New Year Resolution

To be more in this world but not of it. . .

Hilarious. . . all must read the below post

Hilarious. . .

Then read this guys comment:

Karl said...

C.S. Lewis and his friend Charles Williams once toyed with the idea of writing a book telling various Bible stories from the point of view of the animals mentioned in them.

For instance, with regard to this story they imagined two bears ambling through the woods having a philosophical debate about the existence and character of God. After the unexpected meal of the naughty boys, the bears would walk back into the woods together agreeing at last that yes, God does exist and yes, he is good.

Christmas.

Christmas comes and goes way too quickly out here. I sit here, by myself, eating candy cane Joe Joes (the organic version of the Oreo) and deviled eggs, listening to Dolly Parton sing "Jolene" and two dogs fight over identical bones, thinking of several things:

1. Mom telling us that we would fight over a piece of poop if it was the only thing in the room.

2.If I were fighting over a piece of poop right now, that would mean that I was either with: Caleb, Anna, Aaron, Sam or Sarah . . . which would be much nicer than the cookies and deviled eggs I am having.

3. The job I have now is going to make every Christmas feel like this . . . feel like "not-Christmas."

4. I am never going to have a family again like I once did . . . unless we start having children (though. . . Alexis and Lucious really think they are people)

5. I can change the song playing on my computer without having to navigate to the itunes window. . .

Anyway, here are some pictures from Christmas. . . The battery was not charged in the camera and I couldn't keep Kyle from unwrapping things, so there aren't many. .

I decorated our house. . . there were snowflake lights over the garage. . . but only half of them like to shine. . . so i don't turn them on.

Our little Christmas tree . . . This way Alexis wouldn't eat it or pee on it.

My first attempt at Deviled Eggs. . . They have habbanero sauce in them. . . :)

Our beautiful and tasty dinner. . .

An attempt at biscuits. . . that would have ruined the above picture.
Kyle enjoying dinner. . .

My new computer!

Who's your daddy? . . . Go Daddy!

And yes, they actually said that at the GoDaddy Christmas party. It was quite a blast, it was at Chase Field, Sinbad performed (some comedian). . .
as well as Joan Jet and the Blackhearts. . .
there was a cool lazer show. . .
fireworks. . .
the godaddy bike. . .
good food, good dessert. . . but lets get to the serious stuff. . . The dress I made for the party. I "finished" my dress at 5:30 the morning of the party, but had to make some minor alterations to it right before we left. . . (the first two photos were taken the day after the party. . . somehow forgot to take pictures of it the night of)

Bedtime story

So there I was, driving down the interstate, cars all around me. I was sweaty from the gym, but that didn't bother me... I had a convertible (which doesn't matter at all because the top was up). So I'm cruising down, and almost to the point where I need to get off. I look behind me, there's only barely enough room for me to get over into the next lane. I turn on my blinker, and the driver in the minivan behind me lets up a little, allowing me enough room to get over. I look to make sure no one is there again, and start to move over. I'm almost completely in the lane, and someone who had just come up the on-ramp decides he wants to be in my lane, so he starts getting into it. I lay on my horn, move back over a bit, and slow down a bit. After realizing I'm there, he overcorrects to get back into his lane, almost hits the side wall, then overcorrects to get back and ends up almost slamming into the center divider (3 lanes of traffic). He stops in time, and the traffic all saw what was going on, so everyone had stopped so as not to cause a pileup. No damage was caused, and the traffic started back up after he corrected himself and started going 30 down the left lane of the interstate.

What is it with cars wanting to hit me?
- Kyle

Sometimes I want to change the end of my voicemail to say, "if you need immediate assistance, please hang up and dial 9-1-1". . . I mean, seriously, why do people have to be so dramatic and spastic about something as trivial as sweater?

