Franco's new toy...

Franco got a great present from his "Grandma" and "Grandpa". A wind-up penguin!

"Hello new friend!!"




"Lemmie see here..."




"Ah! Here is where I wind you up!"




"Muahhh!"

Merry Christmas

OWIEEEE!!!

Earlier today I suffered a Christmas cooking mishap. Let's just say that you should be careful and pay attention when you are using a meat tenderizer mallot...







I was trying to crush up a Heath bar for a pie I was making and wasn't paying attention and THWACK! I tumped the nail side of my pointer finger on my left hand with the mallot, full force! It immediately hurt, and within minutes the nail had a purple mark... now the under side of the finger is really bruised, swollen and very sore :(

The bird ate Chris' lunch...

Chris made two turkey, roast beef and cheddar sandwiches for lunch for himself this afternoon. As he turned around to put the "ingredients" back into the 'fridge, Franco flew down to the counter and helped himself to part of Chris' sandwich. He totally shredded 1/2 of the top piece of bread on one of his sandwiches. It was really funny. The weirdest part was, Franco, a bird, was eating a turkey sandwich!!! I mean, isn't that cannibalism?


Chris: "What did you do? That was MY sandwich!!"


Franco: "I don't understand you... I'm testing it out to make sure it is good before you eat it. You should be thanking me!"

Carrie Underwood Rocks!

We went to the Carrie Underwood concert last night at the UCF Arena. She was great! The arena is a relatively small venue and we had great seats. Little Big Town opened for Carrie and they were good, and then Carrie was GREAT. She brought up a 6 year old little girl to help her sing the last little big of All American Girl, played her guitar for various songs, brought Little Big Town back out for a song with her, and my favorite was her encore... she sang Paradise City by G-n-R! Chris enjoyed the concert too... What guy wouldn't? Carrie came out initially with a short SHORT dress on and thigh high nylons. Very sexy :)

5:10 AM and still up...

...I'm going to be soooo much fun later today :(

I'll try to get some sleep now...

Oh, boy...

Awake at 3:30 AM... ew.

My name is Kelly and I have a yarn problem.

I've been up in "my" bedroom in our house (the room with all my old bedroom furniture in it) since probably about noon trying to reorganize my yarn stash. Calling it a "stash" is quite the misnomer... it is more like a yarn store, all collected in bins and shoved in my closet... oh, and the closet under the stairs. But, I'm going to get it all in "my" closet in "my" bedroom. Only three more boxes to go! lol...

Total time today on this project... about 6 hours. Yes, six hours.

Pumpkin with Candied Ginger Cake

Here is a picture of the pumpkin with candied ginger cake that I made for yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner. Isn't it cute?

It shifted ever so slightly in transport, so that's why the base of the cake is a little messy. Also, I forgot to take a picture before it was cut, so we spun the cake around... pay no mind to the missing slice towards the back ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Things I am thankful for (big and small, serious and silly):
1. My Husband
2. My Family
3. My Friends
4. My Health
5. My Dogs
6. My Bird
7. My Job
8. My Co-workers
9. My House
10. My Car
11. My Volunteer Group at Work
12. My Book Club
13. My Fiber Arts Club
14. My iPhone
15. My Mad Crochet Skillz
16. My "Library" of Books at Home
17. My Garden
18. My Clothes
19. My Shoes
20. My Makeup
21. My Handbags
...I may update this today as I remember more...

I saw it...

We just got back from seeing the movie, Twilight based on the first book of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.





I was pleasantly surprised to see that the movie was pretty true to the book, overall. Of course there was a good bit left out or left unexplained, but you have to expect that for a 2 hour movie based on a 400+ page book. They only added a few things that weren't in the book at all, and what was added I personally think enhanced the story instead of ruining it (which most of the time happens when the movie has taken liberties of the book). I think that people who have read the book will enjoy the movie a lot... there is just something about seeing the people "in person" and hearing their voices that makes the book even better for me.

