My Three Favorite "B's"

Backlight, Bokeh and The Bear. :0)



Lot's going on today, the furniture is being delivered this morning, Karlio's boss was totally kind enough to let him have one of the company pick up trucks for as long as we need it.
New six passenger pick up...hmmmmm, maybe we need it a month? LOL..I kid, I kid.
Electricity is being swapped. Beds being brought over.
Boys are still asleep and I am on the computer.
My name is Kim and I am a procrastinator.

Gotta go before I get caught. ACK!!!

Before I leave...one more of the "Dare Devil".
This was taken before the whole trampoline/tooth senerio.



That boy, I swear. Hehe...

Have a good one everyone!!

Love, Kim

The Best Moving Stress Buster Craving Ever

My world got pretty good tastin' around 7 PM last night when this came into my life...



A Boarshead Garlic Barrel Pickle from Publix.

It got even better when about 9 PM last when I dragged Karlio out so we could get some Double Stuff Oreo's. LOL!
No...I am not preggers, just very stressed to the max from weeding eleven years worth of stuff from our lives so we can move clutter free.
Saving every single piece of paper with crayon marks on it from six kids, what in the world was I thinking?

Anyway, back to the grind.

Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Kim

See Ya In A Kia

Driving back home last weekend I spotted this beeeeeautiful vehicle in Kia's parking lot.

I want it. I want to be seen driving this Kia.



I want it so bad. So bad I dreamt about it for two nights straight.
Karlio said "No...just take a picture Baby".
Darn him, I love him but darn him anyway. LOL!!

It's the middle of the week and we are busy, busy, busy trying to get this place packed up.
Friday starts the big move.
Today I have promised myself to tackle Kody and Kolin's rooms. I seriously hope the weather holds out so they can go outside and not witness everything I will be tossing.

I'll tell ya, when this is finally over and we are settled in, it is going to be a HUGE stress reliever. Makes me wonder how I did it eleven years ago when I had 6 Hellraisers and the last two were eleven months and two and a half years old.
I must have been completely insane or desperate to see palm trees in my yard and not those sappy, sticky NY maples.

Ah well, all's well that ends well and this chick has got to get her act together so I can spend another glorious day packing/tossing/packing/cleaning/packing/cussing. OK, leave out cussing, I'll try to behave myself.

Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Kim

R & R

That's "Rock & Roll", not "Rest and Relaxation". :0)

The boys and I did some school clothes shopping last week cuz while at Wal-Mart I noticed the employees putting out all kinds of cool new stuff and there was no way I was going to wait till two days before school starts to even think I can score something cool for those two Hell Raisers of mine to wear.

This year, for the first time, I let the boys have at it..picking out their own stuff and not getting involved....too much anyway.

Kody spotted this t-shirt with the tie printed on it and right away claimed it as "his". He then topped it off with a pair of black Dickie shorts and I added the vest...which he loves.
Pretty cool R&R style, don't you think?

Anyway..this will be his first day back to school a/k/a must impress every girl out there outfit.
We went out for a quick mini shoot a few nights ago and then hung that outfit right back up.
BTW...Kolin's brown surfer outfit was one of his picks, after I told him absolutely no way to everything in basic black. His pic's are a few posts down.





When the supermodel starts trashing the set...it's time to call it a wrap.





There will be more pic's from this series coming soon.

Right now though, I must get back to packing....which is a never ending battle, I swear. :0(

Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Kim

Fiery Hot

And the sunset is pretty nice too. :0)



Centered, I know , but Karlio loved it so it's his keeper.

Anyway, that was taken at the end of our day yesterday...yep, "our day"...no kids, no packing, no jobs, no stress, no anything..just the two of us and the big blue ocean.
It was, in the words of Spongebob...

"The best day ever!"

And get this, we forgot the radio so we did something all day that we hadn't in a while. We talked. Yep, conversation...we talked about everything and anything and we laughed..oh wow, did we do some goofy laughing and some crazy remote control self portrait picture taking.

All fun things must come to an end though and it's back to Monday, back to daily living, back to...

PACKING!!!
Fun times, YAY...Blah. :0(

Have yourselves an awesome day everyone!!

Love, Kim

Save The Ta-Ta's

Kody style!!



Thank you to Mrs. Brenda for sending Kody this t-shirt that he has wanted in ohhhhh, forever. :0)

Have a great Sunday everyone.

