I'M STILL ALIVE..TRUE STORY

Well, I'll be amazed if anyone is still lingering out there. But the answer is yes, I'm still alive. Between a computer crash, a trip to Jamaica, 20 horses that required food in the dead of winter, and maybe a little slacking off....well I fell of the face of the blogging planet. But I'm back....

So today's goal is to share just a little bit of Jamaica with you and then in the coming days I will catch you up with my life...and maybe I'll try walking into my craft room...we'll see.


All I can say is yes...a lot of locals really do look like this...and yes they smoke A LOT of the wacky weed.


We went on this "girls" trip because our friend Kristy was getting married. A sunset wedding on Valentines day, in Jamaica. It truly was amazingly beautiful!!!!!




Sunsets like this EVERY NIGHT....it never got old. In fact....can I go back???



Here was the view from the lobby of our resort. It was beautiful every day!!!!



This is a crazy cliff diver at Rick's Cafe. 90 feet in the air. Won't jump until he has $20 in his little money bucket. Rough day at the office for these guys.


I hope you are all well....I promise to try to catch up!!!

Kat

The Wonder of Winter

If your going to live in Minnesota, you have to be ready to embrace that it's gonna snow and it's gonna get cold. And I'll be the first to say that by the end of January I'm thinking "Why the heck to we live in this God forsaken ice box." But I'm not there yet. I'm still embracing and loving the snow, because part of me loves it. I think if you live here too, you need to be able to know how to play in the snow or your gonna go crazy.

And I think maybe I've succeed at teaching my kids to embrace it too.

So 3 days ago after dragging the boys through the 70% off Christmas sales at Target, and then $150 dollar grocery trip (because the little hooligans are eating me out of house and home while on "winter" break), it started to snow on our half an hour drive home.

And not just your average snow. Big huge, gorgeous flakes. The kind that make you feel like some giant has just shook the snow globe that you are living in and now you just stand there while they descend.

These are the kinds of snow falls you live for each year. Because you don't think about the fact that it's not as pretty when you are shoveling it. And because it's not that pretty when you slide off the highway and your car is stuck in the stuff.

Years ago when the boys where little I would get all excited over these snowfalls, and yell, "Grab your boots....we gotta go catch snowflakes!!!!"

And apparently it hasn't worn off. Because they jumped out of the car to do this...



First, you need to check them out at little.



It starts with eyeing up the big flakes and trying to catch just the right one.



And when you have really long eyelashes, that are just wrong to have as a boy, the snow will stick to them. (As well as your overly long, hippy-ish hair, that makes it look like your mother can't afford a haircut).




And then you stand there, weaving and bobbing, making weird noises that make you sound like Chewbacca, because your tongue is stuck as far as it will go out.




Or you can opt to catch them on your hands, and eat them that way.



Or perhaps just stand there, tongue extended, waiting for one to just stick.



And then there is the chopping attack mode.



And lastly there is the "when a snowflake hits your eye and forces it closed, it causes your tongue to get all contorted". And luckily your mom makes a priceless snapshot!!!



Embrace winter everyone, we only have 4 more months to go!!!!!

Trying to catch up

Before I start in with catching up to Christmas and such I figured I better back up because I've taken a couple hundred pictures in the last month. So I'm gonna back up to Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving this year was spent at my cousins house. They moved here from Colorado and wanted to host this year. The boys were very excited to see that in the front yard they found a zip line attached to some trees. And somehow my 70 year old mother took a bet to do it herself.


I love that about her!!!!


Hopped right on and went a flyin'. These are kind of priceless memories right here, what great facial expressions.


And then my sister hopped on, skirt and all. Pretty great to see, considering last year at this time she was bald from chemo and finishing radiation for breast cancer!


My 16 year old niece had to jump in the action as well.


And the good part about having a brother is he can drag you back up the hill, so that he can fling you back down the line, secretly hoping you might fall off. It's a brother thing!

Away in Coors Light Can

Well I'm trying to catch up on my life, and seriously I could write a new blog entry with photos every single day, it's just that whole time thing that seems to be a challenge.

Last Friday, my good demo friends Brenda and Kristen, and I had our holiday Stamp Camp.
No it's nothing like band camp....

Part of our stamp camps are a demonstration section, where we show our customers some trick or tip about stamping. This go around we decided to show everyone the rage of using Coors Light can to sharpen your punches and in return you get a punched out blue piece of tin.

But here's the funny (at least to me) part:
We rent a church hall for our event ant they were in full Christmas mode.
And little did we realize that when Brenda started her demo, she was standing in front of the manger with a Coors Light Can.


"And the wise woman brought gold, frankencence, and Coors Light for the baby Jesus."


But see Brenda didn't know how ironicly funny the whole thing looked. She did an amazing demo that impressed everyone.


She did a great step by step demo.



I think the one and all was impressed with her ability to turn a beer can into a card.

Good Job B.!!!

Help!!!

Okay I need some good Karma here folks. I've lost the cord that connects my camera to my laptop and you know what the means???

No NEW photos, no new blog entries, no nothing.

I've exhausted every possible option. I mean how do you lose something that you use all the time???????????????

So send some good luck my way!!!!

I'm having blogging deprivation!

This may be disturbing to younger viewers and the elderly

It's hunting season in our neck of the woods.

A time for men and their sons to bond and commune with nature.

A time to kill a large animal with horns, and fill my freezer with meat I will never eat.

A time to explain yet again why there will never be a deer head mounted on the wall in my living room.

A time for my husband to grow out all his facial hair and look like the unabomber.

A time for clothing that only has camouflage or blaze orange in it.

A time for the male species to not shower for a week.

A time for me to be VERY glad he leaves to do this.

A time for me to send one of my camera's along and tell the men, "take some good pictures", and secretly hope they don't really come home with pictures of dead deer and gut piles.

A time for me to take the camera after they come home and load the pictures on my computer and find pictures like this:








And then I find something like this. Something that makes me cringe as the mother. Something that reconfirms that testosterone and dumb boy humor are not a good combination. Something that makes me feel like I am getting nowhere with these children.

Something that makes me think...."where the heck was your dad?????"

Something that confirms my sister in law is NOT on my side. And neither is my mother in law-cuz I hear her in the background too.

Something that makes me glad my brother in law knows nothing about my blog.


**I'm warning you, there is nothing pretty about this**
**If you have never been mooned, or you would find something like that offensive YOU SHOULD NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO**





I'm sorry, I'm really really sorry.

Seriously people I am trying to raise them better than this, but I cannot be blamed for their behavior when they are away from me.

And, yes...it cracked me up....but that's not the point!!!!

Friends...Part 2

Do you know what friends don't do? When someone says they don't like your second choice for a blog background, well then it's just time to ignore them.

And Kathy...I'm not scared away that easily. I'm a labor and delivery nurse....I deal with irrational people in pain all of the time. My skin in a little thicker than that. And don't even get me started on dealing with doctors.....

I will say that I do value your honesty however, it's kind of refreshing. I may not always listen to you, but I do hear you.

Don't worry I'll have a Christmas theme for you to analyze soon!