50 Shades

Ok, I know I'm a little behind the time but I just downloaded the trilogy onto Kindle yesterday. Oh. My. Goodness. Could not put it down. Seriously- I read 15 chapters yesterday!!

And I can't decide if I like Christian or not. He's into some weird stuff. Like, really weird. But it's also kinda hot.

So What Wednesday

So What...

*if it's after 5 o'clock and I'm just now getting around to posting this?

*if I don't like egg yolks? Seriously, I never eat them. If I have a fried egg I cut arond the yellow part and just eat the white. If I have a hard boiled egg I only eat the white. The only time I eat the yellow part is in potato salad and that's just cuz there's enough other stuff to cover it up.

*if now that we got my craft room done I've spent hours in there each day?

*if after I posted about the great chair debate on Monday I realized how confusing my house sounds? I may have to post a home tour for you soon.

*if I need to start following new pinners? All of the ones that I follow now are wedding related so when I first open Pinterest all I see is wedding stuff.

*if I'm pumped that tonight is the last night of youth group/regular Wednesday stuff for the school year here at church? I love summer. Like, a lot.

*if I can't decide if I want to order one of those peace sign tee shirts that Shannon posted about the other day? I really like to try things on before I buy them but those shirts are cute...

*if I still don't know what my plans are for this weekend? I've been invited to 7 or 8 grad parties (I'm only going to/giving gifts to the ones that actually sent me or handed me a real printed invite- none of this facebook crap), I've been invited to a b-day/party bus, or I could go to the lake. The Mr. really wants to go home but I don't want to go to my parents house to sit there by myself. I'm sure my sister will be hanging out with he bf & his fam, the Mr got invited to a bachelor party on Saturday, my dad is going camping with his college buddies and I'm pretty sure my Mom will work all weekend...

*if I went & hung out at the middle school during lunches yesterday & today? I'm a youth director so it isn't creepy. Right? And I didn't go by myself, there were 2 other youth directors there too.

*if we started having youth director devotions on Tuesday mornings and I love them?? I love hanging out with people who are in my age group and who 'get' what I do for a living.

*if I kind of went on and on and I was really random? Sorry.

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to link up and see what everyone

else is So What-ing this week!

Love, Mrs. K

The great chair debate

Back in Oct the Mr and I bought this couch:

Well, we picked it out and we were going to buy it but then the Mr's parents gave it to us as a wedding gift :) I love it! It's comfortable and stylish and it doesn't look like a full diaper (some leather couches do- sorry I probs just ruined leather couches for you!). The only problem with it is that it doesn't match any of our other living room furniture. We had an old couch that was in my college rental house and a papasan chair like this in our living room before:



I love this chair! It is so comfortable. But it looks very "college". So now it's in my craft room (update on that later this week!!).

We have another old chair (from my grandparents house, it's the first piece of furniture that I ever recovered myself!) that was in the computer room but then we got a beautiful bench at the church rummage sale (sorry I don't have a picture...). So now the ugly old chair that I recovered is in the living room with our beautiful leather couch. It isn't jiving.

The Mr is stuck on getting a recliner for the living room. This weekend while he was out running errands he said he found a recliner at K Mart (of all places) that matched our couch, it's even a

Simmons and everything. Now, I wasn't with him but I'm pretty sure that this is the recliner that he saw:



I'm not a fan. I don't think our living room is big enough and I don't think we need a reliciner. And I want this chair from IKEA:



I am in love with this chair. In white. It's perfect and I think it would go really well with our couch. We live in a 100 year old house, our living room has tan walls and dark brown molding and trim (which I love!) but I think adding another heavy piece of dark brown furniture would be too much for the room. And I've read on other blogs that white is the only color to go with because it's a slip cover on the chair and white is the only color that you can bleach if you spill on it. So just get 2 slip covers and you're good to go.

And, in all honesty, these 2 chairs are within $30 of each other so money isn't a deciding factor. Yes, the nearest IKEA is 6 hours from here but I will drive right past it in just 2 weekends for a friends wedding. I could easily get this then. We'll have to see what the Mr thinks...

