Welcome

Welcome to my VERY random blog. The Home page will show you all of the posts in my blog. If you would like to find just the posts related to our move to and life in Hawaii, click on "The Journey"

Friday, September 28, 2012

What Next??

Well, it has been such an interesting day!  It started off a quite good day, our staff meeting was brief and brought with it good news. Our clients will no longer have a dollar cap on treatment for the year, so we no longer have to limit sessions!  Pretty awesome, considering they were only getting 4 hours per week of therapy when recommended is 20+.  It's called "intensive" for a reason!  Anyways, then I made a YUMMY brunch quesadilla with eggs and cheese and harm on corn tortillas.  Turns out, corn tortillas have fewer calories than flour ones, so despite the fact that flour ones really are much more tasty, I now have enough corn tortillas to last me half a lifetime.  I can only stomach them cooked, so they're a no-go for fajitas (tried it, ick, never again!) but for quesadillas as long as I salt them it turns out OK.   So I had a nice filling brunch that didn't pack a ton of calories and didn't come out of a bunch of little packages.

Left for my client in a great mood, enjoying the weather with my sunroof open, driving along.  On course to get there on time, but nooooo... disabled vehicle a couple miles before the exit.  NOT happy about that but pushed on through, only backed me up like 5 minutes.  Till I hit the entrance to their neighborhood.  It's a gated community, and I guess noon is THE time for people to arrive and have to check in at the gate.  So I got to sit there in line, and ended up 15 minutes late.  Not so much a big deal, but I have things to do today and that's 15 minutes everything had to get shifted back.  *sigh*  Oh well.

So, on my way home, and despite a little traffic a couple times that really pissed me off (I did NOT have time to hit traffic again!  Too much to do!!) I managed to actually make good time and got myself to the pet store to get food for the dragons.  Stocked up pretty good, too.  Got to the register... crap.  I didn't have my wallet on me.  Turns out when I was paying bills after the staff meeting I left it on the couch.  Seriously?  So it took me 30 minutes to get home and back with my wallet.  30 more minutes I didn't need to lose.

Ugh I am so frustrated!  I know, nothing horrible, but I have a report I am trying to finish and ...

(then I got distracted, cause I have ADD... LOL... and I went and wrote that report!)

~Katy

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Small Project Update

One curly scarf is done (except for sewing in the ends) and the other is getting close to being there!  Here is where they are at now:




The one that isn't yet done is SO soft and just enough fuzzy with a little bit of shimmer in the yarn.  It's going to be one of those that I am tempted to keep for myself!

~Katy

WOO! Check Out What I Did!

Ok so I am proud.  I have been working on a flyspring for months, mostly on the tumbl trak which is a long trampoline, really.  Today I started doing them on the rod floor, which is a carpeted tumble strip with a bit more spring than the spring floor that the floor exercise is done on.  At first, I was doing them onto stacked mats at the end of the rod floor in the foam pit.  Then I moved one of the mats onto the rod floor and check this out!!


Now, if I take the mat away... which shouldn't make it harder, since the extra height of the may adds to how hard it is, especially with the softness taking away some of the push off the hands... I fall.  Yeah, not sure why.  Must be a mental thing.  I DID land it once perfect and once a little low but without falling.  My coach says it's a problem with piking my body after I punch (jump off 2 feet) which just means I have to really GO FOR IT and REACH so I jump straight into a handstand.

Anyways I am so excited!  I am so close to having it :)  WOOO!!

~Katy

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

He Lives!

So, I have for quite a long time wanted a massive fish tank.  Or a few.  A couple years ago I had a spare ten gallon and our office manager wanted a fish tank on her desk, so I brought it in.  I had the whole set up and it was just sitting under my table, so why not?  So for a while our office at work had a fish tank.  The kids loved it.  Eventually, though, the company grew and we just no longer had room for the fish tank.  So despite hearing for ages from Eric that, no, we were not getting a fish tank, I suddenly had a fish tank.  Fish and all!  But fish I didn't like.

One day I was at the pet store and found a great deal on a used 55 gallon tank with stand.  It took a while, but we transferred the fish into the big tank.  Still mostly fish I didn't like,except the Khuli loach.  Man do I love Khuli loaches.

Here is the wonderful fish tank, not long after it was set up last winter...

We've had all sorts of issues with it with green water (ugh) so even though I had all these plans for it with tons of tetras (yes, bunches of tiny fish for the big tank!  Schools of 'em!)  But I think what I will have to do is replace the light, because if I leave the tank light off the green goes away, but if I leave it on even a full day the water starts getting green again.  I need to look into what kind of light is IN there (the fixture came used with the bulbs in it) and what I can switch to.  But due to all these issues, I had gone for quite a while without the light on and as a result, lost a number of the fish.  All of the bloodfin tetras, at least.

I wasn't sure about my Khuli loach.  For those of you who don't know, they are the kind of fish that hide, and will typically come out when it is dark.  I hadn't seen it at all since the extended blackout, and just figured at this point it must have not made it.  Then today I go to turn on some lights in that room, and there he is!!!


