THANK YOU!

I just want to stop and say Thanks to everyone in my life. I really am blessed to have all of you around me. I know sometimes life just keeps moving and we forget to say thank you. So this is my chance, before life gets to busy again.

To my husband, Chris. Thank you for not letting me go down the dark hole when I found out about my Mom. I know I need to keep going and be there for you and the girls. Thank you for picking up the slack, when I just don't feel like it. Thank you for cooking, and doing the laundry. Thank you for being my husband and not giving up on us. I know that the road has been long, but it still is going. Sometimes we need to stop for directions and keep going. I am grateful to God for bringing you into my life. I am grateful that you are the father to my girls. I LOVE YOU!

To my sister, Candi. Thank you for being the oldest! I wouldn't be able to shoulder all that you do. I know that you struggle with it sometimes. You are a wonderful example of how people should be. You are loving and caring and give a lot of yourself. Thank you for being a great blue print. I wouldn't want anyone else for my sister! I LOVE YOU!

To my friends. I did not know how I was going to go on after the fire. I lost a close friend and without that loss I would not have found all my new friends. Thank you to the friends that have known me for a long time and thank you to the ones that have only known me for a short time. I have learned so much from all of you. If I am having a bad day I can call on you to be a shoulder. You have had us over, brought me caffeine, offered soup, given me booze and so much more than I can list. You have prayed, and continued to, for me and my family in our season of need. For that I will never be able to say thank you enough. I LOVE YOU ALL!

I am thankful for the people that have adopted us as members of their family. I don't think you will ever know how much we needed you. Thank you for opening your home to us and welcoming us. WE LOVE YOU!

It's a big deal to me to have each and everyone of you in my life. I feel very special. I think that sometimes I have become a "taker" in life and I am sorry for that. I really want to tell you all how grateful I am for all of you.

To my Mom, the most important person, thank you for having me. For giving me food and a home. For giving me, Candi and Doug all that you could. I love you and I am forever grateful for you. You have been the one I talk to about anything and everything. I will take every moment we have together and hold them close to my heart. I will never know how lucky I have been to have you as my Mommy. I LOVE YOU, the most!  

I LOVE Garage Sales!

I have found garage sale sites on Facebook and 

                         

                             I LOVE THEM!

 So many things to look at and so little time to post interested! I have gotten clothes for my girls, a toy box, gifts for friends, home decor, and kitchen items. I even got a lot of my Christmas list from the garage sale sites. 

My most favorite item that I got was a Pyrex 1 quart GREEN casserole dish!! I LOVE it! The first time I got to use it, it was for veggies. Second time was for taco meat. It held a pound and a half of it. I have a small kitchen table for four people so space on the table is at a premium. The Pyrex takes up half the space the skillet did. (Insert happy dance here!) I can not wait to see what else I can put in it! What will be my favorite? 

 Gosh so many options....

My love of Pyrex started many years ago when my sister got married. They got white Pyrex with lids, I can't remember if it was a wedding gift or something they had just picked up. I always thought that's what married people do. They have matching dishes, a full set of Tupperware and really nice serving dishes!! I know silly but I didn't have a lot of examples of what marriage looked like or how it was supposed to be. My sister and brother in law became my blue print. They both worked, Michael would cook and they told each other EVERYTHING. When Chris and I would fight, they would help us see each others point of view. I owe a lot of years of marriage to them. Now years later, Candi and I joke that we both marriage each other. She is so much like Chris it really isn't funny. On the other hand I guess Michael and I are quiet a bit alike. Just last night Christmas Eve Candi said, "I married my sister". I few minutes later Michael said, "Wait, What?" LOL, I am so blessed to have them as real life examples of what marriage is. 

Thank You Candi and Michael.

Holiday Heartbreak

Hello Friends. 

  It's been a while.
  I needed a break. 