Love, Mrs. K

99 Things

Darby from Life With the Hawley's posted this today and I thought it was kind of fun. Even tho I haven't done a lot of these things and I just did the 25 things about me post last week :)

99 thingsBold the things that you have done on the list
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
     *I would have but they wouldn't let us off the boat on liberty island!
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
      *in a college art class- nothing fancy
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
    *in 5th grade 2 of my friends & I sold frienship bracelets to everyone in our class- does that count?
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
     *I've bought lots of them :)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
     *and in a sidecar- thanks to my dad
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published something
     *does this count?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
     *I've helped get a deer ready after it's been killed- does that count?
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
Only 38. Wow! I need to get out and travel more!
How many have you done?
If you do this let me know- I'd love to see your lists!!

Love, Mrs. K

So What Wednesday

It's that time of the week again... You know the drill

Linking up with Shannon for some SWW therapy :)

So What...

*if the map in the stats section here on blogger creeps me out a little? Oh hey people reading this from all over the world!

*if I check my e-mail multiple times a day? I hardly ever get anything important.

on the same note...

*if I check facebook and blogger before I check my personal e-mail? Some how knowing if someone commented on a post or wrote on my wall is less fun if I find out in my e-mail... I'm weird.

*if I can NOT keep my office clean? It's bad. There are papers all over my desk for our National Youth Gathering Trip this summer, senior and baby pictures for the bulletin board for senior Sunday, chips and pop for youth group on the floor, blankets for senior Sunday on the couch, t shirts and water bottles for the National Gathering.... I told you- it's bad.

*if I almost never get everything I need in one trip to the grocery store or Wal*Mart? Target on the other hand? I make an obbsessive list like a week in advance cuz I almost never get to go there.

*if I have an extra shampoo, conditioner, and mouse in the bathroom closet all the time? I hate to run out!!

*if I let kids from church talk me into downloading redic games on my iPhone and then I get a little addicted to them?

*if I've been at this job for almost 3 years and I'm just now feeling like I know what I'm doing?

*if I'm craving vaca time?

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to link up and to

see what everyone else is So What-ing this week!

Love, Mrs. K

TV Junkie

This show's first episode aired the fall of my senior year of high school:

I fell in love. My friends and I would get together every Sunday night out at Tasha's house to watch it. It was 'our thing'. Then I went to college. I wasn't as good about watching Season 2. But my roomie and I watched Season 1 on DVD after I got it for Christmas. It slowly faded out of my life, now I haven't watched it for years, at least since I moved to this northern town almost 3 years ago. But Sunday night I felt compelled to watch. It was the last episode EVER. I had to watch. And even though I haven't seen the show for a while, I still cried. I cried when Mrs. Mcklusky died, I cried when the main characters said that they would take care of her so that she could stay home with Ben. I cried when Susan drove down the street for the last time (BTW- who was the little boy in the car with them??). And then, like any good show, they left us hanging even on the last episode. The new girl that moved into Susan's house has deep dark secrets that she is going to try and keep locked up. Seriously? You have to make the SERIES finale a hanger??

Then last night one of my favorites came back :)



I missed the first house because I was at the high school choir concert but I saw the 2nd hour and the clips for the season- looks like it's going to be good!! I'm excited to watch the first half online so I can see how all of the guys introduced themselves- I'll give you my notes later. I really hope that Emily is more fun to watch than Ashley or Ben were. I just couldn't get into either of their seasons.

Love, Mrs. K

I've been tagged! 25 things you might not have known about me!