I'll try to be back on later.

I'm just not...

real..........

awake..............

yet........................

Yawn....Zzzzzzzz...................

Love, Kim

The Weekend's Here..YAY!!

One week to moving day, already? I guess that means I should probably be doing some packing, huh?

Things to do today

1. Pack
2. Find boxes
3. Pack
4. Have coffee with Karlio
5. Pack
6. Remember to feed the kids
7. Pack
8. Discard anything we haven't touched/used/looked at/given a second thought in 6 months
9. Pack
10. Take Kody out for a mini photo shoot tonight....YAY!!!
11. Crash and burn for the night...holding tightly to a big honkin' bowl of ice cream, cuz that's how I roll Baby.

Other then that busy schedule, this is what my week has been like {in-between Emergency Room and dentists trips of course...LOL!}
Lots of this going on...



And even a few really awesome e-mails for my photographer/hat friends. Oh Baby, do I luv happy hat mail. :0)

Well everyone...I am off to go do #4 on my list of stuff to do.
I know I was supposed to start with #1, but I have ADD. I also read magazines from back to front. I have issues. LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend all!!

Love, Kim

PS. Sheila and Meredith, look in yesterdays comments..I answered you there. :0)

Surfer Kid Of Mine

Even with his mouth/tooth injury, I still think he is one darn good looking kid. :0)
These were taken last night about 20 minutes before we lost all the sweet evening light..I think about 8:15 or so. I love that time of day for photos.







Not much going on today, just hanging low.

Karlio and I ordered our new sofa/love seat for the new house this morning. Since the whole place is slowly but surely being decorated by me and I tend to decorate girly..I let him have free rein on the living room.
So...he found this beautiful chocolate brown and black leather set from Ashley Furniture...totally screams out "Hey a man lives here too". LOL!

I found a beautiful dining room set from Ashley too but got nixed...he liked it alot too, but not till we pay off the LR furniture. :0(

Anyway, I want to get more hat sets up seeing as autumn will be here before we all know it, so I better get to going.
Today I am working on a set for girls aged 3-6. Watch for it, I'll post it here first.

Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Kim

We Will Miss You Mr. Jersey

Yesterday afternoon when Karlio went to work, he called me with some very, very sad news.
Our most favorite driver, had a massive heart attack right there at the job site in the morning and sadly, could not be resuscitated.

Let me tell you all a little about "Jersey".
Jersey was he first driver I had met when Karlio started his new job. You know how first impressions are always so accurate?
My first impression? I totally, 100% fell in love with this man's personality, the way his eyes sparkled, the way he glowed when he talked about his wife and family, the plain out honest goodness in his heart.
He made me laugh when he accidentally said "damn" in front of me and apologized like crazy, insisting it was not good manners to cuss in front of a lady...although I told him it was perfectly OK and that I had been known to say much worse things then that. LOL!
I loved listening to his New Jersey accent and we used to chat about crazy things like how much we missed the taste of real NY or NJ pizza and bagels.
He would tell me he was on a diet and I say I was too..so as long as we just dreamed about pizza and bagels, we'd be OK.
FYI...neither of us were really good dreamers or dieters. :0)

I loved the way he always smiled and he once told me there was no sense going through life grumpy.
He'd give you the shirt off his back and never ask for anything in return.
He always found good in everyone. Everyone also found good in him. He was awesome.

Jersey talked lately about retiring soon and spending time with his family. I thought that was so cool.

Karlio told me that whenever Jersey came in to have his truck serviced, they always sat for a bit in the his air conditioned office and Jersey, always, without ever missing a beat, asked about the kids and me.

I'd like to ask a favor, and ask that you say a little prayer for his family. This happened so suddenly.
Also..in memory and in my sadness of losing a very dear friend, please do a favor for me.

Life is so short and you just never know when it will be our last. I believe our book of life is written before we are even born.
Everyday, when your husband/wife/child walks out that door for the day, always, always tell them you love them. Please never part on a bad note.
I know I have been guilty of this so many times. I promise with all my heart that will never happen again.
Why? Because no matter how nuts they may drive you, you just never know when that particular morning will be the last time you see the one you love.

Rest in Peace our good friend, TR #004 William "Jersey" Wraston.
You will be missed.

