Katie – Page 37 – A Blonde and 3 Boys

Spring Break!

Welcome Back!

Last week, we took off for Spring Break and headed to sunny Beverly Hills, California! What a week!! We did A LOT, but didn’t even make a crack in all that you can do out there.

Our first full day in California, I woke up to texts sharing how it was snowing here. Honestly, there’s nothing better than waking up to the sunshine knowing it is icky back at home. Makes getting away even better!

Before we headed on our first adventure, a Starbucks was in order.

There is a Starbucks on every corner. In Santa Monica alone, there are 22 Starbucks in their 8.4 miles. There are over 150 Starbucks in the LA area. Even with those options, we still seemed to be on the wrong side of the road when we would find a store. Why not just turn around? It’s definitely not that easy to do in LA traffic. Finding the next one is much easier!

As soon as we had some energy, it was off to Santa Monica. About a 20 minute drive due to it being a Sunday morning! The next time we went it took over an hour to get there because of traffic!

We arrived to Santa Monica and it was fogged in…which lasted all day. Not a good hair day for this mama. This place was packed and I mean packed with people.

We needed to get a few pictures of the boys “seeing” the Pacific Ocean for the first time! They were pretty excited.

Then the shoes were off and into the water to wade. It was super duper cold BUT, there were lots of people swimming in it! Brrrrrr!!!!

It’s amazing how two boys can entertain themselves by running in and out of the water for 30 minutes. :O

After the impossible task of trying to get the sand off the feet…we walked on the pier and check out some rides, views and souvenirs.

I must admit I did not realize the Route 66 ended at the Santa Monica Pier!

This is the view of the ocean looking from the pier. A bit foggy!! Jason looked at me and said, “Don’t those swimmers know there are sharks out there!” He was serious.

A look at the amusement park at the pier. We didn’t ride anything that day. Lines were long.

We did walk to the end of the pier and looked out onto…fog. There were a lot of people fog watching.

We stopped for a few quick games at the arcade.

Zoltar did not tell Jacks fortune because he was out of order…of course!

After the pier, we walked up to the beach area. Let me share there are many interesting people in this area. Very free spirit.

These 5 boys were running around and joining in on the street performers and dancing. This little girl is on the dolphin statue. The 5 boys were all “worshiping” her. Her dad, whose hand can be see on the left side of the picture, had absolutely no idea..he was focused so much on his phone! Soon, they were off to their next “performance.”

This is the Santa Monica Beach. It’s like Venice beach without all the muscle. There’s all these little work out areas, like a huge jungle gym. (This isn’t my picture)

The boys loved these rings!

Image result for santa monica pier

Click on the link below to see Jack working the links!

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This entire area was filled with people doing yoga stunts! I decided it would be a good thing just to watch and not participate.

What was amazing, is that we left Santa Monica, drove about 10 minutes and the sun was shining! Who knew!!

Side Note: The homeless population is very high in LA. It raises about 10% every year, which was very apparent in this area and quite an eye opener to the boys. Substance abuse and mental illness is also high in this area Obviously many of the homeless are dealing with these issues.

Spring Break!

Hello!

Just wanted to let you know that I will be back next week. I am napping…every single day! Actually I am enjoying time with my family (and napping.)

National Napping Day!

Welcome Back!

Did you know today was National Napping Day!! I can’t believe it. This is better than Christmas! I have permission to nap on and off all day today! I need to wear my new comfy napping tee I just purchased!

And when I wake up, I will change into my old comfy napping tee.

I am so excited! And who doesn’t need a nap after losing an hour this weekend! Permission to nap…what could be better? INTERNATIONAL napping day?

Just Finished…

Hello!

I just finished a quick read, I am Just a Person by Tig Notaro.

I'm Just a Person

I first saw Tig on the Ellen Show. She is hilarious and very very dry! She rarely smile, but you laugh so hard! She was doing her book tour and TV show tour at the time, so I thought I would check her book out.

From Amzon:
In the span of four months in 2012, Tig Notaro was hospitalized for a debilitating intestinal disease called C. diff, her mother unexpectedly died, she went through a breakup, and then she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Now, the wildly popular star takes stock of that no good, very bad year—a difficult yet astonishing period in which tragedy turned into absurdity and despair transformed into joy. An inspired combination of the deadpan silliness of her comedy and the open-hearted vulnerability that has emerged in the wake of that dire time, I’m Just a Person is a moving and often hilarious look at this very brave, very funny woman’s journey into the darkness and her thrilling return from it.