   Like everyone that has lost anyone close to you, the holidays are really the hardest. I think that I'm having a really hard time due to my Mom being in the hospital.  She has been in there since June. Well has been to lets see, five different places in that time period. With the bulk of the time being in a place that Avery could not go and see her. My Mom has been doing better then had to be taken back to the hospital twice. She is there now. When she went back into the hospital the first time, it was so hard on me. I thought that she was doing so much better. Then a set back. This whole thing started with an infection in her mouth that traveled into her jaw. She has since had all of her bottom teeth removed, and reminds me so much of my Gram. I miss my Mom. She wasn't the greatest Mom ever, she did the best she could. In the last few years we have really become close. I miss talking to her on the phone. She would come up and stay with my family and I for the weekend. Avery and her got to be really close. She has missed out on my sister's birthday, my brother-in-laws birthday. The kids going back to school. Chris's birthday, my birthday, Her birthday, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas. She is just so young, it breaks my heart to even think that this could be the road to the end. I pray that she gets better. That it's just going to take a while, but like a lot of things in my life I don't want to wait. I want it to happen now!! I want the Mom that I talked to almost everyday. The one that wouldn't drive at night, in rain, or snow. The Mom that wore sweatshirts two or three times to big for her body. The one I could see over her head because she was shrinking. I feel like the little kid the morning of Christmas, looking forward to unwrapping my presents. All I want is to have my Mom here with a bow on her head. The only present I want. 

If you pray, please pray for God's will to be done. 

I love you and miss you Mom. Please get better soon. 

Last year, my Mom and Avery. Best Buddies. 

My Beer Thoughts

I don't drink. Well there was a time a couple years ago that every July 4th I would drink. Never enough to get drunk, and I would always stop well before we had to leave. Again, the first time I was in a bar I was 30. So when I was in one I really didn't know what to order. My mom would drink Kahlua and cream. My grandfather was a Manhattan, my step father Pabst Blue ribbon beer, yuck. I was familiar with a Bahama mama from Applebee's and screwdrivers. At a bar I didn't know what would be cool to order so this is when my thoughts on beer started.

I always love watching commercials. That's my part of the Super Bowl. Even though the last few years haven't really been good, I still watch them. Years ago Budweiser had the ants and the aardvark ad with the Bee Gee's song Staying Alive. You know the one and if you are to young to remember, google it!! From that moment I knew that if I ever had to buy a beer or order a beer it would be a Bud. I loved those commercials!! Then they came out with the frogs!! That sealed it. I know that sounds dumb and that's one of the reasons why I never went into a bar or order a beer to drink.

When you go out what do you order? Is it beer, or something different?

Henry the Chicken

For those of you that know me outside of this blog, know I don't like raw meat. It's not my friend. I have had thoughts of going vegan, but then I get my period and NEED a cheeseburger!! Yum. Also I think Chris would consider divorcing me if I cut meat out of our diet all together. So because of my love for him I deal with it.

I was telling my sister about me cooking a whole chicken and she thought that it was funny and that I should blog about it so here it is.

Henry the Chicken was purchased on sale. He was a whole chicken and was not even 5 pounds. A friend of mine cooked her whole chicken in the slow cooker so I figured I could do that also. What I hadn't counted on was getting him to come out of the plastic he was wrapped in. I had a bowl for him to sit in until I could put him in the slow cooker. I started cutting him out and tried to squeeze him out of the wrapper. I hadn't realized until he wouldn't come out that I started cutting at the wrong end. So I tried to cut down one of the seems on the side, all the juices started to come out and there was nothing I could do about it.

This was my personal HELL!!

I had already put a liner in the slow cooker so once he was free I put him in it. I salt and peppered him, turned the cooker on low and walked away. Until my friend that cooked one called and I asked her if she put hers in a bath, water or chicken broth. She used broth. She then had to ruin my day by asking me if I took the "bag" out. I told her that it didn't say anything about having a bag inside him and that I already tried getting the thongs inside of him and to tell you the truth I didn't even know what side I should be looking for it anyway!! This was my hell, I tell you!! She told me that it was in the legs side. She said that I had to spread the legs apart and take the bag out. I told her that was violating the chicken. I think she said something like get over it, the chicken is dead and wouldn't feel it. Well I hadn't washed the thongs yet, so I got two sandwich bags and put them on my hands so I wouldn't have to touch him. I spread his legs apart and got the bag out. It would have been great to know that the bag is open and to be careful when removing or the stuff that is in the bag could come out and get all over the outside of the chicken!! HELL, my hell!! So that was it, I was not going to touch this thing anymore. I put the lid back on and walked away!