If tomorrow starts without me,
And I'm not there to see,
If the sun should rise and find your eyes all filled with tears for me;
I wish so much you wouldn't cry the way you did today,
While thinking of the many things we didn't get to say.
I know how much you love me,
As much as I love you,
And each time that you think of me,
I know you'll miss me too:
But when tomorrow starts without me ,
Please try to understand,
That an Angel came and called my name,
And took me by the hand, And said my place was ready
In Heaven far above, And that I'd have to leave behind;
All those I dearly love. But as I turned to walk away,
A tear fell from my eye,
For all my life I'd always thought,
I didn't want to die. I had so much to live for, so much left to do.
It seemed almost impossible, that I was leaving you.
I thought of all the yesterdays, the good ones and the bad,
I thought of all the love we shared and all the fun we had.
If I could relive yesterday, just even for a while,
I'd say good-bye and kiss you and maybe see you smile.
But then I fully realized that this could never be.
For emptiness and memories would take the place of me.
And when I thought of worldly things I might miss come tomorrow,
I thought of you and when I did, my heart was filled with sorrow.
But when I walked through Heaven's gates, I felt so much at home.
When God looked down and smiled at me from His great golden throne,
He said "This is eternity and all I've promised you"
Today your life on Earth has passed,
But here life starts anew,
I promise no tomorrow but today will always last,
And since each days the same way, there's no longing for the past.
You have been so faithful, so trusting and so true,
Though there were some times you did some things you knew you shouldn't do.
But you have been forgiven and now at least your free.
So won't you come and take my hand, and share your life with me?
So when tomorrow starts without me, don't think we're far apart,
For every time you think of me, I'm right here in your heart.

~Author Unknown~

Have a great day everyone.

Love, Kim

iKolin's Update

His lip is healing up nicely, it's still sore when the Aleve wears off but nothing that Wild Man can't handle.
He still can't eat his fave's like nachos and pizza {which is killin' me cuz Kolin's nachos rock..that boy is the reigning King of nacho making} but he did manage to scarf down two cheeseburgers {cut up} last night which had to have been a nice break from all the mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs he's been downing.

His tooth, like I mentioned yesterday has to heal for two whole weeks before it can get worked on. So, on August 6th, he will get his exposed nerve {which is temporarily filled in} taken care of and a new tooth rebuilt that will look exactly like his knocked out one.
You know, Karlio and I got to talking and with him being in 4 years of martial arts, second degree black belt, almost 2 years of combat training, sparring like crazy, KO training and it was the stupid trampoline that did him in. Go figure. LOL!
Anyway, that trampoline is now for the garbage man.
However, the little Goober is still insisting that we don't take his new love of skateboarding away..and his dreams of building some kind of skate ramp half pipe grinding thing.
You'd think with all the skaters I have produced I would know the names of these thing..I don't.

Not to hurt his feelings I told him and Kody yesterday that sure, you can still skate..as long as you are fully protected, padded, bubble wrapped, whatever.
Then I made the mistake of running out to the store real quick for hamburger buns.
When I came home not 15 minutes later, I returned to find this....



I didn't know whether to laugh or roll the little Oompa Loompa back inside where nobody passing by could see him.

**this is an Oompa Loompa, notice the resemblance***



So...I laughed, broke out the camera, laughed, snapped a quick picture, laughed more and then Kody and I rolled him back inside.

His sense of humor is till intact, that's for sure. :0)

We hope you all have a really great day today. It's officially half way through the work week...I think a pretty good reason to laugh a little, or alot and then take your babies big and small out for an 89 cent Burger King ice cream cone. Yeppers, they have McD's beat...YAY 4 Da BK!!!

Later Gators!!

Love, Kim

OUCH!!!!!!!

What can I say...yesterday was another Monday, another trip to the ER.



It started out a little like this.
We had planned on taking the trampoline down yesterday so Karlio said to the boys...."One last jump cuz it's coming down today".
It ended with a trip to the ER and dentist when Kolin decided to leap {no doubt Jeff Hardy style} off the side, through the net and face first into a metal pole.
Kody saw the whole thing and when Kolin looked up his face was completely covered in blood.
Kody, bless his heart, tore off his own shirt, wrapped it around his brothers face and got him inside and that's when the commotion could be heard.
So..I get out into the kitchen where they were with Dad, and I hear Karlio say "We're going to the hospital". That's when I said "let me see...LET ME SEE!" and that is when Kolin took the shirt off his face and I darn near passed out cold on the kitchen floor.
FYI...I don't do blood real well. FYI...I don't do teeth real well and let's say Kolin's mouth had two of these major problems gong on.
A split lip, a mouth full of blood and a front permanent tooth that was now 3/4 of the way broke right off.

Fast forward the the hospital.
While in triage, which we got into right away, Kolin was being evaluated, I was pacing the floor, Karlio was still trying to find a parking spot and Kody was sitting watching his brother and crying hysterical.
The triage nurse actually stopped for a minute to calm Kody down. Karlio came in and tried to calm me down which wasn't happening cuz all I could picture was my beautiful skater/surfer baby with the big smile now looking like our toothless hillbilly neighbors.

The cuts to his lip were mostly on the inside and they didn't want to stitch because of the risk of infection. They took x-rays and although his mouth/tooth took the full impact, luckily his jaw wasn't broken.

While there I had called his dentist and found out that the dentist wasn't in, however, just by some crazy coincidence, the nurse tech. was and we were able to get him there so she could put a fill into his exposed nerve which made alot of the pain disappear.

This morning we took him back to see the dentist, who is actually one of the best pediatric dentist's around, and on Aug. 6th Kolin will have a nerve treatment done and a complete rebuild of his tooth. They say he will look exactly like he did when he woke up yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, Kolin is eating real soft foods only, popping Aleve for the pain and drinking everything room temperature. Kody has seemed to calm down for the most part.
Karlio will be trying to get in as much overtime as possible to pay for this new tooth and with the stores putting out autumn collections everywhere in the middle of July, wouldn't it be a great time to buy some funky hats for your cool kids cute lil' noggin?
*smile..hint...smile*

Today I refuse to let my kiddo's outside. Actually, I doubt they will go outside without parental supervision until they are 35 and bubble wrapped snuggly, like a big ole' over-protective bubbly hug from Mom.

And for now, I leave you with pictures from yesterday.These are kind of graphic so close you eyes and click off if you don't want to see.
These were taken an hour after we came home. The swelling wasn't bad because Karlio iced him within seconds. Believe it or not, the swelling is worse today.
Also, his tooth had already been filled or you would have seen what the inside of a tooth with a nerve exposed looked like. Not pretty, trust me.



Still smiling...



Awwwwwww.........



OK everyone....that's about it for now.

Have a great day everyone..and please, don't forget to bubble wrap your little Hell Raisers too. :0)

Love, Kim

Monday...Monday

Yesterday we woke up, visited our new home to take some measurements and that is when reality struck us right in the mug.

We have too much stuff.
Ummm, yard sale anyone?

While we are busy downsizing everything around here, here's a photo for the day...hope it makes you laugh as much as it made me.

Port-a-Potty's...they're not just for peeing in anymore.



Same photo with a lot of "BAM"!



Have a great day all!!

Love, Kim

Slow Is Not An Option

Crazy kids of mine. LOL!

No beach for us today, there is too much to do with all this moving stuff so we decided to have a nice, chilled out kind of {well sort of} pool day at home.
Plus, I have some hat orders that need making...so today I will be visiting the happiest place around, Joanne's Fabrics. With as much as I spend there you'd think I could get VIP parking or something. :0)

Have a fun Sunday everyone!!

Love, Kim

Sk8erz Take Two

Slowly getting the mojo back...very slowly. :0)





That's all folks, gotta go make lunch for the Hell Raisers.

Later!!

Love, Kim

Sk8erz

Just one picture for this morning cuz the pain med. I took for the first time last night is making me a groggy mess. So much for that, I think I will stick to good ole' tried and true Aleve from here on end.



Kolin has suddenly taking a liking to skateboarding. He used to be more of a stunt bike kind of kid. Anyway, Bear's been teaching him alot these days.
They asked if I could take some pic's for their MySpace, so about 20-30 minutes before we lost all daylight last evening, we shot that one and about 50 or so others. :0)
I'll post more soon...soon as I..

#1. Get more caffiene in me and
#2. Get my mojo back.

Yeah, I'm a mess this morning. Hehe...

Stay cool everyone!!

Love, Kim

Freaky Friday Felines

We are down to two kittens, and they need homes...they need homes bad.
In order to get them a home I thought I'd take a beautiful, precious photo of two of the most cutest, innocent looking kitten faces the world has ever seen.



Ummmm...or not. :0(
OK, laugh if you will, tease if you must, but they are someones babies you know and she loves them no matter how strange they look.

LMAO...OMG...those two freaky felines just kill me.
Oh...sorry, my bad, I wasn't supposed to be laughing at them, was I?

Anyway, just another day in the neighborhood around here and I have a whole crazy afternoon to look forward to filled with errands, errands and lots more errands.
Oh and my Zen, gotta have the Zen. Gotta have it for two more days because Karlio has informed me that our new house adventure coming up in two weeks is costing us every spare dime and don't you just know it...Zen will be out of the question for the next month or so.
This goes for shoes too.
I can feel my stress level rising as I type this.
Please buy hats...need Zen.

Have a beautiful day everyone!!!!

Love, Kim

Perfect Light Perfect Flowers

Don't you just love it when you find the most perfect, tiny little pocket of light falling on the prettiest flower around?



Times like that gives me the warm fuzzies feeling. :0)

The spider bite is doing better and the new medicine is slowly but surely clearing up that mess. However, for some reason that stuff is taking it's toll on me and giving me, what I remember way back when, calling...the room spins.
Thankfully, no hangovers are involved this time. Dang though, they sure do make me want to crawl back into bed and spend some sleepy hours. *yawn*

I hope everyone out there is having a really good day today.
Right now, I must go see what my Hell Raisers are doing cuz I heard one of them say "It's just a little rain" and the other say "yeah, your right, let's do it", then I heard the front door slam.
I wonder if I should bring the camera when I check on them...it could be interesting. LOL!

Take care everyone!!

Love, Kim

PS. Rebekah..Yes, for sure! Email me at: fmhtyh@gmail.com

iKolin and the Bear

Don't you just love it when you finally get two left at home and after years and years of calling six kids each others name, the pets names, their birth order number or "whatever your name is...just do as I say", you finally get it right.
No longer do I confuse Kody for Kolin or Kolin for Kody. I do still, however, call them "the boys".

So....when I needed Kolin the other day I called him by his legal birth certificate came of "Kolin".
What was I thinking?

After months and months of Kolin insisting his wanted to change his name to Michael, after his favorite movie "Halloween a/k/a Michael Myers, he has sort of finally gotten past that and now says he will figure out a way to change his name again to...

iKolin.



I give up.

Kody will always be, Kody/Kody Bear/Bear or Bear Bear.
At least I have faith in knowing that will never change.



Everyday is an adventure with iKolin in the house. :0)

Did you happen to check out those Sweeeeet chairs the boys are sitting on? We found those at a little Mom & Pop convenience store out in Ozella Keys. The whole place rocked my world with lots of bright color, mostly orange which is my color pop of choice these days.
If I could, I would have begged that man to sell my every one of those painted chairs. But, Karlio gave me the "woman, don't you even think about it" look cuz our car was packed full beach stuff and coolers and it would have meant someone got left behind and if I were to bring home another chair I would have for sure been the one left behind, I have no doubt.

Someday soon, I would love to go back there again on a not so super sunny eye squinting day and try these again. And this time, with outfits that the boys didn't pick out themselves. Who knew we'd find such a cool location? Not me. :0(

Well my friends, it is time to get my day rockin'.
My place of Zen awaits.....

Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Kim

Toto, I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore.

Hmmmmmm....bed rest can be kind of fun. :0)

TTYL!!

~*~Kim~*~

Mailboxes, Spider Bites And Other Stuff

Sorry about not getting on here at all yesterday, but it was one of those days where by 1 o'clock I said to myself, "Hey Self, let's grab Karlio on his day off and spend the day sitting in the ER, just the two of us? How about that?" and Self said "Kewl...."

So there we sat, just the three of us...Karlio, myself and my spider bite {which had decided to continually get much worse over the weekend}, for 6 hours straight.
It was a blast.

Fast forward 6 hours...venomous spiders are a b***h and much stronger med's were definitely needed.

Fast forward to last night.
Rented a movie out of the red box at Wally while waiting on the prescriptions, came home, gathered the Hellraisers, tossed them some ice cream, turned the movie on and promptly fell asleep.
Am I an exciting date, or what?

