haphazard musings

#92 - Learn a new crafting technique.

Done.

Yep. 

I did it. 

I learned a new technique and completed a project.  No. 92 is crossed out of the list.

I remembered how to sew.  I knew once when I was in 7th grade.

I got a blue ribbon at the State Fair.

Then I didn't try again until I was 26. 

Yep.

That is about 13 years later.

Just goes to show you can teach an old gal new tricks.

 

I made a blanket - a quilted blanket.

It was actually much easier than I thought. 

I was pretty nervous that I was going to waste a bunch of money on something that would look funny.

But it looks pretty good.

 

The only sad part - I killed my machine doing it. 

Its true, the 1972 Kenmore finally said goodbye.  I took it to have it fixed up in November, but apparently it just won't stay healthy.

So, I am now in the market.

 

Luckily, I beat the deadline.  Little baby Brown isn't here yet. 

So as a tribute to the old Kenmore, I dedicate this, your last project a baby blanket to you.

#20 - Learn to save money

Ryan and I have made a pact.

For the month of April, we will only eat out one time.   That's right. 

One time.

We don't know how many times a month we usually eat out, but its at least 5 times. 

That translates into way too many times and way too much money.

So, we are going to try to save the money and be more responsible.

Does anyone have any suggestions on really quick meals for night where we would normally swing through Sonic?

A quick update on my 101

I now have 43 items either completed or in progress.  You should check out the list. 

Is there anything you can help me accomplish?

Let me know if there is.

The latest completed/in progress items include:

# 92 Learn a new craft technique...in progress...more on this when its complete in a couple weeks.

# 74 Get a new stamp in my passport. (Mexico)

# 64 See a sunset. (Mexico)  Please see header for the latest sunset photo.

# 31 Update the blog regularly.  I am pretty pleased about this one.  Its fun!

#19 Increase our monetary giving.  Taxes filed - donations increased by a lot!  Yea!

For the complete list, check out the tab at the top.

Also, I added a few new blogs to follow in the side bar if you want to check them out.

And finally, I put up a photo album of some random photos from Mexico, if you haven't seen enough already, you should take a gander.

Happy day before Friday!

(That's how I think we should always refer to the day otherwise known as Thursday.)

No. 74 - Vacations are so

wonderful!  Here are my top ten reasons.

10. 

   

     My companions during my stay at the beach.  Sometimes the water with lime was substituted for a mai tai or a cherry coke, but either way - refreshing. 

9.

    Places you don't have to go.

8.

 

     And yes, that is a pretty carved grape.  That must have taken forever. :)

7.

 

        I love passports and stamps and customs and airports - even just the anticipation of the stamp to come is enough to make me giddy.  And this is No. 74.

6.

 

    Aren't palm trees the coolest thing?  Seriously I love the way the look in pictures.  I also like them in sepia.

5.

    Balconies and pools.

4.

    Good friends who will comply with the wishes of the photographer and wear their life vests.

3.

    Husbands who are good sports when they get pooped on by a seagull.

2.

 

 

    Pretty things to take pictures of.

1.

 

    The time to be silly and relax with my hubby.

 

(# 51) House Project 1 of many

continued.  Here are the results of the grouting.  It took a little more work than planned, but don't these home projects always take longer than you think.? (The double punctuation is because I never know how to punctuate sentences that are kind of a question and kind of a statement.  Any suggestions?)

Anyway, we removed the faucet to ease the process of grouting.  However, it proved way, way more difficult than we thought.  So Andy helped us.

Ryan even had to buy a new type of some kind of wrench to put it back on. 

Anyway...we finally got to it.

Thanks to the help of Emily (who is quite the little worker bee, check out her sister's blog), we got it all finished up.

 

There she is wiping off the excess grout.  She was the cleaner-offer and I was the schmearer.  We had a good time honestly.  We sang and played old music on the radio.

That's pretty much what it looks like.  Hard to see how cool it looks in real life.  The pictures are hard to take - reflection, low light.  So it looks really good in person.

Also, those used to be my favorite sheets.  When I was little - not sure what age - I pretty much used them all the time.  Now, sadly they are only being used as rags. 

So, the grand finale.

