves to sit on the heater vent in the winter and use one of these blankets to "tent" in the heat.

This is a quilt that my mom and dad tied for us, all of my sister got one and it is a great quilt.  It is our fall and spring quilt that is on our bed for those chili mornings.  It is nice and soft, it holds in the heat but isn't too heavy for the warmer nights.

But when the snow hits the ground and you have to turn up the heat we drag out Big Bird.  This is a double Fleace quilt with batting in the middle, it is big enough for a KING bed.  Karst's mom made it for us one year for Christmas, all the brothers got one, but we got the best one because it has Sesame Street, who wouldn't love waking up to Cookie Monster staring back up at you.  This is one of those quilts that makes it hard to get up in the morning because it is so heavy and warm.  

However, this little flannel blanket is our new FAVORITE, it is soo soft and it is tied so carefully, and the ties are so close together which is great for blankets, plus it has that great edge with the beautiful stitch.  It isn't perfect and may not win any ribbons at the fair, but it is made out of 100% love and sacrifice and it will always be treasured.

The best thing about all our favorite quilts is they have come from great friends and family, so when we use them we don't only enjoy the heat and comfort from the material, but we enjoy the comfort and love from those who care about us and have touched our lives, it's like holding onto a hug.  Thanks everyone for all the quilts, we still have them and use them and love them.

Wacky Wednesday - It's the Final Count Down

Tuesday September 2nd Karst will start his LAST graduate class.  He says it is a "Capital Venture Class", but my guess is it's "Golfing for the Grad."  Whatever class it is it's the LAST and that is the most important.  After this he will have enough graduate hours to start taking the CPA exams.

Karst started his college career way back in 2000, sometimes part time, but he kept going.  He has his bachelors in accounting and now graduate hours in the MBA program.  The ironic thing is he does not like school, he hates studying and reading and projects, but he has stuck with this.  Not floating along, I am talking getting his BA with a 4.0.  As you can tell I love this guy.

He has a great job with a public accounting firm, in their  audit department.  He works with the best  people that Dwight (from the Office), could only dream of and has the radical mentor (hi robb), that JD (from Scrubs) would die for.  They have twinner 100 oz mugs that they bond with.  The Company Partners have been awesome to us, so the good news is I am sure we are here to stay for a long time, there will not be any big changes after the CPA is achieved.  

So as he on the edge, ready to close the door on the school part of his life, I thought it would be fun to let you know we are at the  FINAL COUNT DOWN!!

Wacky Wednesday - Our Couch

If you have been to our house you know that hands down we have the best couch in the world.  

It is like 20 years old, but it is so great.  It was Karst's uncles and after Karst did some back breaking labor for him we got it.  It is a sectional that is wide enough that it makes a pretty comfortable bed.  When ever my sister come to stay with me they sleep on the couch. When one of Karst's brother's lived with us they slept on the couch.  When we have people over we all sit on the couch, it can hold like 7 people.  

It's one of Karst's best friends.  He resprings 

the springs, he washes the pillows and keeps it looking pretty good for how old it is.  He loves to sit on it and work on his butt groves, but his favorite thing is to sleep on the couch.  About once a week we'll sleep on the couch, him on one side me on the other.    It's perfect.

Although we have talked about finding a new couch, we just can't go through with it.  They just don't make them like this anymore.  The seat is do deep, but the support is so great and I love all the pillow because you can make yourself so comfortable.  If we ever do get a new couch there is a waiting list of the people who want this couch.  

So next time your over at our house, please sit and enjoy with us in lushness and greatness we call  "OUR COUCH".

Wacky Wednesday - Bathrooms

I'm back.  Doesn't it feel so good!!  I feel like my life is almost back to normal and I am back on track.

So this last month I have decided that I am bathroom obsessed.  I don't know if it's because I have had to use so many public bathrooms, that when I find a good one I am in love.  But I have learned to never complain about the one you are using because you never know what your option is going to be down the road.  When we were on our road trip I saw some pretty scary bathrooms and I was amazed I lived through it, but I really should have appreciated it, because this last week at YW camp what did we have?  That's right, the primitive out house.  I would have loved to get a picture for you, but I was afraid that the smell would somehow attach itself to my camera or the picture.  So you will have to use your imagination.  