Henry stayed in there longer then he should have, gotta love Open House time for school. Whitney and I did eat some, it was dry. I now am looking forward to getting all the bones out and making my own chicken broth. Let's hope that will go smoothly.

Special thanks to Candi, my sister that I think snorted when I told her the part about the sandwich bags on my hands.

Also to my friend, Bethany that also cooked a whole chicken and told me to get over it.

The Fire

The fire was a big turning point in my life and it's very hard for me to talk, or write about it without being right back there. So get comfortable because if you haven't already figured out I have a really good memory and I give a lot of detail.

The day of the fire was May 10th 2010, it was a Monday. The day before just happened to be Mother's Day, and well Mother's Day since I became a mommy has really kinda sucked for me, but that's another story. On Sunday Chris, the girls and I went over to the in-laws then to my sister's house. My sister and brother-in-law had a swing set in the back of their yard for years and since most of the kids were to old to go on it they were going to take it down. Before that happen we wanted to get a couple of pictures of Avery on it. She wasn't even one year old yet, so they put the baby swing back on it for her. It was wonderful, remembering all the fun times the kids had playing on the play set. 

Chris, Whitney, Avery and Me.
 

The next morning was just any other Monday. Chris took Whitney to school and Avery and I just hung out doing the morning routine. Around 10AM Avery and I were listening to New Kids on The Block and having a little dance party. Avery loved to dance with me, but soon she was asleep. I put her down and normally that would be my time to take a shower, make the bed and clean up the kitchen. That day though, Chris's cousin Heather's husband Jim (did you follow that? *giggle*) sent me a smack talk for a game on Facebook. So instead of getting into the shower I said, "oh it's on!! it's on like Donkey Kong!" Then played the game. I still don't even know if I beat his score that day. I had gotten up to get something to drink and as I was walking back I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I looked through my balcony door and saw flame coming around the wall that divided my balcony from my neighbors. I kept walking into the living room to grab the phone. I dialed 911 while walking into my room to change out of my pj bottoms and put jeans on while the phone was ringing. I then grabbed the quilt from Avery's bedding and picked her up. The 911 dispatcher answered the phone and I told her that there was a fire and gave her my address. She said a what? I repeated a fire. As I was walking down the stairs she asked me if everyone was out of the building. I told her I didn't know and she asked me how I didn't know and I said because I live in an apartment. While I was saying this to her I started walking back upstairs to pull the fire alarm. That after 8 years of living there forgot that it wasn't by the front door, but at the top of the stairs. I pulled the alarm and it didn't go off. As I went back downstairs I hung up on her and called my husband. As I was going through the garage door I could hear the fire trucks coming. I took Avery away from the building and waited for everyone else to come out. My neighbors from unit 1 came out of their garage and moved their car out. I gave them Avery and jumped in my car and moved it out. I parked it on the grass so it wouldn't be in the way of the fire trucks, that had already gotten there. I went back and got Avery and we just waited. Avery had on a onesie and a pink t-shirt. I had a white shirt on, thank you God, I had a bra on, and jeans. Neither of us had socks or shoes on. At one point a firefighter came up to us and asked me to unlock the front door. I got as far as the inside door to the garage and couldn't go any further. I told them that I couldn't go in and that I gave them permission to do it for me. Chris got there soon after that.

Once it was safe to go back in Chris went. He was walked through the apartment with one of the firefighters and was told what happened during the fire. Also what was safe and not safe to save. Anything plastic, not safe. Baby food that boiled while still in it's jars, not safe. Clothes, safe but we couldn't just put it in a regular washer and dryer. We had to have it professionally cleaned. Sealed wood furniture safe but that also would have to be professionally cleaned. Chris was then told that one of the cats had died in the fire, it was Tigger. Chris got him as a kitten in 1996. We were told that one cat ran out of the front door when they opened it and while they were still fighting the fire they had brought me Princess, Whitney's cat. We didn't know where Cleo was but for a few days after the fire I had thought that she was the cat that had ran out of the front door. It wasn't until we went back in to save somethings that Chris and another neighbor found her under my bed. She had also died in the fire. Ms. Cleo was my kitty.

So what was saved?
Princess the cat and not much after that. We got a few pieces of furniture in each room, clothes and everything downstairs in the front closet and garage.

AND the most important myself.