Before:

 

There it is, our finished kitchen.  Of course, Finley is always in the center of things.  Pretty much all the time, its kind of annoying, but he's too cute to ignore. 

And a close up.

 

So there you go.  Mom, I can keep a clean kitchen.  :)

#82 Another Unique Kansas Attraction

On a Saturday morning, we took a trip.  The whole little family - Ryan, Finley, and me.  We went to Topeka to pick-up a 4-wheeler for his Dad.  He bought it on eBay and we get to play with it for a while! 

We started the day taking the scenic route up to Topeka.  It was a great drive, and it was a nice day. This is how Finley enjoyed the trip.

 

or

 

Notice the ear flapping?  Its just about his favorite thing!

   

Awesome scenery.  I love the clouds in this one.

 

I would move to Council Grove just for this staircase.

 

Gotta love the countryside.  And centuries old stone fence.

Then when we got to Topeka, we went to the Unique Kansas Attraction - BoBo Drive In.

We saw it on Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives on the Food Channel.

 

Its been there since 1948 making the same things and serving just the local crowd.  We loved it.  Its on the corner of 10th and MacVicar.  I think.

There are four locations that were on the show in Kansas.  Check out the site to see the other locations.

Since this was a busy day, next we went to my parent's house to celebrate my Dad's 64th Birthday!  So this is a little late, but Happy Birthday Dad!  Thanks for all you do for us!  I hope you had a good party.

 
Yea!  Go CUBS!

You know you've been married a while when your wife gets you for your birthday what you were going to get her.  They both wanted to get the other person a WII.  Dad was so disappointed when he opened it, and he said, "What am I going to get you now?"

 

So happy birthday Dad!

Remember there are lots of great places to visit in Kansas - you should check them out! 

101 update.

For those of you who might be wondering - I am making progress on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days.

#72 - was previously completed, but I wanted to provide a pictorial update.

 

The beans and the tomatoes have basically run amok. (one of my all time favorite things to say - amok.)

#54 - I really like to fall asleep while watching tv.  I have a hard time just going to sleep, I have to zone out if you will, so this one is hard for me.  Spend six weekends completely without TV.  One down five to go.

#59 - Take more pictures - according to Ryan I have become a picture-taking-aholic.  But I love it.  He told me that this weekend when I was randomly taking pictures in the little town of Alma, KS.  They have a booming business in natural stone.  They are in the flint hills and have the most beautiful stone downtown area and amazing stone walls.  You should check them out some time.

   

This house is possibly my new favorite!  I know that's not the best picture, it was hard to catch because of all the trees - but all part of the draw!  Anyway, its completely made of stone and has a great porch and this awesome barn - did you notice the truck - so cool.  Then right across the street...

 

A beautiful corn field.  This was possibly the most picturesque farm ever.

 

The cutest ever church, in Alma, where our friends Amanda and Alex got married.

   

   

A cute little college all of stone and then the great down town buildings.  I love the details on the doors.

And ... the stone wall - love it.

#83 - Visit our grandparents twice.  We went to Topeka on Saturday and had lunch with my Grandma and Grandpa and then spent several hours visiting and showing pictures.

#82 - Day trip.

Last Friday, I went with the United Way director in McPherson to Dodge City to meet with some other United Way directors.  Since everyone has asked, according to the GPS we took along, it takes 2.5 hours to reach Dodge City from Mac.  So yes, it was a long day.  We had some time for business talk and I was able to come away with some new thoughts and ideas.

However, that is not what this post is about.  This post is about some of the sights I saw there.  I have never actually stopped in Dodge other than at the McDonald's on our way to somewhere else.  So this was a little bit of an adventure.

We had lunch at the restaurant inside the Boot Hill museum, it was pretty good.  Boot Hill, by the way, was the local cemetery for people who died with their boots on...meaning in a gun fight.

And then we toured the museum a little.  Boot Hill is all about the Old West life style.  Apparently back in the day, it was a huge boom town for three reasons:
1) buffalo - over 800,000 or something like that were killed by the 1870's;
2) the Sante Fe Trail - major pit stop for trail riders;
and 3) cows - yep.  Dodge was know for the longhorn cattle that came up from Texas.

