My Deadly Car

Friday night when Katie and I were coming home from Abilene, we came upon a rattler in the driveway.  Obviously I didn't have the .410 with me, so I decided to use my car as a weapon and I ran over him.  He made a popping sound.  When I backed up, he had coiled and had his head up.  I proceeded to go back and forth over him until he was a mangled lump in the road.  When I checked him out later, it looked like I skinned 2/3 of his body.

Mr. In-The-Driveway was the first snake that I have seen in a long time--rap, rap, rap (knock on wood)--so it brings this year's count to 5.  That is a whole lot better than last year's 18 or the previous year's 25 +.

Simply Saturday

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Katie playing Rick's acoustic guitar and looking to the heavens.

Watching Disney movies is serious business

Let's see.  What have we been up to lately?  Home improvement projects around the base, shop and at our property on the lake.  I also have been detailing my car and still have to use the shampooer to do the carpeting.  Katie and I carved a pumpkin, put it on the fireplace and it immediately started to mold.  I had to throw the top out because it was slimy.  I have never met a pumpkin that was so difficult to carve--hard as a rock--and that rotted that quickly.

Katie designed the face and I carved.  It has pumpkin warts for a nose.

Our pumpkin is two-faced.  Katie chose these plastic features.

Speaking of Halloween, Katie is going to a Halloween party tonight at Team Chip Tae Kwon Do.  That means Rick and I have a date.  (Yeah!)  I made reservations at Copper Creek.  A childless meal, a rarity.  No "Katie take a bite of your meal" or  "Katie sit properly" or "Katie stop wiggling." or "Katie that was not a real bite."  I am also excited that I get dressed to the nines.  I miss dressing up during the work week and now have to settle for dressing up for Sunday morning church service.

Well, I gotta scoot.  Six o'clock will be here soon.

Boo at the Zoo

Today was Boo at the Zoo in Abilene.  We had some rain in the morning and it was dreary and a bit chilly at the zoo, but Katie got a nice little loot from the businesses that had set up trick-or-treat stations.

This is Katie's third year of Boo at the Zoo.  Each year we have taken a picture of Katie sitting on a particular rock.  Below is this year's picture.  Like I said it was a bit chilly hence the hoodie.

I had bought Katie  a Cleopatra costume, but  she changed her mind and decided to be Tinkerbell again this year.  We have a few other Halloween functions to attend.  Perhaps she'll be Cleopatra for one of them.

After the zoo, we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart and then headed home.  Katie was rather cranky and had the chills.  Rick is burning up and tired.  It looks like I will have a few patients on my hands for the next few days.

So there you have our Saturday excitement.  Ciao!

Pumpkin Patch

This morning Katie and I went to DRI's Pumpkin Patch with our MOPS group.  The kids got to go on a hayride and run around like maniacs.  Of course Katie had a good time because she was with her friends, but surprisingly didn't give me too much of a problem when it came to leave.

 Katie with Zoey and Maddie waiting for the hayride to begin.

 Run, run, run

 

Prior to this picture a little boy came up to Katie and went, "Booooug" trying to be scary.  Katie just looked at him like he was a freak.  She still has traces of that expression on her face in this picture.
 

 Hanging with Cowdog, Maddie and McKenzie.

We came away with one large pumpkin.  We were going to get some little ones, but Katie opted to buy a tiny chocolate ghost candy instead of pumpkins.  She seems to be okay with that decision but that will probably change when we go to carve our pumpkin.

Growing Up

One day last week Katie decided to wear a party hat while she ate her lunch, so I grabbed the camera.  In the last picture, she looks so different.  Matter of fact in all of the 20+ pictures she looks so much older.  Below is the evidence that our little baby is growing up.

Yellow Belt, Pepper and Golf

Last week Katie tested for her next belt in Tae Kwon Do.  She passed and the belt ceremony was this past Saturday.  Katie is now a yellow belt.

During the belt ceremony a person getting a new belt is paired up with a black belt.  The black belt person presents them with their new belt.  Katie was very fortunate to be paired up with Master Chip Townsend.  He is a six degree black belt and owner of Team Chip Tae Kwon Do where Katie takes lessons

The new yellow belt standing at attention

Showing her yellow belt moves in the lobby

After the ceremony we went out to eat at the Outback.  We haven't been there in a while and I remembered why.  They seriously ruin their food with their pepper seasoning.  Rick had ordered his steak with light seasoning; however, I failed to do so with Katie's chicken and salad, so she ended up eating broccoli and green beans.  Luckily my lobster tail wasn't peppered to death and was actually good.

We ended the evening with a round of putt-putt golf.  Katie had never been before.  She does have her own golf set at home, but this was a whole new bag of tricks.  Rick and I ended up tying and Katie was a 72 on 18 holes.  She actually got a hole in one.