Chris and I were in a good place with our relationship but we had started making compromises with ourselves. We told ourselves that we wouldn't get new furniture until we bought a house but shortly before Avery was born we bought a new living room set. Then less than a month before the fire we got a new bed for ourselves. I knew the place we were at was to small for us but it was going to take a lot to get me out of there. Well maybe only a fire...

The place we are now is another apartment but we are paying less rent so in about a year we will be able to get a house. I was forced to deal with a lot of problems with living here also. The people across the hall and above us smoke and that's what started the fire. So I was faced with my fear of thinking another fire was going to happen. About a year ago my doctor told me that I have PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. I had heard of it before, so I told him that I wasn't in the military that I couldn't have that. He told me that what I had just told him was PTSD and that I needed to talk to someone about my flash backs and fears of another fire happening. Chris and my relationship at this point had been in a rough spot. We had been fighting a lot and I had thoughts of killing myself. We started going to church and with talking to someone, I have really gotten my life on a better path. I do take happy pills and I think that I will be on them for a while.

I look at this fire happening as a blessing now. I have a better life, we go to church, Chris and I talk more, I can handle a lot more and I have great friends. 

From my front door looking up into the apartment. To the right is a closet and out of the picture is the door to the garage.

I couldn't get myself to go in right away, so I took pictures of what I couldn't see from the front door.

The fire alarm that I pulled, that didn't go off.

The view from the top of the stairs. To the left and behind out of the picture is the kitchen and table. You can just see the desk chair. Living room and to the right at the top of the picture you can see light coming in from the balcony door.  

View from the other side of the living room. Behind me out of the picture, is the bathroom, to the left Whitney's room and to the right Chris, Avery and my room. All out of the picture. In the picture on the left is the desk chair again. The love seat, balcony door, another closet, Avery's toybox, the fixture and the stairs.

A better picture of the area where the fire came in. The white frame on the left side of the picture is what my balcony door was. The whole door melted and that was what was left. Inside the closet was almost all of my scrap books, tools and suplies. Along with Avery's highchair. In front and to the bottom right corner was her swing that was a toddler chair also.

What the ceiling looked like.

Tigger in the Shower

So Tigger was my husbands cat. He didn't like me at first, Tigger not Chris ;) He would chase me around and try to bite me. Once Chris and I moved in together Tigger and I had a long talk and came to an understanding. I was here and not leaving and that I would give him love if he stopped trying to bite me. Soon after Tigger was my kitty. We ended up having three cats. About six months after Chris and I moved in together we got Ms. Cleo and then once Whitney was in pre-school, Chris got her Princess. All of the cats loved me. I would play with them, feed them and give them water. I would also have Chris change the litter boxes. There was just something about Tigger and me. He would let me hug him and he would sleep on my head. I took a million and one pictures of him. Tigger sitting, Tigger sleeping, Tigger in the sun, Tigger sitting at the table looking like he is ready for dinner. I'm sure there was a point that I may have loved him more than Chris. Sorry honey:)

Once Whitney started going to school full time, I got a job. Well I had a few jobs but the last one was at a popular coffee shop that's known around the world. You know the one I don't have to say the name. The last store I worked at, it had just been built. We had gotten everyone together so we could met who we were going to be working with. You know the deal, what's your name, how long have you been working with the company, and tell us something that no one else knows about you. Ooh fun, she said shaking her head  NO. Hi, my name is Kim I've been working with the company for a little over a year and I hate cards. I love to scrap book but I hate cards and I was told by someone that, that's weird. OK everyone moved on. A few days later I was talking to one of the new managers and I told him that I wish we could go around again and tell something different. He said he felt the same way to, that he would tell me what he would have said if I told him mine. I said sure and he told me that he could from standing kick the top of the door frame. OK now this guy was not young and not short and really not in good shape. I really had to see this to believe, and so he show us. It was crazy. Maybe not to you, people that get to be around other adults, but to me it was cool. So now it was my turn to share, but who could follow that? 

I told him that my cat, Tigger likes to take showers with me. That it started with Tigger just licking the back of my legs. I would scream, close the curtain around him to keep him out. He would just go to the front of the shower and get his paw  wet and lick that instead. Then it turned into him coming into the shower. He loved getting one side of his body wet. When I had time I would get the kitty shampoo and give him a real bath, but for the most part he just liked to get wet. My manager thought that this was crazy, what cat liked to get wet? Well then this Tigger in the shower thing turned into a problem when I would have to open at 4:30am. There was a hand full of times that I had to wake up Chris because Tigger had gotten into the shower and was soaking wet and I had to go to work. The mornings became even more fun when I would have to run into the bathroom before Tigger knew what was going on. If he was awake, he would stand outside the bathroom door meowing to get in. Ah life with cats!!

                                                                            Avery and Tigger. 2010 

So that's my Tigger in the shower story. Do you have pets?What do your pets do that is out of character?   

The Tale of theTail....

 Do you ever have this problem, you have time to do what ever you want and you can't figure out what to do? I just end up watching TV or taking a nap because I don't know which project that I want to finish. Normally I plan for these kind of days. I make a list of things, and projects that I want to do or finish. I have to thank Pinterest for the list being so long! I have the problem that once the list is up where I can see it all the time I get depressed because I haven't had the time to focus on them. I end up taking it down and give myself a little pep talk. "It's fine, I will make the time soon. Don't worry I will remember what I want to do when that time comes." But that day is today and I still can't remember all the little projects that I wanted to get done. I make this list, look at the list, take list down, then forget the list... Can you see me chasing my tail?

The Oreo Tin and the Coke Cans Story

When I was younger the rule was after dinner we could have two cookies. My Gram would have the best cookies. The Archway cookies that were in the shape of windmills, chocolate chip, Kebler anything and of course Oreo's. She would also have the danish cookies the ones that came in the blue tin. Once those would be gone she would save the tin and we would refill them with the other cookies. Those tins would smell so good. When all the cookies were gone she would wash them and put them downstairs. One afternoon after school, my friend Susan came over. We were watching TV and were hungry and so I got the Oreo cookie tin. Well before I knew it we had ate the rest of them. So instead of cleaning the tin and putting it downstairs and telling my Gram that we ate them. I ran upstairs so fast to hide it under my bed when I heard the garage door open. Everything was fine until after dinner and she went looking for them and wanted to know where they went. I lied like a dog and was sent to my room. Grandpa went downstairs to look for the tin and it wasn't there. So he told me I better find it. Doug, my brother was told to bring laundry downstairs and guess what I made him bring downstairs with him? Yup that dirty tin. So when I went to look for it I could find it, but lying doesn't get you anywhere. They knew, my Gram would NEVER put a tin downstairs without washing it first. So yup, I wasn't allowed to have friends over for a while after that.

The Coke Cans....
So Susan was over after school and we drank a couple of cokes. This was something that was a treat again and we didn't get to have them all the time. You must be thinking wow this Susan bad influence... nope she is awesome. She lived right next door to me, had a plum tree in her yard, had a very cool mom and cute brothers!! Oh and a very dandy dogie! I can't forget about her sister, she was a year younger. At that time not very fun, but I'm sure things have changed now. ;) So again being sneaky had some draw backs if you didn't follow through and get rid of the evidence!! It was a Saturday morning and I was still in bed. My Gram was walking up the stairs and stopped about 4 stairs from the top. She called "George" (my grandfather) I had woke up when she started walking up the stairs because I knew it was time to wake up. But my heart stopped when she stopped on the stairs. You see at that very step you can see right under my bed....where the empty coke cans happened to be. :(

So people what I am trying to say is....Just wait until your kids get older and you find out all the stuff you didn't know about and just have a good laugh. I wish I could be sharing this with both of my Grandparents. They were wonderful and I miss them a lot. I was a very lucky girl to be able to live with them.