  

The museum was dedicated to the days of yore.  Whatever that means.  But it was kind of fun. :)   Unfortunately, we missed the shoot out.  Everyday at noon - they have a shoot out.  Now that's my kind of fun for sure!  So watch out if you ever go there, for Ed Masterson, Wyatt Erp and the infamous Billy the Kid.

I love old stuff...this piano rocks my socks off.  And that lamp, which used to be a  gas lamp has the most beautiful painting on it.  I would love one of those.

 

That kid sized buggy is too funny.  I love it.  Then there was this amazing bar.  Look at that woodworking and it was the actual bar from one of the original saloons.  There is also another one of those gas lights.

It was definitely an interesting day.  If you are looking for a fun day trip, I would recommend it.  We enjoyed our time.  Plus it wasn't very expensive.  So you should check it out sometime.

#82 - Mother's Day

Good news!  I re-discovered my "safe" location for my camera cord.  The one that enables you to download pictures.  Yep.  So now I may continue my blog efforts!  I know you are excited.

So on to the topic at hand - Mother's Day.

I met my mother, Lori and my Grandmother, June, as well as the rest of the fam at Botanica in Wichita.  Not only did I get to spend time with some wonderful mothers (and Dads), I got to get started on #81 - Visit 4 unique Kansas attractions.  I don't know how unique Botanica is, but it is certainly a Kansas attraction!  And you should go too.  Its lovely.  See...

 

 

Here is a photo of Mom and Grandma.  Dont' they look alike?  I guess then be the laws of physics, or something, that you are looking at me in 25 years and then another 25 years....hmm...

                                               

And this is me, now.  Standing next to my namesake...the Linden tree.  Yep.  That's what my name means.  Isn't that interesting?   I have confirmed that in multiple books/internet sources.  But I had never seen one before, so there you go.

Also, you can note that I have completed #12.  Its hard to tell in the photo, but yep I got new glasses.  Hooray.

                                  

#61

Cross it out.  Check it off.  Whew.  #61 complete.  Babysit a friend's children so they can have a night out.  Done.

We stayed with these kids.  The Lakey children.  From tallest / oldest: Ashleigh, Austin, Amy, Anna, & Abe.  We were there for a whole 24 hours.  And let me just tell you - Ryan and I are glad we don't have 5 kids.  And we are glad the God's plan usually includes one or two BABIES at a time that really don't go anywhere.  Thank goodness.  However, that said, we did have a great time and really enjoyed seeing what having kids would be like.

We arrived Friday night and took this kiddos to the Carnival night at their school.  The two older ones were basically on their own.  We bought their tickets and told them to eat "real food" not just candy and pop and to check in around 7:45.  The three little ones, were with Ryan and I the whole time.  It was so weird to think about how much food does a 3 year old eat, should they have pizza or a hot dog, and can they paint their faces?  Decisions we've never made before - but it worked out.  

We decided yes on face painting and the crazy hair station - obviously.  Oh and in the process Anna asked the lady doing their hair, "What's in your belly?"  She was like..."umm...a baby."

 

We also decided yes to the petting zoo (yes that is Abe trying to give his binky to the duck) and the bouncy slide thing (only for the girls despite Abe's multiple attempts to climb aboard).

   

 

Then Saturday we fished almost all day and went to McDonalds.  Both were an adventure for sure.  Fishing was so successful, the big kids caught about 20 fish apiece.  It was impressive.  The littles, however, were unsuccessful despite amazing patience for 3 and 5 year olds.  Abe didn't seem to mind - he just ate Dandelions.  McDonalds was just funny.  Again ordering food for kids was weird but the best part was watching the people around us stare and I know they were thinking - you two are in over your heads.  They were also thinking, are you old enough to be parents to these kids.  We needed signs that said - Babysitting.

 

So we now have a list of questions that must be answered before we even consider having our own little bundles of joy.

1. When do you ever take a shower?

2. How do you go to the bathroom by yourself?

3. Is anything ever, really, clean?

4. When the sippy cup or binky goes on the floor - do you really need to wash it every time - or just if the duck licks it?

5. Are you always tired?

6. Where does the money come from to feed and clothe these always hungry and dirty little people?

7. Are all strollers difficult to work?

8. Do you ever really have to quit having nap time?

9. How far can a 2-year old really run if given the opportunity?

10. When can you give them back?