In all fairness, my standards have been set higher because of my job.  We do sell some things for public bathrooms so of course they are installed in our bathroom for when customers visit.  Whatever the reason I am glad they are there.  Of course we have the standard, "butt gaskets"  (the seat covers), and we have the automatic flush, which makes my heart sing.  But we also have a "seat cleaner".  That is right if you feel you need to clean the seat before you sit, no worries just grab some bathroom tissue, give it a few squirts wipe the seat and your good to go.  Why is this not in rest stops and other high traffic areas?

Of course the sinks are motion censored.  Which might be a good thing for me because when I go into another bathroom I always forget I have to turn off the faucet.  

Then there is the issue with the paper towels,  we several options for your liking, we have the automatic paper towel that is also motion sensor and the pull towels.  Which is all good and appreciated, but the bestest part, that's right people I said bestest, is the door opening towel.

What?! I hear you saying, a door towel?  Well there is a little hand towel right next to the door that you can use and what is right below it?  A little garbage.  How genius is this?  Again why not in every bathroom?  We should push for this people!!  

So as you can see I do have some high and probably unrealistic exceptions of a public bathroom.   I have however found some good public bathrooms in my travels.  One of the best is probably in the Paris Casino in Vegas, love the little doors and the pedestal sinks, again where was the camera?  I love the Taco Time that is downtown on state street, the colors are wild the mosaic tile makes me laugh and it is a must see!!  A shocking great bathroom is one in McDonalds in Evanston, they have flat screen tv's in there and pretty nice set up.  

So there you go, now you know what I am thinking about when I enter a building.  "What are there bathrooms like?"

Wacky Wednesday - Guitar Hero

Thank you for visiting the Kim and Karst's  blog. We cannot come to the blog at this time because we recently purchased Guitar Hero for our Nintendo DS and are currently distracted. Please return next week and we will return to our blog, assuming we have become bored with Guitar Hero. Please enjoy this video in the meantime.

 

Wacky Wednesday . . . What lasts 10 years??

So I took my camera around my house and took a picture of things I have had for 10 years.  

It was kind of funny,  there wasn't as many things as I thought. But here are a few items:

First item, my toothbrush, yup, 10 years old.  Maybe its time to buy a new one, just kidding.  (I know that is just too funny.)  Ok for real here are the items:

Knife set, our best knife set.  We have more than this, but this was all I could find.  

This TV we bought with our wedding money, and sure we still use the rabbit ears, and sure the channels only go to 13, and sure you can't turn it off,  or it will take 10 minutes to turn on, but it works for us.

This vacuum we bought shortly after we were married, the light has died, but it still works wonders and gets the job done.

This chair belonged to a table, (which I have but it was buried in the garage), I bought this before I was married as my last "I'm still single, and this is what I want buy."  

This phone came with Karst, he actually got it on his mission, and brought it into our marriage. Yeah, it's a little old school, and sure it is in the garage, but it still works just fine.  Although I think when the battery goes it will have to go also.

This glider, was a wedding gift from Karst's parents and the afghan was made by his grandma. They have brought us comfort and reminded us of all those who love us.

And the "cooler of love" has also made it the last 10 years, this too was a wedding gift.  It was filled with twinky's  and other goodies, those are long gone but the cooler is still going strong.

What else has made it 10 years tomorrow?  

Our marriage.  Can you even believe it was 10 years ago that we made everyone crazy with our lack of planning for our wedding.  When we all met on the hill and stood there and took all of those pictures.  Our hair, our home, our vehicles, our jobs, our plans and ideas have all changed. But most of all our love has changed.

When I look at Karst, I don't just see my future with him, I see all those days and times he was there for me,  I see all the things we have learned together, the good and the bad.  I see what a different person I am today then who I was 10 years ago, and I can't wait to live the next 10 with him.

When we were first dating in high school we used to write poems for each other, but we have both gotten out of the habit.  Here is a little poem I wrote for him.

I never knew happiness

            Until you taught me how to laugh.

I never knew beauty

            Until I saw you look at me.

I never knew respect

            Until I saw you give it to others.

I never knew how good I could be

            Until I felt how good you treated me.

I never knew truth

            Until you held me accountable.

I never knew forgiveness

            Until you accepted mine.

I never knew love

            Until you gave it unconditional.

My Heart, My Mind, Myself,

Will never be the same.

You’ve changed me for the better.

I love knowing we can be together forever.

Sharing the last 1o years of marriage,

Has been an honor,

I live to be worthy of some day.

 

Happy Anniversary Karst!!