Pardon the dirtiness, the whole tank needs to be cleaned.  But YAY!  The loach lives!  He is one of the fish that we had in the tank when it was at work, and thus he is called "Worm" because that's what the office manager thought he looked like.  

Hope to see you again soon,Worm!

~Katy

Monday, September 24, 2012

Little Projects

I can't work on the big project all the time, right?  That is part of why it is taking so long!  Anyways, I do have my shop to fill and with fall now here, it is time to add some new warm weather gear.

I decided (with some help from some of my favorite fellow Zibbet shop owners) to make some curly scarves and some neck warmers both.  I couldn't decide, they said do both, so I am!  But I am starting with the curly scarves first, at least a couple.  They just feel more "fall" to me.

Here is a sneak preview... I've just started work on one, and will be doing the next one in two colors :)




Yeah I know, not very much to show so far, but hey it's something!  The only thing about the curly scarves is that while they start up really quick, each row has twice as many stitches and thus takes twice as long!  Anyways enough time off from crocheting, back to it I go!

~Katy

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Big Project!!

So some of you may know that I love to crochet.  I love to crochet so much that I started making more than I could use or give away and I opened an online shop, first on Etsy, and now on Zibbet (because Etsy is horrible, people.) which if you want you can check out here... http://www.zibbet.com/kakers

Anyways I don't just make things for the shop.  I make things for ME and for my family as well.  Last year at Christmas Eric and I picked out yarn so I could make us a blanket and well, it's been somewhat slow going but I've been working on it more lately and it's getting pretty close to done!  It needs to be wide and long enough to cover us both at the same time.  I'm actually starting to think there's a chance I may not need the last skein of each color that I have in order to finish it!  But we will see.

This was while I was working on it last weekend...

And I went ahead and took a few more pictures to share with you :)


(Splenda wanted in on the action)

(So did Honey.  Yes, these are different cats.)


As you can see it has a little length to go but it's looking good so far!  I'm going to be so proud once it is done, I've never finished a full sized afghan before!

~Katy

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Make Your Own Pizza Night

Last night we had our friends Brandon and Aimee over with Brondon's son.  It was an awesomely good time, even though not everything went as I had planned.  We planned this idea like a week ago, and I had intended to make the dough last weekend to give it some time to proof and get a better flavor and all that, but once we figured out we couldn't do it until Friday I figured that would be too long for it to sit, and during the week I just didn't have energy or time.

So I ended up making the dough right about when they said they were heading over.  I scoured the internet for a recipe, again, I'd used 2 different ones so far.  I ended up finding one that looked good and used bread flour and some whole wheat flour, since Eric had mentioned that maybe we should throw the wheat flour away since we had other flour and I had refused.  Different flours serve different purposes!  Anyways I made the dough using the recipe I found using instant yeast, it seemed slightly dry to me but I went with it.  Unfortunately, the dough didn't feel like rising.  Sigh.  But I rolled some out and tried making a pizza with it, and it actually turned out super good!  Our pizzas all looked amazing and tasted as amazing as they looked :)


~Katy


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Good Job, VDOT

Unless you are a local you likely have not heard about the cluster f.... that was last weekends traffic in Hampton Roads.  Short version, the Virginia Department of Transportation decided to close a tunnel and a bridge, both going the same direction, at the same time.  This may not seem like the worst thing, until you realize there is only ONE other roadway going the same direction.  People were stuck in traffic for hours.  It was horrible.

Here's an article about it... http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/newport_news/bridge-closures-cause-major-delays

Anyways, now they have cancelled their plans to close the tunnel again the next two weekends cause they realized it was a really freaking bad idea... not only that but they are publishing apologies left and right.  There's ads on the radio saying basically "we're so sorry."   You can hear it here... http://hampton.wtkr.com/news/news/62733-what-do-you-think-about-vdots-radio-announcement

Good job, VDOT, screwing up so bad and trying to apologize.  Don't you have people whose job it is to determine how much of an impact that roadwork will have on traffic?  Also, new flash, since apparently no one who makes these decisions for VDOT drives, it is NEVER a good idea to do major road work on multiple roads going the same way at the same time EVER, closures or not.  Just don't do it!  It WILL cause problems, and it's unnecessary.

~Katy

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

My quesadilla

Yum!


So Much Yummy!

We got a quesadilla maker for our wedding.  It is AMAZING.  It was one of the first things that was sent to us off our registry and let me tell you, it has been well used.  This week when I went shopping I guess I was craving eggs and bacon, because I got plenty of both (and cheese!) and not have a plethora of breakfast options.  Today, it is a bacon egg and cheese quesadilla!  It's still too hot to eat yet, but I am really looking forward to it.

I made 2 scrambled eggs (scrambled with milk and salt, of course) and used those plus some crumbled bacon and 1/4 cup of cheddar jack cheese, all of 9" tortillas.  I need to get smaller tortillas next time, I think our quesadilla maker was made for 8" ones but oh well!  These worked OK for now.