The theatre was packed with probably a few hundred young teens/tweens (mostly girls) that cheered when Edward made is entrance on screen... they also cheered the credits. :)

Obsession

I'm completely obsessed right now with this lipgloss by Too Faced:





The color is called "Envy Me" and when you put it on it is no way as dark as it looks in the tube. It is such a pretty color on, just a hint of color on my lips, enough to even out the coloring and give me lots of shine. Plus, it isn't super sticky or anything.

If you called me a pansy...

...I'd take it as a compliment!

The mums weren't doing so well along the edges of my flowerbeds, so I pulled them up, deadheaded them, and planted extras in the hanging baskets on the front porch, the large planters on the front porch, and around the tree out front. They really don't have many open blooms right now, so I didn't take pictures of them. I'm hoping that in the next week or so they will pick back up and I'll have pictures of bunches of blooms!

In their place, I planted Pansies. Look how pretty they are! November is typically a favorite time of the year for Florida gardeners - just because of these little beauties!












I also planted some Violas. Violas are actually a species of violet (hence, the name), but they grow similarly to Pansies.:





Oh! And our Azalea bushes have bloomed again for the first time since I've moved into the house (3+ years)! I think the excavation we did of the area that they're in back in the spring gave them some room to breathe, so to speak :)

We...watched...liftoff!!!

...from our back yard! Chris set up the camera on the tripod in the driveway last night to take a few pictures of the shuttle launch. It was really cool... when we heard the countdown on the portable TV, you could watch as the cypress head behind our house started to glow a brilliant orange. Then, you finally were able to see the shuttle. So cool!!

This time I'm going to have to find out when the shuttle is supposed to land. Last time I had no clue and when the BOOOOOOMMMMMMBOOOOOOMMMMMM sounded as the capsule re-entered the atmosphere, I was scared outta my mind!

Cuddlebugs

So, right now, Chris and I are in our computer room and Mrka's "beddie" is on the floor next to my desk. It is usually upstairs, but since we were out of town for a few days (don't worry, we had a pet sitter!), we brought down their upstairs beddies so they could be comfy and blocked the steps with a baby gate.

Anyway, I look over, and Bauer and Al were cuddled up together in the one beddie. Mrka's beddie. No prompting, no posing, they got into the beddie together on their own... too cute!






...while Mrka looked on... probably P.O.'d :)




I just told Chris that we may have to start looking for new beddies for the boys :)

A survey 'cause I'm bored...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Basics:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Name: Kelly
Date of Birth: A day in the month of January :)
Birthplace: Pittsburgh, PA
Current Location: See above
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Auburn
Height: 5'3"
Heritage: Hungarian, Croatian, Austrian, German, Irish and Scottish
Piercings: Two earring holes in my left ear, and six in my right.
Tattoos: One around my ankle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Favorite:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Band/Singer: Great Big Sea (band)
Song: Too many to list
Movie: Top Gun
Disney Movie: Too many to list (heh)
TV show: Friends
Color: Purple
Food: Pizza
Pizza topping: x-tra cheese
Ice-Cream Flavor: Banana Split (not an actual one, but the ice cream flavor)
Drink (alcoholic): Beer or Wine
Soda: Cherry Coke Zero
Store: TJ Maxx!
Clothing Brand: Michael Kors
Shoe Brand: See Above.
Season: FOOTBALL SEASON!
Month: January :)
Holiday/Festival: My birthday :)
Flower: Daisy
Board game: Scattegories

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
This or That
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sunny or rainy: Sunny
Chocolate or vanilla: Vanilla
Fruit or veggie: Fruit
Night or day: Day
Sour or sweet: Sweet
Love or money: Love
Phone or in person: In Person
Looks or personality: Personality (the good looks is a plus :)
Coffee or tea: Tea
Hot or cold: Hot

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Your:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Goal for this year: Finish an afghan for my husband.
Best physical feature: Eyes
First thought waking up: Is today Saturday?
Fairytale alter ego: KP (taken from Kim Possible, but also my maiden name)
Darkest secret: Now, why would I post this on a blog for the world to see?
Strangest received gift: A personalized plaque with an insignificant date other than the date that the plaque was engraved.
Worst habit: Chewing my cuticles