KU vs MU

My family and I went to the KU vs MU game in Kansas City today. It was miserably cold and raining and then snowing, and even though I was bundled up, the fact that my shoes are falling apart didn't help my feet at all. It was a decent game, with a couple touchdowns withing the last few minutes of the game that changed who it looked like was going to win. The real story, though, is about the seats. There were these 3 guys who were drinking pretty hard, and were cussing and being generally obnoxious. One guy started smoking, which I was pretty sure was not allowed, but I didn't say anything. Then, they kept being obnoxious and the guy smoked a second cigarette, so I went up to talk to Customer Relations and made sure it wasn't allowed, and talked to them about what they were doing. When we got back, I didn't point directly to the guys, so they had trouble figuring out which guys it was, and he had stopped smoking. When my mom saw that I had gotten them she said "Why'd you do that?! Now he's going to beat us up!" When I saw him pull out a third cigarette, I asked him not to light it up, since it was a no-smoking zone everywhere. He asked if it bothered me, and I said yes, and he said he wouldn't do it then. Ok, that's good. I should have done that first, but I also shouldn't have had to do anything at all. Anyway, so then we decided we could enjoy the game since we wouldn't have to smell smoke the entire time. Later, though, I noticed this stream of water just to the left of my mom... I looked up and it stopped, and I saw that same guy messing around with his pants... he had just peed on the ground next to my mom in the stadium! I confronted him about it, and he said (in a very drunk voice) "I don't know what you're talking about, man." I ran back up to the Customer Relations booth, and they came down with me, but by the time we got there, these guys had run off. I talked about what had happened with everyone around, and they were glad I saw him do that.

- Kyle

Project 10 of many. . .

This project began with a chair that I found cast aside on the road in front of my house, in a pile that looked about like this. . .

I pressure washed the chair, let it dry and then began to take it apart. . . and now it's done. Tah dah (it looks cooler in real life than it does in these pictures).

At last, at last!

It's the news you've all been waiting for. . . My pattern making table has arrived!!!! I think it is about the most fabulous table ever! It's what I dreamed about all those nights I worked in the senior labs. . . Actually that version had a bed where the bottom drawers are. . . Those days are long since past, and while they will always hold a special place in my heart I'd rather not ever relive my senior year at Stephens College (I still cannot drink coffee because the taste of it brings back all my stress and anxiety from school and puts a sick feeling in my stomach.).Our friend Paul built this table for me. It comes apart relatively easily. . . so it's portable (just like a bicycle in a suitcase) It's only been primed at this point - but I look forward to painting it. The handles were a birthday present that I got from my friend Melody.

And I'm really not spoiled. . . but. . . . here is a picture of some flowers that Kyle sent me at work the other day. Usually Kyle can't surprise me. . . but I was completely surprised this time. Good job Kyle!!

Oh and some pictures from our picnic in the backyard the other night. . . since we were so far out in the wilderness and that it was likely the last meal we were ever going to be able to eat I decided that I probably shouldn't let the summer sausage go to waste. . . so there goes my vegetarianism. . . I'm woman enough to admit that it was just a fad. . . though, I couldn't help but think about all the awful antibiotics I was ingesting.That's sparkling apple cider by the way. . .

In God We Do Not Trust

Tree Fairy

pictures from Halloween

A line without rhyme or reason

I am slowly in the process of developing a new company. I'm not really suppose to be a personal shopper, at Macy's, and do things on the side that might be a conflict of interest (which is not the same as all of my interests conflicting) so, hush hush! Here is the logo. . .

I haven't really defined exactly what Maeve Barton will be (or, what it will be at first, as eventually it will be many things, including "Maevery By Maeve Barton"). But Maeve means "intoxicating" and one definition of Barton that I found means : a farmyard; the lands of a manor reserved for the Lord's use. So by that definition Maeve Barton will be an irresistible and intoxicating farmyard of products, reserved for the Lord's use.

Meet Alexis

She's a little spaz. She's seven weeks old and I think that last night was the first night that she slept without her little brothers, she seemed really lonely. Kyle and she are going to get along just great (though I wish I could say the same for she and Lucious. Lucious does not know how to handle a puppy.) She was just eating a packaging penut and I asked Kyle to take it away from her because I did not want it to get lodged in her intestines (I have a history of dog's eating strange things, and those things getting . . . stuck). He responded that they were made of corn starch and not going to kill her. I asked if they were edible and he said, "well I've eaten them and I'm fine."














chewing on the inside of my purse.