You really start to think how much can a person handle and she talks all about how she can’t and doesn’t want to handle it all. Her emotions are raw…fetal position in a car crying, staying in bed for a week after devastating news and so much more that is honestly written about in this book. She does not sugar coat anything or say how blessed she is about so-and-so or I should be happy because I still can, have or it could be worse. She writes how she feels and I believe it is how we all would feel if we were just honest for 30 seconds.

It is written in her “dead pan” voice, but you hear the humor in the story, too (especially when spotting Santa Claus!) I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. Enjoy!

Two Years…

Hello

I can’t believe that our beloved Moose has been gone for two years already. I still miss her everyday. My heart was heavy when writing this post because I miss her so much, but light because I have such good memories of her in our life.

She was never very far away from me…

Loved her boys!!
Though she took up most of the bed!!

That’s why Sam had her sleep on the floor!

Always in the middle of the picture with a smile!!

Sleeping buddies.

When I would be upstairs in my craft room, so would she!

Smiling for the camera!

Giving a smile with Jack!

Having her friend Esther over for a visit. Esther and Moose are now together chasing tennis balls!!

Moose laughing..HAHHAHA I’m touching you!!

In the Spring, she would be outside with me while I planted flowers. The first spring she was gone, I didn’t pant many flowers. I just missed her being around too much.

Loved going with us where ever we went!!

Would even come prepared for the weather!

Telling us she loved us!

Miss you…

Love you…

What I’ve Been Reading…

Hello!

With jack having the flu and wanting me to be there for him, (How can I not when he asks, “Mom. Can you please stay with me?”) I was able to finish up a book that I have been reading…My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira.

From Amazon:
In this stunning first novel, Mary Sutter is a brilliant, headstrong midwife from Albany, New York, who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to overcome the prejudices against women in medicine-and eager to run away from her recent heartbreak- Mary leaves home and travels to Washington, D.C. to help tend the legions of Civil War wounded. Under the guidance of William Stipp and James Blevens-two surgeons who fall unwittingly in love with Mary’s courage, will, and stubbornness in the face of suffering-and resisting her mother’s pleas to return home to help with the birth of her twin sister’s baby, Mary pursues her medical career in the desperately overwhelmed hospitals of the capital.

If you enjoy reading books that are set in the Civil War era, then you will fully enjoy this book and all its history woven in the story about President Lincoln and his generals along with Dorothy Dix. I am not a huge fan of this era, but I must say I did enjoy the book. Admittedly, I skipped over a lot of the history parts of the book, which may have been why I got lost at times reading.

What I did like about the story were the parts that showed Mary’s determination to become a surgeon and the gruesome events she finds herself thrown into, by choice. It describes in some detail how horrific wars aftermath is (thousands of bodies laying on the field that it became impossible to walk between and Mary found herself stepping on the fallen soldiers, some suddenly grabbing at her) and how barbaric the surgeries, mostly amputations, were preformed during the Civil War. How little medicine was available and absolutely no sanitary conditions what so ever. The spreading of diseases through the post-op soldiers and the burning question of why was that happening.

There is a love triangle which adds some what to the story, but not much, due to Mary seeming oblivious to these men, which at times I found confusing. Her first love interest left her heartbroken, which I didn’t realize until I read a review. I thought maybe she was upset, but not heartbroken. The other two love interests I wondered, does he love her, yea no…must be the other two, nope, must be these guys. So I wouldn’t read this book if you are expecting or wanting a love story It’s really not there.

So, overall, I would say this book is good, but not great. I know some people loved this book, but I think they are probably better Civil War reads out there.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

January Memory Keeping…done!

Welcome Back!

Last month I shared with you a COMPLETED week from my Happy Planner which I am using for monthly memory keeping. Now I’d like to share with you my completed MONTH! Yippe!! I actually did it and enjoyed the process!

This is a look at the month layout. I tried to put an “overview” picture for the day. If I did not have a picture, then a sticker did the trick! The smaller 3×4 refill page is from my planner class. I punched it with my happy planner punch and it fits perfectly into my planner.

When you turn the small refill page, you see the back side which includes a picture of my planner gals and some quotes on the bottom. The next page is also from my planner class. We use “Monthly Wrap Ups” for quotes, pictures, memorabilia, doodles or anything from the month that you want to document.

On the back of my monthly wrap up, I included a page from a Happy Planner divider from an earlier month that I enjoyed, but did not use. So, I ripped it out, adhered it to the back of this page. Perfect backing!