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Do You:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Smoke: No
Drink: Socially, but not so much.
Curse: I try to keep it at a minimum, but that doesn't always work out so well.
Shower daily: Yes, unless I'm sick or something
Like thunderstorms: Yes
Dance in the rain: No
Sing: Yes, not very well though.
Play an instrument: Does Rock Band Guitar/Bass count?
Get along with your parents: Yes!
Wish on stars: Sure
Believe in fate: No
Believe in love at first sight: No

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Can You:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Drive: Yes
Sew: Yes
Cook: Yes
Speak another language: Do computer languages count?
Dance: Yes (not well)
Sing: See above.
Touch your nose with your tongue: Almost, but not quite.
Whistle: Yes
Curl your tongue: Yes

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Have You Ever:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Eaten Sushi: Yes
Been in Love: Yes
Been in a Car Accident: Yes
Been to Another Country: Yes
Driven a Motorcycle: No

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Other Questions:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
What annoys you most in a person? Bigotry
Are you right or left handed? Right
What is your bedtime? 11:30 PM - 12:00 AM
Name three things you can't live without: Chris, Yarn, Books
What is the color of your room? Greenish
Do you have any siblings? Yes (younger brother and lots of in-laws)
Do you have any pets? Yes, a bird and three dogs)
Would you kill someone you hate for a million dollars? No
What is you middle name? My Maiden Name
What are you nicknames? Kel
What is the largest amount of popsicles that you have eaten on one day? 3?

Not much to say again...

...but we're very happy. :)

Twilight is AWESOME!

So, I just finished the first book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. The book was ay-may-zing! OMG! I can't wait to read the next one, New Moon.

But, I'm going to move on to the November book club selection for my club, Girls in Trouble: A Novel by Caroline Leavitt.

Happy Halloween from Our Dogs!

We took pictures of the dogs in their costumes last night... here are some of the ones that came out pretty good!

Group shot:




Mrka as a Witch:








Al as a Bumble Bee:








Bauer as Sgt. K9:

I'm still undecided...

I guess I'm what you call a "swing vote". Honestly, I really am still struggling with what to do with my vote this year. I can see good and bad in each candidate. In each campaign. In each party. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do on Tuesday. This frustrates me because I'm usually a very decisive person. I usually know exactly what I want, what think, what I feel. But, right now I'm very confused. I have big issues where I agree and ones where I disagree with Obama on, and the same goes for McCain. What my difficulty is, is that I'm trying to figure out which issue(s) I feel most strongly about, and that is really what changes for me from day to day. I'll be glad when the election is over. I just hope that we don't have another 2000 election and have to wait however many days/weeks/months to get a final count... how long was that again?

Office Space is really funny...

...I was watching it on HBO (or Showtime or whatever movie channel) yesterday. I totally forgot how funny that movie is!

Coffee Cake - It's What's for Dinner!

At least tonight it was. I had my Fiber Arts Group meeting this evening at the local Starbuck's and I barely made it on time. Work has been totally kicking my butt lately. Anyway, I didn't have time to go home first like I usually do and change out of work clothes, take out my contacts and get comfy. I also didn't have any time to grab anything to eat. So, the best I could do at Starbuck's was two slices of coffee cake. One slice of regular coffee cake and one slice of banana chocolate coffee cake. YUM! I washed it all down with a blended chai tea frappachino with sugar free vanilla. Double YUM! :)

Garden update

I went out and took some pictures of the garden since I've had the marigolds in for a while and recently planted mums. Here's how things are looking!

This is the flower bed on the right side of our house (if your back is to the street) in the front. This used to be horribly overgrown, but we've since taken almost everything out and replaced it with hibiscus, roses and mums along the edge.





Here are the front flower beds with marigolds:








Close-up of the marigolds. They're loving it!




This is the left side of the front. This hadn't been so overgrown, but I planted a few more hibiscus, some purple coneflowers and mums along the edge.





Close-up of the purple coneflowers:





Great shot of a yellow hibiscus bloom:





Close-ups of the mums. I planted four colors. White, purple, orange and yellow.

















Crown of thorns planted along the sidewalk near the house:





Potted crown of thorns on the porch





Gloxenia bloom:





Front of the house from the street: