Every so often I run across a song that I just have to share with everyone. Caro Emerald, a dutch jazz singer, came out with a song that has me out of my chair dancing around the office.

Enjoy!

~Kat & the kids!

Every so often you see a cute advertisement that just makes you smile.  This is one that does just that.

Posted by a friend of mine on Facebook, I took one look at this video and laughed.  The child actor conveys so much emotion without ever saying a word.  Hats off to this little one!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

~Kat & the Kids

There are somethings that never lose their amusement factor for me.  This video is one of those things.  Several years ago, December 2006, infact I posted this little diddy.

Featuring our favorite Old man in Red and White and his cohorts, better known as his reindeer singing to the Drifters “White Christmas”

Created by Joshua Held from the UK, he has other fabulous shorts on this website.  I felt it was appropriate to share this once again!

The direct link from Joshua’s site to the video can be found here Santa Sings.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do!

Happy Holiday!

Kat and the Kids >^..^<

It’s that time of year again.  Norad is once again doing the annual Santa Countdown.  Young and old, all are eagerly awaiting Santas annual trek around the world!

While waiting for his trip, there are activities to enjoy on Norads Site, from the Christmas Village where you too can see what has been going on during the year at the North Pole.

This year you can even track Santas progress from your cell phone!

Happy Holidays!!!

Kat and the Kids =)

Please join me in wishing my niece Meggie a very happy third birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGGIE!!!!

Love,

Auntie Kat

Lets all wish my nephew a big, happy, wonderful fifth birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW MICHAEL!!!

Love always,

Auntie Kat

Summer is in full swing and that means one thing VACATION!

I know I’ve been remiss I my blogging duties and I’m sure I’ll be chastised by friends and family alike for it.

Friday, I’m headed to Seattle for 10 glorious days of fun, sun and fishing. I know your thinking wait… sun and Seattle just don’t mix, however I have to say that the two best months to visit Seattle are August and September. The doom and gloom normally have passed by and it’s time for all Seattleites to get out and work on their tan. The pasty white they have been sporting for the last ten months will be a thing of the past for at least a few months.

For the last 27 years, my parents have rented a cabin on the south end of beautiful Whidbey Island. It’s a small rustic place, but to our great delight we spend four delightful weeks, laying on the beach, searching for shells, fishing for salmon, when they run right from the beach, and when we get brave or it gets hotter than Hades, we brave the cold Puget Sound for a quick dip.

Since this cabin has no television and we do not bring one along, we make do with the old fashion type of entertainment. Reading books, playing cards, and talking with family members about everything from politics to what do we want to do the next day.

I’m sure you can tell just how much I enjoy this down time away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. No computers, no televisions, though with the advent of the cellular phone, those do get drug along but rarely answered.

It’s safe to say that I’m looking forward to catching my flight Friday and flying home!

Have a safe August and I’ll see ya’ll when I get back.

Kat

With school starting and working like a fiend, I’m finding I have less and less time to sit down with a good book and read. Recently I found a wonderful website where I can subscribe to books via email. DailyLit has so many options for those of us who enjoy reading. They offer the classic book titles for free and if that’s not your forte for a low price you can purchase a book off their site and have it emailed to you in installments.

This is how it works; you join their site for free, then you find a book you would like to read, you enter your email address and you subscribe. Then just sit back because you’ll receive installments of your book.

The super cool thing about it is, you can sit down, read your email in a brief period of time, then go back to your life while waiting for the next installment to come. How easy is that?

For the person who’s too busy to sit down and enjoy a good book, but loves to read, this is a great way to get your literary fix, and still have time for your daily life!

Enjoy!

~Kat

(for fun I’ll be adding a link under the recipe box, where you can see what I’m currently reading!)

So last night I called the local sheriffs station. It seems we have someone in our complex who feels that when there is a no parking zone it doesn’t pertain to them, when they are looking for street parking.

Our complex has assigned slips for each resident. If you have additional cars you end up having to park on a rather busy street. Unfortunately for us, because of this street parking we have a limited view of the busy main road when pulling out and this small amount of footage offered up by the ‘red zone’ gives us an additional site line of the oncoming traffic.

The other thing this person fails to realize, is that by parking in this zone, which also has a fire hydrant, IF the fire department were to show up for a house, car or any other kind of fire, with his vehicle there he hinders their access to this life saving measure, which could result in them putting the hose through his car windows.

What irritates me about this person is for the last 3 months he has felt that it’s his RIGHT to park there, never mind that by doing so he’s putting everyone at risk that live in this complex. This goes back to the posting about people believing their needs are more important the rest of the world.

So a couple of neighbors have decided to host a little campaign to stop the illegal parking of cars that put us at risk each and every day by parking in this red zone. A simple call to the back line of our local sheriffs station and quick conversation with the Sergeant on duty, will result in a drive by and ticket by a local deputy, though I hate to be the cause of additional paperwork for the deputy, I figure it’s less paperwork than an accident, should it occur.

While some might call this pissy behavior; however those who understand what the ‘red zone’ is about will also understand that this person seems to have an apparent disregard for those who are his neighbors.

So next time your in a hurry and looking for a spot to park your vehicle, remember your parking manners, don’t block a “red zone” as by doing so you might just put someone at risk.

Have a great day!

Kat

Growing up, whenever we took a family trip somewhere for the day, we girls would ask my dad “Can we go to McDonalds?” Dad had a standard answer that we dreaded, “We’re going to my favorite restaurant” he’d reply. You’d hear a collective groan from the lot of us and sometimes even my mother, because we all knew that Dad’s favorite restaurant was home to a meal he’d cook.

Now as an adult, I appreciate the multitude of reasons why we ate at home. The biggest being cost factor, my parents could feed a family of five for a lot less than it would cost to take the whole passel of us out to drive thru or a sit down restaurant, the other deciding factor was the food that Dad and sometimes Mom cooked was so much healthier for us.

So as I was cooking dinner the other night a thought struck me. I keep calling friends and family for various recipes that I love. So I’ve decided to just add a link to my blog called “The Recipe Box”.

I’ve included some of my favorites along with others that have been sent to me over the years. I know that cooking for ones self while it might seem like a chore, it’s so much better for you and more cost effective to.

I hope that you take sometime to enjoy some one on one time with your kitchen trying out the various recipes that I’ve posted.

If you have something you’d like to share please email it to me, I’ll give it a whirl and post it!

Happy Cooking

Kat