Cindy from Living... Laughing... Loving... tagged me!! I guess she wants to know more about me :)

So here they are, 25 things you might not know about me-

1. I would love nothing more than to be a stay at home mom.

2. And to have my own Etsy shop.

3. I graduated from college with my Bachelors of Arts in Religion with a minor in Psychology

4. I met my Mr at a bar. I was working, he was out with friends. And my mom happens to manage said bar.

5. I have grown to like cooking.

6. I only have 1 sister, no brothers.

7. I love Minnie Mouse. The Minnie Mouse wedding ears are the reason we went to Disneyland on our honeymoon!

8. I hate hate hate confrontation.

9. I have an extra bone in my left ear.

10. I was born at 4 minutes to 5 on a Friday morning.

11. I have lived in 8 houses in my 25 years counting the one that I rented in college for only 9 months.

12. I think toilet paper needs to go over not under.

13. I like the towels in our bathroom to hang a certain way.

14. I am a total list maker. I make lists for everything.

15. I love fountain diet coke. I have gone to gas stations more times than I can count just for a pop. And I know that when they say a pop is $0.99 I know that it will really be $1.06 so I take exact change with me.

16. I love afternoon naps. I take one almost every Sunday.

17. My office is almost never clean the way that I would like it to be.

18. My craft supplies are almost always spread out on our living room floor because the TV in the craft room doesn't work right. I told the Mr that all he had to do was fix the TV and I would move all of my stuff back into my craft room.

19. I like to do math calculations in my head. I try to figure out how much my groceries will cost (before taxes- I'm not that good!) while I'm waiting in the checkout line and I like to try to figure out exactly how long it will take me to get somewhere based on how many more miles I have to go and how fast I'm driving.

20. I'm 3 years, 4 months, and 22 days older than my sister.

21. I graduated from high school with my Mr's sister.

22. I have been to New York, Charolette NC, Atlanta, Orlando, Fort Meyer's, New Orleans, Kansas City, Chicago, West Lafayette IN, Colorado Springs, and Los Angeles on vacation. Just to LA and New Orleans in the last year though.

23. I have never been outside of the country (and I live only 70 miles from Canada).

24. I was on the dance team in high school.

25. I have only broken one bone and I've only had stitches once.

Ok- time to share the love! If I tagged you please share 25 random things about yourself then tag 5 more people!!
Katie Jean- she's my sister!
Darby from Life with the Hawleys
Sara from Scissors and a Whisk
Bethany from The Holte Household
Marcy from Marcy's 'Mazin Moments

Love, Mrs. K

Mother's Day

I've been at a loss as to what to get my mom and the Mr's mom for Mother's Day. Neither of them really need anything, but I want to get them somthing cute that they'll like. And I like to craft and make things but I don't have a ton of free time. While I was checking facebook the other day I saw this on the Barn Owl Primitives page:



How cute is that?? And so not hard to make! BOP thank the girls at eighteen25 for the idea so I had to head on over there and check them out.

And on their page they give you a list of ideas of what to put in the basket and they give you the printable to make the cute tag!!



So awesome- they don't make you pick, they give you all 6 tags!! Too bad we don't have kids yet so we don't have teachers to give these to!! I think I'm going to make one for my mom and the Mr's mom. But in my mom-in-laws basket I might put strawberry plants instead of stuff from Bath & Body works since she really likes to garden. And I might have to make a few for some special friends. We'll see if Bath & Body has any good sales when I'm there tomorrow on the soap or anti bac or strawberry scented things :)

Love, Mrs. K

So What Wednesday

Ahh! I can't believe I've missed 2 So What Wednesday!! I love SWW! So here I am linking up with Shannon from Life After I "Dew" to So What again:

Here's what I'm saying So What to this week:

*if I put things in my "shopping cart" on different websites and then just leave them there? I go back and forth with myself for a while trying to decide if I really want them. Right now it's this jacket from Lane Bryant:

I really want a blazer that has a pattern or a contasting color on the inside of the sleeve so you can roll the sleeve up just a bit and it would look cool, but I can't bring myself to shell out $70 for a blazer...

I also put stuff in my cart on Lindsey's shop all the time.

I'm loving these two things right now:



The e-reader case and the matching sunnies case.

Perfect example of waiting too long- the sunnies case is sold out!! :(

The Pleated Poppy is such a beautiful shop- if you've never checked it out or if you've never bought anything from her I highly recommend it.

*if I eat my sub from Subway at my desk every Wednesday while reading blogs?

*if I don't watch the view when I'm getting ready because Elizabeth bugs me?

*if I have no idea how to make a playlist on my iTunes and then transfer said list to my iPod or iPhone?

