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

My sisters and I are taking Andrew, who turns five this month, for his first visit to Disneyland. While at work, when I am not listening to cnn.com live, I listen to a local radio station kost1035.com. I recently heard about a big party at Disney’s California Adventures, called Mickey’s Trick or Treat Party. After finally sorting out who was going to buy the tickets, my little sister logged on to Disney.com site and found out that the party tickets for Halloween night were sold out. Well being the internet savvy person she is, she logged onto eBay, seeing that tickets were selling for $100+ per, she checked Craigslist in Seattle, Los Angeles and Orange County.

I was at work when I received a phone call from her saying can you call this person NOW!!!! Sure I replied, she had stumbled upon a young couple, who where unable to use the tickets they had purchased. I confirmed that we were looking for 4 tickets and set up a meeting for that evening.

Upon meeting this young couple and talking to them for a bit, the wife told me that after she received my sisters’ email and my phone call confirming that we wanted them, she had an additional thirteen emails, requesting the tickets. She asked me what I had planned for these tickets, so I told her about Andrews’s upcoming trip. She was so pleased that we were using them for his visit.

So when you think that things just aren’t going your way, remember to believe and if it’s meant to happen it will work itself out.

Have a wonderful day!

Kat and the kids.

It’s hard to believe that summer is over; it seems like this year I’ve blinked and missed most of it. Just yesterday we were celebrating New Years and now we have zipped right past Labor Day.

My vacation was wonderful; there is something to be said for rustic living. As I told you before the cabin our family goes to is a one bedroom, with thankfully indoor plumbing, but not much else. We spent the better part of our days out on the beach fishing or reading.

Meggie went down to the water with her “special” fishing pole, complete with fish attached, to cast into the water. After a few casts she had enough of this whole fishing thing and would retire to her makeshift sandbox complete with toys. Andrew, being the big boy he is now at 4.5, was allowed a real hook on the end of his pole, this thrilled him to no end and we didn’t have the heart to tell him the hook was one we use for trout, not the big salmon he was hoping to hook. His “big boy” status was secured with catching his first fish, a bullhead, off the beach.

Our major excitement happened on the first night mom, dad and I went to the cabin. Down the road a piece a tree fell over the power lines, knocking out all power to every house down the road from that point. While this did not impede our cooking dinner, we used the bbq or our other daytime activities we were acuity aware of how dark the night was. Thankfully my parents had the forethought to pack headlamps, so while dad wore one to read, mom and I traded one off so we could play cards and phase 10.

My sister Becky and her husband Steve brought the kids up for several days. While we indulged the little ones, we also enjoyed some adult time such as taking trips into town, card and dice games as well as reading and talking.

The Island County Fair started on a Thursday, so we trekked off with the kids to see all the aminals, as Meggie calls them, she was dying to get her hands on a kitty cat, however at two and a half she was easily distracted. On our way to the kitty cats, she spotted a big red truck, you guessed it, it was a big fire engine. The kind firemen entertained Andrew, who had a million questions about the engine and Meggie who wanted to sit in it.

No sooner had we gone around the back end of the engine did Meggie spot a mechanical bull. She turned to me and said “I want to ride the COW!” So I told her to ask the rodeo clown standing next to the bull. Not to be disappointed, she marched right over to him, tugged on his shorts and said “Can I ride the COW?” “Of course” said the clown. You could have heard a pin drop at the look on my sisters and my face. We were looking at each other saying “WHAT?!?”

I have to say the ‘wrangler’ and his ‘clown’ were simply wonderful. They were encouraging and gentle with all the kids who came to ride the bull. Andrew looked like a real cowboy in his green and white chaps and cowboy hat. He rode that bull for nearly the full eight seconds before he fell off during a spin. I was laughing all the way down. Meggie showed the boys how a girl rides a ‘cow’. The wrangler had that bull on super slow motion, he’d slowly tilt it up and she would brace herself on the hump and then bring it back down, all the while commentating Meggie’s ride to all who were listening and cheering for her.

After a full day of pony and carnival rides, we headed back to the cabin for some dinner and relaxation.

It’s always hard to return to real life after having several days of downtime, but alas I flew home to Southern California and the kids. All three were so comfortable with their Tia NoNo that they never even missed me. I know this because usually while I’m gone they shred the house and won’t come near me for a few hours, however this trip they were right at the door waiting. I think it’s safe to say that they missed me.

I hope ya’ll had as a wonderful summer vacation as I managed to have.

Now it’s onward to fall!

~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

Today the US Supreme Court came down with a ruling that I applaud. In a 5 to 4 ruling the justices have determined that the District of Columbia’s 32 year old band of hand guns is not compatible with the 2^nd Amendment.

I am of the opinion that the government is trying to control too much. From the right to bare arms to the right to smoke in ones own home. I am a non smoker, so don’t think that I believe this for my own personal gain.

I really believe that our nation was founded on certain principles and freedoms that people have spent the last 200 years trying to have rescinded. When does it stop? We live in a country that is founded on freedom not restriction. The right to bare arms is something that is fundamental. The ability to protect oneself in ones on home is even more so.

In a day and age where home break-ins are common and shootings are an everyday occurrence it’s easy to say that if we took arms away these things would stop. People point out that countries such as Canada and the UK have few if any shootings and yet guns still find their way into those countries, just as illegal drugs find a way into ours.

I find it odd that we as a nation require people to register their automobiles and transfer the title when we sell them, however anyone can buy a gun and give it to anyone without legal obligation of transferring ownership of said gun. If you want to track weapons, perhaps this would be a viable possibility.

All in all I think it was a wise decision that the high court passed down on this case and I hope that in the future the people of this country actually think long and hard before they start passing laws willy nilly that take away freedoms, after all we’re not like some countries such as North Korea or Myanmar and we do not live in a police state.

Power to the People!

To read more on this please click here

I was sitting in a yahoo chat room the other night, listening to several people expound upon one chatter’s sins, from fathering several children and not paying his child support, to requesting money from a woman he professed his love to while they were ‘online dating’ and who in the past had sent him money.

Finally in disgust I had to sign out of chat. In my opinion, while people might feel this man is lower than pond scum for his actions, the reality of the situation is this is between the parties involved. As one chatter stated, there are three sides to the truth, His, Hers, and the Truth. Who deemed it that people in chat should be allowed to be the judge and jury? This was not something that should have ever been brought into chat. The fact that so many people in chat got involved really made me re-evaluate my opinions of the people involved.

First of all, knowing someone does not obligate a person to send a large sum of money especially if you have only known them ONLINE for 4 weeks. If you do, then you need to take responsibility and know that you just were taken. Regardless’ of “words of love” being spoken, if you can’t afford to lose that kind of money do not send it off to someone you only just met.

Secondly, personal transactions should stay just that PERSONAL, for those who will argue that she didn’t bring it into chat, I beg to differ, by discussing the situation with the number of people in chat whom she apparently did, brought it into chat, to expect each and every person to keep it to themselves is to try and pin a wave upon the sand… impossible.

Third and finally, while I know there are several who will disagree with me, but if some guy can get some girl to send him money; then apparently he’s worked something out that most men haven’t. Typically its men who send money to women not vice versa.

Each and every one of us has done something that we are not proud of; would we want this to become chat room fodder just because someone deems it your day to be hung out to dry? I think not!

So people think before you act, use your common sense otherwise your actions could land you in a chat room with your actions being discussed, dissected and you being called out for something that should not have been brought into a chat room in the first place.

Read the story below and if you are without sin then feel free to cast the first stone.

Mayhap we should read this lesson again and learn from it.

John 8:2-11 (King James Version)

2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Over the years I’ve taken several classes that have interested me. I’ve finally decided twenty plus years after graduating from high school, to knuckle down and start taking classes that will in the end afford me a degree.

Being the last of my sisters to finish her schooling, I’m left with the age old question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” At nearly forty I’m still not sure. My interests are varied as the fish in the ocean, on one hand I’m artsy, on the other hand I’m geeky and somewhere in-between I like to think I’m quasi normal.

I signed up for a few classes that are under the ‘business administration’ heading. I love the fact that classes are offered online, as this affords me the ability to do my class work at home during the hours that best suit my schedule. There is nothing like logging into a lecture in your pajamas, as long as the school isn’t computer savvy enough to have us all on webcam.