The only problem will all of this goodness is that it is 734 calories!  Yipes!  So I think I may eat half and then leave the rest for left-overs another day.  We'll see how hungry I am though, it's a late day for me so this is brunch really, so eating half of my calories for the day could just make sense.

Last night I made fajitas.  We tried the Taco Bell brand fajita seasoning and we both really liked it.  So that we will definitely be getting again, unless there is a less expensive brand that we also like.  My poor husband is still adjusting to my mindset of "if it tastes OK, we're getting the non-brand-name kind to save some money."  It just makes sense!

Ok maybe my quesadilla is now cool enough to eat... let's see...

~Katy

Sunday, September 16, 2012

This weight has GOT to GO

Ok, I know to most people I am not anything close to overweight.  But I have gotten to my heaviest point ever and it gets OLD not being able to fit into half of my clothing anymore.  This has GOT to stop.  Last year I lost 10 pounds between early September and New Years day.  I actually woke up on January 1 just under 140.  Now I'm weighing in around 156.  Ouch.  Here is where I am at now...

I gotta admit it's really not so bad from the front.  It's from the side... yipes.  My stomach is bigger than my boobs. That is just NOT OK.  That gut has GOT to go.

So here is my problem, I really am not a big fan of dieting or watching what I eat.  I'm not very good at it.  So my plan is to count my calories -which honestly the last time I did it confirmed I really don't eat THAT much.  Once I get a handle of how much I want to be eating I'll probably stop.  Last year I managed to lose it without cutting out my fast food and soda and all the crap I eat.  So hopefully I don't have to this time either.  I've already switched to mostly diet soda.

What I need to really concentrate on is EXERCISE.  I swear I WILL change my body significantly by becoming more active with only minor tweaks to my diet.  Just you watch!  It will happen!  Slowly, yes, but it will happen.  The slow creep stops NOW.

~Katy

Saturday, September 15, 2012

What to wear...

My biggest dilemma this weekend... I am going to a birthday party for a former client of mine that is turning 5!  What does one WEAR to a 5 yr olds birthday party?  I do not have children (clearly, from my previous post LOL) and have not been to a 5 yr olds birthday party since I was, well, 5.

No time to think about it though, the party is in 20 minutes and I have to dress NOW so I can go get a gift and get to the party!  This should be interesting.

~Katy

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Life Changer?

Well, maybe life changing is a bit dramatic.  Or maybe not!  I think it all depends on how you look at it.  What am I talking about?  Going to the park.  Seems simple enough- and it is!

See, I work doing in-home therapy.  My schedule involves a decent amount of extra time between appointments so I can get between even if I hit a little traffic, and I had found over the summer that the time between 2 of my clients tended to be way too much.  I would bring my lunch to eat in-between, but have nowhere to go to eat it so I'd end up going and getting fast food and sitting down to eat it.

Not sure what took me so long to think of it, but this week I decided I would find a park somewhere between my two clients where I could go to eat during the nice days.  And oh did I find a park!  And it is glorious.

These were my companions during my short lunch break today...


I got so distracted by the turtles, they were just so relaxing to watch, that I never got to reading my book I had brought.  Monday I sat by the water on a little dock and read a book while I ate, then read my book on a swing when I was done eating.  Yes, I love swings.  I'm a full grown adult, I will never stop!  It's such a pretty and peaceful place.  I predict that going to the park during my breaks, getting fresh air, going for walks or swinging on the swings instead of sitting on my butt the whole time will make a pretty good difference in my life.  Cause it's the little things, really, right?

~Katy

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Well Played, Burger King.

Some of you may know, some of you may not, how much I eat really crappy food.  I eat a LOT of fast food.  My husband and I own a deep fryer and I use it to make myself my favorite meal often (chicken and fries!) Well, I have been less than thrilled with Burger King.  What were they thinking getting rid of chicken fries?  Those were crazy addictive.  But they dropped them! WTF!

Since they got rid of chicken fries I've not eaten there more than once or twice.  Their nuggets they introduced when they dropped the chicken fries are just... yuck.  Their old ones weren't so good, the nuggets they insisted on calling tenders.  The new ones even worse.  Another, what were they thinking?  I haven't even bothered trying their new chicken strips.

But they got my attention with the popcorn chicken, I have to admit.  So after a couple years of refusing to eat at Burger King (unless someone else was paying, I'm not about to say no to free food LOL) I went tonight to give their new chicken a try.  I was pleasantly surprised!  I ordered, and they let me know it would be a few minutes because they cook the popcorn chicken to order.  That was a good sign.  Once they were done, and I had let them cool off a bit, I have to admit to being happy with the choice.  Actual breaded chunks of chicken- not ground chicken.   Chunks of chicken.  Yay!  It was nice and juicy and tasted pretty good.

So, well played Burger King.  I now will eat your food again.

~Katy