Fast forward again to this morning.
Thought I could spend more time in bed being pampered only to wake up and find out that...
The kids I thought I could count on were still sleeping.
Karlio was called in early to work.
It's raining again.
At least there was still some hot coffee left in the pot.
I didn't blog yesterday.

So here I am...YAY!!

Before I take off to refill my coffee cup, pop a bazillion pills and figure out K&K's breakfast I'd love to leave you with this cute lil' ole' mailbox we found over the weekend...



Isn't that the most cheerful mailbox ever? It's almost as if it it saying "I know you don't want the $400.00 electric bill hidden inside me but I am so darn cute, open me anyway".
One day if I ever get a real mailbox and not the community street kind that I always get stuck with, I want a cute striped mailbox too, especially one in the colors of tropical lifesaver candies. :0)

Have a great day veryone!!

Love, Kim

PS. CJ...the picture of the spider wasn't taken by me..I just found it on the web for a creepy visual. Hehe...

Sheila, there is something I was supposed to tell you this morning and darn if I can think of what that was. Hmmmm...more caffeine and I should be able to remember. LOL!

Ozella Key

This morning we took off for the beach, the four of us.
Well...that didn't go as well as planned. As it ends up, the ocean water was too warm and at a dangerous level for bacteria. You don't want to swim in that crud...although I couldn't believe how many people were.
Anyway, the OCD in me kicked up bigtime in the form of germ-a-phob and so we sat around in the very, very humid hot sunshine for a little while longer and decided...enough was enough.

So..we packed that car of ours and headed out, but not home.

We found, just down the road a few miles a little place called "Ozella Key". A small little island where everyone lives in houses built up real high on concrete blocks cuz, well..they are living right on the ocean and hurricanes hit every so once in a while.

It was a fun trip, hanging in the A/C and pulling over everytime we saw something cute and colorful.

Here's two from about 60 I took today.
I know, only 60...I was having an off day. LOL!

These are from a restaurant that had gone out of business which just bites cuz it looked like the kind of place we would have loved to pulled over and had lunch at.
Bummer.





Big ole' props to Karlio for being really patient and pulling over each and every time I yelled out..
"Ohhhhh...pretty!"

Gotta love a man that loves a strange woman, don't cha' now?

Well...we are pretty tired, OK..I am am anyway. Dinner is about ready to get off the grill and I am definitely ready to call it a night.

Till tomorrow...have a great night everyone!!

Love, Kim

P.S.W.

After searching deeply into my innermost self, carefully sifting through all the clutter and bright ideas that got started and never completed {once again Adult ADD to blame}, I have realized, without a doubt, that I am a....



Never shall even the most insignificant snapshot be posted or heaven forbid the thought, printed, without a little help from my trusty Adobe CS4.
Never will I post a photo of my lovely self without nixing the heavy dark under eye baggage that comes from too many late nights on my fave photog. forums. Not when I have my blessed "clone" tool by my side.
50% lighten
50% normal

Defog was once a word I used to get the funk off of my cars windshield. Now I only think of it as my bestest friend who rids my digital photos of the gray gack that covers all digi pictures, mine and yours too.
I never noticed this before till I woke up one day and decided to defog my funkiness. I solemnly swear I will never not defog again...not ever.

My name is Kim and I am a Photoshop Whore.

I hope I have inspired for some of you to come out of the closet and hold your head high.
All hail the P.S.W's of the world!!!!!

Now go forth and "unsharpen" all your photos, which actually "sharpens" them which is lovingly referred to as "defog".
Confusing, yes..it took me a good long while to grasp that crazy backward concept. Sort of like clicking "start" to shut off your PC. Now what rocket scientist genius thought of that I sometimes wonder?

Have a wonderful one all!!

Love, Kim

Fruits and Veggies

From My Heart To Your Head has been updated with newborn sized, roll up style, fruits and veggie beanies. :0)



TTYL!!!

~*~Kim~*~

Some Things That I Am Not Fond Of....

1. Mondays
2. Mornings
3. Forgetting to buy coffee creamer
4. Getting bit by a spider, in particular this kind of spider...



Yea...Ouch! Apparently "brown widows" are pretty common in Florida...who knew?

And, for now last, but I am sure by the end of the day, not lastly...

5. Packing 11 years worth of stuff.



Oh fun, oh joy, oh I need more caffeine.

On a happier note, a couple days ago, that beautiful big brown UPS truck brought to my door, a new remote control for "Nikster", my trusty discontinued sidekick Nikon D80 and I have been having way too much fun with it.
Prepare yourself, things could get crazy over the next week or two while I amuse myself in-between packing and popping antibiotics like they are Pez candies.

Days like today make me crave sandy beaches and sunshine. :0)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Love, Kim

Dads And Sons

This will forever be one of those photos that makes me smile, alot.
I am such a softie for Dads and their boys, especially these two. *puffy heart*



That's all for tonight folks.

TTYL!!!

Love, Kim

My Place Of Zen

My place of "Zen" {Zen
Noun
a Japanese form of Buddhism that concentrates on learning through meditation and intuitionis} is a small room with a table and a chair and a full length mirror and speakers built into the wall and a surfboard hook to hang my stuff which I don't recall ever using...I just toss my things on the chair, cuz that's how I roll.

Oh...and it also has a bed that reminds me of a big ole' clam with plexiglass, a 20 minute timer and very, very warm light bulbs.

This, my friends, is my place of Zen....



When I am in there I cannot hear anyone call me by my name, or call me Mom/Ma/Hey You There, or hear the phone ring or answer questions or be asked favors or...well, you get the idea, right? I mean...most of us here are the "M" word {Mom} so you know exactly what I am talking about.

SIGH...call me vain, high maintenance, spoiled rotten...it's OK, because as long as there is breath in this body, I shall have a golden bronze glow about me all year round...even in the frigid month or two of winter when the temp. drops to below 60...Brrrrrr.
Even better then that, did I mention nobody can ask me for favors when I'm in there...cuz I can't hear them? {ahem...kids...cough...cough}

Have an awesome day everyone!!

No go forth and find yourself some Zen, no thanks needed...go in peace.

Love, Kim

Proud To Be An American

I was on the fence about this one, but you know.I thought to myself, "hey girl..it's your blog, it's your thing and I know your proud to be an American so don't you go and second guess yourself over this one"

So you know...if there is anyone out there who this may offend, I apologize in advance...but I love it cuz that's how I roll, so there.

My American Boy...



Someday I know he will appreciate the fact that I keep filling up his baby book with a trillion snapshots....or maybe his future wife will. :0)

Till tomorrow...have a great night!

Love, Kim

International Cuisine 101

I have kids that run like lightening bolts just hit them in the butt when the camera comes out these day.
This little dilemma leaves me wondering what to photograph everyday, since a blogger post just doesn't seem right without a little something, kwim?

Lately this problem of mine has been solved by propping up something that doesn't move much, that doesn't complain and that I can devour later on..but not tell anyone about cuz I am still on the perpetual diet of mine.
Oh wait..I just told the world...dang.

Today, as most of us woke up many of us asked ourselves the everyday universal question...

"What shall I make for dinner tonight?"

Burgers..no, just had them.
Pasta...not again, please.
Hot dogs...even the Goobers are nixing these anymore.
Grilled cheese...just had them for lunch.
Pizza...that falls under the burger category.

Ohhhh, I know...how about something international?
OK...let's go "Asian" tonight, shall we?



Now there's something you don't see everyday...not in this testosterone filled carnivore household anyway.

Now please my friends...before you get to thinking I am some kind of international cuisine genius, let me introduce you to my little secret...



LaChoy....cuz even an estrogen filled, hot flashing, pre-menopausal blondette such as myself can open up a can and heat it up.
Thank you for the applause, though I feel I am not worthy. :0)

Have a great day everyone...and if those hot flashes start to kick you in the butt, think simplified tonight...open up a can, heat it up and serve with love.
Any man in their right mind would never, ever question a pre-menopausal, hormone imbalanced woman. Not if he wants to keep his {bleep} intact.

Love, Kim

Sugary Sweet

Just one of those days yesterday where we needed something chocolaty and sugary sweet, so the kids and I came up with these.



No joke, the whole kitchen smelled like chocolate for hours, which isn't really a bad thing..is it?

Anyway, because boys will be boys and because my boys have always been known for their mischievous mad skills, this is what happens when one brother says to the other...