The only issue I can see is that I’ve decided to head back to school during the summer months which as we all know in Southern California is beach time. I’m sure I’ll be schlepping my books along with the cooler, my beach chair and swim gear down to the beach for a fun and studying.

Education opens up unknown worlds to a person who is willing to explore them and provides the tools to accomplish ones dreams.

Have a wonderful day!

~Kat

I was reading a story in Readers Digest about a guy who was having lunch with a friend, to his friends’ dismay he kept glancing at his blackberry. Finally in exasperation the friend said to him that he lived on it and wasn’t able to put it down and have a face to face conversation. In the ensuing story, the two made a bet that the fellow wouldn’t last a weekend without turning it on. To his surprise he found it was difficult at best, but he managed and won the bet. During the weekend he found out that he was missing out on life while being so connected to this electronic devise that he kept attached to his hip.

I have to chuckle, I don’t think many of us would survive without our cell phones, blackberries and other portable devices. I find it very distracting and frustrating while conversing with someone to have them constantly text messaging others. I have this wonderful friend who while we’re talking she’s texting others. She’ll look at me and go along as though she’s listening and when I toss something unexpected in she’ll agree. The other day she was texting someone and I said “Hey, do you like squid in soy sauce? She gave me this blank look and said yes. I started giggling and she said what? I said did you even hear what I said or did you check out on the conversation? She sheepishly admitted to having checked out on the conversation and apologized.

How often do you find yourself at your child’s game, watching and checking your email? How many times have you had a conversation with someone only to find that you missed the main points of what you are talking about because you were busy looking at some email that told you “You might be our grand prize winner?”

While I think that our portable devices are wonderful assets in our lives, I think that more often than not we let them become our lives fearing that we will miss something important, when what we are really missing is life. Perhaps it’s time for us to put down our electronic gizmo’s and focus on what is important.

Growing up in our house was wonderful, I can’t remember a time that my Mom wasn’t there to support us, encourage us and cheer us on. From being our campfire girl’s troop leader to accidentally kicking people on the sidelines of our soccer games, as she was cheering for us and got a little to into the game, to holding us when it felt like our world was falling apart.

My Mom will say, she was a professional mother, some moms were secretaries, some were doctors, but my Mom made her career out of raising us girls. I remember as a child I was always quick to volunteer Mom for all sorts of things, from field trips to driving a passel of kids home from school. She loved being the home room mom when I was in grade school and when I went to high school, I volunteered her to chaperone dances along with anything else we needed.

My senior year I got myself in a little over my head, my boyfriend was in Drama and his teacher knew I was taking sewing classes, so he asked me to sew a costume. Mom and her best friend Margie, went with me to the school and helped me make it, complete with a feather boa tacked around the neck. That feather boa saw more miles before it was attached, with both Mom and Margie dancing around singing old show tunes twirling it in the air. We laughed and got the costume done the night before dress rehearsal and had a grand time doing so.

To this day friends whom I grew up with, still stop by and chat with Mom, though we are all older and wiser, they come by for the stories and laughter, as well as advice that she always is ready to hand out. Most children grow up and move on with their lives, we girls have done so in fine fashion, but still keep in daily contact with her, if only to give her a ring and say Hi Mom, I’m on my way home from work how was your day?

I found this poem on a beautiful made picture years ago and gave it to my mom, it sums up what kind of mother she was to us girls.

A Mean Mother

A mean mother never allows candy or sweets to take the place of a well balanced meal.

A mean mother insists on knowing where her children are all times, who their friends are and what they do.

A mean mother breaks child labor laws by making her children work, washing dishes, making beds, learning to cook, and other cruel and unpleasant chores.

A mean mother makes life miserable for her offspring by insisting they always tell the truth.

A mean mother produces teenagers who are wiser and more sensible.

A mean mother can smile with secret delight and pride as she hears her own grandchildren call their mother mean.

What the world needs now are more mean mothers!

My Mom raised the three of us to believe in ourselves, to be confident and secure, to make good choices in life and friends and know that no matter what she will always love us.

So this is for you Mom. Have a wonderful Mothers Day!

Love you always!

Kat