 Rick helping Katie on her form

Rick going for that hole in one

It was a good family day and the type I wish we could enjoy more often.

Shots and Snot

For the last week and a half  I have been dealing with sinus issues.  Today I woke up with an excrutiating headache, face pain and I was blowing my nose non-stop, as I had been.  Driving home from my MOPS' steering team meeting, I felt as if my head was going to blow up.  My "I'm going to be okay and don't need to go to the hospital" attitude is well known; however Rick wasn't having anything to do with that.  He drove me over to the Stamford Wellness Clinic.

A sinus infection was diagnosed and I left there with a prescription for an antibiotic and two shots in the butt--an antibiotic and pain medicine for the headache. Let me tell you that antibiotic shot hurt.  I had trouble walking, so I stayed in the car while Rick went into Wal-Mart to fill my script.  Good thing I stayed in the car because all of the sudden and with only time to grab the car's trash bag, I was throwing up to beat all heck.  So there I sat with a major headache, sinus pain, pain in my backside and an upset stomach.  It was not a good day.  Either the shots or my headache triggered the upset stomach, but I was thankful when it subsided.  Katie was too because she was in the car with me.

I am feeling better now.  The headache is still hanging around the fringe; however, the sinus pain in my face has subsided.   Here's wishing for a better tomorrow.

Baseball, Birthdays and Workbooks

Life has been pretty fast paced lately.  Rick has been home and we actually have the time to work on the missile site at night.  Rick is working on the electrical and I have been doing general cleaning.  We hope to be painting soon.  We put up a flyer in Anson and Stamford looking for someone to help us after school and on Saturdays.  We haven't gotten any inquiries yet, but it is still football season and everyone seems to live and breath high school football here in Texas.

Lately Katie has been talking about baseball and socceer.  I don't know where she picked up those words and frankly she doesn't know how to play either game or even the object of either game.  Rick bought her a plastic baseball bat and ball and Rick and they played ball in the yard.  And won't you know it, Katie is a very good at hitting the ball.   Below are a few pictures from their game.

Rick also celebrated a birthday at the end of September, but I forgot to share pictures.  Ever since Katie was born I've made a shirt for Katie that says "Happy Birthday Daddy".  This year was no exception.

 

I have been "homeschooling" Katie with Pre-K and kindergarten workbooks.  Below she is just whizzing along.

 

Here she is not so whizzy.  Just frustrated.  (Darn little "b" and little "d".  Confusing!)

 

That's it.  Hope you enjoyed the select few highlights that I chose to share.  See ya in a month.  (Just kidding.  I'll try to be more blog worthy.)

Tiny Acorn Nutshell

I haven't been blogging again.  It is not because nothing is happening.  It is because too much is happening.  I don't seem to have the time anymore to sit down and quickly craft a coherent post.

Katie is busy with Tae Kwon Do and ballet.  I have also started "homeschooling" her in an attempt to get her ready for kindergarten.  I found a State of Texas Pre-K check list which had about 25 skills or knowledge.  The only one that Katie cannot do is her home address.  We have never drilled it into her head.  Anyway, I try to sit down with her for at least an hour a day and we do a few pages in one of her workbooks.  I also purchased the book Ready for Kindergarten by Sharon Wilkins.  It contains a year's worth of projects that you can do at home with your preschooler.  Some of the exercises are too simple like making her first name's initial out of bread dough.  Regardless, we are enjoying the time together....well most of the time.  Sometimes I get frustrated and have been successful so far in not showing it.

Speaking of bread dough, I have been baking homemade bread the old-fashioned way, which means no bread machine.  The first recipe that I used called for 2 TBSP of salt.  It was way too salty.  Also, I think my water was too warm and I killed the yeast on top of not using enough yeast.  Needless to say, the loaves were like bricks.  The second batch two days later was a huge improvement.  I used a new recipe and it produced a slightly sweet bread with crunch crust.  That recipe is definitely a keeper.  The first recipe is from The Taste of Home Cookbook and it is not the first time that a recipe from that cookbook was not that great.

Rick was home last week and will be home this week.  It's not often that we get him for two weeks in a row, so we are enjoying the luxury.

Rick and I have been doing little projects in the missile base after Katie falls asleep for the night.  We both cherish our childless time together and the teamwork that the projects require.  Good thing too since there are about 1 billion projects on the to-do list.

Two Fridays ago, Rick and I went to a concert at Hardin Simmons University.  Kansas is doing a collegiate tour where the colleges' orchestras play with the band.  Kansas sounded great.  In this day and age of studio manipulated music, a band actually sounding like they do on a CD or not lip syncing is a rarity.

That is about it in a very tiny acorn nutshell.  I have just touched on a few of the activities in our lives.  Take care readers and I will strive to post more than once every two weeks.