South Mountain

We went for a little hike in the mountains and had a great time. Unfortunately we ran out of water and didn't get to go very far.

































I did manage to get stung by a bee in the short time that we were out. This is the stinger that Kyle pulled out of my neck.



Lucious' photo for the cover of his next major motion picture - Dog Runner

Project 9 of many. . .

This is a quilt that I made for my friend Melody. Melody only sees in black and white so I wanted to make something for her that we would both see the same way. I also had no idea of knowing if it would be pretty or not if I made it in color. When Kyle told me that he liked it better than the quilt I made him I knew that I had done my job. . .

Project 8 of Many. . .

I cannot recall exactly when I made this, but I believe it was during the early stages of my broken foot. It's been pilled up in a ball for awhile, which is why it is so wrinkly. While I was doing the straps on this dress I came up with this really cool idea for something else which I drew somewhere so that I wouldn't forget it. If I ever find the piece of paper I drew the idea on and get a bunch of chiffon I'll make sure to post it.
























The straps are made of one long cord

Curious

I just found out that my really good friend Melody Girarouard's (whom I met at Macy's) dad went to school with and was best friends with Scott Williams (Suzy's Williams Dad) in Versailles, Missouri. The world is so small.

I liked having a broken foot. It allowed me to be in the middle of a lot more projects.

some food for thought

Did you know that milk naturally has traces of morphine in it? Morphine, codeine and other opiates are naturally produced in cows's livers and end up in their milk. All milk contains casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion and releases opiates. These opiates exist so that newborns will want to nurse, it actually ensures a bond between mothers and their young.
I have been reading this diet book called Skinny Bitch. I have never read a diet book before and started reading it in the bookstore because I couldn't understand how a diet book could be on the New York Times best seller list. I found the book to be somewhat hilarious (though, as the title suggests it's got some terrible language in it) and bought it. The guy at the checkout counter was like, "hey do you know that this book is all about becoming a vegan" and i was like "pshh, veganism the stupidest thing ever."
After reading about all the meat processing plants and all of the pesticides, disease and crap that is in meat I decided that I would probably never eat meat again. I did it for 2 years without any motivation that I can remember, so now that I actually have a reason it should be a breeze.
I mean all of those stupid billboards up in California that read "pets are people too" always made me really really angry. Mostly because I over generalize that the people who says that kind of stuff are generally pro choice too- which I am not. Anyway, the way that animals are being treated in these meat processing plants is not the way that I believe God intended for us to govern them. I have decided that I cannot be both pro life and a carnivore. The only time I could justify eating meat is if I knew that the animal being slaughtered had been treated humanely and fed completely naturally. i.e. Uncle Andy's sheep.
Someday my body (Lord willing) is going to be the temporary home for a child and right now there is so much crap in it that I can't even conceive of the idea of having a child (though I am sure all of my eggs are no better off than I am).
So as I've been reading this book I have been thinking that there is no possible way that I could give milk up, and I am still not convinced that I could - I mean, I truly am addicted to dairy, especially cheese. But this book is quite convincing that dairy is just as bad as meat. Cows being given steroids so that they produce more than a 100 pounds of milk a day (when they should really only be producing 10 pounds) and being sucked dry and having terrible oozing sores on their udders so that blood and puss mixes with the milk requiring it to be pasteurized which destroys beneficial enzymes and makes calcium less available. Plus if the cows are sick the antibiotics that they are given goes right into their milk production and hence our bodies. Also another study shows that consuming high amounts of dairy blocks iron absorption which leads to iron deficiency - which I am pretty sure I suffer from.
Conclusion - I might really be addicted to milk and need to drink less milk and find some that is truly organic (none of the USDA certified stuff is really legit).
Mom, I think you might enjoy reading this book

a close shave. . .

Lucious got a hair cut. It took about 3 hours. Uncle Andy made shearing the sheep look so easy. I thought this would take 30 minutes top. Perhaps if I had clippers that were a bit more professional. Anyway - he enjoys being w/o his coat, esp since it's so hot outside.