The weekly pages have more details about each day and othe happenings in the news. I tried to include a picture for the dar and some journaling. As you can see, when starting this process, I used more stickers than pictures. Now, I may be taking too many pictures and just need to use stickers!

Where is the week of January 9-15…oops! Not done and probably won’t be and I am ok with that.

Week of 12-22.
What are the post it notes? Political stuff.

This week you can see I have more journaling about the week.

Overall, I am super excited that I actually have a whole month of our life documented! Someone mentioned that my pictures were way too small, which might be, but I have it done!! I am now working on finishing up February…keeping my fingers crossed that I finish another month!

They are Listening…

Welcome Back!

I was helping Jack write a persuasive paper for school about why kids should be allowed to have chocolate milk at school. I didn’t know this was such a hot topic, but wow, it sure is! Anyway, he had a statistic to include that stated, “45% of kids.” He said, “I am going to write that as about half the kids.” I said, “Hmmm..do you think that is ok?”

He came back with, “Well, that’s not really a lie. Just an alternative fact.”

The kids are listening…and hearing.

A Few More Changes…

Welcome Back!

Yesterday I shared with you how we took out the steps out and walled up my laundry room entry way. Today I am going to share with you how we have changed the opposite end of the room including a different way into the laundry room.

For this picture, I am standing by the steps and taking a picture of the opposite end of the basement.

As you can see the wall is open to the laundry room and not at the other end, but now that is reversed.

There is a wall over the entry to the laundry room and it it open at the opposite end. The door in the picture leads to the basement on the addition side. If you look at the floor, you can see the outline of an “entryway” to the laundry/storage area.

A closer look at the “board” which is where the door to the laundry room will now be. The door to the addition in on the left.

When you walked through the original door into the laundry room, you would see this…On the other side of the wall contains a few shelves.

Standing by the wall, you can see the door that opens up to the other side of the basement. There are storage shelves on the left and more storage on the right.

The storage shelves looking so clean!! You can see how the door opens into the other room.

Here’s a view of the storage area looking back towards the laundry room from the door. Notice the shelves behind the wall that you could see in the previous pictures. Also, there isn’t much room between that wall and the furnace to walk into the laundry room.

As you can see, when you would open the door from the addition, you would walk right into the storage shelves. Not good.

We tore out the shelves and part of the wall and built an “entry way” that will lead to the new finished area of the basement and a door to the storage/laundry. This is the new view from the door…no more walking right into the shelves!

Stepping into the entry way, you can see that we tore out the other wall that separate the laundry and the storage. So much easier to move around in there. The big blue thing is for our well. If you look on the floor, you can see the original wall lines.

This is the view looking back from the laundry room. The shelves use to be on the left, but it is now an entry way.

Here is a view of the laundry room with the wall knocked out.

This is a view from the laundry room side of where the entry way once was and where the steps were. Now all walled up. The big covered item are our suitcases piled up! Dry wall makes everything sooooo dusty!!

So that is the end results of the first two weeks of remodeling the basement. By the end of this week, we hope to have the painting starting! Yea!! That means the light is at the end of the tunnel!!

Remodeling…

Hello!

Our house projects are coming along. The sunroom is on hold at this time due to pieces being built and painted. Meanwhile, the workers have moved to our unfinished basement to finish it! Here’s a little overview with a “few” pictures.

The largest change was we took out the original steps that lead to the basement. When we added on the addition, we included an additional way into the basement, so this wasn’t a big issue, just one that I need to get use to.

Here is the door leading to our basement. Kitchen is on the right and sunroom is on the left.

A look up the stairs from the basement.

You can see the stairs are pretty steep and there was a discussion at one point about tearing them out and rebuilding to make them less steep or changing the steps to have a landing at the bottom.

A look into my fancy laundry room!

Next we took out the railing. We were a bit apprehensive about knocking out the wood plank that the railing was attached to at the bottom. The workers took turns hitting the pole to see if it was a support beam. Glad to report, the beam was there to hold the railing and the pencil sharpener.

Shortly, I came home to this…

With good reason. When you opened up the door, the steps were gone! It was a very weird feeling opening a door to nowhere!

Never fear, in a few days, we had a wood floor, which will soon be turned into a pantry with shelves.

So this is a before picture of the steps area…

And this is how it looks as of last weekend!

As you can see, we have also put a wall up where the entry way to the laundry room and created a different way into that area. Stop by tomorrow to see that transformation!