The Blue Eyeshaow Story

I have no idea how old I was when this happened, maybe sixth grade. I was friends with a girl named, Jen. She had come over to my grandparents house and we were just hanging out. We got bored, like most kids our age so we decided to go to Gungler's. All my friends from Gurnee, IL will remember that place. It was the corner store that had a little bit of everything. You could get your prescriptions there, pay bills, get light bulbs, pick up a last minute gift and of course candy!! Well and make up. Both of us were to younger to wear it but it was fun to look at all the different colors. This was around the time that Debbie Gibson's song Electric Youth as very popular. Gungler's just happened to have a blue eyeshadow, Electric Blue. It was so cool! I think Jen and I bought some candy and left the store. That's when she showed me that she stole some make-up. I was so surprised, but I told her to go back in a get me the electric blue eyeshadow. She did and we left. Once we got back to my house, she went home shortly after that. I started to feel very guilty. So instead of going back to the store to give it back I threw it away without even trying any of it on. Fast forward to a few days later. Every morning my Gram would take a shower and go down and have breakfast. She would come back upstairs and wake us up. While we were getting dressed she would finish getting ready and put her make up on. She had all of her make up in this turquoise silverware tray. It would be in the bathroom until she put it on and then she would put it back in the linen closet. Well this day happened to be no different, I went to the bathroom, there is her tray, but wait there was something new added to it. One electric blue eyeshadow!! She must have found it in the trash, noticed that it hadn't even been used and put it in there. So now everyday I got to see that blue eyeshadow and remember what I did. It wasn't that it was in there for a couple of months, it was longer. It had to be a couple of years, AND she never did use it!! This is why to this day, I will never steal anything again. My Gram might not have known what I did but she sure made me not want to ever do it again. She pasted away in 1994 and I still miss her. She would have been 82 years old today.  She will forever be the lady that I look up to for fashion and her sense of humor.
                                I love you Gram!!

The Forbidden Room

My sister, brother and myself all lived with my mom's parents starting the summer before I went into 5th grade. The house that we lived in, is and will always be my dream home. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, dining room, living room, family room, eat in kitchen. A big back yard, basement, fireplace and a deck. Two and a half car garage, gosh I could go on. Let's just say I LOVE that house. I would go into my sister's room and I would just watch my Grandma iron, for hours. I just liked the smell it made. Sometimes we would talk and sometimes I would just read. Oh and the phone in the kitchen. I would get that phone to stretch all the way down the hall and even up a couple of steps. The Forbidden room was the family room. That was the room that we were not allowed to go in unless it was a holiday or my grandparents had friends over. That was the room that had all the really nice furniture and everything matched. It was by the front door so if anyone rang the door bell this was the room they could see. My Gram would go in there once a week to dust and vacuum. She would leave the vacuum V's in the carpet. You know what I'm talking about. I still do it. The forbidden room was at the front of the house on the right side the dining room was at the back on the same side. The kitchen, where the cookies were, was next to the dining room :) Well I got so good at sneaking around that I knew just were to step so it would go un-noticed. My grandfather would be in the living room and my grandmother would be at the kitchen table. I was able to come down the stairs cross the hall way go into the family room into the dining room. Then into the kitchen to the lazy susan on the right corner and get a couple more Oreo's. Then sneak back upstairs. All without getting caught. I LOVE THAT HOUSE!! 

What memories to do have of the house you grew up in? Do you have kids now? Do you ever wonder what things they will remember from growing up? Do you ever wonder about the stories you have yet to hear about? About things that you don't know happened yet?     

The Egg

I drive a car that we call the Egg, well because it looks like an egg. Maybe you've seen it? It's a Chevy Aveo, in white. Before my husband and I had made the first car payment I got hit in the parking lot while I was working. I came out to find it dented with blue paint on the drivers side door. I was so upset. Chris, my hubby, was able to get some of the dent out and all the paint off. In turn this started all the egg jokes. 

Oh you "cracked the egg" 
Oh I saw something coming out of your car, is that the yoke?
You should get a beak and feet for the car.
There was more but I have blocked them out...

One day a lady and I were walking into U.S Bank. I did the remote lock for the car and she asked me, "Was that a bird?" Me, "No, it's my car alarm...." 

So all the jokes aside, I LOVE my new to me car, that is now paid off for over a year.  

Rice Crispy Treats Opps!!

 This was in 6th or 7th grade, just a couple years ago...really? I had never made them before. I learn how to make things by watching it being made. My friend Sierre and I wanted to have them so how hard could this really be? We know how to read and follow directions. What we didn't think about was what tools we should use!! To back up a little, we got the butter and the marshmallows in the pan and started melting them. Then once that started burning we started to freak out. We put the rice crispies in anyway and started to stir them, with a spatula. You know the kind that's plastic and melts!! Yup we still ate them!! I'm sure there was more marshmallow then plastic right?? 


I have since learned how to make them and make them about once a month. Oh this is funny. When Chris and I first moved in with each other. I made the treats out of almost every cereal I thought would be good. I don't think that Chris could look at another treat for years after that. 


My really good friend Lisa has requested that I blog about the Peanut Butter Fluff dip I make. Now I can not take credit for the recipe because I got it from the Pampered Chef, Kids in the Kitchen cook book years ago. So here it goes.

Peanut Butter Fluff Dip
Vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. of cinnamon
(mix together)
Fold in 1/2 cup Cool Whip

Keep cold or cool.

Nutella!! Peanut Butter Fluff Dip
Vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Nutella
1 tsp. cinnamon
(mix together)
Fold in 1/2 cup cool whip

Keep cold or cool. 

We eat it with apples, strawberries, angel food cake, really anything that would be good with peanut butter. I would say bananas but those are EVIL!! 

Thanks for stopping by!! 

Kim P

Me Funny, noooo.

I have had people tell me for a while that I'm funny. My reply to that has always been, only if you know me. In one week time I had two different people tell me "no, your funny". So that's one of the reasons why this blog thing started. After my first post I was stalking people on Facebook to see what they thought. Was it funny? Did you laugh? What part? Then self doubt started in. Should I still blog? I can't hear anyone laugh and I live for that. I wrote a list of things that I thought would be fun to write about: 

The Forbidden Room

The Oreo tin and Coke cans

Rice Krispy oops!

"Me won't do that ev-ah again"

Blue eye shadow story

My beer thoughts

The Fire

Hate cards, like scrap booking?

Tigger in the shower

SAH mommy, I need a smart phone right?

FPU Obsession

Rosie, Oprah and reality TV

Switching the cheese

What I will do is once these stories are done, I will see if people still want more. Or if I even have more to write about. Are you ready for the ride?

I am. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TD_pSeNelU

Hi, is this thing on??

Hello, my name is Kim. I am a mommy to two and a wife to one. I live in Wisconsin but my heart will always be in Illinois. 

I type how I talk, so I've been told. So if I am in a conversation there are times I will take an off ramp and not signal. I promise that I will try to get back on the road again.

I love the color green, apples, Pinterest, and having people to feed. I love my family also, it's when I don't like them they should be worried. 

I like, cooking, shaving my legs, scrap booking, couponing and Facebook. Pretty much in that order also. 

I believe in God and Jesus. My pastor said that I don't have to be perfect. So I do swear and sometimes think other men are yummy. *coughChrisO'Donnellcough* LL Cool J, Mario Lopez....I think it's because I have dimple envy. I guess I like gay guys also because I was crushed to find out Lance Bass and Dave Holmes are gay. 

I don't drink and tend to judge people who do. Let me clarify, a few years ago I did drink a couple of times a year. The first time I was in a bar I was 30 years old. I never liked the feeling of losing control. I'm square and I am totally ok with that. 

I've never smoked or did other drugs and love it when my doctor asks, so I can say No. 

After seven years of not watching Dora the Explorer. I was able to sing the whole "I'm a grumpy old troll that lives under the bridge" the first time it came on.

Most of the people that know me think I'm funny and as long as you laugh at my jokes I'll be BFF's with you forever!!

As you can see I don't have a clear direction as to what  I want this blog to be about. Sometimes it might be a recipe that I want to try or have tried and love. It might also be about people that do not use their turn signals that drive me crazy. (Off Ramp Warning) I follow the law so I have no record. I can get a gun! I shouldn't because I have road rage and I would shoot people's tires if they pissed me off. I might also talk about having 13 and 3 year old daughters. Of having a husband with ADHD, diabetes, high blood pressure, allergic to A LOT, and might possibly be bi-polar. I myself have PTSD and get depressed. My goal is to use this as a Dear Diary and things to work on. 

Example: Oprah 3 things to be grateful for;

1) Long naps

2) A clean stove

3) Some Mommy time

Oh and alone time in the bathroom and my happy pills!! 

THIS IS ME!!

One more thing before I go....

If your going to comment that's great!! Just be nice and don't hurt my feelings. If I can block you I will. Oh and no swearing, my kids might be reading this. I can swear, freedom of speech and everything. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to "see" you again. 

Always and Forever,

Kim P