"Hey, smell this"



Thankfully the receiver of the cupcake smash, brother #2 had a great sense of humor at the time and didn't try to kick the butt of bratty cupcake smashin' brother #1. It would have got real ugly I'm telling you.

Hopefully the rain will stay away long enough for us to get in some pool time today. Other then that and attempting some packing, today ought to be a pretty laid back kind of day.

We hope yours is a pretty laid back kind of chilled out day too. :0)

Later!!!

Love, Kim

Act Like You Love Each Other

Ahhhhhhh....yeah, nevermind.



So, with next month being Kody, Kolin and Adriana's {who will be here to celebrate} birthday, I have been looking for some ideas for the boys.
With Kody turning 14 and Kolin turning 12 the days of the cute themed birthday parties are very much over. Touch screen cell phones? OK..keep dreaming my young Hellraisers.

Anyway...with the way they make my grocery bill enormous and all, I got to thinking that a food themed day was the only way to go.
Check out this cake..I love it!

Hamburger Cake

If that doesn't scream out K&K, then I swear nothing else does. LOL!

This year school starts the day before Kolin's b-day {August 25th}. Although he thinks he will get that free day off....ummmmmm, I don't think so.
Though, I have to day, he darn near had a hyperventilation attack when in Wal-Mart last week we spotted school supplies already being put out on the end caps.
Truth be told, I though it was just a little too early as well. However, thinking back on last September when Halloween and Christmas "buy me's" were out stocked at the same time, I thought that was totally ridiculous.
But, hey I guess that's just me...some people love it but it just creeps me to see 5 foot zombie creep and a 6 foot cardboard casket display with a happy "ho-ho-ho-ing chanting Santa Claus in an adjoining isle.

Anyway, that's life..what can you do?

Right now my life is calling me in a few different directions.
"Mom...can I make my own lunch" is one of them.

Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Kim

Today Is Monday

And I'm not coming out, I refuse, so please don't make me.



OK..maybe I'll be back later, maybe...but only if Monday goes away and it magically becomes the weekend again. :0)

Have a great Monday everyone!!

Love, Kim

PS. Photo by Karlio. :0)

Guess Who's Headed To The Beach?

We are!!!



Fun in the sun and Shish-Ka-Bobs on "Skrewers". :0)

We hope your day is a great one!!

Love, Kim, Karlio and the Krew

Happy Independence Day

Today is the day my two last Hellraisers learn how to safely explode some fireworks. I honestly don't know who is looking more forward to it, them or their Dad.
Yep, this is gonna be a fun filled day as they torture their Mom with bottle rockets and those things that go "pow..pow..pow" like 7 million times..whatever the heck they are called...I can just feel it. :0)

Hope everyone has a great day!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!

Love, Kim

Ramshackles and Ramblings

We have this restaurant/bar here in Leesburg that is no doubt, thee place to visit if you ever find yourself in Leesburg, FL.
Sometime last year, I think, they did a complete new paint job..the building, the parking lot..oh dang, it is so cool...a photog's kind of dream location but, yeah..there is a but. Ramshackles is so popular and is open 7 days a week and the chances of not finding that parking lot even semi empty are slim and none.

I'm going to keep trying though, cuz the colors of the paint are bright and just sooo, sooooo insanely cool.

Here's one of Kolin. This was actually taken in a parking lot adjacent to the place.



And one of Bear...but done in a more artistic kind of way cuz I was bored last night. LOL!



Crazy, I know...but hey, that's me. :0)

I am sure this effect can probably be done in Photoshop by fiddling forever but I like to just click once on the mouse and waa-laa.
To get this effect I used Topaz Labs Filters from the "Adjust" collection.

If you've ever been hemming and hawing about buying these, I give it my personal two thumbs up. They install themselves..just keep clicking "next" on the install wizard. Open up Photoshop and...BAM...there they are under "filters".

The best part? Whenever an upgrade is made to the collection...you will receive an email from Topaz allowing you to get the upgrade for free.
If your an artistic dork like myself, and average photos bore you to tears...I say go for it.

Not much else going on for today, a little bit of running here and there but all in all it looks to be a pretty chilled out, get in the pool and stay there kind of day.

Well my friends, that's about all the ramblings I can come up with on only one cup of coffee this morning. I am about to crash and burn.

Need.....

More..................

Caffeine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great day all!!!

Love, Kim