*if I play Scramble with Friends more than Words with Friends because I'm better at Scramble?

*if I wore the same outfit 2 days in a row last week just in different colors? When you find something that you like and that looks good go with it. Right?

*if last time I did SWW I forgot to link up with Shannon? Oops...

*if we forgot to hand out confirmation certificates on Sunday? Again, oops...

*if I still haven't shared all of our wedding pictures with you? I'm sorry!! If you're dying to see them you can check out my Facebook Wedding Album.

*if I don't know what to get my mom or my mother in law for mothers day?

What are you saying So What to this week?

Head on over to Life After I "Dew" to see what everyone

else is So What-ing this week and to link up!

Love, Mrs. K

Confirmation

If you've been around this little slice of the internets for more then 2.5 seconds you know that I work at a church and that I am the director of youth and family ministry. This title means that I do a lot of different things. One of those things is helping with confirmation. I say "help" because I don't really get to teach anything. I make copies, send out letters to parents, keep track of sermon notes that the kids have turned in, and try to keep up with the acolyte schedule.

Well, this past Sunday (May 6th) was Confirmation Sunday around here. I don't really like that we call it Confirmation Sunday becuase we're really not confirming anything. We're asking these young people to affirm their faith and the promises that their parents and sponsors made for them at their baptisms. I also don't like that we tell them when in life they need to do this. I really wish that we left that decision up to the parents. But that is a tangent for another day.

We had a banquet and a time for rehearsal for our Confirmands on Saturday evening. The people that were hired to make dinner thought we were eating at 5:30. The letter that went out to the parents said we were eating at 6. The newsletter and the weekly bulletin said we weren't eating til 6:30. Ugh. Our fellowship hall (where the dinner was) has 16 tables that seat 9-10 people each. We had 18 Confirmands, some of whom brought 12-13 guests to dinner. Ugh. I made cupcakes, just incase the sheet cake wasn't big enough. I like to put the frostin in a baggie and pipe it onto the cupcakes to make them look pretty. Someone else frosted my cupcakes while they were cooling and I was at home getting ready. And they didn't look pretty. Ugh.

That was all before dinner.

After dinner we headed up to the sanctuary. Well the parents and families did. I took the confirmands out into the narthex to get them in line so that they could practice for Sunday morning. Then the kids have to sit up front and share their faith statements one at a time. So nervewracking for them. I almost feel bad. Then we practice coming up front, what the Pastors will say, what the Confirmands have to say, etc. Then we did a lottery drawing to see where families would get to sit on Sunday morning. You see, sometimes parents can be a little crazy and fight over who gets to sit where and who is up front, and then you have people that want to get here at like 6:30 in the morning to save spots. So we do a lottery drawing- kids draw numbers & pews are numbered. So then after they all left I had to put names on each pew, reserved for the family of so and so.

While I was putting these reserved signs on each pew I lost it. I sat in the sanctuary and cried. I wanted to do this job to make a difference in their faith journeys. I wanted to share that with them and be influential. You know what? Less then 1/2 of them thanked me or even recognized me in their faith statements. Most of them thanked the Pastors. They thanked the Pastors that have a hard time remembering their names. They thanked the Pastors that show up to teach confirmation on Wednesday nights and seem to b more worried about who did the homework and getting through their lesson then they are in the kids lives and where the kids are at in their faith journey. I don't want to down play our Pastors, they are both great men but neither of them really have the heart for youth ministry. And I don't want to sound like I need public recognition. That's not why I do my job. But it would be nice to know if I made a difference. If I mean anything to them or if I have impacted their journey at all.

So I sat 1/2 way back on the south side of our sanctuary and cried. I asked God if this is what I'm suppose to be doing. I questioned all of my decisions up to this point.

Then I went back to putting names on pews and finishing up what needed to be done.

Sunday morning came, all 18 Confirmands showed up and affirmed their baptisms.

I got invited to one Confirmation party, one mom thanked me for all of the work I did, and no one asked to take their picture with me.

I knew coming in that ministry was a thankless job but this is brutal...